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Thanks to the gracious cooperation of Governor Aylia, our troops were able to get some decent sleep that night without too much trouble. Of course, we still posted guards in shifts and remained alert for any suspicious activity.
By the next morning, Lüenheit seemed to have regained a fair amount of calm.

“It looks like a few people took advantage of the confusion last night to commit theft.”

A young werewolf from my unit came to report in my room. After seeing how I handled the Garne brothers yesterday, his gaze was oddly intense—like he was staring at a hero.

“What should we do? Execute them as an example?”

If he were in his werewolf form, his tail would’ve been wagging like crazy. He was like a puppy begging to play ball. But I shook my head.

“We’re soldiers, not police.”
“Pawlice?”

He tilted his head curiously, so I gave a simple explanation.

“Ah, I mean, let the humans handle public safety. Punish them according to Lüenheit’s laws. What are the local laws on theft?”

Just then, a human secretary who had been sharing the room quickly replied:

“For theft or destruction, forced labor is the punishment unless equal restitution is made. If they can’t return the stolen goods, they must pay double the value.”
“There you have it. Put them to work in the fields until they earn enough for restitution.”
“Field work, sir?”
“Our population increased by 256 people yesterday, remember.”

That included both the dogfolk and werewolf troops. Requisitioning food would be easy—but doing so excessively would breed resentment. And food grudges are scary.

Even after that, more and more annoying problems kept being brought to me.

“The traveling merchants caught in the battle are petitioning to leave the city to resume business.”
“According to the dogfolk unit’s survey, the sewer under the city wall is deteriorating.”
“The Garne brothers are complaining they want more meat.”

I had no choice but to deal with them all one after another.

“No one’s allowed to enter or leave right now. Buy the merchants’ goods at a small markup and tell them to stay at an inn for a while.”
This expense… Well, guess I’ll have to ask Aylia. Another debt I’ll owe her…

“As for the sewer under the city wall—it’s dangerous to leave it as is. Start repairs immediately. There’s also a risk of enemy infiltration through the sewers, so make sure defensive measures are included.”
With only 200 dogfolk, we couldn’t assign too many to large-scale construction. With a three-shift rotation, we only had about 60 people per shift. This was going to be tough.

“Increase the Garne brothers’ workload. As compensation, give them chicken meat. If they want to eat, they can work.”

Before I knew it, it was nearly noon—I hadn’t even had time for breakfast.
I stood up and stretched with a big yawn.

“Phew…”
“You look tired, don’t you?”

A cute voice spoke.
Startled, I turned around—and found a tiny girl floating in midair behind me. She wore a pointed hat and a black cape.
I immediately dropped to one knee.

“Welcome, Division Commander Gomoviroa.”
“Call me Movi-chan, will you?”

The head of the Demon Lord’s 3rd Division, Great Sage Gomoviroa, puffed out her cheeks in a sulky expression. Like a child.
But she was in fact the most powerful mage in the Demon Lord’s army—and though technically human, she served as one of the Demon Lord’s closest aides.
She was also my mentor in magic.

“‘Movi-chan’ is a bit much. At least let me call you Master.”
“You’re so stiff, pup.”

Master Gomoviroa sighed, then broke into a cheerful smile.

“Well, no matter. Looks like you managed the Lüenheit operation nicely.”
“Thanks to your teachings, Master. By the way…”

If Master was here, her personal guard unit must’ve come too. That’s what I was hoping for.
Sure enough, she smiled brightly.

“You must’ve missed my Spearbone Corps. I’ve had all 2,000 of them join up with your dogfolk unit.”
“You’re amazing, Master.”

Master specialized in necromancy. The skeleton soldiers she created were veteran warriors, fully under her control.

With 2,000 skeleton spearmen, we could easily match several thousand human soldiers—and they didn’t need food, either.
Master let out a sigh.

“You’re thinking something dumb again, are you not? ‘Skeletons don’t eat, so they’re super easy to maintain,’ is it?”
“More or less.”
“Have you not considered how much effort it takes to make them? Each one is crafted with care and love.”
“But you can make 100 in a day if you want.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”

Though Master was a magic expert, she wasn’t exactly a strategist—so she didn’t really understand how hard this stuff was.

“Honestly, you could just requisition food from the city supply. Humans do it too, don’t they?”
“I don’t like doing that. It breeds resentment.”
“You invade and still don’t want to be hated? How awfully selfish.”

She chuckled mischievously. Though once human, her mind now worked like a demon’s.
If she wanted to, she could atomize the entire governor’s mansion with a flick of her finger. Flattening the entire city of Lüenheit would take her less than half a day. She wasn’t human anymore.

That said, because she used to be human, she was still one of the more moderate members of the Demon Lord’s army.

“Well, I took you as my apprentice precisely because of that kindness. I don’t teach magic to bloodthirsty types.”
“I’m honored, Master.”

I still remembered the conversation from when I first sought her out.

‘You wish to be a mage? You’re a werewolf, are you not?’
‘Yeah… I’m not really strong, but I want to be.’
‘To what end?’
“To protect my village—and maybe earn some respect from my comrades.’
‘Pretty honest, aren’t you… Very well. Let’s see if you’ve got any magical talent.’
‘Yes! Thank you!’
‘If you don’t, give up and go ho— Hey, are you even listening?’

Master seemed to be recalling the same memory and smiled at me wistfully.

“I always believed werewolves could use magic in theory—but I never imagined it would go this far. Though, you’ve got zero necromancy talent.”
“Well, I am a werewolf.”

The magic I could use was only useful for enhancing my physical strength. My magic power could only flow inward.
To use a term from my past life, I’d be a “Buffer.” I could also use a bit of healing magic.
Even with limited magical ability, I’d become the strongest werewolf around. And since werewolves are already powerful, that made me one of the top warriors among demonkind. Even if I was just a vice division commander.

“By the way, Master, I wasn’t informed you’d be coming here.”

When I last saw her at the Demon Lord’s fortress, she was supposed to be stationed there. The 2nd and 3rd Divisions were conquering multiple cities simultaneously, and the division commanders were only meant to respond when reinforcements were needed.

Master chuckled and answered:

“Well, didn’t it look like your side needed help the most? My other apprentices had plenty of troops, they had no need for me.”
“I… see.”

Maybe I had pushed too hard with too few forces. Other vice commanders were leading around 1,000 soldiers each.

I puffed out my chest, trying to maintain some pride.

“Come on, I captured the city with a minimum force. Give me some credit. And we didn’t suffer a single casualty—not one!”
“I’ll admit, you used the werewolves’ stealth to the fullest. But were you not trembling last night, afraid of an uprising?”
“…How do you know that?”
“I know you like the back of my hand.”

Then the Great Sage Gomoviroa floated down and plopped herself onto my shoulder.

“Do you have someone who can take over your duties for a while?”
“Yes, actually. I’ve delegated part of my command to a werewolf named Fern, the one at the city gate. Have you met her?”
“Ah, that one’s just your type, isn’t she?”
“…How do you know that?”
“I know your taste like the back of my hand.”

Master flashed a mischievous, childlike grin.

“Well then, come with me for a bit. We need to report to His Majesty, the Demon Lord.”
“I’m coming too?”

It was unusual for someone of my rank to report directly to the Demon Lord. That was the division commander’s job. But Master shook her head.

“His Majesty wants to hear directly from the one who led the operation. No arguments—just come.”

With that, she began chanting a spell in her sweet, melodic voice.
The next moment, my vision warped and twisted.

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