As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Battle of Castle Staatz

While Ars’s contingent laid claim to Castle Rolto, Couran and his division were hard at work carrying out their advance on Castle Staatz. The enemy had attempted to obstruct their progress by deploying troops to major roads on the way to the castle, but Couran’s army proved too massive to delay for long. His sheer numerical advantage was demoralizing for his foes, and what little opposition there was to his advance quickly retreated.

“I’d think they were hoping to buy themselves more time than this. They don’t have a surplus of it,” Couran calmly speculated as he watched the enemy force fall back.

“They may have fewer troops available than we’d planned for,” said Robinson, Couran’s right-hand man and an ever-valuable source of analysis on the state of the war. “Castle Staatz is said to be a mighty fortress, but if the difference in numbers is that vast, they may still find it impossible to defend it against our force.”

“And that’s not even considering our aqua magia reserves,” noted Couran. “Magic rules the modern battlefield, and even the sturdiest fortifications can’t withstand it forever. We’ll maintain our momentum and press the attack!”

Couran’s forces moved onward, their morale soaring to greater and greater heights, never once noticing the trap that they were about to stumble into.

○

Kanses, the Count of Velshdt, Thomas, Vasmarque’s trusted tactician, and Stefan Dolucha, the Baron of Staatz, had all gathered up in the study of Castle Staatz to discuss the state of the war.

“The momentum of our enemy’s advance has far exceeded what we expected,” Kanses muttered, his voice dispirited. “At this rate, not even Castle Staatz itself will be able to hold them off for long…”

“W-Worry not, Lord Kanses! My castle once repelled an army tens of thousands strong! No matter how many men they throw at our walls, I swear to you that we won’t let them best us!” said Stefan. He was a man with a large build and a fearsome countenance, his face decorated with a variety of scars he’d earned in the countless battles he’d participated in.

Thomas, however, did not share Stefan’s optimism.

“Castle Staatz is well-fortified, Sir Stefan, I’ll grant you that, but the era of one fortress holding off tens of thousands of men is long gone. Now that magic’s in play, there’s no such thing as an impregnable castle anymore, and Couran’s force has enough explosive aqua magia in stock to level this place a dozen times over.”

“U-Ugh,” grunted Stefan. His displeasure was obvious, but he had no counterargument to Thomas’s claim. Far from it─his ample experience in battle told him that Thomas was correct.

“If we want to hold onto this castle, we can’t let its walls do all the work for us. We’ll have to have all sorts of tricks ready for them to help us win this battle,” Thomas continued with a malicious smirk.

“Should I take that to mean you have a plan in mind?” asked Kanses.

“It’s simple, really. If their magic’s their scariest weapon, we just have to take it away from them. We’ll aim to take out the enemy’s explosive aqua magia reserves,” Thomas explained.

“Hmm… That would make a great deal of difference, but surely our enemy knows how important their aqua magia is? Do you believe they’ll just let us destroy it?” countered Kanses.

“I happen to know what sort of man Couran is,” said Thomas. “He’s a soldier and statesman born, but he’s missing that one last, little piece that lets a man follow through and makes him great. That’s what sets him and Lord Vasmarque apart. He’s got the upper hand right now, to be sure, but that just means he’s all the more likely to let his guard slip.”

“Hmm. And you’re so certain of this that you feel confident your plan will succeed?” asked Kanses.

“Oh, no need to worry about that. Just leave it all to me,” replied Thomas.

Just then, a man dressed in a light, nondescript fashion arrived to deliver a message to Thomas.

“The enemy’s aqua magia reserves are on the move,” the messenger reported.

“Good! About time,” said Thomas.

“There are fewer troops guarding it than anticipated,” the messenger continued. “There’s one problem, though…”

“What is it?”

“The reserves have been split up for transportation, and there’s no way of telling which unit is carrying their explosive aqua magia.”

“So they’re keeping their reserves spread out,” said Thomas. “They could lose every drop of their fire aqua magia and not miss it, as long as the explosive aqua magia’s untouched… Maybe Couran’s taking this more seriously than I gave him credit for.”

Explosive magic had the potential to tear down the castle’s walls outright, and posed far and away the greatest danger to its defenders. If their stock of the requisite aqua magia had been dispersed throughout a number of units, then it would be much harder to eliminate all of it with any degree of certainty. An assault on the convoys would become a gamble, and Thomas was not a gambling man.

“Lord Thomas!” shouted another of Thomas’s men, who arrived as he was mulling over the problem. He had sent out a number of his subordinates to scope out Couran’s army and get a grasp of the situation. “Our scouts in the vicinity of Castle Samkh have reported new information regarding the enemy units carrying their explosive aqua magia! It’s split up among five units that are all separate, and we have scouts tailing each of them at this very moment.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?” asked Thomas.

“Yes, my lord! It seems the enemy troops have grown complacent after their recent victories. Several of their soldiers let the information slip after we plied them with alcohol, and since they all told the same story, we’ve determined that it’s reliable!”

“Well, that changes things. I guess I wasn’t giving Couran too little credit after all─he’s been keeping his men on far too long of a leash. I bet he thinks he’s already won. We’ll move out at once!” said Thomas as he stood up from his seat.

“Already?” Kanses asked, shocked. “And you plan to lead the attack yourself?”

“If we’re going to take advantage of this opening, then we can’t waste a minute,” Thomas explained. “Plus, this operation could turn the tide of battle. Of course I have to see it through in person.”

“Y-Yes, I suppose that makes sense… Very well, then. I’ll entrust this task to you, Thomas,” said Kanses.

“Consider it done,” Thomas replied with a confident smirk.

○

Thomas handpicked five squads to participate in his plan, and instructed each of them to lay in ambush along roads that the enemy convoys would be traveling. Sending one larger unit to carry out the attack wasn’t an option─if the enemy managed to send word to the other convoys after the first was assaulted, their guards would be raised and the rest of the mission would be jeopardized. They’d have to carry out their attacks simultaneously in order to maintain the element of surprise.

Of course, since each convoy was traveling a different route, carrying out simultaneous attacks upon them was easier said than done. That was where magic entered the picture: they would use sound magic to keep in contact with the other squads. Specially designed catalyzers allowed long-distance communication by way of the Transmit spell, but that spell was not without limitations: it could only send sounds across a distance proportional to the size of the catalyzer.

Large catalyzers could cast Transmit across great distances, but were less than portable and wouldn’t be practical for Thomas’s operation. Mid-sized catalyzers, on the other hand, would just barely be able to send sounds across the distances necessary, assuming everything went as planned. In the end, Thomas decided that the mid-sized catalyzer option was enough, and equipped each unit with a catalyzer and a mage to operate it.

Thomas himself would not join up with any one particular unit. Instead, he took up position at a point equidistant from the sites where the ambushes would be carried out, accompanied by a mage capable of casting sound magic. From there, he could give instructions to all five units at once.

Thomas waited, carefully gauging the right moment to strike. After waiting there for a long period of time, when each unit reported in sequence that they had eyes on their target convoy, Thomas turned to his mage and said, “Give them the order to attack.”

The mage cast Transmit at once, sending Thomas’s order out to all five squads. The squads, in turn, sprung their ambushes without delay. Soon, reports of each squad’s success began coming in one after another, which Thomas replied to by instructing them to withdraw from the battlefield with all due haste. Out of the five units tasked with the job, four reported complete success. The final squad, however, had been up against skilled foes. They’d proven too much for Thomas’s men to handle, and had escaped with their cargo intact.

“Well, so it goes,” said Thomas with a shrug. “Even if one of them got away, we’ve still come out far ahead today. Tell the last squad to withdraw.”

With that, Thomas and his mage fell back as well, making for Castle Staatz once more.

○

“They what?!”

Couran’s face flushed with shock and fury when he heard the report. The five convoys transporting his army’s stock of explosive aqua magia had been targeted with pinpoint precision, and the ambushes had resulted in the loss of all but a fifth of their aqua magia supply.

“It seems the details of our transportation channels were leaked to the enemy. We arranged for the aqua magia to be split up and transported by multiple convoys in an effort to protect them, but that decision has backfired,” said Robinson.

Couran scowled and clicked his tongue with frustration.

“If we’d transported all of it together, then an unforeseen disaster or an enemy raid could have wiped out our entire supply in one fell swoop. Splitting it up may have prevented that worst-case scenario, yes, but barely… How much aqua magia was the remaining convoy transporting?”

“Frankly, very little,” Robinson answered. “Not enough to bring down the walls of Castle Staatz, anyway.”

Couran’s frown grew deeper still. He had been counting on an overwhelming advantage in the upcoming conflict, and this news was a painful blow to his plan.

“We left behind a stock of excess aqua magia in Semplar, didn’t we? Have all of it brought here.”

“Very well, Your Lordship,” said Robinson. “However, I’m afraid that transporting that stock here will take quite some time…”

“All the more reason to send word on the double. If winter falls before the castle is in our hands, then our plans to take Velshdt will be set back.”

“As you command. I’ll have a messenger sent to Semplar right away,” Robinson replied, then departed to carry out his orders. Couran was left to cross his arms and groan at the miserable situation he’d found himself in.

○

The day after I dispatched the Shadows to look into the state of things at Castle Staatz, Lumeire called together a council of war where I reported on my decision. It would take some time for word to arrive, and until then, it was decided that we would hold our position and monitor any movements of the County of Balton’s army.

A few days later, the Shadows returned with news for me.

“We’ve gotten a handle on the situation in Staatz,” reported Ben, who’d been dispatched to speak with me. His face was as plain and unmemorable as ever, though after many meetings with him, I’d learned to recognize him without confirming his identity with an appraisal.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Starting with the biggest point, the castle hasn’t fallen yet. It looks like it’s been a pretty close fight, and both sides are struggling.”

I wasn’t too surprised to hear that. Couran’s army was far larger than Staatz’s defending force, but I’d accurately predicted that the castle’s defenses would make it a difficult target to deal with.

“Is Castle Staatz just that defensible, then?” I asked, hoping to confirm my theory.

