episode_0042

* * *

I returned to the door of the conference room with Irene, who had regained her composure.

Of course, there was no one near the conference room except for the soldiers standing guard.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The security guard was surprised and responded to my greeting in confusion.

“Ah… … Yes, four! So-”

“It is called Swen.”

“Yes, Swen. that… … Master Swen, are you staying behind to defend the fortress?”

“Yes. With General Irene.”

“I see… … .”

The soldier was lost in thought for a moment, then bowed towards Irene and spoke.

“… … General Irene. I will do my best until the end. Thank you so much for staying and fighting with us.”

‘Thank you for staying and fighting… … la.’

Although they are soldiers whose number is only 1 in the game.

In this world where games have become reality, they also live and breathe.

Each of them also had their own microcosm.

There was no way he wouldn’t know that he was a soldier. The fact that they are now thrown into danger.

No matter how much it was an order, what did they think when they saw their superior leaving this place?

When I thought about it that way, I felt like I knew why that soldier was sending me words of gratitude.

Iren was a commander who was always with his soldiers.

Whether it’s being on watch or doing miscellaneous tasks while on the move.

She is the one who held everyone to the same standards as the soldiers.

Although he may have been abandoned by Lin Brans, he would certainly have won the trust of the soldiers who were the pillars supporting the Brans country in the lowest positions.

Because not all people in this world are like data.

After receiving the soldier’s greeting, Irene responded in a very serious tone.

“Hmm. I will fight with you until the end. And, I will never let you die.”

“Yes!”

The soldier answered very loudly.

It seemed like morale had gone up.

Well, there is no harm in having high morale, so there is no need to say more.

So I entered the conference room.

An empty, empty room greeted the two of us.

‘You left too quickly.’

Well, if you want to save your life, moving quickly is a wise choice.

Now, I had no intention of blaming them.

“I… … Swen.”

“Yes?”

“What should I do from now on?”

When I saw her worried expression, I suddenly felt like playing a prank.

“Are you asking me? Iren, didn’t you just say to the previous soldier that you would never let him die?”

She might be embarrassed and say, ‘Well, that’s…’ … Hmm… … Wouldn’t the reaction be something like, ‘Are you kidding me, even in this situation?’

but.

Her answer was a little different from what I expected.

“Because I trust you, Swen.”

“… … Yes?”

“I believe in you.”

Iren said that and laughed bitterly.

The sunlight shining through the window brightened her cheeks.

“So, don’t worry. Because you said you could hold the fort. We can save everyone. I think so.”

“… … .”

Feeling embarrassed for some reason, I sighed briefly and sat down on an empty chair in the conference room.

“Well, as you said… … We will win though.”

“Is there some way?”

method.

okay. method.

The situation was so urgent that I finally started to think about it… … Still, there was a way.

[Sit in a place where you can see the enemy and then sit in.]

Since the prediction says ‘sit in’, this is the correct answer. That means there is a way.

the problem is-

‘Why is a sit-in protest the right answer?’

The point was that I only knew the correct answer, but I couldn’t figure out why this was the correct answer.

But the good news is that I poured 10,000 hours into this damn classic game.

And what I meant was that it was ‘absolutely correct.’

If you have these two premises, you will be able to find an answer somehow.

I took out the paper with the terrain around the fortress that I had drawn at Irene’s house.

I drew this in my spare time just in case, but it turns out to be useful.

“What about that?”

“This is a map. I’m trying to think about what to do from now on. There is something blurry in my mind… … I’m not sure what to do yet.”

If it were a normal person, he would say things like ‘It’s time to get credit’ and then get angry if he actually asked me how to do it and gave such a vague answer.

Iren nodded and said without saying a word to me.

“I understand. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“Then, I would like to go check on the injured soldier. Is that okay?”

“Yes. it’s okay. No, I think it would be very helpful if you did that.”

I am not alone in the sit-in protest.

It’s with all the soldiers in the fortress.

If a renowned general named Irene shows that he is fighting and not running away, the morale of the remaining soldiers in the fortress will increase.

In a situation where we don’t know what will happen in the future, we decided that keeping morale high would be helpful and not a bad thing.

“I understand. Swen.”

“?”

“If anything happens… … You can call me anytime. I’ll come running right away.”

After saying that, she smiled slightly.

Her purple eyes, which had been shaking aimlessly just a moment ago, –

It was very clear, without any tremors, as if the direction to go was clearly determined.

Just like that, Irene slowly left the conference room.

Now that I had told her, it was time for me to do something.

It felt daunting at first, but in the end, you just have to keep doing what you’ve done so far.

It takes into account all variables and excludes all those that do not work.

