Chapter 52: 52

Parsi shrugged. He didn’t say anything more, but seeing as how I didn’t receive a notification telling me that his affection had gone down, this meant that even he wasn’t being sincere while asking that.

The adventurers that invaded my dungeon were like that as well. They possessed both cruelty and innocence at the same time. On one hand, they would shoot their arrows without any hesitation, while on the other hand, they would open themselves up with utmost ease. I heard that, contrary to how they’re normally portrayed, farmers during the medieval times could change into bandits just as easily as outlaws could if necessary. This kind of two-faced personality is most likely a common trait among the people of this era.

━ Kirururuk!

The village quickly degraded into a massive banquet. Even after filling all of the goblins’ stomachs, there was still plenty of meat left from the fifty-nine pieces of human flesh.

“An outright victory. With this, the degree in which the goblin tribes will participate in battles will increase greatly.”

“Aah. However, as we discussed previously, we will have to devote ourselves to the false attack operation.”

“Correct. I will order the golems to transport the corpses.”

We stood in the village plaza and conversed casually. It wasn’t because there was a particularly new topic to discuss. It was so we could allow our soldiers to enjoy a brief party.

There are over 14 goblins tribes spread throughout the nearby mountain range. If we were to combine all of those tribes, then having an army that surpasses 500 goblins would be an easy task. They wouldn’t all be able to go into battle, but I could have mobilized a number of goblins that far surpasses the hundred I used in today’s battle. Nevertheless, there’s a simple reason why I was able to bring only a hundred.

The goblin tribes were afraid that they would suffer losses.

It was only natural. Goblins may attack and pillage human villages like mountain bandits at times, but they wouldn’t go to full out war. When a similar number of goblins and mountain men go to battle, the latter has the advantage. It is especially difficult for goblins to attack human villages that have fences or any other type of security measures.

The goblin tribes weren’t enthusiastic about my proposal to subjugate the humans. They remained steadfast even when I told them that I would minimize their losses by putting my golems at the front. For goblins, humans are usually beings that they don’t go to war with, but they would instead pillage them every now and then whenever they felt like trying something different.

Be it humans or monsters, no, especially for monsters, it’s hard for them to escape old habits. I was only able to bring a hundred goblins because I’m a Demon Lord, a being that inherently gains the affection of monsters. If I weren’t a Demon Lord, then I wouldn’t have been able to bring a single goblin.

Laura took out a map.

“Immediately invading the next town would not be the best idea.”

It wasn’t a complete map, but it was something that was roughly drafted by Parsi and the other humans that were friendly towards us. The locations of the human villages and goblin tribes were drawn on it.

“Our forces will be going clockwise and razing the villages to the ground one by one. The adventurers will figure out our route after we have captured at least two villages. Surprise attacks may be a basic tactic in war, but we still have some time to spare.”

Laura pointed at the goblin villages on the map one at a time.

“Therefore, let us disperse our army of goblins right now.”

“Eh, what?”

Parsi seemed confused.

“We barely managed to gather a hundred of them during the last few days and you want to disperse them now!?”

Even if we had a map, not only was it a rough draft, but Laura and I weren’t accustomed to mountain paths. For the past few days, Parsi acted as our guide as we went up and down the mountain. From Parsi’s perspective as someone who had to go through that endeavor, dispersing the group would be like wasting his efforts.

Laura smiled.

“The reason why His Highness Demon Lord had put in his own legwork to gather the goblins is due to them refusing to participate in the battles voluntarily. However, the situation has changed now. The goblins suffered no losses in today’s skirmish.”

Sure enough, human corpses were lined up in the village. There were a couple of goblin corpses near the fences; however, that was enough to still regard this as them not having suffered any losses.

“They have only benefited from this. Dozens of human corpses is a harvest that goblins cannot possibly imagine to obtain. Allow me to ask you this.”

Laura turned to Parsi.

“Let’s say that we order the goblins to gather at a certain place later for the next battle before dispersing them. How many goblins do you think will join them on their next excursion?”

“U-Uh……do you think things will turn out that well?”

Parsi struggled to meet Laura’s gaze. As expected of a noble’s daughter, each of her motions was elegant, so it seems she was too much for a country boy to face. Sheesh, he says whatever he wants to a Demon Lord like me, but he can’t lift a finger against an actual beauty.

“We had a good haul today, so let’s stop here!……Couldn’t they think like that?”

“If they can gain something without losing anything in return, then they will always come flying. The goblins will go back to their tribes and brag about how easy today’s battle was and how many corpses they obtained. How do you expect the other goblins would react?”

Laura seemed to feel no need to talk to Parsi any longer as she turned to face me. She displayed a confident smile as she spoke.

“I dare to declare my certainty that Your Lordship will have an army of over 300 troops in the next battle.”

I heeded her advice and disbanded our troops. Parsi kept holding his head half in doubt as they dispersed.

Two days later.

Laura’s prediction was spot-on.

When we arrived at the crossroad to the next village, there were already hundreds of goblins crowded there. The mountain valley was filled with green waves.

Parsi stared at Laura in utter surprise. Laura commanded the army as if this were a natural turnout and we conquered the second village as if we were taking candy from a baby as well.

* * *

“Son of a bitch!”

Riff flipped over a wooden table. The table toppled over loudly.

This was a home where the seniors of the adventurer party were residing. This house was obtained after threatening the original residence of this home, but Riff felt nothing about throwing the furniture around however he pleased. Once Riff learned about what was happening from a survivor, raged filled his chest.

“Shit, fucking bastard! How dare that pathetic son of a bitch!”

His fellow senior adventurers didn’t dare to stop him as they stood still.

