I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

The next day.

A sudden emergency summons was issued to all the ministers of the Litel Kingdom.

The reason was that the kingdom of Lilliput had suddenly declared war on them!

I heard the news in Ichika’s room and nodded in satisfaction.

‘Oh, Ga-eul Sunbae chose the right answer?’

The most crucial part of this Gulliver’s Travel Quest was, without a doubt, the giant.

Letting the giant starve to death was the worst route.

Raiding the national treasury to feed the giant was the second-worst route.

And the best route was to start a war first and feed the giant with the enemy’s horses.

Of course, no matter which option was chosen, the giant wouldn’t die.

Because before the giant starved to death, we would have already invaded the Lilliput Kingdom.

In that case, the giant would naturally fight on the side of the Lilliput Royal Palace.

‘Actually, the second route would have been fine too.’

If I hadn’t brought Ga-eul Sunbae along on this quest, it would have automatically defaulted to the first route.

The route where the giant starves because the ministers refuse to feed him.

In that case, the giant would be too weak from hunger to fight effectively, and the Lilliput Kingdom would suffer heavy damage.

But thanks to Ga-eul Sunbae’s correct choice, the quest became much easier.

Now, it was time for war.

What would Ichika and I do in that war?

‘Assassinate the Devil’s henchmen, of course.’

We would survive the crushing defeat and weed out the spies hiding in our army.

My lowly status as an extra would come in handy this time.

I was just a nameless foot soldier, so I wouldn’t attract much attention.

And even if I didn’t fight hard, no one would accuse me of being a traitor.

‘But in Ichika’s case, being a high-ranking member of the power elite makes it much harder to control her involvement······.’

On top of that, as the Minister of Magic, she had a significant role to play in the battle.

If we lost, she would be held responsible.

Ichika’s role as the Minister of Magic was new to me, so I had to think carefully about how to proceed.

However, my worries were unfounded.

My wish was granted far too easily.

“What!? Ichika, you’re not participating in this battle!?”

“······Yeah.”

Ichika returned from the Queen’s council of ministers with a sullen look on her face.

“What happened?”

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.

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‘What······. The hell······.’

I gaped at Ichika’s words.

Apparently, the queen was furious that a ‘small country’ like the Lilliput Kingdom had dared to declare war on the ‘great nation’ of the Litel Kingdom.

So, she immediately ordered preparations for war, but—

—She said that the Minister of Magic should sit this one out. It’s just a war against a small country, so there’s no need to use an expensive knife to kill a chicken.

With those words, the queen completely excluded Ichika.

As I listened to the atmosphere of the scene and the ministers’ remarks, I nodded in understanding.

‘Ah, this is that trope. The incompetent king who’s jealous of his talented and capable vassals.’

There were plenty of examples of that in history.

Incompetent rulers who were wary of their heroic vassals, who had the support of the people and great power.

It was a believable development when I considered the queen of the Litel Kingdom from the original game.

‘This is awesome.’

If the Minister of Magic was completely excluded from the war, Ichika wouldn’t have to take responsibility for the defeat.

Instead, the queen’s power would weaken because Ichika hadn’t participated.

In other words, I would assassinate the Devil’s henchmen during the war.

And Ichika could make separate preparations on her own.

Perhaps even preparations to end this story quickly!

As I pondered this, I looked at Ichika.

She had a grumpy look on her face, and her cheeks were puffed out with air.

She seemed quite displeased that she wouldn’t be participating in the war this time.

“Ichika.”

I smiled and pinched her puffed-up cheeks with my fingers.

Pffft—

The air escaped from Ichika’s pouty mouth.

“Instead of you participating in this war, there’s something else I need you to do.”

“······Something for me to do?”

“Yeah, can you use your shadow powers to gather all the information about this Litel Kingdom? Every single bit of it?”

At that, Ichika’s sullen face slowly brightened.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“But don’t overdo it. Your safety is the top priority. Got it?”

“······Yeah.”

Ichika nodded, her cheeks still in his hands.

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“How dare they! We must teach those fools who provoked the Litel Kingdom a lesson!!!”

An army of 50,000 strong stood before a woman with bright yellow hair tied up in a bun, her voice ringing out loud and clear.

I recognized her.

It was Elena, the instructor whom I had defeated in a sparring match not long ago.

