Ch 39 – The Habsburgian army

It goes without saying that what she just heard, all things considered, was a blasphemy. But Mary was unable to refuse those words with her heart. Rather, she became even more curious as to why Ace would say such a thing. The image of the small girl with dark hair etched itself in her min as she brooded over the words.

As Ace saw her staring in the distance, she realized her plan had worked. With her job done, she went back ahead to her place, as the group continued through the forest. After a little over half an hour, they spotted a large wooden hut hidden among the trees. It was a large, crudely made one. It used raw, undried logs and was nowhere near the quality one would expect from a long-term building. The level of craftsmanship was also subpar, considering the large gaps between those very logs. Necro was a little saddened to realize the task that had been given to those men. Don't get me wrong, they are thieves, bandits, the lowest of scum after treacherous adventurers and Mercenaries to betray their employer. However, these were men with families, men who enlisted in the army in order to provide food for their kids, for love for their country, and so on. And then were forced to fall this low in a suicidal mission, which even if they survived, if anyone recognized them after the fact, the country would claim acted on their own will and sell all as crime slaves. It's rough.

There was a single man guarding it from the outside, the other one shouldn't be far. What called everyone else's attention, however, was the fact that he was using plate armor. It was old, but clearly from an army.

"So they weren't lying..." Mary's voice was the first to break the silence, as they all halted to a stop hidden, a couple dozen meters from the thing.

"Yeah... That is definitely state issued armor. But it's so tattered I don't even know where it's from. There's patches all over the place."

"Bid... I think I know where that armor is from..." It was Ace who broke everyone's gaze and made them focus on her only. "That's a set of Habsburgian armor. I've seen too many of them to not recognize one."

"Habsburg... But why would they meddle with the situation all the way here?" Hal was genuinely confused. To him, meddling with a foreing country this far was too foreign of a thought.

"Money." But not for Ace, in fact, she knew precisely what would make Habsburg move. "They'll do anything for a handful of gold bars. Even if that means bringing shame to the name of their very own country."

"Is that so..." Hal only half-heartedly accepted her explanation, while Bid nodded in silence. Necro was boiling in anger at the thought of a country using the lives of its own citizens as trading stock like this. But, there's nothing she could do about it... Not anymore. She just hoped her father somehow managed to string a deal with the devil, or rather, the church.

"We'd never have done such a thing." She murmured. Nobody heard her low voice though.

"So, should we attack now? Or wait for the other guard to show up?" Bid asked for everyone's opinion, but his intention was shown in his words.

"I mean... He could be asleep inside. If you can kill this first one in silence, it should be fine." But Hal made a point of disagreeing with him. Rather than wait, killing this one guard first was a better deal for him. Whether they'd surprise the other one or have it show up later or even escape, it didn't really matter to him. He just wanted to get this over with quickly.

"I think we should do it already, Bid. I don't really mind waiting a bit, but if they have setup a schedule and everything, it could be hours before they change positions, and we would only have a tiny window to shoot both down." Mary voiced her opinion, as she realized they both had hit a standstill as to whether to carry the talk swiftly or not.

"Ok then." Bid answered, taking his bow off of his shoulder and pulling an arrow. The single arrow he shot slid right through the skull of the man, pinning him to the wall of the hut. The man, who was half asleep, died without a chance to defend himself.

"Now we go in." He said as he set foot forward towards the hut. Everyone was taken aback for a second, before following him. Upon arriving, the sentry was still hung on the wall by Bid's arrow, so they decided to slowly enter. The hut was plain. dozens of straw mattresses, one for each soldier, covered the whole flooring. Hung on the wall over them, there were a couple full plate armors, presumably belonging to the dead soldiers they fought in the road, disguised as Bandits.

In the end of the hall of beddings, a single large chest was flanked by multiple wooden barrels. The last soldier was nowhere to be seen.

"Wow... They had many more plate armors... Why weren't they using them?" Mary let her thoughts out aloud.

"Their mission. First, they considered themselves more powerful than their opponents, and they were also greater in numbers. Using plate armors would only make others able to recognize them as part of an army. Especially that one over there." Bid pointed to an almost brand new set of plate armor. Although not nearly as decorated as a commander's, the many small details in the same silvery metal as the rest of the armor made it clear that it belonged to someone somewhat powerful in the armor.

"Why would they send someone that important to such a suicidal mission..." Mary wondered, but the answer was already known to all others.

"Punishment." It was Ace who voiced out the bitter truth.

"But why!?" An incredulous Mary rebutted her statement, only to be looked contemptuously by Ace and Necro, who further answered her doubts.

"Either treason or disobedience. When you piss off someone above you, it doesn't matter who you are or what you did, what awaits you is death. And if they can't just kill you at once for some reason... Well... this happens, and drags everyone under you together with you." Necro's words were dark, but easy to understand. That was just how countries worked, and not just countries. Any institution with enough power bore the same inner mechanism, including the church.

"... That's..." Mary wanted to rebuke, but she knew that was probably spot on. She had seen it before while in the army. Whole divisions sent to death in the front lines just for their captain pissing the commander off for some reason. Unfortunately, Necro's words were undeniably true.

"Oi, people! There's something over there!" Hal was the first to notice. One of the beds was occupied.