***Three days after Timothy's execution***

"Get back! Get back!" a Hellhound knight yelled as he and his comrades dodged a massive foot that was as big as a horse. Towering over twelve meters above them with a dilapidated human form whose lanky arms swung in wide arcs like whips and whose hands grasped the knights it struck to shove into the maw that opened from its bulging stomach was a demon known as a cyclops. The cyclops' face was human but split open vertically down the middle to make way for a massive black eye with a single small infernal red light as its pupil that stared at the knights at its feet. Its ashy white skin flaked off like snow that dusted the battlefield with every step it took. During times of war, it was not uncommon for an infernal gate to appear and spew forth demons that threatened both sides of the conflict. In response to this threat it was a commonly agreed upon accord that should a demon be sighted near a battlefield all sides cease fighting until the demons are subjugated and any infernal gates sighted are closed. And since Duke Hoffman didn't want to waste his own knight order to deal with the cleanup, it fell to the Hellhounds to take down the cyclops demons that were showing up.

"Watch the arms! Don't let it gra-AGH!" The Hellhound knight was picked up by the cyclops' massive hand and shoved into the maw in its stomach. Five layers of razor-sharp teeth that oscillated back and forth tore the man to shreds and sprayed the battlefield with his blood and minced flesh.

"Damn it! We're not equipped for this!" Standard Urldrusk doctrine for dealing with cyclops demons was to pelt them with helsgar catapults until they fell over where knights would then swarm on top of it and hack through its neck and eye to kill it. But the Hellhounds didn't have helsgar catapults, they barely managed to obtain six horses for their sixty remaining knights and those were being used for pulling supply wagons. "What are we supposed to-"

"!?!" A deafening screech shocked the knights as the cyclops was hit in the head by a large boulder causing it to stumble back. While it didn't fall over, the cyclops was forced to move away from the knights which gave them some much-needed breathing room.

"Who-?" The knights turned around to see Elise, Peter, and Lucina rushing toward the battle after finishing dealing with their cyclops.

"Get ready!" Lucina shouted as Elise used her earth magic to rip another boulder out of the ground. With a wave of her arm, Lucina used her gravity magic to hurl the boulder directly at the cyclops' disoriented head for a second headshot. This time there was no screech as the second boulder knocked the demon unconscious, but it still didn't fall. In a flash of blue flames, Peter rushed forward and sliced the demon's ankles forcing it to finally collapse to the ground. The knights present were stunned so Lucina barked an order to get them moving, "Hurry up and kill it before it wakes up!"

"R-Right!" Now that the demon was down, the Hellhounds charged forth and worked to hack away and sever the huge demon's head from its body. As they did, and once it was clear that the cyclops wasn't waking up, Lucina, Peter, and Elise ran toward the next group of knights that needed assistance.

"…Hey?" one of the Hellhounds turned to his comrades as they finished decapitating the cyclops. "Do you guys…believe that whole 'Harbinger' business?"

"Can't say that I do," another knight admitted as he sat down to catch his breath. "But I'll admit that kids got something others don’t. Whether that makes her The Harbinger of Zulm or not is something I won't mess with. We've got enough to deal with as is just trying to survive."

"Even if she's our new boss?" the first knight asked.

"That's a load of horseshit and you know it," a third knight joined the conversation with his remark. "Everyone knows Peter's the one doing the actual leading and the kid's just a puppet since she's the only one here with a surname that still means something."

"That 'puppet' also just saved our lives and looks like she's off to save more, too," the first knight countered.

"Yeah yeah," the third sarcastically agreed with the first and the three men continued to argue until the day ended and they could finally return to camp. This marked the first battle of the war where the Hellhound knight order sustained only minor losses.

***Seven days after Timothy's execution***

"We need more bandages over here!"

"Just hold still, I need to clean the wound."

"All critical patients go to the west side! If your bones are still inside your body then you're not critical!" Carl yelled over the crowd to bring some order to the chaos. The Hellhound camp was in disarray as the knights returned after a hard-fought battle alongside Duke Hoffman's Olive Lynx knights against a Peltairan fort. Though 'alongside' wouldn't be the right word as Hoffman ordered the Hellhounds to spearhead the attack and forced them to take the brunt of the defender's fury while his knights pressed up from behind. Hoffman didn't even offer any of his order's medical supplies so the Hellhounds were forced to make do with what they had as Jeremy distributed what little supplies they had left.

"Fucking shit!" a knight cursed as he leaned heavily against a log to support him. A deep gash ran down his leg that was getting dirt in it since there was no designated place for patients so they were using the clearing in the center of their camp.

