The burning fire was mesmerizing, capturing all attention. The constant change in tones of red through its flaming dance created a spectacular picture under the light of two moons. Together with firewood crackling and rare owl hooting, it made the atmosphere even cozy, despite everything that preceded it. That was a strange feeling for Robert. Even contradictory. However, it was a safe fuse for his mind after a huge dosage of adrenaline and a death threat. His previous experience differed by a lot from this. Mainly because the aftermath was no less traumatic.
He still could remember desperate lamentations of Taurus. The fat guy with a child's face barely passed Sergeant’s test to stay in their squad only to be gravely injured in the very first battle. His chest armor was cut open from multiple hits of halberds, exposing a deep wound. Just from looking at it and all the blood he had lost, Robert could tell that poor mate didn’t have any chance. By some point, Taurus understood it, despite his state of being half-conscious. Until the end, he constantly cursed his parents through tears repeating the same phrase – “was his death worse than their temporary feeling of pride, just to boast before stupid neighbors?”
Altogether, they had lost around thirty-five soldiers dead, almost all coachmen and one knight. In addition, there were around twenty-five wounded, from which only around half could return to service in the next week. Others had to be treated for longer and might never be able to fight properly. The emotions of the latter hit Robert hard. He couldn’t imagine how it was to lose a limb in medieval times. Even in his world, before the invasion of aliens, despite all efforts and the newest technology, it was far from being at the needed level of consideration. And here…?
“How are your wounds?” Wolf’s voice sounded from behind, waking him up from depressing thoughts.
“I am good, just scratches. Armor managed to protect, taking all hits. However, I definitely need to repair it,” looking at his damaged cuisse and shoulder pauldron, answered Robert with a straight face, hitting himself in confirmation.
Without my regeneration after the drop of adrenaline, no chance I would manage to sit casually like that… God bless this superpower! Now I understand why almost any hero has either regeneration or invulnerability in some way or super medicine –the very first battle might be the end of the story in a crude reality… even if it was won.
“Are you sure? Do you know that even a small untreated wound can lead to serious consequences? You can easily lose your leg.”
“Yes, I am sure. Would notice it if it was something bigger,” shook his head Robert, under Wolf’s glance.
“Whatever, it is your life. Here, take it,” Lawrence passed the second plate with porridge to Rob, while sitting down right on the spot.
“Thank you. Food right now will help a lot. Where are the others?” asked Robert, searching for his spoon in the backpack. All belongings had mixed up after a forceful throw on the ground, so it took some time to find such needed necessity.
“Monk is helping wounded. He, as a former priest, has some experience with injuries. Aspen, on the other hand, caught the attention of the knight. The sergeant of halberdier’s squad was killed, and maybe William will be promoted to replace him. The guy has a skill,” explained Wolf.
“The skill to kick asses is not the same as to command,” shook his head Robert, “Our situation showed it clearly.”
“Stick, don’t you believe in our girl-chasing friend?” Wolf tried to joke, but got an angry glare from Rob, “Got it, no funny stuff… You see, Stick, I am older. I saw all shades of our world, much of its inner shit. For knights, we are just expandable militia. Former villagers with basic training and equipment, can be replaced with ease. So, they will not bother with our casualties if the task is done. You saw what a single knight can do in a frontal fight. Until they have the energy, the knights are unstoppable.”
“Yeah, I saw how unstoppable one of them was when he flew from that cart being strung on a bolt as some kind of meat on a skewer,” nodded Robert.
“That was a special crossbow and bolt, which together cost a lot. And by a lot I really mean it. It is worse than all this caravan of food. I am sure that the loss of the newly appointed knight can be easily compensated by this single trophy,” disagreed Wolf.
“Why doesn’t anyone use bows? I know about the ban, but why not? It is plain stupid.”
“Firstly, the ban. Second – knights started to wage wars in their own way of honor, with specially allocated places from beforehand agreements. However, I guess the mine’s value seemed to be too great to follow it now, as they attacked us here, and not in the open field for which we were trained. That changes everything in a much messy way… Still, don’t think bows will be used freely. Hunters use them versus small animals and birds. Even with a proper arrowhead, it has a low chance of piercing good armor with a longbow from a noticeable distance. If we, the militia, have this quality of protection to cover the whole body, what do you think experienced warriors will have? And last, but not least – a good archer is harder to train. Taking into account the ban on usage bows, no one trains them in mass. Moreover, hunters are limited in quality too and most of them have a good enough life not to waste it in militia. Again – food. Some nobles are not willing to sacrifice the wild meat on their table just to lose a little less former peasants,” explained Wolf.
“Makes sense, but if mine is THAT valuable, both sides will use everything that gives the slightest advantage quite soon,” sighed Robert. His memory had vague stories about the critical role of bows in a few battles. In one such battle cavalry died under a rain of arrows, not even getting close to the enemy. However, was the real reason for such a devastating effect on unprotected horses, which were wounded in tight ranks and felt, like crushing their riders, or the terrain itself? He couldn’t remember.
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“Yes. And again – range weapons are used, especially in defense. Be worried about throwing spears from walls of fortresses or ordinary bolts. Crossbows are expensive, but that doesn’t mean the enemy will not use them in dire times,” Lawrence added with a nod.
“At least we can get our personal knight to watch over us,” Robert smiled after watching at dancing flames in the bonfire for some time, “Being noticed after the first battle – Aspen desperately wants to speed up the process of his rise to knighthood before his girl turns into an old maiden or will break up with him, tired of waiting. What the desire for sex can do with the man!”
