The office fell silent. It was as though the temperature had dropped a degree.
Loud laughter drifted in from outside the window. I cracked the glass open and peered down. Brother Beleth was in the courtyard, hugging a liquor jar and holding a small celebration with several Demon Lords. He must have sensed my gaze, because he waved enthusiastically. I smiled and waved back.
Beyond the walls, an endlessly languid landscape spread out—low hills of fir groves and red loam sinking into an afternoon's sunlight. I held the whiskey in my mouth and gazed outside for a while. There was a sense of eternity, suspended in nature. The laughter from the celebration stretched it out even longer.
"Division Commander Paimon will be betraying the Demon Realm. He'll be attacking his own kind. Wouldn't the Neutral Faction or unaffiliated Demon Lords be just as outraged, even if we in the Plains Faction weren't?"
"It's simple once you manufacture a justification. The people of the Demon Realm have already endured two thousand years of failed expeditions. There's no shortage of those who doubt the Crescent Alliance Army—or rather, who harbor doubts about the very existence of Demon Lords themselves."
Ivar Lodbrok was the most prominent example. As the head of the Kunkuska Trading Company and a True Ancestor Vampire, she had grown deeply disillusioned with the Demon Lords' track record. In the end, she had betrayed the Demon Lord army and thrown in her lot with the mercenary company led by the Hero. Was she the only Demonkin to have had enough of the Demon Lords?
"If there's no hope of success, what's the point of the expedition? Every time the Crescent Alliance Army fails, countless Orcs, Ogres, and other races die. Aren't the Demon Lords gambling with the lives of Demonkin as collateral? ...That anxiety is definitely there."
The Mountain Faction's rise to become the most powerful faction in the Demon Lord army over the Plains Faction was no coincidence. The Mountain Faction's ascendancy reflected the shifting sentiment within Demon Realm society. Rather than pointlessly squandering the lives of Demonkin and military funds, why not reach some modus vivendi with humanity and simply get along—that was the moderate camp, and they were gaining strength.
"And into this situation, the Plains Faction joins hands with the Third Imperial Princess. The Plains Faction enthusiastically accepts her ceasefire proposal, and in return, the Third Imperial Princess formally recognizes the territory the Demon Lord army currently holds within the Habsburg Empire. You see what this means? The Demon Lord army may not conquer the entire continent, but it will secure definite territorial holdings."
A continental conquest with no hope of success, or a guaranteed territorial acquisition?
It didn't even need asking which option Demon Realm society would prefer. They were clearly exhausted after two thousand years of expeditions. If it meant immediate, visible results, they would gladly applaud Paimon's bold move. "The Demon Lord who achieved concrete gains over a stale justification." That's how Paimon would be praised.
I smiled.
"The first accomplishment in the two-thousand-year history of the Crescent Alliance Army. This is why Paimon is terrifying. The one who actually bled and fought wasn't Paimon. It was us—the Plains Faction. But all Paimon had to do was reach a secret deal with the Third Imperial Princess, and he's claimed all the credit for himself. War is strategy, after all. A single tongue is more fearsome than a hundred fists."
"...Division Commander Barbatos won't just stand by and watch."
I shook my head.
"And what will he do if he doesn't just stand by? Laura, we once discussed the three factors of war—Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Sixth Division falls behind the First in all three."
First, justification. The Sixth Division clings to nothing but the ancient, antiquated justification of continental conquest. The First Division, on the other hand, has a legitimate claim: the goal of bringing Demonkin to the continent will be substantially achieved. If the former is mere pretense, the latter combines justification with actual gain.
Next, terrain. If events unfold according to Paimon's scenario, the Sixth Division will be encircled from front and rear—by the First Division and the Third Imperial Princess's forces. The worse the battle goes, the faster the loyalty of the territory's populace will crumble. To curry favor with whoever ends up owning this land, uprisings will break out everywhere. Surrounded on three sides and riddled with internal strife. Victory would be impossible.
