A Rat in the Trap — Or Rather, an Orc

A rat in a trap — no, an orc.

'They'll be closing in on us with their main force before long.'

They would stop wandering and start tightening the encirclement around us. I bit my lip. Seizing the forest? Holding the line? It had all become meaningless noise. We were already rats cornered in a poison jar.

But crisis was also opportunity. The calculator in my head spun into overdrive. How could I turn this information into the greatest possible advantage for myself? Simply running was the worst option. Sitting dumbly and waiting to be slaughtered was suicide.

'Turn it against them.'

The moment I reached that conclusion, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I lifted my head.

"Sergeant Hannah!"

"Yes, yes, sir! Lieutenant!"

At the sharp edge in my voice, Hannah came running, startled. I held out the bone-fragment necklace I'd taken from Gunter.

"This — can you feel any mana reaction from it?"

Hannah took the necklace and closed her eyes. A moment later, her eyes snapped open.

"…I can feel it. Faint, but… a sickening, sticky kind of mana, connected like a thin thread to somewhere deep in the southern forest. It feels as though someone is watching us from over there."

"That confirms it."

My [Status ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Analysis] and Hannah's [Mana Sense] agreed. I immediately barked an order at Gunter.

"Gunter! Collect every one of these necklaces from the corpses! Don't leave a single one behind! And keep everyone on high alert!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Gunter scrambled off at a run. Clutching the necklace, I sprinted straight for the company command tent.

"Captain! Urgent report!"

"…Come in."

Came a flustered voice from inside. I pushed into the tent without ceremony — just as Serafina, still mid-way through buttoning her uniform shirt, shot me a look.

"Lieutenant Jaeger, what in the world—"

"The enemy is coming."

Skipping all preamble, I dropped the bone-fragment necklace onto the desk as if tossing it there.

"These belonged to the orcs we killed just now. According to Sergeant Hannah's detection, these items are linked by mana to the main force in the southern forest. The instant the bearer dies, the signal cuts off — which pinpoints their location."

Serafina's eyes wavered. A commander of her caliber would grasp the implication at once.

"…Then their night raid was bait to confirm our position?"

"Precisely. They used their own lives as guidance beacons."

I added, coldly:

"Even at this very moment, their main force could be sprinting toward this position at full speed. They may already be tightening the noose."

Serafina's face hardened. The languid air from moments before vanished entirely, replaced by the cold gaze of a field commander.

"…Is this intelligence certain?"

"I'll stake my neck on it."

Serafina picked up the necklace, glared at it for a long moment, then slammed her fist down on the desk.

"Damn it! We've been outplayed. We report to the Colonel immediately. Follow me!"

Despite the stillness of dawn, the Colonel's tent had turned into a kicked beehive. The report of the 2nd Company's night raid had come in — along with the intelligence I'd brought.

"…So you're telling me we walked straight into their trap with our own two feet?"

The Colonel growled, turning the bone-fragment necklace over in his fingers. Deep furrows were carved between his brows.

"That is correct, sir. The orcs know this forest's terrain intimately. They've likely been closing the encirclement while we built our camp and let our guard down," Serafina reported.

"Goddamn it all!"

The Colonel couldn't contain his agitation. Major Helga, standing at his side, offered her counsel carefully.

"We must withdraw the entire force now, Colonel. Visibility inside the forest is poor, and the moment we're encircled, we're annihilated. We should fall back to the favorable ridge line and rebuild a defensive perimeter there."

An utterly textbook judgment. But the Colonel's expression remained grim.

'Status Analysis.'

The old fox didn't want to retreat. Only yesterday he'd filed his report to higher command proclaiming a grand victory that would reshape the Western Front — he could hardly report, a single night later, that we fell into the enemy's trap and ran for it with our pants down.

His pride and his appetite for promotion wouldn't allow it.

And that was precisely the crack I intended to drive into.

"Colonel, may I have the floor?"

