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Chapter 192: Prayer

“We have succeeded in capturing Fortress LaPolca and defeated an additional 300,000 magical beasts.”

I reported as such to all the cities through Ellie.

Hearing the miraculous news, the elves offered their prayers of thanks to the Spirit King and wished the Queen peace. I had told the Generals beforehand to not say anything about me.

We had defeated most of the magical beasts and conquered the Fortress LaPolca, but there was still work to be done.

If we were to use the fortress in the future, then it would be bad if there were some magical beasts lurking somewhere.

The Demon King’s army had placed many magical beasts in Fortress LaPolca that did not require food, such as skeletons and other Undead Spirits, perhaps with a siege in mind.

We couldn’t afford to have magical beasts hiding inside the fortress, so we were sweeping the area with a scout team that was highly capable of detecting magical beasts. I had my tireless summons working tirelessly to help me in my quest to completely conquer the Fortress LaPolca.

Me and my friends returned to Tiamo with General Lucidral after handling the urgent issues.

The front line was important, but we had to talk about the future with the Queen and other Generals.

“Hey, Allen. I’m sorry I let you down.”

Kurena was sitting behind me in a B-rank Bird summon.

It was late at night, so I wasn’t making any [Blessing of Heaven]s and B-rank Birds were using their awakening skill [Soar] to reach Tiamo that evening.

“What?”

I was going to ride with Cecile or Formar a ride back to the city, but since Kurena said she wanted ride with me that day, I decided to ride with her to the city. Apparently, Kurena wanted to talk to me alone.

“If I’d been more proficient with my Extra Skill, that one Demon wouldn’t have escaped.”

(Oh, you mean that? That’s why you’re so depressed?)

“Well, we don’t know. Even if you had been able to use your skills in that situation, he might have escaped. Besides…”

Nephtila was running away at a great speed. It was very difficult to defeat an opponent who was fast enough to cast a recovery spell on himself and run away.

If I had let my summons that were fighting alongside the elven soldiers chase after him, then I would have had been leaving the elven soldiers to die.

And Glaster, who had activated his Extra Skill, was so ridiculously powerful that it was hard to believe that his power was only equivalent to an A-rank magical beast.

If I weren’t there to fight against him, my friends probably would have died. And I don’t think I would have left my friends to die. I didn’t actually have the option to chase after Nephtila.

“Besides?”

“You can’t change what you’ve done. Also, I was able to get Ellie to accompany him. The conditions for meeting the Demon General Razel are now in place.”

At that exact moment, Nephtila was heading towards Fortenia at a great speed. The moment Nephtila ran away, I succeeded in getting an Ellie to follow him, so I could say that the conditions for meeting the Demon General Razel were in place.

“… I see.”

“I’m glad you are fine now, Kurena. D. Allen is really happy for you.”

“Oh!”

Kurena leaned forward and squeezed both my cheeks from behind.

“Just kidding. Besides, it’s important to run away like he did.” I said that it was important to run away like Nephtila. “What? Do you also run away? Aren’t we supposed to fight hard?”

“Of course, I have run away too. Standing up to them isn’t the only way to fight.”

It was not always possible to defeat an enemy the first time you see him. If you can’t beat them despite your best efforts to improve your odds, you have to run away. I chose to run when I fought the assassin Dagraha.

“I see.”

It seemed to be a difficult subject for Kurena. She tilted her head, trying to understand what I was saying.

(It was information that would have leaked out at some point anyway. But still, the information I got was great. The Demon race can use Extra Skills. I wonder what a Liberator is. Sophie said she didn’t know, but I wonder if it’s a Demon term or something. I wonder if the Spirit King knows about it?)

There were many things that I learned through my battles with the Demons.

We arrived at Tiamo in the middle of the night.

The Queen and the Generals were both absent, so we decided to talk about the future tomorrow.

At dawn

Thinking that breakfast was getting more and more opulent, I enjoyed the rather lightly seasoned elven food.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“Good morning. Yes, I slept very well.”

Some time after dawn, we came to the hall where the Queen was. The Generals were in a good mood.

Re-capturing the Fortress LaPolca was probably the best news they had ever received since the war started.

(Hmm? Is the Spirit King still sleeping in the morning? I haven’t seen him awake lately.)

I had no particular desire to be a Hero. I was thanked a lot in the development village and in the city of Grandver, but I only did it because he had to. Even then, I was only lending my assistance to Rosenheim because it was in trouble.

The Spirit King, or the flying squirrel was peacefully sleeping in the Queen’s lap.

