Chapter 145

—Pant, pant!

—Hurry! We can’t be late!

—What time did His Highness say to gather by?

—I don’t know! Just hurry up!

The languid time after lunch.

Normally, it would be a time for the officials to enjoy a little rest while keeping an eye on Olivia.

But at the summons of the king, who had suddenly returned to the royal castle riding a Gryphon, the officials were all running to the meeting hall without even finishing their meals properly.

To the meeting hall—the Crimson Banquet Hall.

The officials who had arrived at the banquet hall in such a hurry.

—Ah, His Highness hasn’t arrived yet.

—What a relief.

Their relief at having arrived at the banquet hall before the king was short-lived.

The officials fell silent again at the serious atmosphere of the knights who had already arrived. Then, while eyeing the knights, they went to the opposite side of where the knights were standing—the left side of the banquet hall.

‘The atmosphere is unusual… what’s going on?’

The officials had lived their lives cautiously ever since Leonardo seized power.

As a result, they were all adept at reading the atmosphere.

However, even the officials could not rashly judge the current atmosphere. That was how serious the knights’ expressions were.

—Pant, pant!

—W-we’re not late!

—Romero, you sneak, going by yourself…!

Other officials belatedly entered the banquet hall. Then they all fell silent at the serious atmosphere.

—…….

—…….

—…….

Silence filled the banquet hall.

The officials did their best to avoid the gazes of the knights, who seemed to be glaring at them—though that wasn’t actually the case.

This atmosphere was the same as the atmosphere years ago when King Leonardo was the crown prince, when he purged all the nobles.

It was that unusual.

It was then.

—His Highness, Leonardo, is entering!

The resounding announcement from a lower-rank knight guarding the banquet hall door was heard.

Clank—!

At the news that the king had arrived, the knights all corrected their posture and straightened their backs. The officials also tensed up, swallowed dryly, and corrected their posture.

Thud— Thud—.

A moment later.

King Leonardo entered through the open banquet hall door. Behind him followed Knight Commander Jereuth, Head Maid Elly, and Head Official Olivia.

In the brief moment it took for Leonardo to cross the center of the banquet hall and head for the platform, the officials tried their best to read Leonardo’s expression.

‘…Did we make some kind of mistake?’

‘The entire kingdom is peaceful, and taxes are coming in well… why is the atmosphere like this?’

‘The bandits within the kingdom have been completely—.’

As the officials were thinking.

A little late, three more people followed behind Leonardo.

At their appearance, the officials’ mouths fell open blankly.

To be precise, it was because of the appearance of one of the three.

All the officials’ gazes were stolen by Silvia.

As men, they couldn’t help it.

‘Q-Queen Victoria?’

—The old officials who knew Queen Victoria were surprised like this.

‘…Beautiful. I-is she an elf? His Highness went to Foothill's Rest, did he bring back an elf?’

—The young officials who did not know Queen Victoria had their hearts stolen by the beauty of an elf they were seeing for the first time in their lives.

She was so beautiful that the young officials even forgot about the heavy atmosphere of the moment.

But that wasn’t all.

Thump— Thump— Thump—!

Footsteps that were clearly heavier than a human’s.

Along with the sound of those footsteps, two Giants entered the banquet hall. It was the Giant elder, Barut, and his son and the king’s close friend, Grondar.

‘E-even the Giants are attending the meeting? What on earth is going on?’

All the officials couldn’t help but have such questions.

It wasn’t a rare occurrence for King Leonardo to convene a meeting. The king frequently called Olivia and a few officials to his room for small meetings.

But there had never been a meeting of this scale before. A meeting attended by the entire knight order, all the officials, the Giants, and even the elves.

Soon, Leonardo ascended the platform.

Sitting on the chair on the platform and crossing his legs, the king spoke.

“I called you all suddenly, but I thank you for making it on time.”

—…….

“The reason I have called you all here is for two reasons. One is that I wanted to personally thank you for doing a really good job for the past three years.”

The king expressed his ‘gratitude’ in this atmosphere?

Something was strange to the officials.

The current atmosphere was one where a great crisis was about to befall the kingdom at any moment, one where even war had to be waged—.

“But now, there is a more important matter. And that is that a great crisis has arrived in the kingdom.”

…As expected, their uneasy thoughts and premonitions were not wrong.

All the officials thought so.

