After we washed ourselves and ate a breakfast, I rechecked my calculations.
The result was the same. The damned bridge should be strong enough for the tank to pass.
“I don’t like this bridge.” (O)
“Neither do I. Still, we won’t find a railroad bridge somewhere around. What do you think?” I gave him the notepad.
Old man skimmed through the contents.
“It… may…? Haaa… I am not sure. Kill me, but I am not sure this will hold.” Trusting a wooden bridge would be beyond our capabilities, moreover with my vague calculations.
We are not engineers who can conclude the bridge is safe or not. We have enough knowledge to say if the bridge can be used or not.
It can be. But we don’t trust it.
This may not even be the problem with the bridge itself.
If we were a cargo truck’s crew, we would not even hesitate after my calculations.
But it is a medieval bridge, unchecked, unknown, in the middle of nowhere. We have no idea if it is well-maintained. We even have no idea what wood it is.
“Ni puha, ni pera.” [Break a leg.]
“K chertu… Vo vseh smislah…” [To hell with it... In all of its meanings...] (O)
‘wwwrRRRUM’
“SLOWER!”
‘wwRRUM’
“KEEP GOING!”
‘WRRRRR’
‘CREAK’
“HALT!”
The bridge started creaking immediately.
I stopped resting myself on the crowbar, and started knocking the wood.
The wood sounded fine. I knocked the wood closer to the tracks. It was fine too.
“FORWARD!”
‘wrrrRUM’
‘wrRRRRRR’
‘CREEEAK’
“K-keep going…”
In less than a minute my shirt became wet.
I was slowly backing, while signaling Old man how to drive.
Each creak was eating away a month of my life.
‘CREEEEEEAK’
“HALT!”
‘CREEEEEAK’
We remained still until the creaking stopped.
“How is it?” I asked Jester.
“We are completely on the bridge. We are yet to fall.” (J)
“Don’t caw, you idiot!”
A minute passed. Nothing happened.
“Forward.”
‘wrrRRRRUM’
‘CREEEEAK’
Jumping with a parachute?
Putting a hand into a crocodile’s mouth?
You are reading story Machine of war at novel35.com
Performing stunts on a motorcycle?
Don’t make me laugh…
Just try to pass a tank through a wooden bridge…
‘CREEEEAK’
“We reach the middle!” (J)
“K-keep going…”
‘CREAAAAK’
“Almost there!” (J)
“SHUT THE F* UP! Forward!”
‘CREEEEEEEAAAAAAK’
“KYA?!” I stumbled on something. When I looked behind myself, I saw that it was the soil on the other side.
“Are you alright?” (O)
“Focus on the driving. Forward!”
‘WRRRRRR’
I ran aside, and the tank’s tracks finally gripped the soil.
I fell on the ground like a cut wheat.
I was drenched in sweat, and was catching air with deep breaths.
My heart finally returned from my heels.
“Are you fine, Commander? Need some help?” Jester rushed to me. I stretched out my hand.
“Haa?” With one move he picked me up, and carried to the tank.
“We surely lost a few years’ worth of nerves…” (O)
“Remind me… to never… repeat this…”
“I hope we won’t be returning here…” (O)
Since neither of us was in condition to keep going, we spent a few hours here, right on the road. Only after we were mentally prepared to keep going, we climbed inside.
We had to cross a small grove, that was growing near the river. Then we finally saw large plains.
The plains stretch out almost all the way to the capital. No less than two days would be required only to cross the plains.
The next evening, we approached a hill, where we would have a good observation post for the night.
As the night was falling, I saw lights in the distance.
“What are the chances there are civilians out here?” (J)
“The chances should be zero. Those are just empty plains. A virgin land, uncultivated by anyone. Surely peasants would not come here at night. And surely there won’t be a lot of torches with them.”
“Hey, Ether, can I ask for a bit of help~?”
“Depends on what you need.” (E)
“Is there a way to turn a large area into burning hell~?”
“Apocalypse today? You can try contacting ‘Thor’. Or, if you agree to wear a pink dress I can connect you to…” (E)
“Thor, this is Beril-Main. Do you read me, over?” Before Ether could sell me a pink nightmare, I switched the frequency.
“This is Thor. Reading you loud and clear. What do you need?” (T)
“We need to have a group of people dispatched.”
“I am sorry, we are not a taxi.” (T)
“A pity to hear that. Then I will have to call another taxi to deliver them to hell.”
“Ah, that thing~? How many people are we talking about?” The man chuckled.
“W-well… Should be more than a hundred?”
“Fine by me. Send me the coordinates.” (T)