I was riding my horse next to my Lady, who was riding a Nightmare: A black horse with white manes and its legs and eyes covered in purple flames and on its head, a helmet that resembled a skull.

“Are you sure you can do this, Butler?”

“H-Honestly, I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish this task… But I need to try, that's what we agreed, right?”

That's right, I have an important role to fulfill during this war…

It all started right when the Demon Lord finished giving orders to everyone, in order to get prepared for the incoming war against the Kingdom.

“Oh, I was waiting for you, Butler. Come, come.”

“Are we really going to fight against the Kingdom itself, my Lady?”

“Let's not start that talk yet. Pour some tea first and sit with me, then we'll talk. Whakaka~”

Fighting against the Kingdom will end in tons of deaths, not just humans, demons and monsters are going to die too… Wars aren't a joke, they shouldn't be taken lightly. But even if I can convince the Demon Lord to avoid the fight, the Kingdom will still be coming for us at the end.

With those thoughts in mind, I ended up pouring two cups of tea and sat in front of the Demon Lord.

“You are too far! Shouldn't you just sit at my side?”

She said while pouting and looking away.

“T-That 's… That's not the point of this talk, isn't it?”

“Whakaka~”

She laughed at my words or is she laughing at my reaction? Before I could retort, she started talking with a serious face.

“So… How are we going to do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“The war, of course. I don't want my people to die, and I don't think you’ll be quiet after we just erase 50.000 soldiers. So we need to plan something.”

That's right, I've witnessed the power of the Demon Lord and her comrades, so if the two armies clash into each other, it'll be a massacre.

“What's in your mind, my Lady?”

“There's no reason for them to not clash with us, we are fewer after all. But... What if we played the upper hand?”

“And how are we going to do that? As you said, there's no reason for them to avoid fighting us...”

“That's not right. I’m pretty sure that there's a lot of people that know about my strength. What if we propose a duel?”

“A duel? But the King won't fight, I don't even know if the King knows how to fight…”

“That's the point! If we propose a duel between our strongest soldiers and theirs, leaving me and the King out of the fight, the normal folks will support that idea!”

“And what about the King?”

“That's the good part! I bet he is scared too, but if he won't have to fight us he'll accept our deal!”

“That mean that the side who loses the duel should surrender? But there are 50.000 soldiers, even if we surrender, there's no insurance that we'll be left alive…”

“Huh? Do you really think we can lose? Whakaka~ How cute. There's absolutely no way we could lose a fight like that!”

“And what about if we win? There's no way that 50.000 soldiers would accept defeat without fighting!”

“Then we'll just erase some of them! The leftovers would calm after seeing something like that.”

She was serious about that, but the question was really serious too. It's hard to believe that 50.000 soldiers would surrender just after seeing the strongest ones fail. Of course, that depends on how much they fail. If every of the Demon Lord’s Champions fight at their fullest, the show would be so scary and amazing at the same time that the will to fight could leave their bodies…

Besides, there's no way that the ones fighting for the Demon Lord’s side could lose, that's how we will be playing the upper hand in this war. But there's two important questions left: Who are the ones who are going to fight, and how do we convince the King to make such a deal.

“Well, the Slime sisters are not suited to fight, so our Heroes would be Fynx, Kaashi, Kirwha, Fluph, yourself, and a little surprise. Whakaka~”

She said with a proud face. Wait… There was clearly something odd there. Kirwha would be fighting? She is strong, I know but… No! That wasn't the weird name…

“Me?! Are you serious?!”

“Don’t worry too much, they'll protect you! Whakaka~”

“B-But…!”

“No buts, you are going to fight! We need them to bite the bait, and of course, you are going to be the bait.”

She had a malicious smile drawn on her face. I know, I’m walking right into the lion’s mouth, but there's no way I can refuse, I'll die if I do that. On the other hand, I’ve been training my dodge skills, and maybe Fynx and Kirwha would be able to protect me… Even if my odds of survival are small, they are not zero.

“I’ll listen to your plan…”

The Demon Lord smiled at my words.