Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The Journey Begins

The carriage was very bumpy. Raya had never travelled this far away from the south before and at the beginning she was filled with excitement, but after a week the freshness has worn off and she just feels that this carriage is stuffy and uncomfortable. However she was still very happy to be sitting here. After getting Alea to agree to her going, she felt that her heart that had been beating irregularly finally started to calm down. 

Due to the fact that the decision was made quite hastily, there naturally wasn't much time to prepare an escort for her. Alea didn't plan on telling her family about their plans. Afraid that Azel would try something when she left the city, so she could only hire a carriage with someone who seemed reliable and honest. After that they packed up the gold and silver in Raya's dowry, as well as some clothing and necessities. 

Alea had to meet the team of conscripts, and unfortunately they didn't get horses so the journey for them was going to be a long and tedious one. They planned for Raya to stop at the 2nd city from the border army camp, just as a precaution, since she would get there in half the time. Thankfully her parents had given her two beta servants that knew martial arts, otherwise her trip would be a little more worrying then it is now. 

And Alea at the time was in an even more uncomfortable environment. She joined up with the conscription team at the gate of the city after seeing Raya off safely. She knew that there would be a worried and uneasy mood amongst the group, but when she showed up there were people on their knees begging the unit commander that was tasked with sending everyone to the border,to let them go. That they had families, or that they could pay if he just scribbled their name off of the list. Alea had never seen this before. She had seen those who couldn't handle it when she was a soldier before, but everyone volunteers to join, so the number of them that want to flee is quite small. They haven't even left the city yet and dozens of people are pleading, crying or scolding the soldiers, like it's going to change anything if they do that. Alea doesn't blame them though. Who would want to be forced to fight a battle that they never even considered relevant to them?

However this scene is quite worrying. With morale this low without even setting off for the border yet. She's even more dubious whether the border can be defended. After all, these people are the so called "reinforcements" . Though, that means they're nothing more than meat shields to stick at the front of the line to better protect the experienced soldiers, so that the General leading the battle doesn't lose much of his actual combat force. 

No matter how much Alea thinks. What is to come, is inevitable. The soldiers began signing those people off one by one. Their names were composed by the magistrate and the city clerks as efficiently as possible. Then they began to order the conscripts to line up in rows of two after their name was checked off. Following the process, Alea checked her name off and got in line. Couldn't call it a formation, it was too sloppy. As the last few names were signed off and they all stepped in line, the commander shouted for the soldiers on horseback at the front to start marching, while he and a dozen soldiers remained in the back. 

They're guarding against deserters Alea thought. The march itself wasn't pleasant, but even though the soldiers were hoping to return to the border sooner, they didn't push the conscripts too hard. After being given a few days to adjust themselves. These alphas seemed to regain their arrogance, speaking about how many of those barbarians they are going to kill.

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'The same topics spoken in a different time, and a different world'. Alea was amused by the bravado of these alphas. Maybe it was a way to hypnotise themselves? Or maybe they were convoluted enough to think they could beat a professional soldier? Either way she was enjoying listening to the conversation. 

Time passed day by day and more conscripts joined from different cities and towns, making Alea finally find a shadow of a real army in this superficially disciplined mob. Before Alea knew it half of the journey was over and the time that Raya was supposed to reach the second city was sometime today. 

Raya was indeed in the city at the moment. She had just sent off the carriage driver after finding and renting a small courtyard to await Alea's entrance into the city. Her journey was mostly stable. At least she hadn't met any bandits along the way. Perhaps an old carriage was not of much value in their eyes, or maybe they didn't believe anyone with money would even dare be going towards the Northern border at this time of turmoil. Either way, the only problem she met was a lecher or two at the inns they stopped at for the night, but they were easily solved by the two trained servants. She took a bath as soon as the room was tidied up and immediately felt refreshed after three weeks of just wiping her body. Getting dressed and having a meal, Raya had to think about what she'd do after Alea went to the barracks. 

Bottom level soldiers live in the barracks together, and they can't leave without permission or on their days off, but those are few and far between. She had to think of something that would allow her to forget the worries that kept swirling through her mind. She had a few vague ideas, but she didn't know the feasibility of them until she saw the real situation of the border city. From the gossip she had heard from those people that were fleeing south, she knew that new blood needed to be injected into the army, so that it could maintain its morale. She had heard that most of the businessman had shut down their stores and left. The only ones that stayed in the city were the businessman that knew that only by taking risks could you earn the corresponding rewards. The families that couldn't bear to leave the place they'd always called home, and the families of the soldiers and many border born officers. 

She sighed and looked up at the tent of the bed, feeling a little lonely without Alea sleeping beside her. 

"Goodnight, Alea" she whispered, naively hoping that the wind might pass her words onto Alea's ears. 

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