Chapter 123: The Optimal Choice

At the foot of the snow-capped mountain.

After waiting for sunset, Wade alone came to the spot where the oak sleigh was buried.

During the day, he had inquired with the dragonkin about the port’s location. The dragonkin tried to dissuade him from this proactive attack, as the combat capabilities of the Icelanders remained unknown.

With strategic insight, the dragonkin analyzed the pros and cons for Wade.

So far, there had been no direct conflict between them and the Icelanders. The Icelanders had only done one thing since arriving at Dragon’s Spine – slaughtering demi-humans, exterminating the sparse Taniye settlements and any Taniye people within various organizations.

Those who resisted were mercilessly killed.

To efficiently eliminate demi-humans, they simultaneously attacked various organizations to gather intelligence. Over the past half month, many branch strongholds of the Lizardmen Faction and Deer Blood Faction had been occupied by them.

This was precisely why no reinforcements came when the smuggling warehouse was attacked by the Black Cat Society.

These past five days, the dragonkin had been transporting the reindeer, weapons, and food from that smuggling warehouse to a new hidden valley – essentially relocating to evade the Icelanders’ purge.

She used the stored food as payment to exchange for labor from the ratfolk caves, having the ratfolk dig a new underground cavern near the snowy mountains.

Although both the Black Cat Society and ratfolk were targets of the Icelanders’ purge, they hadn’t been exposed in daylight.

Finding a ratfolk cavern hidden within the massive Dragon’s Spine and snowfields was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

As long as they hid properly, they could avoid direct confrontation with the military.

According to the dragonkin’s analysis, those soldiers likely wouldn’t remain here permanently.

Dragon’s Spine’s land was barren and desolate, located far behind the frontlines. Its strategic and economic value was pitifully low – no reason to deploy troops here.

Once the soldiers completed their assigned tasks, they would withdraw. There was no reason for them to exterminate every last demi-human here, nor was it possible.

Besides the ratfolk and catfolk of the Black Cat Society, there were many isolated demi-human settlements in Dragon’s Spine’s wilderness, on those high mountains and plateaus.

Though the specific reasons for slaughtering demi-humans remained unclear, the dragonkin believed that in at most half a month, after the Icelanders found all the hideouts they could, they would prepare to withdraw.

At that time, they would likely only leave a small force to govern the area. Then it wouldn’t be too late to recapture the ports and ships.

After all, the sea was currently frozen. Without the Icelanders’ means to command demons, they couldn’t sail on frozen seas.

At least until April or May when the sea thawed would those ports operate normally.

By then, intelligence gathering would be mostly complete, and the Icelanders should have withdrawn, making port capture much easier.

The dragonkin’s analysis was thoroughly reasoned. Wade didn’t deny that her plan was perhaps the theoretically optimal solution, yet he still didn’t abandon this proactive attack.

That approach would indeed maximize protection of their interests.

The dragonkin’s plan was like a strategy guide from an expert. If this were a strategy game, Wade would follow the guide’s steps to achieve phased victories.

But this wasn’t a game – it was reality.

True, Wade wanted to take a ship away from the northern territories, return to Nidran, find his grave, and uncover what had happened to him.

He confessed to the dragonkin that his goal was finding a port to temporarily escape this war.

Following the dragonkin’s steps would let him avoid many conflicts.

But somehow… beyond his own objectives, he wanted to do something more.

He felt he could do something. Though his power was minuscule in this war, it wasn’t completely helpless.

With his current strength, he could indeed make some difference, could change some things.

Just like that escape. As an outsider, he could have remained indifferent.

Whether to assist those Taniye people was entirely his own choice.

That night’s journey to Alvado, viewed rationally, was definitely not the optimal solution.

Had he chosen indifference, he could have avoided direct combat with a fifth-circle necromancer.

If his avatar had died in the Icelandic camp, under the necromancers’ siege, his next crossing would also appear there – very disadvantageous for his personal exploration and interests.

Before setting out, he never knew whether the outcome would be good or bad.

Yet he still decided to go, because he felt he could do something.

He knew this was never a utopian world.

Even during his years as a baker in Helburg, he’d witnessed much injustice and heard countless tragic tales.

Homeless people were common on Helburg’s streets. The city teemed with swindlers and thieves – some lost entire family fortunes, even being sold into slavery; others woke in inns to find even their pants stolen.

He’d seen those homeless children wandering the streets. He never gave them coins, knowing children with broken legs or gouged eyes never kept what was in their bowls.

Behind them were the gangs controlling them – forces no baker could challenge. Giving those children money would only worsen their plight, and Wade couldn’t help them against their oppressors.

Reporting to guards would only leave Wade like those homeless souls – some guards were in league with gangs.

The only thing he could give those children was his leftover bread.

Occasionally, he’d divide leftover black bread into single portions and toss them into the children’s bowls.

Some food to stave off hunger – this was within his capabilities.

If it was something he could do, he would do it.

He wasn’t a general pursuing optimal solutions, minimal losses and maximal gains.

He never considered himself general material, because often he didn’t make the best choices.

But that was him – that was what he would do.

He declined the dragonkin’s offer to guide him, instead having her help draw a map he could understand.

The ice and snow parted under Mia’s control, revealing the heavy oak sleigh before him.

Those skeletal remains stood again under the ghosts’ command.

Wade boarded the sleigh. In the dark night, bone-beasts pulled the sleigh forward, racing toward the frozen icy sea.

On the empty snowfield, only his skeletal frame remained, yet in his heart, there was no fear.