Vol 5 Chapter 18: Fallout

"Everyone, move out! Move out now!"

Chaos.

It was the perfect word to describe what happened next after Sherry’s attack.

Drums of war thundered across the demon capital, declaring to all troops to mobilize in an instant. That day, most of them weren't even ready to fight, having spent their day drinking in the many bars and taverns that the capital possessed. That, or sleeping with the prostitutes in the whorehouses, succubi or not. Mostly both. Balthazar had been generous with their salary. As such, they had all the money in the world to burn.

The citizens, on the other hand, cowered with fear, wondering what was happening. They shouldn't have any more enemies. Victory was theirs. And yet, why were the troops scrambled? Some argued it was just exercise. Others said that another Demon Lord had snuck in and tried to assassinate Balthazar. If the skies had been clear when Sherry rammed her sword into the fortress, no doubt they would choose the latter.

One elf knew what it meant though. And she had a bright smile on her face as she made her way out of the city.

This is it! A legendary battle is about to unfold! I have to see it with my own two eyes!

Sari had no fear whatsoever in her bones. All she cared about were the songs she would compose of this incident.

After all, her idols—the legendary mage Hugo and his harem—were going to fight. And she’d have the front seat!

Unfortunately, such a cheerful sentiment wasn’t shared by the Demon Lord up on the sky.

ᅠ

“Hosalu…”

He knelt down, placing his hand on the top of the mermaid princess’ head. Or at least, the one half of her head.

Sherry had indeed bisected her. It all happened so fast he couldn’t stop the Izurd.

He had failed to protect her.

His mind returned to those old days, many, many years ago. He traveled the underwater kingdoms of the Seafolks. It was when they first met.

What a precious creature she was.

If he were a human, this would be where he cried, he imagined.

But a Naturia like him… he could never truly feel like the other races did.

“Lord Balthazar! Lord Balthazar!”

He stood up, looking up to see a harpy flying above him.

“Lord Balthazar! Urgent news! The lizardmen—they’ve betrayed you! They have gathered their warriors at Gagel, declaring themselves to be allied to the human named Hugo Greenwood!”

His expression remained neutral. Only his eyes narrowed a little.

"I see. The enemy was never that budding Demon God. It had been him from the start."

He remembered—how Virana came to the city he was in, only to never return. Even though she believed she had killed him, that was soon proven to be false.

And he, of course, had that relationship with Victoria. And now, he came to rescue her.

“A living human anomaly. Perhaps akin to the heroes of old?" He scratched his chin. "The Dragon? Or the Goddess?"

He turned to face his wives, his cape billowing from his movement.

“Prepare for war. We will crush him and those foolish enough to stand by his side."

The wives all knelt before him.

They were his generals too after all.

ㅤ

Hugo

“Hugo, I’m not heavy, am I?”

“Hmm, what makes you say that? You’re not heavy. You’ve never been heavy.”

“...Good. I don’t want to be fat like Felicia.”

I chuckled. Ah, if only she was here to hear that…

With Sherry in my arms, I sprinted full force towards Gagel. She couldn’t move after using Felicia’s potion after all. My top speed actually far eclipsed the speed of the Scarabs. However, traveling this way quickly drained my mana and stamina. I used both Wind Step and Graceful Step after all.

And yes, she blushed all the way as we made our trip. It was a princess carry after all. Quite romantically popular amongst the fair gender, even in this world.

“Hugo, your hand is squeezing my butt again.”

“Sorry, I just can’t resist. Your butt just feels too good, Sherry.”

“I know you like it a lot but can’t you wait to do it later? We’re going to go into a war here!”

“No can’t do!”

Sherry huffed, feigning an upset expression as she crossed her arms.

Heh, I knew she liked it though. She always did. She was just shy about the whole thing.

Munyu… munyu…

“Ahn!”

Oops, my finger brushed with her cameltoe.

“H-Hugo, don’t you dare do that again!”

A smirk blossomed on my face.

"Ahnnnn! Stop it! Stop itttt!"

I wasn't stopping, however. With my middle finger, I proceeded to rub her sweet spot back and forth through her shorts and panties.

"This is your reward, Sherry." I grinned. "You deserve it after facing off against the Demon Lord alone."

"You… you lecher! You pervert!"

Tried as she might, she couldn't move any of her muscles, thanks to the side effect of Felicia’s potion.

"It's alright." I hastened the movement of my finger. "You can let it all out in your shorts if you want."

"Nnhhhgghaaahhh! Hugooo, you're going to— ahnnn! — pay for this!"

I chuckled, feeling wetness spreading at the seat of her crotch.

By "paying", she of course meant she would ride on top of my member, sliding her cave up and down, using me as her living dildo. That was one of her favorite positions whenever we had sex.

In the end, she did as I told, orgasming in her pants with a loud moan escaping her lips.

Right as we saw our destination in the distance.

ㅤ

Well, that’s a lot more than I expected…

Gagel was located at the southeastern edge of the flat wastelands we were on, bordering the rocky, mountain-like terrain that would stretch on to the south. And there, whole masses of lizardmen were surrounding the city, erecting camps and such. Judging by how there were no signs of a fight, the town clearly had surrendered to them.

