Game Opportunities Become Reality Episode 154
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Game Opportunities Become Reality Episode 154
37. Hero's Bookshelf (5)
Shock.
What other word could express the feelings of the Croysen Empire besides this one?
At the news that Duke Crimson the Empire's pride, worthy of being called its guardian had failed his mission and instead fallen in battle, the Croysen Emperor showed not rage but hollow emptiness.
"One of the world's greatest swordmasters, Duke Crimson, died such a meaningless death?"
"W-We humbly apologize."
The ministers could do nothing but bow their heads in response.
After all, when Duke Crimson had broken through the wall and become a Grand Master, no one had been more delighted than the current Emperor himself.
"Using Duke Crimson as a delaying tactic was a stretch from the start. War is full of variables. Have you not been overlooking that too much?"
But there was someone who unflinchingly hurled criticism at the Emperor Marquis Metis, the Empire's Prime Minister.
Already in a foul mood, the Emperor's face flushed red at the sight of Metis rebuking him, looking as if he might explode at any moment.
"Marquis Metis, your words go too far. You are aware that His Majesty gave Duke Crimson more than sufficient forces, are you not?"
"The Elysian Coalition's 8th Circle-class Spirit Master and special operations unit?"
"Indeed. That is a force equivalent to no fewer than three Grandmasters. Who would have thought a force of this caliber could fail?"
The Minister of Military Affairs stepped up to defend the Emperor, but Marquis Metis merely let out a scoff.
"And so, what was the result?"
"Th-That is..."
At Marquis Metis's single remark, there was nothing to say.
"In the end, Duke Crimson is dead, the special operations unit was annihilated, and the support forces we painstakingly secured from the Elysian Coalition were captured. Do you not think this is too great a failure to be glossed over with 'it couldn't be helped'?"
At Marquis Metis's unrelenting words, Imperial Crown Prince Andre twisted his face in fury and shouted on the Emperor's behalf.
"How dare you! Are you insulting His Majesty, the master of this nation?!"
Even at the Crown Prince's outburst, Marquis Metis did not so much as blink.
He did not even spare the Crown Prince a glance, and instead offered counsel to the Emperor, who was glaring at him.
"The problem is that even now, you still believe 'we hold the advantage over the Kingdom of Rhinehearts.' Everyone merely mocks and looks down on Rhinehearts, refusing to acknowledge them. It is time to admit that the era has changed."
Murderous intent surged at the sight of a minister who had lost all fear, but the Emperor massaged his temples and swallowed his anger.
"So? What is it you wish to say?"
"Acknowledge that the Kingdom of Rhinehearts is not an opponent to be defeated with strength to spare, but a worthy rival."
For the Croysen Empire, that was an absolutely unacceptable statement.
After all, they were a people who had once shared the same fold as the Calvados Empire they were supposed to be inferior to themselves.
"If we continue like this, we will lose."
The Emperor, grasping the meaning of his words, let out a deep sigh.
"You mean we should stop holding back and throw our full strength at them."
Since the Kingdom of Rhinehearts had committed all its forces, it meant they too had to respond in kind.
"Even setting aside Dragon Land, the Kingdom of Lucias and the Jordy Kingdom will surely invade."
"Just as the Kingdom of Rhinehearts did, we too must resolve that through diplomacy even if it means ceding some territory."
An extreme proposal.
But humiliating as it was, it was clearly the surest path to victory.
"No! There is no way our Empire loses to the Kingdom of Rhinehearts! The forces currently pinned at Duke Zeksis' domain are more than enough to crush them!"
The Crown Prince voiced his absolute opposition to Marquis Metis's opinion.
However, no minister lent weight to the Crown Prince's argument.
The size of the forces gathered at Duke Zeksis' domain was nearly equal to the entirety of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts' army.
Inwardly, everyone believed that with equal strength, they could not defeat Duke Lawrence's army, which excelled in tactics.
"Does no one else think so?"
"..."
When no answer came even after he asked again, the Crown Prince could not help but flare up.
"Damn it!"
At that, the Emperor shook his head, feeling that the time had come to make a decision.
