Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Runda's Dilemma
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"Eldar, do you think you can win this war?"
The one who had suddenly contacted him with that question was Runda.
Runda was dressed in her usual revealing outfit that exposed her shoulders and legs, but standing against the backdrop of the northern snow mountains, she looked quite cold.
Eldar noticed something different about her from the usual.
"You're wearing glasses?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I thought it'd make me look a bit more intellectual. What do you think? Do I?"
"If I explained it the way you just did, could you say the same to Lady Nebula?"
"...No."
"...You already know the reason yourself, don't you, Lady Runda?"
Runda folded her glasses and tossed them behind her back.
"Anyway, what do you think of my initial question?"
Eldar fell into thought.
It wasn't an easy question to answer without first testing whether it was really the case, and he suspected Runda had some ulterior motive.
Just like Eldar, Runda rarely initiated separate conversations with him under normal circumstances.
The two of them were bound together around Nebula—that is, Seong-un.
'Broadly speaking, we're both part of Lady Nebula's loose alliance...'
But there were fundamental differences between them.
Eldar had joined the loose alliance because he had received help from Seong-un.
There had been some plundering and oppression, but now Eldar viewed it all positively as tactical maneuvers.
Runda, on the other hand, had been caught by her weakness from the very start.
'For someone in that position, she's been quite cooperative and friendly toward Lady Nebula...'
From what he'd observed of Runda so far, it seemed genuine rather than feigned.
'But for her to reach out like this separately—does that mean her thoughts have changed about this situation?'
Eldar wasn't good at lying, so he decided to answer honestly.
"The situation is tough, isn't it?"
"It is."
Runda said.
"They haven't even gathered all their alliance forces yet, and they're already over 100,000 strong. Meanwhile, Blackscale barely has 20,000. That's not a small number, of course. If we think of it as a defensive war, it might be doable. But Blackscale gathers troops much faster and more efficiently, so it's questionable if we can muster any more."
Eldar agreed.
"But as you said, we won't fight just based on numbers. It's likely to turn into a defensive war. Plus, if we look at individual troops, two-fifths of the alliance forces are 'small stature'."
The 'small stature' Eldar referred to were the Renar and Kobolds.
The Renar and Kobolds also had size differences among themselves: specifically, Renar were 'small stature', and Kobolds were 'very small stature'.
Renar averaged 140 centimeters tall, Kobolds about 110 centimeters, which meant they were physically weaker as a drawback.
Runda shook her head horizontally.
"But by race ratio, one-fifth are 'large stature', aren't they?"
The 'large stature' Runda meant were Trolls.
Averaging 230 centimeters tall, they were representative of physically powerful races.
Of course, purely in terms of physique, Ogres surpassed them. Nearly 3 meters tall with hundreds of kilos of body weight, they had overwhelming physical abilities, but since they lacked the intelligence for warfare, they were generally excluded from major races.
Runda continued.
"Of course, accounting for everything, I admit Blackscale's Lizardmen, blessed with superior physical prowess, are excellent. And there are Chosen Ones scattered among them."
"Right?"
"But that's only an advantage up until recently."
Eldar looked puzzled for a moment before realizing what she meant and letting out an "Ah."
"Now that firearms have appeared, the Chosen Ones aren't such a big advantage anymore."
Chosen Ones.
They could harness the power of lightning through electrical mana, but the problem was they couldn't use that ability infinitely.
It consumed mental power, and to replenish mental power, they had to inhale special herbs.
That was why even Seong-un didn't rate the Chosen Ones highly.
Eldar recalled Seong-un's assessment.
'They're valuable for disrupting an enemy's charging cavalry temporarily or breaking their infantry formation, essentially acting like mobile artillery or tanks. But with only about ten of them, their tactical value is quite limited against tens of thousands of enemies. They'll seize high ground in a few battles, but the enemy can afford that much.'
Eldar thought for a moment before speaking.
"Ah, there's another advantage."
"What?"
"Divinity level."
The last time Eldar checked, Seong-un's divinity level was 21.
In contrast, Wisdom, the highest in the alliance, was at 19.
Eldar said.
"Higher divinity means more summons he can control. Combat-specialized summons are essentially siege weapons, stronger than hundreds of soldiers."
"But we have five gods over here?"
"No, but with Apostle Rakrak..."
As he continued, Eldar realized the source of the unease he'd felt earlier.
"Uh... five?"
"Yeah. The alliance has Wisdom, Ael, Jangwan, Krampus, and me—five in total."
Runda's expression was hard to read.
Eldar cleared his throat.
"S-So, you consider yourself 'for now' part of the alliance?"
"It's not 'for now'. I've been in the alliance from the start. Initially with Krampus, then Ael, Jangwan, and Wisdom joined later."
"Then your cooperation with Nebula until now..."
"You're not asking because you don't know, right? It's because she has my weakness!"
Runda shouted, her face turning a bit teary before she turned away, then turned back to Eldar and composed herself.
"Honestly, I don't know. For now, you're practically absorbed into Blackscale."
