Before I could even process what was happening, I had to say goodbye to Faye.
I caught a glimpse of her through the curtain as I left—still standing there, arms half-crossed like she didn't know what to do with herself, that same outfit still clinging to her like a bad decision she hadn't fully committed to.
…Damn it.
That was going somewhere.
I tried to make my exit seem at least somewhat dignified, but Edward's urgent tone kept pushing me to hurry.
This had better be important…
I was so close to finishing the quest in a single day!
What if there was some kind of secret reward for clearing it so fast!?
For now, I'll just apologize to her once I get back...
"What's going on?"
"I received reports that we're being overwhelmed, my lord. We need you to return to the estate and lead the defenses."
We're being overwhelmed? That was never mentioned in the novel… but since the story was told from the MC's perspective, it made sense that there were things I didn't know.
It was still way too early to say whether the story had drastically changed because of my interference.
But aside from that, what bothered me more was that I still knew almost nothing about leading an army—especially my own. If I showed any weakness in my own capital, they'd realize right away that I was a fraud or think I was losing my edge.
I needed to come up with an excuse, fast. For now, I should at least ask how much time I had.
"How long do you think it'll take before we're overwhelmed?"
"A week, my lord. We need you back at least three days from now if we want to prevent that. I've already requested an imperial aircraft to escort you home."
Three days? That should be enough time to figure something out… I'm still a transmigrator. There's no way I'm failing this early.
There had to be something I could use to protect my borders without going there myself. But first, I needed time to review the novel.
"Not now. Escort me back to my room."
"B-But, my lord…"
"It's an order, Edward."
"O-Okay… but please don't take too long."
***
The moment I got back to my room, I shut the door and locked it, then pulled the novel into my hands.
It doesn't take a genius to know what I needed most right now. When you're lacking expertise in a certain area, it's better to find someone who has it and rely on them instead.
And right now, I need battlefield commanders.
I hadn't expected to panic this soon, but with how chaotic the original Cassian's life was, I really should've seen it coming. Still, if he could manage it, then someone like me—who knew most of what was supposed to happen—should be able to handle it too.
"C-Calm down, me...."
I sat down and started flipping through the pages, skipping ahead to the big battles.
I didn't even care what started them. Right now, I just need to find any named generals and see if I could hire them to fight for me.
I mean, I had enough money to hire anyone… right? But finding just one wouldn't be enough. I needed a list—and I needed to finish it today.
I yanked open my desk drawer and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen.
Time to put my old office skills to work in this new world.
This might come back to bite me if I ended up hiring some shady general, but as long as they could keep my capital safe, I'd manage. I could always comb through the novel later and make sure to fire them before they tried anything stupid.
I'd just gotten back from a lingerie shop, and now I was dealing with this? The pressure was insane. Couldn't this have waited until at least tomorrow?!
General Thorme.
Commoner Rerick.
Lordsworn Tristan Vale.
I was basically just going through the novel in my head, looking for the really competent characters—or more specifically, the ones with obvious plot armor.
Even if this is real life now, they should still have some plot armor, right?
"This should be enough..."
I stared at the list and couldn't believe I'd already written down twenty named characters. I didn't even remember the specific battles they'd fought.
All I knew was that the novel had always described their victories as decisive and flawless.
Still, as an office worker, I'm no stranger to delegation. I'll just hand this over to Edward and have him go through it with some of my advisors.
They should recognize at least a few people on this list and know what they're capable of. Ideally, they'll even know where to find them—and how much it'll cost to hire them.
"I haven't done anything too evil yet, so recruiting them shouldn't be that hard."
I was even half-tempted to write down the actual main character, to be honest.
But right now… he's not really the strongest. Sure, he has the most potential in the future, but I doubt he could defend my capital as he is.
"I'll hand this to Edward. Hopefully, they can find someone promising in here."
Now that I think about it, this feels exactly like I'm playing an RTS—except this time, I actually know the names of all the SSS-rank or meta generals in advance.
That comparison really helped calm my nerves, honestly.