Ch.10Chapter 10. The Invasion of Brans (2)

“Put that old man at the vanguard? Then what about me?”

Tifa asked, looking at the map of Zeilant and its surroundings on the table.

I tapped the location of the castle and said.

“Lady Tifa, you should defend the territory with two thousand soldiers inside the castle.”

“Wait… just wait a minute.”

Hearing my words, Cain wiped the cold sweat from his face and asked.

“If you entrust two thousand soldiers to Miss Tifa… then what about me at the vanguard?”

“You should deploy with the remaining soldiers.”

Hearing this, Cain responded with an astonished expression.

“If two thousand soldiers are stationed within the territory for Zeilant’s defense, I believe there would only be about thirteen hundred soldiers left for the interception force… Am I mistaken?”

“No. You’re correct.”

So what I was saying was—

I was clearly assigning a non-military type commander just 1,300 soldiers to lead the vanguard against 8,000 enemy troops.

And I was keeping 2,000 soldiers tucked away as a defense force.

And with the most combat-proficient general in our forces, no less.

Even a ten-year-old child would find this decision incomprehensible.

Honestly, I didn’t understand why I was giving these instructions either.

It was just that my head was telling me ‘this is the right thing to do.’

“…Swen. Do you have some grudge against me? No matter how I look at it, it sounds like you’re sending me out as bait to die.”

“That’s right! If old man Cain takes the vanguard, he’ll surely die! I’ll take the vanguard instead!”

“That won’t work. Lady Tifa, please focus on defending the territory.”

“But why?!”

Tifa shouted in frustration.

“You need to give us a reason! If you have a strategy, tell us what it is. If you have a plan, explain what you’re thinking. If you have a scheme, say something like ‘I’m trying to work things out this way, so please help me.’ We can communicate like that, right? We’re on the same side! We should at least be able to share information!”

She was right.

She was a hundred times right.

I was desperate to tell her too.

I wanted to clearly explain that we would miraculously win if they just followed me.

But what could I do!

I could only predict the [result] that this would be good.

I couldn’t predict the [process] leading to that [result].

My job as a strategist was to package this ‘process’ as convincingly as possible.

But even if I tried to package it, I wasn’t exactly well-versed in tactics.

If I spouted nonsense and things resolved differently, that would create its own problems.

This game [Garand Eternity Saga] was an old-fashioned game that didn’t require sophisticated tactics from players.

Still, I completely understood their reaction.

[Somehow things will work out, and the result will be good. But I don’t know how it will happen. Anyway, trust me and do as I say.]

If there were a strategist who spoke like that, I might behead them for insolence if I were the ruler.

Such statements might work after proving oneself, but this was my first battle.

“……”

Lunarian looked at me with a sad expression.

From her face, I could read her inner thoughts.

She wanted to support and trust me… but she clearly couldn’t reach a definitive conclusion herself.

‘How do I convince them?’

This wasn’t something I could push through like saying “Trust me and go to the market to work.”

This was war.

We were being invaded.

Lives could be lost.

In such a situation, simply insisting “just trust me” wouldn’t lead to proper acceptance.

In life-or-death operations, nothing was more dangerous than proceeding without understanding.

Based on my thinking, the outcome would surely be positive… but I wanted to eliminate even the smallest variables.

So then.

“I understand.”

“Good. So, what are you going to do? How do you plan to stop 8,000 soldiers with this kind of troop deployment?”

In response to Tifa’s question, I carefully spoke with my eyes closed.

“At the moment… I cannot explain in detail.”

“What…? Hey, are you joking?! You call that an answer—”

“However!”

I sharply cut off Tifa’s words.

She had been about to charge at me in anger, but she momentarily flinched and hesitated, not expecting me to respond so forcefully.

“I will also stand at the vanguard. I will join Cain with thirteen hundred soldiers for the interception. Would that be acceptable?”

“Wh-what are you saying?”

“I sincerely apologize, but my plan must not leak to anyone. Even if they are allies, since we are backed against a wall, I want to execute the strategy as safely as possible. However, if I just say this while staying in a safe place while sending you all to your deaths, naturally you wouldn’t trust me. So.”

I pointed to the spot where Cain’s interception force would advance and said.

“I will go to the vanguard with Cain.”

“A-are you serious?”

I looked at Cain and spoke in the most solemn tone I could muster.

“Cain. I wouldn’t send you to your death. If sending you there meant pushing you to die, don’t you think I wouldn’t go with you?”

“W-well, that’s true.”

“So please trust me and follow my orders. I will definitely protect Zeilant.”

I immediately turned to Lunarian and said.

“My lord. Please make your decision.”

“……”

Yes.

No matter how intelligent I might be as a strategist with an intelligence of 100, ultimately it was the ruler who decided whether to follow my advice.

If Lunarian didn’t believe me, what would be the point of making predictions with 100% accuracy?

She listened to me and fell into thought for a moment.

Then she slowly nodded and said.

“…For the defense of Zeilant, I will actively incorporate the strategist Swen’s opinions in our preparations. If anyone objects, step forward.”

“Ah, really…! If Lunarian says so, I’ll do as told… Haa. Listen, Lord Strategist. If things go wrong and Lunarian dies, your head will fly by my hand. Understand?”

Tifa spoke to me in a threatening tone, but—

Whether due to her personality or her confidence in my words, it didn’t sound particularly frightening.

“Do as you please. However, when executing the operation, please strictly follow my instructions. Absolutely refrain from abandoning the defense and rushing out the gates with soldiers.”

