Chapter 1322: Chapter 1322: Charles’s Dilemma
Charles received piece after piece of news, leaving his mind a bit muddled. He supported himself with one hand on the stone bench, struggling to steady his breath and regain a modicum of composure amidst the chaos in his mind.
"Damn it!" Charles cursed fiercely before his mood finally calmed down. However, his subordinates were less composed; everyone wore expressions of urgency, and a few were even pacing back and forth indoors.
Tap tap tap~
Listening to the footsteps of his subordinates, Charles felt a slight headache. He raised his hand and asked, "Calm down, everyone. How many pieces of information were just reported?"
A young man replied, "Commander, there were a total of five pieces of information. In summary, the enemy camp has stationed personnel at ten crucial checkpoints near the border area."
Charles took a deep breath, closed his eyes slightly, then opened them again and asked, "Have we stationed our personnel at these ten checkpoints?"
With that question, everyone present suddenly froze, looking at one another. Then, a young woman stepped forward and said, "We should have three to six people deployed, but we’re not very sure about the exact number."
Hearing this, Charles frowned, "How can you not be sure? You don’t even know how many personnel are at your own camp or where they’re stationed?"
Upon hearing Charles’s question, the young woman looked a little uneasy, but she still tried to maintain a steady tone as she replied, "Because of Louise Carter."
Charles’s finger twitched.
The young woman glanced at him cautiously, noticing that while Commander Charles looked a bit upset, he seemed able to control his emotions. She continued, "When we infiltrated the enemy camp with you, our side wasn’t properly arranged, which left the camp in chaos for a long time..."
The young woman stopped.
The atmosphere was silent.
This indeed should be Commander Charles’s responsibility. As the highest leader of the camp, even if making aggressive and risky decisions, he should’ve properly arranged for his rear.
But what happened?
Charles had directly thrown aside the main camp, the rear, as if totally disregarding the potential failures...
In fact, when Charles decided to take the risk, some people stood up to oppose it, including Louise Carter, who even bore the worst consequences to advise Charles against it?
And what was the result?
Rout Case disobeyed the commander’s orders and was penalized 50 points by the system.
What’s the concept of losing 50 points?
It is equivalent to the score for killing fifty enemies! How many enemies are there on the entire battlefield? 1,000; distributed by head count, each person could only earn one point.
Lou was deducted 50 points. Without a miracle or a dramatic reversal, he would already be on the verge of elimination!
...
All of this was a result of Charles’s arrogance and conceit.
Charles bore full responsibility.
The young woman boldly voiced this, while the other students present, selected by Charles as advisors and his main assistants, felt uncomfortable looking at the cloud of darkness on his face.
Charles was strong, but he wasn’t a good commander.
Many present harbored such thoughts but quickly pushed them aside, standing up straight.
The night was dark, torches burned inside, casting flickering orange-yellow light. At this moment, Charles observed everyone’s expressions and took them to heart. Previously, he would’ve been very angry, but now, he tried hard to control his emotions, pursing his lips and saying, "It was my responsibility before."
Hearing him admit his mistake, the young woman and others were surprised. The young woman even widened her eyes as she looked at Charles, noting that the dark clouds on his face no longer stirred such great resentment.
If there is a mistake, correct it; if not, be encouraged by it.
The commander’s willingness to admit mistakes indicates there’s still hope for our side.
The expressions and thoughts of others mirrored those of the young woman.
They were part of the 56th, and Charles was the commander of the 6th camp. Even if they were dissatisfied with him, what could they do? Would they, like that fool Louise Carter, blatantly defy the commander’s orders and get docked 50 points, essentially being declared eliminated?
No way.
They represented the school in the competition, not headed for elimination. No matter how hard it gets, they must strive to persist to the end; the outcome is not yet decided, it’s too early to say the 5th camp will definitely win.
Besides, Charles now realized his stubbornness and would surely change moving forward.
As they thought this, and began to have hope for Charles, they heard him knock on the stone table and say, "Continue."
The young woman looked up at Charles, feeling calmer, and said, "Commander, because after we left, the camp was leaderless, causing the legion to fight individually and not comply with each other. This was when Louise Carter took the opportunity to recover the hands of four legions. Now, the scope and influence of these four legions are all under Louise Carter’s management and control, we..."
The young woman paused and said, "We now can’t directly control this area; they only listen to Louise Carter."
Finishing her statement, she expected to hear Charles’s furious rant, but Charles, with a face full of dark clouds, remained silent.
The young woman said, "So, we’re also unsure whether Lou has deployed personnel at the remaining checkpoints frequented by the enemy."
Charles raised his hand, saying, "I understand."
Afterward, Charles tapped the tabletop with one hand, clearly deep in thought.
The young woman and others waited for a while. Seeing he remained silent, the young woman couldn’t help but ask, "Commander, what should we do now?"
...
Beyond the screen, observing students were momentarily silent before a flurry of comments popped up:
"I don’t know what to say about these people in the 6th camp right now."
"I also don’t know what to say."
"If I were them, I might not perform any better."
"Yeah, the commander is a legion’s soul, its stabilizing force, its authority! A commander’s orders must have authority, and if not, why would any soldier listen? What future does such a legion have, what purpose to exist? Thus, warriors must obey the commander. But—"
"But what if the commander is wrong?"
"If the commander is wrong, does everyone have to err with him, even to the point of death?"
"You can’t say people around Charles were wrong, nor were they right. If it were me, I’d struggle to decide, but—"
"But under similar or even worse circumstances, Ji You could make different choices and change dismal situations, getting everyone to follow her! Even the commander listens to her."
"Cough cough... She’s not so much getting the commander to listen as not giving him a chance to speak at all!"