When I asked if it was okay to talk about the future, both the Queen and the Generals said it would be fine, so I started talking.

“Since we were able to take down the Fortress LaPolca in a short period of time, we have been able to buy a lot of time before the Demon King’s army of 4 million reserve troops arrive.”

It seems that the Demon King’s army, divided into two groups, the one attacking from the north, had just landed in Rosenheim. Although the Demon King’s army marched faster than elven army it was not a distance that they could cover in a few days.

The same seemed to be true for the Demon King’s army that was attacking from the south by ocean.

“”Oh!””

“Master Allen, what should we do?”

(What? Can I just decide everything?)

When I first arrived at Rosenheim, I was only planning to cooperate in fighting the Demon King’s army. But I had long since past that stage of cooperation.

“Yes, I think there are two ways.”

I said what I had been thinking.

The first was to have the places south of Fortress LaPolca completely under our control. The land south of Fortress LaPolca was vast, and there were several cities that had been destroyed by magical beasts. I said that we should hit them as soon as possible because we don’t want them to consolidate in groups.

If we left it alone, we would be pinned down when the Demon King’s army arrived from the north.

I further added that the magical beasts had left the city where they were stationed, so it was the correct time to defeat them.

The other was to move the headquarters of the elven army to Fortress LaPolca.

I said that we should send at least 300,000 troops to the Fortress LaPolca and fortify it.

“But what about the attack of the Demon King’s army on Nest City?”

“I think we need at least 100,000 troops stationed in Nest City. But me and my will take care of the battle in Nest City.”

I told them to move 300,000 of the 600,000-strong elven army to Fortress LaPolca and 100,000 to Nest City. With 3 million troops approaching from the north and 1 million troops from the south, the north and south would be fighting a force that was 10 times larger than them.

“I see.” the Queen replied.

I said that me and my friends were going to stop an army of one million, but she didn’t seem to object.

(This is going to be a pretty tough fight, but let’s see what we can do. I’ll have to analyze my <Command> skill and formulate a strategy as soon as possible. How many more days do I have?)

Rosenheim’s northernmost fortress had fallen against an army of 3 million.

This northernmost fortress had an outer wall that was twice as tall as the Fortress LaPolca.

To overcome that, many flying magical beasts attacked. This time, we had to defend against them with Fortress LaPolca. Because of the pincer, we had to deal with that as well. (I just have to believe that it is more than just <Fast Summon>.)

My strategy depended on the results of my analysis of my <Command> skill.

“Thank you for everything. The battle was not over yet, but the voices of concern from the people have lessened somewhat. Please allow me, as that Queen, to express my gratitude. Thank you very much.”

“No, no, it’s thanks to the good work of the soldiers. By the way, I heard something curious from the Demons at the Fortress LaPolca, so I wanted to ask if Her Majesty the Queen or anyone else here might know something.”

“Please ask.”

“The Demons called me the Liberator. Have any of you ever heard of a Liberator?”

Both the Queen and the Generals began to tilt their heads as they said, “What is a Liberator?”

Apparently, no one knew.

(They also don’t know? I wonder if the Spirit King knows. I want him to wake up. Will he wake up if I call him?)

Just as I was about to speak to the sleeping Spirit King… “Prayers seem to abound.”

“”What?””

The Spirit King, with his eyes closed and navel-gazing, uttered a single word.

Then, light began to flood from his body.

(Oh? What’s going on? What’s going on?)

“No, Spirit King. What if?”

“Oh, descendant of the Prayer Maiden. It seems that your prayers for me will soon be answered. It is a little early, but the deeds of the boy in front of me have taken my place many times over. Haha.”

The Spirit King, floating in the air, light leaking from his body, spoke up.

(Taken his place? Did I do something?)

I was not aware of when I had taken his place or anything. “Oh!! You’re going to be a Spirit God?”

Large tears spilled from both of the Queen’s eyes.

“Yes. It looks like I’ll be a Spirit God soon. At that time, I couldn’t even imagine this would happen. I’m not very good at foreseeing my own destiny. Haha.”

Affirming the Queen’s question, the Spirit King slowly descended into the Queen’s lap once again, with light all over his body.

(Which time is ‘that time’? The Generals and Sophie are both crying a lot, aren’t they? Should I cry too? I can’t keep up with them.)

Sophie and Formar beside me were both crying. The Generals standing in line were also weeping with joy.

While Allen and his friends, who were not elves, were confused, the Spirit King was enveloped in light.