《Dungeon Defense (WN)》 Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 1: Prologue ¡°Stop him!¡± shy magical spells mmed down against the earth like hammers. The demons were at a loss for words. A scenemonly read about only in myths was being reenacted. Rays of magic, no, cannons bombarded the battlefield time and time again. The ground shook. Amander shouted as he struck the backs of his men. Stop him, he ordered. But how exactly were they supposed to do that? ¡°G-General. The enemy forces are too powerful.¡± ¡°Our second line of defense has already been breached¡­¡­ Our minotaur unit has beenpletely wiped out!¡± All of the demons that were present were elite soldiers. Even if the battle seemed hopeless, they would dly march forward. However, even these elite demon soldiers were taken aback by the spectacle unraveling before them. A single human was running through the center of all of the raining spells. It looked as if he were simply sprinting down a boulevard. The human swung his greatsword around, unconcerned about the shower of magical spells and arrows around him. Each time his greatsword shed, dozens of demons copsed as their guts spilled out. If they were ordered toy down their lives, then they would do so. If sacrificing themselves meant that their side would achieve victory, then they would readily give up their lives. However???stopping that human was absolutely impossible. ¡°You cowards. And you call yourselves His Highness the Great King¡¯s army?!¡± Themander slit the throat of his own soldier. He was a person who had killed more allies than enemies throughout his entire life. ¡°Fight! Even if you die, do so after piercing him with your spear at least once!¡± He raised his halberd up and shouted loudly. Once he did so, malice soon began to fill the demon soldiers. They got into formation with their fellow soldiers around them and advanced one step at a time. ¡°Fuck it! It¡¯s not like we can die twice!¡± ¡°It¡¯ll all be over as soon as we take that monster¡¯s head! Let¡¯s show them the pride of demons!¡± ¡°Kurub! Kuhub! Ku, kuruhub!¡± The demon soldiers ran forward while letting out a cry that was unique to them. They also have families. They have their own beliefs as well. They may look different, but that didn¡¯t mean they were any different to humans. Even the courage in the steps they were taking, despite knowing they were going to die, was the same. Thus, it was futile. The fact that they could only die by my hands. Was it because I was overwhelmingly powerful? For starters, yes. I am powerful. I didn¡¯t want to hide that. Nevertheless, there was a gap between us which they couldn¡¯t possibly bridge. Therefore, no matter how bravely they marched, no matter how deranged they became after witnessing the heads of theirrades be severed from their bodies like a bunch of straw, they all met a violent death at the end of my de. Eventually. ¡°Kuh! For I, Baal, to fall by the hands of a mere human¡­¡­!¡± The Great Demon Lord Baal¡¯s dungeon had beenpletely breached in a blink of an eye. This was the very same ce that was causing the entire continent to tremble in fear. My cold greatsword let out a ¡®shunk¡¯ as it plunged into the Demon Lord¡¯s heart. ¡°Be at ease, Demon Lord.¡± I looked down at Baal. The demon who was once known as the nightmare of the world and referred to as an unparalleled Great Demon Lord was dying. The grandbyrinth, with no less than 120 floors, had now degraded to being a slightlyrge cemetery. ¡°You were surely my greatest enemy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As a warrior, I¡¯d like to express my respect to you.¡± ¡°Khh.¡± Baal smiled bitterly. ¡°I see. So there was someone among the humans whostillknows how to bear pride, huh?¡± ¡°No.¡± I shook my head. ¡°You are the one who had imposed that ideology onto us humans. To have pride. You were strong enough to do so.¡± ¡°Hah! So the 5,000 years of this Baal¡¯s life was not pointless. ¡­¡­My beliefs crossed the boundaries between species and even reached the humans. As a person who is doomed to perish, what else could I possibly hope for? Is there any other demon who has achieved something as great as this? No. There most likely is not¡­¡­.¡± Baal closed both of his eyes. ¡°It was not a bad life.¡± Despite having been born as a mere lower-ss demon, he managed to conquer the demon world. The king who had extended his reach to even the human world had reached the end of his life. I gave a courteous bow toward the king¡¯s dead body. A group of unique individuals ran up to me as I paid my final respects. An archmage, a knight captain, a thief, and a saintess, they were mypanions who had stuck with me through thick and thin for more than 20 years. ¡°You bastard!¡± The knight ran up to me first and put me in a headlock. ¡®It hurts! I said it hurts!¡¯, despite my cries, my words fell on deaf ears. He had spent nearly 10 hours on the battlefield until now. How he still had this much strength left was a mystery to me. ¡°Congrats, Lolita.¡± As the two men squabbled, the remaining three female members of the group finally arrived as well. ¡°Heh. I didn¡¯t think you would actually conquer Baal¡¯s dungeon! You really are impressive.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? I knew that Lolita could pull this off since the very beginning. The Blessings of the Twelve Gods are with him.¡± The knight started to sulk andined. ¡°Sheesh. You make it sound like this guy conquered the Demon Lord¡¯s castle all by himself. How can this widower enjoy himself in a dungeon when it¡¯s like this? Tsk.¡± Everyoneughed excluding the knight. How could you notugh when a man who looked as if he had lived in a remote mountain area for over ten years as the neighbor of a bunch of bears was mumbling like that? As I watched this scene from afar, the realityfinallystarted to sink in. Ah, it¡¯s finally over. I actually conquered Baal¡¯s dungeon. The news of the Great Demon Lord¡¯s death struck the continent. Humans, regardless of their nationality and status, all cheered in unison. Up until this moment, everyone had simplybeenawaiting the day the human world woulde to an end. Dozens of armies were sent out under the pretext of capturing the Great Demon Lord¡¯s castle, but they all got wiped out. Most people had lost hope. However, a brave warrior¡¯s party, while leading a bunch of adventurers and mercenaries, managed to subjugate the Great Demon Lord. The birth of a hero! Festivities continued throughout the whole continent for 10 straight days. Ever since the day demonkind spread an infectious disease on the surface 20 years ago, every area that was upied by humans felt like a funeral home. Those were wearisome days. Now the nightmare was over. Humanity celebrated as if they were finallypensated for those past 20 years. The sound of cheering andughter flowed throughout the city. There was a somewhat depressing side to these festivities as well. It was only natural. There were people who couldn¡¯t be rewarded. Many people had crossed the river from whence no one could return. The people of humanityughed, cried, andughed once more¡­¡­. ¡°Adventurer Lolita.¡± The Empress graced the festival with her presence in order to give praise to the hero. It wasn¡¯t just the Empress. All 12 of the sovereigns that rule over the 12 nations of the human world were also present. They all went around and gave their respects to the great hero. ¡°In small, you have only subjugated a Demon Lord, but, inrge, you have saved humanity. Are all of the great sovereigns of this continent not here showing you their gratitude? Lolita. You will be respected by many as you live and your name will remain in history forever even after you pass on.¡± The Empress knelt down. She held up a sword in both of her hands. The other sovereigns knelt down as well in unison. The numerous crowds of people around the event hall went silent. To think that the individuals who were above all people would kneel! It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that since the beginning of history, there has never been an existence whom all 12 sovereigns of the continent would kneel to all at once. The masses were currently witnessing the birth of history before them. I received the Empress¡¯ sword. ¡°Much obliged, Your Highness.¡± Arge cheer echoed throughout the night sky of the Imperial city. The mages promptly shot fireworks of various colors into the sky. Lolita! Lolita! Lolita! ¡­¡­The voices chanting the hero¡¯s name continued. With this, I had conquered every single dungeon. I was an adventurer among adventurers and there is no dungeon that I cannot beat. At that moment, a voice came out from my speakers. ¡ºYou have conquered the hidden dungeon, Baal¡¯s Great Demon Lord Castle.¡» ¡ºAn unprecedented achievement! Congrattions. You have conquered all 72 dungeons.¡» ¡­¡­I was only the greatest adventurer inside the monitor of myputer. ¡®I¡¯ let out a sigh. *** Author¡¯s Afterword Please treat me nicely. *** TL note: Welp, the start is a lot differentpared to the LN. A heatwave is sweeping across Korea this week, so I¡¯ve been getting stressed somewhat easily. I¡¯m doing my best to cope with that as I trante and also grind on FFXIV. Oh god. MMOs are life-consuming. I CAN¡¯T STOP NOW. I probably should have mentioned that the WN of DD has no illustrations, so yeah. That¡¯s probably a big issue for some people since those illustrations really put the LN apart from other series out there. Hope you guys don¡¯t mind too much. I¡¯m tranting this as a type of closure since there¡¯s no way to know when the next volume of the LN wille out. Or whether it will evere out or not. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 2: Handicapped New Game (1) Chapter 2: Handicapped New Game (1) The end credits continued to move up slowly. Scenario developer, design director, character illustrator¡­¡­ hundreds of names flickered as they moved across the monitor. I simply stared at the screen vacantly. The names entered my line of sight, but none of them reached my head. How long have I been here? My thoughts weren¡¯t flowing properly. It felt as if my brain were still wandering about. I turned my stiff head. The clock on the wall was pointing towards the number 9. Was it 9 in the evening or in the morning¡­¡­? Now that I think about it, the world outside the window was bright. It was 9 in the morning. I had confirmed that it was 9 o¡¯clock at least 3 times ever since I sat at my desk. In other words, it has been, at the very least, 36 hours since I started ying this game. ¡°Haah.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smirk. ¡°That¡¯s a serious gamer for you.¡± I was about to say something more, but I stopped myself. The c I had drunk straight from the stic bottlest night had dried up and was stuck to the side of my mouth. Once I opened my mouth, which had not uttered a single world for at least 36 hours, an unpleasant sensation washed over me. This was bad. If people could smell my breath right now, then there would definitely be a petition to revise a specialw for bad breath. I would most likely be made to stand in court and make a counter-argument about it being an unfair trial, but the judges would pass out because of my bad breath and I would be imprisoned without a trial¡­¡­. I probably held out by having cup ramen and boiled eggs for three to four meals. The oiliness of the cup ramen was stagnant on the bridge of my nose, my cheeks, and my skull. I felt like my entire body had be arge stic bag for food waste. Theparison isn¡¯tpletely wrong. If you exclude the fact that food waste is collected by someone and I¡¯m not. ¡°Hah.¡± I scoffed again. I turned my head back. Finally, the status screen of the yer character appeared on the monitor. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Lolita Mundus ss: Adventurer (SSS+), Swordsman (SSS) Level: 98 ¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ Fame: 63050 Leadership:94/100Might: 132/140Intelligence:125/125 Politics:93/95Charm: 100/100Technique:80/81 *Titles: 1. Legendary Adventurer 2. Legendary Mercenary 3. Dungeon Breaker *Abilities: Strategy SSS, Swordsmanship SSS, Operation Art S, Persuasion S+, Horse Riding S, Element Magic A *Skills: Militia, Law of Nature Knowledge and Conduct, Lethal Move Nullify [Achievements: 1088] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°Hoo.¡± I leaned my head back. I buried myself into my chair and quietly gazed up at the ceiling. My brain had left my head and went inside the monitor, so I only had a skull right now. That¡¯s how I felt. The highest stats which a yer could possibly reach. ¡°How many¡­¡­? Thest one was the 16th run?¡± I was so out of it that my words came out as individual words and not asplete sentences. My thought process wasn¡¯t going in a straight line. It was hopping around here and there as if it were going across some stepping stones. I started to murmur to myself in order to force my line of thought together. A dungeon RPG, . This game was infamous for its extreme difficulty curve. You couldn¡¯t even defeat the mid-boss on your 1st ythrough, nor could you possibly dream about reaching thest boss. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and eventually, after painstakingly going through 17 ythroughs, I barely managed to beat thest boss, the Great Demon Lord Baal. The Great Demon Lord Baal¡¯s army was powerful. However, there was a gap between them and myself. The gap known as multiple ythroughs. Since ancient times, nothing could beat grinding. I beat his forces after having umted experience and knowledge as a yer. From Baal¡¯s perspective, it probably seemed like I was cheating, but what can you do? That¡¯s the difference between a yer and the NPC system. Nevertheless, the emotion I felt after the moment of victory wasn¡¯t happiness. No. It was a sense of futility that was more sticky than the oily residue that had settled on my face. ¡°So this year¡¯s summer break is over as well, huh?¡± A single room. I¡¯m not sure when this room wasst cleaned as there were clumps of hair rolling around. My major textbooks were piled up here and there, creating several Leaning Tower of Pisas. At the end of my leave of absence, I made the resolution to get first ce in my major. The self-improvement book I poured my allowance into in order to purchase¡­¡­was currently making up a low hill of dust. This wasn¡¯t it. I was filled with ambition when I started to live apart from my family. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I looked around my room. This was my world. Even this small, shabby, and worthless room was a world of its own. Like a dried-up ball of used tissue, only the residue of a person¡¯s once overflowing desire remained without having aplished anything. Ha! Was this notpletely different from the world inside my monitor? That world doesn¡¯t lie. If you do something, then it will always be umted. It won¡¯t disappear for no reason. Leveling up once will always be a level up. You wouldn¡¯t drop from level 90 to level 80 or lose your stats just because you did nothing for a while. If it exists, then it will continue to exist! For some reason, everything in this world dissipates without leaving anything behind. Which one exactly is the real world? ¡°¡­¡­Damn it.¡± I grabbed my mouse. ¡ºWould you like to save your data for your next ythrough?¡» I naturally clicked the¡ºYes¡» button that had appeared on the screen. I then shut myptop temperamentally. I felt like I couldn¡¯t help myself for some reason. I left my house. * * * Late summer. I was weed by the humid air. In other words, the warm air was the only thing that would possibly wee me. My lungs felt as if they were filled with steam. I entered the convenience store just outside my house and bought a pack of cigarettes. I paid using the card my mother had given me. ¡°Thank you for your patronage. Pleasee again.¡± I half-heartedly received the convenience store employee¡¯s words as I left. I upied an empty alley before I pulled out a cigarette from the pack and smoked it. My phone suddenly started to ring. My mother was calling me. It seems the fact that I had bought some cigarettes with her card was sent to her phone as soon as I made my purchase. I quickly threwoutmy cigarette. ¡°Hello? Is something wrong, Mother?¡± My mother talked brightly through the phone. Of course, my mother¡¯s voice was always bright, but I could tell there was a tinge of sad affection in it as well right now. ¡¸No. I just wanted to know what my son was doing.¡¹ It was time for me to start lying from this point on. ¡°I was studying for a while, but I came outside to get some air. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s because of the heat, but my head feels a bit fuzzy¡­¡­.¡± This sounded funny even to me. It was only natural that my head would feel fuzzy. I spent many hours staring at my monitor and partying all night with the electromaic waves that came out of it. If my head were fine after all that, then that in itself would be amazing. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Yes.¡± Referentially, my voice currently had no strength whatsoever in it. This wasn¡¯t because I felt sorry for lying to my mother, it was in order to make my lie seem even more convincing. If there¡¯s one thing that I¡¯m confident in, then it¡¯s my ability to lie. I¡¯m not joking. If the Olympics had a mental category for lying, then I would have been exempted from military service a long time ago. (TL note: In Korea, if you are an Olympic athlete, you are exempt from military service.) As I predicted, my mother took her son¡¯s voice as a red signal that his stamina was down. Her voice became gentler as she asked about how I was getting along. I continued my weak act. Yes, I¡¯m doing fine. Of course. I¡¯ve been studying fairly well. I truly had quite the fluent tongue. ¡¸Eat whatever you want. If there¡¯s something you need to buy, then buy it. If you¡¯re going to drink some coffee as well, then drink those expensive and good ones. If you have to, why not go into a refreshing cafe and study there? You know that our family isn¡¯t as unfortunate as to be unable to support our son¡¯s spending habits, right?¡¹ I smiled sincerely and answered. ¡°Yes, Mother. Then I¡¯m going to head back inside to continue studying.¡± The call ended there. There was a splendid liar here. I put another cigarette in my mouth. Continue studying? Since when did I even study? I wasn¡¯t like this at first. There was a time when I genuinely put my all into studying. It wasn¡¯t the best, but I was admitted into a reasonably respected university. My damn paranoia was what ruined me. The thought that I had unreasonably held back my desire to have fun in order to prepare for the university admission exam. ¡­¡­No. It would have still been fine if I had only fallen slightly into that delusion. However, I messed around so brilliantly and profligately that people would have said ¡®Damn!¡¯ if they saw me. There were probably only 5 people in the entire university to get an F in every single one of their courses excluding one during the first semester. I was certain of this as I was 6th from the bottom. People keep saying to have fun after you¡¯re in university, didn¡¯t they? So who can me me for messing around? ¡®Big brother, you should get your act together.¡¯ My little sister gave me a pitying look when she saw me. My parents didn¡¯t stop me. They were people who were satisfied as long as I got into a decent university. My parents didn¡¯t care as long as I seeded the family business and didn¡¯t starve myself. ¡°Haa.¡± In the end, that¡¯s the kind of human I am. I dropped by my ce to pick up myptop. I then went to a nearby cafe in search of a refreshing air conditioner. The only thing I did after sitting at a corner of the cafe was surf through the inte. I went through these and those sites andughed at texts that had no nutritional value and, as expected, wrote texts that also had no nutritional value. Naturally, the intemunity in which I resided the longest was the . Due to Dungeon Attack¡¯s excessively steep difficulty curve, it has gained a lot of hardcore fans. I like it because it¡¯s difficult! I hate it if it isn¡¯t hard! There were more perverts who thought like this in the world than I thought. This was the sacred ce that was created after these perverts had gathered. I put up a thread about the achievement my yer character, ¡®Lolita¡¯, had aplished. Members of the site left replies the instant I put up my thread. That was fast! Do these people only eat and surf the web? Although I shouldn¡¯t be the one to say this, they were impressive¡­¡­. -MarrowGore: No way. Look at his stats. -ckRose: That¡¯s TekilLatte for you. The fact that his stats are all S is disgusting. TekilLatte was the username I used. -SelfProimedBoy: Hey, how many ythroughs did you go through? As if I was waiting for this very question, I responded by telling them it was my 17th. Once more, the site members started to leave more replies. -BangApple: Seventeen he says. That¡¯s crazy. -MaYooRim: Even if you approximate his ytime, he probably reached around 5,000 hours. Fuck, I was seriously questioning whether Baal¡¯s Great Demon Lord Castle was created to be beaten or the developers had some mental problems, but now I¡¯m questioning TekilLatte¡¯s mental state. -Richya: The mental ward is always epting patients. GodRumde: Is this the mental ward that I only heard about in the rumors? -Yulberia: I¡¯m here for the mental ward. (2) -JungYookJjum: Hey, how did you capture the mage Roumei? I did what the pinned thread said and beat Gaap¡¯s dungeon, but the affection points cap didn¡¯t go up. -MrTrashKim: You¡¯re still just a shut-in gamer. Click. I stopped scrolling down my mouse wheel. My gaze stopped at that reply. ¡®You¡¯re still just a shut-in gamer.¡¯ Below that reply, there were a bunch of other sarcastic responses saying that everyone here was a shut-in gamer. The other members had taken my side. I was grateful. However, I knew. I knew that what that person had said was true. I truly was nothing more than a shut-in gamer. More importantly. ¡®I don¡¯t care much about it anymore.¡¯ Even though I realized that I had turned into a shut-in gamer, I didn¡¯t have the resolve to stop. This fact made me less than a shut-in gamer and into a person who was like food waste. Food waste that had a good enough head and tongue to use his mother¡¯s card to buy a cup of cafe mocha that was?6,500. At that moment, another thread appeared on the bulletin board. ¡ºTitle: Read this, TekilLatte. ¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤Nickname: VenusPanties¡» VenusPanties, this person was a site member that I would frequently get into arguments with. He had more knowledge about the game than anyone else and because his view on Dungeon Attack was different from mine, we collided often. We were the two shut-in gamers that had been acknowledged by the entiremunity. If someone were to ask how to beat a dungeon, then the two of us were capable of immediately writing down 17 different ways to beat it. In other words, VenusPanties and I were individuals who had devoted their lives to Dungeon Attack. Referentially, in the case of VenusPanties, they were also knowledgeable with inside information which only the game developers should know, so some people have started to suspect that they were also a developer. ¡®What does this person want now?¡¯ *** TL note: As you can tell, the start is very differentpared to the LN. I guess it was changed a lot because the author had a firmer grasp on how he wanted the MC to be by the time he started writing the LN. Anyway, I¡¯m not sure how I intend to announce these releases on my Discord server. The DD WN has a lot of chapters so pinging everyone for all of them would probably be excessive. I might just put a post in #announcement without a ping whenever I finish a chapter. Maybe I¡¯ll ping for the first chapter of certain segments. We¡¯ll see. I¡¯ll see you all in the next release Chapter 3: Handicapped New Game (2) Chapter 3: Handicapped New Game (2) There wasn¡¯t a lot written in the thread. How did you conquer Great Demon Lord Baal¡¯s castle? Give an exnation. That was all there was to their post. Nothing more, nothing less. Has VenusPanties not beaten Baal¡¯s Great Demon Lord Castle yet? I felt myself grinning on the inside. -TekilLatte: For starters, I beat it with a minimum party of 4 members. Me, a knight, an archmage, and a healer. -VenusPanties: A 4-man party is way too unstable. It¡¯s standard to go with a party of at least 25 members. I furrowed my brow. Standard? Are you debating with me on what¡¯s standard? There¡¯s no such thing as a standard method in a game. At the very least, this was the case when you reached the highest point of the game. True professionals were the ones who created standard procedures. There was no way that VenusPanties didn¡¯t know this. Nevertheless, the very fact that they were saying such and such about standard procedures meant that they were challenging me on whose method was closer to being considered standard. I wouldn¡¯t have cared if he had called me food waste. It¡¯s true, after all. However, calling me food waste as a Dungeon Attack yer was an insult which I couldn¡¯t possibly bear. The things in this world which have evaporated pointlessly after I had worked strenuously for them was different from all of the things I had neatly piled up in this other world. It may be a world that only I know about, but it¡¯s still a world of its own! -TekilLatte: The AI in the Demon Lord¡¯s castle is so insane that if you increase the number of your party members, then the number of monsters increases like a bunch of cockroaches. If this happens, then the variety of monsters increases, so dealing with each and every one of them bes difficult. That¡¯s why it¡¯s much easier to conquer the dungeon by lowering the number of mobs and minimizing the patterns. The thread went on for a while. The two of us exchanged theories and counterarguments. Although we didn¡¯t throw out swear words, this was no different from aplete quarrel. The topic of discussion had shifted towards the game system of Dungeon Attack itself before I knew it. The number of replies reached over 200 in the blink of an eye. ¡®Idiots, that¡¯s not right!¡¯, a third party would asionally squeeze in like this. Arge argument ensued. The members of the fan site split into two groups as they took either my or VenusPanties¡¯ side and argued. Time slipped by and it was already evening. The number of replies reached 750. It was then that the discussion finally came to a conclusion. The members who had been silently spectating the argument for thest half of it dered the winner. PartenonPir: I think TekilLatte won this time? -PlusBack: Even I think TekilLatte is right on this one. The bloody battle hade to an end. One after another, the site members raised my right hand in victory. Despite having survived the coliseum, I didn¡¯t feel that ecstatic about it. I felt the same as I did earlier. I only had a sense of futility. ¡®I knew I would throw my time away like this¡¯, I snickered at myself in my head. Right when I was about to shut myptop, VenusPanties left another reply. Were they perhaps trying to object against the oue? I realized that wasn¡¯t the case when I read their message. -VenusPanties: Hey, did you hear that a sequel of Dungeon Attack ising out? A sequel!? I typed on reflex. -TekilLatte: Whoa, are you serious? VenusPanties: I¡¯m serious. Fundamentally, it¡¯s the same as Dungeon Attack. Except there¡¯s one difference. I opened my eyes wide. Were the rumors about VenusPanties being a part of the development team true? I hastily asked him what the one difference was. -VenusPanties: That¡¯s a secret. Are you kidding me!? I got worked up and pounded away at my keyboard. If I had hit the keys any faster than this, then I would have probably broken my keyboard. -TekilLatte: Such a tease. You almost got me excited. VenusPanties: In any case, if the goal of Dungeon Attack is to stop the Demon Lords and protect the world, then the biggest goal of the sequel is to conquer the world. This is what¡¯s important. Don¡¯t forget. VenusPanties continued to beat around the bush. They only gave small bits of information. I was in agony, but I didn¡¯t get upset. Even if they were a developer, it would be difficult for them to hastily give out information regarding the sequel, wouldn¡¯t it? The key points were omitted, but I was able to create a rough outline with the small pieces of information that had been given. The next game is most likely going to be carried out in the shoes of a Demon Lord. That¡¯s why the goal is going to be to conquer the world. I felt excited. It has only been a few hours since I became low-spirited after having beaten all of Dungeon Attack. I now had a new ce to invest my time into. A corner of my head was reprimanding me for being such a shut-in gamer, but it didn¡¯t matter at this moment. My mind had left me at the thought of being able to y the uing game. Another bombshell was dropped here. -VenusPanties: You may have noticed already, but you¡¯ve actually been selected to be a beta tester. My head began to spin. My fingers were automatically tapping away at the keyboard like a musician who had yed the pianocontinuouslyfor 20 years. -TekilLatte: My God, you really are a developer! -VenusPanties: I strongly rmended you as a beta tester. -TekilLatte: Milky white VenusPanties. I love you VenusPanties -VenusPanties: Fuck of. -VenusPanties: Fuck off. Just how deterred were they by thatment to identally make a typo? My face was already all smiles. I would dly ept more swear words like ¡®fuck off¡¯. -TekilLatte: When does the beta start? -VenusPanties: Honestly, if you wanted, then you could start today. -TekilLatte: Amazing. Let¡¯s go. -VenusPanties: Right now? -TekilLatte: Let¡¯s go. -VenusPanties: It¡¯s already night time. What about your daily life? -TekilLatte: Daily life? I don¡¯t know anything about that. -VenusPanties: You really are a shut-in. You¡¯re one to talk. Seeing as he said that I could start today, they probably intended to email the demo to me. The faster the better. I would probably start feeling empty again if I went back to my ce. I¡¯d rather forget about the world and sink into a game. -VenusPanties: Are you sure you want to do it right now? -VenusPanties: You won¡¯t regret it, right? -VenusPanties: It might consume all of your time. That seemed like a silly question to me. I¡¯ll naturally regret it. I regretted it earlier as well. I regret it even now and I¡¯ll continue to do so. This was one thing I was certain of for some reason. I didn¡¯t think long before I typed my response. -TekilLatte: I don¡¯t care at all. The other party responded saying that they understood. After that, there were no more replies in the thread. I waited thinking that they were sending me the file; however, there was no response even after 30 minutes had passed. I thought about rushing them, but I figured they would send it to me on their own time so I closed myptop. The thought that the person may have been tricking me crossed my mind as I left the cafe. Cars zoomed up and down the wide intersection of Daehak Street. They were probably mostly being driven by office workers. Each and every person stood at the crosswalk thinking about their homes. I heard a trending song through my earphones. The street sparkled with white, yellow, and red lights. The lights entered my line of sight for a moment before they soon disappeared. For how long will this lifestylest? Would anything change once summer break is over and my semester resumes? When will everything suddenlye to an end? I was better offpared to some. There were people that were worse and more pathetic than me all over the world. So, at the very least, I could be at ease for now. For now, for now, for now¡­¡­ after repeating this over and over again, there will be a day where I can no longer say ¡®now¡¯. I can have myst regrets when that dayes. A fair verdict wille to pass so that I can¡¯t console myself by saying that I¡¯m better or worse off than others¡­¡­. The crosswalk light changed from red to green. I left all of the thoughts that were filling my head on my heel and walked forward. I remembered everything clearly up to this point. It was incredibly painful. My mind cked out for an instant. Once I opened my eyes, which I have no memory of closing, the world was upside down. ¡®Ah.¡¯ Even though there was musicing through my earphones, the sound felt like it wasing from far away. I thought vacantly. I was hit. By a truck. It wasn¡¯t that surprising. My ears were blocked by music and my head was filled with other thoughts, after all. I walked forward not knowing that a vehicle on the side was still speeding forward. It seems that even in my final moment, I was destined to be incapable of devoting my all into this world. ¡®I don¡¯t want to die.¡¯ ¡®Mother.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­It hurts.¡¯ My vision started to fade in and out. I wasn¡¯t moving my eyelids voluntarily. It felt as if someone else was opening and closing my eyes for me. Nevertheless, that¡¯s how it was. That was it¡­¡­. It was pitch ck. * * * I woke up to the sound of a ceiling crumbling. A corner of my mind still felt heavy, but once a rock fell right in front of my face, my consciousness was forced back into me. I hastily got up. My surroundings shook as if a bomb or something had gone off in the distance. One after another, at that. ¡°What, what is this!?¡± I was in a room I had never seen before in my life. No, it didn¡¯t feel right to call this a room. It was an enormous cave. The ceiling was twice as high as the one I saw in the stctite cave which I happened to visit on Jeju Ind. My eyes looked towards the ck end of the cave which went on for who knows how long. Why was I in a ce like this? This question came to mind, but I didn¡¯t get the time to figure it out. A putrid smell of blood. A pungent smell of blood wrapped around me as if it intended to cover the inside of my nostrils and up to my brain in its scent. ¡°Guh¡­¡­!¡± Curses surged up from my throat. There were corpses scattered around me. A human with a bloated body, a decapitated human, a human whose limbs were twisted in the wrong direction, a human body with arrows sticking out of it and their guts spilling out¨D¨Dall sorts of corpses were scattered all around the cave as if someone were trying to exhibit the many different ways a person can be murdered. There were also the corpses of monstrous creatures lying among the human corpses. However, my mind wasn¡¯t clear enough to pay attention to them. ¡°Ugh! Kuh, uuuugh!¡± I vomited for some time before I instinctually had a feeling that this wasn¡¯t the time to be vomiting leisurely. I could still hear a bunch of explosions echoing in the distance. Each time one resonated, the cave floor and ceiling shook violently. ¡°Damn it, guh, fuck!¡± I wiped my mouth and started to walk forward without any hesitation. At any rate, staying here was dangerous. The instant I moved my right foot, I flopped down on the floor weakly. It was then that I realized my right foot was broken. It wasn¡¯t a simple sprain. Just taking a nce at it, I could tell that the bone itself had shattered. My right foot dangled against my will. ¡°Damn it! Gah!¡± After I fell over trying to stand up again, I started to crawl with my two arms. In order to get as far as I could to the explosions. I could hear the sound of shouting and screaming between each explosion. Although I have never experienced being in a war before, even I could tell that what was happening in the distance was the sound of battle. This was a battlefield. What is happening? Didn¡¯t I die? No, where am I? At that moment, I heard someone¡¯s voice behind me. The husky voice of a man. ¡°There he is! There¡¯s the Demon Lord!¡± Demon Lord. It was a title that had absolutely no connection to me. Regardless, I could tell that the shout was directed towards me. Once I managed to turn around while on the ground, I saw a dozen or so people saying something as they approached me. I couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying, but they definitely didn¡¯t seem friendly. At that moment, something stabbed into the ground at a terrifying speed right in front of me. It was an arrow. They were shooting arrows at me! I crawled forward desperately. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot! Ghh, don¡¯t shoot! It¡¯s not me! It¡¯s not me!¡± My voice sounded feeble even to myself. My voice got mixed into my groans so it came out almost like a gasp. Nevertheless, I couldn¡¯t endure the pain without shouting out a little, so I continued to speak. ¡°Hgh, don¡¯t, don¡¯t shoot! Kuh, you got the wrong person!¡± I couldn¡¯t breathe. While this was all happening, arrows continued to fly at me. I can dodge them. I can dodge them. These words repeated in my head over and over again like a broken radio. However, my luck soon ran out. An arrow brushed against my forearm. My flesh was cut clean. It hurts! It actually¨D¨Dhurts! ¡°Gah, guuh!¡± My vision became white. I felt tears flowing out of my eyes. The tears were incredibly hot. I moved my limbs and crawled like a bug without any sense of direction. A sharp rock on the floor of the cave stabbed into my thigh. As one might expect, it hurt. It couldn¡¯t be helped. I crawled. Something pressed down on my back. I was beingstronglystepped on. I realized that it was a human¡¯s foot. ¡°I caught him! I¡¯ve caught the Demon Lord! I, the great Riff, have captured Demon Lord Dantalian!¡± ¡°Look at him! He¡¯s like a bug.¡± ¡°Riff, you aren¡¯t nning to take all of the credit, right?¡± It felt like an anchor had dropped on top of my body and was holding me down. Nevertheless, I still tried to struggle. I reached my arms out and wed at the ground. I swung my legs as if I were paddling them in water. A group of peopleughed above me. ¡°He really is like a bug. No, he literally is a bug.¡± ¡°More mutt-like than a son of a bitch. It seems that even people like us can capture a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Wait a second. Calm down, everyone. Don¡¯t get too excited. We still haven¡¯t learned where all the treasure is kept in this dungeon. Killing this bastard may be important, but if we go back emptyhanded, then we¡¯ll only end up being aughingstock.¡± ¡°Oh, my dearrade. You¡¯re right.¡± Someone kicked my side. I wasn¡¯t able to let out a cry as I rolled over. Cough, cough. Coughing up air was all that I could manage to do. The dirt on the cave floor stuck to my tear-soaked face. Someone spoke to me even though I still couldn¡¯t open my eyes. ¡°All right, Your Highness the Demon Lord. Let me ask you a question. Where¡¯s the room where all the dungeon¡¯s money is stored?¡± ¡°Spare me¡­¡­ Spare me.¡± ¡°Riff. It¡¯s annoying, so just mess up his knees. He¡¯ll probably chirp like a bird.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need. This is good enough, Cyclops.¡± They were having a very chilling conversation. I pleaded desperately. ¡°Spare me¡­¡­I¡¯m not who you¡¯re looking for¡­¡­ It really isn¡¯t me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Okay. Okay. Calm down, Your Highness Demon Lord. We also don¡¯t want to get more violent than necessary. Don¡¯t cry so much, all right? Stop crying.¡± ¡°Kuhahaha!¡± Laughter erupted around me. I held back my tears. Regardless of my state, I have to drag this conversation on for as long as possible. That was my path to survival, after all. An urge to vomit and cry mixed together and was trying to surge up my throat, but I did my best to swallow it all down. However, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from doing something simr to a hup. ¡°Good. That¡¯s it. Now you look like you¡¯re ready to negotiate! Keep it up.¡± ¡°Uk¡­¡­hk, kuh.¡± ¡°Let me ask you one more time. Where is all of the money in this dungeon kept?¡± ¡°Meongnyun-dong¨D¨Dhck, it¡¯s in Meongnyun-dong.¡± Meongnyun-dong is the name of the neighborhood I was renting a ce in. I had just blurted out the first name that came to mind. What did it matter? I just had to say something. The other party let out an audible sound of confusion and asked back. ¡°Maeirun, what?¡± ¡°Meongnyun, Meongnyun-dong.¡± ¡°What a weird sounding word. Do any of you guys understand what he said?¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably the demonnguage. It sounds authentic.¡± ¡°Okay. Your Highness Demon Lord. I like your smart business style. I feel like we can be friends, but first. Hey.¡± The other party patted my cheek jokingly. ¡°Where is this Maeirundou room? Tell us where it is exactly.¡± ¡°In the room I was in¡­¡­ there¡¯s a secret passageway.¡± ¡°In the Demon Lord room? There¡¯s a secret passageway in the Demon Lord room?¡± ¡°Yes, in the Demon Lord room¡­¡­it only opens after authenticating my biometrics¡­¡­so a passageway that only opens if I ce my hand over it¡­¡­is there.¡± ¡°A magical device, huh.¡± ¡®All right¡¯, the man grunted to himself before grabbing my arm and pulling me up. An excruciating amount of pain traveled up from my right foot. ¡°Aah!¡± ¡°Oh dear. It seems your leg is fucked.¡± He clicked his tongue. ¡°Oi, rookie. Support His Highness Demon Lord. He¡¯s an important guest, after all.¡± ¡°Understood, Riff!¡± The young man, who was referred to as by ¡®rookie¡¯, put my arm around the back of his neck. I wound up walking while using him to support myself. I was finally able to obtain a slight breadth of mind, so I rubbed my face with my forearm. Once my tears were wiped off, my vision cleared. There were still tears mixed with dirt in the corner of my eyes, but it was enough to see in front of me. There was a total of 15 people around me. They all had a weapon in their hands like a bow or a spear. They all had intimidating facial features. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The man called Riff shouted. The men chatted with each other and exchanged water pouches as they walked forward. I was practically being dragged by the rookie. Fortunately, it seems they knew very well where the Demon Lord room was. That was a relief. If they told me to guide them to the Demon Lord room, then they would immediately know that I was lying. ¡°Hkk¡­¡­kuh¡­¡­.¡± However, I couldn¡¯t lower my guard. All I¡¯ve done is dy my death ever so slightly. The open cavern was quiet, so the sound of the group of people chatting resonated quietly throughout the cavern like a terrifying requiem. Additionally, my feeble groans were mixed in there as well. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. These aren¡¯t exactly long chapters, but FFXIV is very distracting. Hah. It¡¯s not a terrible pace, though. In any case, Dant does seem a bit more pathetic in the WN, but it does seem like a more normal reaction to the situation. I guess you can say the LN toned it down a lot. Welp, see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 4: Handicapped New Game (3) Chapter 4: Handicapped New Game (3) The tunnel went on and on. We¡¯ve been walking for approximately 30 minutes, but it seems like this underground cavern wasn¡¯t going to end any time soon. How big is this cave? However, I didn¡¯t have the time to leisurely bask in the mystery of nature. I¡¯ve been listening in on a dangerous conversation that has been happening ahead of me for a while now. ¡°How about we just kill him here?¡± One of the men suggested. ¡°We aren¡¯t some petty thieves, we¡¯re adventurers. Is there a reason for us to be obsessing over a couple of coins? The bounty on that Demon Lord¡¯s head is more than enough.¡± ¡°Do you have an ass for a mouth? All I smell is gas whenever you open your mouth. How can you not understand why we¡¯re like this? Even though we went through all this effort, we¡¯ll only get a thousand gold coins. In other words, even if we cut his head off and turn it in¨D¨D.¡± Riff pointed at me. ¡°We¡¯ll only get a thousand gold coins! Just move your feet diligently, youzy bastard. It¡¯s not like your wife¡¯s breasts are going to run away somewhere just because you¡¯re a dayte.¡± The others cackled. Even the rookie who was supporting my body shook as heughed. I felt a chill go down my spine. ¡®You crazy bastards!¡¯ These guys were treating my life like some joke. This wasn¡¯t something a human would do. They continued to joke around. ¡°You¡¯re probably wrong, Captain Riff. There are rumors going around town saying that this guy¡¯s wife has amazing tits. I¡¯ve even dreamt about having my face smothered by those ass-sized breasts and suffocating a little.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I¡¯ve also wished the same. He¡¯s probably unbearably worried that his wife¡¯s breasts are being passed around town.¡± ¡°You perverted bastards!¡± I remained as quiet as a mouse. Once the immediate threat to my life was gone, I gradually started to understand my situation. For starters, these guys weren¡¯t talking in Korean. And yet, I naturally understood what they were saying. The fact that I had woken up in a cave even though I thought I had died was bizarre and something about my entire body was abnormal as well. ¡®Calm down¡­¡­ Let¡¯s calm down and think.¡¯ I purposely took deep breaths. Slowly, going along with the beat. I saw on some television program that if you focus on your breathing like this, then your mind should be able to escape from the initial shock. This piece of information, which I¡¯ve never thought about in my entire life, came to mind right now for some reason. It probably means that my brain is that desperate. They¡¯ve been disclosing a ratherrge amount of information. Albeit, I wasn¡¯t aware of this earlier since my mind was a mess. Dungeon, conquering, adventurer¡­¡­Demon Lord. I¡¯m uncertain as to why, but until a short while ago, although it feels like the distant past now, I waspletely engrossed in the game . I thought about what happened immediately after. ¡®I definitely died.¡¯ I silently recollected what had happened up to this point. I opened and closed my mouth over and over again. My injuries hurt, so it was difficult for me to think straight if I didn¡¯t do this. Dungeon, conquering, adventurer, Demon Lord, and death. These 5 key words kept repeating in my head. All right. The inside of my head was clearer than before. At the very least, it felt that way to me. Except there was something missing. It felt like I had missed something while doing thest calctions for a math equation. ¡°I don¡¯t like that guy. If that guy is just putting on a show but actually has ulterior motives, then we¡¯re the ones who¡¯ll get the short end of the stick. There might be some goblins left somewhere in the dungeon.¡± ¡°Jeez. Since when did ourrade be such a coward? The monsters in dungeons are loyal to their Demon Lords. Do you understand? As long as the Demon Lord is in our hands, those guys are nothing. It doesn¡¯t matter if a minotaur or an ogre showed up.¡± The sound of talking echoed throughout the cavern. ¡°Gah¡­¡­haa¡­¡­.¡± I pretended to groan in pain because of my injuries as I continued to think. What am I forgetting? I clearly know something. A certain scene that matches this situation perfectly. I went through my memories meticulously. The time I got hit by an arrow, the moment I first opened my eyes, the car ident. Once I did, a certain memory emerged on the surface of my sea of consciousness. Sequel. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Why am I remembering this only now? VenusPanties, that person told me that he was going to send me the sequel of Dungeon Attack. My vision abruptly became vivid. I started to thoroughly understand what this group was and the words they¡¯ve been using. In order to not be impatient, I carefully ruminated the sentences in my mouth silently.
  • VenusPanties said that he¡¯d send me the sequel of Dungeon Attack promptly.
  • Strangely, they asked me several times whether I¡¯d regret it or not.
¡®This is insane! God damn it!¡¯ My breathing became faster. Was this all nothing more than a coincidence? Someone told me that they would send me the sequel of a game. I died soon after. Once I opened my eyes, I found myself in a world that was incredibly simr to the game I yed. ¨D¨DThis is all just a coincidence? Contrary to my rapidly beating heart, I managed to reach a cool-headed conclusion. There was no way. Damn it, despite being in my mid-twenties, I never knew I had this kind of talent! I¡¯m referring to my ability to think calmly despite my right foot being fucked up. I want to go thank the main culprit behind this incident for helping me discover this talent by giving them a p. I quicklyid out the possible answers.
  1. I entered a game world.
  2. I possessed someone in a world that was simr to the game I yed.
  3. This was a delusion or a dream.
  4. I had died and gone to Hell.
I slowly caught my breath. A 4 choice question. At a nce, it feels like there are a lot of possibilities. Don¡¯t be afraid, I consoled myself. I just have to cut down one choice at a time. It isn¡¯t difficult. It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s actually difficult or not. Just the very act of thinking that it isn¡¯t hard in times like this is important. ¡®For starters, the first possibility.¡¯ How should I test this? The several novels I¡¯ve read throughout my life were surprisingly helpful here. If this is a game world, then it will definitely respond to this phrase. ¡°Oi, Your Highness Demon Lord. Does your Royal person feel ufortable anywhere? Hm?¡± The rookie asked. Rather than sounding concerned, his tone sounded sarcastic. ¡°If Your Highness Demon Lord falls here, then we¡¯ll all end up going back empty-handed. That isn¡¯t exactly a good thing. It¡¯s a bad thing for us, but it¡¯s an even worse thing for Your Highness! Captain Riff is quite a cruel person.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡­guh, I¡¯m okay¡­¡­.¡± ¡°All right. That kind of spirit is what¡¯s important in life. Haha. Your foot is only slightly broken, after all. It should be fine after applying some spit on it. If you¡¯re a man, then you should be able to endure something like that.¡± In what way is this only slightly broken!? The urge to cry out surged up my throat. However, I didn¡¯t let my emotions show on my face and simply agreed with him. I pretended to groan in pain and mumbled in a nearly inaudible voice. It actually did hurt every time I took a step with my right food so the acting part was easy. ¡°Status.¡± Nothing happened. It wasn¡¯t time to panic yet. I murmured quietly in Korean. ¡°Status.¡± At that moment, a clear sound effect rang out. -Ding! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: Dantalian Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(0) Level: 1¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 7 Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(F) Leadership: 11/15¡¡¡¡Might: 2/5 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 25/25 Politics: 10/15¡¡¡¡Charm: 3/10¡¡¡¡Technique: 1/10 *Titles: You have no titles. *Abilities: You have no abilities. *Skills: You have no skills. [Achievements: 0] [Subordinates: 0 units/20 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A blue, semi-transparent hologram appeared before me. I stood there stunned into silence. The rookie shouted at me. ¡°Why are you standing there like a scarecrow for!?¡± He sounded as if he intended to hit me if I didn¡¯t start moving again. He most likely can¡¯t see the hologram. ¡°S-Sorry. My foot started to hurt.¡± ¡°Eh. Tch! How can a Demon Lord of all people not know how to walk properly?¡± I staggered forward. The emotion I was feeling right now wasn¡¯t pride towards my ability to remainposed in desperately dangerous situations, delight for finally discovering the answer, or panic because of how absurd this situation was. It wasn¡¯t anger towards VenusPanties who was probably the main culprit behind all this or murderous intent towards the adventurer who scratched me with an arrow. Only despair was wrapped around me right now. ¡®Bloody hell.¡¯ Even a swear that I would normally never use came out. ¡®Fucking¡­¡­this is a fucking terrible character!¡¯ * * * Dungeon Attack. A simtion game that was developed in Korea and made for a mature audience. It belongs to the ¡®dungeon-conquering simtion RPG¡¯ genre. That was literally what it said on their official homepage. These developers would always create their own genres and attach them to their games. They probably think of it as a joke. The main protagonist is a robust youth from a rural vige. To put it badly, they were a country bumpkin. Once their hometown was razed to the ground by a certain Demon Lord¡¯s army, they swore to get revenge on all of the Demon Lords. At a nce, the protagonist seems like your typical hero¡­¡­but the main characteristic of Dungeon Attackes from the difficulty. The fact that the hero was just a slightly strong country bumpkin. Nothing more, nothing less. The Emperor¡¯s secret child? A dragon¡¯s final descendant? The teacher they met coincidentally was actually an archmage? There wasn¡¯t anything like that. The protagonist was genuinely an illiterate country bumpkin that was raised in a rural vige through and through. Naturally, trying to defeat two or three Demon Lords on your first ythrough was difficult. You have to go through your 5th or 6th ythrough before you can enter the actual main story scenario. Only after you get through about 10 ythroughs will you be able to see all of the main story. If you want to beat the secret missions as well, then you have to at least go through 17 ythroughs like I did. Moreover, only a pro like me can achieve this with this little number of ythroughs. Was this not an insane difficulty curve? The Demon Lords here were the same as those very Demon Lords that were indispensable to RPGs. The protagonist is a hero, so the enemy is a Demon Lord. Simple logic. Demon Lords live in the dungeons they create and monsters protect those dungeons. The yer has to utilize their ability, supplies, and strategy to try and conquer those very dungeons. Although it¡¯s amon setting, Dungeon Attack has its own feature. Normal RPGs have only one Demon Lord, however, Dungeon Attack has several. A whopping number of 72 Demon Lords. The yer has to defeat all 72 Demon Lords. Rank 1 Baal, Rank 2 Agares, Rank 3 Vassago, Rank 4 Gamigin¡­¡­. Rank 71 Dantalian. In the game, Dantalian is literally the scrawniest, worst, and lowest among weaklings! Even if you barely have any experience in ying games, beginners can beat at least Dantalian in their first ythrough. It was natural. In the first ce, he¡¯s a Demon Lord that was made for beginners. If I were topare him to something in a different game, then he was no different from a rabbit in the first hunting area of a game. As long as you know how to click, anyone can y a rabbit. That wasn¡¯t all. Dantalian was treated so badly that¡­¡­while every other Demon Lord appeared with very pretty and ttering illustrations, one Demon Lord, Dantalian, had nothing. He was treated entirely like an extra. He was only a Demon Lord in name and was weaker than monsters that were slightly strong. Before I died, the stats of thest Demon Lord I defeated, Rank 1 Demon Lord Baal, was roughly like this. I remembered them precisely because I looked at them hundreds of times in order to beat him. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Baal Job: Dungeon Manager(SSS+), Demon Lord(SSS+) Level: 389 Infamy: 8700078 Leadership: 356¡¡¡¡Might: 402¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 311 Politics: 287¡¡¡¡Charm: 210¡¡¡¡Technique: 109 *Titles: 1. Great Demon Lord 2. Legendary Dungeon Manager 3. Legendary ughterer *Abilities: Strategy SSS+, Operation Art SSS+, Discipline of Kingship SSS, Swordsmanship SSS+, Magic S *Skills: Devil¡¯s Doctrine, Lethal Move Nullify(¸Ä), Magic Nullify(¸Ä) [Achievements: 2500] [Subordinates: 7500 units/7500 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ How brilliant. The title Great Demon Lord wasn¡¯t wasted on him. Generally speaking, he had an aura that one would acknowledge as the true boss of a game. Going along with his monstrous stats, his illustration was amazing as well. He looked like a handsome middle-aged man. There were a lot of gamers who thought that the Great Demon Lord looked better than the protagonist. On the other hand, how were Dantalian¡¯s stats? ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: Dantalian Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(0) Level: 1¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 7 Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(F) Leadership: 11/15¡¡¡¡Might: 2/5 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 25/25 Politics: 10/15¡¡¡¡Charm: 3/10¡¡¡¡Technique: 1/10 *Titles: You have no titles. *Abilities: You have no abilities. *Skills: You have no skills. [Achievements: 0] [Subordinates: 0 units/20 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Generally speaking, he had an aura that people would acknowledge as the sandbag of the game. This is absurd. What is this? Just because they were all simrly known as a Demon Lord didn¡¯t mean that they were all the same. In truth, the gap between Baal and Dantalian was simr to the gap between the United States of America and Nepal in terms of influence. The gap couldn¡¯t be bridged even with a second chance at life. Just so you know, once your first ythroughes to an end, Dantalian stops appearing entirely starting from your second ythrough and on. This was the developers¡¯ way of showing consideration because they believed it would be tedious for the yers to deal with him every time. For example, imagine giving a level 20 swordsman a quest to ¡®go to the beginning forest and hunt a rabbit!¡¯. Think of how boring that would be. Quests like those should be deleted appropriately by the developers. Demon Lord Dantalian fitted in that condition perfectly. A rabbit that was unbearably tedious to deal with¡­¡­. From a straightforward perspective, the character known as Dantalian in the game Dungeon Attack amounted to only that much. The problem now was that I had be that very rabbit. I think I might go insane. *** Author¡¯s Afterword That¡¯s all for today. Subscribing, rmending, and leaving ament are the driving force behind my writing. ^^ *** TL note: Thanks for reading. Nothing much to say this time, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. I might just skip leaving a TL note all together on some chapters since I can¡¯t really have something to say every single time. Chapter 5: Handicapped New Game (4) Chapter 5: Handicapped New Game (4) ¡®Now what?¡¯ I desperately put my brain to work. What can I do to escape from the evil hands of these adventurers? Dantalian was currently captured by a group of adventurers. At this rate, I¡¯ll be dragged to the nearest city and executed. The adventurers will most likely be pleased once they receive the bounty reward. A small festival will be held in the city market and people will proudly proim that they had subjugated a Demon Lord. While all this is happening, my head will probably be put on disy at the end of a spear. Damn it. People say that even if you¡¯re taken to a tiger¡¯s den, you can survive as long as you stay calm. That might actually be true. I mean there is a chance of survival. However, that¡¯s only when a human is the one that¡¯s taken. Not a rabbit! No matter howposed a rabbit manages to stay inside of a tiger¡¯s den, they¡¯ll just die. They don¡¯t have even the slightest chance of survival. How depressing¡­¡­. ¡®If I had at least be Rank 32 Asmodeus. No, even Rank 68 Belial would have been good enough.¡¯ The inside of my mouth tasted bitter. The adventurers that had captured me clearly were not great by any standard. At a nce of that Riff guy¡¯s outfit, you would think that he was just a beggar. The other adventurers were also trying to look cool in their own way, but telltale signs of their shabbiness were leaking out intensely. They were probably at the bottom of thedder. A party of rank F adventurers. If I had at least 20 goblins under my wing, then taking out a party of this level would be a breeze. Despite my appearance, I¡¯m a yer who has reached the zenith of Dungeon Attack, after all. I know the weaknesses of adventurers better than anyone else. Nevertheless, I didn¡¯t have even a single one of those goblins who are known to bemon in the wild. Therefore, I can¡¯t do anything even if I wanted to. ¡°Hey. His leg may be sprained, but isn¡¯t he a bit too slow?¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you, he¡¯s purposely going slow so that he can buy some time.¡± The idle chat among the adventurers stopped. Was it because they had nothing to talk about for the moment? It seems they had decided to talk about me as they began to speak in a hostile tone. The leader of the adventurers, Riff, chuckled. ¡°Your Highness Demon Lord. Myrades aren¡¯t very patient.¡± These bastards. They¡¯re acting like this even though they clearly know my right foot is messed up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯ll walk faster!¡± I bowed my head at once and apologized. It¡¯s my fault for being weak. Riff grinned in satisfaction. ¡°Aha. It¡¯s good that you respond so quickly. Still, us adventurers are rather paranoid when ites to things like this. Myrades are starting to suspect that Your Highness Demon Lord is deceiving us right now. They think that you¡¯re trying to buy some time for your subordinates to arrive.¡± I made an expression that was simr to the ones given by the most victimized panhandlers at Seoul Station. ¡°Please dismiss such thoughts!¡± How great would it be if I actually did have a monster subordinate? The portion of my thigh that scraped a sharp rock on the floor earlier hurt like hell now. I began to shed tears. ¡°I once had subordinates. Goblins, imps, orcs¡­¡­ They weren¡¯t much, but they were my precious subordinates.¡± I supplemented a lie. They probably wouldn¡¯t believe me if I told them I didn¡¯t have any monsters anyway. ¡°However, before your group arrived, a total of 3 other parties attacked this ce one after the other! You men are the 4th group toe here. My subordinates are all dead¡­¡­ kuh, they were children that had been with me for the past 30 years too¡­¡­.¡± ¡°H-Hey?¡± Riff¡¯s tone shifted to panic. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re crying?¡± ¡°Hk¡­¡­ I¡¯m not¡­¡­.¡± I spoke sorrowfully as if I were doing my best to hold back my tears. Tears flowed down my cold cheeks. My words were a lie, but my sorrow was sincere. Although I had a rubbish lifestyle, I also had someone I cherished. It was my daily life which I loved in my own way. However, I suddenly died in a car ident, woke up to my foot being messed up, an arrow got stuck in my thigh, and, above all else, I had to beg for my life to someone for the first time in my life which was frustrating. ¡°Huuk¡­¡­mother¡­¡­kuh.¡± I ended up thinking about my mother. My mother who most likely believed till the very end that her son was vigorously studying. How will she react to my death? Her son, who was studying hard at a cafe on a hot day, got hit by a car on his way home. That¡¯s probably how she¡¯ll picture it. She was the one who rmended me to go study at a cafe. There¡¯s a chance that she might think that her son¡¯s death was her fault. Even though it actually wasn¡¯t. Even in my final moment, I left an eternal burden on my mother¡¯s shoulders. What a terrible son. ¡°Uuhk¡­¡­.¡± The sound of pitiful sobbing echoed throughout the cavern. Once it did, the adventurers were taken aback. Riff even got upset. ¡°Hey, hey. Fuck. Who made him cry?¡± ¡°Come on. How was I supposed to know about his past?¡± The person who had used me of deliberately walking slowly tried to justify himself. ¡°I noticed that there weren¡¯t a lot of monsters here even though it¡¯s a dungeon. Those other guys must have cleared this ce out first.¡± ¡°He became penniless in an instant, huh. Tsk tsk¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Demon Lords are also living beings, so it¡¯s only natural that they would have mothers as well.¡± The mood became soft. It was then that I heard a sound effect in my head. A bunch of holograms appeared before me. ¡¸Novice Adventurer Riff¡¯s affection has risen by 3.¡¹ ¡¸Novice Adventurer Daneff¡¯s affection has risen by 1.¡¹ ¡¸Novice Adventurer Luke¡¯s affection has risen by 1.¡¹ My tears stopped. Wait, there¡¯s an affection point system for males as well? It seems that this world is a lot moreplex and subtle than I thought it was. How could there be humans who grow fond of a Demon Lord, the monarch of monsters, just because he cried sadly? I felt so baffled that I forgot about my pain for a moment as I stared at the notice window. Meanwhile, the adventurers were interpreting my gaze on their own. ¡°Jeez, look at that gaze of his, it¡¯s like he lost the entire world.¡± ¡°If a dungeon is ruined, then that¡¯s the same thing as the Demon Lord¡¯s life being ruined as well.¡± ¡°I wonder if it¡¯s because we¡¯ve been constantly seeing monsters, but this Demon Lord seems more human than I expected.¡± These people are excessively naive. Is it because this is around the medieval times? ording to the game¡¯s premise, most adventurers were originally farmers. Once the exploitation of nobles became too severe, they went out to hunt monsters since they believed that they were going to die poor anyway. Although there are powerful mercenaries out there as well, there are only a select few. Almost every adventurer is a farmer that gave up on farming and decided to hold a spear instead of a hoe. People of the medieval times are boundlessly cruel when they need to be cruel since they have no knowledge of civil rights, and they¡¯re also overflowing with emotions. ¡®Huh?¡¯ I remembered something. ¡®If I y this out well, then I might be able to use this.¡¯ I hastily worked the abacus in my head. I had a good idea. I¡¯m saying it again, but I know what adventurers are weak to. I know very well what they would fear the most in this current situation. There¡¯s a 50/50 chance with this. It may or may not work. Nevertheless, I wasn¡¯t in the position to be ying it safe. I¡¯ll be executed in a town square if I let things go like this anyway. If I¡¯m going to die either way, then there¡¯s no harm in trying, right? I promptly went into my performance. ¡°Regardless, I¡¯m relieved to have met you, gentlemen. You didn¡¯t try to kill me the moment you saw me even though I am a Demon Lord.¡± A bitter smile appeared on my lips. ¡°You¡¯ve been considerate towards me, despite my bad injuries, and you¡¯re even supporting me like this¡­¡­huk. This is my first time in the past 200 years that I¡¯ve ever met such virtuous adventurers. The fact that I¡¯ve been caught by such gentle souls like you all is a light in my misfortune.¡± This was obviously a lie. These guys started shooting arrows at me the moment theyid eyes on me. They probably didn¡¯t spare me because I was pitiful, but simply because they wanted to loot this dungeon. Who cares, though? It didn¡¯t matter what the truth was. I had to garner their affection no matter what. ¡®How will they respond?¡¯ I waited impatiently. I didn¡¯t fabricate actions that never happened. I merely added an interpretation to their actions. In general, people tend to interpret their own actions in a more positive light. The adventurers finally reacted. ¡°No, we didn¡¯t really do that much¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You also cooperated with us well, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡¸Novice Adventurer Riff¡¯s affection has risen by 6.¡¹ ¡¸Novice Adventurer Daneff¡¯s affection has risen by 4.¡¹ ¡¸Novice Adventurer Luke¡¯s affection has risen by 6.¡¹ Outside of these three, the affection of all of the other adventurers went up as well. ¡®Perfect!¡¯ I made a fist in my mind. Compared to the small amount of affection that went up previously, it went up by a reasonable amount this time. I had a rough grasp of things now. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for dying everyone due to my slow pace. Now then, gentlemen, let us make haste towards the treasury.¡± I did my best to speak energetically. I didn¡¯t actually speak energetically, I spoke just energetic enough to make it clear to others that I was forcing myself to speak like this in order to liven up the mood. The adventurers cleared their throats. ¡°Ehem. Hm. We don¡¯t really have to rush, do we?¡± ¡°Mhm, that¡¯s right. It¡¯s not like the treasury is going to grow legs and run away.¡± ¡°Your feet must hurt a lot as well, so let¡¯s go slowly. This shouldn¡¯t be an issue since there are no monsters anyway.¡± They weren¡¯t constantly terrifying beings. In other words, they were beasts that could be reasoned with. Additionally, I knew what the beasts known as adventurers were weak to the most. ¡°Uh, but¡­¡­.¡± I narrowed my eyes slightly. I continued in a troubled tone. ¡°If we take too long, then another adventurer party might invade this dungeon as well. They¡¯ll be able to reach the Demon Lord¡¯s room with ease since all of the monsters are gone. Would this not trouble you gentlemen¡­¡­?¡± ¡°What!?¡± The adventurers were startled. Dungeon monsters are unable to hurt Demon Lords. As long as this party keeps holding me hostage, they are safe from any monster threat. However, when it involves other humans and not monsters, then that¡¯s another story. On some asions, parties cooperate when conquering dungeons, while, on other asions, theypete against one another. The Demon Lord¡¯s head which the dungeon¡¯s gold and bounty reward rely on¡­¡­this was nothing more than appetizing game for adventurers. These people were individuals who had left their homes and traveled to foreign countries solely for the sake of making money. It didn¡¯t matter whether it was monsters or humans that had money. If anything, they could change into a pack of thieves at the snap of a finger. That¡¯s what adventurers are. The job known as adventurer has a bad reputation in this world. ¡®Aren¡¯t they just a reserve group of thieves that are going around trying to make money?¡¯ This is the mostmon opinion people have in regard to adventurers. If you¡¯re a human, then it¡¯s only natural to be a farmer in the ce you were born and raised. As expected of a medieval era, wanderers were treated badly. Nevertheless, where there¡¯s smoke, there¡¯s fire. It isn¡¯t rare for parties to plunder each other. The adventurers furrowed their brows and started discussing with each other. ¡°Damn it. I didn¡¯t consider that at all.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no certainty that another party wille. There¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°Idiot! He said that there have already been 3 parties that came here recently. There¡¯s a good chance that there are other bastards who¡¯ve heard the rumors and areing to attack.¡± Their faces gradually became grim. ¡°Aiming for when the dungeon is weak¡­¡­something like that, huh? That sound usible.¡± ¡°If, as the Demon Lord had said, there isn¡¯t a single monster left, then we have to risk our lives against a healthy party of adventurers.¡± ¡°Shit! Like hell I¡¯d just hand over our treasure to them!¡± The older adventurers that had more experience tried to calm theirpanions down. Losing your cool in a dungeon wasn¡¯t a wise idea. However, the farmers who had dived into this dungeon in order to turn their lives around in an instant couldn¡¯tpose themselves. ¡°Everyone. There¡¯s a chance that another party could be approaching right this minute.¡± I spoke in an overly concerned tone. ¡°How about we head towards the treasury for now? You can walk and talk.¡± ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take the gold first! Yeah!¡± The others agreed. ¡¸The Novice Adventurer Party, ¡®People of Jalsen¡¯, has lowered their wariness towards you by a fair degree.¡¹ ¡°Let¡¯s get a move on. We can¡¯t waste any time even by the length of your penises!¡± ¡°The men of Jalsen aren¡¯t gullible enough to let our prize be taken from right under our noses!¡± All of the adventurers let out their own respective shout as they resumed their march. *** Author¡¯s Afterword ForSmile// Thank you for leaving the firstment. Personally, I also want to try getting hit by a resurrection truck¡­ ???// Even if his lower body is overpowered, his right foot is already broken, so¡­ Of course, if it¡¯s broken, then it¡¯s possible to y(?) ordingly! fewfqew// Thank you for the first coupon. I¡¯ll repay you with an entertaining story. *** TL note: Thanks for reading. Sorry about taking a fair bit to release this one. I¡¯ve been a bit busy meeting rtives and friends in the morning for the past few days, which is usually the time I trante, so I didn¡¯t have that much time to get work done. In any case, I¡¯m not really sure if I should keep tranting the author¡¯s afterword when he¡¯s responding toments you guys can¡¯t even see. It¡¯ll also be fairly difficult for me to find the actualments as this WN was uploaded on a different site before being moved to KakaoPage. Feel free to tell me in thements whether I should keep tranting these or not. Chapter 6: Handicapped New Game (5) Chapter 6: Handicapped New Game (5) Good. This much should be enough. I gave them a beneficial suggestion. Their wariness towards me wasn¡¯t entirely gone yet, but their affection towards me was rising steadily. If I can keep this up and perform well, then they won¡¯t send my head flying for no reason. Riff spoke. ¡°Rookie! Pick His Highness Demon Lord up on your back. We can move faster that way.¡± ¡°Roger. I got it!¡± The rookie answered spiritedly. He promptly picked me up on his back. ¡°T-Thank you.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. What do you eat to be this light? Your body looks fine on the outside, but your insides are empty.¡± ¡°Haha. It¡¯s because he doesn¡¯t have enough meals.¡± The rookie clicked his tongue. Heined about how life was hard nowadays for both farmers and Demon Lords before he started to mumble about how shabby and poor his hometown was. Overall, he just talked about how the lord in his region was probably the worst lord in all of history. It seems that my body truly was light to him as he managed to walk with lively steps. I was able to rx thanks to this. My right leg still hurts, however,pared to forcing myself to walk with it, this was bliss. Honestly, I would have never dreamed that they would give me a piggyback ride. ¡®Phew.¡¯ I was able to escape from my immediate life or death situation. There was still a problem. It¡¯s the fact that I had lied. Whether this dungeon actually has any treasure or not, or how to reach it if it actually exists, I knew nothing. Let¡¯s say we arrive at the Demon Lord¡¯s room but there isn¡¯t even a single silver coin. The sliver of affection that I managed to garner will evaporate and they¡¯ll kill me in their rage. In order to prevent such an unfortunate incident from happening, I resolved myself to solve my next impasse. I moved my lips slightly and spoke. ¡®Demon Lord Castle.¡¯ Nothing happened. ¡®This isn¡¯t it. Demon Lord Castle Status? Not this either. Demon Lord Castle Situation¡­¡­.¡¯ Why am I suddenly looking for something like a status window? There¡¯s a good reason for this. There was a notice window that disyed Dantalian¡¯s stats. Therefore, there should probably be other types of windows as well. If this world is based on a game, then there¡¯s no way that the yer¡¯s status screen is the only thing that can be seen. As I expected, one by one, I was able to discover several different windows like a quest log, alliance tab, etc. ¡®But these aren¡¯t what I¡¯m looking for.¡¯ They might be helpfulter on, but not right now. I put aside the windows I had discovered before I then whispered to myself impatiently. ¡®Dungeon Tab.¡¯ A clear sound effect resonated. A hologram appeared before me. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Dungeon: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle] Rank: Over the hill(F) Technology Research: 0 Magic Research: 0 *Special Skill: None *Monsters: 0 units *Wealth: 1000 gold ¡ùThe castle is in ruins. Neighborhood kids refer to this ce asa fun yground! This ce is in danger of being conquered at any moment. Urgently open the ¡®Monster Employment Tab¡¯ and prepare yourself by hiring a unit of monsters. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®All right!¡¯ I cheered inaudibly. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t satisfied with the condition of the dungeon. This was my first time seeing such a shabby and pitiful dungeon. Nevertheless, it didn¡¯t matter. What¡¯s important right now is the wealth! The very fact that I had even a tiny sliver of money was important. ¡®My entire wealth is 1000 gold¡­¡­.¡¯ This was an amount of gold you¡¯d normally get after beating a boss around the early-mid portion of the game. It wasn¡¯t much, but it wasn¡¯t little either. I can scheme something if I have this much. Lady Luck hasn¡¯t abandoned me yet. I concentrated on the area of the notification window that had the words ¡®wealth¡¯ written on it. The words ¡®profit¡¯ and ¡®expense¡¯ appeared in dark red letters. It even kindly informed me that if I don¡¯t improve my ie structure, then I¡¯ll go bankrupt. I¡¯m sorry, but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m interested in right now. What decidedly caught my line of sight was this. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Dungeon wealth withdrawal. If you withdraw too much, you may go bankrupt. Withdraw: ____ gold Remaining Bnce: ____ gold ¡ùAfter you¡¯ve decided on the amount you wish to withdraw, please think of the word ¡®confirm¡¯. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®Bravo.¡¯ It was as I had expected. Only an hour has passed since I found myself in this godforsaken world, but I already had a grasp on what set of game rules this ce followed. This was most likely a first-person management simtion game. There was probably some RPG factors sprinkled on top as well. The yer manages a dungeon and goes around by himself as well. If you picture yourself ying Jet Coaster Tycoon in first-person, then it should be easier to understand. In these types of games, the yers are able to take out their management funds and use them separately. This was the function I was searching for. The window that had appeared before me satisfied my hopespletely. Now I can take out money whenever I wanted. ¡®Now I don¡¯t have to worry if these adventurer bastards tell me to hand over the money.¡¯ My life was on the line. Although these people were keeping me alive at the moment, they weren¡¯t doing so because they were merciful in any way. It was because they believed that only I could open the door to the treasury. There was no certainty that I wouldn¡¯t be killed the moment I hand them the gold. ¡®These guys are selfish to a certain degree. Even if they aren¡¯t actually selfish, it¡¯s better if I think that they are.¡¯ I recalled something that Nol¨° Machiavelli had once said. He stated that a monarch should always think selfishly, didn¡¯t he? There was no issue if the opposition wasn¡¯t selfish. I wouldn¡¯t be at that much of a loss just because I didn¡¯t think egotistically. There was no issue there. However, what if the other party was selfish? If I didn¡¯t prepare any precautions? I¡¯ll sustain a loss. In the worst-case scenario, I could die. Therefore, I have to always assume that the other party is selfish. It won¡¯t matter if the other party isn¡¯t selfish, and if the other party is selfish, then I can at least respond ordingly. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. ¡®I can¡¯t rely on the tiny bit of affection I¡¯ve garnered with them.¡¯ It was funny. I remembered a Nol¨° Machiavelli quote which I read due to an assignment during my first year at my university. I remember hearing somewhere that when a person is in a life or death situation, they¡¯ll abruptly recall pieces of advice which they¡¯ve never thought about even once before in their lives. When I heard this, I simply thought of it as an interesting fact. I never would have expected that I would actually experience it myself. ¡®My brain might not actually beplete garbage.¡¯ I smirked in a way that the rookie wouldn¡¯t notice. I wasposed enough to make jokes now. The oue where I die because I can¡¯t give the adventurers any gold is now gone. What I can do to not die after I give them the gold. This was the problem now. ¡®Should I try pulling at their heartstrings?¡¯ This was nonsense that had no worth in even considering. ¡®Let¡¯s say that I make them use me as a hostage against monsters. ¡­¡­No, this won¡¯t work either.¡¯ I wept about how I didn¡¯t have a single monster left in my dungeon. I can¡¯t go against my words all of a sudden and say that I actually did. The adventurers won¡¯t be able to trust me. ¡®Wait a second.¡¯ At that moment, a brilliant solution shed through my head. ¡®I can spend money and hire monsters!¡¯ I quickly pulled open the dungeon tab again. That was definitely written here. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Dungeon: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle] Rank: Over the hill(F) Technology Research: 0 Magic Research: 0 *Special Skill: None *Monsters: 0 units *Wealth: 1000 gold ¡ùThe castle is in ruins. Neighborhood kids refer to this ce asa fun yground! This ce is in danger of being conquered at any moment. Urgently open the ¡®Monster Employment Tab¡¯ and prepare yourself by hiring a unit of monsters. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Hire a unit of monsters from the Monster Employment Tab! This meant that I could hire monsters without any unnecessary legwork. How could I be so idiotic? I casually disregarded the line that was kindly warning me. A lifeline wasying right under my nose this entire time. Naturally, I have a lot of excuses. Until just a second ago, I was worried that they might see through my lies. I was more concerned about trying to hastily find out whether I had any money or not. Regardless, what if I truly were smart? ¡®I probably would have thought about hiring monsters the instant I confirmed my wealth.¡¯ On the other hand, I was recalling some quote from Nol¨° Machiavelli and my head was congratting itself for thinking of something useful. I was truly an idiot! What can a line from someone that died centuries ago do to help in a situation like this? The adventurers are selfish? That¡¯s obvious. They were individuals who had left their hometown while putting their lives on the line. How could such people not be selfish? They¡¯ve probably been harboring some malice in their hearts. There was no reason for me to go out of my way to talk about Nol¨° Machiavelli while assuming that the adventurers were selfish¡­¡­. I packaged an obvious truth with some usible-sounding nonsense. Even in a life or death situation, I wasted my time boosting my own ego. My ever so precious time. I shook my head. ¡®Damn it, Lolita! Bring yourself together!¡¯ I nced at the weapons the adventurers were holding. Spears, maces, bows, and knives. Those are the weapons that will kill me. At some point in time, my heart will be pierced by a spear if I lower my guard. I purposely focused my attention on the portion of my thigh where the arrow had grazed. It hurt. I wanted to engrave this pain in both my body and mind. That way, I could rehabilitate my rotten brain. ¡°Hey.¡± The rookie called out to me worriedly. ¡°Are you perhaps unable to make a sound because it hurts that badly?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. I¡¯m okay. I can endure it.¡± ¡°Mm. If it starts to hurt badly, then tell me.¡± I nodded. It hurt badly. It has since a while ago. However, while skillfully mixing a bit ofughter into my tone, ¡°Thank you very much. You truly are kind.¡± I uttered these words. ¡°No, well. This is nothing.¡± The rookie got shy. He was unfathomably pure. I was grateful for his purity. These adventurers were amateurs. I was certain of this. I was intimidated by their rough facial features at first, but they were just men who had once swung pickaxes in their hometowns. If I were to put it into game standards, they were nothing more than practice NPCs for the tutorial. As long as I keep my head on straight, I shouldn¡¯t get beheaded for no reason. I promptly imagined the monster unit hiring screen. ¡®Monster Employment Tab.¡¯ A semi-transparent list appeared. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Weak. They were also expensive. ¡®D-Did the Demon Lords in Dungeon Attack¡­¡­pay these exorbitant prices for these low-grade monsters as well?¡¯ These monsters were trash mobs that the protagonist in the game would y entire units of with a single swing of their sword. I examined each monster carefully. If I focused my gaze, then I could see each of the monsters¡¯ stats in a bit more detail. There was nothing much to say about their stats. In the case of the slime, they simply had one skill called ¡®Regeneration¡¯. It was a skill that allowed them to naturally regain their health over time. It wasn¡¯t bad. The issue was that they only had 3 health points. It was clear that they would die before they could even use this skill. ¡®Damn it. Is there a chance that the adventurers have really low stats as well?¡¯ If both the adventurers and monsters are weak, then I could understand why these monsters were unfathomably weak. I looked at the Adventurer Captain, Riff, and muttered in my head. ¡®Status.¡¯ ¡¸You do not have enough affection with Novice Adventurer Riff.¡¹ ¡¸Only the simplest stats will be viewable.¡¹ Ding, a screen appeared above Riff¡¯s head along with a sound effect. Different from when I looked at Dantalian¡¯s status screen, it only portrayed a very simplified version of his stats. It seems I have to raise his affection to a certain degree before I could see a more detailed version of his stats.
