Of Steel and Roses: Silver-Haired Loli on a Rampage Chapter 17: Schwartz and the Dead

Eleanor von Schwartz learned many things that night.

For instance, how to step over a corpse without making a sound.

The trick is to step on the ribcage rather than the abdon, because the gases in the abdominal cavity will make a noise.

For instance, how to determine if a pile of ruins is safe.

Watch the rats; if there are rats active in the ruins, it ans there are no ambushes. If even the rats dare not approach, then take a detour.

For instance, how to find a safe path through the gaps in a combat zone.

"It's not about finding a safe path, but finding a path that neither side cares to bother with."

Pavel explained it this way, "People are inherently lazy, especially after fighting for a day. Patrols will automatically avoid the most difficult terrain, and commanders will abandon the areas with the least strategic value. Added together, these places beco our path."

When she said these words, her tone was as if she were describing so mundane life skill, like how to pick fruit or how to avoid congested streets.

But Eleanor knew these "skills" were bought with blood.

Either her blood, or soone else's.

...

The first combat zone was a factory ruin plowed by artillery fire.

The forr factory buildings were reduced to a few twisted steel beams and half a chimney, with gears, pipes, and parts of unknown origin—machine or human—scattered on the ground. Soldiers from Victoriana and Usar had fought intense street battles here. Now, both sides had withdrawn, leaving behind nothing but shell casings and bloodstains that had yet to cool.

Pavel stopped in front of a broken wall, squatted down, and dipped her finger into a bit of liquid on the ground.

"Still warm," she said, "The battle ended less than twenty minutes ago."

Eleanor frowned: "Then we—"

"No problem," Pavel interrupted, standing up, "The victors have already left, and the losers are already dead. The most dangerous things here now are the unexploded duds, but as long as you don't kick them, they generally won't bother you."

She finished speaking and walked into the depths of the ruins.

Eleanor followed behind, her right leg aching faintly, but still able to support her.

She noticed that Pavel's way of walking was strange—not a straight line, but a seemingly casual yet precise curve, each step carefully avoiding certain areas. At first, Eleanor thought it was landmines, but she soon realized that Pavel was avoiding corpses.

Not all corpses, just certain ones.

"Why avoid those?" she asked in a low voice.

Pavel didn't look back: "Those few were killed by artillery shock; their internal organs are shattered but their skin is intact. Stepping on them would be like stepping on a water balloon."

Eleanor felt a surge of nausea in her stomach.

"How can you tell?"

"Posture," Pavel said, "People killed by artillery shock maintain a very relaxed posture, as if they were sleeping. But if you look at their eyes, you'll find the eyeballs have already burst—"

"That's enough."

Pavel turned her head and saw Eleanor's pale complexion, seemingly a bit surprised.

"Sorry," she said, her tone carrying a trace of genuine confusion, "I thought you were a knight, you should be used to this."

"Being used to it is one thing," Eleanor took a deep breath, suppressing the nausea, "Hearing soone describe it in that tone is another."

Pavel tilted her head, still not quite understanding.

But she shrugged: "Alright, I'll be careful."

...

The second combat zone was a dried-up riverbed.

The river channel was about ten ters wide, with three-ter-high embanknts on both sides.

Due to the low-lying terrain, this had beco a natural target range for both sides' artillery. The riverbed was riddled with craters of various sizes, so still containing pools of dark red liquid.

Pavel lay on the edge of the embanknt for a full five minutes, observing the situation on the other side of the riverbed.

"Is there a problem?" Eleanor lowered her body and moved closer to her.

"There are people behind the opposite embanknt," Pavel's voice was barely audible, "At least three, maybe more."

"Enemies?"

"Our side." Pavel's tone was a bit strange, "It's Usar."

Eleanor understood what she ant.

To Pavel, "our side" had beco a complex concept. Those soldiers were both her forr comrades-in-arms and the objects she now had to avoid.

"Can we go around?"

"We can, but we have to walk two hundred ters downstream. There's a section of the embanknt that collapsed there; we can pass through the ruins." Pavel paused, "But your leg..."

"I've said it many tis, it's not an issue."

Pavel glanced at her, a complex look flashing in her eyes.

"You know," she said softly, "Your 'not an issue' reminds of soone."

"Who?"

"Myself."

Pavel didn't say anything more, turned, and moved towards the downstream direction.

Eleanor followed, pondering the aning of that sentence in her heart.

Two hundred ters sounded close, but in this terrain, every step was agony.

Her right leg was already severely swollen, the bandages soaked through with blood twice, and every bend sent sharp stabs of pain.

But she gritted her teeth and didn't let herself fall behind.

People of the Schwartz Family wouldn't fall just because of this little injury.

...

The third combat zone was the most difficult section to traverse.

It was a ch graveyard.

Eleanor counted; there were at least fifteen ch wrecks scattered in this area—both Victoriana's and Usar's.

So were left with only one leg, so were blown in half, and so looked like they had been torn open from the inside by sothing, with armor plates curled outward like petals.

The air was filled with the sll of machine oil, rust, and burning.

Pavel stopped at the edge of the ruins, her expression becoming solemn for the first ti.

"What's wrong?"

"There shouldn't be this many wrecks here." Pavel's brows were locked tight, "According to the front line distribution in my mory, this area should be within the range of Victoriana's firepower; Usar couldn't have pushed their ch units this far."

"The front line has changed."

"It's changed too much."

Pavel's gaze swept over the wrecks, "And these chs... the way they were destroyed is very strange."

