novelraw Chapter 223 : The North (2)
Chapter 223 : The North (2)
“…That's why she chose a proxy.”
“……”
“Someone to take her place until she could be resurrected.”
The two let out a groan at U-jin's bombshell announcement.
“So, what you're saying is…”
Shrug-
“Exactly what you heard, I suppose.”
“……”
“……”
Hearing U-jin's story, the two men's minds were bound to be in a state of chaos.
It was already difficult enough to accept the stories about Isaac Einstein and the Saintess's message that U-jin had presented earlier, but the subsequent claim about a ‘Spokesperson’ was so exceptional that it was hard to believe even hearing it firsthand.
However, they couldn't just dismiss it all as lies, as there were too many parts of U-jin's story that couldn't be explained otherwise.
For instance, the image of the Saintess hanging on the cross was information U-jin should not have known.
Their minds were a jumbled mess.
Hooo-
Louis cleared his complicated thoughts with a short sigh.
He slowly summarized U-jin's story.
“So, right now… Mr. Seo U-jin is the Spokesperson chosen by the Saintess, and through that, you learned of the existence of the Northern Subjugation War.”
“……”
“And you're saying that this Northern Subjugation War is entirely a trap planned by Isaac Einstein?”
Nod-
U-jin nodded without a hint of hesitation.
“It's not just the Northern Subjugation War. I can't tell you everything right now, but there's more besides that.”
“……”
“The Northern Subjugation War is just the most immediate and dangerous of the problems we're facing, which is why I brought it up first.”
Not just the Northern Subjugation War.
Just how much more was there?
With every new piece of information U-jin revealed, the two men's heads spun.
Haa-
Letting out a slightly deeper sigh than Louis, Ludwig shook his head and muttered.
“…Should I believe this, or not?”
At a glance, it might have seemed like he was half in doubt.
But in truth, the very fact that he said it was proof that he was already thinking U-jin's words were not lies.
Ludwig Allegro, by his very nature, was the type of person who utterly detested ambiguity.
In his language, ‘Should I believe this, or not?’ was practically an expression of trust on a level that, for an ordinary person, would mean they already believed.
“So, what's the conclusion?”
Ludwig Allegro asked, scratching his head vigorously.
“Are you telling us to go and say, ‘Some paltry Hero showed up claiming to be the Saintess's Spokesperson, and he says the Northern Subjugation War is a trap.’”
“……”
“‘Everyone at the Order's Headquarters, let's just call it off.’”
Shrug-
“Is that what you want us to say?”
It was the only conclusion they could draw.
The common thread between the two men was that they were high-ranking priests, able to attend the Inverted Cross Council. The only reason they could think of for U-jin going to the trouble of preparing a humble special guest seat for them at the Enthronement Ceremony was for this purpose.
Louis and Ludwig could only assume that U-jin was telling them all this to say, ‘Please step up and stop the Order.’
However.
Shake, shake.
U-jin shook his head at those words.
“…We have to proceed with it. The Northern Subjugation War.”
* * *
At U-jin's incomprehensible answer, Louis doubted his own ears.
“…What did you say?”
He couldn't help it.
Just moments ago, U-jin had claimed to be the Saintess's chosen Spokesperson, revealing that the ‘Northern Subjugation War’ was a complete trap.
To now insist on proceeding with the subjugation plan was no different from willingly walking into a tiger's den.
And he wouldn't be going alone.
The Northern Subjugation War was a large-scale conflict involving one-fifth of the Order's entire army.
Considering that the other four-fifths were already engaged in the War against Demons on the border with the Demon King's Army, this was effectively all the forces the Order currently had available.
U-jin was now suggesting they lead all those people and walk right into the lion's jaws.
However.
“…Didn't you hear me earlier? I told you, it's a plan to screw over Isaac Einstein.”
Whatever was the source of his confidence?
U-jin shrugged, returning to his original point.
The words he'd said at the beginning.
As if they hadn't been just a joke.
“Then, you can't possibly mean we should walk directly into the trap…”
“It's not a trap anymore.”
“……?”
“Where in the world is there a trap that you can see plain as day?”
Louis furrowed his brow for a moment at U-jin's words.
It was a sentence he couldn't immediately grasp.
And then, shortly after.
He understood the meaning between the lines, and his eyes widened.
“Then, could it be… you don't just know that a trap exists in the Northern Subjugation War, but…”
Nod-
“That's right. I know everything.”
“……”
“Where the traps are, and what kind. If you know that, it's not really a trap anymore, is it?”
…He wasn't wrong.
Setting a trap in a war was synonymous with having predicted the course of the battle to some extent.
Even when setting a single snare, you had to place it on a rabbit's path to make a successful hunt.
The principles of traps in war were no different.
