Content warning: death
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On the 22nd of April, at Egelia Kingdom’s capital Asunto.
The castle walls rose to a height of ten meters, and the Magi Formula inscribed on it gave it resistance to magic.
This wall was thought to be impregnable, protecting the castle inside against all outside invaders.
That is, until this very morning.
“Good morning. Shift change.”
“Good morning. Everything’s normal. I’ll leave it to you.”
At sunrise, the soldiers guarding the castle gate had a shift change. The cities around the country borders were being exposed to the horrors of war, but the imperial castle was still supposed to be peaceful.
Suddenly a fireball came flying in and caused an explosion. It was a [Flame Ball].
“Wh- what’s going on!”
Even the soldiers who had been in the guardroom turned up. Then another [Flame Ball] came flying.
“U-uaaaahh!”
“Aaaaargh!”
Two soldiers who were not only without shields but without even armor took a blow from the [Flame Ball] at point-blank range.
A third [Flame ball] then directly hit the soldiers’ lodging house.
It was only then when they had the leeway for ascertaining where the [Flame Ball]s had flown in from. They came from above.
“Wh, what is that…”
“It can’t be…”
The soldiers saw a mysterious vehicle floating in the air. It looked like a large ball with a basket attached underneath.
Five of them were floating in the air.
＊ ＊ ＊
The same day.
The fight between Frantz Kingdom’s army and Cline Kingdom’s army was continuing with the dominance of Frantz Kingdom’s army.
The army of Frantz Kingdom’s which captured Storsk then made Glaisher fall, occupied Coshes, and was now currently approaching the provincial city of Tetrada.
Tetrada was made to be more or less a fort city, and Cline Kingdom’s third chivalric order was there to meet the enemy.
Lithia Fahlheit’s father, the deputy leader Nicholas Fahlheit was standing in for the leader who had been wounded in a battle some days ago and had taken command here.
“Deputy leader! Look!”
One of the soldiers pointed at the skies when the dawn broke.
“What?”
“That’s a…”
“It, it can’t be, it’s… flying?”
Five huge balloons were floating in the sky about 100 meters above. And then magic was fired from the baskets hanging down from them.
“Uargh!”
It was the intermediate level lightning-attribute magic [Thunderbolt]. Many knights fell.
“This is bad! Everyone, use anti-magic shields!”
Anti-magic shields were as their name suggests resistant to magic, but weak to physical shock. It was possible to make shields with both characteristics but then they would end up becoming heavy.
This was because an anti-magic shield needed to be large enough to conceal the user’s body, as if it wasn’t large enough then the damage would travel along the uncovered portions.
If you made them robust enough for physical resistance, the result could be easily guessed. Taking a heavy thing like that to a fight was something only a golem could do.
And then two of those golems came down from the baskets.
＊ ＊ ＊
“For now, eight aircraft have been dispatched to Egelia’s capital and five to Cline’s battlefield.”
“Good work. Surely they never expected to be attacked from the sky.”
“In all honesty, ancient technology sure is magnificent.”
“Ahahah. One of our goals is making a display of that power too. Along with letting them taste the despair of defense being impossible, let’s show off man’s dream of flying in the air.”
“How about the superweapon?”
“Gigantes, you mean? That’s the last resort. It should be fine to keep it in reserve this time.”
＊ ＊ ＊
No matter how tall a castle wall was, it was impossible for it to defend against attacks from the sky.
Egelia Kingdom’s capital Asunto was no exception. Without distinction between the outer and the inner palace, magic poured down incessantly.
“Aargh!”
“F-fire! Put out the fire!”
The incessant assault of flame magic from about 100 meters overhead plunged Asunto’s inner castle into chaos.
Then because of the chaos when three more flying balloons approached from the opposite side, no one noticed that they were lowering their altitude.
“Alright, now, go!”
Three golems leaped down from the baskets hanging from the three balloons and landed on top of the roof of Asunto’s castle. They fell about a distance of 20 meters.
“Uaaah!”
There were 15 soldiers on the rooftop. Because all of them had been preoccupied with the five magic-firing balloons they were too late in noticing the attack that came from behind.
After the three golems silenced the 15 soldiers all at once, they began climbing down to the lower floors of the castle to seek more targets.
＊ ＊ ＊
The golems that came down from the baskets landed on top of the walls.
Jumping down from a height of 100 meters wasn’t safe even for golems. They had descended by using ropes hanging from the baskets to slow down their fall.
Even if they had wanted to obstruct the golems, the defenders weren’t able to move because of the [Thunderbolt]s raining upon them.
Once the three flying balloons had confirmed that the golems had landed and stood up, they stopped firing [Thunderbolt]s and moved even higher up.
“You! So this was a plan was for lowering those golems!”
The deputy leader Nicholas took up his sword and gave orders to his subordinates.
“Defeat those golems! Their objective is opening the castle gates!”
Indeed, there were few who noticed it from the uproar caused by the flying balloons, but Frantz Kingdom’s army sieging the fort city Tetrada had suddenly become active.
＊ ＊ ＊
“W-what’s that…?”
“People can fly…?”
The commanding officer and his adjutants of the Frantz Kingdom’s army battalion spearheading the approach to Tetrada were driven on by the awe of seeing the flying balloons.
“With something like that, war will change.”
You could scout out the enemy’s battle formation from the skies. Troops waiting in ambush and such would become apparent just like that.
“I thought it was unthinkable to declare war during a busy farming season like this, but turns out that His Majesty had backing like this…”
He then handed down orders.
“Battalion, prepare for battle! Soon Tetrada’s western gate will open! Once it does, the first and second company will charge! The third and fourth company will back them from the rear! The fifth and fourth company will stay on alert on the west side and kill any soldiers trying to escape the castle!”
＊ ＊ ＊
“Agh! My Queen, please run!”
The living rooms of the royalty were in the upper floors of the castle. This was because normally the attack of the enemy would come from the lower floors.
But this time was different. The two golems that invaded from the rooftop were going towards the royalty’s rooms while scattering the Imperial Guard knights.
The king, the queen, and the third prince Ernest were there.
A secret passage to escape through had been prepared ahead of time. But unfortunately during the golem riot the other day a part of the passage had collapsed and still was like that.
The reason was that the king had prioritized giving solace to the soldiers who suffered wounds and reorganizing other important things, rather than repairing an escape tunnel he didn’t know when he’d use.
“[Wind Blow]!”
One of the Imperial Guard knights appeared to be in danger, and at that moment someone cast a strong wind-attribute spell.
It wasn’t enough to send a golem flying, but it did cause the golem to stumble buying time for the knight.
“Elder sister!”
The one who cast the magic was Airi Soluz from the Imperial Guard magi knight division. She was the elder sister of the maid serving prince Ernest, Laila Soluz.
“Laila! Protect His Highness! I shall protect His Majesty and My Queen!”
“Yes!”
Inside Asunto’s castle, the chaos only grew.