"Okay, Brand."
Sophie took the sword and drew two lines on the soft ground.
"This is Weishi River, this is Yu Song River."
He pointed the tip of the sword between the two rivers a few times: "Here is Buqi, here is Qing Village, and here is Weibin."
With just a few simple strokes, he sketched out a rough map, impressing the young ones once again. After all, in this era, few people understood this world as well as he did—
"Isn't that the three towns?" Beisha couldn't help but cover her mouth.
"It's amazing, so this is what it looks like here." Aike looked at Sophie with some admiration in his eyes.
"So Buqi is here?"
"Brand, how do you know this?" everyone asked eagerly, their youthful curiosity on full display.
Sophie, however, shook his head.
Joking aside, if he didn't recognize Newbie Village of the three towns, he might as well bash his head against a piece of tofu. Of course, he couldn't answer it that way, so he deliberately retorted, "Haven't you learned to read tactical maps?"
Tactical maps? What are those?
Everyone was puzzled, thinking that even the militia of Brags had to learn such things mightily under Martha's God.
For a moment, everyone couldn't help but feel a bit of blind veneration.
However, our protagonist laughed inwardly. This stuff wasn't mastered even by most junior officers in the regular army; it would be strange if militias learned it. But, of course, he wouldn't expose himself directly and instead pointed to the place where the two rivers met:
"Here is Ridenburg."
"Ah, is this Ridenburg?" Romantic asked curiously.
"What's the matter?" Sophie clearly heard suppressed laughter from around him and couldn't help but look up and ask.
"It's like this, Brother Brand. Romantic, when she was young, envied the merchants in Ridenburg so much that she would always wanted to become one. One time, she ran away claiming she was going to Ridenburg to do big business, but in the end—" Little Phenix not only switched sides immediately but also left people hanging.
Everyone around couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"And then?" Sophie asked.
"Haha, she got lost in the forest halfway, and it was Uncle Xier who went and brought her back." Little Phenix laughed out loud.
"That's not true!" Romantic's eyebrows shot up in fury.
Sophie glanced at the future Miss Merchant and couldn't help but think that apparently, the lesson wasn't learned well enough.
"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. Why do you want to go to Ridenburg?" He composed himself and continued to ask.
"There's an army there."
"Captain Madden and his men will definitely go there."
"My uncle, too." Everyone started talking again, but the meaning was the same: they each had relatives who might head to Ridenburg, even though they were currently separated. So why not go to Ridenburg?
This answer left Sophie a bit stumped. It made sense; who would abandon their family? But he also knew that ten out of ten people who escaped from Buqi would likely be chased down by Madara's army, and going to Ridenburg now was merely walking into a trap.
Sophie knew very well that they must travel parallel to the 'Death God' Kabais Department, narrowly bypass it to enter the Belredo Forest, and then reach Dagger River Beach before Eberdon and Weisa could surround them. From there, they would enter the Deer Hunting Forest, brush past Instarlon's main forces, and reach Anzek, where they could inform the local garrison about Instarlon's plan to flank the Gusta Division.
Only this way could they preserve their group and save Erune from a disastrous defeat as history recorded.
But how could he begin to explain it?
Nah, the usual, take it step by step. He rubbed his slightly heavy forehead and changed his tune: "Alright, we can move toward Ridenburg first and see what happens next."
Then he looked up and met Frey's worried gaze. The girl clearly didn't believe his words.
"Mr. Brand?"
"It's nothing, just a hunch. The situation might change." He smiled at the girl. However, despite his words, he silently sighed in his heart.
Reality was harsh, not allowing someone as weak as he was to make choices. Of course, if he had the chance, he would definitely try again.
After all, a homebody is this naive.
He couldn't help but mock himself—
...
(PS. The results still haven't improved, sigh.)