Chapter 139
Inside Olachi, currently under control of the Ant Army, 1030 hours.
In the distance, one could hear rolling thunder, but it was actually the enemy preparing artillery fire against the defensive positions outside the city.
Nelly carried a basket and exited the headquarters through the side door--General Rokosov's dormitory was part of the headquarters, so Nelly naturally lived there too.
Precisely because she lived there, she could fully make use of Lord Boye's kitchen to prepare meals for everyone in the headquarters.
Right now, she was heading out to gather ingredients for dinner.
Of course, the 151st Division's headquarters had enough food stored-after all, this place was planned to be the final urban melee defense point, so it had to be well-stocked with food and water.
But Nelly didn't really like military rations. As long as supplies were available, she intended to make something beyond standard rations.
Besides collecting ingredients, she also planned to deliver the mixed salad she made last night to Miss Lyudmila.
That was Miss's favorite food.
Nelly, carrying her basket, passed by the entrance guards.
The guards all knew she was the General's orderly and let her pass without even checking her identification.
As soon as she stepped out, Nelly froze, because the entire row of houses directly in front of the headquarters was engulfed in flames, and the residents of Olachi were working together to fight the fire.
Nelly looked for a few seconds and ultimately decided not to get involved in firefighting and to continue her task.
At that moment, one of the houses at the edge of the fire zone collapsed with a loud explosion.
Nelly was startled by the blast and stepped back.
One of the entrance guards said, "Don't worry. They're bombing the isolation zone-flattening buildings that catch fire easily, so the fire won't spread this way."
Nelly nodded, gripped her basket tightly, and continued forward.
She passed a crater and saw a child sitting blankly at its edge, lost in thought.
Beside the crater, the bodies of people killed in the bombing were laid out in a row, and a priest was holding a mass among the corpses.
Nelly quickened her pace, pattering through the city veiled in the smoke of war.
Soon she arrived at a building in the northwest corner of the city and nodded to the soldiers guarding the entrance.
The soldier opened the door and stepped aside.
A soldier manning a machine gun smiled at Nelly and said, "You're as punctual as always, maid."
"I'm the General's orderly," Nelly said.
"Then you should at least wear a garrison cap. Want to wear mine?" The machine gunner took off his own garrison cap.
Nelly showed a look of blatant disgust.
The machine gunner resentfully put his cap back on. "Fine, fine, I get it. Go ahead upstairs, don't let the Prayer Hand go hungry."
Nelly stepped inside and made her way up the stairs all the way to the loft.
The loft had two windows-one had its frame removed to mount a Divine Arrow launcher, while Lyudmila sat on the windowsill of the other.
Inside the loft were two female soldiers checking the reserve Divine Arrows.
Lyudmila held a book and was reading under the steadily intensifying midday sunlight.
Nelly said, "Miss? The battle has started."
Lyudmila put down her book and looked at Nelly. "But it has nothing to do with us. Nelly, come here. See the sound array on the rooftop over there? If the sound of enemy recon aircraft is picked up over there, this phone will ring."
Lyudmila pointed to the field phone on the chest of drawers beside the window. The phone line ran in from outside and was pinned at the window's edge with a big brick.
Lyudmila said, "And that's when my combat duties begin. Until then, I can only watch them. I can't do anything."
As she spoke, Lyudmila looked out toward the northern fields.
Lyudmila said, "It's actually quite calm up north today."
Nelly looked at the blooming plumes of smoke rising in the north and asked skeptically, "Calm?"
"Very calm. Don't be fooled by how fiercely the enemy is attacking-Alyosha surely pulled the troops back."
"Eh?" Nelly exclaimed in shock, "Alyo... the young master?"
"Yes. The Alyosha of now," Lyudmila smiled. "The Alyosha of today would never let his troops be swallowed by enemy artillery prep. His unit must've already retreated to the third position, which has better artillery defense."
Nelly gave a soft "Ha," then after a short silence, she asked, "Miss, so it's true......"
"Alyosha is Alyosha. Don't you like the Alyosha of now?"
Nelly nodded. "I kind of do, just not used to it yet."
"Men grow up."
Nelly was just about to respond when her attention was drawn to the situation on the city's west side.
A major battle seemed to be erupting in the west, with tracer rounds flying everywhere.
Nelly curiously watched that direction.
"Nelly," Lyudmila called softly, "Here."
Nelly looked down in surprise and found Lyudmila handing her a pair of binoculars.
Taking the binoculars, Nelly looked west. The Rokosov family was a military family-in fact, few Ant nobles weren't from military families, since under the empire's hierarchy, titles were basically tied to rank.
But the Rokosov family was the kind of "true" military family, so most of the servants had some military knowledge.
Nelly knew how to operate binoculars and could adjust the magnification.
So Nelly saw clearly that on the western highway of the city, Ant Army's tanks were locked in a tank battle with the enemy.
She recognized that those were the small tanks that had just arrived in Olachi a few days ago and joined under Brigadier General Rokosov-they were much smaller than T34s.
The opponents of these small tanks were also a group of small tanks.
These small tanks seemed capable of continuous fire, and most of their tracer rounds were green (Vehicle 1 only had machine guns; Type 2 tanks were equipped with autocannons).
