How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 319

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (319)

 

“Impressive.”

 

Ignoring the dry, emotionless admiration coming from behind, the 98th Deputy Captain entered the strategy room with a displeased expression and sat down.

 

First of all, he didn’t particularly enjoy strategy games. However, when told to play, he wasn’t exactly bad at it, and he had strong confidence in his strategic abilities, so the reason for his current foul mood had more to do with other factors than the strategy game itself. In the 98th Deputy Captain’s own opinion, that reason was because the 101st Deputy Captain had joined as a sub-player.

 

‘…Of all people, I have to work with Ascanien.’

 

Hadn’t he, as the 98th Deputy Captain, been responsible for all the corporal punishment inflicted on that junior until now? Even though it barely qualified as punishment, if you asked that junior to pick the 98th member with the worst image among his seniors, it would definitely be himself.

 

‘Not that it matters much.’

 

Rather, Ascanien needed more mental discipline. We couldn’t fail to notice his rebellious nature. His cynical reactions whenever dealing with the 98th, his attitude of letting Albert’s words go in one ear and out the other – it was all unbearable. To think brothers could be so thoroughly irritating in completely different ways, there probably wasn’t another family that could get under people’s skin like this.

 

[Round 1 will begin in 1 minute.]

 

Thinking about it made him even more displeased, but now he needed to concentrate. The 98th Deputy Captain sat in front of the strategy table, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He could hear Ascanien’s voice as he leaned against the glass railing, looking around Mimesis.

 

“The floor seems to be glass too. To think of placing the game board beneath our feet like this…”

 

“…”

 

“The scenery is magnificent. The clouds covering it – is that because the game hasn’t started yet?”

 

“Could you please be quiet. I need to concentrate before the game.”

 

Ascanien acted like someone experiencing Mimesis strategy games for the first time. Right now we were in the sky. At least in Mimesis we were. Below our feet was a field that had brought the real world over. Instead of traditional wooden boards, we used the real world as our game board, and the pieces were mages materialized on the surface.

 

Ascanien smiled faintly and leaned his body slightly.

 

“During training you often used ‘duzen,’ but now you’re using ‘siezen.’ More importantly, what should I do now?”

 

“When I give orders, just write them down exactly and send them to that communication table. Haven’t you done this before?”

 

I heard all the manuals were provided. The 98th Deputy Captain pulled out a yellow paper from the strategy table and pointed to where the communication table was located. Calling it a table was just a conventional term. Far away there was a glass railing arranged in a circle that controlled movement, and the empty space within it was called the communication table. I thought he’d act like a non-mage again this time, but fortunately Ascanien understood.

 

“The communication table… so I just send it flying through the air. Is that correct?”

 

“That’s right. Now be quiet… Oh, how accurately you transcribe my words is also a decisive factor in determining victory or defeat.”

 

“I understand.”

 

Ascanien answered briefly. His expression suggested the 98th Deputy Captain’s words had sounded almost like wind, so he slapped the table with his palm. Feeling unnecessarily competitive, he unconsciously frowned and changed his tone.

 

“Did you study Clausewitz’s ‘On War’ before coming here?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good. If you didn’t know even those basics, you wouldn’t be able to properly understand my orders. You can write them down and send them accurately, right?”

 

“Yes, I’ll do it without errors.”

 

Ascanien straightened his posture while making an expression like his brother. Even that didn’t feel particularly good. It was bad enough that he’d said things he didn’t need to say, but on top of that, smiling even slightly felt like disrespect. A strong conviction struck him that he was probably smiling precisely because that was the case.

 

[Beginning now.]

 

Beep—

 

Along with the starting buzzer, maps and various pieces appeared on the strategy table.

 

The 98th Deputy Captain should have been grateful that the starting buzzer sounded just then. Otherwise, his head would have been dominated by the resolve to go out and properly educate that mental attitude. The thought briefly crossed his mind that he might have paranoid delusions, but it wasn’t worth thinking about for long.

 

“So I’m on the Pleroma side.”

