The Demon King's Castle Dvorberg, as it is known, is the residence of the Demon King.
　This is the fourth time I've come to this castle.
　I thought I wouldn't get lost if it was my fourth time, but I was lost.
　The corridors are arranged randomly in this castle for security reasons.
　For goodness sake, I wish you could tell me the laws of that randomness, but neither the Demon King-sama nor Cephiro would tell me.

　Do they not have enough trust in me yet?
　This might have time to head to the audience room.
　Or rather, I'm not confident that I'll be able to reach it.
　It seemed to be such a labyrinth that I might get lost as it was.

　I'm not sure if I'll be able to find a way to make it work, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to make it work.

　As I was thinking like that, the floor of the Demon King's Castle began to glow.
　Something like an arrow floats on the ground.
　Does that mean I should follow this?
　No, I guess it is.
　I followed the arrows for a dozen minutes or so and arrived at the audience room.

''It's a fine gate as always.''

　It was big enough to look up, big enough for a human to enter, but if it wasn't as big as this, it would be inconvenient for the giants and others to enter.

　That's what I thought.
　When I stand in front of the door, it opens without a sound.
　A huge space spreads out in front of me.
　In the center of the space, the Demon King was waiting on a throne.
　She sticks her elbows in the armrests of the throne and looks down at me.
　I walked up to her and went down on one knee.

''You are in a very good mood, Demon King, you are--''

　My greeting was interrupted because the Demon King replied with a single word: "Useless.　　
　I obeyed the Demon King's order, so I obeyed him obediently and stood up and said, "I'm here to discuss the matter of capturing the King's capital, Lethalus.

''About the matter of the attack on the King's Capital, Lisas.

　The reason I asked bluntly is because it seemed that this person had no use for small talk.

　This person's appearance is that of a dainty girl, but unlike Sephiro, I've heard that she doesn't like to waste time talking. It would be more reasonable to start with the business at hand.

　That's what I thought, but there was someone who tactfully broke it.
　--no, there was a witch.
　She puts her voice on my back.

'What, Ike, you're here too?

　Seriously, this guy is a master of surprise.
　Thinking that, I turned around and saw my former boss, Cephiro, there.
　He has the usual smirk on his face.
　Probably, but he's probably had an errand boy in Ivalice and was trying to find out my movements.
　He's a totally shrewd person.

"You're the smart one, aren't you? ''You're the one who's shrewd,'' he said, ''since you're coming to the Demon Lord's side, excluding the concubine.

That's not why I'm here. I just came to tell you that this is the only time we can attack Leezus.

It's called sneaking out.

　And with a light movement of his lips, he summons the dictionary to his hand and tosses it to me.
　I guess the irony is that he wants me to search for the entry for "runaway".
　I had no choice but to flip through the dictionary and refer to the entry for "runaway", but I found this information in the dictionary.


"runaway".
　Meaning, mistress (straw) agrees.


"..........

　If you're of the same opinion, you could just say so with your mouth, but this kind of elaborate mimicry was the troublesome or rather cute thing about this witch.

　-- Anyway, if we are of the same opinion, we should have spoken sooner, we should have persuaded the Demon King to go to the Royal Capital of Rosalia with the two of us and made a statement to him that we should attack the Royal Capital of Rosalia.

　When I crossed my gaze with Sephiro, I turned to the Demon King, and again, I dropped to one knee and hung my head.

''I'm afraid, Demon King-sama, I have a plan that I would like to propose.

　When Sephiro and I said that, the Demon King said to us, "Don't say that to everyone.

"I know what you mean, Unura.

　He prefaced his remarks by adding, "I agree with you.

"I agree with Yomota Nura.

Oh, we'll get to that in a minute. Let's gather all the legion leaders and hold an emergency war council immediately.

　Sephiro deflected so, but the demon king admonished.

'No, it's too early for that.'

"But the enemy's army is nowhere to be found in the royal city of the Lords, and they are naked. If you don't attack now, when will you attack?

I'm with you on that one.

　and covers Cephiro, but the demon king slowly shakes his head to the side and sticks out two fingers.

　It's not a V-sign for victory. There was no such custom in the Warring States period of my previous life, and there is no such custom in this other world. At least as far as I know.

''There are two reasons why we can't attack them now.

　One thing," the girl prefaced.

With the Seal and the rightful throne on the other side, the League of Lords may come to our aid when we capture Reezus.

　Two, the girl continues as she says this.


