Chapter 381

Chapter 381

Otherworld Demon King Survival Guide.

Episode 381: The Elves (1)

“Wow.”

“It’s happening right away.”

“Then show proof of your surrender! If you do as you say, we will formally accept your surrender!”

I immediately switched from an intimidating tone to a polite one. You could yell at enemies, but once they surrendered, they were half on our side. If they have defected, they should be treated accordingly.

“Understood!”

They were complying with my request immediately, even though they could be suspicious.

“Kereuk. Master. It seems things went well?”

“Hehehe, you’re right. Sharan! Lumica! You both did so well!”

“Shasha. It ended so easily, thankfully.”

“My water-draining ability was very helpful.”

The two fairies, who had a chance to shine for the first time in a while, were delighted.

Anyway.

Soon.

—Swish.

—Clang.

Weapons and armor connected to ropes started falling down from the castle walls. It seemed they had already taken them off and were lowering them.

“Huhu, things went really smoothly? Indeed, in that situation, even a female lord would have surrendered quickly.”

“It can’t be helped. Even if reinforcements were coming, we were too fast.”

“Indeed.”

While talking like that, we watched the enemies lower all their equipment.

“It’s all done!”

“Then we’ll enter the castle! Let’s go, everyone!”

The castle gate was already smashed, and a vine bridge was created in front of it. I led my subordinates into the enemy’s castle.

—Thump, thump.

They had prepared a bit, but there was no ambush or attack. The disarmed soldiers were sitting in rows, and the castle commander was standing in front.

“Huk! Monster legion!”

He had a terrified face.

“Kereuk, kereuk.”

“Shhh, shhh.”

“Grrr.”

My subordinates entered the castle and looked around. They were mainly looking at the surrendered soldiers, who were all terrified. It seems they enjoyed seeing those guys.

“Who are you?”

Anyway, I needed to talk to the commander.

“I-I am Baron Morial. Since I surrendered, treat me as a prisoner.”

“Of course, we will. From now on, you will break free from Count Saidin’s shadow and work for the Saintess and the world.”

“The Saintess…”

“I’ll call her right away. Saintess! This castle is now yours!”

—Swish.

The Saintess appeared from behind.

“It was true!”

The baron shouted in surprise.

“Baron Morial, was it? The Count’s era is over. From now on, work for this world and humanity.”

“Ah, I understand… But what are those monsters…”

“Don’t worry. They all act according to human ethics.”

“Human ethics?!”

Wasn’t he too surprised?

“Saintess and Mother? Please take control of this castle for now. Take care of the public sentiment, persuade them, and so on.”

“Leave it to me.”

“I understand. I’ll bring in my subordinates too. It’s better for humans to control it.”

“Very well.”

We all entered the castle and began the occupation work.

“Hehehe.”

We captured a castle really easily.

Normally, such sieges lasted from a few months to several years. They didn’t fight head-on over the castle; they mostly surrounded it and waited until supplies ran out.

But we had special troops.

As time passed, castles became bigger and the walls thicker, to defend against enemy cannons. But cannons became more powerful, and simply thick walls could no longer defend.

So, they changed to fortresses with sloped armor. That offered better defense.

And then.

It ended.

From the point when long-range weapons evolved and evolved into howitzers and missiles, fortresses were downgraded from defensive facilities to mere hard sandbags.

Here, the Fallen Angels played the role of howitzers, so our siege was really simple. They attacked with howitzers and used magic, so there was no way to resist.

“That was an unexpectedly bland battle. Human castles are big, but they seem to be nothing special.”

“They will get bigger in the future, Your Majesty.”

Anyway, we’ve now destroyed one of the Count’s castles. Let’s gradually subdue them and move up.

“Ah, but.”

We captured a castle, but there were no beauties, so I couldn’t level up.

Too bad…!

That was how it went.

We advanced while capturing castles. Because we won too quickly, we decided to move laterally rather than just forward, to support other troops that had gone elsewhere.

A battlefield filled only with human soldiers.

Amidst the tedious standoff between the besiegers and the defenders, we appeared. I immediately destroyed the enemy’s castle gate and bridges, and executed the occupation operation.

“Fallen Angels, sortie! Lumica! Drain the moat!”

“Understood!”

“Okay!”

Repeating the same operation, another castle was subdued.

“Ha! Hahahaha! Truly perfect! To subdue two castles in an instant! I could clearly feel how terrifying the demons were! Humans are no match after all. With this kind of power, the existing tactics are meaningless. Even this military lord can’t figure out how to deal with it.”

