Became a Strategist with a 100 Intelligence and 100\% Accuracy-Chapter 296: Straying Hearts (1)

Valharat Castle, capital of the Aishus Army.

Yuri had barely escaped with her {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} life after losing control of all the central territories. Now back within the safety of the capital, she had shut herself away, refusing food or drink, unable to govern properly since her return.

“Emma... Hernandorf... I...”

Even if she wanted to move forward, she couldn’t. Everything was lost.

Her army had been completely wiped out, and the lands once held by Chel’s forces—lands she couldn’t bring herself to conquer—were now being ruthlessly ravaged by that wretched woman, Serpina.

She knew full well how the people in those lands must be suffering under Serpina's rule, but there was nothing she could do about it—and that helplessness was what Yuri found hardest to bear.

The one currently running the country in her place was Anima, the national strategist acting as regent.

Fortunately, since Yuri had never held all the power herself to begin with, the internal administration hadn’t been shaken as much as outsiders might have assumed. From the Aishus Army’s perspective, that alone was a small mercy.

“How is Yuri?”

“Still the same. ...She can’t do anything.”

“Can’t blame her. Even the chance for revenge has been stolen from her...”

At Epinnel’s words, Anima grimaced as if she’d just swallowed something bitter.

Their greatest enemy at the moment—Chel Brans—had perished in the fires of war.

It was Serpina who had brought Chel down. One enemy had robbed them of the chance to avenge themselves on the other.

Yuri had fainted on the spot when she heard that Chel had died at Serpina’s hands.

The cold, undeniable truth that she’d not only helped Serpina in the end but had also lost the chance to kill Chel herself crushed her completely.

“What are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean, what can we do...? We don’t have any troops to muster. Carlints’ forces were absorbed into Brans Army. And Brans and Serpina’s armies just signed a peace treaty. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“...”

The meaning couldn’t have been clearer.

—Serpina’s sword was now pointed directly at their throats.

With Chel’s army destroyed, there was nowhere for Serpina to go but toward the Aishus Army.

“Do we... have any options?”

“I wish we did. I really do...”

Anima bit hard on the thumbnail of her remaining hand.

“Options... There are no options. I don’t see how we could possibly win. Even if we had fought Chel’s army, the truth is Serpina’s forces were the ones who crushed them single-handedly. And ever since Yuri’s public declaration, Serpina probably sees us as the biggest thorn in her side. Even if we tried to grovel our way into her good graces, we have nothing to offer her. There’s no chance of a ceasefire, let alone an alliance.”

The moment Anima mentioned changing their stance, Epinnel’s face twisted in disbelief.

“Change our stance...? Anima, are you serious right now? You want us to change our stance? For what? To ally with that damned woman? Do you even realize who you’re talking about—”

“I know!”

Anima snapped, louder than she intended, startling Epinnel into taking a step back.

“I know... Of course I know. Serpina—everyone from Eingart—is our sworn enemy. An alliance with that witch? It would be a disgrace to face Emma and Hernandorf in the afterlife. But tell me—do you really think we have a choice right now?”

“I didn’t mean...”

“Listen closely. There’s no way we can beat Serpina. She’s got mages. Her army outnumbers ours by a huge margin. And there’s no outside force left to hold her in check. Just like what happened to Chel Brans—she’ll snatch our territory piece by piece, and in the end we’ll be cornered here in the capital, desperately trying to hold out before we’re captured and executed. Is that what we want? If we just keep resisting and let the Aishus Army be wiped out, what then? If she takes you, me, and Yuri’s heads along the way, then what the hell was the point of any of this?! If we all die—!!”

Her voice rose with each word, until the tears she had been holding back finally spilled from her eyes.

“If we all die... then pride, honor, whatever—it all means nothing. None of it matters if we’re not alive to carry it on. And do you really think Serpina would let us live? Knowing how much we hate her... you think she’d show us mercy?”

“...Anima.”

“...Epinnel. Do you know why Serpina is so terrifying? When I was taken prisoner, she didn’t try to kill me. Even after I cursed her to her face, even though I knew her deepest secrets—she didn’t act emotionally. She chose the most beneficial outcome for herself. That’s politics. A true ruler must not be ruled by emotion but by what brings the greatest gain! That’s what we’ve been getting wrong all this time! Why can’t you see that?!”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Epinnel stayed silent for a while, then slowly turned her head to the side.

“I don’t know... Even if it’s Serpina, and even if she’s the only option, I still think it’d be better to die than bow my head to her.”

