Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 482 Blood Rain

"Captain Kyle, this isn't what we agreed on. Weren't we here in the North to fight? Why are we just patrolling and repairing the railroad all day?"

The young man patted the gun on his back and complained, "The last time I pulled the trigger was at Castell's training ground. I only came here because I heard there was going to be a war!"

Kyle sighed and patted his stomach. Where there used to be only hard muscles, now it was much rounder and had a lot of excess fat.

The expedition was indeed different from what I had imagined.

When the railway reached the North, everyone was on high alert. Before, they were in the prince's territory, but now they had stepped into enemy territory.

How did those major guilds treat them? Expel them? Negotiate? Or attack them directly?
The expeditionary force was ready.

But what they never expected was that they would be ignored.

Yes, they were ignored. Since arriving in the North, there had been no attacks or probing, and it seemed that no one cared about them.

The expeditionary force did not build roads in the wilderness all the time. The railway tracks and armored trains passed through many towns, but the people there did not care because they saw that the expeditionary force had no intention of entering the cities.

The expeditionary force initially thought it was an enemy ploy to lull them into a false sense of security before launching an attack, but the scheme was far too sophisticated.

They continued repairing the road day after day, but the dukes of the North simply ignored them.

It must be admitted that the enemy's scheme has succeeded. The expeditionary force is now quite lax, and even the political commissar is having trouble boosting morale.

I really don't understand what those lords are thinking.

In fact, the three grand dukes had no idea that the expeditionary force had already repaired the railway.

Nobody reported it at all—the North had been in chaos for half a year, and all sorts of messy things had happened.

A group of people outside are repairing something? As long as they're not repairing siege equipment, let them do it. Nobody cares even if they summon an evil god.

The lords have much more important things to attend to.

The expeditionary force continued its advance day after day, becoming almost numb with fatigue.

"Captain! Something's happened!"

"Oh, go ahead and say it." Kyle looked up at the lookout post above, looking bored.

"Another pack of coyotes? Or is a wild boar stuck on the tracks?"

At the very top of the steam locomotive, the young man holding binoculars spoke with a trembling voice:
"No, this time is different, really different! There are enemies, enemies!!"

Kyle blinked, the somewhat unfamiliar word "enemy" swirling in his mind for a few moments before he finally realized it.

The next moment, he moved like an agile gorilla, grabbing and stomping, and quickly climbed to the lookout post on the roof of the vehicle. He snatched the binoculars and looked ahead.

There were a large number of soldiers, and even some cavalry, but they were too far away to see clearly.

Kyle quickly glanced at the sizes of the people on the measuring tape, took out his notebook from his pocket, tore off a piece of paper, and quickly did the calculations.

"Fifteen kilometers away."

"Captain, the scouts ahead have a report!" A sentry on horseback rushed over, his face beaming with excitement.

"Say!"

"Enemy forces spotted, approximately 17 kilometers away, numbering around 2,000, currently on the march!" A soldier handed over a piece of paper.

Kyle looked down and saw a rough outline of the personnel and their formation, along with a few simple diagrams.

"Hmm, this is... the coat of arms of the Grand Duke of Dragonfang, and these are the coat of arms of Grand Duke Alvare and Octavia. Damn it, where's my booklet?"

"Captain, are they the enemy? Are we finally going to fight?" Kyle stopped, and he grinned.

"They're the enemy! Who cares what family they're from? They're not the resistance, let's fight them first!"

Although it was Earl Bazel who delivered Nora's head, he did so under the guise of the Northern Alliance, and the other three dukes did not specifically point it out—which was perfect, as Hughes directly declared war on the entire Northern nobility.

Therefore, Kyle only needs to determine one thing: as long as it is not the resistance forces that appear, he can open fire directly!
"Notify all squads to immediately enter combat readiness. Engineers, return to the train immediately. Keep the steam engine running. Have everyone on board get off!"

Viscount Frey was very satisfied.

His recent deliberate efforts to befriend the Dragon Tooth Duke's faction have successfully provoked discontent from the other two factions.

The factions that had been growing closer together began to distrust each other again.

He is the commander of the coalition forces, and it might not necessarily be a good thing if the coalition forces really unite.

As they grew increasingly suspicious of each other, Viscount Frey, who was able to mediate between them, became all the more important, and his position as commander became more secure.

Viscount Frey was no mere brute who only knew how to fight; in terms of political acumen, he was second to none, which is why he was able to become the commander of the Allied forces.

A person who is completely incapable of fighting is nothing but a useless piece of trash, while a person who is only good at fighting is nothing but a discarded pawn. The key to mastering this balance lies in the essence of being a noble.

Ha, would that chief, who came from a commoner background, know these tricks of the trade?

Several screams seemed to come from outside.

Viscount Frey frowned. Something had happened?
No, that's impossible. He sent out scouts along the way, and they all reported back.

Even if someone manages to take down his scout, the army will become wary if they haven't received any feedback for a long time.

He's not a reckless fool; he can accomplish these things with ease.

But Viscount Frey pressed his chest; his heart seemed to be beating unusually fast today.

Viscount Frey decided to get out of the carriage and take a look himself.

The carriage came to a smooth stop, and the attendant opened the carriage door for him, pulled back the curtain, took out a footrest and placed it at the door, before turning around to help Viscount Frey.

Viscount Frey stepped down from the carriage, and in that short time, the screams grew louder, and it seemed that there were even some wails.
what happened?

Viscount Frey felt increasingly uneasy. He pushed aside his attendant and mounted his horse.

His gaze swept quickly across the surroundings. There was no large army that had suddenly appeared, nor any traps set by ambushing enemies. Although the marching formation was slightly chaotic, there was no major problem.

Everything seemed normal.

what happened?

Has Octavia's men caused trouble again? Those guys may not have any other skills, but they're first-rate at causing trouble.

Viscount Frey frowned and listened intently, discovering that the screams seemed to be coming from the soldiers ahead.

He looked ahead and saw several soldiers lying on the ground, but he didn't see any arrows on their bodies. He looked up at the sky, but no arrows were falling.

Possessed?
Suddenly, Viscount Frey felt something drip onto his face.

Is it raining? How could it be? It's still sunny, and the rain feels rather warm.

Somewhat puzzled, he reached up and touched his face, then looked at it closely and saw that his hand was covered in scarlet blood.

is blood.

(End of this chapter)