Heimarian Odyssey

Chapter 78: State of War

Chapter 78: State of War

This was a massacre that would go down the annals of Faustian history. The Shalorian civilians who were slaughtered by the Faustian soldiers numbered more than 80,000 people according to official statistics. Despite that, the total number of soldiers in Gale was only 30,000.

This showed that every surviving soldier of Gale at least had the blood of two or more innocent civilians on their hands.

Of course, the soldiers of Gale did not accept the innocence of the civilians. In their opinion, this group of 'innocent' civilians were the ones who caused them to lose many brothers who should not have died during the war. It was also this group of 'innocent' civilians who allowed this city to hold on for so long despite the disparity in strength between the two sides.

In other words, the death of Woode was actually a fuse, igniting the darkness of war that had been accumulating in the heads of Gale soldiers for several years. It wouldn't be too far off to say that they were venting. Only the blood humankind could let their tight heartstrings relax a little.

The bloody slaughter lasted for four days. Eilis, a large city that could hold more than 200,000 people, turned into a ghost town.

There was not one corner left unstained by blood, much to the frustration of a commander who had been sent by Kenzir to mediate the situation.

Gale didn't bother about this guy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere that became their acting corps jarl.

There was only one corps jarl of Gale, and that was Woode. Through him saving every penny he could, he used it on every brick and tile used to build this powerful corps.

In the afternoon when he learned that Woode had died in battle, Kenzir had already sent the commander to appease the rioting Gale Corps. This commander came from a count household with a long history in Faustian. He also served as the chief of staff in Lion. In terms of position and status, he was definitely doing well.

When he arrived at Eilis on the second day, this commander almost caused a mutiny when he ordered a halt to the massacre. If it were not for the surviving division jarls of Gale who still retained their senses, the commander sent by the prince would be slaughtered by these furious soldiers.

The massacre in Eilis did not stop till the end. The killing continued until there were no living soul left in this huge city other than the Faustian soldiers. Only then did the soldiers of Gale calm down.

What followed were accusations from different sides, the fury of the Faustian royal family, and the criticism from Kenzir.

The king and the nobles in the royal capital wanted to sack the few division jarls of Gale, with the reason being that they were the ones who did not stand up to stop their division at that critical moment, leading to the massacre.

But the king still did not give this order, all because the soldiers of Gale threatened mutiny. They also knew that no one would dare to touch ruffle the sensitive feathers of the soldiers at this time.

Woode's funeral was very grand. Nearly 20,000 soldiers who survived the battle saw off their beloved corps jarl.

The ones who carried the coffin were the four surviving division jarls and two deputy jarls. These six people could be said to be the most prestigious members of Gale at this time. They carried the body of their corps jarl back to Faustian on foot like they had promised the soldiers of Gale.

A city was sacrificed to mourn a dead man; Woode was undoubtedly one of the most controversial figures in this war. The order of slaughter was not given by him, but it happened because of him.

This charismatic general left a very deep impression on Faustian, the remnants of Shalor, and even the surrounding countries.

The soldiers of Gale shed drops of hot tears the moment Woode's coffin disappeared into the horizon. They were the very ones who slaughtered countless Shalorian civilians, demons with blood on their hands, yet they still shed tears.

According to post-war statistics, Gale lost a lot in this battle: a whole third of their ranks. Despite the ratio of loss between Faustian and Shalor being 4:1, it was still too huge a price.

Campbell Jones, the Shalorian war god, made every soldier of Gale remember his name.

The massacre and near mutiny of Gale caused a lot of waves through the royal capital. The current Margrave Shia, the only margrave who had not participated in the war between the two countries and who had been guarding the royal capital, went to the front under the orders of the king to reorganise Gale.

Other than the king, the only person who had the capability to subdue the soldiers of Gale had to be one of the four margraves.

Unlike the fierce battles in Gale, Falcon, which was ordered by Kenzir to attack the city at the same time, was advancing all the way. The city that Falcon was facing was Bimore. The whole corps attacked with the support of a large number of cavalry troops. In the afternoon on the second day of the Faustian army's attack, they declared the city conquered.

A week later, Falcon had arrived at Entil and completely surrounded it. They were preparing to 'pull a Gale'. Just when they were about to desperately attack the city, word of the massacre arrived, along with the news of the death of Woode.

