His Soul is Marching On to Another World; or, the John Brown Isekai

[CabbagePreacher]

68th​ of Summer 5859
Right next to the disintegrated walls of Casamonu, Casamonu​

Billy thought that this must be hell, or more accurately, he had found himself in a hellish otherworld. He had heard an explosion right behind him, a severed hand had slapped him on his back, and now the fugitive slaves were running towards him while shouting "Liberty or death!" Now he could hear screaming behind, right, left, and in front of him. It seemed that the men of Corvus were in rout and running towards the walls, and Billy joined them in their wild dash. His comrades on the frontlines were immediately killed in the charge, lacking support after everyone behind them had routed, and Billy could feel that there was a fugitive right behind him. He ran fast, faster, and as fast as he could, weaving through the disorganized crowd trying to retreat back to the safety of the city's walls.

Corvus' men had retreated back to the gate of the city, forming a wall of men blocking off the entrance. They had lost many soldiers, but the gate was narrow and they were ready to defend it if the fugitives tried to push their assault further. Sir Corvus himself was at the back of the line, doing his best to regroup the routed men for another push.

"Look men, they are a bunch of savages, holding crude weapons tipped with copper. If we lose here, then our progeny will never forgive us for being cowards. They can't pierce our armor, they can't pierce our will, and with another cavalry charge they'll be gone with the wind. Don't be startled by some cheap explosive darkskin trick!" Truth be told, none of Sir Corvus' retainers had died in the charge. Their steel armor was simply too tough to be pierced by copper, and they were professional soldiers armed with experience. With proper infantry support, Corvus was sure that the fugitives would break soon enough after realizing that defeating his cavalry was a futile endeavor.

Despite Corvus' speech, the men were unwilling to charge. It was the same for Brown's men too – they were tired after having ran after the enemy. Both sides continued trading projectiles at a safe range, looking to see who would gather energy first to commit to entering combat again. Corvus knew that the city would begin having food shortages, and that his men wouldn't be able to fight in peak condition like this again if they were routed again. Brown on the other hand wanted to capture Casamonu before it began starving and the people inside needlessly suffered, not to mention the fact that he wanted to take a break with military campaigning to establish a non-provisionary government as soon as possible.

Suddenly, an idea popped up in Ayomide's head. She poked Brown. "Old man, could you delay the charge for a bit? I'll bring something real quick."

Brown nodded. "Go a bit forward, very slowly, don't actually charge them!" He vaguely got what Ayomide wanted to do, so he feinted a charge to make the enemy go on the defensive. Corvus' men packed themselves close together to anticipate the coming charge. "Alright, very slowly now. Act like you're hesitating." It took several minutes, and the armies were far away from making melee contact.

Meanwhile, Ayomide had gathered a few of her men to help her. She was coming back on a horse that had a cart attached to it. The cart had an item which had been covered up by cloth. "Open the way, heavy load coming through!" She parked the cart near the frontlines, though the enemy soldiers were too busy watching her "charging" comrades to give any notice to her. She uncovered the cloth, revealing the cannon and shrapnel-packed cannonballs which they had used for the siege. "Rabanowicz isn't here, but I think we can make this shot without her. Turn the canon around towards 'em!" Her men pushed the canon on the cart to face the enemy. With the extra height provided by the cart, Ayomide could clearly see the enemy despite standing behind her allied comrades. A few of the enemy soldiers had noticed her, and she saw them pointing towards the canon. It was a bit too late however, as Ayomide and her men loaded the cannonball.

The first cannonball tore through the middle of the packed crowd of defenders. Ayomide hadn't managed to time the fuse without Rabanowicz, so the ball lodged itself on to the earth which happened to extinguish the fuse. However, a heavy clay ball launched from relatively close range was still fast enough to cause instant death and injury to the men it had made contact with. The second cannonball landed right as the defenders had understood what was happening and begun breaking their ranks in a rout. After a few seconds in the earth, the second cannonball's fuse went off.

BOOM!

Countless shrapnel flew around, injuring and killing many of Corvus' men. The explosion itself knocked many of them out, and there no longer was a defensive line to speak of. Brown shouted "One last charge, let's make sure they never return again!", and the men of the League began their charge for the gates. There were none of Corvus' men left on the wall to close the gates, and so the League poured into Casamonu proper.

