Small attacks like the one on enemy camp #4 were done on multiple other human army camps. This shook the human army, as they had never fought a war like this one, where the Freedom Legion used unconventional methods such as guerilla tactics. The human army called them cowards for not facing them head-on, but war simply hadn't evolved to the point where Ezekiel was. Destroying their supplies and attacking at random took a toll on the human army soldiers at these camps. After letting the human soldiers starve and become sleep deprived out of fear of another attack on a certain camp, the Freedom Legion soldiers made quick work of the human army soldiers in another surprise attack a couple of days later.
After hearing about the war being fought in the shadow of the Humanity War, the numbers that supported the Freedom Legion went up due to their unforeseen victories against the human army, and they became more well-known than they had before. Ezekiel called in a favor from King Anton, and he sent down supplies and a few soldiers to teach the Freedom Legion soldiers how to fight and train them properly. A month and a half after the first attack on enemy camp #4, after gaining more support, gathering more supplies and troops, and whittling down the human army in the general area, Lionel decided that a meeting needed to be held. Ezekiel and the rest of his party were requested to come to this meeting in order to get their opinions on the matter, as the guerilla tactics that Ezekiel had suggested to the commanders seemed to work rather well.
Ezekiel and his party entered the meeting room one after the other. Bear followed behind Ezekiel, then Aqua, Kairi, Rina, Mia, and Suko shortly followed. Lionel stood at the head of the table, and next to him were Leonardo and Thelisia. Tokuda was sitting next to Lionel and gave Ezekiel and his party a quick nod before looking back at Lionel. Lionel looked at everyone, cleared his throat and then said, "Excellent. Everyone is here. We have something that we must immediately talk about." Ezekiel scratched his head, wondering what could be so important. Lionel smiled and said, "I want to end this war quickly, and I'm sure all of you in here do as well. With the increased support, the increase in troops, and how we've been winning these battles, I think we can do it." Tokuda quickly said, "Now hold up, Lionel. I like the enthusiasm, but we can't just go rushing into it just because we've won a few battles by fighting in a strange way. That kind of thinking has gotten a lot of men killed in the Humanity War." Leonardo spoke up, saying, "I agree with Tokuda. I believe patience is needed to further expand our operation." Thelisia then cheerfully said, "It almost sounds like we're going on a full-scale attack! I'm not sure if we have enough supplies for that, Lionel!" Lionel then said, "What if I told you that someone from the human army defected over to us? Someone close to the king that can get us information from the inside?" Everyone looked at Lionel, rather interested by his words.
As if on cue, a short, young, blonde human maid walked into the meeting room. However, once she saw how many people were in there, she tensed up and accidentally tripped, falling over and landing on her face. She quickly got up, looking extremely embarrassed, saying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Lionel chuckled, reassuring the maid by saying, "It's alright, Victoria! We're all friends here!" Lionel extended a hand outwards, motioning to the maid and said, "Everyone, this is Victoria. She's a maid to King Ziam, who sits at the top of command of the human army. She's the person who will gather information from the inside. She might be a little shy and clumsy, but she seems to be a good person." Tokuda quickly stood up, alarmed at what Lionel said, exclaiming, "How can you be sure that we can trust her?! For all we know, she could be a spy for the king, and she now knows where our base of operations is!" Victoria looked rather frightened by Tokuda's sudden outburst and quickly looked down when Tokuda gave her a rather intimidating glance. Leonardo seemed to have the same opinion as Tokuda, although he said nothing. Thelisia then said, "Stop scaring the cute maid, Tokuda! Cute girls shouldn't look so terrified, right Victoria?" Victoria, still looking at the ground, quietly said, "I-I suppose." Tokuda, still unsure about Victoria, took a deep breath and sat down, looking a bit calmer than before.
Ezekiel felt a strange feeling in his stomach as if there was something that was tugging him towards Victoria. He had never had this feeling before, and it wasn't there until Victoria entered the room. Ezekiel looked at Victoria, who was still looking down at the ground. Suddenly, Victoria quickly glanced at Ezekiel, giving Ezekiel a look that seemed curious of him. Their eyes locked for a split second, then Victoria glanced back down at the ground. Strange, thought Ezekiel, wondering what the feeling in his stomach was.
