I Shall Survive Using Potions! - Chapter 31

Kaoru Chapter 31: Well

When Kaoru’s party went back to the village, the evacuation of the villagers had already been completed and they were greeted by four Royal Guards.Fortunately, it seems that the enemys soldiers and the scouts didn’t come.

Now, we will prepare for the move immediately, first prepare the water, after that, all wells will be prohibited(Kaoru)

Kaoru’s party entered each house in the village and began to check whether water and food were left.The water that remained in the bottle and pot was either thrown away or mixed in a suspicious medicine.There’s rarely any food left, but Kaoru makes sure to spill suspicious medicine on it.

After confirm the water and food left in every house, Kaoru went to the field and check various item in the item box.

After confirming that everyone s water supply Kaoru spilled the suspicious medicine in all the wells.

Okay, lets go! (Kaoru)

Kaoru’s party returned to the route which they came from, and did the same thing also in the next village which already finished evacuation.

Even carrying the water, food, manger and other loads, the carriage with 8 children including Kaoru can move at a speed far exceeding the infantrys marching speed.

There was no need to worry about the Imperial Army will catch up.

And Kaoru asked one of the Royal Guards directly ride horse to the Capital with a report saying Strategy is going well, everything is just according to the plan

The commander of the Northern Invasion Imperial Army was stunned to hear the report.

The supply corps are almost destroyed!?(Commander)

Yes, we tried gather scattered things, burned things, etc, but almost all of the spare weapons, camping equipment etc is lost, the water is only two days worth, the food is about one day left(Captain A)

Weapons for siege as well! (Captain B)

(Commander)

They have to attack the outer wall of the castle in the capital city and then take the castle.And they need to do that before Balmoa’s main force that dealing with the Western invasion forces returned.

Even if the Balmoa Kingdom had sent most of their troops to the west, without the various tools for siege castle such as ladder, hooked rope, ruin hammer etc., it is hard to fight against opponents who defend inside the catsle.Which means their only choice is surrounded the Capital until Balmoa surrender.

And now they barely have any food, water left for themselves let alone doing something like that. And of course that strategy is based on the assumption that the remaining troops in the capital is less than 10,000.

Are there any town ahead ?(Commander(

There are 6 villages and lastly one medium-sized town that near the Capital at the end (Captain)

Well, first of all, sending message to Holy Country Rueda asking for food and other necessary supplies.

We will try to get whataver we can in the villages on the way to the capital, stock of food, field crops, livestock, everything.

For the time being, just keep in mind that there is no distribution of food until we arrive at the village. we have to distribute the water to one third, if it is a day or so we can endure it(Commander)

There is no option to withdraw from the beginning.This is the invasion plan that imposed the fate of the Empire, and in the west the friendly troops literally risk their lives to attract the main force of the kingdom army.They couldn’t come back because they lost water and food, so they have no other choice but press on.

The Northern Invasion Imperial Army aimed for the Capital Gurua of Balmoa Kingdom and began advancing again.

What did you say!? (Commander)

On the next day, the empire troops finally arrived at the village while suffering from thirst of an intolerable throat, regardless of hunger stomache.

There are direct reports to the commander who arrived at the village a little behind the first unit saidWhen the soldiers of the leading unit arrived at the village and drank the well water, they got violent vomiting and diarrhea and now they can’t move anymore ;There were also same symptoms for those drank bottle water that was left in the house or eat foods that they found

Damn, do they throw poisons into the wells! How are those in the village doing? (Commander)

About that, there are no villagers remain(Captain)

Did they evacuate Find the hidden food and also the field crops! (Commander)

The ordered soldiers took their men and scattered around the village.

[ Poisoning wells, that was crazy.Even if you repel the enemy, you still can’t use the well again unless you purify all the water over and over again. And if you do something bad, you will have an impact on other wells through the veins as well.It was an act that I could not think that the villagers would agree to]

After a while, a soldier who came back to report that and there were no food hidden nor any crops in the field.

We won’t get anything even if we stay here, without the water or food. Immediately resumes the advance and heads to the next village! (Commander)

Even the commander ordered so but he can’t wish the same thing won’t happen in the next village.

Even they request supply from the sacred country Rueda, they don’t know when the supplies will arrive or the amount can help with the army this size. The preparation of goods and wagons, the number of days taken for transportation, and so on.

However, if they manage to reach the town before the capital.

