I Became the Strategist the Monarchs Obsess Over

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 10

There are two main ways to understand the enemy’s movements.

One is to observe and interpret their actions,

and the other is to read their intentions.

This time, Charles chose the latter.

He decided to forgo reconnaissance entirely and focus on reading Yuria Russell’s mind.

In short, he opted for psychological warfare!

And Charles’s psychological tactics worked brilliantly.

He led his entire army down at the perfect moment when Yuria Russell organized her special unit.

The timely rain also played a role.

As soon as visibility was obscured, he wasted no time and decided to advance.

Yuria might have thought the rain would conceal her special unit’s movements, but that wasn’t the case.

From the start, Charles wasn’t tracking the enemy with his eyes; he was predicting their movements. Rain or no rain, it made no difference to him.

On the contrary, the rain helped conceal Charles’s movements, making it an ally to him.

Charging forward, Charles first deployed his archers to reduce the enemy’s numbers.

However, in such bad weather, arrows were far from effective. The rain often altered their trajectory, sending them astray.

Thus, he quickly abandoned the ranged assault and shifted to close combat.

-Boom!

The two armies clashed head-on. The sound of swords striking armor and shields colliding echoed from all directions.

“Damn… If only the special unit were here…!”

Yuria Russell regretted sending her special unit far away,

while Charles was satisfied with the current situation, free to strike the enemy without interference from cavalry.

“Phew, it’s easier without the special unit around.”

“Please, hurry back already!”

Yuria shouted in frustration, but there was no sign of the special unit returning. Naturally, it was impossible for them to return quickly. They had gone to target the enemy’s rear and would only start rushing back after confirming there was no enemy there.

Charles intended to annihilate Yuria’s army before her special unit could return. With that in mind, he continued to press the attack.

“Left flank, advance 20 paces and pressure the enemy!”

“Right flank, retreat 10 paces and coordinate with the center to block the protruding enemy!”

“Archers, advance toward the retreating enemy and reduce their numbers with indirect fire!”

“Our archers, scatter as much as possible and create distance to exhaust the enemy’s arrows!”

“All units, push forward!”

“Do not let our forces falter!”

Yuria Russell refused to yield to Charles and continued to adapt, holding off his army.

Charles launched relentless attacks, but Yuria Russell formed a defensive formation and held out as tenaciously as she could.

“Impressive.”

Charles found Yuria Russell’s defensive formation, which clung stubbornly to his forces, fascinating. Just as in the game, Yuria Russell proved to be a top-tier commander in reality as well.

But that didn’t mean Charles was inferior to Yuria. He kept peeling away the enemy’s lines layer by layer, steadily reducing Yuria’s troops.

“Just a little more, and we’ll break through.”

With that thought, Charles issued his final command to his troops.

“All units, draw your melee weapons and press hard!”

Yuria frowned at the order.

“Damn it, so it’s come to this…”

To be honest, Yuria had underestimated Charles. She had thought of him as an incompetent fool who could only shoot arrows from atop a hill.

But fighting him on flat ground made her realize the truth. Charles was incredibly strong—either her equal or perhaps even superior! Losing to him now made her think he might be above her.

“Damn…”

Yuria regretted her earlier assessment of Charles as incompetent. If she had assumed he was strong from the start, this might not have happened. Her complacency had led to her downfall.

“Or maybe not?”

Even if she hadn’t been complacent, there was no guarantee she could have defeated someone with such commanding skill. Yuria sighed.

“Hold out as long as you can!”

Yuria issued the order, though she didn’t have much hope. The tide of battle had already turned. Her formation was crumbling in several places, while the enemy’s momentum remained strong. But at that moment…

“Lady Yuria!”

A summoner controlling a wooden puppet called out.

“What is it?”

“The enemy is retreating!”

Charles had halted his attack and begun to pull back.

“What? Retreating when they were one step away from victory?”

Yuria trembled with anger. Winning only to show mercy? What on earth was he trying to do? Was he mocking the second daughter of the Russell family?

She was about to draw her sword in fury when she realized it was a misunderstanding.

From the rear where the enemy had been, Yuria’s cavalry, which she had sent earlier, began to appear.

Charles hadn’t shown her mercy!

He had no choice but to retreat to avoid being struck from behind by her cavalry.

Yuria cheered.

“We held out…!”

It wasn’t because the enemy had gone easy on her. She had succeeded in stalling until reinforcements arrived through her own skill.

