The imperial capital, Augustus City.
They had saved as many people as they could, gathered the surviving troops, recruited another twenty thousand, and returned to Augustus City.
They had expected to face Louis's fury.
But Louis was only frowning as he stared blankly at the sand table.
Leon had also lost the imposing air he'd shown at the start.
There was no helping it. This battle was destined to go down in history.
With so many elite troops wiped out, if the Empire were still the Empire of old, ruled by humans, and the Blood Ghosts lacked absolute control over their subordinates, they would have rebelled long ago.
After returning to the Empire, Leon learned that the news had spread.
Some well-informed resistance forces had seen a glimmer of hope, and fewer people were surrendering.
Now, Leon and Louis had reached the same decision.
A merchant's way of thinking was different from a slave owner's.
A slave owner would meddle in everything.
A merchant only cared about making money and turning a profit, and was willing to delegate power.
Louis and Leon entrusted Mikhail with command of the army.
Leon even represented the Demon Race in making an important change of course. "Your Majesty Louis, we of the Demon Race will find you allies."
"The Demon Race actually controls countless merchant guilds."
"The Demon Race will spend everything we have to support any country opposed to Olesian. Please rest assured—we'll also cover part of your military expenses."
"Blood Ghosts need blood, but not necessarily human blood."
"We of the Demon Race can provide some of it."
The Demon Race had no idea how terrifyingly much Olesian's productivity had increased. He only knew that the lands under his rule were changing by the day.
At the same time, his weapons production