Good. Just as I predicted. They’d rather wait for reinforcements from the capital than to needlessly throw their lives away.

We made our stop in front of one of the tents. Immediately the lizardmen there recognized me, calling me out by my name. They all knelt down, even before I put Sherry back on her feet.

Well, almost all of them at the very least.

"That's him! That's Lord Greenwood!"

"You sure that's not an enemy?"

"Are you dumb? Didn’t you know how he looked? Teal robes, black pants, blonde hair— it all matches with the description the Chief gave us!"

I flashed them my most magnanimous smile before putting Sherry down. Thankfully, it seemed she was already capable of standing though her legs were still a little bit shaky.

“You okay? Can you stand?”

“I’m fine. The medicine’s side effect has worn off. I’m just… embarrassed. Thanks to your perversion.” She pouted and glared.

Her shorts were indeed damp and slightly darker than normal. And I imagined it would be all sticky inside.

Standing in front of a crowd like this with such dirty shorts—quite a lewd act indeed.

The lizardmen then immediately beckoned us to meet with their chief. Or rather, chiefs, as the army consisted of multiple tribes working together as one. Orluk really managed to convince them, it seemed. Most likely by puffing me up as some kind of hero, or rather, a Demon Lord.

“Lord Hugo! The chiefs are in the town hall inside the city! They’ve been waiting for you!” One of the lizardmen said as we walked through the crowd.

“I assume my companions have arrived here beforehand?”

“Yes, Milord! About half an hour ago they arrived on their Scarab! And they made their way to the town hall immediately!”

“How about Orluk? Is he there too?”

“Chief Orluk?” He scratched his chin. “Yes yes yes! He’s there as well!”

“Oi human! Yer’ doing well for yer’self, ain’tcha?”

Oh God this voice… It's the predator ogress!

The crowd in front of us split into two, revealing none other than Karla, Orluk’s big sister.

And she looked exactly the same as she was more than a year ago, when I last saw her.

She walked closer, towering over me with her Amazonian height. Her spiked club rested on her shoulder and her shark-like teeth sneered between her lips.

"Hugo Greenwood. Yer' grown lots. So much so I'm not interested in you anymore."

"That's good news." I gave her a cocky smile. "I already have two cute wives after all. And here's one of them." I pat Sherry on the shoulder.

Sherry, being Sherry, quickly responded to her smirk with a glare, wrapping her arms around me like a lost child.

"Don't worry. She may have big boobs but I have no interest in those abs of hers."

Like I had said many times before, I was never into well-muscled girls. If you were a girl, you had to be dainty in my totally-not-chauvinistic eyes.

"Heh." She placed her hand on my shoulder and gave it a good shake. "You're cheekier than the last time I saw ye."

She then offered to be our escort. Or rather, she insisted, as she quickly yelled at the other ogres to leave us alone before yanking my hand, dragging me along as she made her way towards the town.

"Hey, let him go!" Sherry protested as she walked beside us. "He can walk by himself!"

The ogress chuckled, giving her a sly grin. “What? Yer jealous? Yer an Izurd, right? Heard yer kind is fiercely protective of yer partner. Curious to hear that ye share him with another.”

“Hmph, she’s an exception!” Sherry huffed. “So get your hands off him!”

Stifling a laugh, she released her grip.

Silently, I thanked Sherry. Her monstrous grip actually hurt my arm quite a bit.

More ogres stared at us as we combed our way through the camps. But eventually, we made it to the front gate. It was wide open and there were no guards in sight. I imagined after the city surrendered, the local soldiers were decommissioned from their usual duties. The ogres might even make them give out their weapons and armors, just so they wouldn’t fight back. At least, that’s what I would do if I’m in their position anyways.

Stepping into the town, we were greeted by empty streets after empty streets after empty streets. Only eyes coming out from doors and windows to the sides showed that the place was even populated.

“Wow, you guys did a great job frightening the locals here.” I chuckled. “You ogres don’t get along with the people here?”

“Not just ‘ere.” The ogress replied. “We ogres are outsiders. People here think we’re uncivilized brutes. Only those damn Altra folks get a pass. And surprise surprise, they refused to join our alliance. Cowards.”

The Altra clan… the only ogre tribe that decided not to remain nomads. Rulers of Kawa. They say they pretty much built the city from the ground. And they’re firm allies of the Demon Lord.

“Those Altra ogres… they didn’t warn the Demon Lord of your invasion?” I asked.

“No. They decided to remain neutral. And it’s all because of you.” She flashed a grin in my direction.

“Me?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Your destruction of those orcs pretty much made you a Demon Lord in all but name. As such, they believe we have a good chance of winning. So they decided to stay out.”

Those orcs, huh? They’re weak though… the leader is just a wannabe Demon Lord…

But Balthazar… I think he’s the real deal…

I walked closer to Sherry, half-whispering to her, “Hey, Sherry, About Balthazar… What do you think?”

She looked up at me and gave me her furrowed brows.

