Chapter 325
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Chapter 325: Established Logic
A strategy to break through the imminent, endless human invasions…huh?
The most simple solution would be to call back our invasion teams, who can rightfully be described as Aster’s strongest combat forces. But, if I choose this option…I’d end up with absolutely no benefit from the Demon King Carnival, despite being its initiator. It’s an option I want to avoid as much as possible.
The ideal way to resolve this is for Rina and the others to subjugate the demon kings of Itoigawa City, causing the pseudo-peace to kick in. This would allow us to get our defenses in order after all the humans have been temporarily kicked out of my Domain.
Two demon kings exist in the city. One is a Devil Demon King while the other is an Oni Demon King. The Devil Demon King is level 21 and rules over 42 domains. The Oni Demon King has a level of 19 and rules over 25 domains.
Five days have passed since the beginning of the Chaos Festival――or in other words, the start of the invasion by Rina’s team. As for their progress, Takaharu’s corps has invaded the deepest, seeing how he and his troops are currently on the 18th floor.
At present we’re equally invading both demon kings to avoid one of them profiting from the other having to fight us, but if we focused our invasion on the Oni Demon King’s Domain, I wonder how long it would take to destroy him?
I have deployed five corps for the invasion. Assuming the enemy forces dwindling with each passing day…I think it’ll take around 20 to 30 days.
Now then, could we endure a fierce onslaught by the humans for 20 to 30 days?
Even if everything went well, for argument’s sake, we would only gain less than half of Itoigawa City. And on top of that…the assets lost by us would be enormous.
Even though I had initially planned to level up my subordinates through a limited defense while focusing my attention on taking Itoigawa City…why did it turn out like this now?
“Yataro! Kanon! Also, Mao! Do you have some sort of good plan for our defense?”
I addressed the three who were more or less in charge of strategies.
“It’s just as I said earlier, if you want me to succeed with the defense under the conditions you set ―― I think you need to call back half of the invasion teams.”
“Yeees! If you’re going to return half of the invasion force, Strategist Kanon suggests making it Takaharu, Hibiki, and Chloe’s corps. The reason would be――”
“If you assign the corps under the former humans Rina and Kotetsu to defense, it’d come with the danger that this act would be associated with the atrocities of the Sadist King, right?”
Once I interrupt Kanon who was talking while looking all high and mighty, she complained, “U-Uuhh…that’s a foul…stealing my words halfway is unfair…,” with tears in her eyes.
“And, what’s your take on this, Mao?”
“――! Ah! Right, right! Who is this person?”
As soon as I asked Mao for her opinion, Kanon pointed at her with an attitude as if her crocodile’s tears never happened.
“A candidate for becoming Aster’s strategies.”
“――Wh-!?”
“Eh? S-Someone like m-m…s-such a grave d-duty…i-i-impossible…”
Kanon was frozen with an expression of shock on her face while Mao was looking downwards, crying.
“Mao, have you been well? It looks like you drew Shion’s interest without my knowledge.”
“Y-Yes! I-I-I’m most h-humbled by y-your c-c-consideration!”
Mao bowed with stiff movements towards Yataro.
“Yataro, did you know Mao beforehand?”
“Well, I was the one referring her to Saburou.”
“Hoh? Shouldn’t you have informed me first, if you found an outstanding talent?”
“Ho ho ho, don’t get so angry. I felt like Mao was excellent, but she also fears strangers… When I talked to her, I sensed that she’d be better suited for Saburou’s team.”
Even when I added some thorns to my words, Yataro disregarded my stab at him with an easygoing attitude, probably owed to his years of experience.
“In short, you’re saying you placed her in the position suited to her without regards to hierarchical structures?”
“It would have been fine to refer her to you as well, but…if she hadn’t been able to exhibit even 10 percent of her true ability…that in itself would have been troublesome as well, right?”
I had entrusted Yataro with the greater part of the personnel selection and assignment when it came to combat-related matters, whereas Mrs. Tamura was doing the same as Yataro, but for the non-combatants. When it comes to a certain part, Yataro goes insane to the extent that you can’t really justify it, but…when it comes to everything else, he’s a subordinate well worth my trust as he possesses excellent abilities and judgment. It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s one of the reasons for the Aster Empire to have developed up to such a degree…if you exclude a certain flaw of his, that is.
So, if this is Yataro’s view of Mao, then it must be true.
“Got it. So, what’s your opinion, Mao?”
“Y-Yes… If you, Shion-sama, graciously prioritize the lives of special subordinates like u-us and the leaders like Commander-in-Chief…I think…you should first deploy our Team J to domains with few enemy forces…”
“Go on.”
“O-Okay. If you do that…we will annihilate the enemy quickly and the humans’ morale will drop significantly…I believe.”
“What should we do about the domains that are being invaded by Shizuoka’s humans who have many combat forces…no, an unshakable conviction?”
“T-Those place…should stall for time by putting subordinates with a high cost-to-performance ratio together…it would be best to wait for the return of the leaders who are currently out to invade other lands…I think.”
I had been pinning my hopes on Mao, partly because she’s a newcomer here, but I wasn’t provided a solution exceeding my expectations.
Should I have Takaharu and the others come back, just as Kanon and Yataro said?
If I were to end up losing domains after having started this Chaos Festival…it’d be nothing but stupid. It won’t be much of a problem in regards to the many Demon Kings and humans who don’t know that I was the initiator of this Chaos Festival, but what will the other members of the Zodiac in the Upper Demon King Lounge thread think?
Obviously they’ll see me as a fool. They might even label me as uncool. Or incompetent. It’s possible that a drastic decrease of my rating among them might lead to disadvantages in the future.
In that case, I should avoid a foolish decision like losing.
But, would that much be enough?
――No!
My evaluation might drop if I don’t achieve a certain level of accomplishments. In the first place, what was the point of me having started this Chaos Festival?
――It was intended to break down the deteriorating situation.
Attack…keep attacking…those lazing around, those overcome by fear, and the weak will be swallowed. That’s the established logic of this world.
I continued to ponder how to allow for the Aster Empire to continue and prosper.
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