“Well, that too,” said Ben, “but reinforcements from Castle Velshdt reached Staatz and wreaked havoc on Couran’s troops. They ambushed shipments of aqua magia, and managed to take out most of Couran’s explosive aqua magia in the process. Seems that’s what’s slowing him down more than anything else.”

That was grave news, to be sure. Explosive aqua magia was the functional equivalent of siege engines in this world. Bringing a castle down without it was a tall order, and Castle Staatz’s magical defenses were sturdy to begin with. The loss of that much aqua magia would make conquering it a much harder task. The situation was even worse than I’d anticipated.

“What’s Couran doing to deal with the issue? Is there a delivery of explosive aqua magia inbound?” I asked.

“Yes, but by the time it gets to him it’ll be winter, and storming the castle will be harder than ever,” said Ben. It was currently the sixth month, which was around the time that the cold started setting in. It did seem quite possible that winter would arrive before the battle was finished unless the situation changed.

Couran’s forces were already encamped near the castle, presumably, so it wouldn’t be impossible for them to stage an assault in the wintertime. That being said, carting around provisions and resources was a lot harder when you had piles of snow in the way, which had the potential to cripple their ability to start a real fight.

The coldest period of the year lasted from the end of the sixth month through the start of the seventh, and once that period passed, the snow would melt and the battle could resume in earnest. In the grand scheme of things it wouldn’t be that long of a delay, but time was of the essence and ending the battle even a day sooner could prove pivotal. Wasting somewhere around twenty days was very much something we’d be better off avoiding if possible.

“Good work. That’s very good to know,” I said to Ben, then went to report what I’d learned to Lumeire.

When Lumeire heard what I had to say, a frown passed across his face.

“How could this be…? I never dreamed the situation could be this grim,” he muttered. “Isn’t there anything we can do to help?”

“We can set out to aide Lord Couran’s forces,” I said. “We have a decent stock of explosive aqua magia here at Castle Rolto. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, but anything helps.”

“I agree that we should send aid to Lord Couran,” said Lumeire. “But how we go about sending it isn’t such an easy decision to make.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked. Rushing off to Castle Staatz on the double seemed like the obvious method to me, and for that matter, I couldn’t think of any alternatives.

“Aside from simply rushing to Lord Couran’s aid, we could also stage our own assault from a different direction, catching Castle Staatz’s defenders unprepared. A characteristic trait of defensive magic is that their strength is not evenly distributed. There are weak points in any barrier system, and if we can catch the enemy off guard and attack one of those weak points, we may be able to break through. There are two paths from here to Castle Staatz, as well: the road we took to get here, and another, smaller route. If we were to take that path and attack the enemy without warning, we may very well emerge victorious.”

It wasn’t a proposal without risks. If the enemy was aware that Castle Rolto had fallen, then it was possible their defenses would be prepared for such an attack. Even so, it still seemed probable that a surprise attack would be more effective than walking up and joining the main force.

“Staging a surprise attack makes sense to me,” I said, “but I think it would be a good idea to speak with everyone else before we settle on a plan.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Lumeire, “but we should choose a course of action as soon as possible. Call together the most exceptional of your retainers at once.”

“Understood,” I replied.

It didn’t take long to bring my retainers together, and we commenced our council without delay. To start, I explained the current state of things at Castle Staatz to everyone.

“I see. It seems the situation is dire indeed,” said Rietz after I was finished.

“Your brother was supposed to be in Velshdt, right, Master?” Rosell asked, turning to Mireille. “Do you think he’s helping defend Staatz?”

“I give it nine out of ten odds he is, yeah. I always taught him to zero in on his enemy’s weakest link and take it out, and it looks like he’s putting that method to good use in this battle,” said Mireille. She sounded quite blasé about the matter, considering that those teachings were the reason why Couran was in such a tough spot at the moment. She had taught her brother everything he knew ages ago, of course, so I supposed there wasn’t any real reason for her to be ashamed of her actions.

“Lord Lumeire and I have discussed the matter, and agreed that the situation is grave enough to merit backing Lord Couran up,” I explained. “That said, Lord Lumeire has also proposed that traveling in secret and striking the enemy at their weakest point in an ambush could prove even more effective.”

“I was hoping to hear all of your opinions on my proposal,” said Lumeire.

“How much explosive aqua magia does this castle have in stock?” asked Mireille. “My answer could change depending on what we have to work with. If it’s a lot, then just delivering it to them would be our safest bet.”

“We have about three hundred Ms worth of it on hand,” I said. I’d anticipated the question and looked into our stockpile before the council started.

“That puts us in dicey territory. A single spell from a large catalyzer burns about thirty Ms. If we catch them off guard, aim for their barrier’s weakest point, and have Charlotte do the casting, we could take down one of their walls in two or three shots. Head-on, though, three hundred Ms worth of magic wouldn’t even be enough to bring down the barrier.”

“So then our only option is a surprise attack?” I asked.

“Not necessarily. We could stage an ambush to distract the enemy, as well. We’d have to get into contact with…” Mireille paused and scowled. “Lord Couran beforehand to make sure he could coordinate with the feint, though.”

“A diversion, huh…?” I said.

“Personally, I’m down for the actual sneak attack,” Mireille continued. “We’d just have to pin down their defenses’ weak point, then have Charlotte blow a hole in their walls before they could do anything about it. Then, we send our troops storming in through the hole all at once, have them open the gates, break the catalyzers keeping their defenses up─y’know, just raise hell. At that point, it’d only be a matter of time before we could storm the main keep and bring it under our control. At least, I assume that’s the general plan. Storming the castle would mean plenty of fighting, and I’ve gotta say, I like the sound of that.”

I wasn’t of a mind to settle on a plan based on whether or not Mireille would get to indulge her bloodlust, but still, she’d made a compelling case and I was half-convinced that the surprise attack plan was our best bet.

“I agree that a surprise attack is a good idea…but I’m concerned about the part where we have to find their defenses’ weak point,” said Rosell. “Do we have any documents regarding the layout of Castle Staatz?”

“We’ve searched this castle’s archives and found a document that includes a simple map of Castle Staatz. That being said, it doesn’t include anything that would be considered state secrets, such as the locations of traps,” Lumeire answered, then spread the map in question out on his desk.

“Their walls seem to enclose a pretty big area,” I muttered as I looked over the document. “Who knows how long it’d take to starve them out in a siege.”

It seemed there was a whole town within the castle’s curtain walls, which led me to the realization that ordinary townsfolk could get wrapped up in the battle to come.

“This’ll be the weak point we need,” said Mireille, pointing at a wall located on the castle’s northwestern edge.

“How do you know?” asked Lumeire.

“You need mages to man your magical defenses─there’s no way around that. The more skilled the mage, the stronger the barrier they can deploy. Thing is, one person can’t cover a castle this big on their own. They’ll need at least thirty or so mages for the job, I’d say, and that’s the minimum. The most important section of the castle wall to defend’ll be the main entrance on the south side─after all, if that gate gets blasted open, the enemy could surge in all at once and storm the place. That’ll be where their defenses are strongest. The northwestern side, meanwhile, doesn’t have a gate at all and is located at the top of a slope, which means it’d be hard to assault at the best of times. The odds of an attack coming from that direction are low, so I imagine they’ll have one of their less capable mages guarding it.”

“I see,” said Lumeire with a nod. “But wouldn’t the fact that it’s a difficult stretch of the wall to assault pose problems for our troops as well?”

“That’s why we have to coordinate with Lord Couran,” said Mireille. “If we can get him to launch a feint at the right moment, their attention will be focused on the main gate and we’ll have higher odds of pulling it off. I can think of plenty of other plans that would get us through, too.”

With the enemy’s eyes on the main gate, they’d be unprepared to handle a surprise attack from a different direction. The plan seemed like a good one─we could up the odds of the entire operation succeeding with a little coordination.

“I believe the time has come, then, to contact Lord Couran regarding our plan. We can settle on the details once we’ve heard from him about the state of his force,” Lumeire said, then began drafting a letter to send to Couran.

○

Couran’s forces had set up their encampment a short distance away from Castle Staatz. Couran himself sat in the headquarters they’d raised, running through the state of the war in his mind and searching for a plan that could win him the day.

Is waiting it out our only option? he pondered. The battle started off so well─how has it come to this…?

The starting stages of the campaign had left Couran optimistic. His troops had fought their first engagement after reinforcements from Velshdt had attempted to block their path, and the battle had ended with those reinforcements fleeing in a total rout. He’d won battle after battle from that point onward, working his way to the vicinity of Castle Staatz itself. That was when his forces had lost the majority of their explosive aqua magia in a single day, and everything started going wrong.

Couran was left with very few resources capable of damaging the castle’s outer walls. His force had been at a lack of competent mages to begin with, and with their stockpile of aqua magia so low, there was no chance of them blasting their way through the castle’s gates. Ever since then, his army had maintained their position, sitting and waiting for an aqua magia delivery that would arrive after winter had finished setting in. That would cause major delays in the army’s supply chain, rendering them unable to fight a protracted battle and buying their foes more time still.

Preventing that outcome was Couran’s highest priority, but it wasn’t the only problem he faced. His army’s provisions were an issue as well. He had brought an extravagant quantity of food with him, but the longer the campaign dragged on, the more likely it became that he would have to retreat to restock and regroup. That was just one more reason why bringing the castle down before winter rolled in would be a major victory.

Considering the state of things, though, that may not even be possible… We’ve picked out weak points in the castle’s defenses, but we lack the aqua magia to even break through those. And even if we do manage to do so by some miracle, the wall we’d destroy would be in a highly disadvantageous location. Unless the enemy let their guard down to an astonishing degree, we’d have no hope of staging an assault…

Couran was beginning to think that his only choice would be to steel himself to make some sacrifices and attempt to claim the castle without the help of magic. Castle Staatz was strategically significant enough that taking it would be worthwhile, even if he did lose a large chunk of his troops in the process. That being said, if he were to accept the loss and mount an offensive, then fail to take the castle, it would put his campaign in a dire state and force him to withdraw from the county. That could give the enemy an opportunity to reclaim the castles and forts that Couran had already conquered, rendering everything he’d gained meaningless. That, above all else, was something he had to avoid.

