Chapter 168: The Defense of Brandenburg – Winter is Coming

After Green finished his long speech, the Barbarians still showed no sign of launching another attack. This meant the fighting this morning was over. Sometimes George wondered what point there was for the Barbarians to launch such an attack without any siege engines.

The intense attacks on the most critical gate would have had a remarkable effect in the ancient world George had traveled from before. Both the accumulated damage and the metal fatigue caused by long-term stress would have severely weakened the gate itself. It was not impossible for it to finally collapse under such continuous attacks.

But in this world, the 0-level cantrip of Repair solved this problem to a considerable degree. Although the range of each repair was small and the effect was not very obvious, as long as it was used precisely, the repeated stacking of many casts could produce a remarkable result.

Although the cost was far higher than the repairs done by craftsmen after the battle, who would care so much in such a life-or-death situation! Although the number of spells a Mage could cast each day was limited, 0-level cantrips did not even require a formal Mage; an Apprentice could handle it. Moreover, the price of a Staff was relatively low, with a Staff capable of 50 casts costing around 750 Gold Coins, with a maximum fluctuation of no more than thirty percent. Compared to George’s single Fireball spell that cost 300 Gold Coins, it was truly a small fish meeting a big fish.

Recalling his visit to the gate repair work yesterday afternoon, George remembered the scene. In the dim light of the Oil Lamps beneath the gatehouse, everything looked particularly hazy. The Mage Apprentice, wrapped in a medium-gray canvas cloak, held a Staff for Repair and pointed at the damaged parts of the gate.

Under the silvery-gray cold light emitted by the Staff, the metal ribs on the gate, slightly deformed by the impact, slowly returned to their original shape. The cracks and splinters on the originally smooth and tight Teak planks were also smoothed out under this cold flame. From a distance, it looked like a skilled welder tirelessly repairing and welding something.

After the interior of the gate was fully repaired, a group of Heavy Infantry, led by a Knight whom George did not recognize, arrived in the gate tunnel. Following them were 50 Heavy Crossbowmen and 30 Javelin throwers; everyone looked as if they were facing a major enemy.

Seeing George, an unexpected visitor not in the plan, the Knight nodded to him and then made a gesture common in the Nohan army for immediate readiness. Although George did not know why, his long-term military training made him instinctively stand behind the Knight. He, like the other Heavy Infantry, drew his Longsword and watched the front with alertness. However, what puzzled George was that in front of them, besides three Guards and five Wizard Apprentices, there was no one else.

With the help of the arriving laborers, a total of twelve steel gate bolts on the left and right sides were sequentially retracted into the grooves inside the corridor walls. These bolts had originally been placed horizontally across the gate panels after the gate was closed to enhance its load-bearing capacity. Finally, three oak gate bolts located on the gate itself were removed. They had previously been embedded within the iron framework behind the two giant gate doors.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” As the last three bolts hit the ground, while they were being dragged by a small flat cart, George, with his keen hearing, detected the sound of the Iron Chain being pulled from within the city wall. With the help of a giant winch, the gate was slowly opened to both sides. The gate first shook, then, like a straight crack appearing in a tight wall, a beam of light shone through the gap. A slanted halo of light was cast onto the stone-paved ground. As the winch inside the wall continued to pull, the gate kept opening wider.

‘How did it just open the gate by itself? This is during a war! Don’t they fear a sudden attack from those Barbarians?’ George felt as if he had experienced something out of a fairy tale.

As the gate opened, the light under the gatehouse improved significantly. Once the gate was fully open, a full-steel grate gate was revealed before everyone’s eyes. George could observe the distant Barbarian camp through the holes in the iron pillars. The Mage Apprentices, who had just stopped their work, began repairing again with their Staffs. The iron pillars inside the grate gate, which had slightly deformed, were restored one by one under the glow of this Magic.

Only then did George finally understand why the defenders of Brandenburg looked so alert. It was precisely because the risks brought by the possibility of opening the gate required people to provide necessary protection. In a sense, the most important defensive effect of the gate was actually completed by the grate gate before everyone’s eyes, which looked as if it had holes all over. That was a true all-steel product, with a total weight exceeding 15,000 pounds. The gate inside, which seemed solid, was merely Teak wrapped in a thick layer of iron sheet, reinforced with metal studs and ribs.

If in other places, pure iron was not used to make the main gate due to financial or resource shortages, that was impossible here, because this fortress was built according to the highest standards of the time. When large amounts of funds were constantly poured into this fortress, which many considered a bottomless pit, the builders would not save a small amount of money that was insignificant compared to the total cost.

