“The Small Stone Guild will be in charge of the first wall,” I announced.

Song Jung-Wook was so flustered that his face started shaking, which made his cheeks jiggle. It was funny for me, but I was sure it wasn’t funny for him. He probably wanted to scream and it was obvious why he was holding back his insults.

‘Cha Hee-Ra, the anger management therapist.’

The fact that my lovely Cha Hee-Ra was next to me was the biggest reason.

‘In war, the commander’s orders are law and this applies to both Lindel and Castle Rock, so no need to question where my darling is from. I’d also like to remind everyone… I’m not soft-hearted like my darling. Disobeying orders means death.’

I wasn’t sure if Cha Hee-Ra calculated this, but thanks to her warning, I was able to move more freely, and basically, I could control my sunbaes however I wanted. They might think I was a sly fox who was using Cha Hee-Ra’s power and authority, but it didn’t matter. The most important thing was that they gave me this position and that Cha Hee-Ra was beside me. She was like a panacea that could take care of all sorts of conflict.

Seeing Song Jung-Wook staying quiet made me understand how valuable Cha Hee-Ra’s presence was for me.

‘He looks as if he’s been backstabbed.’

We were eventually going to split up because he wasn’t competent enough for me to keep using him and rather than getting closer to him, I would rather use him as an offering to relieve Jo Hye-Jin.

‘Sorry, Jung-Wook...’

“The Giant Guild and Peppermint Guild will take care of the second wall… and the castle will take care of the third wall. The Clan Union in the northern part of Castle Rock will take care of the fourth and fifth wall and as I’ve mentioned before, Castle Rock’s merchant guild will take care of the supplies,” I added.

“Okay...”

“All right...”

“Understood...”

“We’ll set up a central command center around the Blue Guild and the Red Mercenary Guild and come up with a standardized reporting system,” I said.

“Oh… okay.”

“It seems like the atmosphere got tense because of the Mercenary Queen, so I would like to apologize again for what happened. Hahaha. I agree that we need to be on our toes, but I prefer a more relaxed meeting,” I added.

“Hahaha.”

“Hahahaha.”

I didn’t say it as a joke, but I guess they thought it was the time to laugh because they smiled brightly and chuckled.

‘Pffft.’

Everyone was walking on eggshells around me because they were afraid of going to the first wall. Some were surprised by the fact that I suddenly abandoned Song Jung-Wook, but that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that I had taken away his insignificant power and he had no choice but to accept it. Seeing the other guild masters look at me desperately made me smile. I guess they weren’t as close with Song Jung-Wook as I thought.

“If you have any suggestions, feel free to speak up,” I told them.

“Hahaha. We don’t have any.”

“If you have any complaints with the formation, please let me know and I’ll consider it,” I added.

“Um… Mr. Ki-Young.”

“Yes?”

“Well… I don’t have any complaints about the formation, but don’t you think we should focus more on the western wall? Of course, this is my personal suggestion,” Song Jung-Wook said.

“Thank you for your suggestion,” I said.

‘He’s sharper than I thought.’

When I was about to speak with the answer I prepared, Cha Hee-Ra spoke up first. It was just like her to talk while twisting her hair with one finger as if she was bored.

“Darling, you thought it was better to focus on the first wall since it’s facing the forest, right? And that’s also the reason why you gave the Small Stone Guild the important task. If the monsters break through the first wall, then the castle and Red Mercenary Guild will provide support at the western wall, so don’t worry.”

“I… understand. I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Song Jung-Wook replied, apologizing.

“No need to apologize. You asked because you didn’t know…” Cha Hee-Ra casually said.

“The Mercenary Queen is right. You can ask all the questions you want and since I’m still lacking, I’m sure your suggestions will be very helpful,” I added.

“You’re not lacking. You’ve done this much in such a short period of time and I don’t see any flaws… If it wasn’t for the Blue Guild, they wouldn’t have been able to do this,” Cha Hee-Ra complimented me.

“...”

“I guarantee that they wouldn’t be able to defend properly. They’ll probably prepare after discovering the monsters, but it won’t be enough and in the end, they’ll either abandon Castle Rock or die,” she added.

“Th-That’s…”

I agreed with Cha Hee-Ra, but I couldn’t say that in front of everyone.

“Noona,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know…”

I appreciated her support, but the problem was that she was supporting me too much and since things were getting awkward, I thought it would be best to end the meeting right here.

“Well, we haven’t really done much today, but since the formations have already been distributed, we should probably start setting up. I’ll provide the details to each unit at a later date and it’ll be up to the guild masters on how they want to handle their work. Everyone is required to attend the training in the afternoon,” I announced.

“Okay…”

“I understand…”

“Everyone, thank you for coming here today,” I said.

The way people tried to impress me even while exiting was ridiculous.

