* * *
I found Irene, who had regained her composure, and returned with her to the door of the conference room.
Of course, there was no one near the conference room except for the soldier standing guard.
"Thank you for your hard work."
At my greeting, the guard was startled and responded with confusion.
"Ah... y-yes! That is-"
"My name is Swen."
"Yes, Sir Swen. Are you... staying behind to defend the fortress?"
"Yes. Along with General Irene."
"I see..."
The soldier fell into thought for a moment, then bowed to Irene and said:
"...General Irene. I'll do my best until the very end. Thank you for staying to fight alongside us."
'Thank you for staying to fight alongside us... huh.'
In the game, soldiers were just numerical values.
But in this world where the game had become reality, they breathed and lived.
Each of them contained their own universe.
Of course they would know they were being thrown into a death trap.
Despite orders, I wondered what they thought seeing their superiors escaping from this place.
Thinking about it that way, I could understand why this soldier was expressing gratitude.
Irene had always been a commander who stood with her soldiers.
Standing night watch, handling miscellaneous tasks during marches.
She had done everything according to the same standards as her soldiers.
Though she might have been abandoned by Lynn Brands, she must have earned the absolute trust of the soldiers—the pillars supporting the Brands nation from the lowest positions.
After all, the people of this world weren't just data.
After receiving the soldier's greeting, Irene responded in a very solemn tone.
"Yes. I will fight alongside you until the end. And I will not let you die."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The soldier answered with a very loud voice.
It seemed his morale had improved.
Well, high morale couldn't hurt, so there was no need to add anything more.
We entered the conference room.
An empty room with no one in it greeted the two of us.
'They left quickly.'
Well, if you want to save your life, moving quickly is the wise choice.
I had no intention of resenting them at this point.
"Um... Swen."
"Yes?"
"What should we do now?"
Seeing her worried expression, I suddenly felt like teasing her.
"Are you asking me? General Irene, didn't you just tell that soldier you wouldn't let him die?"
I thought she might respond with embarrassment, saying something like, "T-that's... hmm... are you joking at a time like this?"
But her response was quite different from what I expected.
"I believe in you, Swen."
"...What?"
"I believe in you."
Irene said this with a bright smile.
The sunlight streaming through the window illuminated her cheeks.
"So I'm not worried. You said you could defend the fortress. You can save everyone. That's what I believe."
"..."
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I sighed briefly before sitting down in an empty chair in the conference room.
"Well, as you said... we will win."
"Do you have some kind of plan?"
A plan.
Yes. A plan.
The situation had been unfolding so rapidly that I was only now starting to think about it... but there was a plan.
[Take position where the enemy can see you and hold your ground.]
Since the prediction said "hold your ground," this must be the correct answer. So there was a plan.
The problem was—
'Why is "holding ground" the right answer?'
I only knew the answer, but couldn't understand why it was correct.
The fortunate thing was that I had poured 10,000 hours into this terrible classic game.
And the fact that my words were "absolutely correct."
With these two premises, I should be able to find the solution somehow.
I took out the paper with the terrain around the fortress that I had drawn at Irene's house.
I had drawn it in my spare time just in case, and sure enough, it was coming in handy.
"What's that?"
"A map. I'm trying to figure out what to do now. I have a vague idea... but I'm not yet certain what exactly needs to be done."
A normal person might have gotten angry if someone boasted about "making achievements" but then gave such a vague answer when asked about their plan.
But Irene simply nodded and said:
"I understand. Is there anything I can help with?"
"Nothing in particular."
"Then I was thinking of checking on the wounded soldiers, if that's alright?"
"Yes. That's fine. Actually, that would be extremely helpful."
Holding ground wasn't something I could do alone.
It would involve all the soldiers in the fortress.
Showing that Irene, a rather prestigious general, was staying to fight instead of fleeing would boost the morale of the remaining soldiers.
In a situation where we didn't know what would happen next, raising morale could only help, not hurt.
"Alright, Swen."
"?"
"If anything happens... feel free to call me anytime. I'll come running."
She said this with a faint smile.
Her purple eyes, which had been wavering without direction until just moments ago, were now completely steady, as if she had firmly decided on her path.
After Irene slowly left the conference room.
Having told her what I needed to, it was now time for me to do something.
It seemed daunting at first glance, but ultimately I just needed to do what I'd been doing all along.
