Four cities, including Tiamo, had won the defensive battle.

　In the past defensive battles, they were only able to defeat a few magical beasts and waited until the sun set for the Demon King's army to retreat.

　Of course, the number of monsters that would attack the next day would not change much, so the elven soldiers would be exhausted and the city and fortress would eventually fall.

　That kind of battle had been going on for more than a month.

　But today's defense is different.

"I am here to report. Your Majesty, in today's battle, we defeated more than 200,000 hexenbiests in four cities combined!

That means 2.5 million left. Let's reduce it.

"True?

Yes, sir. Here's a breakdown of the four cities defeated, the city of Tiamo alone has over 100,000. And ......

　We're in a large building in the center of the city of Tiamo.
　Allen and his friends are listening to the generals' report at midnight in the hall with the queen.

　Previously, the military conference was a crisis of exile, so Allen and his team prioritized the battle against the demon king's army and had the summoned beasts of Spirit B join them instead. Now I'm attending the conference to talk about the future.

　The queen leans forward from her throne, surprised by the results of the battle.

　The reason why it's at this time of day is that the battle was so big that it took me a lot of time to understand the situation. We have summonses in each of the three cities for transmissions, so Allen is in between to quickly report on the situation in each city.

　The four cities, including Tiamo, are filled with the voices of soldiers and refugees rejoicing in victory.
　Everyone is saying, "Your Majesty! "Genie King! And words of gratitude.

　The elves are said to be a quiet race, but many of them are bursting with joy at this unprecedented victory.

So, what about the damage?

Yes, sir. Today, some 3,000 soldiers died.

　That's the total number of deaths in the four cities.

Really? ......

　The elves are mostly archers, and their occupational characteristics as archers do not give them such a high endurance status.
　Also, their equipment is mithril class at best.
　A blow from a B- or A-ranked monster can kill you instantly, or you can be attacked several times before you can recover.

　As a result, some 3,000 elves died in today's defense.

　This elf death toll is considerably lower than ever before.
　I have distributed blessings in each city and buffed the fish line.
　The number of elves who have not died is ten times greater than the number who died.

　But still, the queen, the head of state of Rosenheim, was troubled.
　She closed her eyes for her lost elven soldiers and tried to avenge their heroic lives.

And what do you plan to do now, my queen?　We would like you to take refuge in the city of Nest if possible.

"No, Gatoruga. I'll stay here and keep an eye on the battle.

"No, no but!

　The man who now stands before the queen with Allen is not a general. It is an elf who looks to be in his twenties.

"Gatoruga. That won't bother the queen too much.

"This is not to embarrass you: ......

　Standing right next to the queen, the top of the military, the general, chides the man called Gatruga. The man doesn't seem to have anything more to say either.

So this is Gatrouga, the most powerful man in Rosenheim. Is he Rosenheim's only wielder of spirits?　(Was the city's outer wall also made by the legendary Great Spiritist by the Great Spirit of Earth?

　Allen silently listens to the exchange between Gatruga and the queen and others, while checking the information about the spirit user in the grimoire.

　Gatluga is the only spirit user in Rosenheim.
　In terms of rarity, he is said to be equivalent to a three-star sage.

　1 star Spiritist Wizard
　2 stars Spirit mage
　3 stars Spirit user
　4 stars Grand Spirit user

　And above the spirit user is the ancient occupation of the Great Spiritist Messenger in Rosenheim.
　It is said that a wizard is born once every thousand years.
　It is said that the wielders built the city's outer wall and fortifications with the help of the spirits. It seems that there are no Grandmasters in Rosenheim today.

　I will confirm what Sophie told me about the genie user in the grimoire.

So what is the future plan of action?

　The queen talks about the future, to change the mood of the place that has become a little heavy.

　It is still a crisis for Rosenheim's survival.

''First of all, it looks like we'll be able to recover a large amount of magic stones this time. We're still in the middle of recovering them, but I want to use them to resume transporting them on the grimoire ship.

Do we have enough magical stones to make the transport all-out? That's good to know.