But Ant Army's small tanks could fire shells, so the enemy quickly lost the upper hand.
Nelly, holding the binoculars, said while watching, "Looks like... we've got the advantage? So we're going to win?"
Lyudmila showed a bitter smile. "Alyosha said it might take three to four years, with tens of millions of casualties."
Hearing the casualty number, Nelly's shoulders shuddered, and the binoculars slipped from her hands, but she quickly reacted and caught them.
"Oh!" Lyudmila clapped, and the other female Protectorate Army members applauded too.
Lyudmila said, "Is that the reflex you trained to avoid breaking bowls and plates?"
Nelly blushed slightly.
She changed the topic. "Look, the enemy tank is smoking!"
"That's smoke. The Prossenians love using smoke-it's said to be mainly for defense against Divine Arrows. In Ronezh, the smoke really did block our firing range. We originally thought we could control an entire street with Divine Arrows, but once the smoke came, we could only control five hundred meters."
"Then Brother Yatsemenko-he wasn't a deputy knight yet at the time-ordered us to advance, and we ran into Prossenian infantry along the way. Our Divine Arrow company got wiped out, only a few of us were left."
"Ah, don't tell Alyosha. I haven't told him this part, so he won't worry about me."
As Lyudmila spoke, she gently patted Nelly's head.
Nelly said, "That's so dangerous......"
"It's the battlefield. For both me and Alyosha, who knows when we might be gone. Nelly, be careful. I think you should go back. I heard Count Rokosov bought a new estate near the Raul Mountains. If you go there......"
Nelly shook her head like a rattle drum. "No, I'm not going anywhere. I want to stay with you all!"
Lyudmila said, "Then you need to get a garrison cap. Otherwise, you don't look like an orderly."
As she spoke, she took off the hairband from Nelly's head and placed her own garrison cap on the maid's head.
"Hmm, looks pretty good." Lyudmila smiled.
At that moment, the phone bell rang.
As she shouted "Battle alert," Lyudmila picked up the phone. "Divine Arrow company, Monk Petro? Which direction? Got it!"
After hanging up, Lyudmila ordered the Protectorate Army, "They're coming straight at us. Fire straight back."
Then she leaned out the loft window and shouted, "Ivan! Prepare to relocate!"
Nelly said, "Relocate?"
"Yes, we have to relocate right after the battle. Last time we were nearly hit by the Prossenians' remote-controlled bomb-I don't know what kind of remote bomb Alyosha meant, but it was powerful enough to nearly wipe out our entire Divine Arrow company."
Nelly said, "Then I'll help too!"
"Sure. Take that! Head down first!"
At that moment, one of the Protectorate Army members shouted, "Target spotted!"
Lyudmila immediately looked out the window and indeed saw a twin-fuselage recon aircraft flying this way.
In the next moment, a Divine Arrow launched from the forest and hit it.
Lyudmila froze. "Eh?"
Nelly said, "What's wrong?"
Lyudmila stomped her foot in frustration. "Damn Katyusha (a nickname for Yekaterina), she stole my target!"
One of the Protectorate Army members said, "Just don't let her steal the General. Targets don't matter."
Lyudmila looked at the Protectorate Army and said, "Check the Divine Arrows! Report combat readiness in ten minutes!"
"Yes!"
Nelly said, "Yekaterina likes the young master too?"
Lyudmila said, "Oh yeah, he's a hot commodity now. Of course she likes him."
Nelly said, "Miss, you sound kind of proud."
"I am proud."
Nelly clicked her tongue, then suddenly remembered a bit of 'military knowledge.' "Wait, so Miss, are you guys now focused on air defense? Weren't Divine Arrows invented to deal with tanks?"
"Alyosha likes to use Divine Arrows for air defense." Lyudmila shrugged. "When it comes to wild ideas, he's still the same as ever."
----
At the same time, Wang Zhong sneezed several times in a row.
At this moment, a call came through the radio from the 13th Armored Battalion: "Lame Wolf calling White Horse, Lame Wolf calling White Horse!"
Wang Zhong: "This is White Horse, go ahead."
"Lame Wolf has taken out Vehicle 1 and Vehicle 2, which were cutting off our supply lines. We're now preparing to enter the tank emplacements and clash with Type 3 and Type 4."
Wang Zhong immediately switched to the unit's vantage point.
Although allied views weren't highlighted, checking the battlefield situation was no problem.
As a result, he saw a pile of wreckage from Vehicle 2 and Vehicle 1 near the highway.
Good grief, I told you to enter the emplacements and face off against the enemy's Type 3 and Type 4, but you went and took out Vehicle 1 and 2 meant for the anti-tank guns first?
That fighting spirit-excellent!
Wang Zhong: "Lame Wolf, nicely done, Lame Wolf, nicely done! Keep fighting."
Originally Wang Zhong wanted to say it three times, but in his excitement, he only said it twice.
"White Horse, leave it to us. Even if we run out of ammo, we'll ram the enemy and cripple them."
Wang Zhong: "No, I order you-achieve victory and return alive. Repeat, I order you-achieve victory, then return alive!"
There was a brief silence on the other end, then came the reply: "I'll try. Lame Wolf, over and out!"
Can't explode anything this morning, see you tonight. Yep, another five updates today.
(End of Chapter)