For the Glory of Rome: Chronicles of an Isekai'd Legion-Chapter 1B2 : When the Dust Settles

B2 Chapter 1: When the Dust Settles

Tiberius once more stood atop the high wall of Stonewake, gazing down upon its interior. Or rather, what remained of it. What had once been a populous town now had been rendered little more than charred ruins. Only a few still-burning logs and blackened piles of partially-collapsed stone still stood amongst the wreckage that the Legion had left behind.

Despite the destruction, he felt no real guilt or regret. The fires that he'd ordered throughout the place had been necessary, after all—something made abundantly clear by the carpet of incinerated spiderlike ghoul corpses that carpeted the ground below. And it wasn't as though he planned to leave it in this state, either. Not at all

Besides, they hadn't come here for the buildings and architecture. No, they'd taken the town with one particular goal in mind—securing the mines. All the other spoils of war on top of that were simply gravy.

Tiberius watched as his Legionnaires went about their work. The cleanup effort was simple enough that Tiberius felt comfortable delegating its details. All but one of his cohorts swept through Stonewake, checking every remaining nook and cranny for any stragglers that had managed to hide to survive the flames—be they monstrous or human. Very few ghouls remained, and fewer still managed to find even halfway decent hiding spots. But it was enough to prompt the men to move in teams and watch their surroundings carefully.

His gaze swept across the landscape that writhed like a colony of red and gold ants, then paused as it landed on the mine entrance itself. Tiberius' brow furrowed, then rose ever so slightly in surprise. He motioned to his guards. "Come."

The men obliged, forming up around their Legatus as he descended from the wall. They hurried past the scorch marks that marred the stone and down what had once been the main boulevard of the town. Soon, they arrived at their destination.

One of the Legion's standards stood tall by the entrance of the mines. As Tiberius approached, he noted one figure in particular that stood out among the rest. Quintus, his Primus Pilus, stood tall amongst the Legionnaires securing the place, conversing with a few of his fellow centurions as they went about their work. The man's armor was dull and caked with dirt, and the rough bandages across his body spoke of quite the assortment of wounds. Still, he was alive.

Tiberius couldn't help but shake his head. He really shouldn't have been surprised. Quintus had survived more close scrapes with death than any man Tiberius had ever known. But with his disappearance at the start of the assault, he'd naturally presumed assumed that the centurion had died, felled in battle when those things had emerged from the mines.

Evidently not. And frankly, Tiberius was pleased to see that his old friend had survived.

Quintus turned and snapped a salute as he noticed Tiberius's approach. The others followed suit. Tiberius waved for them to continue their business before addressing Quintus.

"Primus."

"Legatus Tiberius."

The Legatus stepped forward to clasp arms with the man. "How did you survive, old man? I was all but certain you'd be on your way across the Styx by now."

"Old man? With all due respect, Legatus, I fear you forget which of us is the elder. Perhaps your memory is going."

Tiberius chuckled even as Quintus quite obviously made an effort to suppress his own grin. Normally, he might have kept a display of camaraderie like this private. But after the day they'd all had, Tiberius was willing to let his decorum slip just the tiniest bit.

"You'd best hope not, for all our sakes. Though I'll have you know that I feel younger than I have in years. Perhaps young enough to give some of these spring chickens a run for their money." Tiberius stepped back, his professionalism returning. "Now… Report, Primus."

"Of course, sir!"

Quintus snapped another salute before launching into a tale that beggared belief. He described the strange room in the mines from which the ghouls had spawned, as well as the trio that had been manning it and the strange sigils within. He also detailed the measures they'd taken to fight off and eventually stem the tide using the strange explosives they'd found within the mines.

By the end of the report, Tiberius could only shake his head. A story like that only made it all the more astonishing that Quintus and his men had survived. And given that his Primus Pilus had never been one to embellish tales of his exploits, Tiberius suspected that the situation had been even more dire than he let on.

Tiberius clapped the man on the shoulder. "Good work. You handled yourself well."

"Thank you, sir." Quintus nodded. "Though I owe my survival to my men. Their discipline and coordination never faltered, and they made excellent use of their abilities at every opportunity. There are several I would like to nominate for commendations."

"I see. We shall discuss it further upon our return." Tiberius clasped his hands behind his back. "Based on your report, you may deserve one as well. You made exemplary use of this world's unique resources to improvise and lead them to victory."

"I appreciate that, Legatus. However, I have no need. I'd rather the rewards go to my men."

The display of humility wasn't surprising. The Primus Pilus had always been a staunch advocate for those under him. Though in this particular case, it seemed he had even more reason to than usual.

"We shall see." Tiberius shelved the topic for later. "For now, we must finish securing the town."

Quintus snapped another salute, then hesitated. "Sir… I have one more matter to discuss, if you have a moment?"

Stolen story; please report.

Tiberius waved for him to continue. "This battle has made it clear to me that we are not leveraging the properties and unique technologies of this world to their full potential. We have made an effort to integrate skills into each Legionnaire's repertoire, but I do not feel as though we've utilized them to their full extent.

"Without skills, my men and I would have died in the mines," he stated matter-of-factly. "Our survival was largely due to luck in what skills they had selected for themselves. That, and what I believe to be a timely level up. If we put more thought into what skills our men take, as well as the compositions of our units… I believe that the Legion would greatly benefit. If nothing else, it may prove valuable in learning how to fight against such skill-wielding foes in the future."

Tiberius considered the proposal. He well knew how the Legion's tactics had changed over the centuries. They had to. As war evolved, so too must one's own strategies and weapons—especially as Rome faced different adversaries on the battlefield. And given how different this world was, it only made sense that they'd need to adapt in turn.

