I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 385

“No, think about it, Lucas.”

I opened my mouth with a smile.

“It’s not just simple suicide attacks. If we deploy them as targets, the monsters will be effectively lured, and it will be efficient to concentrate our crossfire.”

“……”

“Is that all? Let’s imagine dropping these prisoners behind the monsters. We can reverse their marching direction. We can even control their marching speed at our discretion!”

“……”

“The applications are endless! Just think about how efficient it is that ‘even one person can unconditionally lure monsters’……”

“My lord.”

Lucas, who usually never interrupted me, cut me off this time.

“It’s not about efficiency you’re talking about.”

“……”

“To treat human lives as disposable items to be used and discarded. This is… not like you, my lord.”

“What’s different?”

I smirked, raising one side of my mouth, and glared at Lucas.

“Whether you treat human lives as disposable or cherish them, the result is the same. In this battle alone, over five hundred people died. If you include the casualties from the relief force, it’s over six hundred more. The injured are countless. Everyone died and was injured fighting according to my orders.”

“……”

“Anyway, people die when fighting monsters. So, it’s better to throw in those who deserve to die more efficiently. Then we can save more people who don’t have to die. Isn’t that right?”

“Those who deserve to die?”

“Look at these bastards.”

I gestured with my chin towards the prisoners trembling inside the iron bars.

“They’re the damn special forces bastards who kidnapped me back then and tried to destroy this Crossroad.”

“……”

“Their comrades all tried to kill us and were killed in return. Only these four survived and are living comfortably in prison. Don’t they deserve to die?”

“They surrendered. They were support personnel within the Aegis Special Forces Team 1, not those who directly harmed our front lines.”

Lucas calmly refuted me.

“You know that many of the special forces were forcibly conscripted and forced to carry out orders. Even the Shadow Squad, who dedicated themselves to our front lines, were from the special forces.”

“……”

“They were also just following orders from their superiors as special forces members. As prisoners, they deserve to be punished according to military law for their wrongdoings.”

“Lucas.”

I declared shortly.

“I am the law here. I am the principle and the rule here.”

“……”

“I am the commander who holds the power of life and death on this monster front. I have judged that these guys deserve to be executed, and so I have decided that their method of execution will be as ‘monster bait’.”

Lucas briefly looked at the prisoners inside the iron bars.

“……Let’s concede that they deserve to die. And let’s assume that your ‘new method’ is very efficient.”

Lucas looked at me again with his clear blue eyes.

“What comes after that? When there are no more prisoners to use, what will you do?”

“……”

“Will you sentence people to death even if they don’t deserve it? Will you kill the envoy from the neighboring country who was caught on suspicion of being a spy, the soldier who violated military discipline and drank alcohol, the petty thief who stole bread because he was hungry, all of them?”

“……”

“What is the standard for ‘those who deserve to die’ and ‘those who don’t have to die’ that you mentioned earlier? Are you saying that you will decide all of that?”

In the end.

Just like the other three fronts of the Empire had done.

“Are you going to differentiate and select people, and then burn the ‘lives not chosen’ by you to maintain this front?”

To protect ‘those who must be protected,’ kill ‘those who don’t need to be protected.’

This monster front would also walk the same path.

I didn’t deny it. Lucas shook his head slightly.

“My lord. No one in this world wants to die. But if someone has to die, it should be a choice made by their own will.”

“……So you’re saying that all my people who have died so far… died of their own will?”

I asked with a sneer,

“I don’t know if everyone did.”

Lucas nodded slowly with a serious face.

“But at least I am fighting, risking my life of my own will.”

“……”

“And the reason I willingly risk my life is because this monster front… and the banner you have raised, have a meaning beyond mere survival.”

Lucas took a step closer to me.

“Who made the soldiers here believe that they are fighting for something more noble and dignified than just mercenary money? It was you, my lord.”

One more step.

“Who declared independence from the Imperial Family because this monster front is a place to protect the entire world, not just a specific country? It was you, my lord!”

Again, one more step.

“Who taught us that people are the purpose, not the means… It was none other than you, my lord.”

Lucas, standing right in front of me, asked with a voice that seemed to boil with passion.

“So, we fought, got injured, and died willingly for the people behind the walls, for our comrades beside us. And now you’re going to overturn all of that?”

“……”

“Then what have we been fighting for all this time? What did our comrades, our subordinates, die for all this time?”

My mouth twisted.

“……What did they die for?”

I rose from my chair.

“Let me ask you the opposite, Lucas. What is left after dying for ‘that something’?”

“……!”

“What does the greater cause matter? What does the banner matter? What does the justification or will, this kind of pie-in-the-sky talk, matter! What good is it after you die!”

I grabbed Lucas by the collar and shouted.

“Precious people die! Comrades who were laughing and joking! Soldiers who trusted and followed me! They die! They die! They’ve died!”

They were lured by my banner and died.

Under the guise of protecting the world, the lives of individuals, just as precious, evaporated.

“No more. I won’t just watch my people die anymore.”

“……”

“If necessary, I will select people! Differentiate them! Consume them as means, not as a purpose! And even if it means burning the rest of those bastards as bait!”

