Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1265 1265: Caesarʼs complaint

Ten Days Later —

Baaam! The colossal gate swung open with thunderous force, its sound echoing through the grand hall. A tall figure, cloaked in flowing garments of black and gold, stepped forward with unwavering confidence, his boots striking the marble floor with purpose.

”The new hairstyle doesnʼt quite suit you, old man,” he called out with a smirk. ”Are you trying to blend in with us younger folk?”

”Arenʼt you about two hundred years old already?” Robin burst out in hearty laughter, his voice filling the chamber with warmth and nostalgia.

”Maybe itʼs you who should start calling me ʼbrotherʼ again, like those days back at the academy!”

The new arrival, of course, was none other than Caesar himself. His short black hair was neatly trimmed, paired with a light beard that framed his sharp features. His hairstyle, in fact, bore a striking resemblance to Robinʼs, though Caesarʼs was perhaps more refined.

”The academy days, huh? Tsk~ That was probably the last time we shared the same roof, wasnʼt it?”

”Well, thatʼs just how life goes,” Robin shrugged, his grin unfading.

”What, did you think you could stay in my closet forever?”

He laughed again and motioned toward the ornate chair in front of him.

”You had to grow up eventually and repay me for all those sleepless nights I spent changing your diapers when you were a squealing brat.”

”Hey, didnʼt I already pay you back when I changed your diapers as a wrinkly old man?” Caesar quirked an eyebrow, his tone playful.

”...Fair enough,” Robin muttered, clearly not eager to prolong the topic. He shifted gears quickly.

”But seriously—what took you so long to get here? Seems like even a direct summons from your own father doesnʼt hold much sway anymore, huh?”

”Give me a break,” Caesar waved dismissively.

”You left me neck-deep in chaos. Iʼve been supervising invasion campaigns across two separate sectors, and on top of that, I had to dispatch one of my best generals to the mid-sector to gain some field experience.”

He dropped into the chair with a sigh, removing his helmet and storing it with a flick into his dimensional ring.

”And did you try to make my life easier? Of course not! Instead, you go and send Peon on an indefinite leave—without warning—and leave me scrambling to cover the void he left behind. That guy works harder than a dozen men combined and never complains. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find someone like that? I had to assign fifteen generals to try and replicate the work he used to handle all by himself!”

”My bad. I had no choice,” Robin said, raising his hands in mock surrender.

”I know...” Caesar ran a hand through his hair and sighed again.

”His recklessness just keeps getting worse with each passing day. Iʼve tried to remove him from duty multiple times now, but itʼs useless. He always finds a way back.”

”So, how are things going with the First Army overall?” Robin asked, his tone lighter, but his gaze sharp with interest.

”Itʼs not terrible... but itʼs not exactly great either,” Caesar said after a moment, pressing his lips into a thin line.

”Things are stable, for now. And honestly, thatʼs the best I can claim at this point.”

”Oh? Thatʼs not how I see it at all,” Robin leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

”When we divvied up the responsibilities, you promised me youʼd keep the First Army at the top—leading the charge among the three main forces.”

He pointed at Caesar with a half-smile.

”But if the Second Army has claimed 27 planets, and the Third Army has secured 21... then that leaves only 26 new conquests attributed to you. Thatʼs called falling behind.”

”Hey! The demons are cheating, alright?” Caesar snapped back, his tone both defensive and frustrated.

”Out of those 27 planets, nearly 25 of them are from the R group—worlds that havenʼt been subdued yet! Sakaar is playing a dirty game. He sends tiny forces to each of those planets just enough to make the locals think they have a chance to resist. That boosts their morale, leads to prolonged resistance... and feeds his troops with more sustained battles. Heʼs not even trying to conquer them quickly!”

He leaned forward, placing his weight onto his thigh.

”In truth, it was Emily and Richard who pressured his forces and accelerated the surrender of two of those planets—thatʼs why they were handed over to headquarters.”

”Is that so?” Robinʼs eyebrows rose in mild surprise before a chuckle escaped his lips.

”That bastard Sakaar... So he found a loophole in the rules, huh?”

Robin burst into genuine laughter, a deep, hearty sound that echoed through the hall. There wasnʼt even a trace of irritation in his expression. He wasnʼt upset in the slightest. After all, he was the one who had deliberately cut off Sakaar and his demonsʼ food supply by decreeing that only armed individuals—those who bore weapons—could be killed and consumed as nourishment.

