Making Morale

“Looks like we’re going to be down a knight for the siege.”

Medrauta shrugged at Marilyn’s remark as she rode alongside the senior knight, the two of them at the forefront of the small force they’d put together from the underground’s volunteers. As they flew House Castellia’s colors, Medrauta was obligated to ride into battle with them instead of the main attack force.

“Can’t blame her,” Medrauta said. “I dropped by this morning before the sortie and she said she needed some time with her lord. I imagine they had a long talk yesterday.”

Marilyn grimaced. She wasn’t sure what the relationship between Vera and Henri was, but it seemed to be more than friends, yet less than lovers. At times, they even seemed like family, but it wasn’t her place to pry. “Yeah, I can imagine. I saw Dame Vera’s face when she was escorting Henri to the church... I can’t even begin to imagine how she’s feeling with this whole civil war business going on coupled with her lord’s betrayal.”

“It’s a shame we won’t have her accompanying us on this siege, but that’s all the more reason to win it.” Medrauta replied. “We can’t let her finish making up with Henri only to be confronted with Bastiche’s troops marching toward Dietrich.”

“...Speaking of Lord Henri, do we know what will happen to him?” Viviane asked, urging her horse forward to ride parallel with the knights. “Has the baron decided yet, do you think?”

“No, probably not.” Marilyn admitted. “He’ll most likely delay the decision as long as possible to give Vera and Henri some time to reconcile. I can’t imagine he’s in a hurry to execute his longtime friend, especially when there’s a civil war to be had.”

Viviane nodded before diverting her attention back to the march. She could only worry about a lord’s fate so much when she was also in charge of supervising the ragtag bunch of criminals and vagabonds who had been rather haphazardly put together as a fighting force. Since the small band of volunteers marching behind her were wearing Castellia fief’s colors, she had been placed in command of the armed force.

Although Marilyn would be the one who took the reins when the fighting actually started, Viviane was still required to at least keep up appearances during the march. Thankfully, the gruff-faced group behind Viviane didn’t raise too much of a fuss as the young girl led them toward Revelo fief. It seemed the rapport they somehow managed to forge with One-Eyed Jack a few days earlier was helping as he appeared to be the one who most of the criminals deferred to.

Unfortunately, that peace would not last for long. More acclimated to sowing disorder and chaos, marching in an orderly formation for hours on end certainly wasn’t the criminals’ favorite form of exercise, nor did they find it particularly creative. It was around five hours into their march that the first signs of displeasure began making their ripples across the pseudo-mercenaries’ formation.

“Oi, when are we gonna get there?”

“Holy shit, Jack. We’ve been on this shit for days and we’re still gonna have to keep goin’?”

“Fuck me in the ass, they better be payin’ top dollar if all we’re gonna do is walk.”

Viviane pursed her lips as she heard similar comments repeated throughout the ranks of her soldiers. It didn’t take a seasoned commander to understand that it wouldn’t bode well for the rest of their campaign if morale continued to drop at such a rapid pace. She spared a glance to the sky, noting the sun’s position in the sky.

While she had once been oblivious to such methods of telling time, she’d learned how to do so after seeing Medrauta do the same so many times. With a bit of help from her knight, Viviane managed to guess that it’d only been five or so hours since they’d set off on their march. During that time, they’d made decent progress, but they were still severely lagging behind the main force due to their lack of training and discipline.

It was obvious that the effects of such a slow march would affect more than just the soldiers. As a knight who had served in multiple campaigns throughout the years and one who was used to swift and orderly deployment, Marilyn was quite noticeably on edge. In fact, Viviane herself had to step in a few minutes ago after the senior knight snapped angrily at one of the men who’d worked up the courage to ask for extra water.

The request itself hadn’t been a problem considering the fact that the supply column was so close, but it was that very fact which drove Marilyn’s frustration to the peak. As a smaller group of soldiers, the aptly-termed “Castellia Unit” was supposed to be much more mobile than the comparatively large block of soldiers that formed the main force. By all rights, they should be marching ahead and acting as a complement to the baron’s handpicks unit of scouts, yet there they were, moving along so slowly that even the supply column had nearly caught up despite the large amount of wagons and resources they were forced to cart along.

“Is it really that big of an issue, Dame Marilyn?” Medrauta asked as she shifted in her saddle. Among the command unit that consisted of herself, Viviane, and Marilyn, she was the only one who still seemed relaxed and nonchalant about the whole situation. “We’re making pretty good progress considering they aren’t even trained soldiers.”

“Be that as it may, we are still vastly behind schedule.” Marilyn fixed the silver-haired knight with a withering gaze. Though the senior knight knew she shouldn’t fault Medrauta’s easygoing attitude, their sluggish march and the repeated complaints from the soldiers had pushed her frustration past the breaking point. “Should we fail to catch up with the front line of the main force before we reach Revelo fief, we will be unable to support their push to the castle and that alone will be disastrous.”

“It’ll be fine,” Medrauta shrugged. “We’ve got five knights in the main battalion and they’re supported by archers. With Krista there, they should make mincemeat out of whatever Bastiche and his supporters field against us.”

“You’re awfully confident in her skills, aren’t you?” Marilyn raised an eyebrow. “While I’ve noticed that her archery has improved since I last saw her, she’s still just a junior knight.”

“Does her rank really matter, though? She’s a great shot, and Sakura’s with her too. I can’t imagine any group of soldiers standing against a constant rain of fire from the two of them.”