The real question was, what form would those adaptations take?

"I assume you already have some ideas to propose?" Tiberius asked.

Quintus nodded. "I believe we would benefit from integrating skill use more intentionally into our training—both for Legionnaires and auxiliaries. We will likely also need to expand our repertoire of standard tactics to include ways of dealing with these new kinds of threats rather than just traditional armies."

Tiberius stroked the salt-and-pepper stubble of his chin. Technically, it was an officer's position to manage and oversee training for the Legion. However, a good leader always listened to his centurions and men. And seeing that Quintus had more combat experience than any other man he knew, his insight would be valuable indeed.

"...I see your point," Tiberius conceded. "Very well. We will discuss this later in more detail. Perhaps when we return to Habersville."

The Pilus nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, sir!"

Tiberius looked Quintus over once more. It wasn't just his armor that was disheveled. The man's eyes betrayed a deep tiredness, one borne of the prolonged alertness and physical toll of battle. It made sense. From the sound of it, the man had been fighting hard for quite a long while, with little in the way of breaks or relief.

"Go and rest, Primus," Tiberius ordered the man. "Take the others of your group as well. The second and third cohorts will manage the cleanup here."

Quintus almost looked as though he wanted to object, but decided against it. Instead, he took the dismissal for what it was and headed for the front gate with a grateful salute, gathering his small group of men as he did.

Tiberius watched them go. Despite the man's humility, he still fully intended to award him somehow. It was only fitting, given the impossible feat he'd accomplished—and that his men sealing the breach had likely saved many more lives than just their own.

Still, he wasn't certain what he could give the man that he hadn't already received—or refused. His family had already been elevated to much higher stations back in Rome due to his exploits, even if Tiberius had been able to do more for them from here. Quintus had also repeatedly turned down further promotions or offers of different posts. Money and honor, he supposed, were the only things he could really give his old friend at this point.

That, also, was a matter to be dealt with later. For the moment, Tiberius had more pressing tasks.

He turned to the other centurions. "Carry on. The sooner this place is cleared out, the better."

They sauted and bustled about their tasks. Now that they'd successfully taken Stonewake, it was time to determine what they would do with its inhabitants. The most obvious answer was simple—set them to work in the mines. That was the entire reason they'd come here, after all, and his Legionnaires certainly weren't the best choice for the job. They were soldiers, not miners.

Besides, Tiberius suspected that Stonewake's population may contain a number of individuals with a mining-related class. If that were the case, perhaps they'd be more efficient workers.

Getting the captives to work as soon as possible would be ideal. However, it didn't escape his notice that the current state of the city wasn't exactly conducive to habitation. Worse, there wasn't an abundance of trees around with which to quickly rebuild it.

That begged the question—could they afford to leave the captives here while Stonewake was made operational again? Or would it be better to transport the entire populace to Habersvile in the meantime? The latter would delay things quite a bit, and watching over the people wouldn't take much additional effort, considering he'd have to leave a hefty garrison here to hold this place anyway. It was just a matter of shelter.

In the end, he decided to leave one cohort behind with the populace to straighten things out. They had orders to retreat if they didn't think they could hold the place against external aggressors or a resurgence of the threat from below. As valuable as the mines were, they weren't worth trying to hold a difficult to defend position—though he somewhat doubted anyone would try to take the burned-out husk of the town at this point. At worst, if attackers did appear, the retreat would ensure they could return and assault the place anew with more manpower.

Tiberius had Lucius pass the orders on using his skills and approached the Pilus Prior of the sixth cohort. "Publius. Report on the state of the mines."

"Better than I'd feared, Legatus," the man admitted. "There's plenty of iron ore already lying around and ready for transport., as well as a few other kinds I don't recognize. We've found a few stragglers of those monsters inside, but they're being handled. The men are also reinforcing the cave-in that the Primus Pilus made, just to make sure those blasted things don't make another appearance."

"Good," Tiberius nodded. "Ensure that we load up as much of the iron as possible for our return trip. I suspect we'll have much use for it rather soon. And do what you can to prepare the place for full operations to resume. Even those supplies will only last so long."

"Yessir. What about the other ores?"

Tiberius thought. "Prepare a few samples of each for transport as well. I know a man who should be able to identify them for us."

Publius saluted and began barking orders to his other centurions as Tiberius left. They would need to start working on supply chains and ways to send things through the surrounding area—not just the mine's ores, but messages and other goods as well. This place could certainly use some of Habersville's wood, after all, and the grain they'd requisitioned on the way over would need to be moved somehow.

Between these two towns, the Legion now possessed a good amount of essential materials—timber, ore, stone, and even monsters that they could farm experience from. Altogether, their little empire was making nice progress. Of course, they couldn't just stop here. As they grew, so too would their needs. And Tiberius certainly had no intention of letting a lack of resources hinder them. And considering how well the actual attack on Stonewake had gone, perhaps they'd seek out a new target sooner rather than later.

The thought reminded him of one more thing that needed tending to—namely, the notification he'd received about razing Stonewake. Evidently, the System wanted him to rename the place and claim it as his own. And given that he saw no obvious way to comply, he figured that meant he needed to visit a class stone.

Tiberius strode through the ashes of his new town as Legionnaires bustled about. He was well overdue for visiting one of the monoliths, and now seemed like a perfect time. Especially considering that flash of light—if it truly had been the result of them leveling… he couldn't help but anticipate the changes that such a milestone might have brought.