“If only Ars and his followers were here, I’m sure they could dream up a plan to drag us out of this mire,” Couran sighed. Preventing the forces at Castle Rolto from marching on his army had been an important task, and he’d felt the need to entrust it to someone he had faith in, but as of late he’d begun to question his judgment.

“Lord Couran!” said a soldier who came sprinting into the headquarters. “A letter has arrived for you!”

“Who is it from?” asked Couran.

“It bears the mark of Lord Lumeire!”

Lumeire─in other words, Ars’s superior. That meant that the letter could very well contain a plan dreamed up by Ars himself, and with that thought in mind, Couran unfolded it without wasting a moment. Within, he found a proposal for a surprise attack and a request that his army coordinate with Lumeire’s in said attack’s execution.

A surprise attack… Yes, I see… This could very well break us out of our deadlock. If I act as if I’ve given up and decided to mount an all-out offensive, the enemy will turn all their attention onto me. That means they’ll neglect the rest of the castle’s defenses… The question, however, is whether or not the force I sent along with Lumeire is up to the task of storming the castle. Castle Staatz’s garrison is sizable, and it won’t be easy for Lumeire to fight his way to the defensive catalyzers and their mages. Perhaps I should send a division─of two thousand, say─to maneuver around the castle in secret and back up Lumeire and his troops.

His mind abuzz with ideas, Couran began drafting his reply to the letter at once.

○

After the success of Thomas’s plan to eliminate the enemy’s aqua magia supplies, he, Kanses, and Stefan once again gathered in Castle Staatz’s study.

“The situation could be far worse,” said Kanses after reviewing the current state of the war.

“I must admit that the difference in numbers puts us at a disadvantage, but thanks to Sir Thomas’s brilliant stratagem, the enemy’s aqua magia reserves have been decimated. They may attempt to mount an attack regardless, but this castle will not prove so easily stormed,” said Stefan with an air of confidence.

“I doubt they’ll be going on the attack for a while yet…but I also don’t think we should underestimate Couran,” said Thomas. “He’s not the type of man to let a loss like this pass by without striking back, and he may still have a trick or two up his sleeve.”

“How do you mean?” asked Kanses.

“I haven’t verified this for sure, but I’ve gotten a few reports that somebody who looks an awful lot like my sister’s been sighted traveling with Couran’s troops.”

“Your sister? You mean Mireille?”

“That’s right. Doesn’t look like they’ve given her any real authority, though, so for all I know she won’t be that much of a problem. She could never make the most of her talents working under someone who doesn’t trust her.”

“I recall when her name first caught my attention. She caused quite the stir, and word had it she was a woman of prodigious talent…but I can hardly believe she would take up arms against her own brother.”

“Even if Mireille isn’t plotting something on their behalf, we can’t afford to give them the chance to reclaim an advantage,” said Thomas. “Now’s our chance. We need to take aim at their weakest link and win this war in one fell swoop.”

Kanses’s eyes widened at the prospect.

“A weakness that could earn us victory in a single blow? Does such a thing even exist?”

“It does. Couran himself.”

A skeptical look came across Kanses’s face.

“Couran himself? I’m not one to sing my enemy’s praises, but Couran is a man of many talents. I’ve fought by his side many a time, and know how formidable he is firsthand.”

“Formidable, yes─and that’s what makes him their biggest vulnerability,” said Thomas. “By all rights, Couran shouldn’t be out on the battlefield. He should be back in Semplar, letting his vassals do the fighting for him. If Couran dies, then the war is over. Hardly any nobles would carry on his cause, and soon all of Missian would unite behind Lord Vasmarque. Couran has a son, yes, but that son is inexperienced and would find little support among his father’s former allies. Leading his troops himself was a risk, but Couran was unwilling to leave the command of his army to one of his men because he’s formidable enough to do the job better than anyone under his lead.”

“So you’re suggesting we strike Couran down on the battlefield?” asked Kanses. “I’ll admit, that would be an ideal outcome…but is it feasible?”

“Couran knows that if he kicks the bucket, it’s all over for his cause. He’ll be under heavy guard, no doubts there. That’s where I come in, though. There’s all sorts of ways to kill a man, and I know for a fact I can find the most likely one to pull the job off.”

“I’m glad to have a man as reliable as you on my side,” said Kanses.

“Thanks for that. I’ll be moving my plan to deal with Couran forward, and in the meantime, I want the two of you to bolster the castle’s defenses. Even the best-laid plans can fail, and if Couran manages to keep his head, we’ll be in for a tough fight.”

“Understood,” said Kanses with a nod.

Their strategy settled, Thomas began laying out the particulars of Couran’s imminent assassination.

○

A letter from Couran arrived at Castle Rolto. Lumeire opened it up at once and read its contents out loud. Couran had written to us in regard to the surprise attack we’d proposed, and began his letter with open praise, stating, “The state of this war has taken a disadvantageous turn, and your proposal to catch the enemy off guard could not have come at a better time. You have my gratitude.”

Couran went on to theorize that our current troops wouldn’t be enough to pull the attack off, so he offered to lend us men from his own division, specifying a time and place at which we could make contact with them. Furthermore, he wrote that he would be launching an attack on Castle Staatz in three days’ time, and requested that we time our surprise attack to coincide with his offensive. Finally, he closed the letter by telling us to send him a response if there were any problems with the plan as he’d outlined it, but otherwise to begin our operation at once.

“What are your thoughts?” Lumeire asked, addressing me and my retainers. “Do you think we’re ready to take action?”

“I don’t believe there are any flaws in particular with this plan,” said Rietz. “That said, I do think we’d do well to review our information on the enemy’s castle over the course of our march.”

Rosell and Mireille concurred, meaning the decision was unanimous. It would take three days for us to travel from Castle Rolto to Castle Staatz, meaning that if we wanted to time our attack with Couran’s, we would have to depart right away. Fortunately, we’d been prepared for such an eventuality and our troops were already set to move out.

“Very well, then! We march on Castle Staatz!” Lumeire commanded. And just like that, our journey began.

○

Our trip to Castle Staatz proceeded at a steady pace. We moved with as much stealth as we could manage, doing our best to not alert the enemy to our presence. I’d instructed the Shadows to move on ahead of us and keep watch over the area around Castle Staatz as well. That being said, I wanted Pham to stay nearby in case something unforeseen happened and I needed to change my instructions for them, so he ended up assigning one of his subordinates to handle all that intelligence gathering in his stead.

Eventually, we made contact with the soldiers that Couran had sent to help us. Their presence bolstered our numbers, and in turn raised the odds that our surprise attack would be a success. Soon afterward, the Shadows reported in with new information. Specifically, Ben was the one who made contact with me.

“We’ve noticed some suspicious movements around Castle Staatz,” said Ben. “A unit of mages made their way outside the castle walls, carrying a large-sized catalyzer with them. It looks like they’re trying not to be spotted.”

“Where are they going?” I asked.

“They’re making their way up a nearby mountain─one that would give them a vantage point over Couran’s entire army. Our best guess is that they’re trying to mount a surprise attack.”

That, I knew, could pose trouble. A surprise attack now could deal major damage to Couran’s forces.

“Are you talking about Mount Tourai?” asked Rosell.

“That’s the one,” confirmed Ben.

“Thought so. That’s the only mountain that could give them a view of the whole army. But that’s strange… They could see the whole army, yeah, but Mount Tourai’s so far away from Lord Couran’s encampment, there’s no way they could cast spells at a long enough distance to do any damage. And stealth-wise, it’d be one thing if it were a squad of infantrymen, but bringing a large catalyzer means they’d be moving at a crawl! The odds of them getting spotted en route were high, and they should’ve known it… What’re they playing at?” he muttered. It seemed he couldn’t grasp the enemy’s plan, this time.

“Okay, I see what’s going on here. Thomas would,” sighed Mireille.

“Would what? Have you figured out his plan?” I asked.

“Yup. Most likely, he’s trying to take out Couran.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked. She seemed confident enough in her theory that I assumed it had to have a basis.

“I told you before that my little brother’s working for the enemy, right? Well, I’m pretty sure this operation’s his doing,” said Mireille.

Is she trying to say that she knows how her brother thinks well enough to predict his every move?

“What sort of operation is it, exactly?”

“It’s true that not even a large catalyzer could deal any damage from that sort of range…if they were using it to cast offensive magic. That’s not their plan, though─they’ll be casting a spell called Downpour, which generates a heavy rainstorm in a localized area. They’d be able to use Downpour to make it rain on Couran, even at that long of a distance.”

“Okay, so they make it rain on him…and then what?”

“Couran’s encampment is set up on barren soil. The roads in the area haven’t been well maintained, and the ground goes muddy at the slightest hint of rain. A proper rainstorm means they’ll be operating in a bog, and that means the army will lose its mobility. To top it all off, the sound of the rain will muffle any suspicious noises. Thomas’s plan is to immobilize Couran, rob him of his sense of hearing, then carry out a surprise attack while he’s unprepared. I’d bet he has units of soldiers setting up the ambush already─they’ve just managed to go undetected so far.”

“And the goal of that ambush…is to assassinate Lord Couran?”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

My first instinct was to question whether a plan like that would be easy to pull off. For one thing, it seemed like it would be simple for Couran to wipe the unit of mages out. It was such a glaring flaw in the theory that I decided to ask about it.

“Why would Lord Couran just allow their mages to climb the mountain unopposed?”

“Because he has no idea what they’re trying to do. At that distance, even mages would look harmless at a glance, so he’d assume they were up to something unrelated and decide that he couldn’t spare the troops to deal with them. He might also suspect that they were trying to lure him into a trap.”

She had a point there. When you don’t know what your enemy’s after, a single careless move has the potential to lose you your head.

“The death of Lord Couran would put our force in an unprecedented predicament,” said Rietz. He needn’t have bothered mentioning it, though, since I already understood that all too well. Without Couran to lead us, our invasion would lose all vestige of legitimacy and would inevitably collapse. I, meanwhile, would lose all hope of ever moving up in the world, and would even stand to lose the position I currently held. I could not allow Couran to die, no matter what.

