The trip towards the battlefield between the beastfolk and humans had claimed its first victim. Sophia had a serious conversation with Anna and turned her down completely. She made clear that the princess has no chance of being romantically involved with her. This caused Anna to want to distance herself from the couple for a while to cool down. Then, on the last leg of their travels, the blonde tiger-girl picked up something with her detection magic. Something she had to report to the king.
"S-Sophia?!" Menzor was bewildered about her suddenly entering the carriage while it was moving at full speed.
"E-Eh..." Anna was inside, as well, and awkwardly looked away.
"..." The selection of military commanders had no idea how to react, either.
"Is, uh... something the matter?"
"The human army just entered my detection range."
"What?!" The carriage grew noisy.
"They're around 30 to 40 kilometers away from our troops, slowly advancing towards them."
"Good!" The king and the commanders were relieved.
"It's a bit unfortunate, though." Sophia, on the other hand, seemed to be ever so slightly disappointed.
"W-What is?"
"It's a little hard to get a definite reading... Their magic power literally is on par with insects, after all. It's nowhere near close to 20,000 humans. They're around 7,000 at best."
"That's good news, girl!" They didn't understand why she was unhappy about their numbers.
"Well... I'm not sure whether instigating a deeply rooted fear in just 7,000 is enough for forcing humanity to change or not..."
"Y-You..."
"Okay then, that's all from me." Not wanting to deal with them, Sophia simply left their carriage again and went back to Maya.
"S-She's dangerous..." The commanders once more felt intimidated by her.
"She's also reliable, though."
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"What happened?" Maya asked the tiger-girl once she was back.
"I've found the humans."
"R-Really? So there actually is an army...?" She was hoping until now that it was all just a miscommunication of sorts.
"Only like 7,000. Much fewer than anticipated."
"Oh, that's good." Maya, too, disagreed with her.
"Is it? I wonder if that few are enough for my plan."
"Well, I wasn't sure so about this plan of yours in the first place..."
"Alright, I'll just have to make sure to be extra persuasive with the few that are present~."
"I don't like the sound of that." Maya wasn't the biggest fan of this side of Sophia. "How about you let our army do the job, after all?"
"No. They won't get an easy way out now."
"I figured as much..."
"Actually, the humans only using 7,000 people... Doesn't that imply even more how they're just looking down on us?" Sophia had no plans of backing down.
"Well..."
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They traveled for another hour before the convoy finally arrived at its destination. It was a fort around 5 kilometers north of the trade city called Talaga. Positioned there were about 3,000 members of the beastfolk army.
"I'm seriously considering walking back home..." Sophia complained the moment she exited the carriage while stretching her body.
"It would be faster, too." Maya gave her a nod.
"These two..." The king rubbed his temples while walking towards the couple. "Sophia, I'm having a meeting with the troop commanders here soon. Could you update me on the position of the human army?"
"Sure, let's see... roughly 10 kilometers less than last time. Around 35 kilometers, give or take. Maybe 30. They sure are slow."
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"Thank you very much."
"Can't I just do a quick sprint and... go through with my plan? I'll be back in an hour, two if I find anything interesting to eat along the way." The blonde tiger-girl's priorities were as interesting as usual.
"No, we want them to get closer to the fort so that we have the territorial advantage in case anything goes wrong. If they scatter and run around in small groups, it would be quite the hassle for us."
"Suuuch a hassle, indeed... Alright, Maya, let's go and get lunch."
"Okay." The cat-girl stopped caring.
"Ah, wait a moment!" Menzor stopped her.
"Hmm?"
"What happened to Anna? She seems depressed but refuses to talk to me... even though she wanted to ride in my carriage. I think it's also the first time I've ever seen her cry-"
"Maya, lunch!" She really didn't want to deal with that.
"Stop right there, girl." He grabbed her shoulder.
"Uhh... The princess and I had a little talk yesterday... She didn't accept it the first time, but I completely turned her down last night. I want Maya, not her, and she finally understood it this time."
"Ahh, I see..." He nodded in understanding. "I'm deeply sorry for creating such a mess between all of you."
"I think little would've changed even without you suggesting the marriage thing, your Majesty." Maya had the feeling Anna wouldn't be any different even without her father trying to matchmake.
"Yeah..." The other two had to agree.
"It didn't help, either, though." Even a king wasn't safe from her sass.
"Okay… Now that I know my daughter's fine... relatively speaking, I'll head for the meeting."
"Take care!"
"So, lunch?"
"Just how hungry are you?!" Maya had to retort.
"Not overly, actually... Just bored."
"Haa... Whatever, how long do you think the humans will need to reach us here?"
