Three days have passed since they surrounded the royal city.
　Three weeks have already passed since the war began.

　Bartolo had said that he could make it last for a month for sure. In other words, the time limit was one week left.
　Depending on Bartolo's efforts, two more weeks or so...

　Tasteless.

　I scratch my head.
　If Bartolo is defeated, Roselle's army will pour into our country. If that happens, defeat is a must.

　I don't know if I should call them heartless or praise them for their foresight, but most of the great families and cities that had formed a master-slave alliance with King Belvedere have heard of his disastrous defeat and are now returning to me.
　All that remained was for King Belvedere to surrender.

　But King Belvedil has not given up yet. King Evil is still attacking our country.
　King Belvedil will not give up as long as there is a chance that King Evil will defeat our country.

　I have to bring King Belvedil and King Evil to his knees quickly and go to Bartolo's rescue....


　"King Loseys.
　What?
　I received a letter from Master Bartolo...
　Let me go!

　I pick up the letter from the soldier who came running in on a fast horse.
　Suppressing my reluctance, I unfold the letter in a messy manner.


　'Dear King Rosais.

　When you read this letter, I will no longer be in this world.'


　What!

　That's a joke.

　irritated

　I involuntarily slam the letter to the ground and crush it.
　Then I hurriedly pick it up, dust it off and re-read it afterwards.


　'I will briefly explain the current situation. Currently, our army is holding out. Fortunately, the well is located in the royal city and there is plenty of food. It's a good thing it was the harvest season. If we conserve, we can last five months.

　It seems we have enough food to last us for the duration of the siege.
　We'll be safe.
　If you have enough food, the walls of a big city can last for more than a year. In some cases, sieges were held for as long as five years.

　In Bartolo's case, he didn't have enough time to prepare for the siege, so he only had enough food to last five months, but...

　"'But Rozelle has called in reinforcements to the homeland. I have information from an inter-agent that Roselle has called in 40,000 troops from her home country. I don't know the details, but it seems that they are divided into four units, and the first group won't arrive until a week later.

　40,000....
　That's an army that looks like it would be impossible to stand on its head in our country. I envy you.
　But it will take some time to put an end to this.

　
　So does that mean they'll be assembled in a month's time, bringing the total to 50,000?


　'I told you earlier that food can last up to five months. If it's only for food. Morale is very low in our army. Morale is very low. They are afraid of some hairy thing they don't understand. It also seems that the enemy has some very good assassins, and eight of our centurions have already been killed.
　This is another reason for the low morale.
　I'm sure we can hold on for another week. But when the first wave of enemy reinforcements arrive, I don't know. The time limit is two or three weeks from now. Think of it as a deadline.
　We need reinforcements as soon as possible. And I recommend diplomatic maneuvers for Gilbet and Faldum.

　Bartolo Pompeius Mera.

　P.S. The blame for the defeat will be accepted again after the victory.'

　You're to blame for the defeat.
　I don't really feel the need to question it, though. I guess it's just a matter of time.

　It's not like Bartolo was at fault. Well, I'll just say that after I save him, I'll revoke his absolute command (Imperium) and that the next battle will undo the sin of losing the war.
　Losing Bartolo after one defeat is ridiculous.


　Well, the time limit has been extended to two weeks........


　Hey, Ron. You got a better idea?
　No, sir.

　That's an excellent response. Well, you're only the Captain of the Kingsguard. I guess I don't have a choice.
　I'm going to give Gram a look. Oh, he looked away.
　You can't take down the walls with a bow, can you?

　Rosward. Where's yours?
　"If the horses can run the ramparts, we can get there.

　I mean, you can't.
　I'll ask Sojourn and Lulu too. What's it like from a sorcerer's point of view?

　'Well, using a falcon to drop bombs from above the enemy would be intercepted by the enemy.

　There are many falconers over there too. A falcon that's heavy with bombs, for example, would end up being hunted easily.

　What about Lulu?
　''Well can't you use a ballista to send the explosive spear flying in a battle?
　Oh, yeah. I've been trying. It's a good thing that the gate is so strong that a few hits won't break it. Moreover, if the range of our range is the same as theirs, then they're also within range...

　Basically, an attack from above has more range and more power.
　As long as the laws of physics are in place, there's nothing you can do about it.

