The trip was calmer than I expected, we arrived at the city at dusk, the fact that it took us a while to get to the city made me realize that we had really walked a lot, I had walked perfectly, I only felt tired after using magic, although I had already recovered what I had spent, and I felt like new, certainly the energy that my body possesses seems alien to me, although I have always been an athletic person by obligation, this was beyond just being athletic, it was directly doing things that would normally take me to the limit without any problem.
The boys didn't seem tired, and even though Verden's face was gaunt and he wanted to stay in a corner and cry, it was normal; he had been stabbed in the hand by me.
When we arrived and saw the city lights, Ashley leaned out the window. That would be enough to let us in, even in this crazy world. Her hair was distinctive and unique to her.
"I never asked you why your hair is that color," I asked him.
—It's a family illness. I'm not sure what the doctors' explanation is, but technically, my life expectancy isn't very long.
—Oh, I see... —My face may have changed a little to one of concern or fear because she noticed.
—Don't worry, in the end, we all sign the contract when we are born.
"But how small?" asked Doc, who was trying to rest with his eyes closed.
—Technically, I've already exceeded my life expectancy; they gave me eighteen years to live.
—For us, who live an average of three hundred years due to natural causes, it's terrifying.
Ashley and I smiled a little.
—Coming from a soldier, I think those are rather hypocritical words.
"Now why?" Doc braced himself for my answer; he was already beginning to recognize my tricks, and that allowed him to realize the speech I was about to give him.
—Check your records. You were about to have that kind of war even without me in this world, trench warfare. When you have miles and miles of trenches, you charge into a trench and it rains down body parts of your comrades, ripped apart by the artillery, crushed in the mud trying to get past the next line. But it's too late, the enemy charges at you with heavy, strong tanks, metal beasts that roar with the sound of their engines, and attack with cannons that can be heard above the screams. On that battlefield, reality distorts, and you begin to see artillery as a merciless god. The rain of shrapnel becomes your savior, but it also becomes your enemy when it wants to. Nothing is certain on that battlefield, so the luck factor really comes into play. Not dying doesn't depend on how skilled you are with the weapon or how flexible you are, it depends on whether or not you are the one chosen by the great god: Artillery! Soldiers' courage and skill are necessary—they're still necessary—to win those battles, but the reality is that no matter how hard you train, if you're running around under an artillery barrage, all you can do is lie on the ground and cry, praying for it to end soon. You don't know that from war, and certainly, even if you experience it, it won't be the same while I'm around you.
"Why not?" Grayson asked.
Before I could answer, Ashley got there first.
Sean was known as the most valuable general of the entire war, but the name the enemy gave him was "The Trench Demon." For enemy generals, having to fight in a city against Allied generals was a problem. So they made immense rows of trenches around the city, constantly launching skirmishes and kamikaze attacks inside. The trench lines were covered in blood and mud. When they decimated the initial attack, they usually crushed their enemy with abysmal ease, but that didn't happen with Sean. From the moment his troops touched the trench and the city, all their attacks were rendered useless. That was the problem with that fighting style developed to counter the incessant waves of troops being thrown in. Sean didn't just fight well in the trenches. None of the attacks to weaken the front worked. The large-scale attacks and strategies they carried out were soundly crushed. After all their attacks and many of their trench lines were taken, they began to panic and tried to hold their position, inviting Sean to attack. But that wasn't enough. Reducing their losses to a minimum, Sean attacked so quickly that they lost an entire country in just one week.
—By the way, that trick was stupidly simple. In fact, it was a strategy they'd used themselves in the past, when they put all their defenses forward and prepared for a storm. Although the storm did come, they didn't expect my strategies, which, while creative and designed for counterattack, would normally use all the trenches behind me to weaken me and give me a mobile defense supported by heavy artillery waves. The point was to destroy the artillery emplacement areas. Their huge mistake was thinking they could stop firing the artillery to move it to an area deeper in the trench; that was the flaw in their defense, and they knew it. But if they wore me out by luring me into one trench, then the other trench, then the next, they'd destroy me in months. I knew they had to move the artillery; I guessed it when their air defenses improved significantly and magically the machine guns fired as if they had infinite bullets. The point of artillery is to wipe out infantry troops. It's difficult to attack vehicles without expert gunners and observers, soldiers who were no longer in short supply. But the point is that artillery is effective when you throw a huge number of tanks at it; that was the point. Fast light tanks. When they ran out of artillery, I simply followed the law of the trenches. The medium and light tanks rolled right over the trenches. They didn't even bother to decimate the enemy; they went straight to destroy the enemy artillery. —I explained.