I glared at Lucas as if I would kill him, grinding my teeth.

“I won’t let you die.”

“……”

“I won’t let you die. Not anymore, absolutely not.”

Lucas looked at me with pity, then,

“My lord.”

He said slowly, but with a voice that seemed to have hardened his resolve.

“I cannot agree with this method.”

“……Are you defying me now?”

“No, my lord. It’s not defiance.”

Lucas smiled faintly.

“I am only following your true intention.”

I stared blankly at Lucas’s smile, then contorted my face.

***

Lucas was imprisoned as he was.

It was decided that he would be locked up until the end of this defense battle. The reason was that he might interfere with my plan.

“This operation is already confirmed. The test using death row inmates as bait will definitely be carried out.”

After gathering the rest of the main party members and explaining the outline of this defense battle.

“If you defy my orders, you will be locked up next to Lucas… Any questions?”

As I looked around at the main party members, Evangeline, Damian, and Junior exchanged glances. And then.

“Eek!”

Evangeline raised her hand first and said.

“Please lock me up in prison too.”

“……What?”

“I am willing to die to follow you, senior, and to protect your path.”

Evangeline stood up from her seat and began to gather her belongings.

“So, I cannot follow this path. This is not your path, senior.”

“……”

“Please lock me up in prison. Instead, please reconsider this operation one more time. Senior.”

I was dumbfounded and looked towards Junior and Damian.

“Do you two think the same?”

Junior and Damian slowly nodded.

“Hoo……”

I let out a long sigh and gestured to the guards outside.

“It’s a crime of defying the commander. Lock all three of them in the central prison.”

All three of them were handcuffed.

Evangeline bowed her head to me and was the first to be dragged away silently.

Following her, Junior came in front of me and said quietly.

“Your Highness… I’m sorry.”

“For what? For not following orders?”

“No.”

Junior spoke with a tone that seemed genuinely apologetic.

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t ease your burden while you were suffering so much… I’m sorry.”

“……”

I stared blankly at Junior’s back as he was dragged away.

Then Damian came before me.

“Your Highness.”

Damian, who couldn’t speak for a while, raised his hand in the air in front of my chest, then,

“Heal, heal……”

He made such sounds, waving his hand in a circle.

Damian’s palm, imbued with divine power, left a white trail in the empty air.

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t help but chuckle.

There are no injuries on my body.

I don’t hurt anywhere.

***

The next defense battle.

The scheduled day when the monsters would rise from the black lake. Morning.

The heroes all disobeyed my orders and were in that state, so I had no choice but to lead only the soldiers. I loaded four prisoners onto a cart with sturdy iron bars.

I arrived at the forward base through the teleport gate.

The forward base, where the outer wall reconstruction was not yet complete, was desolate, with only one newly constructed gate.

The purpose here is not to annihilate the monsters.

Today, the purpose is to test the practicality of this human bait and bomb.

I will load the four prisoners onto separate iron-barred carts, place them at points in front of the forward base, and test their lure and destructive power.

Looking at the stage information window, I said.

“There’s still time before they appear.”

The scheduled time for the monsters to appear is around noon. It’s still early morning now, so there’s still time.

“Everyone, rest and have a meal.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

At my command, the soldiers sat down and began to rest comfortably throughout the forward base. A simple meal brought from Crossroad was distributed.

I also slowly chewed on a sandwich with smoked ham and cheese between the bread. Both the ham and cheese were preserved, so they were terribly salty.

At that time, a soldier approached and asked.

“Um, Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“Should we provide meals for the prisoners as well?”

“……”

“You know, it’s customary to provide a proper meal to death row inmates before their execution.”

I scoffed. This world is unnecessarily compassionate in such ways.

Regardless of my reluctance, I wasn’t so poor that I couldn’t provide a last meal to those who were about to die.

I nodded, and I saw the soldiers managing the prisoners pushing sandwiches into the bars.

With bombs and detonators dangling all over their bodies, the four prisoners received the sandwiches with haggard faces.

The screaming for mercy was already over, and the four who had given up on life were talking to each other listlessly.

“Hey guys, look over there. Flowers have bloomed.”

One of the prisoners gestured with his chin. The other prisoners also looked in that direction.

Next to the forward base, there was a forest and a field. The gray plants that had been barren all winter were all budding.

Even though the weather is still chilly.

One of the hasty buds was sprouting light pink petals.

“Eating while looking at flowers, doesn’t it remind you of that time?”

“When? During the Imperial Capital Spring Festival?”

“Yeah. In front of your house, under the fence where the magnolias and forsythias were blooming profusely, we laid out a mat……”

“The day a thief stole our bags because we all fell asleep after drinking?”

“Crazy… Hey. How many years ago was that?”

“That was really fun.”

“Fun my ass, my first paycheck was in my bag back then?”

One of the prisoners, who was chuckling, muttered while looking at the petals.

“It’s spring.”

“Yeah.”

“The weather is nice today……”

Listening to such conversations from people who were about to die, I silently chewed on the sandwich in my hand.

“……”

It was salty.

The sandwich was terribly salty.