Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

Ten silver-glittering, ten-person armored carriages stood ready. About fifty horses.

This was the maximum number of armored carriages (War Wagons) and horses that could be prepared. The number was honestly small, but it still looked like a respectable knight order.

“The destination will take about two weeks to reach. We’ve prepared food, spare weapons and shields, and the secret weapon is ready... Alright, let’s depart.”

After confirming everything, Dee called out loudly from horseback.

“To arms! Everyone except the Fifth Squad, take your positions! The Fifth Squad, prepare the ballista inside the carriage!”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone quickly obeyed Dee’s orders, and in no time, the marching formation was organized.

Hmm, splendid. Van-kun was satisfied.

“U-um, is it alright if I ride in the carriage too...?”

Inside the sixth carriage in the line, the most luxuriously decorated one, Til muttered anxiously.

“That’s fine. You’re my attendant, after all. It’d be hard for you to walk outside.”

I answered, and Til gave a troubled smile.

Everyone took turns resting in the carriage, but I was privileged by the lordship to stay in the carriage the whole time. Moreover, Kamushin and Til, both lightly armored so they could don their armor at any moment, were right beside me. Also riding along was Arte, who had some stamina concerns.

Besides that, the super strongest mechanical bow unit took turns riding in the carriage.

“For now, we’ll proceed at a relaxed pace and scout near Scudetto. Hopefully, the enemy has retreated, but they’re probably still fighting.”

In this world, despite the presence of magic, siege warfare usually took a long time. After all, there were hardly any magicians capable of easily breaching castle walls; the common approach was to gradually destroy walls and gates using siege weapons.

Of course, if there were ten or twenty top-class four element magicians, things would be different—but that was quite difficult. Talented magicians were needed to defend the country, and the enemy likely had magicians stationed for defense as well.

“There are magicians deployed in Scudetto, the key to national defense, right?”

“Of course! Besides, that land is the Fertio Marquisate! Father should have already taken the knight order to provide reinforcements!”

“Oh, right.”

I nodded in understanding at Dee’s words before departure.

Daddy really is amazing, one way or another.

I understood that very well. Though his meritocracy was borderline madness, his abilities were undoubtedly high.

Moreover, the knight order that he rebuilt from scratch was extraordinary. He gathered capable men and trained them relentlessly.

I had watched during breaks between Dee’s training sessions, and both the training content and the knights who easily kept up were crazy.

By the way, I hadn’t participated in that hellish training because I went through the same training as the boy soldiers.

“Well, as long as the numbers aren’t too unbalanced, we should be safe, right?”

Thinking so, I leisurely enjoyed the carriage journey.

However, when we arrived at the site, an unexpected situation awaited.

The battle was already over.

Thick black smoke billowed skyward, and the collapsed walls and buildings showed their painful state. Soldiers, probably from the Border Knight Order and marquis family knight order, were scattered and leaving the fortress city without any formation.

Yes. This was the moment the fortress city Scudetto fell.

A section of the wall was completely destroyed, and near it, a knight order clad in black armor had gathered in force.

“...I never imagined Scudetto would fall within a month or two...”

Arb, Dee’s subordinate and captain of soldiers, muttered in astonishment. Dee frowned deeply and replied.

“The cause is probably that.”

He pointed to a place where wyverns rested their wings on a portion of the wall.

And it wasn’t just one or two. Over twenty wyverns filled a corner of the wall.

An abnormal sight. Normally, it would be assumed that the city was destroyed by demonic beasts.