Side: Yuki
We have finished our scouting mission and returned to the ruins.
After that initial encounter, we spent about three days in town as planned, dealing with the princess while gathering information from multiple sources.
Now, I am breaking down the results for the demi-humans—well, apparently on this new continent, humans lump everyone who isn't human into the category of "demi-human". It definitely carries a heavily derogatory tone. But setting that aside for now, I reported the facts to the Elder and the others.
"And that's the situation. I didn't get an exact final count, but from what I heard, it's roughly 2,500 troops."
"...2,500, huh?"
Only the Elder spoke up.
The other members participating in the meeting—including Sett—remained dead silent.
"The village has, at most, around seventy people capable of fighting. And your mercenaries number a little over a hundred..."
By the way, I've increased the number of soldiers in our Goblin squad since then. They're useful, after all. In all sorts of ways.
"Even if we include women and children, 200 is the best we can do."
"Even adding a hundred mercenaries, that's only 300. There's no way that's enough, is it...?"
At last, someone acknowledged the disparity in strength that the Elder had laid out and spoke with obvious reluctance.
Hey, where did all that bravery from the demi-humans go?
"Come to think of it, didn't you say you were going to coordinate with the other demi-human tribes? It's been about two weeks since we captured those soldiers, right? What's the response?"
"About that... perhaps they dislike the idea of relying on your help, or perhaps they simply don't believe victory is possible. The replies have not been favorable. Most are just watching from the sidelines."
"Hmm. It's an annoying situation for us, but honestly, their judgment isn't wrong."
After all, nobody wants to risk their lives when they don't even know if victory is possible. On top of that, the ones taking command would be our mercenary band—a group of humans they don't even trust.
"Even so, a few people have gathered here, right?"
"Yes. Even if the official replies from the other villages are lacking, individuals have been arriving."
"Then we have no choice but to somehow get through this current mess with what we have. Once we manage to overcome these overwhelming odds, the attitude of those fence-sitters will probably change."
"That is true."
"The enemy won't be here instantly, either. It's a massive march requiring immense preparation. Moving a huge army is completely different from a casual walk. We still have about a month of time."
Over here, the primary mode of transportation is horses. But because this continent is a constant warzone, horses are highly valuable since they are strictly preserved for active combat.
By the way, I didn't mention this to the Elder, but it turns out this demi-human subjugation mission was completely unplanned for the Jilva Empire. In truth, the raid on the demi-human village was initiated because a high-ranking military official had committed a major blunder in a war against another human nation. To cover up his failure, he intended to either slaughter or capture the demi-humans to present a quick victory.
On this new continent, demi-humans are heavily discriminated against, and there is a concrete reason for it. While I haven't researched the history myself, Luna mentioned that the ambient magic depletion has caused the demi-human birth rate to plunge, drastically reducing their population.
According to her, demi-humans are fundamentally organisms that adapted to use magic far better than humans just to survive. In short, beastmen possess superior physical abilities, while elves excel at magic.
Of course, that doesn't apply to literally every single individual, but it's an accurate description of their racial traits as a whole. Before the magic depletion, they apparently coexisted with humans just like the people on our continent do.
However, once their numbers began to dwindle due to the lack of mana, the beastmen and elven nations could no longer sustain themselves. Or rather, it's more accurate to say that the human-supremacist nations used that weakness to conquer them.
Once the monsters—who served as a common enemy—began to die out from the magic depletion, humans turned their eyes toward the next threat: the demi-humans, who were individually far superior to them. I highly suspect that was the origin of the deep-seated discrimination.
This is just my own theory, based on piecing together the human history I learned from Jessica and the demi-human history told by the Elder.
Essentially, exterminating demi-humans on this continent is viewed with roughly the same casual mindset as hunting monsters. Except, unlike monsters, demi-humans use weapons and advanced strategies, and their individual performance is incredibly high. Succeeding in a subjugation mission earns a commander a decent amount of fame, which is exactly why that noble officer targeted a village he thought was filled only with women.
Too bad for him, we happened to arrive at that exact moment!
But man! Why did we have to show up right at such a troublesome time?
Anyway, as a result, the demi-human subjugation failed miserably. Nearly 300 hundred soldiers brought by that noble ended up captured. That created a massive problem for the Empire: while they were incredibly busy fighting a war against other human nations, they had accidentally provoked the demi-humans in a territory they claimed to own.
Hearing that a tiny force had completely wiped out three hundred men, the higher-ups desperately wanted to avoid an internal rebellion. If an uprising broke out inside their borders, the Jilva Empire's invasion of other countries would slow down dramatically.
That's why they deployed the Wind Knight Princess—one of the Empire's absolute best knights—demanding a swift and total resolution.
She mentioned that she was originally the lead general for the invasion force fighting the neighboring Sacred Kingdom of Enaria, but had to rush back because her rear supply line was threatened. It really is a cleanup mission for her.
That brings us completely up to speed. To get into the finer details, those 2,500 incoming soldiers are the Wind Knight Princess's direct subordinates. Rumor has it their quality is top-class even within the Jilva Empire.
Normally, there would be zero chance of winning.
Well, for normal people, that is.
"A month, is it..."
The Elder muttered, finally letting the weight of my words sink in.
"Yes, a month. If you're going to run, you need to start moving within two weeks or they'll catch up to you. If you wait until the last possible second to make a choice, you won't be able to carry any of your belongings with you."
