The Lord Is Too Overbearing

“Due to those reasons I mentioned, I think it is better to concentrate the Army on Goap and his accomplice…”

Cameron, who had been explaining why solely focusing their attention on Goap and Scylla would ensure their victory, stopped speaking when he realized his father and pretty much everyone didn’t pay any attention to him.

Confused, he looked around to figure out what was happening. He had been too focused on convincing his father—he didn’t pay keen attention to the people in his surrounding, so he was surprised when he found out what was happening.

Basil was looking at Eban closely, in a sense that he was intimidatingly close. His face was just a pinch away from Eban’s, and it showed anything but friendliness.

Now, everyone had noticed Eban’s displeasure towards Basil’s presence since the beginning. They understood how old-fashioned everyone from the Church was, so they had ignored it, thinking nothing would happen.

What they didn’t expect, however, was Basil deciding to confront Eban for that. They had heard how overbearing he was in general, but never in their wildest dreams had they thought he would do something courageously insolent.

Eban was, after all, not just any grumpy middle-aged man. He was the highest ranking official of the Church, who managed every existing Churches in Braxtein Kingdom.

Needless to say, everyone was as expectant as much they were anxious where this was going.

“May I know what you are doing, young man?” Eban asked calmly.

“Admiring a holy person,” Basil answered instantaneously.

“Ha-ha-ha. I am by no means a holy person, young man. I am just a man, who surrenders everything to our Gods.”

Smirking faintly but condescendingly, Basil replied, “No wonder you reek of hypocrisy.”

The tense atmosphere became even tenser. A couple of Legion Commanders had already prepared themselves to intervene when a conflict broke.

On Eban’s side, the two Paladins accompanying him were already Putting their hands on their sword, whereas on Basil’s side, Iliana and Ione were ready to obliterate the two even before anyone in the tent could blink.

No one really knew what the exact cause of the hostile relationship between them, but they were absolute if the two kept being stubborn, a chaos would ensue.

“I think—”

“If following the words of the Gods makes me a hypocrite, then so be it.”

Just as the attempt to diffuse the situation was made, Eban, much to their surprise, backed down. He turned away from Basil, and told the Paladins to stand by.

Basil huffed lightly at that, then turned to face the others. He told his company to stay calm, and interlaced his fingers as if nothing happened.

The others were mildly glancing at each other, asking if the crisis had been evaded with their eyes. They were eventually convinced to just resume the meeting, but the atmosphere wasn’t the same anymore afterwards; regardless, the meeting was smooth sailing.

“I am rather curious about Head Commander Basil’s view what kind of strategy you deem suitable for the battle. As someone who has successfully led two major battles, I am sure you have a thing or two to share with us,” Anthony said.

They had all heard of Basil’s brilliance in creating a strategy. They didn’t mean to not believe it, but they still wanted to see his brilliance directly.

“I didn’t think my view held as much value as the view of the people in this tent who have spent decades of their life in the battlefield, which was I kept quiet. Your Majesty suggests the opposite however, so I will gladly share my view.”

The people nodded their head in appreciation at the respect Basil showed towards them. They had half expected him to brag about his brilliant strategy when he was asked, so they were relieved that it wasn’t the case.

Overbearing as he might be in general, it turned out, Basil knew how to give respect where it was due.

“I am very grateful almost everyone in this room thinks highly of me.” The people got why Basil said almost, so they couldn’t help but slightly cringe.

“I, however, don’t think I can give you any help with fighting Goap and Scylla, so in the strategy I propose, I am going to be the coward.”

“Who is Scylla? Goap’s accomplice?” Anthony asked, representing the others, who were also curious.

“Scylla is the core of Charybdis—the embodiment of her consciousness. This is all written in the folklores, and yes, she is Goap’s accomplice.”

They nodded their head, and didn’t question him any further. They had, after all, already believed of the Demon’s existence, so doubting him for talking about Charybdis and Scylla would just make them look stupid.

“Back to my strategy, by being the coward, I am referring to my role as the Overseer. I will lead my Legion from the back, while protecting them with my means.”

“Is it another way to say you don’t want to be involved in the battle anymore, young man?” Eban asked, faintly sneering at Basil. “You can just pretend you are injured, and no one will ask you to participate in the battlefield.”

