Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 17 Awakening the Sleeping Tiger (Part 2)

The military academy's walls were made of bricks and were less than 1.7 meters high to save money. Winters could climb over them without even taking a running start, so the female thief must have climbed over the wall to get in and out.

The thief has escaped, so the only way to find out what the female thief stole is to have the entire school take inventory of the items and see what's missing.

"Where are they? Damn it!" A furious shout came from outside: "Guards!"

Oh no, Winters' heart skipped a beat. He'd been so engrossed in chatting that he'd forgotten about his guard duty.

The four people hurriedly ran out of the duty room.

A high-ranking officer riding a chestnut horse dismounted swiftly and, without saying a word, swung his whip at the four guards.

"Report! North Gate Night Guard! Six men should be present! Four men are present!" Winters was inexplicably whipped, the pain was excruciating, and a surge of anger rose within him.

But a military academy is an army, and at this time, it is absolutely unacceptable to confront them head-on.

The lighting was too poor for Winters to recognize the other person, but he could tell from the details of their uniform that they were a school officer.

"Where is the officer on duty?" the officer shouted sternly.

"Report! They've gone to investigate the fire!" Winters gradually made out the other person's features.

Before him stood a face with sharp eyebrows, piercing eyes, a prominent nose, and thin lips.

This face belongs to the head of the main campus, the nominal second-in-command of the Army Academy, and the actual head of the family.

"Why didn't you report the fire?" The minister's anger remained unabated.

“Report! I! Don’t! Know!” Winters roared in response. It was both an outburst and a genuine statement that he didn’t know.

Those on duty were all junior faculty and staff. Although the Army Academy provides detached houses for officers of colonel rank and above, senior officers usually own property off-campus.

It wasn't that the short instructor on duty tonight didn't want to report it; it was just that he didn't know which leader was staying at the school tonight.

"Emergency assembly! Get everyone up! Line up on the north gate playground!" The department head stopped making things difficult for the four trainees.

"Yes!" The four men received the order and immediately ran to ring the assembly bell.

"Wait a minute!" The department head stopped Winters, who was about to leave. "What happened to your arm?"

"Report! Thief! Thief drew his knife! I repelled him!" Winters didn't waste any words and described what happened in the most concise language.

Faced with the irritable department head, he dared not say, "A thief ran out of the school, and I couldn't stop her; she escaped." So he explained it from a different angle—which wasn't exactly a lie.

"Damn it! How dare they cause trouble on Army territory?" The chief of staff was furious, his reaction mirroring that of the instructor on duty: "Come see me tomorrow and give me a detailed report."

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The assembly bell rang frantically, followed by the guards' shrill whistles. Like a sleeping wild beast, the Army Officer Academy was instantly awakened.

The quiet of the night was replaced by a cacophony of noise as the military cadets, awakened in their dormitories, jumped out of bed and hurriedly put on their clothes. They didn't have much equipment to carry, so they rushed out the door as soon as they were dressed.

Someone outside shouted, "Assemble at the North Gate playground! Assemble at the North Gate playground!" These were the night shift trainees who had received the order from the head of the department.

In this era without portable fire starters, there was simply no time to light a torch during emergency nighttime assemblies at military academies. Everything had to be done in the dark, with cadets making their way to the north gate parade ground by the faint moonlight. The crowd moved like sardines in the ocean, silently packed together, yet advancing in perfect unison, creating an eerie yet rhythmic beauty.

The military academy students, who had been rapidly pouring out of their dormitories, quickly converged on the north gate parade ground. The first soldier stood at the very front of the line, while the others quickly found their place in the ranks.

Winters then ran back to the ranks, startling Ike with the wound on his shoulder. But idle talk was forbidden in the ranks, so the two could only communicate with their eyes. Each squad began counting off and tallying their numbers from beginning to end.

The instructors came from the stables, riding around the officers' ranks. One of the spellcaster instructors brought a bunch of torches from the warehouse, lit them with a fire spell, and distributed them to the instructors.

The entire North Gate parade ground was finally illuminated by the firelight. The trainees had already formed orderly square formations, awaiting orders.

The commander, mounted on his beloved horse, watched as the Army Officer Academy cadets assembled methodically in the darkness at the forefront of the parade ground, nodding imperceptibly with a blank expression.

"The department was supposed to have 174 people, and 174 people actually attended!"

"The second-year department should have 175 students, and 173 students are present!"

"The three-year department should have 172 people! 172 people are present!"

"Reporting to the Commander! Cadet Battalion! 521 expected! 519 present! Report complete."

"Attention! Everyone!" The department head's deafening voice echoed throughout the school; he had clearly used a megaphone: "Three minutes! Grab all your tools! Head out to put out the fire! Dismissed!"

The academy's formation scattered again with a roar, and Winters hurriedly ran to the warehouse to grab tools. However, he was actually a little puzzled. So what if there was a fire? What did a fire in a residential area have to do with the Army Academy? It didn't seem like it was going to spread here.

The duty officers who had gone to investigate the fire situation returned at this time, and they quickly reported the situation to their superiors.

Upon hearing the report, the Minister immediately dispatched messengers to inform the military academy and other senior officers of the United Provinces Army Department of the situation, and at the same time sent messengers to the two infantry battalions stationed outside Guido for assistance.

The military cadets returned and stood in neat, uniform formation once again, except this time each of them had several tools in their hands.

Without further ado, the commander waved his hand, and all the cadets of the military academy formed six columns and marched along the main road toward the port area of ​​Guitu City.

"What's going on?!" Ike didn't get a chance to ask Winters until the formation had set off.

"I ran into a thief and got stabbed." Winters summarized the whole story as concisely as possible.

"What kind of thief used a knife?"

"I do not know either."

"Are you okay?"

"Flesh and skin injury".

"Shut up!" The instructor, who was patrolling on horseback beside the cadet column, sternly stopped Winters and Ike from whispering to each other. The two dared not speak again and could only follow the column in silence.

They walked through the low, dilapidated slums on the outermost edge of the city, past the ruins of the demolished old city walls, through the stinking workshops of leather craftsmen, and through the chaotic houses in the port area, finally arriving at the site of the fire.

It was only then that Winters understood why the military academy was sent to put out the fire in the residential area.

Because the No. 1 Ordnance Factory of the Gulf States Alliance of Greater Senas is burning fiercely.

Thank you all for the recommendation votes. Actually, I've been wondering: besides myself, no real person actually voted for me; it's possible the website used bots to give me a few encouragement votes. But regardless, these votes are encouraging me to keep writing. So if any real readers are reading this, thank you for reading and thank you for voting for me.



(End of this chapter)