The Besieged Castle

"Then, what's your name?"

Logan had the jailer bring over a chair, sat down, and asked in a gentle tone.

"Bell! Sir, my name is Bell!"

Bell answered in a trembling voice. Clearly, he had not yet recovered from the fear he had just experienced.

"Where are you from? Whom do you serve? Why did you come here? If I find out that you're lying, the punishment from earlier will be inflicted on you again!"

Logan's expression remained unchanged, still calm as ever, but his words made Bell shudder in terror from head to toe.

"Please, don't do that!" Bell begged.

"Then tell me the truth. Don't hide anything!" Logan said expressionlessly.

"I'm Bell from Goer Castle, serving Baron Lobean Robert. Gawen. He ordered me to come here and find a way to determine the location of the gate's winch. When they attacked the castle, I was supposed to sneak over, open the gate, and let them in!"

"Are you sure you're not lying?" Logan stared fixedly into Bell's eyes, putting pressure on him. People usually showed abnormalities when they lied, and as the head of the intelligence service, Logan naturally knew those signs like the back of his hand.

"Yes, my lord! I swear to the Holy Father that I'm not lying. Everything I said is true!" Bell shouted.

Logan carefully observed Bell's expressions and mannerisms as he spoke, and found that they appeared normal.

"Very good. You've earned my trust! You don't need to worry about being punished now!" After saying this, Logan hurriedly left the dungeon.

He knew that if this was true, he had to inform Baron Reiner as soon as possible. Morland Castle currently had fewer than ten guards and only a dozen or so freemen serving as militia. Its defensive strength was extremely weak. If a baron truly launched an all-out attack, even the sturdy castle might not be able to hold.

"Baron! Mount a horse and deliver this letter to Baron Reiner immediately! Hurry! Baron Reiner must receive this news tonight!" Logan said before immediately going to Lady Moreland, Reiner's mother. When the lord was away, the lord's wife usually managed the estate's affairs. Since Reiner was still unmarried, the person who could make decisions was naturally his mother.

"Honored Lady!" Logan knocked on the door.

After receiving permission, he entered Lady Moreland's room.

"My lady, there's an urgent matter I must report to you!"

"What happened, dear Mr. Logan?" Lady Moreland asked. She knew that he was the intelligence chief appointed by her son, so he must have something important to report.

"It's like this, my lady. You know that I caught an unidentified person on the walls today. After interrogating him, I got him to confess to his actions. He's a spy sent by the neighboring Baron of Goer Castle, south of Morland Castle. He intends to open the gate and let them in when the Baron of Goer Castle attacks us!"

"A crisis has already appeared before us! Baron Reiner is leading troops in the north to resist the Krad People's invasion, while we don't even know when the enemy might arrive in our territory. We must organize a tight defense! I don't know whether there are other spies hiding in our castle. My lady, I came here hoping for your cooperation. Please order the guards to stay on high alert!"

Lady Moreland nodded after hearing him. As the former baron's wife, she had often handled many matters. She took Logan's words very seriously and replied, "Very well, Mr. Logan. I'll follow your advice and order the guards to heighten their vigilance. At the same time, I hope you can keep close control over the situation inside the castle and give no one an opportunity to exploit!"

Baron was a squire in the castle. His father had spent a great deal of money sending him to Reiner's castle, hoping that one day he would earn merit on the battlefield and become a knight. Even a landless knight would do.

For ordinary people in this era, becoming even a knight of the lowest rank was extremely difficult. It was not quite as impossible as ascending to immortality, but it was certainly far beyond the reach of commoners.

Countless freemen sold their property and entered the service of nobles or knights, hoping that one day they would become true knights.

He galloped at full speed on horseback. The howling winter wind pierced through his thick cotton-padded clothes and sank into his bones. Though the cold was severe, he did not slow down. The letter sealed with wax was tucked against his chest. He did not know what it contained, but he knew it was certainly of vital importance.

If he could deliver it to Reiner in time, perhaps he would receive a reward.

Winter nights seemed even darker. The moon overhead gave off no light at all, and the torch in his hand flickered erratically because of the horse's speed.

At the same time, at the border between Goer Castle and Morland Castle, a short line of fire was advancing toward Morland Castle. It was the army Baron Lobean had led to attack Morland Castle.

The force numbered nearly three hundred people. To assemble it, Baron Lobean had mobilized every adult male in his territory who was fit to fight. Aside from his seventy regular soldiers and ten knights, the rest were freemen serving as light infantry or conscripted serfs.

The war was being kept secret, so Baron Lobean had forbidden merchants and camp followers from accompanying the army. Apart from essential supplies, there was nothing else weighing down the troops.

"Have you noticed anything unusual?" On Morland Castle's walls, Logan was dressed in simple leather armor and holding a Longsword as he asked the guards defending the walls.

"Nothing unusual, my lord. We haven't noticed anything at all!" the armed freeman guard replied.

"Good. Stay alert! Someone may try to launch a surprise attack!" Logan had not even finished speaking when a flicker of fire appeared in the dark, silent snowfield.

"What's that? My God!" The guard beside him opened his mouth wide and cried out in alarm. He had not expected anything like this to actually happen.

"Damn it!" Logan struck the battlement with his fist and cursed under his breath. "Those bastards who belong in hell! They really came!"

"Sound the horn at once!" Logan ordered the guards.

A soldier immediately took a brass horn from the gate's winch room, inhaled a lungful of cold air, puffed out his cheeks, and blew the brass horn that signaled danger.

A high, shrill sound rang out. The soldiers guarding the nearby arrow towers also blew the horns assigned to the towers. The sound of the metal horns circled and echoed above the castle, throwing everyone who heard it into a panic.

The faint horn blasts spread in every direction and were heard by the Goer Castle army not far from the castle.

Baron Robert furrowed his brows. He knew they had been discovered, but he soon relaxed his tightly knitted brows. Even if they had been discovered now, it did not matter. In a little while, the defenders on the walls would have spotted them anyway. He knew very well that the castle's guard force was extremely weak.

Therefore, whether they had been discovered no longer seemed important.