Chapter 406

Preparations on the Vardmoi Side
We immediately began taking action to defend the city of Vardmoi.
Specifically, Marquis Vardmoi was in charge of gathering troops and supplies, while I handled the construction of the defense network through the Kiblinki Saltas and the surveillance of the enemy camps located to the north and east.
These operations were carried out secretly—or rather, so quickly that preparations were completed before any information could leak to the enemy.
Yeah, even I’m impressed with how fast it went.

“… And so, it seems that Viscount Melt is at the northern encampment, while Marquis Morogawarde is stationed at the eastern one.”

Right now we were sharing the enemy camp intel gathered by Kiblinki Saltas and their team.
It only took them two days to dig this up—amazing.

“I see. So the forces are divided between two camps. And their troop strength?”

“Viscount Melt has about five hundred, and Marquis Morogawarde has about two thousand.”

“I was hoping to learn about the types of troops as well… but I suppose that’s too much to ask.”

“They apparently saw horses, so there must be cavalry, but it looks like they didn’t get the exact number.”

“That’s understandable. What we have is more than sufficient. The question now is when they plan to attack.”

“Should we try to dig a little deeper?”

“I’ll leave that to you. In the meantime, I’ll begin constructing a field encampment.”

Hmm, so instead of making our stand inside the city of Vardmoi, we’re building a forward camp and intercepting them there.
Probably to minimize the impact on the civilian population, right?
I agree with the plan—and I’ll help out with that too.

As a result of our intensive intelligence work, we determined that the attack would come in five days.
For the record, we have full access to the enemy’s information, while they haven’t gotten a single piece of ours.
With the Kiblinki Saltas’ help, we’ve set up an extremely thorough surveillance net both within and around the city of Vardmoi.
We’ve already captured all enemy spies.
So, our side sees everything, while theirs sees nothing.
That’s the situation right now.
Those enemy nobles must be feeling seriously stressed.

“The construction of our defense encampment is more or less complete. Also, I’ve sent out a request to the adventurers to help defend the city.”

“Huh? I thought adventurers didn’t participate in battles like this?”

“That’s right. They can’t be conscripted. But if they volunteer, there’s no problem—especially when it comes to city defense.”

I see. So adventurers *can* get involved when it’s about defending the city.
That means I can help too, right?
I *am* an adventurer—and a resident of this city!

That said… I guess I’ll need to convince Plum and the others first.
That part’s going to be a little tougher.

What do you think about this chapter?