121-115 Battle preparation

As promised, I healed the injuries of those in the room the deficiencies were intact.

Thank you.

Don't worry, there will be an additional charge. Well, I'm off to the battlefield. Of course, King Rockwell, we'll need you to join us in battle.

'Oh! I can understand you.

...without running into enemy lines, please.

I'm aware of that.

With a huff, he looked like someone else and decided to head out, thinking it was a dangerous category to mix it up.

''Then let's get going as soon as possible. Let's take down the ants with an immediate break.

Then you will command your slaves. We are the only ones who can command anything but dwarves.

Duly noted.

We, Mr. Grand, King Rockwell, and his entourage walk down the hallway to the slave room.

The more forces we have, the better, and we decide to let Ketty and Kefin find out about the slaves.

It would be a shame for the slaves to be brainwashed and try to brainwash them, but they decided that they couldn't take any more risks.

''Then I will first place the treated slaves under my command.

"...the reason for your late arrival,

'We've already treated all the injured who were in the front line and frontline clinics. I regret that I put Kefin in danger because of that, but...

'You trust your slaves.

'They're slaves, but they can terminate their slave contracts whenever they want. All my slaves are just trying to be stubborn slaves.

"...why are you trying to free a highly capable slave?

''....No one wants to be a slave and becomes one.

Except for criminal slaves and war slaves, but for the rest of the slaves, it's out of my humanity to abuse them just because their status is that of a slave.

I don't want you to feel that just because of your slave status, you have nothing but despair to continue living.

So I'm going to release those that have done so much for me.

If you ask me why, that would be called complacency.

...Is that normal for the human race?

No, it's definitely heresy. But I don't have to cater to everyone, do I?

I see.

Who are the slaves under your command, by the way?

"I don't know ... do you know of any that do?

"Yes, sir. I know. I control most of the slaves, Alesley, and I control a few.

It was Glaios who offered me that.

'King Rockwell, may I leave the slaves to you?

You're in charge.

All right. Everyone please wait at the front of the room for a moment. Everyone follow me.

All right. You'll have to make it quick.

I entered the room of the slaves I had treated.

As I walk in, the slaves' tension eases.

Feeling that this isn't a bad price to pay for my recovery, I open my mouth.

'Slaves, you will now be placed under my command.

I promise you three things. I will not abandon you. You will recover. And you will have time to rest. These three things.

The slaves were upset. I could find several desperate faces, wondering if they were going to be sent to the battlefield after all.

'If you swear to be committed to your efforts, I will temporarily terminate your slave contracts here and now.

You will be asked to launch a suicide attack against me, my followers, and the Dwarf King if you commit any acts of lying or betrayal against me and my followers, and the Dwarf King, to launch a suicide attack against the ant nest.

Of course, if you cannot fight, you will be allowed to retreat, but if you flee, you will be asked to make a suicide attack as well.

If you all swear to this, I will begin now to make the three promises I have just made and to temporarily terminate the slave contract.

If you do not want to do so, you may refuse. Then I will never have anything to do with you again.

Now, if you swear to God what you just said, you will come under my command, what do you think?

When I tell them this, the slaves look at each other and check each other's faces, but then a voice calls out to them.

''Master Luciel, I swear to God.

If you look, you'll see that a woman with a pale complexion managed to stand up and tell us.

The woman was one of the women who had been sleeping due to magical depletion.

''Wow, I swear, too.''

This time it was a man in the robes of the Healer's Guild Headquarters.

''I had some questions I wanted to ask you guys, and I was going to ask you later but that's fine.

I approached them and activated Dispel and the slave crest disappeared.

And right after I applied the dispel, another light shone, but the impact of the slave crest disappearing seemed to be too strong for the slaves, and they offered to swear one after another.

'Then tell the three of you your names, specialties and magic to my followers. We'll have an extra party after this, so don't lie to me.

After I told them that, I woke up the remaining three who were asleep and pressed them on whether or not they wanted to pledge.

Naturally, all three of them swore properly.

Good. Now five of you will listen to me when all is said and done. I'll leave you in charge of area barriers and first aid. If he's not dead, I'll be sure to help you, so make sure you do what you can. Also, I know the magic power depletion won't get better immediately, so do what you can.

"Yes.

The five people nodded properly.

It was conceivable if they had a grudge against me, but I was relieved that no one was giving off that kind of vibe right now, and I dispelled the people who had finished filling out the form.

Even though it was only temporary, some of them had an outburst of emotions due to the fact that the slaves had been released, but some of them were naturally out of control.

As he said that, he thought of taking us as hostages, and when he thought the man's body flashed a red glow, he opened the entrance to the slave room and ran out.

''As I said before, if you think lightly about pledging to God, you'll end up going on a suicide attack alone into an ant nest like he did, so please think carefully.

