Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Supply Cheat: Normalizing the South (2)
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"Bark Makre!! You betrayer of the jungle!! Show yourself at once!!"
His rage-filled shout echoed across the entire wall.
"Daring to invite foreign powers into our sacred jungle just to preserve your withered old body?! This Juk Sun will personally execute you for defiling the spirits of our ancestors!"
The troll clad in animal hide standing beside him growled as well.
"It's time to pay for breaking the jungle's laws, old man! Do you think your walls can hold back our fury?!"
"Open the gates and offer up your neck right now! Otherwise, I'll separate your bones from your flesh along with those frail empire fools you trust!"
The furious cries of the two chieftains reverberated fiercely below the walls, just as the imperial expeditionary force and the Rak Talri tribe arrived.
Amid the savage roars beneath the walls, Rak Jin gripped his obsidian axe tighter, but his father, Chieftain Bark Makre, held him back.
The old chieftain stepped forward from the watchtower in place of his son. His voice was aged, but resolute enough to shake the entire jungle.
"Betrayer?"
The silence was broken by Rak Jin. He leaned on the wall's railing, roaring down at them like a superior looking upon inferiors.
"Juk Sun! Agdra! You are the betrayers of the jungle!"
His rebuke momentarily silenced the enemy clamor.
"What is this 'jungle law' you speak of?! Waiting for a neighboring chieftain to die, then preying on the gap to plunder and steal their land—is that your 'tradition'?!"
Rak Jin pointed toward the thousands of minor tribe refugees who had fled into the walls.
"Look at them! These are the people who fled here seeking survival from your barbaric terror! You talk of the jungle's horrors, but we speak of survival. Who is the one unworthy before our ancestors?!"
Juk Sun's face twisted in rage.
"You dare...!"
At that moment, a low, dignified voice cut off Juk Sun—the voice of Chieftain Bark Makre, resounding across the field.
"Son, they have no ears for the truth."
Bark Makre stared straight at Juk Sun and Agdra, their eyes bloodshot with fury.
"Juk Sun, Agdra. You claim I've defiled the jungle. But this old man asks you: what is true defilement?"
He asked softly toward the enemies below.
"Is it the sacred law of the jungle when our fruits rot in two days, when children drink tainted water and die of sickness? Is it your 'tradition' that my son, heir to the Rak Talri, must slave as a dockhand for rotting food?!"
Bark Makre's voice gained strength.
"We didn't invite foreign powers! We chose fair trade! We accepted the technology to lift the curse of the jungle's heat, exchanging our resources justly in return! While you prepared to plunder, we built these walls, drank clean water, and saved our people!"
"What is this jungle law you speak of?! Children dying from rotten water? Toothless elders starving because they can't even swallow stinking meat porridge?!"
He pointed proudly to me and the imperial soldiers standing atop the wall.
"These are not invaders. They are our allies, our guests who willingly marched far to protect their subjects! Threaten us, partners and allies of the Empire, and you will pay in blood!"
"Sophistry!!"
Juk Sun's face burned crimson with rage.
"Don't be fooled by that old fox's silver tongue, warriors!"
He raised his massive bone club high toward the sky.
"Their so-called trade and technology is the poison destroying the jungle! They'll steal our lands and turn us into slaves for those frail empire weaklings!"
Agdra growled from beneath his swamp serpent hide helmet as well.
"Enough talk, old man! Your tongue won't stop our axes!"
Juk Sun thrust his club forward with a roar.
"Full assault! Tear down those stone walls and purify the jungle with the blood of traitors!"
—BWOOOOOOOOO—!
Once more, the enemies' war horns blared.
"Waaaaah!!"
Responding to the horns, thousands of troll warriors shook the earth with their battle cries.
Raising clubs and axes high, they charged recklessly toward the Rak Talri walls.
"Warriors! Ready your javelins!"
Rak Jin urgently shouted, readjusting his grip on his obsidian axe.
But even in that hellish moment, I remained calm atop the wall.
