WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Abood

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 55: The Recapture of Ostburg Fortress (4)

The elite knights burst through with a running charge. Their sheer mass and momentum trampled over the half-trained infantry, scattering and crushing them with terrifying ease. The ducal soldiers had neither the time to form ranks nor the space to line up with their spears. All they could do was flee in panic. In moments, the cavalry had secured full control of the gate.

“You all did well! Leave the rest to us!”

Baron Eugen Stamitz, the cavalry battalion captain, called out to the detachment. To Friedrich, those words sounded more reassuring than anything he had ever heard.

Now that the situation had finally stabilized, Friedrich’s body gave in. Fatigue washed over him, and he sank down to the ground.

Looking around, he saw that Yurika, Oliver, Gunther, and Yarg were all safe. But of the twenty-some members of the detachment who had stormed the fortress, nearly half had fallen, either slain or gravely wounded. They were handpicked elite soldiers, and yet the cost had been enormous.

“Friedrich, you’re okay? …Wait, you’re hurt.”

Yurika hurried over and crouched in front of him, concern etched on her face as she gently touched his right arm.

He followed her gaze and saw a tear in the fabric beneath his armor, just above his bracer, on his upper arm was an area not covered by his cuirass or gauntlet. A shallow gash marked the spot, likely grazed by an enemy arrow. The pain hadn’t even registered in the heat of battle, but now that he noticed, a stinging sensation slowly crept in.

“It’s just a scratch. I’m fine. My very first war wound… guess that makes it a milestone, huh?”

When Friedrich gave a brave smile, Yurika’s face clouded with a touch of sadness.

“…I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you.”

“That’s not true. You fought so hard, and thanks to you stopping the enemy commander, I got away with just a scratch. Thank you… I love you.”

Since they were still on duty, he didn’t say the last part out loud. He merely whispered it faintly, letting the movement of his lips convey the message. Yurika caught it, and a wide, delighted grin spread across her face. She leaned in toward him, but then remembered they were still in the middle of a military operation and restrained herself.

‘Later,’ Friedrich murmured. Yurika gave a small nod, licking her lips lightly in anticipation.

“Ahhh, this thing’s suffocating.”

She stood and unbuckled the cuirass she had borrowed from Knight Roman, tossing it aside onto the ground. Wearing armor designed for a man clearly hadn’t been comfortable for her.

“Friedrich, you made it through. That’s what matters most.”

“…You too, Oliver. I’m glad.”

Just then, Oliver walked up to them. As Friedrich replied, he pushed through his exhaustion and slowly rose to his feet.

“The fighting on the east gate is almost over as well. With attacks coming from both outside and inside the fortress, the enemy won’t hold out much longer. Victory will be ours.”

Friedrich followed Oliver’s pointing finger. The cavalry unit, having secured the west gate area, was now pushing the enemy toward the fortress’s east side.

Near Battalion Commander Eugen stood a knight who released a signal arrow into the sky. It was a signal to the main force led by Matthias, which was launching its assault on the east gate.

The enemy, now trapped between attacks from outside and inside the fortress, was being squeezed from both sides. The operation to recapture Ostburg Fortress was reaching its climax.

・・・・・・

Matthias, having arrived at Ostburg Fortress with the main body of the Ferdinand Regiment, first deployed several knights disguised as scouts to survey the surrounding area.

These scouts circled around to the west side of the fortress and confirmed the presence of Friedrich’s separate detachment approaching the fortress disguised as a transport unit, just as planned. Upon receiving this report, Matthias dispatched the cavalry unit led by Eugen.

The remaining forces were infantry and archers. Since cavalry units were ineffective in a direct siege assault, infantry and archers alone were sufficient for a diversionary offensive.

The Bachstein Ducal forces had completely secured the fortress, which was royal property. Knights and soldiers armed and stationed atop the walls showed no intention of sending envoys or negotiating. From the situation, Matthias concluded it was clear they were openly hostile to the Kingdom’s army.

“Archers, advance. Once your formation is ready, commence volley fire.”

At Matthias’s order, Knight Romilda, commander of the archers, led three hundred archers forward as the vanguard. Matthias judged that the enemy would almost certainly not sortie from the fortress, so advancing the archers posed no risk.

Military proficiency is reflected not only in battle but also in swift marching and formation. The archers quickly finished lining up, a testament to their training.

“Ready… Fire!”

Romilda, who’s a skilled archer herself, took up her favored bow and assumed a curved-arc shooting stance as she gave the command. At her order, three hundred arrows were released simultaneously, tracing graceful parabolic arcs as they rained down upon the east gate of Ostburg Fortress.

