Chapter 151: First Great War Council (1)

[Day 61] 

Today I woke up way before my wives or even the sun rose. The war council was happening today, and I wanted to make a plan to give us the greatest advantage. Using words to explain what I wanted to do is troublesome, so yesterday, I asked Aimi to make a large table-sized replica of the Mountain of Twilight. 

When I arrived at her workshop, the moon was still glowing, but there were no lights on within my kingdom… besides the blacksmith, main adventurers guild, and Aimi's clothing store. 

"Damn, I wish there was coffee," I mutter, sleepily walking through the door. 

The store was closed, but some of the actual workers that make the clothes in the back were still going. They seemed to be having fun even though they had dark bags under their eyes… but I was not fond of this at all. 

"All of you here go back home and sleep!" I shout across the room. 

Everybody jolts their heads towards me and panics once they realize who I am. Their friends informed the ones who didn't hear my order, and after about 10 minutes of packing up, they all left the shop. 

Aimi was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed she was working in her personal room. Pushing open the wooden door, I see Aimi at a large table, creating multiple colored threads formed into the mountains sculpture. 

"I see you've been working hard," 

"Y-your highness. Forgive me; I haven't finished the sculpture you asked for," Aimi responds. 

"It's fine… but it does seem like you're almost done," 

"Yes, I just need to finish the [Snow Spire],"

[Snow Spire]? Is that the snowy mountain I fought the bear queen on? Probably right? 

"I'll be back. I'm going to check on the adventurers guild since I don't yet know all of the regions on the [Mountain of Twilight]," 

… 

"[Rock Boned Forest], [Waterfall Hills], [Forest of Poison], [Canyon of Volcanoes], [Ignited Forest], [Blood Swamp], [Snow Spire], [Icicle Forest], [Carnivorous Jungle], [Forest of the Weak], [Stalactite Forest], and [Poison Graveyard]... Damn, I should explore this some other time," I mumble to myself. 

I drew a lot of attention as I read the [Mountain of Twilight] map, but nobody dared to interrupt me. Mia was standing right next to me, ready to answer any questions that I have. 

"Couldn't I have just used this 2D map instead of making a 3D map?" 

"Huh?" Mia accidentally blurts out, not understanding my question. 

"I wasn't talking to you," 

"Ah, forgive my rudeness," 

"*sigh*... Are you getting enough sleep?" I ask Mia, once again seeing dark circles under her eyes.

"Y-yes, I am. You do not need to worry," 

I stare down at the fidgeting Mia. She clearly needed sleep, but it seems a lot of work had piled up once again. 

"What work do you have now?" 

"... I have to write down and split the soldiers amongst the different armies. When the soldiers enter the army, they have to fill out a form that gives their basic information such as what they specialize in, their name, family members, and which army they would like to join. 

But even if they write down their preference, we can't always place them in it. We have to balance out the armies, but we also need to make sure their specialties fit with a type of army… so in one word, I'd say this process is 'exhausting,'" Mia explains.

"I see… I guess I can help out. Go get some sleep…" I say. 

I'm in no rush since the war council is this afternoon. Plus, this will let Aimi check for any small mistakes. 

Mia bows deeply towards me before packing up her stuff and going back home. Though she tried to suppress her excitement, I could see it leaking through. She was delighted that she could go to sleep now. 

"Maybe she needs an assistant?" I mumble to myself while sitting on her chair. 

And just like before, there were hundreds or maybe thousands of thin sheets of leather stacked on top of each other right before me. I sighed deeply before picking up the pen-shaped item and placing the first sheet of leather in front of me… 

"Shit… I'm already regretting doing this. I was overworked in my past life, and I'm about to be overworked- Nah, I shouldn't complain when Mia has probably already done much more than this," 

… 

I walked out of the adventures guild with the sun shining brightly onto my face. I was pretty exhausted, but the sun-filled me with a new energy that helped me to Aimi's workshop. I could only guess this was due to [Night and Day Enhancement]. 

