Ch.21Chapter 21. Three Predictions

* * *

The weather was getting colder.

Quite some time had passed since I arrived in this world.

And I—for reasons unknown—was instinctively overcome by the feeling that it might be time for something to happen.

‘It’s too peaceful.’

According to intelligence, the battle between Serpina’s army and the Brans army had more or less concluded with the Brans army winning on defense.

Additionally, the southern and eastern fronts were reportedly quiet with no incidents.

Logically, they should have targeted our castle in the west next, but for some reason, time continued to pass without incident.

Of course, I hadn’t been sitting idle during this time.

Our army was doing everything possible.

We conscripted as many soldiers as we could without lowering public morale. Currently, the forces defending our castle, combined with the mercenary troops, totaled 31,000 men.

Even if we conscripted every man in the castle without regard for public sentiment, we would only gain about 2,000 more, so we didn’t pursue further conscription.

Instead, we focused on training. I ordered the recovered Tifa to train the troops, and I instructed Cain to continue repairing the castle walls, assuming no unexpected developments occurred.

Not just Cain, but myself and our lord Luna as well—all three of us continued working on the repairs together.

As a result, we somehow managed to strengthen our defenses even more than during the previous siege.

While all these orders required our lord Luna’s approval, she trusted me completely—to the point where she would believe me even if I claimed beans could make meju paste—so it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I, not she, was effectively leading and governing this country.

And one more thing.

We had sent envoys to establish six-month non-aggression pacts with the surrounding minor nations that shared our borders.

This included the Garammil army, which had once helped the Brans army invade us.

In this world, there were no permanent allies or enemies. Besides, Garammil’s actions against us weren’t really out of hatred but rather because they had been half-coerced by the Brans army.

I was simply preparing in advance before we fell victim to the same trick.

Fortunately, the minor nations were too busy with their internal affairs to raise any complicated issues, allowing us to establish treaties without trouble.

Currently, our army’s biggest problem was the lack of talented personnel.

I had been continuously using my Intelligence 100 brain to solve this problem, but no suitable results had emerged.

It meant that even if we searched for talent, we wouldn’t find anyone.

It was good that we didn’t have to waste time on fruitless searches, but I don’t think talent recruitment had ever been this difficult even when I was actually playing the game.

Although Gustav and Aron, the leaders of the mercenary groups, were working for our army, they were still independent entities, so I couldn’t give them orders except during battles.

Therefore, only four people were handling internal affairs: Cain, Tifa, myself, and Luna herself.

We desperately needed talented people to help with domestic affairs, but time was quickly passing without us finding even a single ordinary C-rank general.

‘Still, we’ve done everything we could.’

In the game, when playing as a minor nation, there were often cases where despite doing everything possible, you would suffer such terrible misfortune that there was nothing you could do to prevent game over.

Since Luna was destined to become the unifying monarch, I wasn’t worried about complete failure… but why couldn’t I shake this strange sense of unease?

‘Enough. I’ll think about it when it happens. My predictions will be right anyway.’

My mind felt lighter when I tried to think more positively.

Without much thought, I headed toward the castle walls for today’s repair work.

After walking for a while,

I saw Cain hurriedly walking in my direction.

Since I had come from the royal castle, it seemed he was heading there.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh! Sir Swen. I was just looking for you.”

After reaching me, Cain caught his breath and said:

“You need to go to the royal castle right away… Our lord has summoned you. It’s urgent.”

“Urgent?”

“I heard a messenger has arrived.”

“…!!”

A messenger had arrived.

That could only mean one thing.

‘So it’s finally happening.’

“Am I the last to receive this news?”

“That’s right. I’ve already informed Lady Tifa, who was training.”

“I understand.”

I quickly made my way to the Zeilant Royal Castle with Cain.

*

Myself, Cain, Tifa.

And Aron, the leader of the Chilrain Mercenaries, along with Gustav, the leader of the Raven Mercenaries.

All five of us gathered around a table before Luna.

“…Thank you all for coming.”

Luna spoke with a serious expression.

“What’s going on? Is it the Brans? Are they on the move?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Luna nodded at Tifa’s question.

Since we had established non-aggression pacts with all surrounding countries, no nation except the Brans army would touch us.

“Good. Is that red-haired female knight not coming this time? I really want to get my revenge.”

Tifa spoke eagerly, stamping her axe on the floor.

Her injuries had healed faster than expected after the agreement was established and confirmed… but it had still been a dangerous moment where she could have lost her life.

We couldn’t afford to lose Tifa, one of the iconic returning characters, in such a meaningless way.

