Side: Seraria
"Now then, which route would be best for our elite force to take from Weed to the Demon King's castle?"
"Well, um... do you have a map?"
We ask for information from Liliana, with Leia and Zargis taking the lead.
At present, only my husband and our close circle are gathered, deciding on the route.
"Here, a map."
At Liliana's request... my husband hands over a map he made himself.
It's an incredibly precise rendering, created by transferring terrain data he's grasped through the dungeon onto a computer.
A map with an absurd level of accuracy for this world.
"Eh...?"
Liliana is left speechless.
In our continent, maps are usually just rough sketches showing relative positions, rivers, forests, and the like.
Just by looking at Liliana's expression, it's obvious how valuable something like this would be to rulers or merchants... This is practically cheating.
As expected of my husband from another world. He is my pride and joy.
"For now, everyone. I made this as accurately as possible based on all the data we've gathered so far. Since we don't know the place names, I'd like you to teach us while showing the routes. Is that alright?"
He's already completed a map covering nearly all of the three nations and the central Demon Mountain where the demon race resides.
...This husband of mine apparently went around acquiring land behind our backs just to make this.
When did he do it? After Weed passed 10,000 residents, about three months ago? No, the measurements started after 10,000, so there was DP before too, but at 10,000 DP per hour, 240,000 per day. Over three months, that's 90 days. At a minimum, that's 21.6 million DP. They've saved some, but still, the usable DP is enormous.
100 DP per 1 square kilometer.
Maintenance cost: 10 DP per 1 square kilometer per year.
That's the cost to put land under dungeon control. Considering the maintenance, it's a bit much, but he temporarily seized the land just to produce the map. His ideas are always so eccentric. But looking at the result, there's no better way to spend it.
Detailed maps are treated as top-secret on this continent. Knowing the terrain, the location of resources, and the positions of villages and towns—if an enemy knows all this, the damage from an attack is catastrophic. A detailed map makes a place incredibly hard to defend. Conversely, for an army, the map's value is immeasurable for finding advantageous spots for an ambush or bypass routes.
"Liliana, calm down. This is just one aspect of the dungeon's... Weed's power."
"T-This level of detail is just one aspect...? A Dungeon Master truly is like a natural disaster..."
She's right.
If used properly, this power is overwhelming... however, almost no one can. In fact, most of them just go berserk and then Luna finishes them off.
I heard from Derieu's brother that before summoning my husband, Luna had been granting Dungeon Master powers to promising individuals in search of a way to save the continent, but every single one had failed. Derieu's brother was a failure too, unfortunately. He had spent two hundred years shut away in a single dungeon.
Compared to that, my husband was magnificent. In just about eight months, he had united the three kingdoms and was now one step away from delivering the final blow to the Demon King. I couldn't publicly say he was the Dungeon Master for his own safety, but I still felt incredibly proud.
Tonight, I'll be very gentle with him in bed... or rather, in the futon.
"A-Anyway... this is Weed, correct?"
"Yeah, and here is the royal capital of Roshure, this is Rithea, and over here is Gartz."
My husband pointed them out.
Place names and town names were already written in the areas he knew. Meanwhile, the other wives were filling in names for the unnamed villages and towns on a separate map. Once we merge the corrections later, it will be an incredibly accurate map. This is something we can absolutely never show to other nations.
"In that case, this structure must be the Demon King's castle. Actually, we call it Raiet Castle."
At the center of Demon Mountain lies a large structure resembling a castle.
Surrounding it are likely demon residences.
"So that really is the Demon King's castle... then the route starts here."
My husband pointed to the path closest to Weed.
"Y-You can even tell that much?"
"Well, the entrance to the route and a certain amount of the path seem to be camouflaged, but the trail continues."
I see. Looking closely, the routes stretching from the Demon King's castle toward the various nations disappear halfway. From our perspective on the other side, it looks like the road simply doesn't exist. But if he's found it, there's no problem.
"Still... looking at this, it's a real headache."
My husband frowned at the map... What's the issue?
Looking at the map, there are clearly only four main routes extending from the castle to the four nations. There are smaller trails, but those likely lead to farmland or tiny hamlets; they hit building clusters and stop.
"Hey, what's the problem?" Riel asked, tilting her head.
"Only four roads. That means the enemy has restricted the routes an army can take. There's definitely a defensive force at the gateway from Weed—or rather, from Roshure. Actually, there are probably defenses on every road. After all, they only have four spots they need to guard."
"Oh, I see... yeah, even I get it. They reduced the number of roads to make defense easier, right, Liliana?"
"...Yes, it's as Yuki-san says. The route to Roshure is blocked by a checkpoint manned by ten thousand monsters. That's just the number led by the soldiers at the gate. There are also countless wild monsters along the way."
"Ugh, that's seriously bad. Isn't this impossible? No matter how elite the force is, I don't think they can hold out."
Riel is right.
Even elite troops would struggle.
If we had time, we could gather numbers, but we must act before Roumel wipes out the Demon King's army—otherwise the demon race will be exterminated. Even if we take the castle ourselves, it won't earn trust unless regular armies enter it too.
"How many troops are each nation mobilizing for this campaign?"
I looked toward Rurua and Sheila.
"Rithea is on alert for a demon advance, so only about 5,000 came this time. Between the civil unrest and the ongoing chaos, things are still quite messy there."
"Gartz is also on guard against the demons, and with the Rankus situation, we only have about 4,000. However, Lowelle-oneesama is taking command, so I don't think they'll fall behind. Oh, and Higil-oniisama is there too."
Poor Higir, added as an afterthought.
"As for Rshure, because of Loire, our elites have dropped significantly. We have about 3,000."
That damn Loire—even in death, he's still a drag on us.
As I furrowed my brow, Tori gave the report for Weed.
"From Weed... I'm sorry. 300 of our monsters are taken up with the Rankus situation, and Seraria's direct unit is assisting and commanding Kiyu-kun. Therefore, the most we can send from Weed is about 200 monsters. We have to keep some back for public order and defense."
"And 10% of that number are supply corps."
"Exactly. We absolutely need a unit to transport food and supplies. With a total of 12,000 people gathered in Weed—exceeding the town's population—securing food is taking up a lot of manpower."
"That's right. We need the elites to depart as soon as possible, or it will strain the lives of Weed's citizens."
While the government provides wages, other economic activities are currently at a standstill. Blacksmithing is scaled back, farming is stalled, and the stock of goods produced via DP is dwindling. It's creating all sorts of problems.
"That said, if we advance like this, we'll just clash head-on with prepared defenses..."
"It might be wishful thinking, but the man who stole the Demon King's seat from me—Dekira—probably doesn't believe I could obtain reinforcements from humans. The enemies who chased me were also captured by Weed."
They're being careless. But is there no way to take down those defenses without being noticed...?
"...Hey, this might be off-topic, but roughly how many days would an army take on this route?"
"Let's see... When I fled, I was alone and cut through pathless forests... it took me about 15 days."
"In that case, an army would take about twice that."
One month.
That was cutting it very close.
Even if Roumel's invasion force turned back, it would take a month. If Roumel decided to pursue and try to take the Demon King's head, they would still need time to reorganize and gather supplies for another expedition.
"So, Dear, why did you ask that?"
"Well, if it's going to take that long, I've got a great idea."
My husband's eyes were twinkling.
...He's definitely come up with something outrageous again.
I found myself remembering the pitfalls that once completely toyed with the elites of Roshure.
