Chapter 3:
Defensive Stronghold
Murcia
VAN NARROWED HIS EYES AND SAID IT PLAINLY: “There’s a traitor in our ranks.”
Cold sweat ran down my spine when I saw his unchildlike expression. Van was normally a kind, cheerful boy, but suddenly he seemed more like an experienced general, someone who had clawed his way through horrors beyond imagining. Had he inherited our father’s blood so strongly? Or was this part of who he’d been all along?
Either way, he possessed a knack for combat that I lacked. “But why?” I somehow managed to ask. “What would a traitor gain from contact with Yelenetta?”
Van grimaced and cast his gaze back to the approaching army. “I can think of several things, but it would all be conjecture on my part. For now, let’s just say that I have other proof of a traitor in our midst. Scuderia having been able to expand its territory for years now, for example. And the fact that our people didn’t see the first surprise attack in Scuderia coming.”
He said these things matter-of-factly, like it was all no big deal, but his words were horrifying. Only after listening to them did I come to believe he might be right. “So the reason our nation has been unable to expand in the last few years is because someone was passing information to Yelenetta? And if that is the reason for the success of their surprise attack, then there must be a spy among Scuderia’s nobility…”
I began to tremble in fear as I spoke. Scuderia was one of the continent’s largest nations, but if we had traitors among the nobility—the guards of our borders—we were finished. The enemy would storm our territories and rip them from us. They might even invade the capital if they had the right information from the spy.
Van’s expression was hard to read. “Yeah. But I think it would be dangerous to only suspect the nobility.”
“Huh?” Just then the ground shook with a massive explosion from the wall, large enough to shake the ground itself. I ducked. Having heard this sound before, I knew exactly what it was: the black balls. “Ugh! Will the walls be okay?”
Van, meanwhile, leaned forward curiously, looking about as surprised as if a cup had fallen over on a table. He squinted, trying to see into the distance. Fierce explosions rang out, one after another, the enemy’s attacks becoming big, reckless, and disorderly.
“Ah, they’ve fallen back,” Van said. His eyes were still narrowed, even though the blasts were so loud I wanted to cover my ears. It did look like the enemy army had put some distance between themselves and the wall, perhaps to avoid being caught in their own explosions. Having confirmed this for himself, Van turned to the small castle ahead and to one side. “Are our crazy strong catapults ready to go?”
“Yessir!” a soldier shouted. “Ready!”
“Excellent! Give them a test fire!”
With this casual-sounding order, something deep within the small castle moved. It was hard to see from our position, but it seemed like some kind of object was attached to the castle’s side. Curious, I watched as something zipped through the air. The black object traced an arc, eventually coming straight down on the enemy army’s rear rank. It was like the thing knew exactly where it was going.
It landed with a cacophonous explosion. Unlike the black balls, it produced hardly any fire, but it was powerful all the same. Dozens of enemy soldiers were laid out on the ground, their formation in shambles. Van’s ballistae began to fire on them, too; I doubt the enemy knew what to do with themselves.
For a moment it almost felt like the battle was over. But then, in a curious tone, Van said, “Why aren’t they retreating?”
I looked back at the battlefield. He was right. The enemy had come under heavy fire, but they showed no signs of retreating. “Why aren’t they—?!” I was cut off by an explosion like none I’d ever heard. Not only did the castle shake, but so did the air itself. “Wh-whoa!”
“Huh. Did part of the wall collapse?”
I was busy trying to stay on my feet, but Van ran to the balcony and leaned over the railing. He narrowed his eyes, assessing the wall’s condition.
“Yikes. That’s not good,” he said, his voice betraying zero urgency. Then he turned to face the top of the wall and yelled, “Is everyone okay?!”
Voices shouted back, both from the cloud of smoke obscuring the top of the wall and from within the towers. “Yessir!”
“The wall is fine, but the front gates have been breached!”
“Lord Van, please evacuate!”
Van grimaced. “Thanks, but I can’t evacuate, so we’re gonna strike back instead! Those of you in the towers and castles, attack the people entering the walls! Everyone else, keep focusing on the enemy beyond the walls! Whatever weapon they used to break down the front gates is still out there, so if you spot it, destroy it ASAP!”
“Yessir!” someone replied.
Someone else yelled, “A suspicious cylinder has been spotted in front of the gates! We’re destroying it now!”
“’Kay!” said Van. Something about his directions struck me as bizarrely casual, yet his Chivalric Order accurately deduced his intentions and moved into action. Part of this was probably Dee’s training, but even then, this would have been impossible if they didn’t have complete faith in Van as their leader.
That was when I realized that I had no idea where Dee was. “Van! My own troops haven’t gotten here yet, but I don’t see Dee either. Knowing him, wouldn’t he want to stay by your side?”
This shook Van out of what looked like deep thought. He pointed toward one of the small castles and smiled. “Dee’s over there giving orders.”
“Huh?” I turned around and saw Dee atop the terrace of one of the small castles. He was leaning forward, issuing precise orders.
“Make sure to get them all! They will struggle to climb the stone wall at the center of the fortress, so if we can hold the line here, victory will be ours! Rear units, remember to supply the others with bolts and arrows!”