Game Master in Another World

After flying back into the city, Juliana landed lightly on the cobblestones right outside our inn before immediately shifting back into her Nhalyri form. The process was still deeply strange to experience from the inside—the bizarre, sudden sensation of hollow wings rapidly expanding, twisting, and snapping back into human arms.

Several pedestrians stopped dead in their tracks to stare, absolute shock written across their faces. It had me wondering: how common are druids in this world, exactly? Is this a normal sight? I quickly pushed the thought out of my mind as we walked inside the inn.

The receptionist gave us a highly respectful, nervous smile as we breezed past the front desk and headed up to our room.

As soon as we opened the door, Toby jumped up from his chair and ran toward us, wrapping his arms around Juliana in a giant hug.

“I’m so glad you’re back. I was worried you were going to leave me,” Toby sniffled, crying slightly.

Juliana smiled warmly, returning the embrace. “Do not worry, Toby. I promised I would return. Now, how about we go look at some classified military intelligence to cheer you up?”

Toby wiped his eyes and looked up, utterly confused. “What is classified information?”

“Special information that only special people are allowed to see,” Juliana replied simply.

“Oh. Are we considered special, then?”

Juliana nodded, her unblinking smile radiating. “Yes. We are apparently very special.”

Toby just nodded slowly, giving Juliana a deeply bewildered look.

“Shall we go, then?” Juliana asked.

Toby nodded again.

This time, we walked straight to the grand Administrative Palace we had visited during conscription. I reasoned the classified military documents we were after were likely housed here rather than the Mage Tower.

As we approached the front desk, the receptionist seemed incredibly busy, frantically sorting through stacks of parchment. She barely looked up.

“Hello, how may I help you?” she asked in a harried voice.

“Greetings. We are here to view classified information regarding the current war situation,” Juliana stated cheerfully.

The receptionist froze, slowly looking up at us. “Ah... what?”

“We are here to view classified information,” Juliana repeated, her tone perfectly pleasant.

I was actively cringing in the passenger seat of her mind. This approach was painfully, awkwardly direct. She had zero concept of tact.

“Do... do you have an appointment with the Minister of Defense?” the receptionist inquired, narrowing her eyes.

“Well, no. But I would like to make one, as we have been promised access to that information,” Juliana said, her unflinching smile never wavering.

“Normally, you need a letter of recommendation for such a request. Who sent you?”

“Lady Evelyn. She promised us this access as part of our agreement to help with the defense of the city,” Juliana responded brightly.

The receptionist stared at Juliana in total silence for a long moment, struggling to process the interaction before finally coming to her senses.

“Okay... I can ask if the Minister of Defense has any time for you. May I say who is asking for his precious time?”

Juliana’s smile broadened. “Indeed. You may inform him that my name is Juliana.”

The receptionist visibly struggled to maintain her professional composure. “Right. Well, please have a seat over there. I will message him now.”

We took a seat on the plain blue couches in the lobby. The receptionist hurriedly scribbled a note, flagged down a runner boy, and sent him sprinting down the hall with the message.

We didn’t have to wait long before a terribly exhausted, thin man approached us in the lobby.

“Juliana, I presume?”

Juliana nodded her head gracefully. “Indeed, that is I.”

“I am Minister Darius. Would you please follow me?” He gestured down the grand hallway.

We stood up and followed.

“Thank you for agreeing to help us. This situation is getting quite dire,” Minister Darius said over his shoulder as we walked.

“It is no trouble. When it comes to defending the innocent, I will do what I must. Plus, my Lord has ordered it, so I must follow,” Juliana replied brightly.

Darius glanced back at her. “What is the name of your deity, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Geoff,” Juliana responded simply.

Ugh, I groaned internally. I absolutely did not want a religion starting up around me.

“Interesting. I have never heard of this deity. Is there a temple dedicated to them?” Darius asked.

I forcefully seized control of our vocal cords. “No. Nor do we need one,” I stated bluntly, dropping Juliana's archaic cadence entirely. “Geoff is a very personal god of mine.”

I quickly released control. I needed to nip that worship nonsense in the bud immediately.

We eventually made our way to an office with Darius’s name on the heavy oak door. The room itself was lavishly decorated, though the grandeur was completely buried under towering, chaotic stacks of paperwork on nearly every surface.

“I apologize for the mess, but the last few weeks have been simply frantic. I barely have enough time to deal with it all.” Darius collapsed into the chair behind his desk and motioned to the two empty seats opposite him. “Please, sit.”

Toby and I sat down.

“Now, I have been briefed on your plan to open up a corridor for much-needed supplies. I greatly appreciate your help in this matter, and I pray that you succeed.” Darius sighed, pulling a thick folder from the largest pile on his desk.

“Our scouts have managed to gather intel on the encroaching army. The main force is rumored to be around fifty thousand strong. However, only ten thousand of those soldiers are currently here, maintaining a loose blockade at various nearby villages to prevent supplies from getting in.”

