“We’ve decided to send five thousand elites to reinforce Wesson Gorge, where the army is making a defensive stand to prevent the demons from pushing deeper into the territory behind Fort Gurzil,” stated Sir DelVillar in the meeting room that day. It had only been a few days since the report of Fort Gurzil’s fall, and only one day after some reinforcements, both from the Kingdom and the Temple, gathered in Fort Abernal.
The reinforcements sent was enough to make up for the losses suffered by the troops there while they took over Arh-Getlam as well as to garrison both locations securely with some to spare, which was why Sir DelVillar made the decision to send reinforcements further west. Normally he’d have his hands tied between needing to secure his own position and sending help, but the reinforcements covered that issue neatly.
Even so, the old knight chose to send out only elites, more due to the expediency of the matter than anything. Elites of the mid third tier and higher could typically travel on their own twice or more as fast as weaker troops on carriages, which would cut short their travel time drastically. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have dared to move out so many elites, but the situation being what it was, combined with the presence of reinforcements and promise of further additional troops on the way, allowed the old knight to make the unusual call.
“I will lead this detachment personally, and will bring some of our fourth tier assets as well. How many I would bring with me will depend on you ladies and gentlemen. If you are willing to join the detachment, we will be able to leave behind more of our own locals to make sure that the garrison here and at Arh-Getlam are as secure as they could be,” continued the old knight openly. “Of course, this is on a pure voluntary basis.”
His words sparked some murmurs of discussion amongst the gathered people, both amongst Alissa and her group, the heads of several elite detachments sent by the temple, as well as officers from the reinforcement troops that had arrived at the fort. Out of the three forces, the kingdom’s reinforcement troops were the ones at an awkward position. They only had a single freshly advanced fourth tier knight amongst their number, and were mostly composed of younger recruits.
“Uhh, begging your pardon, Sir,” said the knight in question with obvious nervousness. The old knights like Sir DelVillar and Sir Inolet were practically living legends to youngsters who tread a similar path like them, and to directly face one of your own idols and proclaim inability was not an enviable situation. “I am afraid that the people I brought with me are… unsuitable for such actions. I would be willing to join if you would have me, of course.”
“Understandable. I will have to trouble you to help my boys garrison Fort Abernal and Arh-Getlam, then, Sir Rovel,” replied Sir DelVillar as he addressed the young knight by name. “We will need everyone to be capable of keeping up with a hard march for this, so the younger recruits were honestly never in consideration to begin with.”
“I thank you for the understanding, Sir. I will stake my life to ensure that this place remains secure in your absence!” replied the young knight enthusiastically. Sir DelVillar’s reputation amongst the younger knights was clearly a great one, despite how he and the other old knights stood apart from the Kingdom’s royalty and the temple.
“We would like to help out where we can, Sir,” Alissa stated after the old and young knights finished their conversation. She and her group only had a brief discussion before they came to an agreement to join the detachment. Even for herself, she realized that fighting was the best way to grow her own personal power to reach the point where she would no longer be easy to tug around by the higher-ups in the kingdom. “You can count on us for this.”
“It lifts my spirit to see that we will have the [Heroes] with us. I thank you for your willingness to help, everyone,” said Sir DelVillar with a slight bow. He then looked up and met Sir Inolet’s eye before he asked straightforwardly to his old friend. “Did you happen to help convince them, Henri? That’s real nice of you to take care of your old friend like this.”
“Not a bit, actually. They came to the agreement on their own, didn’t even let us have a word in,” replied Sir Inolet with a shake of his head. Meanwhile, to his side, Magus Drummond nodded and confirmed what he just said to be true. “You know how it is. The kids you train grow up, and in this sort of environment, they grow up quickly.”
“That they did indeed,” replied Sir DelVillar with a chuckle. “I guess I can leave most of my boys and girls behind to guard here, then, if we have the [Heroes] as well as you two with us,” he added. “What about the temple? Will the esteemed ones see fit to join us in the frontlines against our ancient enemy for this battle?”
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“The sarcasm is unnecessary, Sir DelVillar, though I will readily admit that many of my own brethren has shamefully succumbed to very human failings of character in the past,” said the representative chosen by the several groups of priests and temple guards that had arrived in the fort over time. The representative in question was an old woman in her sixties most called Mother Magdalene, who was part of the temple guards and of high rank, judged from the armor she wore. “We have decided that all our elites who will be able to keep up with your detachment will join you, leaving those who are still young and weak here.”