Riff had raised a bunch of second-rate countryside adventurers into a first-rate party within a couple of months and won over the civilian militia of another region, so he exercised absolute leadership. They knew very well that things wouldn’t turn out well even if they tried to restrain their currently upset leader.

“Fuck, get your stuff! We’re going to invade the dungeon right now!”

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“Right this instant?”

One of the seniors asked carefully.

“The civilian militia folks have become really anxious once they heard that two villages have been massacred. It’d be best if we tried to at least raise their morales a bit…….”

Riff glared at the guy fiercely. He then punched him in the stomach abruptly. The man held back his groan as he bent forward. The other adventurers became more nervous and they unwittingly tensed up their backs.

Riff shouted at the other seniors who still didn’t know what to do.

“You fucking retard! When else would we invade!? That Demon Lord fucker is attacking villages! That means his dungeon is empty right now!”

“Ah!”

“You empty-headed idiots……! Go outside and tell the others that we’ll be leaving in an hour!”

The other adventurers vacated the premises in a hurry. Only a single person stayed behind, a girl who didn’t fit in with Riff’s party of only male adventurers was sitting in the corner of the house.

Riff paid her no mind as he began to think. His now calm demeanor made it hard to believe that he was the same enraged person earlier.

Contrary to his image, he doesn’t actually have a short temper and tends to think deeply. He got mad and threw a fuss earlier so that he could make the other adventurers come back to their senses after hearing about the villages being massacred. His comrades were trustworthy when it came to combat prowess, but he couldn’t trust them one bit when it came to using their heads.

‘It’d be great if Cyclops were here in a time like this.’

Riff recalled the comrade he had previously lost in Dantalian’s Demon Lord castle. Cyclops and Riff were a great duo. Riff would take hold of the atmosphere, while Cyclops would control the situation appropriately. You needed to establish these roles firmly if you want to lead dimwitted adventurers efficiently. Right now, Riff has been taking on all of the roles, so his exhaustion has been increasing by the day. When he thought about how this was all because of that Demon Lord bastard, it frustrated him even more.

Two villages being annihilated hurt.

‘But this really doesn’t harm us.’

He concluded coldly.

There were 3 things Riff was relying on.

First, villages may have disappeared, but that didn’t harm his party.

The civilian militia were all residing in the same village as the adventurers. To Riff, he honestly didn’t care if a few villages disappeared as long as the manpower known as his civilian militia was fine. It wasn’t his village anyway, so why should he care?

Second, he had hired a mage.

The woman who was sitting in the corner of the room and dozing off was the mage. Furthermore, she wasn’t some rookie One Circle or Two Circle mage, but a Three Circle! As a battle mage, she was someone who could deal with lowest-tier golems with ease.

According to the report, the Demon Lord has golems, goblins, and fairies under his wing. It should be a relatively easy battle as the mage deals with the golems while the adventurers fend them and the goblins off.

Riff was very lucky to have been able to hire a mage despite being a low-ranking adventurer. Low-class mages tend to not have their own workshops, so they spend most of their time working and learning at mage towers. However, as their Circle rank increases, the fee required to continue learning magic increases exponentially as well. Thus, low-class mages would often work part-time in adventurer parties for a season in order to earn some funding.

From what Riff could tell, this woman also belonged to that latter group.

‘Who would have known that an idiot like her would take the bait? Hehe.’

She was seriously ignorant of how the real world works. Occasionally, there are ignorant people among the mages who have no idea how cruel society can be because they spend all their lives studying. Adventurers referred to these mages as pushovers.

This woman was the representative of pushovers. The way she looked around after entering the adventurer guild screamed, ‘I’m a pushover, please take advantage of me’, so Riff approached the woman without hesitation. It took less than five minutes to sweet-talk her into signing an unfair contract after telling her about how Dantalian’s Demon Lord castle was filled with gold but has no traps and only has lowest-tier golems for monsters.

We promised to give her 5% of the total profit. This was practically like hiring a Three Circle mage for free, but the woman agreed and followed us. Riff had probably laughed at the girl in his mind over a hundred times now. In the end, the only ones who profit in the world are the ones who deceive.

‘Like that Demon Lord bastard.’

Riff gnashed his teeth. It still frustrated him whenever he remembered how he was deceived by that guy’s acting. He really was stupid back then! Logically speaking, there’s no way that a Demon Lord would act for the sake of adventurers. And yet, Riff and the other adventurers of Jalsen Village trusted the Demon Lord like sheep. It was literally like they had been possessed.

‘That fucking son of a bitch. I’ll rip your guts out and twirl it around.’

It was around this point that Riff put his emotions in order. He was certain that he would be able to get back at the Demon Lord for the rage he was feeling right now.

And the third final reason…….

“L-Leader.”

One of the adventurers returned. It was the man who got hit by Riff earlier. He had a completely horrified look on his face.

“Huh? Why are you back already? Have you finished the preparations?”

“Well, uhm……there’s a problem.”

“A problem? Fuck, what problem?”

Riff retorted sharply almost as if he intended to chew him out. The young man answered while blaming the world for making him take this role.

“It’s, well……the civilian militia…….”

“What about the civilian militia!?”

“T-The civilian militia is saying that they absolutely won’t go to the dungeon!”

Riff’s face contorted greatly like a piece of paper.

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! Well, this chapter came out quicker than normal since I had practically finished it by the time I remembered to upload the previous chapter. My mistake.

I don’t know if I like this quarantine or not anymore. It’s nice being at home, but at the same time, my university has decided to give us even more assignments. It’s greeeaat. Well, complaints aside, I’ll see you guys in the next release.

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