Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 462 Rest Day (Part 1)

[Vogne County]
Artemis
The midsummer sun baked the earth, and only the blue river water offered a rare coolness.

A soft blue mist rose and swirled across the river, while the rolling reeds emitted a sweet fragrance.

Along the tranquil and solemn banks of the Anya River, there are... young men with their bottoms exposed everywhere.

Considering that the troops had not had a single day of rest since the start of the campaign, the Montagne tribunal generously granted everyone a half-day off.

Finally getting a little private time, the soldiers left the barracks and, under the resentful gazes of the unlucky ones on duty, went to the river to wash and bathe.

Everyone knows that once the Blood Wolves have subdued the towns of Vaughan County, the Iron Peak County Infantry Regiment will return in triumph.

As a result, laughter and joy filled the banks of the Anya River.

The soldiers were full of energy as they washed their clothes and cleaned their bodies, all wanting to get themselves as clean as possible before going home.

According to the original battle plan, the attack on Artemis would involve three battalions of infantry, plus cavalry.

Among them, the 5th Infantry Battalion launched a surprise attack from the south, where the enemy was unprepared, while the 1st and 3rd Infantry Battalions marched rapidly from the north to the battlefield. At the same time, the cavalry suppressed and intercepted enemy scouts in order to win before the army of Leiqun County could react effectively.

But by the time the follow-up troops arrived at the walls of Artemis, the battle was already over, and the comrades of the Fifth Battalion were counting the prisoners. The city walls had long since been covered with dark blue flags.

So the soldiers of the First and Third Battalions were both relieved that they didn't have to go through another tough battle, and annoyed that they had made a wasted trip.

While washing clothes, someone complained, half-jokingly: "One bag of dry food and one bag of water, traveling day and night, my legs are so tired they're practically spinning. Hey! And look what happened, I didn't get anything! I was hoping to earn a few more acres of land, sigh."

"Who says it's not?"

"When we set off, the guys in the Second Battalion were all incredibly envious. Now it's their turn to be happy! Sitting in Maplestone City, they're laughing at us for making such a mess of things."

Hearing the complaints from the other troops, a large-eyed, slightly overgrown boy among the small group washing clothes cleared his throat and said, feigning modesty:
"There was nothing we could do! The soldiers of Vaughan were just too weak! We hadn't even put up a fight before they surrendered. You know what? When we filled the trenches with earthen cages, the soldiers of Vaughan were watching with bated breath! In one charge, we took down the city wall."

The boy got more and more excited as he talked, and finally threw off his clothes and stood up, gesturing wildly: "I climbed and climbed, and reached the top of the ladder, but I was still half a meter away from the city wall. What to do? Retreat? Impossible! I gritted my teeth, threw away my shield, grabbed the crenellations with both hands, and managed to climb up. And guess what? There was no one else, I was the first one!"

"Bullshit!" Another soldier interrupted the impromptu speech from a distance, laughing and cursing, "The first one to scale the city wall was clearly the battalion commander!"

"I didn't say I was the first in the whole battalion!" The boy blushed. "I was the first in our company..."

"Nonsense! You weren't even the first one in your group."

The boy, barely out of his mind, cried out, "The first one on the ladder! I'm the first one on my ladder! Okay?"

The surrounding soldiers laughed good-naturedly.

"Sit down quickly."

"Stop bragging, kid!"

"Who are you calling a brat?" Driven by a strong sense of pride, the young man took his comrades' affection as an insult. He stiffened his neck and retorted, "I enlisted twice! You've fought more battles and killed more people than I have! I..."

Before he could finish speaking, the boy was dragged aside by his "pot manager" by the ear.

"Alright, what's the point of bullying weak soldiers? Elite troops should fight elite troops! Like that battle we fought against the puppet troops, oh my, it was a truly fierce and chaotic battle..."

The soldier who took the baton was getting into the swing of things when he suddenly glanced at Sergeant Lu Xirong in the corner and felt a little embarrassed: "Old sergeant, why don't you give the speech instead?"

Lu Xirong smiled and shook his head, focusing intently on washing his old coat.

Seeing Lu Xirong shake his head in refusal, the soldier who took the speaking baton, as if granted permission, eagerly began to recount the perilous and tragic battle of Hegu Village:

"...When we arrived, there were only a few of us left, but that bald guy's men were almost wiped out. The battalion commander told us, 'Comrades, form two lines, musketeers in the middle, pikemen on the flanks.' The battalion commander added, 'If you don't know why you're fighting, just think about fighting for Blood Wolf,' and then he led us in a charge..."

"Where's Blood Wolf?" someone asked impatiently. "Where is Blood Wolf?"

"What's the rush? We haven't even gotten to that part yet!" The soldier holding the microphone scolded impatiently, but he still took the feedback to heart, skipping the long self-praise and jumping straight to the moment Blood Wolf appeared on the battlefield: "...a huge explosion, so loud it made people lose their footing. The wind almost blew me over. The warhorses went crazy, running around everywhere. Clods of earth were falling down like hail..."

