1st Squad of the 1st Royal Elites had a reputation of being successful in every mission they were given. All of the members were prideful of their accomplishments, as they have every right to be. They had never failed a mission. They had lost a few members over the years, and those had been replaced by young talents that exceeded the capabilities of their predecessors. To become a member, you needed to distinguish yourself from others, you also had to have the correct mindset.
It was this that gave them their nickname, 'Le Saux's Demons.' This was a name whispered in shadows. One would never mention this name in public, especially to the members of the 1st Squad. When deployed on a mission, they were always prepared, and were never taken by surprise. They were smart, meticulous, and perceptive. They never missed a single detail. Their contingencies had contingencies. The most frightening part of this squad's ability wasn't its ability and willingness to kill, it was their mental capacity.
Their leader, Sergeant Heardt, was a vain, prideful and arrogant man whose performance was well deserving a praise. He was Commander Le Saux's replacement as the leader of 1st Squad. He had proven himself a worthy successor with many successful missions. In fact, the only reason he was in St. Gloria now was because of the success of their most recent mission.
In a town north of St. Gloria called Emdon, a cardinal had been spouting lies and rumors about the church and her beliefs. Of course, the cardinal had to die, but it would look bad for the church to lash out like that, so 1st Squad was sent to expose the cardinal to his philanthropic ways, his embezzling of the church's funds, and brought forward several poor witnesses who had been raped by said cardinal. Therefore, a public execution was demanded by the town's populace. During the 'investigation' it was discovered that a priest had been aiding the cardinal and died a mysterious death before 1st Squad had left town.
Sergeant Heardt walked into the war room and saluted. "Sergeant Heardt reporting as ordered!"
Commander Le Saux returned the salute and said, "At ease." He walked to a particular point on the map and pointed with a stick, "Do you know of the Hell Gap, Sergeant Heardt?"
A strange expression came to Sergeant Heardt's face for just a moment before he replied. "I do, sir."
Commander Le Saux replied, "Good. Head down to Apotoyuca and make your way to the Hell Gap. If you come across any humans coming through there, kill them. I'll send word when the mission is complete."
"What about the people of Apotoyuca?" he asked.
Commander Le Saux shook his head, "They don't have to know about it. But if any get in your way…"
Sergeant Heardt nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Sergeant Heardt saluted, turned on his heels and departed the war room. His next destination was the barracks where the rest of his squad currently was. Nobody on Sergeant Heardt's team was a puppet, but each of them was considered as loyal as one. They would follow orders unquestionably, no matter what it was. He entered through the door and saw the men there relaxing. When they saw him, they all stood at attention at the foot of their beds.
He walked down the row of soldiers, the elites of the Holy State Grandia, looking each one of them in the eye before passing on to the next. They were all in varying states of dress, some in armor, some in their underwear, yet each one of them stood tall and proud. "The commander gave us an order." He said as he reached the end and turned around.
Silence. Nothing was said. Nobody moved. Nobody's facial expression changed. Nothing.
Until a scream was heard, "YEAH!" then everyone started cheering. Sergeant Heardt smiled at their reaction. They were always motivated when they received a mission from Commander Le Saux. The missions the bishops and cardinals assign to them always involved more work than they wanted to. Commander Le Saux's missions were simple, and in many ways, brutal.
"Alright." He said, and immediately everyone returned to their position of attention at the foot of their bed. "We are to proceed south to the Thundering Mountains and await targets travelling through the Hell Gap. Once we have made contact with the targets, we will proceed to eliminate them. Civilian involvement should be nonexistent; however, we have authorization should unofficial personnel arrive upon site. Our mission is to remain on site until notified by Commander Le Saux."
He stopped at the end and looked over his shoulder, "Be sure to pack enough supplies to last a few months. This includes cold weather gear."
He walked to the door and without turning around called out, "Proceed." When the door closed, he heard them scrambling to prepare for the mission.
Two and a half weeks later, they were passing by Apotoyuca to the north, completely avoiding the town. The days had gotten shorter and most of the trees were beginning to lose their leaves. The Thundering Mountains were in view, and they could see the valley where the Hell Gap lay. It was called the Hell Gap because demons inhabit that place. The veil between this world and the one called Hell is thin here, so occasionally demons find their way to this world.
They brought with them two wagons, containing their provisions and equipment. They were dressed as merchants and their escorts. If anyone were to see them, they would think the six on horses were puppets. This was how 1st Squad typically traveled. Their ability to act out their roles was impeccable.
They made their way along the path towards the back end of Hell Gap. It would take another week traveling through the forest before they reached the back end. Upon entering the forest, two of the riders went ahead to scout out the area. If anything were to happen, one would stay on site and the other would return to the group to inform Sergeant Heardt. A few times they had to stop to move fallen trees from the path, while other times they had to remove a tree so they could get the wagon through.
