Chapter 125: Serena’s Defense of Ares part1
Lord Lucilia’s force of 4,000 men finally reached the main gate of Ares.
「Viscount Zeifried, things have gone exceedingly well so far. We’ve advanced far beyond what Count Jurgen of Gantz did.」
「Yes. Now that we’ve come this far, all that remains is to bring Ares down.」
Count Jurgen of Gantz had perished in the Great Demon Forest with 3,000 men. Lucilia’s detachment had a thousand more, and they had advanced all the way to Ares’s doorstep. On top of that, Lord Corinth and his elite troops were away from home. Victory seemed all but assured.
「Heh heh… a castle without its master is nothing to fear.」
They had left 2,000 men to surround Gantz. Even if that force was a ragtag mix, it meant nothing from Gantz’s side should be able to interfere. Once this detached main force seized or destroyed Ares, the Prime Minister’s army would stand at an overwhelming advantage.
Prime Minister Burke had promised Lord Lucilia rule over Ares after the war. The thought that the entire city before him would be his alone stirred his greed—but first he needed to cast the townsfolk into terror and make his future rule unshakable. He had to teach them, thoroughly, who their new master was.
「As for where to attack Ares, there are two points. Straight ahead is the main gate. The less heavily guarded route is the back gate. That’s the drainage channel that carries the city’s wastewater into the marsh opposite the lake. Which will you take, Lord Lucilia?」 Zeifried explained.
「The main gate will be heavily defended, no doubt.」
「Naturally.」
「In that case, I’ll take the back gate. Viscount Zeifried, you will press the main gate with 1,000 men. While the enemy is busy dealing with you at the front, my men will strike the back gate. All we need is for you to give them a little scare.」
「As you command.」
Ares was a city with no particularly big walls. Only around the main gate—where a bridge crossed the moat—had they bothered to build a tall wall. The rest of the perimeter relied on the outer moat for defense, the land left open so that both sides could see each other clearly. The main gate existed to restrict the crossing of the moat to a single spot that could be defended with a wall and gate.
Viscount Zeifried’s unit waited in silence before the moat leading up to the main gate.
「All right. That should be long enough.」
By now, Lord Lucilia should have taken position with his 3,000 men. He needed him committed.
「Raise the banner.」
At Zeifried’s order, the banners were unfurled. His unit began a slow, dignified advance toward the moat before the main gate. Their objective lay beyond the bridge: the plaza in front of the gate.
Lord Lucilia reached what was supposed to be the city’s back gate. Everything was exactly as Zeifried had described. Lucilia felt his victory was certain. There, just ahead, was the drainage channel that carried the city’s wastewater. If they climbed down into that dried-up channel and followed it in, all they’d need to do was break through a single door—some kind of wire mesh or iron grating—and they’d be inside Ares.
「Advance, all of you. But keep quiet until we’re actually in Ares. Move as silently as if you were sneaking into a maiden’s bedchamber.」
His men answered with stifled chuckles. They dismounted and, in order, climbed down into the watercourse. Not one of them doubted the future where Ares would soon rest in their hands.
But—
「My lord, we can’t proceed any farther like this.」
「What nonsense is that? Never mind the noise. Break the gate, or whatever it is, and force your way through. We’ll flood into Ares in one rush.」
They had made it through the dried drainage channel without alerting the townsfolk. That much had gone well. But what awaited them at the end was a back entrance barred by iron grating. The rear ‘gate’ of the city stood right in front of them—yet the iron bars blocking it wouldn’t budge. While the lead soldiers struggled and cursed, trying to smash their way through, a woman’s voice drifted down from above their heads.
「That grating won’t open. It only looks like a gate. From a distance it really does seem like there’s a door there, doesn’t it? But it’s just some iron bars propped up to fake the look.」
「An ambush!」
Lucilia’s men began to murmur in alarm.
「Even if it is an ambush, don’t be afraid. We outnumber them. If they charge us, we strike back.」
「I told you—there is no back gate here. What you’re standing in is a cage. A trap for foolish little soldiers like you.」
Now that she mentioned it, the farther they came, the more the slope had tilted downward. For a drainage channel flowing out of the city, that was backwards—the incline should have risen as they got closer to Ares.
Viscount Zeifried’s face flashed through Lucilia’s mind. The man had sworn this was the perfect avenue of attack.
(Damn it. I’ve been had.)
「Fall back, fall back! We’re not staying in a place like this!」
He tried to pull his men back.
「It’s too late for that. We’ve already shut the ‘back gate,’ and we’ve started letting in the water.」
From the side they had descended from—behind them—water suddenly surged around their feet. Their retreat had been completely cut off.
Charging back up a flowing drainage channel in full armor, then diving under the curtain of water pouring in like a waterfall, grabbing onto the water gate, smashing the bar, and forcing it open… that simply wasn’t realistic. The fear of drowning turned every face pale at once.
「What a ridiculous mechanism. We all nearly died in there.」
Somehow, Lord Lucilia had dragged himself out of the watercourse, and he spat the words in fury. Most of his men had survived by throwing away their weapons and armor. The water inside the channel had risen slowly enough that they could strip down to nothing or to their padded under-armor, wait without drowning, and, before the water reached the top, have the men below push those above up until they could crawl out over the edge. It was humiliating, but far better than drowning deep in enemy territory.
They had given up on slipping in through the back and were now slinking back the way they had come. Since they hadn’t led their horses down into the channel, the animals were safe. By throwing down ropes and having the horses pull, they had managed to haul every surviving man out. It was, at least, one small mercy.
(There’s been no interference, no pursuit. That means the city’s garrison must be small. If I can just find another way in, I can still recover the situation. Their follow-through is sloppy.)
Surely Viscount Zeifried’s unit hadn’t ended up as a bunch of drowned rats. He just had to link up with them and rebuild. As long as he didn’t drop his guard, there was no way they could lose when they had superior numbers.
He returned to the city’s front. Across the broad moat stood Ares’s main gate, and beyond it lay a simple camp used to temporarily house settlers. Within the plaza, a shallow trench had been dug and a fence erected to ring that camp, and the gate leading into it was barred. Viscount Zeifried’s unit was comfortably ensconced inside this settlers’ camp.
「Hey, Zeifried! Let us in there as well!」
「Well, well. Lord Lucilia.」
「Enough with the pleasantries. Can you not see the state I’m in? We fell into an enemy trap and lost our equipment. We need to regroup. Let us into that camp.」
Even when he demanded the gate be opened, Zeifried did not oblige.
「Unfortunately, I have orders not to let Lord Lucilia’s unit inside.」
「What did you say? I am the overall commander of this detached force. Who could possibly give such an order?」
Lucilia tried to glare him down, his soaked body shivering in the autumn wind, but there was not a shred of dignity left in that figure.
「Why, Lady Selena, commander of Ares’s forces, of course.」
「Zeifried… so you have betrayed us after all.」
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