Regular Meeting / The Asius Army (1)
The road to the royal palace of Valharat Castle was not so different from Anel Castle.
If there was one difference, it was that somehow, a great many familiar faces kept catching my eye.
Having played Garand Eternity Saga — a game that recycled the same officers over and over — I recognized the owners of those faces one after another as they came into view.
As expected of the Asius Army. A true treasure trove of talent.
The Asius Army's keyword was "exceptional talent." Their foundation was pitifully weak, but they covered for it with sheer quality of personnel and still managed to aim for continental unification. A bit of hand-holding was required, but they weren't that hard to play — the perfect mid-tier lord faction, if you wanted a convenient way to think about them.
And so we arrived before the castle gates.
A single guard stepped forward to bar our path.
"State your identities."
"Airen Juliette. I have not been here long."
"And him?"
"My name is Swen. Like Lady Airen beside me, I only recently joined the Asius Army."
"Airen Juliette… Swen… Please wait a moment."
The guard stepped into a small room off to the side. A short while later he emerged, having apparently confirmed something, and saluted us.
"My apologies for the delay. Welcome."
"Mm."
We offered the guard a brief nod and entered the royal palace where the council was to be held. Before long we reached the audience chamber that seemed to be the meeting place.
Airen and I found seats among the assembled officers. Once settled, I slowly surveyed the people present.
Whoa.
Nearly every face was one I knew. I almost let out a gasp of admiration without meaning to.
The most eye-catching of them all was, of course, the Asius Army's second-in-command — Epinel Rosencross. Teal hair tied in a ponytail, clad in that characteristically revealing armor of hers, she stood with her eyes closed and arms folded, waiting for the meeting to begin.
Across from her was another woman. Dark blue hair, long and wavy. That had to be Emma Adlan — one of the few officers who, like Airen, specialized in siege warfare. Standing there in her solid armor, she gave off a presence remarkably similar to Airen's. The only real difference was chest size. Emma had a fairly ordinary figure; Airen, by contrast, looked like she would never fit into anything that wasn't custom-forged.
And next to her, an enormous man. Messy black hair, towering height, a powerfully muscled frame, and eyes that seemed faintly steeped in melancholy. I didn't tend to commit male characters' faces to memory, so I couldn't be certain — but the odds were high that this was Ernandof Arisian.
In pure Martial strength, he was the strongest fighter in the Asius Army. Throw him into a one-on-one duel and he would reliably pull his weight — a solid, dependable workhorse of an officer. His personality was less reckless than Chel of the Brans Army, which made him relatively easy to control. Unfortunately, his Intelligence was low, and I still remembered how easily he fell for schemes.
Epinel. Emma. And Ernandof.
Those three together were called the Asius Three Heroes. That wasn't something I just made up — it was written right there in the in-game character introductions.
Most of the other officers looked familiar as well. Seeing them all gathered like this, I was struck anew by just how few truly outstanding officers the Brans Army had possessed. They had plenty of people, sure — but almost none of those faces had stuck in my memory.
Some time passed.
"Lady Yuuri enters!"
At the soldier's cry, Yuuri walked toward the empty throne.
"Hm?"
Wait a second.
That old man following behind her…?
A long white beard, a hat pulled low over his brow — that distinctive figure…
"Do you think Intelligence 99 is so easy to handle?"
…Ah!
Right. I remembered now.
That old man… was Zinor.
An old man with Intelligence 99 — essentially the maximum value the game allowed. How could I forget the man who had shoved me into this world in the first place? Of course, whether this world's Zinor knew anything about that was another matter entirely.
So his full name was… Zinor Nighthart, wasn't it?
Wait.
Nighthart?
Ah! Ah! Ah!
That's right. Nighthart — Zinor's family name. Of course it would stick in my memory. And Reika's surname was definitely Nighthart as well.
What, then? Was she Zinor's daughter? His granddaughter?
No… but Reika was an orphan. That much I was certain of. Having played as various lords and made use of Reika more times than I could count, I was absolutely sure of that fact.
What the hell is going on?
Apparently, while I had been with the Brans Army, events on this side had been progressing in their own way. I had never even imagined Zinor would be here with the Asius Army.
Still, Zinor's presence neatly resolved one of the questions that had been nagging at me.
Back when I was with the Brans Army, Charam's sudden offer of tribute had allowed me to deduce that someone was employing a Betrayal Stratagem. But a Betrayal Stratagem required Intelligence of 95 or higher and the Betrayal specialty. Was there a strategist of that caliber in the Asius Army?
Zinor was the perfect answer. With Intelligence 99 and a versatile array of specialties, he was more than capable of devising such a scheme.
Yuuri settled slowly onto the throne and looked out over us.
"Well. Thanks for gathering even though you're all busy. We'll start the meeting right away. But before we get into it — we'll go over last month's merit awards first. That all right?"
"Yes!"
The merit awards weren't particularly important. What stood out most was the performance of the Three Heroes, Epinel included. Even in this world-line, they seemed to be delivering peak results in their respective roles.
"Now, about the policy from last meeting. You've all worked incredibly hard. We failed to take the Brans Army, but we still achieved some impressive results elsewhere. I hope you'll keep performing at this level going forward."
As someone who had contributed significantly to their failure to push into the central continent, I felt a little awkward. But this was my home now.
"All right. Let's collect opinions on what we should do next. Anyone have a good idea?"
"My lord."
The first to raise his hand at Yuuri's words was Zinor.
"Yes?"
