Chapter 366: The path has been opened

A strategy that specializes in ritual magic.

Many people would see it as a big gamble rather than a blind spot.

I at first thought that that wasn’t like Rembrandt-san. I thought that he would choose a fighting style that doesn’t rely on chance.

But combined with the many plans that he gave to the adventurers and the seasoned mercenaries of PRG like Vivi-san and Noma-san, and listening to the explanations of it, it really did sound like quite the realistic approach… It made me rethink it. That despite it being a gamble, it was a gamble with quite the high probabilities of winning.

In the first place, in terms of numbers and resources, Tsige was at an overwhelming disadvantage compared to the Aion Kingdom.

In other words, the very action of declaring independence and separating from the country was reckless to begin with.

When thinking about it in that way…it might be better to see ritual magic not as a gamble, but hitting the blind spot of the world.

In terms of covering the overwhelming difference in numbers with firepower, it certainly does look appealing after all.

Well, I am on the side of Rembrandt-san, so it can’t be helped that my thoughts might be biased here.

Rembrandt-san and the merchants of Tsige had already begun moving by the time the Aion Kingdom was deciding when to dispatch their forces.

First they sent winks at the people who were affiliated to the kingdom but had lost their trust and hopes for that very kingdom already.

In order to have the opponent not detect the candidates for this, they were careful, and also spread them out widely and boldly, using the full power of their noses as merchants to choose them.

At the same time, even though the mages in charge of the ritual magic were an important factor to decide the fate of the war, they also negotiated with people that had an almost assured chance of being found out, and if that didn’t work, they would use that as bait to divide their forces deep inside their ranks.

“The result was that they didn’t manage to make the ritual mages turn, but managed to accomplish their objective by incapacitating them by having their bodyguards betray them.”

That’s crazy.

Even though their lives would be in danger if they did so, it seems Rembrandt-san managed to push it through.

‘Pushing it through’ for merchants basically means money.

He said that he threw them a straight barrage of money offers to match their desires.

“Money isn’t everything in the world, and there’s certainly special cases like you who wouldn’t be shaken by money no matter what, but…the reality is that there aren’t that many convictions that can’t be bought with money…” (Vivi)

“Umu. House, land, work, family and friend situations. People have many different circumstances. For this one, it was whether the loyalty to their nation was high or not. Well, the result speaks for itself.” (Noma)

Vivi-san and Noma-san said this meekly.

Their loyalty for their country was already shaking. In other words, it is basically like dropping a tree that’s on the verge of falling, so brute forcing it was a valid method.

The corresponding unit was told beforehand about the ritual magic that would be shot, and were given first class equipment (that was made in the exact same appearance as that provided by Aion).

It seems some of them died after executing the plan, but a number of them managed to escape thanks to the chaos, and reached the side of Tsige.

As expected of the equipment from the meisters of the Bronzeman Company that function well even in the wasteland.

Equipment that allows knights on the level of a mid rank adventurer to endure one direct hit of ritual magic is way too amusing.

“And so…the total of people who defected from Aion were around 30,000. An army of more than 100,000 with more than 200,000 merchants in charge of resupplying, coming all the way to Tsige…and 30,000 defected, coupled with a hail of ritual spells… It makes me tear up. The tacticians and the person that was the General will most likely not be able to get back up from this in their whole life.”

That’s if they are still alive.

From what I heard, the people and units that got invitations from Tsige didn’t reach the 30,000.

The reality was that there were people who couldn’t reach a decision even when receiving the letter, people who barely didn’t make it in time despite reaching a decision, and people who chose to stay loyal to Aion.

Tsige accepted the people who defected by crossing a dangerous bridge like leaving holes in the wall and using illusion magic to fake it temporarily, and there were people who didn’t get a invitation but saw this, and there were those who judged the future of this war and decided on running away and emigrating to Tsige.

It seems like they also accepted those irregulars while testing them.

The holes in the walls were not left as they were, and they mostly used skills and magic to create barriers so that people can’t pass through them anymore.

