If You Trust Me (1)
The reason Lin Brans was marching on this place with a force of that size.
If that reason was me, every piece of the puzzle locked into place.
What they wanted was me. Which meant that once they secured their target — me — they would have no interest in the lord of some minor power who fled in defeat and vanished somewhere across the continent.
Why had I become the target?
It was mortifying to say this out loud, but looking at it as objectively as I could…
Apparently, our encounter during the last negotiation had left quite an impression on her.
Among the various lords, Lin Brans had always been especially hungry for talent. The idea that she wanted to pull a reasonably impressive strategist working under a minor power into her own service made the whole theory feel a lot more solid.
There was further evidence, too: the sheer size of the army she had brought, absurdly large for taking a castle like this.
She held me in high enough regard that she was determined to snuff out any chance of me pulling off another miraculous scheme and turning the situation around.
Unfortunately for her, the only thing I could actually do was make predictions that hit one hundred percent of the time.
In short, then.
What I had to do from this point on was—
Get everyone out of the castle, then stay behind alone and surrender.
The Lunarien Army would fall for a while —
But it would not be a complete end.
As long as everyone was still alive, they could raise their banners again as many times as they needed.
I didn't know exactly what process raising an army would involve in this world, as opposed to the game where it had been so simple. But either way, this was far better than dying and being able to do nothing at all.
Sure, there might be a better plan than this.
A more elegant scheme. Some unexpected stroke no one would see coming.
With an Intelligence of 100, it would have been nice if something like that just sprang into my head — but it didn't.
All I could do was produce perfect answers to the questions I asked.
So this, at least, was the best I could wring out of myself right now.
Alright.
Still, somehow, a decent puzzle had come together from those three predictions.
There was no guarantee this was the right answer. But with the enemy already on the march, there was no time to sit around thinking forever.
"Everyone."
I finally looked around and opened my mouth.
I could feel every member of the Lunarien Army hanging on my next words.
I began to lay out my plan, slowly and carefully.
"We are going to lose this battle. But that's fine. Even if we lose the battle, we can still claim a victory where it actually matters. I'm talking about the war — the longer game. For the sake of the future, this is the moment we take a step back."
"But we don't have any other territory to fall back to, do we?"
"Attacking another minor power doesn't seem very realistic either."
I nodded at Gustav and Aron's points.
"You're right. We have no path of retreat. And with the non-aggression pacts in place, striking another nation isn't a good option either. If we fight the Brans Army as things stand, we will be annihilated — one hundred percent. But… if we abandon the concept of a 'nation,' a path of retreat opens up."
"…Th-that means…!"
Luna's voice trembled as she spoke, as if she had already grasped what I was saying.
I had no choice but to deliver the cold reality to her.
"Our army's journey ends here. For now."
"Ends here?"
"We will surrender to Lin Brans's army."
"!!!"
Tifa's eyes went wide, the whites showing all around, and then she shouted at me in pure fury.
"Hey, that's not right! You joined our army because you supported Luna's cause, didn't you?! If you just roll over and surrender to Lin Brans, there's no way that bitch is going to let Luna live!"
"Indeed. I agree with Lady Tifa."
"What…!"
"I said we would surrender. I never said I would turn the Lunarien Army into a footnote in history."
I turned my head and looked Luna straight in the eyes.
"My lord. Take Lady Tifa and Lord Cain and flee."
"…What did you just say."
"You need to go south. Seek refuge with the Karelia Army in the southern part of the continent. Macana Karelia, the lord of the Karelia Army, is a woman of deep virtue. She will not cast you or your companions aside — she will treat you with care. And if you later leave her army with other ambitions in mind, she will not hold it against you."
Macana Karelia.
If this game had a representative of "lawful good," she would be the first name on the list.
A kind nature. A heart that wished for peace in the world, no less than Lunarien's own.
No — I had only learned after coming to this world that Lunarien Iniang held such ideals. In the game, the leader who occupied that role was Karelia.
After ten thousand hours with this game, I could say it with certainty.
Going to the Karelia Army was, without a doubt, the safest place for Luna to go into hiding.
Karelia's territory lay in the southernmost reaches of the southern continent.
The south had a relatively stable balance of power, and whether they liked it or not, there was also a nation acting as a buffer against the Brans Army. She would be able to take shelter safely there.
"If you keep your heads down and wait, an opportunity will come someday. To preserve your lives for a greater purpose in the future, this is the only way."
"Th… Swen. B-but…"
Just as I was about to hear more of what Luna had to say—
An unexpected voice reached my ears.
"Might I have a word?"
I turned toward the source of the voice.
It was Cain.
He was facing me with a more serious expression than I had ever seen on him.
Why was that?
It felt as though I were only now seeing the true face of this old royal who went by the alias Cain Nerkis — a man who had been thrashing about just to survive.
"Swen. When you told me to take the vanguard with eighteen hundred soldiers, I could have honestly argued that 'just trust me' wasn't good enough. But I didn't. I didn't want to set myself against our lord, and frankly — I'll be honest — even if the Lunarien Army fell, I could have scraped by under the Brans Army or some other lord."
I listened carefully.
"Looking back now, these past few months have been full of strange things. When we did as you said, money came rolling in. We won battles that should have been impossible. Two mercenary companies pledged themselves to us. I still don't know what miraculous ability of yours made all of that happen. However."
My impression of Cain had always been somewhat hazy — not someone who left a strong mark on the memory.
But in this moment.
The deep-set black eyes of this old man were sharper than they had ever been.
