Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 148 The Parachuted-In Boss

It's already late December, and the comfortable and cool autumn has passed. Now, even wearing two layers of clothes doesn't feel warm.

Located in a low-latitude region, Palatour only freezes during the coldest days of the year, but you can occasionally see frost on the ground in the morning.

Outside Twin Bridges, in a corner of the army camp, Bell sat in front of a campfire, lost in thought.

The wood crackled and popped as it burned, and the wind occasionally blew away the outer flames, but the fire still stubbornly emitted light and heat.

On a damp and cold winter day, this little flame is the only thing that can bring warmth.

Beside the campfire was a military tent, and Berian came out of the tent carrying an iron pot.

Seeing the blacksmith approach, Bell poked the fire with a stick until it burned brighter. Bellion placed the pot on the fire and then turned back into the tent.

Beside the tent, Anglu was humming an off-key tune as he happily brushed the mane of a reddish-brown horse.

"Lieutenant, you don't even ride the Rerik normally, why are you cleaning it so diligently?" Bell picked up a pebble and threw it at the stable boy: "If you have so much free time, why don't you come and help the blacksmith and me get some food!"

Anglu paid no heed and continued bustling around his warhorse. The red mane snored contentedly, accompanied by the rustling of the brush.

The horse herder only had eyes for the horses and completely ignored everyone else.

However, another person by the fire crawled out from under the blanket.

"Is it ready?" Pierre, half-asleep, stretched and asked wearily, "I think I heard there was food?"

“There is food, but it will be an hour from now,” Bell said, leaning on his fire poker. “If you two would help us out, we could eat sooner.”

“Okay.” Pierre burrowed into the blanket. “Call me in an hour.”

"Slacker."

"Let the stable boy help you; I was on night watch last night."

"Why don't you go back to your tent and sleep? Don't get in the way here."

“It’s colder inside the tent than outside, where there’s sun and fire.” Pierre’s consciousness began to fade: “I’m not like you, able to hug a lion for warmth.”

Bell was speechless.

……

The young hunter might be able to fool others, but he couldn't fool his comrades who shared a pot and a tent.

News travels fast in the military camp, and the militia of the Wolf Town Hundred-Man Squad now all know that the lieutenant has a pet.

However, most people thought it was a rare hunting dog, and only Pierre and a few others knew that it was a lion.

Berlione, Pierre, Anglou, and Bale were all in Vahica's ten-man squad, which consisted of Dussacs except for the blacksmith.

Because he often had to take the lion cubs out to roam in secluded areas, the little hunter's secret was quickly discovered by the other members of the ten-man team.

Although everyone was shocked when they first learned of this, they all ultimately chose to keep it from Bell.

Firstly, it's because of the bond between "tent brothers," and secondly, the lion cub is currently about the size of a large dog, still in the cute rather than scary stage.

Because they shared the same secret, the group became even closer.

Of course, there was another potential reason: the lion cubs were being kept in officers' tents, and the person behind this was clearly Centurion Montagne; nobody wanted to cause trouble for their superior.

Winters had his reasons for grouping the group together.

[Note: Because a team of ten people shares one tent, it is also called a "team" or "tent".]
Pierre and the young stable boy were the hunter's best friends, while Vahika and the other three Dussacs were Pierre's friends as well. As for Berlienne, the blacksmith was usually taciturn and the least likely person to leak secrets.

Those who knew the inside story kept silent, while others spread rumors, and the news eventually became "the lieutenant kept a dog."

……

After Anglu finished grooming the red mane, he brought out the Strong Luck Brush.

The young horseman couldn't bear to keep his two fine horses in the camp's stables, so he built a stable next to the camp.

The water in the pot had boiled, and Berrian took out wheat flour, meat, and a few wild vegetables from the tent to start making noodle soup.

The sun is at its highest point; it's the warmest time of day in winter.

The other soldiers and laborers in the camp were also busy preparing food while the sun was shining.

Hunter Bell occasionally brings back rabbits and pheasants from the forest, and blacksmith Berion is an excellent cook, so the food for the Vahika 10 is quite good.

The food for the others varied greatly, depending largely on the skill of the soldier in charge of cooking.

……

The Shuangqiao camp was divided into sections by hundred-man squads. The tents of the ten-man squad of Vahika were surrounded by the tents of the Wolf Town people. Next to the Wolf Town people were the Blackwater Town people, and then the Saint K Town people.

The auxiliary soldiers from various secondary towns in the newly reclaimed land province set up camp on the open ground on the east wing of the military camp. They are now nominally subordinate to the First Auxiliary Army Corps of the newly reclaimed land.

Most of the wooden houses on the west wing of the camp were empty; that area was the regular army's barracks.

Although there aren't many regular soldiers in the camp now, auxiliary soldiers aren't allowed to live in prefab houses and can only sleep in tents.

