Chapter 70 - 6-9
About a month after returning to Attaik, Yugis Necrat went searching for Bikira, heading toward the entrance of the drinking alley where she always caught drunken customers to sell her flowers.
It was shortly after noon, so as expected, there were no people passing by.
He knew the direction of the district where Bikira lived. Without returning to the barracks or the training grounds, Yugis extended his steps toward that district.
He saw very few figures.
Evacuation orders for the citizens had already been issued in Attaik City.
Following the situation where the reconnaissance team dispatched by His Highness Sitris had failed to return long past the scheduled time, Attaik City had finally entered a state of combat readiness. Soon, this would become a city of soldiers alone.
Yugis was searching for Bikira to say his farewells.
The gaps between the houses lining the street narrowed, and the road gradually became thinner. It seemed to be a poor district. Yugis spotted a familiar face loading goods onto a cart. It was Bikira's younger brother and sisters.
"Yo, Big Brother Yugis."
A boy of seven or eight was imitating his older sister.
"Yo. Is Bikira here?"
"She's not. She left four or five days ago."
"Did she evacuate? —Why aren't you together?"
The boy shook his head with a mature gesture. "Bikira isn't our real older sister. She was a lonely woman who came from somewhere and helped us out."
"Did she leave alone?"
"It couldn't be helped. We aren't exactly well-off. —Big Brother, you came from a country called Siddim, right?"
"You're well-informed."
"Bikira told me. Bikira said that someday, she would go to Siddim too."
Yugis felt a suffocating gloom sink into his chest.
"Those boots are from Siddim, right? Sell them to me."
"No, I can't fight barefoot. Sorry for bothering you. Take care."
"You too."
—He would never meet Bikira again.
He felt that way.
Her words calling him a good-for-nothing must have been the truth. Although Yugis's surroundings had been unexpectedly busy with trivial matters, he should have been able to find the time to come and say goodbye. While he had been somewhat hesitant, Yugis had lost that opportunity.
However, he had no time to think deeply about that.
It was the following day that the Kosa army appeared with a momentum that threatened to mow down the city.
—Enemy attack.
When the signal trumpet blared, the Broy Mercenary Corps was about to head outdoors for training with about a hundred men. It was still early in the morning.
The sound of the trumpet did not stop; it continued to blow. The one blowing the trumpet was the sentry of the Northeast Tower.
"Those guys are coming from the east again," Petu said, discerning the sound. "Broy Mercenary Corps, enter combat formation. Draw the enemy soldiers in while hiding behind the earthworks."
This was the role they had been assigned by the Attaik regular army for some time.
Yugis ran toward the training grounds to transport the carts prepared in the armory. They were carts loaded with bows, arrows, and lead bullets.
"They've come, have they!"
The old man in charge of the armory shouted upon seeing Yugis. The old man had skin that was particularly black, even among the southerners.
"It seems they have. Petu's unit will take the north side of the east face."
"A mercenary's job is finished only once they've received their money alive!"
It was a complaint the old man said like a habit. Yugis accepted it gratefully.
He pulled the cart and hurried toward the East Gate. The gate was not yet closed. It seemed the enemy's silhouettes were not yet visible. There was still time before the enemy's arrival.
The scouts out on alert had likely spotted the Kosa army heading this way and hurriedly reported it to Attaik. The trumpet announcing the enemy attack must have been blown upon receiving that report.
Heavy infantry and light infantry were already mingling near the gate.
The tips of the long spears of the heavy infantry moving in formation swayed reliably.
In the end, it comes down to spears.
The main force of the Kosa army is, above all, the cavalry. That cavalry—
—hates spears.
Spears densely packed, with their tips pointed toward them—who would willingly charge into such a place? In the first place, horses dislike pointed things.
If the heavy infantry defended with shields and created a wall of spears, the striking power, which is the cavalry's greatest weapon, would be greatly diminished.
But on the other hand, infantry run the risk of being taken from behind by agile cavalry. To prevent this, battlefields are preferred to be in places like narrow roads sandwiched between obstacles on both sides, so-called bottlenecks.
In Attaik, such a bottleneck had been artificially created.
It was the space created between the city wall and the moat. It was called the dog-run.
