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Believing that the star rabbit tribe is connected with the demon king, Ellen and I thought all night long about a strategy to defeat the demon king by utilizing the fact that they think we were deceived.
Early in the morning the next day, I received a message from Carol"s messenger, saying that they are going to open a meeting with all the representatives from each tribe, and that he wants us to partic.i.p.ate.
It"s one of the developments I had been expecting.
I can roughly imagine what they will talk about in that meeting as well.
Afternoon comes, and the place we are guided to is the conference room in Carol"s residence. Eve and I head towards it.
It would be better to have Ellen there as well, but her intellect is a trump card. I don’t need to thoughtlessly expose it.
In addition to the star rabbit tribe, five other races have gathered.
In the unlikely event that their country is destroyed, they have sent comrades to various places, and because they sent people to this village as well, it seems they also fall under this category.
Besides the implication of being insurance, they also have the intention of gathering information in this village where several tribes gather. Apparently, the tribes that gathered in this village periodically exchange information with their own countries.
When I open the conference room door, Carol, the representative of the star rabbit tribe, waves his hand towards us.
"Kearuga-sama, Eve-sama. I am very sorry for suddenly calling you." (Carol)
"I thought about various things yesterday. Kearuga-sama and Eve-sama will become our hope. With your powers, not only can we put up with them, we can strike them. For this reason, I had the representatives of the tribes that were persecuted by the demon king!" (Carol)
What Carol is saying is just an official stance.
To do so, Carol is bound to set a trap to use Eve.
"So that was what it was. Eve and I were also thinking we wanted to defeat the demon king somehow. I am grateful to be able to gain your cooperation!" (Kearuga)
Since it is one of the developments Ellen had predicted, I have thought of a counter-plan.
Once Eve and I take our seats, Carol starts talking.
It seems he has gathered all the tribes that are in this village.
"The other day, the demon king"s elite force was mobilized, and attacked the kokuyoku tribe"s village. … Even that Gram Grim force that was called the strongest." (Carol)
Many demons become agitated.
While looking at each of their faces, I colour code the agitated demons and non-agitated demons.
The agitated ones are most likely *white. They are on the side that has been deceived by the star rabbit tribe.
For the time being, three tribes are white. Two tribes are black. (TL Note: White = innocent, black = guilty. I chose to keep the words white and black because it said colour code earlier.)
"From the attack of hundreds of dreadfully strong demons and monsters, the annihilation of the kokuyoku tribe was inevitable. In reality, that was what happened. However… the strongest Gram Grim force was annihilated due to the power of Eve-sama and the legendary G.o.d bird Caladrius! Although the kokuyoku tribe wasn"t saved, they splendidly retaliated!" (Carol)
The place gets excited.
No, I also knew it. In the first world, the hero of the【Sword】and【Gun】were cornered to the verge of their deaths.
… Those guys were tough.
"I, the star rabbit tribe"s chief, Carol will make a declaration here. A chance to win has finally been given to us. Why don"t we stop running!? Now is the time for us to band together with Eve-sama at our center to overthrow the the current demon king!" (Carol)
Their resentment must have acc.u.mulated greatly, as most of the ones who gathered showed their enthusiasm from a speech of this degree.
He is a demon that I temporarily judged as white some time ago.
"From just that story, I can"t make my judgement. I want you to specifically tell us how you defeated the demon king"s military force."
He has an appearance that can really be called a military man.
Carol sends a glance this way. It seems he’s telling me to answer.
"The G.o.d bird Caladrius can make snow of disease fall. By sending the snow of death to the whole village of the kokuyoku tribe, we annihilated the demons and monsters there. If we feel like it, we can make snow of disease fall onto a whole town. … If we make the snow of disease fall on the demon king"s town in his home territory, we can kill one whole town." (Kearuga)
It becomes noisy nearby.
A G.o.d"s power to easily destroy one town is that powerful.
"Everyone, it is just as you heard. We already sent a scout from the star rabbit tribe to the kokuyoku tribe"s village, and there were no lies to this man"s words! In other words, we can win against the demon king!" (Carol)
As expected of the star rabbit tribe. Because they have terrific leg strength, they probably gathered the information in one day.
"Let me suggest something. This power cannot be used on days when a crescent moon doesn"t come out. The day before the crescent moon one month later, we will simultaneously raise a disturbance in various places. And then, during the chaos, Eve-sama will make the snow of death rain on the demon king"s capital, letting us attack all at once when the functions of their capital are lost. After that an elite force will enter the castle and kill the demon king! Apart from our tribe, many demon king candidates live in the demon king"s capital, so we can kill two birds with one stone by killing them as well!" (Carol)
I was almost about to laugh.
If we are going to make the maximum use of the G.o.d bird"s power, there"s nothing we can do except for that strategy.