"Didn't the enemy have traps?" Rango asked.
—Of course, that was the other factor in the fight. The air defenses were carefully designed so that no matter how many bombers there were in the world, none would reach the artillery. But that allowed me to almost draw a path of craters up to a certain point… I think it was 4 kilometers between the last crater and the artillery. That was their problem. Yes, I lost soldiers and tanks, because as soon as the tanks left the crater, they were riddled with bullets or flew into the traps, but it wasn't enough to stop the entire operation. Once the enemy didn't have artillery, it was extremely easy. Without artillery, they couldn't retreat properly or prevent us from throwing ourselves like Neanderthals into their trenches. Suddenly, the god of shrapnel, who responded and attacked equally, began to speak a single language.
"So you sent soldiers to die?" Doc asked.
— We all do it, Doc. I try not to, but it's necessary to achieve something. But you can't tell a soldier you're sending him to die, because without morale and fear, you'll only make them make mistakes that cause the deaths of many more soldiers. But really, what did you expect, Doc? When you fight, you put your life at risk. But do you know why?
—Stop, stop hel… —Rango was interrupted by Mason, who had an arrogant smile on his face.
—We risk our lives to take them from the one in front of you. It's the price we must pay in blood.
—Correct, we have no right to complain when fate dictates whether we die or not, but that's when the jewels of war really begin to emerge, soldiers who receive the gift of war. It's something that's difficult to teach, learning when to leave and when not to, where a trap is likely to lie and where it isn't. When you have an army with that skill, that's when you can start thinking of almost perfect plans where you don't have to sacrifice soldiers.
"That's why your monstrous workouts," Grayson said.
Verden, who had remained silent, was practically lost, as he didn't really have any context for what I was. Still, I suppose he didn't try to ask anything out of fear.
As we passed through the great gate in the wall, which was actually under reconstruction because we had blown it up during the attack on the city, we heard applause from one soldier or another, and Sabimbi, with his chubby face, gave us a warm welcome.
Sabimbi's face spread into a cocky smile.
"Did they try to betray him?" He already knew the answer; he was no fool, but he still found it funny to ask.
—But it remained just that, an attempt. —I smiled at him.
"May I speak with you alone, please?" Sabimbi asked.
"Of course!" I replied to Sabimbi, pointing to the wall. "Boys, take Verden to the dungeons!"
"We don't have dungeons," Rango replied.
—They fit one to his liking then.
Rango and Doc liked the answer so much they were almost jumping for joy like little kids. Honestly, I don't know what was going on in their heads.
I climbed the stairs of the wall with Sabimbi, as we walked I noticed things that I should have noticed before, since I met him he had given me his absolute trust without question, without making a single complaint, I doubt even that Sabimbi knew my story because I didn't tell him, simply since I saved him he made himself available to me and I should have taken it for granted given the situation. Honestly, I knew so little about the man that I felt ashamed of myself, had I screwed up, was that why he wanted me to talk to him?
While they sounded like questions from an elementary school child, when you're fighting a battle, you have to avoid any doubt to ensure loyalty. You don't want those protecting your back to be targeting you instead of the enemy. This was relatively different from what had happened to me in my world, mainly because I was the traitor.
When we reached the wall, it wasn't empty; there were obviously lookout posts, but the wall was so high that it offered the best privacy in the area.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" I decided to take the initiative as we walked along the edge of the wall.
I have to say that knowing that I could fall, but that nothing would happen to me at most, was an interesting feeling.
"We haven't had a single conversation since I met him. Although I know quite a bit about you because the soldiers tell your story all the time, it struck me that I don't know my leader, and that my leader trusts me without knowing who I am," Sabimbi said.
Although Sabimbi was a slightly taller man than me, he had adopted the position of a little boy at that moment, as if he were asking his mother for permission to leave after being scolded for not eating his soup.
—Relax, your request is normal. It was me who acted wrongly. Now, to answer your question, it seems pretty obvious to me...
I was silent for a moment, but not because I'd finished speaking. I swore I saw Ashley mounted on the wall, but that would be relatively impossible. Spying on us like that was madness, even for her, and considering she fears for her safety more than I do, it seemed impossible to me. I continued talking without giving it much thought.
"When I came across the forest base, it was going from bad to worse. Its general had long since surrendered, but you, my friend, were fighting knowing that it was almost a given that you would lose to the fire god. I'm sure you made very good defenses to stay alive. When I checked your base, I didn't see anything run-down like my own base when I found it; it was relatively prosperous. I have no doubt that you were a good administrator and a good soldier. While I haven't exploited your abilities to their fullest extent, I gave you tasks that I knew you would be well suited for."
