Chapter 158
The Rebel
Army's Battle ① - The Teigoon Siege
Translator : PolterGlast
"Urgent report!
An urgent report from Elan-sama at the New Checkpoint! A force believed to be
Viscount Hiyorimi's army is advancing along the Fran highway, heading for the
New Checkpoint! Their numbers... are approximately 1,000!"
"One thousand! No
way..."
Miseri was so
distraught she was at a loss for words. In the countless military campaigns up
until now, Viscount Hiyorimi had only ever deployed 600 soldiers.
That fact had led to a
miscalculation on their part.
"One thousand!
That far exceeds their past deployment numbers! Are you saying they've come at
us, leaving their own domain empty...?"
Gale also raised his
voice in surprise.
He had sent spies into
the neighboring domain countless times and believed he had a reasonably
accurate grasp of their military strength.
Military power doesn't
just spring out of nowhere. They must have scraped them together from
somewhere.
Between the matter of
the citizens and this number of troops, is Viscount Hiyorimi prepared to
destroy his own domain? He felt a chill and couldn't help but think so.
"Elan-sama only
has 100 guards with him. We have to send reinforcements immediately! Yoltia-san
is also at the New Checkpoint. If something were to happen to her..."
Miseri raised her
voice in a sorrowful, anxious tone.
"To think it
would come to this... they've exceeded our expectations. No matter how
protected we are by impregnable walls, if they get right underneath, a force of
only 100 soldiers can't possibly deal with them. We have no choice but to
quickly reassign the soldiers from the demon territory side and those remaining
in Teigoon to the New Checkpoint, but..."
Christoph bit his lip
in frustration.
"We can only
mobilize about 100 from the self-defense force right now. The rest are needed
to handle the infected, or are recovering after getting infected with the
plague themselves while on duty. Let's move these 100 to the demon territory
gate and entrust them to Kira-san. All of the remaining garrison and the Frontier
Knights go to the New Checkpoint!"
Claire's proposal was
immediately put into action.
Between dealing with
the infected who had flowed into Teigoon from the Hiyorimi domain and
supporting the response to the infected who had flowed into other regions of
their territory, their military strength and manpower were already stretched to
their limits.
There was very little
left that they could do.
Their only hope was
for reinforcements from Viscount Solis's army, stationed in the town of Est.
Clinging to this sliver of hope, they continued their desperate efforts.
※
But the reality
surrounding them was cruel. A short time before this, the town of Est had also
fallen into great chaos.
The response to the
influx of infected people from the Hiyorimi domain had somehow been proceeding
smoothly thanks to support from Teigoon.
The misfortune was
that, in the midst of this response, Chrisia, Darren, and Chris—the ones in
command—had become infected one after another, leading to a state of
overwhelming leadership deficiency.
And then, even the
steward (Raymond), who had been fighting a lone battle, finally succumbed to
the illness.
Fortunately, thanks to
the information from the second son and the success of the purification ritual
at the church, their conditions did not become severe, their symptoms
stabilized, and they avoided a critical outcome. However, the situation of
having the entire leadership temporarily bedridden caused the chain of command
to become dysfunctional.
It was later assessed
that if Viscount Hiyorimi's army had aimed for Est instead of Teigoon, Est
would have easily fallen, and the fate of Viscount Solis's family would have
been sealed. The confusion was that severe.
Amidst this, a report
arrived from Viscount Gorman that he was under attack, and a request for
reinforcements came from Baron Cornell.
The remaining
government officials in Est desperately tried to manage the situation, but many
collapsed not from the plague, but from overwork.
As the people prayed
for their return to duty, Viscount Solis (Darren) was the first to recover from
his sickbed.
Darren issued a
command, gathered forces from the town of Est and the western part of the
domain, and somehow scraped together 400 soldiers. But even so, he had none to
spare for other domains.
Adding the 30 cavalry
reinforcements from Teigoon, he left 200 to defend Est and advanced into Fran
with a force of 230 cavalry to consolidate the forces from the eastern and
southern parts of the domain.
There, he joined up
with the various units dispatched from Teigoon, a total of 170 cavalry,
bringing Darren's total force to 400.
It was at this point
that Darren learned the total number of Viscount Hiyorimi's forces that had
advanced into this area was nearly 1,000.
He couldn't believe
his ears at the report of an enemy force more than twice the size of his own
and was astonished that the Hiyorimi domain had so many soldiers.
If they had sent 1,000
soldiers to this front, the total strength of the Hiyorimi army would likely
exceed 1,400. Darren predicted this and grew increasingly anxious.
He was completely
occupied with just preventing the Hiyorimi army's advance toward Est.
"Forgive me! Just
a little longer, somehow, hold out. At least until we can gather a force of
more than half the enemy's number..."
Muttering this, all he
could do was pray.
He himself had to
avoid a reckless charge with less than half the enemy's strength, which would
lead to the collapse of his entire army, and his body trembled at this
agonizing decision.
※
Meanwhile, at the New
Checkpoint, a standoff between the two sides continued. The attacking Hiyorimi
army was in no hurry to conquer the fortress. They simply surrounded it and
spent the first night doing nothing. It was as if they were waiting for something.
The next day, after
confirming that the defenders had dispatched new reinforcements, bringing the
defense force to about 300 men, Viscount Hiyorimi made his move.
"Hmph, they've
foolishly sent their entire army here. Little do they know it's to our advantage.
Deploy that strategy! With this, all preparations to annihilate them in one
fell swoop are complete."
