"Lady Edith..." Ferlin reminded her in a hushed voice. "We just lost over 200 people. What major victory are you talking about?"
"Only... a little over 200," the Pearl of the Northern Region interjected. "What about the demons? 50 of them sneaked in the campsite, including a Senior Demon. They should be responsible for all the casualties of the First Army. It appears that we suffered a great loss at the first glance, but there are at least 2,000 casualties among the enemy on the defensive line, not to mention that this is just a very rough estimate. There were also numerous demons blasted to pieces when they attempted to flee. It may take a few days for us to obtain the exact number. Am I right, Miss Sylvie?"
"Well..." Sylvie said hesitantly, "That"s what the Eye of Magic saw."
"Ms. Agatha, I guess you"ve never been a commander in a war over the past 400 years, have you?" asked Edith as she turned to the Ice Witch.
Agatha"s brows were furrowed. She said, "During the Battle of Divine Will, it was mandatory for the witches in the Union to learn how to fight against demons. I used to be a researcher at the Quest Society and fought them once when exploring the ruins..."
"I"m talking about a war," Edith snapped, leaning forward while gazing at Agatha compellingly.
"Edith— " Iron Axe said, trying to put a pause on this awkward conversation.
"Why?" At that moment, Anna blurted out, jerking everyone back to the present. "Why do you ask her that? As far as I know, you were only a commander back in the Northern Region and shouldn"t have experienced a major war either."
This was a particularly tricky question that would have easily fanned Edith"s fury had it been put by somebody else. However, Anna communicated it in such a gentle and dignified manner that no one felt the question threatening.
Perhaps, the innocent and serious look in the azure of her eyes naturally calmed everybody down.
The glint in Edith"s eyes faded away. The next moment she placed her hand on her chest and replied quietly, "You"re right. I didn"t have war experience, but someone else here did..." She broke off and then continued, "From her look, I instantly know we won this battle."
Her?
The people in the room looked in the direction Edith pointed out and saw at the end of the long table, the representative of Taquila, Phyllis, sitting there in a daze, with a cup of tea in her hand, her lips curling up into a smile. Every now and then, she took a little sip of the tea as if savoring some tasty drink. This was not normal for the Taquila witches. As they had lost all the sensations, the pleasure of eating and drinking were denied them. Food was simply a basic life necessity to help them self-perpetuate.
Despite the fierce discussion, Phyllis was completely not paying attention to the meeting. Even though everyone was now staring at her, her mind seemed to still be somewhere else.
It was after Wendy pushed her in the back that she finally jerked herself out of the trance.
"Oh, so where were we?" The G.o.d"s Punishment Witch asked blankly on a cough. "I was thinking about something very important and wasn"t paying attention to your discussion. Well, does Your Highness have some questions for me?"
"..." There was an awkward silence.
It was surprising to see that an ancient witch, who had been living for 400 years, lie in the same fas.h.i.+on as mortals. Phyllis was clearly daydreaming, but she unblus.h.i.+ngly turned her lack of attention into a very poor lie that she was dwelling on some serious undertakings.
"Haha."
Somebody sn.i.g.g.e.red, and then everybody laughed. The tension in the room was immediately relieved.
"Looks like I don"t need reiterate my question now," Anna said while shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.
Edith rose, surveyed the room, and said, "The demons suffered a greater loss. They fled but we stayed. There"s no damage whatsover to Tower Station No. 1, so where does the talk of defeat come from? His Majesty once said to me that a loss means a failure to accomplish a predetermined goal. Apparently, the demons didn"t get what they wanted. I would even like to say that the commander of the demons made a very serious mistake."
"A mistake?" The people on the floor were all astounded at Edith"s conclusion. It did not seem to them that the ambush last night was a failure. It had been well planned out and successfully executed. The demons" accurate control of their magic power might not necessarily look very impressive. After all, they had been constantly upgrading their magic skills over the past thousands of years through numerous wars. However, their quick and effective reaction to firearms definitely said something about their learning ability, for there had been completely no communication between human beings and demons until the outbreak of the war at the Northbound Slope.
Everyone started to realize that the demons were nothing like any of the enemy they had encountered before. Although the demons had once almost eradicated the human race from Fertile Plains and destroyed the witch empire, n.o.body had personally witnessed that dust-laden history. The past thus gradually faded into oblivion, leaving only a thin thread of memory that would easily snap and float off with time.
It was until the outbreak of this war that people finally caught a glimpse of the mysterious history and started to feel a little scared. Nevertheless, n.o.body had shared their fear.
They realized that the demons were far stronger than the demonic beasts on the Barbarian Land.
Apart from their magic power and enormous physical strength, the demons had developed a high level of civilization.
They even possessed knowledge unknown to human beings.
When mankind could no longer use excuses such as "the demons relied on the power and magic granted by G.o.ds", and when the notion that man was the smartest creature on the continent was challenged for the first time, the shock was absolutely ineffable.
Immediately, men started to question themselves and overlooked the potential problems among the demons. That was why everybody was curious when Edith said the demons had lost the battle.
"What"s their mistake then?" Anna asked instantly.
"They"re too arrogant, Your Highness," Edith answered firmly. "They first stirred the encampment, then seized the artillery, and finally drove the army straight in. If they were facing a knightage or an old-school army, they would have won. However, the First Army isn"t any common army. The demons only saw the change in our weapons but overlooked our soldiers. This is their biggest mistake!"
Everybody straightened up to listen to her speech.
"They only dispatched around 50 demons throughout the whole operation. This indicates that it wasn"t easy for them to carry out their plan. They should have made the best use out of this plan, but what did they actually do? They sent the 50 demons to various places, including the barracks, the trenches and the artillery," the Pearl of the Northern Region spoke eloquently. "The commander of the demons is definitely not a fool. It"s obvious that it believes ten demons would be more than sufficient to crush us. Isn"t it too presumptuous?"
Anna somewhat understood the implication behind Edith"s words. She clenched her fist and said slowly, "If they didn"t make this mistake... if they treated us as equal..."
"Then they would have never thought that only 50 demons would defeat us. Instead, they would kill as many soldiers as possible," Edith cut in with a nod. "Suppose all the demons rushed to the barracks, including the Senior Demon, while their army waited at the rear, what would happen after the Spider Demons sneaked in?"
Anna felt a chill running down her spine.
The reason they had only lost 200 people was that the 50 demons had been scattered around the encampment. It had thus earned the reinforcements some time to fight back. If the demons had planned to ma.s.sacre the entire barracks while sacrificing the Senior Demon at the very beginning, the First Army would have probably sustained a much greater loss.
"A loss of 500?, 1,000... or 2,000? Of course, we"ll eventually annihilate them and preserve Tower Station No. 1. However, it"ll be hard to say which party would win the battle then," said Edith as she splayed her fingers. "Unfortunately, the demons are too arrogant to seize this opportunity. The first army, on the other hand, learned a lot from this operation. For example, they should now know that the barracks should be built underneath the ground; the roof should not only be able to block stone needles but also the strikes of the machine guns and mortars. If our enemy didn"t make such a mistake, it would have probably cost us a lot more to learn our lesson." Edith paused for a second and then went on, "Anyway, fellows, it"s just a beginning."