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Vol 04 Chapter 112: The One-Eyed and the Hawk IV

Three days have passed since we surrounded King Belvedire’s Country’s capital. It has already been three weeks since the war started.

Bartolo said he could definitely hold out for a month. That means there’s only one week left until the time limit. Depending on Bartolo’s efforts, maybe we could stretch it to two more weeks…

「This is bad.」

I scratched my head in frustration. If Bartolo is defeated, the Rozel army will flood into our country. That would certainly mean defeat for us.

It’s hard to say whether to scorn them for their cold-heartedness or to praise them for their foresight, but the patricians and cities that had formed a lord-vassal alliance with King Belvedire are now mostly showing allegiance to me after hearing about the disastrous defeat of Belvedire’s forces. All that remains is for King Belvedire to surrender.

However, King Belvedire has not yet given up, that is because King Evile is still invading our country. As long as there’s a chance that King Evile could defeat our country, King Belvedire won’t give up.

I need to quickly make both King Belvedire and King Evile submit and go to Bartolo’s aid…

「My king!」

「What is it?」

「A letter from Bartolo-sama has arrived…」

「Give it to me!」

I snatched the letter from the hands of the soldier who rode quickly to deliver it. Trying to calm my racing heart, I roughly unfold the letter.

「My king,

By the time you read this letter, I may no longer be in this world.」

「What!!!」

「That was a joke.」

Grrr

Involuntarily, I slammed the letter onto the ground and stomped on it. Then, in a panic, I picked it up, dusted it off, and read it again.

「I will briefly explain the current situation. Currently, our army is holding up. Fortunately, the well is within the capital, and there is an abundance of food. It seems we were lucky it was the harvest season. If we economize, we can last up to five months.」

It seems that the most crucial concern in a siege, the food supply, is sufficient. That’s a relief. As long as there’s enough food, the walls of a large city can hold for over a year. In some cases, there have been sieges that lasted as long as five years.

It appears that due to the lack of time to prepare for the siege, Bartolo only has enough food for five months…

「However, the Rozel Kingdom has called for reinforcements from their homeland. According to information obtained by our spies, it seems that the Rozel Kingdom has sent an army of forty thousand from their homeland. The details are unclear, but it seems they are divided into four units, and the first unit will arrive in a week.」

Forty thousand… Such a force would be impossible for our country to muster no matter what we do. It’s enviable. But it seems it will take time for them to regroup.

Four units… Does that mean ten thousand each? Then they’ll gather in a month, making a total of fifty thousand?

「As I reported earlier, our food supply can last five months, but that’s just the food supply. Our army is suffering from severe morale issues. Everyone seems to be terrified of the strange furry beast the enemy possesses. Also, it appears the enemy has some exceptionally skilled assassins, as eight of our centurions have already been killed. This is also a cause for the drop in morale. We will definitely hold out for another week, no, I will ensure we do. But once the enemy’s first batch of reinforcements arrives… it’s uncertain. Please consider two to three weeks from now as the time limit. We urgently need reinforcements. Also, I advise diplomatic actions with King Gilbed and King Faldam.」

From Bartolo Pompeius Mela

P.S. I will take full responsibility for the defeat after our victory.」

Responsibility for the defeat… I don’t plan to punish Bartolo for the defeat. Victory or defeat is often a matter of luck.

It’s not like Bartolo is to blame. Maybe after helping him, I should annul the Imperium I lent him and order him to overwrite the defeat with the next victory. It would be foolish to lose Bartolo over one defeat.

So, the time limit has now been extended to two weeks…

◇

「Hey, Ron. Got any good ideas?」

「No, sir.」

What a quick response. Well, Ron is just the captain of the praetorian cohort1 after all. Can’t be helped.

I turned my gaze to Gram.

Ah, he’s looking away. Arrows can’t bring down castle walls after all.

「What about you, Roswald?」

「If horses could run up walls, then maybe.」

That’s a no-go then.

I turned to Soyon and Lulu.

Maybe the magicians have a different perspective.

「Um, maybe using hawks to drop bombs from above… no, they’d get intercepted by the enemy.」

They have several magicians able to use hawks on their side. A hawk burdened with bombs would be easily shot down.

「Do you have any ideas, Lulu?」

「Um… isn’t it possible to launch blat javelins with a ballista?」

「That? We’ve tried it. But the city gates are too sturdy; a few hits won’t break them. Plus, if it’s within our range, it’s also within their range…」

Fundamentally, attacks from above extend range and increase power. Given the laws of physics, there’s not much that can be done.

