Prince Alex led them back to their suite, where Commander Dax was waiting, along with his adjutant and two runners from the Regiment.
"Your Highnesses. Advisor. What are your orders?" Commander Dax greeted them.
"First, what is going on in the city? Has there been any sign of a troop buildup? Any mass movement of citizens that might indicate trouble?" Prince Alex asked.
"That’s the tricky part, you see.
The people are expecting that there is going to be a new King any day now, so they’re congregating around the Palace, waiting for the official announcement.
Everyone knows that the candidates are here and not at one of the other Royal Palaces, so this is the spot to find out first. They’re not going to easily give up on the best spots to wait for the announcements, and they’ve crowded some of the streets so badly that the merchants are having a tough time getting to work.
Fortunately, the windows that were blown out all face internal courtyards, and weren’t visible to any of the civilians outside the Palace." Dax explained.
The Prince sighed and shook his head. "Of course they are gathered here. Why didn’t I think of that?
Well, to update your end, Prince Kaizon was a magical double, and we don’t know who made it. It’s extremely complex ritual magic, so that narrows down the number of people who could have possibly assisted him.
We also know that the real Kaizon is still alive somewhere. If he had died, the spell would have ended.
Now, how is the Regiment armed?"
Commander Dax rubbed at the back of his neck nervously.
"Well, you see, we’re fairly well stocked. We’ve got a rifle and a mana revolver, a shoulder fired mortar launcher with twenty rounds, and an uncommon grade sword for every man. Every tenth man has a ground fired mortar for artillery emplacements, but the rounds are interchangeable between launchers, so we can overstock them from the rest of the unit if we’re in a siege.
Advisor Dominic, myself, and two team leaders have the magitech orbs to make more mortar rounds.
We have enough food supplies for four months, and water creation orbs.
The rum stock is low, as we were using it to make friends among the locals for information gathering.
Other than that, we’ve got no damages among the mechanical horses, and all transport trucks, including the passenger transport, are in operational condition. All are magic-driven, so no concerns on fuel range." Dax explained.
The Prince nodded, then once the Commander was finished, he turned to Dominic.
"And when exactly did you find time to make mortar launchers?"
"The first night after we left Cygnia City. They’re brilliant. We didn’t have any cannons with us, but we wanted something with more crowd suppression ability than the rifles. The first test was a resounding success, and then the lads suggested it might be nice to be able to fire mortars while on the move.
If we had real horses, they would have never adapted to the new tactic, but with everyone on mechanical steeds, it has proven exceptionally effective as a ride by strike.
Like horse archers, but explosive." Dominic explained.
"I will get you to make me one later. The important part for now is that the city is likely to come under attack in the next few days, and we don’t know whether the attack is coming from inside or outside the city.
If it’s outside, the armies can take care of it.
If it’s from inside, we will need the Natural Sons to be at peak form. There is a chance that with the initial plan failed, Prince Kaizon and his backers are going to make another attempt to assassinate Viscount Boscom before he can be crowned.
I will push for the timeline to be accelerated, but some preparations will be needed.
At best, we’re looking at the day after tomorrow." Prince Alex explained.
Commander Dax nodded. "Alright, we can handle that. Then, once there is a crown on his head, what comes next?"
Alexis gave a grim chuckle. "That’s when the real danger starts. Once there is a King to deal with, we need to work out either an end to the war, terms of surrender by Dagos, or the full invasion of the remaining free cities."
The Commander frowned, and the other soldiers shrugged.
Most of that wasn’t their problem, unless it came to a battle within the city. The political machinations would be done by the senior Nobles, not untitled soldiers like them.
Though, this gathering was particularly lucrative. There were more Dagos Noble families scheduled to arrive soon, and they might have daughters with them.
The Natural Sons were mostly unmarried, as a married man didn’t volunteer to join the front lines of a war. The Ladies might be from an enemy nation now. But that could soon change.
Prince Alex cleared his throat. "Alright, I have a deployment order for you. I managed to obtain a more complete map of the Palace, and the Regiment will be sending soldiers to accompany the foreign Nobles who lost too many guards.
Your Regiment will be everywhere within the Palace by tomorrow night.
Make copies of the map for the unit, so that they all know where to go if there is an alarm call. We’ve got multiple requests already, and the Palace Guard, or what is left of them, will be sending the rest of the requests to you directly."
Commander Dax smiled. "Alright, I will take care of it. You do whatever it is that Royals do at these sorts of functions."
"Hunt traitors, pretend that I actually like the Royal brats from the other nations, wait for the next idiot to try to assassinate me, keep my sister from getting drunk enough to be taken advantage of." Prince Alex agreed.
The other officers chuckled, and Commander Dax shrugged. "I don’t think that you have to worry about that. If someone wants to get to her, they have to get past both you and Advisor Dominic. And then they can deal with the Princess herself.
Let me tell you, if the Royal Guardsmen are to be trusted, she only gets more violent when drunk."
Princess Alexis smirked, and her brother rolled his eyes.
The Commander wasn’t wrong. She had a habit of getting into bar fights when patrons at the tavern the guard frequented didn’t recognize her and got a bit too handsy.