Crampus’s eyes moved side to side, and he asked, “What?”
“I asked if you’re going to surrender.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I see you’re getting a big head just because you’ve won once, but we have the advantage in the overall situation.”
“…Hm.”
Sung-Woon didn’t say anything for a moment.
He didn’t say anything because to him, it seemed like Lunda was incapable of fighting anymore. Yes, she did still have her 200 cavalry on big Weasels, but there wasn’t much for Sung-Woon to be afraid of since they would be exhausted from running as far away as they could for days.
All that was left for Sung-Woon to do was the siege of Deimerit, the capital of the Satyrs. And just as Lunda expected, Sung-Woon knew he could secure his victory without much trouble.
In Sung-Woon’s opinion, it wouldn’t be a bad choice to wipe out the Satyr army and conquer Deimerit.
‘But if these two players get to the verge of elimination, the other three players will form an alliance.’
The other players would judge that Sung-Woon was too dangerous. And additionally, the frontline would inevitably expand. Black Scale wasn’t even able to properly defend their current border. At the moment, there was no reason for Sung-Woon to expand his territory.
Even with all the Lizardmen and the other species combined, the population under Sung-Woon’s rule was lacking in numbers, and it would be tiring for Sung-Woon to defend against the other three players. Moreover, Crampus and Lunda could organize a rebellion and retaliate against Black Scale in the meantime.
‘And even if I defeat the other players, Hegemonia is on the other side of the continent. I’ll eventually have to fight them, but I don’t want to encounter them after exhausting my troops to that degree.’
That was why Sung-Woon had suggested Crampus to surrender. If Crampus’s troops were preserved, his three outposts would keep the other players in check. While Sung-Woon worked on internal affairs, they would serve as a buffer zone between him and Hegemonia.
‘But Crampus was speaking as if he didn’t know the result of the fight between me and Lunda. They’re still allies, though. There’s only one explanation for that.’
Sung-Woon saw through Lunda’s intention. She had lied and downplayed the extent of damage she had undergone in order to protect herself, keeping the truth from Crampus. Sung-Woon was able to infer what Lunda was thinking.
‘If that’s the case…it’s going to be more entertaining for me.’
While Sung-Woon pondered in silence, Crampus asked, “Is that all you have to say? Why did you block our Whisper Conversation requests until now and suddenly decided to make contact?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“Anyways, if you’re making a formal request for me to surrender, my answer is no.”
“Alright. I’ll think about it and contact you again.”
Crampus grumbled once the conversation ended. And whenever he talked, flames burst out of his mouth.
“I don’t get what he’s thinking.”
“Haha. I tried to stop you, didn’t I?”
Lunda replied with a laugh, but she could feel cold sweat drenching her back.
‘Has he noticed?’
Lundar said, “Crampus, I’ll be back after taking a look at my troops. It’ll only be a moment.”
“Okay. I should also check Deimerit’s fortification to prepare for the siege.”
Lunda returned to her land and then requested for a Whisper Conversation with Nebula.
For a good while, she didn’t get any response.
‘Please accept.’
Once Sung-Woon finally accepted the request, Lunda swore, “Hey, you son of a bitch! What is it that you want?!”
“What is there to get angry about? I’m the one who should be upset by the sudden pincer operation you launched.”
“But you weren’t attacked yet, were you?”
“Almost getting attacked is still upsetting, isn’t it? Anyways, if you called me to have a verbal spar, I’m gonna hang up. I’m busy. Bye.”
Sung-Woon ended the call just like that.
Lunda fumed and requested another Whisper Conversation.
“Huh, what’s the matter?”
“I’m not your friend. Don’t act like that towards me.”
Sung-Woon was amused by Lunda’s attitude when she was the one at a disadvantage, but he didn’t mention it since he wasn’t offended or upset. It was natural for people to be generous when they were in an advantageous position.
After barely calming her anger, Lunda asked, “What do you want?!”
“Can you speak slowly without shouting?”
Lunda suppressed her desire to scream.
“…Okay. You asked Crampus to surrender, and when you saw that he didn’t simply accept your request, you ended the call, right?”
“So?”
“What’s your reason?”
“I realized there wasn’t really a need for him to surrender. I was going to end things by getting all five players to surrender. We’d have a temporary truce, and I’d receive some material resources. Now, however, I thought it would be better to destroy the two countries and conquer all the land even if it’s gonna be so much work for me.”
