Chapter 148: Checkmate, you bastard! (3)
Imperial Year 376, July 17th.
Sispa read the letter that flew in via kite.
“Did the hole in your shoulder feel refreshing? I’ll pierce the other side too. To Pilledvan Bre Salain, from the commander of the rebel army whose title has been revoked.”
“Where did you sell your dignity? To a junk dealer in the Imperial Capital perhaps?”
“How should we reply?”
“You didn’t get hit enough back then. Wait, I’ll spank you. To the young master who trembled and cried out in defeat to Arisein Herduke.”
Explosive laughter filled the meeting room, and Sispa wrote a reply with a grin. While she was writing, I spoke to the people in the meeting room.
“This confirms it. The enemy commander is an idiot who can’t distinguish between being part of a group and being an individual.”
“But why did you remove ‘Pen’? The Azot Royal Family gave it to you.”
“Aila, leave out irrelevant remarks. Tsk, if I claim a connection with them, our relationship will become awkward. Anyway, it’s now certain that the enemy commander, Pilledvan Bre Salain, rushed here to settle a personal grudge he had with me.”
“Or he made us think so.”
“Good point, Lucy. But either way, it’s irrelevant to the operation. Right?”
Lucy nodded with a satisfied expression. The fatigue that had been on his face until this morning was now gone. His condition seems to be fine.
On the wall of the meeting room hung a map that was created a week ago. The map drawn on the cloth had several layers of cloth behind it so that pins could be inserted.
The map, drawn with the river as its center, had horizontal and vertical lines creating squares, 16 squares across and 8 squares down. It looked like two chessboards put together.
“I will now explain the operation. They must have observed us from their headquarters using Farsight. Therefore, they will think we don’t have ships to carry out a river crossing operation. Naturally. Because we don’t have any ships. And we don’t need ships to cross this river.”
Ships float on water, so anything that floats on water can replace a ship. It would be even better if people could stand on it.
“Immediately after sunset, the 1104th Unit under First Sword Luxilen will begin the operation. All work must be completed within one hour. Simultaneously, the 1024th Unit will initiate crossing the river sequentially and assemble at point I8.”
“It’s the Long-Range Mobile Strike Patrol Unit.”
“It’s too long, so I omitted it. I’ll omit it from now on. As soon as the 1024th Unit finishes assembling, the 1087th Unit will cross the river at I3 and H6 under the command of First Sword Doreneu Exofi.”
The horizontal lines were assigned alphabets, and the vertical lines were assigned numbers. A is where Pilledvan’s camp is located, and P, the 16th, is here.
The overall composition is similar to the serial killer arrest I conducted in the Imperial Capital. The only difference is that the scale has increased significantly. Nevertheless, it feels familiar, perhaps because I’ve done it once before.
“The 1099th Unit will begin crossing the river 30 minutes later. Move stealthily from H1 to D1. The 1144th Unit will cross the river with the 1099th Unit and advance north from H4 to H5. Secure the Pipe Road. This completes the basic deployment. Any questions?”
Everyone in the meeting room was familiarizing themselves with their respective routes while looking at the pieces of paper with pins that had moved on the map. Then First Sword Martin raised his hand.
“Sudo-nim, I have a question.”
“What is it, First Sword Martin?”
“What do we do after that?”
“Your bracelets will answer that. Those bracelets are communication bracelets meticulously crafted over the past few days by my friend and high-ranking mage, Kersilla Creon. Activating the magic engraved on the bracelet allows for communication for 24 hours. I will give orders directly in real-time on the field.”
Lucy waved to the people, and they nodded with a look of understanding. First Sword Toledo, in particular, looked bewildered.
“To give orders directly in real-time…… that’s amazing. I never thought of that. With this method, we can move organically in a wide operational area.”
“I used my head a little. But this method won’t work once we enter a legion-level battle. There will be confusion in communication. And in a large-scale battle at the legion level, the field commander’s improvisation is more important.”
First Sword Toledo nodded as if he understood. The look on his face, which had been pondering why such a convenient method hadn’t been used before, relaxed.
“Um, Sudo-nim, but how do we confirm our location? The operation will take place at night. Considering it’s a surprise attack, we won’t be able to see anything.”
“Don’t worry about that either, First Sword Aranas. I will track the location of your bracelets and find out.”
The five First Swords looked impressed. I pointed to the map again and said.
