Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: Siege of the Capital Oslo (3)
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A week later, Oslo Castle.
The King of the Stockholm Kingdom, Christian von Barza, could not hide his anxiety.
As a result, he failed to maintain his royal dignity and kept biting his nails.
His nails, which had been neatly trimmed until the Reich Empire's army arrived, were now a complete mess.
He somehow clung to the thread of reason that he needed to act calm and composed in front of his kingdom's ministers and generals.
"Your Majesty, please stay calm. You must stay calm. That damned Peter Jaeger bastard has no intention of scaling our walls, nor does he have the manpower to do it! You know that, right?"
"I know that well. I know it very well... But the opponent is that Jaeger fellow."
"Even so, you must stay calm. If Your Majesty wavers, won't the soldiers and officers inside the castle waver as well?"
"Minister of Military Affairs Oxenburg, you're right. Even if it's that damned Jaeger, he won't dream of taking this castle with just 80,000 men."
With those words, Christian took a deep breath to steady himself.
He then began calmly organizing the current situation as optimistically and realistically as possible.
'That's right, Christian. Right now, Oslo Castle has 40,000 soldiers and hundreds of thousands of citizens defending the walls. No matter how much of a Major General Jaeger he is, he can't overturn the principle that sieges require nearly three times the manpower. No, he must not be able to...'
About three minutes passed like this, and the King of the Stockholm Kingdom finally shook off his fear and found what he needed to do now.
"All right, Oxenburg. To shatter this shitty situation, the best course is for me to personally patrol the walls and encourage the soldiers, right?"
"I regret to say it, but there's no other option right now. If I could, I'd love to march out and fight. But this humble servant is incompetent."
"Cut that out. The Reich Empire was just lucky to raise a monster like that. Strictly speaking, you and our officers aren't incompetent."
As the king said, Minister of Military Affairs Oxenburg was once a capable general who had driven out 70,000 Swedish troops with just 30,000 men.
This defeat was, objectively speaking, due to Major General Jaeger's absurd command ability.
Thus, Minister of Military Affairs Oxenburg and the king continued their conversation of mutual consolation and encouragement—that they were not at fault—as they ascended to the walls.
Upon reaching the ramparts, the maddeningly hunger-inducing smell of roasting meat dripping with oil assaulted their noses, and the cheerful chatter of Reich Empire soldiers filled their ears.
The Stockholm Kingdom's soldiers on the walls kept staring enviously.
"Fuck, those idiot bastards eat so damn well. Even in death, they'd have rosy cheeks, those pricks."
"..... If I'd known it would be like this, maybe I should've just surrendered and gone out? No, like the Ox next door, maybe I should've paid up and gotten a pass?"
"I'm hungry, give me food. Trapped on these walls, just endlessly smelling that damn meat. Nothing going in our mouths. What the hell are we sitting here for?"
The officers were desperately trying to maintain discipline by rebuking or berating the lamenting soldiers.
But they only stiffened up during the scolding, then quickly slacked off again afterward.
Suddenly, jaunty and bright trumpet and drum sounds rang out from the Reich Empire side, and their soldiers began clapping wildly.
At the same time, the barbarians who had surrendered along with the wagons and Ishtaven climbed onto the platform, and the central figure of the rumors, Major General Jaeger, appeared. With beautiful, flawless swordsmanship, he beheaded ten of them with an executioner's sword.
He then pointed his sword toward them and said something, before skewering the fallen heads on spears and hanging them in a highly visible spot.
"...... Fuck, fuck!! I don't want to end up like that! If I hold out just one more year, I'm discharged, and I wanna live groping Irina's tits!"
"You lunatic, what's with the outburst! If an officer sees you, you're dead!"
"Then do you want to end up like that, Chris? Fuck, what did we do to deserve this...."
The king had feared before ascending the walls that Jaeger might pull something like this, and upon seeing the heads on spears, goosebumps rose and his body froze stiff for a moment.
If even he, the king, felt this way, how much worse for the common soldiers? Empathizing, but unable to leave them like this,
the king signaled the Minister of Military Affairs with a plan to use both whip and carrot. Oxenburg drew his sword and struck the cheek of a soldier named Chris—who had been on guard duty and demoralizing the troops—making him kneel.
"You dare, as a soldier guarding the walls of Oslo, the capital of Stockholm, speak words that lower everyone's morale! Stick out your neck! I'll behead you, parade your head, and once this siege ends, your family back home will be hanged for treason! Naturally, that fiancée of yours too!"
