Guild Boss's Ambition

Corvina pointed to a blue dotted line on the map and slowly explained, "The blue dotted line represents the high elves' leveling route. This mission only requires attacking this leveling route located on the northeast side of the Panlong Forest. From the high elves' perspective, the forest will provide them with cover, and the enemy will have difficulty finding their convoy."

Nodding to show that he understood, Meng'er pointed to a solid line on the map and asked the question in my mind: "What about these thick dark green arrows? Do they represent the marching route of the high elves?"

"This is indeed the marching route of the high elves, but it is only our guess based on past experience."

Corvina shrugged and replaced the tobacco in his pipe with new one while answering, "As the saying goes, all is fair in war. There will definitely be many unexpected situations in the deployment of troops at that time. In addition, in order to prevent the high elves from seeing through the situation, our military will naturally not make all the deployment of troops public. In other words, this map is really just for reference."

"Okay, I understand." Meng'er continued, "Can I borrow the general list of war missions to read?"

"Of course, I was going to give you the whole book."

After handing a book as thick as a finger to Meng'er, Corvina also began to think of leaving: "Regarding the war mission, President Ehard can study it slowly within this week, and then send someone to the Adventurer's Association to inform them of the selected mission. Now that the war is approaching, every second counts. Please forgive me for not being able to stay for long. I will take my leave for now."

Meng'er immediately withdrew his gaze from the book, touched his chest and saluted in return: "Mrs. Caesar, you are too kind. Please leave if you want."

After saying goodbye, Corvina said nothing and immediately gathered his soldiers and guards, and walked out of the stone house through the main gate. They were seen walking into the Tree of Life Guild opposite in a mighty procession. They probably really wanted to visit all sixty-four adventurer guilds today. Just by calculating the time it would take to travel the distance, one could tell that the phrase "every second counts" was not an exaggeration.

but……

Now is obviously not the time to sympathize with others' hard work, as our own situation in the stone house is also very difficult.

After briefly reviewing the contents of the task list, Meng Er stood in front of the adventurers and said loudly: "I believe everyone has a preliminary understanding of the current situation. As for the selection of war tasks, this president will discuss it with the task appraisers and other relevant personnel of our association. As for everyone present, I hope that everyone can conserve their energy and prepare to meet the various challenges that are coming."

The implication is that a closed-door meeting will be held, and the other unimportant people can do whatever they want.

However, the picky adventurers rarely had many objections to the arrangement made by the Miss President. They simply asked a few questions that were neither offensive nor constructive, and then they dispersed in the lobby very cooperatively. After all, because of this sudden war, they had some personal matters to deal with on their own.

So, taking advantage of this time, we also cleared the documents on the desk and assisted Meng'er to move the meeting location from the lobby to her president's room on the second floor, which was quiet and vacant of other people.

The president's office is not very big and can't accommodate too many people.

Most of the poster girls were asked to leave by Meng'er, including even Berlani and Gushan.

Among the poster girls, only Annie and I were kept by her.

Apart from us, only Ebisu and Raftan were allowed to attend the secret meeting. If Bai Ye had not left without permission, there should have been one more think tank on the scene. Although Ebisu and his men were not unreliable, I had no confidence that a matter of life and death like a war mission could be decided by just five people.

But even if we have no confidence, things are already imminent and we have to be brave enough to try.

Moreover, Hai Lao and Annie are considered experienced people here.

They have spent most of their lives in Mopolis, and are said to have survived nearly ten wraths of nature.

When it comes to selection tasks, that is of course our Hai Lao's strong point.

In the heavy atmosphere, Hai Lao read Corvina's task list for nearly fifteen minutes. Then he raised his wrinkled eyes and said coldly: "Covina's suggestion is half right and half wrong."

"What do you mean?" asked Miss Paladin.

