Pitched Battle (1)
Pitched Battle (1)
The next morning, we climbed onto the fortress wall.
The Count, General Bador, Princess Aisha, our party, and even the order's senior knights were there.
Everyone looked beyond the wall toward the forces besieging the fortress.
Despite everything that had happened the day before, we had only just managed to make it into the fortress.
The siege had not been lifted, nor had the enemy forces decided to retreat.
Rather, the effort to save this fortress had only just begun.
Fortunately, morale inside the fortress was incredibly high.
That was thanks to the Princess's speech and the food we had brought.
Besides, from atop the wall, the atmosphere in the enemy camp didn't seem very good.
Their other officers seemed to have worked hard to pull things together, but restoring everything to normal overnight was too much to ask.
Ultimately, this was our opportunity.
It was obvious that as time passed, even with us here, the besieged fortress would only find itself in an increasingly difficult position.
We had to settle the score before that happened.
"Shall we go stir them up first?"
Miguel gestured toward the order of knights gathered behind the wall.
Stirring up a demoralized camp with a knight order, huh...
It wasn't a bad idea. I'd seen the tactic often in books in my past life.
But in this world, there were supernatural ability users known as noble officers.
"While the soldiers hold the knights back, the noble officers will deploy their abilities. No matter how powerful the knights are, they'll have a hard time withstanding a large-scale attack from the noble officers."
The Count's knights opposed Miguel's suggestion.
A large-scale attack by noble officers...
I had never witnessed one myself, but the stories I'd heard made their opposition entirely understandable.
In fact, there was even a saying that the outcome of a war depended not on the number of soldiers or the strength of the knights, but on deploying the noble officers' abilities in the right place at the right time.
Then what should we do?
Should we wait until nightfall and stealthily decapitate the officers?
I felt like I could kill at least a few of them before getting caught...
An assassin-like thought crossed my mind, but unfortunately, it would be difficult to pull off right now.
Unlike before, it had become difficult to do anything that might tarnish the Princess's reputation.
If rumors spread that an assassin had been used in a battle the Princess participated in, her honor would inevitably suffer.
As we agonized over this, the Count spoke up.
"If there's no other way, let us fight a fair and square pitched battle."
"Pardon?"
We couldn't help looking at the Count in confusion.
A pitched battle when we had a fortress?
Leaving the safety of the fortress to lead our forces out and pick a fight.
It was an incomprehensible tactic.
Seeing our expressions, the Count turned to look at his knights and soldiers.
When the Count looked at them, they answered with smiles.
Seeing his confident subordinates, the Count continued.
"It wasn't because we had a fortress that we locked the gates and held out like this."
Though he was addressing the Princess, his words were meant for all of us.
"We are the Kingdom's army and order of knights, who march out into the canyon to face monsters and defeat foreign enemies."
Even before he finished speaking, the soldiers and knights began to move.
"We only locked the gates to maintain our neutrality; it was never because we feared the besieging forces."
The knights shouted, the soldiers cried out, and their momentum soared.
The knights and soldiers transformed in an instant.
It was as if they had broken out of their shells.
Only now did I feel like I was seeing the true face of this fortress.
"In that case, we can't afford to lose either."
In response to the changed atmosphere, Miguel said as he put on his helmet.
It seemed the knights from Gracia had been swept up in the mood as well.
Though the feverish excitement seemed almost excessive, we couldn't let it pass now that we'd caught this momentum.
The Princess also went down the wall with a flushed face, and the excited knights rushed down after her.
Only those who had been on guard duty from the beginning and Balea remained atop the wall.
Balea smiled at me.
"You may all go and fight. I will protect the fortress."
As Balea raised her hand, I felt mana surging across the wall.
I caught sight of the Princess looking over in surprise.
Then came a noise.
Rumble.
As stone ground against stone, spike-like rocks began to protrude from the wall.
Hard, sharp thorns made of stone.
The steep wall bristled with thorns.
In the end, the fortress wall became something utterly impossible to scale.
From the soldiers atop the wall to the enemy soldiers standing far away, everyone was shocked by the transformed wall.
Balea's domain unfolded across the entire massive wall.
Not all those thorns could be real, of course, but as long as no one could tell them apart, it was no different from all of them being real.
One after another, the people on the wall stared at Balea, her hand still raised.
They, too, had realized who had brought about such a miracle.
I asked Balea, who was slowly lowering her hand.
"Is your body... all right?"
Her face was pale, and her forehead was beaded with cold sweat.
It was obvious at a glance that she was overexerting herself.
Even if Balea was an incredible ability user, there was no way she could have placed such a vast area within her domain in just a single night.
She must have been using some sort of trick, performing a feat beyond her normal capacity.
This was definitely unlike Balea.
"I'm fine. As long as you finish before lunchtime."
That meant things would get dangerous once lunchtime passed.
I stared at her for a moment before turning around.
"I'll be back before lunch. And then, I want to hear why you're pushing yourself this hard."
As I headed down the wall, I heard Balea murmuring to herself.
"...To chase after a flying bird, a fox's legs must bleed at least a little."
Her voice was quiet, but I kept those words in my heart.
As I reached the bottom, the Count's astonished voice reached my ears.