Name Stamina Attack Defense
Riff 6 5 2
¡°Kuh.¡± I inadvertently let out a groan. Riff¡¯s stats in total was 13. If I were topare him to a monster, then he was as strong as a goblin. Admittedly, he was weak. However¡­pared to the level of the monsters I could hire right now, Riff was strong enough. With my 1,000 gold, I could only hire 4 goblins. In contrast, there were 15 adventurers. I checked the stats of every adventurer. Fortunately, Riff was the strongest. The other adventurers¡¯ stats totaled to between 5 and 8. Nevertheless, they were still too powerful for 4 goblins to handle. A sense of disappointment overwhelmed me. Are you telling me that even with monsters, my chance of victory is still far off? ¡°We¡¯re almost there!¡± An adventurer shouted. It seems we¡¯ve almost arrived at the Demon Lord¡¯s room. The adventurers started to chat rowdily. ¡°Sheesh, this ce is needlesslyrge.¡± ¡°You¡¯re only saying that because this is the first dungeon you¡¯ve ever been to, idiot. This is normal. Typically, it should actually feel evenrger than this because of the monsters and traps. If anything, we¡¯ve arrived a lot sooner than we should have.¡± ¡°This was a really easy dungeon, huh?¡± Shit. I didn¡¯t have a lot of time left. I desperately poured everything I had into my head. I tried thinking within the frame of the game and outside of it. ¡®Should I hire a lot of slimes and try to overwhelm them with numbers? No, it¡¯d be better if I just hire the golem with the highest stats and ambush them. Or wait¡­¡­.¡¯ The party of adventurers finally arrived at their destination. ¡°We¡¯re here! That¡¯s the Demon Lord¡¯s room!¡± At the same time, I narrowly arrived at an answer. I bit my lips strongly. Blood flowed into my mouth, but I didn¡¯t let it bother me. ¡®All right. I¡¯ll go with this¡­¡­!¡¯ Nothing about the cavern had changed. It was unvaryinglyrge and silent. The strange spheres that acted as light sources were lined up along the sides of the tunnel and the sound of the adventurers¡¯ footsteps and chatting resonated drearily. However, only a single person, only I knew that all of this was changing and had to change. ¡®I¡¯ll get out of this alive!¡¯ At this moment, my drive to live started up unimaginably quietly. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I was able to get this out faster than I expected. In any case, I know there are a fair amount of people waiting for more Handholding chapters, but I¡¯m still waiting on my scans. The person who does my scans is, well, a rather busy person and tends to forget about doing the scans. I¡¯ll try to remind him more often. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 7: Handicapped New Game (6) Chapter 7: Handicapped New Game (6) Crash! The wooden door fell to pieces. Like so, the door to the Demon Lord¡¯s room pitifully became arge pile of trash. Riff skillfully lifted his axe back up and spat on the floor. ¡°Hm, nothing to it.¡± ¡°As expected of Riff. He¡¯s the best lumberjack in Jalsen.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? Even a snot-nosed brat can do this.¡± With Riff in the lead, the party entered the Demon Lord by ones and twos. The Demon Lord room was incredibly shabby. It was reasonablyrge, but it was no different from a slightly cleaner cavern. There was a red carpet covering one corner of the room. A bed was positioned on top of it. That was the only luxury item in the room. This was much different inparison to the Demon Lord rooms that were described fancily in the game. ¡®As expected of a D ss¡­¡­.¡¯ I let out an inward sigh. I¡¯m not referring to the D in an ABCD ranking. I¡¯m referring to the first letter in Dantalian¡¯s name. After being shocked by his status and the dungeon window, I decided to give this runt Demon Lord a separate ss of his own. It felt bad to even give Dantalian an F rank. It was a level which I couldn¡¯t possibly forgive as one of Dungeon Attack¡¯s biggest fans. On another note, there was also something fortunate about this situation. I told the party that I didn¡¯t know how to open the door, but Riff broke down the door as if it weren¡¯t an issue. The adventurers casually epted my excuse that I had lost my keys during themotion. ¡®It¡¯s just a wooden door, so all we have to do is break it down, right?¡¯ That was the suggestion one of the adventurers had offered. Thus, after Riff swung his axe a couple of times, the door came down with ease. However, if I hadn¡¯t raised their affection towards me beforehand, then they would haveprobablygotten annoyed by something as trivial as this as well. I might be overthinking this, but I wanted to give an apuse to my excellent performance earlier despite being in a situation where these men had absolutely no reason to trust me. ¡°Yup. We¡¯re finally here.¡± Riff¡¯s eyes glimmered. ¡°So where¡¯s that Maeirundou room you mentioned before?¡± ¡°Yes. I, I know where it is¡­¡­gah!¡± I let out a cry as I got down from the rookie¡¯s back. My right foot twisted the instant it touched the floor, so I wound up falling over. The adventurers panicked. ¡°Oh, are you all right?¡± ¡°Hey, hey. You should have been supporting him properly!¡± I quickly tried my best to stand up by myself before they could help me. It was half an act and half sincere. I was a severely injured person. I strongly appealed to them to seem as if I couldn¡¯t possibly raise even a single fist at them. Currently, the most important thing to do was to gain their sympathy. I wasn¡¯t trying to make them more annoyed and bothered by forcing them to hold me up. With trembling legs, I stood up with my own strength. Damn it. This really fucking hurts. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°Can you even walk like that?¡± An adventurer asked in a worried tone. I smiled faintly. I then started limping towards a wall. I could tell that some of them were feeling sorry for me from behind my back. Of course, none of them came to help me. It was like that. I ced my hand against the wall. ¡°It¡¯s right here everyone.¡± ¡°Hm? All I see is a wall.¡± ¡°A magical symbol that only activates for the dungeon owner is engraved here.¡± I spoke in a slightly louder voice with the intention to let all of the adventurers hear me. ¡°If I recite a specific line while touching this symbol, then the dungeon¡¯s gold wille out.¡± ¡°Magic, huh?¡± Sounds of awe came from the adventurers. Novice adventurers were ignorant of magic. They were originally normal peasants that spent their entire lives as either farmers or lumberjacks. It¡¯s unlikely that they would have ever gotten the chance to see magic throughout their lives. They have no other choice but to believe it¡¯s magic since a Demon Lord of all people is saying it is. I gave them a grim look. ¡°Everyone. Please take 10 steps away from me.¡± ¡°Hm? Why?¡± ¡°This magic is set up only for Demon Lords. It has an enchantment that prevents it from ever opening if there is an outsider nearby. If something goes wrong, then you may get injured.¡± I purposely gave them a grave look. ¡°Worst-case scenario, the treasure itself could be sealed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± A grave look also appeared on the adventurers¡¯ faces. As I thought, my words take immediate effect if I mention the treasure. They all stood in a line and took exactly 10 steps away from me. How I felt as I witnessed this¡­¡­ It was like a bunch of otters were getting into formation after having arrived at a chance of a lifetime. ¡°Now then.¡± Riff spoke with the most serious look in the world. ¡°As you instructed, we took ten steps back.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± In a way, he sounded like he wanted to be praised for his actions. How could he be so pure despite havingcruellyshot arrows at me earlier? It was honestly baffling. Were the people in the medieval age all like this? In any case, I maintained my serious gaze. ¡°Impressive. You took no more and no less than ten steps. At that distance, there should be no reason for you to get swept up by the magic.¡± The adventurers then nodded their heads. ¡°Good. Hehe.¡± ¡°We¡¯re always perfect like this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Then I¡¯ll begin reciting the spell. Please be silent.¡± I turned my back towards them and faced the wall. It was a t and in wall surface. I then proceeded to shout in a dignified voice as if there were sacred words, which only I could see, engraved on the wall before me. ¡°You bastards!¡± Naturally, I spoke in Korean. ¡°You sons of bitches, you crocodile leather bastards that should get torn apart! You guys are pieces of shit that should eat random things with peri seeds, get constipated, and die after your assholes and potbellies explode! Your sphincters should randomly burst while you¡¯re on a stroll, you god¨D¨Ddamn sons of bitches!¡± My vigor must be rming. I could hear the adventurers shrinking back and whispering to each other. ¡°Mm, I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s saying, but¡­¡­. There¡¯s a lot of emotion in his voice.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but this reminds me of that eunuch bastard who had his dick bitten off by the crazy mutt in our neighborhood. He also screamed like this when he learned that he had be a eunuch. How should I say it? The demonnguage is a bit different from what I imagined it to be. I thought it¡¯d be more refined and weird, but hearing it now, it sounds very manly.¡± ¡°It touches a chord. Suns ob beeches, Hm, suns ob beeches. It really sticks to your mouth the more you say it.¡± I simply shouted whatever came to mind without any care. As I did so, my gaze was on the ¡®Dungeon Wealth Tab¡¯ and was determining how much I wanted to withdraw. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Dungeon wealth withdrawal. If you withdraw too much, you may go bankrupt. Withdraw:489gold Remaining Bnce:511gold ¡ùAfter you¡¯ve decided on the amount you wish to withdraw, please think of the word ¡®confirm¡¯. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ I decided to take out roughly half of my entire wealth. That seemed like an appropriate amount. I figured the adventurers would start to suspect something if I pulled out exactly 500 gold, so I changed the withdrawal amount to a number that felt reasonable. They would probably think it¡¯s strange if exactly no more and no less than 500 gold were to appear. I spread my arms out and cried out grandly. ¡°¨D¨DI¡¯ll see you next time, you sons of bitches!¡± At that moment, gold appeared out of thin air. A sudden shower of gold began to fall down. I heard the adventurers let out an astonished cry behind me. ¡°Gold, it¡¯s gold!¡± ¡°Fuck, just how much is that!?¡± ¡°It really was magic!¡± They sounded like they were about to immediately run for the gold. I hastily shouted at them. ¡°You mustn¡¯t approach yet! You could get cursed!¡± All at once, the feet of the adventurers, which were all about to rush forward, came to a stop at the mention of the word curse. Honestly, I had no reason to go out of my way to stop them. It¡¯s just, should I call this an insurance? I wanted to raise their affection towards me a little just in case. I required their absolute trust for the n I intended to carry out soon, after all. It would probably be best if I portrayed myself as a professional. A small hill of gold coins was soon created on the cavern floor. The adventurers licked their lips from afar. ¡°Jeez, how much is all that?¡± ¡°Gentlemen. You all haven¡¯t forgotten that we¡¯re going to split this all evenly, right?¡± ¡°Of course. If someone changes their mind now, then we¡¯re taking their head!¡± Their voices werethered in oil. The oil of greed. ¡®Now then,e.¡¯ I was waiting for the perfect moment. Eventually, approximately 500 gold had finisheding out. After the final coin fell will a nk and rolled down the hill, no more money came out from thin air. ¡®One, two, three¡­¡­.¡¯ Sure enough, the adventurers who had been waiting impatiently until now took a step forward. They sounded as if they couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. ¡°Oi, there¡¯s no problem now, right?¡± Now! I promptly threw myself on the floor. ¡°Guaaaaaah!¡± I iled around as if I were in intense pain. Saliva flowed out of my mouth. I contorted my face as much as I could. The fact that I was purposely rubbing my right foot and thigh against the floor to make my performance seem genuine was something the adventurers would never find out. ¡°W-What!?¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening!? Why¡¯s he like that!?¡± ¡°B-ck magic! It¡¯s the curse of ck magic!¡± Thus, my greatest performance was put on disy. ¡°S-Stop¡­¡­ Damn it! Calm down¡­¡­my¡­¡­eye, my eye¡­¡­! Uaaaaack!¡± I pressed both of my hands against my eyes and cried out. The adventurers slowly backed away. ¡°Dear Lord, this is terrible.¡± ¡°Uuh.¡± However, there must have been a brave individual among the dogs as one of the adventurers tried to approach me. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s the matter? Are you all right?¡± ¡°D-Don¡¯t get any closer! This¡­¡­kuuh! This is the price I have to pay for using dark magic¡­¡­! If you get any closer, you could, ku, kuuuaah! Get¡­¡­ pulled in as well!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The young man stopped. I threw in another blow. ¡°At least ten¡­¡­ no, if you don¡¯t stay at least 9 steps away from me¡­¡­the curse may affect you all as well!¡± As I vigorously wed at the ground, I furtively took a nce at the adventurers in order to scope their reactions. They all looked like shocked chickens. It was most likely because they had witnessed gold coins pour out from thin air a second ago. As they were ignorant when it came to magic, they believed me since I seemed like an expert on the matter. ¡®But why aren¡¯t they giving me the reaction I want?¡¯ Why do they think I¡¯m doing something so embarrassing? ¡®Don¡¯t tell me they don¡¯t understand even though I told them this much?¡¯ I screamed restlessly. Fortunately, there was an individual in the party whose head worked properly. A person shouted out as if he realized something. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­he told us to take ten steps back for our sake?¡± Yes. That¡¯s the reaction I wanted. Instead of giving him a reply, I screamed even louder than before. The adventurers took my scream as the answer. They started to mutter while enveloped in shock. ¡°I¡¯ve been only trying to kill that guy.¡± ¡°He had an opportunity to get rid of us, but he¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wait, he looks like he¡¯s in actual pain. Shouldn¡¯t we be trying to help him?¡± At this very moment, I was undoubtedly the greatest actor of all time. At the very least, in this one moment. I was actually just putting pressure on my thigh and screaming because of the pain, but they had no way of knowing that. ¡°Idiot! He said it¡¯s ck magic. Have you not heard the tales of those guys that died after getting hit by ck magic? Just wait patiently.¡± ¡°Daneff is right. Right now, the only thing we can do¡­¡­although it¡¯s unfortunate, is to wait.¡± ¡°Shit.¡± It was around this time that a clear sound effect resounded like a bunch of fanfare. ¡¸Novice Adventurer Daneff¡¯s affection has risen by 15.¡¹ ¡¸Novice Adventurer Riff¡¯s affection has risen by 16.¡¹ ¡¸Novice Adventurer Luke¡¯s affection has risen by 20.¡¹ ¡®Good, very good!¡¯ I got what I wanted. However, although things have carried out as I wanted them to¡­¡­I was crying on the inside. I was getting this ecstatic after raising the affection of a bunch of males. I desperately missed my mother¡¯s face. I¡¯m sorry, mother. I¡¯m living an unbing life even after death¡­¡­. *** TL note: Thanks for reading. Nothing much to say this chapter, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next. Chapter 8: Handicapped New Game (7) Chapter 8: Handicapped New Game (7) Shortly after. ¡°It should, haah, be safe now.¡± I spoke while breathing roughly. ¡°Ehem.¡± ¡°Hm¡­.¡± The adventurers had be incredibly cautious. Their current behavior was Heaven and Hellpared to their previous gold-lusting demeanor. They kept trying to push someone else to go first. I barely managed to stop myself fromughing out loud. ¡°Fuck it! You¡¯re all cowards.¡± Eventually, the person in the leader position, Riff, stepped forward. ¡°Why do you guys have anything between your legs!? I should just cut them off with an axe. I pity myself for being so proud about conquering a dungeon with you guys!¡± He roared. ¡°Furthermore, you, Cyclops. You¡¯ve been with me for how many years now and yet you have the gall to hide behind those young¡¯uns? Sheesh. How are you able to save face like that?¡± ¡°Riff, it¡¯s because this is also my first time seeing ck magic¡­.¡± ¡°So are you telling me that it wasn¡¯t your first timeing out of your mother¡¯s womb, thus you were able to do it skillfully? There¡¯s always a first time for everything! Why is the veteran getting all scared, tsk.¡± Riff red at each and every one of the adventurers before approaching the pile of gold without any hesitation. He then reached his hand out and grabbed a handful of gold. He turned around to face hisrades. ¡°Look! Do you see any curse? Idiots¡­¡­.¡± Riff grinned. He looked like quite the delinquent since his bear-like face was smiling so vulgarly. The other adventurers lost their vigor once they saw Riff¡¯s actions and started to make excuses as they averted their gazes. On the other hand, I was doing my best to hold back myughter. It must be because I raised his affection high enough as I could now see Riff¡¯s thoughts on his status window. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Riff Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Jalsen Vige Attribute: Neutral(-15) Level: 3¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 2 Job: Lumberjack(B), Farmer(D), Adventurer(F) Leadership: 15¡¡¡¡Might: 30 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 4 Politics: 2¡¡¡¡Charm: 6¡¡¡¡Technique: 21 Affection: 21 Current thought: ¡®Fuck, that made my blood run cold¡­¡­Magic is the one thing I hate the most in the world! Sheesh, my legs are still shaking.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®Hah!¡¯ As I thought, Riff was no different from the others who were trembling at the thought of magic. He only stepped forward because he was the leader. I guess you could say that he was very prideful. More importantly, his stats were as pitiful as Dantalian¡¯s. If this is a game, then I feel like dealing with these adventurers is the goal of the tutorial I was given. The other adventurers started to approach the pile of gold carefully. They were hesitant, but their eyes were filled with greed as they stared at the gold. The adventurers began to count the gold coins before them one by one as if they were afraid that someone would try to take more than the rest. Riff let out a satisfiedugh. ¡°Hah, it¡¯s 489 gold.¡± Each adventurer took 32 gold after splitting the total into 15 equal parts. I didn¡¯t know how the financial situation in this world was like, so I had no idea howrge of a sum 32 gold was considered, but seeing as how all of their faces were grinning from ear to ear, it must have been enough to have ¡®made a killing¡¯. There were 9 gold coins that remained after dividing all of it, but Riff pocketed it all as if it werepletely natural. A couple of people seemed displeased by this as they frowned. Nevertheless, no one openly voiced theirints. They had already lost their momentum. I cautiously spoke out to them. ¡°Uhm. I know that you all are busy, but there is something I must inform everyone.¡± ¡°Hm? Oh, what is it?¡± The adventurers responded inattentively. They were busy stuffing the gold coins into their bags and shoes. One of them even shoved a handful of coins down his pants. That made me want to make a disgusted sound, but I calmly said what I had to say. ¡°The situation I¡¯ve been fearing has urred. Another party has just now entered the dungeon.¡± Their rampaging hands came to a stop. ¡°What?¡± ¡°It might be because there are no monsters, but they¡¯re approaching the Demon Lord room at a fast pace. At this rate, they¡¯ll arrive within an hour.¡± ¡°The hell are you talking about?!¡± The adventurer, who had the nickname Cyclops, shouted. I paid him no mind as I continued to exin calmly. ¡°As you guys saw a moment ago, I can use various spells regarding the dungeon. I¡¯m the owner of the dungeon, after all. It is also thanks to that that I was able to summon those gold coins. I also have a warning spell. In other words¡­¡­.¡± I deliberately trailed off, in order to make them think that I found this situation to be regrettable. ¡°It¡¯s a magic spell that notifies me whenever someone invades my dungeon. An rm rang in my head a second ago. It seems that a total of 25 adventurers have just entered¡­¡­.¡± The adventurers panicked. * * * ¡°Wow. Chief, this yer is pretty unique.¡± A handsome blonde man pointed at his monitor. He was holding an apple juice pack in his other hand and was audibly sipping from the straw that was poking out of it. A woman who was seated a short distance away from the young man responded with an ¡®Eh?¡¯. The woman was leaning her back against her chair and resting both of her feet on top of her desk. She was really into the manga she was reading, so she didn¡¯t particrly wee the young man¡¯s disturbance. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°You know. That guy you got upset by and kept going back and forth with.¡± ¡°Ah, Loltte?¡± She responded in a t tone. The woman felt herself getting angry once she recalled the thing that happened a couple of days ago. ¡°That guy¡¯s quite the pervert. He even managed to conquer Baal¡¯s Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°Baal¡¯s Demon Lord Castle? You mean the one in Dungeon Attack?¡± The young man turned pale from astonishment. Baal¡¯s Demon Lord Castle was an impregnable fortress which even he hasn¡¯t beaten yet. It was only natural if you consider the fact that the dungeon wasn¡¯t made to be beaten. ¡°Dear God, he¡¯s an elite yer, then!¡± ¡°Elite my ass. He¡¯s an annoying bastard.¡± The woman shut her manga. ¡°How dare hein to me, the executive director, about the game¡¯s system? I got sick of him, so I gave him his just deserts.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Chief, did you turn him into a yer without even forming a contract?¡± ¡°Hah, a dog is worried about a tiger. Do you think I¡¯m new to this business?¡± A sly grinned appeared on her lips. For some unknown reason, the young man felt a wave of unease wash over him. Every time she smiles like that, an incident urs¡­¡­and each time something happens, I¡¯m the one that finds himself going through a lot of work and not her¡­¡­. Didn¡¯t someone say that ominous predictions alwayse true? The woman gave an answer which the man didn¡¯t want to hear the most. ¡°Of course, I let him through secretly.¡± ¡°Corrupt¡­¡­there¡¯s a person who casually does corrupt things right here¡­¡­.¡± The young man started to get a headache. Although his superior was incredibly talented, she asionally lost her sense of reasoning. Honestly speaking, she would lose it quite often. Additionally, the young man was the one who had to go searching for it whenever she lost it. How unfair is this!? It really was if you thought about it. The incident urred yesterday. The Chief was on herputer with a nk look on her face as usual. However, she suddenly got irritated and started pounding away at her keyboard for more than 4 hours. The young man didn¡¯t think much of it since he thought she was just in a trivial keyboard battle again. The problem is what happened afterward. ¡®Ah damn it! So annoying!¡¯ The Chief got up and grabbed her perfectly healthy hair. After letting out a bizarre groan for quite a while, she sat back down. She then typed something on her keyboard and left the office. The Chief came back within 10 minutes. The woman smiled brightly towards the young man¡¯s dubious gaze which was using her of having done something bad. Her face looked refreshed. ¡®I took care of some work-rted matters.¡¯ Her voice sounded so refreshed that it wasparable to a person who was finally relieved after suffering from constipation for five years. When the man asked her what was up, she told him that she had sent someone off with her Reincarnation Truck¨D¨DThis was the name she had given to her beloved car. The young man honestly believed that the Chief¡¯s naming sense was one of the worst. The blonde man clicked his tongue in his mind. ¡®Tsk! She got demoted because of that personality of hers.¡¯ What¡¯s the point if her game developing skill is superb? Her personality is worse than that of a dog. However, thinking about it now, it seems she had acquired the yer¡¯s consent through an almost trick-like method. ¡°Chief, if the higher-ups hear about this, then you might receive a formal reprimand¡­.¡± ¡°The Hell I will. I got the person¡¯s consent and I kindly warned him, too. There¡¯s no problem.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you think. What if the yer files aint to the head office? Furthermore, if that person clears , then the head office will send someone.¡± ¡°Clear?¡± The woman grinned. ¡°Sure he will. I set it to LUNATIC mode.¡± ¡°Oh, God.¡± Like putting him in the body of the weakest character wasn¡¯t enough? She also set it to the highest difficulty possible in history!?¡± ¡®W-What a terrifyingdy¡­..¡¯ A chill went down the young man¡¯s spine. Contrary to the woman¡¯s charming appearance, she had no forgiveness, mercy, or consideration. The woman took out a new manga. The woman spoke in a carefree manner. ¡°If he still manages to clear it, then I¡¯ll get on my knees and beg to him to forgive me. I wouldn¡¯t mind kissing the tip of his shoe as well. He would have genuinely be an elite yer at that point, after all. Well, that¡¯ll probably never happen, the woman uttered with a smirk and immersed herself back into her manga. The young man stared at the monitor. On the screen, there was a man who had lost his right foot and was struggling. At first, he thought that his stats were terrible for a person the chief had personally selected, but he found out that she had lowered his stats intentionally. How sad. ¡®Good luck, guy whose name I don¡¯t know.¡± The young man finished drinking his apple juice pack. He heard the woman¡¯s angered voice behind him. She was rampaging about how they could let White Beard die. As he watched the woman cry out that she¡¯ll hit the mangaka with her truck, the young man wondered how he was going to calm her down this time. He couldn¡¯t let the number of victims increase. * * * A heated discussion was being carried out in the Demon Lord¡¯s room. The suggestion to fight back and the suggestion to run away were on equal grounding. ¡°Ah, like I said, we should fortify the Demon Lord¡¯s room!¡± ¡°Are you crazy? There are 25 of them, 25. We lose in terms of numbers. If you¡¯re going to fight, then you go do it. I¡¯m out.¡± ¡°Hah! Are you telling me that you¡¯re going to run away?!¡± Riff shouted. However, Cyclops red back at Riff with unwavering resolve. Once the two most experienced members of the party raised their voices, the rest of the party went silent and listened to the two of them talk. ¡°All things considered, I¡¯m here because I promised to join the expedition to conquer this dungeon, and we¡¯ve conquered this dungeonalready. Taking care of monsters is fine, but I never signed up to fight other adventurers.¡± ¡°You traitor!¡± ¡°Riff. Calm down and think about it.¡± Cyclops looked at his surroundings. ¡°The two of us may be fine, but the rest of our party are greenhorns that have never been to a dungeon before. Just yesterday, they were kids that were preparing for spring harvest. Do you think we caught this Demon Lord because of our skills? Bullshit. We were able to because other parties had already swept through here. All we did was pick up the leftovers. Taking these kids to fight 25 people is absurd. We¡¯d die a dog¡¯s death.¡± ¡°You have a fluent tongue for a coward. People have always said that eunuchs were eloquent.¡± Riff grabbed his hand axe. ¡°Shut up and listen to me, you wimpy bastards. You guys don¡¯t know anything. If you¡¯re looked down on in the adventurer world, then that¡¯s the end of the line for you. What will happen if we tuck our tails between our legs in fear of another party even though we conquered a dungeon? I¡¯d rather hold a funeral for you guys than have to watch you guys go through that.¡± ¡°You idiot¡­!¡± Cyclops grabbed his spear tightly. This was a touch-and-go situation. *** TL note: Thanks for reading. This is actually a pretty big differencepared to the LN. There¡¯s been a lot of people whoined about theck of game aspects, but hopefully, they¡¯ll enjoy the WN since it¡¯s utilized pretty often. Chapter 9: Handicapped New Game (8) Chapter 9: Handicapped New Game (8) Riff grabbed his hand axe. ¡°Shut up and listen to me, you wimpy bastards. You guys don¡¯t know anything. If you¡¯re looked down on in the adventurer world, then that¡¯s the end of the line for you. What will happen if we tuck our tails between our legs in fear of another party even though we conquered a dungeon? I¡¯d rather hold a funeral for you guys than have to watch you guys go through that.¡± ¡°You idiot¡­!¡± Cyclops grabbed his spear tightly. This was a touch-and-go situation. It seems that even theirrades couldn¡¯t stand to watch their fight get any more out of hand as they began to step in. Riff struggled and shouted at them to let him go. The situation only managed to calm down after six of them stepped in to hold Riff back. ¡°Hey, we shouldn¡¯t be fighting amongst ourselves!¡± ¡°It¡¯d be great if those other bastards got here while we¡¯re like this, huh?¡± ¡°Calm down, Daneff. Okay? Nothing good wille from us fighting.¡± At a nce, it seemed like an internal conflict had urred. I was feeling impatient. ¡®Damn it, what are these level 3s and 2s doing¡­.¡¯ I secretly wanted an internal conflict to happen. My n was like this. After being told that a party of 25 adventurers wasing, these guys would all run away in panic. As simr adventurers, they should know that adventurers are essentially pigers. They should know full well that the other group wouldn¡¯t let them go peacefully. At that moment, I intended to make them use me, a Demon Lord, as bait. I have a bounty on my head, after all. Make your escape while the other party is focused on me¨D I¡¯ll lie to them like this. Thus, this was how I intended to make it out alive safely¡­¡­however, the two people¡¯s inner thoughts werepletely different from their outward behavior. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Riff Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Jalsen Vige Attribute: Neutral(-15) Level: 3¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 2 Job: Lumberjack(B), Farmer(D), Adventurer(F) Leadership: 15¡¡¡¡Might: 30 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 4 Politics: 2¡¡¡¡Charm: 6¡¡¡¡Technique: 21 Affection: 21 Current thought: ¡®Shit, there¡¯s no way we can win against 25 people. We have to run away, but if we meet them on our way out, we¡¯re fucked. If we split our party into 3 groups and¡­.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Daneff Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Jalsen Vige Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 2¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 1 Job: Farmer(C), Adventurer(F) Leadership: 10¡¡¡¡Might: 22 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 6 Politics: 4¡¡¡¡Charm: 11¡¡¡¡Technique: 5 Affection: 20 Current thought: ¡®It¡¯s unfortunate, but we have to sacrifice someone.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡­¡­It was surprising. These two people were nning things out more calmly than anyone else. There is a total of 3 pathways that lead from the entrance of the dungeon to the Demon Lord¡¯s room. They believe that the enemy is approaching from one of those paths. Even if they run away, there¡¯s a chance that they might meet the other party on their way out. They¡¯ll definitely get wiped out. Then let¡¯s split the party into 3 groups. By creating groups of 5 from the 15 members, they¡¯ll each go down a path to the exit. One of the groups will meet the enemy; however, the other two groups will ¡®definitely¡¯ survive. Riff and Cyclops, these two people had immediately thought up a n that could keep as many people alive as possible. Their rookiepanions may be taken aback by the sudden idea of splitting the party up into smaller groups. The party had stuck together the entire time, after all. Therefore, Riff and Cyclops purposely made the situation vtile. The two biggest veterans of the group have split apart¨D¨Dit should be easier to split the group up in a situation like this. Without having to exchange any words beforehand, these two managed to create this entire situation by only exchanging gazes. If their inner thoughts didn¡¯t appear in their status screen, then I might have been deceived as well. Imented inaudibly. ¡®Why do the NPCs in the tutorial have such impressive artificial intelligence!?¡¯ If this were truly a game, then these guys were low-level adventurers who would all die to a monster¡¯s paddling. However, is this world no different from reality? They possessed life experience that couldn¡¯t be disyed by their stats alone. Although they were naive enough to be deceived by my act and cruel enough to fire arrows at me unwaveringly, they were also capable of thinking calmly in desperate situations. They possessed aspects that were so diversified that you couldn¡¯t possibly view them as artificial intelligence. ¡®Damn it, my foot is aching needlessly.¡¯ A pain traveled up from my right foot. Will I be able to get out of this alive? I shook my head. The opposition is simply a bit smarter than I expected. There¡¯s nothing to despair about yet. No, if anything, I should be delighted that the unit of 15 men was going to be split into smaller groups. I guess you could call this a good out of evil. It wasn¡¯t long before Riff and Cyclop¡¯s quarrel came to an end. It was then that Riff suggested that the party should split into 3 separate 5-men groups as if this idea had juste to him. At first, the others stirred at the idea of having to sacrifice one of the groups; however, once it became clear that Riff¡¯s idea was the most optimal decision, they nodded. ¡°Moreover, I don¡¯t want to stick together with that coward.¡± Riff scoffed towards Cyclops. Cyclops got upset, but the people around him quickly calmed him down, so he didn¡¯t raise his voice. As this urred, the party naturally split into sides. I was slightly hoping that they would leave me behind since my broken right foot would only slow their escape, but it seems they had no intention to give up on the bounty that was on my head. Once I checked my status, I saw that there was a 10,000 gold award if I was captured alive. Damn it, how I had such a price on me was a mystery. ¡°Sons of bitches, go die! We¡¯ll get out alive if you do.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the ones who should die.¡± The adventurers snickered as they split apart. They went down their respective paths while following behind their group leaders. I ended up getting dragged by Cyclop¡¯s group. Under the pretext that they had to carry the luggage known as me, they were assigned the shortest path to the exit. I silently stared at my while being carried on the back of a burly adventurer. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥
Monster Name Stamina Attack Defense Price Slime 2 2 2 70 Gold Lowest-tier Fairy 4 3 2 160 Gold Goblin 4 4 4 250 Gold Lowest-tier Golem 7 5 5 400 Gold [Useable Fund: 511 Gold] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ I hesitated for a moment. If I hire a monster, then it will trulye down to their or my demise. Failure means death. I couldn¡¯t use any other strategy. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to garner more sympathy from these naive men and get out alive like that? Isn¡¯t that the most optimal option to prevent both my and their deaths? No. I coldly selected the lowest-tier golem. This was the strongest card I could select with the amount of gold I had. It was easily twice as strong as Cyclops, the strongest member here. Soon after, a projection asking me if I wished to hire a lowest-tier golem appeared before me. ¡®Hire.¡¯ ¡¸You¡¯ve hired a lowest-tier golem!¡¹ ¡¸Would you like to summon the lowest-tier golem?¡¹ They¡¯re the ones who attacked me first. I wasn¡¯t merciful enough to forgive such an act of aggression. Of course, I¡¯m a foolish person in the real world. I yed games all day and I considered myself as trash. Nevertheless, this ce isn¡¯t the real world. This is a game world, the world of Dungeon Attack. I¡¯m the emperor of Dungeon Attack. Even if I¡¯m Demon Lord Dantalian and not Hero Lolita, I¡¯m undoubtedly the peerless hero that had conquered the Great Demon Lord¡¯s castle and obtained the highest possible stats. I¡¯m a piece of trash in real life, however, I never allowed myself to be a piece of trash even in games. That was my pride as a ¡®yer¡¯. ¡®An emperor would never spare the lives of those who were hostile towards him!¡¯ They were simply acting ording to the game¡¯s scenario. You could probablyy this excuse out. However, was it not the same for me as well? Would it not be a part of the game¡¯s scenario to bestow death upon the humans who had invaded the dungeon as ¡®Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯? ¡°They probably won¡¯te down this way, right?¡± ¡°Eh, we may be unlucky, but we aren¡¯t that unfortunate.¡± ¡°In the one in ten thousand chance we see them, we should just give them all of our gold. Gold may be important, but is it more important than our lives? They¡¯ll probably spare us if we hand the Demon Lord over to them.¡± These guys weren¡¯t even remotely ready for battle. They were talking about surrendering before the battle even urred. This was the best possible opportunity. I bit down as strong as I could on the ear of the man who was carrying me on his back. The man¡¯s ear was torn off in an instant. ¡°Guaah!¡± My body fell to the ground as the man let out a cry. I couldn¡¯t prepare for the fall at all, so I wound up hitting the ground hard. The impact made my head shake and it almost felt as if someone had punched me in the head. I could hear the sound of the other adventurers panicking. ¡°Jack? What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Kuh, kuaaah! T-That bastard, my ear¡­!¡± While they still couldn¡¯tprehend this situation properly yet, I shouted. ¡°Lowest-tier Golem¨D¨DSummon!¡± A purple light filled the cave. In an instant, a geometric symbol was drawn on the floor. The light wasing from there. Somethingrge emerged from the symbol while causing a light earthquake. It was an arm made of stone. As the golem¡¯s rocky hand grasped the ground and pulled itself up, it almost looked as if the golem was crawling straight out of Hell. ©¤ Kuhuuuuoh! The golem roared. It seemed to wee the outside world after being trapped underground for so long. The monster¡¯s emotions were transferred straight to me. It was demanding for a battlefield that was appropriate for its initiation. It was shouting that if I gave it themand, it would tear those humans apart at any moment. This is a monster! This is a Demon Lord¡¯s ability! I felt my body heat up. There was a corner of my mind that was advising me to regain myposure, but I ignored it. If anything, this was the time to give my body to the excitement. I shouted at the golem. ¡°Crush them all!¡± The golem swung its arm before I could even finish my sentence. Its goal was the closest person to it, Cyclops. If the only experienced guy dies, then there¡¯s nothing to worry about. Cyclops jumped to the side in surprise. His reaction time wasn¡¯t bad, but he was foolish. If he had lowered his body to the ground, then he probably would have avoided the attack. The golem¡¯s wide fist smashed into Cyclops in the middle of his small jump. Cyclops let out a short cry as he was sent flying. After being flung more than 3 meters, Cyclops collided headfirst into a stctite. I heard the sound of bones shattering. ©¤ Kuhruuaaah! The golem let out a cheer the instant it had aplished its very first order. The calm air inside the cavern reverberated violently. Before I could even think of anothermand, the golem stomped on the young man who I had bitten the ear of. The man wasn¡¯t crushed immediately and proceeded to let out horrific screams. I could feel the golem getting upset. It was the unpleasant feeling one would get after stepping on an ant but not managing to kill it. The golem raised its leg and strongly brought it down over and over again 6 times. The screaming stopped around the fourth stomp. Brain matter was smeared on the bottom of the golem¡¯s stone foot. This was a sight which would normally cause swear words toe out, but for some reason, my body was filled with delight. ¡°Huuaaak!¡± A pathetic scream resounded throughout the cavern. Once I turned my gaze, I saw that one of the adventurers was trying to hightail it. He was running away cowardly, leaving behind hisrades who were still trying to figure out whether they shouldbine their strength to fight this monster or not. ¡°Fuck! Don¡¯t run away!¡± ¡°That son of a bitch deceived us! Oh God, Daneff!¡± The remaining two people got into position and put up their guards. The golem snickered. That snickering transferred to me as well. Even as their final struggle, this was incredibly pitiable. Furthermore, one of them was an archer, so his defenses were even worse since he didn¡¯t have a shield. ¡°Go for the weaker one first!¡± My monster obeyed mymand loyally. Although golems are slow in general, it swung itsrge fist towards the archer. The archer practically tossed his body to the side in order to dodge. The fist barely missed him. ¡°Ha, I dodg¨D¨D.¡± Regardless, it seems he didn¡¯t even consider the fact that the golem had two arms. The golem¡¯s left arm struck the archer¡¯s face the moment he boasted proudly as he turned to face the monster again. The archer¡¯s face caved in. He fell over limply. Now thest one. ¡°U-Uaaaah!¡± The adventurer charged at the golem with his spear. His blunt spear stabbed into the joint of the golem¡¯s arm. Did he believe that that was the golem¡¯s weak spot? A hologram which disyed that the golem¡¯s health had dropped by 1 appeared before me. Aplishing such a feat, despite being struck by fear, wasmendable. However, that was it. After being bit by a being that was like an ant to it, the golem became appropriately enraged and swung its limbs around wildly. The adventurer desperately dodged the fists, but his hip was broken once he got kicked by the golem¡¯s leg. The golem unhesitantly smashed its fists down like a hammer over the body of the adventurer who had fallen and was groaning in pain. ¡°Haa, haa¡­¡­.¡± My faint breathing flowed through the cave. Other than this, everything was quiet. The golem had stopped in ce and was waiting for my nextmand. The first fight I encountered aftering to this world ended ndly like this. ¡°Hoo¡­¡­ huaaa.¡± What idiots. Golems are powerful but slow. Rather than facing the golem, it would have been better if they had aimed for me instead. If they had used me as a hostage, then the golem would have been forced to stop attacking. The adventurers had forgotten such a simple fact. It was most likely because the most experienced person, Cyclops, had died first and they never imagined that a monster would be summoned. I looked at the golem and murmured. ¡°Not yet¡­ it isn¡¯t over yet.¡± I saw the ability of F rank adventurers. They were toopetent to disregard simply because they were F ranks. I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll be able to get out of this shitty world, but it¡¯s clear that stronger adventurers will one day invade this dungeon as well. E rank, D rank, and one day, A rank adventurers will arrive. I have to stop them vigorously. I have to hire units of monsters and install all sorts of traps in this dungeon. If I want to do this, then I need money. A lot of money! I can¡¯t let my 1,000 gold coins be taken away this early on. I have to get back the money the other groups had taken from me. ¡°Dungeon Map Tab.¡± A map of the dungeon appeared before my eyes. The other adventurers appeared as red dots on the semi-transparent screen. The adventurer who had run away earlier appeared on the map as well. He was quickly running towards the entrance of the dungeon. Let¡¯s leave this guy be. I can¡¯t catch up to him anyway. However, there¡¯s no need to let the others escape. I searched through the adventurers¡¯ dead bodies and reimed my gold. From this point forth, money is my lifeline. While a bizarre feeling of excitement flowed through me¨D¨Dfor some reason, I didn¡¯t feel the need to calm my emotions down¨D¨DI ordered the golem to carry me. The golem lifted me onto its shoulder with ease. I now had a clear view. I ordered the golem to move towards the path the adventurers were heading in. The golem¡¯s footsteps echoed lowly throughout the cave. *** TL note: Thanks for reading. I¡¯ve been slightly busytely because my sses will be resuming next week, so I¡¯ve been trying to n out a schedule. I¡¯m not exactly sure how my schedule is going to look once my sses resume, so pardon me if there¡¯s an initial dy. Hopefully, I¡¯ll get thest part of this tutorial section tranted before then. See you guys in the next release. Chapter 10: Tutorial Cleared Chapter 10: Tutorial Cleared * * * I wasn¡¯t able to catch up to Riff¡¯s group. The golem¡¯s movement speed was slower than I expected. By the time I brought down the other group, Riff¡¯s group had already reached the entrance. I gave up on my pursuit. The golem only having 2 health left was also a reason why I abandoned my pursuit. In the end, including the one person that got away in the beginning and Riff¡¯s group, I wound up losing 6 people. The 2nd fight was fierce. After ordering the golem to crouch down in a dark corner of the cavern¨D¨Ddoing this made him look no different from a normal boulder¨D¨DI hid behind a stgmite. The golem ambushed the group the instant the adventurers were about to pass by. The surprise attack itself was a sess. Two adventurers died within a minute. ¡°Why is there a monster left!?¡± ¡°Fuck, did he spawn naturally?¡± The problem was what came next. Although the remaining three were also rookies, they must have faced monsters before. Through experience, they knew that they could fight back against a monster as long as they didn¡¯t panic. Two of them guarded with their wooden shields and the other person attacked with his metal mace. The golem¡¯s health dropped down quickly from the 6 it had originally. I got nervous and revealed myself from behind the stgmite. I decided to take a gamble because I was afraid that the golem might die. I shouted loudly in order to attract their attention. ¡°Aaaaah! Adventurers, a bunch of adventurers areing!¡± They turned towards me on reflex because of my sudden shout. Before the expression asking ¡®What are you doing here?¡¯ could appear on their faces, the golem swung its fist at one of the adventurers¡¯ heads the instant they lowered their guards. Like that, one of them dropped out. My sudden arrival and the news that other adventurers were approaching caused them to be flustered and they got wiped out once their formation was lost. I wonder if he narrowly managed to put two and two together. Before thest adventurer died, he turned to re at me despite his two broken legs. ¡°Demon Lord¨D¨DYou son of a bitch, you betrayed us!¡± He threw his spear at me. I panicked and fell over. Since he had tossed his spear without any leg strength, it couldn¡¯t reach me and fell limp on the ground. The adventurer¡¯s head was crushed under the golem¡¯s arm before the spear could even finish rolling. Immediately after, the word ¡¸CLEAR!¡¹ appeared with some fanfare. ©¤ You¡¯ve cleared the tutorial mission. ©¤ As a reward forpleting the tutorial, you have been given 1 skill. The skill type will be determined ording to the actions carried out by the yer. ©¤ Congrattion! You¡¯ve acquired the skill ¡®Acting¡¯. I heard a slightly robotic female voice in my ear. The ¡¸CLEAR!¡¹ sparkled in front of me. The capital letters were glimmering with various colors like the words that could be found on casino slot machines. I stared vacantly at the light. Shortly after, a new hologram screen appeared with a voice saying ¡®Oue Report¡¯. It was a report about the tutorial. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Oue Report] *Number of monsters Leveled UP: 1¡¡¡¡¡¡Number of incapacitated monsters: 0 *Number of captured prisoners: 0 Gold in possession:¡¡611 gold Gold robbed:¡¡ +2 gold¡¡ ¡¡¡¡¡¡Piged gold: -201 gold Total fund:¡¡412 gold *Dungeon experience: 0026/1000 (Lv.01) ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ A sound effect that didn¡¯t suit this gorey scene of corpses scattered throughout the cavern and the crushed skulls and brains resounded. I couldn¡¯t ept this gap in my head. I looked at nothing in particr while crumpled up. Tap. Something touched the end of my foot. The spear that was tossed by the final adventurer had finallye to a stop at my foot. ¡°Uugh¡­¡­!¡± The queasiness I¡¯ve been holding back until now surged up all at once. It was the vomit that I¡¯ve been managing to hold back using the excitement of the battlefield as an anesthetic. I tried to hold it back this time as well; however, vomit and gastric fluid flowed out the instant I opened my mouth. A disgusting, brown liquid poured over the handle of the spear. There was a time in my first year of university where I was dragged by a club senior to a redlight district and lost my virginity. At that time, the smell that was emanating from the lower part of the woman who was taking care of me was sincerely disgusting. It was so bad that I couldn¡¯t imagine a man that would want to go down on her could possibly exist. However, that was on the weaker side. The smell of blood that emanates from a human¡¯s head, from their spilling out insides, was more disgusting than anything else. I never knew that blood could give off such a wretched scent. ¡°Uugh! Guuuah!¡± Something simr to the clots of blood scattered on the ground was also flowing through my body right now, this thought went through my head. My queasiness became worse. It felt like I was vomiting out my own brain. While my mind was bing faint, a ding sound¨D¨Da sound I now detested, red. ¡¸You have leveled up.¡¹ I copsed on the spot I had vomited and passed out. I don¡¯t know how long I was out for. I couldn¡¯t see the sky from inside the cave. Light fixtures that looked like they were enchanted with magic, a faint, white light emanated from these spherical objects. I blinked. The cavern ceiling was distant, so I could only see darkness. I felt so tired that I could die. I wanted to continue lying down, but I couldn¡¯t endure the wretched smell. I let out a groan as I lifted up my upper body. Right when I was about to instinctively use my right foot to stand up, I abruptly remembered. ¡®Ah. Right, I can¡¯t move my right foot.¡¯ Surprisingly, I epted this fact rather casually. It might be because it felt like a heavy fog was pressing down on my head, so my mind felt dull. I looked around. The golem was standing obediently at my side. It seems it was standing guard to protect its master while he slumbered. ¡°¡­¡­Thanks.¡± I¡¯m uncertain whether a lowest-tier monster could understand me, but I expressed my genuine gratitude towards it. This golem was the one and only existence in this hostile world that I could trust. ©¤ Krwah. Something rather surprising happened. The golem grumbled as if it understood me. Was this also perhaps a Demon Lord ability? I crawled on the ground and approached each of the adventurers¡¯ corpses. It was to take the gold they were holding. The first thought that went through my head the moment I opened my eyes was ¡®I have to survive¡¯, followed by ¡®I need money¡¯. Guilt towardsmitting murder for the first time in my life? There was nothing like that. To be more exact, I didn¡¯t have the leisure to have that sort of emotion. I ended up losing one adventurer in my first fight. It was clear that he would tell Riff¡¯s group about my betrayal. Riff¡¯s group will most likely get upset and they¡¯ll get even more upset once they hear that theirrades were ughtered mercilessly. I don¡¯t know when they would return to this dungeon for revenge. There¡¯s also a chance that a different adventurer party would actually invade as well. A party of 20, or perhaps, 30 people. I have to umte as much money as I can before then. ¡®Demon Lord¨D¨DYou son of a bitch, you betrayed us!¡¯ I heard a voice in my head as I took thest gold out from the final adventurer. I grit my teeth. I wanted to smirk, but it didn¡¯te out well. It wasn¡¯t a smirk that came out but a trembling voice. ¡°You guys reap what you sow. It¡¯s also your guys¡¯ fault for lowering your guards.¡± If they didn¡¯t invade, then they wouldn¡¯t have died. I tightly gripped a coin with my blood and vomit-soaked hand. It was then that a new hologram appeared before my eyes. It was a notification informing me that the affection of Riff and the other adventurers had dropped to zero. I got up staggeringly. I sat on the golem¡¯s shoulder and ordered it to go to the Demon Lord¡¯s room. What was going to happen to me? It was a mystery. What kind of ce this ce was, why this world was simr to Dungeon Attack, and above all else, why I¡¯ve been thrown into this situation. Nevertheless, there was one thing which I was certain of. That I was going to spend the rest of the day sleeping on the bed in the Demon Lord¡¯s room. *** . . . *** ©¤ Tutorial end. ©¤ yer status. *** [yer: Lolita] True Name: Dantalian Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 2¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 16 Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(F) Leadership: 14/19¡¡¡¡Might: 2/5 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 25/25 Politics: 10/20¡¡¡¡Charm: 4/7¡¡¡¡Technique: 1/10 *Titles: You have no titles. *Abilities: You have no abilities. *Skills: Acting [Achievements: 0] [Subordinates: 1 units/30 units] ©¤ You will now proceed to the next stage (stage no.01). *** TL note: Thanks for reading. There are already several differencespared to the LN, so I think it¡¯s okay to say that the WN is another story in itself. In any case, my sses have resumed, so you¡¯ll have to wait about a week or two before my schedule is set in stone. I¡¯ll still be tranting whenever I have the free time to do so. Furthermore, I¡¯ll most likely be able to start Handholding trantions soon as well, so look forward to that. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. Chapter 11: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (1) Chapter 11: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (1) ng! A pickaxe struck the wall of a stone hole. How long have I been doing this for now? Transience of life, all is vanity, vanity is all¡­¡­ I swung my pickaxe endlessly with the intent to cultivate myself morally and religiously. They say that Bodhidharma trained himself by going into a cave and staring at a wall for an incredibly long period of time. There was no reason for people to not call me an ascetic for mining tunnels endlessly like this. After striking the wall roughly 40 to 50 times, a hologram appeared while emitting a ¡®Ding!¡¯¨DI honestly think this sound effect is going to make me neurotic¨Dsound effect. ¡¸You¡¯ve extracted 2 iron ores.¡¹ Ooh. Cultivating myself turned out to be a worthwhile thing to do. Two ores came out at the same time. This rarely happens. I put down the iron ores I received as loot by my feet. I went back to swinging my pickaxe energetically. ¡°Mother~ why do I~ keep wanting to~ see you~.¡± Why was a Demon Lord like myself in a mine extracting iron? There was no reason to ask. It was for money. 200 gold coins were taken from my initial fund of 1,000 gold. I spent 400 gold in order to hire a golem. All the money I had left on me was 400 gold. If I were a normal human, then this would be enough toze around for the rest of my life. However, as a Demon Lord, this was a sum that would be embarrassing to show anyone else. Should I just take the money and run off somewhere? There was a time when I once considered this idea. It must be because I was a Demon Lord as I had a small horn on the back of my head (It was so small that I only discovered it recently); however, if you excluded this, then I looked no different from a human. I had be a Demon Lord with the exact same appearance and physique I had in my original world. I naturally thought that if I just went around with a hat, then I could live a rtively wealthy life. However, I remembered something. What the culprit behind all of this, VenusPanties, said to me. ©¤ VenusPanties: In any case, if the goal of Dungeon Attack is to stop the Demon Lords and protect the world, then the biggest goal of the sequel is to conquer the world. This is what¡¯s important. Don¡¯t forget. I didn¡¯t really think much about this at the time. I simply thought that they were giving me some information on the new game that wasing out. If I think about it now, it was a type of allusion. It was information on what I had to do in order to reach the ending of this damn world. ¡®Conquer the world, huh.¡¯ If this were a game, then I would have thought that this goal wasn¡¯t anything impressive and that it was dull. However, the idea of having to conquer the world with this piece of garbage character seemed hopeless. I was Dantalian. The weakest Demon Lord. If this guy went and dered that he¡¯d conquer the world, then a passing slime would probably snicker at him. Well, I shouldn¡¯t be hasty. If I learned something in these past few days, then it was probably the fact that no matter how desperate the situation was, I should always keep a corner of my mind calm. There was a chance that if I tried to run away, a systematic restriction could be imposed upon me. ©¤ Keruru, keru. A goblin approached me. It was a monster that I barely managed to hire with what little I had. The reason why I went out of my way to summon a goblin was simple. It was written on their monster tab that they specialized in digging caves. Golems were powerful, but they had no talent in mining. In other words, they were purely warriors. I required a worker. Meeting my expectations, the goblin was holding an armful of iron ores. It seems he came to me to show off his haul. ¡°Oh, our Blingy! You mined this much today as well?¡± I put down my pickaxe and started to rub the goblin¡¯s cheeks. The goblin grinned. I wonder how it could be so adorable. Ever since I became a Demon Lord, even horrifyingly ugly goblins started to look cute to me. There was no doubt that my sense of beauty was broken. But who cares when he¡¯s this cute? ©¤ Keruru. The goblinughed adorably and spread out his arms. I grabbed him by the waist and lifted him up. I then started to spin around. The goblin started tough with excitement. The thing I experienced with the golem for the first time happened again. The goblin¡¯s emotions were being transmitted to me. It was a purely joy-filled emotion. It felt like our senses had connected. A dark cavern, grand stctites, the scent of moist dirt©¤. The goblin¡¯s deep and instinctual love for all of this was being transmitted to me with no alterations whatsoever. I could tell that this child liked this dungeon a lot. It was to the point that it made even me like it slightly. Who knew that having your senses connected with another being would be this phenomenal. It was then, while I was in the middle of ying with the goblin. ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I came to an abrupt stop because of the sudden voice. ¡°I am here to purchase the ores.¡± Once I turned around, I saw an impassive girl standing a short distance away. The girl was wearing a ck suit like an office worker. She bowed to me while maintaining a perfect posture. There was still an absence of emotions on her face when she lifted her head back up. It gave off a feeling that she had bowed to me because it was standard procedures and not because she held any respect towards me. ¡°Huh? Oh, is it time already?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Time really goes fast in a cave, huh? Haha¡­¡­.¡± The girl didn¡¯t respond. She only stared at me with her azure stone-like eyes. It was then that I realized I had been hugging the goblin since earlier. I felt awkward, so I put the goblin down. ¡°Hahaha.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Keru? The goblin made a quizzical sound as it tilted its head. Go on now. I said inside my head. The goblin heeded my request and walked to the far side of the cave. I couldmunicate with monsters mentally. I let out a sigh. It was a relief that I didn¡¯t have to show the goblin my unsightly side. ¡°Now then, Sir Dantalian, let us begin the exchange.¡± The girl spoke in a businesslike manner. Lapis Lazuli, this was her name. I met her for the first time half a month ago. After I dealt with the adventurer party from Jalsen vige, I continued to research the game functionalities of this world. My efforts paid off. Not only did I discover that I could perform magic research and technology research¨Dthe cheapest magic research I could do was 5,000 gold, so I couldn¡¯t possibly dream of doing it in my current state¨Dbut I also discovered how to ce luxury items in my dungeon and how to set up all sorts of traps. All of the necessities required to operate a dungeon was avable. I also discovered that there was a trade tab. Other than a button with the word ¡®Trade¡¯ on it, there was nothing else. I clicked it once out of curiosity and a pink magic circle was suddenly drawn in front of me. Once I stepped back in surprise, a girl appeared from the magic circle. She was beautiful. Her pink hair was tied into low pigtails. As soon as the girl, who was wearing a ck suit which I was used to seeing in my own world, appeared, she gave me a polite bow. ¡®It is an honor to meet you, Sir Dantalian. I am Lapis Lazuli of the Keuncuska Firm.¡¯ She introduced herself as a rank 5 personnel demon in a t tone. ¡®I have been put in charge of Sir Dantalian¡¯s transactions with the Keuncuska Firm. I will be in your care.¡¯ The way she moved her body was adept like a veteran butler. I couldn¡¯t hold back my curiosity as I asked her to borate. While maintaining her impassive expression and toneless voice, she gave me a thorough exnation. The Keuncuska Firm was apany that shouldered the mundane work of Demon Lords and other high-ranking demons. They would go and acquire anything their customers asked for. All of their employees were demons and their headquarters was in the demon world. ¡¸We can even provide you with a dragon¡¯s horn!¡¹ This was the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s motto. However, this was only if you could pay them properly. Lapis¡¯ exnation went like this: as Demon Lords were all VIP customers to them, the Keuncuska Firm provided an impressive customer service where they summoned personnel like herself directly in front of their customers. I got a little excited as I asked her a question. ¡®Am I also a prioritized customer?¡¯ ¡®Nominally.¡¯ Lapis continued without batting an eye. ¡®I am a rank 5 personnel demon. Rank 5 is the lowest rank.¡¯ There was no need for any further exnation. Damn D ss. There was literally all sorts of items in the inventory list which Lapis showed me. From high-quality grimoires to nearly peerless swords. However, my customer level was only F. The most an F rank customer can buy is a well-sharpened long sword or some armor for goblins. ¡®Your rank goes up the more items you purchase. If you reach rank A, then rather than buying a dragon horn, you can purchase a dragon entirely.¡¯ A dragon?! In Dungeon Attack, dragons were monsters that were second to Demon Lords. If you had a dragon, then even if an adventurer, no, the regr army of a kingdom swarmed you, there was nothing to fear. ¡®B-But¡­¡­ I don¡¯t have any money.¡¯ ¡®Is that so? Pardon me, but how much gold do you have, Sir Dantalian?¡¯ ¡®406 gold.¡¯ I answered with a retreating tone. Lapis¡¯ eyes narrowed slightly. ¡®Sir Dantalian, may I ask how many monsters you have in your dungeon?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­One.¡¯ Lapis¡¯ temperament changed. I hastily added to my sentence. ¡®No. I mean, I also have a goblin.¡¯ There was no change in the other party¡¯s face. It was impassive. Except, it felt as if the calm and still aura that was surrounding Lapis had changed into a viscous one for some reason. Ah, since she¡¯s also a demon, is she considered a monster as well? It wasn¡¯t the same as how it was with the golem and the goblin, but a certain degree of her emotions was transmitted to me. ¡®Excuse me. I believe that I heard a single monster and not an entire unit. Did I hear correctly?¡¯ ¡®Y-Yes.¡± Before I knew it, I started to speak formally. ¡®May I ask what type of monster it is?¡¯ ¡®A lowest-tier golem.¡¯ Woosh. A needlessly cold gust of wind blew past. ¡®I apologize, Sir Dantalian. This may be discourteous of me, but I have no other choice but to say this.¡¯ ¡®Go ahead¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®This is the first time in my short demon life that I¡¯ve seen such an ungainly dungeon.¡¯ I sincerely thought the same as well. I found a useful service, but I didn¡¯t have enough money to buy anything. Fortunately, the Keuncuska Firm seemed to also purchase products. They took care of the equipment and other things which Demon Lords would often take from adventurers. If I y my cards right, I might be able to make a profit. The problem was that I didn¡¯t have anything to sell. Lapis thought for a second after hearing about my situation. ¡®You have no other choice but to extract ores.¡¯ She suggested. The ces where Demon Lords set their dungeons up are, if I use a term from my original world, propitious spots. They¡¯re overflowing with mana, so the ores are sometimes enchanted with magic. Thus, ores infused with mana sell for a rtively high price. For a Demon Lord to swing a pickaxe, this was literally the lowest one could get. But what am I supposed to do? I had no other immediate way to make money. I heeded Lapis¡¯ advice and hired a goblin before spending the next half month digging tunnels endlessly. ¡°How many ores will you be selling today?¡± ¡°Fifty-six iron ores.¡± I answered after putting together the ores the goblin had mined as well. Lapis let out a small breath. I realized a few days ago that that was the constantly impassive Lapis¡¯ unique way of sighing. ¡°Sir Dantalian, as you know already, iron ores are the lowest-tier ores. No matter how much mana is infused in them, I cannot offer you a high price.¡± That¡¯s right. Iron ores had as little value as pureed soybean soup. However, I also had an excuse. What am I supposed to when my mining level was so low that only iron ores came out?! In the first ce, the very fact that a Demon Lord had the mining skill was weird. ¡°I wish to tell you that my recent business performance is the lowest in ourpany.¡± ¡°Fufufu.¡± I chuckled. Lapis tilted her head. Girl, if you thought that I would stay as a Demon Lord that¡¯s only a nuisance to you, then you¡¯re wrong! ¡°I knew it would be like this, so I prepared a secret weapon.¡± I pulled out an ore while imitating fanfare. It was an ore that emitted a golden glint. ¡°Behold! Gold! What do you think? If it¡¯s this, then it isn¡¯t that bad, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hm.¡± Was this able to surprise even the eternally impassive girl? She let out a ¡®Hm¡¯ of awe. A whole ¡®Hm¡¯. She received the gold ore from me and examined it carefully. I managed to mine gold by pure chance. As I was on my way to dig while freeing myself from all ideas and thoughts, I noticed something yellow out of the corner of my eye. Amazing! I let out a cry of joy and immediately mined the gold. I felt like Spring had finallye to my demon life. Despite having mined and sold iron ores for the past 15 days, I couldn¡¯t even make 10 gold. A gold ore infused with mana should go for at least 100 gold. ¡°Lapis, there¡¯s no need for you to be overly grateful. If it weren¡¯t for your suggestion, then I would have never discovered this gold. This is all thanks to you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I only feel genuine gratitude towards you. It¡¯s not something to boast about, but I truly have nothing. It¡¯s not like I became a Demon Lord because I wanted to.¡± While I was going on and on, Lapis was silently scratching the wall of the cave with the gold ore. ¡°My dungeon only has a golem and a goblin, so I don¡¯t have anyone to talk to. Ah, of course, the golem and the golem are good kids. They listen to me well and they don¡¯tin despite living in such a shabby home. Truly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian, this is not gold.¡± ¡°they¡¯re so kin¡­¡­ Pardon?¡± Lapis looked at me calmly while holding the ore in one hand. I blinked. ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°This is pyrite. It is often mistaken for gold because they look simr on the outside. It is also known as Fool¡¯s Gold. I am uncertain as to whether you know this or not, but the way to distinguish ores which have a simr color on the outside is to scratch a surface with them.¡± She showed me the residue that came out from scratching the wall with the ore. The residue was ck. ¡°People refer to this color thates out after scratching an unweathered surface with a mineral as ¡®streak color¡¯. Native gold, pyrite, and copper pyrite all give off a simr color, but their respective streak colors are gold, ck, and murky green. This is pyrite.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I plunged into a depthless pool of embarrassment. ¡°T-Then, how much will it sell for?¡± ¡°I can only say that it will not reach anywhere near Sir Dantalian¡¯s original expectation.¡± I fell to my knees in despair. ¡°A-And here I thought things were getting a little better¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fifty-six iron ores. One pyrite ore.¡± Lapis acted as if nothing had happened and cold-heartedly used an abacus. ¡°The total will be 2 gold.¡± ¡°Uuuah¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Thank you for doing business with the Keuncuska Firm.¡± ¡°Kuuuaaah¡­¡­.¡± A Demon Lord like myself managed to make only 2 gold after working all day. Tears blocked my vision. I heard Lapis¡¯ calm voice above me. ¡°I fully recognize Your Highness Dantalian¡¯s enthusiasm towards myself; however, I would be happier if you were able to provide more of a profit for our business.¡± Guuaaack! I rolled around on the floor for a while due to my embarrassment. *** Author¡¯s Afterword The Keuncuska Firm is a parody of the Gyungyuska Firm from . This story received a lot of influence from Nest Making Dragon. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I appreciate the number of you who waited patiently for this release. I mentioned in thest two chapters that my university sses were starting again and that I would also resume the trantions for Handholding, but people ignored that and kept asking when the next release would be. Don¡¯t worry guys, I haven¡¯t been cking. I¡¯ve actually finished Chapter 0 and Chapter 1 for the 4th volume of Handholding, which is 4 times longer than this chapter when put together. I¡¯m still waiting patiently for the scans before I release them, so I hope that you guys will bear with me as well. Hopefully, I¡¯ll be able to publish them within the next few days. In any case, see you guys in the next release. Chapter 12: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (2) Chapter 12: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (2) It took a while before I managed to calm down. I sat on a t boulder that was nearby and fixed my posture. I¡¯ve already shown Lapis my worst side, so I didn¡¯t have even the slightest right to make a disy, but I wanted to be serious today. I had an important business proposal. Lapis furrowed her brow slightly after hearing my request. It was so minute that I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if it weren¡¯t for my ability that allowed the other party¡¯s emotions to transfer to me. ¡°You are interested in receiving a loan?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± The Keuncuska Firm doubled as a bank. There are times when Demon Lords required emergency funds. In those cases, the firm would lend them the money. There was one thing I realized after spending half a month extracting ores non-stop. It was the fact that, at this rate, it was only natural for an adventurer¡¯s axe to fly at me and take my life. 2 gold a day? If I worked for a hundred days without rest, then I would only manage to make 200 gold. With 200 gold, far from being able to hire a lowest-tier golem, I wouldn¡¯t even be able to hire a goblin. I¡¯d just barely be able to hire a goblin after grinding my bones to dust swinging a pickaxe. How was I supposed to protect my dungeon with a golem and 2 goblins? ¡®I can¡¯t.¡¯ Adventurers seek dungeons. Riff¡¯s party, who have be hostile towards me, were making me nervous. It wouldn¡¯t be strange for a party to invade my dungeon at any moment. I can¡¯t sit back and leisurely wait for my money to pile up by mining. I believed that receiving arge loan and slowly paying off the interest would be better. Honestly, I was confident that I would be able to pay back the loan itself and not just the interest. However, Lapis voiced her refusal. ¡°Sir Dantalian, many Demon Lords have borrowed money from our firm. Among them, there are a fair amount of Demon Lords who only manage to pay off their interest. Not only is this due to the interest increasing each month, but the profit earned by their dungeons are inconsistent as well.¡± Lapis shook her head. Her pink hair waved from side to side. ¡°Thergest profit earned from dungeons are paradoxically the adventurers thate to invade them. The stronger the adventurers, the more profit that is earned. It is inevitable for strong adventurers to have good equipment and items, and Demon Lords can take those from them. In contrast, dungeons that only receive low-quality adventurers will barely profit at all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Most importantly, it is a question as to whether the firm will even loan you a lot of money. The Keuncuska Firm is a ce that only pursues profit. It is an organization that causes other demons to be astonished by how cold-hearted they are.¡± Lapis emphasized once more. ¡°If there is no guarantee for profit, then even if it is a Demon Lord that asks for a loan, it will still be firmly declined. Pardon my rudeness, Sir Dantalian, but the ss of a Demon Lord is determined by the ss of how trustworthy they are. It is a question as to how much the Keuncuska Firm will trust you, Sir Dantalian, when your rank is still F.¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right.¡± ¡°Not only does the firm possess arge military unit under its wing, but it has enough funding to hire more as well. The firm is merciless towards Demon Lords who do not pay back their interest. They have even threatened and used force against some in the past.¡± She lowered the tone of her voice. ¡°Once, His Excellency, Rank 25 Demon Lord, sya-Labs received a loan and did not pay back the interest for 70 years, the Keuncuska Firm mobilized no less than 36 demon armies and invaded His Excellency sya-Labs¡¯ dungeon. The Demon Lord¡¯s monster units were wiped out and, in the end, His Excellency sya-Labs had no other choice but to pay off the interest that had piled up for 70 years. As a result, his dungeon went bankrupt.¡± Lapis let out a small sigh. ¡°This is the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s strength. This is the reason why the firm was able to establish itself as the greatest firm on the demon continent for the past 3,000 years. Sir Dantalian, I am advising you not as an employee of the firm, but as another demon. Do not borrow money from the firm rashly.¡± I could feel the other party¡¯s sincerity. This girl truly thought that my request was foolish. She wasn¡¯t being cold-hearted. If anything, tricking me into receiving a loan would most likely help her personal business result. Even though ensnaring a Demon Lord by loaning a small sum would be profitable for thepany, Lapis disregarded her evaluation and the profit of the firm she worked for simply because she didn¡¯t want to scam me. She continued in a clear voice. ¡°Be patient. It may be difficult now, but if you slowly gather money for a century or two, Sir Dantalian, I believe that you will definitely manage to obtain a splendid dungeon as well.¡± Lapis Lazuli. A demon with a cold face and tone who also possessed a businesslike manner. However, different from her outer appearance, she was pure. She was quietly shining with her pure creed. I pushed my request further towards this Lapis. ¡°What if I possess a business proposal that will most definitely be sessful?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She gave me a nk look. ¡°Of course, our firm does not hold back on investments. If by the rare chance Sir Dantalian possesses a sure business idea, that is.¡± You most likely do not, though, was what she was saying in between the lines. I smiled lightly. ¡°An epidemic.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Lapis knit her brows. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Good. I have her attention. This is where it all begins. I whispered in my head. ¡®Acting skill, activate.¡¯ A row of notifications appeared before me. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹ ¡¸A bonus effect will be granted to your skill ording to your intelligence and charm stats.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has slipped from your hand! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ¡®slightly¡¯ lowered.