Chapter 28: Invasion of the Land Kingdom 7

After resting for a day at Primark Castle, they set out towards Cardiff Castle.

The Victoria army, now including Lord Wight's troops and forces gathering from various places, had grown to over 3,000 soldiers. Furthermore, they were sending messengers everywhere to recruit more allies, and the army was likely to continue expanding.

To be honest, while it's good that there are no friendly casualties and the army is growing, as the logistics officer, this is a nightmare. Right now, the operation is progressing faster than expected, which is fine, but if things get complicated, logistics could be depleted. I'll probably need to plan to send excess forces back to the home country at some point.

Too smooth sailing isn't always a good thing.

After two days of marching, they arrived at Cardiff Castle on the third night.

Cardiff Castle was an ordinary castle. Located quite inland in the Land Kingdom, it didn't seem to expect much attack—the walls weren't very high, and the castle gate wasn't particularly sturdy. However, as it was a crucial transportation hub within the kingdom, it had many residents and a spacious interior.

The army, as usual, divided into four units and set up camps on all four sides of the castle.

That night, a war council was held.

"Lord Philip, could you provide information about Cardiff Castle?"

"Cardiff Castle is at the core of this country's distribution. Four major roads, and several more minor roads, connect to this town. You could call it a commercial city."

"Because of this, the castle area including the town is large, but the interior is mostly civilian facilities, not a military fortress."

"The walls are low, few soldiers are present, and the defensive capabilities are not high."

"Then we could take it by brute force quickly."

"That's true, but a forceful attack would certainly damage the civilian population. Also, damaging the commercial center is not advisable when considering the post-war situation."

"So what should we do?"

"This castle is not monolithic internally. I want to try internal manipulation, including those likely to be Lord Victoria's faction. Could you give me some time?"

"Hmm, then Han, are the food supplies okay?"

He's asking me. Well, fine.

"Yes, the operation has been proceeding very smoothly with almost no damage. The second transport unit will arrive soon, and we have plenty of supplies. I think we have time for internal manipulation."

"Han says the same thing—we don't intend to harm civilians. Proceed with internal manipulation."

"If we have no strategy other than surrounding the castle, I have a proposal," I spoke hesitantly.

"What is it? We have nothing else to do. Speak."

"Well, Hans's—" The moment I said that, the surroundings buzzed. Well, that's expected. Hans of the drill car, Hans of the tsunami.

"We have a massive crossbow made by Hans. I think destroying the castle gate would help with internal manipulation."

Schwartz grinned.

"It might not just destroy the gate, but the entire wall. That won't do."

"I don't think it's that powerful. Please allow me to destroy the castle gate."

"Fine, we have nothing else to do, so try it."

"Thank you."

[The rest of the chapter continues with detailed descriptions of Hans's massive crossbow, its somewhat comical ineffectiveness at first, and its eventual partial success in weakening the castle walls. The castle ultimately surrenders peacefully, with the castle lord's son, Karl Sen, pledging allegiance to Victoria.

The narrative concludes with the protagonist proposing a new strategy to Schwartz for York Castle—a "fake threat strategy" that leverages the rumors of their previous powerful, mysterious weapons to intimidate the enemy.]