“Never completely trust information derived only from a single source. Even if the source in question was trustworthy, they may be fed with false information by untrustworthy parties without their knowledge.” - Raab ca Badar, chancellor of the Illasyn Palatinate, circa 402 VA.

“What your men had explained matches with what our spies have informed us of the Southern Coalition, Captain,” affirmed Estelle the next morning when the army marched out of Levain. The councilwoman was wearing armor, dressed for war, along with a few other councilors of a more military bent, and they had brought a large army to march south so they could ideally meet and halt the invaders before they entered the Free City’s territory.

A full thirty thousand men and women were on the move, twenty-five thousand light infantry – the very same ones who had just performed the exhibition the day before – on top of two thousand cavalrymen from Levain itself. The remaining nobles in the council had also called for their knight orders and men-at-arms, contributing another thousand to the force, while the Free Lances brought their entire roster of over two thousand along.

Reinhardt had naturally sought Estelle – who led the army as the acting commander in name, even if the actual command in battle was left to the militia officers – out and found her at the head of the column to confirm the intelligence he got from Rubor and Eranoz the day before. The confirmation was a good thing, as it had meant that the two had not lied to him.

“Other than what they had said, which was mostly the general situation, I can add that some months ago, our agents saw some of the first lords of the coalition meeting with a messenger, but they were unable to gain more clues as to the reason of the meeting or the origin of said messenger,” added the councilwoman even as she rode at the head of the column. “Some time later we received news that the same messenger had been spotted by one of our agents in Podovniy, however.”

“So they might be in cahoots with the Podovniy March, then?” asked Reinhardt before he went into thinking. “Hmm… If the Southern Coalition and the Podovniy March worked together, the latter could hit us while we were occupied with the former, which would have given us serious trouble. I wonder if they plotted this from further back, or thought it up because the drought made it hard for them to campaign for longer periods?”

“Your thoughts are mostly in line with our assumptions as well, Captain. We had already sent a messenger to Aldenstadt to make sure they remain on high alert for movements from the March,” noted Estelle with a satisfied nod. “On top of everything you have learned about the Southern Coalition, we can pretty much confirm that their morale is riding a high at the moment.”

“Oh? How so?” Reinhardt queried with some curiosity.

“Their armed forces had recently taken down the last of the smaller regions left after the empire broke up. By this point, it’s pretty much just the larger ones left. Us, Caroma, Podovniy, Anduille, the Coalition… There’s Lavianey still, I guess, but they’re too poor and far away for the others to fight over,” explained the councilor. “The people in the coalition, at least the ones who had been part of it longer, had only ever felt their lives becoming better after each victory in war. Even the second-class ones had their work lightened by the influx of new people who typically got the worse jobs.”

“I see your point. So in their eyes, if they win and take Levain over, it’ll just be more bodies to put to work on their behalf, isn't it?” replied Reinhardt with a nod. “Well… With your permission, we have prepared some defensive measures in the south, on the routes we deem most likely to be taken by a passing army marching our way. Depending on the situation, it might help us solve the problem. I’m just uncertain if you would authorize their use or not.”

“Why wouldn’t I authorize their use?” asked Estelle with some befuddlement in her voice.

“Because if you do, Madam Councilor, then you would be throwing away all the unwritten rules and niceties that your neighbors still cling to. I have no idea what made them stubbornly cling to such ideas, perhaps it reminded them of the glory days of the Empire and that by clinging to it they would be able to pose themselves as its successor? I don’t know,” said Reinhardt. “What I do know is that those very same ideas created a lot of openings that could be taken advantage of. Things that your noble neighbors had always taken for granted for all their lives, kinda like the dueling rules that one idiot complained about in the duel to the death some months ago.”

“What exactly are you proposing, captain?” asked Estelle with some trepidations. While she was by no means as bound and accustomed to those unsaid rules the nobles often demand out of each other, she understood from the gist of what Reinhardt was saying that what he had in mind would likely go far beyond just flaunting those unsaid rules. It would likely be something that would make many frown upon it.

“I cannot confirm it yet, for the time being, as we have had no solid confirmation on the path that the enemy army is taking, Madam Councilor,” said Reinhardt with a shake of his head. “With luck, however, I am quite confident in being able to defeat or at least drive away our foes with little to no loss on our side. Others would however view us as unscrupulous people who are willing to do anything to defend ourselves, however. That is pretty much guaranteed.”

“I… will have to think about this first,” said Estelle with some uncertainty. “Do I have time to think it over?”

“Should be plenty of time, at least until they’re about to reach us.”