'Our army is running low on food right now. Let's see if we can withstand a long battle against the castle.

　The demon king says that without moving a single eyebrow.
　Sephiro counters.

''Isn't the former, but the latter isn't a problem?　The agricultural productivity has risen dramatically with the farming methods that Ike has brought to the table.

It's going up in leaps and bounds, to be exact. It takes time to adopt new farming methods. It takes time for the wheat to take root in the ground and produce an ear.

　Well, you're right. The four-wheeled farming and paddy farming techniques I developed have spread to the areas controlled by the Demon King's Army, but they haven't produced any results yet. It will be a few years before we can see the results of these techniques in action.

''Can't we buy large amounts of food from the merchants?''

　Cephiro advises.
　I answer for the Demon King.

''That's not possible, Commander.

Why?

'We have financial problems, but most of our food has already been bought by the League of Kings. They have no money to spare, you know. It would be a Herculean task to break in and get food for them now.

　The difference in national power between the Demon King's army and the humans once again sighs.

　The success of the development of new agricultural technology, and the Demon King's army that had come to receive the support of dwarves and elves, but the technological and economic gaps between them and the humans had only narrowed, not been filled.

　Someday we must turn the difference around and reverse it, but it will take a good many years to do so.

''Mm, and in that case, the Demon King's policy is to take the national seal out of the hands of the enemy, restore Tristan to the throne of Rosalia, and not lay a hand on Leezus until he has secured a large amount of food?

　The girl who was called the Demon King nodded her head.

''I see, it's a conundrum.

　I nodded, but Cephelo stared at me with resentful eyes.

"You speak so fluently. It's your fault that things got so serious in the first place?

You think this is my fault?

　'Mm,' Cephiro assures him.

''It's only because you have so brilliantly defeated the enemy's army and the king's capital, Lisas, is now so short-handed that things have come to this.
　It seemed like the perfect way to take it out, but not so much.

　She hit a sore spot.

'And the large number of prisoners we got from the recent battle. We need a lot of food just to feed them. That's your fault, too.'

　It's true that I completely destroyed the Knights of Rosalia in the battle I just fought and took a large number of prisoners.


　A long time ago, the Demon King's army would have been


We'll kill them all and use them as fertilizer.


　This may be a good idea, but it's not legal in the current Demon King's army.

　We can't go so far as to be generous, but we need to build a prisoner of war camp and feed them there.
　We need a lot of food to feed the humans.

　The POW camps were on the verge of being flattened because I had taken so many prisoners, and it was hard to feed them.

　I'd like to end the war soon so that they can return to their country or use it as a bargaining chip with the Kingdom of Rosalia, but under the circumstances, there's no reason to release them. It won't even be a bargaining chip.

　They were just baggage that consumed food.　

　It might not be any wonder that Sephiro stared at me with zit eyes, but the Demon King-sama will protect me like that.

''Well, don't be like that, Cephiro.

　The Demon King said this as if to pause, and then continued, ''It is true that Ike's spear work destroyed the Knights of Rosalia, and that he obtained a large number of prisoners.

'It is certain that Ike's spear work destroyed the Knights of Rosalia, and it is also true that he took a large number of prisoners. That work is to be commended.

　Besides--" he continued.

''If I'm the commander of the Eighth Legion, where my eyes are on the line, won't those two problems be solved in no time at all?

　When I said that, the demon king also stared at me, but there was no mischievousness or childishness in his eyes like Sephiro.

　However, the words he said were more extreme than Sephiro's.

I'm sure that Ike will be able to solve both of these problems for you. I have high hopes for him.

　Hearing those words, Cephiro chuckled and agreed.

''Indeed, it might be best to have the person in charge take responsibility for it.

　Normally, I shouldn't feel bad about receiving stares from women, but I can't help but break out in a cold sweat when I'm stared at by these two.

　Cephiro is smiling like a prankster's baby girl, and
　Although the Demon King-sama is expressionless, I feel the same thing as Sephiro in the depths of his eyes.
　In short, although their personalities and appearances are different, these two may be essentially the same.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of what you like.

　--I'm not sure if it's a good idea to have the same thing happen to me, but I'm sure I have to live up to their expectations.

　It's a good thing that you're able to have a good time with your friends.

　It's a good sounding thing to say that I'm being relied upon, but lately I feel like I'm being overworked.
　If I disappear with the dew on the battlefield, what will happen to the Demon King's army?
　And will these two people be sad?
　It's not a good omen, but I've been thinking about that.