While Night was deep in thought, barely a moment had actually passed in the room.
Everyone was waiting for his answer.
Agamemnon was watching him too.
If the whole affair of being squeezed by the other party, on top of the entrance of the divine deer, left Agamemnon feeling like he'd eaten something foul,
Then right now he was looking at Night with just as much eagerness, hoping to hear something different come out of his mouth.
As long as it wasn't more pressure to go apologize to Achilles, Agamemnon was already decided.
Whatever Night said, he would back it fully.
And so,
Under the gaze of a room full of heroes,
As the biggest internal saboteur Greece had, after the chaos of storming the camp the day before, Night hadn't been planning to draw this much attention again.
But when the moment came that required him to show up, he didn't hesitate and said calmly, "I have no particular opinion about Achilles.
I'd even say my own abilities share some similarities with his, and I've long admired that hero from afar.
But I've never met Lord Achilles in person, so I'm not in a position to comment.
That decision is yours to make."
....
First he removed himself from the side that appeared hostile to Achilles in everyone's eyes.
After he said that, the other heroes nodded with some understanding.
And when Night mentioned that his own ability resembled Achilles's,
Odysseus and the others immediately thought back to the undying body of steel on display during the fight and the spear technique that moved like a falling star.
They'd been too occupied since then to ask about it.
But Night stayed very much a mystery in their eyes.
They had suspected some kind of connection between him and Achilles, but he just denied it, which only added another layer to the puzzle in Odysseus's mind.
This wasn't the moment to dwell on it, though.
They looked back toward Night, not expecting him to then add,
"That said, I do have a few modest thoughts about the difficulty our forces are currently in."
He actually had something? Everyone looked surprised.
None of them had managed to come up with anything.
...
Seeing the heroes sharpen their attention, Night said, "Since everyone is so wary of Hector's strength, then simply reduce the number of direct confrontations with him on the main battlefield.
Everything that started this war began with the king of Sparta and the prince of Troy.
It should be ended by the two of them as well.
On the main front, without a top-tier fighter to lead, we can't stop the casualties from piling up under the enemy's spears.
So let it be a duel."
....
"A duel?!" Multiple voices responded at once, all of them surprised.
The heroes started murmuring among themselves immediately.
...
Nestor's brow furrowed hard, and he swore outright.
"Fool! Are you trying to send everyone to their deaths, Griffith?!
Outside of Achilles, no one here can beat that man in a direct duel.
One-on-one is exactly where he's strongest!"
....
Other heroes nodded. Some of them flinched at the thought of going up against Hector alone.
After all, a duel wasn't just about winning or losing. People died in duels.
But then they saw Night smile.
"Of course. It's not as simple as that.
If it were just one duel, no one here could beat Hector."
Hearing those words, multiple faces darkened at once.
Could you at least leave us a little dignity?
Although we know it's the truth, it stings to hear it.
...
"What I'm proposing is this.
Have the king of Sparta challenge Paris to a duel before the battle, man to man, to prove who the stronger one is.
A beauty belongs with the strong.
Given Hector's proud nature, he would never stand in the way of something as righteous and honorable as a fight to assert one's claim.
And if we can capture Paris on the battlefield..."
...
Night let his voice trail off and closed his eyes slowly, as if to say the rest should be obvious to anyone with a working brain.
Odysseus, who happened to be on the scene, stepped in and finished it. "Then we use Paris as leverage to force the Trojans to pull back.
Buying our army time to recover."
He said it with open admiration.
It was genuinely a good plan.
After all, he had watched Hector on the battlefield multiple times and understood his character.
That man was a principled fighter.
The approach might be a little underhanded, but if it tied Hector's hands, it was worth any method it took to make it work.
Unlike most of the Greek heroes, Odysseus was one of the rare few who didn't look down on tactics and intelligence.
The majority of the others preferred direct combat to finish the job and shouted about honor and glory constantly.
In the eyes of Odysseus, they were commonly known as a group of brainless brutes.
His impression of Night warmed noticeably, helped in no small part by the music from that morning.
And Menelaus, the long-suffering king of Sparta, looked more excited than anyone else in the room.
His eyes practically lit up like they were glowing.
After all, Sparta was always known for raw force, and as its king, he had full confidence in his own strength.
When Agamemnon asked for his opinion directly, Menelaus answered with barely contained enthusiasm and said he'd beat Paris into the ground without breaking a sweat.
The energy spread through all the heroes instantly, and they agreed this was a solid, foolproof plan.
One by one they looked at Night with a different expression from before.
Admiration and something close to awe.
He came up with something that calculated human nature this sharply.
Eyes locked onto Night.
No one knew what he was actually thinking.
The plan was a good plan, but it relied on the king of Sparta actually being strong enough.
And his fighting strength wasn't at the level where capturing Paris was a given.
Those two were about as evenly matched as two average players.
Menelaus was slightly better in close combat but not by much.
Not every king of Sparta was a Leonidas or a Kratos.
And while the heroes all had their attention fixed on the upcoming duel, all marching to the front lines, Night would have a full day to quietly explore the camp and figure out where Briseis was being held.
He could also try to find Achilles during that time and start working on convincing him to switch sides.
Before leaving, Night already sent Hector a message ahead of time to not kill whoever was wearing Achilles's armor.
If Achilles's closest friend died, the entire plan to turn him was finished.
But then he stopped.
Wait. He realized he was caught in a mental misunderstanding.
Why did the rule have to be don't kill whoever is wearing Achilles's armor?
If someone else wore it and went into battle, the problem solved itself.
And so, another two-faced scheme took shape in his mind.
Just as Agamemnon was energized by the genuinely good idea Night put forward an already pulling Odysseus and the others into a discussion about logistics,
Night spoke up again.
"One more thing. I'd suggest finding a hero to wear Lord Achilles's armor and pass as Achilles. As long as 'Achilles' appears on the battlefield, few heroes on Troy's side would dare step forward to test whether he's real.
That alone should be enough to push the Trojan forces back temporarily."
Hearing these words, every hero's eyes lit up.
Achilles's armor?
Now that was something worth wanting.
There was barely a hero alive who didn't covet that set.
Even just borrowing it for a moment would be enough.
In the original myths, when Achilles died, nearly every hero in the alliance got greedy over his legacy.
At that time, even Odysseus, whose actual fighting strength was limited and whose points were all invested in command and strategy, suddenly found his breathing getting faster and something restless stirring inside him.
What man didn't love armor and legendary weapons?
Just like no man can resist the temptation of Kamen Rider, Transformer, and Gundam.
Watching the expressions on all the heroes' faces, Night kept his own completely neutral while quietly laughing inside.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)