Chapter 74 (1/2)

Attacking the Capital

There was a man named Manyu.

As a highly ranked Cordovan bureaucrat, he was a man whose name was included in the lowest position of the royal court’s council.

Among the disorder caused by the threat of impending Ogress army in the council, he gave the Cordovan king a single proposal.

“How about we set the slaves free, turning them into soldiers?”

His words gave a change to the council’s mood, which had thus far been leaning towards capitulation.

Although Ria had recommended that Cordova surrender several times, they had refused each and every time.

The reason was simple: they had plenty of forces remaining in Cordova.

However, the army of twenty corps they had sent as their elite suffered a defeat before the Ogress army. Now, that army was moving to invade the capital.

Ria’s statement of already a.s.suming the royal palace as her prize had already been conferred to them.

Even now, if they capitulated and entered Ogress jurisdiction, they were only guaranteed positions as Cordovan earls.

However, Manyu proposed to wait.

Would Ogress’ queen spare the life of the king of the country that had resisted this much?

Moreover, would she do the same for the king’s aids and the other n.o.bles?

Cordova capital had strong walls, they even had food. As long as they had sufficient forces to rely on, they still had the ability to resist.

And after resisting for a long enough time and showing off their power, they might not be unable to draw up more acceptable conditions for their surrender.

Manyu’s sentence caused a stirring wave to flow through the king and n.o.bles’ intentions.

“Then Manyu, the only person that can take command of the slaves, shall we remain in our country?”

The king finally spoke.

“If permitted, this retainer will use his life…”

The Cordovan king nodded powerfully.

*

“By the way, Fio, take a look at this guy’s papers. What do you think of him?”

“He seems… very capable.”

Fio muttered involuntarily.

A bureaucratic n.o.ble of the Cordovan monarchy, Baron Manyu.

“Why would such a capable seeming person appear in a country that’s almost destroyed…”

Ria sighed.

A situation where such an out-of-the-norm person appeared wasn’t asked for, but it was probably ideal for a country.

Talks of Cordova using slaves as soldiers was brought to her immediately.

Those who partic.i.p.ated as soldiers would be liberated as free people in the future.

Those who earned achievements would be provided lump sums or land.

If they captured Queen Ryuku Riana? The one to hold her head up would be given a t.i.tle of n.o.bility.

They were very attractive terms. Certainly, if Ria lost now, there would be no one else that could attack Cordova.

The only one with the ability to bring this large of an army together was likely Reyas.

However, it wasn’t something that could be a.s.sembled with just ability. It also needed leaders.h.i.+p and legitimacy.

Although it would be good enough to include Guinevere as the supreme commander, the person supporting them logistically with Manesh would be gone.

And to start with, Carla was not suitable for being a commander of war. Though she did have the charisma…

As their first goal, they began their attack.

The former Cordovan soldiers whose lives were saved by Ria attacked the capital intensely.

Preparations were everything for the attacking side in a siege. Even so, since Cordova’s side had no where left to go, their morale had naturally fired up.

Long ladders were placed against the rampart, but they were destroyed one after another by stones and logs.

Much the same happened to their catapults’ attacks as well, as since the rampart was strengthened by magic, they didn’t do much damage.

For many generations before this, it was thought that this was an excessive defensive strength built by that cowardly king, but right now it was demonstrating its effectiveness.

*

Five days pa.s.sed.

Although moderate damage was inflicted on the enemy forces, there were naturally many allied sacrifices as well.

Ria had appeared in her seat at the war council, but the push for a brute force approach was still huge.

It was probably natural. Those being sacrificed were chiefly the Ogress soldiers that were formerly Cordovan soldiers.

It was natural for the n.o.bles whose territories’ armies weren’t in the line of fire to single-mindedly promote attacking like that.

However, this troubled Ria.

If they didn’t get Cordova to yield and preserve their national power, they wouldn’t be able to fight against the demon tribe in the Millennium.

But even with all that, Cordova’s capital held impregnable defenses.

“Attacking the fortress is a bad idea, but attacking their spirit…?”

Casually, she spoke those words.

She had spoken them calmly, but they changed her war council’s course of action.

Thanks to a.s.sociating themselves with Ria’s way of thinking thus far, her staff officers had grown.

And so from the next day on, it was no longer a castle siege, but psychological warfare.

*

First, they mixed papers in with the stones they launched.

This was something meant for the beastkin.

Even at this point, they weren’t treated the same as humans and weren’t allowed to apply as soldiers.

The papers spoke of things like how outside of the rampart, beastkin were already being treated just like humans, it was even said that one was receiving the queen’s affection.

Even if they didn’t rouse themselves and collect into a revolt, this would collapse some of Cordova’s support.

Outside of the tall Cordovan rampart, an even larger hill was created with earth magic, large enough that it could be seen from the inside.

It wasn’t at a distance that catapults could be used, but every person could see it for themselves, causing a serious pressure to loom over them.

Because of this pressure, the Cordovan soldiers’ spirits steadily weakened.

Moreover, the Ogress army’s area didn’t look like an encampment, it had both a huge wall and a moat. Its construction had reached the point of being able to be called a town.

It gave the feeling that they intended on capturing the capital no matter how long it took. For the Cordovan soldiers that wished for their emanc.i.p.ation from slavery at the end of this battle, not being able to see how far away its end was filled their minds with gloom.

Similarly, construction that required a large amount of manpower had begun.

The water that met the needs of Cordova’s population was pulled from a large river, but the construction they started was to stop it up.