The Rover shield walls begin to advance, raised shields protecting them from volley after volley of arrows.

There’s three of them on this side but I bet if I ran over to look at the other sides they would also be facing a slowly encroaching number of Rovers.

I wonder if this is the ideal strategy?

On one hand, it means you split up and divert the defenders’ attention and forces but on the other hand, you also spread yourself quite thin.

But I guess you’re able to do that when you have the numbers advantage.

I figure that the way we’ll push back this shield wall is with a ballista bolt, or maybe a boulder hurled at them by a carefully tuned catapult

I think that’s the true purpose of the volleys, not to hurt them but to slow them down so our artillery can more easily track and strike them.

I start to change my mind when one of the mages steps forward and surveys the oncoming Rover forces.

Reaching out wide with their arms they begin muttering and shaking, soothing the air around them and ushering forth a torrent of fire.

Streaming it down on the foremost shield wall with unnatural accuracy and range they condemn an entire cohort to a hideous death.

It’s not lava but the flames still manage to slip in through the cracks in the shield wall to roast the Rovers.

In shock and filled with horror the other two Rover bands stop moving and begin to retreat in a wild flurry, making themselves easy pickings for the archers.

Repelling the Rovers doesn’t come without a cost though as an incredibly well aimed crossbow bolt slams into the battlemage's shoulder, shattering his bone and tearing apart his flesh.

His arms basically only hanging on by a few strips of sinew and flesh.

There’s no display of selflessness from his colleagues, all of them stay back and out of sight while letting the grunts handle grabbing him and pulling him back to safety.

In terms of having strong self preservation instincts, all these mages pass but in terms of possessing noble qualities they all fail.

What an absolute display of callousness, at least that battlemage can justify burning those Rovers to death because it is war, how are these mages going to justify leaving him out to die?

I just saw them laughing together, patting each other on the back and just being generally encouraging.

I’m going to have to make sure that my creator doesn’t become close friends with any mages, they can’t be trusted.

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But just as I resolve myself on that matter two of the mages split off from the other two and move over to the east side of the keep to repel what I imagine to be a different wave of invaders.

So perhaps I’m wrong about their noble qualities? I mean they sort of have to do this otherwise we could lose and they’ll die but still that only diminishes their noble attributes, it doesn’t get rid of them entirely.

And now that the initial shock I’ve felt has passed I guess it makes logical sense to send the more expendable soldiers to retrieve a wounded battlemage as they’ll do the task just as well as a mage could.

While the initial shock for me has passed it certainly hasn’t for the rovers as their morale remains at rock bottom even after the battlemage is shot.

Probably because they can’t see him fall since they’re too busy running away, they only get their nerve back once they reach the wall and realise that they aren’t going to be able to climb back up it since their own comrades are pointing their crossbows down at them.

If I knew a cuss I would say it right now, there’s just such a lack of basic compassion and care on both sides.

I actually feel bad for the Rovers, they’ve lost an entire third of their attack force to a horrific fire spell and now they’re being forced to stay and fight by people who are supposed to be on their side.

I mean I know about desertion but come on! this is just insane.

It feels like for the first time I truly understand the impact and horror of war beyond just its dangers to my creator.

I don’t like this, I don’t like warfare and that makes me feel rather conflicted.

I’ll still fight, kill and do anything else that my creator wants but that doesn't mean that what she orders me to do is what I want and that’s just such a sad thought.

I should be overjoyed whenever she commands me to do something, not upset over what it is I am ordered to do.

Maybe not for this specific thing since she dislikes war far greater than I do, maybe even to the point of hating it.

But the idea that one day there will come a time when our preferences diverge is just upsetting.

I don’t want to be against whatever it is she wants.

But a small part of me actually feels happy at the prospect of this happening, as it’ll mean that I’ll be more me and less her.

Before I can continue this confusing series of thoughts I’m having, the Rover infantry has reformed into one large line and is back to advancing towards us.

A small cluster of reinforcements has also joined them, sliding down the ladders and taking up position behind the shield wall.

They’re too far away for me to make out any details but they don’t look like fighters.

Have the Rover mages joined the fight now?

Briefly, I consider backing away from the battlement so that way I don’t just get instantly killed by a lightning bolt but then I change my mind, so long as I keep a careful eye on everything I should be able to notice when a magic spell gets cast and take that opportunity to back off.

It’s a bit unfortunate that nothing requiring my attention or help has happened since that means I could have spent this whole time trying to study and learn about my mana more.

But it would have been so foolish if I’d accidentally killed myself or been taken off guard by a surprise attack so that’s why I’ve just been watching this battle occur.

I mean I guess it hasn’t been a complete loss so far, I’ve gained a bit of experience in how siege battles play out, still, I’d have preferred to have spent that time learning magic or talking to my creator.