71 - A Golden Opportunity for Whom?
The greatest weapon of the Undead Legion's cavalry is their speed. This is not only true during combat. Their strength is also demonstrated during transit. If anything, Ray placed more importance on their speed during movement and utilized it to the fullest in battle.
"...Impossible. Why is the Demon King's army in a place like this?"
The commander of the garrison, defeated by the Undead Legion's surprise attack, muttered regretfully.
"Could you stop regretting it now? I don't have much time to spare either," Ray said to the commander. His polite manner of speaking was intended to prevent any feelings of rebellion.
"...Kill me."
"I'll kill you even if you don't ask."
"............"
Having his wish accepted so readily, the commander fell silent.
"Before that, there is something I want to ask. Depending on the content, I might stop the killing."
"...I have nothing to say. Just kill me already."
"Well then, shall we do that?"
"What?"
The commander let out a cry of surprise as Ray raised his sword. This reaction was his true feeling. He did not want to be killed.
"But I suppose I'll ask the question just in case."
Ray lowered his sword as he spoke. The commander could not hide his look of relief.
"Do you have a map?"
"That is..."
"A map of the surrounding area. A map that shows where the units are and where the supplies are kept."
"...I have no such thing."
"Then, you've become useless, haven't you?"
The commander showed a frightened expression at Ray's words. He had fallen completely into Ray's psychological game.
"Where is the map?"
"............"
He did not want to be killed. Even with that feeling, the commander could still endure.
"...No. I'll ask someone else."
"The others don't know!"
The commander instinctively admitted the existence of the map. As long as he had a desire not to die, there was no way he could win against Ray in this kind of bargaining.
"I see. Only you know."
"............"
The commander fell silent again. However, a feeling of resignation was already spreading in his heart. Now, all that was left was to give him a little push.
"Don't you realize that interrogating you in private is a kindness?"
"...Kindness?"
"No matter what you say, the others won't know. I can even make it seem as though you continued to remain silent. I'd like to keep what I hear a secret as well."
"............"
Silence again. But it was obvious that his heart was wavering greatly.
"Isn't it in this room? If so, there's no need to speak. Just a glance. And not even on purpose. You were just tricked and happened to look."
"............"
The commander's gaze wavered. However, this was still just the stage of agitation.
"Where is the map?"
"............"
The wavering gaze settled. It was a simple bed.
"I see. You are steadfast. You have a consciousness of hiding things. You're different from the others."
Others had leaked information. By hinting at this, Ray eased the commander's feelings. By doing so, the opponent's sense of guilt diminished, and they could hide the fact that they had leaked information.
"...Something like this, huh. I wonder if it'll be very useful?"
He further lowered the importance of the information.
"I'll stop taking it. With this, the only things taken away will be the supplies."
He simply stopped taking the original map. He had already copied the positions.
"Now, please stay here quietly for a while. We'll take what we need and leave immediately."
With this, the work at this garrison was finished. If this were a village, much of the stolen food would be given to the villagers. A sort of bribe. He didn't think the villagers would keep the secret because of it. Even so, it might dilute the malice. Originally, the Undead Legion hardly needed food. Since he was just giving away things he didn't need, it wouldn't be a problem even if it failed. As long as it didn't reach the army.
The Undead Legion had continued doing such things.
◇◇◇
The Laurel Kingdom army believed they had taken sufficient measures against the Undead Legion. However, the result was that they had achieved nothing. On the contrary, the Legion had rampaged so much that rumors had reached the royal capital. That the Demon King's army was moving south. Rumors that differed from the truth.
"Why can't we capture them?"
They should have cast a wide net. Despite that, they couldn't catch the Undead Legion. Sieg was irritated by this fact.
"They are moving at a speed that exceeds our predictions."
"And why is that?"
"Even if you ask why, the calculations..."
"That's not what I meant. Why do you know they are fast?"
They hadn't captured the Undead Legion. In other words, they had almost no information. Sieg, believing that this was causing the miscalculations, tried to confirm every single detail.
"First, there is the testimony of the units that fought them. They said the enemy cavalry charged with surprising speed."
"And?"
"The calculations don't match at all. The Undead Legion appears in places that cannot be reached at the marching speed of a normal cavalry unit."
"It seems so. Then why don't they match? Why are they fast?"
At this point, Sieg already knew the answer. The reason he spoke this way was to make his subordinates think.
"...They are light. And they probably aren't resting. I believe it's these two things."
Skeleton soldiers are light. But the speed of the Undead Legion's cavalry movement was not just because of that. Skeleton soldiers, who do not need sleep and feel no fatigue, have no need to rest.
"True. But the horses should have to rest."
"Certainly."
"If they were alive."
"...No way?"
The possibility that the horses were also undead, requiring neither sleep nor rest. This had not been considered at all.
