Chapter 302 - Corps Concepts (Patreon)

Reivyn stood on a raised platform overseeing the training of the mercenaries. They had a rather large parade ground that was sectioned off into different zones for training most of the time, and it was only used for actual parades on very rare occasions. Not including the mercenaries that left for deployment while Reivyn was gone, most of the mercenaries were hard at work with various activities. Almost all of them were unit-based training.

Hmm, I should stop referring to the whole group as The Mercenary Company, Reivyn thought as he surveyed the troops. There are two full companies in garrison with a third on deployment. The whole unit is literally a Mercenary Company, but that’s starting to be confusing. It’s really a battalion with multiple companies.

From now on, I’ll refer to the unit as a whole as the Mercenary Corps. Yeah. That feels right.

Reivyn nodded his head to himself, pleased with his decision. Reivyn continued to watch the Adventurer volunteers with a critical eye. A small frown formed on his face the longer he watched. He shook his head a bit and turned to leave.

There were many men and women in the Corps who were actually command staff and not combatants. Several of them were always within calling distance of an officer. Reivyn motioned for one of the young women - Still probably older than me, Reivyn snorted - over to him. She was paying attention, so she immediately jogged over and offered a salute.

“Deliver a message to all the commanders to meet me in my office,” Reivyn ordered. The woman once more saluted and jogged off to carry out the command.

Reivyn quickly made his way back to his office where he sat and waited for his subordinates to arrive.

Reivyn and the rest of the Party had been back in Willowan for several days, and he had immediately jumped back into his duties. He had feared that there would be a lot of paperwork backed up, ready for him to peruse and sign, but he was happily surprised that Kayzor and his staff had kept up with it and taken care of everything in his absence.

Probably the first time a little bureaucracy was actually beneficial, Reivyn chuckled. Then again, military bureaucracy is different from your regular, run-of-the-mill government operation. They can still be complete idiots, like that Supply Officer down in Drallo who withheld gear because then he wouldn’t have it in inventory, but then you have some real go-getters who actually understand their roles and what they’re supposed to be doing.

Competent NCO’s make everything run smoother.

Kefira had immediately been shuffled off by her parents to get checked out by the Court Magus. It had been a big deal for her to get her body improved to catch up with the power of her soul. As far as Reivyn had heard, everything was fine, but they were still taking things slow. Instead of just taking her off of her pendant that sealed her Affinities right away, they were taking it in steps by gradually decreasing the effectiveness of the pendant.

So far everything had been going well, but it had only been a couple of days, and they’d only reduced the pendant once to 75% efficiency. They planned on going down to 50%, 40%, 25%, and then 10% before removing the barrier completely. Hopefully nothing was out of the ordinary, and she’d be operating at 100% in no time.

On the other side, Ameliyn had basically attached herself to the hips of the twins. She’d never been absent for them for such a long stretch of time before, and she was having to adjust. The girls had been just as happy to see their parents return as Ameliyn and Refix had been, but luckily they hadn’t descended into any kind of torpor in the absence of their parents.

Silfa had done a good job with checking in on them and making sure they were not only still doing well with their studies under many craftsmen, but, more importantly, that they behaved themselves. It was well known they were little pranksters. Reivyn loved them for it, but they definitely needed some boundaries to keep them from going too far.

Luckily, the Imperial Capital hadn’t been burnt to the ground or, far more likely, painted over in their absence.

In the couple of days that they’d been back, Ameliyn had dragged the two of them through as many shopping centers as she could. She wasn’t trying to buy their love or anything like that, they hardly purchased anything, but it was just something to do together. Ameliyn loved to see them dressed up.

Hilariously, the twins somehow managed to steer each outing towards the crafting section each time. Reivyn almost couldn’t hold it in when his mother had come back with the two of them covered in soot from when the twins insisted on getting a “closer look” at the process of a blacksmith making toys. Surprisingly, Ameliyn wasn’t distraught in the least. She still had a broad smile on her face, having enjoyed the outing with her daughters.