 

The flag that appeared on the strategy table with the starting buzzer was black. Generally, when you receive the position corresponding to the nation’s enemy, you get the opportunity to make the first move.

 

‘Making the first move is good, but it’s a bit damaging to my pride.’

 

Since first and second moves are divided according to skill, if he won this time, he’d move to white in the next game.

 

First, the field was arranged in a 10*10 grid, and you could think of it by directly applying the first quadrant of a coordinate system. While Ascanien was directly observing the situation on the Mimesis field, the 98th Deputy Captain didn’t base his strategy on that view but developed tactics through the coordinate system placed on the table.

 

The opponent had 11 mage pieces, 5 Human cavalry unit pieces, and 6 Human infantry unit pieces, while the 98th Deputy Captain himself had 16 Pleroma-side mage pieces. When not utilizing specific terrain features, mages could attack up to 3 squares in all directions (up, down, left, right, diagonal) from their center at once, while Humans could attack 2 squares.

 

Next, each base was currently located at coordinates (5, 0) and (5, 10), and their respective pieces were also lined up in rows 0-1 and rows 9-10 where the bases were located. Naturally, the game ended immediately if you captured the base or eliminated all enemy pieces.

 

‘Let me mark things first.’

 

The 98th mage placed pieces representing the enemy base on the coordinate system and began erasing coordinates where warping was impossible from there. All coordinates within 3 rows of the enemy’s base were warp-impossible, with only direct advance one square at a time being possible. In other words, from the 98th mage’s perspective, warping was impossible from row 10 where the enemy base was located down to row 8.

 

Mage pieces could warp to anywhere in all other squares, Human cavalry could move two squares at once, and infantry could move one square. The maximum number of pieces that could be moved to one position in one ‘move’ was five, which seemed generous but wasn’t particularly so since this was a game assuming actual combat, so it wasn’t a system like chess where you remove the opponent’s piece and sit in that spot. This meant that 1. moving to a certain position and 2. attacking from that moved position or taking action like preventing the opponent from using warp points didn’t happen in one move but were divided into two moves.

 

Moreover, since each piece was assigned 1 point, to eliminate an opponent you had to add up the points of all enemy pieces within attack range and compare them with their points.

 

While thinking it was somewhat awkward to have such thoughts from Pleroma’s perspective, the 98th Deputy Captain’s goal to completely annihilate them all became firm.

 

Ascanien, who had been leaning against the railing looking down at the field, returned to the strategy table and placed pins representing terrain features on the coordinate system. After pointing at the air with his finger, he placed green pins representing mountains from coordinates (0, 7) to (2, 6) and (5, 5). Now the mountain extended from the y-axis toward the lower right, reaching the center of the first quadrant.

 

‘…Of all things, a mountain…’

 

If done well, it could be turned to our advantage, but knowing we could use it advantageously, they would desperately try to block us. When attacking places with obstacles like mountains or forests, only half of our side’s attack power against enemy pieces was recognized. This was because attacks didn’t work well in actual environments either.

 

Just then, Ascanien took out an orange pin and stuck it in the lower right.

 

“There’s a cliff at point (7, 3). It’s quite high.”

 

“Very close to the (5, 5) ridge.”

 

“That’s correct.”

 

The 98th Deputy Captain nodded satisfactorily at Ascanien’s words and closed his eyes, beginning to mutter to himself.

 

“The cavalry units can’t enter the mountains, so instead they’ll charge in from the right to block Vitriol… and when I deploy Pleroma on the high ground, they’ll pour attacks there.”

 

Even when anticipating their attacks in this situation, he had to consider whether the benefits of deploying Pleroma on high ground outweighed the losses, and naturally it was advantageous! What would be faster – magic or them? The Pleroma used here were all mages, so they could quickly kill dozens of Humans. As long as those Humans weren’t just wearing Vitriol.

 

Moreover, occupying high ground extremely expanded the range that mage pieces could attack. This was also a rule reflecting reality.

 

The problem was the nation’s Esper units. Where exactly could the opponent deploy mages? Even though they were grouped as units, mages would all move separately due to their nature. Since their individual power was strong enough to subdue several Humans, unlike Humans, inefficiency actually occurred when they were clustered together.

