The next morning.
Dian Wei came to my tent from the early dawn.
“Thanks to you, I’ve become our lord’s personal guard. Thank you, Elder Brother.”
I had no idea what change of heart had occurred overnight, but Cao Cao had made Dian Wei his guard.
It seemed she still didn’t have an official military post, but what did that matter?
She had become one of Cao Cao’s personal guards. Who cared about rank?
“That’s good. Our lord seemed to want to keep you with me, but you’re a bit too good to be attached to a mere ten-man captain.”
“I don’t know why you’re still only a ten-man captain after accomplishing such a great deed, but… hurry up and rise.”
“Rise…?”
“…?”
“You didn’t add ‘Elder Brother’ at the end.”
“You’re younger than me….”
As the price for losing our duel, Dian Wei had to properly call me “Elder Brother” every time.
A crease formed between Dian Wei’s brows.
Still, the world of contests was a cold one, and besides, I wasn’t the one who had suggested it first, was I?
Dian Wei bit down hard on her lower lip and huffed in frustration, then added in a very small voice.
“…Hurry up and rise, Elder Brother….”
“I’ll think about it.”
“……. As expected, this won’t do. Let’s fight again, Ziwen.”
“Why would I?”
“…….”
I had to tease her for at least a month.
“Come to think of it, you’re calling me by my courtesy name now too.”
“That’s because I thought ‘Li An’ was your courtesy name. It’s common sense to call someone by their courtesy name, Elder Brother.”
“Then what’s your courtesy name?”
“I don’t have one.”
“…….”
“I… don’t have one, Elder Brother….”
When I stared quietly at Dian Wei, she added the words as if humiliated.
By the way, she didn’t have a courtesy name? As far as I knew, Dian Wei’s courtesy name was definitely “E Lai.”
“If you don’t have a courtesy name, can I give you one?”
“Do as you like.”
“How about E Lai?”
“Hmm….”
“For reference, those twin iron halberds of yours. Their name is the E Lai Twin Iron Halberds.”
“Is that so? Well, fine. From now on, call me E Lai.”
“Got it, E Lai.”
Dian Wei seemed rather satisfied with the courtesy name E Lai, raising the corners of her mouth as she nodded.
“E Lai (惡來) is a strongman who appears in the classics, often cited as the very embodiment of strength. It is quite a fitting epithet for a fierce general.”
A languid, dreamlike woman’s voice came from behind me.
“Huh…? A-a woman…?”
Dian Wei looked back and forth between me and Xun You.
Before long, as if she had reached a certain conclusion, her face turned bright red.
“……. Should I keep it a secret from our lord, Elder Brother?”
Was she talking about the fact that I had recruited Xun You?
“Hmm….”
“Do as you wish, Lord Ziwen.”
“Is there any need to keep it secret?”
“…All right. I’ll be sure to tell her very well, Elder Brother.”
Dian Wei nodded, burning with fighting spirit.
“Oh, right. I should introduce you too, shouldn’t I? Say hello. This is Gongda, the strategist who’ll be in charge of our army’s brains from now on.”
“I am Xun You, Gongda, and I have come to serve Lord Ziwen.”
“……I am Dian Wei, E Lai. I guard our lord in Cao Cao’s army.”
“You seem to be rather close with our Lord Ziwen.”
“Our Lord Ziwen…?”
Dian Wei frowned and continued.
“You, on the other hand…. To think you share a bed with Ziwen. I was truly shocked.”
“Huh?”
Something was strange.
“Dian Wei, just in case, you’re not misunderstanding the relationship between Xun You and me, are you?”
“A man and woman came out of the same bed, and you call that a misunderstanding? I’ll tell our lord very well that Ziwen is… that Elder Brother Ziwen is a libertine of the worst sort!”
‘So that’s what you meant by keeping it secret….’
“It really is a misunderstanding, so don’t think anything useless.”