Marquis Metis's attitude was utterly irritating, but as Emperor, he had no choice but to make a decision for the sake of the nation.
"There's no helping it. I shall accept that opinion."
"A wise decision."
Still, he could not simply ignore Marquis Metis and let this pass.
His earlier rebuke was practically a challenge aimed at him.
"I shall entrust the negotiations with the Kingdom of Lucias and the Kingdom of Jordy to Marquis Metis. Should you fail, you will have to give up your life."
"If we are to lose this war anyway, my life is already forfeit. So I shall carry out this order with a glad heart."
Marquis Metis would not yield even on the final word.
* * *
[Croysen Empire's surprise unit falls into Duke Lawrence's trap and is annihilated.]
[It has been revealed that the annihilated surprise unit included the Croysen Empire's greatest sword, Duke Crimson, and the special operations unit, sending great shock through the Imperial Family.]
[The one who took Duke Crimson's life is said to be Duke Lawrence.]
-Strike up the music!
--Awesome! This is insane! Insane!
--At this rate, isn't it already won?
--Not so sure yet; the Empire still has plenty of forces left.
-To think I'd live to see our kingdom teach Croisen a lesson!
--Brother Adrian! I knew you'd pull off something huge!
--Just how well do you have to fight to take a Grand Master's head?!
--Those Croysen Empire bastards came in all high and mighty, look at them now lol
Of course, the most important thing in war is winning the battle.
But to bring a battle to victory, one must raise the army's morale.
Just like in sports, there is a flow to war as well.
When you ride the flow well, you often win without major operations, and when you hold the psychological advantage, your fighting becomes bold whereas the opposite forces you into passivity.
That is why I did not hide our war achievements and reported every single one to the press.
Thanks to that, the Kingdom of Rhinehearts was now in a near-festival state.
The people were busy praising the army fighting at the front, and naturally, this atmosphere directly boosted the soldiers' morale.
'Praise makes even whales dance, as they say.'
For the record, since I kept publicizing our accomplishments through the media without concealment, the news reached even the Croysen Empire.
Thanks to that, the battle situation the Imperial Family wanted to hide was laid bare, and they are now scrambling, claiming the news of Duke Crimson's death is false information.
Well, if they don't want to believe it, we can just release the footage.
And so the truth boosted our morale while conversely lowering the Imperial army's.
This made a huge difference on the battlefield.
"At this point, as long as we don't get careless, there's no way we can lose."
Our kingdom has currently captured three-tenths of the Croysen Empire's territory.
The entire eastern part of the Empire bordering Rhinehearts can be considered taken.
What remains now is the battle against the Croysen Empire's main force encamped at Duke Zeksis' domain, but I was not overly worried.
There were still tricks I hadn't used yet.
"Your Highness."
At that moment, Gregory hurried over and delivered a piece of news to me.
"The Croysen Empire is approaching the Kingdom of Lucias and the Kingdom of Jordy."
Morale is one thing, but the most crucial element in war.
That would be information, wouldn't it?
The Blue Moon under my command uncovered and reported every single movement of the Croysen Empire without missing a thing.
At Gregory's news, I let out a soft chuckle.
"So they're not all fools."
If the Croysen Empire is approaching those two kingdoms, the reason is obvious.
It's to concentrate all their forces in one place, just as we did.
But unlike us, the ones they must negotiate with are hostile nations, so it won't be easy.
Unless they offer a portion of their territory, the negotiation itself won't even get off the ground.
"I hear Marquis Metis is the head of the negotiations."
Marquis Metis how could I not know him, being the Empire's prime minister.
The moment his name came up, I could roughly grasp the situation.
He is a pragmatist.
Surely he is the one who forced the Emperor into such an extreme choice.
"What shall we do?"
At Gregory's question, I answered simply, as if asking what there was to ask.
"Eliminate him."
"Understood."
A man like that, left alive, would only be a nuisance.
Gregory nodded without a word.
"Aaahhhh! Let go!"
As Gregory stepped back and I was organizing the plans ahead, I turned my head at a strange sound that rang out noisily.