Eleanor followed her gaze, and then her pupils contracted sharply.

The wounds on those chs—they weren't caused by artillery shells, nor steam guns, and not even ordinary lee weapons.

Those were cutting marks.

Clean, neat, almost perfect cutting marks, as if sliced through butter with a giant razor.

Eleanor had seen these marks before.

Not long ago, her ch's right arm had been severed in exactly this way.

She subconsciously looked at Pavel, but the latter's expression didn't change.

But Pavel just frowned, as if solving a difficult math problem.

"It seems the fighting on your side ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ was even more intense than I imagined," she said, "That night battle... did anything special happen?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"A monster."

Pavel turned her head, her eyes sparkling with curiosity under the dim sky.

"A monster?"

"A Usar ch," Eleanor said slowly, "Punishnt Camp livery, the lowest-grade model. It single-handedly blocked our entire Order, killed eleven knights, using a... using an experintal weapon we developed ourselves."

Pavel's expression didn't change.

"Sounds very powerful."

"It is very powerful,"

Eleanor's voice beca low, "And very terrifying. That ch's movents didn't look like they were controlled by a human, more like... so kind of unleashed demon. Every ti it killed soone, it beca stronger. By the end, its speed and strength had already exceeded the theoretical limits of a ch."

She paused, looking at Pavel's profile.

"Its pilot, so say it was a man, others say it was a woman. But everyone agreed on one point—when laughter ca from that ch's cockpit, it sounded like sothing that had crawled out of hell."

"And then?" Pavel asked, "What happened to that ch?"

"It escaped, before our reinforcents arrived." Eleanor's tone was complex.

"Is that so."

Pavel turned back and continued observing the ch graveyard ahead.

"That's really... quite a pity."

"Let's go," Pavel said, "Going around this area will take at least an hour, but the good news is, there shouldn't be anything alive inside."

...

When the horizon began to turn white, they finally saw Victoriana's defensive line.

It was a fortification composed of trenches, barbed wire, and steam turrets, revealing its steel outline in the dawn.

The Empire's double-headed eagle flag fluttered in the morning breeze, and the figures of guards moved on the turrets.

Eleanor felt a complex emotion welling up in her heart.

She had finally returned.

"Let's stop here."

Pavel's voice interrupted her thoughts.

They stood at the edge of a ruin, about a few hundred ters away from Victoriana's first trench.

Pavel leaned against a broken wall, her silver short hair emitting a faint luster in the morning light, her pale face carrying a trace of exhaustion—this was the first ti she had shown fatigue all night.

"From here on, you should be able to recognize the way yourself," Pavel said, "Just walk over, let the sentries see your rank insignia, and they shouldn't fire."

Eleanor nodded.

"What about you?"

"?" Pavel smiled, "I plan to find a place to hide now and wait until dark to leave. The dead aren't really suitable to appear in broad daylight; it will scare people."

"Thank you." Eleanor said, "Without you, I couldn't have passed through those combat zones."

"This was a transaction," Pavel shrugged, "You also kept your promise; you didn't kill , and you didn't send to a prisoner-of-war camp."

"That wasn't—"

Eleanor wanted to say that wasn't a promise, but a choice.

But the words stopped at her lips, and she swallowed them back.

"Goodbye, Miss Schwartz." Pavel waved at her, "Or should I call you Eleanor? I hope your leg gets better soon and doesn't leave any sequelae. Victoriana's military doctors should be better than ours; after all, they won't use that kind of green poison."

"...You take care too."

Eleanor turned and walked toward Victoriana's defensive line.

Her steps were sowhat heavy—not just because of her injured leg, but also because of so indescribable emotion.

This night was simply too long, and too many things had happened, so many that she needed ti to digest them.

She walked a dozen steps, then suddenly stopped.

"Little Pa."

"Hmm?"

"If you want to find a safe place..."

Eleanor didn't look back, "In the south of Victoriana, there is a small town called Alwyn. It's far from the front lines, has no garrison, and is very quiet. There is a tavern in the town called 'Red Moon', and the owner is an old servant of my family. He owes a favor."

"You an—"

"I don't an anything." Eleanor's voice was very light, "I'm just saying so useless nonsense. Nonsense that the dead won't hear."

A soft laugh ca from behind.

"Got it, Sister Eleanor." Pavel's voice carried a trace of warmth.

"Thank you."

Eleanor didn't speak again and continued to walk forward.

The morning light grew brighter, and her shadow stretched long behind her.

...

Then, she heard a sound.

The sound of tal crushing.

The sound of steam gushing.

And... the clicking sound of ch joints rotating.

Eleanor turned back abruptly.

Under the dawn light, a huge shadow rose from the ruins behind Pavel.

It was a main battle ch of Usar, Iron Guard-III model, with mottled livery, armor full of bullet holes and scorched burns, but the steam boiler was roaring, and the searchlights were turning on.

Its weapons, a huge steam warhamr and a heavy machine gun, were aid at Pavel's direction.

That ch had clearly discovered them.

Or more accurately, discovered Pavel.

A figure who wasn't wearing a military uniform, was small in stature, and appeared alone on the battlefield.

The searchlight's beam swept across the ruins, finally locking onto the silver-haired girl.

Pavel stood in place, not moving.

The morning light rose behind her, plating her figure with a golden rim, but also making the ch's shadow appear even heavier.

The sound of reloading ca clearly from the ch.

Eleanor's heart sank suddenly.