Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World

Hearing the coachman's pleas, the three soldiers wielding longswords showed no expression.

They simply exchanged glances, and the oldest among them, a tall and sturdy figure clad in chainmail and sporting a thick beard, with deep-set eyes and a piercing gaze, approached the kneeling coachman and Liszt standing nearby. His appearance suggested he was a formidable warrior.

As he neared the coachman and Liszt, he spoke calmly, "Gentlemen, please don't be alarmed. We three are merely passing through this area."

However, Liszt instinctively felt that the man was tense all over, seemingly readying for an attack, reminding him of a leopard poised to pounce on its prey.

Just as the situation seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, Liszt made a decisive shout, risking the danger of being discovered by the Church Army outside the forest: "I am a special envoy of Count Paul Grayman, the lord of Ordo!"

The words 'lord' and 'count' visibly shook the bearded soldier, who appeared ready to strike — at least in Liszt's perception.

He seemed to hesitate. Seeing this, one of his companions harshly said, "Raja, who cares? Nobody knows we passed through here, right?"

The companion glanced at Liszt, adding, "Except for these few."

"Shut up, you fool!"

Liszt's heart raced, piecing together from their conversation that the bearded soldier had intended to kill him and the coachman.

He tried to calm his pounding heart, maintaining a composed façade on his face — even he was impressed by his own strong will.

"I was on my way to Jeb to negotiate a business deal for my lord, Count Grayman, when we encountered these marauding soldiers," he said, steadily pulling out a scroll of parchment from his pocket. "Here is my credential. If you doubt me, you can examine its contents."

He handed the parchment to the bearded warrior.

Indeed, it was an identity proof, modeled after a passport from Paul's previous life, requesting local rulers to facilitate the passage of merchants from the Northwest Bay. It bore the Grayman family crest.

Of course, this world lacked the international system of his previous life, so the primary function of this document was to prove that the holder was from the Northwest Bay. Whether local rulers would accommodate Count Grayman's request was entirely up to their discretion.

Liszt was gambling that the bearded soldier and his companions were illiterate and could be fooled by a noble crest.

He wasn't very hopeful; the soldier's companion seemed unafraid of killing a noble's envoy, provided no one else knew. If it weren't for a sliver of hope, Liszt would have collapsed in despair.

"This decoration around the crest is indeed typical of Ordo nobility! He really is an envoy," the bearded warrior, worldly in his own way, recognized the noble crest but, as Liszt had betted, couldn't read the content of the parchment.

Liszt inwardly sighed in relief.

"I have heard the name Paul Grayman," the bearded soldier said.

"Oh? You have heard of my lord?"

"Yes, two years ago, when I was an adventurer making a living in Fort Ness, I heard from colleagues that it was Count Grayman's warriors who rescued the Grand Duchess of Eton from a wolf disaster."

"Ah? Is that so?"

This was the first time Liszt had heard of this incident.

"What is your name, if I may ask?"

"Friedrich Liszt. You can just call me Liszt."

"Alright, Lord Liszt, we… we were indeed just passing through here… as you can see, we…"

The bearded soldier's previously tense body relaxed, but his speech began to falter.

"It's fine, I understand who you are. Rest assured, I won't disclose this, I swear to my lord and to the Father in heaven," Liszt assured, raising his right hand solemnly.

From their attire, it was apparent that these three men were deserters from Jeb.

The soldier's face flushed slightly, "I apologize for the unseemly scene, Lord, but… we merely didn't wish to be captured in a losing battle and then enslaved."

His expression turned to one of resentment, "The lord of Jeb, that coward, fled using hunting as a pitiful excuse when he learned of the Church Army's presence outside the city, abandoning his people and the loyal army."

"When I heard this, I felt as if the oath I had taken was trampled into worthlessness. So I decided to leave with my two brothers."

After saying this, the warrior named Raja spat vehemently on the ground.

"Uh… I understand how you must have felt at the time. In my view, your actions were completely justifiable, especially since that lord was the first to break the contract," Liszt sympathized, trying to placate the soldier.

At that moment, just as he was about to inquire when he, the coachman, and the coachman's wife could leave, the soldier named Raja unexpectedly asked, "Sir, where are your guards?"

Guards? I don't have any guards.

Liszt's face immediately took on a sorrowful expression, without showing the slightest surprise or panic.

"They… they died protecting me. Ah… not everyone is as reasonable as Mr. Raja. I must inform the count and ask him to avenge them," he said, his sorrowful expression turning fierce.

"So then…"

Raja made a surprising suggestion to Liszt, "If you are in need of guards, we three can offer our services for your protection."

"Ah?"

…

In the autumn of 1995 of the Holy Calendar, the war in Horn Bay finally erupted. The Horn Bay Church accused the coastal nations of heresy and assassination of high church officials, rallying an army led by the inland nation Collins to punish the coastal nations, vowing to bring their faith back on the right path.

The coastal nations responded in kind, declaring that only the rising Protestant faction truly represented the Lord of Light, and formed the Horn Bay Alliance to counter the Church Army.

Anticipating the inevitable war, the well-prepared Horn Bay Alliance quickly assembled a formidable army of fifteen thousand well-equipped soldiers within a month of the assassination incident. They stationed this force at the border to prevent the Church Army's invasion and planned to join forces with the armies of other coastal allies to advance into church territory, targeting Collins.

However, what no one expected was the Church Army's sudden invasion, aggressively entering several neutral nations in the north of Horn Bay. Through these nations, they extended their reach into the northern coastal nations – the territory of the Protestant army.

These northern coastal nations, due to their distance from the Church Army, had almost no defenses prepared. Additionally, a portion of their armies had already departed to join the Horn Bay Alliance forces. Faced with the Church Army's unexpected attack, they quickly found themselves in a perilous situation.

The war in Horn Bay, from the outset, became complex and bewildering.