*Huf Huf Huf*
Derek was visibly tired and disheveled from the way he forced himself to move, marching along with a walking stick in one hand to support his tired and injured body, followed by a number of his fellow surviving caravaneers that were steadily walking behind him.
Gone was the sly smile Derek usually showcased, and in its place was a visibly tired annoyance for the current situation he found himself in.
[Huh, maybe Caleb was right after all... Maybe I should've just listened to him back then] Derek cried to himself as he remembered the events that led to his current situation.
At that time, when Alexei announced that anybody wishing to retreat shall be pardoned, Derek immediately jumped ship and prepared his caravan to retreat along with the 2000 men who wished to return home.
Even when he heard that Duke and the Pendragon troops were staying, Derek didn't care, for all he knew, this campaign was a total flop.
And besides, Derek was loyal to neither the South nor the Pendragons, he was after all a Merchant above all else.
Even his current title of Baron was achieved through a strategic political marriage, and so Derek had no true love for the South, as he and Caleb weren't originally from there, to begin with.
This is why it was so shocking to Derek when he heard Caleb say:
[
"Brother... I want to stay" Caleb, for the first time in his life refused his brother's order.
Although Derek wasn't his biological big brother, he and his sister had been with Derek since they were little kids in the slums. No blood was thicker and deeper than the filial love Caleb felt for his sworn brother.
"Huh? What?! Don't tell me... that you're actually planning on staying through this campaign?!" Derek uncharacteristically shouted filled with emotional anger as he realized Caleb was planning to stay with the Pendragons throughout this, to him, was already a failed campaign. Threateningly staring at Caleb with his two eyes to not commit to this foolish mistake.
Likewise, much like how Caleb felt towards him, Derek too felt the same for his adopted younger brother.
Derek had seasoned through a life of misery that crushed and hardened his heart to ice-cold dust. Caleb was the last remaining person Derek considered family that was still alive in this world, and so only his safety could ever incite an emotional response from Derek like this.
"N-Now now, although it might seem as though the dangers-" Galleo, who was silently spectating from the side all this time, not knowing what to do from the uncharacteristically angry Derek tried to calm him down, only to be brutally shut down by Derek:
"Shut up old man! I don't have time for your nonsensical words of Philosophy or Science!..." Derek shouted at Galleo, which prompted the old man to sadly reply: "Ah- yes..."
Seeing that Caleb didn't back down, Derek asked Caleb once more: "Are you truly serious about this?"
Caleb breathed a deep breath as he responded: "Yes... I truly believe in what Sir Galleo and Lord Duke are doing here..." Caleb answered in conviction.
This whole time, Galleo wasn't completely idle in their march towards Konigsberg.
During the times Galleo was discussing with Duke about his experiments and their possible applications in real life, he was also exchanging ideas and scientific concepts about the human anatomy never before heard of by the young aspiring doctor, Caleb.
To Caleb who was already considered an unprecedented genius in the field of surgical medicine, Galleo's simple words opened up a whole new and exciting world of glittering understanding and boundless knowledge that enticed and incited Caleb's potential and untapped genius.
Caleb, although known to be gifted in his pursuits of medicine, was always considered by others to be the black sheep of the Medical community of Brune.
Whilst other Doctors were focused on herbal remedies and ointments, weird young serious Caleb was out there silently dissecting bodies and creepily studying the human anatomy.
Although there was already an emerging field for the practice of surgery, as many Doctors did see the need for it, especially the Field Doctors who were often sent out to the battlefield, surgery was still, nevertheless, considered a crude and crass science that was commonly delegated as the last and final resort whenever treating a patent.
And because of this, the practice never truly bloomed as a field of medicine, thus its results were abysmal at best with patients commonly dying from the simplest of surgeries due to blood loss and or infection.
To be honest, Caleb probably propelled the field more in his short time studying it than its whole history combined. Hence why even though Caleb was also gifted when it came to the traditional ointment making and even Medicinal Alchemy, due to his true passion being with surgery, Caleb couldn't truly shine bright enough in Brune's medical field that was dominated by a majority of Medicinal Alchemists.
This is why the often misunderstood Caleb also saw through the misunderstood geniuses of both Galleo and Duke.
Caleb's eyes would shine whenever he heard the two's often disregarded discussions, ignored by the people around them like two nerds talking and geeking out over something only they would understand.
Only Caleb, as the third big nerd around truly saw the sheer potential and mind-blowing repercussions of the topics Duke and Galleo commonly discuss.
Galleo's lifelong and advanced scientific research, knowledge, and technical know-how, decades even centuries ahead of its time, complimented Duke's colorfully creative and sporadic genius that although Duke didn't always remember the weird gibberish and complex scientific jargon Galleo spoke of (or possibly made up on the spot), Duke would always somehow understand the old man's weird concepts, or at least try his hardest to understand.
