I Am a Villain, So What?

A few days had passed since the first wave. Inside the heavily fortified war room of Winterguard, a formal Knights’ meeting was underway, attended by Commander Arthur, Commander Viktor, and Princess Rumina.

Despite the freezing wind howling outside, the atmosphere inside the room was surprisingly heated.

"’Outside’ monsters or not, they’re nothing special!" a knight laughed, slamming his tankard onto the wooden table.

"Before, we were just bleeding out trying to hold them back at the gate. But today? We actually pushed their vanguard back into the tree line!"

"Hahahaha! I honestly thought we were going to advance into the Wilderness for a second!"

Naturally, the knights were feeling an overwhelming surge of adrenaline and misplaced optimism.

"Lucien was incredible. His cover fire took care of all those annoying flying bastards before they even reached the parapets!"

"I’ll admit, I thought it was a joke when that greenhorn showed up with a firearm instead of a sword."

"Well, he’s green, but isn’t that exactly why he fights like a demon? When your blood’s boiling, you fight better, right?"

Praises for my performance continued to pour in. Since my arrival and my aerial suppression tactics, the casualty rate had plummeted. That simple, undeniable fact was enough to completely overturn the garrison’s initial evaluation of the ’Madman’.

I was still winning the bet, but frankly, the bet didn’t matter to anyone anymore. The men were just ecstatic to be alive.

"...Hmm, yes. Today could certainly be considered a highly successful defense. What do you think, Cadet Lucien?"

Commander Viktor asked the question after quietly listening to the knights’ boisterous discussion, finally giving me the floor. It was a massive sign of respect and recognition of my contributions over the past few days. I had minimized casualties among the penal soldiers, and not a single knight had died or sustained crippling injuries.

It had been a brutal fight, but it felt like we were winning.

I stood at the edge of the large tactical map. I looked around the room at the hardened veterans whose morale was currently soaring through the roof.

Then, I slowly opened my mouth.

"The situation is catastrophic."

"..."

My blunt remark shattered the celebratory mood like a bucket of freezing water. The room fell dead silent. It was too serious a statement to simply be attributed to a lack of tact.

"Under Commander Viktor’s orders, I’ve spent the downtime examining the physical integrity of the outer wall, starting from the eastern flank," I said, stepping forward and pointing directly to a section on the central map. "Right here. The right corner. It is already in a state where it cannot withstand another concentrated assault."

My [Sixth Sense] and structural analysis had practically screamed warnings at me when I walked past it. The right side of the barrier was as precarious as the bottom block of a toppling tower.

"In the midst of an active siege, you confirmed a fatal defect in the masonry? With your own eyes?" Viktor asked, his heavy brows furrowing.

"That’s right," I answered calmly.

The claim was so bold that Viktor slowly turned his gaze toward the head of the table. "Your Highness, what do you think? You personally inspected the barrier and the mana core when you arrived, did you not?"

Rumina furrowed her delicate brows, bringing a gloved hand to her chin. She looked mildly surprised, not by the defect, but by the fact that I had spotted it.

"...The structural point that Cadet Lucien is pointing out is indeed the weakest physical section of the barrier," Rumina confirmed, her voice cool and analytical. "The Frostward Core is failing, and the ancient stone there has micro-fractures all the way to the foundation. Whether it is about to collapse immediately as he claims, however, is another matter..."

Rumina’s confirmation made the atmosphere in the room plunge to sub-zero. Even if she doubted it would collapse today, the fact that both a frontline sniper and the Eldest Princess were pointing to the exact same vulnerability caused the knights’ faces to pale.

Arthur immediately spoke up, leaning heavily over the table.

"If the wall is that fragile, we have no choice but to lure the beasts away from it. We gather the prisoners. We open the secondary gates on the opposite flank and use them as bait to draw the horde’s aggro. That’s standard protocol."

It was a ruthless but historically effective tactic. Lead the monsters away so they don’t reach the weak point. Position the archers on the opposite side to thin the herd while the prisoners act as a living distraction. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

However, I shook my head.

