Ch.307Chapter 307. The Blind Spot of a Veteran (7)

* * *

After the fortress collapsed.

As I expected, strange rumors began to circulate first among our troops.

“Did they build an altar on the Aeshus side?”

“Is it true they communicated with the heavens?”

“There’s no way an earthquake could be so localized! If it weren’t for our Strategist, we would have been in big trouble.”

The soldiers were considerably shaken by the thought that they could have been in mortal danger had they not retreated.

Especially our troops. They had witnessed, closer than soldiers of any other nation, how magic operates on the battlefield and how opponents can be swept away without even being able to lift a finger against that magic.

It was only natural that those who had always been in the position of wielding omnipotent power against others would feel far more terrified when placed at the receiving end of such power than those who never had such power to begin with—

Before long, a small number of deserters began to appear among the soldiers.

Of course, this too was within my calculations.

In a nation with conscription, desertion was a crime punishable by death, but I discreetly asked Serpina to pretend to catch deserters while actually letting them go.

And I instructed her to spread rumors. Adding convincing details like “dreams plagued by nightmares of a blue knight.”

There’s a saying that words without legs can travel a thousand miles. Rumors spread much faster than plagues.

Fortunately, the number of deserters wasn’t fatally high.

I had been quietly concerned about how to handle it if our army ended up losing more than we gained from deceiving Yurie, but in this regard, I could say we were quite lucky.

Throughout this process, I didn’t forget to spy on Balhart Castle.

The scouts I sent for reconnaissance at regular intervals brought back exactly the news I was waiting for.

“They’re mobilizing all their manpower to expand the altar! It seems they’ve succeeded in communicating with the heavens, just as you said, Strategist…”

A few days later, more news arrived.

“Due to the continuous miracles, enemy morale is sky-high! It’s completely opposite to the situation in our army.”

“Are they training or preparing for war?”

“No sign of that… they’re expanding the altar.”

“I see.”

I responded with the most serious expression I could muster.

Honestly, I wanted to be praised somewhere. It was quite difficult to hold back my laughter.

I feel a bit sorry for Yurie, but… I never expected her to dance so perfectly in the palm of my hand.

‘I have nothing against her, but we could be in danger if I don’t do this.’

It was true that I had no ill feelings toward her. As I thought before, her selling me out was a complete non-issue to me.

At first, I was surprised that she could betray her subordinate like that, but thinking about it, it was ridiculous for me to feel betrayed when I had been thinking about when to leave her service the entire time I was under her.

What concerned me more was ‘the losses our army would suffer if we just charged in.’

‘It might not be as bad as I think, but honestly, I’d rather avoid any of our soldiers dying.’

Even now, Kransis, who was severely injured in the war with Chel, had not returned to the field.

Considering the severity of his wounds and his age, it was entirely possible that might have been the last time we’d see him on the battlefield.

With our talent pool already depleted due to repeated rebellions despite the size of our nation, each commander was precious.

So I had no choice but to manipulate Yurie this time.

As long as I exist in these chaotic times, I can’t live like a lofty hermit. If this were a game, I might have done some concept play, but to me now, this world was vivid reality itself.

‘Right. Don’t get soft-hearted, I need to be thorough.’

I can wait until Aeshus’s national power has been depleted by their excessive construction.

Time was on our side, the powerful nation, the longer it flowed.

‘Now, let’s move on to the next step.’

* * *

“Hello.”

“Hello…!”

“You’ve come, Swen. Reika.”

Irene welcomed me and Reika as we arrived by carriage.

This was a small fortress that had been immediately constructed after the collapse of the previous one.

In truth, it was closer to a small building like an outpost, hastily constructed just to establish the basic form of a building.

Of course, I had already completed the process of stationing troops and then withdrawing them at my insistence. I only hoped that spies from the Aeshus army would witness this scene.

“I heard this fortress will collapse too.”

“Yes. I’m going to make it collapse. You already know roughly what’s happening, Irene?”

“Yes, that’s right. Though I don’t understand why you asked to prepare those things…”

Irene pointed to the barrels behind us.

Several barrels were filled with rotten pork and fresh pig’s blood.

The meat was military supplies that had been discarded due to poor management, and the blood was specially requested by me to be fresh.

In fact, the foul smell was already reaching us from here, causing Reika, who lacked tolerance for such situations, to frown.

And beside them were old, rusty iron armors that were also due to be discarded.

“This should be enough. Please stand back, both of you.”

Wearing gloves, I stuffed the rotten meat into the armor and sprinkled fresh blood over it.

This process was much more mentally taxing than I had anticipated… but I couldn’t be picky about methods if I wanted to create a more convincing scene.

In the modern era, this would be exposed by a precise investigation, but not in this age. No one would be able to distinguish whether the flesh scattered in the ruins was human or animal. Besides, no one would carefully search ruins located in the heart of enemy territory, not their own army’s burial ground. After all, they’d risk their lives if they were ambushed while searching.

At that moment.

Hearing rustling sounds behind me, I turned around—

And saw Irene and Reika following my actions.

“You don’t have to join me.”

“How could I stand by and watch you, of all people, Swen, struggle alone?”

“Th-that’s right…! If you do it alone, it will take much longer… L-let’s finish quickly, the three of us!”

When they put it that way, I didn’t feel like stopping them.

“Alright. Let’s finish quickly.”

