Chapter 249: A Magnificent Siege Defense 3
“I can’t control the knights unless I can see them.”
Because Arte said this, we moved to the top of the castle wall, guarded by Law and Khamsin. Since it was dangerous, I also constructed a semi-circular defensive wall on top of the ramparts. It looks a bit like the Fuji TV building in Odaiba.
“Lord Van, let’s go back down immediately, okay? Immediately?”
Till, her face pale, pleaded, so I nodded with a wry smile.
“Do you think you can do it?”
I created a horizontal slit in the defensive wall and asked Arte while looking out at the battlefield. Arte’s shoulders trembled, but she nodded firmly.
“…I’m fine. Pair of Silver Knights, Aventadors, please!”
Arte cast her magic like a prayer. Immediately after, a loud noise came from outside the defensive wall. Through the slit, I could see slender, long puppet hands and the gleam of Mythril greatswords.
Wow, they really do move smoothly, just like humans. While I was watching and thinking that, both of them suddenly jumped off the wall. Even for a medium-sized fortress, the walls were quite high. Light armor aside, the puppets’ bodies were made of wood blocks. I believed they were as strong as iron, but would they be okay?
I stayed silent so as not to disturb the concentrating Arte, but inwardly I was on edge as my eyes followed the falling puppets.
However, my worry was needless. The moment Arte’s puppets landed on the ground, they broke into a run, heading straight for the enemy knights. At that speed, the enemy wouldn’t even be able to aim the cannons. The thing to watch out for was something else.
“Arte, watch out for the black metal. If anyone makes a motion to throw something, dodge left or right immediately.”
“Y-yes!”
Arte obediently replied to my instruction while desperately controlling the puppets. I had her deploy the puppets because I thought the distance had closed significantly, but they were still farther than I expected. I was worried about Arte’s magical power.
Just as I thought that, multiple explosions occurred near Arte’s puppets. As expected, they had black metal.
“D-dodged.”
“Good. Now, run through the enemy knight order while attacking so they can’t throw the black metal recklessly.”
“Understood!”
When I gave the next instruction, Arte immediately moved the puppets accordingly. Bursting through the smoke caused by the explosions, Arte’s puppets slammed into the enemy knight lines in an instant.
The two puppets continued to run through the spread-out enemy knights, knocking them down with the force of bowling pins. Their fighting prowess was so fierce that some knights threw away their swords and fled. Well, if knights appeared who kept running even after being slashed or stabbed, I’d run away too. It’s super scary.
“Lord Van! Flying dragons! Flying dragons are coming!”
Just as I was shivering at the terrifying power of Arte’s puppets, a report came in that flying dragons were approaching. I got close to the slit and managed to look up at the sky; sure enough, I could see Wyvern-like shadows diagonally above us. They seemed to be moving at a considerable altitude.
“Ballistae can’t reach those. Is Panamera around?”
I looked through the slit, trying hard to find Panamera. Suddenly, Panamera popped her head out from the outside of the defensive wall’s slit.
“Did you call?”
“Wah!”
I jumped back in surprise, and Panamera laughed heartily. She has such a bold personality, laughing like that even while the vibrations and sounds of cannon fire are still reaching us.
“Please don’t scare me!”
I complained, but Panamera just shook her head, maintaining her mischievous smile.
“I didn’t intend to scare you. I just showed my face because I was called.”
Thinking about what she said, I realized I hadn’t shouted to surprise her either. No, given Panamera’s personality, the possibility that she intended to scare me is high, but let’s believe in the inherent goodness of humanity here.
I sighed, pointed at the Wyverns, and made my request.
“Panamera. Can you do something about those Wyverns?”
“That was the plan from the start, wasn’t it? I’ll show you what I can do.”
When I asked, Panamera gave a masculine grin and moved away. Ten or so seconds later, the sky suddenly turned red.
“O-oh…!”
“This rivals Marquis Fertio…!”
Outside the defensive wall, the knights operating the ballistae looked up at the sky and cried out in astonishment. It seemed Panamera was successfully chasing the Wyverns away.
“Commander Stradale! Lead the ballista unit and protect Panamera!”
“Yes, sir!”
I found Stradale running around on the wall and added another job to his list. Used to black-company-like work environments, Stradale accepted without hesitation.
“Alright then, let’s bring Arte’s puppets back.”
When I turned my gaze back to the battlefield and said that, Arte looked back at me with wide eyes.
“Eh? Is it okay to bring them back already? The rear lines are still intact…”
Arte voiced her opinion sounding somewhat disappointed. Feeling like I was seeing something rare, I pointed at the battlefield.
“Technically, this is a siege defense. With their formation that disrupted, the ballistae alone are enough. Rather than that, I’m more worried about the Wyverns trying to gather in the sky. I thought we could have the puppets help chase them away.”
“Yes, understood.”
When I explained the defense method, Arte nodded immediately and manipulated the puppets. After confirming that, I made a door in part of the defensive wall and stepped outside.
“Is-is it safe to go out!?”
Till asked with a pale face, so I waved one hand and pointed to the bottom of the wall.
“They shouldn’t be in a position to fire cannons that can reach us anymore, so I thought I’d go fix the wall while we can… A few places broke during this time, right? Arte and Till, stay there. Khamsin, will you come with me?”
“Of course!”
Khamsin ran to follow me like a faithful dog. Since Law had gone to give instructions to the Seatoh Village Knight Order, I decided to hurry to the bottom of the wall. Being just the two of us was still a little unsettling.
Below the wall, Talga was running around busily, leading Earth Mages.
“Talga-saaan! Where is the section you just repaired?”
When I called out, Talga turned his whole body toward me with a relieved look.
“The west side! I’m heading to repair the collapsed eastern wall now, is that acceptable!?”
“Okaaay! Then I’ll head to the west side once you’re done reinforcing it!”
“That helps!”
We shouted to each other from a distance and began moving in opposite directions. Talga must have had a tough time repairing the collapsed walls using only Earth Magic while I was instructing Arte. Building walls with Earth Magic is difficult, and they start to crumble as soon as the supply of magic stops. Given the height and thickness of the walls, it must be difficult to split up and handle repairs.
We had to hurry to the western wall and solidify the earth wall, or the enemy might be able to intrude.
“We have to build a wall that won’t break again once the enemy retreats!”
“You’re right! If it’s a wall made by Lord Van, I think it will be perfect!”
While Khamsin hyped me up, we ran toward the west side of the fortress. If they only continue with this kind of siege warfare, we can manage somehow. Geographically, it’s difficult for them to circle around to the back of the fortress to surround us and cut off supply lines.
If there’s anything to watch out for, maybe poison or disease? I heard that in old wars, there were tactics like intentionally sending corpses into enemy camps to spread disease, but they probably wouldn’t choose that in this situation. If it comes to that, we can just have Panamera burn all the bodies.
If anything, the scariest thing would be an aerial bombardment by an unmanageable number of flying dragons. Since the fortress itself hasn’t been reinforced yet, if the fortress is destroyed by shelling or bombing, there will be many casualties, and we’ll fall into chaos, making defense impossible.
“…For now, only about five Wyverns have appeared at once, but we can’t let our guard down.”
As I was running and murmuring that, Khamsin, who was running right behind me, suddenly shouted.
“Lord Van! Look out…!”
