Spring in Luoyang (4)
The fierce woman, her jagged blonde mane spilling loose, huffed and demanded a rematch every time. And every time she boasted that this time she would teach him a real lesson.
The result, however, was defeat.
With today's loss, the score reached five battles, five defeats.
Hitting the hundred-pace target scored one point.
The three-hundred-pace target scored three points.
And striking the five-hundred-pace target scored five points.
It was natural that Lü Bu found herself at an overwhelming disadvantage. Up to three hundred paces she was practically a Hundred Shots, Hundred Hits markswoman, but the five-hundred-pace target was something she simply could not land.
Anyone who could do the arithmetic would give up.
Given the clear gap in skill, she might just as well have demanded a handicap, like a few stones in a game of go.
"Damn it! Another round!"
"How many times is this now... Could you be addicted to losing? I've heard of that."
"W-Who's addicted to losing?!"
"If not, fine."
And yet,
even after five straight losses, Lü Bu refused to abandon the contest.
Was it sheer competitiveness?
Or the desire for revenge, to knock that smug look off my face once and for all?
The more we went back and forth, the more I could feel her archery skills advancing by leaps and bounds. The gap in points, overwhelming at first, was steadily shrinking—concrete proof of the change.
'Anyway... she's insanely huge. A chest that could beat Liu Bei without even trying.'
While Lü Bu poured everything into her shooting stance,
I observed the violent breasts that swayed with each exhale.
Overwhelming in size.
That had been my impression from the moment I first saw Lü Bu.
If Liu Bei's chest size sat on the borderline between large and huge, it was no exaggeration to say that Lü Bu's comfortably entered the realm of the colossal. If Liu Bei were an F or G cup, then Lü Bu was a monumental H or I cup.
The astonishing thing was that despite her already monstrous size, there clearly remained room for further growth. She would probably get even bigger if she ever got pregnant.
Martial Might Pouches.
I decided to call Lü Bu's colossal chest the Martial Might Pouches.
"What are you staring at? It's the Greatest Archer Under Heaven old man's turn to shoot."
"Indeed."
She'd already finished shooting, huh.
I'd been staring so intently at her colossal breasts I'd entered a trance.
Could this be part of the Beauty Trap ploy?
Every time those huge pouches swayed before my eyes, it was impossible not to let my concentration waver.
"You lost again!"
Of course, I never lost.
Because Hundred Shots, Hundred Hits means a realm where an arrow never misses.
I placed every arrow only into the five-hundred-pace target. Looking at the target bristling with my black-fletched shafts, Lü Bu exploded with fresh fury.
"S-So... what utterly preposterous humiliation do you have in store for me this time?"
"Hmm."
Drawing on her face.
Jumping in place.
Flicking her forehead, and so on.
Every time I accepted her request for a rematch, the penalties grew more varied.
What should I make her do this time?
Whenever that sharp, gallant heroine's face shifted into shame and embarrassment, I savored a deep satisfaction and the thrill of conquest. Locking eyes with Lü Bu as she waited for her punishment with a sullen expression, I presented my new demand.
"Gege."
"What?"
"From now on, you will address me as Gege."
"Y-You're insane! Absolutely not! We are enemies! Right now, we're merely testing our skills for a moment... Any second, we could be locked in bloody combat on the battlefield, and no one would bat an eye!!"
Gege.
Originally, it's a term for an older brother.
But as older-younger lovers began using it as a casual endearment, it also turned into a pet name. Lü Bu, who couldn't possibly be ignorant of that fact, turned bright red and protested vehemently.
"It's simply a form of address. I'm not demanding you withdraw your army, nor am I asking you to betray Dong Zhuo and surrender to the Coalition. I believe I've drawn a strict line between public and private matters."
"W-Well, that may be true, but—!"
If she'd been a sharp-witted Talented Woman, she would have mounted a thorough counterargument and immediately demolished my sophistry. But regrettably, Lü Bu was a person whose Intelligence and Politics stats fell far short of her peerless Martial Power and Leadership.
『Name: Lü Bu (Fengxian)』
-Ability Scores
Leadership: 95
Martial Power: 108 (100+8)
Intelligence: 26
Politics: 13
Charm: 32
-Traits
War God: Guarantees proficiency with all troop types.
Peerless Under Heaven: When ambushing a unit commanded by a general with Martial Power of 78 or lower (108-30), a very high probability of inflicting Confusion. Also grants a very high probability of landing a critical hit against hostile armies.
Lü Bu Among Men: Guarantees bonus Martial Power whenever a Duel is initiated against a hostile officer. Strengthens Lü Bu's Martial Power during the Duel by 10. During a Duel: Martial Power 118 (108+10).
-Item
Sky-Piercing Halberd
Martial Power: +8
The weapon wielded by the Peerless Under Heaven Lü Bu, with sharp halberd blades mounted on both sides.
'No matter how many times I look, those stats and traits are just absurd... As expected, she's the ultimate overpowered character who's received one outrageous buff after another with every installment of the series. The moment a Duel is declared, Lü Bu's Martial Power rockets straight to 118.'
She grinds hostile officers with low Martial Power to paste in an instant.
It's the purest contempt for the weak.
Displaying flawless mastery with all troop types, cavalry included, and gaining bonus Martial Power the moment any Duel begins, she could even casually slaughter gamers who'd maxed out every Ability Score.
'There's a saying: Lü Bu is the strongest when used as an officer, but the weakest when used as a lord.'
As a general, she was, naturally, overwhelmingly the strongest. Unless someone brought in the historical Conqueror of Chu, Xiang Yu, no one could ever defeat Lü Bu in a head-on contest.
However,
as a lord, she boasted the worst reputation imaginable.
