My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill

"It’s exactly politics! And pride!" Gattychan stepped forward, his divine presence filling the tent. "You don’t like us, Commander. You see us as invaders who diminish the accomplishments of ’real’ soldiers. I get it. If I were in your position, having fought demons for forty years, then suddenly summoned heroes show up and solve in minutes what took you months to achieve... I’d resent it too."

Elric’s expression confirmed the accuracy without words.

"But your pride is influencing tactical decisions," Gatty continued, his voice carrying conviction born of absolute certainty in his cause. "You’re committing soldiers to a battle that could be won more cleanly with our intervention, because winning without us matters more to you than minimizing casualties."

"I’m committing soldiers to a battle they’re capable of winning," Elric corrected firmly. "Yes, your intervention would make it easier. Faster. Cleaner. But my soldiers can break Second Line even against demon warrior opposition. The casualties will be higher than I’d prefer, but acceptable for the objective achieved."

"Acceptable to whom?"

"Acceptable by military standards." Elric’s voice turned cold. "You’re a hero, Gatty. You think in terms of individual lives because you can save them with your abilities. I’m a commander of thousands. I think in terms of acceptable losses for achieved objectives. That’s the fundamental difference between us."

"The fundamental difference," Gattychan said quietly, "is that I value human life more than military accomplishments."

The words hung in the air like drawn blades.

Elric’s face hardened. "You think I don’t value the lives of my soldiers? You think years of command hasn’t taught me the weight of ordering men to their deaths? Every casualty report crosses my desk with names, ages, hometowns. Every funeral pyre burns with soldiers I trained personally. Don’t presume to lecture me about valuing human life."

"Then why not use every tool available to save them?" Said Gatty

"Because the tool you represent comes with costs you don’t see," Elric replied sharply. "Every time I deploy heroes to solve a military problem, my soldiers learn that they can’t win without divine intervention. Every battle won by summoned champions is a battle that teaches human forces they’re inadequate. And that psychological dependency is more dangerous long-term than any tactical situation we face today."

Gattychan absorbed this perspective. "So you’re sacrificing soldiers today to maintain military morale tomorrow." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"I’m building an army that can function independently of hero support. Because you won’t be here forever, Lord Gattychan. Your summoning has a time limit. The divine mandate that brought you to this world will eventually send you back. And when that happens, the Church’s military forces need to be capable of continuing the fight without you."

"The Church summoned us because they couldn’t win without us—"

"The Church summoned you because the Pope panicked after three major defeats and decided supernatural problems required supernatural solutions," Elric interrupted. "That doesn’t mean human forces are inherently incapable. It means we faced tactical situations that exceeded our capabilities at that specific time. But we’ve been learning. Adapting. Developing counter-tactics against demon lord abilities. And we were starting to turn the war around before you arrived."

"Then why not send us back if you don’t need us?" Gattychan challenged.

"I didn’t say we don’t need you. I said we need to maintain independent operational capability." Elric’s voice carried the patience of someone explaining a complex concept to a child. "You’re a strategic asset. A trump card for situations that genuinely require supernatural intervention. But if I play that trump card every time the battle turns difficult, it loses value. And my army loses the experience of fighting through difficult situations themselves."

Gattychan studied the older commander, seeing the decades of military experience that informed every decision. "So when do you deploy us?"

"If a demon lord appears, I deploy you immediately," Elric stated flatly. "If the settlement reveals forces indicating Loki himself is present, I deploy you without hesitation. If the battle turns so decisively that we risk losing our entire army, I deploy you to prevent catastrophic defeat."

"And if the battle is just barely winnable with heavy losses?"

"Then I win it with heavy losses. Because proving human forces can achieve difficult victories matters strategically." Elric met Gattychan’s eyes steadily. "I will use you when necessary. But I won’t waste my soldiers’ development by using you when they can manage themselves."

Gattychan held his gaze for a long moment, then asked quietly, "How many casualties today are you willing to accept to prove this point?"

"As many as required to break Second Line while preserving my army’s overall combat effectiveness." Elric didn’t flinch from the cold mathematics. "We started this campaign with four thousand soldiers. I can afford to lose a thousand and still accomplish the mission. But I’d prefer to lose five hundred if possible, three hundred if I’m lucky. Today’s casualties are approaching the middle range—heavy but not catastrophic."

"Three hundred soldiers dead. Four hundred wounded. You call that ’middle range’?"

"Compared to total army annihilation? Yes." Elric’s voice carried the weariness of four decades making these calculations. "Lord Gattychan, I don’t expect you to understand military command. You were summoned with divine purpose and heroic abilities. You’ve never had to order men to their deaths knowing some wouldn’t return. You’ve never had to calculate whether an objective is worth the blood price required to achieve it. That’s not criticism—it’s recognition that we operate in different spheres."

"And if I disagree with your calculations? If I decide your acceptable casualties are unacceptable and deploy regardless of your orders?"

The temperature in the tent seemed to drop.

Elric’s voice became very quiet, very dangerous. "Then you break military discipline and undermine command authority. You set a precedent that heroes can ignore commanders whenever they disagree with tactical decisions. And you create a situation where my soldiers no longer trust their chain of command because some otherworldly champion might override orders at any moment."

"So you’re saying I can’t act independently—"

"I’m saying that if you deploy without my authorization, you’re no longer an asset to this campaign—you’re a rogue operator I can’t rely on." Elric’s eyes were steel. "And I will report that to the Pope, along with a recommendation that summoned heroes either submit to military command structure or be sent back to whatever divine realm spawned them."