"First, is 'who'.
Mazino and Xyphon will be the main front lines. Adventurers, knights, and mages from the two kingdoms will merge together and form an alliance army.
It was said that the knights from Narverne will also come to aid us, but it is unclear when they will send their troops because the path to Naverne is pretty far. Plus, we are also quite unsure regarding their strength, considering Naverne is more of a peaceful and multi-cultural kingdom rather than a military one.
The dwarven kingdom and the elven kingdom will also send in their own troops, but they will mainly aid us in terms of resources, like rations and weapons. But, just that much is already so much more helpful than Veldonia."
"I agree… I have visited Veldonia before, and I can't say I'm disappointed. More like, to be expected."
The headmaster nodded at my words and continued his explanation.
"Second, is the battlefield.
The main part of the continent where humans, elves, and dwarves live is on this side, while the demon kingdom lives on the other side of the great desert on the east.
Which means most likely, the war will happen in the great desert.
Now, the great desert on the east is extremely wide and long. Which means we might have to watch over the whole end of the desert just in case the demons decided to use the size of the desert against us.
The details can be told later, but the Mazino kingdom has gathered quite a ton of earthen magicians. The plan was to create a long castle wall separating the great desert and the main continent."
A long castle wall, separating the great desert and our continent...
This is China and Mongol all over again.
"I see... But isn't that a little too overdone?"
"It is, but it is necessary. With the walls, we can provide defenses like turrets and watch towers."
"... Right. But it's still very long. How are they going to watch the desert?"
"We have nearly ten thousand troops that are predicted capable of fighting in the battles. Could be a lot more, because that's just the rough minimum count. We can place a person every ten meters on the castle walls, all the way from the north to the south."
"That is nuts… But that way, the chances of being attacked so suddenly is minimum. The troopers can immediately report to base if a section gets attacked."
"Exactly. More details on the castle walls later, but next up is probably most important."
The headmaster took out a paper from his space ring, and placed it on the table. I picked it up and read it.
"T-This is..."
"No one in our continent can fight the army of two hundred owned by the demon king.
No one… but these people."
I read the list of names written on the paper with shock and awe. What they are planning… what this is going to become…
This is some… big gamble.
"If we take all these... Monsters… away from our army, our army might just lose the war against the other armies belonging to the demons."
"No, they won't. They might be losing a ton of firepower, but they won't lose all hopes. Don't think only the strong can beat the weak, Rize. The smartest of us can defeat even the strongest opponent."
"... Right... Sorry, but this move sure is ballsy…"
"It is, and it is the only thing we got. Where else do you think we can get the manpower to fight an army so powerful, each of them with the strength of an experienced Yellow ranked adventurer?"
"... I can't say that I know."
"Precisely.
This...
Is the only hope we got."
I continued to read the names on the list.
In the title, it only says 'The Strongest'.
On the list, there are some famous names written. Julius Polaris, the arch-mage, as the leader of the group. He will be the one commanding the people on this list during the war later on.
In the group itself, are a bunch of people that are considered the strongest in all the kingdoms.
White ranked adventurers, knight generals, Master Magicians…
These people are the strongest of their kind.
I can see names that I recognize from the Mazino group, like the great sword saint, the flame king, ice king Hod, and the 'Dragon Slayer'.
Who the heck is the 'Dragon Slayer'?
From Mazino, there is also the vice general of the knights. I don't recognize him, but if he is here, then he must be pretty strong.
The names that come from Xyphon are Julius Polaris the arch-mage, Veneo himself, Arfius, and three other high ranking mages that are considered strong.
There are also some that came from the other kingdom. From the dwarven kingdom there is Malecous Carbart, who is known as the 'Half-Dwarf King'. From the Elven kingdom is Balarion Modyssey, who is also known as the 'Son of the Forest'.
These names are pretty interesting... I truly wonder how strong they are and what their capabilities are...
"You are wondering why there's no one from Naverne?"
The headmaster asked me, and I nodded.
"Naverne doesn't have much military force. They are a peaceful kingdom, and they don't do wars. The fact that they even want to send in their own troops is already an amazing feat."
"I see... Doesn't that mean they can be easily attacked by other kingdoms?"
"Yes. But no one from the main continent dares to fight each other because of the pact we made a long time ago."
"Right, right."
I gave the list back to him, and quickly thought to myself.
"So... Twelve strongest people of the continent... And you guys will be fighting against an army of two hundred? Feels a bit out numbered, don't you think?"
"... Thirteen. There is one more person that wasn't included in the list.
You."
"... Right... I didn't even think of that."
Holy shit… For me to stand alongside all these people…
Fran, Hod, Jonus… then Arfius and his father from the Xyphon side. Even Veneo himself…
Fighting side by side against the demons…
I began to sweat just from the hype alone.
"Well, we shall see. The one who wrote this is the king of Mazino himself. I have no right to add to the list, but I can give a word for you to him."
"Okay, you do that. Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"Well for now, those are all of them. Do note, Rize... A lot of people are definitely going to die from this war.
The demons are the strongest race of all. Their affinity over magic is five times more powerful than other races. I want you to prepare for what is coming."
"I get it. I have... read about some wars before."
"Is that so? Then you are in the clear. I will tell the King of Mazino about you and get you on that list. As you may have predicted already, the main leaders of this side are the kings from Xyphon and Mazino. But since the king of Mazino is an ex-general, he will know more about battle strategies and wars than the king of Xyphon.
Which means our true general in this war will be him."
I put the papers on the table and stood up, ready to leave.
"Got it. Until then... I guess I'll keep on getting stronger."
"Train hard, Rize. We will need you at your fullest strength in the future."
I nodded at him and left the room by touching the door knob, teleporting outside.
Right after I left, the headmaster cleaned up the papers on the desk, and there is something he has not told me.
Something… he never planned to tell me.
He took out another paper from inside his ring, and reread the content. The King of Mazino himself wrote this letter, and the headmaster actually has actually already told the king about me.
It is the very command from the King of Mazino…
Stating very firmly, that on the upcoming war…
The Saint Healer,
is not allowed to fight.
-----
End of Battle Arena Special Arc.
To be continued on Cursed Special.