42. The Yoke (8)
It goes without saying that I was a complete amateur when it came to stealth and infiltration.
As I've said time and again, Kim Seung-soo was a model citizen who had never so much as received a parking fine, let alone committed a crime, and Phoinix was a man who killed but didn't steal.
Meaning neither of them had ever had a reason to sneak into somewhere or hide from someone, let alone practice at it.
That said, if you asked whether I lacked the talent for such things, that wasn't quite true either. Kim Seung-soo had grown adept at erasing his presence thanks to his school days, and Phoinix had never much enjoyed being looked at anyway.
And setting all that aside, I had one very considerable advantage: quick, nimble movement — what you'd call agility.
I kept my focus fixed on Mungchi ahead of me as I picked my way forward, careful with every step. Dressed in light leather with only a half-cape draped over my shoulders, I made hardly a sound.
"Two up ahead. Be careful."
I passed Mungchi's whisper back to Cole, the archer following behind me.
Cole looked thoroughly at ease in a situation like this — nighttime infiltration, that is — as if it were old hat to him.
Well, fair enough. He'd supposedly lived as a hunter in the mountain valleys as a boy and as a scout in the army as a man, so it made sense he'd be used to it.
Frankly speaking, when it came to missions like this one, I'd say Cole was better than me. The gap in experience was just that wide.
"Phoi."
Mungchi's voice drifted over from the shadows of the brush. Even though she was trailing a mere six paces behind me, I'd momentarily lost track of her entirely.
……As expected, her stealth is on another level entirely.
I knelt on one knee beside Mungchi and surveyed the terrain ahead.
"Grass, is now gone."
"That so."
Just as she said, the brushland spreading out south of Longville ended a short distance ahead, giving way to flat, open farmland.
A knife-cut crescent moon hung low over the earth. While the pale moonlight bathed half the world in silver, the other half was sinking into deeper darkness.
Yet in the middle of that farmland, as if echoing the divided night — or resisting it — countless torches burned.
"……Damn. Might as well be a campfire."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, never mind."
Patting the head of Mungchi, who was blinking up at me with wide round eyes, I studied the camp of Count Tristan's army.
Just as Zanavas the druid had reported after scouting the enemy lines with his birds, their vigilance was relentless — an absolutely vicious level of it.
Watchmen guarding key points inside the camp, sentries ringing the perimeter, patrol teams circling a hundred meters or so out from the outer edge, listening-grass hidden within the brush……
Even at a glance, there had to be more than two hundred guards. Whoever their commander was, he had to be a madman.
"……If they rotate watch on that kind of schedule, what exactly are they planning to do when an actual battle starts?"
At my murmured complaint, Cole answered.
"They seem to be preparing for a long siege, my lord."
"A long siege?"
"Yes. With the destruction sorcerers there, they must have calculated that all they need to do is hold their positions and keep hurling spells — guaranteed victory."
Ah, I see. So because they have a winning strategy, they're keeping watch this airtight to make sure no variables creep in.
Hmm. That's a headache.
"Mungchi, what about you? Think you can get in there?"
"Yes."
"……Really?"
"Can go in. Mmm, can go in, Phoi."
It was an answer delivered between corrected pronunciations, but hardly brimming with confidence. I scratched my brow and asked again.
"You can get in? That place?"
"Yes." "How?"
"Gaps, keep opening up. Crouch down and slip in."
"……Easy for you to say."
Our targets were the destruction sorcerers.
These were people who could bring down an entire palisade with a single spell, so of course they were the highest-priority threat. I'd have loved to deal with them if possible.
"Could you take us in with you?"
"Uh……. Don't know about that."
I glanced back to find her wearing a distinctly uncertain expression.
Right — moving alone and hauling two pieces of dead weight along were obviously two very different things.
I stared quietly at the enemy camp for a while, then shook my head.
"This won't work."
"Huh?"
