Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Grand Duke's Heir, You've Run Away
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<At first, it's all like that.>
The Lobros forces quickly swelled to sixty thousand. They had gathered five thousand troops from Hussein Castle and Alf Castle by joining forces with the surrounding lords and tribes. But I didn't pay it much mind. If they'd dragged along five thousand, they were probably exhausted troops scraped together from the bottom of the barrel. Those soldiers weren't elites by any stretch.
Our defending forces had grown quite a bit too. Civilians had formed volunteer militias on their own and were manning defenses by district. Their numbers came to about fifteen thousand—enough to buy us a good chunk of time even if the enemy breached the capital.
'Come on, hurry up.'
A few days later, the Lobros army's siege engines were all assembled. They kept advancing and retreating their completed catapults, pressuring Kara.
The siege of Kara had begun.
In response, I immediately positioned one unit each on the left and right flanks of the western wall, alternating them to prepare for the enemy's assault. The north, east, and south walls were simply monitored by Rajal's First Army.
Kara's walls stretched a total of 12.2 kilometers. Even if the enemy tried to swing around to another section, it'd take them half a day to maneuver, so just keeping troops on standby meant we could respond swiftly to any flanking attacks.
"Master! Let us join the fight!"
Nazir and Bayan climbed up to the central keep and pressed me. I'd kept their special unit out of even the patrol rotations, drilling them only on cliff-climbing and running the outer roads inside the walls, so they'd built up a lot of frustration.
"We're just defending right now. There's no place for you assault specialists."
"Then send us outside the walls. We'll hit and run, disrupting their rear lines."
I chuckled.
"Heh. You think Duke Bastain, of all people, wouldn't prepare for rear harassment? You might succeed the first couple times, but later you'll stumble into traps and get wiped out. Honestly, don't you think I'd love to raid their rear too? I can't send you because you'd just die pointlessly."
"Master!"
Nazir bellowed, and I shot him a glare.
"You lot focus on training, pack on some muscle with good meals, and that'll be job well done. Mess up later, and I'll beat you senseless. Train properly now."
At that moment, a lookout shouted from the observation post.
"Enemy catapults advancing!"
I hurriedly sent Nazir and Bayan off and stepped forward beside Padilla.
The enemy catapult unit was kicking up dust as it approached Kara's walls.
I wondered if it was another feint maneuver like before, but it didn't look like it. Dozens of catapults advanced in neat formation, steadily closing in.
"All catapults! Battle ready!"
Our catapults wound back in unison and loaded stones. Tension hung in the air for a moment. Once the Lobros catapults crossed a certain line, I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
"Fire!"
Shweeeek~ With a deafening tear through the air, massive boulders arced through the sky in a spectacular volley. Midway, the clustered projectiles zeroed in, smashing the enemy catapults one by one.
The Lobros catapult crews panicked briefly at our systematic barrage but soon recovered and began hurling stones toward the walls.
Their first volley had abysmal accuracy. Many sailed over the walls into the city interior, while the rest bounced off the ground short of the base without even grazing the stone.
But with each subsequent shot, their aim improved, and soon a barrage of boulders hammered the walls directly.
Still, overall, our catapults held the advantage. Firing from higher ground gave us greater range, and the outer walls shielded much of our position from hits.
Thud! Boom!
A boulder smashed into the right section of the wall and ricocheted off. It held up fortunately, but the dent it left instilled unease.
Padilla shuddered at the sight of boulders flying everywhere. Then, as one that happened to clip the wall top swept mercilessly through several soldiers, she flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.
She was frightened by her first taste of real war.
I gave her waist a light smack.
"Everyone's watching. Stand tall and proud. If you look scared, they'll all panic."
"Y-yes..."
Padilla clenched her fists tight and straightened up proudly.
Soon, the Lobros army began arraying in the distance. With siege towers, shield carts, battering rams, and such leading the way, it looked like the main assault was coming.
I toyed with the magic cannon card for a moment but pocketed it again. It was too valuable a card to play right away. Wars always brought desperate crises or golden opportunities to break out— that's when it'd shine brightest.
Better to keep it hidden from the enemy for now.
I pulled out Survival Kit No. 3 from my bosom. It was a mana弾 launcher loaded with top-grade essence. It looked no different from the lowest-grade model, but it had one big feature: capacity for nearly 250 shots.
"Padilla, when the enemy masses, fight with this too."
Udin, standing behind her, jumped forward.
"No, that's too dangerous."
"It'll be fine. Not dangerous at all. I'll protect you."
"But..."
"It's all for Kara. When the leader charges ahead, the soldiers fight bravely too."
Besides, Padilla was a woman and a lord. It'd stir men's protective instincts and pride, making them fight even harder.
Padilla understood my intent and took the mana弾 launcher.
"Yes. I'll do my best."
"Good. Give it everything."
Soon, the enemy siege troops advanced amid beating drums and blaring horns.
Everyone gasped at the sheer numbers, but I felt nothing special. Impressive horde or not, it was just one or two myriad at most. Mostly mercenaries and Shika tribesmen too—more a probing attack than a committed push.
They advanced in a spread formation before converging on the center, launching a concentrated assault.
"Attack!"
Countless bridges splashed across the moat before the walls.
