Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 25 A Small Shock from IED
The soldiers of the Kingdom Army hesitated, after all, no one knew what dangers lurked behind the door.

"There's no one alive inside."

The mage apprentice following behind the soldiers spoke again, his voice tinged with impatience.

The soldiers then cautiously stepped forward, preparing to push open the door.

The mage apprentice eventually cast a [Mage Armor] on himself without making a sound, and a layer of almost invisible magical aura enveloped his entire body.

The three soldiers walked toward the three doors, glanced at each other, and then pushed the doors open simultaneously.

This time, the anticipated explosion did not occur.

The sight in the room made everyone gasp.

In the two rooms on the left and right, there was a dead officer lying in a pool of blood, his death gruesome.

In the largest room in the middle, two corpses were entangled in an extremely indecent position. One of them was Lieutenant Colonel Juan, whom they were looking for.

"Something's happened! Report to the general immediately!" an officer shouted to the soldiers beside him.

After receiving the order, the soldier scrambled downstairs.

After carefully examining the rest of the room, the mage apprentices and other soldiers entered the central room.

The air was filled with a strange smell, a mixture of blood, alcohol, and some kind of cologne, making one want to vomit.

"Separate them."

The seemingly germaphobic mage apprentice pinched his nose and gave the soldiers a disgusted order.

The officer nodded to the other soldiers, two of whom stepped forward and struggled to separate Juan's body from that of another officer.

Just as they were pulling hard, about to completely separate the two stiff corpses, they felt as if some thin thread had been snapped.

Immediately afterwards, a series of dense hissing sounds rang out, but no one could tell what the sound was.

When the two bodies were finally separated, seven round, lumpy iron objects slid out from between them and rolled onto the floor with a clanging sound.

Everyone in the room stared wide-eyed.

The young mage apprentice's face drained of all color instantly, and only one thought remained in his mind.

run!
But it was too late.

"boom--!!!"

When the second, more violent explosion occurred, Eldridge, a high-ranking instructor, and Astra, the commander of the 24th Division, who had just arrived outside the building, witnessed the flames and thick smoke gushing out of the second-floor windows.

The violent explosion shattered all the windows in the room, killing all the royal soldiers and their attendants except for the mage apprentice.

Thanks to the [Mage Armor], the unfortunate mage apprentice did not die on the spot.

If Morin knew this outcome, he would surely be filled with regret and lament that the mere fifty grams of rifle powder in a single grenade was far too conservative in terms of power.

At the same time, he would deeply regret not keeping all the remaining grenades.

However, although he didn't die on the spot, the apprentice mage's condition wasn't much better.

The countless fragments generated by the simultaneous explosion of the seven grenades easily breached the defensive threshold of his first-level spell.

The shockwave at close range blasted him away like a tattered sack, his body riddled with shrapnel as he slammed heavily against the wall, instantly losing consciousness and appearing to be barely breathing.

Looking at the high-level instructor beside him, whose face was so gloomy it was almost dripping with water, General Sanhurho felt a chill run down his spine.

The death of a few of his own rogue officers was nothing to him; he didn't feel any heartache. In fact, the vacant positions attracted other people to 'buy' them.

But the death of a mage from the Holy Britannian Empire's Highland Mage Order, even if he was just an apprentice, is not a problem that can be easily solved! "Seal off the entire city! Search every house! Arrest anyone suspicious!"

General Sanhurho practically roared as he gave the order.

He now only wants to catch the murderer as soon as possible and give the enraged Brittanyians an explanation.

This order mobilized the entire royal army in Seville, focusing all their attention on searching for "suspicious individuals" within the city.

This made the evacuation of Maureen and her group, along with the three girls and their families, much smoother and safer than ever before.

When Morin and his reconnaissance squad returned, weary from their journey, to the temporary camp of the 1st Battalion, 33rd Infantry Regiment, it was already getting dark.

They didn't even have time to drink some water before they rushed to the battalion command post.

Major Thomas, the battalion commander, and the other officers in the battalion were studying something on a map. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Morin and the others had returned safely.

Not long after, Captain Hauser arrived at the camp headquarters after receiving the news. Seeing that Morin, Corporal Bowman, and the others were all unharmed, he went up to them and gave each of them a bear hug.

"So, how's the reconnaissance going? Lieutenant Morin, have you spotted any enemy ambushes?"

Major Thomas quickly got into the swing of things and asked the question that concerned him most.

"Reporting, sir, based on our reconnaissance along the way, the enemy did not set up an ambush, but instead retreated entirely into the city of Seville!"

Morin paused for a moment, then said in a way that was sure to shock: "So, we went to Seville."

The command center fell silent instantly.

Major Thomas and Captain Hauser were both stunned. They looked at each other, their faces saying, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

I just asked you to scout the surrounding area and see if there were any ambushes, how the hell did you go straight into the city?
Do you think this is a trip to a rural market?

Major Thomas felt as if he were listening to a fantastical story.

After the morning's battle, Captain Hauser had placed great trust in Morin, but he couldn't help but speak with some doubt:

"Lieutenant, do you know what you're saying?"

"Sir, of course I know what I'm talking about!"

Morin didn't explain much. He simply gave a brief report of what he had seen and heard along the way, including the Kingdom's defensive deployment on the high ground outside the city, the existence of magic crystal cannons, the 24th Division and the Britannians' garrisoning situation, and their encounters in the city.

After hearing Morin's description, Thomas and Hauser's expressions became even more interesting.

This story is quite well-made and convincing.

Just as Major Thomas was about to raise his questions, Morin took out an officer's ID and a silver officer's badge from his pocket and placed them on the table.

"This is the identification of Lieutenant Colonel Juan de Rivera, commander of the 1st Battalion, 126th Regiment of the Kingdom of Aragon."

Then, he took a finely crafted revolver from Corporal Bowman and placed it on the table as well.

"This is his officer's sidearm."

Inside the command center, all doubts and disbelief were silenced by these two things.

Major Thomas picked up the blood-stained officer's ID and flipped through it.

He then picked up the heavy revolver—the sidearm of a Brittany officer, which was also given to the Aragonese army as part of the arms aid.

All doubts vanished at that moment.

He looked up and re-examined the young lieutenant in front of him, realizing that he seemed to have never truly known him.

(End of this chapter)