Chapter 335

Demon King Gidman had attacked our country.
It seemed like Gidman wanted to swallow up some smaller countries in order to fight against Demon King Tralzard.

It wasn’t wrong, as far as strategy went.
He just shouldn’t have targeted Melvis’s country.

Gidman’s army was intercepted by General Farneze’s Adjutant, Atrasushia.
And then we joined the fight and brought the battle to an end.
Our losses were minor. So there was no problem at all.

And then, of course, General Farneze arrived to support us.
She had flown all of the way from Melvis’s castle.

I thought that it was a good thing that we had been able to finish the fight before the General got here.
However, she brought some very shocking information.

“There was a great invasion from the Celestial World, and King Melvis is wreaking havoc.”

“Whaat!?”
An invasion from the Celestial World… Of course, they had to come while the Demon World was already in turmoil.

Right now, it was just the General, me and Strasushia who were here.
Tactician Felicia had remained in the castle.

If something happened, Felicia would have to make the decisions.
Indeed, it was probably safe for the tactician to stay in the castle.

“Still, Golan. I’ve only let you out of my sight for a short while, but your mana has increased greatly.”
“Yes. I too am surprised by the increase. But don’t we have more important matters to discuss?”

It was likely because I had defeated Nehyor.
All the mana I gained from that fight had allowed me to rise to Lesser Demon King.

“True. We can talk about that later then. So, what is happening here?”

“We destroyed the army that had crossed the border. Their leader is dead, and the surviving soldiers have scattered during their retreat.”

Atrasushia gave the report.
While dealing with the aftermath of the battle, she had also been gathering information about the escaped soldiers.

In the first place, it seemed that Atrasushia had been very quick in acquiring information about the army crossing the border.

And she had launched an attack, even as she sent messengers back to the castle.
Her only miscalculation was that the enemy was not Janius’s army.

The composition of the army was different.
But because she had assembled her army in preparation for a battle against Janius, they had been taken by surprise.

While she was puzzled, Atrasushia had continued to gather more detailed information.
And through inspecting the composition of the enemy army, she tried to guess which country it was.

And after some time, it became clear that it was Demon King Gidamns’s army.
Atrasushia said she had a general understanding of what was happening outside of the country.

In other words, even if the Demon Kings formed an alliance, they would not be able to defeat Tralzard.
That’s why they were now reaching towards the smaller countries. That was how she understood the situation.

“These are like preliminary skirmishes before the main attack on Tralzard’s country. And so he would want to get it done while taking as little damage as possible. And so my plan was to make the battle last for as long as possible. That way, reinforcements will get here in time, and we could make them bleed even more.”
Farneze nodded at all of this.

“If he is only attacking us in order to gain the upper hand during his war on Tralzard, then it would be very pointless to take heavy losses here. And so he is not likely to attack us in full force.”

“Yes. And so all we had to do was wait.”
“But then Golan arrived, and the battle was cut short.”

I see. So that’s what was actually going on with that fight.
Now that I thought of it, they had been fighting in a defensive formation.

“I just joined the fight on my own. And that was the result.”
If the enemy got impatient and the leader stepped forward, then Atrasushia would have likely faced him. Otherwise, it would have been a long and slow fight until the General arrived.

“How do you think Gidman will move now?”

“I very much doubt he will invade us for a while. After all, the results will be the same unless he throws a much larger army at us.”

“So then we’ll have peace for now.”
“I believe so.”

A big part of it was that we had killed the leader.
In order to beat us, Gidman will have to send someone who is even stronger.

However, it seemed unlikely that he had many to spare.
Besides, being just slightly stronger than the previous one would probably end with the same result.

“I think so too. And Janius’s army will despise them if they are seen to be weak.”

These two Demon Kings had been fighting each other not too long ago.
And while they were cooperating now, it was surely not a relationship founded on complete trust.

If one were to see the other as useless, then it would be quite possible for a betrayal to occur, regardless of the alliance.

The next will be a definite victory…Gidman would have to have that kind of conviction before he attacked us again.
“Very well. We’ll make preparations to intercept the enemy once the rest of my army arrives. That should do.”

General Farneze had brought some of her finest soldiers with her.

“I’ve been in Tralzard’s lands for so long that I don’t really know what’s been happening here recently. All this stuff about King Melvis and the Celestial World. What the hell is going on?”

“It is not as if I understand everything as well. But Demon King Legard died, and that shook the Demon World. And now that a Great Demon King is likely to be born, every country has bared their fangs of ambition.”

“I understand that. If one person sticks out, the others can suppress them. But if everyone sticks out, it will be a war until the one with the most power remains.”

The stake that sticks out gets hammered, but if every stake is sticking out, then the one that sticks out the most is the winner.
That was the current situation in the Demon World.

“As for King Melvis, he has gone to meet Great Demon King Dalm. Their lands share a border, and they are very old acquaintances. There was no issue with him leaving. I was able to take care of the castle, and the north and south were calm.”

“So there is a General to the north and south now. Our defenses couldn’t be better.”

“Yes. But I’ve heard that King Melvis received a report about the invasion from the Celestial World, and he was furious.”

“…Seriously?”
Furious. That guy.

“I was hoping that it was some kind of joke, but it is true. Not only that, but as the invasion was within King Dalm’s territory, this means that King Melvis has been wreaking havoc on foreign soil.”

“Uhhh… And so what’s going to happen?”

“Who knows…”
General Farneze had a faraway look in her eyes.
To me, it seemed like she knew exactly what was going to happen, but didn’t want to say it.

“And then what did you do, General?”

“I and the other Generals could do nothing but watch quietly. We knew that we would only take damage if we went. And so we could not take our soldiers. And since we had no hope of persuading him, going would mean a vain death.”

“…So basically, you’re neglecting the problem.”
“Indeed. There is really nothing that we can do, other than do our best to protect this country.”

You would die if you went close to an angry Melvis.
And even if you survived, there was no guarantee that you could change his mind. That’s just how it was.

“A battle between King Melvis and residents of the Celestial World. I can’t imagine how bad the damage is.”

“As King Melvis grew older, he became more skilled at using wide area annihilation magic. The damage…should be great.”
“…”

“As we cannot move anyone from the north or south, if it comes to it, I might have to go and stop him. And so my heart is very heavy.”
As there were Generals defending the north and south, General Farneze was the only one who was free to move.

Up until recently, protecting the castle meant protecting the sleeping Melvis.
But if Melvis was out there fighting, perhaps it was only natural for her to follow him… Some might think that way.

“I don’t envy you.”
Being a General was very hard work.

“So, Golan. Why has your mana increased so much?”

“Me? We fought a battle against the Wild Hunt. And then I defeated Nehyor in a duel.”

I challenged him to a one on one fight, and killed him while no one could interfere with us.
And then I rose to Lesser Demon King. And my mana increased.

“I see. So you actually defeated Nehyor. That couldn’t have been easy.”
She nodded with a contemplative expression.

Now that I thought about it, while Nehyor had been lying about his identity, he had once been the General’s subordinate.
And so she probably knew more about him than me.

“I was his former subordinate. So if I challenge him to Gekokujyo, he has no choice but to accept. And under those circumstances, I was somehow able to win. Tralzard also confirmed it through the Tablet of Control. Nehyor’s name has disappeared.”

And mine had appeared.

And then I died.
And came back to life.

But I didn’t tell her all of that.

I was here now.
It didn’t matter how you won. A win was a win.

And so I would say that I won with pride.
Even though I died right after(Continues in an endless loop).

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Makai Hongi