13 (83)

Louis saw the flag of House Boarne waving before him. An eagle rising atop a spire. The flag was fluttering in the gentle breeze. The one holding it was an armed man whose face Louis recognized. He must have met him once on the battlefield. He was focused on managing his gaze, trying to avoid Louis’s eyes. The thick and neatly equipped armor made it clear that House Boarne had squeezed out its last regular troops and sent them.

‘Was the last one I saw that woman?’

The eldest daughter of House Boarne. Louis had granted Marquis Boarne Gregory’s final wish. His final words had been to spare his daughter.

‘It rained heavily that day.’

She had come to receive Louis’s approval for inheriting the marquis title with a face that looked as if it would collapse if touched. Louis had simply approved it, paying no mind to what she had worried about. Destroying them outright would have left no loose ends, but a better method was to weaken the opponent and absorb them. House Boarne had ruled that place for a long time, so they must have established their own secrets of administration and order. If he killed them all, he would have to establish a new order. Louis found that troublesome. There were many objections saying that a woman should not be appointed to the position of marquis of House Boarne, but Louis was not the type to care about such things from the start. Rather, by placing a woman in the marquis position of House Boarne, he could obtain the political effect of elevating the status of other houses.

In front of the man holding the flag, a young commander was swearing loyalty to Louis. There was no need to go this far, but this young commander, Frank Carter, had volunteered for it himself. He was a noble young man who looked as if he had made many women cry. With his proper armor and a fair amount of mana, he seemed like he could have appeared on the previous battlefield, but since he had not, there seemed to be some complicated story behind it. Behind him, troops stretched endlessly in a straight formation. Every one of them was sharply disciplined, to the point that they did not move a muscle. In Louis’s eyes, among the houses that had arrived so far, they had the best discipline. Since they had arrived last, they had practiced enough.

“I have received command authority from Boarne Lorene, the head of House Boarne, and have brought all our troops to assist Your Majesty with all our strength. If there is a path to restore trust and prove loyalty, I will brave even death.”

Louis looked over them in full. The information windows as well. The people of House Boarne had always held low respect toward him. After the war ended, the emotion called respect had changed into anger or fear, so there had been no way to check the number. However, for the man before him and the people endlessly lined up behind him, most of their emotional states had changed to respect. The same was true for Frank Carter before him.

‘It seems they brought all their troops, exceeding expectations. They must want to restore their relationship with me.’

Louis accepted the oath. With this, every house had arrived at the city of Roswaf.

Ruderwin had a total of three most important cities. Each of their walls was sturdy, and their structure was such that ordinary attacks would instead cause losses. The first city they would encounter was Piatranne. The second city they had to break through was Ravno. The last was Dgorica, the heart of Ruderwin. The final destination of Louis’s attack on Ruderwin, which he had to resolve, lay in Dgorica. That was because the main quest would be completed as long as the condition of occupying the capital was satisfied, excluding other factors. When he first devised the strategy, he had conceived a plan to attack several places at once and isolate the important cities, but the conditions that soon appeared—shortening the number of months and minimizing troop losses—and decisively, the clue in the words “occupying the capital,” changed the strategy.

Before Louis, gradually rising hills stretched onward. The plain that had spread endlessly day and night began to slope steeply from the midpoint where one would encounter the city of Piatranne. Lush grass without a single tree spread generously all the way to the end of the hill. At the point where the grass ended stood a steel gate, and high walls continued around it. Archers stood on the shoulders of the wall. Their helmets that protected their heads and the light armor that simply covered them from their shoulders to their hearts were not so low-grade as to be crude.

These men stood in five rows, ready to fire arrows toward Louis at any time. A man who appeared to be the commander anxiously walked around the section connected above the castle gate. There was no longer any way to know how many troops were inside or how much supply they had. The walls looked sturdy, but perhaps because they were old, there were flaws here and there, and no particular magical defense had been added. In other words, it was just an ordinary stone wall.

Strictly speaking, the line that continued through Piatranne, Ravno, and the capital Dgorica, which Louis had decided to break through, was not the shortest route. Rather, it deviated from the three cities directly ahead and slightly circled around. Even so, the reason Louis had chosen Piatranne as the first target was precisely because of the additional effect gained when Piatranne was occupied.

As expected of a main quest, a special effect was added upon occupying each city. The effect Piatranne possessed was that it gave +5 damage to wall destruction.

‘The key to siege warfare is whether the walls can be destroyed as early as possible. More than logistics related to supply or effects that might help in close combat, this is the most important.’

Whether he could accomplish the objective within three months depended on how quickly this place was occupied. If he was delayed here, he would have to give up on three months and set the time frame at around four months no matter how fast he was. For one thing, the line continuing through Piatranne, Ravno, and Dgorica was not a straight line. There was also the issue of troops, a condition tied together with reducing the number of months. In other words, since he must not lose them carelessly either, he had to advance slowly through perfect reconnaissance. Louis glanced to the side and behind him.

