Chapter 31: Outnumbered, But Not Outwitted

For now, my relationship with Melissa is based on information sharing and an agreement in which we swear to not harm each other. Slowly, I'm making progress toward a formal alliance.

Though It's clear that she does not trust me as an ally yet. The moment I tried to ask about her Gift and skills she refused to share anything, even though that was the price agreed upon for me to explain my Gift which she seemed interested in initially.

I'm not too worried as her trust will naturally increase with time, even more so when it's made clear that anything she shares with me is not going to leak. The real problem right now is whether her tribe can hold long enough for me to formulate and put into action a plan.

Licia: "Hmm... that's gonna be hard..."

Claire: "How many soldiers does she have?"

Miwen: "That was the last topic before I left. She maintains a standing army of 600, but she could recruit between 800~1000 more men. The enemy has anywhere between 6000 and 7000, not all of them are professional soldiers though."

The conversation I had with Melissa ended up being quite productive, but extremely worrisome at the same time. Each of her soldiers would need to kill 10 men at the bare minimum for her to win, and even though she can conscript more men, the enemy would also be able to do the same, and probably dwarf her numbers even more.

Most of what I know about war comes from history classes and documentaries, so while it's useful knowledge, it's definitely not on par with an actual seasoned general. Thankfully I have a veteran to consult with Claire who used to fight in the army under her dad.

Claire: "You may have chosen the wrong side to support..."

Miwen: "I know they are outnumbered but isn't her position quite good? To win she just needs to defend her land for long enough or cause enough casualties that the enemy gives up, given the terrain, I thought it wouldn't be so hard."

Defending is always easier than attacking, the enemy needs to cross the sea and disembark, after that, they would have to cross through a snow field towards a forest, where they then will have to face a fortress. Outside of the numbers, in my eyes, Melissa should have everything in her favor.

Claire: "The problem is that the enemy is capable of diminishing her numbers. Her standing army is only six hundred strong, which means that any time one soldier from that army dies, she needs to bring someone who doesn't have as much experience or training. Eventually, discipline and morale will be too damaged for her to maintain proper fighting conditions."

Licia: "There is also composition to consider. After a trained soldier dies, ideally she'd get a hunter, a mage, or an adventurer to replace them. But since there's no dungeon on the island, both adventurers and mages should be scarce, making it so that her army becomes unbalanced as most recruits would want to serve as archers."

Licia: "That doesn't mean this will be the case forever."

Claire: "If she keeps losing soldiers from her standing army, even though she can replace them with men from the villages, her defeat will be set in stone."

Miwen: "I guess you're right... Well, it's a bit more grave than I thought, but it doesn't change what I should do, if anything, it just makes it more urgent that we take action."

Claire: "Even after all we said you still wish to ally yourself with the underdog?"

Miwen: "Yes. And I also believe there's something we can do right now, but I'm going to need your opinion."

Claire: "Go ahead."

Before leaving I offered Melissa whatever I could get from the [Weapons Banner] and the [Armor Banner], this time however I came to terms with the fact I was parting with possibly great items.

But curiosity ended up winning over me in the end and I decided to take a look at exactly what I was giving away. Thanks to that, an item managed to grab my attention:

[Scout's Cloak Of Invisibility]

As the name suggests, the wearer becomes invisible, and the detection skills of an enemy also show greatly diminished effects, in most cases even being incapable of detecting the presence of whoever is wearing the cloak.

The biggest weakness is that you can't attack or cast magic while wearing the cloak, the moment you do, your invisibility will be turned off and the effects of the cloak will stop working against the enemies that you attacked or saw you attack.

With this in mind, this item became the cornerstone for a trap that could take one of the enemy generals down, if this works out, it could become the feat that changes the tide of war and makes me Melissa's invaluable ally.

To end the day I discussed the details of what I had in mind with the girls and also spent [Kingdom Points] to get Licia and Claire some new clothes, the warmest possible, as it was definitely going to be needed with what I had in mind.