—Limitless Misfortune—
"I will not take your offer!"
After the words of her declination, Draudillon heard every soldier inside the room, uttering soundless 'what?' as they mindlessly dropped their jaws and with a quick glance to her side, she saw the Prime Minister's widened eyes upon hearing the unfavorable response.
But before any unnecessary conclusions could be drawn up by the soldiers and Micard, the queen continued.
"However, I will give you an offer instead, worthy of the seal of approval from the Draconic Kingdom."
"And what would that be?"
Demiurge asked eagerly with an expectant voice, rubbing both the palm of his frog hands against another as if the toadman already had an idea of the possible outcome of what would be the queen's offer.
"I want the Sorcerer Kingdom to destroy the beastmen completely and render them unable to invade the Draconic Kingdom… forever."
Draudillon demanded with a smirk on her little face, getting approving looks from the soldiers and Micard.
'If you can initiate a war for a carriage of grain as a just cause, then why not help my country and be the savior your king is rumored to be.'
The queen reasoned in her thoughts, though she knew her outrageous demand would have a high chance of being denied. Considering this, she must get the best out of the offer and worked on lesser demands until the offer would be acceptable for the emissary.
However, what came next was beyond her expectation.
"Agreed! Then we will acquire your seal of approval after we have fulfilled our end of the bargain."
Demiurge replied with absolute calmness.
"Ehhh!?"
Shocked, the queen lifted the spines of her back from her golden throne and yelped in unison with the gathered soldiers and the Prime Minister.
"I'm sorry? Is there something wrong?"
Demiurge asked with a curious tone in his voice and darted his eyes from left to right, surveying his surroundings as if in wonder if he had uttered something unusual.
"Yes! I mean No!"
Draudillon exclaimed as confusion overtook her mind. She braced herself to regain her calm, gradually leaning back in the comfort of her throne.
'This is no small-time emissary, to offer or agree on such degree of military matters. Maybe I'm not completely unlucky after all. I will gladly take all the luck I can get.'
Draudillon inhaled and with conviction, she braved her little heart.
"Then I wanted all the beastmen in the territories of the Draconic Kingdom to be fended off or killed until our very border. Reclaim all our invaded cities and free all our captured citizens, retrieving all their bodies, either dead or alive a month from now. Then your kingdom can invade the entirety of the Beastman Kingdom or do with it anything you want to make sure that they will never… ever be a threat to the Draconic Kingdom and the other human nations in the near future. After you have complied with all my demands, I swear on my name to give my seal of approval. We can now make an immediate letter of agreement between our kingdoms if you want."
Immediately, after she finished spilling the ridiculous conditions of her offer, Draudillon frowned as the toadman shook his head as if lost in his thoughts. He looked like he was contemplating in his mind about denying what the queen considered as an impossible demand hers.
Draudillon internally sighed.
'This is as far as I can go huh? Maybe having a short time to prepare for the counterattack against the beastmen will be a disadvantage for us. I can at least give three months instead of a month for preparations.'
After reaching her conclusion, she quickly decided to revise her words.
"Then—"
"Then your offer is accepted."
Demiurge interjected, cutting in before the queen could utter her words. "I will now prepare the letter of agreement for your approval."
Discerning the toadman's words, Draudillon nodded in uncertainty against the toadman's decision, it was unexpected and made her speechless and before she could even find her words, Demiurge's hum took her attention.
"But you must understand that a single month is a very long time for us to wait before we can launch a counterattack for the beastmen since we are planning to declare the war on the Re-Estize Kingdom a week from now. For that reason, I propose that the Sorcerer Kingdom will massacre these beastmen to free your cities and citizens and conquer the Beastman Kingdom within a day from now."
"Is the Sorcerer Kingdom that capable? These beastmen have a higher power level than humans. How much more their commanders and generals?"
Draudillon narrowed her eyes and asked, showing her little face littered with doubt.
Moments later, after Demiurge fell in silence, Draudillon realized her curious question could also be taken as an insult. Badly, in front of everyone, she wanted to slap herself though she suppressed the urge to do so and instead bit her lip for the innocent words she sputtered.
Too late, her regret was all for naught.
The throne room went dark. A big wave of demonic miasma hit the room and an overpowering pressure overtook the morning's lively atmosphere, raising the body hairs of humans in the room. Searching for the source was unneeded, everyone was certain, even without their eyes, a might so strong would never pass unnoticed.
Simple enough, eager to prove what power he could wield, the toadman released his killing intent, sufficient for Draudillon and the humans to hold their breaths and felt weak on their knees.
"These beastmen..."
Demiurge said as he raised his frog hand, looking at his palm as the representation of the beastmen in front of his eyes.
"...are no stronger than mere insects. I can massacre them all with no problem at all."
Demiurge declared as he clenched his fist with what Draudillon and everyone in the room concluded as a predatory grin on his face.
