Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: If You Want Peace, Prepare for War
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The next morning.
Sion was in the middle of a conversation with Ryan, the Knight Commander of the Lion Knights.
After listening to this and that from him, the Knight Commander tilted his head and cautiously opened his mouth.
“Um, Young Lord.
May I ask a few questions?”
“Of course.”
“Why are you suddenly pushing for that kind of training?
No matter how I hear it, it doesn’t sound like a conventional way to deal with enemies.”
“You’re right.
It’s not a conventional method for dealing with the usual enemies we’ve faced.”
At Sion’s response, Ryan the Knight Commander tilted his head again.
Muttering “Could it be,” he stroked his chin and spoke.
“Are you worried about combat against flying monsters, Young Lord?”
Sion nodded.
Of course, to be precise, it wasn’t just for fighting flying monsters, but for confronting the Heavenly Clan who could at least hover in the air, even if they were chicken-level.
“This time, there were few of them and they were still young, so we were able to handle them at the level of our knights without much difficulty.
But if those guys grow into adults and attack in even larger groups, it could turn into the worst kind of melee.”
“···Are you saying the fairies might try to ravage our territory in that way again?”
“I can’t say there’s absolutely no possibility.”
To provoke a war between Hispania and Nudia, he had no choice but to shake Klauzen one way or another.
They had failed this time, but next time, those malicious groups might devise an even more perfect plan and act in secret!
‘We need to prepare.
I can’t stick to Klauzen forever.’
He didn’t even know what might happen in the North right away, and he had to go find the beastmen with Winnie.
And that wasn’t all?
Even the southern pirates who might fall for the radical fairies’ schemes again and cause more trouble.
Unless he had some kind of shrinking technique to be everywhere at once, Sion had no choice but to leave Klauzen.
‘Leaving it all to Kim Yu-hyun is too risky.
This guy was the type who got swept up in events passively, reacting with “Huh? What?” after things happened, rather than actively intervening.’
If things went on like that, they’d enter the countdown to the continental war just as the radical fairies and Heavenly Clan wanted, and the demons would be mostly wiped out.
Then the Heavenly Clan would make their grand entrance with “Behold, I have arrived!” and burn everything to the ground!
Excluding Kim Yu-hyun and a few powerhouses, everyone else would be literally “deleted” by the Heavenly Clan.
‘Fine.
I’ll allow you to come out of the sanctuary.’
Sion’s goal was clear.
Minimize the continental damage as much as possible.
The Heavenly Clan’s emergence was canonically “inevitable” according to the author, so he didn’t need to exhaust himself trying to stop it entirely or shit blood over it.
Plus, the radical fairies’ bullshit wouldn’t heal until the Heavenly Clan emerged from the sanctuary.
If he blocked them, they’d cause even bigger problems, and if he blocked that, they’d scheme something even worse.
Better to just take it moderately and lure the Heavenly Clan out excitedly.
But after that, things could deviate from the novel.
The continental forces, powerhouses, and so-called “named” characters that hadn’t been swept away.
Just preserve those forces as much as possible and throw them into the war against the Heavenly Clan.
The Heavenly Clan were strong, but not invincible—they couldn’t guarantee victory even against the demons, so they manipulated the fairies to incite extreme hatred toward the demons and drive them to near extinction.
‘Top-tier powerhouses who ran neck-and-neck with the demons, plus shrewd cunning using agitation and fabrication, and ruthless enough to discard them the moment there was nothing left to exploit.
Wow!
This race deserves to be called the world’s strongest.’
The Heavenly Clan’s one regret would be completely underestimating Kim Yu-hyun’s growth rate.
If anything, the Heavenly Clan were like lions in the savanna, and Kim Yu-hyun was a young elephant in full growth spurt.
They left him alone thinking he was just one of many preys, only for him to explode in size and trample them, kick them, and smash them with his trunk—an uncontrollable foe.
“To the Margrave···.”
