Parsi shrugged. He said nothing further. Since his Affinity hadn't dropped, it was clear even he hadn't been entirely serious.
The adventuring party that had invaded the dungeon was the same way. They possessed both cruelty and innocence. They would loose arrows without hesitation, yet open their hearts just as easily. I had once heard that unlike the image of medieval peasants, they could transform into outlaws whenever the need arose. That duality must have been the defining trait of humans in this era.
— Krrrk!
The village quickly degenerated into a massive banquet hall. Fifty bodies' worth of human flesh fed every goblin to bursting and still left plenty over.
"A great victory! This will significantly increase the goblin encampment's participation in battle."
"Indeed. However, as we discussed before, we must put our full effort into the camouflage operation."
"Understood. I will order the golem unit to transport the corpses."
We stood in the village square, leisurely discussing our next steps. Not because there was any particularly new topic of conversation, but to let the soldiers who had won the battle enjoy a small celebration.
Roughly fourteen goblin encampments dotted the nearby mountain range. Combined, their tribes easily numbered over five hundred. Not all of them could take to the field, but we could certainly mobilize far more than the hundred we had used today. The reason we had only brought along a hundred was simple.
The goblin tribes were afraid of suffering losses.
This was natural. Goblins had raided human villages for plunder before, like bandits, but they had never engaged in full-scale warfare. In a clash between equal numbers of goblins and mountain folk, the latter held the advantage. Attacking a human village equipped with palisades and other defenses was especially difficult for goblins.
When I had proposed subjugating the humans, the goblin encampments had been lukewarm at best. Even promising to lead with the golem unit to minimize casualties hadn't moved them. To goblins, humans weren't targets for large-scale war—they were targets to plunder now and then on a whim, like poking at a persimmon you couldn't eat.
Whether human or monster—and perhaps even more so because they were monsters—they could not bring themselves to accept anything that deviated too far from old customs. It was only because I was a Demon Lord who naturally radiated affinity toward monsters that I had managed to bring even a hundred along; otherwise, not a single one would have come.
Laura produced a map.
"Marching directly to the next village would not be the best course of action."
It wasn't a finished map, but with help from Parsi and other humans sympathetic to our cause, she had managed to sketch out something workable. It showed the locations of human villages and goblin encampments.
"Our Demon Lord's army will devastate the villages in clockwise order. The adventuring party won't catch on until at least the second village has been conquered. Even if surprise attacks are basic strategy, that still grants us a little time."
Laura pointed to each goblin settlement on the map one by one.
"Therefore, I am disbanding the goblin legion immediately."
"Wh-What did you say?"
Parsi looked bewildered.
"After all that effort gathering a hundred of them over several days, you want to disband them? What are you talking about?"
Even with the map, it was only a rough draft, and neither Laura nor I could have been familiar with the mountain paths. Over the past several days, Parsi had served as our guide, trudging up and down the mountains. Having gone through all that trouble, Parsi was flabbergasted at the suggestion of disbanding the forces now.
Laura smiled.
"The reason His Excellency the Demon Lord had to go to such lengths to gather the goblins was because they would not voluntarily participate in battle. But from now on, the situation is different. The goblins suffered absolutely no casualties in today's engagement."
As she said, the village was simply littered with human corpses. Only a couple of goblin corpses lay scattered near the palisades. At this level, it was fair to say there were zero casualties.
"They gained nothing but benefits. Dozens of human corpses are a harvest the goblins have never dared to hope for. I will see to the disposal."
Laura looked at Parsi.
"Let's instruct the goblins here where to gather for the next battle, and then disband them. How many goblins do you think we will be able to mobilize for the next fight?"
"Wh-Well... do you really think things will work out like that?"
Parsi could barely meet Laura's gaze. Befitting a noble young lady, every one of her gestures was elegant, and she was simply too much for a mountain village youth to handle. Good grief—the man who said whatever he pleased to me, the Demon Lord, went all meek and powerless in front of a beautiful woman.
"You might be thinking, 'We struck it big today—let's call it quits!'
"If there's nothing to lose and something to gain, they will always charge in. The goblins will go back to their tribes and boast about how easy today's battle was and how many corpses they obtained. What do you think the rest of the goblins will do when they hear that?"
Laura apparently felt there was no further value in talking to Parsi, because she turned her head toward me. She wore a confident smile as she spoke.
"I dare to assure you. The forces you will command in the next battle will number at least three hundred."
I accepted her proposal and disbanded all the forces. Even so, Parsi continued to scratch his head, half-doubtful.
Two days later.
Laura's prediction came true.
When we reached the road leading to the next village, hundreds of goblins were already milling about. The mountain valley overflowed with a green tide.
Parsi stared at Laura as though he had seen a ghost. Laura commanded the army as though this were the most natural thing in the world, and we conquered the second village as easily as twisting a child's wrist.
"Son of a bitch!"
Leaf flipped over the wooden table. It clattered loudly as it rolled across the floor.
This was the residence where the adventuring party's executives stayed—a place they had practically extorted from the village residents who originally lived here. But Leaf felt no particular qualms about throwing the household furniture around. When he learned from survivors what the current situation was, his chest had filled with rage.
"Damn it! Those sons of bitches! How dare they—those lowlife bastards!"
