Chapter 50

Chapter 2 was supposed to be the last, right?

That was a lie.

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The demons, the archenemies of humanity, and the demonic races.

While demons, with their entirely different ecosystems from humans, are being studied, they are mostly given up on in terms of understanding. In contrast, the demonic races, recognized as an immediate threat, have a fair amount of information available.

The sources of this information are demons who cooperate with humans, demons who are enemies of the target demons, or their subordinates, the demonic races. The credibility of this information is virtually non-existent, but it is still considered valuable and is recognized as reference material.

According to this, the total number of demonic races is approximately 1,000.

They do not explicitly regard each other as enemies or comrades, but they do communicate with each other to some extent.

Furthermore, they form a hierarchical society, and their ranks are determined by the amount of magic power initially bestowed by the demon—apparently, the demon judges the amount to be "about right."

Additionally, the position of the demon who turned them into demonic races does not affect their hierarchy.

Given their human origins, their hierarchy is also derived from human knowledge.

Namely, they are ranked as Knight, Baronet, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, Duke, and King.

Those below Viscount are considered lower-class demonic races, and those above Count are considered upper-class demonic races, with a clear hierarchy existing between Viscount and Count.

There are about 200 demonic races on the continent, but only 8 are considered upper-class.

---

September 30, 2056. The Forbidden City, Old Beijing.

"Shall we hear your excuses?"

On this day, Ruffina, one of the few upper-class demonic races and a Marquis, was summoned by the "King" who effectively ruled the region.

The reason for her summons was clear: she had "gone too far."

Originally, the order given to them by the demons was to "pressure them to the point where they can't relax," not to destroy the elite forces that protected the country.

Following this order, the demonic races had been sending a moderate number of monsters at a moderate frequency to put pressure on Japan.

However, this time, Ruffina, thinking "This isn't enough pressure. Last time they handled it easily, so let's send twice as many!" sent more than double the number of monsters. As a result, Japan's elite Second Division was almost completely annihilated, and the Sixth and Eighth Divisions, which were supporting them, suffered devastating damage. The Third Division, which was in the process of rebuilding, was left with no hope of reconstruction.

Given this situation, it was only natural that she would be reprimanded with "Who told you to do this?"

Of course, Ruffina understood this. While she could have gotten away with a serious comment about the pervert who appeared in Far Eastern Russia, she was genuinely puzzled by the damage report from Japan, and her face turned pale as she realized the gravity of the situation.

However, she had her own defense.

"Well, I didn't think sending twice the number of troops would cause such damage."

Her attitude was not appropriate for a subject addressing a king, but their relationship was more that of peers rather than master and servant, so this was not a significant issue. Depending on the king's temperament, even a casual tone might be acceptable.

Still, Ruffina used polite language—though it was quite casual, she was still showing respect—because she understood that she was at fault and recognized the power dynamics between them.

Leaving aside her manner of speaking, the problem was the content of her defense.

To Ruffina, this was merely a test. She had even planned to send more monsters by the end of the month if the damage to Japan was not significant. It was unthinkable that a test would result in such devastation.

"That's just your lack of knowledge."

"Ugh."

Ruffina, who was about to argue that "They were too weak, so I'm not at fault," was immediately silenced by the king's words.

"Of course, I understand that they were weak. Indeed, the fact that a group including ten large monsters was completely annihilated is undeniable. And it's not entirely unreasonable for you to think, 'This isn't enough pressure.'"

"So, then—"

"But you were too lenient."

"Too lenient?"

"Your assumptions, yes. Why can't you understand?"

"Eh, um?"

The king, faced with an unexpected situation, sighed and held his head, thinking about the future.

For him, "the future" meant "how to deal with Japan from now on."

Until now, they had been sending monsters to reduce the population and put pressure on Japan. It was clear that they needed to hold back while the forces were recovering.

However, the upper echelons of Japan were not fools. If they showed any signs of waiting for the forces to recover, the demonic races might be seen as not being serious about destroying Japan.

If that happened, the Japanese would naturally become more relaxed. It would be easy to send troops and instill despair, but doing so would ultimately lead to an imbalance in forces.

Of course, the forces were not currently balanced, but what mattered was not the actual balance but the appearance of balance.

If that appearance could no longer be maintained, there would be no moderate pressure, and the only option would be to destroy Japan.

While the king did not mind the disappearance of the enemy, doing so would go against the demons' orders and deprive the demonic races of the benefits of human technological innovation and agricultural improvements, which had a significant impact on their lives, especially in terms of food.

The difference in diet between East Asia, strongly influenced by Japan, and Western and Northern Europe, strongly influenced by Britain, was literally like night and day.

(To give up those benefits would be unthinkable.)

For this reason, the king wanted Japan to maintain a certain level of tension and strength. The recent bad news was a blow to this plan.

It was estimated that it would take at least five years for the forces to recover.

(During that time, what should I do?)

The king was at a loss. He was the "King" only because he possessed the most magic power, not because he had charisma or administrative skills.