The great army stretching into the distance resembled a wave of humans. The soldiers were all frozen stiff as they looked at the walls. They might have been thinking that they would have to climb that place. Of course, under normal circumstances, that would be the case. In an ordinary siege, it was obvious that a sea of blood would be painted in order to overcome this place, since Piatranne was located in a position difficult to attack. Even so, those doing their work were busy. The messengers delivering each order were riding around here and there, the chiliarchs were instructing their subordinates on several details, and the centurions received those instructions and spread out to each unit to deliver orders.

Because the entire army had been gathered, the sea of humans consisted mostly of infantry and archers. The cavalry were waiting in the second army, and the ones positioned relatively close to the front line were the Horn Bow Archers. The Horn Bow Archers were checking their respective equipment. Generally larger than ordinary infantry, they were taller by about a handspan. The equipment they wore was also very fine. At the very least, it was better-quality armor than the light armor worn by the infantry up on that wall. The joints were carefully linked with chains, covering most of their vital points.

They could be called the only elite unit Louis currently possessed. Their advantage was that, because of the special elasticity of the horn bow, their range was one square longer than that of ordinary archers. This one square was very important in war. A distance on which lives depended. A distance from which one side could attack the other unilaterally. There were individual differences, but on average, they were ahead by one square, and in severe cases, about two squares.

‘I must not use them immediately. The Horn Bow Archers will be used for the second strike. The first strike is…’

Louis looked at the huge siege weapon directly behind him. The Improved Trebuchet. Among the officers who had confirmed its power, it had such performance that they called it the miracle of the cripple. Its appearance was not entirely unlike that of an ordinary trebuchet. An ordinary trebuchet was generally an installation-type siege weapon used after being set up in place. Thick logs were connected to create the weapon on the spot. One end would hang in the air, and something to attack with would be attached there. It would then be wound back to the end and released all at once to attack a wall or gate. That was the identity of the siege weapon called a trebuchet.

However, the Improved Trebuchet looked similar yet entirely different. Its thick wheels and each pillar were connected with iron and iron. Its body was fiercer, larger than the basic model by about two humans. The reason it had wheels was that it could be manufactured in advance and moved, and if that were all, its destructive power might have weakened because of shaking, but this trebuchet could also be fixed in place at the same time.

Twelve sturdy soldiers were clinging to the Improved Trebuchet. Four men each were holding onto both wheels, and a huge rope stretched far behind it. Eight more soldiers were clinging to that rope. They were pulling it. Sixteen men on each side. They were in the middle of fixing the Improved Trebuchet in place. Trebuchets like this continued between sections of the army. Behind them, carts loaded with Magimetal to be used in the trebuchets arrived one by one. A report came to Louis that installation had been completed. Nearby, Sir Kaban Ferdinand and General Gaion, who held the rank of commander of ten thousand and would divide command of the army with Louis, were looking at him. When the report that the final Improved Trebuchet had finished installation came in, Louis shouted.

“Load all siege weapons.”

Gaion, who handled rear logistics and management of siege weapons more than close combat, saluted Louis and shouted. As the order was passed along like a wave, the soldiers attached to the Improved Trebuchets began pulling the ropes hanging in the center. When eight men groaned and pulled it back a couple of times, the pillar tilted, then bent backward. The sight of the siege weapons being loaded was imposing. The commander anxiously watching from atop the wall was wearing his helmet, then hurriedly put it back on properly and was shouting until his throat seemed about to burst.

Louis knew what he was probably saying. He was likely ordering them to counter with the siege weapons inside. However… Louis raised the corners of his mouth. The Improved Trebuchet had not merely increased convenience. Like the Horn Bow Archers, it could secure more distance. Since the commander did not yet know that fact and was vaguely watching what Louis was doing, he had committed an error.

“Pour it on.”

All the generals, officers, and soldiers had been watching only the shape of Louis’s mouth. As soon as Louis gave the order, Gaion raised his hand high. A nearby flag bearer began waving the flag madly.

Kuuung! Elastic sounds, as if heavy beasts had been released into the air, repeated several times. The round metal lumps flying gracefully were visible to the eye. Gaion and Sir Kaban Ferdinand were concentrating as if their eyes might burst. Of course, it could be said that this was also the first time Louis was seeing the result directly. Perhaps their counterattack had begun, since thick stones started soaring into the sky from inside Piatranne’s walls. Before they could fully rise, Louis’s Magimetal shells slammed into the wall.

“It will become… a sea of fire.”

Gaion murmured. Louis corrected him.

“No. I put in a different magic.”

The wall caved in. Then it trembled as if vibrating. It was an earthquake strong enough that the archers above dropped their bows. If it had only been this much, the wall would have endured longer, but the Magimetal shell suddenly flashed and activated. The stored magic had awakened from the collision. The ground trembled, then was gouged out. The area beneath the wall had sunk with a thump.

Since its defensive power still remained, it did not collapse, but a long crack ran through the wall. Then Magimetal shells began falling like meteors. Flashes of light burst here and there across the wall, and without exception, the ground subsided or twisted. Because it was atop an old castle, it was even more fatal. Then, the thick stones that had flown over began falling toward Louis’s formation. To be precise, right in front of it.