Chapter 275

　　hapter 275: A Victory From Lucking Out

　　Not too long after, Vilhelm gave an order to the Gullveig Alliance through the voice amplificator in a depressed voice .

　　-All troops, fall back! Fall back!

　　“Wait, Vilhelm!”

　　Ao Xin shouted at Vilhelm’s sudden orders .

　　“Why are you ordering them to fall back!? What are you thinking!?”

　　Ao Xin was being reasonable . Right now, they were at the advantage . If they fought for just 10 more minutes at this rate, the Deathwin fortress would become the Gullveig Alliance’s .

　　However, Vilhelm replied in a depressed voice again .

　　“Why would you order our troops to…”

　　“The Pentagon has been taken over . ”

　　“Yeah, so the Pentagon has been taken over but first… w-what?!”

　　Ao Xin screeched .

　　“The P-Pentagon… has… been taken over? By who? Alex Rothschild?”

　　“Of course not . ”

　　“Andrei Ivanovich… that d.a.m.ned b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

　　“It’s not him either . ”

　　“Then who could get into the heart of our alliance, the Pentagon…?”

　　“Kang Chul-In . ”

　　“ . . . !”

　　“He snuck in… and took over it . My wife and my son… even the sovereigns of our alliance are being held hostage . ”

　　“N-No way!”

　　Ao Xin couldn’t trust what Vilhelm said . How could he? It was a scenario that he couldn’t believe even if he wanted to .

　　“S-So if we fall back it’ll be solved?”

　　“That would’ve been nice . ”

　　Vilhelm bit his lip .

　　“We have to pay compensation for the dead and the injured, and 200% of their war costs . ”

　　“ . . . !”

　　“On top of that, we have to announce our loss publicly, and for the next 72 hours, we’re not allowed to attack the Valhalla soldiers . ”

　　“You didn’t… already sign…”

　　“Did I have any other option?”

　　 Vilhelm asked in a sharp voice .

　　“Kang Chul-In said that he would release the Lords after cutting one arm off from each . ”

　　“He couldn’t have…”

　　“If we don’t stop our attack now…”

　　“ . . . ”

　　“It’s the end of us . We’ll have to turn our allies into our enemies, not just Kang Chul-In . Can you handle that?”

　　Of course he couldn’t . Even if Vilhelm and Ao Xin worked together, they wouldn’t last against the Lords if they all allied themselves . They say that one hand couldn’t handle ten hands .

　　“So… in the end…”

　　Ao Xin’s body trembled .

　　“We…”

　　“Defeat . ”

　　Vilhelm said Ao Xin’s words for him .

　　“It’s a complete loss… while we were hitting Kang Chul-In’s body… Kang Chul-In… stabbed our heart . ”

　　It was an accurate expression . Kang Chul-In’s impulsive decision to take over the Pentagon had cut off the bones of his enemies!

　　“In this way… a war that we almost won… argh…!”

　　Ao Xin couldn’t let go of the Deathwin fortress easily .

　　-All forces, fall back!

　　Vilhelm felt 100% what Ao Xin was feeling as he ordered the Gullveig soldiers to retreat . There was nothing they could do . This war was the defeat of the Gullveig Alliance .

　　***

　　Meanwhile, at the same time .

　　“Wow! His Majesty!”

　　Kwak Jung was astonished looking at the retreating enemies .

　　“Kya… this is why I serve his Majesty . He’s an item… n-no… he’s a great item… yeah, a great item . ”

　　He was muttering weird things to himself .

　　-Ah, ah! Mic test, mic test . Mm~! This is nice .

　　Kwak Jung lifted the magic voice amplificator in the air .

　　-Alright, soldiers?

　　The Valhalla soldiers that had been confused at the sudden retreat of their enemies looked up at Kwak Jung on the control top .

　　-We won .

　　Kwak Jung announced their victory .

　　“Hm?”

　　“W-What’s our commander saying?”

　　“Win? Us?”

　　“ . . . ?”

　　“Uh… can someone explain…”

　　The confusion increased .

　　“Mm… I see everyone’s not able to believe it . Well, I guess that’s fair… I only believed it after his Majesty said so, too . Huhu…”

　　Kwak Jung was also confused, but if Kang Chul-In said so, it was true .

　　Since when did Kang Chul-In weigh options and contemplate over pros and cons? Kang Chul-In couldn’t be understood by logic . Something good was bound to come out of him at some point .

　　-Soldiers!

　　Kwak Jung shouted at the Valhalla soldiers again .

　　-I’ll say this again, but this war is our victory! Look! Our enemies are falling back!

　　To this, some soldiers shouted out .

　　“What are you talking about!?”

　　-His Majesty has taken over the command room of our enemies, the Pentagon .

　　The impact of that sentence was extraordinary .

　　“H-his Majesty!”

　　“Wow! Ah, our king~!”

　　“So that’s why… the enemies are moving back!”

　　The Valhalla soldiers all understood why the Gullveig soldiers were moving back, and the Deathwin fortress was filled with cheers .

　　“Woohoo!”

　　“Hurrah for his Majesty Kang Chul-In!”

　　“Hurrah for the great Valhalla Kingdom!”

　　“His Majesty is the best!”

　　“His Majesty was watching us all this time!”

　　“We won, we won!”

　　It was a war they had barely ended, but the victory was the Valhalla Kingdom’s since Kang Chul-In had taken over the heart of the Pentagon .

　　“Hehe, how nice!”

　　Kwak Jung giggled .

　　“Winning at the end is indeed the best… but still… this isn’t enough… yes . ”

　　However, he wasn’t 100% satisfied .

　　“Look here!”

　　And so he gave orders .

　　“Yes, sir!”

