Spectre of the Sinner - Chapter 4 part 3: Military diplomacy at work-on a private level, at least
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- Chapter 4 part 3: Military diplomacy at work-on a private level, at least
Just as Mister [An] was about to use a random twig to illustrate what he had found, one of the thuggish-looking leaders harshly piped up his distrust.
“Hey, pipsqueak, how can you be so sure about the situation? Don’t tell me that you’re the one who set this up in the first place, because if it truly is… you’re in a world of hurt, son.”
A burst of uproarious laughter and sneering erupted from him and most of the leading figures, while the remaining ones could only nervously exchange concerned looks. Irritated by the attitude, I glared daggers at the unruly adventurers to shut them up, to no avail.
“Who gives a damn care about you, fucking sissy punk,” a harsh rebuke erupted from the soldier, shutting everyone up accordingly, “you can fucking get one of your fucking errand boys to confirm my intel. Until then, let the adults do their job, сука блять.”
Utterly stunned at the string of expletives that poured from his mouth, it took the brutish leader and his like-minded fellow adventurers a moment to fully understand the words. Just as they were about to stand up to unsheathe their weapons, Mister [An] further escalated the crisis as his dark brown eyes sported a challenging glare.
“Go ahead and fucking swing those prehistoric toys in my direction if you’re that fucking confident in charging the remaining twenty-one of those damned [Ogres]. Otherwise, as I said earlier, fucking sit down and listen obediently to my plan.”
As much as I wanted to massage my head due to the incoming headache, now it wasn’t the time to indulge in such luxury, and as such, I decided to settle the matter immediately. But first, let me glare at the source of the quarrel to shut him up, which he brushed off by shrugging lightly. To think that he was a troublesome fellow right off the gate like this, I could only fear for my little sis’s future.
“Let’s calm down now, shall we? Assuming that this gentleman’s intelligence is correct, then why we don’t work on it together? And if it’s proven wrong, we can always hold him accountable later. Besides, we still have to recover the knights’ bodies and return them to the city for a proper burial,” I clasped my hands to signify to end the headache-inducing quarrel, “is there any more questions, gentlemen?”
While the more belligerent leaders nodded begrudgingly before adjusting their posture, Mister [An] and the remaining leading figures lightly nodded in assent, bringing a smile to my face. If only there was someone who could praise this Mistress for her efforts in calming down this crisis, the world would be a better place, right?
The black-clad warfighter then proceeded to draw simplified symbols on the ground, then pointed to a particular line at the bottom, a short distance away from the cluster of circles.
“After leaving the carriages and mounts here, we will position along this tree line to use ranged attacks, taking out as much of them as possible before the monsters can react,” the man then pointed to one end of the line representing the supposed tree line, marking an X on it, “because the wind blows from the southwest direction, so please do not move any of your personnel into this area… Unless you have a death wish, that is. Once the [Ogres] brawl with you guys, I will move to the rear of their formation to conduct a flanking maneuver. Any questions?”
Puzzled at the man’s proposals, I voiced my concerns about the plan.
“Mister [An], why do we have to dismount to join in the attack? Surely the mounted knights can inflict damage on the [Ogres] with our superior mobility and magical firepower while the adventurers march in and suppress them on foot.”
“Good question, glad you ask,” the foreign soldier nodded while he deliberately dotted the ground around the circles, “if you’re confident that your beloved horses can navigate through the quagmire that’s called [Goblyns’] corpses, then I’ll modify it accordingly.”
Unwittingly letting out a sigh of defeat, I acquiesced to his plan, urging others to come forward with their opinions.
“Mister, I have a question,” one of the junior leading figures, a redhead youth slightly younger than my [Freida], spoke out, “what’s the distance between the tree line and the monster troop? Because if it’s too distant, we can’t attack them effectively, and conversely, if it’s too near, we will be hunted down before we can do anything.”
“I’ll say that it’s comfortably close, enough to hurl your strongest ranged attacks while still far away enough to sneak in unnoticed. Any more questions?”
“Then answer to this me, butastrangeiro,” a gigantic bald man contemptuously snarled while he rose to stretch his arms, “why are you the only one who gets to do the flanking maneuver? Or is it that… you’re planning to run away?”
“Unlike you fucking lots that can only fucking crawl on the ground like a damn rotting worm,” Mister [An] snapped back amidst the laughter, “I can bypass them instantly to screw them from their rear. Just ask your mom about the sensation of being offered a surprise butt sex.”
The soldier suddenly leaped a fair distance away from us, leaving us a mess of shocked onlookers. While we were still having our mouths open agape at his stunt, he had already run back to us to carry on explaining his plan’s rationale.
“So, while you guys are busy drawing those fuckers’ attention, I will do that stunt to disrupt their formation, if they have one, as much as possible,” the man briefly paused to take off his alien-looking helmet and take a nip from his steel water container before resumed, “and before you lord over me about why not take the northern route to pincer them, let me tell you this: you’re not someone local, right?”
As the man glanced around meaningfully before putting back his protective headgear on, everyone presents surprisingly receptive to the proposal as they nodded lightly, even if some only did it out of obligation as they averted their gaze and clicked their tongue.
Thus, the convoy continued to tread in an awkward silence along the road to the designated spot, and before I knew it, the surreal sight was unfolded right before my astonished eyes.