Staring at the city wall that had abruptly appeared before them, Cedecamp and Pat were pale with shock.
"Three interlocking golden rings—that's Viscount Kenmaise's family crest. Could it be that… our family…" Pat's face turned extremely grim.
"Hm? Cedecamp, why didn't you tell me there was a checkpoint wall here?"
"My lord, this is our family's territory. But this checkpoint wall wasn't built by our family… When we were sent to find you, this wall wasn't here yet, and the family simply didn't have the manpower or resources to build a city wall here." Cedecamp muttered.
"Oh? You're saying this wall was built on our family's territory, but not by our family?" A sense of foreboding washed over Lorist. He had imagined many scenarios for returning to the family's lands, but never expected to find someone else's wall standing on his own territory.
When something like this happened, it could only mean one thing—that the
The defenders atop the wall had already spotted the Norton convoy with its banner of the angry bear snapping in the wind. A man in leather armor was shouting at the panicked guards, ordering them to prepare their defenses.
"One, two, three. Heh, they really aren't holding back. A small wall like this actually has three siege crossbows mounted on it. Quite unexpected…" Lorist narrowed his eyes and studied the defensive installations on the wall, clicking his tongue.
"Whose crest are those three circles?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, that's the family crest of Viscount Kenmaise—the one who has a territorial dispute with us. He fought us once before over a copper mine…" Cedecamp said.
"So the Norton family has already lost to this Viscount Kenmaise, and that's why he has the gall to build walls and set up checkpoints on our family's territory." Lorist grinned savagely. It seemed a territorial war was inevitable.
"No, my lord, I don't think so." Pat seemed to have realized something.
"What is it? What are you thinking?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, if our family had lost the territorial war and our lands had been seized, then Viscount Kenmaise would have no need to build a wall here. His own territory lies just beyond, connected to our family's lands. No one builds a wall like this through the middle of their own territory—that would only cause trouble for themselves."
"Besides, I've fought alongside the old family head against Viscount Kenmaise's forces before. His army is mostly made up of mercenaries hired from here and there—they have no real combat capability. Even if we'd lost our family's military forces, Kenmaise's army would never have had the strength to take our family's manor castle. Moreover, Northlay Town isn't far from the manor castle, and even the most incompetent garrison captain wouldn't joke with the family's survival—because it concerns their own interests. If the family fell, they'd lose the very ground they stood on. So they wouldn't sit by and watch Kenmaise's forces take the manor castle."
"I believe Viscount Kenmaise built this wall primarily to cut off the family's contact with the outside world, to strangle us in the wilderness of the Northland, and ultimately force the family to bow to him." Pat laid out his assessment.
"That makes a great deal of sense. Once we take the city, we'll know the truth soon enough." Lorist nodded.
"My lord, you want to assault the city now?" Cedecamp was stunned. "But we haven't prepared anything—not even siege ladders. How can we attack? And there are three siege crossbows on the wall…"
"Siege ladders? We don't need them. Look at this wall—it's only about four meters high, with twenty or thirty mangy dogs on top. Making siege ladders would be too generous. Those three siege crossbows are too cumbersome; they're only a threat against large attacking forces. As long as I avoid the firing angles, they're useless against me alone. Pat, go tell Oveigis to have his guard squad ready. The moment I get up on the wall and secure the top, they're to follow immediately." Lorist said.
"Yes, my lord." Pat answered loudly, then added with some worry, "My lord, be careful. Perhaps I should go up with you."
"Heh…" Lorist laughed. "You should know my skills. This wall is nothing to me. But you're encased in heavy armor—it'd be difficult for you to get up. Besides, with just me, the target is small and I can dodge freely. Adding you would only make the target bigger. Don't worry—those people up there are nothing but small fry."
Lorist rode forward alone, straight toward the wall. When he was less than seventy meters away, a thunderous snap rang out as one of the siege crossbows on the wall fired. Lorist pulled his horse left, and the massive bolt whizzed past, striking the ground more than a foot deep right where his mount had been.