“We’ll have to send a message to Lord Couran at once, and tell him to eliminate the unit heading for the mountain!” I said.

“That’d be great if it worked, but odds are good the warning wouldn’t make it to him in time,” said Mireille. “It might not even be possible for his men to head them off anymore, considering how late in the game we’re learning about all this.”

“W-Well, yes…but…” I stammered.

“I said the odds are good they wouldn’t make it in time─good, not certain,” said Mireille. “So, yes, we should send somebody to help. Someone fast enough to make it there in time, and tough enough to pull Couran out of a deathtrap.”

Ben and Pham’s faces sprang to mind, and as luck would have it, Pham was still present in our unit. I’d be able to ask him to take on the task immediately.

“I can ask the Shadows to save him, then,” I said.

“Your spies, huh…? Guess they do stand the highest chance of pulling it off,” replied Mireille.

“I’ll talk to them right away!” I declared before rushing off to find and commission Pham.

“The big lord’s gonna bite it, huh? Tough break,” said Pham when I finished explaining the situation. He didn’t sound even remotely concerned about the problem, though of course, when all was said and done, it wasn’t his problem. “I assume we’ll be getting paid for this?” he asked.

“Y-Yes, of course. How much would you want for the job?”

“I want something other than money, actually,” said Pham.

He’d never asked for a non-monetary reward before, so I was a little taken aback.

“What do you want, then?”

“For you to make us your retainers.”

“Come again?”

“The thing about being a mercenary is it’s not stable living, and I’ve never been a fan of that sorta lifestyle. I’ve been carrying on our old leader’s legacy up until now, but I’ve started thinking that if I come across someone who looks worth serving, it might be time to give up on being a sellsword and go official.”

“And you think I’m worth serving?”

“That’s right. Your power to see through people is something else, and you’ve got a silver tongue that could compete with the best of ’em. There’s a lot about you that tells me you’re going places, and I wouldn’t mind tagging along for the ride.”

Saying he wouldn’t mind serving me was a rather condescending way to ask me to take him into my service, but on the other hand, there was very little I would’ve liked more than having the Shadows under my formal employ. I’d gotten the impression that Pham had wanted to talk to me about something the last time I sent him out to scout around, and now I had to wonder if that something had been the matter of him formally joining up with House Louvent.

Maybe I wasn’t just imagining him having a high opinion of me after all.

In any case, if he hadn’t brought it up himself, I might’ve asked him to be my retainer at some point in the near future. The Shadows’ services had become an essential cornerstone of my operations, after all.

“Very well. I would be glad to accept you into my service.”

“Then this deal’s sealed. Let’s try to make this arrangement a long-lasting one…assuming we pull this mission off to begin with, I mean.”

With those ominous parting words, Pham sped off to rescue Couran from the mortal peril he’d soon find himself in.

○

Ever since his plan to bring down Castle Staatz had been set in stone, Couran had been biding his time, waiting for the moment to strike. By the current schedule, tomorrow would be the day that he staged an all-out assault on the fortress. He had faith that he would manage to bring it under his control within the day, assuming Lumeire’s troop did their job.

Of course, I’m not entirely without worries, Couran thought. He’d received a report that a group of enemy soldiers had been spotted lugging a large catalyzer away from the battlefield and toward Mount Tourai. No matter how long Couran spent pondering the matter, he just couldn’t think of any reason why sending a unit there would be to his enemy’s benefit.

There was no way they could attack his army with magic from that distance, but the fact that Thomas was working with his foe meant that he couldn’t discount the possibility the move was part of some elaborate scheme. Much as it pained Couran, so long as he couldn’t determine what the enemy was up to, he knew that taking action would be too dangerous, so he was forced to just monitor the situation instead.

“My deepest apologies, Lord Couran,” said Robinson. “It is my duty to see through this sort of scheme, yet I find myself lacking any useful insight…”

“No need to agonize over the matter, Robinson,” said Couran. “After all, we’ve no guarantee that this is an enemy plot to begin with!”

As far as he was concerned, so long as he couldn’t identify any schemes that the enemy might be carrying out, he might as well assume that they were just coping with some unexpected trouble of their own. There was no guarantee they were trying to accomplish something damaging to his cause after all.

Just then, the steady patter of rainfall began to ring out from outside Couran’s headquarters. Not just a drizzle, either─it was a sudden and heavy downpour.

“Rain?” Couran said quizzically. “How strange. The sky was clear as could be just moments ago.”

“Unusual indeed…” mumbled Robinson.

Going from clear skies to a sudden rainstorm was unusual in this part of the world, but far from unheard of. Couran, however, couldn’t help but feel a vague sense of unease at this new development.

“Lord Couran!” shouted a mage who came rushing over at a frenzied sprint.

“What is it?” asked Couran.

“This rain─it’s not natural! It’s the work of magic! Most likely, the troops on Mount Tourai used their large catalyzer to cast it!”

“Water magic?” said Couran. “I suppose Velshdt is a source of water-aspected magistones… But why would they─?”

“An ambush! It’s the only explanation!” shouted Robinson.

“We must order our troops to ready themselves for battle at once,” said Couran. “But our words won’t carry in this storm… Mage! I have need of your sound magic!”

“Yes, Milord!” said the mage, who began preparing a spell at once. However, shouts and cries began to ring out throughout the camp long before he finished his work.

“Aaaaugh!”

“W-We’re under attack!”

“Hellfire!” roared Couran. The battle had begun before he could even warn his men, much less give them orders. Now that his troops were in a panic, they were less likely to hear or heed his words than ever. Having fought on many a battlefield, Couran knew that his predicament was a grave one.

“They’re after your life, Lord Couran! Please, flee at once!” shouted Robinson.

Couran had already drawn the same conclusion, but running away was easier said than done. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his foes’ trap was well-laid, and that they were sealing off all potential escape routes. The rain made it difficult to tell when they were drawing near, as well, reducing Couran’s ability to take the initiative. The wrong choice could usher him to an early grave.

Nevertheless, Couran did what he could. To start, he called out to all the soldiers within earshot of him, ordering them to form up and protect him. Couran intended to hold position, defending himself as best as he could until more of his men came running to save him. He’d ordered the mage from before to use sound magic to command the rest of his troops first to calm themselves, and second, to make their way to Couran’s position.

His foes, however, proved more clever than Couran had counted on. They were on him before he knew it, and they were skilled fighters to boot. Couran kept his most elite soldiers within his proximity as a matter of course, but now, those elites were being overwhelmed. Finally, an enemy soldier broke through their lines and dashed toward Couran himself.

Couran parried his foe’s blow with his blade, then cut him down before he could strike again. That wasn’t the end, though. Moments later, several more soldiers slipped past Couran’s guard and set upon him, intent on claiming his head. Couran fought his best, and performed admirably considering the circumstances, but doing battle with several skilled fighters at once was a tall order. Defeating multiple elites acting in unison bordered on the impossible, and while Couran managed to cut down three of his foes, the final remaining enemy slipped an attack past his guard, aiming for his neck.

I can’t dodge! Am I done for?! Is this where I meet my end?!

In that split second, Couran resigned himself to his fate…but before his foe could lop his head off his shoulders, a gash opened in the soldier’s neck. He collapsed to the ground in a spray of blood, dead on the spot. Someone had dispatched him with the throw of a single knife. Couran wheeled about in shock to look at the knife’s owner, and was shocked once more to find that his savior appeared to be a mere child. In truth, of course, he was nothing of the sort. He was Pham, and he had arrived in the nick of time to prevent the assassination from going as planned.

Pham dashed through the battlefield, cutting down one foe after the next. Couran, meanwhile, couldn’t contain his astonishment to see what he assumed was a little girl slaying his enemy’s elite strike force with ease. Soon, though, Couran shook off his shock, took up his sword once more, and rejoined the battle.

While Pham and Couran slew the enemy’s most skilled soldiers, Ben was nearby, slowly but surely whittling away at their less capable counterparts. He’d never been one for flashy displays, but what he lacked in style he made up for in consistent, unassuming skill.

By this point, the vicinity had descended into a chaotic melee. Couran, Pham, and Ben found themselves standing back to back to back, guarding each other’s blind spots.

“I know you. Aren’t you Ars’s maid?” asked Couran. He’d only caught glimpses of Pham in the past, but the supposed maid’s face had stuck in his mind.

“I’m one of the Shadows,” Pham replied, still striking down his foes even as he spoke. “I’m here to rescue you under Ars’s orders.”

“Then I do know you─Ars speaks highly of your skills,” said Couran. “I hate to put a damper on your attempted rescue, but this situation seems…well, less than survivable. We’re rather outnumbered.”

Couran’s foes, taking advantage of their superior coordination, had seized the opportunity to descend on his position en masse. No matter how elite of a fighter his newfound ally may have been, he knew that coping with numbers like those would be all but impossible.

“No need to worry. I have a plan,” said Pham. “Any minute now…”

“Any minute…?” Couran repeated, when suddenly, the world was engulfed in darkness.

It was like night had fallen in the blink of an eye. Shouts and cries of confusion rang out all around him, and at the same time, the clash of blades and screams of his men as they were slain ceased. No matter how experienced a soldier might be, seeing a daylit battlefield be plunged into the dark of night was something no man could be prepared for, and as a result, the fighting had ceased in an instant.

As Couran hesitated, Pham whispered into his ear, “Whatever you do, don’t raise a ruckus. This will only last a matter of minutes.”

Then, he took Couran’s hand and set off at a run, leading the lord along. He and Ben moved with such confidence one might’ve thought they could see in the dark, withdrawing from the battlefield with Couran in tow and their enemy none the wiser. As soon as they’d cleared the outskirts of the conflict, they began to sprint away as fast as their legs could carry them.

“What was that?” asked Couran.

“A type of shadow magic,” said Pham. “Shadow-aspected aqua magia’s precious stuff, and I try to conserve it, but that used up the last of my supply. We’ll be doing slow business until we can stock up again.”

“You can rest assured that you’ll be well rewarded for your service today,” said Couran. “I owe you both my life and my heartfelt gratitude.”

“My employer’s already scheduled to reward me…but I won’t turn down a bonus.”

