Madan no Ou to Vanadis - Volume 14 - Chapter 3.4

Having received the report about the completion of the stairs’ placement, Ekrem indifferently gave further orders without showing any particular delight over this achievement.

“We’re moving to the next step. ──Set the ladders up.”

Even while affirming that instruction, the subordinate was confused and asked the general who was younger than him, “Your Excellency, we brought the moat which would have likely taken many days to be buried into a state similar to that. Yet you don’t seem overly happy about it…”

Ekrem lifted his face slightly, looked at his subordinate, and asked with a dispassionate voice, “Would you consider a cleaning to be done as soon you swept the dust away on the top spots?”

The subordinate, who didn’t clean his own room often, had no words to reply with. Battle was equal to cleaning for Ekrem. It was something he could finish by taking the necessary steps.
Anyway, having received their orders, the second unit that had been on standby started to move. The 40,000 soldiers led by Ekrem were still divided into three units. It was the first unit that set up the stairs.

The second unit began by pushing wheeled scaffolds. These were built out of wood with their upper parts being at a height of 50 chet. They also possessed ladders, allowing the soldiers to climb them. Those were truly constructions that couldn’t be described as anything but scaffolds. And even the commander, Ekrem, himself called them just like that.
They lined up a great number of those scaffolds close to the moat, and Muozinel soldiers holding bows took up position on the platform at top.

“──Shoot!”

They all fired their arrows simultaneously towards the top of the wall. The sound of arrows cutting through the air could be heard as several hundreds of arrows drew a black rainbow in the sky between the scaffolds and the wall. The storm of arrows was so dense that it blocked the sunlight, and cast a shadow.

Although they had reduced the height by 50 chet, it was still difficult to shoot arrows up from a lower place to a higher place. Most of the arrows hit the wall, broke, and fell down.
Even those arrows that reached the wall’s top were altogether blocked by the shields of the Moonlight Knights soldiers. In the case of the Moonlight Knights Army, they had plenty of leeway to take countermeasures as the Muozinel army showed that they would be shooting arrows soon and took their time in doing so.

The Muozinel soldiers continued to fire their arrows without minding that. It was as if the shields lining up in a row on top of the wall were their targets. And, while the sounds of their bowstrings were filling the area, the rest of the second unit started to take action.

Ten-odd Muozinel soldiers carried a ladder with a length of close to ten alsin while holding it sideways. Soldiers with mud-plastered, big shields followed next to them. More than 20 such teams ran towards the wall as a single group. They passed in-between the scaffolds, and ran down the stairs set up in the moat one after the other.

The Moonlight Knights Army that noticed their existence were forced to shower them with stones, arrows, oil, and fire while blocking the rain of arrows with their shields.

The Muozinel army’s archers ceaselessly continued to shoot, and once they used up their arrows, they got off the scaffold, and others replaced them. Their role was to cover their allies who closed in on the wall while carrying ladders. But, even if those allies were hit by arrows, they shot their arrows without any care.

“──Is this the way the Muozinel army operates?” Lim asked Mila while holding up a shield atop the wall. Each time she heard the sounds of an arrow bouncing off the shield, she felt as though her back had been scratched by the nail called tension.

Next to her, Mila nodded with an annoyed look, and replied, “That’s how these guys are. The ones heading over to the wall while holding the ladders are likely battle slaves. They are treated as consumable goods rather than soldiers.”

Hearing that explanation, Lim’s expression twisted no less than Mila’s. She even felt rage towards the Muozinel army’s way of thinking, but she had no choice but to approve of its validity as one battle tactic.

As a matter of fact, their side’s attacks were losing in force because of the arrows pouring down on them. The stones, oil, and burning torches were unable to stop the Muozinel soldiers pushing their way through while transporting the ladders.

“We won’t be able to hold them back unless we increase our attacks,” said Lim after surveying the state of her own army’s soldiers.

In response she had a part of the soldier fall back to the rear to rest up. And by thoroughly adjusting the location of the soldiers that came forward as relief, she arranged the file of the troops so as to allow for a higher attack frequency through the gaps between the shields.

After finishing her instructions, she breathed out lightly and turned around. Wooden boxes full of stones and large jars filled with oil had been lined up in a corner of the wall. Many soldiers were hectically running around to carry boiling oil in pots or to replenish the weapons.

“I suppose this is a war of attrition between the attacking and the defending side.” Lim surmised while looking up to the sky.

The summer sun had passed its zenith, yet the sunlight was still hurting her eyes. The occasionally blowing wind carried up the stench of blood and smoke from the surface.

──Today it’ll be fine…

Lim believed. Her accumulated battlefield experience told her so. Besides, the battles until yesterday weren’t accompanied by a heavy degree of exhaustion. Even when looking at her soldiers, she could still feel some composure. They would likely be able to hold out tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, too.

──But, what about the time afterwards?

