Chapter 81
After I had gotten all the information I needed from Duke Grunding and Grand Duke Seyfart, they both returned to the headquarters posing as Neurath and Schunzels subordinates. I prayed that they would also get a stomach ache. AHAHAHAHA.
No, I knew that praying stuff like that wouldnt help.
The two people who replaced the Duke and Grand Duke as the prison guards looked normal on surface but once I looked more carefully, I could tell that they had a different bearing than normal soldiers. They were most likely the direct subordinates of either the Duke or the Grand Duke.
By the way, the military prison for normal soldiers was just a cage above a cart but the military prison for nobles was inside a building or tent. The tent was actually quite sturdy too since it was made from a demons skin. It was much sturdier than the tent used by normal soldiers.
The reason why a sturdy tent was used was also to prevent the prisoner from escaping since, in a war between countries, this kind of military prison would also be used to imprison the nobles of other countries.
As I lay down while looking up, I sighed. Really, just whose fault was it that I got involved with this kind of trouble Wait, in the game, the kingdom knights were annihilated so the priority of all nobles was to protect their territory and they didnt have any time to care about courting Laura.
Meaning since I was the one that prevented the destruction of the kingdom knights everything was my own fault? Damn, I wanted to cry
Well, it was not like I could change the past.
I took a deep breath to clear my mind.
The trigger that made Laura join the hero party was the partial destruction of Finnoi but now since Finnoi was still safe and sound, I couldnt count on that trigger anymore. Other than this trigger, I needed to fulfill a condition for Laura to join the hero party. That condition was for me and Mazell to get the highest contribution in war only with the cards I currently have. That was pretty hard.
If Mazell didnt get recognition then Laura might not be allowed to join the hero party. I couldnt let that happen not just because my friends future love life would be impacted but also because there were events that the hero party wouldnt be able to clear without Lauras help. For better or worse, they were both currently in Finnoi so at the very least they probably had become friends. I hoped so.
On the other hand, if I didnt get recognition then some other nobles might become Lauras fiancee candidate and that might make Laura have to stay in the capital or in that potential fiancees territory for an introduction. That also meant Laura wouldnt be able to join the hero party.
Of course, even if this condition was fulfilled, it was going to be useless if we lost this war. In the game, the hero battled one on one with Beliulace as he saved Laura but that was going to be pretty much impossible in reality. I mean, Beliulace was definitely surrounded by his army so Mazell couldnt cut through the entire army and then fight one-on-one with Beliulace without being bothered by his soldiers.
I also needed to make sure Beliulace died here. If we won but failed to kill Beliulace here, Beliulace might rearrange his army and then attack the capital. I couldnt let that happen.
Long story short, I needed to defeat Beliulaces army and kill Beliulace here while making sure that I and Mazell become the 1st and 2nd ranked contributors in this war. Crazy.
While sighing, I checked the placement of the army on both our and the demons side. If, for example, Finnoi was the joint pin of the paper fan, then the demon army was placed at the fans stick while the kingdoms army was placed at the outer side of the fan where the paper and clothes were usually located. Fortunately, because of the terrain, our enemy wouldnt be able to attack from the outside of this fan.
Finnoi was located in the mountains, the demon army near the plain, while the kingdoms army was located on the border between the forest and the plain. With this positioning, wouldnt we be attacked from both sides once the forest demons were respawned?
(T/N: Just in case you forgot, the forest demons were killed in the demon outbreak incident.)
Maybe that was actually Beliulaces aim? Our number was superior but once the forest demons respawned and attacked us then our number might become equal to demons. If that happened, the soldiers would be forced to fight one-on-one with demons. They wouldnt be able to win since a one-on-one fight with a demon was dangerous for even a knight.
Even with our current advantage in numbers, Beliulaces direct subordinates were definitely stronger than normal demons and yet the demon army didnt take an offensive stance against our army. Maybe the reason for that was they were trying to buy time until the forest demons respawned? I didnt know but it was highly possible. Still, would the demons food supply actually last till then?
Anyway, currently, our army was half encircling the demon army with the cavalry and the 1st and 2nd division of the kingdom knights positioned in right and left flanks. There was nothing wrong with this arrangement but maybe because there were a lot of people in the army, the formation looks stretched out.
This world didnt have good communication devices. There was also little to no unity in the army since one side was motivated not to defeat the demon but to court the princess while the other side had no will to fight because of the crushing defeat in their first attack. Furthermore, the allied nobles regarded each other as a rival for Lauras hand in marriage so they would definitely try to pull each other down secretly.
Sigh what should I do?
Complaining was useless so I needed to think. I couldnt find ways to break the stalemate by only focusing on our shortcomings and being frightened by our opponents advantage so I needed to think about a way to use our advantage to attack the enemys weakness.
After all, my time was limited. Time waits for no one and it definitely wouldnt wait until I thought of a way to overcome our weakness.
What was our advantage? Hmm Number. No matter what, there was strength in superior numbers. Then, what was our opponents weakness? Hmm AH!
I got up and sat cross-legged then began to sort my thoughts. There was one common thing between Beliulaces line in the game, the tone that the demon in Veritza Fortress used on us, and the attitude of the Lizard Magician that kidnapped Lily-san. They all seemed to look down on humans. You would never think the people that you looked down on were trying to lure you into a trap.
In the game, the map of the Great Temple was unlocked just as the player defeated Beliulace. That meant Beliulace didnt have any subordinates that acted as his second-in-command or anything like that. I only needed to focus on killing Beliulace then.
If possible, I wanted to carefully plan this strategy until the minute details but I didnt think there was time for that. In any case, Id got confirmation from the Duke that we could contact the people in Finnoi.
I was glad that we could communicate even during a siege like this. I also heard that we were supplying food to Finnoi using magic bags. In any case, as long as I could tell people in Finnoi about my plan, it could work. Probably.
With this plan, it would be Mazell, not me, that becomes the number 1 contributor in this war but that was fine. Or rather, that was better. Although the Duke said that he would become my backing, I didnt know if he would keep his word. No, to be more specific, even if he did keep his words, as a mere viscount, I was still afraid about how other nobles who aimed to marry Laura would retaliate against me later.
On the other hand, Mazell was someone with the recommendation of the royal family so with a good follow-up, he would be fine. I only needed to make sure that I and Mazell got the number 1 and 2 contributors in this war. Which one of us was the number 1 and which one was number 2 didnt really matter.
I need to consult with either His Excellency the Duke or His Excellency the Grand Duke tonight. Im sorry but can you make a trip to tell them?
I talked to the guards who were silently watching me mumbling on the floor. They both nodded and then one of them left his post. I knew it. They were either the Duke or the Grand Dukes direct subordinates.
That night, using the gift of a soldiers uniform that the Grand Duke gave me via the prison guard, I left the prison and met both the Duke and the Grand Duke to explain my plan. Fortunately, I had all the tools necessary to carry out my plan stored in my blue box. After answering a few questions from both of them, I returned to the prison.
Now my plan was in motion and the rest depends on the situation in the frontline tomorrow. How was I going to earn achievements urgh my stomach hurts.
Tomorrow, when I get out of this prison, I would eat only soft things like wheat porridge for a while Sigh
T/N: Hi, Nisarah here! So Ive been using present tenses for 1st POV chapter since chapter 1 but I changed it to past tenses in this chapter for grammatical reasons (kudo to Fleeting, mr. editor!) So I wanted to hear your opinion about which is better, past tenses or present tenses? Here to vote!
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