Volume 2 chapter 47
In front of Talisk Fortress, fifty thousand newly trained soldiers stood in neat rows. They carried rifles on their backs, bandoliers of ammunition across their chests, and grenades at their belts.
"Seraphina! Plum! I am counting on you this time!" Clyris addressed the two commanders who had just returned from the rear after healing their wounds.
"Rest assured, Your Majesty! I will not fail again!" Plum, the Stone Demon commander, spoke with a resolve as unshakeable as a mountain.
"The same goes for me! I will not let Your Majesty down!" Seraphina, the Ice Demon commander, had eyes as sharp as frozen daggers, burning with a cold fire.
Rear Airfields.
The six great airfields behind the fortress were packed with aircraft. Like a vast colony of ants, they moved in orderly lines, taxiing toward the runways.
Rowling stood in the control tower, watching the ground crews load shells and bombs into the warplanes. Her anxiety grew with every passing second.
After two months of replenishment, the Talisk air wing had been restored to strength. From a low of 1,200, they were back to 3,600 aircraft.
But the pilots were different.
The veterans were gone. These new pilots were rookies with less than a hundred flight hours, freshly trained in the rear. How much combat power they could actually exert in a real dogfight was a terrifying unknown.
"I hope more of you come back this time... Good luck! That damn Demon God won't bless us, so I can only offer you my own prayers..." Rowling whispered, turning to look at Vivian.
"It will be fine! Even without a god, I will bring them back!" The young Blood Demon had shed her youthful naivety. Her face now bore the calm steadiness of a veteran who had survived a hundred battles.
"It's just... Vivian..." Rowling looked at her, lips trembling slightly. "If it becomes necessary... you—"
Her words were cut off by a slender finger pressed gently against her lips.
"I won't do that! Captain Clar didn't do it, and neither will I! I won't abandon them!" Vivian lowered her hand, looking at Rowling with unwavering determination.
"Then I will fly with you!" Rowling shouted, tears welling in her eyes.
"You can't... You need to command the airfields! Don't worry, Sister. I will come back!" The young Blood Demon girl smiled brightly. "You have to believe me. Your little sister has great luck!"
With that, the girl turned, grabbed her flight helmet, and walked toward the tarmac.
"Please... Vivian... you have to come back!" Rowling stared at the slender retreating figure, her voice trembling as she begged the empty air.
"Heh! Of course! Captain Clar dragged my life back from the brink of death! I won't throw it away so easily! Just watch, Sister! This time, I won't just complete the mission; I'll bring all these rookies back home with me!"
The Blood Demon girl's white hair danced in the wind. A beautiful, confident smile graced her flawless face as she climbed into the cockpit of the lead fighter.
Engine roaring, she took off first, leading the steel eagles into the sky.
Rowling watched from the ground as the formation shrank into dots and disappeared into the clouds...
"Clar... look at what you taught her..."
She gripped the pilot's manual tightly, her tears soaking the paper pages.
"Why... why didn't you cherish your own life more... You were like that, and now you've made Vivian just like you..."
In a trance, she seemed to see the tall Succubus again. Serious, rigid, completely unlike a typical Succubus. Lecturing the rookies by the book, then leading them into the sky, into battle... and finally falling, never to return.
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Dragonspine Mountains. Alliance Camp.
"What? You won't let me go back?" The Hero, Hayato, screamed. "How dare you?! I am the Hero! Are you trying to imprison me?!"
"Hero-sama... you cannot flee! You are the Hero; your place is on the front lines! If you run, the Alliance's morale will collapse completely!" An Eighth-Rank Knight Bishop pleaded earnestly.
"No, no, no... You want me to duel demons?! Are you kidding me!" Hayato stuck to his guns.
As a twenty-first-century Japanese NEET, playing an isekai RPG was fine. But fighting against planes and artillery? Impossible. He knew exactly how destructive those massive cannons and aerial bombs were. Send him to die? Dream on!
Ever since the night bombing raid, Hayato had been hiding in the rear camps, refusing to participate in any battles.
He had intended to slack off in the back until the war ended. But later, hearing reports that the Alliance was winning, he thought the demons were weak. Emboldened, he went to the front lines—just in time to witness the nuclear-scale explosion of the Vanguard Citadel.
