Colette, who discovered her pregnancy, decided to base her livelihood in the village until the child was safely born.
Even with two experienced individuals present, they couldn’t react instantly to any unexpected problems.
Furthermore, although the physical structures of elves and ordinary humans should not differ significantly, it was unknown if the same methods for childbirth as humans were being used.
In the end, they settled for the safest option.
However, among the elves, Kousuke’s reputation was already widespread, so it wasn’t as if he couldn’t show his face at all, unlike during Floria’s or Silvia’s pregnancies.
Kousuke felt relieved knowing he could visit Colette without much concern, so he saw her off.
Since Silvia and the others had not yet returned, they had to hastily summon Wanri to accompany Colette.
Wanri had extensive experience staying by Floria and Silvia’s side during their pregnancies.
This was the reason Kousuke felt confident entrusting Colette to her.
“Hey, Kousuke. Snap out of it and concentrate.”
Shurein’s scolding was directed at Kousuke, who was failing to focus on the screen despite being in the middle of the third Suppression Battle.
Kousuke tried to shake his head and refocus on the screen, but he couldn’t concentrate due to his lingering worries about Colette.
“This isn’t working. I can’t focus at all. Plus, the opponent is also employing various strategies.”
Kousuke said this while looking at the screen.
In the third battle, Kousuke had begun mixing in beginner and intermediate monsters, but the opponent’s momentum did not stop.
The reason was simple: the opponent was now attacking strategically.
The monsters the opponent was using appeared to be summoned monsters rather than familiars, but they moved as if perfectly coordinated.
“How are they issuing commands?”
Kousuke stared at the screen, feeling a sense of wonder, but he couldn’t figure it out no matter how much he thought about it.
Amamiya Tower was currently on the defensive but was also summoning monsters.
However, they were unable to issue detailed commands.
Because of this, they couldn’t coordinate their monsters as skillfully as the opposing side.
Just like Kousuke, who was puzzled by the opponent’s movements, the others were also scratching their heads.
Amidst this, Floria, who was watching the screen, murmured,
“Perhaps… no, I’m overthinking it.”
Kousuke turned his gaze to Floria, who was shaking her head as she spoke.
“What? If you’ve thought of something, please tell me. Even a slight possibility is fine.”
Receiving Kousuke’s gaze, Floria hesitated before voicing the thought that had briefly crossed her mind.
“Well, I can’t believe it, but I was wondering if they might be intentionally causing floods…”
At Floria’s words, the others fell silent.
A mix of disbelief and the thought that it might be possible filled the air.
Certainly, if a flood occurred with a Leader Species appearing, it would be overwhelmingly advantageous compared to a mere swarm of other monsters.
However, the drawbacks of a flood occurring should also be significant.
Kousuke, believing everyone shared similar thoughts, shook his head vigorously left and right.
“No good. There’s too little material, and it’s too dangerous to pinpoint.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Floria nodded in agreement with Kousuke’s words.
Floria herself, despite having voiced her thought, understood that it was merely a whim.
At least in the first battle, their movements hadn’t been so coordinated.
It was highly improbable that a Leader Species would emerge after only two Suppression Battles.
“Father. Is it possible to zoom in on areas where there might be a Leader Species?”
Mia’s question made Kousuke’s face contort.
“There are so many monsters. Even if we can narrow down the possibilities to some extent, we won’t know if it’s truly a Leader Species.”
If he were close, he could confirm with his left eye’s power, but he couldn’t see their status through the screen.
It was difficult to discern whether a monster was a Leader Species based solely on its appearance.
A scout with extensive knowledge of monsters might be able to identify them even from a distance through the screen, but unfortunately, Kousuke was not that knowledgeable about monsters.
Perhaps Kouhi could identify them even through the screen, but that would also require getting close.
Those like Kouhi often judged not just by appearance but also by a sense of atmosphere.
“…But then again, that would indeed be the closest approach to confirming it.”
Considering the task of approaching each suspected center of monster groups to confirm, Kousuke didn’t particularly want to do it, but it seemed like the most direct method.
However, they also needed to confirm the overall picture, so they couldn’t dedicate all their screens to that task.
In the end, since they had multiple terminals available for work, they decided to designate some of them for confirmation and began the process.
While confirming on all but one terminal, they were unable to find anything that could definitively be identified as a Leader Species by the end of the day’s Suppression Battle.
The result was not a complete defeat, but it was not as successful as one might expect, even with the assembled intermediate monsters filling the ranks.
While they hadn’t intended to win from the start, the outcome was worse than anticipated.
They had thought they could observe a bit longer, but Kousuke was forced to reconsider, realizing the situation was not that lenient.
“Hmm. This is problematic. I suppose it truly lives up to their act of deliberately declaring war, doesn’t it?”
Given that they went to the trouble of asking Silvia to relay a message, Kousuke had not underestimated them, but the difference in experience was apparent.
Even if the current manager was declaring war for the first time, they felt the weight of accumulated experience.
“What do we do?”
Mia, catching Kousuke’s words, asked, looking at his face.
“Well, it’s pretty much the same as I’ve been thinking. For now, we’ll lose until the next one.”
There was no room for maneuvering a graceful defeat like they had managed in the second battle.
Observing the opponent’s strategies alone was valuable enough.
After all, losing four times was predetermined.
This was based on the rules of the Suppression Battle.
In the current state, the battlefield fields lost by Amamiya Tower after four defeats would be equivalent to one floor of the tower.
Once that happened, the opponent would be able to claim floors of the same size as Amamiya Tower’s, rather than four divided areas.
This would allow them to suppress the tower four times faster, and if Kousuke won four times in the lower levels they were currently offering to the opponent, they would be forced to reveal the middle levels.
Furthermore, winning four more times in the middle levels, and finally winning twice in the upper levels, would conclude the Suppression Battle.
In other words, for this particular instance, the opponent could conquer Amamiya Tower by winning at least seven more times.
The fact that fewer battles were required was likely one of the advantages of the Suppression Battle.
While it was achievable at Amamiya Tower, winning solely with existing floors would be considerably difficult without the ability to summon high-level monsters.
Ultimately, the opponent’s tower could not be considered suppressed without winning in their upper levels.
However, Kousuke did not intend to lose continuously.
He wanted to lose one more time to observe what kind of strategies the opponent would employ and what would happen systemically if their own side attacked the opponent’s floors.
Despite the opponent’s superior strategy, Kousuke believed that Amamiya Tower would not be defeated.
This was the third battle.
Initially, Kousuke was distracted by Colette, but even he was no longer afforded such leeway with the way they lost this time.
However, as written at the end, he did not ultimately believe they would lose.
After all, he hadn’t deployed his familiars yet, lol.
