51 – Operation Lasso (7)

In a movie or a dramatically won war, there are cases where the castle’s garrison captain, driven into an extreme situation, asks for a ‘conversation’ and then buys time ‘on purpose’ to strengthen the defense and win.

But this kind of thing happens extremely rarely, and if it does happen, it happens only when food is stored in more or less sufficient quantities and morale is somewhat maintained.

Therefore, the current conversation must definitely mean talking about the ‘conditions for surrendering after surrendering the castle’.

“Get Sergeant Short.”

“all right.”

With that said, the messenger hurried out and went to call for Sergeant Short.

And after a while, Sergeant Short came into my tent.

His expression should have been bright because he had just been promoted, but his expression looked a little dark.

What happened during the reconnaissance?

“Sergeant Short, I have been summoned.”

“Thank you for coming quickly.

“no!”

“Yes, the reason I called you was that I wanted to ask you something. After all, you are the most reliable of the scouts on the front line…”

Short listened to me, swallowed, and answered in a nervous voice.

“Speak. dismissal.”

“How is the food situation of the enemy? According to what you reported to me, it looks like you’ll be starving soon… It’s okay not to sort out the information, so tell me what you saw and received.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Short finished his answer, and immediately looked at the wad of paper in his left hand and began to read.

“Summarizing what 10 scouts under Sgt. As a result, there was a big protest in the castle and clashes between soldiers and citizens.”

It’s a harsh-looking measure, but even if I were in a position to defend the castle, I might have done that in that situation.

Even if all citizens die of starvation except for the soldiers guarding the gates and walls, it is the garrison commander’s duty to complete the task of defending the castle.

However, that thought was a bit short-lived.

It would be better to give citizens and peasants simple armaments, and reduce the number of people by opening the gates and fighting…

“Go on.”

“Knights and soldiers under Lord Lance cut off the arms and legs of 30 ringleaders among those who took part in the protest, then executed them by beheading, and beheaded some of those who took part in the protest. After that…”

Sergeant Short, who continued to speak calmly, suddenly stuttered at some point and began not to speak.

I told you to report everything, but seeing that you stutter, there must be something ‘difficult to say’.

However, only by listening to this can we reduce the sacrifices of our soldiers and those who sit in the castle.

So, trying to pressure Sgt. Short, I looked at him and scolded him in a solemn voice.

“Sergeant Short.”

Perhaps he understood my meaning, he closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Some soldiers and citizens and serfs tried to do things that no human being should do, such as digging up the graves where the dead were buried and plotting to eat the corpses… But Sir Lance prepared for this and made sure to properly dig the hole where ‘their bodies’ were buried. Because of supervision, ‘cannibalism’ did not occur… Judging from these circumstances, I think the enemy’s food situation is the worst.”

“I see… Anything else?”

“If His Excellency asks them to revolt and open the city gates on the condition of saving lives, I think there will definitely be people who agree. Even yesterday, Private Hans was caught by a serf inside the castle during reconnaissance, but we reported that the serf openly said, ‘If you spare me, I will cooperate.’”

Starving citizens and soldiers who don’t mind eating cannibals, and even Castle Hellsman, who is considering a rebellion…

If we do well, we can open the castle gates with today’s conversation.

Reaching that conclusion, I smiled and shook my hand.

“Go in. And I will grant you 3 days, no 4 days of vacation. Let all scouts take turns resting. Tell the scout commander.”

I was told that I would be granted leave, but Sergeant Short’s face did not straighten up.

Even though they are enemies, it must have been shocking to see them trying to dig up the bodies of dead people.

If you show yourself like this even in front of me, it must be that you’ve received a huge psychological shock…

Traumatic Stress Disorder… Maybe PTSD…

So, I decided to free their hearts in the best way I can.

“I will give you four days of vacation, and during that time I will provide meat and alcohol indefinitely. Eat, drink, and rest as much as supplies permit.”

“thank you.”

With that said, Sergeant Short bowed quietly to me, paid his respects, and then left my encampment.

I don’t know if some of the current soldiers have been psychologically traumatized like Short and have fallen into a situation where it is difficult to ‘adapt as a soldier’.

How can I revitalize them mentally?

ha, i don’t know

“The orderly! Contact Balt and Helmut right away and tell them to bring the mercenary officer with the dirtiest and most terrifying appearance!!”

“Yes! All right.”

**

Time passed, and finally the day came when I had a conversation with Sir Rance, who was in charge of the castle’s defense.

Although it became an ‘informal’ conversation because Sir Rance held on to his pride to the end…

Even so, at the point where we already said let’s talk, the other side openly said, “Please help me because we’re all going to die if we do this.”

Now, as long as I properly drop the castle, the Count of Nantes will take care of losing, frying, fighting and dying with Hellsmann. No matter what I do, I will not be reprimanded.

No, no matter how much I try to reprimand you, I’m sure you’ll get a huge prize.

