Ch.229Chapter 229. War, and Battle

“Preparing for the Aeshus army is the right approach.

In other words, it was a well-known fact that the Aeshus army was targeting our forces.

However, at the same time—

It’s not right to deploy troops to the border?

I was momentarily dumbfounded by these two contradictory pieces of advice.

“Huhuhu.”

Before I could say anything, I heard Serpina von Einhart’s laughter.

“It seems the results are confusing you again?”

“Ah…”

Serpina was someone who knew that I could only deduce the correct answer when I received questions.

I naturally nodded.

“It seems that way.”

“If I had to guess, considering the situation, deploying troops to the border might not be such a wise idea.”

Every time this happens, I can’t help but think what a perceptive woman she is.

“…It seems I truly can’t hide anything from my lord.”

I looked at Serpina’s face and thought.

Is she in danger again?

If we deploy troops to the border, will rebels rise up again at the worst possible timing and put our forces in a difficult position?

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but with a bit more serious consideration, I could easily realize that wasn’t the case.

‘If Lady Serpina were in danger… the answer wouldn’t be “inefficient.”‘

So.

If deploying troops to the border would cause a rebellion that would endanger Serpina… the prediction would have shown that the fate of the Unified Empire would be at stake.

My prediction wasn’t about Serpina as an individual, but about Serpina’s forces—this nation.

The only reason Serpina’s forces couldn’t become the Unified Empire was because Serpina was on the throne. So from a national perspective, removing Serpina couldn’t possibly be considered inefficient.

Then what could it be?

As I was lost in thought, I heard Lady Serpina’s voice.

“Why are you worrying so much by yourself, Swen?”

“Ah… my lord.”

As soon as I looked up at Serpina, she smiled again as if amused.

Then, from where the throne was—

She walked steadily toward where I was standing.

When I came to my senses, I realized she was right in front of me.

She was so close that not only could I smell the citron fragrance from her body, but her soft figure was stimulating my physical being to the point of distraction.

As my head began to spin… my lord was proving with her entire body that she was of a different gender—distinctly female.

This proximity… if it was intentional, it was honestly frightening.

And then.

She once again uttered a sentence that could sound quite vulgar with those beautiful lips.

“Why don’t you use this body?”

“…Pardon?”

“You may use it freely as you wish. This body… as you desire… anything, everything, I will accommodate you…♥”

For a moment I almost blushed, but I easily caught her true meaning.

“You mean you want me to ask you questions, right?”

“Huhuhu.”

She slowly nodded.

“Why not find the ‘real answer’ by repeating questions over and over? Just as I use you as my strategist, why don’t you use me to find the ‘perfect answer’?”

“I think it would have been better if you had said so from the beginning…”

“I don’t know what you mean. Huhuhu…”

I thought about how to respond but decided to let it go.

Honestly, I didn’t have the confidence to win a war of words against Lady Serpina.

Anyway—if she didn’t know about my ability, it would be one thing, but since she did, continuing with these riddles would eventually lead to a solution.

It was an overwhelmingly convenient method for using my ability.

But… the important question was what exactly I should ask.

“Then from now on, I will ask several questions.”

“Come anytime, Swen. I can receive anything from you.”

Seeing her use a tone that could easily be misunderstood again, I was 100% sure she was doing it on purpose.

Without getting caught up in it, I began asking her questions.

“Please ask me, ‘Is directly recruiting troops from territories located at the border the most efficient method?'”

“Do you think directly recruiting troops from territories located at the border is efficient?”

Question input.

The answer immediately rolled in.

[It is not.]

In this way, we exchanged several questions back and forth like a ping-pong match.

From ‘Would it be efficient for Serpina herself to take the role of commander-in-chief and march out?’ to questions about whether it would be efficient to appoint each of the capable generals, including Irene Juliette, as commanders.

Of course, the answer to all questions was [It is not.]

I asked various other questions as well, but couldn’t find any pointed solution. Only ‘It is not’ kept flowing out.

In other words—no matter what I tried, only ‘It is not’ came out.

It was nearly impossible to deduce a plausible conclusion in this situation.

Well, I needed some material to make any deduction, but what more could our forces do when nothing was coming out?

‘Hmm…’

Just as I was struggling to grasp something, she spoke to me first.

“Swen. May I ask you something this time?”

“You, my lord?”

“Yes.”

With my questions running out anyway, her taking the initiative was welcome and there was no reason to refuse.

“Please go ahead.”

“Do you think doing absolutely nothing would be the most efficient?”

“…Pardon?”

“That is, I’m asking if doing nothing at all, no battle preparations or anything, would be the most efficient. You’ve been asking questions continuously, but it seems you’re not getting a proper answer. Am I wrong?”

“Ah…”

As expected of Lady Serpina, she had noticed that I wasn’t finding any answers.

Doing nothing is efficient… this was certainly a question worth inputting.

