Staring out at the plains was a boring task and one that Bertrand was quickly growing to hate, however he didn't dare be negligent.
Glaring at the horizon spitefully. If enemies came for them then so be it.
The revolution had succeeded, they had won.
They were only just now finally able to live, how could they possibly die?
The age of mages was at an end, now was the age of man.
Noble blood had been split, knights had been slain, and overbearing merchants beheaded.
Bertrand had been but a lad during the time of the revolution but if they would have had him he would have fought for the revolutionaries.
And now that Franica finally belonged to the people a new threat was rearing its ugly head.
No matter what it took though, they would beat this threat as well.
Empires didn't rise and fall in a day, they remained standing for generations before collapsing.
And their empire had only just been born.
“See anything Bertrand?” One of the watchmen next to him asked.
“No, just the same old thing.” He replied.
Despite being cooped up in this fortified town for close to five days now he still hasn't actually learned anyone's name.
He just didn't really see the point anymore, what was the point of learning a dead man's name.
That was what they were after all, deadmen.
More reports had come in of the zombies wiping out whole towns down at the alps. Even besieging and destroying cities.
Five days, it only took them five days to burn down centuries of progress.
One good thing to come out of all that carnage though as that it was Gaulion’s problem now.
It was their turn to be the punching bag, their rugged warriors were being forced into battle after battle.
Cutting down hundreds of reanimated Francia citizens only for a thousand more to replace them.
While Gaulion was being assailed diplomats were getting ready to ask negotiate for a non aggression pact with the Collition.
Apparently they were also dealing with the zombie menace.
With hordes of adaptors infiltrating and wiping out their garrisons.
That was the name given to the zombies that could shapeshift.
The zombie commanders were dubbed watchers, named due to their strange obsession with watching, well everything.
They were just as interested in different types of tree as they were in warfare.
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Or at least thats what Bertrand had heard.
He hadn't actually seen any watchers during his time manning the walls.
He had seen a few adaptors around though and have even partaken in forcing them back.
They were truly horrifying creatures, not as dreadful the watcher he encountered but still monstrous none the less.
They clambered their way up the wall, stabbing into the wood and hurling themselves upwards with their claws.
They still got pushed back though, obliterated by sheer overwhelming firepower.
It cost them two soldiers though, somehow the adaptors had evolved ranged weapons.
Hurling needle like teeth from their mouths.
It wasn't the teeth that killed them though, it was whatever was on the teeth that did.
Whether it was by design or just some disease that hitched a ride was unknown.
What was known was it was extremely deadly.
Even a mage had failed to heal the infected soldiers and had to simply watch them die.
It was a dire reminder of just how horribly unprepared they were.
For a start they were sent in based on loose rumours of mad men who were destroying everything they could get their hands on, and most of them actually thought it was a Collation ploy.
Now, now they weren't so sure that what they were fighting was even from their reality.
What type of sickness revived the dead?
What type of sickness twisted the human form so utterly that were it not for their general shape they would be unrecognisable as having once been human?
What type of sickness granted the infected such an intense craving for flesh that they would turn on friends and family?
There was one question that towered over all the others though.
A question asked at every corner of the town and at every time of the day.
Was this truly a sickness?
Or was this all engineered?
The prime suspect was Gaulion but they were under siege now as well.
And it obviously wasn't the Coalition.
They had the advantage in mages and a lack of morality sure was beneficial for scientific advancements, but they were also quite against anything that might enhance the average citizen.
And creating a disease that could allow once ordinary humans to mutate into monstrosities which could even fight on par with mages, well that fell under the forbidden umbrella of research for the Coalition.
Whoever or whatever it was that caused all this though.
Bertrand knew not just in his heart but in his soul that they would suffer greatly for their transgressions.
Francia had emerged from the Hawken apocalypse.
The great flames only served to strengthen their steel.
They would emerge from this apocalypse all the stronger as well.
As it had been so it would be.
They were vigilantly waiting for their reinforcements and when they did receive them they would purge everything.
A force of over ten thousand souls vs countless soulless husks.
The answer was obvious, It would their victory.
They would reclaim their lost land and depending on the state of the Coalition after all this was over, they may even gain some more territory.
For now though, Bertrand had to deal with theCrestless boredom that came from watching an endless horizon.
He coped with this by continuously practicing with his mana vein, purposefully overloading it and then repairing it.
The average lineman could completely recreate their mana vein in around two or three minutes.
Bertrand obviously took much longer, he wasn't really trained to repair it as there was quite a difference in how skirmishers fought compared to any other corps.
Linemen and infantrymen had to push all their natural mana through their heart and into the mana vein, overwhelming it and causing it to pop, the mana that did get through though would fire out as an overwhelmingly powerful projectile of pure force, capable of shredding apart a knight in full plate armor.