Of course, as expected, Tifa, unable to accept my words, spoke to me in disbelief.

“Wait a minute. Why are you sending me to the market after assigning the wall repairs to that senile old man? I don’t know anything about commerce!”

“That’s right, Swen. Honestly, I find this direction hard to understand.”

Well, even I found this personnel choice hard to understand. But still, my mind insisted that this was the right decision. Since my intelligence is 100, my decision must be right.

“……Swen……”

I could feel Luna looking at me with concern. She must be feeling dubious too. She had decided to trust me as a strategist, but I hadn’t shown anything convincing yet.

But. If they follow what I instruct now, something will definitely happen. It would be helpful, not harmful.

With confidence, I spoke in a somewhat forceful tone.

“Everyone, please listen to me. I understand that this may be hard to grasp, but this is currently the best decision for our army. If the results are not favorable, I am willing to face any consequences.”

“……!!”

Caught off guard by my sudden declaration, all three turned their gaze to me. I knew I had to be radical to convince them.

Naturally, there were complaints.

“Shouldn’t you explain properly? It’s wrong to assign tasks that don’t fit.”

“Yeah. Explain, explain.”

This was going to be tough, wasn’t it? If the result was going to be the same, it wouldn’t hurt to add a plausible reason. Even if the process was a bit different later, as long as the result was good, I could cover up the details.

Then. Lunarien, standing beside me, spoke.

“I will speak to everyone. Please listen to me.”

At Luna’s words, everyone’s attention focused on her.

“When I brought Swen here, I promised to trust him. This is his first directive, and although it’s hard to understand the assignment of tasks… this time, I want to trust him. What do you think?”

She was stepping in for me. I felt genuinely grateful to her. No matter how much I insisted with my words, I couldn’t truly convince them. Being a new strategist in the army, they wouldn’t have felt a strong obligation to follow me. So it was right for Luna, as the leader, to step in.

Yes. If Luna trusts me, I should support her too.

“My lord. I ask for your decision.”

She looked into my eyes, closed them for a moment, then, opening them, she spoke to Cain and Tifa with an inquiring expression.

“For now, please follow the strategist Swen’s guidance. Does anyone object?”

“There’s nothing to object to, my lord. I will put effort into the wall repair work.”

“Well, if Luna says so, I have nothing to say. But just so you know, I really don’t have much confidence. Don’t blame me if the results aren’t great.”

After both somewhat accepted it, Luna finally concluded the meeting.

“Then, this month’s meeting is adjourned. The necessary funds for your tasks can be taken from the treasury. I look forward to your achievements in a month.”

After the two left the castle, I bowed my head to her in gratitude.

“Thank you for trusting me, my lord.”

“Not at all. I promised to trust you.”

She said so, then sighed shortly.

“……It’s really difficult to speak informally, after all.”

“Didn’t you usually speak informally?”

Luna looked at me with a bitter smile.

“Yes. Both Cain and Tifa urged me to be aware of my position as a lord, but it was difficult for me. Thanks to Swen, I managed to do it, though. Hehe…….”

“Perhaps it would be beneficial for you to maintain your dignity as a ruler even when it’s just the two of us.”

Hearing my words, Luna chuckled softly. Honestly, based on her appearance alone, she was very cute. It was a pity that she didn’t quite look like a leader who would unify the continent.

“Ah, right. Swen, I have a question for you…”

“Please, go ahead.”

“Why did you send Cain to the walls and Tifa to the market? Even though I said I would trust you, I can’t help but feel that their destinations should be switched…”

Why did I do that? I don’t know. My intelligence 100 brain told me to do so.

My job was to package these three sentences as plausibly as possible.

“Cain may seem like a sly politician, but there is definitely something for him to learn at the forefront of the walls. The same goes for Tifa. She has lived quite roughly since she was young, so she needs new experiences. To become a general, it’s not just about being good at fighting. And eventually, this path will lead to greater achievements

.”

“Is that so……?”

Luna nodded slowly, seemingly impressed.

“That’s amazing, Swen.”

“Suddenly?”

“You figured out that Cain is somewhat sly and that Tifa has had a rough life since childhood just by looking at them?”

Ah, that-

‘I’ve played as Lunarien’s army before.’

“Indeed, if you’re someone like Swen, you can understand a person’s life trajectory just by observing them. It’s a skill I really want to learn.”

“Well, that’s true.”

It was not bad to be seen as capable. They would listen to me more, right?

“So, what should I do?”

“Oh, I haven’t assigned a task to Swen yet… Do you have any task you’d like to undertake?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“Hmm…”

‘Let’s test this.’

I looked at Luna and spoke.

“My lord. Could you ask me ‘What task do you think Swen should undertake’?”

“That’s an unusual request… but sure.”

Gratefully, without much suspicion, Luna posed the question. Her trust in me seemed stronger than I thought.

“What task do you think Swen should undertake?”

It’s a bit cumbersome, but to utilize my intelligence 100, I had no other choice. And quickly, the conclusion comes.

[It depends on the will of the heavens.]

‘……?’