“You mean his strength?” She paused, glancing away. “He’s weaker than Grandmother. But still a formidable opponent. I… did not manage to intimidate him, even with the full strength of my aura.” She looked back at me. “Only you ever managed to do the same, Hugo. Well, you and Grandmother, of course.”

I see… Knowing he can withstand that terrifying murderous aura… he must be the real deal…

Weaker than Quania… but by how much, I wonder?

…Well, I won’t hesitate. I’ll fight him with all my might, even if I don’t know whether he’s stronger than me or not.

Our feet soon took us to a large mansion-like building in the middle of the small city. Unlike the rest of the town, there were other people here. Although, they were all lizardmen warriors.

"Yer friends are inside." Karla pointed her thumb to the building. "Well, yer wives, more like it." She grinned, her shark-like teeth showing. "Yer building quite the harem, kiddo. Yer even got a guy in it."

"What?! Only Felicia is my wife! The others are not—"

"It's okay. He's cute so I see why ye might lust for him. If I had to guess, ye like to take him from behind and make him—"

"I don't swing that way!"

She laughed before walking towards the guards, ordering them to let us in.

Damn it! Why do people keep thinking I'm some kind of depraved harem king?

And don’t give me that look, Sherry! You know she’s lying!

Sighing, I followed them both inside.

ᅠ

The inside of the mansion-like building looked like, what else, a mansion. Listening to the ogress, this was the mansion of the city's mayor, who, by the way, was one of the Demon Lord's daughters. In fact, most of the cities, towns, and villages under his control were ruled by his offspring.

She took us to the second floor’s meeting room. Normally, the day-to-day administration of the town would not be performed here in the mayor’s own private estate but she was obviously in house arrest right now.

On the way, we saw quite a lot of people wandering around the estate. And by “people”, I meant the lizardmen guards and the maids/butlers of the mansion itself. Tension seemed to be high between the two sides, with the lizards always keeping an eye of the servants in case they tried anything funny, and the servants lifting their noses at the lizards for ruining the beauty and cleanliness of the estate.

“And here we are.” The ogress declared with a grin. “They’re in a meeting right now so you can just barge right in.”

“You’re not coming in?” I asked.

“Nah. Hate that sort of stuff. I let them do all the thinking. I just want to smash stuff.”

Wow, she really is an unabashed meathead.

I walked forward, pushing the twin door open with Sherry by my side.

Revealing a room filled with a bunch of ogres shouting at each other.

“You imbecile Halak! Open your eyes! The only course of action we should take now is a full and swift assault before they can recall their armies from the human cities up north!”

“You’re a fool through and through, Arkas! I only agreed with this whole rebellion because of that human! If he’s not here, then we’re not fighting!”

The ogres were arguing in the middle of the room around a large round table. To the left and right, there were long wooden chairs for spectators to sit on.

Uh oh, seems like the situation is pretty hot already.

Well, I guess it’s time to make my—F

“Sir Hugo! You’re here!”

I could recognize that voice in an instant.

Theo stood up from his long wooden chair before running towards me. Without hesitation, he then jumped to give me a big hug.

Welp, so much for my introduction.

The ogres fell silent in an instant, noticing my presence in the room.

Immediately they stood up as well, before kneeling one by one, lowering their heads towards me.

“Lord Greenwood!” They said in unison.

I scratched the back of my head. Well, this is not how I expect them to act in the slightest.

“Finally, you’re here.”

Myrilla was next to speak as she made her way to my side along with the others.

“And I see you managed to escape.” She switched her gaze to Sherry. “The audience… did not go well at all.”

“Hmph! It’s that arrogant Demon Lord’s fault!” Sherry huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

“And you… actually killed one of his wives. Right in front of him.”

A series of gasps echoed across the room. It came from the ogres—the chieftains and their retainers.

“Wait, you did? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I said to Sherry.

Averting her gaze, she answered, “...I thought you’d be happy. Well, sorry if I made the wrong call.”

“No no not at all!” I patted her head with a grin. “You did the right thing! That’s one less opponent we have to worry about!”

“Still, this means there’s no going back now from an all out war.” Felicia gave a concerned look.

“That’s fine, isn’t it?” Tira let out a short giggle. “Sir Hugo isn’t going to lose.”

“You should be thankful to Theo!” Tama folded her arms. “He was the one who convinced the mayor to surrender!"

"He did? That's amazing! How did you do that, Theo?" I grinned at him.

"Hehe!" He rubbed his nose with his finger. "All I did was—"

"Cut the chatter, you two." Myrilla interrupted. "Hugo, you have to address those ogres. They've been waiting for you."

"Oh, right."

I walked up to the kneeling ogres. There were seven of them in total—most of them being middle-aged men. There was only one middle-aged woman amongst them. And of course, Orluk and his father were there.

“Well, as you’ve heard, negotiations have broken down. So, it is time for our all out attack. As promised, you will be free to rule over the region once we win. Share the land however you wish. I shall not rule over you in the slightest.”

“Thank you, Lord Greenwood!” They yelled, once again completely in sync with each other.

“Oh, I suppose I should ask for your names. I have to thank you all for your help after all.” I said with a smile.

ForestDwelle