A long curtain wall extending straight, and at a position about twenty large strides away from that wall, a moat dug parallel to the wall extended like a broken line. The gaps in the moat and the both ends were the entrances and exits for the soldiers. Here, the heavy infantry guarded thickly to keep the enemy out. Conversely, when allied cavalry charged out, the way was quickly opened.
After the allied cavalry went outside and struck the enemy, it would finally be the turn of the light infantry like Yugis. They would engage in melee combat with the enemy infantry and push relentlessly.
Until then, they hid behind the earthworks of the dog-run and drew the enemy toward the wall.
From the enemy's perspective, they could not reach the gate unless they drove away the soldiers in the dog-run. While arrows from the archers released from the city wall's walkway rained down, the enemy soldiers would likely rush into the moat.
Yugis expected the battle to unfold that way.
The Kosa army appeared shortly after.
Rising dust began to be visible, and within it, black shadows began to flicker. The shadows gradually spread horizontally, reaching a scale that filled the horizon.
Hiding behind the earthworks of the dog-run, peeking out with his helmeted head, Yugis gazed at the enemy. He felt the pressure already. The air was already different. He felt a sense of breathlessness.
The slowness of the enemy's march was terrifying.
The comrades on either side of him were staring intently at the enemy's arrival, some with eyes wide open, others with eyes narrowed.
Yugis could not make a sound and swallowed his saliva.
However, the slowness of the enemy's march must have been Yugis's illusion.
As they drew closer, they seemed to increase in speed.
When the thunder of horse hooves reached his ears faintly, he witnessed an extraordinary speed. They were light cavalry. Each rider had the momentum of a fireball. They were flying. It looked that way. The enemy feared nothing. The enemy's approach seemed like a motion that exceeded the meager physical knowledge Yugis possessed. It was a terrifyingly huge, hostile single piece of cloth. It seemed to control the surface, change shape, flutter with the wind, tumble down from a low hill, and glide toward them.
The number was staggering. From one end of his vision to the other, there was light cavalry. Yugis again had the illusion of a difference in mass that made the ground tilt. The other side was like a blunt weapon. An inorganic, emotionless power approaching in the form of horses. Neighs, raging strikes. A ferocious force filling the ground without gaps and closing in. Their defense was like pebbles placed here and there. They would be crushed in an instant.
"Yugis, look up."
A mercenary named Shakel, who was to his right, spoke.
He didn't know what he meant, but Yugis looked up.
The wall of Attaik towered above.
It was that sense of weight.
Yugis took a deep breath.
—It's okay.
He felt that way.
"Thank you, that helped."
Thanking Shakel, Yugis returned his eyes to the enemy.
The enemy had just slowed their pace. With a motion like water in a basin sloshing back from the rim, the enemy soldiers stopped.
Simultaneously, countless arrows released by the archers atop the wall rained down on the enemy camp like a pitch-black rain.
The enemy light cavalry turned their horses back with a reluctant feeling. They receded like a ebbing tide.
They were trying to determine the appropriate distance.
The second volley released by the walkway archers far exceeded the heads of those enemy cavalry and attacked their rear. The light cavalry showed some signs of panic. They split to the left and right and ran backward. From where Yugis was, it looked as if the earth were splitting. The enemy light cavalry had pushed too far forward. Arrows had begun to hit them as they retreated.
Yugis saw for the first time the Kosa habit of taking the wounded and dead with them, horses and all.
The light cavalry split like the curtains of a stage parting to the left and right, and those behind them became visible. Countless boards. Defensive standing boards were coming toward them. It was the enemy's light infantry.
The arrows of the walkway archers pierced those standing boards one after another. Even if the arrowhead penetrated the board, it did not push through to the fletching. There might be iron plates or something inside. However, longbow arrows are powerful. They can pierce thin iron plates.
The moat of Attaik, which Yugis had also participated in digging, had a special touch.
In addition to the transverse moat extending parallel to the wall, several longitudinal moats had been dug. They were moats extending perpendicularly toward the enemy, like the teeth of a comb. If cavalry tried to aim for the wall while avoiding these comb-tooth moats, the moats on the left and right would close in before they knew it, and the path would narrow. In the end, it was a mechanism where they would hit the transverse moat and come to a standstill.
