“Charge! We’ll capture the castle before the sun sets!”
As the border lord’s army, having welcomed the holy army, resumed their march and diligently pressed forward, Leopold’s main force was in the midst of battle. It was a siege against Count Bald, who had preserved his troops behind the walls without engaging in any skirmishes, waiting only for the right opportunity.
They couldn’t just ignore it. If Count Bald were to rush out after Leopold’s army left, the supply lines in the rear would be cut off immediately.
But if they recklessly threw their troops into capturing the enemy’s fortress, they would suffer unnecessary losses before even fighting Ernst’s main force. Fortunately, among Duke Bien’s troops were many skilled engineers. In just five days, they had built excellent catapults.
The catapults, lined up in a row, hurled massive boulders. Dozens of kilograms of heavy projectiles flew in arcs, crashing into the walls with thunderous roars.
– Kwaaaaaang!
Sections of the wall crumbled with screams. Count Bald’s soldiers, who had been shooting arrows and cursing, were swept away by the collapse, disappearing as if sucked in.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck. Broken fragments fell into the moat, sending up black sprays of water.
“Look at you, rebels! Come out now, you cowards!”
Leopold’s soldiers cheered and taunted them. After enduring a tedious standoff for about five days, they too felt a sense of exhilaration as the catapults shattered the walls.
“Fire arrows! sh**t fire arrows to burn those catapults! What are our catapults doing?!”
Watching the walls slowly but surely crumble, Count Bald shouted at the top of his lungs. His sweaty scalp reflected the sunlight, shining like a glass bead.
“Count Bald! The tide has turned! We must retreat!”
A knight advised the count. Though the count wouldn’t admit it, it wouldn’t be long before the castle fell. They hadn’t inflicted any significant losses.
The 1st Prince’s army had surrounded the castle just outside arrow range, not moving an inch. They only used catapults to smash the walls.
Fire arrows were useless. Even if one luckily hit a catapult, the waiting soldiers would immediately douse it with water.
Count Bald’s catapults were already shattered, buried under piles of rubble. The elite soldiers trained by Duke Bien and the soldiers of a mere count’s territory were worlds apart in skill, even if they used the same weapons.
“Where would we retreat to?! The enemy is everywhere!”
“Head to the west gate! We’ll charge from the east gate to buy time!”
The knight bowed his head. Most of the troops heading to the east gate would lose their lives, but in that time, Count Bald might escape.
“No. That won’t do.”
With a rough laugh, a knight interrupted their conversation and approached. The longsword in his right hand gleamed with a sharp killing intent.
“Albert…?!”
Count Bald stepped back, his face pale. The knight who had advised the count drew his sword as if to protect him.
“Sir Albert…! What is this?!”
“What is this? I’m upholding chivalry. Sir Bels, you might be ready to d*e for the count, but not everyone is. To d*e while pledging loyalty to a fool who can’t see reason and aids a witch—what greater d*ath could there be?”
Following Albert, dozens of men drew their swords and approached. There were at least fifteen knights. Most of the knights in the count’s territory had agreed to this.
“To call such treacherous betrayal chivalry! Are you still knights?!”
“Blind loyalty is as useless as it gets. Sir Bels, face reality. What honor is there in protecting Bald now? What crime have the soldiers who will d*e for this fool committed? Just one sacrifice, and all this will end peacefully. If you understand, step aside. It won’t take long.”
Bels silently pointed his sword at the rebels. His expression showed he would rather d*e than step aside.
“Fine. I expected as much. Who could break that stubbornness?… I’ll let you d*e as loyally as you wish.”
“Count! Run!”
Bels, gripping his longsword, charged at Albert.
The full-force diagonal slash was blocked by Albert’s counter. The clashing swords sparked. Albert bared his teeth in a grin.
“Cut off Count Bald’s head! Before the castle completely falls!”
“Albert-!”
Bels struggled desperately, but he alone couldn’t hold back dozens of rebels.
In less than five minutes, a white flag was raised on the castle walls. Count Bald’s severed head, hanging from the flagpole, gleamed brightly.
—
Thanks to the internal rebellion, the five-day siege ended disappointingly easily.
Leopold, entering the half-destroyed castle, praised the knights who had beheaded the count and surrendered, rewarding them generously. Though their claim of killing the witch’s minions and reducing soldier casualties was just a pretext, in reality, they had quickly betrayed to save their own lives as defeat loomed.
Leopold didn’t particularly like such people, but he judged that as such precedents increased, more would surrender.
Meanwhile, Count Bald’s entire family was executed. His head was thrown into the filthy moat, and his wife, brothers, and even young children were hanged on the walls.
The n*ked, rotting corpses of men, women, and children served as a grim warning: this would be the fate of those who resisted to the end.
Though it was a more merciful d*ath than being burned at the stake.