“There were apparently a lot of escapees at night, but…they would have to escape through the wasteland monsters moving at night. You wouldn’t be able to manage that unless you do so desperately. I heard that there were also a few spies mixed in the groups.”

They thought it would be the usual custom of stopping the battle at night and resting, but Tsige bought wasteland monsters at extravagant prices from adventurers with special jobs, and threw them into the enemy lines.

There’re many powerful monsters living in the wasteland, and it is pretty difficult to reach the state where they can control them.

That’s why those special jobs like summoners and tamers find it pretty hard to function in the wasteland, and are pretty low ranked in terms of demand.

But it looks like they profited quite a lot in this war, and they have shown their usefulness, so their evaluation will most likely change from now on.

Cause it is okay to not be able to control them at all.

Now you can just sell them once you manage to capture one. A completely new system that hasn’t been thought of before has been put in place.

By adding special materials into the outer walls of Tsige (the jewel wool that we deal with is apparently a part of that), they managed to make a wall that monsters don’t want to get close to unless they are quite the powerful ones.

With those kinds of conditions, Tsige can just shoot out the rocks that have sealed monsters in it, and take a good rest, while the enemies get exhausted on the other side.

Underhanded.

Truly the act of sly underhanded people.

Well, there were actually a variety of accidents.

I don’t know what kind of miracle was at work here, but there was a captured bear of Asora mixed within those, and when I thought it was just the mid stages of the war, Tomoe and Ema ended up getting injured, and the dealing of the Goddess’s Apostle that I was asked of ended up being a lot sooner than expected.

I personally felt like it was a complete mess.

I thought that maybe that lightning would work like an electric massage and bring good effects to my body the next day, but it instead changed into pain and the ultimate muscle cramps.

I returned quickly because I was worried about the two, and it was a complete ruckus with Ema having several abnormal status effects on her, but for Tomoe, she seemed to be excited and was feeling decently well… A part of that ultimate muscle pain might have been because of her.

“I don’t know if it is to hide the tragic state of the other side, or to provoke them, but it is like a festival every single night. The main objective may be for the healing effects it has, but they even do live performances on stage.”

The performance of Rembrandt-san actually had a lot of hidden code words, so it had a lot of meaning apparently.

But using the same amount of technique for live performances is questionable.

It has gotten popular in Tsige too, and bars now have stages for dancing and singing that continue endlessly from day to night.

I have only read it from reports, but it seems like there’s men, women, and bands formed to dance and sing; there’s variety.

Healing, magic power recovery, buffing…they apparently were divided by their effects.

But what’s with this idol division?

“In the current population of Tsige, it doesn’t have that much effect, but with the scale that I estimate will have in the future, they will be playing an important role in serving as advertisement towers to sell things. It is still in its infancy, but they are a type of performer, so I am thinking about how to drive them first.” (Rembrandt)

Is what the wealthy merchant…no, invincible merchant Rembrandt-san said.

There’s a number of actors, musicians, and artists in this world… This may not be nice thing to say, but as long as they don’t find a wealthy patron, they themselves don’t have any worth in existing.

Cause they have no production value.

It is the same as athletes. It is only when the world has developed to a certain degree and there’s leeway in money that artists end up having more limelight.

Even if a city were to increase in population and get bigger…

…?

Now that I think about it, why is it that the public entertainers hold the image of having a ton of money?

Hm?

Hmmm?

This world doesn’t have the concept of idols yet, so I think it is plausible to say they are not seen as necessary.

But…then, since when and what served as the trigger to make that kind of job viable?

…Honestly speaking, it is a genre that I had no interest in, so I don’t know at all.

In that case…will the entertainment industry actually be born from Tsige?!

No no no, advertisement?

As advertisement towers…

I have heard of major companies being sponsors of ace class adventurer parties though…

I am kinda feeling chills down my back.

If things like idols, talents, and singers were to begin to pop out from Tsige… Just how does this person see the structure of society?

“That’s dangerous. That’s more horrifying than Alte. From where is that person seeing things?”

