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Volume 6 Chapter 3 Part 1

Translator: Kell | Editor: Ryunakama

Approximately ten minutes had passed since we secured the king. We were in the same room as before, trying to figure out what the enemy was doing.

“They’re not doing anything…”

The enemy must surely have noticed that we’ve got the king. While I was discussing future plans with the king, the enemy seemed to be moving around in a hurry. But for a while now, they haven’t shown any movement at all.

“Perhaps everyone is in their positions, waiting for us to make a move?” the king said.

“That’s highly likely,” I replied. “They’re lying in wait.”

Looking closely, the enemy was in position for an efficient ambush. For example, this room’s exit—it’s arranged in such a way that the moment you step outside, you’ll be pinned down from both sides.

A basic of long-range combat. With no AoE spell that can disarm both directions at once, I can kill whoever’s on one side, but the other can still attack. Clearly, the one lying in ambush has the advantage.

“What should we do?” Sachylis asked.

If the enemy was attacking us, we could just destroy every last one of them, but if they were waiting for us, it would be difficult to fight.

I can use Magic Veil to block attacks, but that Skill consumes considerable amount of mana, so it would not be a good idea to use it with such a large difference in numbers.

One possible strategy is to have Mylia barge in from the outside. There are many people in Count Meigis’ army who are stronger than Sachylis. They can even disguise themselves.

But I still chose Sachylis because she can serve as my communications officer with the outside.

The formation the enemy took in preparation for my offensive is vulnerable to attack from the outside. If we get Mylia to launch an assault from behind them, it would be easy to break the formation.

But Mylia has other duties as well. If possible, I’d like to try other methods.

I sat down on a chair in the room. “Let’s eat for now,” I said.

I took out some food from my magic storage. I had heard that there were various delicious food in the royal capital, but unfortunately, I didn’t have time to buy them. I brought some food from back in the Count’s place, though.

“Good idea,” Sachylis said. “I’ll put up a soundproofing spell.”

After setting up the spell, Sachylis started eating the food I took out—some stuffed bread and bottled stuff. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to use a table in the royal palace without permission, but it’s probably too late to care now, not when Sachylis already kicked down an expensive-looking furniture.

“W-Wait a minute!” the king said.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Kings don’t eat commoner food? It’s quite good, actually.”

Food affects morale in battle, so I asked our cook to make a decent meal for us. Now this food had become quite popular. I thought about asking for the food to be a little less tasty just in case some people ate too much, but it’s pretty good as is as well. No one would want to fight while eating something that tasted horrible.

“No, that’s not the problem. Do you understand the situation you’re in right now?”

“Of course. We’re isolated in the middle of enemy territory, and as soon as we step out of the room, we’d be under concentrated fire immediately.”

In other words, we’re at a huge disadvantage. We’re the ones who charged straight into the middle of enemy territory, so it’s not really surprising.

“So why eat now?”

“It’s almost mealtime. I came here without supper, and I’m hungry.” I replied with a serious look on my face.

“You’re joking, right?” The king said with an expression of disbelief.

Well, you wouldn’t really expect dinner to start right after the strategy meeting. But this is also another tactic to increase our chances of winning.

“I’m serious. We’re not the only ones who haven’t eaten. It’s about time the enemy gets hungry, and we can wait a little longer.”

“Are you planning to buy time and wait until the enemy is hungry?”

“That’s not all, though. Four of their knights have been taken down, and you’re with us. They’re all on alert now, which means they’ll be focused. But their focus won’t last.”

The enemy lying in wait for an ambush means that they have relinquished the initiative to start the fight. We can start the clash at any time, so there’s no need to do it right now when the enemy is still focused. We’ll just take it slow and wait for them to exhaust their mental strength.

I’m sure that’s why Sachylis cast the soundproofing spell as well. The level of concentration will be different if they knew what we were doing or not. Standing there all the time will tire one’s legs, too. Not knowing what we were doing means they can’t rest.

It’ll be much easier to fight for us if they just break into the room rather than wait outside. Still if the enemy is drained both physically and mentally, our chances of winning are much higher. We don’t know just how powerful they are, which is why we have to increase our chances of winning by as much as possible.

“Well, cautious people won’t come to the middle of enemy territory to rescue you. You can even thank our recklessness.”

“Haha. That is true. If you have any interest in the Order, you can always let me know. And this is a royal decree: hand me one those buns.”

Looks like he’s on board with the plan now. What a reasonable king.