Chapter 174: For Victory
I didn't know about demons, but for humans, there were lines they instinctively tried to uphold even during war.
For example, they were reluctant to stab an enemy's eye so deeply that it pierced through to the brain, or they tended to refrain from setting mountains on fire even if it meant victory.
Stabbing the eye was obviously easier for winning. Even if it didn't reach the brain, you could take away the opponent's vision, which would be advantageous, yet they deliberately aimed for the throat or heart instead.
'The same went for forest fires.'
In war, conscience dictated victory and defeat. Those who upheld minimal principles, and those who cast such things aside and moved solely with their focus on winning. It was obvious the latter would have an easier time winning.
Deon Hart hadn't been routed. He hadn't given up either.
He simply.
"We're going to set the mountain on fire, so if we stayed there, it would be nothing short of suicide."
Had thought.
The enemy made excellent use of the terrain feature known as the 'forest.' It was a situation where demons, unaccustomed to a forest environment, could do nothing but suffer helplessly.
That was when it suddenly dawned on him.
'Right....'
──Demons originally lived in a world with barely any decent plants.
'So let's just burn it all down.'
He knew the reason demons coveted the human world was because of the 'sun,' not the 'plants.'
Granted, for Hien, the plants might be the goal, but....
'They're demons who live long lives anyway, so they can probably restore it before they die.'
And once they won the war and took over the entire human world, they wouldn't even need to wait for restoration; they could just go look at plants in other regions.
Whether the humans hiding in that forest burned to death or suffocated was none of his concern. What he needed to focus on was their suspicious behavior of constantly stalling for time, and reaching the fortress walls before any countermeasures could be taken, minimizing damage.
"Nice weather."
"......Excuse me?"
"A dry autumn, they said. Perfect weather for starting a fire."
And so, he calmly gave the order.
"Burn down everything that obstructs our advance."
These words were relayed to the demons fighting in other regions as well.
Having had quite a lot of pent-up frustration—the shame of being held up by mere humans, the stress of combat itself—they pulled out the method of fire without hesitation. Before long, reports began coming in that flames were shooting up all across the continent.
Deon received reports that the Revolutionary Army, which had been holding out in a temporary barracks outside the forest, had been burned down along with the terrain features because they were a nuisance, and that one village had been abandoned and burned during the retreat so other humans couldn't use it. Then he heard the news that the village where he had once met the sorceress Ran had already been on fire even before his orders were given, and he tilted his head.
His gaze naturally turned to Dan, who was standing to one side.
"Why do you ask, sir?"
"No, nothing."
It should have been a village where everyone had already left and no one remained anyway.
Should he call it thorough revenge, or pointless venting?
Either way, it wasn't something he needed to concern himself with, so Deon withdrew his interest and walked out of the barracks. The forest engulfed in a crimson demon of fire filled his vision.
'Considering the size of the forest... it'll take quite a while to burn completely.'
There would also be work to keep the fire from dying out....
Until the forest burned down completely, he would have to spend some time here for the time being.
......Was what he'd thought just yesterday.
Deon, his eyes slightly widened, looked at the communication stone as though doubting his ears. A sour voice came out unbidden.
"So, what did you say about the Fairy King?"
- To... immediately... cease burning the forests of the human world......
Unusually for him, Ed's hesitant voice filled the barracks. Dumbfounded, Deon let out a hollow laugh.
'On whose authority?'
He wasn't even a demon, so what gave the leader of a race that hadn't even joined the war the right to intervene and run his mouth?
The words 'cut the crap' rose to the tip of his tongue. Just as he was about to refine it and let it out of his mouth instead of spitting it out raw for the sake of dignity, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
- ......Sir Deon?
"......"
- Sir Deon, are you alright?
"If we don't set the fires, what did he say he'd do for us?"
- Excuse me?
The Fairy King had power.
At the very least, he would have the authority to export a portion of the fairy race's herbs.
The report he had received from Dan came to mind.
'Dan's trading company was steadily growing its influence by distributing talismans, wasn't it?'
But he'd heard that alone made it difficult to completely swallow the market.
He'd also considered distributing some magic stones, but that had been blocked by the Demon King's opposition, and there were more pressing matters to focus on for the moment, so he'd put it off....
Deon's lips curled up slightly.
"Tell the Fairy King this. Ask him if we may take that statement as a 'request for a deal.'"
He wasn't curious what the Fairy King had been thinking when he said that. No, actually, he was a little curious, but he had no intention of deliberately pressing or digging into it.
Because if he could use this to gain an advantage, that was enough.
- ......Understood.
After a moment's hesitation, as if he lacked the confidence to boldly convey those words to the leader of an entire race, a resolute voice returned.
Deon casually added,
"Oh, and also make sure to tell him that we'll continue burning the forests until the 'deal' is struck."
- Yes.
***
The reply came swiftly.
Contrary to Deon's expectations of a tiresome war of nerves, the arrogant leader of the fairy race got straight to the point coldly the moment contact was made.
[What do you want?]
[The herbs of the fairy race.]
He was simply grateful that things were proceeding without being tiresome.
Deon gave a direct answer without beating around the bush either. Knowing what kind of response he'd get if he closed his mouth there, he didn't wait for the other's answer and immediately continued speaking, preempting the objection that was about to burst out.
[We're not asking for much. A single human who follows me is running a trading company, and we would like you to supply that place with a small amount of herbs on a regular basis.]