If someone had prepared something that could be called a trap, it inevitably meant they had ‘predicted’ the path or development of the war.
It was a fact that Isaac Einstein had predicted the course of the Northern Subjugation War to some extent, even if it was impossible to guess the exact model.
If they could know those predictions inside and out, dismantling all the traps was not an impossible feat.
Of course.
That didn't mean the story U-jin had just thrown at them was an easy one.
Isaac Einstein was no fool, and the model he had created would have been meticulously crafted by analyzing the Order's army's movement routes and habits, resulting in a precise and exquisite model with almost no margin for error.
Thoroughly prepared.
Knowing Einstein's personality, that was almost certainly the case.
However.
Just as pressing one side of a balloon makes the other side bulge.
No matter how brilliant Einstein was, he couldn't have created his traps without some risk.
Being perfectly prepared inevitably meant that some other area was left vulnerable.
Of course, finding that vulnerability would be difficult.
“I wasn't just told, ‘It's a trap.’”
“……”
“Where and what kind of traps are set—it's all laid out in my head.”
“……”
“I don't know the principles behind it, but the prophecy the Saintess gave me remains in my mind, without a single word out of place.”
At least in a situation where one could see the enemy's traps as clearly as the palm of their hand, it wasn't such a difficult task.
If U-jin truly knew all of Isaac Einstein's traps as he claimed, it might actually be possible to screw Isaac Einstein over.
Only then did Ludwig and Louis begin to vaguely lean towards believing him.
That the man standing before them might truly be the ‘Saintess's Spokesperson.’
And.
That the Saintess herself might not be just another self-proclaimed Resurrector like the ones before.
But the ‘real’ one, sent by the Messiah.
It wasn't something they could accept in a single moment, so they couldn't be certain just yet.
But every piece of evidence U-jin presented was something that couldn't be explained by any other means.
‘Screw over Isaac Einstein.’
It was a statement whose feasibility was questionable in itself.
But U-jin was actually trying to carry it out.
Grin-
“…And that is why I must ask you two to become my hands and feet.”
U-jin's lips curled up as he switched to a polite, yet not-so-polite, formal tone.
“Hands and feet?”
“To be more precise, I need your administrative power.”
A Hero's words held no influence.
The request for the subjugation war came from the Order, who hired Heroes for the task. As an employee, a Hero had no way to voice an opinion on the war's progress.
Of course, in smaller-scale operations, Heroes were given some discretion, but this was far from small-scale, and it was rare for discretion to extend to deciding tactics.
Besides, given the scale of the Northern Subjugation War, a low-star Hero like U-jin would be ranked among the lowest of the ‘Heroes,’ only slightly stronger than a common soldier.
Therefore, once the Northern Subjugation War began, there was no way for U-jin to directly intervene in the battle.
It wasn't something that could be solved with brute force alone.
However, Leonardo Louis Button and Ludwig Allegro.
These two could influence the subjugation's tactics as much as they wanted.
While they hadn't yet reached the rank of Cardinal and thus had relatively weak voices at the tables of the Order's Headquarters compared to the higher-ups…
…that was only in the political sphere.
The home ground of a High Priest was the field.
These two were at the pinnacle, vying for the top spot among field agents.
Of course, there were dedicated priests and departments in the Order to command battles.
But in war especially, their authority and influence were bound to become powerful.
The Exorcists, a special demon extermination organization dedicated to handling Demonic Species, and the UMC, a secret intelligence organization that handled the Order's highest level of information warfare.
Just by invoking those two names, they could exert influence on tactics and battles.
Why?
The justification was perfect.
If ‘Leonardo Louis Button’ requested a change in tactics regarding a matter related to Demonic Species, who would dare refuse without even hearing him out?
Most would likely accept his opinion without question, let alone verification.
The same went for the UMC.
If the ‘head of the UMC’ requested a tactical change based on secretly obtained intelligence, there was no one who would turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to refuse it.
That was precisely what U-jin was aiming for.
“I will provide the location of the traps and the methods to counter them.”
“……”
“However, if I'm the one to say it, changing tactics will be impossible, and the suggestion would be shot down before it even went up the chain, making it meaningless.”
“……”
“So, you two will request the tactical changes according to my instructions.”
It was not an easy task.
The North was a vast territory, occupying a quarter of the continent, and the Northern Subjugation War, aiming to reclaim it, boasted a wide combat area.
Even if U-jin knew the location of the traps, grasping the entire war situation and giving appropriate instructions—
—and not even directly, but indirectly, by borrowing the names of Louis and Ludwig to control it—was not simple enough to be taken lightly.
“Let's make this work.”
…However.
If he was one to quit just because things were difficult, he was wrong to have regressed in the first place.
What needed to be done, had to be done.
“…One step at a time.”
U-jin thought to himself.