Prince's decision

On the seventh day, Audis had resisted for a whole week under the continuous attack of the Faustian army.

On several occasions, the gate was almost breached by the soldiers of Lion and Falcon, but the Faustian soldiers were always able to arrive in time to support them and drive the Faustian soldiers off the wall.

It was now evening. Locke leaned against the corner of the camp and bit the black bread in his hand without saying a word.

After a few months, Locke ate this disgusting food that could be thrown at people again.

He swallowed the bitter food in his mouth with difficulty and picked up the spear on the ground beside him.

Tonight, it was their battalion attacking the city again. Unlike before, their battalion was attacking an area of the main city gate at the west gate.

Although the two sides had been fighting for a full week, Faustian had not made any substantial progress so far.

Although Prince Kenzir and Marmen were not in a hurry, there was already pressure from home. Faustian had to bear a lot of international pressure to attack Audis for such a long time.

Take the suzerain of the Aomar Empire for example. Faustian and Shalor were both small countries around the Aomar Empire. If the war continued to drag on, the Aomar Empire would consider stepping forward to mediate.

In the central tent of the joint camp, a large group of Faustian nobles and generals were discussing something fiercely.

Today, another order of war had come from the capital city. Another one had come through the flaming messenger.

Prince Kenzir did not quarrel with these ministers. Instead, he stood aside with a teacup in his hand and quietly looked at the battlefield sand table in front of him.

The war sand table made by the Faustian casters looked like a miniature version of the actual war in the eyes of outsiders.

A huge square city stood in the center of the sand table. This was Audis.

This miniature version of Audis had its walls deliberately wide. If one looked closely, they could even see the position of each arrow tower.

Red flags representing the Faustian side were inserted in various positions on the sand table, representing the positions that the Faustian soldiers had attacked in the past week.

They also represented the weak areas of Audis.

While Prince Kenzir was thinking quietly, an old man in military uniform stood next to him. It was Marmen.

Tonight, Marmen left his main war zone and was summoned here by Prince Kenzir.

Marmen was a little curious as to why the prince had summoned him at this time, but he did not ask. He believed that Kenzir would explain.

Marmen was not in a hurry. He also took a cup of tea and accompanied Prince Kenzir to observe the war sand table.

After a long time, Kenzir finally spoke. "If you want to take down a strong city like Audis, in addition to a breakthrough in internal force, you can only use external force to crush it."

Marmen agreed with Prince Kenzir's words, but he did not respond.

A breakthrough in internal force meant that there was an army working together with them, which was impossible. Audis had been run by the Shalorian royal family for many years.

Although they had more or less received the defection of some nobles from Shalor's capital city, they were all nobles without much strength.

The candidate who met the criteria of cooperating with them from the inside and outside had to have a force of at least a thousand men. None of the nobles who expressed their goodwill met the criteria.

As for external force, it was even more out of the question. Faustian only had so many available soldiers in Shalor, and there was no way for them to send reinforcements.

Even Shia's garrison corps had intermittently replaced the soldiers with new soldiers over the years, and the veterans were all sent to the front line.

Thinking of Shia, Marmen suddenly remembered that this margrave was leading troops in Shalor at this time. Gale was still in the north of Shalor, suppressing bandits.

Could it be? Marmen seemed to have guessed the prince's intentions.

Prince Kenzir did not hide it and said directly, "I plan to let Shia lead Gale to attack the city!"

Marmen did not refute the prince's decision, but reminded, "Your Highness, you have to think about it carefully. Gale's reputation in the surrounding countries is not very good..."

Lion, led by Marmen, had always been at odds with Gale, led by Margrave Woode. But after Marquis Woode's death on the battlefield, all these conflicts vanished like smoke in thin air.

Marmen was not a narrow-minded person. He only admired Woode, who had died in battle, and cherished the memory of an old friend.

Kenzir knew what Marmen meant. If Gale, which had a notorious record of massacring cities, was transferred to the war, Faustian would inevitably be condemned by the surrounding countries. In terms of public opinion alone, they would be at a disadvantage.

"So, we need to win in one blow!" Kenzir said resolutely.

Marmen understood what Kenzir meant. The moment Gale appeared, Audis must be breached. As soon as Gale appeared in front of the spies, Faustian would have to break through Audis and declare the fall of Shalor. Only then would Faustian be able to face the criticism of the surrounding countries and even the suzerain.

By then, what was done would be done, and it would be useless for others to condemn them. Would Faustian spit out the land it had occupied? That was impossible.

"But if we don't succeed, then the consequences..." Although Marmen was experienced, he was also old and lacked the drive of a young man. He was more inclined to do things in a stable manner. He did not explicitly object to Kenzir's proposal, but let the prince think about the consequences.