"That won’t work this time, Commander."

"Why not?" Arthur demanded.

"Because the section I pointed out is completely different in its vulnerability compared to the rest of the fortress," I explained grimly.

"Different? How dangerous is it exactly?" Roderic asked, stepping forward with a serious expression, dropping his crude mercenary persona entirely.

"...Well. To put it simply," I paused, tapping the map with my index finger. "If the horde hits any part of the main wall right now, the right flank will collapse."

"...!"

The group of veteran officers stared at me, astounded. A few of them widened their eyes in sheer horror as they processed what that meant.

It was like a massive sandcastle. The structural integrity was so compromised that the kinetic shockwaves from a battering ram hitting the center gate would travel through the frozen stone and shatter the right flank entirely. The wall was at its absolute limit.

"...Isn’t that far too pessimistic? Isn’t it possible that you’re mistaken about the resonance?" Roderic pushed back.

He wasn’t disagreeing because he thought I was stupid; he was raising objections because of morale. Right now, all the commanding knights were listening to my words. There was a very real risk of their fighting spirit being completely crushed before the next wave even hit.

"My judgment may have been clouded due to the sudden decrease in casualties," Roderic continued, looking around the room to steady the men. "If it’s that bad, it’s our fault for not thoroughly checking the barrier’s foundations."

I understood what Roderic was doing. He was trying to prevent a panic.

"Pessimistic or not, it is the reality of the battlefield," I said, nodding to acknowledge his point. "However, there is a solution."

"A solution?" Arthur blinked.

"You actually have a countermeasure for a collapsing fortress wall?" Viktor asked, crossing his massive, armored arms.

"Yes. If the physical stones are in danger of shattering, we have to build a new wall to absorb the shock. Even if it’s only temporary," I said.

I turned my gaze away from the map and looked directly at the head of the table.

"First, I need Her Highness’s help."

"My help?" Rumina raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, a faint, intrigued smile touching her lips.

"We need to form a rudimentary, hyper-dense wall of ice around the exterior of the compromised barrier to act as a shock absorber," I explained.

"...Ice, is it?" Rumina murmured, tapping her fingers on the table.

If she had enough time to fully activate her highest-tier spells without interruption, it was entirely possible for a royal mage of her caliber to encase a section of the fortress in glacial ice. Moreover, Winterguard was extremely cold. The ambient mana here heavily favored ice magic, so maintaining the structure wouldn’t fight the natural environment.

...The primary problem, however, was her mana pool.

"...Assuming the horde attacks with the same frequency as yesterday, I could maintain a reinforced glacial wall of that magnitude for at most thirty minutes," Rumina stated smoothly, providing an answer based on flawless, on-the-spot calculations.

The expressions of the knights darkened immediately. Thirty minutes? That was far too short a time to withstand a full-scale onslaught from the Wilderness.

"Exactly," I nodded. "Thirty minutes isn’t enough. That’s why we need one more person to anchor the spell."

"One more person?" Arthur frowned. "Who else in Winterguard possesses the mana capacity to assist the Eldest Princess in a grand-scale structural spell?"

"Oh? Is there someone else hiding in this frozen wasteland who is on par with me in the field of ice magic?" Rumina asked, her tone carrying a distinct edge of aristocratic pride and sharp curiosity.

I coughed awkwardly, realizing I was about to drag someone else into this mess.

"I noticed a certain carriage in your royal convoy when you arrived, Your Highness," I said carefully. "And I know she has been accompanying you on your recent administrative tours."

Rumina’s eyes narrowed.

"It’s the Youngest Princess... Celestia."

The room went deathly quiet at the mention of the second royal.

"Since Princess Celestia and I are in the same year at the Academy, I have seen her in field exercises and during the Dungeon Competition," I continued smoothly. "And while she may not currently possess the raw, overwhelming combat experience of Your Highness... her innate talent and pure mana capacity in ice magic are on a completely different level."