As Alchred approached the house he saw Reder, Gery and Beorhtio start walking towards the garrison. Both were talking in a hushed tone. However, both of them seemed to not be in a good mood. Alchred decided not to grab their attention and continued to follow Holiam to his house.
Eventually they arrived at the house,
"Lord Ethelm is waiting for you inside."
"Thank you Holiam, enjoy the rest of your day"
Holiam gave Alchred a small bow and a weak smile before scurrying away and returning to his duties as a soldier.
Alchred entered the house, grabbed a glass of water as he was still thirsty after training with Herbeohrt. Then went to where his dad was sitting in the same chair that he had discussed Alchred's future a couple of weeks back.
"I'm glad you're back, how was your trip?" asked Alchred
"It went alright, I swore my allegiance again and swore to protect this land until my last breath. I also received a promotion to Company Lord, however this title is completely fictitious I will not be commanding a company, it was rather a formality. However, I will receive more funding for Cawic which is good."
"Ok now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, what about the war? Is there actually going to be a war soon? Or was it just speculation and all the tension has dissipated?"
"There is a war coming soon, that is guaranteed, tensions are rising as the empire of Londe wants to get more land and increase their power. Their new, ambitious emperor seems to believe that they can beat anyone in a war. This is looking increasingly true, with the Republic of Erion looking quite weak, we expect them to be attacked next year."
"So our land is safe then if they decide to attack west of their borders, that is still very far away from us."
"If they decide to wage war on Erion and win, they will have so much land and resources that they will become near unstoppable. Not only that, but their soldiers will gain a moral and confidence boost that will swing the tide in their favor. One conquered nation will not be enough for them, they will keep going till they have all the land."
"Our ambassadors in Londe have reported several militaristic policies being put into place and an emphasis on martial training and creating martial equipment. With Londe's output, they will have enough siege machines and weapons for millions of people. Not only that, their high population will lead to much larger armies than anyone else. Our predictions are that they will steam roll all nations to their west."
"Why don't we try and create an allegiance with the nations in the west? Send soldiers to them and try and defend their land?"
"That would never work, we aren't even able to reach them, We would either have to send troops through the Enchanted Dominion which holds neutrality in all conflicts, meaning they may not even let our troops through. Even if they let our soldiers through, we would need to cross the ocean, which will lead to troop casualties and take far too long. Or we could travel through Londe however they would never allow our troops to travel through their land to support a nation they plan on attacking. Say we were even able to get enough troops to defend against Londe to the western region. We would be fighting a war on 2 fronts, which we do not have the manpower to do. It would result in our own land being conquered."
"What if we decided to attack from behind, while they are attacking the western regions, we attack and make them fight a war on 2 fronts?"
"They have enough troops to handle a war on 2 fronts. It would be futile to try, as they would hold us back and eliminate the west before steam rolling us due to our continued casualties."
"So its hopeless?"
"No, apparently the king has been planning something, however not many people are privy to this information. But that is enough talk about war, I am not even supposed to be telling you this."
"What happens to Cawic, if war does break out?"
"You let me handle that, you need to focus on your magic awakening soon. And heading to the magical school in Pafeld. You are set to leave in an about a months time. The journey to Pafeld will at least take you a month. Are you ready to take on magic school?"
"I have been training with Herbeohrt, and I've become better at swordsmanship. But there is still a lot for me to do and learn under him."
"It's good to hear that you have finally started taking life seriously. Now it's time for you to pass a trial. In 3 weeks time, a week before you leave, I will send you into the forest. You will need to kill one monster before you are allowed to leave the forest again."
"I thought you gave up on sending me into the forest? I can just wait out the week and eventually ill have to leave to head to Pafeld."
"I guess you won't be going to Pafeld then, this is the final trial I can give you before you become your own person. I did it when I was younger, you're lucky I'm only making you kill one. My father was not so kind."