10th of Craving, Year 09-435, Morning... Duke and Bran were sitting in their usual training positions meditating their Auras since the Pendragon Army was forced to halt due to the disturbance of natural wildlife...
That morning, one of the Hunters ran back towards the traveling Army as he made his report:
"Milord, a wild herd of Central Flat-Faced Bulls are stampeding up ahead..."
"I see... And?" Duke made a confused face as he looked towards both Byran and Galleo.
"Ah, I see, good work scout, now go back and rest yourself for a while... Men! Were making camp here for the day!" Byran immediately took the reins after seeing Duke's confusion and inexperience.
"Hey Byran, why are we stopping because of some angry cows all of a sudden? I mean they're just flat-faced Bulls, right?" Duke asked the serious-faced Byran.
"Oh my young lord, you are still too young... Never underestimate the power of nature, especially when leading an Army... Though it might not look like it, Armies are fragile, Duke. Ignore a little wind here or a little cold there and you might find yourself with half an army!" Byran lectured.
"Well, I guess Flat-Faced Bulls ARE quite large... Six feet of pure meat might indeed shred my army apart..." Duke finally realized his error in thinking.
You see, Animals or Beasts in this world are terrifyingly larger than their counterparts here on Earth and visibly wilder.
"That's right Duke, the Southern Flat-Faced Bull is indeed already large, but did you know, those Bulls are actually quite small when compared to their Central and Western cousins? Southern Flat-Faced Bulls were actually descendants of our Domesticated cattle that escaped. The Central and especially the Western ones are the real deal..." Galleo next to Duke explained the Bull's genealogy.
"W-Wait?! The Bull ahead are LARGER than the ones at home?!" Duke gasped as he heard Galleo's words... Truth be told, although Duke isn't as sheltered as Vivian was, who only just recently been able to step out of Brune's Imperial Palace, where she lived most of her life, Duke too has never actually been to the very edges of the Brune Empire where the wild-life roam undisturbed by man...
Duke had mostly lived in Maine, situated near the Eastern and Central region's borders, making it, although a rural area, still quite far from the real wildlands that were the North and West.
And so, all the wildlife Duke saw on the road whilst riding a carriage to and from the Capital, although were already quite frightening for Earth's standards, were still quite far from the monsters that he would meet in this march towards the rallying point the Armies were instructed to meet by the Emperor (Varhys).
"Hey, can we go check the Flat-Faced Bulls?" Duke curiously asked Byran and Galleo for permission.
Galleo and Byran looked at each other as they reluctantly relented, thinking it would indeed be a good learning experience for the young Count.
Duke went towards the reported site where the Bulls were said to be rampaging. He was only accompanied by 2 experienced hunters, and of course Rudon.
At the site, Duke was greeted with a scene straight out of the Novels he read.
Thousands of Large Flat-Faced Bulls that looked to be incredibly large and buffed-up Bison with their flat faces, along with the sharp features commonly found in Wildebeest, were stampeding through the poor flattened out forest they went through, and a large crevice of Earth was left.
The beasts truly looked incredibly dangerous as a long line of them ran from the far left side of the forest to the far right side. Their hooves left more like a cleave upon the forest floor than actual footsteps. The long line that the beasts traversed was devoid of grass and became like a barren sludge of mud and dust.
Mud and dust were constantly being flung left and right by the force of the Beast's stampede. The scene would be akin to seeing a thousand large metal tractors traversing through a dirt road, side by side until the dirt road was destroyed by their weight.
If not for the fact that Duke and the Hunters were watching on a hill from afar none of them would've felt safe enough to simply watch the large monsters.
And to Duke's mind, the horde of Flat-Faced Bulls truly were monsters.
[Steak won't taste the same ever again...] Duke thought to himself.
And so, left with no other choice but to stop in their tracks, Duke decided it would be best if the Army continued on their training.
With the vacant time, Duke had, he was able to finish the new Aura Manual he planned to beat Bran's crazy good talent.
"What are you doin' there milord?" Bran asked out of curiosity.
"Hehehe, I'm fixing up this Manual to be as good as your Elemental Aura! Gahaha" Duke, ever the honest man answered the whole truth. Luckily for Duke, his rivalry with Bran was only inside his head, and so Bran didn't really mind if his liege were to beat him in terms of strength...
The only problem Bran had was:
"Milord! You're not thinking of doing anything dangerous again now, are you?!" Bran nagged after finding out what Duke was up to.
"No! Of course not, come on, I only ready promised I wouldn't do it right?" Duke swore.
"Well... If you say so, Milord..." Bran gave up, seeing that he really couldn't do anything if Duke really made his mind to do something.
But then a mild curiosity hit Bran as he asked: "Milord, why are you working so hard, anyway? And why did you join this war when you could've easily stayed home? I heard the Emperor himself gave you a conscription pass, I guess it pays to have your brother-in-law as the Emperor, eh..."
"Hmmm, you see Bran... War hurts the people more than it does the Nobles, and with the other Nobles leading troops I sent, I was afraid you guys might get bossed around, or even put into dangerous situations if you didn't have your lord with you to back you up... So, I came..." Duke completely made up a story, seeing as he couldn't exactly tell Bran he thought his wife (Vivian) was cheating with his best-friend (Bran) and so he escaped his household and accidentally ended up here... Not knowing Bran too was tagging along with the 200 men they sent.
"Milord!... I didn't know we were that dear to your heart!" Tears of loyalty began flowing from Bran's eyes, as Duke began to shine like a God to him.
To Bran, Duke in front of him right now looked like the Ushiku Daibutsu smiling down upon his sinful soul!
"Uhhh, yes..." *Cough Cough* Actually, Duke didn't really know who the 200 levied soldiers were. In fact, Duke didn't even know it was going to be Byran who was going to lead the 200 men...
