A Twisted Descent and the Night's False Retreat
The Rotinzel army had laid ladders against the walls. The defenders pushed the ladders away with all their might and severed the hooks.
Even so, the moment an enemy soldier reached the top, it was the knights’ duty to face him head-on.
“We will hold the line. Do not worry. Stop the enemy as much as you can!”
Diego had pulled some knights aside and ordered them to prepare something else.
The person in charge of that mission was Diego. He gave a nod to the Second Knight Order.
Merely taunting the knights from the ramparts wasted manpower. No, it wasted the full potential of their abilities.
“Let’s go.”
Diego and the knights slipped out of the small postern gate inside the castle and vanished into the darkness outside.
They drew a wide circle and attacked the enemy soldiers from behind after circling far away.
“The Bluisol army! The knights are attacking!”
The rear became noisy, throwing the command structure into chaos.
Jeanne’s orders remained the same. Even if you kill a hundred enemy soldiers, not a single one of your lives is more precious. Never die.
‘Hah, I don’t want to die here of all places.’
Even to keep my promise to Master, I cannot die here.
Before long, Nael had already accepted Jeanne into his heart.
Though Heini had been learning the sword, her true talent remained archery. With plenty of arrows stocked, Heini took her place on the watchtower with the widest view of the battlefield.
She targeted key figures among the commanders while scanning the front lines. Arrows struck not ordinary soldiers, but only those in command positions or soldiers carrying siege weapons.
Sometimes she fired at an enemy knight who was aiming at an allied soldier’s life and saved the knight.
‘Good. Are they holding up over there?’
Heini glanced sideways.
There were knights doing the exact same job on that side—Lucas.
Heini shot arrows from the right watchtower, and Lucas from the left, using the matchlocks they had carried from Ireall.
The knights possessed the ability to block or dodge bullets, but that was only when they were ready.
An unblocked bullet was terrifying. Especially Lucas’s bullets carried the faint golden aura he had described. They pierced even plate armor and killed men.
“Perfect.”
Heini pulled the bowstring taut once more and aimed at the Rotinzel knight in front who was raising his sword and shouting enthusiastically.
The sharp arrowhead was aimed precisely at the enemy knight’s neck so that it could deliver a fatal strike.
Heini released the taut string.
Thud.
After releasing the arrow, the knight she had targeted fell from his horse with blood gushing from his mouth.
‘That wasn’t my doing.’
Even from this distance, Heini realized the truth. The knight had been hit by her arrow, but he had fallen because he had been struck by something else first.
Heini turned her head again. She saw Lucas on the left watchtower, aiming his rifle.
He swept the smoke drifting in front of the muzzle away with his hand and loaded another bullet.
“Haha, so that’s it.”
Lucas had no idea, but Heini had burned with rivalry all by herself.
“I’ll take down more enemies than you.”
The ramparts had been fierce since yesterday and remained just as intense today.
“Throw the stones! Don’t exert yourselves—roll them along the ramparts like boulders!”
Laurent walked along the ramparts, encouraging and directing the soldiers.
Having a commander personally fight was effective for boosting morale.
But watching Jeanne felt it was too dangerous.
‘That is far too risky.’
Jeanne fought in the front line herself, so she was not one to talk, yet Laurent’s situation was extremely dangerous. Especially since Laurent was not at the absolute peak of strength like her, even judging only by martial ability.
One of the Rotinzel knights who had already climbed the ramparts was now targeting Laurent.
“Watch out!”
Clang!
After blocking the enemy knight’s blade, Jeanne finished him with a smooth, graceful movement. Laurent looked bewildered.
“You should have been moving while watching your surroundings as well.”
“Ah, yes.”
“If the commander falls, the soldiers become exposed as well. You are not to become the coward who hides behind the soldiers. Even for their sake, you must learn to value your own life.”
“Understood.”
Laurent answered as expected, then immediately forgot Jeanne’s words and resumed directing from a highly visible spot on the ramparts once more.
That was what made him a hero, yet the same trait would eventually lead to his death as a hero.
‘Laurent’s death will come on the last day of the battle. Perhaps the situation will change…’
Still, it was impossible to simply remove the commander right then and there. Jeanne decided to follow him closely and protect him to the best of her ability for the time being.
***
The Rotinzel army had added Jeanne’s Second Knight Order, who were disrupting the rear, to their targets in addition to Peale Castle.
Even the Second Knight Order, renowned for individual excellence, would be in danger if surrounded by countless soldiers.
“Retreat—”
Just as Diego was about to issue the order to withdraw to the Second Knight Order.
At that exact moment, the militia led by militia leader Yanis Cormier arrived near Peale Castle.
Yanis Cormier was the first militia leader of Bluisol, with striking red hair and a red beard.
He usually operated in the Balans region but had rushed here upon hearing that Peale Castle was under attack, bringing his own soldiers.
Yanis quickly scanned the battlefield, assessed the situation, and gave orders.
“We will attack the enemy’s rear.”
“Shouldn’t we join the castle?”
“Given the current situation, the moment we open the gate to enter, the enemy will swarm in. We will move in a direction that diverts the enemy’s attention from outside the castle.”
“Yes! Understood!”
There were approximately one thousand militia soldiers.
