Became a Strategist With an Intelligence of 100 and an Accuracy Rate of 100%

Chapter 38

38 – Episode 38. Battle in the North (2)

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How many days has it been since the Calinz army left to attack the castle?

It was only natural to hear, but it was bad news.

“Are you saying that our military’s defeat is serious?”

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“Yes. Currently, about 18,000 people have become casualties, and we are preparing to retreat through the 5,000 troops who have already secured a retreat route. Although Kalinz-sama has not made a decision yet… “I think they might retreat.”

“Huh… I see. Is that what happened in the end?”

Park, who was in charge of the fortress, sighed briefly.

The price of recklessly going into a battle that even an ordinary general like Parque thought he would lose was terrible.

‘There are about 10,000 troops remaining.’

It seems that Irene was somehow able to persuade him and secure a retreat route by deploying 5,000 soldiers to the rear.

It was a blessing in disguise.

You should give up and retreat as quickly as possible, but hesitating to make a decision means –

‘The defeat is dark, but it seems like we’re barely catching up.’

Kalintz was an S-class general in his own right, and Irene had a special skill in ‘siege’.

So it seemed like they were rubbing together somehow.

If you just do a little more, you can break through the castle gate. If you just break through the castle gate, you can reverse the situation…… Is that why you keep pushing forward with that thought?

It would have been better to retreat right away, but considering that they had sent a separate messenger instead of retreating, it seemed unlikely.

“…I understand. I will prepare to receive wounded soldiers here as well. I would like to send reinforcements, but there are only about 3,000 troops left… I am sorry. First, I will deliver the news to Kelstein Castle as well.”

“I understand.”

After sending the messenger with the news, Parc sighed deeply and then looked at us gathered in the conference room and said.

“I don’t know what to do now.”

“…….”

Park sighed deeply.

A total of six generals here, including me, Jack, and Silin, said nothing.

In the first place, all the generals with decent abilities who guarded this fortress had participated with Kalintz, and only C-class generals who were not very capable remained in the fortress.

Even if you don’t get a sharp number, there’s nothing you can do about it.

At that time.

Jack next to me carefully raised his hand.

“Hey, fortress commander.”

“Tell me.”

“I was anxious from the beginning… But the number of troops in the fortress is too small. If we are invaded, it will be taken over quickly. Wouldn’t it be better to send a request for support to Kelstein Castle now?”

I was thinking about that too.

In a way, there was no way Serpina would just ignore us, who had stabbed us in the back first.

If they had succeeded in taking the castle, they would have focused their efforts on regaining the lost Cherien Castle without worrying about fortifications like this, but that was not the case right now.

“Hmm… I don’t know if Mr. Racion will send it, but I’ll try to say it first.”

After that, of course, no further opinions were expressed.

We, who had just disbanded, were organizing generals to provide support as soon as possible.

It seemed like they had decided to send about three generals, including Jack, to meet our fleeing soldiers.

I have only one interest.

It was whether Irene would survive or not.

Iren was a very strong general, and she let me know in advance that I was going to lose the battle anyway, so I wouldn’t overdo it.

However, it would have been very difficult if Irene had been taken prisoner by repeating this meaningless war.

‘If we come back safely, it would be better to tell Kalinz to just go to Kelstein.’

It was very dangerous to keep repeating the close battle here.

Now that Kalinz is so broken, it will not be stubborn anymore.

He may be arrogant, but he is a person with a basic head, so he will make a cool and calm judgment this time.

His pride may have been crushed once he was completely shattered, but considering the soldiers who lost their lives because of his judgment and the expected value of what those soldiers were able to accomplish, it would only be cheap pride.

Thinking like that, how many days had passed while waiting for our army to retreat?

One of the soldiers watching from the castle wall shouted loudly.

“I see a flag over there!”

Soldiers were running toward the fortress, holding a light blue flag with the symbol of the Brans Army drawn on it.

Still, seeing as there were quite a few troops, it seemed like they had fortunately retreated safely.

We followed Park and ran out to greet them.

“I heard the news, General Miguel. Was there a rout?”

Miguel, the man in front, responded to Parc’s words.

It’s a face I’ve seen several times.

He was a B-class general who was good to have as a lieutenant.

“… That’s right. Fortunately, they didn’t form a chaser, so we were able to arrive safely. But… It doesn’t change the fact that we were defeated.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you came back alive.”

Miguel couldn’t say anything and lowered his head in response to Farque’s words.

At that time.

We, including Parc, noticed a subtle change.

The point was that Kalinz, who was supposed to be at the forefront, was not visible.