"Hey, easy! Easy!" another knight tried to calm the first one. "Quit squirming so I can at least bandage the wound shut!" Disinfectant was a luxury they didn't have.

"You try having a fucking gash in your leg the-!"

"Step aside!" Lucina suddenly appeared and knelt down next to the injured knight. "Is this your only injury?"

The first knight was surprised by Lucina's presence but answered her, "…Yeah."

"Then clench your teeth," Lucina said and conjured water that she manipulated to clean out the wound the best she could.

"!!!" Although it was painful, the injured knight refused to cry out.

"There." Lucina threw the water into a nearby fire where it evaporated away. She turned to the second knight and said, "Now you can bandage him."

"A-Ah…Right." Now that the wound was at least somewhat clean the chance of infection was greatly reduced and the second knight quickly bandaged the first.

"…Don't you need rest, kid?" the bewildered first knight asked as he watched Lucina stand up on shaky legs and down a magic potion.

"Once I finish my rounds, I'll take a break," Lucina replied and moved on to clean the next patient's wounds while on the other side of the camp, Elise exhausted herself using her healing magic on the critically wounded.

The two knights Lucina just helped looked at each other for a brief moment before the second one mentioned, "Well, at least she's putting in more effort than Timothy ever did as leader." No matter how badly the knights got hurt, Timothy would always prioritize using their medical supplies on his own injuries first even if it was just a minor cut. One of the ways he would ensure loyalty in his followers was giving them first pick at supplies, too, so to see Lucina actively helping out instead of relaxing in the commander's tent she inherited with the position was unusual for the Hellhounds.

"Yeah…" the first replied as his eyes moved to his bandaged leg. "Here I am bitching about my leg when she's able to hold it in and keep working."

"Huh?" the second asked and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Their leg's injured?"

"Look at how she's walking," the first said and pointed to Lucina. As Lucina got up from helping another knight she was noticeably limping on her right leg despite trying to hide it, and a blood stain was running down her pants from the wound. "Probably took a graze from a sword, or something. Crazy kid's fighting on the frontline even though she could just hang back."

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"…" The second knight watched Lucina continue to hobble around camp cleaning out wounds and assisting in bandaging the knights all while not getting her own wounds treated. "Aw Hells," he cursed and headed over to Lucina. "Hey! Don't forget to clean your own wounds!"

"Huh?" Lucina was actively sweating from how hard she was pushing her body despite the cold air around them. She followed the knight's gaze to her leg before saying, "Ah, I'll deal with it in a-"

"Clean it," the second knight knelt down next to her and took out the last of his bandages. "Elise won't have enough magic left to heal you once she finishes her rounds."

"It's not that bad," Lucina tried to deflect.

"What's the point of you taking charge if you're just going to collapse from infection, Boss?"

"…" Lucina was shocked that one of the Hellhounds actually called her something other than 'kid' like they usually did, but to also be called Boss? "Okay," Lucina relented, took a pained seat by the fire, and took off her pants so the knight could bandage her wound after using water magic to clean it. Once he finished, Lucina put her pants back on and stood back up with the knight's help. "…Thanks."

"Of course, Boss." The second knight stayed with Lucina for the rest of her rounds to help patch up the knights. Lucina pushing herself despite being injured didn't go unnoticed by the Hellhounds and the whispers around camp were blowing in a new, more favorable, direction.

***Fourteen days after Timothy's execution***

"That's the last of them!" a Hellhound called out as she flicked the blood off her sword. Currently, the Hellhounds were tasked with assisting Duke Mordrist in pushing the southern front by delving deep into enemy territory to intercept and destroy supply caravans.

"Good work!" Lucina complimented once they fully secured the area. This was her first time being on a mission without one of her usual companions so she wanted to do her best in front of the Hellhounds. "Gather everything together so we can finish up and leave before they notice we're here."

"Got it!" Despite her being a child, the Hellhounds had recently started listening to her as more than just a 'puppet' for Peter. The knights quickly went to work moving supply wagons into a central spot and throwing Peltairan bodies off the dirt road. "Man," one of the Hellhounds complained as he dejectedly looked at one of the wagons they were about to burn filled with food, "It's such a waste." He patted his stomach which growled at the sight of all the food.

"We can't help it," the first knight dejectedly sighed and held her torch high. "We don't have horses to pull these back, and they'd only slow us down if we tried pulling them. Gotta burn them."

"Ugh!" the second knight grumbled in annoyance but held his tongue.

"…Yeah, it is a shame," Lucina idly commented as she watched the Hellhounds bring their torches near the supplies. Then she got an idea and cried out, "Stop!"

