Chapter 2

The following day had a lighter air than that of yesterday. The town in which they would liberate was a big one that had thousands of souls living in it.
After the first shipment of Valmese troops entered the majority of the citizens there fled south, most of which became refugees in Ylisse.
The original number of Hans' regiment was only six hundred men. On the march towards the town they were accompanied by about two hundred mercenaries most coming from Ylisse and another regiment from Regna Ferox. All in all they were one thousand four hundred men against seven thousand Valmese troops occupying the town, a good five to one ratio.

Ofcourse Robin, the tactitian of Ylisse, knew of their dire situation but he knew it was either send the nearest regiment or all of Regna Ferox would be occupied.
So instead of relying on written tactics from past generals he quickly wrote down tactics of his own. Some of which was sabotage before the battle and the all new wall shield.
The wall shield was a small tactic that was easy to learn and can be adapted quickly by any army. All the soldiers had to do was carry their shield in chest level while the file of spearmen was behind them in which they would drop the teap of the spear at waist level of the soldiers infront of them, that was the first version of the wall if their enemy was infantry. The second version is specifically designed for cavalry enemies in which it is very much the same as the first but without the spearmen.
Once the enemy cavalry arrives they will open a gap to the wall letting the enemy horseman in, they will immediately take away the space making movement for the enemy very hard. After that is done the closest one will pull the enemy horseman down and eliminate both the man and horse.

All the plans he created looked promising all that's left was to hope the men was strong enough to hold or defeat the enemy before the Sheperds and the army proper arrives. After a few reviews and a confirmation from Chrom he ordered the fastest pegasus rider to send the battle tactics to the general of the regiment.

They arrived at the outskirts of the town when the sun was setting. During the march Hans was able to know the men in his file his file, the first being Bostok and seargent Luthor,
Kyle he learned was a simple person who was a son of a fruit vendor, a man named Adrian but that was all he knew since he didn't talk much, Lutz an expert bowman,
Gerard who loved warfare so much, Baz a former bar owner, Felix a former hunter and James, Soft ,Mark where sons of retired soldiers. When it was finally dark captain Stoltz ordered three of his seargents in a strategy tent.

" The orders we recieved hours ago has told us to sabotage our enemies supplies and whatever is strategic to them." he started. " I have chosen your files to do this mission because I have complete trust in all of you. Seargent Heinz, your job is to locate their food and weapons supplies and burn them. Seargent Jaeger, you job is to find key places that burn easily, the main objective is not to kill them but to keep them awake all night. And seargent Luthor their is a tunnel our scouts have found that leads to a wine cellar at the local noble's house, no doubt the enemy commander is residing their for the night. Your job is to find their battle plans and bring them to me and if possible kill the enemy commander.
I chose you to do that because what better way to infiltrate a mansion is by someone who lived in one. Understood?" "Sir yes sir." " All of you leave when ready."

Hans was asked what were the parts of a mansion in which he replied by telling about the wine cellar, library, office, bedrooms, dining halls and balconies. After learning this Luthor immediately briefed his men and moved out.

" I bet the commander is a fat rich noble who hasn't even seen combat. I hope he dies pissing himself tonight." said Gerard with audible disgust. "Hey Hans I heard you were a noble who willingly joined the army. Care to tell us why?" asked Baz. " Simple, I just don't want to lead men at the very back of the army on a horse and take all the credit." came the reply.

" Not all nobles are like that. Look at our exalt, dedicated to protecting his people he created a group of elites." said Lutz matter-of-factly. " Yeah? Other than him tell me more like him."
.answered Gerard who visibly getting angrier. " Quiet!" ordered seargent Luthor. " Were here." he added.

When they arrived at the cellar there was only one guard that was looting any wine he thought was keeping. " I got this." whispered Gerard. Gerard went up to the guard without even trying to be stealthy. " hey" he said and the guard looked at him. Before the guard can even make a reaction a maul landed heavily on his face which sent him to the ground with a load crack. Hans looked horrified and wanted to shout at him but a hand landed on his shoulder. Surprised he saw Adrian looking at him like with a look of apathy. "Don't you'll have to get used to it." he said. Hans looked at everyone, some swinging their heads while others just sighed. At this he knew that what they said about Gerard was true.

" Allright Hans,Soft and Lutz search the bedrooms Gerard,Bostok,Kyle check the library Mark,Baz,Adrian check the offices and James Felix your with me. Meet up here at the cellars. understood?"
" Sir yes sir." said everyone with pure determination.

Soft was taking the lead with Hans in the middle. He motioned the two at his back and signaled a guard was coming. He readie his dagger and once the guard turned he stabbed the neck and gently placed him on the floor. " Hans scout the left hall , Lutz take the left and I'll check the middle." said Soft. The bedroom Hans entered had an enormous map on the wall. It had marks on it notifying that it was a supply route map. He quickly rolled it up and place it inside his bag. As he was about to leave he heard a male voice saying "beautiful". He stopped dead in his tracks.
He notice it wasn't directed to him, he studied his surrondings and noticed that the sound came from up the stairs. He went up crouching and saw a man that looked like he had a higher rank. The man was standing infront of a painting about the ruling khan. As Hans readied his sword he attacked the man with a downward slash. His enemy simply moved to his right and countered with a horizontal slash almost decapitating Hans who luckily ducked in time. The enemy kicked Hans in the chest who managed to nick his shoulder. " So it bites" said the enemy coldly.

His enemy came at him smoothly forcing Hans to take steps backwards as he blocked every attack. The sword came to his neck as he took another step back, ha parried a slash coming from the left.
Hans was quickly loosing his strenght, as he dropped his shield and grabbed his sword with both his hands and readied for a powerful blow. An arrow suddenly went past his head and landed dead center on the enemy's forehead and went down slowly. Hans saw Lutz at the stairs who looked exhausted " Hurry up they know were here." he said in a serious tone. As the two exited the room they encountered Soft pulling his sword from a dead body. There were three dead bodies surrounding Soft, if he was tired then he was good at hiding it.

The three went running towards the cellars as they were now in an open corridor they encountered three soldiers and a mage. The mage fired an electrical towards Soft who was able to block it with his shield. Lutz fired an arrow at the mage killing him. A forward stab came at Hans, he sidesteped it and grabbed the spear pulling the wielder to him in which he stabbed him and kicked the blade off. Soft threw his shield at the face of his opponent and threw his sword at the other killing him instantly. Soft stomped at the neck of the bloodied man on the floor. When they finally got to the cellars they were greeted by seargent Luthor who had a scar on his face. " Hurry up now you're the only ones left!" and with that they exited through the short tunnel entrance.

When they got out of the tunnel the first thing he noticed was smoke, lots of smoke. "Gods" he murmured as he realised that the other files were succesful with their task. As they got back Captain Stoltz was waiting for them. " Well done men. Rest now all of you will need the sleep for tomorrow's coming battle." he said. Thhe three seargents gave their report and Luthor gave Stoltz all the captured intel got. " War" said Hans " I will finally now if I am a real soldier." and with that he went to his bed.