Chapter 50

“Hmm….”

Naturally, Count Dman’s gaze turned to me.

Curiosity, and subtly, desire.

Even that was enough to make me terribly uncomfortable, but the knights standing behind Count Dman openly stared.

Honor brings followers, but it inevitably brings envy and jealousy as well.

When I was Odin’s commander, I was overwhelmingly strong, so I could leisurely enjoy such gazes, but now that I’m just a low-ranking soldier, that’s not the case.

So Selina.

Please.

I wish she knew that I don’t particularly like fame that is useless and only creates enemies.

However.

“That’s not all. She grows quickly and her command ability is so excellent, as if taught by an expert, that I can entrust the field to her with peace of mind….”

“Indeed. After all, one would need to be that capable to shoot down Odin’s hero.”

“And also….”

I wanted to clap a hand over Selina’s mouth, who was chattering like a parent boasting about their child.

If possible, I also wanted to smack her head.

Even the commanders of other airships were gathering one by one, drawn by the rumors spread throughout the fortress and the light emitted by the mana bomb.

I’d rather hide among the other team members so no one knows who Ryan Kaltz is.

Thinking that, I turned around.

“…Traitors.”

Excluding the old man, who was used to people’s gazes, the rest of the members were observing from a distance, like watching a fire from across the river.

In the end, I had to endure being exposed to people’s gazes again today, like a monkey in a zoo.

Because I wasn’t Odin’s commander now.

I was just a low-ranking soldier of the Alliance.

I desperately tried to maintain my expression.

“By the way….”

Count Dman’s gaze turned to the mana bomb.

As far as I knew, Count Dman was not someone whose mind was rigidly set.

If he were, he wouldn’t have been able to steadfastly defend the fortress while numerous players knocked on its doors.

Count Dman would not be content with merely recovering the enemy’s airship and bomb; he would try to gain greater advantage by using them.

And Count Dman acted just as I predicted.

“Would it be acceptable to use this in the next operation? Of course, the compensation will be generous.”

“It’s fine, but… may I ask how you plan to use it?”

“Those damn White Hero bastards…. Especially that incredibly tricky medium-sized airship. I’m thinking of devising a method now. Will you attend? This place isn’t suitable for a long discussion.”

“Understood.”

Selina nodded.

Count Dman left, accompanied by his knights, and Selina followed him.

Finally, I was free.

The moment I let out a sigh of relief.

“…Oh, and.”

Count Dman, who had stopped walking, looked at me.

“You attend as well.”

“…Excuse me?”

A sudden, thunderous decree was delivered.

* * *

A spacious conference room.

Mages and knights, and numerous operations officers were there.

Among them was one anomalous presence.

Why hide it?

It was me.

‘…Damn it.’

Curious gazes pierced me in real time.

I felt like I knew what these people were thinking just by their eyes.

They were probably thinking, ‘Why is he here?’ or something similar.

I didn’t know either.

Why I was here.

“Then, it seems everyone agrees on using the mana bomb.”

“The problem is how to use it.”

Count Dman, as befitting a high-ranking noble, exuded charisma as he conducted the operational meeting.

When he presented an opinion, numerous other opinions poured in.

Count Dman would then select and adopt the necessary ones, modify his own opinion, or, if necessary, boldly scrap everything and start over from scratch.

“Count. How about using the same method the White Hero bastards tried? Ascending to an undetectable altitude and dropping the bomb.”

“The opponent is a medium-sized airship. Is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but the enemies won’t remain complacent after losing their mana bomb. They must have prepared countermeasures, and they won’t fall for the same method they intended to use.”

“Hmm….”

The intensely proceeding meeting fell into a brief lull.

No sharp solution had emerged.

Count Dman, who had been resting his chin on his hand and groaning, looked at me.

I, who had been yawning languidly, hastily straightened my posture.

And then.

“Soldier. What do you think?”

“…….”

I had expected this since I was dragged here, but that damned old man wouldn’t leave me alone.

My head ached.

I felt like I, as a person, was being excessively overpraised.

Of course, I possessed knowledge of D&K, but strategy and tactics weren’t mathematical formulas, and there was no fixed answer.

Of course, a few methods did come to mind.

I was Odin’s commander.

To break through the stages that blocked my way, I had brainstormed strategies with soldiers, including Leisia, and many of the strategies and techniques I used then remained in my head.

But I didn’t particularly want to bring them out.

They say the higher one falls, the harder one gets hurt.

Even without that, I was being chased by Odin and had received an incredibly burdensome medal, some kind of obsidian, for shooting down a named individual, having already made a name for myself among both enemies and allies.

I didn’t want my reputation to grow any further.

If it did, and truly strange people started to cling to me, my already strangely twisted life path would become even more tiresome and rocky.

Pretending not to know anything.

Remaining silent was the best course of action.

“As a mere soldier like me….”

“If the strategy you propose is useful, I will give you a mana source as a reward. A trace of a dragon vein found around the fortress. And one of the highest quality, discovered once a year.”