To begin with, whether it was magic stones or fairy herbs, he had no intention of releasing them in large quantities even if distribution were possible. A monopoly system releasing limited quantities would help strengthen the trading company's influence, but mass release would greatly strengthen the military power of the human world he needed to devour before that influence could be built.
Since the goal was to strengthen influence to make occupying the human world easier, there had to be no situation where the tail wagged the dog.
[A small amount?]
[Yes. It would be a quantity barely noticeable from the fairy race's perspective.]
[......]
[I did not ask you 'why we must not burn the forests of the human world.' I will not ask in the future either.]
It was a veiled pressure disguised as consideration.
Deon wanted to end this slow, bogged-down situation as quickly as possible. Because if the deal went through and he had to stop burning the forests, he would have to rush to find and use another method.
That was why, reading the other's hesitant demeanor, he played a card without certainty. If the Fairy King had stepped in for a frivolous reason, like simply being interested in human world plants, it would have been a statement that wouldn't even have been worth a seed, but Deon remembered him from their brief encounter in the past.
'He's not a man so trivial that he would personally intervene and sanction another race's affairs for an insignificant reason.'
There must be an important reason.
[Even now, the forest is burning. What will you do?]
[......Let us discuss the exact quantity of herbs to be supplied and the criteria for 'regularly.']
Just as he thought.
An affirmative answer returned.
The forest was half-burned. The surroundings, which had been as bright as a sunset even in the middle of the night, were now blackly covered in dark smoke even in broad daylight, occasionally dropping ash. Amidst the ash falling like snow, the Demon King's Army was setting up temporary barracks on the blackened earth that had become a plain, using the border between the burned and unburned parts of the forest as a boundary.
By Deon's order, the barracks were simpler than before.
[This time, we plan to move without such a long rest.]
There was no need to put effort into setting them up.
And now, Deon was greeting a man with a faint smile. Unlike his drawn-up lips, his red eyes held a subtle light, as if feeling a renewed sense of emotion.
"Welcome, Hien."
"It's been a while, Sir Deon! I'm delighted you called for me!"
To emphasize again, the enemy made use of the terrain feature known as the forest. In other words, they used all sorts of plants as cover.
And Hien was a gardener who handled carnivorous plants. If he turned their cover into carnivorous plants, they could eliminate the nuisances without much trouble. What human would think their cover might eat them?
To think Hien would actually be helpful. Even dog shit found its use as medicine sometimes. Deon smiled faintly.
'More than that....'
Squeak.
The monster plant nestled in Hien's arms cried out as if greeting him.
Its familiar shape, combined with a cry similar to a certain monster plant he'd encountered briefly in the past, made Deon's expression sour.
"......What is that?"
"On the way here, I found a flower from the human world and tried infusing it with mana! Something similar to the child of the seed you gave me before, Sir Deon, was created. It seems the seed you gave me back then was a seed from the human world after all!"
"Squeak, squeak!"
At the monstrous cry that rang out as if in response, he pressed his brow.
Right, that one had gone 'Kiiik,' and this one went 'Squeak'....
Looking closely, its appearance was a bit different too. That one from back then had a form based on a 'rose' and a dark crimson color, whereas this one's shape was different, and its color starting from a dark violet didn't look like it was based on a rose at all, no matter how he looked at it.
Yet there was something familiar about the shape, and Deon tilted his head.
'Where have I seen this?'
......Ah.
'My room's windowsill.'
It had changed grotesquely due to being infused with mana, but he was certain. That thing's shape was based on the flowers in the vase on his room's windowsill.
He'd heard Hien found it on his way here, but....
Just in case, his voice instinctively lowered.
"It looks like the same type as the flower that was on my room's windowsill...."
"Yes, that's right! I found it blooming in a field on my way here! The moment I saw it, I remembered it was a flower you were fond of, Sir Deon. And I thought you might need a guard plant...!"
"......Enough."
If he hadn't touched the flower in my room, I wasn't interested. Even less so in something like a guard plant.
Just as Deon was about to indifferently bring up the main topic, Hien, who had been murmuring his regret, suddenly shouted as if something had occurred to him.
"In the human world, they also have something called flower language. So I diligently looked into it! Naturally, I first looked up the flower language of the flower you were fond of, Sir Deon!"
He wasn't interested.
He wasn't interested, but... still, Deon closed his mouth and waited for the next words.
"I'm not sure if it's accurate, but... I heard it means 'youth without regrets,' 'I will wait for you,' something like that."
"......I see."
He felt no particular impression.
Just thinking that he'd learned a new fact, Deon recalled the shape of the flower that would be on his room's windowsill and tried to match it with the flower language, wondering if they suited each other. Then, without any particular gain, he broached the main topic with an expressionless face.
"There's something you need to do."
He had already forgotten about the flower language by then.
***
There was a single day when the demons ran madly through the forest.
They didn't stop for even a moment, scrambling through every corner of the forest, to the point that the humans observing in ambush were bewildered, and then they swiftly withdrew just as quickly as they had entered.
There wasn't even any real combat due to their swift movements, so there were no casualties whatsoever, but as if to make their initial ridicule shameful, the humans began to experience a nightmarish phenomenon after that.
Their comrades lying in ambush vanished one by one.
They couldn't figure out the cause at all.
At some point, contact would abruptly cut off, and when they went to the spot, the person would be gone without a trace. As this terrifying situation repeated itself, their allies' morale plummeted sharply and was now crawling on the ground.
Margrave Amiable, who had arrived at the Miler territory and was commanding the troops, ultimately reported this bizarre situation to the Emperor without being able to solve it.
"......Plant-type monsters."
The Emperor immediately gave his answer.