Luckily for Duke, he accidentally came with the Army. If not and Byran or the others were somehow killed, that night during the feast would've probably been the last time Duke ever saw Byran, Galleo, Rudon, and maybe even Bran!
"Plus with your talent, I can't be all lazy now, can I? How could the Head of the Pendragon Family be weaker than his men, tsk tsk tsk. I would shame my forefathers if I was to laze around!" Duke explained, this time with his actual thoughts...
"Oh come on now Milord. No need to be humble, without your guidance I would've never have achieved Aura that fast..." Bran sincerely stated though Duke didn't really believe his words.
"Yeah yeah, sure sure, Mr. Hero of Light, now go over there and let me train in peace..."
Actually, what Bran mentioned earlier about not being able to achieve Aura this fast without Duke really was the full truth.
You see, it wasn't that Bran was more talented than Duke when it came to Aura, it was more because of Duke's detailed teachings that Bran was able to achieve Aura that fast.
It's like how Duke managed to find a fast path to Achieve Aura through testing and training, and all Bran had to do was follow the path Duke had already made, hence why Bran still believed Duke to be better than him at Aura. Note that without Duke, Bran would've probably needed at least a month or three to achieve Aura.
Duke sat opposite to Bran who was already doing the breathing and static exercises in training Aura.
During the early stages of training, meditation was enough, but as Aura mastery goes up, more and more physical exercises need to be done in order to train it harder.
This was why, despite looking like he was sitting down, Duke was actually supporting his body weight (Which was a lot mind you) with his arms.
Heavy beads of sweat ran down Duke's face, along with the heavy and fast frequent breaths he took, one might just mistake Duke for a woman going into labor... A stark contrast to the sweaty yet cool looking Bran, looking like a mastered martial artist doing static exercises, which he was actually doing...
Duke began reigning in the chaotic Pendragon Aura, intensifying it up to 150% and doing the technique he taught Byran and the old Knight: But instead of "small amounts", it was "incredibly large amounts" of Aura in extremely fast frequencies.
*KUK-! ARGH!* Duke almost spurted out blood as the large pressure went inside his bones and muscles but quickly retreated, healing the torn muscles and broken bones on their way out.
Duke continuously repeated this process, again and again, his bones and muscles getting torn and recreated again.
Even Bran in front of him felt the intense Aura Duke was making, but since it wasn't as chaotic as the time Duke tried to combine two Auras, Bran decided to let it be, lest he accidentally disturbs Duke in his training and permanently injures his liege.
Three hours came and went, and Bran decided to take a rest for now as he couldn't do continuous training like he did when it was only meditation involved now that he was at a higher level or Aura Training.
But seeing Duke continue in his non-stop training, Bran couldn't help but be amazed at Duke's tenacity.
Duke was able to match the time Bran meditated last night, whilst he was already performing a harder form of training.
"Milord, we should rest, for now, too much continuous training might strain our muscles you know..." Bran worried.
"Ah you go ahead, I'm going to continue training..." Duke refused, thinking to himself: [Gehehe, already tired, Bran-kun?! I'll overtake you if you become this complacent!]
"Alright milord, please be careful..." Bran left to get some lunch the old Knights were cooking up in a big pot.
Leaving Duke alone to train by himself...
On the 10th of Craving, Year 09-435, Afternoon, a caravan reached the Pendragon Army filled with Merchants and other trade goods.
These Merchants were from the Commoners Merchant's Guild or The Official Merchant's Guild now that Varhys decided to hand back some official power to the Pendragons who led the Guild... Or more specifically, his sister Vivian.
The Merchants were led by the Merchant-Noble Duke met in the past on his way home, Sir Derek Eclair.
"Sir Derek, it's good to meet you! Ah, I see you've brought our provisions in time, hahaha" Byran laughed as he patted the sleek Merchant on the shoulder.
"Of course, Maine has hired our Merchant's Guild to handle the Army's Provisions. We of the Merchant's Guild make sure to deliver on time and of good quality!" Derek saluted Byran with his nifty business sense.
You see, because of Galleo's newly designed system of marching, instead of the Army carrying the provisions and supplies with them heavily slowing them down as they marched from place to place, Galleo made it so that the Logistics team carrying the food and supplies to just follow after the Army, whilst the Army proper just brings food and necessities that would last them a week.
This is why Derek's caravan was a little bit later than the main Pendragon Army, only reaching them now as the Army was forced to stop because of the stampede.
"But why did sir Derek himself have to deliver these goods? Was there a problem in the delivery of supplies?" Byran asked.
"No no, I'm actually here to introduce my Brother Caleb to you, sir Byran. Caleb here's quite the capable Doctor, so I wanted to endorse him to you..." Derek explained as he introduced his Brother Caleb who wasn't his actual brother, but his ex's, Cynthia (This Cynthia is different from the wife of Rudon and mother of Annie).
Although Byran was only supposed to lead 200 men, which is quite little in the whole scheme of things with regards to the War, Derek was quite the smart and opportunistic businessman.
He knew of the recent upward trend the Pendragons have been having and wanted to be close to Byran, the trusted mentor of the Pendragon Count (Duke).
Little did he know that his gamble paid more than he had hoped for...
"Uhh, about that... I won't actually be leading these 200 men... The Count himself will be doing it!" Byran explained.
"T-The Count?!" Derek realized he had just hit gold whilst digging for silver.
"Yes, Milord Duke's leadin' this army. And your brother came at the right time too!"
Byran led Derek and Caleb to the tent Duke was staying.
Poor Duke was covered in bandages due to overworking his muscles and bones after ignoring Bran's corned advice for them to rest...
The lesson of the story, Duke thought: [Always listen to Bran... No matter how annoying he is...]