NOVEL FROG Ch 42. Checkmate
Just as the Demon Lord told me, nothing happened to me. Was that because I had faith? No, it wasn't a matter of faith, it was a matter of skill. And of course, it wasn't my skills, but hers.
Loud cheers rumbled in our army while the Kingdom’s stood silent. As I said before, this is all part of the Demon Lord’s plan, we need to show them that we have the upper hand in this war, even if we don't have the numbers.
I started talking again, just as we had previously rehearsed.
“Huh, that's all you got? Like I've said, you all should kneel to the Demon Lord… But don't worry, if you still want to fight, we'll crush your army in the most painful way.”
“Just who do you think you are? You are nothing more than a simple human!”
“A simple human you said? I’m the butler and spokesman of the Demon Lord, you should be more respectful!”
[Now, stretch your hand towards the king, and close it in three seconds. Be prepared.]
I did as the Demon Lord ordered. The King looked nervous and everyone stood silent.
I started the countdown in my head. Three, two, one. Right when I closed my hand, I felt something really heavy on it. I sway slightly to the front because I wasn't prepared for that, this was one of the Demon Lord’s little secrets.
When I looked at my hand, I was holding nothing more than the white stone sword that the King had on his waist just seconds ago.
[Now, repeat my words, just as I said them.]
[O-Okay...]
I'm still very surprised with what has just happened, but I'll follow the plan.
[Surprised, human? I’ll take this as a souvenir. Now let's start the negotiations, we offer you this: You all surrender and beg for mercy, and we'll let your army live.]
“S-Surprised, human? I’ll take this as a souvenir. Now let's start the negotiations... This is the deal: You all surrender and beg for mercy, and we'll let your army live.”
[Oi, that's not what I've said!]
[Come on, don't be picky...]
[Tsh...]
Did she just click her tongue mentally?
“G-Give my sword back, you filthy rat! And of course we are not taking that deal, we won't trust our lives to the Demons. Well fight, and win!”
[Oh, I see you didn’t get my point. We’ll let the army live, but that's different with you. Someone must pay the price of the war.]
[W-What? Are we going to kill the King?!]
[I don't want to do that, ruling the Humans is going to be a pain in the ass. But it depends on him. Now say what I've said.]
“You didn't get my point, did you? We’ll let the army live, but not you. Someone must pay the price of the war after all.”
[You did it again...]
[Of course. Reading the same stuff again would be tiresome...]
[What are you talking about?!]
[N-Nothing...]
“Don't be silly, child! There's no way we'll take that deal!”
“Oh, so the King isn't willing to sacrifice his life to save 50.000 soldiers? What a selfish King…”
[That was great! Whakaka~]
[T-Thank you.]
“You...!”
As I said those words, a murmur began to go through the enemy army. Normally, a king is expected to protect his people. Of course, technically, you can't put into the balance the life of a King and the life of 50.000 soldiers, but go and tell that to the soldiers whose lives are being put into the balance.
What's worse, from their point of view, I was able to cancel an insane amount of spells at the same time, and take the King’s sword right from his waist just by stretching my hand. If I’m this powerful, then they can't imagine how powerful the Demon Lord truly is.
Again, it's not about if we can win this war or not, there's no way for us to lose this fight. We just want to minimise the casualties on both sides and to achieve that, we need to look even more stronger than we really are.
[I'll offer you a new deal then. Honestly, we want to minimise the casualties, so we'll let the Demon Lord out of the fight, and only the Elite Warriors of this side are going to fight. You'll do the same too if you want. Even more, as the Demon Lord isn't going to fight, you can stay away from that too.]
“New deal then. Our stronger Warriors against your stronger warriors, that would decide the war. Of course, to be fair, neither the Demon Lord or you are going to be in the fight.”
[You...]
“All my army is made of stronger warriors!”
A loud cheer came from the Kingdom’s army. That was the expected answer, Humans can be really simple sometimes, even more if they are afraid. We are just one move away from checkmate.
“Is that so? We are just going to be six.”
Everything and everyone went silent. The King’s face had a shocked expression.
It was just a few seconds after I said those words, a loud cheer came from both armies. It was decided then, we were going to have a fight between Elite Warriors.
Checkmate.