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–––Luvias’ viewpoint

He shouted the message while gasping for air, my body shuddering hearing it. An army of monsters?! I thought we were keeping them at bay so far, but it seems they decided to go all-out for once. Not only that, but they started by invading Strom, one of the weakest countries. I was curious if it was the same group of demons we had fought before or another group. But either way, we lacked information. When I turned around, I saw my entire party looked unsettled.

“Luvias…”
“Well…I guess we can’t just go back home now. I’m sorry everyone, but I’d like to stay in the palace to know more details. Even if it’s another country that is under attack, we might need to send reinforcements. I can’t really decide if we should go ahead on our own to help though, or wait to go together with our army.”
“Alright. It might be time for us to do some work too.”
“Maybe we should tell Lapis as well though? If there are demons with them like the one we fought, we might need some more help.”

I nodded to Diaria’s words. We had been able to hold our ground against one demon in the past, but if there was an army of them it would not go as smoothly. No matter how strong we were now, if each of us had to fight one demon we would die.

“I’ll use a magical device to contact Grom, at least Master will be ready to come here any moment that way.”

The knights lowered their weapons and hurried into the palace, and we also retreated our steps back. If only Stied had never interfered we would already be on our way from Surfour to Strom. The trip from the capital takes a few days, and the longer we took the more casualties would happen. I really could not believe how much of a nuisance my brother could be!

§　§　§

–––Ditoner’s viewpoint

“Ahhh!!”
“Hmph!”

I slew the knight running towards me with a single swing of my sword, kicking his body away from my path. They’re weak. The group of girls I fought before were leagues better than them. I researched who they were after I ran into them, and apparently, they call themselves a hero’s party. The four of them I fought were not particularly strong, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that I could have killed them without issue. The only problem was the fifth member, the b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ that killed everyone who was with me that day. She was different, no matter what I did, I doubt I would ever beat her. Even if I were to pour all my power into Strengthening.

“They’re just running like headless chickens. Ditoner, how did you even get defeated by these people?”
“They were different! I fought against the hero’s party! Don’t go thinking they’re the same as these idiots!”

The woman standing to my side, talking in such an unpleasant way, was Lacus. As far as appearance goes, she is put together in all the right places, but her haughty attitude and the way she belittles anyone else completely negates any charm she could have, driving it into the negatives even. She was a detestable woman. Lacus was currently propping the dead bodies like dolls, happily playing with making a sick freak show.

Trianf had given me a chance to restore my honor, though he did place certain conditions I did not like. First I had to change the place I would attack. At first, I had planned on attacking Bordaule, the country that built that ridiculous Monster’s Lament fence, but on my way there I had run into the hero’s party and lost my entire army, while also getting badly hurt. The target had been moved down south, to a country called Strom. Attacking a different country lowered the chances of running into that hero again, and Strom did not even have their own appointed hero in the first place, so it should be a much easier country to conquer. And the plan was moving along without issue, though…

“I don’t like this. It almost feels like I’m running away from them.”
“But you actually did run away, didn’t you? What was it that you said, that just looking at that Lapis girl or something made you tremble and piss your pants? But no worries now, I’m here to protect you so there’s no need to be scared again.”
“…”

The second condition I did not like was that I had to work with her. Lord Trianf has many trusted servants, but out of them the one with the best fighting sense was her, Lacus. Even though she looks like a s̲l̲u̲t̲, she is one of the strongest demons in the Haunted Lands, only second to Lord Trianf. If I were to fight against her, I would not survive for long.

Most demons are born with the ability to use Strengthening, but the amount of magic power she possesses is on a whole different level from the average, being able to unleash many powerful spells consecutively without working a sweat. Of course, she could also focus all of that power solely on Strengthening, making her a beast at hand-to-hand combat. Knowing her, and then seeing Lapis, I was starting to think that the number of weak-looking people with absurd power was increasing. Or maybe something about having similar names made them be similarly powerful? I still did not like any of that though…

“We’ve merely penetrated the border and destroyed one city, this is still too small to call it a worthwhile victory. Lord Trianf will only be satisfied with our results if we take over the capital of this country at least.”
“I know that much. Hey you! Stop messing around already and get ready to move on!”

I yelled at some of my underlings that had gotten too busy getting their way with the women we had captured. Even if there was no hero in this country, I knew that it was only a matter of time before others showed up. Until then, I would kill as many people as I could here to appease my anger.