Still, he never expected them to find such a creative and twisted workaround to bypass that restriction.

”Why donʼt we have Emily draft a regulation that sets a fixed time limit for each planetʼs conquest?” Robin proposed calmly, his tone thoughtful but edged with command.

”If a planet isnʼt fully subdued within that designated window, the responsibility for conquering it gets reassigned to another army. That way, we can ensure momentum isnʼt lost.”

”I have no objections whatsoever!” Caesar replied with a relaxed shrug, leaning slightly back in his chair.

”The Third Army already has a higher success rate in planetary conquests compared to the demons. But General Aro is still in the early phases—heʼs training his forces, experimenting with various tactics, and trying to uncover the most efficient way to deploy his soldiers in large-scale combat operations. His strategy ends up resembling the demonsʼ drawn-out method, at least for now.”

He then pointed to himself, a faint smile playing at the edge of his lips.

”But despite all that, out of the thirty-three planets that have been fully and officially brought under control, twenty-two of them were conquered by my First Army.”

Robin let out a long, impressed whistle, tilting his head as he processed the numbers.

”Oh really? That means the demons are currently entrenched in active wars across twenty-four planets. Aroʼs troops are engaged on twelve. And you, Caesar—youʼre only fighting on four planets at the moment?”

He raised an eyebrow as he picked up a stylus, quickly scribbling an imperial decree into a glowing parchment interface. The new regulation, directed to Emily, shimmered slightly as the ink dried magically.

Handing it over to Caesar with a knowing look, he asked,

”So why not escalate? Why not open more war fronts?”

Caesar accepted the decree and slid it into the spatial ring on his finger with practiced ease.

”Because maintaining these results demands focus,” he explained plainly.

”I donʼt have a surplus of elite generals who can dominate a battlefield or wrap up a planetary war on their own—generals like Alexander, Elizabeth, Victoria, or Martin. Raiden vanished into the Mid-Belt fifty days ago. And then thereʼs Peon—heʼs practically turned into a myth. Heʼs out there leaping from one planet to the next, sticking his nose into every possible conflict, using his insane suicide squad to crush resistance before it can even form.”

He waved his hand in a lazy arc and continued with a sigh,

”And to be honest with you, even if I had a few other capable commanders besides those four—say, someone like Cassia Levan, whoʼs seasoned and deadly—I still wouldnʼt have the manpower to sustain new warzones.”

Robin frowned slightly, leaning forward.

”What do you mean you donʼt have manpower? Are you running short on funding? On resources?” he asked, genuinely surprised.

”No, no—itʼs not about money or logistics,” Caesar said, shaking his head slowly.

”Itʼs a matter of qualified recruits. You see, the total human population across the original thirteen core planets isnʼt all that large. Only Jura and Greenland have notable native human populations, and even after all the wars and destruction, the combined total from those two barely reaches one billion people. Add in Nihari and the rest, and Iʼm left scraping together another billion at most. That was my entire recruitment base.”

He paused for a moment to let the weight of that limitation sink in before continuing,

”Out of those two billion people, Iʼve already extracted five million top-tier soldiers. And thanks to your advanced talent-detection methods and cultivation programs, over 25,000 of them have risen to the level of Martial Emperor. Thatʼs an incredible success rate by any standard—but thatʼs also the limit. Your talent finding system already squeezed out the very best from that pool. The rest of the population... theyʼre simply too average. They donʼt have what it takes to survive planetary warfare.”

Then he lifted both of his hands in exasperation.

”Meanwhile, you have the Second Army—an entirely different beast. Theyʼre not a normal army; theyʼre practically a biological plague, engineered for war and destruction. Every cub born among them enters the world already sharpened for combat, with a natural instinct to kill and conquer. And Sakaar and Amon—they waste no time. As soon as a cub can stand, itʼs fed, trained, and tossed straight into battle.”

He leaned forward, his voice hardening.

”Their short life cycles and massive birthrates make them ideal soldiers—brutal, numerous, and expendable. No one grieves when they fall. Theyʼre replaced almost instantly. The demon army surpassed us in numbers long ago, and they just keep growing. Every single time Sakaar breeds another batch of 300,000 young warriors, he sends them off immediately to launch an invasion on a new planet!”