Chapter 82
When the first cannon fire roared,
A brief silence fell over the Red Dragon Corps, just as it had for the soldiers of La Leon.
The Red Dragon Corps' artillery had placed the cannons in pits, built earthen walls behind them to block the sound as much as possible, lit the fuses and moved far away, and even properly wore earplugs, but.
The sound of 25 cannons firing simultaneously shook the ground and pressed down on the soldiers.
"..."
As they had become relatively accustomed to the explosions during training, the artillerymen quickly regained their senses.
Zeke, an artilleryman of the Red Dragon Corps, ran into the thick smoke carrying a bucket of water.
-Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
With his ears blocked by earplugs, the sound of his feet hitting the ground with each movement reverberated through his entire body, but.
Still dazed from the aftermath of the firing, he performed his duties in a slightly stunned state.
He approached the dimly visible cannon and poured water on its barrel.
"..."
As the cold water poured onto the barrel, steam burst out, obscuring Zeke's vision.
His comrades who had approached by then also poured water like him, and when steam no longer came from the barrel, they took out oiled cloths and rods to clean the inside of the cannon.
Although flying dust and smoke from the cannons obscured their vision, the soldiers moved relying on their bodily senses.
The Red Dragon Corps artillerymen, who had trained for months for this moment, performed their roles without hesitation even in situations where they couldn't hear each other's voices, and,
-Thud! Thud!
Zeke received a shovel brought by someone and realigned the cannon and pit that had been shaken by the recoil of firing.
"...Done!"
"...!"
As he was shoveling while looking only at the cannon in front of him, he raised his head at a voice he faintly heard.
The hazy fog that had completely obscured his vision had somewhat cleared, and he could see the La Leon fortress with his own eyes.
-Thud.
"...Wow."
La Leon fortress was far, but not too far to see the devastation caused by dozens of iron balls.
Seeing the devastation caused by just one ignition, Zeke let out a single exclamation.
Parts of the battlements where soldiers had been densely standing were broken as if teeth had been knocked out, and there were several marks on the walls where shells had hit.
-Thud.
"Ah..."
Zeke, who had been standing blankly, resumed his work at the gun captain's gesture.
As he could directly see the results of their hard work, the shovel in his hand somehow felt lighter.
After bringing gunpowder, shells, fuses, etc. with his comrades and loading the cannon.
Having received the firing order, he brought fire to the fuse with much greater anticipation.
After confirming that the fire had caught well, he ran back and waited for the cannon to fire, and.
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Once again, a huge explosion tore through the silence.
"..."
With a feeling like his heart was about to burst, he looked at his comrades, then suddenly turned around to check on Viktor, who had prepared all this.
Unlike the soldiers who were visibly excited like him, Viktor's expression, as he stood on a temporary platform watching the La Leon fortress, was stiff, looking as if he was pondering something.
At that moment,
"Huh...?"
Viktor nodded towards Zeke, and,
"...!"
Viktor, meeting eyes with him, smiled slightly.
His smile felt like praise and encouragement, so Zeke enthusiastically picked up his bucket and ran again.
Like that, once, twice, three times.
As they were frantically repeating reloading and firing,
-Cease fire!
As if it was enough now, the order to cease fire came down.
Zeke and the soldiers preparing the cannons raised their heads, and,
"Wow..."
The completely collapsed walls and the white flag fluttering above them came into their view.
---
Count Jordi Iglesias, who had personally climbed the watchtower to watch for the enemy upon hearing news that imperial troops were moving and strange sounds were coming,
"Unidentified forces have appeared from the La Leon direction!"
"...What?"
Surprised by the report of the soldier on lookout, he quickly headed to the watchtower facing La Leon.
As reported, thousands of armed soldiers were rushing towards Adense fortress from that direction, but,
"...Hmm?"
After observing them for a moment with narrowed eyes, Jordi,
"...It's our allies. Open the gates."
He could tell from their flags and armament that they were troops who had been guarding La Leon.
He ordered the gates to be opened and came down from the watchtower to ask why they had come to Adense.
A moment later, soldiers in near-beggar conditions poured into Adense.
"Stop! Who is the commander!"
"...!"
Jordi stopped the soldiers and looked for their leader.
Despite hearing his shout, some soldiers blankly stared at Jordi's mouth, and a few who understood his words relayed Jordi's instructions to their comrades' ears.
