Became a Strategist with a 100 Intelligence and 100\% Accuracy-Chapter 98: The Battle of Hisphil Castle (8)

"What in the world just happened?"

The first to grasp the situation was not me or Reika, but the guards standing behind us.

"T-this... this can't be...!"

And with that startled voice breaking the silence—

As if breaking free from Medusa’s curse, Reika and I slowly regained our senses.

"This is..."

"S-Swen, sir...?! W-what in the world...???"

The first thought that struck me wasn’t why this had happened or why my rapier had glowed.

It was we need to get out of here immediately.

That was the only thought that completely took over my mind.

"Reika, we’re leaving!"

"H-huh? B-but—"

"There’s no time. Now, hurry!"

Reika was too shocked to even form a proper response.

Her eyes were trembling violently, her panic obvious—but even so, she quickly grabbed the hand I extended to her.

For that alone, I almost wanted to thank her. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t waste time.

I immediately turned to the guards.

"Bring the carriage! Forget the plan! We’re heading straight back to Valharat Castle!"

The stunned soldiers took only a brief moment to process my words before nodding.

"A-understood!"

They quickly calmed the startled horses and got the carriage ready.

Both Reika and I were loaded onto the vehicle, and even the soldier originally assigned to infiltrate the enemy ranks had now joined us in our desperate escape.

With my mind solely occupied with getting out of here, I failed to notice—

That beyond the massive hole in the wall, someone was standing there, watching.

***

"What the hell?!"

"What was that noise?!"

The eastern wall of Hisphil Castle, near the main gate, had been obliterated with an ear-shattering explosion.

The news spread rapidly throughout the entire castle.

It was impossible for it not to spread.

Along with the explosion came a thunderous roar, and thick smoke poured through the breach into the castle interior.

At that moment—

Serpina, who had been personally overseeing the battle preparations, arrived at the scene, accompanied by Lord Yuan and another commanding officer.

"Lady Serpina, this way...!"

Following the soldier’s guidance, they arrived at the site—

And what they saw was beyond belief.

‘This is impossible...!’

A hole.

A hole so large and cleanly cut that calling it a "hole" was an understatement—it was more of a passageway.

"What happened here?"

"I-I don’t know! There was a sudden loud noise, and before we realized it, the wall had collapsed...!"

Breaching a castle wall required at minimum a siege weapon.

Even then, what kind of siege weapon could carve such a perfect circle?

That, however, was secondary.

The real issue was that—

There had been nothing beyond that wall.

If there had been an approaching siege weapon, they would have noticed it.

"Did no one witness who did this? What were the guards in the watchtower doing?!"

Yuan bellowed in frustration.

The soldier, flustered, stammered in response.

"T-the, um... This section isn’t in the direct line of sight of the watchtowers currently being manned, so... I-I’m sorry...!"

"And you’re only telling me this now—?!"

"Enough."

Serpina raised a hand, cutting Yuan off.

Without another word, Yuan fell silent.

"......."

She turned, surveying the positions of the nearby watchtowers.

Indeed... this location was difficult to monitor.

Beyond the hole was just a forest.

There was no real reason to assign guards to watch an empty forest.

She herself had considered this area low-priority, so blaming her subordinates after an incident had already occurred wasn’t her style.

"It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Have you found any trace of who might have done this?"

"N-no, ma’am...! We searched the area thoroughly, but found nothing. It’s as if a ghost did it...!"

"......."

This was impossible.

And yet, it had happened.

Which meant it was no longer "impossible."

There had to be an explanation.

An earthquake?

No, that would have caused damage across a wider area.

Structural failure?

Unrealistic.

She ran through every possible scenario in her mind—but none of them fit.

Not in any historical record, nor in her entire life, had she ever encountered something like—

"A wall suddenly collapsing with a loud noise."

How was she supposed to make sense of that?

"...Yuan."

"Y-yes, ma’am?!"

"Pull back our deployed troops immediately."

