Gun of Ashes

Chapter 62: Chapter 44 Hardcore Military Otaku_2

”It’s really cursed...”

Lorenzo cursed casually, then thought for a moment and placed the sword blade beside him, trying to add some sense of security.

It was the standard weapon of the Demon Hunting Order, made of alloy and coated with Holy Silver on the outside, making it a lethal weapon against demons. Because its shape closely resembled a long nail, it was humorously called the Nail Sword.

Initially, Lorenzo used the Staff Sword largely because its appearance was similar to this weapon, aside from being much lighter and less effective against demons.

”Lorenzo! What are you doing!”

Mrs. Van Rudd’s piercing voice rang out from downstairs. Only then did Lorenzo realize that his earlier excited swing had knocked over the bookshelf, the noise drawing Mrs. Van Rudd’s attention.

”I just slipped, it’s nothing!”

Lorenzo replied loudly. Mrs. Van Rudd was quite old and should avoid anything related to demons.

He righted the bookshelf and looked at the books scattered all over the floor. Lorenzo had no mood to tidy them up, so he sat back down, his gaze suddenly caught by the bill, the thick pages turned to a new page, stained with bright red blood.

It seemed Lorenzo had discovered something, as he saw the blood had marked one of the transactions in red.

It was an address, and Lorenzo immediately pulled out his map, but after searching for a while, he still couldn’t find the address from the transaction.

Pausing for a moment, Lorenzo recalled Ingwig’s astonishing rate of expansion; territories were constantly changing, rendering his map outdated.

Seemingly remembering something, Lorenzo grabbed the bill and hurried out of his room, heading downstairs where Mrs. Van Rudd was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper. Seeing Lorenzo so panicked, she removed her thick glasses.

”Did you hit your head?”

”No, I just want to look for something.”

Lorenzo answered, then stood in the center of the living room. It was a huge map, yellowed parchment with ink depicting mountains and cities, detailing all information within Ingwig’s territory, even marking some secretive things using symbols.

This was a military map from the Radiant War, much more detailed than Lorenzo’s map. As for the time relevance, you could even find records on it of Ingwig’s military resources buried underground, including cities that no longer existed.

This item originally should have been locked away in a military warehouse, but when Mrs. Van Rudd retired, who knows how she managed, she smuggled a map out and brazenly hung it in the living room.

She said that instead of any honor medals, this item better commemorated her military career. Sometimes sitting with her in the living room, Mrs. Van Rudd would always boast to Lorenzo pointing at various lands on the map, ”See? From here to here on the map, it was all taken by me.”

”What are you looking for?”

”An address.”

Lorenzo’s gaze searched back and forth along the coast on the map.

It was a transport transaction, Sabo shipped a large amount of food to a small town named Ende, and there were countless small towns within Ingwig. Yet, through Spiritual Vision, Lorenzo saw a lighthouse, narrowing the scope to coastal towns, but still couldn’t find it.

”It’s not here...”

After searching for a long time, Lorenzo couldn’t find that small town on the map, and at this moment Mrs. Van Rudd came over.

”Ende?”

Wearing her thick glasses, Mrs. Van Rudd squinted slightly.

”Are you looking for this town?”

”Yes, it’s a coastal town, but it’s not on the map...”

”Coastal? Of course it’s not there.”

Upon hearing the word ’coastal’, Mrs. Van Rudd immediately provided the answer.

”Not there? Why?”

Lorenzo turned his head, a bit puzzled as to why Mrs. Van Rudd would say that.

”Because of the Radiant War, we were separated from Gaulunaro by the White Tide Strait. In a war that lasted a century, the fleets from both sides fought countless times, and the coastal towns were long transformed into military bases or moved inland. Not until the Radiant War ended a decade ago did the coastal areas gradually see a population return.”

Mrs. Van Rudd had experienced the war, in this respect she knew far more than Lorenzo.

Her dry fingers slid across the map as she spoke.

”Military maps must be used with a symbol book. We usually use symbols and numbers to represent a location, so even if the map falls into enemy hands, without the symbol book they cannot understand it. Look at those triangular symbols, they represent places that used to be towns.”

No city names, only a row of triangular symbols with numbered suffixes along the coast.

Looking at Mrs. Van Rudd, Lorenzo thought for a moment and tentatively asked.

”Madam, which town do you think needs external food supply?”

”You mean supply line?”

”Probably...”

According to that transaction record, Sabo invested a lot of money to transport food to this mysterious Ende Town, directly mobilizing from Reindona Port towards that unclear destination of Ende Town.

”Hmm... Maybe here.”

Mrs. Van Rudd pointed her finger towards the far edge of the map, it was the western side of Ingveig Island. As for the west, Ingwig had not yet begun development, with not even a few railways.

”Due to wartime issues, Ingwig tightly controls the places interacting with neighboring countries, except for the north and west. Our north is the Northern Sea, if the enemy wants to attack, they must take a long detour and endure the Ice Sea’s drifting ice and those Viking pirates, while the west is an endless ocean. Plus, our main cities are concentrated in the center; if they land there, they’ll only eat dry grass.”