Eligos"s Army
Things were going well, now that we had won the first battle, but there was something about it that bothered me.
To put it into words…
"…The enemy soldiers were all weak. Just goblins and orcs."
Eve replied to this.
"They are being attacked from both the west and the east. Surely they did not have enough troops to send to the south."
"If only it really is that simple."
"You worry too much, master."
"Can you see that some of my hairs are standing on end?"
Eve looked closely.
"Yes, I think I do."
"It happens during such times. I have a bad feeling about this."
Eve just chuckled at this and combed the hairs down.
"Now it is fixed. And so goes your terrible fortune."
Just as Eve said this, there was a message from a slime spy.
The talisman I had given to him? Her? For communication had turned red.
As I currently couldn"t use "Telepathy" on the battlefield, it seemed like something had happened.
I looked at the sky and found an eagle flying. And so I sent my conscious to it.
Once I was inside of the eagle, I was able to use its eyes.
After a moment of dizziness, my vision opened. My "Hawkeye" magic had succeeded.
And with that, I inspected the western battlefront.
There, I saw a most dreadful sight.
The army of Deprosia, who should have been one thousand in number, were nearly destroyed. They were trying to retreat.
"What happened?"
As I got closer, I could see that there were dead bodies that moved.
Zombies, skeletons and even ghosts.
They were not strong monsters, but there were too many of them.
The army of Deprosia had been overwhelmed by numbers.
I then turned and looked to the east.
But there was no battle happening there now.
Or there never had been?
Perhaps Demon Eligos had only pretended to be in such a dire situation. And cause Deprosia and us to believe it would be an easy victory.
"He got us this time…"
I spat. Then I released the eagle.
I relayed what I saw to my subjects.
"The western front has crumbled. Deprosia is defeated."
"What!?"
"What!!"
"Oh…"
The three commanders said.
"An army of nearly ten thousand undead will come down south. Or perhaps they will attack my castle first."
I said. And as if it were a prophecy, it became true.
Because I then received a report that the Ashtaroth castle had been attacked.
Eve and the others looked pale, but I comforted them.
"Don"t worry. Gottlieb knows what to do in this situation. He will use the cla.s.sic pit again. That should take care of the enemy."
I was not wrong.
A second report followed not long after. It said that Gottlieb had defeated the soldiers who had attacked.
Upon hearing this, Eve exclaimed,
"Master, you surely are in control of your fate. Is there anything you do not know?"
"There is much I don"t know. But Gottlieb and I had discussed this very possibility before I left. Demon King Eligos had yet to experience that old trap, so we thought it might work."
"Still, it was nicely done."
"You can put that on my grave stone."
I joked. And then we talked about what we would do now.
"Demon King Eligos will likely come down south now and attack my lands."
"…Yes, that is likely."
"So we have no choice but to go on the attack and defeat him."
"But Master, he has an army of ten thousand. I do not think we can win against that."
"Neither do I."
"Then how?"
"That"s something I"ll have to think about now. But there won"t be a siege."
Tos.h.i.+zou did not seem to agree with this.
"They are ten thousand. And we are nearly three hundred. Do you wish to die?"
"Wasn"t it you who was searching for a place to die?"
"Will my death here involve one hundred thousand arrows?"
"I forgot about that. Well, then I guess neither of us can die yet."
And so I continued.
"We will not lock ourselves up in the castle, because it will cause much damage to the citizens. Eligos is a cruel man. He will enter the city, kill people and destroy the fields. I do not want that."
"Indeed. The Demon Castle"s defenses are not very strong."
"It will be like a thin fabric against such a large army."
So a siege would be pointless.
"I have an idea. We cannot win against an army of ten thousand, but there may be a chance for one Demon King to beat another Demon King. And that is what I will aim for."
"It sounds rather interesting. Are you going to tell us about it?"
Tos.h.i.+zou said with a hint of irony. Of course, I would tell them.
And I told it to Tos.h.i.+zou Hijikata, Jeanne d"Arc and Eve alone.
And they said,
"I always thought you were a fool, but I was wrong. You are a complete idiot. And yet, history will probably remember you."
Tos.h.i.+zou said.
"That is wonderful, Demon King. I believe this just might work."
Saint Jeanne said without restraint.
"It is a dangerous gamble. But I don"t know if we have any other choice. I will help you."
Eve felt the danger in it, but promised to cooperate.
After hearing all of their opinions, I returned to the soldiers and we reorganized.
Eve would lead the special forces.
There was a secret task she was to carry out.
I gave her a tool that would be used to achieve it.
It was a powerful crystal ball that I had made from Demon King Sabnac"s corpse.
This sphere would allow you to use a certain magic only once. And Eve had to succeed. I was careful as I taught her how to use it.
She looked genuinely alarmed when I told her about it. She looked at me and muttered,
"…Bous.h.i.+n."
That was a name for Mori Motonari. She was suggesting that even he would not have thought of such a plan. But really, it was best to wait for the outcome before drawing any such comparisons.
And so I focused on the soldiers that would go west.
The main force that would fight Eligos"s army.
I would be in the center.
Jeanne and Tos.h.i.+zou would take the left and the right respectively.
We would take the monsters with high mobility, Eve would take the ones that did not. And we moved on west.
It was a difficult journey.
From what I saw through the eagle"s eyes, there was a valley to the west.
The terrain became very narrow.
I would utilize it during the battle.