“Um, General Kalinz…?”

“…….”

Miguel couldn’t say anything, and then he spoke in a miserable tone.

“General Kalinz… Has become a prisoner of Ian’s army.”

“What…?”

Because he was at the forefront, he must have led the fight deep into the depths, and that is why he was captured.

And that time.

‘…… ?’

If you look closely, you will see that Kalinz is not alone.

Iren’s appearance also…… It’s not visible.

‘No way…… !’

Sensing her heart pounding at that moment, I quietly slipped out to check on her rear, and walked among the remnants of her defeated soldiers who had entered her fortress, looking for her.

No.

I didn’t care about things like Kalintz. Ji got caught for being so stupid, so who can blame him?

But Irene should not have been caught. She needs to increase her favorability rating so that she can defect to the Luna Lien army, but if she gets caught…… !

No.

That’s not it.

I only noticed it after thinking about it that much.

If that was the only reason, there was no reason for my heart to pound so hard and feel anxious.

Because there are many outstanding generals other than her.

In the first place, as long as Tifa, who already deeply follows Luna Lien, opens her eyes to her magic, wouldn’t she be able to become an SS-class general who can’t even compare to Iren?

I-

I was worried about her herself.

In the future, she was not an S-class general who would play an active role in Luna Lien’s army, but was just hoping that a woman named Irene Juliet would be safe.

‘Iren…… !’

I was panting and running around frantically.

How long did he wander through the gaps between the soldiers?

Among the painful groans of wounded soldiers – a now familiar female voice was heard.

“Please be patient. We have arrived at the fortress.”

“……!!!”

I looked towards where the voice was coming from.

Irene, wearing armor with her pride engraved on it, was taking care of her wounded soldier.

“…Ha, ha, ha.”

Only then did I realize that I had been running around like crazy, and a deep sigh came out.

I already had poor physical strength, but I was a little dizzy from running around so hard.

And the woman who was taking care of her wounded soldier noticed my gaze and turned her head towards me.

“…Swen?”

“Iren.”

I slowly approached her.

When she got right in front of her, her legs gave out and she almost fell down, but she caught her.

“S-Swen?! Are you okay?”

“Iren… I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Damn it.

I felt like crying.

I felt similar to when I broke up with Lunarien.

Was I this emotional?

Irene had a surprised expression on her face, and she took me in as I was out of breath.

Soon, she smiled very kindly and-

She patted my back quietly.

“Didn’t I promise you that I would come back alive?”

“…….”

It’s warm.

I could feel this woman’s body temperature.

Without all the modifiers such as S-class general, siege specialist, or general persecuted by the monarch-

The fact that only a woman named Irene exists and breathes here was conveyed to me.

And.

That fact was truly a great comfort to me.

“…Uh, that.”

“……?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, but how long are you going to keep doing this? It’s just… A little embarrassing.”

“Ah.”

It was only then that I realized that I was leaning my face against her chest.

She was wearing armor that protected her chest anyway, so I didn’t feel much because she was hard to the touch…… From her perspective, it seemed quite embarrassing.

After getting away from her for a while, she cleared her throat a few times and spoke.

“Hmm. More than that… She retreated safely because there were no pursuers, but in the end-“

“Are you saying that Kalintz has been taken prisoner?”

“It looks like you heard the news.”

“What on earth happened?”

Iren said with a dark expression.

“That’s true. The soldiers at Cherien Castle were much stronger than I thought. There was no sign of their morale dropping or their ranks breaking down. Of course, they were able to inflict quite significant damage, but of course this side The damage was greater. We somehow persuaded them to deploy 5,000 men to the rear, but it was a disaster, and the soldiers in the vanguard were almost wiped out.”

“Then what about the casualties…?”

“…A total of 28,000 people.”

So, excluding the wounded soldiers, the number of troops who returned alive was around 2,000, excluding the 5,000 who were deployed to the rear to retreat?

“It was a close defeat. If we had just a little more soldiers, we could have captured the castle.”

Iren smiled bitterly as she said that.

She also realized this.

This battle ultimately only did good things for Serpina.

After hearing that, I looked around.

There are only soldiers here and there moaning in pain.

If you capture this scenery alone, there is literally no place in hell.

‘It’s a crushing defeat.’

Once again, I thought it was fortunate that they suggested not having Irene as the vanguard.

If that were the case, it might have been Airen who became the prisoner.

“Anyway, I’m glad you came back safely. It’s good to take care of the wounded soldiers, but first, let’s go report to Parque.”

“Hmm. Sure.”