Getting Closer, Coming Clean

"Your combat experience? I don't mind talking about it. The Empire has already made it public, after all. If you'd like to hear it from me, I'd be happy to tell you." Siegfried was pleased to hear that Roland was interested in his time with the army.

After all, who wouldn't be happy to learn that a new colleague wanted to hear about his finest moments?

"Well, let's see. I officially joined the Empire around the end of the Battle of Walden, then went into battle under Governor John." "That was about a year ago. Before I formally took part in the Fauken Campaign, I was just a noncommissioned officer. Commander Hawk assigned me to patrol and guard the Dragon Eye Domain alongside the rest of the unit."

"So, in a way, the Fauken Campaign was my first real taste of battle."

A nostalgic look crossed Siegfried's face.

He still remembered how, as soon as they reached Faoken, Commander John had rushed them to Iron Horse Mountain to aid their allies. Thanks to John's brilliant Divine Move, a strike at the enemy's home base, they had not only stopped their allies' line from collapsing but launched a counterattack despite being vastly outmatched.

Siegfried had taken part in the entire operation and had even been responsible for breaching the city gate. Of course he was proud of it! Even Commander Hawk hadn't gotten to join that surprise attack!

"So, Major Siegfried, you were there for the entire Iron Horse Mountain Campaign? Including the final reversal of the battle line?" Roland stared at him as if he'd seen a ghost.

Before arriving in Faoken, Roland had read everything he could find on the Fauken Campaign. He knew the Iron Horse Mountain Campaign had been the Third Air Force Army's first battle after