Chapter 97: Northern Disturbance ③ Detour the Invincible Fortress (1/2)

–Third Person/ Treia POV–

Treia Western Region, City of Roleil

Count Fayeltin, who has made a portion of the towns and village, including Roleil, a part of his territory, shouts in a high-pitched voice.

「What is the Eastern Defence Forces doing?! Of all things to surrender completely, even though everyone swore allegiance to fight to the death!」

「Indeed.」

「They’re really disloyal and unforgivable.」

「This is something deserving a thousand deaths.」

「The enemy is probably close to Erg……the glory of Treia’s army has also fallen.」

The source of his bad mood is not limited to this. He has been a prominent feudal lord of this region up until now, holding a large amount of power, and his family name is quite well-known as well. But with the deterioration of relations between Goldonia, the situation was turned on its head; Marquess Dunois, the prime minister, is stressing defense while the military officials within his territory are throwing their weight around.

「The commander of the northern fortress was originally supposed to be me as well, so why is that senile old fool in charge!?」

「Indeed.」

「They’re really unbelievable fools.」

「This is something laughable.」

The Count purposely does not use its official name, the Majino fortress. He is the commander responsible for providing supplies to that fortress, and although his standing is the same, he is unavoidably seen and treated as the subordinate of the Majino fortress’s commander.

「If it’s that old fool, there’s no telling when that fortress will be broken through. When that happens, my territory will instantly be invaded!」

「Indeed.」

「It’s really a worrying chain of events.」

「This is something frightening.」

The Count himself doesn’t have any experience leading an army, and Count Majino is a specialist in defense, protecting the land from the repeated invasions of Arkland, so being a soldier is something he hasn’t thought about.

「Baron Bakka, Baron Doaho, Baronet Oroka. I’m going to make inspections, follow me!」1

「How splendid.」

「It’s really wonderfully dedication.」

「This deserves much respect.」

What he can do now is only to appear frequently in front of the soldiers, perform various duties in supplying, speak out and make his existence known.

Despite it being their own territory, the four of them inspect the town with guards, and while they were getting praise from those they attracted, one soldier on the watchtower shouts loudly.

「A single horse is coming this way!」

The Count and his three followers look at each other.

「The enemy? No, there’s no way they would come by themselves. A messenger from the imperial guards deployed by the forest…… don’t tell me they have been defeated as well. What do you guys think?」

「「「I don’t know!」」」

The one riding the horse arrives at the gate, but instead of the sound of the gate opening, he shouts in a loud voice.

「Urgent report! The enemy has gotten through the Erg forest and is already nearby! There’s no time, so prepare your defenses immediately!!」

The messenger screams as if his life depends on it, but the Count and his followers are more shocked than hurried.

「They broke through the Erg forest? There’s no way they could do that……」

The soldiers don’t believe something so sudden either.

「If they detoured to the forest, they should have fought with the imperial guards. Even if they lost by some chance, it would take them some time, and the messenger should have come from the imperial guards.」

They couldn’t imagine the man outside to be one of the imperial guards.

「Which means it might be a disturbance strategy by the enemy.」

If it’s a single cavalry, they might have snuck past the imperial guards in the dead of night.

「We’ll capture and interrogate-……」

The Count did not finish what he was going to say. It’s because all the soldiers that climbed on the watchtowers are shouting like crazy.

「「Enemy attack—!! An enormous amount of cavalry! They’re heading straight for us!!」」

「What are you saying-……」

The soft sound of rumbling gradually gets louder. For those in the army, it’s a sound they’ve all heard before – the sound of warhorses performing the march of death.

「Move it!!」

The Count climbs up the watchtower and pushes the soldiers out of his way. What he saw when he reached the top is a scene out of a nightmare; several thousand cavalry are charging towards him in several dozen columns. Not much can be seen behind them due to the massive dust cloud they are kicking up. The eyes that look on with fear are also estimating their numbers, but he definitely did not think it was such an unreasonable amount.

「C-close the gates!! I don’t care if you abandon the ones outside!!」

It was clear that there would be nothing left they could do if he let even a tenth of the approaching cavalry into the city. The soldiers are also moving as fast as possible, closing the gate immediately and preventing them from jumping in from the front gates.

The walls of the city Roleil are somewhat built for war with a portion being reinforced, but the fortress to the north is known more as the main linchpin in the defense. Even so, the Count cannot do anything but as much as he can to hold on and wait for backup.

