Since the Jingo forest disaster, Souma acts differently from before as it felt like that disaster was his guilt. But from this disaster, Souma and the rest of the government received a valuable lesson about preventing and providing relief for a natural disaster.
As time flew by, Souma stuffed himself with work that makes the people around him worry about him. As chancellor and minister of defense, Nomura is helping with Souma's job and cooperating with Hakuya for security and military matters. Basically, Nomura takes some of Souma's job.
To Souma's thinking, it doesn't matter how much work he will do until everything is complete and checked out.
"Bro, I think you should slow it down for a bit" As writing screeching noise fills the room and Nomura's voice is worried for the king.
"It's alright, Nomura. Besides, we need to get this done in time" Souma still able to smile beside the memory of the incident.
"(Sigh)...Well just take it easy, boss. We still need you in this game"
"Thanks. Speaking of work, how's your reform progress?"
Nomura explains the successful experiment and demonstration to Souma. Nomura also request for the 4 commanders to be transferred and approved by the king. After Souma's approval, Nomura sent a message to Alec that the commanders now need to form a new military organization that is named 'Royal Joint Chief of Staff" as the source of planning, information, supplies, etc.
"As we speak, they now are getting trained and reorganized for our upcoming 'event'. So...everything is under control"
"Well...that's good to hear"
As they have a long day, they finally finished the work. As Nomura expects that Souma will attend to the plan and other work, while Nomura excuses himself to take recreation time. to do that he heads to a pub called 'Moon Light' to relax and enjoy his favorite drink. As for Souma's order, Nomura disguises himself as a noble merchant and enters the pub on his own.
Nomura took a seat and began his usual talk "How's the business, master?"
"The business is still usual. How are you today, Mr. Toshiaki?"
"It's all well. I will order the usual, yeah?"
The bartender fills the glass with Nomura's favorite beer. A pilsner.
"How's our business, Mr. Toshiaki?" The bartender just plays his usual question "I hear it was quiet rumpus at your store"
"Well...we are already busy with the merchandise before the opening session. I guarantee you that we will make a breakthrough"
"Glad to hear it"
"By the way Master, does the special merchandise arrive?" Then Nomura gives the bartender a strange silver coin with the red cross symbol minted on it.
"Thank you and yes. You can get the merchandise in the storage"
"Thanks"
Nomura then walks towards the stairs and goes down into the basement. In the basement, he comes across 3 thugs guarding a door with peculiar weapons beside them. One of the thugs approached Nomura with a dagger in his hand.
"What the hell are you doing in here, punk?!"
With his calm and cool gesture he's not deterred by the thugs "Oh Relax. I'm just looking for my change like this" Nomura showed the coin again to the thugs.
As the thug recognizes the coin, they change drastically "Different clothing then, Sire? (Opening the door) off you go then"
Nomura walks through small storage until he found another wooden door. Nomura approaches the door and knocks on it 3 times in different patterns. Then the slit is open, revealing only a man's eyes through the slit.
The man asks Nomura "Who goes there?"
Nomura then said "May the Father of Understanding Guides Us" Not for long the door opens.
"Right this way, sire. The others are waiting for you"
Nomura walks through the office and enters the meeting room, where a number of various people already sit down.
"Please, remain seated" Nomura then took his seat to begin the meeting "Gentlemen and ladies. Thank you for coming. As you know our kingdom has received an immediate threat from our western neighbors"
Nomura lays out the information about the three dukes, possible spies inside the government, and Amidonia's possible invasion "As we discuss at the earlier meeting, it's time for us to act. So...does any of you have anything to share?"
"I will start first" The man who voices the first is the waiter at the Lorelei Pub, Victor Nordman, or called 'Tricky Vic'. Besides being a waiter, Vic is a spymaster for counter-intelligence operations in the kingdom.
"I already identify and confirm 'Subject blue' identity. She is under the order of the lagoon dragon"
Nomura never thought that the sea dragon would send its spy to the government with a certain purpose "Hmmm...what is her overall intention?"
"Well...According to one of my people at lagoon city, the sea dragon wants to prevent bloodshed with the king" Vic report that the subject blue is seen to make reports on people's welfare, the behavior of the king and its cabinet, king's policy, and how the king conducts himself.
"It's a relief when one of those heads is not looking for a fight with us" Nomura then mark the mission finished "Ok then...How about the others?"
