“Argh! What is taking Weist so long?!”
Having been left waiting, Gaius was growing irritated.
His generals looked to one another, worried that their wrathful prince’s anger might be turned upon them. Julius was the only one there who was still calmly analyzing the situation.
“Did he fail to bring around everyone in the castle…?” he wondered. “Or perhaps, we may have been deceived by Weist.”
“Damn! How about we attack them with all of our forces now?” Gaius seemed ready to launch an all-out attack immediately.
Seeing Gaius like that, Julius offered a word of advice using the calmest tone he could manage. “Please, wait. If the enemy has been plotting something, there may be a trap waiting. If we consider the possibility of an ambush under cover of night, I believe we should tighten our defenses and wait for dawn, then launch the attack at first light. We can take a city like that in half a day.”
When Julius pointed all of that out, Gaius lowered his raised fist. “Urgh… It seems I have no choice.”
Gaius accepted Julius’s advice, ordering his generals to attack at dawn. Even as he was relieved that Gaius had held off on the attack, Julius had a bad feeling about Altomura, somehow.
The revulsion Julius had felt towards Weist. Had that feeling really come from the obsequious posture Weist had shown?
When that man was grinding his forehead against the ground and prostrating himself before us, what expression was he making where we couldn’t see? Was he relieved that we wouldn’t attack? Or perhaps…
Was there… something more to it?
Julius felt as if he was being pulled deeper and deeper into the depths. As if he were being toyed with by someone unseen…
I smell someone other than Weist Garreau here….
As he looked towards Altomura, it was creepily silent.
— 1st Day, 10th Month, 1,546th Year, Continental Calendar.
The dawn broke on the next day. The night raid that Julius had feared never occurred.
Gaius VIII went to order the armies to attack, as planned. That was when it happened.
“Wooooooooooooooooo!”
A roaring battle cry suddenly rose up from inside the castle at Altomura where all had been quiet before.
It was a spirited cry, enough so that Gaius hesitated to give the order to attack. What had happened in Altomura? It had been so quiet up until yesterday. Reinforcements couldn’t have arrived, could they? Various possibilities flashed through Gaius’s mind, but he could make no decision.
Meanwhile, a single horse raced towards the Amidonian camp from Altomura. Riding atop the horse was Weist Garreau. When Weist dismounted, practically falling from his horse, he was greeted by an angry Gaius and prostrated himself before him.
“Weist! You cur, what happened to our agreement to open the gate?!” Gaius roared.
Weist shrunk into himself even more. “I–I cannot apologize enough! The people in the castle have given in to desperation. It is taking some time to persuade them.”
“Enough! I don’t want to hear excuses!” Gaius drew the sword at his hip, pointing the blade at Weist’s neck.
“Eek!”
“I’ll lop your head off and send it to those inside the castle as a warning!”
“W-With all due respect, Your Princely Highness. I hesitate to say this, but… we cannot make rational decisions when surrounded by an army of tens of thousands like this…” Weist fumbled to explain while clearly in a state of terrible panic. “J-Just now, the war cry you heard from Altomura was the voices of those saying, ‘The Amidonians will never keep their word, so let’s take as many of them with us as we can.’”
Since Gaius had, in fact, had no intention of keeping his word, he found himself at a momentary loss for words.
If every soldier in the castle was prepared to die, it was far too risky to force the attack. Such soldiers were like machines: they would fight to their last breath, taking as many of the enemy with them as they could manage. In a straight-up fight, his allies would take major losses. Amidonia’s victory was still unshakable, but because their victory was so unshakable, he didn’t want to waste manpower here.
Unable to just watch any longer, Julius spoke up. “Father, fighting death-crazed soldiers will cause major losses. We should avoid that. Why not make a display of your magnanimity, then ask Weist to attempt to persuade them once more?”
Weist leapt on Julius’s suggestion, as if thinking, My life is saved!
“Th-This time, I’ll not fail! I swear, I will convince the people in the castle!” Weist cried.
Gaius thought for a moment, but ultimately decided to let Weist handle it. “Very well. Consider this your final chance.”
“Y-Yes, sir! Leave it to me.”
“Hmph… Still, how am I to show my magnanimity?”
“For that, why not break the siege as soon as I return to the castle?” Weist asked.
Weist’s suggestion enraged Gaius. “Break the siege, you say! Do you take me for a fool?!”
“P-Perish the thought! Of course, it only needs to be for a short time! If you could break the siege until at least noon, I will use that as a show of Your Princely Highness’s magnanimity and persuade the people in the castle.”
“Hmph,” Gaius snorted, “…Very well. From now until noon, we will lift the siege. Should the gates not open by then, we will take them by force. Is that acceptable?”
“Y-Yes! I swear, I swear I will convince the people in the castle!”
Once Weist left, as frantic as he had come, Gaius immediately moved his troops to break the siege of Altomura. Of course, he took measures to ensure he could capture any unit that tried to take this chance to escape. He placed a highly mobile unit under the command of Julius and positioned them at the front.
Hmph, Altomura has but half a day to live…
Gaius looked at Altomura with a gaze full of rage.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Gaius’s gaze…
In Weist Garreau’s manor in Altomura, besieged by the forces of Amidonia, right now, there was a woman making herself at home and relaxing.
Despite being in a city besieged by a force of 30,000, the woman was elegantly enjoying a spot of tea. Having returned from the principality’s camp, Weist explained how the negotiations had gone.
He held a wry grin at the woman’s boldness, which no one would have anticipated from her appearance. His expression showed no hint of the pathetic display he had been putting on in the Amidonian war camp earlier.
“Was that good enough, ma’am… no, Duchess Excel?” he asked.
“Yes. Well done,” she said. “You’ve learned how to pull off a psychological act. You’re such a good little boy, Weist.”
The woman sipping black tea was the Admiral of the Elfrieden Navy, Excel Walter. Even if she looked to be in her mid-twenties, this woman was actually a sea serpent who had lived for over five hundred years. Fifty-year-old Weist was still a child to her.
“Duchess… would it be too much to ask that you finally stop treating me like a child?” he asked.
“From my perspective, all of my marines are children,” she said.
“I’m not attached to the Navy anymore, though, you know?”
“Hee hee! No matter how high you are promoted, for as long as I live, you will be my subordinate and child.”
He sighed. “It looks like I’m going to be treated as a child for the rest of my life, then.”
Even once the human Weist was old and grey, Excel would probably still be youthful and treating him this way. Weist could already see that likely future.