Became a Strategist With an Intelligence of 100 and an Accuracy Rate of 100%

5 – Part 5. Laying the Foundation (2)

*

The next day.

In a corner of a small castle in the center of Jeillant, Luna was introducing me to her subordinates.

“This is Sven, who will be our army’s book seller from today.”

Two of Luna’s armed men looked at me with subtle expressions.

There were a total of four people here, including myself.

One was an elderly man in his seventies named Cain Nerkis, who was in charge of politics.

As part of the setting, he was the person who provided the necessary assets for Luna to raise the army as its leader.

The other was Tifa, a female lieutenant general of Luna’s army.

She was Luna’s childhood friend and had joined to help her without hesitation.

Although a bit flat, she was not the type of person who would backstab you.

“It’s nice to meet you. I am Cain Nerkis. Don’t worry about my age and treat me comfortably. hehehehe.”

Cain, a white-haired man wearing a tattered robe.

I reached out my hand and shook hands with Cain before extending it to Tifa who was next to him.

She grabbed my hand with her large hand and then looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“My name is Tifa. But, Sven… are you a woman or a man?”

“What? Can’t you tell just by looking? I am a man.”

“Why is your arm so white and thin? And you have a handsome face too.”

When I only saw her in pixel graphics, I didn’t know, but seeing her in person, I understood why she would say that.

She had a muscular body more like a warrior than a woman.

She tied her red hair tightly for easy movement.

The large axe hanging on her back emitted a strange aura that made people feel intimidated.

After shaking my arm a couple of times, she smiled and said,

“Well, anyway, nice to meet you! Book seller friend!”

“Oh, it feels like things are progressing fast.”

Just a simple greeting…

Is it because their power level is low? Are they a bit weak or something?

Anyway-

These two people were the only talented individuals under Lunairean’s command.

Cain, who was mediocre in everything except politics.

And Tifa, who had decent strength and leadership but wasn’t particularly smart.

They were the talent pool of Lunairean’s army.

Of course, both of them had great potential.

First, there’s Cain. At first glance, he looks like an ordinary old man who would live a normal life without much purpose.

But in reality, he was the younger brother who was rumored to have died, the one who served as the secret weapon for the fallen emperor of the Unified Empire.

After being pushed into a life-threatening situation due to power struggles, he chose to cooperate with Lunairean after seeing his subtle potential.

In other words, he was the little father of the famous tyrant Serpina, serving as a spy for the Einhart family.

Before his natural death, he revealed his true name and ensured that all his secret descendants were placed in Lunairean’s army. These descendants, who could be called a dream team, were SSS-grade characters, so it was essential to keep them alive until their lifespan ended.

Next is Tifa.

She may seem ignorant, but she was one of the few special individuals who could sense the presence of mana on the continent.

This game, “Garand Eternity Saga,” is a fantasy game based on a medieval setting with loose historical accuracy, so the existence of “magicians” was not publicly acknowledged.

It was a game where cavalry beat archers, archers beat spearmen, and spearmen beat cavalry, following three simple mechanisms in battles.

Since it was a classic game, it didn’t have much depth.

However…

That doesn’t mean that “magic” itself didn’t exist…

Only a few chosen individuals could sense mana on the continent and perform mysterious attacks like shooting lightning or summoning flaming meteors.

And one of those individuals was Tifa.

The biggest characteristic of Tifa was that, despite being a skilled general in terms of combat, she could also use magic.

All the other magicians, excluding her, were intelligence-based mage characters, and it made more sense for them to have high intellect.

In other words, her potential was to become the strongest general who excelled in both combat and magic.

Of course, it was not clear when her abilities would develop.

It could be summarized as “As long as Lunairean’s army keeps Tifa alive without killing her, she will eventually use magic.”

Since Lunairean’s concept was “King’s Heir,” it was reasonable to assume that the two sole subordinates shared a similar concept.

Anyway.

If I couldn’t immediately become the king, then those things weren’t particularly important information to me.

From the beginning, Luna had often left messages like [Lunarian Khan has disappeared beyond the history] on the screen if she left it to the CPU in the game.

“Then let’s begin this month’s meeting. If anyone has any opinions on what we should do this month, feel free to speak up. If anyone wants a mission, speak up comfortably.”

Giving orders once a month, and having subordinates carry out missions for a month.

It was exactly the same as the Galand Eternity Saga.

At Lord Luna’s words, Cain slowly raised his hand.