　　“Call all the generals to the strategy room . ”

　　“Sorry?”

　　“Quickly!”

　　“U-Understood!”

　　The deputy began to run frantically on Kwak Jung’s orders .

　　“Hehe, so it was 72 hours, huh?”

　　Kwak Jung made an evil smile .

　　***

　　Ten minutes later .

　　“You’ve worked hard . ”

　　Kwak Jung praised the Valhalla generals .

　　“But… there’s still a chance to contribute… I don’t know who to send…”

　　As soon as he finished speaking, the generals all volunteered to go, raising their hands .

　　“This Drakan will go!”

　　“Trust this Amur over that lizard!”

　　“I’ll go!”

　　“Me, me!”

　　“Give me a chance!”

　　“Ahem! This oldie will go!”

　　“I’ll do it this time…!”

　　“No, I’ll go!”

　　They were fitting of Kang Chul-In’s subordinates .

　　“Whew… good, very good!”

　　Kwak Jung laughed satisfactorily .

　　“His Majesty will be very glad to see everyone this responsive . So this mission…”

　　Kwak Jung’s words faded away .

　　Swallow!

　　The sounds of people swallowing could be heard throughout the room . They wanted to be chosen by Kwak Jung .

　　“I’ll specially… allow everyone to partic.i.p.ate this time! That’s fair, right? Hahahaha~!”

　　However, Kwak Jung was sly .

　　T-That loser .

　　I fell for it!

　　I knew he was going to do this .

　　Let’s see how far you go, Kwak Jung .

　　The generals of the Valhalla soldiers all glared at Kwak Jung . Kwak Jung was always asking for it .

　　“I’ll brief you on the strategy . ”

　　Not knowing that he had asked to be beaten up, Kwak Jung continued to speak .

　　“The time that our enemies are prevented from fighting is about 3 days, which is 72 hours . Currently, about 10 minutes have pa.s.sed . . . so we have about 71 hours and 49 minutes left . We can’t let this golden time go to waste! So we’ll…”

　　Kwak Jung pointed at a spot on the map .

　　“We’ll take over this port city, Venetz . ”

　　The generals of Laputa were shocked .

　　“T-That’s…!”

　　“Tactician Kwak’s insight is incredible!”

　　“You’re surely the brain of our kingdom!”

　　It was an expected response .

　　72 hours was an ample amount of time to attack the Gullveig Alliance soldiers .

　　Also, the one who had control over the port city Venetz could have the center of the ‘Hartum River,’ so it would be tremendously advantageous .

　　Furthermore, Venetz could be used as a strategic point to get into the heart of Pangaea, the heart of the Esmeralda territory .

　　“There will be resistance . They only agreed to not attacking first on the ceasefire negotiation; there wasn’t any condition not to defend themselves . So in 72 hours, we must completely take over Venetz .

　　Kwak Jung emphasized the “completely . ”

　　“Wait!”

　　Podolski raised his hand to ask a question .

　　“Even if we take it over in 72 hours, our enemies might attack Venetz after that…”

　　“It won’t be taken from us . ”

　　Kwak Jung firmly shook his head .

　　“Pardon? I don’t understand…”

　　“After 72 hours, there will be a ceasefire for 3 months . That means that after Venetz is taken over, it will be our territory, so the Gullveig Alliance won’t be able to shoot a single arrow at us . ”

　　It was a flawless plan from someone who said he had an electronic brain .

　　“Wow!”

　　“You’re so smart!”

　　“I’m amazed!”

　　The Valhalla generals were once again astonished by Kwak Jung’s plan .

　　“Exactly 5 thousand, no more or less . Five thousand of our best soldiers and everyone here will take part in this . What are you doing? We have 71 hours and 45 minutes left!”

　　Kwak Jung rushed them and the generals quickly ran out of the strategy room .

　　“Let’s go!”

　　“Let’s go capture Venetz!”

　　“Quickly, quickly!”

　　Alone in the strategy room, Kwak Jung sighed .

　　“Whew!”

　　He was tired .

　　“If we can succeed in taking over Venetz, it’ll be advantageous for us with the Esmeralda territory…”

　　It was then .

　　“Huh?”

　　Kwak Jung stumbled, and plop! He landed on the table with a nose bleed . From all the work and mana exertion, he had died .

　　 . . .

　　Snore!

　　No, he was just sleeping .

　　***

　　At the same time . . .

　　While Kang Chul-In caused a mess in the Pentagon, Vilhelm retreated his troops, and Kwak Jung made the plans to take over Venetz, the door of the elementary school’s princ.i.p.al opened .

　　Creak!

　　“Goodbye~! Little Arsh.e.l.ly~!”

　　The princ.i.p.al watched Arsh.e.l.ly out the door .

　　“Okay…”

　　Arsh.e.l.ly’s voice didn’t have any strength in it .

　　“You can’t forget what I promised, okay? Do you understand?”

　　“Okay . . . ”

　　“Don’t forget!”

　　“ . . . ”

　　“Got it!?”

　　The princ.i.p.al continued to repeatedly ask her, and Arsh.e.l.ly turned away to return to her cla.s.sroom with heavy footsteps .

　　“Hing…”

　　Arsh.e.l.ly looked like she was about to cry as she walked down the hall .

　　Drip…

　　A tear that looked similar to morning dew dripped down her cheek .

　　“Why are you crying?”

　　Just then, a woman who had been pa.s.sing by stopped Arsh.e.l.ly to ask her a question .

　　“M-Mo… I-I mean, Teacher!?”

　　“Why is our pretty little Arhselly crying!”

　　“Teacherrrrr~!”

　　Arsh.e.l.ly jumped into her teacher, Han Ye-Sun’s, arms .