Well, I have to admit that I am quite groggy at this moment. The last couple of days have been draining, to say the least. Part of it is because I am having to work overtime. I had to inscribe a conjuration spell into the formation in a matter of a week.

  Conjuration spells are very hard to inscribe. These spells have to be inscribed very precisely. If the runes are imprecise, then it can even cause the spells to backfire as well. I honestly don't know what will be created if the runes are inscribed imprecisely. Maybe the thing meant to be created will be ten times the size is meant to. Maybe it will be ten times smaller.

  Regardless, I guess I should explain the two spells that I need to inscribe into the formation. To create the ballista there are two spells that I need to inscribe into the formation core.

  The first is a pretty common formation at least among the druids. They call it the "standard ballista model type: strength". They have an entire series of these spells each crafting different types of ballista. The model that I have chosen strengthens the force with which the spear will be leaving my ballista.

  There are other such ballistas, some for increasing range, some for increasing the durability of the spears. For now, I think increasing the strength of the spears is the best way to go about it.

  It is a pretty standard formation so I have started my work first on this. I should be able to get this spell inscribed pretty easily. Technically with this ballista I don't need to throw the spears anymore. The ballista can be used for battle now.

  The only problem is with the string that we need to use for the ballista. You see, ballistas like this tend to make use of magical strings to throw the spells. Normal ballista string can be used but it doesn't give that extra strength to the spell. (Which will be needed to pierce through the flesh of the troop leaders.)

  To create this magical string is the second spell that I need to inscribe. While the druids have many magical spells for this specific purpose, none meet my requirements. The one that I want to make use of is something that my master has created for such a purpose. (Which makes it a step harder than usual.)

  The spell is known as the “string of water”. The spell manifests a string of water mana that can be used to launch the water spears. It will also provide a decent speed boost to a water spear that is launched from it.

  It is also very hard to craft. Much harder than the body of the ballista if I am to be frank. I need to inscribe this spell into the formation soon enough. I am giving myself another week to do this. Building the ballista like this is stupid, but I have no option.

  Well, I will be honest that I have one other option. I could have inscribed it in a matter of a week. I don't want to speak about it. Let's just call it a nasty little surprise.

  Even I don't know why I am doing this. I just think that I must keep this hidden. Something feels very wrong about how we are targeted. I have a feeling things are going to get worse. Anyway, I have committed to making the ballista. All I can do is just focus on the task at hand and make sure that I do not end up screwing this up.

  I guess I should explain why I need to hurry so much. The hunt is going to end by the next week. Once that occurs, a majority of the nobles in the frozen peak are going to be returning to their homes.

  I guess that I should explain to you what the hunt is. Every year at the start of winter, the commander conducts the hunt. Almost every force in the frozen peak goes out and hunts the icebeasts.

  The hunt attracts quite a bit of the youngsters of the nobles. It is supposed to be something of a competition for them. To see who will be able to hunt the most number of ice beasts. Without them, the frozen peaks simply won't have enough people to send out to hunt them on such a grand scale.

  Once the hunt ends, the commoner soldiers are all going to retreat to the frozen peak and the region surrounding it. The frozen peak will then maintain a defensive line. The goal is to make sure that not too many troops enter the empire. Sadly, we are at what can be considered to be the outskirts of this safe zone. The frozen peak will be able to send us reinforcements but it will be too late for it to be worth anything.

  They are going to have much more freedom to act already with the hunt stopping. During the hunt is when most of the troops die. Their focus during this period is purely defensive. Even the snowlords never appear here. After all, if all their troops do end up dying then being in the easy reach of the commander is the worst place to be.

  At the moment, Shamon is even more worried about this than me. He has been like a ghost possessed by the way that he has been directing his soldiers. Their major work for now has been to break that ice spike and repair the damage to the walls. The man is completely sure that we will be dead if we don't do our best.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The soldiers have also been taking in the corpses of the ice beasts that they have killed. Their major focus has been to convert all of their meat into jerky as soon as possible. Well, they have been cutting up the beasts quite clinically. I am sure that they have left nothing to waste. The bones are now nails. Their hides have become clothes and their flesh has become food. The brutality of theirs almost makes me feel pity for the creatures.

  Looking at the intensity of their preparations though, is why I am pushing liking this as well. We have enough reserves to survive a few weeks at the very least without any problems. I mean, we are a bit far away from the peak, but it is not so far away that we won't be having supplies. It is a bit too cautious in my opinion.

