As every tactic was rejected in turn, and silence threatened to swallow the meeting hall...
A young voice rang out from a corner. "How about trying my method?"
Everyone turned at once.
The speaker was a young man seated in an inconspicuous corner.
He wore a simple dark gray military uniform, without any insignia of rank.
Only the Red Tide Fief badge at his cuff, whose meaning few knew, revealed his identity.
"Louis?" a staff officer of the Cold Iron Legion murmured.
Duke Edmund's son-in-law, the young Viscount of the Northern Frontier.
"I have a kind of explosive device," Louis said as he slowly stood, his tone calm. "It can inflict substantial damage on a Brood Hive's carapace. I've tested it several times in battle, and it works remarkably well against Brood Hives."
A subtle mixture of hesitation and... quiet laughter instantly filled the air.
"Oh? A Demon Explosive Bomb that can blast through a Brood Hive's armor?" A short-bearded Councilor in an Imperial Capital-tailored uniform gave a soft laugh. "Which patch of dirt did you dig this ancient artifact out of?"
Before he had finished, several Councilors were already murmuring among themselves, their flippant remarks drifting over now and then:
"Just grandstanding. The Governor really misjudged him."
"Have the scions of the Eight Great Families fallen this low?"
"...The north really is a wasteland. Even tactical fantasies like this sprout there."
"And here I thought we'd hear an actual strategy."
Some even wore undisguised sneers.
To them, Louis was merely a wet-behind-the-ears young noble who relied entirely on his birth.
And now he dared interrupt a strategic meeting at the highest level?
He simply wanted to draw attention and put himself in the spotlight.
Yet under everyone's scrutiny, Louis's expression did not waver in the slightest.
"I'm not joking,"