The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

34 - Siege on Celeste Castle - Part 2

Things were turning out as expected. Still, I doubted that the enemy would go all out on us today. If their first two plans had succeeded, then we probably would have fallen today. With enough magicians they'd create a barrier large enough to allow them to place enough gunpowder at the walls, and then simply force their way through, rather than climbing the walls.

This would've been devastating to us. However, because we had removed those barrels, their odds were considerably worse. Down to about 60 percent if they played fair. I'm here taking the fact some of our men are peasants into mind. Should I add in my magic it would probably make it around 50 again, since they still have mage superiority.

Furthermore, even if they took the castle they had to prepare for father to arrive home. In other words, they wanted to take it with as few losses as possible and as fast as possible, and this was the tricky part.

There is one thing hindering a good plan to make us lose quickly. Our morale. Because we had gained victory twice in the last day, our morale was quite high. I bet the morale of their troops had fallen a bit as well from having those two battles fail.

I believe I told you before. To make a charge you must not hesitate. The Zocrian soldiers have to make that charge today. They would get the order to charge right ahead at someone that had slaughtered the last two armies.

Still we were fated to have losses today, and by morning our people would be anxious, after all, no one would want another day of slaughter. Our morale would have fallen quite a bit compared to what it is right now.

As it was, everyone expected Father and the army to save us, as such... when the enemy presents the head of the messenger and tells us 'you are alone' fear will spread. With that fear, a promise to let us go if we surrender would be too big of a temptation for most to resist.

At least, that was one of the worst case scenarios. I'd need to think something up before then to mitigate the loss of faith.

---*---

I glanced to the knights to get an impression of their reaction to the news. As expected they weren't happy. Their lips pressed into tense lines and their eyes had a bitter look in them. It was bad news. Their hopes to have this resolved without battle until Father arrived had been ripped from them. Their hopes had likely been something along the line of joining a cavalry charge with Father's troops.

Still they were changing gears. I am sure you expected them to be irritated that I was right, but they're likely just considering a creepy coincidence, and I have no intention of bragging. They have to protect their status as knights, and so I must not overwhelm them or ignore their wants or needs. If I do they'll turn to enemies. As such:

"Then, We will count on you to do what is needed. We trust you with this." I glance to the knights and then head for the door.

"Eric! We will be providing support at the front line, as well as make preparations for tomorrow. The knights have got this, so you need to provide morale for the men as the lord of the castle!"

You win over those that want to prove themselves, by giving them the opportunity. I can imagine a lesser and more inexperienced person going 'fools!' or 'I told you so' at them, but it would be counter productive. With this, at worst they ignored me.

The knights went by the book, and prepared for a standard by the book siege. They were blinded by the book and forgot about adaptability and observing the moves of the enemy. It is an error brought by inexperience.