My Disciples Think I’m Strong – Chapter 221

“Seri.”

As I opened the door to the noble meeting room, Seri, who had been seated at the head of the table, stood up. Inside the room, all the nobles of the empire were gathered, including Lupin, and the S-Class was no exception.

However, with Soro, Ter, and Sirius missing, the S-Class forces were down to just four.

To make matters worse, Soro and Ter were reported missing. Surely they hadn’t defected to the demon side, had they?

“Oh, Praus.”

There was a hint of relief in Seri’s cracked voice, as if she had glimpsed a thread of hope.

The moment my name was mentioned, all eyes in the noble meeting room turned to me. Their gazes seemed to be a bit deflated. The atmosphere was cold and gloomy.

“Praus! Do you even know what the situation is right now, showing up like this?!”

Inkuro shouted while pointing a finger at me.

“Shut your mouth. Do you think Lord Praus is here to fool around like you?”

Of course, Ella wasn’t going to let that slide.

“What?!”

Seeing them maintain their usual demeanor even in the face of humanity’s doom was somewhat comforting.

“Praus, where have you been all this time?”

Urka cautiously approached to ask.

“We’ll talk about that later. What’s the situation…?”

As she approached, Seri pointed to a cube placed in the center of the table. Surveillance Magic displayed the demon world beyond our borders.

A colossal magic presence was creeping closer to the city wall. From the distance, it looked like it could arrive within a day at the fastest or two days at most.

It seemed to be moving as a legion rather than individually, which made its approach appear relatively slow.

But looking on the bright side, we at least had two days. After that, not fighting would no longer be an option.

“The 2nd Legion, huh.”

The silver lining was that it was the 2nd Legion led by Lichen.

The scroll passed to me described the Demon Knights.

The 2nd Legion was not composed of varied races but armored demons. All were colored by Lichen.

Though a demon, Lichen valued chivalry. Officially, it was said he had been so impressed by the Sword Master of the Empire hundreds of years ago that he adopted that style.

Thus, it should be possible to find weaknesses compared to other demons.

Besides, I already knew the 2nd Legion would be at the forefront.

It was no different from a game.

If the Demon King’s strategy was as I knew it, there were ways to counter it.

The problem was that the Demon King might change his strategy once I switched to a counter. This place was more dynamic than the game scenarios; thus, there would be various variables.

I wasn’t sure if I could respond to all of them.

Moreover, the heroes still had yet to cross over from the Spirit Realm. We had no means of offense until they arrived.

We had to fight defensively for as long as possible before the heroes appeared, but even that wasn’t going to be easy.

If we matched the 2nd Legion against the Royal Knight Order, we could hold our ground fairly well. But that battle was destined to end in ‘defeat.’

The difference in numbers aside, the elites among the legion were almost on par with S-Class warriors.

If I focused all our forces, including Ella, Urka, Inkuro, Glair, and Logia into the first battle, we might achieve victory—if I could handle Lichen.

But there would be no second chance.

After dealing with the 2nd Legion, I would face the 1st and 3rd Legions. However, it was impossible to engage back-to-back fights after holding off the 2nd Legion.

Even if we filled our ranks with noblemen’s private troops, there would be no one capable of facing a legion commander or deputy commander.

Especially since the 1st Legion would surely smash the Aus Territory and advance straight to the Pretéum Empire. To stop that, we would need at least one hero.

But in a situation where we didn’t know when heroes would arrive, we had to fend off the approaching legions ourselves.

In short, it was a total disaster.

“Praus, what should we do?”

Seri looked at me for advice. I surveyed the room and stepped up to the imperial map.

“…We need to consider that at least to this point, we will be overrun by this war.”

With my finger, I indicated to the map. The spot under my fingertip was right near Rexton City. At minimum, the Rexton Territory would experience devastation at a level of destruction. Todiah and Aus would be no exceptions either.

“If they reach that far, there will be millions of casualties!”

“That’s likely.”

