Chapter X: Inner Circle [3]

"No, that is not only hard to believe, the notion is also absurd!" Barone protested. "Eleanor is not ambitious. She may be an austere commander, but she considers the safety of her men first. She is not someone to plan a mutiny."

"Out of character for her to do such a thing, aye…" Berwyn started, pointing her sharp gaze at Barone, "…but we also have a pacifist baron who's aiding a backstabbing marquis."

"That is not the same, Berwyn!" Barone shouted, slamming the table. His sudden outburst baffled his fellow knights, including the young lord himself.

Berwyn, on the other hand, maintained a calm demeanor and stared back at Barone. "You are letting your heart cloud your judgement yet again, old friend," Berwyn put an emphasis on the last couple of words.

William, Reona, and Jurelle all raised an eyebrow at the mention of 'heart' almost simultaneously, interests piqued as if they caught a fat fish in their fishing nets. Indubitably, the three of them all arrived at the same conclusion, including the young and innocent Frenda and Velmund, yet the latter two were seemingly not as thunderstruck as them, or simply did not care enough to heed the implications.

"Damn you, Berwyn. For the longest time you have known me, have I been irrational at serious things? I may be carefree, but never have I ever neglect my duty as a soldier in favor of something personal."

"A woman dulls the mind of man more that it does compared to booze," Berwyn replied. "I have seen you drunk with both love and booze, Barone. I know when your decisions are influenced by that drunkenness."

Barone grunted audibly. "Gods be damned, you know nothing of the sorts. You do not even have a beloved so to speak, so how dare you utter such words? Hypocrite!"

"Then… could it be that you and Commandress Hilith are lov–" William started to say, but was nudged violently by Reona in the ribs, grimacing in pain for a second.

"Imbecile," Reona whispered, receiving a stare of contempt from William.

Barone and Berwyn ignored William, proceeding to giving each other death stares, yet not grave enough to warrant actual fighting between the two.

"It would appear that we are straying away from the purpose of this war council," Velmund broke the silence with an aloof tone, hands steepling as he leaned them upon the table, a gesture that seemingly knocked the sense out of the quarreling knights, who diverted their gaze upon the young lord, adjusting their postures to appear dignified and unshaken, yet wordlessly chastising themselves inside their head. "Let us not lodge upon the topic of whom the traitor is. I have already tasked our spymaster to know of his or her identity. We will know soon, so I would ask your patience. Returning to our earlier discourse, I was about to say the situation of the city when I was abruptly interrupted."

"I would apologize for cutting you off while you spoke, my lord," Barone humbly said, bowing his head. "And further would I apologize for my sudden outburst. Reprimand me if you must, I deserved to be punished for my insolence."

"I would be as guilty as my friend here, my liege," Berwyn pleaded, indicating about receiving a punishment equal to that of his friend's if ever given to by the one whom they served. "Allow me to share any penalty he would incur."

"Very well," he agreed. "Reconcile, then."

The two of them looked at each other, both bearing a perplexed look. "Pardon, my lord?" both of them asked.

"Reconciliation is your punishment. That is my decision."

"You are too kind, my lord," Barone said genuinely, bowing in gratitude along with his friend, Berwyn. William sighed in relief, while Reona nodded in approval. Frenda, on the other hand, maintained her stern face, her usual expression.

"Now that that is out of the way, let us discuss the state of the city and the actions we can do," Velmund said in a more friendly tone, yet with voice more solemn than ever. "According to reports, the city has enough rations to last at least a month, probably a month and a half at most if pushed hard enough. That is basically all the time we have to gather our forces and prepare to lift the siege of the rebel forces. In terms of manpower, Commander Kursoe and Night Owl are arming draftees with the weapons and armors in the castle armory. With the two of them spearheading the defense, we have no worries for leadership either. The defense will surely stand strong. As for raising our own troop count, I intend to travel to the neighboring territories to assemble a force to bolster our numbers. While I do have a plan aside from that that I will later reveal, I want to hear your ideas as to how we can increase our odds of victory."

"How about we cut off the enemy's supply lines?" Berwyn suggested. "If we can attack their men guarding their supply lines at River Dalewood, and block the way of their food towards their camp, the city will win a battle of attrition. We can also reinforce the fortresses if they have not succumbed to the enemies yet, so we can also assimilate the survivors into our army to boost our own numbers, while also eliminating a new possible route for a new supply line to be established in the north."

"Unfortunately, we cannot do that. The villages and towns will suffer in return," came the brief reply of Velmund, uttering the reply with such ease as if he already thought of the same plan beforehand, which might as well be the case.

"His lordship is right," Frenda remarked. "As good as a plan as it might sound militarily, the Marquis might simply resort to foraging and raiding nearby towns and villages for food and other supplies. The civilians are helpless as it is without the presence of the Standing Army, and disrupting the enemy's supplies might as well get the innocents to be targeted."

"Why don't we simply march directly behind them?" Barone said, shrugging. "What I mean is that having our army on the enemy's back will put pressure on them. We can simply attack and catch them off their guards anytime we see an opportunity, don't you think?"

"Well, not to sound rude to your suggestion," Reona said hesitantly. "But, with our meager numbers, we cannot afford to have a confrontation with the enemies, at least not a direct one. I am not doubting his lordship's capabilities to lead, nor am I losing faith in our comrades' competence, but what if they brought a large contingent of cavalry with them? Not only can they put a dent on the Raven Knight's numbers, but they can outmaneuver us and go for our infantry. They can outrun those poorly trained militia and decimate them without breaking a sweat. I'm pretty sure of it."

"While what Dame Reona said was true, I quite agree with Sir Barone!" William exclaimed. "With our nimble and agile horses, we Raven Knights can also utilize hit-and-run tactics to harass them from behind. As for the men on foot, we can just hide our infantry and use them once we pin down the enemy cavalry in one place!"

"If we do attack with our knights alone, we may not pose so great of a threat to the Marquis. It is plainly visible that we just lack the sufficient force to make damage."

"Well, one way or the other, we need to compensate for our lack of numbers," Berwyn stated. "Just like what we did on the Siege of Flendle."

The moment he mouthed those words, all the Raven Knights, including the female serf intently listening at the corner, turned their eyes upon Velmund, who was pondering deep in thought whist staring at the map of Estveine laid at the center of the table. He sighed and clearing his throat, uttered, "For now, let us first focus on bulking up our forces. Frenda, what is the status of our army?"

"Regarding our numbers, we have mostly retained the four hundred mixed men-at-arms and archers sent to us as relief force," the knight commandress replied, pulling out a parchment from her persons and sliding it in front of her lord. "Less than two hundred of the militia remained, however, and half of them were left in the town of Flendle to recover injuries and guard the town in case more enemies cross the border to assault Flendle. As for the Raven Knights, we suffered no casualties so to speak."

"I see. Then, what of the Norsmundi captives? How many are there?"

"Tallying all those able-bodied excluding those with life-threatening injuries, we barely had one thousand two hundred men. Am I correct to assume that we are to recruit them to our force?"

"Your assumption is right. What about the horses?" Velmund nodded in understanding.

"We have two hundred seventy-eigh–" Frenda was about to complete her report, but was halted when their discourse dawned upon William which caused the abrupt interruption.

"We are recruiting the barbarians to our side, my lord?!" William said, almost yelling, whilst bearing a frown of disapproval.