CH 370

None of the Winchestel nobles, soldiers, or citizens took it seriously. This walled city was once an impregnable fortress that did not fall even after being surrounded by armies tens of thousands strong. They are proud that they would not have been defeated if they had fought with Guillaume and the Frasian Army.

Even so, they casually thought that even if they were surrounded for a little while by a power that had no reason to call itself a country that had been destroyed a long time ago, such as the Kingdom of Essek, Winchestel would not be easily defeated.

Robert’s Faction gathered in the conference room of the royal castle, looking out the window and casually discussing their future response. It is said that the attack will start in an hour, but it would be better if Essek, which has a small army, would attack them while they were fortifying themselves in the solid castle. Use the walls as a shield to exhaust the enemy, and attack them when they are weakened. That was the gist of their discussion.

The same goes for the reserve forces waiting under the ramparts. At most, they thought they were waiting their turn to shoot bows or hurl stones, and that there would be no big role. The citizens also don’t think Winchestel will be reduced to ashes, and in the first place, they have nothing to do with this. They didn’t have anything to do with it when they were ruled by Guillaume, so they don’t think it matters this time, either.

However, Guillaume has come to rule the Kingdom of Wessek, claiming that he is the King of Wessek. Naturally, he would not blindly attack the residents of Winchestel, citizens of Wessek. However, the enemy this time has declared himself from the Kingdom of Essek, and that it is a declaration of war between nations. Perhaps it was because Winchestel hadn’t been attacked for a long time that they considered these two armies on the same level and didn’t think much of them.

While most of Winchestel is so underestimating the current situation, the soldiers on the ramparts are the only ones who are waiting impatiently for the enemy to attack them. Now they were starting to notice.

“What the… what do you think the enemy is preparing?”

“What indeed…? Whatever it is, it can’t be good…”

So whispered the soldiers who were watching the enemy’s movements from the top of the castle walls. The enemy called themselves the Kingdom of Essek, and had something like large black tubes lined up. They don’t know what it is, but they can imagine that it would be a bad thing for them.

And some soldiers are lined up with strange staves. They don’t know what the hell they’re going to do, but one thing they can say for sure is that it wouldn’t be good for them, as they would be the first to be attacked.

“Hu-Huge…”

“What is that big thing…?”

And the soldiers guarding the harbor were terrified at the sight of the enemy fleet getting closer and closer. Nearly ten gigantic ships approached them calmly. It was as if Winchestel’s naval strength and ground-to-ship attacks were meaningless and useless against them.

“They turned to the side at that distance?”

“Aren’t they trying to land after coming ashore?”

Ships of this era attacked with fire arrows, catapults, and ballistae, but in the end, the main tactics were hand-to-hand combat by coming alongside and landing on the shore. They can’t understand why they are showing the sides of their ships now when there is still a long way to reach the shore.

Winchestel faces the sea and is therefore prepared for an attack from the sea. The walls there were not built to face the sea, but a wall was built a little ahead of the port to properly stop an invasion from the sea. Soldiers are stationed on those defenses.

This time, Wessek’s strategy was to focus entirely on defense, so they planned to retreat to the castle walls and intercept the enemy who landed at the port instead of preventing them from landing. Yet the enemy ship turned sideways far beyond the shore. They don’t really know what they’re aiming for.

“Hey… what’re those tubes sticking out the windows on the ships’ sides?”

“I don’t know what they are…”

Even though there was still such a distance… the enemy turned to the side and showed their hulls. Something like a black cylinder protrudes from that part. They didn’t know what they were going to do, but in any case, anxiety was growing among the soldiers.

When only the soldiers on the front lines felt the extreme pressure and the others were taking it easy, they heard the same voice again from before, as if it was whispering in their ears.

“It’s been an hour, but those who have undertaken the surprise attack on our army have not yet been handed over. Please pay with your life for the sin of killing and wounding our soldiers, who were cooperating with King Harold. I have confirmed that the previous surprise attack was a declaration of war against our Kingdom of Essek by the Kingdom of Wessek. All forces of Essek, begin the assault!”

“Hah! What in the hell is going to happen with their attack? The best they can do is surround us from afar, anyway!”

And the moment one of Robert’s Faction members said that…

Don!

It was a sound they’ve never heard before

Dogoohn!

The sound of something collapsing echoed.

“What’s going on!?”

They were terrified by the noise and checked outside the window. Then…….

Don! Don! Don!

And, that same mysterious sound resounded from here and there, and the sound of crumbling stones and bricks echoed afterward. The other nobles also rushed to the window in a panic. The sight they saw there was…

“I-I can’t believe…”

“What is this?!”

Smoke rises from all directions, east, west, and north of the land, and south of the sea.

“Impossible… impossible! This can’t be happening!”

Winchestel’s ramparts had never fallen even after being surrounded by armies tens of thousands strong, and now they were crumbling in various places within a few minutes since the declaration of attack. Not everything has completely collapsed, but it no longer functions as a castle wall. There were many gaps here and there, and it was impossible to prevent the enemy from invading through the newly made holes.

The last sight that the Wessekian soldiers on castle walls saw were round objects coming so close, they could not see anything else in front of them.

The wall blows away every time there is a sound that echoes in your stomach, and the soldiers on top of those sections fall with the collapsing sections and disappear in the dust clouds. Furthermore, the soldiers who were waiting behind the castle wall were also crushed by something that had penetrated through the stone, they were caught in the ensuing collapse, and their defensive fortifications were falling apart in no time.

“Get away from the castle wall–”

The captain who was about to issue an order had his head blown off.

“He-Help me…”

The comrades who had been joking with each other until just a moment ago are caught in the crumbling ramparts and stretch out their hands, pleading.

