“Everything begins with a first step.” - Old folk saying.

“I was going to ask you how it went, but since I count all of you back, unless my headcount is mistaken I assume it went well,” said Lars in greetings as the groups that took part in the ambush returned to one of several camps they had erected deep in the jungle to serve as bases. Due to the dense jungles which made the northern part of the former empire mostly uninhabited, there were plenty of places to hide for those willing to brave the wild beasts and harsh ecosystem.

“We got around a couple dozen wounded, but nothing too serious,” noted Elfriede upon hearing his words. The charge through the enemy column was easier on Mischka’s and Erycea’s platoons, while hers had the task to take down as many of the enemy soldiers as they could in their passing. As a result, every single one of her platoon members had to fight through at least four to five enemies as they charged through to the other side. “I’m fucking surprised it went so well, to be honest.”

“It’s a matter of habits and expectations,” explained Lars calmly to the gathered leaders from the returning platoons. “Our enemies spent most of their lives on the northern border of the former empire, where most of their fighting was done against goblin tribes, either defending from raids or pushing them back to the northern jungles. They develop certain habits from that, and their gut reaction would be to do what they usually did while fighting said goblins.”

“So that’s why you had Egil go off with Rein instead, huh? These foes would be wary of his trick and would know how to counter them,” said Elfriede with a nod. Other than Lars, Egil was known amongst the mercenaries for being one of their more… creative trapmakers, which often proved highly effective against people who never dealt with goblins before.

“One of the reasons, yes. These enemies would be expecting various small traps, often non-lethal but debilitating, as well as constant harassment and annoyances, so that’s why I went for the opposite approach,” elaborated Lars with a smile as he saw the platoon leaders catch on to his meaning. “Goblins would avoid head-on clashes against human troops at all costs given how they’d be at a massive disadvantage in that situation. That’s why I had you all do exactly that. Where they’re expecting a couple dozen injuries, we give them hundreds of dead.”

“Surely they’ll wise up to such things, though?” asked Erycea from behind her mother. Standing tall – even with her legs somewhat bent due to it being more natural for people with digitigrade legs like her – the girl was nearly half a head taller than her mother, and notably broader too at the shoulder. “Then again, I assume Uncle Lars has something in mind for that as well, do you not?”

“Of course, Young Miss,” replied Lars politely. “Now that they’ve received a taste of what we could do, they’re likely to scout far more diligently into the woods. Rather than traps, however, I had Fatimah and her platoon disperse to take down any unwary scout they ran into. Should they start grouping up to scout, we’ll send larger groups to keep them blind, while our fliers will keep us updated on their movements.”

“I’ve also had people slip something unpleasant into the water sources they’re likely to use. Nothing that’d cause the place to be unusable permanently, but it should be enough to give many of them very uncomfortable lives ahead of them,” he added with a sadistic grin on his face. “Remember that while inflicting losses on the enemy is a good thing, our primary mission is to delay our foes for as long as possible with as little damage to our forces as we can manage.”

“Got it,” came the reply from the platoon leaders as they nodded to what Lars had said.

“Still, even though I said that, we will still need to take more risks. These Anduilleans are used to goblin style harassment attacks, so that wouldn’t affect them much. We’ll see how they like getting actual night attacks, though,” commented Lars almost nonchalantly. “Madam Mischka, I’m afraid I will have to call upon your troops once more to spearhead the charge, though this time we will work together with the people stationed on the second base as well to make the assault count.”

“We’re always ready to earn our pay, boy,” replied Mischka with a guffaw that could have been mistaken for a fearsome roar. Given her seniority – and age, as Mischka was well in her seventies by that point, something most forgot when they witnessed her sheer brutality in combat – she had often called Lars as a ‘boy’ from long ago, which was something Lars couldn’t really deny given that Mischka was more than old enough to be his mother. “Just give us the word and we’ll do our job.”

“Most excellent,” praised Lars. “Have your troops rest for now. It’s still early in the day, and we won’t strike until deep within the night, when most slumber the deepest,” he continued. “Make sure to tell everyone to get their fill of dinner, just in case. It will be a risky assault, and our enemies might even expect it, but I’m hoping to throw them off with the scale of our attack, which should be well beyond their prepared response.”

The various platoon leaders gave their affirmation to the order Lars gave and dispersed back to their respective platoons. When he gathered together those at the second base as well – which included most of the mercenaries that went north with him, together with those already present – that meant the assault would have around a thousand people.

Felt like a foolhardy thing to assault fifty-five thousand enemies with just a thousand, but if everything went as planned, Lars hoped that the chaos that would happen would be sufficient to mask the night attack and prevent the enemy from responding in a timely manner.

Worst case, the mercenaries would just retreat prematurely.