When the group approached the walls, they noticed the infantrymen who left the gates with them were making a barrier to keep the archers on the western side from getting too close. They covered their faces to avoid the smell of poison, but Gaius and the others soon saw wounded soldiers on the ground. They were wide awake and the wounds weren’t that bad, but they couldn’t move at all.
"Man, this is nasty... war is seriously a messed up business, but people keep investing in it since it is so profitable," Gaius thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "Should I go full psycho and turn all those guys into minions? That way, I would get rid of all the maniacs and the only one maniac left would be me... wasn't that a fair trade?"
I wondered if it was fine for me to think along those lines... I already caused the deaths of hundreds of people. They are back as my minions, but even so... it was hard to try to be reasonable in a world like that.
Kennil changed the direction of their return to scare the archers and that worked wonders… the archers turned around and ran for their lives. Even though they looked quite sick, their legs carried them like the wind… that was fine, Kennil only wanted to give his men the chance to return to the city without leaving anyone behind.
After twenty minutes, all of the soldiers were back in the city and while they had to endure the eyes of the soldiers stationed there who knew about their goal and failed it, they changed their postures when they saw the monsters… they felt shivers imagining those beasts invading their cities.
“We are heading to the general's tents, some of them should have stayed behind,” Kennil declared.
Gaius would rather hurry up with his job and then finish cleaning the weapons that Kennil used, so he felt like sighing. Still, if he were to say what he wanted, Kennil would probably say some nonsense like, if you want to lead, then you need to learn how to follow first… even though it made sense, it was annoying.
Regardless, it looked like Kennil's evaluation of Gaius improved again since he told him to enter the tent with him, but he had to stay silent in the corner… as if he was a chatterbox to begin with.
"... We heard a few things about the corpses of monsters being brought to the city from your group," one of the generals said after a few of them looked at Gaius for a short while. "The enemies weren't supposed to be able to control them and that kind of species doesn't belong in our territory."
"Even so, that was what happened, when we were crossing the second grove and getting closer to the target, we heard a whistle and then the beasts approached to surround us," Kennil crossed his arms and then said it. "That was a clear sign that they were being controlled and the targets escaped in the meantime, only they could benefit from the use of such creatures."
"... We called back all the armies and the generals that went to fight after hearing from your arrival… telling them that we failed at the real mission will deliver a fatal blow to the morale," Another general said while trying to hide his critical undertone.
"We confirmed that the enemies were transporting a lot of parts of the siege weapons, they received damage in the previous night and they won't repair those any time soon," Kennil said. "We still can use this chance in our favor… while the enemies still have the numerical advantage, they don't have one of their best cards."
The other generals silently nodded, it would be too much of a weird bait for the enemies to show such a weakness if it was a faulty one. So, they had to make their move. Still, they had the chance to play defensively now… the enemies still had the resources to maintain this siege for a few more weeks.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Without the siege weapons, they won't feel confident about when the walls will fall, so we need to keep going at them," Kennil added. "They might have enough time to lay some traps, but we have some options when it comes to that… I think we would have an upperhand if we were to wipe out all the enemies on one side of the walls."
The other generals nodded, but they couldn't make that call without consulting the others who were returning… They seemed confident that the enemies would retreat to the walled town that they conquered earlier, but Gaius wasn't so sure of it.
"In situations like this, we can't afford to be too eager on sharing our thoughts, even if we have enough reason and our words make sense, the people of the area must feel like they are the ones controlling the situation," Kennil said once they left the area and headed North.
It looked like Kennil was planning to teach some things to Gaius, even though they were pretty obvious, that wasn't something a nine-year-old boy should know. That was why he was blabbering about it.
"This might not be the best of times for such lessons," Gaius said.
"We all might die tomorrow, so there is no time like now. My intention still stands, about keeping you out of danger, even though you helped us far more than anyone could have ever imagined," Kennil said. "After all this, it would be the ultimate humiliation for me and my soldiers to let a recruit die before us."
Kennil was saying a bunch of melodramatic things. Gaius was in a war, and if that was a movie, that was probably a sign that Kennil would die tomorrow, the most obvious death flag possible. It would be a pain if he were to die before Gaius gets his promotion, though.
"I think I am getting too sidetracked, even though that is my next short-term goal…" Gaius thought while feeling like sighing.
Gaius and Kennil went to check the other soldiers from Ekirenton state and soon confirmed that the soldiers that were poisoned were having a hard time moving. According to what they heard, it will take a while before the poison leaves their system since they were hit directly. It might take days… three hundred soldiers were poisoned. They lost one hundred cavalry soldiers on the first day and then more than two hundred today. Things weren't completely dire for a few days of war, but they were going to get worse if the conflict persisted.
"I would rather train at home than stay here, so I need to think of something else to do…" Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The enemies won't make the same mistake again, so another night attack won't work…"
Gaius talked with Relia and she confirmed that the enemies that had the siege weapons and were trying to repair them were hiding in a grove. It was a pretty thick one and it was heavily guarded. Attacks from the ground and the sky won't work…
"Let's see… I should have killed some engineers this morning," Gaius thought. "Craft level ten, huh…"
Gaius Lv 98 (61.001/98.000) - Limitless Summoner
Health: 940/940
Mana: 1170/1170
Stamina: 335/335
Strength: 66 + 65
Endurance: 21 + 15
Adaptability: 01 + 11
Magic: 211 + 01
Resistance: 21 + 01
Wisdom: 250 + 106
Dexterity: 31 + 12
Perception: 31 + 33
Luck: 01 + 26
Free points: 00
Summoning List: Ant Lv 12, Gray Spider Lv 10, Worm Lv 11, Lizard Lv 10, Bird Lv 13, Hawk Lv 30, Poisonous Snake Lv 13 (Poison Bullet), Horse Lv 14, Slime Lv 35 (Observe), Desert Wolf Lv 38 (Wind Sphere), Goblin Lv 25 (Blunt Weapon Mastery), Sword Mastery Lv 44, Lv 14 (Dash), Fran Lv 09 (Fire Resistance), Hullis Lv 05, Kar Lv 05, Bow Mastery Lv 85, Relia Lv 30(Silent Step), Spear Mastery Lv 19, Treant Lv 15 (Photosynthesis), Brute Strength Lv 35, Wrath Demon Lv 01 (Primal Violence), Craft Lv 10
Craft: Increases your ability and speed when crafting things by three percent per level.
Gaius realized a while ago that when he had too many summons that granted the same skill, only the skill was shown on the list… that wasn't something that was there before, so Gaius assumed that Angela did something. Regardless… Gaius wondered how useful that skill could be for him… considering that everything he had done in the last ten years was training and using his body to the limits. Could he sit around and make things?
"I guess this might work as a hobby… it would be more useful if my magic skills were more diversified or if I were more skilled," Gaius thought.