Guard Captain Gerald Whitebourough's Point Of View

I've been the guard captain of Moonbright for about ten years now, guiding it through good and bad times, but it has always been peaceful in our fief, and even more so in this city. The only thing that hints at war, is the enormous castle, and the knights that guard it... but even they go to loosen up every weekend with drinks and sometimes women.

I saw war when I was younger. I had started out at the post of shield man in the army of the neighboring fief. We stood on the very front lines and endured for hours on end, and as we stood there, there was only ourselves to keep up the morale. I decided to become a pillar for those around me, and with time this wish, and the effort I put into it got me promoted.

One time we went out against a pack of magic beast wolves preying on a nearby village, and the Baron had gotten help from the young lord of the neighboring fief, Lord Celeste.

The young lord had apparently just gotten the news that his wife was in labour, so he ended up unfocused as a young lad seeing battle for the first time. I think I ended up pulling the wolves off of him three times before I had enough and told him to put his mind into it or he wouldn't make it back at all.

When we finally had the beasts defeated Lord Celeste walked up to me with eyes that could kill. I was not a knight, just a common foot soldier... nothing as fancy as titles or heritage... if he wanted rid of me he could have told the baron to get rid of me, he was a young marquess after all...

Instead he looked at me with those cold eyes and said:

"You, how much does he pay you? I need a good man for the city guard like you."

Unexpectedly it ended up being praise. I'd been dumbstruck for a moment before I managed to answer.

After that I found out that Lord Celeste was just very bad at expressing himself... and so... even though I was no knight I got to see Eric once he was born. The Lord personally called for me and showed off the small child with a frosty expression. He was clearly bragging. That boy was his pride.

I've watched Eric grow up from the sidelines when I visit the mansion once a month... as for Lady Lily...

Up till the birth of Lady Lily, her father was... excited... he would call people over for business in smaller intervals than usual and stare at you coldly like he was expecting you to say something. He really just wanted you to ask, but didn't feel it appropriate to brag about it himself.

...I think Lord Celeste was disappointed when Lily turned out to be a girl... he never invited anyone to see her...

Well, being a lady is hard in its own way, and Lily couldn't train or spar with him like Eric could. I have watched from the sidelines, and that is why I know that the 'boy' in front of me is Lady Lily pretending to be a boy. She may not realize it, but her meager facial tells are the same as her father's, but she has none of Eric's bashfulness or endless energy.

The boy in front of me is Lady Lily, daughter of Lord Celeste, and, my Lord... you have no need to be disappointed. She is a brilliant Lady and warrior, just like you.

—*—

"How many?" I know asking for a number will never gain me the right answer, but an estimate is enough.

"...A company..."

...about a hundred men.

We had about a fourth of that if we brought everyone still able to fight. There was no way... we had used up all our magic as well so they would have mage superiority.

"Captain, do we have any with the protection of faeries?"

I peer down at Lily who is watching me with fire in her eyes.

"Al! Tony! Whisker!" Instead of asking I call them. They may have enough for one or two spells but that is it.

The three of them approach as we step out of the room filled with explosives.

"Yes Captain?!"

Their eyes veer to Lily with awkward fascination. They can't help it.

"How much mana do you have left?"

Their interested glances turn grim at her question. They take a moment to confirm the obvious... but don't answer as promptly as I expected.

"Mmm for a few spells I think," Al, one of the two wind mages declare while looking to Tony. The buff and heavily armored Tony nods.

"Same for me."

Whiskers is crossing his arms with a difficult expression.

"It's probably because you don't share an element with Celeste-sama. Unlike you two I'm fully charged! Actually overcharged!"

Whiskers, I cannot tell if you are bragging or not. He has a self proclaimed cat personality... perhaps it's that, mixing with the excess mana, which is causing him to be in an elated mood. He's likely high on mana.

But how did this happen?

"Good, then we will be fine. We will meet them on the fields between the forest and the city to the south. We have at most an hour until they attack," she declares with a stunning confidence. I need to slow her down and confirm her strategy to prevent mistakes that will get everyone killed.

"What makes you think they will appear from the south? And with a force four times larger than ours, shouldn't we let them enter the city to split them up?" I try to point out the uncertain parts of her plan gently.

"If it was a regular attack we would take it in the city, but this is a sneak attack made with city combat in mind. A hundred men is not enough to capture a castle, they are here to capture the guard headquarters and murder everyone, betting that we let out guard down after winning or losing against the bandits."

Her lips turn into a mocking wry smile.
"The bastards are expecting to stroll into the city without a fight. They're dull from marching and with it being past noon they're waning. A charge right at their unprepared front while they're sluggish and mentally unprepared. As they are right now, they aren't ready to receive an attack, only to attack." Her smile turns to a cruel grin. Then faded.

"I count on you guys to put up a magical defense."

She then looked to me with eyes prepared to face death.

"Gather everyone that can still fight. If we don't fend off this enemy, then no wives, sons or daughters will survive the upcoming siege. The lives of their precious ones lies in their hands."

She said those words with the maturity of a general. She was giving them time to make the decision to do or die, though there was no return.

"As you wish, Celeste-sama."

I rounded up the men and broke the news to the young men. They went pallid and looked to me for their courage, and then to the Lady.