The biggest reason lay in engineering. If it were cast entirely in steel, the heavy gate, by both the standards of then and now, could not be stably mounted on the gatehouse. The considerations during the opening and closing process would be even more complex. In fact, in this world, except for doors large enough for two people to walk through side by side, pure iron plank doors basically did not exist.

Although the temporarily opened gate could not play the main role, it was still an important defensive measure. Even if the Barbarians attacked right now, they could not have any effect on that grate gate in a short time. However, to ensure the safety of the repair personnel and to successfully close the gate later, organizing such a defensive process was indeed quite necessary.

Since it was a magical operation, those Mage Apprentices were like welders working on individual weld points one by one. They touched different parts of the grate gate with their Staffs. Some of these locations were quite high, and George had originally thought someone would bring a ladder or other auxiliary tools. But unexpectedly, one of the Mage Apprentices in front of him rolled up his cloak and sleeves and climbed up like a nimble monkey. It was truly eye-opening.

Then, this unknown Apprentice hooked the thick grate with his thigh, held his upper body steady with one hand, and continued working with the Staff in the other hand. Compared to George’s somewhat stiff expression, the other soldiers seemed completely used to such a sight.

Although Mages in this world did not feel as weak and fragile as in some games before George traveled, where a sturdy Commoner could knock them down, in most cases, those who considered themselves scholars behaved as much as possible like ‘scholars’ or ‘men of letters’. The situation before his eyes was truly a rare type.

Seeing the scene, George could not help but think maliciously in his heart: ‘Apprentices are not formal Mages, so doing such things is considered nothing wrong. No wonder the Duchy likes to use Apprentices on a large scale in battle. Besides the relatively simple and short training cycle, obvious price advantages, and low qualification requirements, the key must be that they are convenient to use and don’t have the bad temper of most formal Mages!’

“I said George, mealtime is almost here. Are you going or not?” Aldred said, giving George a heavy punch to the chest.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!” George, nearly choked by the blow, coughed repeatedly.

Ben turned around and asked, “George, were you daydreaming just now?”

“It’s all because of what Green said. I think I caught some inspiration on how to deal with Bards,” George said with a straight face, making up such nonsense.

After hearing George’s words, Chrispian looked at Green with some concern and asked, “Did you just say so much information about Bards? Won’t it cause trouble for yourself?”

Chrispian’s words clearly implied doubt about whether Green had accidentally revealed a secret of his profession. Even if it wasn’t the unspeakable secrets of various schools within the Bard profession, there were still industry taboos that outsiders were not supposed to know. Green might have revealed some of them.

This matter could be big or small. If handled well, as long as the few of them kept their mouths shut and no sixth person knew, it could be completely treated as if it never happened. But if it leaked out, Green’s path as a Bard would become much harder. Although he might not be despised by his peers, being looked down upon and distrusted would be inevitable.

Hearing Chrispian say this, the remaining three, George, Ben, and Aldred, all looked at Green with worried eyes.

“How could that be? What I said can all be found in the Great Library of the Bokabu Temple. Although there are restrictions limiting them to Noble readers, if you want to know, you can actually find them by spending some time looking for them yourself!” Green said, suddenly making a bitter face. “Do you really think I’m someone who would speak out of turn about things that shouldn’t be said?”

The remaining four looked at each other, then turned to nod in unison at Green. The latter instantly turned gray.

Ben was the first to speak: “Do you remember what you did when you first left Sorcerer studies and turned to becoming a Bard?”

Hearing this, Green’s face immediately changed, and his eyes wandered as he said, “That was youthful recklessness. I have already learned my lesson. That kind of thing will never happen again.”

“It is precisely because there is a precedent that we are worried you might have a similar situation happen again,” Chrispian said, delivering another blow to Green.

“Never mind, never mind. Since nothing happened, let it pass. Look, aren’t the Guards coming to change shifts? Don’t let them wait too long.” Feeling the atmosphere was off, George immediately tried to change the topic. He pointed to the Guards who were already standing aside waiting for their shift change.

Having a way to save face, Green immediately ran and shouted, “Time to eat! Time to eat! It will go bad if it gets cold!”