‘Is doing nothing before battle the most efficient?’

And the answer came quickly, just as it had before.

[It is not.]

‘Hmm…’

It would have been troublesome if the answer had been ‘yes,’ but it seemed that doing nothing wasn’t the right answer either.

As I was lost in thought, I heard Serpina’s voice nearby.

“It seems that’s not the right answer either.”

“Well… it’s fine. If we keep eliminating options one by one, we’ll eventually reach the correct answer.”

“Yes. I’ll stay with you as long as it takes, Swen.”

Serpina said this and smiled gently at me.

I was momentarily tempted to lean into that smile, but I shook it off and thought of another question.

‘But if doing nothing isn’t the right answer either, then what is?’

I thought we had already input almost everything we could do.

It was right to prepare for war, but everything we could do was inefficient, and even doing nothing wasn’t the right answer.

So what are we supposed to do? Is the answer to just run away from battle altogether?

‘…Huh?’

Wait a minute.

Suddenly, cold sweat ran down my spine.

If nothing is the right answer, not even staying still…

“It seems something has occurred to you, Swen.”

“Ah…”

I slowly nodded and carefully posed the question.

“Lady Serpina.”

“Speak.”

“Would you please ask me, ‘Is moving all the remaining troops at the border to the fortresses in the northern continent the most efficient?'”

“…!”

At that moment.

Serpina, who had been calmly accommodating me regardless of the questions, showed surprise for the first time as her pupils slightly contracted.

Let me organize based on the questions that have come up so far.

It’s certain that the Aeshus army is targeting our forces. We must prepare for ‘war’ with them.

Going deeper, under the premise of preparing for ‘battle’ at the border, this doesn’t work, that doesn’t work.

Even doing nothing and staying still without preparing for battle doesn’t work.

What we can learn from these questions is one thing.

We need to do something, but actions that seem to prepare for battle are not efficient for our forces.

Then… my thought was that we should thoroughly avoid battle this time.

Completely withdraw the troops and give up the battle.

Giving up the battle meant surrendering the territory to the opponent. If our forces were in a difficult situation, it might be understandable, but no matter how well the Aeshus army had prepared, they were still a medium-sized nation one tier below our Serpina forces—how many people would accept retreating without fighting?

But.

In the end, after eliminating everything else, this was all that remained.

Serpina looked at me with a surprised expression without saying anything—

After a while, she slowly asked me the question.

“Do you think moving all the remaining troops at the border to the territories in the northern continent is the most efficient?”

And the answer flowed out as easily as it had before.

[It is.]

Seeing the answer, I sighed deeply.

We… had to abandon the border territory.

“…My lord.”

I spoke to her in the most serious tone I had ever used.

“Would you be able to carry out whatever I say?”

“Swen, since it’s your words, the possibility is high, but… I don’t want to make irresponsible promises.”

Reading her implication that she wanted to hear me out first, I spoke in a calm tone without changing my expression.

“Please move all the border troops upward.”

“…?”

“In other words… I’m asking you to move all troops to the northern continent.”

“Oh.”

Serpina traced her lips with her snow-white finger, as if finding it interesting.

“Are you claiming that is the most efficient method?”

“Yes.”

“By withdrawing troops from the border, you’re saying we should completely withdraw from Hispil Castle, which was the result of our forces barely advancing into the central continent?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

If the Aeshus army were to invade our forces, Hispil Castle would be the frontline. Other routes would be extremely inefficient.

“You know that this is essentially no different from giving up the battle and surrendering the territory?”

“I am well aware.”

“I see…”

Serpina fell into thought after hearing my words.

She already knew to some extent that my words were absolutely correct.

Rather than demanding evidence from me as before, she seemed to be thinking with the premise that my conclusion was correct.

From my perspective, this wasn’t a bad thing as I didn’t have to worry about how to explain myself.

Anyway.

I too racked my brain to reach a conclusion while watching her.

In truth, I don’t know why this is the right answer.

It just says this is the most correct. I don’t know what’s happening, but withdrawing our troops is the right answer.

“…”

Wait.

What did Lady Serpina just say?

It’s no different from giving up the battle and surrendering the territory.

And since that’s the most efficient method…

‘Is something happening at Hispil Castle?’

If our occupation of Hispil Castle itself is the problem, the conclusion I can think of is—

There’s only one, isn’t there?

“Swen.”

“Ah…”

As I was concentrating on my thoughts, Lady Serpina’s voice reached my ears.

“Is it only our forces’ troops that need to be withdrawn?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if that’s all there is to it.”

Wait.

The fact that Serpina just asked me this question means—

“Are you… thinking the same thing I am, Lady Serpina?”

“Swen, if you believe your ‘insight’ ability is infallible, then in this situation, there’s only one possibility.”

“That is—”

—a plague.

My voice and Serpina’s overlapped as one.