Ch.128128. War (4)

As I was momentarily speechless, dumbfounded by Baron Lefant’s outrageous remarks.

[I ask you once more! Who exactly are you to trample our territory with your muddy feet?!]

Witnessing the Baron shouting again with fury in his voice, I was overwhelmed by a feeling that I simply couldn’t contain myself, even though his words weren’t even meant as a provocation.

Anger boiled within me, to the point where murderous intent rose up, making me want to cast a piercing or slashing spell to kill the being before me.

However… despite that, I had to exercise restraint.

What I wanted was not meaningless slaughter but appropriate punishment.

Since I didn’t desire in the slightest to massacre the citizens within that city, I barely regained my composure before shouting powerfully toward the Baron.

With a touch of magical power, Fear, and even a bit of wild mystery infused in my voice.

[My name is Gregory Aleinos! I am the rightful owner of the manor that Baron Lefant invaded and occupied through his underling, Enerval Gatrang! I have come personally to bring judgment upon you!]

Right after finishing those words, I observed their reaction for a moment and felt quite satisfied seeing the commotion atop the walls. Meanwhile, Baron Lefant opened his mouth once again.

[…What nonsense are you spouting?! You attacked our barony first, and yet you dare!]

The slight hesitation before he spoke seemed to indicate that the figure before me was aware of the wrong he had committed.

In essence, Baron Lefant seemed to have some inkling, but he was speaking like that to build justification that might appear meaningless but was anything but.

When we speak of justification, it’s a value that has been considered important from ancient times until today.

The power that justification holds in human society can never be underestimated.

Proper justification gathers allies who share it and solidifies community consciousness, and furthermore, it exerts great power even in situations like war.

After all, if one fights “to protect family” versus “taking responsibility for the arbitrary actions of a superior,” who would be motivated to fight with their life on the line in a war?

[How brazenly you speak! Knowing that your subjects are suffering because of your crimes!!]

[Stop your nonsense!! It is because you invaded that my people are suffering!]

So I tried to diminish their fighting spirit through the art of verbal intimidation, but it didn’t seem like I could win a war of words against a ruler who had been immersed in politics for decades.

No. To be brutally honest, I didn’t really have any reason to persuade them.

This verbal exchange was merely to secure an adequate level of justification, not to gain moral superiority with the aim of ruling as a monarch in this local society.

I wasn’t so lacking in power that I needed to advocate for the legitimacy of my cause to turn the internal residents against their lord.

Nor was I particularly eloquent enough to handle an active politician.

I am merely an avenger and judge. From my position with no intention of conquering this territory, I simply need to act according to my purpose… and once that purpose is achieved, I can leave.

[…Men, hear me! From now on, we face creatures that are not human…]

Of course, to do that, I needed to win the battle one way or another, so as I watched the Baron delivering a speech to his soldiers, I leisurely prepared for battle by casting wild magic on my subordinates.

From powerful buff spells like ‘Wild Explosion’ to sustained stamina/health recovery spells like ‘Rising Vigor’ or ‘Breath of the Wild.’

Adding buff spells like ‘Bear’s Might’ or ‘Donkey’s Perseverance,’ I completed the area-of-effect buff combo I had devised.

[…The enemy before you will kill your families, plunder your assets, and ruthlessly exploit you! Fight, soldiers! I will stand with you!]

And by the time my buff combo was completed, Baron Lefant’s speech was also nearing its end—

[—Advance!!]

As soon as the speech ended, I ordered my forces to advance while beginning to draw up magical power throughout my body.

※ ※ ※

‘What… what is he thinking?’

Meanwhile, rewinding time just a bit.

Baron Lefant, who had been continuing his speech to inspire his soldiers’ fighting spirit, was suspiciously eyeing the magic user Gregory Aleinos, who was strangely allowing him to continue uninterrupted.

Logically, an enemy wouldn’t just quietly observe while his opponent gave a speech.

Baron Lefant, who had been prepared for some kind of interference, couldn’t understand the reason.

But during this time, Baron Lefant suddenly sensed pulsating magical power from a slightly distant area, and thanks to this, he realized that the magic user was plotting something magical and quickly concluded his speech.

[…The enemy before you will kill your families, plunder your assets, and ruthlessly exploit you! Fight, soldiers! I will stand with you!]

And as if taking this as a signal, the magic user’s shout echoed across the field, and simultaneously, the non-human army began to slowly approach the lord’s castle.

[—Advance!!]

-Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

At the vanguard, large and sturdy nature golems took position and advanced, with ‘wolf-men’ following behind, using the giants as shields as they moved forward.

The outer wall of Baron Lefant’s castle is a thick stone barrier 5 meters high, and like many such large-scale architectural structures, it is one of countless legacies of the ancient empire.

They say that now the mystique has faded and magical power has dissipated, but even so, the durability of the walls, where ancient imperial magic still remains, cannot be easily broken.

Add to this a fairly deep moat encircling the outer castle.

Given its scale, it wouldn’t be breached by a mere force of 400 troops.

Moreover, the current castle forces exceed 400 men-at-arms, and including conscripts and civilian participants, the total force is about 2,000.

Although they are largely untrained, considering the structure of a siege battle, they are not numerically disadvantaged at all.

And considering that the 8 knights currently stationed in the lord’s castle and the Baron himself are excluded from this count, not only conquering the castle but even inflicting meaningful damage seems almost impossible.

However… even a seemingly invincible castle like this had its limitations.

Specifically, while the castle was sturdy, it lacked means to counterattack externally.

Weapons requiring high engineering skills, like crossbows, couldn’t be manufactured in the first place, and even if resources were invested to make them, the number of people who could use them was so limited that they might as well not exist.

Bows, on the other hand, were weapons that existed in some quantity within the castle, but archery was such a difficult high-level skill to master that there were hardly any people inside the castle who knew how to use them.

If it were a rural village adjacent to forests or mountains, people might learn archery for survival, but humans living inside a castle naturally had no reason to learn archery.

In addition, while catapults and siege engines originally existed… that magic user must have tampered with them, as all existing ones were completely destroyed.

The siege engines, which had a structure of binding timber with ropes, had all their ropes cut, effectively dismantling them.

Even the stone-throwing cannons, which could be considered the few gunpowder weapons in this castle, were as good as empty cans without the gunpowder needed to use them.

‘…Damn it!’

Therefore, in the current situation where enemies were approaching steadily but nothing could be done, the only ranged weapon the Baron could deploy was just one.

“Throw the javelins! Throw them!!”

“Throw stones! Don’t let them approach!”

“Ignore the giants! Target the wolf pack!”

It was javelins and stones, thrown directly by bodily strength, boasting a long history and tradition.

Pebbles guaranteed sufficient lethality with their weight and physical force alone, and javelins too possessed enough destructive power when thrown downward like a stabbing motion, but…

All these attacks couldn’t even scratch those massive nature golems, let alone anything else.

Therefore, easily ignoring what was essentially nominal resistance, the giants finally approached right up to the castle walls…

And thus, the worst day in Baron Lefant’s domain began to unfold.