About her, well, I felt I got some good hits in while I was shooting, and managed to kill her.

I don’t know if she used teleportation or she simply moved faster with lightning, and I don’t know where she died, but she is dead.

I almost completely destroyed the cores of her body and magic power, and I also turned her soul into nothing without letting it escape.

We won’t be meeting anymore.

Don’t go calling Ema a pig. Redo your life from the atomic level.

With the acquisition of 3 more ritual spells on top of the already 7 existing ones, Rembrandt-san said that he has drawn the whole picture. I don’t know how much meaning those words had.

The outer wall that was made so that the mages could be posted at a distance that their ritual magic won’t interfere with each other…

No, it also served the purpose of delineating the ends of the city, and to accept the deserters.

“That just ain’t fair! I heard nothing ‘bout mashing up a wall full of holes! If I knew, I woulda gone full steam instead of ‘em getting ahead by 3 days!”

“Aniki, it is showing. That weird dialect of yours is showing. The distance on our side was smaller, so let’s just say it was the win of that side through their hard work. Aren’t we being treated on the drinks today as well? Just calm down.”

“I ain’t accepting it!”

It seems like they had a bet concerning the wall building, and the Aniki-san team of PRG apparently lost, and they drowned in alcohol splendidly.

They were drinking to a terrifying extent, but they didn’t drop from it, and were eating and drinking endlessly.

It was only a few days ago that I learned that his way of talking turned into a peculiar dialect and chuckled at the fact that he turned rowdy when he got drunk.

And yet, he was drinking real good. There were a lot of people around, and yet, he didn’t crash into any things or people.

Is that also because he is a first class mercenary?

And it was also thanks to their work that the construction for the long wall was finished. They managed to secure ritual magic, set teams of 3 people at each spot, had their hands on powerful magic power healing potions which made it possible to shoot ritual magic endlessly.

Tsige may not have the numbers of the enemy, but if it is about getting ritual mages and spare soldiers, they can get as many as they want since other countries just employ the minimum required ritual mages.

The ritual mages that couldn’t get employed by a country or an organization are treated as just outliers that don’t get much attention, which is pretty sad.

This world has a job that’s basically a gamble where they only get the minimum they need and the others are not necessary, so it could be said that a situation like that can’t be helped.

The other countries will most likely desperately begin gathering the jobless ritual mages after receiving the results of this war.

It might even be added in the future career paths at the Rotsgard Academy.

It seems like the conditions were pretty loose this time around because the ritual mages had no interest in that loyalty business.

On this point alone, Tsige overwhelmed Aion.

Gathering every single ritual mage in the area meaned that even if the enemy tried to urgently replenish their forces, they can’t.

Having their first move hit for sure with a betrayal, taking out the enemy’s ritual mages, and then using 10 types of ritual spells – including ones that have never been seen before- to eliminate the mages they have in order to reduce their methods of going against ritual magic even more.

It looks as if Tsige is being reckless, and it is by no means the best of methods, but there’s logic to it.

“This is a move that was made possible because it is against a country that has a coup d’etat happening and the loyalty towards their king was shaking. I am a beginner when it comes to battles after all. But there’s times when the novel thoughts of a newcomer can bring out satisfactory conclusions in decisive moments. Especially in big moments…” (Rembrandt)

Is what Rembrandt-san said while laughing, but…I feel like he would be able to win even if he were to fight once more.

While doing things like accepting or finishing enemy soldiers who were surrendering depending on the situation, they shot ritual magic at the merchants that were sticking tenaciously.

By this point, I think the victor was already decided.

At daytime it is unblockable ritual magic and the giant walls.

At night it is a battle against the monsters of the wasteland.

And then, once morning comes, it is a barrage of ritual magic again, hitting both the Aion Army and the wasteland monsters.

The Aion Army eventually broke into a run, and battles at the outer wall of Tsige stopped happening on the 7th day.

A messenger and a letter came from the Aion Kingdom.

Yes.

Tsige had gained independence.

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