Chapter 16 : Siege of Buinyu Fortress (8)

Chapter 16: Siege of Buinyu Fortress (8)

“B-Bjorne is down.”

“How did they take down that strong Bjorne…?!”

Voices from Baron Buinyu’s troops rose around them.

They shouted like they were screaming and couldn’t hide their shock.

He wasn’t a knight, but he had probably been close to one, and that kind of expert had died.

For Baron Buinyu’s army, made up of ordinary soldiers, it was a horrifying blow.

It meant the Shatien standing tall there was stronger than an Elf like that.

‘Haa… haah…’

Of course, Shatien’s condition was terrible.

In a fight where life and death hung in the balance, he had used his ability too much and his stamina had been shredded.

But he couldn’t show weakness now.

If he did, Baron Buinyu’s army might rally.

“Heave ho.”

Forcing strength into his body, Shatien picked up Bjorne’s fallen sword.

“Oh? This is nice.”

Even the grip in his palm felt exceptional.

They said Elves’ traditional blades were special, and this was exactly that.

-Ting.

He flicked the blade with a fingertip, and a clear note rang in his ear.

‘It’s a masterpiece.’

Thinking so, Shatien raised the sword to show he was still unbroken.

“H-He must be tired too!”

“Right. Kill him and soothe our comrade’s spirit! Take revenge!”

But it seemed Shatien’s staggering gave them courage.

“Hyaaa! Die!”

-Fwoosh!

Baron Buinyu’s soldiers charged Shatien, hearts steeled.

It wasn’t a good choice.

-Kang!

Shatien knocked aside a thrusting spear.

-Slash!

Then he turned his blade and split a soldier of Baron Buinyu, shield and all.

“Eek! A-A person got cut in half?”

“He’s still strong! Damn it!”

Seeing it, the soldiers recoiled in convulsions and fell back in a rush.

Of course, Shatien was just as shocked at the result.

‘It cuts this cleanly?’

The sword’s performance was too good. To exaggerate only a little, it parted a shield like soft radish.

Thanks to that, Shatien felt a thrill.

-Slash.

-Slaaash.

-Slaaaash!

Every time he swung, the enemy failed to parry and was cut. Unprotected wrists, armor, even shields, all went through at once.

Wherever Shatien passed, no one remained whole, and the stone ran slick with blood.

“U-Uuuuuaaah!”

As if that weren’t enough madness,

“Oh ho, is this your handiwork?”

even the terrifying enemy knight, Sir Knight Lowe, appeared.

He had come back to bolster the faltering team.

“Talk about credit later. First we clear these rats. Hya!”

-Snick. Crunch!

With both Shatien and Sir Knight Lowe there, monstrous beasts tore the front apart, and behind them the reformed Death Squad started shooting their crossbows.

Baron Buinyu’s forces were thrown into sheer panic.

“D-Damn it, what are we supposed to do!”

Driven to the wall, Baron Buinyu’s field commander had no choice.

He ordered a retreat.

“Fall back! Retreat! Pull behind and regroup!”

“Whew, thank the lord.”

“Run, fast!”

It looked ridiculous to withdraw inside their own base, but so it went.

* * *

“Can you still move? Sha… Sha…”

“It’s Shatien, Sir Lowe.”

“Ah, right.”

At Shatien’s reply, Sir Knight Lowe nodded and looked him over.

He didn’t seem formally trained anywhere, but his combat power was striking.

If he could, Sir Knight Lowe wanted to make him a retainer on the spot.

‘Though that isn’t what matters right now.’

Shaking off the stray thought, he asked again.

“Our allies at the gate are in grave danger. Even if it is hard, we must get there at once.”

The situation was worse than expected.

They had meant to draw forces away, but not enough enemy troops had shifted to this side.

Instead, soldiers of Baron Buinyu had piled toward the gate.

He had suspected this would happen and wished he had assigned more men to the Death Squad at the gate.

