CH 118

Chapter 118

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : Flames Of War In The Central Plains, Part 6 — At The Fallen Fort

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

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The fort where Rhine and Dance Slave landed was a hellscape. Perhaps not even a day had passed since the battle ended, and the smell of burning buildings and animal flesh wafted from everywhere, and some buildings were still on fire. It was an unforgiving sight to behold, with beastmen who became ink as they reached for the heavens in the fire, and others skewered by spears on the walls.

There is no longer even a moving object to be seen. The corpses of the dead beastmen show signs of having been repeatedly and relentlessly stabbed in the head with swords and axes, or even crushed. It was so cruel that it was hard to believe it was done by a very human being.

Unlike other beastmen’s forts, this Rambaur Fort has a deep moat and high outer walls. The beastmen prefer to fight on the plains, so they usually launch their attacks from castles, and forts are not as useful as forts for humans, but this Rambaur is quite well built. However, since the beastmen are not good with bows and arrows and other fine weapons, it is mainly stones and boiled water that are dropped from the walls.

Still, even if the walls are just high enough, the fort is much harder to fall. It is unusual to crush that fort so completely. And what on earth it meant that there were no survivors at all was beyond Rhine’s comprehension.

Moreover, they were fighting another war of extermination, and there was no sign of governing at all. Seeing where the fire was still burning, we can assume that as soon as it was dropped, without a break, the entire army was packed together and headed for the capital. This is nothing more than a suicidal act by the Krummus Army. They would be advancing without even a break, as they have no supply routes and there is not a good trail of encampments, but this is not what a proper commander would do. Rhine was looking around the fort, thinking about all of this.

Then he thought he heard a moan, and his ears perked up. He then drew his sword without caution and searched the direction of the voice while alerting Dance Slave.

「Over there…」

「Rhine, that beastman is alive!」

When Dance Slave moved the fallen pillar out of the way, they found a groaning beastman coming from below. It appears that he escaped the hands of Krummus by being pinned under a pillar. However, the lower half of his body was completely crushed, and his internal organs were also badly injured. Rather, he is alive because he was trapped under the pillar and his blood flow was obstructed, thus sparing him a lot of blood loss, plus he has the life force of a beastman. If it were a human being, he would certainly be dead by now.

His status is high, his clothes are relatively high quality, and he has many medals attached to him. The cheeks of the beastman, who seemed to be of commanding rank, were tautened several times to check if he was conscious or not, and Rhine checked if he was conscious or not.

「Hey! Are you conscious!?」

「Ugh, ahhh… yes…」

「Rhine, I’ll bring him something to treat immediately!」

「Don’t do it, Dancer. He’s not going to make it. You should ask him if he has any last words.」

Rhine won over Dance Slave who was about to go elsewhere. The beastman reacts slowly to his words.

「I… am I not going to be saved.」

「Yes, it’s impossible. The lower half of your body is crushed. Don’t you see?」

「I can’t feel anymore… I can’t see… What happened to everyone else?」

For a moment, Rhine hesitated whether to tell the truth or not, but then decided to tell the former. He was going to ask questions that would be difficult to answer anyway.

「Sorry, but I haven’t seen anyone else alive yet besides you. Probably wiped out.」

「Is that so… there were nearly 50,000 troops in this fort. I didn’t expect to be wiped out…」

Tears spill from the eyes of the beastman. Sadness for those who died, resentment at his inability to fulfill his mission. The reasons for this may vary. The ex-military Rhine has easily sensed it. But even if he push those feelings away, there is something this beastman needs to hear.

「Sorry, but there are a few things I need to ask you before you die. Is it alright?」

「As far as I can tell… are you human, by the way?」

「That’s right. Krummus’ army looked like it was in trouble, so I followed them to find out what was going on. They are too dangerous to be left alone. Tell us what you know, if you will.」

「Even the humans… some of them realize how dangerous they are… please, stop them. This has nothing to do with Zamwed or beastmen or soldiers… this is my wish as a man of this land…」

「All right. Let me hear it.」

The beastman raised his hand with all his strength, and Rhine gave it a strong squeeze. Then the beastman smiled, perhaps feeling a little relieved, and began to talk about the condition of Krummus’ army.

「Those Krummus guys…they were wearing metal armor that our claws and fangs couldn’t penetrate. That’s why they were so bold and cruel… If we offered to surrender, he would kill them… And they killed civilians at random, even if they did the same.」

「Did they all have that armor on?」

「Yes. Especially the guys at the front, they were strong like monsters… or maybe they really were monsters…」

「What do you mean?」

「He got right back up when we hit him with a rock and he fell off the ladder, and he didn’t even flinch when we poured boiling water on him… Not a moment after they took hold of these walls, the walls were breached. And then… Urrggghhh.」

The beastman groans in pain. But Rhine doesn’t offer any words of comfort now.