“My Lord. I believe it would be right to invest money in the market for commercial development this time.”

‘Commercial development.’

When you first start the game, it’s natural that you lack basic funds.

There are only two ways to collect money.

Either exploring the surroundings or investing in commerce to increase the monthly taxes.

In that sense, Cain’s suggestion was more than valid. The probability of making money by continuously exploring was low, and since there were high-level politics characters, the effect would be decent when engaged in commerce.

“…Sven, what do you think?”

Luna, lost in thought for a moment, immediately turned to me and asked a question.

I asked her two things.

To treat me as a subordinate as much as possible, and to discuss any major or minor matters with me.

The first one was fine, but the second one was very important.

In order to use my Intelligence 100 Brain, it was important to receive questions in any form.

And the results come out quickly.

[If I assign commerce to Cain, he will produce decent results].

However.

‘Think about how I played as Lunarian Khan.’

Actually, Luna wasn’t a lord I played a lot.

After succeeding with the king concept once, I didn’t touch it because it was boring.

Before becoming the king, the game was challenging and I had to think hard, but after becoming the king, it became too easy.

So, even though I couldn’t strictly follow my playing experience, wouldn’t it be okay to use it as a rough guide?

“…My Lord. May I offer my opinion?”

“Speak.”

“I think it would be better to instruct Cane Gong to reinforce the city walls in preparation for enemy attacks rather than focusing on commerce.”

“…?”

Cain looks at me, seeming curious, and asks,

“Is this true? Your name is Sven? It’s a happy thing to have someone overestimate this old man, but… to repair the walls, wouldn’t it be necessary for him to personally command the soldiers? Would the workers repairing the walls really listen to an old man like me?”

Upon hearing Cain’s words, I could sense how the actual commands in this game worked.

In this game, to repair the walls, [Strength] had to be high.

On the contrary, to achieve results in commerce, [Politics] had to be high.

Because it had a very simple mechanism that determined the results based solely on the numerical values, I had never thought about how these values specifically applied to the worksite.

Cain, with low Strength, seemed to have a plausible reason for not getting good results, as [Since he has no strength, the workers do not follow his orders well].

“But I can’t just focus on commerce without any meaning.”

There was only one reason why I carried out the repairs.

Because this city was bound to be taken away no matter what.

Even if I recruited and trained soldiers with the current pool of talents, developed commerce, and tried my best, this city – [Jeylant] – was destined to be taken away by the nearby Brans Army.

Lord Lyn Brans of the Brans Army had quite an expansionist approach, so this was already a predetermined fact.

In that case, it would be wiser to silently repair the walls, make it seem like a siege, and buy time to escape rather than developing a highly advanced city that would surpass Brans.

This was not a delusion; it was simply using the same trick I had used when I actually played Lunarian.

If there is a major power nearby, run away as much as possible.

Once you arrive at an area with little merit that the major power doesn’t pay much attention to, use that place as your base and find a way to withstand.

Since the game had different adjustments every time and fixed factors such as the location of each country or the quality of the territory, it couldn’t be an absolute strategy, but it didn’t mean that the basic tactics couldn’t be changed.

Luna seemed to have a somewhat incomprehensible expression towards my suggestion of repairing the walls.

After a moment, she nodded and said,

“…Alright. Then, what about Tifa?”

“For me, anything is fine. I’ll do anything. Should I also go and repair the walls with these old men?”

“Sven, I’ll ask you. What task would be good to give to Tifa?”

Well, wouldn’t it just be to ask her to repair the walls together, as she suggested?

Since the future was already predetermined.

Still, now that I’ve received a question, I should at least ask.

“What should I assign Tifa to do?”

Once again, my Intelligence 100 brain quickly deduced the most perfect conclusion.

[Commerce].

“……???”

“What did you say?

Commerce?

No matter how many times I think about it, the only conclusion that comes to mind is:

[I have to assign Tifa a mission regarding commerce].

‘…Nonsense.’

Even though I couldn’t understand it no matter how much I thought about it.

I believe in my intelligence value.

In this game, having an intelligence of 100 means that I only speak the truth without fail.

Since this place is a world in the game, isn’t that condition immutable!

‘…Swan?’

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking for a moment.”

After meeting the eyes of Luna, Cain, and Tifa in turn…

With a tone that seemed to say that this was not a joke, I spoke very seriously.

“Tifa, please engage in commerce and develop the market.”