"But there are no eyewitness reports that the horses are also undead. There must be some mechanism."
"A mechanism..."
"What do you think?"
Here, Sieg directed the question to Geel.
"Hey now. You planning to train me too?"
The meeting was also a place for Sieg to educate his subordinates. Geel knew this.
"There's no need to train you. You know the answer, don't you?"
"Sigh... The number of units. It's still too few."
With a sigh, Geel gave the answer Sieg was seeking.
"Become a general quickly. You should be sufficiently qualified."
The reason Sieg deliberately asked Geel for the answer was because he wanted to say this. He wanted him to stop being a knight and become a general who leads the army. Especially now that they had lost Alfred.
"That's got nothing to do with this right now."
"It does. If you lead the units, it will become considerably easier."
"I'm not suited for it."
"That's not for you to decide."
"...The conversation is drifting. Your subordinates are waiting for a detailed explanation."
This was exactly what was used to drift the conversation. In reality, many of the subordinates already knew the answer. The only ones who didn't were people like Fumiya.
"...The enemy likely has at least two units. There is a unit that gets ahead, and they are switching horses."
Realizing from Geel's words that Fumiya and the others didn't understand, Sieg began his explanation. Sieg was not the type to abandon someone just because they were a poor student.
"Why would they do such a thing?"
"To confuse us. They intentionally let themselves be spotted. From there, they change their route to where the unit that got ahead is located, blinding us."
"...In other words, we just need to find the unit that gets ahead."
"Exactly. But we can't find them. The enemy is operating over a far wider area than we thought. It's not easy to find them in such a wide range."
"But if we don't find them, they'll just keep doing as they please."
"I know. To cover a wide area, we have no choice but to mobilize a number capable of doing so. But if we do that..."
"...I see."
The front lines would become thin. The Demon King's army at the fortress wouldn't just watch that in silence. Creating that situation might be the enemy's objective.
"We have no choice but to decide. Even if it's a diversion, if we do nothing, supplies will run short. In the end, we'll have to retreat."
Even if it was a diversion to make the Laurel Kingdom army move backward, the fact was that supplies were being stolen. If they stopped reaching the front lines, they would eventually have to retreat. There was no freedom of choice.
"Searching blindly won't change the result."
They had to move backward to defeat the Undead Legion. Geel understood that too, but if they couldn't capture them, they couldn't defeat them.
"They can't be moving constantly. They must have a base somewhere. We'll find it."
They couldn't be moving while carrying the stolen supplies. They must be storing them somewhere.
"...Will they fall for it?"
"I'll make them fall for it. Definitely."
"Well, if not, it's a losing battle. I hate losing."
"Yes, so do I."
Finally, the Laurel Kingdom army would turn most of its strength toward the Undead Legion. Ray had provided a threat great enough to make Sieg make that decision.
◇◇◇
If the Laurel Kingdom army was suffering, their enemy, the Demon King's army, should be overjoyed. But in reality, that wasn't the case. Naturally, there were people who were happy. But conversely, there were also people who viewed the Undead Legion's success with bitterness. That conflict was bringing confusion to the Demon King's army.
"Why aren't you sending reinforcements?"
In the meeting, voices of doubt were raised about not sending reinforcements to the Undead Legion.
"Why is there a need to send reinforcements? They're just attacking places where there are no enemies."
Someone countered. The Demon King and King Dracul did not participate in that argument. The faction claiming reinforcements should be sent and the faction opposing it. Because the conflict had become too intense, the two considered to be the leaders of each side were avoiding facing each other directly.
"There are enemies. They are breaking through them and stealing supplies."
"Then why not just continue leaving it to them? There's no need to force reinforcements."
"We can seize bases!"
"What's the point of seizing one or two small villages!?"
"If we send reinforcements, we can seize larger towns!"
"What's the point of losing Nordende just to seize human race towns!?"
The opposition wasn't just made up of people jealous of the Undead Legion's success. Many opposed it based on the idea that the defense of Nordende should be prioritized. That was one correct option. Because of that, no conclusion was reached, and the conflict only deepened.
"We can't get a victory by only defending!"
"Defense first! Attacking comes after that!"
"Then when will we ever be able to attack!?"
"We should not take rash actions!"
No matter how much they talked, the argument remained parallel. Being able to stay in such a state was also thanks to the Undead Legion, but no one noticed that. Without devising strategies or tactics, they just continued arguing. It seemed that another wasted day would pass, but...
"What!?"
The argument stopped at King Dracul's cry of surprise.
"...What is it? Did something happen?"
"Well... a message from the Undead Legion."
"What!?"
The Demon King also let out a cry of surprise.
"It says that supplies should soon stop reaching the front lines. They warned us to be careful of the Laurel Kingdom army's movements."
"...What an arrogant message."
