Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: After the Personnel Were Decided
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After the personnel lineup was decided.
Since we were all gathered anyway, we decided to have dinner together.
It was the perfect opportunity, especially since it might be hard to get together like this for a while.
The food laid out in the dining hall drew exclamations from my vassals.
"Ooh, what is this? I thought I'd wandered into a party hall for a second."
Olaf said with an exaggerated expression.
"Was it all you, Miss Ymir?"
"No, Eonia made most of it."
Ymir was good at healthy food but not so much at greasy dishes. She said she unconsciously skimped on the seasonings.
That was why Eonia handled the food for occasions like this.
"Miss Mirabel? That's unexpected."
Everyone looked puzzled at the mention of Eonia's cooking.
Even Bisceta Clen had a baffled expression upon hearing Eonia had cooked.
"Just try it. Then you'll understand."
We decided not to bother with formal etiquette, so everyone sat down and started eating on their own.
Soon, exclamations of admiration rang out one after another.
"How about it? Eonia's cooking skills."
The reactions were blander than I'd expected.
Only Olaf put on a show with over-the-top responses like, "The food is dancing on my tongue." "It's better than any palace cuisine." "I'll eat all my meals at this mansion from now on."
'Hmm, the mood is stiff.'
We could say they weren't close enough yet.
Getting too chummy would be its own problem, but we needed at least some basic internal unity.
Above all, no one could be left out.
I had to pay attention to even those fine details. That was the position of a manager.
'There are four people who need attention.'
Ymir, Gaspar, Eonia, and Lisitea. These four had trouble mingling with the others.
Ymir was my family and exclusive maid, so she received respect from everyone, but her only personal connection was Eonia.
Even that felt like Eonia treated Ymir as her boss and was a bit scared of her.
Second, Gaspar wasn't the type who liked mingling to begin with.
No, he actually enjoyed it, but years of beastkin discrimination had left him with a hostile stance toward relationships.
'In that sense, recruiting Olaf was a stroke of genius.'
Olaf, who wanted to root out beastkin discrimination, didn't flinch no matter how prickly Gaspar got. By now, Gaspar even acknowledged Olaf as a drinking buddy, and they often went out for drinks after work.
Without Olaf, Gaspar might have ended up isolated.
'And with Aegert following Gaspar too, things should improve on that front bit by bit.'
The same went for Lisitea.
She was already fairly close with Estelle, and recruiting Ash later would make it even better.
The real problem was Eonia.
"Haa...."
I let out a sigh without realizing it.
What could I say about Eonia? She just wanted to stay by my side.
It wasn't a bad trait, but I wished she'd be a bit more proactive in building ties with the others.
"Lord Als. Is the food to your taste?"
"Yeah, it's delicious."
"Hehe...."
Even now.
She didn't care about anyone else's reactions.
'Could this be the influence of that magic too?'
The magic Eonia had cast on me. The one she called a moderate link magic. It might be affecting her.
When I casually asked Bisceta Clen about it, she rolled her eyes.
"Did Eonia tell you about that?"
"Yeah, I pressed her on it. She told me reluctantly."
"I see."
Bisceta Clen glanced at Eonia before speaking.
"I heard it from the Holy King by chance, but that magic is only for tracking. Nothing else."
"Pardon? But Eonia said if the target dies, she dies too."
"There's no way it's that terrifying. It's a distorted tale from Valkyries who took their own lives after their lords died. Eonia's so naive she believed it straight. That girl, honestly...."
"But Eonia said the Holy King of Kurabel refused it so she wouldn't shorten her own life."
"That was to stop her from doing something similar."
"Similar... you mean suicide?"
"Exactly."
Eonia had indeed done something similar. After the Holy King died and the kingdom fell, she'd thrown herself into a fire pit to keep her purity from Crossing's thugs.
If she'd had that magic on the Holy King then, she might have just ended her life outright instead of jumping into the flames.
I decided to ask Bisceta Clen more about the magic while I had the chance.
But she didn't know the details either.
"I've heard elves use a few kinds of magic, but I don't know much. Exchanges with elves had already dwindled long before I was born. Now they've completely vanished, and the palace library was burned by Crossing's army on the Holy King's orders, so no related books survive. However...."
"However?"
"I once heard from the Holy King that the elves made a secret storehouse in their forest."
"A secret storehouse.... Crossing didn't find it?"
"I don't know the location either, so it probably wasn't easy for Crossing."
An elven secret storehouse. It reeked of a lead.
I asked Bisceta Clen to guide me to Kurabel's ruins later.
"Very well. When the time comes, we'll bring Eonia along too."
I'd be swamped for the foreseeable future, so we set it tentatively for February next year.
*
*
*
As the mood warmed up, alcohol started flowing under Olaf's lead.
With the gathering turning rowdy like this, Bisceta Clen left first. Estelle and Lisitea did the same.
Estelle's eyes sparkled like she wanted to drink too, but Lutger Rosenberg would never allow it.
'Is every after-party the same everywhere?'
With alcohol in the mix, the atmosphere loosened, and laughter filled the air.
Everyone seemed confident in their drinking, so we'd brought out half the guest-entertaining stock.
I decided to call it first. Then Anton approached, carrying his child as if to escort me.
"I'll see you to your room."
"It's just upstairs. Anyway, don't you need to drink?"
"I want Illya to enjoy herself peacefully tonight. It's been tough for her lately."
"Haha, then I'll leave the cleanup to you. I'm heading up to rest."
"Yes, sir. Leave it to me."
I returned to my room and sat at my desk.