¡¹ I received the Acting skill for beating the tutorial. It was literally a skill that increased my acting ability. There was a fixed chance to lower the other party¡¯s suspicion ¡®slightly, somewhat, fairly, or incredibly¡¯; however, since my intelligence and politics stats were abysmal, at most, I could only lower it slightly. It seems that the type of skill I was bestowed depended on the actions I took during the tutorial. If I got through the tutorial by force, then I would have probably received a skill like Thousand Endurance or Adept Army Commander, and if I had gotten through the tutorial by strategizing and nning out my moves, then I would have most likely received a skill like Long Spear Efficiency or Octal Notation. For instance, Thousand Endurance was a skill that raised their character¡¯s strength by 140% for a long period of time. It was also the skill that my hero character had in Dungeon Attack. On the other hand, not only was Octal Notation a skill that turned the entire party the character was in into a stealth squad, but it also raised your party members¡¯ strength and defense by 25%. Either way, both of these skills were referred to as overpowered skills. Damn it, in contrast, the Acting skill was trash. For starters, it had no direct connection withbat. The most important factor in Dungeon Attack was, obviously, thebat. In that regard, the Acting skill already received a failing mark. Moreover, it isn¡¯t capable of deceiving the other partypletely! Be it ¡®somewhat¡¯ or ¡®fairly¡¯, these were all subjective and rtive terms. In the first ce, why were skills important? It was because they were capable of always disying a reliable effect. They always exhibited a predictable effect, thus it allowed people to n things out because they could theorize what would happen if they used the skill at a certain point. An unreliable skill that you don¡¯t know when and how well it will work? I couldn¡¯t evenugh at it. It would have been better if I could raise my stats a little instead. There was a time where someone asked on the Dungeon Attack fan site about the Acting skill and some others. They couldn¡¯t figure out why these skills existed. It didn¡¯t lower the enemy forces¡¯ intellect and it wasn¡¯t like Dungeon Attack possessed a separate political or diplomatical system¡­¡­. I suggested that they might have added those skills in name only just so that they could have exactly 255 skills. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know what exactly the Acting skill did as well. I even forgot that this skill existed in the game. A trash skill that even an advent fan of Dungeon Attack like myself was unfamiliar with. The Acting skill. ¡®Well, it¡¯ll probably be as helpful as the dirt under an ant¡¯s w.¡¯ I simply used the skill because it seemed relevant to the situation. Nothing more and nothing less. I continued in order to persuade Lapis. ¡°Within 2 months, an epidemic will spread across the human continent.¡± It seems she didn¡¯t understand what I was saying that well as Lapis remained quiet for a while. Her confusion was being transmitted to me. ¡°¡­¡­An epidemic, is it?¡± ¡°A gue known as the ck Death. On the year 1505 of the Empire Calendar, in other words, on the summer of this year, an unprecedented casualty will ur.¡± This wasn¡¯t a lie. This was a setting in the world of Dungeon Attack. The year the protagonist starts to go around as a hero, in other words, the year that the yer starts the game is in the year 1515 of the Empire Calender. The ck Death swept across the entire continent exactly one decade before this. The epidemic, which starts at the northern end of the continent, spreads across the entire continent in an instant. Within a few years, 20% of the poption, which consists of humans, elves, and other races, die out. Should I say adding insult to injury¡­¡­? Extremely lean years follow as well. Poor harvest for 10 whole years. There¡¯s no way the harvest could be good when the people who should be farming get infected and the underground water reserves also be contaminated. Every race on the continent fell into anguish. And they all turned the me towards the Demon Lords. They dered that the Demon Lords were the ones who brought about the epidemic and caused the famine. Naturally, this wasn¡¯t true; however, as the people in this world possess a medieval era-level of intellect, they sincerely believed that these usations were true. They also had their suspicions because the demons suffered rtively less than they did. Demons naturally have strong immune systems because they were born on the demon continent which is infamous for its extremely rough environments. However, that was borately twined around the logic that the disease was harmless to demons because they were the ones to spread it. The humans came to the conclusion that they had to expel every Demon Lord on the surface in order to prevent the extinction of mankind. ¡®Conquer the dungeons!¡¯ The age of adventuring. A new era unfolded where anyone that could swing a spear would gather around dungeons. This was the back story of Dungeon Attack. In particr, the protagonist loses their parents during their childhood because a Demon Lord piges their vige, so they hate Demon Lords more than anyone else. Although this hatred dissipates as the story progresses and they find out the truth¡­¡­. Mm, this isn¡¯t relevant right now. The outlook of the world was rather dark despite being a game, but it was able to garner huge fans thanks to this. Regardless, the important fact was this. A cure for the ck Death exists in this world. The nt is known as ck herbs, but you can think of it as an herb that¡¯s a little rarer than the deodeoks you can find back in my original world. In other words, they aren¡¯t that rare. (TL note:Deodeok) However, as soon as people found out that ck herbs were the cure during the early phases of the outbreak, people started gathering ck herbs like mad. It was due to this that the seeds became rare. ck herbs wereter managed and cultivated on a national level, but it was toote. It was like trying to use a rake to push water uphill. The amount cultivated was astronomically abysmal inparison to the number of patients. In the end, the poption was sharply reduced by half within a century. ¡®The greatest tragedy in history created by misunderstanding, ignorance, and urgencybined together.¡¯ I would consider this cruel¡­¡­ but once I realized that I was coincidentally dropped in the year 1505, I was ecstatic. I was so happy that I ran around with my one good leg. Because I could take advantage of this situation. ¡®An unprecedented epidemic will sweep across the continent soon. ck herbs are the cure for the disease. This was information which only I knew!¡¯ Who could possibly imagine something like this in the world? The ck herbs that grow on the mountainside and are useless for normal illnesses and have such a tough texture that you couldn¡¯t even use them as an ingredient. The absolutely pointless nt that you couldn¡¯t even use as a spice was the one and only cure for the worst epidemic in history. ck herbs were a weed that had no name until the ck Death started to spread. People started to refer to it as ck herbs once they realized that it worked against the ck Death. Moreover, people discover the effect of ck herbs several years after the gue had spread across the entire continent. What does this mean? ¡®If I stockpile on ck herbs now, then I¡¯ll be able to earn an unimaginable profit.¡¯ This was definitely a cruel thing to do. Each ck herb I collect would have normally saved someone¡¯s life. However, I may think, speak, and act the same like the people in my world, but I treasured myself more than the characters in a game and I cherished my golem and goblin as well. I wasn¡¯t kind enough to let a chance to develop my dungeon slip by for some random people I don¡¯t know. ¡°I know what the cure for this encroaching epidemic is. If I monopolize on the cure now, then I will be able to earn a massive profitter.¡± We exchanged questions and answers for a while. How was I certain that an epidemic was going to spread, how did I discover what the cure was going to be, it was these sort of questions. I simply fleshed out the information I had and lied appropriately. Now then, Lapis Lazuli. How will you react? ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Her azure eyes gazed right at me. Eventually, her soft lips spread apart. ¡°I apologize, but I still cannot.¡± There was no hesitation in Lapis¡¯ eyes. I received a firm refusal. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing really much to say, this is just an exposition chapter to introduce the gue. I¡¯m still waiting for Handholding scans. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release? Chapter 13: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (3) Chapter 13: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (3) ¡°Hm.¡± I tapped the floor with my left foot twice. It was a habit that formed after being unable to use my right foot for a while due to my injury. It wasn¡¯t a particrly good habit. I responded in a tone that sounded as if I expected to be refused but I wanted to know the reason anyway. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± ¡°For starters, there is no guarantee that an epidemic will ur. Sir Dantalian, you proimed that an epidemic will manifest itself soon and that it will spread across the entire continent and wipe out a third of mankind. However, this is not a im. There is no basis. The firm does not invest in prophets.¡± Yes, this was an impasse that I expected. I was certain about my information because I knew the game¡¯s setting; however, trying to convince others of this was an entirely separate matter. Think about it. What would you do if someone dered that the worst gue in history was going to happen in two months and that half the poption on the continent was going to die because of it? It¡¯d be a relief if they weren¡¯t arrested under the pretext of trying to start a revolt. Even I wouldn¡¯t loan any money to me if I were in Lapis¡¯ shoes. ¡®It¡¯s all going as nned up to this point.¡¯ Regardless, if I let this information go to waste, then I would be a fool among fools. A thin smile appeared on my lips. ¡°How about this? Simply inform the firm that I¡¯ve requested a loan. Also, tell your superiors what my business n is. It doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t loan me any money.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll only receive a loan of the 1,000 gold which I can immediately borrow as emergency funding.¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian, the interest rate for emergency fundings is incredibly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably astonishingly high.¡± It didn¡¯t matter. ¡°It¡¯s fine if the firm doesn¡¯t loan me any money this time around. If the epidemic that I mentioned truly does happen, then the firm will, at that time, realize that I, Dantalian, had devised an urate business n. Then their interest in me will rise.¡± It¡¯s unfortunate, but I have to give up on my n to use the epidemic to make arge sum of money. In return, I¡¯ll obtain the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s trust. There are asionally times when Demon Lords are gifted with the ability of foresight. The thought, ¡®Maybe Demon Lord Dantalian has it?¡¯ will most likely cross their minds. I¡¯ll take advantage of this misguided trust for the next opportunity I get, for the extremely lean years which were going to follow afterward. ¡°I cannotprehend your actions. Sir Dantalian, your tone sounds as if you???.¡± Lapis spoke in a fairly agitated tone. ¡°It sounds as if you know everything that is going to happen in the future. It is difficult for me to distinguish whether you are truly a prophet or an extraordinary gambler.¡± I grinned. There was no reason for me to go out of my way to answer her. It was better to leave these sorts of misunderstandings alone. If the other party overestimates me on their own, then what more could I ask for? Especially if their job is rted to lending money. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis avoided my gaze. Huh? This was the first time she ever averted her gaze. Lapis has always looked straight at me when she spoke. I could sense that she was feeling conflicted. ¡®What¡¯s wrong?¡¯ Although I was overflowing with the desire to check what she was thinking through her status window,, unfortunately, her affection towards me hasn¡¯t reached a point where it would show me her inner thoughts. For the past 15 days, I did all I could to try and raise her affection, but Lapis was an impregnable fortress. If you consider how stupidly easy it was to raise the affection of those Jalsen Vige males, then the difficulty of this task was outrageous. Should I call her the chicest modern woman on the demon continent? ¡°There is something that I have not told you, Sir Dantalian. In truth¡­¡­ my right to speak in the firm is not very high. No, it is incredibly small. Therefore, even if Sir Dantalian did have a good business proposal, there is arge chance that my superiors will not even listen to what I have to say.¡± ¡°Well, you did say you¡¯re a rank 5 personnel.¡± She was at the lowest rank, so it was only natural that her right to speak would also be small. Lapis shook her head. ¡°It is natural for even rank 5 personnel to possess the minimum amount of discretion and speaking ability. The Keuncusa Firm is apany that advocates talent. They allow their employees to have a lot of discretion as a way to test their ability.¡± ¡°Oho. Then does that mean you also have the ability to loan a reasonable sum at your discretion?¡± ¡°No, it is the opposite.¡± Eh? ¡°I am only allowed the minimum amount of discretion. To be honest, I am like a heretical existence in the firm. Most of my superiors and colleagues do not have a favorable opinion of me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s surprising. You may be cold, but you seem verypetent. Is it because youck social skills?¡± Lapis¡¯ eyes became sharp for an instant. I hastily changed my words. ¡°Ah, if they advocate talent, then that must not be the only reason.¡± ¡°As you may also know, Sir Dantalian, we demons are individualists by nature. Sociability is not a virtue that is specifically encouraged. Our value is determined by our ability and results.¡± Lapis affirmed. It felt like she was fairly proud of her own ability. As expected of a cold city girl. Right after I clicked my tongue in my head, I came to a question. ¡°Wait, I don¡¯t get it, then. Why are you being cut off then?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am a mixed-blood between a demon and a human.¡± I waited for her to continue; however, Lapis shut her mouth after saying that one line. It was as if she thought that one line was enough to exin everything. I felt annoyed, so I questioned her. ¡°So what?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°Oh, is that it? So you¡¯re a mixed-blood between a demon and a human. How interesting.¡± There was also a heroine in Dungeon Attack who was a mixed-blood between a demon and a human. A powerful mage known as Romei who was shunned by human society. It seems that if you¡¯re a mixed-blood, then it was easy for you to be ostracized. The hostility humans possess towards demons goes up to its peak after the ck Death starts to spread, but it was currently an era where there weren¡¯t any big grudges between humans and demon yet. Lapis probably wasn¡¯t being bullied that badly. I continued nonchntly. ¡°Why does it matter if you¡¯re a mixed-blood? Humans and demons bully others all the time just because they¡¯re a little different. It¡¯s fundamentally the behavior of children. Don¡¯t worry about these kinds of things.¡± Lapis looked at me nkly. This was also the first time I saw her look at me like this. It felt like I was discovering a lot of Lapis¡¯ new sides today. ¡°¡­¡­I understand. I will return to the office and prepare your emergency funding, Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°Good, good. Don¡¯t forget to tell your superiors about my ns as well.¡± ¡°Please leave it to me.¡± Lapis bowed to mepolitely. A pink magic circle lit up from underneath her feet. The light wrapped around her waist like fog before her body disappeared in an instant. She had probably returned to the demon continent. As this all happened, she kept bowing the entire time. Mm, how reliable. She may be a little inflexible, but she was a courteous and good girl. I nodded with satisfaction. A sound effect rang in my ear the moment I got up and tried to pick up my pickaxe. ¡¸Lower Subus Lapis Lazuli¡¯s affection has risen by 15.¡¹ ¡°Eh?¡± I let out a sound. Why was the affection, which I had beendesperatelytrying to raise since half a month ago, going up now? I tried to look back at everything I had said during our conversation just now, but I couldn¡¯t figure out which of my lines could have increased her affection. I wracked my brain for a while, but I soon went back to picking up my pickaxe. ¡°Whatever. Let¡¯s just mine some more.¡± Who cares? It isn¡¯t a bad thing, anyway. I hummed to myself as I walked through my dungeon. On a side note, Lapis is a subus, huh? I didn¡¯t know because her basic status window doesn¡¯t show her race. * * * A pink light wrapped around Lapis before disappearing shortly after. Lapis thought to herself. The color of a demon¡¯s magic circle was determined by their race. Centaurs were gray, vampires were crimson, and subi like her mother were a bright scarlet. However, hers was¡­¡­. ¡®A pitifully pale pink.¡¯ She raised her head. The room she was in was shabby. It was tidy and clean, but it had no decorations whatsoever. The one table in the center of the room was probably the only thing that could be called a luxury item. This was the office that was assigned to Lapis by the firm¡¯s branch office. Starting from rank 5 personnel, private offices were given to employees in the firm. Lapis had struggled for several decades as a probationer in order to obtain this small room. Lapis sat down in her chair. There were dozens of documents piled on top of her desk. Demon Lord Dantalian wasn¡¯t the only customer she was in charge of. She was always being bombarded by customer orders; however, those other orders weren¡¯t in her head right now. ¡®Was this¡­¡­ what people referred to as Demon Lords are Demon Lords?¡¯ (TL note: I¡¯m not exactly sure what she¡¯s trying to say here) Rank 71st Demon Lord Dantalian. Her first impression of him was honestly as a very unreliable person. ¡®B-But¡­¡­ I don¡¯t have any money.¡¯ ¡®Is that so? Pardon me, but how much gold do you have, Sir Dantalian?¡¯ ¡®406 gold.¡¯ Demon Lords weren¡¯t just individuals who were slightly stronger than others. They were the only ones among demonkind that could possess an army. By seizing and reading the hearts of monsters, they were the only ones capable of uniting the demon continent where war and betrayal never ended. Demon Lords required charisma that was unlike any other. On this standard, Dantalian was undoubtedly a flunky. ¡®Sir Dantalian, may I ask how many monsters you have in your dungeon?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­One.¡¯ He even went as far as to speak to her in a formal tone. A Demon Lord using honorifics for a mere subus was unthinkable. If another demon were to hear about this, then they would probably roll on the floorughing. There are times when a normal demon is stronger than a low-ranked Demon Lord; however, even those demons still showed Demon Lords respect. Only Demon Lords can rule and win over the demon continent, after all. When the head office ordered Lapis to manage Demon Lord Dantalian, she thought it would be a golden opportunity. She didn¡¯t intend to rot away as a rank 5 personnel forever. ¡®I will make a Demon Lord my customer. No matter what.¡¯ The reason why Lapis was always impassive rooted back to the tragedy and bullying she experienced during her childhood. Underneath her never-changing visage, she hid her fierce desire for authority and revenge which was stronger than anyone else¡¯s. The very fact she had the blood of a human while living on the demon continent was an incredible demerit for her. For demons who believed in strength and stratagem, having thebel of ¡®child born after their mother was impregnated by a weak human¡¯ was close to being a critical blow. The shame of demonkind. Throughout Lapis¡¯ a bit over a hundred years of life, those were the words she had heard the most. Her muddy inferiorityplex had at some point solidified over her face like a mask. ¡®I apologize, Sir Dantalian. This may be discourteous of me, but I have no other choice but to say this.¡¯ ¡®Go ahead¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®This is the first time in my short demon life that I¡¯ve seen such an ungainly dungeon.¡¯ How disappointed she was once she realized the truth about Demon Lord Dantalian. Honestly, it wasn¡¯t that surprising. If anything, the thought ¡®so that¡¯s how it is¡¯ was the first thing that went through her head. There was no way that the firm would leave arge business opportunity to a mixed-blood crossbreed like her. She was the foolish one for getting her own hopes up. Immediately after meeting Dantalian, Lapis put a leash on her emotions and collected herself. ¡®A customer is still a customer.¡¯ Lapis reflected on herself for considering a customer as a tool to raise her own status for even a second. Deep down, Lapis was an earnest person. She put aside all of her own personal interests and began to listen to Dantalian¡¯s requests. She personally visited his Demon Lord castle every day in order to buy something as trivial as magic-infused iron ore. The average demon lived for hundreds of years. If she was in a difficult situation now, then she might prosper in the future. Lapis suppressed her impatience and forgot about her urgency. Slowly, if she proceeded slowly¡­¡­ then the day she bes an executive in the Keuncuska Firm will one day arrive. Would you truly be satisfied with just that? This question rose up from a corner of her heart, but she forced it down. ¡°¡­¡­Today was different.¡± Lapis looked up at the ceiling as she talked to herself. She recalled the conversation she just had. At first, it wasn¡¯t any different from the usual. When she went to the Demon Lord Castle, Dantalian was ying with his goblin. Does he even know what the word dignity means? She has never seen or heard of a Demon Lord that doted on a goblin that much. Though, she had heard rumors about Her Highness, Rank 12th Demon Lord Sitri, using goblins as ythings for her unique sexual preferences. ¡®You are interested in receiving a loan?¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s correct.¡¯ Furthermore, he went and said something idiotic today. He wanted a loan? Certainly, it may be difficult to feel fulfilled by mining ores endlessly. Regardless, borrowing emergency funds was, without a question, the most ignorant action one could possibly take. Lapis had, in her own way, a favorable impression of His Highness Demon Lord who was entric and nice to even goblins. She did her best to persuade him to not take a loan. She also exined how vicious the Keuncuska Firm could be. Fortunately, it seems the Demon Lord understood. ¡®An epidemic.¡¯ It was then that there was a sudden change in his atmosphere. Lapis felt the air inside the cavern change. The air that once felt like a calmke had abruptly shifted into violent waves that normally ur at the dead of night. Tension gripped her spine. If she weren¡¯t the always calm andposed Lapis, she would have most likely panicked. ¡®¡­¡­An epidemic, is it?¡¯ Even this Lapis had no other choice but to speak slowly. She felt pressure on her chest. Just the very fact that her voice didn¡¯t tremble was worthy of praise. Whether he knew what sort of state the other party was in or not, the Demon Lord before her smiled boldly. ¡®Don¡¯t treat my prophecy lightly, young demon girl.¡¯ His tone had changed. She had never seen His Highness Dantalian talk so prudently. And yet, it didn¡¯t feel awkward. It felt as if that was his true tone. Lapis didn¡¯t even consider asking back as she held her mouth shut. The Demon Lord dered. ¡®A ck cloud will envelop the continent. Within two months, every human on the continent will fall into despair and anguish. This is a Demon Lord¡¯s prophecy!¡¯ Lapis felt her heart sink. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Same ol¡¯ same ol¡¯. My focus has been somewhat goodtely since I¡¯ve been able to just sit down and get an entire chapter done in almost one sitting. Hopefully, I can keep this up for a while. See you guys in the next release. Chapter 14: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (4) Chapter 14: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (4) ¡®All of nature breathes just as those doomed to perish breathe. gues are the same, so if there is a moment of pause, its breath will eventuallye out and spread an epidemic throughout the continent. I call it the ck Cloud.¡¯ Divination. Since ancient times, it has been widely known that Demon Lords were the only ones who could possess this ability. They were referred to as oracles of God back when Demon Lords used to be treated as such. As time passed, or possibly, because the veils of magic gradually lifted from the world, people stopped believing in the Demon Lords¡¯ prophecies. The number of Demon Lords who were capable of making prophecies slowly diminished before they vanished entirely. Demon schrs hade to a general consensus that ¡®Demon Lords possess higher intellect than the average person, so people may have misunderstood their simple predictions as prophecies¡¯. His Highness Dantalian possesses the ability of divination? There was no way. Lapis¡¯ rationality immediately refuted. No matter how much you try to predict the future, it was impossible. ¡­¡­Regardless, has he always been hiding this overwhelming presence? Lapis found it hard to swallow as saliva pooled in her mouth. Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s voice mmed against her like thunder. ¡®Soon, numerous cumulus clouds will flow over the earth. However, a certain cloud will enshroud the entire continent. An immense cloud, an immense cmity willugh at the history of the doomed.¡¯ ¡®If so, then.¡¯ Lapis spoke. Her way of speech had unconsciously changed as well. From simple honorifics to the most honorary terms. The person before her was no longer a mere customer, they were a king. ¡®How much¡­¡­damage do you predict will happen to the continent?¡¯ Dantalian grinned. ¡®How impatient. Do you think I used the modus operandi of being metaphorical simply to confuse you? Divination is the act of borrowing the power of spirits to call upon something which should not happen yet to the present. If one tries to reproduce the future too precisely, then the fate of the world will be distorted and bring about a catastrophic cmity.¡¯ ¡®Apologies, this one was discourteous because of her ignorance.¡¯ Lapis promptly lowered her head. ¡®I forgive you. In this day and age where there are no more Demon Lords who are capable of observing time, how could one expect others to know the decorum of divination? Girl, engrave my words into your heart. If there are three arrows on the continent, then the ck Cloud will break one of those arrows. If there are nine arrows on the continent, then three of those arrows will rot.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­!¡¯ This meant that a third of the continent was going to be wiped out. A chill went down Lapis¡¯ spine. His words meant that a third, in other words, tens of millions, no, if you include the other races as well, then hundreds of millions of people were going to die. Even as a joke, the level of deaths was too immense. Lapis questioned if Dantalian truly had the ability to prophesize an epidemic. Adding to that, even if he could prophesize one, she considered the possibility that he was referring to a small one. Epidemics are always happening somewhere. Even now, an infectious disease is most likely causing panic in some corner of the continent. If he was prophesizing something like that, then he definitely wouldn¡¯t be lying. But what if it was a prophecy about a third of the poption vanishing? Within 2 months, at that. The risk was too high to brush it off as a lie. To put it bluntly, if nothing happens in the next two months, then Dantalian will lose all of her trust. There was no room for excuses. Losing the trust of your exclusive personnel meant, by proxy, that you were losing the trust of the entire Keuncuska Firm. Was he telling the truth? ¡®There¡¯s no need to fear too much. As there is nothing in the world that does not have a natural enemy, the ck Cloud is the same. It ismon for things that have more power to have a natural enemy that is, in truth, small and trivial. A small herb that grows on the mountainside has the ability to suppress the ck Cloud. I intend to gather those herbs beforehand.¡¯ Lapis immediately understood the Demon Lord¡¯s intention. A monopoly. This Demon Lord was hoping for something which all merchants dream of. He intended to borrow funds from the firm in order to create a monopoly. ¡®Two months from now, the royal families of the human continent will scream as they try to obtain a mere nt. I n to supply the herb at that time and make a substantial profit. Lapis Lazuli, consider my offer.¡¯ A silence fell over the cavern. ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ Lapis¡¯ intuition was warning her that the Demon Lord wasn¡¯t lying. An unprecedented cmity was truly going to happen. You can change a crisis into an opportunity. An unprecedented opportunity will be born from this unprecedented crisis. On the other hand, Lapis¡¯ rationality was refusing fiercely. Intuition or rationality. Lapis stood quietly as she faced the fork in the road. She somehow managed to give an answer. ¡±I apologize, but I still cannot.¡¯ ¡®Is that so?¡¯ Unexpectedly, the Demon Lord didn¡¯t appear to be displeased. No, he seemed interested. ¡®Tell me why.¡¯ Lapis felt as if she had entered the mouth of a Balrog. Her refusal was going to be forgiven; however, if she dared to refuse the Demon Lord¡¯s offer for a trivial reason, then she was going to have to pay with her life. That was what the Demon Lord¡¯s eyes were telling her. Lapis calmly ruminated over her beliefs before speaking in a clear tone in order to not get pressured by the Demon Lord¡¯s aura. ¡®For starters, there is no guarantee that an epidemic will ur. Sir Dantalian, you proimed that an epidemic will manifest itself soon and that it will spread across the entire continent and wipe out a third of mankind.¡¯ ¡®However¡¯, Lapis continued. ¡®This is not a im. There is no basis. The firm does not invest in prophets.¡¯ Merchants must always be rational. That was what Lapis believed. If her belief caused her to die to Dantalian, then it couldn¡¯t be helped. For demons, death wasn¡¯t a distant future. It was a shadow that constantly threatened them from behind. Lapis was resolved to die. However, something unforeseen happened next. The imposing aura which the Demon Lord had been incessantly emitting until now had spontaneously vanished. Dantalian had be a normal person again. He grinned. ¡®How about this? Simply inform the firm that I¡¯ve requested a loan. Also, tell your superiors what my business n is. It doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t loan me any money.¡¯ His words that followed afterward were also unexpected. It seems that Dantalian knew she was going to refuse him since the beginning. He understood the firm¡¯s position. He was simply trying to set up an opportunity to gain the firm¡¯s trust. Lapis felt as if she had been hit by a hammer. That¡¯s right, if he truly does have the power of divination, then there was no reason for him to obsess over the infectious disease right now. What a terrifying ability. However, there was something more horrifying than that. It was the Demon Lord himself. Despite having an incredible skill like divination, he didn¡¯t goaroundunting it. If anything, he utilized his prophecy in order to nt fear and trust in her. Furthermore, he went back to his usual self the instant he had achieved his goal. No, was that truly his usual self? Was the attitude he had been showing her until now, which she thought was his norm???actually just an act he had been putting on for the sake of this very moment? Lapis reproached herself. She was hit by a pang of regret. How could she lower her guard just because he was a rank 71st Demon Lord?! Demon Lords are Demon Lords even in death. Rather, this Demon Lord was earnest. He had been constantly sharpening his de in order to deal with her. A de for a single moment. Lapis felt embarrassed. She suddenly had the worrying thought that the Demon Lord was possibly overestimating her excessively. The authority she had in the Keuncuska Firm was pitiful. She wasn¡¯t confident that she could live up to the Demon Lord¡¯s expectations. She found herself inadvertently avoiding the Demon Lord¡¯s gaze. ¡®¡­¡­There is something that I have not told you, Sir Dantalian.¡¯ Lapis then exined how humble her birth was. The Demon Lord will probably begin to scorn her as well, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. Whether she told him or not, he was going to find out one way or another anyway. If the Demon Lord held any needless expectations towards her, then it would be better to break the news to him early. Rather than be scornedter¡­¡­ it¡¯d be best to start enduring it now before our rtionship could build any further. However. ¡®So what?¡¯ ??Dantalian was different. ¡®Why does it matter if you¡¯re a mixed-blood?¡¯ Even though he was a noble and pure Demon Lord who, out of everyone, should be appalled by crossbreeds the most. ¡®Don¡¯t worry about these kinds of things.¡¯ He dered that that was an incredibly insignificant matter. Lapis stared at the Demon Lord vacantly. Has anyone ever said this to her before? This was the first. Even the people whoapproached her with good intentionswould eventually scowl at her and walk away. There was no exception. For the past hundred years, this had always happened. She had a life where she had to think about separations before even meeting people for the first time. She had already given up on those words which she always wanted to hear and the desire was simply floating around her unconsciousness in a twisted form. And yet, these words were said to her by one of the highest existences in the demon world. Ah???. Lapis¡¯ emotions fluctuated more than ever before. She didn¡¯t want the other party to notice what sort of state she was in. It would be the end if someone discovered a merchant¡¯s weakness. That¡¯s why she had to get out of the dungeon as soon as possible. She didn¡¯t even remember what sort of excuse she gave before leaving. After returning to her office, she continued to stare at the ceiling. She couldn¡¯t suppress her emotions like she used to. This was a good thing. If Demon Lord Dantalian was this gifted all along, then the chance she¡¯ll rise up in her career willswiftlyincrease as well, was what she kept trying to fell herself, but¡­¡­ nothing could douse her current emotions. In the end, Lapis couldn¡¯t help but mutter to herself. ¡°What a weird Demon Lord.¡± Still, her emotions refused to calm down. With an emotionless face, Lapis tilted her head as she dered that today was a weird day. She then began to prepare the report which she intended to hand in to her superiors. The document started with the statement that Demon Lord Dantalian may possibly have the ability of divination. ¡¸You¡¯ve extracted 2 iron ores.¡¹ ¡°All right, two in one again!¡± While this was happening, a certain Demon Lord continued to swing his pickaxe energetically. Unaware of whatever was happening outside his cave. * * * It has been two months since I intimidated Lapis. Adventurer parties invaded the dungeon roughly once a week. It might be because this was still the beginning portion of the game, as all of the parties consisted of only 15 members. They were also all F-ranks. If this were a proper dungeon, then a party of F-rank adventurers would normally get wiped out the instant they step foot into the dungeon. Of course, my Demon Lord castle, my dungeon which I couldn¡¯t even proudly say was my Demon Lord castle, wasn¡¯t a proper ce. All of the F-rank adventurer parties approached me as a threat to my life. Thus, I was currentlyying down on the floor. ¡°Huh? Hey, someone¡¯s copsed over here.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right. Hey, wake up!¡± An adventurer approached me and patted my cheek. I let out a groan. ¡°Uuh, waaater¡­¡­ water¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Tsk! He¡¯s suffering from dehydration.¡± Water was poured on my face. It seems that one of them had poured their water bag on me. Water flowed through the gaps of the cheap helmet I was wearing. Ipped at the water like a dog during a summer heatwave. ¡°Uu, uuu. T-Thank you.¡± ¡°People down on their luck should always help each other out. So, how did you end up like this?¡± ¡°Well.¡± I activated my skill in my head. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has slipped from your hand! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ¡®slightly¡¯ lowered.¡¹ ¡°It¡¯s been about 3 days since I came to this dungeon.¡± I then began to tell them my pathetic story. My name was Hansen and I was from Jalsen Vige. I traveled to this dungeon with some other people from the same vige, but we were assaulted by monsters and our group wound up getting separated. Our guide had died early on, so we soon got lost in the dungeon. I wandered around for 3 days straight before my body could no longer hold itself up and I copsed¡­¡­ Even I felt like my acting ability was amazing. However, these people were more naive than I thought was possible. ¡°Hkk, you must have had a hard time!¡± ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve ever heard such unfortunate events.¡± ¡°Uaah. Young man, please don¡¯t despair and continue to live on. No matter how shitty the world is, the stars will shine upon you one day. Let us believe in the future! We must believe.¡± The cave was filled with tears. The faces of the adventurers were rough since they had spent their entire lives under the sun. Tears and snot came flowing out from those sunburnt faces. The adventurers patted my shoulder with their hands which they had blown their noses and wiped their tears on. Gross. ¡®They¡¯re really weak to acting, huh.¡¯ The party from Jalsen Vige wasn¡¯t this weak to it. Well, I¡¯m wearing a helmet, after all. My horn, which was the only evidence on me that made it clear that I was a Demon Lord, wasn¡¯t visible to them. The difference between how they react to Demon Lords and other humans is probably massive. I came to this realization as I watched a bunch of notice windows pop up telling me that I had raised their affection. ¡°Young man. No, young friend, may I ask a couple of questions about this dungeon?¡± *** Author¡¯s Afterword Why did his imposing aura disappear all of a sudden? Once Lapis made her ¡®refusal¡¯ clear, the effect of the skill had disappeared because the Acting skill was deemed unsessful¡­¡­ haha. There¡¯s no way that our Ms. Lapis would know this, though. She¡¯s free to jump to conclusions. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Who knew that being in uni again would speed up my tranting speed. Weird. I might slow down a littleter when one of my professors reaches out to meter this month. Not really sure when, so just keep this in mind if I suddenly slow down. Chapter 15: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (5) Chapter 15: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (5) ¡°Young man. No, young friend, may I ask a couple of questions about this dungeon?¡± A man asked in a tender tone. His name was Hawk. He was the captain of the party this time around. He didn¡¯t try to hide the worry in his gaze. ¡°Although I¡¯m a bit worried that I might make you recall some bad memories.¡± ¡°I-It¡¯s all right. You guys are already my saviors.¡± ¡°This youngster has some really good manners.¡± Hawk seemed pleased as he turned to speak to hisrades. ¡°It¡¯d be great if you bastards were as sensible as this guy.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? At least Felix has just enough education to get by. My son, on the other hand, is a lost cause. Tsk tsk.¡± ¡°Youngsters these days don¡¯t have any manners.¡± It was a bit funny. Youngsters these days being rude was a topic that was shared in the past, the present, and even in another world. ¡°You said that your group was assaulted by monsters. For starters, allow me to give you my condolences. However, would it be all right if I asked you what type of monster attacked you the most and how many there were?¡± ¡°Golems. It was a unit of golems. There were 14 of them¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What? 14 of them!?¡± The adventurers were bbergasted. Golems were monsters that required at least 5 properly positioned F-rank adventurers to take care of one golem. The presence of 14 golems was like a death sentence for these men. It was only natural that they would be surprised when the dungeon they invaded without much thought turned out to be this dangerous. ¡°Kuh, one golem appeared in front of us at first. It was only one.¡± I shed a tear. ¡°Our party may havecked fame and skills, but we weren¡¯t so weak that we would lose to a single golem. We quickly got into formation and fought back, but, at that moment, golems started to pour out from one of the tunnels on the side!¡± The adventurers turned to look at each other worriedly. I grinned in my head. Icked the manpower to protect my dungeon. Adventurers continued to invade. The countermeasure I decided to take in this seemingly hopeless situation was simple. I chose to bullshit. Some people might say that I¡¯m underhanded and call me a cheater; however, this method was undoubtedly called bravado in strategy books. This was the best trick I could use as someone who only had the Acting skill. ¡®Please work.¡¯ Even the party that camest week ended up turning around after I managed to sessfully deceive them with my excellent performance. Asking a shabby party to deal with 14 golems would be asking for too much. Nevertheless, saying that it worked very well also meant that, in contrast, there were times it didn¡¯t work. The party leader, Hawk, opened his mouth. ¡°Friends,rades, this has be a dire situation.¡± He had an awfully serious expression on his face. ¡°I swore on my name to you men. As a childhood friend who grew up with you all in the same vige, as arade who has made his way through the rough patch of mud called life with you all, I promised that I would send you all home alive. You guys trusted me. For some of you, this is your first time in a dungeon, but you came here because you trusted me. And yet, I must first apologize to you all. It seems that I can no longer guarantee your safety.¡± ¡°Kuh.¡± ¡°Well, there are over 10 golems, so there¡¯s no other way¡­¡­.¡± The adventurers sighed. Some of them even turned to look at the path they had passed needlessly. Different from the monsters that grow naturally in the wild, dungeon monsters go for a lot of money. The leather from dungeon monsters alone is far more luxurious than the leather from wild monsters. They hade to this dungeon after oveing their fear in order to get rich quick, but their greed started to lose its strength once they realized how tall the wall before them was. ¡°Fortunately, this young man has shared his information with us. The mere fact that we¡¯ve prevented the future of being wiped out helplessly may possibly be a miracle. If there are those of you who want to go back, then I won¡¯t stop you. But!¡± A sound effect resonated all of a sudden. ¡¸Novice Adventurer Hawk has activated the skill ¡®Speech¡¯.¡¹ ¡®What!?¡¯ I was startled. What kind of ¡°dog tap dancing on the hottest day of the year¡±-sounding news is this? I hastily checked Hawk¡¯s status. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Hawk Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Levian Vige Attribute: Good(+25) Level: 3¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 2 Job: Fisherman(B+), Adventurer(F) Leadership: 20¡¡¡¡Might: 15 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 3 Politics: 15¡¡¡¡Charm: 10¡¡¡¡Technique: 10 Affection: 26 Current thought: ¡®14 golems¡­¡­that is certainly an intimidating number, but!¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®But? But what!?¡¯ How could a mere F-rank adventurer have a skill? That¡¯s cheating. I have the Acting skill as an F-rank Demon Lord, but am I not nominally a Demon Lord? As a Dungeon Attack addict, I can say with certainty that there has never been an F-rank NPC with a skill. Even the NPCs who eventually be heroes all started without any skills. But what was up with this world¡­¡­? ¡®How high is the difficulty!?¡¯ Hawk proceeded with his speech with a bold and powerful voice. ¡°We all have families that are relying on us. Our wives and children are probably waiting for us back at the vige with empty mouths. How long can theyst? That godforsaken region lord has no intention to lower our taxes. Next week from now, that demon-like tax collector wille to our vige, but we don¡¯t have enough to pay even half of our taxes.¡± Everyone became as quiet as a mouse. I could easily tell that they were all thinking about their homes. Damn it. Men with wives and children tend to act irrationally. This wasn¡¯t looking good. ¡°Of course, if we die, then we would be putting the cart before the horse. Honestly, even if we put our lives on the line, winning against 14 golems is impossible. Nevertheless,rades, what if I had a n?¡± ¡°A n? How could you have a n? There are 14 golems.¡± ¡°Think about it the other way around! Young man, you clearly said there were 14 golems, right?¡± Hawk asked me. I nodded on impulse. ¡°Y-Yes.¡± ¡°There weren¡¯t any other monsters besides them, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That¡¯s right.¡± Hawk grinned widely. ¡°That¡¯s where our enemy¡¯s weakness lies. The fact that they only have 14 golems. As you all know, golems are rather slow. Their fists may be fast, but their actual movement speed is slow. Do you get it? If we fall back and attack the golems from afar, then we¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right!¡± The other adventurers eximed. On the other hand, my mouth was agape. My jaw was nearly touching the floor. He¡¯s right! ¡°If this ce also had some goblins or fairies, then our n would most likely fail. However, if there are only golems, then that makes things easy. Use your bows. Just fire your arrows appropriately while walking back. It will probably consume a lot of time, but we should definitely be able to wipe out a unit of golems.¡± The adventurers started to chat excitedly. They were acting as if they had already won the battle. ¡°You¡¯re right! This was such a simple solution.¡± ¡°What a relief. I don¡¯t have to worry about my wife¡¯s nagging now. Honestly, my wife would have probably killed me if I came home emptyhanded again.¡± A couple of notices appeared. ¡¸Levian Vige Adventurer Party(F)¡¯s Speech skill was sessful.¡¹ ¡¸Levian Vige Adventurer Party(F)¡¯s morale has increased greatly!¡¹ I almost let out a swear. Who knew that using the strongest monster among the lowest-tier monsters, golems, as my bullshit card would end up being my downfall. I was the stupidest person in all thend. I wanted to kill myself. If there were a 1m long stctite nearby, then I would have probably impaled my head on it. My foolishness yed a big part, but the adventurer called Hawk was really something else. It may sound easy, but actually trying to take down 14 golems with a group of novice adventurers using only stones and arrows was anything but easy. You¡¯d need great courage and tenacity. Their party leader, Hawk, managed to fill them with those two things by making them think about their families and children. ¡®If only my skill was that good as well.¡¯ I felt like crying. How could a Demon Lord be worst than one of the lowest NPCs? How could the yer, who was at the peak of Dungeon Attack, fall this low? I felt skeptical about life. Despite my sorrow, I was busy turning the screws in my head. People say it¡¯s wise to prepare for a rainy day. Even if I didn¡¯t consider the golem¡¯s weakness, I had already devised several different strategies just in case. ¡°Leader Hawk!¡± I hastily got down on my knees. ¡°Mm? You¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I was moved by your speech! Please allow me to join your party!¡± Wrinkles appeared on Hawk¡¯s forehead. It seems he felt troubled. I shouted more desperately. ¡°I also¡­¡­ I also have a family. My three younger sisters and my elderly mother are waiting for me back at home¡­¡­ I haven¡¯t been able to earn any decent profit for the past 3 months¡­¡­ Our vige has been experiencing a famine sincest year, so who knows how long we have left.¡± ¡°Huh, so you had your own set of circumstances.¡± ¡°Just like you all, I dived into this damn dungeon because life was bing too difficult to endure. And yet, far from making any sort of profit, myrades, the men of our vige, were killed. My family might be all right for now, but what about the other vigers¡­¡­? If even I don¡¯t manage to earn anything, then, hkk, our vige, our vige will¡­¡­.¡± The atmosphere became solemn. Only the sound of my sobbing echoed throughout the cavern. There was a moment of silence. ¡°You¡­¡­ You are truly.¡± Hawk blew his nose. ¡°You are truly a splendid young man! At most, I¡¯ve only been thinking about my own family, but you¡¯ve been worrying about your entire vige¡­¡­. What a nobled. Is this not beautiful!? Throughout my forty-five years of life, I, Hawk, have never felt this embarrassed! Just knowing the fact that ad like you will be leading our next generation has made this dungeon adventure meaningful!¡± He grabbed both of my shoulders before speaking in a stuffy voice. ¡°Aye, aye! We shall go together. We must! We aren¡¯t strangers! We were all born in this ursed world. Are we not all struggling to live our lives? My closerades! What do you think?¡± ¡°Ha, you¡¯ll make me sad if you think we¡¯d have a different opinion.¡± ¡°We are also warmhearted men of Levian Vige! If you weren¡¯t moved by thatd¡¯s conviction, then you have no right to cross the violet river!¡± The adventurers patted my shoulder as they walked past me. One by one, they met my eyes before giving me a firm nod. I naturally nodded back at them. A silentmune among men was exchanged back and forth. I pulled out a bottle of alcohol from my bag. ¡°We can¡¯t have such a blissful day without any alcohol. Fortunately, I was the porter of my party. There isn¡¯t a lot, so everyone can only have one sip, but does the quantity matter? Let us firm our resolves together before the battle.¡± Yeah! Yeah! The other adventurers agreed in unison. I passed the bottle. The adventurers each took a sip before passing the bottle to the next person. Since ancient times, alcohol has often been used as a tool in war. A small amount of alcohol was capable of raising your morale, after all. ¡°Now then,d. You¡¯re thest one.¡± Hawk handed the bottle to me. I politely received the bottle and emptied it in my mouth. Once Hawk saw me do so, he raised his arms. ¡°We will win!¡± ¡°Ooooooaaah!¡± ¡°We will go home alive!¡± ¡°Ooooooaaah©¥©¥!¡± A received a notification telling me that their morale had raised greatly again. There was no reason for it to go out of its way to tell me. The man in front of me was bursting with vigor. I joined in on the shouting. I cheered so fiercely that I spat out the alcohol that was in my mouth. Right when the group was about to depart, it happened. ¡°All right. Let us go¡­¡­ Rajeev?¡± As soon as one of the adventurers took a step forward, he fell to the floor as if the ground under his feet had sunk. The others became rmed and approached him. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s the matter? What¡¯s wrong all of a sudden!?¡± Their previous energy had vanished like thin air and a wave of confusion swept over them. But that was only the beginning. ¡°H-Huh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The ground¡­¡­?¡± Within the span of a few seconds, all of the adventurers started to fall one by one. Thest person to fall was Hawk. As expected of the leader. Till the very end, he was perplexed by the chaos. Once a minute had passed, I was the only one left standing. ¡°Bleh.¡± I gathered the saliva in my mouth and spat it out. I took out some detoxifying herb just in case and chewed on it. Preparing a trump card was a good idea. I took out a dagger and proceeded to walk between the fallen adventurers. Schnk! Schnk! Each time I passed an adventurer, I stabbed my dagger into their throats. Death without any cries, fear, or surprise followed. It seems some of them were able to resist the drug somewhat as they groaned on the floor; however, groans weren¡¯t capable of stopping a de. My dagger slit their throats without any problem. ¡­¡­I didn¡¯t want to do this. These people were all good humans. That¡¯s right, humans. A race of people that were hostile towards Demon Lords. If they want to live, then I have to die, and if I want to live, then they have to die. I was the one to live this time. That was it. I stopped in front of Hawk¡¯s body. ¡°It would have been better if you had gone back, Leader Hawk.¡± I stabbed his neck. I felt my de prate his muscles and scrape a bone. I raised my head. I stared at the ceiling for a while. The ceiling was high. Different from the sky outside where it became clearer as it got higher, the ceiling of a cave became darker the higher it was. I started to get a headache, so I took off my cheap helmet and threw it aside. ng, the helmet let out a metallic sound as it hit the floor. ¡°Damn it.¡± I kept swearing over and over again as I looted each and every corpse. I gathered every item that could be sold for a fair price. How long did I have to keep this up for? Is there truly an ending to this world¡­¡­? They must have felt my emotions as I noticed my goblin and golem approach my side. They stood next to me silently. It was the day after this that Lapis arrived in order to tell me about the outbreak of the ck Death. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The next chapter will take somewhat longer to trante as I have to take care of 3 assignments over the weekend (Also Code Vein has juste out and I may or may not be on that grind). I¡¯ll return to my regr pace once I¡¯ve finished these assignments. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 16: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (6) Chapter 16: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (6) For the past 2 months, Lapis watched the human continent intently. She utilized her personal connections and the funding she had in order to acquire the herb the Demon Lord had told her about. Her work was precise. The 200 gold from the Demon Lord, the 1,000 gold he had borrowed from the firm, and finally, the 300 gold which Lapis had personally invested. So, with a total of 1,500 gold, Lapis formed a contract with the merchant firms in the human continent. The small and medium-sized firms then formed a contract with the pharmacist guilds in therger cities, and those pharmacist guilds formed a contract with the herb gatherers in every vige. Thus, Lapis had indirectly hired 400 herb gatherers. A tri-party agreement was formed within half a month. After a month, she had roughly 30,000 herbs in her possession. The small and medium-sized firms, pharmacist guilds, and herb gatherers were all delighted by this request. Theyughed, saying that some rich idiot had wasted their money. To them, ck herbs were useless weeds, so being able to earn money for pulling out weeds was a great way to earn some cash for some people. Lapis then closely observed a single ind on the human continent. Thergest ind of the White Sea, Sicilia. The Demon Lord had prophecized that the first outbreak would be here. ¡°Miss, why would youe to such a shabby ce like this again¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It is all right. I am doing this because I love my work.¡± One of the employees of the public bathhouse seemed perplexed as he bowed his head. There were several doctors stationed at this bathhouse. This man was one of them. He thought that Lapis was some esteemeddy from a noble family. She was so warmhearted that she woulde to take care of the patients here every 4 days. ¡®There are alwaysdies like this.¡¯ The doctor chuckled as he guided Lapis to the far side of the hot springs. asionally, when the daughter of a noble household is dumped cruelly by a man whom they were heavily infatuated with, they sometimes heal the scar in their hearts by taking care of patients. ¡°How are the patients?¡± ¡°They¡¯re the same. They keep shouting about how their bodies hurt. Truly, if they didn¡¯t shout all the time and reserved their strength, they would probably be running around energetically right now!¡± The doctor joked. Simr to how teachers scorned their students, doctors loathed their patients as well. Lapis gave an appropriate response. ¡°I see. Is there perhaps a new patient?¡± ¡°Yes, a young man was admitted just yesterday. He¡¯s been going on and on about how his armpits and groin area hurt. At the rate of how often heins about his headaches, his joint pains, and how his muscles feel as if they¡¯re ripping apart, I feel like I might die before him. He does have a bad fever, though. It¡¯s probably a summer flu.¡± Lapis stopped in ce. She spoke in a brusque manner. ¡°I wish to meet that patient first.¡± The doctor didn¡¯t have any particr reason to stop her from doing so. The two walked down the hallway of the bathhouse before entering a certain room. The patient who was staying in the room started to groan and shout the instant the door opened. ¡°Aah! I¡¯m dying, I¡¯m dying! Everyone! I¡¯m going to die because of this quack!¡± ¡°Damn nudist.¡± The doctor huffed and puffed as he approached the bed. ¡°A perfectly healthy-looking guy caught a little cold and now he¡¯s trying to chase me out of town? You should just die, you son of a bitch.¡± ¡°Oh, dear me! Now the doctor is telling me to die as well. How can I live with such anguish!? That¡¯s right, I should die. I should hurry up and die and then plead to Satan to kill this quack as well.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because of that very Satan that my life has be this messed up, idiot. I¡¯ve always wanted to give that guy a nice p, so meeting him would be perfect.¡± The doctor turned and gave Lapis an awkward smile. ¡°Apologies, Miss. This guy is my childhood friend and he¡¯s had a foul mouth his entire life¡­¡­ Just think of him as some uneducated sap.¡± ¡°Woe is me, who knew that one day a doctor would call me uneducated? Huh? How could anyone have possibly known that a proud helmsman of the Kingdom of Sardinia had be uneducated? Hey, you quack, you weren¡¯t like this back when you were 7 years old and spent your time shitting and pissing on the Syracuse three-way intersection¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ah! Aaaah! You crazy bastard! Don¡¯t say something like that in front of ady!¡± The doctor blocked the patient¡¯s mouth roughly. The patient made a noise as he resisted. Lapis sighed mentally before sitting next to the bed and assisted the doctor¡¯s medical treatment. It wasn¡¯t really much of a medical treatment. The conversation mainly consisted of asking him how his day was, how he was feeling, and whether the bathwater was good or not. When the patient said that his joints hurt especially, the doctor took some blood from his forearm. ¡°The hot springs are pretty nice, though.¡± The patient spoke in a tired tone. ¡°There are a lot of pretty girls and the beer tastes nice¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You god damn idiot, I told you not to drink alcohol, but you went and did it anyway.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t help it. If you take alcohol away from a seaman, then you¡¯ll just have a corpse. Oh right, I noticed this when I was taking a bath, but a spot appeared on the underside of my forearm. Look here.¡± The patient lifted his arm and revealed a ck spot that was the size of a thumb. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Lapis held her breath. The patient and doctor continued chatting casually. ¡°You¡¯re right. Huh, what could this be?¡± ¡°It probably isn¡¯t much, but my body hurts all over, so I can¡¯t help but feel uneasy.¡± ¡°Your stamina has dropped a lot. It hasn¡¯t even been half a month since you came back from the war, right? It isn¡¯t a surprise that your body would go on strike. You just have a bad cold and flu. Hurry up and rest so you can get better already.¡± ¡°You sure? Are you certain it¡¯s only a cold? It¡¯s a bit weird. It¡¯s not like I only caught a cold once or twice before, but it didn¡¯t hurt this badly those times¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re old. You senile, old man.¡± ¡°What was that, you quack bastard?¡± Pain that spreads out from the joints, a severe fever, and a symptom where certain parts of the body start to be ck. Lapis recalled the Demon Lord¡¯s words and got up. ¡°Excuse me. I suddenly remembered a matter I have to attend to. I will be taking my leave.¡± ¡°Ah, is that so? All right.¡± ¡°You do not have to see me off.¡± Lapis said as she stopped the doctor from getting up as well. She handed the doctor 2 silver coins before leaving the bathhouse in a hurry. The doctor red at the patient. ¡°She left because of you!¡± ¡°Eh? Why is it my fault?¡± ¡°You¡¯re such a foul-mouthed person that a noblewoman like that miss couldn¡¯t possibly endure it. Sheesh, this is why military people are no good. They only know how to brag and care little about what other people think.¡± The two men started to argue again. On the other side of the bathhouse, Lapis couldn¡¯t contain the panic in her heart as she walked down the hallway. The servants politely greeted Lapis thinking she was a noble, but Lapis didn¡¯t have the time to respond to each and every one of them. ¡®He was telling the truth. His Highness Demon Lord was right.¡¯ She had to go see the Demon Lord right away. She then had to hand in a report to her firm. This was an emergency situation! Two dayster, the patient died after his entire body had turned ck. One weekter, the doctor abruptly died as well. Up to this point, none of the townspeople realized the severity of the situation. However, after 10 days had passed, every single person that used the bathhouse died. It wasn¡¯t until the bodies of the entire poption of the city had turned ck within half a month of the first death did everyone realize what was happening. An epidemic was running rampant. * * * The Keuncuska Firm was not an ipetent group. If they were ipetent, then they would have never reached the top of the demon world. Even though it was a report from a minor employee who was scorned in thepany, the firm executives knew how to take things seriously when the report turned out to be true. The Keuncuska Firm executives gathered in a conference room. They were the highest executives that had supported the firm for the past hundreds of years. ¡°Who would have guessed that Dantalian was a prophet. What a surprise.¡± A vampire spoke in a low voice. The other executives argued back. ¡°Nothing is certain yet. I still believe he is nothing more than a rookie Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Hah, seriously. He prophecized an epidemic. An epidemic which no one has seen before, at that.¡± An elder of the wolf tribemented. ¡°Do we need any more evidence? In general, an organization should be excessively cautious when it needs to be cautious and be excessively bold when it needs to be bold. We took a typically cautious stance when the report was first handed in because there was no evidence. There is evidence now. Comrades! Do not obsess over decisions you made in the past. Obsession is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The mother of regression and the father of ignorance.¡± A vampire stated. ¡°The president used to say that a lot. It has already been seven hundred years since the president had passed away. The reason why the 7 of us were able to maintain Keuncuska¡¯s position at the top was because of our close rtionship with the Demon Lords.¡± The executives silently listened to the vampire¡¯s words. The executives were all equal on the surface. However, the vampire was the de facto leader. He had protected the firm longer than anyone else. The vampire spoke impassively. ¡°We have personally subjugated demons that were hostile towards the Demon Lords, and, in return, the Demon Lords show us endless favors. The rtionship between the Demon Lords and the Keuncuska is beyond a blood pact. Dantalian may only be rank 71st, but he is also a Demon Lord. If he truly possesses the power of divination, then the Keuncuska Firm will support him fully.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t ept it!¡± An old goblin seated at the other side of the table shouted. There were numerous wrinkles on his forehead as he scowled. ¡°Divination? Bollocks, your brains have finally left your skulls because of your age, huh? How could the greatest executives of Keuncuska believe in such an illogical phenomenon like divination!? If the only6people in the world I can call myrades were always this naive, then why did I try to stay alive for this long? If a thief stole one of your balls, then you guys would probably politely hand them your remaining one. How can you guys hold your heads up!?¡± ¡°Oi, our small outcrier friend.¡± The wolfman growled. ¡°Three human cities have already been wiped out. Within only half a month from the initial outbreak, three cities have already been destroyed. I have lived for hundreds of years, but I have never seen or heard about an epidemic that works this fast. Experts are already predicting the death of almost half the poption. How can you treat this as a lie?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to know? In any case, it absolutely wasn¡¯t prophecized, period.¡± The old goblin turned his head away as if he were sulking. The wolfman snorted. ¡°You only know how to insist on things while providing no proof. If that is what you call logical, then that is some great logic you have there. I would rather be illogical if that is the case. I sincerely hope that you do not behave like this when you are in Her Highness Paimon¡¯s presence.¡± ¡°Ah, why are you bringing Her Highness Paimon up all of a sudden? I¡¯m just saying that it isn¡¯t divination!¡± The vampire slowly raised his right hand. The conference room became silent in an instant. Only the sound of the goblin huffing and puffing could be heard. The vampire spoke to the goblin. ¡°Torukel, my old friend. I believe that your words have some truth in it as well.¡± Once he did, the goblin started going at it again as if he had never been quiet. ¡°As expected of a vampire, the aristocrat of darkness! You are truly different from a wolf who only has a mouth on his head! Hey, you foolish wolf. From now on, if someone asks you who you are, then answer them saying that you¡¯re the fusion between an idiot and a dunce. Make sure you don¡¯t bring up the name of ourpany!¡± The other executives let out a sigh. Despite being the recipient of the goblin¡¯s harassment, the wolfman didn¡¯t get upset and simply clicked his tongue in response. Despite being an executive, that goblin¡¯s way of speech was too rash. If he didn¡¯t have a knack for business, then he would have been kicked out of his executive position a long time ago. ¡°Now then, let us hypothesize that Dantalian does not have the power of divination.¡± The vampireced his fingers. ¡°He prophecized the outbreak of the epidemic and the outbreak truly happened. Comrades, if this was not through the power of divination, then can you guess how else he could have known?¡± ¡°Hm? Well, obviously¡­¡­ Dear Lord!¡± The goblin¡¯s eyes opened widely. The other executives also became shocked once they realized what the vampire was hinting at as well. The vampire nodded. ¡°There is only one other option left. Demon Lord Dantalian had intentionally caused the outbreak himself.¡± ¡°T-There¡¯s no way.¡± ¡°This is what I wish to believe. I wish to believe that Dantalian does indeed have the ability of divination. If he does not, then that means he has the ability to create the worst contagious disease in the world at will. Personally¡­¡­ I cannot imagine how we could possibly face such a Demon Lord.¡± The vampire spoke his mind. If that were to happen, then they had no way to oppose Demon Lord Dantalian. The greatest executive of the Keuncuska Firm who usually starts by showing tolerable Demon Lords their ce. The vampire had reduced Rank 25 Demon Lord s-Labs¡¯ dungeon to ashes simply because he did not pay his interest. This person had raised his hands in surrender. Gulp! Someone in the conference room swallowed audibly. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading. Torukel is pretty different here, huh. I guess he originally had a very, uh, goblin-like personality. Well, we¡¯re nearing the end of this section of ¡®Pave 10 Paths-.¡¯ with 2 chapters left. Maybe I¡¯ll finish by the beginning of next week. Please keep in mind that I¡¯ll most likely go back to tranting another chapter of Handholding beforeing back to this (Although I still don¡¯t have the scans, so you¡¯ll probably see a rather hefty batch release once I get them), so keep in mind there¡¯ll most likely be a long gap. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 17: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (7) Chapter 17: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (7) ¡°¡­¡­If that is true.¡± While the other executives were mulling over the destructive force the ability to create an epidemic possessed, the wolfman muttered. ¡°Dantalian may be the Great Demon Lord of Angolmois.¡± Great Demon Lord of Angolmois! It was a type of religious belief that has been passed down for generations in the demon world like a legend. It was simr to the belief of a savior in the human world. One day, a Demon Lord capable of uniting the blood and anguish-filled demon continent will appear and the demons who have always been confined within the demon continent, which is on the back of a dragon that calls itself the guardian of the world, will be able to roamfreelyunder the sun. It was a cliche legend; however, to the demons that have yearned to escape from this world, Angolmois wasn¡¯t a simple legend, but the very desire that contained the hopes of both their pasts and presents. ¡°You really are an article of nonsense. To make matters worse, it baffles me that some of you even nodded your heads in agreement. Since ancient times, be it a Great Demon Lord or a Great Demon God, everyone who has added ¡®Great¡¯ to their names has never been a decent person.¡± The goblin smirked. ¡°For the past thousand years, there have been 4 Demon Lords who imed to be an Angolmois. Have you already forgotten? You low quality goods that I feel embarrassed to even call myrades and, honestly, I¡¯d rather not call you myrades if possible, I¡¯m asking you all if your brains have already spoiled from eating crow meat. The four of them were all swindlers! Either that or dreamers.¡± The goblin stood up. He was holding a staff that was twice his height. ¡°How many of our people were sacrificed for that dream? Just how many demons were needlessly like a moth to a me? If souls truly exist, then theherworld is most likely filled with the souls of our people. Heed me! If your skulls aren¡¯t just empty cans and are skulls that actually know a thing or two. Angolmois is nothing more than a political move used by those Demon Lords.¡± It¡¯s a rather old and wearisome move, the goblin muttered as he turned around. The old vampire called out to the goblin as he made his way to leave the conference room. ¡°Torkel. Where are you going?¡± ¡°I will go meet this Demon Lord called Dantalian or whatever.¡± The goblin mmed his staff on the floor. The firmly shut doors of the conference room opened by themselves. ¡°I don¡¯t care whether he¡¯s an Angolmois or not, but it¡¯s true that his business proposal was well-timed. We failed to recognize this and chose to disregard it. Shouldn¡¯t we apologize? Dimwits, stop mulling over pointless matters. We are, foremost, merchants.¡± The old goblin left briskly. The other executives had an idle discussion about the several Demon Lords who had previously imed to be an Angolmois before leaving the conference room in twos and threes. Only the vampire and the wolfman remained. The wolfman personally brought some wine and spoke as he poured the vampire a ss. Compared to his previous demeanor, he was now behaving incredibly courteously. ¡°Sir Ivar, how should we act? If you believe that Dantalian is too much of a dangerous individual, then give me the order. My teeth did not grow to simply eat steak.¡± ¡°Have I ever doubted the strength of your teeth? There is no need for you to behave rashly. Demon Lords are the allies of demonkind. This is a principle that has never changed. Demon Lords have no reason to threaten us as long as we do not be hostile towards them first.¡± All Demon Lords situate their dungeons in the human world and live there. While demonkind were perpetuating their bloody struggle in the demon world, these individuals dered that they would lead all of demonkind to a different world and uncover a new dream. These individuals were the Demon Lords. In other words, demons had no reason to fight the Demon Lords for rights or benefits in the demon world. They didn¡¯t live in the same ce, after all. The old vampire took a sip of the red wine. ¡°Regardless, if the Demon Lord tries to interfere with our profit, then that would be a different story.¡± A cold smirk was hanging on his lips. * * * Uahahaha! I¡¯ve recently gained the habit ofughing whenever no one is around. My grin nearly stretched from ear to ear. Every time Iughed, my goblin would tilt its head and ask, ¡®What¡¯s wrong with Master?¡¯ and my golem would answer, ¡®I don¡¯t know, but he¡¯s acting scarily.¡¯ with a shrug. I didn¡¯t mind it, though. Even if they couldn¡¯t see it, I could clearly see it before my eyes. My dungeon¡¯s brilliant wealth! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Dungeon: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle] Rank: Over the hill(F) Technology Research: 0 Magic Research: 0 *Special Skill: None *Monsters: 0 units *Wealth: 20,311 gold ¡ùThe castle is in ruins. Neighborhood kids refer to this ce asa fun yground! This ce is in danger of being conquered at any moment. Urgently open the ¡®Monster Employment Tab¡¯ and prepare yourself by hiring a unit of monsters. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Fantastic! Amazing! Among the people who caught the ck Death, there were naturally aristocrats and clerics. ording to Lapis, people were skeptical about the effectiveness of the ck herbs at first, but once the efficacy of the herb was confirmed, their price skyrocketed as they were purchased in bulk. In the end, after making an investment of 1,000 gold, I profited by no less than 25,000 gold. From that gain, I gave 5,000 gold to Lapis in order to pay the principal and interest for the emergency funding I had received. Thus, I made twenty times the profit. There was a time when I went to Gangwon Land. I was shocked when I saw the middleaged women and men pulling the slot machine levers endlessly. They were pulling the levers as if they didn¡¯t want to waste even a single second. At that time, I failed to understand why they would put their lives on the line like that, but now I understood. Once you¡¯ve had a taste of sess, you can¡¯t go back. ¡®How can I go back to mining when making money is this easy?!¡¯ I made an average of 2 gold a day from mining enchanted ores nonstop. If I were to calcte how long it would take me to make 20,000 gold at that pace, then it would take about 10,000 days; in other words, approximately 27 years. Was that not insane? On the other hand, as a result of receiving a loan of a thousand gold and investing all of it boldly, I made more than 20,000 gold in no more than 10 days. I spent my entire day grinning happily. ¡®Nevertheless, I can¡¯t get ahead of myself.¡¯ This wealth is nothing more than funding to defend my dungeon. No matter how much gold I have, it won¡¯t be able to protect me if all of it is rotting away in my storage. After letting out one moreugh, I opened the monster employment tab. Although my wealth has improved immensely, I think it might be because my dungeon is still level F as I couldn¡¯t hire monsters that were stronger than the lowest-tier golem yet. It was most likely a system where the variety of monsters I could hire broadened ording to my level. ¡®I might be able to hire a dragon once I reach around level A.¡¯ I felt my heart pounding. I had more hopepared to a few days ago. I felt as if I could actually make it through this. If I had a dragon that naturally has the passive ability to resist magic and has a massive AOE attack called Breath, then¡­¡­. Of course, this was still just wishful thinking. Regardless, even this wishful thinking was something I couldn¡¯t possibly imagine a few days ago. I will probably never forget the sensation I felt as I stabbed Hawk in the throat. Now then, let¡¯s hire some monsters. Having a lot in numbers wasn¡¯t the answer to everything and having high stats wasn¡¯t that great either. There was something more important and vital in the game than those two things. And that was©¥©¥. ¡®Synergy.¡¯ I examined the monster employment tab carefully. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥
