Chapter 93 It's Quite A Mess, Isn't It?

"Demons generally have a superior mindset. They will naturally underestimate the ability of their opponents, just as humans treat livestock."

Thinking critically about it, everything made sense.

In my world, humans domesticated dogs—who were said to be wolves in the past. I wasn't really sure about the details.

While a dog could still harm an average human, we didn't exactly fear them. That was simply because we pose even more danger to them.

I mean, sure, some folks had the fear of animals. I didn't mean to throw shade at those who were frightened of dogs.

It even happened to me when I was a kid.

But, I would hardly expect hardened soldiers or police officers to be frightened of our dear canine friends.

The same applied here, did it not?

'We're up against a Demon Army—not random civilians. Of course, they'd all consider themselves the bigger threat.'

As a result, we could exploit that advantage.

"Ah, I see..." Asa nodded with a smile on her face.

I couldn't help but feel it was fake. Her smile was too bright that it seemed forced.

'Is it just my imagination? Am I feeling guilty for something?'

At this point, everything was blurred, so I had to just push my sentiments to the sidelines. We currently had bigger fish to fry.

"I'll have Lilith speak to us about Demon Psychology. Since we have a practical example in front of us, we're going to exploit it."

Lilith couldn't defy me, or make any act that would bring harm to my subordinates. That meant the information she would be relaying was true.

'This is why it's convenient to have a Demon Slave.' I smiled in satisfaction.

For a moment, it seemed Asa gave a deep stare at me—her eyes wide probably with disdain—but before I could mull it over, it was gone.

Was I losing my mind? Was everything just my imagination? I had to calm myself.

Lilith rose to her feet and addressed everyone while I thought of how to redeem myself before Asa.

"Me a Middle-Class Demon, Lilith..."

'No need to introduce yourself to us. We already know who you are. Jeez.' My thoughts snapped once I heard my subordinate's lousy introduction.

"Hero said Demon Army over ten thousand. Five hundred Mid-Demons there. Yes, Demon look down on small humans. But... it not possible to lose to small humans."

Her chippy words were incredibly difficult to decipher, but I pieced them together anyway.

'We should really get this girl some education. My ears bleed...'

I mean, her language was bound to get better the longer she stayed in a civilized society, but Lilith had only been here for like... two weeks? Even in that period, she often spent time with the Lower Class Demons.

That meant she hadn't made much progress in communication since Day 1. That had to change.

"Small Humans weak. Demons strong. Hero stronger. If Hero beat the Demons. Hero win. Battle over." Lilith finished her presentation with a pleased smile.

It seemed she was proud of herself for the nonsense she just spoke.

'I should have known better than to rely on Lilith's words. She's not even a civilized Mid-Demon.'

With no education, and then her warped ideology of life... her words would contain lots of bias.

Most of all, she placed a lot of emphasis on me being everyone's trump card. I should have seen that coming, given her clouded perspective of my strength.

I was stronger than everyone, sure. But even I couldn't handle so many Demons. I would seriously die.

'If there's something she said that makes sense, though, it's that we can't win with our current numbers.

I mean, it would be suicide if we tried something so obviously dumb.

Out of everyone in the settlement, I could only consider a bit over three hundred to fight against the Demon Army—and half of them were the Lower Class Demons.

Not only did we have civilians who were better off farming than fighting, but there were innocent children as well.

There was no way I would make children fight in a war.

'And then, there's the women...'

Of course, I was all for gender equality and equal opportunities. However, nursing mothers and the many pregnant ones could not afford that kind of sentiment.

'Thankfully, there aren't really old people to worry about since most people who live out here die pretty early.'

I wasn't sure that was something to be thankful for, but I still went with it.

Altogether, we could muster three hundred forces. If we calculated the Adventurers City Forces—which had about a thousand Adventurers—then we would end up with the joint number of a thousand and three hundred.

Compared to ten thousand five hundred, wasn't that too much of a joke?

'The Demons really went overkill on us this time, didn't they?'

Why couldn't this be an easy quest? I really had to rack my brain to think of something... and I had to do it fast.

"Does anyone else have anything to say?" I smiled, throwing the floor open to my obviously capable audience.

No one spoke.

"Anyone?" My smile broadened.

They all stared at me blankly. Those eyes told of nothing but their absolute reliance on me.

'For real? No one?'

This time, they all smiled at me. None of their empty heads could offer a solution, or at least an idea that I could exploit.

'This sucks balls...'

If we continued like this, there was no chance of victory.

"Very well then. I understand." I sighed.

Yep, thanks to everyone for being so useless.

"We apologize for not being able to match up to your standards, Hero."

As I watched their bows, I felt like knocking all their heads out of sheer frustration.

What they were simply doing was dumping all the load on me. I mean, this was what I signed up for when I chose this path, but...

'... No use whining, Sam.'

Ultimately, I had to figure this shit out. If I made the slightest error, we could all die.

Myself included.