Golden Cross - Chapter 8

.  Now, I Place My Life in Your Hands (2)

Pang!  Pang!  The clear gun popping sounds reverberated in the area.  Eugene was practicing shooting guns, riding on the back of a horse.

“Please turn the horse around again.”

As Eugene was not able to mark the target with his gun, Sergeant Daimsfelt said sternly.  He was a leader of about 20 heavy gunners, and was now in charge of Eugene’s training.

Eugene was now in the midst of the heavy gunners and although it had never dawned on him, he was training to shoot the guns on horseback, so that he could rescue the duchess.  At least, it was comforting to him that he was well trained in riding a horse while he was at the Brotherhood.

“Giddyap!”

After distancing himself, he once again rode his horse towards the target, and taking out the gun from the saddle, he pulled the trigger.

Pang!

He hit the target accurately this time around.  The objective was to hit a thick wood from 10 meters away which was something the marksmen of the empire would make fun of as being too easy.  However, it was somewhat acceptable considering the fact that Eugene, who has never fired a gun before, was learning to fire a gun by using rather an inaccurate pistol while on a horseback.  Fundamentally, cavalry pistols were weapons designed to be used in masses.  Even the ordinary long guns weren’t all that accurate, so the accuracy of a pistol would be expected to be much worse.

“You learn fast.”

Daimsfelt’s words weren’t just an empty praise.  Eugene was a man born with incredible ability to concentrate, and he demonstrated much faster improvement, in handling the gun, than had anticipated.

“But Sergeant.  Why is it that when you fire a gun, you have to shoot it towards the right?  Isn’t it more natural to fire it towards the middle, directly ahead?”

It was a very appropriate question.  The horses ran forward.  However, the guns were only fired to the right of the horse, so the heavy gunners had to move to the left of the enemy’s front.

“Then try shooting the gun directly ahead.”

Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for Eugene, the sergeant believed that lessons were learned through experience.

“Alright.”

Without thinking much, Eugene fired the gun directly ahead as the sergeant has asked.  At that moment, the horse pulled up and stood on its two hind feet as the spark over his head scared it.

“Huh!”

Losing his grip on the reins, Eugene rolled back down and fell off the horse.  Of course, since he was not an ordinary person, he was able to land safely on the ground.  Seeing Eugene land safely with such an ease, Daimsfelt could not help, but be amazed.

‘He is able to stabilize himself even when he falls off unexpectedly.  Certainly, provost was not just an empty title.’

However, being a cool headed soldier, he hid his amazement.

“Because of the accident that you’ve just experienced, we do not fire guns over the horse’s head.  Of course, that is not always the case though.”

“You really want to teach me a real life lesson, huh.”

As Eugene pouted when he got back on the horse, the sergeant smiled.  It seemed that Daimsfelt was not completely void of all feelings, after all.

“That’s my training philosophy.”

The next battle was supposed to be fought on the day of rescuing the duchess.  Although it was sudden, thanks to the guidance of the excellent trainer Daimsfelt, Eugene focused on being a heavy gunner.  The battle was originally going to take place in the first week of July, but as it had rained hard, the battle has naturally got delayed to the following week.  As July 11 arrived, the White and Blue Forces, once again, faced each other on the plains with forests on both sides.  The shooting was expected to start in about one or two hours.

“Good luck.”

At the camp, Myrus Landgraf encouraged the twenty heavy gunners that were led by Eugene and Daimsfelt.  They were planning to advance around the forest and approach the rear side of the enemy.  And when the enemy’s attention would become disorganized with the battle heating up, they were going to bolt out quickly and rescue the duchess.  According to the intel, she was being held captive in a carriage at the rear of the enemy’s camp.

“Will do our best.”

Eugene would never predict a definite outcome.  Such risky maneuvers were always accompanied by unknown variables, so nothing could be said for sure.  He would just trust his abilities and did his best.  Some of the enemy soldiers would try to stop him, but it would be difficult for them to withstand Eugene’s sword.  Although Eugene was armed with cavalry guns, instead of two-hand-held sword, he had already mastered the one-hand-held sword while at the Brotherhood.  After all, he has always had a sword in his hand, ever since he was a child.  No matter the type of the sword, he could always show his masterful skills.

“We’ll go then.”

As Daimsfelt went out of the tent, Eugene followed him.  As they sat on their saddles, they inspected the sword hoists, and their guns to ensure that everything was in order.   The guns used by cavalry were extremely precise weapons, so they succumbed easily to shocks.

“Let’s move.”

Following the commands of the leader Daimsfelt, the team cautiously moved and disappeared into the tall treed forest.  They sought to cautiously go around the forest, from the distance.  Kwaang!  Kwang!  Kwang!

From outside the forest, there came loud sounds of cannons going off.  The explosive sounds were so loud that even they felt anxious.

“Crazy dwarf bastards.  How could they have invented such awesome equipment like the cannons and gun powder.”