Contented with the display of his might, Demiruge gracefully dropped his hand, dismissing the pressure of his murderous bloodlust.
At last! Everyone thought as their lives returned and every human in the throne room gasped after what it seemed like forever of being deprived of their ability to breathe.
"And I have one more important matter…"
Draudillon perked up as the toadman emphasized the words.
"Please be advised that the Sorcerer Kingdom specifically His Majesty, the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown never takes any promises from any names of Kings or Queens. You must swear it on the name of your kingdom and its citizens under your responsibility and protection."
Still catching for air, Draudillon repeatedly nodded her little head in response.
"Then I stand corrected..."
Draudillon paused and breathed in and out, massaging her chest.
Recovered but still in disbelief, Draudillon sighed as she regained herself.
"In the name of my kingdom, the Draconic Kingdom, and everything associated with it, living and nonliving. I swear to give the seal of approval after the vanquished of the Beastman Kingdom!"
Draudillon spat her words as she felt her life completely came back to her body, failing to maintain her childish demeanor. The polite advice from the emissary was more of a threat to her, holding the kingdom and its people as hostages in case of failure in fulfilling her end of the bargain. Even mentioning the Sorcerer King in his full title with a very proud voice and it was something that Draudillon considered as noble and awesome. But it was undead! She thought and could not help herself from being disgusted. If it was not for the kingdom's situation of being on the brink of extinction, she would never lower her pride and honor for taking any help and military support from other countries, especially from the undead although she already accepted that her current situation had no other way but to go lower and lower until she could reach the limits of what she could sacrifice.
Draudillon lifted her sweat-flooded back from the throne, in relief after she thought that the emissary might have killed her first before the beastmen could.
"Let us proceed to the meeting room and there you can also write the letter of our agreement. I need to inform the general of the Draconic army about the counterattack."
After a nod of approval from the toadman and her Prime Minister, they proceeded to the meeting room just at the corner of the throne room.
Inside the meeting room, both parties arranged the agreement and discussed the various matters in preparation for the counterattack.
x x x
Not even an hour later the door through the room was opened by a man. His appearance was synonymous with a knight. He adjusted his eyes from the blinding welcoming lights of the rising sun as its piercing rays ran through the immense twin circular windows of the room. He could not hear any sound except the creaking metallic door. Faintly, he could see the walls of burnt orange and reds of the room.
Familiarity struck as he saw the big rustic and dark rectangular table and a couple of chairs on each side of the table, liberally sprinkled with vibrant cushions. A couple of vases with light pinkish-purple flowers were placed in each corner of the wall and with his every intake of breath, he could smell the fragrances of casia that were scattered and hung about the entire room.
And after a few blinks, his eyes had adjusted, and quickly saw the one who summoned him.
The man entered the meeting room and closed the metallic door. He was in his late fifties wearing an adamantite armor dyed in yellow with red lines and edges emphasizing the build of the wearer's body and frame. He appeared more of a father than a soldier with his wrinkled yet, calm and friendly face.
Inside the room, the man knelt in the head of the table, beside Draudillon.
"Your Majesty, I'm here for your command."
"Rise and please take a seat."
The queen implored in a neutral childish voice.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The man stood proud and lowered his head on a bow. He walked to a nearby chair but before he could take a seat, he caught a glimpse of a green toadman wearing a striped red suit sitting on the other side of the table.
"I'm sorry Your Majesty, but what is the meaning of… this?"
He gestured towards the toadman who was silently looking down at the world map that was laid on the table and he felt like it was pleasurably happy on whatever it was seeing or thinking.
The queen looked at the man who was clearly confused about what was going on, she took a deep breath and sighed in a childish way.
"Calm down, general! This is Demiurge—" She gestured towards the toadman. "—an emissary of a foreign kingdom."
"He is here to help us destroy the beastmen invaders and subsequently lay waste on the Beastman Kingdom to render them unable to even step on our boundaries forever!" She explained with a cute but wolfish grin on her face.
Hearing the little queen's explanation, the general calmed down a bit and settled on his chair. He was one of the generals of the Draconic Army but now he was alone on the post. An army of less than ten thousand would never require more than one meaningless general as a commander against the ruthless beasts.
After a moment of silence, the queen decided to proceed in a proper introduction of the general and the toadman. "My general, this is Demiurge-dono as I told you a while ago." The queen gestured towards the toadman with her hand. "He is an emissary from the Sorcerer Kingdom."
After a second she gestured towards her general. "Demiurge-dono, this is Walder Pelcos, General of the Draconic Army."
"M-My Queen? I mean no disrespect but… the rumored Sorcerer King is undead, isn't he? W-Why would they help our kingdom?"
The general asked in panic and concern, failing to contain the faltering in his voice from confusion. He was more used in facing the beastmen than the undead and working with them would not only strike fear but would also terrorize the entire army that was mostly composed of untrained peasants and young adults.
"General Walder, please read this parchment."
