The reign of Asahi was unstoppable. Cities after cities, their people mused and charmed by the words that spread of the Asahi's reputation, all surrendered before their banner and were awed by their might.
Knowing their decisions were correct, the lords were not only promised position and riches, but also technique.
And in return, they were all to send out their army.
No time to let any land prepare, that was the strategy that they had adopted.
Barely any fights had broken out in the first ten days of the historical annex. About a third of the East was now under the banner of Asahi, either through a willful surrender or through a complete show of force.
But as they went further toward the northeast after taking over most parts of the south, the streak of not fighting became difficult.
People across the Coiling Blue Beaver River had banded together in a group and even in the short span of time, had gathered all that they could in a rough attempt at preparing for war.
The two sides of the river had now become the two camps of the battle. With the group of Asahi constantly joined by numerous but highly trustable allies, they didn't have a very steep disadvantage in numbers.
But a different disadvantage existed yet.
"We are the ones attacking. Those guys won't move from the river at all…"
In the tents of the commanders from the side of the Asahi, now sat the leaders of the war. Generals and lords of the different lands now under the Asahi banner sat together for the strategic meeting.
And the man himself, the one collecting them together, Lord Asahi himself, took the second seat at the table.
He was currently folding his arms and pushing out some meat at the brazen man who had feet on the table and his eyes closed at the head of the room.
All the other lords were deeply stunned, but just looking at the man's eyes was enough to fill them with fear, as if they had made eye contact with a demon lord.
"Lord Asahi…" The lord of the dungeon town spoke out, largely unimpressed by the leader's behavior. "What might be the meaning of this? Who is this kid—"
The man opened his eyes and looked at the lord of the dungeon town, forcing him to shut up.
His white hair fluttered as he sat up.
A charming, handsome, beautiful, pretty strong brave courageous young man slash demon lord. That man was none other than me.
Me. All of these guys' father.
I spread my gaze over the idiots in the tent as a grin escaped me.
"Alright," I sighed and sat while taking another strip of the bacon that Asahi pushed toward me. Was it weird to admit I didn't know his first name now? It was right? I wanted to ask him long back but it was just too awkward to do that now.
I usually wouldn't mind. But when someone reveres and respects you like this it almost feels like you are betraying them by not knowing them.
I had little choice then but to switch the topic.
"Since this is a war meeting, let's take it seriously."
Ten days had passed since the beginning of the historic war. News had started to spread well into the other countries and I had received a letter from all three dukes in Schwarz. The idea of cutting down on our special exercise by both the academies and the adventurer guild was also raised, but it wasn't being accepted just yet thanks to my plan of keeping this annexation as peaceful as possible.
Of course, through this time, I have also been hitting the dungeons like the gym.
Unlike the one before, though, the orbs I have been finding now have all been orbs that do end up destroyed by normal END itself and don't even need me to enter CATACLYSM.
It was fun.
But now, as one of these cunts rightfully said, we did face a disadvantage.
"How many troops do we have?" I asked the Lord of Asahi.
"About twenty-one hundred, what do you know—" It was the lord of the dungeon who answered. My glares were enough to keep them shut and compliant, but they didn't seem fully convinced about my identity.
The Lord of Asahi currently trying to massage my hands should be enough to tell them who I was, though.
Of course, most of the others were with me here too. They had just broken off a little more and were taking on two big dungeons just a bit down the river leaving only me and Maria behind.
Because I was planning to take care of this first.
"Not you," I said. "I don't care about the useless ones. Lord Asahi."
"Ah, yes. My troops are a strong nine-hundred and seventy-four, sir."
No casualties then.
"Ahem, I think we need to fix the command structure in this place and foremost."
"You're right. I agree."
"What's there to fix?" Asahi spoke. "You all follow my words, I follow Lord Eugene's words. We all follow Lord Eugene's words. Simple?"
"Eugene?"
"I remember that name. Aren't you that hero of the empire from Schwarz!?"
These people sure jumped on their own.
"Empire!? Don't tell me, Asahi!"
"Tsk. Both those countries are my bitches too. Why don't you calm it for a minute, I am trying to think."
They once again shut their mouths and looked away at my words.
"Listen well, I am just Asahi's helper. This is all him and the ancient archmage of Asahi whom you might have heard of."
I was here to establish my position in front of the people I was going to plant as the leaders once the East was united. And this was just me telling them what the narrative was. Nothing more, nothing less.
I looked them in the eye, then focused my demonic energy on them this time.
Demonic energy had a unique trait where it turned people's primal instincts up to a ten. Like the monster in the Goemon tombs had their anger and desire for battle, the emotion they were feeling at the moment, completely knobbed to the top.
Similarly, I was just scaring these guys a little and then making that little fear an ass-ripping type of fear.
It worked wonders.
"Moving onward," I said. "We are faced with the problem of being the defenders, yes. Those guys won't bother to come over to this side at all."
The lord of the dungeon city, now much more tame and trembling, spoke out.
"And… the more we let them be the more time they would have to prepare for a proper war!"
I nodded.
"Very smart, very true."
As if wishing to score some points, another bald man spoke out. I was told he was one of the seven warlords or something.
"And, sir. If we cross the river we would just be making ourselves targets for some practice."
I was tempted to make these bastards' troops cross over, but their loss was going to be my eventual loss. These people were going to band together for Asahi.
"Lord Eugene, we can make a move, but they are too far out of range…"
We had great firepower, but the river was giant.
This was indeed a dilemma, and the most perfect spot for the defending side as well.
We could circle around the river, but on one side was a mountain pass that led to the same problem and five days down the other end was a barren mudland.
The river was the best option amongst these.
We could have fought through the mud, but that would take a lot more preparation and time.
For now, it was important to get the best of our soldiers to the other side.
I could, now, handle this on my own. Put them on some shields and fly them to the other side, it would take some effort but I could surely manage for some casualties, but that wasn't what we were planning to do.
"Rafts or bridges would be too difficult to place in this short time."
"Should we blunt force our way?"
"No, the casualties will be too high. The best way would be too drag this out and then meet in a pure battle of attrition."
"Moving the war over to the plateau would be tough too."
"Lord Asahi, should we bring in catapults? It wouldn't be too difficult to arrange that within a day."
"But ammunition would be required. And that won't solve all our problems—"
I placed my hand on the table.
"No. This could actually work."
A few of them scowled.
"Sir, I am not sure if you know, but cannons and catapults can only work so much. They can move further back or prepare their own. Some magic shields would also set them up for avoidance as well. Also, ammunition is not easy to arrange as the catapults themselves. Cannons would also take days to arrive enough. Catapults alone won't help much."
The lord of the dungeon city then crossed his arms and said.
"I believe the best plan would be to freeze the river. It would be very difficult and come with casualties, but it can be done better than the rest."
"No, idiots. We don't need ammo in our catapults."
A grin escaped me.
"We can just throw your soldiers."
How was this any different from my original plan?
Well, this was going to be much more fun. And well, there's matters like speed, unexpectedness, the amount of power we could bring out and the number we can transport at once. Lot of things.
But most importantly.
It was angry human time.
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