The vanguard was the bulldozer unit. Ignoring the rain of arrows, they shoved aside the caltrops littering the ground to secure paths for our troops. Shield carts followed, creating cover spots everywhere, and then the siege towers unleashed arrow barrages on the Kara soldiers atop the walls.
Ladders rose next as siege ladders reached the ramparts, and rams bypassed the barbicans toward the gates.
Textbook siege tactics—which meant we were prepared for them.
The ram halted at the deeply embedded stakes, and the troops atop the siege towers fell limply to sniper fire from mana弾 gunners.
Siege climbers plummeting from ladders under crossbow bolts and flails from peasant militias met gruesome ends, while endless caltrops turned the bulldozers' paths back into deadly spikes.
"Damn it, do something!"
Cries of anguish echoed from the Lobros siege troops everywhere. Every step forward was a path of thorns. Casualties mounted under Kara's fierce arrow fire, and the 15-meter-high walls induced vertigo in ladder climbers.
The siege towers abandoned long-range and closed in to bridge troops across. I waved the red flag vigorously.
"Red flag up! Activate the oil carts!"
Oil carts atop the walls poured oil below. A veteran mercenary who recognized the scent yelled in horror.
It wasn't ordinary oil.
"Y-Yorgrand's Fire! Get back!"
Yorgrand's Fire was a secret weapon from the dwarf kingdom of Yorgrand, a Lobros neighbor—the royal family's closely guarded flame that didn't extinguish in water and belched suffocating, foul smoke. Known far and wide as the fire of death.
But it was too late to realize. Flames erupted from ignited oil pumps, blanketing the siege towers in inferno. Soldiers at the base screamed as they burned alive.
And that was just the start. Defenders hurled ignited earthen pots, blanketing the base in yellow mist. Siege troops collapsed one by one, hacking violently.
'Rolan's Poison Mist.'
A herbal mix discovered by a healer named Rolan. Inhaling the smoke paralyzed the body, even killing in severe cases.
The downside was wind dispersing it, but it was great for neutralizing masses.
"Aaaagh!"
Hell unfolded on all sides. Kara defenders, awed by the gruesome Lobros deaths, even held fire out of pity. The enemy's losses were catastrophic.
I narrowed my eyes at their main camp.
'Bald geezer. Half my battlefield experience is defending sieges. Standard tactics won't touch me.'
Meanwhile, Padilla fired mana弾 wildly at the Lobros troops below. She hesitated at times, finger faltering on the trigger amid the horrific deaths, but kept at it under my prodding.
"All units, retreat!"
Soon, the full retreat order came from the Lobros side. The siege had barely begun, yielding no gains but massive losses. They couldn't afford to slaughter their entire siege force just for a probe, so withdrawal it was.
The Lobros survivors retreated en masse, glad to be alive.
"Woo-hoo! The enemy's pulling back!"
Kara's soldiers cheered their first victory. Just a skirmish, nothing to celebrate wildly, but a win was a win—I let them revel.
Yet groans and coughs still rose from below the walls. Looked like the Lobros had abandoned many wounded in their haste.
I sent runners with cleanup orders to all.
"Send healers and troops down immediately for emergency aid on the enemy wounded. Dispatch a herald to the Lobros camp proposing a three-day truce to retrieve their dead and injured."
Padilla smiled warmly at my mercy, mistaking it for my true nature.
But it was standard postwar procedure. Piling corpses outside risked plagues— the worst threat to a densely packed Kara right now.
Besides, agonized cries and grisly bodies demoralized onlookers. Letting the enemy handle it would sap their morale too.
And more? Treating the wounded would drain their supplies and manpower, while our chivalry softened their hatred for Kara.
Of course, recovered wounded might attack again, but that wasn't easy. Survivors weren't frontline material. Most would ship to the rear.
Soon, Marquis Fabius accepted, sending carts and troops to clean up bodies and wounded thoroughly.
Once the battlefield was cleared, I took Padilla back to the lord's palace. She trembled pale-faced the whole way to the bedroom, unable to endure the war's horrors after a sheltered upbringing.
In the room, I removed her armor and said quietly.
"At first, it's all like that."
"..."
Padilla nodded stiffly, frozen silent.
"You did well for a first time. You'll get the hang of it and do even better."
"Yes."
This time, a meek reply. I stripped off her padded clothes next. Now in undergarments alone, her lithe figure and soft skin stood revealed.
I glanced over her beautiful curves and let out a low hum.
'Mm.'
As Padilla called for maids to prepare a bath, I stopped her.
"Bath later. Rest deep first. Fatigue needs shaking off quick."
"But..."
I led her to the bed and laid her down, then shed my own armor hastily.
Padilla blinked her big eyes at me.
"Grand Duke's Heir?"
"No big deal. Don't mind."
As I tossed my armor aside and approached, her face flushed crimson.
"Grand Duke's Heir?"
"No big deal. Just gonna massage away your fatigue. You've got knots—better loosen 'em before they hurt your looks long-term."
"Ah..."
She relaxed, but freaked when I climbed onto the bed atop her.
"Grand Duke's Heir?"
"No big deal. Just tripped."
"Pardon?"
"Anyway, one more thing: at first, it's all like that."
I yanked the covers over us and hugged her waist tight. She thrashed in surprise, blankets flapping briefly, but soon went still as if nothing happened.
I massaged her. Really meant to just massage.
<At first, it's all like that.> End