Became a Strategist with a 100 Intelligence and 100% Accuracy

I repeated my question several times, asking Serpina if she was truly serious.
I had considered the possibility, but now that it had actually happened—
I couldn’t believe it.

"What would I possibly gain from lying to you?"
Serpina smiled again.
She wasn’t testing me—

She wasn’t trying to provoke a reaction.
“You have the look of a discarded hound.”
“A hound…?”

A deep sigh escaped me.
“I doubt I was ever Lady Yuri’s hound to begin with.”
After all—

She had never truly used me.
I hadn’t been in her service for long, but even in that short time, I had spent more time teaching Reika than performing actual missions.
In truth, I had been more idle in her army than I ever had under Lyn’s command.

Serpina remained silent as I sorted through my thoughts.
So Yuri had chosen to abandon me and save Anima instead.
She might not have known that Reika was with me,

But she certainly knew that Airen was accompanying me as a bodyguard.
And despite that—
She had made this choice.
In the end, to her, neither I nor Airen were worth more than Anima.

I didn’t find it incomprehensible.
The Aishus Five had a bond that no one could break.
Yuri, Anima, Emma, Epinnel, Hernandorf.

The entire foundation of Aishus was built upon those five.
If I were to be honest with myself—
I wasn’t particularly shocked.

Nor was I about to lament about how my lord could do this to me.
Because the truth was—
I had never truly served her as my lord.

Yuri had always been a temporary figure in my life.
My loyalty had always belonged to Lunarian.
So I had no intention of playing the tragic victim now.

Doing so would be pathetic.
Airen likely felt the same.
She had repaid her debt to Yuri with countless achievements on the battlefield.

There was nothing tying her down.
The only one I worried about was Reika.
Unlike Airen and me—

She was not a warrior.
She wasn’t a soldier bound by duty.
She was just… a girl who happened to know magic.

That fact alone might make her far from ordinary, but she had never sworn herself to any nation.
She had no reason to be here—no reason to be imprisoned alongside me.
If she wanted to leave…

I would make sure she was sent home safely.
As Jinor’s foster daughter, no one would dare touch her.
Just as I came to that conclusion, Serpina spoke again.

“So. What will you do?”
“…What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”

Was she expecting me to declare my surrender aloud?
A declaration of defeat, straight from my own lips?
It was a petty thing—

But absolute rulers like Serpina often fixated on such trivial victories.
Then again—
I had managed well enough under Lyn.

I could handle this.
“I already told you. I lost the wager I proposed. As promised, from now on, I will be Lady Serpina’s loyal servant.”
That should suffice.

Maybe I went a little overboard with the wording—
"Loyal servant" sounded excessive, even to me.
But then—

Serpina’s response caught me off guard.
“That’s not what I was asking.”
“…?”

“I was asking about your will, Swen.”
My will?
…Wait.

Was she seriously asking for my own decision on the matter?
When I voiced my confusion, she smirked.
“You once told me, didn’t you? That I would never truly obtain you through force alone.”

“…That’s true, but—”
“I have said this before, and I will say it again. I want you.”
Her gaze burned into mine.

“I want you to serve me willingly.
To follow me out of your own conviction.
What use would it be if I forced you into submission?

Would I have truly won anything?”
…
I couldn’t help it.

I was stunned.
For someone branded a tyrant, she was surprisingly direct with her subordinates.
At her level of authority, she could afford to act however she pleased.

Most rulers of her caliber wouldn't even care about the will of their subordinates.
That thought compelled me to ask:
“If I were to change my mind right now—

If I were to refuse to serve you—
What would you do?”
“I would send you back to Valharat Castle.”

“And what about Lady Anima?”
“I would release her.
I said I would, did I not?

I made that promise upon winning our wager.”
“Then… you would gain nothing. You would be letting your prisoners go, with nothing to show for it.”
At my words—

Serpina stepped closer again.
The scent of her perfume invaded my senses.
…Yuzu.

I had finally figured it out.
She was using a yuzu-scented perfume.
“What a foolish thing to say.”

Her voice held amusement as she smiled.
A smirk so captivating it was almost cruel.
“You of all people should know—

That I have already gained something from this battle.”
“…”
I watched her closely.

Waiting.
“Everything I did—
Everything I decided in this match—

You witnessed it all with your own eyes.”
She leaned in—her gaze pinning me down.
“Swen.

What remains with you—
Is the memory of how I won this battle.”
This translation is the intellectual property of .

“!!!”
“The memory of this day will be carved into you.
Even if you leave my side—

Even if you try to turn away—
You will remember this moment.
That alone is more than enough reward for me.”

…
Wow.
…This was dizzying.

For the first time, I genuinely thought, Maybe serving Serpina wouldn’t be so bad.
Her breathtaking beauty, the Eingart bloodline that flowed through her veins, her power, her title as the Tyrant—
None of it mattered as much as this.

At this moment, the only word that truly fit her was—
Absolute.
I had no choice but to admit it.

Among all the rulers I had met—
Serpina was the one closest to being an absolute monarch.
Not like Lyn Brans, who wielded charisma and madness to control those around her.