“I see that sometimes your so-called eminences can sometimes send the appropriate people over, for a change. I welcome the assistance, Mother Magdalene,” replied Sir Delvillar bluntly. The altercation between him and one of the leaders of the detachment sent from the temple a while ago was well known by that point, and caused many of the later detachments to either stay out of his path or look at him strangely. It was a breath of fresh air that the representative they chose actually had their mind in the right place, though. “I hope you’ll pardon me for being rude, but some of your juniors could have used some more tempering on their character.”
“A fair assessment. If they were from my monastery I would have whipped their backs raw and bloody for acting that way,” replied the old woman with a scoff, clearly herself not a fan of how some of the other temple guards and priests behaved. “Too many forget that our reason for existence, our holy purpose is to serve the gods as their swords and shields in the mortal realm and instead devolve into indulgence and folly. Even many amongst my equal aren’t spared from such lackings.”
“An epidemic that affects many of the younger generation, I’m afraid,” replied Sir DelVillar with a more friendly tone at the old woman. “I have seen such cases amongst the younger knights and soldiers as well, though like you, I strive to eradicate such behavior from amongst my people. The others could do whatever, I will not stand for such nonsense from my own.”
“It would seem that we share much in common in that perspective, Sir,” replied Mother Magdalene with a slight smile on her wrinkled face. Unlike most of the other priests and temple guards Alissa had met, the old woman was one that looked as if her entire existence was based around discipline and hard work, which was a rather rare thing all considered. “I look forward to working with the famous Immovable Boulder on the field of battle.”
“I look forward to working with you too, Mother Magdalene,” replied Sir DelVillar as he gave the old woman a respectful nod. “By the way, how many of your people will you bring with you? I will need to make arrangements for the garrison depending on the number you’ll be bringing along.”
“I will have everyone of ours who could keep up join this fight. All of them who can do that. That leaves mostly our juniors and some of the weaker priests, I guess,” replied the old woman with a clearly disgusted scoff at the ‘weaker’ priests who were incapable of keeping up with a military unit on the move. Clearly she had very high standards for her own people. “That would be… ten fourth tiers, including myself, and around four hundred of our third tier youngsters.”
“That’s plenty, between your group and the [Heroes] we will have enough high-end combat power that I can leave most of my fellows to stand guard here and be assured of this place’s safety. I will take only a few who have more supportive roles with us,” replied Sir DelVillar with a nod. “I hope your companions will be able to follow my command on this expedition?”
“Certainly, Sir. You are the commander after all. That said, I know what you worried about. Rest assured I will beat it into their thick skulls myself to follow your orders to the letter while we’re working with you,” replied the old woman sternly. The way she acted reminded Alissa of old nuns disciplining her charges from some shows she watched in her previous world.
“Very well, then. I will have the supplies prepared for our journey, and then some. Please have your respective groups prepared for departure. We will depart on the morrow,” said Sir DelVillar before he dismissed the gathering.
The next morning, the expedition army to reinforce Wesson Gorge departed from Fort Abernal, their numbers bolstered by the temple’s contingent and totaling nearly five thousand five hundred strong. Unlike a typical army where their traveling speed were limited by the speed of the carriages they traveled on and carried their supplies, the entire army marched out on foot, each member relying on their own physical capabilities to move at a high speed and to carry their supplies with them.
Every member of the army carried large bundles of supplies on their backs, with the stronger ones carrying ones so large it would probably have filled an entire carriage on its own. Each person carried the amount they were capable of carrying while still maintaining a swift movement pace at the same time, and the supplies they carried were arguably enough for an army twice their own size, when the total amount was considered.
“Why did we bring so much in terms of supplies, sir? Did you expect a prolonged confrontation?” asked Alissa while they traveled. She easily caught up to Sir DelVillar whose speed wasn’t that great to ask him the question despite carrying enough supplies to fill a carriage on her back. It was heavy, but not unlike hiking with a full backpack, she felt. Ethan carried an even more exaggerated amount of supplies on his back, as did a few other strength-focused fourth tiers.
“We brought enough to feed ourselves for a month, the rest I plan to distribute to the cities and towns that are likely having trouble dealing with an influx of refugees near the battlefield,” replied Sir DelVillar with a satisfied nod. “Some of those places are too small to have large stores of food to deal with this sort of emergency, so I figure we’ll help lighten their burden since we’re passing by.”
“I see, which places will we be helping, then?” asked Alissa, feeling more motivated by the old knight’s plan.
“Some of the places we pass by won’t be dealing with refugees since they’re far enough, others would be large enough to deal with it on their own,” said Sir DelVillar openly. “Most of the extra supplies we brought are intended for Eastcliff. That’s a small town north of Fort Gurzil, a few days north of the present defenses. That place is too small to support the refugees that would be flocking their way.”