‘Let’s look at the terrain first.’

I carefully examined the terrain around the fortress.

Firstly.

The possibility of winning the battle was close to 0. No, it would be safe to say it is 0.

Iren was only good at siege warfare, but was an ordinary general during fortress warfare. Of course, the ability itself was S-level, but it would have been very difficult for me and 10,000 troops with low military and leadership scores to overcome 30,000 troops in a fortress with low defense.

If siege weapons were brought in right away, we would have to go out to intercept them whether we liked it or not, and then we would be failing to follow the prediction of ‘stay in a sit-in.’

So, it’s not a battle. If nothing happens, this battle. We will inevitably lose.

Now, let’s think about something else.

In fact, the first possibility that came to mind was a landslide.

This game had countless random encounter events.

A sudden famine due to a swarm of locusts attacking a wheat field, an infectious disease that suddenly starts circulating without any warning symptoms, and various natural disasters that make you wonder if this makes sense from a world perspective.

The most likely possibility was that the advancing enemy troops would be destroyed by a sudden landslide.

but.

There were no mountain ranges visible around the fortress that could cause landslides.

No matter where you looked, it was either a gentle hill or a vast plain.

Riding a horse will make you feel like you are driving on a highway.

‘It’s not a landslide.’

No matter how much I looked at the advance route from Chorel Castle, which seemed highly likely to be where the Serpina army departed, to this fortress, it did not particularly cross a mountain range.

So, delete the number in this case.

next.

Suddenly, something goes wrong in Serpina’s army, and the advancing soldiers retreat.

The number of cases was very diverse. Perhaps another rebellion breaks out, or something goes wrong with the life of the monarch, Serpina.

Even considering the possibilities, this would actually be more realistic than a natural disaster.

You may be thinking, ‘If a rebellion occurred once, does it make sense for it to happen again?’ But if you think about it based on predictions, it is true that something will happen, even if it is hard to believe.

but.

When I think about it this way, there was a sentence that really bothered me.

The answer my 100-strong brain came up with was not [Sit-in].

[Position where you can see the enemy soldiers and then sit in.]

The prediction result was not a single sentence that was wasted.

This was even more so considering that there was a prediction that it was ‘almost close’.

‘If it is true that the enemy retreats on their own due to internal circumstances, is there any need to take up a position in a place where the enemy can be easily seen?’

If that hypothesis is true, wouldn’t it have simply been said to ‘protest’?

Thinking like that, the number of cases where something was happening within Serpina County was quickly pushed aside.

And, if you take that away… … Now there is only one left.

‘… … Natural disasters happen.’

I don’t know exactly what kind of natural disaster will occur, but-

From Serpina-kun’s point of view, something truly unfortunate is about to happen.

No matter how low the probability was, no matter how improbable the situation seemed – the only number left after erasing all the impossible numbers was the truth.

‘A natural disaster occurred, and the Serpina army suffered a severe blow and had no choice but to withdraw.’

The most likely thing was lightning.

If the weather becomes gloomy when enemies approach, it is safe to say that the rate is close to 99%.

The most frequent disaster was earthquake… … Assuming there was an earthquake, we decided that staying inside the fortress would not be the right decision, so we decided to postpone it for now.

Moreover, in order to take a position where the enemy soldiers can be seen, you would have to be on top of the fortress wall.

but.

When I think about it that way… … I was able to reach a very fundamental question.

What exactly is the need to take a position where enemy soldiers can be seen in the first place?

If a natural disaster just happens, wouldn’t it be okay to just be stuck in a fortress like above?

If you think about it a little, it was a hypothesis that could be refuted using almost the same logic as before.

I put aside the two hypotheses, ‘An incident occurred in Serpina County and they retreat’ and ‘A natural disaster occurs’ and focused on the essence of the sentence.

Take a position where you can see the enemy soldiers.

Don’t think about anything else, just think about this sentence.

‘The area surrounding the fortress is a gentle hill close to a plain… … Assuming that you must be inside the fortress because you are staging a sit-in in a place where the enemy soldiers can be clearly seen, is it on the walls of the fortress, which is assumed to be where the enemy soldiers will come, also in the northwest direction?’

What would happen if I stood there and took a position near where the enemy could be seen?

The road coming down from Chorel Castle was a gentle hill, especially a downhill one.

That meant that if they came any closer to this place, they would also see me.

‘I… … Is there a ‘need to be seen’ by them…? … ?’

The pieces of my thoughts began to come together.

Sudden natural disaster.

The need to be seen by the enemy.

‘… … !!!!’

thud!

Without realizing it, I slammed my palm down on the desk in the empty conference room.

‘I… … Is there a need to make it look like we’ve brought about a natural disaster to our enemies?’

