BXBX NOVEL Vol. 4 - Chapter 204 - The Price
My friends and I continued to fight against the magical beasts of the Demon King's army that were exhausted to destroy the Demon King's army in a short period of time.
8 days after my return, the Demon King's army surrounding Fortress LaPolca, which had 5 million troops, retreated. That happened 13 days after the Demon King's army started its attack on Fortress LaPolca.
I decided to attack the main force of the Demon King's army, the group attacking the northern wall.
I learnt from last time that the Demon King's army's troops would scatter while retreating and that would increase the time to defeat them and we couldn't afford to waste our precious time. So, I decided to hunt the side with the most number of magical beasts.
B-rank Insect Alipons and the ever-increasing number of Child Alipons surrounded and annihilated the Demon King's army. Thanks to their Commander, they were quite active.
The elves rejoiced in their great victory. 300,000 or so of them had defeated an army 10 times larger than the Demon King's army.
In the center of the fortress, many elves wrapped in cloth reported their victory to their comrades-in-arms who were about to be buried.
The elves knew how big the victory was.
The Demon King's army had called up all their troops from north of the Fortress LaPolca to attack but still lost.
And since most of them were defeated, the threat of the Demon King's army to Rosenheim was almost gone.
But the elven soldiers still had some work to do.
That was to dispose of the corpses of magical beasts around Fortress LaPolca.
Not only did they have to collect the magic stones and materials, but they also had to dispose of the corpses before they started decomposing.
Trying not to grieve over the death of their comrades, the elven soldiers worked frantically.
I used my summons to help them.
I had B-rank Insect Alipons and Child Alipons help in dismantling and transport, and B-rank Dragons were in charge of the incineration.
About two days later, I was in Tiamo.
We had roughly completed our remaining duties and reported the current situation to the Queen and the Generals.
"That's our current situation."
"Well, thank you very much. We will definitely repay this favor."
The Queen said to me.
The Generals should have thanked him, but they were too busy fighting to speak.
In the little over a month since my arrival, all of the Demon King's forces, including the reserve unit, had disappeared.
The annual number of magical beats the elves defeated was usually around 500,000. This meant that we had defeated 14 times as many magical beasts during the war.
No one doubted whether the prophecy of the Spirit King was true.
They were only grateful that the Spirit King, who realized the danger the elves were in, appealed to them again and again that there was a Hero who could save them.
"No, no, it was all thanks to the soldiers' dedication to fighting for their country and for Her Majesty the Queen. Also, Your Majesty, I think it's too early to say thank you. The war is not over yet."
I didn't believe that I alone successfully defeated the Demon King's army.
It was only because of the elven soldiers who fought for their home and Queen that we were able to achieve so much in such a short period of time.
Even when the strategy was mine.
Even when [Blessing of Heaven]s, or buffs and assistance from my Fish summons saved thousands of lives.
Even when my summons took the initiative to fight in front of the wall to protect the elven soldiers.
Even so, it was the elven soldiers who fought without fear against the army of hundreds of thousands or millions of the Demon King's army.
""...""
The Generals, who were in charge of the soldiers, were shocked by my words, and once again expressed their gratitude to my friends and me in their hearts.
(But then again, Spirit King Rosen is still on Her Majesty's lap, glittering and navel-gazing. I guess it takes time to evolve. It's been more than half a month, hasn't it? He's going to be a Spirit God, so a Deity.)
Despite the gratitude of the Queen and the Generals, I imagined the evolved state of the Spirit King.
"Indeed, Fortenia is still under the Demon King's army's control."
"Yes. I believe that the end of this battle is to retake Fortenia from the Demon King's army and defeat the Demon General Razel. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your continued cooperation."
Fortenia, the capital of Rosenheim, was still under the Demon King's army after all. So there was no way the war was over
"No, I never thought I'd be telling you this ... Have you done something wrong to Emperor Giamut?"
"What do you mean, Your Majesty, the Five Continents Alliance always aims for a win-win situation. It's because of our prior investment that we can move forward so quickly."
When I said that much, a questioning look appeared on Cecile's face.
Because she didn't know what we were talking about.
