Ch.411Chapter 411. Swift as the Wind, Fierce as Thunder (2)

“Even if you used magic, do you think it makes sense that it would collapse this quickly!”

“W-well……”

Francis, who was scolding the soldier, seemed to realize his mistake after speaking and lowered his head.

“…I apologize. You’re merely a messenger after all.”

“No, sir. I’m just ashamed.”

After sending the soldier away, Violet approached Francis, who was sighing.

“Brother, what will you do now?”

“Originally, I planned to continue waiting for our lord… but it seems I can’t just sit idle anymore. If we lose Jog Castle too, I won’t be able to face our lord.”

“…Are you suggesting we should fight against Swen?”

Hearing those words, Francis couldn’t help but flinch.

That’s right.

The nation they were now facing belonged to the man whom Lord Lunarian especially valued.

“…Violet. I know what you’re trying to say. But… what choice do we have? Our lord wouldn’t want us to keep retreating on the battlefield, would she?”

“But—”

“Honestly, I don’t understand how things ended up this way. Why our army’s strategist Swen married Serpina and inherited the nation. And if, as he claims, he hasn’t betrayed Lunarian—why does he continue to attack us now?”

In truth.

When they first heard that Swen had inherited the throne—

Everyone who knew even a little about the situation, including Francis, thought this was all part of Swen’s ‘grand plan.’

Ah, he must be planning to hand over the nation to Lady Luna without war—

Everyone except Ginor, who had already been betrayed once when Irene was the commander, couldn’t help but reach that conclusion.

But.

After losing territory, expecting surrender was foolish.

“Whether this decision is right, what Swen is thinking—I don’t know anything. I probably won’t figure it out through my own insight either. But one thing is certain—doing nothing is the worst option.”

“Brother…”

After saying this, Francis carefully rose from his seat.

“From now on, I, Francis von Einhart, will take command! Violet! Help me!”

“…Understood!”

* * *

The royal castle of Ludia.

In this occupied territory, where the atmosphere was chaotic due to the battle, I was having a meeting with Reika.

“Ah, my lord…!”

“How are you feeling, Reika?”

“I-I’m fine…! I’m full of energy. I-I could fight several more times if needed…!”

Reika vigorously waved her arms and smiled at me, seemingly eager to show that she was in good condition.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“A-actually… it was mostly your doing, my lord… I just… cast some simple spells beside you.”

—That’s right.

In this conquest of Ludia Castle, which earned the evaluation “Great Mage Reika showed her true colors,” the one who was actually casting magic spells left and right—

was me, not Reika.

The reason for taking this approach was simple.

—To minimize Reika’s fatigue and utilize a mage continuously.

‘The greatest characteristic of a mage—as powerful as their abilities are, they need sufficient rest.’

The reasons why Reika hadn’t been at the forefront until now were as follows:

First, according to my predictions, there were more unwinnable battles than expected. Especially from a certain point, I kept receiving vague advice like “this is the best option.”

In a situation where Serpina could never defeat Luna, I couldn’t and didn’t want to force Reika to sacrifice herself, which would be like cutting away her lifespan.

But.

Things changed after I became the ruler and the fate of continental unification depended on my actions.

In almost every battle, the conclusion was: ‘Focus on utilizing Reika Nighthart’s abilities and attack directly yourself.’

It was a peculiar piece of advice, but with a little thought, it was remarkably profound.

First, from a ruler’s perspective, it would be strange not to use an asymmetric force like Reika, so the advice itself was reasonable.

If you have overwhelming firepower, why wouldn’t you use it unless you’re doing some kind of hard challenge?

However—just because I became the ruler didn’t suddenly mean Reika could use magic without sacrificing herself.

That’s why instead of saying “it’s efficient to put Reika Nighthart at the forefront,” the advice was “focus on utilizing her abilities and attack directly yourself.”

Why did it come out this way?

For me, who had already interpreted dozens of “pieces of advice,” figuring out the reason was simpler than eating rice cakes while lying down.

‘My advice changes depending on how the ruler, who is the executor, feels about it.’