“Epinnel!!”

“Anima. I acknowledge everything you’ve done for our army. Without you, we might not have even formed a proper nation. But think carefully. Didn’t you survive because of one of those ‘wrong’ decisions we made?”

“T-That’s...”

Anima flinched in surprise, but Epinnel kept speaking, each word hitting like a hammer.

“We sent Swen to save you. He was a mage. Do you really think it’s a coincidence that Serpina’s army started steamrolling after the appearance of a mage? No, maybe Swen wasn’t the only one we sent. Airen, that outstanding general who played a major role in Chel’s defeat—she followed him. And after that incident, many others left us too, including Jinor.”

“We all expected blowback from that decision. None of us regret it. Not one of us. I don’t even blame those who left. We were satisfied just knowing you were safe. Yuri, me, Emma, Hernandorf—we’d have made the same choice even if it had been one of us in your place.”

“But.”

Epinnel looked directly at Anima, her gaze cold yet oddly full of sympathy, as if to make sure her words struck home.

“But you, Anima... for you to talk like this now? That’s not right.”

“I...”

“Listen carefully. The decisions you’re calling mistakes—they’re our Aishus Army’s pride. If we throw that away, then even if we survive, we’ll have nothing to build on. What can rats without pride ever hope to accomplish? So no, I can’t agree to an alliance with Serpina. Even if—”

“Even if Yuri says so—”

Anima looked up in shock at Epinnel after hearing her final words.

But Epinnel just stood there with a calm, composed expression, quietly gazing back at her.

Even if Yuri—if their sovereign—said it, she wouldn’t follow.

Anima understood the weight of that statement. Her voice trembled as she barely managed to ask,

“You... you mean...”

“I was once your teacher. And a teacher’s duty is to correct a student when they start walking the wrong path. Regardless of our positions now, I still believe that’s what I have to do. And you, of all people—someone closest to her—should know better than anyone that Yuri isn’t in a state to be leading anyone right now.”

“...You’re joking, right? Talking about leadership and all that... our Aishus Army was never about—”

“There’s only one representative among the five.”

After saying that, Epinnel turned her back and slowly walked away from Anima.

...Thump.

Anima collapsed into her seat, tears finally streaming freely down her cheeks.

“I should’ve... I should’ve just died at Serpina’s hands back then...”

Anima knew it.

Handing over Swen—who had been sent as an envoy—to Serpina had been something no ruler in their right mind should ever do. It was an unthinkable act.

And yet, she had tried not to acknowledge it. After all, that decision had bought her survival.

And not just anyone—Serpina was infamous, the cruelest villain of the age.

Anima had always known that her own life meant nothing to a woman like that—someone who would toy with her just for fun.

That was why she couldn’t stand her ground against Epinnel.

Yuri was barely functional, unable to make proper decisions.

Emma and Hernandorf—those who would have stood with her—were already gone.

And now, with Serpina’s army marching straight toward them, with no way out—

There was nothing left she could do.

***

One day, as they braced for Serpina’s inevitable assault without a real plan or any sharp strategy—

“Yuri...?!”

The audience chamber of the royal castle. For the first time in a very long while, its master appeared.

Yuri stepped in with a noticeably brighter complexion, giving Anima a small nod.

“Anima. Thank you for taking care of things while I was gone. You’ve done so much.”

“N-no, I just did what needed to be done... But what about you? Are you okay now? Are you thinking clearly?”

“Yeah. A little bit. After all, there’s something I have to do.”

She smiled as she spoke.

And yet—

‘...?’

It felt off.

What Anima felt upon seeing Yuri wasn’t the relief of a ruler finally coming back to her senses—

It was something else.

Something wrong, crawling across the back of her neck like a cold hand. An unshakable sense of dread.

But she convinced herself it was just her imagination.

“Anima. Now that I’m back, I’d like to issue a command.”

“A command? What kind of command? Wait, before that—don’t you think we should go over our army’s current situation first—?”

“No. Listen to me first.”

“Huh...? W-what is it?”

Yuri’s tone was uncharacteristically firm.

“Build a massive altar behind Valharat Castle. Right away.”

“...What?”

“I’m going to build a shrine where we can honor Emma and Hernandorf for the rest of our lives. You’ll help me with it, won’t you?”

The first command Yuri gave, after returning from her long withdrawal, smiling as if nothing had happened—

Was a command so horrifying it felt like something straight out of a nightmare.

Something Anima wouldn’t have even allowed herself to imagine.