“Let them know what it means to stand against the Litel Kingdom!” She shouted, her eyes red with rage.

‘She seems determined to avenge her loss in this battle.’

She seemed desperate to erase the stain of being defeated by a male trainee in a sparring match.

‘Oh dear, what now······.’

I sighed beneath my helmet, standing amidst the soldiers.

We were going to lose this battle.

Not just lose, but suffer a crushing defeat.

‘Well, it’s their own fault.’

Yes, if she had just accepted her loss to me and moved on, it would have been fine.

But after that, she kept trying to get me labeled as the Devil’s henchman, filing petitions and complaints.

However, all her attempts were thwarted by the power of the Minister of Magic.

So now, she was determined to make a name for herself in this war, even going so far as to offer bribes to secure the position of commander.

“Everyone, prepare to move out!!!”

While Elena was shouting herself hoarse, the atmosphere among the soldiers of the Litel Kingdom was surprisingly light.

“Hey, I heard their army is only 10,000 strong.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe they had the guts to challenge us.”
“We outnumber them 5 to 1.”

With such a huge disparity in numbers, it was hard to take the battle seriously.

‘But that’s about to change.’

The other side had a secret weapon—a giant who was hungry and still had his full strength.

“Charge!!!!”

At Elena’s signal, the 50,000-strong army began to move, kicking up clouds of dust.

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.

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“Umm, friend······. Why am I wearing this thing······.”

The giant sounded confused as he spoke.

A large red cloth had been draped over his head, and it took the combined effort of the entire kingdom’s army to sew together the curtains from the royal palace to make it.

Srrrrrrrrrr—

No matter how carefully he walked, the cloth dragged along the ground, kicking up dust.

Because of this, the Lilliput soldiers kept their distance, walking on either side of the giant.

“Hehe, giant. You don’t understand because you’re new to this, but showmanship is important. Showmanship.”

Ga-eul sat on the giant’s shoulder, clearly enjoying herself.

“Show······manship? What’s that?”

“Well, if you just appeared out of nowhere, the enemy might run away, right? And then they’d take all the horses you could eat with them.”

“That would be a problem······.”

Grrrrrrrrrr—

At the mention of food, the giant’s stomach rumbled loudly.

“I’m······hungry······.”

Soon—

The giant, with the cloth draped over his head, led the Lilliput Kingdom’s army into the plain where the Litel Kingdom’s army was waiting.

“······.”

The Lilliput soldiers swallowed nervously as they faced their opponents.

It was hard to grasp the magnitude of a 5-to-1 numerical disadvantage until you saw it with your own eyes.

But now, they could see the endless rows of soldiers stretching before them, and they knew the kind of battle they were about to face.

A woman with bright yellow hair tied up in a bun stepped forward, brandishing a spear and shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Soldiers of the Lilliput Kingdom! Hear the message from Her Majesty, the Queen of Litel! To those who dare to rebel against our great kingdom, today will be your doom!!!”

“Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

It was a declaration of war, leaving no room for compromise.

The Lilliput soldiers shrank back, their fear palpable.

Even with their secret weapon, the giant, they wondered if he could take on the entire enemy force.

The giant they saw was slow in speech and movement, and they remembered how easily he had been captured when they tied him up with ropes.

Their doubts grew as they stood there.

“Uuuuuuuuu······.”

As fear gripped their hearts and their teeth chattered, something unexpected happened.

Flaaaap—!

“······Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!”

The giant threw off the cloth that had been covering him, raising his arms high above his head.

And the Lilliput soldiers could see a woman with green hair standing on the giant’s shoulder.

‘······Wh, why is the queen here!?’

She wore casual clothes, like a commoner, and stood proudly atop the giant’s shoulder.

With a cold expression, she spoke.

“Soldiers of Lilliput! Follow me, and let us crush our enemies!”

As she spoke, a strange blue energy began to gather around the giant.

‘Hehehe! All the jewels of the Lilliput Kingdom are such high-quality magic stones! With this, I can fight too!’

“Okay, giant! Super-duper speed!!!!”

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud!!

At her command, the giant began to stomp his feet and charge towards the enemy lines.

“Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!”

And the soldiers of the Lilliput Kingdom followed suit, charging into battle behind the giant.