["The best outcome would be to decide a war's victory or defeat before it even begins."]

Abnaire had said that once. The Beastman general agreed. And with four knights and a Frog, he considered victory half assured before the fighting even started.

And if it wasn't? Then they could fight and win.

Abnaire would not take the field himself, but would send him advice from behind the scenes. All he needed to do was play the commander blessed with both brains and brawn, smash Border Guard, and secure Green Pearl. While he was at it, he intended to kill the fellow Abnaire had failed to finish off, along with a few of those said to be at his side.

'Four knights.'

How would they stop that? This was why Aspen had decided on war. Whether through luck or effort, they had produced two more knights.

Abnaire, whose life the wolf Beastman general had saved, had his own thoughts on the matter. In the end, strategy and brains had failed to win, so they were resorting to crushing the enemy with force.

He did not expect to lose. Their forces were that strong. Still, leaving nothing to chance was both a lifelong habit and an obsession of his. To that end, he devised a strategy, and his supreme commander was an affable man willing to hear him out.

"We shout our challenge loudly enough for the entire continent to hear. An all-out confrontation, head-on."

"Wouldn't that cost us too many troops?"

Hadn't they already borrowed from several sources for this undertaking? War supplies did not spring from the ground, and their defeat had cost them Green Pearl. The country's coffers were hardly overflowing. The Beastman general understood war well enough.

In war, supply and marching mattered more than combat. Preparing those supplies and marches cost Krona. A great deal of it. Could they afford excessive losses when the nation's resources were already so depleted?

"Yes. Which is why shouting is all we do."

"Just shouting?"

"The noise draws their attention while a small elite force moves in."

Abnaire placed a finger on the strategic map and traced a line. An ordinary person could not cross that route, but what about a knight? It cut through the Penn-Hanil Mountains. Better still, the enemy had kindly cleared the mountains of monsters.

"And once we're in?"

"We bypass Green Pearl's garrison and strike at the head. We capture the city."

It was a way to settle the conflict with a single battle rather than a war. Abnaire had presented a plan that made perfect use of their forces.

The wolf Beastman did not quibble over honor. He had lectured his human knight pupil at length, but he believed all that mattered was having no qualms. Qualms were what caused problems. If your conscience was clear, there was no issue.

He thought crossing the Penn-Hanil Mountains was a fine idea. Taking a difficult route to strike at the head was wise, not underhanded. Once they arrived on the city's doorstep, they could boldly announce their intention to conquer it and march in. That would leave their honor intact. It would simply mean the enemy had been foolish enough to fall for it.

His self-justification was complete.

"Good." The Beastman nodded.

"A recent incident should serve nicely as our pretext. Two proto knights were killed, after all."

The Knight Order of Aspen's Ruling Prince had suffered casualties. They had entered the mountains to inspect the infiltration route. They were not men who would fall to monsters or demonic beasts, so they had been sent with confidence, only for some swordsman to cut them both down. The bastard had made no attempt to cover his tracks.

Several rangers had pursued him afterward, but that had only cost them an entire ranger unit. He was a terrifying swordsman. In the end, he had returned to Naurilia on the far side of Green Pearl, making him the perfect pretext.

"We need only accuse them of sending an assassin first."

Abnaire had the entire script written in his head, from beginning to end. Even if Naurilia sent a knight order to help, they would not be able to stop it. They would secure Green Pearl, and he would reclaim his position.

Then they would wage war again with the returned wolf Beastman general at their head. What if they struck Naurilia's capital the same way?

'Naurilia's Scarlet Cloak Knight Order would step in.'

Their losses would be heavy then. They did not possess overwhelming superiority, so they must not take it that far. But given time...

Knights could not be churned out by drilling them like soldiers, but the wolf Beastman general had already taught four of them. Aspen had once pursued a policy of integrating other races, and he had been its greatest success. He was the sharpest blade loyal to Aspen, and now he was distinguishing himself as a teacher as well.

The blade that had fought to defend the borders, lost interest, and withdrawn, only to return: Varnas Hurrier. A Beastman who had joined the Hurrier family. With that blade at their side, anything would be possible.

Four knights. Who could possibly stop such a force? Abnaire thought so without letting his guard down. A knight order might possess equivalent strength, but none would be able to concentrate it all in one place like this. By the time Naurilia understood what was happening, Green Pearl would already be lost.