The mushroom cloud piercing the sky, the lingering dust, the shockwave that leveled everything, the earth scorched to glass... It terrified him to his core. He thought the demons had nukes.
He fled back to the rear immediately and hadn't dared to approach the front since. He kept demanding to return to the Imperial Capital, claiming he "wasn't strong enough" and needed "more training."
But how could the Alliance let him go?
Unable to crack the demon fortress and suffering heavy losses, the only thing keeping the army from mutiny was the propaganda of the Hero's presence.
The deeds of Heroes over tens of thousands of years had left a legacy of absolute trust in Rodinia.
As long as the Hero was with the army, even if he wasn't on the front lines, the soldiers believed victory was inevitable. Just like in the past millennia, the Demon Lord would crumble before the Hero!
But...
Knight Bishop Clement, an Eighth-Rank powerhouse, looked at the erratic, whining Hero in front of him and sank into deep thought.
Can this shrinking, cowardly dwarf really lead us to victory?
"Hey! Did you hear me?! I want to go back!" Hayato shouted, standing on his tiptoes to look Clement in the eye.
At just over 1.6 meters, facing the 1.9-meter Clement (who was over two meters in armor), Hayato looked like a child throwing a tantrum. He had to stand on his toes just to feel like he had some presence.
"No! Hero-sama! You cannot abandon everyone and flee! You are everyone's hope!" Clement looked down, unyielding.
"Hah?! What do you mean?! I said it's not fleeing! It's a strategic withdrawal! I'll come back to the front after I train!" Hayato jumped up and down, screaming like a clown who stubbed his toe.
"No! Please consider the soldiers... Hero-sama, if you leave..." Clement looked troubled.
"I don't care! What if I die? Now! Let me go back immediately!" Hayato continued to scream selfishly.
"Hero-sama..."
"Bishop Clement, stop. Let me handle this!"
At that moment, Evelyn walked into the tent. She raised a hand gently, stopping the beleaguered Bishop.
"Evelyn?! Oh, thank god! You're finally back!"
As soon as Hayato saw Evelyn, his face lit up. He rushed over and hugged her tightly.
"Princess Evelyn? This... alright." Clement looked at the Hero burying his face in the Princess's chest, and the Princess gently holding him. He gave up trying to persuade the idiot.
"Evelyn! You're finally back!" Hayato rested his head on her shoulder, sniffing the scent of her neck with a blissful expression.
"Since you left, I've been so lonely... The others haven't recovered from their injuries. I can't sleep at night..."
In the demon night bombing raid, only Evelyn and Hayato had escaped in time.
The other harem members—Violetta, Lily, and Maria—survived because they had protective amulets infused with Ninth-Rank power from their families. But they were heavily wounded.
The Elf, Lina, wasn't so lucky. She was just a talented commoner elf. Without a powerful family to give her life-saving gear, she was turned to ash by the aerial bomb.
The survivors paid a heavy price and were still bedridden.
This was torture for Hayato. Used to nightly orgies, he could handle missing Evelyn for a bit, but with the others incapacitated and Evelyn visiting her brother in the Eastern Army Group, he had been celibate for weeks.
"There, there... Cheer up, Hero-sama!" Evelyn patted Hayato's back gently, her voice soothing. "How about this? Why don't you come with me to the Eastern Army Group? I've already spoken to my brother. He will take good care of you!"
"And..." She leaned her pink lips to Hayato's ear, whispering, "Brother will secretly arrange for you to return to the Maurice Capital. You won't have to worry about the front lines anymore!"
"Yes, yes, yes! I'll go! I'll go!"
Hearing this, Hayato jumped up in excitement. He shouted at Clement, "You have no objection to this, right?! I'm not running away! I'm just changing the direction of attack!"
"This..." Clement looked at Evelyn.
"Please rest assured, Bishop Clement. I will watch over Hero-sama carefully!" Evelyn bowed deeply, her expression unchanged.
"Fine then!" Clement's tense face relaxed slightly. "Hero-sama will proceed to the Eastern Army Group and participate in the siege of Abbys Fortress!"
"Thank you for your understanding!" Evelyn curtsied, smiled faintly, and led the Hero out of the camp.
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