CH 369

The amphibious assault fleet that had passed off the coast of Winchestel entered the shadow of the western cape and then carried out their assault landing before the enemy. However, this position is quite far from Winchestel, and they don’t know if it can be called an assault landing right in front of the enemy. It’s the distance and location where Flora thinks she’ll be able to secure a certain amount of safety.

Even so, they’re landing in close proximity to the enemy, and although nowhere on the battlefield is safe, it would be more dangerous than troops traveling overland.

“Get out the pontoon boats! Hurry up!”

Under the leadership of Ramor, the commander of the assault landing fleet, the landing progresses quickly. A number of pontoon boats are deployed to serve as floating piers, and boats are landed there one after another. It is overwhelmingly faster than landing on dingies directly on the beach.

“Goodness… this is such a big deal… I heard that Lord Flora also made that ship…” Ramor muttered.

“It’s true… I can’t believe she’s about the same age as me,” Stefan said.

Most of the people participating in the assault landing this time are from the Knight’s Nation. Among the landing forces, the artillery and gun units are commanded by Knighthood soldiers, but the infantry that escorts them is Janzicka’s unit. Also, most of the fleet here was in charge of sailors from the Knight’s Nation, such as Stefan.

In the end, the purpose of this assault landing is to let the recruits of the Knights Nation gain experience. It was the Knighthood veterans who escorted the fleet and assisted the landing, but it was the Knight’s Nation soldiers who actually carried out the landing operations.

The escort, Janzicka’s Unit, lands first and secures the beachhead. Next, the gun corps and artillery were lowered and a simple defensive position was built. They will soon move to join the blockade on the west side of Winchestel, but building a defensive position and protecting your base are the basics of the basics.

If by any chance the battle drags on, this unit that has landed behind the enemy will have no choice but to rely on supplies from the sea. In order to secure the supply lines that are their lifeline, they have to secure this place.

While the preparations were proceeding smoothly, Janzicka’s Unit suddenly became noisy. There was no news that the enemy had come out from the navy monitoring the direction of Winchestel, but it seemed that something had happened, and Ramor and Stefan were nervous.

It’s not a position with good visibility, it’s hard to notice an enemy approaching in this terrain with a forest just ahead of the coast. Above all, the supporting fire from the fleet waiting offshore is not very reliable. For that reason, there was a separate fleet to monitor the area of Winchestel, and if by any chance the enemy had set out to prevent the landings, they would have been notified immediately.

However, if the forest became noisy even though there was no contact from the surveillance force, it was possible that they had been ambushed earlier. They were ready for action at any moment… but the reason was unexpected.

Two men from the forest boarded the flagship of the assault landing fleet, the one Ramor was commanding.

“I see… so is that what you mean by this…? That must have been quite the crisis.”

“Yes, it was……”

“I wonder what would have happened to us…”

Those who came out of the forest were Harold’s subordinates who were entrusted with recapturing the southwest. Harold and the rest of the main force had settled down after arriving at Winchestel, but there were those who had infiltrated further to recapture the southwest and west that had not yet been liberated.

One of them is Engelbert von Marc who is in charge of the former Frasian army. Engelbert had written a letter calling on the remaining Frasian forces to surrender and entrusted it to the messengers. But that alone does not guarantee that everyone will surrender. It also has the role of uniting the former Frasian soldiers after their surrender.

Therefore, Engelbert did not just send letters but was slowly making inroads towards the west later on. And working alongside the former Frasian Army was one of Harold’s confidants, Viscount Charles Hughton, who had followed Harold all the way to the northeastern fort.

Charles led an army to recapture the southwest and west, calling on the local lords and the Frasian Army to surrender or return to their homes. When he finally returned from his mission, he heard about the political upheaval in Winchestel from someone who had escaped by chance. When he was at a loss about what to do, he saw this ship and the landing party and tried to contact them.

“It is said that this turmoil was not King Harold’s will…but we can no longer stop our operation,” Ramor said. “Besides, it is the King’s responsibility to control and stop his vassals from committing mistakes. At the very least, pray he survives the attack.”

