Chapter 308: Order of Deployments

Deon waited for Lirinel and finished drafting the orders. The troop deployments were mostly settled in his mind, so his pen moved without hesitation.

‘Since the 1st Corps, a significant force, has gone to the Empire, sending the remaining 10th and 12th Corps should be enough for the Empire without overdoing it,’ he thought.

Considering Jaykar, Derniban, and Lirinel facing other legion commanders, the Commander of the 7th Corps is quite strong, almost like a madman. It would be best to send him to the Empire as well, to be Jaykar’s opponent.

Small letters were scribbled on a spare piece of paperwork.

[Empire – 1st Corps, 7th Corps, 10th Corps, 12th Corps]

The 9th Corps is already stationed in Sanguo, and I promised Derniban I’d send forces there, so adding the 5th Corps to this side would be appropriate. It’s hard to gauge how much strength Derniban will expend fighting the Commander of the 9th Corps, so to be safe, adding the 8th Corps, which is without a legion commander, would be reasonable.

‘Even if the Commander of the 9th Corps is injured, he’s still not someone to underestimate. It’ll be a tough fight. There’s no need to overfill Sanguo, which isn’t even a major power, with legion commanders,’ he reasoned.

Now, for the remaining slots…

Scribble, scribble. The pen moved busily.

[Empire – 1st Corps, 7th Corps, 10th Corps, 12th Corps]

[Sanguo – 5th Corps, 8th Corps, 9th Corps]

[Rweche – 3rd Corps, 4th Corps]

After writing down part of the 3rd Corps and the 4th Corps, which were sent to Rweche as advance units, three slots remained. The 2nd Corps, the 6th Corps, and… the 11th Corps.

Jaykar and Derniban are already in the Empire and Sanguo respectively, so I plan to send Lirinel to Rweche. She’ll listen to me unconditionally, so it’s fine to write her down in advance.

With the sound of the pen scratching across the paper, the 11th Corps was added to Rweche.

‘Now that it’s like this, it would be fair to just put one of the remaining legions in Sanguo and Rweche each…’

The 2nd Corps, and the 6th Corps.

The 6th Corps is manageable, but the 2nd Corps is truly troublesome. Especially its commander, Develania, who is overwhelmingly more difficult to deal with compared to other legion commanders.

Which side would be better to send her to? His red gaze seemed to burn through the paper as he stared intently.

‘…If we’re looking at troop strength alone, the 2nd Corps is relatively weak, and the forces sent to Sanguo are currently stronger, so sending her there would balance things out…’

But if we consider the ‘legion commander’ rather than the ‘legion,’ it’s the opposite.

Because the Commander of the 3rd Corps is missing, Sanguo’s side is overwhelmingly superior in terms of ‘legion commander’ quality. However, as I thought earlier, regardless of the legion’s martial prowess, the Commander of the 2nd Corps is a very tricky opponent. I can’t burden Derniban, who will already be fully occupied with the Commander of the 9th Corps, with a notoriously troublesome legion commander who will only add to his worries.

‘Otherwise, he might end up failing to achieve anything and just die.’

Killing the Commander of the 9th Corps, or killing other demons including legion commanders—if he fails at everything and dies, it would be a huge loss.

‘Looking at just the legion commanders, Rweche’s side, which only has the Commander of the 4th Corps, is the easiest to handle, so adding the Commander of the 2nd Corps shouldn’t be a problem.’

I believe Lirinel will handle it.

With that, a decision was made. He moved his pen and inscribed the numbers of each legion into the empty slots.

[Empire – 1st Corps, 7th Corps, 10th Corps, 12th Corps]

[Sanguo – 5th Corps, 8th Corps, 9th Corps, 6th Corps]

[Rweche – 3rd Corps, 4th Corps, 11th Corps, 2nd Corps]

Hmm, sending them like this should work.

As he was finalizing the orders based on this, tap-tap—a knock sounded from the windowsill. He looked up and saw Lirinel smiling brightly outside the window, as if asking for permission to enter.

‘……’

Deon stared at her quietly for a moment, then nodded slightly.

Understanding his permission, she quickly came inside. As soon as Deon was no longer alone, she closed the window he had opened and fixed her clear eyes on him.

“I heard you were calling for me.”

“…Yes.”

His mouth felt dry.

Could it be because he felt unwell from the terrible stench of blood? Deon quietly raised his hand and subtly covered his nose and mouth. Regardless, his mouth dutifully spoke of his business.

A deeper voice came out.

“The time has come.”

“…Ah.”

It’s time to die, she realized.

Recalling their conversation and promise from a while ago, Lirinel widened her eyes for a moment, then smiled brightly.

“This war is the stage, then.”

“That’s right.”

As if the speaker and listener had switched roles, unlike her who wore a carefree smile, Deon’s complexion grew paler as they continued talking. As if to ease his tension, Lirinel spoke in a bubbly voice.

“Judging by your plans, you seem to want something more than just my death. In that case, it might be better not to place me in the same location as the mad… Lofty Knights.”

“…Why?”

“You know, don’t you? It doesn’t matter where I go, but to maximize efficiency, it’s better this way.”

It would be a loss to tie up a useful pawn like magic.

Deon paused at her added remark.

“…You knew.”

“I am the most skilled in using magic in Demon King’s castle, except for you, Lord Demon King, of course.”

“Right…”

Deon wiped his face with a dry sigh.

The epaulets attached to the shoulders of the mad dogs contain charms. The unexpected attack of remaining silent even while knowing this fact stung quite a bit.

He paused his breath for a moment, then, as if deciding not to hesitate any longer, he continued to speak, words tumbling out.

