After declaring free time for all of his servants, Apollo walked around the base giving a bit of attention to each surviving girl while listing the ones who died in the conflict. He did this not just to see with his own eyes the end result of his choices but also because the system didn't discriminate each girl but treated them as numbers, which meant that just by looking through his bracer, it was impossible to know exactly which one had died and which had survived.
Thinking again, there was an easy way for him to do this. All he needed to do was sit on the HQ chair and make a call to each girl, making the ones who answered him as alive and those who didn't as dead, but while doing this in such way would save him time and energy, he felt it was not fair for the girls who risked their lives for his ideals.
By the time he completed the list the day was practically over. Because of the location of their base, surrounded by mountains, their day usually ended a bit earlier so there was nothing he could do about that. Apollo sat on his armchair in the Palace's living room, and read once more the casualty list. Some names had just been given, others had accompanied him since the first day, and, no matter which, they all had something in common... they all would never be called again.
"Why is Briony's name here? That glutton should be resting because of the poison... Why did she....fuck!"
"I wonder how Ivy will behave now that Iris is dead. Those two were always together... She appeared to be fine, but I think she is just holding back..."
"Catears as well. That girl has been unlucky from birth, she deserved so much more..."
"Tomorrow let's make a memorial with their names..."
"Damn! Damn! Should I have moved earlier? From above the situation didn't appear that bad!"
"Who am I fooling? We were really lucky!"
The more he analyzed, the more he recognized they had won mostly due to luck. The enemy had underestimated them, but even then it was not enough to give them a chance of victory.
"Instead of completely overwhelming us, they choose to play around and see our tactics and reactions. They pretty much let go of their initiative and allowed us to play our best cards in the most effective manner. And even then, it would have been their victory if not for our luck..."
"If Hime didn't mess up, scaring the boars inside the nest... If the boars had not passed through their camp as they ran away, throwing their Master on the ground... If Hime had arrived at any other time than the exact moment we were closing in, ready to charge them... If any of these things had happened slightly different, our victory would not happen!"
Feeling a wave of fear invading his body, Apollo let out a dry laugh as he remembered the last charge.
"Hehe... The moment I saw that spear barricade, I thought it was over... even if we dealt with a dozen Oni due to our momentum, there is no way our girls would survive charging at those spears like that... The only reason they had gone so far was because the enemy was not prepared. If they were prepared, results would be completely different! I would have fallen from Bacon's back, captured and the battle would be over, but even if I ignore this, the girls up the mountain were already exhausted at that time and didn't even had the strength to run away, much less fight against the elite troops that were left..."
"Really... What was I thinking? Throwing myself in battle like that... All I did was add weight to Bacon's back, and didn't contribute at all..."
Apollo felt depressed, guilty and weak. So weak that he barely could stand anymore... Luckily he was already sitting on the armchair, so there was no way for him to fall. Apollo just let go of all his strength and laid still on his chair, watching the night sky through the window as the clock continued to tick in regular intervals.
...
As Apollo opened his eyes he saw himself back at Bacon's back.
He was once again charging through the battlefield. The first target was hit as they expected, but just as they did it, their second target noticed their approach and readied themselves.
They divided their troops in two groups, one continued to fight Daisy's group, keeping up the pressure while the others created a spear wall on their flank to stop the charge of the boar girls.
Bacon and her sisters didn't stop or slowed down. All they did was lower a bit their heads and prepare for impact, trusting their new masks would do a good job protecting them.
Apollo held strongly on Bacon's mask. He felt this wouldn't end up well, but it was too late to change his orders and if he failed here, things would only get worse.
A second before the collision, he instinctively turned his head, glancing down on the mountain at the Oni's Master camp. Over there the proud Oni's Master stood smiling in his chair, as if mocking their struggle saying it was useless no matter what they tried to do.
"Fu-!!!"
As cursed words escaped Apollo's mouth, a sudden bump made him fly in the air, away from Bacon's back, right in the middle of the spear wall. The world felt as if time had slowed down and he watched in details as the spears approached him closer and closer, making him anticipate the pain that he would feel as they pierced his body all at once.
And just as they were going to touch him, a hand pressed over his shoulder waking him up from his dream.
"Master? Master! Wake up!"
"Eh!? Huh....What..."
Still feeling a bit confused, Apollo looked around, realizing it was just a dream.
"Sigh...."
"Master, dinner is ready."
Apollo looked at his side and contrary to his expectation, the one he saw was not Rose but Hime. She had prepared small table in front of him, with some soup and water to serve as his dinner.
(Tulip soup again...ugh...)
Trying to hide his true thoughts, Apollo made a strained smile.
"Thank you."
"I'm happy to serve!"
Hime bowed down to him with a bright smile and waited further orders.
"Hmm...Where is Rose?"
"Rose!?"
"Any problem?"
"N-no, w-well, she... got out..."
"At night?"
"Y-yeah..."
Hime's reaction was way too strange, making Apollo feel she was hiding something. After waking up from a nightmare, he didn't feel in the mood to play games, so, instead of respecting her and giving her space, he did something he wouldn't usually do...
"Hime, it's an order, tell me what happened."
Hime felt as if a lightning had suddenly struck her, making her whole body go rigid as a truck. Her mouth opened up against her will and her voice started coming out in monotone.
"One hour ago Alyssa returned to the base and reported all Oni's in the camp West from here were dead."
"....Eh?"
The news arrived so suddenly and condensed that Apollo couldn't make sense of them, but even then Hime didn't stop talking.
"Her report stated that their death was due to poisoning, so Rose led the medical and ranger teams to investigate."
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Alyssa is alive!?"
"Yes, as I said, she returned one hour ago."
"And the Oni are dead!?"
"That's what Alyssa reported. Once Rose comes back, we will know for sure..."
"And you didn't tell me anything!?"
"...You were sleeping..."
(Well, that's true, but...)
"Then why did you try to hide it from me?"
"...Because..." (We thought Master would be sad...)
Seeing the tears accumulating in her eyes, Apollo threw the towel, and decided to let her off, with just a request.
"Sigh~~~~... Next time, warn me right away."
"...Understood..."
Apollo massaged his own head, feeling a headache incoming. He looked at the soup in front of him and felt even less tempted to eating it.
(Are there still enemies around? Maybe I'm trusting Negi's information too blindly... I should investigate this myself!)
"Where is Hayate?"
"He still hasn't returned."
"..." (Is he related to this? Well, he did swear revenge on the Oni, so...)
"Master..."
"..." (But for him alone to kill all remaining troops... even if he poisoned them, wouldn't this still be hard?)
"Master?"
"..." (Does he have some short of ally working with him? Is this how he got his poison?)
"Master!"
"What?"
"They are back!"