Ch.153Chapter 153

When coincidences happen three times in a row, it’s normal to suspect a scheme. Logically, the same thing happening three times can’t be normal, can it?

When news arrived that the Wendigo’s army had captured yet another castle, Dario turned red with anger like a well-boiled octopus.

“They clearly know our position. They must have means to scout us from a distance far enough to hide their army!”

“Hmm, I think you’re right. At first I thought our young men were just being lazy, but seeing how they can’t even find a shadow…”

“We-we’re sorry.”

The knights quickly apologized, though it wasn’t entirely their fault.

They had learned from experience that speaking frankly before these ill-tempered old men would never end well.

Dario and the elders responded to the knights’ attitude as if youthful mistakes were to be expected.

“Lack of experience in youth is unavoidable.”

“Still, they should have noticed something amiss…”

“Come now! These friends will lead our clan’s future—we shouldn’t discourage them. Let’s stop this and discuss how to solve the problem.”

When the elders spoke harshly, Dario naturally defended the knights, pretending to be generous.

In reality, it was no different from scolding them for incompetence, and the knights felt their spirits twist.

They wanted to strike these chattering old men in the jaw, but…

“Our inexperience has caused trouble for our elders. If you command us, we will surely find the enemy this time.”

The knights gritted their teeth and bowed their heads. The clan ideology instilled since childhood had become shackles preventing them from defying their elders.

Having confirmed the strength of those shackles, Dario stroked his wrinkled cheek and inwardly clicked his tongue.

‘Judging by their attitude, it doesn’t seem like they deliberately tried to throw me into the mud.’

Despite his excessive ambition, Dario’s experience wasn’t entirely useless.

Though he couldn’t clearly distinguish truth from lies like the Wendigo, he could read enough from others’ expressions and attitudes.

Seeing how the honor-bound knights begged forgiveness without a peep, he could no longer deny it.

‘The Djin must be tracking our movements through some means.’

Djin are natural disasters with rationality. Dario recalled the Wendigo’s appearance he’d heard about in rumors and pondered its origins.

Definitely a large black hide and a deer skull…

“Tweet tweet!”

“!”

Dario jumped in surprise and rushed outside the tent. He glared at the birds looking down at the tent from the trees, swallowing his humiliation.

So that’s what had been bothering him!

Dario reached toward a soldier and shouted.

“Bring bows! Shoot and kill every creature peering around the camp without exception!”

The soldiers looked at Dario as if he were a senile old man. However, when the knights who had followed Dario flashed menacing glares, they hastily grabbed their bows.

As dozens of arrows flew, the creatures scattered in all directions. After fuming for quite some time, Dario threw the bow to the ground and beckoned to a nearby knight.

The knight who was suddenly summoned approached with a grimace. Thankfully, his helmet concealed his expression.

“Tell the mages to prepare barriers that block mystical forces. And make sure reconnaissance teams always travel with a mage.”

The knight couldn’t say he didn’t want to bring along spellcasters because they couldn’t be trusted. He was perceptive enough to understand that Dario’s outburst(?) had reason behind it.

With no achievements to speak of and being toyed with by the Wendigo, the knights had no luxury to be picky.

After the knight saluted and left, Dario took a deep breath to suppress his anger.

In his youth, he could afford to be angry as much as he wanted, but with age, even that became difficult.

Dario massaged his stiff neck and grumbled inwardly.

‘Damn, my neck is burning hot. I expected we couldn’t have an easy victory, but this opponent is truly extraordinary.’

With a brief regret that he should have considered more carefully when Dencan gave him the opportunity, Dario decided to wage war safely even if it meant fewer achievements.

Having calmed down, Dario returned to the meeting tent and ordered the civilian officials accompanying the army.

“Send messenger birds to the surrounding castles telling them to prepare to receive troops that will protect them. Let’s see… send them to these castles here.”

“We’ll select castles that can cooperate most closely.”

Like proper war officials, they quickly grasped Dario’s intention and swiftly scanned the map to select suitable castles.

Finding castles to station troops essentially meant abandoning the rest and protecting only those selected.

The abandoned castles would watch their expected reinforcements merely spectate from across the river—heartbreaking, but unavoidable.

In a situation where they were already at a visibility disadvantage, how could they possibly sweep away enemies in the field?

If animals were indeed enemy spies as theorized, open field battle would be the worst possible strategy.

‘They’ll die gloriously for Lord Dencan, so they shouldn’t have regrets.’

Dario offered mild condolences for those who would die gloriously(?) for Lord Dencan. Had the knights and nobles who weren’t yet dead known this, they would have collapsed coughing blood.

“If we use these four as strategic points to deploy our forces, we should be able to halt the King of Manheimr’s advance.”

“Hmm… I agree. Well done.”

After brief discussion, the officials selected appropriate castles and reported to Dario, who nodded and praised their judgment.

Looking at the castles they had chosen, he saw they were all essentially gateways guarding the paths to the clan’s sacred grounds.

If he couldn’t achieve the glorious feat of sweeping away enemies in open battle, he needed to establish practical achievements.

In that sense, stopping an army advancing toward the sacred grounds was the most visible accomplishment. At least he would be “halting” Manheimr’s army as Dencan ordered.

The clan would have to support his actions, if only out of fear that the devastation of surrounding castles might spread to their sacred grounds.

‘Since we brought siege engines, utilizing them from castles would make neutralizing the Djin’s avatars much easier. Then I could say I perfectly fulfilled Dencan’s orders.’

Perfection always had different standards for different people. Dario flexibly adjusted his targets, transforming the loss of several castles into “minor damage.”

