The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (38)

Avenger* approached me.*

“As you said, I did adjust the amount of drink, but the alcohol’s almost running out. And they don’t seem to be getting drunk at all.”

I nodded.

“Of course. They wouldn’t be drunk. The alcohol content, or rather, the spirit content, is bound to be far too low.”

“Spirit content?”

“Ah, I learned from Izack about the liquor business. Brewed drinks like beer generally get stronger in spirit content the longer they age. But our liquor had almost no time to age, only about two weeks.”

“Ah, so that’s why they’re not getting drunk.”

Avenger* glanced toward the Limone soldiers.*

His look was worried.

“Indeed, considering tomorrow’s battle it might be better they aren’t drunk, but if the drinking ends before any tipsiness sets in, the soldiers might actually be dissatisfied.”

“That could be.”

Avenger* tilted his head at my indifferent response.*

I said.

“But isn’t fulfillment born of lack?”

Then I motioned.

Soon a few soldiers from the rear came toward me.

“Ready?”

“Of course, young master.”

The soldier grinned.

I grinned back.

“Good. Move in.”

At my signal, the soldier shouted to his comrades.

“Hey lads! Let’s go!”

The response came immediately.

“We don’t need telling.”

“Ugh. Damn heavy, this blasted thing.”

Under the late-evening moonshadow, nearly thirty of our regiment’s soldiers poured out.

They passed by me.

They headed straight for the Limone regiment’s camp ahead.

Avenger* watched their backs in surprise.*

He asked.

“Young master, what on earth is this…?”

“You’ll see.”

No sooner had I said that than the lead soldier called out.

“Hey, you there—running low on drink?”

“?“

-thud

Our soldiers set down the casks they had carried in front of the Limone troops.

“We know, too. Our liquor isn’t exactly top-tier for getting you drunk. So you should at least drink a lot of it, no?”

Saying that, the soldier smiled heartily.

“What are you staring at? We’re not suggesting a second round with our drink. We’ve had a hard day too; surely we deserve someone to grumble with over a drink, no?”

The affable soldier’s words eased the Limone soldiers’ suspicion.

“Sounds good!”

A lightly tipsy Limone soldier’s voice.

With that, the second drinking session began.

Our soldiers quickly blended into the drinking circle.

“While you were slashing away so fiercely… didn’t your cavalry charge in?”

“Our cavalry?”

“Who else would it be! Your cavalry came thundering between the fruit trees.”

“So?”

“I thought it was a wave. Your cavalry surged like a tide and slammed the monsters’ flank… honestly, I was a little moved. A little! Only a little!”

“Heh heh heh.”

‘Wow. That’s a skill I’ll never learn even if I die and wake up.’

The flattery was top-notch.

I admired our soldiers as they laughed and chatted.

So did Avenger.

“So you did have a plan. When did you come up with this?”

“The plan’s been in my head for a while. It’s wasteful to use the drink only for selling. I only put it into action a few hours ago, though.”

“So right after you told me to bring the drink…?”

I nodded.

“I asked some of our soldiers for a favor. I told the regiment to pick thirty affable men.”

“You intended to use them as drinking buddies for the Limone soldiers.”

“Exactly. That’s why I adjusted the amount, so we’d have leftover drink as an excuse to approach them.”

I smiled.

If Ronari had seen my face, she would have grimaced.

‘Just now, young master! You looked like a Lower Quarter thug swindling guests!’

…something like that.

I said.

“Until yesterday, Denabi was a brazen creditor to Limone. But tomorrow morning the situation will be different. Steward, think quickly—what will they see us as? Comrades? Neighborly kin? Blood-brothers?”

“As expected of the young master.”

“It’s nothing special.”

“But making two units that were worse than enemies into friends in a single night isn’t something anyone can do.”

Right. Only I could do it.

I’m neither a soldier nor a strategist.

“The soldiers do the hard work, so I must at least offer skills like this, right?”

This is about all I can do.

Fostering camaraderie between regiments.

Important, if anything.

If it’s that important, modern society even has ‘drinking ambassadors.’

‘Anyway, this matter’s roughly settled… shall I go watch the real soldiers?’

I looked away from the noisy revelry for a moment.

I headed to a corner of the camp.

As a gentle tipsiness spread among the Limone soldiers, the regimental officers were all gathered here.

Denabi regiment’s main tent.

I lifted the flap and went inside.

Alejandro, Vittorio, Pietro, Ronari, and Izack were all there.

They were all present.

Inside, a discussion about tactics was in full swing.

Their gazes flicked to me briefly, and that was it.

They were focused on the discussion.

I quietly blended in and listened to their voices.

“The Denabi regiment’s tactics have been forged through dozens, hundreds of Dungeons. You may place complete trust in our judgment on this matter.”

Alejandro said confidently.

“Trust, huh.”

