The region I was now in charge of, Anheim, was as southwest in Wein as you could get. Across the southern border was the Kingdom of Triot, which had already fallen to the Demon army, and to the west was Salzanach, whose southernmost town had already fallen to the Demon army as well. Given all this, Anheim was literally the frontlines of the Kingdom of Wein’s war with the Demon army. Still, monsters could show up anywhere, so it was best to consider the whole kingdom a battlefield.
Anheim had been within the territory of the martial House Kneipp, and as a border town, its garrison had been quite large at most times. However, after the death of the previous Marquess Kneipp at Fort Werisa, the concurrent destruction of the knight brigade, and the incident caused afterward by his eldest son, the area had been beset by so many problems that preserving public order had ceased to be a priority.
Before heading to this land, I had the opportunity to greet the new Marquess Kneipp in the capital before he returned to his territory. Given that it was my actions that ousted the marquess from his land, I was expecting a cold reception.
On the contrary, the new marquess seemed to remember me from the refugee escort mission, so he treated me with sympathy. It seemed he had come to regard me as a hardworking young lad who had incurred the ire of a powerful someone in the capital and had been demoted. He looked at me the way a teacher managing a club might look at a student who just can’t get the results they want and said, “I am sure the time will one day come that your efforts will be acknowledged.” The total lack of resentment caught me so off guard that I couldn’t respond.
Anyways, thanks to all that, I got up to speed with the current state of the region, which was bad enough to leave just about anyone depressed. To sum it all up, the Kneipps had lost too many of their forces at Fort Werisa and had their hands full dealing with the refugees that appeared in droves at their gates. The number of monsters had only increased, especially in Triot, and the bandits fleeing them had invaded the march, amassing in ever larger bands to protect themselves. The Kneipps had been too busy to nip them in the bud, and they now brazenly preyed upon refugees and townsfolk.
The previous deputy must have been at his wit’s end, given that he hadn’t bothered telling anyone before he destroyed the trade bridge that crossed over into Triot. With refugees, bandits, and demonic beings alike now having a harder time crossing the river, the town had found some kind of peace, at least for the moment. Still, it was hard to say that the whole region had been attended to, and that’s what we were left to deal with. The marquess had been amicable toward me, and thanks to that, I had received intel about the bandits. I was also able to double-check the terrain against the map Lily had drawn before I was appointed here. I was thankful for all that, but the situation was giving me a headache.
Having been given the heads-up before I took up post, I really couldn’t just let things be. With the Demon army as our foe, and an unstable region as our battlefield, simply defending ourselves would prove dangerous. And the possibility of bandits pilfering our supplies while we were tied up with Demons was too high for me to even joke about. Even if it cost us some of our strength, we needed to deal with the bandits immediately.
And though we hadn’t yet reached the region’s main city, where I would be assuming my post, this was already the second bandit hideout we’d burned to the ground. I’d spread a lot of rumors before leaving the capital that I would eradicate the bandits once I’d set up in Anheim. Looks like it paid off; the bandits probably hadn’t been counting on us attacking in force before I’d settled in.
Sir Holzdeppe had actually been one of the men who insisted I needed to first accept my post in Anheim. I told him he could hang back while I took Neurath, Schünzel, Goecke, and his mercenaries to wipe out our first crew of bandits, and when he saw our results, he changed his mind.
To be clear, what really changed his mind was the idea of letting mere mercenaries win glory while a proper knight like him sat things out. Still, he’d come around in the end. This time, we subjugated the crew with proper knights and infantrymen as our leading forces.
“Once Schünzel returns, shall we head on to our next group of bandits?”
“Huh?” Not every bandit could be stupid. I was certain they would pick up on our movements sooner or later. Even then, it was still common sense that after destroying two bandit brigades, we’d cut a path toward Anheim. It might be best to outwit them, take the long road, and destroy just one more group. We had brought plenty of magic lamps, so a nocturnal assault would be a walk in the park. I could just ignore the face Sir Holzdeppe was currently making.
“Won’t the civil officials complain?”
“We can hear their complaints once we reach Anheim. What shall we do, my lord?”
“I…shall accompany you.”
Whether he came with me or not, I would have still headed out with just Neurath and Goecke and his mercenaries. But if he was tagging along, I’d need to put together a strategy with that in mind. There should be no need to take our troops on a detour. It’d only mean they’d miss the action.
Given my map of the area and what I had heard from the marquess, the next group on our list either put all their effort into raiding or simply hadn’t been thinking about defense when choosing where to build their base. It would be a pain if we decided to leave them for later only for them to escape.
If we could eliminate that third group of bandits, we could fortify the trade route between Anheim and the region under Viscount Gröllmann. There was no reason not to. It would be a bit out of our way, but there were compelling reasons to take them down before heading to Anheim. I could just send a messenger to town to let them know we planned to arrive tomorrow morning.
As I confirmed the decision in my mind, I checked to see if Schünzel’s soldiers had returned. That was when one knight ran over to me and Sir Holzdeppe.
“Report! There are some strange characters amongst the brigands.”
“What do you mean by ‘strange’?”
His report had Sir Holzdeppe and me exchanging glances. There was a woman and some children among them, meaning that they either traveled with the bandits or they were forced along.
“These bandits had families with them?” I imagined some refugees from Triot may have joined the bandits, but it seemed that I was wrong. In order to hear the details of their situation, I had Neurath and Schünzel come with me and commanded Sir Holzdeppe to use that time to dispose of the bandits’ bodies and give the soldiers a rest.
Given his expression, he didn’t seem too keen on the task. This could cause some trouble for me later on.