The main camp of the Clan army.

　Sturt's Castle, which was stationed in the vicinity.

　Sitting in a chair in the main camp, the Clan was thinking about what to do now with a reluctant expression.



　This time the battle was quite favorable at first.

　The first battle was greatly defeated and defeated the reinforcements from Bertsd Castle, which were stationed on the road, and were defeated in the first battle.

　From then on, they won and were able to march to the vicinity of Sturt's Castle.

　But in doing so, the enemy had successfully obtained information about the Clan army as they fought.
　Then, taking advantage of the gap where the entire army had been distracted by the continuous battles, they were able to pinpoint the explosion's magic water transport unit, resulting in the loss of a lot of magic water.

　There were only a few left, and with a clan army that originally had few excellent magic soldiers, it was impossible to destroy the city walls and gates with this amount.

　Currently, they couldn't move from their positions and waited for the supply of magic water, but once winter was in full swing, their transport speed would slow down, so if that happened, it would take a long time to transport them and they wouldn't be able to fight for a long time.

　That would give the enemy more time.
　Currently that should be avoided, the clan thought.

　There was also the issue of troops.

　We had prepared an ample amount of rations to begin with, but if we dragged it out too long, we'd have to retreat and prepare ourselves.

　For a variety of reasons, the Clan wanted to have Sturt's Castle fall before the winter began in earnest.

(However, given the current situation, that would be difficult.......there are places where the defenses seem to be thin......but breaking through there is also impossible with the magic water of the current explosion. (Even if we did break through, it would break down the defenses of the hard-to-attack places, so unless we can exploit an opening in the enemy, it would be difficult to attack...)

　The Clan was beginning to think that this was a sacrifice that they were already prepared to make, and that they would have to drop it by force without relying on magic.

　Even at the cost of many sacrifices, Sturt's Castle was a castle worth bringing down.

　However, if we were prepared to sacrifice a great deal of money and failed to bring it down, we would have to retreat with extensive damage.

　If that happened, the castle they had attacked and defeated could be taken back, and all their efforts would be for naught.

　That much had to be avoided at all costs.

''If Ars and his vassals were here, they might be able to come up with a plan to get out of this situation...''

　Stopping the reinforcements from Rolt Castle was also an important task, so the Clan had decided to leave it to someone they could trust, but the Clan was beginning to think that they might have made the wrong decision.

'Master Clan, the letter has arrived!

　That's when a soldier hurriedly jumped in.

'Who's that?'
It's from Mr. Lemaire.

　Rumail was Ars's boss.
　In other words, Clan hurriedly opened the letter, thinking that it might contain a plan from Ars.

　It said that he was thinking of a surprise operation, so he wanted to cooperate with the main unit.

(Surprise attack........I see.......this might be a way out of this situation. If I show a move to attack with force, the enemy forces will have no choice but to keep a close eye on our movements. If that happens, the other defenses will be neglected, and the question is whether the troops left in Le Maire will be enough. There are many soldiers inside the castle, and they won't be able to easily reach the place where the magical soldiers using defensive magic are located. (It would be better to move the two thousand or so soldiers currently in the rear to join up with Lemayre's army without being distracted by the enemy.

　With that in mind, the Clan hurriedly sent the letter to Castle Rolt.