 

The 98th Deputy Captain stroked his chin and spoke.

 

“First, securing the high ground is definitely the priority. So, are these all the terrain features I need to know about?”

 

“There’s a residential area behind the mountain range.”

 

“…”

 

Ascanien took out a gray pin and stuck it in.

 

In this case, he had to consider the local residents becoming Partisans. Depending on where the residential area was located, the direction it could be utilized changed – if it was close to Pleroma, they could be driven to rampage and mobilized, and if close to the nation, they became Militia. If you stepped on areas where they were presumed to be, there was a certain probability that Militia would act as traps, causing damage to our side. It was good to invade and turn them into Pleroma or make them rampage, but doing so was tantamount to already reaching the enemy barracks.

 

‘What’s this – I was already getting a headache from the mountain, then I was happy about the high ground, and now I have to consider Militia too.’

 

“Give me your orders and I’ll relay them.”

 

“…”

 

Even with the disadvantage of visibility, all mountains had a certain influence over the plains that spread from them. Therefore, it was important to prevent the opponent from using the mountain while taking control of the field.

 

‘I have the answer.’

 

To gain control, he had to secure the high ground first. Given magic’s characteristic of enabling long-range attacks, occupying this place would secure influence over most of the field.

 

“Move five Pleroma from row 1 to high ground (7, 3).”

 

“Yes.”

 

Ascanien took out an order form and scribbled with a mana-infused pen.

 

Soon the coordinate system on the strategy table turned red. This was the range that the just-deployed pieces could attack. Centered on (7, 3), they secured attack authority over a range connecting 5 squares in all directions. At this time, attacks were only recognized for parts where one square was completely filled. Just as they now had a meaningful attack range of 5 squares from the high ground, mountains similarly had attack authority over all ranges connecting 4 squares in all directions. The 1-square reduction was because securing visibility from mountains was more difficult than from simple high ground.

 

Therefore, the opponent would now move to the mountain.

 

Despite row 0 existing, the reason the 98th Deputy Captain emptied five positions from row 1, coordinates (1, 1) to (5, 1), was because they would have attack ranges of 4 squares each. While it was true that you could move up to five at once, moving many wasn’t unconditionally good. When trying to deploy forces to other locations, forces that moved from their initial positions to completely different places couldn’t be moved together in groups. Say there were three mages moved to point A and two mages moved to point B. To move them all to C, you’d have to wait two turns.

 

But why did he move five? Now they would naturally move to the (5, 5) ridge, and as he’d thought earlier, when calculating the points for attacking (5, 5) from (7, 3), since our side had 2.5 attack power, the opponent would also send at least 3 mages to block our attack and protect the (5, 5) ridge.

 

‘Let’s see if it goes as expected.’

 

It was the opponent’s turn to make a move now. We couldn’t hear what they were ordering, and Ascanien would now watch the field and tell us. Ascanien, who had been leaning against the railing carefully observing the field below, straightened up and spoke.

 

“The opposing side sent five mages to the (5, 5) ridge. They deployed mages from (0,10), (1,10), (2,10), (9,10), (10,10).

 

Beep—

 

The light came on. It was the 98th Deputy Captain’s turn.

 

Since it went as expected, now it was reasonable to attack the (2, 6) ridge instead of targeting the (5, 5) mountain. The plains didn’t need immediate consideration.

 

The 98th Deputy Captain closed his eyes and thought. Relying only on coordinate numbers without looking at the game board had aspects that stimulated insight more.

 

“Four from (0, 0), (1, 0), (2, 0), (7, 0) to the (2, 6) ridge.”

 

Ascanien silently wrote the order on paper and took it away.

 

This time the opposing side seemed to be pondering for a long time, as the buzzer didn’t sound even after time passed. That was understandable. Having already deployed mages to the (5, 5) mountain, there was no manpower to defend against the 4-square attack that would be sent from the (2, 6) ridge to the left side of rows 10-9. In other words, unless they returned the mages from (5, 5) to their original positions or moved right-side mages or Humans to the empty spot, there was a possibility that the left side of row 10 where the base was located would be breached.