At the words of their own Minister of Military Affairs killing a man, the eyes of the hundreds of nearby guarding soldiers focused at once.
In the midst of it, as the kneeling soldier begged for his life and resisted, Oxenburg kept kicking and stomping to subdue him.
As time dragged on like this, Christian stepped forward in front of the minister and said,
"Enough! Stop it! I know what this soldier did wrong, but his feelings aren't incomprehensible. How scared and terrified must he have been?"
"But Your Majesty! This sentry violated military law! Even while tasked with guarding the royal castle."
"The ones who planted fear in their hearts are this incompetent king, you generals, and the officers. We who lost with over twice the numbers are at fault—how can we blame just this soldier? Sheathe that sword."
At those words, Oxenburg sighed as if he had no choice and sheathed his sword. The eyes of the soldiers and officers turned to the king all at once.
Feeling the mood shifting positively, Christian seized the moment, displaying kingly arrogance and confidence as he declared,
"I won't tell you not to fear. But endure. Endure, endure again, and again, and even that wicked Major General Jaeger won't surmount our high, sturdy walls and will turn back. So grit your teeth and trust your king one more time—hold out to the end."
At these words, the soldier Chris, who had barely saved his life, and the hundreds around him gained great courage.
Because in the Europan continent, encouragement from one bearing the title of king was akin to a divine blessing.
"And when it's hard to endure, remember just this: If you fail to defend this castle and the kingdom falls! Your beloved families, lovers, fiancées, friends, villages, fields, homes—all will be trampled under the hooves of the wicked Reich Empire army."
If Peter Jaeger had heard this, he would have replied,
'Am I insane enough to waste time plundering villages for no reason? Supplies are ample, and once we take the capital, a quarter of this country is ours anyway.'
"So even if they hang our comrades' heads on spears and mock us, even if they use every trick to terrify us, defend the castle. I'll do it alongside you all."
Christian was not particularly beloved by his people as king, but neither was he resented.
However, to the soldiers desperately holding the walls in despair, the king's comfort reignited their will to live...
"Long live His Majesty the King! Long live Stockholm!! Defend our homeland!"
"His Majesty is with us! Everyone, just a little more effort!"
"Deus, protect our king!"
Starting from where Christian stood, the will to fight reignited across the entire Oslo Castle.
The king, Minister of Military Affairs, and the numerous generals and senior officers defending the castle were greatly satisfied with this sight and situation.
They began to feel confident that they could hold the royal castle no matter what lay ahead. But then, a soldier near King Christian shouted loudly,
"Y-Your Majesty!!! Disaster! The villages, the villages are burning! All the villages around Oslo Castle are ablaze! Look over there!"
Hearing this, Christian turned his head and saw flames rising from several villages of a size that could house 2,000 to 3,000 people, a short distance outside the castle.
At the same time, a loathsome voice began echoing right near the castle gates.
"Long live His Majesty King Christian! Long live! Hurray! I praise the courage of Your Majesty, who mobilized 200,000 troops yet couldn't defeat the 110,000 Reich Empire troops under my command and barricaded yourself in the royal castle!"
It was the voice of the one person Christian least wanted to hear: Major General Peter Jaeger.
"Ah, aren't you the Reich Empire's greatest patriot, who with nearly 100,000 kingdom citizens—someone's father, brother, lover—doomed to death? I think you'll be most pleased with this sight! Knowing Your Majesty's will, this lowly one has burned the livelihoods of the Stockholm Kingdom's people. So hurry and open the gates to be treated as the empire's greatest patriot. If you open the gates and come out, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor will grant you a dukedom and lands, allowing you a comfortable life while fully enjoying your patriot's honor!"
With those words, mocking laughter from the Reich Empire soldiers echoed far and wide.
"And finally, as a Lieutenant General of the Reich Empire, I advise all Stockholm troops! Those who open the gates now, contribute to opening them, or raise a new flag seeking survival—show your intent to submit at once! Otherwise, you'll vanish like these burning villages! But if you kneel to the empire and surrender, your families and lives will be eternally guaranteed. If you want to live, think carefully."
At those words, several enraged officers loosed arrows at Major General Jaeger, but he precisely calculated their trajectories, dodging or deflecting them with his sword.
Afterward, the general led his soldiers back to the main camp. The morale Christian had painstakingly built, even braving the smoke, didn't just hit rock bottom—it crawled into the depths of hell.