In the meantime, at the field headquarters of the 'Grand Army', which were stuffed full of communication instruments.
I, Baron Victor, the leader of this army, was sitting on a foldable chair with a straightened back, my mind awaiting the news of the coming battle with anxiety.
An hour passed and nothing came, yet my mind was still anticipating the coming battle.
Three hours then passed, yet the only news was some troops reporting problems about their missing entrenching tools.
Then, six hours passed and the midday sun descended down the celestial horizon, announcing the end of day and replacing it with the coming twilight.
My anticipation for the enemy to commit a frontal assault under the bright sun died down, replaced with anxiety of night attacks. The mission that the Princess has given me has become weirder with every second passed.
I've built an army which is as unstoppable and as merciless as tidal waves, just to have them hold position without any solid objectives, only digging trenches, but what could I do anyway? It's an order from Her Highness.
I sighed heavily as I stood up from my seat to stretch out my muscles. Meanwhile, Morse code signallers in my HQ started to change shifts, as well as different officers who were now getting drowsy.
In that moment, Elena entered the HQ with steady and well-placed steps, accompanied by the clanking sound of her heavy armor. Her scarlet red hair and brilliant ruby-red eyes shone under the lamplight as she saluted and gave her report to me.
"Scouting cavalry reports, there weren't any movements, the area seems to be completely peaceful." she spoke, with a somewhat thoughtful expression.
"That's good, I suppose." I smiled, then turned my head toward the hastily drawn regional map placed on the foldable table in the middle of the HQ. "Did your men scout here yet?" I asked, pointing my finger at the small grove in the middle of a wide green field.
"They did, I always take my mission very seriously." she answered with a smug smile.
"And nothing was found?" I asked.
"Nothing, as quiet as a grave." she answered once more.
I nodded my head in satisfaction. If there really weren't any enemies, that means we still have time to fortify our position even further.
"Do we really have to wait here instead of going on an offensive? I feel like we're just sitting ducks," she asked, expressing her concerns.
"That's the direct command from the Princess, I could not just ignore it." I answered, with a somewhat frustrated tone.
"We're going to turn her into a puppet anyway, why bothe...
I pressed my fingertip on her lips, while gesturing with my own to quietly tell her not to talk about this topic.
She responsively nodded in understanding as I slowly pulled my finger away.
"I'm just concerned about our momentum of attack. We shouldn't just stay still. Our guns are the weapons that could tip the scale of the entire war. At least we should advance and seize some villages or towns to keep our men moving, with aggressive momentum" she said, crossing her arms.
"Once again, it's the command, I couldn't just break it." I brought up this fact once more.
"Any loopholes?" she asked, her face serious rather than playful.
I closed my eyes and fell into deep thought for a minute, then a bolt of lightning struck my mind as a grin appeared on my face.
"Yeah, I could think of something!" I snapped, my blue sapphire-like eyes glinting under the HQ's blazing lamplight.
-----
Under the glinting twin moonlight, at one of the small farming villages dotted across the verdant landscape of bountiful Middenland.
Captain Mikhail and his group of black-clad heavy cavalry of the Black Riders Company rode out in wedge formation like the tip of a spear. Behind them was a line of light cavalry from Euraska, forming the shaft of said spear.
The mission that's the captain and the troops under his command were given by high command was to "confirm" the loyalty to the Princess of villages around the area near the Grand Army's HQ, and if they turned out to be disloyal, they would try to "convince" the villagers with "strong words" and an somewhat acceptable level of violence. But their secret mission was also to gather information about the whereabouts of both the Prince's and the Princess's armies.
Mikhail was specifically given this mission because he had a past life as a member of a bandit gang before becoming a mercenary captain and a loving husband. So if the Princess asked Victor about why his troops were running around the land causing problems, he would just answer that they had gone rogue, and he'll punish them later.
A couple of days had passed, and Mikhail finished his mission smoothly, as he had scouted and secured different villages around the area already. And so, as they sat around in their temporary field camp, which was literally just a bunch of campfires and fences for their horses.
"Signaller, send a message to HQ that we've completed our mission," he said, as he stood under the lone ancient white oak tree, which was a native plant of the Middenland region amidst the wide green field. His hands held the binoculars tightly as he scanned around the area one last time.
But this time, the picture he saw wasn't that of a wide grass field that exuded serenity, but a faraway faint shadow of a massive army, hoisting high the royal purple flag of the Prince, marching north, straight to where their comrades of the Grand Army had set up their defensive line.
He immediately snapped and turned his head toward the signaller with the cold, calculating voice of a professional warrior, "Tell HQ that the enemy force is approaching from the south. The estimated numbers are around twenty thousand or more... and ask them for further instructions," he said, as his eyes once more fixated on the binoculars' lens while his signaller sent out a rapid sequence of Morse code.