Chapter 138: Aftermath

"Lord General!"

I turned around at the familiar voice. Elia, Benjamin, Marko and Gio were running into the throne room, accompanied by their companies.

"We've taken the castle, sir!"

Elia was the first to speak, snapping up a salute.

"Something's strange happening," Gio added as he glanced around. "The human soldiers are surrendering en masse. It's like thye've lost the will to fight."

"Sir, you…"

Marko noticed that something was amiss. He glanced around the devastated throne room, his eyes lingering on the wrecked throne and the absence of the enemy. Well, the traces of blood and destruction were evidence that the enemy once existed.

"…you defeated the so-called Emperor of Humanity, didn't you?"

Even within my blood sphere, it was impossible to conceal the flunctuations and emanations of mana, especially when we cast such massive spells and unleashed near-apocalyptic techniques. They must have detected the clash between our reiatsu – I mean mana – and the disappearance of Kobayashi when I killed him.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"That's incredible…" Benjamin was gaping at me, and then he shifted his gaze to Lilith and the surviving Iron Knights. "Ah, your highness…you were here, fighting too?"

"Indeed…but it was Tomoyuki-kun here who did most of the work."

Lilith was slowly healing from her wounds sustained from dueling Ishida. She wiped the blood off her mouth and arms and glanced at Hoshizaki and the others. Aoyama was already getting to work, healing a dazed Domon.

"I did nothing…"

"As modest as always," Marko chuckled. Elia smiled.

"As expected of the Lord General!"

"…"

No, honestly…I did absolutely nothing. All I did was take revenge and killed the bastards who bullied me. That was all.

Speaking of which…

"Sir? Are you reading this, sir?"

"Daniel?" I tapped my vox bead when his voice crackled into life. "What's up? We're done here, so I'll send reinforcements…"

"There's no need to. The humans, they're surrendering. All over the city, they're throwing down their arms and giving up. They looked a bit confused and dazed, but they have obviously lost any will to fight."

"The Knights!" This time, it was Jurgen from the Savior of Moria. "The Titans! They're disappearing! They're vanishing!"

Of course. From the hole in the ceiling, I could see the surviving Knights of the Round fading away. With the death of their master, Kobayashi, there was nothing in Restia that could maintain their existence any longer.

"We've secured the castle, sir!"

Lieutenant Charlie Bass was running in, accompanied by Major Kracauer and a bunch of Marines and Legnica infantry. They gaped at the destruction, unable to believe what they had just seen.

"A little late on that, Lieutenant Bass." Gio looked amused. "We've already informed the Lord General."

"The Emperor of Humanity…he's gone?" Kracauer whispered as he sank to his knees, tears of joy and relief leaking from his eyes. "Am I…dreaming?"

"No, Major. It's not a dream. It's real."

The Legnica infantry cheered thunderously, their yells of victory and triumph echoing throughout the broken throne room. Even the hardened Marines had to smile, shouldering their weapons and glancing around in relief.

We had finally won. The war was over.

*

Over the next few days, with the demise of the humans and the death of Kobayashi, the brainwashing that he had cast on the human kingdoms with Kingly Disposition was lifted. Zealous worship and religious fervor turned into righteous hatred and indignant fury when the formerly indoctrinated masses of the enslaved kingdoms realized the full extent of Kobayashi's tyranny and what he had done. Excessive taxes. Needless and wanton sacrifices of human lives to save his own, or to pursue his own agenda of world domination. Agricultural ruin as Kobayasyhi and his policies drove entire villages to poverty. Astronomical losses of lives after Kobayashi forcibly conscripted soldiers from the masses and sent them to their deaths in his obsession of conquering Morten. Genocides and massacres committed under his orders on villages or kingdoms who resisted his brainwashing and refused to bend their knees under his rule. The murder of royal families and the rape of their daughters by abducting them into his imperial harem.

The princesses were now being released, but they had been traumatized by the constant rape of Kobayashi and his subordinates. Yamada, Ishida and the other guys had been satiating their lust with them all this time, and their minds had been completely broken. It would take them a long time before they could recover…if such a thing was possible.