Lim possessed a stout-hearted character. It was rare for her to make complaints. Still, the enemy’s aggression was so fierce that someone like her ended up feeling anxious.

Once she turned her eyes towards the surface, she saw the ladder-carrying Muozinel soldiers sprinting through the moat, running up the stairway on the wall’s side, and arriving in front of the wall. The soldiers of the Moonlight Knight Army mercilessly poured down the boiling oil on them.

Some of the Muozinel soldiers died without having had the time to even realize what had happened. Others crouched down on the spot while bearing terrible burns. It was a sight that was hard to look at. Immediately the soldiers of the Moonlight Knights Army threw one burning torch after the other down. The Muozinel soldiers, who had been bathed in oil, went up in flames alongside the ladders they had carried.

However, after waiting for the fire to abate, the next set of teams ran through the moat. Shoving aside what had been their comrades as their corpses were a bother, they leaned their ladders against the wall.

And, there were still several dozen groups waiting for their turn between the Muozinel army’s camp and the moat.

──Not having the time to catch one’s breath. This must be what it means.

“It really makes me want to blow away all the ladders with my draconic skill.” Mila cursed so quietly that only Lim could hear her.
Lim shook her head while smiling wryly, confessing, “I’m at a point where I’d like to say it would be a big help, but…”

“Yeah, it’s just me venting my anger.” Fully grasping the meaning behind Lim’s wry smile, Mila revealed a smile as if mocking herself.

There existed several reasons why she didn’t use her draconic skills. Her damaging the wall no matter how much she adjusted the power and the enemy being able to take measures against it even if they were to falter temporarily were two of those reasons, but this being a drawn-out battle was the biggest one.

Mila was a warrior who very likely surpassed anyone present in this place, but it wasn’t as if she had an eternal supply of stamina like those legendary heroes. She had to plan her fights while keeping that fact in mind. Even more so against such a huge army as an opponent.

And then, once half a toki had passed, even Lim and Mila started to feel exhausted. While confronting the Muozinel army that had remained in this place since morning and defending against rains of arrows with their shields, they had been paying attention to the state of their allies and the movements of the enemy below the wall. It was impossible to not get tired from that.

Lim sent a message to Olivier, who was watching the western wall, asking him to take over for her. Olivier immediately sent a single knight to convey his positive answer.

“Throw all the stones, oil, and hot water that can be prepared right now at the enemy! Aim the stones at the enemies in front of the moat, and the oil and hot water at the enemies climbing the wall. You don’t have to think about making them hit!” Boosted by Lim’s sharp voice, Zhcted’s and Brune’s soldiers boldly went on the offensive. They tossed their shields on the ground and hurled a rain of stones at the Muozinel archers standing on the scaffolds.

Close to half the stones reached their targets, and archers falling off their scaffold and archers dropping their bows appeared one after the other. Even the soldiers that tried to pin their ladders against the wall retreated inside the moat, seemingly surprised by the sudden change.

A little number of blank spaces that didn’t even amount to ten in total opened up on the battlefield. Using that opportunity, Lim and the soldiers led by her withdrew. And in their stead the Navarre Knights under the command of Olivier made a stand on the southern wall. They moved smoothly on this wall as if it was that of their own fortress, lining up at fixed intervals.

“Aim for their bellies and shoot.” Olivier curtly ordered while also readying his own crossbow. He told the knights under him to target the archers on the scaffolds with their first volley.

Olivier actually wanted to target the enemy soldiers climbing the ladders in order for his knights to get accustomed with the crossbows, but it couldn’t be helped in this situation.
A sound completely different from the projectiles giving birth to the rain of arrows made the atmosphere tremble. The distance and power of the bolts that were released from the crossbows were naturally nowhere near equal to stones.

Almost half the bolts flew off into the air, missing their targets or hit the scaffolds, but the rest relentlessly killed the Muozinel soldiers standing on the platforms. Muozinel soldiers fell down in succession. There were also some that tumbled down to the ground, dragging their comrades into it.

The knights placed the crossbows on the ground. The soldiers behind them picked those up, and passed the knights new crossbows with drawn strings. It was a move Olivier had come up with in order to shorten the reuse time. The knights received those and loaded bolts into them.

“This time, below.” Olivier, who had received a new crossbow just like them, decided to target the Muozinel soldiers at the bottom of the wall. As the archers on the scaffolds were still in disorder, they had plenty of leeway to do so.

The bolts, which were released all at once, pierced the bodies of the Muozinel soldiers. The ones already climbing the ladders had no way to avoid the bolts, and fell down just like that. Even those, who were at the bottom of the ladders, had no place to hide and thus collapsed after having their heads and arms stabbed by bolts.

“As I expected, just pulling a trigger is quite different from wielding a sword or a spear,” one of his subordinates said to Olivier with a frown.

