After this brief conversation, the two groups naturally merged and proceeded together to the camp of the Magyar Imperial Coalition Army.
The rest of the journey was noticeably much more stable; the ill-intentioned cavalry disappeared, and the prying gaze that Edward had felt also vanished.
There were also many soldiers who emerged from places Edward thought were empty to greet them. Only then did Edward realize that they had been discovered and monitored by scouts long before the heavy cavalry appeared. It could be said that they had been under the King's Army's surveillance the entire way.
The captain of the cavalry was a burly man with a typical Magyar beard. He told Edward that if they hadn't seen their red-bottomed white cross banner, they would have been attacked long ago, as both warring parties here flew red-bottomed cross banners, and both the King and the Duke were Arpad nobles.
The captain, named David, was born into one of the ancient Seven Magyar Tribes. He was the third generation of his family to be Christian, hence his name.
His piety was visible to the naked eye; he wore a cross around his neck, and his armor bore a parchment inscribed with scriptures, all prayers for battle.
When speaking of the business of battle, the excitement on David's face was very evident. He was a typical mounted noble, his passion for equipment and glory no less than his piety.
David greatly admired Edward's Rus' infantry, noting that they immediately lowered their shields and clustered together the moment cavalry appeared, instead of looking around in confusion or even fleeing. This surpassed most soldiers he had seen.
Edward naturally did not take credit. He told the Magyar noble that these were Rostislav's subordinates, and David became even more enthusiastic. Over the years, the Moscow Prince's martial renown had spread to the West.
The two sides conversed very congenially, talking about many things to pass the time on the journey. However, when the current King's submission to the Empire was mentioned, the Magyar noble's face turned grim.
"My father and brother once defeated Henry, that old bastard's interference three times, but now we have to submit to that bastard's offspring. It's truly... shameful!"
Seeing the Magyar's grim expression, Edward did not continue speaking. To say more would make things sensitive, and it was not beneficial to let outsiders hear his thoughts rashly. So both sides fell silent, and the atmosphere became awkward for a while.
However, this silence did not last long, as the coalition army's camp appeared before them, and with its appearance, the awkwardness dissolved.
It was a vast, continuous camp on the plain, situated right next to a small stream. Soldiers could be seen fetching water by the stream, countless bonfires sent up wisps of cooking smoke, innumerable soldiers moved between tents, and the sounds of arms and armor resounded throughout the land.
The general who set up the camp was clearly very capable; trenches and chevaux de frise were all in place, and their distribution was very reasonable.
Among the many military banners, the red-bottomed white cross and the Great Archangel Michael stood proudly, representing the armies of Hungary and the Empire, respectively.
This was a sight of a powerful army, yet Edward saw discord within it.
The Magyar and German camps were clearly demarcated, with even fortifications between them, a scene of vigilance as if treating each other as enemies.
Their patrol teams were also clearly separated, even hostile to each other. Edward later learned that these people had already fought many skirmishes.
Seeing this scene, Edward inwardly cried out in dismay. To act like this in the face of a powerful enemy was not a good sign.
The cause of all this was as follows: Three weeks prior, the Turin Border Count led two thousand soldiers across the border to rendezvous with King Andrew's army, then provided a large amount of supplies and provisions, allowing the King to stabilize the situation.
For the next half-month, the two sides got along relatively well, and there were no battles. Duke Bela was busy gathering and reorganizing his army throughout Hungary and was temporarily unable to launch an attack on the King's Army, which had stabilized its position with the help of the Imperial Army.
But in the following week, with the arrival of Duke Pitigreif of Bohemia (i.e., Czechia) with a portion of the Bohemian vanguard, King Andrew immediately erupted into an argument with him.
Hungary and Bohemia already had a long-standing feud. In 1058, Hungary had sent troops to Bohemia, and at that time, the Duke and the King were already at odds.
And now, the Duke assumed the role of Hungary's savior, even beginning to issue commands to this Magyar King, much like a monarch treating a vassal.
At that time, Duke Bela's army was busy reorganizing troops and had not yet gone to this battlefield to seek a decisive battle with the King.
The Czechs' attitude thus became increasingly arrogant, which made the King increasingly suspicious of the German Empire's intentions. As for the Magyars under the King, they were even more filled with distrust towards the Empire.
After all, everyone knew of the Empire's ambitions in the East. The King's submission to the Empire was merely to secure his son's right of succession. If they could expand the Empire's eastern territory, they would never miss this opportunity.
And the Czechs felt that if it weren't for them, King Andrew would have long been finished, so their arrogance only increased, completely adopting the posture of an envoy from a superior nation dealing with a subordinate one when facing the Magyars.
The Turin Border Count tried to mediate and reconcile the relationship between the two sides, but his actions were interpreted as hostile by both, for when two parties are in conflict, the one who remains neutral often incurs the hostility of both.
The Border Count's mediation only added fuel to the fire, and the conflict between the two sides grew stronger. Furthermore, the relationship between the German and Magyar people was not harmonious to begin with; King Andrew had defeated the Empire's interference in Hungary three times in a row, making the Empire taste defeat and humiliation.
Had it not been for his health problems and his ambitious brother, Andrew would never have bowed to the Empire.
And while the upper echelons were still bickering and suspicious, the soldiers below were more direct. These warriors from the royal domain had long followed the King in campaigns and had many skirmishes with the German Empire, so they were already extremely wary of the Empire.
So they began to build fortifications facing the Imperial Army, and the Empire, not to be outdone, responded with fortifications of its own, temporarily making the relationship seem like that of enemies.
Finally, the commanders of both sides realized the impropriety of the situation. They both made concessions and compromises, because they knew they could not continue like this and had to end this quasi-hostile state.
However, although a compromise was reached, those fortifications still existed and were still manned. After all, once built, they couldn't just be abandoned.
These fortifications were like a chasm, lying between the two armies, and everyone knew that this chasm would be very difficult to bridge and had the potential to worsen at any time.
But as long as the Bela rebels, their common enemy, remained, the two sides could not and dared not fall out. Bela had received full support from the King of Poland, and that King of Poland was their common enemy; it was to defeat this King that they stood together.
As a relative of King Andrew, Edward naturally entered the Magyar camp.
Upon entering the camp, Edward noticed many soldiers were dispirited, looking weary and dejected.
The Anglo-Saxon noble understood why these men reacted this way. Although Andrew was a seasoned veteran of the battlefield, his years of campaigning were long past, and he himself was now afflicted by a stroke. Moreover, all the soldiers had a strong reluctance to cooperate with the Empire.
Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that the morale of these soldiers was so low.
However, Edward was not disheartened by this. He had traveled such a long distance back to Hungary, wasn't it to help his kin? How could he retreat because of such small difficulties? He had walked such a long way; how could he fall here?
Edward met many acquaintances here, but also noticed that many familiar faces who had been close to the King were missing. Edward understood that most of them had likely sided with Bela's rebels, meaning he might face them on the battlefield, fighting each other.
This made him a little melancholic, but Edward had already come to terms with this. As a man of war, he had long prepared to face this day.
That melancholy was quickly covered up. Edward continued to enthusiastically greet the acquaintances he met, and everyone returned his greetings with smiles and even hugs, for Edward was the kind of person who could make many friends no matter where he was.