The Black Fog that Devours - CH 105

(Kurokiri POV for the whole chapter)

On a certain day of a certain month, at a meeting place exclusively designated for the Demon Kings.

“Checkmate.”

“Ugh…”

Before me lies a flawlessly stalemated chessboard, as well as my opponent, a Little Fire Fox controlled by the Fox Princess.

“You’re really weak. How many losses is this now?”

“Who cares? When it comes to the game against you, the ratio is about 7:3.”

With a frustrated expression on his face, Fog, who is under my command, refutes this to the Fox Princess.

Now, the reason why the Fox Princess and I are engaging in this chess game is rather complicated.

First of all, the number of our subordinates (both kin and monsters) has been escalating year by year, and although they are basically kept on standby in the dungeon and are reduced somewhat by being hunted for various reasons, a substantial number of them are still accumulated.

At this tempo and number, the monsters will soon overflow out of the dungeon and lead to the kind of chaos that Snow Sage’s subordinates did in the past.

Therefore, the number of accumulated monsters must be consumed at some point, but the method of consumption is another obstacle.

To begin with, a single level 1 human living outside of a dungeon can only go toe-to-toe with a Thin Mist Wolf, even if they possess superior skills, and by releasing a large number of monsters into such a setting will inevitably result in people in villages and towns succumbing. This is indeed an excessive amount of carnage.

On the other hand, humans who invade dungeons will not be in a position to cope with a situation involving a mass of monsters, with the exception of a few non-standard ones, and will be successively swarmed by monsters of different kinds. Consequently, excessive release into the dungeon is also inadvisable.

If this is the case, allowing the monsters to be slaughtered without opposition is only an act of charity in terms of supplies for the humans, and the Demon King has no obligation to lavish such charity on the humans. Or, to put it another way, it is absolutely not permitted.

When confronted with such a predicament, a conversation like this of us Demon Kings will take place.

“Oh, Fog King…”

“What is it?”

“Shall we have a sham battle?”

“Sham battle?

“Yes. After determining the rules, we’ll send out our subordinates to fight a sham war outside.”

“Ah, I see. The Octopus King may invade one of these days, so this could be a good training exercise. Or rather, since you brought that up, is your side facing the same problem too?”

“Yes. I have enough on my plate.”

“If so, I would like to ask the referee to be under the supervision of the Snow Sage and Dragon Sovereign…”

As a result, it is agreed to stage a sham battle, and chess and shogi, which were designed specifically for this purpose, are brought out for preliminary rehearsal, leading to the scene depicted at the start.

By the way, regarding the board games (chess and shogi), in order from the strongest to the weakest is Snow King, Fox Princess, me, and Dragon Sovereign. The Snow King is dominant due to his age. As for the Fox Princess, she is unexpectedly strong. Even though Dragon Sovereign can only react on the spot, I guess she must have developed a penchant for chess from her human days, considering that I can read two or three moves ahead and can beat her 7:3.

Well, it is only a sham battle on the board, not an actual battle.

Even if you lose a thousand times in the virtual battle, winning once in the real battle is all that matters. That’s right! I am not a sore loser! It’s not like I’m frustrated that I keep losing to the Fox Princess, who is younger than me!

“Well, you’re being a sore loser, regardless of how I perceive it,” the Fox Princess says in an incredulous voice.

To which I respond, “Damn itttttt! I’ll show you what I can do in the next sham battle!”

Rules of the sham battle (simplified version)

1, The sham battle will be decided by an agreement between the two Demon Kings.

1′, Both parties must mutually agree that everything that arises during the sham battle is coincidental.

1”, Naturally, the two Demon Kings must inform the humans to some extent before the sham battle is held.

2, The referee will be the Demon King who is not one of the Demon Kings that will be conducting the sham battle.

2′, The Demon Kings who act as the referee should have their own subordinates participate as referees, depending on the scale of the battle.

3, The referee shall set an appropriate date and time for the battle.

3′, In the event that there is a village or other settlement in the battle site, the four Demon Kings shall cooperate in evacuating the people living there, and shall provide compensation of various kinds, including repairs to the residence, after the conclusion of the sham battle.

4, The subordinates to participate in the mock battle are roughly divided into three categories: King, Knights, and Pawns.

4′, King: The goal of each camp and the camp whose king is defeated will lose the battle. The King must always use their demons, and the Demon King must be in full control at all times, and cannot be allowed outside of their stronghold of Rook.

4”, Knight: These are the kin of each camp and may include up to 10 members, but their numbers must be matched with each other. To minimize mishaps, a marker must be placed on the head of each member, and when the marker is destroyed, the member is considered dead and must withdraw from the battlefield.

4”’, Pawns: The demons of each camp, and to ensure fairness, the number of pawns must be equal to each other. Neither the type nor the quality of the pawns is questioned. As a rule, no withdrawal from the battlefield is allowed.

5, When you have wagered something in advance, you must give it to your opponent after the sham battle in accordance with the outcome of it.

5′, Concerning the demonic materials that are expected to be produced in large quantities after the sham battle, each member can take as much as they can, and the rest will be left to the humans to deal with.

6, When revising the rules, a majority vote will be required to approve the revision if more than half of the Demon Kings are in favor.

Furthermore, the rest of the detailed rules must be implemented flexibly while maintaining a high degree of resourcefulness.