Chapter 247: A Magnificent Siege Defense

For better or worse, Van is a boy. Well, there’s no “for better or worse” about it—he is undeniably a boy, but let’s leave that aside.

There are certain things boys tend to love: vehicles, large creatures, scientific matters, or new machinery… Van loves all of those, but he has another favorite: history.

Of course, as the term “History Girls” suggests, I know girls who love history exist, but the ones I knew tended to be obsessed with the late Tokugawa Shogunate era. Van is primarily interested in the Warring States period of Japan. Specifically, he finds Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa interesting to compare, and their episodes, full of twists and turns, are captivating. He also likes Takeda, Uesugi, Date, and Sanada, of course.

I’ll spare you the endless historical monologues, but personally, the stories that get me most excited are those of a small force defeating a massive army. My second favorite type of story is about using wits to defend a territory or castle against overwhelming military power.

This defense of Centena is precisely the kind of situation that fits the bill.

Due to these circumstances, Van was brimming with enthusiasm.

“Alright, as per the plan, the castle walls will be defended by a joint unit of the Centena Knight Order and the Fertio Knight Order! Additionally, all the Earth Mages, including Lord Talga, will be working with me on fortifying the fortress! Panamera and Arte, are you ready?”

“Y-yes…!”

“Leave it to me.”

As I issued instructions to everyone, the stern-looking older men immediately began moving, and the lovely women like Panamera and Arte gave me positive replies. Oh, I feel like a military commander.

Humming happily, I continued giving instructions while working on the ballistae. I had already made ten ballistae, so next up were the iron bolts. Wood blocks offered sufficient power, but using iron increased the flying distance. Iron really is the best.

“…! Just as Baron Van predicted, the Shelvia Confederation has started to move quickly! The scout reports that a large army is forming a formation, although we cannot see them from here!”

“Oh, I knew it. In that case, have the flying dragons taken off yet?”

“No, we haven’t seen any flying dragons!”

A member of the Seatoh Village Knight Order confirmed the signal flags from the scout on the wall and reported back. But if they aren’t deploying the Wyverns yet, are they aiming for something? Certainly, if they launched the Wyverns right as the ballistae were aiming and firing, it would be difficult to re-target the sky. But are they thinking that far ahead?

“…No, a competent commander never underestimates the enemy. Yes, I must maintain maximum vigilance,” I cautioned myself. I’m truly feeling like a historical military genius now.

Thinking such silly things, I issued instructions to everyone on the castle wall.

“They might be delaying the Wyvern launch so they aren’t targeted by the ballistae! For now, just respond as planned!”

“Understood!”

With that reply, the Seatoh Village Knight Order scattered to their posts and continued their vigilance. Since the members of the Seatoh Village Knight Order possess abnormally keen eyesight on average, they were deployed on the walls and the top floors of the fortress.

As I was steadily producing arrows, an anxious voice eventually rang out from the top of the wall.

“Th-they’re here…!”

At that cry, everyone started to stir. I was preparing below the wall with Khamsin, Till, and Arte, and I felt their expressions stiffen as well.

“What’s their formation?” I called out to the Seatoh Village Knight Order member.

A reply came immediately from the top of the wall.

“They look thinly spread out to the left and right! Two units in the front, one in the center, and two in the rear!”

“I don’t quite understand, but should I assume they are divided into five units stretched out like a long cord?”

“Ah, yes! That is the formation!”

Exchanging vague confirmations, I pictured the formation in my mind. Looking at the map, the road narrows due to the hills and forests farther back. Did they form a long, vertical line and then plan to change formation once they reached the wider area? If so, they are a knight order with considerable training.

If they had marched in a long, thin line, I might have been able to attempt an “Okehazama Attack,” charging from the side to hit the area where the commander was located within the line. What a pity.

No, right now, it’s crucial to grasp the enemy’s movements and connect them to the next action.

“The enemy is thinking carefully! In that case, the power of our ballista attack will be halved, so let’s change the plan to target the cannons first!”

“Yes! Understood!”

Hearing the enemy’s formation, I issued the change in strategy. Ideally, I would have liked them to advance in a tight formation with heavy infantry, raising their defense while guarding against Arte’s puppets, but sadly, that wasn’t the case.

“Enemy forces are entering range of the cannons!”