I have no intention of being mean-spirited to this strategy. It is the optimum solution to kill the demon king.
However… in reality, it is being leaked.
If we carry out this plan, the demons who revolt in the various places will immediately be captured and ma.s.sacred by the demon king army that is lying in wait.
Eve will probably be killed as well by an a.s.sa.s.sin that"s disguised as a guard before she summons the G.o.d bird.
The guys that attack the capital will easily have the tables turned on them. There will be no more demons that are hostile towards the demon king like this. That is the demon king and the star rabbit tribe"s aim.
… That being said, Ellen is amazing.
With limited information, she read through this situation.
That"s exactly why I can prepare a plan to utilize the strategy the star rabbit tribe suggested. I"ll take over the plan Carol prepared as it is.
"Everyone! You must be too worn-out to keep running from place to place! Let"s fight! We are fortuitous to gain the trump cards called Eve-sama and the G.o.d bird. If we let this chance escape, there will never be any chances to win again." (Carol)
People with the same opinion as Carol"s words who say "that"s right" appear, and the quant.i.ty of heat in this place increases.
Their technique is quite fine.
The wild boar military man who was asking a question earlier made a sound containing discontent. And then, he once again raises his hand.
"Carol, I can understand why you would be enthusiastic. I have feelings like that too. However, we need to think about Eve-dono"s feelings, who is the vital person here. I don"t like having women and children fight. Needless to say, I can"t stand seeing the person herself be forcibly kicked up to a higher position while ignoring her feelings. I wish to ask Eve-dono"s feelings."
This guy might be a good guy.
It seems like I"ll like him… no, I definitely shouldn’t like him. For some reason, all the people I like die first. I should be careful.
Since Eve looks towards me, I tell her to do as we planned in our prior meeting.
"I plan to fight. I don"t want to see anymore of my comrades to die. If they"re going to be s.n.a.t.c.hed away, I will be the one to steal!" (Eve)
The adults become encouraged by the girl"s courageous words.
Only the military wild boar man has a face that seems sad.
"I understand. Eve-dono. My iron hog (tetsu inos.h.i.+s.h.i.+) tribe will undertake guarding you. With our power, we can at least become your s.h.i.+elds."
"Please don"t decide of your own accord, Guruga-sama!" (Carol)
Carol inhibits the military wild boar man in hot haste.
Well, he would probably hate having the guard role – that can kill Eve easily – given to someone who doesn"t serve the demon king, furthermore if they are a tribe that has outstanding military prowess.
"Why? There are no tribes that excel at protection than us. Isn"t that right, everybody?" (Guruga)
The man called Guruga seems to be greatly trusted, as the two other tribes I judged were white strongly recommended him. The two black tribes seem to have difficulty taking their move.
Even Carol couldn"t push through this, so he timidly drew back, and the iron hog (tetsu cho) tribe that Guruga leads was appointed as our guards.
After that, concrete proposals come out in succession.
Earlier, I roughly colour coded them, so I"m closely observing them to increase the accuracy of it.
Who the allies are and who the enemies are. If I mistake any of them for something else, I can"t win.
Because I had kept doubting people, seeing through others" thoughts is my speciality.
As a result, it was the same as what I felt from my first impression, but I was able to confirm it.
And now, the finis.h.i.+ng touches.
I stand up, greet each person, and shake their hands.
The moment I shake their hands, I look through their memories with【Recovery Heal】.
Since it would feel out of place if I took the time to look through everything, I do it in an instant. If I do that, I can"t search deeply.
As a result of the reactions until now and【Recovery Heal】, I slip a letter that I prepared beforehand into the hands of the three tribes I judged as white and seem trustworthy.
The contents of it is…
『The star rabbit tribe are traitors. They are selling information to the demon king. I want to start a true strategy meeting in the place that has been pointed out on the map.』
Even if I look through their memories with【Recovery Heal】, I can"t see their personality, so ascertainment is necessary. Therefore, I had been carefully observing them.
All the information in the obverse side of the meeting is being sent to the demon king, and in the reverse side of the meeting, we will outsmart them, and thrust a short sword before his throat.
Now, we will be enjoyably deceiving each other.
Will I gain a bomb that"s tied together with destruction, useful fighting power, or both.
I"m looking forward to the true strategy meeting from now.
TL Note: I don’t know why the author wrote tetsu inos.h.i.+s.h.i.+ as the furigana and then tetsu cho for the next one, but I think tetsu cho is the proper one because the next chapter says tetsu cho as well. To be honest, I chose to use the furigana for kokuyoku because I personally think it sounds better than black wing, but tetsu cho sounds a bit weird in English… I know this is just my opinion, but I think I’ll just keep it as iron hog and keep the furigana in brackets next to it.