As they neared the mountains, monsters began showing up. While demons typically didn't leave the gap, they kept people away from the area, making it a haven for monsters to thrive. Several encampments of goblins lay between them and the base of the slope where they would begin set up. Goblins were a menace because of their aggressive nature and their reproductive capabilities, which was on par with that of cockroaches.
A single settlement of goblins would create individuals that would fulfill certain leadership roles depending on the number of goblins present. Up to fifteen, the strongest goblin would evolve into a commander. When there were four or more commanders, one would evolve into a general. When there were five or more generals, one would evolve into a lord. A lord was the peak, and there would only be one of them. If a settlement had a lord, the bare minimum number of goblins present would be three hundred.
Goblin lords had a special ability to give commands to their generals from a distance. A goblin lord would sit at the back and coordinate attacks. It would be able to change tactics as it saw the need to. Generals had the ability to inspire their troops, so they were less likely to flee if the odds against them were overwhelming. Commanders could coordinate groups of goblins to fight more effectively using ranged attacks, sneak attacks and guerrilla tactics to destroy their foes.
Having a settlement with a goblin lord in it would require an army company to come in and take on the task of wiping them out. Even under those odds, the army would suffer significant losses. If a goblin lord were to lead its settlement to a human occupied town, there would be no way for the town to survive. This was why the nearest town, Apotoyuca was heavily fortified with a wall, and plenty of troops, which head to the mountains frequently to cull the goblin population.
One of the scouts came back on his horse and rode up to Sergeant Heardt. "Sergeant, we've spotted a goblin settlement. Karl has confirmed the presence of one general."
Sergeant Heardt considered the information for a while before asking, "Is it right in the way? Can we skirt it?"
The soldier looked back to the front and contemplated the answer before replying, "It would add a day, but yes. It's ahead, but on the south side of the trail. If we leave it as is, the patrol from Apotoyuca would find it."
Sergeant Heardt nodded, "We'll leave it then. If the patrol finds it, it'll keep them busy for a while, and out of our hair. What'll our heading be Vinzent?"
The man turned around on his horse and said, "About two hundred meters ahead, there's a clearing on the north side. If we follow that west to the far side, we should be able remain undetected."
Sergeant Heardt nodded, the scout ran off on his horse to catch up with the other one and the procession proceeded forward. When they found the clearing, they turned north into it and started heading northwest. About a half hour later, the scouts came back and charged ahead towards the front.
They arrived at the base of the mountains five days later. They set up camp behind a copse of trees that shielded them from view from the valley. Scouts went out into the valley to check for signs of passage while Sergeant Heardt examined the valley.
"Matthias." He said as he called out to one of the men. The man came running forward immediately, "Yes sir!"
He pointed to a rock on top of one of the sides of the valley. "Set up there, see if there's a better spot to view from. I'll send Reiner up afterwards for directions to a FOP (Forward Observation Point). Once he's in place I'll need cover spots for the four of you." He gestured with his head as he said, "Go."
The man ran back to the camp and grabbed his bow and quiver before running to the specified location. His scramble up the slopes was quick and caused very little disturbance with the rocks along the wall. One of the scouts came back and reported.
"Sir, there's no sign of passage, but there were three demons spotted deeper inside." He said. As Sergeant Heardt heard that, one of his eyebrows raised slightly.
"Good. Keep an eye on the demons, but don't engage. For now, provide coverage for Reiner when he gets to the FOP." Sergeant Heardt said as he looked up the hill towards the archer he sent up the hill. He was now in position and gave the thumbs up.
"Reiner! Prepare for FOP! See Matthias up on the hill." The man grabbed some gear from a wagon and ran to meet up with Matthias on the hill, the scout running with him, but staying at the bottom of the hill instead of following up. At the top of the hill, Matthias pointed in a direction that the scout at the bottom of the hill ran towards.
As the two made their way to their own destinations, Matthias gave hand signals to the scout until Reiner arrived at his location. The two spoke for a while before Reiner ran back down the hill towards the scout. When he reached the scout, he received relayed instructions on where he needed to go as he wouldn't be able to see Matthias anymore. Once Reiner finally got into position, the scout ran forward to find the other scout to relay the information that he had received from Sergeant Heardt. Once that task was done, he ran to where Reiner was to provide coverage for him.
Matthias came running down the hill to Sergeant Heardt and knelt before him, drawing on the ground key points he had found from his observation point. Including terrain and significant coverage or ambush points. He placed a rock that signified Reiner's position and three other locations for the archers to sit.
Sergeant Heardt nodded and told Matthias to scout out the archer locations to verify that they were optimal locations. He then called out for two more soldiers who were setting up camp. "Heinrich! Laurens!" The two men came running up, careful not to step on the improvised map.
"Matthias has spotted these three points as potential locations for traps. Go check them out, and I don't want whoever is coming through to retreat, so make sure to set up a landslide or some other method of keeping them in the kill zone." Sergeant Heardt looked down at the improvised map again and headed over to the camp being set up.