Oh, um, what happens if the magic power is depleted?

I'm going to ask you to retire from the front lines and take a break. If you are injured, I will let you recover. I am in command of your men, and you will follow my instructions.

Yes, sir.

You must decide your own fate. I won't force you to do anything.

When I told them that, fifteen of the twenty-five, or sixty-five out of twenty-five, excluding the five healers, complied.

I'm going to have you all sign up for my unit. Please follow me.

They had seen the whole thing when the slaves from earlier went on a suicide attack, but they didn't care.

However, feeling one of them getting very pale, he spoke to King Rockwell.

'I will only borrow these men. The other slaves, the dwarves, please make sure that the ants do not invade the dwarven kingdom. Only King Rockwell and Mr. Grand will be allowed to go to the front lines. The rest of you are not needed.

Well, okay, I get it.

King Rockwell nodded and the outside world became noisy.

'Then you can come to the front line, but you'll have to protect yourself.

Just as I said that, the place fell silent again.

But I thought I heard King Rockwell's little sigh.

When we got out of the temple, we decided to head to the place where the most ants had the most ant demons.

"Ketty, Kefin, show me the way.

"Ha.

"By the way, what was King Rockwell's weapon?

I have this body as my weapon of choice.

There was a hand cuff attached to it, but it wasn't an ordinary one.

'What's that?'

"Made of adamantite and vajra stone, my weapon of choice.

So you're going to charge in?

This is no match for someone who is too far away. So we're going to use it as an extension of this, like we did with the mud wall earlier.

Do you ever wear a golem?

'I've done that when I was a kid. It's just that my magic power control couldn't keep up with it, and my magic power was depleted in the process. I've sealed it off since then.

You can beat the ants, can't you?

You can do whatever you want if you're not surrounded.

As we rushed into the den, we figured it would be no problem to get Mr. Grand and King Rockwell to expand the fight to where Lionel had just fought, and we headed to the spot Lionel had just fought.

'It's King Rockwell,'

The same voice began to be heard by the soldiers on the front lines. I decided that I needed to explain the current situation to the dwarves around me, so I asked Lionel to take care of the ants for a few minutes alone, and he happily ran off to deal with them.

King Rockwell, who was watching them, opened his mouth before they reached the front line.

''We will now cut into the enemy lines while defending the dwarven kingdom. Your lords will defend the site given to you to the death.

Also, the former slaves who followed us here were returned from slavery to civilian life by the S-grade healers of the Church of St. Surreal, so don't give them orders.

Enlist their help. From now on, I will be on the front lines. Luciel, a Grade S healer, is in command here. Everyone will consider them my words and follow them as if they were my own.

King Rockwell ran next to Lionel, who was happily wielding his great sword, and began to crush the ants.

The two battle crazies crushed the ant demons with overwhelming force.

A number of soldiers opened their mouths in a poke when they saw this, but I slowly turned around to face the front row and hit the oak hand.

The next moment, they all turned their attention to us at once.

''I'll briefly explain what we're going to do now.

We're going to divide up into a team to defeat a large number of demons, a defense team, a mapping team, a sanitation team, and a food team.

The two who are currently fighting over there are the leaders of the defense team here.

My follower Keti, who is a cat-beast man, will be the leader of the team that defeats the demons and enters the den.

The mapping team will also be led by Kefin, who is also a squire, and will check the status of the den while advancing with Keti's team.

The dwarves had a strong hint of confusion in their eyes.

Even though the king had made the decision, it was normal for them to be confused by me who suddenly started talking.

''I will be in charge of food and hygiene, but I would also like those dwarves who are not good at fighting to help me.

Those dwarves who are able to fight will be asked to attack the holes where the ants come out little by little.

The reason for this is that this is likely to be a diversion, and the role of really defending the dwarven lands will be left to you, the dwarves, to do.

If you lose your injuries, King Rockwell has already paid the price for you, so push forward without fear of injury.

"Mighty and stalwart warriors of the earth, let us work together to win the kingdom of the dwarves peace and victory.

"Oh.

Those who had been slaves raised their voices, but not from the dwarves.

'What is it you want to protect? Pride? Or is it the country? Or is it family? Luciel-sama helps me because I asked him to. It doesn't matter what race you are. True strong and stalwart warriors of the earth, let's win peace and the wine of victory for the dwarven kingdom.

Oh!

.........I can't blame Grand-san for being more popular after all, but I felt a little sad.

I let out a sigh and looked at the spirited dwarves after looking at Grand-san who had taken all the delicious parts, so this is good.

I reminded myself of that, and I shuddered a little at the thought of the battle finally opening up.

Is this what fear is all about? Or is it a warrior shake? I didn't understand, and of course I firmly vowed to not let anyone else die.