The soldier holding the microphone lowered his voice and said quietly, "At that moment, my knees buckled. I thought, 'It's over, it's all over.'"

The soldier who spoke was a good storyteller, who not only stirred up the emotions of the soldiers in the Fifth Battalion, but also made the soldiers of the First and Third Battalions who had participated in the Battle of River Valley hold their breath involuntarily.

The small pond was completely silent; no one washed their clothes anymore, everyone eagerly waiting for the soldier to continue speaking.

"and then?"

A slightly trembling voice broke the silence—Jacob Green raised his hand to ask a question.

The former councilor of Niu Ti Gu Town, now the clerk of the Tie Feng County Infantry Regiment, arrived at the pond at some unknown time. He not only quietly blended into the soldiers, but also held a small notebook and was taking notes while sweating profusely.

"And then?" The soldier telling the story shrugged. "Then Blood Wolf burst out of the smoke and charged straight at the enemy. Who could withstand Blood Wolf's charge? Those guys immediately collapsed, howling and running around in panic. And then we won."

The ending was rather uneventful, but the soldiers were quite content with it.

Some people commented matter-of-factly, "Of course, how could Blood Wolf be killed by such a petty trick?"

"What are you talking about? What death? They can't even scratch a Blood Wolf's fur!"

"Sigh, I've never seen a Blood Wolf before, and I don't even know what a Blood Wolf looks like."

"How come you've never seen this before?"

"Those were all just glimpses from a very, very far distance; I never got to see them up close."

“Monkey… Houdel is now a Blood Wolf guard, why don’t you go ask him?”

Why don't you go ask?

"Have you heard?" someone said mysteriously, "Blood Wolf is chosen, so swords can't hurt him, and neither can guns..."

"Attention!" A loud command interrupted the spread of the rumor.

The password came from Lu Xirong, who stood straight as a wooden stake.

The other soldiers followed the old sergeant's gaze and hurriedly stood up as well.

Where everyone's eyes were focused, Peter Bunier stood holding the wooden tub, looking somewhat bewildered.

"Company commander, what brings you to do laundry?" someone asked awkwardly.

Peter Bunier asked in surprise, "Why can't I come and do the laundry?"

It was up to Lu Xirong to stop the atmosphere from escalating further. The old sergeant gestured to the others to make room for Company Commander Bunir, and then respectfully said to the company commander, "For a small job like this, you can just hire a washerwoman."

Peter Bunir shyly walked through the soldiers, put down his wooden basin by the pool, and said embarrassedly, "I...I have no money."

Some soldiers were already secretly cursing the "stingy roosters." Although there was no salary for serving the Blood Wolves, and the rewards for their merits had not yet been paid out, the soldiers of Iron Peak County had already filled their pockets just by looting spoils after the war.

Even ordinary soldiers have made a small fortune, so who would believe a dignified company commander who claims to have no money?
However, Lu Xirong glared sternly at the others and coldly reprimanded them, "Do you think everyone is like you, stealing things from the dead?"

Upon hearing this, everyone lowered their heads guiltily.

The soldiers silently sat back down and continued washing clothes.

All that remained around the pool was the sound of clothes being pounded, and Jacob Greene watched it all unfold.

For Jacob, who was determined to witness and record Winters Montagne’s success—or failure—what he had just witnessed was far more interesting than “the Blood Wolf has won again.”

……

When Turin led his cavalry to water their horses, the minor disturbance near the pool had just subsided.

Compared to doing laundry, many soldiers prioritize taking showers, playing in the water, and swimming during their precious half-day off.

The shepherdess on the west bank was frightened by the sight of hundreds of naked men jumping into the river and ran home, while a number of children gathered on the east bank to watch the spectacle.

Artemis is situated on the banks of the Anya River, which forms the border between Vaughn County and Ryke County. Therefore, soldiers of Iron Peak County can simply swim to the other side and land on the territory of their allies in Ryke County.

When Tulin reached the riverbank, he saw an infantryman who darted across the river like a plover – his arms and legs slid out a great distance in a few strokes, and he swam to the other side.

The infantryman used some small object to exchange for a basket of fruit from a child on the other side of the river. He tied the basket to his ankle, then plunged into the river and swam back to his happy comrades on the west bank.

Turin whistled, applauding the unfamiliar infantryman's excellent swimming skills.

The swimmers who returned to the west bank understood and nodded to the cavalry from afar.

"Shall we go down here to water our horses?" asked the cavalryman next to Turin.

“No, let’s go upstream a bit further.” Tulin smiled slyly: “If we water our horses downstream, we’ll have to drink the infantry’s urine; if we go upstream, the infantry will have to drink our urine.”

The cavalrymen laughed and walked upstream for about a mile before finding a river bend suitable for their horses to drink.

They drove the horses down to the riverbank, then stayed on the dry bank watching them leisurely drink water and lick salt.

Tulin's gaze swept over the lush aquatic plants on both banks of the Anya River, and he suddenly said with a touch of sadness, "It's time to cut the grass."