「You guys should hurry and take command too! Lead your soldiers!」

「Awawawa」

「Hiiiieee」

「Oyoyoyo」

The three followers’ legs gave out and they fell flat on their bottom. When the three of them proved useless, the Count was about to take direct control but then…….

An explosive sound and then the sound of something crumbling and falling down. The Count suppressed his instinct to not want to look back but when he turned his eyes to the source of the sound, there were chips of wood splintered everywhere and a large hole was made in the outer walls.

「Wh-……what the-……」

The soldier stares blankly at the hole and he wasn’t even able to finish what he was saying before another roar resounds and opens up a large hole in another place.

The soldiers distance themselves from the wall that basically could not serve its purpose anymore, and the herd of cavalry charge through the destroyed parts.

「Something like this……is……unbelievable……」

The voices of the Count who looked up at the sky dumbfoundedly, and his three followers were drowned out by the sound of the hooves.

–Aegir POV–

「A large hole has been opened in the walls. The spear cavalry have successfully infiltrated the city.」

I can hear Leopolt’s emotionless voice sound a little worked up too. And more importantly, that iron barrel didn’t break.

「We forced it into the wagon after all. I was somewhat worried.」

The infantry that accompanied the siege weapons are trailing behind us. If we attack with the infantry, Roleil should fall easily, but it’ll turn the city into a sea of flames. Maria’s house and mother is in the city too, so I would like to capture the city quickly and load some of that powerful stuff2 if possible.

「Have them continue firing. It’s better if the mouth of the entrance is larger. Don’t hit our allies.」

「I will be careful.」

Leopolt swings his arm down and the sound of the third shot roars. It must have hit the watchtower as the Treian soldiers are jumping off while the tower crumbles, and makes snapping sounds.

「I’m going too.」

「Haa, again? Lord Hardlett, I want you just to sit back though.」

Don’t say that. There’s nothing more boring than to watch a festival as it happens from the back.

「Aegir-sama is heading out. Escort unit, follow him!」

Celia shouts and 30 heavy cavalry come along with me. Because she’s worried about me charging in by myself, she chose 30 people, from the cavalry of the private army of all people, to be my guards. I thought Leopolt wouldn’t allow for 30 of the important heavy cavalry to be designated exclusively to me, but he acknowledges that it would be better than having the commander die on him.

The soldiers and horses which make up the escort squad have good builds and they excel at fighting, and although only a few of them are equipped with spears and bowguns, they are some of the most powerful in the unit. By the way, Celia’s small stature really stands out when she’s amongst them.

Accurately speaking, the escort unit has 32 people, including Celia and one other person – Christoph. He was thrown out of his former unit since he didn’t prove useful, but after begging me in tears, he joined my squad, though he is the weakest. Celia told me that if there’s an opportunity, she would let him die in battle.

「Let’s go!」

As we head towards the city, several soldiers appear from out from one of the large holes opened in the walls and stand in front of us. They have some courage to oppose us in this situation. I send one soldier’s spear flying, pierce him in the stomach and fling him away. Another one is thinking about taking some distance from me, but gets knocked back by Celia’s horse from the side.

「Don’t kill the residents! I won’t tolerate setting fire to the city either, kill only the soldiers!」

An armored soldier charges at me, but I lop his head off, knocking his torso to where the other soldiers are.

「Hiih!」

「In one blow……」

The small fry soldiers lose morale and abandon their spears to run away. That’s right, if you don’t resist me, this city won’t be destroyed.

「Seeeiyyaa!!」

With a fierce grunt, a knight fully equipped in armor rushes at me with his spear pointed at me. That reminds me, there’s a competition where this sort of thing happens. His spear looks thick and made just for thrusting and doesn’t look like there’s a sharp edge to it.

After the sound of clashing metal rings out, only the enemy knight’s horse runs off. The knight’s spear thrusts in my chest……to be precise, thrusts just before my chest, as it is being held by my hand. The enemy is holding the handle of his spear while struggling in midair with a face of disbelief.

I just grabbed the charging enemy’s spear and picked him up though3……. He didn’t let go of the handle so he didn’t fall.

I lower the spear to the ground to let him down, then the knight throws away his sword and kneels. I thought he was going to draw it and kill me; what a close call.

「He caught a charging spear with his hands?」

「Monster……」

「He’s not an opponent we can win against!」