I Became a Strategist with 100 Intelligence and 100% Accuracy

The reason Lin Brance would lead such a massive army to invade here…

If I were to put myself in her shoes, all these speculations would hit the mark.

Their target was me. So, once they secure their goal—me—they’ll naturally retreat and vanish somewhere on the continent without bothering about this small nation’s ruler.

Why am I the target?

It’s embarrassing for me to say this out loud—but if I think objectively…

Apparently, our last meeting during the agreement left quite an impression on her.

Lin Brance had an insatiable desire for talent among rulers. It seemed she wanted to bring capable strategists working under minor nations into her fold. This assumption strengthened my prediction.

Another piece of evidence? The absurdly large army brought to attack this castle.

She must highly value me, thinking I might come up with some miraculous strategy again to turn the situation around. She wants to prevent that.

Unfortunately for her, the only thing I can do is make 100% accurate predictions.

In short, this is the best plan I can devise right now.

What I need to do from here is—

“Make everyone flee the castle, then surrender alone.”

This will temporarily cause the Lunarien Army to fall—but it’s not total destruction. As long as everyone survives, we can always regroup. Though I don’t know exactly how raising an army works in this world compared to games, this method is far better than dying and being unable to do anything.

“There might be a better way.”

A more brilliant strategy. Something no one expects, striking at their blind spot.

With Divinity 100, I wish ideas like that would just pop into my head, but they don’t. All I can do is perfectly answer questions.

Thus, this is the best I can manage for now.

“Alright.”

At least the puzzle pieces fit together nicely with three solid predictions. There’s no guarantee this is the correct solution, but there’s no time to overthink with the enemy approaching.

“Everyone.”

I finally looked around and spoke. I could feel the entire Lunarien Army waiting for my words.

I began explaining my plan slowly.

“We will lose this battle. But it’s okay. Even if we lose the battle, we can still win the war in the long term. For the future, now is the time to step back.”

“But there’s nowhere else to retreat to, right?”

“Attacking another minor nation isn’t very realistic either.”

After hearing Gustaf and Aaron’s opinions, I nodded.

“That’s true. We have no escape route. Given the non-aggression pact, attacking another country isn’t a good option. If we fight the Brance Army here, we’ll be wiped out 100%. However… if we abandon the concept of ‘nation,’ a way out will appear.”

“W-Wait… what are you saying!?”

“Our journey ends here—for now.”

“What do you mean ‘here’?”

“We will surrender to the Lin Brance Army.”

“!!!”

Tifa’s eyes widened dramatically before she shouted furiously at me.

“Hey, that’s not cool! You joined our army to support Lady Luna’s ideals, didn’t you?! And even if you surrender to Lin Brance, there’s no way she’d let Luna live!”

“Yes, I agree with Tifa.”

“D-Damn it!”

“I said we’ll surrender—I never said I’d erase the Lunarien Army from history.”

I turned to look directly into Luna’s trembling eyes.

“My lord, please flee with Tifa and Cain.”

“To where?”

“To the south. Seek refuge with the Karelia Army in the southern continent. Their ruler, Makana Karelia, has great virtue and will honor and protect you and your companions. Even if you leave later, she won’t hold it against you.”

Makana Karelia.

If this game has a symbol of order, she would be it. Her kindness and desire for peace rival Lady Lunarien Iniyan’s. In fact, I only learned about Lunarien Iniyan’s ideals after coming to this world; in the game, Karelia held this role.

Having spent 10,000 hours playing this game, I can confidently say that Karelia’s territory is the safest place for Luna to hide.

Karelia’s domain lies in the southern part of the continent, relatively balanced among powers, shielded by another nation from the Brance Army. It’s safe enough for concealment.

“Hiding away, we’ll wait for an opportunity. To preserve our lives for greater purposes in the future, there’s no other way.”

“B-But, Swoen…”

Just then, an unexpected voice interrupted.

“May I have a word?”

I turned to see who spoke—it was Cain. He looked more serious than ever.

Why now? For the first time, I felt like I was truly seeing the real face of Cain Nerksis, the old royal survivor.

“Swoen, when you handed me command of 1800 soldiers and told me to lead the vanguard, honestly, I could’ve questioned whether just trusting you was reasonable. But I didn’t. I didn’t want to oppose my lord, and frankly, even if Lunarien fell, I could survive under Brance or any other lord.”

I listened carefully.

“Looking back on the past few months, so many miracles happened. Following your orders brought wealth, impossible victories in battles, and two mercenary units pledged allegiance to us. I still don’t understand how you managed all this. But…”

Cain’s sunken black eyes were sharper than ever.

