Reaction and Matchmaking Attempts

How to Deal With Prisoners (277/278)

It all started well for Side A. It really did.

They got snacks, good seats, and most importantly, found out about a war that would happen soon, getting free, precious information along the way.

Some minor nobles especially enjoyed the luxury of getting information reserved normally for the higher-ups. Languidly leaning back, sampling some of the delicious wine offered free of charge, they practically felt their self-worth increase by the second.

Literal gods summoned them alongside heroes, rulers, and mythical beings to save the world. How couldn't they feel proud?

Unfortunately – for them -, reality soon slapped them thoroughly in the face.

Being slapped may even be too tame compared to the literal wrecking ball that slammed them from their high perch into the abyss below.

The scale of the war kept increasing, adding new variables that could become friends or foes. Amid all the chaos, parts of them didn't want to accept that they were just cannon fodders to fill the ranks. There must be a reason why they had been chosen.

A countess ground her teeth, remembering how she loudly declared that she'd send her private forces to Duchess Gyerre, whom she was a vassal of, to support in case the Empire invaded. She got really quiet once Cale and the others unveiled some of the grotesque weapons they had in their arsenal. Her soldiers would be as useful as paper dolls.

Another baron was close to fainting. His territory was located next to Viscountess Ubarr's land. He thought about investing in the naval base, cheerfully imagining the money and glory he could gain, yet only after seeing the overpowering naval force the enemies possessed did her remember that their world had no naval base to counter that colossal army.

Even a baroness from the other side of the country was despairing. She belonged to the Stan faction. And since she 'belonged' to the Stan household, she knew that her territory wouldn't get any support but she was required to send men should the Stan territory be attacked. Their world had no just and compassionate Taylor Stan, instead, the rotten marquis and his heir, Venion, occupied that position.

Sure, the Stan Family was close to ruin after the Flynn Merchant disclosed all of their terrible deeds but removing a powerful family completely from power was far harder. Bribes, false explanations, and 'unfortunate' accidents to the victims were a day-to-day activity in their region.

Yet those and many others still kept harping on about their greatness, tearing into arguments and weaknesses of people to avoid facing their own doom. It was a coward's tactic. Their desperation and desire to survive reached new heights and topics like respect and boundaries became forgotten as they started loudly demanding more information, more power, and more help from the other world.

No matter how often they got scolded and how often Side B called them cowards and trash – sorry, non-recyclable garbage -, it didn't change the fact that they had nothing to show for when war comes knocking.

Some even wished never to have been transported here. They'd have rather died in obviousness instead of facing death, knowing that what they were seeing at the moment wasn't all of it.

Angelina pitied them. She truly did.

Side A may appear to be utterly shameless, continuing to demand more and more, yet it wasn't far off from what everybody else would do in the same situation. If she was facing such a hopeless premise, she'd stop at nothing, no matter how low and evil her actions could be seen as, to get out of it.

In a way, didn't Cale do the same?

He was given the boon of knowing parts of the future via the books he read. He didn't start at zero. Naturally, his actions and intelligence used the given information to exploit them to the maximum. He had one piece of information and got three advantages out of it.