The choppers landed around 100 meters outside the town’s western gate and all of my men disembarked and secured the perimeter. Only when everyone had disembarked and a defensive perimeter was secured did Leah allow me to get out.

After everyone had disembarked, the choppers took off. I had them land in a large clearing that we passed by earlier. I had them retreat because I didn’t want to lose a chopper or the pilots. We’ll just contact them if we need some extraction. I also left a squad with the choppers that’ll act as the pilot’s guard or can be called as reinforcements later.

The engineers were the first to head to the gates and planted some charges, the 1st platoon was covering them. I say covering them, but there isn’t even a single enemy soldier on the wall. Most of them either died from our earlier assault or ran away.

After a few minutes, most of the engineers went to our position after setting up charges along the gates. The engineers were also carrying a cable reel and a detonator with them. Once they reached our position, they cut off the wire from the spool and connected it to the detonator. “Sir, the charges are set. We’re waiting for your command.” one of the engineers said.

The soldiers all looked at me expectantly and waited for my command. Not wanting to let them wait any further, I gave them the command to blow up the gate, and we all took cover behind trees, boulders, and anything solid that could protect us from the debris. We might be around 100 meters away from the gates, but we still needed to take cover just in case debris would reach us. The engineer holding the detonator pushed the handle down which was followed by a loud explosion a couple of seconds later.

The gate was blown into smithereens and we saw that behind the gates, the defenders had gathered. But because of the explosion and flying debris, their formation was in tatters with dozens of men laying in their own blood, crushed by stones that went flying, or were impaled by large splinters from the wooden gate. They appear to be reforming but we won’t give them the chance. Our weapons are still very much effective at this range. AK47s, MG42s, and Kar98ks all opened fire at the enemy which resulted in a bigger hole in their formation.

The enemy formation began to crumble as they began to retreat one by one. Seeing this chance, I had my men advance with the flamethrower unit at the lead. I’ll have them burn down any obstacles in front of us, we’ll still try to avoid civilian casualties as much as we could though. The flamethrowers might be able to further reduce enemy morale, that’s why I had them lead our formation.

Once inside the town, we encountered a group of enemies. The flame trooper immediately unleashed hell on them. Some of the enemy were screaming, “DAMMIT! THESE ANTI MAGIC ENCHANTMENTS AREN’T WORKING!” Sorry bud, those ain’t magic. The ones in front immediately caught fire and ran around as they flailed and wailed. Those at the back were lucky enough to only get scalded and managed to run away. The civilians who happened to witness everything were trembling in fear and didn’t know what to do.

I stepped in front of my men and called out to the civilians, “If you want to live, gather your relatives and flee the town for now. This town will surely be destroyed. To those who don’t have any place to go to, head north to the town of Nareña.”

The civilians appeared to be confused after listening to me, but after a few moments they all ran away. I hope they’ll take my offer and flee the town. They can start anew in my town.

After all the civilians had fled the area, me and my soldiers proceeded through the town’s main road.

+ + + + +

The Crown Prince hastily put on some clothes and went to the door. But before he went out, he looked at Cess and said, “We’ll continue this later.” before ordering a maid to bring her back to the cellar.

The maid fixed Cess’ clothes and whispered to her ear, “I’m sorry you had to go through that.

Cess could only look at the maid with eyes filled with tears and fear. She was still traumatized thinking what would’ve happened next. As she began to imagine what could’ve happened, chills ran down her spine and she just hugged herself tightly. The maid watched Cess worriedly as she escorted her to the cellar.

Once they were inside the cellar, the maid undid the heroes’ blindfolds and removed their gags. As soon as Rika saw Cess, she tried to go to her but since her foot was still tied, she fell down. Cess went to the corner of the cellar and sat down hugging her knees. Her eyes were lifeless and unfocused. Her classmates, especially her friends, looked at her worriedly.

Rika tried to stand up again and glared at the maid, “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?” she asked angrily.

The maid stepped back because of Rika’s sudden outburst, “I-i didn-n’t do anything to her…”

Despite the maid’s excuse, Rika continued to release all her pent up frustration at the maid. Her friends only watched as Rika continued to verbally lash out at the maid.

After a couple minutes have passed since Rika lashed out at the maid, the 2 SAS teams stealthily entered the mansion’s walls. Using their suppressed smgs and knives, they quietly took down the unlucky guards. After eliminating the guards in the vicinity, the SAS teams split up. The Bravo team was to enter the mansion while the Alpha team will secure the courtyard.

“Bravo-1 to command, we’ve entered the mansion, over.”

“Alpha-1 to command, we’ve split up with the bravo team. We’re now securing the courtyard, over.

“Command to SAS teams, 3 helos and a squad will head your way. The squad’s callsign is Hunter. Patching you up with Hunter-1, over.”

“Hunter-1 to SAS teams, our ETA is 5 minutes, over.”

