The Savage Days of Siege
A week had slipped by like the wind, carrying away the bitter sting of our first failed siege.
During those seven days, we hammered the walls of Sel Mircont with the frenzy of madmen.
The second assault.
The warriors no longer panicked or fell back when enchanted arrows whistled overhead. Under Amira's fiery command, the warriors who had been corrected into proper form now calculated the exact moment the arrow storm would fall, weaving an ironclad tortoise-shell formation that struck with perfect rhythm.
“Push! Mana cannot be maintained forever!! Align with the dispersing timing and press the attack!”
Before the main gate, Toghrul the veteran and the Irayte warriors struck their heavy halberds in a steady, disciplined rhythm, their technique as sharp as steel.
Kwaaang! Boom!
After several exchanges, the gates creaked ominously, on the verge of collapse. Yet the boiling oil and fire magic that followed forced us to retreat.
‘Magic and oil are the true problem.’
Before that… who did they think they were, the oil kings of the Middle East?
What oil were they pouring so recklessly.
Two days later came the third assault.
This time, the mounted archers led by Orhan poured perfect suppression fire into the gaps of the walls.
The instant the mages on the battlements opened their mouths to cast, arrows buried themselves in their throats or foreheads without fail.
“Now! Fire the cannon!”
With Beike's shout, the cannon struck the precise weakness in the defensive magic array.
With a sound like shattering glass, the blue barrier that had surrounded Sel Mircont shattered into a thousand pieces.
A section of the outer wall crumbled, opening a passage… yet the knights' desperate defense behind the reinforced double walls and narrow alleys forced us to sound the retreat signal once more.
And this morning brought the fourth assault.
No longer did our plainborn warriors resemble the raw recruits they had been. The ladder teams moved with speed that was almost predatory, while their paths avoiding the rain of rocks and oil flowed as naturally as water.
“Khahahaha! Look at those foolish little fish—their hands shake while gripping their shields!”
Kasar laughed boisterously as he stabbed his spear wildly into the gaps of the broken wall.
I sat on my horse, bloodied sword slung across my shoulder, and gazed down at the collapsing fortress with calm appraisal.
The highest central watchtower.
From the first siege to this very moment, the arrogant defense commander who had commanded from there still stood out at a glance.
That arrogance had vanished. His lips were pale, his eyes unfocused, struggling to command mana-starved mages as he ordered another desperate barrage.
‘Unless every other knight rises again, execution is the only way to stop him.’
If only he had opened the gates at once, he might have had a chance to live.
No. Thinking back to the very start, the quality of our troops or the superiority of our weapons had never mattered.
The defenders' patience, already strained to breaking by the ceaseless night-and-day assault of our exhausted warriors, had been on the verge of collapse for days.
‘Indeed. They are about to burst, perfectly ripe.’
I tore my gaze from the commander and glanced at the sky. The eastern horizon was already brightening with the dawn sun.
The environment was shifting in their favor.
“Sound the retreat signal.”
Orhan beside me blew the horn long and clear.
Boo-woo-woong—!
The sound was the cue. The five hundred warriors who had been hammering our position like a tidal wave withdrew from the walls in a single heartbeat.
The remaining knights on the battlements, instead of cheering our retreat, sat where they were, weeping with relief that they had survived another day or frantically preparing to flee.
After the fourth failure, we returned to the main camp with far too much ease.
As I dismounted, someone stepped forward and bowed deeply.
Remer, the merchant prince who had prepared yet another investment for me.
“Haha, Great Warlord. You have beaten the walls once more today with such vigor.”
“We only beat them. We haven't broken them yet. Still… it might be over by tomorrow.”
I tossed the line out with a tone of mild expectation. Remer broke into his usual sly grin and rubbed his hands together.
“Just as I thought, I brought one last special toy. I have every confidence it will be the final day.”
“Hoo… really?”
He pointed to the massive wagon behind him.
When the heavy cloth covering was drawn away, the morning sun caught a crimson-tipped cannon that gleamed darkly.
It was far larger than the small cannons we had used before.
The barrel could be hugged by four adult men, its mana circuits carved in grotesque, vein-like patterns.
“Illegal in the Tonekante Kingdom… but I bought the latest Fire Element Magic Cannon straight from a black-market arms dealer. Nothing else in a siege makes such a fine fireworks show.”
“… I always say it, but you merchants are as crazy as Temur. How did you smuggle something this size all the way south across the continent?”
