Chapter 483 - Peacekeeping Operations

Captain Jonas Giering was currently standing within a village inside the Kingdom of Portugal; months had passed since the war had officially ended. Still, the various Brigand and Rebel groups loyal to the former Royal Dynasty continued to fight for control over the region. 

While most Austrian Units had been pulled out of Iberia, there were still a few specialized units remaining behind acting as peacekeepers and advisors to the Royal Granadan Army, who by now had reformed into a relatively modern and exceptional force.

Jonas Giering had taken a liking to the Portuguese region, as well as the farm girl he had saved months prior. He had opted to stay behind in Iberia and continue to ensure this girl's safety to who he had become close. Perhaps one day soon, he would even marry her and take her back to Austria.

However, such thoughts were at the back of his mind at the moment. Instead, his attention was focused on the operation at hand. He was currently in charge of his company of Jaegers, who were working alongside the Granadan Royal Guard to secure the southernmost regions of Portugal. 

The Portuguese Loyalists had shifted from a campaign of open warfare to unconventional methods, and the Austrians had become their most prominent targets. Thus, at the moment, the Jaegers were the spearhead of the Austro-Granadan War machine and were kicking down doors as if they were in Fallujah. 

Following the example portrayed by his King, Jonas had opted to be the first man into the fray and the last man out. When his breacher brought forth the sledgehammer which would breach the door, he was steeling his nerves for combat. 

The breacher battered away at the door with the sledgehammer in his hands. After several powerful strikes, the lock broke apart, and the door was opened. After this had occurred, Jonas entered the room with his G-22 aimed down, ready to clear the space.

The moment he entered the building, a loud bang resounded in the confines of the small area, and Jonas felt the impact of an arkebuse ball upon his trench armor; luckily for him, such primitive firearms were incapable of piercing through his armor, and thus he immediately squeezed the trigger, and sent a round blindly into the room.

Though the smoke had yet to clear, the .45-70 projectile had blasted apart the torso of the attacker. Despite this, the soldiers beneath Jonas' command fired in the combatant's direcion, sending another four rounds into his chest. 

As the soldiers entered the room, they noticed that the target who their captain had eliminated was a boy no older than twelve; he was carrying a primitive arkebuse that the now-defunct Iberian Union likely manufactured. 

The lifeless look in the child's brown eyes sent chills down the spines of the Austrian Jaegers, who now realized that they were not only fighting men, but children too. Losing such a young boy immediately caused the men to grieve.

However, in the next moment, Jonas got up from the ground clutching his chest. Though the projectile had failed to pierce into his body, it had left a significant blunt force trauma on the area of impact, and thus he cursed while in a state of utter fury.

"Fucking bastard!"

After saying this, he withdrew his service revolver and pointed it at the boy's corpse before plugging two extra rounds in his skull; the rage in his heart could only be released by venting it upon the hostile child's corpse. After Jonas had recovered from his fragile mental state, he looked over at his soldiers, who were gawking at him in shock before issuing his commands.

"What the hell are you idiots waiting for? Clear the rest of this fucking building!"

Immediately, the soldiers snapped back to reality and checked their weapons before walking through the rest of the building. Despite his condition, Jonas quickly shouldered his rifle before leading his men through the rest of the building.

He promptly kicked down a door to see a pregnant woman and a young girl huddling in fear. It was her son who had attempted to gun down the Austrian Soldiers. Jonas immediately shouted in Portuguese towards the civilians, issuing his commands as he did so.

"Get on the ground now!"

The various Jaegers pointed their rifles at the unarmed civilians; they could never be too careful when clearing a room; after all, they had just witnessed the tenacity of the Portuguese People in their resistance against their new Granadan Overlords. 

The mother screamed in fury as she cursed the Austrians for killing her son; though she had not confirmed his death, the fact that they were now standing here after an exchange of gunfire was enough evidence to support her claims.

"Youth heathen bastards! How dare you kill my boy! I hope you burn in hell for your sins!"

Jonas was in a foul mood after having been shot and immediately wrestled the woman to the ground, where he placed a pair of cuffs around her wrists; the soldiers followed suit and forced the young daughter into a similar position. After doing so, they immediately searched the two civilians' bodies, checking for weapons. 

While Jonas led two of his soldiers in these actions, the other members within the fire team went throughout the rest of the building, clearing it. Before long, another exchange of gunfire resounded throughout the corridors, causing Jonas to rush towards the sound of conflict. 

In the building's corner, the family's father lay dead, with a crossbow in his hands; multiple rounds had ripped his skull and internal organs apart, leaving a gruesome scene behind. By now, the Austrian soldiers were well accustomed to bloodshed and did not react in the slightest to the stage. Upon seeing that none of his troops were wounded, Jonas sighed in relief; he checked on his soldier's well-being after doing so.

"Anybody hurt?"

The soldier who had been shot by the crossbow shook his head before responding with a look of contempt on his face.

"I was lucky; if that bolt were an inch lower, it would have been stuck in my eye; fortunately, it hit my helmet and bounced off!"

After saying this, the soldier spat upon the corpse of the Portuguese man. Jonas nodded his head in affirmation before giving his troops the rest of their orders.

"Alright, search the rest of the building; this is the first of many that we have to work through today!"

The soldiers immediately saluted their captain and responded in the affirmative before doing as they were told.

"Yes, Sir!"

After saying this, they cleared the rest of the building. However, they had already killed all the hostiles; thus, there were no other sounds of conflict within the household. Having secured the building, Jonas and his fireteam grabbed ahold of the bound civilians and brought them into the center of the village, where they handed them off to the Royal Granadan Army.

These men were now dressed in their new uniforms and had begun to resemble a semi-modern force. Though when compared to the Austrian Jaegers, who were dressed in advanced camouflage patterns, they still looked quite antiquated.

When the prisoners were brought forth and handed over, the Captain of the Granadan Company saluted his Austrian Counterpart; he noticed the dent on Jonas' breastplate and immediately commented on his condition.

"Are you alright?"

Jonas nodded his head and sighed as he responded to this question.

"I'm fine, but it appears there are more firearms in the hands of the enemy than we had initially estimated. I will relay this information back to intelligence; it is up to them to find out where they are gaining such weapons."

The Granadan Captain nodded his head and ordered his troops to take charge of the prisoners; after doing so, he questioned the Austrian Captain once more.

"Are you going back out there?"

The Jaeger captain immediately pulled out a pack of hemp cigarettes and smoked one; after releasing a large plume of smoke, he nodded his head with a bitter expression on his face.

"Somebody has to kick down these doors..."

Having said this, Jonas dropped his cigarette to the floor and stamped it out before checking his rifle's chamber to ensure that it was still loaded. Having confirmed this detail, he slammed the bolt home before walking away and giving further orders to the troops beneath his command.

"One down! Twelve more to go. Look alive, boys!"

With this said, the Austrian Jaegers once more approached another building, unaware whether it was filled with hostiles, and prepared to breach its entrance. This urban warfare would later inspire Berengar to design and issue shotguns to his forces.. After all, sledgehammers were not the most efficient means of breaching a building.