(IN) Chapter 18 - The Golden Shield

"Huh, so you're Lord Duke, eh? Thought you'd be fatter from how they described you..." A smiling middle-aged mercenary along with other mercenaries approached Duke during one particular encampment as Duke and his group were telling stories around a campfire.

The mercenary's tone sounded a bit like mockery which made Byran, Bran, and the other men around Duke a little hostile towards him.

But Duke stopped them however as he noticed the man didn't really have any ill intentions behind his words. [He probably just found me interesting to approach] Duke realized as he gestured for the man to join them:

"Well, I guess I am exercising quite frequently these days, hahaha... I'm glad you noticed! Would ya care for a drink?" Duke laughed back at the mercenary as he threw him a bottle of ale, which the mercenary happily caught of course. What man of war would deny a free drink after all.

"Hahaha, an' here I thought all Nobles had a stick up their bums" The man merrily joked, drinking from the bottle of ale Duke had thrown him as he and the other three mercenaries sat down with Duke.

Though he was a bit rude at first, Duke's welcoming tone seemed to pair well with the mercenary's merry nature and seeing how antagonizing Duke won't really benefit them in any way, the mercenaries slowly got along with Duke as they shared stories and even information with each other.

It turned out that these men were the leaders of some of the mercenary bands hired by the other lords.

"In fact, me and my boys over there, are actually currently hired by your old friend Silvan De Medici, hahaha..." The mercenary informed whilst shaking his head, pointing to their camp behind the Pendragon's Camp. Even though the Medicis were part of the vanguard, their and other mercenary bands were commonly placed at the rear of the army.

You see, due to the strengthened nature of the warriors in this world, with their Aura, and the obvious existence of regenerative magic, melee wars were usually fought in batches, the vanguards (commonly the strongest fighters) fight first, since sending your weakest troops would most likely end in a massacre. If the vanguards manage to overrun the enemy's vanguards, they can easily swoop the remaining soldiers, leading to an automatic win.

But in a situation where the vanguards lost to the enemy, they could easily swap with the middle line, then the final reserve lines to make time for their retreat if ever they were beaten.

When an army is at its last legs, the reserve/last lines were the ones mostly fighting the enemy at this point, and probably getting massacred too since the last lines were commonly the weakest of the bunch. In the end, being part of the last/reserve line was only the safest IF and only IF the army vanguards were winning or at least in a stalemate.

"Ahh, is that so? You know we're not really on good terms, me and that prick" Duke grumpily answered back the moment he heard Silvan's name.

"More ale milords?" "Ah, yes please" as Bran poured the men some more ale.

"Haha, prick ain't the half of it, milord!..." The mercenary merrily agreed and laughed for some time. But then laughter slowly turned serious for a while as he looked at Duke, telling him: "To be honest, us approaching you was a part of our agenda... You see, me and some of the other mercenary leaders here aren't, let's just say, confident with our current Lord's leading abilities, and we fear we might desert from his command if he ever leads us into a dangerous situation... or if he ever uses us as sacrifices for his retreat... And I've also been having this nagging feeling as of late that we might encounter danger during this campaign...

I don't usually pick dangerous jobs like these you know, but due to the large pay, some of my more desperate men need this job to feed their families, I had no choice... But if ever we do desert from his command, I thought it'd be a good idea to have a backup patron... The older Nobles won't hear us out, and the younger inexperienced Nobles are the ones were avoiding, we thought you'd be the best candidate for a customer... Since you actually listen to your veteran's suggestions" The middle-aged mercenary pointed his thumb to Byran sitting next to him.

"Awe well... milord has always been known for his fair and wise judgments! Gahahaha" Byran proudly smiled since Duke was getting recognized for his talents in leading, and he (Byran) was getting recognized as Duke's mentor.

"So if this army ever gets routed, would ya take us in? Pwetty pwees, I heard the Pendragons be getting fat stacks (of gold) as of late, and as long as you don't use us as sacrificial pawns, will stick with ya till the end!" The semi-drunk mercenary jokingly tried to act cute in front of Duke as he asked to be his backup employer if ever Silvan's Army goes down first, pledging his band's competency to Duke.

Seeing the eccentric middle-aged mercenary act cute in front of Duke grossed him out as he replied to the mercenary: "Ugh, sure sure, just please stop that! I mean it's not set in stone yet... And you do seem to be the honest type, admitting to your future employer your habit of deserting and all... But I'll only pay 60% of the market price, no more no less... Is that alright with ya?" Duke answered back with a confident smile.

"80!" The mercenary haggled. "65!" Duke haggled back, using what Vivian had taught him during their stay in Maine.

"75! I'll accept no more! No less!" The mercenary gave the lowest value he could give.

"70! But with greater rewards for those who bring home some merit! (Do something important in battle)" Duke haggled with all his might!

"Gahahaha! I knew I liked you for some reason! Fine, you got me! I accept!" The mercenary captain representing the other mercenary groups agreed with that same big ol' smile on his face as he cheered: "Cheers to you milord!... Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Maurice by the way, co-leader of the Golden Shield! Eastern Branch..." Maurice smiled as he gestured a handshake towards Duke.

[The Golden Shield... The Golden Shield... Ah!] Galleo mumbled to himself as Bran asked him: "You alright, sir Galleo?" noticing that Galleo was lost in deep thought.

"Duke Pendragon!" Duke too reintroduced himself as a friendly gesture when Galleo suddenly inserted himself in the conversation: "Might you be the Darryl The Mercenary King's brother?!"

"Oooh, so you've heard of that brat's fame!" Maurice neither denied nor affirmed Galleo's accusation, though his words did confirm Galleo's suspicion.

"OOHHH! My good lord! It's my honor to meet you guys! You guys saved our buts a couple of times during the Illican wars!" Galleo fervently shook Maurice's hands.

"Huh, well, would you look at that! A fan, gahaha!... Though we're no longer what we used to be, let me at least warn you that... Most o' our veterans and that damned brat-brother of mine formed the Golden Denari now working for those Medici as their fancy-schmancy Household Troops or whatever... Where has the Golden Shield's motto: Affordability and reliability gone to?!" Maurice cried as he saw their overly paid salaries.

"Well, money's money I guess, most of our Illican war vets are now under the Medicis. While I stayed with the olde' boys over there, gotta keep the family business alive after all, and the men fed! Gahaha. Well, at least he's makin' it big with the Medici and all... even got us into our current contract!... Lucky me~, I thought... ugh, damned brother could've least warn me bout' Silvan dumb ass, right? But nooo! Too good for old big bro now, is he!... Bla Bla Bla" Maurice continued to rant as he explained his current situation with Duke and the others.

Talking with Maurice throughout the night gave Duke some more deeper insight into keeping soldier morale high than what he had already learned from Byran. Duke even learned some of those cheap dirty tactics noble old Byran didn't like to teach Duke...

Overall, talking with the cheerfully brazen Maurice was quite a positive experience for Duke.

And though what Maurice did was just a precautionary measure to stop the nagging feeling he'd been having since the start of the Army's march, little did he know that that small gesture of friendship he gave to Duke, would save and even drastically change the lives of him and his men forever as the Main Army continued its march towards Konigsberg.

Four days later after continuous marching and camping throughout the so-called 'safe zone' they were passing through.

*Thack Thack Thank* Sounds of arrows piercing the tents of the sleeping soldiers could be heard throughout the camp.

The Main Army, when it was finally nearing the besieged city of Konigsberg, was suddenly ambushed in the area they had so neglected to be safe...