Opinion Proposal Meeting (2)
"Is that so? Now I find myself rather curious as to why. If you wouldn't mind, I would like an explanation."
At Shika's words, I gave a slow nod.
"It's simple. Because that place needs soldiers."
"…I mean no disrespect, but that sounds like little more than a restatement of the obvious."
Shika wasn't wrong. Honestly, I didn't fully understand the reason myself. The one small mercy was that Amin, who had spoken up earlier, had brought a map with him.
"Lord Amin. Might I borrow that map?"
"Hm? …Here you are."
Amin handed it over with open skepticism written across his face. The moment I spread it across the table—
"…"
Serpina and Jena, who until then had only been sitting and listening, rose and came toward us. They, too, seemed curious about what I was going to say. Their mere movement was enough to send a visible ripple of unease through several of the officers present.
"Here. Please look at the map."
While everyone's attention fixed on it, I scanned the chart as quickly as I could.
Amir Castle. A remote holding at the far eastern edge of the territory, with a river system and mountain ranges nearby — an ordinary fief in every respect. Stationing troops there being the correct answer meant one thing: if a rebellion were to break out, it would not be there.
Yes. Rebellion. If placing forces in the rear was the right call, rebellion was the only conclusion that made sense. The fact that someone had even proposed stationing troops in the capital suggested the northern continent was not yet fully under control — so the logic held.
But the problem was—
"Do you believe a revolt will break out somewhere near here?"
Serpina, who had not spoken a word until now, pointed to a single castle on the map. It was Hyaiser Castle, the fortress nearest to Amir.
But that was not the answer.
"No."
If a rebellion rose at Hyaiser Castle—
Before I could finish the thought, Serpina spoke the words for me.
"Well. If we assume a revolt in this area, stationing troops here rather than there would be the more efficient choice."
The place she indicated was Chorel Castle, sitting at the lower left of Hyaiser. Garrisoning soldiers inside a castle already in rebellion was dangerous — the troops themselves might join the rebels. The better move was to plant a force nearby in advance, and for that purpose Chorel, far closer than the more distant Amir, was the rational choice in every respect.
So it was not a rebellion.
"Then perhaps…"
This time it was Jena who addressed me. She tilted her head slightly, and her brown hair swayed with the motion.
"Are you concerned that bandits might appear in this region?"
To the upper right of Amir Castle lay a settlement spread across mountain terrain. The lower the people's morale, the more often it happened that local folk turned to banditry and attacked castles.
But that, too, followed the same logic as before.
"Not that either."
Jena studied my face intently. She seemed to already have a fair idea of what I was about to say.
"If bandits rose from that settlement, they would almost certainly strike Herder Castle to the north rather than Amir. Its defenses are weaker, its garrison far smaller, and — most decisively — it is closer."
"…That is certainly true. Then I must ask."
Jena looked me straight in the eyes.
"Why, exactly, must we station troops at Amir Castle?"
Not a rebellion. Not bandits. And yet placing forces in the rear, far from the border, was still the most efficient course of action.
"…"
I studied the map and let out a quiet breath. Then I fixed the most composed, unhurried expression I could manage onto my face and examined the chart with desperate intensity.
What is it? What's left?
Why was stationing troops here the correct answer? My Intelligence of 100 had predicted it, so it had to be right. That much was no longer in doubt. Which meant there existed some crisis that only a garrison at this location could prevent.
Not an internal revolt. Not bandits from a nearby settlement. The only remaining feature worth examining around the castle was the great river flowing past its front.
…Hm?
The river…?
On a hunch, I traced how far that river ran. The great waterway wound through the mountains and spilled into the central continent. Amin's map only went this far — it was drawn primarily around the northern territories under Serpina's control, so that was unavoidable.
"Ah — Lord Swen? Your answer…"
"Hm? Ah, one moment. Let me think…"
I answered Jena's voice on reflex, but Serpina seemed to have already silenced her — a pale hand was stretched across Jena's chest.
In any case. Even with the map cut off, I was confident I could picture what lay beyond. I had played this game for ten thousand hours. I had burned maps of this exact shape into my retinas dozens of times, hundreds of times — no, literally thousands of times. Boot up the game and the screen showed nothing but the map. Like it or not, you memorized it.
Calmly.
In my mind I took up a brush and began filling in the truncated portion of the chart. The river wound between the mountain ranges and flowed out toward the eastern edge of the central continent. And once it reached the far east… there was only a single castle in the vicinity.
That castle was—
Zeta Castle. Without a doubt.
Zeta Castle. Once the capital of the Allepel Army, now belonging to the Acius Army — their fourth fortress. A remote holding situated roughly upper-right of Valharat Castle and lower-right of Gelstrom Castle.
The Acius Army's territory consisted of four castles in total: the capital Valharat, Gelstrom to the north, Rakline to the west, and finally Zeta to the east.
"…!!!"
And only then did I begin to grasp what this prediction meant.
They're coming up the river… Acius forces?
It would require a fair amount of rivercraft, but I couldn't dismiss it as impossible. In the game itself, moving troops by river had been possible. The problem was that it consumed far more turns than usual and drained morale to nothing along the way, so it had never been a good option — which was why I had forgotten about it.
