Published: January 13, 2026
“Suspicious tube spotted! Destroy it!”
“Yes!”
Upon receiving such a report, I gave a light reply. Yet, various thoughts raced through my mind. The steel castle gate, over six meters tall and four meters wide, had been destroyed. That was a significant impact. It would be difficult to achieve with the Black Orbs used so far. Perhaps the door deformed due to a fierce explosion or the connection between the door and the castle wall was damaged, causing it to collapse.
Either way, a tube-shaped siege weapon using gunpowder must be a cannon. Considering the explosion sound and the broken castle gate, there was no doubt about it.
It seemed that gunpowder had reached from the Central Continent. Could it simply mean that the countries on our side are behind?
“…If that’s the case, there’s a high possibility that a major power from the Central Continent might attack us soon.”
Even during the Age of Great Navigation, when the range of travel suddenly expanded, there were countless countries where civilization lagged behind due to distance. Such countries often became vassals or colonies, and it was common for weaker nations to be invaded.
Perhaps the Yelinetta Kingdom has already become a practical vassal. If so, the Yelinetta Kingdom would launch an all-out attack as a spearhead for the great power from the Central Continent.
Though it was just speculation, if that were true, I needed to teach Murcia the basics of defense.
Even the strongest weapons Lord Van had created would have their effectiveness halved if used improperly.
Thinking this, I spoke to Murcia, who was endlessly gazing out at the scenery.
“Brother Murcia, this is perfect timing. Let me explain how to defend this fortress city.”
“Eh, right now!?”
Murcia was surprised, but I smiled back and pointed at the castle walls.
“It’s easy to understand, right? Next, we’ll devise countermeasures against that new weapon from earlier. That way, breaking through the castle gate won’t be easy. Meanwhile, the basic defense is to repel attacks with fierce barrages from the ballista and mechanical bow units. Furthermore, if enemies gather a bit away from the walls, we use catapults. We only made two catapults, but we can add more if necessary. Also, the catapult ammunition this time was all blades, but if the enemy is too strong, we have oil-laden projectiles as well. If we shoot fire arrows at those, it could deal a heavy blow to the enemy. However, they’ll hate us for it.”
“Uh, yeah, that makes sense… Is it okay not to use magic or do surprise cavalry attacks?”
“We don’t have magicians who can use four element magic yet, and we try not to fight in ways that cause damage to our own knight orders. If we were to carry out a surprise attack, we’d rather expand the fortress walls, set up plenty of ballistae, and aim from all directions.”
“I see… Those ballistae are really formidable. Not just their power but their range is incredible, so even magicians can’t easily get close.”
Murcia looked at the ballistae and nodded repeatedly. Apparently, he understood the fortress city’s defense method. Now, all that remained was to secure enough personnel to organize the Murcia knight order, which would be a relief.
However, things couldn’t stay like this. If I were the strategist of the Yelinetta Kingdom, I would choose a tactic of gathering massive cannons and bombard from a distance. Even with this fortress city built by the genius Lord Van, it could fall under such an attack.
To prevent that, we needed to swiftly conquer the Yelinetta Kingdom. Not through invasion, but by securing a route to the Central Continent. We would have to break through several large fortresses, forts, and fortress cities lined up directly towards the coast.
“Brother Murcia has to do his best…”
“Huh? Did you say something?”
Lost in various assumptions and plans in my mind, I apparently voiced part of my thoughts unconsciously. Murcia blinked and looked at me. I smiled and shook my head.