“I’m sending you to Rweche. Once you conquer the city there…”

Kill all the other demons, and then die.

Don’t show me your dying sight, and don’t show me you running towards me. Just quietly finish your role and disappear unnoticed.

I don’t want you to be the cause of my agitation.

“……”

“…Answer?”

At his sharp question demanding an answer, Lirinel, who had been staring at Deon with eyes so clear they seemed to dissect him, nodded with a bright smile.

“Leave it to me.”

It was a truly pure smile.

And a few days later.

Orders were delivered to the legion commanders.

It was the moment when a large-scale expedition, rare even in the Demon King’s castle’s history, was about to unfold.

***

The day the rear guard departed, following the commander-in-chief’s orders.

Lirinel, having finished all preparations, sat down in her seat for a moment instead of leaving immediately, and stroked Deon’s portrait. The man in the frame was an exact replica of the real Deon, differing only in hair length.

‘…Lord Demon King said he painted it himself.’

It was a gift she had received from someone now dead and gone from this world.

She had been so happy and grateful that she had even said such things.

[If you need help in the future, feel free to ask! I’ll help you as much as I can!]

…If I had known this would happen, I should have been nicer to him.

There had been no requests for help after that. Lirinel wasn’t the kind of demon to be nosy enough to worry even without requests.

She felt vaguely uneasy, as if she had received a great gift and then completely forgotten about it.

‘How hard must it have been for a mere human to survive in Demon King’s castle?’

A bitter smile floated to her lips.

Only for a moment, though. Lirinel lightly kissed the forehead of the person in the portrait and stood up from her seat. There was still a voice in a corner of her heart that yearned for life, but it wasn’t at an unbearable level.

‘My desire shouldn’t be mixed in with caring for my opponent.’

I was happy because of you, Sir Deon.

Creating the Demon Church, eating pretty cookies, the warmth that subtly touched me was sweet, and just looking at his face made me happy. These were things I would have never experienced in my entire life if it weren’t for him, so now it must be Sir Deon’s turn to be happy.

So, I won’t defile this sentiment with the excuse of love for my personal desires. If that’s what he wants, I will do it without question, whatever it is.

She snapped her fingers. Immediately, the portrait caught fire, and the painting began to melt down, using the wooden frame as kindling.

It’s magic that only burns what’s targeted, so the fire won’t spread. Just leaving like this is enough.

Nevertheless, Lirinel, as if possessed, stared at the flames for a long time until she heard voices from outside the door, urging her to hurry, and finally turned her body.

…Someone asked in her heart.

‘Don’t you want to live?’

Instead of answering, Lirinel simply murmured a phrase.

Beautiful. Strong. And.

‘…For my kind god.’

***

Deon prepared for the expedition alone.

Even if he rushed through the tasks, there was inevitably leftover time. During that time, he had to face annoying individuals like the Demon King, who taught him shieldmanship, or Develania, who brought information, which caused considerable mental fatigue. Nevertheless, he had no one to take care of him, so he had to force his unwilling body to move.

External preparations were entrusted to his adjutant, Ed, so he had to take care of his personal needs himself. Even so, Deon, while fiddling with the clothes that Ed had tidied up for him, fell into thought and habitually opened his mouth.

“Dan, this time, I’ll wear ‘that’ epaulet. Where’s my epaulet that I told you to put a charm in before…”

Ah.

The lips that had spoken the name of someone who wouldn’t answer quickly closed.

It was an unconscious call. Dan was the one who first obtained the charm, and Dan was the one who received the order to put it in the epaulet.

“……”

After a moment of silence, Deon turned his body and began searching through the wardrobe himself.

Just as he expected, it wasn’t hidden in a difficult place. The epaulet, placed separately next to the spare items as if it were one of them, caught his eye.

Of course, there’s a possibility it might not be the right one, but the Hero’s senses were telling him it was probably correct.

He held the epaulet and pondered for a moment.

‘It’s impossible to put it on myself now that I’ve already put on my clothes…’

He wasn’t confident in putting it on properly himself.

‘Should I just go find the mad dogs and ask them to do it?’

He would have to listen to their persistent pleas and nagging until the very end… but it would be better than letting a demon’s hand touch the epaulet.

Deon stared intently at the epaulet and roughly made a decision, turning his head at that moment.

“Shall I do it for you?”

A cheerful voice was heard.

At the end of his hastily moved gaze, he saw the Demon King leaning against the windowsill, his upper body resting there, smiling brightly as if he had been there all along.

“Since I left the window open, now even dogs and cows…”

“Huh?”

“No, nothing.”

He swallowed back the half-spoken true feelings and asked with a sullen face.

“Did you just come in through the window?”

“Isn’t it better than coming to find you openly and bothering you? This way, less attention will be drawn.”

“……”

“More importantly, this looks hard to put on by yourself… Shall I help you?”

“I’m fine—”

Before he could even finish speaking, the Demon King closed the distance in quick strides, grabbed the epaulet that was in his hand, and paused—only moving his pupils to look at Deon. Just for a moment, then he nonchalantly touched the epaulet as if nothing had happened and attached it to Deon’s shoulder.

It was a flawless and neat movement without even a hint of awkwardness.

“Come back safe and sound, without any injuries.”

Tap, tap. A simple touch patted his shoulder twice as if to cheer him on. His red pupils, which had glanced down at the touch, went back up to look at the Demon King’s face.

Facing the blood-red pupils that always burned negatively with all sorts of emotions mixed in, the Demon King smiled brightly as always.

“You have to think about the aftermath too. Take care of yourself.”

“……”

“I’m here, safe and sound, after all.”

With me here, perfectly fine, how could I let you get hurt?

It was a truly unchanging smile.