Dungeon Defense (WN)

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“Hmm.”

Barbatos gave me a sidelong glance. She even added a nasal noise. Her gaze being strangely sexual despite her being a brat is troubling. I’d be grateful if she refrained from using her sex appeal in a public place……. Look. Brother Beleth and Brother Zepar are both acting restless because of you. A young child shouldn’t tease adults.

“Our weasel Demon Lord with a bag of tricks, Dantalian. What sort of malicious scheme have you thought up of to be able to raise your hand so confidently?”

I smiled awkwardly.

“Let us put humans forward.”

“Put humans forward? What do you mean?”

“The margraves’ army consists mostly of cavalrymen and conscripted soldiers. The conscripted soldiers are villagers who have voluntarily gathered because they are afraid of Demon Lords. We will persuade these villagers. We will declare to them that we will not harm those who surrender to us. We will allow them to live their lives as usual. However, they must pledge their loyalty to us. If their lives are guaranteed, then even they will want to avoid going to war. This will greatly weaken the margraves’ forces.”

It’s not like farmers join the military because they feel some sort of loyalty to their territory. It is simply because it would be better to gather in a single place and retaliate together as a group rather than try to fend off the Demon Lord forces alone. An army that has a thorough understanding of each other’s interests, thus they are able to display a strong, focused power. ……However, it is also an army that could collapse at any moment if we offer them a better offer.

“There’s no way that those humans would trust us so easily.”

“That is why we must put other humans forward. If fellow humans are trying to persuade them, then even they will listen. Coincidentally, I am in possession of some humans that are appropriate for this task. We will use them.”

I spoke while recalling the villages near my dungeon. Starting from Parsi, he’ll make the villagers into a type of envoy. They’ll make their rounds around the villages within the margraves’ fiefs and recommend them to surrender.

“A majority of the villagers will be half in doubt. There will be villages where the persuasions go well and where the persuasions go bad. At that time, we will mobilize a detached force. We will turn the villages that refused to surrender into an example and wipe them out.”

“Will the humans easily cooperate with us as you suggest?”

General Zepar asked.

“They despise us.”

“Of course. However, there is something else that the humans despise more. If we promise to prevent that, then the humans will gladly serve us.”

“And what may that be?”

“Death.”

“…….”

My words must’ve not been very persuasive as the response from the other Demon Lords sounded lukewarm. However, it was carried out anyway since we didn’t have much to lose even if we tried it out. The results were as I expected. While the villages that seemed even slightly willing to surrender were left alone, once we burned down the villages that unilaterally ignored our warnings, the remaining villages scrambled to surrender.

After five days, 2,000 men from the margraves’ army of 35,000 soldiers deserted them. The margraves were surprised and attempted to wipe out the villages―the desertion was carried out by entire villages and not individually―under the pretext of betraying mankind. This is where they messed up. Whenever they tried to attack the villages, our 6th legion would send a dispatch force as reinforcements.

We kept our promise with the villages to protect them. On the other hand, the margraves, who should be responsible for the protection of the people, had to attack the villages in order to maintain their forces. The conscripted soldiers started a revolt and deserted the margraves in mass. In the end, the margraves’ army decreased to 17,000 soldiers. They had lost half of their forces before even a proper battle could be had. According to rumors, Margrave Rosenberg practically spat out blood because of how enraged he became. How pitiful.

The Demon Lord army was also similarly surprised by this unexpected result. Our forces truly didn’t do anything in particular. We only sent envoys to ask the villages to surrender and we protected them just as we promised according to the capitulations they signed. Once we managed to make the enemy troops cave in on themselves with only this tiny bit of effort, the other Demon Lords struggled to understand the reasoning. They looked at me as if I were some sleight-hand performer.

I smiled as I gave them a calm explanation.

“You all have overlooked 2 things. The first comes from prejudice.”

“Prejudice?”

Beleth acted as the representative as he asked back.

“That is correct. Whether it be consciously or subconsciously, you are all treating the human army as a single entity. But think about it. What could possibly be making all those humans gather together? They also have a hierarchical system, fiefdoms, and conflicting interests. The only reason they have gathered is because of us. However, if we reveal that we are not going to be hostile towards them, then they have no reason to go out of their way to fight against us.”

The humans also have a similar prejudice. They probably treat the Demon Lord army as a single entity simply because it’s led by Demon Lords. However, we have inner circles like the Plains Faction and the Mountain Faction that are hostile towards one another. How could such groups not exist? The Demon Lords unconsciously treat the numerous humans as a single group and don’t believe they can split the humans apart…….

This prejudice is the result of the forces that defended the Black Mountains. The soldiers defending the Black Mountains had the special responsibility of protecting mankind. Since Demon Lords are their absolute enemies, they believed they couldn’t possibly surrender to them. No, only those who believed this volunteered to defend the fortresses……. The first human forces the Demon Lords encountered when invading was always the humans defending the fortresses, so this prejudice was created. 

In <Dungeon Attack>, there is a scenario where the human world becomes divided. Even in the original story, the humans split into two groups as this prejudice falls apart. The side that seeks survival by cooperating with the Demon Lords and the side that wants to eliminate the Demon Lords. I’ve simply pulled this event forward a bit.

“The second thing everyone has overlooked is fear. You are all not aware of how much fear humans feel when they hear the term ‘Crescent Alliance’. At the longest, the average human’s lifespan is about 60 years. The 7th Crescent Alliance was 200 years ago. To them, the Crescent Alliance is like a nightmare of the past that is only spoken about like legends. That nightmare has returned. They will most likely wish to avoid it if possible.”

