Chapter 8: Chapter 6 – The Roads That Crossed

1 year after the incident at the Priscian Capital, in another part of the continent...

Second Sergeant, Wilhelm von Habsburg, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 3, Day 4, Stattgurt, Deutsche Imperial Army

"Will!! Hurry up the carriage is departing!"

"Ah scheisse!"

My name is Wilhelm von Habsburg, a 22 year-old Corporal who just graduated from Officer School. Today I am to headed to the Western Theatre as a new officer for my new troop.

Yes, you heard that right, I, Who just graduated as an officer will be made the commander of my own squad even though I have zero combat experience. But there is a reason for that.

You see I am the son of a Viscount...well second son actually, and since my older brother is first in line to be the head of the family and my younger sister's future had already been planned out for her, I alone was left with no guidelines to follow.

There I was lost, and I basically became a nobody during those periods of time. However, it was then that the Durchian Alliance suddenly attacked, without a declaration of war even! Those savage barbarians just burned down the homes of my fellow countrymen without any regret, hesitation, or remorse.

The Emperor, being the competent ruler that he is, retaliated, but not before issuing a declaration of war ourselves of course!

The war itself is taking longer than expected, and it was about time the Imperial Army had gotten to the Durchian capital already with their military strength. But of course, it wouldn't be that easy, all around the Deutsche Empery there were multiple potential enemies, who threaten the safety of the Fatherland.

For example, The Francais Republic, which was one of the major powers of the continent, almost equalling the Deutsche Empery in military power, declared war on the next day, not letting the opportunity created by the barbarians go to waste. Fortunately though, the Empery was quick to react, leading to minimal losses.

And although has been 2 years since the war started, the Empery was holding up quite well as it reached a stalemate with its hostile neighbors. The Emperor, sick of the war, diverted most of the country's resources to the military since its economic situation was holding up quite good as well.

A conscription was done, For each and every one of the noble families to send some sort of military support for the war effort, seeking to end the long war.

So I, Wilhelm von Habsburg, as an aristocrat of the proud Empery, took it upon myself to volunteer, to protect those who are important to me!

"Ahhh we are not going to make it! No wait I have an idea! [Mana Bullet]!"

"Will, No!"

A blue streak of light emerged from Wilhelm's fingertips, and zapped across the air until it reached its target, which was the ground just beneath the horses' feet. The horses, in response to the small explosion of mana quickly stopped their tracks and stood in surprise, the driver confused as to what just happend.

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy attack! Form up!" A group of men and women emerged from the carriage, holding swords and spears as they searched for whoever interrupted the start of their leisure ride.

"Look, there is the enemy!"

"Surrender yourself! [Fireball]!" One of the men's hands lit up with flames, and as if he were throwing a baseball he threw the ball of flame at Wilhelm's direction, narrowly missing Wilhelm.

More of the men and women put up their hands as well, bombing Wilhelm's location with magical spells, to which Wilhelm and his travelling responded to by hiding behind a tall rock.

"Will, what the hell!?" his friend Veit shouted.

"Wait wait wait stop firing! It is us! Sergeant Wilhelm and First Adjutant Veit! Stop firing!"

"Wait! Stop firing!" One of the older passengers commanded towards the younger passengers.

Wilhelm came out, as well as well as his companion Veit, with raised hands.

The old passenger then replied "What the hell was that soldier!? We could have killed you!"

"Sir! I apologize!" The idea of stopping the carriage's horses with magic looked a lot cooler in his head, and it was just sad that reality was vastly different.

"Ahhhh screw it, save the apologies for later and get in! We're running late because of you!"

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The Deutsche Empery had three Major War Theatres; Which were the Rhine, the Wastelands, and No Man's Land.

The Rhine theatre was a bustling warfront in the westernmost part of the Empery, and it is with the Francais that the Imperial Army shares this front with. So far it is in a stalemate, however nobody can deny that the favour is slowly shifting to the Francais as the war drags on.