68th​ of Summer 5859
Below the other gate of Casamonu, Casamonu​

"Yawn…" Shinasi had been cooking under the scorching summer sun, and for what? It seemed that the enemy had decided not attack through this gate considering he hadn't seen any enemy soldiers for a long while. The men had gotten tired of waiting as well, and most of them were sitting on the ground, chatting between themselves.

It felt weird to complain about there being peace and no battle, but Shinasi felt himself complaining about just that. He contemplated whether or not his men should move to the other gate to help their comrades, but Tubman had strictly ordered Shinasi to stay put and stick with the plan. Stuck he was, stuck without being able to help Ayomide… Truth be told, Shinasi was pacing around, worrying whether she was doing fine on the other side. At least he would have preferred to die by her side if they were going to be defeated.

Suddenly, a jolt. The gate began opening, going up and up. The men got up from their hindsides and prepared for battle. This was it. Fate had called upon them, to fight for liberty or for death. Frustration, for having waited for so long, swelled up in their chest. They were ready to charge and tear the enemy to shreds even if Tubman didn't order them to.

The gate opened, and on the other side were… "The captain? Ayomide?" …fellow soldiers of the League.

Brown and co. rode up to meet their comrades-in-arms, and they were met with cheers. However, Brown seemed to be in way less of a jovial mood. He quickly reported to Tubman and co. "We have taken the gates and the walls, but the defenders are still fighting in the streets, and most of them have locked themselves in the castle. The siege is far from over, so save your celebrations for later if you could. We won't have control of this city without having control of the castle up on that hill, so we rushed over here to reunite with you and take the castle together. Me and Ayomide's men are tired from the battle, so we'll need your help." Tubman's and Shinasi's men weren't too happy with the fact that they'd have to attack a castle, but they were relieved to hear that their comrades had won the battle.

Without being given a chance to cheer for their victory, the men of the League marched back into the city.

They were eager to write the last chapter of Sir Corvus' story.

 

[CabbagePreacher]

68th​ of Summer 5859
Casamonu Castle, Casamonu​

Sir Corvus found himself standing on the ramparts of a wall. These were not the wide, ever-encompassing walls that he was used to. These were shorter, thinner, and much older than the walls of Casamonu. He knew not how old this castle was, just that it was pretty old, and whether or not it would stand up to a cannon. "Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself. Of course, it won't. He turned around and looked towards a door leading inside the castle. Corvus could hear a hymn accompanied by a crowd. Priests from the local temple had run inside the castle for protection, and now they were holding service just before the battle. To him, it seemed like a scene right from fiery gospels writ in burnished rows of steel.

"The Demon King is here, and all we can do is stand and watch." Corvus bowed his head. Only if he had taken his loot and escaped! He'd at least have had a year or two of luxury before the demonic legions took over Gemeinplatz. Now, from atop the hill where the castle stood, he could see a line of fugitives march up and up towards his holdout. Still, he had hope. His men were stationed inside a castle after all. Sure, they could blow open the walls, but the fugitives would have to fight through the castle's tight corridors if they wanted a quick victory. Corvus only needed a brief respite for his heavily armored retainers to charge out of the castle and blow the fugitives back to where they came from.

Things would be fine.

Corvus would have to calm down now and, after this was all over, he'd piss off to the capital and never return to these accursed borderlands ever again. He made his way into the castle to avoid being shot by a stray javelin. The indoors were truly crowded, with soldiers and other persons of various levels of importance squeezing between each other while navigating the tight corridors of the old castle. The air was oppressive, both from the tight and crowded space and from the feeling of impending doom. It was awfully silent despite so many people being so close together. Even the noblemen had stopped admonishing the occasional person accidentally stepping on and dirtying their shoes. Facing death, all had become equal as they were in the eyes of the grim reaper. Corvus squeezed through, the sounds of the hymn becoming louder as he got closer and closer to the center of the castle.

Ye who accompany us, day and night
Deliver us from evil, o' Divine
We bow before thine boundless magnificence
Ye who is most merciful and kind​

For now, Corvus had nothing to do but wait for the enemy to attack. The men garrisoning the castle would have to deal with it. There was no harm in joining the sermon and praying for a good place in the afterlife if things were to go south. His dining hall had been turned into an impromptu prayer hall, though now was definitely not the time to shout at the priests for having done that without asking him. Corvus sat on the ground, where all the common and uncommon people also were. It was as if some divine power had constructed everything, the siege, the Demon Lord, all of it, just to humble him in this exact moment.