“I AM NOT… What are you talking about?!” William almost roared indignantly from afar, making both Rob and Lawrence laugh before turning around to face him. That reaction was absolutely untypical for restrained with a touch of nobility behavior of Aspen.
“Of course you are not willing, I believe you, my friend. It’s just a pity that your girl will need to hear it too – that you don’t desire her,” Robert sighed with a sad face, “It would be the very first thing I will tell her when we meet next time. Hope, you can be fast with this… Oh, I would joke about the benefit of not being too fast in other cases but seems it can’t be referred to you. And…,” he wanted to continue but was interrupted by red-faced William.
“Just stop, please!” Wolf laughed at that, making Rob grin in a wide smile again. Despite everything, life went on and his goal of survival hadn’t changed. Same with his state of God’s envoy, which would always put him in dangerous places. He hadn’t noticed signs of incoming apocalypses but if solo battle could crash him with ease, he had no chance to dream about any future, being long dead. Therefore, Robert had to adapt, both physically and mentally. And he would. That thought, despite multiple repeats, never grew old for him and might never have.
The next few days were spent traveling to the main camp. Being situated in an open field, it was undoubtedly massive. Hundreds of carts, creating some protection from unexpected attacks, surrounded an equally big number of familiar tents. Robert even couldn’t grasp the number of soldiers in there at first sight, but definitely, it was thousands, maybe much more. The knight almost immediately went to report, while they were taken by Baron’s man to their future place of stay. It sounded big, but in fact was the very same tent without anything inside. The difference between them was the few coats of arms pictured on them. Baron’s, count’s, and marquis’s more precisely. This structure of orderly hierarchy was everywhere. The whole camp was divided into places of forces of each noble when lower ranked grouped around their sovereign.
The layout was quite basic and clearly temporary. Limited places and training fields for soldiers were not the main reason for such thought as even field toilets were not properly organized and were just pushed behind the carts. On the contrary, all noble tents looked quite luxurious and had some free space around them. When ordinary warriors carried all their belongings on them, knights had several carts for the same purpose. However, no one seemed to be bothered with this – class difference was deeply integrated in their mind, and Robert wasn’t naive to think he could change anything. Moreover, his own generals back in his world were partly the same, so his inability was strengthened by his unwillingness as even progress couldn’t change the wish of higher-ups to have privileged conditions.
The stay in the camp was boring, but everyone was happy. Because boring meant nobody had to risk their own life. The rumors were flying from one tent to another, being sometimes pure fiction of mad mind. However, somehow there were always few, who believed in them. Lorenzo used his unknown sources again and predicted that there would be more chaotic skirmishes at first before Duke would focus the incoming offensive on a few points of interest.
“That’s quite bad, guys, I must tell you. If it was an ordinary confrontation between nobles, we would meet in the field, and in a few battles, the result would be clear, after which the war would end. With good luck, we would get our position as guards and could live with ease. However, right now, not only is it scaled up to Duke's direct involvement, but also both sides would definitely neglect their own rules. Therefore, we need to expect village raids, sieges, and other bloody things with higher chances to become interesting to morticians. Watch yourself, because any smiling villager may easily poison you.”
For an ordinary militia, the single possibility to confirm it was to wait and see it. No one was going to explain their plans even in vague details. Robert had no doubts that even low-ranked knights knew anything specific. Their purpose of the meat on the battlefield didn’t change in the slightest. Twice from afar, Rob noticed that higher-ups were gathering for meetings, but that’s it. The single exception from a noble presence at such events was mages. Dressed in long one-toned robes with the symbol of the tower on it, they didn’t look anything special. Moreover, taking into account all their abilities, their role was technical support, nothing more. Somehow, they managed to get included in planning, despite all the difference in status.
While they waited, Robert tried to train, but with limited space and a lack of sparring partners, it was hardly possible. Lawrence straightforwardly refused, saying the smell of sweat with his quantity of hair would kill him and all others in the tent. Monk continued to help with the treatment of wounded and sick, and was absent a bigger part of the day, while newly appointed sergeant “Aspen” William was busy with his new squad of halberdiers. Several times he had to use fists to push obedience in them, literally hammering the respect with hits.
“At least now they know that they don’t have a choice and must follow my lead. In the future, I will try to show on my own example that I deserve this position. I am sure they will see my worth,” seeing William’s optimistic approach, Robert sincerely wished him good luck.
Another self-appointed task for Rob was to repair his armor, but he met unexpected difficulties with that. Baron’s men didn’t take craftsmen with them, and Rob was sure that was intentionally to save money. Other nobles didn’t want to share any resources for free, while no one would pay for a random man from the militia. Rob somehow managed to sew up his clothes and even close the gap in the leather, but he doubted it would protect on the same level as before, taking into account that the metal strip underneath was damaged.
And I resented that no one repaired my mechs for months! Yeah, right now I can’t even ask anyone to fix my pants. I guess that is the reason trophy gathering or game looting or, as it is actually called without embellishment, marauding was a thing during the wars. Hmm, not sure if the latter also refers to armor and clothes, and not just personal belongings. Just terminology, whatever…
The rest ended on the sixth day when Duke’s force was divided into tens of smaller groups with a single goal of making the attacking front as wide as possible. The full-scale offensive had started under the bloom of blue and purple flowers.