It was dawn the next day that Rosalia's army, the White Rose Knights, attacked us.

　We took out our bows and arrows from the armory and made careful preparations, having sensed this beforehand.

　The armor was first class, sent from the city at the rear.
　Some have the mark of a famous dwarf workshop on them.
　It's probably proof that the Demon King's occupation policy is working well.

　A decade ago, the Demon King's army didn't have this kind of concept of logistics, not to mention armaments, they wouldn't even be supplied with food.

　In other words, everything was procured locally.
　Naturally, the people under occupation would be very opposed to it.
　The demons put down the rebellion in order to suppress it.
　The humans rebelled even more.
　As a result, a large number of refugees and a series of rebellions by the population would occur.

　If they were to do that in the rear, the actual fighting force in the front would have no time for a fight.

　In terms of numbers, there are far more humans than demons (excluding orcs and goblins).

　If they were outnumbered from both sides, from the front and the rear, even the Demon King's army, which had a thousand demons, could not stand a chance.

''However, the occupation policy is working well enough now. I don't think the same thing will happen.''

　That was Giron's words.

　I replied dignifiedly, "It's obvious," but I was inwardly chickened out.

　It's true that the Demon King's occupation policy is working well for now.

　The city of Ivalice, which I'm in charge of, hasn't seen a single rebellion so far.

　However, I can't say that this will be the case in the future either.
　The reason is that I understand the feelings of the human beings.

　After all, it's not pleasant to have demons wandering around the city.

　Orcs are as ugly as pigs.
　The goblins' eerie glowing eyeballs and green skin are creepy.
　The size of the trolls is awe-inspiring.

　In fact, those are big misconceptions.

　Sure, orcs are ugly, but if you look closely, they're charming, and they're clean demons, like actual pigs. It is often said that orcs kidnap and rape human women and borrow their bellies to increase their offspring, but this is completely false.

　In the first place, Jiron has three wives and twelve children.

　And although the goblins are eerie in appearance, many of them are quite good-natured when you talk to them. Most of them are not very smart, but if you drink with them, they can show you their jolly dance moves.　

　However, the humans don't know that.

　On the other hand, the demons look at humans in a similar way.
　They watch each other with the glasses of prejudice, which is the current situation.

　A small incident could cause an avalanche of residents of the occupied city to revolt.

'For example, if we lose this battle,'

　And...

　I talk to myself.

"That's quite possible.

　For now, they impose the same taxes as they did when the human lords ruled, but the person sitting in the lordship's seat is obviously better to be a human than a demon.

　If they lost this battle, they wouldn't even be allowed to bask in the city and would be forced to retreat as is.

　-- that is, if they lose.

　Unfortunately, the person who controlled this city was not only bad at giving up, but also hated to lose.

　I looked down from the ramparts at the White Rose Knights, who were right in front of me, and hit a group of heavily armed orcs in the front.

　Their entire bodies were covered with full plate armor, and they were also equipped with huge shields and carried long spears.

　It's called the so-called phalanx, or the phalanx.
　This is the strategy used by Alexander the Great in ancient Greece.
　The advantage of this strategy is that they can protect each other with their shields in a close formation.
　Morale would be lowered and soldiers would be prevented from escaping.
　It was a good idea to use this formation.

　However, the use of this formation required careful training.
　If even one man was a coward, this formation would collapse.

"All the hard work you do every day has paid off.

　The orc's chief of staff, Giron, loosened his face.

'It's more than we could have imagined.

　I reply.

''Normally, for every knight, five orcs are evenly matched,''

Yeah.

　Unfortunately, the demon Orcs are weak.

　They are often treated as small fry characters in novels, but it's the same in this world.
　An ordinary knight can take on at least five of them without a care in the world by himself.

　You can see the effect of this formation since they are evenly matched with the same number of them.

　I once again paid my respects to the originator of this formation, and then ordered the goblin archers to fire their bows.

　The bows released from the top of the ramparts drew a parabolic line and rained down on the knights.

''Guh!''

　It seemed that the screams of the knights that should have been unheard could be heard up here.
　They must not have expected to be able to shoot a bow from the top of the castle.

　Of course, even in the Demon King's army there are demons that use bows, but my unit is probably the first to run it as an organization.

