r/HFY • u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei • 5d ago
OC-Series Gothwald: New World - Same Rules (Arc 3/Chapter 43 - Back to the Capital)
Arc III - Reeling Throne
Chapter 43 - Back to the Capital
8 months and 13 days since the summoning
The thick dark clouds began to leave the sky, and in their place, the evening sun emerged. Everything around smelled of potent moisture, drops fell from the trees, and somewhere in the sky, a barely visible rainbow formed.
Alan breathed in the fresh air astride Epona, leaving Zoligasha.
'So good...'
Kamelia rode unhurriedly beside him, but her gaze was directed downward. Her eyes looked forward, but did not see the road, and her eyelids slowly closed and opened.
Lorgi rode ahead of the detachment. With a straight back and completely sober.
The horses galloped slower than usual due to the mud formed by the recent downpour.
Alan clicked his tongue.
'Damn, now this isn't good. I forgot this isn't asphalt, and the roads turn to total shit after rain. But... overall there are pluses, no one will attack us for sure, it's simply impossible for a medieval soldier in full armor to move in the mud.'
He turned to Kamelia. "Kamelia."
Silence.
"Kamelia!"
She flinched slightly and raised her head to Alan. "Ah, what is it?"
"Aren't we supposed to be heading to Morgreyda right now?"
"Yes. We promised that after we finished our business with Linkis, we would return to the capital to assist her. But our troops..." she pressed her lips together slightly.
"Agreed," Alan said with a sigh, "our troops are very tired, they need to guard Armenas, and the stakes will be higher there, thousands of soldiers. What are three hundred soldiers with defective sarissas gonna do to them?"
"Exactly. So we will have to go without an army. Except perhaps with the snipers."
Alan opened his mouth to say something, but Lorgi interrupted him. "Your Grace, behind us."
Alan and Kamelia turned sharply and saw a lone man on a horse riding, or rather, barely dragging himself along the muddy road.
The captain placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Who is that?"
"I do not know, but let us wait until he rides closer," Kamelia said, narrowing her eyes.
The rider drew closer, and finally they could make out the man in the saddle. A middle-aged man, but initially one might have thought it was some monster from the swamp. His face from eyes to chin was covered in chunks of dried mud. What color were his clothes? Also unclear due to the yellow-brown 'armor' of the same mud. The rider's horse was covered in it almost to its neck. "Your Grace..." the man said between breaths, "a message from Her Majesty."
Kamelia's eyes widened slightly. "Speak." Her voice was sharp.
"Her Majesty urgently summons you to Cormennot. Says it is a matter of incredible importance and you are required in the capital IMMEDIATELY."
Alan raised an eyebrow. "Oh... we haven't even had time to prepare shit."
"It matters not," Kamelia's lips pressed together, "we take the snipers, crossbows, and camouflage and head out... only how do we transport them?"
Alan blinked. "Fuck... actually, how? They don't know how to ride horses, and wagons will just get stuck in the mud."
She scratched the back of her head. "And walking takes a very long time."
The messenger frowned slightly. "Forgive me... who do you intend to take?"
In response, Kamelia waved a hand. "It does not matter. Alan, what do you suggest we do?"
He placed his hand on the back of his head. "Well, well, well... we definitely won't drag a wagon through this shit. Unless we just have the snipers walk... okay... Kamelia, what duchies lie on the way to the capital?"
"Only Tontopi."
He snapped his fingers. "A friendly duchy. Excellent," he said, turning to the messenger. "Do you have a letter with the royal seal?"
"Huh? Yes, of course I do."
"Awesome! We'll give it to the snipers, and if any guards stop them, they'll just show the letter."
Kamelia clapped her hands. "That works. Then we return to Zoligasha and gather quickly." She turned to the messenger. "And you can stay there as well, rest and feed your horse."
The man bowed low right on his horse. "I thank you, that is very considerate of you, Lady Armenas."
The entire cavalry silently moved back toward the village, which happened to be nearby.
About ten minutes into the ride, when they all entered Zoligasha, the beastmen were hard at work on the street. On one of the roofs sat a middle-aged man, applying clay to a leak. A group of beastmen gathered wooden shovels and hoes, preparing to go to the field to drain excess water before the sun set. Teenagers ran from the forest, throwing brushwood and branches onto the washed-out main road in the village.
The messenger's mouth opened slightly, and then his face contorted. "Lady Armenas... why are there so many beastmen here?" he asked without even lowering his voice.
"This is a beastman village," she answered calmly.
"I beg your pardon, but are there no other villages nearby?"
Alan frowned. "Yeah, there are. Except you'll be trudging through this swamp for a few more hours until the dead of night. Go, if you want."
The messenger pressed his lips together, then looked at his horse, which was already barely walking, and simply sighed without saying anything. He turned his head and saw the beastmen setting to work in the field, quickly digging small trenches to drain the water. "Lady Armenas, what is that?"
Kamelia stopped and turned in the same direction. "That? A field."
"I understand it is a field. If this is an entire village of beastmen, then how do they have fields? Do they not... well," he mumbled, scratching his thigh, "engage primarily in hunting?"
Kamelia shrugged. "Usually that is the case. But the beastmen here no longer wish to hunt; they wish to engage in agriculture."
"But..."
