After finishing a “hearty” breakfast, Astreia stood up, still savoring the taste, her expression a tangled mix of reluctance and responsibility as she pulled Wendy along toward the military council chamber.
Pushing open the heavy oak door, a unique scent—a blend of iron rust, leather, and tension—rushed out to greet them.
At the center of the room, a massive Round Table was already surrounded by female officers clad in various types of armor.
A huge Military Map hung on the wall, marked clearly with red and blue arrows and symbols, showing the positions of their own forces and the Orcs.
The moment Wendy followed Astreia inside, the previously subdued murmurs came to an abrupt halt.
Dozens of gazes, sharp as searchlights, turned in unison to focus on him.
Contempt, disdain, anger fanned by rumors, and a hint of curiosity toward the “peerless beauty”—a mix of emotions pressed down on him, making it hard to breathe.
Clearly, last night’s Bathhouse Incident and the Secretary’s Demotion had already spread throughout Sunset Fortress.
Wendy noticed that there were no empty seats left at the Round Table, except for the Commander’s Seat, whose back towered above the rest.
Astreia, oblivious to the subtle and tense atmosphere, led Wendy straight to the crowd and introduced him in a loud, clear voice, “This is Prince Wendy Black of the Cavalier Kingdom. He holds a vital strategy that can defeat the Orcs.”
With that, she turned naturally to the side and gestured, “Wendy, sit here.”
“……”
Wendy looked at the Commander’s Seat Astreia was pointing to, then glanced at the officers’ faces—which instantly darkened even further—and couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
‘My dear Princess, did you trade your social sense for your bust size?’
‘Are you trying to have me sit on a volcano the moment I arrive, and perform a launch on the spot?’
He certainly wasn’t naïve enough to think Astreia’s endorsement alone could help him gain a foothold among these iron-blooded women.
With that thought, Wendy did not walk toward that burning-hot seat.
Instead, he skirted the Round Table and went straight to the enormous map, speaking calmly, “I’ll keep this short. On my way to being captured by the Orcs, I happened to overhear their conversation—their Wolf Riders are on their way to reinforce Sunset Fortress.”
Before he finished speaking, the entire council chamber erupted.
“Wolf Riders?!”
“How is that possible? Didn’t we just drive their vanguard back?”
“Is this information reliable? This is no joke!”
The officers furrowed their brows, whispering among themselves as a wave of suppressed panic swept through the air.
“Silence!”
A sharp command cut through the noise, quelling all discussion instantly.
A woman in heavy, scarred armor, an old eyepatch over her left eye and a hawk-sharp right eye, shot up from her seat.
She didn’t look at Astreia, but fixed her gaze firmly on Wendy.
“Boy, are you sure your information is accurate?”
“To spread panic and report false military intelligence is a capital offense in Sunset Fortress!”
Here it comes!
Wendy’s heart stirred. Drawing from his Witch’s Conquest memories, he instantly recognized her.
General Sera George, the true anchor of Sunset Fortress—loyal, iron-blooded, rigidly practical, and wielding a mighty warhammer.
“General Sera, I swear on the honor of the Cavalier Kingdom’s royal family and my life.”
Wendy’s tone was calm and resolute.
He traced his slender finger across the map, finally pointing at a winding mountain pass.
“This narrow ravine is the only route the Wolf Riders can take to reach Sunset Fortress. If my intelligence is correct, their vanguard will reach the mouth of the pass by tomorrow evening at the latest!”
Wendy dared to stake his life not because he truly heard anything in the prison wagon.
In the game’s plot, the fox tribe priestess Sara among the Orc vanguard was cunning to the extreme.
Knowing that a frontal assault on Sunset Fortress would be costly, she requested the Great Chieftain to send Wolf Riders—not to storm the fortress, but to use their mobility to quickly sweep through all the nearby human villages.
It was harvest time.
If Sunset Fortress lost its supply lines, its daily reserves would last less than a month before it would fall without a fight.
It was this ruthless strategy that forced Astreia, in the story, to leave General Sera to hold the fortress alone while she took Wendy—the “Key”—to retrieve the deadly Holy Sword.
Unfortunately… General Sera ultimately couldn’t escape being tainted by a corrupted Astreia, becoming the bravest Grand Marshal under the Witch Empire.
Back in the game, Wendy had pulled an all-nighter just to defeat this boss—an experience still fresh in his mind.
Hearing “by tomorrow evening,” the officers’ faces changed completely.
Discussion broke out again, but this time, it was much more practical.
“We have to send people out to harvest grain immediately!”
“It’s too late! We should set up more caltrops and traps at the mouth of the pass to slow their advance!”
Watching Astreia and General Sera fall into deep thought, clearly weighing the pros and cons, Wendy chose this moment to throw out a question that would set the room alight.
“Ladies!”
His voice was not loud, but it carried clearly to every ear.
“Has no one considered taking this chance to annihilate the Wolf Rider reinforcements in the gorge?”
At those words, the room fell silent.
A few seconds later.
“Pfft—”
General Sera burst out laughing, as if she’d just heard the funniest joke.
Her lone eye was filled with contempt and mockery.
“I thought, since Her Highness valued you so much, you’d have some real talent. Who knew you were just an utter fool with no grasp of military affairs!”
“Engage the Wolf Riders in open battle? Utter nonsense!”
Astreia’s face also grew grave as she hurried forward, lowering her voice to persuade him, “Wendy! That’s impossible! Even in a narrow pass, human troops gain no advantage over Wolf Riders!”
“To fight Wolf Riders, you must not only attack the Orc knights, but always guard against the dire wolves beneath them—beasts far faster and stronger than any horse. Against Orc infantry, our knights might use charges and formations to win, but when facing Wolf Riders… our only option is to defend behind the walls.”
“If we fight them in the field, no matter how many times, even if we kill their commander, the result for our army will always be disastrous defeat!”
Wendy watched their fearful expressions, clearly shaped by bloody losses in past battles with the Orcs.
But…
“Who said I want to fight them in open battle?”
Wendy tilted his head slightly, a sly glint in his peach blossom eyes.
“My homeland, the Cavalier Kingdom, was destroyed precisely because we relied on our cavalry and foolishly chose to face the Orc main force in the open, leading to total annihilation.”
“How could I not know how dangerous the Wolf Riders are?”
These words stunned both Astreia and Sera.
He wasn’t just boasting—he truly understood the peril.
“Then what do you mean?”
Astreia and Sera asked in unison.
Their eyes were full of confusion, but also a flicker of hope.