AFTER giving instructions to the Dark Elves, Takuto took a brief break in his private chambers. Thanks to adding the Botchling double to his tactics, he now had a wide range of actions he could take himself. If he wanted to, he could run around Mynoghra, taking direct command of every little thing. Takuto had imposed on himself the minimum amount of rest needed. Beyond that, he was going to work himself like a horse for the duration of the year.
“Good work today, King Takuto.”
As he stretched to loosen his body, which had become stiff from sitting in his chair for too long, Atou brought him a cup of aromatically brewed coffee. This drink was the gold standard for times of deep concentration. Takuto liked it a little weak, cooled to the perfect temperature, and drinkable in a single gulp.
He accepted the steaming cup and placed it on the desk before turning to face Atou.
“Thanks. You did well today, too… Still, what do we do about this one?”
“You mean the enemy military alliance? I never imagined they would go straight to launching a massive rush battle against us. That’s rare even in Eternal Nations. Although quite effective when used against the unprepared!”
“Usually, we’d ensure our safety by trying to get the other nations to bring each other down through diplomacy and intentionally creating tension between them, and other such measures we can take from the background. I let my guard down, thinking the Succubus Army and Qualia were too different to ever work together, and this is the result. I should have seen this coming after the TRPG forces teamed up with two good-aligned Saints.”
But Takuto thought he was too harsh on himself to consider this his failure. Asking him to be prepared for this nonsensical possibility was like asking him to prepare for the possibility that every conspiracy theory was true.
Witch Vagia had made careful preparations and bet everything on this conference being a perfect strategy to entrap all her enemies and allies in a single rush. Then again, many aspects of the conference didn’t make sense, and Takuto had no doubt there was more to their alliance than meets the eye. They were hiding something…
He had too much to do before he could spend time considering what that something was. At the bare minimum, he needed to form the Dark Continent Alliance and obtain Sutharland’s technology, or they would be dead in the water.
At the time, the Dark Elves were so impressed that he didn’t dare say anything, thinking it would be a damper. Atou was the only one who understood that even an alliance would not be enough to make up for the difference in their military strength enhanced by game-breaking Player buffs.
Under normal circumstances, he should be racking his brain for a way out of this. If they continued on this path, they were guaranteed to be crushed by the Lawful Continent Alliance’s overwhelming power in the future.
Seeing as Takuto was still operating with level-headed calm despite all that, Atou became convinced he had a secret weapon.
“But, King Takuto, you seem awfully calm despite the crisis. Do you possibly have another trump card to play?”
“Hehehe,” he chuckled. “You know me so well. In fact—”
Takuto then spoke of his knockout plan to destroy the Lawful Continent Alliance.
Atou was astonished and exasperated by the daring and unexpected tactic.