Fun Territory Defense Chapter 220 (Patreon)

Peaceful Time...

Three weeks have passed since then.

The battle against Jiernetta Kingdom's army has probably started by now. If they are not thinking as much as the prince who attacked Seat Village before, they will most likely use the same strategy to attack the fortified city of Murcia.

If that were the case, they would not be defeated even if they were attacked ten times. After all, there are powerful magicians like Panamera and Venturi waiting in the wings. They would be able to deal with such primitive artillery as much as they could before they got close to them.

The problem is when the opponent takes other measures. Normally, they could not have invaded Jiernetta Kingdom without breaking through several forts and fortresses from the seaside. Therefore, the fact that they were able to pass through the Wolfsburg Mountains and invade the middle of Jiernetta Kingdom was an achievement beyond their imagination.

On the other hand, from Jiernetta's point of view, it was a situation where the worst place was seized. If they marched toward the royal capital using the fortified city of Murcia as a base, the royal capital might even fall in as little as a few months. Even if they prevented that, if they were to attack on the sea side, they would lose about 20% of their land at once.

If the surrounding countries knew that we were in such a war situation, it was possible that one of them would offer an alliance to the Scuderia Kingdom. If that happened, it would be the end. The Jiernetta Kingdom would begin to disintegrate from within, starting with the nobles who were driven by cowardice.

The only course of action that the Jiernetta Kingdom should take now is to recapture the fortress city of Murcia. However, if the other side decides to take other measures, an unexpected situation may occur.

"What would I do?"

I muttered to myself in my office in the Lord's mansion in Seat Village, and looked at the map of this continent that I had obtained from Apollo of the Commerce Guild. Then, Arte and Camsin appeared next to him and looked at the map in the same way.

"Is it regarding the movement of Jiernetta Kingdom?"

Camsin asks, and I nod with a wry smile.

"Well, I'm sure His Majesty has thought of as much as I can think of. I just thought I'd be prepared for whatever might happen."

Camsin nodded his head in a small nod.

"Van-sama is a master! I'm sure Van-sama will be able to think of something that even His Majesty won't notice."

"Haha, thank you."

I smile at Camsin's unconditional affirmation and check the map again. Then Arte asked a question in a smaller voice.

"Um, what do you think will happen to Van-sama?"

He asked me that, and I groaned and brought my hands behind my head.

"Ummm...yes. If you have absolute confidence in your country's war potential, I guess it would be the recapture of the citadel city? That would be the most advantageous and easy to understand. But if there is no certainty of victory, how would you fight? We could place some of our forces to keep the Royal Army of Scuderia in the citadel, and attack from other places...it's like cutting off the flesh to cut off the bones. The other part is to lure them out of the citadel and trap them, but it's too obvious on this map."

Muttering, he points to a street on the map, right in front of the Wolfsburg Mountains, the fortified city of Murcia, labeled as a fortress on the map. Northeast of the fortress is the royal capital of the Jiernetta Kingdom, but there are only a few forts along the way, and other towns that do not seem to have much defense capability.

Furthermore, the road itself is flat and gentle, with only one bridge crossing a river. The only bridge, if there is one, is the one that crosses the river. A large army would have to change its formation to a long and narrow line to cross the bridge. If we could surprise them there, depending on the timing, we would be able to strike a decisive blow before they could reorganize their formation.

As I looked at the bridge with this thought in mind, Camsin and Arte looked aghast.

"You mean the bridge is in danger?"

Camsin said, and Arte looked at him with a serious expression on her face. I chuckled as I thought to myself, "This is like a question to answer a question".

"Well, I don't know if my idea is correct...for now, I think there is too little place to hide the army to surprise them at the bridge. We could try to harass them with artillery from a distance, but it wouldn't be very effective, and if we lost the bridge, it might slow down their march, but it wouldn't turn the tables on them. So we have to aim at something so that the Royal Army of Scuderia will retreat."

