Chapter 5 – Demon Invitation
The blue eyes stared at the scene in the mirror. The corpses of humans and horses caused Furukamuto to furrow his brows.
“How troublesome.”
He turned his gaze to the other mirror, where instead of the aftermath of a battle, the scene was of a dimly lit office. The boy who had been commanding the soldiers was there. But there was no remorse or pain on his face. He just continued to rewind and play the battle on his tablet.
“In the future, prioritize dealing with the Demon General. Do you have any suggestions when it comes to strategy?”
‘Encirclement and annihilation using the Tercio. Emphasize long-range magical attacks while keeping enemy forces from falling below a certain level. Eliminating the kobold should be top priority.’
“Keep that in mind as a backup plan. Without factoring in off-the-board tactics, it’s about forty percent correct.”
‘Off-the-board tactics?’
The word was familiar, but it caught the Hero’s interest enough to make him pause. Noticing the reaction, the Sage’s smile widened slightly.
“It’s a way of dulling your opponent’s moves. With that, even a second-best plan can reach sixty percent effectiveness.”
‘…Restricting the Blessing.’
“Exactly. We will block all escape routes.”
The reply of a few words was about what he had expected.
He was quiet and calm, understood what was said, and dealt with matters without having to be given precise orders for everything.
An ideal pawn.
“On top of that, let’s weave in another tactic. Follow the strategy I just sent and form a new unit.”
‘Understood.’
After seeing the Hero read through the document he sent to the tablet, Furukamuto smiled and turned his eyes to a world map.
Currently, everything was going according to plan.
He now knew the abilities of that general, and he had wanted to decrease the size of the cavalry anyway.
The attack power of the heavy cavalry was certainly effective, but the knights were obsessed with honor and appearances, and would constantly object to orders. In the end, he preferred to assign the flanks to light cavalry centered around mercenaries and drive those knights out of the army altogether.
If they increased the number of dragoons and boosted their striking power, the knights would become nothing more than useless baggage.
The only remaining problem was the marching speed of an army centered around infantry.
“Once the demon general is defeated, I should continue with reforms with our transport methods.”
Thankfully, this world had numerous coal veins relatively close to the surface. It might be a good idea to transmit mining techniques through the temples on the continent of Ephalea. Ideally, they would develop steam engines within the year and begin laying a railway network within two years.
“Yesta.”
“I am here.”
“Add the ‘Eyes.’ As for payment, surely this battle would have sufficed?”
“Yes. As you say.”
“Ah, wait a moment.”
Furukamuto said as the goddess was about to leave. He appeared to be in a good mood as he stood up from his chair.
“Have the lesser gods gather together in the square. Tell them that I have something interesting to show them.”
—
In the quiet forest, the general ran while carrying Sheto. The sounds of battle were already far away, as were the monsters that obeyed him.
“Hah…gah…phew…hah…”
Berganda had shown no signs of being tired up until that point, but his breathing suddenly grew unsteady.
“He-hey…?”
His feet slowed down, and then he stopped completely.
“Gahh…”
And then he crumbled to his knees, and the giant form fell to the ground.
At the same time, Sheto’s jaw slammed against the back of the hard armor, and he went flying into the air.
“Agghhh!”
The rope that had been securing him was several cleanly. As for the general, he continued to breathe coarsely on the ground.
Apparently, for Sheto’s safety, he had cut the rope before losing consciousness.
“Sa-Salia…gah…is anything…close by…”
Sheto held back the urge to vomit as he looked around.
‘It seems fine. So many knights were killed. It looks like they prioritized regrouping.’
“I see.”
He recalled the past battle and then looked down at the general again.
There were no signs of the beasts who had thrown knights and horses and swung a giant battleaxe.
The general was desperately gasping for air and was so tired that he looked like he was being crushed under the weight of his own armor.
And on further inspection, the parts of his body that were unprotected were now riddled with wounds and bleeding.
However, there was little damage around his back where Sheto had been carried. It was proof that he had been avoiding attacks to keep Sheto safe.
‘What an astonishing monster.’
Salia said, with both fear and praise in her voice.
Sheto nodded quietly.