No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 50

The company commander quickly jumped down from the ground. After seeing him filling the hole, he picked up a shovel and helped, while also asking, "Is there anything wrong with Lacey?"

"How to say?"

"So, did she smell anything unusual?"

"The smell in the trenches is never pleasant... but if you're asking about poison gas, then there's definitely none."

"I think so too."

The company commander shrugged as he spoke, "Miller also said he didn't find anything unusual, but the people who came to inspect still looked like they were facing a major threat. They investigated here for a long time and took water and soil samples to take back for testing."

"Are they stupid? If poison gas mixed with red gas could still be absorbed through the skin, would we still be alive and well? Don't they know how long it's been since the first red gas attack?"

Paine had a different opinion: "It's better to be careful in this regard. The French have far more advanced poison gas technology than the Germans."

However, the company commander had no interest in continuing the topic. He went on to say, "In a couple of days, once those experts confirm that this place is completely safe, someone will come to inspect it, and we'll also hold an award ceremony. Your Lacey will be one of them."

The company commander only mentioned Lacey, and then, remembering that the matter of the beast girl throwing grenades couldn't be made public, Payne immediately recalled: "Is it because of the incident where Lacey caught the spy?"

"Yes."

“That’s good.” Payne nodded. “It’s just a pity that medals can’t put food on the table.”

The company commander added, "If you want, I can award your orcs some edible medals."

"I will have Heinrich get some good stuff, and then I will make it into medals and award them to you."

"The higher-ups may not know your achievements, but we brothers know very well why B Company only suffered single-digit casualties in this attack."

Chapter 77 LXXVII. Macro Situation

Payne was very fortunate to have met such a good company commander.

Belyenk had attended high school and had furthered his studies at a military academy after the war began; these two points alone already surpassed those of many junior officers who were temporarily promoted.

Because of his knowledge, he highly valued soldiers who were even more knowledgeable, including Payne and Miller. He would always listen carefully when his soldiers offered suggestions.

Moreover, he had no airs of a military officer and would never punish soldiers without cause.

He spent almost every moment with the soldiers of B Company, working alongside them and chatting with them like a friend. He would also advocate for the reasonable requests of his subordinates to his superiors.

In battle, he always led from the front and would never order B Company to fight to the death without careful consideration in order to gain medals.

Although he still couldn't treat the beast girls equally due to the limitations of the era, he would at least regard Lacey and the others as comrades-in-arms who would risk their lives for him, rather than as expendables or slaves.

For example, considering that the achievements of the beast girls in the attack should not be known to the higher-ups, he decided to hold a ceremony to award medals to B Company himself.

The emotional value provided is truly abundant.

If the first thing Payne would be willing to give his life for is saving the beast girls from dire straits, then the second would be his company commander, Belyink.

Before coming into this world, Payne had no idea what "treating soldiers like children" actually meant.

But after meeting Belyink, and especially after comparing him to those domineering and scumbag officers, Payne concluded that if even someone like him couldn't be called "a son to his soldiers," then no one else deserved that honor.

Therefore, Payne had no objections to the company commander's arrangement and readily agreed: "Then I'll trouble you to make the arrangements. I'll keep it strictly confidential and give Lacey and the others a surprise~~"

However, after a moment's thought, he asked, "Speaking of which, are we going to stay here for a while?"

"Yes." The company commander nodded. "I estimate we'll have to stay here for quite some time to come."

"Aren't we going to keep going?" Payne asked, somewhat surprised.

"Oh dear, this is a long story..."

The company commander sighed softly and told Payne about the information he had gathered from several neighboring companies:

Although the French resistance was far less fierce than expected, the fact that B Company suffered such minor losses was still an exceptional case.

Whether it was the barbed wire that hadn't been completely destroyed, the high-quality landmines, or the French actually poisoning their own territory, all of these caught the German army off guard, causing many companies to suffer heavy losses.

Moreover, it is certain that this victory was achieved even after the French army had already withdrawn its forces.

As for why the French army stopped, judging from what the company commander found out, perhaps Payne's previous guess was not without reason.

Although the territory behind this defensive line is the territory of the Fasfulo Empire, a large area beyond it is just farmland with no strategically valuable targets.

The French deliberately built defensive fortifications on a large scale in order to allow the German army to gather as many troops as possible and commit them all to this front.

However, the French deliberately weakened their defenses here to draw the Germans' attention to this very successful offensive, allowing them to launch an offensive on another, more important front.

According to information gathered by the company commander, the major city of Minston, less than 100 kilometers away, is under heavy attack by the French army, and given the current situation, it is very likely that it cannot be held.

As for the German troops here, they are now in a dilemma:

If we advance, Minston will likely fall, and the salient created by this offensive will fall into the enemy's pincer attack.

Retreat would severely damage their morale, not to mention that abandoning the territory they had already occupied would be a serious blow. Even if they turned back immediately, they might not be able to catch up with the reinforcements for Minston.

Even if the command had the courage to grit their teeth and charge all the way on this front, even if the German army could advance deep into the territory and slaughter the French army, there would still be an insurmountable barrier between them and the heartland of the Fasfort Empire—the Black Mountain Range.

From this perspective, the French plan was arranged with a hint of arrogance.

Upon hearing this, Payne seemed to be seeing a miniature version of the Schlieffen Plan, and couldn't help but marvel at the cleverness of the French command.

