The next day.
In the center of Zeilant, inside the small castle, Luna was introducing me to her subordinates.
"This is Swen, who will be serving as our military strategist starting today."
Two officers of the Luna Army looked at me with ambiguous expressions.
There were four people here in total, including myself.
One was Cain Nerkis, an elderly man nearing 70, responsible for politics.
According to the game background info, he was the one who contributed the necessary funds to Luna's cause when she first decided to raise an army as a leader.
The other was Tifa, a burly female warrior holding the general position in Luna's army.
She was Luna's childhood friend, who stepped up to help without hesitation.
Though a bit one-dimensional, she wasn't the type to stab you in the back.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Cain Nerkis. Don't mind the age, feel free to speak comfortably. Hm-hm."
Cain, a white-haired man wearing a worn-out robe, extended his hand.
After a light handshake, I reached out to Tifa to do the same.
She gripped my hand with her large palm, tilted her head, and said, "I'm Tifa. But you, Swen… are you a woman or a man?"
"Huh? Can't you tell by looking? I'm a man."
"Why are your arms so white and skinny for a guy? You look so dainty too."
I hadn't noticed her very well in the pixel graphics, but seeing her in person, I could understand her saying that.
Rather than just female, she was a muscular warrior with a powerful physique.
Her red hair was tied back for mobility, and the massive axe on her back exuded an intimidating aura.
She roughly shook my arm a few times, then smiled broadly.
"Well, anyway, let's get along, strategist buddy!"
Whew, she's exhausting.
It was just a greeting, but maybe my low strength stat made me more susceptible to people like her.
Anyway—
These two were Luna's only current subordinates.
Cain had high politics but was mediocre in other areas.
Tifa had decent strength and command, but wasn't particularly bright.
That was the talent pool of the Luna Army.
But both had immense potential.
First, Cain. At a glance, he seemed like an old man quietly living out his days.
But his true identity was the rumored-dead younger brother of the fallen emperor of the Unified Empire.
He had hidden his name to escape death after losing a power struggle, but saw a faint glimmer of potential in Luna and began aiding her.
In other words, he was a member of the Aingart family, making him the infamous tyrant Serpina's uncle.
Before dying of natural causes, he would reveal his true name and place all of his secretly raised descendants into Luna's army—each of them SSS-tier characters, so keeping him alive as long as possible was essential.
Next was Tifa.
She might have seemed unrefined, but she was one of the rare few on the continent who could sense the presence of mana.
The game, Garland Eternity Saga, was a loosely medieval-fantasy game without deep historical accuracy—'mages' weren't publicly acknowledged classes.
Combat was based on a triangle system: cavalry beat archers, archers beat spearmen, and spearmen beat cavalry.
A very basic mechanic, typical of classic games.
But.
That didn't mean magic didn't exist.
A select few individuals could sense mana and unleash supernatural attacks like lightning or meteor strikes.
Tifa was one of them.
Her unique trait was being a general-type character strong in physical combat, who could also use magic.
Other mages were all intellect-based strategist characters, which made her unique—she was strong and magical, a potential top-tier general.
When that ability would awaken was unknown.
All the player knew was, "If you don't let Tifa die and keep her around, she'll eventually use magic."
Given that Luna's army had a late-blooming theme, it made sense her only two followers were of similar mold.
Anyway.
Unless we could instantly become overpowered, that wasn't immediately useful info to me.
Besides, in-game, if you left Luna's army to the CPU, within a year you'd see a message like, "The Luna Army has faded into history."
"Then let's begin this month's meeting. Please speak freely if you have suggestions. If you'd like to take on a task, feel free to say so."
Once a month, you gave commands, and your subordinates carried them out over the month.
Exactly the same as Garland Eternity Saga's mechanics.
At Luna's words, Cain raised his hand slowly.
"My lord. I believe this time we should invest in the market to promote commercial growth."
'Commercial growth,' huh.
At the start of the game, Luna lacked basic funds.
There were only two ways to make money: explore nearby areas, or invest in commerce to raise monthly tax revenue.
So Cain's suggestion made perfect sense. Random exploration didn't reliably yield income, and with a character strong in politics, investing would likely pay off.
"...Swen. What do you think?"
Luna paused to think, then turned to ask me.
I had asked her two things:
Treat me like a subordinate as much as possible.
And, discuss most matters with me.
The first was etiquette.
But the second was vital.
In order to use my 100-intellect brain, I needed to be asked questions—any kind.
And the result came fast.
[If Cain is assigned to commerce, he will produce decent results.]
However.
'Let's recall how I handled Luna's army during gameplay.'
To be honest, I hadn't played her army much.
After one successful late-bloom playthrough, I lost interest—it got too easy.
Before blooming, the game was tough and engaging, but afterward it became a breeze.
So I couldn't treat my playthrough as gospel—but it could serve as a reference.
"...My lord. May I offer my opinion?"
"Go ahead."
"Instead of commerce, I believe it would be better to order Lord Cain to supervise the repair of the walls in preparation for enemy attacks."
"Uhh?"
Cain looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Swen, was it? I appreciate the overestimation, but... repairing the walls would require someone to lead the soldiers directly. Do you think laborers will willingly follow an old man like me?"
I listened to Cain's words and was able to figure out how actual commands worked in this game.
In this game, to properly repair a fortress wall, one needed a high [Strength] stat.
Conversely, to achieve success in commerce, a high [Politics] stat was required.
Because outcomes were determined purely by stats, I had never considered how those numbers translated into actual field performance.
Since Cain had low Strength, he couldn't produce good results, so the game assigned a convincing reason: [because he lacks physical power, the workers don't follow his orders well].
'Even so, I can't grow commerce without meaning.'
The only reason I ordered repairs was one thing.
This city was fated to be taken no matter what.
No matter how much we drafted soldiers, trained, and tried to grow commerce with our current talent pool, this city—[Zeilant]—was inevitably going to be taken by the Brance Army nearby.
The Brance Army's ruler, Lynn Brance, had a fairly expansionist approach, so this was practically a set event.
In that case, rather than pointlessly developing the market and handing over a highly developed city,
It would be far wiser to reinforce the fortress wall and buy time by pretending to hold out before fleeing.
This wasn't a delusion but the very trick I had used back when I played as Lunarian.
If there's a powerful nation nearby, run as far as possible at first.
Then, once you reach a region with little merit that powerful nations would ignore, establish a base and survive from there.
Though the stat bonuses changed each time and countries' locations and territory quality weren't fixed, basic strategies like this never really changed.
Luna seemed a bit confused by my suggestion to order Cain to repair the fortress wall, but eventually, she nodded and said, "...Understood. Then what about Tifa?"
"Me? Just assign me anything. I'll do whatever. Should I go with the old man and fix the wall or something?"
"Swen, what task do you think would suit Tifa?"
Well, if she says that, maybe she should help with the wall repairs too.
It's not like we're avoiding the inevitable retreat.
Still, since I was asked, I should at least check.
'What task should I assign to Tifa?'
As always, my Intelligence 100 brain quickly produced the optimal answer.
[Commerce].
…
What?
Commerce?
No matter how many times I considered it, only one conclusion came up.
[Assign Tifa to commerce-related duties].
'...Huh.'
I couldn't understand it at all, but
I trust my Intelligence stat.
In this game, Intelligence 100 never gives a wrong answer.
As long as this world follows game logic, that rule should be unbreakable!
"...Swen?"
"Ah, my apologies. I was lost in thought."
I looked at Luna, Cain, and Tifa in turn...
Then, with a tone that made it clear I wasn't joking, I spoke seriously.
"Lady Tifa, please engage in commerce and help develop the market."