What?　Theon!　Why did you pull out?!
Oh, and like, incomplete?

　When I return to the control area, as expected, Takaharu and Sarah come crowding up to me.

''Huh........ Are you guys idiots?　.... hmm?　Stupid.

I'm not stupid!

　Takaharu and Sarah counter my words, which were exhaled along with a sigh, with a beautiful humor as usual.

''If we attack now the enemy is fully prepared, right?
Yeah.
'What's the sad thing about having to go to the trouble of attacking when the enemy is fully prepared?

　With a sigh, I decided to tell him the true meaning of this attack.

''That's... that's it!　Because you declared war!
I just announced that I was going to attack. I didn't say we were going to fight.
What?　What's the point of the attack now?
'Breaking my promise will affect my credibility in the future. So I launched the attack as declared.
What?　There's no such thing!
There is. We're not playing a game with mankind. We're at war-- killing each other.
Yeah, I know, but... Then when do I get a chance to do something?
"When the time is ripe" is all I can say.

　I would answer Takahara's question with a shrug of my shoulders.

　After that, the days continued with repeated retreats with my subordinates in tow, shooting arrows at them.

　I took advantage of the repeated, meaningless days to continue to mass-produce my subordinates.

　Numbers are power.

　Even with an eye on future developments, the number of subordinates under my command that can move outside of my domain - the number of my military personnel - is important.

　I continued to spend my days refining the human spirit while steadily increasing the power within.

　Ten days later.

　Today, the days were the same as they had been since that day.

　Ideally, I would have liked to see the numbed humanity come to attack, but the humanity in Suzu City Hall was either cautious or cowardly...they never left Suzu City Hall.

　Then I'll just continue my seemingly futile days. Maintaining a sense of urgency is surprisingly physically and mentally draining. The days of shooting arrows and retreating from a semi-routine routine are sure to diminish humanity's mental strength. There must be a limit to how far we can continue to be on high alert....

　I continued to measure the timing of when the time was ripe.


　◆


　It has been 21 days since he started harassing Zhuzhou City Hall.

'Theon. Maybe today is a good time to start.

　Yataro, who had been left in charge of the defense, reported to me.

''So that means........''
Hmm. The number of invaders currently in our territory is zero.

　It's been 21 days since they started harassing people by shooting arrows at them every six hours every day and withdrawing. I'm sure the human spirit in Suzu City Hall has been sufficiently chipped away.

　And now--there are no intruders in my domain.

　Whether it's humanity or the Demon King.......even if they invade now, even if I put the right people in place, I'll still need seven days to reach the [True Core]. In other words, the forces that had been sent to the defense for six days from now - Izayoi, Saburou, and Setanta - could also be mobilized for the invasion of Suzu City Hall.

　Indeed, this would be the perfect timing.

　--all hands on deck!　Today at 6:00 p.m., we will begin our invasion of Pearl Harbor City Hall!　For this invasion, every member of the household with the exception of Yataro and canon will participate!　Start preparing yourselves!

　I was to announce the start of the invasion to all my subordinates.


　◆


　18:00.

　With all of their subordinates and over 4,000 underlings, with the exception of Yataro and the canon, they began their progress to Zhuzhou City Hall.

　--Release!

　Under my orders, the men who can handle the bow will fire arrows into Suzu City Hall.

　--Clear the center, and fall back on your left and right sides!

　My men spread out from side to side and retreated, clearing a path to the gate in the wall that covered the city hall.

　So far, it's business as usual. We and the humans in Suzu City Hall have seen it all before. The only difference is that they spread out to the left and right, leaving the center open... but since they usually repeat various odd actions for the purpose of disruption, they shouldn't feel any discomfort with this level of behavior.

　The odd behavior that caused humanity to be most upset was - the behavior three days ago, when Hibiki wasted no time in showing off her 《Perfect Body》 after shooting an arrow. Other bizarre actions included Takaharu on a motorbike blowing his accelerator with a group of goblin bikers in tow, starting a mysterious chorus with all his subordinates, and retreating while advancing backwards.

　But this time, the actions were not oddities - they were meaningful actions.

　The human beings in Zhuzhou City Hall just watched us retreating, as usual.

　--Cue on!　Get in!

　I gave the order to the one goblin that was giving me the all-important instruction.

　As I gave the order, a runaway truck appeared from the rear - in the direction of my area of control, creating a cloud of dust.

　The truck was driven by one brave goblin. In the back of the truck is the demolition dynamite that I collected when I ruled.

　The truck, which has been turned into a powder keg, blasts off down the road I cleared, heading toward the gate that leads to Suzu City Hall. I can't make out any of their words because of the distance, but from Suzu City Hall, humanity's confused voices reach my ears through the wind.

　The humans at Suzu City Hall noticed the change and hurriedly shot an arrow at the truck, but the runaway truck didn't stop.

　And 10 seconds later--

　--!

　The runaway truck crashed into a gate in the wall of Suzu City Hall. The sound of an explosion that pierces your ears echoes around you as the earth shakes.

　--All hands, charge!

　I'm giving orders to all my men who participated in the invasion.

　The final battle for Suzu City Hall against humanity had begun.