Truthfully, reclaiming Slyvania would be the work for an army 10 times the size I had, plus a lot more priests and Wizards.

Caves were infested with vampiric bats, while ghouls and other monsters infested the woods and marshes, all hungry for human blood and flesh.

The Vampire Counts kept them in the leash, as to not lose their 'blood tax' completely, but it was not so now. Without a local Vampire to constrain the monsters, they began attacking villages and roads for warm blood, massacring humans and animals alike in a feeding frenzy.

It took me a whole month to fly around and dispatch the corrupted monsters around Waldenhof, but it would get much worse once the conquest expanded to the nearest towns like Eschen, Regakhof and Messinghof.

On the other hand, once news of the atrocities spread out to the locals, more and more people began to warm up to my army, for their own safety.

Willing recruits were sent back to Essen for training, and depending on their skills would join either the engineers, the logistic train or even the new War Wagons regiment.

It also helped I paid them a nice salary, plus bonuses for combat and heroic actions.

Anyways, after repairing the walls of Waldenhof and installing a new civilian government over the city, work resumed to expand the military roads towards the next targets, since moving artillery and supply wasn't the same as marching on foot. The War Wagons were quite heavy as well, thus the need for durable roads.

Several injured Nobles were given bits of land and titles along the roads, as to provide the army with some support, and keep the Sylvanian peasants from getting too free.

It wasn't perfect, but then anything that involves humans is the same. I would bet some bears would make a better Noble than those I had around. Lazy gluttons, but at least the bears wouldn't abuse the peasants.

Perhaps surprisingly, the news of lands being handed out for heroism produced an influx of second and third Noble sons from nearby provinces, who didn't have much chance to own lands back home. Some of them arrived fully equipped and kited for a long campaign, even escorted by men-at-arms. Others Nobles arrived hungry and on foot, with barely a sword and a letter from their father.

The rewards were proportional to the risks though. The Vampires' lands were not easy to tame, especially the corruption and the mutants. And that was if they survived long enough to obtain any battle merits.

Oh well. I could always use more men in the army.

A short circuit around the nearby Electors to gift them a magic item and more gold for supplies produced extra goodwill, especially after I cleaned up Fort Oberstyre and allowed Stirland to take possession. The aim of Stirland was to reach and take Konigstein, a large town near their border, by next year.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Medieval armies were slow enough, even without considering the difficulties of a campaign in the vampire territories.

And thus, a few months later my army reached Regakhof while I flew ahead to take charge of Castle Regak, and clean up the Vampire Counts and their treasury.

Unlike my previous style, this time I went by stealth and stake, and caught five Vampires sleeping in their coffins during the day. Stab, stab, easy win.

Maybe my Vampire Hunters were smarter than I thought.

And the next siege was concluded fast too, if mostly by a blunder of our cavalry that rushed a closing gate and entered Regakhof before our cannons demolished the defenses. Their regiment Captain seemed quite proud of losing an arm for a city. Sigh.

"Initiative is good, Captain. Exploiting an enemy weakness and all that. But this time it was only luck. You didn't know what was behind the gate." I muttered as I signed the lands and title of Regakhof to the foolish Noble. I was kinda obliged to recognize the bravery of his actions.

The man nodded serious. "I know that now, Lord Warden. But losing my arm to a Dire Wolf is worth it, if I say so myself." he offered with a glance at his empty sleeve.

"Fine. Now, please nominate a couple replacements for the Captain rank in your regiment. I will chose one of them, with your endorsement." I continued with a flat voice. Hopefully someone with more brains than guts. Probably not. Cavalry officers were hotheads, all of them. It took a special kind of man to rush into an enemy army with only a lance or sword.

My men had revolvers too, making their chances a bit better.

With momentum on our side, and an easy victory, we began laying the road to Eschen for our next conquest.

And by this time, the Vampire Counts were prepared too.

A giant army of zombies and skeletons stood in front of Eschen, flanked by a hundred big monsters and thousands of flying bats.

This is why the Empire hesitated to enter Sylvania. Once the dead were risen for war, it was hard to put them down. Plenty men had died in the millennia before, and now they were magicked to battle by Necromantic arts.

My army arrayed in pretty battle lines, our War Wagons up-front to take the brunt of the zombie charge.

"Your are brave, puny mortals. Daring to conquer Sylvania from their rightful rulers?" A Vampire Lord yelled as a greeting, from inside a corpse cart.

I flicked my finger and evaporated his cart with a pebble moving at hyperspeed.

The Vampire fled into the town, his skin burning from the light of day.

"Wash your necks, little bats. I have come for your heads!" I shouted back, mostly for morale.

"Sigmar Invictus!" "For the Empire!" my troops shouted in turn, while the giant mass of zombies and skeletons began to advance on us.

"Open fire!" I ordered while flying to the side and flicking my finger through an iron bar, mostly at the undead behind the front lines.

Our 50 Great Cannons began to fire, 10 from the front inside the War Wagons, and 40 cannons shooting over the troops from the back.

The infantry began setting up their portable stake-traps, basically a fence of stakes to slow down the undead while they fired the rifles. Nothing fancy, but should provide a bit of cover.

My new Cavalry Captain glanced at me, then held his ground, possibly worried he would lose his spine if he charged ahead. Without orders that is.

Charging cavalry had its moments, but not while the enemy wasn't pinned or fleeing.

This was not Hollywood!