Makai Hongi

Chapter 163

A report about the invasion from the Celestial World was going to be sent to Demon King Tralzard.

Normally, this duty would be up to Corps Commander Dyle, who had been in charge here.

However, Dyle had gone off to meet the General. And so he wasn’t with us now.

As for the deputy leader, he had died in the battle against the residents of the Celestial World.

And so Halm had to write the report, as he had actually experienced it.

Regardless, it had nothing to do with me, as I was just an outsider. However, I was still summoned by Halm.

He said that he wanted to hear my opinions and for me to help him fill any blanks in his memory.

That being said, there was a lot that I found difficult to talk about in my position.

“How did you manage to cut them? Both I and Wormell were unable to hit them with our attacks. We couldn’t even scratch them.”

Halm was very puzzled by this.

There was a part of me that wanted to be honest with him, but I wasn’t sure about certain things.

For instance, had Research Institution Eira really come in order to recover my soul?

It seemed like the most likely explanation to me. But I still had doubts.

After all, Halm had assured me that creating a barrier of that scale was no easy feat.

There is an old Japanese folktale about a nobleman who dropped a coin in a river and spent a lot of money just to retrieve it.

Obviously, the coin was not worth much. Definitely not enough to hire people to retrieve it.

So, why had he done such a thing? His reason was this. The coin that went unused was dead, but money used to hire people was alive.

It circulated and went into the pockets of the people. So it was not a complete waste.

That was the moral of the story, and what Eira were doing was similar.

They were using a tremendous amount of holy power in order to chase after and pick up a soul that ran away.

It was said that the residents of the Celestial World were rationals, so it was also possible that they had some other reason for coming to the Demon World, and then they just happened to find my soul.

In the first place, I just didn’t know what their purpose was.

And so I decided that there was no need to offer predictions here. And I left all of that unsaid.

Leaving that aside, there was the matter of why my sword had gone through them.

“They tried to reach inside your body with their bare hands, didn’t they?”

“Yes. Wormell died because they took the Orb of Control out of him directly.”

“In my case, I just attacked in order to stop them. I knew that attacking any part of their body wouldn’t matter. But I just wanted to keep its hand away.”

I had attacked the hand that stretched towards me. So this would make sense to him.

“Hmm. So the holy power really does stop the attacks. However, their palms are an exception?”

“It might just be a coincidence. I think that maybe the holy power gets in the way when they remove the Orb of Control.”

“I see. So that means we should aim for their palms.”

“I’m not so sure. These are rational people. They’ll probably have a way to prevent it next time.”

“Indeed, it’s doubtful that they wouldn’t do anything about their weakness. So I suppose they’ll do something about it before attacking again. In that case…”

Halm stopped to think.

“Personally, I think that my attack working was more or less an accident. I’m sorry that I’m not able to be of much use to you.”

“No. I’m grateful for what you told me. In the first place, I hadn’t even known that they envelope their bodies in holy power. Is that something only Eira can do? Or can all residents of the Celestial World do that now? Still, we know that they are still not completely invincible. It’s valuable information, and I will add it to the report.”

After that, we went over everything that had happened.

Very few had survived, and the ones who did had not even seen the residents of the Celestial World.

Everyone who was close by had been killed.

Halm had apparently questioned those who were wounded, but most of them were still unable to talk. And those who were conscious didn’t have any noteworthy information.

Ultimately, Halm asked me the same questions over and over again.

I tried to remember details as I answered him, and the report was eventually completed.

“Alright, this should do. Thank you, Golan.”

“I see. I’m glad to have been of assistance. What will happen to this army now?”

I’d been wondering about it. Corps Commander Dyle’s army had been destroyed.

This would affect the future of me and my men as well.

“Dyle seems to have lost his spirit after the death of his close comrades. He will likely be relieved of his position.”

“Is it because his army was destroyed? Or because he was absent when it happened?”

“It’s because there is no one for him to lead. The Rock Lions are all dead. It would be better for someone from the largest or more powerful groups to be the leader instead of him.”

“I see.”

There were not that many Rock Lions.

Dyle had likely only become Corps Commander because they were one of the high-ranking races.

In General Farneze’s case, she would choose a new Corps Commander first, and the rest would be decided around that person.

Things would be easier if the person at the top was part of the majority race.

“The General is supposed to arrive tonight.”

“I see. That’s earlier than I expected.”

Currently, there were three armies guarding the border to the west.

This was on Demon King Tralzard’s order, and it was to stabilize the west.

But since this rear guard corps had been destroyed, it had become necessary for General Miralda to move the main camp forward. A lot of plans had been wrecked because of this attack.

However, she was moving so swiftly that you almost wouldn’t know it. That was how skilled she was with managing her army.

“Now that I think about it, we’re being saved for a battle in the west, aren’t we?”

“Yes. Corps Commander Sven, Ralf and Oake were placed near the border because everyone was wary of any movement from the Lesser Demon King countries to the west.”

“With the east, all it took was General Miralda to draw close, and they became very meek. However, I don’t know how things will go in the west.”

“The conditions are so different between the east and west, so I doubt it will go well. There is likely to be at least one big clash.”

“General Miralda once told me this, but it’s better for the stability of this country if no Lesser Demon Kings rise to the position of Demon King.”

“It’s true. The birth of a new Demon King would greatly alter the power balance of the Demon World. A new Demon King is likely to move ravenously, and swallow up neighboring Lesser Demon Kings. And once there are no more Lesser Demon Kings in the area, they will conspire with a distant Demon King in order to invade the country of a different Demon King. They often do not have the wisdom of a Demon King. They are just hungry to get to the top, and care little about stability. That’s why the General wants to act before anything like that happens.”

Yes, it was best to prevent the problem from occurring at all.

However, Nehyor could be involved in the current situation. So it would be best to expect the worst.

I was also unable to predict what Nehyor would do next.

It was as I was thinking such things, that we heard loud voices coming from outside.

Apparently, General Miralda’s advance party had arrived.

So the General’s army would reach us shortly.

“A new camp will be built starting tomorrow. And then the soldiers will be moved little by little.”

“But my own men are still in survival training. When will they be back?”

“The training will continue for a few more days. So they won’t return until four or five days from now.”

“I understand. Hahaha…ha…”

As for me, things were really difficult without Rig, my Adjutant.

When it was night, I received word that General Miralda and her men had arrived safely.