"So, a magic user."

"Dark Magic to be precise."

"I thought only royals had magic, like your light magic, my earth magic or private's Bastione's wind magic."

"Occasionally some commoners would be born with magic, but usually its bloodline related, so nobles have the majority of magic."

"So he's another pet noble?"

"Perhaps."

Elijah heaved a big sigh, before stripping his officer insignia and leaving it on Olivia's desk. She set down the teacup next to the heavy bag of coins, before throwing it back to him.

"What, wasn't the whole point of this to strip me of my office?"

"Just assign your second to my command. We would be moving out soon, and good officers are hard to find."

Elijah looked at the doll-like girl sipping on tea, before sighing again and fastening the insignia back on. Commander Bretrich had gotten back in the evening, before holding a conference between him and the 3 Officers. Like what Olivia predicted, the Garrison would be tasked with capturing Fort Silosa. It would be a rather run-of-the-mill task, as Fort Silosa was not particularly impressive, but it would serve as a good staging area for a further attack on the Morcass occupied Fort Sturm. The Aurlux 7th National Army, which had returned with heavy casualties after a campaign in the west subjugating rogue nations, was to be disbanded, as ordered by General of the Army Tiedross, and the remainder given to Commander Bretrich to form the Aurlux 6th National Army. The 6th National army, as evidence by their posting to the city-fort, was in charge of defending important city-forts that served as trade routes. Alrukk, one of three under the 6th National Army control, served as the headquarters of the 6th Army. The Alrukk garrison held enough forces numbering 5000, with an additional 5000 able to be mustered up from the two other towns with adequate numbers left in defense. The 7th National Army, now numbering 2000, joined Alrukk Garrison together with Commander Bretrich, leading total numbers to 12000, which included non-fighting personel.

Now, came harsh training. To get the soldiers used to the Officer's commands, they would march, about turn, and spar with other units in mock battles. One such example, occured 4 days after the duel. Nikola, Bastione, Norah and Percius, who recently joined, together with 1000 other men fought under Officer Olivia's command against a similarly sized unit under Officer Elijah. It seemed he was eager to reclaim his smeared honor, as he fought on the frontlines, cleaving enemies with his wooden battleaxe. Meanwhile, Bastione held the lines with his halberd, Percius with his Shield and sword, while Nikola ran around to the back of the unit with Norah's mysterious packages. 

"Ok... she said scatter the dust with the billow, alright, here goes nothing."

With a pump and two more, the billow sent powder over the back of Elijah's troops, which Nikola had snuck behind with his "Deception" magic. It took effect immediately, leading to the back lines coughing and rubbing their eyes, which only served to worsen the effect. Nikola was glad that he was standing downwind from the dust, as it rapidly fell man after woman. Soon, having been outnumbered, Officer Elijah surrendered after a hard fought battle with Bastione and Percius.

Looking at the aftermath of the 'training', Nikola's conscience couldn't help but wonder whether alchemical weapons should be banned in warfare, before realizing that fire magic could easily burn away the powder. That explained the heat he felt, as the scorching flames from Olivia's 'Ignis Magnus' kept the dust away from the front line troops. Well, withstand the heat or get incapacitated from the dust, not a bad trade-off.

After this, Nikola asked Norah what was in the dust, but she only looked away sheepishly, before scampering back into her poison garden.

A week later, the 6th National Army, led by Commander Bretrich, with Officer Elijah, Proden and Olivia each leading 4000 men, moved out to recapture Fort Silosa.

It would take them about 3 days to move to their final campgrounds, and discussions held late into the night plotted out courses and where the battle would be held. Fort Silosa did not have the housing capacity of a standard army, so most soldiers would camp outside instead. This meant that there were too many defenders for the fort, so fighting would likely take place outside the fort, in the open plains which the fort overlooked. At least, they wouldn't have to tackle the task of fighting the fort outright, but could wittle down the numbers before making the enemy retreat into the fort. Seige machines could be constructed from the nearby forest, and since the fort wouldn't have enough supplies to feed all 10000 enemy soldiers, adding that the fort was far off from any allied armies, it was an easy task for the 6th National Army.