"The Headless Horsemen operate in squads of twelve on the battlefield, right?"
As Ira said this, before the headless horseman leader could answer, he continued, "It seems to be a very reasonable arrangement. If it continues like this, how many such squads do the headless horsemen have in total?"
In the Headless Horseman's camp, beside the ghostly blue torches, Ira asked this question...
These torches form the Soul Forge, the place where soul-type monsters are reborn. Whether it's a headless knight or a wailing banshee, they can all be created here... but the Soul Forges of different races have different characteristics.
The headless horseman's required soul is different from that of other souls transformed into monsters, but the principle remains the same.
The headless knight leader, whose head was covered in black flames instead of blue flames, sat next to Ira and said, "During the previous giant bee extermination, the number of headless knights was increased to two hundred squads."
So many? But considering the size of the Demon King's territory...
Ira was somewhat puzzled. According to the situation in the Empire, an average of 500 acres of land was needed to support 300 soldiers, including 10 cavalrymen and 2 professionals.
There are not many commoners among the professionals; most of the professionals and the Empire are actually in an employment relationship... not the employment of mercenaries, but more like the "contract system" of the previous world of Iraq, that is, the so-called employees.
Or perhaps the professionals themselves belong to the aristocratic class.
However, given the size of the Demon King's territory, even with sufficient offerings, supporting two thousand four hundred knights would be a difficult task... But Ira soon realized that she had misunderstood.
It's worth mentioning that although the Black Flame Headless Horseman had participated in the feast before, she actually didn't need to eat... Neither the Headless Horseman herself nor her warhorse needed to eat.
There are actually many races in the Demon King's territory that do not need military pay, such as the Headless Horseman, the Black Knight, the Construct, and the Undead (Lich), who obviously do not need to eat.
Vampires only need to drink blood, slimes can eat whatever they want, succubi may need to eat something normal, just like Satan's Crimson Dragon... but they are not strictly speaking the main fighting race.
Perhaps only insect-people have a greater restriction on eating plants... but blue scutellaria mushrooms are a very easy food to grow.
Perhaps this is why the monsters had been suppressing the Empire before Ira created the [Governor]. In fact, it could be said that the Empire was able to hold out until Ira made its move, which is a miracle in a sense.
“I have already been to the other leaders’ locations. There are about three thousand active insectoid warriors, four thousand black knights, three hundred constructs, seventy succubi, and several thousand lesser demons.”
The Demon King's Territory is a very large territory. Although the Demon King's Castle is of the standard size of a regular castle, the territory itself extends a considerable distance... At least as far as the Harpy Mountains in the distance, one can still see a large-scale building complex.
Even the lowest-ranking lesser demons are represented by goblins. As a labor force, goblins already number in considerable numbers, not to mention the even greater number of other monsters living together with everyone else.
Although many of these houses are just made of mud, stones, and branches, given enough time, it's only a matter of time before such a demon lord's territory recovers its strength.
After all, no country other than the Demon King's territory could understand why a small number of producers could support a disproportionate number of combat professionals, and even high-level troops.
"From any perspective, the lizardmen's territory will undoubtedly be crushed by us. After all, the lizardmen only have three or four thousand troops in total, and they have no airspace advantage whatsoever."
Ira spoke casually, asking the headless knight in black flames before him, "How many headless knights do you think we should bring on this expedition? Can ten squads guarantee a flawless crushing of the lizardmen? I mean, without any support..."
This statement leaves one wondering if he was joking.
The headless knight couldn't discern expressions like "confused," but if she did, she would definitely have a "Are you kidding me?" look on her face. She shook her head and said, "Impossible... Let's not even talk about no losses; without the cooperation of other races, we couldn't possibly win."
After all, the other side is an entire race. Even if the cavalry has an advantage, the lizardmen are not just infantry. They also have magic-based professionals, lizardmen elders, or shamans.
In this world, it's impossible for high-tier units to overwhelm an opponent with a tenfold or greater numerical advantage, given the existence of precision-guided magic and arrows. For races with ranged units, the advantage of numerical superiority is amplified to an extreme degree.
But after saying that, the Black Flame Headless Knight seemed to recall Ira's overwhelming "zero-casualty victory" with the Giant Bee. She hesitated for a moment and then changed her words, saying, "If you were in command, we might be able to win, but it would probably be a Pyrrhic victory."
Of course, this refers to the scenario where 120 headless horsemen take on the entire lizardman race single-handedly... It's completely counterintuitive, yet she still doubts whether it can become a reality, which shows her confidence in Ira.
Or rather, this shows the extent of the psychological trauma that Ira inflicted on the monsters.
"Then let's bring twenty squads."
Ira spoke casually, counting the number of soldiers sent to the lizardmen's territory, saying, "Two hundred and forty headless knights, two hundred black knights, ten golems... five hundred insect hunters should be able to establish aerial superiority."
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
