The beginning of the campaign

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Two more months passed, during which I continued to enjoy my semi-freedom within the Legion, something denied to all the other legionaries who only trained or prepared their equipment for when the Legate decided they were ready to begin Caesar's mission.

But during all that time, let's just say I've managed to make the Legion see me as an essential part of their war machine. Using the shelter's facility, much of what was looted was shown to me first to see if I could repurpose it since I had been buying up all the technological items the Legion didn't care about, and I was always allowed to do so.

This was because all the decanus in the city knew that getting along with me ensured their cohorts wouldn't lack basic weaponry. Last month, with the profits from selling canned food, I managed to fund the production of nearly two thousand swords and also purchased a large herd of those mutated Brahmin beasts. I wouldn't eat them even if I were paid, but others would happily devour them, and they were very cheap because the Legion had raided the area and taken them from their victims.

This allowed me to purchase them at a very low price, with promises that my tribute to the Legion would increase. Now I could produce armor for the Legion using the hides of those animals. I just had to acquire the blueprints of one of the factories in Arizona that used machines to produce the Legion's football armor, and in a couple of days, with the help of some robots, I had my own machine to make armor for the Legion, thanks to the fact that I could now produce my own steel.

Additionally, I acquired another three hundred slaves to increase production for the Legion, which had already generated a lot of economic profit, accumulating a considerable amount of gold and silver. This was in case something happened when the campaign began—I wanted to be the first to make an offer to the Legion for whatever they captured.

This likely made me the most important low-ranking legionary in the Eastern cohorts because the Legion was very permissive with anything a legionary captured in battle. Therefore, I was allowed to use my armor with modifications, as well as my assault rifle, because sooner or later, that weapon would break, or I'd run out of ammunition and have to return to the more reliable weapons of the Legion, or so the decanus said.

And since the Legion's doctrine was to live off the land, if I found many cans of food in the area, I was allowed to keep a large portion of them so I wouldn't have to eat the irradiated food my fellow legionaries consumed all day.

During those two months, more legionaries had finally arrived, delivering to the Legate all the men Caesar had assigned for the beginning of his mission in the area.

Lanius, our Legate, was said to be a beast who would tear apart anyone who stood in his way, or so everyone told me about him. But that's not how he seemed to me. He appeared quite calm and knew when to scare someone and when not to, in addition to having a quick mind. I even thought he would be a man of the tribes who could easily garner sympathy with his favorite words, but no—he was smarter than he let on. However, if anything involved Caesar, Lanius would stop thinking and turn into a killing machine.

Lanius had gathered a force of four thousand men for his mission, and after a long conversation, I managed to extract some information from the decanus. It seemed we had to conquer many tribes, and we were also aiming to capture one of the most populous cities that had survived the wasteland.

It didn't take a genius to realize that our mission was close to madness, but all the legionaries who had recently arrived were confident that with Lanius's leadership, it would be just another stone in the path of the champion of the Son of Mars.

After the arrival of the legionaries from the west, the Legate summoned us to march south to begin our first conquest.

The Legion has some vehicles from which they had stripped much of the chassis, leaving only the engine and an area used as carriages. I was fortunate to accompany the decanus of my cohort on the journey.

This saved me many days of marching on foot, but every moment I felt that a single large stone would be enough to catapult us into the air, given how the vehicle was driven.

This allowed me to be among the first to arrive at the battlefield.

"Gaius, do you see them?" asked my decanus as we hid among some rocks, watching the dirt road where a group of men was moving.

Gaius was the name I had adopted to be well accepted among the legionaries. It wasn't sensible or to my liking to be called by my experiment number.

"Yes, perfectly," I said, with both eyes fixed on the small patrol.

"Good. Now let's see if you were just bragging or if you can actually do something with that unreliable weapon of yours," said my decanus, pointing at the patrol.

I didn't respond and instead focused on observing my targets, trying to get the cleanest shot possible while hoping the wind wouldn't shift too much and alter the trajectory of my bullets.

