Chapter 357: Deceiving, deceived, and deluding (1/2)

In light of the new anime announcement, I just wanted to tell you guys that I have finally begun editing early Tsuki chapters. Just looking at those grammar atrocities, I am surprised and grateful that you guys still stayed with me for so long >-<. You guys are real fighters.

I will be updating them as I finish editing each arc (just began so I still haven’t finished an arc yet), so it will be a slow process since I have many other things I gotta do on the side as well.

That’s all!

Enjoy the chapter! :DDD!

“I have already read their first move.”

What was revealed in the war council stirred the place.

The long march was finally reaching its end.

But in this moment when the battle is right before our eyes, our morale was shaken greatly.

Tsige is still not in sight, but we were able to confirm by sight the giant wall that was only told to us from reports alone.

The moment we began to see it with our own eyes, we had no choice but to realize the power of the opponent.

A wall that shouldn’t be there, yet clearly exists.

Money, people, or things, or everything previously mentioned.

The power of Tsige was clearly shown by being able to create such a thing in a short period of time.

Even if that thing is just a fake that’s just there for show, the scale of it is something that can’t be ignored.

“I have heard that we don’t have the most recent information though?”

“Yeah, it seems like they have finally begun to worry about information leaks. There’s no doubt about that. Information from spies isn’t the only way to know about the movements of your opponent though.”

A young man that has never fought in actual combat answers the question in a cocky tone.

Must be royalty…from a branch somewhere.

Well, there’s no doubt that he is in an above the clouds social position, so he is someone that I won’t be involving myself with in the future anyways -as someone who only leads a single platoon.

The Aion army gathers both conscripted and aspiring soldiers, but it is an organization where it is tacitly understood that there’s a limit to how much one can be promoted depending on your social status.

Even within the recruits, if you are not one of those who entered the army through a designated scholarship or from the Rotsgard Academy, and on top of that are from nobility, you won’t reach the top.

There’s obviously exceptions, but you would require achievements that would remain in history as a legend in order to break a wall or two.

If you are a second son or third son of a noble family of not much importance, even if you have decent war records, the most you can get is platoon captain.

You won’t be troubled in bringing food to your table, but that’s it.

It wouldn’t be that much different from the mercenaries you can find around.

“Even so, being able to make a wall like that is impressive.”

“As I have said, that wall has nothing to do with this. This is something that happened a while ago, but there was a mage squad of our army that made contact with them.”

““Ooh…””

“It was truly foolish. The Tsige merchants feared our ritual magic, and tried to seal it.”

“How can that be. Then, they were thinking of betraying?”

“That’s right. But they are mere merchants in the end. They only see numbers. It looks like they don’t understand the placing of ritual magic in war yet.”

“It is true that if used against opponents that have no countermeasures, it would deal a big hit, but that’s exactly why any army has those countermeasures. If it is a big army, they would even form a number of squads that would concentrate solely on shutting down the ritual magic of the enemy. There’s only a few types of ritual magic, so there are decent ways to counter them after all.”

“That’s right. On top of that, their chances for action are plain, but their worth in the battlefield is extremely high. Therefore, the Aion army has formed ritual mage squads who are particularly patriotic, and their treatment is extraordinary.”

“Trying to make them betray us…pft! Sorry about that. A decent tactician would never think about that, so I ended up laughing…”

“A child would. It is true that if ritual magic activates successfully, it is the best option. Hahaha.”

That kind of conversation unfolded brightly in the meeting, and they would mix scorn towards the other party every now and then.

It is true that putting an eye on ritual magic is the perspective of a beginner.

Just like the big shots are saying, if it could be used it would be one thing, but you rarely see ritual magic in the battlefield.

Because the moment the activation of it is sensed, it would immediately be countered with an aria of their own.

There have been researches about it in the past, but there’s 7 attack ritual spells, and there’s also 7 counters that would erase them or bounce them back.

If you can gather around 10 mediocre mages, you can make use of those ritual spells, and the more you gather, the stronger it gets. In paper alone, it sounds like dreamlike magic, but there’s way too many weak points and limitations.

For example; there’s not much difference in the aria length of the attack spells, but the counter ones all take less than 1/3rd of that time.

Whether it is the attack or the counter one, the magic power is completely exposed, so it is easy to detect.

Also, the aria is damn long, and you can’t use any other aria while at it.

If you want to use them properly, it would be in a large scale war between armies, but easy to prepare against.

In other words, it is supreme bliss if it were to hit.

That’s ritual magic.

Considering that Tsige has a lot less battle experience and there’s a heavy difference in numbers compared to Aion, this is a valid option though.

“However…if we are aiming for ritual magic, shouldn’t we just shoot? Even that wall would be…hm?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I had the mages fake that they are betraying us. In other words, their first move will be to chant the arias for ritual magic at the other side of that wall -thinking that we have lost our defenses against ritual magic.”

““Ah!””

The unbelievable workload for creating that wall would be worth it if it is to buy time for when ritual magic is used.

But that will end in wasted effort, is what our General was saying.

Laughing began to slowly spread in the area.

Learning about the opponent’s plan, let them swim around, then turn it around and win.

It is the certain victory pattern of Aion which specializes in information battles.

In battles where the battlefield is faraway, a gap will be created no matter what with the army that can be dispatched as well as the speed of information that can be gathered.

However, Tsige may be a remote region, but it is within the country.

There must be plenty of spies infiltrated, and their internal conditions must be barenaked already.

And so, we can also mobilize a large army that we have been accumulating and accumulating for a long time.

We are invincible and victory is certain.

That’s the battle style of Aion.

It seems the General ahead, Morgan-sama, and the one here is no different from usual.

If…his son Dio-sama is still alive, he would have noticed the danger of it.

It is true that the Aion army is big, but Dio-sama and I felt that their way of doing things is dangerous.

The battlestyle of stripping the enemy naked beforehand, and overwhelming them with numbers.

The latter half is so simple, and it makes me uneasy to think about what would happen if preparations were made beforehand to crush that advantage.

Well, I am aware that I am in the minority.

Also…

“It may be pointless, but tomorrow I will try proposing the representative of the Rembrandt Company -who we are letting swim- to do a war of words to compete for the Blessing. It won’t be hitting, but they are preparing artillery. Closing the distance as much as possible before the battle begins isn’t bad.”

This General-dono that I don’t know the name of has some decent thinking there.

A war of words means approaching the opponent and having a verbal clash.

You can’t do that unless you have a decent amount of courage and confidence.

We will be receiving the Blessing, so that’s a clear advantage -no, this time around, it would be certain victory itself.

The morale that had been shaken by that wall had been raised splendidly with just a couple of words.

Can’t say I like or dislike it, but there’s no fault in it.