“Far too often, people try to romanticize deaths as meaningful or else done for glorious or otherwise good reasons. The truth couldn’t be further than that. I have seen deaths by the thousands, I have killed hundreds if not thousands by my own hands. From all those deaths, those whose deaths have proper meanings are maybe one out of every ten, if that.

For the rest? They just died meaninglessly, often for the greed and pride of others.” - Anul Onantio, famed general from history who served the Clangeddin Empire during its golden age of expansionism, who met an ignominious end when the next Emperor feared his popularity and had him killed on false pretenses.

Below in the ruins, unlike the spectators high above, neither of the dueling sides knew of the progress their side had achieved. Both sides had their confidence in their subordinates, of course, and both sides could tell from the way the people above the walls cheered and gesticulated that some fighting had happened, though they had no idea as to the results.

Some of the city’s mages had set a soundproof barrier of wind to cover the audience above after all, to prevent them from yelling and warning those below.

Erycea had full confidence in Tasha and Vera, doubly so given the terrain they fought in. She knew that her opponents were people who had trained since young to be knights, not unlike herself and her compatriots, and she expected them to have some skill in combat to match. That said, she knew that knights in the Clangeddin Empire primarily fought as heavy cavalrymen, so forcing them to fight on foot, in the ruins of an urban landscape was something they were unlikely used to, even if they might have trained for it from time to time.

She doubted that their training included being ambushed by two and a half meter tall bear therians that could hide themselves so well that most people would have walked over or right next to them without noticing their existence at all.

Erycea’s platoon were naturally trained in the various roles the mercenaries might need them for, but above all else, they trained in two fields in particular. One was to act as a rapid reaction force. It was something Reinhardt suggested and Erycea found fitting, that the leader would be able to rapidly react to the ever-changing situation of the battlefield and use their personal unit as the situation demanded.

The other was in stealth and reconnaissance, which given the composition of Erycea’s platoon, often meant reconnaissance in force. Overwhelming force.

It was one of the reasons why everyone in her platoon had training to sneak, hide, and keep themselves out of sight. It might have sounded absurd at first, to train people like Vladislav, Tasha, or Vera in stealth, given their massive size, but the three proved the naysayers wrong as they took to the training like a fish to water, somehow mastering the skill to stalk around without making a single noise, keeping themselves unseen to all but the most eagle-eyed observer.

Given how proficient Tasha and Vera – and just about everyone else in her platoon – was at stealth and ambushes, Erycea bet that the young knights had run afoul of one of their ambushes, which would have ended in an ugly way for the knights, without doubt.

Erycea’s own team of three headed towards the flag which flew over their enemy’s base. They reached its vicinity not too long after the fighting behind them died down, and they hunkered down and observed.

After all, they had no idea how many people the enemy sent towards their base. They could see four of the young knights near the flag, one of them standing with his arms folded right next to the flagpole, while the other three spread out in a defensive formation around him. For the young mercenaries, the way the knights set themselves up just reeked of folly, however.

They stood there, tall and proud, in plain sight to anyone in the vicinity.

At first Erycea thought that it might be a clever trap, the four in plain sight playing bait while others hid in ambush in the vicinity. As such, she ordered Valeria and Gustav to scout the surroundings, herself taking care of the part they did not cover. The three of them performed a thorough and careful inspection, all while remaining out of sight, before the reconvened at their previous spot.

“Can’t find a thing, boss,” reported Gustav with a shake of his head, which sent his wild beard flashing from side to side like a broom.

“Nothing on my end either,” said Valeria with a dubious look on her face. “Don’t tell me we’re dealing with fools this time?”

“I had not expected it either, but I also saw no sign of anyone hiding in my area,” replied Erycea with a serious tone. “Either these knights are even better at hiding themselves than Vlad and the twins…” she added as a hypothesis, which received only shakes of the head from her teammates. “Or these knights are all there are out there. Whether it’s overconfidence or just them being dumb, I don’t know which. I’m betting on the former, though. Often the case with knightly and noble sorts.”

“I’m of the same sentiment. So then, how do you want to deal with these cretins then?” asked Valeria with some eagerness. “If this is all they got to show, I doubt those that ran into the twins even put up a fight when they got jumped.”

“I’m thinking one each, for the ones further out?” suggested Erycea after a brief moment of thought. “We’ll sneak in and take them out before they can react, just in case.”

“And the dimwit standing oh so proudly by the flag?” Gustav queried.

“I’m guessing that one’s their commander, so I’ll take care of him. All good?” replied Erycea with a smirk on her face. Both Gustav and Valeria just nodded, not particularly keen on fighting over some silly knight with Erycea. Besides, while she always treated them as her friends, she was their commander after all, and could have just pulled rank instead of asked. “Good. Then let’s get to it and get this over with.”