The three men made their way up a nearby hill and looked out across the battlefield. A few minutes later, Pham’s shadow magic faded away, just as he’d claimed, and just a moment after that, a voice amplified by sound magic boomed out across the battlefield: “We’ve found Couran! He’s here!”

That voice, however, came from an entirely different direction than Couran had run in.

“Is this your doing as well?” asked Couran.

“Just a bit of insurance,” answered Pham.

Thanks to the chaos sown by the shadow and sound magic, the enemy attack lost all cohesion. It wasn’t long before Couran’s men began to gain the upper hand, and sensing that the tide was turning against them, the attackers withdrew as quickly as they’d come.

“They’re retreating, then? I just hope Robinson and the others made it out of this alive… I must return to my men at once and prove to them that I’m all right.”

Couran had come to the conclusion that Thomas had, in all likelihood, led the surprise attack himself. The troops that had fallen on Couran’s army had been too coordinated─they were clearly operating under the command of a capable leader, and Thomas fit that bill. That, of course, would mean that at the present moment, Thomas was not in Castle Staatz, and that in turn would mean that if ever there was a moment to mount an attack, it was now. Couran had to make contact with his troops, bring them back under control, and order them to assault the castle as soon as possible. He knew that the knowledge he was alive would help bring his allies together in short order, so he rushed back to his encampment as fast as possible.

“Lord Couran! You’re all right!” Robinson shouted as Couran strode back into his headquarters. By this point the rain had passed, vanishing as the darkness had.

“I see you are unharmed as well, Robinson,” said Couran.

“Indeed. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see you safe, Your Lordship. I must admit I feared the worst, but I rallied our troops and drove the attackers off in the hopes you would return to us.”

“So you were the one who turned the situation around? I can always count on you, Robinson.”

“You honor me with your words, Your Lordship. May I presume this is the man who saved you from your plight?” asked Robinson, turning to Ben. He was standing at Couran’s side, but Pham, it seemed, had vanished.

“Yes, though there was another as well. I have to assume he would rather not draw attention to himself, being a spy by trade.”

“A spy…” said Robinson. “Could these be the Shadows that Lord Ars has spoken of?”

“They are, and they’ve lived up to their reputation on this day,” Couran confirmed.

“We owe a great deal to Lord Ars, don’t we? I’ve lost track of how many times he’s pulled us from peril.”

“Very true. He’s brought together a remarkable group of retainers,” Couran agreed. He was beyond impressed that Ars had not only seen the attack coming, but had also dispatched Pham and Ben to prevent the worst. “But this is no time to talk─we must make haste! Let us gather our forces and march on Castle Staatz at once!”

“You mean right now, Your Lordship? But the attack has only just passed, and the men are still shaken!”

“The attack has only just passed, and that is why now is our moment. I believe that Thomas was among our attackers, and if he’s outside the castle walls, he won’t be able to help coordinate their defense. Without his guiding hand, the enemy will have to respond off the cuff, and Lumeire will have a higher chance of success in his own surprise attack.”

“I see. But what of the men? How do we calm them down?”

“I’ll handle that,” said Couran, who then called over one of his mages and had them cast Hyper Voice upon him.

His words now amplified to many times their normal volume, Couran delivered a powerful speech to his men. He proclaimed that the enemy had made a terrible mistake, and that in their error they had granted their foes the ultimate chance to seize Castle Staatz. Couran knew very well that nothing calmed an army down more than hearing their general declare that victory was certain, and the knowledge that Couran was alive and that they’d been granted a chance to strike back raised his soldiers’ spirits dramatically.

“That’s one problem dealt with,” said Couran. “Now then─use your sound magic to tell our entire force to move out!”

The mage did just that, casting spell after spell to signal other divisions of Couran’s army who were camped nearby that the time had come. The final battle for Castle Staatz had begun.

○

“Couran made it out alive, and is leading his troops toward Castle Staatz.”

I heaved a sigh of relief as Pham reported on his and Ben’s success. I wouldn’t have to face the utter disaster of Couran’s death after all.

“Good work, you two,” I said.

“I hope you remember your promise,” said Pham.

“I do, and I intend to honor it. As of this moment, I declare you and your Shadows retainers of House Louvent.”

“Thanks for that,” said Pham with a nod. Considering I would’ve taken on any member of the Shadows as my retainer at the drop of a hat if given the chance, though, I still felt like I was getting my cake and eating it too. It certainly didn’t feel like I’d rewarded them.

“I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew when I get the chance,” Pham continued. “No need for secrecy now that we’re with you for the long haul, though I think all of us have better things to do at this particular moment.”

“Understood.”

As things stood, Pham and Ben were the only members of his crew I’d met. I didn’t even know how many of them there were, and I was eager to get the details, but like Pham said, this wasn’t the right time. Couran had started advancing on Castle Staatz, and from what I’d heard, he was moving fast. I had to report to Lumeire and get our own offensive rolling as soon as possible. I found him and explained the situation without a moment’s delay.

“I’d expect no less from Lord Couran. He’s not one to hesitate at times like these,” said Lumeire when I’d finished my explanation.

“Thomas sure brought this one on himself by taking personal command of the ambush! Moving quickly was the right idea. It’s the best way to take advantage of the situation,” said Mireille with an approving nod.

“If Lord Couran’s attack has begun, then it’s time for us to enact our side of the plan as well,” said Lumeire. “We’ll stage our surprise attack on Castle Staatz at once. Prepare to march!”

At Lumeire’s command, our troop geared up at a rapid pace and began to advance on the castle. We’d be coming at it from the northwest, and moved as fast as we could while still remaining inconspicuous enough to not catch the enemy’s attention. That effort proved a success, and we arrived at the staging grounds for our attack without alerting anyone.

As our map had indicated, the northwestern wall of the castle was located at the top of an incline. Even if we managed to break through it, climbing the slope would take a fair deal of time. By the time we arrived, though, the assault on the main gate had already begun, and we could hear the sounds of a pitched battle even from a great distance away. The bulk of the enemy’s forces were sure to be occupied at the gates, though I still wasn’t convinced that the circumstances would allow our surprise attack to succeed.

“The time has come, my men!” said Lumeire. “Lord Couran’s force has already engaged the enemy, and we must follow his example without delay! We shall break through the curtain walls and storm the castle!”

At that, Lumeire’s mages began making their preparations. Charlotte would be casting using large catalyzers, three of which had been in stock at Castle Rolto. We’d filled all three of them with aqua magia in advance, so really, all we had to do to prepare for the attack was set them up with a clear line of fire to the wall.

Since explosive aqua magia was in such short supply, we’d decided that only our most capable mage would be entrusted with the spellcasting on this mission. That, of course, meant the task fell to Charlotte. She stood before one of the catalyzers, chanted an invocation, and unleashed a powerful explosive spell that flew through the air and detonated prior to impacting the castle walls, intercepted midair by an invisible barrier. That, surely, was the enemy’s defensive magic at work, and it had prevented us from breaking through the walls in a single shot.

I guess nobody expected Castle Staatz’s defenses to fall so easily.

“Hmph,” Charlotte grunted with frustration at the fortress’s sturdiness. “Next!” she called, moving over to the next catalyzer in line. The first blast she’d fired had expended all the aqua magia in the catalyzer, but she still had two more to go. We’d be in trouble if she used up all three catalyzers’ worth of aqua magia without managing to blow a hole in a wall, so a group of nearby soldiers was already hard at work refilling the first catalyzer just in case we wound up needing it again.

Charlotte fired off a second blast, but the barrier remained as sturdy as ever. With two explosive charges unleashed, I had to assume the enemy was aware that they were under attack from an unexpected direction. We had to bring that wall down in a hurry, or we’d be in trouble.

Her third shot crashed through the barrier and impacted against the wall, sending fractures racing through it but not quite bringing it down.

“All right, one more shot!” Charlotte shouted, rushing back to her first catalyzer. That final spell did the trick, and a segment of Castle Staatz’s outer wall crumbled.

“Good! The Maitraw Company will take the vanguard, and the rest of us will follow in their wake!” shouted Lumeire.

“Understood,” said Clamant. When we planned our assault on the castle, it had been decided that once the wall collapsed, he and his mercenaries would be the first ones to charge in.

The vanguard was an important role, but it was also a dangerous one. I’d half expected a mercenary like him to refuse the assignment, but to my surprise, when Lumeire asked if he would be willing, Clamant had agreed without question. I’d been led to believe that Couran was compensating him very well for his efforts, and as a result, he responded to requests with near absolute obedience─though I assumed that would only last for as long as his contract did.

Clamant gathered up his men and led them in a charge up the slope and toward the broken section of the wall. Its collapse had sent the enemy running toward our position, of course, but perhaps because this line of attack was so far out of their expectations they had no magic, traps, or even boulders to roll down the hill at us on hand. Clamant, being the mighty warrior he was, took the lead as he and his mercenaries plowed into the enemy line, scattering what little attempt at a defense they’d managed to put up.

“We follow! Charge!” Lumeire shouted when it became clear that Clamant and his men had the upper hand. Unlike Clamant, Lumeire and I would be holding up the rear of our formation and would be the last into the castle. Since the entire army would be charging in, waiting around outside the walls without a guard might’ve been even more dangerous than exposing ourselves to the perils of battle. We didn’t have a choice, and I knew that meant that if worst came to worst, I would be forced to take up my sword and fight for my life.

I was, to be totally honest, not much of a fighter. Unless I was up against a very green soldier, I doubted I’d be able to put up a fight at all. Part of me was regretting not staying behind in Castle Rolto, though it was far too late to backpedal now. Rosell was just off to my side, and judging by the way he was trembling, I had a feeling he was thinking along the same lines I was.

Perhaps thanks to Clamant’s efforts, the battle seemed to be proceeding smoothly. More and more of our men made it up the hill and charged into the castle. Rietz had led the second group of troops up the hill, and Mireille the third, with the soldiers they led being our most capable fighters. After Clamant cleared the way inside, his job was to open up the castle’s main gate, while Rietz’s and Mireille’s squads would eliminate all the mages they could find.

