[hihoperorin]

Originally Posted by jagt

To be fair with Reis, until now he has always sent a military force according to the known strenght of their opponents plus some extra margin, what really ruined his plans until now were either unknowns he had no way to see coming or his own allies sabotaging him, not a wrong measure of his opponents' might.
Volume 6, Reis wasn't expecting Aria to be so strong, something understable since she wasn't some famous warrior, and needed to throw in some extra monsters because of that, a safety margin that would have been enough to get Liselotte done in if not for Rio who he wasn't expecting.
Volume 7, Flora's kidnapping would have been a success if Lucius hadn't taken an escape route that would alert the people in Liselotte's mansion of his presence so he could have fun letting his pursuers in the dust or killing them, Lucius releasing Flora just because fighting Rio like that would be boring didn't help Reis' plan either.
Volume 12, Reis' plan to separate Rio and Christina actually succeded, the only thing that allowed Rio to make it back to her in time was the fact that the girls could use their contracted spirits to contact each other, something Reis didn't have a way to know in advance.
Volume 14 Lucius stabbed Reis' back, that time can't be said it was because he measured wrongly Aisia's strenght.
Volume 15, Reis didn't actually want to win this time, just to get his fait accompli and he got it, I think this one rightfully goes to him.
Volume 18, Rio certainly fought better against the beast than what Reis expected but that isn't enough to say Reis evaluation of Rio's strenght was wrong, the fight was anything but equal, Rio only got out alive because the beast had a weak point called Erika, if not for her he would have had to run away without managing to do any real damage to the beast. Reis said that Aisia and Rio could fight at the level of an awakened hero/beast only when combined and volume 20 proved him right. Also, Reis wasn't really astonished by Rio's strenght itself, he just couldn't understand yet how it was that a suppossedly normal human being born in that world could get so strong at Rio's age.
Volume 19, the girls certainly struggled more than what Reis expected, because there were unkowns called Hell and Ifrit he had no way to know about, but the truth is that Reis' troupes would have been enough and his plan succed if not for the new unknown called Gouki's group.
Volume 21 was another victory for Reis, he didn't only got Rodania but also achieved his main goal of confirming if Rio would save his acquaintances if they got attacked.
Volume 22 can't really be called a case of bad planning, Reis didn't have absolutely any way to know Celia would come back turned into a pseudo familiar.
Volume 23, the only one that can actually be called bad planning, without Aria's presence Celia would have died before she realized it, so in that case Reis who didn't consider on his plan to assassinate her that Celia might not be alone is at fault as the commander.
Volume 24, Reis was certainly confident they could kill the current Rio, but I think it is hard to say he is understimating him when his battle plan includes severe loses for his own side and the possibilty of Rio being able to use annihilation freely.

About volume 25, this volume is the final one of its own arc, until now all fo the volumes that were the end of its own arc used the first 66-75% of the book as the preparation for the final battle and the last 25-34% for their climaxes. If that tendency continues we shouldn't have a great long battle like in volume 19, there should be things that are meant to be a prelude to the battle against the golems or the battle against the golems should end quickly and be used as the prelude of the real final battle of the book. I personally bet on the first possibility, on some good 200 pages of appetizer for Rio's return.


The sentence accompannying that pic was [Ahead of the gaze of the confused Celia-sensei is....?]

Well to be clear, it's not like I'm saying Reiss can't plan or can't get things done. I'm saying he's not really battle oriented.

vol 6: he was attacking a bunch of high nobles and a hero, the least he could expect was someone capable of dispatching a few minotaurs with ease, or for things to go south and the hero to be killed and go on a mini rampage, especially since Reiss seems to be a hero scholar. Either way, if he wanted to kill or kidnap Rizelotte, the very basics is to investigate her entourage and subordinates, how could he attack without even trying to assess the targets, that's beyond incompetent and just arrogance.

vol 7: I have nothing against him. As far as he goes, well planned, well executed. Except for the fact that he was the strategist of the operation and Lucius is a piece he controls, if he can't even handle Lucius to do the job properly, he shouldn't have sent him there, Lucci would have been enough if they added a bit more diversions.

vol 12: I think what he did was too crude and forceful to be called a plan, he just moved a literal army. Nonetheless, his miscalculation was both that the girls could communicate through their spirits and that Rio is actually a 1 man army. He should have expected the first, since he seems to know about spirits and the spirit folks village, but even then, he might have not known that spirits and contractors can do telepathy. Either way it's not a major mistake, he can be given a pass. The second one, Rio being a 1 man army is completely absurd and unpredictable, I'll give him a pass on this mistake, but with a catch. As a military strategist, this is the only time he gets a pass on anything connected to Rio being absurd. Past this point, it's Reiss's job to assume that anything with Rio in it will go beyond his plans and predictions.