Then a human woman known as "Amera" is the owner of the flower shop at Van and a permanent resident of Amidonia who actually working with Nomura since his ascend to the chancellor position and being 'loan' to Hakuya, despite Hakuya doesn't realize her nature of loyalty.
"According to my people, it's confirmed that King Gaius will support the dukes when their revolt started. This will allow them to push their spearhead deep into the kingdom's territory"
"Is there any info on their movement?"
"Yes...They will move quietly and begin the attack via one of our border cities. Unfortunately, my lord. I don't know which city could it be and then after that. My apologies"
"No...that's ok. Your information does shine the light for us to be a step ahead"
Amera then said something bizarre "Also, there's something more that will be the contrary for our Amidonia's affair"
"Which is?"
"Some people in the Van who don't support the invasion, particularly the minister of economy and a person known as raccoon" The word raccoon seems on everybody's mind including Nomura.
"This is a pretty huge boon to us. If we ended up annexing Amidonia, we can rely on some of those dissatisfied nobles and others. Well done" Amera bowed to Nomura for his gratitude to her.
Still, his curiosity lies in the raccoon character "hmm...[(Nomura's mind) It seems that this raccoon person is probably one of the nobles or from a secret society] Very well, Amera. Locate and learn about the identity of the raccoon as soon as possible"
"As your command, sire"
Nomura thinks that the Amidonian really doesn't want war, let alone they already suffering from oppressive policy, a small population, and food shortage. From his perspective, this revenge thing is the only thing that keeps the focus of the population away from suffering. Nomura even remarks in silence 'What a dumb bastard' the king Gaius and others.
"Then, does anyone have other things worth sharing?"
The woman opens up her hood and it appears an elf that Nomura recognize when he first arrived in this world. As for now, she is known as Faezira.
"My lord, your suspicion of the lady is confirmed. She constantly sends coded messages to Amidonia. As her handler has confessed to me"
"Does our project or the plan been compromised?" Nomura felt nervous as she doesn't know something about his 'business'.
"No, sire. She still struggling to gather any information about our project. As her underling is unable to locate the homeland. Also, the invasion plan is still secure with one of master Hakuya's eyes"
Nomura felt relieved now that his project is not discovered "(sigh in relief) all right. Keep feeding her the bone and since we duped her handler. We need to send a letter of confirmed kill to Amidonia in an anonymous mark"
"As your command, my lord"
"Let her believe that she is still active. In the future, I will deal with her personally"
"Yes, my lord"
Constant information from Nomura's spy ring makes him stay at the bar for a little too long. From the information, some of the corrupt nobles have links with Amidonia and the dukedom's effort in sabotaging the kingdom from the inside.
As night has fallen, Nomura returns to the castle and saw Liscia and Alia outside Souma's bedroom. Then, he just casually walks up to the girls with a happy face.
"Is there something interesting?"
"No... it's just...about Souma" Alia responds with rather a sad expression while holding Liscia's hand.
"What's up with him?"
Liscia then faces Nomura "Since Jingo forest, he pushed himself with all the work to repent the sin of the dead elf. As he can't do anything about it"
"God damn it. I already told him that it wasn't his fault"
Liscia seems to hesitate with her response "He can't open up to me...but I asked Juna to be the relief to his pain"
Nomura is still worried about Souma that he kept working to hide his depressed feeling and hearts from the others, especially Liscia who keeps worrying about Souma's condition
A few minutes later, Juna comes out of his room with a small smile that makes Nomura feel comfortable. As Juna told them that he cried under his arm and show her his soft side and drift to sleep. Liscia sighed in relief that Souma can express his frustration over the incident.
A few days later, everything was still calm despite the grim situation about a possible war with Amidonia. Nomura organizes the preparation for its military and ensures the nobles, soldiers, and officers' loyalty to him. On the side, he coordinates everything with Alia's help and knowledge of this world warfare.
"(Hearing knocking sound) Alia, can you check on the door?"
Alia not responding to Nomura's request and he was confused about what happened to Alia. Soon as he lean his sight toward the bed, he saw Alia sleeping while holding papers. Not wanting to wake her up, Nomura covers Alia with a blanket and walks to open the door. Not knowing it was Liscia.
"Oh Liscia, what's the matter?"
"Well...since you are the minister of defense, do you know anything related to the military" Liscia seems a little hesitant in her talk "I...I mean like tactics, the strategy of this world"
Nomura notices her hesitation but he just answers the question "Actually, I am already learned about the military in this world generally with Alia helping me to understand other things that I'm not familiar with"
"So, you already know about it?"
