Chapter 310: Demon King Carnival ②

Chapter 310: Demon King

Ten minutes after my invasion teams departed to the front.

At first we had planned for Sati―the Storm King of the Aichi Prefecture―to move three minutes later, but since it'd be strange for Sati to move without the enemy having reacted in any way, he was staying on standby for the moment.

Sati was scheduled to make his move three minutes after my Domain was invaded.

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Saburo, did you already start? Is it okay for me to start as well?

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Sati, calm down lol

The humans haven even reacted yet lmao

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Is it alright for me to make my move now?

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Sheesh, Yaoi-chan, you're totally pumped about this, aren'tcha? rofl

If we gonna to cooperate, stick to the plan lol

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Saburo-san's sorties had started to become a topic online.

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Wow! That's quite a flashy march to the front, dude!

We gotta imitate that as well.

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Saburo-san, how are things looking on your end?

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It's still peaceful here.

I observed the enemy movements while also having an eye on Laplace. This time I didn't make any declarations of war.

In the first place, my invasion isn't targeting the humans, but the demon kings of Itoigawa.

Ten minutes later, I got a call from Kaede whom I had sent out to scout.

『Milord, Hida Fort moved.』

Hida Fort was a structure built as an anti-Aster Empire bulwark.

"What are their numbers?"

『100? 300? 500? They're gradually getting more』

"When are they going to arrive here?"

『In around 15 minutes?』

"Got it. Please keep monitoring the situation."

『Roger』

I ended the call with Kaede and called out to Kanon, who was floating next to me.

"What's the number of people stationed in Hida Fort?"

"Going by last week's investigation, around 2,000."

"Gifu City is far away, so...what about Takayama?"

"They should house more than 500,000."

500,000, eh...?

Two million people had originally lived in the Gifu Prefecture, but many of them died as a result of the world having completely changed. However, because of people fleeing Ishikawa, Toyama, Nagano, and Aichi after those prefectures fell to demon kings, the population of Takayama grew to more than 500,000.

The Gifu Prefecture is an important area because it connects the humans in the east and west. Because of that, they buffed up the defenses over there a lot more than in other prefectures.

Are they going to move all of the 500,000...? Or are their numbers going to exceed even a million with Gifu City also sending reinforcements?

"The number of humans above level 50 among Takayama's humans is...?"

"Uuhh...unknown ever since they started to censor the information."

"Figures."

Oh well, whatever. It just means we'll have to gauge the opponents' abilities during the war.

I looked at Laplace again.

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The enemy moved.

I posted curtly and then set out to prepare our defenses.

◆

Ten minutes later.

I watched the enemy on my smartphone as I used the eyes of a subordinate I had stationed in front of my Domain.

Huge vehicles with pointlessly conspicuous flags and humans shouting through speakers to encourage each other.

Is this some sort of...diversion? Are they trying to make the unit, which I sent out to invade Itoigawa, come back by kicking up a fuss in front of my door?

Or...?

Another ten minutes later.

"It seems like the enemy has finished their preparations," Yataro muttered while looking outside the Domain.

For a while now, the humans have been constantly amassing troops in front of several sectors.

"Attacking simultaneously, eh...?"

"That's because it's their usual modus operandi."

"Going by what I've seen, they're planning to invade...ten places?"

"Their side is also careful, apparently trying to get a read on the situation."

"Do you think the enemy will split their combat forces evenly?"

"Hmm, if I were in their shoes, I'd definitely want to capture some of the sectors. Therefore, I'd concentrate the combat forces in one place, but...what do you think, Shion?"

"I'd do the same."

"In that case, the same probably applies to those troublemakers as well."

"What do you think? Which sector are they going for?"

"That's a difficult question. If we could decide by numbers, it'd be easy to tell, but...without knowing the quality of the individuals in the invasion groups, it's basically impossible to make an educated guess."

"So I guess we have to actually face them to find out, huh?"

"That's right. Rather than that, Shion..."

"What's up?"

"Did the Thirteen Evil Stars in question move?"

"Hmm, I wonder?"

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Did you move Sati?

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Sorry. Not yet.

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What do you mean by that?

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I'll explain. We're currently grasping your situation through reconnaissance.

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What's the reason for scouting but not moving? Are you backing off on your promise?

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No. It ain't the right time yet.

Let me ask you one thing: As of now, you haven't actually invaded a single place, Saburo, so do you think an idiot, who hurriedly moves under these circumstances, would have become an Upper Class Demon King――a member of the Thirteen Evil Stars?

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In short, you're saying it'd be unnatural for you to move right now?

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That's how it is.

By the way, that's not just my opinion. Seven and Ikoku agree as well.

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With that said, sorry, Saburo.

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Don't sulk about it.

As soon as the time's ripe, I promise you on my name as Nagano's Demon King 『Secret』 that we will definitely move.

Once I scrolled up, I could see that Nina had stopped Sati from moving. As far as I could tell through the logs, their objective wasn't to take me down, but...to make this carnival a success...at least that's my interpretation from what I see, but...can I really trust them?

Well, at this point in time, I cannot change things either way. If this whole endeavor goes bust, I'll enact Plan B.

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Don't tell me to trust a guy who always adds lols and rofls at the end of each of his sentences.

Well, whatever. Move before I die, okay?

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Hahahaha! As if the 『Creator King』 would die from something as puny as that! rofl

Either way, you can take my word for granted lmao

After hearing those words from the guy, who's the least trustable of them all, I prepared myself for the worst.