I'm not a lord

Chapter 240 Destruction and Rebirth

King Maurice fled the capital in panic, but the battle on the city walls was far from over.

The citizens were not fighting only for the king.

From April until now, they have forged an irreconcilable blood feud with the Marsh Duke's army outside the city. Even if they surrender, what awaits them will be an unprecedented plunder and massacre.

Therefore, the morale of the defenders was not greatly affected, and the citizens remained highly motivated and fought desperately.

Moreover, even if King Maurice's flag is lost, the city council can immediately bring out another flag.

Just as Maurice was leaving the capital by ship, Mayor Neil sent councilors to spread the word along the city walls:
"Hold the walls! King Otto III of the South will arrive at Amber Harbor tomorrow with an army of ten thousand men. We'll send that mad dog Lothair to hell!"

Meanwhile, a large number of people that Neil had arranged in advance were also spreading Otto's message throughout the city, creating a fanatical atmosphere that "Otto has arrived, and Amber Harbor is saved."

After another enemy offensive was repelled, a city councilor approached the mayor, who was having lunch on the city wall, and asked, "Neil, are we really just going to let Maurice go like this? Is that really a good idea?"

Last night, Neil and King Maurice's representatives held negotiations inside the cathedral and signed a treaty in the presence of the archbishop.

According to this treaty, Morris would have the right to take away all personnel and property within the palace, and the city council would not be able to prevent it.

Some members of parliament believe that the illegitimate king is a pledge of allegiance to Otto III, and that it might even secure more privileges for the city.

But now, not only have they let Maurice's entire family go, they've also allowed him to take everything from the palace with him.

In other words, the city council only received an empty palace, and all that was left for Otto was a bunch of empty houses.

Neil sat on a stone stool, took a bite of bread, then drank some ale to wash away the bloody taste in his mouth and nose, and replied nonchalantly:

"Let Maurice go. Do you want to fight his guards again? Enough people have died in the city."

Neil's reasoning was sound: he did not want a conflict with Maurice's army.

Although Morris only had four or five hundred men, even a small number was still an armed force with a certain fighting capacity.

The citizens were already exhausted from just defending against the relentless attacks of the enemy forces outside the city.

If things really fall apart with Maurice, then the Duke of the Marsh outside the city and the palace guards inside the city will both suffer.

The scene was so beautiful that Neil couldn't even imagine that Amber Harbor might be breached in an instant.

A peaceful separation is the most dignified and appropriate solution.

Neal saved the city and its citizens, while Maurice saved his property and his freedom.

The congressman then asked, "But how are we going to explain this to Otto?"

Neil replied firmly, "How can we explain this? He is not yet the King of the North. We have no obligation to do anything for him. The main reason we accepted him as king is to protect the city. Don't confuse the primary and secondary issues."

Throughout, Neil's goal and determination never wavered; everything he did was to protect the city he loved most.

Maurice's title of king is useful to the city, and he can then support this bastard son.

Otto III was far more powerful; he could discard Maurice like trash in an instant.

You can call Neil two-faced and treacherous, but he doesn't care.

These are qualities that an excellent mayor of a municipality must possess.

If Jürgen, the former mayor of Three Rivers, had possessed Nier's ability to assess situations, he wouldn't have ended up in such a tragic state of separation from his head.

Neil then added, "Besides, Morris is traveling by sea, and there's a good chance he'll run into Otto on the way. If Otto misses the opportunity, it's not our fault."

That being said, the probability of these two meeting at sea is actually very low.

Otto, eager to reach Amber Harbor, would inevitably take the shortest route.

Morris could easily avoid Otto by taking a slightly longer route.

The ships carrying Morris and his party were all provided by the Grain Merchant Guild, so their reliability should not be an issue.

But what does this have to do with Neil?

He wasn't Otto's subject, so he had no obligation to stop Maurice for him.

Before he could exchange more than a few words with the councilor, a commotion suddenly arose outside the city.

Neil turned to look outside the city and saw that the huge golden stag flag representing the Duke of the Swamp had been raised to within 500 meters of the city wall.

The next moment, a chorus of shouts from hundreds of people rose from under the Golden Stag banner: "Citizens of Amber Harbor, why should you hand over your city to a man from the South? I, Duke Lothair of the Swamp, swear in the name of my ancestors that if you open the city gates and pledge allegiance to me now, I promise not to kill a single citizen!"

The Duke of the Swamp had shouted similar surrender slogans into the city dozens of times.

But each time he was met with a chorus of mocking shouts from the city guards: "Go say that to the citizens of Koren!"

Yesterday was the same, and so is today.

