Chapter 98
In preparation for the walls collapsing, Carlos filled most of the top of the walls with scarecrows wearing armor and helmets instead of real soldiers.
This was in consideration of the Red Dragon Corps' siege strategy of bombarding from outside the range and then advancing, thinking that soldiers could climb the walls after confirming the enemy's approach without being too late.
As he expected, the Red Dragon Corps stopped their march at a distance where arrows couldn't reach.
Carlos stood on the wall, watching the Red Dragon Corps prepare their siege cannons.
Although he couldn't clearly see how they were moving, and even if he could, it wasn't as if he could discover any great facts.
He stared at the Red Dragon Corps with strained eyes, as if trying to discover even the smallest fact.
"Count Lopez. The top of the wall is dangerous."
His adjutant approached, worried about him, but,
"...Well. These walls have withstood for hundreds of years, and haven't we reinforced them to the best of our ability over the past week?"
"That's true, but..."
"I was the one who said we should trust these walls, so I can't run away saying I'm afraid of the enemy after making the soldiers work so hard."
Carlos had no intention of coming down from the walls.
"..."
The adjutant bowed his head silently.
Seeing the adjutant's dejected expression with a faint trace of fear, Carlos,
"...I'll give you a task."
He took out several envelopes with his signature from his bosom.
"I've written on the outside about who should receive the order. If I become unable to control the officers, you deliver these orders instead."
"...Thank you."
"You're the first person I've seen thanking me while receiving a mission. Go."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
The adjutant, clutching the envelopes with the names of kingdom officers and mercenary unit leaders written on them, went down, and Carlos remained alone in the outpost watching the imperial army.
"..."
As he had not yet directly experienced the siege cannons, Carlos had to gauge the power of the siege cannons through fear-filled reports and low-credibility letters.
In the eerie silence, he continuously agonized over whether his judgment was correct.
Although he had steeled his resolve when climbing the wall, standing next to the scarecrows waiting for the coming attack gradually eroded his mental strength.
"Hah..."
A few minutes standing at the outpost felt like hours.
Watching the enemy's preparations for a long time, the tightening fear even shook his conviction that this choice was the best.
As his thoughts lengthened, he began to wonder if his death would really have meaning, and had to feel a strong urge to come down from the wall even now.
"Someone had to do it... Yes, better than everyone dying..."
However, he diligently repeated his original resolve and didn't move his feet until the end.
Finally,
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Before Carlos's will could be completely broken, the Red Dragon Corps' bombardment began.
"Ugh...!"
As shells rained down towards the walls, Carlos instinctively covered his ears and lowered his posture.
-Boom boom boom boom! Rumble...
After one round of bombardment passed, and confirming that the sound had ceased for several minutes, he stood up, forcing strength into his trembling legs.
Still, his body was intact.
"..."
Instinct urged him to lean out and check the state of the walls, but he wasn't confident he could maintain his sanity even after seeing the collapsed walls.
He just tried to lean back and order the few soldiers guarding the outpost to evacuate, but his body, led by curiosity and desperation, moved towards the front where he could check the exterior of the walls.
The sight of the walls hit by the siege cannons' bombardment came into his view, and,
"...Ah."
He was about to be disappointed by the sight of fences and earth mounds shattered and scattered everywhere, but,
"..."
As the dust settled, the walls that revealed themselves were still intact.
Some battlements or fake outposts were destroyed, but this was a situation that could occur similarly even under catapult attacks, so it wasn't a problem.
"...Can we hold out?"
A faint hope crept into his heart.
Carlos had considered field battles as the answer, thinking that the walls could never withstand.
In other words.
If the walls could hold, there was no need to abandon the fortress and go out.
Filled with expectation, he didn't think his conclusion might be hasty, and took out a notebook to record the details of the wall reinforcements.
And, as if pointing this out.
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
-Clatter.
As the bombardment started again, Carlos dropped the pencil he was holding.
This time, he crouched on the floor more naturally than before, waiting for the bombardment to end.
"..."
A few minutes later.
When it seemed the bombardment had ended, Carlos now confidently went forward to check the state of the walls.
Although dust rising again from the point where the enemy had struck earlier stimulated his anxiety,
"...It held."
The walls didn't collapse this time either.
"Your Excellency! You must come down now! It's dangerous!"
"No! I will not come down!"
"But..."
"Are you afraid? If you're afraid of the enemy, you can go down!"
"...!"