  Well, this is better than the soldiers losing their minds because they have nothing to do I guess. This fort has been a pretty oppressive place lately. The worsening winter does not help with it.

  Finally, I guess that I should talk about our enemy. Things have been very quiet on that front. The reason for that is the two injured troop leaders. You see, every troop leader can control eighty beasts and they have to always keep them in control. With a troop leader dead, their control over their beasts is failing. The remaining leaders have to control the troops of the injured leaders.

  I guess that I should explain this as well. Trevor finally bothered to explain this to me. The ice beasts are controlled by the troop leaders forcefully. It is some kind of magic that is provided to the leaders by the snowlords.

  Just like any magical method, such a control is very limited. Each troop leader can perfectly control eighty such soldiers. Beyond that the troops leaders cannot control the soldiers as perfectly but they can still maintain some kind of control, though the grunts will keep trying to resist it.

  That means that at the moment the troop leaders are barely able to make their troops move in a straight line. This is supposed to be the reason that they are being so passive right now. The troop leaders will only be able to direct these creatures in hordes.

  Trevor thinks that the troop leaders are controlling ice beasts other than their troops as well. The ice spike that they created is a nasty bit of magic that they can only create as a group. They are only able to achieve it by having at least half a troop there to help the troop leader control the surrounding mana.

  As for what this means for me. It means that they are not going to be able to show any of the fine strategies that they have shown till now. If that does occur, it will make things easier and tougher for my soldiers. The soldiers will be able to hold off the creatures at the wall if they do end up attacking in a horde like this.

  The only problem will then be the fact that our casualties are not going to be particularly small with a horde. We are going to be losing a majority of our soldiers. Shamon expects to lose at least thirty soldiers if a full assault does happen. It is going to bring our numbers to a little more than half of our original numbers. That brings out another issue.

  According to Shamon, only a fool would hope to expect any reinforcement from the frozen peak. The reason for that is quite simple. There are two major factions in the frozen peak, the nobles, who have no interest in helping us out in any shape or form. Any reinforcement they send is essentially going to be to take over this fort and bring it under their control.

  If that happens, my work at the very least will be over. The nobles will then have to figure all of this mess out if they want to keep the fort. The problem with all of this is that the temporary fort is the commander's property. Before he gives any permission, any reinforcement sent to the fort will be considered to be “rude”. I am sure that the commander has many ways of playing with his “rude” nobles.

  So the nobles won't be helping us at all. (The bastards unlikely to stay beyond a week in the frozen peak anyway.) As for the commoner faction, they are even less likely to help us out. It is through no fault of theirs though. They are at the moment quite busy managing the hunt. The commoner soldiers are considered to be the backbone of the hunt.

  They don't participate in it themselves. They work in the background, maintaining the ranking of the nobles in the hunt. (There is no official ranking in place. without somebody neutral doing the counting though, they will be at each other's throats.) they are also charged with collecting and transporting these corpses to the frozen peak. They process these corpses to make a bunch of stuff.

  Clearly put, the hunt would not exist without the work of these soldiers even if they are not actively participating in the battlefield. Even if that was not the case there is simply no possibility of them coming. Once the hunt ends, they are going to be even more busy. They will have to maintain constant patrols to ensure no troops are sneaking through.

  That means that we are going to have to figure out our reinforcements or things will go bad pretty quickly. On that front at least we have good news. You see, we are not the only temporary fort in the area. Shamon has already initiated communication with them, hoping to bargain with them for their soldiers. The fact that so many enemy troops were concentrated here means that the other forts have had to face significantly lesser numbers of them. That means they have had much less losses as well. They must have soldiers to spare.

  There are a total of seven forts this year, including ours. If we were to get even five soldiers from each fort we would manage to recoup our losses. I think it might even end up being better for the simple fact that Shamon thinks in terms of the worst case.

  If the man says we might lose thirty, he usually means that we might end up losing twenty. On this front also, I can't help this man. This type of bargaining requires a kind of personal touch with the leaders of those forts. Naturally I won't be able to provide that. All I can do is leave it to Shamon for now.

  If I was a noble, things would have been quite easy for Shamon. After all no commoner likes to be near the place where a noble has died. The backlash of a noble's death in the death of every soldier here. It might end up implicating their villages too.

  If I were a noble, I am sure all the troops of the seven forts would be here. The punishment for failing their defense might be better than facing the wrath of a noble. This is also an example of just how wide the gap between nobles and commoners has grown in this empire.