The Green Menace
ㅡVwooom!
The pixies take flight, and the goblins march forward. The imps, too, advance toward the horizon with their mouths clamped shut.
Battle preparations are mostly complete. At this point, I could easily annihilate a human search party, and a single human unit would be a simple matter to deal with. On top of that, I have a few trump cards up my sleeve.
I will win. And I will use that victory as experience to forge my army into an even more powerful elite corps! Once I do that, I will be reborn as a true Demon King!
"Alright, Gyuil! You finish up the construction work! Split the personnel in half, and have the rest go find some food!"
"Gyusatsat! Understood!"
"Qusatsat!"
The Kobold Engineering Corps will remain in the dungeon to work. After sending Gyuil off, I turned to the women.
"Sisters? Today, we’re all going to do some combat training."
"What? Combat training? Are you telling us to fight humans?"
Reika replied with a blunt, sour tone. But the answer was a simple "Yes."
"Of course. If humans invade, there will be no exceptions. We must all join forces and cut down the humans."
"Yeah, bullshit."
Reika reacted with her usual indifference, looking away, but Irene and Liza were different.
"A-ah, even so, we can't... To be hostile toward humans, that's too much!"
"That's right! For once, Irene is right..."
They were clearly very uncomfortable. I understand, of course. How long has it been since they became demons? It’s not like they can just discard their identity as humans overnight. It took me a long time, too.
"I know it’s difficult. But if the humans attack, do you intend to just die? I don’t think so. If a robber attacks you, you naturally have to fight back."
"That’s..."
As I said that, the women began to waver. They know it’s unavoidable. They know that even if they hate it, they have to fight.
I hadn’t involved them in anti-personnel combat until now. But this fight is different. We can only survive if we work together.
"Ah, but don't worry too much. I know how you and Vanessa feel. So, I don’t intend to ask for anything unreasonable."
"...Then what do you intend to have us do?"
Vanessa, clad in her bikini armor, asked.
"It’s simple. Just think of yourselves as my personal guard. I won’t give orders like 'Go over there and kill humans,' 'Go to the front lines and fight,' or 'Assassinate the humans.'"
It’s not out of consideration; it’s a matter of efficiency. Unlike me, they haven’t fully discarded their human identity, so they would hesitate when fighting humans, and that would lead to fatal results. I can’t send women in that state to the front lines.
So, they’re being stationed in the rear.
"You just need to protect me and deal with the humans who come to kill us. It’s self-defense. Just stick by my side and handle the self-defense. Understand?"
I’m going to drag them around as my personal guard.
"I'll protect you, Demon King!"
Sharan raised her hand and reacted instantly.
"Hehe, you clever thing. Our Sharan is truly so clever."
"Shaaaa."
I immediately laughed and kneaded her cheeks, and Sharan leaned her body against me with a very comfortable expression.
"Kuh...!"
"Th-that...!"
The other women glared at us with displeased faces—it was jealousy. If they want to be rewarded by me, they’d better follow my orders.
"Ah, do you all want to be pampered like Sharan? Just say the word!"
"Shut up!"
"Shut up!"
Vanessa and Reika shouted at the same time.
"How savage. Well, anyway. Just become my personal guard and protect yourselves and me. Irene. Do you understand?"
"U-uung... If it’s just protecting myself... I suppose I have no choice..."
"Then you’ve agreed."
"Eh?! Wait!"
"I won’t accept any objections. Irene. If you rebel against me, I’ll tie you up and perform sexual torture."
"Kyaaaaaa! No! I’ll do as you say!"
They really are easy. Above all, if Irene falls in line, Liza comes as a set.
"Kuh! I have no choice! I can’t die, so I’ll do at least that much!"
Vanessa’s energetic response. As for Reika, there’s no need to ask further. When the situation actually arises, she’ll protect me well. I can tell by her attitude so far.
And finally.
"Liliel? Did you understand, Liliel?"
"What!"
How about the angel? I heard she’s been kept on a tight leash by Reika. They say she’s become quite tame.
"If those inferior humans attack, I shall simply execute them!"
This Nazi-like personality is actually helpful here.
"Good."
Even if they hesitate to fight humans, seeing them rush in to kill will naturally change their minds. Just because they are human doesn’t mean they are allies with all humans. That settles it.
"We will begin that combat training."
And so.
ㅡClack.
Under Vanessa’s guidance, we all drew our swords and began training. We repeated swinging our swords according to Vanessa’s commands, and we also practiced small-unit tactics, such as aligning formations and moving as a group.
"Vanessa. I’d like to request VIP escort training as well."
"I don’t know why I have to escort someone like you!"
"Ah, hurry up."
"I’ll do it because you ordered me to!"
She’s so docile. We even practiced moving while escorting me. Thanks to Vanessa’s good instruction, the sisters followed along well, too. All the women are my personal guard. I’ll make them do a lot of this kind of training from now on.
"Phew."
Reconnaissance, training, and securing supplies. To wage war, everything must be done thoroughly.
We finished the physical training during the morning, and after lunch, we all practiced Black Magic together.
"Dark Bolt!"
"D-Dark Bolt!"
ㅡWhoosh!
The Dark Bolt fired by the sisters slammed into a rock. Wicked flames scattered in all directions, causing a small explosion.
"Ho. As expected, it’s not bad. You have talent for Black Magic. Now, Reika. Could you cast Dark Cure on me?"
"Where?"
"On my shoulder."
The moment I said that—
ㅡGrip!
Reika grabbed my shoulder tightly!
"Argh!"