"...So where do we go to put up a fight?"

Arte asked more questions with a small vertical crease between his eyebrows.

"I would..."

He said as if to preface his question and pointed to a point on the map.

"I would use this town as a decoy to surprise them, right? There are several strong magicians in the Royal Army of Scuderia, so we need to avoid the enemy's favorite battlegrounds."

"Their favorite battlegrounds?"

"What are we going to do, use the town as bait?"

They both tilted their heads. I was about to answer when Till made a pot of tea.

"You are all very enthusiastic, aren't you? Why don't you take a break soon?"

Saying this, Till smiles and arranges tea and sweets on the table. They looked delicious.

"Wow! Thank you!"

"Thank you very much."

"...May I have some too?"

As Arte and I were saying thank you and reaching for our snacks, Camsin muttered something like that. He was probably hungry, as he usually keeps quiet until Till tells him. Maybe I used my head too much.

"Sure, have some as well Camsin."

Till hides his mouth and smiles as he offers the pastry, and Camsin, with a quick, blossoming smile, reaches for it, and as he and Till are watching and relaxing, they see Arte staring at the map and taking a bite of a freshly baked cookie.

Apparently, he is curious about what we just talked about. It is a rare sight for Arte, who is always so well-behaved.

Thinking about this, she speaks her mind.

"...I don't like to fight in this way, but if we lure them into the walled town, I think it will be a close battle. So, in that situation, I'll use the black ball to bring them into a melee battle where they'll be ready to self-destruct. That way, both the magician and the advantage of the rapid-firing mechanical bow would be lost. Well, His Majesty and the others will be in the town at the end, so I wonder if the ordinary soldiers and mercenaries will be the victims in the first town."

As I tell them this, the three people who were listening to the discussion turn their heads toward me.

"...A terrible way to fight, but the first town, what is it?"

"Do you mean that they will fight the same way in other towns and forts?"

Camsin and Arte muttered with serious expressions. I nodded at that and moved my finger forward, holding it up to the map.

"We will cut down a few thousand people in this town. Do the same in the next town. After that, I can't see it on the map, but if this small forest can hide a large army, we'll attack from the rear when THE Royal Army of Scuderia passes through to attack the fort. There will always be someone important in the rear of the army in the battle until then, so hopefully we might be able to kill His Majesty, right?"

He dared to state the strategy from Jiernetta's point of view in a matter-of-fact manner. Hearing this, the three of them all gasped.

"Well, then, if we don't do this..."

"Kyu, don't we have to head for the rescue?"

Arte and Till looked anxious. I hurriedly waved my hand from side to side and opened my mouth as if to deny my own thoughts.

"No, it doesn't mean we've decided that, okay? As I said before, there is a possibility that they will invade the territory of the Scuderia Kingdom, or they may try to do something about the fortified city of Murcia. It's a slim chance, but could they move their allies on the defensive? I don't think they would take that long, but there are many ways to fight."

Till and Camsin nodded with a difficult look on their faces as I followed up with a wry smile. Arte, on the other hand, looked even more worried and turned her head down.

"...Could it be that they are targeting the Ferdinand family again...?"

Arte muttered in a trembling voice, and Till and Camsin were the first to panic.

"It's all right."

"I heard that Arte-sama beat them to a pulp before, and they're too scared to come near us."

When they told him this, Arte glanced at us. I nodded back at that with a serious face.

"That's right. They're in a tight spot, so I don't think they'll target a point once they've been defeated. Hmmm, if they plan to invade before they can attack the royal capital...the sea and the Wolfsburg Mountains side are no good...and then..."

Muttering to himself, he moved his index finger as if gliding over the map. Then he stopped at the next country.

Immediately after, there is a knock on the door of the office.

"Van-sama! It's urgent, Apollo-sama of the Commerce Guild wants to see you!"

Hearing that voice, I stood up, suddenly having a bad feeling.

"...You can ask him to come in."