I returned to the city of Ivalice and quickly gathered the brigadier-level officers who were staying in the city into the military council room in the pavilion.


　Lilith the Succubus,
　Michigan, the dragonborn.
　The orc chief of staff, Giron.
　Günther, King of the Dwarves.
　Anemone, the elf warrior-in-chief


　In short, they are the usual people, but there is a woman who has recently joined this side of the family.
　She is Alistair, the messenger who came to the Demon King's army the other day to ask for peace.

　She was originally the head of the White Rose Knights, a legitimate knightly order of Rosalia, but she was dismissed for one reason or another, and then reinstated for one reason or another.

　Furthermore, he is the owner of a strange fate that led him to join the Demon King's army in an endless stream of events.

　Formally, she is a vassal of the boy king he currently protects, so she is not a member of the Eighth Legion, but the Knights of Rosalia, led by her, were quite capable.

　As long as they had the name of recapturing the royal capital and restoring Tristan to the throne, there was no way they could not use their power.
　Fortunately, she herself and her men were willing to do so.

''Everything will be at the will of His Majesty Tristan and Lord Ike--''

　He said.
　Thankfully, Lilith is bending her navel.

'Of course she's a barging wench who came for Ike-sama, anyway.

　And while Lilith is hostile to Alistair, that description is not entirely off the mark.

　The strong impression I had when we first met, the debt of gratitude I owe her for saving her life afterwards, and the results of the recent series of military actions, her trust in me is already at an all-time high, and she seems to be willing to listen to every order.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time with us.

　The only thing that helps is not being selfish and unrestrained like Lilith, but I'll be careful because I don't want her to become like Lilith one day.

　With this in mind, I explained to my subordinates the two difficult problems brought to me by the Demon King.

''Increasing food production and recapturing the national seal?

　The orc's chief strategist Jiron's voice is subdued.
　Even the quintessential Jiron seems to be aware of the difficulty.
　Other similar opinions are raised.

''Yes, it's not magic, so there's no way to double our food supply.

　And since those were the words of Lilith, an optimist, she seemed to know the difficulty of it by heart.
　However, the words after that were typical of her, or rather, the demon race.

''This place loots food from each city's inhabitants..., no, do you want to commandeer it?　That's the quickest way to go, or rather, the only way.

　I say, "Idiot," to which he replies, "That's a disturbing statement.

You're going to crack the trust you've built up with people if you do that.

''But we've been indulging ourselves lately. Besides, it's an emergency right now, if we use a little bit of forceful methods to capture the royal capital, Lisas, won't that give the Demon King's army an advantage in the long run?

　It was a surprise to hear words like long-term from this girl, but it was part of the truth.
　An ordinary demon general would not be surprised to think about it.
　No, a human general might take the same approach as a human general.

　Bear with me for a while, the requisitioning of food is only this time. If we issue a declaration that we won't do this kind of thing again, some of the residents might be convinced and provide us with food.

　But I still didn't want to be so tactless.

　I could convince myself that I could do it just once and commandeer some food, but if I did that, the next time I was in a similar situation, I might do it again.

　No, they will certainly do the same thing.
　Humans are such creatures. Once you get a taste of it, you'll do it again.
　I can't be so overconfident that I can be the only exception.
　I'm not the only one who can be an exception to this," he muttered to himself, and then, to remind himself, he said to control Lilith.

''Plundering food from the residents is strictly forbidden. This is also the will of the Demon King. If anyone breaks it, they will be court-martialed and hanged.

　When Lilith heard those words, she stopped talking and said, "Kuwa-bara,".
　Instead, it was Günther, King of the Dwarves, who asked.

'Then how does Lord Ike plan to secure food?

I held a military council to get you to think about it.

'That's unusual. It seems to me that Lord Ike always opens his military discussions with a conclusion.

'I don't want to be expected to be perfect all the time. Sometimes I get lost, and sometimes I just want to talk to everyone about it.

　When I say this, Alistair raises his hand.
　May I make a statement?　I guess that's what it means.
　She opened her mouth as she gave her permission.

''Shouldn't we take back the national seal first, rather than food?　Then the power will revert to His Majesty, My Lord Tristan. Then we can provide the Demon King's army with plenty of food.

'I think you've got the order backwards.　We need a lot of food in order to attack King's Landing Lisas. It doesn't make sense to get food after we've attacked King's Landing Lisas.

　It was Günther who uttered the words, followed by Lilith.

'That's right, lass, keep your mouth shut.

　And--.

　Lilith's guy was probably feeling jealous, but all the generals, except Alistair, disagreed with that opinion.
　It was because it made no sense.

　But still, Alistair insisted.

''With Ike-sama's help, we will capture Leasas in a blitz. If we take away the food, I think we have a chance to win...''

　Naturally, people accused me of being too optimistic, and I agreed with them.
　I'm sure she is in a hurry to get the state seal back.
　She is filled with the desire to repay the debt of gratitude by restoring the king to the throne as soon as possible.
　The plan she's talking about may be a manifestation of that feeling.

　Naturally, I was going to dismiss it, but I swallowed the words on the way out.
　At first glance, Alistair's statement seems like an amateur's raw military strategy, but it's because he found something to look at.

　It's true that the strategy that Alistair had planned was extremely dangerous, but from a different perspective, it gave me a different perspective.

　It gave me a different way of thinking.


(It may be too easy to say that the food problem and the problem of the seal of state can be solved in one fell swoop.


　There are still tens of thousands of troops waiting in the royal capital of Reezus, and the national seal is stored in the deepest part of the royal palace.

　You can't get rid of it.


(However, the idea of surrounding the royal capital and recapturing the national seal while the interior of the royal capital is in turmoil is not a bad one in itself.


　At the very least, it seems impossible to recapture it using 'ordinary methods'.　
　Alistair's words gave me a new idea, and I came up with a strange idea.
　Of course, I don't know if it will work, but I thought it was a strategy worth trying.
　I reveal the plan to everyone.
　When the generals heard the plan, they said, "Oh! I was surprised.

　In a way, this might be a more rigid and too wormy strategy than the one Alistair proposed, but the fact that none of them opposed it was probably because of the achievements so far.

　I'm not sure I'd like to have a dissenting opinion or two, but my subordinates all seem to trust me.

　Then it is the duty of the general to respond to that trust.
　I thought so, and with a confident look on my face, I asked for generals who wanted to participate in the operation.

　Of course, they can't understand the expression of my masked face, but I'm grateful that all of them raised their hands.