1091. It is a good night.
Who said they would run away?
Marco argued with them.
“Those guys are old enough to be fighting at the banquet hall, tsk tsk.”
Rem clicked his tongue as he watched them. Just then, Marco performed a somersault on the table and stomped on a soldier’s shoulder with his heel, but the soldier caught it and deflected it to the side.
It was a high-level fight for drunken brawlers, but that certainly didn’t impress them.
Moreover, that bastard Marco had clearly improved his skills and was toying with his opponent.
Rem’s assault squad leader, who had been sipping his drink in a seat, also jumped in excitedly at the mention of a fight.
They were just going crazy because they enjoyed fighting.
Regardless of the chaos unfolding on one side of the banquet hall, those eating and drinking remained as usual, but that was only for a moment.
Is that something you should be saying?
Kreis reprimanded the barbarian while pretending to be drunk. As he continued, “Think about what you usually do,” Rem’s eyes narrowed. Those narrowed eyes looked at Kreis.
“Don’t kill him.”
Enkrid stopped him. After all, if they just left him alone, they might lose a man named Kreis starting tomorrow morning.
Stupid barbarian.
Saxen must have had a few drinks, too, so he chimed in needlessly. Instead of splitting Kreis in half, Rem suddenly swung his fist at Saxen. Saxen dodged by pushing off the ground and jumping to the side, and while swinging his fist, Rem kicked the table next to him.
The food, the glasses, and everything on it flew through the air. Then, a piece of seasoned jerky flew onto Ragnar’s clothes.
Ragnar naturally caught most of it, but he couldn’t prevent some of the seasoning from splashing onto his clothes.
“……Let’s just all die.”
Ragnar also joined the fight. Audin, who had been watching, laughed heartily and said
“You immature brothers.”
Saxen stepped back and naturally stood beside Audin. In the meantime, Rem and Ragnar were holding hands and spinning around in a tug-of-war.
Audin asked Saxen, who was standing nearby. However, it wasn’t really a question; it was a question with a predetermined answer.
“I heard you caught the devil?”
“That’s right.”
The two looked at Rem and Ragnar and talked as if they were having a banter.
“Brother Barbarian isn’t here yet.”
“The lazy, directionally challenged one is the same.”
“That’s true. Killing a demon is never an easy task.”
“That’s right. It wasn’t easy.”
“Did those two brothers become spectators?”
“They didn’t seem to have the energy to spare, having been busy fighting the petty ones.”
Veins flared on the foreheads of Ragnar and Rem as they listened to the banter between the two.
I’ll kill you all.
Rem spoke, and Ragnar picked up a knife for cutting blunt bread.
How should I put it? If you watched from a distance, it was a complete mess.
“Hahahaha! I’m the eldest!”
Dunbakel, who had been greedily sipping from one drink to another for some time, shouted while drunk.
At his words, a wooden tray flew toward him. Naturally, he swung his fist to block it. Dunbakel turned to the side and swung his hand, smashing the wooden tray.
pop!
Shards of broken wood flew in all directions. They landed in several glasses as well. A piece of broken wood even flew into Pell’s glass, just as he was drinking.
“That crazy stinky stench.”
“Speak respectfully to the eldest. You country bumpkin shepherd.”
“Go die.”
The two immediately got into a fight. Theresa, who had thrown the tray, briefly reflected on the fact that she had lost her temper.
“Lord, I have momentarily lost my reason due to the giant’s wrath flowing through my veins.”
“Does a man who has lost his reason quietly set down the cup placed upon it and throw it away?”
” I threw it with determination,”
said Loford, chewing on some jerky.
Is this a fight?
Theresa asked without a hint of a smile.
“Um, it’s something I’ve been thinking for a while. Leaving Pell aside, it seems like you also have a tendency to look down on me. Is that correct?”
This wasn’t something said while drunk. Lawford spoke with sincerity. Fighting the Demon Realm? Right, then I might die.
In that case, isn’t it right to express everything I’m holding inside before I go?
Because that is the truth.
Theresa spoke as if discussing the truth written in the holy scriptures. Naturally, it was not the kind of thing that would please Lawford.
Their relationship was peculiar. They would speak formally one moment, informally the next; they would talk like they were close, yet act distant the next.
“The truth?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Lawford looked at the things on the table for a moment, then stood up. He took two steps back and spoke.
