What Do You Wish For With Murky Eyes: Record of Highserk War - Chapter 22

After escaping the jaw’s of death, Walm withdrew from the front lines until the shoulder wound healed, spending three weeks in the captured church at the foot of the mountains. The Highserk Empire’s forces, though extreme for the era, did not harm church personnel.

The shoulder wound was deep, reaching the bone, and the collarbone was broken. Skin and bone were connected with healing magic, but for a while, Walm had to remain at rest, living a life free from war.

The Ferrius soldiers barricaded in the mines, with their outer edges cut off, slowly began to disintegrate. While the Ferrius soldiers could withstand it in terms of provisions and numbers, the endless war, coupled with pressure, finally led them to surrender to the Highserk forces.

A messenger was sent with a threat that if they did not surrender immediately, everyone, both soldiers and civilians, would be massacred. The Ferrius soldiers who yielded to the final warning descended from the mines one by one.

Though not all of them were emaciated, common features were visible; they all had dark circles under their eyes, and their complexion was pale. Some were shaking all over or muttering to themselves.

Without any entertainment in the town and with the wounds healing, Walm had been watching people pass by, including prisoners and soldiers. However, that too came to an end today.

“You seem well.”

Jose greeted Walm upon his return to the original unit.

“Healing magic is amazing. Even wounds that would take several months to fully recover were healed in just one week.”

Walm rotated his shoulder, proudly showcasing the mended collarbone.

“Oh, welcome back. You’ve returned.”

The speaker was Noor. Her armor had more scars, but her face was filled with more confidence than before.

“It’s been tough since then. Squads were deployed to capture several walls, but Barito…”

Noor paused and directed his gaze to a patch of shade. Walm, intrigued, followed his gaze, and there stood Barito, with his impressive crest of hair now only half its former height.

“Haha, what happened to the cockscomb? Did you change your hairstyle?”

Barito protested, “I didn’t change it. I got hit by an enemy magic user!”

“Barito was targeted while was running up the slope, and the swaying cockscomb must’ve caused the fire spear to miss its mark. His body was unharmed. His hair’s a bit of a mess though.”

Perhaps recalling the scene, Jose also burst into laughter.

“Well, the cockscomb wasn’t entirely useless then. Everyone seems to be okay, but what about Squad Leader Duwei?”

While Willart was sitting a bit away, Walm couldn’t see Squad Leader Duwei anywhere.

“He was urgently summoned by Platoon Leader Kozul.”

“With this place settled, are we finally invading the inland?”

Initially, the Highserk army had focused on weakening Ferrius’s national power, but perhaps the enemy’s exhaustion was more severe than expected. There might be a possibility that the war could end sooner than anticipated. Walm found himself hoping for that.

In the Liguria Battalion, which had captured the mine, an optimistic atmosphere prevailed.

“Ya know, these guys don’t put up much of a fight.”

Soldiers belonging to the Highserk Empire’s army, part of the Sarria Battalion, muttered seemingly unimpressed. Stacked at the edge of the village were Ferrius soldiers and villagers who resisted during the village’s occupation. In contrast, the bodies of Highserk soldiers were extremely scarce.

Ferrius prisoners, whose faces no longer retained their original shapes due to beatings, were occasionally jabbed in the side with stones and forced to continue working without rest.

“The decent soldiers are all dead in Myard. The remaining ones are probably in major cities or guarding the borders of other countries.”

As the soldiers entered Ferrius’s territory, the Sarria Battalion experienced five battles of various sizes, all victorious. The entire battalion was said to have less than 100 casualties. Currently, the battalion had split into company units, systematically looting from the surrounding villages and depleting Ferrius’s national power. Naturally, the Sarria soldiers accepted these spoils.

“Not bad at all. Thanks to this, we can loot as much as we want. In Myard, we couldn’t get anything decent, be it goods or women. In Ferrius, looting and rape go unpunished.”

The man spoke while caressing the surface of a looted ring. Since infiltrating Ferrius, the meals of Sarria soldiers had become richer, and quite a few soldiers were adorned with what could be considered extravagant, high-quality items.

“Come to think of it, there were guys who couldn’t endure it in Myard and got whipped. Damn fools.”

The soldier said with a vulgar grin.

“But we’re eating well, and the women are so pleasant to hold.”

In Myard and Highserk, there were many thin women, and even in terms of skin and hair, many were rough. The women the soldiers obtained in Ferrius were considered superior compared to them.

“That’s right. I get carried away easily. I’ve overdone it, and now it hurts.”

The man rubbed his groin while declaring, and received a barrage of insults from his comrades.

“Yours is too soft. Look at mine.”

