Her Majesty's Swarm

The battle of Leen

The Kingdom of Maluk’s forces gathered in the town of Leen. Because of the army that was garrisoned there, the town was bursting with chaos. The high-ranking officers secured the inns, gathered up provisions, and hastily ran in and out of shops, ensuring the army wanted for nothing.
“What’s your take on this war?” Gran Ginzbel asked his colleague as they sat down for drinks at the tavern. Gran was the commander of the first regiment’s third battalion, while his companion led the first battalion.
Gran was a man in his mid-thirties, making him a bit old to serve as commander of a battalion in this world. He’d always proved his worth in training, however. The reason for his late promotion was likely his tendency to speak too frankly and too often. He had left his wife of five years and his adorable three-year-old daughter behind in the capital in order to come to Leen.
“Strange war if I ever saw one,” replied the other man with a sour expression. “Hard to believe the elves wiped out the Knights of Saint Augustine. Their captain was capable of summoning the angel, you know?
How did a couple of knife-ears stand up to the Kingdom’s strongest knights and an angel?” The Knights of Saint Augustine were famous for their martial might.
When the southern countries had invaded with an army of 30,000, the knights had stopped them with mere hundreds and pushed them all the way back to the Themel River. The children of Maluk relished tales of these knights and their acts of heroism.
“So you think the elves ambushed them?” Gran asked.
“Nah, the higher-ups are thinking Nyrnal might have an advance force hiding in the forest. The elves’ forest would give them a way into our territory without crossing the Themel, after all.” The other commander wet his finger with wine, then used it to draw a crude map of the continent on their table. With the elven forest in the center,
he demonstrated how the Empire’s forces could get into Maluk’s territory without going through the river.
“Nyrnal’s Imperial Army, eh? I hear they’re all pretty strong. They unified the five countries of the south into one empire in just four years, after all. They definitely sound scarier than the elves.” “I’d be careful of the elves, too. They’re crafty bastards that like to set up traps designed to catch humans. And once they catch someone, they cut off their ears and nose, poke out their eyes, strip off their skin, and eat them.
Getting caught by the elves is the one way I’d never want to die.” Almost all rumors surrounding the elves were these sorts of dangerously tall tales. No one sought to confirm their validity, of course. Few humans came in contact with the elves, but they still spread those rumors because they felt the elves had turned away from the God of Light, choosing to instead worship the gods of the forest. Because of that, people were willing to believe the elves were capable of just about anything else.
Whenever children went missing near the forest, the elves were the first to be suspected. Not wolves, not bears, but the elves. And every time, the Kingdom would send out a force to suppress them, burning down a village as a lesson. The elves would then hide deeper in the forest out of fear, making contact with them even more difficult and the rumors all the more outrageous.
Elves ate humans. Elves sacrificed virgin maidens they’d stolen away to their gods. Elves were reincarnations of criminals. There were more hateful,
superstitious rumors about the elves than one could count.
“But we’re under General Chernov, huh? I’m kind of worried he might make us do something pointless. Rumor has it he’s really anxious to get promoted to marshal, so he pushes his men pretty damn hard. Some even call him Chernov the Murderer.” “Yeah? I always took him for a calm, collected sort of fellow. He always knows just how to be considerate of his men.” The fact that they didn’t have to camp outside and instead got to sleep in warm beds was due to the hard work and insight of Chernov and his military staff. The rank-and-file soldiers had to camp out in tents, of course, but the officers themselves would spend their nights in comfortable inns and establishments.
The same could be said of their meals. Thanks to the supply officers’ efforts, they could eat fresh meat and vegetables. The soldiers were grateful that they didn’t have to subsist on the usual hard bread and jerky doled out on the battlefield.
“But still, not knowing who we’re up against is eerie. Sure would like to know if it was the elves or Nyrnal’s men who wiped out the Knights of Saint Augustine.” “Agreed,” Gran said, nodding. “Knowing our enemy would change how we engage them, after all. If it’s the Nyrnals, we’ll have to rely on the troops to keep them busy. If it’s the elves, we’ll have to evade traps and crush them with sheer force.” “Hope it’s the elves, personally.” “At worst, they might have joined forces and we’ll have to face them both.” The two kept on chattering, their lips loosened by the sweet wine.
“Let’s pray to God that’s not the case, then. May the God of Light grant us His protection!” the first battalion’s commander shouted, picking up his glass with a clumsy, sweeping gesture.
“Right you are.” Gran smiled bitterly and raised his glass. “May the God of Light grant us His protection!” Gran didn’t believe in God’s power all that much. He’d never seen the angels, and he had grown up in a village so poor that if God did exist, He had certainly forsaken it. He wasn’t convinced that the God of Light would pull through for them in the worst-case scenario.
Yet even he felt pressed to pray to God this time. And desperately, at that.