"Not attacked civilian targets," is the instant response. After a moment, Septimus admits with a lopsided smile, "But then, most of my military experience is in enforcing Realm stability and borders against non-humans. His motivations aren't ones I..."

Understand is not the correct word here. Of course he understands it. It makes him at once sick, enraged, and determined to find a way to rip Malicant's support from under him, of course--but he does see the logic. "...was taught to consider," he finishes instead. "That said, I'll admit that if I had been in in a protracted siege, compromising supply lines would be my first step if it became obvious I couldn't break through defenses relatively easily. Here we are." Pushing the door to his office open, he waves at Skulduggery to follow.

There's no real reason to discuss the part where his last military engagement ended very, very badly--not that there was much he could have done about it.