As soon as I stood before Parfalle, a message suddenly appeared before my eyes.

    [Which command would you like to select?]

    A selection of 1:1 debate commands floated in front of me, and I crushed my opponent with the power of my 100 Intelligence—

    —Of course, nothing like that happened.

    If that were the case, a status window would have appeared the moment I arrived here.

    In the game, Intelligence played the most crucial role in 1:1 debates.

    Just as a warrior with high Strength could easily slaughter an opponent with lower Strength in a duel, the fundamental mechanism of debates in the game was that a commander with higher Intelligence would completely overpower a less intelligent opponent. The actual logic applied in the debate mattered far less than the raw stat difference.

    The game itself wasn’t designed with intricate mechanics. It was a simple, old-school strategy game at its core.

    However, now that this game world had become reality, I couldn’t just say the right things based on command affinities and expect my opponent to respond with, "Hmm, I see your point...!" while trembling in fear and losing health.

    I had to truly convince my opponent.

    That meant the key to victory wasn’t my Intelligence stat.

    Instead, my weapon was the knowledge I had—truths that only I could know, things I had learned over 10,000 hours of playing this game.

    It was about using those facts and striking at just the right moment, at a timing that would make my opponent think, "How could he possibly know that?"

    Those two things would determine the outcome.

    This wasn’t the Lunarian Army.

    Here, no one was going to take my arguments at face value just because I insisted on them, the way Luna sometimes did.

    For my words to sound convincing, I had to prove that I knew things they wouldn’t expect me to know.

    "I need to create an opening."

    At that moment, Parfalle spoke in a gentle tone.

    "You may speak first if you wish."

    I gave a slight nod at Parfalle’s courteous offer, then opened my mouth.

    "At this moment, invading Aishus would not be a wise course of action."

    "May I ask why?"

    "Before I provide my reasons, I would rather ask a question—both to you, Lady Parfalle, and to your esteemed lord."

    As I said this, I shifted my gaze past Parfalle—

    —to Lyn, who sat upon the throne, watching us with an amused expression.

    She was smiling.

    Good. She wasn’t in a bad mood.

    That meant I could speak freely.

    "Up until now, why have you not invaded Aishus in the east?"

    "...I will answer that in her place. Because the opportunity never presented itself."

    "And what do you mean by opportunity?"

    "As you must already know, the Aishus Army is not a force to be taken lightly. Their territory may be small, but they have an exceptional number of talented commanders. Their army is substantial, as they draw soldiers from the fertile lands of Valharat. Even with their limited territory, if we were to commit to an invasion, we would have to risk exposing our other fronts."

    I nodded at her words.

    "I completely agree with you, Lady Parfalle. Which is precisely why I must ask—why, then, are you now advocating for an attack on Valharat Castle?"

    "Because if Aishus launches an attack on Aleffel, there will inevitably be an opening."

    "And is that your only reason? Given Aishus’ military capability, I believe they could handle Aleffel’s forces while still maintaining a strong defense against our own."

    "If that were my only reason, I wouldn’t have proposed this."

    She let a hint of confidence slip through her voice in response to my probing.

    "...As I said earlier, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us."

    An opportunity had presented itself.

    In other words, without this opportunity, an invasion would have been impossible.

    And in the current situation, there was only one factor that could be considered an ‘opportunity’—external interference.

    I ran through my thoughts.

    Airen had mentioned that Charam’s forces had arrived to offer financial tribute.

    In this game, money was almost never handed out freely.

    There was a 99% chance that such an offering meant [Treachery] was in play.

    This wasn’t a deduction based on my 100 Intelligence.

    It was something I knew from playing this game for over 10,000 hours.

    "If a decision is made, an official briefing will be provided to our lord and all key personnel... but for now, I cannot say anything definitive."

    Her added comment only made my suspicion more plausible.

    Of course she couldn’t say it outright.

    How could Brans Army’s strategist openly declare, "Charam has agreed to attack Aishus from behind in coordination with us," in front of all these people?

    Parfalle was a strategist of Brans Army.

    Even if she spoke vaguely, her proven track record would make it easy for others to trust her.

    Just like how Cain and Tifa gradually began to believe in my abilities back when I was in the Lunarian Army.