“The objective of the operation is here. Point B4. The goal is to raid the enemy headquarters and capture the leader, Pilledvan Bre Salain alive. Go in like assassins, but come out more proudly than the Emperor. 4.5 kilometers from A to I. Each square is 500 meters long. Keep this distance in mind. Have you all devised ways to identify each other?”
Because it’s nighttime, there will be times when it’s impossible to distinguish between friend and foe. To prevent that confusion, I told them to create something visually identifiable in addition to a password.
The five First Swords nodded, as if they had each devised their own methods.
“Good. Any other questions? If not, dismissed. Each unit should remember their initial crossing point and think about the objective of the operation. That is all. Everyone to their ready positions.”
“Yes, sir!”
The five First Swords saluted in unison.
After they left, Aila and Lucy remained in the meeting room. The others are currently preparing separately.
“Aila, Lucy, are you ready?”
“Of course. If you make me work like this and I can’t do anything, these muscles of Lucy-nim will cry! Umhahaha!”
“Ah, that was my line!”
“Do your muscles cry too?”
For a moment, a strange thought crossed my mind, but I just let it go. If I were to throw Aila and Lucy in the middle of the stage of a packed Imperial Capital theater, they would be able to captivate the audience and drive them into a frenzy of laughter within 30 seconds.
Anyway, these two remaining people have helped a lot with today’s plan. With Aila’s assistance, Lucy was able to demonstrate his considerable skills.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that Aila’s true ability might be supporting people.
Her diverse knowledge, endless information network, and ability to apply them in various fields are helpful to anyone and always yield good results.
How much help have I received from her so far? And there has never been a time when things didn’t go well when she helped. Moreover, Aila’s greatest virtue is that she never takes center stage while helping.
Thinking about it that way, tonight’s operation seems likely to succeed as well.
“So, are you two ready? We three need to move together today.”
“As for the rest…… I see. Hehe. Looks like some corporate secrets will be revealed today. Risel, how are you going to repay me?”
“I’ll make it up to you with my body later.”
With over 5,000 allies, it’s difficult for me to handle them all by myself. And Aila can make judgments as well as I can and understands my thoughts well.
She’s the best helper, almost like a clone of me.
“Wait! Then switch with me! Risel, you already have a dozen women!”
“I don’t even have two, let alone twelve?”
“Lies! You have at least five!”
“Huh?”
I briefly counted the women around me. Then I immediately stopped. Why am I seriously counting this! Who seriously counts this kind of thing!
“Oh my? Wasn’t it four including me?”
You’re counting. But Aila, why are you included!
“Think carefully. There’s one more.”
“Is that so? Oh dear. I can’t believe there’s an error in my information. Sky Ears needs to work harder.”
I could feel her firm determination in the way she clenched her fist and looked at the setting sun outside the window, but I don’t want to be impressed by something like this.
“Risel, I’ll work hard, even though I’m smaller than Ibi-unni.”
“No, I mean, forget about working hard……”
“Do you like small breasts?”
“If you ask me which one I prefer, I definitely prefer big ones, but, Kyaaah! Why do I have to agree with you!”
At the sight of her going ballistic as if she was about to breathe fire into the sky, the two of them laughed triumphantly. Aila and Lucy looked at each other and then bumped their fists like old comrades.
“Not bad, huh?”
“You too. I’ll be asking for your help often in the future.”
“If the situation allows. Ho ho.”
“Hoo, today’s ally can be tomorrow’s enemy, huh? That’s interesting.”
I guarantee that if Lucy were to attack Aila while lighting a cigarette, he would collapse like a cigarette butt before he could finish smoking it.
I clapped my hands lightly to get their attention. I’m bored, you know? Pay attention to me.
“That’s enough of the skit. We should get ready.”
“Oooh! Let’s do our best!”
“Yeah. But won’t Ibi-unni be upset?”
Levidian and I have been separated from the beginning.
Lately, I’ve been feeling a sense of distance from her, as if we haven’t been working together much.
I miss the times when we fought back-to-back.
However, I’ve prepared something to blow away even that feeling of loneliness today. I prioritized preparing what was necessary, and it just so happened to coincide with what I wanted to do.
How could there be a more enjoyable situation than this?
I chuckled and said with a confident smile.
“Hehe. When the second act begins, she and I will be the main characters.”
