Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters-Chapter 531 - 97: Ashes_3

He looked at Little Lion and with a gaze told him, "You made a bad deal."

After a few words, both men suddenly fell into silence.

How could they possibly be happily chatting away in one second when they were mortal enemies fighting for their lives the second before?

Both were simply trying hard to maintain the conversational atmosphere.

Once the topics were exhausted, the air became heavy.

Little Lion restrained his smile and solemnly took out a small iron box from his chest, placing it beside Winters’ pillow.

Inside the iron box was a bundle of gray mane.

Winters’ face was expressionless, as if not the least bit sorrowful: "Thank you."

"According to our customs, nothing is wasted; what can be eaten is eaten, what can be used is used," Little Lion said earnestly: "But he was your close companion, so I buried him properly. I buried him deep, where ravens and vultures can’t peck at him, wolves can’t scratch him out. When you recover from your injuries, I’ll take you there."

Winters still showed no emotion: "Thank you."

Little Lion was somewhat saddened: "He... was protecting you until the very end. Without him, I wouldn’t have found you. He passed away after fulfilling his wish, I’ll tell you all about him in detail later."

He pointed to the Herder girl and said: "This is my sister, she’s been taking care of you while you were unconscious. Cleaning your wounds, wiping down your body, feeding you drinks. Whatever you need, just tell her. I’m leaving, you rest well."

After speaking, he nodded his head, got up, and left.

Winters secured the iron box containing the mighty mane, placing it against his flesh, over his heart. The iron box was ice-cold.

He had no tears; all his tears had turned to blood and flowed out.

He couldn’t quite articulate his feelings, for it seemed a part of his emotions had become numb.

The Herder girl picked up her sewing basket, and while doing needlework, said: "My name is Erhulan. If that’s hard to pronounce, you can also call me Miliya."

"Erhulan, what does that mean?"

"It means ’green’."

"There are also two pieces of jewelry that are yours." Erhulan took out a gold pendant box and a delicate statue of Athena, gently placing them beside Winters’ pillow: "You’re very safe here, no one will hurt you again."

"Thank you."

"But this is mine." Erhulan took a silver-handled small knife from under Winters’ blanket: "You can’t just take a girl’s dagger willy-nilly."

...

At the same time Winters regained consciousness, the remnants of the Palatu Expeditionary Force finally reached the border.

Merely catching sight of the Border River brought many to their knees, weeping and praying.

...

More than three months ago when the Palatu Expeditionary Force crossed the Border River, they comprised:

Three generals;

Infantry of the Standing Army from the fifth and sixth legions, totaling 10,734 officers and men;

An independent engineer support unit, totaling 1,175 officers and men;

Fifty cavalry squadrons, 6,172 light and heavy cavalrymen.

A total of 18,084 people — just combat troops.

The conscripted militia that entered the Great Wilderness consisted of 103 hundred-man units, totaling 8,563 officers and men.

The conscripted militia along with the porters, traders, and auxiliary troops, whose numbers couldn’t be tallied exactly, amounted to well over ten thousand people.

The troops, along with auxiliary soldiers, totaled over 28,000.

This was an army that made the Herd Barbarians lose heart upon hearing of its approach, its combat strength unparalleled among all the republics.

It possessed Senas’s strongest cavalry units, two fully staffed standing legions, an indestructible war hammer, and an invincible shield.

In fact, for the Republic of Palatu, it was somewhat too large.

This was originally supposed to be a typical short-term warfare: the army would sweep the Herders on the Great Wilderness, redefine the borders with the tribes, then herd the flocks over. Mission accomplished, promotions, and wealth would follow.

There might still be sporadic small-scale conflicts afterward, but that was not a big problem, as the Paratu People had a set of mature strategies.

The booming demand from The Federated Provinces and Vineta’s wool textile industry meant that no matter how much wool Palatu produced, it would be snapped up.

The large number of immigrants from Monta, Varn, The Federated Provinces, and even the Empire allowed Palatu to develop the wilderness at an astonishing rate.

According to the "cutting sausage" overall strategy, Palatu would only slice off a small piece each time. For thirty years, they had sliced and never lost once.

If someone had told them that this time they would be battered bruised and bloody, the people of Palatu would have laughed heartily and walked away shaking their heads.

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...

Seven days ago, over a thousand Dusack light cavalry, conscripted from the Newly Reclaimed Land, secretly arrived at the East Bank of The Styx.

Almost six thousand raiders crossed The Styx, and the day they set foot in Palatu, the Palatine Army Headquarters issued a massive conscription order.

Before the local militias finished assembling, the bulk of the barbarian forces had already left with their plunder.

Additionally, over a thousand barbarian cavalry lingered in Palatu territory—perhaps they had not looted enough.

They engaged in a cat-and-mouse chase with the forces within Palatu’s borders, tying up a significant number of troops.

The first Herd Cavalry invasion in thirty years also sparked various rumors, causing panic within Palatu.

"Local councils" in every city, market town, and town strove to keep the troops locally for self-preservation.

The two units of over a thousand Dusack light cavalry were all the mobile forces that the Palatine Army Headquarters could dispatch at the time.

The deployment of a thousand light cavalry was also a calculated force.

If the Palatu homeland sent a large army of one hundred thousand at once, there would be no need for the barbarians to act; everyone would starve to death on the Great Wilderness.

That night, as the Palatu forces on the West Bank forcefully crossed The Styx, the Dusack light cavalry also launched a surprise attack on over four thousand Herd Raiders on the East Bank.

But crossing The Styx did not mean they were out of danger; beside the two thousand-plus sheepskin bags used to tether and crash their rafts into the bridge, the barbarians still had over a thousand sheepskin bags.

With these sheepskin bags, the various Herd tribes pursued the retreating Palatu Expeditionary Force.

Until they joined forces with the troops coming to their aid, the people of Palatu engaged in thirteen battles with the Herd tribes. At worst, they inflicted equal casualties, never once losing.

However, of the Expeditionary Force that initially numbered over twenty-eight thousand, less than eleven thousand made it to the Border River alive.

The losses of the standing army approached half, with over eight thousand auxiliary soldiers either killed in battle, captured, or abandoned on the West Bank of The Styx.

Besides the remaining weapons, armor, mules, horses, and their very lives, everything else was left on the Great Wilderness.

Was the war over?

Both sides licking their wounds and retreating, perhaps that was the end of it.

But for the Republic of Palatu and the Herd tribes, this was not the end; it wasn’t even the beginning of the end.

It was just the end of the beginning.

But all of this had nothing to do with Winters anymore; he lay on the Great Wilderness and fell into a deep slumber once again.