She told them to get a last meal and some water before the battle and rest up as much as possible. We were to gather at the southernmost buildings of the city and cover in the buildings until the enemy arrived.

In that one hour many men cried. Many went to say goodbye to their evacuating families as well... the small skirmish had turned to what would become a war... we had never faced anything other than undisciplined bandits, so I was worried about the result... but her plan seemed thought through...

—*—

The time has come. Every guard still able to fight is here, and a few young men that have swung a sword before are here as well, voluntarily... to my surprise the baker's son Asher is here as well. He's much too young, but in a fit of determination he insisted to be on the battlefield as long as Lily was, except he called her 'Hero-sama'. I put him as far in the back as possible.

I glance to Lily, who's crossing her arms and gazing at the tree line impatiently.

A man next to me looks at her with worry, and admiration.

I am worried as well, she is still a child after all... and the child of our lord.

I'll need to protect her.

Whatever happens, I need to stay near her.

—

"They're here..."

The lady watches quietly and glances to the different group. My exit is the signal for everyone to charge... but they're nervous. If any of them charge out ahead of time then her plan could fail.

The enemy stays at the tree line for a bit, as if to observe the movement in the city. Of course, there is nothing for them to see... as such they slowly begin to make their way towards the city.

Honestly, I hadn't quite believed that they would be as off guard as the Lady said they would be... but I could see their body language. They looked like they were heading to cleaning duty. They were looking forward to the spoils of war too early.

The lady had a cruel look in her eyes.

Still, could we really win this? We were outnumbered four to one, and we were heading to an empty plain.

The enemy gets closer and stop momentarily near a scarecrow we set up to measure the distance.

"Juuust a little closer..." she whispered softly.

They moved past the scarecrow.

The Lady's air changes in an instant, and she proceeds to chant a poem to activate her magic. I am not sure why she needs the poems, but as long as it doesn't get in the way I won't complain.

Her odd looking long sword appears in her hands in an instant, and she leans against the window frame as she casts another spell.

With it, I feel a rush through my body. Blood starts pumping violently and my body feels light as a feather. No, I could easily say I feel ten years younger.

A roar escapes the young lady as she charges out the door before me without a single shred of hesitation. Before I know it my own feet are following behind hers at a pace I have never run in before. I bellow out alongside her, and as I do, tens of voices behind us merge with ours into a deafening roar of war that gets my blood pumping faster.

The familiar terrain flies under my feet with ease, and I near the enemy faster than I've ever seen a man move.

Their eyes go wide, and in that moment I see their hesitance. Just for a moment too long they are paralyzed with confusion. All of them.

We hit them like a tidal wave before they get the chance to recover, and their frontline falls in an instant.

"Attack!"

The voice of their commander bellows over them and their banner rises, but so does the shining sword of our lady, who is charging in with a wave of men behind her, drunk on her leadership.

Before I know it she's halfway through their troops and is heading for their commander, leaving me with the rear, though I had planned to be at her side... but I am needed here.

I am a shieldman, and she is a charger. I'll make sure she has a place when she returns with the head of the commander.

The air flashes as the enemy soldiers unleash their wind magic upon us, and with an equal brightness Al and Tony redirect the wind with blasts of their own, making the air tremble with invisible explosions. Though Al and Tony are outnumbered, the enemy numbers fall rapidly to the violent advance of our people.

Meanwhile Whiskers, drunk on mana, blasts through enemies on his own while fending off water magic and sniffing out fires, spending his magic recklessly like a madman.

Little Asher sticks to my side with a confidence he never had before. Though he wants to be by our lady's side he knows he is not yet ready for that place, but one day he will be.

I bash the edge of my shield against an enemy's jaw and watch him drop back on the ground in a daze. The feeling of crushing his shattered jaw lingers in my shoulder as I go in for the kill, but as the enemy is finally getting a hang of themselves, another enemy steps in between us with a swing of his sword to distract me. The impact of his sword against my shield sends a spark flying past my eyes, and a shock through my shoulder as I barely get my guard up in time.

"Die!" Asher's small voice sounds as he stabs the guy's foot from under my shield, using his size to his advantage.

In the moment the man screams, I finish him with strength that didn't feel like mine alone. Next to me Asher finished off the other guy, but as soon as we finished others were there to back them up. Then a roar went through the crowd, 'forward'. I'd never though that I would be a part of a flow such as this... when those words roared out we moved like a thundering wave, and I bashed my shield violently into the man in front of me with a roar responding to hers, as I too got drunk on her leadership.

The battlefield she made was dyed with red, but even so it was as if it was blessed by a god.

The battle I had expected to last for long ended with a dreadful silence...

I had wounds I couldn't remember where came from, not that I could feel them from the adrenaline. We were all beaten, bruised and bleeding. Some crippled, some near death and some who would never return to their family.

There was no enemy left. They were all dead. The backline I had attempted to keep was far beyond the first enemy corpses as well.

With the sound of horse hooves reinforcements in the shape of the castle knights arrived, but all that was left was a silent rain and Lady Lily's appearance as she raise the sword above her as if to reach for the heavens, and roared one final time.

"VICTORY!"

And every man still standing, every man fighting to get on his feet and every man still alive roared out, joining into her scream of victory.