To the majority of enemy soldiers, I must appear as if I had brought about a natural disaster.

Otherwise, there was no need to ‘take a position where enemy soldiers can be seen.’

Having thought this far, I had to point out one more thing.

What if we apply ‘must be seen’ to the situation of ‘something happens to the enemy camp and they retreat’ that was just discarded?

Here, the two situations of me being on top of the castle wall and the enemy retreating did not form a perfectly fitting sentence, such as ‘It needs to look like a natural disaster has been brought about.’

No matter what I do there, if there is a clear reason why the enemy soldiers retreated, it won’t seem to anyone that I caused them to retreat with my own strength.

So, showing has no meaning in this case.

If it had no meaning, it would not have appeared in the predictions.

So – here, nothing happens to Serpina County, just a natural disaster happens. I thought that was right.

No matter how much you think about it, that is the correct answer.

but.

However, not all problems were solved.

This is probably the last question.

So why do I need to make it seem to people that I personally caused a natural disaster?

Why on earth is that the most effective action we can take at this point?

After organizing my thoughts up to this point, the answer was surprisingly simple.

‘If the invading enemy thinks I caused a natural disaster… … ‘I’ll run away.’

For example, when lightning strikes.

There will definitely be damage, but it won’t stop the advance.

In the game, if you are struck by lightning, a few thousand people, or if you are unlucky, about 10,000 people die in an instant. Assuming that the same rule applies to this world, even if you take damage, the soldiers will remain anyway.

No matter how many people he killed, it was clear that if he reached 10,000, he would lead the remaining soldiers to attack this fortress.

There will still be siege weapons left.

but.

This is not a natural disaster… … If they can perceive me as if I did some trick.

So what if you start to think that you might be struck by lightning again and again?

Will they fight against this unexpected and mysterious force, or will they run away?

As I thought about this, my complicated mind became clear in an instant.

‘This is it.’

I hit my knee.

okay.

So that meant we won.

I was convinced that this was the meaning of the ‘sit-in in a visible place’.

but.

For some reason, I didn’t feel like this was everything.

This time, I simulated the spread of this situation from our military’s perspective.

A new member of the Brans army used magical powers to defeat the enemies.

There are too many people who actually witnessed it for it to be an exaggerated rumor. The soldiers of the fortress, including Iren, will immediately become vivid witnesses.

So what would I, a third party member of Brans County, think when I heard this rumor?

What an amazing person, I can’t believe it, the newcomer has done a great job… … .

‘Make the ball… … ?’

It was then that I remembered again one thing I had put aside while thinking about Irene.

I, that is, ‘Swen’, whether it is for Irene or, as others see it, to ride the line of Kalinz-

He had disobeyed his lord Lin Brans’ order to return.

No matter how good his intentions were, he was disobeying his master’s orders and acting on his own terms.

but.

What if the generals, whom even the monarch himself used to throw away, achieved an overwhelming victory with ridiculous abilities?

Moreover, it felt like there were quite a few generals who thought that my actions were ‘for the sake of Carlinz.’

It may be different in Irene, but Kalinz is different. He was a man related by blood to his lord, Lyn Brans.

Basically, Lin had no sense of rebellion, so his actions for him were no different from actions for Brans.

So, if this rumor spreads and it becomes known that I made a contribution, and it turns out that it was ostensibly for Brans-kun.

No matter how wayward she may be, couldn’t she harm me just because she violated orders?

and.

As I thought about that, I started laughing without realizing it.

“… … Fuha!”

I see

This is why the brain with 100% intelligence, which only says the right things, predicted, “Take a stand where you can see the enemy soldiers.”

I laughed as the empty conference room left, as if I were a crazy person.

It didn’t matter.

This will be nothing compared to the really crazy things I’m going to do from now on.

After standing up, I took a deep breath three times.

“… … Then let’s go.”

Now it was time to go and make a miracle happen.

* * *

Finding Irene, who cared for the wounded soldiers, was not that difficult.

I walked closer to her.

“Irene.”

“Swen. Have you organized your thoughts?”

“Yes. That’s right. I also brought you some work that needs your help, Irene. Is that okay?”

Irene nodded and said to me.

“It’s okay. At this moment, Swen, you are my boss. What would you like me to help you with?”

“That’s good news.”

Because I was planning on doing something ridiculous from now on.

“Please bring as many usable bricks as possible.”

“Huh? brick? There must be bricks left over from building the fort… … Why is that suddenly?”

I spoke to her in a very confident tone.

With a very serious expression, as if he could see through everything.

“The energy in the sky is unusual. From now on, we will build an altar that can communicate with heaven.”