"There is no 'if'. The day Gale appears, we will bite down a gate of Audis even if we have to bite with our teeth!" Kenzir smashed the teacup in his hand. Crack! The sound of the teacup hitting the ground overlapped with the prince's voice, giving Marmen an indomitable momentum.

The nobles in the surrounding tents, who were still discussing incessantly, suddenly stopped because of the crisp sound of the prince smashing the teacup. They all looked at Kenzir and Marmen curiously.

Marmen lowered his head and carefully considered the pros and cons. Finally, when Kenzir became impatient, he raised his head and said, "I agree with this plan!"

Kenzir smiled. Although he was the commander-in-chief of the frontline, as a junior and a young man, Kenzir had to first get the support of Marmen before he could fully exert his abilities.

At this time, only a bunch of confused nobles and generals were left in the tent, looking at the old and the young.

At night, it was Locke's and the others' fierce siege. After a few days of idleness, it was finally their turn to fight a tough battle. With strong armour and sturdy arm shields, Locke was able to muddle through this kind of harassment siege with ease.

That's right, muddle through. Locke, who had been in the army for many years, had already guessed the intentions of the higher-ups. In addition, Angelina would send someone to pass a message from time to time, causing Locke to be completely indifferent during the battle these few days.

Locke had never gone up to the walls of Audis even once. Other platoon jarls, such as Mond, who was a low-rank Knecht, had led the soldiers to charge up twice in the past two days. Although they didn't gain a firm foothold each time, they were suppressed by the Shalorians' counterattack.

Of course, Mond was the only one in Cardoj's battalion who led his platoon to attack from a ladder. Locke, who was also a low-rank Knecht, didn't. Everyone thought that Locke had just broken through not long ago and his strength wasn't that strong yet, so they didn't say anything.

Only Mond knew in his heart that if Locke wore his bright yellow equipment, no matter how he attacked, he probably wouldn't be able to break through Locke's defence. That was an armour that could allow an ordinary person to withstand a rolling stone from the top of the city wall.

With Locke's current strength, coupled with his equipment, Wyr was probably the only one in Cardoj's battalion who could beat him now.

What Mond didn't know was that even if Wyr went up personally, Locke could only hurt him if he didn't use the secret treasure given to him by Angelina.

Not to mention Mond, even Cardoj himself had probably never heard of a secret treasure that could withstand the full attack of a peak-level Knecht.

After a night of bloody battle, Locke dragged his exhausted body and withdrew from the battlefield of Audis with his soldiers.

Unlike the zero casualties at the beginning, every attack of their battalion was accompanied by a lot of casualties. Their cavalry platoon was no exception. Under the care of someone as strong as Wyr, more than ten of their platoon were injured and a few died.

Since their platoon was in such a state, the other platoons had suffered even more casualties. Especially 3rd Platoon, Hanses's brows hadn't relaxed for the past two days.

Not only that, but just the day before yesterday, Cardoj forbade anyone from leaving the frontline due to injury. Unless they were seriously injured, such as missing an arm or a leg, the baron would never allow them to retreat due to injury.

Hanses and Kane were very glad that they had brought Hank down on the first day of the battle. One was his brother, and the other was his master. Hanses and Kane took care of Hank to the extreme.

Only Locke was indifferent to Hank. Perhaps it was because he didn't like such a glib guy from the bottom of his heart.

In addition to the heavy casualties of 3rd Platoon, another platoon also surprised Locke a lot.

The mercenary team that left a deep impression on Cardoj's battalion and the baron with zero casualties in the first battle had shown their inadequacies and amateurism in the past few days of battle.

As the battle became more and more intense, the casualties of the mercenary team also increased with time. Nearly ten people would be lost in almost every battle. Their loss meant that the ten people were dead.

These fugitives, who had been hired all year round, didn't have much other than a knife and muscles. Most of them didn't even have a decent piece of armor. In the face of the fierce siege, this group of mercenaries without any protection were the fastest to die.

No matter how strong their muscles were, they couldn't stop an arrow shot from the top of the city wall. Many of the mercenary platoon's soldiers died under the arrows.

Shalor's defending soldiers were unreliable. Most of the arrows were dipped in poison. Without the protection of armour, human life was as fragile as a piece of paper.

However, the casualties of the mercenary platoon had decreased a lot these days. Many Faustian soldiers had died on the battlefield, but they didn't think it was bad luck. They just plucked it out and used it. No one would say anything about it.

Mercenaries who lived on the edge of a knife didn't care about anything except money.