Let’s Manage the Tower

Book 5: Volume 1 Chapter 5, Second Battle

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

Following the first battle, a full preparation day was allocated to both sides.

This preparation period allowed adding new summoned monsters, though settings remained freely configurable.

This time, the daily cycle of battle and preparation would simply repeat. An arrangement both sides accepted.

“You’re not doing anything today?”

Kousuke lounged in the relaxation space, showing no signs of particular activity, when Collete approached to check on him.

“I’m planning to add some beginner level monsters, though not immediately.”

Adding too many non-familiar monsters would trigger territorial conflicts, making excessive numbers counterproductive.

Temporarily increasing numbers for the Conquest Battle was possible, but doing so would significantly impact the ecosystem long-term.

If victory were the goal, that might be acceptable, but Kousuke had no intention of such recklessness during the experimental phase.

“Are you planning to lose again tomorrow?”

“If possible, yes. Fighting identically to yesterday twice in a row would reveal my intentions too easily.”

“I see.”

Kousuke smiled at Collete, who appeared somewhat dissatisfied.

“You’re not convinced, huh?”

Collete’s expression suggested that even if it was just an experiment, losing felt disappointing.

Kousuke’s question made Collete look embarrassed. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.

“Honestly, if we tried to win, we could win, couldn’t we?”

“Probably. But that would leave certain things unknown. I want to find out what I can so I’m planning several more losses.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now is our best opportunity to investigate.”

Winning through overwhelming force might convince the opponent that victory was impossible, causing them to abandon the effort.

That would defeat the purpose.

For this reason, Kousuke intended to lose cleanly in the early stages.

The key was making the opponent believe victory remained achievable.

As they conversed, Shrein entered the room.

“Collete, Kousuke is conducting various research for future benefits. Don’t be so demanding of him.”

“I understand that intellectually but emotionally…”

Collete probably grasped it logically, but her emotions could not quite accept it.

If she truly wanted to win, she would not have expressed herself so halfheartedly earlier.

“Well, Kousuke said this is only the beginning, so let’s watch for a while. Or, if watching Kousuke lose is too painful, perhaps you shouldn’t watch?”

“That’s true, but…”

Collete looked slightly sulky, pursing her lips.

She probably meant she did not want Kousuke losing without her knowledge.

Kousuke and Shrein exchanged meaningful glances at this delicate emotional response.

Deciding he could not let this discussion continue on, Kousuke made a firm declaration.

“Regardless, I’m planning several more losses for now. That has been decided upon, and I won’t change it.”

“Understood.”

Following Kousuke’s declaration, Collete reluctantly departed the relaxation area.

Watching her leave, Kousuke tilted his head and looked at Shrein.

“Is something wrong with Collete?”

“She’s definitely acting differently than usual.”

The usual Collete rarely displayed such sluggishness.

Over ten years of working together as managers, this was nearly unprecedented for both Kousuke and Shrein.

“I don’t think anything unusual has happened recently…?”

“Indeed. Now that you mention it, I am curious. I’ll inform the others and keep watch for a while.”

“That would be helpful. I’ll leave it to you.”

Kousuke looked relieved after hearing Shrein’s reassuring words.

Seeing Kousuke’s expression, Shrein felt internal relief.

Right now marked a critical time for the Tower.

Best to avoid burdening Kousuke with unnecessary stress as much as possible.

Shrein felt grateful that Kousuke’s concerns about Collete had been somewhat alleviated.

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The opponent employed similar tactics in the second Conquest Battle.

Their strategy remained overwhelming through sheer numbers.

Not wanting to lose identically this time, Kousuke summoned numerous monsters.

However, by ‘numerous’, he meant low level monsters summoned from standard summoning circles, not familiars.

Like the opponent previously, his strategy involved defending through numerical superiority.

Mirroring the first battle, the opponent’s monsters invaded Amamiya Tower’s territory immediately from the very beginning.

From the screen’s perspective, they employed identical attack tactics.

“I didn’t expect them to be exactly the same.”

During the first match, enemies had attacked from the map’s upper right.

Consequently, he had concentrated the monster summoning at that location this time.

So far, the enemy appeared to be attacking identically.

“They really do look exactly the same.”

Floria, watching the screen, tilted her head suspiciously.

Even she had not expected them to employ the same attack pattern twice in a row.

Incidentally, even in ground warfare, troops rarely attacked in exactly the same pattern, even with large numbers. Such repetition only occurred when confident of overwhelming numerical superiority.

“Is that truly their entire plan?” Contrary to Kousuke’s expectations of some innovative tactic, the situation continued developing moment by moment.

The enemy’s attack pattern remained unchanged from the first match.

Just as Kousuke began worrying that complete defeat was imminent if this continued, changes began occurring.

The general positional relationship remained unchanged, but monster numbers on Amamiya Tower’s side were clearly beginning to decline.

“Hmm… Ah, I see now.” Kousuke zoomed in on the screen and finally understood the reason.

“They’ve started mixing in mid level monsters.”

Floria nodded understandingly, observing the situation.

While the strategy remained essentially numerically overwhelming, concentrating mid level monsters in specific areas created breakthrough points.

With only low level monsters prepared for defense, Kousuke could not counter the concentrated mid level monster forces.

Their strategy probably involved eventually breaking through areas where mid level monsters concentrated.

“The question is whether they changed their monster composition based on ours, or whether this was their intention from the very beginning.”

“Hmmm… Logically, we should assume they adapted their composition based on our own deployment.” From the screen, even mid level monsters could be defeated by numerous low level monsters.

However, this was rare. Mid level monsters still overwhelmed low level monsters.

Currently, low level monsters outnumbered them, but they were being numerically reduced at a far faster pace. It was only a matter of time before they were taken down.

In this battle, he had deliberately summoned numerous monsters midway to avoid revealing their impending loss.

Even saying ‘numerous’, with Amamiya Tower’s current capabilities, placing however many low level monsters barely consumed any resources.

Deliberately limiting monster composition to low level would prove beneficial if the enemy mistakenly believed this represented Amamiya Tower’s full summoning capacity.

Regardless, this battle demonstrated the enemy was not simply attacking through numbers alone.

This allowed him to analyze various additional factors.

At this rate, Kousuke planned to lose the next two matches as well.