Sensing Sir Knight Lowe’s impatience, Shatien nodded.

“Yes. I am fine. I will move immediately. If they fail there, we all die anyway.”

“Hehe… indeed. I can pay my ransom, but… hm, for mercenaries and common soldiers, who knows…”

Well now.

Hearing Sir Knight Lowe’s words, Shatien felt a strength rise that he hadn’t had a second before.

“Let’s go, quickly. I’ll follow.”

“Alright.”

Shatien hurried to his feet and followed after Sir Knight Lowe.

But not long after, he realized just how bad the situation was.

“Kill all of Bellua’s dogs!”

“No mercy for filthy abilityors.”

“Close the gate quickly. The enemy is coming!”

Most of the Death Squad at the gate had already been pushed back, and only a few held on.

The fighting had been so fierce that Sir Knight Guillaume, the knight in charge there, had already fallen.

“Damn…”

Taking it in, Sir Knight Lowe grimaced.

-Thump, thump, thump!

Baron Buinyu’s soldiers were hacking away at the pulleys that fixed the portcullis.

Each time they struck, the chains shuddered and the iron gate trembled.

It looked as if the open gate would slam shut any moment.

“Forget rescuing our men. Cut down those damned axemen first!”

Sir Knight Lowe shouted.

It was a cruel order, but unless the gate stayed open, their allies outside could not enter and finish the siege.

If those chains snapped now, the sacrifices to this point would be for nothing.

“Huuh? Enemies!”

“More Bellua rats behind us!”

The commander of Baron Buinyu’s forces spotted them late and bellowed.

He meant to block their approach at any cost, but the Death Squad with Sir Knight Lowe reacted first.

-Fwip fwip fwip!

Crossbows, reloaded in the meantime, loosed in a volley.

“Gyaaaah!”

“My arm, my arm!”

Bolts driven by powerful draw tore through Baron Buinyu’s ranks.

In that instant, the soldiers standing in formation crumpled in bunches.

“Keep it running! Keep running! We have to reach it before the chains snap!”

Snarling, Sir Knight Lowe sprinted for the gap.

At the same time, Baron Buinyu’s commander screamed himself hoarse.

“Stop them! Keep them from interfering! If the chain breaks, they’re rats in a jar!”

Those who tried to punch through and those who tried to block them.

A blood-soaked race for survival began between the two.

But it seemed the goddess of victory smiled on Baron Buinyu.

“That is it! We broke through!”

At the very moment Sir Knight Lowe carved a path with staggering prowess and opened a clear lane to the chains,

-Kakang!

-Kang!

-Ting!

The axe blows of Baron Buinyu’s men severed the chains that held the iron gate.

-Churururururururuk!

The heavy chain began to reel upward into the slot above the gate.

With nothing left to hold it, the portcullis started to drop.

-Screech, skreeeeech!

“T-The gate…!”

Sir Knight Lowe lowered his sword as if resigned.

Once that slammed shut, everything became futile.

All that remained was surrender.

And just then,

“No!”

A man sprang forward like he had been launched.

It was Shatien.

‘I have to stop it no matter what.’

Leaving aside that the future he knew had changed, if the gate shut now, they would be trapped here with no way out.

And that meant death.

A mercenary captured in enemy territory would not usually survive.

Shatien had no desire to die a shitty death here.

-Crunch.

So he gripped his sword as if it were a throwing spear and put all his strength into it.

His target was the slot where the chain was being reeled up.

If he jammed the blade into that hole, he could stop it before it picked up full speed.

‘Please work! Please! Help me! My ability!’

He begged from his gut and poured his running start into the throw.

And at that moment,

-Vvvmmmm.

that familiar sense came, the world moved slowly,

‘Nnghhhh!’

and an explosive intuition rattled his skull.

He had used it so much his head felt like it would burst, but that was fine.

If he could stop it, it was worth it.

