It took me around half an hour to come up with a new battle plan and explain it to everyone.
My plan was fairly straightforward. It involved precisely breaking through the enemy formation and taking out their troops individually.
In theory, it’s simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy. On the battlefield, it will take a brilliant mind to pull it off successfully.
Luckily, we have a brilliant mind on our side.
Me. I’m talking about me. Hehe.
Anyway, Grace’s body was thrown out of the building. Since it wasn’t her real body, no one should feel sad or guilty about her death, but a lot of people had gone quiet ever since Nero severed her head off.
Especially Ella. She wasn’t even paying attention to the meeting. Her mind was completely elsewhere.
At times, it seemed like I was the only one doing the talking here.
It made me wonder, did I do something wrong? Should I have waited until after the mock war?
But you see, going with the second option was entirely out of the question. For personal reasons, I couldn’t have afforded to let her live for much longer.
Anyway, after the strategy meeting was done, everyone got up and left to prepare for the upcoming war.
𝑵𝑶𝓋𝐞𝗅𝗇𝖾xt.𝗰𝑶𝓂
According to Williams’ reconnaissance squad, the enemy has already been spotted moving their troops to get ready.
At any time now, they will deploy their soldiers for an all-out war.
This time, instead of resources, the goal of the war is to make the opponent perish.
After everyone had left the hall, only Nero and I remained. To break the silence, I decided to make some small talk and asked, “Where did you get that sword?”
Nero’s sword had broken during his fight against Alberto, which made it challenging for him to defeat Alberto.
Although Alberto was strong, he was no match for Nero’s strength.
With his sword, Nero could take on anyone in the world and easily hold his own against them.
However, he did not have his sword for the entirety of their last match. This was one of the reasons why he had faced so much difficulty in defeating Alberto.
“I- uh, I picked it from a corpse when we were coming back while riding on the back of Williams’ cat,” he replied in an awkward tone.
“…I see.”
And just like that, the silence once again returned. Maybe I should excuse myself and get the fuck out too.
“So, I’ll go and see–”
But before I could get up to leave, Nero called out to me.
“Lucas.”
“Yes?”
“How did you know?”
“How did I know what?”
I was confused. What was this guy trying to ask? And why was he being so serious?
“Everything. How do you know all the things– even the things that have yet to happen?! Tell me the truth, do you have a Gift that enables you to see the future or something like that?”
Oh, it’s about that? Gosh, I was worried for a second.
“Why is everyone asking that? Kent and Amelia both asked me the same thing earlier. No, I can’t see the future. And I do possess a Gift, but it’s nothing related to future sight or anything like that.”
In fact, Future Sight was a rare Gift. Even in the novel, not many people possessed something like that or it would’ve been VERY valuable and sought out.
I can remember two people who possessed it– one was the head of a ruling family, an elf called Sasha Netyoive and another was a human girl at the Ethereal Academy named Samaya Shankar.
“So, how did you come to possess such knowledge? Your accurate predictions of Class 1-C-8’s movements on the battlefield, directing William to carry me back despite me not telling you about my injured leg, and even revealing the name under which Grace saved Alberto’s contact information all seem almost impossible to know without some kind of prior insight. The more I think about this, the more I am compelled to ask: how did you know all of this?”
As I listened to her question, I couldn’t help but let out a short chuckle. A smile formed on my face as I said:
“As it is supposed to end– with our victory.”
A confused frown formed on Nero’s face when he heard what I had said. This wasn’t an answer to his question. What does that even mean?
“What does that even mean?” he asked.
“Fine, let’s take the long way,” I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh. Then I proceeded to give the right answer to Nero’s questions.
“My father is a general and he’s known as the Black Wolf of the Battlefield. I’ve learned a lot about warfare from him. Warfare tactics are like chess. There are patterns and logic, and once you learn those patterns and logic, it’s only a matter of how early you can recognize them in a war and effectively counter them. Essentially, it’s about reading your opponent’s mind and countering their plan with yours.
“But there are hundreds of soldiers fighting a war. How could one ever hope to read every single one of their minds? Here’s the thing: you don’t. You only need to read one mind, and that’s the enemy’s strategist. That’s what I did. I read him and countered him even before the opponent’s strategist could react.
“Then, I predicted that you would suffer injuries after going against Alberto, so I asked William to carry you back if you weren’t in good shape. As for how I knew about Grace’s contact list, I can’t tell you that.”
Nero took a deep breath.
All that was obviously too much for him to handle. After a brief pause, he nodded his head and responded, “I see.”
“Yeah,” I nodded back. “You don’t have to worry, Nero. In truth, I’ve thought all of this through. I have done every calculation, taken everything factor, every fraction, and every variable, into account. I have already predicted how all this will end. I know how this Mock War will end.”
“You do?” Nero looked at me. His eyebrows arched up.
“Yeah,” I nodded back. “I know.”
“Okay, then tell me,” as if to entertain his curiosity, Nero asked: “How will this Mock War end?
A smirk formed on my face as I heard the question that I had already predicted and answered.
With a smirk still plastered on my face, I summoned a dagger from my smart bracelet and put it on the table in front of Nero.
Then I got up from my chair and turned around to walk out of the door.
After halting my steps right before leaving the hall, I cast a look back over my shoulders and answered:
“As it is supposed to end– with our victory,” I started walking again to leave while adding: “Take that dagger with you. You’ll need it.”