“Uwaaah! Someone help meeee!”

A valiant and veteran soldier with many achievements screams miserably and flees.

They don’t know what is going on. They don’t understand. Just that when you hear that sound, something collapses and someone is blown away. There is no way to respond. This is not war. It’s a storm of slaughter, a trampling, and a one-sided massacre.

“He-Hey, soldiers! Help me!”

""

Whatever that was, it reaches beyond the castle wall and destroys even the private houses ahead of them. Stone and brick crumbled, and residents trapped under the wreckage begged the fleeing soldiers for help.

“Do you think we have time to help you?!”

“Th-That can’t be! Please! Please help me! Why… why did this happen to me?!”

The man trapped under the wreckage was relatively okay, perhaps by coincidence there was a gap in the collapse that protected him, or his vital organs weren’t damaged. But that lack of injury made it even worse. You could clearly feel his despair…

The enemy attacks are relentless. It destroys the castle wall, and when the castle wall is gone, it destroys even the private houses beyond them. If those private houses are gone, then the houses which were even further than them… the town of Winchestel was gradually turned into a mountain of rubble from the outer rings, from the royal castle looking down it would have looked like a house of cards crumbling in an instant.

Less than 30 minutes after the signal to start the attack, Winchestel had lost all of its ramparts, and the vicinity of the ramparts was all piles of rubble. Then the attack suddenly stopped. Then they started hearing that voice again.

“You must have fully understood the power of our Kingdom of Essek. Here is the final warning. If you do not surrender within half an hour those who have taken our soldiers by surprise and their faction members, this same attack as this is going to hit all of Winchestel.”

“”””-!?”””””

The citizens of the town, the soldiers, everyone turned pale at those words. If there is a way to save themselves, they will do anything. They don’t want to see anything like this ever again. Everyone began to say the same thing.

The nobles in the meeting room of the royal castle were silent. They can not say anything. There is nothing to say. In just a short amount of time, the attack had left Winchestel, the impregnable fortress, completely naked. The walls and defenses of the royal castle are still there, but they will crumble in the blink of an eye if attacked in the same way as before.

“No, no-no! The enemy suddenly stopped their attack, they must have run out of magic power! In fact, they must have used up all their magic power! That’s why they stopped the attack! That speech just now is a bluff!”

“Yes, that’s right! To begin with, the enemy’s attack seems to have a short range. If that’s the case, they have to go through the town before they attack the royal castle! Even if the castle walls are gone, there are still soldiers! There is no way this castle will fall!”

“By my guess… there are those who claim our attacks have stopped because that was as long as it could go on, and that we did not attack the castle because we could not target it…”

Don!

They thought they heard another echo from the sea…

DOGAHSYHAANNNN!

“””Uoooh!?”””

The royal castle shook with a tremendous sound, and Robert’s Faction turned pale. A single shot from the sea reached the royal castle and destroyed some parts of it. It doesn’t matter what was hit, exactly. It unquestionably hit the castle.

In other words, if they had intended to destroy the royal castle from the beginning, they could have leveled it without attacking the outer walls. They just chose not to.

“Anyway, there’s no more castle walls! Let the soldiers strike out before that attack is resumed! I don’t care how many people die! Don’t let the enemy attack anymore!”

“If the Kingdom of Wessek launches an attack during the half hour we are holding our offense, we will immediately resume our attack. If anyone attempts to flee Winchestel, we will immediately resume attacking. Think about it. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? What should you do? There is half an hour left. After that, there will be no mercy the next time. Think about that.”

At the same time as that voice disappeared… voices of resentment resounded from all over Winchestel, the royal capital. It’s just right. Even though they had formed an alliance with an opponent of such power, they took them by surprise, aroused their wrath, and are still running away and hiding. Drag them out! It was as if those cries were echoing all the way to the royal castle.

“Th-This is not good! At this rate…”

Some of the cleverer ones immediately tried to escape from the room. But…….

“There they are! The traitors!”

Soldiers rushed into the conference room. Those are the soldiers that originally belonged to the king. It corresponds to the so-called royal guards and bodyguards. The soldiers who rushed into the conference room captured all of Robert’s Faction. Then immediately move on to the next step.

“Tell the Kingdom of Essek that the traitors have been captured! We will surrender! We will hand over their criminals! And that we will accept all their terms!”

The captain’s face and voice at first glance looked and sounded brave, but they were colored with fear. Seeing the attack earlier, he’s already completely consumed by terror.

The attack just now wasn’t a war. It’s a one-sided massacre. No knightly pride, no honorable fight, no valiant death in battle. A one-sided slaughter in which everyone is ground up equally. Fighting on the battlefield, it is their wish to be defeated because their strength was insufficient. The stalwart knights who had trained themselves with this philosophy were now screaming in terror, frightened by the enemy they could not even see.

This act was neither righteous indignation nor loyalty to the king, but simply because they didn’t want to die like that, because they feared the enemy, and that’s the only reason they came to capture Robert’s Faction. If their loyalty to the king was high, they would have acted much earlier in the first place. That they are only moving now was proof of that.

“Fuh… fufufuh…”

“Traitor Robert Reicester! What’s so amusing?!”

Among the nobles of Robert’s Faction who were tied up with ropes, only Robert himself laughed at this situation. Everyone is too disturbed to say anything. How could he be laughing in such a situation? Everyone wondered if Robert had lost his sanity.

“How can I not laugh?” Robert explained. “My plan was perfect. Everything was fine. I was supposed to have it all. The only mistake I made was… my enemy was an inhuman monster.”

No one, including the nobles of Robert’s Faction and the soldiers who came to capture him, could understand as Robert smiled and said that.