The following days were both a whirlwind of activity and a boring slog for Edwin and his friends. As the adventurers weren’t part of the regular army command infrastructure and didn’t have their own staff, the entire logistical workload of preparing for the arrival and integration of several hundred fighters into the division landed squarely on their shoulders.

Bordan and Salissa spent most of the time in the headquarters, working on the administrative side of things along with some helping hands from division logistics – who were themselves quite busy with the influx of new recruits and the march south drawing ever closer. Edwin and Leodin were given the task of making sure that the plan became reality without any hiccups, which meant inspecting the barracks that were already built as well as the ones still in construction to make sure that they were actually ready to house people, talking to the supply staff at the warehouse to set aside space for the cargo that the adventurers would be bringing with them, and a pile of other random tasks that became a necessity when housing, feeding and training thousands of people in a relatively small space. The evenings were spent huddled over a table, trying to come up with a training regimen to quickly and effectively get their guildmates used to fighting as a larger group than just their parties.

The only bright spot during this week was another unexpected reunion. Edwin was talking to the head of the work crew raising up the last barracks they would need when a runner approached him in a jog. He wore the same blue tunic all the young messengers did, so Edwin didn’t notice pay him any attention until he spoke.

“Message for Edwin from Quartermaster Hurns.”

Edwin did a double take, squinting.

“Olin? Is that you?”

“Ay, ya found me out,” the boy said with a grin. “Hoped I could string ya along a bit.”

Edwin shook his head in wonder, looking the urchin – former urchin, apparently – up and down. In his official-looking clothes, with a clean face and hair cut short, he was thoroughly transformed from the scrawny boy that had guided Edwin through the western quarter half a year ago.

“What are you doing here? I went looking for you after I came back, but I couldn’t find you.”

“Soldiers came to town to recruit, so I went to sign up,” Olin said with a smug expression. “Said they couldn’t take me ‘cuz I was too young, ‘cept one of ‘em wasn’t a soldier at all and said I could come work for the Logistics Section until I was old enough. Been here running messages and stuff ever since. Food’s good, bed’s even better.”

“Well look at you, moving up in the world!” Edwin said, chuckling. In the latest upheaval he had completely forgotten about Olin, but after returning from their assignments and failing to find him, Edwin had spent several days wandering Pel Darni’s streets to look for, and even more evenings wondering what had become of the boy. To hear that he’d been fine the whole time, that he had actually found stable employment and a safe place to sleep, was a relief.

They chatted some more, mostly Edwin regaling the boy with an abbreviated summary of his travels, then Olin very sincerely noted that he needed to convey his message and get going, seeing as he had an important task to complete and no time for slacking. Edwin couldn’t help but smile at the serious demeanor with which the young boy held himself. After spending so long fending for himself, scrounging for scraps, it seemed that all the boy needed to blossom was to be taken seriously and entrusted with a measure of responsibility.

--- ----- ---

“Here we go,” Leodin said quietly, and Edwin could only nod. The party was standing beside the fort’s main road, watching the procession that was entering through the gate. It was the first time Edwin had seen this many adventurers in one place, and it drove home the severity of the situation.

The column was led by several hundred grim-faced warriors, wearing cloaks or armored coats against the cold wind, bristling with weapons of all kinds. Then came a number of carts, which kept heading straight toward the storehouses while the adventurers turned off onto the parade ground. Bringing up the rear were another hundred or so adventurers, filling the field with a sea of brown, gray, and green. Unlike the soldiers who always moved about in orderly lines and formations, the adventurers were a disorganized crowd.

General Asher climbed the small stage and began his speech, but Edwin wasn’t listening. It was more of the same, grand words about standing together as one and fighting shoulder to shoulder for the good of all or something. It was a decent speech, but Edwin had never cared much about speeches, to begin with. As far as he was concerned, it was best to give people the information they needed and let them get on with their work.

Instead, Edwin let his eyes roam over the crowd. He made out a few familiar faces, though most of them he only knew by sight. Most of the adventurers looked sullen, with the remaining ones curiously examining the fort or disinterestedly listening to the speech. Edwin only hoped that the annoyance at being drafted faded once they got settled in.

A few minutes later – the general had thankfully kept it short – Bordan stepped onto the stage and began bringing order to the chaos. In a second meeting with the general’s staff, they had decided that no matter what else happened, the adventurers needed to be organized into banners. The fifty-man unit was the foundation of most tactical decisions, and for the commanders to be able to utilize their new fighters, they needed to be quantified in a way the officers would understand. One of the first adventurers to enter had been Gerrit, who had handed Bordan a small stack of documents. They contained a list of what was in the carts, along with the final headcount, broken down into parties, how many were marksmen and how many fighters, and other details. Edwin could practically read the sleepless nights Fiona had spent on the lists between the lines – information like this usually had no benefit to the Guild, so the staff would’ve had to dive deeply into their files, maybe even speak to each group in person, to come up with it. At just over ninety parties, totaling roughly 430 adventurers, that couldn’t have been quick or easy.

The carts had brought with them not just extra gear that was too heavy to easily carry, like Edwin’s armor, but also additional supplies from the limited Guild stores. Each adventurer bought and maintained their own equipment, but the Guild kept some things in storage for emergencies, like stasis-packed food rations, arrows, and bolts, as well as some basic weaponry. From the number of goods sent their way, Edwin suspected that Deputy Ildre had simply thrown the entirety of their emergency supplies onto the carts. Knowing that the Guild had their backs, even as they prepared to march far from its doors, was strangely comforting.

During Edwin’s musings, a number of adventurers had gathered around Bordan, who was explaining the plan they had come up with and handing out officer roles. With just over four hundred people, they would split into a total of eight banners, keeping the parties together. There had been a suggestion by one of the general’s staffers to split up the melee and ranged fighters, but that had been quickly and vigorously shot down by Bordan. The one thing adventurers were really good at was fighting as a party; to take that from them would leave them little better than fresh recruits.

Bordan himself would lead the first banner, which would be the only even remotely specialized one in the entire force. Most adventurers preferred light armor like the ubiquitous adventurer coats, but there were always some that decided to go for something heavier. Even though only two others wore anything close to Edwin’s full suit of armor, there were several fighters with brigandines, a cloth-covered segmented breastplate, and steel covering their arms and legs, as those were most at risk from the fangs and claws of direbeasts. Armor this heavy made them slower than their companions, so Bordan joined their parties together under his command. The first unit, seventy strong, would be a sort of ‘heavy banner’, while the rest of them would be as uniform as could be managed among the individualistic warriors. The rest of the banners would be led by the most experienced party leaders they had, seven grizzled veterans of whom Edwin only knew Gerrit.

Divvying everyone up took several hours, long enough that by the time they were done, the sun had set. Finally, Bordan handed out barracks assignments and briefed them on what they would do during the following days. They only had so much time to train before they needed to head south, and if they wanted to be ready by then, every second mattered.