Unfortunately, there were also ambitious and eager-to-achieve results within the French command; otherwise, they should have at least lured the enemy deeper into the city for a few more days before attacking Minston.

While Belyink still harbored deep feelings for his homeland, the Dexter Empire, Payne, a time traveler from 21st-century Earth, had absolutely no feelings for it.

In this dog-eat-dog war among imperialists, no matter who wins, the fate of ordinary people will ultimately be unfavorable, so he doesn't really care.

Therefore, Beljink, who was recounting the story, seemed somewhat worried, but Pine, the listener, only analyzed the impact of the battle on both sides from a purely strategic and tactical perspective.

Regardless, the beast girls definitely deserve credit for the German army's ability to breach this defensive line in just one day.

The company commander then said that he learned from several prisoners that the French troops on this front already knew the location of their decoy.

Therefore, when B Company broke through three lines of defense with unstoppable momentum, the French troops on the left and right did not attempt to encircle them from both sides. Instead, as if afraid of not being able to escape, they completed a rapid and orderly retreat with extremely high military discipline.

From the air, one could see that the entire battle line was centered on B Company, with the French troops on both sides retreating one after another like falling dominoes.

Many German soldiers found themselves in a situation where they were prepared from the outset to fight the French to the death.

But for some reason, the French resistance gradually weakened as the fighting progressed, and their advance accelerated. In the end, they inexplicably captured the last trench...

When the company commander got to this point, Payne was still a little dazed.

Really? Four beast girls indirectly influenced the course of this battle?

Although beast girls have physical abilities far exceeding those of humans, they are still made of flesh and blood. Can they really play such a significant role on the battlefield of iron and fire?

As the saying goes, if you're a carbon-based life form, don't even think about using firearms. Monster movies are all lies.

But after careful consideration, Payne also realized:

The French army, from top to bottom, lacked strong will to resist and had long been prepared to retreat; his four beast girls merely accelerated this process.

The participation of beast girls can indeed change the face of war to a great extent, but such a change cannot be achieved by a mere four beasts.

However, it could at least save the lives of a company.

Thinking of this, Payne looked up at the sunset on the horizon, listening to the distant rumble of cannons that had been going on all day and showed no sign of stopping. His thoughts gradually drifted away from the war.

Most of the companies that participated in the first few waves of attacks suffered heavy losses, so they were ordered to set up camp and rest while waiting for reinforcements.

After that, whether the command chose to advance or retreat was no longer of much concern to them.

B Company could be said to have gotten lucky.

Now that I'm free of worries, I can focus on looking forward to my serious business with Ruby tonight.

Chapter 78 LXXVIII. Building suspense

After dinner, Ruby originally planned to get down to business with Payne immediately, but unexpectedly a "postman" appeared out of nowhere, so all the soldiers of B Company swarmed around him, and Payne and the beast girls were no exception.

Ruby was initially angry that yet another person had ruined her plans, but then she had a change of heart and realized that she could use this opportunity to make the final day of the Divergent different from the past.

After saying hello to Payne, Ruby happily went back to set up their shelter.

Clean the floor, sort and put away useful items, throw away useless items, make the bed neat and tidy, and light two candles to add ambiance.

After a moment's thought, Ruby realized that Payne might not be back for a while, so she took out a handful of pine nuts from her pocket, put them in the lunchbox, and slowly roasted them over a candle.

Although they had considered that Payne had the strange habit of drinking hot water, they had to give up on the idea because they didn't have the right fuel.

After completing all the preparations, Ruby sat on the bed with anticipation, waiting for Payne to return.

The trench was quiet; the faint sounds of artillery fire and people talking seemed to be far away, and the occasional crackling of burning candles added to the quiet.

This is so slow... I can't even wait a second longer...

Thinking this, Ruby sat on the edge of the bed, her hands supporting her on the bed, her short legs that couldn't reach the ground gently swaying.

After an unknown amount of time, Ruby, whose heart was itching with desire, finally heard footsteps at the door. A familiar figure lifted the tattered curtain and walked in.

"Ruby, I'm back! Whew—"

"Welcome back~~"

Ruby happily went up and hugged Payne around the waist. "Who wrote you the letter? A friend?"

Payne casually ruffled her hair, then sat down on the bedside. "Miss Mary."

Ruby's face immediately fell. "Would you die if you told a lie?"

"The fact that I'm not lying to you proves that I haven't been hiding anything from you, doesn't it?"

Payne deliberately spoke in a pitiful tone, casually taking the lunchbox containing pine nuts off the shelf and pulling the candle closer to begin opening the envelope.

This scene enraged the little squirrel, who grabbed Payne's head and started biting it, yelling, "Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?!"

"Hey, hey, stop messing around, stop messing around, almost done, almost done..."

Perhaps exhausted from the splitter, Payne didn't feel the power of the squirrel's incisors at all, and only verbally dissuaded him a couple of times.

"There's no way this could possibly be fixed 'immediately'!"

Ruby pointed to the letter, which was almost as thick as a finger, and exclaimed, "Did she write you a real love letter?!"

"Love letters, love letters, love letters, is this all you can think of, you little devil?"

"You still know I'm on the splitter!!"

But no matter how much Ruby made a fuss, Payne seemed to have made up his mind, sitting there motionless, quietly reading the letter by the dim candlelight.