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Chapter 299 part 2

While Asteria was visiting the Eighth Legion’s encampment in Vastage Hills to encourage and comfort the wounded, the Demon King’s army’s Romal Force was preparing to land a fleet of land battleships as an advance force for the invasion of Romal, with a force carrying supplies from the home country to join them once the area was secured.

The Romal forces, having depleted ammunition, medical supplies, and personnel in battles with the Eighth Legion, were momentarily stalled.

At this point, the number of towns and villages occupied by the Demon King’s army led by Zandarza and Galilius had already exceeded ten.

In the Vastazi Hills, located near the northern border of the Romal Empire, but there were a number of pioneer villages in the vicinity, and there were just as many people who had not been able to evacuate in time when the Demon King’s army invaded with lightning speed.

Entering Vastazi Hills from the Dark Wilderness, the reddish-brown wasteland disappeared, and in a corner of the land overflowing with greenery and life, there was a pioneer village that looked like a stain.

The village was surrounded by a simple fence made of stakes and a moat to keep out wild animals and had a population of about fifty households.

Not only in the Surge village, but also for the pioneers on the frontier, the existence of demons, who were said to be descended from the gods, was completely out of the blue.

There were a few locals who had once aspired to be scholars but had given up and returned to the village. They were called child prodigies, but even they knew only a handful of them.

For them, the Dark Wilderness were nothing more than a dangerous place where goblins, ogres, and other monsters and beasts that were occasionally driven out of their nests or defeated in power struggles would appear.

No one, not even the pioneers, let alone the empire, could have imagined that such a well-equipped army would appear, so who could have blamed Surge Village for surrendering early without putting up a fight?

Fortunately for the people of Surge Village, the Demon King’s army accepted their surrender and did not interfere further.

There was no conscription of supplies or manpower, and there was no rape or massacre, which was a common pastime for human armies. The people of Surge Village were relieved, but they were also a little uneasy about this response.

If the dispatched forces were Goblins, demi-humans, or humans subservient to Yaheim or Zandarza, a storm of violence might have befallen the occupied villages.

However, this time, the dispatched forces were demons led by Zandarza and high-Goblins under Galilius, which proved to be a stroke of luck.

The basic idea of the Demon King’s army was to reject the idea of conscripting supplies from the occupied territories, as this would only get in the way of the war plan that had been drawn up in advance, since it would take time to check the quality and safety of the supplies, which might even be poisoned.

The same went for robbery and looting in the occupied territories, and rape was also out of the question, as they did not need the blood of the weak who had lost to them, and the strong should have children with the strong.

These ideas were particularly ingrained in the demons and high-Goblins of Mundus Carnus, to the point of instinct.

If Yaheim, Zandarza, or even Galilius had seen their own soldiers engaging in such acts, they would have executed them on the spot.

So why did they come to have such ideas? It all started with their ancestors, who had moved from the Demon Realm to the surface world.

The ancestors of the demons who built Mundus Carnus were originally followers of Sagurabus – the God of War, who resided in the Demon Realm.

Although they were followers of the glorious war god, the reason they abandoned their divine status and moved to the surface world was because they were tired, afraid, and fleeing from the endless war of the gods.

They vowed not to tarnish Sagurabus’ mercy and forbade themselves and their descendants from engaging in actions that would dishonor them.

While Sagurabus didn’t explicitly forbid wartime atrocities, these actions were still internally frowned upon, and he sent them off to the surface world with his blessings, giving them as much as he could and telling them to live well.

Even after all that, they had fled to the surface world, and they had been ordered to do so by Sagurabus, so that they would not trample on his kindness any further, and so that they would not tarnish the face of the merciful god.

As a war god, Sagurabus did not forbid the dark aspects of war, such as the massacre and plunder of the weak.

This was because he believed that these actions and tragedies were also aspects of existence, and that there was no point in turning a blind eye to them. Therefore, he left it up to the person concerned to decide whether or not to commit massacres.

However, just because he did not forbid it did not mean that he was happy about it. Even if he did not openly forbid it, he was inwardly bitter. This was something that he shared with his comrade and rival, Aldeath.

The former followers, the ancestors, knew this, and they passed it on to their descendants, with the result that the occupied villages of the Romal Empire were surprisingly peaceful.

The demon army’s only imposition was to display the Mundus Carnus flag at the village gates.

Even after that, despite the fierce battles with the Eighth Legion, the response to the occupied villages, including Surge Village, remained the same.

The villagers were not sure whether to be relieved or to continue to be afraid, but on that day, Surge Village was filled with extreme tension.

For some reason, Zandarza, the de facto highest-ranking member of the Romal Expeditionary Force, was walking around Surge Village without any guards, as if he were taking a leisurely stroll.

There was not a hint of fighting spirit on his face, and it looked like he was just taking a walk, but the villagers could not tell that, and everyone dropped their farm work and hid in their houses, watching him fearfully.