Vera, who had watched all the exploits from my side, said as if she was enjoying it. She greatly overestimated my abilities.

“As expected, Kyuse, you deserve to rule this land. With this kind of power, neither the count nor the angels can stand against you.”

“Hehehe, thank you for the compliment.”

“It wasn’t even a fight from the beginning. Seeing it with my own eyes, it’s clear.”

“Aww, you’re making me blush. But it’s true, so whatever.”

But there was a problem.

Vera’s army and my monster legion were acting together. Whatever the case, the enemies were terrified, but that was not just the enemies’ story.

Vera’s subordinates were also extremely wary of our monster legion. They knew we were allies, but they didn’t trust us. Even Vera’s charisma couldn’t correct that perception.

Similarly, the Saintess tried hard to proselytize and explain, but she only erased a bit of anxiety and didn’t give absolute trust.

“Hmm… we were able to gain public sentiment in our barony by taking a lot of time, but it’s very difficult to do that in occupied territories.”

“It’s okay. That’s enough for now. Anyway, once we completely destroy the count, humans will only have the Saintess. When that time comes, they’ll have to give us their trust, whether they like it or not. Don’t worry.”

“I hope it will be so.”

I had nothing to say but to ask her to do her best.

“I’ve thrown the guys who were spreading rumors about the Demon King and demons into prison. We need to properly win the public sentiment after eliminating the count.”

“We will. Oh, but our mother. It must be painful to put precious subordinates in prison, right?”

“It’s not good. So… won’t you fill that lonely heart a little?”

Was it that again?

Anyway.

That was how we captured the Count’s castles one by one.

Amidst the endless reports of victories.

Suddenly, an anomaly occurred.

As usual, after capturing a castle and going to support Vera’s army in another area, we received a report that they were struggling.

No, it wasn’t just struggling; it seemed some units had been defeated and retreated.

“What on earth?”

Could it be that the count, while giving the angels some openings, recklessly sent reinforcements? If so, it’s understandable that Vera’s army, one of the split units, retreated.

Since the units were divided to capture multiple castles, they had no choice but to retreat if enemy reinforcements came.

But that wasn’t it.

“Elves! Those damn bastards!”

Vera, who was reading the report, opened her eyes wide and shouted fiercely.

“What? Mother. Did elves appear?”

“Enemy elf units have been identified! There are reports that warriors using sword energy broke through the front lines, and reports that elf spiritists used spirits to break down the defenses!”

That meant.

“Elves have joined the war. On the count’s side.”

“Tsk.”

I involuntarily clicked my tongue.

“They’re giving strength to the count at a bad time. No. To give strength, now is the only time. They’re planning to use the count’s army as a shield to keep both the angels and us in check. That empress is acting very cunningly.”

Vera said, spitting out her words with annoyance. Vera and the elves had been confronting each other for a long time and had talked in many ways.

The fact that the elves stood against us meant that they were completely severing ties with Vera.

“The empress of the elves. Are they a race with only a different skin color from us?”

“Haven’t you seen them?”

“No. We live in different places. Is their empress a strong warrior like you and this queen, Vera?”

Rexabella asked with interest.

“No. The elven empress is not a warrior. She’s more of a magician.”

“How boring.”

She shook her head, having lost interest.

“Anyway, if the count has joined hands with the elves, it will be difficult to defeat him in a short period. The count himself is in a difficult situation, so he’s nothing much, but if he has elves behind him, it’s a different story.”

“…”

“This war will be a long one.”

“Yes. I can roughly picture it in my head.”

Yeah.

It was too easy.

There was nothing in the world that could be gained without great effort. It might have been inevitable for the count in distress to join hands with the elves… Prolonging the war was not good.

Then, should we attack the elves first?

The elven empress.

It was indeed surprising that she joined the war on the count’s side. However, I was aiming for the elven empress anyway. Not just because she was a noble woman, the empress of the elves, but because the existence of elves themselves was threatening.

If I wanted to rule the middle world, I had to rule the elves as well. And to rule them, I had no choice but to take their empress.

“Let’s confirm properly first. Reconnaissance and espionage are important. It would be good to capture and interrogate even enemy elves.”

“Ah, by the way, the elven army is almost entirely male.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

Only men?

Then.

I couldn’t take those blonde elven women?

“The men go out to the army, and the women guard the forest. Too bad?”

“Damn it!”

That meant I couldn’t have fun for a while.