Chapter 65

Forty hours of marching without sleep, without eating, without rest, what the hell does that mean?"

It was bad enough that they had been given outrageous orders to capture the capital of the Holy Kingdom, but the orders of the "special commander" sent by the Führer to carry them out were even more absurd.

"Nay," he said, "in how many years will you reach your destination, with food to eat and shelter to sleep, when the road is ten thousand miles long?"

Silan, the man with the eerie gaping eyes of a snake, shrugged. Then, as if in agreement, the wolf-headed Sandalfon snorted.

"I see the army is made up of nothing but weaklings."

Chuckled Sandalfon.

"You people, even if you are special envoys sent by the Führer, such an outrageous order-"

"Ah, this is why I hate commanding anyone."

Silan scratches his head at his commander's continued protests.

"I'm disappointed in you, by the way."

His reptilian pupils glow with an eerie reptilian glint.

"I've heard that the army of this country are warriors on the move, never eating or resting."

"What does that mean-?"

It was then.

"Woohoo, that's what they say!"

A very human-looking voice boomed.

"For a true man of the Duchy of Germania never eats or rests, but fights!"

"Oh, there you are."

"Da, you're...!"

The head of the Duchy's SS, the Fourth Division, a.k.a. the Corpse Falcon.

"Are you the man who is the headline or whatever 'he' was talking about?"

Silan replied, sounding unsurprised by his appearance.

The man's expression stiffened for a moment at the unclear designation, but only for a moment.

"He, yes, Mr. Hydra, sir!"

"Colonel Hydra Waltz, what business do you have here....?"

"Nein, Nein!"

The seemingly friendly man snaps his fingers and shakes his head in response to the commander's question.

"I'm afraid I'm not a colonel anymore."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, as part of an extraordinary measure for the good of my country, the President has granted me a special rank."

"You mean...."

"You probably can't imagine, Lieutenant General."

He no longer serves the Führer.

For it was not that mustachioed, bloated, self-conscious madman he served, but someone much stronger, someone to be feared.

"He whom I serve, how special he is."

Not necessarily only the members of the Black Snake serve "Him."

For anyone who knew and feared the man's existence could not help but bow before his will.

This is especially true of Hydra Waltz, who has been decapitated several times.

"How wide, vast, and dark is his shadow upon this continent-"

Immediately afterward, a black, ominous, jet-black aura of magic enveloped the man who called himself Lieutenant General Georg.

"So, you said you would create an army that would neither eat nor rest?"

Silan asked nonchalantly, as if it were no one's business, as he stood over the rapidly decaying mass of flesh, blood, and bone.

"Of course, if it's his command, I can turn the entire group here into 'true warriors of the duchy'!"

"Ah, that's good news."

"Only...."

But then, in a somewhat hesitant tone, Lieutenant General Hydra replied.

"There is work to be done to create an army of the dead-"

"Ah, don't worry, that's our specialty."

Silan shrugged, as if there was nothing to worry about. The wolf-haired man in the immaculate suit over his burgeoning muscles laughed.

"We'll just have to kill them all!"

*

Stripped of any semblance of dignity or pride as the queen of a nation, Charlotte kneels miserably and surrenders her all.

As I watched, I finally spoke up after a long silence.

"I'll give ... a chance."

I don't change my mind.

"!"

Nevertheless, Charlotte's eyes light up with hope after hearing my answer.

"Are you sure, are you sure...?!"

Aside from the immediate chaos it would bring to the country, I had no intention of abandoning Charlotte, the future ruler of the kingdom.

After all, if a firestorm of this magnitude were to engulf the entire continent, it wouldn't hurt to have the leader of the continent's most powerful nation as a puppet.

"─Once you promise me one thing."

To Charlotte, however, my plan would feel like something I'd won with my own two hands through her submission.

After a desperate kneeling, submissive groveling, she willingly succeeded in changing my mind─.

"I'll do anything, just tell me what you want me to do!"

So Charlotte will be willing to accept whatever outrageous terms I offer her.

Either way, there is no such thing as a decision left for her, or for this country.

*

Not far from Lutecia, the capital of the Holy Kingdom, where I had been staying until just now.

It was the place where we had agreed to meet with the Serpents of the Duchy's army.

There, too, was an army advancing, an army that neither ate nor rested.

An immortal army, marching endlessly, with the largest army a nation could ever hope to possess, all reanimated from the dead.

Their blood had already soaked the earth.

But there was still blood on their path, the blood of innocent people who would be trampled, slaughtered, and spilled under their boots.

A bloodbath unfolded.

"...."

Now joined by the Duchy's forces advancing on the Holy Kingdom, I watched them go.

"We've been waiting for you, Master."

The two members leading them, Silan and Sandalfon, greeted me as if they had been waiting for me.

"─We've finished advancing on the kingdom's capital, as ordered. Aren't you proud of me?"

Silan, the snake-eyed, laughed in a casual voice.

"What do you say, do you want me to order them to advance on the capital right away?"

"...."

I didn't answer right away.

I remembered the queen's face, desperate, begging for her country, for herself, for everything.

"I'll do anything!"

She had said.

"Arm the people."

And that was my condition.

"Round up every man, woman, and child in the capital, old, young, who has no strength to fight, and arm them as soldiers."

An army of men and women, young and old, who don't know how to hold a sword, or are too old to hold a sword, who don't care about any conditions, but only the number of heads.

"When the invading armies of the Duchy of Germania advance on the capital, put them at the forefront of your defense."

Send the weakest and most worthless of the ragtag troops against an undying army that never stops.

Anyone can see what kind of end such an army would meet in the face of an undying army of immortals.

It would be a meaningless death.

At the same time, it was the type of sacrifice I desired.

"Advance at once."

After a moment of silence, I answered.

"Ha-ha, I've been waiting for that!"

Silan chuckled at my response.

"Chief, I wonder if there's anything I can do to help, if it's something that requires effort!"

Chulang Sandalfon exclaimed, his body warming up as if he couldn't help himself.

"...There is nothing for us to do at present."

But to him, I shake my head calmly.

"Just wait until there's enough blood."

"...Ah, it will come."

Silan shrugged, as if he wasn't surprised. It was time.

"─Leave it to me, Chief!"

Sandalfon shouted, unable to contain his speculation again.

"This time, let me face them!"

Them. A hero that not everyone here was sure would show up, Sandalfon was saying.

"I joined the Snake for this moment. That's what you promised me, huh?"

As if this was his time to shine and to make his mark.

It's always been that way.

For some reason, the Black Snake always sent out one of its most advanced members, or the equivalent, when the hero appeared.

Thus, in each installment, a member of the serpent of the appropriate level would appear, be killed, and so on.

It's like the cliché of a demon facing a warrior.

He doesn't give all of himself, but slowly sends out the most marginal part of himself that he can afford to put in, so that it becomes nourishment and the soil beneath the hero's performance.

Is there a secret there that I don't know? Is there a reason I don't know? I don't know.

But from now on, it will be different.

"...The schedule has changed."

At the same time, as the head of the snake, the decisions I make never require anyone's consent or understanding.

"It's changed."

I don't care how un-Rain Gray it is.

For the decisions I make here are Rain Gray's decisions, and snakes must be loyal and obedient to only those Rain Gray decisions.

"─I'll deal with him myself."

When a Hero appears, the Demon King's method of sending out his emissaries was from the extremities.