Vittorio echoed Alejandro’s words.

A young Denabi officer asked Vittorio.

“If you have any doubts, speak them.”

It was an invitation to voice any complaints quickly.

Vittorio said.

“Trust comes from experience. The Denabi regiment’s Dungeon tactics deserve that trust.”

“If so…”

“However.”

Vittorio cut off the young officer’s words.

“When accepting this deal, your tactician assured us: casualties would be under twenty. He said he’d make it the most flawless operation. And the condition for that promise was Limone’s reinforcement of 300 men.”

Vittorio continued.

“I’ve brought half of Limone’s force here as promised. Therefore I must ask now.”

Vittorio looked Alejandro squarely and said.

“Again, trust comes from experience. Has the Limone regiment ever deployed 400 men at once in a single operation? Do you truly have experience commanding 400 men simultaneously and achieving a bloodless victory?”

A sharp question.

The Limone officers’ faces curled with derision.

Their expressions seemed to say this:

‘If you thought to use your so-called experience to boss us around, dream on. You probably haven’t commanded 400 people at once either, have you?’

But if they couldn’t answer that question in the first place…

‘You didn’t even call for 300 reinforcements to begin with.’

I stepped forward and said.

“Not necessary.”

“…?“

The officers’ gazes turned to me.

One of the Limone officers asked me.

“What did you say?”

“I said it’s not necessary. Experience handling 400 soldiers at once.”

The Limone officer snorted.

“Ha, what nonsense… Who are you? What are you trying to say?”

“Who I am isn’t that important. But I’ll say this: I’m not a tactician.”

“What?”

“Explanation should come from the tactician, not me.”

I turned my gaze to Ronari.

The officers’ gazes followed mine.

Naturally, attention fell on Ronari.

I winked.

‘You’ve been waiting, right?’

‘Ugh…’

Her expression twisted oddly.

She clearly didn’t want help.

‘But what to do—you still need my help.’

Why else would I come here if not to help?

Ronari needed someone to give her the floor right now.

‘Neither Pietro nor Izack will help us now. They’d want to exclude Ronari from the battlefield.’

So I had no choice but to help.

Alejandro is here, but leaving it to the Lord doesn’t look good.

I must do it.

Anyway, the baton had been passed.

Do well, miss.

-huh

Ronari sighed deeply.

She finally spoke.

“The young master is right. We don’t need to operate 400 troops at once.”

Vittorio replied immediately.

“I’d like a more specific explanation, though.”

“Asking about deploying 400 simultaneously is a question you can’t make if you understand the Dungeon’s nature.”

At Ronari’s assertion, the Limone officers tilted their heads.

Ronari said.

“A Dungeon is an indoor space. It’s an underground structure that drifts along ley-mana flows. There’s no space where 400 people can fight at once to begin with.”

“So you mean we can’t use numerical superiority? Then why request 300 reinforcements?”

Another Limone officer countered her.

Ronari said.

“You can use it.”

The officer shouted.

“Are you joking around?”

“I’m not joking. This Dungeon is that type of Dungeon.”

‘Now, it’s time for the original source information to shine.’

I have knowledge that could help Ronari tactically.

Specifically, information about Dungeons.

Dungeons are a main setting in the original work.

The protagonist, Jin, really conquers all sorts of Dungeons.

As a reader, I remember that.

Dungeons have specific forms.

People in this world also know that to some extent.

Hence they even assign grades.

‘But the characters’ knowledge and the reader’s knowledge are literally on different levels.’

The monsters that burst out of Dungeons to the surface,

the terrain where the Dungeon formed.

Just by those things, you can roughly figure it out.

I taught Ronari all that information.

She said.

“The Grade-3 Dungeon located in this orchard, ‘White Basin,’ is a ‘radial-type Dungeon.’”

Hearing unfamiliar terms, the Limone officers fell silent.

Meanwhile, the Denabi officers’ mouths curled into smiles.

It was a moment the balance of superiority between regiments flipped.

I had already persuaded Vittorio.

I instructed him to follow Ronari’s words.

But I didn’t control Vittorio’s entire regiment.

His soldiers and officers would naturally think.

That they should hold the lead in the battle.

Because they have more men.

They outnumber us by three times.

I laughed inwardly.

Ronari likely did too.

Isn’t that an absurdly stupid calculation?

They’ve forgotten a core nature of war.

I don’t know much about war.

But I do know a useful phrase that applies to war stories.

‘The gap in information is a gap in power.’

We had the information.

‘So no matter how many soldiers you lot have, you have no choice but to follow us.’

Ronari said.

“Dungeon talk is long and tedious, so I’ll get to the point. Curious? Why we can use the numerical advantage of 400 people without commanding all 400 at once.”

She raised her index finger.

‘One.’

“We will assault this Dungeon with only one tactic.”