Without looking at him, Olivier glared at the enemy while responding, “But, they are not at a range where our spears or swords would reach. Above all, there are too many of them.”

“Certainly…I wouldn’t know how many swords would be necessary if we were to take them on with swords,” said the subordinate.

“After all, these are weapons that won’t be put to use by anyone. We don’t have the freedom to leave them unused.” Olivier stated matter of factly.

The third volley was fired at the new Muozinel soldiers on the scaffolds. Seemingly having already gotten used to the crossbows, it appeared that far more bolts than before had hit their targets.

The Navarre Knight Squadron shot Muozinel soldiers to death by continuously pulling the triggers of their crossbows with such verve that it seemed as if they wouldn’t mind using up the bolts before the day was over.

The Muozinel army attacked the wall many times over, but the Moonlight Knights Army forced them back entirely.

And at the time when the sun was going down, the Muozinel army finally stopped its offense. They pulled back the scaffolds and the soldiers returned to their camp while carrying the intact ladders. All that was left were the six stairs and a mountain of corpses.

The Moonlight Knights Army glared at the Muozinel army’s camp without loosening its wariness at once. They couldn’t breathe out in relief until the sun had completely sunken.

“They won’t come today anymore…?”

The traces of sweat on the faces of the soldiers made apparent how difficult it had been. There was almost no one who had had the time to wipe it away. Some whose eyes had become bloodshot because of the tension and excitement. Others who were breathing heavily.

The moment when they judged today’s battle to be over was when enough time to count to 1,000 had passed after the Muozinel soldiers had returned to their camp. The Moonlight Knights Army that had obtained a victory for the time being raised shouts of joy atop the wall. Everyone’s face had exhaustion carved into it, but their delight was strong enough to overcoat that.

Their cheers reaching the castle town gave the citizens of the capital, who had watched the wall with bated breath, a peace of mind. If there were people who offered prayers of gratitude to the gods, there were also some who left their homes and started to dance. The castle town, which had been in a state of tension since the threats of Kureys several days ago, was wrapped up by wild enthusiasm.

The report of the victory was immediately delivered to Regin in the royal palace. She nodded slightly while smiling, and said, “Please tell everybody that they did a fine job.”

The casualties in the strife of this day reached close to 2,000 on the Muozinel army’s side, and 22 on the Moonlight Knights Army’s side. Even in regards to the wounded, the Moonlight Knights Army had less than a hundred while the Muozinel army counted 3,000. And the number of wounded in the Muozinel army was increased by yet another hundred people.

After this day’s battle finished, Ekrem had hundred soldiers line up outside the camp, and sentenced them to whiplashing. Their crime was “they didn’t take a dump in the designated area.” (T/N: Omg I automatically wrote lol behind this line….rofl)

After the punishment of 50 lashes per person came to an end, Ekrem walked up to a soldier, whose back was bloodstained, and spit out with a murderous voice,” Try to do the same again and I will have you pieces of shit tossed into those moats together with the shit that came out of your ass.”

For the Muozinel people this was a soil in a distant, foreign country. It wasn’t rare for troops, which were famed as powerful, to completely die away without even a single battle after suffering from an endemic disease as result of a campaign.

Not to mention that it was a camp where 110,000 soldiers stayed together for many days. If an epidemic were to break out, it would likely infect the soldiers at a terrifying rate. “One must pay particular attention to excreta.” At the very least among the generals there wasn’t a single person who ridiculed those words of Ekrem.

Afterwards Ekrem visited Kureys’ tent, and reported the outcome of today’s battle. The red-bearded prince nodded in satisfaction. After all was said and done, disabling the moat was a big achievement.

“Ekrem, it looks like the enemy used bows and crossbows, but there were no reports about there being a mastery archer among them?” Kureys asked to confirm.

“You’re talking about Tigrevurmud Vorn?” Ekrem made sure, despite being convinced of being correct. Ekrem had never seen Tigre, but he heard that an enemy general, Kureys was very interested in, and an owner of abnormal archery skills. He immediately added, “At least today he didn’t show up, it seems.”

If there had been such an archer among the enemy, the 50 chet high scaffolds prepared by Ekrem should have become useless in no time. If they were to be sniped one by one, it would have been impossible to keep up the soldiers’ morale.

Kureys changed the topic, “By the way, do you plan to deploy those stairs at all four wall sections?”

“It would be probably difficult to even transport them to the northern or western wall,” Ekrem answered while shaking his head.

When he had surveyed the moat surrounding the capital, he also examined the surrounding terrain.

“Understood. Let’s stop deploying soldiers to the north, east, and west to focus our attacks on the south. Oh and──” Kureys beckoned Ekrem over, and once Ekrem had come right next to him, he whispered a certain idea into Ekrem’s ear. Then he waited for Ekrem to return to his former position, and asked with a smile, “Can you do that for me?”

“Please allow me to,” Ekrem answered after prostrating in front of Kureys.