"Prior investment? What's that?"
(That's right, I decided on it after I separated from my friends and left Fortress LaPolca. I didn't know what would happen, so I didn't explain it to them.)
"Oh, Cecile. I had a little favor to ask Her Majesty to help me defeat the Demon General Razel."
"What? What's that? Is it about Rosenheim's Hidden Treasure?"
Cecile remembered that I had once said, "I wonder if there are any hidden treasures in Rosenheim, any great weapons or equipment."
"No, that's not it. I think we're going to need some help in defeating the Demon General Razel .So I asked Her Majesty to ask Emperor Giamut if he could help me."
""Help?""
My friends all said at the same time.
Then, I noticed that the Queen and the Generals' faces were twitching.
My friends realized that I had been up to no good again.
"And yet, you're much earlier than I expected. I mean, if you've arrived, why didn't you just come in?"
""Huh?""
(I'm waiting for you to enter the hall. Are you shy? Come in and join the meeting.)
Then the door to the hall where we were opened and a young man with light blue hair entered the room, accompanied by an Ellie.
"Too~. You're still too rough with your seniors! Allen, you should have a little respect for your seniors."
"What are you saying? I didn't know... that my senior could come all this way to help Rosenheim in its predicament..."
"Hey! Why is Helmios... Master Helmios, here!"
Cecile asked me firmly.
"I'll explain it in brief."
Since I hadn't consulted my friends beforehand, I explained the situation to them.
I had asked Helmios, who was in a fortress in the Central Continent, what I should do to defeat the Demon General Razel.
The strength of the Demon Generals that Helmios had told me about exceeded my imagination.
I immediately concluded after hearing him that even with
<Command>
, the fight would be very difficult.<Command>
I was okay with the fight being difficult, but I didn't want any of my friends to die for our victory.
I thought about what I could do, and decided to summon the Hero to Rosenheim.
Helmios had already killed 2 Demon Generals before and his Extra Skill was very effective against Demon Generals.
Including the 100 or so [Blessing of Heaven]s I had, I delivered 1000 [Blessing of Heaven]s that day as scheduled.
However, I put a condition on Emperor Giamut via the Queen to give him that additional 1,000 heavenly gifts.
"Condition? What condition?"
"To lend Hero Helmios out for 10 days. He cost a 1000 Elven Elixirs..."
""...""
He was supposed to be a great Hero, but my friends were looking at him with pity when he was treated like a pawn between me and Emperor Giamut.
"Rosenheim is fighting a tough battle. We cannot give away such valuable elixirs for nothing. We must ask for a price."
"The price? How did you bring Master Helmios here? Could it be...?"
Cecile asks me how Helmios got here. It didn't look like he came on a Magic Ship.
"The other day, this translucent woman came again with a big bird. She said she had already spoken to the Emperor and..."
Helmios explained.
I gave a brief explanation to Ellie and had Helmios fly to Rosenheim on B-rank Bird's back.
"No, no, thank you for your quick response."
(Well, I can't just pick and choose what I want to do to win, can we? In order to defeat the boss, we need to form a party that can actually defeat him. It's a good thing that I found a wild Hero in the Central Continent.)
To defeat the boss without losing anyone, it was obvious that we had to increase our party's strength.
And fighting the said boss for the first time was even more dangerous.
If Helmios hadn't come, or if the Giamut Emperor had made the decision not to send the Hero, then I had no plans of fighting against Demon General Razel. I would have decided to fight against him years later.
Moreover, we also provided demonstrations of the precious [Blessing of Heaven].
It worked so well that the Emperor of the Giamut Empire agreed to it with two words.
"But the Central Continent is fine, right?"
With Helmios out of the picture, Cecile wondered if the Central Continent was safe.
"Oh, there's no problem there. There's nothing to worry about."
(Well, it looks like the battle is winnable, so Emperor Giamut prioritized his relationship with Rosenheim.)
The first 1000 [Blessing of Heaven]s had already changed the course of the war.
Helmios said that the battle against the Demon King's army was already largely over.
"Well, let's talk in the meeting room."
"Okay."
Helmios, his shoulders slumped from being used as a bargaining chip