Henkel Gate
This was not a gate you could pass with just strength.
However, they needed to get past here no matter what happened.
There was enough value to this place to put their lives on the line to take it.
.
Book 5-10.1
"Hmm, is that it?"
Runa was muttering to himself as he looked out to the fortress in front of him.
There was only one path across the dangerous Henkel Mountain Range that cut through the middle of the Henkel Plains. The Henkel Gate was placed on top of that path.
The Henkel Gate added on to the natural protections of the Henkel Mountain range, with tall cliffs and mountains on both sides of the single path, making it impossible to cross the Henkel Plains without going through this single path. That was why the Henkel Gate was called a natural fortress, even with the manual construction of the gate itself.
There was only a single door into the gate. If they could pierce through that one door, they would get the opportunity to perfectly capture something that Pareia has longed to have for such a long time. They would be able to have a region of their own that could grow food.
'It is fitting of its name as a natural fortress. WIthout taking control of that gate, we will need to constantly be on guard about the Silence Empire invading us in this side of the plains. In addition, with us not being able to do anything to the enemy who is right in front of us, this would end up a useless region.'
Runa thought about that as he slowly stepped forward. He wanted to take a closer look.
"Runnim, it is dangerous if you go any further."
Runa stopped his movement as one of the guard warriors cautioned him. This path with mountains and cliffs decorating the side and the gate cutting off the only path across really was a path of victory for the defenders, and a path of despair for the attackers.
The arrows from the fortress reached all the way to the beginning area of that path of despair, and the path was pretty narrow that less than ten battering rams or siege weapons could make it through. Furthermore, that path became even more narrow as you continued forward to the point that it was impossible to properly attack the castle.
It also did not help that the gate was completely made of steel, making it difficult to tell how long they would need to ram at the door for it to break.
Runa continued to think.
'Even if we use Orcnim's magic to break the castle wall next to the gate instead, it would still be impossible to evade the rain of arrows that can cover the sky completely back. No, even if the castle gate is destroyed, how many of our warriors can really make it through at once ……'
The warriors could charge forward putting their lives on the line, but the pile of corpses will start to grow quickly, and even if the others climbed over the corpses to continue moving forward, it would quickly become a mountain of corpses. That damn gate was configured that way.
Runa naturally turned his gaze toward the mountains and cliffs on either side. He then slowly shook his head. That was impossible. Even if a small team somehow managed to successfully climb it, the gate had wickedly build watchtowers around the mountain ranges in the off chance that they managed to find a path up the cliffs. This prevented them from even considering climbing the cliffs.
The defense of Henkel Gate was pretty much perfect. With that being the case, there really was not anything Runa could do.
He even wanted to cry to the heavens and ask how such a rough mountain range that is difficult for people to cross could exist in the middle of a plain.
Their only choice was to wait for the enemy to give up the gate and come out to battle.
But what kind of idiotic commander would give up the gate that guarantees their victory and come out to fight?
But even if they were confident in their own abilities and came out, as long as they left about 5,000 soldiers to protect the gate, it would be almost impossible to break through it even with 100,000 warriors.
'Who knows, maybe they don't have enough arrows or rocks ……'
Runa thought about that before starting to laugh. Their enemy was extremely prepared to the point that they built watchtowers in the mountains, so how would they forget to prepare such basic necessities as arrows or rocks? It was a laugh to scoff at himself for even considering that might happen.
They had the Glow whose martial arts transcended everyone's imaginations, as well as a strong group of warriors called the Red Storm. They even had tens of thousands of warriors who were stronger than the soldiers of the continent. Finally, they had him, someone that even the Glow, who was the overall commander, trusted with all of his heart. But for them to face a battle they could still not win.
'No! No! There has to be a way.'
Runa vigorously shook his head as he got rid of the negative thoughts and tried to calm himself down.
There had to be a method somewhere. A method to at least make this half of the plains perfectly under Pareia's control.