With the death of the Emperor, the human kingdoms began the slow, arduous process of rebuilding. Alan, Captain Dante Infernius and Major Kracauer returned to Legnica to aid in the recovery plans, focusing their efforts on restoring the infrastructure, reducing taxes, saving the populations and staving off hunger. Defense and a strong army was far from their minds, and unnecessary, for I had offered military assistance to the human kingdoms should they need it.

For now, they didn't have to worry about wars or invasions.

The Marrina Isles went back to thriving, having been one of the first human kingdoms liberated from Kobayashi's tyranny. Lieutenant Bass and his Marines returned there to help revitalize the fishing industry as well as other sectors and trade.

As for the demons, everything went back to normal and long, lasting peace was finally achieved. At leasf for now.

The Magna 1,087th regiment returned to Helsfort, where Regis Gremory maintained close relations and trade with King Hedol and the dwarven kingdom of Moria. Lilith Scarlet returned to Haemorage to continue ruling over her domain, her authority much stronger than ever before now that she had the victory over the human kingdoms and other significant military exploits under her name. Even the Council of Elders had to obey her now.

Major Elia Kratz, having achieved the military glory she sought, was now highly respected in her family and received several marriage offers. She rejected them to continue striving for the position of General in the Helsfort military, setting a fine example for women who chose to pursue military careers despite the discrimination against them.

Lieutenant Gio Vanni continued to serve as her right-hand man, offering sound advice and reining her in when she got too reckless.

Major Daniel Dressia and his tank company still served directly under me. He saluted when I walked past him in the hangar to inspect the row of Hellblades that had recently been assigned to my tank regiment.

"Lord General!"

"At ease." I waved him away and then knitted my hands behind my back as I grinned at the nine new Hellblades being tended to by the tech-priests engineers from Moria. As I did so, the tank in the center – the Savior of Moria – stirred and the cupola opened. Lieutenant Jason Jurgen poked his head out and gaped when he saw me.

"Boss! You're back!"

"Yup, I am. Come to see the latest batch of Hellblade tanks."

"Heh…want to go for a ride?"

"Maybe later."

"Oh? The Lord General is here?!" Gunnery also jumped out of his hatch in the main gunner's compartment and then saluted me. "It's been a while, sir!"

"Yeah, paperwork and the humans' situation is killing me."

"Speaking of which, how are the humans doing, sir?" Daniel asked. "I heard they're still in the midst of rebuilding, but that so-called Emperor of Humanity did a lot of damage to them before he died."

"Yeah…it'll take years…maybe decades before they fully recover. But recently the human kingdoms have been in discussions with Moria and the other demon domains to open up trade and to modernize. If they are willing to receive demon technology and aid, they will recover much faster."

Such was the power of technology and industrialization. Moria was producing and manufacturing vehicles and tanks at a much faster rate than before, and they were planning to expand into the ore-rich fields in the human continent. If they did that, it would solve a lot of poverty and unemployment problems and allowed both humans and dwarves to prosper.

The talks looked promising, but I wasn't a politician. I could only sit back and hope they saw the light.

"What about the rest of the regiment? I heard that Major Kratz has just received a proposal from one of the Marquises…"

"Oh, you already know about Elia and Company L. They're doing fine. As for Company H, they've returned to Haemorage for the time being."

Major Benjamin Burado and Warrant Officer Michael Marko had returned to Haemorage to help and reinforce Lilith's authority. The vampire regiments had all went back to Haemorage. With the war over, there was little point in sending them into foreign lands for rarely seen combat. I trusted them just fine to look after Lilith.

"Speaking of her highness, what are you going to do about that? Aren't you supposed to marry her or something?"

"In a year or two." I cringed inwardly, but this was something I couldn't run away from. I had made a promise and I was going to keep it.

"Oh, right. The date has already been decided!"

I cleared my throat and turned away.

"Well, anyway, I'll be back to give one of the tanks a test drive. Get back to work, guys. It may be peacetime soon, but it won't last long."

"Eh? Why? Didn't we defeat the humans and secure peace with them?"

"Oh, the humans are our allies now. But…the real enemy is still stirring in the distance."

"…huh? What real enemy?"

I smiled cryptically and left them hanging. I love doing that.

*

"So what are you going to do now, Tanaka-kun?"

Hoshizaki Kozue was sitting on the ledge when I emerged into the open. Beside her, Aoyama Aoi stood, his arms folded. Domon was leaning on the ledge as well, looking a lot better than the last time I saw him.

