“I’m afraid not─building a tower that high would risk it collapsing. Moreover, we lack the time to undertake such a project.”
“In short, unless we were able to develop an airship of our own, or otherwise a new form of weaponry capable of shooting one down, a perfect defense will be beyond our means.”
“So it would seem, Your Lordship,” Lacan confirmed with a melancholic nod.
“Our only option may be to destroy it while it’s grounded, then… It can’t stay in the air forever, correct? There’s sure to be a moment when we can target it. Send in our spies to do so.”
“Understood,” Lacan said with a nod.
Ashude’s discussion with his counselor ended there. Lacan went on his way to deliver the duke’s orders to everyone who needed to hear them.
Even if we’re able to destroy the airship and emerge victorious in this war, Missian will still have the means to produce more of them. Do we truly stand any chance in the long term…? Missian’s population is vast, and its economy thriving. An airship or two will take them no time to produce at all. We could send an assassin to take the life of the craftsman who invented them, but so long as blueprints exist, they’ll still be able to make more─and destroying every blueprint will be difficult indeed. They’ll be very carefully guarded, and likely kept in duplicate, Ashude thought after Lacan left.
If everything went well, then keeping hold of Castle Kuat was by no means out of the question. Whether or not Seitz stood a chance in a long-term war against Missian, however, was a far more grim prospect.
We’ll have to learn to make airships of our own, or otherwise devise a perfect counter to them. Kidnapping the craftsman behind them is an option…but there’s a chance that he won’t be willing to give up his secrets. It’s not even certain that any one, single individual will know everything there is to understand about how the airship functions. Even if there was a single leader behind the initiative, they might not understand how to make the smallest and most detailed components of its power source, for instance. Stealing the blueprints could help, but that would be yet another challenge. As for means to counter the airship…there are ways to minimize our casualties, of course, but none that will counteract the sheer advantage that flight offers. Until we create a flying vessel of our own capable of engaging it in direct combat, we will be unable to fight on even footing.
However much Ashude mulled over his position, no stroke of genius was forthcoming. There was no way for him to turn the situation around in a single maneuver.
At the very least, our prospects are not yet so grim as to merit surrender. We must do what we can, nothing more, and nothing less.
His resolve renewed, Ashude began to develop a more detailed tactical plan for the upcoming battle.
○
Our invasion of Kuat County had begun, and we were making our way toward our first target: Fort Sokan. We had yet to launch the airship. Our plan was to only do so once we’d drawn close to either the fort itself, or otherwise to an enemy encampment.
I’d thought that the Seitzan army would engage us in the open, but so far, they’d chosen to hole up in their fort instead. It seemed that there were very few soldiers stationed in Fort Sokan, at the moment─the bulk of their troops were protecting Castle Kuat instead. It almost felt like they didn’t care if we took Fort Sokan, oddly enough. I just didn’t understand why they would throw away such an important strategic site. What could they be aiming for?
In the end, the enemy’s inexplicable behavior surprised me so much that I called our advance to a stop and gathered everyone up for an emergency meeting.
“What do you believe our enemy is trying to accomplish?” I asked.
“I would say that Fort Sokan is being used as bait,” Rietz replied.
“Bait?” I repeated.
“Correct. Specifically, I believe that they’re using it to entice us to deploy our airship, allowing them to gather further information regarding it. Moreover, using the airship to claim the fort would involve transporting it, making it an easier target. That said, while Fort Sokan is a significant strategic point, it’s also possible that they’ve decided that protecting Castle Kuat is a higher priority. I only mean to propose this as a possibility.”
“I see now… They must see the airship as a tremendous threat, so they’ll be looking for any chance possible to destroy it. And if they can’t manage that, they’ll at least want to learn as much about it as they can,” I said. I was convinced by Rietz’s logic. “Does that mean that we should try to capture the fort without deploying the airship?”
“I suspect that that, too, would be playing into the enemy’s hands,” said Reitz. “No matter how few its defenders may be, claiming a fort like that without the airship would take time, if they’re willing to fight to the last. They may use that extra time to bolster their main army with mercenaries, replenish their supply of rations and aqua magia, or fortify Castle Kuat, to name just a few of many possibilities.”
“So what you’re saying is that no matter what we choose, it’ll work out in the enemy’s favor?”
“In a sense. Losing Fort Sokan will be a painful setback for them, so I’m not sure I’d say it would work out in their favor, regardless of what they gain from it. At the moment, though, I believe that by leaving the fort poorly defended, they’ve chosen the best option that was available to them. Assigning a massive force to the fort would have risked losing a tremendous number of soldiers, in the event they were defeated. I expect that Seitz’s leaders are already well aware that King Couran has reclaimed Castle Lund and is leading a massive army in this direction,” Rietz explained. All things considered, he seemed to have a high opinion of Seitz’s tactics.
“I think Mister Rietz has our enemy figured out,” said Rosell. “As for what we should do about it, I’d say we should try to take the fort without using the airship. It’d be bad if they learned too much about it, and even worse if it got destroyed.”
“Yeah? Well, I think we should use it,” Mireille chimed in. “Attacking a fort’s a real hassle, no matter how few people are defending it, and I think we’ll be better off if we can take Fort Sokan before Couran gets here.”
Fort Sokan wasn’t quite a match for Fort Purledo, but it was still a rather defensible structure. It would definitely be a problem if we spent too much time dealing with it, and having it under our control by the time Couran arrived did seem like it would make it much easier for us to go on the attack with his forces.
“B-But what if the airship gets broken?” asked Rosell.