"Haah…Haah..haha."
'No time. No time. No time!'
Running through the battle, breath ragged, my eyes scanned the field, looking for it.
Chances were I'd never find it…but there was no choice. I needed to.
'Please let me be on time!'
Ignoring the protesting screams of my body, I continued looking. There was not even a second to spare for rest.
'No time.'
'No time.'
'No time!'
Ears still ringing from the explosion, the sounds of fighting fell distant to me. As if I was separated from the fighting by an invisible veil.
In a way I was..the fighting, the killing, hell, even the saving…none of it mattered.
None of it would matter…unless I find it.
I needed to find it.
Even with reading the novel, even with knowing information that should've been impossible to know…I was still too slow!
It was such an easy mistake to overlook.
This was the battle where the great General Thanason fell.
Only…no one knew how.
General Thanason
This exact battle had been taught to the MC.
He'd been told that the General Thanason had most likely been captured, and a dead body double was given as a replacement in a feeble attempt to trick the empire.
Instinctually, I had accepted the knowledge as fact. Accepting everything told to me by the novel as fact. It was my own secret supply of knowledge. My one edge over this world.
But if I had thought about it back then, really thought. I'd realise it made no sense.
In the novel, the empire had used minimal resources so far to squash the rebellion. They did it to undermine the entire rebellion's claims for independence.
Instead of it being treated as a civil war, which it was much closer to being, the Empire had been dealing it as a minor uprising instead deploying nowhere near enough resources to solve the matter.
If they had treated it seriously, it would've validated the rebel's claims to be an independent invading power.
In short…pride. It was all a matter of pride.
But that had changed with the death of the General.
He had been a real death, an impossible victory.
Nowhere near enough to cripple, but definitely enough that the Thoracen Empire had been forced to take proper action.
The rebellion had been ruthlessly crushed, even then, it took another year.
But during that time, if they had indeed captured the corpse of General Thanason, planning to use some dark magic to fashion it to their advantage.
Why hadn't he seen it?
Why hadn't the MC, and me conversely, had been taught about it?
The corpse of a former General being used to fight against his former Empire would definitely have been a subject brought up.
It would definitely have been used by the rebels….if they indeed had it of course.
But…what if they didn't?
What if the teacher had been wrong? What if the MC wasn't told the truth, because the truth wasn't known.
What if the body double was left behind by Thanason himself…
It wouldn't make sense to anyone…but of course it wouldn't right now.
Because the only people who could make sense of that plan would be the General and a few others….and me.
I could almost understand the plan.
Appoint a double, tell no one. Then sneak in and kill the enemy General by himself.
Because I knew very well how dangerous Walter Raleigh was. I was one of the few who knew who he really was.
In fact it was a testament of incredible skill and ability that Officer Mara and the other leaders were still standing .
Walter Raleigh. Former Spymaster of the Thoracen Empire. Little had been known about him during the rebellion. After all, his power worked off anonymity. Publicly he was an ordinary soldier, his position achieved more by nepotism than anything else.
However even then…it still didn't make any sense.
Because despite Walter Raleigh's abilities, there was no way he could take on a person like General Thanason.
In terms of direct combat power, Thanason would've won. He should always win.
'So why didn't he?'
The answer came to me immediately.
'Because Thanason was mistaken about Raleigh's ability. And because of that he fell into a trap.'
In the novel, Thanason had been 'captured' and the entire army had been suddenly surrounded.
No one knew how, there was no trace of magic being used to surround the army.
Unless…magic hadn't been used.
That was the final piece of the puzzle.
What if…it was just tunnels. Tunnels where because of the comet, I had seen Skelter's corpse fall through.
A simple, ordinary, plain tactic.
And one entirely without magic.
So if I was right, that meant I HAD to find it
Noah would only hold him off for so long.
The power of Walter Raleigh was rare. It was called Spymaster.
It gave him the ability to imbue high level assassin and spy techniques into anyone. He could turn a commoner into a high level assassin instantly.
With the ability, he also gained control over his 'spies', assigning various missions through his ability no matter where they were in the world.
It was truly a horrifying ability.
The fact that anyone from a lowly farmer to a proud knight could instantly become a spy. There was no need to have an army of well trained spies.
All you needed was one Walter Raleigh.
Yet the downsides of the ability were almost equally brutal. Failure to complete the mission activated the 'underground' protocol. The spy and spymaster would instantly lose the ability to wield mana for a certain amount of time.
I wasn't sure how long, but I knew it was for at least a couple days.
Thanason must've thought that by allowing himself a substitute of himself to be assassinated instead, Raleigh would undergo the punishment, thus dismantling any trap that could've been set for him.
But what if Thanason had been wrong.
What if the few who knew Raleigh's real abilities were all wrong.
Logically if I was Raleigh, forced to divulge the secrets of my ability, forced to say the truth. I would do what any great liar does.
Only tell them half the truth, and let their assumptions work for me.
What if, in truth, assassinating the wrong person didn't trigger the protocol? That only if the spy believed he had killed the right person, it would still count.
Or, what if missions set by the skill could be more than killing a name? Maybe it was, kill the Acting General overlooking the battlefield.
It was all I could think of.
Because, if I was right, that meant that Thanason's little trick wouldn't work.
He would walk into a trap off his own accord, believing he had the upper hand.
And the battle would be lost, with only a dead body double left behind where Thanason should've been. Exactly how history had recorded it in the novel.
There was nothing I could do against Walter Raleigh. Hell, I doubt I could beat him if he couldn't use magic.
But…that didn't mean I couldn't tip the scales.
All I needed to do was to tweak Thanason's plan, so that this time, it actually worked.