"Is there a problem?" Ember leaned next to Morgott and asked in a low voice.
Morgott did not respond. In fact, given his size, it was already quite difficult for him to hide in the grass with Ember.
If he spoke again, Morgott was afraid that his aura would leak out, and it would be troublesome if both sides of the battle discovered him.
After observing the surrounding terrain, Morgott gestured to Ember, then slowly moved upwards.
The further away from the beach, the denser the vegetation became. Hidden by the green, Ember and Morgott had quietly climbed to the high ground at the edge of the battlefield.
"No way? So lacking in discernment? Why fight on low ground when you could occupy high ground?" Ember looked down at the people fighting below from the bushes, complaining.
Even he, a half-baked novice who knew nothing about war, understood the importance of high ground. Did these proper soldiers not know?
"That's not necessarily the case." Because this place was much further from the battlefield, and the vegetation was dense, providing better concealment, Morgott could finally catch his breath.
He poked the ground with his Cursed Sword, and Morgott felt no resistance as half of the Cursed Sword plunged into the earth.
Looking down at the two sides fighting in front, Morgott nodded slightly.
"My King, please see, this is clearly a small-scale skirmish."
"The number of people on both sides is only a few dozen, and their weapons are only swords and sabers. There are no shields or crossbows whatsoever."
"Presumably, in normal times, these two small teams would be performing low-intensity tasks such as patrols and reconnaissance."
"In this situation, occupying high ground is not a good choice, whether for retreat or to silence witnesses."
As he spoke, Morgott pulled out the Cursed Sword he had inserted into the soil. He showed it to Ember and continued:
"Moreover, this place is near the sea, the soil is soft, and there are no pebbles or other projectiles. Neither of these two forces has crossbows, so the advantage of high ground cannot be fully utilized."
"What's more, My King, don't be fooled by the impressive shouts from both sides; they are all using defensive formations. I estimate that it won't be long before they realize they can't defeat each other and will withdraw their troops."
Morgott pointed at the resistance and the Shogunate Army, spouting a long string of analyses that completely confused Ember.
"I know I was wrong. I won't comment casually anymore, can you please stop talking?" Ember covered his head, shaking it frantically. He had only made a casual remark, but now Morgott's incessant talking was giving him a headache.
"My King should have a sufficient understanding of war." Although Morgott said this, he quieted down.
Sure enough, just as Morgott had said earlier, after fighting for a while, the two sides left a pile of corpses and then retreated cautiously.
The beach fell silent again, but this time it was not as beautiful and pleasant as before. On the contrary, if an ordinary person saw the bleeding beach, they would probably vomit on the spot.
"The stalemate between these two sides is deeper than I imagined." Morgott gained more information from seeing this scene.
Only when the front line is stalemated and changes can occur at any time can the patrol teams of both sides engage in such fierce conflicts. If the front line is stable, patrolling is a cushy job.
"Is that why you stopped me?" To prevent Morgott from starting another long speech, Ember decided to strike first and directly shut Morgott up.
"No, with My King's strength, he can easily reverse the current stalemate." Morgott shook his head.
"Hey, you hit the nail on the head with that one." Ember stood up in the grass, puffing out his chest.
Unfortunately, hidden by the vegetation, not to mention Morgott, even Ember himself couldn't see his movements; he was showing off to the air.
"So, My King, have you decided which side to help?" Morgott then asked.
This question stumped Ember. He stroked his chin and began to think carefully.
"Uh…"
The resistance? Ember only knew that they were rebelling against the Shogunate, and their leader was a beastman. Other than that, he knew nothing.
If anything, they were still a rebellious force, and Inazuma's heavy crackdown on them didn't seem entirely wrong?
As for the Shogunate Army? Well, although it was the official force of Inazuma, Ember felt that Inazuma after the Sakoku Decree was not very good, completely lacking the peace and prosperity of Mondstadt and Liyue.
Comparing the two, Ember couldn't figure out the reason why the common people in Inazuma were living such miserable lives.
Was it due to financial shortages caused by the Shogunate's need to suppress the resistance? Or was it due to material scarcity caused by the Sakoku Decree?
"I don't know?" Ember was a bit flustered. Morgott's question was a fatal blow, almost making Ember's brain smoke.
"Or to put it another way, does My King want to get involved? War is indeed cruel, and most of it is for the majority to seize benefits for the minority; but some wars are necessary."
"Blind intervention may lead to more sacrifices." Morgott saw Ember's expression and took a step back, asking.
"Well, about that…" Ember scratched his head, his mind racing. Indeed, as Morgott said, war was no child's play.
Whether to intervene and how to intervene, these were all question marks.
As Ember's mind spun, he pulled out a small notebook.
"Shogunate…" Ember twirled his pen. He thought of what Washizu had told him, and wrote "-1" after "Shogunate".
"resistance…" Ember thought for a moment and put a "0" after it. After all, if what Washizu said was true, they were rebelling because they had no food, which Ember found understandable.
"Now the resistance is up by one point! If the Shogunate Army doesn't try harder, I'll help the resistance!" Ember walked out of the bushes, held up the small notebook in his hand to the sun, and marveled at his brilliant idea.
As a result, he was choked by the pervasive bleeding scent.
"Cough, cough, cough! Damn it, you don't even clean up the corpses after a war, so you're not worried about plagues, are you?!" Ember coughed a few times when he saw the bleeding corpses on the ground.
Then he flipped the notebook and added a "-1" after both the resistance and the Shogunate Army.
"This is indeed a problem. If the corpses are not dealt with properly, it will be very troublesome." Morgott also walked out.
The pervasive bleeding smell did not affect him. On the contrary, he even walked to some of the corpses and closed their unclosed eyes.
"Morgott, what do you think of my method?" Ember threw the small notebook in his hand over while digging a pit.
"…"
Morgott just opened it and understood Ember's idea. He forced a stiff smile and praised, "A brilliant idea, worthy of My King."
Although it was absurd, it was indeed a good method. However, it still needed a small improvement.
"I think My King can add another item, which is your own intervention tendency. If at that time both forces are very… very bad."
Morgott paused, he raised an eyebrow. Although such a possibility was small, it couldn't be ruled out, could it?
"At that time, if My King helps either side, it would be desecrating his own hands. Then My King will need to act alone."
"Or, if the impact of the war on the people is actually very small, too small to warrant intervention, and so on…"
Morgott's mind clearly worked faster than Ember's. He eloquently listed a bunch of unexpected situations.
"Is that so? Then I'll listen to you!"
Ember was a person who was happy to accept suggestions, so he drew a calm face between "Shogunate" and "resistance", with the number "0" below it, to indicate his current attitude—he felt that Inazuma was neither good nor bad right now, and his inclination to intervene was average.
After all, Inazuma was just a war, and a civil war at that, not the Doomsday.
If this calm face turned into a smiling face, it would mean Ember had no intention of interfering in the war between the two sides.
If it turned into an angry face, then it would be hard to say…
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