The following morning, Isaac scowled as he looked upon the bandit captain, only briefly nodding at Alice when she arrived in his tent. 

"Ah, Commander Alice. You're finally here. Now let's get on with it." Isaac said, pointing down at the map on the table in front of them. 

"Why's the wench here, General?" The bandit captain drawled, lazily picking a finger through his teeth. "You givin' us a minder?" 

"You'll speak when spoken to, am I understood?" Isaac snapped, glaring at the bandit. "Half the camp wants you lot dead for deserting the battle just to loot a village yesterday, and it's only by my grace that you still get to keep your heads. Now be silent." The general looked back down at the map, pointing to a dot rather close to the thumbtack marking their current location. "This is the town of Charten. It's a rich border town slightly to the north of where we are right now. To put it simply, I want it looted and burned. You're good at that. However, you will be taking orders from Commander Alice. As yesterday proved, you and your men can't be trusted to follow orders on your own. Am I clear?" 

The bandit scowled, spitting on the ground. "This is shite. We don't need no bloody woman watching our ba-" That was as far as he got before Isaac slammed the pommel of his sword into the bandit captain's gut, doubling him over before the general punched him in the throat and slammed him into the ground.

"Even looking at your idiot face disgusts me." Isaac hissed, planting his foot on the bandit captain's chest. "But you will follow my orders, or I'll kill you right now. You might have the king's favor, but he won't miss just one of you. And I imagine any of your fellows would be eager to take your place. Do you understand where I'm going with this?" The bandit captain frantically nodded to this, still clutching his throat in pain. "Now, will you listen to orders, or are you going to be the victim of a tragic, drunken accident?" 

"F-fine...you win." The bandit captain rasped. At this, Isaac took his foot off the man and helped him back up, dusting him off.

"Good man. Ensure that your men follow orders too, or one of them will be taking your place. Now get them ready to move out." 

As the bandit captain left the tent, Isaac turned to Alice. 

"Commander Alice, your assignment is to make sure none of those bandits make it back to camp alive." Isaac said blithely once the bandit captain was out of earshot. "The village is guarded by a mercenary company. Do whatever you can in your power to make sure those men get themselves killed. Bring along a few soldiers from your squad as well, in case the fools try to mutiny. Should the bandits actually win, you and your men will finish them off as they're busy looting. And one last thing: keep quiet about this. It won't end well for either of us should the king discover that we got his favorites killed on purpose. Understood?"