Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 39 Reorganizing an Army of Women

At the main gate of Havencrest Medical Academy in Springvale City - the crash site of the WZ-10 combat chopper.

Luke was leading three reinforced companies, six hundred regular troops in total. But the terrain was a mess, and the roads were worse - too crowded for vehicles. They had to move on foot. Only Luke, his aide, and their driver had a jeep at the center of the formation.

By the time they reached the academy gate, it was already 4 a.m. Over 20% of their men were lost along the way - just about 450 were left standing. And that was thanks to Cliff’s well-stocked gear, or the losses would’ve been uglier.

"Commander, we found tracks from a fleeing convoy," a scout reported as he boarded the command vehicle.

"Yeah? Let’s hear it." Luke lit a cigarette. Last night his troops had fought hard in the field. He’d only popped out for a couple bursts from his rifle before spending the rest of the night catching some shut-eye in the command jeep. So, he was still fresh for now.

The scout continued, "Judging from the tire marks, this convoy’s got at least ten cargo semi-trailers, ten large coaches, three fire trucks, and a dozen or so mid-size transport vans..."

He went on listing. While none of them were trace experts, they knew enough. Especially in an apocalypse like this - those tires had crushed their share of spider-centipedes, so tracks stood out real clear.

"That many?" Luke narrowed his eyes, took a drag. "Pass the word - by any means necessary..."

He didn’t get to finish.

"Commander!" another scout banged on the window and climbed inside. "Sir! Inside the campus market, we found a bunch of male cadets from the police academy - over thirty of them. They’ve got intel on the convoy we’re tracking..."

***** 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

An hour later, Liana climbed onto Magnus’s bus, a list in her hand.

"We have twenty-seven female members requesting to go home. Here’s the list. Twenty-two of them are Awakened."

Magnus gave a small nod. That was fewer than he expected. Considering over 400 of their troops were Havencrest students, homesickness wasn’t out of the ordinary.

"Have they been told what the Seventh Sovereign Vanguard does to women after a few months?" he asked.

"They have. Most of them said if their families are gone, they’ll return to us," Liana replied.

"No." Magnus shook his head abruptly. Liana looked a bit confused. But then, he pulled out a map, eyeballed it, and pointed to a spot far from Dunwich Hollow. "When they leave, tell them Dunwich Hollow Village was destroyed - no longer usable as a base. If they still want to come back, tell them to wait here - we’ll take this new spot as the next base..."

Charlotte walked over, eyebrows raised. "You’re giving them the location of our next base?"

Magnus met her eyes. Something unspoken flashed in his gaze. Charlotte got it right away, sighed, then turned to leave.

They made their choice to leave. The regiment wouldn’t take them back. Giving them wheels and supplies was already more than fair.

Magnus gave them that location for one reason - so they wouldn’t get caught and used by the Sovereign Vanguard as tools for betrayal. At 8 a.m., Magnus personally drove the vehicle escorting the 27 girls out. Most of them were the nursing students rescued the day before.

There was a little twist - once they realized the team was really letting them go, five of the girls had second thoughts and said they wanted to stay. But Magnus wasn’t having any of that. He had been clear that morning - it was their final choice. Now, just like the ones who stayed, none of them had the right to change again.

Back at the camp, all 607 members of the Ice Regiment disembarked fully armed and assembled on the rice field. Among them, 405 were Awakened.

That morning, Magnus had a meeting with the women. Charlotte brought up restructuring the teams, which happened to be exactly what Magnus had been thinking. She was better at the job than him anyway.

Another key topic was that Magnus would no longer handle speeches, morale boosts, criticisms, or summaries. Those would now be taken over by Sophia, Emily, and Charlotte.

For two reasons - first, Magnus just wasn’t good at that. Second, he didn’t want the female members to feel like they were being ordered around by a man.

Charlotte reorganized the whole regiment again. Same structure as before: 10 people per team, each led by an Awakened woman from the original group.

Five teams made up a squad of 50. Each squad had a team leader and assistant leader - the latter picked from the Havencrest girls.

Five squads - 250 people - formed a full battalion. With 607 members, there were now two battalions. Sophia and Emily each led one, while Charlotte kept her original role as the team instructor.

Excluding the 10 squad leaders, their assistants, and the three core leaders, Liana took charge of the remaining 93 members - drivers, logistics personnel, and non-combat roles. They wouldn’t be brought into fights unless absolutely necessary.

New members would also be assigned to Liana’s logistics team first - only promoted into battle roles if losses occurred.

Sophia gave a rousing speech, lifting the morale of the team. Magnus just stood on the side watching. He was satisfied with the new team setup and had to admit - they handled leadership better than he did.

Still, due to Sophia’s insistence, Magnus gained a new "assistant" - Grace. She wasn’t part of the fighting force either.

Sophia had once said she wanted to keep an eye on Magnus 24/7. Now, that job belonged to her sister. With Grace stationed at his side, she felt a lot more comfortable.

By 9 a.m., the restructuring was done. Charlotte gathered the 10 squad and assistant leaders, the senior leadership, and Magnus’s two secretaries for a meeting on one of the buses.

The women who knew a bit of inside news were all eagerly watching. They were dying to know what big announcement the only man in the Ice Regiment - the man who built it from scratch - was planning to make.

If the news didn’t live up to the hype - if it was just vague promises or some dream too far-fetched - Magnus might very well be sidelined by the women he now relied on.

And far off, Luke and his remaining 450 soldiers, fully armed and ready, had already left the zero-kilometer mark of Springvale City, hot on the trail of the Ice Regiment’s convoy...