Mayor Neil stood on the city wall and sneered, "Even now, this mad dog Lothair is still trying to recruit us."

The senator next to Neil also scoffed, "He knows Otto is about to arrive in Amber Harbor, and he's panicking."

The two sides fought fiercely for several months. Those who surrendered in the city either fled or were killed, such as the saltworks family's representative in the city.

Previously, members of the Saltworks family had attempted to open a city gate to let the Duke of the Marsh in, but that very night Neil led armed citizens to raid their home.

The Saltworks family was able to monopolize the salt trade in the North and amass immense wealth through their close relationships with the royal family and powerful nobles across the land.

With the Urenius family on the verge of collapse, naturally no one in Amber Harbor wants to see this damned salt merchant family anymore.

Salt can be produced in almost all coastal cities in the southern region.

In the past two months, salt-carrying ships from three different municipalities have entered Amber Harbour.

In short, if the saltworks families couldn't sell their salt, there were plenty of merchant families who could, and at much lower prices.

The surrender faction was purged, leaving behind only the die-hards.

Under the Golden Deer banner outside the city, Duke Lothair of the Marsh sighed softly upon hearing the mockery coming from within.

At noon today, his men heard the news from the city councilors on the city walls: Otto III was about to lead his troops to reinforce Amber Harbor.

Most of the senior officers in the military believed that the story was fake and a lie fabricated by Amber Harbor to boost morale.

In the recent week of bloody siege warfare, the Duke's side suffered heavy losses of elite court cavalry, and the armies of other forces under his command also suffered many casualties.

With so many sacrifices made, the results were naturally remarkable.

The fighting capacity of the defenders on the city walls has declined significantly, and almost every attack launched by the attacking side has resulted in troops briefly reaching the city walls.

It is evident that the elite troops defending the city also suffered heavy casualties, and had to send some civilians who had not received much military training to make up the numbers.

If the attacking side can maintain its high-intensity offensive for another two or three days, it may be able to completely take down that damned section of the city wall.

But just when the situation was about to turn around, rumors suddenly spread in the city that Otto III was about to arrive.

Who would believe this isn't a lie?
The Duke of the Marsh concluded within a minute of receiving the news: "This is of course a lie. If Otto comes, who is the king, him or Maurice? Maurice would never allow him into the city."

Even if this were true, it would be nothing but a lie to the Duke of the Swamp.

This bad news is too demoralizing and must be denied in the strongest possible way.

The soldiers suffered horrific casualties, nearly forty percent of their troops, and only now did they see a glimmer of hope in breaching the city walls. To tell them that the King of the South would soon be leading a large influx of fresh troops to reinforce Amber Harbor—who could accept that?

The already volatile military camp might even explode on the spot, incidentally blowing the Duke of the Swamp, the commander-in-chief, to pieces.

But deep down, the Duke of the Marshland did not believe it was necessarily a lie.

It is already early September.

As early as the beginning of August, merchants were spreading the news that Otto III was preparing to head north.

Judging from the timeline, Otto should have arrived in the North by now.

Therefore, the Duke of the Marsh only told half of what he wanted to say.

What if Maurice had already been sidelined or murdered by the Amber Harbor City Council? Or perhaps he had already abandoned the city and fled, and Otto III had only come to take over an empty crown?

Morris was merely a bastard king, lacking both prestige and power, making it easy for the Amber Harbor city council to control him.

Thinking about all this, a thought popped into the Duke of the Swamp: Should we stop the siege?

The risk of continuing the siege is extremely high.

If Otto had already led reinforcements to the city walls before they were breached, Lothair's few thousand troops would have collapsed in an instant.

Of the four thousand palace cavalry he relied on most, nearly half have been killed or wounded, and many of the old men who had followed him for years have died at the foot of the city walls, their bodies never recovered.

Due to the weakening of his core forces, his control over other auxiliary troops has also declined significantly.

According to Arno of the Power Mercenary Group, a considerable number of mercenaries have become war-weary, and small groups of mercenaries are escaping from the military camp every night.

But Lothair was truly unwilling to retreat now.

It was clear that Amber Harbor wouldn't last much longer. The city's truly capable soldiers numbered no more than two thousand, along with a little over a thousand armed civilians, plus several hundred mercenaries and volunteers from the South.

Ultimately, Lothair decided to continue betting and go all in.

They've already besieged Amber Harbor twice, and this time they're just one step away from taking it down. It's impossible for them to give up now.

He's like a gambler who's gone completely mad, a super gambler who'd bet his house and his pants on the whole thing.

This mentality also spread to many soldiers on the attacking side.

Their losses were indeed heavy, which not only aroused their fear of death but also ignited their bloodlust and anger.

