The American In Another World
Chapter 30: Siege of Le Brias

Parpaldian Camp, 10 Miles South of Le Brias

General Cius awoke in shock, finding himself inside the tent. He grimaced, feeling pain all over his body. He looked around and saw a bandage wrapped around him. "What is in heaven ..."

A young man stepped into the tent, hearing the commotion. “General Cius, you are wounded. Please don't force yourself.”

"Who…?"

“I Witch Vance. I am one of the healers.”

Cius nodded then leaned his head on the pillow, relaxing his body. "What's been going on?" All he remembered was running to avoid the forest fires, and then a brilliant flash of light before he lost consciousness.

“I'm sorry, I don't know much about what happened, it's just that there was some sort of explosion that paralyzed many of us. I am with reinforcements sent by the Emperor.

Cius was nervous. If too much time passed, the Altar could develop a sizeable defense that even its troops would have difficulty breaking through. If he were to face another barbarian state, he might not be too anxious, but Altaran had proven to be a cunning enemy. “Relief…? Whoa, how long has it been?”

Vance raised his hand awkwardly. “Ah, don't worry. It's only been a few days.”

"So that's it." Cius began to rise.

"Master," Vance pleaded, "You really should take a break."

Cius sighed. “Have all the officers above the rank of captain meet me here in an hour. My body may be damaged, but my mind is still in good health.”

“I will make sure soon, General,” Vance bow before leaving.

——

An hour later, dozens of officers crowded around the entrance of the tent. General Cius sat upright, using the map on the wooden table as a reference while explaining his strategy. “The walls of Le Brias are heavily defended by the same balistas we encountered at sea. Their range is slightly better than our cannons, but they are fewer in number. Our goal for this siege is to eliminate these balistas so that we can deploy our wyvern rulers to gain air support. To do this, we will install horse-drawn artillery periodically.”

The other officer nodded.

“We have 120 pieces. Some of them would definitely be lost due to the superior range and accuracy of the enemy. To reduce the casualties, I had planned a night siege. Their walls will be clearly illuminated by torchlight at night, so we can set our position under the darkness. The First Witch Platoon will apply a flare spell to their defensive position, which will illuminate and blind them, making it easier for us to shoot them while making it harder for them to shoot at us.

A nod of approval resonated throughout the crowd; most of the officers were impressed by General Cius' brilliance and adaptability.

“Our scout has determined the location of dozens of balista placements, which are marked on the map. The targets will be shared equally between our artillery companies. Only when these balistas have been eliminated can we ascend and seize the city. Now, get to work.”

——

Washington DC

On a large wall-mounted screen, thermal imagery depicts the movement of the Parpaldian forces. Tracking down unsuspecting people from above, a UAV and its operator recorded the Parpaldian formation.

“Hmm...” President Lee analyzed the footage. “Have we told King Taara?”

The Secretary of State, Gordon Heiden, replied, "King Taara is currently being notified by our embassy staff, sir."

President Lee's gaze went from a tall blonde man to a screen, where he saw an Altaran bow being moved around the wall. The small figures ran into strange positions along the walls, carrying sticks and boxes that shone brightly. Meanwhile, hundreds of people inside the wall were evacuated to the north, far from a potential hot spot. "It must be interesting" Lee said. "What about their fleet?"

“Their fleet is now heading towards Le Brias Port. The port itself is too far away from the wall to provide support, but they can stretch the defenses of the Altaran with a two-way attack,” Navy Secretary Jacob commented.

"OKAY. Prepare Texas and Hawaii for immediate support, once we declare war. Jacob, what's the status of the Seventh Fleet?”

“Master, Seventh Fleet is currently refueling and supplying at Maihark Base. Crushing Squadron 15 is fully charged and ready to depart as per your order.”

"good. Tell them to leave immediately for the Altaras Kingdom. By the time they arrive, we will be at war with the Parpaldian Empire.”

——

Le Brias

Captain Rial looked out of the wall, analyzing the Parpaldian camp near the forest outskirts. He enjoyed the cool night breeze, only to be interrupted by the transmission from his manacomm.

“Consideration of all units, we have received word that the Parpaldian artillery units are starting to move out of their camps. They will arrive within half an hour.”

“Hmm...” Captain Rial wonders how Americans have always had perfect battlefield intelligence. To confirm the transmission, he lifted his binoculars and scanned the distance. Sure enough, glittering slightly under the silvery moonlight, hundreds of cannons walked towards the wall. He recorded the trajectory of the Parpaldian company and estimated the position from which they would most likely carry out the siege.

Returning to his manacomm, he passed this information on to the magicians and the balista operators. “They seem to be traveling to the Copper sector Three through Seven, with a lot of distance between them. Looks like they learned quickly.”.

"Understand, sir." Many replies came through manacomm as the Altar tilted their weapons.

Over the next few minutes, Rial followed one of the companies while making mental calculations regarding their speed and distance from the wall. As the enemy approached the range of the Altaran balista, he counted down. “A little more..”.

Now that the Parpaldian target was within the effective range of their weapon, he gave the order to launch a beacon.

Altaran's starlight spell was inspired by an American flare, utilizing light magic to illuminate a plot of land below. These spells were basically glowing balls of light that floated above a certain location, even though they burned faster than a flare. However, because the spells are relatively easy, they can easily be cast into large numbers. A small group of magicians channeled their energy to accomplish this feat, sending hundreds of low-flying light balls into the Parpaldian ranks.