-Churururuk!

At last the intuition snapped into place, Shatien’s hand released the sword, and the world sped back to normal.

-Flash!

-Kkeeng!

Amazingly, the sword Shatien hurled jammed into the chain slot, and before it could fully accelerate, it arrested the movement.

“Ah… ah…?”

“Impossible!”

“Oh my god!”

Gasps and groans crossed.

It was the instant that split joy and despair.

-Screee, screeeeeeeech!

-Skkrkrkrkrkrkrkrk!

The wedged blade shrieked like it would shatter at once, but that was fine.

That brief time was enough.

-Dugugugugudugugugu!

“Kill every one of Baron Buinyu bastards! Chaaaarge!”

Count Bellua’s heavy cavalry thundered through the open gate.

* * *

When the Count’s cavalry had passed and only Baron Buinyu’s corpses lay heaped before the gate, Shatien stared blankly and picked up his sword.

‘It’s completely ruined.’

The price of trying to halt the falling gate was monstrous.

The fine blade he had just won by killing the Elf was crushed into a wretched mess.

‘Damn it. Is it because my nickname is Swordbreaker? At this rate I won’t have a proper blade left.’

Anxious thoughts stirred.

People said you grew into your nickname. He worried he might start breaking every weapon he put in his hands.

‘Still… in the end we won this battle because of it, so I should be happy about it, right?’

Indeed.

Thanks to Shatien sacrificing his sword, Count Bellua’s heavy cavalry entered the keep intact.

He had seen with his own eyes what a single knight could do. Now hundreds of knights came in on the backs of their best partners, their warhorses.

‘That already settles it.’

Baron Buinyu’s army couldn’t stop a heavy cavalry charge, and the Count’s troops who followed them shattered the defenders.

And as a result,

-Flap.

Count Bellua’s banners flew over Baron Buinyu’s outer walls and over the inner keep’s spire.

-Waaaaaaah!

A thunderous cheer rose from the inner keep.

The Count was likely proclaiming victory.

“Haha, we won!”

“We actually won! Hahaha!”

The survivors under Count Bellua raised their swords and shouted. Most of those here were from the Death Squad.

After savage fighting and great achievements, they had lived, so of course they rejoiced.

Such deeds brought massive rewards.

“Good work, Shatien!”

“Swordbreaker! Your skill isn’t just talk. I will spread your name far and wide.”

So they cheered Shatien, the de facto main driver of the mission’s success.

The battle skill he showed all battle, and that unbelievable spear-like throw, deserved recognition.

No one who had seen it would dare belittle him.

And those who thought so weren’t only the rank and file.

“Shatien!”

Sir Knight Lowe, who had accompanied Count Bellua into the inner keep, finished his business and came to find him.

“Your merit is great. I will deliver every one of your deeds in this battle to Count Bellua so that you receive your due reward.”

Sir Knight Lowe commended him in a level tone.

Of course, Shatien couldn’t be that calm at the contents.

‘A reward directly from the Count?’

Since Sir Knight Lowe was a direct vassal, the Count wouldn’t hand him some shabby trinket just for show.

‘Perhaps If I am lucky, I could be granted a fine weapon or armor fit for a knight.’

In wartime, soldiers who earned merit often received such rewards. Shatien figured he might get something similar.

“Hm… and one more thing.”

But it seemed Sir Knight Lowe had more business.

After a brief pause, he spoke slowly.

“My squire’s place is currently vacant. I had someone in mind already, but…”

He paused, then continued.

“That friend fell in this battle. It is regrettable, but the living must continue to live. So, how about entering my service as my squire?”

Starting as a squire, if he earned merit while learning swordsmanship from that knight, he could become a full knight.

And a knight’s rank was…

“To put it simply, I am offering to make you a noble.”

The first step toward that noble royal blood.

-Gulp.

At the unexpected offer, Shatien was only able to swallow dryly.

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