Act Eleven: The Will of Both Sides

In the temporarily occupied hall, the lighting was uneven, with the candle flames intentionally reduced. The dim light cast deep, shadowy lines along the wooden textures. In a secluded corner, the air was filled with a chilling, eerie atmosphere.

The gathered individuals were not accustomed to the bright flames, but as long as the pale-faced, middle-aged man with the eye patch remained silent, no one dared to speak out of turn.

Lin Fei might recognize this man if he were here, for his appearance had scarcely changed over the past decade: this was 'Lord Black' Instaron's right-hand man, the vampire baron, 'One-Eyed' Tagus. He was a member of the Manlain family, the fourteenth-generation vampire, and one of the younger members. However, compared to the inexperienced Instaron in the Mardala army, his experience was far more profound.

But that was of little concern; this was merely the beginning of their cooperation.

Tagus watched as the skeletal soldiers removed documents from the archive. After a moment, he turned to the nearby lich and asked, "Speak. Why did Roscoe keep you here?"

"Respected General Tagus, my master reported that a scout was discovered in that estate," the lich said, bowing its head and speaking in a dry voice.

"And?" Tagus glanced at it before returning his gaze to the open tactical map.

"He escaped."

A few disdainful chuckles echoed around the room.

The vampire general looked up, and the laughter ceased immediately. After a brief pause, he said, "I understand. Roscoe has done well, but I expect better. I want him to focus and reach the Belido Forest before noon."

The lich bowed respectfully and withdrew.

But no sooner had it left than an unsettling noise arose from the conference room. This time, it was a tall skeleton, clad in worn brass armor, with dark yellow flames flickering in its eye sockets, exuding a sense of indignation:

"Lord Tagus, perhaps the humans have discovered our intentions. That scout—"

It opened its mouth, but no sound came out due to Tagus's intense stare. The gaze was enough to make it instinctively shut up.

A murmur of low laughter spread among the others, with a tinge of mockery evident in their reactions.

"Kaibis."

"Yes!" The tall skeleton immediately stood at attention.

"Take this place," Tagus pointed to a village on the map.

"By sunrise," he indicated the roof, "I want to see results."

"Yes, General Tagus."

"Wesa, Eberton."

"Here!" They replied in unison.

"Attack Wevin and secure the Fang River Beach."

"Yes, General Tagus."

"Ravenbeak."

"Here!"

"Take two squads and search and clear this area."

"Yes!"

Tagus raised his head and coldly surveyed everyone. "You are all nobility in the dark. We expect you to execute every command with elegance and speed, meticulously. Ridenburg is our next target."

He stood and placed his pale hand on his left shoulder, reciting, "Mardala will prevail—"

The undead all stood up and responded solemnly, "Mardala will prevail—"

Tagus lowered his head and returned his gaze to the map. He first looked at the Red Pine Forest south of Buchanan, then moved up to Green Village, Belido Forest, and then Ridenburg—continuing upwards to the Sharpstone Valley.

Human scouts? He sneered coldly.

Meanwhile, as the full moon shone on the treetops.

In the mountains of the pines, there were no wolf howls, but the wind in the black pine forest stirred. The cold wind passed through the tree branches like thin smoke, making one feel a chill down their spine. The young men from Bucha had never spent a night outdoors, and the misty darkness of the forest made them uneasy, as if every shadow concealed a terrifying monster.

But one voice made them feel reassured:

"Hold this position."

"Yes, like this."

"Water—"

"Give me the bandages."

"Apply pressure."

Finally, it was done. Lin Fei wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a long breath.

He saw a faint green "+2" float from the young man's body, which eased his mind.

After reaching basic (O-level) in first aid, the effectiveness of bandaging naturally improved. This was much like the game, but every confirmation of Lin Fei's memory brought him more peace of mind.

How to clean wounds, prevent infection, stop bleeding, bandage, and what details to watch for—he guided Markmy and Niberto through each step. Of course, he himself was too weak to physically assist; his condition was only slightly better than the unconscious Josen.

When Niberto finished the final step under his guidance, Lin Fei looked up to see everyone staring at him in awe.

Professional.

That was the only comment they had.

Even little Phinis turned to Freya and said seriously, "It looks like your skills are not as good as his—"

As for Freya, standing on the edge of the crowd, her face was as calm as water.

Indeed, she had concluded that Lin Fei had been trying to get close to her under false pretenses. She anxiously glanced at Roman, only to see her looking smugly at the spoils on the ground.

This damned girl.

But fate was kind; only Lin Fei knew that all this knowledge came from the 'Battlefield First Aid' skill. Only when he recalled the skill in his list did this knowledge become available to him. In the young man's memory, basic battlefield first aid knowledge mostly came from the first few sections of "Gerson's Holy Cross," which covered bandaging techniques. Lin Fei happened to know Gerson from the game, the current Grand Priest of Braggs.

The contents of this book were as familiar to him as if he had seen them a hundred times. The sense of mastery felt like cheating at learning first aid.

Unfortunately, even cheating comes with a cost—

On the other hand.

Lin Fei soon realized that Bucha's militia third squad had ten members, including Freya: Markmy, Eson, Aik, and little Phinis, with whom he was more familiar.

Then there were the reticent brothers Niberto and Vlad, who had migrated from the Bora region and inherited the reserved nature of their local people. They preferred action over words.