With thine infinite will and wisdom
Ye made all that is above
Below we pray to visit
Thine kingdom to come​

Suddenly, an explosion rang out above Corvus' head. It was outside the walls of the castle, but the explosion was so loud that it felt like Corvus had been bashed on the head. Dust fell from the ceiling, and a few stray bricks fell from the ceiling. One particularly large one landed right next to Corvus, almost killing him there and then. He screamed and jumped away from the brick which reminded him of his mortality. The castle was relatively old, it hadn't been built with cannons in mind, and his predecessors had only renovated its insides to look fashionable. Castle Casamonu had been the core of Casamonu after all, as the city had been rebuilt around it after it had been burnt down again in time immemorial. Now Corvus was in time memorable, and the castle had proved to be too weak. He got up and grabbed the first soldierly-looking bloke he could find "Get the- get the officers to gather the men, we have to mount an offense to defeat them!"

The nameless soldier bowed and then ran to get his officer. Corvus, ever curious, ran to the walls to see how many were sieging them down. There must not have been much fugitives left, and he remembered that the force he fought outside wasn't too large. Unless they had somehow pulled out some reserves in the last hour, Corvus still had a chance to win.

There was one slight problem.

"…am I seeing doubles, or are there a whole lot more men down there?"

Corvus' vision was perfectly clear.

The League, with their forces gathered from the second gate, had practically doubled their manpower with fresh troops eager to fight. At least they had stopped firing. There was an old man, known to some as Captain John Brown, waving a white flag towards his enemy. "To whoever is responsible for the command of this city, I'd like to parlay with you!" His voice was carried by the wind magic of Ayomide, which allowed him to be heard from far away.

Sir Corvus didn't have the convenience of a catgirl wizard though. "Get me a white cloth!" Soon, he was waving a white tablecloth in response. "We accept your offer" he replied to buy some time while his men got ready to attack. The cannon-fire had stopped, replaced by anticipant silence.

"I'd like to read an excerpt from our constitution, the law that our League abides by." Brown cleared his throat and read the eighth article of the provisional constitution:

Article VIII: No person, after having surrendered himself or herself a prisoner, and who shall properly demean himself or herself as such, to any officer or private connected with this organization, shall afterward be put to death, or be subject to any corporeal punishment, without first having had the benefit of a fair and impartial trial; nor shall any prisoner be treated with any kind of cruelty, disrespect, insult, or needless severity; but it shall be the duty of all persons, male and female, connected herewith, at all times and under all circumstances, to treat all such prisoners with every degree of respect and kindness that the nature of the circumstances will admit of, and to insist on a like course of conduct from all others.


"I can see, from the deserted streets, that many citizens have escaped into your castle. If you surrender now, we'll treat you and your citizenry according to the aforementioned laws. If you do not surrender and make us bombard your castle, you'll be responsible for the deaths of the many who reside within. So, for the sake of yourself and others in the castle, I ask you to raise the white flag and surrender your weapons!"

Men atop the castle walls looked at each other and then to their lord. Sir Corvus looked back at the anticipant crowd. "What, do you think we're going to surrender to a bunch of savages? We-we'll c-charge at them, and run them down!" The crowd's lack of enthusiasm gave him a sufficient answer.

"Listen!" Brown continued "We know that it is hard to trust our word, for malignant forces have made you believe that we are here to do evil. Let me say: we have the Hero on our side." His declaration of having a Hero didn't exactly do much when he could easily be making it up. "…ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you an unpleasant truth: We either demolish this castle with you in it, which definitely would result in your death, or you surrender and take a chance at life. I ask you: which scenario has a higher chance of you making it out of here?"

Men atop the castle walls looked at each other and to their lord again. Sir Corvus was getting sick of the crowd. "Didn't you hear me?!" He shouted down at Brown. "We do not negotiate with savage darkskins and servants of the Demon Lord! All of us will die here if we have to!" Sir Corvus, if he was to die, at least wanted to make an example so his bravery and loyalty could be remembered. Even the littlest of prestige, the tiniest crumb, that was worth the countless lives sheltering in the castle. To die standing up with a sword in hand, that was the noble creed.

"Are you sure? We will begin bombardment immediately if you are to not surrender. This is your last chance." replied Brown.

"Of course, no-" Before Sir Corvus could reply negatively to Brown, the crowd around him began making noise to drown him out.

"Sir, we have been defeated anyways!"

"Sir, just accept an honorable surrender!"

"Sir, just give us a chance to not die!"