「Hey, don’t die yet. Tell the rest of the story.」

「A–Ahh… At least we sealed their arms if not their weapons, but they tore us apart with their bare hands without weapons. That thing wasn’t human…」

「What the hell? With his bare hands?」

「Ahhh, that’s right… The ones who dropped their weapons killed us with their bare hands…」

Rhine had seen some unusual things on its way here. A dead beastman slumped against a brick wall, an unusually large crack in the earth. At first he didn’t know what it was, but it made sense to me to think that a large number of people boasting monstrous strength, like giants, had gone on a rampage. They may be even more brawny than the Titans, however.

But the beastmen’s confession did not stop there.

「The decisive thing was… they had blocked all the escape routes before they infiltrated our fort. Every gate was barricaded on the outside as soon as the battle started… making escape impossible.」

「Blockade from four sides? So they were dividing their small force even further?」

「I’m sure they did… because they came from the front, and they numbered less than 3,000. It’s more about making sure no one escapes than it is about bringing this place down… No, that’s incorrect…」

The beastmen is breathing hard. He won’t last long now.

「They enjoy the carnage… at least that commander. He was strong as a monster… Kicking dozens of our best men to the ground… He didn’t look like a strong man at first glance…」

「A bald little guy?」

「Kukuku… you’ve got some foul mouth, but you’re right. Not very flattering, is it? …Hahaha, guh, geho, geho!」

When the beastman coughed, he coughed up blood.

「But we were utterly defeated by such men… how pathetic…」

「No way. You fought like hell, didn’t you? It may be unfortunate, but I will not let your sacrifice be in vain.」

「Hu… Don’t be churlish, human… what’s your name?」

「My name is Rhine… No, let me tell you my real name.」

Rhine told the beastman his real name in his ear so that only he could hear him. So Dance Slave knows the real name of Rhine, but the reason he didn’t speak it normally is that he himself was not comfortable with giving his real name, perhaps?

However, despite Rhine’s inner thoughts, the beastman spilled his white teeth when he heard Rhine’s name.

「…Isn’t that a good name…」

「Appreciated. Your name is?」

「Gallus… Gallus of Rambaur… I was the commander here…」

「Okay. You want closure?」

「Ahh… please…」

Rhine releases his hold on the beastman, lays the beastman down on the floor, stands up, and draws his sword with ease.

「One thing before we get to that…」

「What is it?」

「Watch out for that commander… he summoned and used fiends. Those fiends were also incredibly powerful.」

「Fiends… that guy?」

「I’ve never seen it before. I’ve accompanied Gruzaldo’s expedition to the Great Forest of the South… and even there, I didn’t see these guys. What the hell was that all about… I can only assume I was having a nightmare…」

「…Anything else you’d like to leave unsaid?」

Seeing the light slowly fading from Gallus’s eyes, he must have thought he couldn’t hold on any longer. Rhine heard the words at the end of his line.

「No, especially… my wife and son would be dead too…」

「…」

「I beg you, human… I’m not asking you to avenge us… but for the sake of those who will live, please defeat them…」

「Ahh, I’ll take care of it. So sleep tight.」

Hearing those words, he felt relieved. Gallus smiled so serenely that it was hard to believe that he was on his deathbed, and closed his eyes. The sword of Rhine swung down on it. The beastman called Gallus ended his life——

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「Was it good?」

「What is?」

「Talk about a cheap shot like that. An army that can easily defeat 50,000 beastmen? What can you do?」

「But what else was there to say right there? And the feeling is real.」

「Hmmm.」

Dance Slave saw the expression on Rhine’s face, seemingly unchanged. But inside he must be seething with anger like simmering magma. Maybe he’s a hotter guy than she thinks, Dance Slave thought as she looked at Rhine.

「What, staring at people’s faces… that’s disgusting.」

「Nothing. I just thought your face was strange.」

「How rude. What’s so funny about this beautiful man’s face?」

「Seems like begging to me, though.」

「What!?」

Rhine almost took a bite out of her, but he didn’t feel like fooling around that much in front of this pile of corpses, so he stopped. Dance Slave is no different, and so, as expected, she decided to tease him as much as she could.

「So what are you going to do?」

「It’s obvious. We’re on a boat, we’re going to the capital to see it. We have to see it in person.」

「That’s good… but please don’t get me involved. If we don’t leave, I’ll be at my wit’s end and Rayfan will cry, okay?」

「I know. I don’t want to make a woman cry.」

「What a cool thing to say…」

「Come on, let’s move.」

The two then turned their course toward the capital, Geddhard.