NOVEL NEXT Chapter 57
—“You’re being played for a fool, that idiot.”
“What do you mean!”
Rhode looks at the battlefield through the monitor.
The eyes of his strategic genius instantly make sense of everything.
“This arrangement.. maybe this guy is the commander, his name is.. Blue Tasmania.. ah, the Earl of Tasmania.”
“Yes, he was excellent. He lived up to the name of the House of Tasmania.”
Then the other examiner interjects.
He seems to know Blue, claiming that he had excelled in strategy.
“Ah, a family that has produced excellent commanders, as I recall! You’re the eldest son of that, isn’t that reassuring?”
“I’m sure he’s excellent. Manual, full of holes.. a commander who doesn’t know the battlefield.”
“Hah, It is somewhat pitiful to be compared to you, Rhode. I doubt if there is anyone in the world who would fight with you on the battlefield..”
“It’s the difference between the hell we’ ve been through. Back to the story, this deployment. This is the arrangement where this commander can have the most impact on the battlefield. If you try to understand what this test means, you’ll grasp the intent. In other words.”
***
“All right! One down!”
“- Congratulations! Blue-Sama!”
“Ha, that’s what I call a bunch of crows, the enemy has no strategy at all! It seems there was no one on the other side good enough to come forward and take command!”
An exchange of fire started, but compared to Blue, which works firmly as a team, the opponents seemed to be disorganised, either charging in with a single unit or with multiple units.
On this battlefield, the only information available is the position and communication of your allies.
No information on the opponent is known until visual confirmation.
However, the system is such that signals are displayed on the map only during visual confirmation.
Blue moves around the battlefield in teams of about five of his people.
He breaks in where other teams are engaged and snatches up the battlefield.
“Ha ha! That’s the third one!”
As Blue had read, the opposing team was unable to make good use of strategy meeting time and each unit was left to move on its own.
“Now I’m a Holy Knight!!!!”
Blue couldn’t stop grinning.
Becoming a Holy Knight would guarantee him honor and status.
As an Earl, it would be unbecoming of me if I did not become a Holy Knight.
Therefore, my parents have ordered me to become a holy knight at all costs.
I will use dirty tricks to achieve this long-cherished dream.
Winning is all that matters, and winning affirms everything.
“Come on, next!”
***
“I must say, Blue-kun’s strategy is brilliant.”
“I wonder if he will be the Holy Knight of this battlefield. Ken-kun must at least fight..”
“This is not good, is it? Rhode-Sama, no matter how good he is, if he can’t fight..”
The examiners sing Blue’s praises.
Seeing this, Star is impatient and tries to ask Rhode for his opinion.
Rhode, on the other hand, sitting in his chair, looking at the monitor, and poking his temples with his fingers, thinking.
It’s a habit of his, when he reads off.
But with Rhode’s devil’s brain, it didn’t take him long to read through this battlefield.
“.. Phew. No, not so much, I don’t know if he’s lucky or unlucky at all.”
Rhode sees all the battlefields of Team B and its opponent, Team A.
Having read through the future, having understood what is about to happen with that future vision, Rhode laughs.
“Well, he will manage somehow, he is a man whom I have recognised as a knight, and he will use his unreasonable sword to beat off any half-baked strategy.”
(Just as I was once beaten to death.)
“But in this situation..”
“No, the battlefield will move, in the direction of victory for the A-team. And Blue, you will know. It’s better not to have a hasty strategy.”
***
“Oh, hey! There’s too many enemies! What’s going on?
“Blue-Sama! They’re coming from over there!”
“What the hell?”
Enemies gather one after another on the battlefield where Blue is fighting.
Their numbers gradually increased, 10, 20.. and finally over 30.
“Why.. what is happening..”
They efficiently ran around the battlefields, making each battlefield a drawn-out battle to prolong the fight.
As a result, Blue got to that battlefield in time and snatched the battle from the side.
That was Blue’s strategy, to create a commanding headcount gap.
Battles are fought in numbers, a truism of the most ancient battlefields.
That’s why they became a nomadic army and ran around the battlefield.
Why.
“Why are there so many enemies! What is going on!”
Blue, surrounded on all sides, the reason is simple.
***
“This, this.. are you saying that Road-sama knew this was going to happen?”
“Ah, the A-team must have no commander, just a bunch of crows confronting anyone they see. But the map is shared, so everyone knows who is fighting where.”
“It’s.. it’s the same as on a real battlefield. It’s not just about the simulator.”
“Yeah, per se. But Blue, he took the credit and prolonged the battles on each battlefield. And he ran around the battlefield from top to bottom. As a result, the enemy came from all sides, one after the other, like children playing with a ball at his battlefields.”
Blue prolonged the battle and changed battlefields one after another.
As a result, the A-team, which had been engaged in various places, thought it was a bad idea, and all gathered at the battlefield where Blue was.
It was as if all the children had gathered together in the direction of the ball.
They all ran in the direction the ball rolled, with no strategy whatsoever.
Like hyenas swarming for food, the warriors flocked to their destination.
So here we are on the blue battlefield.
It is a fool’s errand in front of the right strategy.
But, in fact, it also has the power to embody that the battle is in numbers.
***
“Damn It! Gather all of you! The point is D, Everyone!”
Blue, impatient, gives the order to all B-team members.
And one by one, B-Team gathers on the battlefield.
But the battle is in numbers, and Team A and Team B have no difference in KOG’s technical prowess.
Then it is self-evident that the one with more numbers wins.
Blue’s instructions were wrong.
They should have retreated first and gathered their numbers first.
If they had done so, they would have had the advantage in numbers, but instead they called them out.
The result would have been a repeat of the many against the few.
Team B was defeated one after another by a large force of over 30 units.
They were defeated by overwhelming numbers before they could gather their numbers, and the other B-teams that joined them were also defeated one after another.
Seeing this, Blue shouts.
“Ugh, it’s a lie, I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong!!!!”
“Blue-Sama! Please give me instructions!”
“This, we’ll be wiped out at this rate! Blue-Sama, please!”
“Damn it, it’s your fault! For not fighting like I told you! My strategy should have been perfect! It’s not my fault!”
Blue is then surrounded by dozens of them.
When he realised that he was the only one around, the battlefield was destroyed and only a few B-teams remained.
“I’m a genius, I’m supposed to be a genius.. why..”
His cry is struck down under a flash of light in vain.
***
Rhode, who had been listening to the communication, muttered.
“There is no perfect strategy, Blue-kun. There is only a high or low probability of success. It’s our role to enhance it. You’re lucky it’s a simulation, because if this were a battlefield, you’d be dead and the Asgard Empire would be defeated.”
“So.. this is.. decided, the A-team will win.”
“Blue, I thought your strategy wasn’t bad, but you put too much priority on profit in the middle. Even on the battlefield, this is no way to lead..”
“As expected, Rhode-sama. But with this..”
Colonel Starr admires Rhode for being able to predict this far.
However, if this means that the B Team will be defeated, his voice has no power.
Many examiners have decided that Team B will be defeated and have started to calculate who on Team A will become a Holy Knight.
Everyone watching the examination, even Colonel Starr, was convinced that this was a decisive victory for the A team.
The only one.
“Now, It’s time. My knight.”
Except for Rhode Asgard, who was smiling and happily staring at the monitor.
***
“Hmm? Should I get there? At point D. It’s something different from the plan.. it’s so far away.”