"I thought we'd done a better job!" Alexa yelled from her bedroom. "Didn't they all fall? Why were their casualties so low? Just the thought of those dastards roaming free is...arrrgh."
"We did the best we could," Estelle sighed. "For a first experience commanding soldiers on a real battlefield, I think we did a good job."
"Still," Ursula thought aloud. "It did feel as if we killed many more than the reported numbers. Did they make a counting mistake? Well, we did defeat their leader at the very least and the threat has been eliminated."
Such was the young officers' assessment of their field command. The enemy numbered thousands, yet the number of the dead did not even reach 500 despite heavy attrition in the Lohenstein forest due to the Jaegers' guerilla tactics and they were utterly crushed by the heavy cavalry charges. What they failed understand in the heat of battle was the low lethality of the guns of their era and the sheer psychological shock of cavalry charges from all directions on already-disorganized armed forces. Thus, most of the enemy army were taken in as prisoners, but given their judicial status as "bandits" would most probably mean their execution for their deeds.
A thorough investigation into the enemy's origins through prisoner interrogation and searches through the perimeters revealed that the bandits were hired by an unknown individual with large amounts of money payable after the deed and with the promise to keep the plundered estate's wealth for themselves. As for their identities, evidence showed that they came from slums all over the neighboring countries of Nordmark and Laurelia. Yet none of them knew of the true identity of the party they called "The employer" as everything was done through Ordos, who acted as an intermediary between them and their employer.
When the General Directory caught wind of the incident, border posts were greatly reinforced and all the nobles governing Lacrimosa's Western regions were given directives to increase security. Beyond that, nothing much seemed to be done and life continued as if nothing happened.
All of the three officer cadets passed their final examination with flashing colors and were dispatched to different units within the royal armies. Ursula, after receiving honourable commendations and a peculiar rose-shaped medal, was assigned to Army group "Zentral" based in the royal capital to train as an Oberleutnant of the hussars. Estelle was to stay in Lacrimosa to join the Army of Azuria as an officer in its Jaeger battalions and Alexa went east to the Ostfalen Army's grenadiers. Little did anyone know that this small incident in which a "couple of lowlives died" would be the precursor to great tragedies to come.