“Alpha-1 to Hunter-1, we have secured an LZ. I repeat the LZ is secured. How copy, over.”

“Hunter-1 to Alpha-1, solid copy, over.”

“Copy that Hunter-1, we’ll wait for your arrival. We’ll pop a smoke in the designated LZ, over.”

“Roger that, keep the LZ clear and wait for our arrival, Hunter-1 out.”

As the Alpha team secured the LZ, Bravo team entered the mansion. As their operation started, the entire team went dark in accordance with their ROE. “Bravo-1 going dark.”

The members of Bravo team entered the mansion from the second floor window. Armed with their suppressed smgs they cleared the entire floor. To keep the operation as stealthy as possible, they only communicated using hand signals.

After making sure that all rooms on the second floor had been checked and cleared, they proceeded to go downstairs. They continued eliminating the hostels that they encountered. For the non-combatants that they encountered, they knocked them out. But for the enemy guards and such, they were immediately put to sleep, permanently.

Not even 5 minutes have passed, but the Bravo team has already cleared the entire mansion, except for the cellar. With only the cellar the only room left, the members of Bravo team slowly descended down the stairs.

Upon arriving at the bottom of the stairs, they found a door which they promptly opened. Inside they found the heroes and the maid. The heroes were surprised to see the armed members of the Bravo team break into the cellar.

“Wh-who’re you guys!?” Jose asked.

The Bravo Team however didn’t respond but just proceeded to go to the heroes backs and undid their binds. Another SAS member pointed his gun at the maid. The heroes were all puzzled at the sudden turn of events and were just watching in surprise.

After a few minutes, the heroes' binds were all undid and they were free to go. But Cess just remained in the corner and refused to move. Rika came to her side and hugged her, “Cess? What’s wrong?”

Their other friends and classmates followed Rika and comforted Cess. But amidst the heartwarming scene, a radio static broke the entire scene.

“Bravo team has secured the packages. I repeat, Bravo team has secured the packages. Requesting immediate evac, over.”

“Command to Bravo, rendezvous with Alpha. Evac is on the way, ETA 2 minutes, over.”

“Copy that command, Bravo team out.”

After the exchange over the radio, the Bravo team members ushered the heroes and the maid out of the cellar. The heroes initially were opposed to being led outside but when they remembered that the men had guns, they obediently followed them outside. The heroes all had the same question in their minds, but none of them voiced out their questions.

Carlo’s curiosity got the better of him so he asked the question to the men escorting them, “Are you guys Ian’s subordinates?”

The heroes looked on with bated breaths, awaiting for the men’s answer. A few seconds passed before the man on the lead stopped and turned to them, “We have no orders to answer your question.” He said before turning back at them and continued walking.

Once outside, they joined up with another 4 men in the courtyard. They waited there for a minute or two before they heard the choppers come and land in the courtyard. In one of the choppers, a squad of soldiers came out and made a perimeter around the choppers.

One of the soldiers approached the heroes and the SAS teams, "It's good to finally meet you, Alpha and Bravo team. I'm the one in charge of the squad codenamed Hunter."

"The feeling is mutual, Hunter-1." The alpha leader replied.

"Same here." The bravo leader added, "We've secured the package and they're now ready to be transported."

"Let them board one of the choppers now." Hunter-1 said.

The members of the SAS teams then led the heroes to the chopper. But as soon as it was about to take off, enemy troops began to enter the mansion grounds and formed a battle line as soon as they saw the choppers.

Hunter-1 signalled the chopper carrying the heroes to take off. As the chopper went airborne, archers started to shower it with arrows. But luckily for them, the helicopter's downdraft managed to ward all the arrows away. The enemy archers who saw this were astounded, "Tsk, they have anti arrow enchantments!?" One of them said before throwing his bow away and unsheathing his sword, "If arrows won't work, then swords must."

Members of the SAS teams and the Hunter squad opened fire at the charging enemies. The enemy's first line was instantly decimated from the first barrage. After seeing their comrades die, some tried to run off but were stopped by the knights leading them, "SHIELD BEARERS TO THE FRONT!" a knight yelled.

A shieldwall was formed at the forefront of the enemy formation. But no matter how thick the shield is or how strong the enchantment is. It was no match for the penetrating power of the 7.62x39mm and 7.92x57mm cartridges used by Ian's forces. Their shields were only plated with a sheet of metal at the front which can only stop low velocity projectiles at most. The same goes for the enchantments, they can only stop projectiles like arrows and bolts which could only travel less than 200 m/s compared to a bullet which could travel more than 500 m/s.

The enemy soldiers behind the shieldwall and the shield bearers themselves all fell victim to the power of guns. "DAMMIT! WHAT ARE THOSE MONSTERS!?" A knight yelled in despair, "ALL MEN CHARGE!"