Finally, manpower. The Plains Faction's Sixth Division commands eighteen thousand troops. After fighting the Imperial Army of the Margrave-Crown Prince, their numbers will be sharply depleted. Meanwhile, the First Division of the Mountain Faction—the most powerful force in the Demon Lord army—commands thirty thousand. Add to that the Third Imperial Princess's forces, and the Plains Faction will be forced to fight an enemy at least three to four times their size.
The outcome is obvious.
"We'll be encircled and annihilated..."
Raura sighed. I nodded.
"If the legion commander refuses the ceasefire agreement and commits to fighting to the death, the Demonkin will only pour out more condemnation. They'll say we squandered a golden opportunity to claim territory on the continent, all because we got hung up on some petty principle."
That's exactly what Paimon would say, shedding crocodile tears. "It pains us — it pains us deeply — to fight our own kind, but for a greater cause, we must press forward. Let us endure this tragedy for the dream of the Demon Realm, comrades..."
And the result: the Plains Faction is annihilated. The Mountain Faction seizes the northern territories of the Habsburg Empire. The Mountain Faction becomes, in name and in truth, the sole massive power within the Demon Lord's army. The Neutral Faction and the unaffiliated Demon Lords would have no choice but to follow the Mountain Faction's lead.
Paimon, ranked ninth, would effectively rule the Demon Lord's army. Absolute supremacy through the Mountain Faction — that was the goal, no doubt... Apart from his fatal flaw of trusting his own people too much, Paimon was quite the operator.
"This is a serious situation, is it not?"
Raura said, somewhat urgently.
"We're about to get steamrolled. What's the plan?"
"Well. Let's give Paimon's scheme a round of applause."
"...My lord."
Raura narrowed her eyes and glared at me. I was being completely serious.
Winning a war without fighting a single battle — truly an excellent strategy. It was a completely different style from Barbatos, who believed that war was simply the sum of all battles. Personally, I preferred Paimon's approach over Barbatos's. Shrouded in darkness, sinister, quiet, and utterly ruthless — a method that mercilessly blindsides your opponent from behind.
Oh — Raura's gaze turned dangerous. Time to stop joking around. I spoke with a smile.
"The Sixth Division has only one option left. We accept the Imperial Princess's ceasefire agreement as is. We stop fighting the Habsburg Imperial Army immediately. We steal the very pretext Paimon was after for ourselves."
"Hmm."
Raura twirled a strand of hair at her temple with her finger — a habit that surfaced whenever she was deep in thought.
"I see. The one to seize the northern Habsburg territories wouldn't be the First Division, but the Sixth. Which means it's the Sixth Division, not the First, that earns the support of Demon Realm society... Not bad at all."
"The Plains Faction won't be thrilled, given they were the ones championing the continental conquest. Oh well — I suppose this is a good opportunity to teach them how to be content with life."
Count Barbatos Lori was, by and large, far too greedy. She was the type who either grabbed everything or ended up with nothing at all. She needed to learn to live a little more wisely.
"In that case, Division Commander Paimon would end up with nothing."
"Not at all. Even if our Sixth Division agrees to the ceasefire, there is absolutely no loss for Paimon."
"Why is that?"
"What do you think the reason is?"
I shot the question back. Raura toyed with a strand of her golden hair.
A moment later, her eyes went wide.
"...! The Teuton Kingdom!"
"That's right."
Just as expected. Conversing with Raura was genuinely enjoyable. She tossed out exactly the questions and answers I was looking for, one after another. For a conversation to have just the right amount of tension, you needed someone with Raura's level of insight. A dialogue where one side does all the explaining — what's interesting about that?
"The First Division simply needs to march into the northern Habsburg territories to reap enormous gains. Originally, for the First Division to advance into the Teuton Kingdom, they would have had to break through the Black Mountains' defensive strongholds, just as our Sixth Division did. However, the First Division can cross the Black Mountains without shedding a single drop of blood by using the passage our Sixth Division already carved open. Most of all..."
She spoke with growing excitement.
"If the ceasefire goes through smoothly, the First Division will simply wheel around and invade the Teuton Kingdom. And not just anywhere — straight into the southern Teuton Kingdom, where there are absolutely no Anti-Demon Lord Army defensive positions prepared! If they play their cards right, the First Division could seize the entire Teuton Kingdom!"
