Act Seven: The Plan

"Then, where exactly are we?"

Having discreetly seized control of the conversation, Su Fei began probing for the information he wanted. He had truly noticed some changes in himself. In the past, he had only been able to speak so eloquently and easily control the rhythm of a conversation in the game.

Perhaps it was because he still regarded this place as the world of The Amber Sword.

His experiences in the game were enough to make him feel as though these young people were still children when he faced them, naturally revealing an air of confidence.

That confidence unconsciously influenced the others. Whether it was Freya or anyone else, they gradually sensed something different. The focus of the conversation shifted to Su Fei, intentionally or otherwise.

Several young people not far away also raised their heads and looked over.

"This is Red Pine Forest. Don't move." The Ponytail Girl took a breath and tried to calm herself before answering.

Su Fei looked up in surprise. As expected of the future Valkyrie. She's learned to control her emotions so quickly. Still, in his eyes, she was somewhat immature.

"Red Pine Forest?"

"Wait, how did you end up here?" Su Fei was startled again. He remembered this place. In the game, it was called Dwarf Valley, the habitat of level-fourteen brown bears. But this place was south of Buchi, and there was no reason for Buchi's Militia to appear in this direction.

"We came to find you."

"We came for Miss Romane. She's the big sister's friend."

"And Roman is a member of the Third Squad." Everyone started talking at once.

"You drove back Madara's vanguard?" Su Fei looked at Freya. This was what concerned him most.

"How could that be?" The girl stared at him in confusion, her expression seeming to say, How could you ask such a stupid question? "The officers of the Guard Detachment covered the villagers' retreat north. We got separated from everyone else. Besides, there are more and more monsters on the main road, so we could only head south. And I was worried about Roman..."

"So that's why you came here?" Su Fei felt his heart sinking.

The girl nodded matter-of-factly, her long ponytail bobbing up and down.

Freya immediately felt that something was strange. This young man wasn't Captain Maden, so why did she always feel as though she was a head shorter than him?

Su Fei could not help smacking his forehead. He really did not know whether to call these young people innocent or foolish. They could barely protect themselves, yet they were still thinking about saving others.

No, perhaps it was better to say they were kindhearted.

But unnecessary kindness had no place on a battlefield. It would only bring harm upon them.

Su Fei fell silent, though he still felt like vomiting blood inside. He had burned his grandfather's mansion to warn the village, never expecting history to continue along its original path anyway. No—it had repeated itself.

There were even these hotheaded fools. Lady Martha, what kind of joke were you playing?

He sighed inwardly. There was still too little he could change. The inertia of history could not be stopped with a tiny bit of strength. Indeed, he had to become stronger, but before that, he still had to survive.

"Captain Maden, Captain Maden... It seems I can't save you either."

How could Madara, the Black Rose of Bromanto, have launched an attack in May, before the Eternal Death Ceremony? Such an obvious conspiracy—wasn't it bound to invite disaster?

Everything Su Fei had hoped for had fallen through, leaving him feeling hollow. He had fought desperately, only to discover that he had not changed history in the slightest. The blow was truly depressing.

Still, he only had the strength of an ordinary person. He had already done his best.

"Brando!"

He was already feeling irritated when a delighted voice rang beside him, as joyful as a lark. Su Fei turned around and saw the Merchant's Daughter appear at the edge of the forest, her face filled with incredulous joy. A girl wearing gray-white leather armor followed beside her—presumably the girl who had gone to deliver the message.

Roman rushed to his side like a gust of wind and watched him carefully, as though afraid he might suddenly disappear.

"I knew it. I knew you'd be fine, Brando." She spoke happily, looking relieved.

"Right, Brando. Freya wouldn't let me return to Buchi, so I..." The Merchant's Daughter hurriedly began explaining, as though afraid he would be angry.

Only then did Su Fei notice the two glittering tear tracks still lingering on her cheeks. His heart softened.

"It's all right. I'm fine now," he answered gently.

"Really?"

"Really." Su Fei nodded.

"Roman, don't move him. Mr. Brando is badly injured." Freya could not help frowning. Did these two even understand how serious his injuries were? He had nearly died!

"It's all right." Though she said that, Roman still stuck out her tongue and stepped back.

Su Fei smiled. The Merchant's Daughter had always been a little willful. As he watched the two beautiful girls standing side by side, he could not help finding the sight pleasing.

He suddenly realized that things had not remained completely unchanged, had they? Change could come in another form. From the moment he arrived in this world, the world had already changed.

Without his transmigration, perhaps the Merchant's Daughter and Brando would already have met with misfortune. Madara's bandits had no intention of sparing pretty women.

He looked toward the others, including the young people who had come with Freya. How many of them would ultimately survive that war?

Su Fei remembered clearly that, during that war, fewer than one in ten of the Militia and Guard Detachment along the frontier had survived.

But now that he was here, perhaps history should begin to deviate. He did not know what else would change, but at the very least, the people around him ought to survive. These young people were the future seeds of this kingdom...

Su Fei absolutely would not allow history to repeat itself.

"All right, back to the main point. Do you know how serious the current situation is?" The young man exhaled, trying to keep himself from looking too uncomfortable. To be honest, what he needed most right now was rest, but the circumstances clearly did not allow it.

He looked at the others. Freya and the young militiamen were all stunned.

Only Roman blinked playfully.

"Huh?" the Ponytail Girl asked in confusion.

Su Fei weakly coughed twice before asking, "I mean, what are you planning to do next? If I'm not mistaken, Madara's undead must have taken control of the main road, right?"

The surroundings fell silent.