“…There is one useful method.”

…Damn it.

In the end, I couldn’t resist.

But this was truly unfair.

I would have endured if it was just a normal trace of a dragon vein, but it was described as a top-grade item, wasn’t it?

It was like a curse of knowledge.

Knowing how much mana it contained and how useful the special effects one could gain by absorbing it were.

How could I give it up?

A trace of a dragon vein.

It was a mass of mana formed by the concentration of the dragon vein’s energy flowing beneath the fortress, characterized by a small amount of mana and a chance to awaken a divine authority.

Although the probability was ridiculously low.

Still, if it activated, it was a jackpot, so it was considered standard practice for players to try it at least once before moving on to Stage 2.

And one more thing.

The performance of the trace varied greatly depending on how long it had absorbed the dragon vein’s energy.

There was a difference in mana quantity, and most importantly, traces that had absorbed energy for over a year were called top-grade items, a supreme treasure that would awaken a divine authority with a 100% chance.

The regrettable thing, however, was that finding a trace that had absorbed energy for over a year was like plucking a star from the sky due to the continuous competition and harvesting by the White Hero and the Alliance.

It was truly a treasure that couldn’t be obtained even with money.

When that was offered as compensation, I couldn’t help but be completely enthralled, disregarding people’s attention and everything else.

“Care to explain this method?”

“Actually, there isn’t any groundbreaking strategy. Frontal assault. That seems to be the answer.”

“Frontal assault?”

The Count frowned.

It was a natural reaction, as I had put forward a frontal assault as a strategy.

Even empty-headed fools who didn’t know what a strategy was could think of a frontal assault.

Count Dman’s expression showed great disappointment.

However, he didn’t seem to have completely given up hope yet.

“…Wouldn’t it be better for us to use the method the White Hero intended to use?”

“That method has a high chance of failure. Our airships deploy defensive barriers using a mage’s mana, but the White Hero deploys barriers purely through the airship’s functions. Realistically, their technology is superior.”

“Ahem.”

Several mages frowned and cleared their throats, perhaps uncomfortable with my remark.

While they might not care about other things, their pride was sky-high, so they took offense to anything that implied the Alliance was inferior to the White Hero.

But what could be done?

The Alliance, where magic was developed.

The White Hero, where technology was developed.

This was reality, and they had to accept it.

“You all know that Unit 917 recently captured and is using Odin’s airship. And Unit 917’s commander, Selina Verdin, chose to downgrade, not upgrade, that airship during its modification.”

At my words, people’s attention naturally turned to Selina.

Although she didn’t say anything, their expressions collectively asked, ‘Why would you make such a choice…?’

Selina shrugged as if it was no big deal and began to speak.

“It’s simple. Many techniques that Unit 917’s crew couldn’t handle were used. So, we’ve been disassembling them for analysis and research, but… we haven’t achieved any notable results.”

“Isn’t that a problem with Unit 917’s crew’s skills?”

“Unit 917’s crew are veterans dispatched from the Verdin family.”

“…Ahem.”

The mages who had bristled and argued fell silent as soon as the name Verdin was mentioned, like clams that had swallowed honey.

While everyone was being cautious with their words, Count Dman, at least, didn’t back down and expressed his opinion.

“It was special because it was Odin’s airship… Is there no such possibility?”

“Compared to the White Hero’s airship we just successfully captured, Odin’s airship did have slightly higher performance, but there wasn’t that big of a difference…. But Ryan. Is there a reason you suddenly brought up the White Hero’s technology?”

“So what I… no, what I want to say is this. If it’s a medium-sized airship equipped with the White Hero’s technology, we cannot escape their detection net even if we raise our altitude to the limit. And the moment we are detected, the medium-sized airship’s main cannon will fire.”

To block the medium-sized airship’s main cannon, at least two people, like Selina and the old man…

No.

Considering that even the defensive magic deployed by two people couldn’t perfectly block the main cannon, it would mean at least three people would need to be present.

However, the combat personnel of an ultra-small airship consists of one mage and five soldiers.

Removing a soldier and adding an additional mage is one method, but doing so would reduce the number of airships our forces could operate, making the overall situation even more disadvantageous.

“At this point, it’s impossible for the Alliance’s technology and magic to evade the White Hero’s detection.”

“Even so, a frontal assault. Soldier. Do you think that’s a viable method?”

“By frontal assault, I don’t mean just ramming into them.”

I looked at Count Dman.

Because the person most uncomfortable with the current situation wouldn’t be me, but Count Dman.

However, Count Dman seemed to ponder for a moment, then fell silent.

Since my image was already ruined anyway, his attitude was to at least satisfy his curiosity by having a knight speak for him.

“Generally, assuming an ultra-small airship is pushed to its maximum speed, the time it takes from Achimlab Fortress to the White Hero’s camp is about 20 minutes. In that time, a medium-sized airship can fire its main cannon up to four times.”

If we simply plunged forward, we would all die together.

Therefore, we had to act with meticulous calculation.