Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

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Here at the headquarters where the kings and nobles of various countries gathered for meetings, they had also been given separate rooms for them to stay. Maizer’s room was located on the top floor in the center. In order to even reach that room, one had to pass through several heavy doors, each guarded on the way. The walls around it were especially fortified, the strongest in the entire fortress. The rooftop had wyverns waiting in case an emergency escape was needed, so one could say that this place was worthy of inhabiting the emperor of the Empire.

Yet, the inside of the actual room saw no soldiers or guards at the moment. Of course, they vehemently protested that decision, but Maizer wished to have an exclusive talk with Kyle, and the guards knew that they wouldn’t be able to win against Kyle either way. And they knew how much trust Maizer had in the man after the incidents during the civil war.

When Kyle entered, Maizer stood next to the window, gazing down at the town. The sun had already set for today, yet people were still out and about. Before Maizer even permitted it, Kyle had already sat down on the sofa. One might call this rude in the presence of the Emperor, and this would’ve definitely caused an uproar in any official scenario, but since this was a personal environment, Kyle didn’t bother much with politeness, and Maizer didn’t seem to mind, either.

“What an odd city this is, don’t you think?” Maizer said without looking at Kyle.

Rather than asking for Kyle’s input, it seemed more like his personal impression. Yet, Kyle spoke a few words.

“Coming from a former resident, it does fill me with complicated feelings. It’s like the village in my memory never existed. Not that I have any right to say that,” Kyle laughed.

It was none other than Kyle who made the executive decision to turn his former hometown into a fortress. But since, geographically speaking, the village would get wrapped up in the chaos of war either way, this was pretty much a preemptive decision. It was necessary, and Kyle definitely didn’t regret it, but he still felt like he had brought an end to his village in this timeline.

“Honesty, I like the sight of it.”

He was the leader of the country who respected strength over anything, so this city must visualize this whole philosophy.

“So, how is the situation looking?” Maizer turned around and asked a vague question.

“…I believe things are going good.”

In response, Kyle gave an equally non-decisive answer. But rather than a trade, this was just how they operated.

“Really? Personally, I don’t feel the same way. I think we’re just going in circles,” Maizer showed a wry smile, but that’s because the conditions for what he would consider a success are different.

Kyle had seen how the previous war turned out, so this situation was more than just “going good,” in fact. Meanwhile, Maizer had always envisioned the best possible scenario, moving toward that, which is why he felt frustrated that things didn’t fully go according to plan. He then sat down facing Kyle, pouring some wine.

“Want some?”

“I plan on abstaining from alcohol until this war is over. Though I’m not really offering a prayer, either.”

“I see… Well, as you’ve heard during today’s meeting, I still think that trying to chip away at their overall forces is the wisest strategy. Though, I wish we could go on the counteroffensive ourselves…”

He intended to keep this defensive war going, and Kyle agreed. As far as he could see, the countries that had the resources to do so wanted to keep this defensive strategy. However, Sharidan and Rifuaro, as well as the smaller countries, wanted to end it as quickly as possible. Milena seems to have taken more of a middle ground, leaning toward defense.

“Of course, I’m aware of the danger and harm that prolonging this war will bring. This started as a holy crusade of sorts, raising the morale of our entire race, but with no end in sight, some soldiers have begun to lose motivation. Hence, I can understand why one would wish for a swift end.”

What Maizer said was basically just rambling at this point. If you wanted to avoid casualties, his strategy worked the best.

“I feel like the cost is going to be an issue.”

“Well, I feel like they’re more concerned about what happens after the war. Jumping the gun, I swear,” Maizer hissed.

Once the war is over, as a country, you’ll have to reward the soldiers and other civilians in some way. But the issue this time was that this was solely a defensive war. If this was a war between two countries, then you’d be looking at plundering, reparations, and whatnot. However, demons would never agree to have negotiations. And at the same time, they did not have much to offer for humanfolk. This being the case, this was just draining the national treasury, and eventually, they had nothing to pay the soldiers. Nobody works for free if their life is put on the line. And even if they return victorious, it might destroy the whole country. Of course, that might sound like an exaggeration, but unlike the bigger countries like Galgan or Zilgus, the smaller nations would not be able to discard that possibility.

“Maybe a detached territory, or even land within the demon territory, they probably want anything new like that. However, we cannot send over our soldiers on a suicide mission to acquire that land. Greedy bastards,” added Maizer with a harsh tone.

