Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 111 Broken City
“My lord… is just ahead.” The Tanilian soldier, forced to lead the way, stumbled forward, trembling as he clutched the wound on his head.

The man behind him filled him with primal fear. This veteran of Taniriia had never seen such a ferocious warrior—charging into the crowd under gunfire and hacking an entire squad of musketeers to death.

The surrendered soldier's legs were trembling uncontrollably, and fear made him involuntarily turn around to peek.

Seeing these subtle actions, Winters, in a fit of rage, slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of the surrendered soldier's head.

The surrendered soldiers were beaten and fell into the mud and water. They got up without delay and walked forward while choking back sobs and prayers.

Undeterred, the Venetians blasted open the crater at the summit of the volcano, unleashing a torrent of water that poured down the original riverbed and flooded the city as their first wave of attack.

After several more hours of fierce fighting, the Venetian soldiers broke through the trenches, earthen embankments, and the will of the Tanirians in one fell swoop, and the defenses of the city within a city collapsed.

The "siege within a siege" has fallen into complete chaos. Some Tanilian soldiers are still hiding in houses to resist, while the Venetta soldiers, blinded by rage, are killing anyone they see.

Winters ignored it all; he and Major Moritz got separated in the melee—but it didn't matter, because he only needed one person.

“This is it, sir.” The surrendered soldier pointed tremblingly to the old residence of the Earl of Chiliu Island, not daring to turn his head. Then, he heard the sound of weapons being drawn. The soldier instinctively closed his eyes.

"roll!"

The surrendered soldiers of Taniriia felt as if they had been granted a pardon and fled in a panic.

Winters slammed open the tower's wooden door and roared the name: "William Kidd!"

The last few Union guards in the tower rushed down the stairs, only to be killed one by one by Winters with a single slash. With each kill, he roared, "William Kidd!"

The roars echoed through the tower like a deadly curse. The last guard, terrified by the deathly Winters, threw down his weapon and jumped out of the window to flee in panic.

At the very top of the tower, he found William Kidd.

William Kidd sat in his chair, seemingly unsurprised by the moment.

Compared to the spirited captain he had met when they first met, William Kidd now looked completely worn out: his temples and cheeks were deeply sunken, his eyes were tired and haggard, his shoulders had become as thin as leaves, and his once broad wrists were now just bones.

Even though it was just a thin layer of skin, Winters recognized the face; he was certain it was William Kidd.

“Heh, Venetta, you’ve won… for now.” William Kidd, sitting in his chair, remained unusually calm. “Kill me and go collect your reward.”

But the next moment, Winters lifted him off the chair and threw him to the ground.

Kidd groaned in pain as a furious Winters, stomping on William Kidd's chest, gritted his teeth and asked, "You think I care about that shit?"

After saying that, he punched William Kidd hard in the face twice.

William Kidd was beaten until his mouth was full of blood, his nose was broken, and red liquid kept flowing out of his nostrils.

“I’ll only ask you one thing,” Winters gasped, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and pressed the tip of his knife against William Kidd’s neck, asking menacingly, “Where is your wizard?”

“Hahahaha…” Upon hearing Winters’ words, William Kidd let out a chilling laugh, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke.

He laughed so hard that he choked on the blood in his mouth.

He coughed, his face flushed, his features turning a sickly red: "You...you know nothing...right...hahahahaha..."

Winters didn't waste any words with him, and with a swift movement, chopped off William Kidd's right index finger: "Where is your wizard?"

"Ah!!!!!!!!!" A piercing, bone-crushing pain shot through William Kidd's hand as he screamed and tried to cover his wound, but Winters pinned his arm down, causing him to writhe in agony.

Where is your wizard?

This time, William Kidd's middle finger separated from his right hand.

William Kidd curled up from the violent spasms, unable to even let out a complete scream; only broken, low, raspy sounds escaped his throat.

Where is your wizard?

William Kidd lost another finger, and his consciousness began to fade.

"Where is your wizard?" Winters kept repeating the same question: "Where is your wizard?"

……

Where is your wizard?

Major Moritz, who led the other surviving spellcasters to the tower, was shocked by what he saw.

