The gathering of information was left to the scouts.
First, information about the demon tribe arrived.
They seemed to have retreated from the area, thinking it would be difficult to gain a fishing advantage.
If they were afraid of failure, they would have decided to retreat at this point.
Because there was no need to take risks here.
Even if I were the one in command, I would withdraw.
Then, information about the castle came to me.
It seems that a few soldiers outside the castle were hit by archers and several of them fell down.
After that, the soldier who shot the bow was thrown off the castle wall.
Then the gates opened and the soldiers entered the castle.
As expected, civil strife broke out.
The prophet faction will be killed off.
The anger toward Dorius changes direction when he shoots his bow at his friends.
Dorius will have given instructions to let them into the castle.
Either way, he will be ruined, but if he closes the door on a moment’s notice, he will be killed and the Prophet’s faction will take over the power.
Then he would want to get rid of the prophet faction, which was only getting in the way.
Finally, a realistic response would be possible.
Prytanis, who had been nodding his head, looked up.
“What do you see happening next, Lord Alfred?”
You are strong at such a young age, you’re looking forward already.
“The prophet faction in the castle will be wiped out, won’t it? After that, it will be a matter of deciding when to surrender.”
“If they surrender, what will you do?”
We do not intend to change anything from our initial decision.
“As per the original terms. If they do not want to live with the beastmen, we will allow them to leave. However, I don’t think there will be any place without them.”
“Can I handle the negotiations with the surrenderers?”
“Yes, I’m bringing them here with that intention.”
Prytanis sighed.
“Lord Alfred’s soldiers are calm even when they released the captured soldiers. Normally, I would have thought they would have complained. I wonder how well they have been trained.”
If nothing is done, they will be upset and frustrated.
But this is not a problem that can be solved by training, you know.
I shrug my shoulders.
“We have no choice but to release the Prisoners. That’s what the soldiers understood.”
“What they understood?”
“It’s easy. We took in a lot of prisoners. As a result, we became short on food and had to eat less. There is no better persuasion than this. To kill a man who has surrendered would be a crime against conscience. But if we liberate them, we can compromise.”
Killing an unarmed opponent does not make a soldier proud.
They will think it is a disgrace.
It is not a good idea to traumatize a soldier.
Prytanis thought for a moment.
“Lord Alfred, are we really running short on food?”
“If we use all our reserves, it will last us some time. However, if something happens, there will be a shortage at once. So it is true that there is a shortage.”
A constant decrease in consumption is not something that can be solved with a reserve.
An anomaly has occurred, and there is not enough food to go around.
But we have to feed the prisoners.
So please be convinced and be patient.
Such a foolish thing will not go through.
Prytanis waved his hand hurriedly.
“I don’t doubt you… it’s simply my unexpectation. I can save many lives, that’s all. I was completely at ease after that surrender. The battle was not over yet, though…”
I looked at the castle from a distance.
It looked quiet, but there was clearly less smoke rising from the food preparation.
“I don’t want to be caught off guard right before the finish line and have the tables turned on me. But… it’s natural to want to think you’ve won. We are winning, but we are not winning. It’s a truism.”
So the turnaround from the brink of defeat is history.
I don’t want to be a part of it.
In fact, I don’t know if they really surrendered to reduce the number of troops.
But that is where the weakness of my army lies.
If there was a way to reverse the situation, I thought, it was that.
I don’t have the strength to monitor 300 men and keep feeding them.
We would have to drive the surrenderers into the castle and make them help us reduce our rations.
I also recognize that this is a ruthless but effective measure.
I just decided to follow the methods of Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi Toyotomi.
Like Guan Yu, he has no intention of being defeated by demonstrating his spirit of devotion.
There is another aim.
When dealing with a certain ideological group, it is not enough to just win.
We needed to destroy the persuasiveness of the ideology, even if we accept its survival.
Respect diversity… It is not an ideology that can be accepted in such a pretentious way.
As a result of pointing a bow at his comrade, the principle that he had upheld crumbled.