My gaze wasn't on the charging troops, but on the two chieftains watching from the rear: Juk Sun and Agdra.
"Sergeant."
At my quiet call, an officer in a surcoat emblazoned with the Valerius crest stepped forward, hefting a heavy metal tube over his shoulder.
"Do you see that massive boulder to the left of where those two chieftains stand?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Target it. One shot only."
"As ordered."
The sergeant unhesitatingly positioned the long stock of the heavy metal tube between his arm and body.
The tube was the imperial secret weapon, issued only to frontline units: the mana handcannon.
Engraving complex mana circuits and rifling into the long barrel required immense manpower and time, and compressing expensive mana stone powder instead of gunpowder made its cost astronomical.
Yet it was an asymmetrical weapon that even low-skill conscripts could use to shatter armor and fell master-level foes in one hit.
Soon, the sergeant aimed the muzzle and ignited the mana circuit.
-BOOOOM!!
The deafening roar tore through the war horns and thousands of shouts, shaking the jungle.
A flash of blue mana left the barrel, slicing through the air.
The condensed mana projectile struck the boulder, unleashing a horrific shattering sound.
The rock exploded like glass under a giant hammer, hurling hundreds of fragments screaming outward.
"......!"
The thousands of troll warriors charging the walls halted in unison at the unbelievable sight.
The cheers died. An eerie silence fell over the battlefield, broken only by the ringing in their ears.
Juk Sun and Agdra stared blankly at the spot where the boulder beside them had vanished.
A fragment grazed Juk Sun's cheek. He looked up at the wall in fury.
Then his red eyes froze in terror.
A atop the wall stood dozens—no, hundreds—of imperial soldiers shouldering the heavy metal tubes that had produced that roar.
They weren't aiming at the charging troll horde.
Hundreds of cold muzzles were locked precisely on two targets alone: Juk Sun and Agdra, the chieftains' hearts.
Juk Sun's arm, raising his club, froze in midair.
"......Halt."
Agdra growled first. Instinct told him this fight had left the jungle's laws behind.
"All forces! Cease attack! Halt!"
The charging trolls stumbled to a confused stop.
They glanced between the imperials atop the wall and their frozen chieftains.
Rak Jin stood dumbfounded, axe in hand, in the bizarre situation.
I gestured to the soldiers.
With hundreds of cold muzzles still fixed on the two chieftains, I shouted down at the enemy.
"The charge is over, Juk Sun!"
"......"
"One more step from here, and the next won't be a rock—it'll be your heads. Withdraw!"
Juk Sun's face twisted in rage and humiliation.
He glared at the wall, but couldn't escape the hundreds of deathly stares upon him.
Agdra growled first, lowering his club.
"We withdraw. But this isn't over, old man! And you, empire whelp!"
Juk Sun finally lowered his arm and bellowed through his shame.
"Retreat! All forces, retreat! Fall back from that cursed wall!"
The thousands of trolls ebbed away like the tide, vanishing into the forest beyond the wall's range into a buffer zone.
Silence returned to the jungle.
"Haa..."
Only then did I exhale the breath I'd unknowingly held. Rak Jin turned to me in disbelief.
"Saint! What was that just now?! We could've annihilated them in one go—why?!"
"Annihilate."
I lifted my helmet's visor, inhaling the humid jungle air. Sweat poured like rain.
"Rak Jin, have you forgotten how many days our army marched from Kandoria to here?"
"That's..."
"Five days. Even conserving strength on well-paved roads, the soldiers' legs are worn from the march. They're beasts ready to fight at any moment, but we're not. Battle isn't waged with accumulated fatigue."
I gazed at the forest where the enemies had vanished, relieved.
A head-on clash, even with walls and mana handcannons, would've caused losses.
Moreover, they could reinforce locally, while we were on expedition from afar.
Each loss stung, so caution was key.
"But they'll come back."
As Rak Jin said. The handcannons had only stopped the first reckless charge; the war wasn't over.