After accepting such trivial(?) losses, Dario felt his worries disappear and his composure return.

From now on, everything would proceed smoothly as if carried by favorable winds!

* * *

It didn’t take long for the castle lords waiting indefinitely for reinforcements to realize they had been abandoned.

With the barbaric forces of the King of Manheimr advancing from the north and not even messengers arriving, they instinctively understood their situation, whether they wanted to or not.

And so, the castle lords who were treated as mere chess pieces by Dario were crushed by the Wendigo’s forces…

“Hmm, strange.”

The Wendigo pondered after capturing yet another castle. In his hand, he was crushing the head of a troll that a mage had summoned in a final desperate act.

After driving his claws into the troll’s head and freezing it cold, the Wendigo pushed the troll aside, sat down, and surveyed through the eyes of the creatures under his control.

‘Judging by the loss of visibility, they’ve clearly started to respond, but…’

The Wendigo had guessed that the enemy commander had devised a new countermeasure when phenomena that hadn’t occurred before began happening.

Naturally, he expected some direct response after deliberately provoking them…

But through the creatures’ eyes, he was finding reconnaissance teams less frequently. Even accounting for lost connections, the frequency of discovered patrols was unusually low.

“Excuse me? Did you find something strange about this troll?”

Miloshi, who had been badgering his servants to extract blood from the precious troll, asked in shock. Of course, it was an ordinary troll, so the Wendigo shook his head.

Miloshi sighed in relief and proceeded to dissect the troll with his servants.

One of the Wendigo’s direct vassals and a famous merchant representing Manheimr, Miloshi—unlike most nobles—personally tasted the blood while focusing intently on the dissection.

With passion to not miss a single drop of blood, Miloshi even collected all the soil soaked with blood before rising from his position with a satisfied expression.

“As you instructed, I’ll sell everything except the parts Lady Skadi wants.”

“You plan to sell even that blood-soaked sand?”

“Yes. I don’t fully understand it myself, but summoners pay good prices for such things. Even those from the Empire or eastern barbarians who can’t afford troll blood buy this as a substitute to consume.”

The Empire was one thing, but eastern barbarians referring to the beastkin…?

Impressed by Miloshi’s patriotism that transcended species, the Wendigo stroked his chin and stared intently at Miloshi.

With such creative business acumen, perhaps Miloshi could offer some decent insight into the enemy’s unusual behavior?

“The enemy’s reconnaissance activities have decreased recently. Do you have any idea why?”

“Well… perhaps they’re hiding in castles, frightened of Your Majesty? Running reconnaissance teams consumes resources like hay, so if there’s no need to move, they might operate at minimum capacity.”

Caught off guard by the Wendigo’s sudden question, Miloshi answered honestly. The servants admired Miloshi’s courage in offering frank counsel to the king.

Truly worthy of his reputation as the king’s confidant!

The Wendigo looked at Miloshi with an incredulous expression, as if to say “surely not.” But thinking about it, it wasn’t entirely implausible.

Logically, defending from fortifications was easier than fighting in open field.

One might argue that fortifications were useless against forces capable of destroying gates, but the commander leading this army was in a different situation.

Unlike the castle lords, the clan’s army had mages with them.

Surely a group that had maintained a secret organization for over a century would have methods to counter a Djin’s attacks?

Rather than fighting at a visibility disadvantage, it might be more convenient for them to fortify and overwork their mages to strengthen defenses.

However, this approach meant abandoning all castles except those where troops were stationed, essentially feeding them to the enemy…

“Would they do that if they were a unified army serving one ruler? Beyond the dissatisfaction of subordinates, wouldn’t it severely damage the ruler’s authority?”

“Perhaps they consider it permissible…?”

When Miloshi cautiously suggested the possibility, the Wendigo briefly pondered before shaking his head.

The enemy leader didn’t seem like a ruler capable of making such calculated judgments.

As a monarch who embraced extreme ideology, he was likely an eccentric, and considering how he demanded extreme loyalty from clan members, he was close to being a dictator.

A dictator sacrificing his authority to follow a subordinate’s strategy… could such a dictator exist in this world?

“…If we keep harassing them, they’ll eventually reveal their answer.”

Realizing he couldn’t find a solution through contemplation, the Wendigo decided to simplify the situation.

If they tormented the enemy enough to force mistakes, wouldn’t vulnerabilities emerge?

Today again, the Wendigo’s army advanced with full force to harass the enemy while generating wealth.

* * *

Dario firmly believed his strategy was flawless without the slightest gap.

There was absolutely no reason to risk dangerous open field battles when he could strengthen defenses with minimal sacrifice.

However, Dario’s strategy had several flaws.

First, while Dario believed he had Dencan’s support, Dencan did not support him.

Rather, Dencan hoped Dario would wear down the enemy forces and die at an appropriate moment.

Honestly, if he died, he would be revered as a martyr—getting exactly what he wanted.

So Dencan was displeased watching Dario ravage his lands without dying.

Dencan wasn’t the only one displeased—the castle lords and nobles felt the same.

If Dencan ordered them to die, they would obey willingly, but Dario was not Dencan. How could they look favorably upon someone who led an army yet hid in castles, watching clan members die?

Therefore…

[I ordered you to deploy troops and stop the enemy because I trusted you. Yet castle lords unanimously report that you disobey my orders and hide in castles, which I find perplexing. Some even suggest you harbor impious ambitions—]

“Th-these fools who can’t see the bigger picture dare to slander me!!!”

It was inevitable that Dario’s position would be driven to the edge of a cliff.

Just as he considered the castle lords’ lives mere chess pieces, someone viewed his life the same way.

And no one wanted an immobile piece.