Open the Gates

"Haa..."

Ever ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since the Silver Fang, I had been sprinting the length of the walls, and only now did I let out a breath and take in my surroundings.

It was the first medieval siege I had ever lived through. Even so, the shape of the battle did not look half bad.

More than anything, the demons' methods for taking a castle were painfully simple. They either came pouring in and clawed up the walls however they could, or they sent ogres to smash the gate. Wind Fortress, though, was far too well prepared for tactics like those to work.

The knights on the battlements performed exactly as expected. Barring a few exceptions such as the Silver Fang, they cut down nearly every monster the moment it climbed into reach. Even when werewolves spent their lives to anchor ropes along the wall, the orcs that hauled themselves up were scythed away by knightly blades before they could do a thing.

And because the orcs never truly drew the eye, it was the ogres who paid for it. Those hulking beasts were meant to serve as siege engines, breaking gates and bringing walls down. Most of them never even reached the fortress. Concentrated volleys from the Azure Plum Knight Order punched them full of holes, and they died riddled where they stood. Now and then, one lucky brute managed to stagger all the way to the gate.

"Die!"

Waiting for creatures like that was Serena herself—a 4-Star Knight, and lady of the fortress. From atop the wall she poured out sword strikes in a cascading stream of golden aura. For an ogre already a mass of wounds, enduring that was simply too much.

So the ogres died one after another, helpless, and the gate they were meant to bring down only stood more stubbornly intact as time passed. The longer the fight went on, the worse it grew for the monsters.

"Kraaaagh!"

Demon screams layered over one another without end. Beneath the walls, countless corpses heaped higher and higher.

How long we had been fighting, I could not say.

"Awooooooo!"

Just as the reek of orc blood had numbed my nose, werewolf howls rose from every direction. I tensed, unsure what the signal meant—but only for a moment.

"They're pulling back!"

It did not take long to realize the howls were the order to retreat. Orcs and werewolves still clinging to the wall spun in a panic and bolted for the forest.

We were not about to let them go. Arrows rained into their backs. The crude axes they had hurled at the walls came flying after them, this time into the backs of their skulls. I snatched an axe from a dead orc sprawled nearby and threw ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it myself. In an instant, a whole knot of demons became corpses.

And so, on the first day of the siege, the demons never gained so much as a foothold on the wall. They had no choice but to vanish once more into the Great Forest.

After that, the siege dragged on for more than a week.

Not a single day passed without the demons hurling themselves at the fortress. On two of those days they did not even ease the assault through the night. Each time, the forces of Wind Fortress held firm—and at last the demon numbers, which had seemed as if they would never thin, began slowly to dwindle.

"At this rate, they may withdraw completely before long."

Perhaps because it had all gone so smoothly, a knight attached to the reinforcements actually said as much in the war council.

Serena shook her head. She had roamed the Great Forest and faced countless demons herself, and she warned them that the real fight began now—that they were not to let their guard down.

And on the tenth day, exactly as she had said, the real thing appeared.

"What... is that?"

Amid the host of monsters that came swarming in, black as ever, one knight stared up at a towering crimson beast and asked. It was a Crimson Troll—a higher breed of troll, its hide red as blood. The knight had surely not asked because he failed to recognize the species. This blood-red troll was far larger and far more savage than any ordinary kin. And stamped into the nape of its neck was a grotesque crest.

I knew exactly what that meant.

"...A Branded Monster."

Had it galled them so badly that one small fortress had weathered their assault? The Branded Monsters they had kept hidden all this time were being committed to the front at last. Five of them, no less—a formidable force, with warriors, a shaman, and even an archer among their number.

But that day the demons did nothing. They simply withdrew. Whether it was only meant to break our spirit, or whether they themselves needed time to regroup, I could not tell.

That evening a council was called at once—a war council, with every commander and knight in attendance. I took a seat among them. At the head sat Serena, lady of the fortress.

"What do you intend to do?"

The first to ask was the commander of the reinforcements. Themarck, if I had the name right. Faced at last with a Branded Monster he had only ever heard of, he looked plainly unsettled.

"What else? The answer's obvious."

Serena answered lightly, as if there were nothing to agonize over. The knights of the reinforcement force nodded, calm. They seemed to take her words to mean they should simply keep focusing on the defense, just as they had been.

But she went on to say the exact opposite.

"What do you mean by that?"

Themarck, startled, asked again.

"A powerful monster has been added to the host they already fielded! If anything, we ought to commit even harder to the defense than we are now and cut their numbers down."

He pressed her on how favorable the fortress was for defense, and demanded to know why they should throw that advantage away now of all times.

Serena shook her head.

"Branded Monsters are not opponents you can take so lightly."

So long as they were present, she insisted, clinging to a pure defense would still cost them dearly.

"Their Fear is fatal to soldiers who can't shield their hearing with aura. And there's a shaman among the Branded Monsters. Without a counter to magic, the longer we drag this out, the worse our position becomes."

"Even so, it's far too reckless. Opening the gates and going out—can we really break through that many demons?"

Themarck and the other knights of the reinforcements balked. Their looks said the defense alone ought to be enough; what was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the rush?

For a while Serena and the reinforcement officers talked past each other, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the council dragged on. She must have found it stifling.

"What do you think?"

