Ferret, Queen of Elves, stirred it gracefully as she added a generous amount of sugar to her herbal tea, herbal tea. It was somewhat elegant to drink it with her pinky finger up.

　On the other hand, the Demon King drank it with both hands as if he was holding a cup of tea. Is this a habit from his previous life?

　He is well versed in the art of tea ceremony, so he may have some kind of belief in it.
　Satie was drinking it normally.
　Everyone put a lot of sugar in it. I guess women like sweets after all.
　Or should I say, men do not like it as much.
　It seems that men's taste buds are sensitive and they perceive sweet things as sweeter.
　So the drink with a moderate sweetness for women is too sweet for men.
　Incidentally, I was a typical example of this, and I didn't like sweet drinks very much.

　We spent the rest of the day talking about tea drinking until Ferret's men gathered the fruit of the matter, the "Yizuruha Fruit", a fruit that smelled like the pheromones emitted by the female dragons of earth dragons.

　During that time, they used ten cups of tea and I used ten cups of sugar, and the girls consumed several times that amount.

　It gave me heartburn just to look at them, but I couldn't see their expressions through their masks.
　Ferrette didn't mind and asked as she consumed a lot of sugar.

'By the way, Master Ike, how is Anemone doing?'

'What do you think, you may ask? Or rather, it seems that Anemone is brushing the beans and sending a letter to Master Ferrette.

'Anemone only writes in her letters about new things she's seen, unusual things, and Lady Ike. In short, he's bragging about it. I was worried that you were doing it right.
I'm doing everything right.

'Is the boy useful in the war effort?　Have you been inconveniencing Ike and the others?

No way. No way. Last time I went to Zenobia, she was instrumental in killing the giant sea serpent. And I intend for her to shoulder the heavy burden of this mission as well.
'Heavy duty?　Is it?

Yes, I would like to ask for the help of the elves, the water spirit, Windine.

''I see, I can't even consider how to defeat the Earth Dragon in Windine, but I'm sure Ike-sama will be able to get rid of the Earth Dragon and the Alliance of the Lords with his fanciful strategies.

　Ferrette said, tucking in a gentle smile.

''I don't want you to be forced to use strange tactics every time, though.

　I reply.

'What do you mean?'

　He said as he glanced at the girl drinking tea beside him.

'There's a warlord I admire, Oda Nobunaga,'

Are you an Odanovaga?

　'I've never heard of that name before,' said Ferret, nodding his head.

''It's a warlord from an island nation in the far east. Far, far east.''

　When I said that, I looked at Demon Lord-sama's face to see how she was doing in person, but she didn't move a single eyebrow and was drinking her tea.

　I feel like a big man as expected in this area. I don't mind and tell Ferrette the rest of the story.

''He..., no, she leveled the country of Hinomoto, which was caught up in the vortex of warfare, in a single generation, and brought an end to the world of warfare.

You're a great guy, aren't you?

'Yes, well. He's an underrated figure in world history.

　Even today, Tokugawa Ieyasu is more famous abroad than Oda Nobunaga, the man who built the Edo period.

　Rather than a man who sank hundreds of years of turmoil, a man who maintained a world of peace for hundreds of years deserves to be recognized, but as a man who is currently struggling under her command, I feel sad.

'A man named Oda Nobunaga was born the heir to a certain provincial lord, but his life was not an easy one. His fiefdom was in turmoil with many branch families, and even his own brother had turned against him. It was such a situation.

It's truly a time of war.

Yes, but Nobunaga had unified his family and emerged as the lord of a country. He was steadily gaining ground and looking for an opportunity to make a grand leap forward. One day, however, a large army from a neighboring country rushed in.

A large army, sir?

Yes. That number is 25,000.

'Well, not that much. By the way, how many armies did this Oda Nobunaga guy have?

2000.

'So there was a difference of more than tenfold.

Yes, but a man named Nobunaga, with his 2,000 men, takes the enemy general by surprise and successfully defeats him, making his name known throughout the world.

That's great.

