Steel Empire
Enemy ambush

Berengar and his army had arrived at the Visounty of Schwaz after several days of marching. Obviously, they had been camping all night. Berengar sought to lose as little strength as possible due to friction; therefore, he had kept his army away from exhaustion and was well fed, hydrated, and equipped to combat the effects of cold. To him, each of his soldiers was a valuable member of society; those who were lost were not easily replaced without his land suffering from it. War was necessary for expansion, but he did not want to fight without regard for the lives of his soldiers. Therefore, they lined up at a safe speed.

Berengar was currently on guard for the night, one of the men on patrol became too cold, to the point where his health began to suffer, Berengar who passed by, offered to replace him, Berengar said, like the Viscount and the Army Commander were on guard with a group of soldiers on foot. Berengar decided to break the ice with the simple infantry soldier he was standing by the side.

"So... What's yourname?"

The two men looked at each other with strange expressions before answering Berengar's question as if it came from the commander and the Viscount of Kufstein.

"My lord, I'm Private Arnwald, and this is Private First Class Bardo!"

Berengar spoke in an informal tone as he spoke to the men

"I Berengar ... Although I guess you already know that."

The two men nodded as they looked at Berengar in admiration. Berengar was more than just their Master and Commander; he was close to legend. His childhood weakness was well-known, even among his ranks. However, despite all that, he had risen above such circumstances after twenty years of suffering, only to be plotted by his own brother, surviving the various attempts in his life, to be, this included a rebellion by Lord Ulrich in which he was able to rise to the position of Regent and destroy his neighbors expanding his family's territory to the level of the Visounty.

The two men almost nodded in silence, afraid to say something that might offend the man they respected. However, before the conversation could continue, Berengar saw what looked like a glint not far below the bright full moon in the sky above. He patted Soldier Arnwald on his shoulder with a grim expression on his face and ordered the man in a tone full of authority, immediately stopping his informal speech as he did so.

"Private Arnwald, I want you to sound the alarm as soon as possible!"

Arnwald did not know why Berengar was so serious, but orders were orders, and he would be condemned if he failed to fulfill them; the man saluted Berengar by banging his chest before running off to do as he was told.

"As you command, My Lord!"

After Arnwald escaped, Berengar drew his sword and pointed it towards the darkness ahead. While doing so, he chatted with the Bardo.

Although Bardo detected nothing around him, he quickly removed his rifle and put up a bayonet where he proceeded to direct his action and aim it straight ahead of him. Although the man did not know what Berengar had detected, he trusted the senses of his commander, and thus, was ready to defend the ranks until those men were ready to defend the camp.

Shortly after the actions of Berengar and Bardo, the ringing of the bell resounded throughout the field, which woke up everyone in the camp; by ringing the bell three times, it signified an enemy attack. Thus, the men did not even bother to equip their armor; they immediately took out their rifles and netting gear before exiting their tents and getting into the fray.

When the enemy hiding in the darkness heard the bell ring, they quickly began to storm the camp they had surrounded; knowing that their disguise was uncovered, they attempted to attack Berengar and his army as quickly as possible. Fortunately these people were largely formed from levies and were not well equipped. As levies near Berengar's position raided him and the man next to him, the thunder of the Bardo rifle rang out across the field as a lead ball shot through the chest of retribution, which was right in front of him.

In the darkness of the night, the battle had begun within Berengar's camp. The troops left behind at the Viscounty of Schwaz had found Berengar camp and decided to attack at night; berengar skillfully wielded his sword, and, after practicing using it for hours every day for the past eight months, he was proficient enough in swordplay to cope with the progress of retribution. With a crashing impulse, Berengar pierced through the gambeson shirt of retribution in front of him and into the man's heart, skillfully dodging the man's spear as he did so.

Berengar and the Bardo were quickly pushed back into the camp by the overwhelming number of enemy troops; when they reached a certain point, Berngar heard a voice shouting at him.

"My lord, come down now!"

Quickly adapting to the situation, Berengar dragged the Bardo down with him to a prone position where shotgun fire destroyed the front lines of enemy forces. Before the retribution of the enemy could react, the rifle lines kneeled down and refilled their rifles. Instead, the second row behind them fired one more volley over their heads, completely destroying the light armored retribution and shattering their morale.

This action had given Berengar and Bardo time to reform their ranks among the people who had just arrived to support them. Because of this, Berengar dragged the Bardo to his feet and rushed to the back of the firing line, which had already been refilled, and started firing another shot at the enemy ranks who were completely startled by the unknown weapons they were facing. Throughout the camp, the sounds of gunfire and screams of agony echoed through the night as Berengar, and his men desperately defended against the enemy's attack.

Although gunfire destroyed the enemy ranks, some men managed to rush towards Berengar and his unarmed men whose bayonets were already attached; therefore, the, they canceled the act of reloading and began to engage in a commotion with the enemy. Luckily for them, the enemy was equipped with spears and limited to the same level of puncture where Berengar and his troops were, he said, the main difference was the level of training between Berengar's professional soldiers and the farmer's retribution who rarely set foot on the road.

Due to the differences in training and the strict military hierarchy established between Berengar's forces, the men under his command were quickly able to funnel enemy troops into the small cracks in the camp's defenses, where they meet the bayonet line. can easily cut it down. At sunrise, the view of the camp below was filled with enemy blood and bodies, which were scattered in the snow.

Although Berengar's army had suffered slightly more than a hundred casualties, its losses could be considered minimal. On the other hand, the enemy force was almost annihilated; those who had broken ranks and ran into the night were lucky to be able to survive. One thing was certain, Berengar's target was no longer Innsbruck; he would first besiege the Castle at Schwaz; after succeeding in his attempt, he was forced to flee, he would exterminate the Viscount family as an act of retaliation on behalf of the soldiers who lost this battle.