Monster Name Stamina Attack Defense Price Slime 2 2 2 70 Gold Lowest-tier Fairy 4 3 2 160 Gold Goblin 4 4 4 250 Gold Lowest-tier Golem 7 5 5 400 Gold [Useable Fund: 20,311 Gold] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°Mmm.¡± I¡¯ll ignore the slimes. Be it their movement speed, attack, or defense, they were simply luggage that didn¡¯t have any particrly good stat. They had a strong point of not being affected by ded weapons that well, but their stamina was low anyway, so it didn¡¯t matter. I started to think while looking at the lowest-tier fairy, goblin, and lowest-tier golem. ¡°F-rank adventurers are still the only parties thate here. At most, they only have spears and bows.¡± Talking to myself has be a habit ever since I was dropped into this world. It felt like my head would be clearer whenever I said my thoughts out loud instead of letting it spin inside my head. I continued to murmur. ¡°They may be weak to magic damage, but golems would be appropriate since they can resist physical attacks.¡± ording to the setting of the game, regardless of whether they were the lowest-tier golems or the highest-tier golems, they all received 200% damage from magic attacks and 50% damage from physical attacks. Golems were perfect for F-rank adventurer parties that couldn¡¯t possibly have a priest or a mage. This was also the reason why the first thing I bought was a golem. ¡°There probably won¡¯t be any mages until E-rank, so it should be fine, but¡­¡­.¡± Hawk pointed out something that I hadn¡¯t thought of; that the adventurers would be fine as long as they attacked from a safe distance while hastily retreating at the same time. There was a chance that another adventurer would have the same idea. I required monsters that could support the golems. I purchased 5 golems and 10 fairies. My strategy went as so: the golems will stand at the front of the formation while the small but quick fairies shoot magic from the backline. At most, the only spell that the lowest-tier fairies can do is Wind Cutter, a technique thatpresses the air and fires it, but I knew how I could take advantage of this. ¡°Low-tier adventurers arepletely ignorant when ites to magic.¡± I had no doubt that even Wind Cutter would appear like an iprehensible mystical ability to peasants who have never seen proper magic before in their lives. The adventurers will definitely be flustered by the sudden appearance of magic. Thus, while they are all panicking, my unit of golems that boast high defenses will use that opportunity to charge in as dps-cum-tanks. A unit organization that considers synergy, positioning, and the mental state of the opposition. ¡°Literally a unit made specifically for low-tier adventurers.¡± I smirked. No one knows what monsters torment adventurers the most better than I do. I put a painstaking amount of effort into Dungeon Attack, after all. I also had a period in my life where I was a beginner, and the formation that frustrated me the most was abination of golems and fairies. It¡¯s embarrassing to admit, but my party actually got wiped out by this formation quite a lot. I made the golem (level 2) I had hired during the tutorial as the unit leader. I then situated them in therge tunnel in front of the Demon Lord room so that they could intervene at any time. The golems behaved in a disciplined manner as they stood in a line and gave me a salute. The very sight of 6 golems standing in a line was overflowing with dignity. ©¤Kyaru! Kyarururu! On the other hand, the fairies were flying around me ceaselessly. Watching the hand-sized fairies fly back and forth was hectic, and yet, I felt happy. They were super cute, after all! The golems and the goblin were also cute, but how should I put it? It felt like I was looking at a bunch of my daughters who had grown up prettily. My mind ended up feeling faint as I watched the fairies p their wings energetically as they yed. ¡°Ah, my cute girls!¡± I held one of the fairies and gave her a big kiss. It seemed the fairy liked it as well as she began to giggle loudly enough that it resonated throughout the cave. Sheesh, my children know how to follow the mood as well. There¡¯s nothing for your dad to teach you now! ©¤ Kyaruru? Kyaru? I couldn¡¯t speak theirnguage, but I instinctually knew what she was saying. ¡°Of course. Your dad thinks you girls are the prettiest!¡± ©¤ Kyaruru! The fairies immediately rushed towards me. One of them hid in my hair while anothertched on to my cheek. This is what happiness feels like, huh? I always wondered why my friends kept whining about wanting to go through the struggle of getting married and having kids, but if the kids are as pretty as my fairies, then I think I wouldn¡¯t have any regrets. Right when I had forgotten all of my troubles and was enveloped by a paradise of happiness. ¡°E-Ehem.¡± I heard someone clear their throat behind me. Once I turned around, I saw a goblin with a very wrinkly forehead. He was leaning his body against a staff that was much taller than he was. I knitted my eyebrows. Who are you supposed to be? ¡°It is an honor to meet you like this, Your Highness Dantalian.¡± The goblin bowed. However, due to the natural body proportions of a goblin, it looked as if he only lowered his head. In any case, I didn¡¯t feel any hostility from him. ¡°Who are you?¡± I responded informally. This was something that Lapis pointed out a couple of days ago, but it appears that there has never been a case where a Demon Lord spoke to a demon formally. Lapis must have been right, as the old goblin stayed bowing as if this waspletely normal. ¡°This humble one¡¯s name is Torkel and I am an executive of the Keuncuska Firm. I am here because there is something I wish to discuss with Your Highness about in regard to the epidemic.¡± Aha. So that¡¯s why. I kept up only the minimum amount of caution. He was someone I was expecting toe one day. From their perspective, I was someone they had to get information out of since I had predicted the outbreak of a contagious disease. If they have to, they¡¯re probably nning to grab my hand and do business with me. ¡°I wee you to my humble abode.¡± ¡°For starters, let me apologize for our shameful behavior. Even though Your Highness Dantalian had foreseen an epidemic, our firm treated it lightly. No matter how this one looks at it, this was a fault on our side.¡± ¡°What of it? Anyone can make mistakes.¡± The goblin then raised his head. ¡°I thank you for your magnanimous generosity. Now then, about the issue I wish to discuss¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wait a moment. Where is Lapis?¡± I cut him off. The goblin gave me a confused look. ¡°Lapis. The individual who was exclusively in charge of handling my needs.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­ yes; however, as the matter at hand has be like this, as an executive, I will personally-¡± ¡°No need.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± I was moved by how Lapis dealt with affairs. I believe that I was able to make a profit of 20,000 gold from a thousand gold investment not because I was that great, but due to how talented she was. If Lapis weren¡¯t around, then would I have been able to earn even a penny with my knowledge of the future? No. I was able to make this much because she listened to me and did her best. When I offered to give her 500 gold as a bonus, Lapis responded by saying, ¡®I only did what I had to do.¡¯ and refused. She refused so sternly that I almost fell for her, that cool city girl! Lapis was now the one person I trusted the most in this world. ¡®You said you were being treated as an outcast in your workce, right? I¡¯ll bring you up properly.¡¯ As I thought these words in my head, I spoke. ¡°As it has always been, Lapis will be the one to handle my needs.¡± ¡°B-But, that child is only a rank 5 personnel.¡± ¡°And she is also the one who bestowed upon me an immense profit. There is nothing more that needs to be said. Either dispatch her to me ore here with her.¡± I turned around and began ying with the fairies again. I could obviously tell that the goblin was incredibly bewildered behind me, but I paid him no mind. It¡¯s their side that¡¯ll find it regrettable now anyway. Sure enough, after about 3 minutes, the goblin used teleportation magic to leave. ¡°Hm. Needless to say, he probably stepped forward because I seemed like a valuable customer. Where was he when I wanted a loan? Seriously, people that shamelessly steal their subordinates¡¯ achievements are the ones I hate the most.¡± -Kyaru? ¡°Oh dear, my pretties! Were your dad¡¯s words too difficult? I¡¯m sorry. Pretties, let¡¯s kiss and make up!¡± -Kyarururu! The cavern was filled with the sound of fairiesughing for a while. In the distance, I could feel my goblin¡¯s disappointed emotion transfer to me as he thought, ¡®Our master is a pedophile¡­¡­.¡¯. No, you¡¯re wrong. That¡¯s really a misunderstanding. My preferences are perfectly normal! More importantly, Bling, where did you learn such an inappropriate word!? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Slowing down a bit because of all the assignments that are due next week. It¡¯ll probably stay like this until my midterms are over, but I should still have a decent amount of time to work on tranting between a couple of my sses. At the very least, a chapter every week should most definitely be possible (this is only in the case of DD WN, once I get into Handholding again, that will undoubtedly take longer). Like usual, let¡¯s see how things go. See you in the next release. Chapter 18: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny Chapter 18: Pave 10 Paths and Earn aPenny ¡°Pardon me, Sir Dantalian, but are you an idiot?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡± My shoulders were trembling. Standing before me was a girl who was emitting a ck aura that was asking ¡®Do you know how dumbfounded I am?¡¯. She¡¯s been in a bad mood ever since she returned to me after I had chased out that old goblin. ¡°I definitely told you before that you should not speak to demons in a formal manner.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry.¡± Apologize first, everything elseester. I don¡¯t know why, but my mind only bes this fragile whenever I was with Lapis. Like some people would say, was it because first impressions are what instantly decides the rtionship between people? It might be because I behaved simplemindedly andin a very non-Demon Lord-like waysince the first day we met, but even if I could act in a more dignified manner now, putting on a false show in front of Lapis was difficult. Lapis let out a small sigh. I withdrew my shoulders further. ¡°Sir Torukel, no, Torukel is a legendary executive in the Keuncuska Firm. Although he was born as a goblin, a lesser demon, he became an archmage and has been alive for almost a thousand years now. It would not be a stretch to refer to him as a living monster.¡± ¡°That wrinkly old prune was actually that great?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Please continue!¡± Jeez, it almost felt as if I could audibly hear the air spark as she red at me. How could a girl¡¯s eyes look so sharp? Miss, you won¡¯t be able to make any friends if you keep this up. Well, she already doesn¡¯t have any friends. Thus, the girl who was apparently shunned constantly by the other demons began to give me an elucidation on how foolish my actions were and what sort of rtionship I should try to build with the Keuncuska Firm from now on. I earnestly received the nagging through my right ear and pulled it out the left. What was important here was to make eye contact with the other party and nod your head every 7 seconds in order to show that you were listening seriously. 4 seconds was too short and 10 seconds was too long. Approximately 7 seconds was just enough to deceive the other party. With this much knowledge, I should consider bing an actor when I return to my original world. ¡°Oh right. I raised Lapis¡¯ affection above 20, didn¡¯t I?¡¯ Once the affection of the other party goes above 20, their status window will begin to disy their current state of mind as well. I suddenly became curious about Lapis¡¯ stats. It was because I personally believed that Lapis was quite apetent demon. The girl who had returned a thousand gold as twenty-thousand gold. How high are her stats? ¡®Status.¡¯ Ding! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Lapis Lazuli Race: Half-Subus¡¡¡¡ Faction: Keuncuska Firm Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 23¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 122 Job: Merchant(A-), Witch(B), Swordsman(D) Leadership: 55¡¡¡¡Might: 32 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 53 Politics: 72¡¡¡¡Charm: 50¡¡¡¡Technique: 2 Affection: 31 Current thought: ¡®This person ispletely ignorant of politics.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ I inadvertently let out a sound of awe. ¡°¡­¡­Amazing.¡± ¡°Therefore, you will be able to negotiate with people of higher standings ording to how much your position improves¡­¡­ Sir Dantalian, are you listening to me? You haven¡¯t been ignoring or belittling the sincere advice I have been offering you, correct?¡± Of course not! Banish the thought! I shook my head fervently. Lapis¡¯ doubting gaze stuck to my face like glue. It was pointless. The degree of brazenness on my face had far exceeded normal standards. This level of acting was a piece of cake. Lapis tilted her head twice before she resumed her nagging. Sheesh, for someone who¡¯s usually quiet and cold, she sure has a lot to say today. ¡®In any case, these are some impressive stats.¡¯ Her stats far exceeded my expectations. She had 3 stats that were above 50. Among those 3, her politics stat went as far as to surpass 70. Although it had a minus attached to it, the mere fact that she had a job at rank A and a job t out at rank B was impressive in itself. If I were to make aparison as a person who yed Dungeon Attack, she was on the same level as apetent chief retainer in any decent kingdom. She wasn¡¯t at the level of being a prime minister, but her ability was more than enough to be a minister of foreign affairs. ¡®How could they let such a talented individual rot at the bottom of thedder? Tsk, there¡¯s bad water even in the demon society as well, huh?¡¯ Demons im to thoroughly advocate meritocracy. Respect and fame follow those with talent. Personal ability and the honor granted by society. These two things were the central axes that made the world of demons go round. However, fame began to be more important than personal ability at some point¡­¡­ Among the scenarios in Dungeon Attack, a certain Demon Lord would express their concern regarding this matter. I felt as if demons also had their own share of issues. ¡°Okay, okay.¡± I waved my hands as I spoke up. I had a rough grasp of everything Lapis was trying to tell me. ¡°To sum it up, you want me to do business with people of high standings and capable people.¡± ¡°That is correct. At the very least, you must not harm your rtionships with such individuals. Therefore, Sir Dantalian, your hostility towards Torukel was¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Lapis Lazuli.¡± She promptly shut her mouth. I looked at her with a bright smile on my face. ¡°¡­¡­I apologize. I went too far.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not trying to reprimand you. I¡¯m not foolish enough to ostracize someone who is trying to offer me advice. The weak have their own way of living, do they not?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The weak. This term referred to a half-baked Demon Lord like myself and to a half-subus like Lapis. Ourmon ground was the fact that we had half-baked lives. I didn¡¯t be a Demon Lord because I wanted to and, as expected, Lapis wasn¡¯t born a half-subus because she wanted to be. The fact that we were bestowed things which we didn¡¯t want as our identities and the fact that the direction of our lives was determined because of those things. We had a lot inmon. This was probably why I found myself growing fond of Lapis. I maintained a slight smile on my face as I continued. ¡°Lapis, I am weak. Not only do I suffer from bipr disorder, but I¡¯m an awful coward. This is why I¡¯ve been earnestly thinking about what I need the most in order to survive as one of the weak. Should Itch on to someone who¡¯s strong and live like that? For my immediate survival, that isn¡¯t a bad option. However, the only reason the strong allow the weak¡¯s parasitic behavior is because the weak have some sort of use. The lives of the weak end the instant their value disappears.¡± Do business with the executives from now on. This is good advice; however, the only reason a firm executive hade to me in the first ce was due to the fact that I had nned a sessful business with ck herbs. Once I¡¯m no longer able to think of more business ideas of that level, it was as clear as day that the executive would abandon me without any hesitation. ¡°I can¡¯t allow this to happen. No matter how much time passes, I cannot escape from my humble position. Everything will eventuallye to an end after only being able to take a passive stance. Lapis, for the weak, we have the best option, a middle option, and the worst option. Surviving by mooching off of the strong is the worst option. The middle option would be to form an alliance with other weak individuals whom you can trust. The best option would be to discover a strong individual¡¯s critical weakness and using them with it.¡± The best option wasn¡¯t avable to me. There was no way for me to know the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s weakness. The worst option was also impossible. There was no guarantee that the Keuncuska Firm would support me to the very end. Therefore, ¡°I intend to carry out the middle option.¡± ¡°The n to form an alliance with other weak individuals? But with who¡­¡­?¡± ¡°You.¡± I pointed at her. I looked straight into her azure stone-like eyes. Lapis was silent for a moment before she opened her mouth. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Lapis Lazuli. You are the very person of talent whom I require.¡± ¡°I apologize, but I fail to understand your intentions, Sir Dantalian.¡± Her impassive face was noticeably confused. ¡°I am merely an employee that is at the bottom of thedder. As I told you before, my social standing is not good as well. I am grateful that Sir Dantalian puts this much trust into me and I naturally intend to acquire a higher standing in Keuncuska by assisting you.¡± She spoke as if she were giving me her life story. However, that is all, Lapis concluded. ¡°Nothing good woulde if people were to find out that a Demon Lord was getting friendly with a social outcast and minority like myself. To demons, Demon Lords must always be higher beings that are detached and pure. They must be like crystal clear mirrors that capture the yearnings, dreams, and the collective subconscious of demonkind and reflect them all as is. I would be nothing more than a red, rusty smudge on Sir Dantalian¡¯s mirror.¡± Lapis¡¯ raw emotions were being transmitted to me. I could feel her deep-seated resignation. Her emotions which were once sticky with despair, thoughts of revenge, victimization, and harm solidified a long time ago and was nowying stagnant like a boulder. People were all like this. Everyone had no other choice but to live their lives with these boulders on their backs. However, it was only natural for these boulders to be weathered and crumble one day. This was what I believed and I wished to be the wind that would push her. ¡°No, you are the one I need. I need someone like you at my side.¡± I told her straight out. ¡°Who was the one that answered my call and came to me when I had no one to rely on? You. Who was the one that decided to pledge a hundred years to me and stand by my side? You. Who was the one that trusted me when no one else did and brought me profit in my stead? You. Who was the one that just now was counseling me, Dantalian, for the sake of sess? Lapis Lazuli, it was you.¡± ¡°You mustn¡¯t. In Sir Dantalian¡¯s long-term life n, I am nothing more©¥©¥.¡± ¡°How can you be so certain of that? Have I ever said that to you before?¡± Lapis closed her light-pink lips. My voice was filled with confidence. ¡°I am the one who will determine how I will live my life, not you, Lapis Lazuli! Do not n out my life all on your own.¡± The weakest Demon Lord. In order for such an individual to survive, you can¡¯t coincide with the preexisting power structure of society. There are already 70 other Demon Lords beside me. If a rtive neer like myself tried to squeeze in with everyone else, I wouldn¡¯t be able to put up a fight and end up being used instead. If that¡¯s the case, then I will form an alliance with those who have been outcasted by society. I will persuade them and make them into myrades and subordinates. I may be a coward, I may have the worst stats©¥©¥but I will survive by using the yearning and resentment of the innumerable weak as my weapon. This was the grand n that I had desperately thought up of. The best move to protect my dungeon (Dungeon Defense). The first step for my n is you, Lapis. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis remained silent. She wasn¡¯t being intentionally quiet. Her small lips kept opening and closing over and over again. She wanted to say something, but she couldn¡¯t find the right words. It was at that moment. ©¤ Adventurers have invaded the dungeon! A notice appeared in front of me. The disy was showing me that a group of 15 F-rank adventurers had just entered the dungeon. I grinned. ¡°It seems some invaders have entered.¡± What perfect timing. I called out for my unit of golems and fairies in my mind. The sensation of more than a dozen monsters answering my call flooded my head. The excitement of battle, the resolve to fight for their master, and the delight of being able to ughter humans. My mind was filled with all sorts of colors in an instant. ¡°Lapis, follow me. I will show you the war of the weak.¡± I advanced together with my unit of monsters. There was no need to wait in front of my Demon Lord room. My unit soon encountered the adventurer party. The adventurers were surprised by the number of golems that exceeded their expectations. They must have had some skill and courage as they got into formation and retaliated; however, the ends of their spears were blocked by the heavy barricade known as golems and were pushed aside powerlessly. ¡°Why are golems in a battle line!? I¡¯ve never heard of this!¡± ¡°Fuuuck! Who said this ce was on the level of a stroll!?¡± A slight gap was revealed every time the adventurers pushed their spears forward and swung their des. I used those moments to order my fairy unit to use their magic. The sound of wind being cut rushed by. Their Wind Cutters sliced into the arms and legs of the adventurers relentlessly. Screams began to fill the cavern. ¡°Guaaaah!¡± ¡°Magic, damn it, it¡¯s magic!¡± ¡°Luke, you son of a bitch! Don¡¯t run away! Don¡¯t back away! Fuck!¡± Their actual injuries were light. If they could manage to react calmly, then they could have limited their taken damage; however, I didn¡¯t let them have the minimum amount of time required to regain theirposure. The golems¡¯ fists mmed down on the adventurers¡¯ heads like heavy rain. One of the adventurers whose forearm was injured by a Wind Cutter wound up dropping his shield. The price of his action was brutal. The golem¡¯s fist crushed the adventurer¡¯s chest. Blood sttered everywhere. ©¤ You have defeated Rooks Vige Adventurer Party. Additional experience points have been granted for theplete annihtion of the party. ©¤ Congrattions! Your dungeon level has increased. ©¤ Due to your dungeon reaching level 2, you are now able to create an additional facility in your dungeon. It simplifies things immensely once a hole is made in the opposition¡¯s formation. The party was wiped out in a blink of an eye. The two adventurers who tried to run away were sliced into pieces by my fairy unit¡¯s volley. I was standing in the midst of the 15 corpses. I could clearly feel my monsters¡¯ tion because of our victory; however, they remained silent for their master. Lapis mumbled next to me. ¡°With only lowest-tier monsters, without receiving any damage¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am weak, but I am not foolish.¡± I stuck my right hand out. ¡°Lapis. Let us show the world the pride of the weak.¡± She looked at my hand with her blue eyes. She raised her right hand and it hesitated for a fraction of a second. I didn¡¯t press her and continued to wait quietly. After a while, Lapis grabbed my hand carefully. I felt the warmth of her palm transfer to me. ¡¸Lower Subus Lapis Lazuli¡¯s affection has risen by 20! The other party now ¡®trusts¡¯ you.¡¹ ¡¸The other party¡¯s affection has reached 50. You can now persuade them to be your ally.¡¹ ¡°I will be in your care¡­¡­Your Highness Dantalian.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± It was at that moment, the monsters that had been waiting quietly broke out into a cheer all at once. The sound of cheering echoed throughout the cave. This day may have been the first day since I fell into this world where I achieved a genuine victory. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I should probably mention that the next chapter isn¡¯t exactly a real ¡®chapter¡¯. The story will continue in Chapter 20, but Chapter 19 is a ¡®what if¡¯ chapter that the author wrote. It¡¯s basically a Bad End. What would have happened if Dantalian did something else at a certain point in the story? Just keep this in mind when the next chapteres out so you aren¡¯t too confused. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 19: ending no.01 Chapter 19: endingno.01 TL note: To those of you who are confused, the author would write ¡®what if¡¯ chapters sometimes, and, instead of putting them in their own separate thing, he¡¯d just put them between chapters. So, although it may not actually connect with the story, this is still chapter 19. The actual story continues on chapter 20. Author¡¯s note: This chapter is a ¡®what if¡¯ supplementary story. Those of you who dislike Bad Endings can skip this chapter. Ending conditions 1. The average affection of the Jalsen Vige adventurer party is above 30. 2. Dantalian¡¯s infamy is below 100 . . . ¡®No. There¡¯s no chance of winning.¡¯ I grit my teeth. There was nothing else that I could do. I could only hire 2 goblins at most. No matter how much I tried to struggle with 2 goblins,ing out victorious against 15 adventurers was impossible. Wouldn¡¯t it be better¡­¡­ if I pleaded for mercy? Rather than resisting pointlessly and cutting away at the affection which I barely managed to garner in the first ce, that was a much better idea. Now that I think about it, there¡¯s no reason for me to protect this dungeon. My life is more important than anything else. What was so bad about flimsily relying on the other party¡¯s affection to survive? I raised their affection towards me desperately. Once I saw them let out a cheer as I withdrew more than 500 gold, I knew that, at the very least, I would no longer be killed on the spot. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t kill me and brought me to the city alive. The administrators of the city praised the adventurers and bought me for a high price. ¡°Excuse me, sir.¡± ¡°Hm? What is it?¡± ¡°What will happen to the Demon Lord now?¡± Riff asked cautiously. I could tell that he was worried about me. For the past few days, the party and I had be quite close. Although they did ultimately sell me for the sake of their own livelihood, he must have had a guilty conscience as he was worried about me. ¡°Is he perhaps going to receive a public execution?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. If his infamy were a little higher, we would have made an example of him.¡± The administrator with a sharp mustache looked at me. Both of my arms were firmly bound by cuffs. ¡°Honestly, even if he¡¯s a Demon Lord, he¡¯s a lesser-known fellow.¡± ¡°T-That¡¯s right. Then does that mean he won¡¯t be immediately executed?¡± ¡°Probably. Albeit, the mayor will have the final say in the end.¡± Riff let out a relieved sigh. I also felt at ease. I had surrendered in order to survive, but if I died anyway, then it would have made my efforts pointless. On the other hand, I felt a little grateful towards Riff who bore the possibility of annoying the administrator in order to ask about my wellbeing. Of course, his party was the very reason I was captured, but, all things considered, the true fault lied behind whoever dropped me into this world and not the members of his party who had dived into a dungeon in order to ovee their difficult lives. How could they have known that I wasn¡¯t actually a Demon Lord anyway? The party began to file out of the government office. We exchanged brief farewells through our eyes. It was a rather light farewell for people who¡¯ve been together for almost a week now, but we had exchanged our proper farewells over some alcoholst night. Afterward, the administrator ordered a guard to confine me in a cell. A rough period of three months where I sustained my life with biscuits that were as hard as concrete and some slightly dirty water went by. My stomach got upset for a while, but it soon got better. My recuperative powers increased ever since I became a Demon Lord. Even my right foot that had be a mess got better over time. It was intriguing. ¡°Hey,e out.¡± A guard uttered. I struggled to open my eyes. A dirty face was ring at me from beyond the iron bars. This was the first time I¡¯ve heard a person¡¯s voice in 3 months. There was a boy who brought me my bread and water every day, but he was a mute. After staying in this prison for a couple of days, I learned that this was an area where traitors, conspirators, and other criminals who hadmitted grave crimes were imprisoned. There were a lot of people who were holding secrets which the public should never know about. That was why a mute was specifically given the task of distributing the food here. The kid was no different from a king down here as one¡¯s survival reliedpletely on whether he gave you food or not. Regardless of one¡¯s status or age, they all had to treat the kid as their master. The inmate in an isted cell on the other side of the prison, who most likely used to be a noble, belittled the boy and swore at him a bunch at first; however, it didn¡¯t even take 2 days before they started to refer to the boy as ¡®Young Master¡¯. In order to not die down here in these eternally damp and wet cells where the sun could never reach, you had to eat those disgustingly hard biscuits. ¡°Where.¡± I tried to speak, but only a raspy groan managed toe out. My throat felt weird because I was trying to speak for the first time in several months. I had to cough a couple of times and clear my throat before I could properly form any of my words. ¡°Where am I being taken¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Where you¡¯re going has nothing to do with me. Just hurry up ande out. Though, you can stay if you prefer to stay here and rot for the rest of your life.¡± I mustered some strength into my knees as I stood up. My knees almost gave out a couple of times, but I managed to hold out. I¡¯ve never experienced Hell before, but I believed it wasn¡¯t as bad as this underground prison. The guard dragged me out. I spoke to the guard before we left the prison area. ¡°The boy who delivers the prisoners their bread and water, he seems to embezzle them whenever he desires.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He purposely does not give some of the prisoners their bread and water. Quite often at that. That Frank fellow who passed awayst week died because of this.¡± The guard¡¯s face contorted into a great scowl. I was loaded onto a carriage after I was taken out of the prison. As I was boarding the carriage that was painted entirely ck and had no windows, I silently celebrated the fact that I got my revenge on the mute boy. Since he had personally embezzled the government office¡¯s provisions, he will, at the very least, lose both of his eyes. Without a doubt, the boy will have to live the rest of his life as both a mute and a blind person, making his life no different from those imprisoned in cells. I arrived at a ve market. As the trading of ves was legal in this country, the bourgeoisie and nobles who had lost a lot of their servants due to the recent epidemic were busy purchasing new ves every day. The ve market here was booming thanks to this. Once the demand became higher than the supply, the price of ves went up by twice the amount. Among these ve markets, this market was an auction that specialized in rare ves meant specifically for nobility. ¡°Is this scrawny guy some animal? When¡¯s thest time he was washed?¡± The person in charge of the auction frowned. ¡°This is no good. Those nobles may know what goes for a high price, but they don¡¯t know how much effort we have to put in to make our products reach that value. Those ignorant people. Hey, make this guy a little more presentable within a month.¡± From that day forth, I continued to receive good meals for the sake of raising my value as a product. If I were to exin how I felt, I felt like a goose who had no other choice but to eat despite knowing that it was going to be Froie gras soon. Regardless, as someone who had been surviving off of only rotten biscuits until now, this was a whole new world. A month went by like this. The auction manager gave a satisfied nod once he saw that I had gained an appropriate amount of weight. ¡°The ve we wish to introduce to you today is, surprisingly, the second sessor of the House of Farnese that boasts immense authority within the Kingdom of Sardinia!¡± This auction house used to be a ruined opera but it had been bought and refurbished. Nobles watched the stage from the audience seats and theatre boxes. If you excluded the two facts that ves were being sold on the stage and that all of the customers had masks on, then this auction house was no different from an opera. ¡°Her Ladyship, Duchess Laura De Farnese!¡± There was a blonde girl in the middle of the stage. Even though she was only wearing a rag that revealed almost all of her pure, white skin, she remained bold. If anything, she held her head high and gazed into the eyes of all the nobles who were evaluating her from a distance. I could hear the nobles muttering to each other from even behind the stage where I was waiting. ¡°From the previous Crysanthemum War¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As I thought, an emunication order from the temple is terrifying. The peerless House of Farnese has¡­¡­.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a lot prettier than the rumors had portrayed her.¡± Laura De Farnese. It was a name that I remembered. She was a major character of the opposing human faction that was hostile towards the protagonist in Dungeon Attack. The protagonist of Dungeon Attack had to fight demons and also go to war with fellow humans. She appeared as a soldier of the Kingdom of Britanny which was on bad terms with the Empire of the Franks which the protagonist belonged to. A lot of yers bore a grudge against her because of how often she would torment the protagonist, but she seeded in receiving a small group of very active fans because of her pretty looks and tragic family story. I see. I knew that her backstory involved her being sold at a ve market somewhere in Sardinia during her childhood. So this was that very ve market¡­¡­. Memories rted to Dungeon Attack started to flow through my head. I snickered at the timing. What was the point of being well-versed with the events that happen in the game when I can¡¯t even do anything? Laura was sold off at a high price. A whole 2,000 gold. If you consider how even the best quality sex ves struggle to sell for more than 500 gold, it should be easy to grasp how amazing that price is. If there¡¯s one thing I learned after being sold to a bunch of humans, it was the fact that the monsters I could hire in my dungeon were stupidly expensive. How could an insignificant goblin be 250 gold? If this world also had a difficulty setting like the game, then the game developer who created this difficulty setting should bite their tongue and jump into the Incheon sea. If they don¡¯t want to take the leap, then I would more than dly give them a helping push. Even as she left the stage, Laura maintained her haughty posture. Laura probably doesn¡¯t know this, but she was just now sold to a Count Ptine of the Kingdom of Britanny. For the next decade, she will be vited by that Count endlessly. The Count Ptine will use her politically since she used to be the second sessor of the House of Farnese, and as he invades the territories previously owned by the Farnese Household, he will continuously lust after Laura¡¯s beautiful body. Albeit, he¡¯ll ultimately die in a ditch after being betrayed by Laura who had been sharpening her de of revenge for a decade. ¡®Please torment that hero bastard.¡¯ The hero had be my greatest enemy after I became a Demon Lord. Funnily enough, Laura was pretty much an ally as she would make that very hero suffer till the very end of the game. I watched her back for as long as I could as she left. ¡°Now then,dies and gentlemen.¡± The presenter spoke in an excited voice. He rubbed his hands together like a housefly. His voice which was appropriately amplified because of a magic tool reached the corners of the opera house. ¡°Finally, we¡¯ve reached the highlight of tonight¡¯s auction. Some of you may already know because of the rumors. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that many of you are only here for this product alone. That¡¯s right. That is how unprecedentedly rare this product is. Please give arge round of apuse!¡± One of the keepers smacked my back. I let out a small groan as I went out onto the stage. zing apuse from all 3,500 people present resonated throughout the opera. ¡°One of the Great Devils that has caused the human world to descend into an abyss of fear! The terrifying being who boldly holds rank 71st, Demon Lord Dantalian???!¡± My memory after this moment was fragmentary. The presenter said whatever they could in order to raise my price endlessly and the nobles mored like a bunch of moths to a me in order to purchase me. ¡°The starting price will be set to 10,000 gold!¡± 10,000 gold. I felt nauseous. I wouldn¡¯t be here if I had that much money. I wouldn¡¯t have had to eat biscuits by softening them with my saliva for an entire month while inside a basement prison and I wouldn¡¯t have been raised like livestock in a ve market. While I was busy being remorseful, my price tag skyrocketed. 20,000 gold, 25,000 gold, 40,000 gold¡­¡­.. Finally, once someone shouted 100,000 gold, the madness came to an end. The presenter shouted 100,000 gold over and over again in a worked up tone. 100,000 gold! Are there no more bids? 100,000 gold! All right! Sold!¡­¡­. The people that had purchased me were from the imperial family of the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburg imperial family used me to entertain their precious guests and make their balls more enjoyable. A permanent magic seal was imprinted on my back. It was a ve seal. ¡°Uhaha! Wine poured by His Highness Demon Lord is very special indeed!¡± ¡°Much obliged, Your Highness!¡± ¡°Your Highness, please forgive this one¡¯s discourtesy!¡± A clown. A toy. And at times, a sex ve. Time flowed by. People realized that Demon Lords didn¡¯t age. My face remained the same no matter how much time passed. It seems the people of the imperial family found this characteristic of mine to be charming. It was like they had found a toy that wouldn¡¯t break no matter how much they yed with it. The Imperial House didn¡¯t only have luxurious and bright balls. There was a different kind of ball that took ce behind the curtains. Different from the court maids that consisted of the daughters of noble families, the balls held in the shadows were served by other races and elves that were brought here from all over. There was an elf couple among those ves. The husband couldn¡¯t endure it any longer once his wife got raped, thus he started to n an escape. He held back at first since he understood what sort of position they were in; however, it wasn¡¯t a simple rape¡­¡­ Once his wife¡¯s body was sullied through all sorts of means, the husband couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. In the first ce, a ball rule like ¡®you can¡¯t wear clothes¡¯ was already a great insult to an honorable race like elves. ¡°Don¡¯t run away.¡± I advised them. Before I knew it, I had be like a spokesperson for the pce ves. This may have been a natural course of events since I was the ve who had ¡®survived¡¯ for the longest. The average life span of ves here was barely 50 days. ¡°Thank you for the advice, but I cannot take this any longer.¡± ¡°Despite their antics, do you think they do not know about your people¡¯s nature? They are doing this on purpose. They are awaiting the day you try to escape. I bet my life on it.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°And yet you¡¯ll still try to escape?¡± The elf nodded. ¡°There are things in the world that are more valuable than life.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Absolutely do not run to the south. If possible, go north. I will tell you about a way out.¡± The elf couple ran away. They were captured in less than 6 hours. Should I be in awe that they were able to get through the Imperial Household¡¯s strict guards and run away for 6 hours or should I feel bad that they were captured in only 6 hours despite having prepared themselves for death? I didn¡¯t know the answer. The wife was publically raped in the behind-the-curtains ball. The husband was killed there. The wife naturally bit her tongue andmitted suicide once she witnessed his death. I was also med. I was in charge of managing the sex ves, after all. There¡¯s no way that I could avoid responsibility when a couple of ves had escaped. Furthermore, they started to suspect that I was the one who had told them about a way out. I firmly insisted that I had absolutely nothing to do with their escape, but there was no way that they would believe me. It wasn¡¯t surprising since I wouldn¡¯t have trusted me either if I were in their shoes. ¡°How appalling.¡± I heard a voice. How many days has it been since I heard someone¡¯s voice? I struggled to open my eyes. My eyelids didn¡¯t seem to go up so easily since the blood in my face had be rigid over time. My vision only lit up faintly. ¡°You most likely will not listen even if I were to apologize. This is a rotten country and rotten Imperial Household. However,¡± I couldn¡¯t see the other person¡¯s face. I could only tell that she was female by her voice and that, through my hazy vision, she had silver hair. Silver hair was a symbol of the Imperial Household of Habsburg. ¡°Although I also possess that same rotten blood, even I can, at the very least, carry out the duty of taking someone¡¯s life.¡± I see. This girl is???. ¡°I had personally disposed of a ve that was discourteous to myself. No one should be able toin if I were to say this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank, you.¡± ¡°I have not done anything that deserves your gratitude. Demon Lord, do you have anyst words?¡± Last words. If, just if. If I didn¡¯t surrender to those adventurers back then. If I had taken the risks and fought back, then things might have turned out differently. ¡°¡­¡­Be wary of Margrave Novgorod. He is the one who had assassinated His Majesty thete Emperor.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!? How do you know of thete Emperor¡¯s assassination? No, more importantly.¡± ¡°That is all.¡± The other party went silent. She let out a low sigh of grief. ¡°I was foolish. I should have saved you sooner.¡± I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. ¡°May you hopefully rest peacefully on the other side.¡± The other side, huh? What will happen once I die? Will I go back to my original world? Or perhaps, will I truly???. *** My consciousness was cut. *** ©¤ Ending no.01 (Dead Ending): ©¤ An ending has been added to your album. ©¤ Would you like to rey the game? Author¡¯ Afterword I¡¯m thinking about asionally writing endings like this. It might be because this is the first ending, but it feels rather weak. Referentially, bad endings should give off a tearing, stabbing, confining, and prating feeling¡­ TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter, or to those of you who skipped, uh, thanks for skipping ending no.01? It¡¯s sort of interesting to know how things would have turned out if Dant took another course of action. We got a glimpse at both Laura and Elizabeth pretty early into the WN. In any case, the next chapter may take a while before ites out since I¡¯ll be working on another chapter of Handholding first. I¡¯ll see you guys when I see you. Chapter 20: Human Hunting (1) Chapter 20: Human Hunting (1) A vige burned. Arge shadow was visible between thickyers of smoke and mes. Its identity was a mystery, but it was clear that it wasn¡¯t human. Moreover, it was also clear that it was ughtering the vige people mercilessly. ¡°Dad! Mom! Daisy!¡± ¡°No!¡± The boy understood everything his dad wanted to say through that single ¡®No¡¯. For starters, he was being told to note to where they were and that he had to turn around and run away. That single ¡®No¡¯ contained the fact that he had to leave behind his dad, mom, and little sister and run away. It told him that if he didn¡¯t run away now, then he would also die helplessly. That single syble word had the ability to exchange someone¡¯s death with another¡¯s life. The boy had yet to learn how terrifying this fact was. Nevertheless, he was scared. He was facing death for the first time in his life. It felt as if the monster¡¯s massive shadow was ring down at him. The boy turned around and began to run towards the forest. His dad¡¯s one word kept repeating in his head. ¡®No! No! No!¡­¡­.¡¯ How long has he been running for? He felt a painful pang in his stomach. His insides were jumbled up because he had run so frantically. It was at the moment he thought he couldn¡¯t run for much longer. The boy saw a man in the distance. He might be a part of the group that assaulted the vige! The boy instantly hid in a nearby bush. However, the boy felt relieved once he heard what the man shouted next. ¡°I¡¯m a patrol officer! Are there any survivors!? I¡¯m a patrol officer! Damn it. Survivors, are there any survivors!?¡± There were asionally soldiers that came to sh-and-burn farming viges under the pretext of patroling in order to collect taxes. The vigers who abandoned their homes and came here in order to avoid taxes would normally wish these soldiers dead, but to the boy, the soldier looked like an angel right now. The boy stumbled out from the bush. ¡°I-I¡¯m here! Mr. Soldier! I¡¯m here!¡± ¡°Oh, my word! Dear Lord, you¡¯re really here!¡± The man smiled brightly. He looked genuinely happy. That face made the boy feelpletely relieved. He could tell that the man was sincerely delighted to see him. However, he didn¡¯t have the time to stay relieved. The boy had a family to get back to. ¡°A monster, a monster attacked¡­¡­ the vige is on fire! My mom and dad!¡± ¡°All right. You are a brave child. Calm yourself, calm down.¡± The man leaned down and brushed the boy¡¯s cheek. ¡°A punitive force has just now entered the vige. I was ordered to go around and look for potential survivors.¡± ¡°A punitive force? Really?¡± The boy jumped up and down. ¡°Are my mom and dad really going to survive? My little sister too? Also the vige people?¡± ¡°Of course. I promise you. You¡¯ll be together with all of the vige people soon.¡± The boy felt as if that were a lie. He could instinctually tell that that was a lie which adults would tell him in order to calm him down. Regardless, he wanted to believe the man¡¯s words as well. Something about the man¡¯s voice made him want to rely on him. ¡°Yeah!¡­¡­ uuh, hhk¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh dear. It seems your tension has finally left you. All right,e here.¡± The man hugged the boy. ¡°Your little sister¡¯s name is Daisy, right?¡± ¡°Hkk¡­¡­ Mister, you know Daisy?¡± ¡°Yes, I do. And your name is Luke.¡± The boy nodded. The man¡¯s cor was getting soaked in tears. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I know your vige inside out. I heard a lot about it! I even know about the girl next door whom you confessed to when you were 7???.¡± ¡°Eh? Aah! Aaah! How do you know about that!?¡± Embarrassment upied the spots where fear and sadness once were. Dear God! There was no doubt that his Dad had told the patrol officer about him. His dad would always b about him, after all. The man chuckled. ¡°Good. Your face has be a little more presentable now, you brave, youngd!¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡­seriously, dad.¡± ¡°Now then, let¡¯s go to the vige. Let¡¯s go meet your dad now.¡± I wanted to go have a word with him right now anyway, the boy stated as he left the man¡¯s embrace. The boy walked back towards the vige with less weight on his shoulders. The foliage around the vige had all shriveled, so there was no hesitation in his steps. And then???. * * * Thunk! A bolt hit a target. At the very edge of the mark. I was satisfied that I was able to hit the mark. ¡°You have improved a lot.¡± Lapismented from beside me. ¡°I¡¯d be better off dead if I couldn¡¯t do this much.¡± I replied while loading another bolt. I¡¯ve been practicing with a crossbowtely. I wanted at least one method to protect myself. Bows took too long to master and I didn¡¯t want to use spears or swords simply because they were melee weapons. Going face to face with an adventurer using a sword!? What a terrifying thought. ¡®It was cowardly, but who cares?¡¯ People should know their ce. What more can someone do than die when they try to do something despite having no talent in fighting? Furthermore, shooting a crossbow was much braver than holing up in my Demon Lord room. ¡°I have brought the product you ordered yesterday.¡± Lapis spoke. I was wondering why she came here during my usual crossbow practicing time, but, as expected of a merchant, she came to do business. Regardless, this Lapis girl suddenly attempted to bargain with me. ¡°I will be receiving 550 gold each.¡± ¡°What, 550?¡± Ipletely forgot that I was reloading a bolt as I turned my head towards her. Lapis was utterly impassive. Hah! This scrooge would probably try to scrape everything from under a flea¡¯s w as well. ¡°Oi, are you kidding me? 300 gold each.¡± ¡°It was 500 gold apiece. I cannot possibly go any lower than this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still too expensive. 350 gold apiece.¡± Lapis then responded firmly. ¡°450 gold. Even if Satan himself were to descend upon us, I will not sell it for 350 gold.¡± This was where her pride as a merchant was on the line. That¡¯s what her tone sounded like. Tsk. I clicked my tongue and turned away. I spoke as I loaded a bolt into my crossbow. ¡°I¡¯ll purchase 2 for 700 gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­3 for 1,200 gold.¡± Hm. 3 for 1,200 gold, is it? I pulled the bolt back with the winch. I then raised the crossbow. I aimed at the target quickly, but not to the point of being impatient. I held my breath for a second and pulled the trigger. The string flicked. The bolt cut through the air. Thuck! The bolt hit the mark. I gave a satisfied nod. Although I could only fire 2 bolts a minute, if it has this much force, then I should be able to pick off one adventurer. I carefully put my crossbow down next to my feet and stuck my right hand out to Lapis. ¡°Deal.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Lapis returned the handshake. ¡°Your Highness Dantalian would have also made a great merchant.¡± ¡°Mm. I don¡¯t know if I should take that as apliment.¡± ¡°It was obviously apliment.¡± Lapis responded in a tone that sounded as if she were asking me why I was saying something so obvious. I guess, simr to how telling a soldier they¡¯re soldier-like was apliment, telling a merchant that they were merchant-like was the best praise you could possibly give them. ©¤ Keruk! Keruruk! ©¤ Kyarururu! My goblin and fairies cheered in celebration around us. This atmosphere felt as if two major countries had finally formed an alliance after 4 straight days of dialogue. The goblin then handed me something at the perfect moment. He had handed me a towel so that I could wipe my sweat. ©¤ Keruru. Haha. I wonder if it was because I¡¯ve been doting on the fairies a lottely. Blingy must have felt as if his position was in danger considering how he was trying to take care of me like this. Sheesh, what an adorable, little thing. He doesn¡¯t have to do this, though. I smiled happily like a parent who had just watched their child go on an errand for the first time. ¡°Thanks, little one.¡± I gave Blingy a kiss on the forehead. ©¤ Keru! Keruru! Sheesh. He¡¯s really loving it, huh? I should give him some more physical contact from now on. I sat down on a nearby boulder. I had only exercised for a brief moment, but I was already out of breath. Be it my original world or this world, my stamina being terrible hasn¡¯t changed. As I was wiping my forehead and neck with the towel, I noticed that the fairies were approaching me now while strenuously holding something up. ¡°Wow.¡± They were bringing me some water in a bowl. It must have been fairly heavy as it required 4 of them to hold it up. They probably worked together as a group to fill it with their water magic. Bless these fairies. I gulped down the water. Water that was as refreshing as bedrock groundwater flowed down my throat. ¡°Kah.¡± Naturally, I should tip them appropriately for their service. I doted on the fairies one at a time. I brushed their cheeks with my finger and tickled their stomachs. The fairies screamed withughter. Ah, this was bliss. How great would it be if time could stop at this very moment? ¡°¡­¡­Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°You are incredibly kind to monsters, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Of course I am. Look at how cute they are.¡± I rubbed a fairy¡¯s head with the tip of my finger. Kyaruru! The fairy held on to my finger and moved her body as if she were hanging off of a high bar. It seems that my hand was like a small-scale yground for these girls. You girls, I¡¯m an expensive man, but I¡¯ll allow this. ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± Hm? I turned my head. Lapis was holding out a ss bottle with some sort of red liquid inside of it. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°It is a potion. Use it to heal your injury.¡± ¡°Are you giving this to me?¡± ¡°Yes. Think of it as a service.¡± Traditionally, you can¡¯t say no to something that¡¯s free. I hastily received the potion. Potions were expensive products that cost more than 10 gold apiece, so I¡¯ve been contemting on whether I should buy one or not; however, receiving one like this at such a nice timing naturally made me ted. As expected of Keuncuska! They know how to satisfy their customers. ¡°Thank you, Lapis.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it.¡± ¡°Wow. I wonder how this works. Is it enchanted with magic, or?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It might be fused with magic ores that have been grounded down. They say that the majority of materials can hold magic, so if I can figure it out.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Hm? Lapis kept staring at me. ¡°What? Is something wrong?¡± ¡°The potion.¡± She then pointed at the potion in my hand. ¡°That is rather expensive.¡± ¡°Mhm. I know. That¡¯s why I¡¯m grateful.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± The piercing gaze of her blue eyes was still on me. What¡¯s the issue? Wait, don¡¯t tell me! ¡°You aren¡¯t asking me to return it since it¡¯s expensive, are you!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Never mind.¡± She let out a small sigh. ¡°Huh, okay? So this is mine, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Was I imagining things? Lapis¡¯ expressionless face appeared a little colder than usual. Did she feel like it was a waste even though she was giving it to me as a service? ¡­¡­Tsk tsk, you can only seed if you know how to give things with certainty when you have to be generous. It¡¯s still too soon for Lapis to be a great merchant. Lapis shifted the topic in order to change the mood. ¡°In any case, why did you purchase medium-scale teleportation scrolls? Although I am grateful since my work performance increases ording to the more expensive products I sell.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Medium-scale teleportation scroll. It is a magic tool that allows a total of 20 people to be transported somewhere instantaneously. It is often used to conquer fortresses that don¡¯t have an advanced magic barrier or when high-standing demons want to urgently go somewhere with their elite guards. Nheless, it was an expensive item. It was normal for high-rank demons to simply have a subordinate that was capable of teleportation magic, and for the demons who didn¡¯t have such mages under their wings, the price was overbearing. It was an item that people had mixed feelings about in various regards. ¡®It¡¯s extremely useful for me right now.¡¯ ¡°What about my previous request?¡± ¡°¡­¡­You do not intend to answer my question, I see.¡± Lapis nodded weakly. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t misunderstand. It¡¯s just that you will naturally figure it out as well.¡± ¡°I understand. Now then, I will give a report regarding the request you made. There are a total of thirty-five ve markets in the northern region of the Kingdom of Sardinia.¡± She then handed me a document. The name of every ve market owner, their locations, and the scale of the markets, these were all written down concisely on the document. ¡°There are three cesrge enough to trade in high-ss sex ves. I centered my investigation on these three ces. As a result, I was able to identify the ve which Your Highness Dantalian requested for.¡± ¡°All right!¡± I made a fist with my right hand. I hopped up and down a couple of times. ¡°Good job! Lapis, youaretrulythe greatest person of talent! It¡¯s clear to me that the Keuncuska Firm executives all have buttons for eyes. How could you only be a rank 5 personnel!?¡± She must have been satisfied by my reaction as she smiled faintly. Ever since I extensively showed her my resolve, Lapis would smile like this every so often. She still looked emotionless if youpared her to normal people, but I was capable of perceiving the difference. However, her charm only went that far. She spoke in an unaffected tone. ¡°It was heavily guarded and the security was thorough.¡± Oh? Was she trying to poke around for more before giving me the information? My feet which had been dancing in excitement came to a stop. I snorted. ¡°I¡¯ll give you 10 gold as a bonus.¡± ¡°A fair amount of money was required to bribe guards and insiders.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I¡¯ll include another 10 gold.¡± ¡°Thank you for doing business with our Keuncuska Firm once again.¡± ¡°Uegh.¡± I got fed up. ¡°Hey, you¡¯reseriously a merchant.¡± ¡°That is the highest of praises.¡± Lapis bowed her head. I¡¯m not sure, but was I feeling satisfaction from her right now or was I being excessively sensitive? It was as if she were emitting an aura that was boasting about how she had managed tond a blow on me. ¡°Sheesh.¡± I wound up spending a lot more than I expected just to obtain a single piece of information. Like so, the two of us had created a rtionship where we would exchange blows. As expected of an employee from the bloodless and tearless Keuncuska Firm, she won¡¯t sit idly by and just take the hits. ¡°Here is information regarding Her Ladyship Farnese.¡± Lapis pulled out the remaining document she had been hiding and handed it to me. I mentally clicked my tongue at her meticulousness, but I was satisfied that I was able to obtain the information I wanted as I received the piece of paper from her. The personal information of a single girl was written in detail on the document. The girl was being held by a small ve merchant group. There was also information on the ve merchant group¡¯s n to go to a different city that also had arge ve market in a few days from now. ¡®Laura De Farnese.¡¯ Also known as ¡¸Female Iron Chancellor¡¹. She was the girl who tormented me endlessly in my previous life. No, to be more exact, she was one of the culprits behind many of the struggles the character I yed as in Dungeon Attack had to go through. If Demon Lords go against the yer as absolute enemies of the human world, then Laura confronted the yer every chance she got as another faction of the human world. You could say that the number of times yers died to the Demon Lords and the number of times yers died to Laura¡¯s faction were almost equal. Postsining about Laura appeared almost every day on the Dungeon Attack fansite. The enemy of the enemy is an ally. ¡®I will definitely bring her to my side.¡¯ I know what was going to happen in this world. Thus, I came to a realization. Shouldn¡¯t I be able to create allies a little more actively instead of only using my information to make money? In Dungeon Attack, there were as many enemies as there were allies. Although a majority of them are eventually lured in by the hero¡¯s humane charm, there were those who remained as enemies till the bitter end. If I were to rally them together, then I should be able to protect my dungeon with ease. Laura was the first recruit candidate on my list. There was no one who despised the hero as much as she did. Even herst moment was one of the best memorable scenes in the game. When the hero shouts at her to just surrender, she snorts at him lightheartedly and, ¡®O shallow-minded adventurer. This body has lived with hatred and hatred alone.¡¯ She thenmits suicide by jumping off the rampart she was standing on. An utterly clean end. You learn all sorts of things through her willter on, but it isn¡¯t until the end that you discover that her path was different from all the other enemies. In other words, she waspetent, despised the hero¡¯s faction, and didn¡¯t shy away from the idea of allying with demons. As a Demon Lord, it would be weird to not want her. Lapis asked me a question as I carefully read through the document. ¡°I am curious as to why you are interested in a mere human.¡± ¡°A mere human, is it?¡± I felt the ends of my mouth rising on their own. ¡°I wonder? You¡¯ll just have to wait and find out.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Woops, I forgot that I identally started to trante this chapter before I even released the previous chapter on my site. I¡¯ll actually go back to tranting a Handholding chapter this time for sure. I¡¯ll see you guys in probably a little more than a week depending on how long the chapter is (Also because my midterm exams start next week). Chapter 21: Human Hunting (2) Chapter 21: Human Hunting (2) I devised a thorough n in order to recruit Laura. For starters, I disguised myself and infiltrated the city. Lapis was the one who got me an identification card. I hired a carter and 3 mercenaries while disguised as a peddler. ¡°We¡¯ll be in your care, Mr. Merchant.¡± ¡°I should be the one to say that. My safety is in your hands, after all. If I remain unharmed throughout the entire trip, then I¡¯ll double your pay.¡± This was all for the sake of naturally approaching a ve merchant. The ve merchant was traveling together with argepany of merchants. Merchants traveled inrge groups like this in fear of being assaulted by bandits. As expected of the scale of a group which the ve merchant was traveling with, they had 40 mercenaries along with 5rge and small dogs. From afar, this group could possibly be mistaken for as an army. Average bandit groups wouldn¡¯t even dare to mess with a group of this size. I pretended as if I had the same destination as them which allowed me to naturally fit into therge merchantpany. Once I told them I had 3 mercenaries, the smaller merchant groups weed me without anyints. An increase in security was always weed, after all. ¡°What product do you deal in, Merchant Lolita?¡± ¡°I mostly deal in medicinal herbs.¡± ¡°Medicinal herbs, is it? That doesn¡¯t sound particrly profitable¡­¡­.¡± The man who called himself the president of a small merchant firm furrowed his brows slightly. He was looking down on me since I had pretty much told him that I went around selling grass. Was he trying topare our merchant¡¯s pride? I gave him a bold-faced response. ¡°Haha. Certainly, if I were to sell and buy medicinal herbs in the city, then it wouldn¡¯t be profitable. However! There are many times when herbsmonly found in one city are priceless in another region.¡± ¡°Oh? How is that possible?¡± ¡°In each town, there are two or three herbalists who only deal in the herbs which they have always handled. Even if you were to catch the same cold, the medicinal herbs prescribed in this town are different from the medicinal herbs prescribed in another town. Therefore, even if they have simr effects, it¡¯s only natural for people to be amazed as if they had found a miracle herb when they see a herb with a different shape.¡± ¡®Is that so?¡¯ the other party replied. It was around this point that the other merchants started to turn their ears towards our conversation as well. Merchants were the type of people to have an interest in something at least once if it seemed profitable. I most likely attracted their interest because it was probably their first time hearing about a medicinal herb peddler. I spoke in my head. ¡® skill, activate.¡¯ A now familiar sound effect rang in my head. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹ ¡¸A bonus effect will be granted to your skill ording to your intelligence and charm stats.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has slipped from your hand! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ¡®slightly¡¯ lowered.¡¹ I continued in a tone that sounded as if I were disclosing very precious information. ¡°It¡¯s normally a decent business to earn a living off of, but, hah, circumstances have changed. It¡¯s be really profitable.¡± ¡°Circumstances? There has never been a time where the economy was as bad as it is now.¡± ¡°Is the reason the economy has gone bad not because of the ¡®ck Death¡¯?¡± The other party agreed. Being a merchant meant that you had to deal with other people in order to buy or sell products. Merchants can¡¯t really do much when their suppliers and customers are dying to the gue. ¡°Merchants may all be groaning about the current state of the economy, but I¡¯m the only exception. Wouldn¡¯t people¡¯s interest in medicinal herbs grow higher as hundreds of people die off to an unknown disease? For example, if there is a medicinal herb the effects of which have been confirmed in another city, then it would only be natural for beggars and aristocrats toe in swarms.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The merchant¡¯s face was filled with shock. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, Merchant Lolita! Are you telling me that you possess an herb that can cure the ck Death!?¡± ¡°I might be the only person throughout the entire continent to have registered to both the Herbalist Guild and the Merchant Guild. In other words, I¡¯m the only one who has encountered the medicinal herbs in every region of the continent.¡± I smiled slyly. ¡°The ck Death isn¡¯t that rare of a disease in that country of ins over yonder. Haha!¡± ¡°O Dear Lord! Is that true?¡± ¡°I swear on the guild¡¯s name.¡± The merchants around us became noisy. It was a given that they would be surprised and delighted after having just learned that there is a cure for the contagious disease that has been taking people¡¯s lives mercilessly. There were even a couple of envious gazes directed towards me as they realized I was going to have an incredibly good haul. I confirmed that among those gazes, the ve merchant I had been targeting was one of them. I intentionally made eye contact with him and grinned. That night, we set up for the night on the side of a highway. It was in the middle of the summer, so staying up all night wasn¡¯t a difficult task. The coachmen released the horses from the carriages and allowed them to graze freely. The hired soldiers massaged their tired legs and drank a gulp of heavily diluted beer. I awarded the 3 men I had hired with more concentrated beer. They were extremely grateful. Under the pretext of friendship, I decided to share a barrel of beer to each of the other merchant groups while I was at it. Each merchant group sent an errand boy to thank me. As I was bing friends with strangers like this, someone came to visit my tent. It was the ve merchant. ¡°I apologize for visiting you thiste at night.¡± A young man. He was so kind and polite that it was hard to believe that he traded in humans. ¡®Good. He took the bait.¡¯ I told him to not worry about it and weed him as I had just prepared a table of drinks and snacks. The young man seemed relieved by my wee as he soon melded into the mood and drank with me. As expected of a merchant, he had solid interpersonal skills and a sound way of talking despite his young age. ¡°I¡¯m really relieved to have met you, Merchant Lolita! In truth, it¡¯s my first time meeting another peddler who¡¯s around the same age as me.¡± The young man spoke in a slightly intoxicated tone. His name was Jack. ¡°I thought that peddlers would all be nothing but old foxes. You¡¯re really amazing for your young age.¡± ¡°Are you not younger than me, Jack? Hah, that sounds more like self-praise.¡± ¡°Fufufu¡­¡­I¡¯m just a rookie. All I did was receive the small firm that my father, who¡¯s a big merchant, prepared for me since I¡¯m his second son.¡± Jack gulped down his beer. ¡°Why does it matter if you received it? The beginning is not important. To us merchants, are the results not what ultimately matter the most?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I thought so as well. I started off ambitious! I wanted to seed even if it meant using our family¡¯s connections, but.¡± Jack let out a big sigh. ¡°My father wouldn¡¯t even let me do my own business! He ordered me to handle a portion of the business he had already created. In the end, I¡¯m no different from a slightly trustworthy employee.¡± Jack looked depressed. Sheesh, was he 20 years old at most? As expected of someone in the stormy period of their adolescence, his concerns weren¡¯t very surprising. The easiest trap to get caught in at that age is being under the impression that his concerns are incredibly uniquepared to others. If anything, if he realized his concerns weren¡¯t unique and were actually universal, then he would be able to have unique concerns. Albeit, the people who just give uppletely are innumerable. I didn¡¯te here to be a counselor. I deliberately chose pleasant to hear andforting words. Things like telling him that his father did all that for his sake, in other words,pletely pointless chitchat. Honestly, there aren¡¯t a lot of things that are as useful as useless chitchat. Even now, a hologram was giving me a live disy of Jack¡¯s affection points going up. It seems that when alcohol is involved, the rate at which affection points increase is raised. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Jack nd Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Medoranm Firm(Lombards Firm-affiliated) Attribute: Good(+45) Level: 5¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 57 Job: Merchant(E) Leadership: 10¡¡¡¡Might: 5 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 23 Politics: 20¡¡¡¡Charm: 9¡¡¡¡Technique: 6 Affection: 46 Current thought: ¡®Merchant Lolita is almost like an idol to me!¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ His affection points had exceeded 40. If you only look at the numbers, then he was close to Lapis. Oh dear, at this rate, I¡¯m worried that raising people¡¯s affection might be my greatest talent. It wasn¡¯t until he becamepletely drunk did Jack start to genuinely talk about himself. ¡°Honestly¡­¡­I wanted to do business like you, Merchant Lolita.¡± He was trying to show off how unusual his life was by saying this, but to me, it sounded as if he were confessing to me about how boring his life was. ording to him, he came to visit me because he felt like his subordinates were disregarding him. Dear me! He was like the physical manifestation of an inferiorityplex due to having such a distinguished father. Nevertheless, his real intention was pure and beautiful. ¡°They say thatmerce is often carried out through greed, but, despite that, I want to do business for the world¡­¡­a business that can benefit the world. This is what I think. People who deal inmerce for their own sake are small merchants, those that do it for their family and their firm are average merchants, and those that do it for the nation are great merchants. But what about merchants that do business for the sake of the world? Isn¡¯t this what merchants should truly strive to do¡­¡­?¡± He¡¯s young, has a severe inferiorityplex, and is innocent. In other words, ¡°Most certainly. You¡¯re right about that, Jack.¡± ¡°As expected of Merchant Lolita, you think so as well!¡± he¡¯s the easiest type of greenhorn to take advantage of. ¡°A medicinal herb that can save all nations! To deal in such a product! Amazing. You are truly amazing.¡± ¡°I was simply lucky. There have been numerous times when I pursued my own benefit as well.¡± ¡°But you aren¡¯t now, right? Merchants only look at the end result, weren¡¯t you the one who said this? In the end, Mr. Lolita is pursuing the benefit of the entire world.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t deserve such praise.¡± I smiled bashfully. Tsk, even as someone who always gets haggled by Lapis, it was as clear as day to even me. This guy is a pushover. An incredibly big pushover, at that. Even though his intelligence and politics stats are over 20, I understood why his merchant rank only reached E. The reason why his father left him with a stable job was probably partially because he didn¡¯t find his son to be trustworthy. A benefit for the entire world? That sentence in itself was already a contradiction. A benefit is a benefit for someone. Merchants are people who put their names into that ¡®someone¡¯ spot. People who cry out such contradictions sincerely are either revolutionists or idiots, and Jack was currently thetter. ¡°What merchandise do you deal in, Jack? Come to think of it, I haven¡¯t heard about your business.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s not something I can honorably talk about in front of others. No, it¡¯s a question as to whether it should even be considered as merchandise.¡± Jack chuckled dejectedly. ¡°How could I hide anything from you, Mr. Lolita? This may seem hypocritical. Yes, I deal in ves. I¡¯m a ve merchant that transports ves and sells them in cities.¡± I pretended to be rtively surprised. ¡°A ve merchant? I would have never guessed.¡± ¡°Mr. Lolita¡­¡­do you perhaps also consider ves as merchandise?¡± ¡°If ves are merchandise, then everything in the world should be merchandise as well. Jack, I¡¯m not trying to ost you. I¡¯m simply surprised that a man like yourself is in the ve-trading business. I now understand why you dislike your father.¡± Mhm, that¡¯s right, Jack muttered. Our candid conversation continued after that. I mean that it was candid for Jack. I waited for the most opportune moment to ask him if I could personally confirm the way he manages his ves. At first, Jack didn¡¯t seem to like the idea, however, once I alluded that I could perhaps give him advice as a more experienced merchant, he dly epted. We walked passed the hired soldiers who were dozing off as we headed towards Jack¡¯s quarters. ¡°This is where I¡¯m staying. Wee to the Medoranm Firm!¡± Jack¡¯s quarters were a lot more impressive than mine. 4 bonfires were lit up and there were over 10 hired soldiers present. There were also roughly 20 ves. They were all sitting around a bonfire with chains around their ankles. A group of around 6 ves shared a single chain. Once we approached, a couple of the mercenaries red at us, but once they realized it was Jack, they went back to their card game. They were being rather discourteous to their employer, but it seems that neither party really cared. ¡°It¡¯s normal to put a chain around their ankles when traveling as well, but I only put chains on them at night. It¡¯s very likely for their feet to get messed up after traveling all day with chains on their legs. Even if they¡¯re ves, that¡¯s too cruel.¡± Jack spoke in a low voice. It seems he wanted me to praise him. I met his expectations andplimented him for being an incredibly merciful and human gentleman. I believe that the term ¡®ass-kissing¡¯ was created for situations like this. Contrary to how I appeared on the outside, I waspletely unsatisfied on the inside. What I wanted wasn¡¯t here. At that moment, it was almost as if Jack had read my mind as he scratched my itch. ¡°There¡¯s a ve that I want to especially show Mr. Lolita. One of my most prized possession! I believe that even Mr. Lolita will be surprised.¡± My heart raced. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m back to tranting DD again. I do feel bad for those who¡¯ve been really looking forward to Handholding, but I already promised to do this method, so I¡¯ll be sticking with it for as long as I can. This does prevent me from getting burnt out on a single series, so that¡¯s good. Chapter 22: Human Hunting (3) Chapter 22: Human Hunting (3) ¡°Ooh, I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± I found myself licking my lips. I reacted to Jack¡¯s words appropriately while being cautious to not let my emotions show. He waspletely drunk now. He kept repeating the same words, so ying along wasn¡¯t difficult. ¡°We¡¯re here! The ce where a fairy lies asleep. It doesn¡¯t feel appropriate to call her a ve. Hey! You guys have been protecting the jewel well, right?¡± Jack had taken me to a ce where a considerably massive carriage was parked. Two hired soldiers were ying card games in front of it. They only gave Jack a curt nod. They seemed annoyed by his presence since they were already staying up all night to keep watch. They didn¡¯t even raise their gazes from their cards. ¡°Yes, we have. Damn it. One pair.¡± ¡°Two pairs. You lost, retard. Pay up.¡± I almost snickered out loud. Damn it and pay up, these were terms they were sayingindirectlytowards Jack. As expected of a drunkard, Jack didn¡¯t realize he was being sworn at. ¡°She might be asleep. Haha. I¡¯ll open it slowly.¡± He opened the door to the carriage. There was a girl sitting in the corner of the carriage. It was dark, so I couldn¡¯t see her face. Darn it, Jack muttered as he quickly brought out a torch. The torch illuminated the inside of the carriage with an amber glow. The girl must have woken up by the sound of the door opening as she stared straight at us. She had a slender jawline. Was she around seventeen years old now? She examined Jack for a moment before looking past him and staring at me. The term ¡®stare at¡¯ was very urate. There is usually an intent behind a person¡¯s gaze. Earlier today, when that merchant looked at me, it was for the sake of mocking me. When Jack made eye contact with me, it was with the intent to garner affection. All things considered, the number of times I¡¯ve looked at something to know what has happened or to see what has entered my line of sight was unexpectedly small. I wonder if the gazes of wildcats were like that. It is only natural for people¡¯s gazes to hold the desire tough at someone, to garner affection, and other simr desires. There are only 2 asions where you would purely stare at someone. You¡¯re either simr to a beast who has no desire to ridicule or garner affection, or you¡¯re so perfect that you have no need to show your desires to others. This girl¡¯s gaze alone left arge impression on me. ¡°She is of noble lineage. Laura De Farnese! The esteemed daughter of a duke. To be exact, she used to be the esteemed daughter. Do you know anything about the National Flower War? She¡¯s the 2nd heir of the Farnese Duchery which led the Hydrangea Faction. Haha. An individual of truly high standing. No, an individual who was once of high standing¡­¡­.¡± Jack continued to bber on next to me. The girl and I were looking at each other as he kept talking. I strangely felt as if I¡¯d lose if I averted my gaze here. That¡¯s right. This girl, although I have no idea why she was doing this, was testing me. ¡®How impudent.¡¯ I had no reason to refuse her test. I¡¯m not sure how high your standards are, but go ahead and evaluate me. I will also determine whether you¡¯re a hero or not by my standards. ¡®Status.¡¯ Ding, a simple hologram appeared. Her affection was low, so only the bare minimum information was disyed.
