It was raining arrows. The demons who had been punished by carrying dirt were left confused and confused, and a group of knights rode out on horseback through the slightly opened castle gate.
The horse's hooves rushed towards the defenseless demons, shaking up the dirt that had not yet been compacted. Even though the opponents were not humans but demons, they charged in fiercely without any hesitation, like wild beasts with their leashes released, aiming for their prey. Suddenly.
The results were consistent with their confidence.
The head of a demon rolled on the dirt.
***
After leaving the Demon King's Castle, I started having nightmares again. Because of that, I began to lack even more sleep.
'Maybe that's why I rarely coughed up blood.'
The frequency has decreased to the point where it can almost be said to not be done anymore.
'I thought lack of sleep was the culprit, so I tried to rest for a while.'
I leisurely folded the black handkerchief, put it in my arms, and raised my head. I folded my arms and laughed as if I was taken aback by the newly gruesome scene.
"If you take your eyes off it for a moment, it looks like this and you won't be able to rest properly."
"... Sorry."
"What did the guard do? You would have seen the sight of an arrow being aimed from the castle wall even if you didn't have to pay close attention."
"He did his job."
The guards steadily reported that the enemies were aiming arrows from the castle walls. The problem was the subsequent response.
I sighed after hearing the whole story.
"I don't know where to start."
I know that it was awkward because it was my first time building a mountain, and I understand that those who move to build it will be defenseless, so I understand some level of damage is reasonable.
After listening to the explanation, the knights who came out for the surprise attack seemed like the knights of Stigma Primero. It's not that strange for them to be attacked, but...
'Still, I told you to place guards around those who are building the mountain to prepare for such a surprise attack.'
There were a lot of things to point out, but I decided to point out the most important one.
"There is no need to build the mountain ourselves."
"Yes?"
"We have prisoners."
If shooting arrows and attacking people is a problem, just stop them from doing so.
Coincidentally, we have prisoners captured by the man-eating plants. As expected of those who were shooting in the forest, they seemed to be in very good physical condition.
How about using those guys to build a mountain?
'Will they really be able to shoot an arrow at their colleagues? Or, before that, could Tender Amiable give an order to kill his own men?'
I remembered the Margrave Amiable who had a war of words with Stigma during the hunting competition. I was quite impressed by the fact that he defended the Barbai people by saying that they were also human beings. Could such a person really kill people from the same Empire?
'Even if he kills or doesn't kill them, this side has nothing to lose.'
If he kills them, we can use them as it is. If he doesn't kill them, we can use them as is.
'It may take some time to complete the mountain, but...'
I can't think of a better way than this, so what can I do?
Well, it's okay. It was nothing new for me as I had been living with limitations since I was born. Instead of lamenting the limitations of my brain, I gave an order.
***
Soil was piled up in front of the castle wall.
Unlike before, the people who built it were not demons.
"They..."
Those who were once colleagues were there. Someone groaned. Those who had predicted the move to build a mountain again and were preparing with their bows in hand raised their eyes in confusion and saw their commander.
Margrave Amiable gritted his teeth at the earnest gaze directed at him as if waiting for an answer.
'Damn you.'
How can you think like that and put it into practice?
He saw people being pushed onto their backs to build a mountain. He knew that they had no choice but to move when their life is threatened. In a world where there are many people who have committed sins, it may be embarrassing to even call it a sin, but...
'They must be killed.'
He couldn't just open your eyes and watch the mountains pile up. There was no other way to stop it. He had a duty to carry out the orders given by His Majesty.
The hesitation was short. Although he was soft, he was a strict Margrave in charge of the border, so he suppressed his bleeding emotions and calmly issued orders.
Ordering his subordinates to kill those who were once their colleagues.
"Raise your bow."
"...!"
There was a stir.
Most people look back at the owner of the voice as if in shock, and some look down with trembling eyes. Very few people listened and raised their bows.
Tender Amiable saw this and raised his voice.
"Raise your bow!"
Some of those who were looking at the commander turned their heads and looked down. The voice continued as anyone could see hesitation.
"If we don't kill them, the demons will eventually overtake this castle! Then your spouses, children, and other precious people will be trampled and trampled by those bastards!"
The gazes towards the commander disappeared one by one.
The number of people looking down increased, and more people than before took up bows.
"If we collapse, countless people will die! It's not just the people of this territory who die. His Majesty designated this place as the final gateway to the Capitol! If the demons cross this area, so many people will die that they cannot even be compared to those you are afraid to aim your bows at!"
Now almost everyone had a bow. The eyes of the soldiers holding bows and arrows hardened.
"We must hold out here! Even if you can't do it, you have to take as much time as possible! Pick up your bow and aim at them!"
The confusion subsided and a sense of solemnity lingered.
The soldiers, who had made up their minds, hung arrows and marched. There were still some whose hands trembled as they aimed in the direction, but there were many who did not.
The moment the arrow was aimed at the colleagues who were once together, a loud sound of laughter rang out.
Tender Amiable kept his mouth shut.
'... Because there is a spell, it would be impossible to use magic near the castle walls.'
Were there exceptions to tools that could only be used directly and had magic engraved on them? Well, that means you can use the communication stone.
Nervous eyes were focused on one place.
In the demon camp, a white-haired man was laughing maniacally, holding a magic stone in his hand that seemed to have been enchanted with a loudspeaker spell. As a result, the tension became even tighter, and he gradually stopped laughing. He rolled his red eyes as if he was going crazy with joy and brought the magic stone close to his mouth.