    Moreover, her promise to clarify things once the strategy was finalized only reinforced that trust.

    Unlike my time under Luna, where I had to constantly beg people to believe me, she was in a position where people would naturally place their trust in her.

    Which meant—

    The person I needed to shake wasn’t the spectators.

    Not Lyn.

    But the strategist herself, Parfalle.

    "I do have some ideas."

    That was a lie.

    But there was no need for me to reveal my hand just yet.

    "In that case, I’d like to hear your reasoning."

    "Lady Parfalle, please recall what you said earlier. You yourself stated, ''I cannot disclose that information at this time.'' There must be a reason why you said that, correct? The same applies to me."

    "..."

    If they were keeping secrets, then I had every right to keep some as well.

    Parfalle understood my implication. She fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, before finally asking:

    "Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that you are correct. That this secret coordination with Charam is a trap, and that we are being deceived. Wouldn’t that make this the perfect opportunity for us to turn the tables on Aishus? If we have already identified the deception, shouldn''t we use it to strike Aishus from behind instead? If that were your argument, I would be inclined to agree with you. However—"

    Her voice became more resolute.

    I could finally feel her treating me as a genuine opponent.

    "Your stance is not to turn this deception against them. Instead, you are supporting General Airen’s proposal—to send troops north and focus on reinforcing our defenses. Do you still stand by that position?"

    "..."

    That was true.

    I had come here to push Airen’s plan.

    She must have brought this up now because she sensed she was losing ground on the previous point.

    As expected, a strategist of her caliber hadn’t earned her position through luck.

    I couldn’t rely on my predictive abilities here, nor would anyone trust me unconditionally the way Luna had.

    I had to fight with pure rhetoric.

    But even though my 100 Intelligence couldn’t give me the exact answer, it had said that Airen’s strategy was close to being correct.

    "Not exactly correct, but close..."

    What was the difference between ''correct'' and ''close to correct''?

    "The action is right, but the conclusion is different?"

    If my predictive ability wasn’t giving me a perfect answer but something that was merely close, that fact alone revealed something crucial.

    It meant that Parfalle’s strategy of turning the deception against Aishus was not optimal.

    If it were, my predictive ability wouldn’t have said Airen’s plan was close to the best answer—it would have pointed to Parfalle’s plan instead.

    Which meant that using 56,000 troops to take any action against Aishus was not the most efficient course of action.

    Now, I needed to analyze Airen’s proposal the same way.

    "The action is right, but the conclusion is different."

    That meant sending troops north was indeed the correct action.

    But it didn’t necessarily mean they should only be used for defense.

    "Almost correct."

    That suggested that sending troops north was the right idea—but focusing solely on defense was not.

    "Then what’s the alternative...?"

    We had two options when deploying forces.

    Strengthening defenses.

    Or launching an attack.

    And—

    "...!"

    The moment I realized it, a cold sweat ran down my back.

    It was just a theory—nothing more than a conjecture based on my observations.

    But if my reasoning was correct, then—

    "If reinforcing defenses is only ‘close to correct’... then the real answer is—!"

    It was an answer I hadn’t even considered.

    But I knew this guiding compass was accurate.

    Slowly, I spoke.

    "...We must send our troops north. I still fully support that idea. However—"

    "If so, then you are advocating for defense? I have many points to make on that. First of all, considering the number of troops currently engaged in fortress construction—"

    "Lady Parfalle. I must apologize for interrupting you, but I must ask that you allow me to finish my statement."

    Though I had cut her off, Parfalle acknowledged that she had interrupted me first and nodded.

    "...My apologies. I let my emotions get the better of me. Please continue."

    "Sending troops north is indeed the correct move. However, we must not simply focus on defense. No—we cannot send them north just for defense."

    "...Excuse me?"

    Parfalle was stunned.

    Lyn, who had been watching with an amused expression, was surprised.

    The officers standing within earshot were visibly shaken.

    And—

    Even Airen, the very person who had proposed this plan, was shocked.

    But when all incorrect possibilities were eliminated, the remaining answer—no matter how absurd—had to be the truth.

    This was the radiant, undeniable answer revealed by my 100 Intelligence.

    I met Parfalle’s gaze and struck her with the ultimate truth.

    "We must gather our forces in the north... and invade Serpina’s territory."