Chapter 40

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: A Simple Reason
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#40

“Is there another reason you're so certain of Dopein's victory? Could it be that the Empire, which was backing them, is now stepping to the forefront...?”

Before Walter could finish his question, Lucy shook her head.

“No. It's not as if the Empire provided troops, is it? They just conscripted Lycans and sent them over, and they aren't even combat forces.”

“Then...”

“There's no need to overthink it. It's for a very simple reason.”

Walter toyed with his lower lip, lost in thought.

A simple reason.

Dopein has fewer soldiers than Antevasila, and they don't have superior weapons or a geographical advantage, so why is she so sure they'll win?

Lucy, who had been focused on cutting paper, glanced up at him. Then, in a tone that suggested she was doing him a great favor, she added a word.

“Lycans are fast, and they can see well at night. That's why they're often used in surprise attacks.”

Walter, who had been blinking silently, suddenly took a sharp breath and held it. A hoarse voice soon escaped his dry lips.

“Are you saying... the Empire sent the Lycans to cut off Antevasila's supply lines?”

“Mm, something like that.”

Her affirmation came with the *snip* of paper being cut. Walter let out a small gasp, feeling the scattered pieces click into place.

“I did feel the stalemate was lasting unusually long, but if the reason Dopein didn't attack rashly was because of that...”

“The Pel Plains are flanked by canyons, so there are only two routes that can serve as supply lines, right?”

“Yes.”

“No matter the tactics or strategies, in the end, the winner of a war is the one who can hold out the longest. The reason they've been in a stalemate all this time was probably to buy time to destroy the supply lines.”

“...”

“See? Simple, isn't it?”

Walter fiddled with his lips again, trying to hide his burgeoning admiration.

Attacking supply lines is a basic military tactic.

However, the battlefield between Antevasila and Dopein is excessively wide, a vast plain, so using stationed soldiers to hit the supply lines would inevitably make the corps' movements noticeable.

Antevasila wasn't foolish enough to stand by and watch soldiers advance toward their supply lines.

Nor could Dopein pull troops from elsewhere to cut them off. For one, as Lucy said, the supply routes on the Pel Plains are all through canyons.

In a battle fought on uneven terrain, the side holding the high ground always wins.

This is why lords build their castles on high ground.

Antevasila would have surely secured the high ground in advance to protect their supply lines and set up all sorts of defenses.

If you don't want to die in a rain of arrows, you have to seize the high ground first. If that's impossible, you have no choice but to throw an overwhelming number of troops at it. But for Dopein, which already had fewer soldiers, they couldn't have easily allocated forces to destroy the supply lines.

But.

“I see. If they used Lycans...”

He had thought the Empire sent Lycans to Dopein for labor and rowing.

But what if that was a disguise?

Everything fits. The Empire's secret aid, sending Lycans instead of soldiers to support the war, and starting a full-scale battle around the end of the harvest to wrap things up before spring.

It was a war meticulously planned from start to finish.

The masterminds who planned this are impressive, but Lucy, who grasped the entire situation just by hearing the intelligence... just what is she?

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes?”

“Just... how long have you known this? Since when did you know Dopein would use the Lycans...?”

In truth, Walter had taken pride in his tactics and strategy even before becoming Grand General. After all, in the military, you couldn't even become a high-ranking officer, let alone Grand General, if you weren't smart.

Defeating the maximum number of enemies with the minimum number of personnel is the basis of tactics, and officers study countless cases and concepts to that end.

Walter, too, had been confident that no one could match him in theory, but he had never seen or heard of anyone who could twist their perspective to grasp a war's situation like Lucy.

What kind of thoughts go on inside that head?

Through what kind of eyes does she see the world?

“Walter. You're going to wear a hole in my face. Stop staring.”

Feeling burdened by his intense gaze, Lucy put down her paper knife and joked.

“It's just a guess that came from wondering what I would do if I were in Dopein's command. Besides... the smart one isn't me, but the person who devised this strategy.”

The person who devised this strategy.

As soon as the face came to mind, Lucy's brow furrowed.

Dopein has no one capable of laying the groundwork for such a strategy. The Empire's involvement from the start is another clue... The one who came up with this plan is undoubtedly him.

Crown Prince Alex.

Since he hasn't yet inherited the throne, he can't raise a large-scale army, so he must have resorted to a loophole to orchestrate this war.

The man has a natural talent for turning crisis into opportunity, so from his perspective, this might not even count as a plan.

Was it because I watched him from the side for so long, or was it the resolve that I had to be just as smart to stand against him?

Ever since learning the Empire was behind the war, she had tried to see the continent from Alex's point of view. For Lucy, who had been praised for her intelligence her whole life, assimilating his perspective wasn't particularly difficult.