“But haven’t we prepared as much as possible according to Sir Swen’s instructions? The walls are stronger than ever, and our number of soldiers is by no means small…”

Cain questioned Luna, whose face was clouded with worry.

Yes. We had done everything we could.

We weren’t ignorant of the fact that the Brans army would invade again someday.

From our army’s perspective, it wasn’t that we hadn’t considered forming an alliance with the Brans army. But the predictions I made before sending envoys all showed it was impossible.

It meant the Brans army would never form an alliance with us under any circumstances.

All I could do was predict. I couldn’t change the results of those predictions.

That’s why we had prepared for a defensive battle to the best of our abilities, hadn’t we?

But why—

Why was Luna wearing such a desperate expression?

“…You’re right, Cain. We’ve done everything we could.”

“What does that mean…?”

I slowly asked the question.

By now, I was starting to guess.

And her answer to my question confirmed my suspicion.

“…The Brans army is advancing toward our Zeilant Castle. Their number of troops is…”

She let out a short sigh.

Then, with a determined expression, she opened her mouth.

“81,000 men.”

“…!!!”

“W-what…!”

“80,000… you say?”

Except for me, who had somewhat anticipated that her expression was due to “the overwhelmingly large number of enemy troops,” everyone else let out exclamations of disbelief upon hearing that number.

Yes.

Even after preparing with all our might, it’s natural to feel disheartened when faced with a number that seems impossible to defend against.

An overwhelming army of over 80,000!

The mere thought of such a number—seemingly gathered from all of the Brans army’s fronts except the north—made my head spin.

The walls of Zeilant Castle were stronger than ever before.

The number of soldiers was also greater than ever, and their morale was sky-high after two victories in battle.

But what difference would that make?

We couldn’t stop 81,000 soldiers.

It’s not that there was no way to stop them. With a few SS-rank warriors, it would be possible to slaughter them like a vacuum cleaner moving back and forth. The game wasn’t particularly realistic when it came to strategy and tactics.

But our army had no such warriors. Tifa was strong, but she was still just an A-rank warrior. No matter how much stronger the mercenary groups’ special units were compared to ordinary soldiers, the sheer number of enemy troops was overwhelming.

So—the Brans army was coming to crush us.

‘But why?’

There must be a reason the Brans army was coming?

Zeilant Castle and this small territory weren’t strategically important. It was just one of many less significant castles commonly found in the central region.

Leading such a large army would necessarily require extensive preparation, but this land wasn’t worth such effort.

At that moment.

“…Sir Swen, what should we do?”

Cain naturally directed his question toward me.

No one objected to this. They all just looked at my face, seeking an answer.

Luna also closed her eyes briefly, lost in thought… then slowly opened them and asked me:

“Swen. Light my path. Can we win this battle?”

“…”

[Can we win this battle?]

As always, the conclusion came very quickly.

[We cannot win.]

‘…!’

We absolutely cannot win.

Once the result “cannot win” is predicted, even if a meteor falls from the sky, it will somehow fall on our army and cause us to lose. In this world, it was impossible to overturn the predictions made by an Intelligence 100 brain.

“Victory in this battle is nearly impossible.”

“T-that can’t be…!”

Next to the despairing Cain, Tifa tried to smile as she asked:

“But, why, it’s nearly impossible but you can do something clever, right?! You’ve always managed before!”

“…Let me correct my statement. It’s not nearly impossible—it is absolutely impossible.”

“W-what’s that supposed to mean! We’ve always managed somehow until now! Can’t we make an agreement this time?”

“No, we cannot.”

If that had been possible, the prediction would have suggested making an agreement, like before.

“How can that be! Think of something! I’m sorry to always rely on you, but… you’re the smartest among us!”

The smartest, huh.

If intelligence is measured by the Intelligence stat, that might be true.

But in this world, Intelligence only increased the accuracy of “predictions,” it didn’t help come up with innovative ideas.

Of course, having predictions that always come true was a cheat ability in itself, but… still, I couldn’t make the impossible possible.

“Then… is this the end for our army…? Do we have no choice but to submit to fate and perish here, without any other options?”

Luna looked at me with an expression that seemed about to crumble.

This was just the beginning.

Lunarian’s army was just starting to stretch its wings.

But in the end… were we destined to be removed from the stage of history so soon by a powerful lord?

Was there no way to defy that fate?

All the surrounding castles were owned by other leaders.

It meant we had no escape route.

‘…Wait.’

Just in case, I input her final question—”Is there no other option for our army but to perish here?”—into my mind.

And sure enough, a conclusion came very quickly.

[That is not the case. Leave the Lunarian army.]

‘…???’

