The tent was quiet—too quiet. Maps lay sprawled across the table, marked with inked borders, supply routes, and the names of Volt-occupied cities. Emilia stood stiffly, her sapphire eyes fixed on Aiden.
"You… want to attack one of the Seven Kingdoms?"
Her voice wasn't angry—just stunned.
Aiden calmly lifted his teacup, took a sip, and set it down with a soft clink.
"Yes. Because freeing villages is good, Emilia. But at some point, we need to start freeing the actual kingdoms, not the outskirts. And I think—no, I know—we're finally ready."
Emilia exhaled slowly, turning toward Grace and Anna, who held a parchment filled with hastily written names. Survivors. Rebels. Mages. Traitors to Volt.
"Do we even have enough manpower for that? A kingdom isn't a camp or an outpost."
Aiden raised a brow and pointed—not at her, but at the people in the tent.
First at himself, then at Radomira, who grinned as her tail swayed.
"Depends," Aiden said. "Are you talking military manpower…"
He tapped one finger on the map.
"Or magical power that can turn a city to dust?"
Radomira chuckled darkly. "Or in my case, turn soldiers into melted goo."
She stretched languidly. "He's not exaggerating."
Grace shivered at the mental image. Anna pretended she didn't.
Emilia frowned. "Aiden… kingdoms aren't battlefields you can just nuke. You can't just level a city and call it liberation."
Aiden shrugged. "I didn't say I would level it. Only that I could. Big difference."
Ederra, leaning against a tent pole, raised his hand. "He's not wrong. After what you pulled with the supply poisoning, their forces are chaotic right now. Border towns barely have functioning command."
Aiden tapped the map again, this time circling one of the kingdoms—Ur, the Jewel of the South.
"Volt is weakest here due to the distance from their central supply chain. We take this one, we get a foothold. From there, the others fall like dominoes."
Emilia bit her lip. "But attacking a kingdom means risking civilians. You know that."
Aiden's gaze softened—but only for a moment.
"And you know I don't want innocents hurt."
His fingers glowed faintly with magic.
"That's why we are going. Not a random army. The ones who can handle it cleanly."
Fenrir chimed in, tail wagging. "Master means we'll be precise. Bite only the throat, not the whole body."
Grace blinked. "…That was graphic."
Fenrir nodded proudly.
Aiden cleared his throat. "Point is, we're not marching an army. We're dropping a strike team—my team—into the weak point of Volt's occupation. We take out command. Cut off communication. Free the princess knight assigned to Crescentia. Rally the people. Boom. Revolution with minimal casualties."
Radomira applauded softly. "Gods, I love having a reincarnated war strategist for a boyfriend."
Emilia dragged a hand down her face.
"…You terrify me more every chapter."
Aiden grinned. "That's the fun part."
Emilia tapped the map again, circling the region with mounting frustration.
"There is one problem with attacking Ur, Aiden. It's wedged directly between the Kingdom of Feoh, and the cities of Lockwarden and Rarbya. All three are Volt-controlled. If we strike Ur, reinforcements can reach it within hours."
She looked up, expecting Aiden to reconsider.
Instead, he stared at her like she just told him water was wet.
"Emilia," he said slowly, "you just said words that don't matter."
She blinked. "…What?"
Aiden pointed behind him—at Fenrir and the Inferno Wolves, who were casually lounging around the campfire like oversized murder-dogs waiting for orders.
"What's the point of reinforcements…"
Aiden smirked.
"…if all that will be left of them is ash?"
Fenrir's fur puffed with pride. "I can reduce an entire battalion to cinders in under a minute, Lady Emilia."
One of the Inferno Wolves growled happily as if confirming it.
Emilia stared at them both, then at Aiden, then back at the wolves.
"Aiden… you're talking about wiping out three whole military garrisons."
Aiden shrugged. "Only if they're stupid enough to come running. We're not storming Ur with a marching army—we're conducting a targeted strike. Stealth in. Kill the command. Free the Princess Knight. Collapse local leadership. Boom. Ur is liberated."
Radomira leaned in, smirking. "And if reinforcements show up early, well…"
She gestured to Fenrir.
"He likes his food crispy."
Ederra, overhearing from the side, muttered, "I swear, you people are a walking natural disaster…"
Aiden folded his arms confidently.
"Relax, Emilia. Reinforcements can't save Ur if they burn before arriving."
Emilia pressed her hand to her forehead.
"Every time you open your mouth, you make this plan sound more illegal."
Grace shuffled through the thick stack of parchment, flipping page after page with increasing irritation.
"Let's see… Noble House Arvis supports Volt. House Drayden supports Volt. House Volfried—definitely Volt. And House Karr—wow, especially Volt."
Aiden peered over her shoulder, let out a low whistle, and grinned like a kid staring at a cheat menu in a video game.
