"My liege, I swear that I had no ill intentions! I was merely curious as to what lay in the centre of the camp!"
It seemed that Archon Otto's defences crumbled at the sight of Alexius' puppy eyes, as he gave a sigh and a dry laugh. "Alright, boy, I will let you off this time. However, intrude in the forbidden area another time and..." His face turned gravely serious again. "I will have to make sure that you are taught well through... disciplinary action."
Alexius gulped. Bowing down, he exclaimed, "Y-yes, my liege! If... that is all, could I please return to my quarters?" He began to inch away, not daring to remain a second longer from this terrifying existence who could end his life with the snap of a finger.
The Archon frowned, with the apparent frailness of his body appearing once more. "Hold on." He said. "You said you have assigned living quarters, right?"
Cursing his luck, Alexius gave a frustrated smile. "Of course I do, my liege. It's a fine place, really. Your engineers have truly outdone themselves in-"
The man waved his hand, signaling for Alexius to stop rambling on.
"I just want to know whether you guys are being watched by a caretaker."
Hearing this, Alexius wanted to scream. A caretaker? Him? Since when did he need a caretaker! This was an insult to his dignity- oh, wait. He was still a ten-year-old kid in this world.
Still a little reluctant, he answered the Archon. "No... my liege. There's no one here to take care of us."
At that, Archon Otto's face turned dark. "Dozens of kids, with no one to take care of them? It's a wonder no one has gotten injured yet! This is a problem that I will personally oversee. By afternoon, I'll send a few stewards to take care of you guys. You will be in charge of helping them out. Understood?"
Alexius gulped and nodded under the man's intense glare, even though the threatening aura was all but gone. However, he was surprised by one thing. 'As the ruler of the country and someone facing a major battle anytime now, he can still find time to be worried about a few children?'
After decades of experience, he could gauge that this man was a man of action, but also a fierce and ruthless person. In fact, the reason why he still had his head was probably only because he was a child. As such, he quickly agreed to Archon Otto's demands and took his leave, afraid of becoming the next head on the chopping block if he angered the man.
'Phew- a narrow escape!' Alexius could finally wipe the sweat off of his brows, taking a deep sigh of relief. The good thing about being a kid is that adults usually gave them more leeway than they should, which he had by now mastered how to exploit.
However, his heart still pounded, and he remained terrified at what had just happened. Looking down, he could still see his legs shaking from the sheer terror of the Archon's magical power.
When he finally staggered through his tent's entrance once more, he found Anthony looking at him with a look that said, "I told you so". However, he probably didn't expect that his friend had just had a less-than-ideal encounter with the supreme authority in the country.
"How was it? Did you have fun?" He sarcastically asked.
Rolling his eyes, Alexius just nodded. Since when had Anthony become so comfortable around him?
...
"I've been looking around, and it seems like the defences are really being rushed." After a moment of silence, Alexius said the first thing that came to mind to ease the awkwardness.
"Well, I mean; isn't it good to get the defences up before the enemy arrives? I'm also curious as to why our liege doesn't defend from behind the walls of Littlesberg." Anthony replied with a tone of curiosity.
"Well, they probably did that to entice the enemy into an open battle which our leadership is confident in due to our superior numbers. Either way, they will get this done and over with as quickly as possible, with minimal damage to the city." Alexius, tapping into his old knowledge, replied matter-of-factly.
It was Anthony's turn to roll his eyes. "Wouldn't it be safer to defend from behind the walls?"
Alexius replied once more without skipping a beat. "That may be so, but if we hole up, wouldn't we be opening the way for the enemy to strike at our rear, ravage the countryside, and cut us off from outside help?"
No matter how well-defended a city was, it was still an immobile object, and immobile objects always had a weakness to exploit, whether it be starving it out or just going around it.
"Here, the goal is to prevent an incursion into the Rici Archonate, so if we allow the Whitecastle army to bypass us, wouldn't that just be a waste of effort? Alexius continued.
"Hmm... I guess I didn't think of it that way." Anthony conceded, just to ask another question.
"What I don't get, however, is how you know so much about military strategy. Have you been reading the books at the Knight's manor recently?"
Surprised, Alexius could do nothing but nod sheepishly. He actually hated books and studying, which was why he chose a career path in the military in his past life. However, Anthony didn't need to know that, did he?
...
Later that afternoon, the "caretakers" that Archon Otto promised actually arrived where the kids set up their lodgings.
However, to call them caretakers was inaccurate. They were large, burly men who sounded like gangsters when they spoke, and cared more about taking care of their massive beards which reached down to their chests than taking care of the children.
For once, Alexius and Arkadios were in agreement that such long beards just couldn't be practical in battle, and Alexius in particular snickered to himself at the thought of likening them to giant axe-wielding Vikings.
However, at least they didn't interfere too much with what Alexius did, as long as he didn't step out of line.
Another day passed uneventfully, with the army hard at work training and setting up defences.
At noontime on the fourth day, the bugles finally rang.
At that sound, everyone jumped up in fright. Looking out, the camp was far more orderly than the last time the Whitecastle army sent a raiding force to test its defences, with soldiers following their officers this time.
It was probably because no one wanted to have their head removed, as having a head was essential to staying alive.
A loud voice rang through the camp, boosted by magic.
