“Always more beneficial to be on the defense when you got a nice, cozy fortification to hide behind.” - Old soldier’s saying.

“This… is quite a thorough and extensive plan to come up with in a couple of days…” noted councilor Estelle when Reinhardt and Daleeni invited her to review the defense plans they cooked up together over the past couple of days.

In the past, Levain had attempted to pose themselves as neutral, and as such, avoided moves that might appear to be a prelude to aggression to their neighbors. That was the main reason why Aldenstadt, as the easternmost city in the Free City’s territory, was neither heavily fortified nor strongly garrisoned, as the building of either a military fortification or the placement of a strong garrison could be viewed as an aggressive shift by others.

Now that their neighbor to the east, the Podovniy March, made the first attack, they no longer had to bother with that worry, as it no longer had any meaning. It was why the council had so quickly approved placing a stronger garrison force in Aldenstadt. Estelle herself had wanted to suggest that they reinforce the city’s walls, but Reinhardt and Daleeni beat her to the punch in that regard.

Drawn meticulously on the large sheet of parchment laid out on the table before them was the schematic for a fortification, one that called for a design that appeared like a four-pronged star with a bloated center section, or of a square with wedges pointed outwards from each corner. The plan called for the city to only have two gates, one for the eastern road and another for the western one.

As for the forested areas of the hills to their north and south, they would be liberally sown with devious and lethal traps of every sort in order to prevent any invading party from using them as concealment. The defenders would naturally know the safe paths between the trapped areas, so they could still use the forests for concealment and ambushes.

The fort’s design with the prolonged wedges at the corners meant that the roads would be placed under a killing field for marksmen situated atop the walls, with the angles meaning that the setup formed a natural killing field along the road where marksmen from the eastern wall, as well as those on the north-eastern and south-eastern sections could converge their fire with ease.

Since the fort was planned to encompass the city itself, it could easily accommodate the additional garrison of five thousand more people, which placed roughly eight thousand defenders in the city, including the local militia and home guards. It was a force to be reckoned with when they were aided by defenses like the planned ones.

None of the locals were worried about lacking material to build the fort. Aldenburg might be relatively poor in natural resources, but they had good stone in abundance, which were excavated from many quarries throughout the region, mostly on the western side. As for manpower, after having fallen under enemy threat once, the locals were all too eager to volunteer to help with the construction.

After all, it was for the defense of their own homes to begin with.

“Captain Stefan Horst of the Horst’s Hellraisers is a close friend of my late aunt,” explained Reinhardt. “I’ve learned a few things from him, though my expertise in defensive structures and fortifications are at best beginner level compared to a master like him,” he added. “Still, I know enough to be able to theorize some designs based on what he taught me.”

“Even here we are familiar with the reputation of the Hellraisers. I think many wanted to employ them, but wavered due to their preference for defensive missions,” noted Estelle with a shake of her head. “As you might have guessed and learned already, in the turmoil since the Empire’s end, most powers that remained were scrambling to acquire more territory, so even if they do hire mercenaries it would mostly be for the offense, while their victims would have a hard time employing mercenaries of the Hellraisers’ caliber.”

“Uncle Stefan is pretty content with his current work in Posuin anyway, since they employed him to build their defenses there,” said Reinhardt. “That said, had you considered offering employment to them as well? I thought they’d be a good fit for your needs.”

“Their defensive preferences are indeed a fit for our own preferences, but the problem is on the training front. The Hellraisers are predominantly dwarven in personnel and mostly used dwarven tactics, no?” asked councilor Estelle with a shake of her head. “Our militia is a mixed bag, but humans remained dominant in number, so I do not think the fighting style they could teach would fit our needs well.”

“Fair point, I guess. You’d probably also run into issues getting what dwarves consider proper equipment for so many men and women, since a lot of dwarven tactics were made under the assumption that the troops executing them were properly armed and armored according to their standards,” noted Reinhardt with a smile. “I guess it made sense that you chose my company in the end.”

“It was something of a gamble and not necessarily agreed upon by everyone in the council, but one I’m glad I chose to make,” said Estelle with a smile of her own in return. “You and yours have gone above and beyond our expectations so far, so we expect to see more pleasant surprises from you in the future, should you be willing. We will likely be working together hand in hand for the next few years, after all.”

Estelle’s words carried a few unspoken implications that reminded Reinhardt how Bernd Adenauer had also handed him a list of councilors that the company was expected to help take down a peg or two when the situation allowed. Of course, that the vast majority of the names on that list also happened to be people who were against employing the Free Lances in the first place was a pleasant bonus.

“Why, madam councilor,” said Reinhardt with a hearty chuckle that displayed all of his sharp, sizable fangs. “That is what you paid us for in the first place. We would only be too happy to oblige.”