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Chapter 308: From Entering the Empire to Marching (3)

Lapis and the others were reluctant to stay there until the very end, insisting that they would rather stay at an inn. But for Loren, the place gave a sense of security as if he had returned to his old home, and he was able to sleep surprisingly well at night and wake up refreshed in the morning.

“Last night was hot.”

It was Luxuria who made that statement and ruined such a refreshing morning.

Although the quality of the rooms was poor, the army did prepare private rooms for all of them. But Luxuria had chosen to stay in a large room with his cronies all night long, and it seemed that they had been immersed in good-for-nothing acts without hesitation or consideration, which was not unexpected.

Among the Evil Gods, Loren thought that this Luxuria should be re-sealed at all costs, but he was troubled by the question of whom to appoint as Luxuria if they were to actually go ahead with it. Of course, Loren would prefer not to have to make this choice himself, but he had the feeling that it would be very bad to ask Lapis or Gula to do it.

“I wonder if someone like Klaus can manage?”

“What are you talking about?”

As Loren complained to himself, Lapis, who looked unhappy as if she had not had a very good sleep, overheard his muttering and asked him about it. Loren replied that it was nothing, then stopped thinking about it for the time being and switched his mind to the reality in front of him.

Luxuria was not the only problem – another one arose while they were having breakfast provided for them by the Empire.

Gula was about to display her power as the Evil God of Gluttony without regret when she learned that the Empire’s army would provide their meals during their tour of duty, meaning they were free of charge. Loren had been silently watching until about halfway through the meal, but when the number of refills reached double digits, he realized that if he continued to idly stand by and watch, they would be in trouble. He forced Gula to stop by dropping his fist on her head.

“What ya doing?!”

“Are you planning to ruin the Empire’s army financially through food expenses?!”

“It’s been ten times only! And it’s free!”

“You should think about the consequences!”

A soldier’s main asset was a healthy body, and most armies provided the best food possible. Of course, depending on the war situation, there were times when food could not be considered food at all, but Loren knew from experience that the food provided by the military of any country was usually of a reasonable quality as long as they could afford it.

It cost a considerable amount of money just to make an army operational, and food expenses accounted for a large percentage of that cost. Even just one being like Gula could really make the army go down because of food cost.

“Have some self-restraint, okay?”

“Tsk…”

Gula, who had been rejoicing at the prospect of all-you-can-eat free food, looked very unhappy when Loren gave her a warning.

“Ca~n’t be helped then. I’ll get some on the battlefield.”

“Saying that kind of thing in a public place…”

Gula would make a good meal out of the enemy soldiers. Loren felt a little sympathy for the enemy army, thinking that the Kingdom’s army would never have dreamed that they would go against a being who saw them only as food.

“Is squad 891, Loren’s party, here?”

Several armed soldiers appeared at the place where Loren and his team were on standby and called the number they had been registered with the day before.

When Loren told them that the number and name were his, a soldier gave him a command with practiced ease:

“Get ready at once and go to the eastern gate of the city. Meet up with the rest of the men there and head for the battlefield.”

“Understood. We’re going.”

Gula and Luxuria were somewhat annoyed by the soldier’s tone of command. Thinking that perhaps it was understandable, since none of them were the sort of beings who would be commanded by ordinary people, Loren urged them all to follow the soldier’ orders and head for the east gate of the city.

Once there, they found adventurers who had probably come from the Guilds across the land as well as regular soldiers, perhaps to show that the unit was on the Empire’s side. Loren gave his number and name at what appeared to be the reception desk, and they joined the group.

“Loren, are you sure you don’t want to talk about the commander for now?”

Lapis asked.

Of course, Loren was more interested in learning more about what his old commander had been doing since the disbandment of his mercenaries’ company than in participating in a war, but he was also well aware that it would be impossible to do so immediately.

“In wartime, there is no way that a man nobody knows can get an interview with a general. That’s why it’s impossible for now.”

“But if you say your name or something, they’ll…”

“If that’s what it takes to get a meeting, then the Empire’s army is a bunch of fools. You heard what that official said, right? There are a lot of people who, in the heat of the moment during a war, will claim to be your children or former comrades, and they are usually ignored.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

From Lapis’ point of view, a war between humans was of no importance. Her interest was focused on the person who used to be the leader of the mercenary group, to which Loren once belonged. If she could not meet him, she would lose all motivation.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.”

Loren also had a desire to meet with the commander. He was surprised to hear that he was a general in the Empire, and was eager to ask him about what had happened to him during that period. However, the difference between the time they used to travel together and today was so great that he actually considered the possibility that the general was another person with the same name. Even so, he would have to meet him at least once to find out.

