Preparations

Shuffling through a bunch of maps, Zen was trying to find something when some people entered the room he was in.

There were three people who entered, a girl in her twenties, a boy in his early teens, and a man in his late twenties. They were the members of 'The Elites'—a group whose members are the best S-ranked adventurers.

"Ah, you are here Alicia," Zen said as he noticed their presence, Alicia, an SSS class adventurer and the current leader of 'The Elites' was here.

The other two people were S class adventurers, Ard and Roswell. They came and stood straight in front of Zen's desk.

"I think you all have a vague idea of why I have called you here," Zen asked, as he stopped looking through the maps and shifted his attention to them.

"Is it related to the upcoming war?" said Roswell.

"Correct."

"I want the members of 'The Elites' to aid us in this war. As you all know, the new hero has not been found, the only one who stands on equal terms with the demon lord. And since we will be in war with the demon kingdom so we will likely confront the demon lord, that's why I wanted to gather as much as strength we can."

"But not all the members would want to participate in a war, and I can't force them to do as 'The Elites' is a group where the opinion of every member is taken into consideration," Alicia objected.

"Of course, I am not putting any pressure on anyone. The choice to join us or not is their alone. This is…more like a request than an order."

"I understand, we three have already agreed to join in the war before coming here," she replied.

"I see. Thank you very much," Zen said.

"Your majesty, were you perhaps trying to find this," said Alicia, while pointing toward one of the maps on the desk.

Zen took the map she pointed towards and started looking through it.

"Yes, this is what I was searching for. Thank you," he said. It was a map that shows the terrain around the demon kingdom.

After the discussion, those three left and Zen was now alone in the room. He was first studying the map, but he placed it back on the desk and leaned back on his chair after a while.

"If I'm doing it I should to everything I can in order to win this war," he said to himself.

The number of troops in the army which was going to battle against the demon kingdom was 90000. The army was a mixture of mages, swordsmen, and archers. That night 15 adventurers from 'The Elites' agreed to join in the war along with the SSS class adventurer Alicia.

The next day at dawn, the army left the capital city for the borders of the demon kingdom with the current king Zen leading the main unit. 50000 troops were taken from the capital city and two units of 20000 troops each were called from the two neighboring cities.

All three units were to meet a few miles before from the border of the demon kingdom. It was from where the wasteland started.

13 later, all three units arrived at the selected place and established a temporary base camp. They were to cross the borders tomorrow.

***

"All camps have been placed and the soldiers are currently resting after marching for that long," the first division captain reported to Zen as they both stopped in front of a large tent.

"They should rest well because tomorrow is going to be a rough day. But make sure they don't let their guard down, we haven't entered the borders of the demon kingdom but we aren't that far also, anything can happen here," said Zen.

"Understood," said the first division captain.

He bowed to Zen and then left while Zen entered the tent. He walked inside and sat on a chair, closing his eyes he fell into deep thought revising everything that he had prepared.

-

I have done everything I could to increase our chances of winning this war, now all I can do is trust in my men and wait for tomorrow. I still can't keep myself from thinking about whether what Haruto said was the truth or not.

But, if he really wanted to stop this war, why did he disappear after that day?

If by any chance we lost this war then our country will fall under the control of demons. The country my father built during his lifetime will be destroyed because of my decision.

But then again if I haven't done anything the citizens might have caused riots and the peace order in the country has been disrupted. Either way, our country was going to get harmed no matter what decision I make.

Huh?

-

He opened his eyes as he noticed someone's presence in his tent. After opening his eyes, he saw that the person he noticed was Mary, her sister.

She was wearing an iron chest plate over her war outfit and had a sword tied to her waist.

"What are you doing here at this time?" Zen asked, it was night and she should be in her tent.

"Why? I can be wherever I want to be," she replied in a rather hard tone.

"Sigh. Are you still angry?" Zen asked as he stood up from his chair.

"Is there any reason for me to not be angry?"

"Well, you have full right to be angry, but I hope you can bear with me for now," said Zen; his tone was light and soft like he was making a request—which he was apparently.

"Tch!" she clicked her tongue and turned her face from Zen.

"Let me remind you, this isn't a pretend game. Many people are going to die tomorrow," she said. Her voice still carried a hard tone but it was different from before.

"I know that."

"You know that you say, then why are you still going along with this?"

"Because this is the only way," said Zen as he sat on top of a desk that was there.

"This is NOT the only way! You could have used the assassination plan Haruto told us!" she shouted at Zen.

"I couldn't use it because it was told by him. What are the chances that he won't be waiting in the demon kingdom for our assassins with the demon lord by his side?"

"How can you suspect your friend this quickly? What type of person you are!"

"He was a demon Mary, and moreover he hid that from us."

"Yes he was a demon, and maybe he that fact precisely because he knew you won't work with him if he told you that!" Mary shouted as she walked toward Zen.

"You are speaking by his side, but then why didn't you stand by his side when his being demon was revealed? Why didn't you stop him from leaving? Why is that?" Zen questioned as he folded his arms.

"Well….that's because I…"

"Even if you support him and say that you have your trust in him, deep inside you are also scared of him because he's a demon."

"…"

"I understand how you feel, I also want to believe in him," said Zen.

"Then why?"

"As a friend, I can forget him being a demon and trust him as my friend but as the king of a country, I'm just being wary of a demon. What I'll do will directly affect our country, that's why I can't be clumsy."

Mary didn't say anything after that. She lowered her eyes and slowly walked towards the entrance of the tent.

"How's Jessica?" Zen asked stopping her.

"Her condition is better than before but she still doesn't leave her room," she replied.

"Have you told her about Haruto?"

"Not now, it was after meeting him her condition got better."

"But we can't hide it from her for long."

"I know, I'm planning to tell her once this war is over."

"Okay."

Zen suddenly said she was about to leave again, stopping her midway.

"Can't you keep yourself from fighting in this war?" he said hurriedly.

"Don't ask me this after all that king-talk you did," she said and left.

He watched her and then walked back to his chair. He sat and started looking through the maps which were on his desk.

"This is going to be a long night," he mumbled.