The war across the Eastern Moon Continent against the Dark Demon ended quickly. The gap in power was a chasm under storm clouds. Even with prodigies packed into its branches, the Dark Demon cracked like thin ice beneath the empires’ banners.
On the other hand, though they erased every Dark Demon foothold on the continent, the price was brutal. The Dark Demon fielded roughly over a hundred thousand. They were almost wiped to the last. The empires lost over sixty percent of their armies. Ordinary people dragged into the fire were beyond counting.
Mercenaries, adventurers, and free mages who trailed the armies to scavenge paid with blood. Everyone below SSS-rank was obliterated, a harvest cut by a ruthless scythe. It showed the Dark Demon’s cruelty.
Conservative counts put the dead past two million, a tide of lives swept away. Most were unarmed, everyday folk. Dozens, even hundreds, of towns lay broken, some of them storied old cities.
In these peaceful years, war of such scale is rare, like thunder over a sleeping lake. A million-plus dead rarer still. Even defeating the Dark Demon felt like a pyrrhic victory, ash in the mouth.
Deaths and ruin far exceeded what the emperors had imagined. Even the wealth hoarded by Dark Demon branches couldn’t sweeten the taste. Rebuilding could wait. Calming hearts mattered first, like steadying a shaken forest.
The war began with Yumigawa Senki’s call to arms. If public fury turned on the Mizumi Clan, the aftermath would be unthinkable, like sparks racing through dry grass.
In truth, the losses came because the empires dismissed the Dark Demon at the start. Strategy and tactics went unstudied, like maps left blank. At the branches’ gates they were caught off guard, and the foe seized openings. It was a tragedy born of leaders’ complacency.
But ordinary people won’t weigh such causes. They only see the spark: Yumigawa Senki’s call.
To stop things from spiraling, the emperors gathered at Proud Moon Palace’s administrative hall, robes like clouds pooling on stone.
“Before Miss Yumigawa returns, we’ve got to settle this mess,” Eastern Moon Aotian said, voice like steel under rain. “Any good ideas?”
“This is hard,” an emperor sighed, like wind over broken walls. “Along my borders, small towns were butchered by madmen. Rebuilding will cost a mountain of coin. Even soothing the survivors is a thorny path. Looks like we’ll have to bleed.”
“Money can calm people, sure,” another said, tapping the table like a drum. “But with so many victims, how many coins are enough? Add the cost to rebuild towns and refit armies. Plus shares demanded by mercenaries and adventurers. Even all the wealth taken from Dark Demon branches might not cover it.”
“Right. Most victims are common folk,” one spoke, eyes like tired lamps. “Paying too little makes us seem cold. Paying too much breaks the treasury. At minimum, give them a stable new life. My plan—compensation in coin first. Then lower their taxes and raise the minimum wage. We’ll open many jobs rebuilding towns. And for homes destroyed, the state pays to rebuild. We must mend loss and soothe their hearts.”
“No wonder you’re called the benevolent ruler, East Sea Emperor,” someone said, like a ripple of respect. “It’s thoughtful, though still a heavy bleed. The armies also need comfort money. Headache.”
After more debate, we had no neat answer, the emperors concluded, like dusk settling. They took the East Sea Emperor’s plan as a blueprint, and adjusted it to fit each land’s grain.
In short, the bill was astronomical, stars tallied in coin. Whether their treasuries could survive depended on each ruler’s skill.
As for the reward Yumigawa Senki had promised, none held high hopes. If it lightened the burden a little, that would be enough, like rain on parched fields.
…
On the road back to the Eastern Moon Empire, they passed fields of bones and toppled ruins. The war’s ferocity bled from every shattered wall.
“Ah.” Yumigawa Senki exhaled, a frost-edged sigh. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have sent that call. I didn’t think it would get this bad.”
“So strange,” Yumigawa Nozomi murmured, eyes tracking blackened beams. “With the entire continent’s forces, it should’ve been easy. Is the Dark Demon truly strong enough to resist everyone?”
“Resist the whole continent?” Elyar said, thoughtful as moonlight on water. “Maybe if you count all Dark Demon forces worldwide. As for this outcome, I think the empires led everyone astray with overconfidence. At the start, they just didn’t take the Dark Demon seriously.”
“Whatever the cause, saying more changes nothing now,” Yumigawa Senki said, shaking her head like a willow in wind. “This slipped far beyond what we expected. Let’s focus on cleaning up the mess first.”
She drew several space rings and turned them in her fingers, starlight glinting. Inside lay Supreme Divine Spirit Medicine, rare materials, and heaps of Purplegold Coins. It should be enough to compensate the empires.
“True. Still, the loss stings,” Elyar sighed. She lay on the Aerucia Bird’s broad back, staring at the leaden sky. “So much effort, and I burned my last three Arrows of Sacred Wood. We even invited Her Majesty the Empress’s avatar. Yet we couldn’t hold the Former Demon King. On the other hand, we’ll pay a mountain of resources as recompense. We erased the Dark Demon’s forces on this continent, but it still feels like defeat.”
“Yeah. I think Xinuo Miss’s real task was to keep Molor from reviving. And yet…”
“On paper, we won,” someone said, voice low as distant thunder. “But letting Molor slip away is the deepest loss.”
“Molor’s threat to this peaceful era dwarfs the Dark Demon,” Elyar added, like a shadow crossing noon. “And Wilsar remains the Mizumi Clan’s enemy.”
“If Molor takes Rangetsu’s place—no challenge—and tightens ties with Wilsar, we’re in real trouble,” Yumigawa Nozomi said. A chill rode her words, like winter through a thin door.
“Unless Xinuo solves the Worldgate soon,” Elyar said, watching clouds drift, “but she’d have returned by now if she could. It will take time.”
“So,” Yumigawa Senki concluded, resolve settling like a blade into its scabbard, “we finish the cleanup. Then we head to the Elven Realm. We’ll need Elunis’s help— and we need to grow stronger.”