Their numbers were small compared to the enemy, but among militia forces, they were the largest.
While the Rotinzel army poured all its strength into the siege, the militia stirred the rear from a completely different direction than Jeanne’s Second Knight Order.
They would run up the mountain the moment the enemy tried to chase them, then descend again and cause chaos from behind when the enemy returned.
The Rotinzel army’s minds were filled with irritation, annoyance, and fear from the repeated pattern.
***
On the third day of the battle. Despite two days of intense siege warfare, Aaron decided to change direction.
Pouring troops directly into the castle only increased casualties and gave the enemy no real damage, so a different path was necessary.
While Aaron left the assault on Peale Castle to Heires, he pulled some of the Rotinzel soldiers aside, searched the area around Peale Castle, and then robbed and burned the civilian homes that had not yet escaped into the castle.
Heires, who was dissatisfied with this situation, looked at Aaron with displeasure.
“Even in this situation, are you that eager for wealth?”
“No matter what, I have not lost my mind over gold. Watch and see what I will do.”
The soldiers Aaron had commanded captured Bluisol civilians one after another as prisoners.
As darkness fell, the battle for the day ended.
The Rotinzel army did not attempt night siege warfare on that day.
Instead, they dragged the captured prisoners—bound together in a line—right in front of the walls.
“They are doing something suspicious.”
Divan approached Jeanne, who was watching the ramparts without slackening her vigilance.
Laurent and the other knights had also witnessed what the Rotinzel soldiers were doing.
While the castle soldiers were preparing for an attack, Laurent noticed something and issued a stop order.
“Stop! They are our people!”
The soldiers murmured.
The moment they realized the war had come, the residents near Peale Castle had been evacuated into the castle as much as possible.
But since they could not confirm and bring every single scattered resident, some Bluisol civilians remained who had not managed to escape in time.
They were neighbors and relatives of someone. The soldiers on the ramparts, who realized the prisoners’ identities, became agitated.
One of the Rotinzel soldiers prodded a prisoner with the butt of his spear. The prisoner shouted loudly toward the ramparts.
“Roire has already fallen, and La Rochelle is finished as well. Open the gates and surrender quickly, and they say they will spare your lives.”
As the Bluisol civilian prisoner taken as a hostage shouted for surrender, the other prisoners followed suit one after another, shouting loudly.
The words reached the ears of the Peale Castle soldiers.
“Save us!”
“Please help us!”
The agitation among the Peale Castle soldiers grew noticeably large.
“Don’t listen! Ignore them!”
The knights shouted at the soldiers.
“They said surrender means you can all survive!”
Even the voice of a child could be heard.
Crack.
Nael ground his teeth.
He had one foot on the railing, ready to leap straight down from the rampart.
“Stop.”
Jeanne stopped Nael, who was about to rush out.
“Do not act rashly. Do not fall for the tricks of those who seek to unsettle us.”
Laurent comforted the soldiers of Peale.
Ethan, who usually looked the most emotional, was surprised to see Laurent’s reaction and looked at him.
Blood had gathered at the tips of Laurent’s fingers where he gripped the rampart.
Laurent glared at the enemy camp hidden in the darkness with eyes bloodshot from anger.
***
On the morning of February 11th. The Rotinzel army launched a full-scale assault on Peale Castle.
The boring attack and defense repeated exactly as they had for the previous several days.
As the Rotinzel lost soldiers, Bluisol consumed supplies for defense. It was a vicious war of attrition to determine which side would collapse first.
“Save your arrows! Throw the stones!”
Arrows were almost exhausted, and even stones were insufficient.
Not only women but also the elderly and children carried stones.
They worked hard at their own positions to protect the castle.
As darkness fell once more and the battle stopped, night came. The militia led by Yanis appeared on the opposite side of the Alun River and fired arrows, drawing the enemy’s attention.
Even if the actual damage was minor, merely depriving them of sleep achieved the intended purpose.
“Those troublesome things!”
The Rotinzel command headquarters concluded that they could not capture Peale Castle because of the Bluisol support units scattered outside the city.
On the twelfth, the Rotinzel army divided their attacking force into multiple smaller groups and launched an assault on the Bluisol support units outside Peale Castle.
It was a mistake.
Dividing the troops weakened the power of each unit separately.
Not only Yanis’s militia but also the newly arrived Layam militia and the additional support units sent from La Rochelle—all were repelled individually, giving Peale Castle a moment to catch its breath.
Aaron was racking his brain for a way to capture the castle.
“Why not pretend to retreat and lure the Bluisol army out?”
One of Aaron’s aides suggested.
Another voice opposed.
“Would the false retreat really work? They expect us to open the gates expecting it—that’s too big a gamble.”
“We are not expecting them to open the gates. It would be enough just to come out and observe the situation.”
“Correct. Even without that, if they simply relax their guard for a moment, it will be difficult for us to respond immediately when we attack.
“No loss for us.”
The aides and knights gathered their opinions as one.
After finishing the detailed plan, Aaron made his decision.
“All right. Let’s do it that way.”
Aaron, having accepted the opinion, implemented the scheme.
At night, he lit campfires in various places to brighten the darkness and pretended to retreat.
The enemy, who saw no signs, only the corpses spread out in front of the walls, knew that a fierce battle had been fought until recently.
---