A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 403 War Begins

They received their uniforms, trained, and then set off.

During their training at the camp, Paulina visited Pascal once, much to his junior's envy. Fortunately, time was extremely tight, and they set off on the fifth day after Pascal and Paul joined, leaving Paul no time to continue being envious.

Logically, privately owned horses should also be handed over and subject to unified allocation, but Colonel Drouot did not allow Pascal and Paul to hand over their mounts.

At first, the two did ride horses, but soon a series of incidents occurred, such as soldiers saluting and calling them "commander" more than once when they approached them. Coupled with the strange looks from their other comrades, the two brothers voluntarily switched to walking, and their horses became pack animals to pull cannons and shells. Only then did they integrate into their comrades.

They didn't know their professions before joining the army; the tags were "two rich kids," one of whom had a very beautiful girlfriend. Oh, and there's another important tag: they're suspected to be relatives or friends of an officer.

Groups of people set off north from the main camp, crossing fields. Although it wasn't yet spring planting season, the land was already moist and covered with tender green grass, a stark contrast to the depths of winter. However, this had its downsides; the rains had made the roads muddy, and the wagons would leave ruts.

After two days of marching, they arrived at a camp before a pass. Pascal learned that they would be fighting the enemy in a day, and he truly felt how terrifyingly close the Empire's army was to Valuwana.

On the eve of the battle, Pascal and Paul were treated to a "feast" by Drouot, who brought out the cooked beef rationed to the officers, as well as some new trinkets: "Canned goods from the coastal region, which were first served to the Imperial Army, are now available to us as well."

He used a knife to pry it open, and Pascal was momentarily stunned to see that the brand on the can was "Hercules": Isn't this the trading company that produces gentian violet? He wondered where Rorschach was now.

Pascal suddenly worried that if Rorschach joined the Imperial Army, they might run into each other. It wasn't that he was worried about the choice between brotherhood and national duty, but rather that he was worried he couldn't beat his junior brother.

The canned food contained a red broth that simmered and released tubers, meat chunks, and a sweet aroma when heated. Drouot served them: "This is the best you can eat here. With some cooked beef slices and bread, it's just as good as any restaurant in Valuvana."

No, it was far from it. Paul and Pascal began to wonder what kind of restaurants Mr. Drouot, who had low pre-war wages, frequented.

The colonel entertained the two men for one purpose only: "According to the plan, tomorrow we must stop the imperialists from taking another step forward. The pass in front of us is the first line of defense for Valuwana. Beyond that is the plain. Do you understand?"

"It is foreseeable that the Empire's main force will not be easy to defeat. I hope you can play a role at the critical moment - protect my artillery, protect the cannons."

Pascal accepted the colonel's request: "We will."

After dinner and a few drinks, the three talked about the camp lights going out that night. Now it was pitch black inside the tent, and Pascal, lying in his sleeping bag, could hear the sound of pages turning.

Is Paul using darkvision to read?

"When firing at low traverse, the greater the initial velocity, the smaller the required firing angle." The soft recitation was hidden in the snoring of his comrades.

Pascal couldn't sleep either, so he started communicating using the [Communication] spell: "Hey, what are you looking at?"

"Artillery Manual." Paul passed the test and became a gunner, while Pascal seemed to be cursed with "never being able to pass the first test" and became Paul's loader.

Paul recalled to himself, "I originally wanted to be a grenadier, which is why I got a horse to join the guard. After all, I'm from Gascony; I'm good at horseback shooting and sword fighting! It's just that my height is a bit of a problem."

Valois' grenadiers became a regular unit under Charles XIV, the "Sun King." In an era when firearms were not advanced, the tall grenadiers could swing their long arms to throw ignited muzzle-loading cannon shells onto the enemy's positions.

By now, with the further development of artillery, large, manually operated vehicles were no longer needed, but "grenadier" had become a synonym for elite troops, and "grenadier cavalry," which were actually cuirassiers, had also emerged.

Haha, this kid is definitely not tall enough. As for skills, Pascal admits Paul is better than him, but the entire Cano team has witnessed how he was brutally beaten by Rorschach.

Paul, unaware of Pascal's thoughts, continued to say to himself, "I ended up in the artillery unit by chance, but I found it wasn't bad. I have a battalion commander whom my senior knows who is taking care of me, and firing artillery is quite interesting."

Paul was fascinated by the true art of weaponry: "These ordinary people don't know magic, but they use mathematics, forging, and a little alchemy to create weapons that are no less powerful than magic. They used to be bakers, accountants, and lawyers. These people can also get the hang of it."

"I'm going to do it better, and use them to beat those imperialists to a pulp."

Pascal didn't hear what Paul [the communicator] said; he had already fallen asleep, muttering in his sleep, "Honey, from now on only I can go into the kitchen, and your soup will be so salty it could kill a cow."

The day the war began had a good day; the sky was a clear blue, though there were quite a few clouds.

"Imperial army positions discovered to the northwest!"

"There's an Imperial Army column in Abul village! Estimated at three thousand men!"

Scouts from both sides relayed the message to their respective command posts, and the generals on both sides understood that the moment of confrontation had arrived.

At first, the commanders of the Imperial Army were in a relatively relaxed and cheerful mood because the advance had been too smooth and everything was proceeding according to the blitzkrieg strategy planned by the military headquarters. However, as intelligence from the Valois garrison gradually came together, their hearts sank.

The enemy had thirteen corps, totaling over 60,000 men. With the addition of militias from various regions to the battlefield, Valois gained a long-awaited numerical advantage!

"It's alright, Valois's army is a rabble. One volley from our troops and they'll flee without a fight." The commanders consoled themselves with this thought. Facing an even larger enemy force, the Imperial Army rallied, declaring, "No matter how many sans-culottes, alive or dead, there's no way they can stop the advance of the continent's strongest army!"

The imperial army, with the Kingdom of Marin as its backbone, was indeed the undisputed strongest army. Their greatest enemy, the Church, had been defeated. The subsequent battles showed that the Valois army was no longer as radiant as it had been during the reign of the "Sun King," but rather the twilight of its twilight years.

Richard was worried, however. His legion had been resting in Condi, but as a mage, he had been conscripted into the main force, forming a special operations regiment with other accompanying mages. It was said that mages from Valois had also joined the army, hence the military's organization of this special force for the battle.

Richard opposed this arrangement. He was certain that the Empire would once again produce a weapon that would render all magic ineffective, but that would be indiscriminate against friend or foe, and it would be foolish to gather the mages together.

Unfortunately, by the time he arrived at the new battlefield from Kongdi, the battle plans had already been completed, and the junior major could no longer change the decision.

Both sides came into view, and with the imperial army's cannons firing in unison, the war began!

(End of this chapter)