The news was delivered by the head of the intelligence department, Lucía.
If anyone else had given this news to André, without a doubt he would have thought it was a joke.
The facts were as follows: the army departed toward the territory of the County of Blair to take control of it.
General Armond, in command of 3,000 soldiers, had the mission of taking control of London City.
The incredible part of all this is that the entire army was defeated and even captured alive.
There was not a single victim in the confrontation; it seemed that General Armond went and surrendered to the enemy.
André spent the afternoon analyzing the facts and had a certain conjecture of what had happened.
At that moment he was waiting for the report with the meticulous details of what had occurred.
While he waited, the door of his office opened.
André already knew who it was, so he raised his head, smiled, and asked:
"Enlighten me: how were the facts of this legendary battle? I am certain it will remain in the annals of world history."
"Hehehe, I believe you already have an idea of how the things happened; you are only waiting for the confirmation." The person who entered joked with André.
"I am 70% almost certain of what occurred." André answered the visitor while also joking.
"I knew it; sometimes you make my work seem superfluous."
"You need not feel that way, Lucía. The intelligence department is the most important of all."
Exactly it was Lucía, the head of the intelligence department, who entered to give André the details of the battle.
"Very well, let us get to the subject that concerns us.
The things happened as follows: conscious of her grandfather's defeat, Mónica de Blair carried out an emergency recruitment, thus managing to reach the figure of 1,000 militiamen.
In the face of this overwhelming disadvantage she did not give up; instead she devised a marvelous plan."
Lucía made a small pause and continued with her report.
"In a small village on the outskirts of London City they evacuated the peasants, and the militiamen occupied the place knowing that it was on the path of General Armond's army.
When they sighted the army they pretended to be peasants who were fleeing toward London City."
Then Lucía laughed gracefully and continued.
"General Armond was deceived and did not give them pursuit.
He decided to camp in the village, seeing that it was full of provisions that the peasants had left in their desperate flight.
To save provisions, the general distributed all the food and drink that there was in the village and divided it among the soldiers."
Reaching this point, Lucía's smile became more significant.
"As you will already have imagined, all of this was in Mónica de Blair's plans.
She even calculated the arrival of General Armond on the outskirts of London City.
It must be said that that girl is a war talent; I hope you do not lose her for having executed her grandfather."
Lucía mocked André a little again.
"All the supplies in the village were poisoned with a strong sleeping drug.
When dawn arrived, the thousand militiamen returned and captured all the soldiers who were strongly asleep."
André smiled; it was certainly as he had imagined.
"And then, what is it that the count's granddaughter asks for?"
"The girl is very intelligent.
She did not harm any soldier and simply has them as prisoners in London City.
She still has not exposed her terms.
She must already have realized that it is impossible to avoid us taking the County of Blair.
Perhaps she only hopes to obtain an exit for her family and plead for a liberation of the Count."
Lucía finished her report and gave her conjectures of Mónica's plans.
"I believe we will have to impart culture classes in the army.
It is fortunate that this has occurred at this moment; otherwise the consequences would be grave.
I must thank Mónica de Blair for this revealing experience she has given us."
André had a serious face while speaking of his thoughts.
André requested the presence of Raúl in his office, and when the latter arrived he began to give instructions.
"Go, inform General Tom that he is now in charge of the annexation of the territory of the County of Blair.
Give him my order to accelerate the pace: in three days we will besiege London City.
Do you want to go with me to meet this legendary commander?"
After giving instructions, André asked Lucía, who was at his side.
"Of course. This time I am going to compete with you to recruit her into my intelligence department.
A talent like that is difficult to find." Lucía openly declared her intentions to André.
"It seems you saw through my plans."
"I clearly saw how your eyes shone while I told you the feat of Mónica de Blair.
You did not hide your admiration for the talent at all.
It seemed that you cared little or nothing about the defeat of your army."
Lucía was the only one among André's subordinates who could speak to him in that manner.
He had gained so much prestige that everyone treated him with respect and avoided speaking with too much familiarity in front of him.
"That is right. As I told you earlier, this battle will give a great lesson to our army.
Therefore, I am very grateful to Mónica de Blair.
If she is as intelligent as she is supposed to be, she will know how to choose when I invite her to join our army."
"My lord, allow me the insolence of giving my opinion."
Suddenly Raúl took a step forward and placed himself in front of André while speaking with a trembling voice.
"Well, you may speak."
"My lord, it is not that I am against your orders, but a woman in the army will cause dissatisfaction among the soldiers and even insubordination."
Raúl lowered his head waiting for André's answer.
He knew that with these words he could even lose his post in the army, but he had to express what he was thinking.
"Will you also be dissatisfied, Raúl?"
André did not answer Raúl's exclamation; instead he asked him a question.
"With due respect, my lord, I do not dare to feel unhappy, but yes uncomfortable."
From Raúl's answer, André suddenly realized that he was in the Middle Ages.
A woman in the army was completely unheard of.