Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 576 Siege (Twenty-Eight)

[Central Command Tent]
"You're only coming to see me now?" Gaisa sat behind the map table, staring coldly at Winters. "It seems you don't take me seriously at all!"

"I did think about it, whether I should say hello first," Winters said, dragging a troop chair from the other end of the map table to Gaisa's side. As if that wasn't close enough, he pulled it forward a bit more, almost knee-to-knee, as he worked on it.
"After thinking it over, I feel I still have to go to the front lines first. Otherwise, if you glare at me, slam your hand on the table, and ask me, 'You're a soldier, and instead of going to find out the situation, you come here to pay your respects to me first, do you even deserve to be a soldier?' Wouldn't I just want to crawl into a hole and hide?"
"On the contrary, let's go to the front lines first and take a look. General Geza is magnanimous and won't hold a grudge against a mere major like me. Besides, it'll be easier to talk to General Geza after we've learned about the battle situation, don't you think?"

As he spoke, Winters braced himself on the armrests of the chariot, leaning down stiffly like a lubricated doll until his buttocks touched the seat, before finally sitting down with a grimacing expression.

Gaisa snorted, got up and walked behind Winters, grabbing Winters' shoulder with one hand and pressing the other hand against Winters' lower back.

"What are you trying to do?" Winters turned to look at Gaisa Adonis in confusion.

“Don’t turn around,” Gaisa hissed. “Sit up straight.”

Winters sat up straight, and the next second he felt a sharp pain coming from his lower back, so painful that he almost jumped off the cot.

He looked at Gaisa in horror.

Gais clicked his tongue. "Can't even handle this little bit of pain?" He patted Winters on the shoulder. "Get up and lie down on the map table."

“Just because I didn’t greet you first,” Winters cried out, “are you going to torture me?”

"Stop talking nonsense," Gaisa slapped Winters on the back again, "Get down on the table and take off your shirt."

Winters did as instructed with some skepticism.

“Does it hurt?” Gaisa placed her hand on his lower back.

“No, a little higher,” Winters answered honestly.

"here?"

"Correct."

As soon as he finished speaking, Winters felt a great force pressing down on the side of his lumbar spine, pushing up and down at the same time. Moreover, this force was gradually increasing, until finally, it almost pressed into his skin and flesh.

For a moment, Winters thought he heard a "crack" sound, or perhaps it was just his imagination.

He turned to look at Gaisa, who stopped what he was doing and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Winters was now certain that the crisp sound was not an illusion.

"Did you break my bones?" Winters asked quietly.

"Get up!" Upon hearing this, Gaisa kicked the ungrateful wolf cub in anger.

Winters stood up and tentatively made a few movements. To his surprise, the back pain that had been bothering him all the way had miraculously subsided, making him feel much more relaxed.

“Even Father Kaman couldn’t relieve my back pain,” Winters said, stretching his upper body slightly. “Where did you learn this skill?”

“Don’t move, this isn’t over yet,” Gaisa said sternly, scolding Winters. He turned around, turned his back to Winters, and stretched out his arms. “Put your arms around me.”

"Uh... how do I match it?"

"Bring it over!"

Following Gaisa's instructions, Winters and Gaisa stood back to back, close together, their arms clasped together.

Gaisa grunted and suddenly exerted his strength, actually lifting the tall and strong Winters onto his back.

Then, as if shaking off dust, he carried Winters, whose feet were off the ground, and shoved him outwards repeatedly.

Fortunately, only Winters and Gaisa were in the central command tent; otherwise, their strange postures would have been difficult to explain in just a few words.

After about thirty "thumps," Gaisa was already panting heavily. He put Winters down and said, "Now let's move around a bit more."

Winters tried a few more movements, and this time, he felt almost no pain. The pain that had previously made him afraid to move was gone, leaving only a slight discomfort, like the damp marks left after water in a rut has dried. "You are truly..." Winters was so surprised he didn't know what to say, "You are amazing! You are amazing!"

“Hmph,” Gaisa feigned disdain, but couldn’t hide his smugness. He wiped his sweat and lectured, “You rude brat, next time you come to see me first, and I won’t blame you.”

“Of course,” Winters expressed his heartfelt gratitude, but he couldn’t hide his curiosity, “How…how did you learn this skill?”