Knock Knock Knock

Knocking on the door three times, I then entered the room where I saw Aimi completely exhausted. I then shifted my eyes to the large table with a [Mountain of Twilight] replica. Though it wasn't completely exact, it was more than enough to formulate the perfect strategy. 

'Yin,' I say with [Grand Mind Magic]. 

Only a few seconds later, Yin appeared right in front of me, kneeling on one knee. 

"Take the corps and go, scout, the status of the army. You should be able to do that, right?" 

"As you wish," Yin says before sinking into the shadows.

"Aimi, do you think you can bring this to the castle?" 

"If that is what you wish," 

"Then please do," 

… 

The time for the war council soon arrived as I sat down on my throne. I also placed my crown on my head since it seemed fitting for the upcoming event. 

About 10 minutes had passed, and my maids gathered everybody at the stone meeting table. Aimi's replica of the [Mountain of Twilight] was placed in the center for everybody to see. 

Akito, Aimi, Akio, Aito, Aiso, Aika, Homura, Kumo, Treyni, Zehar, Mia, and the eight commanders were present. Thankfully, the meeting table had become bigger, so everybody could sit down next to it. 

"Let's start this meeting," 

The pressure in the room increased 20 fold. Some of the weaker commanders were struggling to breathe while the present maids had already fainted. 

"So a human kingdom is coming to attack us, and they basically double our soldier's headcount. This means our plan has to be precise and has a 100% chance of destroying our enemy. But, I already have a basic plan that anybody can add on to," I say, stepping down from my throne. 

I walk up to the table and the first point to the intersection between the [Blood Swamp] and [Forest of Poison]. 

"Here is where we will do our counterattack. The [Blood Swamp] holds the perfect conditions for a despair-inducing environment. The nauseating smell, murky water that serves as a foothold, depressing visuals, and monsters that are relentless no matter how many you kill. 

For this to work, though, we have to keep the army at bay right at the edge of the swamp while we counter-attack from the [Forest of Poison]. But obviously, we'll need a surprise attack since we have much fewer soldiers; otherwise, we'll get wiped out instantly if we face them head-on.

I told Yin to scout the incoming army for now, but the assassin corps will hide- wait, is there an army that mostly focuses on tanking?" I ask. 

Richard, the Immovable Siren Guardian, raises his hand. 

"I permit you to speak," 

"My army is entirely made out of tanks. But I have also been training them to learn how to use a weapon with their massive shields. Just a bit more time, and I believe I could have the perfect tanking army," Richard says. 

"Okay, well, I'm going to need you to work with Yin and the assassin corps. They're going to help hide your army in the shadows of a cloud I'm going to produce. I'll make it inconspicuous by using [Weather Manipulation: Wind, Rain, Sun, and Snow] to create a rain cloud that will rain only over the [Forest of Poison] and [Blood Swamp]... but that might take some time since I've never made a cloud that big," 

"As you wish. To confirm, you want the assassin corps to hide my army within the shadows so we can surprise attack or surprise defend them… Which I assume is to hold them back?" 

"Indeed. This will help disrupt their formation... And then we will proceed with the next part of the plan," I say, pointing at two potential pincer spots. 

"Whose armies focus on close combat and melee?" 

Aaron, Adam, Zoe, Akito, and Owen raise their hands. 

"Okay, Akito's army will launch a pincer from the left, and Owen's army will launch a pincer from the right. Aaron and Adam, your army will support the surprise defense at the head of the war once Richard's army starts to struggle… Zoe, what does your army specialize in?"

"My army mainly specializes in recon, assassination, and the weapons we use are long daggers," Zoe says. 

"Alright, you all will support everyone. Support holes or places in the formation that could potentially destroy us from the inside out," 

"As you wish," 

"Okay, now let's move on to the mage and long-range armies,"