The Author's POV

[Alliance Headquarters]

―There's a sudden situation. This is the perfect time to strike the demons.

―I have just been informed that our forces and the demons in Idoania have engaged in full-scale warfare against one another. Even though there have been no requests for additional support, the situation appears to be rather grim. The Demon King is currently engaged in combat with the Leaders of our race.

―The mana on this planet also seemed to have drastically increased. Do you have any idea of what happened, Ren?

"One at a time, please…"

I massaged my head while I stared at the three projections in front of me. They were Gervis, Maylin, and Brutus. The heads of the three races on Earth.

The three of them had different facial expressions at the moment and were talking over one another, but I roughly understood what had occurred.

I looked at Maylin.

"So you're saying a war broke out on this planet called Idoania and that the Demon King is currently fighting against all of your race leaders?"

―That's correct.

Maylin, who was hidden behind the holographic projection, nodded her head. After staring at her for what seemed like an eternity, I eventually leaned against the back of my chair.

I had a sudden thought.

"There are seven Protectors, but as far as I can tell, there is only one on Earth. If I'm not mistaken, then it seems highly likely that the race leaders of the three different races are the other Protectors... right?'

It was a possibility.

If not, why would Jezebeth opt to move to them before heading down to earth? The more I thought about it, the more obvious it seemed.

… In the same manner, as on Earth, the Protectors kept a close eye on the three other races in order to ensure that they remained in their proper place.

Clean up and oppress those who have talent.

Their surveillance wasn't something that was exclusive to human beings alone, but it did affect the other races as well...

It was also abundantly clear that the Protectors placed a higher priority on the other races than they did on us, as evidenced by the fact that there was only one Protector watching over us as opposed to the two others for each race.

Not that I blamed them.

After all, mana was something that humans had only very recently begun to interact with. In addition, our population was noticeably lower than theirs.

It only made sense.

I turned to look at Gervis.

"Yes, the mana in the atmosphere did indeed become a lot denser. I don't know why, but I've received several reports from our side that many have broken through because of it."

―Oh? Is Octavious one of them?

"Yes."

I replied with a short nod.

Not even a day after my other self killed Waylan, a large phenomenon swept over the city, and Octavious broke through to rank.

The news of his breakthrough was met with a great deal of enthusiasm, and some news articles even suggested that he ought to take the reins as leader of the alliance in light of his recent success.

If only they knew...

"He's broken through to the next rank, and so have several other people. What about you?"

―Same for us.

Gervis heartily laughed.

us experienced

"That's nice to hear."

was hidden behind a projection, I was still able to feel his breath from where

sharp eyes focused

take advantage of this opportunity to

we orcs didn't go through any of what you humans did, we didn't lose any strength, in contrast to the demons. If we take advantage of this

"Hmmm."

words had some

ever a better time to launch an assault, that time would be now. Not only did a good number of us become stronger, but because the mana was so concentrated, the

compressors needed to be tuned in order to convert the denser

only one problem with

three of them, who were looking at me with expectant eyes. It seemed like they had already discussed the matter

the bottom of my chin

get into another war right now, the people will

say for certain that this was the case, it was safe to assume that the general populace would be anything but pleased with the

of the articles that would be

Not that I cared.

in the

fact, I found them to be rather humorous. The vast majority of the time, all I would do to have

be wasted. There's no better

back to take a look at the other two. From the

realized that I was the only one who held a contrasting viewpoint, and I adjusted the position

brief period of time, as no one spoke at any point. I turned on the chip in my head and rapidly drummed

playing over and over again in my head, and I went through each

of the Alliance, I had many things to consider, and knowing the scope of the attack, I knew

without saying that I needed to bring most of the

I needed to take

in the event that the

to bring alongside

there was a trap set

citizens would think of the situation and how to calm down the panic and riots

make a decision, there were a lot of factors that I needed to take into consideration, and just thinking about all of those factors made my head throb in

chip, I was

"Haa…"

let out a long

is going to be a

At this point, everything was a pain in the

you made

reverberated through my office, and I looked at her. Staring at her for a good couple

"Yeah."

up

ready for

***

"Here."

"What's this?"

gaze fell on the small bottle he

and placed a small bottle on my table as I was preparing a series of

the thing you asked me to analyze and replicate. With a little help from Melissa,

"Uh?"

conversation I had a while back started to surface in my mind, and my eyes

"Isn't this…"

"Yup."

Ryan smiled.

serum used to create the supersoldiers from the Monolith. I figured you'd want

"You're damn right."

resembled water, and as I shook the bottle from side to side, I observed how

'Rather smooth.'

the serum I took, which was rather viscous, this substance was rather

"How are the effects?"

your commands, but in a limited manner since it takes