"I will now present a strategy to you. I'm confident that this will allow us to take that city, with less than a thousand casualties."
Murmurs of shock and confusion exploded all over the room.
"Ulysses is talking about strategy?"
"This, how can he be so confident?"
"Now I'm curious."
Some were curious and had faith in their Prince, this was especially true for the young ones. The elderly however were a bit more sceptical.
"War is not a game."
"It's not like he is his father."
"Moldamir is still an army worth fearing, underestimating them will lead us to early graves."
Of course, these murmurs were low in volume as few had the stupidity to disparage a man known for beheading troops at a whim.
"To most of you it might sound like I'm crazy, but you need to understand. In war, sometimes, you can use the environment to your advantage. Turn your enemy's strength into a weakness, if you can do that, then you will be victorious more often than you can imagine."
'The environment?' Michael was not sure what his King meant. What environment could they use here? Using the environment was nothing new in the art of war, but there was nothing there for them to take advantage of. Only impediments.
They could not climb over the mountain to attack the southern gate while their armour and water levels made crossing the wide Kariva river impossible. So how did this man intend to win the war?
"I won't lie to you. Casualties will be low, but we will need to work hard in terms of physical labour. Observe gentlemen, this,"
Ulysses' finger pointed to the river next to the city on the map.
"This is our way in."
Michael was sure that there was nothing to do anything about this situation, but his King seemed confident.
'Something about him is different, but what is it?'
Michael felt that Ulysses had changed a lot. The Ulysses he knew was much less chatty and more laid back in his demeanour. He kept his thoughts to himself and had an atmosphere that made it difficult to approach him. But the man before him gave him a completely different aura.
'Did something happen to him just now?'
Michael was starting to suspect that an imposter was in front of him.
'That crown is the real deal. I can feel its magical power all the way from here. It would never rest on the head of a person who was not of Baturian royal blood.'
Theirs was a culture in which magic and spells ruled society. Countless types of spells and abilities could do many wonderous things. At the moment Ulysses was wearing his simple crown. But it was only simple in appearance.
'Our nation doesn't have powerful magic users. It's quite behind in this regard. So are the other nations around us. None of us is capable of transformation magic to this degree.'
As Michael was still pondering his next action, his King-to-be spoke.
"Alright gentlemen, here is what I want us to do."
....
"I didn't expect that."
"Indeed, this is quite...unorthodox."
"I didn't know war could be fought in such a manner. We actually have a chance of pulling this off!"
The military officers walked out of the war council with an unusual skip to their step. They were quite surprised that the stiff and brutal Ulysses could come up with such an odd way of fighting.
"Hey, don't the officers look unusually happy?"
"Yeah, I think they have decided to retreat. We have no choice. Most of us want to go home."
Soldiers around the tent whispered to each other as they tried to guess why the officers of the army came out with such a positive disposition.
But contrary to expectation, no order to prepare for the retreat was given out. Instead, unusual orders were being given out.
"Gather everyone familiar with earth and water magic!"
"Every man capable of holding a shovel report to your superior officer now!"
"Tend to the wounded and recount the remaining supplies!"
While the low-ranking officers barked orders left right and centre, the soldiers were still a bit stunned.
"What in Gaia's name is happening?"
"Beats me, I have no clue."
Only non-combat militants, the injured and sentries were left in the camp, as most able-bodied men were organised and led out of the camp by a seemingly reinvigorated Michael.
In the meantime, Ulysses, the culprit of this sudden turn of events, decided to take a tour of his camp. With a retinue of high-ranking officers behind him, he traveled among the injured. Consoling them and talking to them, one by one.
The medical staff were overloaded. They were mostly made up of healers and doctors who specialized in healing magic. They had frail bodies and could not attend to everyone. This many soldiers had to help carry the wounded and do emergency first aid-like treatments.
'I can already see quite a few with nasty infections.'
Ulysses knew no magic, like most in Batur he did not have the aptitude for it. Hence he could only do small things like rub medicine and bandage wounds with the tools he had at his disposal. The Batur Royal Lineage was a family of doctors well versed in medical arts, so this was as easy as breathing for Danny, who had inherited Ulysses ' skills and memories.
The soldiers were stunned at this action. The officers around the Prince quickly took action. Their future monarch could not act while they stood idly by!
High-ranking soldiers and a willful Prince moved about creating all sorts of chaos. Many were touched seeing their Noble Ruler with bloody hands and sweat dripping down his face. Ulysses treated over a hundred men by himself, moving as quickly as he could.
As a Prince of a warring nation and royal family with a strong medical background, he had been taught many things about treatment, and that knowledge had been passed along to Danny. It just never got much use during the Prince's life. Ulysses was used to being treated by the best healers their nation could offer while being educated by the best doctors. But now he was applying bandages and stitching the wounds of mostly illiterate men?
The hearts of the soldiers warmed at this sight, and many decided to follow their leader into action. The mood in the camp gradually changed with time as the wounded were being tended to.