Demon Lords can live forever. As long as they aren’t injured to a certain degree, they can keep living. If the Crescent Alliance is like an ‘Oh, another Crescent Alliance?’ to Demon Lords, then to humans, the Crescent Alliance is more like “Dear Lord! The Demon Lords are working together to invade!?’ Even if a couple of dozen monsters were to approach, that would be enough to severely threaten a human village, but a Crescent Alliance meant that hundreds of thousands of monsters were invading. This could instill nothing but fear in humans.

You could tell this is true by the demeanor of the soldiers that had been protecting the Black Mountains. They didn’t realize we were the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance. They only realized in their final moments…….

“As long as we assure them that we will not attack without reason, Demon Lords are no different from human lords.”

Zepar nodded.

“Certainly. Prejudice and perception, is it……. This makes the imperial army rather pitiful. They lost almost half of their soldiers before they could even face us in combat. A tactic and a scheme. Having a schemer like you is a blessing for us and a curse for the humans.”

The 6th legion advanced without hesitation.

Now the imperial army was below the 6th legion even in manpower. The imperial army has 17,000 soldiers while the Demon Lord army has 18,000 soldiers. Monsters are normally superior to humans. Therefore, they would only lose if they tried to defend against us now.

The margraves soiled themselves as they retreated. They even abandoned the towns below their castles. They fled further inland in order to join up with the main army in the center of the empire. Naturally, they had more deserters as they retreated. After compiling the information gathered from the deserters, only about 8,000 people followed the margraves all the way. This was a huge success.

“Fuck, what’s up with this.”

Barbatos cursed at the victory she attained. We were currently gathered in the castle owned by Margrave Rosenberg in a reception room made out of expensive marble stones. Barbatos was seated on the margrave’s throne and had the most annoyed look on her face.

“What the fuck is up with this!? Were the margraves always this easy!?”

No one could answer Barbatos’ roar. This was because the other Demon Lords felt the same way as Barbatos. They also wanted to ask the same question.

I smiled wryly.

“It is a bloodless victory. It should be fine for you to be a bit happier about this.”

I was standing the closest to Barbatos. My rank was disregarded and I was acknowledged as having contributed the most to the 6th legion. This was only natural since my operation succeeded in conquering the northern fiefdom of the Habsburg Empire without shedding a single drop of blood.

“No, but what about the painstaking effort we went through for the past 2,000 years……? We only ever managed to get this far 3 times and that was after fighting desperately.”

“They say that your body goes through hardship if your head is bad.”

Barbatos looked as if her soul had left her body. She was currently in the middle of experiencing a mental collapse. In truth, it wasn’t just Barbatos but the majority of the other Demon Lords here felt the same way.

“So, what? Are you saying that the bullshit we did for the past 2,000 years was pointless spadework……?”

“The term spadework sounds rather rash, Your Excellency the Earl.”

“……Your Excellency the Earl? What?”

I pulled out a scroll from my pocket.

“The people of this land have resolved themselves to enthrone Your Excellency as the rightful margrave of this fiefdom. The responsibility to take care of your people will follow Your Excellency the Earl, and your people are required to comply if you draft them.”

“Eh. huh……?”

“Congratulations. You are the first Demon Lord to have control over both demons and humans. Throughout all of history, you are the only one to have ever accomplished such a feat. From this day forth, you will reign as both the Rank 8 Demon Lord and the margrave of Brandenburg.”

I bowed deeply.

“Wait a second! Fuck, what nonsense are you spewing? Why should I take care of humans!?”

“Did you not accept their surrender?”

I spoke to Barbatos in a subtle tone.

“It is only natural that the one who rules the people is a noble.”

“Hey, Dantalian, you son of a bitch. Confess now. You’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you?”

“Did Your Excellency not say it before that you wanted to take care of Rosenberg without falling to Paimon’s scheme? I simply acted in accordance with Your Excellency’s request.”

She shut her mouth. I was right, after all.

“You will simply be ruling the humans temporarily until we finish conquering the continent. It would not be too late to deal with them after we have turned the entire continent into a world for demonkind. Make use of the humans until then.”

“Hah. This is weird. Something about this doesn’t feel right, but, fuck. I did win, but why do I not feel satisfied?”

Barbatos complained. She didn’t want to do something so pointless and tiresome, so she pushed everything related to managing the fief to me.

The first policy I enacted was mobilizing troops in order to subjugate the wild monsters inhabiting the mountains of the fief. Since we aren’t able to gain flesh by fighting humans, we have to use monster meat as a substitute. The sight of monsters subjugating monsters was surprising and made the people of the fiefdom praise the new lord for their bold and merciful policy. We acquired provisions and improved our image with the people, two birds with one stone.

We stationed our army of 18,000 monsters at the town below the castle. All of the humans who were born in this town followed the margrave, so it was perfect to use as a garrison. 

“You are insidious, Lord.”

Laura said to me as I was seated at a table and looking at documents.

“In the end, from start to finish, Your Lordship has controlled this war and you will most likely continue to do so.”

“You are overpraising me.”

I grinned. I was being honest. I was simply acting according to the things that happened in <Dungeon Attack>. The world would probably call this a cheat, but what about it?

I’ve done nothing wrong.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Am I getting faster? I should slow down or I’m going to end up raising expectations :^)

Nothing much to say, as per usual, so see you guys in the next chapter.