Without warning, Serena turned to me. Every knight's eyes swung my way. Most of them, only days ago, had looked straight through me as if I were not there. But perhaps they acknowledged what I had done in the siege. They fixed every shred of their attention on my mouth, as if my answer mattered a great deal.

Standing before them, I gave it.

"Sister is right."

I sided with Serena, and she brightened at once.

"May I ask why you think so?"

Themarck, speaking for the reinforcements, asked the reason with careful courtesy.

But it was not only the Branded Monsters that made me want to strike first. I was looking past the monsters right in front of us, toward something farther off.

"Because the role this fortress was given is not merely to choke the road the demons would take north."

At that, Themarck—and the other knights with him—tilted their heads. Only Serena narrowed her eyes, as if she had caught my intent.

I went on.

"I'm sure you all know the situation at the Blue Wall well enough."

Right now the Blue Wall at the center was under an assault by demons beyond any comparison with this fortress. Fortunately, under Duke Keiser's command, they were still holding that offensive stubbornly at bay. But fierce battle followed fierce battle with hardly a day's pause, and no one there could afford to relax.

"Of course. But what does that have to do with why we should take such a risk?"

"It has everything to do with it. The Lord of the Forest hasn't even committed in earnest, and already we're in this state. If our luck holds, we'll only grind away the hours to no end. If it doesn't, we may take a heavy blow instead. That's why this place has to be settled as quickly as possible."

Aside from the Blue Wall, Wind Fortress was one of only two roads leading into the Great Forest. The other—Moss Fortress—faced deep swampland. It could be defended, but it was no place suited to a counterattack. Wind Fortress, by contrast, was narrow, yet it ran straight into the Great Forest with no great obstacle in the way.

Just as the enemy, if they took this place, could push north and strike the Blue Wall from behind, we too could drive an army into the Great Forest and hit them from the rear.

"Before this is a front we have to hold, it is a place that can become the starting point of a counterattack. In this war, which matters more—preserving our own strength, or turning the fight at the Blue Wall?"

"That..."

Themarck trailed off, as if he had not thought that far. After all, this was only a road when one got down to it. The true battlefield was the Blue Wall.

"Does it truly have to be now?"

He pressed next on the question of timing. Was this not too soon, no matter how one looked at it?

To my eyes, now was precisely the moment.

"Their numbers have thinned enough. Why do you think the Branded Monsters suddenly showed themselves? They know it too. If we come out like this, they can't stop us."

"Even so, it could cost a great many lives. If we hold the defense for just a few more days, wouldn't our advantage be that much more certain?"

"If they kept laying siege to us, you might well be right, sir. But didn't you see how they moved today?"

Today the demons had brought even the Branded Monsters with them, and still they had only glared at us from beyond arrow range before turning back. Nothing said they would not simply repeat that and bleed away our time.

"Focusing on defense is no different from leaving creatures like that alone. What would that be, except waiting for the demons to replenish themselves? So now we have to strike first."

"Hm..."

Unable to find a counter, Themarck let out a low sound and closed his mouth.

"Sounds settled enough to me. Any other objections?"

Serena asked. No answer came back. She smiled, sharp, and spoke again.

"Then—who wants to volunteer for the breakthrough team?"

At that, several knights raised their hands to declare they would go. I was among them.

That evening.

"What about you two?"

I called Greg and Ser to the room where I was staying and asked them outright—whether they would come with me tomorrow.

The breakthrough team I had volunteered for was, for all the fine words, a post where lacking the skill meant offering up your life. Of course an escort knight was meant to follow their lord anywhere. This once, I did not want to drag them along by force. It was not simply that I begrudged their lives. The battlefield I would stand on tomorrow was not so gentle a place that someone who did not truly want to be there could survive it. I might not even have the room to look after them.

"What else would we do? Of course we follow you, Young Master."

Greg said it without a moment's hesitation. Honestly, I had expected as much from him, so I only nodded.

"And you?"

I turned to Ser. She had not known me long, and her only blood kin, Sar, was staying in this very fortress, helping with the odd jobs. I had thought that Ser, of all people, might rather avoid a battlefield that dangerous.

"I will follow you as well, Young Master."

Ser said it as if it were only natural.

"It'll be dangerous."

"Of course. My sister was fretting quite a bit, as it happens."

She grumbled lightly that Sar had been scolding her until just a little while ago.

"But I am an escort knight. I heard it from Greg. An escort knight is one who dies for their lord. I wish to carry out that duty faithfully."

At those words, Greg nodded even before I did. For all his grumbling about a junior joining and whatnot, he had been teaching her properly in his own way.

"And..."

Ser hesitated a moment.

"This post as an escort knight is one I wanted myself, so that I might repay the grace you have shown me, Young Master. To step back merely because it is dangerous would be absurd."

She looked me straight in the eye as she said it. It was as if she were telling me that, just as I had volunteered for the breakthrough team of my own will, she was not being dragged along either.

Resolve like that was more than enough.

"All right. Understood. Go back and rest."

I sent the two of them off, and meant to rest myself.

"Ah—right..."

Something I had forgotten came back to me. The quest reward I had received for saving the beastkin village.

I used the coupon-like item sitting in my inventory. At once a list of the countless skills I could choose from rose before me. Some of them were quite useful. Others were not.

"As I thought. There's really nothing but that one."

If I meant to prepare for tomorrow's battle, and for the ones that would follow, there was exactly one thing I needed right now. The deliberation did not last long.

And with that, a new skill was inscribed upon my status window.