Name Stamina Attack Defense
Laura 6 15 7
Mm¡­¡­. It was honestly disappointing. She was much stronger than an F rank adventurer, but that was it. If I were to rank her, then she was probably between E and D rank adventurers. Although it¡¯s impressive for a girl in her teens to have suchbat prowess, she¡¯s a person of talent who was going to be an anti-hero in the future. Would it be greedy to expect all of herbat-rted stats to at least be in the double digits? ¡®Was she perhaps an individual who grows after going through difficulties and trials and not someone who starts off superior¡­¡­?¡¯ Laura was an NPC famous for her unfortunate backstory. Despite being born as the esteemed daughter of a high noble, she had fallen and be a sex ve. After bing stained by a decade of being raped, she managed to turn her life around through her demonic stratagems and backstabbing. If she isn¡¯t a genius and is the type of person to grow from experience, then the need to scout her will diminish greatly. I felt the hope that had been flowing through my chest up to this point fade away quickly. It was then that the girl opened her mouth. ¡°What is the meaning behind your gaze?¡± I was still in deep thought, so I couldn¡¯t answer her immediately. It wasn¡¯t until a couple of seconds had passed since she asked me that question did I realize she was staring at me quietly, waiting for my response. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you about your gaze. It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve received such a look.¡± The girl twisted her bang with her right hand. Ah, that was a habit which Laura would always do whenever she was thinking deeply about something. She did this in the game as well. As I was in awe of the degree of attention to detail of this world, I answered her. It might have been because of how naturally she used informal speech, as I wound up using formal speech in return. ¡°Is there something wrong with my gaze?¡± ¡°You first looked at me with a gaze full of hope. That isn¡¯t particrly significant. There have been plenty of people who had ced their hopes in me, after all. However, your expression changed immediately after. As if your expectations were betrayed, as if I didn¡¯t meet your expectations.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± A faint bit of hope bloomed within my voice. It was as if the ember that I had thought to have died had somehow survived. I asked Jack for permission to speak with her alone. ¡°As expected of Sir Jack, she is a prize worth boasting about.¡± ¡°Right? Haha. Isn¡¯t she really beautiful? Even I have never met a girl as pretty as her.¡± ¡°I agree. May I ask to speak to your ve alone? Only for a brief moment. I sincerely wish to evaluate how much value Sir Jack¡¯s most prized possession has. Would that be all right?¡± Jack dly epted my request. I entered the carriage and closed the door. During this entire exchange, the girl kept staring straight at me. I sat opposite from her. ¡°Your Ladyship Farnese, it seems that your master only grades you by your appearance.¡± ¡°Refer to me by my name. My house has already fallen.¡± Oh, she also doesn¡¯t obsess over her own family name. Even though she should have lived her entire life as a proud, high-ranking noble. Instead of dwelling upon the glory of the past, she looks at the present, huh? My hopes are gradually rising. ¡®That¡¯s right. Even if she¡¯s the growing type, they say that genius disys itself even in childhood.¡¯ In the first ce, if her mental attitude weren¡¯t exceptional, then she would never have gained the title Iron Chancellor. The girl continued. ¡°Additionally, the title ¡®master¡¯ is not appropriate for that man.¡± ¡°Why is that? You are a ve and he is a ve merchant.¡± ¡°His duty is to simply transport me somewhere. I will most likely be sold to someone else.¡± ¡°That logic is odd. Regardless of what happens in the future, you are Jack¡¯s ve right now. Even if you are sold to someone else, who knows whether you will be sold off again.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. In the end, how long one possesses me for does not determine whether they are my master or not.¡± I asked in a pleasant mood. ¡°Then what can one do to be your master?¡± ¡°You cannot.¡± The girl spoke in a tone that sounded as if she were talking about how cold the weather was today. ¡°I was the esteemed daughter of the Farnese House for 15 years. Does this mean my life is defined by the word Farnese? No. I¡¯ve been Jack¡¯s ve for the past 6 months. Does this mean my life is defined by the term Jack¡¯s ve? No. I will be someone else¡¯s ve for many years toe. This doesn¡¯t mean that that person will be the master of my life. Ultimately, no matter where I am affiliated with and whomever I be the ve of, these things are nothing more than coincidences.¡± The corners of my mouth went up. ¡°¡­¡­Then what is not a coincidence?¡± ¡°Death!¡± The girl smiled as well. ¡°To me, the fact that I will one day die is the only inevitable and absolute proposition. Even if my life is determined by someone else, death, death alone is mine. Is there someone that will die in my stead? Can I die for the sake of someone else? No. Everyone will die. Everyone will die on their own ord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura De Farnese. I recalled this girl¡¯s death. She snorted at the hero¡¯s request to surrender and threw herself off of a rampart without any hesitation. Was this principle going through her head at that time as well? That she could yield everything except for death. I was silently moved. This was an emotion that was felt when meeting a person who has actually proved their creed. This girl most likely thinks that I came here to purchase her. Even if you purchase me circuitously, I will not submit, she had just dered this to me. As someone who has never lived ording to his own principle, she was blinding to look at. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has slipped from your hand! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ¡®slightly¡¯ lowered.¡¹ Nheless, I ¡®acted¡¯. ¡°Laura, that is quite an impressive philosophy. If you put it like that, then that means you are not the only one who does not have a master. No one does. All things considered, be it aristocrats, monarchs, or saints, they are all no different from peasants when ites to being destined to perish, correct?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± The girl nodded a matter-of-factly. Agreeing to this was an incredibly dangerous thing to do. Defamation, treason, and sphemy, she hadmitted all three of these crimes at once whenmitting only one of them would already lead to having your limbs hacked off. I understood how she could have fallen to the bottom despite having been the 2nd heir of a duchy. She was probably an heir in name only and was actually outcasted in her household. She held excessively dangerous ideas for this day and age. ¡°Nevertheless, you said that no one can be the master of their own life. Whether it be a life where you strenuously ovee difficulties or impulsivelymit suicide for no reason, you are saying that these things are ultimately no different. Hm.¡± I put on a genuinely curious face. ¡°I wonder, though. I have a single question¡­¡­. Why have you notmitted suicide right this moment?¡± The girl¡¯s face froze. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Time flowed by quietly. A dark carriage. The two of us were relying on the moonlight leaking through the window to stare at one another. I could hear Jack bothering the hired soldiers outside because of his drunkenness. At that moment, Laura opened her mouth wide and inhaled deeply. Oh dear, I can¡¯t let her do that. I hastily shoved my finger in the girl¡¯s mouth. ¡°Ub! ¡­¡­Uub!¡± A sharp pain traveled up my finger. Laura bit my finger with her teeth. She had bitten down with the genuine intention to bite her tongue. She had bitten down so hard that she drew blood from my finger. If I hadn¡¯t predicted this situation beforehand and protected her tongue with my index finger, this would have turned out badly. ¡°You pondered before biting down, did you not? You contemted for several minutes.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The girl looked up at me with a wicked gaze. The blood flowing out from my finger trickled down her lip and down her jaw before dripping down to the floor. ¡°Several minutes of contemtion, this is something that cannot be exined by your philosophy. I personally call that one¡¯s will towards life. It¡¯s a wretched thing that prevents me from quickly dying in this damned world and forces me to continue living.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Laura. I have taken a liking to you. I request that you be sold to me.¡± I grinned. ¡°Let me confirm one thing just in case. Interviews are important, after all. Mm, do you harbor any personal hatred towards demonkind?¡± The viciousness behind Laura¡¯s eyes became murkier and was reced by confusion. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ve been able to trante somewhat freely between my sses recently because most of my midterm exams are over except for one. If I feel like I¡¯m going fast enough, I might just trante the next section after Human Hunting before going to Handholding again. We¡¯ll see. See you guys in the next release. Chapter 23: Human Hunting (4) Chapter 23: Human Hunting (4) I slowly pulled out my finger. My blood and the girl¡¯s saliva were mixed together on it. I wiped my finger on my sleeve. I did so casually as if this injury didn¡¯t bother me one bit. It seems that hearing the word demonkind had made her perplexed as Laura stared at me nkly. Despite clearly feeling her gaze on me, I pretended as if I didn¡¯t notice as I calmly nced down at my finger. I did this in order to allow the other party to look at me without reserve. ¡°Was I too quiet? I asked whether you have any personal grudge or hatred against demonkind. I am not asking this forughs, Laura. Please answer me seriously.¡± ¡°I¡­¡­ don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Fantastic.¡± I raised my gaze and looked at her. She flinched. ¡°I can see your pride. The pride of the strong. Do you not smell a rotten odoring from somewhere? It is surprisingly simr to tulence. After you had arbitrarily established your philosophy, you most likely had so much spare time that you could judge others using that philosophy of yours. I can feel it¡­¡­. To you, the world itself is like a y, so all who appear before you are actors and actresses that go on stageording to the roles you had given them before they eventually walk off stage. In other words, you consider yourself as the ywright. How envious!¡± Even I could tell that my voice was drenched in hostility. I couldn¡¯t live properly in my original world, but I suddenly died because of some transcendent being¡¯s whim. Even in this world, the role of Demon Lord which I never wanted was forced upon me. I became an existence that has no other choice but to kill humans in order to survive. Although I don¡¯t know when this world will reach its ending, at the very least, I have to live as a Demon Lord until then. My appearance and departure are nothing more than someone¡¯s amusement. Laura dered that at least her death belongs to her. I wonder if this littledy has ever imagined the possibility that there could be someone who couldn¡¯t even bask in that such luxury. ¡°I have never once been able to think of myself as the ywright. I didn¡¯t have the resolve. I may have had the opportunity to do so, but I had foolishly missed it. This is the price I had paid.¡± I undid the turban that was wrapped around my head. The cloth fell to the floor. Once I turned my head slightly, I heard Laura let out a gasp. She most likely witnessed the small horn sticking out of the back of my head. ¡°T-The proof of a Demon Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Someone might hear you.¡± I yfully pressed my forefinger on her lips. I felt pleased. My head and heart became clear as if I had just smoked a cigarette after having quit for several years. I realized that I had gotten excessively worked up and I was letting out my anger on Laura. Regardless, I didn¡¯t want to gag myself. I had to break her spirit right now. I had this feeling for some reason. It was as if another version of myself was whispering this advice to me. ¡°I will tell you how you will live your life from now on. You will be sold to the House of Wittelsbach, to a Count Ptine of the Kingdom of Britanny. The head of that family has a hobby of holding sluggish gang rape parties after gathering fallen nobledies like yourself. You are beautiful and young. Moreover, you were also the heir of a high-ranking noble family. Truly, are you not a prey worth salivating over? Let me congratte you beforehand! You will surely be sold at a high price.¡± ¡°Uu¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Count Ptine¡¯s estate has several rooms in the basement. You will be imprisoned in one of them. You will not be able to go outside for 3 years. A daily life where you are rotated around by the Count Ptine and his subordinates will continue. Wait a moment. Laura, why are you turning away? What¡¯s the matter?¡± She kept trying to turn her head. I held the girl¡¯s jaw. ¡°Y-Your gaze¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Is there a problem with my gaze? Tell me.¡± ¡°Your gaze is¡­¡­ too¡­¡­.¡± It seems that she¡¯s extremely sensitive to the gazes of other people. She was about to say something, but she couldn¡¯t finish her sentence. Even though I was holding her chin, she refused to look at me. I suddenly felt as if I may have acted a little drastically. I did intentionally make my emotions vicious in order to increase the liveliness of my performance, but it seems the effect was too strong. I gradually began to believe that my skill wasn¡¯tpletely useless. It might be thanks to this skill that I¡¯m able to even talk this much. ¡°Please do not avert your gaze. Would it not be sad if I were to mistake you for such a weak individual?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Laura struggled to turn her gracile eyes towards me. There was fear hidden there. I felt my sadistic side get stronger. Did I always have this sort of personality? This might be the essence of a Demon Lord to wee the fear of others. In any case, this wasn¡¯t something I had to figure out now. ¡°What good eyes. Now then, did my words sound like a lie?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No.¡± ¡°Then allow me to ask. Do you want to be sold to a perverted, pedophilic aristocrat who has the hobby of torture? Or do you want to be sold to someone who may be of a different race, but is mentally sound and wishes to treat you as their subordinate and not a ve?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. W-Why does a Demon Lord need me?¡± The girl¡¯s voice trembled. Although she excels considerablypared to her peers, she¡¯s still a teenage girl. It¡¯s highly unlikely that she has ever encountered a Demon Lord or even a mid-rank demon before. ¡°T-The session rights¡­¡­ of the House of Farnese and my appearance¡­¡­these two things are all that I possess. Do you intend to steal my soul?¡± ¡°I have no interest in an already fallen family, your appearance, or your soul. I have immense interest in your resourcefulness.¡± ¡°My resourcefulness¡­¡­?¡± The girl muttered weakly. ¡°Do you not wish to get revenge on those who had caused your household to fall? Do you not wish to get revenge on your rtives who had sold you off as a ve with such ease? Or perhaps, do you not want to get revenge on the entire world for having ruined your life in the first ce?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°I know that you can achieve all this. Oh, we will aplish great things. Let us show the world that this is the result of throwing us away!¡± I stuck my right hand out. Laura looked at me with a gaze that appeared as if she were entranced. She raised her hand as if it were being pulled by a ma. However, that was it. It seems she was still irresolute as her hand stopped in mid-air. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t understand her feeling. I smiled gently as if Ipletely understood her circumstances. ¡°I will be watching over you from now on. If you require my assistance, then feel free to call out to me. My name is Dantalian.¡± I retied the turban around my head before exiting the carriage. I was certain that the girl needed me. Although I intended to summon my unit of monsters and wipe out everything around us if she took my hand¡­¡­there¡¯s no reason to rush. I hadn¡¯t set up only one or two traps in order to obtain Laura. I could hear an owl in the distance. Jack was lying on the ground. The hired soldiers were ying cards indifferently. Once they saw mee out, the color in their faces returned. I was wondering what was the matter, but they entered the carriage as if they were rotating with me. Shortly after, the carriage started to shake. The crude voices of the hired mercenaries leaked out from the carriage. ¡®Sex ve education, huh.¡¯ It was easy to guess why they didn¡¯t seem happy about Jack¡¯s visit. More importantly, is she not amazing? She has most likely been raped under the pretext of education every night. This ridicule and tyranny should be unbearable as a nobledy, no, as a girl. Despite this daily urrence, she still has not lost her arrogance. Even though she is only a 16-year-old girl. I scratched the back of my head as I returned to my quarters. I could hear the carriage shake behind me. The more I walked, the less I could hear from the carriage before I could eventually hear nothing. Only the sound of an owl hooting filled the empty air. A merchant¡¯s day starts early. The light of dawn covered the ins. The merchants had already finished their preparations to depart. People chatted happily about being able to arrive in the city today. Even peddlers found sleeping outside arduous. Thepany of merchants moved quickly. It seems that the thought of being able to liefortably on a straw bed once they¡¯ve reached the city had restored the strength in their legs. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about yesterday, Lolita!¡± Jack spoke pleasantly. We were moving side by side. While Jack was riding a horse slowly, I was on my cart. It appears that he really took a liking to me as he asked if I could be his friend this morning. I had no reason to refuse. ¡°I¡¯m not always weak to alcohol, but I became like thatst night.¡± ¡°You were walking all day, so it¡¯s natural that you would be exhausted. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± As I was having trivial conversations with Jack, I nced behind us. A ck carriage was following right behind us. We reached the city after half a day. Guards began to pour out in order to search us. I became nervous because of the excessive number of guards, but I became relieved once Jack spoke up. ¡°They¡¯re doing this to receive a little more bribe money. Guards that usually ck off all day on the rampart onlye down and act like they¡¯re guards when a merchant arrives. They basically want us to pay up if we want to get through the gate faster¡­¡­ tsk tsk.¡± Jack furrowed his brow. There¡¯s no way that a high-minded person like him would be pleased seeing the guards behave like this. The merchants had a war of nerves against the guards for a moment before they came to apromise. Everything was already predetermined anyway. The guards waved their hands as they let us in. ¡°It was a good trip!¡± ¡°I was able to travelfortably thanks to you.¡± ¡°May the blessings of Hermes be upon you!¡± After getting through the rampart, the merchants gave their farewells before splitting apart. The hired soldiers received their hefty pay for sessfully aplishing their jobs before disbanding. Compared to them, Jack and I stuck together for a while longer. However, once we reached the center of the city, we also had to go our separate paths. Jack and I hugged. ¡°Lolita, it¡¯s a bit embarrassing, but¡­¡­ if you perhaps have the time, then can youe to the market that I¡¯m participating in?¡± ¡°Of course. I don¡¯t doubt that you will be an excellent merchant. Although we may be treated like flies attached to gold, what does it matter if we can face the sky bearing no shame?¡± Jack looked incredibly moved. ¡¸Lower ss Merchant Jack¡¯s affection has risen by 11! The other party now ¡®trusts¡¯ you.¡¹ ¡¸The other party¡¯s affection has reached 50. You can now persuade them to be your ally.¡¹ He looked at me with wet eyes. ¡°Truly¡­¡­. You¡¯re right! My father¡¯s intentions aren¡¯t important. What¡¯s important is how honorable I am to myself. How could I have lived my life forgetting such a simple fact?!¡± We hugged once more. Jack held my shoulders tight with his delicate arms. He¡¯s naive, but this was the greatest affection he could show to another person as a pure individual. I didn¡¯t exactly have a favorable opinion of Jack, but I couldn¡¯t help but be moved. Even the slowest of people have moments in their lives where they show their sincerity, and this was that moment for Jack. This was something amazing that can¡¯t be encountered often in life. The two of us reluctantly went our separate ways. As the lingering feeling of awe towards humans which I hadn¡¯t felt in a while filled my head, I went towards the northern city gate. The northern gate, at the side of a stable, a hooded figure stood there as promised. The figure approached me once they noticed my arrival. ¡°Thank you for the hard work, Your Highness Dantalian.¡± A clear, cool, and level voice. It was Lapis. ¡°It seems you¡¯ve chosen the second n.¡± ¡°It became like that. Well, it doesn¡¯t really matter which n we use.¡± There are a total of 2 ces in this city with a barrier against Greater Summoning magic. One is at the official residence of the city lord and the other is at the temple. The auction where the ve market will be held is positioned in the outskirts of the city, so even if a state of crisis were to ur, the guards will not be able to respond immediately.¡± As expected of Lapis. She gave me the exact information that I wanted. I was satisfied. ¡°An exceptionally fine ce to y with fire. I¡¯ll add an additional 10 gold for themission fee.¡± ¡°Thank you for using the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s services once again.¡± I grinned. ¡°There¡¯s also one more thing I want to add to themission.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s rather hard to trante bad things that happen to certain characters, but Laura being assaulted has always been an established fact even in the early phases of the LN. I just have to hope Dant does a good job raising her in the WN as well since things really have changed vastly. Don¡¯t expect a release over the weekend since I¡¯m going to be rather busy with a semi-full schedule. It¡¯s sort of why I tranted thesest two chapters quickly. Chapter 24: Human Hunting (5) Chapter 24: Human Hunting (5) * * * There was a row of carriages situated in front of the auction house¡¯s entrance. This auction house used to be a theater that was renowned for its opera performances. After the theater went out of business due to a recession, they say that wealthy merchants bought the ce out and renovated it into an auction house. The carters in front of the auction were smoking cigars and holding a show about whose carriage was more expensive and beautiful. Lapis and I entered a costume rental shop. It was a rule in this ve market to be disguised at all times in order for everyone to remain anonymous. After some painstaking deliberation, I finally chose a bright yellow dress. I put on a blonde wig and painted my face white. A monster-like girl stared back at me when I looked in a mirror. Even my mother wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize me. I strangely felt content about my appearance that I even put paddings on my chest. Perfect. ¡°Sir Dantalian, are you ready¡­¡­?¡± Lapis was just wearing a ck cat mask. Her eyes opened wide when she saw me exit the dressing room. Her blue eyes hastily examined me from top to bottom. ¡°What¡­¡­is that look¡­¡­?¡± Her mouth twitched. I hid my mouth behind a fan and chuckled. ¡°Oh dear. Your Ladyship Lazuli, have you been in good health?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Uu!¡± ¡°The weather is quite hottoday. I do hope that you are able to maintain your state of health, hoho.¡± ¡°Uu!¡± Lapis quickly covered her mouth with her hands. The corners of her eyes were bing wet. She was holding back herughter. There¡¯s no way that I wouldn¡¯t be excited. I was about to witness the girl who has constantly been emotionless 24/7 burst out inughter. However, contrary to my expectations, Lapis was impregnable. She roughly cleared her throat a couple of times before she resumed her usual courteous expression. How unfortunate. ¡°Haa¡­¡­Sir Dantalian, please act ording to your status.¡± ¡°Oh dear. As the madam of the Dantalian estate, I can confidently say that there is nothing that I amcking in. If my conduct does not seem satisfactory in Your Ladyship¡¯s eyes, then, by all means, please critique me without reserve. Hohoho!¡± ¡°Uu! ¡­¡­No, thank you. I have already be ustomed to Sir Dantalian¡¯s entricity.¡± Wait, I suddenly had a fantastic idea. Wouldn¡¯t I be able to act more perfectly like a noblewoman if I use the skill in this state? It was quite a fantastical idea. The very fact that my head was able to have such an entrancing idea was undoubtedly a miracle in itself. I immediately activated . Promptly after, I received the notifications that told me that I had activated the skill sessfully. I¡¯m not sure if it was because of the effectiveness of the skill, but even my voice sounded as if it was one pitch higher. ¡°Hohoho! I will definitely get my hands on the treasure today¨D!¡± Iughed with my mouth hidden behind my fan. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The look Lapis gave me was, well, how should I put it? It was a beautiful cocktail of irritation and chaos. Considering how Lapis was able to disy this kind of emotion with her emotionless face, Lapis was truly a woman with a thousand masks. The two of us boldly entered through the entrance of the auction house using the invitation that Jack had given me. A bizarre world was spread out before us in the open hall. Two men wearing clown outfits were chatting near the entrance. ¡°That fellow¡¯s thesis is only arrogant!¡± ¡°I wonder. At the very least, it doesn¡¯t imitate to. I think Frederick¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Damn romanticism, it¡¯s because of this that¡­¡­.¡± On stage, a conductor dressed as a peacock yed an orchestra. Violinists dressed as a hippo, a dairy cow, a demon, and a dwarf yed their violins, however, because there were over 500 people chatting in the auditorium, their music was hardly audible. The guests were dressed up in all sorts of different costumes. Lapis and I made our way through the crowd and headed to the center of the auditorium. There weren¡¯t any chairs, so we had to stand. Lapis didn¡¯t seem to like ces with a lot of people as she scowled slightly. ¡°This reminds me of the Infernal Hell of the demon world.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a Hell in the demon world, too?¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian, you truly are ignorant of the demon world. The term Hell is obviously nothing more than a nickname. It is simply what we call the ces where even demons struggle to survive. There are a total of 26 Hells. Generally, they refer to the demons that rule these Hells as archdukes who areparable to Demon Lords.¡± Aha, it seems that in the demon world, your status is determined ording to the territory you rule. In Dungeon Attack, demons calling themselves barons and counts would often appear, but I had no idea what the standard was. I thought that a Demon Lord had promoted them or something, but it seems they actually have their own system. ¡°In the demon world, Sir Dantalian is around the rank of a chevalier. Your main ability may becking, but this is considering the fact that you have a unit of monsters under your wing.¡± ¡°A chevalier? Was there something like that?¡± ¡°It is a position that is lower than that of a knight. It is at the level of being better than nothing.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis is bullying me¡­¡­. Shortly after, the orchestra finished their performance and exited the stage. A gentleman in a suit stepped out. The man seemed to be ustomed to these sorts of noisy situations as he managed to quiet everyone down with ease. The chatter didn¡¯t disappearpletely, but it was lowered to the point of whispering. After confirming this, the host¡¯s voice, which must have probably borrowed the power of a magic tool, resonated throughout the entire auditorium. Lapis whispered to me that the monocle the man was wearing also had the ability to enhance his vision. ¡°Thank you for your cooperation! Now then, allow me to sincerely wee all of our esteemed guests foring to the Opera De Pavia Auction House! Today we have prepared a total of 55 merchandises. If everything proceeds as usual, then today¡¯s auction willst for about 4 hours. Is there anything more to say? Let us immediately begin the auction. The first product to start off today¡¯s auction is!¡± The host stretched his arms out to the right side of the stage. A girl wearing nothing but a thin rag stumbled forward. ¡°From thend of the north, a snow elf brought from the Kingdom of Moscow! Now then, please have a look at her pure white skin. It is so clear that it almost looks as if you¡¯re staring at a hundred years of snow. The asking price of a normal elf would easily go for 500 gold, but she¡¯s from a snow tribe which is known to be rare. Everyone must have onlye in contact with tan-skinned elves up to this point. It is highly unlikely that you would have ever had a chance to see an elf with such snow white skin. All right, our first piece of merchandise today is a snow elf. We¡¯ll begin at 100 gold!¡± The ve auction began. Several people showed their intention of buying by raising a board with a number on it. Despite how expansive the auditorium was, the host surprisingly managed to keep his eyes on everyone. He energetically shouted, ¡°Yes, number 537, 150 gold! Number 76, 200 gold!¡±. It seems he also knows how to read lips. A variety of skills are naturally required to be a host in an auction of this size. Thanks to the host¡¯s eloquence, the snow elf was sold at arge price of 700 gold. While the elf¡¯s price was curving upwards, the elf in question had been staring at the floor the entire time. I realized for the first time that I could also feel the emotions of subspecies and not only monsters. The girl was in utter despair. Although she would asionally feel a wave of homesickness, it would soon vanish without a trace. The girl was deliberating whether she shouldmit suicide or not. If the noble who purchased her isn¡¯t a good person, then they¡¯re going to have wasted 700 gold. ¡°700 gold! A bid of 700 gold! Is anyone willing to go higher? Dear Lord! I can personally guarantee with my 30 years of experience as an auctioneer, that the price for the first item has never exceeded 500 gold before. We¡¯d like to sincerely thank the 700 gold bidder! Let us promptly move to the next item.¡± One by one, ves came and exited the stage. I was able to have a look at all of the races I wasn¡¯t able to see before after falling into this world. Lycans, beastmen, tiger people, sirens, mermaids¡­¡­. As the auction continued to proceed, I felt my hand clenching up. The muddy despair that was being harbored within all of the subspecies gradually dyed my heart ck. Even the physical pain that some of them were currently feeling was transferred to me slightly. The back of one of the girls from the beastmen tribe waspletely torn. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness Dantalian.¡± Lapis quietly called out to me. I promptly regained my senses. ¡°Oh dear. Ohoho. It seems I dozed off for a second.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Haa.¡± Lapis took out a handkerchief from her pocket. She then began to slowly rub it against the corner of my mouth. I was confused by the abrupt situation, but the confusion turned into shock once I saw the handkerchief be stained in blood. ¡°Huh? Why is there blood?¡± ¡°You bit your lip too hard.¡± Lapis let out a sigh. ¡°I had a feeling, but it appears that you genuinely did not notice.¡± ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t realize¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is quite difficult to witness the way lowly humans carelessly treat other subspecies, however, being excessively empathetic is not wise. The understanding shared between the womenfolk in shopping districts and the verdict made by judges in the court ofw, these things do not befit a king. A king must understand and make a verdict.¡± I nodded. Lapis¡¯ advice would always be my flesh and blood. A second ago, I was involuntarily beginning to despise humans. I wanted to hastily invade a human kingdom and ughter everyone. Was this where the absolute hostility towards humans harbored by Demon Lords came from? Nevertheless, dying and killing were incidents that happened normally in all races. Even the monsters which I sympathize with the most right now have massacred countless humans. ¡°¡­¡­Yeah. Thanks.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it.¡± Iposed myself. I calmly took in the subspecies¡¯ emotions to a certain degree. Although I couldn¡¯t stop their emotions from being transferred to me, I could distance myself and spectate the situation as if I were watching a movie. If I put it like this, the current situation suddenly bes intriguing. The very fact that I could feel the emotions of others was interesting. A certain beastmen girl was a highlight as she proudly disyed herself to the humans as if she were a model. She most likely has a personality that allows her to show off no matter how hopeless the situation is. Finally, the ¡®item¡¯ I was aiming for came up to be bid upon. ¡°The next ve we wish to introduce to you today is, surprisingly, the second sessor of the House of Farnese that boasted immense authority within the Kingdom of Sardinia!¡± Those words stirred the auditorium. A blonde girl walked to the center of the stage. She looked around the opera auditorium as if she were searching for someone. However, she seemed to grow tired of it because of how many people there were as her face became pale. ¡°It seems that even the lowly Farnese family hase to an end.¡± ¡°Who could have predicted that they would lose so miserably in the National Flower War¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I often heard about the appearance of the sessor, but I would have never guessed that the second heir would also be this pretty.¡± The war which caused the House of Farnese to fall was apparently quite famous. The people around us kept talking about the war as they nced at Laura. Some people were probably staring lustfully at her just ripened skin. Laura clenched her jaw and raised her chin upright. I couldn¡¯t read her mind, but I could clearly tell what was going through her head. She was scared, but she couldn¡¯t lose her noble-like attitude. ¡°Her Ladyship, Duchess Laura De Farnese!¡± People apuded for now. This was undoubtedly more ridiculing for Laura. She was now tightly gripping the ends of her rags with both of her hands. I fixed my gaze on the stage like a spectator who was watching the most interesting scene of a movie. Now then, what will you do, Laura De Farnese? If she doesn¡¯t act on her own free will, then I intended to forcefully steal her away anyway, but, if possible, I wanted to also show an elegant and amazing performance. ¡°Pardon me, but this item will start off at a higher price. We have no doubts that this item will reach the highest price in the history of this auction. 500 gold! We will start the bid at 500 gold! My word! 6 people raised their hands as soon as I announced the starting bid. I apologize, but the bid will begin with guest number 213 as they had raised their hand first. Number 231, 550 gold! Yes, number 567, 600 gold! Number 12, 650 gold!¡± The price continued to increase without showing any signs of stopping anytime soon. Laura¡¯s small shoulders trembled each time it did. She lowered her head which she had been holding up until now. She¡¯s sensitive to the gazes of other people. The hundreds of gazes that were treating her like a ve, like merchandise???how long can she endure this for? When will her certainty as a prideful human falter? As I felt my heart race, I continued to stare at Laura¡¯s face. ¡°Number 64, 1650 gold! Dear Lord! Oh my God! We¡¯ve already reached the highest recorded bid!¡± At that moment, the girl lifted her head. Her lips moved a little. ¡°Number 790, 1700 gold!¡± I couldn¡¯t hear her because of the distance between us, but she definitely said it properly. ¡°Number 1101, 1750 gold!¡± ???Dantalian. The corners of my mouth curled upwards. ¡°Lapis, let us sound the salute.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Lapis took out out a scroll from her hood before tossing it up in the air and muttering an incantation in a quiet voice. ¡°Arcessitus.¡± A magic circle that was approximately 30 meters wide appeared directly above the guests. A beautiful, light pink glow flowed out from the magic circle. The guests who were focused on the stage looked up at the sudden light. ¡°Hm? It¡¯s a magic circle.¡± ¡°Is the host holding an event?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know of a race that has a light pink color¡­¡­.¡± As the guests buzzed, Lapis and I used this opportunity to hastily make our way to the stage. Only the auctioneer remained calmed despite the confusion and continued the auction. Quite the professional mindset he has there. Beside him, Laura gazed up at the magic circle with nk eyes. People began to scream at a certain point. Arge thud resonated at the same time as the scream before the entire building shook as if an earthquake had struck it. When I turned around, 10 golems had crushed a section of the auditorium under their feet. They hadnded after being summoned in the middle of the air. The golems were confused by the sudden appearance of humans and the fairies giggled as they thought a ball was being held. However, once I mentally gave them a stern order, they all began to emit a crimson ze of murderous intent. ¡®Kill them however you wish.¡¯ A man¡¯s cape fluttered in the wind as he was sent flying due to one of the golems¡¯ fist. He collided against the wall that was being used as the stage¡¯s background before falling to the stage itself. The auctioneer knelt down and screamed in fear of being hit by the man¡¯s body. His magically enhanced voiced resonated throughout the theater so powerfully that some people¡¯s eardrums almost tore. It was the beginning of a ughter. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This week is going to be rather hectic since I have 2 reports, 2 presentations, and 1 assignment to finish by the end of the week. I apologize if I¡¯m unable to focus that much on tranting for the next few days. I¡¯ll still try to get a fair bit done, though. Or maybe I¡¯ll manage to keep up my usual pace. Who knows. I actually finished tranting this chapter a few days ago, but I kept forgetting to upload it because of how swamped I was with assignments. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 25: Human Hunting (6) Chapter 25: Human Hunting (6) * * * Laura had always been taught to protect her pride. Even though her family had fallen, she had be a ve, and all sorts of vulgar acts were forced upon her so that her body would be ustomed to them, her pride was the one thing she never lost. In her opinion, life wasn¡¯t that long anyway. There was a time when she became lost in thought while taking a stroll through her household¡¯s garden. She could sense that the servants were looking her way as they whispered to one another. Whenever they made eye contact with her, they would sweep their brooms energetically in order to make it seem like they were focused on cleaning, but Laura could tell. She could tell that those gazes contained ridicule. It has been like this since she was little. She could tell what was on people¡¯s minds through their eyes alone. Regarding the rumor about her being the ¡®entric esteemed daughter of the Farnese family¡¯ who doesn¡¯t participate in balls or social gatherings, but instead shuts herself in her room and reads books about the art of war, was something that even Laura, who was deaf to theoutsideworld, knew very well. Despite her title as the second heir, the title itself was nothing but a shell. ¡®Reputation is an utterly useless thing.¡¯ Laura stared at a blue chrysanthemum that was in the garden. The chrysanthemum swayed slightly due to a breeze. ¡®Everything flows.¡¯ A few days ago, a mage that was dispatched to the Academy of Saints Petersburg held a rather intriguing lecture. The title of the lecture was ¡®What is the correct way of judging nature with life?¡¯. Ultimately, they criticized that the concept of ¡®quiescence¡¯ was wrong. Everything flows. If a human feels as if something within living nature has stopped, then that is simply the human¡¯s misunderstanding. ¡®Sense and motion, in other words, how we perceive the speed of things all depends on the rate of our pulse. The faster our pulse is, the faster we perceive the world. For example, a domestic rabbit¡¯s pulse is 4 times faster than that of a cow¡¯s which means that they perceive an hour 4 times faster than them. Since they can act 4 times faster, they have 4 times the experience. Therefore, domestic rabbits have 4 times the experience than cows¡­¡­ From humans to the various other subspecies and animals, everything flows at their own respective speed within their internal lives even though they exist within the same frame of time. Let us hypothesize that the flow of humankind¡¯s pulse, perception, and mental capacity either slows or hastens immensely! If webine one¡¯s childhood, prime, and old age and shorten it to a thousandth of its original length, in other words, all of this is downsized into a single month, so our pulse is 1,000 times faster???then people could most likely be able to spectate a flying arrow with leisure!¡¯ The old mage bounced around the podium like a child. ¡®What will happen if we condense life by another thousandth of a fraction, so, in other words, into the short span of 40 minutes? des of grass and flowers would seem as invariable and inflexible as mountains. Throughout the entire spans of our lives, we would perceive the single blooming of a flower as much as we currently perceive the geological shift of the continent. We wouldn¡¯t be able to see a rabbit¡¯s movement, a deer¡¯s trot, or a frog¡¯s hop because they would be too slow! At most, simr to how we make inferences about the movements of those distants, we would have no other choice but to make deductions about a deer¡¯s steps as well. And if life were to be even slower than this?¡­¡­We might even be able to hear the sound of sunlight. Now then, let us hypothesize the opposite end. For example, what if our pulse bes a thousand times slower? Our lifespans would roughlyst for about 80,000 years and the 8 to 9 hours we experience now would stretch out to span across an entire year.¡¯ The mage mumbled something under his breath. Once he did, a fire appeared on his right hand. It was a simple fireball spell. ¡®Then, within the span of 4 hours, we would witness the winter snow melt away, grass and flowers sprout over the earth, leaves grow vibrantly and bear fruits before everything withers away once more. ¡­¡­Day and night would switch back and forth every minute and the light from the sun would shoot across the sky like an arrow. And what if we make this already thousand times slower life slower by another thousand times? ¡­¡­The difference between night and day would disappearpletely! The sun would appear like a normal flickering ember and we would see it actually move across the sky. Respectable students of Lombardia, this is a ¡®mage¡¯s perspective¡¯. Everything that continues to exist before our eyes ispletely melded into time. Everything is swallowed by the flow of creation. Existence, quiescence, and ceaselessness are misunderstandings that were created due to the limitations of mankind. A perfect and faultless misconception¡­¡­ a beautiful apparition.¡¯ The lecture left a deep impression on Laura. Everything flows. This way of thinking that was exined through a concise thesis matched Laura¡¯s life. One¡¯s reputation, hatred towards others, resentment, retaliatory spirit, and love, all of these things were nothing more than brief instances in life that form and fade away. A noble¡¯s pride towards ves, the system known as nations, and even the influence of the temple. The humans that will walk the earth in a hundred years from now will bepletely different from the ones that walk today. If the only fact that is certain is the flow of all things, then the only thing I can do is wait and boldly face my eventual death. That is what Laura believed. ¡®Ha, fuck. Look at how soft and delicate her skin is. Sniff. I¡¯m getting excited by the smell alone.¡¯ ¡®Missy, your eyes are noughing matter, huh? We¡¯re also quite curious as to how long you can stay haughty. Our employer ordered us to keep it moderate, but, heh, we¡¯re bastards who don¡¯t know what moderate means. We¡¯re uneducated, after all.¡¯ ¡®Though there¡¯s one thing we do know how to do. Haha. We¡¯ll be teaching you it from now on. We pray that you¡¯ll be a good student.¡¯ After being handed over to a ve merchant, she was raped under the guise of education every night. Her virginity wasn¡¯t taken for the sake of maintaining her value as merchandise. Regardless, other than this, every other area of her body was sullied. She was amazed that truly any part of the body could be used for ¡®that¡¯ sake. The eyes that shined in the darkness. The greed that dyed those eyes seemed somewhat funny to Laura. In truth, sheughed several times during some of these ¡®education¡¯ sessions. Every time she did, the hired soldiers would think that she was looking down on them, so they would behave more harshly. There was an asion where it was so amusing that she couldn¡¯t stay quiet. ¡®Are you expecting me to tremble like a kitty? Your efforts are in vain, peasant. Put away your pointless hopes and seek only the things you can pursue in your life.¡¯ That night, she was harassed from dusk till dawn. Naturally, Laura remained unfazed. The hired soldiers also realized that she wasn¡¯t a normal nobledy. They got so worked up that they went out of their way to hire a lesbian prostitute in order to harass Laura. They purposely made her partner with a lesbian. asionally, they would invite theirpanions to watch. In the world of mercenaries, ¡®how terrible of a thing you can do¡¯ was a subject that always garnered attention, so the situation of ady from a royal family being raped by a lesbian received high praise. Despite all this, Laura remained adamant. ¡®Sheesh, this cold bitch¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Are all greater nobles like this? Fuck.¡¯ Even if they called a prostitute, it would only be exciting if she showed a response. The hired soldiers shriveled away before the unyielding, impregnable wall. They only did the bare minimum education out of formality. The sight of a man on top of her and swaying his hips felt distant to Laura. Everything flows. ¡®She is of noble lineage. Laura De Farnese! The esteemed daughter of a duke.¡¯ When Laura¡¯s temporary owner came to visit, she was maintaining herposure as usual. However, the person who entered the carriage with her owner bothered her. It was because he had an intriguing gaze. It was her first time receiving such a look. It felt as if he were looking at her, but, at the same time, it felt as if he weren¡¯t. She had a tendency to relieve her curiosity immediately. ¡®What is the meaning behind your gaze?¡¯ ¡®Pardon?¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m asking you about your gaze. It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve received such a look.¡¯ She believed that the other party also had an interest in her as she did them. He had asked her owner to leave for a moment so that the two of them could talk alone, after all. He then indirectly voiced his desire to own her. ¡®Then what can one do to be your master?¡¯ Until this point, Laura had never told anyone about her personal philosophy. That was because it was bothersome and she also believed it would sound as if she were advertising herself if she did. This felt somewhat sloppy to her. Nheless, when the other party questioned her, she strangely wanted to answer him. While fascinated by this new emotion, she spoke a little excitedly. She might have been having fun because it had been a long time since shest had someone to talk to. It was at that moment, the man¡¯s aura changed rapidly. ¡®Girl, that is quite the respectable mentality you have there. If you put it like that, then no one has a master. From nobles to peasants, humans are all destined to perish, are they not?¡¯ He had suddenly begun to speak informally, but Laura didn¡¯t mind. In the first ce, speaking to a ve using formal speech is weirder. He was most likely shrewdly trying to pressure her by abruptly changing his tone. There was also a chance that he was acting in front of her temporary owner for an unknown reason. It didn¡¯t matter. There was no reason for her to get caught up in a fight of spirit. Laura nodded her head without any hesitation as if she found this to be humorous. ¡®Correct.¡¯ ¡®Have you not realized that your words are contradictory? You made clear the fact that you are a dignified master. However, if we were to follow your logic, then no one should be able to be their own master. Do you still not understand, girl? I have a question which I find difficult to answer, so answer it if you can.¡± The man had a pitying expression on his face. ¡®Why have you notmitted suicide right this moment?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­!¡¯ The girl felt as if her head had been dealt a blow. Her mind went nk. The words she had expected toe from the man¡¯s mouth, the counterargument to it, and the counterargument to his counterargument, all of her ns had gone up in smoke. Once her mind went nk, the sight before her entered her eyes. The man was looking at her. His gaze appeared as if he were staring at something truly pitiful. The girl felt disgraced. The moment she was sold off as a ve wasn¡¯t nearly as shameful as this. No, it couldn¡¯t evenpare to this! Rather than acknowledge this man¡¯s words, she decided to achieve victory through death. She required a slight moment of time before she could bite down; however, it wasn¡¯t until the man had already shoved his finger into the girl¡¯s mouth did she bite down with the intent to sever her own tongue. The manughed at her. ¡®So you had to contemte, huh, girl?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­! Ub!¡¯ ¡®Child who was confident that death alone was your own to control, in truth, you required several minutes of deliberation before you could dispose of something that was supposed to be yours. Am I wrong?¡¯ The taste of blood filled her mouth. It was the blood from the man¡¯s finger. His finger has definitely been injured badly, but he continued to stare right at her without batting an eyelid. ¡®That¡¯s right. Your supposedly great philosophy didn¡¯t manage tost even a few minutes! I refer to that thing, which you ultimately could not topple, one¡¯s will towards life. There is much more to the world than your philosophy. Do you intend to die without knowing any of these things? Simply because you do not wish to lose to someone? Laura, I shall show you the rest of the world!¡¯ His eyes were shining brightly. It waspletely different from the glint in the eyes of the hired soldiers. ¡®You are not the master of your life. You are nothing more than a priest who presents death to God. Until now, you have only be a ve voluntarily. You considered that to be your pride and trivialized the entire world, so everything has turned upside down! How amusing. Does this not make youugh?! A clown is doing a handstand before me.¡¯ The man¡¯s voice was quiet, but it resonated clearly. The girl felt as if the man¡¯s words were filling her empty head to the brim. An irresistible power behind his words cornered her. ¡®Heed my words. At a point, one¡¯s consciousness went from being a God to being human, before finally bing a peasant. The fastest way across a mountain range is to travel from peak to peak. In order to do this, you must have long strides. However, is there not a faster way? Wouldn¡¯t the right answer be to simply not climb the mountain in the first ce? Masters and ves are on the opposite ends of a pole, therefore even ves coulde to the misconception that everything above their heads is below their feet.¡¯ The man abruptly removed his turban. There was a horn on the back of his head. Laura was taken aback. It was the horn of a Demon Lord which she had only read about in pieces of literature. Terror wrapped around the girl once she realized who she was talking to. This person couldn¡¯t even bepared to a monarch in the human world. The man before her was the king of monsters! He wasying out the girl¡¯s future as if he could see it himself. She wasn¡¯t afraid of that future, but the man¡¯s gaze and voice gradually started to suffocate her. Refusing to speak formally to the end was herst line of self-respect. Regardless, she knew better than anyone else that only the shell of her pride remained. ¡®Will you allow yourself to die like that? Or will you try to control your life now? You must choose between the two. Do not treat a Demon Lord¡¯s proposal lightly! You must decide whether you will dedicate your resourcefulness to me!¡¯ ¡®Resourcefulness¡­¡­?¡¯ The girl was out of breath, so she could only manage to repeat that word. Once she did, the other partyughed as if he were proud of her and stuck out his right hand. ¡®You told me that life is difficult to handle. And yet, why do you bear pride in the morning and resign yourself in the evening? Life is difficult to handle, but do not disy such weakness to me! Stop disguising defeat as victory. Be defeated! Have repeated defeats! As long as you are still standing on your two feet at the end of all that, it will then be your victory!¡¯ Everything sounded muffled. Her mouth became dry. Her throat tightened. Her right hand moved up on its own. She felt as if strings were attached to her from an unknown source and were controlling her. However, her right hand did not move any further because it had no more strength to do so. The other party chuckled once more when he saw this. The girl understood two sentences within thatughter that sounded eternal. That he would be watching her, and that his name was Dantalian. *** Author¡¯s Afterword The mage¡¯s lecture in this chapter is something I copied over from the contents of the lecture which Karl Ernst von Baer, who graduated from the Academy of Saint Petersburg, gave in 1860. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche mentions this lecture in section 10 of . That¡¯s page 313 of the tranted version called that was published in Korea. I copied that content almost exactly. Moreover, a couple of Dantalian¡¯s lines were inspired by the short paragraphs in Nietzche¡¯s . Hehe. They¡¯re my favorite lines. I remembered these lines for some reason because fantasy novels usually refer to mana as a circle that surrounds one¡¯s heart. If mana is the foundation of a fantasy world, then the world around the mage would appear slower to them the faster the circle spins, right? Simrly, when casting a fireball, a mage with 5 circles can cast the spell faster than a mage with 4 circles. That¡¯s the setting. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This chapter was quite the doozy to trante. The lecture at the beginning was somewhat of a pain. If you¡¯ve noticed, when Dant activates his skill, he soundspletely different to other people and even says things that he himself didn¡¯t say in his POV. I was tempted to use old English for those lines, but after converting 3-4 of them to old English, it actually felt too excessive. There¡¯s only so much ¡®thou¡¯ and ¡®thee¡¯ you can read before you get annoyed. I¡¯ll just keep it as usual for now unless it gets a lot of demand. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 26: Human Hunting (7) Chapter 26: Human Hunting (7) How much time had passed? The girl couldn¡¯t tell. After the man left and the hired soldiers entered as if they were trading ces, she had simply stared at the in ceiling of the carriage. The words her mother once told her kept repeating in her head. ¡®Have pride.¡¯ In the Farnese estate, the portraits of previous heads had been hung in the halls. When her mother had helped her get ustomed to the house, she had pointed at each of the portraits. The first head, Pietro, the second head, Prudencio, the third head???Laura couldn¡¯t read anything from their gazes which had been drawn with murky paint. In her head, all of the portraits mixed together and swirled around as dirty water. She then thought about something which she had never pondered about before. ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡­what was my gaze like?¡¯ Laura was the esteemed daughter of a noble. It¡¯s an exaggeration, but she looked at a mirror as often as she breathed. And yet, she has never thought about her own gaze. She desperately searched through her memories. How did she look like in those mirrors? She promptly remembered since she had an excellent memory. In her memory, her eyes were dead. ¡®Peasant.¡¯ ¡®Huh? For you to talk first, this is rare.¡¯ The hired soldier answered in a t tone. He had been remodeling Laura¡¯s body in order to satisfy his aristocrat customer¡¯s various preferences. Normally, esteemeddies would have mental breakdowns during this process because they couldn¡¯t bear the fact that their bodies were escaping their control. Mercenaries enjoyed watching them be depraved and awaken to a new side of their personalities, a side which they didn¡¯t want to know about. In other words, Laura was the worst subject matter. She didn¡¯t show even remote signs of something like that happening, after all. ¡®How are my eyes?¡¯ ¡®Huh? Your eyes? What, do your eyes hurt or something?¡¯ ¡®No. My question is literal. What do you feel from my eyes?¡¯ The hired soldier snorted as he felt up Laura¡¯s bottom. ¡®What is there to feel? There¡¯s nothing there like the eyes of a dead man. I feel ufortable for the rest of the day whenever I make eye contact with you, so please don¡¯t look this way.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­Is that so?¡¯ ¡®Seriously. It¡¯s been a while since I didn¡¯t want to do my job. Especially when the merchandise is a girl who looks as pretty as you on the outside. This is unimaginable. Kuh kuh. Pray that the bastard who bes your master is a truly kind person. If it were me, then I wouldn¡¯t be able to hold myself back after 2 days and I¡¯d probably whip you to death.¡¯ The soldier continued toin. The girl could no longer hear his words. The girl was silently enveloped by shock. Even though she was able to read people¡¯s eyes and was more sensitive than anyone else to the gazes of others, she never looked at her own eyes. Were her eyes any different from the eyes on the portraits that were hanging in the hall? Was she any different from the meaningless portraits that only took up space? Was the life she strived for simr to that of those portraits? ¡®Thank you for your cooperation! Now then, allow me to sincerely wee all of our esteemed guests foring to the Opera De Pavia Auction House!¡¯ Laura was still in deep thought even as the auction began. She wasn¡¯t pondering about some clear topic and logic. Vague words floated around the surface of her consciousness like a cork that was bobbing around after having sunk to the bottom of a sea. Laura became tired after failing to find an answer. She surveyed her surroundings. A bunch of ves was waiting backstage. One of the ves must have felt anxious as they kept peeking through the curtains and at the auditorium. Another one was crawled up on the floor and hugging their knees. The ve supervisor let out a big yawn since he would see this same scene every week. They were all giving up on life in their own unique ways. Laura realized that it was the same for her as well, except in her case, it was her philosophy. ¡®The next ve we wish to introduce to you today is, surprisingly, the second sessor of the House of Farnese that boasted immense authority within the Kingdom of Sardinia!¡¯ The supervisor patted the girl¡¯s back without a word. Laura walked out on stage. Once she stepped out, she received a flood of looks. Nearly a thousand pairs of eyes were staring directly at her and her alone. The innate ability she had since birth began to read the meaning behind tens of hundreds of gazes. Delight, ridicule, anger, anxiety,petitiveness, lust???a wave of dizziness suddenly struck her. It felt as if all of these primitive desires had wrapped around her entire body after turning into a single warm breeze. ¡°From the previous Chrysanthemum War¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As I thought, an emunication order from the temple is terrifying. The peerless House of Farnese has¡­¡­.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a lot prettier than the rumors had portrayed her.¡± Sweat dripped down Laura¡¯s back. But, the girl muttered to herself mentally before clenching her jaw. She raised her head high. She walked out on stage with the same noble gait which she had been taught since she was 4 years old. The only thing that was keeping her up was the education she had be ustomed to for over 10 years. However, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from eventually growing frightened of the gazes and gradually dropping her head. The auctioneer seemed satisfied with Laura as he proceeded to shout loudly. ¡®Her Ladyship, Duchess Laura De Farnese!¡¯ People apuded. There were people here who were hostile towards the House of Farnese. It was humiliating for Laura. She unconsciously clenched her fists. Was this it? Was this her life? Was she supposed to tolerate these people in her life? ¡®Pardon me, but this item will start off at a higher price. We have no doubts that this item will reach the highest price in the history of this auction. 500 gold! We will start the bid at 500 gold!¡¯ Does she have to watch quietly as she herself bes nothing more than a piece of merchandise? ¡®My word! 6 people raised their hands as soon as I announced the starting bid. I apologize, but the bid will begin with guest number 213 as they had raised their hand first. Number 231, 550 gold!¡¯ Laura felt her heart tighten as it became filled with spite. What was this situation? Her father who hid the fact that she was an illegitimate child, the household servants who somehow knew about this and thus disregarded her constantly. A ce where she was allowed to be, where in the world was her will allowed? For how long must she tolerate everything that happens in her life and resign herself to them? Laura mumbled. ¡®¡­¡­Dantalian.¡¯ But there was no response. Only the voice of the auctioneer grew louder. ¡®Yes, number 567, 600 gold! Number 12, 650 gold!¡¯ Laura moved her lips once more. Dantalian, she muttered. Still, nothing happened. ¡®Number 64, 1650 gold! Dear Lord! Oh my God! We¡¯ve already reached the highest recorded bid!¡¯ The girl raised her head. She wanted to put her hopes into the sole person whose gaze she could not interpret. She didn¡¯t care if she had to make a contract with the Devil as long as she could escape a life like those portraits that decorated the halls. As long as she could escape from this wretched ce. She cried out as loudly as she could. ¡®???Dantalian!¡¯ And then, a light filled the room. * * * The surprise assault was a sess. The dim lights inside the theater made the silhouettes of the monsters appear even more terrifying. Once the golems that were roughly three times the size of a human started to rampage, the nobles who had never seen a monster before in their lives started to scream in panic as they tried to flee the theater. Hundreds of people bumped and trampled over each other as they fled. The number of people who were trampled to death like this was probably far higher than the number of people who died by the hands of the golems. If they moved in a more orderly fashion, then handling 10 golems would be an incredibly simple task. However, I didn¡¯t have any time to spare. It would be problematic for me if these people came to their senses or if the city guards arrived. This was the only opportunity I had as everyone was in a panic due to the surprise assault. ¡°Jack! Where are you, Jack?!¡± ¡°Lolita!¡± I found Jack near the stage. His expression looked as if his soul had escaped from his body. He weed me like I was some angel that had descended from Heaven. I spoke urgently. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening, but we have to run away with haste!¡± ¡°B-But¡­¡­ I can¡¯t leave without Her Ladyship De Farnese¡­¡­ the future of mypany¡­¡­.¡± Jack looked up at the stage with despair in his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not just my firm. My father¡¯s firm will receive a huge blow as well!¡± Selling Laura must be an incredibly important task for a ve tradingpany. How much connections and funding they had to use in order to acquire the esteemed daughter of a duke was already unimaginable. I struck his cheek lightly. ¡°Snap out of it! There¡¯s no need to panic. Listen carefully. Let us take Her Ladyship Farnese and get out of here calmly. Okay? Calmly.¡± ¡°Y-Yeah. Let¡¯s do that.¡± I grabbed him by his hand. I practically had to drag Jack up the stage. The host was trying his best to calm the guests from the stage. Please evacuate calmly, he kept crying out. The fact that he didn¡¯t abandon the guests and escape first made him quite an excellent professional. Although it was a question as to whether you could attach the word excellent to an auctioneer of a ve auction. He looked at us in shock. ¡°Gentlemen! You mustn¡¯te up on stage.¡± ¡°We¡¯re the merchant group that owns Laura De Farnese!¡± I shouted at him. ¡°The Medoranm Firm that is under the influence of the Lombards Firm. We are here to personally take the ve and evacuate!¡± ¡°Please show me the ve brand!¡± As expected, he was swift with his judgments. He didn¡¯t say yes or no but instead asked for proof. It seems he understood the severity of the current situation. I suddenly wanted to know how high the auctioneer¡¯s stats were, however, I, unfortunately, did not have the time to check. ¡°Here!¡± Jack stepped forward and folded up his sleeve. There was a bizarre symbol tattooed onto his forearm. The auctioneer took out a sheet of paper. He nced back and forth between Jack¡¯s forearm and the paper before giving us a nod. ¡°You can take her! We apologize beforehand for this shameful situation!¡± He then tapped his throat twice. The sound amplification spell must have been turned off once he did as his voice returned to normal. ¡°There is a secret passageway at the back of the stage. May Hermes¡¯ blessing be with you.¡± ¡°Thank you very much! May Hermes¡¯ blessing be with you!¡± Hah, I was in awe. He took care of his business partners even during this moment of chaos. He even lowered his voice so that he could tell us about a secret passageway. Currently, the entrance of the opera was so crowded that it was almost impossible to escape. If the other guests knew about the secret passageway, then they would naturally swarm towards this end as well. The havoc would be more intense, then. The host was making sure to prevent such a situation from urring. A person¡¯s true value only shows in a time of crisis, it was a waste that such apetent man was working as a mere auctioneer. ¡®It¡¯s unfortunate that I don¡¯t have any time to spare.¡¯ As people emptied the auditorium, a few people who knew martial arts stayed behind. They positioned themselves however they could before fighting back the golems. It wasn¡¯t a proper countermeasure since the wave of panic was still strong, but they were far stronger than some F-rank adventurers. If I waste any more time, then my unit of golems might get wiped out. We picked Laura up and ran to the back of the stage. ¡°What are you.¡± ¡°Be quiet for now.¡± Laura tried to say something, but I cut her off. What mattered now was evacuating. Once we got to the back of the stage, sure enough, there was a small door. Once I opened that door and stepped out, I spoke. ¡°Lapis, it¡¯s fine now.¡± Once I gave her the signal, Lapis muttered in a small voice. It was a de-summoning incantation. Jack asked while catching his breath next to me. ¡°Who¡¯s, haah¡­¡­ that?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a mage and myrade. She cast a simple defense spell over us.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± It seems Jack was in awe at the fact that a mage was myrade. He even bowed to Lapis and thanked her. ¡°Now then, we don¡¯t know when the situation will turn worse. Let¡¯s keep running.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Haah, why is this happening all of a sudden.¡± Lapis, Jack, Laura, and I escapedpletely from the theater. The outside of the theater was no different from the inside. The nobles forgot about their dignity as they searched for their carriages. The carters had to move the carriages clumsily under their employers¡¯ orders. They were moving their carriages so fast that they often crashed into other carriages. However, that was only the beginning. ¡°Oh, my Lord!¡± Jack¡¯s jaw dropped at the sight of the city. Smoke was rising up from the ce that was on the opposite side of the ve auction. It was an immense cloud of smoke. The city skyline was covered in ck clouds. Someone had undoubtedlymitted arson systematically around the city. Iughed in my head. The request I gave Lapis had been carried out as I wanted. The smoke was caused by a bunch of straws being set aze, but there was no way that Jack would know this. This was the same for the guards as well. The guards were most likely immediately dispatched to check the sources of the smoke. I had used that opportunity to summon my monsters in the ve auction. Hearing the news and turning around toe all the way back here would take the guards a lot of time. Although there¡¯ll be nothing when they arrive at the theaterter. I intentionally pretended to be incredibly serious as I spoke. ¡°¡­¡­A nned assault. I don¡¯t know what group would do such a thing, but this ce is too dangerous now. Jack, my carriage is nearby. Let¡¯s take that and head to the outskirts of town.¡± Jack was so out of it that all he could do was agree. We ran a short distance away from the auction house and hopped on my carriage. Lapis, who naturally knew how to ride horses and drive a carriage, sat in the coach box. Once Lapis flicked the reigns lightly, the two horses began their advance. Our carriage passed through the northern gate hastily. Only then did I grin without reserve. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. All things considered, the order of things really have swapped around a bit. The Walpurgis Night happened before Laura in the LN. Well, nothing much to say except that I¡¯ll be busy this weekend preparing more assignments and another presentation. Please end my suffering. Chapter 27: Human Hunting (8) Chapter 27: Human Hunting (8) ¡°Hoo¡­¡­ I was able to catch my breath thanks to you. I appreciate it.¡± ¡°Friends should naturally help each other.¡± We took a brief moment to chat. The topic of our conversation mostly revolved around who could have wreaked such havoc on the city and for what reason. Jack must have wanted to show off his knowledge about national politics as he passionately voiced his opinion about how it could have been a conflict between the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s prince faction and the noble faction or that it could have been intervention from the church. It seems his anxiety was gone now because he believed he was out of harm¡¯s way. The carriage stopped shortly after. We had arrived at the edge of a forest located on the outskirts of the city. We got down from the carriage and sat on the grass. We could still see smoke billowing above the ramparts of the city from afar. Jack clicked his tongue as he took in the sight. ¡°Tsk. Traditionally, Pavia has always taken issue with the church. The Earl of Pavia strongly demanded that the church should take responsibility for the gue. The church has always been against the ve system, so they might havemitted this act of terrorism for that reason.¡± I nodded my head as I agreed that his reasoning sounded very usible. In truth, however, I was struggling to hold back myughter. I had an urge to tell him, ¡®It was all for the sake of taking your ve.¡¯ Though I barely managed to stop myself. Laura sat next to us and silently listened to our conversation, but she kept ncing at me. It was also quite difficult to ignore this. It¡¯s rather annoying that I can¡¯t directly read a human¡¯s emotions. Jack stared out into the distance for no special reason as he spoke. ¡°I guess the ve market will be in a momentary recession now.¡± That was true. Since an auction house was attacked, even if they could find the culprit, people will most likely avoid going near a ve market for the time being. I asked with a concerned face. ¡°Won¡¯t that be an issue for your business?¡± ¡°Honestly, yeah, it will.¡± Jack let out a sigh. ¡°My father had delegated this auction deal to me as a type of trade. The reputation of my father¡¯s business will go up as apany that produces high-quality ves, and mypany¡¯s reputation will go up as a firm that¡¯s able to sell them. As you know, one¡¯s aplishments are what¡¯s important in the Merchants Guild¡­¡­we give and take like this.¡± Jack revealed internal affairs that were obviously not supposed to be said in public. This probably meant that he trusted me that much. ¡°Jack, from what I can tell, this isn¡¯t just an important trade. Your father is giving you an opportunity. He¡¯s testing you in order to see whether you¡¯re capable enough to handle arge deal or not.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I figured as much. Damn it, everything has be messed up.¡± ¡°How about selling that ve to me?¡± Jack opened his eyes wide. ¡°You? Are you serious?¡± ¡°Merchants don¡¯t lie about transactions.¡± Jack quickly became restless. ¡°B-But, Her Ladyship De Farnese is expensive. The price will put a severe burden on you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Was he saying this with the sincere intent to refuse me? I took a nce at Jack¡¯s status. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Jack nd Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Medoranm Firm(Lombards Firm-affiliated) Attribute: Good(+45) Level: 5¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 58 Job: Merchant(E) Leadership: 10¡¡¡¡Might: 5 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 23 Politics: 20¡¡¡¡Charm: 9¡¡¡¡Technique: 6 Affection: 50 Current thought: ¡®If he were to buy her¡­¡­no, I can¡¯t hand my blunder over to a friend. But¡­¡­.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®Would you look at this? Hahaha.¡¯ I almost let out a sound of admiration. Was he worried about friendship right now? Seriously? In this situation where he might betray his father¡¯s trust and lose a big business opportunity for hispany? If I were Jack, then I would have deliberated on getting the highest price out of the other party. ¡®Jack, down to the very core, the life of a merchant does not suit you.¡¯ Albeit, this was good for me in various respects. At first, I simply felt strangelyfortable because of his foolish behavior. I felt as if I didn¡¯t particrly have to act in front of this person. Jack was a man who would take bullshit as genuine words. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. Are you concerned because you don¡¯t want to burden me?¡± Jack waved his hands frantically once he saw me frown. ¡°N-No. It¡¯s not that¡­¡­it¡¯s just.¡± ¡°Jeez. What an honest man. I¡¯m a merchant. I pursue profit in all things. I wish to purchase Her Ladyship De Farnese because I discovered that much value in her.¡± I winked. ¡°Of course, my personal interest in helping you is mixed in there as well. I won¡¯t deny that. Nevertheless, my rtionship with you is nothing more than a small driving force. If purchasing Her Ladyship De Farnese didn¡¯t align with my path of profit, then I wouldn¡¯t have even considered buying her.¡± ¡°Lolita¡­¡­.¡± Jack looked at me with wet eyes. His eyes looked as if they were saying ¡®You really are an amazing man!¡¯. A little more and he might even create a cult around me. I wonder if the people that had good businesses in my original world felt like this as well. ¡°Mm, the highest bid was 1,650 gold, right?¡± I spoke as if I were picking up a tab. ¡°I¡¯ll purchase her at a clean, round number of 2,000 gold. How about it?¡± ¡°2,000 gold?!¡± Jack drew back in shock. ¡°What? Is it not enough?¡± ¡°N-No! If anything, it¡¯s too high!¡± ¡°I believe it would have risen this high if the auction had proceeded as usual.¡± ¡°No way! Even if it did, the auction is in ruins right now. I don¡¯t have to pay any of the personal expenses for the auction house, so it would be right to make it cheaper. I¡¯ll sell her for 1,500 gold.¡± I frowned. ¡°Nonsense. A product must have an appropriate price. 2,000 gold.¡± ¡°It¡¯s impossible to imagine that an auction would be able to bring out the appropriate price of an item. If anything, the price goes up because of thepetition. The very fact that I¡¯m receiving 1,500 gold for a single ve is already an excessive price.¡± ¡°Is De Farnese a normal ve?¡± Jack shook his head firmly. ¡°1,500 gold. I won¡¯t sell her for any higher than this.¡± ¡°How stubborn.¡± I waved a white g. A bizarre scene where the seller offered the lowest price while the buyer offered the highest price took ce. There was no end to how much of a pushover Jack was. If you consider the path in which Laura will walk in the future, far from 2,000 gold, 20,000 gold wouldn¡¯t be enough either. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Let¡¯s settle at 1,600 gold.¡± ¡°Seriously, you¡­¡­ Fine. I¡¯ll sell her for 1,600 gold.¡± Jack spoke in a relenting tone that sounded as if he couldn¡¯t win against me. Sheesh. Stole the words right out of my mouth, you pushover. It felt hrious, but I shook Jack¡¯s hand happily. Jack spoke with a smile. ¡°Where will we hold the transaction?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s tiresome, so let¡¯s just do it here and now.¡± Jack tilted his head. ¡°What are you talking about? If you want to own a ve, then you have to register at a government office.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Oh, is that so?¡± ¡°Of course, visiting a government office to register in person is a hassle, so we can just take care of the procedures at a nearby Merchants Guild.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My thought process which had been light and fluffy until now became cold in an instant. ¡°I see. That¡¯s right.¡± My tone cooled off at a degree which even I could notice. Oh dear, this isn¡¯t good. I made my tone bright again. I quickly turned the bolts in my head. I immediately thought up of an adequate lie. The only thing that has improved ever since I came to this world was my ability to lie. ¡°Jack. I¡¯m sorry, but can we not make the contract here?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Do you have some personal circumstances?¡± ¡°You know that I have herbs that can cure the ck Death, right?¡± ¡°Naturally. There¡¯s no way I would forget.¡± ¡°The Merchants Guild in Pavia is keeping an eye on me because of this. They probably intend to hold me down by the ankle using whatever method they can. It¡¯s obvious that they¡¯re being greedy because they think they can make a lot of money off of me.¡± ¡°Ha, those brazen curs!¡± Jack got upset. ¡°They¡¯re always like that. Even though they should be protecting merchants, they persecute them instead!¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I can¡¯t do much about this either. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t want to do any transactions in a Merchants Guild if possible. I have no idea how they¡¯ll try to put me in their debt and take control of my wares¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Jack pressed his hand against his forehead. I can take a guess as to why he wants to do the transaction at a Merchants Guild. What Jack needs right now is aplishments and not funding. His funding could be handled as long as his father sponsored him, but aplishments as a merchant were something that you had to actually aplish on your own. For Jack, having a transaction of 2,000 gold in a Merchants Guild, where the aplishments of merchants are managed, was the best thing that could happen to him. The firm that I¡¯m iming to be a part of is nothing more than a ghost firm. Even if we were to do the transaction at a Merchants Guild, it¡¯s a question as to whether they would even acknowledge my identity as a merchant, and, more than anything else, I didn¡¯t want to stay in a human city any longer than this. There¡¯s no way of knowing when my identity as a demon would be revealed. ¡®Don¡¯t disappoint me, Jack.¡¯ I liked Jack in some aspects. Although the humans of this world are somewhat naive, naivety and innocence are two entirely different things. Jack was closer to thetter. Even though I look down on naivety, no, it¡¯s because I look down on naivety that innocence looks more charming to me. I calmly watched Jack as he racked his brain. ¡°¡­¡­Okay.¡± Jack finally opened his mouth. ¡°Then let¡¯s do this. There¡¯s a firm branch that¡¯s managed by my father in a town that¡¯ll take about 4 days to reach from here. The Merchants Guild there is controlled by my father¡¯s firm. If we do the transaction there, then there should be no chance of you being harmed in any way, Lolita.¡± An excellent n. It really is the best solution. However, Jack, that absolutely isn¡¯t the answer I wanted. ¡°Friend, don¡¯t get me wrong. I¡¯ll form a contract of 2,000 gold and not 1,600 gold if we can do it here as a secret between the two of us. I want a contract between only the two of us. I don¡¯t want to give anything to those damned Merchants Guilds.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want more money.¡± Jack furrowed his brows. ¡°Also, you can trust the Merchants Guild there. I¡¯m serious. Do I look like someone who would scam you? Don¡¯t tell me you think that.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°I naturally understand your hostility towards the Merchants Guild. No, I probably understand better than anyone else. They¡¯re like loansharks that nevere out to do business in person but still manage to make money behind the scene. They have no loyalty or business ethics. Nheless, I have a backing that can block their schemes.¡± ¡°3,000 gold.¡± Jack paused. ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy her for 3,000 gold. Jack, this is myst offer. I¡¯m sincerely saying this for your sake. I¡¯m putting our friendship on the line here. Let¡¯s make the transaction here for 3,000 gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You hand me De Farnese and I¡¯ll hand you 3,000 gold. The trade will end like that. Nothing more than this. No one can guarantee our contract, no one will me you, and no one will interfere. A promise between 2 people.¡± I can¡¯t spend any more than 3,000 gold. A lot of my fortune was used purchasing the magic scrolls and requesting the arson of the city. If I want to make even more money, then I have to have enough to make a ratherrge investment. I have to scrape together whatever I can in order to survive in the future. 3,000 gold was the Maginot Line of how much I could spend. However, it seems the other party didn¡¯t understand how sincere I was being. ¡°Lolita¡­¡­I¡¯m not that greedy for money. Be it 1,500 gold or 3,000 gold, they¡¯ll be happy as long as I manage to make more than a thousand gold from this trip. Honestly, all I need is an aplishment to show my father and to the people of the firm. The people around me think that I¡¯m ipetent. It¡¯s partially true, but I don¡¯t want to miss this opportunity to get rid of that reputation.¡± Jack¡¯s eyes were serious. ¡°I have a dream. I want to be a big merchant and make my sincere business ethics spread throughout the world. In order to do this, one¡¯s reputation and achievements are essential, Lolita. I don¡¯t want to end up like a child who falls behind after chasing after their dream. Fortunately, I possess various advantages. For starters, my father is the president of argepany!¡± He spoke chantingly. ¡°Is this not a great blessing? It¡¯s impressive if you consider the average merchants that start as cart peddlers. If I lived insincerely despite having these advantages, then I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself. I believe that I should be sincere right now. 3,000 gold? That might be an immediate profit for me, but I want to gradually establish a foundation, Lolita. For the sake of going into a trade that helps the entire continent like you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you genuinely do not want to be in the presence of a Merchants Guild, then let¡¯s do this. Let¡¯s go to the town for now. Once we¡¯re there, I¡¯ll send my subordinates in my stead to the transaction area. I¡¯ll give you the ve brand through him.¡± Haah. I let out a long sigh. ¡°Yes, it can¡¯t be helped. I can¡¯t just disregard your wish when you have your own personal reasons as well.¡± Jack¡¯s face lit up. ¡°You understand, then?¡± ¡°Of course. I know that you are sincere at all times. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll believe me, but your sincerity is pleasant to look at for me. It¡¯s not just the conversation we had earlier, but you¡¯re also feeling reluctant about trading a ve using an improper method, right?¡± ¡°Huh? Ah, yeah. That¡¯s also an issue. Be it directly or indirectly, if you don¡¯t register at a government office, then it¡¯ll be a crime.¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°You¡¯re a tiringly upright man, Jack.¡± ¡°Haha. Compared to you, I¡¯m stillcking.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t the case. There are many times in life where you cannot pursue the right path. There are situations where you can¡¯t pursue the right path from the very beginning. I came to this realization a while ago.¡± I stuck my right hand out. Jack smiled warmly as he took my hand in his. We gripped each other¡¯s hands tightly. I could feel the warmth from his grip. ¡°But you¡¯re walking the right path, Lolita. You¡¯re amazing.¡± ¡°I wonder about that. Oh right, this is my first time buying a ve, so I¡¯m curious. How do people exchange those ve brands?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. A mage affiliated with the Merchants Guild uses their magic to transfer the brand. There¡¯s a reason why some of them go out of their way to frequent a Merchants Guild that specializes in ve trading. They do this on the side while they¡¯re at a government office registering a request. If we do the exchange in town, then I¡¯ll make the personnel cost for the mage free. Haha.¡± Weughed together. ¡°Is that magic difficult?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­no. I don¡¯t know anything about magic, but considering how the mage in our firm was able to learn it, it seems easy. Probably.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I nodded my head before uttering something quietly. ¡°Lapis. Cut off the right shoulder.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Jack gave me a confused look. It didn¡¯t take more than 3 seconds for that expression of his to contort. sh! A long sword severed Jack¡¯s arm. It took him a while before he couldprehend what had just happened. He first looked at me in shock before turning to look at his right arm. A second passed like that before Jack fell back and started to scream. ¡°Guha, guaaaaaaack! Guuaaaaaaack???!¡± Jack twisted and turned his body on the field of grass. With his left hand, he grabbed his right shoulder. Was he instinctively trying to stop the blood? The veins in his neck were pulsating grossly. The pressure in those veins went straight to his screaming. ¡°Kuh! Guuuuuk! Guhaaack! G-Ghuaaack!¡± Lapis returned her sword into its sheath. It was clean. There was no w in her posture as her might was 30 and she possessed the swordsman job. Well, at least to the untrained eye. I gave Lapis a nod as a way to tell her that she did a good job. Lapis bowed in return. It was like she was saying, ¡®It was no big deal.¡¯ I nced towards where Laura was sitting. Laura had a cid look on her face as if she somehow predicted this would happen. Well, if she were surprised, then I would be very disappointed. The only one who couldn¡¯t predict this situation was currently iling on the ground. ¡°Haa, Jack¡­¡­this is truly regrettable.¡± ¡°Kubuuuh! Guuk! Lolita!? Lolitaauuc!?¡± ¡°I asked you three times. Three times is a truly, truly generous amount. It was also a request which must not be denied.¡± If possible, I wanted to send Jack off safely. I¡¯m serious. ¡°If I held no affection towards you, then I would have killed you. One moment.¡± I gently stepped on Jack¡¯s abdomen. Jack was still screaming. ¡°I understand that it hurts, but you¡¯re being too loud. Jack! Jack! You can hear me, right? I¡¯d appreciate it if you could be a little quieter. Nothing good woulde from being loud here. Jack! Shut up! If you ignore my request now, then I¡¯ll slice off your left arm as well. Understood? I¡¯ll sever your left shoulder.¡± I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed behind me. Lapis was threatening him on her own without me ordering her to. As expected, Lapis¡¯ action seemed to be effective as Jack bit his lips tightly. Although his groans kept leaking through his lips, it was a lot betterpared to before. ¡°Guh, huuuk¡­¡­guhuuk¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Very good. Excellent, Jack. You¡¯re doing good. If you keep this up, then there¡¯ll be no more bloodshed. I promise you that.¡± I removed my foot from Jack¡¯s abdomen. I knelt down. Once I did, I was able to meet Jack¡¯s gaze. His eyes were already filled with tears. I was worried as to whether he could even see me or not. Out of consideration, I wiped Jack¡¯s tears away with my finger. After I continued to wipe them away for a while, the other party finally directed his eyes towards me. I smiled wryly once more. ¡°Now then, let us open negotiations.¡± ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I apologize for how long this one took. I had to sacrifice some of my free time to research things for my assignments and reports. I have one more assignment left which is due next week, so I shouldn¡¯t be as busy anymore. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER Chapter 28: Human Hunting (9) Chapter 28: Human Hunting (9) Moisture continued to fill his eyes whenever I wiped away his tears. I paid it no mind as I kept wiping Jack¡¯s eyes. Conversations ought to be done face to face, after all. ¡°Guuh¡­¡­this is a lie¡­¡­kphuuh¡­¡­!¡± ¡°For starters, I¡¯m going to be taking Laura De Farnese. This is non-negotiable. Furthermore, I¡¯m ready to pay you 3,000 gold. In my opinion, I believe that this is a reasonable deal. The price for Laura De Farnese was approximately 2,000 gold anyway. Consider the extra thousand gold aspensation for your right arm. If you think about it, if you approach some beggar and tell them you¡¯ll pay a thousand gold for their arm, they would immediately¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lie¡­¡­kub, a lieeee!¡± Tsk. I clicked my tongue. This isn¡¯t good. It seems the pain of losing an arm had filled his head with red. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t understand. It probably hurts. That¡¯s obvious. Regardless, I had dealt with the adventurer party from Jalsen Vige with apletely shattered right foot. It might have been the blood loss and not the pain that was causing his head to not work properly. I asked Lapis if she could recite a simple healing spell. Lapis nodded her head. However, the way she used her so-called healing magic was also a sight to see. Lapis made a small me appear above her palm before using it to cauterize his wound. ¡°Kuaaaaaaaaah!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but make a wry face. With a little bit of exaggeration, Jack screamed so loud that it could rupture eardrums. It was hard to imagine how painful it would be to have your flesh burned. I¡¯ve never been burned before, after all. ¡°Lapis¡­¡­I told you to heal him, not cauterize him.¡± ¡°Pardon me, I am not proficient at using healing magic. I have also never treated a human before. Therefore, I utilized a treatment method which I believed would be most appropriate at the moment.¡± Lapis, who looked as if she were still in her teens on the outside, answered nonchntly. I¡¯ve never seen such a tough girl. ¡°Are you all right? I¡¯m sorry. She¡¯s incredibly smart, but she¡¯s weird in some ces.¡± ¡°Grrrg¡­¡­kprrk¡­¡­.¡± Jack was foaming out the mouth. His pupils were in his eye sockets. I suddenly felt a wave of concern. I was genuinely worried. If Jack passes out like this, then that would make things a lot more troublesome. I asked Lapis to use healing magic on Jack even if she wasn¡¯t skilled at it. I hoped that this would at least reduce his pain. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Once Lapis recited the healing spell, Jack¡¯splexion became visibly better. In other words, he became stabilized enough that his eyes returned to their normal positions. Jack asionally groaned like how someone with tuberculosis would cough. After a brief moment of time passed like that, I heard a ¡®Ding!¡¯ sound effect. ¡¸Lower ss Merchant Jack nd¡¯s affection has decreased by 50!¡¹ ¡¸Lower ss Merchant Jack nd is now hostile towards you!¡¹ I took this as a green light. Did this not mean that his mind was stable enough to hate someone now? Jack looked up at the sky nkly. He kept feeling his right shoulder with his left arm. Shortly after, Jack muttered in a trembling voice. ¡°Lie¡­¡­why would you¡­¡­?¡± It seems he still couldn¡¯t believe the current situation. Once again, I realized that Jack and I arepletely different by nature. Jack became more curious as to why I would do something like this. On the other hand, when my life was threatened by those adventurers at the time I came to this world for the first time, what was the first thing I said? Don¡¯t shoot. You got the wrong person. Spare me???. It wasn¡¯t until after I had said these words that I tried to figure out the reason why I was in that situation. Pleading to the other party and trying to please them was more urgent. Wasn¡¯t this logical and normal? No, I didn¡¯t particrly want to nder Jack. Our way of thinking was different in a much deeper meaning. You could liken us to two people who spoke twopletely differentnguages. There might even be something bigger than that situated between me and Jack. I felt the need to provide him with the bare minimum conversation before going into negotiations. I sat down on the grass. I spoke to Jack as heid on the ground. ¡°It isn¡¯t a lie. Your arm has been cut off. I¡¯m the one who did it. If I had to say something was a lie, then it would probably be everything from the very beginning up to this point.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Why? For what reason?¡± Jack didn¡¯t look at me as he muttered. ¡°Because I want Laura De Farnese.¡± ¡°No¡­¡­I don¡¯t get it¡­¡­I don¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°Think about it. Jack, it¡¯s very simple. Why would the other party refuse to perform a formal trade in a Merchants Guild? Why would they choose to do something so extreme? If you ask yourself this question, then an answer should naturally form.¡± ¡°A position¡­¡­where you can¡¯t trade legally¡­¡­?¡± I gave him a short round of apuse. It felt like I was interacting with a native who finally understood my bodynguage. ¡°You got it. In truth, it¡¯s actually difficult for me to enter a town properly.¡± ¡°You were never a merchant¡­¡­Lolita!¡± Jack stood up abruptly. A gaze filled with hatred was directed towards me. He let out a shout as he rushed at me. Lapis, who was standing next to me, quickly stabbed the center of his chest with the sheathe of her sword. After being hit by the rtively sharp end of the sheathe, Jack fell down powerlessly. I shook my head as I looked down at Jack who had been subdued by Lapis. ¡°Cut off his left pinky.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± There was another scream. The same procedure followed after. A groan, searing his flesh under the pretext of treatment, a scream, and then relief. Whether it was because the pain of losing a pinky was less than losing an arm or he had already be ustomed to the pain, Jack regained his senses faster than I expected. I guess we won¡¯t be able to use this method much longer. I continued the conversation as if nothing had happened. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m not a merchant.¡± ¡°The fact that you had a herb that could cure the gue, khhk! It was all a lie!¡± The hatred in Jack¡¯s eyes became more intense. It seems he still felt some lingering pain as he clenched his teeth, but this caused his pronunciation to be awkward. Nevertheless, I had no trouble understanding him. ¡°No. That¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me! You ursed devil! Go die, you bastard!¡± ¡°Jack, my idiotic friend. If you want to lie, then you must mix in a reasonable amount of truth into your lie.¡± ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s right! You¡¯re the bastard who summoned the monsters in the auction house!¡± Jack got worked up as he eximed. I shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re right about that. I admit it.¡± ¡°The fire as well!¡± ¡°Now your head is working properly.¡± He proceeded to utter a bunch of curse words. It felt as if every profanenguage in the world was being put on disy. I stayed silent for a moment. I didn¡¯t feel offended or anything. If anything, I was watching Jack with interest as I failed to understand why he was intentionally trying to shorten his life like this. ¡°All right.¡± I spoke up. ¡°If we summarize everything you had said in the past minute, then I¡¯m a devil, a scam artist, the biggest bastard in the world, a lunatic, and a mother fucker who¡¯s going to Hell. I admit all of these things, so I believe it should be all right if we go into a productive discussion.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°For starters, the fact that I¡¯m taking De Farnese is already set in stone. I hope you bear this in mind. There are still other things we have to negotiate. Jack, I¡¯m deliberating about how I should deal with you. Not only do you know how I look, but you also know of my crimes. Therefore, it would be very risky to keep you alive. The issue is that I want to keep you alive. In short, I¡¯m saying that we should negotiate for your life.¡± ¡°You devilish bastard¡­¡­!¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°It seems you aren¡¯t listening to me. What do you want? Do you want sympathy? Do you want me to repent for my terrible deeds? Do you want a sincere apology?¡± As expected, I felt bitter. This was my first time harming an innocent citizen and not an adventurer. Although almost every person in the human world will eventually despise the Demon Lords in several years, at any rate, all they had towards Demon Lords right now was an appropriate amount of caution and hostility. It was probably simr to the hostility they had towards neighboring countries. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but don¡¯t expect something like that from me.¡± If my arm is precious, then the arms of other people are simrly precious to them. This was the most fundamental form of ethics. Guilt is something that¡¯s felt when you have to maintain these ethics. However, I havepletely gone against these ethics and I will continue to do so without hesitation. What would happen if I were to then talk about and express my guilt? That would be hypocritical. My guilt is nothing more than the excess fat of my mind. ¡°Jack, I don¡¯t regret any of my actions in the slightest.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°If possible, I don¡¯t want to regret anything in the future as well. If I let you go here and youter be a threat to my life, then I will regret this decision greatly. Mm. So convince me. Even if I may regret this in the future, give me a reason why I have no other choice but to release you right now.¡± Jack didn¡¯t answer. He most likely couldn¡¯t think of a rational reason on the spot. A lot of things had happened to him today. He nearly aplished the biggest trade in his life, the auction house he was in was assaulted by monsters, he narrowly escaped from death with his friend, and he was betrayed by the friend he respected which resulted in the loss of an arm. A day like this was too much for a single person to handle. I decided to be considerate of his circumstances. We got on the carriage again. Jack¡¯s hands and feet were bound by chains. We continued onward until we hadpletely left the city¡¯s area of influence. We decided to camp out once the evening arrived. Lapis prepared some delicious soup. I happily enjoyed my portion as it felt like I had just discovered another one of her talents. However, Jack didn¡¯t seem to have any interest in eating as he didn¡¯te out from the carriage. He stayed in the carriage even when night had arrived. Lapis, Laura, and Iid down around the campfire. I rest my head on my arms as I looked up at the night sky. The stars glimmered. The colors in the sky were so varied that I couldn¡¯t possiblypare the dull night skies in my original world to this. It wasn¡¯t until after I came to this world that I discovered the night sky could be green, scarlet, pink, blue, and purple all at the same time. I was in the astronomy club back in middle school, so I was well versed in constetions; however, I couldn¡¯t find any of the constetions I knew of in the sky. I couldn¡¯t sleep. The gentle sound of Lapis sleeping flowed pleasantly into my ears. At that moment, Laura who had been quiet all day opened her mouth as if she were talking to herself. ¡°I fail to understand. Why are you not killing him immediately?¡± ¡°Hm.¡± It was hard to give an answer. I immediately uttered the first line that came to my head. ¡°Because I do not wish to kill him. I guess it is a coincidental whim.¡± ¡°¡­¡­In any sort of tactic, needlessly creating an enemy is the worst possible n. If that ve merchant leaves here alive, then this entire incident will undoubtedly be revealed to the public. Even if no one knows of your true identity, you will no longer be able to freely roam around the vicinity of cities without any form of disguise.¡± ¡°Haha. There¡¯s no way that I would not know that.¡± I surveyed the night sky as I contemted whether I should try and create constetions of my own or not. ¡°I figured that it would not matter if I took a risk of that degree.¡± ¡°Why is that? Lessen the number of threats whenever possible. Is this not the best policy to keep in order to maintain one¡¯s survival?¡± ¡°You are right. Honestly, even I do not know why I am like this.¡± Oh, that resembles Orion¡¯s belt a lot. Well, finding three stars in the same formation as Orion¡¯s belt isn¡¯t a difficult task. I gradually let out a yawn. ¡°Laura, you decided that life means one¡¯s eventual death because death is inevitable¡­¡­but as someone who wants to continue living, I find the remaining parts of life¡­¡­the coincidental things that happen to me determine the meaning of my life. I wish to ept all of this in its entirety.¡± My eyes closed on their own. My consciousness gradually submerged. As my perception of time faded, I heard a voice right as it was about to stop. ¡°So that¡¯s the meaning of life you told me about on that night.¡± I mumbled something in return, but it was nothing more than a mumble. ¡®I¡¯m about to fall asleep, huh?¡¯ was thest thought that went through my head before my consciousness had submergedpletely. ¡­¡­ I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. My face felt stiff as particles of dust had settled on it during the night. I rubbed my face with my palm. My mind felt refreshed, but my face felt ufortable, so this contrast was unfortunate. Ehem, this could have been a perfect morning. I looked around. Laura was sleeping soundly. On the other hand, Lapis had already finished preparing breakfast. In truth, it was impossible for me to imagine Lapis of all people sleeping inte. If she had been born as a high school student in Korea, then she would have definitely been one of those people who went to bed at midnight and woke up at 4am in order to study. How disgusting. Lapis spoke as she poured some soup into a bowl with adle. ¡°Sir Dantalian, the ve merchant has run away.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± That was somewhat unexpected. I did consider the possibility of him running away, but I didn¡¯t think he actually would. It wasn¡¯t an action that befitted Jack. Nevertheless, it seems Lapis believed this was a natural turn of events. She let out a sigh. ¡°Haa. When I woke up at dawn, he was no longer in the carriage. He shouldn¡¯t have gotten far since his ankles are bound by chains. Shall we pursue him?¡± ¡°Leave him be. He¡¯s struggling to survive, so there¡¯s no reason to go out of our way to bring an end to it.¡± I gave my honest opinion as I received a bowl from Lapis. ¡°After losing such arge ve deal, there¡¯s no way he could show his face in front of his father or his firm. The possibility of Jack gaining any sort of authority in the world of merchants is unfathomably low.¡± ¡°His father is a big merchant. I believe that there would be a way to use him.¡± ¡°I¡¯d probably keel over and die first if I try to use a man as ipetent as him. I prefer people who are as talented as you, Lapis.¡± I took a sip of the soup. A peculiar taste of a certain spice and chicken filled my mouth. ¡°Khh, delicious!¡± It felt like I was eating a non-spicy version of Thai Prawn Soup. I recalled that spices were rarely used in medieval times, so when I asked about it, Lapis informed me that, different from humans, demons enjoy using spices immensely. As someone who loves Southeastern Asian food and Indian food, I weed this culture with open arms. ¡°Lapis, is there something you¡¯re bad at? You¡¯re too talented!¡± ¡°Thank you very much.¡± Lapis lowered her head. ¡°The amodation, transportation, and meals provided during this trip will total to about 10 gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± How Lapis of Lapis¡­¡­. After breakfast, contrary to the pleasant taste that had filled my mouth, my skin continued toin. My already stiff face was starting to feel greasy as well. It bothered me. ¡°Is there a brook nearby?¡± ¡°There is a pond 80 steps in that direction.¡± I received an answer that sounded as if she had been waiting for me to ask this. As I didn¡¯t know theyout of the human world, I relied on Lapis¡¯ n for this operation. Without a doubt, she considered everything from the escape route to the amodation. What a perfectionist! Arge price of 10 gold wasn¡¯t a waste. I hummed to myself as I headed in the direction Lapis had pointed me to. There was a forest there. Tall, unknown nts were blocking my line of sight. Although I felt like a snake mighte out and get me, I knew that monsters and beasts are affected by a Demon Lord¡¯s authority, so I pushed forward without any hesitation. I waltzed forward as if I were marching. Once I got past thest bush, Jack¡¯s dead body was lying there as if he had been hiding. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. Surprise? Disappointment? No. It was closer to awe. If it¡¯s Jack, then this could happen, this thought entered my head a secondter. There was arge boulder next to his corpse. There were several crimson bloodstains on the surface of the boulder. Along with that boulder, I noticed Jack¡¯s head and eyes as well. Dried blood had clotted there. It appears that he hadmitted suicide by mming his head against the boulder by himself. Like the story of a certain magpie that endlessly devoted its head to a bell. (TL note: The Magpie and the Bell) ¡°¡­¡­So you¡¯ve died, Jack.¡± I had no way of knowing what he had been deliberating on all night, what process of thought he had gone through in order to arrive at this conclusion. I will probably never know. Like a single mystery, the result that is his corpse and a boulder will be the only things that will remain in my head for all of eternity. I had hoped he would survive if possible. Even if he kept being used and disregarded by despicable people like me, I wanted him to live firmly. This was the small wish I had in the corner of my mind as someone who has not fully be ustomed to the role of a Demon Lord in this world yet. The morning sun pierced through the roof of the forest and lit up his surroundings. I stared at the corpse for a while. A stream was flowing beyond the boulder; however, instead of going to the stream, I turned around and left. I believed that approaching Jack¡¯s body would be an insult to his death. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This is the end of , so I guess I¡¯ll be tranting another chapter of Handholding next. Though I sort of started tranting a bit of the next DD WN chapter, so I might release that first before going back to Handholding. I sort of feel bad about leaving Million Dor Bill on the side. I might switch from Handholding chapters to Million Dor Bill chapters after I finish the Handholding volume I¡¯m currently on. On a side note, I¡¯ve noticed this several times before, but please avoid leaving the same exactment on every chapter. For example, ¡®thank you for the chapter!¡¯. Once in a while is fine, but if you leave the samement on every chapter, then the WordPress bot will mark you as spammer. It¡¯s a bit weird on how it determines whether something is spam or not, but it¡¯s been doing a rtively good job. Although it sometimes does markpletely normalments as spam, this happens rarely. In any case, keep this in mind when leaving ament! Chapter 29: A Season Spent in Hell (1) Chapter 29: A Season Spent in Hell (1) ¡°I¡¯d like to request for some leisure time.¡± I spoke in an incredibly serious tone. The time was the middle of the day. The location wasMy Pretty Home,in other words, my Demon Lord Castle. Despite it beingte summer, the cavern provided an appropriately cool environment. Even though I was spending my summer in the greatest summer resort, also known as my dungeon, I constantly felt somber. ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me?¡± Lapis, who was now in charge of managing things like the collective cultivation of ck herbs, looked at me with a gaze that appeared as if it were asking what nonsense His Highness Demon Lord was saying now. ¡°I want to rest. I want to y. I want toze around.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡­.¡± She now looked as if she were looking at a piece of trash. Despite this, my sincerity didn¡¯t change one bit. Before I knew it, three to four months have passed since I found myself in the world of Dungeon Attack. I¡¯ve been working earnestly all that time. Excessively earnestly. I dealt with adventurer parties, mined for ores, disguised myself as a merchant, and scouted a talent. As someone who was no different from being unemployed in my original world, this was more than enough work to make me feel as if I¡¯ve overworked. To be honest, I actually belong to the type of people who are rather far away from the adjective earnest. ¡®I was able to endure it back when I was worried whether I could live to see tomorrow, but¡­¡­sheesh.¡¯ Recently, the threats known as the adventurer parties have also decreased. Only F-rankse here anyway. I gave Laura the authority to control my unit of monsters as a way to give her actual experience using tactics and this resulted in the adventurers being wiped out masterfully. The number of tasks I had to manage had gone down a fair bit. I¡¯ve been feeling strangely bipr as well. This started happening after I discovered Jack¡¯s corpse. I¡¯ve been having emotional ups and downs about everything. All things considered, I¡¯ve been ughtering heaps of people??adventurer parties invade the dungeon every other week??so there¡¯s no way that I wouldn¡¯t have some sort of mental problem by now. I came to apletely rational decision. I need a break right now. Once I exined my condition to Lapis, she nodded. ¡°Demon Lord Syndrome.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°This has not been formally acknowledged by the academic world, but it¡¯s a temporary title that has been attached to these symptoms. As you know already, Demon Lords empathize with other races, monsters, and so on without any restrictions. Because of this, Demon Lords periodically be bipr.¡± Dear Lord. Come to think of it, Demon Lord is a triple D job. Death is always drawing near, you have to constantly make dough, and you have to manage a dungeon, but to top it all out, it also has an upational disease like bing bipr? ¡°Have you perhaps been going throughpletely random moods as ofte?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I have. I suddenly feel ted and then I promptly feel sad.¡± ¡°As Demon Lords feel the emotions of others incredibly vividly, the boundaries of their self-consciousness are very unstable. It¡¯s only natural since the various thoughts and emotions of others are inside of them. This is why other Demon Lords utilize all sorts of methods to maintain their ego. It seems that Sir Dantalian does not possess such a remedy.¡± They also suffer from multiple personality disorder. I quickly became depressed. It made me even more depressed to think that this depression was also caused by my upational disease. I won¡¯t make it¡­¡­. ¡°Huhaha. I¡¯m a piece of trash. How could scum who helped absolutely no one in his original world kill someone like Jack just so they can live a morefortable life? Trash worse than trash, the king of trash. Hehe, I¡¯m the king of trash¡­¡­I¡¯m sorry, mother¡­¡­.¡± As I started digging in the corner of my Demon Lord room, Lapis spoke as if she were my medical attendant. ¡°This appears to be a serious case.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m requesting some time off!¡± I cried out. ¡°I¡¯m beyond depressed! Life doesn¡¯t feel like life anymore. Why do those adventurer bastards keep invading this ce when the most you can get here is some leg hair!? Every time you guys die, something gets shaved away from my heart!¡± Laura entered the room at that moment. Ever since the door was torn down by Riff¡¯s axe, the Demon Lord room has been boasting a refreshing andfortable entryway. She was holding a round object in her hand. ¡°Miss Lazuli, it has been a while.¡± After giving Lapis a short greeting, she tossed the round object towards me. It rolled all the way to my feet. ¡°I dealt with the intruders.¡± It was a human¡¯s head. ¡°He¡¯s the leader. He resisted rather tenaciously. Hmph.¡± But he obviously couldn¡¯t win again me, Laura added as she smiled. The girl who was about to be 16 years old in three months proudly talked about how she had tactically wiped out an adventurer party with no less than 25 members. ¡°??They then tried to hastily back away. Once I smacked them on the backs of their heads with the ambush I hid beforehand, their formation promptly fell apart. It was as I had nned. Honestly speaking, this youngdy never knew that she had this much talent in strategy. My heart is pounding because it feels like I¡¯ve discovered a new side of myself that I never knew about. Dantalian, I must admit my admiration for your insight.¡± In the blonde hair of the girl who was smiling as she spoke, there were blood stters smeared through it. I looked down at the adventurer¡¯s head. A look of fear and despair looked back up at me. I became plunged in despair. ¡°No¡­¡­this isn¡¯t life, there¡¯s no way something like this could be life¡­¡­.¡± I jumped into the bed in the Demon Lord room and rolled around. I could hear Laura and Lapis hold a conversation behind me. The two of them have been maintaining an amicable rtionship. Should I call it a bond between two subordinates who shared a foolish boss? That sort of rtionship seemed to have been established. ¡°Hm? This isn¡¯t the response this youngdy had expected. Did something happen?¡± ¡°It seems that His Highness Dantalian is suffering from a slight case of depression.¡± ¡°What is depression?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Right, the human world has yet to understand the concept of mental illnesses. In the demon world, we generally believe that, simr to how your physical body is susceptible to diseases, the mind is susceptible to illnesses as well. Depression refers to a symptom that distorts and twists a certain part of the patient¡¯s mind and induces gloom.¡± Laura let out a small sigh of grief. ¡°Huh, how bizarre. Why would you separate the body and mind into two separate things? A mental problem is a problem within the body. If your mind is weak, then, by extension, that means your body is weak as well.¡± She approached me and grabbed me by the cor. ¡°Get up. Overall, you do not exercise nearly enough. The most you do for exercise is shoot your crossbow a couple of times a day, so it¡¯ll take years before you gain any muscle and increase your stamina.¡± ¡°No! I don¡¯t want to get up¡­¡­!¡± I held on to my nket and held my ce on the bed. ¡°A healthy body makes a healthy mind. Now then, Dantalian, exercise with this youngdy. I shall teach you an exercise regime that has been passed down for generations in my household. Even a scrawny man like yourself will be able to be a muscr man who can sweep women off their feet as long as you work hard and follow this regime for 2 months.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a muscle brain for thinking that exercise is the cure-all for everything! I¡¯m currently mentally exhausted. I need a break!¡± Once I shouted that, Laura responded cooly. ¡°You can rest for all eternity after you die.¡± ¡°I want to rest while still alive!¡± Our struggle unfolded on the bed. As our might stats were simr, our battle was a constant seesaw. After a while, the two of us fell over on the bed. ¡°Huek, you aren¡¯t, haaa, that impressive either, Laura, haaa.¡± ¡°How can a man and a girl, haa, haa, be the same, hooo?¡± Once our cockfight had finished, I panted heavily like a chicken. Only Lapis remained standing properly as she gave the two of us a disapproving gaze. Forparison, it was like she was a person who found a potentially good part-time job, but her work environment turned out to be at a mental ward and she was constantly surrounded by lunatics. ¡°¡­¡­The Keuncuska Firm will decide where the ck herb will be grown. As Sir Dantalian is the consultant, you will receive 5% of the total yield. The duration of the contract will be 2 years. Is this all right?¡± I waved my hand as if I didn¡¯t care what she did. ording to Lapis, the Keuncuska Firm believes that, simr to other diseases, the ck Death will notst that long as well, so they¡¯ve been constantly buying ck herbs from the Herbalists Guild. However, I know that the ck Death will torment the continent for almost another 10 years. Rather than selling all of the ck herbs at once, I proposed to the Keuncuska Firm a medium and long-term n to gain profit by growing the herbs ourselves. The other party immediately agreed. Through this, I have established a periodic source of ie. ¡®Everything is proceeding mostly smoothly.¡¯ Laura, who was busy trying to catch her breath in front of me, suddenly entered my line of sight. There were drops of sweat trailing down her white forehead. Her skin made it seem like her sweat was white as well. I wonder if it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t been able to properly release my sexual desires in a long time. Myher region felt tingly even though all I had done was look at her skin from up close. I chuckled. ¡®There¡¯s nothing to fuss about now that my living conditions are stable.¡¯ Be it Lapis or Laura, not only were they young, but they were also beauties. My pathetic perseverance is nearly at its limit since I¡¯ve been practically living with the two of them. If I hadn¡¯t visited a brothel during our previous trip, then I might have exploded already. Laura must have felt my gaze as she looked back at me. I shook my head to let her know that I didn¡¯t mean anything by my gaze. ¡®Don¡¯t tell me she noticed.¡¯ It¡¯d be embarrassing if she did. I decided to check Laura¡¯s status just in case. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Laura De Farnese Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 7¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 520 Job: Schr(D), Intrigant(E), Sex ve(E) Leadership: 30¡¡¡¡Might: 10 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 33 Politics: 9¡¡¡¡Charm: 49¡¡¡¡Technique: 1 Affection: 21 Current thought: ¡®Hm, I¡¯ll definitely force him to exercise tomorrow.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Even though her level was only a single-digit number, her stats were dazzling. As expected of the girl who was going to be an intrigant and leave her name in the history books, not only were her leadership and intelligence stats high, but, it may be unrted, her charm was almost at 50 as well. If you only looked at her stats, she was a typical Femme Fatale. Although she used to be at Neutral(0), it had dropped to Neutral(-10) because she had killed humans recently, but this didn¡¯t matter to me. ¡®Okay. There¡¯s no issue.¡¯ Laura¡¯s current thought put my mind at ease. Regardless, I furtively turned my head away just in case. I then immediately made eye contact with Lapis. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Oh no. She¡¯s doubting me! An emotion mixed with slight scorn and disregard was transferred to me without restraint.She may only be half a subus, but was it because they¡¯re demons that control carnal desires? Lapis managed to quickly see through me. Have I ever been looked at scornfully by a girl who looked as if she were around 16 years old? To put it simply, I wanted to bite my tongue and kill myself. I wanted to crawl in a corner and be a shut-in, but if I admit to it, then my pride as a man will obviously crumble into pieces. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Is there something more you want to say about the contract?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Certainly, it seems that Sir Dantalian requires a ¡®break¡¯.¡± For some reason, Lapis put an emphasis on the ¡®break¡¯ part of her sentence. I could tell that she was telling me to stop going out of my way to scurry away since she had already seen through me. Guh. ¡°Next month, a conference between Demon Lords will be held in the demon continent.¡± ¡°Hm? Was there something like that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a tradition for the Keuncuska Firm to hold the conference as a neutral party since they do not cater to the Demon Lords. This meeting is held every 10 years and Your Highness Dantalian will also receive an invitation this year.¡± Lapis red at me impassively. ¡°At that time, how about we visit the demon world while we also deal with Her Ladyship Farnese¡¯s ve brand? Coincidentally, I have searched for a mage who knows how to handle human ve brands. I can assure you that your break will be satisfactory in many ways.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Uuh. How about we just go to the demon world now? Come to think of it, I¡¯ve never been to the demon world before and I don¡¯t think my mind could endure another month.¡± As you wish, Lapis answered. Like so, a vacation to the demon world during the summer had been added to my schedule. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Likest time, I sort of wound up tranting an extra DD WN chapter before going back to Handholding. I didn¡¯t have immediate ess to my Handholding raws after I finished thest chapter, so I sort of started working on this one. In any case, time to start working on Handholding again. See you guys then! It¡¯ll probably take more than a week since those chapters are long. Chapter 30: A Season Spent in Hell (2) Chapter 30: A Season Spent in Hell (2) I still imagine a harsh and cruel ce whenever I picture the demon world, but I know this imagery is wrong because of all the things Lapis had told me. Like how even the demon world has a lot of luxurious, civilized cities as well. Would Lapis lead me to a savage area of all ces? I really want to take a proper break this time. I decided to clean my dungeon¡¯s front yard before going on a genuine vacation. What did I mean by this? ¡°O-O Greater Being, what has brought Your Greatness to exert your presence in a humble ce like this?¡± An old man with white hair uttered as he kowtowed on the ground. Nearly a hundred people were kowtowing behind the old man as well. They were sh-and-burn farmers. They were people who farmed and lived on mountainsides which were normally filled with beasts and monsters, so they were stronger and braver than the average person. The reason why they were kneeling before me was simple. There were roughly 30 golems currently surrounding them. This was the force I had procured after spending the rest of my funds. With my Acting skill activated, I spoke. ¡°Humble? Did you just call this ce humble?¡± ¡°Y-Yes.¡± ¡°Raise your head, human.¡± The old man raised his head incredibly slowly. Like the ridges between rice paddles, his tanned face was filled with wrinkles. It was a face that directly portrayed his sincere and rough life. I felt somewhat sorry, but I continued to use an aggressive tone in order to aplish my goal. First impressions are important. I can¡¯t let myself look like a pushover right now. ¡°This is my territory! The sin of calling mynd humble is heavy.¡± The old man¡¯s face was dyed with astonishment and perplexity. This was only natural. He was most likely bewildered since a man had appeared with a group of monsters and had suddenly imed ¡®this was hisnd¡¯. This was a type of traffic control. Starting from this sh-and-burn vige, there are several other small viges around my dungeon as well. Adventurer parties would reside in these viges for a couple of days to relieve their exhaustion beforeing to invade my dungeon. These vigers would make some pocket change from these adventurers by receiving a minor lodging fee from them, so they were an indirect threat to me. I¡¯ve been deliberating about how I should deal with them for a while now, but I decided to intimidate them once before going on my trip to the demon continent. ¡°O-O Greater Being.¡± ¡°Furthermore, you have also been residing within my territory without permission, so your sins are unfathomable!¡± ¡°We apologize. We apologize! But we did not know.¡± The old man pressed his head against the ground without me ordering him to. ¡°All countries avoid this ce as it is crowded with monsters. Even the vampire-like tax collectors of the Empire do note this far. Please forgive us for fleeing to this mountainside in order to escape from the high taxes and extortion¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Huh, your im to be the only victims is quite distasteful. You all know that my base is within this vicinity and that adventurers march to it. Despite this, you people would provide these adventurers with amodations, would you not?¡± The vige chief hastily raised his head. ¡°Ah. B-But that.¡± ¡°Speak only the truth!¡± ¡°O Greater Being¡­¡­the difficulty in living on a mountainside is immense. If it were not for the outsiders who would asionally visit and pay a lodging fee, we would struggle to survive through even a single season. W-We could not help it since it was for the sake of our survival. Please be merciful!¡± I snorted. ¡°If your lives are difficult, then does that justify having my life threatened instead? How dare you. It seems you have not fully grasped the situation you are in.¡± I raised my right hand. Once I did, the golems that were surrounding the vigers took a step forward. The ground shook as 30 golems all took a step at the same time. The vigers panicked. A couple of them even screamed. ¡°Uuuhhhg, spare us!¡± ¡°Please forgive us!¡± Dear me. It hurts me to see this. Well, as humans, there was no reason for them to have been hostile towards adventurers when they were offering to go subjugate a Demon Lord. It isn¡¯t a faulty way of thinking since Demon Lords are considered asst bosses for humans. ¡°Please, O Greater Being! We apologize! We will never do it again¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Even if I ughtered you all here, my anger would not be relieved!¡± I could clearly see sweat flow down the vige chief¡¯s neck. I deliberately spoke in a rage-filled voice. ¡°???I will give you onest chance.¡± ¡°Oooh!¡± The vige chief raised his arms. ¡°Thank you, thank you very much!¡± ¡°Keep in mind that I am not an unconditionally lenient man. As you all havemitted an irredeemable crime, you must first repent.¡± ¡°Of course. That is only natural! Tell us what we should do.¡± I took out a blue orb. Once I tossed it lightly, the vige chief caught it clumsily. ¡°What is this¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Adventurer parties will continue to visit your vige. Do as you always have and provide these parties with lodging and food. However, tap on that orb four times as soon as they arrive.¡± I grinned. ¡°If you do, then my faithful subordinates will infiltrate your vige at night. Assassinate the adventurers with them. If you do this, then you will not lose any profits. Additionally, as you will have not betrayed me, you will not have to apologize to me with your lives.¡± That¡¯s right. The adventurers that will invade from now on will have higher levels. If I can establish a cooperative system like this with the viges around my dungeon before they arrive, then I will have more ways to deal with these parties. The vige chief was moved to tears as he praised my magnanimity. Nheless, I knew that if there is no additional profit, then people would break these kinds of contracts with ease. If they judge that the adventurer party is strong enough to subjugate me, then they would undoubtedly take their side. ¡°This is a contract with me. If you break this contract, then I will kill you all.¡± I needed something extra. A certain type of profit that would prevent then from betraying me. ¡°If you abide by this contract, then I will grant you safety in return.¡± ¡°S-Safety?¡± ¡°I heard that this vige is constantly exposed to the danger of monsters.¡± ¡°Yes. Just a week ago, a strong, young man was bitten by a goblin and lost his life.¡± ¡°If you keep your side of the deal, then I promise that your vige will no longer be assaulted by monsters.¡± ¡°I-Is that true!?¡± Color returned to the old man¡¯s face. He most likely thought a second ago that he would be killed by my golems, but he was suddenly offered protection from monsters instead. I scowled. ¡°I am the king of all monsters. Are you doubting my words?¡± ¡°No! Absolutely not! I-It was just such a grand proposition.¡± ¡°Know that I am impartial.¡± I took in a deep breath before shouting. ¡°My name is Dantalian! As I am the Rank 71st Demon Lord, I am also the master of all diseases and monsters! Although I am magnanimous to my subjects, I am cruel to my enemies. If you all be my loyal subjects, then I will provide you with profit and safety ordingly!¡± I wonder if my acting worked. ¡°Now monsters won¡¯t attack us!¡± ¡°We¡¯re safe!¡± ¡°Hurrah for His Majesty Dantalian!¡± The sh-and-burn vigers cheered in unison. However, this didn¡¯t mean I was finished. For an entire week, I went around to all of the viges near my dungeon. 12 small viges submitted to me. 30 golems was a force that was far too powerful for a small vige to handle, but, above all else, the offer to be freed from the threat of monsters was incredibly captivating to them. I was looking forward to these viges bing an early warning system for invaders from now on. Although I have to also visit all of the monster settlements around my dungeon and tell them, ¡®Don¡¯t attack these people from now on!¡¯ because of this deal, it was only natural for good results to require a lot of effort. A couple of the monster settlements tried to fight back. Different from the monsters I had hired through the system, wild monsters were fundamentally fierce by nature. This didn¡¯t matter to me, though. I crushed and swept away the monsters that resisted with my golems. It might be because they¡¯re situated near the Rank 71st Demon Lord¡¯s dungeon as none of them had a high level. At most, there were only low-quality groups of goblins. A sigh came out on its own. This is why Dantalian¡¯s dungeon only appears during the prologue in . ¡°Finally, I¡¯m done with all my work!¡± After I finished receiving the pledges from all of the monster settlements, I stretched. The feeling of satisfaction after aplishing a big task bloomed in my chest. Now I can rest! Except, I had one more question left. ¡®Strangely, the goblins couldn¡¯t even lift a single finger.¡¯ No matter how low level the goblin tribes were, I expected them to at least put up a reasonable fight, but they couldn¡¯t even lift a finger against me the instant the fights started. They just got annihted by my golem unit. Well, I can¡¯t reallyin about a good thing. I simply perceived it as my golem unit having be that much stronger. Currently, the average level of the golems under my wing was 5. Each time they went up a level, a random stat would increase by 1. My lowest-tier golems, which started with the base stats of 7/5/5 (stamina/attack/defense), had leveled up and their stats were roughly around 7/7/7 now. Referentially, the stats of Riff, the adventurer party leader of Jalsen Vige, were 6/5/2. As one of the stronger F-rank adventurers, Riff¡¯s stats were nothing special. My golems have be strong enough to easily handle E-rank adventurers now. Additionally, the average level of my fairies was 3, so even they could wipe out an average party of E-rank adventurers unscathed. ¡®Even if an E-rank adventurer party were to appear while I¡¯m away, Laura should be able to handle them with ease.¡¯ My worries quickly dispersed. There¡¯s no way that a dungeon that usually only receives F-rank adventurers would suddenly be visited by D or C-rank adventurers. I left the entire management of the dungeon to Laura before going on my vacation to the demon world. At this point, I had yet to learn what sort of impact this incident would have. * * * Lapis gulped. As someone who was always calm and collected, even she felt nervous. There was a gray-haired, old gentleman sitting in a wooden chair before her. His entire body was concealed by a ck mantle, but his pale face made it apparent that he had a lean and scrawny figure. It almost felt like something morbid was exuding from him. Nheless, his calm tone barely managed to include him in the realm of refined people. This very individual was the top of the Keuncuska Firm. Ivar Lodbrok. Even among vampires, he was one of the rare Vampire Lords. A monster among monsters who has lived for more than 2,000 years. ¡°Lapis Lazuli. You most likely are aware as to why you are facing me right now.¡± ¡°Yes, Chief.¡± Lapis lowered her upper body in a moderate way. ¡°I believe that it is rted to Demon Lord Dantalian.¡± ¡°It seems you are not entirelycking.¡± The way Lapis had bowed at a perfect angle must have satisfied him as the corners of Ivar¡¯s mouth went up slightly. There wasn¡¯t anythingfortable or merciful about that expression. If anything, it gave off a dreary impression. Only the corners of his mouth moved, nothing else about his face had even twitched. ¡°Previously, Torukel had personally gone to see him; however, the door was shut on his face. Under the pretext that he would only trade with you, Lazuli. As expected of the people of the night.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar was taunting her by indirectly asking if she had charmed the Demon Lord with her night techniques. A t out ridicule towards Lapis, a half-subus. However, there was no change in Lapis¡¯ features as she kept her head bowed. This kind of ridicule was like a daily urrence for her. Subi, the whores of the demon world. Among them, a crossbreed mixed with dirty human blood. ¡°Oh? It seems you know how to manage your emotions.¡± ¡°I am a Keuncuska employee.¡± Ivar thenughed. ¡°Of course you are. It is only natural for a Keuncuska merchant to be like that. Pursue profit no matter the cost and even receive the other party¡¯s trust. In that regard, you pass. How could I not offer praise when a mere rank 4 demon employee had received the trust of a Demon Lord using their own prowess?¡± The sound of something being dropped to the floor echoed throughout the room. ¡°You may raise your head.¡± Lapis slowly lifted her face. A bulky pouch had been dropped next to Ivar¡¯s foot. It was a money pouch that was used by the Keuncuska Firm. Considering its size, it was clear that more than a hundred gold was in it. ¡°It is your reward. Take it.¡± Ivar was currently sitting in a chair. The money pouch was ced below his groin. Him telling her that it was her reward and cing it there was, in other words, his way of telling her to ¡®crawl¡¯ to him in order to receive the reward. Even to a street whore, there was nothing more discourteous than this. An utter disgrace. ¡°Yes.¡± Regardless, Lapis answered cidly. She then got on all four and crawled to the Vampire Lord like some animal. The ck Keuncuska uniform stuck to her body and highlighted her bottom. Ivar watched with leisure as she crawled to him. Eventually, she had brought her head between Ivar¡¯s legs. She courteously grabbed the money pouch with both hands before lowering her already lowered head even further. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± It was then, at the moment she was about to pull away. Ivar spoke. ¡°Strip.¡± A cold voice entered her ears. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I finished this chapter a couple of days ago, but editing took a bit because I had to take care of some university-rted matters and my editor was busy. My finals are approaching, but I don¡¯t have too many assignments at the moment, so I should be able to maintain a steady pace. In any case, the WN really is just an entirely new territory. It¡¯s a different story with the same premise, so it doesn¡¯t feel that repetitive when tranting. Nothing else to really say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 31: A Season Spent in Hell (3) Chapter 31: A Season Spent in Hell (3) ¡°You lowly being, I told you to strip.¡± Her deliberation didn¡¯tst long. Lapis slowly undid the buttons on her top before her skirt slipped down her legs andnded on the floor. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The magicmp shined a fine light on her. Her delicate curves were lit up faintly in the darkness. Ivar stood up. He circled around Lapis and used the cane in his right hand to prod her body. The end of his cane poked her chest, neck, and bottom. It was almost as if he were evaluating a product. ¡°Are you a virgin?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Despite being a lowly half-subus, you managed to preserve your chastity well, I see.¡± ¡°I possess the ability to protect my own body. Furthermore¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Furthermore?¡± ¡°I did not wish to thoughtlessly waste my value as a virgin.¡± Ivar grinned. ¡°A merchant¡¯s way of thinking. Then do you believe that offering your virginity to me here would have value?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Your ability to judge the situation is also quick, I see.¡± He showed a satisfied smile. Lapis knew that Ivar didn¡¯t desire her in the first ce. As a person who has subus blood flowing through her, she could sense the other party¡¯s carnal desire. All she had done was act obediently after she realized that this was nothing more than a test. Ivar gripped his cane before walking around Lapis in a circle. ¡°I am one of the 5 remaining Vampire Lords in the world. A descendant of a noble bloodline that has been maintained for tens of thousands of years. The reason why I value bloodlines in the demon world is not for some trivial reason like authority. It is proof that we have ovee those ancient times. It is simple for a single generation to achieve sess. There are numerous people that are seeding even now. How about seeding for 2 generations? The immediate previous generation had achieved sess, so it should not be that difficult. But what about 3 generations? 4 generations? How about 50, 100, or 200 generations?¡± Ivar¡¯s tone dropped. ¡°This is close to impossible. You must not be conceited because of the achievements your bloodline had aplished in the past. You must treat every generation as if it is your first and refine yourself without end. Pain and patience will continue endlessly for hundreds of years. That is the greatness of bloodlines. It is not something that can be aplished through only a single generation¡¯s sess.¡± At one point in time, vampires used to all be pure-blooded; however, as time passed, only 5 pure-blooded vampires now remain. Demons revered them and referred to them as Vampire Lords, the true bloodline. ¡°Even if they are called Demon Lords, they cannot leave behind any descendants and are nothing more than a single moment of glory. The true pride of us demonkind does not rely on such fleeting grace. Only those that can look towards the future will be true demons. Lazuli. Use the Demon Lord. Do not be a moth that is sacrificed after being lured to a Demon Lord¡¯s light.¡± ¡°I will bear this in mind.¡± ¡°Good¡­¡­Demon Lords are nothing more than illusions.¡± Ivar fell into deep thought as he stared at nothing for a moment. He then shook his head and sat back down. He turned away from Lapis. ¡°I am promoting you from rank 4 personnel to rank 2.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± This was genuinely shocking. It took a hundred years for Lapis to go from being a probationer to a rank 5 personnel. She had predicted that even if she gained any achievements through Dantalian, then it would still take at least 50 years before she would get promoted to rank 4. However, due to the ck Death, she had been promoted to a rank 4 personnel and had now been promoted again by another two ranks. Even the Keuncuska Firm, that boasted one of the greatest eras of prosperity, only had, at most, 200 rank 1 personnel. They were elite among elites. ¡®Finally???.¡¯ Lapis shuddered silently. ¡®Finally, I managed to seize an opportunity.¡¯ The memories of all the persecution she had received until now brushed past her head in a single moment. She wasn¡¯t able to mingle with subi groups because she was a half-subus. If anything, the other subi would actively distance themselves from her and outcast her. In the demon world where only the strong survive, not being able to rely on your own race was almost like a death sentence in itself. She dug through the trash. She dressed up like a harlot and murdered vagrants in the back alleys. She begged and pleaded. She learned swordsmanship and magic in order to survive. Once she finally managed to obtain the minimum ability to protect herself, she devoted herself entirely to the Keuncuska Firm. She handled all sorts of trivial work for a hundred years. Despite that, she was never able to obtain a proper opportunity. 200 years. Before she knew it, she had lost her expression and the pitch in her voice. After spending her days going through a series of defeats, she had finally obtained an opportunity. This was both a chance and a test. Chief Ivar had just now ordered her to use Demon Lord Dantalian. In other words, he wanted her to thoroughly bring him to thepany¡¯s side. By any means possible, even if it meant using her body. ¡®I can do it.¡¯ Not only did she have a favorable opinion of Dantalian, but the other party also had a favorable opinion of her as well. She just has to use that interest. Come to think of it, there was a time a couple of days ago where Dantalian was engulfed by carnal desire as he stared at Farnese. He must most likely be troubled since he has desires, but has no ce to release it. Lapis quickly contemted. She tried to think of a method that could let her seed in the firm while not bringing any harm to Dantalian. Although she suddenly wondered whether this was truly what Dantalian wanted or not, she disregarded it. Wouldn¡¯t it be good for Dantalian if the person that managed him upied a key post in the Keuncuska Firm? ¡°Thank you very much.¡± ¡°A word of thanks is not what I want.¡± ¡°Pardon me. Dantalian will be an eternal ally of our firm.¡± Ivarughed. ¡°How smart. I do not dislike smart subordinates.¡± ¡°I will not disappoint you.¡± Ivar mmed the end of his cane down on the floor. He was dismissing her. Lapis bowed deeply to his back. After she left the room, Ivar continued to stare out the window. The most prosperous city in the demon world, Niflheim, was reflected in his eyes. He unwittingly muttered to himself. ¡°That¡¯s right. Demon Lords are all frauds.¡± The mumbling didn¡¯t manage to reach anywhere as it melted into the air. Situated next to the luxurious chair he was sitting on, there were several vampire-exclusive coffins lined up. * * * The day of my vacation approached. I entrusted the duty of protecting the dungeon to Laura before tearing the teleportation scroll that I had received from Lapis. Woosh! A cyan glow filled my vision. I closed my eyes tightly. I was deafened for a brief moment. Once I opened my eyes, I confirmed that I had arrived at a new ce. There was arge street stretched out before me. It was a stone road paved with white stones. I turned my head left and right and saw numerous people were also teleporting in endlessly. No, should I call them people? Monsters like minotaurs and fishmen were being teleported here with their respective luggage. ¡°You there! Hurry up and move!¡± A female goblin shouted sharply. I looked around to see who she was talking to before I realized it was me. She had an armband around her left arm, so she was probably like an attendant for thisrge-scale teleportation ce. ¡°The people behind you aren¡¯t able to move because of you!¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I moved out of the way. Once I did, a green light filled the area I had just been standing in. A short dwarf carrying luggage that was four times his size appeared. He nced at me and snorted before walking ahead. I could clearly tell that he was swearing profusely at me in his head. ¡°What are you standing around for!? Are you trying to create traffic!?¡± I awkwardly moved away. Even now, green light continued to burst out without stop. There were roughly 20 footpads on the wide road. They were teleportation devices. Monsters that came from there would then go through the checkpoint. The monsters would pay an admittance fee to one of the several goblins that were in the checkpoint. This sight reminded me of the toll gates on highways. ¡°Sheesh. This is why I don¡¯t like country bumpkins.¡± The female goblin approached me with big strides. ¡°This is your first time in Niflheim, right?¡± ¡°Huh? Ah. Yeah.¡± ¡°Read this first before you enter the city.¡± She handed me something that looked like a pamphlet. On the cover, the words ¡ºEverything about Niflheim! Let¡¯s be pros of Niflheim in only 10 pages!¡» were written in an over-the-top font style. ¡°This is a ce where you¡¯ll get your nose cut even if you fall backward. I guarantee you that if an ignorant bumpkin like you enters the city, then you¡¯ll be stripped dry in less than 3 seconds!¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± My mind felt nk after hearing this goblin call me a bumpkin. Hearing her drag some of her vowels while swinging around that long nose of hers was off-putting. Don¡¯t tell me she thinks that way of speech is cute. Even if this may be considered cute among goblins, I wanted to tell her that in my vastly subjective and objective perspective, the way she spoke stimted my stomach in a very bad way. ¡°That¡¯s a pamphlet that tells you which inns and streets are safe. As long as you keep this with you, one of your limbs shouldn¡¯t randomly go missing. This is normally 2 gold, but since this is your first time visiting our city, I¡¯ll give you a discount. Just a single gold coin. Hand it over.¡± ¡°Eh? Yeah. Sure, thanks.¡± ¡°No problem. Think of this as a training practice expense.¡± Training practice expense? The goblin ran off in a hurry just as I was about to tilt my head. ¡°All right, I made a gold! It wouldn¡¯t be worth being a teleporter attendant if I couldn¡¯t rip off pushovers like this!¡± The goblin stretched her arms out as she cheered. Her back soon disappeared in the distance. I could only watch with vacant eyes as she left. It felt like my already nk head had left home entirely. I couldn¡¯tprehend what had just happened. ¡°Tsk tsk. You got scammed.¡± An old wolfmanmented as he walked by. ¡°S-Scammed?¡± ¡°By the oldest trick in the book. Selling some cheesy information pamphlet for an exorbitant price to a half-wit traveler under the pretext of teaching them about the city.¡± I felt like a 5-ton boulder hadnded on my head. ¡°But she¡¯s an official attendant here! How could an attendant scam a traveler!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s as clear as day that you aren¡¯t a Niflheim citizen. What¡¯s wrong with scamming someone who isn¡¯t also a citizen here? Thews of Niflheim only applies to the people of Niflheim. Tsk.¡± In other words, the demon world had no nationalws and only cityws. I recalled the words the goblin from earlier had said. ¡®This is a ce where you¡¯ll get your nose cut even if you fall backward. I guarantee you that if an ignorant bumpkin like you enters the city, then you¡¯ll be stripped dry in less than 3 seconds!¡¯ It was just as she had said. Except, if I had to point out a difference, then it was the fact that it took 30 seconds and not 3. I realized why the goblin had called it a ¡®training practice expense¡¯. She had scammed me in order to personally let me know what sort of ce this city is. If that¡¯s how you attend to people, then that¡¯s quite the kind attendance. Damn it! I hope you fall when it rains! ¡°I cannot help but feel uneasy seeing such a simpleminded youngster like you. How about going around the city with me for a bit? I¡¯ll teach you some stuff so you won¡¯t get your organs stolen.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you¡­¡­.¡± Wait. This person was suspicious as well. There was no reason for this wolfman to not scam me when I had just been scammed by that attendant. I waved my hand. ¡°No. It¡¯s all right. I don¡¯t want to inconvenience someone I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Oh? Look at this greenhorn. Are you doubting your elder?¡± The wolfman scowled. ¡°I¡¯m offering this because you remind me of my grandson. He came to this cityst year and had all his money stolen. Don¡¯t tell anyone I told you this, but everyone here is a thief, a thief I say. Outsiders like us have to help each other out, so we¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ooh. Would you look at that? If it isn¡¯t William!¡± Another beastman spoke up from behind. ¡°How was the business trip to the neighboring city? A Niflheim without you is lonely, you know? Your lovers have been waiting desperately for you. As I thought, there¡¯s nowhere like home, is there?¡± A lizardman approached the wolfman and gave him a friendly bump on the arm. ¡°Let¡¯s meet at the usual bar tonight. I¡¯ll kill you if you¡¯rete!¡± The lizardman grinned happily as he left. After he disappeared, I gave the beastman called William a cold gaze. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What was that about outsiders?¡± A nervous drop of sweat flowed down the wolfman¡¯s forehead. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, nothing really much to say about this chapter. The only thing that I can think about mentioning is my finals approaching next week and the week after. See you guys in the next release. Chapter 32: A Season Spent in Hell (4) Chapter 32: A Season Spent in Hell (4) ¡°Ehem, ehem. I just remembered some urgent matters I have to attend to. It¡¯s unfortunate, but let¡¯s meet again if the opportunity presents itself, youngster.¡± After saying those words, the wolfman quickly departed. He swore loudly at the lizardman as he left. I couldn¡¯t hear him clearly, but it was mostly about how he had lost an opportunity to rip off a pushover because of him. They soon disappeared into the crowd. There were hundreds of monsters heading towards the city on this wide road. Large and small incidents were urring here and there. ¡°You bastard! Why¡¯d you bump into me!?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pick a fight for no reason. I¡¯d like to find out whether a frogman¡¯s intestines actually smell like pork.¡± ¡°Haah? You whorish fox. I¡¯ll put you in a manure pail and rub your face in it.¡± ¡°What utter nonsense like a contagious disease turning into leprosy. Hey, Mr. Reptilian who¡¯s not only an absolute idiot but is also emanating a putrid smell that¡¯s simr to the scent thates from pig pens, do you want me to crack your skull open? Who knows? Maybe if that idiotic brain of yours gets a little fresh air, then it might be a little useful.¡± ¡°This whore bitch must have had her head soaked in alcohol since she¡¯s insane. Want me to cut you with a dull knife? Huh?¡± Two monsters that had the head of a fox and a frog respectively were butting heads as they growled at one another. The other monsters around them walked by nonchntly as if this were amon urrence. Individuals that appeared to be the two monsters¡¯ friends were simply holding a small bet on the side to see who would win. Okay. I now have a rough understanding of the demon world. If I were topare it to something else, then simr to the notorious cities in my world like Libertalia, the Anglo-Burmese towns, LA, and Johannesburg, thews of this region were created by ouws and it was a ce wherepetent ouws could be leaders. Scams and brawls happened publically even in the middle of the day. It isn¡¯t hard to imagine how cruel and crafty these people would be once the sun has set. Awful individualism and vomit-inducing factional disputes most likely happen so often here that they¡¯re how this ce breathes. ¡®Hah. That goblin attendant really taught me a good lesson.¡¯ The initial excitement I had abouting here to get a breath of fresh air had already long vanished. I already knew through several mediums that the morewless a city is, the more the pursuit of luxury and pleasure bes extreme. Lapis will surely help me rest. However, until I meet Lapis, until I¡¯m in thepany of someone I trust, I can¡¯t lower my guard. I fixed my hat. The hat I was wearing in order to hide my Demon Lord horn. With a fresh mind, I walked to the checkpoint. ¡°Your gaze has improved.¡± The employee at the checkpointmented as she collected my toll. They were a tanuki person who looked like a genial roon. ¡°Earlier, you were like an uncertain infant, but now you look almost like some veteran riffraff. Oh, I should mention that that¡¯s apliment. I don¡¯t know if you know this, but here in Niflheim, most affluent riffraff are superior to medium-rank demons.¡± She then handed me a piece of paper with an address written on it. ¡°That¡¯s an address to an inn that¡¯s managed by thepany I¡¯m affiliated with. It isn¡¯t a ce where pieces of trash can touch. It¡¯s twice as expensive as normal inns, but, at the very least, you won¡¯t have to worry about waking up with some missing internal organs.¡± ¡°I appreciate it.¡± The tanuki girl winked. Once I exited the checkpoint, I could see a city on the horizon. It was a massive port city. Numerous vessels were sailing across the ocean without rest and there were dozens of roads connected to the city. The road I was on was nothing more than one of those roads. Even now, thousands of monsters weremuting down each individual road. Riiiip. I tore the piece of paper the tanuki girl had handed me into pieces. I could read her emotions as we conversed. It was greed. Introducing wanderers to an inn she had connections with was most likely something she did on the side as an attendant. Receiving a fixed referral fee in return. What certainty was there that that fixed referral fee wasn¡¯t a kidney or two from a guest? No one woulde looking for an outsider, so they were the perfect target to bury. I walked down the north road which Lapis had promised to send someone to wee me at. Shortly after, I encountered the individual who had been dispatched by the Keuncuska Firm. On the outside, he looked no different from a human, but he introduced himself as a vampire. It wasn¡¯t hard to find him as he was holding a sign with the name ¡ºDantalian¡»written on it at the entrance of the city. ¡°Nice to meet you, Your Highness. My name is Vuffoet, a rank 3 personnel demon who has been assigned the task of guiding Your Highness to the amodation which has been prepared for you by our firm. First things first, I promise Your Highness that while within Niflheim, you will never meet a life-threatening situation.¡± I shared a friendly handshake with him. I could also feel genuine friendliness from him as well, so I was able to happily shake his hand without reserve. I wonder if it¡¯s because he¡¯s a vampire? His hand was as cold as ice. It didn¡¯t particrly bother me, though. ¡°I am Dantalian, Rank 71st.¡± Although I had been hiding my identity in fear of causing amotion, since Lapis had told me repeatedly that a Demon Lord should always maintain at least the minimum amount of dignity, I decided to speak informally. There was no reason for me to hide my identity from this person. Nevertheless, there was also no reason for me to assert my authority as a Demon Lord. ¡°There are many things that I do not know as this is my first time visiting Niflheim. Inparison, you are most likely an expert when ites to this city. I will be in your care.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The young man¡¯s eyes widened slightly before he soon broke out into a smile. A notification telling me that his affection had gone up by 1 appeared. It most likely went up because, contrary to his expectation, I behaved modestly despite being a Demon Lord. ¡°Among the esteemed Demon Lords that will be attending the Walpurgis Night, Your Highness Dantalian is the first to arrive. There is still approximately a week left before the function will be held. Until then, if Your Highness is ufortable or requires anything, then please inform me. The Keuncuska Firm will do its utmost to provide for Your Highness Dantalian.¡± ¡°Thank you. By the way, where is Lapis Lazuli?¡± ¡°She is near the lodging where Your Highness will be staying. Normally, it would only be natural for Miss Lazuli, the personnel in charge of Your Highness, to aid you, but¡­¡­.¡± Vuffoet smiled yfully. ¡°Various inconveniences are bound to follow if a female were to guide a male. As Niflheim is one of the greatest cities in the demon world, it is also the greatest vacation spot. As to how vacation spots usually are, Niflheim is no short of areas that are prohibited for women.¡± Although it was embarrassing as my face was not used to speaking so directly, I didn¡¯t let my emotions show. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± ¡°We will get around to that soon. For starters, how about we go to Your Highness¡¯ amodation first? After Your Highness has unloaded your luggage, I will guide Your Highness to a good restaurant. Now then, let us travel on a carriage to¡­¡­.¡± Right when the young vampire named Vuffoet was about to start leading the way, I shook my head. ¡°No need. I will not be riding on a carriage.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°Furthermore, I did not bring anything with me that could be called luggage, so there is no need to go to my lodging first.¡± I briefly surveyed my surroundings. We were in a simple marketce that had been set up at the entrance of the city. Monsters trying to buy groceries, monsters trying to sell their products, monstersughing and chatting with their friends as they went to go get a drink in the middle of the day, etc. It was aggressive, but they were overflowing with liveliness. ¡°I wish to have a look around the city. On foot, that is.¡± ¡°I understand. I will immediately take Your Highness to an entertainment district.¡± ¡°No.¡± I shook my head once more. ¡°I want to see how the monsters here live their lives. There are numerous emotions being transmitted to me right now. Happiness, excitement, weariness, exhaustion, disgust, so many emotions. I can tell that they are all no different from me, a living being. I want to see in detail how these people truly live and how life here is like.¡± This has always been my ideology when going on vacation. Focusing my trip around scenic spots and historic spots is also fine. There¡¯s a lot of entertainment and sentimental value in that as well. However, above all else, personally learning how the people there live their lives has a priority. There¡¯s a chance that a historic spot which I revered as being amazing and beautiful was boring and disgusting for the popce in that area. A dull ce to me could be a holy ce for the people there. Not only enjoying the outer appearance of a ce but also learning about the people who live around it, is this not the charm of traveling? ¡®Most importantly, I¡¯m curious as to how monsters manage a city.¡¯ Most of the monsters here appeared to have a high level of intelligence. What sorts of conversations they had at bars, how they went on dates, and how their residential spaces looked, I wanted to know these things. ¡°¡­¡­I think I understand Your Highness¡¯ intent. It seems I will have to change today¡¯s schedule.¡± Vuffoet said, a little surprised. ¡°We will visit the 2nd and 4th districts then. They are both the oldest areas in Niflheim. Your Highness will be able to genuinely feel Niflheim¡¯s regional characteristics as the residences there are mostly natives. However, there are only traditional restaurants there, so they might not suit Your Highness¡¯ taste.¡± ¡°My body does not require nutrients anyway.¡± That¡¯s right. I no longer had to eat ever since I became a Demon Lord. Essentially, in , Demon Lords were both living beings and spirits at the same time. Their bodies are created and maintained by the magic in the ground. ¡°If anything, I feel excited about my first meal here. Now then, guide me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Vuffoet gave me a peculiar look. At that moment, a strangebination of emotions was transmitted to me. ¡®Hm? What¡¯s this?¡¯ Affection and longing? And a little bit of anger? It was an emotion that didn¡¯t make sense for the other party to be feeling towards me in this current situation. I frowned a bit. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± ¡°I apologize, Your Highness. I just felt like Your Highness is different from the average Demon Lord.¡± Vuffoet bowed. Well, ording to everything I¡¯ve heard until now, it seems that the other Demon Lords mostly do whatever they want, have personality disorders, and are totalitarianists. That¡¯s why I surprised Lapis. Although I don¡¯t care about how the other Demon Lords behave. ¡®He felt affection towards me since I¡¯m different from the other Demon Lords.¡¯ The anger was probably directed towards those other Demon Lords. I could easily grasp the reasons behind his emotions. I grinned and asked him to guide me. I started feeling affection from Vuffoet again as if those previous strange emotions had never happened. He smiled back and walked next to me as he led the way. ¡®I wonder what the longing was for?¡¯ This question suddenly shed through my head. Nheless, it didn¡¯t particrly matter. People¡¯s minds are profound and mysterious, so they are bound to react in their own respective variety of emotions ording to the lives they have lived. ¡°Oh, right. Your Highness, it is incredibly rude to refer to the citizens here as monsters. The citizens here refer to the people of their kind that live outside of civilization and only off of their instincts as monsters. On the other hand, the people here refer to themselves as demons or demonkind.¡± ¡°Demons? Then is there no racial difference between monsters and demons?¡± ¡°That is correct. In truth, the standard of distinguishing between monsters and demons is exceedingly subjective¡­¡­.¡± I toured Niflheim while listening to Vuffoet¡¯s detailed and clever exnations. The streets were bing narrower. This was proof that we were going further away from the main street. ¡°Compared to other ces, Niflheim is a more recently established city. A short while ago, Niflheim was nothing more than a remote fishing vige. Only 300 years have passed since a mere fishing vige that was rotting away had transformed into a city of vice.¡± Sure enough, I started to see housings. They were mostly 2-story stone houses. It was a refreshing shock to see a monster, no, a demon leisurely step out onto their roof in order to fold theirundry. They were basically like a South Korean auntie. ¡°The reason why this rough andwless city wasn¡¯t upied by the powerful nobles of the demon world¡­¡­was because the demons that had gathered here hadbined their thoughts and desires for the past 300 years. For the sake of our mutual interests, webined our strengths in order to safely create our professional ¡®job¡¯.¡± Vuffoet exined that Niflheim was a type of republic city. There were 5rge firms gathered here and they imed to be the leaders of this city. The Keuncuska Firm was one of those fivepanies. ¡°Of course, we are always hostile towards one another and constantly lock horns. Large conflicts between organizations are not rare. Nevertheless, we work together adamantly when ites to outside threats. Therefore, gambling, scams, and violence are what creates Niflheim.¡± Vuffoet smiled. ¡°It¡¯s because we¡¯ve ovee our internal strife and worked together that we were able to achieve 300 years of prosperity.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter! Not enough time has passed since I released thest chapter, so there isn¡¯t much to say. Uh¡­ I have a Patreon? I unno. Buy me a coffee as I start preparing for my finals next week. Aaaah. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 33: A Season Spent in Hell (5) Chapter 33: A Season Spent in Hell (5) There was a fair bit of pride in Vuffoet¡¯s voice as he spoke. It almost sounded as if he believed he was the one who had brought the city up. He was the type of person who projected his identity onto thepany he worked for. Although it was somewhat silly for a mere employee to be so proud when he wasn¡¯t even an executive, I disregarded it. Currently, the city scenery was much more interesting than the other party¡¯s mental structure. White vis were lined up side to side on both sides of the alley. There were several clotheslines that connected the vis like a spiderweb due to how narrow the alley was. Articles of clothing and nkets fluttered in the wind, making it seem as if they had coincidentally gotten caught here after having flown a long distance. As we walked down these maze-like alleyways, we would asionally end up in rather spacious zas. In most of these zas, there were usually old demons having idle conversations on the benches. ¡°Hey! What sort of terrible reception is this!?¡± I heard a loud voicee from a corner of the za. There was a small and shabby bar there. It was a bar that also had a side operation of being an open cafe, so I could see an old cat man kneeling in front of a young man. ¡°I apologize. Our shop is incrediblycking¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This damn cat. It¡¯s natural that this backwater bar would be unappealing. You know, I graced this ce with my presence because I was feeling nostalgic for this folksy atmosphere. Yeah? But what is this? The service here is a mess, the alcohol is lukewarm, and the tables are dirty. My mood has seriously been ruined.¡± Even though messy service, lukewarm alcohol, and dirty tables are the very things that give off a folksy atmosphere, I retorted in my head. The old man is probably thinking the exact same thing. I could feel fierce hostility and hatred from the old man who was the owner of the bar. Vuffoet lowered his voice and spoke into my ear. ¡°¡­¡­I have guided you down the wrong path. I apologize for showing you an unpleasant sight. It would be best if you did not get yourself involved with that person.¡± ¡°There is no need to apologize. I¡¯m the one who suggested we shoulde here. But why? Is that person a man of authority?¡± ¡°Rather than a person of authority, well, take a close look at his head.¡± It was at that moment I realized. Even though I could sense the old cat man¡¯s emotions, I couldn¡¯t feel anything from the debauchee. I did as Vuffoet suggested and noticed a small horn sticking out of the person¡¯s head once I examined it carefully. ¡®Aha. I see.¡¯ I understood now. I am unable to read the emotions of humans. However, excluding humans, there¡¯s another race that I can¡¯t read the emotions of. ¡°That individual is His Highness, Rank 72nd, Demon Lord Andromalius.¡± Wow, this is my first time meeting another Demon Lord. But. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize with only your words, show your sincerity as well. Your sincerity! As expected of a cat person, you only know how to cry out noisily like a cat in heat at night, huh?¡± Andromalius kicked the old cat man¡¯s nk. ¡­¡­His demeanor was no different from some neighborhood hooligan. I¡¯m alsocking in dignity and prestige to an embarrassing degree, but I was still much better than this Andromeda or Andromalius guy. It seems I wasn¡¯t the only one who felt this way, as I saw Vuffoet shake his head. ¡°Even humble dive bars like that have at least one or two organizations backing them. Normally, if you persecute a bar owner like that, then their backers wille to retaliate.¡± ¡°But they can¡¯t do anything since he¡¯s a Demon Lord?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Vuffoet shook his head in disappointment. ¡°His Highness Andromalius lives here in Niflheim. He is usually always causing trouble like this.¡± ¡°He lives here? What about his Demon Lord castle?¡± ¡°He left it to his subordinate and is spending all of his time ying around here instead. ording to the rumors, His Highness Andromalius¡¯ Demon Lord castle is like arge coal mine. Goblins gather magic ores nonstop and he spends the money he makes from them for luxuries and pleasures here in Niflheim.¡± Dear God. A typical vice. So there are Demon Lords like him. ¡°He especially enjoys casinos, but they say that he lost 10,000 gold a few days ago at one. Naturally, the goblins in his dungeon had to mine all day and night in order to make that 10,000 gold.¡± ¡°A piece of trash through and through.¡± ¡°An appropriate expression.¡± In the game , Andromalius appears in the tutorial. He has the role of getting cut down by the protagonist¡¯s sword. He only has a couple of weak goblins for subordinates, so he gets beat by a level 1 hero, but apparently, he also has this kind of backstory. I thought I was the weakest Demon Lord up to this point, but it seems that I¡¯m actually a nobleman. If he lives, then he¡¯ll just give the hero some free experience points, so wouldn¡¯t it be better if I killed him here? The event with Andromalius is also the main thing that awakens the protagonist¡¯s potential as the hero. ¡®Status.¡¯ I decided to check his status just in case.