Hai Lao pointed to the red route on the strategic map and explained, "The high elves are not stupid, so how could they not take good care of their own food and grass? Even if the troops guarding the food and grass are not the main force, their number will not be small. And with the superior talents of the high elves, the guards accompanying them will at least be a combination of silver-level to gold-level warriors, and there may even be platinum-level and legendary-level elites."

At this time, I took the opportunity to pick up the task list that Hai Lao put down and took a closer look at it.

After flipping through a few pages, I offered my own opinion: "Ei Lao, what do you think of this mission to subjugate high elves? Although the target is 400 high elves, there is no specific requirement on the level of high elves. In other words, we can just pick on the weak ones, right?"

"You little bastard, you have been following me for so long, what on earth are you learning?"

As soon as he heard my speech, Hai Lao immediately slapped me on the back of my head and scolded me, "This is war time! The high elves will not be scattered like the monsters in normal times. They will mix the strong and the weak into different teams. Once a battle occurs, it is the overall combat power that matters, not the individual combat power."

Raftan nodded in agreement and shot another arrow at my injured heart: "Besides, the coordination between the high elves must be much higher than that of our guild. To put it bluntly, the current situation of our guild can be described as a mob. When we command them in battle, whether they can understand the orders will also be a problem."

At this time, Meng'er, who has a high-level knight's education, also joined in the fun, and completely shattered my self-confidence: "Letting 600 rabble challenge 400 high elves is simply like an egg hitting a rock. Just thinking about it, you can tell that this will not be only the gold level of difficulty. Did the appraisal technicians of the Adventurer's Union receive money from the military to classify us like this?"

Hai Lao forced out a disdainful expression, snorted coldly, and said: "Of course there are problems with the Adventurer's Association. I have read the entire task list, and there are only two tasks suitable for our guild. The first is the food and grass destruction task suggested by Corvina, and the second is the garrison support task for Luluga Village."

"The garrison support mission for Luruga Village?" Meng'er asked.

Ebi further explained: "The so-called garrison mission is to transform our adventurers into soldiers and turn them into an independent combat team. Then they will obey the orders of the local battlefield commander to carry out various strategic missions. Taking the mission in Luluga Village as an example, our service time is one week, and the reward is 90,000 gold coins."

I was so frustrated that I immediately asked, "Ebi! I have a question! Since the military is full of evil guys, how can we be sure that the battlefield commander will not use all our adventurers as cannon fodder?"

As a result, I was once again caught in a situation where I was attacked from three sides.

Ebi fired the first shot: "As a battlefield commander, they certainly hope to have as many soldiers as possible. Unless necessary, they will not send us out as cannon fodder. Once we find that we are being used as cannon fodder, we can temporarily apply for withdrawal, pay a small amount of liquidated damages, and turn to complete other war missions -"

Raftan fired the second shot in a tactful manner: "In fact, most of the middle-level officers of our Light Alliance are great knights with a strong sense of honor. I believe that those great knights would never betray the kindness of others even if they were beaten to death. If they really did such a bad thing, the morale of their subordinates would be greatly reduced, and even voices of doubt would arise."

Meng'er also smiled and added: "Actually, Xiaolan, the reason I asked you to stay here is so that you can observe and learn. If you deliberately ask questions that are not in the same field as others, I will probably kick you out to save time!"

"..."

Having said that, I had no choice but to shut up.

"Miss System, why are these indigenous people so strong? Where is the time traveler cheat?"

……

……

15. Griffith

(Mener-Ehard)

The situation is very bad.

From Corvina's attitude, it can be seen that the war is really going to break out early this winter.

Our guild is facing a huge crisis. We have to rush to complete ten war missions at most. Even just one war mission is a very serious decision. If we fail miserably, the entire guild will be wiped out. Even if we are not completely wiped out, if the first result is not satisfactory, then my leadership as the overly young president will be questioned.

"Ebi, tell me what you think about those two missions."

In the Stone House, Ebi is the one who is most familiar with the wrath of nature, and he is an expert in this area.

Contrary to the initial impression, he is a capable man who can be entrusted with important responsibilities.