Upon arriving at Count Bald’s castle, Leopold, instead of resting, immediately summoned Duke Bien to discuss the current situation and future plans. Duke Pailoon was inspecting the troops and thus wasn’t summoned.
…For now.
It was a good excuse.
In reality, it was just that calling the Grand Duke felt awkward.
Honestly, Leopold found it quite burdensome to face Duke Pailoon.
Ever since he had stopped the Grand Duke, who was about to return to defend against the invasion, and sent only the legion commanders to take charge of the northern defense, Duke Pailoon had been subtly showing his discomfort towards Leopold.
—
“With this, most of the scattered rebel forces have been dealt with… The real challenge lies ahead.”
So far, the battles hadn’t been too difficult.
With overwhelming numbers and quality, they had defeated the scattered forces of the lords one by one.
However, according to the scouts’ reports, the lords ahead were abandoning individual resistance and gathering their forces.
From now on, large-scale battles with massive armies would take place.
It didn’t seem like they would lose, but it was hard to imagine Isabella collapsing so easily.
“The Margrave of Landenburg and the Holy War Army will soon join us. If things continue like this, we should be able to win without any surprises.”
Duke Bien smiled reassuringly.
“The Holy War Army…”
While Duke Bien seemed entirely positive, they were also a concern for Leopold.
In Leopold’s and the other nobles’ absence, the ‘Archbishop’ Elmein had created the Imperial Diocese and declared a holy war.
For now, they were a significant help, but once the civil war was over, they were likely to become a troublesome issue.
Friction with the Holy Kingdom was inevitable, and her extremist ideology of exterminating other races would gain momentum.
Moreover, there was a possibility that the Imperial Diocese, having grown into a powerful force, would not remain just a religious entity but would actively involve itself in imperial politics.
‘But we can’t forcibly disband them…’
With the authority of Elpinel behind them and having provided significant help to Leopold himself, oppressing them would surely lead to massive backlash.
Leopold sighed and adjusted his flowing hair.
And then, he sighed again.
‘Elpinel, why…?!’
A strand of his radiant golden hair had come loose.
The moment he remembered his father’s receding hairline, a cold sweat trickled down his temple.
======[Ha-shal-leur]======
Marquis Ludwig was moving as quickly as possible, but there was a clear limit to the speed at which an army of three thousand could advance.
Even if they marched all morning, they had to stop and rest the troops at night.
Today was no different.
As the sun that had been scorching all day disappeared below the horizon and stars began to fill the sky, Lacey and I, having finished a light dinner, gathered in Marquis Ludwig’s command tent to discuss the situation.
“…So, His Highness the Prince’s forces are currently maintaining about ten thousand troops and advancing smoothly. If we join them, it will be around thirteen thousand. Even if Isabella gathers the remaining forces, she can’t muster more than ten thousand, so the numbers are roughly equal.”
“Ten thousand? That’s not much on either side.”
It’s less than a single Imperial Army legion.
Well, it’s a war fought by gathering the private armies of the lords, so it’s not like they could amass a huge force.
“If they had mobilized all their forces, they could have doubled that number, but then there would be no troops left to defend their territories. Twenty-one masters, seven hundred and fifty knights, and thirteen thousand troops are our limit.”
Marquis Ludwig had also left two thousand soldiers, including the wounded, and four masters at the barrier.
If they had left their positions too, even a small raiding party could have easily captured the barrier.
“I heard the enemy has less than four hundred knights, so we can overwhelm them in that regard… but what worries me is that Isabella might conscript ordinary peasants, which could multiply their numbers.”
“Conscripted soldiers… Can untrained peasants really be a meaningful force on the battlefield?”
Lacey tilted her head in confusion.
Neither the Empire nor the Holy Kingdom had ever used conscripted soldiers, so the idea of ordinary peasants being treated as a military force seemed strange to her.
“If their numbers reach tens of thousands, they can be quite threatening. Even without military training, thrusting a spear isn’t that hard. Plus, if our soldiers see the enemy outnumbering them by several times, their morale will plummet.”
Even though their morale is so low that they scatter like sand at the first sign of defeat, if they think they have the upper hand, they won’t hesitate to thrust their spears.
After all, killing is better than being killed.
“Moreover, even if we manage to annihilate the conscripted soldiers, it would still be a massive loss. Tens of thousands of innocent young men, responsible for the Empire’s productivity, would d*e all at once… If, as Baron Medean speculated, Isabella’s goal is to cripple the Empire’s strength, there’s no better way to do it.”
Isabella would do just that.
She might even drag everyone from the elderly to children onto the battlefield.
Whether they d*e or our troops d*e at their hands, it’s all the same to Isabella.
Once the battle begins, it will be impossible to distinguish between conscripted soldiers and the lords’ armies, so it’s clear that a huge number of civilians will be sacrificed.
“This is troubling…”
Lacey bowed her head as if in prayer.
