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After our previous discussion, my horizons had expanded significantly. Unfortunately, after another round of mulling, I realised that her suggestion wasn’t workable either.

After all, if the Warhorses didn’t need a fixed habitat, then even if I surrounded their main base, they could just run away again! It wasn’t like my golems could stop all of them, and if I sent them after the escapees, there was no way they would ever catch up.

Just as I started brooding again, Mo Na came flying over with Cinderel in tow. Behind them, there were the two Hellhounds who I had tasked with tallying the aftermath, Sinmosa and Sasani.

“Other than some of the golems experiencing some chips in their outer exoskeletons, there were no casualties amongst the golems.” Sinmosa started reporting. “We killed a total of 47 Warhorses and captured 67 live ones. They are all injured, some more than others.” Finally, she got to the biggest question at hand. “So what should we do with the captives?”

“The captives, huh…”

‘Should I use them as hostages to force a Nightmare Steed Horn out of those Nightmare Steeds? 67 Warhorses isn’t a small number, after all. But that would be pretty despicable of me… Am I really going to be a person that I despise just to achieve my goals?’

‘But if I don’t do it, what happens to the human realm? Lucifer’s clone did say that he wanted to launch an invasion of the human realm, and my end goal is to gather enough strength to be able to protect myself. As for which side of the fence to be on, that’s a question for later.’

‘So am I really going to give up on this golden opportunity just for some so-called principles?’

‘Blast it…I just can’t do it… and thinking back on it, there should be a better way of communicating what I really want to those Warhorses, one that better served my interests. At the end of the day, my goal is not only to get that horn, but also to get their whole clan to serve me. With an upcoming apocalyptic battle to prepare for, every bit of help counts. As long as there’s a chance, I shouldn’t give up on the opportunity for an amicable solution.’

‘I should just let these horses go; they can be proof of my goodwill, even though relations are already tense right now. Well, as long as I show enough sincerity and strength to back it up, I should have a good chance of recruiting these horses.’

‘So now the question is how am I going to force them into a corner? They are rather adept at running. Hmmm… Bah. I’ll just let the horses go first, subjugating their clan can come later.’

“About those captives… let them go.”

“Let them go?” Sinmosa was stunned. “Are you sure?”

While she might have thought that things had already gone past the stage of no return between us and the Warhorses, I begged to differ. Even if there were some unfortunate casualties in our clashes, those were all because they first attacked Jeerah. Strictly speaking, I was merely defending myself.

As for the fact that Jeerah and I had barely just met… the details really didn’t matter!

“I’m sure of it.” I affirmed my prior statement, using my stern voice to show her that I was dead serious about this course of action. “My goal is to subjugate them. An all-out war would be the worst case scenario right now. Definitely not something we should resort to unless there was no other choice. Definitely.”

“But those Warhorses are just too fast. Those golems of yours can’t even catch up to them…” Sinmosa shook all three of her canine heads and pointed out the key problem in my plans. “Even if you can summon that giant golem to defeat those three Nightmare Steeds, they’re still too fast for your golems to catch up. They could always just run.”

And there it was…

“That’s why we need some way to restrain them.” I tapped my forehead in an annoyed fashion. “I’ll admit, there’s a ton of problems with our current plans. Other than those golems, I really have nothing else to offer…”

“Mama, how about those kitties?” It was at that moment that Mo Na came flying onto my shoulders and plopped herself squarely down on my shoulders. “Those black kitties are pretty good at fighting, and they’re quick too. They shouldn’t be that much slower than those big horsies.”

Meisian should have complete authority over the Purgatory Shadowcats, now that she was their cat king. And I did help her a lot in her struggle for the crown. Her dear hubby, Anmi, was also sent to her only because of my trickery. No matter how one looked at it, she owed me a big favor.

She should help if I asked.

Still, that would mean that this was now a conflict between their races. Should I fail to subjugate the Warhorses and let them escape, the Warhorses might end up taking revenge against them in the future.

Frankly speaking, the battle strength of those Purgatory Shadowcats… it wasn’t that I was being picky or anything, but were those erratic cats who probably couldn’t even hold a proper thought for long even capable of fighting? What with their nonsensical civil wars…what the heck was the point of even having a fish eating contest? Those horses definitely wouldn’t be interested in such childish games.

“Baby, are you sure those cats are even dependable?”

Really, it wasn’t my fault for doubting them; who told them to all be a bunch of loonies?

“Mama, there’s still those big doggies if you don’t want to ask the kitties.” As she said that, she wrapped her left hand around my head while pointing towards Sinmosa. “We can just get both the big doggies and small kitties to help us beat up the horsies.”

“…”

“I’m sure Cinderel is willing to help, right?”

“Woof!” Cinderel happily barked in agreement, though I wasn’t too sure if she even knew what Mo Na was talking about…

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.