Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Winters arrived to find someone clutching Bard's leg, weeping with snot and tears.

"You... you are..." Winters recognized the person at once, but couldn't recall his name, "You are... You're the fat... That captain of the Bandit Gull?"

——cut——

The following day.

Morning, a light breeze.

The once bustling Red Sulfur Harbor no longer exhibited its past liveliness; the docks, usually noisy with people, now stood eerily quiet, with not a single ship in the bay.

Only a few seagulls remained on the pier, staring blankly at the rolling waves.

The master of Hongsong Manor, Kalman, brought a cartload of meat, vegetables, wine, and water, along with his nephew, to "comfort the troops" at Red Sulfur Harbor.

To say "comfort the troops" was actually to check on his own laborers. A medium-small plantation like Hongsong Manor employed fewer than fifty slaves in the fields and only seven armed guards.

Outsiders thought the guards were private soldiers, but in reality, the plantation guards were essentially laborers. Unlike slaves, they received pay and carried weapons. Catching runaway slaves was part-time; usually, the guards did lighter tasks, and during the busy farming season, they also worked in the fields.

After all, a small plantation couldn't afford full-time soldiers. But being on an island with nowhere to run meant slave escapes were rare, and those who did flee didn't get far.

The council of Red Sulfur Island was, of course, fully informed about the situation of small plantations like Hongsong Manor. Thus, the manor's contributions were mainly in the form of money and grain, not manpower.

Even so, Hongsong Manor still had to provide two men who could handle their weapons and ammunition well, skilled in using muskets, aged between twenty and forty, and also cover their salaries and any potential compensation fees.

In the noisy tavern, two laborers unlucky enough to draw the short straws were drinking and complaining bitterly with their boss. Kalman was at once consoling them and making promises.

Kalman's nephew sat quietly beside his uncle, never interrupting, just humbly listening. Whenever someone's cup was empty, he would promptly pick up the bottle and fill it up.

Both guards found this modest and mild-mannered young man very agreeable. The older of the two thought to himself: "The master's nephew was quite the rascal as a child. Who would have thought, who would have thought, he's turned out to be something these six or seven years later."

...

The carriage clinked along the cobblestone road, heading away from Red Sulfur Harbor.

Kalman showed the pass sealed with the council's wax stamp, and just like on his way in, he passed through the checkpoint without trouble. Red Sulfur Harbor was now under strict martial law, and civilians could only enter or leave with a pass.

On the edge of the town, hundreds of conscripted laborers were working vigorously, widening and deepening the existing moat and using the excavated dirt to build an embankment around Red Sulfur Harbor.

Winters observed all these things and took mental notes. Explore hidden tales at empire

But what he saw was more than just this.

On the main road of Red Sulfur Harbor, a stake was erected every ten meters or so, each with a human head nailed on top. The weather was hot and humid, and the heads had begun to rot, releasing waves of stench, attracting crows pecking at them.

These heads were all taken from the corpses of Venetians.

The Red Sulfur Harbor council used this method to declare victory to everyone on the island.

They were also intimidating the islanders, for not only "enemy" heads were spiked on stakes, but also those of "traitors."

Winters looked at these stakes, unable to describe the extreme rage he felt at that moment, shaking all over, nearly biting his teeth to shards.

"I have done everything you asked of me, and the council will never let me go," Kalman implored in a subdued voice. "Please let my wife and daughter leave, let them go to my father-in-law's house. They won't let a single thing slip, I assure you, I can stay as a guarantee."

Through careful questioning, Winters had already learned about the state of the war. After leaving the ambush site, the Vineta Fleet immediately blockaded Red Sulfur Harbor, trapping Winters and his small team inside, and now the Tanyrians were being surrounded by the Vineta Fleet.

The Red Sulfur Island council had built forts at several possible landing sites, and the Third Legion had launched several probing attacks from the northern beaches, none of which were successful.

Winters surmised that the Third Legion's losses were small, because although the Red Sulfur Harbor council claimed a significant victory, no new heads had been put on stakes in the last few days, and they had produced no other tangible evidence of their military prowess.

This proved that the Third Legion took their fallen with them; even when attacks failed, they retreated in order.

The main forces that had fought the Third Legion recently were mostly militia and the Tanyrian Confederation guards; the council had realized that pirates were not suitable for major combat, so the majority of pirate forces were sent to less critical defense segments.

"As long as you don't do anything that threatens our security, the safety of your family is completely guaranteed. We are not bandits; we are trapped here."

"This..." After thinking hard and hesitating, Kalman finally made up his mind. He spoke haltingly: "Perhaps I have a way... to get you out."