Bab 160: The silent war I
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Today I will be on standby to answer questions as I will be writing the next chapters today.
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-Pov of Mervyn seventh moon 286 AC
Walking through the city, I looked around at the many buildings rising from left to right in the newly constructed city.
'Everything is so different here… but it makes sense. All the resources of our blessed king have been managed close to the seat of his power.'
The sound of a powerful bell drew my attention to the most prestigious building in the city, a large cathedral that towered over the city.
'Wow… that is a place where God can truly be honored.'
"Mervyn, stop wasting time and go prepare your things. Soon we'll have to head out to the streets to help with public order," my commanding officer called out to me, looking quite stressed.
"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," I said, turning and saluting immediately.
"Great, take your men to the buildings at the gates. That's where we'll be quartered while we're here… You have the morning off as a rest day because soon we'll be working every day," said my commander, adjusting his war medals and heading towards where the mayor of the city should be.
I turned and went to my friends who were unloading their luggage from the carts and gave them the orders from our commander.
Our new home was one of these enormous buildings that were as tall as one of the towers of Harrenhal. We quickly distributed rooms with the other captains and organized how the cleaning would be done, since to our surprise this building had all the bathrooms connected to the city's latrines.
"Hauptmann, so what are we supposed to do in the city, spies again?" one of my subordinates asked, recalling what we had done over the past weeks.
The few weeks we had been serving as Prussian soldiers, we had to support the frumentarii, although no one calls them that anymore, now just by where they come from. The Finns investigated and found their targets, and we were the muscle that broke down doors and fought hand-to-hand in the spies' hideouts.
The spies we had fought were from Qohor. It seemed the city's blacksmiths were incredibly furious and envious because they had lost the title of the best blacksmiths, and that led them to hire a large group of spies from Essos who had been slowly populating Ashford with the desire to seize the secrets of the Prussian forges. But we managed to stop them with minimal casualties: only two forge workers died while we killed and captured more than seventy spies, who were quickly tortured to discover their employer.
"A bit of everything… you know, beating up drunks and crazies like the septons, watching out for spies, so remember what the Finns taught us, and making sure nobles from other territories don't try to get smart with the free people living under our king's protection… long may he reign," I said to the sergeant who had taken out one of the city maps.
"I see, we got the north zone, like controlling the whole field up to Highgarden," said the sergeant, pointing to our work area.
"Yes, but that's a problem for two days from now. We have a day to get to know the city," I said, stretching a bit.
"Then which tavern are we going to?" said another one of my sergeants, and they all looked at me with that stupid smile.
"Ahh… ha, ha, ha, you bastards, this is the last round I'm paying for. Just because I got a lot of gold as a reward for capturing spies doesn't mean you can expect me to pay for everything. You also got your damn share, leeches," I said with a smile as we all laughed.
After that conversation, we went to the local taverns where we could enjoy the refined liquors of the area, since in Hornhill they were rare. I understand there is a lot of local consumption or merchants buy it all before it can be distributed to other territories. The only problem is that my damn friends drank like they were condemned to death just because I was paying.
It was good to relax since the first day of service turned very ugly.
With a group of thirty of my men and axes in hand, a Finn gave the order, and we smashed the door, quickly forming lines and entering the building in a closed formation.
As we moved, out of nowhere a bastard came out with a mace and tried to hit the first one in, striking hard on my subordinate's shield, who managed to react in time but still fell to the ground.
I, who was third in line, had a spear in my hand, which I quickly used to impale his right arm before he tried another blow, giving the one in front of me time to pin him against the wall.
"Tie him up quickly, take him out of the building… can you continue?" I gave orders and then attended to my subordinate, who nodded and quickly got up.
We began to have small battles in each room with small groups, showing that the experience gained in Ashford was paying off, as we were very coordinated even in the quite confined space.
We checked the other floors of the house where the rats were hiding, but there was no one else. When we came out of the house, we found the rest of my soldiers and officers who had surrounded the house by all possible escape routes, and we had captured these spies. Now it was just the torturer's job.
"Excellent work… return to your routine patrols, we'll call you if we need men with experience in raids," said the Finnish officer, pointing to the prisoners to take them away.
"Everyone okay? Nobody missing fingers or any body parts?... No, good, because we have to keep patrolling," I asked and then gave orders after hearing some laughter.
We divided into groups, giving autonomy to my sergeants to subdivide their groups while I would monitor the northern area outside the walls with a group of my men on horseback.
But it didn't take long for us to encounter more problems. A group of mercenaries was causing trouble. Luckily, the chief of police had been very kind in giving me several batons for these events.
We quickly surrounded the tavern where there was a fight.
"Well… well… well, what do we have here?" I said, tapping the baton on my gauntlet, drawing everyone's attention with the sound.
The fight between the mercenaries stopped immediately upon seeing themselves surrounded. To my surprise, the innkeeper was fighting two mercenaries at the same time in his workspace.
"Orders?" the sergeant asked.
"Let me talk," I responded to the sergeant.
"Alright, scum of society… swords, daggers, or anything that can kill someone, on the ground NOW," I said, raising my voice.
Some obeyed immediately, others remained expectant.
When I gave the signal for a group to enter, the remaining mercenaries dropped their weapons on the floor, and we quickly took them prisoner.
The innkeeper approached me while cleaning his sword of blood.
"What happened?" I asked.
