Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 577 - 395: Saving the Collapsing Building (Part 4)

Chapter 577: Chapter 395: Saving the Collapsing Building (Part 4)

The Mayor of Nobel City, Mann, stood atop the city walls, surrounded by nobles and citizen representatives showering him with compliments.

Life’s twists and turns are truly unsettling.

Half a month ago, Mayor Mann overruled all opposition to buy thirty-six heavy fortress cannons retired from the military for his city.

Back then, it was these same people who said that Mann had gone mad, spending money on something utterly nonsensical.

They all pretended to be pleading on behalf of the citizens, even suggesting that Mann must have received some personal advantage—who else would throw in an extra 4,000 Mowish of their own money?

But it was because Mann had connections—already a month prior, the academy in The Capital had declared that over the next few years, the number of rifts connecting to the Otherworld would gradually increase.

At that time, Mann had been thinking, what if a large rift appeared in the Dark Zone east of Nobel City? Ultimately, Mann learned of some news—the military had just replaced their artillery, and among them, thirty-six heavy fortress cannons were bundled up and ready for disposal.

So Mann spent the money and bought them—the cannons were eighty percent new. For the city, brand new cannons were too expensive, but these retired heavy cannons, albeit cumbersome, were designed for defense, and Nobel City only needed to modify the city walls to employ them.

That way, no matter what kind of foul creatures emerged from the rifts, Nobel City would have some means to fight back.

At that time, everyone in the city council was verbally and literarily attacking Mann, accusing him of receiving kickbacks from the military. Now, the siege towers and battering rams of the Black Orcs were burning merrily in the fields outside the city, especially the siege towers, from which the smell of roasting flesh wafted over—a credit to the new incendiary shells.

Truly powerful, even more so than the incendiary shells Mann had seen during his time in the military.

"Do you see! Although the Black Orcs haven’t come for three hundred years, they still wield great swords and long spears just like they did three hundred years ago." The local defense military commander was scolding the previously wavering soldiers: "Smell that! The Black Orcs are the same as us! They smell the same!"

Mann didn’t quite know what to say—it wasn’t his place to meddle in military affairs, and besides, the commander’s blunt words were not without merit. The morale of the soldiers visibly boosted upon realizing that the Black Orcs were just bipedal animals with two arms, two legs, and a head.

"Earl Simon, look, the artillery has begun to bombard again. Our shape-shifting mages have confirmed that the Black Orcs are constructing catapults in the rear." After briefing the Earl next to him, Mann saw the carcasses and wood of the Black Orcs being tossed about from the cannon fire, accompanied by the loud cheers of their own soldiers.

"You said last time that you added some of your own money to that purchase, didn’t you, Mr. Mann?"

"Yes, 6,000 Mowish."

"I will propose in council to have the town hall reimburse you 8,000 Mowish, of which we nobles will cover 4,000 Mowish, as a token of our gratitude for everything you’ve contributed to the city," said Earl Simon sincerely, extending his hand to grasp Mann’s firmly: "If you need to purchase more cannons in the future, my friends and I will fully support you."

"Thank you, Earl Simon." Mann did not feel he had done anything wrong—his expenditure half a month ago had saved the entire city today, and most importantly, it had saved the nobles. So, it was only right to take some money out of their pockets.

At this moment, a messenger from the communication room appeared on the city wall—this was a newly established department by the royalty in every city, consisting of a few middle-aged individuals in charge of receiving and sending urgent messages and notices to the spiritual messenger, mostly disabled veterans or their families.

"Come on, say it out loud." Mann didn’t bother to read it himself; he looked at the young lad in front of him—there was no need to worry, most of these kids were Church apprentices or, if not, they attended the public school in the city.

"The rescue forces led by Malin Gaiate will enter the battlefield at three o’clock in the afternoon, rescue is imminent, please do your best to survive."

Truth be told, Mann had no good impression of the sovereign’s son-in-law—how could such an important military rescue operation be entrusted to a child?

He wondered just how competent this youngster was and worried that if anything went awry, it could jeopardize the lives of thousands of soldiers.

"Malin Gaiate... ah, he is our respected sovereign’s first son-in-law. He must think we are on the walls, desperately fighting the Black Orcs right now," remarked a young noble with a laugh.

Then he was smacked on the back of his head by a family member.

"If it weren’t for the cannons bought by Mr. Mann, we indeed would be fighting the Black Orcs for the walls right now," said the middle-aged Baron, smiling as he tipped his hat to Mann.

