Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

“...Just to confirm, are you sure it’s okay if we get shot at with a volley of arrows all at once?”

“Of course! There’s absolutely no problem!”

After double-checking, Dee answered with a radiant smile. I couldn’t understand what was so cheerful about standing here with only the two of us, right in front of the enemy’s stronghold. Dee walked lightly, holding his large shield at a diagonal in front of him.

Watching him with a mix of disbelief, I cautiously climbed up the hill.

Suddenly, the view opened wide, revealing a beautiful sky and a heavily fortified fortress that seemed out of place in such a clear setting. The overall dark coloring of the fortress gave off a strong intimidating presence.

“Wow, it’s bigger than I thought. It looks like a small town. And the walls are really thick too. If we wanted to attack normally, we’d probably have to rely on magicians, right?”

I was impressed by the fortress’s clearly sturdy appearance. Dee nodded in agreement, bent his knees, sat down, and pounded the ground with one hand.

“That’s right... and this hill is a problem. The magicians must go up the hill to chant their spells, but from the castle walls, which are a bit higher, arrows can reach us without any trouble. The terrain here makes it difficult to use magic freely. However, even if we sent a large number of soldiers to break the castle gate, the steep mountain path and the narrow river just before the fortress are the worst. If they hold out in a siege, we might not be able to take it except by starving them out.”

Dee explained all this unusually seriously. He was clearly assessing the situation strictly as if he were the attacker. Well, I wasn’t planning on attacking or staying long anyway.

“Well then... shall we get started? Is everyone ready?”

Smiling to hide my tension, I turned to look down the hill. The Seato Village knight order, adventurers, and magicians were all watching me.

“...Looks good. Alright, let’s do this.”

I took a deep breath and said so.

When we reached the hilltop, I saw one of the soldiers standing on the castle wall notice us. Dee held his shield firmly without letting his guard down. I signaled to the magicians while glancing sideways at Dee.

“Has it been about a minute or two since they started chanting?”

“That’s right. However, the scale of this spell is a bit large, so it might take as long as three minutes.”

While the two of us talked, many soldiers gathered on top of the fortress walls. I could see some of them holding bows.

“Oh, they’re already gathering. Impressive.”

Dee snorted and pointed at the walls.

“That’s just a casual look-around. If these were elite soldiers trained at a high level, they would be prepared to handle even ten thousand attackers. If it were my trained knight order, all would have bows ready and could fire on command immediately.”

“Oh wow, that’s amazing. Now that I think about it, it does look like we could easily reach the castle gate if we charged now.”

I nodded in agreement with Dee’s words. As we spoke, an older man who looked like a high-ranking soldier appeared among the gathered troops on the wall. He looked at us and spoke.

“...I demand to know who you are! This is the westernmost critical base of the Yelinetta Kingdom! State your purpose for stopping here!”

The man questioned our identity.

“Wow, what a clear voice.”

“Must be the commander. You need that kind of volume to lead on a wide battlefield.”

“Having a loud voice really does matter... Oh, I have to answer.”

I stopped chatting with Dee to distract myself and quickly shouted out.

“Uh, I’m Baron Van Nei Fertio of the Kingdom of Scuderia! We’re here today to build a fort... Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said my name? Is this going to come back to haunt me later?”

I blurted out my name too honestly. Feeling regret, I looked at Dee and asked.

“No, Lord Van’s name will spread throughout Yelinetta soon enough. It’s just a matter of sooner or later.”