Chapter 285 Honourable (3)
Thud.
Even before Basil pushed the door of the room where the Legion Commanders meeting would be held open, it was opened by someone else. It was Cassandra, who thought Basil didn't get the news.
Technically, Basil wasn't informed of the urgent matter, however he had been informed to immediately come to the city hall. He had taken a little bit of time to come there, thus Cassandra was worried that the call didn't manage to reach him.
"Thank goodness, I thought my subordinate had failed to deliver the news." Cassandra sighed the moment she saw Basil. "Ah, I am really sorry to interrupt your reunion with your friends, but—"
"Let us talk about it inside." Basil put his hand up. "The time is moving—we can't spend it uselessly here."
"Very well. Please, come inside, Head Commander." Cassandra let Basil and Iliana pass through.
Upon entering the room, all of the Legion Commanders who were sitting inside immediately stood up to greet Basil alongside their Vices. Basil lightly waved his hand, and all of them immediately sat down.
Everything happened so naturally, it made some of the Legion Commanders, who hadn't quite gotten used to Basil's abnormalities, wonder if this was actually Basil's first time being a Head Commander.
"Let us talk about what they are actually planning." Upon sitting down, Basil immediately addressed the matter he hadn't been informed yet. "Has the other side just gotten their reinforcement?"
"That is... Yes, they have." Glenn was as amazed as he was freaked out. He didn't expect Basil to be able to guess what had happened. "They got an extra 20,000 Monsters on their side."
"So, that makes this fight 30,000 against 60,000," Basil mused. "It won't be easy, but victory is a sure thing."
"Pardon?" Every Legion Commander in the room looked at Basil in bafflement. "Are you sure about this, Head Commander?"
"Hoh? You lot have the opposite reaction to your soldiers." Basil lightly frowned. "Are you that sceptical about our victory? Should I fight on my own to show how wrong you are?"
"Ah, no, Head Commander. We were just surprised you said that so confidently." Glenn scratched his head as the others nodded their head. "Considering our circumstances... It is quite touching that you still hold such confidence towards our soldiers."
"What kind of Commander doesn't believe in his subordinates?" Basil clicked his tongue in distaste. "They look up to you and follow you because they believe in you. For you to doubt them... It is no different from spitting on their trust."
The other Legion Commanders widened their eyes in realization and shame. Basil looked at the scene neutrally, but he was smiling inside—he had achieved what he wanted.
Basil was someone who believed in absolute individual's power. For him, as long as it wasn't the person he cared about, a man who possessed the strength of a thousand had more worth than a thousand people.
He thought nothing of teamwork—he had forgotten how to cherish teamwork ever since he had lost his soldiers in his past life. Then after Iliana died, he completely forgot how to trust his life to others.
What he had said to the Legion Commanders—the compassionate, seemingly genuine words he had said were nothing more than empty words. He believed not in a single thing he had said, because he couldn't believe anyone but himself.
Given the role of the Head Commander, Basil, who had fought by himself for more than a decade, could never trust his life to the people he was going to lead. Therefore, he needed the Legion Commanders to believe in the soldiers in his stead.
That was the reason why he had delivered them such a heartfelt speech about camaraderie. Even though he didn't really mean it, the way he had delivered it had still managed to provoke something the in the Legion Commanders' heart.
"To even forget such a thing after a decade of being in the Royal Army... How embarrassing!" One of the Mage Legion Commanders shook her head. "Thank you for reminding us, Head Commander." she looked gratefully at Basil.
"We will always keep your words in our mind!" Cassandra added with a sure nod.
"Well, it's good that you have already regained your spirit." Basil calmed the people down once he saw they had regained their optimism. "Let us talk about how we should battle the Monsters."
"Ah, that's right. Kuhum!" Glenn stood up then glanced at his Vice briefly. "Our scouting squad has reported that there are at least 300 High Minotaurs and 1,200 Minotaurs on the other side. There are also..."
He relayed everything that his scouting team had reported in detail, and that made everyone in the room frown. The composition of the Demon army was a little bit more overwhelming than they had expected.
By the time he finished relaying what he had to relay, he immediately looked at Basil to see his reaction. He had expected Basil to, at least, have a quirked eyebrow, but he was pleasantly surprised when Basil didn't show much reaction.
The next discussion was about the strategy they should use to win the battle, and surprisingly, Iliana was the one who stepped forward this time, unlike the last time.
She explained the strategy she had concocted a few minutes earlier that she was sure had a very high rate of success, and it baffled the people how she could think of it in such a short time.