From the enemy side, retaliatory arrows and thrown stones came flying in response. Since the Duke’s forces consisted mostly of semi-farmers with relatively few archers, there were more stones than arrows among their projectiles.

The force behind these thrown attacks was considerable. A sizeable number of soldiers had already gathered near the east gate, each launching rapid successive attacks with bow or sling.

“For semi-farmers, they’re surprisingly well-trained,”

“Indeed. You could say it’s the largest noble domain army, after all. Had we faced their full strength head-on, it would have been a tough fight.” 

Though the enemy’s counterattack was fierce, losses among Romilda’s archers remained minimal. Matthias had beforehand instructed Romilda to space out her troops deliberately. This looser formation caused many enemy arrows and stones to fall harmlessly to empty ground, reducing casualties on their side.

While this spacing lowered the density and impact of their own arrow volleys, the goal wasn’t to inflict heavy damage on the enemy. Instead, the barrage served to distract and tie down as many enemy troops as possible at the east gate, drawing their attention away from the western gate, where the kingdom’s separate detachment had infiltrated.

The enemy would perceive themselves as being pressed by an entire regiment and thus commit significant forces to defend the east gate.

For a while, this volley of arrows and stones continued dramatically, yet with relatively few casualties on either side.

At a certain moment, the enemy’s counterattack began to lose momentum. The number of arrows and stones flying through the air visibly decreased, and the knights and soldiers standing atop the walls started to nervously glance behind them.

Soon after, the number of enemy troops on the ramparts themselves began to dwindle. It seemed some knights were ordering their men to descend from the walls, while others commanded them to hold their positions. The conflicting orders caused confusion, leaving the soldiers uncertain.

Then, the sound of a signal arrow echoed from inside the fortress, a signal from Eugen indicating that the cavalry unit, having successfully breached and secured the area around the west gate, had begun their assault from within.

“Archers, cease fire. Infantry, commence the assault… No need to bring out the battering ram. Judging by the situation, breaking the gate won’t be necessary.”

At Matthias’s command, the archers stopped firing. This was to prevent friendly fire against the infantry storming in and the cavalry advancing from inside toward the east gate.

Then, two infantry battalions led by Knight Barthold and Knight Rudiger advanced forward. The soldiers at the front carried ladders intended to scale the fortress walls.

Without facing much fierce resistance, the infantry reached the base of the walls and set up their ladders. More than ten ladders were quickly raised, and the soldiers began climbing them all at once.

This moment of assault is the most difficult for the attackers in a siege, while simultaneously the best opportunity for the defenders to repel the enemy easily. Those climbing the ladders are extremely vulnerable. Even an amateur could drop stones, sacks of earth, scalding water or oil, and sometimes even filth, from the walls to knock enemies off. With enough determination, even a child could kill a skilled knight this way.

Despite this prime opportunity, the enemy’s counterattack was weak. There was no commander coordinating the defense as a whole; the orders from various unit leaders did not align; and the common soldiers, usually ordinary civilians, lacked sufficient judgment. The enemy was no longer able to mount an organized and effective counterattack.

The defenders had apparently prepared various measures, but these yielded little effect. Few soldiers remained to throw stones gathered beforehand, and those carrying large pots, likely filled with boiling water or something similar, were too few in number to properly support the pots. They ended up spilling the contents onto their own feet and causing a commotion along with those nearby.

Meanwhile, the first attackers reached the top of the walls. One after another, more infantry made it onto the battlements and began pushing forward. Some enemies faced them with resistance, but many gave up early and surrendered.

“…Even if they’re Ducal forces, it’s hard to believe they’re the ones defending against a single battalion’s assault.”

“It can’t be helped. Being attacked from both inside and out at once… if it were us, we’d likely be in the same state.”

No matter how sturdy a fortress may be, it isn’t built to withstand attacks from within. With over a hundred enemies having infiltrated, and the rest of a full regiment’s infantry pressing an assault from outside, the defending force of three hundred had no hope of holding out.

Shortly after the allied infantry succeeded in breaching the fortress, the eastern gate was thrown open. The remaining infantry poured in through the gate, and for a while, the sounds of battle echoed from within.

But it didn’t last long. Realizing that victory was no longer possible, the surviving soldiers of the Bachstein Ducal forces surrendered. Ostburg Fortress had fallen.

The Ducal army had held the fortress for less than three days.

Footnotes: 

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