"I knew the security was tight, but not this tight. The destruction sorcerers' tents will be even worse."
"C-can go in."
"Getting out would be the hard part."
When I remembered how Mungchi had rampaged through the Anupad army with free rein, it seemed like it might be fine — but then I recalled how a single crossbow bolt had neutralized her, and my anxiety came roaring back.
I pressed my hand firmly over Mungchi's tight-lipped head and rose to my feet.
"No need to gamble our lives for nothing. Let's head back."
And so we retraced our path and returned to Longville.
On firmly packed ground, a strange circular design had been drawn — a magic circle made from ground monster bones, glowstone, and gold, mixed with water to form paint.
Seven of Count Tristan's destruction sorcerers stepped onto the circle.
Feeling the circle's power bend the rules of reality, they began to chant.
A low rumble — and with a sound like an iron ball rolling across a silver tray, a thick, long shaft of light rose into the air. That massive pillar of light, over two meters in length, radiated danger with every passing moment.
The dangerous lance of light — commonly called a Spear of Force — borrowed the magic circle's power to streak across hundreds of meters. And then—
It struck the palisade.
The palisade, built from five or six layers of stacked logs, crumpled like something hammered by a siege ram. Wooden shards scattering in all directions came as a bonus.
Even as the Spear of Force shattered the palisade, hardly a shout or scream rose from the soldiers — because the wall had already been cleared.
Of course, that didn't mean they could approach the palisade freely. Anyone who got close would find archers swarming like hornets and raining arrows down on them.
Commander Angus knew this well, which was why he stood on a low hill with his arms crossed, simply watching the destruction sorcerers cast.
Boom.
The second Spear of Force hammered the gate this time.
Water-soaked blankets and oxhide had been draped all over the gatehouse and doors, but there was no stopping the steady rain of stone dust.
War really should be fought the easy way.
Watching the enemy's flesh get pared away while he stood still was more entertaining than any spectacle he'd ever seen. And the fact that his own side was expending so few resources pleased him all the more.
The spells could be fired endlessly as long as the destruction sorcerers had time to recover their mana, and a single bottle of the magic paint for the circle — worth thirty gold coins — kept the thing running for four whole days.
So there were only two things Angus needed to concern himself with.
Vigilance and supply — the fundamentals of war itself.
Certainly, there were commanders now and then who couldn't even manage those basics, but Angus was no such fool.
Just then, a violent gust swept up near the magic circle. A vortex of mana.
Master Acto is taking the stage. Struggling to suppress his excitement, Angus tried to maintain the dignified expression befitting a commander — or in other words, a stately one.
It lasted only a moment. The instant a violet orb rose above the magic circle, Angus's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open.
The violet sphere, no bigger than an egg — the so-called Sphere of Destruction — flew through the air, swelling as it went.
A deep hum rolled through the air.
The Sphere of Destruction, swollen to the size of a boulder, drifted gently upward as if swimming through water.
Just as the violet afterimage it left behind began to trace a parabola, two arrows came flying from inside the palisade.
"……What's that?"
The two arrows, rising side by side, each carried a net made of woven cord.
Stones dangled from the underside of the nets, so the arrows couldn't fly far — but it was more than enough to meet the incoming Sphere of Destruction.
The moment the violet sphere touched the spread net, it flashed with a blinding burst of light.
Then, a split second later, the explosion.
KRA-KOOM—!
"Ugh."
The blast was loud enough to leave ears ringing even from hundreds of meters away, and Angus's brow creased slightly. The soldiers around him were plugging their ears and cursing up a storm.
Angus lifted his head and looked toward Longville. The Sphere of Destruction, detonated midair, had merely knocked the palisade over sideways — it seemed it hadn't turned the ground beyond into a wasteland.
Intercepting spells, are they? Getting clever.
Angus glanced back toward the magic circle.
Acto, the gaunt middle-aged destruction sorceress, raised one eyebrow at the sight of her spell being blocked. Then, with a twisted smile, she began to chant again.
