Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? 280

War is hell… on the bureaucrats.

280 – Aftermath of the battles

For the capture of the fort that I had left to Waldo-kun, once vampire girl participated it was finished off right away. Despite the humans who here holding it, vampire girl cleared the defensive wall unaided and invaded the interior. While creating a scene from hell, agonizing cries and all, the fort fell. Seriously okay, that’s, you know, going a bit overboard perhaps? Not like I can say anything though. She seemed rather irritated about something.

The net result was, rather than a bloodless capture, a blood-drenched capturing of the fort was accomplished, and the 10th Army and the survivors of the 7th Army are currently occupying it. The decision is made to entrust it to the surviving commanding officers from the 7th Army, and the 10th Army are scheduled to return back before long. Though it’s occupied it’s not like there’s many prisoners or anything due to a lack of survivors. While the chances of the humans coming to recapture the fort are not non-existent, they’re probably in a mess as well anyway, so I’m sure they won’t be moving soon. So, it’s not necessary to leave many soldiers here. Beyond that, I want the 10th Army to be able to move freely, for the upcoming capture of the elf village.

The other armies are either withdrawing, or occupying the captured forts. The 2nd Army was supposed to have assaulted the fort themselves, but due to the boobian’s scheme it’s become covered with monkeys, so instead they’re standing guard to prevent the monkeys from flooding into the demon territories. Well, with regards to it developing into standing guard, maybe the boobian has the ulterior motive of wanting to keep her forces close at hand perhaps? If they returned, although they would be uninjured, due to the need to supplement the other armies and so on they’d be pulled apart, and it may be unavoidable to perform a reorganisation anyway. Which is why, she didn’t want to return. Maybe she’s thinking of retaining her forces if possible, and opposing the Demon King or something.

The 3rd Army is currently occupying the fort it took. The idiot giant is overly kind, and despite it being a war he’s providing good treatment to his enemies who became prisoners. Because of that there’s unnecessary additional effort involved, so I think they’ll be unable to leave for a while.

The 4th Army is currently in the middle of retreating. Because they promptly withdrew from the battlefront, I’d say they’ll probably be the first to return back to the demon territories. Well, Mera is commanding them, so I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.

The 5th Army is likewise in the middle of retreating. They’ve suffered more damage than the 4th Army, so at a town along the way they’ll have to give treatment to the injured soldiers and resupply. Particularly because there’s many injured soldiers, they might end up staying in that town for a long time but either way they probably won’t be moving any time soon.

The 6th Army is also in the middle of retreating. They’re in an even more pitiful state than the 5th Army. Their general the shota died in battle, and many of the soldiers have also been lost. Excluding the 1st Army which was completely annihilated, I guess they’ve suffered the most damage. Because it’ll be almost impossible to reorganise them as an army, I think they’ll probably be disbanded and distributed amongst the other armies. Well, similarly to the 5th Army, it’ll probably take some time before they can return though.

The 8th Army are returning in triumph. Since they won after all. I think it would be incorrect to say that they are retreating. However, their mood is about as heavy as if they’d been defeated. Oni-kun demonstrated his brutality and the battlefield became hell after all. Battlefields are always hell, but his deeds thrust it down into the very bottom of hell. Scary, scary. The fort they were supposed to occupy was completely destroyed, so having no reason to stay they’re making their return in triumph. Prisoners? You think there are any?

The 9th Army didn’t leave in the first place, so omitted. Since that’s a Demon King Army that’s not a Demon King Army.

So in the end, the only one that can currently move freely is the Demon King’s directly controlled army only. That Demon King’s directly controlled army, is supposed to focus on defensive battles in the demon territory, so I guess they can’t just move at a moment’s notice after all. Well, to be blunt, just the Demon King by herself would suffice for defence so just by itself that suffices. If necessary the puppet spiders and remaining Queen Taratekts could be summoned anyway.

There’s no army that’s ready for action. Well, if you think that means that there’s nothing to do, that’s not the case either. Dealing with the aftermath of the battles is a considerably important job after all.

To heal wounded soldiers, medicine or personnel who can use treatment magic need to be dispatched on-site. There’s replenishment of the supply trains. The collective amount of damage and the number of surviving soldiers needs to be determined. From there a reorganisation plan needs to be prepared, otherwise it won’t be possible to then move out to capture the elf village. There’s quite a lot of work that is never-ending. For those I’ll just delegate it all to Felmina-chan.

「Actually, please help me.」

Do you best! I have something that I need to do! I’m actually being serious here.

I want to get rid of as many elves and their collaborators as possible, since they’ve taken advantage of this opportunity to come out. The elves and those collaborators happen to be lurking in countries all over the world. You can tell just how wide their area of activity is, by considering the fact that they have a teleportation point created in the demon territories. Since they can use teleportation, it’s no easy matter to exterminate them. Or actually, probably impossible. However, if I make use of this to try, then I should be able to constrain them somewhat. Well anyway, I’ll be crushing the cyborg bodies that Potimas has put so much time and effort into.

When I include a requirement that any members we have here must be able to do that, then the number of potential members is limited. In that case, the other side should be cautious. Whether they withdraw to the elf village, or attack us in return, I should be able to expect some kind of action. If they withdraw to the elf village, then I’ll locate the teleportation circle to the elf village that they’ve been desperately trying to conceal. If they go on the offensive, then I’ll be able to make further analysis of the elves’ combat potential. Either way, it can only be a positive outcome for us.

Hrm. While we’re at it, I guess I’ll raise vampire girl’s level at the same time. By capturing the fort, vampire girl’s level should have also risen by a fair amount, but I’m sure there’s still plenty of room for progress.

「Therefore, let’s go.」
「Like I’ve been saying! What do you mean by “therefore”!?」

I grab vampire girl who was taking a break with Waldo-kun in the fort. We’re now going to teleport around the world and raid the positions of the elves and their collaborators! Basically, a mini world tour.

Translation notes:

“Therefore, let’s go” – if it’s not obvious by now, Shiro has a tendency drop in on people (generally Sophia) and simply state the conclusion while also failing to explain all the thinking she put into that conclusion but speaking as if she had done so. She doesn’t always use the exact same words so I’m not translating it in the exact same way each time.