In the center of the camp, in the most heavily guarded area, piles of military equipment and provisions were stacked up like mountains.

Shuangqiao Camp, located right next to the border, is the largest supply depot of the Palatine Army.

A network of roads, like blood vessels, brought war supplies from every city, town, and village of the Republic to this place.

All supply trains transporting supplies to the troops at the front had to depart from Shuangqiao Camp.

The Wolf Town 100-man team is currently stationed at Shuangqiao Camp, responsible for loading and unloading operations.

……

Boiling water, wheat flour, vegetables, meat, and a sprinkle of salt and spices are cooked into a pot of fragrant noodle soup.

Smelling the aroma, Pierre got up, and Anglou led Qiangyun back to the stable.

Belle, Berrian, Pierre, and Anglou sat around the fire. As always, Berrian served the others first.

Pierre rummaged through his bag and pulled out a wooden bowl, wiped it casually with his clothes, and handed it to the blacksmith.

Mr. Little Cher looked around sleepily, yawned, and asked, "Where are the other four?"

"I went to play," the blacksmith replied succinctly.

"Aren't you coming back yet?"

"I just went there this morning."

Berlienne handed Pierre the bowl of noodle soup, and Pierre took the bowl and stared blankly at the fire.

After a while, he lamented, "They call us militia, but what's the difference between us and laborers?"

“Of course there’s a difference. The laborers get paid, but you don’t,” Bell said without looking up.

Anglu, sitting next to him, was slurping his noodle soup loudly.

……

On October 27, 558 of the Imperial Calendar, Montagne's Hundred Men arrived in Maplestone.

After receiving their weapons at the garrison camp, the hundred-man unit immediately headed to Holsenburg to escort supplies. In addition to weapons, the corps also assigned twice the number of laborers to the hundred-man unit.

Girard, who was experienced in conscription, was right. They were called militia, but in reality they were just armed laborers.

Lieutenant Winters Montagne nominally had eighty militiamen and one hundred and sixty laborers under his command, but in reality, he had two hundred and forty laborers.

For the next two months, Winters led his men on a whirlwind tour of the Republic of Palatour, escorting, loading and unloading, building camps, and repairing roads...

The Kingdom of Galloping Horses has already clashed with the tribes of Hed, but this has basically nothing to do with the Wolf Town Hundred-Man Team.

In mid-October, when Palatine's Fifth and Sixth Legions crossed the border river, Wolf Town had not yet begun conscription.

As the follow-up troops advanced toward the territory of the Herd tribes, the Wolf Town Hundred-Man Corps was driving carts along country roads.

For the people of Wolftown, "war" was nothing more than hard physical labor, victories loudly proclaimed in the streets, and news occasionally heard from other soldiers.

Pierre and the other young Dussacs sighed and lamented. To them, war was originally just a saber hanging on the wall, an adventure story told by their fathers, and the boasting of their uncles and elders when they were drunk.

They all still harbored dreams of achieving great things and displaying heroic spirit. But now, after two months on the job, they've only done two months of manual labor.

Winters was satisfied that he didn't have to risk participating in combat. He also unexpectedly reunited with many of his classmates at military camps such as Maple Rock Camp and Twin Bridge Camp.

Previously, Lieutenant Vineta was scattered throughout Palatine, making it difficult to meet. Now, with the army conscripting militia from various regions, everyone has the opportunity to leave their posts and occasionally bump into each other on the road or in military camps.

The months that Lieutenant Vineta and his men spent in Palatour were tough, and they had so much to talk about.

After inquiring, Winters received bad news: Lieutenant Veneta had not seen Gold, nor had he received the gold coins he had asked Gold to deliver.

Did the pirate captain embezzle the money out of greed?
Impossible. If that were the case, Charles would never have made it to Wolf Town alive. The only possibility is that something happened to Gold.

With no other options, Winters had no choice but to write to Girard for help, hoping that Girard could use his connections with Major Ronald at the county garrison to inquire about the matter, but he has not yet received a reply.

By mid-December, the requisition of supplies within the Kingdom of Galloping Horses had come to an end.

Mountains of grain, weapons, and ammunition were stored in the Shuangqiao camp. The Palatine army was not short of supplies, but lacked the ability to transport them to the front lines.

Therefore, starting from mid-December, auxiliary troops from various places began to concentrate at Shuangqiao Camp.

Montagne's 100 men had been at the Twin Bridges camp for over a week.

……

Frustrated as I am, I still have to eat.

The four of them finished off the entire pot of noodle soup.

Anglu scraped the bottom of the pot with a spoon, clicking his tongue in praise: "Blacksmith, how come your food is so delicious?"

Berlion smiled but didn't say anything.

Pierre let out a burp and casually asked, "Are you on duty this afternoon?"

