I’d always been good at provoking people. I’d be able to rile up our enemies. It was the only thing that I could beat even Mazel at, though I wasn’t sure that was something to be proud of.
Our enemies didn’t think much of humans, so I was confident that all they’d see was that we were building a fort on the river. They wouldn’t be able to conceive that we’d build more forts further in. They might even think that they’d be able to kill me at the first one.
Also, I was pretty sure that attacking a walled city like Anheim would be a pain even for the Demon army. That’s exactly why me holing up in the fort would prove beneficial.
“If I move from one fortress to the next with them on my tail, they’ll follow. We’ll need to piss them off good so we can use me as bait.” With that, I answered Sir Kesten’s question. He was scowling, probably because he realized protecting Anheim during the time I was away would fall on his shoulders. I hoped he knew I wasn’t just trying to force it on him.
The reason I had put him in charge of the volunteer squad was so that I could leave protecting Anheim to him in the unlikely case of an attack. He’d have to protect the town from any internal conflicts too.
Lord Eickstedt turned toward me. “Isn’t the third fortress, marked by the gold coin, in a precarious position? The first has the river as a moat, and the second is up high, giving it the land advantage. However, the third fortress stands on flat grasslands. Should our enemies come between it and Anheim, our forces would be divided.”
“Leave it to me. I’ve already got a plan for that.”
I was glad he’d gone and said it so bluntly, though it seemed Sir Holzdeppe and Sir Kesten had already realized it too. If we failed to lure our enemies to the third fortress, there was a chance they would attack the eastern gate. But if we succeeded in leading them to the northern gate, the town of Anheim itself would become a wall that encircled our foes. We couldn’t have the Demon Commander holing up deep in Triot, so we absolutely had to pull this off.
“First, we invade to provoke our enemies, encroaching on multiple parts of their territory. Then, we’ll send groups of twenty to thirty each over the river, have them butcher some monsters, and then immediately pull back to the first fortress. There will be no need for them to engage in any battles they can’t win.”
Each squad would stay in Triot for two days at the shortest and three at the longest. If things took an exceptional turn, they might even withdraw within the first day. Basically, we’d just send them into enemy territory and have them raise a ruckus our enemies couldn’t ignore.
If the Demons were driven by animal instincts, they’d first try to stamp out the invaders on the spot. But they’d eventually get tired and come to attack the fort.
It was still a mystery how long it would take for their animal instincts to boil over into monstrous fury, so while our invasion forces—or really, taunting forces—were drawing our enemy’s attention, we’d need to get our decoy forts up in record time.
“Lord Eickstedt, I want you to create our plan for the invasions into Triot.”
“Huh?”
“You’ll be strategizing against the Demon army that destroyed your home country. Don’t you think it’ll give you some satisfaction?”
Quite a few in the room looked like they wanted to say something, but a look from me stilled their restless tongues. In all honesty, I had already put together a basic plan using the geographic information I got from nobles who had fled Triot and diplomats from Wein. Since I had Rafed listening in on the merchants in town, I even had some of the freshest info you could get. Thus, if Lord Eickstedt had a problem with putting together our plan, I could go without hiring him.
The reason I had left it up to him was because after losing his family and carrying out revenge, he had lost any reason to live. I just couldn’t leave him alone. Purely for my own satisfaction, I wanted him back on his feet.
“The only requirements are that the plan feature repeated incursions into Triot. Each squad shouldn’t spend long in Triot either. There should also be multiple points along the river they can enter from. I suppose that’s it. The rest is up to you.”
“Along the river?”
“For our enemies, it’s easiest if they just lie in wait to ambush our soldiers when they cross.”
If his plan was complete enough, I wanted to use it alongside my own. My own idiosyncrasies must have made their way into my plan. If our enemies saw through that and planned an ambush, our invasion forces would suffer heavy losses.
However, if the person who put together that strategy changed halfway through, those idiosyncrasies would also suddenly change. The Demon army wouldn’t be able to keep up. It was perfect for messing with them. For that, I was thankful to have someone who thought completely differently from me. Leaving it to someone who hadn’t observed my tactics before would help us ensure victory, and even more importantly, Lord Eickstedt was familiar with Triot’s geography. He was the perfect man for the job.
“I’ll leave the strategy to Lord Eickstedt. Sir Holzdeppe, Sir Goecke, Neurath, and Schünzel will serve as unit commanders.”
“Us too?”
“Yup. I’m counting on you two.”
When it came to battles, neither of them was the reckless type. I was confident that they would avoid any casualties they possibly could. If it was me, Sir Holzdeppe, and Goecke taking squads in, we’d only be able to attack so many places. To taunt our foes, I’d also have to check our stock. I could feel a stomachache coming on.
But if we went with that plan, we wouldn’t have enough commanders on the frontlines, so I needed them to do the work of three. I spoke my next statement sternly. “Listen up, all of you—this may be stating the obvious, but our enemies are here to fight. It’s just like valeo. Our enemies will be thinking through their moves as well. Don’t expect things to all go to plan.”
“Valeo” was a game in this world that was a lot like chess. I’d expect nothing less from this world, but in addition to pieces called “knights,” there were also “lady knights.” It threw me for a complete loop at first. Not that it really mattered.
“Our ultimate goal is to defeat a Demon Commander, and as long as we reach that goal, we can change our course as many times as it takes. If you have any ideas for how to adapt to any new info about our enemies’ movements, I want you to speak up.”
During a battle, things were always in flux. Forgetting that spelled defeat. To put it another way, we could always change our plans halfway through. To use mountain climbing as an example, we could always change our route as long as we eventually reached the top. I wasn’t so confident as to think my plan was perfect.
“Don’t fixate on the current situation. Don’t just stick to our first plan. Always keep the goal in mind. I want you to act on the best decisions you can make in order to lure out our target, the Demon Commander.”
“Yessir!”
That was just the response I wanted to hear. I watched them all nod before bringing my speech to a close. “You might have differing opinions about the particulars, but this will be our general direction. I’m counting on all of you.”
They say that making the first move in shogi is more threatening than any other move you could make. I’d grab the Demon Commander by the nose and lead him like a dog.