Lunda regained her composure after hearing Nebula’s plan.
“Then the battle would get too large for you to handle. You wouldn’t be able to protect your borders because your population is too small at this level of development.”
“Perhaps that’s true. But there’s another way to negotiate. I can take over Satyrs’ land and give Renards’ land to the other three players.”
“That won’t be easy. Not everyone wants to see a big country emerging.”
“I don’t think so. The peninsula, the wilderness, and the northern coast are small compared to the center of the continent. Just because I take a bit more land doesn’t mean someone will complain. And I think the other three players would be happy since new land will practically be falling onto their laps.”
“…Ugh.”
The plan Sung-Woon was speaking of in a relaxed manner wouldn’t be easy to carry out, but it wasn’t impossible.
“But it’s also true there are lots of ways to infiltrate a bigger land. What if Crampus and I start a rebellion? The other players might attack you during the chaos.”
“Oh, have I ever made that promise?” .𝒎
“What promise?”
Sung-Woon replied, “Did I ever say I would keep you and Crampus alive?”
Nebula’s image was cemented in Lunda’s head then.
‘He’s crazy.’
Players were often unconsciously generous and kind towards their opponents since an alliance victory was a thing in The Lost World. Some would say those tendencies had to be abandoned to get to the top, but operating under the rule of reciprocity didn’t necessarily put a player at a disadvantage.
Lunda swallowed and said, “…That’s a threat.”
“It’s not necessarily a threat. I just listed one of the things I could do since you were curious.”
“You just said ‘one of the things you could do,’ right?”
“Yes.”
“Which means you’re also considering other possibilities?”
“I might.”
“Then I’ll go back to my first question. What do you want?”
Sung-Woon immediately replied, “Information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Information on the Renards and Crampus.”
“Okay, that much is…”
“And information on the Trolls.”
Lunda furrowed her eyebrows.
Wisdom was the god of the Trolls. He was the player with the biggest force out of the other three forces in the center of the continent.
“Nebula, I think you must have misunderstood something. I’m not Wisdom’s ally.” 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜
“But weren’t you thinking of becoming his ally soon?”
“…Why would I break off with Crampus and become allies with Wisdom, who is hostile towards us?”
Lunda asked while feigning nonchalance. Sung-Woon replied, “In the long term, your alliance with Crampus would become unstable because of the damage you’ve undergone from the failed attack. And you didn’t tell Crampus the truth or actively offer support. Instead, you hid the extent of losses you’ve suffered.”
“Ugh.”
“And that’s why Crampus asked what I meant when I asked him to surrender. You clearly had something else in mind. If you were looking for another ally, it would be either me or Wisdom, whose territories border yours. And you would choose Wisdom over me because I am your enemy and wouldn’t be of actual help. Am I wrong?”
Lunda tried to think of another excuse, but she was so embarrassed by her getting exposed that she couldn’t think straight.
“That’s…ahem, let’s say you’re right.”
“I am right.”
“But you don’t know if Wisdom will form an alliance with me. I can surely give you information about the Renards and Crampus, but other than that…”
“I think you keep misunderstanding what I say.”
“What?”
“I’m telling you to form an alliance with Wisdom and get the information. It’s not my business how you go about it.”
It took a while for Lunda to wrap her mind around that. She knew what Nebula meant right away, but she needed time to accept the fact that she had to do such a thing.
“Are you telling me to not only get information from Crampus, but also approach Wisdom and actively get information out of him?”
“Did you just get that?”
Lunda growled. Her teeth were revealed, and wrinkles formed on her forehead as she shook the video chat window.
“Son of a bitch, don’t be ridiculous. That’s not an alliance or anything close. I would just be a pushover. What makes you think I would agree to such nonsense? You seem to consider yourself superior just because you’ve won once. Do you want me to show you a dirty fight till the end?”
“That’s not it. It’s not only because I won.”
“What are you saying?”
Sung-Woon pointed at Lunda’s face with his index finger.
“Lunda, your lies are the problem. I don’t have to do anything else. I can just tell Crampus the truth about our battle, and tell Wisdom to not form an alliance with you because you’re a liar.”
If that happened, Crampus would break his alliance with Lunda and find a way to survive alone, and Wisdom wouldn’t accept an alliance with Lunda because she couldn’t be trusted. Then Lunda would have to survive by herself with only a Divinity level of 5, while the others in the center of the continent had a Divinity level of 8 or 9.