Unlike a small village, you will not be able to evacuate all residents and completely abandon them.There is no place to accommodate such a number of people and there are also those who insist on staying without following the instructions of the military, elderly people and sick people who can’t move. They also can’t carry all thefood away or throw poison into the wells in the town.

Since the Balmoa army is defending in the capital city, they can occupy the town and get supplies from the town or the surrounding villages, while waiting for supplies from the Sacred country.Even if supplies don’t arrive after waiting to a certain extent, they will surround the Capital as it is. While they can still take supplies from surrounding, Balmoa army that defending in the capital won’t get any supplies.If with Balmoa capital city that hold many people in it, their supplies will run out quickly.

Even if the main force of Balmoa Kingdom comes back, the Empire Armies can pinch them with Western invasion Imperial army.

Commander of the Northern Invasion Army, although fully aware that it is a wishful observation, bet on that possibility.Besides, there were no options.

The imperial army now only hope to secure a well before Balmoa putting poison into it, the commander order all cavalry units availble to go on ahead while the whole army will follow after.

And in the next village (2nd Village) that they arrived, all the well water was polluted, there were no foods nor crops. The Empire army reduced the amount of water and food to one quarter and headed to the next village.(3rd Village)

After done with everything on 4th village, Kaoru’s party are heading to the next village.The party will arrive in the 5th village anytime soon.

Will it work ? (Kaoru)

In the march, the shortage of water will not be tolerable (Roland)

Roland responds to the Kaoru’s muttering.

With Large army like this if you can’t supply enough water, the soldiers will have fatigue and poor physical condition, those who will fall down will be out. And worse they won’t even have enough foods (Roland)

I guess(Kaoru)

Even the Empire soldier know the water is poison, when they can’t resist thirst, they will drink it as well.

It actually wasn’t poison butVomiting and Diarrheamedicine.

If they drink that water, they will temporarily satisfy their thirst.However, with vomiting and Diarrhea, they will lose more water than the amount they drink. So rather than recovering, their physical condition will continue to deteriorate. And with that body they can’t even stand firm let alone march with heavy equipment.

They will be either left unattended or had other soldiers pull or carry them.For military, injuries and sick people are much more troublesome than war dead.

When Kaoru’s party reach the 5th village, Kaoru spotted a boy around 10 years old walking down the street.

Kaoru had a bad feeling, stopped the caravan and spoke to the boy.

Whats wrong, didn’t you evacuate with everyone? (Kaoru)

The boy talked to Kaoru that descending from the carriage with a desperate look.

Angel, this is serious! The hidden well will in the hands of the enemy (Boy)

Even surprised, Kaoru still calmly asked everything in in detail.

It seems that there was a hidden well in the 4th village, which we passed through earlier this morning.

This hidden well is coming from a separated water vein.

Even if other wells dry up due to drought, this well still have enough water.This well was kept secret from the country and other villages, in preparation for drought occurring once every several decades. The villagers never taught the well location to Kaoru’s party.Some villagers may have been afraid that Kaoru will do something to the important well.Also, they think that well wouldn’t be found by the Imperial Army.
But the boy had heard.What the 3 villagers are talking about.

They plan secretly returned to the village, sold the information of the hidden well to the Imperial Army, gained a large reward. And after the Imperial army move away, steal the property hidden deep in the forest by all the villagers, pile all of it on the cart and run away to Sacred country.
After that, those men had gone in a hurry, maybe they went to meet the Imperial Army.

Then the boy was secretly leaving the group of villagers and turning back the highway.To inform Kaoru about this.

Why did you bother go through all the trouble to tell me, without going with everyone? (Kaoru)

The boy replied Kaoru.

Ginie was cured with goddesss medicine(Boy)

I don’t know if Genie is one of his family member or a friend.However, he had the eyes that Kaoru had seen over and over.Kaoru knew that she can trust his boy.Besides, time is important right now.

Can you guide me? (Kaoru)

Yes! (Boy)

In case of something happening to Kaoru’s party, she gave out the necessary medines for the wells in the remaining two villages to the four Royal Guards that evacuate villagers.

And then Kaoru’s party went back to the 4th village.

We should have been ahead of the Imperial Army about 2 days.Even if we went back from here to the 4th village, they shouldn’t be able to catch up yet.

Since we were already done with the 4th village, we only need to put the medicine in the hidden well, we can do it easy because there is a guide.

However, like the commander of the enemy army, it was also only wishful observation

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