I could see question marks floating above their heads, while looking at me like I was some kind of idiot. These three...

[Michael you said it yourself and you heard Laurence confirm it as well. Only those 25-30 Soldier Goblins are worth each about five of our men if we want to have low casualties. One hundred soldiers will be slaughtered easily if sent against them.] (Charles)

"Hmm? Wait no! I'm not saying to attack the Goblin Village. That would be a stupid thing to do."

[Huh!? What are you talking about? We know the location. Of course we need to attack and destroy them! That's the whole purpose of this conversation...] (Laurence)

"...if you could let me finish, you'd know that I am not suggesting to leave the Goblin village be, but rather, leave it be for now."

[Do you have an idea?] (Charles)

"I might."

[Go on then.] (Charles)

[General!?] (Laurence)

[Is my decision. Being hasty about it would be foolish. And if a way to end them fast and without heavy losses exists, I would like to hear it. We're out of options here Laurence... we lost to much not to entertain the possibility of something we've been missing so far.] (Charles)

Yeah...like any sort of military knowledge whatsoever... Either that, or they are plain stupid...

"Thank you sir. In which case, what I'm suggesting are two things. Guerrilla tactics and ambushes!"

[Gue-gur-gorila???] (Laurence)

"You're a gorila! Your whole family are gorilas!!! Hmm... Don't tell me they don't even know that much? OI!!! Wait...The self-serving God should've allowed the use of human knowledge aquired on Earth...What is this world's God doing?"

"Ahem! I am referring to war tactics used to dwindle the number of enemies. It is also called hit-and-run tactics. Are the General or the Commander acquainted with them?"

[To my embarrassment, I am not. We haven't been forced into any fights so far, so our knowledge of war has not exactly matured. There have always been conflicts, but those were on the level of brawls, while on country level, politics usually take care of such volatile situations. No wars between countries have ever happened before...] (Charles)

[Me neither. Since the appearance of these monsters, we have always met our enemy on the field or in the forest and fought it fair an square!] (Laurence)

"That's...surprising. I see the problem now, however... What you say commander is not wrong, but with the life of soldiers at stake, an option that allows little to no loss of life is better than a chivalrous spirit. Don't you agree?"

[...yes.] (Laurence)

"Then, why not do this instead. Using the map you have here and the places I have seen, combined with your knowledge of the terrain and my knowledge of war tactics, we might be able to win this in a couple of days. Remember that war is not fought just on the field with weapons, but is also fought with the mind."

Or at least, I think that's how the saying went... Sun Tzu if I'm not mistaken. If I manage to have these morons believe me, then their overpoweringly blessed soldiers steamroll over the Goblins and I get some money out of it. Then I can travel around and see this world. I bet there are some amazing things out there...

[So, how do you plan to do that Michael?] (Charles)

"I said it before, didn't I? First of all, hit and run tactics meant to scare and drive the enemy into a corner mentally. To do that, we can attack their food supply for example, or even better, the Goblins that carry it to the village and therefore starving and dwindling their numbers at the same time."

[So you mean to cut their food short and have them barricaded inside their own village? Wouldn't that lead to incurring more losses to our side when attacking?] (Laurence)

"I also said before that we'll also make use of ambushes. After we drive them into a corner, they will leave the village and attack us in a frenzy, trying to end their problem with brute force since they are not smart creatures. If we prepare for that one fight, they will stand no chance and the numbers we need to make that happen will also be few."

[Say we manage to do that and reach the place where we ambush them. With only one hundred soldiers we won't be able to win the fight against their troupes that surely have higher levels than us and are more agressive, even less being able to wipe out their village.] (Laurence)

"That's where we'll be using the remaining force to attack from behind and the sides."

[[[???]]]

"These three... Also I feel like I am meddling more than I should and the impact I'll bring will be more than I'd like... However, the sooner this is over, the sooner I can have some peace and quiet and explore the cat ear..ahem! The new views this world has to offer!"

"Let me put it this way: we'll have a force of those 500 men you talked about previously, armed and ready to annihilate the Goblin forces. We will start by having people with good hiding skills find these routes the creatures take to gather food and by using that information, we'll prepare an attack on those routes. At first using small numbers, I would say about a maximum of 5 people in order to not have casualties. Their aim will be to kill all but one Gatherer and leave the food they collected intact."

[Wait! Leaving one alive and not taking the food away, won't it be counterproductive?] (Ronald)

"Not if we poison the food and they take it back to the village..."

[I see. Not only do we reduce the numbers, but by poisoning the food we might even further decrease their strength... What next?] (Charles)

"Have the Alchemist Guild prepare the most potent poison they can think of and use it to inject it into the food the Goblins carry. Make sure is the type of poison that doesn't have an odor or taste! If possible you can include the Oak tree flowers I mentioned, just to increase the chances of them ingesting it without knowing. The important part is that the force that attacks the Gatherers must be doing it all at once, in the same day, as a big operation. After they did so, they will retreat to the wall where the remaining punitive force will set up camp and wait for their next order. The Goblins will send the Soldiers and Guards most likely to search for the places where the Gatherers have been attacked and will also bring the food back since they will be guided there by the one we left alive."

