Hallen nodded at the lieutenant's requests, shooting a parting look of scorn at the duo of self-righteous riders. For all her capability, Alexandra had to get her dues soon enough. The knight quickly stomped his way to the front gate amidst a crowd of other soldiers, all either glancing at him with wonder or disgust. Less than half of the company heading into combat was made up of volunteers, and if Alfred's words were close to the truth then the soldiers couldn't be any better of themselves.
As Hallen moved to fix his helmet upon his head, the knight said, "I am a knight of Ylisse. My life and death is the protection of my country..." Now, with his helmet completing his full-plate, Hallen adopted his stoic nature once more in preparation for the battle.
The gates opened, and beyond the cries of the zealous soldiers came the headstrong, arrogant boasts of the enemy leader: Reg. Hallen had heard something of him, as a bandit trying to said the smaller towns of Ylisse in the wake of the war. Then, of course, why would he dare to attack the capital... unless he truly believed he could handle it. And it seemed, honestly enough, that Reg had a good enough shot, given the myrmidons and shaman behind him.
In spite of the pair of archers as well alongside Reg, Alexandra was more than keen to lead charge into battle herself with her Pegasus Knights. Too reckless, Hallen thought; a better strategy would be to goad out the arrogant bandit into striking first, then flanking him with the Pegasus Knights to whittle out the shaman while the ground troops held the line at the gate, forcing the enemy to cluster up to proceed. Of course, there was no manner or time for Hallen to properly convey that, and there was dubiousness that they would even listen, given how Alexandra was apparently in charge here.
Nevertheless, the soldiers heeded the tactic of walling up in a shield formation, yet still poured out of the north gate to approach the enemy. Regarding Alfred's word, Hallen didn't immediately plunge into battle, resigning himself to watch the ensuing bloodshed. If they got too close, the black magic would tear easy gaps in those lines before the Pegasus Knights could deal with them all. If all went as Hallen intended, though, he would quickly turn the tide before it came to that.