Their reputation was well-earned.
I'd felt it back at the Battle of Euz, when we clashed with the mercenary company of Leto and Gedel, the one guarding the Count of Basel. But only now did I fully understand why these men were called the strongest mercenaries in the world.
Even as they dropped under the massed volleys of the Streit Gunners, they closed the gaps and held their ranks together, over and over. They refused to give a single step, as if there were nothing behind them to fall back to, and their morale never wavered.
If anything, it was the duchy army's pikemen facing them who began to break. That was exactly why the Count of Basel had boasted that the pike line shielding my gunners would collapse before my men could reload.
What a contrast to the Battle of Vintenheim, where the mercenaries lost their nerve and ran after only three volleys. This was the strength of Swiss mercenaries, and their iron will was dominating the field.
