I sent out a summons to my party members and headed back to the mansion, heading straight for Aider's room.
"Welcome, my lord!"
I spoke bluntly to Aider who was trying to greet me with a smile.
"Starting from the next stage, we won't be able to complete the strategy."
"..."
Aider, who had been frozen, asked in a trembling voice.
"What did you just say...?"
"Don't play dumb. You know too."
I plopped down onto any chair nearby and crossed my legs.
"Our current situation at the Monster Front is the worst. If it continues like this, it'll soon be game over."
"..."
Aider fell silent.
I let out a small sigh.
"First, the majority of the hero parties are out of action."
Except for the main party who had only minor injuries.
The Shadow Squad, the first sub-party and the firepower team, had lost two out of three archers.
Burnout, the only archer left, was also injured.
The Dion Mercenary Group, the second sub-party responsible for low-level work, had been wiped out.
The loss was painful as they were rookies who had been diligently fed experience points and geared up for future frontline operations.
The Old Hunters, the third sub-party that was filled with AoE magic attackers, lost both mages.
Although the three tanks survived, their injuries were severe. It was almost certain they'd retire.
'Out of the 20 hero characters, 9 are dead and 3 are retired.'
We've lost a staggering 60% of all hero characters.
Of course, there were reserve parties, such as Lilly's and Margarita's.
But there wasn't enough time or a situation suitable to immediately train them to be a useful party on the front lines.
The loss of hero characters alone was significant.
"Regular soldiers have also taken a fatal blow. Most importantly, the Twilight Squad has lost its combat power."
The Twilight Squad, veterans among veterans who had spent their whole lives fighting monsters here under the Margrave, led the defense.
These sturdy veterans protected and taught the new soldiers, allowing us to continue the grueling battle until now.
However, the leader, who was a core member of the Twilight Squad, died in the last battle, and half of the 300 members died.
They were virtually ruined.
As expected, the morale of the remaining regular soldiers was shattered. A few, though a minority, even deserted.
"And how about the walls? They were hit by magic and torn apart by that vampire's axe."
The damage to the fortification equipment, represented by the walls, was not trivial.
The wall was split by Beta's axe and frozen by Alpha's magic. It would take at least ten days to restore.
Various fortification equipment was also destroyed due to the vampires using blood magic from the walls.
About half of the cannons and ballistas were destroyed. It would also take about ten days to repair.
Despite the serious blows on all fronts, well, so be it.
If the next stage proceeded normally, with a normal difficulty, I would have gritted my teeth and continued with the strategy.
However, this damned game never ceased its nonsense.
[Enemy Information - STAGE 6]
- Lv.?? ??? : 3 bodies
- Lv.25 Flame Wyvern : 30 bodies
- Lv.20 Wyvern : 710 bodies
Just yesterday, I selected five uninjured reserve party members and sent them for autonomous exploration in Zone 1.
They returned this morning, bringing back a wyvern's magic stone.
At the same time, information about the next stage's enemies was confirmed through my system window.
"A wyvern? Wyyyvernnn?!"
I shoved the enemy information window in front of Aider and screeched.
"Are you out of your mind?! More aerial mobs in this situation?! We've lost all our magicians and archers!"
Aider, huddled in a corner, repeatedly bowed to me.
"I... I'm sorry. It was my mistake."
"Of course it was a mistake, you bastard director! Can't you design the levels properly?! If you set a difficulty cliff like this, you're basically telling us to jump off of it and die!"
After ranting, I took a step back, breathing deeply.
"Well. Still, if it's a wyvern, it's doable compared to a gargoyle. Its magic defense is high, but its physical defense is low, so we can take it down relatively easily with cannons and arrows."
"Thank goodness!"
"That would be the case if the stage was proceeding on a regular schedule, you idiot!"
I coughed and pointed vehemently at the bottom of the stage information window, venom spewing from my mouth.
[STAGE 6]
- Time remaining until start: 7 days
Unless my eyes were playing tricks on me, we had a mere week left until the start of the next stage.
"The basic rule is to give ample time before and after boss stages, isn't it! But giving us only ten days, three days behind us and seven days ahead, is this some kind of joke?!"
I grabbed Aider by the collar and began to shake him back and forth.
Aider let out a deflated scream.
"This, this is definitely abnormal! There should be at least three weeks between boss stages and the next one!"
"Exactly! And there must be some kind of crap reason why this is happening!"
I opened a new system window and shoved it into Aider's face.
[Dark event warning for STAGE 6!]
[Activated Dark Event: Rapid Progress]
> The time until the start of the stage is drastically reduced.
Every single time, the damned Dark Events screwed me over in new ways. It's truly an innovative bastard.
So, we had only seven days left until the start of the next stage.
And the damage the monster front here had suffered couldn't possibly be repaired in a single week.
