041 – She, Who Ponders

There are certain boundaries in things.

For me, Euphemia Grimwood, the major—no, monumental—turning point, needless to say, was the execution.

At that moment, Euphemia Grimwood could be said to have died, or could be said to have been reborn. When the memories of a middle-aged man living in modern-day Global Earth resurfaced, it became clear that both the Euphemia Grimwood up to that point and myself thereafter had changed significantly.

Of course, the fact that I ended up with a body that somehow didn't die was also a significant change.

Back then, I was too preoccupied with being burned at the stake to dwell on myself, and I didn't have much time afterward to fret about my own situation, so I didn't deeply contemplate what being Euphemia Grimwood was.

I still don't.

Left on the shelf, neglected and gathering dust, well, it doesn't matter; it just keeps flowing.

Somehow, even though the memories of a middle-aged man resurfaced, my consciousness remains "I am Euphemia Grimwood." As I mentioned earlier, even though there was a significant transformation, that self-awareness hasn't changed much.

Euphemia is still too cute.

Now then, what about the survivors of the Yunofeliza tribe?

The pitiful demon races ordered to rush to the Escard territory of the Louisse Kingdom that we encountered in the demon realm. Most of them followed the Demon Lord's command and invaded the human race, dying in the process. Those who didn't were persuaded by me, abandoned the name Yunofeliza, and wandered with me.

And now, they have taken up their own names.

"My name is Junos Grimwood."

"We are 'Grimoire Grimwoods'"

To boldly declare someone else's name with such gusto is truly tasteless and endearing. Did I not think about how I felt?

But well, it's a fact that not only Junos and the demons but also most of us were laughing cheerfully receiving Junos Grimwood's oath.

Orcs, the Polo tribe of kobolds, the Bernard tribe of dog-beastmen, the Torus tribe of bull-beastmen.

The fox spirit Serena, and her daughter Kirina too.

Even the newly joined lizardman female—though her expression is hard to read—was laughing.

That's just how it is.

Rather than Euphemia Grimwood's, it's more like our turning point.

The turn of wandering is over.

From here on, it's not about being swept away but about flowing along.

Creating the flow and riding it.

And surely, colliding with the flow created by others is inevitable.

It's just a matter of the commonplace scenes of the world manifesting here as well.

Now then, that's the result.

After intercepting the unit of the 'Anti-Lion Alliance,' led by the werewolf tribe, and finishing them off, dealing with the survivors of the unit.

First, the lizardmen led by Astra Ignia, who had been fighting Junos one-on-one, came under Grimoire Grimwoods' command... Well, whether Grimoire Grimwoods is a military force or not is a bit debatable, but let's leave that aside.

Let's shorten it to GG army. GG hehe.

Then, among the survivors of the kobold and baboon tribes who had been forced to follow the 'Anti-Lion Alliance,' some of them came to GG army.

Some others expressed their intention to return to their homeland, but since we didn't have the luxury of taking prisoners and there seemed to be no point in keeping them as such, we simply let them go. They even took the wounded with them, so we had no complaints.

Of course, there was a possibility that the released individuals would leak our existence to the main body of the 'Anti-Lion Alliance' - but thinking about that now was too late.

From the beginning, there's no guarantee that there wasn't someone among the werewolf tribe who fled at the very beginning of the battle. Frankly speaking, I didn't confirm it, and probably no one could say for sure if there was or wasn't, but it's probably better to assume there was.

So worrying about whether Grimoire Grimwoods' existence would be exposed to the 'Anti-Lion Alliance' is just a waste of time. It's a given that it will be exposed, so let's just think of it that way.

So, a fair number of enemies have become GG members.

Of course, post-battle processing doesn't end there.

Rather, the rest is more troublesome.

First, the handling of the corpses. Since we nearly wiped out around three hundred and fifty enemy troops, the number of bodies produced was considerable. There were also those who received fatal wounds beyond hope but didn't die, so we had to finish them off instantly, provide treatment to those who seemed to be able to survive somehow, and that alone required quite a manpower.

After all, since the battlefield was not enemy territory but Sutin Village, proper cleanup was necessary.

Cleanup of the rocks thrown into the square, which used to be the former assembly hall, was necessary, and the kobold team, including the Polo tribe and the newly added Shamal Kobold tribe, were asked to pick up stones. The Bernard tribe and their horse-drawn carts were used to transport the 'projectiles.'

Parallel to post-battle processing, daily tasks also had to be performed. Field maintenance—mainly handled by the orc tribe—development of the demon realm, and returning manpower to the dwarf blacksmith, Dubil. There was a mountain of things to do, and if we could tidy up that mountain in due order, things would return to normal.

In summary, we repelled the enemy and gained allies from the enemy's forces.

That's the gist of it.

The newly joined lizardmen and baboon tribes... well, they weren't exactly charming in appearance, but that's old news. The Grimoire demon tribe as Junos reevaluate the name due to disagreements like using my own surname and hated GG I using, had decided called themselves Grimoire demons. So let's drop the 'good game' wakahoo~

So, even with the addition of lizardmen and baboons, it's really old news.

And, that's about it.

There was one exceptional issue remaining.

The traveling merchant cat-beastman, Leaf Liza.