This Heroine's Friend Has the Power of Botany

Chapter 245

Deception

“God! This is such a brilliant plan. They’ve fallen into our trap!!”

“Haha, from initially making them think they had destroyed all our stratagems, now they realize our true power. It’s hilarious!” Several students shouted joyfully, their words making Nadia feel like she might throw up.

Earlier, these same students had berated them for creating stratagems but not being smart enough to use them properly. But now, seeing the stratagems take down numerous enemies, they cheered as if they had never spoken any nonsense before.

Zen and the others secretly pouted, they wanted to say something but remained silent. Otherwise, another argument would surely break out. Even though they had been in the same camp as Young Lord Aman all this time, it didn’t mean they weren’t afraid of his wrath. If Young Lord Aman got truly angry and decided to kill these fellow institute students, they would regret it for sure.

Just because they disliked those students’ words didn’t mean they wanted them dead.

“Alright, is it time for us to attack now? With the enemy in such confusion, we should strike as quickly as possible. If they regain their footing, it’ll be harder for us to handle them,”

Prince Jason suggested, his eyes gleaming as if he had seen the path to victory. However, Ellie and Aman only looked at him with disdain.

“Do you think he’s an idiot?”

“Well...” The two exchanged brief words, but their meaning was clear enough to make Prince Jason want to spit blood.

“You! Do you think my words are nonsense? In war, if you seize the advantage first, you will win. Haven’t you ever studied the 36 strategies of warfare? When you confuse the enemy, what you must do next is to quickly finish them off. This is a basic strategy called, Crushing at the Weakened Moment.”

“I understand that you didn’t want to act when the enemy was strong, and morale was high while we were in fear because you wanted to use this strategy, right? After creating confusion, you must seize the opportunity now to turn the disadvantage into an advantage.”

“They think they are leading the first battle, attacking us without prior warning. But you were prepared for this. Doing so will demoralize them, disappoint them, and...”

“That’s enough,” Ellie, who heard the familiar strategy from him, interrupted, raising her hand.

The 36 strategies of warfare were well-known to her. In fact, Crushing at the Weakened Moment was the fourth strategy to defeat the enemy. It came from famous literature and great wars known worldwide. Of course, these ideas likely came from the foundational thoughts of the author, so it wasn’t surprising that there was similar study material.

However...this prince seemed overly rigid in his studies, believing that everything he learned was correct. In reality, there was more to it that needed to be carefully examined first.

Being interrupted by Ellie, the prince felt displeased. He was known as the most intelligent among the princes. His instructors had praised him in front of his father numerous times. This confidence made him believe that his strategic planning was correct.

However...Ellie didn’t stop him without an explanation. Right now, everyone was probably thinking the same as the prince, seeing this as an opportunity to fight. If she let this go unchecked, it would surely cause chaos.

“If you all want to go out and fight now, you can. At least, you might kill about 10-20 of them before you die.”

“You! Are you insulting our abilities? If it wasn’t for everyone being caught off guard, there wouldn’t be this much fear.” The prince was extremely displeased with her words, feeling that this girl was truly arrogant.

“No, I’m not insulting your abilities. It’s you who are underestimating the enemy. True, their soldiers are currently confused, but don’t forget that there are also poison users among them. Staying in the camp keeps you safe from poison, but once you go out, those poison users will have an easy time targeting you.”

“The poison users act independently of the soldiers. If they see you as a target, they won’t hesitate to sacrifice some soldiers to capture you easily.”

“Oh, and it would be great if Your Highness went out to fight personally. They could end this battle quickly. Maybe after capturing Your Highness, they’d let the rest of us go.” Ellie smirked challengingly, her words hitting the prince hard.

Never before had he been insulted of this advanced level. Ever since meeting this girl and the people of the Setter family, his once-proud life felt shattered. Now he felt like a complete fool!

The other students fell silent. They had initially agreed with the prince, but after hearing Ellie, they now sided with her. Many thought the prince should indeed sacrifice himself because ultimately, the prince wouldn’t die as the kingdom would likely trade a city for his life. But they didn’t dare to say it aloud.

“I think now everyone understands that His Highness’s sacrifice might be worthwhile. But do you really think Ellie’s previous words were genuine?” Aman, who had been listening, laughed. Seeing the faces of these wretches made him itch to slap some sense into them.

Even though Ares was their kingdom, they were willing to give up the benefit without a fight just because they thought they had a chance to survive!

Hah! Didn’t they know how severe the consequences of war were? It wasn’t just Ares that would lose; “everyone” would lose. Losing a war was not like a conflict between families. If the kingdom fell, every citizen, including the nobles, would have to sacrifice something to the victors. Nobles might suffer less, but the common people could lose their very lives.