The two rounds of bombardment had removed most of the earth mounds and fences at the bombarded points, but Carlos consciously focused on the fact that the walls were still intact.
"Come on! Fire that fancy cannon of yours again!"
He pushed away even the soldiers who rushed to the outpost in urgency, held onto the wall, shouted, and waited for the bombardment.
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Three times like that,
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Four times,
-Boom boom boom!
Five times...
As the bombardment continued, Carlos's momentum waned.
The Red Dragon Corps persistently targeted the lower part of the walls.
The walls, which seemed to be withstanding the bombardment well, gradually cracked, unable to withstand the concentrated fire.
"Fire, go ahead and fire! Hahahahaha!"
Carlos ordered all the soldiers to come down from the walls and retreat, but he still didn't come down, just shouting inaudibly from the outpost.
It had been long since he gave up hope that the walls might hold, and he was certain that the walls wouldn't withstand the next bombardment, but.
"Hehe, hahaha, hahahahaha!"
Now able to guess when the bombardment would resume, he leaned back laughing and,
"Retreat from the walls, prepare for defense! Adjutant! Deliver the orders!"
After shouting his final instructions loudly.
-Thud.
"...Your Excellency Gonzales."
He sat down in the outpost and waited for the next bombardment.
"I leave it to you."
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Along with Carlos's small murmur, the fired shells hit the walls that had started to crack, and the walls of the Ceres Gate, which had boasted a long history, slowly collapsed.
---
The sound of cannon fire that continued for hours stimulated the soldiers' nerves, and,
-Rumble.
"It's collapsing!"
"The walls..."
The collapse of the walls shocked both the officers who had expected this result and the soldiers who hadn't expected it at all.
"What happened to Count Lopez!"
"It's difficult to confirm, but since he didn't come down from the walls..."
"...Oh no."
As word spread that Carlos hadn't come down from the walls until the end, the kingdom's army fell into chaos, but…
As there was no one around the walls except Carlos, the impact of the wall collapse itself wasn't great.
Carlos's adjutant gritted his teeth and ran among the soldiers delivering the order papers.
"...Retreat, is it?"
"What on earth was he thinking..."
The kingdom's officers were given orders to retreat when they saw an opportunity, to preserve their forces, and,
"Use the collapsed walls to draw in the enemy and counterattack. Hmm..."
"Wouldn't that be alright?"
"What if they abandon us and run away again?"
"..."
Some of the mercenary unit leaders received orders to counterattack,
"Retreat? Fine by me."
"Hurry and prepare!"
Some were ordered to retreat with the regular army.
As Carlos intended, the mercenary units with conflicting orders and opinions were thrown into greater confusion.
As a result, the regular army was able to retreat leisurely using the confused mercenary units, and the clever mercenaries also easily slipped away using the foolish ones.
They returned to Ordova, and,
"Count Lopez has failed. The walls collapsed, and he died heroically, resisting to the end."
"...I see."
As a last act of loyalty and repayment, they reported Carlos's defeat with some embellishment.
"Didn't you say the walls were well reinforced?"
"...The enemy fired siege cannons until they collapsed."
"That... Hah..."
The fact that a noble officer who had faithfully carried out the instructions of the nobles using the king's hand had died had a much greater impact than the death of a few soldiers.
The nobles who had raised their voices saying that the Ceres Gate would never fall closed their mouths, and,
"Duke Casas."
"We must reinstate Count Sancho Gonzales and appoint him as commander."
Francisco, who had been waiting for just such an opportunity, loudly advocated for Sancho's return.
"Paris and San Bastian have also said they would send mercenaries, so we have enough troops. Count Gonzales can do it."
"Hmm..."
The Kingdom of Paris and the Kingdom of San Bastian, who had been watching the empire's mood, were reluctant to actively participate in the war but agreed to recruit volunteer soldiers to support the Esperian Kingdom.
Francisco said they should mobilize them along with the remaining kingdom army to engage in battle, and,
"...Alright."
As the nobles fell silent, Julio also accepted Francisco's proposal.
Of course, the fact that Ordova's walls were not stronger than those of the Ceres Gate also played a part.
"I will lift Count Sancho Gonzales's confinement and appoint him as supreme commander."
The king declared Sancho's reinstatement, and.
"A letter from the royal palace has arrived."
"...Hmm?"
The next day, a letter from the king arrived at Sancho's house, where he had been spending time in a daze.