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Things had gone through a drastic change.

The ones able to adapt the fastest to this new rule were the humans ―― or namely, the Japanese government. They launched a large-scale information lockdown.

Cooperating with the local governments spread out over the country, they chose the invasion target, avoiding the strong opponents while only challenging those they could defeat.

As an outcome of that, many demon kings perished and the land under humanity’s rule grew explosively.

Humans can cooperate while demon kings can’t. This crucial difference had manifested in the current state of affairs.

Speaking of the situation around the Aster Empire: All the demon kings in the Gifu prefecture were wiped out while we stood around, folding our arms. This turned Gifu into a region fully controlled by humans.

『Milord, invaders have shown up in Niigata once again』

This was a message by Kaede whom I had dispatched to scout the Niigata prefecture which was neighboring the Aster Empire.

“What about their invasion target?”

『Nn, Jouetsu』

“What’s their scale?”

『Probably around 3,000』

“Roger. We’re going to dispatch the defense unit right away. Kaede, continue your reconnaissance duty.”

『Nn, roger』

――Kotetsu, Takaharu, Sarah, Hibiki, take your corps and head over to Jouetsu.

I instructed my subordinates through telepathy. Although I call it defense, Jouetsu doesn’t belong to my domain. I don’t have an alliance with the demon king in Jouetsu either. But, If I leave the city to its own devices…the Niigata prefecture will fall under humanity’s control just like Gifu.

Therefore, I’m dispatching my defense force to Niigata as part of my own future defense.

Several demon kings still exist in Itoigawa which lies on the way, but they’ve been allowing my forces to pass by as they apparently understand our objective.

An alliance…I wouldn’t go that far, but you could call it a relationship based on common interests.

“Takaharu-san and the others headed out to defend in high spirits.”

“Only at times like this, combat freaks like them are a real boon to have around.”

“True. I was too scared to get close when I was watching them.”

Straddling a big motor bike, Takaharu was leading the charge with a ferocious smile on his lips. Behind him followed several trucks loaded with his subordinates.

It made me feel like asking what sort of Mad Max movie this was supposed to be.

“Still, we have to take some sort of countermeasure soon.”

“Hmm, are you going to attack Gifu?”

“Gifu or Itoigawa, huh…? Which of them would be easier to obtain…?”

Comparing the humans of Gifu and the demon kings in Itoigawa…the humans were much, much stronger. Conquering all of the Gifu prefecture would clearly be quite difficult.

But, if I begin an invasion on Itoigawa…the humans will identify this as a good opportunity to launch an invasion on the neighboring Toyama prefecture. Just last week I had to experience that.

As might be expected of demon kings who survived until now, the ones in Itoigawa weren’t such pushovers that I could defeat them in my spare time.

I suspect the humans also plan to coordinate their attacks depending on our side’s movements. Yet, as long as the 『Thirteen Evil Stars』 don’t make any moves from their side, the humans won’t attack either.

Hence, the camp making the first move would be forced into a deadly struggle with the humans while suffering tremendous losses. And since they understood as much, the demon kings, other than the belligerent ones like the 『Thirteen Evil Stars』, chose to watch how the situation would play out…

The humans used that opening to increase the land they owned.

――Yataro, Rina, we need to talk. Please come to my room.

For the sake of freeing myself from the current predicament which was slowly but steadily getting worse, I called Yataro, who was in charge of our defenses, and Rina, who had plenty of invasion experience.

“What’s up? It’s still too early for the Day of Fate, isn’t it?”

“Shion, what’s wrong?”

Rina and Yataro entered the room at the same time.

“I’d like to hear your opinion about our upcoming strategy.”

“Hoooh.”

“I don’t think that my opinion will be of any use, but I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

“First off, a question for you, Yataro. How many forces did you need for the defense when the Gifu humans invaded us last week?”

“Hmm, let me make sure just in case, but are we using the usual criteria for a successful defense?”

“Yep. As always, I won’t ease up the condition for all our leaders to come out alive.”

My current leaders have grown over irreplaceable elites. Not to mention the former demon kings or former humans who I cannot create, but even my created leaders like Chloe have grown to a ridiculous extent, so I don’t even want to imagine how much work and time it’d require to let a new created subordinate reach the same level.

“Let’s see…even though they didn’t reach Rina-jou or Kotetsu-dono, the high levels among the humans――the invaders above level 50――clearly stood out. To defeat such people…it’ll be necessary to sacrifice a lot of subordinates.”

“How many precisely?”

“If we’re going to defeat them with just created subordinates…more than a hundred per opponent will be necessary, I believe. Of course, granted that all their equipment pieces are B-Rank or above.”

“We could defeat them easily if we threw the leaders into the fray, but…”

“If you wish to prevent their death as far as possible, it’d probably be best to send in several at once.”

“So, what’s your conclusion?”

“Hmm…assuming Izayoi and Saburou are set as main members, I’d need five corps in addition, I think.”

The official army corps existing in Aster at the moment are Rina corps, Kotetsu corps, Takaharu corps, Sarah corps, Hibiki corps, Chloe corps, Layla corps, Flora corps, Iron corps, and Red corps. In addition, there’s the Saburou corps, although that one’s unofficial.

“By the way, it’s different if you take command, Shion, but if I do…I need three of the five corps to come from either Kotetsu-dono, Takaharu, Sarah-jou, Hibiki, or Iron.”

Apart from Iron who specializes in protection, Chloe, Layla, Flora, Red, and the other created bloodkin aren’t overly flexible in their thinking. It’s different if I command them since I can directly force them to do my bidding, but in Yataro’s eyes they must be difficult to use.

“If I command them, you think it’s possible to stage a defense with the army corps of Chloe, Layla, Flora, Iron, and Red as well?”

“Ugh…I wonder? If there’s a really strong opponent in the worst case…Izayoi could deal with them….hmm…but…to fulfill the condition…of no one dying, you’d still want to have Kotetsu-dono, Rina-jou, or Takaharu with you, I think.”

Although they’re all leaders, a clear difference in ability exists. Unfortunately, the created subordinates never really exceeded the former demon kings.

Hmm…a superior former demon king as new personnel, huh…? Should I disassemble Team Clowns? But, can anyone other than Saburou handle that group of weirdos?

Having reached this point, my worries only grew even further.