As expected, the enemy cavalry knew of this mechanism and did not enter the gaps of the comb teeth. However, the light infantry holding the standing boards were different. They approached without flinching.
Yugis and the Broy Mercenary Corps soon faced the enemy light infantry across the moat. The enemy was poised at a distance where their features could be distinguished.
An exchange of bows and arrows and stone-throwing began.
Yugis and the other mercenaries exposed their bodies from the earthworks to release arrows. However, they didn't achieve much result. The Broy Mercenary Corps' bows were shortbows, and the enemy's standing boards were sturdy. The stone-throwing also didn't seem to reach the point of killing or wounding the enemy.
However, when the lead bullets of the stone-throwing hit the standing boards, the position of the boards would shift. The figures of the enemy soldiers were exposed. A pattern emerged of releasing arrows aiming for that.
Even without that, the enemy light infantry were easy targets for the walkway archer unit. The enemy was blocking the arrows from above with a single shield. It was not something that could be endured forever. The enemy infantry were gradually being whittled down. Corpses fell into the moat. It seemed the rout of the infantry was near.
Yugis continued stone-throwing intently. Eventually, he felt something suspicious. There was no sign of the enemy retreating. He didn't know the aim, but there was some intention, and they were drawing them in.
—Buying time?
Yugis looked around.
Behind the light infantry, the cavalry were rushing back and forth. It looked as if they were just running around without meaning. He didn't know what the intention was or what they wanted to do. Eventually, Yugis noticed. The enemy cavalry were kicking up dust. They were hiding something.
"Hey, Yugis, hurry up and throw the bullets!"
To the irritated Shakel, Yugis said, "What is that?"
Yugis pointed. Beyond the haze of dust. A large, tall machine stood surrounded by standing boards. To Yugis's eyes, it looked as if a large pillar had been driven into the ground.
"A siege catapult," Shakel said. "It's quite close. —No, that's not it. It's huge. Like a monster... huge."
Yugis ran north along the dog-run while crouching.
Arrows released by enemy soldiers grazed his head.
"Captain!"
He called out upon finding Petu.
"What!" Petu was also excited.
"I have a report. A siege catapult."
"What?"
Squinting in the direction Yugis pointed, Petu groaned. "What... is that."
Yugis drew closer to Petu and lowered his voice. "Let's suggest to the higher-ups to deploy the heavy cavalry. To destroy that, we have no choice but to close in."
"You idiot, if the cavalry go out, we'll have to go out too. Just go back to your post, I'll go consult with the regular army's infantry unit. Go back, now."
Yugis crouched again and returned to his post.
His mind was wandering. It seemed the siege catapults had increased to two.
Perhaps because he lacked concentration, Yugis's throwing accuracy dropped. Switching roles with Shakel, Yugis drew his shortbow.
Suddenly, he noticed Petu trying to pass behind him.
"Captain!"
Petu stopped with a displeased look. With that face, he lowered his body and approached Yugis.
"Listen, don't dawdle, alright?" Petu said. "It's a retreat. We're moving to a siege defense."
"Retreat? Siege defense?"
Yugis repeated, stunned.
Yugis wasn't the only one who reacted to Petu's words. The mercenaries nearby gathered and opposed it in unison.
"That's going too far, even for this."
"Captain, we can see the siege weapon, right? If we leave that and go inside, we'll just be hit relentlessly."
"What about the heavy cavalry? If they're deployed, we can go outside too."
"This isn't like His Highness Sitris," Yugis said. "What is he doing by not deploying the heavy cavalry here? There's no meaning in preserving cavalry inside the walls."
"Shut up, Yugis. It's an order," Petu frowned.
"But Captain, we can't retreat here," Shakel also said. "A siege defense is bad. If we go inside, Attaik will be surrounded."
"It's an order from above. We enter inside in order. It's a retreat!" Petu shouted. "Besides, there are reinforcements from Koroi. Even if we're surrounded, we just have to endure! Reinforcements are coming!"
"Please tell me, Captain," Yugis persisted. "What's happening with the higher-ups. This isn't His Highness Sitris's order."
"His Highness Sitris..." Petu cast his eyes down. "His Highness hasn't shown himself for the past few days. From what I've heard..."