“Come out, Half-breed Giant. Let’s settle this today.”
A fight begins with shaking the opponent’s inner self.
The banquet hall had already turned into a chaotic mess, and amidst the commotion, those who had made eye contact went out, grabbed their wooden training swords or personal weapons, and engaged in a brawl.
The moon was bright, the aroma of wine was rich, and the food was excellent.
It’s a good night.
Encred murmured.
“What is good about it? Please?”
Kreis, who had survived again today, echoed those words. Abnaier wondered, “Is it because they are guys like this that I lost?” while some of the onlookers thought, “So it is because they are people like this that they killed the devil.”
Edin Molsen did not think deeply about it. He simply accepted it. After all, he, too, was now one of them.
“Anyway, a brawler.”
Only his younger brother calmly murmured.
* * *
The Demon Realm did not attack immediately. No, they could not.
Every army requires unity achieved through training. Anyone who has served as a squad leader, responsible for roughly ten men, knows this.
For instance, even if you shout “Assemble!”, if one guy leaves his post claiming a stomachache, the assembly won’t even take place.
Ten people moving as one?
That is achieved through living together in a group for a long time. It involves training together, and even eating, drinking, and sleeping together.
As time passes, they may not become a single body, but they move as one.
To put it simply, it started with unity.
One of the factors considered when discussing a well-trained army is the reduction of maintenance time based on the degree of unity. In other words
, maintenance time varies depending on the level of training. Well, it goes without saying, but unless one is just setting off alone, deploying requires time and effort.
However, the demons that make up the Demon Realm had long since finished their preparations for battle.
This was not because of a madman named Encred, but because they were wary of one another.
The mounted scouts guarding the border of the Demon Realm formed a group of three, and among them, a soldier named Vince saw the changes occurring in the Demon Realm.
Rumble rumble.
Lightning struck from a clear sky, and a pitch-black soot-like cloud spread across the ground as it approached.
‘order?’
It appeared to be a form of magic. Otherwise, a black mass wouldn’t suddenly spread out like that.
While it takes a long time for ten humans to become one, this was not the case for some of the monsters.
One of the Lords of the Demon Realm exercised his power over the entire area instead of relying on a scouting party.
The black soot was a collection of specters. Vince, who was watching, saw the soot—and shadows—clump together and rise.
In an instant, a giant resembling a massive black curtain was born, blocking out the sunlight and clouds.
It was an amorphous specter larger than a fortress.
Kiiiaaa!
A cry burst out from deep inside him, and it shook the listener’s head.
“……Get out!”
Vince barely managed to compose himself, shouted, turned his rider around, and fled. Had it been just a little closer, he too would have collapsed, drooling. The horse
began to gallop just as he was. A portion of the black soot turned sharp and chased the three of them.
There were three scouts; two retreated, but one stopped running and suddenly tilted his head. A shadow as thin as a needle had just touched his body, and he instantly had a question.
This is a good thing, so why? I’m fine, so why? Everything remained a question, and he opened his mouth.
“why?”
It was the moment the horse was just picking up speed. He opened his mouth while riding the galloping horse and bit his tongue.
Crunch—the severed piece of tongue and blood flew through the air.
“Eeeh?”
The creature let out a scream or something incomprehensible, and then his two eyes turned pitch black as black tentacles the thickness of fingers shot out from within.
His eyeballs burst, and blood splattered in all directions. His eyelids were torn open, and his human face had transformed into something possessed by a monster.
“Damn!”
Vince was terrified and whipped the horse’s hindquarters with a whip.
“Aaaargh!”
Right behind him, another comrade was entangled in a tentacle. The horse neighed and collapsed to the ground.
The earth shook with a thud. Vince galloped on. He arrived alive at the Southern Red Cloak Knights’ encampment and delivered the news.
Monsters are rising from the Demon Realm.
His whole body was drenched in sweat, and his eyes were filled with fear, his pupils trembling.
“All right.”
Upon hearing Ingis’s answer, Vince rolled his eyes and fainted. Ingis sent the news delivered by the scouting party to the rear.
It was autumn, a time when the wind was becoming cool.
* * *
The battle will take place in the spring. However, we will begin gathering our forces starting now.
Two days after the banquet, Crys gathered everyone together and spoke.
There were many eyes watching him from across the large table.
Crys had heard that Encred had been unhindered on his return journey. He had also confirmed that as soon as the Burning Crow died, all the monsters swarmed around the Mirror of Evil.