Zandarza’s three heads pointed at the villagers’ fearful gazes, and he pouted in boredom.

「What the hell, I thought there was a spy or something, but there’s nothing but defenseless villagers. It’s no fun walking around by myself if there’s no one trying to assassinate me.」

Zandarza had no intention of sacrificing the villagers or massacring them to boost morale, and as he said, he was just walking around, half-heartedly hoping to find a spy or assassin sent by the Romal Empire.

What a bold, what a careless act.

His wish was half fulfilled. Several of the tightly shut doors of the houses opened, and small shadows jumped out and took up positions behind him.

With a flick of their hands, the children threw small stones with great accuracy. Zandarza turned around slowly and caught the stone with one of his right hands.

There were those who targeted Zandarza. However, they were not assassins sent by the Romal Empire, but the children of the village.

Zandarza played with the stone in his hand and looked down at the three children who were not even as tall as his waist.

Two boys with sticks instead of swords, looking up at Zandarza bravely, and one girl with a stone in her hand.

From the houses from which the children had jumped out, came the anguished cries of their parents calling their names.

「G-good aim. Throwing pebbles to make up for your lack of strength is a good choice.」

Zandarza had three horned heads, bright red skin, and six arms.

In addition to being such a strange creature, he was a powerful demon who could have taken the throne of the Demon King.

Just by receiving his gaze, even a seasoned warrior would tremble with fear and lose his will to fight. If he were to add some killing intent, he would faint on the spot, or worse, die.

「H-hey, demon!」

「Oh, what’s up, little ones?」

「This, this is our village. Get out of here! If you don’t get out, we’ll beat you up!」

「Hahahahahahaha, what’s this, little heroes? Your parents are screaming at you to stop. You’re at an age when you should listen to your parents, aren’t you?」

「I’ll listen to them when it comes to helping out at home. But since you guys came, everyone’s been looking down and looking gloomy. You’ve taken away everyone’s smiles. Someone has to do something about it!」

The child’s stick was trembling, and it was obvious that he was fighting against the fear that he wanted to run away from. The other children who had done the same were the same. That’s why Zandarza found it so amusing.

「There’s no reason why it has to be you guys, is there? You should just wait for the guys from the empire, who you pay taxes to, to come and help you, since that’s their responsibility. But that’s only if they can beat us.」

「If it’s ‘someone’, then it doesn’t matter if it’s us! Uwaaaaaaah!」

What made the child take a step forward was the fear that he could no longer bear or the courage that surpassed it. Even the child himself probably didn’t know.

The child ran forward with all his might, followed by another child who jumped out with a stick, swinging it at Zandarza, and the girl threw the stone in her hand at Zandarza’s face again.

The villagers who had been watching their actions imagined the children drowning in a sea of blood the next moment, and they cried out in despair and fear. It was not unreasonable for them to do so, and it was not unreasonable for them to be treated in such a way.

However, the future that they had imagined, which should have been extremely accurate, was greatly betrayed.

The stick swung by the child who ran in front was smashed into Zandarza’s left thigh, and the stick of the child who followed was hit the opposite side.

The stone thrown by the girl hit Zandarza’s middle head forehead as intended, but it shattered instead due to the hardness of the skin.

「Fufufu, little ones, you swing well, but get a proper teacher. If you do it seriously, you might become a decent warrior. Whether you can become a hero or not depends on luck.

And you, little girl, you have the best eye among you. If you can throw that well at your age, you might want to try throwing weapons.

Whether you become a soldier of Mundus Carnus or an enemy is up to you, but your courage to attack me despite your fear is admirable.」

Of course, Zandarza felt no pain at all, but for some reason he jumped up on the spot and jumped onto the roof of the house next to him. He looked at the stunned children from the bottom of his heart and smiled broadly.

For a brief moment, the children’s hearts were filled with a gentle smile that made them forget their fighting spirit and fear, like that of a kind old man.

「I’ll let you go today, because of your courage and your painful attack, or rather, because you’ve defeated me. You can spend your life fighting the earth, or you can be proud of hitting Zandarza once and become a warrior. Either way, live well, you magnificent little ones!」

Zandarza let out a thunderous laugh and kicked the roof of the house, disappearing from the children’s sight in an instant. No one in Surge Village could tell that he had moved with such speed that it could be mistaken for teleportation magic.

Zandarza had been walking around outside hoping to find at least one assassin because he wanted to do some light warm-up exercises in preparation for the upcoming major battle with Galilius.

He thought it would be a waste of time, but then he had an unexpectedly pleasant “battle”, and Zandarza was in a very good mood.

「Kaka, no, no, it was a more enjoyable “enemy” than some lousy assassin. As long as there are such people in the world, I won’t have to worry about exciting fights. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!」

Two days after Zandarza’s morale was boosted by this incident, Grand Duke Linosart was attacked by Asteria, and Princess Asteria was attacked by Galilius.