I gave a slight nod of my chin to indicate agreement.
That was right. For Paimon, it didn't matter whether the Sixth Division rejected or accepted the ceasefire. If they rejected it, she would ally with the Third Princess's faction and annihilate the Sixth Division, then occupy the northern Habsburg territories.
If they accepted, she would reverse course and invade the Teuton Kingdom. Traditionally, the Habsburg Empire and the Teuton Kingdom had been allies, and Teuton had made virtually no defensive preparations along the Habsburg border. That was exactly where the First Division would launch a full-scale invasion. The Teuton Kingdom would be ravaged beyond recognition.
Compared to the Sixth Division, which had only managed to seize a corner of the Habsburg Empire, the First Division — which would conquer an entire kingdom — would earn far greater military prestige. The Mountain Faction's position would grow only more unassailable.
And that wasn't all. The faction that had proactively driven the ceasefire negotiations with the Third Princess wasn't the Plains Faction — it was the Mountain Faction. The Plains Faction had merely acknowledged the agreement after the fact. Even the Plains Faction's credit would be partially stolen away by the Mountain Faction. No matter how we acted, Paimon came out ahead. A defeat for Barbatos... an utter, inexcusable failure.
Raura drained her whiskey in a single gulp. Her shoulders were trembling, if only slightly.
"So this is what scheming looks like."
"Yes. It's war."
An army that wins is one that secures victory first and only then fights... In essence, it was no different from the battle Raura had forced upon Rif's seventy-person adventuring party. She had divided the mountain villages into allies and enemies, sowing discord until Rif's party collapsed.
The Sixth Legion took the mission of breaking through the Black Mountains and defeating the Margrave. They saw their opponents as nothing more than enemies. Paimon was different. She studied the political landscape of the Habsburg Empire with meticulous care, distinguishing who would become an ally and who would become an enemy. And so she arranged the board so that no matter how the Sixth Legion acted, it would always favor her allies.
Those who think ahead act ahead, and those who act ahead seize victory first.
"…It seems the maiden's eyes for viewing war have suddenly grown wider."
"Congratulations. May they keep growing."
"But there is one enormous hole in the strategic picture my lord has laid out. That hole is you, my lord."
She thrust her whiskey glass toward him with a sharp motion.
"Certainly, no one in the Sixth Legion aside from my lord has grasped the current situation. No—in the First Legion as well, the only one who knows this besides Paimon. And yet my lord has caught on. Depending on how my lord acts, the entire game could be overturned. Yet my lord has told no one and simply sits here alone, drinking. What exactly is my lord after?"
"…."
With a blank expression, I poured whiskey into Raura's glass. It filled up almost instantly. I didn't stop. The liquor overflowed and streamed down to the floor. I kept pouring until the bottle was completely empty.
"There is only one thing I desire. An age of chaos."
"An age of chaos…?"
"Raura. Look at the bigger picture. Feel the grander scale. The commander of the Crescent Alliance Army's First Legion forges an agreement with the Third Princess of the Habsburg Empire, and the commander of the Sixth Legion signs on. Don't you understand what that means?"
I let out a quiet laugh.
"The Demon Lord plunges into the continent's international politics. Until now, Demonkin and humans were simply enemies. But now, suddenly, the whole world learns that Demonkin and humans can cooperate or clash depending on the circumstances. The war between races comes to an end. Demonkin and humans will stop fighting as races and start forging alliances and scheming against each other purely as individuals, driven by their own self-interest."
Raura's thin lips parted. I could feel the shock seeping into her breath. It seemed she had realized it too. Words of delight surged up from within me as I spoke.
"It is an age of chaos, Raura! An unprecedented age of chaos is dawning. The noble cause of racial vendetta fades into the background, and in its place, every soul fights against every other soul for the sake of their own power, their own interests, their own convictions—an era where warlords carve out their own dominions. Can you not hear it yet? The footsteps of a completely new era approaching!"