Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 4

A Slight Hope

Today, I was called to the 10th Division office again.

I was sitting in the strategy meeting room that was located next to the room I went to before.

Other than Rays-sama, Lapilia-sama, and Grantz-sama, there were also the full line up of the 10th Division captains. 

There were in total 10 captains who were sitting silently in the room. All of them have expressions full of confidence and pride and none of them made any attempt to hide their excellence.

In this room, I was clearly out of place. I was like a little mouse in the group of ferocious beasts.

All of the captains gave me a questioning look. Just when I thought they would stay silent until Rays-sama made an explanation, the youngest of the captains suddenly spoke out.

“Who is he?” (unknown captain)

Hearing the question, Rays-sama squinted his eyes and scoured the room, as if finding out who was the person that asked that question was an amusing thing.

“This person is an official named Roa. He’s the person that pointed out what we had missed in our plan to subjugate the bandit in Eren Village. Make sure to tell the members of all units to not disregard him.” (Rays)

“I understand if you’re asking us to not disregard him, since we are here with him, but to ask us to tell it to the members of our unit…” (Unknown captain a.k.a Frein)

“Because Roa is coming with us for the expedition to the Eren Village, Frein.” (Rays)

“He’s coming with us? Roa, pardon me for asking but do you have any experience in the military?” 

“Um… No……”

The captain named Frein looked at me with confusion. To be honest, it was me who should be confused. If the captains here opposed that decision, Rays-sama might withdraw his decision so I didn’t have to come to their expedition… Although the chance was slim.

“Roa,” Rays-sama called me, so I turned my attention to him.

“I told you to remember the map of Eren Village before. Have you remembered it?” (Rays)

“A..um…Yes.”

Well, it was a pretty easy thing for me.

“Good, then let’s continue,” Rays-sama said as he opened a map twice as large and more detailed than the map he showed me before.

“Roa, you can answer freely. Where do you think I should deploy my men?”

“Rays-sama, what are you…” Before Frein could finish his words, Rays-sama raised his hand to signal him to be quiet.

“I did some research on you, Roa. It seems like your hobby is to collect battle records, starting with the recent ones even to the really old ones. You are quite famous amongst the officials.” (Rays)

“…Yes, that is correct but it was just a hobby…”

“Then, just answer it with the knowledge you gained by that hobby of yours. Where should I deploy my men?”

It seemed like I had no other choice but to answer. If I remember correctly, Rays-sama in the past divided the knights into 2 troops. The smaller troop attacked the village from the front, causing the lord to go to meet the bandits to discuss countermeasures.  Then, the other troop attacked the lord who was on the way to his meeting with the bandits.

“How about splitting the soldiers into 2 troops? One will act as a bait and attack the village from the front. The lord would likely go to meet the bandits to discuss countermeasures. The other troop would attack the lord when he was on his way to meet the bandits.”

Rays-sama shook his head.

“Not a bad idea, but it depends too much on the lord’s action. What would you do if the lord didn’t go to meet the bandits? Or if the lord didn’t take the bait?”

“I see…” was what I said, but inside, I felt surprised.

This plan was originally something that Rays-sama came up with. In other words, if I were to make a different strategy and successfully executed another plan here… could I perhaps change the history?

No, any strategy was fine as long as it was different from the one Rays-sama used before. This was the perfect chance to test if I could change the history.

As that thought crossed my mind, I decided to test it. If the outcome really changed… that mean I could change history.

While receiving the gazes of the ferocious beasts in this room, I searched through the battle record in my memory

Then, I pointed at one spot on the map.

***

The rest of the members of the 10th Division stayed in the room even after Roa had left.

“What do you all think?” ask Rays

“I now understand why you seem to be interested in him. But isn’t his strategy too impractical?” The oldest captains in the room asked.

“I thought his strategy was interesting, though. The chance of winning using his strategy is also not bad,” commented another captain.

“Rays-sama, may I?” Frein asked while raising his hand with a serious expression.

“Are you perhaps planning to let that man join the 10th Division?” Frein continued.

“That’s my plan. Of course, it will depend on his performance this time,” answer Rays.

“But I doubt he will be able to be useful on the actual battlefield! In the first place, he doesn’t even have any experience…”

“Frein, you’re talking as if you have any experience when you just joined.” 

One of the captains cut off Frein sentences midway and Frein fell silent.

“But why all of the sudden?” a captain with a well-groomed beard asked.

“Well… I guess I just got a feeling.” (Rays)

“A feeling, I see. Well, that is just like you, Rays-sama.”

Usually, Rays was someone who moved based on his reason, but there were times Rays moved based on his feelings.

Following those feelings of Rays often produced an unexpectedly amazing result in the battlefield. As such, the captains here were all convinced by his decision, although they all commented, “Again?”

“I will prepare several other back-up plans so there’s no need to worry if Roa’s plan fails” (Rays)

“I’m sure you will do so, sir, so I’m not worried about that. But from my observation, Roa doesn’t seem to be someone skilled in battle. In the worst-case scenario, he might die.” (Captain a)

“If he died, then so be it,” Rays said calmly

Thus, the situation was moving steadily without Roa’s realization.