Chapter 43: Chapter 43

Up in the general northern area of the continent, the winters were relatively warm. While the men still had to cover themselves in thick furs and use fire to ward off the cold, there were hardly any disturbances to conducting warfare. While full-scale assaults or sieges would be a pretty tough challenge due to the constraints of how much food one could obtain and deliver to the troops, there was only one other downside that made any invasion pretty frustrating to organize.

The days were relatively short.

Two hours since the skirmish concluded, the sun finally took its rest behind the line of the horizon. The local workers, both military and the civilians, were contracted out from the nearby city. They worked for as long as the reddish light allowed them to discern the ground from the dangerous ditch, and the work had progressed at an astonishing rate.

Before the last ray of the sun left the area, the foremost line of the ditches was already transformed into a deadly blockade that no cavalry unit could overcome. Even if it didn’t pose much of a threat or even an obstacle to the infantry, there was hardly any chance of the southerners pulling up footmen so deep into the no-man’s-land.

“Sir, they are coming.”

Standing on a small hill located slightly behind the three lines of fortification, Beneth brought his hand towards the slight, flickering lights in the distance. What Saulus took for some fireflies soon appeared to be a small unit of horsemen travelling through the open plains with torches.

“Good. Let’s see what those fortifications are worth.”

Saulus kept his focus on the unit approaching directly from the south. With no road connecting the two camps, they would just storm right into the innards of the defenses, wreaking havoc whenever they managed to catch someone off-guard.

The watchtower system occasionally managed to warn everyone about the incoming attack, but the enemies rarely had any problems with getting away with their raids nearly scot-free. The depressing ratio of the fallen legionaries and the enemies that bit the dust in the area was proof of how effective this tactic was so far.

But right now, the unit of horsemen found themselves in a quandary.

Instead of a wide-open area between the ditches, perfectly marked with the torches of the guards… They were faced with a completely dark field. Only the lights of the distant city seemed to shed some light on the area, keeping nearly the entirety of the defensive structures in the dark.

“…”

Some orders were exchanged at the front of Saulus’ defenses. Way too far to even have a shot at hearing them, Saulus could only guess what was going on in the heads of the enemy skirmishers.

Outside of the fact that the young general had changed his tactics, they had no way of knowing what Saulus changed them into. And that forced them to make a move they had not trained for.

“What are they doing… Are they dismounting? Did they lose their minds?”

Whispering to himself as he watched the proceedings, Beneth proved how baffled he was. Looking at him, Saulus couldn’t help but smile. The potential loss of men aside, he could tell how excited this newly appointed commander was. Not because of the looming fight, but because the fortifications that he organized would soon be put to test.

“Don’t get so anxious. You are no longer capable of influencing what will happen. This is the toughest part of being a commander. Watching your orders unravel, fully aware of how you are powerless to change them, once in motion.”

While that wouldn’t be the case with his veterans from the first legion, Saulus was perfectly conscious of how limited his moves were right now. Even after a few days worth of ongoing conflict, the second legion was far from being experienced. If any greater change of plans were to happen, the legionaries would surely lose their way and turn the organized battle into pure chaos.

Forced to do nothing but watch, the two of the soldiers continued to observe every move of the enemy that they could see in the dim light of their own torches. No longer constrained by the lesser maneuverability from the saddle, the former cavalry quickly discovered a simple blockade that stopped them from entering the insides of the defensive lines. And just as those soldiers started to run around, learning more and more about the simple barricade…

The entire wall suddenly lit itself up. With torches suddenly exploding with bright light all over the section where the enemies could be heard, the southerners lost their element of surprise. And before they could form up or organize any sort of defense, Saulus’ soldiers appeared on top of the walls, aiming their crossbows down at the enemies.

A sudden gust of wind made all the fires flutter for a moment. And then, the salvo was opened.

A flurry of bolts instantly made their way towards the disorganized ranks of the enemies. Their light armors, a celebrated product of the southern lands, proved to be worthless in the face of this simple weapon. While full of drawbacks during an open-field battle, this weapon proved to be way too effective even for Saulus’s liking. But in the situation he was in, he no longer had any right to hold himself back.

“Good. It seems that it works for now.”

There was no denying that the first attack from the south faced the greatest challenge. With absolutely no idea what they were up against or even the ability to see the new defenses from far away during their approach, those poor soldiers were at the mercy of Saulus’ relentless archers.

And those soldiers, who experienced the constant threat of the raids and inevitable slaughter, were now more than happy to pay their oppressors back in kind!

“I think that will be it for today.”

As soon as Saulus noticed the first enemy soldier throwing his weapon away and raising his hands in a sign of surrender, the general lowered his scope before hiding it in an expensive casing. For a tool as expensive as this one, even the most delicate cloth was still too rough.

“Sir, if you are still set on moving out first thing in the morning… No, nevermind. Please, go have some rest, sir. I will make sure everything is dealt with properly.”

Changing the direction of his words as soon as he opened his mouth, Beneth managed to catch Saulus by surprise. Who could’ve known that he would grow so quickly? I might find some good use for him in the future!