Both the Faustians and Shalorians were equally dumbfounded.

Entil was the capital city of the southern province of Shalor. Margrave Felippe, known as one of the three pillars of Shalor, the 'god of prosperity', was currently in the city..

Clark, the king of battle, and Campbell, the god of war, had both left an indelible impression on the Faustians. Would this last margrave of Shalor also do the same? No one could say for sure.

The prince's orders had not been called off, so the siege would need to continue. The death of Woode did not seem to negatively affect the prince. Instead, it strengthened Kenzir's resolve in ending the war quickly. Whether it was for his sister Angelina or his Uncle Woode, Kenzir would pay tribute to them with the destruction of Shalor.

In the first three days of the attack of Falcon, Entil put up a heavy resistance. Indeed, Felippe lived up to his reputation; he was rich beyond imagination. On the battlefield, a magical item that had never been used on a large scale appeared in large numbers. Steel tubes with beautifully carved patterns emerged at the city gate.

The price of steel was equivalent to silver of the same quality. Based on looks alone, the steel tube required two people to carry. The complex and exquisite patterns carved on it only added to their worth. This magic weapon seemed more like a work of art than a weapon of war.

The Shalorians called it the magicrystal cannon. The red or white beam of light it shot out could mow through a squad of ten people.

"They even managed to copy magic cannons?" De Sandro seemed to notice something. Though the so-called strongest person in Faustian had yet to show his true strength till this day, no one dared to look down on him.

Marmen was obviously an insider who knew what really was going on with De Sandro. Although he was not afraid of him, he still remained polite towards him. What's more, they were old friends stretching decades back, so they got along well.

"This thing costs a lot of money, right?" Although Marmen did not know much about the cannon, he had a good eye for things. That big gun might look strong now, but its firing rate was getting lower and lower each time. Shalor obviously could not bear the operating expense.

"One shot costs at least one major monster core!" De Sandro revealed. Even the core of the lowest ranked monster cost at least 15 gold coins in Faustian. The monster core of a mid-rank monster on the other hand had reached the price of 100 gold coins, and there had not been any high-rank ones so far. Only the strong households strong would keep monster cores and not sell them in the market.

Before Marmen's surprise subsided, De Sandro said another thing that shocked him even more, "This kind of magic cannon can only be powered by mid-rank monster cores."

Cannons lined each of the walls of Entil. Not to mention, they must've been used quite often these days. While Marmen didn't have the specific numbers, there should be 40 cannons in total, which meant they had 40 mid-rank monster cores. Even he, the patriarch of a margrave household, couldn't afford that much.

Marmen stared at the wall with fire in his eyes, having apparently fallen in love with the magnificent cannons. It was just his kind of thing.

In addition to the magic cannon, there were also some other magic items. However, they were relatively mediocre in comparison.

What Entil lacked in might they made up with funds. It wasn't a stretch to say Felippe was going to kill off the invaders with his monney.

On the fourth day of the siege, Falcon still expected Entil to resist fiercely just like the two previous days. However, just as the thought crossed their mind, the main character from Shalor disappeared from his role.

On the evening of the fourth day, Falcon occupied the gates of Entil. At that moment, even they couldn't believe that capturing the city would be so easy.

"They should have another heavy-class magic item ready. The resistance of the first two days was only for show," De Sandro sighed and said, "It probably takes a lot of time for them to activate it. Felippe has been trying to buy themselves more time!"

Entil had nothing to spare for defence except for some sporadic resistance from a large pool of willing Shalorian citizens. Felippe left without anyone knowing, taking away all the wealth of the city, including the magic cannons.

"The direction they escaped in was to the royal capital of Shalor, Audis," reported someone from the cavalry division of Falcon.

By the time Entil was conquered, all large resistance forces in Shalor had been wiped out by Faustian's army. Local uprisings and rebels were no longer a concern. Only the royal capital of Shalor still stood.

Locke listened to the maid's narration and discussed the leaked news with the surrounding nobles.

No wonder when he and Angelina left the Bering Mountains, the troops they saw were not from Lion, but Falcon. It turned out that their battles had already reached this place.

They were currently close to the center of Shalor, less than three days away from Audis. It was no wonder Kenzir, who was far away at the headquarters of Lion, could rush here in one night.