I Became the Academy’s Weakest Strategist

The blonde lady.
The one who had introduced herself as Edinburar Rose was now sitting before me, smiling as she looked at me.
The moment she saw me, she rose from her seat and promptly took the one right in front of me.
Removing her glasses with her small hands and brushing aside her disheveled hair behind her ears, one might mistake her for a descending angel.

“We meet again.”
No, absolutely not.
The person before me was the unidentified trespasser A.
She might even try to snatch my life away.

“…”
Where was Rui?
Hurry and come save me.
This trespasser was trying to kidnap me now.
Use that great mage’s staff you boasted about to fend her off.

Though I inwardly called for Rui dozens of times, she never appeared.
Perhaps engrossed in some fairy tale book, her eyes sparkling in some secluded corner.
Left with no choice, I decided to respond to the woman before me with a business-like smile.
Who knew what might happen if I inadvertently provoked her temper.

“For what reason…?”
“Why, to read books of course.”
Whether her claim of coming to read books was a lie or the truth, I could not tell at all.

“Books.”
“?”
“Lord Rommel, you did give me that book, didn’t you?”
“What nonsense is this…”
“The book ‘What is War?’ – you did give that to me, correct?”

The lady tilted her head, staring at me in puzzlement.
I felt utterly lost, unable to grasp the flow of this conversation.
That book did match the one I had read in the library yesterday.
However, I had never given her any book or done anything of the sort.
Just who was she confusing me with?

“In any case, I am diligently studying it. But there is one thing I wish to ask, if you don’t mind?”
“…What is it?”
Spreading the book she had been holding on the desk, the lady pulled out a bookmark adorned with a bright yellow flower and used her slender fingers to point to a specific page.

Truthfully, I wanted to ask her directly what her identity was, but doing so openly might provoke her into strangling me instead.
It seemed wiser to simply tell her what she wanted to know and dismiss her swiftly.

“This part here.”
The lady pointed to a passage in the book with her finger, then turned it to show me.
Furrowing my brow slightly, I read the line:

“I don’t quite understand the meaning of this.”
Furrowing her brow with arms crossed, the lady seemed deep in thought as she looked at me.

‘Commanders should grant autonomous authority to their platoon leaders?’
There was a nation that had implemented this very book’s philosophy, or perhaps an identical one.

“Mission command (Auftragstaktik)…”
“Pardon?”
“No, just muttering to myself.”

Why, how had this command system that only became universally adopted in modern times emerged in this medieval era?
Just who was the author of this book?

“Lord…?”
“…What exactly…”

Unfortunately, I had not finished reading this book.
Though I had borrowed it immediately upon arriving at the library and spent hours reading it, I had not completed it cover to cover.
The reason was precisely because of this lady now smiling at me.

“…Perhaps Lord Rommel also did not under…”
“It is mission command.”
“Pardon?”

I deliberately raised my voice for the lady to hear clearly.
She might have thought I did not comprehend this book’s passage, but no.
I was quite familiar with this system.
Of course I was – it was the system employed by Germany during World War II.
As a history major who had been confined to graduate school, how could I not know of it?

“It involves setting operational objectives and delegating the means or tactics to achieve those objectives to front-line commanders. This maximizes the autonomy of front-line commanders in the uncertain battlefield environment, minimizing uncertainties and expediting mission accomplishment in the short term.”

“Grant autonomy to front-line commanders?”
“In some cases, disobedience of orders is even permitted under this tactic.”
“Does that make any sense?”

Though the lady’s voice rang out softly, no one else seemed to notice us.
Had she used some special magic, or were we just fortunate that no one else was nearby?
If a professor had carelessly been reading a book nearby, I would have had to immediately relocate.

“Orders from the commander on the battlefield are absolute. Disobeying them would surely undermine military discipline…”
“Military discipline could unravel?”
“Yes, if soldiers defy the commander’s orders, the army will naturally lose cohesion. It would descend into a disorderly rabble.”

“Let’s consider this simply.”
I let out a small sigh before continuing.
“There is a trap ahead, but it can easily be avoided by going around it. However, the commander is unaware of this.”
“…?”

The lady tilted her head, seemingly unable to grasp my intention.
“If the commander still orders you to advance directly, could you obey and proceed forward?”
“…”

Finally realizing my point, the lady fell silent, unable to respond.
I then proceeded with my explanation.

“Military discipline is a relative concept. Of course, following the commander’s orders on the battlefield is important. However, the battlefield is like shifting tides – you must command your forces precisely according to the situation.”

“…Certainly.”
“To do so, granting autonomy to the platoon leaders of each unit is most efficient.”

Mission command.

The most modern command system employed by Germany during World War II.
It was also related to Germany’s famed Blitzkrieg tactics.

At the time of World War II, for Operation Sickle Cut, Germany needed to penetrate the Ardennes Forest of France, secure a bridgehead, and rapidly establish an encirclement.
To achieve this, they had to reach the Meuse River within 3 days and cross it by the 4th day.

Back then, the tank unit commander Heinz Guderian personally led the vanguard forces to swiftly assess the situation.
Unlike the hidebound commanders stuck in their command posts, oblivious to the battlefield realities, Guderian took the front lines directly.
Through Operation Sickle Cut, the German forces were able to push back the Allied Belgian and French armies.

And…
“I call this further developed tactic the Wolfpack.”
“Wolfpack?”
“Yes, when one wolf in the pack discovers prey, it signals the rest, and the pack instantly forms an encirclement to hunt the prey.”
“That is entirely…”
“Autonomous, yes.”

The lady silently nodded in response to my words.
Seeing her like this, diligently attending lessons, I wondered why she had lied to me earlier.
At least, the curiosity in her eyes did not seem feigned.

“Armies operate similarly. Each platoon is granted independent authority, and when they encounter the enemy, they share the enemy’s location through pre-arranged signals. They then report the enemy’s position and their own numbers to the commander.”

I swallowed slightly before continuing.
Ah, I shouldn’t be doing this.
Asked to explain historical strategies and tactics, my obsession was surfacing again.

“Once sufficient allied forces have gathered, the commander judges the situation and issues the attack order. The independently operating platoons in the vicinity then attack the enemy from all sides.”

“…If such an army truly existed…”
“It would be the ideal army. The commander enters the front lines for swift situational assessment, while the platoons autonomously crush the enemy within their permitted freedoms.”

The myth of the German Blitzkrieg began from such subtle nuances.
Independent platoons with autonomy, commanders unhesitant to risk their lives, and soldiers trusting those commanders.
This created tremendous synergistic effects, allowing Germany to shroud Europe in terror.

“…Lord Rommel.”
Having sat entranced, attentively listening to my words, the lady now looked at me and slowly opened her mouth.
“…Please continue.”

Though a sense of unease crept up, the lady’s gaze was too insistent for me to refuse, so I nodded.
Her eyes sparkling with anticipation, the lady spoke in an expectant voice.
“Please become my tutor.”

“Pardon?”
“Meeting you has opened my eyes to a whole new world.”
“?”

The lady’s abrupt bombshell declaration took me aback.
Her request for me to become her tutor was an immense burden.
Moreover, I still did not know this lady’s true identity.
Whether she would become the blade at my throat or a trusted companion, who could say?

Trust between people is not so easily earned.
Especially when neither party even knows the other’s name.

“I must refuse.”
“Re…fuse? Pardon?”
“I said I must refuse. The advice I can offer ends here.”

Leaving the flustered lady behind, I abruptly rose and hurried towards the opposite end of the library.
Though I seemed to hear the lady’s voice calling out from behind, it was none of my concern.
From now on, my services are not free, Lady.