Episode 108: The Battle for the Fortress City

“Ha… hahhh…!”

Collapsing onto his rear, Volfirio clutched his head. The shock and confusion of his once-unshakable confidence crumbling were etched across his face.

With ragged breaths, he shouted.

“Y-You lot… no matter what, you must hold this ground! Understood? Defend it to the death!”

Still slumped in his defeated posture, Volfirio barked orders at the captain of the western wall’s defense.

“D-Defend to the death, you say…?”

The captain, glancing back and forth between the approaching enemy horde and Volfirio’s pathetic state, couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“The enemy numbers are far too great! With our forces, facing such a multitude… there’s no way we can hold them back!”

“Isn’t it your job to figure out how to make it work!? Drop stones or bricks from the walls onto the enemy—do whatever it takes! Use your heads, you incompetent fools!”

Volfirio’s rage boiled over, but the captain knew all too well. No amount of petty tactics could salvage this situation.

The moment they were surrounded by forty thousand enemies, the battle was already lost. The responsibility for this predicament rested squarely on Volfirio’s shoulders.

Yet, the man himself seemed utterly oblivious to that fact.

“D-Defend it to the death! Protect this place even if it costs your lives! The life of a royal—my life—is at stake! You commoners have no right to value your own!”

“…Yes, sir.”

The captain suppressed his emotions and quietly bowed his head.

“R-Right…! Messenger! Where’s the messenger?!”

“Here, sir!”

At Volfirio’s shout, a messenger hurriedly approached.

“Relay this to the officers of the Western Corps! You’re in charge of the defense here. I… I’ll return to the castle to devise a strategy!”

Stumbling to his feet, Volfirio descended the stairs and bolted toward the castle.

(Th-This place is too dangerous—enemy arrows could reach here! I-I need to… retreat to a safe location and come up with a plan to escape this crisis…!)

Surrender or flee? No, was either even possible in this situation?

Regardless, he desperately needed time to think of a way to survive.

“V-Volfirio殿下! Wait, please! I-I’ll accompany you!”

Almants hurriedly chased after him. The two rushed into the castle and faced each other in the first-floor hall.

“W-What do we do, Your Highness!?”

Almants, his face pale with anxiety, called out.

“T-To think that Garfilia, the First Prince, would join forces with Siegfried… Even with a fortress this sturdy, we can’t hold out against a force four times our size…!”

“—I know that already!”

As if to say, Don’t state the obvious, Volfirio stomped the floor in frustration.

“Damn it… We have to find a way to turn this around…! If I fall into my brother’s hands, even a royal like me won’t escape unscathed! That… that must be avoided at all costs!”

Tearing at his hair and biting his fingertips, Volfirio frantically searched for a solution. But no miraculous plan to reverse the situation came to mind.

As his panic swelled, the doors to the entrance hall suddenly burst open.

The ones who entered were—officers of the Western Corps.

Volfirio, his voice laced with shock, demanded answers.

“W-What’s going on!? I ordered you to take command of the wall’s defense! Why have you abandoned your posts!?”

“I-It’s… the western wall is about to be breached!”

The officer’s report was urgent. Another quickly added.

“The eastern wall is the same! The enemy will soon come flooding in!”

“I-Impossible…!”

Volfirio let out a stunned cry.

“Tch… Too fast! It’s unthinkable for the walls to be breached this quickly!”

Even with the enemy’s numbers, breaching the walls so swiftly was unimaginable.

—At least, not through sheer force alone.

“Y-Yes… You’re right. In other words… some of the defenders opened the gates themselves.”

“What… did you say?”

Terror gripped Volfirio’s chest, his heart pounding fiercely.

“The enemy made this proclamation: ‘Our only targets are Prince Volfirio, Vice-Commander Almants, and the few officers who sided with them. Open the gates, and we’ll spare the lives of the other soldiers.’”

“Wha…!?”

Volfirio’s lips trembled with fear.

“A-And… the defenders obeyed those words!?”

“Y-Yes… Some of the soldiers started moving to open the gates. Those trying to stop them are fighting back, but… it’s likely the gates will be opened soon. The soldiers trying to open them… far outnumber the rest…”

To the defenders, there was no reason to risk their lives for Volfirio’s sake. If sacrificing him meant their survival, the choice was obvious.

“Kiiiii!”

Volfirio clawed at his hair in a frenzy.

“Traitors! To betray me—your prince—and abandon the defense…!”

Rage coursed through him, but now was not the time to be consumed by emotion.

“W-What do we do, Your Highness…!?”

The officers’ gazes fixed on Volfirio. They were deeply involved in the illicit trade, and even surrendering him now wouldn’t earn them forgiveness.

“F-For now… we have no choice but to flee! E-Even if the enemy floods in, we might be able to slip away in the chaos…!”

At that moment, a sudden idea flashed in Volfirio’s mind.

“Th-That’s it…! I-Is there a common soldier’s uniform somewhere!?”

One of the officers answered immediately.

“Y-Yes! There are spare uniforms for the defenders in a nearby storage room!”

“G-Good! We’ll change into those! Disguise ourselves as common soldiers and escape in the confusion!”

“U-Understood!”

There was no time to think about what came after escaping.

Their minds were consumed by a single thought: to flee from the impending doom bearing down on them.