A vast wooded area south of Ipylos.
　Thick clouds hang in the heavens, and a pitch-black darkness, completely blocking out the light of the moon, dominates the world.
　In the middle of such a forest, countless tents crowded together and countless bonfires lit up the dark night.

I'm not sure what to say. I have a word for you, the head.

　A man appeared in the tent like a shadow, kneeling down on one knee in front of Ryoma.
　Without seeming to be surprised by the appearance of such a shadow, Ryoma looked at the map spread out on his office desk and asked, "Is there anything wrong?

'Did you find anything wrong?'

No, sir, everything is as instructed and we can begin at any time if the master of the house orders us to do so.

　It's a good idea to have a few words to get to the point.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that Jinai's work is very fast.

No, this is all due to your house's intrigues.　

　The moment he heard the shadow's words, Ryoma's expression distorted for a moment.
　Even though his face was covered by a mask, judging from the shadow's voice, he was in his mid-thirties to forty-something years of age.
　Ryoma wasn't so brazen as to be able to be unconcerned with receiving unleashed praise from a man much older than himself.
(Demon conspiracy, huh? That's quite an exaggerated expression.......but I can't deny it to my face......it's difficult)
　Considering what's going to happen in the future, the people at the top can't carelessly show weakness.
　Ryoma will continue to have to order them to perform their death-defying missions.
　But that doesn't mean it's really dumb to say thank you back to the shadows.
　After thinking about it for a while, Ryoma silently cowered a small shoulder in response to the shadow's words that made his ass itchy.
　Because there are situations where a silent attitude is far more eloquent than a poorly worded reply.

　Ryoma placed the black piece on the map of Ipyros.
　Among the 10 small white pieces, only one of the black pieces had a small flag with a gold and silver two-headed snake, the emblem of Baron Mikoshiba's family, hanging on it.
　Dozens of pieces placed on the map. Each one of them signifying an army of hundreds to thousands.
(Shall I have Elena-san abandon Tristron's defenses and move them to capture Ipylos...)
　There are three colors of the pieces on the map: white, black, and an unpainted wood-grained object.
　The black represents a friend, the white represents an enemy, and the wood-grained piece represents neutrality.
　It goes without saying now that the black pieces are the fewest number of pieces placed on the map in such a situation.
(No, if we just want to win this battle, calling Elena-san to Ipylos is possible.......but thinking about the future with the situation now that we've successfully planted a bomb in Ipylos.......it's a poor plan. (Considering that Lupis of King's Landing may be sending reinforcements to Count Salzberg, it would be better to leave it there as a precaution.
　Tristron, a city west of Roselia. A few black pieces, large and small, are placed on it.
　It's the largest force in Roseria, exceeding the number of troops placed in the royal capital Piraeus.
　Of course, it is true that if you add up the pieces placed in the main lords of various regions of Roseria and in the territory directly under the royal family, the number of black pieces is overwhelmingly small, but the advantage of the troops placed in this Piraeus is not only its military strength.
　A secret agreement has already been made between Ryouma and Elena.
　The fact that Ryoma placed a black piece on Tristron is proof of this, but the number of people who know about this fact is extremely limited.
　Naturally, Lupis and those in the vicinity who don't know about this will calculate Elena as their ally when they think about their future strategies.
　For both offense and defense, Elena's role as a pawn will be of great significance.
(The question is whether reinforcements from the royal capital will come or not... for now, we've released secret reconnaissance to probe Lupis' movements... but I guess we should still drop Ipyros here at once.
　All of Ryoma's strategies are basically quite fluid.
　He doesn't stick to the success or failure of a single strategy, but controls the risk by having multiple strategies in progress at the same time.　

He said, "Thank you for your help, but please call Mike. After that, go to Jinai and tell him to start the next plan in the morning in three days' time. We'll move in response.

"As you wish.

　The shadow gave a small nod to Ryoma's life as he continued to stare at the pieces on the map, and then let the figure melt into the darkness again.