Aoyama's healing magic was truly magnificent.

"Help out here and there. Speaking of which, Aoyama-kun, how are the humans?"

"…humans?" Aoyama frowned at my peculiar way of addressing them, and then shook his head. Evidently I had spent too much time with the demons. "Well, with Kobayashi dead, we don't have to worry about them. The brainwashing effect is completely gone. I don't have to do anything. They're pretty pissed at Kobayashi for lying to them, but…he's dead, so there's nothing they can do about it. For now, they're focusing on rebuilding."

"I see. How's Nagano-san and Sanada-kun?"

"They're recovering just fine," Domon assured me. "Aoyama-kun saved them, and their conditions have stabilized. They'll be back on their feet in no time at all."

"Umezu-kun and Mayumi-chan have gone to live in a village somewhere," Hoshizaki added. "They've decided to cut off all ties with the rest of Restia and live peacefully by themselves."

"Cool."

If they didn't bother me, I wuldn't bother them. It wasn't as if they bullied me in the past. We did fight, but that was because we were on opposing sides.

"What about Nishida-kun?"

"What about me?"

Nishida Kensuke emerged from the hangar, smudged and filthy. Hoshizaki blinked when she spotted him.

"Whoa! What happened to you, Nishida-kun?"

"I was working," Nishida replied with a shrug. He raised the spanner in his hand for emphasis.

"He's helping me develop new las-weaponry for the demon soldiers," I explained. "And safer plasma guns."

"Don't forget the tank weapons!" Nishida growled before he leaned against the wall tiredly. "All those plasma weapons are time-bombs waiting to explode. You've got to tell your men to stop supercharging them."

"We have re-rolls of ones, so we'll be fine."

"Stastically-wise, something is going to happen sooner or later! What happens if your tanks or tank crews eat a mortal wound when their plasma weapons overheat?"

"Uh…okay. I'll let them know."

The welfare of my crews was more important than anything else, after all.

"He he he…"

Hoshizaki was giggling when she saw the scene. All of us stared at her.

"What is it?" Aoyama asked gruffly. Hoshizaki merely shook her head.

"No, I just didn't…expect us to be standing here like this. Not after all that had happened. It just feels so…unreal, you know?"

"I know what you mean," Domon agreed fervently. "I never thought we would be able to survive or win, especially after Kobayashi and the others went mad."

"Hmph." Aoyama scoffed. "Our victory was never in doubt."

"Even so…we achieved it at great cost…and because Takeda-kun and the others sacrificed themselves." Hoshizaki looked a little sad when she stared up at the heavens. Taking a deep breath, she rubbed at her eyes and beamed. "But I'm so glad that everything's over. That everything's finally over. We can now enjoy this hard-earned peace."

"Oh, speaking of which." Domon blinked as he turned to stare at me and Nishida. "I've always been meaning to ask you. Didn't we already defeat Kobayashi and achieve peace? Why are you still building new weapons and working in the military?"

"Eh?" Nishida was caught off guard, evidently not having considered the question. "I…I'm only building weapons because the boss asked me to."

"Eh? Why?" Hoshizaki turned to me curiously. "What's the point of building and developing new weapons when we've already won? We're at peace now. Building up an army and developing new weapons should be unnecessary."

How naïve.

"We've won for now, but the true enemy remains somewhere, plotting in their territories and planning for a new invasion," I explained patiently. "We're just getting ready for that."

"True enemy? But wasn't Kobayashi already defeated? And we'll make sure that the human kingdoms don't attack the demons again. So you don't have to worry…"

"Oh, I'm not referring to the human kingdoms." I waved Hoshizaki's assurances away. "No, it's something else. Even I'm not sure who they are, but I just want to be prepared."

"Are you sure they exist?" Aoyama asked skeptically. "Knowing you, it might be another one of your delusions."

"Aoyama-kun!" Domon snapped, but I shook my head.

"You might be right. But I've seen a glimpse of the future, so I know they're out there."

"How can you be so sure?" Nishida whimpered nervously, paling at the prospect of yet another war. I smiled and turned away, narrowing my eyes as I glared at the tiny shadow flickering just above the horizon of an otherwise bright, blue sky.

"…because in the grim, dark future of Restia, there is only war."