With Duke's creativity, he would always spark a possible use for the complex and almost abstract scientific principles that Galleo had taught him, turning that useless piece of complex science into a practical and physically usable, and applicable technology in the real world.
After all, even if Galleo was a Renaissance-like genius when it came to his research and inventions, Galleo was no businessman, so it was left up to Duke to think of ways to use whatever the old man imparted on him in a practical manner.
This was what made up the late-night discussions Duke and Galleo had, sometimes even Byran butted in whenever the two also talked of philosophy, the meaning of life, and all that, which the old warrior Byran surprisingly liked...
Even Bran would sometimes come over to listen whenever he had free time from training his Holy-Aura. But on most nights, Bran would opt to train Holy-Aura instead as he had different tastes than the two science nerds, Galleo and Duke.
Caleb knew, that although ignored and often laughed at now, the discussions Duke had with Galleo would someday change the world! And change it will!
In more ways than one: [Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Medicine, and even Warfare... The things these two talk about. If one day they achieve all this... I don't want to miss out on this...] Caleb thought to himself.
[I can't miss out on this! Brother, I too want to see it with my own eyes, I wish to continue serving Lord Duke and learning from sir Galleo!] Caleb sincerely wished to himself as he looked at his older brother right in the eyes.
Unbeknownst to Derek, and even to Duke and Galleo actually, that while he left his brother in the care of the two oddballs, they had already somehow successfully converted him over to their side!
And what self-respecting genius wouldn't want to stay on Duke and Galleo's side anyway?
What man wouldn't want his name to be a part of history?!
To be immortalized into its annals as someone who changed and molded the world through his own hand?!
Through his own research and effort?!
Who?
No genius would ever deny a chance like that!
And so, with all the conviction Caleb had, he answered his brother:
"I'm serious about this... brother"
And with those words, filled with decisive conviction, Derek couldn't find it in himself to stop Caleb with whatever destiny awaited him. Be it glory or dismay.
Derek tried to convince his brother more, but Caleb didn't budge an inch...
And so, with a long sigh, Derek closed his eyes as he responded: "Ahhh fine! *Sigh* You probably already know what you're doing anyway... You were always the smarter one, haha" Derek responded with a dejected smile as he scratched his neck.
"Just stay safe will ya'?" Derek ordered as he quietly left the tent they were arguing in.
Duke on the other hand, much like Galleo before him, was outside the tent also eavesdropping on the conversation, waiting for the right time to stop Derek's uncharacteristically scary anger.
But before he could even do anything, Derek already backed off and was already outside the tent in front of him, telling Duke in an uncharacteristically worried and sincere manner:
"Please... take care of my brother, will you milord?"
"O-Of course!" Duke used this chance to warn Derek that it was probably more dangerous to retreat than to stay with them, saying: "The enemy's probably waiting for you if you retreat now!"
But Derek assured Duke that he knew a secret secondary route back to the Capital that he reassured Duke was completely safe.
Hence why Derek detached his Caravan from the other retreating Caravans just before they were about to reach the pass approximated to be where the enemy barbarians would attack.
Sadly for Derek, little did he anticipate that the barbarian's astute Beast Riders had already discovered his secondary route, and was aggressively chased by them, losing most of his cargo and leaving only a few men with him that successfully escaped...
]
But hey, at least they survived, leading to his current tired and cargoless situation.
*Sigh* [Yeah, I probably should've listened to Caleb and Duke back then...] Derek thought to himself, finally stopping for a moment and releasing a sigh of relief after finally seeing a Brunic Village just a few miles ahead of them.
With Derek's successful retreat, the Brunic Capital managed to receive word of their brutal defeat at the hands of the enemy's ambush, ushering in the rallying cry for the formation of a 2nd Reinforcement Army.
Unfortunately for Duke and his allies, however, this 2nd Reinforcement Army never actually set one foot inside Brune's Northern Region as they were instead sent to the East, where the Thracian League suddenly attacked Brune, spearheaded by the fearsome Macedonoi Champion Cataphract at their helm, said to be one of the only two Cavalry units said to rival the fearsome Knights of Brune, other than the Elite Royal Mussani Mamluke-Cavalry of course.
It turns out that the fall of Britannica and the Elder Magi Council, one of Brune's Great Pillars of Empire, happened to be a greater and more serious deal than any of them anticipated, leading to many of the spies that were sent out by their neighboring Countries and Empires to send word of its downfall back to their homelands.
With a majority of Brune's offensive and defensive magic capabilities sapped, this ushered in the greedy and opportunist nature of the surrounding nations to attack Brune whilst it was at its most weakest and vulnerable.
A grim situation started to befall Brune... all because they'd belittled the Northman Barbarian threat.