"Winters! What are you doing?!" Moritz rushed over and dragged Winters away from the already dazed William Kidd. "Calm down!"

"Let me go!" Winters struggled and roared like a maddened brown bear: "William Kidd knows who that magician is! He knows! He knows everything! Let me go! XXX, let me go!"

"Lelo! Joshua! Take William Kidd away!" Moritz and Pisani couldn't hold Winters down even together, so they immediately ordered the others to take William Kidd away: "Get him to stop the bleeding quickly, Major General Serbiati specifically requested him alive!"

William Kidd was quickly carried off the tower, with the major and Pizarro holding onto Winters tightly to prevent him from following.

“I’m more heartbroken than you are by Field’s death!” Moritz pressed his forehead against Winters’s. “But people always die in war! Do you understand? Field doesn’t need you to avenge him! Do you understand?”

After an unknown amount of time, Winters recovered from his rage. He suddenly felt extremely tired, as if all his strength had been drained away, and the sword in his hand fell to the ground.

Moritz breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Winters was no longer out of control.

Seeing Winters' armor and clothes covered in blood, the major quickly ordered Lieutenant Pizarro and another lieutenant to "escort" Winters to the army medic to treat his wounds.

Looking at the dark red bloodstains on the tower floor, Lieutenant Kirk said to the Major with lingering fear, "This kid... when he goes berserk, he's like a completely different person compared to his usual self! It's like... like a completely different soul inside his body..."

Moritz watched Winters's retreating figure as he walked towards the camp from the tower, and sighed.

……

Outside the officers' medical station, Winters said to the two second lieutenants who were "escorting" him, "You two don't need to follow me anymore. Don't worry, I won't go looking for William Kidd."

Pizarro looked at Winters for a while, and seeing that Winters really seemed to have returned to normal, he nodded slightly: "Alright, come find me if you need help."

Winters nodded and went into the clinic.

The army doctor, Kane, was nearly frightened by Winters' appearance. Kane's assistant helped Winters remove his breastplate, which had two horrifying dents on the front.

Dr. Kane pointed to the two dents and asked Winters, "How did this happen?"

“It was fired from a musket,” Winters replied, recalling the fierce battle. “It was probably too far away to penetrate.”

"Take off your clothes, let me check you out."

"It didn't penetrate, and the breastplate wasn't close to my body, so I'm fine." "It's not as simple as you think. Just because the musket didn't penetrate your breastplate doesn't mean you're not injured." Kane insisted, "Take off your clothes, and I'll check you out."

“Mr. Kane,” Winters said wearily, “would you please treat my left arm first?”

"Your left arm?" Kane looked at Winters' left sleeve, which was covered in mud and blood. "What happened?"

"I was hit by an arrow while crossing the trench," Winters replied casually.

"Where are the arrows?!" Kane exclaimed in surprise.

"I pulled it out myself."

Kane roared angrily, "Mr. Montagne! Are you out of your mind?!"

“I’m not dead, am I?” Winters chuckled. “Just wash my wound and stitch it up.”

As he spoke, Winters began to remove his military uniform.

"Don't move!" Kane yelled. "Don't move! I'm going to cut it open with scissors! Whatever you do, don't move!"

Dr. Kane went to get the scissors, and Winters suddenly felt as if his internal organs were churning, his throat felt dry, and then a tremendous force pushed up from deep within his chest.

Winters, supporting Kane's assistant, involuntarily gagged. The violent gagging made him feel as if his internal organs had shifted, yet he couldn't vomit anything.

Kane strode back to Winters and quickly cut open Winters' uniform.

At the locations corresponding to the two bullet wounds on his breastplate, bruises bloomed like two purple flowers on Winters' chest.

……

“I still don’t understand why Tacheng was destined to fall.” Antonio sat next to the dying William Kidd, speaking as if chatting with an old friend: “Knowing defeat was inevitable, why wouldn’t you surrender?”

"And what about you?" William Kidd, lying immobile in bed, managed to utter the words with difficulty: "If... you were me... would you surrender?"

Antonio remained silent.

“If I were to… surrender,” William Kidd managed a forced smile, “wouldn’t that make you think… the archipelago is deserted…”

"Do you have anything else to say?" Antonio stood up.

