Herald of Steel

"......" The commander of the entire garrison Scorpyo let his two talkative young officers chirp on about the imminent attack to their heart's content, only choosing to hear them without saying anything.

Because he was thinking, analyzing.

It was only after they had piped down that he decided to open his mouth.

"Both of you are wrong! The enemy commander is not stupid, neither is there a trap! Because there is no need for that- the trap is already in front of us!"

Scorpyo's slow, booming voice added a whole new layer of gravitas to the entire claim and as the imposing commander majestically lifted his finger while saying this, the other two pair of eyes felt magnetically drawn to it- Scorpyo was pointing to the incoming ships.

The two officers then heard their commander further say,

"Count the number of vessels! And imagine the number of men there! Do you think we can hold them all off by ourselves?"

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The statement instantly made the other two became awake to the new reality.

They quickly judged the difference in strength in display here and began to understand that it was not that the enemy commander was foolish, but that simply that he thought he would be able to overwhelm the garrison with sheer number.

It was the type of bloody, brutal tactic that the legionary commanders always tried to shy away from.

Thus still unconvinced that the enemy would use such a crude method despite having the firepower advantage, the first officer still spoke up to contest with a cautious tone,

"Commander, I still think it might be a trap. Or at least half of it. Because think about it!"

"Even if they think they can overwhelm us with these sheer numbers, surely they will lose a lot of men. What if their casualties are so large during the initial landing that the men simply choose to retreat? Won't that ruin the entire battle?"

This officer appeared to be speaking from experience and wanted to point out that the enemy would never be so careless.

He still wanted them to prepare for any other hidden move.

"......." This urging of his brought another bout of pause from Scorpyo, letting the others almost hear the gears inside his head churning.

What his men did makes some sense.

But at the same time, something did not seem to fit in his heart. Scorpyo had no basis for thinking like that, but his years of experience simply signaled that.

Perhaps his mind subconsciously recalled how Remus had burnt down so many of their ships down, and that there was yet a fleet going to attack the Royal Harbor despite the other side's huge numerical troop superiority.

Whatever the case might have been, his instinct told him this was all the ships they could muster, and there was no hidden armada waiting for him out there.

The fleet in front of was all the enemy had.

This got the man thinking for a bit, and after finally a while the veteran commander decided to trust his guts.

It had saved his skin quite a few times in the past and he trusted it was not going to get him down now.

Thus the cold, still, heavy wintery air soon shook with a small palpitation as the imposing commander strongly declared, "No! The fleet is too big to be a trap. This is the main force no doubt about it. We must respond!"

His words were very crisp and penetrating and left no room for any retort.

The two officers understood that the battle tactic to follow had been decided, and the reason for it lay in the subtle unspoken words- 'Even if this is a trap, the enemy is so large that we have to face him,' were the words left unsaid between the lines.

Scorpyo did not explicitly say this out aloud because he feared acknowledging the enormous difference would cause morale among them to dip.

This was also why he quickly followed the declaration up with an announcement of hope,

"Go quickly light our smoke camp's signal. Ask the main camp to send reinforcements. They should be able to get here relatively quickly. The Royal Harbor is quite close."

That last part of the sentence was not quite accurate as in terms of displacement, the Abandoned Harbor from where the Heeat family was operating was definitely a bit closer.

Meaning the enemy was very likely to make contact long before any reasonable relief would be able to avail themselves.

However none of the men there was foolish enough to destroy the ideal rosy picture Scorpyo was painting for them. Even if it was a lie, hearing it gladdened them, it made their hearts feel relieved.

So the two men quickly produced an understanding nod to show their support, while Scorpyo at last finished his order with this controversial command,

"In the meantime, prepare the men to move out. We will sally out of our walls and meet the disembarking enemy head on!"

"Wha… what!" The moment the latter half was uttered, a predictable and instant scream shot out from both the two officers, swinging to meet Scorpyo's gaze with great concern.

They were stunned!

Why had they been digging earthen fortifications all around their camp like crazy till now then?

Wasn't it for this exact reason?

To let the enemy break into them like waves hitting a rock.

To let them bang their heads against the sturdy defense and tire themselves out.

To show them they were too tough a nut to crack so that they would leave them alone.

This was the only reason the garrisoned men put up with the extremely harsh conditions of the last few days, pilling up the earth on top of earth day and night, thus forming very thick and sturdy ramparts a few meters thick.

If that was not enough, this raised structure was further reinforced with wooden beams taken from the walls that formally made up the perimeter of the camp and placed in the front, middle, and back, in a similar fashion to steel rods being used while constructing high rises.

Watchtowers and shooting platforms were then naturally built behind these raised walls to shoot any attackers and as the last finishing touches, the ditch created by the building of the ramparts was filled with deadly wooden stakes, sharp and capable of easily tearing through a man, thus creating a deadly dry moat.

All of this was very impressive no doubt.

But it also meant all of it was quite hard to build.

Especially because it was winter.

One had to experience it firsthand to truly how hard it was to dig hard frozen earth for it was truly a wretched task to be assigned.

Even for these large, fit legionaries it was backbreaking, with many even becoming sick through sheer exhaustion.

They only managed to power through with their lives still in their hands because they all knew what the alternative was.- death.

So regardless of the pain they worked all around the clock in shifts to get this done.

But now they were being asked to abandon all that hard work just like that?

How could any of them swallow such an order?

It felt like all their sweat, blood, and hard work was being spat in the face.

And this was not to even mention how foolish it was to abandon such an advantageous spot in favor of attacking the enemy head on, an enemy that even by the officers' most conservative sense outnumbered them two to one, if not likely even more.

Thus the two officers prepared themselves to strike back, determined to make Scorpyo reconsider no matter what. They wanted to turtle safe behind the walls until Remus got there with a relief force.

Fortunately for them, however, they were spared all the effort as Scorpyo could sense their unease.

The man thus succinctly revealed,

"We will attack the enemy when he is at his most vulnerable just like you two proposed- while he is disembarking. You said it yourself, didn't you? If we can inflict a lot of casualties right at the start, their morale might break and rout then and there!"

"..!!!." This brave idea made the two officers open their eyes to their commander's true intentions, while seeing the two be on their way to boarding his, Scorpyo confidently added further,

"The enemy commander likely thinks we will not attack them. He is counting on us to stay inside our camp and defend from there. That's probably why he is showing off his numbers to us so blatantly. To scare us into holing ourselves!"

"Hisssss.... How insidious!" One of the officers quickly blew out this steam of shock upon hearing this, his eyes ballooning with his fear.

While the other man tracing his chin produced a sharp look, before muttering to himself in an enlighted note,

"Hmmmp… so commander Scorpyo believes all these flashy things were done by the enemy commander to make landfall easier for him. Then once he had a beachhead, he would use his vastly larger numbers to slowly grind our walls down, no matter how thick they may be, and ultimately destroy us."

The last few words send chills running through the spines of even the man who said it.

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