CH 38

Chapter 38 – Reunion

Before dawn, as we slept near the city walls with the patrol in a battle-ready position, we were awakened by the sound of explosions coming from the plain side. The patrol immediately informed us of the situation. Someone had moved the bodies of the kingdom soldiers that had fallen in the vicinity of the machine gun emplacement.

The machine gun emplacement was now empty. The old dwarves have been sent to a place protected by the city walls to rest and maintain their guns in preparation for the next battle. During their absence, I had set up a few grenade traps, mainly to protect the gun emplacements from ambushers and saboteurs. And one of the traps had exploded.

Looking down from the edge of the city wall, I saw three soldiers who had infiltrated the gun emplacement stagger and fall down.

One of them writhed in pain as he was hit by the splinters, while the other stumbled over him and fell down, screaming curse words at the subhumans. One of them started to limp back to his position, but suddenly crouched down, fell forward, and stopped moving.

The hand-made explosives I had procured from Simon were mainly the kind that could blow up military vehicles, which in this world would have the tremendous destructive power of the level of strategic attack magic, but the grenades were for ordinary anti-personnel use.

For some reason, the stock was low in the market (I don’t know if this is true or not. Maybe they were stocking up), so all I got was very old ones. The oval and pineapple-shaped ones were better, and some of them even had wooden handles. I didn’t expect them to be nearly a century old. Of course, there was a possibility that there were some duds mixed in, so the price was almost the same as the IEDs. The low price was fine, but the risk of it not detonating on time made me stop using it in combat. A delayed detonation is scary, but an outburst would be fatal. So, it’s all for traps.

“Four light infantrymen from the enemy camp are coming to rescue them.”

The beastman soldier in charge of surveillance tells me.

I let out a small breath and gestured for the beastman shooters to remain silent. Everyone nodded and paid attention to my actions.

The kingdom’s soldiers, dressed in armor and leather armor, would not be killed easily by the grenades’ splinters. But it has cruel consequences for them. They were screaming, groaning, and calling for help. And these four brave soldiers approach to rescue their comrades-in-arms.

I pulled out the M1903 I had reserved for myself from my storage. I had some practice with the scoped bolt-action rifle with the beastman. It was for an emergency. And now it was probably the time for it.

I shoot a thirty-ought-six in the leg of a soldier who is desperately trying to carry his wounded comrade back to their camp.

The soldier who had been shot rolls over and screams. The three remaining soldiers, who were unharmed, had probably sensed the situation and were hiding in the surrounding protection, looking for an opportunity to escape. I lowered my rifle. But in the end, they escaped and went to report to their own camp. Sooner or later, they will tell the kingdom’s army about this sniper.

Those who approach in hiding will be hurt, and those who come to their aid will be targeted.

Eventually, the kingdom’s army will come back with a violent assault, relying on their numbers. When that happens, we will have no choice but to use all of our strength to subdue them with bullets, explosions, snipers, and assassinations.

But first, we must do all we can. We will take away the will to fight from the kingdom’s soldiers. We will remind them that their lives are in our hands and that we can kill them at any time, from anywhere. The fear of not being able to escape certain death, the sense of helplessness of not being able to save their wounded and crying friends. I want to instill that in their minds.

And for that, I’m going to…

“No, Yoshua…”

“I’m sorry, Myrril. And also everyone else. I will accept any and all accusations and abuses. But only when this war is over. Until then, I don’t want anyone in Casemaian to get hurt. I won’t show mercy to the enemy. I will use every dirty trick in my book.”

“I know, and no one is going to blame you. What I want is…”

“That’s right, Yoshua. You should not carry this burden all by yourself.”

When I turned around, Myrril and the beastman shooters were looking at me with troubled smiles on their faces.

“You consider us to be your friends, don’t you? If the subhumans are important to you, you’ll understand, right? That we care about you, too.”

“…Oh-oh.”

“We’ve made up our minds. Have faith in us.”

“…Okay. I’ll check again. We will be sniping at soldiers moving in unison. The first target, the commander. The second target, those with the most weapons and baggage. Only one of those groups will be taken down. Try not to kill them if possible. We’ll cripple them and slow them down!”

“”””Yes!””””

The effect was immediate. Small units of troops lost their functions, and many of them retreated, dispersed, or fled.

This was especially true of the small units that had been grouped together in cloaks of the same color, which seemed to be the noble armies of the weaker territories that had been assembled under the orders of the kingdom’s army. When they lost their commander, they immediately lost their will to fight and began to retreat at once. Next were the disparately dressed troops, probably mercenaries. When one of them was defeated, they began to desert the battlefield, throwing away their weapons, equipment, and wounded comrades, leaving their possessions behind.

“As expected from you, Yoshua.”

“Just to be clear, Myrril, you’re not being sarcastic, are you?”

“Of course not! I’m genuinely, sincerely impressed! I admire you for your unyielding deviousness!”

That’s terrible.

“Well, Jouchan and the others. I think it’s time for us to go back to our caves.”

“Joshua, could you give us a ride, please?”

Two dwarven machine gunners, two ammunition handlers, and two beastman as guards. They were all holding me by the shoulders with big smiles on their faces.

“Let me tell you something first. Yoshua, you’re a good guy. You’ve given us something wonderful.”

“Stop saying about places to die. If that happens, no one else will drive us and give us machine guns anymore!”

“Ha, don’t be ridiculous! You’re making a terrible misunderstanding!”

“Yeah. We’re going to win this war! We’re going to kick their asses! We’re going to beat them to a pulp and tear the kingdom’s army to pieces!”

Perun, a werewolf with an RPK on his shoulder, laughs at me.

“What’s great is the gun. We’re finally able to defend our pride now that we have this thing. And now, after yesterday’s battle, it’s our pride itself.”

“That’s right. We feel it now. It’s an irreplaceable bond, just like the love I once had for my wife.”

O-ooh.

They’re starting to sound like a certain fat guy with a smile.

When I looked away, I saw that the shooters with the M1903 rifles and the elves on the walls were nodding with satisfied smiles. Is it okay to leave this behind… Myrril-san?

“Umu. This Uzi and I are already connected. Even though I’ve only known it for a while, it’s almost as if it’s my own flesh and blood!”

“My-Myrril-san!”

It’s no good; I have to do something about these people.

The sound of flutes and drums began to echo below my quiet, shaken eyes.

Although the kingdom’s army has begun to lose soldiers at a rate faster than the teeth of a comb can fall out, they still seem unwilling to admit defeat. They lost their heavy infantry troops, had their wyvern troops destroyed, and had their local noble troops flee, but they are still steadily advancing towards Casemaian.

Both sides have come to the point where they can no longer retreat. I think the kingdom army got what they deserved, but I sympathize with the ordinary soldiers who got caught up in it.

“There they are. All soldiers, move to your positions!”

With the remaining several thousand infantrymen in tow, a mixed cavalry unit of about one thousand, with a variety of weapons, equipment, and cloak colors, moved forward.

At the front of them was a man in golden armor with a silver sword. With his back straight and his posture resolute, the man looked as if he had been reborn.

Ah, finally. You are finally coming out, huh?

I smiled. I smiled at the man in the distance.

“…Now, bring it on, kingdom hero.”