“Do whatever you want. I’m never going to cooperate with you.”
“Are you really…”
Lunda cut Sung-Woon off by ending the video chat. And she thought about her plan going forward.
‘Let’s think. There will be a way. There must be.’
Below Lunda’s floating figure was the capital of the Renards, Minain. It was far away from the borders, so there were no signs of fear among the Renards about the coming war. It seemed that the messenger sent to announce the Renards’ defeat hadn’t made it to Minain yet. Going in and out of houses made of logs, the Renards worked and conversed with each other. And at a small shrine, a Renard prayed. It wasn’t a prayer about the war, but rather a prayer thanking God for allowing the Renard, who was a carpenter, to safely finish their work of the day.
Lunda’s Faith points went up by one.
‘…Damn it.’
Lunda requested a Whisper Conversation with Nebula again.
Sung-Woon calmly asked, “Are you done thinking?”
“…I’ll work with you.”
‘There’s no other choice. If I let my emotions get the better of me, I won’t have another chance. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll do whatever he wants for now. He likely doesn’t trust me, so he won’t ask for more than he already did, will he?’
If Eldar knew what Lunda was thinking, they would have told her that was a big mistake.
Sung-Woon then asked, “First thing first, let’s hear about the information on Renards and Crampus, shall we?”
***
Crampus laughed at the ridiculous sight of another Whisper Conversation request from Nebula.
“What did you say?” asked Crampus.
“Let’s end the fight.”
“After everything?”
Sung-Woon replied, “To be honest with you, there are lobsters in one of my areas, and they’re making a fuss again. Things will be troublesome for me if I don’t go back.”
That was a lie.
At the center island of the archipelago, Lubo the Astacidea had just become the Island Lord and was drunk on fruit wine imported from across the sea. He was singing a song praising Black Scale while waving his claws.
“Ha, you’re backing out now that you’re at a disadvantage, aren’t you?”
“Well, I don’t think you would gain much from fighting me either.”
“Even if we wipe out your army?”
“Do you think the Satyrs would be fine then? The other players won’t leave you be.”
“You seem a little too brazen for someone who’s offering a truce first.”
“Because we’re on the same level.”
Sung-Woon then smiled, but there was no way for Crampus to see it due to the mask on his face.
Sung-Woon added, “There are two of you, right? I guess you two would need to come to an agreement. Think carefully,”
After the conversation, Crampus discussed the matter with Lunda. Not only did Crampus oppose the truce, but he also said that they should quickly attack Sung-Woon if what Sung-Woon said was true. Lunda managed to stop Crampus from doing so by telling him that it might be another trap. And she urged him to accept the truce while saying that the other players were making suspicious moves. Crampus responded that he needed to at least get something from Sung-Woon if they were to have a truce, but Lunda didn’t want to get on Sung-Woon’s nerves, so she tried her best to change Crampus’ mind.
‘Asshole, you didn’t have to talk about the lobsters. Pretending that you’re at a disadvantage only made me more angry when I’m the one who has to convince Crampus.’
Lunda was fuming with rage, but there was nothing she could do. She had put herself in this situation. No matter the cost, she had to stop the truth of the battle from being revealed.
***
In the dining hall in Automation.
The four waterwheels, the pride of Automation, were operating outside the open window. And those in the dining hall didn’t make a big deal out of them now. Everyone in their seats were familiar with the sight.
Sitting at the head of the table, Hwee-Kyung asked, “The battle ended?”
“Yes.”
It was a Satyr merchant that replied.
The Satyr merchant continued to say, “My son just arrived this morning, and he said that the Lizardmen army were on their way to Automation.”
“I didn’t think such information would get to me before the Black Scale messenger even arrived.”
“Well…merchants are everywhere, aren’t they?”
Hwee-Kyung nodded.
And that was why she had merchant representatives from all over the country seated in the dining hall. This organization was established recently, but its members had already benefited from the war between Black Scale and other two species. They had spread false information among the merchants that the Lizardmen army was at Automation.
Hwee-Kyung then said, “Why don’t we pray before starting the actual meeting? Everyone has their token, right?”
All the merchants answered and nodded.
Hwee-Kyung and the merchants took small bronze metal tokens from their inner pockets and held them in one hand.
The tokens were the shape of a beetle, symbolizing the Blue Insect God.
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