The soldiers murmured in confusion, and after a long conversation, a man in armor walked out from among the soldiers.
He was covered in dust as if he had been running for a long time, his clothes were soaked with sweat, but his lips were dry and twisted.
"...I am Baron David Perea, who was in charge of guarding the east gate of La Leon fortress!"
"Whoa. You can speak softly."
"Ah, I'm sorry."
David introduced himself loudly, and Jordi frowned as he replied.
"...Your appearance suggests urgency, but there's something I must ask before letting you rest. So, what's the reason for coming like this suddenly without sending a messenger?"
"..."
David fell into thought for a moment upon hearing the word 'reason', then his face turned pale and he began to tremble.
"...?"
"La Leon fortress, the fortress..."
"What, did the fortress fall or something?"
"...It collapsed."
He stammered, unable to control his trembling, then,
"Collapsed? What do you..."
"It completely collapsed, I tell you!"
He shouted as if screaming.
"Now this is..."
"Su-suddenly the world roared, and the walls crumbled!"
"...?"
"The soldiers standing on the walls, and Viscount Mayo who was commanding from above!"
David kept shouting at the confused Jordi, then suddenly started tearing at his hair.
"They're all dead, all, all!"
"..."
"By now, they must be calling for us, buried under piles of stones... Bu-but, we had no choice! We had to li-live, to take revenge... That's right! Shouldn't we take revenge!"
"Calm down for now."
"Ugh, uugh...!"
As it looked close to madness, Jordi only passively restrained him, and.
"Rest a bit, then we'll talk in detail again."
"...Yes, I-I'm sorry, sorry."
"It can happen. Hmm."
He concluded by providing lodgings for him and the soldiers for now.
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, I apologize for my rudeness earlier."
"It's alright. More importantly, I'd like you to explain in detail what happened in La Leon."
"Yes, then..."
A few hours later, Jordi and the kingdom's officers called those who had recovered, including David, to hear their stories.
Most of them were those who had survived by being in the rear, and due to the chaotic situation, their testimonies were close to incoherent, but.
"...Did it really all collapse?"
"Yes. It seems impossible to restore."
"..."
At least, they could understand that La Leon fortress had completely collapsed due to siege weapons with a dark appearance.
Jordi, who had received the contents of the letter sent by Theodore, could guess that the siege weapon was the 'siege cannon'.
"If you know anything about that siege weapon, tell me without holding back."
As the scouts he had sent towards La Leon had not returned for unknown reasons, he urged the surviving soldiers to find out as much information about the enemy as possible.
"That... preparation. Ah! The preparation time was long!"
"That's right! They dug the ground, and...!"
"Please speak softly."
There was a minor problem that the more information a soldier had, the louder their voice, but Jordi didn't mind.
"...I see. So it takes a long time to prepare for firing, and the interval between firings is also long?"
"...?"
"Hah..."
In the end, he could roughly outline what kind of weapon the siege cannon was.
And if his prediction was correct,
"This won't do."
Holing up in the fortress would be inviting defeat.
"...What do you mean?"
"I don't know how powerful those siege cannons are, but it's impossible to build walls that can respond to them immediately. If the enemy has a means to destroy the walls, the walls are nothing more than a prison trapping us."
"..."
"Moreover, only 10,000 enemy troops have moved. There are still 20,000 imperial troops left, and we haven't received reports of them moving towards us. They're likely to head towards Serona, which means it's difficult to wait for reinforcements."
Jordi guessed that since they used the new weapon, the siege cannon, it was probably the Red Dragon Corps that attacked La Leon.
Although the enemy was all armed with guns, engaging them in a field battle could create unpredictable variables, but.
"We'll lead our troops out and attack before the enemy can prepare their siege cannons. Once those cannons are ready, we have no chance of winning."
He thought this was better than dying while staying put or abandoning the fortress and fleeing.
"According to the information we've received, they're all armed with guns. You know what guns are, right?"
"...I've seen them."
10,000 in Adense fortress and 3,000 who joined from La Leon.
As Adense was more for supporting La Leon and Serona than for defense purposes, 4,000 out of the 10,000 were cavalry.
"Let's assume all 10,000 are carrying guns and devise strategies to counter them. They said they pulled the siege cannons on carts, right?"
"That's right."
"Even musketeers struggled when facing the empire's cavalry. Hmm..."
Jordi forcibly raised hope that they could defeat the enemy and began discussing countermeasures with the officers.