Chapter 30

The strategic meeting starts when Lord Barrow arrives inside the room.

"Hohohoho~ I'm sorry for my tardiness. There are a couple of businesses I need to take care of."

The prince smiles and says.

"Don't mention it, Lord Barrow. We are just about to begin."

"Hohohoho~ Thank you, my prince~"

The 'Jolly' lord sits next to the prince and looks at Lucretia.

"So! My beautiful tactician! What kind of beautiful plan have you cooked for us!"

I hold my laugh when I see Lucretia hold her grimace at Lord Barrow's word and say.

"Of course, Lord Barrow."

Lucretia picks up the long scroll in front of her and unfurls it. The scroll is a map of Rainwall and the area around it, including the forest to our west. I can see Lucretia already circling the important place and even putting a small flag on it.

"What you are seeing in front of you is the map of Rainwall and the area around it. The enemy will come from the Northwest side and use the open field to go to Rainwall. We need to stop them from using that place. Because of this, we need to make a line in this area and hold the enemy. However, to effectively use this area, we need to let them get closer to us and not march to them."

Lucretia explains her plan to the others. She looks around for a few seconds before continuing.

"Lord Boz Wilde will be the one leading the vanguard and the one holding the cavalry charges of the enemy. The Lindwurm Mercenary Brigade will be our cavalry, breaking their formation from the flank."

"Ohohohoho~ This is rather basic, no? They have more men than us, and this kind of tactic will not work."

Lucretia looks at Lord Barrow and says.

"Of course. That is why we need to use the forest to our west. With them focusing on our army in the field, we can hide a small amount of army, around three hundred or so, in this area to attack the enemy from the rear. However, we need the right timing. That is why we need them to attack all at once for maximum damage. I will be the one signaling the ambush attack."

"Ohohohoho~ I see! I see! That is a great idea! We will use this plan! Of course! Ohohohoho~ Is there anything else? I need to take care of something. A Lordy business, you know?"

"Of course. Don't let us hold you down."

"Ohohoho~ Thank you!"

And just like that, Lord Barrow leaves the meeting room. Lucretia looks at her bodyguards, who nod their heads and quickly check the entire room and even check what is behind the door of the room. After a minute of checking, Lelei salutes Lucretia and says.

"There is nothing around us, my lady!"

After Lelei said that, I put my hand on the table and said,

"Now, you can tell us the real plan, Lucretia. Also, I think it is time to tell the others about the news."

Lucretia looks at me and nods. She looks at the people in the room and says.

"Something's not right in this fight. One of my birds notified me that there was a movement from the West. A camp in the southwest forest is full of people, around seven hundred people."

The prince looks at her in shock and says.

"Is it Godwin's army?"

"No. It is Armes."

"WHAT?!"

Sialeeds slams her hands on the table and looks at Lucretia in shock. The tactician nods her head and says.

"Sadly, it is the truth. I don't have enough evidence, but I know that Lord Barrow is the one asking them to come here. I know that you guys are shocked and angry, but please don't do anything stupid. We did not have enough evidence, and I don't want you guys to accuse him when it is true he did not do anything."

That calms Sialeeds a little, and I can see her nod her head.

"Yeah, you are right. We did not have many allies, and accusing the one that is willing to stand with us will not do us any good."

Lucretia nods her head and says.

"Thank you. However, it did not discard the presence of the Armes army not too far away from the city."

She then looks at Wilhelm and Mueller. She leans over the table and says.

"With this kind of news, what will you do now? Lindwurm Mercenary Brigade has a contract to fight against the Godwin army, not the Armes army."

Wilhelm smirks at Lucretia and says.

"You did not need to worry about us running away. Gerrald already informed us about Armes, and we still support you guys. However, we will not fight the Armes and will stay out when you guys are fighting them."

Lucretia widens her eyes and looks at me. I give her a small smile. She looks at me for a few seconds before saying.

"How? Truly, how? First, you know which place lets you get a large amount of money, and now you know there is an enemy hiding near our base. How?"

I nod my head and say.

"Well, I guess I can reveal a little bit of my secret. My family comes from the Eastern Continent, and we are a family that researches magic and practices all kinds of magic. Among those magic, Divination is one of them. What is Divination? It is a magic that lets us see into the future. Before you say something, I did not practice this magic. At least not completely."

I take a deep breath and continue to bullshiting my way through this shit.

"I can feel the air. I can feel the air when something changes. This lets me and my family know when there is an ambush coming or something like that. I sniff the air and notice a wind change from the west and this is the result. I notified Wilhelm and Mueller, and they are kind enough to stay in my service as long as they did not fight the Armes."

I notice that most of the people believe me, but someone like Lucreita does not fully believe me, or at least she believes me enough but knows that I did not say all of it. I need to wait for three days before she completely trusts me because of the stamp.

Lucretia looks at me for a second before nodding her head.

"I see. Thank you for notifying the Lindwurm Mercenary Brigade so they did not walk away from this battle. Without them, we did not have a chance to fight Godwin and my plan to work."

"Don't mention it."

"However, I need you to tell me if something this big is happening once again. Information is a weapon in a tactician's hand, after all."

"Will do."

Lucretia nods and smiles.

"Now… Let's talk about hiring more people. With the new money in our pocket, we can hire some mercenaries and buy equipment for our men."