　Rosenheim, one of the leaders of the Five Continents Alliance, has more than 100 mageships.
　It consumes a large amount of magic stones to run those ships, but since the war began, you've done everything you could to get them running, and you've used most of your stockpile of magic stones.

　The grimoire ships use a lot of magic stones. The grimoires that came to Granvelle were about three times a month. Just because it was convenient doesn't mean you can't increase the number of flights.

(Well, that made for a lot of injuries, but it also allowed many elves to return to the front lines.



　The Queen respected human life and prioritized the transport of wounded soldiers and refugees and the transfer of supplies to the evacuated areas. Thanks to this, there are hundreds of thousands of wounded soldiers who have not died and millions of refugees who have survived.

　But that's why most of the magic ships are currently out of commission due to the lack of magical stones.

　Now that we've managed to recover a lot of magic stones, the magic ships can resume their operations. Rosenheim can now start moving.

(I have about 70,000 magic stones.)

　The magical stones from the demon king's army that we defeated in the southern part of the city of Tiamo were all given to Allen. Thanks to this, we've used up most of our heavenly blessings and we're about to run out of B-ranked magic stones, but we're on track to get our magic stones back.

"Master Allen, how is the elves' elixir doing?

"We are preparing it now. I'm going to ask you to pay in magic stones.

　Allen answers the queen's question.

　More than half of the nearly 80,000 magic stones Rosenheim will own will be used for the operation of all magic tools, including magic ships.
　The other half will be converted into a blessing.
　I've been giving them away for free, but from now on, you'll get the magic stones you need.

　A single siege consumes 300 to 400 blessings.
　Since I'm defending four cities, I've spent around 1500 Heavenly Blessings in a day.

　With 40,000 B-ranked magic stones, I could create 8,000 blessings.

　Of course, I didn't say that you need magical stones to make a blessing. It's just that we'll get some magic stones for our money.

　The genie wielder Gatluga's expression is grim for a moment when he asks you to give him the money, but then he returns his gaze to the queen to see if there's any reason to do it for free.

I would like to bring 100,000 of the wounded soldiers who moved to the city of Nest back to the front line. This would bring the total number of troops in the four cities, including the frontline city of Tiamo, to 640,000.

""Oh!"

　The report of one of the generals elicits a shout of joy.
　Everyone thought that in a day or two the city of Tiamo would be gone. It would have meant the end of Rosenheim.

　Just when you thought it would never happen again, cheerful reports of today's victory, the activation of magic ships with magical stones, and the return of 100,000 troops to the front lines come flooding in.

"Mr. Allen, I will definitely repay you for this, so please continue to help me in the future.

Let me help you. So, here's the battle ahead.

(It's too early to rejoice!)

"Battle?　Does this mean that Mister Allen has a plan for the next battle?

　One of the generals reacts to Allen's words. Allen's strategy for today's line of defense, pitting the men on the south side against the men on the outer wall, is his strategy. I want to hear about your plan for the next battle as well.

"First, it appears that the Demon King's army has begun its retreat.

"Retreat . . is indeed a retreat, but a retreat?

Yes, sir. All troops are in retreat, including those that were attacking Tiamo.

　Allen has caught the Demon King's Army retreating north from the four cities using Bird D's sentient skill 'Byakuya'.

Therefore, we would like to reduce the number of the Demon King's army while keeping track of their movements.

"Yes, it is.

　The general knows that Aren and his men hunted nearly 40,000 hexenbiests in a night raid.

As soon as possible, return the injured soldiers who took refuge in the city of Nest to the city of Tiamo. We'll go north when we're more or less ready.

　Because of the limited payload of the magic ship, it will not be possible, but I will tell them to hurry.

"Oh!　You say you're going to go on the offensive!

Yes, sir. We will also review in a future meeting the information of the cities we want to prioritize to take back. And let's take back the capital, Fortenia, as soon as possible.

　Hope returns to the faces of the elves.

　Aren and his men attack the retreating demon king's army. In the meantime, they say they are going to restore the troops and the borders that were taken by the demon king's army.

　Now, it's been eight days since we heard from the president of the kingdom academy city asking for support from Rosenheim.

　After winning the defense battle, the next battle for Aren and his team was about to begin.