Petu hesitated, then lowered his voice. "Don't tell anyone. His Highness has apparently been poisoned and is on his deathbed."
Everyone was speechless.
"Yugis." Before he knew it, Petu was peering into Yugis's eyes. "The objective has changed. Life is the seed of all things, we've got to survive here. Endure it here."
"But Petu, if we don't eliminate that—"
"It's impossible. I feel the same way, but Attaik's heavy cavalry aren't coming out; no matter how much is said, they aren't coming out. Besides, you all underestimate Kosa's light cavalry too much. If we go out, everyone dies. Without exception, every single one of us will die without ever reaching that siege catapult. Right?"
It was the first time Yugis had seen Petu make such a serious face.
Oh, ohhh.
He heard the voices of allied soldiers, like a tide.
Everyone present turned toward the voices. A shadow slid over their faces.
A giant stone projectile was in the sky.
The giant projectile grazed the Northeast Tower and collided with the city wall. The wall seemed to bend and shake for an instant. Countless fragments scattered, pulling smoke like threads. One archer seemed to have slipped his foot and was falling.
The giant projectile bounced off the wall, fell into the dog-run, and rolled toward Yugis and the others as if it had a will.
The mercenaries present silently scattered.
Looking closely, it wasn't that large of a stone projectile. Its height probably wouldn't reach Yugis's waist.
The stone projectile crossed the earthworks and fell into the moat.
Yugis stood stunned. It was only after Shakel pulled his sleeve that he finally crouched.
Looking at the enemy camp, the enemy infantry were retreating little by little. The fierce fire of the walkway archers was raining down there.
The archers of the Northeast Tower were actively firing fire arrows toward the siege catapults.
The sound of a brass instrument echoed somewhere.
It was undoubtedly the signal for withdrawal.
The withdrawal was completed, and all gates were closed.
The Broy Mercenary Corps gathered as one group, looking up at the state of the wall from the inside.
The explosive bang of the stone projectiles colliding with the wall sounded like a somewhat muffled thud once inside the city.
With every sound, dust fell from the surface of the wall.
Attaik's archer units still remained on the walkway. The heads of people moving around were visible now and then.
"Yugis, what do you think?"
Yugis turned back to Petu. "It might be the Northeast Tower."
"The tower?"
"They're hitting the walls to the left and right, centering on the tower. It seems they're weakening the walls around the tower. —Petu, if the tower collapses, the walls on both sides will fall with it."
Petu took off his helmet and wiped his sweat. "How do they plan to collapse the tower?"
"I don't know that, but probably with stone projectiles."
"Those guys are coming in."
"It seems so. Petu, we need a base."
"Sual Palace, then. I'll go talk to Boss Broy. No time to rest. You, go to Sual Palace and give this information to the Imperial Guard."
"Understood."
Returning his tone to that of wartime responses, Yugis started running.
Sual Palace is a noble's residence located in the center of Attaik. It is a fortress within a fortress, with a water-filled moat and high walls. His Highness Sitris sleeps and wakes there.
On the way, he passed citizens who had been too late to escape. Anxiety was written on all their faces.
—This is bad.
The number of citizens is high. Sual Palace might not be able to accommodate them all. Another base is necessary. It might be better to seal off one district, using the warehouses where fodder and grain are stored as a base. Then they could still fight.
Without thinking further, he just ran.
The area around Sual Palace is usually devoid of people. It is thought of by citizens as a place one must not carelessly approach.
The high walls of Sual Palace came into view. At the corner of the wall, there is a guard post hut. Yugis tried to approach, then suddenly stopped.
Blood that had pooled without soaking into the sand flowed out from the guard post hut.
Peeking in cautiously, he saw a man sitting in the narrow station, his back against the wall. His throat had been cut. Yugis left the spot as if repelled. It was a corpse in the middle of bleeding. He had died recently. The culprit was nearby. In this chaos, there might have been an attack by bandits.
While placing a hand on the sword at his waist, Yugis turned the corner intending to head for the gate.
Someone was there. A woman. It was Bikira.
Beside Bikira, a person wearing a tunic and a hood was crouching. Judging by the voice, the person in the tunic also seemed to be a woman.
"Marvel committed a mistake here as well—"
The woman in the tunic was speaking while drawing lines on the ground with a pebble or something.