As I took a single step forward, every gaze in the tent swung to me. It might have seemed presumptuous for a mere lieutenant to intrude on a Colonel's anguish. But the man standing before them was the hero of the 2nd Company — a rising talent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Colonel himself had marked for advancement.

"…Speak, Lieutenant Jaeger."

"A retreat is exactly what the enemy wants."

I pointed at the map.

"They're waiting for us to panic and run. There is no easier hunt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than striking an army from behind as it withdraws. Given the forest terrain, no matter how fast we move, we cannot outrun their mobility."

"Then what do you propose? That we sit here and let ourselves be surrounded?"

Major Helga's retort was razor-sharp.

"No, ma'am. If they know we're here — then we turn that knowledge against them."

I drew one deep breath and played the card I'd prepared.

'Charming Speechcraft.'

Ring—

"They're certain they've already seized the initiative. Trusting their ability to track our position and their superiority in numbers, they're swarming in without a care. And that overconfidence is their weakness."

I pressed my finger down on the marked location of the 2nd Company's camp on the map.

"The orcs believe the place where these necklaces' signals died — our 2nd Company's billet — is where the enemy's main force is concentrated."

I kept talking without a pause.

"We'll use that signal against them. We move our troops and critical supplies swiftly to the high ground on the perimeter — and in the center of this camp… we leave nothing but these necklaces behind."

The Colonel's eyes flashed. He seemed to have caught on to where I was going.

"So you'll make them strike an empty nest."

"Exactly, sir. The moment they charge into the empty center of the camp following the signals, we rain down concentrated artillery fire from pre-registered coordinates. And once they're thrown into chaos, our troops waiting in ambush on the high ground close the ring and annihilate them."

I drove in the final wedge.

"This operation will be a perfect encirclement and annihilation — one battle to wipe out their main force completely."

I had struck the Colonel's [Hidden Desires] with perfect precision. Hero of the Western Front. A seat in the capital's political circle. Titles no mere retreat or defensive stand could ever earn him. Only an overwhelming, crushing victory could make him a general.

Ring—

'Status Analysis.'

The Colonel clenched his fist. An irrepressible smile was spreading across his face.

"…Good. Very good! An outstanding plan!"

He immediately barked orders at Major Helga.

"Relay this to the entire force at once! All troops move covertly to the outer high ground! The tents and campfires stay exactly as they are — make it look like we're still asleep!"

"Artillery: designate the center of the 2nd Company's camp as the impact point! Be ready to fire the instant the signal drops!"

The Colonel's orders kept coming without breath. The headquarters roared back to life in an instant, troops moving without rest.

The new plan I had proposed — the one that would blow the orcs to kingdom come — was taking shape.

The operation proceeded with speed and stealth.

The soldiers moved in silence. Ammunition and rations were whisked to the rear, and the empty tents were stuffed with straw and scraps of uniform to fake sleeping bodies. Wet firewood was added to the campfires so that smoke would rise, staging the illusion of human presence.

And then the most important bait of all — the dozens of bone-fragment necklaces collected by the 2nd Company were piled together in the very center of the camp, inside the largest command tent.

One hour later.

Every soldier of the 7th Regiment had completed their ambush along the C-shaped ridgeline ringing the camp. Thousands of rifle muzzles, hidden in the forest's darkness and terrain features, all trained on the empty billet.

I tucked myself into a trench on the ridgeline's mid-slope with the men of 3rd Platoon. Beside me, Hannah, Klaus, and Sergeant Gunter lay pressed flat against the earth.

"…They're coming. An enormous number of them."

Hannah whispered with her eyes closed. But I hardly needed her report — the edge of the [Minimap] floating in the corner of my vision was already bleeding crimson.

"All units, hold. Do not fire a single shot until I give the signal."

Silence. A suffocating stillness settled over us. The soldiers swallowed dryly and set their fingers on their triggers.

And then, at last, the ground began to tremble.