Fun Territory Defense Chapter 237 (Patreon)

We're no Closer to the Edge of Falling

As Panamera said, there was no significant attack until we approached Centenna. It might be more accurate to say that the attackers were not trying to keep the reinforcements away, but rather that the black balls dropped at random from the wyverns flew towards us.

Two or three explosions occurred at a distance, and vibrations were transmitted to our feet. Everyone knew the threat of the black ball, but it was still frightening to see it actually explode in front of your eyes.

Even among the Panamera knights, there were some who were marching with pale faces. Should I praise them for not panicking?

With these thoughts in mind, we arrived at the fortress of Centenna.

The walls of the fortress vibrated every time we heard an explosion, and seeing debris of various sizes falling down made us realize that the fortress was on the verge of collapse.

"...You don't want to go inside a building in this condition in the first place. I'd die if the debris fell on me. I'm a young man."

As I muttered to myself like that, Arte nodded with a serious face.

"In times like this, my pair of silver knight Aventador can..."

Her voice was small, but her words were powerful. Panamera's eyes blinked at these words of confidence. Laughing at the contrast, I looked over the castle gate. They probably no longer even have time to station people on the Scuderia kingdom side.

"...Sorry to bother you."

In passing, I put my hand on the small doorway attached to the castle gate with such a greeting. This door was just a piece of material to me now. Let this Van-kun, make a new door for you. With this in mind, I performed my magic spell.

"Okay, it's open."

The door, which was made into a new door in just a few seconds, was just a simple sliding door without a key or anything. With both hands pressed together, the door was opened immediately.

"Come on, let's go in."

I said and turned around, only to be met with a suspicious look from Panamera.

"...Boy. By any chance, you're not involved in some kind of crime, are you?"

"No, I am not!"

Panamera's question was met with a hasty denial. After a few moments of staring, the sound of a black ball exploding somewhere rang out again, and Panamera let out a sigh as he turned back to her knighthood.

"It was a little backhanded, but the way was open. Infantry, take up your shields and move forward. There may be enemy soldiers in the fortress if it is on the verge of falling. Keep that in mind as you act."

"Ha! Cavalry, get off your horses! Infantry, move forward!"

The Knight Commander immediately followed Panamera's instructions and relayed the orders.

"What backhanded are you talking about? I told you I'm not using this for anything bad."

"No, the problem is that it is used that way. If the boy is precocious, won't you be able to use it to crawl at night?"

"No!"

Panamera's outrageous words made me yell at her. Because it was sexual harassment.

The Seat Knights also entered the fortress, watching the backs of the Panamera Knights who were leading the way. The walls were cracked here and there, and part of the roof had collapsed. The deeper one goes into the fortress, the more serious the destruction gets, and it almost looks like a ruin.

"...It looks almost empty."

"Don't tell me they're all up on the roof shooting bows and arrows and unleashing magic..."

"How can that be? The commander should have been planning the defense from a safe place."

With this exchange, we continued to move further inside the fortress. Eventually, we were able to enter the courtyard, but it was a dismal sight.

The ground was scorched in places, a large tower had collapsed and fallen down, and there were many dead bodies. Arte and Tyll could be heard gasping in the background at the sight of such a hellish scene. Meanwhile, Camsin and Roe stood in front of me as if to protect me, swords at the ready.

"Van-sama, please be careful."

Camsin said that while checking the shadows of rubble and other debris around us. I chuckled at that and said thank you.

"Thanks. But I think they were probably killed by cannons or black balls. Now, it's not safe for us to stay here, so let's get moving...the resident knights of Centenna are most likely gathering on the Shelbia Confederacy side of the city walls."

I told Camsin, and he turned around with a huff.

"Yes, that's right. It's dangerous, so let's hurry and get away from this place."

With that said, I began to look up at the sky, somewhat glad to see that Camsin was desperately trying to protect me.

"Well, normally they wouldn't put too many people on the rooftop in case of an air attack, and we need to find out what they're up to, so they're probably gathered around the second or third floor. Shall we go there?"

Saying this, Panamera quickly agreed and instructed the knights.

They walked quickly through the courtyard, found a staircase, and continued on inside the building. Still, there were no people. It was strange that there were so few people in the building.

"Maybe everyone had just abandoned the Centenna and fled..."

Panamera's brow wrinkled deeply as she turned her head to look at us in the side.

"No matter how great Marquis Fertio is, he would never do such a thing as a nobleman... You don't mean that there is a possibility that he would do such a thing, do you?"

"Oh, no, I'm just kidding. There are not too many people here, so it just crossed my mind... hahaha."

I replied with a dry laugh and went up the stairs. When we reached the third floor, the top floor, we could finally feel the presence of people. A long corridor continued along the castle wall, and I could hear the bustle from the back of the corridor.

It appears that each room is divided into different sections. Certainly, separating them one by one with a wall would be stronger than putting many pillars to make a hall. However, it is an unsuitable structure for many knights in armor to defend.

Since the opponent was the Shelbia Confederacy, was the view that bows and arrows and a squad of magicians would be sufficient?

With this thought in mind, I watched from behind as the knights of the Panamera order opened the door to the room in front of me.

"Hey, who are you!"

From here I could not see what was going on inside the room, but I could hear a man yelling from the back of the room.

"We are the Viscount Panamera Carerra Cayenne Knights! We have heard that Centenna is in danger and have rushed here! I remember that the resident knight guarding this border is commanded by Lord Targa, is that correct?"

"Oh! Thank you for the reinforcements! The resident Knight Commander is none other than Targa Brescia! But now we have His Excellency the Marquis Fertio, to whom all authority has been transferred!"

After a short, mutual exchange of information, we enter the room. It doesn't seem huge, so it's just Panamera, the Knight Commander, and me, Arte, Camsin, Roe, Tyll, and the seven of us. Or, to be more precise, there are two dolls of Arte standing diagonally in front of us, so if we include them, there are seven of us and two of them.

"Oh, oh... this tall knight...?"

With Centenna's knight surprised by Arte's dolls by her side, Panamera moves on her own toward the back of the room. It didn't seem huge, but there were still about ten knights inside. The knights split to the left and right to keep their distance from Panamera's figure.

Panamera walked briskly through the crowd and stood by the wall. Bringing her face close to a small window about thirty centimeters square, she peeked outside.

"I see, they've gone on the offensive. It looks like they've been cornered."

At her words, I hurried toward the window. I tried to look outside, but I was not tall enough. I couldn't see well. As I looked behind me distressed, and Camsin quickly brought me a chair. I climbed on it and got away with it.

"...Wow."

I couldn't help but exclaim as I looked at the view outside.