He gave the order to
his subordinate.
"Their luck ran
out when they failed to notice that our spies had participated in the
fortress's construction as laborers. At that moment, the fall of this fortress
was as good as decided."
Viscount Hiyorimi spat
venomously as he looked at the fortress walls, standing imposingly in the
distance.
Within the fortress
known as the New Checkpoint, the arrival of reinforcements, however small, had
raised morale somewhat. They also had pride in the fact that this was an
impregnable fortress.
But few knew of the
weak point lurking within.
"Elan-sama! A
report from the water source! The fish... all the fish are dead!"
Even as the soldier
reported frantically, Elan was calm. No, he was quietly furious.
"They came with a
despicable trick, just as I thought. Just as Lord Takuhir said. I will never
forgive them! There are citizens from the Hiyorimi domain here, too..."
Elan's response was
swift. As if it were a pre-planned action.
"Connect the
water from the source directly to the sewer! It's poisoned, so make sure no one
touches it. Not just for drinking, all water is to be sourced from the well
only. Tell everyone, quickly!"
From the very
beginning when he heard the construction plan for this fortress from Elan,
Takuhir had recognized its weakness.
Drawing water from a
distant river via a channel. This might not be a problem in peacetime. But the
New Checkpoint (fortress) was a defensive facility.
It had to function as
a base of operations when besieged or invaded by an enemy army.
Considering that, this
waterway was a fatal flaw.
However, although he
added a revised plan, he deliberately left the basic plan as it was. He even
made an effort to deliberately conceal the waterway.
He had predicted that
as long as laborers were involved in the construction, information would
inevitably leak.
In that case, he had
shifted his thinking to devising a trap on the premise that it would leak.
On Takuhir's
instructions, a reservoir was created just before the water source, and fish
caught from the original river were released into it. He felt sorry for the
fish, but they would serve as an alarm.
He had told only Elan
and a few others about this.
"Alright,
everyone, we're going to start the deception! To make it look like the number
of soldiers is gradually decreasing, hide inside the fortress walls and don't
show yourselves.
Conversely, at night,
increase the number of bonfires all at once. Take your time on purpose, to make
it look like a small number of people are lighting many bonfires."
And so, just as the
battle of the New Checkpoint was about to begin, the leadership of Teigoon was
to receive an even more shocking report.
※
"Urgent report!
An urgent report from the gate on the demon territory side! A force has been
spotted from the watchtower, moving through the pass towards Teigoon! Their
number is estimated to be around five hundred! Awaiting your orders!"
For Miseri and Claire,
who were stationed at the command center, this was a final, crushing blow.
"Five
hundred!"
Claire was so shocked
by the sheer number that she couldn't speak another word.
They had a track
record of repelling an enemy force of 3,000 last time.
But at that time, the
mages, who had thoroughly considered countermeasures, were able to utilize the
multi-layered traps they had set. And they had 100 healthy soldiers and 500
members of the self-defense force.
Now was completely
different... The self-defense force was at the peak of exhaustion, and the
townspeople were worn out from dealing with the plague.
Above all, due to the
spread of the plague, they couldn't carry out a large-scale mobilization.
Everything was stretched to its absolute limit.
"No! I can't... I
can't do it anymore!"
Miseri cried out
involuntarily and collapsed on the spot.
"Takuhir-sama,
I'm sorry. We... might not be able to protect it. I'm so, so sorry..."
Claire knelt, embraced
the sobbing Miseri, and cursed her own incompetence, apologizing to her husband
who was not there.
The leaders they
should have relied on, all except for them, had advanced to the New Checkpoint
and were engaged in a defensive battle. Many of the mages were also dispersed
to various locations, and only a few remained at the command center.
And at the gate on the
demon territory side, there were only Kira's mercenary band of 50 and 100
exhausted members of the self-defense force. Even the impregnable Teigoon, if
attacked from both ends, would have no escape, and if either side were
breached, it would be overrun.
They had no moves left
to make.
And so, Teigoon fell
into an unprecedentedly desperate predicament, and the fighting spirit of its
commanders was beginning to shatter.
--------------------------------------
◆Mage Dispatch Locations
〇 Eastern Front Dispatch Unit: 13 members
Wind Mages : Gold, Aral, Lilia,
Brant, Folk
Fire Mages : Mars, Danke
Holy Mages : Marianne, Lanatoria
Space-Time Mage : Bart
Dark Mage : Raphael
Water Mage : Walrus
Earth Mage : Astor
〇 Remaining in the Royal Capital: 2 members
Earth Mage : Mary
Water Mage : Sasha
〇 Town of Teigoon: 3 members
Fire Mage : Claire
Ice Mage : Kinia
Holy Mage : Clara
〇 New Checkpoint: 7 members
Wind Mages : Christoph, Gale
Earth Mage : Elan
Gravity Mage : Yoltia
Holy Mage : Tiara
Light Mage : Leia
Sound Mage : Shannon
〇 Demon Territory Fortress: 1 member
Earth Mage : Masrour
〇 Fran Town Dispatch Unit: 3 members
Holy Mage : Rosa
Fire Mage : Crawler
Wind Mage : Irina
〇 Est Town Dispatch Unit: 4 members
Wind Mage : Carleen
Holy Mage : Mia
Water Mage : Aira
Space-Time Mage : Kaul
〇 Eastern Border Ward Dispatch Unit: 4 members
Holy Mage : Michelle
Fire Mage : Isaac
Earth Mage : Laila
Wind Mage : Catarina
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