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252. Strategy Time
252. Strategy Time
The round room was packed with everyone in it. Relin had started to shoo the Old Guard out, until Ike told her to let them stay. They were just as much a part of this plan as anyone else. He looked around the room. The only member missing was Rufus' injured underling, who was resting deep in the castle's basement.
At the start of the meeting, Relin stepped forward. "My men can fight directly in this round, if you like. Please don't forget that."
"I would still rather your men manned the defenses. If you want to fight, I can consider working you in, but I want to keep the people who know how the defenses work to man the defenses," Ike replied.
Relin looked at her men. They glanced amongst one another, then shrugged. She turned back to Ike. "Then I believe we are content manning the defenses for now."
"Excellent. Here's the plan. These waves are not going to stop coming for a long time. We are going to beat them by swapping in and out. In other words, on the next wave, me and my people are going to go out. We've managed the previous wave better than you, and we have some time to rest. When we're tired, or the next round ends, we'll swap out, and it's your turn to fight." Ike looked around Rufus' men. "While you're in, your job is twofold. One, rest so you're prepared for the next round. Two, if you have time and energy, hit the enemies from the walls while we're fighting. Help fend them off from the walls. Make sense?" Ike asked.
The men nodded. Rufus crossed his arms and barely lowered his head.
"If you don't, you can join grandpa outside. I have no time for slackers or people who aren't going to hold my own weight. Open sabotage gets you executed."
He looked across the line, smiling a little. "But I hope we can work well together, as equals. I only warn you because of our rocky start. I see you as equals, truly, and I hope we can be allies."
The men nodded. Rufus ignored him.
"Well, except for Rufus. He's kind of an ass," Ike said.
"Go fuck yourself," Rufus snapped.
Some of Rufus' men chuckled. Ike glanced at them and caught them grinning at him. I'm not the only one with low opinions of Rufus. He seems like someone who bought his way into power or was born into it, rather than earning it.
Though, thinking of it, Vi had been born into power, hadn't she? As the heir to an assassin sect. But compared to Rufus, she was far better suited to leading. Not like that's a high bar.
Ike clapped. "Everyone go rest, except the Old Guard. I want you guys fixing and improving our defenses. If there's any materials you need that we can procure for you, let us know. Otherwise, I want everyone doing nothing but resting until the next round starts."
The people dispersed. Ike watched them go. As Mag left, he snagged the boy by his over-large red coat. "Hey. Wait for a minute, huh?"
Mag jerked to a halt. He glared at Ike, then sighed and walked over to the wall, waiting. Ike waited as well, standing by the desk. When it was just him and Mag, he nodded at the bird. "Watch over everyone. You aren't too tired, right? Keep an eye on things. I'll ask you to do less in the next round."
Mag nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I figured it'd be something like that."
"Ask Relin's scouts to keep an eye on Rufus' crew, too. And tell them to watch out for grandpa," Ike added. "Honestly, he's the one I actually want you to watch for."
"Why?" Mag asked.
Ike waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. Just be on alert for him."
Mag nodded. "Okay."
"That was all," Ike said. He waved Mag away. The bird nodded and retreated, flapping the second he left the room.
With everyone gone, Ike pressed his hands on the table and stared at the wall. After a few seconds, he sighed. The mana was still thick enough here to absorb it and recover his aether and his physical state, so instead of leaving the room, he just sat down on the table and began to meditate. He had been knocked down to half his total aether by the earlier rounds of battle. If he'd been forced to fight unendingly, without rest, he wouldn't have been able to last until the end of the battle. It's as I thought. We have to ally, or else we lose.
Is that the true meaning of this round? Keeping all your competitors alive is only part of it. You also have to be aware enough of tactics to swap on the fly, and not only that. Your competitors can't just be alive, they have to be willing to enter your castle and earnestly fight alongside you. Not just the strategic mind to keep your supposed competition alive, but the strength to outlast all of them and the charisma, or influence, or power to recruit them when their castles fall. He wasn't really sure why Rufus had come to his castle—well, no. I know. It's because grandpa's fucked up in the head, and Rufus is a puppet. But to be honest, winning Rufus wasn't deserved. If Rufus controlled his own destiny, Ike was sure he wouldn't have come to his castle. But he didn't, and so, Ike won on a weird technicality.
A second later, he shrugged. At the end of the day, a win was a win. And now that he had Rufus, he'd be able to recruit the girls to his castle on sheer momentum. Though in the case of Vi and Scar, he'd already laid the framework to get them on his side. His alliance with Scar, for example, and offering help to Vi.
When it came to those two, it felt as if he'd put in the work. He'd at least made some effort to get them on his side. Rufus… he'd trash-talked and received his fair share of shit from Rufus himself. He hadn't earned Rufus.
No, no. A win is a win. Who cares if I earned the win or not? Rufus didn't earn a single thing he has, so why should I earn him? I'll take him for free. Fucking loser. Discover stories with empire
Loser or not, Rufus was on his team, now. He pushed his personal (low) opinion of Rufus away and focused on meditating. Now that they were allies, he'd work hard to stay allies. He wasn't going to ruin their alliance because he didn't like the guy.
Not while they were stuck in the trial, anyways.