　I'm sure that even the demons, or even the goblins themselves, never thought of turning goblins into archers, let alone humans.

　To begin with, it is surprisingly difficult to handle a bow.
　It's not just unexpected, it's an incredibly high level of difficulty.

　Wielding a sword or thrusting a spear.　
　Even monkeys can do it, but it takes a high level of training to handle a bow.

　In fact, even in Japan during the Warring States period, learning how to handle a bow and horse was more fundamental to the samurai than how to handle a sword or a spear, and the rampaging English long-bowmen of the Middle Ages were not mere conscripts, but specialized, bow-trained troops.

　When he was entrusted with the Immortal Brigade, the first thing he did was to organize an archers' club unit.

　Anyway, he thought that a goblin who was clumsy, but because of his clumsiness, a goblin who could focus on one thing was just right for the Archers' Corps.

　........well, one could also call it simple.
　Anyway, my plan has worked perfectly so far.

　The orc's heavily armed infantry is even more formidable than expected.
　A goblin archer squad that shouldn't even have any organization.

　The elite of the White Rose Knights, who had trained so hard, must have been surprised.
　I didn't miss the part where they were up in the air and quickly threw in my trump card.

　I sent in the elite magical swordsman unit led by Lilith the Succubus.

　Usually, the demon race is more robust than trained knights.
　They are born with a strong body and powerful magic power.
　This one, on the contrary, might need ten skilled knights to defeat one.
　That's how strong the demon race is.

　However, the higher level demon clans are limited in number.
　Also, they all have a strong sense of self-respect, so they need to be treated with extreme caution.

(By the way, that Lilith guy is crazy about me, so I don't have to worry about that.

　And there's no doubt about his abilities.

　As for Lilith.

"The best mage in the Immortal Brigade, Master Ike's future wife, let's see what Lilith is capable of, good people.

　And with a high smile, he tore through the formation of the knights.

''Mmm, brilliant work as always.

　If it was just her ability alone, she might be comparable to the brigade commander.
　Due to her work, the White Rose Order's formation was cut in half and thrown into chaos.

　The supposed commander of the enemy.
Yeah, we can't stay here. We need to get out of the way.
　He seemed to be giving orders to his men.

　The person who appeared to be the Commander in pure white armor struggled to the end and then retreated, making a retreat path for his men.

'Quite a man,'

　Normally, he would be the first to flee for his own life, but he stayed on the battlefield until the very end and took command. It's not something that ordinary people can imitate.

"You're a burly general.

　Giron seemed to have noticed this as well.

''Oh, many noblemen are unexpectedly navel-gazers. It's not easy to find someone who can imitate them.

Even demons don't have a type like that. Everyone runs for it. That's normal. ...well, Ike-sama isn't one of them.

No, I don't want to be flattered. Besides, I'd be the first one to run away. If the commander dies, there will be no one to lead the unit. And more soldiers will die as a result.

So that means your commander is incompetent, huh?

You will.

　But--" I continue.

"I guess that's what saved that guy's life.

　As I say this, I chant my magic.


'Come back!'　O you puppet soldiers who have left this world in limbo!


　The language was actually more complicated and complicated and difficult to pronounce, but I guess it would be like this in Japanese.

　However, the meaning is exactly the same.　

　The moment he chanted that incantation, a bony arm leaps to the ground from the sand behind the retreating enemy unit. Next, a human skull appears.

''Ah, that's it!

　He must have seen the scene with the magic of the 《Hawk Eye》. Jiron looks surprised.

　I'll explain.

"That area is made up of sand, we buried the skeleton soldiers beforehand.

　On my signal, I would revive them, pin them down and destroy them.
　That was the plan I had in mind.
　The enemy soldiers must have been surprised.
　They had adopted a strategy that would never have been possible in a battle between humans.

　It would have been unbearable to be beaten so severely, and to have such a strange strategy used. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do, but I'm also entrusting the lives of my friends with my own. We couldn't go easy on them.

　That strange plan was probably the deciding factor.

　The White Rose Knights, who had lost their will to fight, could no longer even form a formation and disappeared into pieces.

　In other words, I had won the defensive battle.
　And that too in an overwhelming way.