“Try to make a good first impression, since that’s what most people remember the most.” - Old folk saying.

“Well, we can conclude one thing for certain, at least,” commented Erycea as she peered through an enchanted spyglass to watch over the enemy in the distance. The spyglass was one she made with the help of Grandpa Hogarth, Erycea’s Glass affinity allowing her to carve the fine sigils and runes needed to enchant the glass directly onto the lens itself without compromising its functions. As a result, the spyglass was more effective at its job than regular ones, providing a clearer picture at greater distances.

“And that would be?” asked Valeria, who was perched atop the same large tree Erycea had climbed to take a look at the enemy’s position from afar, albeit on a different branch. Even with the size of the tree, neither of them trusted the branches to be able to take on the weight of two of them and their armor on top of everything.

The two of them were far enough away from the actual battlefield that it was nigh impossible to spot them even using a spyglass. That was, if a regular spyglass was used. Enchanted and otherwise improved spyglasses might be able to notice them, but only if the person on the other side already knew where to look. On the other hand, Erycea had an easier time observing the enemy since there was no missing the massive army besieging the fortifications.

“These invaders are definitely foreigners, from beyond the sea or whatever,” said Erycea in reply to Val’s question. “Their weapons and armor are way too uniform in style and make for them to be pirates or whatnot. They’re clearly an army, disciplined and drilled to work together with each other. Their tactics are also rather different from what we’ve seen so far in our lives.”

“I can’t exactly see it clearly with this spyglass so you’ll have to enlighten me there, little Boss,” said Val with a chuckle. She could spy on the battlefield’s general situation with a regular spyglass, but couldn’t get much in terms of detail with it due to the distances involved.

“They’re not using any siege engines, but instead favor siege ladders that might well be ramps to attack the battlements,” noted Erycea as she peered closer to the battle. “They also have a far larger contingent of archers present in their army compared to what most armies here have. Those bows they use are also more like what uncle Alva and his people use, if less complex, compared to the longbows like what Aunt Sal uses.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Their armor’s different too,” added Erycea after a moment of thought. “It’s not the usual gambeson, chains, or plate we usually see. I’d say it’s closer to some sort of scale mail or lamellar,” she explained. “Similar design in all of them, too, though I’m guessing different materials. The ones the officer types wore are probably made out of steel, the soldiers likely got hardened leather for theirs…”

“Still something to be able to supply that much armor of the same make to so many people,” noted Valeria with a nod. “Then again, if they’re making it like scale armor, you don’t need all that many skilled people, just need smiths good enough to be able to hammer the metal to basic shapes,” she added after some thought.

After all, it was far easier to have a mediocre blacksmith – or even an apprentice – to turn out a large amount of metal pieces hammered to the same size and shape than to have a skilled one tailor a piece of plate mail to the intended user’s body. The resultant scale mail or lamellar would be weaker defensively compared to plate armor, but not to a severe extent since the thin scales were usually arranged in overlapping layers.

In fact, those types of armor were not unheard of in Alcidea as well, though they fell out of favor as the chain mail became more popular. In terms of defensive property, they were similar to the chain mail, but were heavier, which was the reason they dropped in popularity. Still, a well-made one could rival even plate armor, as Erycea and Valeria themselves knew all too well.

After all, the brigandine suits they both wore – tailor-made by Hogarth himself – were in a way an advanced adaptation of that style of armor, one that utilized larger, more solid plates sewn to fabric layers. The ones made of weaker material like hardened leather would be worse off defensively, but was definitely still preferable to no armor or just a gambeson.

For the moment, Erycea counted close to a hundred thousand soldiers in such equipment attempting to besiege the fortification with the aid of large, wide siege ramps that they used to rush towards the top of the walls. Other than the large number of archers, the foreign soldiers mostly carried rather short spears, ones only around two meters or so in length, as well as smallish round shields that seemed like they were made out of tightly-woven straw bundled together.

At least whoever these foreigners were, they didn’t seem to have enough resources to arm everyone with metal shields or better. The odd straw shields seemed to be the majority amongst the soldiers, but Erycea did notice other units further back who seemed to carry larger, rectangular wooden shields, and some close to the officers who carried odd trapezoid shields that gleamed of metal.

Those soldiers with the trapezoid shields were also an oddity in that they carried what Erycea guessed to be some sort of broad-bladed sabers by their waist on top of the spear that everyone seemed to carry. The rest of the army didn’t seem to carry such sidearms with them. The archers further back also seemed to only possess things like clubs or hatchets and the like, with only a rare few possessing swords or sabers with them, typically ones Erycea guessed to be officers.