Chapter 280 – A Pig Goes Berserk
“So, when are we going to make our bonds known?” Motoki asks me as soon as the broadcast has ended.
“Bonds? You mean the matter of invading simultaneously?”
“Quite so! It’s said that you have to strike while the iron is hot, right!? Listen to my advice as your sworn friend! We should show off the strength of our bonds as soon as possible!”
I guess from Motoki’s point of view the major reason behind this alliance lies in a simultaneous invasion. It gives me cramps to follow this guy’s advice or whatever he calls it, but I had planned to attack Toyami City’s base to begin with.
“When can you carry it out?”
“Meaning?”
“Your long-awaited simultaneous invasion.”
“Let’s see…is it okay for me to ask you one thing before that?”
“What’s up?”
“We’re sworn friends.”
“…Yes.”
It took me a lot of effort to approve of the pig in front of me as a sworn friend, but in the end I agreed.
“Then I wonder what to think about the way you’re addressing me.”
“Would it be better for me to call you Motoki-dono?”
“I’ll call you Shion-nyan! And I wouldn’t mind in the least if you were to also call me Moto-nyan!”
“No thanks.”
But I do mind.
“――!? What do you dislike about this…?”
“All of it. I’ll call you Motoki, so you can call me Shion.”
It also gave me cramps for this pig to address me without honorific titles, but I decided to compromise a bit.
“Calling each other by names without any titles…It’s almost as if we’re a married――”
“Should we make it so that this alliance never came to be?”
“W-Why…?”
The pig in front of me is really gross. Maybe I should have trusted Kanon’s intuition…
“So, when can you carry it out?”
I return to the main topic, which interests Motoki the most, for the sake of stopping any further talk about this revolting topic as quickly as possible.
“H-Hmm…but, before that――”
“I’m asking you when you’ll be able to carry it out, you hear?”
“R-R-Right…three days…how about we do it in three days?”
“Three days, huh? Considering how much you rushed me earlier, that’s rather slow. Well, whatever. Okay, we’re going to start our invasion at the same time at 6 p.m. in three days.”
“O-Okay, 6 p.m. I got it.”
“I think we’ll both be busy with getting everything ready. So please excuse me at this point.”
I said everything that had to be said, so I swiftly left.
◆
“Shion, I’m gonna kill dat pig!”
I hardly arrive at the office through the transfer array when Takaharu confronts me with a dangerous idea.
“I understand your feelings on this, but endure it.”
“Master, I agree with Mr. Takaharu’s opinion!”
For a change, Hibiki, who’s been on the receiving end of Motoki’s sexual harassment, actively supports an idea.
“I also feel like super unwilling to accept that a gross thing like that is of the same race as I am.”
“Hehen? I warned you, didn’t I?”
Sarah bares her disgust of Motoki while Kanon acts all high and mighty.
“Well, I understand your feelings, but…it’s not like we’ve become his subordinates, so let’s have him be of as much use to us as possible, as sworn friend.”
“With sworn friends, there are also times where you have to go rescue them, right?”
“Eh? Like no way in hell!”
“If it is your mighty order, Master…I won’t hesitate to help him as reinforcement, but…that thing is inferior to my own subordinates.”
“As your strategist, I propose to also include abandoning him as an option.”
Motoki seems to be generally hated by all the former Demon Kings.
It’s not clear whether things will develop into such a situation, but the action we’ll take at that time depends on the reputation of that thing. For the time being, we’ll get ready for battle.”
“Sure thing.”
“Ay.”
“Certainly, Master!”
“Okaaay.”
I ordered my dispirited subordinates.
◆
Three days after I had allied with Motoki, at 5 p.m.
I have deployed a battle array of 10,000 subordinates in a location situated 3 km away from the Nanto Fortress. One hour left until the appointed time, huh?
Just in case, I contact Kaede whom I have assigned to monitor Motoki’s side.
“How are things on your side?”
『Nn, the pig’s army amounts to about 5,000』
“What about Tateyama’s lineup?”
Motoki is scheduled to invade the “Tateyama Fortress”, the last bastion protecting Toyama City.
『Nn, around 30,000?』
“Isn’t that too little?”
The target of our invasion ― the Nanto Fortress has 100,000 defenders.
『Nn, but it’s around that much』
Many reserve troops are stationed in Toyama City ― the main base of Toyama’s humans. Maybe they’re planning to send out reinforcements after assessing the situation?
“Oh well, get back to me if there’s any movement.”
『Got it』
In the worst case, we’ll pretend to invade at the same time while invading ourselves. It doesn’t look like Motoki is going to act like a hyena, choosing an opportune moment to jump us just when the enemy forces are focused on us.
Going by my talks and meeting with him, Motoki is a retard. It looks like it was an unfounded worry that he’d betray me. And even if he does betray me, I had planned to attack Nanto Fortress anyway. It’d piss me off to be used for testing the waters, but I’d just need to pay him back in full if that time should ever come.
With things like this, are the humans going to split their reserves in Toyama City between the eastern and western fronts? It’d make things a bit easier, but…the enemy combat forces are not to be underestimated.
“The beginning is crucial! The main goal behind today’s attack is to break the enemy’s morale as much as possible! All hands, use all your force to wipe the floor with them!”
The crux of a Reign is how much you can break the spirit of your enemy. A drawn-out battle is no option. You must plunge the humans into despair by showing them an overwhelming difference in power.
Takaharu’s corps, who’s going to serve as vanguard, seems to be fully motivated. Takaharu’s character as a battle maniac has been changing into a nice direction recently.
“We’re going to start attacking in 30 minutes from now on! All of you, finish your final――”
～?
Just when I’m about to make my final speech, I hear the melody of an incoming call. The caller is ― Kaede.
“What’s wrong?”
『They moved』
“Haah?”
『The pig army has launched their attack』
Huh? There’s still 30 minutes left, though.
The part about them starting early is no problem. The reserves in Toyama City are then going to stream towards Motoki’s side. For me as the one wanting to attack Nanto Fortress, it’s actually convenient, but…
Is he genuinely an idiot?
I decided that I won’t get any further with just a phone call. I switch to a live stream of Kaede’s point of view on my smartphone.
“Go, go! We’re going to attack the Nanto Fortress together with our sworn friend and 『Thirteen Evil Stars』 Shion! Now is the time to crush the humans of Toyama with our bonds!”
Haah?
Kaede’s point of view shows me Motoki as he triumphantly declares our simultaneous invasion.
“We’re the foundation! The key player is Shion! We’ll show them our bonds!”
Huh?
Motoki rattles on incomprehensible stuff about him being a diversion and some such. What’s that idiot prattling…?
That idiot has blown the biggest chance of the attacking side ― the element of surprise ― to the wind.
～?
As I’m watching the live stream with a headache, my smartphone rings because of an incoming call.
The one calling is ― Tusk.
“What’s up?”
『W-We’ve got a huge problem! Demon King Motoki has widely announced…today’s invasion on the Internet!』
“Haah?”
『Umm, you can look up the details by searching 『Kanezawa Toyama Simultaneous Invasion』!』
I finish the call with Tusk, and look up the search terms he’s told me.
『Tonight! Our TomiKane Alliance ― is going to launch an invasion on our arch-enemy, the Toyama humans! The invasion will begin at 6 p.m.! The location will be the Nanto Fortress and the Tateyama Fortress! Humans of Toyama, wait for us as you tremble in your beds!』
…
My assessment of Motoki as an ally drops sharply and at the same time, it goes up by one notch for him as an enemy.
Translation Notes:
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