Draudillon released an exaggerated sigh. Being tired of the hassle and burden of explanation, she took the letter of agreement in front of her and gave it to her baffled general.
After he took his time reading the agreement, Walder glanced at the queen and nodded in approval. He immediately calmed down, they needed reinforcements after all.
Monsters against monsters. The general concluded in his mind. If the Sorcerer Kingdom could end the war and suffering of his kingdom, he would gladly accept the help even from the undead or not.
After the brief introduction and short commotion, General Walder and Demiurge nodded with each other in recognition. They discussed the remaining cities and the cities that were occupied and captured by the beastmen including the small villages with numerous human hostages.
Though it was deemed as failed, the last attack of the beastmen claimed most of the defending soldiers from the city of Lufhsem, leaving the overpopulated city in shortage of guards.
Even with the cease of attacks, the situation was dire and never better. The kingdom was on the peak of shortage in food and resources with its the people unprepared for anything except for their destined deaths, either from hunger or in the banquets and feasts of beasts.
The kingdom's information gathering against the beastmen was also hindered due to the disappearance of some veteran scouts and the scarcity of these pieces of information left the kingdom blind, day by day, waiting for the invasion to come in front of their gates.
"In other words, your kingdom has no information on anything that could be deemed as important?"
Everyone nodded in affirmative for the toadman's question.
Despite knowing all the meaningless information was already dated months ago, Demiurge still noted all about the known locations of the beastmen's camp, army structure, and conquered cities.
Useless! Demiurge thought, nonetheless, he pointed at the detailed map on the table.
"I will start with Norgon."
Demiurge pointed on a small city, a kilometer away from the Border Lake, southwest of the Draconic Kingdom, and traced a straight line going northeast.
"Then I will proceed to Tergon and from there I will go southeast."
Demiurge lifted his gaze and looked at the humans as if to ensure they were following his point. Satisfied, Demiurge proceeded and traced a line matching the kingdom's border then stopped and pointed at the biggest city at the center of the Draconic Kingdom.
"Then I will take over Cassargon..."
Again, Demiurge moved his finger and traced a line going southwest and stopped in a city just adjacent to Norgon and Cassargon.
"After Cassargon, I will move to Gonmerdan, and from there, I will proceed southeast and reclaim your last city, Qunteil."
In less than a minute, the toadman finished discussing his battle plan— no it must be a massacre plan.
Discerning the toadman's plan, audible gulps were the only sound that prevailed in the entire room but after a moment of being lost in his thoughts, Micard, the cold-hearted Prime Minister found his voice.
"How long would it take to reclaim all the captured cities of the Draconic Kingdom? And also keep in mind that our army… or the remains of it, will need to prepare for at least two days."
"It would take not more than eighteen hours to reclaim all your cities and maybe twenty hours to successfully invade the Beastman Kingdom."
Not even a second had passed, Demiurge replied with a tone of someone describing owns favorite food.
"Your soldiers will only be on standby for the rescue of your captured citizens, a thousand or two is enough and maybe it would only take you at least an hour for that."
Took her long enough, after pondering in her thoughts and nodding repeatedly while staring at nothing in particular, Draudillon finally recovered from her shock and astonishment and glanced at the general.
"General Walder please prepare the soldiers for rescue. Bring enough wagons with foods and other necessary things. Micard will arrange everything for you, individual ration of at least a hundred thousand pieces will be enough and I hope the survivors would number that much. After an hour, I want you to deploy the soldiers to every city, village, and prison camp and start the rescue and clean up."
Regardless of her childish voice, the words of the queen carried the sound of finality.
In response, the general looked at the queen with wide eyes and a distorted face that appeared more doubtful than confused.
'This is insane! This emissary is insane and now my queen is insane! How can a mere toadman reclaim all the invaded cities from the beastmen army in less than a day? This is trickery!
Walder internally screamed as he contemplated, unsure how to phrase the words he wanted to say.
'I know my queen is desperate enough, but I know in my heart and in my mind, this is something impossible! Not even the heroes of legends can easily defeat hundreds of beastmen! How much more if thousands of it?!'
Prepared on how to phrase his reason, Walder took a deep breath and gathered his courage. His words needed to be delivered correctly and should not be misunderstood as insubordination and instead, only as a piece of expert advice from an experienced military mind.
"Your Majesty, this is impossib—"
Stumbled. Before the general could finish his protesting words, the door opened and an unwelcome man in light armor threw himself in and immediately ran towards the queen and knelt down at the furnished floor, trembling and sweating profusely as he bowed his head.
"Y-Your Majesty! Sorry for my trespasses, I'm a soldier from the city of Lufhsem!"
Without beating around the bush, the soldier yelled loud and clear, breathing heavily from exhaustion or something else. He lifted his head and gazed at the little queen with his horrified eyes as it uncontrollably welled up in tears.
"W-We noticed some movements from the beastmen army approaching our city!"