"No, today it's the turn of the people from Little Stone Town."

"Shall we play dice for a bit?"

“I can’t,” Anglu replied between bites. “I’m taking Rerik out for a run this afternoon.”

“And what about you?” Pierre asked the hunter.

Bell shook his head: "I have things to do too."

Pierre then looked at the blacksmith, who didn't even need to be asked.

Mr. Little Cher burrowed back into the blanket: "Then I'll just go to sleep."

As the group was chatting, a man carrying a military knife in his left hand and a bag on his right shoulder walked into the Wolf Town camp.

The man stopped a Wolf Town militiaman and casually asked, "Is this the Montagne Hundred?"

Within the military, unit designations are rarely used; it's customary to refer to a unit by the commander's name. Examples include the Montagne Hundred and the Comtaire Battalion. However, militia members prefer to be referred to simply as people from a particular town.

The Wolf Town militiamen who were stopped paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Where are the Badr 100 and Cellini 100 teams?

The Wolf Town militiamen, completely bewildered, asked, "What 'Bard Hundred' and 'Cellini Hundred'?"

“He was asking about the people of Saint-Claude and Blackwater.” Pierre, having overheard the conversation, crawled out of the blanket: “Over there, over there are Lieutenant Cellini’s men, and over there are Lieutenant Bard’s men.”

Pierre casually pointed, and his gaze was involuntarily drawn to the man in front of him.

This was a tall, strong man dressed in an old cavalry uniform. His jawline was obscured by a thick beard, and his high-bridged nose divided his features in two.

Anyone would never forget this face, because a black eye patch covered the man's left eye—he was a one-eyed man.

But when he looks at someone with his only remaining right eye, the sense of oppression is even stronger than when other people's two eyes are combined.

"Where is Lieutenant Montagne now?"

“It should be in the officers’ quarters.” Pierre asked as politely as possible, “May I ask who you are?”

The one-eyed man did not answer, but coldly said, "Summon Lieutenant Montagne, Lieutenant Cellini, and Lieutenant Bader to see me."

"May I ask who you are?" Pierre asked again, forcing himself to be brave.

“I am John Jessica.” The one-eyed man seemed to smile, throwing his bag to the ground. He stared intently at Pierre and said, “I am your lieutenant colonel battalion commander.”

……

When Pierre found Winters, the three centurions were having lunch with Father Carmen and Brother Reid.

Upon hearing that someone claimed to be Lieutenant Colonel Jessica, Winters, Andre, and Bud dropped their cutlery and headed for the Wolf Town camp.

Although the auxiliary legion is an auxiliary legion, it has a complete organizational structure, with a battalion command level between the legion and the hundred-man squad.

The Montagne Hundred-Man Regiment was nominally the First Auxiliary Corps, Third Battalion, and Hundred-Man Regiment of the New Reclamation Province, while Andrei and Bader commanded the Second and Third Hundred-Man Regiments.

The entire Third Battalion currently consists of only three 100-man squads, which is considered half-strength.

Previous missions were carried out in units of 100 men, so there were no battalion commanders. Winters received orders directly from the Paratul Army Logistics Department.

It wasn't until yesterday that Winters and his team were informed that Lieutenant Colonel Jan Jessica had been appointed commander of the Third Battalion and would be taking up his post soon.

The group had just been chatting at the dinner table, speculating about the captain's origins, when they were surprised to find that "Lieutenant Colonel Jessica" had arrived so quickly.

The three centurions had just arrived at the Wolf Town Centurion Camp when they learned that the lieutenant colonel had already gone to the legion headquarters. The three centurions, who had just jogged all the way from the officers' quarters in the center of the camp, had no choice but to turn back.

Finally, they met the one-eyed lieutenant colonel at the Legion Archives.

The one-eyed lieutenant colonel stood before the desk of Colonel Karl Heinrich Angus, the head of the archives department, with a military knife and a backpack on the colonel's desk.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica himself was looking at a file with his only remaining right eye.

Upon seeing the three lieutenants knock and enter the room, Colonel Angus made an excuse to leave, leaving Jessica and his three subordinates alone.

"You three," the one-eyed colonel leaned against his desk, asking in an unfriendly tone, "how did you end up commanding the militia?"

Thank you to all the readers who voted for the book before;
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Thank you to the following readers for their recommendation votes: Moonlit Edge, Yellow Rabbit from the Flower Country, Walking on the Road in the Dusk, Yellow Rabbit from the Flower Country, Stone from Last Night, Kunkun, I Don't Know What to Call It, Calm Gray, Sky Lens, Reader 20191007064305842, Soda Bird, Reader 120325172509365, Jiang Xue Diao Weng, and Wu Jiu Shi Xiao Gao. Thank you all.

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(End of this chapter)