GATE - War of Two Worlds Part 2

V18 - Chapter 222 Pyrrhic Victory

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--- Rondel ---

Date: June 18th, 2026

Although the cost was immeasurable, the Battle for Rondel was finally over. Vanguard-7, exhausted and bloodied, was resting at the city plaza. Even though the Guilds had surrendered, much work still needed to be done. All the Guild leadership that weren't already killed had been detained, including Duke Aulus Fastidius of the Secessionist faction.

"I think there are at least a hundred prisoners," Sofia said.

"One hundred and three," Andrew corrected. "More than I would like."

Surprised by the amount, Sofia watched as some of the Italian reinforcements organized the prisoners into groups to be taken to Alnus while the rest were guarding the rest of them. Usually, it would mean keeping an eye on the captives and preventing them from doing anything suspicious. Still, in this case, the Italians are also guarding them against the angry mob of Rondel citizens, who were shouting all kinds of curses and death threats at them while occasionally throwing rotten eggs, rotten vegetables, and stones.

At first, many local mages and knights volunteered to watch the prisoners, but Colonel Yang politely refused them and asked them to focus on other tasks instead; some, like any knights and earth-specialized mages, who were not fatigued, were asked to build a simple runway outside Rondel so that the cargo planes would have a place to land for evacuation efforts and support the city needs like medical attention, food, and clean up. While the city was taken, it proved to be a short-term resource drain for NATO. The current method of ferrying troops and supplies by helicopter and airdrop won't work long as it is becoming a significant logistical strain.

Since Yang noticed that some of them were clearly showing signs of anger despite their best effort to mask them, giving out their malicious intentions towards the prisoners, he didn't want any of the locals anywhere near the prisoners. That was what prompted Yang to request reinforcement from the Italian stationed at the town of Populis, which was recently captured by the Italian 23rd infantry battalion a week ago, to help with the prisoner issue; in addition to helping with the city's security and recovery. Right now, every NATO personnel in Rondel, including Sofia, just wished that all of the prisoners be hauled off already and end one of their major headaches. Because the forest around Crety was still being cleared of the infecteds and the limited capacity of the ribbon bridges that were being used until the Valtris bridge was rebuilt, right now the city has to rely on long range cargo helicopters like the V-22 Osprey, which further hampered the prisoners' transport effort.

The Italians would have gotten here sooner, but the Siege of Crety had evolved into a theater-level campaign. SOCOM sent Green Berets to the town as part of an agreement that they helped Vanguard-7 save Lelei and prevented the town from falling to the now dubbed Arrun Virus. However, it prevented ground forces from quickly rushing to Rondel to assist. Even now, troops from other theaters of war were forced to be redeployed to the surrounding areas and Rondel to quarantine the infection crisis. Luckily, with Rondel taken, the Rondel Knights and 14th Legion are now assisting.

"They are heading to Ohio, right?"

"Yup," Andrew replied. "I heard from Sarah that they are expanding the facility for them."

Ohio is the home of the Mansfield Military Prison Camp, where all prisoners from the invasion of Philadelphia and throughout the war have been taken to. While the history of the facility has been short-lived, it has a very controversial one. News and rumors of prisoners' mistreatment or disappearance came up every now and then, garnering various comments and criticism from the public. Many people consider the facility as the modern Guantánamo Bay, which Sofia has nothing against.