The Wastelands were, as the name implies, a wasteland, due to the rough terrains, large forests, and inhospitable environment the Imperial Army hasn't made much progress in conquering the Durchian Alliance straight after the first attack on the only plains the Durchian Alliance territory has. Every inch gained is paid in blood with the barbaric guerilla warfare in the harsh land.

And, although not much of a threat at the moment due to lack of interest, No Man's Land  was, as the name implied 'No Man's Land', humans were almost always killed on sight by monsters, and if you were lucky you'd probably be a slave to monster overlords for the rest of your life, which certainly wasn't going to be long considering that the monsters literally work their slaves to death, It was dubbed an unofficial warfront, Not yet official due to the lack of national threat instead regional, the smallest War Theatre is situated in easternmost part of the Deustche Empery.

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Second Sergeant, Wilhelm von Habsburg , Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 3, Day 8, No Man's Land, Deutsche Imperial Army

"Ahhhhhhhhh we finally made it..." Wilhelm said. The hard wooden seats of the carriage looked ever so comfortable as his body basically sank into it because of his fatigue.

After four days of putting up with a very shaky carriage, Wilhelm had finally reached his destination, which was the army division camp just bordering No Man's Land.

The Sturm Division was an army division that was made up of roughly 6,000 infantrymen, with no known magic knights or any mages. It was situated on No Man's Land as a garrison to watch for the looming threats of monsters, originally it was made up of 14,000 people in total, however with the Durchian Alliance more than half have been called to the Wasteland front in hopes to overwhelm the barbarians with sheer numbers.

It was only a hollow shell made up of its former glory, people no longer feared the monsters which once ran rampant in Deutsche, because most of the monsters from No Man's Land were too busy being pummeled by the Polish Republic on the other side. All the experienced officers in the Sturm Division were called to the Rhine front as well, leaving only the fresh graduates from officer school to lead it.

But it wasn't like the Sturm Division just wasted away drinking and eating using the people's taxes, The soldiers patrolled the outskirts of the land in companies of a hundred men when they could, No Man's Land was still run rampant by the goblin tribes and orc settlements after all, and small skirmishes still tend to break out, mostly from stragglers who are left behind during patrols.

Wilhelm was now here, in the Sturm Legion's main base just outside of No Man's Land, in order to meet his squad of ten men, along with his friend, Veit.

Veit was also a graduate of officer school, however he was the rare case of a commoner making it through his hard effort instead of his noble lineage.In fact Wilhelm thought Veit's capacity for leading surpassing his own and thinks that he would be a good Sergeant when he graduated. However being a commoner naturally means a significant decrease of speed in promotions as it would discredit noble society otherwise.

"Come on Will! We need to find our squad's section!"

"Ahh ahh, It's Sergeant Habsburg now, remember?"

"Oh right, Sorry for my impudence Sergeant Habsburg!" Veit stood straight, as he saluted by putting the side of his fist on the center of his chest.

"Hahahaha!" Wilhelm laughed, not because of his sudden change of attitude, but because of how silly 'Sergeant Habsburg' sounded.

"Pffft--Hahahaha!" Veit also laughed, thinking that it indeed had a silly sound to it.

And after spending a few moments laughing, the duo calmed down enough to speak sraight.

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"Well, regardless of how silly it sounds that's what you have to call me now."

"Yessir!" Veit replied, still grinning ear to ear, to which Wilhelm just rolled his eyes as a response.

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The pair walked around the base, walking across camps and tents searching for where their respective squad was located.

"Look at these people, Aren't they just slacking around?" Veit chastised the soldiers, who were idly just sitting down and even sleeping in their own tents in the middle of broad daylight.

Some soldiers were even playing cards and drinking alcohol, which was uneasy on the eyes of Wilhelm, who once looked up to the soldiers as protectors of the Deutsche Empery.

"Well, there isn't that many threats in No Man's Land though."

"A goblin tribe could literally just start ransacking this part of the base and the soldiers would be too drunk to stop them!"

Not to mention that some of the soldiers were drinking Kornbrand, which was the strongest alcohol available in the Empery.

