The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 63
The next morning.
I started walking through the military camp with Duke Hellian, wearing gray armor.
The soldiers’ eyes began to light up when they saw this.
“He’s here…! He’s finally here! The mercenary Wade!”
“We believed in you, Casper!”
“You’re the pride of us cadets!”
“Let’s avenge General Dunan together!”
It seemed everyone was mistaking me for Casper since he had deserted and was not in the camp.
Hearing these cheers, Duke Hellian shook his head as if he had a headache and whispered to me. “Let’s just ignore that part for now. It seems like it would unnecessarily complicate the situation.”
“I don’t really mind.”
Rather, it was tiring to deal with each one individually.
Besides Casper, there were easily over 10 people impersonating Wade across the continent. From my perspective, Casper was just one of them.
Moreover, since it was having a morale-boosting effect right now, I decided to just leave it be.
I deliberately made a round of the military camp to boost morale before heading to the highest-ranking tent.
In the highest-ranking tent, the core military officers were standing, extremely tense.
Their eyes were filled with wariness and fear as they looked at me, perhaps having already heard the story from Duke Hellian.
“Wade, sit here.”
Hellian seated me in the place of honor and sat right next to me as if to assist.
Maybe because it was the seat of honor. The chair felt unnecessarily more plush.
“I’ll start the military meeting.”
I spoke with a heavily modified, scratchy voice.
The officers seemed to think I might be a fake that Hellian had brought as a temporary measure, but they swallowed hard when they saw the intimidating presence of Eonia standing guard behind me.
Like me, Eo was covering her face with a gray helmet and was trying to hold back laughter at the situation of escorting me alone.
“First, let’s review the previous battle.”
I threw the after-action report that Hellian had given me onto the command table and said.
“This was truly a foolish operation. So, is that idiot Gaitz, the general who proposed this stupid plan to Dunan, here?”
“I-I am Gaitz.”
“You shamelessly returned alive. You’re demoted ten ranks. Start over from junior officer.”
“What is this…!?”
“And… According to the report, there was an officer who advised that we should stay put and not march out. Who was that?”
The officers were hesitating, looking at each other.
Then, one officer spoke as if he had made up his mind.
“It was a cadet-turned-infantry officer named Ars Elaine. He opposed marching out.”
“Good, everyone except you is demoted three ranks.”
This time, the officers tried to protest to me, as if they couldn’t accept it.
To that.
“Shut your mouths!” Duke Hellian silenced them with a shout.
“You incompetent fools! You killed Dunan! If it were up to me, I’d throw you all in prison according to military law, but I’m not doing so only because I’m considering the war situation!”
“…!”
“If you have any complaints, tell me! I’ll have you take off that uniform right now!”
The tent fell silent as if a mouse had died.
I shrugged my shoulders and continued speaking. “So where is this Ars Elaine?”
“Well… We reassigned cadets who wanted to leave the battlefield to the rear supply base. He also volunteered to move to the rear, perhaps injured in the last battle. He’s probably receiving treatment for his injuries now.”
“Is his return possible?”
“Currently, all the priests are assigned here to the main force to treat the seriously wounded, so there are no priests stationed at the rear supply base. If you wish, we can have him return to the main force and prioritize his treatment.”
“That’s not necessary. I was just a bit curious about what kind of person he was since he was the only one who came up with a proper plan. Well, make sure to give him a hefty reward later, even if it’s not right away.”
At this, Hellian glared at me with a look that said ‘That’s not what we talked about’, so I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“Also, I’ll promote by one rank the officers of the unit that opened the retreat route in the mountain battle: Ferge Elaine, Felix Deren, and Stina Balstein. Make sure to process that.”
─Yes sir!
Kuh! Is this the taste of power tripping?
I could have promoted my own rank as well, but I decided not to raise it further since I had already been unnecessarily promoted too much.
“Now then, shall we look at the war situation?”
I carefully observed the war map that the intelligence officer had laid out.
‘The war situation has changed.’
The situation was completely different from the early stages of the war.
First of all, the opposing Tunkai army was no longer hiding their main camp. There was no need for that anymore.
They had positioned an army of 50,000 at the very front, as if they could attack at any moment.
‘Moreover, thanks to General Dunan, we’ve secured a high-quality terrain map.’
It was a terrain map created by the scouts who were searching for the enemy’s main camp under Dunan’s orders.
Each giant tree had been marked, so it was possible to guess how the terrain was formed.
‘Is the left side of the formation slightly higher?’
It wasn’t much of a high ground, but it was still about 30m higher. As a result, there was a gentle slope from the left side of the formation to the right.
