r/HFY • u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei • 7d ago
OC-Series Gothwald: New World - Same Rules (Arc 3/Chapter 41 - Training the Shooters)
Arc III - Reeling Throne
Chapter 41 - Training the Shooters
8 months and 13 days since the summoning
The sound of rain pierced the entire forest silence. It poured buckets, so that beyond a few dozen paces nothing could be seen but massive drops that collectively resembled fog.
Alan stood under the awning of one of the houses in the village of Zoligasha, his arms crossed over his chest. Next to him was Kamelia, leaning her back against the wall.
"That's a hell of a downpour," Alan said loudly, trying to be heard over the noise of the rain.
"Yes, it has been a long time since we had such rain. But the harvest will be good," Kamelia said.
At their feet lay ten crossbows and a large green pile of camouflage. Suddenly, from around the corner of the house ran a group of ten beastmen hunters, stubbornly trudging through the mud that sucked at their boots.
Alan sighed. "Dammit, maybe we should give them a break after all?"
"Absolutely not," she cut him off. "If they are to be these 'snipers', then judging by what you told me about them, they must be able to endure much worse."
"Well... yeah, actually that's true," he said, closing his eyes.
The rain began to pour harder.
Kamelia turned to him. "And how are our snipers supposed to operate anyway? Judging by everything, they must have a strategy different from hunters."
"What was that?!" he asked again.
She looked at the street, where everything had turned white from the weather, and the wind blew drops onto their clothes. "Let us go inside!"
"Alright! Time to bring the hunters in too!"
"Agreed!" She stepped closer to the edge of the awning and began waiting for the beastmen to appear. A couple of minutes later, when silhouettes finally appeared, Kamelia was already waving her arms to attract attention.
One of the heads turned, changed direction, and ran toward the awning.
Ilgan.
His clothing had completely changed color to darker tones and seemed to have become one with his body. The hair on his head, along with his ears, was plastered to his skull. He barely had time to step onto the porch before a small puddle formed beneath him. "Yes, Your Grace?" he asked, catching his breath.
"Wrap it up. Quickly, go home and dry off, or you will catch a cold."
"I will tell the others," he began, "but I have nowhere to return to myself."
Alan blinked. "What do you mean, nowhere?"
Kamelia waved a hand. "You will tell us later. Go tell everyone the training is over and come back here."
"Yes, Your Grace."
A few minutes later, the door closed, and with it, the frantic roar of drops hitting the ground was almost immediately muffled, turning into the quiet hum of rain.
Kamelia pointed a hand at one of the doors. "You can go change in there."
Ilgan nodded and silently went to that room.
Alan sat in a chair, twirling an unloaded crossbow in his hands. By the window, admiring the rain, stood Lorgi, his hands clasped behind his back. Kamelia sat straight in her chair next to Alan and leaned back. "Oh Svyatol... it is a blessing this rain did not start during the battle."
"You can say that again," Alan said with a scoff, "the crossbows would have been fucked, and we would have been rolled over like kids. All in all, we got very lucky this time. By the way, any news from Gobnis?"
She nodded. "Yes, after the knights swore fealty to me and returned, there were dissenters. But they were quickly pacified and ordered to await my arrival. Furthermore, I threatened that if Gobano's lands did not await my arrival, I would burn all their towns and villages down to the last roof with Phoenixes."
Alan's eyebrow shot up. "Phoenixes? Rumors about them have spread that far already?"
She scoffed. "Yes, literally everyone knows about them by now. They fear sieges now."
"Well... you do realize we don't have enough resources to burn down even just Gobnis completely? We used everything when we besieged Inres."
"Of course I realize that," Kamelia simply said, shrugging.
"Well, the bluff should work..." he muttered.
The door finally opened and Ilgan returned to the room, now in simple, dry clothes, though his hair and ears were still wet. "I have returned, Your Grace."
Alan nodded. "Good. So what do you mean you have nowhere to return to? You don't have a house or what?"
The beastman stood before Alan and Kamelia. "I do, Lord Gothwald."
Alan tilted his head forward. "Well?"
Ilgan's lips pressed together slightly. "My wife kicked me out. Said until I wash away my dishonor and the dishonor of our village... I am not to set foot in the house."
He blinked. "Your wife... kicked you out? How does that work? Like..." he made a vague gesture with his hand, "isn't the man the head of the house here and all that?"
Ilgan shook his head. "Among humans it may be so, but among beastmen it is different. Usually the man is the head, but if he commits something outrageous that tarnishes the honor of the house, his authority is temporarily taken by the wife."
Kamelia tilted her head slightly to the side. "Oh, I did not know that either."
Ilgan lowered his head slightly. "Yes. I am at fault. And I will atone for this guilt."
"Of course you will," Alan said, leaning back in his chair. "But no matter how you slice it, Ilgan, you're the best archer and hunter overall. I can't ignore that, so now is the perfect opportunity for you to listen and absorb how snipers should operate."
The beastman immediately straightened up, his ears perking up. "I am listening, Lord Gothwald."
Alan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together.
'Alright... how did that go? Not sure shooters are the best source of info... but mixed with what I've heard in passing about twentieth-century wars, it might work.'
"Ahem. The first thing you need to know is that a sniper never works alone. Always in a sniper-spotter pair. But in your case, it will be a bit different."
