Dungeon Defense (WN)

“…….”

I quietly checked everyone’s status windows.

I read their windows one by one. Everyone was innocent. Be it Vassago or Marbas, everyone was evidently troubled by this. At the very least, none of them were behaving slyly in the background…….

“Barbatos, calm down. There is no guarantee that the culprit is among us. There is also the possibility that one of the Demon Lords who did not go to war with us is the one responsible.”

“Amon and Valefor……that makes sense. Rather than suspecting one of us, it would be more reasonable to suspect one of them first.”

Marbas and Paimon managed to reel back the mood that was starting to become tense.

Even if there was a traitor, nothing good would come from openly letting doubt spread like this. They skillfully prevented it from spreading any further. Unfortunately, their suggestion was highly unlikely.

“That is unlikely.”

“Dantalian.”

Marbas furrowed his brows. He was reprimanding me with his eyes for fanning the flames when he had managed to calm things down.

Marbas, that may soothe the immediate situation, but the seeds of doubt would still remain. Our Demon Lord Army barely managed to create a new system. Doubt must be torn out from the roots.

“Is it not strange? Let us say that one of the Demon Lords who did not participate in this war had set out a detached unit. Their goal would be too unclear.”

“Is their goal not to defame us?”

I shook my head.

“In that case, they would have used demon soldiers. The Demon Lord Army let go of their reigns and allowed their men to pillage and slaughter villages. Their alliance is a lie……. They would succeed in defaming us if they had done things like this.”

I turned to the envoy.

“Envoy, according to your report, the villages were burned down by imperial soldiers, correct?”

“Yes, Your Highness. There is no doubt.”

“See? This group did not consist of demons.”

“…….”

Marbas’ gaze became serious.

“Are you saying that there is truly a traitor among us?”

“That is not correct either. It would have been more efficient to send out demons if they had intended to harm our reputation. Despite that, they went out of their way to disguise their soldiers as humans……?”

That was way too inefficient. No Demon Lord would benefit if the culprit was revealed to have been imperial soldiers. I shook my head from side to side.

“It is hard to say that this was done by a Demon Lord.”

The other Demon Lords started to stir.

While some of them nodded in agreement, there were some who were still looking around with doubtful gazes. Nonetheless, the mood was a little better than before. The mood became lighter once it became clear that it was unlikely that someone had betrayed us.

“Then who……?”

“It must have been those Brittans. They must’ve used the time they got while negotiating with us.”

“Weren’t they wearing imperial uniforms?”

The Demon Lords started to discuss with each other. Most of them seemed to be under the opinion that Henrietta was suspicious. Marbas stroked his beard as he gazed at me.

“The culprit was not a Demon Lord. Are you trying to tell us that a human was the one behind these pillagings, Dantalian?”

“Yes. I am sure of it. However, there are a few clues.”

First, the culprit had enough authority to freely control an army of a thousand soldiers.

That wasn’t all. They also had the ability to acquire soldiers specifically from Habsburg. There aren’t a lot of humans who are capable of this.

Additionally, they knew that our forces would ‘never’ go to the south part of Frankia. In other words, they had a clear understanding of our strategic goal. They were either a very capable strategist or their political insight was excellent.

I opened my mouth.

“Everyone, from what I can guess, I assume that the culprit is…….”

* * *

“We will give up on rescuing Parisiorum.”

Consul Elizabeth returned after personally scouting the area around Parisiorum. After she finished scouting, she gathered her generals and made that declaration.

“It is already hopeless for the Brittan army. Two days have already passed since they were encircled. Despite this, Queen Henrietta did not abandon the capital and chose to waste time. The war is over.”

“Your Excellency, it has only been two days. Is this not too soon to be predicting the conclusion of the war?”

The first secretary of the Consul, Yuria tilted her head.

“I see. Only two days, is it……?”

Elizabeth smiled bitterly.

“Dantalian is the enemy ringleader. He considers war as an extension of his schemes. Yuria, schemes are things where it would be too late by the time you realize something is a scheme. It is not ‘only’. Two days have ‘already’ passed.”

Elizabeth removed her helmet. Her white head towel was drenched in sweat.

“The Demon Lord Army will be burning humans at the stake from now on. Their crime is the fact that they actively participated in the slaughter four years ago. Men, do you know what this means?”

“I apologize, but I do not understand.”

Yuria and the other generals shook their heads. Elizabeth wiped her face with the towel handed to her by one of her attendants.

“Hoo. Parisiorum is a sanctuary for royalists. If the Brittan army abandons the capital, then the flames of slaughter will shift over to Parisiorum. How do you think the people will react?”

“……!”

“A ruler who runs away while knowing that the people are going to be slaughtered. She is a tyrant who cherishes her own life more than the life of the people. She will be criticized like this. Even the royalists of her own nation will condemn Henrietta.”

Elizabeth was evidently exhausted as she plopped herself down on her chair.

“It would have been fine if she had escaped before the slaughter started. It would just narrowly be okay if they had left a day before the slaughter. However, two days have passed now. Henrietta’s political life is already over.”

“No way…….”

Yuria’s voice was filled with shock. Queen Henrietta was said to have been the closest to becoming the supreme ruler of the continent. It was hard to believe that someone like that could be taken down so easily.

“A mere two days…….”

“It is possible if it is Dantalian.”