"H-How did you know?" Freya was slightly stunned as she stared at him in surprise.

Of course I know. Not only do I know—I experienced it personally. Su Fei answered inwardly. Still, the astonished gazes around him gave him a small sense of pride.

Being a prophet had its advantages.

But that little bit of pride could not conceal the worry in his heart. Madara had moved quickly and thoroughly during the April offensive. He had to create a more comprehensive plan to protect himself.

And these young people as well.

Buchi was currently facing the flank of Madara's army. The commander leading that force was none other than the future-famous Black Baron, Instaron. Though that fellow was still a young man barely over twenty, it was during this war that the future star would gradually begin to reveal his brilliance.

And what did Su Fei have? In the history of this moment, he was merely an unknown nobody.

But Su Fei understood that his only advantage was foresight. Indeed, that advantage could save his life during the series of encounters to come—but he had to seize the opportunity.

He had only two chances.

The first was to pass through the relatively safe Sharpstone River Valley. He remembered clearly that it would not be until the seventeenth that Instaron's deputy, "One-Eye" Tagus, would take control of the area.

However, it was too far away. He was worried that he would not reach it in time to break through before they completed their encirclement. Unless they had horses—but where could he find mounts for ten people now?

That left only one path: breaking through the area around Dagger Riverbank before the two companies led by the "Lich" Vesa and the White Knight, Eberton, completed their encirclement.

Until late April, only a Skeleton Soldiers detachment led by a Lich had been stationed there.

He could not help touching the cold ring on his index finger. With the Wind Queen Ring, wouldn't breaking through a defensive line made up of eleven Skeleton Soldiers and one Lich be simple?

But before that, he had to make every member of this small Militia squad obey his orders. That was why he had acted so forcefully from the beginning.

Su Fei looked at everyone again.

"This is the obvious conclusion. Anyone with even a little military knowledge would reach it. Blocking the main road is meant to cut off communication and clear a path for their main army. The next step will be to use Buchi as the center and eliminate Eluin's remaining forces in the area." Based on his own experience, he tried to make the situation sound as serious as possible. Then he paused and emphasized, "That means us."

Silence fell. The only sound was the others' soft breathing.

"So, what are you planning to do now?" Su Fei asked weakly.

Everyone looked at one another.

More than a dozen Skeleton Soldiers guarded the main road leading to Buchi. They could not possibly fight their way through, could they? Though the young people possessed the characteristic confidence of youth and felt that this number of enemies was nothing special, they still felt uneasy at the thought of truly fighting for their lives.

Freya wore a worried expression. She had not considered this much when making her decision. They might be called the Militia, but in the end, they were only a group of inexperienced young people.

The Ponytail Girl did not speak, but her bewilderment and helplessness were written plainly across her face.

The gazes of the others had already fallen on Su Fei. His experience made him appear steadier than every other person present. Such impressions often formed imperceptibly, but in a crisis, they made people feel more reliant on him.

"Brando?" Roman asked as well.

Su Fei turned around and gave her a faint smile, signaling that she should not worry.

"We have to prepare for the worst." He turned back to the group, intending to dispel the naïve hopes they were still clinging to.

This was not his first time doing so. In the guild, newcomers entering the battlefield for the first time often maintained an optimistic attitude. Once they suffered a setback, however, they would fall into confusion and helplessness, quickly collapsing before an experienced team.

In reality, the gap between players was often not as great as people imagined. The key was their mindset.

And as veteran players, they were responsible for inoculating newcomers against such realities beforehand.

"The worst?"

Su Fei was just about to speak when a rustling sound suddenly came from the forest. Everyone turned toward it in unison. Only Freya slightly furrowed her brows and called toward a patch of heather, "Josen?"

"It's me, Captain Freya."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But Su Fei quietly waved at the Ponytail Girl, signaling her to remain alert. Freya was slightly startled when she saw the gesture, but she immediately understood. Eluin's Militia training did not permit anyone to abandon their post at will.

Su Fei had absolute faith in the military discipline of Eluin's Militia. These young people might be naïve, but that did not mean they could forget the basic regulations they practiced every day.

There was no room for the slightest carelessness on the battlefield.

"What happened, Josen?" Freya asked as she placed a hand on her sword hilt.

"Y-Yes, sorry, big sister. I—I was captured..."

The heather parted with a rustle, and two people emerged from behind it. The one in front was a pale young man with a sorrowful expression, his hands raised high.

A Lich followed closely behind him. It pointed a fingertip at the back of the young man's head while surveying everyone present with the green flames flickering in its eye sockets.

"Heh heh. I caught a whole group of little mice."

Everyone froze.

"Josen!"

"How could you—"

Then came a chorus of disbelieving voices.

Note:

Unyielding, the first awakened talent, is called a Bloodline Talent. Not every character possesses one—or rather, the protagonist has not realized this yet.

Unyielding has two main abilities:

The first is Iron Will. During its duration, it ignores all physical attacks unless the user is decapitated or their heart is damaged. It also raises Willpower to ten Energy Levels, allowing a creature to remain conscious for five minutes even after suffering a fatal injury or stopping breathing.

The second is Self-Healing. It strengthens the body's ability to recover, but this ability only takes effect after the injuries have stabilized.

Bloodline Talents will gradually grow stronger as the character becomes stronger, revealing more traits in the process.

(P.S. It seems my wish to update three times a day is going to fall through again. Also, I've noticed that many readers don't check the announcements. Since updating at noon doesn't seem to work very well, regular updates will henceforth be at midnight and 6 p.m., one chapter each.)