“…”
“What do you think, Wade? In my opinion, it seems the right answer is to defend, given the situation.” Duke Hellian was an elite from the military academy.
Before entering politics, he had been in the military, and his rank was that of a first-class officer who assisted generals.
It means that he is a person who deserves to be in this position.
“No. Holding our ground in the current situation is not the best strategy. It’s at best a second-best option.”
The army’s morale was too low, and the opposing side had that monster-like armed warrior with incredible strength.
If that guy were to wreak havoc in our camp, there was a possibility that tactics and everything else wouldn’t work properly.
We could tie up his feet with Anton, but since we’d be deploying Anton in a way to counter the enemy’s attacks, the direction of our tactics would become passive.
“Even so, the situation isn’t favorable for us to charge out. Do you have any other strategies in mind?”
“For now, yes.”
“Oh, do tell me.”
“Before that… I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”
This battle was different from the fight with Madon or the Three Lions War.
The risk associated with the strategy was too great.
I left the meeting room and, avoiding the eyes around me, returned to my tent to take out two books I had packed in my military gear.
They were tactical manuals about mountain warfare.
“The key to mountain warfare begins with securing the high ground…”
These were transcriptions of military texts I had learned in modern times.
I was confident in my quick thinking, but as with forgetting Erina’s name, I wasn’t particularly good at remembering small details. So I had a habit of transcribing necessary information as much as possible.
From the moment I entered Ars’ body, I tried to recall and write down at least the core information of major military texts into books.
These were the military strategy books that Brother Ferge had read in my room last time.
In total, there were about 13 modern military strategy and tactics books piled up in my study.
In addition to that, there were over 60 military strategy books collected from this world, making it over 70 military texts breathing in my study.
Although I had already read them all, I would sometimes open the books directly when I wasn’t sure about something.
I was simulating the strategy I had in mind while reading the book.
“If we utilize the terrain sufficiently, it seems possible… But there’s too much preparation work to be done…”
This was an all-or-nothing strategy that would be in vain if the enemy noticed.
Could the enemy read my strategy?
That part was close to a gamble, but it was a gamble with grounds.
Klaus Forkner.
He was a general who led wars with his unique cunning rather than orthodox methods.
His eye for military tactics wasn’t poor, but it wasn’t exceptional either. I didn’t think he would be able to read this far.
If by chance my thoughts were read, I’d have no choice but to activate Plan B then.
“Alright, let’s give it a try.”
After leaving the tent, I first called my close vassals.
“Anton, I’ll give you an operation manual. Gather only trustworthy officers and educate them on the contents of that manual. The officers must be prepared to carry out that operation by the designated deadline. Understood?”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind!”
To be honest, I couldn’t trust the officers from Calliper. There was also a possibility of spies from Tunkai.
Since secrecy was vital for this operation, I decided to use officers from Crossing, including Anton.
“Next, Yumir.”
“Yes, young master.”
“I’d like you to gather these. As many as possible.”
I showed her the thing I had accidentally collected in this mountainous area.
Seeing this, Yumir’s animal ears twitched, and then she nodded without adding anything.
“Understood.”
“I need it prepared within two days. Is that alright?”
“I’ll finish it within a day.”
“That’s reassuring. But I’m a bit worried about sending you alone…”
I was concerned about the possibility of an incident, as there were elite scouts from Tunkai around.
“Gaspar, please escort her.”
“Alright. But, how about I help gather those things too? Miss Yumir might find it difficult to do alone.”
“Haha, you two can discuss that part.”
“Hmm… Alright.”
Gaspar starts to discuss with Yumir with a slightly embarrassed expression.
Now all that was left was miscellaneous hard work, so I was going to ask Brother Ferge, but…
It was hard to ignore Eo, who was brightening her eyes, pleading to give her work too.
“Oh my. You want to work that badly?”
“Please! I can’t fall behind that guy!”
As if instinctively knowing that Anton had been given an important task, Eo was burning with competitiveness.
She had taken off her pure white armor that appeared with my arrival and changed into gray armor, armed with a spear instead of a sword and shield.
It seems that being pushed back by that monster-like guy in the last confrontation still bothered her, and she was determined to settle it this time.
“Anyway, alright. Then I’ll leave the rest of the work to you.”
“Yes, please entrust it to me!”
“Eo, from now on, lead the Calliper soldiers and…”
Eo was gripping her spear shaft, expecting some grand mission.
However, she was dumbfounded by the words that followed.
“Cut down all the trees in this area.”