'Yes, it's amazing. The amazing thing about this man Nobunaga is that he didn't defeat 25,000 enemy armies led by an incompetent general, he defeated 25,000 enemy armies led by a competent general.

Was the enemy general capable?

Competent. At least he's not incompetent. He was called the best archer in the Hai Dong.

The kaiduichino bowman?

It is a title given to a strong warlord. His name was Imagawa Yoshimoto. The terrible thing about him was that he was also a brilliant strategist.

　I take a breath there, quench my throat with a cup of tea, and continue my story.

'He forms an alliance with his long-time enemy, the Takeda clan of Kai in the north, and the Hojo clan of Sagami in the east. To the south, by the way, is the sea. To the west, there is only Oda. In other words, he was able to lean all of his troops in his territory on Oda.

So, at that point, strategically, we had won the battle outright.

Yes, he challenged Oda Nobunaga to a complete victory first.

　First you win, then you fight.

　A man named Imagawa Yoshimoto fought a battle that was completely based on the Art of War.

But Imagawa was defeated and Oda won. It was not because the enemy general was incompetent, but because he himself was more than capable. As proof of this, Oda Nobunaga, a man, fought only one battle against an army more numerous than his own.

Just one time...

After the so-called Battle of Okehazama, she always outnumbered her opponent and crushed him. She followed the normal course of the Art of War.

　In fact, a man named Oda Nobunaga never had any military adventures after Okehazama.
　He always prepared more soldiers than his opponents.
　She always paid attention to the logistics and never starved her own troops.
　That was her value and her leadership qualities.
　She was not that good at warfare, although it is not written in the history books.
　You get the impression that if you take a stand, you will always win, but if you check history, you will lose quite a few battles.
　But even if she loses once, she always wins a second or third time.

　This is because he would create a strategic advantage and put himself in a position where he would not suffer a defeat or two before attacking his opponent.

　That was the condition of a great general.
　Defeating the opponent with a small number of soldiers.

　It was a temptation full of pleasure and pleasure for a tactician and a leader of troops, but the moment he became obsessed with it, he was doomed as a commander, he thought.

''Then this time, you are preparing a large army to challenge the Earth Dragon and the Alliance of the Various Kings?

　Ferrette asks me that, but I shake my head.

''No, this time we have only the Eighth Legion to deal with.

　Ferret blinks his eyes.

　He had such a look on his face as if what he was saying and what he was doing were different, but I let out a bitter laugh.

''My Demon King's Army's soldiers are not plentiful. However, because of that, we will use our brains to win. However, I will definitely think of a winning strategy before I move my army.

Win first, and then fight later, I suppose.

That's right.

　He laughed, "That's the duty of a corps commander with the lives of 2,000 generals in his hands," he said.
　Ferrette laughed at that, but then added: "Nobunaga has only defeated a large army once, with a small army.

"Nobunaga has only defeated a large army once with a small army. But Ike-sama has done it many times. Could it be that Ike-sama is more qualified as a warlord?

　Ferret said jokingly.
　I glanced at the Demon King-sama.
　She finished the remaining tea in her teacup and spoke up for the first time.

''Well, I don't know much about this Nobunaga person, but if he was here, this is what I'm sure he would do--''

　The Demon King stopped his words there and concluded.


"Ike is the most powerful magician in the Demon King's army. He is the most wise and courageous of all the demons, and the most loyal of all the demons.


　She assured him and then stood up.

''Then let's have Ike, the greatest general of the demon tribe, show us a miracle produced by a wizard with greater intelligence than the Odanobnaga. "Then let's have Ike, the most famous general of the demon tribe, show us a miracle that can be performed by an intellect greater than that of the Odanobnaga.

　Just as she said this, Ferret's handmaiden appeared.
　She tells the queen that the "Fruit of Yizkorha" is ready.
　Ferrette looks disappointed.

　She still wants to talk to me, and so on, but eventually she stands up and holds out her hand to me and says, "I wish you good luck.


'I wish you good fortune.


　Thank you for your concern. I clasped my hand back with that meaning.
　The palm of the Forest Queen's hand was as delicate and smooth as silk.