"Well damn… Christmas came early."
Anna tilted her head, ears twitching. "What is… Christmas? And why does receiving it early matter?"
Aiden laughed, patting her gently on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. Think of it like this—it means we get to take out two problems at once. Or in this case…"
He motioned dramatically at the long list of corrupt noble families.
"…more like six or seven."
Grace sighed as she set the papers down. "You sound way too excited about this."
Aiden shrugged. "When the universe hands you a list of bad guys all in one place, you do what anyone would do."
Anna blinked innocently. "Use overwhelming force?"
Aiden snapped his fingers. "Exactly! See? She gets it."
Radomira smirked from the side. "That's because she's been around you too long."
Ederra groaned into his hands. "The nobles are going to think a demon descended upon them."
Aiden smiled. "Good. That's the point."
Emilia rubbed her temples as if a headache had been building since the moment Aiden arrived in her life.
"Aiden," she said slowly, "you want to attack Ur. One of the seven kingdoms. A capital. With walls. With soldiers. With defense formations. With—"
Aiden held up a finger.
"Correction: I want to walk into Ur, break it from the inside, and walk out before anyone realizes it's on fire."
Everyone in the tent froze.
Ederra blinked. "Walk in. As in… through the gate? Past the guards?"
Aiden threw his arm around Ederra's shoulder like a friend explaining something obvious to a child.
"No, no, no. Not through the gate. That's stupid. We're going under."
Emilia stared at him, baffled. "Under? There is no tunnel beneath Ur."
Aiden grinned.
"There will be."
Aiden slammed a rough map of Ur onto the table.
"Alright, class. Welcome to Slime Tactics 101."
The knights leaned in cautiously.
Aiden pointed to the city walls.
"Ur is fortified. High walls, strong gates, anti-mage watchtowers. So we're not attacking this."
He then drew a big red X several miles away from the city.
"We're attacking this."
Grace frowned. "That is… grass."
"Yes. Exactly," Aiden said proudly.
Anna blinked. "Mr. Slime… what does grass have to do with anything?"
Aiden looked at her as if she'd asked why water was wet.
"You don't attack a city head-on. You attack their logistics. Their food. Their water. Their ability to function. The city won't fall because we break their walls — it'll fall because we break their supply chain."
Everyone stared.
Emilia raised a hand.
"…Can you explain that in words that belong to this century?"
Aiden sighed dramatically.
"Fine. We do this:"
Aiden's Modern Infiltration Plan (As Explained to Confused Knights)
1. Tunnel Entry
"I'll have Jormungandr dig a tunnel that leads to the city's aqueduct system. Don't look at me like that — giant snake, big hole. Easy."
2. Disguise Corps
He tapped the list of noble houses.
"We steal Volt uniforms and infiltrate their checkpoints pretending to be transport squads. Humans are so easy to fool."
3. Cut and Replace
"We intercept their food caravans, take everything good, poison everything bad, and send it back looking normal."
Grace muttered, "That is… ungodly efficient."
4. Cell Activation
"We incite a rebellion inside Ur using the nobles who hate Volt but are too scared to act. Trust me — every empire has them."
Radomira leaned forward, impressed. "Subterfuge, supply sabotage, and forced internal conflict? Very modern. Very spicy."
5. Nightfall Breach
"Once chaos starts, we enter from the tunnel, hit key command posts, and disable leadership. After that?"
Aiden raised both hands.
"Boom. Ur falls without us fighting half their army."
Ederra stared blankly.
"So… we're not… charging the gates? No siege towers?"
Aiden laughed.
"Oh gods, no. That's barbaric."
Emilia squinted at the map, utterly baffled.
"You're telling me… that instead of a glorious battle… you are going to sneak, sabotage, impersonate, steal, and manipulate?"
Aiden saluted.
"Yes, Commander. It's called strategy."
Radomira clapped proudly.
"Behold, my boyfriend — the reincarnated modern war criminal."
Aiden winked.
"Hey, I'm efficient."
Later that night…
A few soldiers crouched deep within the forest, their helmets barely visible under the moonlight. The sound of shifting soil echoed softly as several earth-aligned mages pressed their palms to the ground, pushing the earth aside and carving out a descending tunnel.
Originally, the plan had involved actual shovels.
A whole squad hauling dirt like peasants.
But then someone remembered, "Wait… we have mages."
So now they were here—scooping out a tunnel like giant magical moles.
One of the soldiers groaned as he wiped sweat off his brow.
"Why… did we get stuck with this?" he muttered.
Another soldier shrugged. "I don't know. Lord General said it was a 'strategic infiltration route.' Whatever that means."
A third soldier, older, scratched his chin. "In my old unit, infiltration meant hiding in bushes. Not… this."
