"...."
I gazed at the graves of my men laid to rest in the Kellerheim church, unable to hide the heaviness in my heart. The other cavalry had taken heavy losses too, but I’d lost five of my men to the gunner unit’s attack.
The Gale Knights were precious subordinates I held especially dear. Reorganizing the unit and the strategy meetings on taking Radensdorf had kept me terribly busy, but there was one thing I’d never skip, and that was the funeral Mass.
"Loving and merciful Father, we entrust to You those who departed this world believing in the holy Christ, trusting that they will rise again together with Christ."
The Kellerheim bishop was an outsider, but he carried out the rites for the dead with care, sincerely praying that they might find peaceful rest at Christ’s side.
I didn’t fully believe in Catholicism, but I recited along with his prayer and prayed for the repose of the men who’d been like my own children. Anton’s eyes had already welled up as he called out the names of his fallen comrades one by one.
"Lord, mercifully hear our prayer. Lower the stairway of heaven for Your servants, and grant that the faithful friends who remain may be gathered together in Christ to enjoy eternal happiness before You. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
After the funeral Mass, I finished the procedure of sending the keepsakes along with the compensation money to the bereaved families. The number of men I’d sent off so far came close to forty.
I’d go through this sort of thing countless more times, but I still couldn’t grow detached from the deaths of subordinates I cherished. I consoled myself and pulled through, vowing not to let their deaths be in vain.
"A subordinate’s death tears at the heart no matter how many times you go through it."
"Haa, it does. It’s a pain you can never get used to."
Benjamin’s men were buried in this church too.
The Offenburg Knights, who’d attacked the enemy heavy infantry line head-on, had regrettably taken the heaviest losses. Not because of enemy resistance or crossbowmen, but because of the cannons.
Benjamin even suffered a minor injury when his horse, struck by stone shot fragments, died and sent him tumbling. It was fortunate that the vice commander took over command; otherwise, the order’s reputation might have been tarnished.
Benjamin says he still hears the boom of cannons in his ears.
During the siege he’d watched from a safe distance, but having taken it head-on himself, he must have felt the force of it firsthand.
"I never knew cannons could be this powerful even in a field battle."
Holding formation and charging is the tactic of heavy cavalry, so they’d had the bad luck of being struck by stone shot fragments and taking considerable casualties. It was a misfortune for the Offenburg Knights who’d boldly stepped forward.
Leaving behind Benjamin, who was bowing his head and gazing somberly at his men’s graves, I went to find the Swiss mercenary company. The Swiss mercenary company had staked their lives to hold off the enemy raiding force.
Quite a few casualties had occurred, but they didn’t mind. Mercenaries were men who could die at any time on the battlefield. But Leto seemed to be in less than good spirits.
Gedel spoke as if it were nothing.
"Radensdorf’s black knight led the raiding force, but he died in a single stroke, so that’s why he’s like this."
"That would have been the finest knight of Radensdorf that Prince Louis mentioned."
"He seemed confident in his skill, but as always, he fell to Leto."
Apparently Leto hadn’t meant to kill him from the start. He’d tried to earn a ransom, but never expected the man couldn’t withstand even a single blow. It might look like Beren’s knights are of a low caliber, but the truth is Leto is monstrously strong.
"...."
"According to my friend here, he thought Beren’s knights would be as strong as you, sir knight."
It was absurd, but Leto resolved to hold back in order to earn ransoms. It became unclear whether the knights who’d face him should count themselves lucky or call it humiliating.
We advanced on Radensdorf Castle without any interference. Word from the Breisburg front still hadn’t reached us, so I didn’t know how things had gone there.
"What a magnificently enormous castle."
"Come to think of it, this was your first time seeing Radensdorf, wasn’t it?"
It was truly enormous.
To give you an idea, it seemed taller and sturdier than Breisburg or Offenburg. They say it was built back when the Duchy of Bavaria wielded such great power that it threatened the imperial court.
It was a double wall composed of a sturdy outer wall and inner wall.
At the time, the Marquis Radensdorf family were margraves and a leading family in the grand duke’s faction, but they died out without leaving an heir. After the royal family reclaimed the domain, it had no master until Johannes became duke.
Ironically, that domain became the heart of the faction that raised a banner against the Altringens. Part of it was the grand duke deliberately leaving it be, but in any case, to us it was nothing more than a needlessly oversized wall.
Because we had twenty-eight cannons.
The crown prince looked forward to the Royal Artillery Corps’ performance this time as well. He even came to the artillery headquarters in person to encourage the men individually. The artillerymen took pride in the crown prince’s attention.
"I’m counting on your performance."
"Until the remaining powder and stone shot run out, we’ll be able to break that wall!"
Schneider was very confident.
Marco looked like he wanted to challenge that, but he restrained himself in front of the crown prince. By Marco’s judgment, the wall being tall wasn’t a problem, but its thickness was.
"With stone shot, we’ll only damage the surface of the wall, but breaking through to the interior will likely be too much."
"Oh? You knew about fortification techniques?"
"I learned them, but never had a chance to put them to use. Look at the base of that wall."
Indeed, broad, thick stone served as the foundation. Unlike ordinary walls of uniform thickness, this one was of a wholly different construction. Marco said it looked like an imitation of the Theodosian Walls.
To think it was divided into an outer and inner wall with such a structure.
So Marco’s concern became reality.
This thick wall steadfastly withstood four days of cannon bombardment.
"Quite solid."
The Count of Belfort, whose shoulder injury had healed, watched Radensdorf Castle indifferently with his arms crossed. He was on the rather young side among the lords, but he was also the figure whose inner thoughts were the hardest to read.
His mindset was truly consistent.
Coolheadedness, and observation. He might even be a trickier figure to deal with than the aged Count Essenbach or Count Euz. We were on basically friendly terms, but it was closer to a relationship through the Finance Minister’s family.
After all, his daughter was Michael’s wife. As I saw it, my sister-in-law was a wise woman, but Michael didn’t seem to care for her much. Could it be because of Michael’s relationship with the Count of Belfort?
Since it was a political marriage, I could understand there being no affection.
Hilda and I had a truly special relationship. We weren’t connected through our families. We’d met at a banquet hall, weighed the conditions, and married, but no one would have guessed it would turn out this sweet.
"We’ve been attacking for four days, but we haven’t dealt a decisive blow."
"Hmm, the commander of that castle was named Antonio, was it?"
A commander from Italy was currently leading the Radensdorf garrison, and he was a leading member of the duke’s loyalist faction. So perhaps that was why he was doggedly enduring our attacks.
The first time I ever experienced an impregnable fortress was probably the Baschurten siege. But by mobilizing the new weapon that was the cannon, I’d brought the impregnable to its knees.
And I’d reduced every castle I’d faced since then with cannons.
So the command of the Western Lords’ Army had unshakable faith in cannons, but for the first time, that faith began to waver. The surface had been battered to pieces, but Radensdorf still stood firm.