Evade The Hero and Flee!

Chapter 263-264

Chapter 263-264

Chapter 264

The Memories of a Certain Princess (39) 

“General Pelstein is dead! He’s gone!”

What is he talking about from the beginning? 

I glared at the back of Ast’s head, but he didn’t seem to realize it.

“Your Highness….”

Renia looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t let it out.  

However, just from her expression, I could tell what Renia wanted to say.

‘Do you still believe in him?’

I couldn’t give any answer to Renia, who was questioning me only with her eyes.

Since all the magic tools were already conveying Ast’s words to the soldiers.  

All I could do was glare at the back of Ast’s head as hard as I could, hoping that he would wrap up nicely.

Among the murmuring soldiers, Ast’s words continued.  

“But he will live on as one on your backs, and in your hearts!”

What does that mean?

Does it mean that although General Pelstein has died, his spirit remains with the soldiers who were his subordinates?

When I looked at Renia, she also seemed not to understand.

“If you start the war, fight to win! Even if you lose ten battles, as long as you win the one war, that is your victory!”

“Oh… Sir Ast….”

Finally, Renia covered her face with her hands and spoke.

Before Ast went out as the representative, Renia had carefully explained situations that needed attention.  

First, don’t mention General Pelstein because it could lower the morale of the soldiers.  

Second, don’t talk about defeat associated with losing battles so they don’t recall that General Pelstein died.

And lastly, please don’t make any mistakes.  

Ast, laughing at Renia’s earnest plea, eventually did everything she asked him not to.

However,

“Renia, doesn’t it seem to be working?” 

“Huh?”

When I glared at Ast, things that were not visible before could be seen. The expressions of the officers at the front and the soldiers behind them.  

“They’re listening seriously.”

“Y-Yes, they are.”

They were not the expressions of those who had fallen into despair or frustration.  

Everyone was looking at Ast with zeal.  

“Who do you think you are?! You are General Pelstein’s soldiers! Not deserters! Who do you think you are?!”

After catching his breath for a moment, Ast shouted loud enough for his voice to be heard.  

“You are yourselves! The Pelstein’s elite soldiers, that is your name!”

“Woaaaaa!”  

“That’s who we are!”

“We are General Pelstein’s soldiers!”

A loud cheer rang out.  

The soldiers were shouting General Pelstein’s name, raising their voices.  

“It seems to be going well?”

“Yes, it does.”  

Renia looked at Ast, who was receiving the cheers of soldiers despite doing everything she told him not to, with a very complicated expression.  

“Renia.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Don’t think too much about it. It’s Ast.”  

“I think it would be good for my mental health to just accept that.”

With an expression of having completely given up, Renia nodded her head. Ast, who had finished his speech, approached us.  

“Isn’t this good enough?”

It was not just good enough. Considering the reaction, you could even call it a great success.   

“You did well, Ast. I believed in you.”  

“I-I believed in you too.”  

Avoiding my gaze but blatantly lying, that was Renia.  

Seeing Renia’s growth in various ways thanks to Ast, I felt proud but also contemplated isolating Ast from Renia.

“It will be more comfortable for the next speakers.”  

Although I believed in Ast, I told the next speakers to be thoroughly prepared, which turned out to be unnecessary.  

“But Ast….”

It was when the army’s generals went up one after another after Ast’s speech to further boost the morale of the soldiers.  

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“There was one thing I was curious about in your speech….”  

When I thought hard about Ast’s speech, there was a very peculiar point.  

“What is it?”

“You kept using the expression ‘you guys,’ right?”  

In speeches like this, the expression ‘you guys’ is not usually used. The words me and you, are combined into ‘we.’  

It was to indicate that although the commander operates from the safe rear, they always act together with the soldiers.  

However, Ast kept using ‘you guys’ instead of ‘we.’  

“Did you perhaps have any special reason for doing that?”

At my question, Ast answered with an unconcerned face.  

“No. It’s just that I have no intention of fighting, so I just told you guys to fight.”  

“Huh?”  

“What?”

Renia, who was listening quietly beside me, also made a blank expression.  

That was how absurd Ast’s words were.

“Ast….”  

“Sir Ast….”

Renia and I called Ast’s name at the same time.  

The words that followed did not come out of my mouth.

“I am Your Highness’s exclusive butler! I’m not a soldier, so I have no reason to fight!”  

“I see, alright.”

“Your Highness….”  

Renia looked at me with a complicated expression, but I couldn’t answer.  

“Well, it turned out fine, didn’t it?”  

That was all I could say, having no other words.

Without another word between us, Renia and I just listened to the speeches of the other generals until they were over.  

And after all the speeches ended.  

“Now we just have to win the battle.”

Having ordered rest for all the troops except those on border patrol to relieve fatigue before the battle began, only Renia, Ast and I remained in the tent for the final check.  

“The enemy has about the same number as us. But our combat power is superior.”  

“Indeed.”  

Although the enemy had forces similar in scale to our army, the difference in combat power was clear.  

No matter how great General Pelstein was said to be, he blocked an enemy force five or six times larger.

Not just Renia and I, but the other generals also judged that our soldiers were superior to the Merdeah Kingdom’s soldiers we were currently facing.

Therefore, if we fight under the same conditions, victory will be ours.  