The officials wondered about the ‘crisis’ the king spoke of. There had never been a time in the kingdom’s history when it was so peaceful and all the people of the kingdom lived with hope, so what could the king’s ‘crisis’ be.

“Three years ago, when I went to the Monster Mountains to seal the Minotaur. At that time, I encountered a part of the monster army. And Commander Jereuth personally interrogated one of those monsters.”

—……?!

This was a story most of them were hearing for the first time. The knights, the officials, and even Elly, who prided herself on knowing every single one of Leonardo’s movements.

“At that time, I found out. That the monster army was gathering and preparing to attack our kingdom.”

—……!

“I found that out three years ago. But that fact was kept top secret. Because I thought that revealing it early would only add to the confusion.”

—…….

“And we prepared for war in secret. To be precise, Commander Jereuth worked hard.”

Leonardo gave a slight nod to Jereuth, who was below the platform. Jereuth, recognizing it, bowed his head slightly in return.

“Are there any questions or points of confusion so far?”

Things not understood? Questions?

There were too many.

But no one rashly raised their hand to ask.

Except for one woman.

“…Your Highness. Then what is the reason for telling us now a fact that you have hidden for three years?”

It was Olivia. Her voice was calm and indifferent as usual.

However, the officials who knew Olivia well could feel that she was quite displeased.

Perhaps she was displeased that the crisis of the kingdom had been hidden even from her, the ‘Head Official’.

Leonardo was not one to fail to notice Olivia’s tone.

“First, I will say this. The reason I did not tell the officials about the monster army was because the officials were already doing their jobs better than I expected. Thanks to you, Olivia, I suppose.”

“……”

It was a simple compliment.

But Olivia’s icy expression melted a little. As it was a compliment from the man she admired, she couldn’t help it.

“And to answer your question… the reason I am telling everyone about the kingdom’s crisis now is because I am certain.”

“Certain?”

“Yes. Certain that we will repel the monster army’s attack and be victorious.”

“……!”

Olivia was surprised. Not only her, but the knights, the officials, and even the Giants and elves.

How could they not be?

What king in the world, let alone the lord of a small territory, would guarantee ‘victory’ in a war?

Olivia looked up at Leonardo and continued to ask.

“If you are certain of victory… is it because the monster army’s forces are weak?”

“No, the enemy is strong. Strong enough to destroy our kingdom.”

“Then how can you be certain of victory?”

“Because we are stronger.”

“……”

“That’s all.”

Ssk—.

Leonardo stood up from his seat and came to the edge of the platform to speak.

“As I just said, I am certain that our kingdom can crush the monster army. We will never lose. If you can’t believe it, if you don’t understand, then just memorize it. ‘We will never lose’.”

“……”

“Because I have that certainty, I want to seize an even greater victory.”

“A greater victory…?”

Olivia’s voice, known as the ‘Ice Witch’ despite not being able to use magic, faltered.

At Leonardo’s confidence, it was a physiological change she couldn’t help as a woman.

“An absolute victory where not a single knight, soldier, or citizen dies.”

“……”

“That is my goal.”

A victory where not a single person dies.

Impossible. It was truly an absurd thing to say.

No matter how strong an army was against a weak one, someone was bound to be hit by a stray arrow.

Moreover, war was a place where there were even absurd deaths, like being trampled by one’s own allies.

‘There’s no way His Highness doesn’t know that…?’

Yoanna, standing at the very end of the knight order, harbored a question.

‘If His Highness says so, it must be possible.’

Yoanna, who had a faith-like belief in Leonardo, just decided to accept it as such.

After quickly scanning everyone looking at him.

Leonardo sat back in his chair and leaned his arm on his knee as he continued to speak.

“A war where victory is guaranteed. Three things are needed for that. The first is, of course, a great knight to lead everyone on the battlefield—Commander Jereuth, I will entrust that role to you. There is no one but you.”

“I will give my life to the cause.”

As if the matter had already been discussed, Jereuth stepped forward one step from the ranks and looked directly at Leonardo.

“And the second is an administrator who can perfectly handle the supplies and administration needed for the war—Olivia, I will entrust that to you. Assist Commander Jereuth.”

“Yes.”

Olivia also stood facing Leonardo directly. She was copying Jereuth.

“And finally, a staff officer who can come up with creative and groundbreaking strategies and tactics.”

‘Staff officer’.

Some might think of it as a position that just pushes a pen in the safe rear, not the battlefield.

