"Those devils burned our village to the ground!"
"My lord, please avenge my daughter!"
The refugees who had escaped by the skin of their teeth testified that several villages in southern Essenbach had been raided by bandits claiming to be mercenaries. What was the Billingen family doing while all this chaos unfolded?
"Unbelievable. They scheme to seize someone else's city, yet they can't even protect their own territory. Is the Count of Essenbach's heir so incompetent that he can't handle something like this?"
The Billingen family's response was a bigger mess than I'd expected.
And messengers from the units patrolling the border came pouring in.
"My lord! Some of the refugees have crossed the border!"
"Take them all in. Don't let a single one freeze to death."