If we get the ballistae close enough to reliably fire targeted shots, they run the risk of being destroyed.

「Siege warfare is tough… Can’t be helped.」

Should I call Alexios?

「Alexios, do you have any ideas? I don’t have much time. I’d like to take it down quickly if possible.」

I summon Alexios to hear his thoughts. Alexios is a foreigner, and he’s not even from our allied country of Lezado but from Pofenia.

I, an Adernian king, asking a Pofenian for advice so frequently can cause jealousy among my other retainers.

Being a popular man is tough… It’s not a joke though.

Such discord can lead to distrust towards me and ultimately contribute to the collapse of the country. It must be avoided as much as possible.

However, being destroyed by the Rozel Kingdom before internal discord can destroy us seems the more immediate threat. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

「Actually, I’ve been thinking about that too, and I had my wife look into it. Melia!」

「Yes. Please look at this, King Rosais. Here is the structure of the castle walls based on interrogations of captives and the information learned from the Lezado’s magicians’ observations. Some of it is speculative…」

I received a paper from the woman called Melia, she appears to be Alexios’ wife. They make a striking couple.

Rumor has it that these two eloped and made their way to the Adernian Peninsula. Well, if they’re happy, that’s what matters. Elopements tend to end in failure often enough, like Romeo and Juliet.

With that thought, I unfolded the paper. It was a rather intricate map.

Melia is remarkably capable to have completed this in just three days.

However, the more I look, the fewer weaknesses I see. It also makes me realize the fragility of our own country’s defenses.

I handed the map back to Melia and asked,

「So, do you have any plan?」

「As you can see, these walls are incredibly sturdy. A direct assault could take years. King Belvedire seems to have stockpiled a considerable amount of food in preparation for a siege.」

I wish he would just get to the point. Tell me the conclusion already!

「To put it bluntly, it could take at least a year. If things go well, maybe three weeks? We could dig under the walls to collapse them. However, they are likely prepared for this as well, and would counter by building defensive tunnels.」

…Alexios is saying it’s impossible. It seems impossible for me as well.

But if we don’t do something, our country will fall…

「Perhaps negotiating peace would be best. Fortunately, King Belvedire is a coward. He might submit if threatened.」

「But if he holds out, he will win. How do we break King Belvedire in this situation?」

Usually, someone who could win in a long battle wouldn’t settle for a quick defeat. Time is on King Belvedire’s side.

「That’s not necessarily true. The patricians and cities in the north and central regions have accepted your lordship, right? The longer this drags on, the fewer allies King Belvedire will have. He must be getting desperate. Moreover, there are no signs that King Evile will be able to break your country. A little more pressure, and he should surrender. It all depends on the terms, of course.」

「What do you mean by ‘putting pressure’?」

「Specifically…」

With a mischievous grin, Alexios explained his plan to me.

◇

The onager2 roared as it launched pots into the air. The high-performance onagers made by the Kirisians sent the pots over the walls, crashing down inside the fortress.

「The contents of the pots are human excrement, dismembered corpses, black powder, and a mixture of black powder and oil… quite gruesome.」

Well, excrement and corpses are classic elements of siege warfare.

「And don’t forget the letters.」

Inside some pots, there were also letters addressed to the people inside. There were four types of letters that included:

1. Information about captured prisoners.
2. Information about the deceased whose identities can be confirmed.
3. False information that Bartolo is fighting well and the allied forces are likely to win.
4. A call to surrender.

Since the letters are light, we are also scattering them from the air using hawks. Fortunately, we have more magicians on our side.

「But will this make them surrender?」

「It won’t cause them to surrender outright, but it will apply significant pressure. There are many Kirisians in King Belvedire’s Country.」

Meaning, many inside can read the letters. No doubt King Belvedire has ordered not to pick up the letters…

But the letters contain information about survivors’ families. It’s not something they can easily ignore.

「Now, I should speak with Ainz and the representative from Gehenna.」

I technically have supreme command, since Rezado and Gehenna are here as reinforcements to our country. Still, I must consider their position and keep relations smooth.

We need to discuss the specific post-war process and the share of reparations. We also need to talk about the conditions we are going to present to King Belvedere.

TN1: The praetorian cohort or cohors praetoria was a unit of elite soldiers tasked with protecting the Roman generals on the battlefield, the cohors praetoria would later be substituted by the famous praetorian guard.

TN2: The onager was a type of ancient catapult.