Huh?

What?

Leave the Lunarian army? Me?

Does “leave” mean I should resign?

…Wait a minute.

I input another question that had given the same result until just a few days ago.

‘Can Lunarian Ineanne become the monarch who unifies the continent?’

[Yes.]

This hadn’t changed.

She was still destined to become the unifying monarch, but we couldn’t win this battle.

And for the Lunarian army to avoid destruction… I need to leave…?

“Swen…?”

Luna, noticing the change in my expression, asked with a worried look.

I looked at her and answered with the most neutral expression I could manage:

“My lord. I sincerely apologize, but please give me a little time. Just a moment to think.”

“…Very well.”

Luna nodded, then watched me carefully.

Ignoring her gaze, I quickly input a few key questions into my mind.

‘Can Lunarian Ineanne become the monarch who unifies the continent?’

[Yes.]

Next question.

‘Is there a way to win this battle?’

[We cannot win.]

This is also the same. No matter what happens, we cannot win this battle.

And finally:

‘Is this the end for the Lunarian army? Is destruction inevitable?’

[That is not the case. Leave the Lunarian army.]

Three predictions.

What I needed to do now was figure out what picture these three “100% accurate predictions” were painting—

and squeeze out the most plausible process to get there.

*

It was difficult to determine exactly what process would lead to a predetermined result.

However, it was somewhat easier to imagine “what processes must occur to reach such a result.”

The Lunarian army won’t completely disappear at this moment.

Why? Because she is still destined to become the unifying monarch.

As long as that destiny doesn’t change, working for the Lunarian army would be working for myself.

After all, I could only return to my original world as a subject of the unified nation.

However, with nowhere to escape, the immediate future where the nation disappears from the map is unavoidable.

Why? Because we cannot win this battle.

If we can’t win the battle, losing Zeilant Castle is practically guaranteed, and our army doesn’t have any other territories.

A faction with no territory couldn’t even nominally be called a lord.

Combining these two facts, only one conclusion shines brightly in my mind.

‘The Lunarian army will only temporarily vanish, but will reappear on the stage of history later.’

Monarch Lunarian Ineanne will not die.

She will survive somehow.

Whatever the catalyst, she will raise an army again.

The problem was our other companions.

If Tifa and Cain, whose potential hadn’t yet been unleashed, were captured in this battle, they could die.

‘Lynn Brans.’

I recalled how CPU Lynn Brans treated prisoners in the game I had invested 10,000 hours in.

She would recruit useful prisoners, but kill them if they refused to become her subjects.

She was the type who would rather kill than let go of something she couldn’t have.

On the other hand, she would mercifully spare the lives of insignificant prisoners who weren’t particularly useful.

Of course, there were occasional exceptions.

There were rare cases where she would release useful prisoners.

But if there was one case where she killed without exception—it was when the prisoner was a leader.

In such cases, their heads would roll with very high probability.

She probably saw them as potential competitors.

When playing as a minor nation, I can’t count how many times I had to restart because of Lynn Brans.

Perhaps she thought that someone who had once ruled would never work under another person, no matter how capable they were?

Anyway, assuming Luna is excluded, and Cain and Tifa are captured as prisoners?

‘They will both die.’

Cain had quite high political skills. He was only repairing walls instead of handling internal affairs due to our army’s special circumstances, but he could perform above expectations in commerce or agriculture.

Tifa might not reach S-rank, but she was at least an A-rank general.

And both of them would likely refuse to surrender to any monarch other than Lunarian.

Cain was hiding his identity and wouldn’t want to serve under a powerful lord, and Tifa was, well, Tifa.

Cain might possibly surrender and live quietly, but Tifa would definitely be beheaded.

‘I can’t lose even one of them.’

Even if Lunarian’s army is destined to unify the continent in the future—

if one companion disappears, the difficulty of that process could change significantly.

So, neither Tifa nor Cain should die. For the sake of the future returning character, all must be protected.

The conclusion was clear.

Make everyone, including Luna, escape from this castle.

It would be best to have them follow Luna, whose safety was half-guaranteed.

Here, a natural question arose—wouldn’t they send pursuit troops if a monarch fled with a small force?

But they wouldn’t do that.

The basis for this thinking was the prediction for the third question:

[That is not the case. Leave the Lunarian army.]

It meant that if I left the Lunarian army, the Lunarian army could avoid destruction.

So—I needed to think about why “my departure” would become “the way to avoid destruction.”

The answer came surprisingly simply.

‘Lynn Brans’s goal isn’t the complete destruction of Zeilant Castle or the Lunarian army.’

‘Her goal is… “me.”‘