Road to the Crown

Chapter 262: Am I going to die?

30th July 1574

"Elia! Are you okay?!"

Nearly knocking the huge doors out of their frame with my kick, I entered the mansion in haste. From the fact that the gate to this grandest building in the entire area was still standing, one could assume that no enemy managed to slip inside this place, yet with how easily I managed to pry open the doors, especially with how the news of the attack finally ending has yet to circulate through the entire place, rather than calming down, I could feel my heart raising all the way up in my throat.

"..."

With no answer coming to calm my nerves, I made sure that the ammo I got from one of the soldiers that was smart enough to bring more supplies to me as soon as he saw me, I reloaded my ammunition, discarding the empty magazines right on the floor, unable to care about reusing them. After all, while soldiers were supposed to keep all of them in their bags so that rather than recreating the entire thing, our manufacturing plants could limit themselves to producing more ammunition in general, I was a damned commander of my entire army and direct owner of all of their equipment! In a moment like this, I simply couldn't be bothered to care about stuff that at best, could be worth less than a few silvers!

"ELIA?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Shouting her name like that wouldn't yield the most obvious results. Rather than hoping to make her come out, I wanted to achieve two other purposes by doing so. First, was to alert all the possible enemies hiding within this enormous building, that the reinforcements finally were here. By doing so, I could hope that they would be smart enough to realise that lingering here wasn't as potentially profitable anymore! After all, what use would one have from the robbed riches, if he wouldn't live to enjoy them? 

As for the other aim of mine, I just wanted to make sure that if Elia was hiding somewhere around the mansion, then she would at least hear my voice and remain hidden for as long as it would take me to make sure this place is safe!

"Sir! Manual detachment from the eight army reports on duty!"

After a moment of footsteps, the main hall of the building instantly became busy with people all uniformly dressed in the clothes provided by one of the private investments of the other nobles that was set in the area, indicating that the force I requested to make sure this mansion would turn safe finally arrived.

"Search every nook and cranny of this place. Any enemy, kill on the spot. If my wife will be in danger, protect her at all costs."

As much as I wanted to kill every single damned enemy that dared to set foot in my lands, I knew that in such a dire situation as this could end up being, I couldn't afford such direct approach. If the worst came to be

BANG!

Before I could even finish forming this thought of mine, a sound of a rifle firing shook my eardrums, resounding through the entire mansion. 

"Elia"

In this one moment, all other thoughts disappeared from my head. I didn't care about the war, about the revenge, about the future. All I could think about right in this very moment was whether my wife was safe!

"FIND THEM!"

At this point, I couldn't forgive myself from what turned out to be a great oversight. By allowing others to complete this entire place without even a shred of supervision, I had no chance to prepare any kind of safe-room, where my wife or other retainers could hide in the cause of danger. And what was absolutely the worst, was that even if such room existed in this place, I highly doubted that in just the past few days, the creators of this place would find the time to actually give Elia a proper tour!

"Sir, on the second floor!"

Hearing the news, I instantly rushed towards the stairs, but as soon as I set my foot on the first one, another noise of a rifle shooting resounded. In this one instant, I suddenly felt something both insanely cold and chillingly cold appearing on my cheek. 

Raising my eyes, I looked towards the upper part of the mansion, only to spot several, loosely dressed soldiers of Ostros, aiming their weapons at me!

'Thank God'

With how there was not even a single sight of them keeping any hostages, I could only feel an insane relief spreading through my body, before my instincts or something entirely else that I could name, tensed a part of my muscles, instantly pushing me off the stairs to the side.

BANG!

As if the enemy waited there only for me, right when I moved to dodge their attack, another salvo ensued! At least, those enemies didn't have repetitive rifles that were already common in the arsenal of my troops, culling their ability to fire to a single shoot! 

"KILL THEM!"

While I could feel something penetrating my body in two different places, the euphory of knowing that Elia was most likely safe along with the adrenaline rush caused by appearing in the direct line of fire, blocked all the pain from overwhelming my mind. With the last bit of air remaining in my lungs, I made sure to alert all my troops, sending them directly against the enemy upstairs!

Bang, bang, bang

As I fell to the ground, I could already hear the sound of my rifles pouring fire on the enemies, instantly reaping their lives away, and clearing the upper floor from any danger.

"PROTECT THE LORD!"

What a funny way to call me While it was undoubtedly true that I wonder nearly ninety percent of everything that was in the area, outside of several small businesses opened by crafty merchants and craftsmen that sensed the opportunity, there was still one thing that I lacked possession in here. 

The land.

But that didn't matter at all at this moment. With the adrenaline rush quickly clearing up from my veins, I could finally feel what being shoot it felt like. 

Devastating.

That was the only word that I could come up with, as I felt my consciousness slowly slipping away. Using the remaining strength that I had, I prompted my head up, taking a look at the state of my body.

Broken leg, already missing a huge chunk of the muscle flesh from it. But despite how gore it was to look at, it wasn't the worst part about my injuries. Yet even with that, I could only praise the Lord for the fact that the shot that went through my belly, rather than ripping half of my insidious out, only turned my side into a bloody mess.

"MEDIC! BRING US A GODDAMN MEDIC!"

As my vision was starting to blur, I could still see the silhouettes of my men rushing towards me, and attempting to stop the bleeding with some random cloth they found, either by ripping their own uniforms into parts or just grabbing anything that could be used as a temporary bandage.

But that wouldn't be enough. 

It didn't take a genius, historian or a medic to know that just bandaging my wounds wouldn't be enough, especially with how the cloth used to do so was most likely already dirty enough to be more dangerous than the wound itself in the long term!

Yet as if something was changing in my mind, the weaker my handle over my mind was, the clearer my thoughts were. How could I stop myself from dying right now?

"MAKE SPACE!"

In just a few moments, the constant ringing of the ongoing fight finally stopped, replaced by the shouts of someone in a clear rush. While my vision was already fading away, I could still make out general shapes of the things, allowing me to recognise one of the men who entered to be the same officer that I praised in my mind about his report. 

"Fuck While the bleeding is stopped Quick, bring me some booze, hot iron, bread and spider's web! At once!"

While I could be happy that at least this man knew anything about the basic of the medicine of the current times, the memory of how my wound looked like made me certain that if I didn't do anything, I would still end up dying right in this spot!

Yet for some reason, despite my eyes already not providing me with any information, as soon as I heard someone running and people screaming orders, my hand involuntarily reached upwards, grabbing something moist and soft.

In one moment, I saw a strange option, right in my already blackened out window. 

"Purify the medicine?"

"Yes/No"

Medicine? What kind of fucking medicine could I purify in the current times?

But rather than allowing my mind to linger on such stupid questions, I realised that if I didn't risk it all, I might not have another chance to realise how stupid I was!

That's why, despite knowing how risky it was to use the option that the system provided for me, I decided that it was time to go all in!

"Pater noster, qui es in caelis"

With the last bit of my remaining strength, I started chanting one of the oldest, catholic prayers, while focusing all my mental strength on pushing the imaginary option.

"Yes."