There is a warfare technique called "Heihyo-chitai".

　It was once used in the Warring States period and was one of the strategies to attack a castle. It is a strategy to drive the enemy into a state of starvation by cutting off the logistics, especially food transportation routes.

　Although it would take some time, it would not hurt the castle and its soldiers, and it would not exhaust the soldiers, which is in line with the conditions of this attack. When I heard the story from the Demon King-sama, I had already decided to take this method.

　The famous attacks on food supplies are the attack on Tottori Castle by Hashiba Hideyoshi and the suppression of the Amakusa Rebellion by Matsudaira Nobutsuna. In both cases, the lack of food caused a great number of deaths on the side of the siege. The situation was indescribable, and some of them even resorted to the use of human flesh, just as they had done during the famine.

　When you hear that much, it may seem like a vicious warfare technique.
　That's why I decided to put a twist on it.


'....What is this...?


　About a week after Satie and I returned from Zenobia and began our mission.

　When the Demon King arrived in Azuchi, what he saw in his eyes was a scene that didn't look like a battlefield.


''Ah ha ha ha ha!
Good, this food is good!
'Oh, and it goes with the drink!　It's great!
Oh, come on, is this really a war?　You're just eating and drinking.
Well, you enjoy it, too, but whatever, my dear Lord Ike, we got something for you.
'Oh, yes!　We should be having a lot of fun anyway!
'And the food is good, by the way!　And the drinks are good!
Hey, I'm gonna ask for a dance.
'Oh, good!　Good grief!
"Liven it up!　That's what warfare is all about!
More food on the table?
You're running out of booze!　Bring it in a bunch!


　The castle is surrounded by the orgies of disarmed soldiers.
　The demons and humans were drinking, munching on food and frolicking.

　The demon king was taken aback when he saw the scene. Well, that's understandable. Who in the world would think it was a battle looking at this situation? Who would know that they were in the middle of quelling a rebellion?

　But it's a good war.
　For the soldiers, the most important task this time was to have fun.

''We've been waiting for you, Demon King. How is your injury?

Mm-hmm. It hurts a little bit, but it's nothing serious. But what's the big deal...?

The army is starving.

I know, I've heard that. But ... is this war?

Yes, sir. Our goal is not to starve the Third Legion to death. It's only a measure to retake the castle, so we've taken some strange measures.

You tell me. You know, that's a wonderful idea.

Yeah, I understand...

　I said and explained my aim to the Demon King.
　---- To begin with, the root of the food attack is to inflict psychological damage on the enemy.

　By closing the food and water supply routes, a sense of frustration is created on the side of the siege. Whether human or demon, it's the same for all living things. If they don't eat, they die. If you don't drink water, you will die even sooner. It is said that a human could live for about a month if they simply had no food, but it is said that if they deprived of water and salt, they wouldn't even last a week. As soon as the supply routes are cut off, the countdown to death begins.

　No one wants to die.
　But if we don't, we're going to die.
　Forcing the enemy to surrender to such an ultimate two choices is the basis of a food attack.
　However, continuing to surround the castle with heavily armed soldiers is also dangerous.

　As long as the castle is surrounded and logistics are cut off, no one will interpret the soldiers surrounding the castle as 'being in charge of defending the castle'. If they were spotted by the Lords Alliance, they would immediately detect that they were attacking the castle. That was something I really wanted to avoid in this battle.

　Therefore, we have disarmed our arms and sent a minimum number of people to stand guard and defend the site.
　Fortunately, we have a good group of people here, including the dwarves who are heavy drinkers, which is perfect for a drinking party. This is a ploy because our 8th legion, which is a mixed unit of various races, not just demons, is the reason for this.

　They built a huge fire like a campfire and served a lot of alcohol and food to the soldiers. The soldiers are unarmed and make a lot of noise, drinking and singing. There would be no one in the current Confederation of Kings who could see this as an attack on the castle. At best, it should look like a feast to celebrate the relocation of the Demon King's Castle. Moreover, the banner of the Eighth Legion was flying in the surrounding area. Even in the midst of a feast, no one would be brave enough to attack the rumored Eighth Legion, even in the middle of a feast.

　As for the food, Satie is at his best during the daytime, and at night when Satie is asleep, he is at his best.

　For the night when Satie sleeps, he adopts a mushroom dish that Anemone brought back from the World Tree Forest.

　Both of them tasted excellent and smelled unearned good, which was a key factor. That's why I bought the spices from Zenobia.

　As a defense against shots from the arrow gap, aside from the "barrier", the Elf's wind magic was also used to encourage early surrender. Wind magic has the role of a circulator, blocking arrows from the castle and at the same time making the smell of food waft towards the castle.

　It was expected that Azuchi Castle did not have enough food to feed a large group of people, the Third Legion, properly. And when Lilith reported that the 3rd Legion was trying to take food from the villagers, that expectation turned into confidence.

　A joyous feast, shown endlessly in the midst of a lack of food. The good smells in the air. Delicious food. A drink that would quench their thirst. Right now, there are probably people in the castle drooling and envious of us from the Third Legion.

　That's what's going on for another week.
　It's about time some of them defected and surrendered.



　Hearing my explanation, the Demon King-sama involuntarily broke his face.

''Hahahahahahaha!　So that's the seed of this situation. Ike, after all, Unu is interesting. I wasn't crazy in my eyes.

I'm sorry, sir.

'But you're still naive. Why bother urging surrender to the one who betrayed you?　Why not just cut down on the ones that come out? I'm not angry at you for creating a rebellion, but I will still make you pay for your betrayal.

　The demon king asks as she unloads her petite body from the horse.

　She smiles with a grin and her eyes sparkle as if she's testing me. It's a nasty question. You have no intention of doing such a nasty thing as an instant execution for betraying me.

"Look at the banquet, Demon Lord.

　I said as I indicated my men who were enjoying themselves with their hands.

　I pointed to the warriors of the White Rose Knights and the demons, who were happily dancing hand in hand with each other, fueling the drinks and tasting the food.

　It was an awfully small but ideal relationship for me and the Demon Lord.
　A relationship in which neither race hates the other, does not bicker with each other, and does not fight each other.

''Humans and demonkind can hold hands and sing and dance together, share the deliciousness of alcohol, and enjoy cooking together. I wanted to show that to the Third Legion.

Oh... and why is that?

''The Third Legion's soldiers are also a valuable asset to our Demon King's Army. If we were to cut them off immediately after they betrayed us, the strength of the Demon King's Army would be greatly reduced. Rather, I think we should work to make them realize that they can join hands with humans, and that they can become friends and allies, and try to get them to accept our policy of reconciliation with humans.

'I see. So Unu thinks the Third Legion is one of them, too?

Yeah. Well, I don't want to lose any more people for nothing.

　Isn't that what happened to the Demon King?
　I asked, and the Demon King-sama gave a small nod, "Mm,

　Just at the right time, Lilith rushed towards me. She should have been in charge of guarding the castle at this time, instead of participating in the feast. I greeted her report, sensing a change in the war situation.

What's up?　Lilith.

Master Ike!　It's exactly what Master Ike expected!　More and more enemies are surrendering, in turn, from the squad of bows that were sniping at us!　We can't even keep up with it anymore!　We need your support!

Okay. I'll tell each and every one of you a cautionary tale.

　When I returned that, the Demon King and I looked at each other and smiled.

　It took some time, but it seems that my strategy worked brilliantly this time as well. While patting my chest in relief, I made my way to the ones who had surrendered.