Lionel then said, "Anyways, I understand your concerns about attacking immediately when we don't even know too much about the enemy. I also understand your concerns about having someone that works for the enemy inside of our base of operations." Lionel looked at Tokuda, and Tokuda simply sighed. Lionel continued, saying, "Once we grow a bit more and know a bit more, we'll end this war swiftly. I believe Victoria here will do her duty to the Freedom Legion well. I say we give her a chance." Thelisia gave a thumbs-up in agreement, and so did some of Ezekiel's party. Reluctantly, Tokuda said, "I suppose we could give her the chance. However, if she rats us out to the human army, I'll be the one to kill her." Victoria seemed very frightened by that threat. Leonardo then said, "We shall give it a try, although I pray this move won't be our undoing."
Lionel then said, "Good. Victoria, if you don't mind, can you share what you already know? Ideally, I'd like to know about King Ziam's castle." Victoria quickly made her way over to where Lionel was, almost tripping on herself again, and stood right next to him. Lionel placed a sheet of paper down in front of Victoria on the table, and she picked up a small quill with ink and began drawing a basic map of the castle. There was a river in front of the castle, and the castle seemed to be rather large. Victoria said, "The castle has high stone walls and is on an elevated hill. There's a good amount of soldiers that are guarding the castle, both day and night. One of the generals of the human army is there, although I don't know which one." Lionel said, "Maybe it won't be as easy as I thought. It might be hard to take the castle over completely then." Ezekiel realized that Lionel was close to the answer, but Ezekiel interjected, saying, "We don't need to take the entire castle." Everyone suddenly turned towards Ezekiel. Lionel, looking at Ezekiel, asking, "What do you mean?" Ezekiel grinned, saying, "In my world, there was a strategy board game we used to play called 'chess.' The ultimate goal was to checkmate the king. If you trap the king and make him surrender, then you win." Ezekiel looked at everyone and said, "All we need to do is capture the king and make him surrender. If we can do that, then the war will be over." Lionel mulled over this, realizing that Ezekiel had an idea sort of similar to his own, but not seeing the simpler side of it like Ezekiel could.
Lionel then said, "It sounds easy enough, but how do you plan on doing this without taking the entire castle?" Ezekiel thought for a moment, then said, "It's quite simple. We need two major things: a distraction and a small elite team that can go in and kidnap the king." Ezekiel pointed at the river on the map and said, "We can draw most of their main forces out, but we'll need to station most of the troops along the river to do that. The human army may try to cross the river, and them crossing the river will be an advantage for us since the water will slow them down a bit. I've got an idea to whittle down their numbers very quickly using a variety of things I've created." Lionel then asked, "But how do we get the team inside of the castle? How do you suppose we scale those massive walls?" Ezekiel grinned, saying, "Who said we were going over it?" Lionel looked confused, and so did everyone else. Tokuda was the first one to put two and two together, saying, "We go below it." Ezekiel pointed at him, saying, "Exactly. We mine a small tunnel underneath it. We can probably mine the tunnel beforehand and use it once we attack. Once we're in the castle, we just need to get rid of any obstacles, kidnap the king by dragging him back through our tunnel, and make him surrender."
The room was silent, surprised at how easy it sounded coming from Ezekiel. Lionel then said, "It seems to be a good plan. I personally see nothing wrong with it." Leonardo said, "I agree. I see no flaws with this plan of yours currently." Thelisia simply gave Ezekiel a thumbs-up with a smile on her face, and Tokuda nodded. Lionel then said, "Seems like everyone is in agreement with your plan. The question now is who's going to be part of the small squad to infiltrate the castle?" Ezekiel looked behind him towards his party and said, "My party and I. That includes Tokuda, we'll need him." Lionel thought for a moment, wondering if he would be better off on the front lines of the distraction, but then said, "Very well. Tokuda will go with you." Tokuda grinned in a menacing manner, asking Ezekiel, "If King Ziam decides not to be... cooperative, mind if I make him a bit more cooperative?" Ezekiel shrugged, saying, "Do what you want, I guess." Bear then exclaimed, "We're supposed to be capturing the king, not torturing him!" Tokuda then said, "Relax, I won't kill him. I'll just rough him up a bit." Bear huffed, saying, "You'll probably beat him until he's almost dead. Little bro, I'll keep an eye on Tokuda." Ezekiel chuckled, saying, "You do you, Bear." Bear then took his leave, and so did the rest of Ezekiel's party. Tokuda was about to leave until he stopped next to Ezekiel and said quietly, "I still don't fully trust the maid. Be careful around her." Ezekiel nodded, then Tokuda left the meeting room.