 

Then, Ascanien came to the strategy table and removed one piece from (2, 6). As expected, it seemed one had died from a Militia attack. But at the same time, there was no Militia now either. This was because Militia were presumed dead after one attack.

 

If the five opposing mages at (5, 5) attacked the three Pleroma at (2, 6)… since the place where Pleroma were located was a mountain, their effective attack power was 2.5, and Pleroma’s defense was 3, so the attack would fail. What choice they would make now was obvious.

 

Beep—

 

“The opposing side moved the mage from (8, 10) to (2, 10).”

 

“…”

 

That’s how it should be. If they had returned the mages from (5, 5) to their original positions, it would have been better for Pleroma, but the 98th Deputy Captain decided to be satisfied at this point. Without this move, they would have manipulated the warp point of the (5, 5) ridge so enemies couldn’t use it, and then they could continue warping there while we had no way to warp there. Just preventing them from doing that was sufficient.

 

‘Now the best choice would be for us to warp to (5, 5), but…’

 

There wasn’t enough manpower. Having already sent many, he couldn’t send more Pleroma guarding the base from here. He needed to be cautious.

 

‘I need to directly penetrate to the opponent’s base, but how can I do that?’

 

The left half of the game board was blocked by mountains, and the right half had the possibility of the opposing side moving Human pieces to attack. Fortunately, he had secured visibility over the right half with high ground. However, the problem was that they could destroy warp points in the mountains and launch attacks on our row 1 Pleroma. We could also attack from our row 3 high ground to row 8, but the problem was that the opponent’s basic pieces were all only in rows 10 and 9. In this situation, how would someone else act…

 

“Move two Pleroma from the (7, 3) high ground to (10, 6).”

 

The 98th Deputy Captain decided to whittle down the opponent’s forces. At his confident declaration, Ascanien stopped reaching for the order form and looked at him.

 

“…”

 

“What are you doing instead of relaying it?”

 

“What will you do next?”

 

What was he planning to do? The 98th Deputy Captain frowned with a face that wondered what he had just heard.

 

“I don’t see why you need to know that.”

 

“Are you planning to move to (10, 6) and then strike the enemy’s human forces?”

 

“….”

 

Just as the esper unit at row 10, column 6 had disappeared, and since the humans’ attack range was smaller than a mage’s attack range, naturally that would be the plan. They would retreat on the next move, but since their possible movement range per turn was small, there would still be pieces remaining within attack range that could be struck. It would be a good choice in many ways to kill off their pieces before the enemy could build up strength. As if reading such thoughts, before the 98th Deputy Captain could even respond, Ascanien put down the command document and spoke.

 

“You will lose soon.”

 

The 98th Deputy Captain couldn’t understand what he had just heard.

 

Silence flowed. Soon he widened his eyes in disbelief and opened his mouth.

 

“…You think you know what my plan is….”

 

“It would be the same plan I mentioned earlier. When you move in that direction, instead of evacuating their human forces as Your Excellency expects, the enemy will sacrifice them and destroy the warp point at (5, 5) to prevent our Pleroma side from coming. The moment that happens, you can picture in your head without explanation that this game will be handed over to them on a silver platter.”

 

Ascanien grabbed a command baton rolling around on the desk and drew a line across the map.

 

“With the warp point at (5, 5) destroyed, since Your Excellency has already dispersed Pleroma to (10, 6), you have only one 5-unit group that can be moved at maximum. The only option is to take the five Pleroma guarding the base. But where would you go?”

 

“….”

 

Where to go. There was nothing to say. No matter what simulation he ran in his head, there was nowhere to go. The moment he moved, the base would become defenseless, those at (5, 5) would come toward our base, and even if he returned belatedly, the base would already be occupied by them. As if reading his thoughts exactly, Ascanien began speaking from the point where the 98th Deputy Captain’s thoughts had cut off.

