Magic Caster of Destroy

“The country’s flag is now in that sad state. You will destroy that village no matter the cost. Gather your troops, loose flame arrows, and burn the village down. Now is the time to put that accumulated experience in sieges to good use! It looks like we won’t be able to finish this without any losses. So you will attack with the intention of razing that village to the ground!”

“Please wait! It might be that some ogre sorcerer or some other intelligent demi-human might be the mastermind here, and not the villagers!”

“And if that were the case, so what?”

Barbro looked at the knight, his face a picture of befuddlement, and began explaining slowly to him, like an adult lecturing a child.

“Are you listening? Good. It doesn’t matter if the villagers have control of the ogres, or if they’re controlled by some intelligent demi-human. Those villagers have rebelled against the rightful ruler of their land, the royal family. That being the case, we must display the consequences of such foolishness to the world.”

“But, there might be some villagers being held as hostages, aren’t they innocent?!”

“Were you listening to what I said earlier? So what if they are?”

Barbro shrugged at the knight, who seemed to have trouble accepting what he’d just heard.

“I get it, I get it. I understand how you feel. Then I will show them the greatest amount of leniency possible. Capture those villagers who don’t resist, and then we will put them on trial later. Is that better?”

“Understood, sir!”

The knight bowed deeply to Barbro. After hearing his forceful response, Barbro nodded in approval.

“However, I have one condition. I want an overwhelming victory. If we take losses here, all sorts of gossip will spread. The same goes for you. People will talk about how the Marquis’ trump card was sent out to a pissant village to be bloodied.”

“But that was because of the ogres―”

“―You can’t use that as an excuse. That’s just how the world works.”

“Understood!”

“If you understand, then get to work. Get the troops from the rear gate. At the same time, cut down trees from the forest and start making battering rams. I’ll leave the details to you. Minimize casualties while ensuring victory. Kill anyone who flees.”

♦ ♦ ♦

A steady stream of oil-filled pots impacted on the sides of the wall, followed by flame arrows.

The explosive impacts were comparable to the bursting of a ‘Fireball’, creating bright red flames which gave off endless plumes of black smoke.

Jugem could feel the uneasiness radiating off the nearby members of the defense force. The goblin leader raised his magic greatsword and roared.

“Hold fast! Flames like these can’t breach the wall! As for the defense of the gate―”

The sound of a heavy impact, doom, came from the outside of the gate.

The walls were much thicker and bigger than the watchtower, which now lay in ashes. Even when struck by flaming arrows, they did not catch fire easily. As such, they concluded that this was just a feint to draw attention from their real objective, which was breaching the gate. It seemed that this was the right decision. Once more, a great doom came from the gate.

It was a deeper, more powerful sound than the impacts of the ogre’s clubs. It was the sound of siege weapons - most likely battering rams.

“Loose!”

In time with Jugem’s shout, the villagers fired their arrows with practiced ease.

Cries of pain rose from the other side of the wall. However, the battering rams did not stop.

They must have been using multiple rams in a sequential attack.

“Loose!”

Once more, the arrows flew aloft on Jugem’s command. However, this time, they were answered by arrows from the enemy. Several times the number of arrows fell upon the village like rain.

Yet, not a single one struck the defenders.

The enemy attack had been a series of ranging shots, so they had all missed, impacting harmlessly on walls and buildings. However, the more archers they had on their side, the higher their chances of hitting. As such, if their accuracy was a non-zero number, things would be bad.

“Fall back! Fall back! We’re moving to a new position!”

The villagers obeyed Jugem, who could still make himself heard despite his lowered volume. They hurriedly shifted their location amidst their growing panic.

To date, the villagers had only learned to shoot from fixed positions. Their aim was to accurately target the area just outside the main gate. As such, when they could do both, their accuracy was increased, but conversely, once they had to move to an unfamiliar location, their arrows would no longer hit their marks well.

Fighting a ranged battle now would be very difficult.

“Spears up! We’re moving into close combat!”

A loud ping came from the other side of the wall. It sounded like something metallic striking the wall, completely different from the dooms of the battering rams. In all likelihood, it was the sound of axes, and they were coming from everywhere.