The Demon King of the Anime World

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In this world, strength isn't everything. Information is just as important. And what Riku just dropped on them had every Beastman, even Fiya, internally freaking out.

"Riku, are you serious?" Fiya was the first to snap out of it and asked in shock.

"Lord Riku, you're not joking… right?" the chief said, still in disbelief.

"Do you really think I'd joke about something like this?" Riku replied coolly.

"I believe in Riku," Fiya said without a second of hesitation.

"…I think I'm finally starting to understand how you found us so easily," the chief said with a wry smile.

All the Beastmen were fired up now. Yup—this marriage alliance had definitely been the right call. With information like this, their chances of survival and victory just shot way up. Even if they couldn't win right away, they could at least stay alive.

"In that case, let's continue the meeting," Riku said, scanning the room again.

Everyone did their best to calm down and listened closely.

"I might know the general info on each race, but checking out all of them at once just isn't realistic. We'll have to go one by one," Riku said as he tapped the table.

"True. So, who do we start with?" the Beastmen Chief asked thoughtfully.

"I suggest we try to get intel on the Forest Elves first," Fiya said seriously. "If we can figure out what's going on with them and somehow win them over, it'd be a huge boost for our alliance. Their magic could really help us."

"Haha, that's a great idea, Fiya," Riku said with a smile, patting her head again.

Getting praised and head-patted by Riku made Fiya squint her eyes like a happy little animal, clearly loving it.

The elders all smiled at the sight. The two of them got along way better than expected—it was a relief.

"Besides the Forest Elves, there's another race we need to target—the Goblins. Their tech is super valuable. We don't care about the other races for now, but those two—we have to bring them into the alliance," Riku said, tapping the table again.

"The Goblins… I see," the chief said, glancing at the other elders. They all nodded in agreement.

"No worries, Lord Riku. We've got ways to avoid Goblin surveillance," the chief said confidently, stroking his beard.

Out of all the races, the Goblins' high-tech detection methods were the most annoying. So of course the Beastmen had developed countermeasures.

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear," Riku nodded, not surprised by the answer.

"Bring out the map," he ordered next.

One of the elders carefully handed over the map. Riku had already told them to bring it when the maid contacted them, and now they understood why.

"This map's pretty old though, so some parts might be inaccurate," the chief said, a little embarrassed.

Can't really blame him—this planet's always at war, and the terrain changes all the time. Getting updated info is tough.

"No problem, I'll fix it," Riku said casually, picking up a pen.

Then he pulled up the system map.

But when he opened it, his expression froze for a second. His brow furrowed.

"Riku? What's wrong?" Fiya tugged at his sleeve, noticing something was off.

"…Nothing. Just realized something. We're gonna tweak the plan a bit," Riku said with a slight smirk, clearly pleased.

"Change the plan?" Fiya and the others looked confused.

"Yeah. Looks like the Forest Elves' capital got wiped out by the Flügel. They're on the run now. I want you guys to send scouts to find them. If you can track down their leaders, start shadowing them," Riku said, narrowing his eyes.

Yup, when he opened the map, the red dot for the Forest Elves' capital had vanished. That could only mean one thing—it had been destroyed.

Sure, there were plenty of powerful forces that could do that… but Riku had a feeling it was Jibril.

He hadn't expected this. His arrival must've triggered a butterfly effect and made everything happen earlier than it should've. Even though Jibril had caused him a lot of trouble before, her love for battle had actually helped him big time without her even knowing.

Now taking down the Forest Elves and getting a platinum treasure chest would be way easier.

"The Forest Elves got taken out by the Flügel?!" Fiya gasped in shock.

The other Beastmen looked just as stunned. The Forest Elves were way stronger than them, and even they got wiped out…

For a moment, the chief and elders all shared the same thought: That could've been us. They might not have liked the Forest Elves much, but the way a powerful race just vanished like that—yeah, reality was harsh.

"....."