William Kidd retorted defiantly, "Do you have... anything else to ask?"

After leaving the room where William Kidd was being held, Major Moritz was waiting for Antonio outside.

"Have you found the Tanilian magician?" António asked directly.

“I’m sorry, Commander, no.” Major Moritz shook his head: “The prisoners came from too many different backgrounds, making it almost impossible to identify them effectively. General Layton said that we should just kill them all.”

“This is the last resort. Alright, leave this to me and Layton; you don’t need to worry about it.” Antonio and Moritz walked side by side toward the command post, with Antonio praising, “You and your spellcaster squad did a great job. Layton and I will recommend you for commendation. What do you think about making these spellcaster squads a permanent unit?”

“It’s difficult to achieve.” Moritz shook his head. “General, the spellcasters in the army are all officers. What officer would want to be used as a soldier? There is actually a conflict between the roles of spellcaster and commander. Officers don’t need strong individual combat power, while the role of spellcasters is hampered by their command functions. Perhaps… the Empire’s approach of using court mages is the right one…”

……

……

Fifteen days after Vineta's army captured Tasmania.

The door to Anna's studio at Navarre Estate was suddenly pushed open, and Elizabeth burst in.

"What's wrong with you?" Anna shifted her gaze slightly away from the canvas.

Elizabeth Serbiatti, holding Anna tightly, gasped, "I... my brother's back!"

With a clatter, Anna dropped the palette knife from her hand to the ground.

"What does his return have to do with me?" Anna asked guiltily as she bent down to pick up the scraper and absentmindedly fiddled with the paint bottle.

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Then why are you blushing?"

"Nonsense! Where am I blushing?" Anna angrily threw down her palette knife and covered her cheeks.

"Alright then, I'm off!" Elizabeth said, getting up to leave.

"Wait, don't go!" Anna tugged at Elizabeth's sleeve.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked with a mischievous grin.

“Don’t go, Ella.” Anna asked, blushing, “Where is Mr. Montagne now? Has he gone home yet?”

"No, he went back to Hailan to report to the Army Headquarters first, and he will go home after he finishes there."

……

After leaving Army Headquarters, Winters said goodbye to the others and headed straight home.

Having grown accustomed to the stench of sulfur, fish, and gunpowder from the siege, Winters felt a profound sense of unease upon returning to the bustling, busy city of Hailan, as if he were an outsider from another world. Everything before him seemed normal, yet also strangely abnormal.

A black carriage stopped in front of the house, and Winters saw Ella's smiling face through the window. Elizabeth waved to Winters, gesturing for him to get in.

It wasn't until he opened the car door that Winters discovered there was another person in the carriage—Anna was there too.

Before Winters could react, Elizabeth had already jumped off the carriage and pushed him inside. After saying, "I won't bother you any longer," she quickly ran into the house.

Anna was startled, and by the time she came to her senses, she and Monsieur Montagne were the only two left in the carriage.

Remembering the brief reply, Anna steadied herself—the letter still saddened her to this day. She retrieved the ceremonial sword Winters had given her from a hidden compartment behind her, convincing herself that her reason for seeing Winters was "to return the sword to that wicked man."

But as she gripped the sword, ready to utter the most heartless and hurtful words, she was surprised to find that the wicked creature in front of her was staring at her intently, its eyes red-rimmed, and clear liquid slowly streaming down its face.

Is he...crying?
Anna panicked instantly, and the words of revenge she had spent countless sleepless nights devising for this wicked thing were completely forgotten in an instant.

She awkwardly reached out to wipe away his tears and instinctively pulled him into her arms.

Winters leaned on Anna's shoulder, sobbing softly. Anna didn't know what he had been through or why he was so sad; she simply stroked Winters' hair gently, over and over again.

Thank you to all the readers who voted for this book before, especially the readers Yunzhongyue1981, Heise Computer Accessories, I don't know what to call them, Zhengyi Chunjie is Koala, Tianshui Youjiaren, Ni de Shenghuo Li Duozuo, and Tianjingtou. Thank you everyone.

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(End of this chapter)