Napoleon of Another World!

Chapter 56 - Awakening

The mercenaries had neither ladders nor grappling hooks, so they had salvaged a cart that they were using as a battering ram to try to break down the doors, while their fellow archers provided cover.

The crossbowmen of Western Eirinn were famous not so much for their skill, but for the fact that they were said to be practically inexhaustible; no matter how many you killed, their numbers didn't seem to decrease.

But it was neither a spell nor some form of particular training; simply a crossbow was a weapon that any peasant was able to use with minimal training.

"What are you doing here!?" Aria screamed when she saw Daemon, Septimus, and Giselle shooting bolts over the walls with weapons suited to them. "This is no place for children!"

"Look who's talking, you're about three years older than us." Giselle replied as she reloaded her weapon

"They could kill you at any moment! You have to leave!"

"Did you forget we're on the border?" said Septimus. "Here they train us for this since school. And if you're looking for Mary, she's helping treat the wounded."

Aria was opening her eyes to a reality she never expected; even though she didn't mind her being a soldier, she had sometimes thought that her father had been too harsh to expect so much from her.

Now, however, she discovered that outside her palace there were children who were taught to hold a weapon even before reading and writing.

"Okay, as you wish. But you will obey my orders. And the same goes for all of you! From this moment on, I assume command of the defense of this city!"

"And who do you think you are to say something like that?" one asked

"I am Duchess Aria Montgomery, eldest daughter of Berthold Montgomery, Grand Duke of Eirinn! And in the name of this authority from now on you will all do what I say, do I make myself clear?"

Nobody protested.

Not so much because of the status, but rather because to almost everyone, including Daemon and his friends, it really seemed that Aria had all the makings of leading them in that desperate situation.

Under her guidance, the shooters became more coordinated and precise, but despite this the mercenaries still managed to bring their improvised battering ram to the door.

Furthermore, the battlements of the walls were not high enough to provide adequate cover against the attackers' arrows, and less than half an hour after the battle had begun the walkways were full of dead and wounded.

Aria would have liked to send someone to deal with the enemy archers, but apart from her guard and a few elements of the militia, no one had a horse, and the risk of ending up in a difficult situation was too great.

"How many soldiers do we have available?"

"The Captain's twenty legionaries and a hundred city guards and militiamen. Some civilians have spears, but I doubt they know how to use them properly." Alfred replied

"There are too few of them. Are we sure the door will resist?"

"I'm afraid not. It's big, but also very old. It will probably only take a few blows for the hinges to pop off."

"We must eliminate as many enemies as possible before they manage to enter. Bring more crossbowmen."

"We're running out of them. They may know how to hold a crossbow, but they are still civilians. Some get hit before they even shoot a single arrow."

Meanwhile the enemies, in addition to arrows, had also started throwing stones, one of which was about to hit Aria while she was busy giving orders left and right.