“Marching from one fight to the next,

All for the gold that one might expect,

To receive in place of the blood spilled,

Whether yours or theirs, kill or be killed.” - Ancient poem describing a mercenary’s life, dated from the First Elmaiya Empire, author unknown.

“I have a rather close relationship with Uncle Angus, so you don’t need to worry you’d inadvertently offend him or something,” Reinhardt told Lars on the night before the day when the army would depart for Fort Fendorf.

Graf Angus Harscape, as well as five thousand of the dwarven infantry, remained at Norouz to further pacify the populace and occupy the city properly. Even in these two days, the populace had calmed down somewhat compared to the day of the battle.

That the dwarves had not committed any untoward acts on the populace helped, as had the crime lord’s very public execution by stoning, where Graf Harscape told the citizens that anyone who had a grudge against the captive may step forward and cast a stone. All that was left of the former crime lord of Norouz by the time the angry people were finished was a pile of horribly crushed flesh that was barely recognizable as a man.

Lars and Elfriede’s presence as interpreters also helped the occupation proceed more smoothly, as they helped assure the locals that they would not be mistreated so long as they behaved. Those assurances, as well as the distribution of foods and medical needs by the dwarves, did a lot to calm the populace down from their previously agitated state.

“Understood, captain,” replied Lars in accented common. He and his group were staying behind to aid Graf Harscape this time, rather than join the rest of the Free Lances to battle, as they were more useful in that role. “Anything else I should keep in mind?”

“Do form a good relation with the locals,” added Reinhardt after a moment of thought. “We will likely attempt a recruitment drive to help pad our numbers when we leave, so having you get on the good side of the locals will help with that. Naturally, there will be a reward should you perform well at this.”

“Understood, sir,” replied Lars with a salute. He had gotten somewhat used to life with the mercenaries so far, adapting faster than most Reinhardt had seen in his life. “Safe travels, and may you be victorious.”

******************************

The next morning, Reinhardt and most of the Free Lances, minus Lars and his group, departed from Norouz and headed west together with the rest of the dwarven army. They numbered roughly twenty five thousand altogether, with some of the wounded recovered enough to fight once more, even after subtracting the five thousand that stayed in the city as well as those still injured too badly to fight.

From Norouz to Fort Fendorf was a good two days’ journey for the army, moving mostly unburdened as they were given their highly effective logistics. Despite their short legs, dwarves were capable of marching tirelessly for entire days on end and cover a distance a human army would be hard pressed to match, barring a forced march.

Their own light cavalry ranged out far and wide, as they served as the scouts for the army. The report they - as well as Hannah, who Reinhardt had sent out to scout as well - returned on the evening of the second day reported that Fort Fendorf seemed to be sealed shut, with the nervous Holy Kingdom army, estimated at around twenty thousand, hiding inside.

Rather than besiege the fort, which would take far too long given how much supplies the army likely had with them, the Crown Prince ordered a repeat of what they did at Fort Prydwen, with some modifications to the plan.

This time, the dwarves stayed outside of arrow range at first, as their mages went to work and erected tall earthen walls even taller than the fort’s walls itself. The Holy Kingdom soldiers within the fort watched them work with some confusion, uncertain what the dwarves were planning to do. The fort was very well-stocked with rations and could easily hold for a couple years should they be besieged.

Unbeknownst to the defenders of the fort, however, the dwarven construction mages worked from behind the cover of those walls, and had thickened them on three sides, making the walls tough enough to last a decent while even under a concentrated assault. For the last side, behind which the dwarven army awaited, the mages worked overtime to harden and solidify the wall, as well as stealthily constructing hardened support pillars on its other side.

As such, the sight that greeted the defenders of Fort Fendorf three days later, in the evening shortly after the sun had just begun to set, was that of a section of the wall the dwarves built rotating around to display a series of pillars on its other side, built to various different height that grew longer the closer they were to the top.

Then the massive slab of hardened earth moved up almost as if it was a living being, manipulated by the efforts of the entire cadre of earth mages the dwarven army possessed, and slowly lowered until the foot of the pillars gently landed on the ground, and merged with it.

The end result of the display was a long, gently sloping ramp that led straight from the dwarven encampment to the wall, with a meter-wide gap between the end of the ramp and the wall itself. The dwarves clearly already prepared for that exact situation, as even while the ramp was still lowering itself, what was left of the dwarven heavy infantry had stepped onto their end of the ramp and began rushing towards the fort.

Reinhardt along with the rest of the Free Lances followed behind them, as they ran alongside the wide, hardened ramp with the rest of the dwarven light infantry. They were positioned just behind the heavy infantry, which meant that they were expected to exploit the opening made by those before them.

A heavy responsibility the Crown Prince gave them since he was quite impressed by the mercenaries’ performance in the previous battle, and a trust that Reinhardt would see repaid, ideally in gold.