The castle was vast, but we’d brought plenty of soldiers along with us and could cover a lot of ground. Between our strength in numbers and Clamant, Rietz, and Mireille’s efficient command, I had a feeling we’d be able to pull this off. In fact, the moment I saw Clamant rush into the castle like its defenders weren’t even there, I got the feeling that we had better odds of victory than I’d given us credit for.

○

Rietz and Mireille led their troops through the gap in the castle wall, intent upon eliminating all the mages they could get their hands on. Mages were important when it came to fighting a defensive battle. They could protect the castle using defensive magic, set off large-scale traps scattered throughout the battlefield, and send massive magical blasts into the enemy lines. Their versatility was hard to overstate, and that made their elimination as early into a battle as possible key.

“Of course, since they’re so important, they’re not gonna keep ’em out in the open on a pedestal,” said Mireille. “Finding them all on our own would be a pain, so I say we get our hands on an enemy and have them take us to the mages.”

“You’re planning on torturing them?” asked Rietz.

“Got a problem with that?”

“Not especially. I was just wondering whether we’ll find an enemy who’s willing to talk.”

“Good question. I mean, nobody likes getting hurt and there’s bound to be somebody around who can’t handle the fear of it all. The real coin flip’s whether that person has any information worth sharing.”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to capture someone who looks like they’ll have valuable information…and we’ll want to do it as soon as possible. Will this really let us find the mages in time?”

“We’ll have to make it work, one way or another.”

For lack of a better plan, they settled on Mireille’s first impulse.

“Let’s split up,” said Mireille. “I’ll take the right side, and you can search over on the left.”

“Understood,” replied Rietz. The two of them parted ways and got to work searching for a potential informant to coerce.

Castle Staatz was a walled city. The central keep towered over the surrounding houses, in which most of the castle’s citizens lived. Those citizens had by and large barricaded themselves into their homes the moment the attack began, and nobody was walking around outside in the city streets as Rietz advanced through them, wondering how he could find someone with useful information.

I’ll never get anywhere searching at random, Rietz thought. One of the garrison’s officers would know what we need… Could I find a unit of soldiers standing by in the city, ambush them, and question their commander, perhaps?

More than half of Castle Staatz’s soldiers were occupied by the defense of the front gate, and some of them were standing by behind it to repel the enemy if they did happen to break through. Some soldiers were assigned to the defense of the main keep as well, and Rietz imagined that there would also be some soldiers stationed throughout the castle town to deal with any enemies that slipped inside in a surprise attack like Rietz and his men had. They clearly hadn’t been expecting an attack of that nature and had therefore assigned less capable soldiers to those duties. The ease with which Clamant cut through the initial wave of defenders was proof enough of that.

Rietz led his men through the streets, searching for anyone he might come across. He took great care to stay aware of his surroundings and ensure that he would see the enemy long before they saw him. He was in hostile territory, and they knew the lay of the land far better than he did, which meant he had to be more cautious than ever.

Eventually, Rietz spotted a group of soldiers down the street in front of him. The invasion had put them into a confused panic, and none of them seemed to know what to do. They weren’t experienced fighters, that much was for certain, and Rietz’s group had the good fortune to come across them while they were facing the opposite direction. A chance like this wouldn’t come twice, and Rietz ordered his men to charge.

By the time the soldiers realized that Rietz was there, he and his men were already upon them.

“I-It’s the enemy!” the squad’s commander shouted, but he wasn’t much more capable than the rest of his men. In a flash, the squad was decimated and their commander apprehended and bound by Rietz.

Well, I suppose there’s no getting around this. Torture’s not my strong suit, but I’ll just have to get it done, Rietz thought to himself as he stepped up to the man.

“I-I’ll never talk! Betraying my lord would be a stain upon my good name!” shouted the commander, who was trembling.

“There should be a number of facilities in this castle manned and operated by your most capable mages,” said Rietz. “Tell me where they are.”

“I won’t! I mean…I can’t! Nobody ever told me about those, or if they did, I forgot about it!”

“Just so you know,” said Rietz with a sharp glare, “if you don’t tell me everything you know, this is going to end very painfully for you.”

“W-Wait!” the commander shrieked. “I’m being serious! I honestly don’t know! I’ve got a brick for a brain, and my memory’s terrible!”

Rietz had to admit that he believed the man. He didn’t have any concrete proof the man was telling the truth, but he also didn’t have any time to waste on a captive who had no information to give him. In the end, Rietz decided to go with his gut, give up on the interrogation, and find someone else. He left the commander tied up in the street and moved on to search another section of the city.

Soon, Rietz’s squad’s fortunes were turned on their head: they were the victims of an ambush as a group of enemies fell upon them from their flank. Rietz was prepared, though, issuing calm, decisive orders and rallying his men back into formation. Their composure recovered, they slew one soldier after the next, but these ones were putting up much more of a fight than the last squad had. They were skilled enough that Rietz was shocked they’d been assigned to the rearguard. It was a close fight, but it was soon disrupted as a voice rang out, cutting through the tumult.

“That’s enough! Halt, fiends!” cried a brawny but short young man as he stepped forward. He held a spear in his hand, and one of his cheeks sported a scar. He looked like he was somewhere around the age of fifteen─quite young, all things considered.

“You seem tough,” the boy said as he gestured toward Rietz. “I challenge you to single combat! Beat me, and I’ll do anything you tell me to!”

Rietz was taken aback. It was such a sudden development that for a moment he just stood there, staring at his would-be foe and judging how likely it was that this was the setup to some sort of trap. The boy didn’t look like the sort of person to hatch schemes, but Rietz knew very well how much trouble one could wind up in judging a book by its cover.

“And if I win…ah, I know,” the boy continued. “You’ll become my henchman! I don’t care a whit about you being a Malkan─if you’re as tough as you look, I’d be glad to take you under my wing!”

“Do you know what ‘single combat’ means?” Rietz sighed. “Duels of this nature are fought to the death. I won’t be becoming anything if you win, much less your henchman.”

Such was the custom in the Summerforth Empire: a battlefield duel was assumed by default to be a duel to the death. Surrendering or offering your opponent mercy was considered flagrant and improper. It was an old custom, though, and one that some warriors were known to flout in the modern day.

“Oh. Really?” said the boy. “Well, okay, then we’ll make this fight an exception! Let’s say we do our best not to kill each other, and if one of us does die, we’ll, uh, figure that out when we get there!”

This was clearly not a man who knew how to take no for an answer. Rietz hesitated for a moment. He could tell from the brief engagement he’d had with the boy and his fellows that they were shockingly skilled for rearguard soldiers─elites, even. If he chose to refuse and carry on the battle he knew his side might lose, and even if they won it would use up a considerable chunk of time he couldn’t spare. There was no guarantee he would win the duel, but at the very least, it would take less time than a drawn-out battle.

There was still the danger he was playing into his enemy’s hands, of course, but Rietz just couldn’t see his foe as the plotting type. For one thing, until the boy with the spear─who Rietz assumed was their commanding officer─had stopped the battle, Rietz’s side had been fighting at a disadvantage. Rietz had brought his troops back together after the initial shock of the ambush, yes, but that hadn’t changed the fact that they were on the defensive. If victory was the boy’s highest priority, he could’ve just kept fighting. There was no need for an elaborate plan.

Rietz was starting to understand why a squad as tough as them had been assigned back here, rather than up in the army’s vanguard. If their leader was the sort of person to call off a surprise attack to ask for a duel, he was not someone who could be trusted to make the snap judgment calls that a commander at the front of an army had to be capable of. Even if Rietz had the wrong read on the situation and it was a trap, he’d just have to deal with it. He took a moment to imagine how the rest of the enemy squad would attack in such an instance, then looked back at the boy.

“All right. I accept your challenge,” said Rietz, stepping forward. “First, though, a question. There should be a number of important locations manned by mages in this castle. Are you aware of them?”

Since the boy had said he’d do anything if Rietz won, Rietz had decided to ask him for the information he needed. There was a very real chance he’d forgotten all about the castle’s defenses, like the commanding officer from before, but it seemed worth a try.

“Huh? Uhhh, you mean the barrier stations? Yeah, I know those,” said the boy. “I know where the mage who’s supposed to activate the gateway trap is standing by, too. Oh, and the one who’s supposed to burn the town down if things start looking sour. Don’t think that guy would set his off even if the battle did go south, though. Can you imagine how nasty it’d be if the town caught fire now?”

Happily enough, Rietz’s pessimism was unwarranted. The boy had information, and quite a lot of it, for that matter.

“If I win, I’ll have you tell me all those locations.”

“Wh-What?! Those are high-order military secrets! Even I know how much trouble I’d be in if I leaked those to the enemy…but I also don’t care, because it doesn’t matter! After all, I’m the strongest fighter in all of Summerforth, and I’ll never lose!” the boy boasted. He was brimming with confidence, and though he was a simpleton, Rietz didn’t doubt for a second that he had the ability to back up his big talk. A wave of tension washed over Rietz as he raised his halberd to a ready position.

“My name is Braham Joe, and I’m the toughest troublemaker in Castle Staatz!” declared the boy, head held high with prideful confidence.

Part of Rietz wanted to question why Braham would take pride in being a troublemaker, but he soon thought better of it.

“You can call me Rietz Muses,” he said, not bothering to declare the title he’d been given. Using it himself made him feel like a braggart, and he’d never been all that fond of the moniker his fellow soldiers had given him.

Their pre-duel formalities out of the way, the two warriors squared off and stared each other down. Finally, the duel began as Braham charged forward, thrusting his spear without so much as bothering to throw in a feint beforehand. Braham was faster than Rietz had anticipated, but the attack was so simple and predictable that Rietz dodged it with ease.

However, Braham’s thrust was followed by a second, and then a third, each coming out as fast as the first, so dodging was all that Rietz could do, and the chance to deliver a counter eluded him. He was barely avoiding the attacks, as well─Braham’s spear nicked his cheek and his arm, drawing blood. It seemed the boy was aiming for Rietz’s vitals, even though he’d proposed a nonlethal duel. Apparently, he’d forgotten the arrangement, and was now going in for the kill with a bloodthirsty fervor. If he had been trying to end the fight without killing Rietz, he would’ve been trying to disarm him rather than disembowel him.