Consider all variables, and eliminate the impossible ones.
'Let's look at the terrain first.'
I carefully examined the terrain around the fortress.
First of all.
The possibility of winning through combat was close to zero. No, it would be fair to say it was zero.
Irene was good at siege warfare but average at defensive warfare. Though her stats were S-class, with my low strength and leadership stats, defending a fortress with low defense using 10,000 troops against 30,000 would be extremely difficult.
If they brought siege weapons, we would have to go out to intercept them whether we liked it or not, which would mean not following the prediction to "hold ground."
So, it wasn't about combat. If nothing happened, we would definitely lose this battle.
So let's think about something else.
The first possibility I considered was a landslide.
This game was full of random encounter events that felt like the game was cheating.
Sudden famines due to locust swarms attacking wheat fields, plagues that started without any warning signs, and various natural disasters that made you wonder if they even made sense in the game's world.
The most likely scenario was the enemy forces being annihilated by a sudden landslide while marching toward us.
However.
There were no mountains around the fortress where a landslide could occur.
Everywhere I looked were gentle hills or vast plains.
It would feel like driving on a highway if you rode a horse across it.
'It's not a landslide.'
No matter how carefully I examined the route from Chorel Castle, where Serphina's army had likely departed from, to our fortress, it didn't cross any mountain ranges.
So I eliminated this possibility.
Next.
Something unexpected happening to Serphina's army, causing the advancing soldiers to retreat.
There were many possibilities. Another rebellion breaking out, or perhaps something happening to Serphina herself this time.
Realistically, this seemed more plausible than a natural disaster.
One might think, "How could another rebellion happen so soon after the first one?" but based on the prediction, something was going to happen, however unbelievable it might seem.
But.
Thinking about it this way, there was one phrase that bothered me.
The answer from my intelligence 100 brain wasn't just [Hold your ground].
It was [Take position where the enemy can see you and hold your ground].
Not a single word in the prediction existed without purpose.
This was especially true considering that "almost close" predictions existed.
'If the enemy is going to retreat due to their own internal issues, is there really a need to position myself where they can see me?'
If that hypothesis were true, wouldn't the prediction simply say "hold your ground"?
Thinking about it that way, the possibility of something happening within Serphina's army was quickly ruled out.
And if I eliminate that too... only one possibility remains.
'...A natural disaster will occur.'
I didn't know exactly what kind of natural disaster would happen—
But from Serphina's army's perspective, something terribly unfortunate was going to occur.
No matter how low the probability, no matter how implausible it seemed—the only possibility left after eliminating all impossible ones was the truth.
'A natural disaster will occur, and Serphina's army will suffer severe damage, forcing them to withdraw.'
The most likely disaster was lightning.
If the weather turned gloomy when the enemy approached, it would be almost 99% certain.
The most frequent disaster in the game was earthquakes... but if an earthquake occurred, staying in the fortress wouldn't be the right decision, so I put that aside for now.
Besides, to position myself where the enemy could see me, I would need to be on top of the fortress walls.
But.
Thinking about it... I reached a very fundamental question.
What exactly was the necessity of "positioning myself where the enemy could see me"?
If a natural disaster was just going to happen anyway, couldn't I just hide inside the fortress?
With a little thought, this hypothesis could be refuted by almost the same logic as before.
I pushed aside the two hypotheses—"an incident occurs in Serphina's army causing them to retreat" and "a natural disaster occurs"—and focused on the essence of the sentence.
Take position where the enemy can see you.
Let's just think about this sentence for now, ignoring everything else.
'The area around the fortress is a plain with gentle hills... if I need to be inside the fortress and position myself where the enemy can be seen, should I be on the fortress wall facing northwest, where the enemy is expected to come from?'
What would happen if I positioned myself there when the enemy came into view?
The path from Chorel Castle to this fortress was a gentle hill, specifically a downhill slope.
This meant that if they came close enough, they would be able to see me too.
'Does this mean... I need to be "seen" by them...?'
The pieces of the puzzle started coming together.
A sudden natural disaster.
The necessity for me to be seen by the enemy.
'...!!!!'
Thump!
Without realizing it, I slammed my palm on the table in the empty conference room.
'I... need to make it look like I summoned the natural disaster?'
I needed to make it appear to the enemy soldiers that I had summoned the natural disaster.