She cannot recruit talented people.
Because the lord's Charm stat is so abysmally low, the probability of a successful recruitment is near rock bottom.
In the end, the direction of unifying the realm in Three Kingdoms is decided by the exploits and military achievements of its S-rank talents. That's why, when playing as Lü Bu's faction, even if you keep winning battles, the anemic internal administration causes your troops and supplies to deplete so fast that collapse is inevitable.
'That's why they say the only way is to turn the lord Lü Bu into a figurehead as quickly as possible and lead the faction in her stead. Establishing the Puppet Emperor Liu Xie as your nominal head to call in talents is the best method.'
Lü Bu's faction.
A playthrough for masochists who enjoy thrills and danger, and essentially no one else.
Chen Gong? Zhang Liao?
If the boneheaded lord refuses to take any advice whatsoever, what difference would it make even if you installed Zhuge Liang as strategist?
A catastrophic hybrid group, run with the Martial Power of an S-rank advisor and the Intelligence of an S-rank general. That's why gamers who played Lü Bu's faction were all subjected to scathing assessments: eccentric, a goddamn nutcase.
"So, your answer?"
"G-Gege... Gege...! Fine, I just have to call you Gege, right?!"
Only when the two of us are alone.
The heroine, her slender face dyed crimson, tacked on that condition.
Hmph.
Guess I have no choice but to accept.
If I don't meet that condition, she'd sooner bite her own tongue and die than ever address me that way.
* * *
The Coalition Army's triumphant advance ground to a lull once they were blocked by the Iron Cavalry of Bing Province and the cavalry legions of Xiliang.
The lords of Guandong accepted this without complaint.
With the annihilation of Yuan Shu's and Wang Kuang's armies, the plains of Luoyang had been buried beneath mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The evidence of one-sided slaughter was too stark; none of the more faint-hearted lords dared to argue for an all-out battle.
"The longer we squander our days, the more the troops' once-high morale will plummet. And more than anything, I'm worried about the coalition's provisions. Do you really think a miser like Han Fu or a man like Tao Qian will keep sending the grain we need to sustain this army?"
Han Fu, Governor of Ji Province.
Tao Qian, Inspector of Xu Province.
The armies of Han Fu and Tao Qian had promised to continuously supply us with matériel instead of leading their troops into battle. But it was a promise lacking any enforcement; the supply line could be severed at any time.
To make matters worse, Han Fu was a petty, small-minded man of miserly disposition, and Tao Qian was an ambitious schemer who ignored benevolence and righteousness to chase his own practical gain. Entrusting our supply lines to such men was an incredibly reckless gamble.
"You're right, Mengde. The moment the war situation shifts dramatically, they'll cut the supply lines in a heartbeat."
The reason Han Fu and Tao Qian were currently supporting us with both matériel and goodwill was because of the victory dispatch we'd achieved at the Battle of Yangren, where we'd routed the Commander, Hua Xiong. If the Coalition had produced nothing but sluggish, inconsequential results, Han Fu and Tao Qian would have long since cut the supplies on some pretext or other.
The scale of the Coalition Army had swelled well past a hundred thousand.
Consequently, the daily consumption of grain and forage by the troops was monstrous.
The materials shipped from the rich granaries of Chen Kingdom alone were woefully insufficient. If Han Fu and Tao Qian were to unilaterally cut off supplies, the Coalition Army before Luoyang would collapse from starvation.
"Simple enough. We simply cut the rations, then replace the missing amount with the supply officer's head."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, never mind. I was just thinking out loud."
"..."
The beautiful, raven-haired woman said this with a blood-curdling smile.
At which the Coalition's Deputy Alliance Leader felt a chill of dread run down his spine.
"From the Alliance Leader... have we received no word from Liu Seong-hwi and the main force?"
"Not that I know of. But one thing is certain: he's waiting for something. Though I can't begin to guess what he's scheming."
The longer the standoff continued, the more our resources would inevitably be squandered.
There was no way the Hero of the South wouldn't know that.
He was waiting for something.
To be precise, he seemed to be waiting for movement from within Dong Zhuo's army.
"Sister, the scouts have returned. They say they've detected suspicious activity in Luoyang City."
"Suspicious activity?"
A more lethal threat than the Dong Zhuo army at the front was probably the Han Fu and Tao Qian armies at our rear. One way or another, we had to force a conclusion at Luoyang before the coalition's supplies were cut.
Just as the Deputy Alliance Leader and the General Who Displays Martial Might were discussing that worst-case scenario,
the scouts who'd been keeping an eye on the Luoyang direction arrived.
Cao Hong glanced at Yuan Shao's expression, then reported to her older cousin, Cao Cao.
"Ahem!"
"It's all right, Zilian. What anomaly did the scouts detect?"
"They say that hundreds of wagons have been traveling back and forth between Chang'an and Luoyang. The number of wagons passing through the main roads has increased tremendously in recent days."
"Likely they're concentrating matériel from Liang Province and Yong Province into Luoyang City. Could Dong Zhuo's army be preparing for a full-scale battle...?"
No—
Cao Hong shook her head at her cousin's words.
"They're not shipping supplies into Luoyang. They say they're moving Luoyang's resources to Yong Province and Liang Province. In particular, they're intensively transporting the gold, silver, and treasures looted from the royal tombs of past emperors and feudal lords."
"Could it be... they're trying to flee to Chang'an City?"
They were abandoning the Luoyang front and pulling back to Chang'an.
Or, perhaps, it was a feint, meant to lure our army deep into their territory.
Whatever the case, it was clearly an ominous and unusual development.
Cao Cao immediately dispatched a messenger to the Coalition Alliance Leader.