 

“If that happens, from then on you’ll have no choice but to focus entirely on defense. In preparation for the attack coming from the (5, 5) ridge to row 1, Your Excellency will first have to move the remaining mages in row 1 to row 0. If you don’t, they’ll be eliminated. Fortunately, there’s no limit to how many can enter one coordinate. At this point you need to calculate their next move – first, they’ll pull forces from other locations. Second, they’ll move to the closest possible warp point to the base. The first is more likely, but I’ll downgrade their judgment for Your Excellency’s sake. Now they’ll warp from (5, 5) to (5, 3). Your Excellency will have to return all the Pleroma you moved to the (2, 6) ridge or all three Pleroma at the (7, 3) high ground back to row 0.”

 

“….”

 

“After that, repetitive work will continue to the point where it doesn’t matter how many more moves you make. Since the defensive line made of mountains has already been breached, they’ll keep bringing reinforcements, fight a bit, then bring more reinforcements, and bring more again….”

 

It wasn’t wrong. The question of whether he could somehow exploit their weaknesses between those moves to induce a reversal came up to his throat, but he couldn’t voice it. In fact, the 98th Deputy Captain himself hadn’t even thought of the need to move the row 1 Pleroma within attack range of (5, 5). Thinking that if he had continued this game with his own strength, he would have died even faster than the scenario Ascanien was now describing, an unexpected shock swept through his entire body.

 

Ascanien, who had been quietly looking down at him, struck the (5, 5) position with his command baton.

 

“Your Excellency made a mistake from the very first move.”

 

“…What?”

 

“You should have sent mages to the (5, 5) ridge from the start. Your Excellency put the mountains second because you thought you needed to secure the high ground first. At this point, the enemy can make three responses for their benefit. First, since the best stronghold has been occupied, they occupy our side’s high ground which offers an even better view than the mountains. Second, the enemy also warps to (5, 5) together to prevent us from destroying the warp point. In the first case, even if the enemy warps to the high ground, since the high ground is within our Pleroma’s attack range, we have a chance of winning. In the second case, if they warp to the (5, 5) ridge, since the next turn has already passed to us, we get a chance to destroy the warp point. They won’t be able to warp additional forces, but we will be able to.”

 

“….”

 

“Third, they abandon the (5, 5) ridge and choose the (2, 6) ridge first. There are militia too, so they can block our entry to (2, 6) – not bad, but since Your Excellency tried it, you know. The enemy would have known that progress would become sluggish. Even knowing this, in the end the enemy can only take this option. I omitted why these three possibilities are most likely as their choices, and why the third hypothesis is most likely among them, thinking Your Excellency would already know well. If my judgment was wrong, please tell me.”

 

“…Why are you only saying this now…!”

 

“Did I have the right to speak?”

 

“….”

 

“Even excluding that fact, I thought you would know.”

 

He thought he would know…. Those words made him lose all fighting spirit. The 98th Deputy Captain stared at the coordinates with a dazed expression. Ascanien’s emotionless voice could be heard.

 

“The enemy is trying to secure the plains using the mountains.”

 

Who doesn’t know that obvious fact? The problem was himself, who had been guarding against that obvious thing all along yet nearly made a mistake. Thinking that everything was completely tangled made his head go white. So, what should he do…. What must be done. Nothing came to mind.

 

“It’s not too late even now, so withdraw your decision and gather five of the Pleroma from rows 0 and 1 that are not within the (5, 5) attack range and warp them to the (2, 6) ridge.”

 

“….”

 

“That would make eight mages on the (2, 6) ridge. Since you know that attacks sent from inside the mountains to the outside go through as is, while attacks sent from outside into the mountains only get through at half strength, you must secure the warp point at all costs. Since you buttoned the first button wrong, from now on Your Excellency will also have to go through a sluggish battle process….”

 

“Th-then what’s the probability of failure….”

 

The question of whether to abandon the warp point at the (5, 5) ridge, and when to use the mages at the (7, 3) high ground, both rose to his throat. There were still many things he wanted to ask, but for the same reason as before, he couldn’t ask them. To the 98th Deputy Captain’s crawling question, Ascanien smiled and answered.

