'Deep slumber?'
"Why yes. The Sleeping Emperor is his nickname for two reasons. Emperor because he rules over the other Tyrants. Sleeping because he is always sleeping unless something important happens."
The Sleeping Emperor sounded like some shut-in NEET that only went out when he remembers he had a job his parents gave to him. He was really lazy, wasn't he?
'Isn't this important?'
"It seems that he doesn't deem it worthy enough for him to wake up."
Oi! Oi! Now she was just making excuses for him!
'He doesn't think a war between his subordinates worthy enough for him to intervene? First of all he's asleep so how would he know!?'
"He knows all that happens in the forest even in his slumber."
I had given up after that sentence. A magical world was simply different.
'Ok, moving on, isn't his subordinate disobeying him and selling resources to humans more than good enough reason for him to step in?'
"If he doesn't wake up, it means he doesn't see the need to interfere."
She responded with a very composed and mature smile. I let out a sigh. Who knew an emergency meeting for facing a war would be so stressful?
'Please tell me that we've got at least something that could help us.'
I looked at everyone and the room was dead silent, but then Sunalla spoke up. freewe(b)novel.com
"We could try asking the Kings for help."
"Hmmm, true. Those guys could possibly help us."
"Yeah, they should be strong enough."
After hearing kings, my mind went back to Hefla. That guy was oppressing and overwhelming. The fight he had with the rabbit matriarch had me shaking, thinking about how I almost died. That led to me remembering the giant centipede that almost killed me? I was still confused about whether I died that day or not and the agent wasn't giving me any correct answers on the matter.
"You're really hopeless, aren't you?"
Derbyshire said looking at me. He was assuming that I didn't know what kings were and I wouldn't argue with him.
"Well, Hinotori, the kings are what we call creatures that stand at the peak of their races."
Gorm kindly explained it to me
'Oh? So they're really strong?'
"Yes. It is as you say. They are very powerful beings that rule Larm directly after the Tyrants. There are eight popular kings in Larm. Two in all sides of the forest. In the West, we have the Timber Wolf King and the Spider King."
Timber wolf king? Wasn't that the creature Minerva shoved its guts down my throat that time? No, no, they must have been talking about another creature.
'Did you say Timber wolf king?'
I asked just to be sure. I must've heard wrong.
"Yes I said Timber wolf king. The most powerful timber wolf in Larm."
Uh-oh.
"Is something the matter Hinotori?"
Diane asked me with a deadly smile. It was almost as if she knew what had happened. I didn't want to take responsibility for killing the Timber wolf king. Mostly because I didn't. That Minerva, one-shoting monsters on such a level. If she participated in this war I would really feel much safer. I wondered what she is doing right now.
'N-nope, nothing. But just to be sure. In case the Kings refuse to help us, what are we gonna do?'
"Well, we pray something happens, because I'm not going to abandon this forest."
Diane boldly declared.
It's not like you have a choice! You're a nature spirit!
I wanted to scream. If she could run, would she though?
"Same here. I cannot abandon my rivers. They are too important to my people."
Sunalla declared.
Same as Diane!
"Hmph, where else can goblins go and still have this much freedom? In any other side we would have died by now. I doubt we could survive up with our brothers in the Winter Zone or Demise Mountains too."
Gorm said with a smile.
"We rat men aren't ready to create new networks on the other sides."
They had big grins on their faces. I guess these guys weren't half bad, huh?
Everyone voiced their decisions, except for Derbyshire and I who remained silent. He looked anxious. I could tell he was thinking of siding with the Ogre tyrant. He had that look on his face. Manga 101, never trust the guy with a cunning face. You'll suffer unnecessary losses. I even had God's agent perform a calculation on the chances of him betraying us. For now I would just keep quiet.
_______________________________________
So we had decided on asking the kings for help. Although I guess I should be saying the spider king? I wondered what kind of personality he had. Hopefully he wasn't some bloodthirsty battle crazed moron. Either way, I guess I would see when I get to him. For now we needed to bring the wolves to our side.
'Ok, now that we've talked about the kings, let's talk about our own numbers. What do we have?'
"Five goblin tribes, each with about one hundred and thirty goblins and one Hob-goblin in all, with the exception of my village which has two. So in all seven hundred goblins and six Hob-goblins. Two of which are mages."
Gorm gave a detailed description of the goblins. We were already seven hundred strong, but considering the goblins weren't even strong enough to beat horned rabbits, that was a bit underwhelming.
'Let's keep going.'