Otherwise, there would be no need to "position myself where the enemy can see me."
Having thought this far, I needed to consider one more thing.
What if I applied the concept of "needing to be seen" to the previously discarded hypothesis of "something happening in the enemy camp causing them to retreat"?
In this scenario, me standing on the wall and the enemy retreating didn't form a coherent narrative like "needing to appear as if I summoned a natural disaster."
No matter what I did there, if there was a clear reason for the enemy's retreat, it wouldn't look like I had forced them to retreat with my own power.
So being seen would have no meaning in this case.
If it had no meaning, it wouldn't have appeared in the prediction.
So—here, nothing happens to Serphina's army; a natural disaster simply occurs. That seemed right.
No matter how I thought about it, that was the answer.
But.
That didn't solve all the problems.
This would probably be the last question.
Why did I need to make it appear to people that I had directly summoned a natural disaster?
Why was that the most efficient action we could take at this point?
After organizing my thoughts this far, the answer came surprisingly simply.
'If the invading enemy thinks I caused the natural disaster... they'll flee.'
For example, if lightning strikes.
They would certainly suffer damage, but they wouldn't stop advancing.
In the game, lightning could kill anywhere from a few thousand to, if unlucky, about ten thousand soldiers instantly. If the same rules applied in this world, they would suffer casualties but still have soldiers left.
Even if 10,000 died, they would still have troops left to attack the fortress.
They would still have siege weapons too.
But.
If this wasn't seen as a natural disaster... but rather as some kind of sorcery I had performed?
And if they thought they might be struck by lightning again and again?
Would they fight against this unexpected, mysterious power, or would they flee?
Thinking this far, my previously complicated thoughts suddenly became clear.
'That's it.'
I slapped my knee.
Yes.
So that's why we would win.
I could be certain that this was the meaning behind "holding ground where you can be seen."
But.
Somehow, I didn't feel like this was the complete picture.
This time, I simulated how this situation would spread from our army's perspective.
A newcomer in the Brands army used magical powers to defeat the enemy.
It would be too many eyewitnesses to call it an exaggerated rumor. The soldiers in the fortress, including Irene, would be vivid witnesses.
So what would I, as a third party belonging to the Brands army, think upon hearing this rumor?
What an amazing person, unbelievable, a newcomer achieved great merit...
'Achieved merit...?'
Only then did I recall a fact I had temporarily set aside while thinking about Irene.
I, or rather "Swen," whether for Irene's sake or, as others might see it, to curry favor with Kalinz—
Had disobeyed the return order from my lord, Lynn Brands.
No matter how good my intentions were, I had defied my lord's command and acted on my own.
But.
What if officers who even the monarch had discarded achieved an overwhelming victory with seemingly impossible abilities?
And what if many officers thought my actions were "for Kalinz's sake"?
Unlike Irene, Kalinz was different. He was related by blood to Lynn Brands, the lord.
Actions taken for him, who fundamentally had no rebellious feelings toward Lynn, were essentially the same as actions taken for the Brands army.
So, if rumors spread about my achievement, and it was perceived as being entirely for the Brands army's benefit.
Even someone as willful as Lynn couldn't harm me just for disobeying an order, could she?
And.
Having thought that far, I couldn't help but laugh.
"...Pfft!"
I see.
So that's why my intelligence 100 brain, which only makes correct statements, predicted [Take position where the enemy can see you and hold your ground].
I laughed loudly in the empty conference room like a madman.
It didn't matter.
Compared to the truly crazy thing I was about to do, this was nothing.
I stood up and took three deep breaths.
"...Well, let's go."
It was time to create a miracle.
* * *
Finding Irene tending to the wounded soldiers wasn't difficult.
I approached her.
"Lady Irene."
"Swen. Have you organized your thoughts?"
"Yes, I have. I also brought something I need your help with, if that's alright?"
Irene nodded and said:
"Of course. At this moment, Swen, you are my superior. What can I help you with?"
"That's good news."
Because I was about to ask for something completely absurd.
"Please bring as many bricks as you can find."
"Huh? Bricks? I'm sure there are leftover bricks from building the fortress... but why suddenly?"
I spoke to her in a very confident tone.
With an expression that seemed to see through everything.
"The energy of the sky is unusual. I'm going to build an altar to communicate with the heavens."