 

“Well. If you do as I say, anyway, the side that will seize the initiative of the flow is Your Excellency, not the enemy.”

 

* * *

 

Though he didn’t understand it when he first heard it, those words were correct.

 

[Round 1, 98th Unit A Erich Reichenau’s Pleroma has won.]

 

The 98th Deputy Captain wasn’t particularly happy even though his name was called. He just sat there dazed, not understanding what had happened. His gaze, which had been staring straight ahead with a vacant expression, slowly turned toward Ascanien. Ascanien just nodded slightly, as if to say he should handle it himself now.

 

‘…This won’t work.’

 

Anxiety crept up inside him. He had certainly started confidently at first, but after listening to Ascanien’s words spat out at insane speed, he no longer had confidence to do it alone.

 

[…3, 2, 1. Round 2 will begin.]

 

Beep―

 

‘No, let me try.’

 

He had always been in the upper-middle ranks in any strategy exam he had taken. He had just gotten nervous because he messed up from the beginning, but if he found his original pace, he should be able to manage somehow.

 

And 5 minutes later.

 

The 98th Deputy Captain was frustrated.

 

‘…This time I definitely improved on the earlier mistake?’

 

Yet even so, the number of mages the 98th Deputy Captain currently had was ridiculously small compared to the enemy. The accumulated losses from parts where he hadn’t expected deaths were significant. Only then did Ascanien, who had been watching with arms crossed beside him, open his mouth expressionlessly.

 

“It’s time to use a diversionary tactic. Send two mages to the front of the river first. Since our mages are numerically inferior, all our actions will appear genuine.”

 

“….”

 

“Now they’ll predict that we, cornered, will set up barriers at the river and then deploy cavalry units. Your Excellency must properly shatter that expectation.”

 

The 98th Deputy Captain realized he had felt relieved the moment Ascanien opened his mouth and bit his lip. However, since it was helpful advice anyway, it was worth trying.

 

In the following round 3, Ascanien was the same.

 

This time, just when he thought he had maintained an advantage for quite a while, when things gradually started going wrong, he casually said.

 

“You should have given up the infantry first. The cavalry can move two spaces – how could you give that up?”

 

“….”

 

“We’ll take damage too, but there’s no other way now. Break the dam and remove the central warp point.”

 

The fourth game was the same. Just before the 98th Deputy Captain would steadily dig himself into an irreversible situation, he would intervene. Instead, from when the fifth game started, he began to show his true colors.

 

“Since it’s come to this anyway, let’s go all the way.”

 

“….”

 

There was no choice, and Ascanien stood right beside him, sharing the coordinate system. Strategy meetings that were more like notifications continued one after another.

 

How much time had passed?

 

[…Round 9, 98th Unit A Erich Reichenau’s Prussian army has won. This concludes all matches.]

 

Only after hearing the victory announcement nine times did the Mimesis lights go out. When the vast plains that had formed the floor disappeared, only then did the tension in his shoulders completely release.

 

Beyond the thin glass wall, bewilderment and puzzlement began to rise on the face of the mage sitting on the opposite side of the strategy room, who only confirmed his opponent after the Mimesis turned off. Golden letters like those from a typewriter began to be written in a row on the glass in front of him.

 

[1. 98th Unit A Erich Reichenau (B-Klasse)]

 

[2. 91st Unit A Magdalena Vitzleben (A-Klasse)]

 

[3. 91st Unit C Frederica Hanover (A-Klasse)]

 

Whose name was written next to the number 1? The 98th Deputy Captain just stared blankly at his own name written at the top. This had never been there before and was never supposed to be there in the future, so now even what this list meant seemed uncertain.

 

Ascanien’s red eyes turned toward the 98th Deputy Captain. His mouth began to form a light arc.

 

“We won.”

 

“….”

 

That gaze was close to an urging to be happy. The 98th Deputy Captain avoided his gaze from those red eyes that felt strangely alien and awkwardly pulled up the corners of his mouth.

 

That was all he could do now. He knew better than anyone that “we” hadn’t won.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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