Next was Josen, though he was unconscious and unlikely to wake.

Finally, there was the dreamy merchant girl and her companion. Lin Fei later learned that the girl was the baker's daughter from town. Her performance was a bit shy, unlike the other two ladies who were more outgoing.

This girl, named Bessa, was gentle in nature but at least a kind-hearted young woman.

These were all the people Lin Fei had to interact with. They seemed to be excellent young people, but Lin Fei knew they were complete novices, unaware of what lay ahead.

So he thought for a moment and asked, "What are your plans?"

The next moment, all expressions of smiles vanished, replaced by silence.

"We're heading to Ridenburg," Eson suggested after a while.

"Right. Captain Marden and the others will surely head there too," Aik agreed.

As expected, but Lin Fei shook his head.

He looked at the young faces, seeing only silent anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Even Freya seemed a bit better, but her tightly gripping sword handle betrayed her true feelings.

Only Roman straightforwardly answered, "I'm going with Charlotte."

This answer made Lin Fei both amused and exasperated. Roman's candor was endearing, and the young people paused before Lin Fei said, "Well, I agree with one thing—you need to leave here as soon as possible."

"So there are disagreements, right?" Freya asked.

Lin Fei nodded, "Does anyone have a map?"

The group looked at each other, uncertain who would have such a thing. Although they were militia, they usually followed the local garrison's orders. In essence, they were just a reserve force.

Lin Fei realized his slip; in Erwin, carrying a map without authorization from a temple was considered espionage. He often thought of himself as a traveler, forgetting that he was now a part of this world.

And here, there were no more players.

"The garrison might have one..." Markmy stammered from the back.

Lin Fei shook his head, thinking it was an obvious statement. He sighed and turned to the merchant girl, "Roman, give me a sword."

"Alright, Charlotte."

Lin Fei took the sword and drew two lines on the soft ground.

"This is the Weiss River, this is the Yusong River."

He used the tip of the sword to indicate several points between the two rivers: "Here is Bucha, here is Green Village, and here is Wevin."

He simply sketched a rough outline, but it opened the young people's eyes once again. After all, few people from this era had such knowledge of the world.

"Is that the Three Towns?" Bessa couldn't help but cover her mouth in surprise.

"How amazing, this is how we are situated," Aik looked at Lin Fei with admiration.

"So Bucha is here?"

"Charlotte, how do you know this?" The young people asked in a chorus, their youthful curiosity unable to be contained.

Lin Fei shook his head.

He joked internally that if he couldn't even recognize the newbie village of the Three Towns, he might as well throw himself off a cliff. Of course, he couldn't say this. He deliberately replied, "Haven't you learned about tactical maps?"

Tactical maps? What's that?

The group was puzzled. Could the Braggs militia really be expected to learn such things?

A moment of blind admiration followed.

But our protagonist secretly laughed; even junior officers in regular armies wouldn't master such things, so it was unsurprising that the militia didn't. He wouldn't expose this, and instead, pointed to the intersection of the two rivers:

"This is Ridenburg."

"Ah, so that's where Ridenburg is?" Roman asked curiously.

"What's the matter?" Lin Fei noticed muffled laughter around him and looked up.

"It's just that when Roman was a child, she admired the merchants of Ridenburg immensely, and always talked about becoming a merchant. Once, she even ran away claiming she was going to Ridenburg to make a big deal, but—" little Phinis not only betrayed her but also left everyone in suspense.

Laughter erupted among the crowd.

"And then?" Lin Fei asked.

"Ha ha, she got lost in the forest halfway, and it was Uncle Sil who found her and brought her back." Little Phinis laughed heartily.

"That's not how it happened," Roman's eyebrows shot up.

Lin Fei looked at the future merchant girl and thought, apparently, the lesson hadn't sunk in.

"Alright, back to the main point. Why do you want to go to Ridenburg?" He composed himself and continued.

"There are troops there."

"Captain Marden and others will surely go there."

"My uncle is there too," everyone spoke over each other again, but the gist was the same: they each had their own relatives. Though separated for now, they hoped their family might be in Ridenburg, so why not go there?

This answer was hard for Lin Fei to counter. It was only natural to want to be with one's family. However, he knew that those fleeing from Bucha would most likely be pursued by Mardala's army. Heading to Ridenburg now would only be walking into a trap.

Lin Fei knew they needed to advance parallel to 'Death God' Kaibis's forces, then move into Belido Forest while avoiding them, and cross the Fang River Beach before Eberton and Wesa could close in. From there, they would enter the Deer Hunting Forest, skirting Instaron's main forces, reaching Anzek, and informing the local garrison of Instaron's flank's Gustaf unit's advance plans.

Only then could they hope to survive and prevent Erwin's defeat from being as disastrous as it had been in history.

But how could he voice this?

Well, it's better to stick to the usual approach—take it step by step. He rubbed his heavy forehead and revised his statement: "Alright, we'll head toward Ridenburg for now and decide on our next steps based on the situation."

Then he looked up, meeting Freya's concerned gaze. The girl clearly didn't fully trust his words.

"Mr. Charlotte?"

"Nothing, just a judgment. The situation might change," he smiled at the girl. But despite his words, he couldn't help but sigh internally.

Reality was harsh, and his limited strength constrained his choices. If given the chance, he would definitely try to change things.

A homebody is just that naive.

He couldn't help but self-deprecate—