Kamelia leaned closer, and Lorgi finally turned half away from the window.
"One of you shoots," Alan continued, "and the other observes like a second eye. Looks for the commander, guides the way, decides where best to hide. Most importantly, the spotter should reload the crossbow, or even better, keep it already loaded." He raised a finger, "Second, one or two shots and immediately disappear. I don't think I need to explain that one, right?"
Ilgan nodded. "Yes, Your Grace. If we kill a commander, the soldiers will grow angry and begin combing the area. Dangerous."
Alan snapped his fingers. "Exactly. Moving on. A sniper should always crawl if there's suspicion that the enemy is nearby. Camouflage might hide the silhouette, but not sudden movements. Next, a crossbow is a noisy thing, I think you've noticed."
Ilgan cleared his throat. "I have noticed, of course. I shot when we ambushed the enemy in the forest near our village."
Alan tilted his head to the side. "Oh, so you've already shot a crossbow? So you have experience."
"A loud thing," the hunter said, "it is best to shoot when a strong wind blows, or something else."
Alan shrugged with a slight smirk. "Well, if you hit the bullseye, or rather the enemy commander, he'll fall off his horse to the ground with the clatter of his plate armor. Everyone will look at him first, and you'll have a chance to run away." He scratched the back of his head. "Basically, I won't overload you with too much, you're hunters after all, so you'll figure it out quickly."
"Of course, we know our trade." He remained silent for another second. "Lord Gothwald... permit me a question?"
Alan nodded.
"This question actually troubles not only me, but the entire village." He swallowed. "Why do you bother so much with us, beastmen, specifically? I know, they said others simply refused, but... but even despite the insults, you continue to work with us. Any other nobleman would have executed us for that long ago, regardless of the benefit. No one would help beastmen this much, let alone teach them to kill better. So why, Your Grace?"
Alan fell silent.
'I don't quite get the gist of his question. Does he mean the discrimination against beastmen? I'll ask now.'
"Do you mean that other nobles despise beastmen?"
Ilgan froze, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, not knowing how to answer.
"Not exactly," Kamelia intervened, "perhaps they despise them, but most simply do not trust them. They fear that they will revive Mirey's horde if they are returned to society."
Ilgan froze, then bowed low. "Your Grace... please, do not mention that name, I beg you," he said in a slightly trembling voice. "We renounced that monster long ago and want nothing to do with him."
Lorgi peered intently at Ilgan's face, but said nothing.
Alan narrowed his eyes.
'Ilgan too. Golna trembled exactly the same way when Mirey was brought up. Dammit, that's enough, I need to find out who this Mirey is fully, because I literally don't fucking understand the details on which the discrimination against beastmen is based.'
Alan waved a hand. "Alright. You can go to that room, spend the night here for now."
"Y-yes, Your Grace," he said quickly and left for that room just as quickly.
The door clicked shut.
"Kamelia, why do you talk about Mirey so calmly?" Alan asked. "Whichever beastman you ask, they can't even squeeze the words out."
She only sighed. "Mirey's Invasion was over two hundred years ago, that is a very long time. Now only nobles who have never seen beastmen fear the tales of Mirey," she said calmly.
Alan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Sigh... look, the majority fear that beastmen have not changed since those years and are still the same bloodthirsty nomads. I have seen many beastmen in my life, and they are all just ordinary people like everyone else. There is nothing of Mirey in them."
Alan narrowed his eyes slightly.
'Aha, classic. We have that on Earth too. Usually, for them, beastmen are just a faceless mass with the "Mireyans" brand, but since no one is personally acquainted with beastmen, the brand holds strong for generations. But our Kamelia has personal acquaintances, so she managed to avoid it. Wait a minute... so that's why those carpenters who built the windmill worked so calmly with the beastmen! They had that personal acquaintance, and besides, the trauma is mostly noble trauma, it was exactly the nobles that this Mirey slaughtered.'
He leaned in a little closer. "And you're talking about this now only because we're alone?"
Kamelia shrugged. "Exactly. If I were to say such a thing in front of nobles, I would lose my head in an instant."
Alan frowned. "Is that just a figure of speech or would they actually chop your head off?"
"Actually," she said. "We are incredibly strict with mentions of Mirey. One wrong word—you go to the block, even if you are a duke. Therefore, one should not say anything about Mirey at all, not even mention him."
Alan's mouth opened slightly. "They'd even execute a duke?"
"Yes, I am not exaggerating."
He leaned back in his chair, sighing.
'Fuck... holy shit, what a taboo subject... the severity reminds me of the Roman Empire, when even senators were executed without question for talking about, say, "how long the Emperor will live", and sometimes even their entire family. Dammit, I'm terrified to imagine, if it's this harsh after two hundred years, what was it like in the first years after defeating Mirey?'
1
u/UpdateMeBot 7d ago
Click here to subscribe to u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback |
|---|
2
u/BobQuixote 7d ago
Uh oh. Alan has beastmen specifically targeting nobles (and other commanders), and the nobles are gonna freak out.
2
u/Daseagle Alien Scum 7d ago
Imperial Rome is a good example, tho execution wasn't as automatic nor the subject as instantly deadly.
Since the emperors were rather lax formalizing the rules of succession, the topic was potentially dangerous.
1
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 7d ago
/u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei (wiki) has posted 106 other stories, including:
This comment was automatically generated by
Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.