“Praus, are you saying there’s nothing we can do even with you here?!”

“I can’t stop them on my own.”

In the past, I had fought demons one-on-one, which gave me a chance at victory each time. If they had come with a legion, I wouldn’t have been able to face them at all.

If I could deactivate the Expression Management Skill and borrow the power of the World Tree, perhaps there would be a chance, but I couldn’t expect that immediately.

“If the demon tribe is going to wage war willing to make sacrifices, we too must prepare to sacrifice something. If we don’t make that choice… humanity will surely face extinction at this point.”

“Y-you think there’s hope once we’re pushed that far, Praus?”

“…I don’t know. But we have to wait until our ‘real’ hope arrives.”

“Real hope…?”

The Demon King must have ordered that the 2nd Legion move to break the border. This meant that if we could hold off the 2nd Legion well enough, we could buy some valuable time.

However, the question remained how long the Aioum Kingdom could withstand the 4th Legion, which was moving like a separate unit.

“…Seri, how is the situation with the demons that have appeared all over the empire?”

“The Royal Knight Order is managing it, but I have received reports that people are still dying in various places. Should we send more troops there?”

“No. Sending troops will only play into the Demon King’s plans. Don’t be swayed too easily.”

“But if we leave things as they are, people will keep dying.”

It’s certainly not good to leave things unattended, but I wasn’t worried.

The ongoing disruption by the demon tribe in the empire meant that the roots of the World Tree within the empire could also be in danger.

And there was one being who was extremely wary of that situation, someone who had been quite upset with me.

“It’s been a while since you’ve crossed into the human world; it’s about time for a reaction to come…”

“Praus!!”

A figure wearing a celestial garment with brown hair and a hairpin, Orient, burst into the noble meeting room, shouting at me with all her might as if she were really mad.

“Whoa!”

“What the?! A girl just suddenly showed up!”

The sudden appearance had everyone in a panic, some leaping to their feet. Knights stood in front of the nobles as a protective barrier.

“Look at this!”

Orient harshly threw a matted hairball right in front of me. The grotesque sight made those around me wince and grimace.

With skin as white as ivory, ears pointed like an elf’s, and crimson eyes… she was a vampire.

All the elite units under Habito were vampires, so this one must be an elite herself. Yet, she nonchalantly made a sacrifice of her own life; indeed, the Spirit King was truly formidable.

“You came, Orient.”

“You say you’ve come…? You don’t even grasp the situation right now, do you?!”

Orient grabbed me by the collar, frowning deeply. Ariel beside her urgently grasped her arm, trying to calm her down.

“Orient, settle down.”

“Ariel, this guy needs to be dealt with. Because of him, the roots of the World Tree…”

Realizing the surrounding people were paying attention, she lowered her voice and snapped her fingers to create a barrier. This certainly wasn’t something to discuss in front of others.

“Do you really want to die? Do you have any idea how many I’ve killed to protect the World Tree’s roots?”

“Calm down.”

“You’re not even a true hero…! Wait a moment…”

Her grip on my collar loosened slightly.

“You didn’t, for some reason, bring the Guardian of the Sanctuary here just to use me, did you?”

“…I hadn’t completely predicted it.”

I hadn’t expected the Demon War to ignite so quickly. However…

“I simply thought you could be of use in a critical moment since you are the only Spirit King who can wield power in this world without a contractor.”

The Primordial Spirit King bestowed a fragment of the World Tree to Orient during her fragmentation. That was how she was able to exert her inherent power to stand against Peremus and Pero without a contract.

I had thought that I could rely on her whenever something urgent arose. I didn’t expect it to turn out this way though.

“Regardless, since you’ve come, I ask you to help take care of the demons while protecting the roots of the World Tree.”

“Why should I do that for you?”

“If the human world collapses, protecting the roots of the World Tree would be meaningless, and you know that well, don’t you? Besides, you are better informed about the heroes’ current situation as their contractor, aren’t you?”

