Record of Wortenia War: Volume 20 [Parts 1 to 6] by Ryota Hori

Author:Ryota Hori
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 2: The Southern Battlefield

Black smoke rose, blowing crimson sparks into the night air.

“Get water! We need to put out the fire!”

“No good, it’s spreading too fast!”

The screaming of women and the voices of men trying to calm them down echoed all over. But a group on horseback rode about without regard for their voices, the rumbling of their hooves resounding as they tossed bottle-shaped ceramic vases at every building they happened upon.

The sound of breaking ceramic reverberated throughout the night. The ceramic vases were full of oil and were corked with burning rags. Each time the riders threw them against the walls, the wooden building burst into flames, and the intensity of the fire grew.

“It’s burning! The town of Thelmis is burning!”

It was a scream of agony and grief seeing the hometown where they were born and raised burn to ashes. But it was also full of fear and alarm at having been forced into this unexpected situation.

“It’s no good! We have to give up and run!”

Anger, sorrow, grief, and resignation were among the countless emotions that mingled with the dancing flames. Under the pale moonlight, the villagers sought a way to escape the infernal sight.

This world was far harsher than modern society as people lived far closer to death, and life meant little. Tragedies on the scale of bandit and monster attacks wiping out entire villages weren’t rare or unheard of. In this regard, the tragedy of Thelmis was just one of many taking place every day across the Western continent.

Still, it was unusual for a medium-sized town protected by barrier pillars and walls reinforced by thaumaturgy to sustain damage like this. Even on this monster-infested, war-torn continent, no force had ever attacked the town of Thelmis like this since its founding 300 years ago. The then King of Rhoadseria ordered the first Viscount Romaine to establish it, and the town has stood firm in the three centuries since.

That resistance wasn’t due to luck. Thelmis stood right between the citadel city of Heraklion, the country’s largest grain-producing area, and the town of Galatia, which stood at the Rhoadserian border with the southern kingdoms. As a result, Thelmis was a relay hub for the Heraklion-Galatia route.

For that reason, Thelmis had relatively strong defenses despite being a medium-sized town by definition. It didn’t have a moat, but its defenses were made of stone, while most towns and villages had wooden palisades.

The governor of Thelmis, Viscount Romaine, had another town in his domain—his main stronghold in the city of Prolegia—as well as over ten villages. Besides the 200 troops of the local militia, the viscounty also stationed 50 or so knights to defend it.

Had this been a domain near the border with a rivaling country, this would have been understandable. But Thelmis was well within Rhoadserian territory, with its position considered secure and its garrison unusually large. Even if a bandit group that numbered in the hundreds were to attack the town, this garrison would easily repel them.

Even for a respected

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