“Hmph! In any case, the morning military council will begin soon, so I came to fetch you. Let’s go.”
At Dian Wei’s words, I looked at Xun You.
How should I explain Xun You…? Would it be better to talk about her separately later?
“Hehe, please go on. I will take a brief look around the camp.”
Xun You seemed to have read my thoughts and spoke with a smiling gaze.
“Then I’ll be back.”
***
A short while later, in the council tent of Dongwuyang’s military camp.
When I entered the meeting room, Cao Cao’s key military officers were lined up, waiting for her.
“Hmph… To think you couldn’t even arrive the earliest, and yet a mere ten-man captain comes this late!”
The woman beside Xiahou Dun snapped the moment she saw me.
White bobbed hair down to her shoulders and a fiery temperament.
On top of that, her features bore a subtle resemblance to Cao Cao’s.
Even without exchanging names, I could tell who she was at once.
“From next time on, I will come early, Lord Zilian.”
“Hmm? You know me?”
“Of course. How could I not know Lord Zilian, our lord’s second cousin and a fierce general?”
“A-ahem! Well, that is true! Mm-hmm!”
“When our lord fell into danger at Xingyang, you said, ‘It matters not if I, Zilian, am absent from the world, but our lord must not be!’ and encouraged her, then used your wits to save our lord from peril. It was truly moving!”
It really was a moving story.
After all, in the Xingyang battle story, it had given a full two hundred yuanbao.
“You… you…!”
Cao Hong’s pale face flushed all at once.
Then she snorted sharply and strode up to me in one breath, grabbing my shoulders with both hands.
“You’re a fellow who understands! My life is something I can cast aside for our lord at any time! Hahaha!”
Cao Hong, who had been glaring at me as if she would devour me just moments before, now grinned from ear to ear and laughed without pause.
“You, what is your name, ten-man captain?”
“I am Li An, courtesy name Ziwen.”
“Good, Ziwen! Your eloquence flows like clear mountain water! You have quite the eye as well, and such magnanimity to smoothly receive a superior’s rebuke! You must be a talent. You’re far too valuable to remain in the position of a ten-man captain. Have you any thought of coming to my contingent? I promise you generous treatment!”
Cao Hong looked at me with shining eyes.
“Then will you appoint me as a Dubo?”
“A Dubo? Of course! Hahaha!”
…Not bad.
I opened the quest window before my eyes.
[ Dubo (都伯) Promotion ]
[ Description: Prove your value to Cao Cao once more and become a Dubo. ]
[ Objective: Soldiers’ trust 25/50 (Incomplete), merit 6500/15000 (Incomplete) ]
[ Reward: 1000 yuanbao, SR-grade equipment box ]
‘I think I can achieve the merit somehow, but what in the world is this trust supposed to be? It wasn’t even in the game…’
The military merit required to go from ten-man captain to Dubo was 15,000.
And then there was the unknown condition called trust.
If I became part of Cao Hong’s contingent and was promoted to Dubo, didn’t that mean I could skip all these conditions?
“Zilian, leave it at that. Ziwen is mine.”
“M-my lord!!”
Cao Cao’s voice sounded from behind me.
Cao Hong, startled, let go of me and hurriedly lowered her head.
“O-our lord is entering…!”
The guard at the entrance of the tent came running over in a fluster and shouted loudly.
Since Cao Cao had already entered the meeting room, I wasn’t sure what use it was, but judging by the guard’s sweaty, panicked face, Cao Cao must have barged into the tent without a word.
Cao Hong, who had been holding her head high arrogantly just moments before, shrank back and returned to her place, and I too stood where Dian Wei indicated with her eyes, remaining still until Cao Cao took the seat of honor.
“Zilian. Can’t you guess why Ziwen, who is merely a ten-man captain, has entered the military council?”
“M-my lord…!”
“If you had any thought…, if you had even the slightest awareness, you would have realized it at once!!”
Cao Cao flared up like fire.
