76. Ivan

Two weeks from revealing my identity and word is spreading. Villages are actively seeking us out. Every time we turn over a battered, miserable town and free it from its local thugs we are greeted like heroes. Some brothels are actually empty, the women abandoned as the men have already fled in fear of the Inferno arriving.

The men are buoyant, positive, with new recruits joining after every attack. There appears to be some kind of local prestige involved now. Being part of the crew that took back the Shadowlands. We have a team, a method and it’s working. There is only one Cherish though. Nobody has come close to her speed or scouting skills.

Now I have infantry, cooks, stock managers who go into the villages with the gold we were given by Alexander to buy supplies, we are practically a functioning army. Each night we all eat together. There is no distinction between the Battalion originals, still clad in green and the recruits.

I address them all the same, they call me Beta Iv