"I knew that would happen. You hypocrite."
"..."
"Isn't it a bit much to abandon your hard-fought subordinates who aren't ordinary citizens of the Empire?"
How should he explain this feeling? He was a little disappointed.
He expected a little because he was a person who raised his voice against Stigma and stood up for other tribes just because they were fellow human beings. In the end, the choice was to abandon them.
Of course, when you think about it rationally, it is true that it is the right decision. He is truly an example of a great commander who does not lose his cool in this situation and chooses the best option.
'But do they think that way too?'
He glanced at the people who couldn't resist the pressure and were building a mountain.
An expression that clearly shows shock. Deon made an immediate decision. We need to let the soldiers on that wall move in to them.
Before he could think about how best to say it, a voice broke through the silence.
"From the moment they started building a mountain, they were already traitors."
Although he didn't shout, and although the distance was considerable, the surroundings were abnormally quiet, so the sound was clearly transmitted to Deon.
'That's it.'
Wrong. The corners of his mouth went up.
'Instead of belittling them as a traitors, they should have been praised for dying with honor.'
What harm would there be in praising one's reputation?
He just laughed. In fact, he had never been in a happy mood until now, but I had to laugh to be more effective.
A voice filled with laughter grabbed the Margrave, who was a fairly trustworthy commander, by the collar and dragged him to the floor.
"There's no way you wouldn't know that they didn't do it because they wanted to. Not only are you trying to kill your subordinates, but now you are throwing their honor into the mud."
"...!"
At this rate, who would risk their life to fight?
The soldiers on the castle wall slowly lowered their bows one by one. Margrave Amiable, who belatedly realized his mistake, frowned.
'So what do we do now?'
Due to his nature, could he make an example of someone disobeying orders? Even if possible, you can't cut off everyone's heads, so being so forceful wasn't good in the long run.
***
Funny enough, the crack was enough to collapse a castle.
If you look at it in black and white terms, Tender Amiable was a good person. This may be an advantage as an individual, but it can be seen as a disadvantage as a commander.
Even he himself was reluctant to aim arrows at his subordinates, so what could he do when even the soldiers under his command felt repulsed and showed signs of not wanting to follow him?
'Still, it was quite refreshing for a soft commander.'
Tender Amiable never collapsed into incompetence without being able to do this or that.
Instead of changing direction and preventing the earthen mountain from being built at all, he watched the earthen mountain being piled up, and when it was almost completely piled up, he connected the planks he had prepared in advance to the earthen mountain and went over to the station to attack.
The moment I thought I could do just a little more, boom! I was so surprised when I heard the soldiers coming over to this camp with a loud sound. When I saw the Primero Knights coming from the front, defeating the demons, I thought it was a dream.
'I almost got the reverse.'
Because they were prisoners, they were unable to actively resist, so their passive movements were taken for granted.
Moreover, who would have known that planks were being prepared behind the invisible walls of the castle?
When the castle was being completed, there were troops gathered on the nearby wall, but most of them were lowered and out of sight, and those who were not paid much attention because it seemed that they were only there to defend and keep in check the demons that would soon push in.
'I would have been more suspicious if the troops had not gathered and it had been as usual.'
Subtly increasing the number of troops on standby.
If it had been a human-to-human fight, we would have definitely suffered, even if the 0th Corps had not existed here.
At the very least, even if the soldiers who were not prisoners had been building the soil themselves, they would have definitely suffered. It would have been a surprise attack when their stamina was low.
Therefore, I salute you. I was held back here for a considerable amount of time, following the mindset that if you can't stop it, you have to take the time.
'Now I know why he was trying to waste time.'
When I entered the castle, there were no ordinary people other than soldiers. It was probably to buy them time to evacuate to another territory.
I held my sword without even closing my eyes and looked down at the dead Margrave's body as if it were engraved in my mind, then raised my head and walked away.
Every time I took a step, someone's body was kicked by my feet.
'The Primero Knights... I'm sure you'll understand, too.'
Now it was time to move again.
***
"Don't you like the food?"
The Emperor, who had been quietly looking down at the meat on his plate, raised his head at the soft voice. He made eye contact with the Crown Prince, who had worried eyes.
"I have no appetite. Didn't I tell you to eat together with Altea?"
He put down the silverware he was holding on the table. The Prince's eyes followed the gesture and moved to the untouched meat.
The Princess, who was cutting meat across from the prince, also glanced at the Emperor's plate and looked worried, but when she noticed the Emperor's appearance of wanting to ignore it, she pretended not to notice anything and fixed her eyes on her plate.
However, the Crown Prince did not just let it go. A stiff voice filled the wide space where there were only three people.
"... I heard you haven't been eating well lately."
"..."
"You're almost starving."
It was a question that was close to an interrogation, but the Emperor was not angry.
In the end, he knew that he was acting because he was worried about him, so he just lowered his eyes lazily and pretended like nothing was wrong, thinking that he was glad that all the employees were left behind.
Usually, when things like this happen, he acted adamantly and shook his head as if he can't win, but this time it was different.
"Are your hallucinations getting worse?"
The Princess raised her head in shock at the bold statement and heavy content. The knife that was supposed to cut the meat scratched the plate and made an unpleasant noise.
The Emperor, sensing that it was inevitable, slowly moved his lips.
"... No way."
The black ghosts that were disturbing his vision actually got better. Instead—
The emperor glanced down.
"It's just..."
"..."
"I just have no appetite because the bloody smell is lingering in my nose."