Let’s finish it off in one go with a frontal battle on the plains with fewer variables.

That was the common opinion.

“Huh? Why do we have to fight?”

Except for Ast.

“Thanks to Ast, the enemy general is very angry, right? But if you don’t fight, what are you going to do? You’re not thinking of surrendering, are you?”

“There’s no way. The moment I surrender, it’s obvious that I’ll be torn into 16 pieces.”

“Then we have to fight.”  

“There’s no need for that.”

Ast’s words are hard for ordinary people to understand.

It’s not because Ast is a genius or an idiot.

They say that the difference between a genius and an idiot is just one sheet of paper, but Ast has too much difference to call him a genius or an idiot.

In other words, whether a genius, an idiot, or an ordinary person, Ast’s words cannot be understood.

“If you don’t fight, what are you going to do?”

So you need to hear the specifics. That’s the only way to understand Ast’s bullshit.

“Your Highness, do you know what kind of person fights best when fighting?”

But Ast doesn’t easily tell his bullshit.  

He often answered questions with more questions, which was very annoying.

“I don’t know.”  

But since he did well this time, I decided to tolerate it once.

“Then tell me.”

“It’s the person who annoys the opponent.”

“Annoys?”

“Yes. Poking at them. It seems trivial, but it’s tiresome to deal with, and keeps inflicting petty harms.  

“Why?”

“Because it makes them look weak. If they think it’s just trivial and annoying, they will judge that they can win. Since they can’t win face-to-face, they make the opponent think they are taking useless actions. Didn’t Your Highness get hit by that once before?”

It seemed he was talking about the time in the past strategic chess match when he gave me an unforgettable humiliation with three charges.

“Do you have to bring up old stories?”

“There are no events more fitting to explain what I’m talking about now.”

“What’s so fitting about it…….”

The humiliation of the past naturally makes my expression wrinkle.  

It would be one thing if it was the first time, but the fact that I was caught by the same tactic two more times after that, and that it was Renia who manipulated it, was a huge disgrace.

“How did you feel back then?”

“Should I say it in words?”

I wanted to call the soldiers around and beat up Ast for digging up someone else’s humiliating past with an unlucky expression.

“Was I strong back then?”

“No. The conditions were the same.” 

“But Your Highness lost?”

“Ugh……! Yes.”

“But you must have thought you could win next time, right?”

“Yes. I thought I lost because I was careless. Even when I got caught by the same thing again, and again after that.”

“Yes. That’s what I’m talking about.”  

Now I could understand what Ast wanted.  

I just got caught by some trivial technique.

Make them think that even if they are clearly weak, they can only use tricky methods.  

That will make the enemy keep challenging us.

However,

“Is there a need to use that method?”

There was no need to use it in a situation where we were overwhelmingly superior.

“The enemy is just an advance team. The Merdeah Kingdom is a military kingdom comparable even to the Karan Empire. Wouldn’t it be better to minimize troop casualties as much as possible?”

This was an unexpected argument.

“I thought you didn’t care about friendly casualties.”  

Ast openly said ‘You guys fight. I won’t fight.’

I wouldn’t have expected Ast, who said that, to worry about troop losses.

“Well, if our troops get reduced, I might have to fight in an emergency, right? So you guys should wipe out the troops so I don’t have to fight.”

Oh right. For a moment, it was my mistake to expect something from Ast.

 “Even if we are far superior?”

“The stronger we are, the more afraid the enemy becomes. They will cower and hide and just defend. Defense is annoying. Even if the opponent is overwhelmingly weak, defending opponents is troublesome.”

Then our troops will take casualties. If we get counterattacked, he will have to fight.  

So make the enemy have hope that they can win and keep challenging.

And in a way that secures benefits.

“Isn’t that how to catch suckers in a gambling den?”

“Everything is connected in the end. For gamblers, gambling dens are no different from battlefields.”  

So we should be able to use gambling den warfare tactics on real battlefields.

“That makes no sense.”  

“But it sounds plausible, doesn’t it?”

“I guess so.”

I was pissed off but Ast had a point.

“Fine. Give it a try.”

I heard we wouldn’t have to move many troops anyway.  

Then there’s no harm in giving Ast a chance.

If he succeeds, we profit. If he fails, there shouldn’t be much loss either.  

“I need something for my strategy.”

“And what’s that?”

 Ast spoke seriously, which was rare.

“A dropship.”

Drop…ship?

“…What’s that, a boat?”  

I tilted my head at the name I was hearing for the first time.

“Ah, I misspoke. What I need now is a mage.”  

Ast, who for a moment had an expression as if to say you don’t even know that, soon shook his head and asked for mages.

“Mages?”

 “Yes. It would be even better if they were the mages who previously carried out the bombardment with us.”

“Is it enough if it’s just them?”

“Yes. It would be nice to have some drugged-up Marines, but sending troops to a place they can’t come back from is not good in reality.”  

I didn’t understand Ast’s nonsense, but since he had been successful so far, I decided to trust him.

“I’ll lend you Legas’ mage brigade, including the brigade commander. Should that be enough?”  

“Yes, Your Highness.”  

I gave Ast the authority to mobilize the mage brigade and use the mages, and Ast used them to…

“Your Highness! The enemy army has been annihilated!”

“Huh?”

He Completely annihilated the enemy /ippostranslations