Ezekiel was about to leave the meeting room until he felt someone staring at his back, and he quickly turned, noticing that Victoria was staring at him with a curious expression once again. Ezekiel walked over to her, and she appeared to be a bit nervous when Ezekiel approached her. The feeling in Ezekiel's stomach got stronger the closer he got to Victoria, although he had no idea why. Ezekiel said, "Sorry about Tokuda's behavior, Victoria. He can be aggressive, but he's a good man deep down. I don't know the full story with him, but it seems like he's had a complicated past with the human army." Victoria nervously nodded in reply, then said, "I-I see. It's understandable, however." Ezekiel then said, "Some of them might not show it, but we're counting on you because you could be a big help. Just prove your loyalty and you'll be fine." Ezekiel smiled, attempting to reassure Victoria. It seemed to help a bit, as Victoria seemed less tense than before. Ezekiel continued, saying, "If there's one thing I learned about war, it's that information and communication are vital. With a good information network, we can always have the upper hand. You've got an important role to play, whether you realize it or not, so I'll thank you in advance for providing us with an advantage." Victoria seemed rather surprised to hear all of this. Victoria then looked at Ezekiel in the eyes and said, "You're quite different from other people I've met. You're nice to me, despite what others think of me." Ezekiel chuckled, then said, "Well, my opinion is my own. Can't let anyone sway that for me now, can I?" Victoria then said, "Not just as a human, but in spirit as well. I can feel something within you. Something that I haven't felt in a long time." Ezekiel scratched his head, then asked, "What do you mean?" Before he could get an answer from her, Leonardo called to Ezekiel, asking, "Ezekiel! Do you have any defensive strategies you could show me?" Ezekiel looked over at Leonardo and said, "Yeah! I'll be right there!" Victoria then said, "Your name is Ezekiel?" Ezekiel looked back at Victoria and said, "Yeah." Victoria smiled and said, "Ezekiel. I'll see you around hopefully!" With that, Victoria left the meeting room, but not before tripping over herself and apologizing profusely.
I still don't fully trust the maid. Be careful around her. Tokuda's words echoed in Ezekiel's mind, but Victoria seemed nice enough and seemed to be a genuinely good person, so he shrugged off the thought for the moment. The tug in Ezekiel's stomach that was there when Victoria was around was also gone for the time being. Ezekiel walked over to Leonardo and said, "I do have a defensive tactic you could use. I think you'd find the name of it to be pretty humorous, too." Leonardo then asked, "Really? What is it?" Ezekiel said, "The name of it is called 'testudo', meaning 'turtle' in a language called Latin." Leonardo chuckled, saying, "It is quite humorous, considering I am part turtle!" Ezekiel explained, saying, "It's a defense tactic used long ago, and it's quite a simple tactic, actually. There are two lines of soldiers. The front line has its shields facing towards the enemy, interlocking with one another, making the front impenetrable. The lines behind the front line have their shields facing upwards to protect from any attacks from above. With this formation, the only way the enemy can attack is from behind, but this tactic provides the most cover in the front and above, essentially making you a turtle with protection where you really need it." Leonardo cleared his throat and asked, "Could you have the troops demonstrate this 'testudo' tactic?" Ezekiel nodded, then said, "Lead the way, Leonardo." Leonardo and Ezekiel soon made their way down to the soldier's quarters, which were really just some tents that were pitched inside of the cave. Leonardo ordered some of the soldiers to come with him, and they went outside to the surface to practice the testudo formation.