"I wondered why you traveled with a young noble lady, and indeed, there was a reason."
The Princess wore an awkward expression.
She, too, hadn't expected Balea to perform such a miracle.
"Young Lord Alex as well—and indeed, not a single person around Your Highness is ordinary. My thinking was shallow. There must have been a reason the Duke of Gracia allied with Your Highness."
The Count placed his hand over his heart and saluted the Princess.
"We shall show our strength as well. The true strength of Soroka Fortress."
The Count mounted his horse himself and galloped toward the fortress order of knights.
Seeing this, Sir Miguel shouted to his own order of knights.
"We cannot lose to the fortress knights either! Show them the power of the Gracia Order of Knights and the Eastern knights!"
The knights mounted their horses, drew their swords and spears, and waited for the fortress gates to open.
The soldiers lined up behind them were no less excited.
The Princess and I mounted our horses as well.
Once mounted, the Princess flinched and glanced to my side.
I looked to the side too and spoke.
"Did the scouting go well?"
At my words, a sigh drifted from the empty air.
Unless someone could perceive mana, it would be impossible to know a person was standing there.
"I worked so hard, so why does the number of people who recognize me keep increasing?"
From a patch of empty air where mana formed the shape of a person, the Count's son, Glan, spoke.
Glan had approached while concealing his appearance with his ability.
He had just returned after using his ability to scout the forces besieging the fortress.
Glan had certainly become much harder to detect than before. Now, it was difficult to notice him without sensing mana.
Unfortunately, there were two people here who could see through his ability.
"No matter how hard you try, there are always natural counters to abilities. Royalty can see mana, so you'd better not use it in front of them."
When I said that, Glan deactivated his ability. The Princess stared in surprise at Glan, who had suddenly appeared.
Though she'd heard about it, this was her first time seeing it in person.
At my words, Glan narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
"I get why the Princess can tell, but how on earth do you know, Senior?"
I snorted at his question. I wasn't about to fall for such a simple trap.
"It's because I'm just that skilled."
"Tch!"
Glan clicked his tongue at my words.
"So, how did the scouting go?"
At my words, Glan's expression grew serious.
Not much time had passed, but Glan had changed a lot. It seemed his relationship with the Count had improved as well.
Considering how much Glan had changed, it was certainly worth it for the Count to side with the Princess.
"It seems the knight you killed, Senior, was actually the de facto commander of that unit. There is a noble officer with a higher rank, but he seems to have absolutely no real power."
"Just a moment ago, he was throwing a fit, saying we should withdraw on our own, and the other noble officers only barely managed to calm him down."
"Excluding that noble officer, you could say the unit is operating under a sort of council of noble officers."
"While some officers want to withdraw, the majority opinion was to hold out for now until reinforcements arrive."
A cowardly commander with no real power and a council of various noble officers, huh.
In that case, there seemed to be a way.
I shared the idea that came to mind with the Princess.
"Eeeh, I can't remember all of that... Besides, how am I supposed to follow you around, Senior, in a place swarming with soldiers? My life was already hanging by a thread when we fought the monsters..."
Glan, who was listening from the side, wore a horrified expression.
But the Princess thought for a moment and then nodded.
It seemed she found the plan quite plausible too.
At the Princess's instruction, Miro and Sir Axel ran to the Count and Sir Miguel, delivering my plan to the two of them.
Neither Miguel nor the Count opposed the plan.
Soon after, the fortress gates opened.
Rumble.
First, the fortress order of knights marched out of the gates in formation.
Then our order of knights, who had come to reinforce them, stepped out, followed by the Kingdom's soldiers who had been in the fortress.
In total, over a hundred knights and more than a thousand soldiers.
The forces of the Second Prince besieging us were more than twice our number, but their momentum and morale were on a completely different level.
As we stepped outside the fortress, I saw the entire enemy force flinch.
They had clearly never expected the forces that should have been holed up in the fortress to surge outward.
The two orders of knights stood side by side, forming a long line at the front, while the soldiers formed up behind them.
After that, the nobles from the fortress city and our young nobles scattered and took their positions among the soldiers and knights.
While they hesitated, we completely exited the fortress and established our offensive formation.
Now it was time to move.
The Princess raised her sword high.
"In the name of the Carlos Kingdom. All units, advance!"
Neigh!
The horses reared onto their hind legs and neighed loudly, while the soldiers slammed their spears against the ground.
Thud, thud, rumble, rumble, thump, thump, thump.
The horses walked slowly at first, then gradually picked up speed.
The soldiers following behind began to run as well.
The knights and soldiers, who had been forced to hold back to block monsters and maintain neutrality, broke their chains and charged down the hills.
"Let us show them our strength, the strength that faced the monsters!"
The Count shouted at the top of his lungs at the head of the knights, and the knights and soldiers cheered in response.
I could see the enemies frantically trying to form their lines.
As the distance closed, I saw the enemy officers stretching out their hands.
Mana surged across the entire battlefield.
Our nobles raised their hands high as well.
It was the moment when the nobles' abilities clashed, even before the troops collided.
Crackle!
Sparks flew in the air, and translucent barriers manifested here and there.
And then, abilities and mana poured down upon our advancing ranks.