Reivyn loved that about his family. He had managed to get roped into work with his worry about an ever-increasing mountain of paperwork that didn’t actually materialize, but he had made plans to spend some days on outings with his sisters, with and without Kefira along as well. Sometimes they just needed some time as siblings, and Kefira understood and respected it. She did the very same thing with her own siblings in her free time.

Despite their not being a mountain of paperwork waiting for him on arrival, Reivyn was generating a lot regardless as he conjured plans for his next deployment. He would consider more of that later, though, as his officers began filing into his office.

They each came to attention and offered a salute, to which Reivyn instructed them all to stand at ease. There wasn’t enough room to bring in enough chairs for everyone, so they would stand. The officers didn’t mind. They respected Reivyn, and Reivyn wouldn’t have placed his trust in them in the first place if they were the kinds of people to complain about such a thing.

“First of all, I would like to commend all of you on an excellent job of training the troops on unit tactics in my absence,” Reivyn started, looking them each in the eye and giving them a nod. “There is a noticeable difference in their cohesion and speed of obeying orders.

“All of that is incredibly important on the battlefield, probably the most important; however,” he paused, once more looking them each in the eye, “we can’t abandon the basics. All of the training I see going on in the yard is unit-centric. That’s fine to focus on the unit, it’s the core of our Corps, so to say. It’s not everything, though.”

“Watching the men, even though they moved as a unit, obeyed orders instantly, adapted to changing situations under your command, and performed above even the level of our first deployment, I can still spot a glaring weakness:

“Spear Mastery.

“Frankly, it is abysmal. Unit tactics, at the lower Levels, are basic, of course. One doesn’t need to be a Master of the Spear to operate well in a unit that is acting as a whole. That doesn’t mean the Skill doesn’t mean anything, though. Watching the men train, this Skill needs to come up.

“I understand everyone has their personal specialty, and that’s fine as a sidearm. The spear is the backbone of our strategy and tactics, though. I can tell, just from looking, that over 90% of the men aren’t past the first threshold of Skill Level 25.

“That’s unacceptable.

“Here’s the deal. Each of you will revise your training strategies to include 30% individual training; 20% for Spear training, 10% for personal specialties.

“I will personally participate in sparring sessions with the soldiers. I know the benefits of training against someone far superior to you that can point out your mistakes and give proper guidance on the spot. I’m at the Level where I can provide this for the troops, so I will.

“If I can help everyone break through the first bottleneck, they’ll have that much more survivability on the battlefield in the future.

“Any questions?”

One of the lieutenants raised his hand. The other officers gave a small frown at the young man daring to raise a question, but Reivyn waved them off and smiled at the man. He didn’t ask if there were any questions to go through the motions. He genuinely wanted to address any questions anyone had. The other officers relaxed at Reivyn’s attitude.

“Yes, sir, what’s the time frame?” The lieutenant asked.

Reivyn nodded his head.

“I’ll give you two days,” he responded. “One day to devise the plan, one day to inform the men, and on the third day it needs to be implemented.

“Any more questions?”

A Captain raised his hand.

“How should we incorporate your involvement?” He asked. “Should we set time aside for your tutelage, or should we be flexible and allow you to step in whenever, however you want?”

“That’s a good question. Let’s go with planning for me to personally attend a session. I plan on sparring with the men in a classroom type setting. As I spar against one, the others should be watching and learning. I have Skills for teaching others as well as the Skills for any and all weapons anyone could be using, so it would make sense for me to reach as many people as possible at a time.

“Obviously the individual sparring with me will get the most benefit, but if I can do a little sparring with a lot of people while they absorb the lessons on the side, it should help the most. Coordinate with each other to take this into account.

“Any more?”

There were no more questions. The officers understood the assignment and knew how to get it done.

“Very well, dismissed.”

The officers came to attention, saluted, and filed out of the office. Reivyn turned his attention back to his own personal hell of paperwork. It was doubly worse because it wasn’t just the necessary paperwork of running the Corps, but was generated entirely due to his own plans.

Namely, bringing Kefira along with him and his plans for his own growth during the deployment.

