CH 263

Chapter 263 – Losing Flags are Crushed

Something soft and warm was sandwiching me from front and back.

I pried open my heavy eyelids, feeling some pressure, and a red skin jumped in front of my eyes. And that’s not all. I am now buried. No, I am trapped. I can feel a warm, soft, happy feeling pressed against my back as well.

I try to get out of this happy sandwich, but the soft flesh that surrounds me from the front and back is not going to release me at all.

I was trying to get out of it, and while I was struggling to get out, arms and legs with a sense of weight and strength hidden in their softness were entangling me from the front and back as if to admonish me, completely blocking my movement.

“Mmmm…”

In my distress, a helping hand was offered. Or rather, someone reached under my right armpit and gently pulled me out of the red, soft, warm place as if handling a broken object.

“…Good morning.”

“Nn… yeah, um, good morning.”

The woman who rescued me was a very large woman with a big eye―Tozume.

“…I-is it still not enough for you?”

“No, this is a physiological phenomenon… yeah, a physiological phenomenon.”

Last night, my alter ego was victorious against three oni girls who were bigger than me, but due to the morning physiological phenomenon as well as the happy time after waking up, it was asserting its existence full of energy, as if it did not care about my will.

“Would you please pretend you didn’t see it and put me down?”

“Y-yes. Of course.”

I managed to quiet Tozume, who began to roll her big eye again and asked her to put me down on the floor. Yeah, it’s a relief to stand with your feet on the ground, isn’t it? It’s uncomfortable to have someone put their hands under your armpits like a dog or a cat and stretch out your back like that. It is even more uncomfortable when you are not wearing anything.

“For the time being… Yeah, let’s clean things up, shall we?”

“Y-you’re right.”

Without Sylphy, Isla, or Ellen, it is impossible to clean things up quickly with magic or miracles. In other words, the only way to clean things up is the old-fashioned way―with water and a clean cloth.

“In the meantime, let’s wake them up.”

“Y-you’re right. Yes, you’re right.”

The two red oni, whose sleeping faces are surprisingly cute, must also join in the morning cleanup, or rather the cleanup of last night’s mess. After all, half of the responsibility for the mess in this room must belong to the two sleeping red oni.

☆★☆

“Well, is this what people call the sun looking yellow?” [T/n: “お日様が黄色く見える ” is a sorta sexual expression. Like sharing a morning coffee. You overdid your nightly activity and a typical red, rising sun (morning) is now yellow (afternoon). Context matters when using the expression.]

“It doesn’t look yellow, does it? It still looks a little like something is stuck in it.”

“Oh, I know what you mean. This is how it feels.”

“You guys are so brazen.”

The two red oni were chatting about their impressions of last night while eating a lot of boiled sausage, hearty bread, sour sauerkraut, pickles, and so on. Perhaps embarrassed that she was the first to lose her self-control and the first to fall, Tozume is eating her breakfast inconspicuously with a flushed face.

No, even if she curled her back to be inconspicuous and became smaller, it would be impossible to erase her presence since there were only four of us in the room.

“What are you doing shrinking like that? There was nothing to be embarrassed about, was there?”

“That’s right. That’s right. After all, both Nee-san and I had been taught the hierarchical relationship by Nii-san. Well, I couldn’t even get a hold of Nii-san, who had made women squeal with his two fingers on each hand.”

“So, why don’t you show a little more shame?”

“Eh, that’s not really my style, is it?”

Bella pouted her lips. Well, if you ask me if it fits or not, it doesn’t.

“That kind of thing will be taken care of by Tozume or other Nee-sans.”

“Well, it might be a woman’s worthiness to act that way if that’s what her husband wants… I don’t think we’d fit in well. Tozume aside, you know…”

“Unlike us, Tozume is very sensitive. In fact, she likes pretty things.”

“Oh…”

Tozume’s body trembles as she turns her head to look at me. Hmm…. when you put it that way, it makes me want to decorate the place in all sorts of ways. Well, I’m going to try to dress all of them in frilly and lacey dresses at some point.

☆★☆

Well, I can’t just be absorbed in sexual affairs every day. The reason I went all the way to the north was not to strengthen my bond with Shumel and the others, nor to endure the onslaught of the harpies, but to prepare the army and intercepting facilities to fight the invasion war from the north that would take place in the spring.