As a scream burst out, magical power began to flow from Reika’s hand. Dark Cure. This is a form of Black Magic that heals the target by injecting magical power. Still, they are sisters in name, so they should at least be able to heal.
The sisters have now learned two types of Black Magic: Dark Bolt and Dark Cure.
"Kuh... perfect."
"Want me to do more?"
"Could you do it on my dick?"
"Put it here, you fucker. I’ll blow it off."
"Hey. Blow it off? Then you won’t be able to use it, Reika."
"What?! Shut up!"
She turned bright red the moment I sexually harassed her. Anyway, while we were training like that—
"Grararak!"
"Shurararak!"
I saw a hobgoblin and a lizardman messenger running toward us from over there. Since we decided to send messengers once a day, it was about time.
"Stop. Thank you for coming all this way... hmm?"
Wait, these bastards aren’t messengers; they’re the chieftains.
"Aren’t you Jurassic? And you’re Hukburi."
"Grak! That’s right!"
"Shurararak! Something urgent happened, so I came myself!"
"What is it?"
Did they see humans or something? Both of them together? Well, the distance isn’t that far, so it wouldn’t be strange for both of them to find something. I had already ordered both of them to be wary of humans and to scout the surroundings diligently.
"Jurassic. You speak first."
"Shuwaaak! Green humans! Green humans appeared! They’re strong!"
"What?"
Green humans?
"Tell me in detail."
I heard the explanation from Jurassic. Green humans. They were a race about the size of humans, but they had large builds and well-developed muscles.
"Orcs?"
That’s the only thing that comes to mind.
"Vanessa. Aren’t these Orcs?"
"Orcs? Is that what you demons call them?"
She seems to know something.
"Ah, yes. We call them Orcs. Please call them Orcs."
"I see. If it’s a muscular race with green skin, there’s only one. It seems you’re right, they’re Orcs. They’re a fairly strong monster race, so we exterminate them whenever they appear."
Is that so?
"They’re monsters that are strong in their own right. Even a skilled soldier would have a hard time beating an Orc 1-on-1. However, they aren’t more intelligent than humans. If you engage in group combat, you can repel them sufficiently."
So, they have good individual physical specs, but they’re stupid, so they get wiped out in group combat? These are definitely Orcs.
"Hukburi. Did you see them too?"
"Grak! Y-yes! It’s dangerous!"
"Hmm."
Are they such a strong race that even my friends in the forest are wary of them... To have Orcs appear just as humans are on the verge of invading. This is troublesome.
I’ll have to think about what to do. If they’re enemies with physical specs good enough to make the Lizardmen fear them, I don’t know how much damage we’ll take if we fight. I think I should avoid a collision.
"I’ll have to see it with my own eyes first."
I made that decision.
"Jurassic. Hukburi. If it looks like you’re going to collide with them, lead your tribes and run this way. Understand?"
"Shuwaaak! Understood!"
"Grakrak!"
Then let’s wait until my scouts return.
***
Pixies, goblins, and imps. I sent them to scout, but none of them found any humans. It seems the search party hasn’t entered this far yet.
Still, I gained one thing.
"King! Green muscle-bastards appeared! They’re fucking huge! They’re about the same size as you, King!"
They found the Orcs. As soon as I obtained that information, I thought I needed to learn about the Orcs, so I let my subordinates rest well.
And the next day, I picked a few of my personal guards and set out to search for the Orcs. Orcs that hadn’t appeared before suddenly showed up. They might have moved here from another region. Naturally, I have to search.
Since I didn’t find any humans anyway, I have time to search. It’s at times like this that I need to know everything so I can deal with variables.
As I was moving like that—
"Sha? Demon King. I can feel them over there."
"Good. Let’s tail them quietly."
We were able to find them quite quickly.
"Oh."
Indeed. The Orcs were truly Orcs. Height similar to humans. And a muscular physique. Unusually, while their forearms were muscular, their bellies were bulging out. On top of that, their forward head posture looked incredibly severe.
As for their faces, well, they were just ugly. Their jaws and molars were protruding. Their tools... are they about the same level as the hobgoblins? They are holding clubs made of woven stones.
"But their dicks are small, aren’t they?"
"What?"
Irene said that suddenly.
"Ah."
I was surprised and asked back, and Irene covered her mouth. Certainly. The Orcs weren’t wearing anything right now. So, their genitals were all visible, but they were small compared to their bulky frames.
"Irene? What did you just say?"
"Ah, no! It’s nothing!"
"Shh!"
"Ugh."
To think a sister would be interested in dicks first... How surprising.
Anyway, the Orcs were looking around and picking fruits, and after fooling around like that for a while, they started moving again.
"Sha."
Because Sharan, who had become quite strong, was by my side, tailing them was very simple. How long had we been tailing them?
"Chwiik!"
"Chwiik, chwiik!"
"Chwiiiiik!"
We were able to discover the Orc tribe.
"..."
A tribe that feels like it has just settled in. A family that has just moved in. Anyway, the sight of the tribe came into view. The Orcs were each doing something while making chwiik sounds.
There are quite a few of them... Why did they suddenly move here? Were they pushed out from somewhere else?
This is certainly a big deal. No matter what, sharing a living space with an Orc tribe of that scale would be very dangerous. Domination? Just looking at them, they’re a strong race. They are completely different from the other races we were able to crush. If we want to dominate them, we have to be prepared to lose a percentage of our troops.
I need to come up with some kind of countermeasure... No, wait?
ㅡSnap.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through my brain.
"This."
I could use this, couldn’t I?