The situation makes it seem like nothing more than a convenience for self-preservation.
There is no way to know a person’s inner thoughts.
I don’t think this is the perfect way to destroy it.
When you force perfection, you usually fail.
The only way to do it is to kill them if they attack you without abandoning their ideology.
""
If they are willing to abandon it, I’ll leave it to Prytanis.
We have asked Prytanis to help us to reduce our losses.
If we just use him here and discard him, there will be no one from the outside who will want to cooperate with us.
I noticed that Prytanis was also looking at the castle.
“I hope my father doesn’t get desperate and order them all to go with a suicide attack.”
I don’t know Dorius.
So I am not in a position to comment on that.
I can only comment from my perspective as a ruler.
“If he doesn’t abandon responsibility… he will try to keep as many of them alive as possible. ‘A suicide attack is just an abandonment of responsibility.”
“Then what about suicide?”
“If he had killed himself in despair, that would be abandonment. If he entrusted the fate of his men to someone else… it would be different. It depends on who he entrusts them to. Either way, I can’t answer which action is the right one. There are cases where it works out better to abandon.”
Prytanis chuckled.
“I guess Lord Alfred is not a man who easily tells you the right answer.”
It’s not that I won’t tell you, it’s that I don’t understand.
Politics is about results.
If the people you entrust are able to connect it to the future, you can say that you have fulfilled your responsibility.
If it is a failure, it is the wrong way to fulfill the responsibility.
No matter how lofty the ideal is, if it does not produce results, it is a failure.
The misgovernance of a virtuous ruler is no better than the good governance of a ruler who fills his own pockets.
The trouble is that greedy rulers often do better than selfless ones.
There is no way to know what the future holds.
All we can do is prepare to have more choices in the future.
If it’s an ideology, someone might pick it up after it fails.
It is often described as a premature ideology.
Being a leader is very tough.
Nevertheless, we have taken on the fate of many.
We just do what we can.
I only smiled bitterly at Prytanis.
The gathering of information was left to the scouts.
First, information about the demon tribe arrived.
They seemed to have retreated from the area, thinking it would be difficult to gain a fishing advantage.
If they were afraid of failure, they would have decided to retreat at this point.
Because there was no need to take risks here.
Even if I were the one in command, I would withdraw.
Then, information about the castle came to me.
It seems that a few soldiers outside the castle were hit by archers and several of them fell down.
After that, the soldier who shot the bow was thrown off the castle wall.
Then the gates opened and the soldiers entered the castle.
As expected, civil strife broke out.
The prophet faction will be killed off.
The anger toward Dorius changes direction when he shoots his bow at his friends.
Dorius will have given instructions to let them into the castle.
Either way, he will be ruined, but if he closes the door on a moment’s notice, he will be killed and the Prophet’s faction will take over the power.
Then he would want to get rid of the prophet faction, which was only getting in the way.
Finally, a realistic response would be possible.
Prytanis, who had been nodding his head, looked up.
“What do you see happening next, Lord Alfred?”
You are strong at such a young age, you’re looking forward already.
“The prophet faction in the castle will be wiped out, won’t it? After that, it will be a matter of deciding when to surrender.”
“If they surrender, what will you do?”
We do not intend to change anything from our initial decision.
“As per the original terms. If they do not want to live with the beastmen, we will allow them to leave. However, I don’t think there will be any place without them.”
“Can I handle the negotiations with the surrenderers?”
“Yes, I’m bringing them here with that intention.”
Prytanis sighed.
“Lord Alfred’s soldiers are calm even when they released the captured soldiers. Normally, I would have thought they would have complained. I wonder how well they have been trained.”
If nothing is done, they will be upset and frustrated.
But this is not a problem that can be solved by training, you know.
I shrug my shoulders.
“We have no choice but to release the Prisoners. That’s what the soldiers understood.”
“What they understood?”