Since Hiren did not participate in the defense of that section of the wall, he had not been in a good mood with George at all. In fact, George had originally wanted to get him a spot, but unfortunately, the officials of Brandenburg thought this was an opportunity for these heirs to gain experience. Hiren, as a Knight’s son, would have many more opportunities to come to Brandenburg in the future than George and the others. So this time, they had to stay in their own territory’s defense zone to consolidate the defenses. Poor Hiren had originally thought he could test his newly acquired weapons here properly. But this siege battle, far exceeding previous ones, fundamentally changed the previous defense rules of Brandenburg. It changed from the past, where a certain level of troops were placed on the city walls for large-scale drills involving tug-of-war on the walls, to the current strategy of keeping the enemy outside the city gates and preventing them from stepping onto the walls.

This dealt a blow to his hopes from the very beginning. And George’s previous proposal regarding the Cranston Family’s defense zone seemed to give him new hope. Unfortunately, although the idea was good, it was brutally knocked down by cruel reality. So for the past two days, Hiren had a gloomy face whenever he saw anyone. As the beneficiary, George was naturally implicated. Good relations were good, but holding a grudge was holding a grudge.

“I said Hiren, you don’t need to keep such a gloomy face every day. Does someone owe you money?” On the dining table, George said to Hiren, who was eating with his head down and silent.

Not getting a response, George scratched his hair, and after thinking for a while, he said softly, “Hiren, if you want to fight on the front line, there is actually still a chance.”

Hearing this, Hiren immediately put down his spoon, forgetting to chew the bread already in his mouth, and stared blankly at George.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable under Hiren’s gaze, George said softly, “Although it’s a bit awkward for those ordinary soldiers, the arrows in Brandenburg are probably running low. Without enough arrows, it won’t be easy to stop those Barbarians from climbing the walls.”

In fact, earlier this morning, George already knew that the arrows in Brandenburg were in short supply. At most in two days, if a supply convoy of arrows did not arrive, Brandenburg would be in a situation where no arrows were available. In fact, to preserve some arrows for emergency situations requiring long-range strikes, the Knights had decided to stop the large-scale covering fire with bows starting tomorrow.

Before this, George had been worried about the arrow problem in Brandenburg. After all, the previous reserves were saved according to the battle intensity of previous years. Although some extra redundancy was reserved, compared to the intensity of this battle, it was like a drop in the bucket. During this period, the nearest Malkin Family had also provided a batch of arrows, but other territories that did not have pre-stocked supplies actually did not have much inventory either.

Fortunately, the quantity of Stone Shot and Greek Fire was still quite sufficient. If the quantity of the former was not enough, it could be sourced locally. The latter was used at a relatively low frequency. Of course, Brandenburg also had a large arrow depot, which was the arrows inserted into the exterior of the Watchtowers. However, it was unknown how many of the arrows retrieved from those could be reused.

Upon receiving this news, Green’s eyes immediately lit up, looking ready to make a big move.

‘Why has the temperature dropped so much?’ George, awakened in his sleep by the sudden drop in temperature, found that a large amount of white mist appeared when he breathed.

In this quiet winter night, the Daughter of Frost, Allos, transformed into countless dancing snowflakes, stepping gracefully and landing step by step in every corner of the Northern Lands.

Cruelty and ruthlessness were the names of this goddess. Accompanied by the brilliance of her crown, even the eternal green pines were moved by her crystal beauty and draped in layers of silver. This was a silent blade, a deadly poison hidden in clear water. The exposed bark kept cracking in the wind and snow, and the heavy snow and ice canopy collapsed the frozen, stiff branches. The flame of life gradually extinguished in the intersection of wind and water. When her azure ice crystal sword swung out, the shrill howling of the dense clouds intertwined and blocked the stars in the sky. Then, a blizzard suddenly struck. Gray clouds pressed low to the ground, moving and filling the sky. Heavy snow fell in thick flakes. The strong wind that blew through the chimneys of Brandenburg let out a low, angry roar. The wind chased the snowflakes that whirled rapidly in the forest, dodging left and right, howling shrilly and making the whole forest panic.

Then the blizzard became more and more fierce. The biting cold wind made the vast sheets of snow fall like autumn rain; it shook the tree branches, roared wildly, and crazily blew open the originally piled-up snow, rolling it again into the air. It kept howling, its direction changing unpredictably, almost overturning the temporary stables built in Brandenburg. It scraped the faces of the soldiers going to reinforce like sharp stones, making it hard for them to breathe and speak.

The Barbarians in the north were not having it easy either. When the grassland turned into a snowfield, the fierce cold wind whistled sharply, blowing the flat snow on the snowfield into long dragons that rolled along the snow. The evil dragons flipped the straw, overturned the tents, and made the originally sleeping Barbarians shiver under the majesty of the Daughter of Frost.