With the current situation, it was impossible to continue the game.
"We can't beat it."
I growled.
"Well, maybe we could beat it. We'd just suffer more damage than in Stage 5."
"..."
"And what happens after that? And after that? In this kind of difficulty and situation, our entire front line would slowly crumble until it eventually ends in game over."
Newly acquired heroes would die screaming before they were even trained.
Soldiers would be used as meat shields and die like consumables.
My party members, wounded and battered, would be pushed to their limits, slowly dying one by one.
Without realizing it, I was imagining such a scene.
In various parts of the burning city.
Lucas and Evangeline, surrounded by countless monsters, falling.
Junior, who was blocking the enemy wizard's magic, vomiting blood and kneeling.
Arrows raining down like a storm on Damien, who had run out of bullets.
Godhand, Bodybag, and Burnout resisting till the end, only to be stabbed.
Lilly swept away by the explosion of the artifact, and Saintess Margarita swallowed by the flames while trying to save the injured.
"Damn it."
I shook my head vigorously.
"I can't stand by and watch that happen."
I had no intention of throwing my remaining forces into a battle with no hope of winning.
The problem was, that was exactly what was going to happen.
By my calculations, we wouldn't even make it to Stage 10; the monster front would be annihilated.
"This damned game."
I can't do it like this.
Just quit the game!
"You're not... really going to quit, are you?"
Aider, who had been wary of my foul mood, asked cautiously.
"I've always known you as someone who never gives up, no matter the situation."
"..."
"Instead of giving up on a standard strategy, you find a different way... That's what you mean, right?"
"Huh."
I sighed and nodded along with Aider's words.
That was exactly it. I wasn't giving up.
All I was doing was looking for another way to prevent any more of my subordinates from dying.
"The way to solve this situation is simple. If they send reinforcements from the capital, it's over."
If they could send elite forces from the imperial capital.
It would instantly bring relief.
Because the empire's standing army was powerful, even the ordinary soldiers, and the commanding officers, the knights, were top-tier hero characters.
Even though they weren't permanently stationed on the monster front but lent out on a temporary basis.
Nonetheless, if they were to come, we would be able to breathe easy.
By conducting defensive operations using these forces, I could buy time to properly train my heroes and soldiers.
But the royal court kept ignoring my requests for help.
"So, we have no choice. We have to 'force' them to send reinforcements."
At my words, Aider tilted his head.
"How on earth are you going to force them to send reinforcements?"
"Do you remember the content of the last letter I sent to the royal court asking for reinforcements?"
Aider, who had written the letter, nodded.
"Y-Yes. I remember, clearly... You said..."
- If they don't send reinforcements this time... Next time, I will show them the greatest tantrum that the youngest prince can throw. Please convey this.
"...You said that, right? I wrote the letter as it is."
I gave a devilish grin.
"Let's show them the best mess. A spectacular disaster, so big that the Imperial Palace would be so overjoyed that they would immediately deploy their forces."
"Di... Disaster, you say?"
"Exactly."
The third prince of the Empire, Ash, was originally a crazy, reckless brat.
Hadn't he been too sincere and good a commander all this while?
It was time to return to his true, reckless self.
Not just drinking a little, gambling, and wasting money - this would be on a different level. Let's show them what a real mess looks like.
"What kind of disaster would require sending elite forces to this remote place, even if something happens in the Imperial Palace?"
With a smirk plastered across my face, I replied in a hushed voice to Aider,
"That would be..."
***
" - a rebellion."
At my proclamation, everyone's movements froze.
Evening.
The Lord's mansion. Reception room.
A gathering where all party members had assembled as I had summoned.
In front of each sofa where they were sitting, beverages and snacks were laid out.
The time for late-night snacks that the party members had requested during the last battle was combined with this gathering.
Lightening the somber mood brought by a comrade's death and funeral, party members were having a lively conversation over snacks.
In the midst of this softened atmosphere, I dropped a bombshell.
"...Huh?"
Evangeline asked, her eyes wide open in surprise. The snack she had been holding was now rolling on the floor.
"Um, senior? What did you just say-"
"I said it's a rebellion, Evangeline."
Evangeline's mouth gaped open. The drink she had been sipping flowed back into her cup.
The rest of the party members' reactions were no different.
Either they started coughing in surprise, pinched their cheeks, or started cleaning their ears, as if they had heard something wrong.
But I have a clear voice.
They didn't hear wrong, my friends.
"I'll say it again. I plan to incite a rebellion."
The word "rebellion" for the third time.
Unable to deny the reality any longer, the party members looked at me, their eyes filled with horror.
"From today, the Fortress City of Crossroad in the southern front of the Empire is leaving the Empire's jurisdiction. I declare the founding of an independent state, 'The Empire of Crossroad'."
I shrugged and pointed at myself.
"And of course, I will be the Emperor."