“That… you can’t…” Charles said, struggling to say something… then, he shut his mouth and looked down. “Yes… I see… at least… I hope His Majesty is safe…”

Ramor has no authority to stop this operation. Besides, even if he calls Flora now, it won’t be in time. For the time being, he will send out the message itself, but it is better not to have naive thoughts such as canceling or postponing the operation. In the first place, as Ramor said, if Harold was not able to take control of his subordinates, then Harold was also responsible.

Flora said she wasn’t actively going to kill everyone. If you’re lucky, you might even survive. As long as they stay deep inside the castle, they don’t think there will be that many deaths in the ensuing battle.

“So then… what will happen to you, Lord Engelbert?” Charles asked.

“We were certainly cooperating with King Harold, but that was also because of Lord Flora’s instructions… We will obey Lord Flora, who sent us southward,” Engelbert said. “We will cooperate with her in this operation…”

“Then, we as well!” Charles said. “We will also participate in the siege!”

In this way, 500 men of Charles’s troops who had advanced to the southwest and west, and about 1,000 men of Engelbert’s troops were to cooperate with the assault landing force.

The siege to the west, which was supposed to be the thinnest front, turned out to be a more substantial force than the other points, allowing enough beachheads to be secured and lay siege to Winchestel at the same time.

Soldiers in the watchtower, the ones keeping watch in the northeast, finally saw the flags of the enemy forces approaching Winchestel. Since Flora is the only one with a practical telescope, it was difficult for Wessekian soldiers to distinguish between them with their naked eyes.

“Look at the flags of the approaching army! An eagle in a shield!”

A message will be sent out soon. But they didn’t remember the flag with the eagle on the shield. They can’t think of any nobles or any hints from the heraldic officers.

“Is it some kind of emerging noble?”

“It could be an idiot who started in the confusion, or Guillaume’s remnants.”

“I see… Is there such a flag in the Kingdom of Frasia?”

“………… There is not.”

The nobles of Robert’s Faction exchange speculations, but do not come up with answers. Nobles have ties with each other, so they at least remember the flags of aristocrats they’re on good terms with and those they’ve met. However, there was no way he could remember someone he had never met or had known about, let alone the flags and emblems of foreign nobles.

It’s the heraldic officer’s job to remember it, but none of the heraldic officers here could think of anything, including the flags and emblems of other countries. It’s a common design, so there are similar things, but there is nothing that corresponds to the same thing as the flag that is being talked about now.

“Is it an enemy after all?”

“That’s right. They’re approaching this far without issuing a messenger or a warning. It can only be the enemy.”

Some of the nobles still didn’t know if they were enemies or allies, but those who had some experience in battle considered them unquestionably enemies. Reports indicate that the enemy approaching from the northeast road is spread thinly across the north and east sides of the walls of Winchestel. What is this but an enemy siege?

“Even if the number of enemies is overestimated, it’s several thousand of them… but the actual number is at most one thousand or two thousand…?”

They don’t know for sure, but as far as the soldiers on the lookout counted, it was at most several thousand. With such a small number of soldiers, they can only think that it would be a stupid choice to divide it further and spread it thinly.

“Winchestel’s walls are impregnable, they’ve never fallen even when it was surrounded by armies tens of thousands strong. It is absurd to try and encircle us with only a few thousand men, less than our numbers!”

“Then do you want to strike out?”

Currently, the number of soldiers under the control of Robert’s faction exceeds 5,000. If the enemy numbered 1,000 or 2,000, and they were even further divided, then it might be possible to go out and kill them.

“Messenger! Messenger! An army of unknown affiliation is approaching from the west! Its flag is an eagle in its shield!”

“Even from the west? What do you mean…?”

It is still not hard to understand that the enemy is coming from the northeast direction. Ignatz’s Unit did flee to the northeast. It wouldn’t be strange if there was an army related to them.

However, Harold had just recently dispatched an army to liberate the southwest and west. If his army had returned, how could an army from the west carry the same banner as the enemy from the northeast?

“A little while ago… the ship the report was talking about… Has it landed?”

Finally, the information is connected and understanding begins. This must have been the report of the earlier ship passing by. Even if some soldiers appear over there, they are opponents who can only prepare about 2,000 at most by land route. They don’t think it’s a big number anyway. But that was shaken by the next report.