In the blink of an eye, Lorist had crossed past the firing angle of the siege crossbow. With less than forty meters to the wall, he reached out, drew a javelin, and hurled it.
Three javelins thudded into the wall, a good half-meter below the top. The defenders above burst out laughing—this accuracy couldn't even reach the top of the wall. Useless! No threat at all.
He couldn't lean his whole body over the wall to aim from below.
Lorist wheeled his horse around and galloped alongside the wall once more. This time, he slipped out of the stirrups and crouched on the horse's back. Just as he reached the spot where his javelins were embedded, he leaped lightly, agile as an ape, grabbed one of the javelins with both hands, used it as a pivot to swing himself up, and was over the top of the wall in one fluid motion.
The acrobatic maneuver left the defenders on the wall stunned speechless. By the time they reacted, Lorist was already standing on the battlements, having drawn the longsword from his back.
The leather-armored guard captain who had been directing defenses from the wall began cursing and shouting the names of several men. The guards near Lorist leveled their spears and raised their shields, charging at him in a swarm, trying to overwhelm him with numbers.
Five guards fell in rapid succession, blood spurting from their throats. Lorist strolled past the convulsing bodies as if taking a leisurely walk and headed toward the leather-armored guard captain.
The captain's cursing died in his throat. He stared in disbelief at the five men on the ground, and when he saw Lorist approaching, he hastily drew his longsword, grabbed a shield from nearby, and backed away while bellowing for the other guards to come help him gang up on Lorist.
Two guards with long spears sneaked up behind Lorist, thrusting from left and right. The captain's eyes lit up with hope. His sword blazed with qi light as he moved to join the attack—only to see Lorist pause, then spin like a whirlwind, sweeping between the two ambushers. A flash of steel, and both guards dropped their spears, clutching their gushing throats as they toppled with gurgling sounds.
The captain panicked and turned to run. Could he escape? Lorist charged forward. Just as he was about to catch up, the captain suddenly spun around—left hand shield protecting his body, right hand sword slashing backward and down…
Where was he? There was no one behind the captain. His sword cut empty air, and his momentum carried him two stumbling steps forward. Just as he was about to locate Lorist, he felt a cold blade against his neck, and Lorist's voice came from his side: "Drop your sword and surrender, and I'll spare your life."
The captain froze. His shield clattered to the ground as he slowly turned to face Lorist.
Lorist pressed the sword slightly against his neck, signaling him to drop the longsword in his right hand. The captain slowly raised his sword as if to throw it down. When he saw Lorist's attention fix on the weapon, the captain suddenly jerked backward, breaking free from the blade at his neck, and tried to roll away to escape.
But no matter how fast he was, he couldn't match Lorist's reflexes. The sword thrust forward and pierced his throat…
"Looking for death," Lorist cursed.
He had only wanted to find a captain to question about what had happened during this time. He hadn't expected this one to try resisting even after being subdued. Since he was so determined to die, Lorist was happy to oblige. He glanced around the battlements—besides the eight corpses on the ground and himself, there wasn't a soul in sight. The remaining dozen or so guards had already fled down the far side of the wall.
Standing atop the wall, Lorist looked in the direction those guards had run. "Son of a—" he swore loudly. It turned out that what Viscount Kenmaise had built here wasn't just a wall and a checkpoint. He was building an entire city. Three hundred meters beyond the wall he stood on, there was another wall—taller and far more solid.
Outside, Oveigis and his guard squad were shouting something in a commotion. Lorist leaned over to look—everyone who needed to be here had arrived.
"Wait," Lorist said.
He descended the wall and opened the main gate.
"My lord, you were too rash. At least wait for me to come and disable those siege crossbows on the wall first." Jossk held up one of the massive bolts he'd pulled from the ground outside, grumbling.
"I'm fine, aren't I? You'll get your chance. Look ahead—there's another wall." Lorist pointed toward the distant wall.
"No problem. Leave it to me. Hyah!" Jossk kicked his horse's flanks and charged forward, with Oveigis's guard squad following right behind him toward the wall.
