" Are you dumb? The eastern frontlines are a death flag for career promotion, why would you want to go to such difficult places.
Stay with me, I'll make you major in no time". Major Ratty said as he admonished Max for the stupid idea.
General Zest gave major Ratty the deathglare as he unleashed a bit of his aura to suppress Ratty.
Max felt the powerful aura of general Zest too as he realised that although it was not directed towards him, the aura was still strong enough to make him perspire if it was directed at him.
The small man had an unbelievably strong presence and Ratty immediately regretted his choice of words when he realised that it made Zest mad.
" I'm sure I want to be deployed to the eastern frontlines " Max said with conviction as he met Zest's eyes as the general smiled even more brightly than before.
" Good, then I'll look forward to your future achievements, Captain " Zest said as he promoted Max to the rank of Captain on the spot.
Max would now lead from anywhere between 50-150 Garrisons which would total to about 7500-15,000 troops.
A little short of Max's goal of 20,000 but still a sizable number compared to the small Garrison he commanded now.
Max gave Zest the proper military salute and bowed his head politely for giving him this opportunity.
" What planet do you have in mind for your deployment? As a reward for your bravery I'll let you pick your own battlefield" Zest said as Max beamed in joy at the question.
He did have a particular battlefield in mind, one where his odds of victory would be the best.
" Maralago " Max said as Zest was once again impressed by Max's choice. The man had chosen the toughest battlefront of the three.
" Very well, Maralago it shall be " Zest said with a satisfied expression as he glanced his eyes around the rest of Max's crew and said " I suppose you'll be bringing some men with you? "
Max nodded, he was impressed by the general's keen social sense as he said " Yes sir, a motley crew of 4 people from my Garrison"
" Approved, your service shall start tomorrow morning Captain, don't be late for your reporting, and do enjoy the banquet tonight " Zest said as he dismissed Max and Sebastian and began socialising with other guests.
Max clenched his fists in joy, he had managed to score an opportunity to climb the ladder of the vampire society. While today he was only known as a rising star of the Titus clan military, his name would soon resound amongst the rising stars of the vampire kind as a whole!
What Max did not know however, was that tomorrow morning at the reporting he was going to face lieutenant Marcus, the Aurelius heir stripped from his titles and his privileges, under the military oversight of Max.
**********
( Meanwhile Erasmus )
A tired Erasmus sighed as he read the daily report.
5 men were lost today in needless scuffles and one of them was even a tier3 strongman.
The group had decided to hunt for food in the vampire controlled forests and were spotted by a scout and later ambushed by a group of 25 enemies.
Needless to say the fight was utterly one sided and the 5 barbarians died a swift death filled with a thousand cuts.
' For how long do I need to teach these people that they must not go hunt in Vampire controlled lands. It's a dumb decision, but every year a 100 fools die because they attempt it anyways ' Erasmus thought as he crumpled the report and threw it into the fire nearby.
Erasmus was reaching the end of his tenure as the chieftain of Maralago and wanted to find a successor for himself soon, but none of the youngsters in the clan were able to impress him enough for him to hand over the post of chieftain to them.
Erasmus was the tier 5 barbarian chieftain of Maralago. He was the de facto head of all operations on the planet and was responsible for not conceding a single acre of land to the vampires in decades.
Unlike his tribe which was very backward in their approach to civilization, Erasmus was a man of honour.
He did not speak the uncouth barbarian tongue of slangs and insults, he did not indulge in barbaric practices such as eating the liver of their dead enemy, nor did he approve of taking prisoners of war.
The tales of his valour and righteousness made him a respected individual even inside the vampire camp as one of the code virtues of Erasmus was that he never attacked an opponent a tier weaker than himself first.
He would let weaker opponents slide by unharmed and did not allow his men to kill retreating troops who had thrown their weapons. A quality that garnered him both praise and hatred.
Amongst his own crew, many were sick of his holier than thou attitude, however, he was the strongest of everyone on the planet, capable of stalling an entire army of 10,000 alone, hence his power ensured that nobody dared to rebel against his principles.
Recently, Erasmus was reaching the peak of tier 5 and after his ascension he would no longer be allowed to enter the planet as per the peace treaty and hence he was grooming a number of potential candidates to replace him when his time to ascend came.
While he was unaware of this, the news of his ascension were common news amongst his tribesmen and a hidden war of succession had already begun from the shadows.
The once cohesive barbarian unit was starting to crack from the within, and their leader Erasmus was none the wiser about all this.
This beef was one of the big reasons behind what allowed the vampires to create an opening and seize Maralago in Max's past life, and one of his key tasks as captain was to fan these exact flames in this life.
—-------
/// This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron Cervantez91, please thank him in the comments for this one. ///