Let’s go! The stage of Arisein, the chess player of the Herduke family, begins!
“River crossing operation complete. All units moving to designated positions. No friction so far.”
“No movement from the Western Army. They probably didn’t think we would attack on a day like this? Their guard is a bit lax.”
“They must be tired from cleaning the Pipe Road. Thank you. Because we’ll be using that Pipe Road.”
It’s the middle of the night, the guard is lax, and each unit is moving several kilometers away. It would be strange if they were discovered.
Of course, this means that each unit can’t see themselves either, but Aila manages that. She gives instructions while checking the location of each unit in real-time. So even though they can’t see, they can still move. There’s moonlight too.
The 32,000-strong army is in formation, stretching along the Pipe Road. And then, they form a circle where Pilledvan is, making it look like a round flask.
Seeing the bonfires lined up like that reminds me of the scene I saw before I died. The barracks and bonfires lined up in preparation for war, and the soldiers passing between them.
We are currently at location F6 on the map. There’s a high peak here, offering a good view of the area below, but it’s a unique terrain where it’s difficult to see this place from below.
Lucy used some magic here, and even if we light a fire, they won’t be able to spot us from below.
I brought the map from the meeting room, cut in half. This really looks like a chessboard, doesn’t it? I didn’t intend to match the theme, but I also took out chess pieces from my backpack. I carved them large enough to pass the time for a few days. Lucy grinned when he saw them.
“Wow, this brings back memories, doesn’t it?”
“Right? You could say today is a larger version of that. On a much larger scale.”
“Oh, so a bigger demon is coming out today?”
“The continent would be wiped out if we try to match that scale.”
Unless the Demon King appears, it would be incredibly difficult to match the scale. And if the Demon King appears, I doubt even Namias could handle him, even if she summoned Lynin.
Well, let’s stop with the useless thoughts.
I grabbed the bracelet and concentrated.
“Each First Sword, report in order of your unit.”
「First Sword Dregorn Martin, no issues. Wow, but I can hear really well?」
Starting with First Sword Martin, all five First Swords reported no issues.
For reference, these bracelets are all linked so that they can hear each other’s reports. Ideally, I would have liked to connect only to mine, but I gave up on the idea of driving Lucy to death.
Aila checked the blue dots that appeared on the mirror, the location of each Cheonbyeongjang, and relayed it briefly.
“All units in position. Deployment complete. Awaiting orders.”
“Hmm. Good. From now on, we will commence Operation ‘Chaos Game’.”
“Oorah! Let’s play a game of chaos!”
Lucy rolled up his sleeves and exclaimed enthusiastically. I chuckled and placed a Knight, a Bishop, two Rooks, and a Pawn on the 64-square map.
There’s no movement from the Western Army.
Because they would have judged that we don’t have rafts or anything like that, and they’re in the midst of establishing tactics on how we would stop their river crossing.
But there are rafts.
To say that something floats on water means it pushes the water away. And Atzuma City has been protected by something that’s been pushing water away until now.
The palisade that was used as a barrier.
The Western Army seemed to think of it as a kind of outer wall, but unfortunately, that deduction was off the mark.
The barrier, which was built surrounding the city in a large circle, was swiftly dismantled by First Sword Luxilen’s 1104th Engineering Corps as soon as the sun set.
The lumber, which had been perfectly waterproofed with pitch, carried 3,600 soldiers across the river tonight.
The idea of tearing down the barrier to make rafts…… Well, I wonder if it’s also proof that I don’t consider military supplies that important? Hehe.
“1144 move to F4, 1087 backup H4, 1099 standby to move to D2, 1104 move to F1. Engage if detected.”
I told the First Swords to omit their responses unless they had something specific to report. I can’t see who’s moving where in the darkness, but I gave the next order.
“1024 attack and move to H6. Distract them appropriately.”
A moment of silence followed.
This dark chaos game begins with the long-range specialized unit firing the first arrow.
Come on, quickly. Quickly!
My heart pounds, and my eyes, looking at the map, don’t stay in one place.
Can I dominate this war?
No, get a grip.
Anxiety, frustration, despair, all of you stay down there on the floor.
Don’t crawl up and grab my ankles.
I didn’t have the time to spare for you before, and I won’t in the future either.
I am the master of this war.
I will control and manage it.
“H6 is shaking! The surrounding soldiers are panicking!”
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