Chapter 78
Chapter 78
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: How the Underdogs Fight (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“...I was so busy hiding from the other teams that I only managed to scout this immediate area.”
Pon, who had gone out on patrol with me, muttered as if in a daze.
“M-me too. I’m not confident I could draw it in this much detail.”
Even Boen, who rarely said anything beyond a gasp or a squeak, chimed in with a rare opinion.
“Anyone can do it if they know how to draw a reconnaissance map.”
I shrugged at them, then looked at Lian.
“Y-you’ve already figured out the flag locations for Team 1 and Team 2?”
Staring at me as if he’d seen a ghost, I clapped my hands right in front of Lian’s face.
“The plan.”
Hearing my words, Lian belatedly snapped back to his senses and nodded.
“B-before that, everyone be careful. Don’t smudge the map.”
At Selma’s words, the kids froze in awkward positions.
They all looked terrified of damaging the map I had drawn.
A proper meeting couldn’t possibly start like this.
Finally, unable to watch any longer, I stepped in and reassured them that if it got smudged, I’d just draw it again. Only then did the meeting truly begin.
“First off, Team 1 has the biggest advantage in this flag defense match. It’s the team with the most cadets skilled in swordsmanship, including Bern.”
“Team 2 is no pushover either. Their leader, Amelia, is one thing, but they also have a cadet who specializes in archery. Getting sniped in this kind of terrain would be hard to counter.”
They analyzed the enemy’s strength.
“The other teams will likely fight among themselves first, excluding us. It’s frustrating, but we can’t deny that our team is the weakest.”
“Conversely, they might decide to take out the easiest target—us—first.”
They predicted the enemy’s actions.
“For now, I think it’s best we take a defensive approach. Fortunately, it seems they took our situation into account, as this environment isn’t bad for defense.”
“The other teams will have to leave a minimum number of people to guard their own flags, so even if we’re attacked, it won’t be impossible to defend. We can defend and wait for them to take losses, and then…”
And based on that, they proposed countermeasures.
Though a bit clumsy, they were all taking the strategy meeting seriously.
Overall, it wasn’t bad.
Insisting on a head-on confrontation was typical of both knights and squires.
Compared to that, Team 3’s plan to wait until the other teams had worn each other down was incredibly flexible and rational.
But that was all.
Team 3’s plan had a huge problem.
For one, it had absolutely no contingencies for the countless scenarios that could arise in battle.
“The plan to hunker down and move out once the other side accumulates damage is good. But do you think they wouldn't have considered the same thing?”
I presented the one scenario that was most likely to occur.
“What if the other teams agree to eliminate us first? What if they decide to remove a potential variable—us—before things get messy at the end?”
From their perspective, Team 3, with fewer members and weaker skills, was not an equal competitor.
We were more like wild dogs that might suddenly attack from behind during a duel.
We were closer to a ‘variable.’
And knights preferred to eliminate variables before a battle.
They utterly detested having a glorious moment interrupted.
Would squires be any different?
They had seen and learned the exact same things.
“Think about it from their perspective. Which option is cleaner?”
At my words, the kids were struck silent.
Of course, my prediction could be wrong.
But the chances of the kids’ optimistic scenario playing out were even lower.
“Even if they don’t join forces, the possibility of them wearing each other down as you expect is slim. They might even try to pit the other team and our Team 3 against each other.”
In other words, all three teams would be hesitant to launch an offensive.
Victory would ultimately go to the side that avoided the fight and preserved the most strength.
“That’s just how three-way battles are.”
Unless one side was strong enough to overwhelm the other two, a balance would inevitably be maintained.
The situation was vastly different from a one-on-one fight where the weaker side loses after a heated battle.
In my past life, that was precisely why the nature of war began to change.
The moment families, each with their own values and hidden agendas, stepped onto a single battlefield, change was all but guaranteed.
“If you’re right, this is going to be a headache every time.”
Lian let out a groan.
He said he had no idea what the Cradle was thinking, dividing them into three teams.
From my perspective, it was obvious the Cradle had created this situation intentionally, but I didn’t bother explaining that part.
“So what do you suggest?”
Frustrated by the stalemate, Udo asked in a growl.
“This is wrong, that’s wrong. You’re just picking everything apart.”
Lian stepped in to stop Udo.
“Wait, Udo.”
Lian’s gaze on me was peculiar.
“You have a plan, don’t you?”
As Lian spoke, the twin sisters beside him chimed in as if on cue.
“It’s just a feeling, but Yan, you seem to have a solution.”
“Right. You look strangely familiar with this kind of situation.”
It wasn’t just them; all the other kids were looking at me with expectant faces.
I was so dumbfounded I had to ask.
What was the basis for their groundless assumption?
“Seeing your ability to map almost the entire battlefield in such a short time…?”
“With the skill to find the flag locations of Team 1 and Team 2…”
“Even without that, thinking back to the mock battle, it’s only natural…”
“You were super annoying as an enemy, but it’s kind of reassuring to have you as an ally.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Watching the kids pour out their comments, I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
They seemed to think I was some seasoned veteran, hardened by dozens, even hundreds, of similar situations.
Well, they weren’t entirely wrong.
“Hmm.”
After a moment of thought, I asked the kids.
“Which one do you want to hear first?”