The foreigners had gone along with the main force in an attempt to bolster their fighting strength. While Viviane had been concerned about Sakura entering the battlefield so early, the foreign noblewoman merely responded with her usual serene smile, informing Viviane that there were still several days to be had until they would reach Revelo fief and she was already well on her way to recovery. Along with Riku, Sakura had resolved to make up for Vera’s absence.

“...I suppose so.” Marilyn begrudgingly agreed. “Even while poisoned, the foreign noblewoman shot as if Aluvsha himself guided her arrows. In all my years, I’ve not seen anyone shoot down so many men within the span of a second.”

“Exactly.” Medrauta grinned. “So relax, Dame Marilyn. There’ll be plenty of time for you to air out your grievances once we’ve reached our destination, and besides... You’re kinda putting the soldiers on edge.”

“Some soldiers they are. They can barely even pull ahead of the goddamn supply unit.” Though Marilyn scoffed in derision, she eventually took Medrauta’s advice and simmered down. It didn’t improve their troops’ patience, but that was at least one less blow to their already waning morale.

“See, Vivi? We’ll be fine.” Medrauta said as she brought her mount closer to Viviane’s. “Cheer up, and stop worrying your head off, yeah?”

Viviane cheeks reddened slightly, touched at the fact that Medrauta had reached out to the senior knight for her sake. Honestly, Medrauta had been perfectly fine watching Marilyn throw a fit every so often. In fact, the silver-haired knight actually found Marilyn’s brief disputes rather amusing, but the moment Medrauta realized that it was taking a mental toll on her beloved lady, she knew she had to stop the senior knight’s morale from deteriorating further.

“But the troops are still... displeased.” Viviane murmured. She wished she could simply smile and thank her knight’s attentiveness as usual, but she simply couldn’t get her mind off the constant stream of complaints. Despite her position of commander being honorary, Viviane still wanted to do her best and ensure that her troops were satisfied at the very least.

“Yeah? Well, they’re not soldiers, that's for sure.” Medrauta grinned. “They’re criminals, and some of them are just wanderers who showed up for a chance at glory and a new life. It’s already incredible that they’re managing to march at this pace while wearing armor.”

“...I suppose so. I just wish there was something we could do for them.”

“Something we could do, huh...?” Medrauta frowned, thinking back to the mock battles they’d participated in back at the academy. There wasn’t much they did during those simulations other than beat the living crap out of each other, but one thing that Medrauta recalled was that the sound of combat wasn’t the only thing that dominated the battlefield.

“Oh, I know!” Medrauta clapped her hands together in an expression of triumph. “Music! That’s what we’re missing!”

“Music...?” Viviane thought for a moment, finding merit in Medrauta’s suggestion. “Ah! That’s right! I did see the main force leaving with quite the assortment of instruments this morning. Though, it doesn’t seem like we have any of our own...”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? We’re pretty close to the supply column, so it wouldn’t be too much of an issue to go fetch one real quick.” Medrauta thought for a second, considering her options.

As a knight, she had been forced to learn one instrument, and though she was no virtuoso, she could play the drums adequately. However, the knight understood that this moment was not hers. Rather, it was her lady’s, and Medrauta knew that Viviane would rest easiest if she directly participated in raising her troops’ spirits.

“Ah, n-no, Medrauta! You don’t have to!” Viviane interjected. As close as they were to the supply column, it would still take a few minutes for the knight to ride there. Coupled with the ride back, Medrauta would probably be forced to walk on foot for a distance to rest her mount before they reached their next campsite.

“I’ll be back in a sec, Viviane!” Medrauta grinned, waving to her lady as she spun her horse around and clapped her heels against its flanks, causing it to accelerate rapidly toward the supply column. Her sudden departure from the command unit caused a stir of surprise from the troops, becoming a subject of great confusion until her return.

Luckily, Medrauta hadn’t taken too long. Within ten minutes, she had ridden back with surprising alacrity, brandishing a violin above her head with such pride that it almost seemed as though she were the lone surviving soldier of a great battle.

Bringing her horse to a slow canter beside Viviane’s, Medrauta handed the violin to her lady with a smile. “I know you say you’re better at the piano, but I couldn’t find one that you can play on horseback.”

Viviane laughed as she took the instrument from her knight’s hands. “...You really didn’t have to. But... Thank you, Medrauta. Seriously.”

As Viviane placed the bow against the strings of her newfound violin, she closed her eyes. She now found herself in a quandary as Medrauta excitedly awaited for the song that she would play. Of course, Viviane’s mind immediately jumped to more refined pieces as a result of her noble upbringing, but she also kept in mind the whole reason why the violin had ended up in her hands at all.

This music is meant for more than raising morale... A sense of unity through song... Can I do it? Viviane gulped as she decided on a song to play. It was a simple, upbeat countryside piece that she’d learned from Esmeralda, one of Medrauta’s closest friends. It certainly wouldn’t be something that she could perform in front of high society, but the company that she shared at the moment was the furthest thing from refined.

Decisively, Viviane moved the bow, and as her violin sang its first note, the soldiers under her command ceased muttering amongst themselves as if transfixed by the melody that she wove. A second later, Medrauta’s voice joined her solo symphony, singing along to the tune that she played. A popular piece, even the myriad brigands and vagrants comprising the troops would be familiar with the lyrics.

One by one, the troops raised their ragged voices, joining in the unity of song conducted by Viviane’s violin. With each note that filled the air, they soon forgot the fatigue that tugged at their feet, advancing as a single unit at last.

In the three days that soon passed, the Castellia Unit would be famed for the rough song and elegant violin that trailed in their wake, a tune that foreshadowed the change they would bring to this duchy and beyond.