Ultel was amassing all his forces to prepare for a massive invasion. The larger the scale of the invasion, the more difficult it was to prepare for it. After some time passed since Ultel gave his decree for all the robed figures and Bellid followers scattered around the world to join him, the forces directly or indirectly under his order began to gather at the headquarters. However, the size of the gathered forces was smaller than he expected.
Many arrived with their lives hanging by a thread, and they had lost contact with a significant number of people. In particular, the Demon People they had been raising had been completely wiped out. Those who managed to come back alive told Ultel that they were attacked by the Karuwimans and nearby countries.
“Those guys are trying to destroy our forces one by one,” his subordinate reported.
Ultel gulped. Although Ultel’s force would be enormous if they gathered in one place, the fact that they were scattered all around the world was becoming a great weakness right now. Of course, they weren’t scattered meaninglessly. All members of Ultel’s forces were deeply hidden, and if their identities were discovered by sheer bad luck, his subordinates were thoroughly trained so that they wouldn’t spill information. They even had information about other groups to spill. Yet, Ultel’s forces were now getting attacked on all sides, and that meant only one thing.
“They know where our forces are.”
“I think I’m going crazy.” Ultel clutched his head. “I’d be foolish to think that those guys don’t know of this place too.”
“Our enemy’s information-gathering skills are frightening, but there’s still a good possibility that they don’t know of this place, sir. Information about this island has always been tightly controlled that it's hard to imagine that we would’ve leaked such information in other timelines. Anything regarding this place is different from information from the outside that can be found out just with the regression ability.”
Ultel thought there was merit to his subordinate’s words and nodded. “Our plan doesn’t change whether anyone knows of this place anyway. Since some guys are still arriving, let’s wait a bit more.”
It was then that the conference room’s door suddenly opened.
“This is urgent news, sirs! We have spotted troops heading to this area!”
“As I thought, they also know of this place,” Ultel sighed. The subordinate who said that there was still a possibility that this location was unknown hung his head.
“To whom does this troop belong? Is Zich Moore or the Karuwimans accompanying them? And what’s the formation of the troops? To fight against us, I would expect a couple of countries to have made an alliance,” Ultel said.
However, he soon shook his head. “No, there wasn’t enough time for that to be the case.”
Since all his eyes and ears on the outside were being cut off, it had been some time since Ultel gained any proper information. Yet, even before his sources of information were destroyed, Ultel hadn’t heard any news of several countries mobilizing their troops. Since there were Bellid temples stationed all over the world, he would’ve at least heard some news if a kingdom was preparing for war. Yet, neither Ultel nor any of his close subordinates heard an inkling of such news.
Ultel stared at the person who brought him the recent news. His eyes egged on the news bringer to quickly answer his questions.
“I came to report as soon as I sighted the army, so I don’t know the exact details yet, sir. I didn’t spot any flags belonging to the Karuwimans or another kingdom’s forces. I also might have just missed him, but I haven’t heard any reports of Zich Moore being sighted either.”
“Then, the army on its way is...”
“Ah, only the presence of the Brodstock Imperial Army has been confirmed.”
A heavy silence settled down in the conference room. Mirotel Lake was located inside the Brodstock Empire, where the Bellid headquarters was located. Befitting its empire title, the Brodstock Empire had a huge influence over its neighboring kingdoms, and there was no country nearby with military might strong enough to pose a threat to it.
“Is Brodstock coming to attack us alone?” one of the subordinates murmured in disbelief. Even if the Brodstock Empire was the strongest among their neighbors, there was no way they could beat Ultel’s forces alone.
“It’s possible. I’m sure those guys would think they can deal with us by themselves.” Perhaps, it was their special trait, or it was what came with the title of ‘empire,’ but the Brodstocks had immense pride in themselves.
“If it’s those guys, they might even think it’s beneath them to ally with other countries. Furthermore, they wouldn’t like the Karuwimans and other countries' troops entering their lands if they allied with them.” One of the subordinates supported Ultel’s statements. As more of them became convinced that the Brodstocks were acting alone, the mood inside the conference room improved. They all laughed at the Brodstocks’ foolishness.
“Ignorance sure is a scary thing. Even if they are an empire, how could they dare think of fighting us alone?”
“They might not even be acting ignorantly. Zich Moore probably provided them the information, and considering everything that’s happened until now, there’s no way he doesn’t know the size and might of our forces.”
“Doesn’t that make them even stupider? They act on their pride not knowing that it’s going to strangle their necks.”
“Before our sources were cut off, we heard no news of the Brodstock Empire making their move. Even an empire can’t move this fast. No, because they are so large, it’s harder for them to act fast. The guys coming at us right now are probably their standing army.”
“This is an opportunity, master. If we wipe out the Brodstocks’ standing army this time, our upcoming invasion will become much easier.”
Ultel nodded at his subordinates’ suggestions.
“It could be a trap. We could’ve simply missed it, and the army might include troops from other forces. If those Brodstocks really came by themselves because they were unable to overcome their arrogance...!”
