Alfonso woke up earlier than usual, the reason? Well. Someone came knocking his window: Little Blue. When Alfonso saw Little Blue's appearance he was stunned. Little Blue had some scars on its wings and Alfonso felt that the little bird was totally scared, like it had seemed the devil itself. After asking the small bird what happen Alfonso immediately woke up Artemis and told her the situation.
"A man who can fire an arrow to a small target in a 1000-meter radius… this is troublesome. Even I can't do that without activating the hunter's domain at its maximum and, even so, I have a big chance of failing…. Who was that man?" asked Artemis to Little Blue.
"Chip." Little Blue didn't see the appearance of the man. It seems it was too far away at that time.
"We have to make countermeasures ASAP. We need to discuss things with Felio and prepare. If Little Blue is right, the Arcadian troops will be here, at most, at noon tomorrow," said Alfonso.
Suddenly, someone knocked his door. After Alfonso gave the order, a soldier came into his room.
"Mr. Lockheart, a young lady is waiting for you outside. She is called Hygiea," said the soldier respectfully.
"Okay."
Alfonso stood up, grabbed his cane and went to the entrance. When he got there he saw a young girl in a white dress. It was Hygiea.
"My lord," said the girl while bowing towards Alfonso.
Behind the girl was a carriage with 100 bottles of the special juice.
"Good, come in," said Alfonso.
Hygiea bowed and went with Alfonso towards his room. Although it was a bedroom, it was two times bigger than his room in Wasteland Valley.
"Here you go- your payment." Alfonso took out 15 gold coins and gave them to Hygiea.
Hygiea had never seemed so much gold in her entire life. This money was enough to laze around and live like a king for a few years. She was moved, and she swiftly put the coins in her pockets in fear that Alfonso would suddenly regret it.
"Thank you, my lord!" said Hygiea.
"Actually, I have a business proposal for you. I don't know if you interested?" asked Alfonso.
"Please, my lord."
"I want to hire you as the personal doctor of Wasteland Valley. Of course, I won't mistreat you. I am willing to pay 3 pieces of gold coins a month. What do you say?"
When Hygiea heard "3 gold coins a month" her eyes suddenly transformed into two gold coins.
"I…wait…. Wasteland Valley? It wasn't destroyed by the horde?" asked Hygiea.
"Nope, we managed to survive somehow, and currently, we are hiring talented people," said Alfonso.
"Three…three gold coins, right?" confirmed Hygiea.
"Yep."
"I AGREE!" shouted Hygiea.
Hygiea didn't hesitate anymore and agree right away. As for the possibility of the lord in front of him cheating her? Well, he didn't have any kind of reason. She didn't think that the lord was that bored. Furthermore, this lord didn't seem to be attracted by her looks, since she entered the room, the lord hasn't look anywhere else other than her eyes. Plus, he had a relaxed and calm aura, so she was more than willing to go.
"Good, then I will send on your way to Wasteland Valley today."
"Today? We are going back today?"
"No, you are going back. I have something to do here. However, you need to go today. A big treat is coming to Tulip Town and you need to get out of here as fast as you can," said Alfonso with a serious face.
Seeing the look on Alfonso, Hygiea knew he wasn't joking around and resolutely nodded. Alfonso arranged a small caravan and told the man in charge to go to Wasteland Valley. The man was confused, however, money is money, so he just nodded, received his pay, and went on his way with Hygiea.
"Good," thought Alfonso. "With this we have a lifesaving method. I will have Artemis distribute this to Demeter and the girls. Next is to go to Felio."
Alfonso went on his way to the manor and gave the bottles of juice to Artemis, grabbing 10 for himself. He searched for Felio and found him in the main hall discussing with the elders of Tulip Town.
"Felio, I need to discuss something important with you."
"Alfonso, what's the matter?" asked Felio.
Alfonso told him the information that Little Blue told him and after that Felio thought deeply for some minutes.
"Tomorrow…to think that they would mobilize first- and so quickly- that fucking Titio prepare well," said Felio with fury on his eyes.
"My lord, if the information of Lord Alfonso is correct, then we have to evacuate the town right now! We have less than 1000 men while the other side has almost 5000 men!" shout one of the elders in the room.
"We must evacuate Tulip Town!" another echoed.
"How can we abandon Tulip Town?! Cowards! We must fight until the bitter end! How can I meet my father and mother on heaven?! I prefer to die than live as a coward!" shouted another Elder.
"That's right!"
The opinions where divided between the elders. Felio suddenly made a small gesture with his hands and everyone stopped talking. Felio looked at Alfonso.
"Alfonso, what do you think we should do?" he asked.
Alfonso was a little surprised, however, he didn't answer immediately. He thought for a little while, before opening his mouth.
"I think that retreating is the best option. This war will be a hard one. We can't use sneak tactics because the terrain is flat- not to mention the enemy exceeds us 5 to 1," said Alfonso.
Felio made a long sigh, he knew that this was the best option because this was a lost war. However, he couldn't abandon everything and just run. He was the Lord of Tulip Town. If he was going to die, then so be it, but he won't abandon the sail that sinks.
"However…I might have a solution. It is not perfect, however, it can let us exploit the potential of our forces." While everyone was in silence, the voice of Alfonso travelled at the speed of light and everyone looked at Alfonso, stunned.
"You…you have a solution?!?" asked one of the elders.
"Shut up! Let him talk!" said another elder.
Everyone was looking at Alfonso with hopes in their eyes. Even Felio who usually had a calm demeanor couldn't help but feel excited with Alfonso's words.
Alfonso just made a small smile.
In fact, Alfonso knew that this war had a 99% loss. After receiving the news from Little Blue he had already planned to abandon Tulip Town. However, he suddenly remembered something: Artemis had an absurd ability called the Hunter's Domain, plus, the ten little girls. It was a fearsome force, so he thought and thought about the past, and as an historian he had read a lot of ancient history. Human history was quite fascinating, especially in the militia aspect. Some strategies were so incredible that even in modern times, people couldn't help but feel admiration to the geniuses who came out with them. Alfonso had a lot of military strategies on his mind, however, the ones that he could use given the current circumstances were reduced to one.
It was a strategy that was known to the world because it was the decided factor in the war of the Peloponnesus between Sparta and Athens!
Alfonso opened his mouth.
"It is called the Greek's Hedgehog!" said Alfonso.