"That group there tried to threaten me into not charging them. I broke that one's nose with a headbutt, and the one on the floor holding his guts, I slashed his stomach. The other group of mercenaries actually helped me, which is why they surrendered as soon as they saw you," said the innkeeper, quite calmly.
"I see, take these to the dungeon… excuse me, but how did you obtain the sword? Only Prussians citizens are authorized to carry weapons, except those permitted by the king," I ordered and asked the innkeeper.
The innkeeper did not respond, he simply showed me a medal with the Iron Cross, an unmistakable symbol that he was a Prussian veteran and .
I immediately saluted him, and he returned the gesture.
"Great skill with the sword, I must say, to take down two and keep two others occupied," I said, praising the veteran soldier's ability.
"Surviving Roon's training and years on the battlefield. I won't let myself be killed without taking several with me, especially with these. These mercenaries are very green and very stupid," the innkeeper replied.
"You showed honor… something rare in your field. Make sure it is documented and reported," I addressed the mercenaries who helped the innkeeper and then gave orders to the sergeant.
"I wish you a good day, honorable man. You all help this good man put order in his establishment," I said goodbye to the innkeeper and gave orders to the rest of my men as I began to move outside the walls.
But before we got far, we encountered pickpockets stealing near the market. This was quite difficult since we were in plate armor and it wasn't easy to chase those vermin. We had to split up and try to corner them in the streets, which we managed to do, and we were able to return the valuables.
"What the hell is happening in this city? We haven't been on duty for three hours, and we've had problem after problem," complained the sergeant accompanying me.
"The tournament has attracted everyone: knights, merchants, but also the scum of society, thieves, and smugglers. As long as this situation lasts, we will be doing this for quite some time," I said as I mounted my horse and we began to ride north.
Our patrol of the roads was much quieter. The only problem was that we found a merchant with one of his wheels broken, and we helped him change it so he could continue with his work.
"Hauptmann, to the east I see men with swords apparently attacking a caravan,'" said one of my men with his spyglass.
"Damn, these bandits are bold. We are in the heart of Prussian power and they decide to attack here,'" I said very surprised, but quickly took my crossbow from my saddlebags and reloaded it. Everyone imitated me, and we began to gallop.
"Banners! ... Banners?" said the soldier leading the group, almost as surprised as everyone else.
We stopped our steeds at the recommended distance, when one can distinguish the enemy's eyes ensuring a lethal bolt, and we all raised our crossbows.
"What does this mean?" I asked in a dry tone to the heavily armed men but far from plate armor, who were tying up all the members of the caravan and putting them in cages.
"Recovering something that is mine," someone in full armor responded.
"Serfs?" I said while pointing my crossbow at him.
"Yes, these wretches were granted to me along with their village as a reward for my loyal service, but it seems they forgot they are my property, so I chased them all the way here," replied the knight.
"Prove your claim. How do I know they are not free people protected by the king in Prussia?" I replied without much interest.
"Mervyn… it's clear they are not from here… Look at their clothes, they are not wearing anything one would normally buy in one of the king's shops… just rags, they are serfs," one of my friends whispered to me.
"As much as he is right, we will not allow him to do whatever he wants in our king's territories," I replied without taking my eyes off the knight.
"I don't have to prove anything to you, they are mine,'" the knight responded.
"Of course you do, because otherwise you would be kidnapping inhabitants under my protection and that will end badly. Your complaint must be made at the border posts to receive your compensation or conduct an investigation about your peasants," I pointed out to the knight what he should do.
"I don't want your lord's filthy gold, I want my property that is here…" the knight tried to speak.
"Listen well, filthy barbarian. It wasn't a suggestion, IT WAS AN ORDER, and you will obey it or there will be bloodshed here. I assure you that when this is over, I will have you hanging from the nearest tree as an example to all your degenerate peers who think they can do whatever they want here in the king in Prussia lands ," I said, already tired of giving the false knight opportunities while drawing my sword and having the crossbow ready to start the fight with an advantage.
The false knight cursed and spat on the ground before leaving with his tail between his legs, and immediately all those serfs began to thank us like crazy.
"Well, we're done here. Tie them up and have them sent to the border," I told my men after waiting for the group of degenerates to move away a bit.
"Do we have to, Mervyn? Look at them… they are emaciated, only God knows how much they had to escape from that wretch," said one of my friends.
"Yes, they are the property of that noble, and we will not cause problems for our king," I said without thinking much.
"Please, Mervyn… I know you grew up in a house of men-at-arms and never lacked food on the table, but if they decided to escape, it is out of sheer desperation. The price of grain is very low, and they depend on it, and surely that bastard will punish them harshly," my friend told me, grabbing my forearm.
"Ugh… fine… fine, we'll take them to the honorable Teutons and they will decide their fate, but I can't do more than that," I said, dismounting my horse, taking off the gauntlet from my skillful hand, and drawing my dagger.
"Where are you from?" I asked as I began to cut the tight ropes.
"From the crown lands… sir," responded a man with large dark circles.
"A long journey… you could have stopped in dozens of cities," I said as I stopped cutting the ropes.
"Almost all cities are across the river… you have to pay a toll to use the bridges, unless we prove we live here… and our destination was always here. Many joined us and we didn't have to pay the toll at the bridge over there… we heard from some merchants that a new city had been erected that would house hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, guaranteed work and a solid roof over our heads. It was worth the risk rather than breaking our backs working almost all day for our lord to take almost everything," the man said, looking towards the city.
I nodded and we began to cut the ropes and helped them down from where they were caged.
'Wow, what soft hands that woman has.'
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PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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