When I was sure, I pulled the trigger of my weapon six times, and five men fell dead—four with clean holes in their heads and the fifth with two holes in his chest, leaving a small crimson pool that continued to expand with each passing second.

"Impressive. Your aim is perfect, too perfect. We needed some of them alive to set mines for when their comrades tried to save them," said the decanus, looking for some flaw in what I had done.

"Well, let's not waste time. These profligates may be degenerates, but they have access to good weapons," said the decanus, stepping out of our secure position as other legionaries followed.

I quickly gathered the spent cartridges I had used, hoping to reuse them in the future.

Caesar's enemies were the Society of the Blue Rose, and as far as I understood, they had a bit of everything in their arsenal. Recovering their bolt-action rifles would be important since the average legionary carried a machete and a spear.

The first legionaries ran and grabbed the rifles, quickly rifling through the pockets of our enemies for ammunition for their new acquisitions.

Similarly, the only settlement worth taking was the city of Roswell, which had an important telecommunications site. The rest were just villages of little value, except for slaves for the Legion and its growing need for labor to maintain its expansion in the wasteland.

I raised my hand and pointed southwest.

"What did you see, Gaius?" asked one of the legionaries who had taken a rifle.

"Smoke, not much, but it could be a small village," I told the group.

"Then we march immediately. All these small targets must be reduced before the main force arrives, and we must concentrate on the capital of the profligates. Gaius, lead the way—you have good eyes," said the decanus.

We kept moving until we found a village that was anything but small for our forces: at least two hundred inhabitants.

"Orders, decanus?" I said while trying to stay hidden, watching the village.

"We can take those profligates by surprise. We need to eliminate the guards in the towers and then charge in. After that, everything will be easy, and we'll claim the loot and the slaves," said the decanus to his men.

"I see four watchtowers, with at least four guards. I can take a shot at the two nearest guards, but I'll need to get closer to get a clear shot at the other two; I can't see them well from here. But it's likely there are more guards. If we manage to take them down, we can probably subdue the rest of the population if they aren't armed. But if they are, they'll put up a tough fight. I'd recommend getting reinforcements," I said to the decanus.

"No, we can defeat these profligates. Shoot now, Gaius," said the decanus

I took aim again and blew the heads off the two guards in the watchtowers with my rifle. I would have appreciated a silencer, but I couldn't find one anywhere.

Immediately, we started running towards the village gates, which were open.

I noticed someone climbing the stairs of a watchtower, and before they could reach the top, I managed to land a shot to their abdomen. As I continued running, I saw them fall.

It didn't take long to reach the gates, which they hadn't managed to close. The wooden palisades didn't do much to stop us.

My companions simply charged, disregarding any tactics for urban combat. They just rushed in with their machetes and rifles.

To my surprise, it worked out quite well. The legionaries managed to fire some shots at the few remaining guards, and one even impaled a guard with a well-aimed spear throw.

I stayed close to a nearby wall, watching all sides, ready for someone to try to pop out, trying to stay focused despite the terrible screams from my companions or the cries of the villagers as the legionaries charged at them since there were no more guards.

My companions began looting and capturing slaves, quickly blocking the exits to prevent anyone else from escaping, except for the few lucky ones who ran at the start of the attack.

"You see, Gaius, the initiative of a true warrior guarantees victory, even in such unequal circumstances. Now come, let's see what valuables these profligates have," said the decanus.

But in a split second, I noticed a sniper peeking from a window. I grabbed my decanus by the shoulder to move him out of the line of fire, and at the same time, I raised my rifle.

We both fired at the same time.

The bullet hit me directly in the chest, while mine left a huge hole in the sniper's head.

I fell from the impact, but as soon as my back hit the ground, I rolled over and scanned the area, expecting more snipers. Not finding any, I took cover in the nearest spot and checked my chest. The kevlar from the riot armor I wore beneath my football armor had saved me. I'd just have a nasty bruise, but thankfully no broken ribs, though it hurt.

The decanus approached me and looked at me.

