Jashin ni Tensei Shitara Haika no Maou-gun ga Sassoku Metsubou Shisou Nandaga, Dousureba Indaro ka Chapter 11

11、Bread, Thunder Clouds, and a Red Horse (A-side)

Not enough.

How strange, it wasn't nearly enough.

I panic and start patting down my clothes and feeling around for something, while Eleena gives me a strange look.

She holds a slender finger up to her lips and adorably tilts her head. It was an adorable gesture, but I have no time for that right now.

"Please pardon me for asking, but what are you searching for, Evil G.o.d-sama?"

"Ooh, Eleena. Actually, my Karma seems to have diminished from what I last remember."

"I see...Karma, is it?"

After I bought clothes in the Celestial Realm I still had about 400,000 leftover, but now it’s only  about 350,000.

Also, the Karma is kept on something akin to paper money making it extremely convenient. They even have coins of it. I had always lived a modest life, so I knew the value of saving but...

“Ahh.”

It was then that I realized something horrible.

Could it be...

 ○

Up until that point the sky had been clear, but then it suddenly became overcast and thundering.

Large raindrops began to pelt the earth, and it instantly became a dank downpour.

The slanted rain mercilessly bombarded the mossy walls of the abandoned castle.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?!"

Drake ran in a panic, having seen an Evil G.o.d in the sky outside the castle.

He ran like some idiot had taken off with his wife.

"E-Evil G.o.d-sama?"

"Ah, it's you Drake."

Dispirited, his shoulders dropped, and entered the abandoned castle as the Evil G.o.d waved to him.

Drake didn't have any rebuke to tell the careless G.o.d.

I found the cause.

Before I experimented, I had 354,317 Karma in my wallet.

The experiment was having thunder in the background when I "say something important", and the instant I used it I could see the Karma disappearing before my eyes. Now there was only about 300,000 left. In conclusion, if I call down thunder once, I can kiss 50,000 Karma goodbye.

All the more reason to save. I've got to save, however...

"Evil G.o.d-sama, we present to you our offering."

"Oh, yeah."

This is also a problem. Not only the expenditures, but also the revenue.

I take the bread Eleena holds out for me. I take it, but it also remained just like that on top of the tray.

Receiving the offerings was more like receiving the "Essence" of the offerings. The way Eleena explained it, the things in this world and my world are overlapped, so what I take is my side of it. That's deep.

So, what I'm eating is my side of the bread. The leftover material substance of it...what happens to it?

"......Evil G.o.d-sama, this...it's most disgusting."

Eleena knitted her brows together and stuck out her tongue.

But, she quickly remembered she was in my presence, and reverted her face back to normal.

d.a.m.n, that's adorable.

And so, the "Essence" of the bread given as an offering is its deliciousness, or something like that.

Eleena ate the physical bread on the material plane, but you can see the results of that.

It may even have sapped the nutrients out of it.

And thus, my first great master plan fell apart.

The plan went thusly:

Drake would first offer all his army provisions to me.

I would then sell all that "Essence" in the Celestial Realm, while the provisions themselves would be used as normal. If we use this method, there'd be no problem. Drake would increase his forces, which in turn would increase the provisions I receive, and then I would sell it all off and get a bunch of Karma. It was a great plan.

And now it had completely fallen apart.

They couldn't possibly go to war if the bread had no taste. I wasn't that much of a diabolical Evil G.o.d.

In the first place they couldn't win a battle like that. Morale would plummet.

From what I could see, the morale for Drake and Lu Gan's troops was quite high. More than that, they couldn't afford not to rely on morale.

This era had nothing like a modern-day training manual for military drills, which was unfortunate.

Even more than that, there were no weapons like guns that could "easily kill people", so a General's own valour and charisma kept troops in line, morale was that important.

The things most important to raise morale are: charisma, order, and delicious food.

Good food, a warm place to sleep. Without those things the soldiers can't fight.

If you take away those things, your defeat is imminent. Even if you won once, you wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.

If only I at least had valour of my own.

......Yes, like .

 ○

" is a monster. A truly mighty warrior. I can sincerely say that because ofjust that one woman, my army was obliterated."

Drake had a distant look in his eyes.

A vivid memory surfaced of a dusty battlefield.

The woman rode a red horse.

No, there was no such red horse in the Demon Lands. Was it a divine steed, or some kind of rare magical beast?

"That woman appeared in the middle of the battle. I was commanding the Coalition Army into a pincer attack on the enemy with the Dragon Wing Squad, while the Dragon Scale Squad kept a defensive formation."

The Dragon Wing Squad had a great number of soldiers that hit the small-numbered enemy from both sides with their pincer formation, and because the Dragon Scale Squad was smaller they were tasked with blocking the enemy in from the front.

Battles between large armies often stick to the basics of combat like that.

"The Coalition Army was a collection of brave souls who continued to route the enemy. As the enemy held back the Dragon Wings, we saw a chance to strike at the heart of their forces. It was then that she appeared."

Drake's voice was filled with scorn.

Their opponents were still only Demons, so even if they lacked power they could still somehow come out on top, but it was a different story if the enemy was an Evil G.o.d.

"Riding atop a red horse, she spurred her steed into a gallop and made a rush on the vanguard, completely trampling them."

"......The red horse was capable of something like that?"

The Evil G.o.d mumbled something to himself. Drake wondered if it was something only Evil G.o.ds would understand.

"With the vanguard destroyed, our army was at last obliterated."

The enemy numbered 50,000 more than the allied army.

And what's more, not all of them were loyal to Drake. The brave soldiers of the Dragon Scale Squad were the ones that saved the stragglers’ lives, but now Drake could only rely on the soldiers that were left.

"Now, however..."

Their Evil G.o.d, their last ray of hope, could only groan.

And it's no wonder. The opponent was the Evil G.o.d , and they had no idea the extent of her power. Whereas this Evil G.o.d had only just become an Evil G.o.d.

The heavy atmosphere was overpowering.

But the one who broke the silence was, surprisingly, Lu Gan.

"I understand from the story of the black-haired female warrior now that she's quite something. But what of it? It's not like we'll battle her today or tomorrow. For now, let's just think about the next few days."

That's right.

In the first place, could Drake build up an army big enough to even think about whether he could win or lose against ?

So first, a plan.

"Regarding that matter, I have an idea."