“Riding horses too much, especially while wearing armor, will inevitably lead to this problem sooner or later. As for my skills,” Gaisa sighed, “I learned them from Senior Bode.”

Upon hearing this, Winters also sighed softly.

"Forget it, why bring up that old devil?" Gaisa tossed aside the towel he was using to wipe his sweat, slung himself into a chair behind the map table, and asked bluntly, "Gaspar and his men, were they sent back?"

"Once we've crossed the river, the rest of the journey should go smoothly."

"What day did you come back?"

Winters held up four fingers. "Four days ago."

"Four days ago?" Geza raised an eyebrow. "Riding all the way? You idiot, are you crazy? Aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?!"

“I didn’t ride a horse the whole way,” Winters defended himself weakly. “I took a boat to Mirrorlake County first, and then rode a horse for the rest of the journey.”

"That won't do either. Messengers can ride like that, but you can't, understand?"

"understood."

Guys paused for a moment, then asked meaningfully, "You went to scout the way. How was the road? Was it easy to travel?"

Winters sighed and shook his head heavily. "It's very difficult to walk."

He explained, “It’s the rainy season on the grasslands, so four-wheeled carriages can’t get anywhere. The newly built spring-loaded carriages can barely move, but they have to carry less cargo. Considering the round trip distance, it’s like adding hundreds of kilometers of travel costs for nothing. So if we want to provide meaningful support to the ‘north,’ we still have to go by water.”

"Is it possible to travel by water?"

Winters shook his head again. "Mirrorlake County is still blockaded by the United Provinces-Kingsburg fleet. Several ships have even sailed upstream into the territory of Heard Wasteland, most likely to collect hydrological information."

As Gaisa listened, his brows furrowed more and more.

“However, in my opinion, the most crucial thing right now is to find out the situation in Jiangbei Province. Not only have the allied forces blocked the Jinliu River, but also…” Winters carefully chose his words, ““because of that matter…”

“Just say it,” Gaisa waved his hand. “What do you mean by ‘that’? It’s just that I hit Bazenaul, isn’t it?”

“Yes, because of the fighting in Bazenauer,” Winters said bluntly, “the Hongchuan side is also hostile towards us.”

"Although the Hed Wasteland route is roundabout, it can reliably deliver letters. As long as Colonel Gaspar can return to Rainbow River safely, we will have a communication channel within Blue Rose."

"This will make any subsequent actions much easier."

"What good is having someone to relay the message?" Gesa said bluntly. "You still can't cross the river, can you?"

“Yes,” Winters nodded, “we still need a ship.”

“The boat,” Gaisar paused, “can only be relied on by people from your hometown.”

Winters did not explain that he and Veneta were not actually subordinate to each other, not because explaining would be meaningless, but because in this situation, explaining would seem like an excuse.

He simply nodded. "I'll figure something out."

Gaisa hummed in agreement, stroking his scarred half-face. Then, his tone shifted, his gaze sharp, "So, what brings you to Kings' Castle?"

[This chapter and the previous chapter were originally one chapter. I finished writing it during my lunch break, so I decided to publish it now.]
[I apologize that this part of the story wasn't written well enough, as there were many things that weren't explained clearly.]
Winters originally intended to use the pretext of escorting prisoners of war to go directly to Jiangbei Province, mainly to survey the route, establish contact, and pave the way for subsequent operations—in other words, to scout the way.
The biggest problem in the newly reclaimed lands is that they are completely ignorant of the situation in Jiangbei Province. They don't even know if Hongchuan knows that Gaisa attacked Bazenaul. Although Gaspar sent a communication ship back to report the news, no one knows whether the ship has even reached Jiangbei.
[The newly reclaimed land authorities are also unaware of Hongchuan's attitude towards "Rebuilding the Nation."]
[However, the two do share a common enemy and have a need to band together for mutual support, so an alliance is possible.]
[The author did indeed consider having Winters lead a detachment, bypassing the Great Wilderness, to support Hongchuan.]
[However, considering the distance, season, and the troop strength available for the newly reclaimed land, this idea was ultimately rejected; at least at this point in time, it was too difficult.]
[Once the text is written, how it is interpreted should be the reader's right, and I shouldn't have gone on so much. However, I've been in a bad state lately, and there are many things I haven't been able to explain clearly, so I have to explain this to everyone here. I apologize again.]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments. Thank you everyone!]
(End of this chapter)