After Being Sold Out By The Empire, I Decide To Assist The Demon King-Chapter 309 - 53 Stalemate

"Three days? Cough, cough, cough...Ugh~"

Orphelus spoke, coughing violently, as she looked at the sand table on the desk. She saw the Empire’s territory on the sand table had been compressed to half its original size... However, the last fifty percent of the area still could not be breached no matter what.

At this moment, she could only feel an overwhelming sense of nausea... Nausea that irritated her so much she could barely resist the urge to vomit.

"Why does the world need ’Governors’?"

With such doubts, Orphelus looked dejectedly at the nine flags pinned on the sand table...those represented the nine Governors, who had the ability called ’Death Trigger’ and held ’seats’ as Governors.

Originally, Orphelus thought...if the non-human members of the Duchy did not participate in the war, then the Empire’s strongest force, the ’Governors,’ would be useless.

It is worth mentioning that the existence of ’Death Trigger’ was not a well-known fact...apart from the high-level insiders of the Empire, only the monsters knew about it.

And the monsters gained this knowledge at a great cost...

This was also the reason why the monsters felt completely hopeless against the Empire... The enemy’s strongest force couldn’t be killed by any means—if not killed, the enemy would kill them; if killed, they were the ones facing total annihilation, while the enemy would resurrect.

And now, Orphelus, who had come into contact with this ’Death Trigger,’ was deeply anxious. As the Speaker of the Duchy Council, she naturally had the insight to see the bigger picture.

While the Councilmen within the Duchy had already begun celebrating with champagne over their phased victory, she had realized a very serious point—a war doomed to inconclusiveness lost all its meaning, regardless of how much advantage they currently had.

The situation now was that, within three days, the Duchy’s army could make slow advances with minimal resistance...but every three days, terrifying occurrences would take place within the armies, camps, and cities.

It could be that enormous tentacles from the heavens swept everything into an unknown plane, or gigantic rifts devouring everything, or a cold blizzard freezing all life, or shadowy sharks consuming everything...

In the moment before the end, all the Duchy’s troops could see was a Governor leisurely flying through the sky, and then...the blood of the self-terminating Governors dripping on the ground.

After that, everything was lost.

The Dukedom’s army, which had gained so much at great cost, ended up with negative returns in the war... Instead of advancing swiftly, they could only barely maintain their current front lines.

But if they didn’t pile on numbers or if they scattered the troops to reduce losses, it would also backfire.

"If they replaced the Governors every two days... Does the ’Death Trigger’ of those people need fifteen days to be reactivated?"

As Orphelus pondered this, she lightly bit her finger. She listened to the civilians outside discussing their hopeful futures...which only made her more irritable.

Because the Duchy had no source of intelligence...the spies they sent out were almost entirely useless; the knowledge in this area was completely sealed off, as if wrapped in a safety ’cocoon,’ fully devoid of related information.

Or perhaps, it was she who was unable to see the full picture, being bound inside the ’cocoon.’

"No, I can’t gamble on this... If the time is shorter, if this is merely a smokescreen..."

Orphelus muttered to herself, her eyes empty. Although the weather hadn’t warmed up yet, she was already sweating, the sweat running down her snow-white neck from her forehead via her nose.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The civilians outside...were so noisy.

However, Orphelus couldn’t think of a reason to stick her head out and scold them because...the Dukedom’s situation was excellent right now, and the Councilmen had already begun vying for interests.

Yes, indeed, even if they decided to end the war now, the Duchy would have gained massively from it, so...how could people not be happy?

But that wasn’t the case...

The last half of the territory, the Duchy, could not conquer.

And ’war’ being termed ’war’ meant it was not something that could end unilaterally... The stretched front lines and ensuing protracted war was indeed within Orphelus’s expectations.

However, the blitzkrieg failed to capture, the Empire’s system rapidly changed, expelling the unstable elements despite great national losses... This was beyond her expectations.

This also meant that Orphelus’s previously confident ’backup plan’ had completely lost its effectiveness... Initially, she could still pit the ’Noble Faction’ against the ’Yila Faction.’

Orphelus: So, why are the Empire’s nobles so useless, then?

Moreover, with this situation, the Empire was completely governed by the ’Yila Faction,’ making it necessary to consider Yila’s stance... This was truly a terrible situation because now Yila symbolized the Demon King Territory.

This world...was truly absurd,

...

The Governors’ extermination was too swift, coupled with the Duchy’s systemic issues, leading the nobles to rally their own troops, causing disunity in the battlefield.

More now needed to be wagered on this war.

Thinking this, Orphelus sniffled, shook her head, and draped a cloak over herself... Although it was already spring, the weather seemed to get colder.

This was certainly not good news because the previous ’Four-Footed Revolt’ had caused significant crop and farmland damage, and the autumn harvest might be poor... This year’s cold season might become even harsher.

Though in this regard, the Empire wasn’t faring much better.

Yet, with the reduction of land, massive population losses, and the food the nobles sacrificed along with their lives, accommodating the ’refugees,’ it was incredibly easy.

"Truly, everything is going wrong..."

Orphelus muttered to herself, starting to resent the noble named ’Caligula’... He and his colleagues had been judged a few days ago, supposedly planning to defect to the Duchy.

Defect? Bullshit!

It was said that it was Caligula who planned Yila’s departure, which led to the nobles’ betrayal...whether true or false, what he did indeed disrupted Orphelus’s plans.

Hence allowing the Empire to catch a breath, even...counterattack!

——————————

Caligula: So, in the end, I still made a contribution to the Empire before my death... How nice.

Yose: ...

Caligula: My king, don’t act this way. I have always been a loyal subject... I never deceived anyone, did I? I always wholeheartedly served the Empire, right?

Yose: Hahaha! Got it, got it, it’s a clash of ideals... Huh~

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