Sir Corvus roared back to shut the men up. "You! Don't you all have weapons, or at least hands to swing back at the enemy? Why are you here, instead of mounting a counter-attack, do you stand here like cowards! I'll reject the offer; you knaves go down and fight those savages!" He was about to tell Brown to piss off when one of the soldiers next to him jumped to grab him. The crowd followed too, trying to silence Sir Corvus. With so many people on the tight ramparts trying to apprehend him, Corvus was pushed to and fro.

Suddenly, Corvus lost his balance. The wave of people behind him pushed him off the rampart. Gravity did the rest as the once high and mighty Sir Corvus found himself speeding head-first into another world.

 

[CabbagePreacher]

68th​ of Summer 5859
Right below Casamonu Castle, Casamonu​

There was a solemn procession going on which Casamonu hadn't seen the likes of in its long history.

Ye who accompany us, day and night
Deliver us from evil, o' Divine
We bow before thine boundless magnificence
Ye who is most merciful and kind​

As the gates of the castle creaked open, the people hiding inside Casamonu Castle began their march out. It was a slow march of defeat, their heads held low, and their eyes staying away from the dregs who had defeated them. Frontmost were priests accompanying an officer who was acting in the late Sir Corvus' stead, behind them were soldiers who were carrying white banners, and surrounded by these soldiers were the citizens of the town who had hidden in the castle. They were all silent save for the priests chanting their hymn. Anyone who carried arms dropped it to the ground as they exited, making quite the impressive pile of weaponry around the castle gate.

"That's quite the impressive performance. It's as if everyone here was trained on how to surrender." commented Brown from afar. He and the captains of the League were standing at the end of a corridor formed by the soldiers of the League.

"It's just how we do it here, captain. The noblemen get instructed extensively on how to conduct effective warfare and surrender courteously when they fail." replied Vaiz, who was the master of ceremonies for the League in this instance of surrender. "Get ready to receive the delegation, I think they're marching forward to surrender to you since you're the commander-in-chief."

The procession of unarmed soldiers stopped in front of Brown and co. The officer in charge of the surrender asked "Are you the chief commander of these fugitives?"

"Yes, for the time being I am." replied Brown.

The officer paused, unsure whether to continue speaking or go on with the surrender. "I… May we know who exactly we are surrendering to?"

"The League of Gileadites."

"No, your name."

"My name is Isaac… no, I don't really need to use a nickname anymore, my name is John Brown. But it truly matters not who I am, for I am just a provisionary elected representative of the people behind me. Worry not about the mortal old man standing right before you, worry about the immortal ideals of liberty standing above and beyond you, sir. I will surely die, yet I doubt that liberty will die unless you are to slaughter humanity itself."

The officer shuddered, though that shudder might have been due to the fact that Brown was taller and much more physically intimidating than him. He thought it surprising to hear such grand words from a commander of savages. "Understood, sir." The officer cleared his throat, reciting the following lines in a robotic manner "You have fought fairly and achieved victory over us." The next part however, was genuine and filled with dread "Please have mercy on us as the Divine commands." He knelt down and extended a key towards Brown, one symbolizing the castle and Casamonu.

"Excuse me, but I'm not authorized to accept your surrender." Brown stepped aside to let Ayomide take the stage. "She blew open the walls to the city, so I think Captain Ayomide is the one who deserves to take it."

"Wait, that darkskin?" The officer stopped kneeling down in surprise. "S-Sir, I can surrender to you just fine."

"You're surrendering to all the fine folk here. Does it matter who you give the key to?" Brown's hand slipped slightly towards his broadsword (one he had taken from the late Watanabe Generico). "If you do not wish to surrender, then state it clearly so that we can act accordingly."

"Uhm…" The officer, and the people behind him, trembled for a split second. He eventually caved-in after a long minute of deliberation and knelt down in front of the revolutionary catgirls wizard. Surrendering to a darkskin demi-human, and a woman at that, was quite the humiliating prospect for a noble officer. "Please… have mur- mear- mercy on us as t-the Divine commands."

"I'll consider having some." replied Ayomide. She wouldn't have had any mercy if not for the old man cautioning her about the fact that murdering people willy-nilly wasn't going to help anyone (something about murder not being okay). The revolutionary catgirl wizard, once holed up in an insignificant maid café in Azdavay, was now holding the keys to the city of Casamonu.

