Chapter 18

Zoan and his companions were carrying out a large amount of food stored in the camp's warehouse. The food, which had been stockpiled in advance for the reinforcements to come, was a welcome prize for the Zoans, who had lost their winter supplies.

"With this much food, we should be able to make it through the winter," one of them said.

"True. But do we really need to carry it all the way back to our hideout?" another asked, shouldering a bag of grain and turning to his companion.

Initially, the Zoans had planned to return to the village they had reclaimed and wait there for the human army. In that case, they would have transported supplies like food, fuel, and weapons from the hideout to the village. However, they were told to do the opposite and move everything from the village to the hideout.

"Since the humans are coming here soon, we might have to abandon this place and retreat deeper into the mountains, right?" one of them speculated.

For some time, there had been talk of abandoning their current hideout and retreating further into the mountains. The reason they hadn't done so was that they had lost their winter supplies. Now that they had more than enough to replace what they had lost, it was a feasible plan.

"Come to think of it, the others were sent to prepare for winter in the mountains, weren't they?" he added, thinking of the companions who had gone into the mountains.

"But that boy said he would drive away the humans who are coming," another Zoan pointed out, and those present wrinkled their noses and looked troubled.

Indeed, as Sōma had said, they had managed to retake the village with a night raid. However, this time they were facing an army. Even if the night raid succeeded, they would only manage to kill a few dozen enemies before the attack was discovered. From that moment on, they would be surrounded by hundreds of enemies in the middle of the enemy camp, a hopeless situation.

"What is that boy thinking...?" a companion muttered, watching Sōma's back as he ran to one of the warehouses, called by Shemul. This question was shared by all the Zoans present.

Unaware of the skeptical gazes on his back, Sōma was delighted to find what he was looking for.

"Great! I thought it would be here, and now we can do it."

Shemul, who had led Sōma to a small warehouse built away from the other houses, tilted his head in curiosity.

"I found what you asked for, but is this really it?"

As he pulled back the fur covering the entrance to the warehouse, a strong odor wafted out. It was quite different from what Sōma knew, but if it could be used similarly, it would be fine.

"Yeah! Be careful and get this out, okay!"

◆◇◆◇◆

Sōma stood on a mountain path a little below the camp.

When he thought about how he would repel the eight hundred soldiers if they attacked last night, the first thing that came to mind was this place.

While war was almost unknown in Japan, this was only in reality.

In subcultures such as manga, anime, light novels, and games, all kinds of wars from ancient times to the modern era were depicted. To the point where foreigners might think it was lacking in integrity, everything was covered.

Sōma had learned the tactics of the Three Kingdoms from manga, seen the battles of Japanese warlords in anime, studied the strategies of ancient Mediterranean wars in light novels, and led modern armies in games.

These were, after all, only virtual.

However, while they were virtual, they were not entirely fictional. They were based on the knowledge and experience of warfare that humans had learned over thousands of years, at the cost of much blood and life.

And this mountain path perfectly matched the conditions of a famous strategy he had learned from a manga.

If he wanted to repel a large enemy army with a small number of people, this was the only way, Sōma thought.

However, the problem was that Sōma only knew that this place matched the conditions of the strategy in theory.

In manga, only the successful outcome of the strategy was depicted. The preparations and how they were made were not shown.

Even if he knew these things in reality, the conditions here were not exactly the same as in the manga. He would need to adapt the preparations and actions to this place. Therefore, he would need to supplement the preparations and modify the actions.

However, Sōma, as Garam had said, had no experience in implementing the strategy flexibly.

If that was the case, what should he do?

Without experience, he could only imagine.

What was needed to do this? What should he do? What would happen? What should he do when that happens? He had to imagine everything.

First, Sōma started walking up the mountain path toward the camp.

"Imagine! I'm a soldier. There are many comrades around me!"

He strongly told himself and walked loudly on the mountain path.

Then, he saw the camp and made a surprised gesture. Next, he looked at the forest on the left and made another surprised gesture.

"Now, what should I do?"

Sōma looked around and then ran up the slope on the right. The slope was steep, but he managed to climb halfway. He stopped there, made a difficult face, and thought hard.