The kids looked at me with bewildered faces.
“Which one do we want to hear first?”
“What…?”
Their faces were strangely dazed.
“The way to win, or the way not to lose. Which one will it be?”
The former was easy and simple; the latter, complex and difficult.
“If there’s an easy and simple way to win, is there any reason to choose another method…?”
It was the answer I’d been waiting for, and I smiled brightly.
“Oh, maybe there is a reason.”
Lian suddenly retracted his statement.
“Did you see him smile? How can he smile so despicably with such an innocent face?”
“Something feels off. Is it like, an easy win but it’s incredibly inhumane or something?”
“I’m telling you, it’s definitely that. We’d probably get cursed out for it afterward.”
“The fact that he’s giving us a choice beforehand means we should probably pass on the first option.”
The other cadets backed Lian up.
“The second one! The way not to lose!”
After a long huddle, the kids shouted in unison.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue.
“Phew.”
The kids seemed strangely relieved.
“Then it’s decided. The second option, the way not to lose.”
Before laying out the plan in earnest, I scanned the kids.
I gauged their tendencies by looking at their hands, feet, and general builds.
Based on that, I assigned them their roles.
“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. First…”
I then laid out the plan that I had formulated in my head.
“Simple, right?”
I asked after I finished my explanation, but there was no answer.
“...?”
Don’t tell me they didn’t understand my explanation.
“With this method, we definitely won’t lose.”
Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“If the way not to lose is this intense, then the easy and simple way to win must have been…”
“Just what kind of evil method was it…”
“Shh. Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear it. Just hearing it feels like I’d accumulate bad karma.”
The kids, who had been staring blankly, slowly began to speak up.
But they all looked like they wanted to wash their ears out, as if they had just heard something horrific.
“You don’t like it? I guess choosing a complex and difficult draw over an easy win is…”
I was about to ask if they wanted to go with the first method after all.
“No! No! Let’s do it. This one.”
“We don’t need the first one!”
“Don’t you ever tell us!”
The kids waved their hands, their faces filled with disgust.
“Tsk.”
My hopes dashed, I just kept clicking my tongue in disappointment.
Afterward, I explained the plan a few more times just in case.
“That’s it. The end.”
Looking at the kids’ faces, it seemed none of them had failed to understand or remember the plan.
Of course, plans like this often went awry despite all the preparation.
If that happened, we’d just have to adapt to the situation.
Besides, variables weren’t always disadvantageous to our side.
“But how on earth do you come up with this stuff?”
“Even strategy manuals don't cover things like three-way battles.”
I let my words trail off, answering with a smile instead.
I couldn’t very well tell them it was because I’d experienced countless four-way, five-way, even six-way battles in my past life.
“You’re different, just like in the last mock battle.”
“It’s more like your entire perspective on war is different from others.”
Udo followed up on the twin sisters’ words.
“To be honest, your methods are unsettling.”
Even Lian, who had diligently mediated between the aggressive Udo and me, didn’t step in this time.
He seemed to be deep in thought.
“Udo’s phrasing is a bit harsh, but honestly, I don’t think he’s entirely wrong.”
Everyone else had similar expressions.
“If the war we knew was something glorious…”
“Your way feels like it’s openly mocking everything we’ve seen and learned.”
The kids, who had at first been casually commenting on my plan, now had heavy gazes.
“If there were ten, no, even just five more people outside the Cradle who think like you, everything we’ve learned until now would become useless.”
“Because those who cling to traditional doctrine would never be able to win against your methods.”
I kept my mouth shut.
This time, I didn’t try to brush it off with a clumsy smile.
Thinking of the changes that would soon sweep the world and the countless deaths they would bring, I just couldn’t.
Five years, at most.
Within that time, everything they knew would be repudiated.
Coincidentally, there were exactly five of them.
The number of key figures who had started a new wave, defeating family after family and knight after knight who clung to the old ways.
The plans I formulated were merely an imitation of the methods of one of them—a genius mercenary who had united expendable soldiers-for-hire and turned them into a major force in the Great War.
‘You should stop being so stubborn and just join us, you know?’
‘I will no longer stand by and watch the battlefield become a playground for the stars and their puppets. To do that, I desperately need your help.’
‘If I had to choose between your foul-tempered master and you, I’d choose you every time.’
The mercenary captain who had valued me so strangely.
The eccentric who had proclaimed himself a friend to the crippled squire everyone else mocked as a good-for-nothing.
I suddenly wondered.
What became of him after Roman ascended and I was executed?
…What do you mean, what became of him?
He probably lived well and prospered.
A man that brilliant wouldn’t have been fazed by the loss of just two people.
*Clap.*
The sound of palms striking brought me out of my thoughts.
“Has everyone forgotten we’re in the middle of an exercise? If you want to idly chat about a future that hasn’t even happened, then at least finish the exercise first.”
It was Lian.
“For now, let’s just be thankful that whatever Yan’s methods are, we’re not on the receiving end.”
Thanks to Lian, who was forcing a bright smile and speaking jokingly, the heavy atmosphere lightened considerably.
“Then, let’s end the chatter here…”
Lian sent me a look.
In response, I gave a small nod.
“Let’s go.”
The Silver Eagles’ weakest link, Team 3, began to move in earnest.