Under the gentle sunlight of the early dawn, on the great field of Middenland, to the far northern side of the capital.
I, Libertas "Victor" von Vindia, was gazing down from the tall podium, checking the overall condition of my army as they assembled into one ginormous stack of troops.
Rank upon rank of soldiers in snow-white uniforms stood in absolute silence amidst the wide green field of Middenland, their rifles pressed firmly against their shoulders as their neatly worn stahlhelms glinted under the sun. In front of them stood a group of banner bearers, raising their sacred standard flag staves of white doves made from pure silver up high like an 'Aquila' of the Roman legion.
At their ranks and rears stood the lines of irregular troops who weren't trained nor armed with modern weaponry yet, and those who were mercenaries in origin.
Their discipline was almost flawless due to Elena's ruthless disciplinary actions, which were exaggerated further by my draconian rules about desertion. Their bodies and equipment were kept in pristine condition thanks to Valeria, who pulled off a logistical miracle by putting her mercantile skills to good use. Their morale was also off the roof after being propagandized 24/7 by Arina, who utilized her idol-like cutesiness to somehow reinforce their belief in our cause.
In conclusion, they were more than ready to go to war, if I simply told them to. To be honest, I didn't expect myself, a random modern-day wargaming nerd, to be leading such an army after being transmigrated here for such a short amount of time. It hadn't even been a year yet, and somehow I found myself as some kind of supreme leader.
And now, on this simple podium in front of more than ten thousand soldiers, I was about to make one last big speech before throwing them straight down into the infernal furnace of war (Again).
I took a deep breath before gazing across the field, from the field camp which sprawled out with many facilities like a small town, to the flagpoles where my symbol of white doves fluttered through the morning winds. A smile of confidence slowly appeared on my face as I blew out my breath and steeled my composure to make a speech.
"Good morning, ladies..." I said, turning my head toward all my lady advisors who were standing alongside me just below the podium with small grins, "And gentlemen." I then turned back to greet my brave warriors with a warm smile radiating confidence, not anxious nor afraid of the coming war at all.
"I'm here today to speak my heart out to you, all brave souls who decided to fight alongside me, not as the supreme commander but as comrades-in-arms. To be honest, I couldn't have been more proud to fight beside such heroic men who fight to secure the future of our kind against the forces of a soon-to-be tyrannical prince who worships the devil and sees people as nothing more than livestock to be slaughtered." I paused to gather my breath before continuing my rhetoric.
"...No matter your origin, whether you are mine or Lady Ariana's men, or even mercenaries who fight for gold, know in your hearts that you are fighting for the right cause. We're all in this together, and in the end, we will win this together! I promise you, as both a man and a supreme leader... thank you for listening." I finished my speech with a proud salute, which they returned in kind.
"Now, I'll let Lady Elena and Sir John take over. See you at the front... may the Divine blessing be upon you." I spoke with a smile as I stepped down from the podium and passed my position to Elena, who stepped up in my stead.
"Now listen up, you fools!" she shouted at the top of her enormous lungs, as she and John organized the men further into many different battlefield components.
Frontline combatants, rearguard personnel, strategic reserves, and support companies were divided up with unbelievable speed that made me gasp in disbelief.
Then the ginormous column of men started to march out fearlessly into the green field beyond.
Blessed by the Dove, led by the Lion, motivated by the Bear, and supplied by the Serpent. Who would be foolish enough to stand in the way of such an army?
-----
Sometime later, under the blazing midday sun.
Stahl, once a farm boy, now the leader of the entire 'First Rifle Battalion', was organizing a trench-digging process with a heavy sigh. As the ground beneath them wasn't hard at all but soft black soil perfect for corpses, normally this would be ideal... if half of his men didn't have mattocks nor shovels, but straight-up pickaxes due to the mistake of their quartermaster, which ended up delaying their entrenchment speed by hours on end.
At that moment, his battalion liaison showed up behind him, hurriedly saluting with a grumbling expression and furrowed brows.
"Ninth Rifle has refused to send us their tools, sire," he spoke in an irritated tone.
He had sent him to request extra entrenching tools from the 'Ninth Rifle Battalion', but it turned out to be just a waste of time, as expected from them. Their battalion was comprised only of Euraskan men bought by that girl he personally hate.
It was known to almost everyone in the army that their leader, the cute but incompetent girl Arina, had unresolved beef with his beloved Field Marshal Elena. After the "halting the entire advance to take baths and change clothes" incident at Vertenville, their conflict now ran as deep as a ravine, and in turn left the units under their respective commands in an uncomfortable position.
It was a problem well known in the field but not often spoken of in the command post, since no one wanted to light up a slumbering powder keg and cause further infighting. Even their leader, Baron Victor himself, didn't seem to be aware of how bad the situation had become.
"As expected from that girl's men. Well, it seems like I'll have to send the request straight to high command... Signaller!!!" he shouted to the signaller who was taking a nap in the trench just behind him.
"Ja!?" the signaller hurriedly stood up in panic, saluting while still half asleep, probably tired form the march.
He sighed in disappointment, as he really wanted to berate and punish the man, but the circumstances didn't allow him to, since he needed to send his message as fast as possible.
"Message to HQ..." he announced, then relayed his request to be sent out as Morse code.
He really needed those tools to make his trench, since his battalion's mission was purely defensive. As the objective of the 'Grand Army' this time was to guard the princess's force perimeter. He didn't really know how they ended up with this kind of mission, nor did he care. He only knew that he needed to dig long, hard, and large trenches.
As he finished sending his message, his eyes caught the glint of a machine gunner squad with unfamiliar faces, fiddling with their machine gun tripod in their nest with clearly confused expressions.
"What's the problem over there?" he asked the machine gunners, and they saluted him in response.
They looked at each other before asking him nonchalantly, "How do we adjust this thing?" clearly not trained to handle such a weapon.
He gasped at their question, as he didn't expect such green recruits to be here on the front at all, since they were supposed to be reservists, not combatants, something must've made mistake.
He immediately ordered them to retreat back to the rear, despite their pleading not to. But he didn't listen nor relent, as machine gun-based friendly fire wasn't something to be scoffed at.
As they retreated to the rear, he ordered his veteran riflemen to man the gun instead. After that, he whispered for his liaison to investigate how could they ended up here in the first place.
And as his liaison set off running, he let out the deepest and heaviest sigh of his life. The battle was coming, and he somehow had to deal with such nonsense.
He then closed his eyes, falling into thought back to the day he was led into battle alongside the White Baron himself, on the grounds of a desolated village where he fought the accursed kin of snow-clad beasts amidst the falling snow. Strangely enough, his heart calmed down as his gaze filled once more with determination.
"I will not disappoint him..." he murmured, before continuing to command the trench-digging process with renewed motivation.
And unbeknownst to him, the horde of something was marching steadily toward them.
Just as her highness has planned.