After Ayomide took the key, the surrender ceremony continued on with the soldiers from the castle handing Sir Corvus' personal banner to the soldiers of the League. The minor noble officers and troops also handed their banners as well. Soon the League was armed with a whole assortment of wildly colored banners that were soon to mean nothing, for the eyes of the Lord grew tired of having to watch all those weird colors flaunting their status around.

"Now then" began Brown "The regular city folk among you is free to leave. To the noblemen and other wealthy folk: effective from this moment onwards, all of your slaves and indentured servants are free. You are not free to leave the castle until we have held court for each one of you, and your former slaves and servants shall act as witnesses."

This caused quite the shock among the crowd, with audible gasps and curses flying around. A fight would have broken out if not for the fact that all of their weapons had been taken away a few minutes ago. A voice cried out "You are a lunatic! A demon! What sort of nonsense are you spouting?"

"It is not nonsense. Didn't you hear the constitution before you accepted surrender? We are to have a fair and impartial trial, and I think those who have served you for years will make for perfect witnesses." Brown paused for dramatic effect and cleared his throat "Or do you not believe that you have treated your slaves fairly? Are you worried of what'll happen if they speak up?"

"Please, have mercy! The darkskins are savages without any concept of reason – they'll just blame us for no real reason!" shouted another person.

"Hey, I'm civilized enough to see that what you are saying is hogwash." replied Ayomide, and her comrades joined with similar retorts. "Uncivilized are you who put people in chains and pretend to be doing good to them. My patience for your nonsense is wearing thin!"

"We'll hear your arguments in court, gentlemen." With this, the League began apprehending the noble men and women of Casamonu. To the onlooking citizens this was a surreal scene. First the men of fair skin had been defeated by those fugitives, then the men of noble blood had surrendered to those who lacked even surnames, and finally the men of high rank were being taken away by a bunch of former slaves. It was a total inversion of social order, one so shocking that it seemed like the end times had truly come. There was nothing to do but watch with their mouths agape, while some had given up on making reason of this mess to return to their homes and go about their day like usual.

Today, on 68th​ Summer 5859, Casamonu officially fell out of Imperial jurisdiction.

68th​ of Summer 5859
Casamonu Castle, Casamonu​

Night was falling onto Gemeinplatz, and Casamonu was unusually quiet. Not that it was much lively normally at night: an absence of convenient lighting options (like electricity) meant that life in Gemeinplatz came to a halt by nighttime. However, a curfew declared right after the surrender had meant that there truly was no one out on the streets during this night.

Ayomide was enjoying the brief time of rest before things were to fully kick into gear tomorrow. She was sitting in the former office of Casamonu's castellan, enjoying the soft seat cushioning her hindsides which had been constantly aching on the long march here. "Life would be so good if not for the gits bothering us…" she thought out loud.

"Work hard to get them off your tail then, young lady." replied Brown, to whom "taking a break" was a foreign concept. He was already busying himself with going through the records of the former counts of Casamonu to see if there was anything useful. "We haven't done anything yet. This is the beginning of the beginning at best."

"O' old man, will you ever be fully satisfied?"

"Not until I meet the Lord in person, no, and I pray that I'll be able to meet the Heavenly Father in his chambers without any regrets on my part."

Ayomide chuckled. "You sure are hard to please."

"Staying away from greed and being content is a virtue, young lady, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't be content if things are not well."

"Yeah yeah, I get it…"

"That is not to say that I am displeased – I think you all have done excellent work. I'm just cautioning against thinking that we have won and becoming idle while we have an entire Empire to face." Brown picked up the candle he had brought to his desk for reading. "I'll be heading to sleep now, there isn't much use in my going through these records when I can't read the writing in the first place."

"I'll be waiting for Shinasi here. I can make my own light if I need to find my way if need be."

Brown smiled, though that was barely visible from the dim candlelight. "I tend to forget. We didn't have people capable of summoning light whenever they wanted back where I came from."

"Sounds like a boring place to be."

"I pray that we can make Gemeinplatz into a boring place to live as well." Brown opened the door. "Good night, young lady."

"I too hope the future will be boring. Good night, old man."

Brown left with the candle, and the room was dark once more. Not that it mattered for Ayomide, her eyes saw just as well in the dark. She yawned. "Guess I'll close my eyes and take a nap until Shinasi comes back…"

Tomorrow, a very different day was about to dawn on Casamonu.

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For those who are unitiated in Roman numerals: This is the 100th chapter. 200 more chapters left to go!