Darius unrolled a large map across the desk. Several surrounding villages were marked with heavy red X's.

“We believe the blockade serves two purposes: firstly, to starve the city and break our morale, and secondly, to commandeer local food to feed their massive army.”

He slid a second map over the first. On this one, several villages were marked with black X's.

“There have also been brutal raids on the outer settlements. They are often razed to the ground and looted—again, to feed their troops while simultaneously denying those resources to ours.”

Darius let out a ragged breath before sliding a ledger across the desk, detailing troop compositions. “From what we have gathered, the attacking force consists of roughly forty-five thousand standard infantry, one thousand clerics of various abilities, one thousand magic users of varying capabilities, and roughly three thousand supporting personnel.”

He then pulled out several individual sheets of parchment. With their neat lists of stats and abilities, they looked exactly like tabletop character sheets.

“The individuals we are most concerned about are the following. Commander Everret—he is not only a brilliant strategist, but possesses formidable martial capabilities on par with our greatest fighters.” Darius laid another sheet down next to it. “His retinue consists of other highly capable warriors, but of most concern are their lead magic users: Bassius and Eleanor. They are documented as being able to cast up to 6th-tier magic. As you can imagine, that level of power may render our physical walls completely useless when the siege commences.”

Darius pinched the bridge of his nose and pulled out one final document. “Based on their troop movements, our prediction is that they will launch their full assault in exactly seven days. They currently outnumber our trained troops five-to-one, and they likely won’t wait for us to gather any rural reinforcements. If we conscript the local populace, we can roughly match their numbers, but the quality of our soldiers will be severely lacking, and their equipment will mostly consist of sharp sticks.”

Looking at the sheer statistical disadvantage, I finally understood why Darius looked like a walking corpse. The situation was an absolute nightmare.

Toby suddenly put his small hand up politely. “Excuse me. How much winter clothing does the city have?”

Darius looked at the boy, thoroughly confused. “A fair amount stockpiled, I suppose. But seeing as it is the middle of summer, I am not sure how that is relevant.”

Toby leaned forward. “Well... if Juliana made it really, really cold, wouldn't the enemy soldiers struggle to fight?”

Darius’s exhausted face suddenly lit up as the tactical implications hit him.

“I can summon a blizzard twice the size of the city,” Juliana offered helpfully, her smile radiating.

“Ah. That... that might actually just work,” Darius breathed, leaning over the map with renewed energy. “Although the severely reduced visibility of a blizzard could hinder our own forces as well...”

“Would the visibility matter, though?” Toby pointed out. “We could use fires on the battlements to keep our soldiers warm. Any enemy troops that manage to make it all the way to the wall in a blizzard will be exhausted, and any siege ladders they try to use will be frozen and entirely too slippery to climb.”

“The problem will still be their magic users,” Darius responded, tapping a finger against his desk. “They will likely try to clear the battlements with sheer firepower, and those 6th-tier casters may in fact demolish parts of the wall entirely.”

“Maybe I could turn into a dragon and burn them all with righteous fire?” Juliana offered in a brightly happy voice.

Darius blinked. “And how exactly would you deal with the massed firepower from their magic users?”

Juliana’s unblinking smile didn't waver. “Well, Platinum Dragons are completely immune to most lower-tier spells,” she countered simply.

“Ah. That is... not something I knew about them,” Darius admitted, leaning back in his chair. “That could prove incredibly useful. But would you be able to fly in a severe blizzard?”

“Not particularly well, I suppose. But on the other hand, their archers won’t be able to shoot either, so I should be able to take my time.”

I nodded internally. It seemed like the formulation of a genuinely good plan. As long as we could neutralize their casters and keep their infantry off the city walls, we stood a chance. Still, fifty thousand men was a truly immense number of troops to deal with, even for a demigod.

Darius grabbed a quill and began to write a few notes. “Well, I think we have the beginnings of a solid strategy. Please, do not discuss this with anyone else. I will issue the heavy winter clothing to the wall garrisons, but I will provide no official reasoning for it. In fact, I will utilize a local noble who is renowned for being terribly incompetent to place the order, so enemy spies will just assume it is an administrative blunder.”

I smirked internally. It was nice to see that even bureaucratic idiots could be weaponized for the war effort.

Toby and Juliana both nodded.

Darius folded his note, sealed it, and handed it across the desk. “Could you please take this to Lady Evelyn? I look forward to seeing you again at the victory celebration.”

We stood up. I quickly seized control of our body just long enough to reach out and shake Darius's hand with a firm, normal grip, before immediately releasing control back to Juliana to handle the goodbyes.

“Thank you for the blessed meeting today. We shall see to our sacred task immediately,” Juliana beamed.

“Well, it isn’t exactly sacred, but... never mind. Good day to you,” Darius sighed, already looking back down at his towering pile of paperwork.

We left his office and headed back out into the grand hallway. For the first time since being drafted, I felt like we actually had a viable way forward to manage this impossible situation.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!