Chapter 344: The Planning Phase

“If nothing goes wrong, that Mo Na of yours should at least grow to be a Devil Overlord, perhaps even a Devil King. Oh right, I bet our little brother doesn’t know this but, that grimoire that entered the little fellow is actually a semi-divine instrument.”

“And for that grimoire to be able to choose its own owner, that book will most likely evolve into a full divine instrument…”

‘A divine instrument…holy… peel my potatoes and call them raw vodka… exactly what was it you just said that I lost?’ Right there and then, there was a ten thousand strong herd of llamas prancing about in the grass plains of my head; the kind that kept prancing back and forth…

‘Bah, forget it. Divine or not, it’s my daughter’s so it’s fine. Either way, it has no choice but to call itself a Mo!’

My next thought was to ask about my own potential, but the moment I remembered that I still had a certain freeloader in me, an inexplicable sense of despair fell over me. As long as Ferti’nier had residence in my body, I could kiss any hope of levelling fast goodbye, although it was also because of her that I was blessed with three Original Sins. Not to mention that her being in my body gave me a variety of abilities that others did not possess during their early stages of being a Devil. For example, that mesmerising ability which I had a love hate relationship with. Had it not been for Ferti’nier, I wouldn’t have been able to gather the Demonic Werewolves, the Harpies, the Lizardmen, and various other races to my side when I tried to break out of the Prison of the Dead.

Regardless of whatever complains I made of her, she was undoubtedly a boon to me. Just based on that, I owed her. If I had to give up my levelling speed for that, it was only reasonable.

“For our little brother to think that way of his sister… our little brother has finally grown up.”

‘Hey, don’t use that mother talking down to her son kind of tone on me!’

“What do you mean mother? Did our little brother forget about his sister already? The same sister he’s sharing a body with?”

‘That she-devil…’

After a short playful exchange with Ferti’nier, I realised that I had no more time to waste so I bade her farewell and left her to her devices while I brought everyone back to the palace.

The aim of this visit was to bolster my forces. Before this, I left all my golems in the underground weapons factory in the palace. I hadn’t planned on using them till the crucial moment had arrived, but the war was just too soon coming.

That’s right…war…

In order to accomplish my goals, I needed that exchange array, and that exchange array needed those special materials -this was a situation that couldn’t be resolved unless I declared war early.

My plan was to head directly to the weapons factory to inspect the golems, yet the moment I reached the gate of the palace, I found a dozen or so low level Devils lined up there. Upon noticing our arrival, they immediately saluted me.

“Master…” Their greetings came in a garbled, high pitched mess. Yet it wasn’t their voices that made me uncomfortable. Rather…

I waved my hands for them to rise, and without checking if they understood my meaning, I whipped around to face Big 4 who had been following me. “What’s going on with these Devils?”

“No.6 sent them over.” Perhaps he had noticed my worsening expression, he quickly added, “They arrived not too long ago, all of them are here.”

“I know No.6 sent them over. I just want to know why they are all females?”

“…” Big 4 fell silent. Finally, after my withering gaze brought him nearly to tears, he explained, “Master, you had me convey a message to No.6 about him needing to do a proper job…”

“Mhm, and…”

“And…then he sent those Devils over…”

That basically summed it all up.

That potato, No. 6, first sent over ten male Devils, but his attempt at bootlicking ended up with him licking way above the boots. Instead of being rewarded, he got a warning instead. In all likelihood, he took that warning as me saying that I disliked male Devils, and that I preferred females instead? Even though the scent of my soul gave off the impression of a female, it wasn’t like a little female on female action wasn’t plausible. And that was where the problem laid, I didn’t like both the groups he sent over…male or female…

‘No.6…I swear…’

‘So what should I do this time? Warn him again? I wonder who will he send over next time then? Maybe a Devil that’s neither female or male? Fine, I give up.’

“Tell No.6 to focus on the recruitment zone, stop sending over Devils for now. Once I’m done assembling the golems, I plan to leave immediately. That array you saw has to be fixed right away, and that requires my personal attention. I need you to guard the capital, got it?”

Hearing that he was about to be left behind again, Big 4 immediately gave me a wronged look. “Master, you’re leaving again? Without me?”

“There’s no choice, I don’t have enough people who I can depend on. Besides, No.3 isn’t following me either. Both of you have an important task to complete. I don’t feel safe leaving it to another Devil.”

I knew Big 4 wouldn’t be happy with my decision, but the current situation left little room for error. I didn’t have enough time to familiarise myself with the new captive Devils. Even if I could ensure their loyalty with a soul pact, I couldn’t be sure if they were actually capable enough for the job. And I couldn’t hand over control of the golems to another either, even if we were bound by a soul pact.

I dumped the female Devils onto Big 4 then stepped into the weapons factory with Mo Na and the Hellhound family.

“That’s…a lot of golems…”

This was the first time Sinmosa saw my stored golems. All lined up in neat rows, the majestic sight must have been quite a shock for her doggy heart. Even Sasani was stunned by the awe inspiring sight.

“I remember you handed five hundred golems over No.3 and that newcomer No.6, and over here you have another…” Sinmosa briefly scanned the area. “There can’t be less than five hundred units here…”

“To be exact, there are over one thousand Abyssal Golems…”

“Over a thousand Six-stars?!”

“Is that a lot?” Thinking about the battle to come, I couldn’t help but feel a little insecure. I knew my forces were strong, but I didn’t know how strong the other side was.

The Art of War had a saying: know yourself, know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, you will lose a battle for every won. Know neither yourself nor your enemy, and you will lose every battle. If even a book knew how important intelligence was, there was no way I wouldn’t. Yet the problem now was that I had no way of gaining intelligence about our enemy.

For this conquest, my goal was to conquer Sable Radiance while collecting the materials required for the array, that was why our numbers must be sufficient. However, I wasn’t going to empty out the capital either. Real life wasn’t some kind of game after all. One couldn’t just put all their eggs in one basket even if there was no imminent threat.

‘Time for some quick math. Up till now, I have 1325 Abyssal golems, excluding those battered ones I just brought back. In terms of Winged Abyssal Golems, I have 127 units. Those will be my greatest tools in the upcoming war.’

‘I gave away 500 Abyssal Golems to No.3 and No. 6 for the safe zone and recruitment zone construction- I’ll recall 100 of them from No.6. Both of them have ten of my Winged Abyssal Golems too, those I probably won’t recall.’

‘Defending the capital should be relatively easy so I’ll leave behind 15 Winged Abyssal Golems and 300 Abyssal Golems, including the ones from No.6. That should be enough for the war.’

Now that I had planned out the allocation, the amount of golems I could muster for my conquest was 102 Winged Abyssal golems and 625 Abyssal golems.

‘Since war is basically guaranteed at this point, the best course to take would be to retrace our steps. Southwards from the capital is Warhorse territory first, from there I will say hi to Meisian and Anmi. The Fire Elementals can be found at the point where I teleported in. That leaves the heart of a Eight-stars Flame Devouring Fish…that one’s gonna be troublesome…I can probably get the salamanders to help me with it so it shouldn’t end up being a big problem.’

Strictly speaking, we were in the honeymoon period in terms of our relationship with the Demon Fire Salamanders. After all, the ones who would benefit the most from the construction of the safe zone would be them. I’m sure they won’t deny an ally’s tiny request, right?

‘That’s the plan for now then. Next up, I should probably ask Sinmosa about any information they might know about the Warhorses. I’ve no doubt that it won’t be complete, but it’s still useful as a reference. Yup…there shouldn’t be any problem then…probably…’