He quickly gave an organized analysis of my question: "In short, it's a trade-off."

"The grain truck burning mission in Corvina will bring us the most ideal outcome, that is, the grain truck never appears within the time limit. We can pass this mission directly without triggering any battles and get a huge bounty. At the same time, even if the grain truck does appear, we still have the opportunity to adopt certain strategies and successfully achieve the mission objectives with fewer casualties."

Raftan interrupted and said, "This must be very difficult. The high elves are not goblins. They will not be without means of defense."

I also deeply agree: "When we try to scheme against them, they are likely to scheme against us."

Hai Lao continued indifferently, "Compared to that, the garrison support mission of Luruga Village is an acceptable option with relatively stable casualties. In the past ten years of Nature's Wrath, Luruga Village was attacked by the High Elves' detachments because it is a location that is conducive to regional control and is a strategic location that must be attacked but is not in a hurry."

This is a dilemma.

The former is a way that can save everyone but has greater risks, while the latter is a stable and conservative method that will definitely result in casualties. Because there is no specific data reference, it is impossible to use the expected value that Xiaolan mentioned to calculate the efficiency of the two, but I must make a choice. Indecision will only kill the entire guild in the end.

According to the information provided in the mission book, the army of high elves will appear in our territory in about five days.

In other words, if I could make the decision right now, we would have five days to prepare for our mission.

"Raftan, which one do you think is the best choice for us?" I asked.

"I don't think the war will end anytime soon. We must ensure that after the first battle, we still have the leadership credibility to command the adventurers. The latter's garrison support mission will be a safe approach." Miss Paladin answered pointedly.

At first my first thought was Raftan's idea, but when I really wanted to make a decision, it was like a big egg stuck in my throat, making me unable to speak and making me realize my hesitation.

Although theoretically everyone has disregarded life and death after signing the "War Mercenary Contract", combat and human life are not entirely a cold and indifferent game of numbers. They are richer and more delicate, making me unwilling to give up any of them. My eyes are gradually fixed on the page of supply destruction mission, wanting to seek the most perfect ending in danger.

Hai Lao is familiar with me and understands my thoughts. He smiled and said, "It seems that the young lady has made the final decision?"

I nodded blankly and murmured, "I hope everyone can come back alive."

"I knew you would make such a decision. You have the blood of an adventurer flowing through your veins."

Hai Lao shook his head and chuckled, his eyes carrying a stern warning: "But this will never be an easy task. Luck will not always be on your side. You must be mentally prepared to face the consequences of failure. You may bear the worst infamy, you may lose most of your followers, or you may even lose an entire stone house."

I answered firmly, "A gambler who dares not gamble will never win."

Hai Lao licked his lower lip and forced out a greedy smile: "All or Nothing."

Next, we had a detailed discussion on the grain burning task in Panlong Forest.

Since the entire mission would only last one to two weeks, we only needed to rely on the storage space in the space ring to bring sufficient supplies, thus saving a lot of discussions about supplies. We could focus on discussing the specific marching routes and the battle plan for burning food. Through rational discussions that were neither fast nor slow, we had a strategy that was close to being complete that night.

"Okay, let's end this pre-war discussion for tonight."

After Annie wrote down the discussion process in detail, I closed the task list and said, "Everyone go back to your rooms to rest and sort out your own affairs. I will report the results of tonight's discussion to everyone tomorrow morning. I'm sure there will be some doubts by then. If necessary, I will ask you, Raftan, to help explain."

"You are too polite, President Ehard." "No problem, I am just working for you, Miss."

After a few pleasantries, Raftan, Ebisu and the others began to leave my president's office one after another. When Sister Anne also stepped out of the door, I suddenly remembered something and hurriedly called out to Xiaolan, who was the last one to leave.

"Wait, Xiaolan, stay here, I have something to tell you."

"What's wrong? Meng'er."

I don’t know since when, but this girl’s way of addressing me has been downgraded from Sister Meng’er to Meng’er.