'We'll put those walls and that city you built to good use.'

And he would make full use of their recent work clearing the Penn-Hanil Mountains, too. This was not revenge. But it was not as though he had no desire to land a blow.

* * *

Krais's daily routine was simple. Physical exercise and training in the morning, meals, a little routine work, and reading. When he had no work to do, acquiring books to read was one of his hobbies. He was an avid reader who made no distinction between history, philosophy, and fiction.

From the outside, he did not seem busy. That was true. His body was idle. His mind, however, was busy. Most of his work consisted of thinking. Speculating, predicting, things like that. One branch of those thoughts was this:

'What would I do if I were Aspen?'

He had been pondering that lately. It was perhaps his most pressing concern. He had already reported to Encrid, but from here on, some of it entered the realm of imagination.

Aspen was picking another fight. Why?

'They want to take Green Pearl.'

The answer was clear.

A breeze ruffled his hair. As he sat there, not even thinking to brush it back, Nurat brought him a cup of tea. The office window was open, but he left it that way. It was a fine day for a breeze.

He sipped the tea. The hot liquid slid down his throat and warmed his stomach.

'I do feel a little full.'

Had he eaten too much? Or had swallowing Green Pearl been excessive? In truth, they had not stopped at swallowing it. If Aspen saw what they were doing, its people might clutch the backs of their necks and splutter, "Those bastards!"

Green Pearl lay between Naurilia and Aspen, both a cause of war and their border, but that border had always been rather ill-defined. They had fought over the plains for so long. With neither nation claiming Green Pearl and both treating it as the border, the boundary between them was far too broad.

Krais had taken advantage of that, playing innocent while gradually pushing the border outward.

Huh? This is Aspen's land? Since when? It belonged to no one. We took Green Pearl, so we're claiming this too. Don't like it? What are you going to do about it?

Put into words, that was essentially it. No wonder Aspen was furious, or Border Guard felt stuffed.

'We were going to fight them anyway.'

Whether Naurilia started it or Aspen did, war was inevitable. Still, Krais was not perfect, and a few of his assumptions had missed the mark. For one, he had not expected Aspen to attack first. But judging by how things were unfolding, that was now a foregone conclusion. Naturally, this suggested a few possibilities.

'If it were me...'

He would not fight a losing battle. So Aspen would not start a losing battle either. That conclusion led him to three assumptions.

First, they had forces in reserve that they had kept hidden. Second, those forces would be knights. Third, they must have taken steps to keep Naurilia's knight order from moving.

Speculation without evidence, perhaps, but he was utterly convinced.

'Can't the king just send out the knight order and sweep Aspen away?'

Krais did harbor that complaint, but he knew it was unreasonable. The knights of the Scarlet Cloak Knight Order each had a post to defend. What if the knight holding back the great southern nation left? Aspen would cease to be their main problem. The Demonic Realms along the kingdom's borders would pose problems too.

Besides, one reason Border Guard existed was to hold Aspen back. And it had Encrid, whose fearsome reputation as the Demon Killer was widespread. A growing reputation also meant having to prove himself time and again.

Had Border Guard possessed neither capable people nor any other resources, other forces would naturally have stepped in. If the frontier with Aspen collapsed, losing Green Pearl would be the least of their worries. If Aspen destroyed Border Guard and won, what would it do next?

'I'd push deeper into the country.'

They could not let that happen. But Encrid was here: the Demon Killer and the King's Dear Friend. For all these reasons, Border Guard would have to stop Aspen if it invaded.

Naturally, he had already reported all this to Encrid. The Captain's response after hearing everything, including all his speculation, had been memorable.

["War?"] He had asked that single word.

["Yes,"] Krais had replied.

["If they attack, we'll fight."]

Watching Encrid answer, Krais had felt... well, it had brought home just how far they had come.

'A knight.'

Krais had seen Rem step up to spar with Encrid. His own eyes could not make out a thing, but they had said Encrid was a knight. He had heard that clearly.

Most of his days were spent speculating, predicting, and imagining all sorts of ominous possibilities, but he entertained innocent flights of fancy too. Some, naturally, concerned the Captain.

'What if the Captain becomes a knight?'

That sort of thing. Whether martial strength or political authority, power changed people. Would it change the Captain too? Not a chance.