"If we choose to flee, what will your group do?"
"I've been telling you from the start: we came from the ruins. We have to protect that place, so we have absolutely no intention of moving from here."
Seriously, please just run away.
If you do, we won't have to worry about you dragging us down.
Besides, more reinforcements are arriving from other places, and I highly doubt they're going to follow our instructions anyway.
"Do you truly claim to have come from those ruins?"
"It's not the ruins themselves, but a land beyond them. The world is a vast place. There are still plenty of worlds out there that you know absolutely nothing about, Elder."
"...So your group will not retreat, and intends to stand and face an enemy of 2,500?"
"Yeah."
I'd already contacted our allies.
I've had Steve modify our defense lines accordingly. At this rate, it'd probably be finished within another week. We've set up a defense structure capable of stopping an army ten times that size, let alone 2,500.
To be clear, what I had Steve build wasn't a defense network for the village, but a specialized defense line to handle the 2,500 troops. The defense structure for the ruins—the dungeon itself—is already completely finished.
With the current tactics and combat capabilities of this new continent, the chances of it falling are practically zero. It's a setup so broken you could call it a rule violation. Controlling the inside of a dungeon is my absolute specialty, and before the enemy can even get close to it, they'll be showered in a hail of modern artillery fire. If we somehow lose with that setup, I'm just going to abandon ship and run.
"I understand your intentions perfectly. For now, we would like to hold a private meeting. Is that acceptable?"
"Go right ahead. Honestly, as long as you don't get in our way, you don't even have to report the results back to us."
"What do you mean by 'get in our way'?"
"Your daily life won't change over the next few weeks, but when the battle against the enemy army begins, we have absolutely no intention of coordinating with you from the start. We aren't going to watch the backs of people who look at us with constant suspicion, and dealing with people who drag us down is a massive pain. It's better for both sides to operate completely separate from each other right from the beginning."
"Hmm, I suppose that is true... We cannot possibly keep up with your movements. Trying to force coordination would likely only result in us hindering you."
"Exactly. It would be one thing if we had a full month of rigorous joint training, but from here on out, hot-headed volunteers who sneaked out of their own villages are going to start gathering here. You guys handle your side, and we'll handle ours."
"...There is logic in what you say. In that case, we shall leave the vanguard to you and focus entirely on defending the village. We shall observe the situation. If it looks as though you can win, we will join the fray on our own accord. If it looks as though you are losing, we may leave the enemy to you and flee."
Perfect. Everything is going exactly according to my plan.
"Like I said, do whatever you want. Just don't get in our way. As for running away, it's a bit late to act high and mighty about it anyway. You're the ones who released the prisoners without asking and cut off our easy way out."
"......"
Leaving the silent Elder behind, Ria and I walked out of the meeting area.
"Was that really alright?"
Ria asked, looking a bit worried about the conversation we just had.
"Ria, do you actually think we're going to lose?"
"No, it's not that. It's just that we are technically in a cooperative relationship, so wouldn't it be better to let them save face? If both sides act completely on their own, no matter the outcome... even if we win a massive victory, it won't count as a achievement for their people, will it?"
"That's exactly the point. If they run away because of this, we can capture the Jilva Empire's soldiers and negotiate completely freely on our own terms. Conversely, if they stay behind to defend the village and leave the entire fight to us, they won't be able to hold their heads up high around us ever again—especially after all their past disrespect. And if they try to make up some random excuse to get in our way during the fight, I'll just dispose of them."
"Ah, so that's why you told them it was fine to stay in the back."
"Exactly. It's crucial that they choose to stay in the back on their own. The village men and the outsiders haven't actually seen us in action yet. That's why it's incredibly important to intentionally split the battlefield this time, showing a clear divide between our mercenary band and the villager army."
Yes, the purpose of this setup is to display our strength to the enemy, but it's equally important to show our capabilities to the deeply untrusting villagers and outsiders. If they decide to run away during the battle, rumors will spread that they abandoned us, allowing us to bring the entire dungeon area completely under our control—a total win for us.
On the other hand, if they stay in the back and watch the whole thing, they will witness our true strength. While it might not completely win their hearts, they will at least become outwardly incapable of opposing us because they'll recognize that we are the absolute core of their survival.
My only real concern is that they might rush out from the village defense line while we're fighting just to steal the credit. But I've already anticipated that and am designing the battlefield specifically to prevent it. If the villagers actually had the capability to break through my setup, demi-humans wouldn't be treated like garbage on this continent in the first place.
"But it will take a month for them to arrive... what should we do until then?"
"Oh, you and the others are going to be plenty busy, Ria. We still have to run the magic experiments."
Just because the enemy isn't here yet doesn't mean we have time to slack off. Aside from the magic research, we also need to continuously gather information by making regular trips back to the city of Feil. Since we have a car over here, the trip only takes about a single day.
"Anyway, our time is limited. Let's focus on doing what we can. We still have things to manage back in Weed, so having a full month of prep time is honestly a blessing."
"That's true. It'll give us more time to keep an eye on the Roumel invasion force around the former Demon King's capital."
Now then...
I wonder just how hard that Wind Princess is going to fight.
Steve and the guys are already incredibly fired up since it's been a while since their last large-scale battle, so she'd better give it her best shot.