After some time chanting, she produced a second Sphere of Destruction. To all appearances, it was an ordinary Sphere of Destruction, no different from the first.
And once again, Longville sent net-arrows streaking toward it.
The first volley of net-arrows tangled together in midair — the archers' coordination must have slipped — but the second flew true and swallowed the Sphere of Destruction whole.
A deep hum rolled through the air.
But this sphere did not detonate on contact with the net. Master Acto had modified her spell.
Just as Angus was beginning to smile in triumph at the sight of the Sphere of Destruction flying on with the net draped over it, a succession of streaks of flame suddenly arced up over the palisade.
Flame arrows the length of a forearm struck the slowly drifting sphere again and again. And the third flame arrow finally set it off.
The Fire Witch.
Angus's expression darkened.
If the Fire Witch remained in Longville, then the blood-soaked swordsman and the Red Bear had to be there as well. This was nothing if not a headache……
I'll need to assemble a team to handle those monsters in advance.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, an officer came running up to him.
"Lord Angus. Prince Doyle is asking for you."
"The prince? Why? What's this about?"
"I don't know exactly, my lord, but it seems to concern the Nudein tribe."
"……The Nudein tribe?"
Angus swallowed at a vague sense of foreboding and hurried on his way.
KRA-KOOM—!
An explosion tore through the air close by.
The palisade stretching left of the gate trembled, groaned — and finally collapsed outright.
"Cough, cough—"
"You okay?"
I handed a waterskin to Ellen, who was hacking away beneath my shield.
"Here, rinse your mouth with this."
"Ugh."
Ellen took a big mouthful of water, swished it around with her lips bulging, then — phtew — spat it out.
I brushed dirt and splinters off my shoulders and heaved a deep sigh.
……Maybe I should have pushed through and taken out the destruction sorcerers after all. Going through this hell right now, regret was starting to bubble up out of nowhere.
Regardless of my regrets, Longville was holding off the enemy assault reasonably well.
The soldiers were hidden in trenches, ready to assume a defensive posture at a moment's notice, and the net-arrows devised by Sir Ariad were still in decent supply, so the Spheres of Destruction seemed manageable enough.
And if a net-arrow failed to connect, or one slipped through like earlier, Ellen could handle it.
Even if Ellen failed and a sphere slammed into the ground, everyone was well hidden in the trenches, so we wouldn't suffer the catastrophic losses we might have feared.
And even if the destruction sorcerers' spells reduced the palisade to rubble, Longville sat on terrain raised a good four meters above the surrounding land.
The Anig family had spent long years reinforcing it, turning what had been a gentle hillside slope into something approaching a sheer wall. Even without the palisade, climbing it wouldn't be easy.
Considering all these factors, holding out for a few days didn't seem all that difficult. If we could just wait, say, four days at most, Clarisa's reinforcements would arrive, and things would work themselves out somehow.
I was thinking exactly that when, at some point, the bombardment — no, the destruction sorcerers' barrage of spells — stopped.
"……What's this? Out of mana already?"
"Doubt it."
Ellen, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, shook her head.
"Judging by the power of their spells, they're all skilled sorcerers. I doubt their mana's run dry already."
"Hmm. Then what gives?"
Just then, one of the soldiers climbed cautiously over an intact section of the palisade and shouted down to us.
"The destruction sorcerers are withdrawing!"
"Withdrawing?"
What now? What kind of situation was this?
About an hour after the destruction sorcerers' barrage ended, while I was helping the soldiers clean up the collapsed palisade, a messenger arrived from the lord's manor.
Ellen and I followed the messenger to the manor, where the hall was gathered with Dionea, the retainers of the Anig family, and Sir Ariad.
Having heard the situation from Head Scribe Beldin, I frowned and objected.
"An envoy? An envoy came?"
"That's correct."