After repeating this process several times, “old armor filled with rotten meat soaked in pig’s blood” was placed throughout the fortress.

Irene, removing her blood-soaked gloves, looked at the scene with a bitter expression.

“It looks like a grim battlefield right after combat.”

“That’s exactly what I was aiming for.”

“This? A scene of carnage with bodies scattered everywhere…?”

“Yes. And it’s going to become even more grim when this place turns into ruins.”

“…Well, I’m not sure exactly what you’re preparing, but my role is already decided.”

“And what’s that?”

“To stay by your side and help you, Swen.”

I smiled at Irene, then approached Reika.

“Reika. I need you to do the same thing as before.”

“Y-yes…!”

So, just like before, we held hands and slowly thrust the rapier into the ground—

RUMBLE…!!

An earthquake occurred, and the hastily constructed small fortress crumbled.

“So it’s true that you can even cause earthquakes now…”

Though she had been told beforehand, seeing it with her own eyes was clearly different—Irene stared at the devastation for a long time.

Then, for some reason, she quietly muttered to herself with incredibly sad eyes.

“Despite having such power…”

“Irene?”

“…It’s nothing. Let’s head back now.”

I considered pressing further, but believing she would tell me when the time was right, I left without asking more questions.

* * *

And finally, the time for the decisive battle approached.

Information came in that the Aeshus army had finally run out of funds to divert.

I immediately summoned Irene and Irian.

“Please prepare to deploy. We will invade immediately.”

“Invade? But, Strategist, wouldn’t it be dangerous to carelessly provoke the Aeshus army that has connected with the heavens? Of course, I have unwavering faith in our army’s victory, but we cannot rule out the possibility of suffering greater damage than expected…”

“I agree with Irian. Why do you think I’ve called you all here?”

I smiled confidently again and said:

“I’ve found a way to counter it. A perfect countermeasure.”

“…!”

“So trust me. And—”

At that moment.

With the sound of footsteps beside us, our lord slowly walked toward us.

“We greet our lord!”

“We greet our lord.”

Serpina gestured lightly to Irene and Irian, then placed her hand on my shoulder and spoke:

“And trust me. You will be safe. The soldiers will be safe. Swen and I guarantee it. As proof, I too will participate in this battle…”

“What?! Do you mean to take the position of commander-in-chief?”

“No. Leave the commander-in-chief position to Irene, and I will join in the middle of the formation. I won’t be a hindrance.”

Though not an exceptionally brilliant general, they knew well that Serpina was not the type of commander who would hinder her allies.

“But my lord, that could be dangerous…”

“It is not dangerous. If I do not take the field myself, I cannot quell the anxiety of the soldiers fighting for me. And—”

Serpina spoke with a resolute tone:

“I will not die. As long as Swen is by my side, I become an immortal being. So there is no need to worry, Irian.”

“My lord…”

“Yes. I understand. I will prepare for immediate deployment.”

With Irene quickly accepting, unlike Irian—

Finally, our army advanced toward Balhart Castle with a force of 198,000 troops.

* * *

What I did in preparing for this expedition was, as before, a repetition of actions that seemed plausible when viewed without understanding.

First, I unnecessarily widened the spacing between soldiers. I instructed some soldiers to advance while forming impressive patterns.

When I attached the reason “to block the heavenly path of the Aeshus army that has connected with the heavens” to all these meaningless preparatory actions, the soldiers believed my words without doubt.

‘I feel a bit bad making them run in circles for no reason.’

Still, I couldn’t let my guard down until the very end.

No, this part was actually the most important. For the Aeshus army, the Yurie I had observed, the Epinel I had observed, to move according to my plan… this work of “dividing the intervals” was more important than I had thought.

A deliberately unnatural formation that seemed to invite an enemy surprise attack. But this was fine.

The enemy would probably notice. Having mistakenly believed that ‘their prayers opened a heavenly path and caused miracles,’ they might suspect that the strange actions associated with the name Swen were ‘tricks to counter our miracles.’

And that was my real aim.

According to intelligence, Yurie had abandoned state affairs, and Epinel was effectively leading the Aeshus army now, so deceiving her was most important.

‘Someone with a mind like Epinel’s or Anima’s would be sufficient. They’ll definitely misunderstand. The rumors I’ve spread so far. The miraculous results that have appeared. And these inexplicable actions… Surely, surely they’ll notice!’

—The blind spot of veterans. Being a veteran means knowing exactly what results certain actions will produce.

But I’m the only “veteran” in this world.

Anyone who isn’t me can only agonize over not knowing what results will follow.

They won’t be able to make a decision. They’ll keep trying to make the most rational decision, but such rational decisions sometimes tend to blindly trust what they’ve seen and heard directly.

Anima might notice that this is all a charade. Not just anyone can serve as a nation’s strategist.

But I was confident. Confident that even she wouldn’t be able to prove ‘why’ Serpina was doing this.

She probably wouldn’t be able to convince Epinel or Yurie. So—

‘It will go according to my plan!’

——And it didn’t take long to realize that my thinking wasn’t wrong.

“St-Strategist! The Aeshus troops have launched a surprise attack at exactly the location you mentioned…!”

‘…It worked!’

The moment when all the meaningless actions of mine and our army’s soldiers finally bore fruit—

It was also the moment when we began to shatter the will of Aeshus with our own hands.