The two women stopped talking upon seeing Yugis.
The woman in the tunic stood up. She was an incredibly tall woman. From the skin color slightly visible, she appeared to be Black.
Yugis hesitated for a moment, then drew his sword.
"Bikira, you—"
The words did not follow.
Bikira's expression was too emotionless.
"You're a sharp man."
Yugis was confused by the words Bikira uttered. It was the Siddim language.
"Is this fate as well? Yugis, you are a thin single line connecting to Siddim. I do not wish for even a shred of information regarding Kosa to be carried back to Siddim. That said, I intended to let you go, but this is destiny. I shall kill you."
It was a bored voice that wasn't even a joke.
Yugis remembered the corpse he had seen earlier. It was a sloppy, emotionless way of killing.
"What are you. What are you doing here?"
"He has quite a cute face, doesn't he?" Bikira said to the Black woman. "I intended to let him taste a woman's paradise before killing him, but he's a complete good-for-nothing."
"The one who missed out on tasting my paradise is you."
While keeping his sword ready, Yugis moved to his dominant side.
The Black woman, who had been stepped aside at the edge of the road, suddenly moved her long arm. She flipped up her hood.
She was a woman without a single hair. Her eyes were strikingly large, and her facial features were reminiscent of a skull. The Black woman was smiling with sorrowful eyes.
Coming to his senses and returning his gaze, he found that Bikira had approached carelessly, without any stance. She thrust out a dagger held in one hand haphazardly. Yugis barely blocked it with his guard. Bikira tried to twist the dagger into Yugis's torso, moving only her wrist. Metal clattered against metal. Bikira's strength was eerily strong. She simply twisted the dagger in without any technique.
She did not fear his sword. She stepped into his personal space emotionlessly.
It was the instant Yugis thought to twist his wrist and repel the dagger.
Bikira retreated as if sliding. She lowered her hips and took a low stance, cautiously posing with her dagger.
"You are no mere mercenary. It seems you have some training."
"And you—" Yugis spoke, driven by anger. "Are you a bitch kept by Kosa? What did you do to His Highness Sitris?"
"Who knows."
"It was you who fed poison to His Highness."
"Sitris merely choked on the scent of flowers. I am a proper Kosan, merely fighting for my homeland. Are you from a martial house of Siddim? Did you learn the sword?"
"A Kosan?"
It was war.
There were likely no such things as unorthodox ways. To win, even assassination was possible.
But to crush His Highness Sitris's resolve, and Attaik's efforts, with such cowardly means. To use a woman to feed poison to the general, he was impressed. Moreover, it seemed Yugis had been smitten by that woman. He had been completely deceived.
Thinking that made him furious.
However, upon hearing she was a Kosan, Yugis felt more interest than anger.
"Does a man like Geraha make women do this kind of work?"
"For someone of your level, a woman is sufficient."
"Attaik will lose because of you. I'm not such a soft-hearted person that I'd let you go here."
"I'd like to comfort the little loser, but there's no time. Yugis, come at me."
The one who had drilled Yugis in swordsmanship was his maternal grandfather, Laiel Gilmond.
—The thrust is the ultimate secret of the sword.
His grandfather had said so with a solemn expression.
Yugis leaped boldly and unleashed a thrust with all his might.
The tip of the sword was about to pierce Bikira's abdomen—almost.
At the very least, he shallowly sliced a part of her clothing.
"How dare you—"
Bikira opened her eyes wide and looked up at Yugis.
"If both of you can't get serious, stop it. This is no time for flirting," the Black woman suddenly said. "More importantly, look—"
Saying so, she pointed into the air.
She was pointing east.
Looking, the Northeast Tower was leaning. Without sound, without voice, like a person losing strength and collapsing, it buckled its knees and tilted. Dust clouds blew intermittently from various parts of the tower, and it fell sideways, collapsing while maintaining its shape.
When the dust clouds erupted from the ground, the roar of the collapse finally reached Yugis's ears.
"The rest comes later," Yugis said. "Come to be killed. I'll deal with you when I have time."
Yugis started running.
"Be careful, Yugis. I'm always watching your back," the woman said. "No matter where you go."
"Yeah, I'll be waiting!"
It was finally around noon.