"...Absorbed. The word choice is a bit harsh, but accurate."
The North Coast city of Zarin, home to the Elves, maintained some independent color.
But if asked whether it was part of Blackscale or not, everyone saw it as Blackscale.
"But I'm not. Honestly, up until now, I didn't care either way. As long as I profited between the alliance and Nebula, it was fine. But if war breaks out?"
"Aha."
Eldar understood Runda's dilemma.
"You have to choose one side?"
"...Yeah."
Eldar stared at his palm as if an answer might be written there.
"If I stick with Nebula and she loses? Will Krampus and the others forgive me for all the info I've been feeding her?"
Eldar said.
"But if you stay fully with the five-alliance, won't... your weakness get exposed? Nebula won't just sit idly by."
"No. Back then, I planned to throw Krampus under the bus and side with Wisdom, but that's old news now. They might demand compensation, but I could get forgiveness."
"Haha... I see."
"Even with the weakness, I've consistently talked with Nebula, so I might know some info useful to the alliance. She shared her plans freely with me. That should be enough to survive."
Eldar smiled awkwardly, realizing Runda viewed human relationships very calculatively.
Beyond simple profit-loss judgments, she calculated how her actions shaped others' attitudes.
'Isn't that a talent in itself?'
But unlike relationships, Runda seemed bad at calculating wars.
Runda said.
"Honestly, at first glance, sticking with Nebula for a 4-vs-2 fight where she might win seems less likely than siding with the alliance for a 5-vs-1 where they win. I want to side with the winners."
"W-Well..."
"Pathetic? I know. The path to victory is always ugly."
Eldar wondered if it was that dramatic a line but didn't voice it.
"Thank you for sharing, but why tell me this?"
"We're in the same boat, aren't we?"
"Pardon?"
Runda said as if he should have known.
"The Elves control the North Coast, so demanding independence anytime wouldn't be weird."
"But we're under Blackscale's rule."
"Do you really think that? In war, control weakens inevitably. Perfect opportunity. And you've cooperated with Nebula, but not fully allied, right? If you've done even a little damage to her, the alliance would welcome you positively."
Eldar found her words reasonable upon hearing them.
It was a timing when the power dynamics of the Third Continent's gods would completely flip.
'But I won't betray Lady Nebula.'
Eldar thought Seong-un was a bit odd.
Even casual chats always veered into game play discussions.
Other topics were just Go, chess, or similar games.
He never talked about himself, leaving no chance for Eldar to share either.
He acted like someone who'd only played Lost World their whole life and suddenly dropped into this world.
'That can't be true.'
Yet Seong-un had his charms.
You couldn't see it from the person himself.
Eldar saw it through Seong-un's game play.
Even if everything was for victory, Eldar sensed something more in an inexplicable way.
'I don't know what it is yet...'
Eldar wanted to find out.
'In that case, this is the right response.'
Eldar said.
"I need some time to think about it too."
"...Okay?"
"It won't take long, so can you give me a little time?"
"Sure."
Eldar ended the video chat with Runda and immediately whispered to the next person.
Soon, a familiar face appeared in the video chat window.
"Eldar, what's up?"
It was Seong-un.
Eldar cleared his throat and said.
"Lady Runda seemed troubled."
"Troubled? What trouble? She was just telling you to join her. Wants a 6-vs-1 game."
Seong-un stated flatly, and Eldar replied.
"Still, isn't there room to persuade her?"
"There might be. But I have no intention of persuading her."
"Pardon? Why?"
Instead of answering immediately, Seong-un waved his hand.
"Runda's misreading the war situation from the start. She cited defense as my advantage."
"Yes. So?"
"You think we'll just get pummeled until it ends?"
"Huh?"
Seong-un explained.
"We have to defend, sure. The enemy will exploit every attack route. Letting them do that unhindered means we block their attacks on our weak routes by advancing ourselves."
"Ah."
"Plus, it's all-out war. Can't just turtle and wait for them to tire out. Meanwhile, they'll farm wider lands and trade. The isolated side suffers."
Eldar understood Seong-un's point.
"What about Lady Runda, then?"
"Persuasion's a waste. Runda's mind is simple."
"Not complicated?"
"Simple is right. She doesn't know the answer, so she thinks her calculations are complex. Just leave her. It's good. No need to bother persuading such a simple mind."
"What if she joins the alliance?"
Seong-un shook his head.
"She won't decide until the absolute last moment."
"Then what should I say?"
"Hmm, say this."
Seong-un said.
"Tell her you'll decide after seeing the outcome of the first battle. She'll do nothing until then. That's enough."
"Pardon? If we lose..."
Seong-un shook his head.
"Eldar, war is simple in the end. Calculations matter, but they're not enough. No matter how much one side has the edge and preparations..."
"Preparations...?"
Seong-un smiled.
"The side that fights better wins."
One month later.
Blackscale's 10,000 troops, departing from the wasteland, utterly crushed Dan Yeom's 30,000 in the first battle.