That said, even Maizer had his calculations happening behind the scenes. Galgan had been moving to unite all of humanfolk under their banner. But because the fighting happened in far too distant regions, paired with the fight for the throne in the past civil war, Maizer became the Emperor and first had to clean up all of that mess. That said, they still had plenty of resources left, and they could hold out for quite some time in this war of attrition. Hence, they want to ensure the other countries exhaust their resources while Galgan recovers internally. In that sense, a war with the demons came at just the right time, and Kyle was aware of this. Of course, he didn’t intend to point that out. Whatever the circumstances may be, even if humanfolk were in danger, it almost made sense to prioritize your own well-being.

And if you’re governing over a whole country, you always have to think about what benefits your people more. That’s why I’m not the guy for that, really. Once all this is over, I should keep my distance from politics and all.

If his allies heard that, they would immediately deny that idea with all their might.

“Well, since I’m just a regular man, there’s not much I can do in that regard, so I can only put my hope in everyone’s hard work. I have no doubt that the current course of defense is efficient. However…I believe it would be best to at least consider preparing for a potential attack. Maybe the demons are also considering how to break this stalemate.”

“…Meaning?”

“I’m just thinking out loud. However, there is plenty of a possibility that the situation over there might change.”

Kyle’s words made Maizer sigh out loud. What was about to be discussed, he’d rather not talk about.

“The situation within the demons…I see, then let’s get to the topic at hand,” Maizer narrowed his eyes, his tone audibly changing. “Can we really trust her? That former Demon Lord Luiza.”

Even though nobody would be able to hear them, he still whispered in a quiet voice. That just showed how important this discussion was. After all, it carried the danger of breaking apart the whole cooperation between the other countries. Of course, the humanfolk as a whole knew that this Great Invasion began because the previously peaceful Demon Lord was replaced. However, Maizer was only told that Kyle actually knew that Demon Lord and had contact with her after the war began.

“Strictly speaking, she is still the Demon Lord, and she asks us to help her regain her position.”

“To think the information about the demons’ movement you had…came from the Demon Lord herself. And right now, around a fourth of the whole demon army still follows this former Demon Lord? That’s not information I’d like to hear,” Maizer showed a grim expression.

It meant that they were still not fighting the whole demon army. In reality, it might be closer to one-fifth, but Kyle wanted to keep the stakes high, so he raised the amount. Since Maizer had no way of confirming this, he was safe in that regard, too.

“Yes, and this new Demon Lord…the black-winged one seems to try and attack Luiza all the same.”

“He’s trying to go for both parties at the same time? How could he be so foolish?”

“I don’t know the details, but maybe they might be trying to break through the current stalemate.”

“I’m sure that new Demon Lord must be keeping tabs on the former one. And if they come together with the main force, they’ll have a greater number of soldiers than before… So what if we wait for them to strike down each other?”

“If that happens, it’ll be an all-out war. A fight for the survival of one’s race.”

Kyle’s comment made Maizer’s expression freeze up. He had wished for the fighting to prolong, and he doesn’t want to imagine that humanfolk and demons wipe each other out.

“And for that reason, we should strike a deal. Luiza belongs to the peace faction. She wants a friendly relationship with humanfolk, so we should strike down the black-winged one.”

Kyle suggested that staying on Luiza’s good side would benefit all parties involved once the war was over.

“Still, it’s hard to tell people to believe her blindly. We’re talking about a deal with the former Demon Lord. And this isn’t as simple as ‘the enemy of the enemy is my friend,’ no?” Maizer voiced his doubt, understandably.

After all, Luiza is still technically the Demon Lord, and although she was fighting the black-winged one, it was hard to see her as a possible partner.

“But it’s highly effective. Just think of her as a human. Give her back the seat of the Demon Lord, and then we have the upper hand after the war is over… And who knows, you might even form a friendly relationship with them, no?”

“…”

It was a straightforward statement, but Maizer understood that this could turn into a golden opportunity to gain control over an enemy country.

“That’s one way to say it, yeah. But that only works with someone from humanfolk. We’re still talking about demons…”

“In terms of mental processing, demons and humans aren’t all that different.”

Of course, Kyle still found that shocking despite being the one to say it. To him, demons are a cursed existence, an opponent he should be eradicating from this world, and that still hasn’t changed. That said, arguing in support of a fraction of those demons felt too unconvincing to him.

“It’s thanks to Luiza being the Demon Lord for the past 300 years that no more fighting between us has occurred, so think of it that way.”