[And we attack them there!] (Laurence)

"Hmm? No, that wouldn't be a good idea since they will expect that. We will wait a full day from the attack on the food supply and then 100 of the best soldiers will regroup here, in the meadow I fought first the two Goblins and prepare."

[You mean to ambush them here, since you already told us before that you can see attacks coming from any direction and is also quite the space in it. But why only 100?] (Charles)

"Because sir, this 100 will act as a shield and also as bait. The remaining 400 will attack the village as soon as the Goblin force comes to face us and raze it to the ground, while we buy time by holding them in place and wait for the reinforcements to strike them from behind. It would be good to bring cavalery since their village is not fortified and there's enough space to ride against it. Also, if the cavalery is properly wearing armor, the Goblins remaining in the village won't stand a chance..."

[We? Do you perhaps plan to participate?] (Laurence)

"I thought about it and since I know the terrain in that area, it might prove as an advantage. Is that not allowed?"

[On the contrary, we would welcome it. How do you plan to have them take the bait?] (Charles)

"Simple. We'll make use of their rally cry and draw them in a trap. However for that to happen there are two things required: one, when the attack on the gatherers happen quickly identify which targets you want to kill and which one you spare and quickly knock out the one you want alive. Then after the killing has been done, leave only the survivor there and flee the scene. At the same time, one of the groups that's closer to the camp we'll set up, must leave two survivors."

[Two?] (Ronald)

"Yes. One to go back to the village and one to abduct and bring back to our encampment. When the force of one hundred will leave for the meadow where we'll set up the ambush, that Goblin will be required to draw them in. That of course if they don't come out and attack themselves, in which case it might be easier to deal with them from the top of the walls. However that will probably not happen since they might be stupid, but not THAT stupid. Now for the second requirement, is occupations."

[What do you mean Michael?] (Charles)

"First off, we need a way for you to be able to identify the skills the Goblins have among the Gatherers. Do you have any way of doing that?"

[Yes, it shouldn't be a problem. We have a couple of people with the Eye of Truth skill and they could identify the one with the skill you need.] (Charles)

They do!? Thank Reaper I didn't lie about my status...However, those guys will come in handy in making this whole shenanigan work.

"That's good! For the remaining 100 people we'll bring them to the location during the cover of night and we'll use quality over quantity, meaning that the people there must be strong. Very strong! At the same time, we'll need to have them separated by the skills they can use and their occupations. What I would prefer are 20 long range fighters, like archers for example, 30 shield and sword fighters and 50 spear and shield or just spear fighters. Is that possible?"

[Hmm...it shouldn't be a problem except for the shield and spear fighter combination. There is no such type of warrior in our city. Rather, is kind of an odd combination...] (Charles)

"Not from my knowledge...I wonder if I could recreate the 300 movie in this world...hmmm..."

"We'll leave that for another time then. The formation that I want to set up is like this: the 20 archers will be staying with their back towards the plains I came from, waiting for the enemy to attack from any direction except that one. Standing in a box formation, the 30 sword and shield fighters will surround them, capable of defending the archers if enemies pass through the first line of defense. At the front there will be, in the form of two rows, the spears watching the trail leading to the village that I marked. The enemy will most likely try to rush through and attack from the front. When that happens..."

[A rain of arrows to reduce their numbers, then as they press forward the spears will pierce through the rest...] (Laurence)

"That would be the best case scenario, but in case some of them survive the first row of spears, a shuffle between them and second row will happen and they will pierce the next wave and repeat the situation. This should deal with them easily since is hard to flank the standing troupes."

[Then why are the sword and shield warriors required? Wouldn't more archers or more spearmen be better?] (Ronald)

"I said it will be hard, not impossible! In case they attack from the sides or from behind we can have them intercept under the cover of the archers. This creatures do have intelligence, therefore that is a possibility, especially if there's someone leading them. In the case where they bypass and don't attack from the front at all, the warriors will create a wall with their shields in that direction, all in order to keep them at a distance while the archers will shoot arrows through the gaps. Then, is simple to just push all at once with the shields, bashing them and cut through with the swords. This way we'll have all bases covered while the spearmen clean them up from behind."

Might not be fully 300, however given their Strength status, as well as the skills they possess, making that happen is not that far fetched.

[Incredible! Honestly incredible! This might work and in that case we'll have fewer losses indeed.] (Laurence)

"The aim of this strategy is to rattle the enemy mentally, therefore weaken it and not incur any losses in the process. That will happen only if the plan is followed through properly."

Silence took over the room and everyone's eyes fell on the map. I wondered how the hell did I ended up in this situation where I was close to ordering an makeshift army around and felt impressed by how well I managed to keep my composure and ad lib. I guess this is alright though and with just this much of a push from me, it shouldn't be a problem...

Hopefully...