65 - Defense Part One

The coast has been in sight in the north for the entire trip. Only this morning the coastline was out of sight for a few hours. According to Ryker's map, that’s the bay where the delta of the Great Southern River flows into the ocean.

"Land in sight, straight ahead!" Is suddenly called.

Raidon quickly rushes towards the bow of the ship. A little later he can see from the bow what the lookout on top of the mast already saw. The coastline, which is always in the north, suddenly swings a long way into the ocean. It is the beginning of the peninsula. Just a little longer and it's time to implement the plan.

"Look, there it is." Is soon shouted by Ryker.

"Where? I don't see any difference."

"If you look closely, you can see that in the distance it looks like the peninsula is ending. That's not the case, but that's how it seems. According to my map, the coast of the peninsula runs from east to west again, until at the end it almost separates the two parts of the country. Because of that bite from the coast it now seems as if the peninsula is already ending, but in a few minutes we will be able to see the bulge of the last part in the distance."

"And on that last part is the village we are heading to. It should be a fishing village called Olanca, but we don't know much more. It has been a long time since we have been able to get accurate information from the Chakran territory."

"Right, I think we'll be there in half an hour, so maybe it's an idea to inform your men."

Ryker's sense of timing turns out to be right. Less than half an hour later, a beach can be seen where three small fishing boats have been pulled onto the sand.

Because it is dangerous to sail any longer, Ryker has his men put the sail away stick out the oars. At exactly the same time, the muscular sailors stick out the oars, and on the orders of the first mate they begin to row.

Although it is hard to believe, the warship is now starting to gain even more speed.

Like a knife, the prow cuts through the waves.

But then they're there. When Ryker gives the signal to his first mate, he orders the oars to point into the air. Now nothing can happen.

Although not as easy as the waves, the prow also cuts a deep notch in the loose sand. With a shock, the ship comes to a stop.

Raidon, who, like his men, was almost knocked over by the abrupt stop, immediately runs to the side of the ship. Impatiently, he waits for the sailors to throw a large net overboard, with their colleagues doing the same on the other side.

When the net finally reaches into the water, Raidon is the first to climb overboard. Not that he necessarily always wants to be first, or necessarily wants to lead by going in front everywhere, but more because he still doesn't feel one hundred percent comfortable on the water.

Because the beach here reaches deep into the water, the water does not get higher than his hips. That makes walking a bit more difficult, but he has no problem to wade through to dry land. Just behind Raidon, the other soldiers follow. As individuals, they struggle onwards.

Once they are in the loose sand, the three sergeants call for their men.

"Third platoon, line up with me." "Fourth platoon..." "Fifth platoon..."

Disciplined as they are, they are neatly in line in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Raidon is looking around to see where to go next. Wherever he looks, the beach flows into a forest.

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"This looks like the wilderness, there is so much vegetation between those trees. Are we sure we have to go through this?" Sergeant Liam asks.

"You see those boats, right? If those fishermen can walk to the village with their catch, then surely we should be able to do the same in our harnesses?" answers Raidon dryly.

"Let's see where we have to go. Those boats are in the southwest, so I assume there will be a path in that direction somewhere. Liam, because you are so afraid of blackberry bushes, you can lead the way with your platoon."

When they near the fishing boats they can clearly see that there actually is a path through the forest. With Liam and third platoon in front, the soldiers make their way on the path. It is clear that it is not made for carts or for large groups of people, but with two men next to each other, the soldiers manage.

Raidon himself marches with Mark and fifth peloton, who are last. Because John leads the fifth squad of the fifth peloton, it is easier to give him his orders.

"Mark, I want you to order squad leader John and his squad to fall out and follow their own path. They are used to wandering through the wilderness and we could use some more information."

"Yes, captain. Squad leader John, forward!"

When John arrives in front of the two officers a few seconds later, the sergeant immediately passes on Raidon's command.

"You and your squad can take the scenic route. Make your way around the village, and try to search as much of the area as possible. You know what's important, move out."

"Don't you think that was a bit exaggerated, sergeant? Squad leader John knows very well how to perform his task."

"In my experience, it's better to be too extensive with the orders than to let people come up with something themselves. The protocols are there for a reason."

"Hmm," Raidon hums, "we differ on that, but I'm sure John will figure it out."

A little later, the column stops. Practiced as they are, it doesn't become a mess when the front platoon suddenly stops. Within a single step, the entire column is also at a standstill.

Raidon makes his way forward on the side of the path. Right now he’s really happy to be wearing his armor, because on the side of the path all kinds of bushes protrude.

When he finally arrives at Sergeant Liam's position, he is covered in the traces of the vegetation.

"Well, you have something to clean up tonight, Captain. Your armor is covered in green smudges."

"Yeah, laugh, this mess is even harder to clean up than blood. With my luck this stuff will be sticky, so it’ll stain my uniform as well."

"The troubles of command. Maybe we should have hired some people to clean the harnesses for us."

"Keep dreaming, Sergeant. Taking care of your equipment is an important task. Or do you want to have what keeps you alive in a fight maintained by someone you don't know?"

"No, now that you say it like that, not really."

"That's what I mean. Now, can we continue with what we came here for, or do you want to take a break first?"

The sergeant knows better than to open his mouth. After the sharp remarks of his captain, he is already afraid that he has gotten on his bad side.

From the front, Raidon can see the beginning of the village. It is clearly a small village that has to make do with fishing. There are perhaps a dozen houses where nets hang almost everywhere, and where that morning's catch is drying. Here and there you can also see the residents who are busy with their daily work.

"Let's just march into the village. It seems like there is little that can stop us. Forward!"

The inhabitants of the village of Olanca are shocked. Here in this far off corner of the country they have almost never seen warriors. Once a season the tax collector comes, and even he almost never has guards with him. And now suddenly here are these heavily armed metal giants.

What Raidon notices is that there is no screaming. He had expected the women to scream, and the men to react aggressively. But nothing could be further from the truth. These simple people react very practically. The women gather their children, who look with admiration at the soldiers of the New Legion. The men gather, after which the village elder approaches Raidon.

"My name is Mart, I am the village elder of Olanca. May I ask you what you are here for?"

"But of course good sir. We are part of the New Legion of Falwyn. I fear that from this moment on you are no longer under the empire of Chakra. As part of the war that our empires are engaged in, we have decided that your village will be a nice addition to Falwyn."

The village elder shrugs his shoulders.

"Go ahead. As long as we are not bothered by you, we don’t care all that much. Here on our peninsula we notice little of that war. Even the tax collectors don't always find us, so this won't be a big change either. Can we maybe sell you some fish?"

The capture of the village has not proven to be a difficult task. When John and his men return a little later, Raidon is already waiting for them.

"Have you learned anything special about the village? Or will we go straight to the narrow part of the peninsula."

"I think I can catch you up while walking. Let's see how we're going to dig in here."

While Raidon and his men take it easy and prepare for the march to their final destination, one of the villagers secretly leaves the village. This young man has been having bad luck this past year, thanks to his boat being knocked over during a sudden storm. As a result, he could not pay the dowry for the girl he wanted to marry.

Now he hopes to sell the information about this invasion to the Chakran army. They would probably want to pay a lot of money for that.