Name Stamina Attack Defense
Andromalius 5 3 3 /td>
¡®Puha!¡¯ He¡¯s stupidly weak! Dear Lord. A level 1 lowest-tier golem¡¯s stats are 7/5/5 (stamina/attack/defense). To put it in simple terms, Andromalius possesses stats that are much lower than that of a lowest-tier golem. Even if he¡¯s a Demon Lord, I didn¡¯t understand why the citizens of Niflheim would let such a weak bastard like him behave however he wants. ¡°Why are you leaving that kind of cockroach alone?¡± ¡°Pardon me, Your Highness, but His Highness Andromalius is still also a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°All I can say is that it is foolish if you are putting him on a pedestal simply because he is a Demon Lord. Be it a king or a civilian, all must prove one¡¯s own worth. That man is nothing more than a swine who does not deserve the title of Demon Lord.¡± Vuffoet opened his eyes wide in surprise. ¡°¡­¡­You are right. Nheless, by nature, we demons cannot retaliate against Demon Lords.¡± ¡°By nature?¡± ¡°I see you were not aware. The instant a demon tries to be hostile towards a Demon Lord, they will experience intense pain. The pain is so extreme that they cannot even move a finger.¡± What? This was a shock. Doesn¡¯t this mean that Demon Lords will never get rounded up in the demon world? Not only would humans never invade the demon world, but even if they did, it is highly unlikely that they would get this far and capture Niflheim. In other words, Demon Lords are literally monarchs in the demon world. Did have this sort of setting? Even as a big fan of the game, I didn¡¯t know about this at all. ¡®Uh¡­¡­wait. I do remember something.¡¯ Around the midte portion of , there¡¯s an event where a certain Demon Lord¡¯s officer joins the main character¡¯s party. It¡¯s a very cliche event where an officer ends up falling for the protagonist while fighting against them. The officer being a beauty is a given. There¡¯s a scene where the officer cries out pathetically and ims that, ¡®I possess a body that cannot retaliate against Demon Lords¡¯. Thus, the hero utilizes an especially powerful ve emblem to make the officer listen to only hismands. Afterward, the officer bes a, well, a type of person who asionally offers her body to the hero for sex¡­¡­but in any case. ¡®So that¡¯s why she couldn¡¯t resist.¡¯ I simply thought that the officer had some sort of curse ced on her. It doesn¡¯t seem farfetched for there to be a curse that prevents people from being hostile towards Demon Lords. She was only a side heroine, so I didn¡¯t pay that much attention to her, but looking back at it now, it seems there was an important plot point hiding within her event. ¡®So there was another reason why those goblin tribes couldn¡¯t retaliate against me properly!¡¯ When I subjugated the goblin tribes around the sh-and-burn viges, the goblins just fell over weakly. I thought it was because my golem unit was powerful, but it was actually because they couldn¡¯t struggle against me properly since I¡¯m a Demon Lord. This was some incredible info. I quickly turned the bolts in my head. The number of strategies I could use had increased in an instant. For example, let¡¯s think about the goblin tribes. I could threaten the goblins and make them assault specific viges. The more they resist mymand, the more they¡¯ll be enveloped by pain, so they¡¯ll have no other choice but to listen to me because of the pain. Hah, I came to this city for the sake of recuperating, but I managed to obtain some vital piece of information. ¡°Even that cat man, the owner of the bar, far surpasses His Highness Andromalius in terms of strength. However, like that, he has no other choice but to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. Demon Lords are an existence that could be that cruel.¡± I could feel hatred from Vuffoet. I was the same. The heavier the old cat man¡¯s hostility became, the more hatred I felt towards Andromalius as well. Normally, I would just wait and observe to calm myself down, but since the opposition was a small fry among small fries, I didn¡¯t feel the need to suppress my emotions. ¡°I am curious. Is there no way for demons to fight back against Demon Lords?¡± ¡°Generally, that is the case. The only ones who can be hostile towards Demon Lords are other Demon Lords. Oh, those lowly humans can also be hostile towards Your Highness.¡± Vuffoet chuckled. It was close to a smirk. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I fell into deep thought for a moment. Demon Lord Andromalius is a trash mob that appears in the tutorial of . He leads an army of goblins and fearlessly assaults the protagonist¡¯s vige, which results in his parents and little sister being ughtered along with the rest of his vige. It was simply misfortunate that the main character¡¯s vige was located near Andromalius¡¯ dungeon. That was definitely an event that happens 7 years before the start of the game. In other words, something that will happen roughly 3 years from now. After losing his family and vige abruptly, the protagonist is coincidentally picked up by a rank A adventurer party called ¡ºWhite Wings¡» and he raises his ability as the youngest member of the party and gainspanions. 7 yearster, he invades Demon Lord Andromalius¡¯ dungeon. Naturally, as Andromalius is nothing more than a trash mob, he gets swept away just like that. ¡°Vuffoet. Is Demon Lord Andromalius under the protection of a faction?¡± ¡°No, he is not. Simr to how the Keuncuska Firm is supporting Your Highness Dantalian, His Highness Andromalius used to also have firms that supported him; however, they have all retracted their support now.¡± Hm. ¡°Are there any Demon Lords that either like or are close to Andromalius?¡± ¡°No. Even among Demon Lords, Andromalius is of ill repute. It is just how Your Highness Dantalian hadmented earlier, he is simr to a piece of trash. But Your Highness,¡± Vuffoet tilted his head. ¡°If it isn¡¯t discourteous to ask, may I ask why Your Highness is asking these questions?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing special.¡± I chuckled. ¡°I simply thought it was amusing to know that he is an individual whom no one would care about whether he disappeared or not.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness.¡± Vuffoet¡¯s pitch went up by a single octave in surprise. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Would you look at this! If it isn¡¯t the underling of the great Keuncuska Firm¡¯s old chief.¡± At that moment, Andromalius¡¯ voice was directed towards us. The fact that the two of us were whispering about him from a distance most likely bothered him. Andromalius kicked the old cat man¡¯s head with his right foot before spitting on the ground and walking towards us. Vuffoet bowed. ¡°Greetings, Your Highness Andromalius.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you awfully formal? Huh? It must be tough moving around as a bat bastard¡¯s hands and feet all day and night. Come to think of it, you¡¯re also a bat bastard, aren¡¯t you!? Dearie me, I forgot. Sorry. Referring to vampires as bat bastards has be such a habit, that I wound up blurting it out identally. Will you forgive my small mistake? Huh?¡± Wow. I could vividly feel a boiling emotion next to me. Vuffoet was currently boiling like water that had been left on a stove for a whole hour. ¡°¡­¡­Of course, Your Highness. How could I possibly debate whether Your Highness has made a mistake or not.¡± Despite this, there was no particr change in his facial expression. As expected of a merchant. Lapis is the same, but it seems the employees of Keuncuska are all talented at managing their expressions. No, wait, Lapis doesn¡¯t have any expressions to begin with. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Life is like that. Huh? You can¡¯t look down on others just because you have a pinch of authority. You bat bastard, I¡¯ve been watching you for a long time, but you have quite the rotten personality. You¡¯re arrogant. You think you can underestimate Demon Lords just because you¡¯ve touched some gold? Huh?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I will bear it in mind.¡± Vuffoet¡¯s emotions evolved from a pot of water to a cauldron. ¡°But who¡¯s that man next to you? He¡¯s built like a beanpole and he has a sullen look on his face. His insides are also empty. Huh? I thought I was looking at some sage.¡± ¡°This is His Highness Dantalian. He has traveled here in order to participate in the Walpurgis Night which will be held soon.¡± ¡°What? His Highness?¡± Caution filled Andromalius¡¯ gaze. He turned his bodypletely towards me. He then carefully offered me a handshake. ¡°Ehem, I apologize. I ended up being rude.¡± His way of speech changed in an instant. I couldn¡¯t read his emotions, but I could tell what was on his mind like the back of my palm. Andromalius is the lowest ranking Demon Lord. He was worried that he might embarrass himself by messing with a Demon Lord with a much higher rank than him. I smiled as I returned his handshake. ¡°Think nothing of it. I have always wanted to meet you, Sir Andromalius, as I have often heard about your reputation, so I am d I was able to meet you like this.¡± ¡°What reputation is there to mention? Uhm, pardon me, but¡­¡­may I ask what rank you are, Sir Dantalian? As I have never had much interest in the matters regarding our fellow kind, I don¡¯t seem to remember you, Sir Dantalian.¡± Really? It seems he doesn¡¯t know the names of his rtives when there are only 71 of them. It¡¯s impressive that he managed to stay alive for this long. Well, he¡¯s probably cking here in Niflheim and not back in the human world because he knows this. ¡°To my shame, my prestige resides at rank 71st.¡± ¡°What? Rank 71st?¡± Andromalius¡¯ face contorted. Was it because he realized that I was a Demon Lord that was only one rank above him? His demeanor changed instantaneously again. ¡°Ha, you¡¯re just a piece of trash!¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Releases will slow down slightly as my finals areter this week and next week. I still have 2 more presentations and an assignment left to do, so I¡¯ll have to take care of that within the next few days. In any case, I¡¯ll try to trante as much as I can do during my downtimes. Chapter 34: A Season Spent in Hell (6) Chapter 34: A Season Spent in Hell (6) ¡°Your Highness Andromalius! You are going too far with your words!¡± Vuffoet uttered. Andromalius¡¯ reaction was apathetic. He hastily pulled his hand away and shook it as if he were flicking off some dirt. ¡°How is it too far? Rank 71st? No wonder I don¡¯t remember your name. Hey, friend, what did you intend to see bying to such a rural area like this? Hurry up and fuck off.¡± ¡°His Highness Dantalian is the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s guest.¡± Vuffoet stood between me and Andromalius. ¡°Our firm will not sit idly if Your Highness Andromalius insults our guest any further.¡± ¡°If you aren¡¯t going to sit idly, then what are you going to do, huh? Are you going to capture me and flog me? The other Demon Lords would be quite pleased if they hear rumors that your firm captures and tortures Demon Lords with no justification. That why I¡¯m calling you arrogant, you bat bastard.¡± Andromalius red at Vuffoet out of the corner of his eyes. ¡°Even if you¡¯re able to escape ourmands through trickery, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯re still someone¡¯s ve. That¡¯s right. What did you say your name was? Hm? You probably have a name, right? Do you not feel embarrassed when you go around referring to yourself with that name?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You poor ve bastards. You¡¯re like a bunch of lowly insects. In the end, you¡¯re the ve of us Demon Lords. Remember that.¡± Vuffoet became silent. He was gnashing his teeth greatly in his mind. It seems that Vuffoet had utilized some method that allowed him to resist against Demon Lords. And he was being ridiculed because it wasn¡¯t a method that could be boasted about. The fact that there was a method to resist against Demon Lords was incredibly interesting, but I pushed that thought to the corner of my head for now. I could infer the rough truth from the talks about being a ve. ¡°Ptooey.¡± Andromalius spat. As he did so, he looked at me one more time before walking back to the pub. His back looked very small. Vuffoet gave me a bow. ¡°I showed you something unsightly. I apologize.¡± ¡°I do not mind. All you did was state your view.¡± I asked out of curiosity. ¡°There is a couple of things I wish to ask. Are there anyws between Demon Lords?¡± ¡°There are none. Although Demon Lords hand downws, they are only applied in their territories. There is nothing that reigns over Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Do you know how to use magic?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Perfect.¡± I made my decision. I took out a magic scroll from my pocket. This was one of the three I had purchased from Lapis previously. I used one in the ve market and still had 2 left. I handed one of the scrolls to Vuffoet. Vuffoet received the magic scroll me in the confusion of the moment. ¡°This is¡­¡­?¡± ¡°A scroll that has a medium-scale teleportation spell on it. Activate it here.¡± ¡°Y-Your Highness.¡± Vuffoet¡¯s tone was serious. ¡°I apologize, but I cannot do that. Summoning magic is prohibited within Niflheim¡¯s stern policies. Furthermore, what Your Highness intends to do right now is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There are nows above Demon Lords.¡± I looked straight at him. I didn¡¯t feel the need to go out of my way to use my acting skill. I had a strange sense of certainty that if I urged him a little strongly, then he would listen to me. ¡°You are the one who said this. Did I hear wrong?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. You are right.¡± ¡°I will not ept any more questions. Activate it.¡± My eyes reflected perfectly off of Vuffoet¡¯s pupils. A short distance away from us, we could hear Andromalius causing a ruckus. The old cat man kept apologizing over and over again like a broken cassette tape. I wasn¡¯t looking at them, but I could tell. I could feel all of the frustration, anger, and hostility from some of the demons that had gathered in the za. ¡°¡­¡­Understood.¡± Vuffoet rolled open the scroll. I turned my head and looked at the bar. Andromalius, a Demon Lord that is used to teach the yers of how to y. As to how all hostile mobs in tutorials are like, they all die in an instant to the main character. When asked by the hero why he had wiped out his vige, Andromalius responded like this, ???Do I need a reason to step on bugs? It was an immense statement which was the source behind the hero¡¯s hostility towards Demon Lords. It¡¯s because of Andromalius that the hero bes determined to chase out the very existence of Demon Lords from the surface world. ¡°Arcessitus.¡± Vuffoet muttered. Immediately after, a red magic circle appeared in the center of the za. The color of magic circles changed ording to the race that activates them. Red most likely represents vampires. People¡¯s attention became focused on it. They were all confused. Vuffoet was feeling anxious. Only I was observing the magic circle with leisure, but with a slightly beating chest. Soon after, a squadron of golems and a squadron of fairies were summoned in a shower of light. ¡°It¡¯s summoning magic!¡± ¡°The hell, what crazy bastard is using that kind of magic!?¡± ¡°That Keuncuska Firm guy used it. I saw him tear a scroll.¡± The pedestrians quickly gathered in a corner of the za. A variety of races got into their respective positions. They got into formation promptly. The sight of them pulling out their knives made it apparent that they were very used to getting into fights. ¡®Wow.¡¯ I was a little moved. ¡®Even if you hit them with a surprise attack, it wouldn¡¯t really be effective, huh?¡¯ If youpared these people to the humans at the ve auction, then these people looked like skilled warriors. If my target were them this time, then this would have undoubtedly been more troublesome. Andromalius was all by himself as he looked this way with a nk look on his face. It seems he had absolutely no idea what was happening. Oh dear, even his mouth was hanging open. A fly is going to fly into his mouth at this rate. I wonder if it was because this was their second time being summoned. The monsters remained calm despite the sudden summoning. The golems and fairies were waiting with fierce demeanors in case I ordered them to rampage freely again. An inpatient group of 3 or 4 fairies had already started to p their wings and fly into the sky. What cuties. ¡°Wind cutter.¡± With a smile on my lips, I raised my right hand. I then pointed towards a specific direction with my index finger. ¡°Fire.¡± Andromalius was standing in the spot I was pointing at. The fairies promptly shot a shower of wind des. Being shot at by 10 fairies was no different from overkill for Andromalius. The base attack stat of lowest-tier fairies is 3. Adding to this, the average level of my fairies is 3, so their attack stats average approximately around 4. Andromalius has 3 defense. If you take 3 away from 4, then only 1 attack point would remain. Therefore, from this single assault, Andromalius will be hit by roughly 10 points of damage. As Andromalius only has 5 health points, he wouldn¡¯t be able to endure even a single assault. It would be troubling if he died immediately. I ordered my adorable fairies to aim for his limbs so that his wounds wouldn¡¯t be lethal. ¡°H-Hiiik!?¡± Andromalius was terrified. He quickly turned around and ran; however, there was no way he could run faster than wind. The Wind Cutter struck his thighs and back. He fell over and screamed. ¡°Guaaaack! Fuuuuuuck!¡± It seems Andromalius still had some guts as he crawled into the bar. I casually entered the bar with my fairies. My fairies were flying around me in an arch. The golems were too big to enter the building, so I ordered them to wait outside. ¡°Uu, uuu. What is this, huh? What are you!?¡± Andromalius had crawled to a corner of the bar and was trembling. He must have lost a lot of blood as he crawled since there was a lot of blood all over the floor. He swore as he saw me approach him. ¡°Fuck! You bastard, what are you!?¡± ¡°I fail to understand the reason behind your question.¡± I felt a little delighted, so I answered him in a pleasant tone. ¡°For starters, I wish to tell you that that is an incredibly foolish question. If you ask me what I am, then I can only tell you that I am a Demon Lord in response.¡± ¡°Guuh! Why is a damn Demon Lord trying to kill me!?¡± ¡°That is also a foolish question. Do I need a reason to step on a bug? Mm, you should fix that crude manner of speech before we converse any further. Well, don¡¯t worry. I will automatically fix your speech mannerism.¡± I snapped my fingers. ¡°W-What are???Guuuaaaaaaack!¡± My fairies aimed their Wind Cutters directly at the other party¡¯s forearm. Blood sttered. Andromalius grabbed his injured arm with his other hand and rolled on the floor. Tears soon filled his face. ¡°Now then, stop screaming and listen to me.¡± ¡°Guuh, guuuuu¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been pretty tiredtely. I decided to go on a vacation to the demon world and spend my time in a city in order to ease my body and mind. So I was having a pleasant time roaming around the city, but, out of nowhere, some vagrant appeared and tried to pick a fight with me. Now, allow me to ask you a question, how would you feel if this happened to you as well?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, guh! I-I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± It appears that he finally understood what sort of situation he was in as he began to apologize. The fact that he only started to apologize after his arms and legs became a mess was beyondte. I decided to give him the exact same line he gave to the old cat man. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize with only your words, show your sincerity as well. Your sincerity.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯ll give you money! Kuh!¡± With trembling hands, Andromalius took out a pouch and tried to ce it by my feet. I stepped on the back of his hand ruthlessly. The money pouch fell from his hand. ¡°Ghuuuu!¡± ¡°Are you treating me like some thug right now? How disappointing. If this is all the sincerity you can show me, then I cannot guarantee your life.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll, I¡¯ll give you whatever you want! Please, at least spare my life¡­¡­my life¡­¡­.¡± He was now muttering with his forehead pressed against the ground. It seems the pain kept making him salivate, as his enunciation was being impeded by his saliva. This was strange. When I did this exact same thing to Jack, I felt depressed and guilty, but I didn¡¯t feel anything like that right now. If anything, I felt refreshed. Well, Jack may have been a young pushover, but in the end, he was never a piece of trash. This guy was a piece of trash. ¡°There is one thing I wish to know from you.¡± ¡°Anything, ask me anything¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you answer me honestly, then I will ensure your safety. How about it? Does this not make you want to answer me?¡± Andromalius nodded his head fervently. Rather than nod his head, it would be more appropriate to say that he had iled. This gesture was enough to satisfy me. ¡°Andromalius, where is your Demon Lord castle?¡± ¡°Frank, guu¡­¡­it¡¯s in the Frankish Empire. Lorraine providence¡­¡­Raelleria mountainside.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± I grinned in satisfaction. ¡°What are the names of the viges near your castle?¡± ¡°Pometra and Kampanyl¡­¡­the rest have no names¡­¡­.¡± Very good. This was what I wanted. There was a new thing I had been deliberating about recently. It was the issue regarding how I was going to deal with the hero, the main character of who was going to go around wiping out Demon Lords 10 years from now. If we go ording to the scenario, then I¡¯m going to be subjugated after Andromalius. In order to prevent that future, I need to have some sort of advanced preparation against the hero. ¡®The issue is that I don¡¯t know where the hero lives.¡¯ In the game, only the hero¡¯s home country was disyed. Any additional information like what province and vige he was born in were not disclosed. Honestly, I had given up on trying to hold the hero back directly, but once I saw Andromalius, I came up with a good idea. ording to the tutorial, the hero¡¯s vige was near Andromalius¡¯ Demon Lord castle. If this is the case, then wouldn¡¯t I be able to find the hero¡¯s vige if I focus my search around the viges near Andromalius¡¯ Demon Lord castle? ¡®If I take care of the hero who should be nothing more than a kid right now¡­¡­my chances of survival in this world will increase immensely.¡¯ I¡¯ll cut the root before the enemy can genuinely start growing. Although this seemed a bit cheap, there was no reason for me to back down simply because it¡¯s a little cheap. To a Demon Lord like me, a hero is a terrifying existence. ¡°Ghuaaaack!¡± I put my strength in my right foot that was stepping on Andromalius¡¯ hand. Another scream erupted. As I thought, he had a pleasant-sounding scream. I could feel my stress being relieved on the spot. It was to the point that I was worried that, at this rate, I might be a pervert who relieves his stress by tormenting others. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I still got another week of exams left. Really hard to think of something new when ites to these rtively short chapters, so I¡¯ll just see you guys in the next release. May I still be alive by then. Chapter 35: A Season Spent in Hell (7) Chapter 35: A Season Spent in Hell (7) I spoke with the utmost sincerity. ¡°I am very pleased that you answered honestly.¡± ¡°Spare me¡­¡­kuh, don¡¯t kill me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Of course. What reason do I have to go out of my way to kill you?¡± ¡°Potion, a healing potion¡­¡­¡± I forced Andromalius up. ¡°Unfortunately, I do not have something like a potion on me. Ask someone else. But first, you must get up and apologize to the bar owner! You should respect your elders.¡± Andromalius groaned loudly as he stood up because of the wound on his thigh. I asked in a worried tone if he was all right. Despite my words, I didn¡¯t slow my pace and I naturally never intended to do so either. The other party was probably swearing up a storm at me in his head. ¡°That is all I want from you now.¡± ¡°A-All right.¡± I supported him as we exited the bar. The demons were still in formation, but after they realized what my goal was, they were no longer overly wary about my golems. We walked towards the old cat man who was mixed in at the back of the formation. ¡°Barkeep! This man says he has something to apologize to you about.¡± The cat man was visibly perplexed. The other demons were whispering to each other as they looked this way. Before I knew it, the spectators had increased and there was now twice as many people as there were before we entered the bar. ¡°Y-Yes.¡± ¡°It appears that he has made a mistake because he has not experienced much of the world yet. Will you not be generous and forgive him? Now then, what are you doing? Hurry up and apologize.¡± Without warning, I pulled away the arm I was using to support him. Once I did, Andromalius couldn¡¯t win against the pain in his thigh as he fell over. He held back his groan as he slowly got into a groveling position. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­I made a mistake.¡± ¡°Hah!¡± I stepped on the back of Andromalius¡¯ hand. ¡°Guh, guuuuah!¡± ¡°What kind of apology is that!? Put more sincerity into it!¡± ¡°Kuh, I-I apologize¡­¡­!¡± ¡°That is right. Press your forehead on the ground. Like that.¡± ¡°I apologize, h, I apologize¡­¡­.¡± His apology continued. Andromalius mmed his head on the ground so much that his forehead was covered in a mess of hair, blood, and gravel. There must have been a lot of people who harbored hatred towards him since the demons who came to spectate were snickering. Andromalius¡¯ head shot up the instant he heard the sound ofughing. His zing eyes red at the demons. They flinched. However, once I stepped on his hand again, Andromalius had no other choice but to let out another scream and lower his body again. The apology continued until the old cat man couldn¡¯t bear to watch any longer and told us that it was enough. ¡°Thank the barkeep for epting your apology.¡± ¡°Thank you. H, thank you very much¡­¡­.¡± The old cat man nodded. When I checked his emotions, although his hostility towards the other party hadn¡¯t disappearedpletely, he was more embarrassed about being the center of attention now. It seems that he wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible. ¡°Huuk, kuh¡­¡­h.¡± A wave of sadness must have swept over him as Andromalius started to cry. He was no different from a child. Feeling frustrated about being punished even though you did something wrong was a prime characteristic of children. I have no idea how a child like this could be a Demon Lord and be a general nuisance to the people around him. I checked his status. Name Stamina Attack Defense Andromalius 1/5 3 3 He only had 1 stamina left. He was continuing to bleed from his thigh, so he was most likely going to run out of blood soon. I grabbed him again and pulled him up. He staggered as he couldn¡¯t bnce himself. ¡°Good, well done. This should be more than enough. You can go on your way now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you very much¡­¡­.¡± I used my hands to brush the dirt off his shoulders and knees. Andromalius¡¯plexion was deathly pale because of the blood loss. He bowed to me before eventually turning towards all of the demons who had gathered here. He asked for help in a frail tone. ¡°D-Does someone perhaps have a potion¡­¡­?¡± There were easily over 30 demons present, but they all kept their mouths shut. I could tell that they were all deliberately staying quiet. There was no way that all of these demons here wouldn¡¯t have a single potion when conflicts and violence are a natural urrence here in Niflheim. Despite this, they remained silent. ¡°Please, a potion¡­¡­I¡¯ll pay you back in fullter. Even a healing spell would do¡­¡­anyone¡­¡­?¡± Numerous cold gazes were focused on him. I could only hear whispering. I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying, but it probably wasn¡¯t anything good. Tears flowed down Andromalius¡¯ cheeks. Once he realized that asking for help was hopeless, he dragged his wounded leg as he stumbled across the za. He fell over without being able to take more than a couple of steps. Andromalius crawled while huping and groaning. The blood from his thigh drew a long red line on the ground. ¡°Hkkuck¡­¡­khk¡­¡­h¡­¡­.¡± I had an urge to smoke a cigarette or something. It wasn¡¯t because I felt regret or because I pitied him, I just figured a smoke would be perfect for a moment like this. It¡¯s unfortunate that I can¡¯t read the emotions of other Demon Lords. What is this man thinking right now? Was the desperate desire to not die the only thing going through his head right now? ¡°Your Highness.¡± Vuffoet approached me and whispered. ¡°I possess a potion.¡± ¡°Do not give it to him.¡± ¡°But this sort of death is much too lonesome.¡± ¡°So you have be a phnthropist during our brief time apart.¡± I chuckled. ¡°I personally believe that death is a lonely thing by essence.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Watch silently.¡± Andromalius crawled for a while longer before he eventually came to a stop. Should Ipliment him for reaching the edge of the za? His back was still moving up and down slightly, so it seems his breathing hadn¡¯t stopped yet. However, even that didn¡¯tst long. Every sign of movement came to an end. ¡®Status.¡¯ A window didn¡¯t appear. This meant he had died. I turned around. I picked a random road that led out of the za and walked towards it. Vuffoet followed behind me without a word. Once we were out of the crowd, the demons started to mor loudly. ¡®Andromalius is dead¡¯ and ¡®how befitting¡¯, these were the types of words that were said. We strolled through a narrow alley. There were no words between us for a while. Vuffoet spoke up cautiously. ¡°Uhm, may I ask why you went out of your way to kill him?¡± I didn¡¯t feel like staying silent, so I answered him happily. ¡°There are three reasons. First, he had mocked me in front of many others. Although I will endure it if a person of more authority were to mock me, I will not sit quietly and let someone lower than me do the same. Moreover, he had also treated me as someone lesser than him. I cannot allow the name Dantalian to be treated lightly among the masses.¡± A couple of demon children must have already heard the news as they were running towards us from the other end of the alley. The children shouted that a Demon Lord had died as they quickly ran passed us. A child telling the other child to hurry up and a child telling the other child to slow down ran in sequence. ¡°Second, this was a good opportunity to earn a good reputation here in Niflheim. Once people find out that I had cut off the individual who had been a frequent nuisance, there will surely be some individuals who will gain a good opinion of me. There may even possibly be someone among them who could help me substantially. Referentially, impressions are important for a king.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is correct. However, is it all right for you to be saying these words yourself?¡± Vuffoet looked at me with a slightly dubious gaze. ¡°It is fine for me to tell you this. You are an aplice, after all.¡± ¡°A-An aplice?¡± ¡°You did not save him even though you had a potion, did you not?¡± He was taken aback. ¡°But that is because Your Highness had-!¡± ¡°Nonsense. Are you my vassel? Whether or not you will save the person dying in front of you is solely for you to decide. Therefore, allowing him to die is ultimately your responsibility. I wonder what would happen if a rumor started to go around about how the Keuncuska Firm had let a Demon Lord die.¡± Vuffoet¡¯s mouth fell agape. Shortly after, he regained his senses as he shouted. ¡°T-That is sophistry!¡± ¡°That was a joke.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Felicitously, a cold breeze flowed between us. I could feel a dense sense of loathing from the other party. Mm, I wonder if he noticed that I had indirectly threatened the Keuncuska Firm. It¡¯d be great if he did. If not, then I would have no other choice but to pass the threat on through Lapis. I don¡¯t want to force such a troubling matter onto her. ¡°And the third reason.¡± I grinned. ¡°Is a secret.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I said it is a secret. Why must I borate on every single one of my actions? Use your own discretion and take a gander.¡± I walked ahead while humming. I could feel resentment behind me, but I didn¡¯t care. Even if I told him that I had killed Andromalius in order to kill the hero or to at least prevent the future hero from awakening, he wouldn¡¯t believe me. I hope he¡¯ll rack his brain on his own to think of a good reason. It¡¯s only natural for a man to have at least one or two secrets in order to be charming. * * * In the evening, Vuffoet arrived at the Keuncuska Firm headquarters. He had just returned from having dinner at a traditional Niflheim restaurant with Dantalian. Although the seafood cuisines that were presented at the restaurant were delicious, Vuffoet honestly didn¡¯t have the leisure to savor all of their taste. ¡°Hello, Mr. Vuffoet.¡± A clerk at the front desk of the headquarters greeted him. It was a tiger woman with ample and beautiful blonde hair. As she was beautiful enough to be the poster girl of the firm and was also capable ofbat in case of an emergency, she was someone whom he had personally hired. Vuffoet instinctively smiled back at her gently. ¡°Thank you for working sote in the evening.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it, this is my job, after all.¡± The tiger woman blushed. Vuffoet already knew that the girl had an interest in him. However, there was a need for him to be clean when it came to rtionships with females. It was because he knew that the Keuncuska Firm needed a person like this. No, to be exact, this sort of individual was needed for the owner of the firm. ¡°I have to report something to the chief.¡± ¡°Ah. I see.¡± The girl¡¯s face was dyed with envy. Thepany¡¯s chief, Ivar Lodbrok. That legendary Vampire Lord stood at the peak even among the 7 executives of the Keuncuska Firm. Nominally, the executives acted as 7 equal chairpersons during meetings, but even this tiger woman knew that that was truly just in name only. There were individuals who opposed Chief Lodbrok; however, they were a minority. The man before her was a promising enough individual to personally give a report to the chief. Although she felt disappointed about how short her meeting with Vuffoet was, she led him to the teleportation device. Once Vuffoet pulled out a ne, the teleportation device started to emit a red glow. It meant that his teleportation was approved. ¡°Now then. Have a nice evening.¡± ¡°Uhm, Mr. Vuffoet. If you perhaps have some free timeter on, then¡­¡­uhm.¡± The woman spoke hesitantly. ¡°May I offer to buy you dinner sometime in the future?¡± ¡°Dinner, is it?¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯m very grateful for all you¡¯ve done for me, and, w¡­¡­well, I wanted to personally thank you as well¡­¡­.¡± Oh dear, Vuffoet muttered to himself in his head. The situation which he had feared hade to happen. This wasn¡¯t the first time that a youngdy had confessed to him. To a certain extent, Vuffoet had to remain as a bright, courteous, and talented young man. ¡®Although I know this sort of role is necessary, it is a bit troublesome.¡¯ Vuffoet answered as amiably as possible. ¡°I apologize. I still wish to dedicate myself to my job.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­.¡± The woman¡¯s face quickly became red. Tiger people were renown for having a strong sense of pride. Vuffoet could guess that she was extremely embarrassed about being turned down. In order to lessen her humiliation even slightly, Vuffoet promptly gave her a reasonable-sounding excuse. ¡°Miss Andelina is much too beautiful for a person like me. Furthermore, as the chief is showing interest in me currently, I do not wish to lose this opportunity. I am sorry.¡± ¡°I-I see. You¡¯re right.¡± She regained a fair bit of herposure. She was considering the future of the young man she liked. Certainly, receiving the interest of the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s chief was a crowning glory and an opportunity. Once she realized that she had hindered his opportunity, she felt guilty instead even if it was by only a tiny bit. Vuffoet smiled thinly. ¡°I will be taking my leave then. I am concerned about the troubles I may potentially go through if I make the chief wait any longer than this.¡± ¡°Ah, yes! Of course! I¡¯m sorry, I took too much of your time¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Nonsense. I am also delighted that I was able to converse with Miss Andelina.¡± Vuffoet responded as he stepped inside the teleportation device. It was a device meant for only 1 person. While the maiden seemed flustered by Vuffoet¡¯sment, Vuffoet gave her another smile before activating his magic without hesitation. Once he did so, his vision was filled with a red light. The top floor of thepany headquarters. It was a ce which a very small minority of people could ess through the teleportation device. Vuffoet walked down the utterly silent hallway. A wooden door stood at the end of the hall. It was luxurious and had somewhat strange symbols engraved on it ording to a vampire¡¯s preference. -Creeeaaak. There was no one in the room. Vuffoet continued to walk forward without hesitation as if he were used to this. Once he crossed the room and arrived at the window, there were over a dozen vampire coffins lined up next to each other nearby. They were coffins that even vampires these days called old-fashioned and refused to use as their beds. However, Vuffoet enjoyed sleeping in a coffin. Even to this day. Even a thousand years ago. Vuffoet stepped into one of the coffins. The coffin lid opened and closed without a sound. Shortly after, a coffin different from the one Vuffoet had just entered opened. An elderly gentleman got up. He rubbed his face several times as if he were washing his face. He gazed at the window. Niflheim¡¯s scarlet evening was spreading through the alleys. ¡°Demon Lord Dantalian¡­¡­an interesting character.¡± The elderly man had the face of Ivar Lodbrok. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The following week should be the final week of my exams, so I¡¯ll probably put more focus on that for the next few days. This is also the end of this arc, so I guess I¡¯ll be going back to Handholding for a chapter. My schedule might be a bit packed now since the semester is ending and I also have to set up ns for my trip next month, but I won¡¯t let that deter me from tranting too much. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 36: Walpurgis Night (1) Chapter 36: Walpurgis Night (1) ¡°I wonder what hisst reason was.¡± Ivar muttered. He was pacing back and forth in his room. This was a habit of his that woulde out whenever he was contemting something, contemting something pleasant that is. Whenever he was in deep thought about something unpleasant, he would simply sit in his chair and stare out the window. It had been a long time since Ivar¡¯s brain had been stimted, so he was a little excited right now. He recalled the words that Dantalian had said teasingly. -It is fine for me to tell you this. You are an aplice, after all. Ivar chuckled. ¡®How dare he threaten the Keuncuska Firm.¡± He immediately knew what underlying meaning Dantalian¡¯s ¡®You are an aplice¡¯ had. If Ivar wasn¡¯t pretending to be an innocent young man, he wouldn¡¯t have given such a half-baked response. Even while he was shouting at Dantalian in a panic, Ivar¡¯s head was quickly assessing the situation. He came to a conclusion on the spot. This is definitely more than enough to be used as ckmail material against us. An employee stood by and did nothing when they could have saved a Demon Lord? Adding to that, it was an employee of the Keuncuska Firm that¡¯s renowned for their reception of Demon Lords. Although the Keuncuska Firm is the bestpany in the demon continent, there are plenty ofpanies that could rece them. If Keuncuska¡¯s trustworthiness diminishes, then the Demon Lords will immediately switch their partnerships to anotherpany. Who would want to trade with a firm that could potentially kill them? To merchants, trust is more valuable than life. As soon as Vuffoet, no, Ivar realized the other party had gotten their hands on thepany¡¯s lifeline, a cold sweat went down his back. Moreover, the other party is a Demon Lord they can¡¯t confront in their usual way. Regardless, he casually stated that it was a joke. ¡®Therefore, rather than threaten us¡­¡­Demon Lord Dantalian wants to create a close mutual rtionship with us.¡¯ Ivar interpreted Dantalian¡¯s words as so: I will overlook this mistake; however, show me your sincerity in your own way in return. Ivar realized something else at the same time. Demon Lord Dantalian didn¡¯t tell Vuffoet, his fake personality, to tell the firm about his threat. All he did was give a vague allusion. What could this mean? ¡®He was testing ourpany¡¯s ability.¡¯ Dantalian was testing¡­¡­whether the individual dispatched by the firm noticed his threat or not, to evaluate whether the employee waspetent or not. He then brushed it aside with augh and said it was a joke. But why? Things would have gone smoothly for him if he just got his threat across, so why did he go out of his way to make it hard for himself? Demon Lords have the power to rule demons. He could have used that power to put more leverage on his threat, and yet, he chose a moreplicated path. The vampire who had lived for over 2,000 years could tell that there was another true motive behind Dantalian¡¯s actions. ¡®If we don¡¯t meet his expectations, then he intends to trade with anotherpany besides Keuncuska¡­¡­.¡¯ Ivar smiled. It was a smile of the strong. Ivar had more than enough confidence to disy a smile when being challenged by someone. It¡¯s obvious that the information about how the Keuncuska Firm watched idly as a Demon Lord died could be sold for a high price. Competing firms would probably contend in order to wee Dantalian as their customer. Different from how he¡¯s treated as a normal customer in the Keuncuska Firm, he¡¯d be treated like a VIP customer in thosepeting firms. ¡®This, is the Demon Lord¡¯s third reason.¡¯ It¡¯s quite borate. The more interesting thing is the fact that the other party handled this borateness casually. As Dantalian had said, threatening the Keuncuska Firm wasn¡¯t his first or his second reason. It was nothing more than thest reason. This meant that he was threatening us as a side thought. He maintains his authority by getting revenge on the individual who insults him. He obtains fame and honor by dealing with the individual who has been a general hassle to the city. Furthermore, he gains a benefit by also threatening his partner who had made a mistake. ¡°Fufu.¡± Ivarughed. He couldn¡¯t hold back hisughter. He felt a sense of sublimity as if he were looking at a great artist¡¯s painting. With a single move, by killing Andromalius, he obtained authority, fame, and even profit. Demon Lord Dantalian had calcted all that within a brief moment of time. Very well, then. I will more than dly take on your threat. Ivar grinned. The fact that a Demon Lord didn¡¯t use a high-handed tactic but instead only relied on pure stratagem intrigued him. A Demon Lord that isn¡¯t like a Demon Lord. ¡°Last time it was the worst epidemic in history, and now¡­¡­.¡± Ivar muttered to himself as he looked forward. The room was dark. To a vampire like him, the darkness felt incrediblyforting. For some reason, he didn¡¯t feel onlyfort from the darkness today, but a vague feeling of hope as well. Of course, it was only his imagination. A pleasant imagination. ¡°For what reason is he going this far to obtain our support, I wonder.¡± Naturally, he received no response. And yet, Ivar nodded as if he did receive an answer while also thinking up several different methods to make Dantalian an absolute ally. At that exact same time, in Dantalian¡¯s quarters??. ¡°Why did you kill a Demon Lord? Are you insane?¡± ¡°N-No. Lapis! Like I said, hear me out.¡± ¡°Demon Lords must be beings of sacrosanctity. It is baffling to me that you would break that invibility yourself. Are you perhaps a pervert who enjoys intentionally receiving pain? Is it like that? It is honestly despicable. I am disappointed. You are hopeless.¡± ¡°Uu¡­¡­I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± If Ivar knew that Dantalian was currently being reprimanded seriously by Lapis, he would most likely be shaking his head instead of nodding. * * * I yed as much as I wanted for a week. Even if Niflheim isparable to Earth¡¯s Johannesburg where crime and violence ur almost at a semiquaver rate, a Demon Lord will never be threatened. Having the title of Demon Lord was like having a free pass to enter a bloody amusement park called Niflheim. Furthermore, the citizens of Niflheim, from merchants to even delinquents, were all kind to me. The news about Andromalius¡¯ death had spread like a spider web that had beenid out to even the furthest corners of the city. That Andromalius bastard had garnered so much hatred throughout the city that random demons would approach me and thank me. In all my life, I never expected to be thanked by a thug. Adding to that, it was a thug with a wolf head. I especially enjoyed patronizing the casino. The demon world was also blistering under the summer heat, but the air inside the casino was always refreshing. I heard that mages hired by the casino were working on a rotation to cast ice magic, but I personally believe that there¡¯s no bigger waste of money than that. But who cares? I¡¯m able to avoid the summer heat thanks to it. ¡°Waiter.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Give me a refreshing ss of beer.¡± ¡°As you wish, Your Highness.¡± A clean-looking goblin waiter bowed to me courteously. Referentially, drinks were free in the casino. You didn¡¯t have to go out of your way to fetch something yourself either. All you had to do was call out to any of the waiters that were roaming around the casino and say ¡®a ss of beer¡¯ with a bad ent. The important part here was the gaze. The other party may be a goblin, but even they can¡¯t help but get charmed by me if I give them a slight grin. ¡°Here you are, Your Highness.¡± I received the mug of beer elegantly. A refreshing mouthful of hefeweizen flowed down my throat. I almost let out a refreshing sigh. Unfortunately, since I was in front of the eyes of the many people around me, I had to maintain a minimum amount of prestige. It¡¯s cool, I can y around, and make money. Is this perhaps¡­¡­heaven? Why did I lead a so-called exemry life in my original world and build a mental wall against casinos? ¡°Heh.¡± I chuckled at my foolish past self. Even the extreme stress I experienced as a Demon Lord had disappeared a long time ago. I can say with certainty that I have never been filled with more happiness than I have now. Hello, my past self. Hello, my hellish dungeon life. And wee, my heavenly days. ¡°Your Highness. It appears that you are almost out of moves.¡± A lizardman seated at the opposite side of the table chuckled. He had two cards face-down on the table and was skillfully rolling a betting chip between his fingers on his right hand. The way he yed with the chip was simr to my elementary school days where my friends wouldpete to see who could do pencil tricks better. I gave him a casual smile as I responded. ¡°I wonder about that. I may be out of moves, or I may be overflowing with moves. On a simr note, it appears that two pairs is the only move you have now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too soon to make any calls.¡± ¡°Hm. As I thought, are you aiming for a straight?¡± The lizardman¡¯splexion changed for a very brief moment. The edge of his left eye had twitched slightly. Someone should probably tell him about that habit. ¡°Am I right? I should advise you to not try and win against me in a battle of words if possible.¡± ¡°Hehe, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± The lizardman smiled slyly. As I expected, I was on the mark. I then tossed my cards in the center of the table. ¡°I fold.¡± ¡°Fuuuuuck!¡± The lizardman stood up abruptly. ¡°Straight! I only won 5 gold when I finally had a straight! A mere 5 gold coins! It¡¯s been so long since Ist got a straight, too!¡± The lizardman made a ruckus. The other yers around us snickered. As we were all regr casino patrons, we had all be close like old friends. Naturally, none of us were of the same race and the people here ranged from a grandpa to a child, but we were all simr in the sense that we were gamblers. ¡°Give up. You can¡¯t trick His Highness.¡± ¡°Yeah, if His Highness weren¡¯t a Demon Lord, he would have probably been born as a hoodwinker.¡± I was currently ying poker with these individuals. In truth, I spent the majority of my time ying poker in the casino. Rather than the games that relied purely on luck, poker was more reliant on the skills of others. Although, as it is still a type of gambling, the oue of a poker match is also determined by luck. I was an exception. ¡°Haa. Your Highness, are you sure you haven¡¯t learned how to read other people¡¯s minds or something? How are you able to see through people every single time?¡± ¡°Do not use an innocent man.¡± I disyed a friendly smile as I spoke. ¡°There is no such thing as mind-reading. That is nothing but a superstition.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, but¡­¡­jeez! This is seriously weird.¡± The lizardman grumbled as he sat back down. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t feel sorry or anything. I actually am reading their minds, after all. It was being disyed very tantly before me. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Riker Race: Lizardman¡¡¡¡ Faction: ¨C Attribute: Neutral(-15) Level: 31¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 72 Job: Gambler(B+) Leadership: 7¡¡¡¡Might: 25 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 24 Politics: 11¡¡¡¡Charm: 10¡¡¡¡Technique: 47 Affection: 32 Current thought: ¡®Damn it, I¡¯m going to end up in the negatives today as well!¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ The act of getting rid of Andromalius positively impacted my basic image for the people here. Even for the gamblers. From what I was told, he had caused a mess in the casino hundreds of times. Even if he lost in a game, he would use his authority as a Demon Lord to forcefully take the money. Even if a gambling pit is a ce where pieces of trash gather, that was something that went beyond trash. In other words, a mega piece of trash. Thanks to that, I was very easily able to raise their affection points to 20. Should I call this a domino effect? Once I maintained a courteous demeanor during the poker matches, everyone¡¯s affection towards me increased exponentially. It was equal to how much of a negative image Andromalius had garnered until now but in reverse. They most likely will never find out that it¡¯s because of that that they¡¯ve been losing, uhaha. ¡°Whatever. Next round! Let¡¯s start the next round!¡± ¡°Trying to bluff when you have nothing. Tsk tsk. That¡¯s why your luck is running away from you.¡± ¡°I assure you that he¡¯s going to fold the moment he gets his cards.¡± ¡°What a coincidence. I think the same as well.¡± ¡°You rotten bastards!¡± Bouts ofughter burst out again. It wasn¡¯t just our table, but the people at the table next to oursughed as well. The vampire dealer did his best to hold back hisughter as he gave us our cards. I continued to y while maintaining an appropriately mature and humorous demeanor. If I were to make aparison, my mind was like that of an infinitely pure and stillke. The very representation of rxed. These people can never win against me. At the very least, they had to challenge me while free from all ideas and their thoughts in order if they want to stand a chance. If they still want to gamble after having reached such a state, that is. It was at the moment the dealer was about to flip over the first card. ¡°Now then, the first¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness! They¡¯re here! ¡®That person¡¯ is here again!¡± A goblin waiter came up to our table and spoke to me nervously. I let out a mental shriek. I had to get out of here as soon as possible. I barely managed to maintain myposure on the outside as I slowly got up. The other yers watched me with partially sad and partially happy gazes. The sad part was because they enjoyed mypany, but the happy part naturally came from the fact that a formidable opponent was dropping out. ¡°I apologize. I will be taking my leave. Let¡¯s say this match is my loss.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing to apologize for!¡± The lizardman was grinning brightly. Sheesh, his emotions were written all over his face so I didn¡¯t even have to look at his status. It felt like I had actually learned how to read people¡¯s minds. ¡°Feel free toe back whenever you want, Your Highness. I¡¯ll be here every day except for Fridays.¡± ¡°Farewell!¡± ¡°Buy us a round of cocktails next time as well.¡± I gave them a nod before quickly following the waiter. We went through a door that was at a corner of the casino. A narrow and winding hallway stretched out before us. The waiter¡¯s footsteps were hurried, but his tone remained confident. ¡°The emergency exit is this way. Only the employees know about this passageway.¡± ¡°Oho. That¡¯s a relief.¡± ¡°Even that person shouldn¡¯t know about this ce. Now then, we¡¯re almost there. If we turn this corner, then the exit¡­¡­.¡± We screeched to a halt. Our feet stopped in the middle of the skewed path. I could feel the waiter¡¯s shock; however, I couldn¡¯t possibly concern myself with the waiter¡¯s emotions right now. There was a massive storm of emotions approaching me from ahead, after all. There in front of us stood Lapis wearing her usual ck suit. ¡°Hello, Sir Dantalian.¡± Lapis bowed her head courteously. It was more terrifying because it was courteous. Especially more so since I knew very well what the state of her mind was currently. Iprehensible chaos upied Lapis¡¯ chest. Hostility, rage, hatred, scorn, disappointment, regret, and every other negative emotion were all there. Additionally, Lapis looked emotionless. Completely impassive with no gaps. An emotionlessness that reminded me of a marble statue. It was super scary. I couldn¡¯t hide the trembling in my voice. The poker face I had been maintaining earlier had vanished without a trace. ¡°A-Ah. Lapis. Good work?¡± ¡°Yes. I am working fairly well. I am also rather curious to know who is the reason why I am working this much.¡± Lapis looked this way impassively. The waiter¡¯s shoulders shuddered the moment he met her gaze. ¡°Y-Your Highness, I will be on my way then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No! Are you trying to abandon me and run away!?¡± Lapis spoke coldly the instant I tried to hold onto the waiter. ¡°Run away? What could they possibly be running away from, Sir Dantalian?¡± ¡°Eh? Ah, I-I mean¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I believe that you cannot possibly be saying that they are running away from me.¡± ¡°Of course! Naturally! Is that not obvious? Haha!¡± As I was being questioned by Lapis, the waiter used that opportunity to slip away. That sneaky bastard, he probably has a hill of gold from all of the tips he received from me! In the end, only Lapis and I remained in the narrow hallway. ¡°Haha, uhaha.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A stillness fell over us. An exceedingly painful moment of time that was akin to the anxiety you¡¯d feel the moment your mother finds out that you had lost all of your money through gambling flowed by. Building off of that, the money you had lost was also the money that was prepared for you by your parents to pay for your university tuition. I couldn¡¯t endure the pain in the end as I lowered my head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Haaaa.¡± An incredibly long sigh pierced through my ears. A feeling of guilt dug deep into my body at the same time. It was truly like the sigh of one¡¯s mother. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I should have gotten this out sooner, but I had a lot of end of the year shenanigans with my friends and whatnot. I hope you guys had a good Christmas and that 2020 will treat you nicely. My trip to the US is in another 15 days, so at this point, I¡¯m just counting the days. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 37: Walpurgis Night (2) Chapter 37: Walpurgis Night (2) ¡°I know that Your Highness came here on vacation tofort your ailing body and soul, but please do so in moderation.¡± ¡°But look. I made a lot of money¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is not something to boast about.¡± Lapis red at me. I unintentionally stood at attention. ¡°How could a Demon Lord hang around a bunch of gamblers and take their money? This will only be troublesome for Your Highness¡¯ reputation. In no way could this possibly be beneficial.¡± I didn¡¯t have an excuse. Lapis didn¡¯t criticize me under the context that gambling itself was bad, but she instead cautioned me about the negative influence it will have on my name. She¡¯s right. ¡°Let us pretend that Sir Dantalian ends up in a bad situation in the future. At that time, people will criticize Your Highness by saying that you only fell to such a state because you got addicted to gambling. The same thing will happen even if you¡¯re sessful. People will speak ill of you by saying that you only got a little lucky while gambling.¡± ¡°Uugh.¡± She waspletely right. ¡°How much did you make?¡± ¡°R-Roughly four thousand gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯ve won a lot, huh.¡± Lapis looked a little fed up. She advised me to donate 3,000 gold to the people. How could I refuse? I listened to her and generously tossed 3,000 gold to an orphanage. Surprisingly, I didn¡¯t feel reluctant to donate my money. Maybe it was because I also felt it was cheap of me to use the status windows to take the money of those gamblers. The people of Niflheim came to like me even more due to my donation. After escaping the casino, I started to roam around Niflheim again. I even visited the demon red light district that Vuffoet led me tost time. There were many prostitutes of various different races standing on terraces and waving pedestrians over, but when a goblin prostitute said, ¡®Oh dear, Your Highness Demon Lord! Come and rest here!¡¯ in a high-pitched voice¡­¡­I¡¯ll exclude the exnation. I did learn that there were perverted Demon Lords who didn¡¯t discriminate and enjoyed carnal pleasures with all races. For example, Rank 12 Demon Lord Sitri is famous for their unique sexual preferences and enjoys having sexual rtions with people of various races all at once. Like so, my time of rest went by. The day where the Demon Lords gathered had arrived. ¡°I cannot make any exceptions today. You must wear these clothes.¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to. Wear those clothes? I¡¯d rather bite my tongue and die.¡± ¡°This color has been trending recently in the demon world. Generally, Sir Dantalian is too aloof when ites to your attire. Although it is advisable to not be too attached to your outer appearance, there is a minimum amount of etiquette one must maintain during an asion like this.¡± Lapis and I were at a boutique where numerous articles of clothing were put on disy before us. Out of all the outfits in front of us, Lapis went out of her way to pick an ivory coat. She was telling me to put that on over a pink vest. An ivory coat and a pink vest! Someone needs to seriously check Lapis¡¯ sense of beauty. There¡¯s no way that this was currently trending in this era. Wasn¡¯t this an attire you¡¯d normally see some entric aristocrat wearing in a work of art from the Rococo era? ¡°I¡¯d rather wear a clean suit like you.¡± ¡°The ck suit I wear is formoners. It is not something a Demon Lord should wear.¡± Lapis spoke sternly. This was my first time seeing her be this stubborn. Even as someone who regrly wore hippy clothes back in my original world, I utterly dislike multi-colored clothes that were pointlessly fancy. They almost make me feel sick. ¡°Frankly speaking, Sir Dantalian has terrible taste in clothing.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No way! I¡¯m not the one with terrible taste, it¡¯s this era! ¡°In any case, leave the coordination to me. For starters, I will pick out the color of your clothes and then send a letter to the maiden who will be your partner for the evening. Normally, the men match their attires with the women, but Demon Lords are an exception.¡± ¡°Huh? A partner?¡± ¡°There is a ball on the first day of the gathering. Naturally, Your Highness Demon Lord must escort a single maiden.¡± This was my first time hearing this. ¡°Hey, hey. I¡¯m terrible at dancing. And what do you mean by a partner? How would I even acquire one?¡± ¡°You do not have to worry about that. The ball is nothing more than a formality and is actually more simr to a banquet. Dancing is voluntary to an extent. Do not worry about your partner either. The Keuncuska Firm has already gathered a suitable assortment ofdies for Your Highness.¡± Lapis then pulled out a scroll as if she had prepared it for this moment. The personal information of various women was written on it. She then went down the names and gave a brief exnation for each of them. ¡°I rmend this individual. She is the Venom Hell archduke¡¯s daughter. Although Sir Dantaliancks a bit in status to be the partner of an archduke¡¯s esteemed daughter, my superiors at the Keuncuska Firm actively went out of their ways to arrange this partnership for some reason. It is an opportunity to gain personal connections.¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± ¡°This person is good as well. As she is the daughter of an earl who is the subordinate of the Void Hell archduke, not only is her beauty remarkable, but she also has an influence over high society. I can assure you that if you take thisdy as your mistress, it will be incredibly beneficial for you in the future.¡± I was taken aback. ¡°What? As my mistress?¡± ¡°It is not scandalous for a Demon Lord to have several mistresses. If anything, it can be the source of one¡¯s pride. The next candidate is¡­¡­.¡± A verbose introduction of all of the women continued on. I waspletely in a daze. An abrupt ball. This is something that has zero connections to my life. Furthermore, I have to make a woman I¡¯ve never met before my partner and go around with her for an entire day? Mistress? What¡¯s that supposed to be? ¡°Wait, wait! Lapis, stop talking for a second. I am being overwhelmed. Let us put aside the whole mistress business for a moment. Let¡¯s say that I participate in this ball. I understand the reason why I¡¯d have to select a partner. However, why is the Keuncuska Firm choosing my partner?¡± Lapis was about to say something, but I waved my hand to cut her off. I could take a guess as to why they¡¯re doing this. The superiors at Keuncuska were most likely informed that I¡¯m using the matter regarding Andromalius to threaten them. They probably want me to turn a blind eye to the matter by connecting me to someone of influence. This might seem like an award for other people, but, unfortunately, I¡¯m not happy about this at all. It¡¯s clear that even these daughters of influential people are close allies of the Keuncuska Firm. They¡¯ll do whatever they can to restrain me by attaching a mistress onto me. In other words, they¡¯re nothing more than poisoned apples that only looked appealing on the outside. ¡°¡­¡­But Sir Dantalian.¡± Despite hearing my deduction, Lapis still insisted that I should pick a partner. ¡°It is also true that, through this, you will not only be able to naturally gain a person of influence on your side, but you will put the Keuncuska Firmpletely on Sir Dantalian¡¯s side as well. Sir Dantalian may have made a lot of money through the ck herbs, but your faction is still weak. If you are able to tactfully gain a person of influence¡¯s protection as well, then no one would be able to look down on you.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Her suggestion made sense as well. I fell into deep thought. My first and foremost goal is survival. My second goal is to ¡®clear¡¯ this world¡­¡­in other words, if I go by what VenusPanties implicated, I have to conquer this world. If I consider these two goals, then receiving the strong protection of someone seems like a wise decision. By making an influential person¡¯s daughter my mistress, I can use her and ultimately betray herter on in order toy aside an evenrger faction¡­¡­This definitely isn¡¯t a bad idea either. The other party is most likely approaching me to use me as well. They can¡¯tin about a rtionship where we use each other mutually. However. ¡°Lapis. Let me tell you how I sincerely feel right now.¡± ¡°I am listening.¡± ¡°I am honestly not confident I can do this.¡± Lapis tilted her head. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s you who have been watching me more than anyone else, you should know that I am a fundamentally unstable person. I wasn¡¯t always like this. Did you call it Demon Lord syndrome? It¡¯s that. I became like this because I¡¯ve been able to feel the emotions of others as a Demon Lord. My rage and another person¡¯s joy is gathered in one ce inside of me. It is aplete mess.¡± Lapis¡¯ expression became a bit darker. ¡°But¡­¡­were you not able to find stability aftering to Niflheim?¡± ¡°This is only a temporary measure. From what I can tell, this is nothing more than the beginning of my manic depression. Who knows how long my mind can endure these chaotic emotions.¡± I confessed with mixed feelings. Lapis¡¯ worried emotions were being transmitted to me as I did so. Is there really a difference between mixed feelings and worry? The two emotions are nearly the same. There isn¡¯t much of a gap. It was hard to distinguish how much of the emotion I was feeling now was mine or Lapis¡¯. ¡°I don¡¯t know what will happen either. All that I am certain of is that bnce is necessary.¡± ¡°Bnce, is it?¡± ¡°I need breaktimes. On the outside, I must either undergo battles while actively reading the emotions of others or go to war. This is a given. However, I must also be able to rest peacefully in my Demon Lord room and not have to worry about the emotions of others. A ce to rest my overly exhausted mind.¡± In that regard, the casino was rather great. Whenever I won, I was happy and the other parties were sad. There is always a clear distinction between emotions as a result of a win or a loss. I didn¡¯t have to struggle to distinguish the boundary between myself and others. Of course, being in my quarters by myself is the best, but that¡¯s incredibly boring. ¡°And yet I have to make some person whom I don¡¯t know the intentions of into my mistress? I have no way of knowing whether she¡¯s working for the sake of her household or Keuncuska. Thus, I would have to once again pour my all into being concerned about another person¡¯s emotions.¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± Lapis stopped me all of a sudden. This was something that she would incredibly rarely do. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°When you are with me¡­¡­do you feel that way as well?¡± Anxious. I felt this kind of emotion from her. I already found out a long time ago that Lapis has all sorts of emotions behind her usually impassive face. Although she spends most of her time as a cold woman, she would asionally show me her humane side. It¡¯sfortable to be around her since she¡¯s always calm. Since other particr emotions are rarely transmitted to me. Furthermore, since she isn¡¯tpletely dull like a doll, we asionally understood each other. She maintained the perfect distance with me. I chuckled lightly. ¡°No. Continue to stay at my side.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Lapis responded calmly. Mm, I could clearly tell she felt relieved on the inside, but there¡¯s no need for me to go out of my way to point that out and embarrass her. Despite my looks, I¡¯m actually a very considerate man. People don¡¯t seem to realize this that well, though. She spoke in a troubled tone. ¡°Then this is going to make it difficult to choose a partner for tomorrow¡¯s ball.¡± ¡°Right. That¡¯s also a problem¡­¡­Mm, who cares really? You can be my partner, Lapis.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± There was a moment of silence. ¡°Pardon me¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That settles it. With this, this problem has now been dealt with.¡± I only thought up this idea a second ago, but it¡¯s still a decent solution even if I think about it carefully. For one reason or another, the Keuncuska Firm wants to make me into their ally. Completely refusing all of the candidates wouldn¡¯t be wise. By making Lapis, an employee of theirpany, my partner, I can give them the message that ¡®I don¡¯t intend to make you guys my enemy¡¯. Furthermore, this will also express the fact that I have no intention of moving ording to their ns. It¡¯s good because the Keuncuska Firm will know that I have the intent to cooperate with them, I won¡¯t harm my position, and my mental state will be fine since I won¡¯t have to go around with aplete stranger. It¡¯s perfect. ¡°You said that it¡¯s custom for men to match their attire with women, right? Hurry up and choose a dress. I will generously match my outfit with yours.¡± ¡°Your Highness. I am a half-subus. Even if you were apanied by a pure-blooded subus, the impact that would have on your reputation as a Demon Lord is still worrisome. So if you take someone like me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh dear. You¡¯re going on about pure blood and mixed blood again. I¡¯m going to get sick of this topic if you mention it again. I am saying this with a n in mind, so just follow my orders obediently.¡± I went across the boutique and searched for a dress that would suit Lapis. Lapis followed me in a panic. She kept going on about my dignity as a Demon Lord and whatever, but I ignored her. ¡°How about this? A pure white dress. It¡¯s luxurious and elegant so it¡¯s perfect.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is too refined for a ball. No, more importantly, Sir Dantalian, I still have not epted this.¡± ¡°Then how about this ck dress? The adornment looks both splendid and dignified at the same time. It seems befitting for a Demon Lord¡¯s partner.¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± Lapis¡¯ tone was fairly urgent. I continued to y dumb. After this bout continued for roughly 3 hours, Lapis raised a white g. Once I threatened to go without a partner if she keeps resisting, she surrendered. In the end, after I half-forcefully gave Lapis a ck dress, I chose to wear an utterly in ck coat and vest under the pretext of matching my partner¡¯s attire. ¡°Haaa¡­¡­for an important gathering to be like this¡­¡­.¡± Lapis let out a sigh and muttered. Nevertheless, I was just overjoyed that I didn¡¯t have to wear an entric outfit anymore. Not ruining a customer¡¯s mood is also an important duty for merchants, you know? *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I hope you guys had a good holiday. It¡¯s 2020 and my life is practically the same. Perfect. I¡¯m just waiting in anticipation for my trip to the US. It¡¯s been more than 12 years since I traveled anywhere overseas. I¡¯m bringing myptop on the trip, so I¡¯ll probably get some tranting done at night. It¡¯ll definitely take me a while to release chapters while I¡¯m there, though. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 38: Walpurgis Night (3) Chapter 38: Walpurgis Night (3) It was now the evening on the day after our boutique visit. We boarded a carriage. I quietly looked out the window. The carriage kept shaking because of the stone pavement, so I couldn¡¯t calmly enjoy the passing scenery. I decided to just close my eyes. Lapis was also simrly quiet. Like this, we quietly arrived at Niflheim Pce. Once we stepped down from our carriage at the front gate of the pce, an old woman weed us. She was a witch and she bowed so low that her face nearly touched her knees. The witch hat on her head was sorge, that if it weren¡¯t for her hooked nose, it would have engulfed her entire head. She spoke in a mouse-like, squeaky voice. ¡°Your Highness Rank 71st Dantalian?¡± ¡°You are correct.¡± ¡°Mm, Dantalian¡­¡­Dantalian¡­¡­Oh, here you are.¡± The witch wrote something on the scroll with her finger. ¡°Your name is at the very end, so it was easy to find. Your Highness¡¯ position is much better than those who are at some vague number like 32 or 46. Referentially, people must be in ces that can be found easily. Hihi. Now then, Your Highness. You just have to follow this child now.¡± The witch then pointed at a ck cat. The cat promptly stretched its hind legs and saluted us the moment we turned to look at it. The cat was wearing a splendid red soldier uniform like a dress-up doll. This was my first time seeing such an adorable creature. I felt strangely enthralled, so I saluted back to the cat. Lapis nudged my side with her elbow once I did so. She was most likely telling me to maintain my dignity as a Demon Lord. ¡°Child, listen carefully. Hihi.¡± The witch yfully stroked the cat¡¯s chin. ¡°Go into that alley over there, down the uphill road, up the downhill road, turn and turn, right three times, left three times, and after turning and turning a total of 9 times, walk a narrow path as if it were wide and a wide path as if it were narrow, elerate, forget to elerate, and eventually, once you elerate to the point of dancing to my eleration and you forget that you¡¯re walking, you will then arrive at the end of the alley. Guide him to that very end.¡± The cat saluted again to show that he understood. ¡°¡­¡­What was that magnificent nonsense?¡± ¡°An borate spell.¡± Lapis whispered back. ¡°It is a spell that allows the recipient to traverse thebyrinth without getting lost. The people who do not hear those words and enter the maze will most likely be lost and trapped.¡± ¡°Hm, it didn¡¯t particrly sound like she cast a spell.¡± ¡°That means she is an impressive mage that is able to use spells without using any magic.¡± That olddy is? I became curious. To be honest, I have never met anyone that was actually strong before. If Lapis is right and this olddy is a great witch, then she¡¯ll show me stats that far surpasses anyone else. ¡®Status.¡¯ A familiar sound effect rang and a screen appeared at the same time.
