“Well, thanks to that solo mission you sent me on, I’ve still got some loose ends to tie up. I’ll be back soon. Vesta, you’re fine to handle things here, right?”
Without waiting for his answer, I turned to leave only to find my escape blocked by Fey.
“Hold on, Allen,” she said, flashing me one of her familiar dangerous grins. “Why did you make Master Godolphen increase the number of enemy forces? You had that evil look on your face again, so you were obviously planning something...”
Evil look? I did not! Rude...
Unfortunately, the wry smiles of my classmates seemed to imply they agreed with Fey.
“What a terrible thing to say. I didn’t have any kind of ‘evil look,’ and I’d appreciate it if you stopped making baseless accusations,” I replied, glaring at Fey. “Like I said to Godolphen, three companies wouldn’t stand a chance against us. So when the geezer realized that, what do you think he’d do? He’d just send extra forces in anyway, without even a scrap of hesitation. Hell, he’d already planned for it—that’s why the scenario came with that little ‘numbers remaining unknown’ stipulation in the first place.”
These guys are smart enough to figure the rest out on their own.
Leo proved me right soon enough. “By convincing him to add more forces, you also got him to reveal that the total number of forces he could call on was three battalions... As the defenders, that’s the most critical information we could hope for. We can prepare for their assault properly now. Plus, now there’s no risk of us being caught off guard by a surprise addition to their troops.”
With his hands folded behind his head, Dan looked altogether relaxed as he nodded in agreement. “Also, most of our traps are only gonna work once, so now we’ll be able to get the most use out of them. We lure them all out at the start, and wipe them out in one go before they even realize what’s happening... No wonder you had that evil look on your face, Allen—your methods are pretty damn vicious.”
I did not have an evil look on my face! But he’s right about the rest.
“You seem to get it now, so I’m off. I’ll be back in about three hours. Take care of the place for me, Vesta!”
“Three hours?! You haven’t slept since the start of the fourth scenario, right? Don’t you need to rest?!”
I laughed. “Well, while I was up there all alone, I had plenty of time to come up with a little surprise for the geezer... I guess you could call it a secret plan?” I shrugged, grinning. “Anyway, I’ll have plenty of time to sleep later, so don’t worry about me. I’ll explain the rest when I get back... Heh heh... Mwa ha ha ha ha!”
I was still cackling as I left, treating my classmates to a small taste of the true villainy I’d cultivated over the course of my solo mission—to their evident dismay.
✦ ✦ ✦
“They’re coming! Looks like they’ve decided to send all three battalions to take the northern stronghold first. What do you reckon, Vesta? Should we put up a little bit of a fight?” Al asked, his voice unusually shrill. Even with his chronically carefree attitude, he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.
Vesta immediately shook his head. “There’s no point wasting any energy here, especially when it won’t benefit us in the slightest. We’ll evacuate as planned.”
“Got it. Well, I guess we’re off to the eastern stronghold, you guys!” Al replied.
“And my team will head west,” Kate added, nodding. “Vesta, good luck with the southern stronghold. Let’s show them what we’re made of.”
And with that, Class A divided into three groups—led by Al, Kate, and Vesta—and went their separate ways.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Tch. Fled with your tails between your legs, eh? All bark and no bite... Lose your nerve after seeing what three battalions actually looks like, did ya?!” Maxim grumbled, disappointed, much to Elan’s amusement.
“Come now, Maxim. The kids at the Royal Academy aren’t stupid enough to choose to fight us here—where we can use the space to our advantage—while they’ve still got other options. Even an idiot would choose to try their luck with more mountainous terrain.”
Godolphen laughed. “Indeed. They’ve deliberately given up this stronghold in favor of the other three, though I imagine they felt as though they had little choice in the matter.”
“They were running around the mountains all day yesterday. Realistically, there’s not many traps they could have built in such a short time with their minimal supplies, but there’s still some risk... What do you think, Sage?”
Godolphen stroked his beard, humming thoughtfully. “Alas, we have little hope of sniffing out their traps—or lack thereof—with the battle already upon us. We’ll send one company to attack each of the remaining strongholds simultaneously, and we’ll soon learn which of the three is their true base of operations. There is little use in attempting to maneuver the full force through this terrain, so the other troops will remain here. Now then...” He smirked. “It’s time these students of mine received a much-needed lesson in humility. Prepare to march!”
“Yes, sir!”
✦ ✦ ✦
The western stronghold, occupied by Kate and her team, was situated atop one of the many ridges extending along the heavily forested landscape. This particular ridge began in the south, becoming narrower and narrower until only two or three people could walk abreast before merging with a higher plateau of the mountain and giving way to a fan-shaped forest. The stronghold itself had been constructed at the narrowest part of the ridgetop, just a stone’s throw away from the edge of the forest. There were only two ways that a sizable force could reach the stronghold. The first was by marching through the forest after capturing the northern stronghold.
The other was to hike along the ridge from the south, which would instead require them to first capture the southern stronghold. Technically, it could also be accessed from the east or the west, if their enemy was willing to scramble up the sheer incline and leave themselves entirely exposed to the defenders. The sheer slopes were also the perfect canvas for all manner of traps, meaning that an approach from either side could lead to significant casualties. All in all, it was a highly defensive position for a stronghold—just as Vesta had calculated, of course.
The western stronghold was currently under attack by a company of Trouverean forces led by Maxim Achilles himself. Stella, Sophie, and Pisces confronted the attack head-on, standing their ground in the narrow space between the edge of the forest and the western stronghold. If they fell, the stronghold would follow within minutes.
Thirty minutes had now passed since the assault had commenced, and Sophie and Pisces—both of whom were beginning to show signs of fatigue—were relieved to see Kate and Parley emerge from the stronghold.
“Sophie, Pisces, you can rotate out! Keep an eye on the eastern and western approaches and catch your breath. We’ll handle things out here for a bit. Stella, are you okay to keep going?”
“I could do this all day!”
And thus, the battle—which Maxim had been beginning to think was all but won—began anew.