Mann also smiled and tipped his hat in return: "Baron Radam, I do not mind. It seems Mr. Malin does indeed understand the military situation. He wasn’t wrong—he had even grasped the enemy’s movements; he just hadn’t anticipated our purchase of the cannons."

And so the nobility and representatives went into another round of praising the sovereign’s son-in-law.

These words gave Mann some confidence in the young man, and he turned his head to Earl Simon standing beside him: "Your Excellency, I believe this is Sir Malin’s first time leading an army, isn’t it? Have you heard about any of his past military leadership?"

"No, it should be his first time. I haven’t heard of Sir Malin leading any army before."

Mann was reassured—his majesty and his veteran soldiers understood very well that in such a situation, the king would never allow a useless person to cause trouble.

"It seems our princess has found herself a good husband. May Mr. Malin live a long life." There was a noble who was better at sweet talk than Mann, and his words sparked another round of praise for the king.

Since the Black Orcs couldn’t advance further, everyone felt at ease—after their siege engines and battering rams were destroyed and their catapults were blown up, the Black Orcs retreated two hundred steps and then began the siege of the city.

"They want to starve us out," Mann said and then laughed: "These poor creatures still living in the past three hundred years, they don’t know that our granaries are full of food. I’m afraid they’ll starve before we run out of food."

As the granary of the southern district, Nobel city’s warehouses were full of grain—from a year ago, many Druid factions came to the southern provinces, including Nobel city. With the help of the Druids, Nobel city could harvest twice in half a year, and just last month, they finished gathering the summer grain. As autumn was approaching, and due to its proximity to Carterburg and the Dark Zone, the weather here would start snowing all day like in winter. Even if the twenty thousand or so Beastmen outside the city ate all the tree bark and grass roots, the people inside the city would still be able to have two meals a day.

"This is the most interesting scene I’ve seen this year, but we still need to maintain wartime supplies. Gentlemen, I suggest you all lead by example," Earl Simon, as the most prominent noble in the city, got everyone’s response with his words at this moment.

"Let them maintain their sweet dream. Those man-eating devils will never imagine that our army has already arrived," said an old noble who had served in the army, with a smile.

Mann deeply agreed with this sentiment.

Yes, let these man-eating devils enjoy the warmth of this world for the last time.

With them, next year, this land will welcome a bountiful harvest.

.........

At 11:45 a.m., the canned food convoys called by Malin completely simplified the army’s meals. Except for some additional drinks for the officers, everyone showed positive feedback towards this lunch—in this era, it’s unrealistic to expect to eat well under field conditions, and the canned food Malin brought was already excellent.

The solid chunks of meat stewed with spices made the dense gravy delicious enough to flavor black bread, and most importantly, all this was free.

You should know that the defense army didn’t usually enjoy such treatment, not even the Guards Army.

After the meal, Malin let the soldiers rest for half an hour—new satellite images indicated that the siege engines and battering rams of the Black Orcs had been blown away by the cannons, and even their catapults could not escape destruction.

Since Nobel city was safe, Malin was no longer as urgent. He let the soldiers take a break, then circled around from the southwest over the hills to enter the battlefield—the Black Orcs’ giant bats were in the North obscuring the battlefield. The Black Orcs would never expect a human army to come from the south.

During this break, Malin also hauled in six sets of machine cannon components and twelve light field cannons.

Malin wanted to make the Black Orcs understand that it was no longer the era where sheer strength could dictate the course of history.

Science is the primary productive force.

As for the battlefield chosen by Malin, the commanders had nothing to criticize—for its position, Malin’s front line was set diagonally against the sunlight so that none of the Archers would be dazzled by the sun. Their place on the hilltop meant that if there was enough distance between the infantry lines, there would be almost no obstructions for friendly fire.

Then there were the field cannons and the machine cannons. The military personnel could instantly recognize the destructive power of these weapons, and Malin had positioned them at the hilltops on either side to create practical crossfire against the entire Beastmen troop.

The Paladins and a battalion of Knights would join the fight after the Beastmen were routed—although the Knights claimed they could charge, in Malin’s view, the times were truly no longer suited for direct charges by cavalry.

The certainty that the Beastmen would be decimated came because a group of High-Order Mages from the Mage Tower had arrived, led by the same old Mage that Malin met in Farole. This time, he brought his Apprentices to stand before Malin.

A total of sixty High-Order Mages, in everyone’s eyes, the useless Magicians of the Black Orcs stood no chance against them.

The Black Orcs were destined to bleed dry for their complacency.

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