Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 835: Plan of the Military Intelligence Director I

CH835 Plans of the Military Intel Director I

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“I am aware of that much,” Alex nodded. “I am currently designing, through Orion, a new type of drone that will make both energy honey production and genetic material extraction far more efficient.

“The new drone will essentially function as one enormous stomach. Carcasses—at least those around the size of a human—will be fed into it whole, allowing the entire digestion process to take place out of sight. It should make the whole process considerably less disturbing to witness.”

“That does sound better… if only by a little,” Zora admitted.

Wanting to steer the conversation towards something more palatable, Zora shifted her gaze back towards the tunnel from which the Stronghold Army had emerged.

“By the way, you never did tell me how you found this secret passage. The last report I received about it didn’t list this tunnel among the smuggling routes uncovered after the Castin… ‘incident’,” she inquired.

“Well, we have Udara to thank for that,” Alex replied, a smile finding its way onto his lips.

“I didn’t know about it either until she completed her investigation. Udara interrogated every surviving member of the five Castin families to verify the information her unit had gathered from the clan estates.

“I heard she received some advice from you on how to use OmniRune to process large amounts of data,” Alex said.

“Yes,” Zora confirmed. “She saw how combining my OmniRune access with the Domain Server made my work significantly easier, so she asked me to teach her.”

Alex nodded.

“Well, she applied the same methods to analyse the recovered documents alongside the survivors’ testimonies, searching for inconsistencies. And she found some.”

“Apparently, the Dunn Clan had hired miners to excavate a tunnel at a location that was deliberately kept hidden from them.

“The miners were rendered unconscious before and after every shift, so they never knew where they had actually been working. The pay was generous, and the Dunn Clan was influential enough that no one dared question the arrangement.”

He continued, “Unfortunately for the Dunns, Udara managed to track down every surviving miner and had each of them recount every detail they could remember.

“Individually, none of them knew very much. However, each remembered small details that, when combined, formed pieces of a much larger puzzle.

“With OmniRune’s processing capabilities, Udara was able to piece together all of the fragments and gradually narrow the possible locations within the domain down to this very place.”

“Once we knew where to look, it was simply a matter of waiting for the right opportunity to make use of it.”

Alex rested his forearms upon the battlement and gazed out across the blood-soaked landscape stretching before him.

Even though the air was still thick with the metallic scent of blood, Alex found an odd sense of peace in the scene before him.

“Ideally, I would have preferred this battle to happen a little later—preferably after we’d established a route back to Pangea. However, Udara changed my mind,” Alex suddenly said.

“Up until then, I hadn’t realised she could be even more ferocious than I am when provoked.” He glanced sideways at Zora with a quiet chuckle.

Then he turned back towards the battlefield and continued.

“Udara pointed out a major flaw in my original plan. I had left all the initiative to our opponents. That wasn’t like me at all. So, instead, she proposed an alternative strategy.”

“Ever since she assumed the position of Director of Military Intelligence, Udara had been sending agents into the Frontier Stronghold disguised as vagabonds—or, in some cases, manipulating genuine vagabonds into delivering carefully crafted misinformation.

“The intelligence they carried concealed the true progress of our domain by reinforcing the Stronghold’s existing prejudices and confirming everything they already believed about this territory from before our arrival.

“She even asked for my permission to make my apparent young age a recurring point of discussion, using it to reinforce a dismissive narrative regarding both my strength and my ability to govern a domain. The entire objective was to encourage the Stronghold to lower its guard,” Alex revealed with a chuckle.

“She intensified the operation even further after the Stronghold’s ambassador visited us. Based on the groundwork she had already laid, she deduced that the Stronghold Commander would be predisposed to distrust the ambassador once the latter returned carrying a report that conflicted with the beliefs Udara had carefully nurtured.

“It also didn’t help that I had planted just enough doubts in the ambassador’s head that the man would now reject the narrative peddled by the Stronghold. When the man shows these doubts overtly—then well…”

“Silver tongue…” Zora murmured under her breath.

Alex heard the comment.

He considered responding for a brief moment before deciding it was wiser not to encourage that particular line of thought.

Instead, he continued.

“As a result, the ambassador’s attempts to dissuade the Commander and the Stronghold from taking hostile action against us would have the exact opposite effect. They would only become even more determined to strike. And the aftermath of the beast tide presented the perfect opportunity for them to do exactly that.

“All Udara had to do after that was continue sending a few well-timed ‘vagabonds’ to relay exactly the kind of news the Stronghold wanted to hear, and an attack became all but inevitable,” Alex concluded.

He paused for a moment before continuing his explanation.

“In such a situation, especially after confirming that the Dunn Family Head and his closest aides had fled to Mirador City, we were able to narrow down the possible routes a hostile force could take to attack us.

“Given their greed for the ores within the Ashwell Mines, it wasn’t difficult to predict that this would be their chosen target. And of all the smuggling routes Udara uncovered, this one was not only the closest to Ashwell, but also the route the Stronghold would naturally assume to be the most secure.”

He began counting off points on the fingers of his right hand.

“Her plan gave them the why, the how, the when, and the where to attack without the Stronghold’s officers realising it.

“Udara’s strategy guided their minds to both a motive and an intent to attack, while simultaneously narrowing down the opportunity and even the location they would ultimately choose for said attack.

“From beginning to end, they danced in the palm of her hand.”

Alex grinned with unmistakable pride.

Zora could only sigh as she shook her head.

Moving beside her husband, she rested her forearms upon the battlement.

“She used to be so innocent. You’ve completely corrupted her,” she said.

“I prefer to think that I simply brought out a side of her that neither she nor anyone else knew existed,” Alex countered jokingly.

“What now?” Zora asked.

“What do you mean?” Alex replied.

“Don’t play coy. It doesn’t suit you.” Zora gave him a sidelong look.

“The two of you didn’t orchestrate something this elaborate for the sake of a single battle. Knowing you, you probably added even more layers to the plan so that it could accomplish multiple objectives at once. You must have something else in motion.

“Otherwise, Udara wouldn’t be absent from all of this when, according to you, she was the one who planned it in the first place.”

“You’re right.” Alex nodded, a faint smile appearing on his face.

“I did make a few additions to Udara’s plan after she opened my eyes to the flaw in my own. But I only did so because I wanted to use her strategy to gauge the reactions of certain individuals sitting comfortably in their ivory towers while watching the events unfolding in this region.”

The smile on his face remained.

It was a cold smile.

Shaking his head, Alex abandoned the cryptic approach and answered his Ice Empress’s question directly.

“All of this is merely Phase One of the plan. Indeed, this isn’t the end—you could say it’s simply the means to reach it.”

He looked out towards the battlefield once more.

“Thanks to the Stronghold attacking us first, I now possess the legal justification for retaliation.”

“You’re a Pioneer Knight. You’re not allowed to—”

Zora suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

A look of understanding spread across her face.

“I see…”

“So that’s what you’re after?”

***