“What do you take me for! Don’t worry about that.”

“Well, well…”

Cain looked quite displeased, but he wasn’t the type to neglect his duties.

“Now. Lady Tifa, please gather the defense troops, and Cain, please organize the interception force. Time is of the essence. Please move quickly.”

“Got it!”

“Understood. I’ll see you later then.”

After the two left the castle.

I spoke to Lunarian who remained alone.

“My lord.”

“…?”

Something had been bothering me.

Why had I concluded that 2,000 soldiers needed to be stationed for Zeilant Castle’s defense?

Keeping soldiers here meant they would be needed.

Somehow, there was a possibility of a direct enemy surprise attack.

If it came, it would come from the rear rather than the front, and in the rear there were only a few small nations like ours.

Therefore, although I couldn’t affirm anything, I thought it would make a significant difference in preparation to mention it rather than not.

I whispered softly to Lunarian.

“There’s a high possibility that someone will launch a surprise attack on this castle. Perhaps it will be one of the nations in our rear, or maybe mercenaries hired by the Brans forces.”

“…!”

Surprised by my words, Lunarian asked.

“Is that why you organized the castle’s defense forces…?”

“Yes.”

“But… if it’s a surprise attack, the scale of soldiers wouldn’t be that large, so wouldn’t it be better to focus on the interception force facing the 8,000 soldiers?”

“……”

As I was about to consider my answer.

She slowly shook her head and said.

“…No. I will trust you, Swen. You don’t need to explain. As you said, nothing is more dangerous than a strategy going awry.”

Trust, is it?

I had never received such one-sided trust in my life.

Honestly, even though I had found a treasure chest through commerce, I hadn’t shown her anything as a strategist.

Yet this woman trusted me this much.

I’m human too.

Naturally, I wanted to repay someone who trusted me.

“I will definitely return alive. Please survive.”

“I understand. I will definitely survive. Swen… please, come back alive.”

I slowly left the castle and made my way to where the interception force was being organized.

*

Zeilant Castle wasn’t that far from Anel Castle, the Brans forces’ headquarters.

From Kihara Castle, the closest Brans territory, one could reach it in a day’s quick march.

They could reach the castle gates instantly if they ran quickly, but—

“Slow down the march!”

Kalintz Brans was deliberately slowing their advance.

The strategy he had devised was a feint operation.

While attacking with 8,000 soldiers at the front, the Garammil forces—one of the powers behind Lunarian’s forces—would strike Zeilant Castle from the rear.

This was the negotiation he had mentioned.

Since the Garammil forces greatly feared the Brans forces, negotiations didn’t take long.

To coordinate the attack with Garammil and confuse Lunarian’s forces, it was better to march slowly.

This strategy was advantageous for the Brans forces in many ways.

If many soldiers came out to intercept, they could quickly capture the castle. The Garammil forces would subdue the empty castle.

Soldiers who lost their castle would be demoralized and their morale would plummet. Dealing with demoralized soldiers was easier than sweeping leaves.

Conversely, if no one came out to intercept and they conducted a siege, that would be favorable too.

Having slowed their march, the Garammil forces would inevitably engage Lunarian’s forces first, and the Brans forces could easily capture the castle when both sides were exhausted from battle.

Most likely, the enemy would opt for a siege.

It made no sense to form an interception force from just 3,000 soldiers.

So they could simply march slowly, hoping the Garammil forces would wear down Lunarian’s forces in battle.

‘Even I think this is a perfect strategy.’

Though it seemed excessive to go to such lengths against just 3,000 soldiers—

After the recent humiliation of losing territory to Walnut forces, Kalintz had been executing operations with at least twice the necessary forces, even against weak opponents.

Already feeling inferior to his older brother and his lord sister in terms of ability, he didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

While thinking this.

“Enemy sighted!”

“The enemy interception force has appeared!”

Voices began to come from the front of the formation.

‘An interception force?’

With only 3,000 soldiers, they sent out an interception force?

Though momentarily surprised by this unexpected move, nothing fundamental changed.

‘They must be desperate to die.’

Well, it would be boring if everything was too easy.

Kalintz Brans confidently shouted.

“All forces, prepare for battle!”

* * *

“That flag…”

“It’s definitely the Brans forces’ flag.”

I nodded at Cain’s words.

“Indeed.”

As expected, it didn’t take long for the enemy to arrive.

After all, Kihara Castle, where I had stayed before joining Lunarian’s forces, wasn’t that far from here.

Considering the distance, they had actually arrived a bit late.

“Now, what will you do? Lord Strategist. Shall we charge and fight as we are?”

“……”

Thirteen hundred versus eight thousand.

In this game, it wasn’t impossible to win with such odds.

If you had just one SSS-rank general, they could cut through soldiers like cake.

But all we had were myself and Cain, neither of whom could be considered powerful even as a joke.

‘……’

The battle would begin soon.

At this rate, we would die.

Without returning to my original world, without seeing Lunarian Ineanne unify the land.

But.

I reaffirmed my conviction.

My intelligence is 100.

Intelligence 100 is never wrong.

Therefore, we will definitely win.

Thinking this, I slowly opened my mouth.

“All forces, charge—”

But.

I couldn’t finish those words.

“Fire!!!”

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

“Wh-what’s happening!”

“Is it the enemy?”

“No, over there!”

As if divine messengers had appeared—

From somewhere, a rain of countless arrows began pouring down on the Brans forces.