CH 371

After leaving Colchister, we start our action according to the army’s marching time. While seeing off the landing fleet commanded by Ramor as it makes a detour to the west, I worry about what to do with the fishermen who have unfortunately run into us.

There will be no artillery or magic to capture or kill. If we make such a flashy move now, Winchestel may find out about our approach. For the time being, I decided to capture and detain them, and after confirming that the other ships in the fleet had secured the other fishermen, I thought about my next move.

What we should do is restrain them if the Wessek Army sets out to intercept the assault landing force. We will stand by in the southern waters, and if they come to prevent the landing, we will appear in the southern seas ahead of time, restrain the enemy, and support the landing of friendly forces.

If Wessek does not move, we will stand by and cooperate with the other three armies to head north to the Port of Winchestel at the same time and attack the enemy.

There were no reports of the enemy’s departure, and just when I thought that the preparations for the operation were progressing smoothly, I received a messenger from Ramor. I thought that the enemy’s landing prevention force had appeared, but apparently, it didn’t.

“…………I see. Understood. It seems they had some trouble.”

“Sire!”

A report from Ramor by letter and the messenger somehow revealed the circumstances. It seems that Viscount Richard Hughton, one of Harold’s subordinates, and Engelbert, leader of the remnants of the Frasian Army, came to Ramor’s location.

According to Richard’s information, it seems that the attack on Ignatz and the others was carried out without permission by a guy named Earl Robert Reicester. Of course, Robert wasn’t the only one, it seems that it was a political upheaval that led to Harold being arrested along with a considerable number of nobles on his side.

I don’t quite understand why Robert and the nobles who follow him attacked Ignatz and his men. Was it to capture Harold and bring about a political change, to eliminate those who were likely to join Harold’s side? Since Ignatz and the others are older allies, do they think it would be a problem if Harold and the others were to inform them about being invited to an unwise rebellion and turned it down?

I have no idea of the what or why behind this. I don’t know how accurate Richard’s information is, and I don’t even know everything about the enemy’s internal affairs. No matter how much we think about it, only the enemy will know what the enemy is thinking.

What was more important than that was that Harold and the others had nothing to do with this incident. It was Harold’s fault that his subordinates were out of control. That’s why I’m not going to forgive Harold and say he has no responsibility for this. But it’s not like Harold bared his fangs against us. We will have to take that into consideration.

At first, I thought it would be unavoidable to kill them all, but it might be okay to just limit it to the ringleaders who ordered the ambush. I had no intention of changing the strategy itself, nor did I intend to show mercy to Harold and the citizens of Winchestel who allowed such a situation to play out.

However… even if I threaten them and break their spirits, I’ll keep the damage to a minimum. Just once… I’ll give you one chance along the way. If the Kingdom of Wessek still doesn’t wake up and allows Robert’s Faction to dominate… then the town of Winchestel will become a mountain of rubble.

In the end, there were no enemies to stop us from landing, and we were just waiting in the southern offshore area with nothing to do, so everything should be going smoothly. I don’t have any means of communication, so if the strategy starts running, I won’t know anything unless we use an emergency method of communication…

It’s the scheduled time, so we decide to go north and join the siege of Winchestel. The enemy doesn’t have a large navy, so you could say that a naval blockade doesn’t make much sense… Even if I say cut off the supply routes, I don’t intend to make it last long enough for them to need resupply in the first place.

“Young Miss, you can see it now,” Schwartz said.

“I’ve noticed,” I said. “Is this Winchestel?”

It’s a small port town. If you get too close to the shore, we may run aground. Well, the draft of the galleon ship is shallow, so I think it’s fine, but I think we should avoid getting into places that haven’t been investigated or confirmed in advance.

“Then let’s get started,,” I said.

By applying the Wind magic that I used when I traveled around the former territories of Polsky, I activate the Whisper spell to a wide range.

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

It’s a warning, so don’t be too polite. If we are too humble, there is a possibility that the other side will despise us and not listen to us. It would be better to go with high pressure to some extent.

“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 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.”

Well, in reality, no alliance has been concluded between me and King Harold. This is also propaganda to claim our legitimacy. In fact, at that time, I never thought that I would restore Essek and become its king. It looks like I intervened in the local conflict while everything was still up in the air.

That’s why it’s true that there was no alliance, but since Harold and I had agreed to support each other, it was an alliance between me and Harold. In the first place, since I assisted in the recapture of the Kingdom of Wessek, it is absolutely unforgivable to suddenly shoot us in the back.

“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.”

And with that, I shut off the spell immediately. This is not only a proclamation to the enemy, but also a notification of the operation’s start to my allies. If you declare it like this, even the enemy will not think that you are using it as a means to talk to your forces. Well, I can send it even if we discriminate against friendly forces only, but… anyway, you can send it along with the declaration of war. It might also raise the morale of the soldiers.

“Excellent work, Young Miss,” Schwartz said. “You still sound odd, by the way.”

“Aah…” I replied. “I’m going to become King Karruzer, whose gender and age are unknown, so I’ve changed my voice a little.”

