Chapter 73: First Contact War in Worms

After Fermiou's detailed explanation, the residents of this unknown village finally let down their guard against the Legion and began to mobilize their women who had been hiding to help us sew leather boots, but we had to pay half of the deposit first.

This was not a large amount. Although the price was cheap, we still had a job, which was to protect them while we were preparing the boots. This was not a big deal, as we were just staying overnight. Because they only had more than 100 pairs of boots prepared for the winter, and they had to sew the rest themselves. Because they only had one day, they worked together to collect the materials needed to make leather boots for us. Soon, half of our team was wearing leather boots.

Outside the village, we blocked the auxiliary troops who came to plunder under the banner of the Empire. When the two sides were deadlocked, Guy appeared.

"Orius Luca!"

The chief centurion Guy, holding a banner and bringing his two centurions, came to me aggressively to ask for punishment. It was obvious that he came to show me his dignity as the chief centurion.

"What's the matter, sir?"

I rushed over to him, but he was also rude, pushing me aside and walking into the village, looking around. Before I could react, he drew out the Spada iron sword from his waist, pointing the tip of the sword at my eyes.

"This time, tell me, what should I do to avoid killing you?"

Guy held the sword and pressed forward.

"Hey, sir, I really didn't mean to disobey your orders."

I saw that the problem seemed serious, so I quickly waved my hand to apologize to the chief centurion Guy. I hurriedly explained: "I did this for our first brigade, didn't I?"

"oh?"

Guy suddenly became interested, and his frown relaxed. He said slowly, "Then tell me, how did you get to work in our First Battalion? Is this the reason why you led Orius Andrew to escape?"

"No, no, sir," I said to Guy with an apologetic smile, "You see, I am worried because it is so cold and the soldiers don't have decent shoes on their feet."

Guy looked at the leather sandals on my feet, then at the turf boots on the soldiers behind me, and then he slowly lowered the iron sword that was hanging in the air pointing at me.

"You forced them to do this?"

"No, no, no, we've paid for everything, one denarius for a pair of shoes."

“So cheap!”

This caught Guy's attention, and he looked at the boot on his face, and then at the boot on the soldier behind me. I guessed what he was thinking without him saying anything.

"Twenty pairs of boots."

I held up two fingers to him and offered him twenty pairs of warm leather boots for free.

"No," Guy shook his head, held up three fingers and said to me, "Thirty pairs."

I wanted to bargain with him, but when I saw that Guy was about to use his weapon again, I knew there was no point in arguing, so I had to nod. It seems that I have to go to Centurion Andrew to pay for the thirty denarii.

Well, I bowed my head under the threat of authority and nodded to Chief Centurion Guy.

"That's right." Guy smiled, sheathed his sword, walked over, patted my shoulder, and walked away.

"Ah, this greedy guy."

I shook my head helplessly. It seemed that the only way to avoid disaster was to lose money.

In a day and a half, the busy villagers prepared more than 230 pairs of fur shoes for us, so we said goodbye to the painful sandals and the rest of the journey was much easier. We hung a flag at the entrance of the village so that the later legions would see that this was a good village and not rob or kill.

Two days later, we passed through the province of Great Sequanoren. We encountered no resistance along the way, as if the Burgundians had disappeared into thin air. But soon, the city of Worms on the west bank of the Rhine was in front of us.

Then it is very easy to explain why we didn't meet the Burgundians along the way, because the Burgundians are here, they are surrounding their king, and they are here to fight a decisive battle with us.

Early in the morning of that day, an urgent trumpet sounded, and we got up, dressed, and followed the chief centurion Guy out of the camp gate. As expected, we saw the old priest again. He was still wearing the same clothes, and this time he was holding the Bible in his hand, facing us and constantly reciting silently. This was probably just to comfort the soldiers' hearts.

Under Guy's leadership, our four centurions lined up behind the auxiliary legion infantry. As a centurion, I was in the middle of the first row. At that time, I thought it was a siege, but what I never expected was that the Burgundians had no fear of us at all. They were uniformly equipped, holding round shields and spears, and stood in front of the gate of Worms.

The legion's troops lined up and moved forward. Fortunately, there were four centuries of auxiliary legions in front of us. They were armed with spears and broad shields, and the cavalry supervising the battle rode their horses back and forth in the gaps between our troops.

"Keep up! Forward!"

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Watching the auxiliary legion's centuries-long troops advancing non-stop, Chief Centurion Guy, who was now in front of us, was unwilling to fall behind and ordered us to follow closely behind.

“Woo~~Woo~~”

The cavalrymen who were moving back and forth held trumpets and blew them. The rumbling sound shook everyone's eardrums.

"The enemies of Rome are right before us. Go up to them, face them, and show them who has the guts!"

Chief Centurion Guy drew out his sword and waved it back and forth in the air. I, along with the soldiers around me, drew out my sword and held it tightly on the right side of my body, following the sound of the trumpeter's French horn and moving forward step by step.

The Burgundians also showed no sign of fear, but moved forward step by step towards us.

"stop!"

At the command, the horn stopped abruptly, and I quickly waved my hand to signal the soldiers to stop. At this time, we were less than a hundred meters away from the Burgundians on the opposite side. To my surprise, their commander also ordered them to stop at this time.

With a series of drums turning, a chariot passed by us. In addition to the groom, there was also the deputy commander of the legion, Anthony. He stood on the chariot and quickly came to the front of the army. The Burgundians also sent officers, also on the chariot, to meet Anthony in the two armies.

The two armies were silent, and thousands of eyes were fixed on Anthony and the Burgundian officer. Their words and actions now concerned the lives of hundreds of people. However, they looked at each other with serious expressions, and it seemed that they were not talking happily. It was just that the distance was too far, so it was difficult to hear what they were saying.

The meeting lasted only a few minutes before Anthony parted ways with the Burgundian officer. Their charioteer drove the chariot back to his own army, while Anthony kept his head down, thinking about something. None of us knew what they had said, but we knew that if we couldn't reach an agreement through negotiation, we could only solve it through fighting.

"It seems that they haven't solved their own problems." Chief Centurion Guy raised the legion flag in his hand and shouted loudly: "First Battalion, prepare for battle!"

“Hooha!”

We held our shields and moved forward, facing the Burgundians on the other side. The battle was about to begin!

(End of this chapter)