I decided to review the terrain maps, maybe run a simulation of this war.
'The fronts I'll handle are three to five....'
Basically three, but could stretch to five depending on the situation.
'That might leave us short on commanders. Guess we'll have to rely on the royal direct army's officers for that.'
Still, the odds of enemy forces reaching my position were slim.
My role was to block paths to the capital, so I was fundamentally in the rear.
Vurang's goal was plundering and seizing nearby territories, so they had no reason to push for the capital.
The variable was the extent of the West's involvement.
'The West wants this war to escalate.'
They might have plans to enlarge the battlefield.
That could be an opportunity for me.
I could observe Vurang's invading forces and guess which were the West's puppets.
I figured there was a high chance it would be the faction the protagonist belonged to.
"...."
I went to the wardrobe and pulled out the cleverly hidden book.
It was where I'd transcribed the game's story as I remembered it.
I decided to check how the story had diverged through it.
'First, the Bekavia War is gone, and now this war too. Neither was in the game.'
The major war scheduled after the Chimera War was the Tail War, with Euorope, Tunkai, Svenner, Albad, and Vurang joining in.
Around next fall.
Why Tail War? Tunkai invaded Albad, Europe struck Tunkai's rear seizing the chance, Svenner hit Europe's rear, and Vurang hit Svenner's.
A war of biting tails.
'This war probably won't happen now.'
Even if it did, it wouldn't be in the form I knew.
'I should view future events in broad strokes. More importantly....'
I looked up Vurang's characters.
Since I might face them in this war, I checked again.
'As expected, lots of them.'
Since the protagonist was Vurang-affiliated, most around him were too.
Roughly 70% Vurang, 30% others.
That was why few game characters were around me.
The 2nd part story was expanding the world right before the final update, so other nations' characters appeared en masse, but I didn't know that part.
As I reviewed Vurang's characters, I couldn't help but exclaim.
"Wow. Quite a few female characters."
Athena War Tales actually had few female characters for a male-oriented mobile game.
About 50-50 split overall, but compared to other games where 80-90% of mains were female, it was balanced.
And many females were domestic nobles, so pure combatants were 20% female, 80% male—actually few women.
"No, is this even a lot?"
In real history, female generals in war could be counted on one hand. Joan of Arc was the only one that came to mind.
This world had subtly more female commanders. Mercenaries too, and cases like Sophia Veron.
Excluding Ymir, I had three female warriors myself.
"I should note them down."
Currently, the protagonist had two major female warriors and two males by his side.
I memorized their traits in case we met on the battlefield.
That was when it happened.
"Lord Alth!"
Bang! Eonia flung open my door with a slurred voice.
"Eonia? Good grief. How drunk are you?"
"Hehe, not drunk at all...."
She didn't smell that strongly of alcohol. She was just weak to it.
"But why come to my room?"
"Because.... You said to come anytime, Lord Alth."
"Did I?"
"You did! During the Madon war! You said you'd teach me strategy!"
I didn't remember, but if so, then so be it.
"But learn strategy in that state? Better rest tonight."
I led her to my bed. Ymir would fetch her after a bit.
As I laid her down, Eonia hugged the blanket and curled up.
"Uhehehe. Smells like Lord Alth...."
"Good grief, so sloppy."
I tucked her in properly.
Soon, Ymir and Master Illya came up.
Master Illya chuckled dryly at the soundly sleeping Eonia.
"Who knew she'd pass out after just a few drinks? I should've stayed and drunk with the guys."
Ymir's face was flushed, so she was tipsy too.
Ymir hoisted the sleeping Eonia from my bed to take her to her own room.
But Eonia clung to my blanket so tightly she couldn't pry it loose.
"Uhehehe...."
Eonia rolled up in the blanket.
She was dragged out, blanket and all, with a happy look on her face.
*
*
*
The next day after the gathering.
While everyone nursed hangovers, I met with Juras, bringing Anton to discuss this matter.
Juras seemed to be enjoying the situation. He must have liked the West's scheme this time.
"You have to do this much to make it fun."
"You're quick to say that when you're not the one getting hit."
"Haha, it's partly your fault too? This was entirely predictable. Guderian Chester even leaked the info. Word is he bragged about it at the Caliper palace meeting. With that insight, you could've foreseen it, right?"
"That...."
I couldn't deny it. If I'd focused all my nerves there, I might have predicted and prepared.
I'd informed Duke Helian and assumed measures were taken, so I'd let my guard down.
Juras said with a mocking smile.
"Als, don't overrate others' abilities. When push comes to shove, the only one you can trust is yourself. Remember that."
"Yeah, yeah. Noted. So? Is Crossing's policy as I said?"
"Yes. We'll solidify southern defenses and slowly gather troops. About 20 days, as you predicted."
"What about intervening right away?"
"Not considering it. The southern territories play a key role in our future plans. No needless variables."
"Hmm."
Then Crossing wouldn't affect this war. Vurang would retreat when Crossing stirred.
"Oh, right. What about that thing I asked for on Casper Millias?"
Casper, rumored dead. Unsure if Salleon faction or Helian faction killed him—or if it was just rumor.
Juras curled his lip sinisterly.
"No need to worry about that. I handled it my way, thoroughly."
"Don't say it so ominously. Gives me chills."
"Heh."
But the real chilling part was this.
Juras presented a document as the main point.
It contained info on a person, a sketch, and what looked like a code phrase.
"Info on one of the spies I infiltrated into Vurang. Contact him if needed. He'll be useful."
"This...!"
I didn't know how to react.
The spy Juras offered.
It was one of the protagonist's close aides.