Chapter Eleven: Balancing Forces
Two thousand mountain warriors gathered under Fran’s command as agreed. The strength they displayed satisfied Fran greatly, but it raised some concerns for Komer. There was no doubt about the discipline and combat capability of these mountain warriors, yet Komer knew they still needed to undergo a mental shift in terms of loyalty. They were no longer merely mountain people; they were first Caucasians, and only secondarily mountain people. If they couldn’t come to understand this truth, this army would never become a force he could rely on.
As Komer had expected, although the Sanja tribe was firmly opposed, they also realized they had little power to restrain Komer. When Komer suggested that he might continue to bring other small mountain tribes into the Caucasus and grant them citizenship, they appeared helpless. Komer even detected hints of envy in the eyes of the Sanja tribe leaders, though they tried hard to hide those feelings behind anger and dissatisfaction. Undoubtedly, such emotions existed, especially among the leaders of the Japong tribe.
It was clear that Komer’s generosity in offering favorable terms for these small mountain tribes to join him left the Sanja tribe leaders feeling disappointed. Faced with the overwhelmingly powerful Caucasians, the mountain people had little room for negotiation. With forces like the half-orcs already subdued, the seemingly strong military power of the mountain people exerted less pressure and appeal on the Caucasians. Now, as these small tribes submitted to them, the Caucasians gained another formidable force, further tilting the balance of power in their favor.
The leaders of the Sanja tribe were not foolish. They increasingly realized that once this situation took hold, it was almost impossible to reverse. Against humans who held all the advantages and advantages in every regard, they had no chance of turning things around. Cooperation required mutual strength; only when both sides had something to gain from each other could cooperation last. Unilateral demands would only turn one side into an insignificant vassal.
Komer was particularly cautious in dealing with the requests from several other small tribes to join them, seemingly because the allegiance of the earlier tribes had already satisfied the Caucasus’s need for labor force. The pressures from various sides also seemed to make Komer hesitant, leaving the small tribes eager for equal citizenship rights as his own people anxious. Only after going through all the necessary formalities did Komer finally sign the treaty agreeing to their accession, at a great cost to them—they too would have to surrender their strongest warriors to become part of the Caucasus army.
The 3,500 mountain warriors met Komer and Fran’s expectations in number. A significant portion of these warriors had undergone conscription, understanding clearly who their new masters were.
Seven infantry units formed a dense line in the open field. The makeshift parade ground, though crude, had a rugged and bold appearance. The bear-headed banners, with their fierce expressions, fluttered in the wind in front of the parade ground. The elite half-orc guards stood with chests puffed out, their dark iron armor adding to their imposing presence. At such moments, every half-orc warrior wanted to show off their bravery in front of these new mountain recruits, their fierce expressions seemingly intended to distinguish them from the mountain warriors ahead.
Behind the half-orc guards stood a group of well-proportioned and handsome half-elf archers. They too were part of the lord’s elite guard. These half-elves, who were immigrants by birth, were natural archers. After years of training and refinement, they had not only improved their archery skills but also, more importantly, developed discipline and combat readiness, turning into a highly effective military force. Komer valued this army even more than the half-orc guards. After all, it was not easy to train a competent half-orc warrior, even harder to train a competent crossbowman, and creating a disciplined and unified archer army was even more challenging. Undoubtedly, the guard before him was a combat unit with such capabilities.
Komer had always had a special preference for forming units of half-elf archers. Mortals far fell short in combat skills compared to other races with their distinct characteristics—whether orcs, barbarians, or dwarves—especially in regions like the Caucasus where mortals made up a small proportion of the population. Half-elves, who were most similar to mortals in terms of customs and appearance, were undoubtedly the best alternative, as they also possessed the advantages of the elves: dexterity and an impeccable talent for archery, a skill that relied heavily on technique. However, creating such an army was extremely costly. Initially, Komer formed such units only within his own lord’s guard, and only after things improved did he start forming them in the Caucasus Self-Defense Forces. These archers were, of course, the finest among the finest, and the purpose of bringing them in was self-evident.
The tactical demonstrations by the lord’s guard were astonishing. The orcs’ outstanding performance in infantry formation drills, close combat exercises, and small-scale assault attacks shocked even the barbarian veterans who had long held prejudices against them. What were once seen as a ragtag bunch had turned into a highly skilled army, serving as a wake-up call for the barbarian warriors. They realized they were not on the same level as these opponents at all. If they did not exert great effort in future training, they risked being marginalized and reduced to insignificant figures.
If the orcs’ guard brought psychological pressure, then the half-elf archers brought a psychological shock. The barbarian warriors never imagined that these seemingly frail half-elf archers could exert such devastating firepower when combined. Whenever the commander pointed his flag in a certain direction and announced the distance, the archers could turn that area into a sea of arrows within seconds. Seeing arrows fly like swarms of locusts and quickly adjust direction according to the flag’s signal filled even the bravest barbarian warriors with unease. They pondered the huge cost they would have to pay if they tried to overcome the distance barrier and attack the enemy camp with such a long-range strike force—a question that lingered in the minds of the barbarian veterans.
The last to appear was, of course, Komer’s ultimate trump card—the Mage Corps. The power of the Mage Corps was Komer’s greatest asset in balancing against the orcish forces. In fact, from the very beginning, when he realized the unique racial composition of his territory, Komer had been pondering one issue: it was an unavoidable reality that any armed force would have to rely primarily on orcs. While controlling such a force could be achieved through strengthening orc loyalty and cultivating mid-to-senior-level officer ranks among humans, having no independent balancing force was never entirely reassuring. This was what led Komer to decide from the start to establish his own Mage Corps.
However, recruiting mages proved quite difficult. The Caucasus’s unique geographical location and financial constraints made it unattractive to any mage. This situation only improved slightly after the arrival of Rebrí, Mihajović, and Newman, but it was still a long way from having a truly competent Mage Corps. The Mage Corps finally took shape after the ambush in the Great Greenland Forest.
The main forces of the Homer Mage Corps were destroyed in that battle. Although the remaining mages tried to uphold their pride and professional ethics, they couldn’t hold out long against Komer’s ruthless methods. After Komer promised not to send them to the front lines of the war against Homer and showed them the various favorable experimental conditions available in the Caucasus, these mages eventually agreed to serve the Caucasus. Of course, they needed to hide for a while to avoid being spotted by Homer’s forces, and Komer generously gave them half a year as time off.
If it weren’t for the sudden attack by the Inquisition later on, Komer’s Mage Corps would have already been established according to the plan. But when Komer decided to stop hiding, forming his own Mage Corps became his top priority. Mages valued keeping their promises more than their pride. In their eyes, those who disregarded their promises could never truly succeed in magic—someone who couldn’t even honor their own promises wasn’t fit to be a mage.
Clarence, Dravad, Chevrey, and Delbano, who returned as promised, did not disappoint Komer. These four main mages from the Homer Magic Circle, with varying levels of skill, quickly became the core members of the Caucasus Magic Circle. Together with the semi-permanent members Mihajic and Newman, along with Komer himself, the Caucasus Magic Circle was fully formed.