Just as when serving Serpina, the results of advice changed depending on how she felt—

Because I “didn’t want to sacrifice Reika,” and recognized that sacrificing her would be an inevitable loss for me and the country, that result came out.

Using my green rapier, I could amplify magic with relatively little mana.

This was less burdensome for Reika, who operated with relatively small amounts of mana, and at the same time, since I was using magic through an object rather than my body, there was little physical strain on me.

In an era where mages were abundant, it might have been difficult to achieve overwhelming destructive power with artifacts alone—but there were only three mages who had appeared on the continent so far.

This was truly the most efficient method from my perspective as the ruler of Swen’s army!

‘I’m truly grateful for Iolline’s disguise techniques.’

The purpose of the disguise was to give Luna’s army the impression that “Reika is a monster who can continuously cast tremendous magic without getting tired.”

Looking back at her previous achievements, they were mostly during civil war situations—that is, when suppressing rebellions.

She had only been circulating as the “Great Mage” in rumors, meaning not many enemy soldiers knew her true capabilities.

They have Tifa on their side.

She would understand more than anyone that mages are “consumables.”

In such a situation, Reika’s existence, which by all accounts didn’t seem like a consumable, would inevitably create tremendous pressure.

In fact, the reason I recruited Iolline, who was evaluated as the most suitable for the position of Einhart lord with her intelligence of 100, was because I wanted to utilize Reika with minimal burden through disguise techniques—

After several self-consultations, I could notice that this was effective.

——That’s right.

Now I didn’t even need to check or wonder why things were happening this way.

I am the ruler. I didn’t need to convince anyone about my implementation.

Being able to abandon the process I had to go through as a strategist—the concern about “why is this result coming out?”—was incredibly efficient beyond imagination.

And if I wasn’t sure how to act, I could just repeat self-consultation until I figured it out.

Invincible!

Although I felt truly sorry for Lady Luna, there was no word more fitting to describe me now.

At this point, I was certain.

‘It depends on heaven’s will,’ meaning whether Lady Luna could become the unification ruler… wasn’t about how well our Swen army overcame crises.

It was solely about my decision——

——unless I decided at some point that ‘I should yield the position of unification ruler to Lady Luna,’ Lady Luna would never become the unification ruler.

“Reika. It’s going to get a bit busy… but please hang in there a little longer.”

“Yes! I’ll do my best… until continental unification…!”

“No, I… don’t intend to unify through war.”

“R-really…?”

“…”

What I needed to think about now wasn’t about the war that Intelligence 100 could manage—but people’s hearts.

How to act to change Lady Luna’s mind—that was the key.

After all, I didn’t inherit the ruler position from Serpina to fight forever over continental unification.

And sadly, Intelligence 100 only said “unknown” about that matter.

‘…I need to reclaim about half first.’

Yes.

Anel Castle, or Valhart Castle.

After reclaiming one of these territories and securing half the continent again, reaching a state equal to or slightly ahead of Lunarian’s army.

Only then could I talk with Lady Luna.

Thinking this, I once again ask a question for the “absolutely correct” method.

——In this situation, how should our army respond to Lunarian’s army most efficiently?

And the answer comes effortlessly.

No matter how many times I ask, efficient answers keep coming out—

* * *

“How… how could this happen.”

Francis couldn’t hide his desperate expression.

He had done his best. He hadn’t ignored his sister Violet’s advice either.

He prided himself on always making the optimal choices, applying what he had learned from strategy books.

But.

“F-fire!”

“We need to retreat!”

For inexplicable reasons.

“The commander… died from falling off his horse during the march!”

“Swen’s army is ambushing our escape route! It seems we have a spy…!”

“It appears Swen’s army has raided our secret base that was established to secure supply routes!”

They kept losing, being caught off guard in ways that ordinary people could never anticipate.

As if facing an entity that could never be defeated.

As if teaching the Lunarian army, known by the glorious title “unacquainted with defeat,” what it truly means to be unacquainted with defeat—

Francis fell to his knees.

Today was the day Lady Luna was supposed to arrive.

And it was the day they lost their sixth territory, including Ludia Castle at the border, to Swen’s army.