Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 440: Filthy Traitor

The night ended without any passes at the gate. It was like the barbarians could sense that it was more tightly guarded than before. But that didn’t mean it was a peaceful night. There were more than a dozen dead on either side.

It didn’t end with sunrise, either. When morning came, the city’s defense troops went around in groups of two, three, or four to root out the remaining barbarians and prevent them from launching sneak attacks when unsuspecting soldiers passed them during the day.

The barbarians had not made any significant progress this night.

As soon as Lahso deemed it safe enough, he accompanied Yan and Garad to the command center. Now that Yan had seen the situation for himself, he could offer his insight and use his influence to annoy the commanders who saw more troops and supplies as the only solution to their current predicament.

Yan didn’t outright disagree with that point of view. More support would alleviate their struggles. But Rittel wasn’t the only city used to hold the border, and it wasn’t the only place that needed reinforcements.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

While it was important, it wasn’t the most important. The Empire couldn’t set aside more than absolutely necessary for their defense. They had to do their best with what they had.

Fortunately, Yan had been inspired by last night. Zach’s familiars were miraculous beings. He would have to ask for the details of Mandra’s spells and the other familiar’s abilities later. But they did not need to despair just yet.

The barbarians seemed to know that they didn’t need to rush.

The longer they took, the more the Empire would organize itself and give a proper response. But at the same time, the more time they spent in the East, the more used to the place the barbarians got. Their foothold was growing deeper with every passing day as they reinforced their own bases and outposts.

The longer they stayed, the harder it would be to drive them out.

Most importantly, they had seized Ciel.

The Labyrinth of Jira was now theirs.

The Empire had lost the East even with the Labyrinth’s treasures floating around. The barbarians with the Labyrinth’s treasures would only grow stronger.

From that perspective, it was a battle of time.

Still, Yan asked the military officers to wait a little while he worked on his ideas and conferred with Zach, the summoner of the familiars he wanted to use.

Zach had been going around and helping with finding the barbarians left in the city when Garad called for him. He was brought into the command center. It was an old inn whose dining hall had been turned into a meeting room with enough space for more than a dozen people.

Zach looked at the faces of the group of mostly middle-aged men.

Unlike the common people and troops who saw Zach as Zach and someone who was helping them, the military officers had a hard time separating Zach from the Evandiel name and the traitors who put them in this position while throwing away the lives of hundreds of their subordinates and citizens.

The gazes they shot Zach when he entered were not friendly.

Zach did not care. He looked at Yan with a raised eyebrow.

"What are your thoughts on the current situation, Zach?" Yan asked.

"It’s a losing battle," Zach didn’t hesitate to say.

"Hey, hold on. We killed more than we lost," A military officer with a thick mustache said harshly.

"So?" Zach questioned.

"Are our troops not people? Is it not a losing battle if we continue watching our comrades die for nothing?"

"It’s not nothing! They died honorably defending the city!" Another military officer with no facial hair but a wrinkled face said.

"’Defending the city’?" Zach mocked. "Yep, they defended the city alright. For one whole night. Tonight, last night’s efforts will have been in vain. We’re back at square one. We didn’t gain anything last night. We only minimized our losses.

"Continue like this, and we’ll lose sooner or later." Zach shrugged like it was obvious. He didn’t know why he needed to explain it to the military officers who should already be aware of this much.

"What would you know, you filthy traitor?!" Another military officer shouted at Zach’s not-so-subtle implication that they had wasted the lives of their soldiers for nothing.

Yan shot that military officer a sharp glare. Shouting in the presence of the imperial family? Inconceivable. Accusing someone the Palace had been unable to convict was also rude.

"Zach Evandiel graduated from the Academy for Summoners with the highest grades in the school’s long history. Ever. His curriculum consisted of defeating the Underworld, which he did, with resounding success. It wasn’t on the same scale as what we’re dealing with now, but he knows war well enough to analyze this situation. He did all that without the Empire’s help, after all. Now, if any of you have any real opinions about his analysis and this situation only, let me hear them. If you’re being loud because of what his family did, you may take your leave." The second prince’s commanding voice silenced the room. With Yan going that far to express his support for Zach, they could no longer openly object to him or his words.

"..." The military officers were silent.

Yan turned to Zach.

"I was thinking about asking your familiar to share that invisibility spell with as many of the troops as possible to reduce our casualties to as close as zero as possible. Would that be possible?"

Zach tilted his head as he thought. Since everyone but Yanael had stayed outside the command center since they were as good as living weapons and he was a traitor, he couldn’t ask Mandra about it.

"It should be possible. But…May I?" He asked the prince for permission to voice his opinion.

Yan nodded.

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"We should hit them back. We should use their strategy against them." Zach’s words incurred several frowns, but Yan nodded for him to continue.