"Retreat...? Ma’am, you mean—"

"Yes. We will postpone the Aishus campaign."

"Ah... Understood!"

With that, Yuan hurried away to issue the order.

Serpina remained, lost in thought.

Despite everything that had just happened, there was no trace of panic on her face.

She wasn’t an omnipotent being, but she knew how a person in her position should carry themselves.

A leader could never afford to show their fears.

Even now, she stood precariously on the tightrope of leadership, bound by the rules she had set for herself.

Someone had done something.

And if they had done it once, they could do it again.

This wasn’t some supernatural phenomenon.

Something had caused this to happen.

Which meant she needed to prepare her forces.

‘This is absurd. It’s as if... as if magic was used....’

Magic.

If she had to frame it in the most logical way possible, that was the only explanation.

And as soon as that thought crossed her mind—

She immediately recalled that man.

"Therefore... my conclusion is that the man is truly a mage."

"Your reasoning?"

"Isn’t it far more plausible than the idea that an act of divine worship caused a natural disaster?"

‘Magic....’

Jenna had mentioned it before. That the likelihood of a mage being involved was high.

Could this really be magic?

It was hard to believe.

But considering what had happened—the massive meteor that had fallen from the sky, and now this—it was the most logical answer.

And one more thing.

Serpina had just willingly retreated from a battle that had been completely in her favor.

Given the circumstances, retreating to reinforce the castle was the rational decision.

But who benefitted the most from that retreat?

‘The Aishus Army.’

And the current affiliation of that white-haired man?

The moment she reached that thought—

"L-lady Serpina!"

A soldier ran toward her in a rush.

Beside him stood a middle-aged man.

"What is it?"

"This man—he was near the scene when the wall collapsed! We brought him here immediately!"

"What?"

A witness?

The man, who introduced himself as a simple farmer, relayed what he had seen.

"I-I couldn’t see clearly through all the smoke, but... I did see two people running away—one man and one woman, both wearing hoods!"

"Did you get a good look at their features?"

"T-that’s the thing... The smoke was too thick... I couldn’t see them clearly. I’m sorry...!"

"That’s fine. I’ll ask just one thing. Did they have any distinctive physical traits?"

The man thought for a moment—then nodded.

"Now that I think about it...."

"......!"

If he said "white hair," then this would confirm the involvement of magic.

Serpina waited for his answer.

"The woman’s hair... It was a color I’ve never seen before. It was pink."

"......I see."

"Yes. That’s all I remember... I’m sorry."

Pink hair?

While not as rare as a young white-haired man, it was still an unusual trait.

But it wasn’t decisive evidence.

"...Understood. Thank you for your cooperation."

As the man was escorted away, Serpina fell back into thought.

If what he said was true—

Then those two hooded figures had fled.

But why?

She exhaled sharply, organizing the scattered pieces of information.

There was no point in overthinking it.

They had run—but if they truly had some kind of magic-like ability, they might strike again.

For now, the priority was strengthening the castle’s defenses.

"Hasla."

"Ah, y-yes, ma’am!"

A male officer, who had been silently following along, straightened in surprise.

"Gather forces to guard this area immediately. Treat it like a breached gate."

"A-ah... Understood!"

"Good. I’m counting on you."

With that, Serpina turned and strode away.

The officer, staring at her back, thought to himself—

‘S-she... She knows my name...!’

Even for a low-ranking officer, she remembered names.

And in that moment—

Another man became ensnared by her overwhelming leadership.

***

"......."

The inside of the carriage returning to Valharat Castle was utterly silent.

Neither Reika nor I spoke.

Neither of us had the energy to.

I couldn’t even wrap my head around what had just happened.

The rapier suddenly started glowing... Reika’s fireball was pulled toward it—like a magnet.

Then, the fireball at the tip of the rapier grew to an absurd size—

And the moment I gave the rapier a few swings, it launched in the direction the blade was pointing.