But at the same time, she felt a sense of humiliation.

The fact that she had struggled so much against Charles, whom she had always dismissed.

As soon as Charles realized Yuria’s special unit was returning, he withdrew his forces, and Yuria did the same, retreating her army. Both sides began to return to where they had come from.

Soon, the time limit expired, and the battle ended without a decisive victor, leaving the outcome to judgment.

The ruling was 6 to 4 in Charles’s favor. Although Charles had retreated first, he had been overwhelmingly dominant until that point.

Yuria accepted the decision. After struggling so much, she didn’t have the audacity to claim victory.

A mere 2-point difference. But within that gap, Yuria felt an insurmountable divide.

Victorious, Charles descended from the mountain and approached the professors in charge of scoring.

From the base of the mountain, Yuria watched Charles as he descended. His black hair and overall slender build made him appear frail, with hardly any visible muscle.

Yet, seeing him now, there was something special about him. It wasn’t his physique but a powerful impression—a presence, or perhaps an aura.

Yuria regretted underestimating him until now. His command ability surpassed her own.

“That was an excellent defense.”

Charles said, extending his hand. Yuria stared at the man’s face, soaked with rain yet smiling with satisfaction, for a moment before clasping the offered hand.

“And you displayed remarkable leadership.”

This was the first moment when a peculiar friendship began to form between Yuria and Charles.

—–

Charles, having descended the mountain, approached the professors in charge of scoring.

“You called for me?”

Charles had come because Professor Dian de Balboa, his evaluator, had summoned him.

Dian de Balboa was a general of the Crown Prince’s army and a professor, an exceptional woman who had attained her position at the young age of 29.

“I did. Take a seat.”

“Yes.”

Once Charles sat down, Dian de Balboa began questioning him.

“Let’s start with the first question.”

“It sounds like there are multiple questions?”

“Hmm? No. The most important question is the first one. The rest are just personal inquiries, so you don’t have to answer them if you don’t want to.”

So, the first question was mandatory, while the others were optional. That made it seem less burdensome.

“What’s the question?”

“Why didn’t you fight to the end?”

Charles had learned from a scout that Yuria Russell’s special unit was returning, prompting him to immediately turn his army around and retreat. Thanks to this, Yuria managed to survive.

But what was his intention? If Charles had deliberately gone easy on Yuria to boost her score, it would constitute cheating. Dian had summoned Charles to clarify this point.

“Did you want to give Yuria a higher score? Did you think that by not annihilating her army, both sides would receive higher marks?”

“Why would I? What about Yuria is so charming that I’d go that far? Today was the first time I even spoke with her.”

“Then what was your reason?”

After gazing outside for a while, Charles finally answered.

“The mock battle is one-on-one, isn’t it?”

Dian found the question puzzling. Of course, a mock battle was one-on-one. What else could it be, a team match?

“Is that so?”

“Some people compare the mock battle to a game. But I didn’t want to simply play a game. I wanted to walk through a battlefield that felt real.”

“You didn’t annihilate Yuria Russell because you wanted to walk through a battlefield that felt real? What’s the connection between a realistic battlefield and not annihilating Yuria Russell?”

“The world is full of wolf packs, after all.”

At those words, Dian wore a puzzled expression.

Charles gave a resigned smile. As expected, Professor Dian de Balboa was well-versed in military matters but somewhat lacking when it came to politics. If it had been the Princess, she would have understood with just that remark.

“If this were merely a game, I would have fought to the end and annihilated Yuria. But international affairs are not one-on-one. Even if I were to deplete my forces to annihilate Yuria’s, only the other nations watching from the sidelines would benefit. Even if I were to claim victory, if it were a Pyrrhic Victory, it would be no gain at all.”

Oh, wait—does the term ‘Pyrrhic Victory’ not exist in this world? It refers to a victory so costly that it leads to the downfall of one’s own nation. I quickly added an explanation.

“In short, to avoid being stabbed in the back by other powers after winning, I needed to preserve my forces. That’s why I judged it better not to engage in a life-or-death struggle with Yuria Russell.”

Dian de Balboa was impressed by those words. Others had been viewing the battle within the narrow confines of the mock battle itself. They might have even considered this mock battle as nothing more than an entertaining game. But this man was different. He had envisioned scenarios beyond the battlefield. This ability to encompass even the situations outside the battlefield! This man was not merely a tactician. He was a strategist.

Nodding in agreement, Dian de Balboa began scoring. It was out of 20 points.