“I’ve already spoken to him.
I thought it best to consult with you, Knight Commander, on military matters, so here we are.”
“Ah, I see.
Thank you for your consideration.”
Ryan the Knight Commander bowed his head in response.
The Margrave had so many duties that unless it was truly critical, the Knight Commander handled military affairs, and Sion remembered that, coming to him directly to share his thoughts.
‘The arrogant attitude from before was all an act, huh.
Sigh, if only you could handle mana too, you’d be the perfect lord.
What a pity!’
Today, too, Sion’s misunderstandings piled up day by day.
“And for the knights’ training, I’m thinking of including Lishi—er, Knight Lishikida Amchel.
Is that alright, Knight Commander?”
“You mean the female knight from Nudia who defected to our side.”
“Yes.”
Even as a senior knight, she was a key figure from an ‘enemy nation.’
It was only natural they couldn’t casually include her in military training, and Sion knew that well, so he’d been content with her as his personal guard.
But she’d completely abandoned Nudia, focusing solely on serving her new master, and had even earned decisive merit in saving Klauzen territory.
At this point, even the knights and soldiers who harbored resentment toward Nudia wouldn’t show hostility or rejection toward Lishikida.
“I was actually planning to suggest it to you, Young Lord.
A senior knight can’t live off handouts forever, and more than that, I want to spar with a Nudian knight.”
As expected of a Knight Commander with a warrior’s spirit, he was thinking of starting with a duel against Lishikida.
“Oh, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Kim Yu-hyun.
Train that man too.”
“···Isn’t that man neither your man nor connected to Klauzen?”
“To be precise, he belongs nowhere and has no home or hometown to return to.
Might as well give him a place to belong and come back to.”
He’d phrased it indirectly, but it was clearly a recruitment pitch.
Unlike with Lishikida, Ryan the Knight Commander didn’t respond immediately, wary of Kim Yu-hyun’s highly independent tendencies.
‘I get the concern.
At this point in the story, Kim Yu-hyun is beyond a lone wolf—he’s a wild one, rough around the edges.
He only softened up a bit after heading north and meeting that woman.’
Since he’d be heading north soon anyway, Sion had decided to tame Kim Yu-hyun then, flashing a reassuring smile.
“I’ll talk to Kim Yu-hyun myself.
To prevent the issues you’re worried about in advance.
How’s that?”
“If so, I’d be grateful.”
Having Lishikida and Kim Yu-hyun blend naturally into Klauzen would be great for Sion too.
He was the territory’s heir, after all, and when Margrave Lichten stepped down, he’d take the position, so placing powerhouses in advance was undoubtedly beneficial.
“Young Lord.
May I ask one more question?”
“Of course.”
“It’s about the griffins.
I should warn you first that it might offend you.”
“···.”
Starting with a note that it might upset him meant he likely viewed operating flying monsters negatively.
Sion silently stared at Ryan the Knight Commander, as if to say, go ahead.
“Both in Hispania and Nudia, there have long been attempts to use flying monsters.
Griffins, wyverns, and such were the targets.
But they all ended in failure.”
“Yes.
I’ve heard all about it.
From funding to practicality, operability, maintainability—everything failed.
It wasn’t just deemed unsuitable for combat; it was ruled completely inoperable.”
“That’s right.
Capturing adults alive is extremely difficult, and training them to obey humans is even harder.
In that sense, the juvenile griffins you captured this time are still young, so their wariness toward humans can be lowered, and training might be somewhat feasible.”
He’d stated the hopeful part, so now came the main point.
Sion nodded slightly, urging him to continue, and the Knight Commander pressed on with a grim expression.
“But even regular soldiers can handle mana to some degree, and mages—their natural predators—lurk.
Even if you barely tame and painstakingly train them, and put someone on board, a few dozen arrows or spells would bring them down far too easily.”
“That makes sense.
They’re living creatures made of flesh, bone, and blood, after all.”