Not like Baranga Yuri Aishus, who could sacrifice everything for the brothers and sisters she had sworn blood oaths with.
No—
Serpina alone could bear the weight of a conqueror’s crown because she could say things like this without hesitation.

She was the kind of woman who could make you think, Maybe I should follow her, after only a few moments in her presence.
A lesser man would have fallen for her already.
But I knew exactly why she could afford to act this way.

“You’re quite something, Lady Serpina. If this is how you treat the people you wish to recruit, I imagine it’s hard to resist pledging loyalty.”
“Oh? It’s hard to resist, is it?”
“Well, I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“I gave you a choice.”
“It may look that way, but hear me out.”
Objectively, she wasn’t wrong.

But once I had been discarded, returning was no longer an option.
Even if I were freed and rejoined Aishus,
Would Yuri welcome me back?

Would I be able to live peacefully among them again?
Perhaps she would feel guilty—perhaps she would apologize.
But she would never look me in the eye the same way again.

From the moment she publicly sold me off, I had become a burden to them.
A reminder of their own betrayal.
Someone like Epinnel would likely fabricate some excuse—
Perhaps she had already announced my death to cover up the mess.

She probably made some grand speech about why they had to make such a decision.
And if I suddenly returned alive—
It would throw everything into disarray.

They would have to find a way to dispose of me.
Which meant…
There was nowhere else for me to go.

Joining Serpina’s ranks was my only viable option.
The only path where I could stay alive.
Sure, I could resign completely, but as a former envoy, I had no income, no land, no resources.

I wasn’t the only one at risk.
I had Airen and Reika to think about.
And that meant…

I was already trapped.
I let out a breath and looked at Serpina.
“You must have known all this, Lady Serpina.”

Even if she didn’t know the full details,
She had surely understood that I had nowhere else to turn.
Serpina smiled.

A golden-eyed gaze that completely consumed me.
“So that’s how it is.”
“Yes.”

“You believe I appear merciful—
But in reality, I am doing nothing of the sort.”
“Exactly.”

She let out a soft laugh, her lips curving upward.
Every time she smiled, I felt like I was drowning in gold.
“I see now why Yuri never used you as her hound.”

“…What do you mean by that?”
“No ruler would keep a hound that might turn on them.
Deep insight, Swen, is a blade that sometimes turns against its master.”

She twisted my own words—acknowledging my talent while simultaneously asserting her dominance.
Even though I had read right through her, she remained completely unfazed.
There was no denying it.

Serpina was an absolute ruler.
Had I not already known that Lunarian was destined to unify the continent—
Had I been reborn into this world without my 100% accuracy…

I would have bet everything on her.
“Swen.”
She lifted my chin with two fingers.

It was an action that might have felt demeaning coming from anyone else—
But her beauty, the citrus scent of her perfume, her sheer presence made it feel… strangely acceptable.
“Yuri was not capable of making you her hound.

But I am different.
I can claim your talent.
I have the ability to make you mine.

Come under my command—
And I will stain your body and soul in golden light.”
Her eyes glowed.

“I will ask you once more.
Will you become my hound?”
…

To be honest, I had never considered joining Serpina’s army.
I had intended to stay in Brans until the tide of war shifted.
And after discovering that Lunarian was the destined ruler of this continent,

I had stopped caring about which faction I served.
But if this was the path that my intelligence had predicted—
Then…

“I understand.”
I met her gaze and spoke clearly.
“From this day forward, I—Swen—shall be your loyal hound, my Lord.”

First, I had been recommended by Luna—
Then, I had fled a dying nation to join Brans.
After betraying Lyn, I entered Aishus.

And now, after being discarded—
I had been sold off to Serpina.
A general who changed lords as often as the seasons.

A story like mine…
No matter how I looked at it,
My life was nothing short of a tragedy.

I left the room and walked down the corridor of the annex.
For some reason—
A question formed in my mind.

“Lord.”
“Speak.”
“This may be an impertinent question… but I must ask.”

Serpina kept walking, her golden hair swaying.
She did not turn around—
But she paused.

That was all the permission I needed.
“Have we met before?”
Silence.

But I pressed on.
“Not in person, perhaps—
But have you ever seen me?

Maybe in a dream… or somewhere else?”
To an outsider, my question might have sounded absurd.
But I had no other way to phrase it.

I had seen Serpina in my dreams.
Had she, perhaps, seen me as well?
If she had…

Wouldn’t that surprise her—just a little?
But Serpina remained composed.
If she was surprised, she did not show it.

“I have heard rumors.”
Her voice was calm.
“A white-haired man who displayed a strange power against my army.

Even I did not believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.”
She turned.
And met my gaze.

“But this is the first time I have seen your face.”
“…I see.”
“Does that answer your question?”

“Yes.”
And with that, she turned back and resumed walking.
“…Was it really just a dream?”

She had known my name from the start.
I thought that meant something—
But maybe she had simply heard rumors.

Or perhaps…
She was lying.
Either way—

It was clear she had no intention of telling me more.
“Perhaps if I stay by her side, I’ll find out eventually.”
After all—

There had to be a reason my predictions led me here.
With that thought, I followed my new golden-haired lord down the corridor.