And there, I saw the peculiar creature we had captured in the last battle.
A beastkin with fox ears and a fox tail, looking about 13 years old.
She was none other than Supreme Elder 'Iris Maryagny' of the Elysian Coalition.
"Arcia, don't bully her too much."
The reason she let out that strange roar was because Arcia kept pestering and teasing her.
Within just a few hours, she had become Arcia's complete attachment doll, decorated with ribbons on her head, ears, tail nowhere left without one.
At my words, Arcia, who had a comb in her hand, shot me an OK sign and then hoisted Iris up under her arm.
Like a piece of luggage.
"Y-you savages! Is this how you treat prisoners!"
At that, Iris thrashed about noisily, but the sight was so cute that a smile unconsciously crept onto my lips.
"You said you participated not as Elysian Coalition reinforcements, but on personal business. Then you're not a prisoner."
"What?"
"Currently, Lady Iris's status is that of a criminal who obstructed our kingdom's war."
At my words, she blinked her big eyes with a dumbfounded expression.
She seemed to think there was nothing wrong with what I said.
"But what were you thinking, supporting the Croysen Empire? If you'd just stayed quiet, you wouldn't have ended up like this."
"Well…."
At my question, she trailed off.
"I was planning to just dip a toe in, take what I could get, and pull out but I never thought Duke Crimson would fall this easily, okay?"
As I hit the nail on the head, Supreme Elder Iris averted her gaze.
And she let out a silent whistle, pretending to be oblivious.
"Well, I have no intention of harming you, so just behave yourself until the war ends. You're a hostage to prevent any possible Elysian Coalition intervention."
Because she had been passive in battle, we were able to kill Duke Crimson easily.
Thanks to that, even though she belonged to the enemy camp, I strangely couldn't bring myself to dislike her.
Maybe her looks had something to do with it.
"For now, just keep playing with Arcia like this."
"What? Ack!"
Having been talking while tucked under Arcia's arm, she started thrashing again.
Now I understand why Arcia took such a liking to her.
She was the type that was fun to tease.
"You said you liked me that was a lie, wasn't it!"
At Iris's shout, I denied it, saying I had no idea what she meant.
"I only said I wanted to meet you. I never said I liked you."
"The nuance was there! The nuance!"
With those final words, she disappeared into the darkness along with Arcia.
As expected, a fantasy world is a fantasy world.
Creatures that cute actually exist.
* * *
Nothing goes as planned.
This was the feeling the key figures of the Croysen Empire had ever since the war with the Kingdom of Rhinehearts began.
And Marquis Metis, the Empire's prime minister, was no different.
"How curious."
But it was only after receiving the Emperor's special order and joining the negotiations with the Kingdom of Lucias and the Jordy Kingdom that Marquis Metis finally understood the source of that strange feeling.
"A group that outdoes the Empire's intelligence bureau I can only laugh bitterly."
It was the power of intelligence that held the upper hand over the Croysen Imperial family.
No matter what they did, the enemy knew immediately, leaving them powerless to act.
Whether it was through the Myriad Mirror and Black Eagle, or through Blue Moon.
"Are you under the royal family? Or under House Duke Lawrence?"
Marquis Metis asked the black-masked figures who had slaughtered the Empire's envoys.
At that, the one who appeared to be the captain flashed a grin and raised his sword to deal with Marquis Metis.
"Duke Lawrence, then. Too lacking in dignity to have been raised by the royal family."
At Marquis Metis's follow-up remark, the masked man flinched, making the mistake of revealing that his guess was correct.
Naturally, the masked man's eyes sharpened, and the speed of his swinging sword quickened.
"So the true threat wasn't the Kingdom of Rhinehearts, but the man hiding within it."
Marquis Metis, who had served the Croysen Empire so devotedly that he would unflinchingly speak harsh truths to the Emperor.
He met his death without achieving a single thing.
"How vexing."
People who sense the truth Adrian is hiding are appearing one by one, but no one has managed to reveal it to the world before meeting their death.
Ordinary people will simply think that this war is being won because the Kingdom of Rhinehearts prepared well.