"Seriously — they pound on our walls for a single day and then send an envoy to talk? That's a bit……"
As I trailed off, Sir Ariad picked up where I left.
"Suspicious, isn't it. I think the same as you, Sir Phoinix. Hammering away for barely half a day and then calling for surrender — that's no ordinary suspicious move."
"One could look at it differently, however."
It was Tollami, the herald, an old man with a full beard, who spoke with deliberate caution.
"Half a day may be all it's been, but we have already confirmed the power of the destruction sorcerers. Was it not you, Sir Ariad, who said that not only the palisade but the gate itself — built from stacked stone — would not last three days?"
"Three days is all we need. The collapse of the gate and palisade does not mean the fall of Longville. And — this is merely my expectation — Clarisa's reinforcements will arrive before the gate falls, so—"
"And if not?"
Cutting cleanly through Sir Ariad's measured words, Tollami asked in a heavy voice.
"What will you do if it comes to that? If the gate falls, and that great army tramples Longville, and only then do the reinforcements arrive?"
"That won't happen."
"That is your judgment, sir."
Tollami looked up at Dionea and continued.
"Admit the envoy and buy time, my lady. Even a day — no, even a single day gained raises the odds of preserving the fief considerably. And with good fortune, we might even protect the gate, which carries the history of the Anig family with it."
"Hmm……"
Dionea deliberated a moment before speaking.
"I'd be glad if it went as you say — but might whatever envoy they've sent be up to some trickery?"
"Do not worry, my lady. Strip them of all weapons and watch them closely, and there will be no trouble. And who knows — we might even turn the envoys to our side and reap an unexpected gain."
"Turn the envoys… to our side?"
"Yes. The Nudein tribe, after all, is a people who shift their allegiance this way and that according to their own interests. If you would offer just a little—"
"Hold on, hold on—"
I quickly cut into the conversation between Dionea and Tollami, a question rising in my chest.
"The Nudein tribe? The envoy is from the Nudein tribe?"
"……Mm? Yes, sir. An old man and a young woman, they say, with two servants in tow."
"……Nudein tribe. A young woman?"
Oh, this is not good.
Reading the color draining from my face, drillmaster Chester tried to reassure me.
"Don't worry, sir. Ross is watching them closely."
"Ross?"
That name sounded familiar.
Right — that brat who'd picked a fight with me and eyed me with suspicion when I first arrived in Longville……
"……You don't mean the gatekeeper?"
"You remember him, sir. He's in charge of the gate, and as you know, he'sStrict strict to a fault — he won't let so much as a crack show—"
"You're telling me those envoys are at the gate right now?"
"Yes."
"Are you insane."
As I muttered it, Chester gave me a baffled look.
"What's the matter, sir?"
"We need to drive the envoys out. Now — right now."
"What on earth are you—"
"This instant— ugh, dammit!"
Unable to hold back my frustration, I made to bolt from the hall, and Chester quickly added:
"Master Castlight is at the gate as well. If they use magic or show anything suspicious, he'll step in, so there's no need to worry so—"
"Ah."
It was Ellen who made the strangled sound. She'd been standing there in a daze, and as her eyes met mine, the color flooded out of her face.
"He can't… read… the mindwave… the power of the Hidden Arts—"
RUUUMBLE!
Before Ellen could even finish, the ceiling shuddered as if an earthquake had struck, shedding dust.
"Kyaa!"
"My lady, get back!"
While the retainers whisked Dionea to safety, Ellen, Chester, and I bolted out of the manor.
"Good God."
Behind Chester's murmured words, Sir Ariad, who'd rushed out a beat behind us, opened his mouth. Far in the distance, to the west, he had spotted a cloud of dust rising.
"Oh, great light above."
I cursed quietly too.
The gate — which had stood tall at the top of the rampart, greeting Longville's visitors — that gate and the ground it stood on were now nothing but an enormous pile of rubble.
That's right. The gate had fallen.
"……I'm losing my mind."