"Tea or coffee?" asked the margrave, before the man could introduce himself.

A newly arrived engineer, still young and inexperienced, it was his first time on the border. Upon hearing the question, as soon as he entered the room, the man, with pale skin and a thin nose, turned as white as paper. He was holding a letter, likely his recommendation. As he met eyes with the infamous margrave, the young man swallowed and uttered, "T-tea, please."

"Passed!" With a sudden exclamation, the margrave took a metal container out of the cupboard. The engineer flinched. His expression showed that he had no idea what it meant. He looked at Sieg for some kind of explanation or at least some encouragement, but the young man was deep in thought.

'I passed too,' Sieg thought with strange satisfaction, recalling his first meeting with Margrave Nolden. At that time, he found the man responsible for the entire western part of the wall outside with a spanner in his hand. He was taller than the margrave, and this made him feel a bit uneasy. But otherwise, the black-haired, muscular man gave the impression of a capable warrior. His light blue eyes, under bushy brows, contrasted with his tanned skin, here and there interrupted by scratches and thin scars.

"So, you are here to replace Ilse?"

That was the first question to Sieg. After receiving an answer, the margrave scratched his stubble and, with a simple nod, invited a newcomer to follow him. He remained silent until they arrived at the study. Only then did Sieg hear the margrave's catch phrase. Wenzel Nolden gave him a short instruction afterwards, and, for a while, Sieg thought that the margrave didn't like to talk much. However, that turned out to be only half true.

The margrave's graveling voice brought Sieg back to the present. Wenzel was already sitting behind the desk. A recommendation letter lay in front of him, next to an overflowing ashtray with cigarette butts.

"You will receive a full briefing later, and I will check what you are capable of. But regardless of your skills, there are three rules you need to remember..."

'Here he goes again', thought Sieg as he watched the newly arrived engineer enthusiastically start to nod. The teacup in his hand was almost full.

"First, shoot as soon as you see the target. I don't need to explain this to you, but if you are late, the nymph will kill you. The second is to keep a distance from others on the battlefield. The enemy's magic range can vary; thus, we should try to reduce casualties. And the third one is to pick up the weapons of your fallen comrades. That's all."

The young engineer looked puzzled. He mumbled something about not being a soldier, but the margrave only waved his hand. The newcomer was free to go. What he did instantly. His confusion over the commander's behavior, as well as the simple furnishings in the room, which were inappropriate for a noble of such high rank, made it impossible for him to raise even a single question. He wasn't the first, and surely not the last, to retreat from Nolden's study with disarranged thoughts and feelings.

Wenzel took this chance and a cigarette.

"Did you see? And with that, I'll need to fix those damn windmills."

"Maybe he is actually an expert," retorted Sieg, but the margrave only snorted in response.

"Yeah, right. I bet he was the worst in his class. The times when we got the best are long gone. Neither capital, nor the Tower will scratch their asses until nymphs don't bite them. Maybe we should let a few night horrors slip into the central land?"

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He didn't receive any answers and continued angrily to puff cigarette smoke in silence. Sieg knew too well that nobody at the wall would ever allow such a thing to happen. Now that the newcomer had gone, he could also allow himself to relax. Sitting down on the sofa, he returned to knitting. Having barely finished his work, Sieg began to unwind the muffler, once again turning it into a ball of yarn.

Watching the whole process over the newspaper, the margrave couldn't hold back a remark: "What are you doing, waiting for Odyssey?"

"No, but I have no other wool apart from that."

"Then buy some more. How long are you going to knit a single muffler?"

"Thank you for your advice, Lord Nolden. But the result isn't important, the process is."

The margrave snorted and returned to his paper. Another good thing about receiving every newly arrived person or cargo at the border was a pack of newspapers. Wenzel was carefully reading them all, one by one, though it remained a mystery to Sieg why the margrave was even doing this if he almost never left the wall.

For a long while, the only sounds filling the study were the rustling of paper, the scratching of matches, and the occasional clinking of knitting needles. Then, Wenzel put aside the finished newspaper and grumbled, "They are all over the upcoming hunting event. The Royal Hunt of the Century. Ha! That greedy bastard can show off all he wants, but that won't change his rotten core!"

There was no need to clarify who the "greedy bastard" was. The margrave never bothered to show even a hint of respect towards the man who had married his ex-wife.

"I caught them some nice beasts, and in return I got this rookie engineer," continued to grumble Wenzel. He mentioned the royal family a few more times, but none of his comments mentioned news about one certain person.

"And what about the princess?" asked Sieg, stopping his work for a moment.

The margrave gave a long, careful look to the young man, causing him to avert his gaze.

"I have been wondering for a while. I only know that your transfer here was somehow involved with Her Highness. So, what's the story? Did you offend her or the opposite?"

"I just saved her during an attack," replied Sieg, ignoring the emphasis Nolden placed on the last word.

Wenzel scoffed. The cigarette had already reached its filter, so he put it out and lit another one.

"Carlos expresses his gratitude in a funny way then."

His remark was left unanswered. Sieg was not in a position to show even a hint of discontent or doubt about the king's decisions. Unlike the margrave, he was not free. Even a simple question like how long he needed to stay at the border was something he couldn't easily ask. All he could do was wait for orders.

"Here," when Sieg looked at the margrave, the man was holding a few letters stuck together with a thin ribbon. "Among the mail that was delivered with this rookie, these are for you."

Nolden grinned, when a young man stood up and took the letters.

"Thank you," said Sieg, and before he could add anything else, the margrave nodded towards the door.

"Go ahead, I know you want to read these alone. You can go back to your room."

"Thank you, Lord Nolden," repeated Sieg his gratitude. He glanced at the letters. He kept in touch with others from Lazaretto. Most likely there will be news about his comrades and, as always, nothing about the royal family. 'I hope everyone is all right.'