“Living here for a few months, seeing our formerly unfortunate people smile due to geographical disadvantages made me think. I decided I’d rather see Lady Lunarien conquer this continent, this world, than hide away. That dream grew stronger.”

Then he eyed me cautiously.

“To be honest, it seems to me like you’re using this as an excuse to switch sides to the Brance Army, abandoning our lord while handing over this domain’s gold, troops, and castle to them.”

“…”

“With your abilities, staying with this minor nation doesn’t seem as advantageous for your personal life as joining Brance. Am I wrong?”

“…Is that really true?”

Tifa gasped in shock at Cain’s words. Before I could respond, Luna defended me.

“That’s not possible! Swoen isn’t like that! Swoen…”

I raised a hand to stop her.

“My lord, allow me to explain.”

“…Swoen…”

Her silence confirmed her consent.

Cain watched the situation briefly before speaking directly to me.

“Rebuilding a fallen nation is extremely difficult. It could take years, decades. Plus, there’s no suitable territory left on the continent. Abandoning the nation and telling us to flee after surrendering?”

“You’re right.”

“This isn’t like asking me to repair the walls or assigning Tifa commercial duties in the market. Those things I could trust once without questioning. But not this. If you want to convince me, show me solid proof. Otherwise, I intend to stay and fight until the end. I can’t accept surrendering without resistance for some vague future.”

Proof.

Proof, huh?

Honestly, if I knew what the proof was, I wouldn’t be struggling so much. My two certain facts: “To avoid Lunarien’s downfall, I must leave,” and “Lunarien Iniyan will become the unifying ruler.”

My reasoning is based solely on these absolute truths, but telling Cain, “I have Divinity 100, so my predictions are always correct,” wouldn’t work.

So, how do I persuade him?

There’s something Cain likely believes: “I’m sacrificing this castle to curry favor with Brance and quickly secure a position.”

“The gist of what you’re saying, Mr. Cain, is that I’m giving Jeilrant’s gold, troops, and land to Brance to gain favor and settle there?”

“That’s right.”

“All yours.”

Everyone focused on my firm reply.

“What?”

“I’ll gather all the gold inside the castle and give it to you. Regarding the troops, except for those needed for evacuation, I’ll split the rest evenly between the Chirein Mercenary Unit and the Raven Mercenary Unit.”

Gustaf and Aaron, who had been silently observing, were startled by this sudden decision.

“Pardon?”

“Are you talking about our troops?”

“Yes.”

Handing over all our troops to the mercenaries.

That was my answer.

If we surrender in this game, the soldiers inside the castle naturally transfer to the occupying force. Given the game rules apply somewhat here, that’s likely the case. However, troops not directly tied to our army, like mercenaries, won’t transfer to Brance upon surrender.

Dividing our troops between the two mercenary units and retreating separately is the best approach.

Mercenaries rarely betray a side they’ve sworn to unless extraordinary events occur. Even in the game, mercenaries don’t betray first, though players can betray them, exploiting loopholes for clever plays. With my “Divinity 100” fully active, it’s logical to assume smaller rules also apply. These mercenaries will undoubtedly be powerful allies when Lunarien’s unification is inevitable.

“After this, Jeilrant Castle will be worthless—no troops, no gold. If this location had immense strategic value like Kelshtain Castle, it might be different. What do you think, Mr. Cain?”

“Th-This place…”

Cain couldn’t respond. After all, this land was insignificant—no notable talents emerged, the soil wasn’t fertile, no special products existed, and the population wasn’t large.

“If I truly wanted to impress Brance, wouldn’t I have schemed to use the gold and troops for something impressive instead?”

“No… actually…”

Cain’s expression changed. His vigilance slightly wavered.

“You realize, declaring surrender openly in an empty castle risks angering the ruler, right? It’s practically mocking the occupying forces.”

“Hmm?”

Is that all?

In the game, it was normal to grab all the gold, supplies, and troops and flee when defeat seemed imminent since we couldn’t hand them over.

But here, such actions are seen as extremely disrespectful. Carrying everything off would indeed irritate the occupiers.

“Even if you all fled along with me, maybe, but staying behind in an empty castle to greet the occupiers? That’s practically suicide…”

Hearing this, I realized—

“This is my chance.”

Right now, Cain probably sees me as someone taking a huge gamble with his life to impress Lin Brance. He likely doesn’t perceive me as a traitor.

“I’ll exploit that perception.”

I slowly began speaking.

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