Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight Volume 3

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3104-4
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 414 Seiten

Reihe: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight

With Veight's master taking up the mantle of Demon Lord, the demon army once again resumes its march toward coexistence. Carrying the will of the previous Demon Lord with him, Veight is made the sole vice-commander of the first regiment. His first task as the 'Demon Lord's Vice-Commander' is to ally with Beluza, the largest city in the south. He sets out to meet Beluza's viceroy, Garsh, marking the beginning of the south's unification. Upon his arrival, he discovers that the infamous pirate city is plagued with problems. If he wants to win it over, he'll have to sort them out first!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hyougetsu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Nishi(E)da

Ningen

Leseproben

Chapter 3

The first thing Gomoviroa did after ascending to the position of Demon Lord was order a full retreat from the northern front. Her plan was to use the extra troops to strengthen our defenses in the south, and focus entirely on diplomacy and protection of our borders. These were all measures she’d outlined before in a meeting of officers, so there was no opposition when she made the official proclamation.

Master also declared that Grenschtat Castle would be converted into a training academy for new recruits. In truth, the castle had originally been made to train troops, so it was outfitted with all the necessary facilities. Here, we’d train new demon recruits from the rural villages in marching formations, weapon maintenance, and any other basic foundations they needed to be good soldiers. If I were to put it in SRPG terms, Grenschtat was now a base to produce new units from.

I was also planning on staying in Grenschtat until I’d fully recovered, so I’d be serving as a military instructor until I was fit enough to return to Ryunheit. My primary goal was to retrain the remnants of the second regiment. Master was planning on disbanding the second and merging the survivors into the third. Meaning that, eventually, they’d be stationed in Meraldia’s southern cities.

Thanks to our relatively bloodless conquests in the region, we were still in a position to negotiate with the viceroys of the south. Hence why it’d be a problem if the demons of the second went on a rampage there. My job was to teach them how to communicate with humans instead of killing them. And for that, I needed to purge them of the primitive mindset that might makes right.

“Men, I know you experienced battlefields more terrifying than hell itself during the northern campaign.”

I swept my gaze over the giants and ogres seated before me. We were in one of Grenschtat’s larger halls that we’d converted into a classroom. It was a pretty surreal sight seeing bloodthirsty giants and ogres sitting hunched over desks. The second regiment had suffered devastating losses, and it wasn’t their strongest warriors who had survived the slaughter. In fact, it was mostly their weakest who’d made it out alive. Only the cowardly and the wise had possessed the presence of mind to run.

“You aren’t the best of the second regiment. The best of the second died during the fight with the Hero. And I’m sure you guys know that best of all.”

The gathered demons hung their heads. The repeated defeats they’d suffered had probably scarred some of them, but my guess was most of these guys had been timid to begin with. And that was precisely why I needed to cheer them up.

“But you were the only ones who didn’t balk at the thought of retreat. After learning how terrifying humans could be, you chose to run. And that’s why you’re still alive right now. From now on, I’m going to teach you even more about humans, so that you can keep surviving the battles to come.”

The giants and ogres exchanged glances, confused.

“What’s he talking about?”

“Dunno. Veight’s lectures are too difficult for me.”

“But he’s right. Those humans were scary. I never thought they’d be that strong.”

“Yeah, they were terrifying...”

I couldn’t tell if my words were getting through to them or not.

“What’s truly terrifying about humans is their tenacity. Even if you kill their strongest warrior, someone else will just step in to take their place. You have to understand, they’re not like us.”

After all, humans weren’t led by their strongest fighter. That was why they could afford to send their best soldiers out into the field.

“Also, know that in a fight, they’ll try to protect their weaker comrades.”

That wasn’t always the case, and there were definitely times when humans fought against each other, but in general, soldiers tried their best to protect civilians. Ogres and giants didn’t form packs, so that was an alien concept to them. As far as they were concerned, weaklings who couldn’t fight deserved to die. Hobgoblins at least formed simple groups, so they were able to grasp what I was getting at to an extent. The rest, however, could not.

“Th-They protect people weaker than them?”

“Why? What do they get for protecting weaklings?”

“Shouldn’t you protect the strong? The strong can kill enemies and keep everyone safe.”

“Okay, how about this? You guys liked the old Demon Lord, right?”

Everyone cheered in response.

“And do you like the current Demon Lord?”

More cheers.

“Alright, and do you like them both because they’re strong?”

The demons looked to each other in confusion.

“I... don’t know?”

“The old Demon Lord was strong. But he was also kind. That’s why I liked him.”

“The new Demon Lord’s nice, too. She’s our saint, that’s why I like her.”

“See? Strength isn’t everything. Demons always follow the strong. But just because you follow someone doesn’t necessarily mean you like them.”

A few of the demons nodded. They were probably the ones who’d had more overbearing commanding officers. Because of how much value demons placed on strength, there were many stronger demons who liked to abuse their authority. Most of those had died during the Hero’s onslaught in Bahen, though. They’d been the first to be abandoned by their subordinates, and faced the charging human army alone.

“If the Demon Lord was weak, would you no longer want to protect her?”

The demons rose to their feet and protested hotly.

“Of course not!”

“The holy saint saved our lives! There’s no way we’d abandon her!”

“If she ever became weak, we’d protect her!”

“Yeah, we’d risk our lives for her!”

“Who dares threaten her!?”

A few of the hobgoblins clambered on top of their desks and started shouting battle cries.

“Okay, calm down before I get angry and chew up the lot of you.”

The demons fell silent instantly. Those that had gotten up on their desks slowly got off, and soon enough everyone was obediently seated.

“If Lord Veight bit us, we’d die...”

“Yeah, his bites killed the Hero...”

“Hey, don’t you think we should apologize before he gets mad?”

Perhaps it would be best if I continued my lecture.

“So even if the Demon Lord was weak, you’d protect her, right?”

The demons all nodded in agreement.

“Humans are the same. They want to protect the people they like, regardless of whether they’re strong or not. So if you kill their weaker members, they’ll all come at you to take revenge. The Hero was like that too.”

The giants and ogres exchanged glances and started whispering to each other.

“Humans are scaaaary...”

“They’re like bees!”

“If we’re not careful they’ll swarm us to death...”

“Yeah, we gotta be careful, or else...”

It appeared they were finally starting to understand. There was hope for them yet.

While I was busy reeducating our demons, the entire demon army was undergoing a huge overhaul. Chief among the changes was the standardization of the vice-commander position. Until now there hadn’t been any clear hierarchy between vice-commanders. That wouldn’t normally have been a problem, but everyone from squad captains to a regiment commander’s most trusted general had been a “vice-commander.”

From now on, only those serving directly under the Demon Lord or a regiment commander would be granted the title of vice-commander. Master had decided to appoint no vice-commanders other than me, making me the Demon Lord’s sole vice-commander. When Baltze had heard the news, this was what he’d had to say to me:

“Did you know the other soldiers have taken to calling you the ‘Demon Lord’s Right Arm’?”

“I feel like that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Personally, I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration at all.”

With the destruction of the second regiment, Master had decided to reorganize the regiments as well. Half of the first regiment, and all the remaining forces of the second, would be incorporated into the third. The third regiment would then be rebranded the southern division. Master’s plan was to focus the demon army’s entire efforts on conquering Meraldia’s southern cities. As a result of the reshuffling, Melaine had effectively been put in charge of the majority of the demon army. When she’d heard the news, she’d screamed, “Did you trick me again, Master!?”

On the other hand, Firnir had been quite happy when I’d told her the news. She’d seemed to have believed it meant she was free of her...