"Huh?" The knights brought their torches away from the supply wagons and turned toward Lucina.

"Search the crates for magic potions!" Even if the Peltairans didn't use Magisters, they still relied on gravity magic to help quickly build their forts, so it was right to assume they'd need those builders supplied with potions.

After a minute of searching one of the knights waved and said, "I've got a crate over here, but it's not like we can take it back." The crate of potions was large and cumbersome to handle with only people which would delay their escape back to friendly territory.

"Actually, we can!" Lucina excitedly ran over to the wagon with the crate of magic potions, opened it up, and drank one. The knights watched her with confused looks on their faces before Lucina ordered the first knight, "Get in front of the wagon and pick up the tongue."

"…Okay?" While she wasn't sure what Lucina was trying to do, she went along with it since Lucina seemed like she knew what she was doing. The knight walked over and picked up the long wooden tongue that steered the front axle of the wagon. "What now?"

"Start pulling." Lucina's answer made the first knight raise an eyebrow at her. "Trust me," Lucina said and lifted her hand to activate her gravity magic.

"Alri-Oh!" The first knight didn't think she would be able to make the wagon budge, but when she pulled she found the wagon easily started to follow her. All the surrounding knights gasped as the first knight, by herself, was pulling the wagon filled with supplies.

"I want one knight on each wagon!" Lucina ordered. "The rest of you scout our way back so we don't run into any of Peltaira's forces!"

"Got it, Boss!" Seeing that it was possible to steal instead of destroy the supplies, the Hellhounds all happily complied with Lucina's orders. They were the worst-supplied knight order of the kingdom so to get eight whole wagons of supplies was a gift from the gods for them. As the knights picked up the tongues of the wagons, Lucina used her gravity magic to change the wagon's gravity point to the pulling knight and intensified it just enough so that the wagon would easily follow the knight that steered it with the tongue. And thanks to the crate of magic potions she could easily maintain this for all eight wagons. While their journey back took a bit longer than they originally planned, no one complained about the results of their raid and the Hellhounds feasted that night while giving a toast to Lucina.

***One month after Timothy's execution***

"We're back, Boss!" A group of Hellhounds entered the large commander's tent in their camp to report their return.

"How'd it go?" Lucina asked as she and Peter were standing around a table in the center of the large tent looking at a map of the area. Small wooden blocks of different colors were placed around the map signifying the various forces on the frontline that Peter was using to help teach Lucina what he could about conducting warfare.

"The ambush was a success!" the knight proudly declared and plopped down a bag on the table next to the map. "Here's everything we got from the messenger as well as a captain who was escorting them."

"Did we lose anyone?" Lucina asked as she poured the bag out onto the table so she and Peter could start sifting through all the letters and documents it contained.

"Just a couple scratches, but we all made it back."

"I'm glad. Still, see Elise about those scratches since we're going to be moving camp tomorrow and I don't want anyone still injured when we do."

"Got it, Boss!" the knights gave casual salutes and left the tent.

"You should really let me discipline them some more," Peter commented as he organized a stack of letters from the bag. He thumbed through the reports and added, "Being friendly with them is fine, but you need to make sure they know who's in charge."

"I know," Lucina replied and knocked over one of the red blocks on the map. "You can start pushing them a bit more next week, but we're still building morale with what we have left of the raided supply wagons. I want them to know I'm on their side and they can actually trust me as a commander."

"That comes naturally with time," Peter commented and moved two red blocks across the map to reinforce a lone red block in the north. "While we are still gaining ground, we're not pushing nearly as quickly as when the war started. This won't end soon so I believe it would be a good idea to start reining them in and turning this group into a proper knight's order so they can survive the long haul."

"Hmm," Lucina hummed to herself as she surveyed the map before giving a tired yawn.

"We should probably end here," Peter said and set the stolen letters down. "You've only gotten busier since taking charge so you need sleep, kid."

"Not yet." Lucina rubbed her eyes and started to move a blue block. "I need to be better, and I still need to write that report for the capital; to think Timothy was actually busy in here and not just being lazy," she gave a tired sigh and tossed the documents she was holding back onto the table. She didn't have time to sleep, no matter how tired she was, with how much they were getting yanked around the frontline, or how she was now in charge of eighty-six people she had to manage, train, and send out on missions. While she did send a report back informing the capital of Timothy's death it was still too early for a reply, but that didn't stop Marcus' loyalists from yanking her and the Hellhounds around. Even if they did get an occasional reprieve from the royal family's loyalists like now with them following Duke Mordrist none of them knew how long that would last and Duke Hoffman was already calling for them. "We're still tied to Duke Mordrist, for now, so we'll have to follow her push out of The Crimson Forest and into The Tangzu Foothills before we head for Duke Hoffman. If we do that, then Peltaira will probably-"

"Lucina?" Interrupting the strategy lesson, Carl poked his head into the tent.