Could it be that the favorability has dropped? That would be terrible.

"Call me Sister Meng'er, okay?" I pulled her cheeks and scolded her.

"Meng--Yi--Zi--" she said indistinctly.

I nodded with satisfaction, let go of her cheek, and looked carefully at the black-haired girl. I felt that she was still as cute as ever, and had not changed at all because of the coming of the war.

I sighed and asked, "Xiao Lan, do you know the meaning of war?"

The little girl rolled her eyes, shook her head and said with a smile: "I have never experienced war, how can I know."

Seeing her bright smile, I couldn't help but become more worried.

I pressed her shoulders hard and said in a serious tone: "People will die in war. It will take away those people who live around you every day. Everyone may die, even me."

"Sister Meng'er?"

Sensing that something was wrong with me, the little girl gave me a puzzled look.

I let out a long breath and said with awareness, "You were there just now, so you should know that I will personally go out with Raftan and the others to carry out this war mission. That is to say, I will step onto that ever-changing battlefield and fight those high elves. I may return with my enemies killed, or I may die on the battlefield, so I must make some arrangements for the future of the Stone House."

That's right.

I let Xiaolan stay so that I can prepare for my own funeral in advance.

"Sister Meng'er, I..."

Realizing my intention, Xiao Lan was a little confused, but she finally matured and agreed solemnly: "Okay, okay, whatever you want to say, just do it all at once. I will help you convey it to everyone. Of course, it's best to write it down in black and white, so that no one will believe my empty words."

"Once I write my will, I'll hide it at the bottom of my closet," I said with a smile.

"Eh? Isn't that where you put it?" Her face immediately turned red.

"Haha, this gives you a chance to recall the past, doesn't it?"

"You really want to tease me even if you want to die..."

I stroked the little girl's black hair, put away my joking expression, and said seriously: "If I unfortunately die in battle, the Stone House will be in chaos. Even with the assistance of Raftan, Bai Ye and Hai Lao, Berlane, who has no martial arts skills, will probably not be able to gain the trust of those troublemakers. I'm sure she will soon be sidelined by them and lose most of her command power."

"So, Sister Meng'er, what are your plans?" she asked with a frown.

I hardened my heart and answered through gritted teeth, "If the above situation happens, you will temporarily hand over the control of the Stone House to Corvina in the Snake House, and then make every effort to find my grandfather Griffith to come back and take charge of the situation. If you really can't find my grandfather, you will have to wait until the war is over before you start rebuilding the Stone House."

"Ok, I see."

She agreed seriously, and then asked, "But why me? Meng'er, why don't you entrust this matter to Hai Lao or Annie? I believe they will be more suitable to handle this matter than me."

I reached out to grab the skull pendant hanging on the little girl's chest and explained, "I don't want too many people to know about this, and you have Bai Ye's protection, which means you are the least likely to get into an accident. Of course, just in case, I will set up double insurance, and I will also inform Hai Lao about this matter, and he will stay in the stone house with you."

Looking at Xiaolan's cute little face, I couldn't help but feel guilty for my long-standing selfishness.

At this moment, I finally understood why ViVi and Bai Ye always said that I was the most dangerous person to Xiao Lan.

If it weren't for me, this little girl might not have stayed in Mopolis. She might have stayed in other places in the Alliance, attended classes in a colorful academy, and lived a happy and safe life, instead of witnessing the impending war and cruelty at such a young age, or even putting her own life in danger, hanging by a thread by the butcher's knife of the high elves.

After I came to my senses, I reluctantly said to the girl:

"Xiao Lan, if you want, you can live away from this city after this war."

But the girl was startled for a moment, then smiled:

"Silly boy, when did you get the illusion that I didn't stay here voluntarily?"

I was speechless in response to her reply. I could only hold her in my arms and let her listen to my heartbeat.

Regardless, I am really grateful for her companionship over the past few months.

……

……

16. Love in Letter (Blannie)