It would have been great if I had used this clever head to kill him sooner.

...Why did I only think of begging him for my life back then? If I had thought of fighting him as an equal from the start, I wouldn't have had to die three times.

Thinking of Alex brought a foul taste to her mouth, as if it had been filled with salt. Lucy wrinkled her nose before quickly schooling her expression.

“Anyway, we'll need to pay close attention to the border for a while. It would be nice if they could just fight it out amongst themselves and end it without dragging us into it.”

She picked up the paper again and began cutting diligently. She cut out a bush combining flowers and grass, then two human-shaped silhouettes.

Walter, who had been standing at attention with his hands on his lower back, shifted his gaze to the pile of paper.

“By the way, what have you been doing this whole time?”

“Ah. Just a moment, let me finish cutting this... There. You cut all these out, and then you fold the bottom part like this to make them stand, see?”

“Yes.”

“If you glue them down one by one... ta-da. It becomes a 3D picture.”

A white tree, a white shrub in front of it, and grass and flowers in front of that...

When she stood up the white figures, it created a peculiar object that was hard to tell if it was a picture or something else.

As Walter wondered how to react, Lucy turned the picture sideways. A black shadow fell behind the white paper cutouts, creating a rather nice atmosphere.

“I'll give this to you, Walter. A gift.”

Lucy smiled and held out the frame on which the 3D picture stood.

Walter accepted the picture with a hesitant hand. It was a work he couldn't call magnificent even as a pleasantry, but the fact that it was a gift from his sovereign made him feel he should revere it.

A strange light entered his eyes as he looked at the picture.

As Walter gazed at the picture with admiring eyes, he suddenly thrust a hand into his pants pocket. With a serious expression, he rummaged around before pulling something out and offering it to Lucy.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. It's too humble to be called a return gift, but... this is a present from me as well.”

The object he offered with such a polite demeanor was a fist-sized pebble.

It was just a stone.

Lucy stared at the stone in her hand, contemplating how she should react.

She examined it carefully, wondering if it was the raw form of some special gem, but it was just an ordinary gray stone. Its coarse texture was that of a stone, its moderate coolness and weight were that of a stone—it was just a common stone one could find anywhere on the road.

Perhaps her displeasure showed on her face, because Walter's shoulders slumped dejectedly. Then, as if sharing an important secret, he moved closer and leaned toward her ear.

“Your Majesty. This is no ordinary stone. It is a truly great... hard to describe in words... a lucky stone.”

“...Lucky?”

“It is a great stone that skipped seven times and then returned to me. It is a precious item I have always carried with me. Since Your Majesty has given me a precious gift, I wished to repay you with a precious item of my own. Please, accept it.”

A stone that had skipped seven times and returned was indeed a very rare object.

Still, she had never in her life expected to receive a stone as a gift, and she couldn't bring herself to laugh.

But Walter was so earnest that Lucy couldn't even think of scolding him and had no choice but to thank him with a serious face.

And then, the moment she saw this man, who was more stone-like than the stone itself, blushing to the tips of his ears in embarrassment, a laugh burst out of her before she knew it.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Beyond the frost-covered window, hazy, dark clouds had gathered.

Just after leaving the drawing room, Duke Witten caught his reflection in the window. He tucked a stray strand of hair back and checked his attire. It was just as impeccable as it had been before he entered the room.

He fiddled with his cravat with a careless hand and then conjured an easy smile. Judging by his appearance alone, his perfectly elegant figure didn't seem to belong to a man who had been indulging in vicious acts in his bedroom for days.

“Your Excellency. It seems you had a very pleasant chat. You look quite well.”

The attendant, who had been waiting with swallowed anxiety, offered a smile of relief as Witten entered the study. Witten stroked his cheek and chuckled.

“Pleasant chat? Political talk is always the same; what's there to enjoy? If I look well, it's thanks to the toy I've kept in my bedroom.”

“I was worried you weren't very keen on her, but it seems she's to your liking. Shall I prepare another girl of a similar type?”

Witten sank into his chair in silence. A sneer on his lips, he tapped the armrest before bringing up another topic.

“How is the war progressing? I heard from the Empire that it should be decided within ten days at the latest.”

As the topic shifted to the war, the attendant straightened his back, his expression turning serious.

“The prevailing prediction is that Dopein will win. Antevasila had the upper hand at first, but I hear their supply lines have been cut, leaving them stranded. Their morale is extremely low, and soldiers are beginning to surrender... I, too, expect it will be a decisive victory for Dopein, without a doubt.”

The smile lingering on Witten's lips deepened.