"If they're intelligent, they're going to camp not too far away and attack well-rested tomorrow morning."
"So?" Maya didn't feel like her question was answered.
"In around four to five hours."
"Hmm... Are you really going to execute the plan you told me about?"
"That depends on the humans. If they want to talk it out..."
"It's a yes, then?" The cat-girl had little faith.
"Yeah. I'm counting on you for the countermeasures in case I can't properly hold back."
"Yes, I'll do as you instructed me when push comes to shove..."
"I'm sorry... Also, thank you."
"I want a reward when we're done here."
"Ehh... again?" Sophia felt reminded of their dungeon exploration. "Wait, have you even claimed all your rewards from back then?"
"I'm not sure... I kinda lost track."
"And yet you want another one?"
"Yep. You can never have enough of those."
"Should... Should I be scared?"
"A little~." Maya wanted to tease her. "I want something big this time."
"Well, fair enough, I guess."
"That was easy... You're going to go really all out on these humans later, aren't you?"
"Not all out, but that's the plan. A reward is the very least I can do to make it up to you." Sophia was about to do something outrageous.
"I'II have to think of something nice."
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A couple of hours passed, and the human army had advanced so far that they could be seen from the fort with bare eyes. Just as Sophia had detected, the beastfolk commanders and the king could confirm that they were roughly 7,000 soldiers. Also, as expected, the humans really didn't take a break to attack while they were rested.
Once they were only 5 kilometers away, a single human on a harse rode close to the fort. As it turned out, he was a messenger, out to deliver a letter. It was forwarded to the king and his commanders. Sophia and Maya, too, were present in the meeting room because they're a part of the upper echelon right now.
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MERE BEASTS OF TALAGA,
WE, THE SUPERIOR HUMAN RACE, HAVE COME TO CLAIM THIS EYESORE OF A CITY. IT IS UNACCEPTABLE THAT BEASTS LIVE SO CLOSE TO OUR OWN BEAUTIFUL CITIES. IF YOU SURRENDER RIGHT NOW, WE SWEAR TO NOT USE OUR STRENGTH TO ANNIHILATE YOU.
DIRTY AS THEY ARE, LEAVE ANY STILL YOUNG AND TRAINABLE MEMBERS OF YOUR RACE BEHIND AS THEY'LL BE A USABLE WORKFORCE FOR US.
ADHERE TO THESE DEMANDS, OR WE'LL USE THE SUPERIORITY OF OUR ARMY AND CLAIM THEM WITH FORCE.
- LONG LIVE THE ONLY IMPORTANT HUMAN RACE.
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"These insolent-" The king crumbled the letter in his hand before slamming his fists on the table.
"They'll pay for this!" The commanders were naturally furious, as well.
"I wonder what stuff they put into their food…" The cat-girl, who hadn't had much contact with humans besides knowing their stupidity, had a little different take on it.
"..." Sophia, on the other hand, was silent, but precisely this caused even Maya to take a couple of steps away from her.
"H-Hey..." She tried to address the blonde.
"Your Majesty," The room suddenly got noticeably colder when Sophia opened her mouth and looked at the king with an even icier stare. "Inform your troops. I'll take care of this. Alone-."
"T-They already are. Our men will be on standby in and around the fort in case something unpredictable happens."
"There's no need for that, but it's good enough for me."
"Sophia..." Menzor managed to bear with her stare and looked at her. "Are you really alright with this? Doing me such a huge favor even though you don't have to?"
"You seem to be misunderstanding something here. I'm not doing this for you."
"Y-You're not?"
"No. I actually just got… angry. Angry about some insects that barked at the wrong tree. I love the beastfolk because they're great people, and so our interests align here. I don't want to simply defend against these humans. I'm going, not planning, I'm going to crush their spirits and break their wills. They angered the wrong girl. Today will be the last day they picked a fight with us."
"YEAH!" Even though they were scared of Sophia and her chilly aura that had filled the room, the commanders felt strangely motivated by her speech.
"A-Alright." Menzor accepted it. "I'll leave the battlefield to you, Sophia. Commanders, we'll head to the observation platform at the outer wall."
"Maya," The blonde faced her.
"I know. I'll make sure no one here will be affected."
"Thanks. Well then, I'll head-" She was about to leave when another person stopped her.
"S-Sophia..."
"Yes?" She turned around when she heard the voice of Princess Anna.
"Please stay safe, okay…?"
"Of course!" Feeling extra motivated now, the blonde tiger-girl finally left to confront the approaching human army all on her own. In the meanwhile, King Menzor, his military commanders, together with Maya and Anna, went to the observation platform to overlook the battlefield.