"What?" The cavalryman next to him didn't hear clearly.

“I said,” Tulin said, sounding a little annoyed, and deliberately raised his voice, “It’s time to mow the lawn!”

The cavalryman next to him scratched his head and said awkwardly, "Cutting grass to feed the horses? Now? It's only June."

“You’re not from Dusa, of course you wouldn’t know,” Tulin said casually. “June is the time to cut grass, otherwise it will dry out and become difficult to cut. We cut it once in June and again in the fall, otherwise what will the livestock eat in the winter?”

Tulin pointed to the grass on the riverbank and began to explain the intricacies of grass cutting: "The grass by the river is no good; the soil is too loose, so the grass grows short. Short grass, no matter how lush, is useless; the horses won't get fat from it. Large livestock prefer to eat long grass. Grass as tall as a horse's belly can only grow in firm, black soil. That kind of grass is also easy to cut."

Tulin stretched out his hands and gestured: "With a big sickle, swish, swish, swish, you can cut down a large area in one go. The men cut the grass, and the women used rakes to gather the grass into piles. Everyone dressed up as if it were a festival, wearing flowery skirts and white clothes. Sometimes, if they couldn't finish in a day, they would spend the night on the grassland, singing and dancing, and then drive the cart home the next day."

Tulin's voice grew softer and softer, and then inexplicably stopped.

The cavalryman who had just asked the question listened intently, then sighed deeply: "I hope the tribunal can let us go home soon. You Dusa people need to cut grass, and we 'farmers' need to harvest our crops too."

Beside him, another cavalryman from Dussac sighed and said worriedly, "Yes, only the old man and woman are left at home. I don't know if we've cut enough grass this year. We don't know if we can manage the work in the fields."

“No need to worry about it.” Tulin glanced at his comrade who wasn’t from Dusa and said listlessly, “I heard from Tribunal Cellini that Lord Bader has already arranged everything for the soldiers who have been granted land.”

Tulin glanced at his fellow Dusak comrade-in-arms, his lips twitching slightly: "You don't need to worry. Nowadays, the Dusaks don't have many large livestock left. The extra horses and cattle have been requisitioned, so how much grass can the remaining animals eat? Besides, you came back alive, didn't you? Staying alive is the most important thing. How much food can they possibly eat?"

"How's your family situation, Sergeant?" The cavalryman, who wasn't from Dussac, followed up the conversation, asking, "How many people are left at home?"

The cavalrymen from Dussac who were standing nearby tried to stop them, but it was too late.

Tulin touched his lips together, and answered without a trace of emotion: "There's no one left."

The riverbank fell silent.

After a long while, the cavalryman who was not from Dusa let out a long, painful sigh and muttered to himself in a low voice, "Let's stop fighting."

Turin gazed at the warhorses on the riverbank without speaking.

Suddenly, the horses, who were leisurely drinking water, raised their heads in unison and looked upstream.

"Someone's coming." Turin ordered, "Keep an eye on the horses."

The cavalrymen who came with Turin immediately galloped down to the riverbank and gathered the scattered warhorses to prevent any trouble—horses are herd animals, and as soon as one horse moves, the others will instinctively follow suit.

Only after he had done all this did Tulin hear the sound of hooves coming from upstream.

Turin wasn't worried about the enemy coming, because Artemis was surrounded by Iron Peak County scouts and beacon towers, making it difficult to sneak in unnoticed.

Sure enough, one of the riders waved to Turin from afar, his voice carrying over: "Turin! Turin!"

A smile finally appeared on Turin's face, and he happily took off his cap to greet him: "Vasha!"

Although the two sides recognized each other, the cavalry coming from upstream did not linger, but galloped straight past Turin. The riders on horseback were all in high spirits and full of energy, and each rider had at least one spare horse tied to his saddle.

As the cavalryman passed by Tulin, the lead cavalryman nodded to Tulin, who returned the nod.

Tulin's comrades did not return to the riverbank until the unfamiliar cavalry had completely passed.

"What handsome cavalrymen!" one of Turin's comrades couldn't help but ask. "Whose men are they?"

Turin admired the handsome riding posture of the leading cavalryman and replied in a low voice, "A subordinate of Pierre Gerardovich Mitchell."

The person who asked the question suddenly realized: "Wolf riders?"

Turin nodded slowly.

Just as the entire population of Maplestone City learned overnight that "the Wolf Riders have arrived," the nickname "Wolf Riders" also spread like wildfire within the Iron Peak County Army.

However, along with the feat of "three hundred defeating three thousand," what is also known is the "wolf cub's" audacity, greed for credit, and provocation.

"Everyone's saying it," Turin's companion said cautiously, "Pierre Mitchell is probably going to have a tough time this time."

Thurin watched Pierre's retreating figure with a worried expression, offering no reply.

[It'll be tonight before dawn!]
[Some readers have mentioned that the line art for the character portraits looks better than the finished product... Actually, I think so too. XD]
[So in the following chapters, I will gradually release the line art versions that I particularly like.]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments. Thank you everyone!]