He had been this way since he first stood protectively in front of Krais, with skills no better than Krais's own. He always looked toward where he meant to go. It had been the same when he said they would fight. His blue eyes shone calmly. What was he looking at?

Now that he had power and had heard talk of war, wouldn't he want to run wild? Krais knew nothing of the concept of a sense of omnipotence, but he knew people. When they acquired power, they wanted to use it.

But Encrid was Encrid. Just as he had always been. Nothing had changed. Whatever he was looking at, Krais could not see it. He talked about protecting things, but frankly, Krais had no idea why he wanted to.

It was not that he failed to understand the idea of saving people. The question was why.

'Does it earn him Krona?'

Or some other benefit? Did he intend to use people's admiration for something? Not at all. He said he simply followed his heart, which Krais could not understand. In truth, he did not have to.

He had decided to follow the man who had stood in front of him, and that was what he was doing.

The wind whistled in, ruffling his hair again. Krais brushed the strands out of his eyes. Encrid's next words were the reason he was now holed up in his office, sorting through all these thoughts.

["Work out when it'll happen and make a plan. Where we should fight, and how."]

He was telling Krais to take charge of everything, strategy included. It was brief, but the meaning was clear.

["... Me?"]

["Who else?"] Encrid had said, glancing to one side.

Over there stood people overflowing with talent when it came to fighting. The lunatic unit. Rem, Jaxon, Ragna, and Audin. Add Teresa, Luagarne, Roford, and Pell? They would rival a knight order. Surpass most, even.

But he could not entrust a war to them. Encrid understood that perfectly well. Tactical thinking and waging war were very different things. Planning an entire war was not a field in which he felt confident.

["I think you just said something that rubbed me the wrong way. Can't have that. I'll handle this one myself. Stay out of it, Big-eyes."]

Rem had rested his axe on his shoulder as he spoke. His smile turning into a scowl was pure Rem. Ask him about logistics, and he would tell you to steal the enemy's supplies.

["War? Go out and cut them down. That's all there is to it. I'd rather handle it myself than leave it to some barbarian."]

Ragna had stepped in too. They would be lucky if he managed to lead the troops out without getting lost. Even if he didn't, he would charge headlong at the first enemy flag he saw.

Blood would not merely be spilled. It would pour onto the earth. Both armies would suffer devastating losses in battle after battle with neither victor nor vanquished. Still, with Ragna at the front, would they win?

They probably would. That brainless swordsman would cut down everything in his way and keep going. Above all, the enemy would have no way to predict his movements.

This time, too, he had gone out saying he was taking a walk, then fought and killed two of Aspen's proto knights and a ranger unit before coming home. Aspen had used that as a pretext for war. Well, they would have found plenty of other excuses, so there was no point in assigning Ragna blame.

["Just do it."] Encrid had looked back at Krais, his eyes serious.

["Yes."] Krais had nodded.

There was really no reason to argue. He had no complaints either. If he had been told to take responsibility without Encrid there, he would not have managed even half of what he was capable of. But that would not happen.

'If it does, I'm running.'

Encrid made the decisions. That dispelled his anxiety, allowing him to bring his abilities fully to bear. Foreboding slowly raised its tail, conjuring every possible disaster, again and again. It had once tormented him, but now he had blades he could draw against it.

'Four knights.'

Ragna, Rem, Sinar, and Encrid. Jaxon was knight-level too, but Krais did not know that.

'What if all four are tied down?'

While Abnaire looked at the four knights who were their weapons and confidently wondered how the enemy could stop them, Krais considered situations even their own forces could not stop. It was an innate talent: imagining disaster and using it to envision the future. That was the difference between Krais and Abnaire.

And where his mind would once have stopped at imagining disaster, it now moved on to seek an answer.

'Then how do I keep them from being tied down?'

Experience made people grow. Just as Encrid had moved forward, Krais was no longer the man he had been. His perspective had broadened, his thinking had deepened, and his knowledge had grown. Countless thoughts rose and vanished in his mind, coming together to form a single picture. He was laying out a war.

It would not break out tomorrow, but it would happen soon. Means and methods for responding to it ran wild through his head.

Watching his eyes, Nurat thought how he was always talking about the Captain's shining eyes, when his own were sparkling just like that now.

'Having fun?'

She asked the question silently. She had no need to hear an answer. Krais's eyes, which seemed to hold twinkling stars, answered for him.