A shaggily bearded heavy gunner, who was next to Eugene, murmured.  Although he did not join in, Eugene understood his sentiment.  After inventing the black gun powder, the dwarfs have gone completely berserk with the magic of that black powder.  Perhaps, saying that they fell insanely hard to the addictiveness nature of it, would best describe the behavior of their entire race.  Discarding the pole axes that they had endeared so much, they focused on guns and cannons.  As a result, 3 hundred years since the invention of the gun powder, the dwarfs have become the most powerful artillery power in the western hemisphere, today. The countless many number of territory lords wanted to hire the dwarf artillery units and their cannons.  Moreover, even the dragons shied away from the dwarf artillery units, lest they might upset them.  It only meant that even their scales, which were tougher than iron, were helpless before the dwarfs’ latest cannons.

If the dwarfs were able to tie down the flying dragons on to the ground then they would just be large targets, no more or no less.  A lot has changed with the invention of the gun powder.

“Be silent.”

When Daimsfelt, who was watching the movements of the enemy through his binocular, advised the troops, everyone soon kept quiet.  As it has taken them 5 hours to reach their destination, they didn’t want all that trouble to be in vain just because of silly mistakes.  There had already been a number of fights before they arrived.  Also, as the enemy had dispatched a small number of their troops into the forest, they had to clash against Eugene’s unit when they ran into each other.  One common thing that they shared was the fact that neither side wanted to hear any gun fires inside the forest.  Hence, they fought with the swords on their waist, and the result was overwhelmingly one sided victory for Eugene’ troops.  Most of them were killed by Eugene’s sword.  Had they known that there was a provost in the midst of their enemy, they might have used their guns even if it meant resulting in a failure of their mission.

Flash!

Instantly, there came a strong flash of light from ahead.  It was so powerful that even they, who were inside the forest, felt dizzy.  Kooowwwwwng-.

With the disappearance of the light and the clamorous noise, only the scorching earth and dead bodies came into view.  Everyone within the radius of 30 meters has been killed.

Eugene was awed by the power of it, but he was also curious.  Fortunately, the shaggily bearded man, who was next to Eugene, began to explain the situation after seeing the expression on Eugene’s face.

“They are the elves that came from the frozen forest in the north.  They are the most upwardly mobile sorcerers in the whole empire.  They are very active in all the battle fields.”

“They must be powerful.”

The sorcerers were feared as much as the artillery men.  Eugene certainly thought that a new era was dawning.  In order for the swordsmen to wield such powerful maneuver as those executed by the artillery units, they had to assume the title of maestro.  Only then the swordsmen would inherit the secrets of their respective brotherhood, be able to bring down lightning from the sky, and bring about exploding flames at the tips of their swords.  However, only a handful of them reached that level throughout the entire empire.

‘However, the dwarf artillery men can easily wield such awesome power.’

Eugene thought that the artillery men would dominate the battle fields for a long time to come.

“Eugene.”

When he momentarily fell into a deep thought, Daimsfelt called him quietly.  Eugene cautiously walked over to him.  His horse has already been left behind in the charge of a soldier.

“What is it?”

“Here.”

He handed the binocular and pointed to a particular direction.  A close view of a horse carriage and a group of restless men in the vicinity guarding it came through the binocular.  Daimsfelt added his explanation.

“The enemy is being demolished now.  Just by looking at the officers busily running about, they seem to be about to run away.”

Then dusting up a storm, the carriage hurriedly departed.  Even from the distance, the horseman that was whipping the horses was clearly visible.  The enemy, being demolished, and the breaking up of their formation truly gave the best opportunity.  It appeared that they wanted to remove the carriage while the camp was still standing.

“We should go.”

As Eugene got up from the spot and ran over to where his horse was tied up, everyone, including Daimsfelt followed after him.

“First we must hide ourselves and follow them from inside the forest.”

Eugene devised an idea in front of those who wanted to dash out because of the carriage which appeared to be running away.  As there were too many enemy troops, there was some limitation as to what they could do with only twenty of them now, anyway.

“If we catch up with the carriage now, the enemy will send reinforcement.  We launch a surprise attack as we chase them quietly.”

Eugene’s words made sense because the enemy’s defeat has not been determined yet.  Although they removed the carriage with the escort guards, they would most likely watch them for a while.  Hence, once the carriage was beyond the enemy’s line of sight, an attack would be launched.

“Pelson!  You follow them first!”

Daimsfelt put an expert horseman in charge of trailing them, and everyone hurriedly followed him.

At a glance, there were about fifty escort guards which was twice the number of Daimsfelt’s troops.  For the strategy to succeed, the attack must be a total surprise.

“Hurry!”

The pursuers were asked to be both covert and speedy.  It was both difficult and exhausting, but the soldiers that were handpicked by Myrus Landgraf endured well.  After trailing them for 30 minutes, the terrain no longer allowed them to pursue through the forest.  Once they went past the tall coniferous trees, they arrived at a place that was full of bushes.  One soldier quickly made a suggestion.

“This is the territory of the fairies.  It is an ominous place, so we better get out of here quickly.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m from around here, so I know it well.  This area is ruled by the fairy king Shyrus.  He is small statured, yet he has a nasty character that nothing good comes out of rubbing him the wrong way.”

Now, it was impossible to delay any longer.  Eugene rode the horse as he came forth.

“Let’s hit them!”

“Alright.”

Daimsfelt nodded and gestured towards the back of him.  No other order to launch an attack was necessary.  Everyone jumped forward as they have been very tense as if they were the bows that were about to be release after having been pulled way back.

“For the empire!”

Like a wave, the heavy gunners rushed towards the carriage.