Instead of charging, the enemy troops all began to retreat. Seeing this, the knights were at a loss for what to do next. But a single warning shot managed to convince them to run off together with their men.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Hunter-1 muttered.

"That's what happens when your force is made up of levies." The alpha leader added.

"Add the technological advantage we've got." The bravo leader also added. "We need to report to command now."

"Yes." Hunter-1 replied before calling his radioman. "Hunter-1 to command, we have repelled a company sized element and the package is currently oscar mike back to base, over."

“Roger that Hunter-1, we’ll notify the commander about your success, command out.”

At the same time that the SAS teams and the Hunter squad were leaving the mission area. Ian and his main force were still going through the main thoroughfare eliminating enemies all the while.

+ + + Ian + + +

As we were clearing enemies left and right, Leah approached me. “Sir, your friends have already been rescued.”

“Huh? THAT’S GOOD! We can actually retreat now then.” I replied, “Buuut, that’s actually gonna leave a very bad look. So, let’s carry on and take this town.”

In response to my declaration, my men let out a warcry that shook the air. “” URAAAAAAAAAA “”

We continued our march until we arrived at the town’s plaza where we met an enemy formation. In front of the enemy formation, the enemy commander was riding a white horse and was wearing majestic armor. He was riding back and forth while encouraging his troops. But once he saw us, he stopped.

“THE BARBARIANS HAVE FINALLY SHOWN THEMSELVES!” He shouted.

In response, I had my men spread out and prepare to fire. The enemy formation responded by forming a shieldwall.

Leah went ahead in front of our own formation to take command. I wanted to be at the lead but Leah said that we're in the enemy's range and I need to take cover. So she sent me inside a building overlooking the plaza. I can still fire from here so it's not like I can't participate in this battle. I also had a squad with me here as additional protection.

From the window of the building, I can see the enemy's bowmen preparing to fire. So I called the radioman, "Leah, come in. They're preparing to fire. You are free to open fire."

"Roger th- *Krshk* -at." Leah replied.

Not a second later, a cacophony of gunfire erupted. Outside I saw the streaks of tracers mowing down the enemies. The enemy archers at the back weren't spared. The enemy was wiped out easily, they weren't even given the chance to fight.

All our battles in this world have been so easy. After making sure that the battle was over, I went outside. “Check the area and look for survivors. After that, we’ll head to the eastern gate and negotiate with the army besieging this town.” I said to them.

My men proceeded to check the plaza for survivors, it only took them a few minutes to gather everyone. Most of the survivors they found were wounded but some were not. It seems like those who weren’t wounded pretended to be dead. Among the survivors was the commander who wore the magnificent armor.

Leah took me and led me to the wounded enemy commander, “Sir, this man here claims that he’s the country’s crown prince. What should we do with him?”

“Just treat him like how we treat the prisoners of war.” I replied.

Even though we’re in a different world, I still wanted to follow the Geneva Convention. Well, most of it, probably. I’ve already violated it by using the flamethrower in combat, though.

A few more minutes have passed and the survivors were all tied and the dead bodies were put aside for now. The survivors were left in the plaza with a squad guarding them, while the rest of my troops and I went to the eastern walls.

Upon climbing up the walls, I saw an army trying to get here. I need to act fast. Hey Wendy can you create a flag or coat of arms for me?

“Affirmative… What will it look like?”

I want a white background with a black cross, a black eagle on the center, and the words si vis pacem para bellum on it.

“Affirmative… Creating a coat of arms… Coat of arms created… “

After she responded, an image appeared in my mind.

Yeah, that looks okay. Give me a flag with this design on it.

“Affirmative… Purchasing 1 custom flag… Total cost is 50 points… Deducting total cost to total points balance… Remaining points is 42052… Purchased Item is in your Item Box…“

I took out the flag from my Item Box. Nice, it comes with a pole. It kinda feels funny that I was pulling a long pole from nowhere. I gave the flag pole to a soldier and said, “Wave this around.”

The soldier did as I ordered and I also had several soldiers cut down the kingdom’s flag which were attached to the walls. As soon as the attacking army saw a new flag being waved and the kingdom’s flag getting torn down, they stopped. They stood there unsure whether they’ll proceed or not.

We just waited for them to make their next move, if they’ll attack then we’ll respond in kind. But if we can talk this out, that’d be better.

A few minutes later and the soldiers outside cleared a path in the middle of their formation. In that path, a knight marched through. He had an armor that was as magnificent as the armor of the crown prince. He stopped right in front of the gates and looked at us.

“State your affiliation.” he demanded.

“We’re from the city-state of Parabellum.” I replied.

MrNerdie

I'm sorry for the lack of chapters in the past week. I actually just got out of the hospital earlier today since I tested positive for covid last week. They sent me to a hospital where I stayed until I got better.

Anyways, now that I'm back. Expect new chapters every other day again.