But no one who had been to an actual battlefield thought so.

Because a single judgment from a staff officer, a single strategy that a staff officer comes up with, and a single mistake from a staff officer changes everything in a war.

That is how heavy a responsibility a ‘staff officer’ bears.

Also, a staff officer is one who does not gain honor in proportion to the responsibility they have to bear.

The people of the world all praise the knights and soldiers who shone on the battlefield, but they do not know of the staff officers who struggle behind the scenes.

An unsung hero, that is a staff officer.

“Peralta.”

As Leonardo called his name.

“…Yes?! Ah, yes!”

There were plenty of knights with higher rank, more experience, and greater fame than him.

As if he hadn’t expected to be singled out instead of them, Peralta was flustered.

Then he hurriedly stepped forward and looked directly at the king.

“I entrust the staff officer position to you.”

“T-to me, Your Highness?”

“Yes. Commander Jereuth has acknowledged your strategic mind. I also trust you.”

“……?”

The king trusts him?

Peralta couldn’t understand. Until now, he hadn’t particularly offered any help or made any suggestions to the king.

Of course, he had assisted the great knight—Commander Jereuth—in the war against the demons, but that was all.

He was a novice knight then, and he was a novice knight now. Though his rank was mid-rank knight, Peralta knew well that his skills didn’t even reach that of a lower-rank knight.

‘But why did he single me out…?’

—As that expression appeared on Peralta’s face, Leonardo spoke again.

“You look like you don’t know why I chose you.”

“N-no, it’s not that…”

“Peralta, do you trust me?”

“O-of course!”

“Then trust the you that I trust.”

“……”

“You will surely be able to devise a strategy that can bring a great victory to this kingdom.”

To give him such great trust and strength.

Peralta could not understand at all why the king trusted him so much.

But if the king said so.

“…I will do my best!”

Peralta said, puffing out his chest confidently.

Looking at Peralta, Leonardo thought for a moment.

He spoke in a casual tone.

***

Peralta, looking at me with a fiery gaze.

‘He looks very unconfident. Still, the Future Diary said that trusting Peralta was the right thing to do…’

Thinking about what else I could say to him, I decided to subtly drop some information I had obtained from the Future Diary.

‘In the Future Diary, it was a strategy that Peralta came up with on his own and proposed to me… but if I give him the idea first, he’ll be able to devise the strategy more quickly. That would help with war preparations.’

“Peralta, do you know of a monster called ‘Anakros’?”

“Anakros… yes, I know of them! They are giant snake monsters, very threatening and ferocious. They are known to be able to use magic, which is rare among monsters. Their regenerative ability is tremendous, and it is nearly impossible to hunt them with just a sword.”

Anakros can use magic?

That was a fact I didn’t know. No, perhaps Peralta was mistaken. Seeing as he said ‘known to be able to use magic’, it must be a conjecture.

“I don’t know about being able to use magic, but for now, those Anakros are also our allies.”

“…Pardon? W-what do you mean by that? A-a-Anakros are our allies?”

“Literally. I have made a pact with the chief of the Anakros, ‘Risilbak’. In exchange for me sealing the Minotaur, the Anakros race would fight to help me.”

“……”

“I think it would be good to devise a strategy with that in mind. It might be a somewhat preposterous thought, but… I think it might be possible to create a ‘trap’ of sorts by having the Anakros dig deep into the ground, lure the monster army to that area, and make the ground collapse.”

“A trap…? A trap… ah, yes. A trap… hmm.”

Peralta’s gaze blurred as he fell into thought. He seemed to be contemplating it seriously.

‘But… surprisingly, the other knights are also listening seriously?’

The Future Diary had described this strategy as ‘preposterous’, so I had said so first as well.

But the knights’ expressions were different. They all seemed to be seriously considering the strategy I had vaguely mentioned.

It was then.

“…Ah!”

Peralta let out a dazed sound.

“W-were all your preparations for this, Your Highness? Recruiting the elves, Giants, and Gryphons, and even mobilizing the soldiers for various ‘construction’ projects until now. All of it?”

Peralta spoke as if he had come to a great realization.

I had no idea what Peralta had realized.

‘…Still, it seems like Peralta has already thought of something, and it would look bad if I said I didn’t know anything here, right?’

“Peralta, come forward and tell everyone the strategy you’ve thought of. In detail.”

…So that I can understand it.