The fellow executives couldn't bring themselves to stop him and just stood there dumbfounded.
In just a few months, Leaf had turned an unremarkable group of rural village adventurers into a top-tier adventuring party and even recruited vigilantes from other regions. He demonstrated absolute leadership. His subordinates knew all too well that trying to calm Leaf down when he was this furious would end badly for them.
"Shit—grab your gear! We're storming the dungeon right now!"
"Right now, sir?"
One of the executives asked cautiously.
"The news about two villages being massacred has the vigilantes and the kids really anxious. It might be better to restore morale a little first..."
Leaf glared viciously at him. Then, without warning, he punched the man in the stomach. The man doubled over, stifling a groan. The other executives tensed up even more, instinctively straightening their backs.
Leaf roared at the executives, who still looked like they didn't understand anything.
"You blind, witless idiots! If not now, when are we going to attack?! That Demon Lord bastard is attacking the villages! So then—for fuck's sake—is the dungeon empty right now or not?!"
"Oh!"
"You brainless morons...! Get out there and tell everyone—we're leaving in one hour!"
The executives scrambled out of the house. Just one person remained—a woman crouched in the corner of the room, completely out of place among Leaf's burly all-male adventuring party.
Leaf ignored her and sank into thought. It was hard to believe he had been flying into a rage just moments ago; he was now perfectly calm.
Despite his hot-headed exterior, he was actually deep in thought. Just now, he had deliberately pretended to rage and throw a fit to snap the executives back to their senses after they were shaken by the news of the village massacres. His companions were quite reliable when it came to combat ability, but when it came to thinking things through, he had zero trust in them.
'If only One-eye had been here for times like this.'
He remembered the companion he had lost at Dantalion's Demon Lord's Castle. He and Leaf had been a perfect combination. When Leaf set the mood, One-eye would appropriately manage the situation. Only with such precise division of roles could they efficiently lead a bunch of dull-witted adventurers. Now, Leaf had to shoulder every role himself, and as a result, his fatigue grew by the day. The thought that this was all because of that Demon Lord bastard made his blood boil.
Losing two villages outright hurt.
'But we haven't actually suffered any real damage.'
He coolly assessed the situation.
Leaf had three reasons for confidence.
First: the villages were gone, but the adventuring party hadn't taken any casualties.
All the vigilantes were staying in the same village as the adventuring party. Honestly, as long as the vigilantes remained unharmed, Leaf didn't care if a few villages disappeared. They weren't even his own villages—what was there to worry about?
Second: he had hired a mage.
The woman dozing off in the corner of the room was the mage. Not some First or Second Circle novice, but a full Third Circle! As a proper combat mage, she could handle low-grade golems with ease.
According to his reports, the Demon Lord's army was composed of three types of monsters: Golems, Goblins, and Fairies. While the adventurers held off the Goblins and Golems, the mage could eliminate the Golems—the battle would resolve itself more easily than expected.
It had been sheer luck that a low-ranked adventurer like Leaf managed to hire a mage. Low-rank mages didn't have their own workshops; they studied and worked at mage towers. The higher the Circle, the more the education costs rose exponentially. Low-rank mages would often take part-time adventurer jobs, looking to make a quick buck.
In Leaf's judgment, this woman was one of those mages.
'I never expected to snag a fish like that. Heh.'
If you could say she was ignorant of the world, she was far too ignorant. Sometimes among mages there were those who spent their entire lives studying and remained completely unaware of how cruel the world could really become. Adventurers called such mages "suckers."
The woman was the epitome of a sucker. The way she walked into the adventurer guild looking around made her look exactly like she was advertising "I'm an easy mark—please hook me!" Leaf had approached her without hesitation. He told her all sorts of sweet things—Dantalion's Demon Lord's Castle was overflowing with treasure but had no traps, the only monsters there were the lowest grade—and with every honeyed word, it took just five minutes to get her to stamp an unfair contract.
He had promised the woman five percent of total profits. For the hiring fee of a Third Circle mage, it was practically nothing, but the woman happily agreed. Leaf secretly mocked her a hundred times over. In the end, the ones who profited in this world were those who deceived others.
'Just like that Demon Lord bastard.'
Leaf ground his teeth. Thinking about how he had been completely fooled by that guy's act still made his stomach churn. Looking back, just how stupid had he been! By all common sense, there was no way a Demon Lord would go out of his way to act on behalf of an adventuring party. And yet Leaf and his capable party had believed the Demon Lord completely—as if they had been bewitched.
'That damn bastard. I'll gut him and serve him up raw.'
Around that point, Leaf composed his emotions. He was certain he would soon pay back every ounce of the fury he now felt.
The third and final reason was...
"Ch-Chief."
The executive returned. It was the same man Leaf had punched earlier. He wore a terrified expression.
"Huh? Why are you back already? Is everything ready?"
"Well, um... there's been a problem."
"A problem? Shit—what problem?"
Leaf retorted as though he was about to chew the man alive. The man cursed his fate for having to play this role as he answered.
"The thing is... the vigilantes..."
"What about the vigilantes, you bastard?!"
"The v-vigilantes say they absolutely refuse to go into the dungeon!"
Leaf's expression crumpled like a piece of paper.