Chapter 178 - 1 Million 1
3 days had passed since the siege of Tiamo.
I was in Tiamo with my friends in the hall where the Queen was. I was checking the movements of the elves over the past 3 days with the Queen and the Generals. As usual, I could enter the hall without any issues.
The elves of Rosenheim were able to collect a total of over 100,000 magic stones in Tiamo and the other 3 cities during the siege 3 days ago. In addition, there were 70,000 magic stones that we obtained ourselves, but the elves had agreed to use the 100,000-plus magic stones.
Of the over 100,000 magic stones, 50,000 were to be converted into 10,000 [Blessing of Heaven]s.
I was creating them on the move and handing them out as I could.
Due to the fact that the summoning slots were taken up by the Insect summons, I had few blessings that increased my maximum mana, and my maximum mana was not that high. Even when I used the Mana Recovery Ring, I could only make about 200 [Blessing of Heaven]s per hour.
The remaining over 50,000 magic stones were sent to Nest City. From Nest City to Tiamo, which was the front line of the battlefield, we bought a Magic Ship under heavy security and sent it back with a large amount of magic stones.
At this time, 5,000 elves had moved aboard the Magic Ship. They were all Talented soldiers and would be fighting the Demon King's army on the front lines.
The reason I took the magic stones was to supply them to the Magic Ships. There were dozens of Magic Ships parked in vacant lots in and around Nest City without enough magic stones. It was said that those Magic Ships would start working at full capacity.
With over 50,000 magic stones of B-rank or higher, they could do that.
"If 1 Magic Ship can evacuate 5 thousand people, how long would it take to evacuate everyone?"
After listening to the whole story, I asked the Generals who was explaining the situation to me.
"Yes. There are more than 700,000 refugees in this city alone. We haven't even finished restoring the Magic Ships yet. It may take 4 or 5 days to evacuate them all, but what does that matter?"
The General answered and asked why I was on the carrying capacity of the Magic Ships. Because the expressions on the faces of both me and my friends were urgent.
"Yes, I have some bad news. 1 million troops of the Demon King's army are heading straight for Tiamo. Right now, they have stopped moving due to the night time, but in 2 more days, they will arrive at Tiamo."
""What?""
The elven Generals were surprised. The Queen also leaned forward from her throne in surprise.
For the past 3 days, we had been relentlessly attacking the Demon King's army, which had retreated northward from Tiamo.
The Demon King's army had moved on from here for about 3 days, and then joined forces with the armies that had been attacking the other 3 cities, and with the reinforcements from the north, the army now numbered about 1 million.
And as soon as they met up, they started heading straight for Tiamo. We did everything we could to change the course of events over the course of the day, but the Demon King's army didn't pay us any attention and headed towards Tiamo.
"Well, then, it's just like the northernmost fort..."
One of the Generals, oozing despair at our report, spoke up.
A fortress many times taller and stronger than Tiamo was located in the northernmost part of Rosenheim. The fortress was built to fight the Demon King's army, and was said to be impregnable, but it fell to the 3 million Demon King's army.
(They're acting too fast. Even if we could defeat them individually, it would only be around 30,000 at most.)
I had thought that we would win this battle slowly. The Demon King's army would not be able to cope with our air power. If we could defeat 30,000 of them a day, we could defeat 3 million in 100 days. That was my plan.
In fact, the Demon King's army's loss in the battle against the elves before our arrival was minor, but in the battle after our arrival, nearly half a million magical beasts were defeated. This was enough for the Demon King's army to make a quick decision and move on to the next action.
Furthermore, it seemed that the Demon King's army had determined that the Elven Queen was in Tiamo. Rosenheim's only Spirit Mage was guarding Tiamo, after all.
And it was also the troops in Tiamo that suffered a sudden night raid.
Furthermore, the troops at Tiamo suffered the most damage on the Demon King's army's side during the siege battle.
"On that note, I have a suggestion. Why don't we all retreat, including the Queen?"
"We don't have to force ourselves to stay here."
"Nuh?"
"Master Allen, we cannot do that. As I said earlier, the Nest city's Magic Ships are currently being prepared for operation using magic stones. At this rate, we won't be able to carry even half of the refugees."
"Does that mean we stay and fight the Demon King's army? It might be tough, but maybe we can get the refugees to walk out of the city for 2 days."
"The Demon King's army will catch up with us soon. And we have the Elven Elixir that Master Allen gave us. Let's work as one to protect our people, who have nowhere to run."
""Ha! Her Majesty the Queen!"
There was no one afraid of death present in the hall. They all had a reason to fight for their lives.
"Can Master Allen also help us?"
(Over 200,000 elven soldiers are here, plus [Blessing of Heaven]s. If we fail the Queen will be killed and Rosenhiem will disappear. If they are going to stay here anyway, I would prefer it if the odds are higher.)
"Of course. But if you won't run away, I have a plan."
""Ooh!!""
The Generals couldn't help but shout. This was the plan of the black-haired boy who had been working miracles for the past few days.
Everyone turned their gaze to me and listened with anticipation to see what I would say, as I was sure to bring another miracle.
"How many Thief do you have in the city?"
"Thief? Yeah, right. Well, I'd say there were about 3 thousand of them. It's not often that we elves find our Talent as Thief."
Of the 200,000 troops, 3,000 were said to be Thief. The Generals wondered why I was checking the number of Thieves when we were going to have to fight an army of 1 million.
"How many of those Thief have Extra Skills that increase their [Agility]?"
"No? Increased [Agility] instead of spying or tracking?"
Extra skills had a high gacha factor. However, they were mostly skills with abilities that were appropriate for their respective Talents.
"Yeah, I'd say there's at least a hundred of them out of 3,000."
The other Generals nodded their heads in agreement. It seemed like solid information.
"Then assign at least 2000 of those 3000 people to me. All those with the Talent to increase [Agility], if possible, assign them to me as well."
"Huh? If you need 3,000 people, we are willing to assign you 3000. I'll tell them that Master Allen's words are absolute."
The elven General replied immediately without asking anything about my strategy.
"Thank you, sir. Now, I'd like to tell the 3,000 troops how I want them to move, so if you could call the commander for me."
"I'll get him right away."
Knowing that time was running out, one General left the hall.
"After this explanation, we will conduct a delay operation to slow down the progress of the Demon King's army."
"Please, Master Allen."
The Queen responded.
"I will inform the commander of the Thieves of our plan in detail, but regardless of the outcome of this operation, hundreds of thousands of the Demon King's army will attack Tiamo in 3 days. Please take actions such as fortifying defenses with that in mind."
I assured them that we would not be able to defeat an army of 1 million. My strategy was only to reduce their numbers and delay their progress.
I had also told them that since we had 3 days, we should use Spirit Magic to create a shelter or something to strengthen the defense.
"Sophie."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Please take care of Master Allen for me."
"Yes."
Before Sophie asked to accompany on the delaying mission, the Queen ordered her to join. It seemed to be the destiny of those born into Royalty.
"I've brought him."
Then the General who left earlier brought in an elf. He seemed to be the commander of the Thieves.
The commander seemed puzzled by the sudden call to the Queen's room and my presence.
"I'm sorry to bother you so late at night. I know it's short notice, but I'd like to explain to you our current situation and the future.
Thus began the battle against the army of 1 million.