"The water nymphs are about a twenty in my rivers and there are about hundred guppies in my river. The individual ponds in the forest should have a maximum of five guppies. I can estimate about a hundred and forty of us."
Sunalla added, although she wasn't really sure.
'Guppies? You mean those weird little blue people with fish heads?'
She nodded.
"Our original forms. We evolve into nymphs. From nymphs we have various evolutions. I became a Rain Nymph so I'm the leader of the Nymphs in the west."
'Oh, ok. Cool.'
"We the rat men number over two hundred and have our eyes, ears and noses everywhere."
Over two hundred!? Dang! Maybe we actually stand a chance, is what I thought until
"The dryads will not be participating in this fight, I do apologise."
Diane cut my happiness short with her news. So that was why she put me up to this? Because she couldn't participate she made me her front man! But why me? Gorm would have been perfect for this.
'What do you mean?'
"We dryads are not a violent race. We are just observers of the forest. Although we can choose sides, we cannot participate in the actual fights."
Well that was a total disappointment. I figured we actually stood a chance against them. Hopefully Derbyshire would have good news
We had all been waiting on Derbyshire to speak up but he looked like he were in deep thought.
'Derbyshire?'
I called out to him and he flinched, before composing himself
"Oh, er... um. We the roaming satyrs number only twenty. We just move from forest to forest and we are not much of combatants so I'm afraid I can't help you lot."
I glared at him. I also noticed the rat man glaring at him, same could be said for Diane. Although hers was more of an interested gaze, but I just ignored them. If he was just too scared to fight then there was no need to involve him. In fact it would be better for him to just leave the forest.
'Yo, agent! What are our chances of survival with these numbers?'
<< Notice: Your chance of surviving this is with these numbers is 15 percent. The best option is to leave the forest>>
'15 percent!? Is there a way to increase the odds?'
<<Affirmative>>
God's agent proceeded to fill my head with all sorts of battle plans with the highest success chance and it was around 30. I asked him to include the possibility of the spider king joining us and estimating its power to about a quarter of Minerva's strength and the odds still couldn't go above 50. That sucked. But to think that one king could raise our chances so high. They really were monsters.
I let out a sigh and rubbed my head with my wing. This was going to be really tough. Tons of creatures would die if we couldn't solve this peacefully. If possible I wanted to finish this with as little casualties as possible and the only way to do that was by beating the Ogre tyrant. The odds of me doing that were pretty much non-existent. Things would have been much easier if Minerva intervened.
'Very well then.'
I faced the leaders once again and addressed the remaining issue.
'I guess we will need to send envoys to go and talk to the kings. Will anyone volunteer?'
All hands were down. It seemed no one wanted to talk to these kings.
"Well, since Hinotori brought it up, I believe she should take responsibility." freewe bnovel .com
Derbyshire stated.
'W-wait what-'
"Ah yes. A truly wonderful idea."
Sunalla chimed in
"Hahaha, leave it to Hinotori."
Gorm added.
"Ah yes, I believe Hinotori should be enough. I have observed some of her battles and I am surprised she still lives. She must have some sort of devil's luck."
The rat man spoke.
"B-but-"
I tried to oppose them, but Diane finalized it by saying
"Ah well, it looks like all the leaders have decided on making Hinotori our envoy. We wish you the best of luck."
These people didn't even allow me to object. I looked at Diane and she had a really scary smile on her face, so I quietly accepted it. However I wasn't going down alone
'Although I live close to the Timber wolves, I don't know the way to the spider king, so I will need a guide. Will someone volunteer to come with me?'
"In that case may I suggest the little one standing next to you?"
Came Diane's quick response. It seems she had anticipated my question.
I looked at the sprite who had been standing at my side. She said she didn't have a name and it was starting to get annoying calling her "the sprite".
'Ok then. I will try to convince the kings to help us. We'll head out tonight since it seems I live awfully close to the wolves, however you'll have to guide me to the spider king, sorry for the trouble.'
"It is my pleasure."
'How long will it take to reach the spider king's home?'
"Hmmm, probably a day or two. It will not take long."
'A day, huh? How many days do we have till the next full moon?'
"9 more days. If we take out tomorrow we have 8 days."
The sprite answered.
A week and a day to prepare for war, huh? I'm totally screwed. Ken, Maya. Prepare for my second funeral.
I cleared my throat then addressed the others in the room again
'Is there anything else to be added?'
I looked at their faces but none of them looked like they wanted to say anything.
'In that case, I guess this meeting is adjourned for now. I'll see you guys in three days' time. Hopefully with good news. I'll leave the plans for self defense to you guys. You know yourselves better than anyone after all.'
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