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 a large increase in our powers. Although I don't know what brought about this change,

"That's nice to hear."

smile before turning my attention to Brutus. Even though he was hidden behind a projection, I was still

focused on me,

advantage of this

become noticeably less potent as a result of the significant increase in mana density that has recently taken place. Even though 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 opportunity, we will be able to eradicate

"Hmmm."

had some reason behind

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

since the mana compressors needed to be tuned in order to convert the denser mana that

only one problem

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

of my chin and muttered

suddenly get into another war right now, the

couldn't say for certain that this was the case, it was safe to assume that the general populace would be anything but pleased with

that would be written about me, calling me a war-hungry tyrant and other such

Not that I cared.

in the media, and

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

the losses, but this isn't an opportunity that can be wasted. There's no better time to strike now, and honestly, since we're the ones attacking, it shouldn't matter whether the citizens are happy or not. They won't be affected by all of

back to take a look at the other two. From the looks on their faces, it appeared as though they

only one who held a contrasting viewpoint, and I adjusted the position of my chair

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

again in my head, and I went through each and every one of them very carefully, analyzing the benefits and drawbacks of

things to consider, and knowing the scope of the

went without saying that I needed to bring most of the

to take into consideration

domain in the event that the demons decide to launch an assault

to bring alongside

a trap

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

factors that I needed to take into consideration, and just thinking

was soon able

"Haa…"

let out a

already tell that this is going to be a pain in the

this point, everything was a pain in the

you made your

her. Staring at her for a

"Yeah."

up

get ready

***

"Here."

"What's this?"

to stare at Ryan, my gaze fell on the small bottle

bottle on my table as I was preparing a series of documents regarding

and replicate. With a little help from

"Uh?"

conversation I had a while back started to surface in

"Isn't this…"

"Yup."

Ryan smiled.

the Monolith. I figured you'd want to know

"You're damn right."

water, and as I shook the bottle from side to side, I observed how the liquid mirrored my movements and moved in tandem with the

'Rather smooth.'

I took, which was rather viscous, this

"How are the effects?"

follow your commands, but in a limited manner since it takes several dosages to completely