“Huh? Already?”

Hearing the additional report, I looked up in surprise. I had managed to produce a considerable number of bolts, so I decided to move quickly.

“We only have five bolts prepared for each ballista, so hurry up and replenish them with these arrows. Khamsin, can you distribute the arrows with the rest of the Seatoh Knight Order?”

“Yes, Lord Van! I’ll take them right away!”

When I asked Khamsin, he dashed off like a cannonball. As he rallied the unit, Law, who had been directing things on the wall, came down the stairs instead.

“Lord Van! We have reports of over twenty cannon-like objects discovered! The ballistae may not be able to keep up!”

“Alright, let’s target the ones closest to the center first and fire the ballistae! If you think you can reach them, keep firing! I’ll keep making plenty more arrows!”

“Understood!”

I gave instructions to the slightly anxious-looking Law with a smile. Maybe he’s worried because Dee and Arb aren’t here. Thinking that, I tried to reply with as much composure as possible.

Law immediately turned around and rushed back up the wall to relay instructions to the knights manning the ballistae. This time, the members of the Seatoh Village Knight Order were aiming the ballistae, but the Centena knights were doing the actual operation. There was no helping it, as the number of Seatoh Village Knight Order members I could bring was limited. Furthermore, if the enemy closed the distance, the Ultra-Strong Mechanical Bow Unit would be needed, so we couldn’t allocate too many people to the ballistae.

I wondered if the stalwart knights would listen to a child like me. I was worried, but since everyone was currently trying their best to defend, they were obediently following instructions.

“Ballista ready to fire!”

“Yes, go ahead!”

I gave a light reply to the knight operating the central ballista, who had been the first to report readiness. Immediately after, a low, rumbling sound that shook the air rang out. It was the sound of the ballista launching.

“It-it hit…!”

“Oh…!”

“What power…”

It seemed to have succeeded. The success of the very first shot should ease everyone’s tension.

“Alright, let’s keep going!” I cheered to boost morale. Law nodded and began issuing firing instructions one after another.

The ballistae fired continuously, scattering the enemy forces with the sound of the ground shaking. Well, they should be scattering the enemy forces.

However, if the enemy chose a wide, split formation, the effectiveness would be low unless we managed to hit the cannons directly. The ballistae have a slow rate of fire, making them difficult to use against a large army. It would be great if we had the massive quantity of ballistae like Seatoh Village, but since this was hastily constructed, that wasn’t possible.

“…! The cannons are firing…!”

As I was preparing the arrows while thinking about all this, the very attack I feared began. Immediately after hearing someone shout from the wall, a fierce explosion and ground-shaking tremor made my legs tremble. Grimacing from the pain in my eardrums, I managed to check the situation.

“Where did it land!?” I shouted.

“It landed right in front of the wall!” Law shouted back. He must have heard me well despite the noise of the explosion.

“Alright, fire the ballistae at the cannon that just shot!”

“Yes, sir! Fire the ballistae!”

While we were doing that, cannon fire struck the opposite wall. Since the cannons were still in development, the accuracy was extremely poor, but the power was tremendous. This time, unfortunately, the shot was a direct hit.

A part of the wall collapsed, and worst of all, one of the ballistae on top fell to the ground along with the crumbled wall.

“We have casualties! Medics!” Talga’s voice rang out.

Since I had assigned Talga the role of Defense Captain, he was moving faster than anyone else to fulfill his duty.

“Lord Van! Can you move to repair the wall?”

“Yes! I’ll be right there! You can start using magic now!”

“Understood!”

Talga quickly replied and began his incantation. Following suit, the Earth Mages assigned to Talga also began chanting. By the time I arrived at the scene, the Earth Magic protection around the wall had already begun.

He truly is reliable. I inwardly praised Talga’s swift action while fortifying the newly constructed wall. Ideally, I would use reinforced concrete, but since I lacked some materials, it was merely concrete-like material.

As I shaped it, a wall thicker and more ornate than before was created in an instant.

“O-oh…”

“To think it could be done at such speed…”

I nearly chuckled, “Mufufu,” hearing the astonished voices from all directions, but this was no time for that. I tightened my expression, turned around, and looked at Arte.

“Arte! Can you handle it?”

When I asked, Arte clasped her hands in front of her chest and nodded firmly.