Bam! Ultel slammed his fist on the table, and the table shattered in half. “Not a single one of them will leave this place alive!”
* * *
After defeating his targets as he planned, Zich headed back to the Karuwiman main temple to assess the current situation.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Sir Zich!”
Zich heard a voice welcoming him as soon as he entered the main base—it was a female voice. Zich wondered for a brief moment if it was Lubella’s, but it wasn’t her.
“It’s you, Windne,” Zich said.
“It’s been a while!” Chelsea approached him with a big smile. Thanks to Zich’s request, Chelsea was able to make a successful return to the Karuwimans. However, even though she had no idea about the true identities of the allied forces, it didn’t change the fact that she had a history of collaborating with the Bellids. Thus, she had been demoted to a fairly distant branch.
“Why are you here at the main base?”
“I have some business here today, but even if I didn’t, I need to continuously show my face around to the higher-ups to be in their good graces,” Chelsea replied confidently.
“You’re still eying the Saintess position?”
“Isn’t that obvious? ...Honestly, I would like to say that, but even I’m starting to think that might be incredibly difficult.”
“It’s been difficult since a very long time ago. As soon as Lubella became your competition, you had no chance of winning.”
“Ugh...” Chelsea shot a resentful glance at him, but Zich ignored it with ease. She continued, “Well, I’m now planning to go up as high as I can even if I can’t become the Saintess. As a past candidate for the Saintess position, I can’t stay at the bottom.”
“I really like your shamelessness and power-hungry attitude,” Zich said, and changed the subject. “You know that the Karuwimans are currently planning an all-out war against the Bellids, right?”
“Of course, there’s no one in Karuwiman who doesn’t know that right now.”
“Is there anything that you know that I might not know?” Zich planned to ask other high-ranking priests if Lubella or Weig weren’t there, but since he met Chelsea, Zich decided to ask her instead.
“Hmm, I don’t know anything in detail since the information shared by the higher-ups doesn’t reach me, but I have one piece of information I can tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The Brodstock Empire has decided to attack the Bellids alone.”
“Ah, as expected.”
“You’re not surprised?”
“Yeah, because I thought they would act like that.” Zich had been trying to unite forces from neighboring countries to form a coalition against Ultel. However, he didn’t think that this process would go smoothly, even if he gained the title of dragon slayer and received support from the Karuwimans.
‘Even before I regressed, countries only began to unite after the Demon People beat the hell out of them and had no choice but to cooperate.’ The pride of the Brodstock Empire was infamous throughout the world. Since Mirotel contained the Bellids’ main base and was inside the Brodstock Empire, Zich had provided them with information about the main base’s location. If the Bellids began their invasion, the Brodstock Empire would be the first one to receive significant damage. Thus, Zich had informed them with the intention that they should prepare to defend in advance. However, Zich hadn’t expected the Brodstock Empire to heed his advice, and the empire reacted as expected.
‘Well, it’s better this way.’ Even though Zich had ended the lives of the mastermind’s subordinates all around the world, Ultel’s forces were not to be trifled with. The Brodstock Empire would probably suffer a tremendous amount of damage, and if the other countries got terrified and quickly united after hearing what happened to the Brodstock Empire, the fall of the Brodstock Empire would have been meaningful and useful. Of course, an exorbitant number of people would die in the process, but as a non-traditional hero, Zich didn’t think it was worth caring about a sacrifice of that level. To be blunt, it wasn’t Zich’s fault anyway.
“How do you know that? As you said, it doesn’t seem like someone who's fallen to the bottom would be notified.”
“The empire directly contacted me. They refused support from holy knights who can directly attack the Bellids, but they wanted priests who can cure people. They asked the Karuwimans to send priests if they could, but of course, the higher-ups must have refused. That’s why they directly contacted people like me. Since I’ve been pushed to the sidelines, they must have thought it would be easy to persuade me since if I contributed to a successful offense against the Bellids’ main base, I can completely flip my situation.”
“Seeing as you’re here, you must have refused, right?”
“Of course!” Chelsea nodded. “I was able to barely return thanks to Sir Zich. How can I leave again and help the empire for a personal reason? That’s no different from ignoring your generous grace. I can never do that.”
“And your true thoughts?”
“Sir Zich, you think the empire’s offensive will fail, right? Otherwise, there’s no way you wouldn’t have gotten involved in attacking the Bellids’ main base.”
Zich nodded in agreement.
“Then why would I participate in a losing battle? If I join hands with the empire for no good reason, I’ll likely fall even further away from the higher-up’s eyes. Holding onto a rotten rope and almost falling into a ditch is an experience I really don’t want to repeat.” Then Chelsea smiled with her eyes, and Zich laughed out loud.
“You thought well. Even if you join hands with those Brodstock guys and attack the Bellids’ main base, you’ll be treated as a stupid idiot who didn’t learn anything from the last incident—if you’re lucky. If you’re not, you’ll lose your life.”
“As I thought.”
Like this, the two chuckled and walked inside the main Karuwiman temple.