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Vol 02 Chapter 65: The Seven-Day War II

「I suppose it’s fine. Let’s pull ourselves together and attack.」

Tonino ordered that the siege weapons be moved to the front.

The parts of the siege weapons that were hard to make were made in the capital and brought to the site with the troops. They were later assembled after arriving at Teria Fortress.

Catapults, siege towers, ladders, battering rams, and boats—it was a full arsenal.

With such a force, one would normally expect to capture any fortress easily. They had also prepared countermeasures against the ‘secret medicine of fire’.

「Now, the siege begins.」

◇

As the enemy’s siege towers approached the limit of the moat, archers fired their arrows. Arrows poured down like rain.

Amid the rain of arrows, the enemy used boats to cross the moat and placed ladders to climb the walls. The boats were connected like a bridge, and enemies carrying battering rams crossed over to attack the gates.

「It’s a fierce attack,」

Perm commented as he watched out for the incoming arrows.

「But it won’t be enough to bring us down. We have defensive siege weapons, as well」

Almost simultaneously with my words, white smoke enveloped one of the enemy’s siege towers. Then, with a loud explosion, a second and third tower were also enveloped in smoke.

「Is that the ‘secret medicine of fire’?」

「Yes, exactly. We’re launching it with catapults and ballistae.」

In addition to her expertise in construction, Ismene is quite knowledgeable about such weaponry. The siege weapons were constructed under her direction.

Thank God Ismene is so knowledgeable; the blast javelins will be of no use here.

When I asked Ismene if she knew how to make crossbows since she knew how to make ballistae, she replied that it was possible. However, she mentioned that mass production would be difficult, and they wouldn’t be very strong.

Considering historical examples like the Battle of Crécy, longbows, when used in defensive positions, are among the strongest weapons—potentially superior to crossbows in such situations. With our current technology level, we wouldn’t be able to create a decent crossbow anyway Plus, the advantage of crossbows is lost if we can’t mass-produce them.

It’s disappointing, but we have enough archers, so it’s not much of a problem.

「The siege towers are still moving.」

Ordobis pointed out.

Huh? That’s strange.

「Could it be that a group of magicians is casting a physical barrier?!」

Maybe they’re also covering it with fabric or fur soaked in water to make it harder to burn…

「The enemy commander didn’t come here without thinking it seems. But still, don’t think you have defeated the black powder so easily…」

◇

「Damn, no matter how many I shot down they keep climbing up!」

Gram cursed.

Despite Gram actively targeting and shooting down enemy commanders, the momentum of the enemy forces remained unchanged. They must have a system in place for command succession… It indicated that they were a well-trained and refined army.

Moreover, the enemy soldiers were using iron shields, making it hard for arrows to penetrate them. The arrows used by the Rosais army were 30% made of iron and 70% made of bronze, making it difficult to penetrate the Domorgal army defenses.

This meant it wasn’t going to be as straightforward as it was with the combat slaves before.

Additionally, because stones were occasionally thrown at them, there was no time to shoot arrows at leisure.

「I can’t stop them from climbing… Ron, sorry. Please deal with the ones who’ve climbed up.」

「Got it. I was just getting tired of dropping stones and removing ladders anyway.」

With that, Ron drew his sword. Almost simultaneously, enemy soldiers overcame the wall, but…

「Good work, you can return to your friends now.」

Ron sliced through the enemies with his sword. The enemies were split in half and fell into the moat, staining the water red.

「Alright, it’s our turn now!」

Ron and his men relentlessly cut down the surging enemies, causing them to plummet into the moat.

「That was close!」

A man deflected an arrow that was flying towards Ron.

It was Josef, the man who had switched allegiances from the Dibel family to the Aris family.

「Good, I’ve now earned some favor with the Tribune!」 (Are you alright, Tribune?)

「Yeah, I’m fine, but aren’t you showing your true colors a bit there?」

◇

Meanwhile, at the southern gate. The area was slightly overwhelmed.

「Ugh, the enemy’s attack is fierce. It seems like their soldiers are concentrating here.」

Bartolo finished his drink and dropped the bottle he was drinking from on an enemy soldier’s head. The soldier instinctively released his grip to protect his head and fell from the ladder.

「This is no time to be drinking, Bartolo-sama.」

Boros, wielding his spear, knocked down the enemy soldiers as they climbed.

They are extremely busy.

「The enemy commander has quite a nasty personality, doesn’t he? Instead of attacking the north gate, where a strong and young commander is, they choose to attack the south gate guarded by two middle-aged men.」

While saying this, Bartolo skillfully maneuvered the archers, making them respond effectively to the enemy movements. His command was efficient and wasted no time.

However, there was only so much that could be covered by having a great commander.

Soldiers crossed the moat and climbed up the walls one after another. The situation was quite dire.

「No choice then. Let’s use the new weapon we received from Almus-sama.」

Boros commanded twenty soldiers to fetch several odd-looking tubes.