Cao Hong said something in a crawling voice, but I couldn’t hear it.
“Hmph. If you hadn’t carried out your task in Juancheng splendidly, I would have driven you out at once. Conduct yourself properly, understood?”
“Y-yes, understood!”
Cao Cao climbed to the seat of honor and sat down with a dry cough, and all the generals straightened in unison before taking their seats.
I too sat at the lowest seat and watched how the military council unfolded.
“The reason I have convened today’s council is because we have obtained extremely important information. Xi Zhicai! Bring the map of Yan Province!”
“Yes, my lord!”
Xi Zhicai flicked his folding fan, and soldiers brought in the map.
“After interrogating the prisoners, we have accurately determined Yu Du’s base.”
Cao Cao came down from the seat of honor and, before everyone’s eyes, firmly pointed to one part of the map.
“Until now, we believed Yu Du was in Dunqiu. But that was wrong!”
Cao Cao moved the spot she was pointing to the right.
“Yu Du’s true headquarters is in Neihuang!”
Cao Cao looked at Cao Hong and continued.
“Cao Hong! How many soldiers in total did you recruit from Juancheng?”
“Six hundred infantry!”
Three thousand against a hundred thousand….
Against an ordinary enemy, it would have been an utterly reckless battle, but if it was Cao Cao’s army against the Black Mountain bandits, that was a different story.
“As you all know, the enemy numbers one hundred thousand, while we number three thousand.”
Cao Cao looked at the generals with a fierce gaze.
“But there is no need to fear. The enemy force we believed to be one hundred thousand was an inflated number, and in truth, it is not even thirty percent of that—only twenty-five thousand!”
Cao Cao fixed her gaze on me and spoke.
“This information was all obtained thanks to Ten-Man Captain Ziwen annihilating the mountain stronghold of Mount Ximu with only five men!”
Cao Cao grinned.
“I’ll say it once more. You truly did well, Ziwen!”
“I merely fulfilled the duty entrusted to me.”
I clasped my fist and bowed my head as I had seen in dramas.
“Now that we know both the enemy’s base and their total troop numbers, all that remains is to attack! With five hundred cavalry and two thousand infantry, we will raid Neihuang and take the head of the Black Mountain bandits’ leader!”
At Cao Cao’s bold declaration, Cao Hong stepped forward in concern.
“But, my lord…! No matter how ragtag they may be, the enemy outnumbers us by tenfold!”
Another military officer added weight to Cao Hong’s words.
“Zilian is right. If Yu Du notices our army’s movements and attacks Dongwuyang, we are highly likely to lose our base and be defeated in battle!”
When Shi Huan voiced his concern, the other generals, as if given an opening, each began offering opposing opinions.
“Would it not be better to defend the city and protect Dongwuyang instead? Like the old Yellow Turbans, most of the enemy are peasant soldiers. If we shut the gates firmly and hold out, they will have no way to take Dongwuyang!”
According to the system’s information, every general voicing an opinion was from Dong Commandery.
That bald man with the loudest voice was even from Dongwuyang itself.
‘So that must be the Dong Commandery faction…?’
Was this what Cao Cao had meant last night when she told me about the factional struggle?
Despite the Dong Commandery faction generals’ barrage of concerns, Cao Cao maintained her composure and did not lose her smile.
Then she looked at me, raised the corner of her mouth, and wore a mischievous expression.
What was this? Why did I suddenly feel a chill…?
“Ziwen!”
Sure enough, Cao Cao called my name with a smile while looking at me, and the eyes of all the generals focused on me.
“The concerns of the commanders gathered here run very deep. Since this is precious information you risked your life to obtain, you too have the right to speak.”
What on earth was she trying to make me say?
“So speak, Ziwen. Between attack and defense, which is the better plan?”
Cao Cao’s red eyes gleamed.
Was she seeking an answer, or was she asking me to lend her support?
“If I must choose between the two….”
But whichever it was, the answer had already been decided.