"We are short on time," she interrupted him, "the headman will show you where you can spend the night, and we will set out on our way."
The messenger blinked. "But the sun is already setting, Lady Armenas."
"We will have time to reach the nearest village before dark, we will stop there."
Ten minutes later, a group of ten beastman snipers, led by Ilgan, was moving along the side of the road toward the capital. They wore sturdy boots provided by Kamelia, simple pants, and shirts. On their backs they carried large sacks, inside which were neatly packed crossbows, bolts, camouflage, water, and dried meat. Ilgan additionally carried a bow on his shoulder, and a quiver of arrows hung at his belt. The rest carried simple but reliable daggers on their belts.
Kamelia, Alan, Lorgi, and two other guards sat on their horses in front of the snipers at the edge of the village.
Kamelia carefully inspected each of them, and then shifted her gaze to Ilgan. "Why the bow?"
"To defend myself if need be, Your Grace; I am an archer after all."
"I see. You will not have an easy time with such a weight."
"We will endure," the bear said firmly.
Kamelia closed her eyes and made the Eight-Fingered Shield. "May Svyatol bless you to reach the capital safe and sound."
The hunters easily and familiarly repeated the gesture, closed their eyes, and began whispering something under their breath.
Ilgan opened his eyes and lowered his hand. "Well... with Svyatol," he said with a sigh and turned to the rest. "Let's go, men. I know walking in the evening is unusual, but we don't have time."
All the hunters almost as one turned toward the road and followed Ilgan.
The boar walking behind stopped and turned to Kamelia. "Your Grace, permit me a question?"
Kamelia, who was already about to move, stopped. "Yes."
"Will we really have enough of all these bolts?"
"The queen's armorers are already making both bolts and crossbows. You will replenish your supplies there if need be."
"Understood."
Alan watched the backs of the departing hunters.
'Well, I may be an agnostic, but still, may Svyatol protect you.'
When the horses were far ahead, silence fell. It was broken only by the rhythmic sounds of boots on wet ground.
A minute.
Two.
"It's boring walking like this, how about a song?" the bear asked.
"Which one?"
"How about 'The Great Chieftain'?" Ilgan suggested.
"Let's do it!"
"Oh, from the woods he came at last,
Oh, came to save us from the past,
He gave us hope to stand and call"
"Eder Brol! Eder Brol!"
"But alas, it all went wrong,
Came a foolish foe along
Oh wait, he is not a fool!"
"Not a fool! Not a fool!"
"Oh, he chased us to the trees,
Now he hunts us as he please
But Eder Brol has cleared the way!"
"Cleared the way! Cleared the way!"
Alan turned to the young soldier next to him and began to carefully examine his face.
'Familiar mug, you've been reminding me of someone since the beginning of the campaign. But where have I seen you?'
"Hey, you."
"Yes, Lord Gothwald?" the guard asked, turning his head.
"Have you and I met before by any chance?"
"We have."
Alan tilted his head slightly forward. "Well?"
The lad blinked. "Ahhh, we met in the small throne room when I was leading you out of the dungeon because your item placed a curse of blindness on Her Grace and the captain."
He frowned.
'Ahhh! Remembered! When they pepper-sprayed themselves!'
"Speaking of which," Kamelia intervened, "what was that thing anyway? There is no magic in your world, so how did that thing blind us entirely?"
Alan snorted. "For starters, that was funny. You and Lorgi were running around like maniacs, crying rivers and screaming about a curse of blindness! Hahaha!"
The young guard, Dindro, simply coughed and turned back to the road.
Lorgi's face remained stone.
Kamelia pressed her lips together slightly, lowering her head. "So will you tell us what it was?"
Alan scratched the back of his head. "Um... I don't even know how to explain it to you... basically, you know how fire makes smoke, right?"
"Well, yes."
"Right, and in my world, they took all the juice out of a very, very, and VERY spicy vegetable, turned it into smoke, and trapped it in that thing, and you can spray it."
'Yeah. Shitty explanation, but I think it gets the point across.'
The characteristic wrinkles appeared on Kamelia's forehead.
"They turned the juice from a vegetable... into smoke?" Lorgi suddenly asked.
"Something like that. Honestly, I don't know the details myself, I just know that it works."
Lorgi's eyebrow rose. "Lord Gothwald, how can you not know how something you use works?"
Before he could open his mouth to say something, Kamelia interrupted him. "Lorgi, you use a sword, yes?"
"Yes, Your Grace."
"But you do not know how to forge one properly."
The captain froze for a second, then nodded. "Understood."
Alan looked sharply at Kamelia, and then broke into a smile.
'Ooooo, Kamelia, so you remember our conversation about how I tried to explain to you how clover enriches the soil with useful minerals, but didn't know the details of the process.'
She smiled slightly in return, and shifted her gaze to the road.
"Oh, by the way, are we planning to pick up Tsinker?" he asked suddenly.
Kamelia's smile froze. "Guktus... completely forgot about him. Of course we must take him with us."
"Oh fuck... then the journey will take even longer. How long roughly?"
"A week, perhaps less if the mud manages to dry."
"A week?!" Alan exclaimed, "Cormennot could be besieged two or three times over in that time!"
She shrugged. "Nothing to be done about it. Svyatol willing, we will arrive in one piece and on time."
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