Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Winters did not take the initiative to ask either.

In Winters' view, Colonel Bod must have been struggling with confusion:

Having lost his left arm and returned to his homeland with a disabled body, he found his homeland dead; it was still disputed which of the two new republics could truly represent Parlatu; Winters Montagne was undoubtedly rebelling, yet it was because of this rebellious former subordinate that he had miraculously survived the wastelands.

All feelings and grudges were entangled, impossible to separate or make sense of.

Winters had no ability to offer solace to the colonel and could only leave him to resolve it on his own.

Winters asked the colonel to attend the meeting, and the colonel did not object. Thus, a silent one-armed middle-aged man joined the corner of the conference room.

Colonel Bod accompanied Winters like this, first taking part in a civil administration meeting, then listening to Revodan citizens' petitions, and after that inspecting the storage situation in Revodan.

Before the warehouse inspection was complete, news came from outside the city—Samukin had just arrived at the suburbs with the labor camp from Wolf Town.

Thus, Colonel Bod hurriedly left the city with Winters to hand over the "great labor camp" to Samukin.

Previously, the war prisoners from Vernge County had been disrupted and distributed to various military villages to assist with the autumn farming, also using the power of the villages to monitor the prisoners of war.

Now that the soldiers of the villages had regrouped, the prisoners could no longer stay in the villages and had to be concentrated again.

After a flurry of things were taken care of, and Winters returned to Revodan with Colonel Bod, dragging his weary body, it was already nearly dark.

The colonel had been like a shadow to Winters all day, hardly speaking, just silently observing. Many people even thought that the one-armed middle-aged man was the civil officer's attendant or guard.

But the day was not yet over; Andre and Senior Mason were waiting at the station for Winters to have a meeting.

Colonel Bod followed Winters to the meeting, while Tang Juan and Moritz did not attend—Winters did not want the colonel to know about the presence of the two Vineta officers for the time being.

Colonel Moritz was too lazy to attend meetings in the first place, and Tang Juan had already led a light cavalry into the wastelands for reconnaissance. Both always abstained from voting, so their absence did not affect decision-making.

How should the dispatched warhorses be gathered? Where should the supply depot be located? How to defend nearly three hundred kilometers of riverside? Whether to conscript militia... one issue after another was discussed and decided upon, until only one question remained: should they inform the New Reclamation Legion of the enemy situation?

"Report my ass!" scoffed Andre. "Never mind whether the legion on that side would believe us or not. If they ask us, 'How did you know about the barbarian movement?' how do we answer?

'Another group of barbarians told us.'

'Rebels colluding with barbarians! Annihilate them!'"

After playing both roles, Andre concluded, "Damn it, in the end, the legion and the barbarians will join forces to attack us."

"It's not necessarily like that," Senior Mason retorted weakly.

"Not like that?" Andre sneered. "We are rebels, and the Herders are barbarians. If the rebels fight the barbarians, the legion wins no matter who dies. Just watch!"

Getting more worked up, Andre said, "If you ask me, not only should we not inform the New Reclamation Legion, but we should also find a way to lead the barbarians towards Vernge County. Isn't Vernge County much richer than Iron Peak County? Let them fight each other! That would be perfect for distracting the legion's attention from us."

"There's no need to deliberately lead them to Vernge County; those ass-faced monkeys will go there on their own," Winters mused. "Last time, he came at us with a clenched fist and suffered a loss. This time, he will definitely spread his hand and attack from multiple points, making us worry about one thing and lose sight of another. The border of Newly Reclaimed Land is over seven hundred kilometers long... nowhere is safe."

Hearing this, Colonel Bod, who had been silently listening the whole time, suddenly spoke up with a sense of lament, "The roles in attack and defense have changed."

Winters, Andre, and Senior Mason all turned to look at the colonel.

With a bitter tone, Colonel Bod asked the young people, "Do you know why we have never touched the Terdon Tribe over these years?"

Winters shook his head. How could they, the outsiders, know the decision-making process of the Parlatu Army?

"Because they're the most honest, the most obedient," Colonel Bod said bitterly, "To maintain a balance within the Herders, we fight the north bank Herders, let the south bank Herders be. Now it's their turn to bite back at us."

...

As dark clouds hovered over the city and a storm seemed imminent, while Winters, Bart Xialing, and many others were tirelessly preparing for war, a seemingly insignificant event took place in Revodan: a man returned to his home.

Aksinya, who was soothing her children to sleep, heard someone knocking at the door.

It was already dark, only the wandering, advantage-seeking drunkards would come knocking on her door at this hour.

Aksinya thought about pretending no one was home, but the knocks continued at a steady pace.

Fearing slightly, Aksinya first hid her two children in the wardrobe, then, holding the fire tongs, cautiously moved towards the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me," a weary voice responded.

Aksinya's heart pounded fiercely, and she flung the door open. There stood her husband—Ivan.

The fire tongs fell to the ground with a bounce and then lay still.

There were no embraces, no tears, and no smiles, Aksinya just stood there quietly.

At seventeen, Aksinya had married Ivan. The previous autumn, her father had raped her, and then he was beaten to death with a cart shaft by her brother and mother.

And so, Aksinya married far off to Revodan from King's Bridge Town in silence. The day after the wedding, the newlywed husband beat his bride severely. After the children were born, the violence decreased a little, but he still couldn't forgive her for the shame he felt she had brought upon him.

During their courtship, Aksinya might have had some affection for the tall Ivan. But now, there was no love left, only a woman's pity and a numb, habitual attachment to life.

Aksinya hardly recognized the person outside the door: he was very tall, but oh so thin, like reeds that might be toppled by the wind; unconsciously hunched over, shoulders collapsed.

The person outside seemed to be her husband, and yet seemed not to be.

"I..." the person outside licked his parched lips, struggling to speak, "...did you petition the magistrate on my behalf?"

Aksinya didn't nod, nor did she shake her head, she just stood there quietly.

The man's Adam's apple worked hard to move up and down, "Thank you."

A few drops of something hot landed on the back of Aksinya's hand, tears.

The scalding tears rolled down her cheeks, and the strong Aksinya bit her hand, knelt on the floor, and wept aloud.

The man outside hugged Aksinya, swearing as if making a vow, "I... I will... I will never hit you again..."

"You've said that before," Aksinya murmured in pain. "You've said it before."

The man outside shivered all over, tears spilling from his eyes as well. He grabbed his wife's hand and placed it on the holy symbol scar on his chest.

"This is the last time I say it," he swore.