If he could simply destroy the enemy by force, it would be easy. He could just go and destroy them with enthusiasm.

However, maintaining the status quo and applying moderate pressure required a different approach.

His power limited his freedom, and the other demonic races were mostly muscleheads.

They were serious about managing their territories, but that was about it.

In that sense, Ruffina, who could provide intelligent criticism, was a valuable asset, but she lacked common sense, as she was originally just a girl. This was revealed by the recent incident.

(Well, it's understandable given her background as a girl.)

Under normal circumstances, he would have killed her. He would have torn her apart and distributed her flesh and blood to the humans in the ranches he governed as a "precious treat."

But to the king, she was a valuable source of knowledge.

Therefore, he decided to let it slide this time and explained the reason for her failure to Ruffina, who still did not understand.

"Remember this. When the enemy's forces double, the effort required to deal with them is not doubled but squared."

Information, time, number of troops, weapons, ammunition, positions, formations, tactics, and more.

There was a significant difference between what was needed to handle a group of monsters including ten large and 130 medium-sized ones and a group including twenty large and over 300 medium-sized ones.

"Huh?"

Of course, it was not exact. However, factors such as the number of troops, equipment, training, morale, weather, terrain, and the quality of leadership were not easily quantifiable, so this was just a guideline.

However, it was still a standard.

"Considering this, do you understand the situation now? The reason the Japanese National Defense Forces suffered such heavy damage is that they did not prepare twice the effort required to deal with the troops you sent."

"Ah, I see..."

This was a clear and undeniable reason.

"Did you not consider that the reason there was no damage last time was that they had used their maximum effort?"

"Ugh..."

"How about it?"

"No, I didn't."

"Hmm. Even the coexistence advocates don't realize how limited the information the military holds is. They hide information even from politicians. It's not like they would tell the general public, 'We have no reserves, but we won.'"

"Yes."

No matter how much they struggled, the military would always announce, "We won. Of course, we have reserves." In fact, in the report on the Second Major Defense Operation, the military announced, "We suffered some damage, but we destroyed twice as many monsters," while standing in front of the dead monsters.

This was the norm. If they believed the report and sent twice the number of troops, thinking, "They still have reserves," Japan would undoubtedly be destroyed. After that, saying, "That wasn't my intention," would not even be an excuse.

After Japan's destruction, the demonic races who violated the orders would be destroyed by the demons.

(I absolutely refuse to let that happen!)

The king decided to warn Ruffina about her reckless actions.

"The reason they achieved one-sided results last time was that they pushed to the limit and engaged in a short-term battle. If the balance had tipped even slightly, they would have suffered heavy damage. Of course, they had no reserves to double their forces a month later. Do you understand?"

"…Yes, you're right."

At this point, Ruffina understood how thoughtless it was to simply double the forces.

Again, if the goal was to destroy them, it would have been fine.

The problem was that she had pushed them too far without intending to destroy them.

Incidentally, it was not a problem to destroy the Third Division, which had attacked as far as Imphal a few years ago. The demonic races did not intend to give the humans that much leeway.

So when the local demonic race said, "If they have the leeway to attack, it's fine to destroy them," and destroyed them, there were no complaints.

However, this time, the situation was completely different. The Second Division, which was responsible for Japan's national defense, suffered heavy damage.

"First, it will be difficult to send troops to Kyushu in the future."

"Ugh."

If the forces were completely depleted, even a few large monsters could destroy the local military. This would completely ruin the strategy against Japan. However, there was still some hope.

"Since winter is coming, we can make them believe we are preparing for winter quarters, which should buy us at least six months."

It was a strange situation to be buying time for the enemy, but the king was serious.

"The problem is that the expeditionary forces in Vietnam and Thailand might withdraw to reorganize on a large scale."

"Ugh."

"What will you do if the expeditionary forces withdraw? Ignoring them would be unnatural, but invading would not yield any benefits. To be honest, the infrastructure there is so poor that it's inconvenient. Would you like to take charge of that area?"

"Please, no…"

As her name suggests, Ruffina was of Russian descent. While she had a romantic notion of "warm" places, she had a strong aversion to "hot" places.

"If you don't want to, you'll have to work. First, come up with a plan to make up for this mistake. Of course, I'll need an explanation of the outline before we implement it."

(If I threaten her enough, she won't make the same mistake again. And… yes, I'll make her deal with the aftermath. After all, it's her fault. She can't complain.)

"Yes."

(I'm in trouble! I really need to think seriously!)

The king, who had dumped the problem on her, and Ruffina, who could only nod in response, were a sight to behold.

---

Thus, Ruffina, the strategist who had inadvertently pushed Japan to the brink, would now have to devise a plan to ensure Japan's survival. What this would bring to Japan and the demonic races was unknown at this point.

The situation of the demonic races.

They have their own thoughts and considerations.

Perhaps the Third Division, which troubled both enemies and allies, was actually quite competent?

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