Well, even if we say invasion from the north, most of the main forces are infantrymen armed with spears, shields, swords, bows, etc. There may be some cavalrymen and mages, but they are not expected to be so numerous. And in this world, the war is basically won by those who have the greater numbers… In other words, they have a large force and invade on foot and with wagons, carrying a large amount of supplies.

If they could share information in real-time using golem communication devices like we do, they could divide their forces into smaller units and invade from multiple directions, but their means of communication are very poor. The fastest way to send a message is through a messenger using a flying familiar used by a mage, followed by a messenger using a fast horse.

There are other means of communicating information, such as using smoke signals, but the amount of information conveyed is overwhelmingly small and cannot withstand the dispersed operation of small units.

What I am trying to say is that if a large force is to invade, the route of progress can be narrowed down to some extent. It is almost impossible to pass through steep mountains and deep forests with horse-drawn wagons full of supplies, and it is also very difficult to go along roads with no paths. The defender should be able to monitor such routes and quickly deploy the necessary forces where they are needed.

In terms of speed, we have an overwhelming advantage in having air boards for transporting troops, and we also have a significant advantage in the speed and range of our means of communication. Furthermore, as far as surveillance is concerned, we can even use harpy to spy on them.

Gahaha, we won.

“If you’re not careful, you’ll never get anything good.”

“That’s true. There’s nothing good about being careless.”

Worg nodded his head in agreement with my words. Since we are so far ahead of the enemy in military technology, defeat is unlikely in the normal sense of the word. It is unlikely, but it is not an absolute certainty. No matter how great the disparity in technology is, soldiers fighting on the front lines will die if they are speared, cut with swords, or exposed to a hail of arrows.

The Holy Kingdom must have shared a certain amount of information with them before invading, so it is reasonable to assume that they would take some countermeasures against gunfire and air strikes. The Holy Kingdom, which is rumored to be very proud, may or may not provide the Duchy of Dihart and the Kingdom of Tigris with all the information that led to the annihilation of their army, but it is hard to believe that they would let a banzai assault without taking any countermeasures.

“What are they going to do… line up their thick shields?”

“It might be able to stop the gunfire, but it won’t be able to deal with the bombing of the harpies. Maybe some kind of anti-air attack?”

Certainly, even if that could stop the gunfire, they would still be blown to pieces by the bombs falling from above if they stopped to take a step. If I were a battle commander, I would definitely do that.

“It is impossible to prepare a magic rifle. Then, will they prepare bows and arrows to extend the range?”

“Well, I think there is a possibility that they will prepare bows and arrows with wind magic to counter the harpies. It wouldn’t be considered very many, and it would be difficult to prepare such a large number of them, so I’m assuming it’s a small number.”

“I see. In that case, it would be better to give the harpies some means of defense… If you’re talking about countermeasures against gunfire, there’s a possibility they’ll bring out magic tools that use earth magic to create a wall of defense. We make those too, after all.”

As for the magic tools that can easily create trenches, the Research and Development Department has already begun developing them, and they are scheduled to be made during the winter using the mithril copper alloy I provided to improve their efficiency.

“There is a good chance of that. But they will not be available in large numbers, and the vanguard will not be able to move forward with them. Without projectile weapons that have a longer range than magic rifles, I don’t think they will be able to get anywhere in the end.”

“I don’t see why not. If necessary, you can use the air board to flank them and open fire.”

“That’s right. You might want to practice shooting while on the air board. Maybe we should armor them up against arrows and turn them into armored vehicles?”

“Mobile armored vehicle version, huh…? Yeah, that was a good idea. We can either modify it or develop a new one…”

When it comes to protection against ordinary arrows, thicker wooden planks and leather armor should be effective enough without going into the trouble of using steel plates. But it would be difficult if it was burned by fire arrows, so I think it would be better to use metal armor. If the weight becomes too heavy, mobility will decrease, and it will be difficult to maintain balance.

“I think it will be okay if we can keep them out of range of arrows, but it will be safer if they are armored. Please develop it.”

“I understand. The rest is where to place the monitoring base against the invasion route…”

Discussions continued in the base’s operation room. The preparations must be completed by the end of winter, so there isn’t much time to spare. I wish I could live a little more peacefully… Good grief.