Volume 2 - CH 51

2.51.-Asure Courselete- side

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As soon as I returned to Garrot, I was summoned to the castle.

I really wanted to talk to my vassals a little more, but I can't help but go if the king calls me directly.

He is the king after all.

It's kind of inappropriate to go to the throne room before anything is ready, but I decided to go straight to the throne room.

I found out when I was walking around the city, but the people's eyes around me were very disturbing.

I know this is a part of the strategy, but it's a little painful.

This also means I need to deceive the people temporarily for the plan.

If I say I don't feel any guilt, that's obviously a lie.

But this is necessary.

The first thing I need to clean up is the slave trader.

But some slave traders work in a legitimate way.

It is the soldiers' job to distinguish this problem.

I left the command of this work to Gilnia.

He has been entrusted with a very difficult role, but until now he has helped me with the general affairs of the country.

It can't be done by me alone.

And the job I do is ... to get blamed.

"Thank you for your hard work. From here, I will go alone."

"! But-!"

"It's okay, Targa. First, please go home to show your family that you're safe."

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One of my trusted vassals, Targa, who has been called here to help with my work.

I need some arrangements to get the plans working.

I also need someone to prepare something for me.

It takes a tremendous amount of money and time to prepare, but I don't have much time to spare now.

You can't use something that doesn't follow its purpose, it's no different from the value of rock compared to gold.

Now is the time.

"Then, I'll ask you to do something for me."

"..."

The last word was whispered so that it would not be heard by the guards.

Targa nodded a little and then left me to carry out the operation.

I'm counting on you.

Targa, Gilnia.

Taken by the gatekeeper, I'm greeted by soldiers under the direct control of the king and walk with them to the throne room.

The inside of the castle is very clean and luxurious.

Occasionally I see a gorgeous female, a bowl of fruit, and a servant carrying food, all for the king and my elder brother.

Just looking at them makes my chest hurt.

I walked while trying to suppress my thoughts as much as possible, and soon I arrived in front of the throne room.

A soldier makes a loud report.

"Asure-sama has come! Open the door!"

After that, the door was pulled from the other side as if they already prepared all of this, and the big door opened.

Glittering chandeliers and candlesticks are lights brilliantly decorated with the red carpet.

Just by a glance this room alone costs a lot of money.

There are many pillars in this room, and soldiers stand in front of every pillar.

And down the carpet road ... King Rheind was sitting in a big chair, and next to him, the eldest son, Rudd, stood there with a glaring glance at me.

The king is much more- bigger than he used to be.

It's not like he is fat, but his chubby body is enough to make you think he's been living a luxurious life.

Meanwhile the eldest son, Rudd-anii-sama is sluggish, but he always talks about how vast is the difference between him and the others.

He seems to be hated because he seems to brag to his vassals and soldiers about it.

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"Asure Courselete just came back from the battlefield."

"Finally you come back, but it seems the result of the battle was not that good, wasn't it ...?"

It seems that information has already flowed to that point.

But he doesn't seem to know about the mock combat.

I wondered if there was a soldier under the direct control of the king because I was a threat to that extent, but I tried to investigate it, but in the end I didn't find any.

It seems that there were no such soldiers among my soldiers in the first place.

"Yes. As a result, we were hurt and my troops needed to be routed."

"Huh! You're useless as usual, Asure! How many soldiers were killed?"

His attitude is very annoying, but I must be patient here.

I thought that I'm used to his blabbering, but he was strangely more annoying after he decided to take the throne.

"... There are about 3,000 soldiers who survived."

"I heard that you did a special attack on the besieged enemies. Why didn't you wait for the opponent to weaken due to running out of troops? Are you stupid?"

It seems that the soldiers have already begun to spread the false report.

The rumour in the capital area spread quite fast.

My mouth seemed to loosen a little because he was doing what I'd expected, but I bit my lips and acted regretfully to deceive him.

Well ... I have to start talking from here.

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"First of all, your majesty has told me to attack the enemy castle, to show the power of the Garrot kingdom to other countries, right?"

"Yea, that's right."

"That's why the current strategy would never work in attrition warfare."

"Ah? What do you mean?"

Rudd-anii-sama is agitated by my words.

It seems that the king does not understand too, so I will explain it.