Entering the fortress, the Schwein guy said, ‘Decha!!! Decha!!! Someone better than me, like you, has to go after it. Death!! While doing so, he openly pushes his jealousy towards me…

Can you imagine Schwein putting up with all of that and forcibly bestowing huge prizes on me…

With this alone, I can easily go over 1 kilo of bread without any other side dishes.

As I was lost in this pink delusion, I heard a soldier’s voice outside my tent.

“Your Excellency, Sir Rance has arrived.”

“Let me in. Oh, bring beef, bread, and beer for me and him to share.”

“all right. dismissal.”

Shortly thereafter, as Sir Lance entered, our seats were filled with beef, bread, and beer.

“Feel free. Didn’t you hardly eat this kind of delicacies because you were in the castle?”

“thank you.”

After that, Sir Lance and I began to eat without saying anything.

I looked at Rance’s condition and ate slowly and with dignity, but even though Rance was the ‘captain of the castle’s defense’, he ate in a hurry as if he hadn’t eaten much due to lack of food.

If you look closely, you can see that only leather is left on his face, but the face of the nobleman, who is the size of a garrison captain, doesn’t even look greasy, and his cheeks are very skinny…

This persuasion seems to be successful.

After Sir Lance and I finished our meal, an officer suddenly pushed the soldiers into the tent and shouted.

A bear-like tough face, an incredibly thick beard, a voice as strong as a whale’s tendons, and a formidable size…

He looks like a bearded Berserker from a real movie.

Balt and Helmut picked the right greeting.

“Lieutenant Lancelot!! There is something I want to tell you, His Excellency!!!”

It’s already being played, but I scolded him in the loudest possible voice to keep it lively.

“Yeah man!!!! I know what kind of place this is!! Back away!!!!”

“No, I can’t back down!! No matter how disrespectful you may be, talking to scumbags who are already starving and want to commit the taboo of eating each other’s corpses!! You must slit his throat right now!!!”

It’s acting, but it’s a bit tight, isn’t it?

However, Lance, who already had no mental capacity to spare, had a terrified expression on his face when he heard that.

“Yeah man!! Hello!! Take that rude bastard right now!! What are the soldiers doing!!”

With those words, several soldiers came out and laid Lancelot down, then lifted Lancelot by his arms and legs and dragged him out.

Rance, who watched the scene, pretended not to be nervous and spoke in a calm voice.

“hehehehe, His Excellency Baron Creutel’s army is quite… There are a lot of scary people.”

“No. It’s just… there are a lot of guys who are blind to their major. Our scouts have already identified and reported that ‘your’ forces are running out of space. So, they hope to use this opportunity to decapitate or capture one of the ‘knights’. Besides, during the war, a soldier named Short decapitated one of your knights during reconnaissance, and received a title of about 10 senior officers and a heap of gold coins…”

Lance’s face turned white when he heard me.

“Is that so…?”

I put my index and middle fingers on his terrified chin and whispered in his ear.

“I will be honest. Even now, I can plant rebel elements in your castle and cause a rebellion, or even worse sabotage. But I’m trying hard to ignore the words of guys like Lancelot, fearing that my soldiers will die in the process.”

“okay…”

“However, if this conversation doesn’t go well and you continue to fight with me… I can’t help it.”

Then, I purposely dropped the ‘Falsified Count’s Letter’ in front of him and said,

“Read it.”

After a while he looked back at me with a shocked look on his face and stammered.

“… If you can’t capture the castle, you’re going to personally reprimand His Excellency?”

“Yes. It’s the limit now, so I’ll start making siege equipment tomorrow. I’ll lead the soldiers in around the day after tomorrow. See you on the battlefield.”

Rance looked at me and said ‘Father, Father…’, unable to speak, as if he had thought of the worst that could happen if a siege were to unfold in a castle that had already reached its limits.

“In the worst case, the soldiers may decapitate you and open the gates. hey, congratulations There is no such disgrace. to choose Will you remain as the captain of the garrison who opened the gates to defend the castle with soldiers and citizens until the end? Or will you go down in history as an idiot who was killed by soldiers?”

Hearing those words, Lance stood there for a while with a blank expression.

And he said with a sad expression.

“I will surrender. Even if you take my life, please guarantee the lives of my family and the lives of the knights, soldiers, and citizens inside.”

“Not so.”

**

After that, Garrison Captain Lance personally went to the gate with me and gave orders to the soldiers.

“We cannot lose the lives of you, the citizens, and the serfs by continuing to defend the castle like this. Open the gates.”

I did it. Now I have captured the enemy’s capital without losing a single soldier.

It cost a lot of money to cut down trees and prepare various supplies, but…

That kind of money was the money to go into anyway, and rather, it is more meaningful to spend money like this to protect my soldiers.

And I, along with Rance, was able to enter the innermost part of the Count’s castle without encountering any resistance.

While I was writing a letter to inform that I had attacked the castle, I received a call from the Viscount.

On the outside of the contact, this sentence was written along with his seal.

[Report of the battle between His Excellency Count of Nantes’ army and Count Hellsman’s army]

How could it have been? That idiot must be caught in a noose.