Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 731: Camp Riot 2
TL: Rui88
Desperate roars, indiscriminate slaughter, soldiers as if possessed by demons… The Crusader Army had fallen into a great disaster.
The witnesses to this large-scale camp riot were not only those who experienced it from within the Crusader Army.
A reconnaissance squad from the Third Company, First Battalion of the Alda Naval Infantry, had been ordered to approach the Crusader camp under the cover of darkness to gather intelligence for a planned retaliatory action.
The soldiers hid themselves in the bushes, silently watching the scene in the distance, a sight they had never witnessed before.
Within the Alda Army, from the generals down to the soldiers, everyone was actually aware of the phenomenon known as a camp riot. When the instructors taught the soldiers about common military knowledge, this was an area of heavy emphasis, and its causes were explained from a psychological perspective.
This was completely different from the practice in other armies, where it was treated as a taboo subject, spoken of only in whispers, and explained away with reasons like demonic possession.
But when they saw it in reality with their own eyes, they were still shocked by the horror it presented.
Afterward, the squad leader wrote in his reconnaissance report:
“Everyone had gone mad, caught in a state of indescribable frenzy. Perhaps some were able to remain lucid at the beginning, but they were soon swallowed by this immense, unnameable quagmire. The soldiers wielded whatever weapons they could grab in the first instance, letting out terrifying screams as they charged at the comrades they had fought alongside during the day, either killing them or being killed by them.”
“The bloody slaughter continued until four in the morning. A fire broke out in the camp due to the chaos, which ironically saved those who were still alive. Though they were mad, their instinctual fear of fire caused them to scatter and flee, and only then did a sliver of reason return to their minds. Another important reason was that everyone had been pushed to the point of complete exhaustion.”
“The Alliance army inside Fort Ness did not take the opportunity to sally out and attack. The chaos within the Crusader camp should have been observable from the city walls. Perhaps they thought it was some kind of trap, or perhaps they too were frightened by the sight of the Crusader Army slaughtering itself.”
The Naval Infantry scouts withdrew before the sun rose.
By then, the terrible camp riot had finally ceased. The fire that had started in the chaos had burned the Crusader camp to the ground. The earth was littered with corpses burned beyond recognition, but these bodies had likely already fallen to the blades of their comrades before the flames reached them.
The surviving King Garrett III of Collins, with the support of the equally fortunate Horn Bay Church envoy, Kerr, became the one to temporarily take charge of the situation.
As for the previous commander of the Crusader Army, General Cook, he was unfortunately discovered dead by the stables near his sleeping quarters. He might have been trying to escape the chaos in the camp on horseback when he was cornered by the rioting soldiers. The general’s body was covered in terrible blade wounds, but because it had not been touched by the fire, it was easily identifiable. The bodies of his guards, and an even greater number of rioting soldiers, lay around him.
Cook had been dispatched by the Holy See from a thousand miles away to Horn Bay to assist the local Church in winning this sectarian war. But just as victory was within his grasp, he died, and victory receded along with him.
There was no time to mourn the general. The Crusader Army had to retreat before the Alliance army in Fort Ness could react. They had already suffered enormous losses the previous night, and resuming the attack was unrealistic under any circumstances. Even with the strength they still possessed, they needed to rest and replenish.
And so, under the command of Garrett III, the Crusader Army hastily collected the bodies, packed their belongings, and retreated in silence toward a stronghold on the path they had come from. Only when they arrived there did they have the leisure to count their numbers.
The result was terrifying. When they had advanced to the walls of Fort Ness, they had a full thirty thousand men. After many days of siege, they still had over twenty-six thousand as of yesterday. But after this dreadful camp riot, the count now showed fewer than ten thousand men. A rough report from the collection of bodies before the retreat stated that nearly ten thousand corpses had been buried, which meant that nearly six thousand more were missing and unaccounted for. The combined losses were far greater than the casualties from the siege.
The southern Crusader Army, the main force of the attack in this war, could be said to have suffered a disastrous loss.
The King of Collins and the Church envoy gathered everyone. After a brief discussion, they quickly set the tone for the incident: the evil and depraved Sacrilege Alliance had cast a terrible sorcery upon the Crusader Army. Everyone had been influenced by a forbidden power, causing them to slaughter one another. At the same time, the greedy and lawless merchants in the nearby Lion’s Port had also provided aid to the Sacrilege Alliance.
Lakeheart Town.
Paul received the envoy from the Horn Bay Church in his castle.
The envoy delivered a personal letter from Archbishop Elvis of Horn Bay. It condemned, in the harshest terms, the Horn Bay merchants of Lion’s Port for maintaining large-scale trade with the Sacrilege Alliance during the war. The continuous flow of arms and supplies had caused immense trouble for the Crusader Army’s military operations, seriously violating the various prohibitions issued by the Horn Bay Church.
As the instigator of this war, the Horn Bay Church naturally believed that all entities within its diocese should be under the jurisdiction of its prohibitions—even in places it did not actually occupy militarily.
Paul scoffed at this inwardly. The Crusader Army side had bought no small amount of things from Lion’s Port either.
He smiled at the Church envoy and said, “Respected sir, first, I must state my position. I have always supported the holy and great cause of the Church. If this group of merchants were on my territory, I would not hesitate to throw them in prison… that is to say, on the premise that they have violated local laws.” He added the condition to prevent the other party from pushing his luck.
“But unfortunately, they are in Horn Bay. I cannot restrain anything they choose to do. Even if they commit crimes, it is not in Alda, so I have no jurisdiction. And Lion’s Port is a city that this group of merchants established and built overseas on their own. The land was purchased from the Horn Bay Alliance. I am the lord of Ordo, how could I possibly extend my authority there.”
To avoid all sorts of trouble, the official story had always been that Lion’s Port was an autonomous city founded by a group of merchants, though many knew what the reality was.
“In that case, does this mean the Church may impose punishment on this group of greedy merchants who have committed crimes on foreign soil in your stead?”
The Church envoy did not become as enraged as Paul had expected. He just gave a silent, cold laugh and threw out this question.
“This… does that include the use of military force?”
“Of course!”
Paul remained silent for a short while, then said, “I advise you to think of other, more moderate methods. As far as I know, production in Horn Bay has been severely damaged by the war. The role of Lion’s Port is irreplaceable.”
“For the great cause of the gods, any sacrifice is worthwhile.” The envoy seemed to think he had Paul in his grasp. His eyebrows rose, and his expression was smug.
“Then I can only express my regret!” Paul spread his hands helplessly.
The envoy from the Horn Bay Church left Northwest Bay very displeased.
But he did not know that a new order from Lakeheart Town was heading south almost at the same time—instructing Lion’s Port to wipe out the surrounding military threats in the name of a volunteer army.
