“Sometimes the value of a mere gesture could well be priceless.” - Old folk saying.

“Oh? You’re young Scipius, aren’t you?” asked Councillor Bernd Adenauer as he noticed the youth that led the welcoming party from Caroma. “Last time I saw you, you were still a young boy, trailing after your mother in the celebratory feast we had. You’ve sure grown up to be a splendid young man! I’m sure your parents are proud of you!”

“Councillor Adenauer,” greeted the young officer politely, clearly somewhat embarrassed from having his childhood memories told in public like that. He quickly regained his poise, though not fast enough to prevent Reinhardt from noticing the momentary embarrassment. “Father had asked me to escort you and your… hired help for the duration of your stay in our borders.”

“Someone you know, then?” Reinhardt asked the Councillor with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah, right, Captain Edelstein, this promising young lad is… Subcommander Scipius Cornelius Barca. Eldest son of Marshalls Publius Cornelius and Anni-Al-Bagh Barca, who you might have heard of,” introduced the nobleman, only pausing for a brief instant to take a look at the young man’s military rank insignia. “Scipius, this is Captain Reinhardt Edelstein of the Free Lances, our recent hire.”

“A pleasure meeting you, Captain,” said the young man as he extended a hand in greeting. “I have read the reports about your rebuilding of the company after Theodinaz. That was an inspiration for me, to never give up despite the odds.”

“Nice to meet you too,” replied Reinhardt as he shook the young man’s hand. He had indeed recognized the names mentioned by the Councillor. They were both generals with some renown from two regions that were now part of Caroma. Apparently after the union, they also got closer with each other and got married as well. It must have happened pretty early in the civil war, considering the age of their child.

“The journey through Caroma is slated to take approximately a week and a half, since we’re traveling from west to east,” said Scipius politely as the convoy started moving. The lands that combined to form Caroma were roughly three times wider than they were tall on a map, so it was indeed a rather long trek to reach Levain, to the east. “We would also be traveling a bit close to the southern border for expediency, so please be prepared in case some of our neighbors decided to try their luck during our trip.”

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“Still plenty of skirmishes, then?” asked Reinhardt. To the south of Caroma were mostly smaller territories, former counties and baronies in the Empire’s era that had now broken up and declared their own independence. Some had joined with others, either in an alliance or by being conquered, while others kept standing on their own.

“It is how it is, unfortunately,” admitted the young officer with a shake of his head. “While our east and west are reasonably secure, and we have a growing relationship with our northern neighbor, most everyone to our south are foes, other than Levain. On their own, none of them are our match, but there are enough of them that we could not march against one without drawing the ire of the rest, which would be a risky endeavor at best.”

“A stalemate where neither side has any real advantage, then,” noted Reinhardt.

“Indeed so. Our alliance with Levain helped secure one flank, but they lacked the capability to go on the offensive, otherwise Mother would have already led an expedition south to crush them all and be done with it,” explained the young officer. “Not that I blame them for that. Hopefully your Company will be able to change that, though.”

“That’s what we’re being paid to do, so we’ll do our best,” replied Reinhardt. The logic behind what Scipius said was something he understood well. According to Bernd, the vast majority of Levain’s troops were citizen militias. People like those would have high morale on defense, since they were fighting for their homes and families, but that was rarely the case on the offensive, unless they were promised wealth or plunder.

Even then their morale would never reach as high as it would in defense. Many people would willingly fight to the death in order to keep their homes and families safe, but those who would do so for money were fewer by far.

That said, while the convoy ponderously – they could not move that fast even with wagons to transport everyone, as their speed was pretty much dictated by the speed of their beasts of burden – continued on its way through Caroma lands, Reinhardt couldn’t help but wonder on the luck that the Free City of Levain had.

The way that the Caromans willingly sent the son of their best generals to escort them – the young man clearly a talent on his own rights – was a gesture of trust that would be hard to find between people who were suspicious of each other. As such, it was more likely that the Caromans took the alliance very seriously, which meant a reliable ally on Levain’s left flank.

Which wasn’t a bad thing, as it would at least make his job easier.

Scipius continued escorting the group through their journey, with the hundred men under his lead following. He had only brought the cavalry half of his century – the Caroman term for a hundred-man unit – to greet the convoy because at the time he had the other half under his second in command arrange for a feast by a nearby town to welcome the guests with.

Both halves of the century had since joined together, the infantrymen traveling by open-topped wagons alongside the convoy, while the cavalrymen rode their steeds. Scipius himself often spent some time chatting with Reinhardt or some of the mercenary lieutenants as they traveled. Even so, they never truly let down their guard as they traveled, with at least half the mercenaries wearing their armor and with weapons in easy reach.

That prudence proved to be a wise choice when on the fourth day of their journey, when the road took them particularly close to Caroma’s southern border, a raiding party from the neighboring power saw the convoy from afar and mistook it to be lightly guarded – the mercenaries traveled with covered wagons, so the raiders probably couldn’t see the armed people inside – and chose to attack.