"Living here these past few months, watching the happy faces of our people — people who, because of geography, had been battered from every side and were the most miserable on the continent — I started thinking. More than just wanting to hide away somewhere on this land, I wanted to see my lord, Lady Lunarien, take the Garand Continent, the world, all under heaven into her hands. That feeling is stronger now than ever."
Having said that, Cain looked at me with wary eyes.
"I'll be frank. To me, it looks like you're inventing a convenient excuse to drive our lord out so you can switch your base to the Brans Army — and hand over this territory's gold, its soldiers, and the castle itself to her as a gift."
"…"
"With ability like yours, attaching yourself to a minor power like this is far less advantageous for your personal future than going that route. Am I wrong?"
"…Is… is that true?"
Tifa stared at me in shock after hearing Cain's words.
Before I could say anything, it was Luna who stepped forward to defend me.
"Th-that can't be. Lord Swen isn't that kind of person! Lord Swen is…!"
Startled by her use of honorifics toward me, I raised a hand slightly.
"My lord. If you'll allow me, I'll explain myself."
"…Lord Swen…"
She said nothing more.
I could tell easily enough that her silence meant consent.
Cain watched the exchange for a moment, then looked me straight in the eye again.
"Rebuilding a fallen nation is an extremely difficult thing. It could take years. It could take decades. And right now, there isn't even a suitable territory left on the continent to plant roots in. And in that situation, you're asking us to abandon the nation, surrender, and run?"
"That's right."
"I'm sorry, but this is completely different from when you had me repair the walls or sent young Tifa to handle commerce in the marketplace. Those things, I could take on faith once or twice without asking questions, just as you said. But not this. If you want to persuade me, give me solid grounds. If you can't, I intend to stay in this castle and fight to the end. I simply cannot accept being told to surrender for the future without even putting up a single fight against the Brans Army."
Grounds.
Grounds, huh.
Honestly, if I'd known what those grounds were myself, I wouldn't have been struggling this hard.
The two absolute facts I had obtained through prediction: To prevent the Lunarien Army's destruction, I must leave.
And: Lunarien Iniang will become the unifier of the continent.
My entire argument was nothing more than a deduction built on those two absolute truths.
But telling the Cain standing in front of me something like "My Intelligence is 100, so my predictions are always correct" was clearly not going to work.
So how was I supposed to persuade him?
I had to approach it from a different angle.
If there was something Cain was probably certain of, it was something like: I'm offering up this castle to get in good with the Brans Army and rocket into a high position.
That's the point I need to hit.
I drew the blade of my tongue.
"If I may summarize what you're saying, Lord Cain — you believe I'm making this proposal so I can hand over Zeiland's gold, its soldiers, and the territory itself to the Brans Army, earn myself some credit, and settle in over there. Is that correct?"
"It is."
"Then take it all."
At my firm words, every gaze in the room locked onto me.
"…What?"
I looked at all of them as I spoke.
"Take every last coin of gold inside this castle with you. As for the soldiers — leave only enough for a clean escape, and divide the rest in half between the Chilein Mercenary Group and the Raven Mercenary Group."
Gustav and Aron, who had been watching us in silence, startled at the sudden turn and questioned me.
"Pardon?"
"You're saying they become our troops?"
"That's right."
Handing all the soldiers over to the mercenary companies.
That was my answer.
In this game, when you surrendered, the soldiers inside a castle automatically transferred to the occupying force.
Given how much of the game's rules seemed to apply here, that was likely to happen this time as well.
But troops that weren't subordinate to our army — like mercenary companies — did not transfer to the Brans Army upon surrender.
So the best method was to attach half our soldiers to each mercenary company and have them withdraw from the castle separately.
Mercenary companies never betrayed a nation they had once sided with unless some special event triggered it.
In the game, too, mercenary companies never betrayed first — though the player could betray them, and some people exploited that loophole for cheese strategies.
Given how strictly my "Intelligence 100" rule was being enforced, it was safe to assume the other minor rules applied as well, more or less.
And if Lunarien's unification was a destined future, these mercenary companies would be a great asset when that time came.
"If we do that, Zeiland Castle becomes a worthless piece of land with zero soldiers and zero gold. Now, if the castle itself — if this location — held enormous strategic value the way Kelstein Castle does, that would be another matter… but what do you think of this place, Lord Cain?"
"Th… this place…"
Cain couldn't say a word.
Of course he couldn't. This was a worthless scrap of land.
No talent ever came out of it. The soil wasn't fertile. There were no special products. And the population wasn't even particularly large.
"If I truly wanted to get in good with the Brans Army, don't you think I would have used every silver-tongued trick I had to keep the gold and the soldiers and try to make something of them?"
"No… before that."
Cain's expression shifted.
Strangely, I could feel his wariness loosen just a little.
"If you openly declare surrender from a completely emptied castle… you could be killed for angering their lord. That would be an insult to the occupying army."
Huh?
That bad?
In the game, it had been completely natural — when you were about to lose, you grabbed all the gold, provisions, and soldiers and ran.
Because you couldn't hand the money and troops over.
But here, that very act seemed to be regarded as a profound insult.
Well, from the occupier's perspective, having everything carted off before they arrived would leave a pretty foul taste.
"If even you fled along with them, that would be one thing — but staying behind in an empty castle to greet the occupying army? That's practically suicide…"
Hearing that, I knew.
This is my opening.
Right now, to Cain, I would look like a man gambling his life on a reckless bluff against Lin Brans.
Hardly the face of someone planning a betrayal.
I'll use that exact point.
I opened my mouth, slowly.