ARCHDEUS

LIBERATION OF OTILIA(1)

The County of Otilia

After the battle at the Visounty of Breakssex that had taken place months ago, another battle quickly erupted.

In various battles, the Otilia experienced a resounding victory but not infrequently also had to face a bitter defeat.

Nevertheless, they had finally managed to get close to Revouille. The city that became the capital and largest city in the county will be the deciding arena of the Otilia-Canadia war series.

If the Ottomans had only 11,000 soldiers but now with the various liberations they have made to their areas, there is a surge of strength that now reaches 38,000 people. The figure has excluded parents and children.

They had fully taken control of the eastern, northern, and southern regions of Otilia so that only the western regions and the capital of Otilia were still to be liberated.

Unfortunately with that number of soldiers, over 90% were non-role soldiers.

The Otilia Liberation Army has built their military camp in preparation for the attack.

Clotildy D'Magnarie Otilia, the eldest daughter of the count and countess of Otilia was the number 1 in this army. He was the one who led them to their current achievements.

The morale of the soldiers had reached its highest level. When they saw the shadow of the fortress and the city tower, they had all set their resolve to be free or die for the sake of the homeland.

During the battle, Clotildy had a new ally, the Baron of Emileschi, who had previously declared neutrality, now sided with her.

Under the banner of the Royal Flag of Otilia as a unifier, there are various other flags, namely the Viscounty of Breakssex, the Viscounty of Arlouis, the Barony of Hackshiled, the Barony of Enthing, the Barony of Orbelin, the Barony of Deboville, and others, and Barony of Emileschi.

With more than half of the local nobles on his side, Clotildy believed that they would win the war.

"My Lady."

Joan De Rosse Orbelin, Clotildy's most trusted right-hand man, also called her.

"My Lady, we'll be moving the troops soon" continued Joan.

"Yes, order the lords to check on their respective soldiers" Clotildy said.

"Okay, my lord."

They had previously discussed the appropriate timing of the attack. Unanimously everyone agreed to carry out the attack on the morning blind.

Clotildy opened her sword sheath, she saw a sword dagger that was emitting a chill.

"We're gonna win."

In the military camp, the liberation soldiers of Otilia had been wearing their war equipment.

The cavalry had each been riding on a horse.

The infantry prepared to walk.

The distance is not too close or far from the capital.

The military march was led by Clotildy and accompanied by local nobles and adventurers.

They don't take long. Even before the sun showed its face, they could see the city gates standing firm.

Meanwhile, the mobilization of troops from the opposing side can also be seen quite clearly.

The archers and magic cannons had been prepared on top of the fortress.

Instead of taking out the infantry, the opposing forces preferred to remain in the fortress.

This might be a smart move in reducing the number of casualties but it would be a catastrophe as they only relied on the strength of the fort. So that if the wall of the fortress is broken, it will cause a very fatal thing.

From the top of the capital's fortress, Peter Le'Guy Otilia, the son of the Countess of Otilia and mastermind of the battle, saw his sister-led forces besieging the city's fortress.

The number of Peter's troops and their allies has been reduced since the attack on Breakssex and various other battle defeats. Even if it combined the entire number of troops he had from his own army, the army of nobles who were on his side, and the Canadians, troops, he now has 22,000 troops consisting of 14,000 from his own army and a number of nobles, and the remaining 8,000 are troops from Canadia. This was the first time that Canadia had moved this number of troops to Otilia. Peter had five local nobles loyal to him: the Baron of Pierreuilly, the Baron of Egne, the Baron of Ducoumont, the Baron of Holtown, and the Baron of Victurnies.

After Sir Renaud Pierre Trendome, Peter's most trusted man, was captured by Otilia's liberating forces, he became much more unstable.  Not to mention the strongest person of them all - the leader of the wyvern riders - seemed to have yet to recover from his final battle with the countess.

In addition to Peter there is also Baron Guilbert Lynn Ecdovia who is a representative of the Canadians who also observe the number of opposing forces.

The baron found it difficult against the Otilia forces if faced head-on. But according to him, the chances of winning would be higher if they stayed in the fortress. Unfortunately based on reports from previous wars, Otilia had an elite army that was very dangerous.

As with the siege in general, the siege on the capital lasted for days even close to two weeks.

During that time, Otilia's forces tried to multiply the damage from the enemy's defense by continuing to fire magic cannons.

Most of the canon magic they had was the result of war loot while a small part was the aid of Fertiphile.

Unfortunately their opponents also got a magic cannon that is no less sophisticated.

It just makes the war more difficult.

In the command tent,

"My Lady, if this continues to supply energy for our magic cannon we will be exhausted while the fortress is still standing strong" said Victor.

Victor Francois Deboville was the son of Baron Deboville. Because he had no military talent and his family did not come from the military, Victor got a role as a logistics and inventory manager.

The nobles and military officials thought the same. It would be very difficult to attack the city fortress using mainstream strategy.

"So what should we do?"

Everyone was silent and could not answer that question. Except one guy.

Barnard raised his hand.

"My Lady, I have a suggestion."

As the chief adventurer of Orion, Barnard was always included in command meetings. His advice also counts heavily regardless of his status as a non-noble.

Clotildy invited Barnard to give her advice.

"I suggest breaking into the fortress from below."

Everyone still remained silent but some could not help but show his interest.

"So, I suggest making an underground hole that leads directly to the capital. It's much better if the earth element arcane witches can do it" he continued.

Everyone nodded in agreement. This is not bad advice.

Actually making tunnels underground to help the conquest of the fort is not a non-conventional strategy. Many countries or even noble regions do. Unfortunately because the strategy requires the presence of magicians especially arcane and also with the worry if the tunnel was destroyed making the strategy less and less done.

"I don't think it's too bad. The Revouille Fortress had weak defenses underground. As far as I know, other than Archantioch, only the duchy and march areas have quite complex defenses. Revouille is not a city designed as a fortress city against other countries so it does not have too complex a defense" said Viscount Breakssex.

Viscount Breakssex was one of the countess' confidants. He was already quite familiar with the defensive form of the county capital. Even his knowledge was far above Clotildy's.

Clearly the approval of the viscount was the driver of the acceptance of Barnard's plan. But the next question is how much power is needed to make an underground tunnel.

"Unfortunately we may not have enough energy. If our witches run out of mana before the battle begins, this will be a huge loss for us" the viscount said.

"Don't worry, sir. I'm sure my friends can do it."

Barnard smiled confidently. It's time for them to demonstrate the abilities of adventurers.