Translator: Cinder Translations
...
As the tenth month of the Sacred Calendar 1993 arrived, most regions of the Kingdom of Aldor began transitioning into winter, including the capital, Crystal Glare.
"We must put down this rebellion by the end of this year!" Princess Catherine said gravely to the generals under her command in the kingdom's military camp.
The generals beside her all nodded heavily in agreement.
The rebellion had lasted nearly three years, from the spring of '90 until now, and the kingdom could no longer afford the toll. With the year's end approaching and the supply of provisions becoming increasingly difficult after winter set in, the final battle was clearly drawing near.
They had already set a date for the decisive battle with their enemy—the Giles rebel army.
The "challenge" was proposed by the rebels themselves, and the kingdom had agreed. It wasn't because both sides were following some code of chivalry; over the past year, there had been plenty of trickery on both sides—maneuvers, ambushes, feigned attacks... every tactic available in warfare had been used.
The frontlines shifted back and forth between the south and north, as though the two sides were locked in a tug-of-war, each striving with all their might to outdo the other. Yet no matter how hard they pulled, the battlefield always returned to the region around Fueral.
With both sides exhausted and ready to gamble their remaining strength on a final, decisive battle, it felt inevitable.
At first, many of the kingdom's generals were anxious about this final clash, especially since, in early autumn, Duke Vibern—lord of the largest territory in the eastern regions of the kingdom—had finally taken action and formally dispatched troops to join the Giles rebels.
This old fox had not taken a clear stand in support of the royal family when Grand Duke Greed Wolf initiated the rebellion, unlike other lords who had pledged their loyalty. Instead, he merely sent an envoy to request a royal marriage alliance, but after the royal family agreed, he backed out. He then gave a speech about how the rebels held a degree of moral high ground—essentially a slap in the face to the king.
The problem was, after he declared his support for Giles, he didn't send a single soldier to aid them. Duke Vibern had always been unpredictable and fickle. If one day he suddenly declared his loyalty to the royal family again, people wouldn't be surprised.
But he had the means to be capricious. The Vibern family's territory was located in a large basin in the eastern region of the kingdom, surrounded by steep mountains, making it easy to defend and hard to attack. With soldiers guarding the strategic points, anyone trying to invade would pay a hefty price.
At first, Vibern had intended to coordinate with Giles from the north and south, launching attacks on the eastern regions loyal to the royal family. However, it seemed that the eastern army was adept at defense but poor at offense. Despite having an overwhelming advantage in numbers, they suffered a bloody nose at the first fortress they encountered, creating quite a few jokes at their expense.
Due to the mountainous terrain in the eastern basin, it was difficult to enter and equally hard to leave, making supply lines a nightmare. Frustrated, Duke Vibern had no choice but to send his troops south to join forces with Giles' rebels.
This placed considerable pressure on the kingdom's army, but fortunately, since the start of the year, the kingdom's forces had significantly upgraded their equipment, preventing the scales of war from tipping in favor of the rebels.
The enhancement of equipment is attributed to the kingdom government's large-scale procurement in the Northwest Bay. Since the establishment of "Northwest Industries," weapon production in the Northwest Bay has advanced by leaps and bounds. Thanks to revolutionary breakthroughs in iron smelting technology, the blast furnaces established in Alden, Byerldine, and Emden continuously supply a steady stream of ingots to various weapon workshops. The craftsmen inside work in shifts, with the sound of hammering ringing out day and night. Swords, spears, arrows, and armor gather at Frand Port, where they are loaded onto ships along with other procurement materials from the kingdom government, such as food, canned goods, textiles, or ready-made clothes, and transported to the southern ports directly controlled by the kingdom government, ultimately equipping batches of new soldiers on the front lines or replacing the worn-out gear of veteran soldiers.
Stimulated by the influx of orders, other territories in the Northwest Bay have also begun to adopt the Alden model, with interests prompting people to actively seek ways to increase production.
Other weapon suppliers are envious but find themselves powerless. With the same quality, weapons from the Northwest Bay are always the cheapest, so the kingdom government always prioritizes orders from Northwest Industries.
Under such pressure, weapon producers elsewhere are forced to pursue a high-end strategy—abandoning the production of ordinary iron armor to focus on making plate armor for knights and various commanders.
Unlike the common iron armor made mainly from wrought iron and equipped for foot soldiers, plate armor is made from steel plates and requires a vastly different amount of time to produce. A workshop with 26 workers can process nearly 1,600 sets of ordinary armor in five months, but producing a complete set of high-quality plate armor can take almost six months due to the extensive polishing required. Small components like gloves, which need to be hand-finished individually, require precise craftsmanship; otherwise, they could impede the wearer's movements.
With the general skill level of the Northwest Bay craftsmen, they are unable to produce high-end goods that are so smooth they can reflect a person's image, but they have achieved a solid monopoly in the low-end armor market.
Thanks to this affordable yet quality military supply, the kingdom has assembled a massive army, with over 70,000 troops currently confronting rebels in the south, including nearly 50,000 frontline soldiers.
Catherine and her generals place great importance on the protection of their lower-ranking soldiers. The better the soldiers are equipped, the higher their survival rates; the combat experience of veterans who have faced death is invaluable.
Other generals are frustrated that such a strong force should be able to easily crush the rebels, yet the situation has not unfolded as smoothly as expected.
The addition of Vibren is not the main issue; the real headache comes from a mysterious legion within the rebels, referred to as the "Undead Army" by captured soldiers.
As its name suggests, this army always appears on the battlefield with exactly 6,000 soldiers—no more, no less. Regardless of how many were lost in the previous battle, the next time they appear, they are always exactly 6,000 strong, as if no one had died at all.
Of course, no one believes they are truly immortal or can resurrect; the real mystery is how they manage to replenish their numbers so quickly. The soldiers of this army are exceptionally different—they are incredibly strong and fearless, far beyond what ordinary soldiers, who survive on meager rations of black bread and occasional meat, could achieve with just a few days of training.
Even more absurdly, battlefield records indicate that these soldiers exhibit extreme brutality, with some witnessing terrifying scenes of them tearing into the flesh of their opponents, resembling a pack of obedient beasts.
Fortunately, compared to this special unit, the other rebel forces are not as formidable. Only elite troops can wear iron armor, while general troops are limited to leather armor, and newly recruited cannon fodder lacks even decent protective gear, making them vastly inferior to the kingdom's well-armored forces.
As for the so-called "Undead Army," the only explanation seems to stem from the rumors circulating in the barracks about the "rebel sorcerers."
(End of the Chapter)
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