“Funny,” Basil snorted mockingly. “I didn’t expect to hear that from someone who only knows how to wriggle his way to the top by dirty means. Well, I guess a true coward will never know that he is a coward.”

Ignoring the disbelieving look everyone gave him, Basil continued, “As you have already known, I can butcher my enemy even without lifting a finger. This is the means that I am talking about—my Aura Ability that I can guarantee no one has but me.”

That was a really bold claim from Basil. Eban, who was visibly irritated by Basil’s earlier comment that had hit too close to home, was expecting the others to rebuke him.

Much to his indignation however, no one did. All of them nodded their head and accepted Basil’s statement easily, because that was just how Aura Ability worked: when it was unique, no one would have it other than that person.

“The strategy I propose will split the army into two groups—a big one and a small one. The big one is called the Eradicator. It is consisted of us, who will focus on killing the small fry.”

Pointing to the miniature of the battlefield that was projected in the middle of the table, Basil showed the people how the formation would look like. Everyone was as intrigued as they were surprised of how unconventional it was.

“The small group is called Executioner. It is consisted of the people who are powerful enough to take on Goap and Scylla: Violet Core Knights and Seventh Circle Mages.” He pointed to the center of the formation. “They will stay here, until they arrive in front of Goap.”

In a world where individual’s prowess held more value than the power a thousand people could exert, fighting the commander of an army separately was the wisest decision.

Throughout his time as a Legion Commander, Basil had observed that most of his soldiers had died due to his fight with the enemy’s commander. This means, in every battle, the damage they had received was mostly collateral.

Learning from this fact, he had always fought the enemy’s commander separately from his Legion to reduce death toll—it worked. This eventually became a habit, and the reason why his Legion had suffered minimal damage.

Of course, his commendable prowess had always played a huge role to the success of his strategy.

“So, what you are saying is, until Executioner fights Goap and Scylla, they will act as a carrier. When the battle begins, they will immediately retreat and leave Executioner to their own devices…” Anthony hummed to himself with a light frown.

“This is a brilliant strategy… But, this is under the pretext of our capability to take on Goap. The fate of the army relies on us, Executioner, so we have to win in order for this strategy to succeed.”

As the people developed a pondering look, Basil said, “Why do all you suddenly look doubtful of your own capability? This strategy will success—I guarantee you.”

Smiling, he turned to Eban. “You will be accompanied by our outstanding Paladins who are led by the well-known Head Priest Eban. They are the admirable individuals who have been holding off Obelisks for us! There is no reason for you to be afraid of failing.”

Realization suddenly dawned upon the people. With the participation of the Paladins, fighting Goap will be easier since Demons were prone to Miracle, which was the type of Energy that Paladins and Priests used.

Contrary to his excited company, of course, Eban wasn’t amused. Facing Goap in a battlefield would make the situation awkward for them since the two had made some underhanded deals prior to the Outbreak.

Regardless, he could do nothing but hoped that Anthony wouldn’t approve of the strategy. He was, however, very confident Anthony would dismiss Basil considering how young he was; at least, until it was proven to be not the case.

“Let us go with this strategy,” Anthony stated surely.

Raising his hand, Basil said, “I feel the need to ask, Your Majesty, if the failure of the strategy will be on me. As much as I believe in my strategy, I can’t guarantee if the wind wouldn’t suddenly change by the end of the day.”

“Don’t worry, as the person who approved of the strategy, I will be completely responsible for any unexpected things happen in the process of the execution,” Anthony said reassuringly.

Basil nodded his head simply and stopped speaking. Eban was extremely disgruntled, but no one could tell other than him and his company.

Rumble!

Crash!

Just as Anthony was about to dismiss the meeting, the ground shook at the same time they heard the sound of a huge amount of water coming their way. They immediately concluded that Charybdis had just caused a tsunami, and got out of the tent frantically.

Upon coming out, they could already see Mages erecting Mana Barrier to block the powerful stream of water, which they weren’t sure would be enough. They still joined nonetheless, and erected the strongest Magic Barrier they had in their repertoire.

Basil, who knew that the stream would negate their Barrier easily, merely shook his head at the people’s futile attempt. They would only end up getting swept by the water that way, and none of them would know why.

Escaping might be the wisest choice he could make, but he wouldn’t do that because the situation wasn’t hopeless. There was a simple way to salvage the situation, and it didn’t require much Mana.