"However, if a situation arises where supplies are insufficient, the morale of the Laurel Kingdom army will drop. If it gets worse, there's a possibility they'll retreat."
If there's nothing to eat, they can't fight. This was an indisputable fact.
"To that extent?"
The Demon King hadn't thought they were causing enough damage for the Laurel Kingdom army to consider retreating. He only had reports from King Dracul; there were no detailed reports of achievements from the Undead Legion. It was unavoidable that he didn't know.
"Since they went through the trouble of sending a message, it must be so."
King Dracul didn't know the details either. Kai and his subordinates couldn't accompany every raid.
"If the Laurel Kingdom army really does retreat..."
"Naturally, we would go on the offensive, wouldn't we?"
"That's true, but..."
If this resulted in expanding their controlled territory again, the Undead Legion's achievement would be immense. The one who would have to praise them would be the Demon King himself. That was what he was dissatisfied with.
"Anyway, the discussion on reinforcements ends here. More importantly, prepare to go on the offensive."
It wasn't a situation of whether to send reinforcements or not. The entire army would go on the offensive. King Dracul believed they must proceed with those preparations.
"True. Reinforcements are unnecessary."
The Demon King had no objection to not sending reinforcements.
"I'm thinking of deploying in the enemy's rear?"
"For what purpose?"
"To confirm the retreating enemy. Depending on how many enemies leave the front lines, wouldn't the way we fight change?"
In reality, it wouldn't change that much. He wouldn't be thinking about detailed tactics even at this stage. The reason King Dracul spoke this way was because he wanted to openly deploy an information network in the south where the Undead Legion was active.
"...I see. I'll leave the information gathering to you."
"Thank you very much."
"Preparations for the offensive will be after we obtain information. That said, we must be ready to move immediately. Let's proceed with the unit organization."
"Please leave that to me. I'll come up with a perfect plan."
The one who volunteered to draft the operational plan was the Demon King's aide.
"Then I'll leave it to you. I'd like to consult beforehand as well. Come to my room later."
"Understood."
The Demon King gave permission immediately. King Dracul had a bad feeling about the exchange between the two, but he had no reason to stop it.
"Then we are dismissed. Everyone, do not neglect the preliminary preparations."
The Demon King declared the end of the meeting. The first to leave his seat was the Demon King himself. The others also filed out of the meeting room.
"Are you alright?"
A voice called out to King Dracul.
"...King Crown."
It was Crown, the king of the Wolf-kin race, one of the beastman races. The Wolf-kin race were not on good terms with the Vampio race. King Dracul was slightly surprised to be spoken to by King Crown.
"I just hope he doesn't think of anything strange."
"...The Demon King-sama?"
King Dracul returned the question with a bit of hesitation. The Demon King's origin was also a type of beastman, the Ryan race. King Crown of the Wolf-kin race was seen by those around him as someone close to the Demon King. He hesitated to utter words that criticized the Demon King to King Crown.
"I don't think he would do anything to ruin this golden opportunity."
"I suppose so."
"I should have supported the Vampio race acting together. If I had, this situation would be the achievement of the Vampio race."
Not the achievement of the human Ray, but the achievement of the demon race. King Crown said it would have been different if that were the case.
"...The Demon King-sama would not allow that."
It wasn't that he didn't allow them to accompany. The Demon King would not allow the Vampio race to achieve military merit. King Dracul was aware of the Demon King's ill will toward him.
"I see... It would have been better if I had volunteered. But I never imagined things would turn out like this."
The Demon King wouldn't direct jealousy toward King Crown's Wolf-kin race. However, at the time, King Crown hadn't given the slightest thought to acting together with the Undead Legion. King Crown, like many of the demon race, was someone who detested humans.
"The victory of the entire demon race is at stake. The Demon King-sama must understand that."
"...True. Perhaps I'm worrying too much."
It wasn't that he was worrying too much. The fact that even King Crown, who should be close to the Demon King, felt anxiety meant exactly that.
"Once we obtain information, a meeting will be held. If anything happens, then..."
"True. It would be problematic if he acted on personal feelings. I will also admonish him if the worst happens."
Just because they were close to the Demon King didn't mean they all acted out of self-interest. There were people like King Crown who followed their own beliefs while thinking about the future of the entire demon race. Originally, the Demon King wasn't a person who only cared about self-interest. What went wrong was that he distanced himself from people like King Crown who said harsh things when something was wrong, and brought close those who only spoke sweet words. Or perhaps it was correct to say that those who only spoke sweet words made him distance himself from those who offered admonition.
"We can push back. We must absolutely not miss this opportunity."
"I know."
Even those called the Demon King's faction felt the same. King Dracul felt a bit relieved by this, but he would come to regret his own naivety. People with common sense cannot imagine the thoughts of those without it.