With our comrades dead or wounded, how can we not wipe out all the resistance fighters in Amber Harbor?

Moreover, the walls of Amber Harbor are like a dilapidated door, and the endless wealth and honor have already begun to shine brightly. Who can resist such temptation?

The Duke of the Marsh, mounted on his horse, waved and instructed his attendant, "Go and tell the garrison in the city that today is their last chance to surrender. If they do not surrender, they will face the consequences."

Soon, the attacking soldiers under the Golden Deer banner shouted in unison again.

Their response was nothing but the merciless mockery of the defending troops.

"Attack the city! Before sunset tomorrow, I will hold a grand banquet at the Royal Palace in Amber Harbor and personally bestow titles upon the nobles," the Duke of the Swamp gave the final order to attack.

At his command, the flames of war reignited both inside and outside the city walls.

After a long and fierce battle, the professionally trained armed civilians in the city were indeed almost entirely wiped out.

Mayor Neil, accompanied by his trusted troops, went around putting out fires, constantly shouting encouraging slogans such as "Hold on, King Otto is coming soon," but he could not stop the breaches in the city walls from becoming more and more numerous and larger.

By the afternoon of the following day, a 100-man assault team, each member wearing two layers of chainmail, used the last siege engine to scale the city wall and successfully wiped out the defending troops on that section of the wall.

Although Neil arrived in time with his trusted troops to remedy the situation, he was still unable to drive the enemy army off the city walls.

The defenders were exhausted both mentally and physically, but the enemy troops fought with increasing ferocity!
About fifteen minutes later, another two hundred attacking troops used ladders to scale this section of the wall, completely securing their position.

A breach was finally made in the walls of Amber Harbor.

The Duke of the Swamp outside the city immediately noticed this huge opportunity. He drew his longsword and led his last five hundred reserve troops to press forward.

"Follow me to the city walls! Let's take over the city!"

His face was flushed with blood as he shouted the call to attack, determined to personally climb the city walls and fight, even at the cost of his precious health, and to completely take control of the city today!
As evening fell, the Duke of the Marsh ascended the city wall, and at his command, the entire royal cavalry dismounted and scaled the walls, advancing rapidly to both sides at a visible pace.

At this point, the walls of Amber Harbor had completely fallen into Lothair's hands.

He stood on the city wall, long sword in hand, gazing at the magnificent cathedral bathed in the setting sun, and the white walls of the royal palace on the cliff by the sea. For a moment, he couldn't help but shed tears.

Finally, he could finally wear the crown of the North!
The efforts of three generations of grandfather, father, and son have not been in vain, nor have the sacrifices of the past year been in vain. He is about to become the only king in the North!

Despite his excitement, Lothair remained clear-headed and issued a series of orders: "Light the torches, go to the church, go to the palace, and kill all the enemies!"

The resistance within the city did not cease; those damned citizens, taking advantage of the complex architectural terrain, continued their stubborn resistance.

Delay could lead to unforeseen consequences, so Lothair had to fight through the night in order to seize the entire city as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Mayor Neil had already led a small number of armed citizens into the cathedral.

Amber Harbor Cathedral, with its towering walls and intricate internal structure, is ideal for urban warfare.

Neil was determined to fight to the end and hold out until Otto arrived.

Of course, if Otto is late and everything is beyond repair, Neil has also made arrangements for his and his family's escape route.

There will be a boat waiting for him at the dock.

The sounds of fierce fighting echoed throughout Amber Harbor all night.

Almost every inch of land in the western half of the city was stained with a striking blood color.

As dawn broke, the Duke's soldiers guarding the city walls suddenly heard a commotion.

They all opened their eyes and looked towards the sea to the east.

There, dozens of ships slowly emerged from the horizon, their masts atop which the noble banners of the Kingdom of Rui fluttered in the wind.

The most eye-catching of them all is the blue flag with an X-shaped cross of the Rui royal family.

Otto III arrived, riding the sea breeze to Amber Harbor on time, and was about to lead his army into battle.

At this moment, Duke Lothair of the Marsh is leading his troops to besiege the town hall.

Upon hearing this devastating news, his blood ran cold.

His troops had already scattered to various corners of the city, and some mercenaries and noble armies had even begun looting and massacring, making it impossible for them to regroup and retreat.

A showdown between two titans is now inevitable.

But regardless of who wins, it will mean the complete end of House Urenius's history in the North.

Meanwhile, the newborn morning light illuminated the peaceful Kawanuma Prefecture.

A loud cry rang out from the castle; Leah had successfully given birth to a boy for Lynn.

(End of this chapter)