Looking at it objectively, it was obvious that my rapier had amplified her magic.

The problem was—

I had no idea that it could do that.

Did this decorative weapon always have that ability?

I had spent 10,000 hours playing this game.

Ten thousand hours!

That wasn’t just a big number—it was a ridiculous amount of time, an overwhelming amount of experience.

I had believed I knew everything there was to know about this game.

I had confidence that even if my 100 Intelligence only gave me the results, I could always work my way backward to understand why.

But—

I had never known that this supposedly ornamental rapier could amplify magic.

As I started to feel the weight of the situation settle in—

Wait a minute...

I suddenly recalled how I got this item.

Jinor’s advice—"Scout the area."

That was the most optimal action my intelligence had predicted at the time.

My own reasoning had matched up with his.

For our army, the best move was scouting.

Scouting.

That was all it was.

And as a result, I found this—a mere decorative weapon.

100 Intelligence. And it told me that picking up a purely cosmetic weapon was the best possible move?

At the time, I had brushed it off.

Well, at least I got an item out of it.

But this world wasn’t just a game.

It was based on a game, but it wasn’t a game.

This was reality.

The same thing had happened back in the Lunarian Army.

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I got gold.

That gold led to aid efforts.

That built my reputation.

That reputation allowed me to absorb two mercenary groups into our forces.

It started with gold, but it never ended with just gold.

Looking at it that way, of course this weapon amplified magic.

Of course I found it in the very nation where Jinor—a man who happened to be raising Reika—resided.

How many steps ahead am I supposed to be thinking?!

Was I really supposed to see this far ahead just because my Intelligence was 100?

It was ridiculous—

But at least, the mission itself was completed.

Forget misinformation.

After what just happened, any competent lord would pull their troops back.

With that level of destruction, it wouldn’t be surprising if they thought they could lose the castle entirely.

It would take them time to piece together that it was magic, wasting their efforts on unnecessary speculation.

And that wasn’t bad for us at all.

Right. No matter what happens, I just have to act like I planned it all along.

With that mindset, my tangled thoughts finally cleared.

And once I had some breathing room—

I noticed Reika, trembling in silence.

"...Reika."

"A-ah, yes...!"

"Don’t worry too much. You did well."

"......I..."

"The result was a little different from what we expected, but we pulled it off thanks to you."

"......."

Reika didn’t answer.

And I didn’t press her.

She was probably lost in her own thoughts.

She had just seen, for the first time, how destructive her magic could truly be.

Anyone would need time to process that.

"Sir... We’ve arrived."

Right on cue, the carriage came to a stop.

Slowly, I helped Reika step down.

I was suddenly reminded of the time I had visited Lyn Brans as an envoy of the Lunarian Army.

Yes.

Just like then—

I had to carry myself like a man in control of everything.

I walked toward Valharat Castle’s palace.

*

"Swen! You’re back safely! How did it go?"

Yuri greeted me eagerly.

I kept my expression as composed as possible.

"...We weren’t too late."

"Really?"

"Yes."

I smiled.

Act like I know everything.

With that in mind, I spoke.

"Don’t worry. Serpina’s forces will retreat."

"Wait—so the strategy worked?"

"It did."

"Whew..."

Yuri let out a relieved sigh.

"Honestly, while you were gone... a messenger arrived. Anima ran into serious trouble. Everything you predicted actually happened."

As expected.

I had already prepared an excuse in case they started questioning the natural disaster that had just occurred, but it seemed unnecessary.

Not that I had expected another meteor to drop from the sky.

"They sent an urgent request for reinforcements. Since you warned us in advance, we already dispatched troops, but I was still so nervous..."

Her voice trembled slightly, and for the first time, she spoke with raw sincerity.

"Thank you, Swen. Really... thank you."

Barely safe...

I lowered my head and answered.

"As long as I could be of service to my lord, that is enough."

And as I stood there, I could only hope—

That this would all wrap up cleanly.