Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 26

"So..." - Ainz leaned forward, arms crossed in front of him - a gesture he learned from his boss in his past life, "How many soldiers do you have?"

Gilles just poured a little wine for himself, and then, for the sake of decency, he offered some to those present, but they refused. Only Marie Antoinette reached out for a glass, but Mozart grabbed her hand, looking a her with a frown on his face, which only earned him a mischievous grin from her, as she stuck out her tongue. Gilles did not pay attention to that exchange, and sipped a little from the glass, after which, noticing that Jeanne was looking a little disapprovingly at the alcohol, he coughed in embarrassment and set the glass aside.

"Twenty thousand," he finally said, and sighed.

"Twenty thousand?" Ainz frowned a little and looked at John. He claimed that he had fought the battle with the Witch while commanding half the army of France, close to seventy thousand. Even that number was embellished, Gilles had to have at least twice the number he just mentioned.

However, John only sighed and joined the conversation "Is the situation really this bad?"

Gilles only nodded grimly.

"Battles with armies are one thing," the knight winced. "But fighting endless hordes of monsters, day after day, retreating, waging a hopeless war, is completely different. Some of us died, but most simply escaped. Our moral is shattered, the realization of hopelessness... Some were even seduced by the Witch's proposals... I do not know what happened to them now."

After these words, an uncomfortable pause hung in the tent.

"It is clear," Ainz sighed "Everything is clear."

Were these words really clear for Ainz? Of course not.

However, the simple idea that they had twenty thousand soldiers instead of sixty thousand was still bad enough to give him some understanding of his current situation.

Gilles, uttering the bitter truth, leaned back in his chair, after which, he thought for a moment and looked at Jeanne, who had been sitting next to him all this time.

"If our Saint returned to us at this time, it could return the moral to the soldiers". It was almost physically painful for Gilles to say the rest of this sentence, but he had to "But... in the current conditions, after the Witch did so many terrible things..."

The commander tried by all means possible to avoid insulting Jeanne, but she nevertheless sighed a little, understanding the unspoken fact.

For a second, silence returned to the tent before John spoke again "Actually... I have an idea."

After that, when the eyes of all those present were fixed on him, the duke turned his eyes to Ainz. Ainz only blinked back, after which, John, deciding that the mage gave him the greenlight to speak, began.

"Ainz told me this idea," Ainz froze for a second. 'I did?! What could I have told him?!'

"So it turns out that the Witch will not let us, nor this army, be. She will return again, stronger and much angrier than before, with even more monsters. She will not back down so easily. So why don't we use this to our advantage?"

All of those present looked at each other, after which, Mozart, realizing what John was leading to, looked at Ainz and nodded, "Is that so?... In that case, it might work."

'What might work?' Ainz felt completely out of the conversation.

Fortunately, John continued to speak.

"In any case, the Witch will return with a new army," John leaned to the table, "And we will have to defend ourselves and this army... Then why not use this as a justification for the return of the Saint?"