* * *
The news of mercenary Wade’s appearance had already reached the Tunkai military camp.
“So he has appeared after all…” Klaus smiled sinisterly.
After killing Dunan, now an opportunity to catch mercenary Wade had presented himself.
He felt like he could hear the sound of his own price rising.
“Mercenary Wade? Who’s that?” Grandis asked, as if hearing it for the first time.
“It seems the rumors haven’t reached the West. He’s a mercenary commander who appeared about 2 years ago. He has quite a reputation, but in reality, it’s quite inflated.”
Wade was famous for defeating Kaien in the Three Lions War, but at that time, Ars had directly faced Beckavia’s army.
He did manage to trick Kaien once, but strictly speaking, that was more due to Juras’ efforts in confusing intelligence while confronting Kaien.
His defeat of Julian Craig in the war with Madon was worth evaluating, but Julian was a dimwit who couldn’t even make it into the top 20 Heroes despite being a great general.
“There’s no way that youngster who boasts about being a star or whatever after defeating the likes of Beckavia and Madon could be a match for me. Huwahaha!”
“Hmph, indeed. This ambush plan was excellent. It seems you’ve grown a step as a general, Klaus. She would be pleased if she saw this.”
“Ha, haha. Is, is that so?”
“How about it, thinking of going to meet her once? She would be glad too.”
“Ra, rather than that!”
Klaus hastily changed the subject.
He pointed at the man standing behind Grandis and said, “You said his name was Lexit? His strength is impressive. Even though Dunan was in a tired state, to kill him in just 30 exchanges is something.”
“Of course he’s impressive. He’s one of the Three Great Generals that our West boasts about.”
“Three Great Generals…?” Klaus unconsciously furrowed his brow.
‘When I was in the West, there was no such thing as the Three Great Generals…. Damn it, does this mean there are two more monsters like this? As expected, the depths of the West’s strength are unfathomable….’
Klaus made up his mind to exile himself to an even farther place once this affair was over, to keep as much distance as possible from the West.
“Boss!”
At that moment, a Tunkai soldier entered, parting the tent flap.
“What is it?”
“The enemy has started showing strange movements!”
“Strange movements? What are they doing?”
“Well… They’re indiscriminately cutting down trees!”
“…?”
Not understanding even after hearing the explanation, Klaus headed to the front lines himself to confirm with his own eyes the bizarre actions the Calliper army was carrying out.
Crack! Crack! Creeeeak! Trees continued to fall.
The Calliper army was cutting down not only the trees in their own camp but also all the trees in the vicinity, turning the mountain into a bald mountain.
The number of soldiers engaged in logging exceeded 10,000, and soon the mountain revealed its bare flesh.
“This is…”
Unable to read Ars’s intention, Klaus narrowed his eyes.
This was beyond eccentricity; it was stupid.
By cutting down the trees, their camp became clearly visible, and without trees as cover, they became vulnerable to arrows.
“Oh ho, it seems he’s not an ordinary general.”
“Lord Grandis…?”
“Klaus. No matter how strange the method, if you follow the logic, an answer will come. Abandoning the advantages of defense means nothing else. It means they intend to attack.”
“Even if that’s the case, there’s no reason to cut down trees.”
In fact, it’s easier to attack with trees present.
There’s no need to worry much about the enemy’s arrows, and it’s also advantageous for hiding the number of attacking soldiers and formations.
Grandis continued speaking. “Instead, with the trees gone, it’s become easier to concentrate the power of the troops. The trees that were obstacles to forming formations are gone. Of course, this isn’t the real intention.”
“The real intention… What is it?”
Grandis smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth. “The enemy’s true intention. It’s fire attack.”
“Fire attack!?”
“Can’t you feel it? With the trees cut down, the wind has started blowing in our direction.”
“Ah…!”
Klaus was startled as he saw flower petals flying towards him.
“Artificially changing the terrain to attempt a fire attack. Mercenary Wade. He’s quite an interesting fellow.”
“…”
Klaus shuddered.
He was surprised by the intention hidden behind the bizarre action, but he was more frightened by Grandis’s insight that read it at a glance.
“Thoroughly soak the trees at the front. Also, prepare sufficiently for fire suppression. With just that, the enemy’s plan will come to nothing.” Grandis’s perfect reading of the situation.
Indeed, he deserved to be called a skilled person from the West.
***
Swoosh! Ars smirked as he saw the Tunkai soldiers soaking the trees with water from afar.
“As expected, they couldn’t read it. Well, if they don’t know, they’ll have to suffer.” Ars muttered this as he began preparations for the real operation.
TL NOTE:
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