But this place, even if built on the foundation of that game world, was still reality. I could not simply declare it would never happen.
No. For stationing troops at Amir Castle to be the most efficient choice, this was the only scenario that made sense. If it were true, the Acius Army would be landing a clean blow to the back of our heads. Under normal circumstances it might not matter — but right now, every one of our forces in the north had been pulled to the central-continent border. A successful strike from the rear would be more than enough to shake our army. Even if Amir Castle were quickly retaken afterward, the Acius Army would have little to lose by the attempt.
Whose idea is this? Zinor's? Anima's?
Given the letters we had exchanged, it was unlikely to be Zinor's scheme. Which meant this was Anima's proposal… and for someone who had once served as a nation's chief strategist, she clearly still had a few flashes of brilliance left in her.
"…"
I slowly raised my head and looked around. Serpina, Jena, and every other officer present seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for me to speak.
So the real problem was how to explain this…
"Everyone, please give me your attention."
I nodded slowly as I spoke.
"A river flows near Amir Castle. It serves as a lifeline for the surrounding holdings — but approached from another angle, it is also the only corridor connecting that remote fortress to the outside world."
Serpina's unblinking stare was a little unnerving, but I told myself not to tense up. Even if the idea seemed hard to follow, she appeared willing to hear it out — so it was worth saying.
"If one follows that river all the way downstream, it eventually empties into the sea on the eastern edge of the continent. And along that journey, one inevitably encounters a single castle. Lady Jena."
"Yes?"
"Do you happen to know which castle that is?"
Jena thought for a moment, then quietly nodded.
"…Would that be Zeta Castle?"
"Yes. So you know it."
"But I don't understand what that has to do with anything. Surely you're not suggesting the enemy will force their way up that treacherous river and march on Amir Castle?"
"That is exactly what I am suggesting."
"…Excuse me?"
Jena's eyes, which had asked the question so casually, wavered slightly at my answer, as if they had lost their way. I clearly saw one of Serpina's eyebrows twitch as well.
"There is a very high likelihood that the Acius Army will advance on Amir Castle by river."
"…???"
Jena frowned, clearly unable to make sense of it. The other officers wore the same expression — as if wondering what on earth I was talking about.
Even I had to admit it sounded absurd. Station troops in a remote backwater because the enemy will come up the river? It was the kind of claim that made people wonder if you had hit your head.
But one person alone did not let her composure crack. Serpina, with the same merciful tone she used when addressing Amin or Shika or any of the others, put a question to the room.
"An interesting opinion. In this Opinion Proposal Meeting, anyone may speak freely. Well then, everyone — feel free to share your thoughts on Swen's proposal."
Miles was the first to offer his view.
"It strikes me as rather far-fetched. The very notion of advancing by river seems to lack realism."
"It is not a bad idea in terms of preparing a contingency," Shika added, "but I believe there must be more efficient ways to deploy our forces…"
With Shika's remark, the room's consensus had clearly settled against me. Well. It couldn't be helped. If pressed for detailed evidence, I had no real confidence either. I had simply worked backward from a known result.
And so the twenty-eighth Opinion Proposal Meeting came to a close.
"Everyone, you have worked hard today. I give you my word that I will review each of the opinions you have offered at least once."
"Yes, my lord!!"
That seemed to be the end of the day's proceedings. True to its name, the meeting was for proposals only — nothing was decided on the spot, which set it apart from a proper council.
If troops were not stationed at Amir Castle, Serpina's army would certainly take losses. But that was beyond what I could control. Even if the northern continent were temporarily shaken, it would not be enough to reverse the overall course of the war. My predictions only selected the most efficient option available at any given moment.
Thinking lightly of it, I offered my farewells and was just about to step outside the royal castle when—
"Excuse me."
"…?"
A hand settled on my shoulder. I turned to find Jena, who looked as though she had come running.
"Lord Swen. Would you return to the audience chamber for a moment?"
"Pardon? What is this about?"
"It is our lord's command."
…
She had summoned me. I had a fair idea of what this was about, but I feigned ignorance and followed Jena back to the audience chamber.
"Welcome, Swen."
Serpina looked at me and once again extended that pale hand. Then, as though she had been waiting for this private audience all along, she fixed a thoroughly captivating smile on her lips and spoke as if bestowing a blessing.
"Your opinion was truly fascinating. A surprise attack by sailing upriver — even I had not imagined such a method."
"…"
"Well then. If you put forward an opinion, there must be grounds for it, no?"
Asking for grounds meant Serpina intended to treat my opinion not as idle talk, but as a formal proposal. It also meant she meant to press me the way she had once pressed Irian.
What to do? I considered brushing her off with something vague… but so long as I was operating under Serpina's army, I needed to plant the image that my words could be trusted. There might come a moment, as there had with Lin Brans, when I could make use of that psychology.
In that case, this was the time to engage.
As if she had read my mind, she asked again in that remarkably pleasant voice of hers.
"I wish to hear what you have to say, Swen. Will you tell me? On what grounds are you so certain the Acius Army will strike there?"