“Even assigning them to reconnaissance or transport doesn’t make financial sense.
The costs are astronomical.
And above all, there are far too few.
Five? It’s questionable if they can even do anything meaningful.”
Everything was perfectly logical when viewed rationally.
Even though it was outright opposition, it didn’t bother Sion at all.
Ryan the Knight Commander even looked a bit worried after speaking, wondering if he’d upset his young master.
‘And that upsets me?’
No, not at all.
Of course not.
If anything, Sion felt relieved and grateful to have someone sharp-minded handling military affairs.
‘Fuck yeah!
Thank god!
I believed in you, Knight Commander!’
The scariest thing in the world wasn’t a brilliant enemy, but a stupid ally.
In that regard, this man wasn’t a stupid ally.
He was a pretty capable one who could boldly state his position.
“Knight Commander Ryan.”
“Yes, Young Lord Sion.”
“That sounds like you’re worried I’m rushing into things with short-sighted thinking.”
“I had no intention of belittling you, Young Lord.
I simply shared everything I know and think about flying monsters without holding back.”
“Hmm.
Is that so?”
Sion tilted his head slightly askew and stared at Ryan the Knight Commander.
It might look arrogant at first glance, but combined with his current social status and proven exploits and abilities, it came off as intensely threatening rather than cocky.
“···.”
Ryan the Knight Commander wore an expression ready to endure any rebuke from Sion.
A few uncomfortable minutes passed for the Knight Commander like that.
“Do you think I’m unaware of that or would ignore it and proceed?
I’m a war hero, one of the key figures who led Klauzen to victory.
It stings a bit that you think so lowly of me.”
“N-No, that’s not it at all!
How could I ever think that of you, Young Lord···.”
“I’m kidding, kidding.”
Waving it off, Sion crossed his arms and gazed out the window.
Beyond the castle, the territory’s residents who formed Klauzen’s foundation.
The city where they lived, the sturdy walls protecting it all, and beyond them, the vast fields and the Margrave Territory’s lands.
“Knight Commander. What do you think decides the course of a war?”
“Pardon?”
A sudden question, if anything.
Ryan the Knight Commander gazed at Sion for a moment before cautiously answering.
“The commander’s capabilities, the soldiers’ level, and logistics, I believe.”
“Excellent.
A very precise answer.
Yes.
That’s the kind of response expected from someone in charge of the military.”
“Th-Thank you.”
“But in my humble view, that’s not all.”
“You’re absolutely right.
The battlefield, timing, reserves, and···.”
“That’s true too, but what I mean is this, Knight Commander.”
Still keeping his gaze on the scenery outside, Sion continued.
“Sowing confusion with false information, making troops desert before the fight even starts with exaggerated rumors.
Deceptions an individual could easily see through.
But in the massive scale of war, where groups clash against groups, it’s all too easy for a mere breeze to be blown up into a typhoon.
Whether you let that breeze die as a breeze, or inflate it into a typhoon that swallows everything.
I see that as a key factor in deciding a war’s outcome.”
In war—no, in all ‘events’—something doesn’t need to be lethal, threatening, or efficient.
Flashy, exaggerated, even hollow—it’s fine.
An empty cart rattles loudly, and people tend to pay more attention to that racket.
Sion had a few months of experience as an extra on a movie set.
Watching special effects explode everywhere, he’d thought there was no surer way to steal people’s minds.
Later, when the movie hit theaters, Sion watched it.
A couple next to him griped afterward, “The plot’s so sloppy and the logic’s a mess!”
But Sion already knew they’d been gaping, fully immersed in the scenes while trashing it.
They only spotted the flaws after it was over, but in the moment, their brains had frozen under the barrage of flashy, noisy info.
‘I should stick to what I’m good at.
No need for continent-spanning strategies.
Just enough to blind and deafen people.
Reversing a situation like that?
Piece of cake, obviously.’