“There are some people out there who only realized that they’re fucked when it’s all but too late to do anything about it.” - Kaspar “Ghost” Stevell, former assassin.

Earl Severen LeCroix, formerly of the earldom of Kolain to the east of Aldenburg, watched his troops march before him in neat rows with some pride. Early on in the civil war, the Earl had looked around him for a backer to cling to, as his earldom was one of the smaller and weaker powers of the region. It had not taken him long before he decided to cling to the thigh of the March of Podovniy, the shield of the empire’s east, and submitted himself and the land he reigned over as a vassal.

In return, he was allowed to keep his former title and a good measure of control over his former domain. Kolain was a land wealthy from trade, as well as from the mines of precious metals found within its territory, but it was lacking in terms of military power. As such, the vassalage to the border March of Podovniy neatly covered that weakness, as the border marches were some of the most militarized regions of the now shattered Clangeddin Empire.

That had been nearly fifteen years ago.

In that timespan, the March of Podovniy had engulfed many other smaller territories in its vicinity, building itself up into one of the more powerful remnant pieces of the shattered empire. Earl LeCroix himself participated in a couple of those campaigns in an effort to win some appreciation from his new liege, Marquis Evon Podovniy, though he himself never actually fought in the frontlines.

That was what the knights and soldiers were for, after all.

Over the years the once weak Earldom of Kolain increased the size of its military, the ranks of knights were expanded, and militia were regularly recruited and trained for Podovniy’s collective war effort. By the present day, Kolain proudly counted a good six thousand veteran soldiers under their banner, including a couple hundred light cavalry scouts and another three hundred knights amongst them.

It was a force that had never known defeat in the past fifteen years, partly because the Podovniy March had yet to lock horns with powers that could rival it in size and power. Over the years however, the number of smaller powers decreased until the only remaining smaller powers were united in an alliance to the southern side of the former empire, so the march had to turn its eyes on its remaining neighbors.

Boroes to the east looked like a good target at first glance, the land being an independent entity that mostly served as a buffer between the former Empire’s eastern border and the elven territory in the great forest to the north-east. The Marquis deemed it folly, however, as Boroes had been a neutral party throughout the civil war.

There was no need to make a new enemy when instead they could enjoy the safe border and focus their might elsewhere.

To their south was where the March of Galastine, which was primarily responsible for the southern border of the empire lay, but nowadays they called themselves the Duchy of Sevral-Galastine, after a political marriage between the daughter of Duke Sevral and the eldest son of Marquis Galastine. The forces of the combined Duchy was the main threat they faced, in Marquis Podovniy’s eye, and thus they stationed a strong defensive force at the march’s southern border as a result.

On their north side was the former March of Anduillas, now calling itself the Anduille Regency. They were less powerful compared to the Duchy of Sevral-Galastine to the south, and the Marquis had considered them as a target, though he was undecided partly because of the last neighboring power that lay to the march’s west side: The Free City of Levain.

On paper, the Free City was the weakest of their neighbors by far, with practically the entirety of its military power being militiamen. What they possessed however, was an overwhelming number of said militiamen, as well as probably the most defensible location in the entirety of the former imperial territory. As such, the Marquis of Podovniy decided to send probing assaults to both Anduille and Levain, to judge their response and capabilities, and thus plan accordingly.

Earl LeCroix had volunteered to lead the incursion force headed for Levain, as his former territory bordered Aldenburg which was now part of Levain, a region he was relatively familiar with.

He himself had considered it a folly for Viscount Adenauer, the former leader of Aldenburg, to have associated himself with Levain instead of the more militant Podovniy. What hope was there in a bunch of peasant rabble who declared themselves independent? It would not take long before someone put those peasants in their place, the Earl had thought, and why couldn’t he be the one to make such an achievement?

It would certainly improve his standing before His Grace the Marquis. Maybe impress the man enough to get him to betroth one of his daughters to the Earl’s son, as he hoped.

As for the resistance expected at Aldenburg’s former capital, Aldenstadt, the Earl thought little of it. At most they’d have what? A thousand men? Maybe three thousand with some peasants added? Nothing that could stand before his veteran force of battle-hardened soldiers, certainly. All he had to do was be present as usual and cheer his troops from the safety of the rear lines.

Success was close at hand, so he would have been foolish to not grasp it. He only hoped that the fighting could end faster so that he could return to a more comfortable dwelling once more instead of having to ride on horseback alongside his troops.

As for the mercenaries he received news about, he did not think much about them. What could a mere thousand more men, much less filthy mercenaries, do in the face of overwhelming numbers, after all? All they would do is to add more bodies to the pile of corpses to be cleaned up once the fighting was over and done with.