vol 14: Didn't Nidol hint at the nature of Lucius to Reiss, that Lucius isn't one to be tamed, and Reiss was like I don't get it, why would he not follow the victory plan. Again, Lucius is his piece, he should know how to handle him, how his pride and nature work, and when Lucius will want to make things spicy. That he has no idea about the way of thinking of Lucius is again Reiss's incompetence.

vol 15: Yes. Brilliantly done. He didn't show himself and made it look like the three mercs are looking for revenge. He got his fait accompli and both sides don't even know that was his goal from the interaction.

vol 18: Well, about the fight itself, I believe it's unfair that you're mentioning Erika as a weak point for the beast, if you put it like that then just like the beast who should be a materialization of the spirit, was bound to Erika, the dragon king had a weak point in being bound to a human body. If not for that he would have likely mopped the floor with the beast. Also, I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I think Rio did well in that fight, in an all out battle of a second encounter, they'd probably fight for so long until Rio tires out, then escapes or dies, or he manages to find a way to seal the movement of the beast with spirit arts. I'l also stand corrected in that Reiss didn't underestimate Rio. Because the beast is, aside from being very destructive, immortal and extremely unorthodox in battle. For an enemy like that, the first battle is always the hardest, the second one onward should be much more easier, cuz Rio now knows, that it's kinda immortal, that it shoots beams of mass destruction, has an absurd mana bandwidth and that its tails can move independently. So yeah, I'll give Reiss a pass here too. Rio surviving that first encounter was exceptional.

vol 19: Reiss had the pieces to get it done. Had he fought smartly and strategized well, instead of throwing in troupes like an idiot and hoping it gets done, he would have easily done what he wanted and some more. Besides, he knows Rio has a contracted spirit and iirc that the 3 girls are from the spirit village, even if he doesn't know the latter, if Rio has Aishia and the girls are Rio's comrades, they could have spirits too. He should have considered it. In the first place, did he even account for the fighting force of Garlark? Does he even know if Francois has some magic items or national secret weapons that could turn the tides? He attacked at the heart of their bases man, and his plan was to throw troops until it was done. He's reaching for some pinnacle of stupidity here.

vol 21: Again, brilliant. When it comes to maneuvering to manipulate information, either to collect some or make the other side think in some way, he's really good at doing it without letting his intentions be seen. And as you said, he even got Rodania while doing it.

vol 22: I see nothing to fault him for, except that he took the bait too fast and too easily. I see Celia appearing before him there and using ancient magic as being orchestrated by Lina. The moment he saw it, he jumped into kill her mode, you might even call it a panic, dude didn't even stop to think for a moment how it is possible or if he's being led around by the nose. I see this as Reiss being complacent, he may be thinking that everyone relevant to the playing board from the past is long dead and that he's playing alone on the board.

vol 23: It is as you say. But I think he can be given a pass on this. things were moving fast, and he saw that Celia was using ancient magic so she might not want to involve others to hide her secrets or whatnot. It was good thinking of Celia to seek Rizelotte, but I wouldn't credit her for much, cuz instead of seeking help and reinforcements from Rize, she just asked her to deliver a message to Christina or Charlotte was it. That's a costly mistake on her part. The true mvp here is Rizelotte who right away assisted Celia with equipment, magic stones and most importantly, her strongest military asset; Aria. Without Aria Reiss vs Celia would have went to Reiss, completely. I don't know if she was being arrogant or reserved or something else, but Celia completely misread this situation and Reiss's threat. Reiss on his part didn't have much to judge new Celia by. How should he have known that she would fly pronto to Rize, and that Rize would provide her with the necessary preps to turn the tables against him. It's not like he did stellar, but he didn't do so bad either, Then again, Reiss was expecting Aishia/Rio to come with Celia to the first meeting, the least he should have accounted for is that same Aishia/Rio coming this time. He fails, but not so hard in my opinion.

vol 24: I'll stand corrected again, I think you're right, he's not underestimating him. However, if we look at the original dragon king: he was probably more or less on a level of being impervious to all mana based attacks when dragonified and from Sora's physical feats in the dungeon it can be assumed he was on a a level of raw strength where swinging his arm can make a storm, besides probably being imprevious to physical attacks as well when dragonified. We haven't even mentioned his spirit arts and whatever martial/sword arts he uses. Finally if push came to shove in a life or death scenario, he could probably do something like "annihilate... the world" annihilating everything maybe even space and time within a few kilometers radius on all 360 degs. That's too many assumptions but I think they're proper for the dragon king. A dude like that wouldn't even see much of a difference between an army of golems and fighting Charlotte. So for Reiss and L to be so confident about killing him, they either have some power they think can bypass logic and kill him. Actually have no idea what he is capable of in a fight, which is probably wrong, as we still don't know how they all connect, but from their words it may be that Ryuou was so strong that nobody who fought in that war would mistake him. Or are operating under a number of assumptions about his points of strength being not there. My point is that they're assuming more is gone than the actual state of it. But honestly, we don't have much to go on, we don't even know what they have or what they think.