Runa had to do everything he could to come up with that method.
Tenth month in the year 262 of the Continental calendar.
An year had already passed since the fires of the continental war started to burn.
The Silence Empire and the Rojini Kingdom. The war between these two powerhouses drew in all of the nations of the Eastern continent. That was how strong the influences of the two nations were in the Eastern continent.
There was no way there would be any neutral nations as both sides found it easier to consider anyone who wasn't an ally to be an enemy.
The situation slowly started to turn in the Rojini Kingdom's favor.
The reason for that was of course the impact of Pareia. Nobody had expected this desert tribe to completely pressure the Silence Empire. But after seeing it happen, they had to believe it.
For example, Master Spotch, one of the strongest cards of the Silence Empire, was not sent to battle with the Rojini Kingdom. Seeing that he was instead sent to take care of Pareia, people could see the level of impact Pareia was having on the Silence Empire.
But the Silence Empire was not being completely oppressed by the Rojini Kingdom because of their large number of soldiers and talented individuals.
Pareia's unit was covered in silence that it was difficult to tell they had just achieved a victory. No, everyone had happy expressions on their faces, but it was not as rowdy as usual?
Normally, Pareia showered the warriors with food and alcohol after winning a large battle, but for some reason, that was not the case this time.
'We will reward the warriors for the sweat and blood that was shed after we take control of the plains.'
While the cheer of victory was ringing across the battlefield, the lead warriors shared the Glow's words with the veteran warriors and the warriors under their command.
None of them had any issues with it. They all believed that the Glow must have his reasons for acting this way.
WIth all of the warriors completely believing that 'our Glow is a Glow who always puts the warriors first,' they did not find any issues with this odd response from their Glow.
"I still feel like it is too much to not do any type of celebration. We did achieve a large victory."
As Yulian looked around at the warriors before sharing his thoughts, Runa quickly responded.
"The Empire will not sit still. In their point of view, the fact that they lost this region to us is a shock in itself. If they leave it like this, the morale of their soldiers will take a hit. That is why I am certain that they will make a move. We cannot be careless."
"That is why I felt like we should be raising the warriors' morales even more."
"We would do that if this was the desert, but this is still a foreign land for us. Their morale may go up, but they will lower their guards. It will not be too late to celebrate after we take our goal of the Henkel Plains. The Henkel Plains is right in front of us, Glow."
"You are right, but ……"
Yulian knew what Runa was saying was right, but he was feeling iffy about it because he knew what the warriors liked and enjoyed the most.
"Our first priority is to defend against the Empire's attack that will come. We need to strengthen the defenses around the Fedore region and make sure we do not lose the trust of the people living here. Thankfully, Count Terros who was the lord of this region does not seem to have been an outstanding lord. At least that is what I think since all of the citizens are so quiet since we took over."
"According to Edwin, other than the Rojini Kingdom and a few other smaller kingdoms, the rest of the nations have a significant wealth gap between the general population and the nobility. But it really is too calm."
"We let the citizens and merchants move freely, and ordered the lead warriors to make sure the warriors don't cause any issues. The citizens might actually feel more uncomfortable because it is different than other wars."
When the enemy took over a region during war, the commander of the winning side usually turned a blind eye to the actions of the soldiers to a degree. They probably did that to give the soldiers the joys of victory and keep their morale up, but Pareia's warriors did not act like that in the first place.
For the warriors, war was a necessary even for the protection of the tribe, not to fill their own personal greed. In addition, the lead warriors had already reminded them multiple times to stay in their respective areas, so they shouldn't lose the trust of the people in the Fedore region because of that.
"It wouldn't be bad to pick a representative of each village and speak with them. They will have a representative in the future like ouf chiefs or chieftains after all."
"I have already commanded them to gather the representatives. You should be able to meet with them in a few days."
Yulian nodded his head with satisfaction after hearing that Runa had already made the preparations.