Reivyn was preemptively warding off objections from Silfa on taking Kefira along on the deployment. That required not only thinking about every possible situation they could face, but strategizing and formulating a plan to deal with it. He based his strategies on the two different methods of fighting he had seen from the enemy Empire’s armies: hordes of barely equipped lower-Tier soldiers who threw themselves on the enemy with higher-Tier, better equipped soldiers behind to swoop in and take advantage, and the endless hordes of decently equipped legions. He also incorporated scenarios he could think of between the two and on the fringes on either end.

That wasn’t all that was necessary, though. He also had requisition paperwork to make it happen, too. Not only was he requesting Imperial Bodyguards from the Imperial Palace to accompany her, but he also had forms for requesting a couple of tutors and learning materials from the Magic Academy.

In Reivyn’s opinion, Kefira should be done with her academics. Her parents disagreed, though, and he respected their opinion. There might not be anyone to continue her teachings on Space or Time Mana, but she wasn’t beyond instruction on many other Affinities and techniques. So instead of confining Kefira to the academy, he would bring a portion of the academy with them.

That meant he not only had to go through the proper channels and the paperwork involved, but he had to find those willing to volunteer. He wouldn’t force anyone into a war zone. He was confident there would be at least a few instructors who would love a change of scenery, and there were definitely student candidates willing to go along. There had been that entire entourage that had met with them in Vairo as they were retreating, after all, and he would extend an offer to each of them to go on another deployment, this time from the beginning.

That meant even more paperwork for each of them…

It was never ending.

Reivyn comforted himself with the knowledge that going through all of this prep work would mean higher chances of success in keeping Kefira with him, but would also better prepare them for very real situations they might find themselves in. The paperwork and exercises in strategy weren’t just to make everyone feel better. They had an actual purpose.

Reivyn bent his head to his desk and got to work.

—

Gulley readjusted his grip on his spear, peering over his shield at Major Reivyn facing off against him with similar equipment. They stood off against each other in front of the whole company. Gulley wasn’t intimidated by the spectators, but he was intimidated by the Aura given off by their commander and the sheer confidence in his eyes.

Gulley knew he stood no chance against the man in a spar with spears. He had already seen the Major completely decimate the best of them. The first spar wasn’t so much a teaching moment as it was to establish Reivyn’s credentials in teaching them. He hadn’t necessarily humiliated the man, but it had been apparent that Major Reivyn could have taken him apart with far more ease than he did, even though the man’s personal specialty was the Spear to begin with and everyone knew Reivyn was a swordsman.

To make up for showing the man up, Reivyn had gone into elaborate detail on the smallest issue the man could work on to improve. He had taken care to personally instruct the man and faced off against him again, only showing slightly more Skill than his opponent to give him actual fighting experience.

The man hadn’t been a hotshot by any means. None of the Adventurers-turned-Mercenaries were like that - at least not any longer. It was “beat” out of them in their initial training, but the man had still been humbled before Reivyn’s mastery of the Spear. He was fully on board with learning everything he could from the commander.

Gulley knew that Reivyn wouldn’t wait forever for Gulley to take the initiative. Some of the other Mercenaries had thought to lean on their unit training and engage in reciprocal combat, only striking after blocking with their shield. Reivyn had shown them the error of their ways by simply somehow completely ignoring their shields. If Gulley didn’t take the offensive, Reivyn would have him sprawled on his backside in no time.

Gulley lunged forward, careful to maintain his balance and other instructions he had picked up from Major Reivyn sparring against the others and pointing out flaws. Gulley’s step was sure, his spear steady as he thrust precisely to bypass just to the side of Reivyn’s shield toward his eyes peering back at him.

Reivyn’s eyes took in everything, noting Gulley’s form down to the smallest detail in an instant. Gulley felt like his entire being had been scanned from top to bottom. All of his flaws were open to the other man. It was an unsettling feeling, one he’d never experienced before.

Gulley didn’t leave himself open, keeping his shield tight to his body as he put his weight behind his strike. It was a textbook move based on his own fighting experience, the unit tactics they had learned, and the personal tutelage of the man in front of him all combined. It was an excellent strike, and Gulley thought he could feel approval in the commander’s eyes.