Rietz could tell that the fight would end poorly if he didn’t shake things up, and soon. To start, he tried to gain some distance from his foe by taking two big steps backward. Braham followed without hesitation, trying to once again move in and close the gap, but as he did so, Rietz brought his halberd down, swinging for Braham’s spear in an attempt to knock it out of his hands. Braham must’ve known on an instinctual level that he couldn’t take a strike like that, so he pulled back at the last second, retreating without attempting to block it.

That was Rietz’s chance for a counterattack. He swung his halberd again without delay, raining blows upon Braham. The rapid nature of his strikes led to them being less powerful than his first attack, and Braham was able to parry them with his spear, but even a weak attack by Rietz’s standards was still crushingly heavy. Each attack sent a numbing pain racing through Braham’s arms, and he couldn’t find any opportunities to mount a counterattack.

Rietz thought for a moment that he could press the advantage and bring the duel to an end, but he’d misjudged Braham’s incredible athleticism. The boy dodged past Rietz’s next attack instead of parrying it and thrust his spear forward once more, aiming to send it straight through Rietz’s cranium. Rietz just barely managed to twist out of its way, then fell back a few steps once more.

“You really are as tough as I thought. This is getting fun!” exclaimed Braham with an almost childishly innocent grin.

As someone who’d never found anything fun about crossing swords, Rietz couldn’t relate. He just saw Braham as dangerous.

“All right, here comes my best move!” Braham shouted with glee, taking several steps backward, charging at Rietz, and then jumping into the air, higher than a human being had any right to leap. He plummeted toward Rietz, spear pointed downward in an attempt to run him straight through.

“Dragon Spear!” he roared. Apparently, he’d named the attack.

It was a flashy move, and if it had landed, it would’ve had enough power to pierce Rietz’s armor. It was also, however, yet another direct, straightforward attack that Rietz dodged by stepping to the side. Braham plowed into the street, embedding his spear deep into the brick road.

“I-It’s stuck!” Braham bellowed as he tugged on the spear. “Hey, you! Why’d you dodge, you coward?!”

“W-Well, umm…I’m rather confused as to why you thought I wouldn’t,” said Rietz, who was so blown away by his foe’s stupidity it took him a moment to collect his thoughts.

“In any case,” Rietz continued as he held his halberd’s blade to Braham’s throat, “I believe I can declare victory now.”

“Wh-Why you… A-Are you really okay with winning like this?! Does cheating your way to victory like a coward satisfy you?!” he said with a sharp glare. He almost made it sound like Rietz had swindled him.

“You have no one to blame for this but yourself,” Rietz sighed. “And, as promised, I’ll be having that information from you now. You do intend to keep your promise, I trust? I can’t think of anything more cowardly than going back on your word.”

“Ugh…” Braham grunted, clenching his teeth with frustration. Eventually, he resigned himself to his fate and told Rietz everything he knew about the castle’s magical defenses.

○

While Rietz was gathering information in his own particular way, Mireille was obtaining the same information in hers. She had also gone into town in an effort to find and entrap a less than competent squad of enemies, and had also managed to capture one of their leaders.

“All right, pal, I’ve got some questions for you! Hope you’re in a sharing mood,” said Mireille. “What do you know about Castle Staatz’s magical defenses?”

“Y-You expect me to tell you?! My lips are sealed!” said the enemy commander. He looked like he was in his early twenties─young enough that Mireille had suspected for a moment that he wouldn’t know anything at all. Judging by his reaction, though, she’d hit the jackpot.

“You’re shaking a little too hard to play tough on me. I feel for you, honestly, but war’s war and I can’t show mercy here. Nothing personal, okay?”

“Agh!” the man yelped as Mireille flashed him a grin and prepared to begin her interrogation. She was just about to start out quick and easy by tearing off a few fingernails when the man spoke up again. “S-Stop, please! I’ll talk! I’ll talk, just stop!”

“What, already?” said Mireille. “I mean, that makes my life easier, don’t get me wrong, but wow, you’re pathetic.”

The man grimaced with a whimper, and Mireille smiled.

“Okay then, it’s time for you to give us the grand tour! Lead us to the nearest magical installation, and we’ll handle the rest.”

The man gave Mireille a listless nod, then set off, hands still bound as he led her and her men away.

○

After clearing a path into the castle walls, Clamant and his men began working toward their next objective: opening up the front gates from the inside. First, though, they needed to verify where those gates were. That was something that even the local noncombatants would know, so he dragged the information out of a townsperson who was sheltering in their home. After that, he and his crew set out to do some reconnaissance, scoping out the gate and getting a grasp on its current state of affairs. In doing so, they learned that getting the gate open was going to be quite the trial.

“The whole area’s packed with soldiers. We’re gonna have a hard time fighting our way through all of ’em,” said one of Clamant’s scouts. That was no surprise, really. Couran was making a show out of his attempt to breach the gates, so it stood to reason that the bulk of the enemy’s troops would be present in the vicinity. Even if the Maitraw Company were to storm in without warning and catch the enemy soldiers off guard, getting the gate open would still be a herculean task.

“No sense trying to do the impossible…but doing nothing would drag our company’s name through the dirt,” Clamant muttered to himself as he considered his options. Just then, his gaze fell on a nearby tower. There were two tall towers in Castle Staatz, and mages were firing off spells from the top ramparts of each. Clamant assumed they were casting explosive spells at Couran’s army beyond the gates. “They must have a sizable stockpile of explosive aqua magia in there… Hmm. We can make use of that.”

Clamant settled on a plan. If he could seize control of the towers, he would seize their aqua magia in the process. Using it, in turn, would allow him to bring down the gate by force, and maybe the surrounding walls while he was at it. The magical barrier defending the walls was, after all, located outside of them, and would almost certainly do nothing to stop a spell cast from within. If their spellcraft was elaborate enough to account for that eventuality, he’d just have to wait until Rietz and Mireille disabled the castle’s magical defenses.

There were, of course, two towers, and if he only took one there was a chance that the other would fire upon it, bringing the tower and Clamant down together. As such, he ordered his company to split up into two teams and claim both towers at once.

“You’re in charge of the B-team, Ryde,” Clamant said to his vice captain. “Head for the farther tower and clear it out.”

“Got it, Boss,” said Ryde.

With that, the Maitraw Company split up and sped off toward their respective towers.

○

The last few soldiers in our division made their way past the walls and into the castle grounds, which I found littered with the corpses of enemy soldiers. I was getting used to sights like these, but I hadn’t exactly learned to enjoy them, to say the least. Every corpse I came across drove in the feeling that someday, I might end up meeting the same fate. It was a terrifying thought, but I couldn’t afford to stand around shivering in fear.

Reports soon came in from Rietz’s, Mireille’s, and Clamant’s squads. They’d all gone in ahead of us, and from the sound of things their missions were going well. Only the Maitraw Company was having difficulties─it seemed that opening the front gate had proven unfeasible, so they’d pivoted to occupying a couple of nearby towers first. It felt like a more effective plan than just getting the gate open, so I approved of their judgment. At the rate things were going, we’d have the castle’s magical defenses down in no time at all, and the towers would give us an even greater tactical advantage.

The enemy, of course, wasn’t just going to give up all those objectives without a fight.

“The forces that were guarding the central keep are on the move and attempting to disrupt our advance!” reported one of our scouts.

The forces who were defending the gate were too occupied by Couran’s assault to deal with us, but the area around the inner keep had yet to turn into a battlefield, and the enemy had decided that the units guarding it would be better used elsewhere. They hadn’t sent away all of their guards, of course, and the amount they were sending out felt like too little. I found myself wondering if Thomas’s absence had crippled their ability to make snap decisions.

“The additional hostile forces are prioritizing the towers that the Maitraw Company has chosen to target,” the scout added. That struck me as a natural choice. If those towers fell, it would be a disastrous loss for them.

Rosell, who had been listening in to the scout’s report, turned toward Lumeire and said, “I think we should back up the Maitraw Company. If the enemy’s sending more men their way, they’ll need our help.”

“I agree,” said Lumeire without hesitation. “Occupying those towers will grant us a major advantage as well. We’ll move out at once!”

We hurried through the city streets, doing our best to arrive in time to cut off the enemy’s advance. The towers were tall enough that we could see our destination without difficulty, but this being our first time in Castle Staatz, none of us knew the quickest route to reach them. As a result, the trip took much longer than I would’ve liked. Our foes, on the other hand, knew which roads to travel to reach the towers as fast as possible, and ended up arriving far sooner than we did. As we finally reached the tower’s base, I worried for a moment that we’d been too late, but then I sighted the Maitraw Company, still fighting a pitched battle by the tower’s entryway. We’d made it in time, albeit just barely.

“Mages, forward!” shouted Lumeire.

“On it!” replied Charlotte, who’d come along with our unit. She was using a small catalyzer, since the large ones would’ve been way too hard to haul into the castle, but for these circumstances, that was more than sufficient firepower. We had dozens of mages with us, Charlotte included, and all of them unleashed their spells simultaneously, raining death down upon our foes. Our enemies had no idea we were coming and were caught off guard, unable to do anything to protect themselves. Their formation crumbled in a matter of seconds.

“Charge!” Lumeire commanded, leading our infantry toward the enemy. I thought that we would wipe them out with ease, considering that their chain of command was in shambles, but I’d forgotten that these were the troops who’d been assigned to guard the most important part of the castle. They were the cream of the crop, and not only did they put up a fight, but they actually began turning the tide.

For a moment, I thought we were in trouble. As skilled as our foes were, though, they still had the Maitraw Company to deal with, and their two units had them flanked. If they gave us too much of their attention, they wouldn’t be able to ward off Clamant and his men, who were just as skilled as our foes. It was an unenviable situation they’d found themselves in, and for all their expertise, we were picking off one soldier after another. Even then, they refused to surrender. I had to commend their resolve, in a sense─the battle wasn’t over until we’d finished them off.

We’d managed to defeat the reinforcements who’d been sent to the tower, and thanks to our inadvertent surprise attack, we’d done so surprisingly smoothly. In spite of our achievements, however, I was nervous just to be present on a battlefield.