Elizabeth muttered as if it were obvious.

“Fatal and clean. Henrietta made the worst possible type of person into her enemy.”

“…….”

Yuria couldn’t help but harbor questions. How could a schemer bring the end to a ruler’s nation with such ease? Going beyond this, how was the woman in front of her capable of seeing through their scheme in an instant?

‘Only two people on this entire continent know how this war will end.’

Yuria felt a chill run down her spine.

Consul Elizabeth had once called Dantalian the ‘greatest schemer on the continent’, but what did that make the Consul who was able to see through that schemer? Only like-minded people are able to see through each other. Dantalian and Elizabeth were definitely cut from the same cloth.

Yuria felt her mouth salivate as she asked a question.

“What will Your Excellency do, then? If rescuing them is impossible, then we can only retreat.”

“No. There is something we can do.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. After a moment of silence, she opened them.

“We will imitate the enemy.”

* * *

“The Habsburg Republic was born from the Habsburg Empire. Getting their hands on our imperial uniforms and banners would be a trivial matter to them. The interesting fact is—”

A smile naturally formed on my lips.

“According to the envoy’s report, a month has passed since the pillaging happened on the southern side of Frankia. Do you understand what this means? It took them at least ten days to prepare enough uniforms and banners for about a thousand soldiers. Even if they used teleportation, it still took them ten days…….”

We had Parisiorum surrounded for exactly ten days. Adding to this, it took a little less than a month for a surrender envoy to come out from Le Havre.

“In short, the Consul had already initiated her plan by the time we finished encircling Parisiorum. Splendid, is she not? She saw through our motives in the blink of an eye.”

She disguised her army as imperial soldiers and swept through the southern part of Frankia.

Soldiers who were using the Habsburgian language and were also wearing Habsburgian uniforms while holding Habsburgian flags. They took action while the Habsburg Empire was invading. Anyone would think that what they did was done by imperial soldiers.

“They even imitated the same slaughter method we used at Parisiorum. Should I call her thorough? As expected of the Consul of Habsburg…….”

“But why would the Habsburg Republic do something like this?”

Marbas asked quietly.

“This matter involves Frankia, not them.”

I smiled bitterly.

It did involve them. The Consul of Habsburg has her sights on the entire continent, after all. But the Demon Lords wouldn’t understand even if I explained this to them.

“They have several goals. First, harming our honor. We have been limiting the amount of pillaging we did as we marched. This was so that we could build public approval. That effort of ours ended up being in vain.”

We only received a safety tax of 10% when we were moving through the northeastern side of Frankia. That ended up becoming pointless.

“Second, an anti-republican group will form in Frankia again.”

Elizabeth slaughtered a whole bunch of people down south under the justification of ‘making them pay for the slaughter they carried out four years ago’. How would the southern cities react to this?

“Those cities will complain about us. They will notify the Empress Dowager about the terrible disaster that fell upon them and beg her to condemn us. However, we did not commit this slaughter.”

We didn’t do it, so we won’t apologize.

There’s no way that the citizens would be satisfied by this kind of official and political answer.

“……Even if we tell them that we did not do it, it would only sound like an excuse.”

“Yes. Indeed.”

“What an unreasonable accusation.”

Marbas frowned.

“What if we reveal the Consul as the culprit?”

“Unfortunately, we do not have any proof.”

This was Elizabeth we were talking about. She wouldn’t have left even a sliver of evidence in her path. No, she slaughtered thoroughly in order to not leave any evidence. It was obvious.

“How about going on a political offensive……?”

“That would be difficult. The fact that we carried out a slaughter near Parisiorum is at least true. The Habsburg Republic is a nation that has never done something like this publicly compared to us who have. Which side do you think people will doubt more?”

“Mmm.”

Marbas let out a groan. He probably felt frustrated. We couldn’t acknowledge the slaughter, but not acknowledging it was also difficult.

But I was having a pleasant time. My heart was pounding like a young lad who had fallen in love at first sight. Elizabeth saw through the scheme that even Henrietta couldn’t figure out. And she responded by immediately carrying out a slaughter…….

Henrietta couldn’t possibly compare to Elizabeth’s decisiveness and ability to take action.

“It cannot be helped. Let us send a spy to the Habsburg Republic. Considering the time it took for them to act, there is a chance the Consul utilized her border guards. If we can prove that their border guards had disappeared, then we might be able to reveal their guilt with relative ease.”

“Hm.”

Even as I spoke, I felt like this was highly unlikely.

Elizabeth must have covered her soldiers’ identities several times. The people of her republic most likely didn’t even notice that an army had mobilized. I trusted Elizabeth’s ability the most when it came to this.

Marbas knit his fingers together.

“Dantalian, your statement is under the premise that the Consul saw through our goal in an instant. I question whether that is actually possible or not.”

“It is possible.”

I smiled.

“If the person in question is Elizabeth von Habsburg.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel like it’s been so long since I actually looked forward to the weekends. It feels great to relax (except in the mornings since construction is still happening). I sort of expected it, but it’s still surprising that no one joined the Minecraft server. There’s still a small handful of people playing, but yeah.

On another note, today is the fated day… I’m going to be on TV. Dear God. I pray that no one I know watches TV. I’m very tempted to just not watch it and pretend it never happened. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Ugh, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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