‘None of them think we’re in a crisis.’

There were some who understood the seriousness of the situation, but the majority of them seemed too relaxed. It felt like they cared more about the reward they were going to get after rather than stopping the monster wave. It seemed that no matter where you went, everyone was interested in the same thing.

In a war, it was true that the commanders standing in the back were in less danger, so I guess it was natural for them to act that way.

While I was saying goodbye to everyone, I heard Song Jung-Wook’s voice.

“Excuse me, Mr. Lee Ki-Young.”

“Yes, Mr. Song Jung-Wook.”

“Um…”

“Please tell me what’s on your mind,” I said.

“W-Well…”

“Yes?”

“If I did anything wrong…”

“I don’t understand?” I told him.

“What?” he asked.

“Hahaha. You’ve done nothing wrong, master. Actually, I wanted to thank you because you’ll be in charge of the first wall, which is a pretty precarious position,” I said.

‘It’s more like I’m making him do it...’

“I’m certain the Small Stone Guild will become a role model for the knights of the castle and the other citizens. We’ll provide support as much as we can so don’t worry about anything else and just focus on protecting Castle Rock,” I explained.

‘Although it’ll be hard to focus…’

He must’ve thought this was absurd that he couldn’t say anything else.

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

“It’s… nothing, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” he replied.

“I’m sure you already know, but your mission and responsibilities are very important. I hope you’ll do your best,” I added.

“Sure…”

He would do his best because he would die if he wouldn’t.

‘You’re not even worthy of death.’

“Oh, if you have any questions or need anything, please let my adjutant know from now on,” I told him.

“Your adjutant?” Song Jung-Wook asked.

“Come out here!” I called out.

“Yes, sub guild master.”

“It’s Miss Jo Hye-Jin,” I said.

Song Jung-Wook bit his lips and he had to be thinking that Jo Hye-Jin was the reason why I abandoned him. I wasn’t intentionally trying to come between them, but this wasn’t bad either. Even when I moved while looking at Cha Hee-Ra, I noticed him tightening his fist.

‘It’s not totally wrong…’

Jo Hye-Jin was half the reason why he was thrown away, so there was no reason for me to clear up the understanding because it was better for her to take the blame. Even if he tried to pull something, it was too late because had no choice.

“Miss Hye-Jin will be in charge of all the important and trivial matters of the units since I won’t have the luxury to take care of trivial matters. Now that I think about it, you two know each other, so why not catch up?” I suggested.

“Sure, sub guild master,” Jo Hye-Jin replied with a nod.

“Hahaha. I’ll leave it to you, Miss Hye-Jin,” I said, chuckling.

When I started walking away, I heard the two talking but I didn’t really care.

‘I’m sure they’re fighting and resenting each other.’

The benefits I would receive through this big event and carrying out the plan was more important than their conversation. Carrying out the plan alone was already giving me a headache.

“Are you trying to come between them, darling?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.

“It’s nothing like that, Noona. More importantly, thanks for coming,” I told her.

“Actually, I wanted to thank you for calling me here… I was actually waiting for an event like this,” she said.

“It makes me feel better to hear that,” I said.

“It’d be nice if a monster wave really did happen, but it most likely won’t happen. At least I got to see my darling’s face and I can keep my guild on their toes, so it’s not so bad,” she explained.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m saying there’s a chance that a monster wave won’t happen, darling,” she answered.

“No way,” I commented.

“The circumstances Kim Hyun-Sung presented shows that it’ll likely happen, but… I feel like the evidence is lacking,” she added.

“What?”

“You probably don’t know since it hasn’t been that long since you came here, but when a forest dies or a dungeon becomes unstable, those are usually the signs of a monster wave. When monsters run out of food or they can’t live in the forest anymore, they’ll come outside, but even after looking through the documents, there aren’t any signs that the forest is dying,” she explained.

“Is that so?”

“I also haven’t found any dungeons nearby that could potentially provoke the monsters… Would it be easier to understand if I said there are signs, but no reason for a monster wave?” she asked.

“I understand what you’re saying,” I replied.

Unlike Cha Hee-Ra who had already experienced a monster wave, I couldn’t really pinpoint anything since I didn’t have any experience, but despite that, I felt like something was missing and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. As if thoroughly preparing for the monster wave wasn’t enough, Kim Hyun-Sung also looked like he was busy trying to find the reason as well because our lovely regressor wasn’t deeply involved with Castle Rock in his past life. As such, he had no idea why the monster wave even happened.

‘But it has already been confirmed...’

Whatever the reason, it was going to happen and it wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

While I was thinking about whether to tell her about the things that were going to happen.

“Kyaaahhh!”

‘What the?’

I heard the faint cry of a monster; it was inside the city, not outside.

“What was that just now?”