"An auspicious energy can be felt within the lands of Valharat. Exploring the castle and the territory itself would not be a poor course of action."
"Exploration, huh…"
Hm? Strategists rarely recommended territory exploration. There were only two reasons they ever did: either a hidden talent was present, or there was treasure.
Then—
"Yuuri. I've got something to say too."
Not "my lord," but "Yuuri" — Emma raised her hand, addressing her by name. And she was using casual speech, not formal language.
It wasn't a completely unfamiliar sight. Tifa had spoken that way back in the Lunarien force. But Lunarien had essentially been a four-person club. This was the Asius Army, an organization of some real scale. Even for a trusted general, talking like that seemed… questionable.
Yuuri herself, however, didn't seem bothered in the slightest. She simply nodded.
"What is it?"
"I think we should clean up the Charam Army and the Allepel Army. Keeping them around has no more value. We delayed the invasion in the first place because of schemes and whatnot, right? We're going to clash hard with the Brans Army soon. I'd like to eliminate any lingering threats before then."
"Hmm."
Yuuri nodded thoughtfully.
"Anyone else want to speak?"
A brief silence passed. When no one else spoke up, the meeting continued.
"All right. First — raise your hand if you think exploring the area around Valharat Castle is the better option. Just a light show of hands."
Territory exploration, huh.
It had been a while since I'd had a chance to put my power to use.
Is exploring the territory of Valharat the most efficient choice?
As always, my Intelligence 100 mind spat out an instant answer.
[TRUE]
Oh.
It had been a long time since I'd gotten such a clean, unambiguous answer. Then again, the speaker was Zinor — I had expected as much. His Intelligence was 99. In this world, that meant his words were correct ninety-nine percent of the time. Unless you were banking on that one-percent chance, following his advice was simply the right call.
I slowly raised my hand. Including Airen beside me, a little over half the room raised theirs. It seemed Zinor had a solid base of trust within the army.
Yuuri scanned the room once, then spoke again.
"Next. Raise your hand if you think we should deal with the Charam Army and the Allepel Army."
The result was already decided, but I figured I might as well ask.
Is prioritizing the conquest of the Charam Army and the Allepel Army the most efficient choice?
[FALSE]
Getting the answer I'd expected brought a strange sense of relief. Regardless of my prediction, a roughly equal number of people raised their hands this time as well. But counting carefully… it looked like one or two fewer than the previous proposal.
So would majority rule carry Zinor's proposal?
But—
"Hmm…"
Instead of saying something like "By majority vote, we'll adopt Zinor's proposal," Yuuri fell into thought, clearly deliberating.
Was this even something that needed deliberation? In council meetings, the majority opinion was almost always selected. Doing otherwise risked lowering officers' loyalty or damaging relationships — so from a lord's perspective, simply following the majority was the profitable move. Officers, for their part, still had avenues like one-on-one debates to persuade others even if they lost the vote.
But—
"Zinor. I think you'll need to yield this time. It's Emma's suggestion, after all — not just anyone's. You don't mind, do you?"
"How could I object, my lord? I shall follow your will."
Hearing Zinor's reply, Yuuri nodded and turned to address the rest of us.
"This time, I'll adopt Emma's proposal. Reclaiming the territories of the Charam Army and the Allepel Army. To achieve our goals, I want each of you to work hard in your respective positions. Understood?"
"Yes! Understood!"
…?
Not a single person raised an objection. She simply decided things her way, and that was the end of it.
If this was how it was going to go, what was the point of collecting everyone's opinions in the first place? And that phrasing — "not just anyone's, but Emma's." Did that mean she wouldn't have needed to yield if it had been some third party instead?
I felt like I was catching a glimpse of something fundamental about the Asius Army's structural problems… but I still lacked enough information to draw any real conclusions.
In any case, the meeting continued. The one thing worth remembering was that Epinel, as fortress commander, requested an additional ten thousand soldiers from Valharat Castle be deployed to her fortress. With roughly fifty-three thousand troops currently stationed at Valharat, sending them shouldn't have been much of a burden — but the way Yuuri agreed to it so immediately still bothered me. It seemed the influence of the Asius Three Heroes ran even stronger here than I had imagined.
And so the meeting came to an end. Yuuri rose from her seat and addressed us.
"I've already assigned each of you your duties, so check them on your way out. That concludes the meeting. Ah, and—"
She looked directly toward where I was sitting.
"Swen. Stay behind for a moment."
"…?"
At those few words, every officer in the room turned their gaze on me. Being suddenly thrust into the spotlight was a little disorienting, but when your lord says jump, a general's only fate is to jump.
"Understood."
"Good. Everyone else is dismissed."
"Understood!"
With that final exchange, the assembled officers offered their parting salutes and filed out of the audience chamber one by one. I told Airen I'd be out shortly and that she was free to go on ahead, then remained until the last of them had left.
The audience chamber fell quiet. The only people remaining were myself, Zinor, and Yuuri — three in total.
I approached her throne naturally.
"What is it you need of me?"
"Swen. There's something I want to ask you."
"What might that be…?"
"Well — it's more his question than mine, actually."
Yuuri turned her head slightly to look at Zinor beside her.
What? Zinor had something to say to me?
For some reason, that line about Intelligence 99 being so easy to handle flashed through my mind again.
Zinor offered me a light bow, then walked slowly in my direction.
"You are Lord Swen, correct?"
"That is correct."
"…"
Why… why? What was this?
Zinor looked at me and spoke in a tone of the utmost caution.