Herald of Steel

Chapter 1179: Stab (Part-2)

"Stop it! Stop it I tell you! Halt this madness! What do you think are you doing? Cease!"

At the initial breakout of hostilities, Lord Bernard tried to cool the men using his words, ordering them to restore order amongst the ranks at once.

He had hoped his sole status as a nobleman would be enough to make them yield.

Needless to say, that did not pan out at all the way he thought it would.

In the heated moment of battle, it was found that Lord Bernard's noble peerage mattered little to the rest of the crew, with the enraged soldiers feeling disinclined to follow this civilian who commanded so little prestige amongst them.

They completely ignored him, instead turning their attention to the much more important matter on hand, filling the decks with as many corpses from the other side as possible.

Thus the bloodshed continued, the melee being extremely bloody and macabre.

The decks were packed, letting both sides be spoiled for choices when it came to targets, but to kill these targets, the soldiers only had short swords with them.

So each man had to get up really close and personal to get the job done, and unlike when fighting with a sword where one good hit would be usually enough to get the job done, here, one skank with the dagger was never quite adequate.

So like in all the other instances, here too the entire thing turned into an extremely brutal affair, with bodies being lacerated and gutted in the most sanguinary manner possible, the dead succumbing to not just one, but many, many gruesome wounds.

It was a very painful way to go.

And if this was allowed to continue for much longer, the entire deck would get drowned in blood.

Lord Bernard who was observing all this knew could not let this continue, even if for nothing but to lay credence to his military leadership.

Thus unable to stand by and watch, the man decided to fearlessly charge in, hoping his actual presence would snap the enraged sides back to their senses.

He was a noble after all, who would dare not give him face?

That sort of absolute arrogance was instantly challenged as immediately upon joining the fray, Lord Bernard caught the eye of an especially hot blooded Heeat soldier, who, looking at the man's especially flashy armor, grinned.

The man's get up made it clearly apparent to anyone with even one eye that this was a big fish and of course, this Heeat soldier wanted to hook it.

Now this man did not know exactly who this was despite Lord Bernard having stood in front of the crowd and giving a long speech. Which was actually normal given most soldiers standing at the rear echelons could get no sight of the man, their vision being fully obscured by the enormous rows of metal helmets that lay in front of them.

And even if the man did recognize Lord Bernard, so what?

He was just as likely to stop in respect for the man as he was likely to try and kill him even faster.

Because all Heeat soldiers till now felt that they would not have lost so many men if only the Margraves had acted with greater haste and been more generous with their aid.

Henceforth they let off this great cry of alarm, before dropping everything and running towards him. Losing Lord Bernard here would be too great a loss for them, both in terms of morale and in terms of keeping their head.

"Quick! Get me some clothes! Stop the bleeding! Press on the wound and stop the bleeding! Hurry!"

So, as they gathered around the fallen lord, they tried to stabilize his condition as best as they could.

The very first 'responders' quickly checked his pulse, and upon confirming he was indeed still alive, started administering whatever first aid they knew, even if it was the most basic of the basics, all in an effort to keep the man alive.

It was certainly a touching sight, just too bad that it was only after the man had been stabbed and gutted that these troops decided to get their bearing back.

But as they say, better late than never.

As the Margraves suddenly disengaged from the fight to attend to their lord, the Heeat men too suddenly appeared a bit stunned by the abrupt revelation, as killing any noble, regardless of his allegiance, was a big taboo.

If he belonged to the opposing side, it was usually much more worthwhile to ransom him.

If he was neutral, then killing him could result in anything from pay cuts to hanging depending on the man's status and allegiance.

While if he was an allied lord or one of their own, well, the punishments were as creative as they were cruel for the offending soldier.

Thus, upon learning of what had transpired, the Heeat soldiers in a rare moment of clarity chose to restrain themselves and stopped taking advantage of the Margraves.

Not all the fighting men were as bellicose as that one who attacked Lord Bernard after all.

"What's going on here? Why are you fighting?"

It was also quite fortunate that the Heeat men stopped themselves when they did because while they were too distracted with killing and gutting each other, the relief force sent out by Lord Parker had finally managed to cross the distance and the leading flagship was in the midst of mooring itself next to the disabled vessel.

And from this close distance, they of course all could see the unfolding kerfuffle, even though the other side remained completely oblivious to their arrival.

Which was precisely why that loud, commanding voice was uttered from the port side of that vessel- to try and bring some sort of sense into the deranged men over there.

And as this imperious voice floated down, military order was magically restored almost instantly.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

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