"Stop looking at me like I'm a freak. You are just too stupid to think of this solution," was what she said when she had gotten irked by the people's gaze.
By the time the meeting came to an end, the Legion Commanders wondered about who Basil and Iliana actually were.
They suspected that the two of them were actually the illegitimate children of the Emperor due to their brilliance, but the silly thought was immediately discarded since Basil didn't even inherit a tiny bit of the Emperor's physical trait.
... They would have believed the otherwise, if that hadn't been the case.
"Pardon me if this sounds rude, but what are you going to do, Head Commander?" Cassandra asked respectfully.
"The Legion I am commanding is consisted of Mages. They are not going to fight in the front line, and therefore I can leave them to Iliana." Basil glanced briefly at Iliana, who was clicking her tongue in dissatisfaction. "I will fight on my own."
"Despite the situation... Are you sure you are still going to fight on your own, Head Commander?" Glenn asked carefully. "I don't want to underestimate your capability, however, I think it is better to let us support you."
In response to that, Basil smirked lightly then leaned forward. "Should an adult be afraid of getting hurt in the fight amongst babies?"
Basil wasn't exuding his Mana pressure—he was merely staring straight at Glenn, but all of the people inside the room, aside from Iliana, felt pressured. They felt like Basil was staring right at their soul.
Basil scoffed scoffed lightly as they gulped in astonishment and slight fear, then turned his gaze to the door of the room.
Bam!
The door was opened just a few seconds after Basil laid his eyes on it. Everyone's eyes immediately turned to the opened door, and there, they saw a Knight of the Royal Army panting heavily with a fear-stricken face.
"C-Commanders... The Monsters... T-They are attacking!"
"What?!"
The Legion Commanders immediately stood up in shock, whereas Basil merely looked at the Knight calmly. He even had the leisure to wonder why none of them didn't predict such an easily predictable occurrence was going to occur.
Like Basil, Iliana was also calm, however she couldn't help quirking her eyebrow at Basil. He was too calm for her taste, so she wondered if Basil was behind this.
Of course, Basil didn't have any role in the sudden advancement of Lucilla's army. The reason why the army moved a little bit faster than what they had expected was because the Legion Commanders' misconception.
Although they had spent decades fighting Demons, the Legion Commanders, after all, had never fought the Demons who grew up inside the Obelisk prior to the Outbreak—they didn't know how crazy the Demons were.
They possessed more stamina and much faster regeneration than the Demons who had been kicked out of the Obelisk. For them, even fighting restlessly for a week straight was not an issue.
This was the reason why the Legion Commanders had miscalculated the time of their advancement.
"Put this on." Basil gave Iliana a golden armband with a lion symbol colored in red on it. "You will need this to make your status as a Vice Commander clear."
"The color is too bright for my taste, but luckily it's just an armband." Iliana lightly smirked at Basil. "Sucks that you have to wear the coat."
"I don't have to make myself more stand out than I already am." Basil waved his hand lightly. "I just have to put this insignia on my shirt."
He showed Iliana the Head Legion Commander badge he was holding in his hand. Iliana clicked his tongue at that, and it was Basil's turn to smirk.
Flash!
The Legion Commanders who had been too panicked to remember that Basil was also in the room, remembered him late. As soon as they turned their head to Basil to ask for confirmation, they could only see the disgruntled Iliana.
"Don't ask me where he is... He is already in the frontline." Iliana sighed faintly in annoyance. "He will stall some time for us, so move your arse. I won't let every single one of you live if he dies because of your tardiness."
"U-Understood!"
The Legion Commanders and their Vices were just as astonished as they were bewildered. They were utterly amazed by the fact that Basil had just teleported to the front line, but they wondered why he had to choose someone as scary as Iliana as his Vice.
Also, who, in their right mind, would go to the front line facing thousands of Demons by themselves? Only Basil.
While Basil indeed went to the frontline by himself, he, however, didn't do that because he really wanted to stall them some time. He had received a transmission from Chester a few moments earlier, and he was curious about its content.
Chester, after all, had sent the transmission in a special way, so he believed the content must be unusual enough for it to be sent that way.
[Basil, my student. I, your beloved teacher, may or may not lose my life today. There is a rat amongst us, and you are the only person I can trust ... Charles Blois has infiltrated one of the Sacred Grounds.]
True to his expectation, the moment he listened to the message, its content was baffling enough to make him widen his eyes.