Everlasting City Siege (4)

The three Landragon brothers were smiling proudly as they looked at the scroll lying in front of them.

[Scroll of the Southern Gate Alliance - Common Contract

This is the contract signed by the Landragon, Elderwood, Palford, Halefire and Galeheard Households. It seals the promise of Count Elderwood to hand over the [Starlight Ore Mine] to the Landragon Fief in exchange for victory in the Everlasting City Siege.

The Palford, Halefire and Galeheard Households are witnesses to this deal, and swore an oath upon their family honour to abide by their words.

It also grants [Arthur Landragon] the authority to command the five armies]

Arthur had made countless plans in order to earn the rights for the [Starlight Ore Mine]. Since the Starlight Ore was an intermediate-rank magical ore, it was perfect material for the construction of a magical tower. It wasn't just a matter of a couple hundreds of magic crystals, but rather, a matter of thousands of magic crystals.

Rather than the sheer value of the mine, the interesting part of the mine was its close proximity to the Landragon fief. If he had to purchase the raw materials for the magical tower's construction, half of the price would come from the escorts and travel costs necessary for the materials to reach his land.

This was how rare and valuable a magical ore mine was in this time and age. It was also the reason why a great war between the Porfield and Greenhill kingdoms had occurred twenty years ago, involving all the great powers in the Southern Gate Region.

Arthur's main idea had been to use the refined magical ingredients he had found in the Landragon's treasury to refine basic potions, trinkets and lowest-grade magic artefacts from blueprints that were available in Dorian Sylvester's personal library, and support Baron Lark in the shadows to make the battlefield more hopeless for Count Elderwood.

However, not only did the Count Elderwood was already losing, Baron Lark had found a few wandering acolytes willing to join his army temporarily, including three intermediate rank acolytes. Although they were just wandering acolytes, without much foundation and incomparable to the Crimson Clan Elders he had previously killed, the fact that they had a better position as they were shielded by the city's walls was undeniable.

'It seems like I was right to invest spell proficiency points in [Ice Arrow]...', Arthur analysed

His plan was simple-minded, yet it used the numerical advantage at their disposal best.

Trebuchets, catapults and balistae would pummel Everlasting City with countless waves of attacks. The 1000-men-strong army would supply the engineer specialist with all the raw materials and work force they needed to create a force strong enough to threaten the famed Everlasting City Walls.

As for the acolytes, they would not have the leisure to cast defensive spells, as Arthur would target them from a distance, using his [Advanced] Archery skill to snipe those who exposed themselves. If no acolyte was in sight, he would just use [Ice Arrow] to breach the walls.

Who would have expected the siege to take such an aggressive turnout?

And who would have expected that despite this aggressive strategy, one month would pass unknowingly with casualties in both parties, yet little progress?