The mage leading the operation looked even more baffled than the soldiers. "I still don't understand this. Digging a tunnel under a city wall? Shouldn't we just… attack the gate?"
"General Aiden said tunnels are harder to detect," another replied.
"Why?" the mage asked.
"…I don't know. He just said something about 'enemy recon capabilities' and 'avoiding chokepoints.'"
Silence.
None of them knew what any of that meant.
But Aiden had said it with such confidence that everyone just nodded instinctively.
Finally, one soldier sighed deeply.
"Man… I miss when orders made sense. 'Charge the enemy!' 'Form a line!' 'Raise shields!' Those were simple…"
Another nudged him. "Well, Aiden did win two battles in one day."
"That doesn't make this any less weird," he muttered.
Above them, hidden in the shadows of the trees, Aiden watched through binoculars—another strange foreign tool no one understood.
He smirked.
"Tunneling under the walls… classic siege infiltration. They'll never expect it."
Behind him, Emilia approached quietly.
"General… this is not how knights conduct war."
Aiden didn't look away. "Good. Because we're not knights. We're here to win."
Emilia felt her throat tighten.
This was not the world's warfare.
This was his.
And slowly, everyone was being dragged along with it.
Aiden looked at Jörmungandr curled around his shoulder like a living scarf. The baby black serpent blinked its golden eyes, still half-asleep.
Aiden gently tapped its head.
"Hey, buddy. Wake up and go check how much longer these guys need to finish digging."
Jörmungandr yawned — a tiny hiss — then slithered down Aiden's arm and into the dark tunnel. The soldiers stiffened.
Having a world-ending serpent casually inspecting their tunnel was not something knight training prepared them for.
Twelve minutes later, the baby snake slid back up and settled onto Aiden's shoulder again, tail wagging lightly like a dog reporting to its owner.
Aiden smiled. "Good job, little guy."
Emilia stood beside him, arms crossed, looking like someone losing her grip on sanity one inch at a time.
"So…" Aiden asked, "how far?"
Jörmungandr tapped the ground three times with his tail.
Aiden nodded. "One-third completed. Not bad."
Emilia pinched the bridge of her nose.
"One-third."
Her voice was flat.
"General, that means we are still hours away from completion."
Aiden shrugged. "And?"
"And tunnels are not meant to be dug under enemy cities in the middle of the night!" she hissed. "Knights besiege cities. They don't… burrow like moles!"
Aiden petted the serpent again. "Good thing we're not knights then."
A nearby soldier muttered, "We weren't moles yesterday either…"
Another whispered, "Sir, I'm starting to think our general might be insane."
Emilia heard both but said nothing.
Because the worst part?
Aiden's insane plans kept working.
She let out a long, resigned sigh.
"At this rate, the world won't know whether you are a brilliant commander… or a terrifying mistake."
Aiden grinned. "Why not both?"
Ederra finally snapped, rubbing his temples as the sounds of exhausted digging echoed from the tunnel.
"This would have ended faster if—oh, I don't know—maybe we brought more than TWO mages?"
The forest went dead silent.
All heads slowly turned toward Aiden.
Aiden sipped the last of his tea from a metal cup and looked at Ederra like he'd just said something philosophically profound.
"…Yes," Aiden said.
"That is how numbers work."
Emilia squinted at him. "Then why didn't you bring more?"
Aiden shrugged casually.
"We only needed two."
Ederra pointed at the tunnel, where the mages were drenched in sweat and probably regretting every life decision up to this point.
"THEY HAVE BEEN DIGGING FOR SIX HOURS!"
The earth rumbled as one mage yelled from below,
"GENERAL, WE ARE SEEING GODS."
The other followed with,
"I SEE THE GREAT VOID STARING AT ME."
Aiden waved dismissively. "They'll live."
Emilia glared. "Aiden, be serious!"
"I am serious," Aiden said. "More mages means more mana signatures. More mana signatures means magical sensors might detect us. Magical sensors detect us, and then—boom—Volt sends an army, and life gets inconvenient."
Everyone blinked.
Ederra: "...You could have explained that before we started digging like dwarves."
Aiden: "But then I wouldn't get this great view."
He pointed at the two mages dragging themselves out of the hole, looking like shriveled raisins.
One mage croaked, "Did the sun rise yet?"
Aiden: "No."
Other mage: "Did it set?"
Aiden: "Also no."
Both mages: "...We fear time now."
Emilia pressed her hands to her face. "This is not how knights operate. This is not how armies operate. This is not how ANYTHING OPERATES."
Aiden patted her shoulder.
"Welcome to modern warfare."
She stared at him.
"I don't think I like it."
Aiden smiled.
"You'll love it once we win."
To be continued
Hope people like this and give me power stones and enjoy