Ch.394Chapter 394. The World is Divided into Two Nations (3)

* * *

“Ah, you’ve arrived, Advisor.”

Irian, who became the corps commander after Irene, bowed to me.

“Since you’re a corps commander, you don’t need to use honorifics.”

“No, not only is the position of State Advisor by no means a low position, but Swen’s status and importance in our country has increased compared to before. You don’t need to think of me as your superior, but please give me any instructions.”

I was about to add something more, but thinking it would be better to just let him listen well, I changed the subject.

“How is the situation?”

“Lunarian forces are heading toward Hisfil Castle. There are approximately 118,000 troops. The commander-in-chief is Charlotte von Einhart, and the chief of staff is Violet von Einhart. It appears that more than ten armed officers are participating in this battle.”

118,000, huh.

Not an impossible number to defend against… but if you ask whether it’s threatening, it certainly was.

Irian seemed to think similarly to me, as he let out a short sigh and—

“Personally, I’m just surprised they can mobilize 118,000 troops despite having fought so many battles.”

“Well, it’s not hard to understand if they swallowed the Ohana forces without any battle.”

Ohana was a country that, even in the game, would never launch a preemptive attack if left to the CPU, focusing on space defense and somehow concentrating on gathering troops.

That tendency probably hadn’t changed in reality. And Lady Luna… simply swallowed them whole.

“What do you think would be best?”

Receiving Irian’s question, I derived the most optimal answer.

[With Rolf as the castle lord, victory can be sufficiently achieved by holding out without interception. However, that’s just barely enough.]

‘….’

Once again, an ambiguous conclusion came out, but—

Since it seemed we could still claim victory, I quickly formed a formation and instructed Irian.

“So we should place Rolf as the lord of Hisfil Castle and hold out…”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to set up a few traps as well. I’ve marked them on the map for your reference.”

“Yes! I’ll do that. Thank you, Advisor!”

After finishing my advice to Irian, I met with a messenger who had rushed from a territory near Anel Castle with a letter.

“Here it is, Advisor.”

I quickly checked the letter.

Commander-in-chief Lunarian Ineanne… Did Lady Luna depart from this direction?

Seeing that Ginor was the chief of staff, it seemed that the main force of the Lunarian army was gathered on the side of Anel Castle.

I checked the map handed to me by the soldier.

The forces we could mobilize, and the list of generals…

Now that I’ve finished checking, all that remains is to receive questions.

“Do you have any specific answers you’re looking for?”

“Pardon? Well, it’s about how best to respond in this situation… Wouldn’t the Advisor’s words be of great help to the lord?”

“I suppose so. Thank you.”

“…?”

After extracting the question through conversation with the soldier, when I input it—

[Winning this battle is closer to a long-term loss.]

‘So winning wouldn’t be much help?’

I immediately dipped my quill pen in ink, quickly wrote an opinion letter, and handed it to the messenger.

The point was simple. Abandon the territory and flee.

Since it was a small place that wouldn’t pose much of a threat strategically even if lost, this much explanation should be sufficient.

“Here it is. You’ve had a long journey, but please bear with it a little longer. Our nation will never forget your dedication.”

“I’m only doing what I must! But thank you very much!”

After sending off the messenger, I recalled Luna’s face.

Considering that she continues to engage in battle despite my letter clearly stating ‘please wait a little longer’…

‘Lady Luna isn’t even considering the idea of talking with Serpina.’

That’s why she’s launching this all-out offensive.

Now I knew that Lady Luna’s intense hostility toward Lady Serpina stemmed from a misunderstanding.

I considered writing a few more detailed letters to explain, but— this seemed like something that should be said in person.

‘For now… as long as we remain in contact, a diplomatic situation will inevitably arise. I’ll do what I can.’

All I can really do is offer advice like this…

But if I consistently take the right path, something good might come of it.

With that thought, I immersed myself in my daily duties as State Advisor.

* * *

After that.

Quite a long time passed.

As for the border area, even after two battles had ended, large and small disturbances continued to occur near the border.

All of our forces were literally on 24-hour combat alert, and at a glance, it might have seemed like the balance was shifting back and forth—

But quite remarkably.

As time passed, the Lunarian forces were very slowly, bit by bit, taking over Serpina’s territory.

Meanwhile, our forces continued to lose ground.

The number of victories and defeats between the two sides didn’t differ greatly.

Our forces won elsewhere as much as they lost to the Lunarian forces, and as State Advisor, I used the power of Intelligence 100 to make the best possible choices at every moment.

Yet when looking at the overall situation, we were still losing ground.

Despite our slight advantage in national power.