“About 2,000 enemies have appeared from the west! Somehow they are carrying some sort of black cargo!”

“Two thousand… is this all four thousand of them?”

If you add in the soldiers who haven’t been able to be fully grasped yet, their army may number 6,000, 7,000, or maybe 8,000. This is because there are those who are responsible for the defense and security of Winchestel, the royal capital. Most of the nobility’s soldiers have been gathered, but it cannot be said that the soldiers that belonged to the king are completely under control.

Still, if you say that you are surrounded by enemies, those people will cooperate to defend Winchestel. If the enemy were 4,000 and the own army was 8,000, there would be a double difference in military strength. Furthermore, they are housed in a solid castle. You don’t normally lose in a defensive fight.

But with 4,000 enemies, it’s hard to make a poor move. The strategy of dividing the surrounding enemies and destroying them one by one is discussed, but if you use a lot of soldiers to attack, the defense of the royal capital will be weakened, and there is talk of what to do if there is an opportunity to attack from another direction.

In the end, the people here hesitated to send out many soldiers because their safety was their top priority. Luckily, it had a large stockpile of food, had more soldiers, and was confined to a solid castle, so it adopted a passive tactic of letting the enemy besiege them till they were exhausted and then counterattacking at the right time.

In the first place, they said they will counterattack by assessing the opportunity, but it has not been decided specifically when, what will happen, and what will be done. They were just saying that they should put off the conclusion by shutting themselves up in the castle.

“He-Hey! Look at that!”

“Ooh! What in the hell is that…?!?”

“I can’t believe it…”

The people who were discussing in the castle’s conference room were surprised to see the gigantic ships floating in the southern sea. This was the report from the lookouts. It’s definitely a huge ship. The enemy ship, which should be far away, looks overwhelmingly larger than Winchestel’s ships in the harbor.

“Impossible… impossible…”

They see the gigantic ship floating in the sea… Richard Sersi was convinced that the bad premonitions he had been feeling had now come true. They are completely surrounded by the north, south, east, and west. The other carefree nobles believe that there is no way this castle city will fall to an enemy of just 4,000. They laugh at the fact that the one with the fewest soldiers divides them up to besiege Winchestel.

But… Richard didn’t think so. He was convinced when he saw a huge ship approaching from offshore. He made the wrong choice. But it’s too late…

“I am the ruler of the Kingdom of Essek, King Karruzer. I am speaking to the fools who shut themselves up in Winchestel.”

“What is this voice?”

“Where did it come from…?”

It seemed to be whispering in the ears of all who were now inside Winchestel. A voice that was indistinguishable from male or female, young or old. But the voice certainly reached everyone in Winchestel.

“In Winchestel, there is a fool who drew bows on our soldiers, the army who formed an alliance with King Harold and supported the defeat of Guillaume’s Army and the King Harold’s Return, and all without giving notice of breaking the alliance or declaring war on us. Give him up and every last one of his collaborators. Otherwise, Winchestel will be reduced to ashes. The deadline is one hour from now. If the culprit is not handed over within that time limit, we will launch our attack.”

“Hmph! What attack?! What can they do against this robust Winchestel with just a few thousand soldiers!?”

One of the noblemen said so. Following that, the other members of Robert’s Faction also raised their spirits.

“I am King Karruzer of Essek. If this demand is not fulfilled, it will be regarded as a declaration of war from the Kingdom of Wessek on our country, and our country will destroy Wessek. The deadline then is 1 minute. Will you offer up your fools? Or will you pay for it with the lives of all who live in Winchestel? Think carefully about which option you will choose.”

It’s been a while since they couldn’t hear any more of the voice… the conference room was silent. It’s a disgusting request. In other words, it’s asking to give themselves up.

“They are making such demands because they don’t have the confidence that they can win! They want us to fight amongst ourselves!”

“Oh, that’s right! I won’t give in to such threats!”

“As long as we stay in this castle, we won’t lose!”

Watching Robert’s Faction regain momentum, Richard Sersi had a clear premonition of his own death.