“Sometimes, appearances are all that matters.” - Saying by Scipius Cornelius Barca, famed general from the Republic of Caroma, circa 45 FP.

“Looks like they’ve engaged the main army well enough. It’s time for us to do our part, then,” noted Reinhardt inside the forest to the east of where the armies clashed. He kept an eye on the battle through the artifact and Hannah’s help, so he was well aware of the battlefield situation. All signs pointed that the plan he and Lars worked out the day before would likely work. “Lars, you can go ahead with the operation.”

The day before, he and Lars had brainstormed various methods on how they could affect the battle that they expected would take place. With only two thousand people or so, the mercenaries were too small in size to directly affect the battle between over a hundred thousand people, unless there were openings they could make use of with their talents. As such, they thought to create such an opening themselves, but to do so would require them to affect the battle itself.

Since they could not do so directly, Lars suggested that they do it indirectly instead. The Podovniy main camp was left mostly staffed by the injured since the rest of the army was engaged in battle at the moment, which made it an appealing target. However, even if the Free Lances were to strike at the camp in full force, they might not prevail, especially since their enemies would be prepared for such a strike after what they did with the southern fort. The element of surprise was crucial for that victory.

Rather than commit their forces to an assault on the camp though, Lars suggested that a small part of their forces would keep the guards of the camp occupied while they made it look as if the camp was under attack and on the verge of collapse. Such a sight would hopefully be enough to create panic amongst the enemy forces and create chances for the rest of the company to do their work effectively.

To that purpose, Lars, his platoon of two hundred, Zyd and Arne and their third strike platoon, as well as both archer platoons – sans Salicia herself – were stationed at the north near the enemy base. Some of the injured mercenaries were also sent there with them, where they would remain in the forest to make a ruckus so that it looked like the mercenaries had sent their main force over there.

As he received the command from Reinhardt, Lars commanded the group to march out of the forest towards the southern side of the Podovnian camp. The archer platoons were at the forefront and they immediately went to work as they loosed arrow after arrow towards the guards stationed at the top of the camp’s walkways. A few of the guards fell dead, while the others were forced to keep their heads down as they waited for reinforcements.

That in turn gave Lars and his forces time to approach the palisades on the south side of the camp. The defenders of the camp were almost certainly briefed on how the southern fort was lost, and likely prepared for such an assault to come their way. To sell the illusion, Lars even had his men carry what looked like siege ladders and other tools to scale the wall, at least from a distance.

In truth, what they carried were bundles of wet wood that had been soaked in oil as well as kindling, which they rapidly piled onto the base of the southern wall of the camp and ignited. The soaked wood caught on fire almost immediately, but because it was not properly dried, also gave out copious amounts of thick smoke as they burned.

The resultant inferno looked horrifying from a distance, but it likely wouldn’t do much more than scorch the outside of the camp’s walls before the defenders put it out. The fire was one that was more for show than one meant to burn the whole camp down. What mattered was that from a distance – like from where the Podovnian main army was, for example – it looked as if the entire Podovnian camp was engulfed in flames.

It went unnoticed for the first few minutes, the Podovnian army themselves far too occupied with the battle they were engulfed in. Fortunately, a northerly wind blew that day, and that helped carry the burning smells and the smoke towards the south where the main battlefield was. The unmistakable scent of smoke and burning things naturally attracted the attention of the people fighting, and more than a few who were not embroiled directly in battle turned to look at the north.

Only to be greeted by the sight of thick plumes of smoke rising from where their main camp was.

Such an unexpected sight caused more than a few Podovnian soldiers to panic, which forced their commanders to turn their attention to keeping order, distracting them from the battle. Such a distraction was one that their enemies would be foolish to miss, however, and sure enough, as a result of the temporary distraction several places of the Podovnian frontlines were driven back by their foes.

The worst off was the Podovnian left flank, where the Levainian troops they faced suddenly surged forward en masse right as a group of light cavalry led by Ze’phane made another harassment pass against their side. While the Podovnians managed to prevent their formation from crumbling apart, they were still fighting tooth and nail against the enemy troops to do so, as the latter had breached into their lines at several places.

Which meant that they were in no position whatsoever to interfere when a small group of a hundred or so riders suddenly rode out from the forest to their east and made a beeline towards the area where the second squadron of Caroma’s cavalry fought in melee against half of the Podovnian cavalry and charged at full force.