"We need a trap here too."

He returned to the mountain path, made surprised gestures at the camp and the forest again, and then looked up the slope and made another surprised gesture.

He then started pacing around the area, muttering to himself.

"What should I do next? What should I do?"

The sound of a river flowing beyond the forest reached Sōma's ears.

"A river!"

Saying this, Sōma suddenly ran into the forest. He stumbled a few times but managed to run through the forest and reach the riverbank.

Sōma looked down at the river, which had carved a deep valley into the earth, and then looked across to the other side. The river was narrower than expected, but the riverbank was too narrow to take a running start, and considering the depth of the valley, it was a hesitant distance to jump across.

"Alright!"

Shemul and a young Zoan warrior watched Sōma.

"Prince, has he gone mad?"

After watching his strange behavior for a while, it was understandable why they would say this.

Shemul, unable to find words to defend him, said hesitantly, "Sōma must have something in mind. Yeah..."

"Shemul! That's perfect!"

Unaware of their conversation, Sōma ran up to Shemul and the others, a happy look on his face.

"I need you to make something and do something right away!"

◆◇◆◇◆

"Hey, are these holes okay?"

In the forest next to the mountain path, one of the Zoans digging holes with a stick asked.

"Should be fine. That human boy said it doesn't need to be too deep, just deep enough to cover the shins."

"But I don't get it. What are these holes for?"

He stuck one foot into the hole to check the depth, tilting his head. No one could figure out what they would use these holes for, which were just deep enough to fit one foot.

"Who knows. Just dig as many as you can in the forest."

"Hurry up. After this, we need to carry stones from the riverbank."

"Digging holes and carrying stones. What are we really doing?"

"Who knows. Just get to work."

◆◇◆◇◆

The same conversation was happening at the hideout.

"With the humans attacking, what are we supposed to do with these things?"

The Zoans were making large balls. They gathered branches and sticks from the mountains, tied them together, and then opened them up to create something like a chestnut or a sea urchin. They stuffed the gaps with dry leaves and grass, shaping them into large balls.

"I don't know. That boy must have something in mind."

"Hey, hey! The ball is done!"

Among the adults, children were also making balls about the size of a hug and playing with them. It was heartwarming to see the children chasing after the balls, but it felt futile to be making something that was just a toy for the children.

"We are warriors. Why are we doing this?"

"But because we followed his advice, we were able to retake the village."

Everyone fell silent at this. Attacking without announcing themselves was not a proper way for warriors to fight. However, the results were undeniable.

So, should they be angry or praise him? Many of the Zoans were unsure.

"Don't be ridiculous. We were able to retake the village because of the warriors' strength. That boy didn't do anything."

Gajeta's head was struck hard by a cane.

"Ouch!? What are you doing, old lady?!"

"Hey! If you have time to complain, why don't you get to work!"

Gajeta, who had complained, was taken aback by the old lady's scolding face, which opened wide like a monkey's mummy.

"Listen, Gajeta. What's important is not what you can do, but what you have done!"

Gajeta, who had led young warriors in a reckless attack, resulting in casualties and the failure to retake the village, had no response.

The old lady laughed loudly, "Hehehe! That boy is interesting! Yes, he is!"

◆◇◆◇◆

"Chief! The human soldiers at the fort are on the move!"

Garam nodded at the report from the Zoan warrior on watch.

"They're moving slower than I expected."

Garam had thought the humans would move faster. However, this gave them more time to prepare.

"How long will it take for them to get here?"

Sōma asked, and Garam crossed his arms and thought.

"About two days to reach the foot of the mountain. They'll camp there and start climbing the next morning."

Based on the movements of human armies in the past, Garam made this estimate. With eight hundred people marching, they wouldn't be able to move very fast. Additionally, they would need to match the speed of the pack animals carrying the food for eight hundred people, which would slow them down even more.

"So, they'll be here by midday in three days."

"Probably around that time."

Hearing Garam's answer, Sōma took a deep breath and declared clearly.

"In three days, we'll wipe them out completely!"