"What is it?" Lucina answered and saw confusion clearly evident on Carl's face.

"You're gonna need to see this; there's a caravan here for you."

"…A what?" Lucina and Peter looked at each other dumbfounded since the supplies they received from the royal family shouldn't be here until next month. "Lead the way." Lucina donned her blood-red wizard's robe and quickly followed after Carl who led her through their camp, which was bathed in the last light of the setting sun, and out to the western edge where Lucina was met with a baffling sight. A caravan of at least thirty wagons wove through the forest and approached the Hellhound's camp. While the caravan had armed guards they didn't seem like knights and looked more like hired mercenaries.

"Ah, good, you're here," Jeremy greeted Lucina and motioned to a man in his mid-thirties who wore a sturdy pair of boots, thick hide pants, and had a thick overcoat that was wrapped tightly around them who Jeremy was speaking to. "Lady Felswore, this is Joseph of the Trent Merchant Group."

"Trent?" Lucina's face lit up with surprise and she studied Joseph's clothes before her eyes landed on the Trent group's logo sewn onto the upper left side of his overcoat. "Were you sent by Ol-…by Her Highness?"

"That is correct, Lady Felswore," Joseph replied and gave a bow. More Hellhound knights started gathering around to see what was happening. "Under the blessing of His Majesty, Trent will be working directly with Her Highness, Olivia Ordrin, to personally supply the Hellhound knight order." Joseph gave a wave of his hand and the Trent workers started unloading the wagons for the Hellhounds to take. "While I was originally sent to meet with Timothy Braxton, I was informed by Jeremy here about the ordeal that took place last month." Joseph gave Lucina a pitiful look and bowed again. "I greet the new commander of the Hellhounds as your personal liaison to Trent and hope we can have a long, and prosperous, relationship!"

"There's real armor, here!?" a Hellhound shouted as he opened one of the crates to find newly crafted pieces of plate armor.

"There's chainmail in this one!"

"I've got herbs and bandages over here!" Like children opening presents, the Hellhound knights were overwhelmed with emotions as they went through the crates of supplies. "Did the Crown Princess really send all this?"

"Correct!" Joseph happily replied. "As I said, Her Highness has decided to personally give sponsorship to the Hellhounds so this will be the first of many such caravans to bring you supplies. I would also like to take some of your time, Lady Felswore, to go over anything you need that isn't in this first delivery so that we may address it immediately." Glee swept over the Hellhounds as they started rummaging through the crates.

But such gifts also brought skepticism as another knight spoke up, "Is this a bribe? Why would Her Highness go so far just for us?"

"…" The knights exchanged uneasy whispers and just as Lucina was about to speak another knight reprimanded the first, "So what if it's a bribe? If she's going to feed and give us real equipment then I'll gladly wag my tail to Her Highness' tune."

"Yeah, I can't remember the last time I felt a coat as nice as this! It's so warm!"

"If you wanna complain then that means you're fine not getting any of this, right?"

"I-I never said I wouldn't accept it!" While embarrassed, the skeptical knight quickly changed their stance as they wrapped a new coat around their shivering body. "Glory to Her Highness!" a cheer was picked up and roared across the Hellhounds from the gratitude for the gifts they received.

With a smile on her face, Lucina turned to Peter and gave her orders, " Peter, Carl, organize everyone and start handing out the supplies! We're delaying tomorrow's departure so take your time and make sure it's done right. Jeremy, go over the stock with me and start making a list of things we still need."

"Understood!" the three men replied and got to work.

"Ah, Lady Felswore, one more thing!" Joseph called out before Lucina had a chance to leave and he rummaged through his coat to pull out a sealed letter. "I was tasked with also delivering to you this letter from Her Highness."

"…From Olivia?" It had been over a month since she'd gotten in touch with Olivia because she had been moving around so much and barely found time to check for mail after taking over the Hellhounds. Even through her gloves, Lucina could feel a warmth from the letter that soothed her heart.

"Come on, let's hurry back to your tent and I'll read it for you~," the fake Olivia draped her arms over Lucina's shoulders as she looked at the letter. Both she and Lucina smiled as the fake's words accented the letter's warmth with her unnatural chill, "My little Lucina~."