"You surprise me and flatter me, but I find it odd," he replied.
—Do you find my trust in you strange?
"Both of you, let me explain; we know each other very little. You are a walking question, for you literally came from another world and preach the word of freedom, while you give our engineers—or what's left of them—destructive weapons that to me are a marvel. What I'm living seems like a fairy tale. I'm afraid of waking up one day and realizing that this is all a dream. Even so, I fight side by side with you, enjoying a trust that, in my eyes, is worthy of having fought many battles together, of being great friends… That's what I think, but I'm not even sure it's right for a general to think that. I wasn't educated at officer school; I was a normal soldier who took the reins after the former leader died," Sabimbi argued in a warm voice.
Now, a cog in the mechanism I needed to understand Sabimbi had appeared. The reason for his behavior, the reason he followed me, was because he wasn't a general. Even so, he had demonstrated incredible skill considering he had no training in the subject. Truly, that's what I saw, and that's why I believed the story that he was a general. None of them dared to tell me the truth, not to me or to Ashley, who would have told me right away.
"I understand everything better now, but you know, Sabimbi? You don't have to worry." I put my hand on his shoulder.
-Because?
—Even if you haven't studied, I still stand by what I said I saw. You may not be the best in the world, but it happens. War shapes us and forces us to improve, to evolve, and that's where heroes or people to be feared emerge from the battlefield. You shouldn't feel ashamed of being an uneducated general; be proud, because you're on par with those bastards who, with their pompous suits and disciplines, still lose disastrously to you.
"Then I'm leaving." Sabimbi, with a big smile, headed for the stairs.
-You're sure?
He offered me a warm smile
—Let's win this war.
I gave him a smile, and he walked off. By building our trust that way, it was stupidly easy, mainly because I didn't have to lie. But that caught my attention in a positive way. Sabimbi wasn't stupid; he understood the issues perfectly. He asked about the issues I didn't know about so he could feel confident fighting with me.
Ha! He says he's not a general, I swear. If half the generals I've dealt with were like him, my betrayal would have been perfect, and my friends would still be alive.
I turned around to look at the city beneath my command. Honestly, I should have cared more about it, but fighting a god is quite tiring and time-consuming. I have no choice but to trust Ashley, who I know is doing her best, perhaps even better than I am. Being a soldier is one thing, but knowing how to manage a city is quite another. I really know the basics.
Something on the ground caught my eye, several strands of red hair were lying flying on the ground, and as far as I could remember only Jane had that hair color.
When I peeked over the edge of the wall, I burst out laughing. Ashley was pulling Jane's hair while on her back; Jane was standing vertically on the wall. Jane seemed to be joking that Ashley was going to fall; I assumed this was because Jane was defying the rules of physics instead of just hanging on like a normal gossipmonger (at least normal to the sick of this world). Though I assume the spell has nothing to do with gravity, since her hair was still pointing downwards, so I mentally retract my statement that she was defying the rules of physics.
"Can you explain it to me?" I didn't finish the question properly because of the laughter I felt.
"This crazy woman wants to throw me out!" Ashley screamed desperately as she clutched Jane's hair.
She ignored the pain, pretending to fall to scare Ashley, and since she didn't need to hide her presence, she let out her laughter, it's the first time I've seen her smile like that.
"She wanted to see what Sabimbi wanted to talk to you about," she said, still laughing and joking with poor Ashley, who was desperately trying to reach the wall to get out of Jane's hands and save her precious life.
"You wanted it too! Don't lie!" Ashley exclaimed, still hanging.
Seeing them like that made me think that these two had been talking quite a bit while I was lying unconscious from exertion, but that, in a way, made me happy.
"Come on, let her up," I asked Jane while we were still crying from laughter.
Jane walked to the top of the wall; she had managed it thanks to the dragon energy I had been teaching her, but I could see little else from this distance.
Ashley hugged the ground.
—I promise I'll never leave you again, little one.
We sat on the edge of the wall while we dried our tears from laughing so much, even Ashley was just putting on a show so we could all laugh together, and although she only wanted to watch the sunset, the three of us saw something else, a man was flying directly towards us.
I signaled to one of the soldiers to spread the news without setting off the alarm, so as not to cause panic. He probably didn't want to fight; he wouldn't have come alone when news spread that I'd defeated the fire god and had kidnapped a general.
—Jane, I need you by my side, I don't think he's a normal magician —I asked him.
"It isn't," Jane confirmed seriously.
"I wish Azumi was okay by now, but it looks like several of her pig wounds got infected," Jane commented.
"What do you say, Doc? Will she be okay?" I was a little worried about Azumi.
-Alright.