The walls were still half wooden palisade, and numerically, we remained outnumbered.
If they scattered and hit multiple points at once, this fortress could fall.
I turned to Chieftain Bark Makre beside me.
"Chieftain. We need to revise the plan. Call refugees familiar with the enemy situation."
.
.
.
Soon, refugees from Rak Talri gathered in small groups.
I gave them simple food, then questioned them on enemy movements and supplies.
"How do they procure food? They can't find enough in the jungle for thousands."
An old troll who fled the Raalak tribe shook his head at my question.
"Saint, that's the jungle way. They don't stockpile food."
"They don't stockpile?"
"No. The jungle provides all, so they forage locally. The whole tribe becomes a massive hunting pack, marching while hunting and gathering whatever's nearby."
Rak Jin nodded as well.
"It's true, Saint. That's the jungle way. Food spoils in two days in the heat and humidity, so they don't haul it from afar. They start with two days' personal rations, then forage on-site."
Hearing this, my grim expression eased. A faint smile even tugged at my lips.
'Local foraging?'
The enemies treated the entire jungle underfoot as their pantry.
But that very thing would become their fatal Achilles' heel.
They didn't stockpile. They had no supply lines at all.
The jungle was indeed bountiful, teeming with food. Undeniable.
Naturally, self-sufficiency and foraging had sufficed for wars until now.
But that worked for small skirmishes of dozens or hundreds.
On a battlefield where thousands of massive trolls from three great tribes gathered?
The food they brought would run out, and local game, fruit, everything nearby would vanish in a day or two.
So, if their local food disappeared?
No more swamp game, no drinkable water but rot, no fruits to gather?
A smile naturally crept onto my face.
Chieftain Bark Makre read my expression and asked puzzledly.
"Saint, why the smile? Their way is like an unstoppable plague. Nothing green remains where they sweep through..."
I shook my head at the chieftain.
"No, Chieftain. Quite the opposite. They've handed us the perfect path to victory."
I glanced at the quartermaster beside me and the watching soldiers.
"We don't need to fight like them. We do what we do best."
Rak Jin and Bark Makre looked puzzled at my words.
"What we do best... you mean?"
"Yes."
I immediately ordered the quartermaster.
"Quartermaster!"
"Yes, Commander!"
I grinned at his flustered face.
"Tonight, we feast grandly."
"Pardon? C-Commander! The enemy is camped right outside, and you want a feast?! We should ration for emergencies..."
I shook my head at his reasonable protest.
"No. The opposite, Quartermaster."
I gazed at the forest boundary where the enemies had vanished.
"They're charging straight toward starvation."
"Pardon?"
"Thousands camped in the jungle, foraging locally? The game and fruits nearby are drying up. They might have food now, but what about tomorrow, or the day after?"
I turned to the weary soldiers lined atop the wall after five days' march.
"We don't need to cross blades with them. We win our way. Not with weapons, but with what we excel at."
Napoleon once said something like this, I recalled.
An army marches on its stomach.
Smiling at the reality they'd face, I said.
"Our victory comes from morale, and morale from full bellies. Quartermaster, spare no ingredients from the fresh carts."
I grinned and added.
"Especially pork, sausages, onions—all out. Prepare the largest griddles, set them up atop the wall with the wind blowing toward the enemy camp. Grill and fry every meat where the soldiers can see—and the enemy can smell."
"And...?"
"Pour out the sauces unlimited."
The quartermaster's face twisted in shock.
"...! U-Unlimited...?!"
"Yes, unlimited. Aioli, tartar, bolognese, marinara, Thousand Island, all the new sauces too. Let the soldiers slather as much as they want on bread and meat."
I grinned.
"Tonight, this fortress becomes the grandest banquet before starving wolves. Let the garlic and roasting meat scents overwhelm the jungle, keeping them sleepless amid the swamp's rotten stench."
Then, turning to the jungle warriors and expedition soldiers, I shouted.
"This is our first battle. Prepare the feast!"