Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World

TL: Etude

On either side of the north gate of Crystal Shine Fortress, siege towers were deployed with ladders propped against the city walls. The royal soldiers, struggling to climb up, defended themselves with shields from the arrows, boiling oil, and even scalding fecal concoctions hurled by the rebels.

Some siege towers, drenched in boiling oil, were ignited by the rebels’ fire arrows. The flames quickly engulfed the towers, forcing soldiers ablaze to jump from the upper levels. Many unfortunate ones didn’t make it out, and the smell of charred flesh permeated the area.

Leading the royal army were soldiers clad in thick armor, wielding swords and shields. They fiercely blocked the slashes and chops of the rebels, leaping from the siege towers onto the city walls. The soldiers behind them rapidly followed, continually widening the breach.

The battle cries resounded everywhere on the walls.

By noon, both attackers and defenders were thoroughly exhausted. Duke Walker ordered a temporary halt to the offensive, and the rebels took the opportunity to regroup and rest.

…

In a civilian house near the north city gate, several people sat in the living room, their faces clouded with worry.

“How many did we lose this morning?” Hals, the former commander of the city guard and now leader of the rebels, asked wearily.

“About four hundred of our brothers…” a subordinate replied cautiously.

Hals, drained, rubbed his forehead. He didn’t bother to inquire about the losses among the forcibly conscripted militia.

At this moment, Hals was consumed by regret, anger, fear, and various emotions. Trapped in a besieged city, the expected reinforcements were nowhere in sight, while the loyalist army, he knew, was continuously gathering nearby.

He cursed bitterly, “Damn that Jars! May he rot in hell!”

He had always portrayed himself as a loyal dog of the royal family, secretly colluding with Jars all the while. Due to his caution, he never slipped up and maintained his position as the commander of the city guard.

When the princess led her army on an expedition to the highlands, Jars couldn’t contain his ambition and seized the opportunity to rebel, sending word to Hals to rise in support before the princess’s army returned.

Initially, Hals refused. Jars’s army was still far away; starting a rebellion in the capital was suicidal.

However, the messenger later claimed that Duke Dodge in the south had already sided with Jars, clearing the biggest obstacle to the army’s northern advance. The smaller lords were of no concern, and they even promised Hals a countdom once they succeeded.

Blinded by the prospect of great achievements, Hals thought: if he waited for Jars’s army to reach the capital’s gates before responding, he would be seen as insignificant. If he took control of Crystal Shine Fortress and captured the king himself, his merit would overshadow anyone in Jars’s camp.

So he rebelled. Apart from failing to capture the king, everything went smoothly. He had purged the city guard’s command system, executing or imprisoning non-compliant officers, bringing the entire force under his control.

After imprisoning the chancellor and other ministers, and eliminating a few troublemakers, the nobles in the capital neither openly opposed nor supported him. He thought, let Jars deal with these fence-sitters when he arrives.

Many nobles fled during the chaos of the uprising, but Hals didn’t care. He thought, let them add to Princess’s troubles, as long as they left their wealth behind.

After completing all necessary preparations, the army of Jars, promised by the messenger, did not arrive. Sensing trouble, Hals immediately sent scouts to the south. The news they brought back was alarming: the Dodge family had not sided with Jars at all, and Jars’s forces were still stuck at Thorn Pass.

“All is lost…” was his only thought upon receiving the news.

But now, with no way back and having tasted the power of absolute authority, Hals was unwilling to abandon everything and flee. He decided to gamble everything on holding the capital until Jars’s army arrived.

The loyalist army had quickly gathered near the capital. After the princess’s army returned, they launched an offensive this morning. Hals moved his command center near the north gate, where the royal army was attacking, and personally directed the defense. After a morning of nerve-wracking combat, he had managed to repel the first wave of attacks.

Just as he thought of resting, the sound of horns blared again.

A soldier rushed in, “Lord Hals, the enemy is attacking again! The troops on the wall are requesting reinforcements, or they won’t hold.”

Hals decisively ordered, “Pull half the forces from other directions to reinforce the north gate. After repelling this attack, we’ll open the gates during the enemy’s retreat and lead a counterattack.”

“Yes, sir!” the soldier responded and left.

Unnoticed by all, two officers in the room exchanged a subtle glance.

“Lord Hals, although the enemy is only attacking the north gate, we can’t neglect the other directions. Please allow me to inspect the posts,” one officer suggested.

“You’re right, go. Keep a close watch on those bastards,” Hals replied, not fully trusting some of his subordinates.

…

“Your Highness, the pigeon has brought a message. We can attack now,” Ofina reported to Catherine.

In the dense woods outside the eastern gate, the royal army’s main force of 25,000 troops lay in wait for this moment.

Catherine drew her sword and turned to her soldiers, “Warriors, the long-awaited moment has arrived. Many of your families are in this city. It’s time to rescue them from the rebels. Show your loyalty to the nation. Long live Ordo!”

“Long live Ordo!”

“Ordo will prevail!”

The soldiers responded to Catherine with cheers.

“Sound the horns, attack—,” Catherine ordered.

With the sounding of the horns, the royal troops charged out of the woods, carrying ladders and battering rams, and began their assault on the eastern city gate, marking the start of the real attack.

The second wave of attack at the north gate was repelled, and the royal soldiers began retreating from the direction they had attacked.

Hals ordered the city gates to be opened and shouted to the 500 cavalry behind him, “Brothers, let’s show these scoundrels a lesson. On our return, each man will be rewarded with 5 gold coins.” After saying this, he spurred his horse and charged towards the retreating royal soldiers, with his cavalry following closely in a fierce charge.

The retreating royal army, caught off guard by this sudden counterattack, struggled to resist the onslaught of the 500 cavalry.

However, as Hals was venting his frustration and wreaking havoc, he spotted a rider rushing towards him from the city gate, shouting something urgently.

When the rider drew closer, Hals finally understood the message.

“The east gate has fallen; Lord, please send reinforcements quickly.”

Hals felt a darkness before his eyes, nearly falling from his horse.

“Lord Hals! Lord Hals?” the rider called out anxiously, knowing it was critical for the commander to remain capable at such a crucial moment.

Hals steadied himself, then suddenly thrust his lance forward.

The rider, in disbelief, stared at the lance piercing his chest and fell from his horse, dead.

“Haha! You’re lying, you’re all lying to me!”

Hals, having lost his sanity, threw away his helmet and raised his lance to charge again, this time towards the densest cluster of enemy soldiers.

His crazed voice echoed across the battlefield:

“You’re lying, you all are!”

…

On the nearby Rocky Mountains, two individuals disguised as merchants silently watched the distant battle.

“Sigh,” a young man with a frivolous look and an earring in his right ear sighed.

“Lord Hals, cautious for so many years, yet he capsized at the final moment. What a pity.”

“Hmph, don’t pretend to be sympathetic. Without your insinuations, I doubt I could have stirred the slightest ambition in him. But this guy was really useless, lasting only a day.”

The one responding was a middle-aged man with a goatee.

“People shouldn’t be too greedy. If the princess hadn’t returned to the capital and instead had gone south through the eastern route, joining forces with old Duke Dodge, it would have been the duke who’d be in trouble. The princess took a long detour, and the extra time wasn’t just a day.”

“Hmph, I know that without you telling me. By the way, have you prepared the gift for the princess?”

“Hehe, how could I neglect or disrespect such a beauty?”

The young man’s lips curled into a slightly sinister smile.