'How did they even get their hands on those?' Wilhelm thought.

"Um, Excuse me sirs, But are you the new graduates from Officer School?" A voice behind them asked.

He was a tall man, about 195 centimeters tall and had a young face, he looked to be just a little older than Wilhelm himself, and because of his size he looked a tad bit intimidating. The insignia on his shoulders indicated that he was the rank of Private, or as some would call it, Recruit.

"Yes, We're looking for the tent of the 126th squadron. Might you know where that is?"

"Yes sir! In fact, I am also a member of the 126th, and I've been sent here to find you."

"Excellent, shall we get going then?"

After a few minutes of walking they reached a white tent, which was just like the others, but this one had a much more valuable presence than the others, mostly because instead of soldiers slacking around and sleeping, all of them were holding wooden swords.

They were actually training.

"The new Sergeant is here! Line up!" The tall man shouted. And the soldiers put down their weapons and rushed in front of Wilhelm, forming a straight line.

There was not a speck of dust in their uniforms, and their appearances looked neat and clean, their robust builds were visible from underneath their uniforms as well, Implying that they're used to training for a long time.

"I am Veit Welcker, Lance Corporal, First Adjutant, and Graduate from Officers School." Veit kept his introduction short, since he didn't like talking.

"I am Wilhelm von Habsburg, Second Sergeant, and Graduate from Officers School." Wilhelm introduced himself to check the soldiers' reactions.

No visible facial expression changes.

Whenever Wilhelm would introduce himself to a commoner, most of them would change their behaviour around him, always keeping a smile because of the little extra in the middle of his name.

Von was the middle name given to those of noble birth, It was what seperated the commoners from the nobles.

'I don't like bringing up that part of my name.'

He didn't like it since it would cause the people around him to act unnaturally, In fact when he first introduced himself to Veit at Officers School, he left out his middle name to have a normal friendship with him. Veit eventually found out about it though, being the competent person that he was.

The large young man who guided Wilhelm and Veit lined up as well, as well as the first one to introduce himself among Wilhelm's squadmates.

He stuck his feet together and stood up straight, and while saluting he said--

"I'm Private Chlust Balholf, From Igor-Stein Cadet School, Group B, 126th Squadron!"

'A Recruit!?' Wilhelm questioned inside his head.

Because of the man's size and intimidating look, Wilhelm thought that Chlust was a Lance Corporal or a seasoned veteran even if he also did look young.

Actually...

'All 7 of them look like experienced warriors!' Wilhelm was intimidated by their seriousness and inability to make facial expressions.

"Private Agidius Hengsbach! From Group C!"

"Private Rolf Hebrang! From Group C!"

"Private--"

The introductions continued, with no other soldier other than Chlust saying anything besides their rank, first name, and last name, and employment group. None of the other soldiers decided to add in any extras, which made Veit anxious as well.

And finally, the 7th soldier finishes his introduction as well, mimicking the style of the 5 other soldiers before him.

"Okay, now that--Wait, weren't there supposed to be eight of you in total?"

Mathematics was never Wilhelm's strong suit, But even he can at least count a few men. He checked the count again and sure enough there were exactly seven men, excluding Veit and himself.

"I'm here Sergeant Habsburg, First Adjutant Welcker."

A feminine voice reached his ears, and he looked to see that there was another person in military uniform that was also in the line.

Her jet black hair that reached down to her shoulders were tied up into a ponytail, making it easier to manage. Her skin and forehead were sweaty, indicating that she was also participating in the training earlier. Her red eyes gave off an intimidating presence which contrasted her elegant, yet teenage features. She was as short as Wilhelm's sister, who was only 16, And sure enough, she looked to be even younger than Chlust. Aside from that, she was easily one of the most beautiful girls that Wilhelm had ever seen.

Sticking her boots together on the ground and standing up straight and mimicking Chlust's salute earlier but more perfect, She looked like the image of a perfect soldier despite her small physique.

"I am Lance Corporal Reichel Schwertspinne, From Group D, 126th squadron!"

 

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