“Border regions were typically some of the most well-armed places in a country, because when trouble comes knocking they would be the first into the fray, nine times out of ten. You want us to decommission our armies and melt our swords into plows? Why don’t you go and fuck a sow instead, esteemed count?” - Duchess Sevani Utghwes of Dvergarder, circa 402 VA.

“When are we departing, Captain?” asked Bernd Adenauer with some worry in his voice.

They had just received news late the previous night from Avila that there was a suspected enemy force of around five thousand men headed towards Levain’s easternmost border, namely the territory that the former viscount used to rule over. Reinhardt had split the aerial reconnaissance platoon and assigned them to various spots on the borders of Levain territory to serve as an early warning system, and it worked.

Avila spotted the enemy army early the previous morning and reached Levain itself to deliver her report at night. It was a distance that would have taken a week for most means of travel to traverse normally. The enemy army itself was still an estimated four or five days away from the inhabited area of the eastern border, even counting from the time she arrived in Levain.

Reinhardt had naturally relayed the intelligence to the city council, and to his surprise, they immediately gathered and voted in an emergency meeting that very night, opting to send some troops to help support those already in the region. They also requested the Free Lances to participate in the mission as well, as it fell under their contract, being a defensive battle.

“In an hour, councilor,” replied Reinhardt. Once the mission was confirmed he had roused the company’s support staff to prepare things for departure. Roughly half the company – the ones not on training duty that week – would depart to help with the defense, while the rest would continue with training the locals. It was still rather early in the morning, but they were already nearly finished packing and preparing for the deployment.

The city itself would send out ten thousand of its militiamen, but they would likely take longer to reach the east, roughly a week or so. The Free Lances were more accustomed to rapid deployment and could reach the eastern region in half the time, where they would then coordinate with the local defenders – councilor Adenauer’s private home guards and militia from the region – to mount a resistance while waiting for reinforcements.

“You’re coming along with us then?” Reinhardt asked the councilor, who was riding a horse, alongside with around a dozen guards arrayed behind him. They were part of his home guard who had followed him to Levain to escort him, but stayed behind during his trip to Knallzog since that was intended to be an undercover one.

“That land was placed under my jurisdiction, and my family had lived there for generations,” said the former nobleman with a serious tone. Unlike his usually lighthearted, jovial tone, he looked dead serious at that moment as he looked Reinhardt in the eye. “The people who lived there are part of my responsibility. If there were foreign invaders, I should at least be there to fight alongside them.”

“A commendable choice,” he replied in acknowledgement. “I hope you and your men are prepared to ride hard, then. We aim to reach Aldenstadt by the third night from now, so we won’t be slowing down to wait for anyone.”

“We’ll manage,” replied the former nobleman with a slight nod of his head.

Perhaps it was coincidence at play, but Salicia and Grünhildr’s platoons were not on duty that week, which meant that they would be part of the expedition. Even if they were, though, Reinhardt would have brought them anyway. The advantage of having people who knew the land was a great one, so the more locals he could bring along the better.

As it was, he knew that there were a thousand home guards at Aldenstadt, personal soldiers retained by Bernd Adenauer’s family. The region itself was not that heavily populated, but drawing upon a couple thousand people as militia should be doable. That still placed them in a numerical disadvantage without any serious defensive structure to even the odds, however.

After all, the former region Aldenstadt was in could be considered to be right in the heartland of the former Clangeddin Empire. Levain was the only true walled city in that region, with the rest of the territories not really considering the need for fortifications. Disputes between nobles in the former empire rarely escalated to full-blown war, after all, and tend to be settled through duels instead, at worst.

As a result, the civil war that raged through the empire rarely resulted in sieges, but saw a lot of urban fighting instead. The border regions where the majority of the fortifications lay were generally more militarized as well, which made it rarer for them to be the defender. They cleverly invaded others in the richer inner regions of the former empire instead of turning on each other.

That exact situation was part of the issue Reinhardt has to deal with now, though when it comes to it, he would stake his current company against any takers when it comes to irregular warfare. The region Aldenstadt was located in happened to be rather mountainous, which meant there would likely be chances for the company to make good use of the terrain to their advantage.

Of course, since he accepted the mission, he had pored over the best maps he could find to check the terrain around Levain. Similarly, the aerial recon platoon was tasked not only with watching out for enemy activity, but to create more accurate maps that they could rely on. That meant that the company was on limited aerial recon for the time being, with only Hannah – who was kept behind in Levain – and Avila with them, as the rest were spread out in the borders of Levain’s territory.

It was nothing they couldn’t work around, though.