“Hah, where is it? It’s too small to see.”

“Hurry up and put that filthy shit away.”

A soldier who was slightly away from the conversation circle spoke.

“It’s about time to move on to the next village. We’ve taken everything we can.”

“When Kanoa fell, I wondered what would happen, but winning is the best. I’m glad I joined the Highserk army.”

The soldier had been a prisoner of the Highserk Empire during the old Kanoa campaign but was released after four months of forced labor without being killed. Afterward, he enlisted in the Highserk Empire’s army.

The surrounding soldiers had similar circumstances. Soldiers who had only experienced defeat were now reveling in the sweet taste of victory for the first time.

While the soldiers continued their banter, they were abruptly silenced. A dazzling flash occurred, and a massive explosion erupted in one corner of the village.

When the dust settled, the collapsed watchtower and the storage shed where the soldiers were staying came into view.

“What’s that light!?”

“The watchtower and the Talus Squad got blown away.”

Even though they were relaxed, the frontline soldiers quickly reacted. They prioritized putting on armor that offered reasonable protection and tried to identify the nature of the explosion.

“It’s an attack! Its a ᶂucᶄin’ magic user using large-scale magic!”

A voice from one corner of the village conveyed the situation.

“Damn, they’ve reached into the village already—”

The soldiers who had been engrossed in conversation also noticed the enemy presence.

“Some decent soldiers are still left, huh?”

From the vaguely visible figures, the soldiers realized that the enemy’s equipment was of high quality. From head to toe, they wore armor, and it was evident that they were not crudely assembled militia summoned for an emergency, but well-trained regular soldiers.

“Watch out for friendly fire.”

“These guys are different from the soldiers we’ve faced before.”

The soldiers who had entered the battle first were already lying on the ground. Despite having the advantage, it was an unusual situation for experienced Highserk soldiers.

“Damn it, Tarkin’s squad got swallowed.”

“These guys—they’re not Ferrius soldiers, they’re from Craist.”

“What’s happening? Even against Craist, it’s one-sided.”

Craist was one of the mid-sized countries in the vicinity. Their border is not near Highserk making them an unknown opponent with which they had no combat experience against and as fellow soldiers continued to be buried one after another, the soldiers began to curse.

“This can’t be a joke. It’s the Rehauzen Knights of Craist. They’ve teamed up.”

Craist had two armies: one consisting of farmers and soldiers, and another of knights who served in the military for generations. While there were still individuals referred to as knights in the surrounding areas of Highserk, the Craist Knights were particularly feared as the most formidable.

“For every knight down, the bastards kill ten more.”

A charging soldier had his upper body, along with the shield, cut into pieces, while another soldier had his torso crushed by a war hammer.

“The difference in physical abilities and magical power is too much. And there are so many damn skill users among them.”

When facing the Knight Order, no matter how strong the renowned Highserk soldiers were, if they fought head-on with the same numbers, they couldn’t escape being at a disadvantage. Moreover, with the element of surprise, combined with continuous large-scale magic, the formation and command structure were completely severed.

“Abandon the village. Give up anything other than what you can carry.”

The veteran squad leader decided to retreat on his own. Since there were no instructions from the platoon leader and he judged that they were taken down in the initial attack, he made the decision.

“Damn it all! We gathered all this stuff.”

“It’s better than dying. Dealing with opponents like them should be left to the Jáfe Cavalry Battalion and the Liguria Battalion.”

The two mentioned units were among the Highserk Imperial Army’s most formidable forces. In the Myard War, these two units had taken down Winston Myard, securing victory.

The squad with a clear direction surged towards one area of the encirclement to break through. The number of knights wasn’t large, and once you excluded the knights, there wasn’t much difference between them and the regular Ferrius soldiers.

A Highserk soldier, who had killed two Craist soldiers with his spear, was convinced that he could break through the encirclement. However, as if blocking his path, a boy stood in front of him.

“Resistance is futile. Surrender.”

“Get out of the way, brat!”

The opponent was a soldier with black hair and black eyes, with a lingering youthfulness. It felt as if he hadn’t even experienced his first battle, and his ornately decorated armor seemed mismatched. With a threatening tone, the soldier thrust his spear towards the man’s throat.

“Wait, that guy—”

One of the soldier’s comrades, who could see the growing magical power, intervened. The sword swung down, emitting light.

“Wha… the light!!”

The soldier’s vision was enveloped in light, swallowed by flames, and consciousness was instantly severed, never to return.

The Sarria Battalion suffered significant losses, with three companies that had separated to secure provisions being annihilated, resulting in 700 soldiers unaccounted for.