"Good reflexes," he said before turning his attention back to the slaves.

"You're welcome," I said, a bit annoyed, but getting back up to stay on alert.

"Damn, I was the most careful, and I'm the only one who got shot."

For several minutes, my companions were busy tying up the dozens of captives we had taken.

"What now? We've got the slaves. Should we check if they have anything valuable?" I asked the decanus.

"slaves? No, no, no. They're not slaves yet. We need to take them to a slave master to be properly turned into slaves, trained to follow the virtues expected of a true Legion slave," the decanus replied.

"Severus, bring me that one—the pretty one," said the decanus, pointing to one of the female captives.

The legionary grabbed the woman and forcefully brought her over to us.

"Here, Gaius, your reward. Enjoy," said the decanus, patting me on the shoulder.

"We're in a dangerous area, decanus. This isn't the time for that," I said seriously.

"Don't reject a gift from your superior. Use her when we get back to camp," said the decanus nonchalantly.

Finally, I began searching the houses for valuables. We searched for almost an hour, but found only some food and metal objects in small quantities—not enough to do much. When we were checking, we found a pile of scrap, and luckily, I discovered that inside an old washing machine in the pile, there were some chips.

"Gaius, are you serious? You're more excited about those things than about the decanus' reward? You're practically jumping for joy!" said one of my companions.

"These things sell for nearly twenty aureus each. They can be used to repair machinery," I said, showing the legionary.

"WHAT? That much… I think I've passed up a lot of opportunities," said the legionary, biting his finger, regretting past decisions.

Finally, three hours after starting our raid on this village, we returned to where the camp was being set up. We were quite lucky, as there had been skirmishes all day along the border.

Our officers met with a centurion to begin their attack plans.

After everything was over, I noticed the centurion staring at me for a while before heading back to his tent.

For several days, the skirmishes continued, where I kept showing off my perfect aim.

Finally, the rest of the Legion arrived with Legate Lanius and an army of slaves carrying heavy packs.

They were probably carrying the supplies for our attack.

Soon after Lanius' arrival, rumors began spreading through the camp that he planned to lead a direct assault on the city of Roswell, where the Society of the Blue Rose was based.

The next day, the entire army assembled, and we began marching directly towards the city.

The only notable thing about the city was a satellite communications center that had been built there long ago.

This time, there was a difference in tactics, as we formed the triplex acies, where all the novice legionaries were in the front and the more experienced ones at the back. We slowly began marching toward the city.

Our enemies started setting up barricades, with their snipers firing with little precision. But since we were in formation, their chances of hitting increased.

I moved ahead a bit, and another decanus seemed like he was about to call me out, but when he saw that with every shot I took, I eliminated one of the enemy snipers, he left me alone and continued marching while I kept firing at the enemies.

When the first legionaries started charging, firing their captured weapons or using their spears, the city's weak defenses began to crumble.

I started running to help those who were charging, but a shout caught my attention.

"Legionaries, with me!" shouted Legate Lanius, and everyone nearby followed him.

Our group swept through all the defenses in the area, annihilating everyone with our numbers, and some legionaries had high-quality rifles and were quite skilled with them.

It didn't take long for me to get closer to the legate as he continued cutting through the city's defenses.

With me and five other veteran legionaries, we took down all the remaining defenders on the walls of the last enemy bastion within the telecommunications area.

"The cowards have locked themselves in. Those doors are too thick to break through; we need explosives," said a legionary observing the door.

"Go back and get the explosives," said the legate.

I slowly approached the terminal outside the building. This wasn't a fortress, just a public building, probably.

I started hacking the terminal, but it seemed that this society had been updating the errors in RobCo computers. However, it only took me a few minutes before I finally managed to access the system and open the doors.

The legate watched me, and when he saw the doors open, he charged again, followed by his legionaries, and I followed them.

It only took us a few minutes before Lanius massacred the leader of this society and began the looting and capturing of the inhabitants.

The Legion had conquered another tribe.

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Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.

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I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.

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