“If we work for a while and become a bit more memorable, we might be able to get a hold of someone who might be able to talk to the higher-ups. It’s much more likely to go through than trying to talk to them out of the blue without any preparation.”

“It’s not like we can’t use force, right?”

Lapis said in a slightly hushed voice and made an evil face. As if in response, Gula and Luxuria also began to make evil faces, and Loren lightly waved his hand to urge them all to stop.

No matter how powerful the Imperial army was, Loren thought that it would certainly be quite a task to take on two Evil Gods and one demon. However, if they were to go through with such a reckless move, the whole team would be wanted by the entire continent, and even if he was to meet his supposed-commander, Loren was not at all willing to make a choice that would make his future life less comfortable.

“Only if you guys can conquer the entire continent.”

If that was possible, it would not be unfeasible to solve everything by force without thinking about consequences. Loren thought it was something impossible, though, and Lapis simply nodded in agreement.

“That’s impossible, even if we’re talking about the humans’ territory only.”

“Right? Then the only thing we can do is to be credible.”

“It’s going to be a little stressful.”

[‘Onii-san, I think I can manage to conquer a country, if you don’t mind the methods.’]

Shayna showed herself in his mind with fluttering wings, and Loren bit back a wry smile and told her to stop.

If Shayna, the ‘King of Death’, were to use her power to the full, she would be able to organize an army of the dead, and she would certainly be able to conquer an entire country with her power. But what would be left after would be a land of the dead, where only the dead roam, and Loren didn’t even think of making such a thing happen to serve his own purposes.

The fact that Loren and his group were engaged in such a noisy conversation went somewhat unnoticed by those around them, and they spent their time without causing a commotion or attracting any strange attention. Then a group of soldiers dressed in rather high-class equipment appeared in front of the assembled soldiers and adventurers. They were probably officers of some rank. As Loren stared at them, they stopped in front of the whole group, and one of them raised his voice.

“Listen! I am the Commander of the 45th guerrilla squadron. From now on, we will survey the situation around the main body and, at the same time, eliminate any units of the enemy that may be carrying out the same mission.”

“They’re not very organized for an army, aren’t they?”

While the regular soldiers were lined up neatly and listening to their commander, those who appeared to have been sent by the Adventurers’ Guild were not lined up and did not seem to be listening as carefully as they should.

“I guess they decided they couldn’t make an adventurer listen.”

“Mercenaries are a little more organized.”

Mercenaries engaged in warfare for a living and had a certain amount of knowledge and experience in group activities, but adventurers were basically those who worked only with their own parties and were not accustomed to or knowledgeable about working in groups of dozens or even hundreds of people. If they tried to force them into the form of an army, it would naturally lead to a backlash or breakdown, and the Imperial army seemed to have given up on this completely.

“Of course, if the Kingdom had a decent army, numbers would not be a factor of advantage.”

Loren knew that when an uncoordinated group of people clashes with a reasonably well-coordinated group, the former would undoubtedly be the more fragile one. In this case, his experience had taught him that superiority in numbers could be detrimental. It was not so uncommon to hear of armies that became disorganized and were defeated by a small force because their number was so large and couldn’t be controlled.

“Isn’t this quite lousy for an organization that has someone like your old leader as the general?”

“Even if he is a general, he probably doesn’t have command of the entire army. The general may be a general, but he may not be in command of the entire army. Someone else must be in charge of guerrilla squadrons. Or maybe it’s someone else with the same name?”

“In any case, I don’t think it’s going to be very interesting.”

Lapis said this with a sigh as she gazed around at the group that had started to move after the commander’s speech or instructions or something like that had finished, led by the regular soldiers.

Hearing this, Loren covered his mouth with his hand to disguise the fact that he was about to snort, but Lapis saw it.

“What kind of reaction is that?”

Lapis looked offended. Loren, who was walking with the people around him, turned a troubled face to Lapis, who had followed him, and pondered for a while what to say, but eventually gathered his thoughts and put them into words.

“There is no such thing as an interesting war in this world. No matter what kind of war you get into, it’s never going to be interesting.”

“Hmm, is that so?…”

“I’m going to eat living food!”

“I’m going to catch some cute kids.”

Behind Lapis, who seemed to be convinced, were Gula and Luxuria and their cronies, who were in high spirits. Lapis glanced back, then looked up at Loren, who was walking next to her, and said curiously.

“They seem to be having a good time over there.”

“I can’t care about them whatsoever.”

If left unchecked, the battlefield could be thrown into chaos. With a sigh, Loren began to think about whether he should give them a little warning while they were on the march.