No matter how many times I thought about it, the answer was the same. It depends on the will of the heavens.

I had seen this phrase before. The original game this world is based on, [Garland Eternity Saga], an old game, supported hot seat multiplayer. Meaning, it was a game many people could play together, like 1P, then 2P, and so on. Most games from that era had this feature.

During ‘hot seat multiplayer’, the only situation where [intelligence 100] couldn’t make absolute predictions was when player intervention created variables. It made sense. When 1P proposed an alliance to 2P, the computer of that era couldn’t predict 2P’s decision. Thus, in such cases, strategists would give the vague prophecy of [It depends on the will of the heavens].

So- what happens to me depends on what I do. After all, I could have just not gone to [commerce] as advised.

My actions couldn’t be predicted. It’s a penalty, but it didn’t matter much. It was to be expected.

“……Swen?”

“Ah, sorry. Just thinking.”

I pretended to ponder and then spoke as if I had just reached a conclusion.

“I will explore the surrounding area. There might be undiscovered talents hidden around.”

“Understood. I’ll leave it to you.”

After bidding her farewell, I left the castle. There weren’t many people around despite the daybreak, and those I saw lacked vitality.

‘This place feels quite dismal.’

It didn’t matter much since this city was doomed to be abandoned. I began walking to explore the surrounding area.

* * *

A few days later.
Tifa sat quietly in a corner of the market with a displeased expression on her face.

‘What exactly am I supposed to help with?’

On the first day, she greeted the market vendors and discussed ideas for revitalizing the market. However, there wasn’t much progress, and the town’s residents, struggling to make ends meet, participated without enthusiasm. Tifa, not knowing how to deal with people in this situation, was barely holding back her frustration. If she had some basic knowledge of commerce, she might have been able to teach them, but she knew nothing about it.

She also couldn’t exert her strength. Her actions would reflect on Luna’s reputation in the city, and the last thing Tifa wanted was to tarnish the reputation of Luna, her childhood friend.

‘Really, what was that frail strategist thinking, assigning me this task?’

She would have understood if she had been asked to train soldiers. Why send her, who knew nothing but fighting, to a place like this?

‘Luna is acting strange too. She seems a bit vague and worried. She’s good at giving us orders with decisiveness… but if it’s all because of that male strategist, isn’t that a problem?’

Could he have… charmed her? With his looks? Tifa hadn’t met many men, but to her, Swen seemed very handsome. He wasn’t overly masculine, but he had the kind of beauty that could naturally evoke a sense of protectiveness, like a beautiful boy. Yes, he looked like the kind of man who would be popular among the women working in the brothel.

‘If he’s using his looks to cloud Luna’s judgment… that’s unforgivable.’

Should she confront him? As she pondered this, she heard a market vendor calling her for the first time since she arrived.

“Uh… um, T-Tifa ma’am…?”

“?”

Tifa looked at the man who called her. Actually, he was more of a boy, trembling and looking quite intimidated.

“There’s no need to be so scared. Yes, kid, what is it?”

“That… Are you the one assigned to oversee the market… right?”

“That’s right.”

“Could you please help me…?”

The boy pointed somewhere with his finger.

“Our shop collapsed in the recent typhoon… My father is bedridden, and my mother isn’t well either… My younger siblings are too little, so I have to repair the shop by myself, but it’s too much for me… That’s…”

Ah. So he needs physical help. It seemed better than sitting around doing nothing. Helping people in the city would improve Luna’s reputation as well.

“Alright, I’ll help. Where should I go?”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

Relieved, the boy started walking in a certain direction, with Tifa following him.

*

“This is no joke…”

A week ago, a typhoon had hit Zeilant. Its aftermath had left scars all over the market.

‘There are many collapsed houses, not just here.’

Although some rebuilding had taken place over the week, the boy’s shop was in a state of complete ruin.

“We’ll have to rebuild this house from scratch.”

“Is that… going to be difficult?”

Tifa patted the boy’s head.

“Difficult? That’s why someone like me is here. Hey!”

“Yes!”

Tifa called over a passing vendor.

“Bring a shovel and about ten able-bodied men. I’ll pay them for their work.”

“Yes, yes…!”

The man quickly gathered around ten sturdy men. They would have complied with her orders out of fear, but offering to pay them made it easy to gather people.

“Here are the shovels you asked for.”

Taking the shovel, Tifa directed the men to start clearing the debris from the collapsed wooden house.

‘This house was poorly built.’

The typhoon wasn’t that strong, but the city’s low development likely meant the houses were built shoddily.

‘I better build a solid foundation so it doesn’t collapse.’

With nothing else to do for a month, Tifa started digging the ground with the shovel. After a few scoops,

Clang!

‘?’

A strange sound rang out, and a shockwave traveled up her arm holding the shovel.

Clang, clang.

After a few more hits, she realized there was something buried under the dirt, not just rocks. It didn’t sound like stone; it was the sound of metal hitting metal.

Tifa cleared the area around the object and lifted it out.

‘This is…!’

What revealed itself to her was an extremely old and heavy box.