"Oh no—Old Jossk, I didn't tell you to attack the city! Damn it, he's pretending not to hear again, and he's running so fast…" Lorist stamped his feet in frustration.
That wall ahead was considerably taller than the one he'd just captured, and it looked much thicker too. Its defenses would surely be more complete. If Jossk charged in recklessly with the guard squad, he'd likely get battered.
Lorist ran to the gate to find the horse that had brought him, only to discover it had trotted back to the convoy on its own. Pat was holding it, and together with Cedecamp and Reidi driving a wagon, they were making their way slowly toward the wall with the rest of the convoy.
Lorist waved at Pat, motioning for him to hurry up with the horse. But Pat, Cedecamp, and Reidi misunderstood—they thought Lorist was celebrating his solo conquest of the wall and showing off. So they waved back enthusiastically, even letting out bursts of cheering.
Lorist was furious. He thought to himself: Usually they're all so sharp, but at critical moments they all turn into idiots. Even a simple wave to come faster gets misinterpreted. Truly brilliant.
He shot them a狠 glare and had just swung himself into the saddle when hoofbeats sounded and a grinning guard squad member came running back: "My lord! My lord! We've taken that wall!"
"What?!" Lorist nearly lost his footing and slipped from the saddle.
"How many casualties?" he asked nervously.
"Casualties? Uh… no casualties." The messenger thought for a moment. "The enemy has no casualties either."
Lorist was dumbfounded. What did that mean? No casualties on our side, no casualties on theirs, yet the wall was in their hands? Were they playing at war?
A wall that tall—the defenders only needed to rain arrows down from above to devastate the attackers. Even if Jossk was unmatched in archery, he was down below, at a severe disadvantage compared to defenders with the high ground. And he only had one bow—as long as the defenders were willing to absorb some casualties, they could force Jossk to back off.
Lorist had taken a wall single-handedly by taking extraordinary risks. First, he'd caught the enemy off guard—a single person wasn't taken seriously. Second, by using acrobatic moves to scale the relatively short wall, the defenders simply couldn't handle him. But even so, he'd had to kill eight defenders to secure it.
"How did Knight Jossk manage it?" Lorist was very curious.
"Well, my lord, Lord Jossk only fired three arrows. The first snapped the flagpole, the second took out one of the siege crossbows, and the third punched clean through the mercenary captain's double-headed battle axe. When those mercenary defenders realized Lord Jossk was at Gold rank, they all gave up and surrendered," the messenger explained.
Comparisons were the death of him. Lorist could picture it perfectly: Jossk fires three arrows, the mercenary defenders take one look—Gold rank, and with a bow at that. There was no escaping now. Then they see all the fully armored, heavily armed followers behind him, and they figured, well, better surrender early and save their lives. So those Silver and
But when Lorist had climbed the wall, even after killing five guards, the lack of sword qi on his blade led them to assume he was merely a skilled Black Iron rank swordsman. That was why they'd kept plotting ambushes and resistance. Even the Silver rank guard captain, after being subdued, had felt that being captured by a Black Iron rank was deeply humiliating—and that was why he'd fought to the death.
Having figured out why the guard captain had sought his own death, Lorist's expression was quite something—a forced smile on his face while he seethed inside. Good thing he hadn't gone to attack that second wall, or he'd have had to fight his way from one end to the other. Without a bloodbath, those mercenary defenders would never have surrendered. How could it compare to Jossk—casually firing three arrows, flashing his Gold-rank
Damn Combat Force. Damn Blazing Combat Force. Damn the family's secret Blazing Combat Force. Lorist grumbled inwardly with a look of bitter resignation…
"Oh right, my lord—Lord Jossk asked you to come over. It seems they've found something important," the messenger remembered the second reason he'd been sent and hastily reported.
"Very well, I'm heading over now." Lorist composed himself and instructed Pat, Cedecamp, and Reidi: "Get the convoy settled. We're camped here tonight. Close the gate and post guards on the wall. Understood?"
"Yes, my lord."