I really hope things keep going this well, and everyone gets out of this okay.

“The help’s appreciated,” Clamant said when he and Lumeire crossed paths. I got the feeling he’d been in a pretty dicey position before we’d shown up. “We need to take over this tower before more of them arrive, but the place is packed full of magical traps. Getting up top hasn’t been easy. We have a few people who know how to disarm that sort of trap in our band, but they all went to deal with the other tower, so nobody here can get us through them.”

That got my attention, seeing as I had two people under my command who specialized in that sort of work: Pham and Ben. Both of them had come along on this operation, but I knew that Pham had drawn quite a bit of attention to himself back when he saved Couran, and my understanding was that he was trying to keep a low profile today, even as he fought by our side. He was keeping his distance, backing us up with magic and a bow.

Ben, on the other hand, had joined up with the main force and was playing the part of an ordinary soldier. His commonplace appearance and fighting style meant that even if he did make a major difference on the battlefield, nobody would take much note of him. I was starting to appreciate that his characteristic lack of characteristics was a much more useful trait to have than I’d initially thought. In any case, since Pham didn’t want to take center stage, I decided to ask Ben if he could disarm the traps.

“I have someone who’s experienced in dealing with magical traps. I’ll see if he can handle it,” I said, then called over Ben and asked him to take on the task. Ben agreed with a simple nod and walked right into the tower.

A few minutes later, he emerged and stated, “Mission accomplished.”

I was shocked by how quickly he’d pulled it off, but I shook off the surprise and went over to Clamant.

“It’s done, apparently.”

“That was fast. Good, though. We’ll storm the tower right away. You lot should wait outside and defend this position. Oh, and I’d recommend sending some men over to back up the other tower, just in case.”

With that, Clamant led the charge into the tower. We took his advice, splitting our force and sending men to support the Maitraw mercenaries fighting to take over the other tower. Those of us who remained in our current position set up a defensive perimeter around the tower and waited to repel any additional reinforcements who might show up.

In the end, that extra layer of defense proved unnecessary and Clamant’s crew took over the tower without issue. With the magical traps gone, a few mages were all that was left to defend the place. From the sound of it, it hadn’t even been a fight at all. A short while after the tower was claimed, Rietz and Mireille reported in to say that they’d taken out the mages who were maintaining the castle’s magical defenses, bringing the barrier down in the area around the front gates.

“There’s nothing to stop us from bringing down the walls with a magical blast…and I suppose we should leave that task to Charlotte, shouldn’t we?” proposed Lumeire.

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” I said. “None of the Maitraw Company’s people are better mages than her.”

I’d taken the time to appraise their most skilled mage a little while beforehand, and Charlotte’s stats had put his to shame.

Lumeire ordered Clamant to hold off on casting any spells, since Charlotte would be along to do it herself. Lumeire, Rosell, and I ended up climbing the tower with her, just so we could see the walls come down in person. It was a tall tower, and just climbing it proved to be a bit of a trial, but we somehow managed to reach the top, where we found a somewhat oddly-shaped catalyzer. Most of them were spherical, but this one looked more like some sort of tube.

“Well, this thing’s pretty weird. Where’s the mage who was using it?” asked Charlotte, glancing at Clamant.

“Dead,” Clamant grunted.

“Well, that’s a damn waste. Mages don’t grow on trees, y’know? Try not killing the next one if you can get away with it,” Charlotte scolded. This was one of the very rare occasions when she was in the right, and Clamant couldn’t muster a counterargument.

Charlotte started fiddling with the catalyzer and preparing it for use. The look on her face wasn’t very confident, though.

“Hmm… I guess this’ll do it, probably? I think it’s aimed at the wall, but if it’s not, well, not my fault,” she muttered, inspiring no confidence in me whatsoever that this was going to go well.

“W-Wait,” I said, “if you’re not positive it’s aimed right, maybe we should just leave it─”

“Meh! Here goes!” Charlotte grunted, then started chanting her spell.

I tried to stop her, I really did, but once Charlotte started casting there was nothing you could do to drag her attention away from her magic. We were now in a dangerous situation. In the worst case, the whole tower could be vaporized! I was so terrified that I found myself hunched over on the ground, my arms wrapped around my head…but then, a few moments later, I heard an explosion far off in the distance.

“Oh, hey! That worked out!”

I stood back up to look out at the castle walls, and sure enough, one of them had just suffered a direct hit from her spell. That single shot had been enough to blow away an entire segment of the wall, opening up a hole for Couran’s army to charge through. These weren’t just any walls, either─they’d been designed to withstand magical blasts even if their protective barrier was broken through, so the fact that Charlotte had brought them down in one shot told a terrifying tale of how potent her magic really was.

“All right! Let’s try that again!” Charlotte exclaimed, then cast several more incantations, bringing down one segment of the wall after another.

“W-Wait a minute, you’re going overboard! That’s enough!” I shouted. We were going to have to repair those walls, and the more she decimated them the harder that task would be. Practically speaking, Couran’s army had plenty of points of entry already, so I had her stop before she went too far with her magical demolition work. We’d gone about it in a manner pretty much unrecognizable from our original plan, but still, we’d neutralized Castle Staatz’s outer walls.

We spent some time up on the tower after the walls fell, using its vantage point to get a handle on the overall state of the battle. At first, it didn’t seem like the tide was turning in Couran’s favor. The enemy’s morale was high, and they fought to prevent Couran’s men from breaking through and entering the castle proper. Gradually, though, the defender’s forces were overwhelmed by Couran’s superior numbers, and before long his men broke though the enemy line and streamed into the castle town’s streets. The enemy troops seemed to realize they were being beaten back, and began to retreat and regroup, abandoning the castle town in an effort to bolster the defenses of the central keep.

“Hey, see those guys who’re retreating? Shouldn’t I blast them, or something?” asked Charlotte.

On the one hand she had a point, but on the other hand, they were retreating through the streets of the castle town. Launching explosive magic at them would damage the town as well, and this was a city that somebody on our side would have to rule over after the battle was finished. Blowing up a local neighborhood while its residents were sheltering in their homes sounded like a fantastic way to earn the loathing of the local populace, and I wasn’t interested in sabotaging the rule of whoever ended up in power here. That was the sort of move that started peasant uprisings!

Whittling away at the enemy’s troops was all well and good, but we were already at an advantage even without the use of magical explosives, so I decided not to go with her suggestion.

“No, don’t,” I said. “We’re here to take over this city, not blow it up.”

“I wasn’t gonna blow it up, though,” said Charlotte. “I can keep my spells in check!”

“You can? Really?”

“Dunno. I mean, I probably can, but I might screw it up.”

“Then don’t. That’s not a gamble I’m willing to take.”

She doesn’t hesitate to commit to dangerous ideas, does she?

“If you’re finished, we should decide on our next move,” said Lumeire. “Perhaps assaulting the enemy with explosive magic is off the table, but we ought to be doing something. We’re not accomplishing anything by standing here.”

Lumeire had a point, in my mind, but Rosell had other ideas.

“Actually, I think we’d be better off staying in the tower for now,” he said. “Our troops would be in trouble if the enemy managed to reclaim it. They’re fighting a losing battle right now, so there’s a real possibility that they wouldn’t hesitate to level the city and us with it if they had the chance. I believe that staying here and guarding this tower would be the best use of our time.”

Lumeire nodded in understanding. It seemed that he was convinced by Rosell’s explanation, while I was astonished by just how much Rosell had grown over the course of the war. When the conflict began he’d been a fearful little kid, jumping at shadows and too scared to speak his mind without stammering through every other word. Recently, though, he’d started acting more assertive. It felt like he’d developed some real self-confidence.

We took Rosell’s advice and spent a period of time holding our position by the tower and guarding it against any potential invaders. Just as Rosell predicted, a group of enemy soldiers eventually launched an attack to reclaim the building. A battle broke out, but since the enemies had just been defeated by and fled from Couran’s main force, they were exhausted and unable to fight their best. As soon as it became clear they wouldn’t be able to reclaim the tower, they gave up and resumed their retreat toward the central keep. Rosell’s strategy had been right on the money. If we hadn’t stuck around to defend the tower, it was almost certain that enemy soldiers would’ve taken it back and raised hell.

Before long, Couran’s forces reached the base of the tower. There wouldn’t be any danger of it falling into enemy hands now that it was behind our front line, so we descended to ground level and joined forces with the main army. Couran wasn’t commanding from the front lines, though, so we weren’t able to make contact with him just yet. We ended up marching on the central keep with the rest of Couran’s army. To his credit, his troops seemed very disciplined and made no attempts to enter the civilians’ homes or do any looting and pillaging.

“Retreat!” a voice soon cried out ahead of us. I could tell that it wasn’t one of our men, but that just left me confused. Where were they planning on retreating to? Had they decided that Castle Staatz was a lost cause, and resolved to flee through the north gate and fall back to Castle Velshdt? It didn’t seem like an unreasonable call to make. There was very little hope left that they could turn this battle around, so if they’d decided to give up on the castle, I’d have to give them credit for their pragmatism.

It wasn’t long before we reached the central keep, where we found nobody left to halt our advance. As I’d assumed, it seemed the enemy had concluded that they couldn’t hold us off and had fled for their lives. In spite of my initial apprehensions, we’d done it: the battle was over, and Castle Staatz was ours.

We moved into the central keep and began a search of its interior. There was a chance that the enemy had left traps behind, so Pham, Ben, and some other soldiers who were experienced with disarming traps went in first. In the end, though, they determined that there weren’t any traps to speak of, and I soon realized why: Rietz and Mireille had not only taken out the mages who were keeping up the castle’s barrier, but they had also disabled the facility that controlled the castle’s various magical traps.

The Count of Velshdt and Thomas were nowhere to be found. I assumed that they’d fled with their army. On the other hand, the Baron of Staatz, Stefan, had remained behind in the castle. We sent troops in pursuit of their army, but they proved quite capable at running away, and our men weren’t able to do very much damage to their force as they retreated. Some enemy troops remained within the castle town, but most of those surrendered in short order.

With that, Castle Staatz had fallen under our control.