Chapter 35: Talents Only I Can Recognize. Hidden gems (18)

Fran Valdesca banged his head on the desk in front of him, and with a dazed look on his face raised his body, his forehead turned red. Then he slammed his head on the desk again, his forehead became even redder. Melt, who was watching the scene, was startled each time.

This was Fran’s habit. Whenever he has a problem, he hurts himself like that. Even Melt couldn’t stop Duke Fran, the head of the Fran family. So, he could only watch over him.

The reason he was in this state of mind was because Linon Castle had been lost. The plan had been perfect, but an incomprehensible enemy move had taken Linon Castle again. It was as if the enemy knew that the castle would fall in one night, this was no accidental victory. As if they knew the plan, they even used Ronen’s army that was retreating from Bern Castle to retake Linon Castle.

“I was wondering if you have gathered for me some intelligence on Lunan new chief of staff.”

“I’ve gathered all the information I could, and it’s all exactly what I expected.”

“Lord of Aintorian and commander of a supply troop. The capture of Linon Castle was all his doing?”

“Yes, sir!”

The troops he sent to Aintorian, the surprise attack on the supply troops and the recapture of Linon Castle.

At the center of all three of these things that didn’t go according to strategy was that man. Even the concentration of troops in the northern part of Lunan was due to that man.

“General…….Now that they’ve taken Linon Castle, what do we do?”

If all went according to plan, the royal city of Lunan would be in front of him now.

“Don’t worry. I never thought that I would even have to use the power of the Fran family against that Lunan Kingdom, but I will win this time!”

***

After making a bloodless entry into Bern Castle, the Royal Army of Narja marched towards Linon Castle.

[Royal Army of Narja]

[Troops: 48720]

[Training level: 80]

[Morale: 60]

The Royal Army of Narja, which had attacked with 70,000 troops, had lost about 20,000 troops in the battle with the supply troops and Linon Castle. Morale, which had been as high as 80, was reduced by a figure of 20.

The Royal Army of Narja, stationed in front of Linon Castle, immediately launched an all-out attack. In order for the royal capital to fall, it was necessary to capture Linon Castle. If they ignored Linon Castle and went to the royal capital, they would have a problem with the supply route.

As they say, you can’t fight a battle on an empty stomach, so if they can’t capture Linon Castle and secure a supply route, their march to the capital will be meaningless. Therefore, I understand the all-out attack on Linon Castle. However, there remained a question about the method of attack.

“The attacks are too monotonous. It’s also suspicious that the attacks are concentrated on the north gate……Maybe this is a diversion.”

“A diversion?”

“There is that possibility. Gathering troops at the north gate to meet the enemy’s attack is not the best strategy. We should place troops at each gate. Besides, we can’t be too careful with the underground canals that we blocked. We need to continue surveying the entire Linon Castle.”

I argued this at the command meeting. Ronen then took my opinion into consideration and entrusted me with the command of the North Gate.

When the meeting ended that way, I returned to the north gate. The enemy was still attacking in a simple manner. They hammered the gates with their siege weapons and climbed up the ladders to the castle. It was all too common. Even now, the attack was concentrated on the north gate and the surrounding walls.

To be honest, we couldn’t afford to divide our forces in such a situation. If there were not enough troops, the north gate would be opened.

However, considering the enemy schemes, it was imperative to continue investigating the entire Linon Castle. So, the burden caused by the lack of troops would be solved in other ways.

“Take out the enemy siege weapons. Pour hot metal on it!”

“Yes, Chief of Staff!”

I made a proposal to Ronen to melt down the weapons of enemy soldiers who died in the battle to retake Linon Castle and turn them into hot metal. Since Linon Castle has soldiers with blacksmith backgrounds and plenty of blacksmith shops, there was no problem at all.

The moment the hot metal touched it, the siege weapon started to burn! It was a strategy that took advantage of the fact that the high heat of the hot metal would instantly set the wood ablaze.

“We’ll burn the ladders with hot metal! The more time we buy, the better off we’ll be!”

The destruction of the siege weapon raised the morale of our troops. The attack that had been focused on the north gate stopped and the enemy forces had to retreat.

“Stay alert! It’s not over yet!”

I shouted this to the soldiers and watched the enemy’s movements. The enemy soldiers who had been retreating eventually stopped moving. They retreated until they were out of range of the archers.

“What?”

In this situation, twenty soldiers with large shields were advancing towards the castle gate. The approaching shield soldiers were escorting a man. The man came to the gate and shouted as he looked up.

“Are you Aintorian Erhin?”

He stared at me precisely, my face was already known. Well, that’s not surprising, since many Narja soldiers have survived the battle with the supply troops.

“Yeah.”

Of course, one thing is certain. The identity of the strategist who had been tormenting Lunan was now revealed here.

“Then you will die now!”

At the same time as his shout, a huge mana formation appeared in front of him. The mana formation emitted an intense golden light.