Air transmission can change the pitch of a sound, so if you can whisper your voice all over the place, it shouldn’t be too difficult to change the pitch that comes out of your throat. That’s why I made the spell, Voice Changer! It’s not that name exactly, but I haven’t decided on a name in particular…

If you change your voice like this, put on a mask, and hide your body with a cloak, you can easily become a mysterious person whose face, age, gender, body shape, voice, and everything is unknown.

“Why did you even give them time after making a proclamation?” Schwartz asked. “We’re always ready to go. Isn’t it better to attack immediately after making a declaration of attack?”

There’s something about Schwartz’s way of speaking, but… well, okay.

“This is sowing the seeds,” I said. “You are a man of the sea, so it may not come to mind immediately… but in order to harvest the crops, it is necessary to wait for them to grow first, right?”

“Huh? That would be right, but…” Schwartz muttered.

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You know it takes time from sowing to harvest, but what I’m saying doesn’t seem to make much sense. I definitely get results like this! I can’t say for sure, so I won’t say it, but wait, it’ll probably work at the second stage.

Well… it’s time. As expected, the enemy just solidified their defenses and didn’t seem to accept our request at all. This is expected, so no surprises… It’s not going to be a lot of fun…but I have to do it. If I keep silent after being mocked and underestimated like this, I won’t be able to live in the international community. This is the place to show our resolve.

“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!”

When I whispered to all the enemies and allies and instructed them to start attacking, Caan cannons spouted fire from all over, almost at the same time. The galleon fleet we are on also fires its guns.

Our Galleon fleet on the sea has the most guns. Since the army is divided into three directions, the number of guns in each direction is limited. In the first place, we went out to sortie in a hurry, and their battle preparations, ammunition accumulation, and stockpiles were almost non-existent. As expected, it would be difficult to turn Winchestel into a mountain of rubble with just this one battery of guns.

If you’re going to besiege it for a long time, you can use the supplies that are being transported from the rear to clear Winchestel, but the enemy won’t stand by while you’re resupplying. I didn’t mean to make it last that long in the first place.

In no time at all, the castle walls on the outskirts had turned into a mountain of rubble, and the nearby houses had also been destroyed considerably. We didn’t shoot into the city all of a sudden, so they probably know the number of casualties, but even so, there would have been a fair amount of casualties among civilians.

Well… then, let’s go to the second stage. If this works, it’s going to be very successful.

“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.”

First, I ordered my allies to stop the bombardment, and then I spoke again, including all of Winchestel. The perceptions of all those who there thought was no way the Winchestel would fall would have changed their minds completely. That’s why this second stage is so effective.

“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…”

In response to my words, this flagship “Santa Maria” fires a single cannon. This is a threat. So we show we can’t miss. So I cheated a bit and used Wind magic on the cannonball to correct the trajectory and increase the flight distance that would definitely reach the target.

DOGAHSYHAN!

A distant sound is heard and smoke is rising from the royal castle. It seems that I was able to hit the target.

“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.”

After finishing the second warning, cut off the Whisper spell. Immediately after that, Schwartz spoke up.

“By any chance, do you know what the other side is talking about, Young Miss?”

“Aah… did you misunderstand?” I asked.

Apparently, I whispered and confidently predicted what the other person would say, so I guess they thought I probably picked up and understood what the other side was saying. There’s no such convenient spell. In the first place, there’s no way I can distinguish and process them if I hear all these words all at once.

“There wouldn’t be something so convenient, would it?” I asked. “If I could do that, I would use it in my strategy. That Whisper is just to deliver my voice to the other side.”

Schwartz looked dumbfounded.

“Then, what about the ones who thought the attack was cut off because we’ve run out, or couldn’t reach the royal castle?”

“Those are just speculations,” I said. “I just acted like I knew because I thought some people would think or say such things.”

Any idiot would think the same thing. There will definitely be people who think that we stopped suddenly because we ran out of cannonballs, or that we didn’t attack the royal castle because the attack couldn’t reach the royal castle.

In the first place, this Whisper is heard all over Winchestel. Then, even if no one around them was saying such a thing, there was no way that the locals would know if there was someone who said or thought that somewhere in the whole of Winchestel.

If I said that confidently to the whole area, most people would accept that there was someone who said that somewhere. I’m bluffing with deceptive information that I might have picked up even the other side’s conversation.

All that’s left is to throw a single shot into the royal castle as an example and let them know that the first attack could have turned the royal castle into a pile of rubble.

The outer wall was destroyed, and it was impossible to escape from the siege. And I give a second reprieve.

What happens then? If everything goes according to my expectations, the news will arrive soon. All that’s left is to pass the time. If the news does not arrive, the attack will resume. Whether you fail or succeed, you lose nothing. If you succeed, you’ll save ammo and time and you’ll be lucky.

And just as I expected, shortly after that, the Wessekians captured the traitor Robert’s Faction. They offered him up. And the news also came that they wanted to surrender.