“Angela said the same thing, too…” Maizer remembered his younger sister as he looked up at the ceiling. “She snuck into the demon territory? And she met the Demon Lord? Do you understand how I felt when she said ‘we can trust that Demon Lord’? Does she want to drag me down from my position as the Emperor or something?” Maizer grumbled with a sigh, but Kyle was equally lost on what to even say to that.

The princess of the Empire entered the demon territory and met with the Demon Lord. Considering they were pretty much at war with humanfolk, this was more than just a scandal. Plus, Kyle and his allies were involved in that, so they couldn’t really say anything.

“And not to forget about that Klaus… How would I even make an official statement about this.”

In his rage, Maizer mentioned one of Kyle’s accomplices during that whole time. Klaus is, with his business association, the biggest merchant in this world. He is also Luiza’s greatest supporter, and probably a bigger traitor to humanfolk than even Kyle and the others. Kyle wished to have told Maizer about this whole ordeal sooner, but Klaus urged him to wait. Right now, it was his association that provided a lot of the rations for this war, and if Klaus were to be punished, it would immediately worsen the situation. In other words, this war guaranteed his safety, so they waited until now to come clean.

“Regarding Luiza, I personally feel like Princess Angela and I got wrapped up in this by Klaus.”

Kyle used this moment to push the responsibility onto him.

“Now that Angela is involved, it limits how I can proceed…but the situation is just that grave. We’ve already got a great number of victims on our hands, so a ceasefire between the demons would be difficult to push.”

Many people have already lost loved ones or family to the demons at this point, so it would be doubtful if they willingly accepted a ceasefire.

“Absolutely, which is why we’ll have to force it through. If not, more and more countries not wishing this war to continue will appear, until humanfolk as a whole will be ripped apart.”

“…”

This is something that Maizer had felt as well. Humanfolk managed to fight together because they have a common enemy, but if the fighting continues, the cracks will begin to show, just like during today’s meeting.

“That’s why I want to go for a ceasefire. And in order to do that, we need to return Luiza to her seat as the Demon Lord,” Kyle said.

Maizer crossed his arms and started thinking. It seemed like countless thoughts and ideas went around in circles within his head. He must be organizing his thoughts right now, so Kyle waited for his response.

“No matter what you say, forming a deal with demons at this current time is risky. Too risky, but…”

“Your instinct is telling you that it would be better, yes?”

Kyle knew that Maizer valued his intuition, which is why he said all that, but Maizer didn’t seem to like that—even though he didn’t deny it.

“I bet you’re still hiding something from me…but I’d bet it’s better this way,” said Maizer as he glared at Kyle, but only received a vague smile from the warrior. “I want some time to consider things. Need to get the conditions down, too.”

At the very least, he seemed to be open to the idea, so that’s all that Kyle needed.

“Thank you very much. I’ll try to lay down the groundwork in the meantime.”

“Right…”

Since the conversation that had given him a stomach ache was finally over, Maizer gulped down the rest of the wine in his glass.

“Still, I’m surprised you can participate in all the meetings. Aren’t you incredibly busy?” Kyle changed the topic.

Even if this war was important for the survival of humanfolk, it was rather much to ask the Emperor of humanfolk’s greatest nation to be so actively involved. Normally, you would send over a representative. And of course, Maizer would be heading back home tomorrow at the latest.

“I’ve got a talented minister working at home, so I can leave most of that to him.”

The name of that minister was Korodes, who received all of Maizer’s trust, while also being someone he could not let his guard down around. Korodes had risen to his position working as the right hand of the former Emperor Benedix, and his priority was that very man right now, so in his eyes, Maizer was nobody but Benedix’ successor. He declared that, if he judged Maizer unfit to keep this position, he would immediately begin a plot to remove him from the picture. Yet, Maizer saw this as just the right amount of motivation, which created this odd dynamic between them.

“In fact, I can only push this much work onto him while the war is going on. It’s been a while since I could spend much leisure time outside the country,” Maizer said with a sarcastic laugh. “Anyway, I think it’s time we call it here. What do you say we have dinner together?”

“Apologies, but I’m afraid I have other plans to attend to.”

Kyle saw Maizer as a good friend, but since he was the Emperor of Galgan, he judged it would be best not to get too close. He wanted to preserve this casual distance where they could discuss matters like that. Of course, declining the invitation of the Emperor himself was already bold enough.

“I see… Then we’ll leave that for another time.”

Maizer understood that and didn’t try to stop him, just seeing Kyle off.