Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

While others went to fight in Revodan, Winters left Heinrich in Wolf Town.

The esteemed Franz's great-grandson, a man of few words, handled matters with steady reliability.

Winters liked him very much and specially assigned him and Xial to protect the ladies.

Once Winters saw that it was Heinrich approaching, he immediately raced down the slope to meet him.

"What's the matter?" Winters asked, his face betraying no emotion.

"It's Miss Mitchell! The other ladies and madams are fine!" Heinrich said succinctly, but panic was rarely seen in his eyes: "A pregnant mare at the Mitchell estate is having difficulty giving birth. Miss Mitchell sneaked back while I wasn't paying attention!"

...

Meanwhile, in the city of Revodan.

The battle had completely concluded.

All the defenders had been disarmed, bound, and detained.

The unattended bodies lying on the streets reminded the citizens that the dawn's battle was not a dream.

Last night, while attacking the city, Revodan's citizens heard the attacking side claim to be "the New Reclamation Legion here to quell the chaos."

At the break of dawn, they realized.

The invaders were not the New Reclamation Legion at all, but the notorious "Blood Wolf Gang" they had long heard of.

And the actions of the "Blood Wolf Gang" were nothing less than bandits storming into the city.

Cart after cart entered Revodan, seemingly determined to take everything before stopping.

Revodan was in utter chaos at this moment. Winters's soldiers wore no uniforms, only identified by the red bands tied on their shoulders.

Many ruffians discovered an opportunity for mayhem and, tying red bands onto their shoulders, began looting and vandalizing.

The displaced outside the city walls also noticed the chaos within Revodan. They, oppressed and starved, found an outlet for their anger.

As day broke, streams of refugees poured into Revodan, incited by the ruffians, stealing food and goods.

The Revodan Cathedral was even assaulted, with thugs from the city leading the outsiders into the cathedral— not even God could keep his sanctuary safe.

In the midst of the chaos, Anglu led more than twenty carts straight to Revodan's garrison.

Pierre came up from behind, yelling angrily, "Dammit! Where are you going? Hurry to the granary, the treasury, the Arsenal!"

"No!" Anglu stubbornly replied. "Lieutenant Bard was clear. We can forsake gold and silver, but we must take the complete archives of the Revodan garrison."

"What use are the damn documents! In these times, they're all just useless papers! To the granaries!"

"Lieutenant Bard ordered me to move the archives!" Anglu's stubbornness flared up as well.

Pierre could not outstubborn the tenacious young lad: "Fine, you go then. I'll give you fifteen carts! Not one more!"

The young lad drove the carts towards the garrison's archives.

Pierre watched the chaotic scene on the streets: people with red bands on their shoulders—God knows who they were—breaking into houses, dragging the owners out into the streets to beat them; ragged refugees also joined in.

Many sneaky figures ran into alleys, carrying gold, silver, and porcelain, disappearing from sight.

"Damn it!" Pierre cursed uncontrollably.

"This won't do!" Pierre thought. "I need to find Lieutenant Juan!"

As Pierre thought this, a Dusack messenger arrived at a gallop.

"Pierre Girardnovich!" The messenger shouted from afar, "Mr. A and Mr. B want you to see them immediately!"

...

According to Scarlett's calculations, Botayun was due to give birth in late August.

Her calculations were wrong, as mares are often bred multiple times to ensure conception.

Botayun's actual due date was early September.

Yet, until the day before yesterday—September 20th—Botayun showed no signs of labor.

During this time, Scarlett was so anxious she couldn't sleep. She stayed up all night beside Botayun, not leaving her side for a moment.

Then, at noon yesterday, Botayun suddenly began to have contractions.

At the same time, Mr. Montaigne sent Xial and Heinrich—everyone in Wolf Town had to hide in the forest immediately, as rehearsed before, because the Revodan bandits were coming.

To ensure the secrecy of the operation, knowledge of the plan was kept to a minimum; even the women were among the last to know.

Only the officers were fully aware of the battle plans.

In anticipation of bandit attacks, Winters had previously led the people of Wolf Town in evacuation drills twice.

When the real situation arose, it happened to coincide with Botayun's labor.

Botayun lay in the straw pile, whinnying in agony, but the foal remained stubbornly unborn.

Xial and Heinrich had almost to use force to carry Scarlett away.

But Scarlett had fully inherited her father's stubbornness; while Xial and Heinrich were distracted, she slipped into the forest and ran back to Mitchell estate.

And at this very moment, Scarlett was facing a grave crisis.

Two Revodan soldiers barged into the Mitchell estate, grabbing whatever they saw, smashing anything they couldn't carry away.

They wreaked havoc from the ground floor to the second and back again.

One soldier burst into a room on the second floor and suddenly shouted to the other, "I've found the room of the daughter of a wealthy family!"

The other soldier ran over in a panic, stopping in stunned surprise at the doorway.

After a foolish standstill, one soldier threw himself onto the bed, sniffing it vigorously.

"If I could take a rich man's daughter, my life would be complete!" he exclaimed loudly.

The other soldier followed suit.

Initially they rubbed their faces against the bed sheets and the pillows, but soon this way of venting their desires was no longer satisfying.

One of them plunged a knife into a pillow, tearing at it wildly.

Down feathers danced around the room like a heavy snowfall.