Gulley didn’t see how it happened, but without seeming to move, Reivyn seemed to direct Gulley’s strike in a way that it wasn’t blocked or parried, but it landed on the most useless position on Reivyn’s body. The spear tip made contact with Reivyn’s pauldron, slipping to the side of the rounded armor piece.

Because it wasn’t a clean block or parry, it meant that Gulley’s perfectly fine form was no longer not over-extended compared to Reivyn’s positioning. If Reivyn had blocked with his shield, parried with his spear, or completely dodged the strike, that would have been one thing. Gulley would have been able to easily recover from the move. As it was, Reivyn was able to position himself so that he created the opening that Gulley didn’t allow.

Gulley found a spear point pressed against his throat. The two combatants froze. The spear point was so perfectly spaced that it touched Gulley’s skin without adding even an ounce of pressure. It was another masterful display of control. Not only of the Spear, but of the battlefield as a whole.

“Good!” Reivyn barked, pulling his spear back and resuming his stance. “Again. This time don’t focus on the spear. That strike was excellent, but you were detached from the spear. The spear wasn’t a part of you. It needs to be an extension of your arm.

“Your main problem was your initial stance. It appeared perfectly fine at first glance, but you were acting like you were part of a shield wall instead of fighting individually. It’s good to have those instincts, but instead of having the shield wall as your fundamental base that you incorporate your Skills into, you need to have your personal Skills as your fundamental base that you incorporate the shield wall into.

“Does that make sense? You weren’t free to move about with your mindset, limiting the effectiveness of your spear strikes from the very beginning. This is a bit of an advanced mindset, but you’re definitely ready for it. Everything else was good.”

Gulley thought about the instruction for a moment as he recovered his stance.

“Understood, sir,” he replied.

Gulley adjusted his stance ever so slightly. He had been standing in a form expecting spearmen to be on either side of him, giving him tunnel vision. He understood what Major Reivyn was talking about as he became more free in how he held himself. He was still able to visualize himself in a shield wall with his stance, but he was no longer dependent on it.

It was like building blocks. Fighting in line with everyone else was one building block, fighting with a spear was one, using a shield was one, armor was one. Each building block could be configured in various patterns with the others. He had previously been building his base with his shield wall technique, but Reivyn was saying the base should be built with the spear as the foundation. That also implied the shield, obviously, but he didn’t need to say so many words to get his point across.

They were building a house, and they were currently polishing one of the main building blocks and rearranging the foundations to accommodate it.

Gulley got himself back in the mindset of combat and once more performed the same thrust. There was something fundamentally different about the strike this time. On the outside, it looked exactly the same, but they were beyond looking at the superficial. At its core, the strike was completely different.

Gulley could see that even if Reivyn employed the exact same tactic, the previous opening that he had created wouldn’t be there again. Too late, though, he realized he would still open himself up to Major Reivyn, just in a different way.

Major Reivyn just smiled at the subtle improvement and didn’t take advantage of the new opening. He blocked the strike and reciprocated. The two began a deadly dance of spears flashing at each other, shields blocking strikes, armor absorbing blows, and bodies evading. Gulley got into the rhythm and they continuously sped up until they were a blur in front of the rest of the company watching the sparring session.

Eventually Gulley found himself with a spear point once again touching his neck. The two separated and Reivyn once again gave some pointers. They were all along the same track as building his foundation from the spear and incorporating it into the shield wall and not the other way around.

“Great job, Gulley,” Major Reivyn nodded to him, surprising Gulley with his knowledge of his name. “Any questions?”

“Why didn’t you take advantage of the other opening at the beginning of the match, sir?” Gulley asked, genuinely puzzled.

“One problem at a time,” Reivyn answered. “I didn’t want to overload you on multiple principles at once. Instead, we just focused on the one and burned it into your brain. Continue training with these thoughts in mind a bit longer until it’s completely solidified in your Skill, and then we can move on to other nuances.

“Make sense?”

“Perfectly, sir,” Gulley saluted his commander, respect in his movements.

Major Reivyn had given a lot for Gulley to think about. He barely even registered as his replacement practically skipped to her position in front of Reivyn to accept her own instruction.