Once on the surface, Leonardo had the soldiers line up with their shields at the ready. Ezekiel then said, "Ideally, we want about two or three rows of men. The row at the front needs to hold the shields in front of them to block any incoming arrows or attacks from the front. The rows behind them need to hold their shields upwards in order to block any arrows coming from above. All in all, it's supposed to look something like a shell that provides good defense." Leonardo positioned them in the way Ezekiel described, and Leonardo seemed to understand the concept of it. Leonardo pointed at the sides of the formation and asked, "It does provide a lot of defense, but the sides of the soldiers are exposed here, so what do we do about that?" Ezekiel scratched his head, thinking a bit, then said, "This strategy is really meant for a full-frontal attack where the enemy is directly in front of you. We could protect the sides by having some of the men on the edges of the formation put their shields outwards like the front line." Leonardo ordered the soldiers to do just that, and although it was a tight squeeze, it seemed that it now covered all sides that might get attacked. Leonardo, impressed, said, "Now this is something we can use, Ezekiel! This might just help us out when we do make the eventual attack on the castle!" Ezekiel smiled, then said, "Leonardo, I trust you can teach the rest of the troops this formation?" Leonardo chuckled, then said, "Of course! Please, leave it to me!"
Once Leonardo got a handle on the testudo formation, Ezekiel decided to head to the cart for a bit. He climbed inside of it and stared up at the sky, with the sun high in the sky and clouds all around. He began thinking about everything that's happened so far. It still didn't seem all that real to him, just being reincarnated into this strange fantasy world out of nowhere. He thought about all the science that he's done so far, with new foods being made, inventing soap in this world, making a makeshift battery, making the spyglass, using science in some of his fights, and making Greek molotovs. He realized that some of his science hasn't really helped a lot of people like he wanted to, but he was still starting from scratch, and soon, he figured his science would make a bigger difference in this world. He still pondered what his real purpose was of being here. Was he meant to bring scientific innovations to this strange world and modernize it as he originally thought? Or was there more behind the scenes at work that he didn't know about? Questions piled on, with no answers to any of them. He pulled out the journal that Liam had given him on The Followers of the Fallen One, along with his own Book of Knowledge, and set them side by side. I have all this knowledge, yet I don't even know what the next step would be after all of this, thought Ezekiel.
Ezekiel chuckled, realizing that he, for once, was truly lost. Not in the sense of being lost in direction or lost in thought, but lost in the path that he wanted to take in life. He thought about how his life was basically laid out for him in his old world. He would've graduated high school, gone to a good university for science, graduated with maybe a master's degree or even a Ph.D. in some science-related field, and gone off to work at a good place. Then, he might've settled down, found a wife and had some kids, worked until he retired, and passed on peacefully. Not exactly a life filled with the most excitement, but Ezekiel felt that he would've lived a good life. But now, in this world, it's a completely different ballgame. He had to figure out how to survive on his own in this strange fantasy world, and now he was caught in the middle of an equality conflict with no plans as to what to do afterward. No one would've ever guessed that he would be isekai'd and that his life would turn out to be something like this.
In the middle of his thought, Bear came up to Ezekiel and sat with him, asking, "You alright, little bro?" Ezekiel said, "Yeah, just thinking about things." Bear then said, "I gotcha." Bear quickly remembered something, then said, "Oh, right! We came outside to eat and we wanted you to be here with us when we eat! That's why I came to get you." Ezekiel asked, "We?" Bear pointed over at the entrance of the cave, and Kairi, Aqua, Mia, Rina, Suko, and Tokuda came out of the cave, food baskets in hand. Ezekiel smiled and said, "Sound good! I was getting hungry, anyways!" Well, it might not be the life I expected to live, and I may not know what exactly to do in this life, but thank the gods for the friends that I've made. I'm not sure what I would've done or where I would currently be without them, thought Ezekiel. With that final thought, Ezekiel and Bear met up with the rest of the party, and they had a fun little picnic outside under the warm sun.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRVYP3KWyW