"First of all, when attacking a castle, the opponent almost always brings the battle to the siege. As a countermeasure, it is an attrition warfare that waits for the castle's troops to run out, but this takes time. And this tactic is a rudimentary thing that anyone can think of. And even if we attack the weakened part of the opponent, we can't prove the power of our country. Of course we must win with this tactic, there is no way we can prove our power with cowardly tactics. Both the troops and the enemy soldiers challenged the battle at the castle in perfect condition. Unfortunately, this tactic is not suitable for this kind of battle ... "

If we actually win, it will be known to other countries that Garrot has the power to drop a castle overnight.

Even if this tactic succeeds once, other countries should feel that the Garrot kingdom is a threat.

Upon hearing this, the king stays calm, but Rudd-anii-sama is still angry.

Even though he didn't study that hard, he didn't understand even though I explained it by gritting his teeth ...

"But it doesn't make sense if you lose, but you are able to come back."

It seems that he doesn't know anything, so he has no choice but to point at the result.

But this is a fact and cannot be denied.

And I'm still thinking about another plan.

"That's right, but first of all it wasn't a fight we could win."

"? What does that mean?"

"First of all, the enemy threw stones at my headquarters. This alone lost many soldiers before they were attached to the castle. Moreover, the structure of the castle is completely different from what we know. Moreover, the opponent is a demon ... I can never win in close quarters. So I deployed a mage unit and launched an attack from a long distance, but the stones reached the place of the mage unit ... This alone destroyed the corps and broke them apart. I pulled up my troops because if we keep fighting it, we will lose in vain. "

{If you can read this, that means you are reading on light mode or in aggregator site that shamelessly stealing from  restless-oneesan.blogspot.com}

Now is a tactic that Raiki-sama taught me.

Humans who are lighter than rocks will be blown away to that extent while retaining their original shape, that's why he shows us a difference in our strength.

Maybe Raiki-sama will do the same in an offensive battle.

Perhaps because they heard the detailed battle situation, they finally started to look difficult.

I would like to hear what they are thinking about.

After all, it's all a lie.

When I see their faces, I really want to laugh.

But I have to keep the poker face.

"......... I see. I understand. The opponent is too hard this time."

"Yes, your majesty"

I take a big guts pose in my mind.

The deceiving talk was successful.

This means neither my family, nor the families of my vassals are in danger anymore.

The original purpose of this statement is to ensure the safety of mine and my vassals family.

Of course, this also includes raising anxiety for the king and my elder brother, but for the time being, this should be fine.

I have to hide my family out of reach of these two people tomorrow.

It is impossible to tell them not to get caught, so let's make some alibi and move them by force.

"Then, I will excuse myself."

"Umm. Rest your body slowly."

I left the throne room behind the embarrassing sight of the king and my brother who kept glaring at me.

The king seems to be thinking about the future, but my eldest brother seems not to think about anything.

The only thing he is thinking about is that he couldn't be that stupid.

I had never said something like a battle report in front of the King or Rudd-anii-sama.

My brother should have little experience in combat.

The last one was a skirmish in the village.

The scale is too different from my battle.

I think the king who makes it to the first team is overprotective, but ... First of all, no war has occurred.

Even if there is, it was more like a skirmish than war.

So he thinks it's a shame that he couldn't give much advice based on his experience.

The door makes a loud noise and closes.

The next sound I heard should have been my footsteps, but before that I heard a different voice.

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"What ~ a ~ liar~!"

While saying that, a slightly petite man popped out from behind the curtain.

He had a slightly curly hairstyle and wore luxurious white clothes.

A large pendant hangs from his chest, and he approach me while gently stroking it with one hand.

"... Baltic-nii-sama? Another strange way of entrance ..."

"Hmm hmm! Isn't it okay-I like this kind of thing-"

This person, who looks like a boy at first glance, is the second son, Baltic Courselete.

He should have fallen asleep because he wasn't feeling well until the other day, but now it seems he is too well.

"Is your body okay?"

"Yeah. I'm in very good shape today."

"Is that so ... and what do you mean by a 'liar'?"

"Did you think I don't know?"

Baltic-nii-sama has a better head than I had.

But I haven't told Baltic-nii-sama anything ... I wonder why he knew it was a lie.

What am I saying to be a lie in the first place?

After that, Baltic-nii-sama flicked his finger twice.

This is one of the cues that my brother Baltic-nii-sama has decided on.

This means 'come to my room later'.

"..."

"Money is a thing you see ~"

After telling me that, Baltic-nii-sama walked away.

For the time being, after dinner, I'm heading to Baltic-nii-sama's room.