“It’s easy. We took in a lot of prisoners. As a result, we became short on food and had to eat less. There is no better persuasion than this. To kill a man who has surrendered would be a crime against conscience. But if we liberate them, we can compromise.”
Killing an unarmed opponent does not make a soldier proud.
They will think it is a disgrace.
It is not a good idea to traumatize a soldier.
Prytanis thought for a moment.
“Lord Alfred, are we really running short on food?”
“If we use all our reserves, it will last us some time. However, if something happens, there will be a shortage at once. So it is true that there is a shortage.”
A constant decrease in consumption is not something that can be solved with a reserve.
An anomaly has occurred, and there is not enough food to go around.
But we have to feed the prisoners.
So please be convinced and be patient.
Such a foolish thing will not go through.
Prytanis waved his hand hurriedly.
“I don’t doubt you… it’s simply my unexpectation. I can save many lives, that’s all. I was completely at ease after that surrender. The battle was not over yet, though…”
I looked at the castle from a distance.
It looked quiet, but there was clearly less smoke rising from the food preparation.
“I don’t want to be caught off guard right before the finish line and have the tables turned on me. But… it’s natural to want to think you’ve won. We are winning, but we are not winning. It’s a truism.”
So the turnaround from the brink of defeat is history.
I don’t want to be a part of it.
In fact, I don’t know if they really surrendered to reduce the number of troops.
But that is where the weakness of my army lies.
If there was a way to reverse the situation, I thought, it was that.
I don’t have the strength to monitor 300 men and keep feeding them.
We would have to drive the surrenderers into the castle and make them help us reduce our rations.
I also recognize that this is a ruthless but effective measure.
I just decided to follow the methods of Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi Toyotomi.
Like Guan Yu, he has no intention of being defeated by demonstrating his spirit of devotion.
There is another aim.
When dealing with a certain ideological group, it is not enough to just win.
We needed to destroy the persuasiveness of the ideology, even if we accept its survival.
Respect diversity… It is not an ideology that can be accepted in such a pretentious way.
As a result of pointing a bow at his comrade, the principle that he had upheld crumbled.
The situation makes it seem like nothing more than a convenience for self-preservation.
There is no way to know a person’s inner thoughts.
I don’t think this is the perfect way to destroy it.
When you force perfection, you usually fail.
The only way to do it is to kill them if they attack you without abandoning their ideology.
""
If they are willing to abandon it, I’ll leave it to Prytanis.
We have asked Prytanis to help us to reduce our losses.
If we just use him here and discard him, there will be no one from the outside who will want to cooperate with us.
I noticed that Prytanis was also looking at the castle.
“I hope my father doesn’t get desperate and order them all to go with a suicide attack.”
I don’t know Dorius.
So I am not in a position to comment on that.
I can only comment from my perspective as a ruler.
“If he doesn’t abandon responsibility… he will try to keep as many of them alive as possible. ‘A suicide attack is just an abandonment of responsibility.”
“Then what about suicide?”
“If he had killed himself in despair, that would be abandonment. If he entrusted the fate of his men to someone else… it would be different. It depends on who he entrusts them to. Either way, I can’t answer which action is the right one. There are cases where it works out better to abandon.”
Prytanis chuckled.
“I guess Lord Alfred is not a man who easily tells you the right answer.”
It’s not that I won’t tell you, it’s that I don’t understand.
Politics is about results.
If the people you entrust are able to connect it to the future, you can say that you have fulfilled your responsibility.
If it is a failure, it is the wrong way to fulfill the responsibility.
No matter how lofty the ideal is, if it does not produce results, it is a failure.
The misgovernance of a virtuous ruler is no better than the good governance of a ruler who fills his own pockets.
The trouble is that greedy rulers often do better than selfless ones.
There is no way to know what the future holds.
All we can do is prepare to have more choices in the future.
If it’s an ideology, someone might pick it up after it fails.
It is often described as a premature ideology.
Being a leader is very tough.
Nevertheless, we have taken on the fate of many.
We just do what we can.
I only smiled bitterly at Prytanis.