　If you aim at it swiftly, our ballista will be destroyed.

　''Attacking the castle is difficult.......it can't be helped.

　Let's call Alexios.







　Alexios. What do you have in mind?　I don't have time for this. I need to drop it quickly if I can.

　I'll call Alexios and ask him for his opinion.
　Alexios is a foreigner. And he is not from our ally, Rezad. He is a Pophenian.

　When I, the king of the Adelnians, easily asks that Pophenian for his opinion, the other vassals are jealous.
　It's hard to be a popular man and I'm not kidding.

　That kind of disagreement leads to distrust of me and is a factor in the eventual collapse of the country.
　I must avoid it as much as possible.

　But before the country collapses due to discord, it's much quicker to let Roselle destroy it.
　We can't let our backsides fall apart.

　'Actually, I was thinking about that too, and I had my wife look into it. 'Melia!'
　Yes. 'Yes, King Rosais. These are the structures of the walls that I have examined with my questioning of the prisoners and the use of Lesad's sorcerers. Some of it is my own speculation, but...

　I get a piece of paper from a woman named Melia. This woman seems to be the wife of Alexios.
　A beautiful couple.

　Rumor has it that these two eloped and came to the Adelian Peninsula.
　Well, as long as they're happy, why not?　Elopements are always a pattern of failure. Romeo and Juliet, for example.

　I unfold the paper as I think about it.
　It's a pretty elaborate map.

　Finishing this in three days.......Melia seems to be quite good at it.
　But the more I look at it, the more seamless it is.

　And it says something about the fragility of our walls.

　I hand Melia a map and ask her what she wants to do.

　"So, what do you have in mind?
　As you can see, this wall is very strong. As you can see, this wall is very strong and it will take several years to attack it in a straightforward manner. And King Belvedere is storing a lot of food for a siege.

　So I hope you'll say exactly what you're trying to say.
　Start with the conclusion!

　The bottom line is that it will take a year at the earliest. Well, if things go well, it'll take three weeks.　We will dig out the ground and break down the walls. But they will be equipped with it, and they will build a rival tunnel.

　...Alexios is saying it's impossible.
　I can't either.

　But if that happens, it will be the end of our country.


　I think it would be better to make peace. Fortunately, King Belvedere is a coward. If you threaten him, he will give in.
　'But if you persevere, you can win, right?　How do you break King Belvedere's heart?

　To begin with, though, there's no way a guy who can win the battle if he makes it a long term battle will end up in a short term battle.
　Time is on King Belvedere's side.

　''Not so much. The great tribes and cities in the north and central part of the country have accepted the alliance's mastery over King Rosais, haven't they?　In other words, the longer it stands, the less allies we will have from King Belvedere. He must be getting impatient, too. And King Evil doesn't show any signs of defeating King Rosais's kingdom at all. He should surrender if he is cornered a bit. It only depends on the conditions, though.
　What do you mean when you say you'll hunt them down?
　Specifically....

　Alexios explained to me with a nasty look on his face.




　The pitcher roars and sends the jar flying into the sky.
　The high-performance pitcher built by the Cilician flies over the city walls and drops inside the walls.

　

　Well, manure and corpses are the high road to siege warfare.

　'And then there's the letter. We mustn't forget this one.

　Inside the jar, there are also letters addressed to the people inside.
　There are four types of letters inside.

　One is about a captured prisoner of war, and the other is about a dead person whose identity is known.
　Two, the information of a dead person whose identity is known.
　Three, false information that Bartolo was fighting a good battle and the Allies were about to win.
　Four, a recommendation to surrender.

　If it's a letter, it's light and can be scattered from the sky with a hawk.
　Unfortunately, there are more falconers here than there are hawkers.

　But will it fall?
　I'm not going to fall. But there will be a lot of pressure. There are a lot of Cilicians in King Belvedere's country.

　It means there are people who can read them.
　King Belvedere may have given orders not to pick up the letters.

　It has information about the family survivors on it.
　There is no option not to pick them up.


　Well, let's talk to Ains and Gehenna's representatives first.

　I'm in sole command of my country. Because Rezad and Gehenna are in support of our country.
　But we'll still have to save face on the other side.

　A concrete post-war process and share of the profits. And we need to talk about the terms of the surrender of King Belvedere.