It happened exactly as if they had received some kind of signal.
Encred had heard that while he was away, a horde of monsters and a giant snake creature had appeared in the Pen-Hanil Mountains, and he learned of the Burning Crow’s final desperate struggle as well, having heard that Audin had defeated them.
In reality, all of this had been settled before the banquet.
What was the price for boldly killing a single demon?
Many others had this question as well. It would be a lie to say they weren’t anxious. Among them, Crys chose action over anxiety.
Counterbalancing anxiety with action when it loomed before him—that was what Crys had learned while living as a member of the Madmen.
“Are you fighting the Demon Realm? Is this a war?”
Crys went to see Encred and asked the same question again this morning. It was because it was a time when a decision was needed once more.
Encred nodded, and now the story began in earnest.
“Will the enemies really go along with it like that?”
Rem asked. He had his legs on the table and was leaning the chair halfway back.
“Yes, of course they won’t join in. So we will deceive them appropriately. Since it is the beginning of autumn, some special forces units that have finished their maintenance will sortie in fifteen days.”
“……Isn’t that a bit early?”
It was a meeting joined even by Clemen, who had fallen. She asked. She hadn’t dared to step forward, but she wondered if it made sense, considering this wasn’t some kind of offensive battle or a territory conquest. It
didn’t make sense in her common sense, but Kreis didn’t consider such common sense in the first place.
“Later, when we begin the real advance, we will gather all surrounding forces. The Knights of Madness will join us then. Until then, the Knights of the Red Cloak will hold the perimeter. The battlefield is here.”
Crys pointed to a point on the map spread out on the table.
It was the area traversing the South and the Center. It was the border of the Demon Realm and the beginning of the boundary separating the Demon Realm from the Continent.
It was a part that could be called either the Demon Realm or the Continent.
“You mean they’ll step up on their own?”
This time, Pell asked. “Would a demon that hasn’t stepped forward to fight until now really come out all the way there?” His eyes scanned the strategic map on the table. It wasn’t difficult to recognize. Crys had colored it, drawn lines, and even placed markers so that everyone could see it easily.
It comes out. Because the story is different now.
Everything Crys had prepared so far was in preparation for this war.
“If I win, I’ll erase the Demonic Mirror.”
“If I lose, it’s all over.”
Dunbakel spoke, and Roford, with a deep blue eyelid, continued. “
The duel with Theresa at the end of the banquet the other day was undecidable. It was hard for Theresa to say she had won, too.”
She had a splint on one of her forearms.
Kreis wanted to let out a deep sigh as he looked at the two of them and a few others, but he held back. “
These bastards need to take care of their bodies before a fight. What on earth are they doing, getting hurt fighting each other? They
aren’t going to go toe-to-toe with a demon right away, but isn’t it still right to hone their bodies and minds to prepare?”
The Devil, the Lord of the Demon Realm, are those who can discuss what wisdom truly is that cannot be dismissed as the work of a fool. That is what they are saying.
As Kreis spoke, he tapped the area near his temple with his right index finger and continued.
Everyone was seated, and only Kreis stood and spoke.
“If you know how to use your head even a little, you would think like this: War would be better in winter.”
It was the correct answer. It was a prediction that seemed to have peered into the true intentions of the Lord of the Demon Realm.
“The Intellectuals are vulnerable to the cold, but they certainly aren’t monsters, evil spirits, or beasts. The first step to winning this war is to time the battles.”
“Who decided that, Brother?”
Audin asked. In contrast to Rem, he sat in a chair that fit his body, with both hands resting on his lap; his back was straight and upright, his posture rigid, and a smile played on his face.
It meant that he looked no different from his usual self.
Me.
The Kreis who used to tremble with anxiety and constantly check his thoughts due to a lack of confidence is gone.
He focused on the present, on today, right now. He has aimed and is about to shoot the arrow. He will adjust his stance if necessary, but for now, he is certain he will hit the target. If
perfect and complete certainty does not exist in this world, one simply adds faith upon it.
That’s good, brother.
Audin answered as if he had anticipated Kreis’s response. His gaze was like that of a grown-up youngest sibling. A sense of pride was evident.
“For that purpose, Princess Sinar Kirhais, the Queen of the Fairies, left first…….”
bang!
While Crys was speaking, someone kicked open the door and walked in.
