Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

```

Several booming sounds rumbled, the wooden walls shaking violently.

As the gunpowder smoke dissipated, the gate still stood in place.

Tang Juan stepped forward and with a kick, the ruined gate, its fastenings destroyed, crashed down.

Cheers erupted from outside the city, shaking the heavens and earth.

No one knew the weaknesses in Revodan's defenses better than Mason and Bard, for they had been the ones to build them.

"String up every rapist and plunderer! Don't you fucking get any funny ideas! Follow your own unit's flag! The standard-bearers know where to go! Don't bother with the fleeing enemy, just beat those who dare to resist!" Tang Juan roared orders to his soldiers, "Attack!"

"Uukhai! Uukhai!"

The soldiers shouted in unison.

Mason and Andre's hundred-man squads poured through the gate, dividing into left and right flanks to climb the city and pounce on the bewildered foes.

The strongest troop—Winters' "Arrow"—was held in reserve by Tang Juan.

Bard's hundred-man squad was merely on standby at the gate, not engaged in the battle.

Across the river, numerous carts waited without having crossed the bridge yet.

Winters gambled it all, deploying every bit of his available strength.

The militia from Wolf Town and three hundred-man squads earned from Revodan all came to attack Revodan.

Bard and Mason's troops never went to Wolf Town at all.

The moment they were out of sight from Revodan, the two led their forces by a shortcut back to Saint Town, joining the allies waiting there.

Winters emphasized his title as the "Protector of the Five Towns" with the intention of misleading the Revodan officers.

His real title was "Captain of the First Republic, Garrison Officer of Wolf Town, and Protector of the Seven Towns".

The Legion's brutality and extortion had led to widespread resentment. Saint Town and King's Bridge Town had long sworn fealty to Winters—to be precise, they had struck a deal.

After combining forces, the troops had been hiding in Saint Town's Oak Manor.

While keeping an eye on Revodan's movements, Tang Juan led the training and began preparing for the siege.

The only ones who actually went to Wolf Town were Bard, Mason, and a handful of people.

Pierre did not have the ability to command three hundred soldiers, and even the masked man B [Moritz] couldn't.

Except for the four including Winters, only Tang Juan could command hundreds of soldiers with such composure.

At this moment, Tang Juan was on the city wall, his brow tightly furrowed as he observed the battle. Lieutenants Pierre and Colonel Moritz were beside him.

Pierre was just as somber.

Moritz, on the other hand, was much more relaxed than the others, casually leaning against the parapet, smacking his lips non-stop.

"Major Ronald has defected! We are from the New Reclamation Legion! We've come to quell the rebellion!" The soldiers shouted to anyone they encountered: "Surrender and you won't be killed!"

Like this, many Revodan guards confusedly laid down their weapons.

Each hundred-man squad had dedicated personnel assigned to disarm, bind, and secure prisoners.

The city walls were swiftly cleared.

"Good!" Tang Juan clapped his hands sharply, "Sound the horn! Surround the military camp!"

The piercing military horn echoed through Revodan.

The various units within the city changed direction, rushing together toward the barracks of the defending forces.

...

Wolf Town.

Daylight had long broken.

"Major, I've scoured every corner of the village to the northwest," Captain Apel reported breathlessly, "Everyone's gone! The houses are all empty! All that's left are some unharvested crops in the fields."

The expression on Major Ronald's face grew even more somber.

Another Centurion, Lieutenant Adam, rode up on horseback with a person tied on the back.

"Major! This was the only person I found in the southern village, skulking in a cellar, so I brought him in," he reported.

"Put him down!" Ronald's spirits lifted.

The bound man was pushed off the horse, landing heavily on the ground, struggling to stand up.

Ronald looked closely, seeing before him a seemingly honest and straightforward farmer.

The man's face and neck were burnt dark by the biting sun. He did not seem old, but premature ageing had taken its toll.

"What's your name?" Ronald asked as kindly as possible.

The farmer did not dare to make eye contact, murmuring in reply, "Koschmar."

"Married?"

"Yes."

"Any children?"

"Had one, died young."

"Why did you stay in the village?" the major cajoled gently.

"There's... there's still wheat to be harvested in the fields..."

"Where did everyone from your village go?"

Koschmar's throat worked with difficulty, "Lord Montagne said bandits were coming to kill us. He told us to hide in the forest. To come back only when he said so. He had us practice it a few times..."

Adam instantly slapped the farmer, "Quit your bullshit! Who are you calling bandits? Winters Montagne is the real bandit!"

Adam's reaction was so swift, Major Ronald didn't have time to stop him.

Koschmar staggered from the blow, clutching his face, letting out the repressed anger, "I don't know who's the bandit! But that lord has been in Wolf Town for over a year and never once beat me!"

"You fucking asking for death?" Adam unsheathed his sword.

Koschmar backed away in fear.

He hung his head—not daring to look at the Centurion, yet he still spat out a mouthful of blood-stained saliva.

"Put it away!" Ronald glared fiercely at his subordinate.

Adam, with a grim face, sheathed his sword.

"Keep searching! Keep looking! Keep interrogating!" Major Ronald ordered, "I refuse to believe that everyone would just follow him!"

...

Revodan.

Dawn was breaking.

Samuskin led his "Arrow" as the first to burst into the Revodan military camp.

He froze in place after kicking open the gate.

The modest drill ground was teeming with several hundred soldiers in a state of panic, many not even fully dressed.

```