"Attention! The enemy is upon us; all soldiers are to form up in their respective battalions immediately! This is a direct order from our liege, Archon Otto Rici himself!"
At this, the men hurried their footsteps as mages kept a watchful eye over them, hovering in the air and directing groups to their positions, reminding Alexius of the scenes of traffic police directing traffic, evoking a slight chuckle.
By this time, although it was still around twelve in the afternoon, many clouds had gathered, blocking out the sun and making the field feel much cooler.
"Oi! Youngsters, stay close by and don't stray too far!" A fat-bellied old man who looked as if he had had enough of life shouted, regaining control of the children who were running around in a frenzy.
The man shook his head, and Alexius listened as the man clicked his tongue. "Huu, these youngsters. I haven't been able to keep up ever since I lost my magical powers."
What? Mages could lose their magical powers? Alexius was surprised. Why hadn't he heard of this?
His stare must have been obvious, as the man glared at him, exclaiming, "What, boy? What're you looking at?"
Quickly averting his gaze, the man led the children to the edge of the camp, where the army was gathering. Surprised once more, Alexius asked, "We're heading closer to the battle?"
The man was quick to reply. "I was instructed to do so to let you 'learn'. What? Don't like it? Take it up with the nobles, then!"
Without even getting a chance to complain, Alexius was refuted and he quickly fell silent, much to his chagrin.
"What, Alexius? Too scared of going up there? Oh, I forgot, your parents were commoners, after all." Arkadios' voice rung out once more, while Anthony shook his head. Several other children chuckled before the man leading them turned around, giving them the death glare. That shut them up.
Alexius once more felt his waistband. If he was in danger, he would really have to use this. Right now, he was barely a kilometre away from the defensive line the troops were forming up at, which was around where the command post was.
If the line suddenly broke, he would be dead meat if he were caught.
His palms suddenly became clammy as he thought about a horrible death by cold steel. In Earth's history, men, women and children were often brutally murdered by a victorious army rampaging through lands, so why wouldn't it be any different here? After all, humans here were the same as the humans back on Earth, albeit with some special powers.
Knowing humans, there probably would be one or two mages on the opposing side who enjoyed ripping the intestines out of their victims or something.
His mind then went back to his loyal servant, Jacob, who was left behind at Knight Rictor's manor to take care of sourcing manpower and weapons while he was gone.
'I really hope that he can complete the task I set for him.' Alexius thought, but he had much faith in Jacob, who had proven to be a competent underling. After all, plans had to go on, even if he was gone.
He sighed. Had the army allowed them to take their servants along, he definitely would've. However, he understood their decision since servants could be easily tainted by greed to betray the country.
Then, he thought of Knight Rowan, who was probably tearing his hair out at the thought of sending his adopted son to the battlefield, but couldn't do anything except continue to serve Lord Caymen faithfully.
Shaking his head and turning his mind back to the present, he tried to distract himself by carefully observing and analyzing the formation that the Rici Archonate's troops were taking.
'How methodical... conscripts with lesser armour in the front, while mages and officers take their place at the side and back of squadrons and battalions.'
'At least this army is, or is no longer, a ragtag bunch of idiots.' He thought to himself, remembering the raiding party which caused absolute mayhem a couple days back. It seemed that the soldiers had been scared into obedience.
The army finally finished its deployment about half an hour later, with dense rows of men spread across the defensive works.
The plain was flat, which required several trenches snaking across the battlefield to be dug, probably to halt the charge of any enemy cavalry that may be sent, as well as pikes and ditches that did the same. The army itself was arrayed about 100 metres away from the walls of Littlesberg right behind the earthworks.
The spearmen, who were the least armoured of the bunch, stood in columns of eight to ten people, giving the army considerable depth. They were probably the ones to stop any enemy charge.
Behind them were the more armoured noble retainers, who wore anything from chainmail armour to half-plate, and carried an assortment of weaponry. This brought the total depth of the main left, centre and right flanks to almost 16 men deep, making the army virtually impenetrable if met with a frontal assault.
To the extremities of the flanks there were many horsemen, about 1,000 on each side, angled about 50 metres in front of the main army. It seemed that the commanders had taken the threat of the enemy outflanking them seriously and taken measures to address it.
This gave Alexius a sense of security. On Earth, such an army would be nearly impossible to beat, especially so considering that the enemy only had around 10,000 men.
However, this was not Earth. There was a huge unknown factor; and that was the mages.
He had heard disturbing rumours that the enemy's commander, Legate Leon, was a tier six mage.
Tier six!
He had seen how powerful tier three and four mages were, able to move faster than one could even track, and soar in the air like birds. In fact, that was what he was most curious about: how armies fought with both mages and conventional warfare.
But how powerful would a tier six mage be?
He hoped that the Rici Army's commanders had taken this into consideration, for if they hadn't, then all their preparation might be for naught. Thinking back to his experience on Earth, where corrupt generals often neglected military matters in favour of personal enjoyment, he gave a bitter smile.
If that was the case here, then he might as well just run away right now to save himself from a gruesome death.
However, the army leadership had shown itself to be at least competent, and the mages powerful. Thus, by Alexius' analysis, the army had a good chance at successfully holding back the enemy army and even inflicting heavy casualties.
The only thing he could hope in for now was the abilities of the common soldier.
'Please win, I don't want to die!'