The Setter family was the family that didn’t depend on the kingdom. They gained strength on their own, but they were entrusted with the well-being of the citizens of Set City. So, they did their best. Now, the people of Set City were like family to them. While they might not be overly protective, they never wanted those people to suffer from choices they couldn’t control.

But it seemed the noble offspring from other families didn’t think the same way he did...

“W-What is Young Lord Aman talking about?”

“Yeah, w-who would think of sacrificing His Highness?” They quickly denied it when their thoughts were exposed, but unfortunately, their expressions betrayed their words.

“It’s good that you don’t think that way because once you hand His Highness over to them, they wouldn’t need to hold back to avoid risking his life in the camp like they initially did. They might use more lethal poison or launch a powerful attack to wipe out the entire camp,” Aman shrugged, glancing elsewhere. However, Ellie knew he was secretly smirking wickedly.

The type of people Aman despised the most were students like these—those who wanted to save themselves without caring about others. Aman would likely bully those with that nature until they wanted to cry.

“Alright, if no one wants to sacrifice Prince Jason, then continue preparing to fight.”

“D-Duchess Ellie, does this mean we still can’t attack? If they get any closer, we might be in greater danger,” a student asked with his trembling lips.

“Yes, we owe a lot to all the stratagem creators. Right now, we still have a few stratagems left to reduce their numbers. Besides...our goal isn’t to annihilate the enemy. A battle with such a large group, their movements are already exposed. If the soldiers on guard aren’t playing tricks, we should get help soon.”

“Playing tricks?”

“Yes...if no one is playing tricks on us,” Ellie glanced at the prince again, curious to see his reaction after being betrayed twice by soldiers he trusted.

This time, he seemed to control himself well. One experience had made this prince mature significantly...

After explaining to the students, Ellie refocused on the situation outside. She had to concentrate to understand what these people intended next. In this group, she could monitor everyone; none had an oppressive power to her. It was fortunate, as facing such a troublesome opponent would be problematic.

“They definitely still have stratagems. Don’t fall for their traps again. Clear the stratagems before moving forward. Even though it’s tough to fight like this, we don’t know what other tricks they might have.”

“But if we move slowly, won’t they be able to attack us?”

“That’s right. They’re students from Ares Institute, skilled in magic. Their danger shouldn’t be underestimated.”

“We could just attack them with magical devices. Should we throw them all in and destroy them all at once?!!”

“Are you crazy? If we do that, the prince will die too. We need to lure him out first.”

“Lure him? How do we do that? We don’t have much time. Soon the city’s soldiers will arrive. Our presence and this fight can’t be hidden for long.”

“Damn it!! We can’t do this, we can’t do that. So what should we do then?” Without a leader, the soldiers lacked unity and decisive decision-making. It could be seen clearly as they kept arguing without finding a solution.

“Just luring the prince out is enough, right?” While the soldiers were stressed out, a poison user stepped forward with a suggestion.

“Hmm? You have a good idea?”

“Yes, you could say that.” He grinned wickedly before stepping forward.

“From now on, listen to my orders if you want to win this battle and capture Prince Jason...If any of you refuse, causing us to fail the mission and must be punished, I’ll report that it was because you ignored my good advice. Your punishment will be severe.” He sneered.

If he could seize control of the soldiers...today’s success would surely get him nominated as a unit leader in the Seven Night Poison group.

Wasn’t there already talk of removing some current unit leaders? This was his chance to prove himself.

The soldiers exchanged their glances. They didn’t like the poison users, but his status meant he really had the power to influence their punishments. If he had a plan, rejecting it might mean they were the one who ignored their chance at success.

“Alright, tell us your plan.”

“Oh, good decision. Now...do exactly as I say...” The large man laughed evilly. The soldiers’ eyes widened as they heard his strategy for victory.

The students didn’t know their true purpose for entering the forest, so they didn’t know that they only wanted the prince. Exploiting the naive students would be the easiest way. He didn’t believe there wouldn’t be any selfish ones among them!

Understanding the plan, one soldier volunteered to take the lead immediately. He stepped forward while the others fell silent. The students didn’t understand what was happening until they heard the soldier’s voice.

“Attention, students of Ares Institute. You might think that the Rhea Kingdom intends to bully children like you to teach Ares a lesson.”

“But that’s not the case at all. We are simply on a mission to capture Prince Jason and take him to our kingdom. There are many issues we need to discuss to see the path to peace. Therefore, we request the prince to come and talk privately. Once we have the prince, we will leave immediately. We promise not to harm any other students to waste the time.”

“If you agree that further bloodshed is unnecessary, allow us to take the prince for a peaceful discussion. But if you refuse to comply, we cannot predict how much blood will be shed...I hope the intelligent students would understand the choice you must make.”

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