Buttons were stitched onto the soldier's uniform, however as skirmishers had no official uniform or even unofficial uniform, it was entirely up to Bertrand to decide what to do with them.

Most of his fellow skirmishers would turn them into a decoration of sorts. Some would wear them as earrings, or necklaces, the common consensus was to turn them into rings.

Bertrand chose to keep them in the pouch for now, at least until he was confident about what he actually wanted to do with them.

So after carefully putting the pouch inside his personal rucksack, he took off his clothes, wiped himself down, and got changed again.

Before heading out to get some dinner.

It was soup, it was always soup.

Bertrand was happy at first when they got soup instead of bread but Seer did he grow tired of it, at least bread was fibrous most of the time.

He still ate without complaining though, finishing up the soup and then heading off to go to sleep.

For the first time in days he felt clean, perhaps it impacted his mental state as well, as upon falling alseep he simply dreamed of nonsensical things like talking cows and flying dogs.

Waking up he actually felt pretty rested.

He also woke up somewhat later than usual, with both Césaire and Francois having already departed.

His morning routine was the same it had always been, go and get some cold soup and then head off to the meeting point to wait for his squad.

He didn’t quite know why but it seemed skirmishers were always the first to wake up.

So he spent the next few minutes waiting for his teammates, and when they arrived he headed with them to one of the runners.

Upon getting their orders they headed out of the wagon circle.

There was no need to find gaps as the wagons were set up a few dozen feet from each other, those large gaps filled with a few dozen small holes to trip up any attackers.

Wouldn't really work for an organised foe but the zombie’s commander was dead so they were back to animalistic levels of intellect.

Though, a part of Bertrand was worried it was a trap, maybe they were being lured into a false sense of security.

Though, the officers were not incompetent, at least not anymore.

So most likely everything was fine, they would have either made sure all the zombies leadership was dead or they had a countermeasure ready.

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It was a calm and peaceful day, they didn't even encounter any zombies as they patrolled a few hundred yards from the left side of the road.

The grass swayed gently in the light breeze, they even got a few clouds that passed over head every now and then.

This temporary shade alongside the wind helped them deal with the heat.

It wasn't actually really hot though, it was just the sun's rays that made them think it was.

After hours spent on the lookout for any tunnels, and being on guard for an attack that never came, the sun was starting to set.

Their mission was complete. So after one last quick look over the plains they were done.

And they headed weary back to camp, tomorrow they would be doing this all over again. As well as working on setting up a new camp.

They should only have to do this for a few more days though as Willstona was now only a short distance away.

Seer they could probably force march there within a day if they truly had to.

Walking back into the camp, Bertrand grabbed some soup, stuffed it down his gullet, walked over to his tent.

And opened it up before plopping down on his bedroll.

Falling asleep in an instant, he also woke up in what felt like an instant.

Sunlight pouring in through the opened tent flaps as Césaire made their way outside.

A new day had appeared and with it new challenges.

Those challenges being some more scouting and setting up a new camp.

Bertrand let out a sigh as he got out of bed, all he wanted to do was sleep, and soon he would be able to.

Once they got to Willstona they would fortify it. Rest for a few days, then prepare for the later part of the campaign.

The first part was getting to Willstona, the second part was puging everything that surrounded the town of life.

Nothing would be spared, birds would be shot alongside deer and rabbits. Of course zombies would also be culled.

Perhaps if they knew more about how it spread they would be able to avoid unnecessary killing but reports had come back in from the seventh legion about zombie cattle.

How these reports were received Bertrand didn't know, probably through magical means.

Seer was it horrifying when the runners told them about it at dinner.

Somehow the thought of zombie deer or horses was even more unnerving than normal zombies.

Turning over to see Francois getting grabbing their beamer Bertrand decided he might as well ask them.

“Hey Francois, for some reason I’m more concerned over zombie deer rather than human zombies, any reason for that.”

“Deer are herbivores, you subconsciously think of them as a non threat, so when it turns out they are in fact a very deadly threat and they want to eat you, it unnerves you.”

Nodding his head Bertrand pretended he understood what a herbivore was.

He could guess of course, it meant wildlife or something similar to it.

With a quick word of thanks to Francois, he also grabbed his beamer and headed outside, a few seconds after Francois had left the tent.

They walked together to get breakfast, not really talking about anything important, just random forgettable things.

Grabbing and empty bowl, Bertrand got his soup and gulped it down in an mere minute.

He wasn't exactly hungry, he was just in an impatient mood.

The faster he got to work the faster it would be done.