The twenty soldiers aimed the tubes downward, targeting the soldiers climbing the walls.

「Fire!」

Flames burst out of the tubes.  The soldiers directly hit by the flames fell, engulfed in fire.

Caught off guard by the abrupt flames, the unscathed soldiers lost their grip and plummeted. The burning ladders toppled into the moat, sinking amidst steam.

「Wow, that’s amazing. They’re called flamethrowers, right? Such genius—did Ismene-san create these?」

「Thank you for the compliment, Bartolo.」

Tetra, who appeared out of nowhere, thanked Bartolo.

「No, no, madam. It’s dangerous here, you know? You’re a magician, so you should stay back…」

Five balls of fire launched from Tetra’s staff, exploding in the faces of the enemy soldiers who were just peering over the wall.

「I apologize. Please forget I said anything.」

「Very well.」

Then, Bartolo asked Tetra again.

「How does that weapon work?」

「It’s simple. Mix black powder with olive oil, blow it out using a magic circle that creates wind magic, and ignite it with another magic circle at the mouth of the tube. The key is to always deactivate the ignition magic circle before the wind magic circle when ceasing the flamethrower’s operation. The flame is always pushed out of the tube by the wind, so it doesn’t ignite the fuel inside. However, if the wind magic circle is turned off first, the flame will backdraft and cause an explosion.」

「Wow… that’s quite a terrifying weapon.」

The visual terror of the flame tube greatly demoralized the enemy troops, disrupting their formation. Gradually, Rosais’ side began to gain the upper hand, and the number of soldiers managing to climb the wall decreased.

「I guess the downside is its poor fuel efficiency?」

「And maybe its short range? That would make it difficult to use outside siege warfare」

While continuing their conversation, the two kept cutting down enemy soldiers.

The day ended without any significant changes in the battle situation.

◇

「What are our losses?」

Tonino listened to the report, sighed heavily, and then dismissed the soldier who reported.

「We lost a lot of soldiers and equipment.」

Carlo commented while drinking wine.

「Indeed.」

This time, many archers, along with the siege towers, were lost—either burned or crushed to death. Archery was a specialized skill that required a long training period, making it difficult to replenish their numbers quickly.

「That flame-throwing tube has become a real nuisance.」

「It’s almost like cheating. It has our troops spooked…」

Yet, there’s no rule against using flamethrowers in warfare.

「Shouldn’t we change the strategy?」

Carlo suggested to Tonino with concern.

Tonino shook his head.

「No, we won’t change our strategy. There are no issues. We have plenty of time. And if the enemy soldiers are strong… well, we’ll just wear them down.」

◇

「Our losses are… not much, considering the level of attack we’ve endured.」

My voice contained a hint of relief.

It might be insensitive, but none of my companions from the village are among the dead. Of the twenty-seven people that came with me from the village, I only brought with me twelve.

Of those twelve, six serve as centurions under Ron and Gram, organizing the soldiers, while the remaining six are guards for Tetra and me, which reduces their likelihood of dying in battle… But I was still worried.

I think this much favoritism is permissible. Besides, losing them, who are civil officials as well as military commanders, would jeopardize the management of my territory, so I’d prioritize them the same even if they weren’t my friends.

「Well, I was thinking of distributing a small amount of alcohol tonight… What do you think, Perm-san?」

「It should be fine. While I’m not well-versed in matters of war, a change of pace seems necessary.」

「I agree too. It’s the first day, after all. We should start off with a bit of fanfare.」

Bartolo also agreed.

「You just want to drink, don’t you…」

Tetra chided Bartolo.

However, Tetra didn’t seem to have any complaints and didn’t voice any opposition. The other patricians also showed their agreement.

「What do you guys think?」

When I asked Gram and Ron, they shook their heads.

「I think it’s fine to provide the soldiers with some alcohol… I agree with that. But I think we should continue to stay alert.」

「It would be a problem if we received a night attack and all the soldiers were drunk.」

That is a sensible suggestion, I guess.

「Then let’s have the people who don’t tolerate alcohol well and those who lose a lottery draw to stand guard. And let’s try to limit the amount everyone drinks.」

The alcohol content in the wines from the Adernian peninsula is very low. One wouldn’t get drunk unless they drank excessively.

「With that said, let’s call it a day for now.」

Just when it seemed the first day was over…

「Night attack!!」

I was woken up by a soldier.

「It looks like Ron and Gram were right.」

I hurried to the scene.

◇

「It’s hard to tell their numbers.」

「It seems they’ve extinguished their bonfires to make their numbers unclear. This means the enemy is in small numbers, and their goal is to keep us from sleeping.」

Ordobis muttered while stroking his beard.

「Or they might be pretending to be few but are planning a serious attack… Let’s split the soldiers in half. Half will sleep, and the other half will respond to the attack.」

If the enemy’s assault turns out to be too intense, we can always wake up the other half. But…

「It seems we won’t be getting much deep sleep.」

I sighed.