Chapter 147: March to the Forest
CH147 March to the Forest
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Alex’s infantry platoon moved out and quietly left the territory of the City of Ashes.
Everyone in the unit advanced on foot. According to Lieutenant Cross, High Command hadn’t made any provisions for horses for this mission. Resources were stretched thin. The looming Wildkin threat and growing tensions with the Killerman fief meant the army had no spare mounts for a unit that would, in the end, have to leave the horses outside the Dankrot Forest anyway.
As a noble scion of the Fury Family, Alex could have easily arranged a horse for himself. But he chose not to.
Partly, it was to endear himself to the troops — to show solidarity. But more importantly, it was to test his own stamina and endurance ahead of what awaited them. Once inside the forest, he wouldn’t be able to ride a horse regardless, and he had no intention of burdening Fen. The wolf would likely play a pivotal role during the mission, one he needed to be at full strength for.
Despite the mission’s urgency, Alex deliberately slowed their advance, increasing what would have been a five-day journey from Ashen Castle to the Dankrot Forest into a seven-day trek.
This gave him time — time to observe, adapt, and work with the platoon.
He spent the extra days running formation drills, gauging the soldiers’ discipline and default tactics. It was quickly apparent that he wouldn’t be able to introduce new strategies in such a short window, but he could at least learn their current structure and prepare to adapt it in real-time when battle came.
Much of his effort focused on getting the soldiers used to his command rhythm — not an easy task, but not an unfamiliar one either.
This wasn’t his first time leading a unit of strangers. It did it numerous times over a number of projects as a Lead engineer and project team leader in his past life.