Looking at the details, the reason was clear.

We would win big or barely scrape by in battles where victory brought little benefit, while handing over all the battles we absolutely couldn’t afford to lose to the Lunarian forces.

Even though I made the best choices, changing the outcome was impossible.

Back then, the prediction that came to mind when facing the Brans forces attacking the small nation of Lunarian—we cannot win.

Similarly, Intelligence 100 could only derive correct results but was nearly impossible to overturn fundamental fate.

And recently—

We finally lost Valhart Castle and Hisfil Castle.

Pushed back to Zeta Castle on the outskirts, after confirming the continuously changing situation, I finally had to acknowledge a fact that had only been floating in my mind but that I hadn’t voiced aloud.

The reason why all recent predictions came with ambiguous statements like “relatively better” or “the best in the current situation.”

And the two fates that had never changed until this moment.

‘Serpina von Einhart cannot become the ruler of the unified empire.’

‘Lunarian Ineanne will become the unified ruler.’

I slowly raised my head to look at the sky.

I had to accept it now.

Lady Serpina… cannot defeat the current Lady Luna no matter what.

Lady Luna will probably become the ruler of the unified nation. My predictions are never wrong.

And if that happens, the possibility that Lady Serpina would lose her life at Lady Luna’s hands was extremely high.

According to Irene’s testimony, Lady Luna hated Lady Serpina.

I had to prevent that at all costs.

‘Now it’s time for me to step forward directly.’

I returned to the base camp and sought out Lady Serpina, who was busy commanding her soldiers.

“Swen? What is it? I haven’t summoned you yet…”

“I wanted to make a suggestion first.”

“A suggestion?”

Since she knew the algorithm that I needed to receive questions to get perfect answers, she tilted her head curiously at my coming to make a suggestion first.

“Since the war with the Lunarian forces has dragged on for so long, I assume we have many of our officers who have been taken prisoner?”

“That’s right. Conversely, we’ve also taken many prisoners, but… sadly, not a single one has accepted our offer of service. They seem to think rotting in prison is better than following me.”

“…Please don’t take it to heart.”

“I’d like not to, but when I think about how over 30% of the prisoners captured by Luna’s side have betrayed me and gone to Luna’s side… I don’t know.”

Serpina sighed briefly after saying that.

While the situation had deteriorated this far, she had lost much of her former confidence.

She had me, who gave her unfailingly correct advice. She had Reika, the continent’s greatest magician. The enemy magician Tifa was still not fully recovered from wounds sustained during the attack on Anel Castle.

By all accounts, Serpina’s forces should have been overwhelming… yet somehow they kept losing ground. Naturally, she couldn’t help but feel self-doubt.

It wasn’t just her. Unlike the Lunarian forces whose morale was sky-high, within Serpina’s forces, a cold sense of doubt about their retreating allies hung in the air.

Everyone must be struggling. Seeing the powerful nation of Serpina clearly losing to the southern continent’s new nation of Lunarian…

“Perhaps the one who aims for what should not be aimed for, the one out of step with the times, refers to me.”

“…”

I considered what to say, but—

Rather than offering inadequate words of comfort, action was needed now.

“Would it be possible to check the list of captured prisoners who haven’t defected yet?”

“That’s not difficult. Wait a moment.”

Serpina picked up a quill pen and wrote out a list at an incredibly fast pace without any hesitation.

She seemed to have memorized the list of all captured officers thoroughly.

“Here it is.”

I took the list.

—In fact, looking at it objectively, there were hardly any personnel whose capture had a significant impact on our forces.

From the beginning, Serpina’s current talent pool was a young nation with more than 80% young rookies.

While that might be good in terms of vitality… objectively speaking, many were recruited despite being unremarkable because the nation was suffering from a severe talent shortage, so there was no particular need for prisoner negotiations.

Yet the reason I wanted to negotiate for prisoners.

It was because this was the only way to confront Lady Luna directly.

So I was thinking of just choosing anyone suitable when—

‘…Huh?’

A familiar name caught my eye.

So you were captured by Luna’s forces?

“So, what is it you want to propose?”

At Serpina’s words, I slowly nodded.

“I will undertake prisoner negotiations. I will personally serve as the envoy.”

“You personally? …Is that alright?”

“Rather, this is a situation where it must be me.”

Serpina said nothing for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Swen, if you say so, there must be a reason. As I said, I trust you completely. I’ll arrange for you to proceed as you wish, with whatever conditions you need.”

“Thank you.”

“So, who are you planning to negotiate for?”

To Serpina’s question, I answered with a slight smile.

“Silin.”