“…”

She went silent.

It looked like she couldn’t bring herself to deny it; her lips pressed together tightly as she glared at me. The fact that she had nothing to say only meant she was acknowledging my words, which must have bruised her pride even more.

“I have one request for you. Quell the disturbances within the empire.”

“…You really have a talent for underhanded tactics… Fine. I’ll deal with the internal disturbances. Is that enough?”

“One more thing. How’s the equipment I asked you to make coming along?”

“It’s still quite unfinished. Why?”

“I need you to focus on making that now, to maximize its usage.”

Even in preparation for future battles, those crafted artifacts were essential for me.

“Seems like I’m being given more orders than the World Tree itself…”

I lightly brushed off her words and stamped ink on various points of the map laid out on the table.

“Release the barrier.”

Orient looked at me with discontent as she flicked her fingers, dispelling the barrier.

I walked over to a still-dazed Seri and handed her the map.

“Seri, please mark the organized regions.”

Seri nodded blankly.

“But who is that person?”

“Orient. The Spirit King of Earth.”

“The Spirit King of Earth?!”

“I’ll be utilizing her regarding the internal disturbances, so don’t worry about the ones going wild inside.”

She exclaimed, “As expected of Praus… that’s impressive.” Then she drew an ‘X’ on the area she marked on the map.

After marking the map completely, I handed it over to Orient. She took it while glaring at me.

“This is a debt.”

She said this while glancing at Ariel, then subtly grabbed her hand. Ariel looked puzzled as she stared at Orient.

“Orient…?”

“It’s tough, isn’t it? Having to deal with this kind of guy.”

“What do you mean ‘this kind of guy’?”

“You’ll see in a bit.”

She was ignored.

“Yeah. Be careful.”

“Hurry up and leave.”

“Hmph! It’s so noisy, honestly!”

As she grumbled all the way out, I knew Orient’s capabilities were beyond question, and she would effectively deal with the 2nd Legion before they reached the city walls.

“…So, Praus, how do you plan on handling the incoming legions?”

Rexton, who had been quietly observing, asked softly.

“It won’t be easy to handle. What we need to do is buy time, no matter if it comes at the cost of millions of lives.”

I could hear the nobles, including Lupin, collectively inhale at my words. Seri and the other S-Classes had lackluster reactions, too.

But it was unavoidable.

What we needed now wasn’t emotion; it was rational judgment that could assess our icy reality.

“Of course, if you want to act, I won’t stop you. With the S-Class, the Magic Guild, and the Royal Knight Order, it might be possible to hold them off. But keep in mind that what’s approaching only represents about a quarter of the demon forces. Pouring most of the empire’s power into that quarter wouldn’t be a smart move.”

The Demon War wasn’t like any war we understood in modern times.

It couldn’t be a long-term war stretching over several years.

The reason was simply that demons, unlike humans, didn’t require rest.

In other words, the demons wouldn’t give us even a moment’s respite. Thus, after expending our strength, we couldn’t endure the backlash that would follow.

As I glanced around the now dreary meeting room, I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head.

“…I’m just voicing my thoughts. Whether to accept them or not is up to you. For your information, I’m planning to face the commander of the 2nd Legion.”

If I could face the commander of the 2nd Legion, I should have a chance to seize an opportunity. Although it was bothersome that the commander and deputy commander moved almost as one, it didn’t mean I was lacking in numbers. If I poured my strength into it, the possibility wasn’t negligible.

“Face the commander of the 2nd Legion…?”

“Isn’t that a reckless move?”

“It’s fine. I’ll just hit and run appropriately. How many troops to send is up to you. However, assume that most of them will die.”

Is there anything more horrific than sending troops to battle knowing they’re destined to die?

Regardless, it was the only option left.

If one had to choose whether to sacrifice a hundred knights or a million citizens, anyone would inevitably choose the former.

Moreover, wars couldn’t be fought without sacrifices. Especially when the other side was already prepared for death.