At the same time, cannon fire rang out in the distance. The projectile exploded far above the wall itself, dealing little damage to the defenses below. Instead, the projectile served as a beacon of the Parpaldian version, shining brightly above the Altaran defenses. Since the Altarans had moved their balistas to different positions, the Parmaldian cannons wasted precious seconds re-adjusting their shots.

40 Ballista deployments lit up as they launched their explosive bolts into nearby Parmaldian cannons. With astonishing accuracy, 31 of these bolts landed directly or near their targets, rendering the 31 Parpaldian cannons inoperable. Ammo near these shattered pieces was also ignited, producing a jet orange glow that contrasted sharply with the soft white light above it. Due to the distance between each piece, very little additional damage was done. However, the distance also means the spread is not as fast as possible, thus giving Altaran more opportunities to reload and move.

In retaliation, 60 of the surviving cannons were fired, immediately followed by another 19 as they rushed into position. In an embarrassing display for the Parpaldians, a little over a quarter of the Altaran siege weapons were destroyed, with most of the shots missed from the target and instead smashed into the wall or passed and landed on the empty building behind. However, Altarans has a significant advantage of — rate of fire. After recharging and adjusting their shot, the Parpaldian artillery crew managed to score more hits with a second volley, disabling half of the surviving balistas and lowering the total number to 18.

The explosion shook the sturdy wall, sending pieces of rock and other debris tumbling over the edge. Captain Rial, using his binoculars to provide targeting information, immediately stopped his task as soon as he heard a soft cry next to him. He rushed to the wall, where he saw a pair of hands clinging tightly to the rock shards. He grabbed a hand and pulled the shaken female witch over.

"Thank you for saving me" he said softly.

Riall. "Other times stay away from the periphery," he said before returning to his post.

The magician looked around and picked up his wand, but could not find his magic jewel box. Depressed, he paced back and forth before deciding to walk to Rial. “Captain Rial,” murmur.

"What's up, Witch?"

“I... I lost my magic gem! They must have fallen off the wall.”

Rial took a breath. "alright. Save your whereabouts for now. I will give the order to retreat, ”he said after putting down his binoculars.

"Retreat? Why we—”

"The Parpaldians just destroyed all our balistas." He activated his manacomm and gave a grim announcement. “All units: retreat to lower levels! The Parpaldians managed to destroy all of our siege weapons, but at a great price.40 balistas and their valiant operators sacrificed their lives to destroy over 60 Parpaldian cannons and their crew. However, without this ultimate weapon, we must save our strength. I will give you the latest strategy from His Majesty once I reach our command center.” He turned his attention back to the witch. “Oke, let's go. What's yourname?"

Staring at Rial with a frightened face, almost like a child, he replied. "Alina, sir."

“Don't worry Alina. I'll take you home in one piece.”

——

Camp Parpaldia

“General, our artillery has handled the defense of Altaran.”

Cius sat on his bed, coughing as he forced himself. "good. Victim?”

The officer in front of him hesitated, awkwardly pausing before deciding to finish the report. “Uh... 64 cannons and 40 horses lost. We are still counting casualties among the crew, but it is already over 100.”

General Cius sighed, “More than half of our artillery, gone. How can this happen?”

“Master, the battle conditions are favorable to the enemy. They have their own illumination magic, preventing the darkness of night from enveloping our troops.”

“So, the battle took place no different than it did during the day,” muttered Cius.

"Yes sir."

“Replace the injured crew and let the artillery companies continue to throw garbage into their walls. Target the gate, but also make sure that we can make another entrance; we do not want to channel our people to the choke point. By the way, where is the land dragon?”

A drop of sweat grew on the officer's forehead. “Ah... they are on break.”

"Resting?" Cius looked at the man suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

“Master... eight land dragons were killed by the same explosion that put you in this bed. Four others sustained moderate injuries, while four others sustained minor injuries.”

Cius chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief, causing discomfort and nervousness for the attendant. “Then, I did not expect the Altarmen to be this desperate. The number of magic gems needed to produce such an explosion was already worth hundreds of thousands of pasos! The magic powder of those many gems will be enough to sustain our fleet weapons for months!”

The officer just nodded.

"Well fine then. Land dragons who are not fit for battle: take care of their wounds. Sixteen healthy specimens should be enough to lead the attack. Oh, and prepare our best team of soldiers. I want the company to secure the port once the fleet is done eliminating their coastal defences. If these Americans send them guns again, I want to catch them.”

——

The Royal Castle of Altaran, Le Brias

King Taara was pacing his war room as his generals quarreled, arguing over the deployment of their 30,000-strong army. Their unrelenting rant was eventually silenced by static crackling, which signaled a new transmission from America. Immediately, they all gathered around the small handheld device.

“Altaran High Command, this is Davidson. Do you accept this transmission?”

“Ya,” replied King Taara. "This is King Taara speaking."

“Nice to hear from you, Your Majesty. Do you still have that balista?”

“We do. We have implemented it according to the strategy you recommend.”

"okay good. Lord Wyvern Parpaldian is currently getting into your position, likely to attack the castle. There are about ten of them. Your remaining balista and wyverns should be able to handle it. I'll leave the details to your general. We will send you more updates once we receive them. Good luck, Your Grace.”

“So it looks like Parpaldian is confident enough to deploy their wyvern lord once again. General Holmon, I'll leave the castle's defenses to you. Everyone, let's retreat to a lower level. We still need to devise a solid defensive plan when Parpaldian finally manages to break through.