"(Sigh) to be honest with you...the strategy and other things are similar to my old world" Nomura answered while shrugging his shoulder. "But Liscia...what's all with your question?"
"Souma come to me and ask me to teach him about the art of war in this world. So I would think that I could use your help since you also understand and said it was similar to your old world military"
"Ohhh...ok then"
Then Nomura followed Liscia to Souma's office. Souma already sitting while the staff has prepared the blackboard and some chalk.
"You need the lesson too?"
Nomura shook his head "Actually, I will be Liscia's assistant. So I can interpret the strategy more like our own from the old world"
"Alright Souma, Pay attention"
The class started with Liscia explaining several situations and applying the strategy and tactics to solving that situations. Since there is something that is most really similar to their old world like an anti-air ballista can be understood as an anti-air missile and aerial superiority. This makes up for the planning of strategy and the action that Souma has to decide.
Some while scratching his head, he is also concerned about future prospect of the war "If we can't get the three dukes to obey us, it will be hard for us to fight Amidonia"
Nomura nodded in agreement "I agree. Also, we have to fight multiple enemies at the same time. Especially or god forbid that we have to fight the three dukes as well"
Souma then lays out his concern "my concern is about the numbers is in our opponent side with Carmine possessing 40.000 men, Excel owning 10.000 men, and Vargas possessing 1.000 wyvern knights. It seems..."
"It seems what, Souma?" Liscia asked
Nomura then said "We are outnumbered 2-1" But in Nomura's mind, he also know that it actually 5-1. As the odds are against them.
While crossing his hand, Souma remember someone's words "If I were to follow Sun Tzu, the only choice that I got were either run away or avoid war at all cost"
"Who is Sun Tzu, Souma?" Liscia asked in confused
"He is a general in my previous world. A fine strategist" Souma realizes that he reads a lot from history about three kingdoms and some of the Sengoku era.
"Hoooo...digging through three kingdoms, are we?"
"Well...you got me there. So, what do you think, Nomura?"
"I can say that even though the numbers are against us, superior strategy can bring down the mighty foe, or as one said" Nomura remembers someone with absolute thinking
"The best strategy is always to be very strong; first in general, and then at the decisive point. . . . There is no higher and simpler law of strategy than that of keeping one's forces concentrated."
Souma seems to recognize that quote and says "Isn't that Clausewitz?"
"Hehehe...you know your history, man"
As the two men laugh and Liscia seems confused about their talks, they get visited by Tomoe. She told Souma and Nomura that Hakuya request their presence at Hakuya's office. Two men know what topics the black prime minister wants to discuss. Both of them excuse themselves and head to Hakuya's office.
After the discussion, the two men have some lunch by themselves at the castle canteen. They reflect on what will happen and everything seems going fast. At first Souma doubt, his leadership, and Nomura also questions his ability to carry out the plan. But they shove off that thought and focus to protect to those they valued.
Weeks later, Nomura receives several reports from his spymaster at Van on the people of Amidonia. Rumors fly around that King Gaius finally will start the war with Elfriden to grab their old territory back. Meanwhile, at the homefront, Liscia talks to Souma about rumors from his subject that he finally will fight against the three dukes.
Everything falls into a domino effect.
Souma, Nomura, and Hakuya have done everything to muster up the military for the upcoming war. Everyone felt intense as they felt anything so terrifying about war. In which people will die.
At the king's office, Liscia sat with Souma about the growing concern among the population
"Liscia"
"Yes?"
"Can you tell me about Carmine"
At first, Liscia seems a bit uncomfortable talking about Carmine. Nonetheless, she told Souma everything that she knows about him. From Carmine and the previous king, Liscia's grandfather expands the kingdom's territory including fighting with Amidonia. She describes him as a fierce and valiant soldier of the kingdom. Even his adversary admires his charisma.
However, she describes him as a loyal and honorable man. Even Carmine saw Liscia as his own kin. Liscia told Souma that because of Carmine, he acknowledge Alia's value to being in the military and pair her with Liscia.
Hearing the story, Souma shows his respect to Carmine even though he will become a rebel.
"Very well..Tomorrow I will use the broadcast device to communicate the three dukes"
"Then, I will be by your side!"
As they determine to face the potential enemy, they believe this will determine their life forever.