Beike stared with his mouth hanging open as he approached the cannon and muttered.
I reached out and tapped the metal barrel twice with my palm.
‘… This is no joke. One more shot like this and Sel Mircont will crumble for sure.’
The physical durability of the walls was already wrecked after a week of relentless bombardment, and the defenders’ morale was at its limit.
Add one wild surge of this primitive power and the outcome was obvious.
I turned to the warriors who were howling with battle lust.
“Everyone, rest and maintain your weapons. Tonight, when the final hunt begins, we’ll burn every last one of those cursed rocks to ash.”
“UOOOOOO!!!”
The fifth and final assault began under the agreed plan.
On the plain where moonlight was nearly gone, even friendly recognition was difficult.
At the very front of our lines stood the massive Fire Element Magic Cannon that Remer had delivered, its form as beautiful as a goddess.
The engineers signaled me that they were ready.
I gripped the reins and raised my hand toward the walls of Sel Mircont.
“Fire.”
That was all.
Kugugugung—!
Space around the cannon warped for an instant, then a colossal sphere of flame rocketed forth with a deafening boom.
Kwaaaaang—!
“Kyaaah!!”
“Waaaaah!!”
The blast struck the entire western plain, leaving ears ringing for hours.
And the thick double walls that had surrounded the main gate and its surroundings—walls that had already cracked from our constant attacks—were erased from existence without even leaving rubble.
A vast breach appeared through the melted remains.
The knights who had been resisting from the walls moments earlier became nothing but ash with no sound.
“The gate is open!”
Toghrul the veteran raised his enormous spear and roared.
The remaining six thousand warriors who had been waiting in ambush surged forward at the command, gripping their reins.
“The gate is open!!”
“Kill every last knight and loot their riches!!”
“Remember my orders! Cut the throats of anyone resisting or still carrying weapons! But do not kill those who show no fight or ordinary citizens—just drive them out of the city!”
As I drew my sword and shouted, the eight thousand mounted warriors, like hounds with their leashes undone, poured through the breach in a frenzy.
“UOOOOO!”
And from that moment, it was one-sided slaughter.
The defenders, still stunned by the cannon’s first shot, were crushed beneath our horses before they could even form ranks.
Beike’s axe split a knight and his shield in two with each swing. Orhan’s arrows precisely pierced the thighs and shoulders of the soldiers fleeing down the narrow alleys.
Sarnai swung her whip from horseback, wrapping the necks of those in commander’s uniforms and smashing them to the ground.
“Hey, you barbarians… spare me, kyeek!”
The final words of those who had drawn their swords in desperation died instantly.
In contrast, those who had thrown down their weapons and groveled on the ground, or fled with terrified belongings, were protected without exception.
Our warriors merely kicked them or prodded their backs with spears to herd them outside the city; no unnecessary blood was spilled at my command.
‘No need to increase the number of enemies or strengthen the will to resist, just as the old Khan did or the Mongol army did.’
After the night of one-sided slaughter and suppression finally ended, as the sun was about to rise.
An impossible sight unfolded across the vast central square of Sel Mircont.
Heavy wooden chests overflowing with gold and silver coins, fine swords and mana-infused shields once used by the knights.
Premium herbs, rare potion vials, and priceless magical artifacts hidden by nobles.
The spoils of war gathered from every corner of the city had piled up into a mountain range.
If it had been the old nomadic tribes, they would have been fighting each other with fists over the best shares.
But the eight thousand warriors who ringed the square were different.
They swallowed hard, fidgeted with their fingers, and never reached for the loot before my command, nor secretly stuffed coins into their pockets.
They had finally understood.
If they listened to me, they would never sleep hungry, and fair distribution was the only way to make our fragile alliance stronger.
I watched patiently as Toghrul the veteran and his three companions waited for my order.
After a sweeping glance at the tribe chiefs, I slowly walked up the steps of the giant loot mountain in my dust- and blood-stained leather shoes.
From atop it I looked down on everyone and shouted.
“The blood and sweat you spilled today will not have been wasted for even a single drop! As promised, I will distribute everything with absolute fairness—based solely on your contributions!”
No one’s greed, no chiefs shorting the lower ranks—only fair, yet strictly merit-based rewards.
Indeed, to keep our alliance from collapsing, we could never repeat the mistake the old Genghis Khan made.
“Temur! Temur!”
“For the Great Khan!”