Name Stamina Attack Defense
Humbaba 65 109 51
¡°¡­¡­.¡± I¡¯m sorry. I failed to notice an overpowered character. No, if this one person invaded my dungeon, then it would get annihted in an instant. She could probably wipe out my golem, no, my entire golem unit with a single spell. A character like this was acting as a simple attendant at a gathering of Demon Lords. I understood once more how low I was, an F rank Demon Lord in the possession of an F rank dungeon. ¡°Hihi. Please make sure to only follow behind this child. If you break away from the path, then something very interesting will happen.¡± ¡°I am asking out of pure curiosity, but what is something very interesting supposed to be?¡± ¡°It¡¯s so interesting that an arm will spew out of your mouth, hihihi.¡± I¡¯m confident that there¡¯s nothing interesting about that. The ck cat took the lead and walked at a steady pace like a nutcracker. I nervously followed behind the cat, making sure to step exactly where the cat had stepped. I could tell Lapis was giving me a pitying look next to me, but it can¡¯t be helped. Not only do I not want to have three arms, but I wanted the avoid the very idea of having an arm shoot out of my mouth. Like this, we went through the pce¡¯s extravagant entrance, dark garden, and some hallways before eventually arriving at the ballroom. Tap! The cat gave us a salute next to the stairs that led to the ballroom, informing us that we had arrived. I couldn¡¯t endure the cuteness any longer as I stroked his chin abundantly. The cat let out a pleasant purr. My God. What is this being? Isn¡¯t a cat monster way too cute? It¡¯s so cute that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it were illegal. It must receive legal punishment, so, for starters, I¡¯ll lock it up in my Demon Lord room. I¡¯m not going to do this because of some trivial desire of mine, it¡¯s because I must protect thews of this world. ¡°Sir Danatlian.¡± ¡°Ugh, I get it.¡± I whined to Lapis and ascended the stairs to the ballroom. There were no guards or attendants. Once we passed through the already opened, massive, and magnificent marble doors, a voice resounded from somewhere. ¡ª Rank 71st, His Highness Dantalian has arrived! Should I call this a ballroom? Contrary to the ones I saw a bunch of in the movies and books of my original world, this ballroom was incredibly dark. The only light sources were the candles that were as tall as people ced here and there throughout the ballroom. People¡¯s faces were illuminated in the amber candlelight. They were all looking at me as I had just entered. This bizarre scene, I couldn¡¯t help but be overwhelmed by this sight that could almost be called a gathering of phantoms. ¡®But I can¡¯t show my weak side.¡¯ I immediately activated my Acting skill. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹ ¡¸A bonus effect will be applied to the skill ording to your intelligence and charm stats.¡¹ A bolt from the blue happened at that moment. An unpleasant metallic sound filled my ears. ¡¸Multiple skills have blocked the activation of your skill!¡¹ ¡¸You have toss your die, but a crow that was flying by had snagged it away. You have failed to activate your skill!¡¹ W-What? Words I had never seen before continued toe out along with the metallic sound effect. ¡¸You have failed to activate your skill due to the ¡®overwhelming¡¯ difference in stats. You will be given a penalty. You will no longer be able to use any skills for the next 3 hours.¡¹ ¡¸Due to the penalty, your intelligence stat has been reduced by 5.¡¹ ¡¸Due to the penalty, your charm stat has been reduced by 5.¡¹ My mouth fell open. What kind of out of the blue bullshit is this? I managed to regain myposure thanks to Lapis stepping on my foot without anyone noticing. I cleared my throat as I woke up from my daze and continued forward. I then took my ce near a pir. I could hear people talking in the distance. ¡°He¡¯s the one who killed Andromalius, right? He looks pretty dense.¡± ¡°I was wondering what sort of insane Demon Lord would murder another Demon Lord, but he¡¯s surprisingly in-looking.¡± ¡°I knew that guy was going to die someday. Hmph, that homeless idiot.¡± ¡°It feels like something was attempted just now¡­¡­.¡± nderous words against me kept being exchanged; however, I didn¡¯t have the leisure to worry about them. My Acting skill may not be all that dependable, but it¡¯s the one thing I could actually fall back to. A severe wave of unease washed over me once that was taken away from me. If Lapis wasn¡¯t firm and cool-headed like usual next to me, then I would have probably made a fool of myself in this ball. The only thing that was preventing my knees from buckling was my desire to not disappoint her. Fortunately, people¡¯s interest in me soon disappeared and the Demon Lords went back to their respective cliques. None of them approached me. * * * A few Demon Lords arrived after me. They were people whose names I had be moderately familiar with through . After thest Demon Lord arrived, therge doors closed. A single person walked out to the center of the ballroom. It was an old gentleman wearing a clean white tuxedo. The old gentleman gave a courteous bow to each side of the room before speaking in a slow tone. ¡°I give my warmest wee to all of Your Excellencies that havee here today for this honorable Walpurgis Night. My name is Ivar Lodbrok, one of the seven executives of the Keuncuska Firm, and I have been put in charge of tonight¡¯s proceedings which is more than I deserve.¡± Short apuse followed. I feel like only 6 people had pped. The apuse was way too small to be considered a warm wee to the host, but Ivar bowed once more as if he felt greatly honored. I narrowed my brows. Ivar Lodbrok is also a character that appears in thete-mid portion of ; however, this person lookspletely different from the Ivar I know from the game. ¡®Ivar shouldn¡¯t be an old man.¡¯ I wanted to ask Lapis about it since she works in the Keuncuska Firm as well, but I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to open my mouth. I was definitely nervous right now. It probably wouldn¡¯t be toote to ask her about itter. ¡°I will first cover today¡¯s agenda. First, about the heir battle that has urred in the Inferno Hell¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± A sharp female voice intervened. ¡°I don¡¯t want to debate the pros and cons of the things that happen in the demon continent aftering all the way here. Those things will naturally be resolved throughout the next 4 days of this rotten gathering. I want to just eat and drink today.¡± Ivar¡¯s expression contorted in worry. It was a face that wanted to say something, but couldn¡¯t. A man standing across from the woman spoke. ¡°As expected of an uneducatedss. Such vulgarity. There is a thing called procedures.¡± ¡°Quit with the taunts, chap. People might start to think that you¡¯re actually passionate about these meetings. Kekeke. I saw you doze off in the middle of thest meeting. ¡°What absurd nder.¡± Due to the bad lighting, I could barely see the faces of the people who were talking. It looked like only their lips were sticking out and moving in the darkness. Another person spoke up across from me. ¡°The two of you are fighting again, huh? Thisdy wonders when we will finally be able to have a civilized meeting, a meeting that befits Demon Lords. For what purpose did we go out of our way to hire the True Blood of the Keuncuska Firm to host our meeting?¡± ¡°Uugh, stop with that vomit-inducing way of speech.¡± The woman¡¯s tone sounded like they were sick of the woman who had spoken for the first time. ¡°If a civilized gathering is something where you have to say ¡®oh dear, oh dear¡¯ in a hypocritical and lying voice, then I¡¯d rather be a savage in a goblin vige. Do you think I don¡¯t know that you y wildly with minotaurs at night, you bitch? Miss Whore, you should either change your top lips as much as you did your bottom lips or make your bottom lips asdylike as your top lips.¡± ¡°What can I possibly say to a woman who bbers like a rutting water buffalo? My dear Demon Lords.¡± The woman speaking in a proper tone stepped out into the center of the ballroom. I was then finally able to see her faceproperly. I immediately recognized her. It was Paimon from who was Rank 9 among Demon Lords. The individual who destroyed numerous yers as the beautiful subus queen with fluttering, red hair. Even I had faced a Game Over after being caught by this Demon Lord. It felt weird seeing someone in real life like this after only seeing them through their illustrations. ¡°I also believe that discussing a boring topic during the ball on the first night of the meeting is not very appropriate. Would it not be best to share amunion first? Time and space for people to either build more grudges against one another ore to an agreement, would this not be necessary?¡± She looked around her. At that moment, a foreboding sensation came over me. It felt like she looked directly at me. ¡°Nevertheless, there is something we must handle beforehand. There is a murderer who had killed our fellow man that¡¯s present, after all. There is no possibility we could have a cordial rtionship with that individual.¡± My foreboding feeling was right. She was definitely ring at me. ¡°Although he wascking and embarrassing, Andromalius was our kin. One of the only seventy-two Demon Lords that exist. I believe that you all know fully well how much weight the act of murdering a Demon Lord possesses.¡± Numerous other gazes followed her line of sight to me. I gulped involuntarily. ¡°I believe that we must call Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian to ount before we begin the meeting and the ball. Thus, for this sake, I, Rank 9 Demon Lord Paimon, formally request a hearing here and now.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! Some big names were introduced in this chapter. I personally hope this isn¡¯t Humbaba¡¯s real appearance. My dreams will be crushed if it is. Well, nothing much else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 39: Walpurgis Night (4) Chapter 39: Walpurgis Night (4) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I was standing still. The first thought to go through my head was that it¡¯d be nice if I had something to fiddle with in my hands right now. I couldn¡¯t sort out my thoughts. I didn¡¯t expect them to bring up Andromalius¡¯ case like this. I also never heard that Demon Lords cherished one another. ¡°That whore is speaking nonsense again. I never heard about us being able to hold a hearing or whatever.¡± ¡°Rank 10 and higher have the authority to request a hearing.¡± ¡°Eh? Seriously?¡± ¡°Although it has been more than 500 years since it was actually used. Paimon, you are trying to make a big deal out of some vagrant¡¯s death¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lords started a heated discussion. Think. I have to think. This is the only opportunity I have to do so. I have to think of an idea while they¡¯re arguing. The reason why a couple of Demon Lords are against a hearing isn¡¯t due to the fact they like me, but because they dislike Paimon. The chances of them personally helping me is extremely slim. The woman that¡¯s using a childish tone andining is probably Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos and the man trying to prudently calm everyone down is most likely Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas. They are all prominent characters in . Rank 9 Paimon represents the demon faction that is on rtively friendly terms with the humans, Rank 8 Barbatos belongs to the side that holds unconditional hostility towards the humans, and Rank 5 Marbas is neutral. The differences in each of their personalities naturally lead to conflict even here. Why was Paimon attacking me when we were meeting for the very first time? I couldn¡¯t understand. Damn it, I think my processing speed is slower than usual since my intelligence stats had dropped. I contorted my face greatly as I turned the bolts in my head desperately. ¡®Andromalius might have been a part of Paimon¡¯s faction.¡¯ Then did that mean this attempt at a hearing is simply because she wants to show people that she cherishes those in her faction? ¡®Was Paimon the kind of person to act this politically in the game?¡¯ An immediate ¡®no¡¯ came to my head. Befitting her insidious way of speech, Paimon is a perverted character. She would even go as far as to disguise herself as a human and go hunting for both men and women in human cities. In the game, Paimon and the protagonist also meet for the first time in a human city like this and the fact that she¡¯s a Demon Lord quickly bes revealed the moment she throws the protagonist an amorous nce. Afterward, Paimon would persistently bother the protagonist due to the fact that he was the first man to not fall for her looks. The way she bothered him wasn¡¯t normal either as she would do so by sending countless armies of monsters after the protagonist. ¡ª As I am at death¡¯s door, could you not bestow upon thisdy a kiss? Even during her dying breaths, she didn¡¯t stop her advances towards the hero. The hero thought about it quickly before giving in to the maiden¡¯s teary eyes and giving Paimon a kiss. That was the protagonist¡¯s first kiss. Despite being surrounded by dozens of harem members, a Demon Lord took his first kiss before anyone else. There was a time when a bunch of yers debated whether Paimon was actually a pure woman or just a simple ragged towel. Regardless, not only has she never dropped from the top 10 heroines ranking, but people would actively ask the developers to make her a capture target along with Laura De Farnese. As a side note, I dislike Paimon. I experienced 2 Game Overs because of her, after all. You¡¯re immediately killed when you lose to the other Demon Lords, but Paimon was different as she would turn you into a sex ve if you lost to her. ¡®Paimon may be a pervert, but her principles are simple.¡¯ In short, she¡¯s pro-humans. She likes humans, copies humans, and tries to protect humans. Even when the rtions between demons and humans gradually became worse, Paimon and a couple of other Demon Lords would refrain from indiscriminate ughter. Even though it was for a severely selfish reason like not wanting to lose her ythings, at the very least, she would justify her actions on the surface by saying, ¡®As a Demon Lord, you will tarnish your dignity if you enjoymitting ughter.¡¯ Despite cherishing herself to a terrifying degree, she was a woman who would act as if she incredibly cherished authority and dignity in front of others. In other words, she¡¯s a very unique Demon Lord. ¡®On the other hand, Andromalius was a bastard who typically treated humans like insects.¡¯ I came to the deduction that there is an incredibly slim chance that Andromalius could have been a part of Paimon¡¯s faction. Therefore, it¡¯s clear that Paimon is asking for a hearing with another goal in mind and not for the sake of Andromalius. In other words¨Cthe goal isn¡¯t Andrmius, but me. Why? ¡®Was I ever hostile towards Paimon? There¡¯s no way that could have happened.¡¯ In the first ce, if you exclude my interaction with Andromalius, then this was my first time meeting any of the other Demon Lords. However, if I¡¯m right, then Andromalius wasn¡¯t the issue right now. In the end, there was no way that I could have gotten personally involved with Paimon. I couldn¡¯t find an answer. I felt frustrated. Since I didn¡¯t know the other party¡¯s intent, it felt like I was at the bottom of a pitch-ck ocean and trying to swim. ¡®Damn it, where could I have¡­¡­.¡¯ It was at that moment. Something small wrapped around my right hand. I turned to my side in surprise. Lapis was looking at me. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Her two clear, and yet firm eyes were looking at me silently. I experienced something remarkable at that moment. It was something that probably happened only five or six times in a person¡¯s entire life. I know full well what you¡¯re feeling right now, and as I know you more concisely and urately than you know yourself, it is for this reason that I will be on your side no matter what, this was what her eyes were telling me. Lapis was able to say this to me without a single word, expression, or gesture. As there were no words, there were no misunderstandings, as there were no expressions, there was no exaggeration of emotions, and as there were no gestures, there was only sincerity. My surge of desperation vanished. Only tranquility remained. I felt a type of gratitude I would feel when meeting someone who was well-disposed towards me, someone whose inner thoughts were no different from what they portrayed on the outside. A Demon Lord¡¯s ability doesn¡¯t only let them read other people¡¯s emotions. It also allows them to harmonize their emotions with others. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis and I looked at each other for a brief moment. As we were doing so, the people around us continued to argue. I suddenly felt like my contemtion about Paimon¡¯s inclination was funny. All of the thoughts I had until now hadn¡¯t vanished. It¡¯s just that I was now able to look down at those thoughts from above. ¡®That¡¯s right. There is no reason for Paimon to be hostile towards me.¡¯ I smiled. It was obvious. I have only done something noteworthy once. If I were to connect that one action with Paimon¡¯s tendencies, then it was easy to figure out why she would use Andromalius as a pretext to pressure me. The heated discussion between the Demon Lords was graduallying to an end. Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas spoke up in a low tone. ¡°I have the highest rank among the ones present here. I believe that it would be fine for me to handle the proceedings of the hearing. I am worried that there will be some bias if someone of a lower rank were to handle the proceedings.¡± He gave Ivar of the Keuncuska Firm a nce. Ivar bowed in apology. Ivar was the original host. Marbas was reprimanding him for not being able to calm the other Demon Lords down. I thought differently, though. ¡®The Keuncuska Firm most likely sat on their hands deliberately.¡¯ I quietly asked Lapis a question. ¡°Paimon is also the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s customer, isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°Yes. Torkel, one of the highest executives of the firm, is in charge of her. He is someone that you have met once yourself, Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°That old goblin, huh.¡± It was the goblin who showed up out of nowhere to talk about the gue a little more than a month ago. He¡¯s in charge of Paimon, is he? To think he would retaliate like this because I refused to discuss anything with him without Lapis. Marbas walked to the center of the ballroom. ¡°Rank 9, the Demon Lord of Destruction, Paimon¡¯s request for a hearing has been epted. This has been acknowledged by myself, Rank 5, the Demon Lord of Control, Marbas. The party in question is Rank 71, the Demon Lord of Many Faces, Dantalian.¡± He looked at me. This most likely meant I had to step forward as well. I regretfully let go of Lapis¡¯ hand and walked out with slightly nervous but casual steps. I could feel Lapis¡¯ concern behind me. You don¡¯t have to worry, Lapis. ¡®I have never yed unfaithfully to the point of being beaten by some NPC.¡¯ With Marbas between us, I stood and faced Paimon. Paimon was looking at me with a perverted smile, but I didn¡¯t let it bother me as I smiled back at her. ¡°Paimon has the right to question Dantalian and Dantalian has the right to answer Paimon. I will keep this hearing short in consideration of it being Walpurgis Night. Therefore, both parties should refrain from giving lengthy speeches and keep the hearing to immediate questions and answers. We will decide which side is correct through our longheld tradition of voting.¡± The Demon Lords that were spread throughout the ballroom slowly gathered. They got right next to us like some spectators that hade to watch a boxing match and proceeded to look back and forth between us with intrigued gazes. ¡°I first bestow upon Paimon, the one who requested this hearing, the right of questioning. Proceed, Paimon.¡± ¡°I thank you graciously for listening to thisdy¡¯s request.¡± Paimon looked around the room with a pleasant gaze. It seems acting coquettishly was a habit of hers. To my right, I could hear Rank 8 Barbatos say ¡®Sheesh, what a whore¡¯ in an annoyed voice. I just now came to the realization that the only Demon Lords to speak in a loud voice were the ones above rank 10. Everyone below that kept their mouths shut. This most likely represents how amazing they are. The person in front of me as well. ¡°I wish to first establish the facts.¡± Paimon¡¯s smile was directed towards me. I could clearly see the hostility behind her smiling eyes. ¡°Dantalian, 9 days ago you murdered Rank 72 Demon Lord Andromalius. Is this correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I nodded cidly. ¡°You murdered them despite knowing that they were also a Demon Lord. Correct?¡± ¡°That is also correct.¡± ¡°Therefore, you intentionally murdered a Demon Lord. Despite being a Demon Lord yourself. To everyone who hase here to attend Walpurgis Night, we know better than anyone else that being a Demon Lord is a hellish role.¡± Paimon looked around the room again. ¡°I do not wish toe here and repeat the argument about all people having one personality. Nheless, there is one thing that is certain. We possess too many ¡®us¡¯ inside of us. The emotions of others continue to mix and mix with our own emotions making it hard for us to distinguish what is yours and what isn¡¯t yours. As there is nothing that exists for us Demon Lords to resolutely call ¡®me¡¯??.¡± A silence fell over the ballroom. ¡°Therefore, we also do not have anything we can call ¡®you¡¯ without hesitation. The only personal pronoun that is allowed to us is ¡®us¡¯. This is a Demon Lord¡¯s fate. Thisdy believes that this is a duty that we have no other choice but to endure as people who have be Demon Lords. Nevertheless, there is an exception. And that is other Demon Lords like us.¡± She spread her arms out in an exaggerated manner. This gesture seemed natural to her. The way she moved made it apparent that she was very used to giving speeches. ¡°Within this hellish world where we must constantly exert our minds to distinguish whether our emotions are ours or not, at the very least, when we are next to another Demon Lord, we do not have to have such concerns. When we are with other Demon Lords, it feels as if we have be normal people who can feel their own emotions, say what they want, and think about what they want. Only when we are with each other can we feel ¡®ourselves¡¯. This is why Demon Lords are precious.¡± Paimon strengthened her tone. ¡°We may antagonize, be hostile to, and fight one another, but we also acknowledge one another. We have no other choice but to do so. Only seventy-two of us exist in the world, after all. That¡¯s right. Even among Demon Lords, Andromalius wasplete garbage. Despite this, none of us tried to kill Andromalius. This is only natural! Was he not a fellow Demon Lord who was ced upon this world with the same duty as us?¡± She lowered her arms and quietly red at me. She didn¡¯t try to hide her hostility anymore. She was denouncing me openly for everyone to see. ¡°And yet, Dantalian struck Andromalius to death without any hesitation. Thisdy cannot help but express her doubts. Is he truly a Demon Lord like us? How could another Demon Lord kill another Demon Lord with such ease? Thisdy is not questioning Dantalian as an individual. As the representative of the seventy-two Demon Lords that exist, I call into question whether this man has the right to be a Demon Lord.¡± Even the smallest of whisperings had disappeared. While everyone held their breaths as they continued to watch us, Paimon spoke firmly. ¡°Thisdy suggests that we confine Dantalian in the prison of the Eternally Frozen Land for 300 years.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m probably going to take a day or two off from tranting because I had a high fever yesterday and very bad food poisoning. I still feel feverish, but I wanted to get this chapter out. I¡¯m just hoping for a full recovery before my trip. I¡¯ll see you guys when I feel better again. Chapter 40: Walpurgis Night (5) Chapter 40: Walpurgis Night (5) The Demon Lords started to murmur among one another. A woman with a buzzing voice let out some grouchy words. 300 years was an absurd length of time. Paimon closed her eyes within the moring as if she had finished saying what she wanted to say. I could tell that her using honorifics with a low-tier Demon Lord like me was also for the sake of putting a severe emphasis on her decency. She probably believes that the way she¡¯s acting is cool, but in my opinion, she just looks arrogant. ¡°Silence. Settle down.¡± Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas calmed the buzzing with a wave of his hand. The ballroom became still. ¡°Paimon. Are you finished?¡± ¡°Yes, thisdy has nothing more to add.¡± ¡°If that is the case, then let us listen to Dantalian¡¯s counterargument. Dantalian has the right to question Paimon and Paimon has the right to answer Dantalian.¡± All right, I muttered to myself in my head and took a deep breath. My turn was approaching. They say that if you know your enemy, then you can win every battle, so I decided to check my status before going into my defense. Due to the unknown passive skills possessed by the Demon Lords here, my stats have dropped drastically. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: Dantalian Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 4¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 253 Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(F) Leadership: 15/15¡¡¡¡Might: 2/5 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 20(-5)/25 Politics: 13/15¡¡¡¡Charm: 5(-5)/10¡¡¡¡Technique: 4/10 *Titles: You have no titles. *Abilities: Tactics(F), Marksmanship(F), Mining(F) *Skills: Acting [Achievements: 0] [Subordinates: 42 units/50 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Pitiable stats. Nevertheless, I felt serene thanks to Lapis¡¯ silent encouragement. Even among the numerous emotions that were currently going through me, I could still clearly feel the small worry towards me. Furthermore¡ªthe time when the Jalsen Vige adventurers invaded was much worse than this! My stats were low now, but my stats back then were so low that they could have dug a well. I had just arrived in this world at that time, so I had to gather information on my own from beginning to end. I had to put on a performance, despite not being used to acting, in order to survive. And how is this situation inparison? I know well enough what sort of situation I¡¯ve been put into and I know very well who the other party is. Paimon was one of the bosses I beat over and over again as I yed the game tens of hundreds of times. It¡¯s very obvious to me how you¡¯ll respond to certain questions. ¡°Dantalian you may start your inquiry.¡± Marbas spoke. I bowed my head to him before looking around the room with a thin smile. ¡°Before I begin, I wish to express that I am sincerely at a loss. First, it is because Your Highness Paimon is a much more noble and powerful personage than someone like myself.¡± I heard someone snort. It was probably Rank 8 Barbatos since she had been against Paimon since the beginning of the gathering. I paid it no mind as I continued. ¡°Second, I also did not know that Andromalius was a personage who possessed enough prestige for Your Highness Paimon to be this concerned about him. Until now, I had firmly believed that there was an unbridgeable gap between Your Highness Paimon¡¯s status and Andromalius¡¯ personality. Nheless, Your Highness Paimon has leaped over that gap and is now trying to advocate for Andromalius of all people, an individual who is the most pathetic among all 72 Demon Lords and is honestly embarrassing to even call our kin¡­¡­I apologize, but I fail to understand Your Highness¡¯ intent.¡± Paimon¡¯s expression became cold. The corners of her mouth were still raised, but her gaze was cold. As someone who has constantly interacted with the most impassive girl in the demon world, this expression was nothing impressive. Not only was it obvious to her that I had nearly ridiculed her reputation directly, but it was obvious to everyone else as well. ¡°¡­¡­Thisdy gave a clear reason for that regard. Demon Lords have value solely because they are Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± I opened my eyes wide as if I were shocked. ¡°No, is that truly so? Miss Paimon, do you genuinely believe that?¡± ¡°Yes, I am being sincere. Do you perhaps think thisdy had made that deration frivolously?¡± ¡°I apologize. I do not have any intentions to mock you, Miss Paimon. I am simply surprised because I do believe that Miss Paimon could not possibly speak amiss.¡± I then bowed at a 60 degrees angle. ¡°Now then, I will use the authority that has been granted to me to overstep my status and ask Miss Paimon some questions. Mis Paimon, what are Demon Lords? My question may have been somewhat vague. Let me rephrase it. What is the meaning of the existence of Demon Lords within the demon world?¡± ¡°Are you looking down on thisdy? Naturally, it is to guide and unite all of demonkind and lead them to the surface.¡± ¡°An excellent answer. Look down on? Banish the thought. I will simply be honored if Your Highness could go through the trouble to answer a couple of my questions.¡± I showed my palms and smiled affectionately. ¡°Miss Paimon, if Demon Lords must guide, unite, and lead demonkind to the surface, then if a Demon Lord does not guide, unite, or try to lead demonkind to the surface, does that mean theyck the qualities of a Demon Lord?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°Truth be told, I think so as well.¡± That was a lie. Who cares what the duties of a Demon Lord are. It¡¯s fine as long as I don¡¯t die. Nevertheless, lying doesn¡¯t cost a dime. ¡°That is actually all there is to the meaning of Demon Lords within the demon world. Pardon me, but if I were topare us to the archdukes that rule the Hells of the demon world, there are Demon Lords among us whose influences are smaller than theirs. I am one of them. Despite this, we are treated like emperors and empresses that are above those dukes and archdukes. Why is this? Everyone, it is just as Miss Paimon has said.¡± I looked around the room. ¡°As survival of the strongest isw and greed is the truth of the demon world, only us Demon Lords can truly work for the sake of others and lead them. We are the only ones whom demons dly bow their heads to. Even if the archdukes of all of the Hells lead tens of hundreds of armies, do you think any of their men have truly sworn loyalty to them? Within this den where everyone can only think for themselves, to demons, Demon Lords are the only existences that shine as a light of hope.¡± Absolute symbols. Realistically, demons may have been constantly fighting bloody battles for thousands of years, but ¡®they¡¯ are proof that we could still one day be one. That¡¯s what Demon Lords of are. ¡°But then there was a certain Demon Lord. He did not try to unite or lead demonkind. He exploited hundreds of goblins solely to make money. The more surprising thing was the fact that he didn¡¯t even reside in the human world! He spent his timevishly in the demon world for the sake of his own enjoyment and pleasures. The funds he used for his luxury naturally came from his goblins¡¯ sweat and blood. Thus, I wish to ask everyone this.¡± This individual had betrayed that expectation and hope. ¡°Is this person truly a Demon Lord?¡± No one responded. I paused for a moment before opening my mouth. ¡°Can we truly call this person our kin?¡± The ballroom remained quiet. I went from using all sorts of gestures to moving extremely prudently and slowly. ¡°Everyone. If anything, I wish the censure us. The reason why we are treated more nobly, despite being worse than an archduke, is because we are Demon Lords. What reason is there for us to disregard and forgive such an individual?¡± ¡°Because.¡± Did she think that she would lose her momentum if she allowed me to continue? Paimon interrupted me. ¡°Because no matter how crude they are, only seventy-two of us exist in the world¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh, Your Highness Paimon. For whose sake do us seventy-two Demon Lords exist for?¡± I red at her. ¡°Since when did Demon Lords exist for other Demon Lords? Since when did we Demon Lords stop acting for the sake of demonkind and create a ranking among ourselves?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We are lonely. You are right. It is hard for us to distinguish ourselves from others. Thus, it is hard for us to feel ¡®togetherness¡¯. For us, we and others are simply a single blob of consciousness. All right. We are lonely; however, does this mean we should absolutely spare the life of a Demon Lord solely so that we could stave off our loneliness?¡± She couldn¡¯t answer. Paimon. This debate was over the moment she answered my first question. She shouldn¡¯t have given such a textbook response saying that the duty of Demon Lords is to lead demonkind. She should have firmed her nerves and simply said that Demon Lords don¡¯t have something like a duty. ¡°That is just being greedy! Your Highness Paimon has made a much too obvious contradiction. Your Highness spoke in a tone that sounded as if you were speaking for the sake of Andromalius and all of us. However, is that nothing more than Your Highness¡¯ own greedy desire to not be lonely!?¡± Your personality of not being able to firm your nerves is the reason for your defeat. ¡°Andromalius hadmitted two grave crimes.¡± I raised my voice and shouted as if I were venting my anger. First, he had gone against the duty of a Demon Lord. A Demon Lord that has lost their honor loses their right to rule over demonkind. Therefore, they are no longer a Demon Lord. Second, he had severely harmed the expectations and hope harbored by the people towards Demon Lords. When we one day appeal to demonkind for the sake of nning for a greater cause, a portion of the demons will doubt us because they will think of Andromalius as an example. If this didn¡¯t harm the image of all Demon Lords, then I don¡¯t know what would. ¡°Someone had to stop Andromalius; however, no one didfor hundreds of years. Is this not shameful? Demon Lords were lowering the reputations of Demon Lords on their own! Furthermore, a personage of the 9th rank has advocated a value thatpletely opposes the idea of Demon Lords, greed!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Guh.¡± ¡°I would like to make a request here. As Demon Lord Andromalius had not only vited the name of Demon Lords but has realistically sullied it as well, death was the only suited punishment for him. Thus, I would like to make a request. As a noble Demon Lord who must naturally maintain one¡¯s dignity had gone against her own word, we must make Her Highness Paimon act as a representative and give a public apology to the people of Niflheim.¡± Paimon didn¡¯t even try to maintain the smile on her lips. She hid her mouth behind her fan as she red daggers at me. As the two of us aggressively met each other¡¯s gaze, everyone around us remained still. It wasn¡¯t a silent stillness but a stillness filled with excitement. Since both parties were pressing charges against one another, there was nothing more interesting than this for onlookers. It was at that moment that Rank 8 Barbatosughed and apuded. ¡°Gyahaha! He¡¯s right, that kid¡¯s right. That whore bitch would always go around talking about how Demon Lords must be high-ss or whatever.¡± I turned my head. I was now able to see Barbatos, whom I have only been able to hear the voice of, with my eyes. Just like in the game, Barbatos was a short girl. She was wearing a dress that was highly decorated with red frills, so she looked just like some littledy you¡¯d see when ying with dolls. ¡°If she goes against the very words she¡¯s been constantly saying her entire life here, then it¡¯ll only be bad for her, so she definitely has to apologize to those demon pieces of trash. Kyahaha, this is great!¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± Marbas, the one in charge of the proceedings, gave Barbatos a sidelong nce. ¡°Outsiders are not allowed to intervene without permission.¡± ¡°Hah, but the questioning is over. Is there anything more to say? Whore bitch, you should hastily run on over to the city and ce your abundant ass on the ground and apologize. Who knows? Maybe some sex-deprived vagrant will ept your apology by graciously doing you?¡± ¡°Barbatos!¡± Marbas¡¯ tone became stronger. Barbatos snorted and closed her mouth. Barbatos made some excessively sarcastic remarks, but Paimon didn¡¯t turn to look at Barbatos even once. She kept ring at me. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I didn¡¯t back down and continued to stare back at her. Either I¡¯ll be imprisoned in some unknown ce for 300 years or you¡¯ll step on your own dignity and apologize to the people. There were only these two choices. I didn¡¯t want to lose in this battle of vigor. You¡¯re the one who attacked me first. You messed with me when I wasn¡¯t doing anything. If you didn¡¯t go out of your way to hold a hearing in this official ce and press charges on me, then I wouldn¡¯t have had to bear the risk of being hostile towards someone as powerful as you. ¡®So lower your eyes.¡¯ I¡¯ve beaten you more than a dozen times in the game. I¡¯m a yer who managed to not only kill you but every Demon Lord that¡¯s present in this room as well, you human fetishist Demon Lord. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s pretty fun tranting this since it isn¡¯t the same exact dialogue as the LN. It¡¯s like a new viewpoint. In any case, I¡¯m going on my trip in 2 days and I highly doubt I¡¯ll be able to get the next chapter out by that time since I have to start packing and also buy some stuff for my friends. I will most likely leave an ¡®update¡¯ post on the day of my departure. Like I said before, I¡¯m bringing myptop with me so I will most likely do some tranting at night during my trip, so don¡¯t be too disappointed about my absence. I¡¯ll see you guys in the update post Chapter 41: Walpurgis Night (6) Chapter 41: Walpurgis Night (6) ¡°It seems it should be fine to end the hearing here.¡± Marbas spoke. ¡°As per our traditions, we shall determine the result of the hearing through a vote. Including myself, the moderator, Paimon and Dantalian will not be allowed to vote. Everyone who is present¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Paimon shouted urgently. Marbas raised a brow. ¡°Hm, do you have more to say?¡± ¡°There is another thing thisdy wishes to question Dantalian about!¡± ¡°Paimon.¡± Marbas took off his monocle and wiped the lens with a silk cloth. ¡°We may not be friends, but we have been together for hundreds of years now. Simr to how you know me, I know you as well. I should not say this as the moderator, but if I were to express my opinion right now¡­¡­.¡± Marbas slowly put his monocle back on. He narrowed his eyes slightly at Paimon. Those were the eyes of someone who found the situation to be very tiresome. ¡°I do not believe that you have honestly revealed your motives.¡± ¡°Thisdy is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is Walpurgis Night. Paimon, it is Walpurgis Night. This meeting which used to be mandatory for all Demon Lords to attend has now lost its past glory as we barely manage to satisfy having a majority of the Demon Lords in attendance. Who am I? I am the Rank 5 Demon Lord. Baal, Agares, Vissago, Gamigin. What are the Demon Lords higher than me doing now?¡± Paimon lowered her head. ¡°I know very well¡­¡­that you are the most devoted to us.¡± ¡°I do not wish for the Demon Lords not in attendance today tough at us. If the question which you want to ask Dantalian is trivial or obscene, then I intend to dogmatically end the hearing here.¡± ¡°Please give thisdy one final chance. I admit that I did not handle Andromalius¡¯ case with the utmost sincerity. I wish to apologize to you, to Dantalian, and to everyone else here in that regard.¡± Paimon held the sides of her dress and gave a bow in all four directions. It must have been a surprise to see a high-ranking Demon Lord apologize honestly as several of the Demon Lords seemed shocked. ¡°Hm.¡± Marbas nodded. He was telling her to proceed. Paimon took in a deep breath. She no longer tried to smile. She was looking at me seriously from the get-go now. This was more terrifying than when she was pointlessly pretending as if she were rxed. ¡®Now we¡¯re finally getting to the main topic.¡¯ I won the first match. As long as you aren¡¯t an idiot, it was impossible to have lost that. The very fact she was trying to advocate for Andromalius was pushing it. This uing second match is what¡¯s actually important. ¡°I believe that many of you know that thisdy has a consultant in the Keuncuska Firm. As thisdy¡¯s position preordains, the Keuncuska Firm assigned a high-ranking executive to be thisdy¡¯s consultant. I heard some surprising news from that executive a short while ago.¡± I had my suspicions, but it seems I was right. Paimon brought up the topic which I had been expecting. She met each Demon Lord¡¯s gaze as she continued. ¡°I am certain that you all are aware of the cmity that had begun to sweep over the continent a short while ago. The ck Death. That fearsome curse has been indiscriminately taking the lives of humans, beastmen, and demons. Thisdy¡¯s loyal subordinates have also been affected greatly.¡± The other Demon Lords nodded, acknowledging the fact that they knew about the disease. The Kingdom of Sardinia was the only region that was affected the least. Passed down medical knowledge allowed the Kingdom of Sardinia to act quickly and quarantine the first ces that were infected and burn those ces down to prevent the disease from spreading further. On the other hand, simr to the medieval age in my world, the disease spread throughout the other nations because they had a distorted understanding of medical science. A ughter of cats was being carried out because people thought cats were the source of the infection, but it was actually the rats. Therefore, since the humans ughtered the cats who were the main predators of those rats, they indirectly assisted in making the disease run rampant. Even though it was revealed that ck herbs could cure the disease, most people couldn¡¯t afford to purchase the cure as a single root cost several gold coins. Commoners had to borrow money from their local lords after promising their next year¡¯s harvest. The people who didn¡¯t even own any farnds had no way of making money. Even during the cmity in our world¡¯s history, lords and pharmacists were the only people who made a fortune during it. Demons have a stronger immune system by nature, so they had fewer casualties than humans, but they still had casualties nheless. For the Demon Lords who reside in the human world, they naturally took this matter seriously since this gue affected their forces as well. ¡°The good news is that there is a cure for this great cmity. But do you all know who found out that ck herbs can cure the ck Death? It was Dantalian. This is what an executive of the Keuncuska Firm told me.¡± The Demon Lords started to stir. I did my best to remain emotionless. ¡°How could have Dantalian discovered the cure for an unprecedented disease and so quickly at that? Thisdy finds it difficult toprehend this.¡± ¡°It was by pure chance.¡± I answered. ¡°I do not know why you are making this public during a hearing. I personally have an interest in herbalism. When the disease first broke out, I harvested all sorts of herbs and tested them out. ck herbs just happened to be one of them.¡± ¡°Is that so? That is quite different from what thisdy was told.¡± Paimon looked straight at me. ¡°From what I was told, you stocked up on ck herbs ¡®before¡¯ the ck Death broke out. You also urately predicted that the ck Death would ur.¡± The Demon Lords stirred louder. Paimon pointed at me with the end of her fan. ¡°Therefore, Dantalian, not only did you know when the ck Death would ur, but you also coincidentally knew what the cure of the ck Death would be. How can you exin this? Dantalian, all of this is impossible unless you are the culprit behind the ck Death itself!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Hah, how funny. I shot a nce at a spot a little to the left of the center of the ballroom. The highest executive of Keuncuska, Ivar, was standing there. His expression became incredibly grim. It was only natural. Protecting the privacy of their customers was one of the most fundamental rules of being a merchant. Paimon dered that she received information from an executive of the Keuncuska Firm. In other words, what she said just now was simr to saying that she had free ess to the information of Keuncuska Firm¡¯s customers. There was nothing more disgraceful than this. However, I had my doubts about Ivar. ¡®Whether that look is an act or not¡­¡­.¡± This is what I think happened: The Keuncuska Firm and I have been conducting a weird type of psychological warfare against one another due to the incident with Andromalius. I was the one who dealt the first blow. I threatened them by saying that I could tell people about how the firm remained as an idle onlooker as a Demon Lord died. Once I did, the firmter tried to make the daughter of an influential ally of theirs my mistress. They were trying to make me join their side in order topletely escape being threatened by me. I refused this offer. However, by making their employee, Lapis, apany me to this ball, I alluded to them that ¡®I have no intention of being hostile.¡¯ Despite this, this didn¡¯t make the Keuncuska Firm feel relieved. My threat was still alive, after all. Thus, they approached Demon Lord Paimon who was pro-human among the Demon Lords. They told her that I, Dantalian, was the culprit behind the ck Death. The personnel they put in charge of Paimon was Torkel. That old goblin and I don¡¯t have an amicable rtionship. He probably put me in this distressing situation dly. As the ck Death was a serious situation to the pro-human Paimon since this gue could potentially push humankind to extinction, she naturally harbored hostility towards me since she believed I was the culprit behind the outbreak. The Keuncuska Firm incited Paimon through Torkel. Coincidentally, the matter with Andromalius existed, so they most likely intended to make me taste a bitter experience. I quietly got upset. Just how big of a pushover do they think I am to do something like this? Even if Ivar wasn¡¯t the one who sold the information, it is still as clear as day that the Keuncuska Firm has to hold responsibility for this. ¡®Whether you¡¯re the culprit or not, I¡¯ll definitely make you pay the price for this, Ivar.¡± Of course, I didn¡¯t have the power to make him pay the price at the moment. Even if I came out victorious from this hearing, I would only receive a slightpensation in return. Regardless, I¡¯ll never forget what transpired here today. moring filled the ballroom. The Demon Lords started to make a fuss due to Paimon¡¯s revtion. Some of them even shouted at me to confirm whether what Paimon had said was true or not. Marbas maintained an apathetic stance the entire time. ¡°Paimon. You are aware that groundless rumors have no ce here, correct?¡± ¡°Naturally. Thisdy is not making up nonsense.¡± ¡°How was an employee of the Keuncuska Firm aware that Dantalian had predicted the ck Death?¡± ¡°Simr to myself, Dantalian is also partnered with the Keuncuska Firm. Dantalian gathered ck herbs through the Keuncuska Firm which thus led to him receiving a profit of 20,000 gold.¡± ¡°Ivar.¡± Marbas called out to Ivar. ¡°Is this true?¡± ¡°¡­¡­My apologies, Your Highness Marbas, but we do not disclose the personal information of our customers.¡± ¡°So it is true.¡± As expected, Marbas is a Demon Lord as well. It appears that seeing through the lies of others was easy enough for him. I suddenly realized how sly Ivar was. It didn¡¯t matter what he said since Demon Lords can see through him, so he at least made sure to talk about the rules of a merchant on the surface. Marbas turned to face me now. His gaze was murky, but I could clearly tell he was looking right at me. ¡°Dantalian, is this true?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I should also add that you have the right to remain silent. During a hearing, all Demon Lords are equal regardless of their rank. You are not obligated to answer Paimon¡¯s question.¡± I looked back at him. The ballroom became still once more as everyone waited for my reply. If I refuse to answer here, then the hearing will end and only the suspicions against me will remain. This is what the Keuncuska Firm and Paimon want. I¡¯ll end up being dragged around by the other party. Therefore, I decided to use my greatest move. ¡°Your Highness, before I answer, may I ask Ivar something?¡± ¡°I will allow it.¡± ¡°The thing which I wish to ask requires a fair amount of privacy, so please allow me to whisper to Ivar privately.¡± ¡°I will allow this as well.¡± ¡°Thank you very much.¡± I motioned for Ivar toe to me. Once I did, he approached me with hurried steps. He apologized as soon as he got to me. ¡°My sincerest apology, Your Highness. It seems that someone on our side hadmitted a grave crime.¡± ¡°It is quite unfortunate that our first meeting is like this.¡± ¡°We will expose the person responsible at all costs and punish them.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Trying to pull your feet out when the criminal has been obviously chosen already. ¡°That is quite relieving to hear. Nheless, I am saying this because I am worried about our Chief Ivar¡­¡­.¡± I grinned and lowered my back. I brought my mouth to Ivar¡¯s ear and whispered. ¡°I am concerned whether your true body is doing well or not.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!?¡± Shock. I could vividly feel his shock. ¡°H-How do you¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Your blonde hair is truly beautiful. Act at your own discretion.¡± I said only those words before raising my torso back up. Ivar looked like the very embodiment of bewilderment. I could see disbelief in his eyes. Ivar Lodbrok. There¡¯s no way that I wouldn¡¯t know this person¡¯s true identity. The only demon to betray the Demon Lords and join the hero¡¯s side in . Although Ivar genuinely served a certain Demon Lord in the past, once they found out that the Demon Lord only thought of them as a tool, it led them to start despising all Demon Lords. By utilizing the puppeteering and spiritualism which they specialize in, Ivar was a person who made several clones of themself which ultimately allowed them to sessfully hide their true resentment towards Demon Lords. Ivar would also y a big part in betraying the Demon Lord armies at a decisive moment, allowing the protagonist, the hero, to achieve victory. This is why I was surprised the moment I found out this old gentleman was Ivar. Because the Ivar Lodbrok I know isn¡¯t this well-mannered grandpa???but a little girl who looks 12 years old on the outside. You can¡¯t hide anything from me. I¡¯ve already seen all of your events, yed through your route, and gotten your ending. I also know that Ivar¡¯s true body is hidden somewhere in the frozen ins of the Moscow Kingdom. Albeit, I don¡¯t know where exactly. But does Ivar have a way to see through this? The lowest ranking Demon Lord somehow knows the secret which no one should know. Furthermore, it¡¯s the Demon Lord who had also previously predicted the outbreak of the ck Death. I am certain that I undoubtedly appear like a terrifying Demon Lord right now to Ivar. She should have taken my words just now as a threat, that I could get rid of her real body at any moment. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A long silence followed. Theints of several Demon Lords resonated throughout the ballroom. They were most likely annoyed about the long silence when the culprit behind the epidemic could possibly be revealed at any moment. Ivar finally opened his mouth. ¡°Her Highness Paimon¡¯s words are a lie.¡± Ivar¡¯s words caused Paimon to open her soft lips in surprise and also make the ballroom burst with anger in an instant. ¡°That bastard is lying!¡± ¡°This bat scum, who do you think you are lying before!?¡± The Demon Lords all shouted their respectivements and caused a ruckus. There were even a couple of people who looked like they were about to charge at Ivar. However, Ivar remained impassive with his eyes closed. The mor didn¡¯t settle like it did before. Even though Marbas raised his hand and asked everyone to quiet down, the other Demon Lords continued to shout. ¡°Hm.¡± Marbas slowly raised his right foot. ¡ª Thud. The entire ballroom shook. It felt like there was a small earthquake. The Demon Lords quickly shut their mouths. They weren¡¯t dumb enough to not know that that was Marbas¡¯ warning. The Rank 5th Demon Lord was strong enough to send more than half the Demon Lords here straight to Hades. ¡°Silence. From this point forth, I forbid anyone from talking unless I allow it.¡± Marbas turned to look at Ivar. ¡°Chief of Keuncuska, do you know what you are doing right now?¡± ¡°Your Highness, I apologize, but I have not uttered a single lie after stepping foot into this ballroom.¡± ¡°That is a lie!¡± Paimon shouted. ¡°That man is lying, Marbas.¡± ¡°Your Highness Paimon, although the ability of Demon Lords is astonishingly magnificent, I know that it is unable to urately distinguish the intricacy of emotions. It is true that His Highness Dantalian had bought ck herbs in preparation for the ck Death; however, to say that he had also caused the ck Death¡­¡­that is something which this humble one has no way of knowing. If you are not the devil himself, how could one aplish such a feat?¡± Marbas stroked his beard as if he were deep in thought. This was most likely because he could feel that Ivar wasn¡¯t lying. I snickered on the inside. Ivar had twisted his words intricately. ¡®However, to say that he had also caused the ck Death, that is something which this humble one has no way of knowing,¡¯ this answer was very ambiguous. Naturally, Ivar only had suspicions that I had caused the ck Death, he didn¡¯t actually witness me spread it myself. That¡¯s why it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that he didn¡¯t know anything. Demon Lords fundamentally believe in their own abilities. Since they are able to directly read the emotions of others, Ivar managed to avoid suspicion by digging into that fact. How impressive. Marbas spoke as if he werementing. ¡°Ivar is not lying. What is the meaning of this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is definitely what thisdy was told.¡± Paimon answered. ¡°I ask for a witness to step forward. I request for Torkel, the highest executive of the Keuncuska Firm, to step forward as my witness!¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wanted to get this out sooner, but as you all know, I¡¯m on my trip at the moment. I went from San Fransisco>Las Angs>Las Vegas. Our group will be taking a flight to Washington D.Cter today. It¡¯s been a rather busy trip with a jammed pack schedule, so excuse my tranting speed. I hope to see you guys within a week. Chapter 42: Walpurgis Night (7) Chapter 42: Walpurgis Night (7) Marbas spoke as he stroke his beard. ¡°Can he present himself immediately?¡± ¡°Yes. Torkel is waiting outside the ballroom. If summoned, then at any time¡­¡­!¡± ¡°I allow it. Except, I shall end this hearing here if the witness does not arrive within the next 5 minutes. Furthermore, I will also then dere this as Dantalian¡¯s victory.¡± Paimon lowered her head gratefully before hastily making her way out the entrance of the ballroom in search of her personal employee who should be on standby somewhere. The other Demon Lords continued to murmur as they watched her leave. The hearing was put on pause. I felt my chest cool down. ¡®How foolish.¡¯ Paimon chose the worst possible option. Think about it. Torkel abandoned his duty as a merchant and gave Paimon confidential information. In other words, Torkel is Paimon¡¯s spy. If you add the name ¡®Torkel¡¯ to the original vague title of ¡®an executive of the firm who had given her this information¡¯, then, at that instant, the fault of going against one¡¯s duty as a merchant doesn¡¯t lie on all of the Keuncuska Firm but on Torkel alone. Her mentioning his name was no different from mercilessly ending Torkel¡¯s life as a merchant. The maiden who cares so much about the survival of humankind but doesn¡¯t properly take care of a single demon who is actually her ally, that is the Rank 9th Paimon. There was an event like this in as well. When the hero found himself in a perilous situation, Paimon appeared with her army and broke the borate trap that had been set up by the other Demon Lords which in turn allowed the hero and his party to escape. In the shoes of the yers, it was a scene where they shouted ¡®As expected of Paimon! The pure maiden!¡¯ However, I thought differently. In the shoes of demonkind, the hero was a nightmare that was iparable to something like the ck Death. 72 Demon Lords were being killed one by one at the hands of a single human, was this not a cmity? Once the main character and his party breach Rank 30 of the Demon Lords, the difficulty of the game increases drastically. ording to the story, that was when the demons began to genuinely feel a sense of crisis as they proceeded to carry out arge-scale invasion of the human world. And yet, Paimon, despite being Rank 9, worked with a couple of other Demon Lords to obstruct her own side. Even though demons are far stronger than humans, due to Paimon having separated the demons into separate factions, the human-beastmen alliance manages to defeat them. Thus, the demons lose their foothold in the surface world and end up retreating fully back to the demon world. Furthermore, after they lose their pivotal figures known as Demon Lords, they lose their hopes for unity and peace and end up being confined eternally within the cycle of the survival of the fittest. A pandemonium where the strong takes everything and consideration towards others no longer exist. A pure maiden in the eyes of the yer? ¡®A traitor to her country. No, she¡¯s beyond that. She¡¯s a traitor to her own kind.¡¯ If I were to borrow Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos¡¯ words, then Paimon is a bitch that¡¯s worse than a whore. It would have been understandable if she were like Ivar from the Keuncuska Firm who had a rational reason to betray the Demon Lord army; however, Paimon squandered her allies simply because she thought humans were interesting and because she had taken a liking to the hero. This is why I always disliked Paimon as a character. I stood still as I waited for Paimon to return. Honestly, I was overflowing with the desire to go back to Lapis and catch my breath, but since Marbas was standing right next to me with his eyes closed, I couldn¡¯t will myself to move however I wanted. ¡®Damn it. At the very least, it¡¯d be great if I had something to fiddle with.¡¯ I should go to a shop and buy a cane or something tomorrow. Fortunately, I managed to naturally gain a talking partner as I was in the midst of waiting awkwardly. ¡°Hey, you. You¡¯re pretty good at talking for a low rank.¡± It was Barbatos, the person who had been enthusiastically picking a fight with Paimon since the beginning of the hearing. With short and quick steps, the girl wearing a mostly red dress walked up to me. Despite her young appearance, the way she walked and the atmosphere she gave off was mature, so it felt somewhat offputting. ¡°Your words honor me, Your Highness Barbatos.¡± In any case, in terms of ranking, she was far above me. In this current situation where I was being forced to stand against Paimon, the mere fact that a high-ranking Demon Lord favored me was fortunate. I greeted her as respectfully as possible. ¡°Ah¨C it¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. I absolutely hate that kind of etiquette.¡± She made a retching noise and twisted the corners of her mouth as she waved her hand. ¡°Demon Lords these days have no spirit! In the past, we used to throw fireballs at each other whenever we met. They don¡¯t know how to sharepanionship now.¡± ¡­¡­Watching a girl who only looked like a little girl on the outside go on about young people these days felt bizarre. Referentially, Barbatos was also a character with a fairly strong fanbase. Threadscalling her an SM loliwould often appear in the strategy fansite, but I honestly couldn¡¯t understand any of them. ¡°I was able to enjoy myself for the first time in a long while. Aah, to be able to see that whore get upset!¡± ¡°It seems you are on bad terms with Her Highness Paimon.¡± ¡°Ah. Her Highness? Who are you calling Her Highness?¡± Barbatos¡¯ slim brows narrowed. ¡°Why are you being polite for, brat? Did you hit your head on a pole? Aren¡¯t you a Demon Lord?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s great that you answer quickly. Hey, you¡¯re a Demon Lord and that bitch is also a Demon Lord. Why are two people of the same standing talking to each other formally? I don¡¯t get it. Are you that bitch¡¯s vassal?¡± ¡°I am not.¡± ¡°Yeah, you aren¡¯t! Your Highness here, Your Highness there, I can¡¯t tell whether I¡¯m at a Walpurgis Night or back at my castle.¡± Her way of speech was unfittingly crude despite her childlike outer appearance. How should I put it? It may really contrast Barbatos¡¯ appearance, but¡­¡­she was almost like a delinquent leader, a mafia boss. ¡°I will refer to you as Miss Barbatos from now on, then.¡± ¡°Just talk casually, you rookie bastard. Are you looking down on me because I¡¯m older than you? Treating your elders with respect is something that can go to Hell.¡± ¡°Hahah.¡± Iughed. Even in the game, she was a character who had an unyielding nature since birth. Even though this kind of person is in a high position, she¡¯s able to conversely establish her own authority by personally breaking the concept of authority herself. I am strong enough to crush authority, this was the sort of impression she gave to the people around her. Raising Barbatos¡¯ affection was a lot simplerpared to others. I stuck out my right hand. ¡°All right, Barbatos. My name is Dantalian.¡± ¡°Oh? You¡¯re really going informal?¡± Barbatos took my hand in hers. She was wearing a pair ofwhite gloves. The soft texture of high-quality cloth entered my hand. ¡°How could I disregard Rank 8th¡¯s remark?¡± ¡°What?¡± Barbatos cackled. I¡¯m not speaking formally because I am now taking your words seriously, it seems that this implication got through to her quickly. ¡°Look at this rookie brat. Did you rub olive oil on your tongue? Well, you have to be this good if you¡¯re going to let that bitch Paimon taste a bitter defeat. All right. My name is Barbatos. Call me whatever you want, brat.¡± She strengthened her grip as we shook hands. A notification appeared at the same time. ¡¸Demon Lord Barbatos¡¯ affection has risen by 5!¡¹ That¡¯s right. Barbatos likes brave and honest people. She also had a rather favorable opinion of the hero because of how he would pick a fight with her unrelentingly. Barbatos didn¡¯t distinguish who she favored whether they were enemies or allies. In a way that differed from the approval rating given by the lolicons, I didn¡¯t dislike ¡®Demon Lord¡¯ Barbatos. She was one of the Demon Lords who fought against the hero¡¯s party the most aggressively. By fair means or foul, she did whatever she could to push the hero¡¯s party into dire situations. ¡®Hurry up and kill me, you son of a bitch.¡¯ Even herst moment was aplete contrast to Paimon¡¯s. Paimon asked for a kiss during her final breath in order to leave the biggest impression on the hero, but Barbatos got angry and urged the hero to hurry up and kill her. An illustration would appear the instant she calls the main character a son of a bitch and in that depiction, Barbatos had a surprisingly satisfied grin on her face. She genuinely looked like a mob leader that you would normally see in movies. ¡°Listen carefully. Paimon may be annoying, but that bitch isn¡¯t someone who would harass others because of a grudge. Do you understand what I¡¯m trying to say?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about grudges and put an end to Paimon with no loose ends left behind.¡± ¡°Wow!¡± Barbatos opened her eyes wide. She started to pull on the clothes of Marbas who was standing quietly next to her. ¡°Geezer! Look at this kid! He¡¯s fucking sharp.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am thinking right now. Do not disturb me.¡± ¡°Wow, fuck. Why is this bastardstill rank 71? With that wit, he should have been able to be rank 40 even if he lived his life begging for food. What have you been doing all your life? Geezer, you should raise him. Youined about the brats above rank 50 not being as good as they used to be like some old man on a rainy day that one time.¡± ¡°You once stated that Demon Lords must be existences that can stand alone.¡± Marbas was still closing his eyes, but his eyebrows twitched. ¡°Also, I told you to not disturb me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying, you fuck. It just feels great to meet a bright rookie after having to deal with a bunch of imbeciles. You seriously like being dignified too much.¡± Oh, his eyebrows twitched again. Regardless, his eyes remained closed. This person is having apetition of pride at a weird time. ¡°In any case, you got it. Don¡¯t worry about the aftermath and go all out. If by the rare chance that whore tries to retaliate, then I¡¯ll stop her. All right?¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Sheesh. Do you think I¡¯m doing this for you? I¡¯m doing this to teach that whore bitch who doesn¡¯t have even a sliver of a brain a lesson. Do your best, Dantalian or whatever. Since it seems you have quite a stable personality, you¡¯ll be able to live long if you do well.¡± Barbatos then turned around and walked back to her original spot. She looked cool whether she was approaching me or walking away. I honestly couldn¡¯t help but be in awe. Whenever I see someone who is able to show off their self-contentment that perfectly, I inadvertently end up giving them my praise. Marbas let out a sigh once she left. Mm, I have a rough grasp of what sort of rtionship the two of them have. If I were to form a guess using the conversation between Marbas and Paimon earlier as a basis, then this man most likely values traditions greatly. Someone as uncensored as Barbatos was probably a poisonous existence for someone with that kind of personality. ¡°¡­¡­The five minutes are almost up.¡± Marbas opened his eyes. Dear God. It appears that he didn¡¯t close his eyes because he was thinking about something in particr. He closed his eyes because he was counting those five minutes. I gradually felt like I was getting a better grasp on this old man¡¯s personality. ¡°Although it would only be right to end the hearing here since the witness is not present,¡± Marbas nced towards the entrance of the ballroom. ¡°Since they narrowly managed to make it on time, I will overlook it.¡± At that moment, two individuals walked through the marble doorway. One of them was Paimon. The other was the goblin Torkel who was much shorter than Paimon. Torkel had an incredibly prudent and cid expression on his face while Paimon¡¯s face was filled with delight. ¡°Here! This one here is Torkel.¡± Paimon eximed boldly in a tone that sounded as if she had won. ¡°Ask him anything. Torkel will also assure you that Dantalian is the culprit behind the ck Death!¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Marbas turned his gaze towards Ivar in order to get confirmation that the goblin was indeed an executive of the Keuncuska Firm. Ivar bowed respectfully. Marbas nodded. ¡°Very well then. Old goblin, you have been chosen as a witness for this hearing. Step forward.¡± ¡°It is an honor to meet all of Your Highnesses.¡± Torkel stepped out to the center of the ballroom. Like before, he was holding a staff that was twice his height. He leaned on his staff for support as he gave a bow to all 4 corners of the room. I could tell that he had resolved himself very strongly. ¡®¡­¡­Hmm.¡¯ I was somewhat curious. I honestly doubt Torkel could possibly reverse this situation at this point. For starters, it was a fact that I didn¡¯t spread the ck Death. Even if he is one of the highest executives of the Keuncuska Firm, he can¡¯t pretend as if something that didn¡¯t happen had actually transpired???especially when he¡¯s before the greatest lie detectors in the world. Despite this, Torkel¡¯s chest was filled with courage like a knight that had stepped out on to a battlefield. It felt like he had already made a firm decision. ¡®But how?¡¯ Whether Paimon wanted it to or not, the responsibility of this incident has been passed on to solely Torkel of the Keuncuska Firm due to her actions. Adding to this, Keuncuska¡¯s other elite executive, Ivar, had their feet tied because of my threat. Thus, Torkel couldn¡¯t possibly hope for any assistance from his firm. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn¡¯t think of anything that Torkel could do right now. The oue has already been determined. The only people who still don¡¯t know this is probably that foolish Paimon and a few others. I suddenly felt nervous at the possibility of Torkel having some sort of trump card. I have no more moves now. I couldn¡¯t possibly threaten Marbas and forcefully make him end the hearing. ¡°I inquire you: were you the one who stated that Dantalian here was the culprit behind the ck Death?¡± ¡°Yes. That is what this humble one had said.¡± ¡°How did youe to this conclusion? If you have any proof, then bring them forth now.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Torkel raised his upper body. He looked straight at Marbas as he spoke. Paimon watched Torkel from behind with a smile on her lips. It took no more than 10 seconds for her smile to change into shock. ¡°I told Her Highness Paimon that His Highness Dantalian had undoubtedly caused the ck Death; however, that was a lie. A t out lie.¡± ¡°W-What!?¡± Paimon was bewildered. There was no change in Marbas¡¯ expression as he red at Torkel. He was most likely assessing whether the other party was lying or telling the truth. Nevertheless, Torkel didn¡¯t pause as he continued quickly. ¡°His Highness Dantalian and I have a small connection. Once His Highness discovered the medicinal herbs that had an effect on the ck Death, I saw the value in His Highness¡¯ product. Thus, I personally approached His Highness and suggested that I should be his exclusive manager. However, His Highness rejected me saying that he already had an exclusive manager.¡± Torkel raised his staff and pointed it at a corner of the ballroom. ¡°That girl over there is that very personnel. Lapis Lazuli. She is nothing more than a low-level employee. I took this refusal as a great insult. Despite my appearance, I am someone who has survived as a merchant for hundreds of years, after all. His Highness Dantalian¡¯s refusal greatly injured my pride as a merchant. Therefore¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Torkel! What are you talking about, Torkel!?¡± Paimon was now screaming. ¡°Look at thisdy! Look at thisdy right this instant!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Therefore, I did the unthinkable and decided to get revenge on His Highness Dantalian. I had also taken this as a challenge as a Keuncuska merchant. In any case, I judged that a certain type of retaliation was required.¡± I was able to grasp Torkel¡¯s intent at this point. ???What a terrifying guy. I turned to look at Ivar to see what they were doing. Ivar was standing quietly with their eyes closed. Damn it! I wanted to let out a snort. So this is how you¡¯re going to y this out. ¡°I approached Her Highness Paimon and told her this: Dantalian is trying to exterminate all of humankind. Dantalian is also the one who had created this unprecedented disease. Coincidentally, since there is the matter of His Highness Andromalius¡¯ murder, we should be able to do something to Dantalian if we hone down on that. What does Your Highness Marbas think? Were there any lies in this humble one¡¯s words?¡± ¡°Mm.¡± ¡°I dare to say that there were none. It is only natural since this humble one has only spoken the truth. This was all a scheme that this humble one had enacted alone. Since this one had a personal grudge against His Highness Dantalian, I thus also acted for the sake of doing harm to His Highness Dantalian. I was also the one who had sold His Highness Dantalian¡¯s information, despite also being a client of the Keuncuska Firm, to Her Highness Paimon. The only wrongdoing Her Highness Paimon had done was the act of trusting this old goblin¡¯s words. Although I may be overstepping my bounds greatly, since all the me lies on this humble one,¡± There was no time to do anything. ¡°I wish to apologize for this incident with my life.¡± As soon as he finished that sentence, Torkel pulled out a dagger from his coat and pierced it through his own throat. The dagger prated the old goblin¡¯s slender neck with great ease. The end of the de stuck out the back of his neck like a thorn. The small goblin¡¯s body copsed onto the ballroom¡¯s cold floor. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! Honestly, I¡¯m impressed that I managed to release 2 chapters while still in the middle of my trip. I¡¯m not with my university group anymore as I¡¯m now staying at my aunt¡¯s ce for a week. I learned that traveling in a group with people you don¡¯t know that well isn¡¯t a good experience. There were some fun times, but there were many more inconvenient times. Someone in the group also stole money from us because 3 people including me found out we lost a hundred dors during thest week of the trip. We couldn¡¯t have lost it because the money was in a spot deep in our respective bags. So yeah, fun times. In any case, the next chapter mighte out before I go back to Korea or after. Either way, I¡¯m going to be a bit busy enjoying the rest of my trip. See you guys in the next release! Chapter 43: Walpurgis Night (8) Chapter 43: Walpurgis Night (8) Silence. Marbas seemed tired as he cleaned his monocle with a handkerchief. Barbatos let out a chuckle after she used a fork to take a bite of a cake that had been prepared at the side of the ballroom. The other Demon Lords were still in silent awe due to the umon scene which the old goblin had just yed out. It was like the moment of silence that would uras the audience hold their breathafter an amazing concert performance. ¡°Ah¡­¡­aah¡­¡­?¡± Paimon was, Paimon fell to her knees next to the corpse. ¡°Ah¡­¡­a, ah¡­¡­.¡± She would let out a sound every now and then like static from a broken speaker. The event which she couldn¡¯t have possibly imagined an hour ago had happened. I didn¡¯t feel sympathy or pity. Fortune has always been something that left quickly and misfortune was something that always arrived quickly. I was simply thinking about how I was going to handle this situation since it had beplicated because Torkel killed himself after taking all of the responsibility. Torkel, he used a clever choice of words. ¡®His Highness Dantalian and I have a small connection.¡¯ He first opened with something that had actually happened. The fact that we met due to the matter regarding the ck Death. That there was a slight battle of spirit in regard to Lapis. These were all things that had genuinely happened. Like this, by not uttering a single lie in the beginning, he was able to obtain the trust of the Demon Lords. He advanced rapidly after he obtained their trust. ¡®His Highness Dantalian¡¯s refusal greatly injured my pride as a merchant. Therefore, I did the unthinkable and decided to get revenge on His Highness Dantalian¡­¡­In any case, I judged that a certain type of retaliation was required.¡¯ After talking about events that had actually urred, he began to talk about his mentality. His pride being injured and his resolve, these were all psychological things. Sure, Torkel¡¯s pride was probably actually harmed, but why did something like that matter? He was a merchant that had lived for hundreds of years. He should be able to act rationally regardless of his emotions. What he felt and what he did were two separate matters. Despite this, instead of disclosing the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s position on the matter, he only borated about his own feelings which made it seem like that was the cause behind this incident. The highlight was ¡®a certain type of retaliation¡¯. What was ¡®a certain type¡¯ supposed to mean? He snaked around the issue by covering a concrete word with an incredibly ambiguous word. ¡®This was all a scheme that this humble one had enacted alone. Since this one had a personal grudge against His Highness Dantalian, I thus also acted for the sake of doing harm to His Highness Dantalian. I was also the one who had sold His Highness Dantalian¡¯s information, despite also being a client of the Keuncuska Firm, to Her Highness Paimon.¡¯ Adding to this, he cunningly included that he had ¡®enacted¡¯ this alone. Not that he had ¡®nned¡¯ this alone. Naturally, a single person can act when carrying out a n. Even if a lot of people were involved when devising the n, a single person is enough to enact it! Torkel¡¯s rhetoric went like this: First, by speaking the truth, he made it seem like he was being sincere. Second, by doing so, he made the other party believe that he was still speaking the truth even after he began to talk about his mentality. Third, he finished by uttering an ambiguous word over the factual grounds. ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s perfect.¡± I found myself uttering these words to myself. The sly merchant managed to perfectly deceive dozens of Demon Lords within a short period of time. His suicide was the finishing touch. Since there was a chance that his ambiguously covered truth could be revealed if he were to be questioned, he made further inquiries impossible by dying. I couldn¡¯t help but be in awe. It is only natural for one to be shocked after apletely unpredicted course of events. Could anyone have imagined that a Rank 9 Demon Lord could be done in by a Rank 71 Demon Lord? Nheless, not only did Torkel calmly figure out what he had to do to minimize the losses, but he carried it out as well???by making the mistake of the Keuncuska Firm as a whole into his own and Paimon¡¯s blunder into a scheme that was devised by a mere merchant. Did he calcte that his life was a fair price if it meant that this trickery could seed? ¡®So this is one of the greatest merchants of the demon world.¡¯ If the person I had to facefirstwas Torkel and not Paimon, then¡­¡­my victory would have definitely been more difficult to achieve. ¡®All right.¡¯ Putting Paimon aside, I give this goblin my respect. Although it¡¯s unfortunate that I couldn¡¯t obtain a perfect victory, I certain part of me wanted to overlook it because of the goblin¡¯s desperate ploy. The Keuncuska Firm and Paimon are factions that are overwhelmingly more powerful than my own. I reasoned with myself under the logic that my future would be more worrisome if I were to corner them excessively here. ¡°I shall now give a verdict.¡± Marbas spoke in apletely casual tone. ¡°As Rank 9, Demon Lord of Destruction, Paimon had requested this, during this hearing which has been approved under my, Rank 5, Demon Lord of Control, Marbas¡¯ name, two matters were discussed.¡± His t voice reverberated all the way to the far corners of the ballroom. I could hear each of Marbas¡¯ words clearly even though he was speaking in a low tone. Paimon was still sitting next to the corpse as he continued. ¡°The first matter was about Rank 72, Demon Lord of Fear, Andromalius. Under the crime of murdering Andromalius, Paimon asked for Rank 71, Demon Lord of Many Faces, Dantalian to be imprisoned for 300 years. As per tradition, we shall determine which party is right through a vote.¡± Marbas nced around the room. ¡°To those of you who believe Dantalian is guilty, raise your right hand.¡± I didn¡¯t bother to look around to see the result since I¡¯d probably look weak if I acted that anxiously. I waited quietly and with conviction. Marbas waited approximately 10 seconds before nodding his head. ¡°0 votes. For the first matter, I announce that Dantalian is innocent.¡± I didn¡¯t feel even slightly overjoyed. This was a natural oue. The important thing wasn¡¯t winning or losing. It was how overwhelming my win was going to be. The voting results have an implicit connection to my approval rating. It didn¡¯t matter whether the Demon Lords here personally liked me or not. The ones who may one day be hostile towards me will undoubtedly be affected by the results of this hearing since they will remember me as a Demon Lord who has an overwhelming amount of support from the other Demon Lords. Marbas continued. ¡°The second matter was about the ck Death. Paimon imed that the culprit behind the cause and spread of the ck Death was Dantalian. To those of you who believe this to be true, raise your right hand.¡± Another 10 seconds passed. Marbas moved his lips. ¡°0 votes.¡± The corners of my lips raised slightly. This is great! I managed to obtain the best results. At the very least, I don¡¯t have to worry about being hated by the Demon Lords for the time being. Whether it be the Demon Lords that are present here or the ones that are currently absent. What will they think once they hear that a Rank 71 had triumphed over a Rank 9? Would they think that the Rank 71 was so amazing that the Rank 9 could do nothing but tremble? I highly doubt it. The higher the rank, the more pride Demon Lords have towards their abilities. Therefore, the Demon Lords with higher ranks than Paimon will most likely connect her loss to some other reason. For example, help from another Demon Lord. I¡¯m fairly certain that they¡¯ll interpret this incident as a political battle of wits between two high-ranking Demon Lords. Especially if they learn that Barbatos had approached me during the brief recess to have a chat with me! Barbatos only came to me so that she could voice her intent to protect me in the slim chance of retaliation from the other party. However, there was no certainty that it would appear like that to the other Demon Lords as well. They¡¯ll recall the fact that Paimon and Barbatos are old rivals and assume that all of this might have possibly been a scheme that Barbatos had nned in secret¡­¡­. Nheless, I can take advantage of this by using this doubt and taking things as theye. While the Demon Lords are paying attention to my nonexistent backing faction, I can safely develop my dungeon. I unexpectedly managed to obtain a nice shield when I only came to Niflheim to rest. Considering that this was all thanks to Paimon¡¯s needless meddling, I think I¡¯m starting to like her. Just kidding. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon was looking at Torkel¡¯s face with unfocused eyes. It seems she no longer had the strength to even make a sound. Beside her, Marbas concluded the verdict in a somewhat cold but befitting attitude. ¡°For the second matter, I dere that Dantalian is innocent.¡± Someone apuded. When I turned to look, I saw that Barbatos was pping with her small, pale hands. The other Demon Lords began to apud in twos and threes. It wasn¡¯t long before more than half of the Demon Lords were apuding. I expressed my gratitude by giving a bow to all four corners of the room. There was something bizarre about thisposition: a group of people apuding, a corpse lying in the center of the ballroom with a maiden sitting next to it, and a man that¡¯s bowing. Was this how the diators in ancient Rome felt whenever they came out victorious in the Coliseum? ¡°Let us now discuss the punitive measure which shall be enacted upon Paimon.¡± ¡°Your Highness Marbas, may I say something in regard to that?¡± I took a step forward. ¡°I shall allow it.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. Although this humble one has been unjustly ndered, as you all had witnessed, Her Highness Paimon was deceived by that Keuncuska merchant. Her Highness Paimon has done nothing wrong.¡± Oh ho, Marbas voiced his interest. ¡°In other words, what you are trying to say is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes. As a party directly involved in this hearing, I do not wish for Her Highness Paimon to be punished. In the first case, is tonight not our sacred Walpurgis Night? Would a punishment in this situation not ruin our festive mood?¡± I disyed a pleasant smile. The Demon Lords began to stir around me. They looked surprised; and yet, none of them seemed to be against this idea. Outsiders couldn¡¯t possibly voice their discontent when the person who was directly used wasing out like this. It worried me slightly since Miss Barbatos, who was all the way in a corner, seemed displeased with this as she was frowning, but since I didn¡¯t receive any notification telling me that her affection had fallen, this much was probably fine. ¡¸Demon Lord Marbas¡¯ affection has risen by 12.¡¹ ¡®Good.¡¯ I cheered in my head. This was what I was aiming for. I haven¡¯t known him for long, but I could more than easily tell that this old man is someone whoextremely values traditions. No matter how hard he tried to act calm andposed on the outside, there¡¯s no way he would be happy about this event, which he was personally leading, being ruined by an abrupt hearing. He gave off this impression every now and then during the hearing. He couldn¡¯t just disregard the request of a Rank 9 and he had to hold this event as well¡­¡­. And yet, despite being the one who was wrongly used, I suggested that we should forget about the hearing and focus on the asion. It was like I had watered his dry garden. ¡°Very well, then. I will take Dantalian¡¯s suggestion and not enact any punishment. I personally thank you, Dantalian, for your magnanimity.¡± Sure enough, he took the bait. In the eyes of others, Dantalian won¡¯t appear like some Rank 71 small fry, but as an individual who has the protection of both Barbatos and Marbas, two high-ranking Demon Lords. I could vividly hear my chances of survival rising. ¡°Nevertheless, Paimon may not be at fault, but she cannotpletely rid herself of responsibility.¡± Marbas spoke in a more refreshed tone. ¡°Paimon, use this opportunity to apologize to Dantalian.¡± At that moment, Paimon, who had been still like a doll this entire time, twitched. ¡°Apolo¡­¡­gize¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon braced herself with her hands. She tried to raise her body but failed. ¡°Impossible¡­¡­there¡¯s no way Torkel would have¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You must have clearly read that goblin¡¯s emotions as well. It is beyond a reasonable doubt that he had deceived you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­He had¡­¡­betrayed thisdy?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Paimon turned to look at me. It seems that was the most she could do in her current state. ¡°¡­¡­Inno, cent?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness Paimon.¡± I answered. ¡°I did not create the ck Death nor did I intentionally spread it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon paused. After a moment of time that felt both brief and long, she moved her lips. ¡°¡­¡­I am¡­¡­sor¡­¡­.¡± An incredibly soft tone. I could make out what she was trying to say simply by looking at her face. Regardless, she must have thought that that wasn¡¯t enough as she kept saying it over and over again. ¡°I am¡­¡­sorry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am sorry¡­¡­I am sorry¡­¡­.¡± Droplets of water fell on the marble floor. Paimon continued to say the same words repeatedly. She then managed to push herself up before weakly walking out of the ballroom. The wolf person who quickly ran over to support her was most likely Paimon¡¯s ball partner. A queer silence pressed down on the room. Marbas pped once. ¡°There were variousplications, but that does not change that Walpurgis Night is tonight¡¯s main purpose.¡± In that instant, the ballroom which had been enveloped by a veil of darkness was filled with light. The numerous chandeliers hanging from the ceiling began to emit a bright light. Multiple instruments flew in from somewhere before they began to perform on their own. The Demon Lords chuckled due to the sudden shift in mood. They must have immediately forgotten that they were silent a moment ago as a couple of them started to talk about how poor Paimon¡¯s apology was. The shameful conduct disyed by a high-ranking Demon Lord was effective in livening the mood. I naturally rxed as well. Threatening Ivar with a bluff, punishing the Keuncuska Firm for their mistake, trying to raise Marbas and Barbatos¡¯ affection towards me even further, etc. I still have a lot that I have to do, but???. The first thing I chose to do was approach Lapis who had been standing next to a pir in the ballroom and looking at me worriedly. I jokingly waved at Lapis. ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry for leaving you here next to a wall even though I brought you here as my partner. Will you forgive me?¡± Lapis looked as if she was thinking about how she should respond. There were no emotions on her face, but that was something I could tell even with my eyes close. She was happy for a moment before getting angry and then she contemted for a bit. In any case, after she went through various emotions within the span of a few seconds, she finally came to a conclusion. Lapis bowed to me courteously and, ¡°Thank you for your effort.¡± said those words. There were no exaggerations, but it was beautiful because there were no exaggerations whatsoever. This light feeling of being moved was most likely my emotion. I ruffled Lapis¡¯ hair with one hand before patting it. Like this, the hearing came to an end. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m surprised I managed to finish this before my flight back to Korea. I¡¯ll probably rest for a day or two once I get back to Korea and then I¡¯ll get back to work. This is the end of the Walpurgis Night section so I¡¯ll most likely work on another chapter of Handholding next. I have a flight to catch now, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Hopefully, I don¡¯t get infected with the coronavirus on the ne. Chapter 44: Quest Breaker (1) Chapter 44: Quest Breaker (1) ¡°Chief, please review this report.¡± A young man put down a pile of documents. After seeing the mountain of paper piled on top of her desk, the woman narrowed her eyes. She was in the middle of reading a manga series she found to be entertaining. She had just got to an exciting scene where the protagonist, who used to always flirt and y with women, was suddenly changed into a female and was now being flirted with instead. The people whom this woman hates the most are the ones who interrupt her when she¡¯s reading manga. The people whom she hates the second most are the ones who give her work to do. Coincidentally, the young man in front of her had met both of these conditions. Therefore, the woman¡¯s face contorted greatly. ¡°Huh? Fuck, you want to get your nose smashed into the Jordan River?¡± It wasn¡¯t surprising that she would re at the youngster and react like this. ¡°Haa¡­¡­.¡± The blonde man let out a heavy sigh. ¡°I put in quite a lot of effortto make this report, you know?¡± ¡°Even if you put in quite a lot of effort to build a tower or to throw around shit, why should I look at it? Want me to paint your head pink? If I do, then maybe your gray brain will finally be able to think for a change.¡± ¡°Chief, if you don¡¯t set a deadline and finish your work before it, then¡­¡­.¡± The woman closed her manga. ¡°Ha, look at this brat. Set a deadline and finish my work? When you were in your mother¡¯s stomach, did you tell her that you wanted toe out at a certain month, day, hour, and second, before telling her to open her hole up and wait till then? You¡¯re the type of bastard who can only do things when the time is right and can¡¯t get erect if you don¡¯t schedule it beforehand. If you like deadlines so much, then do you want me to make a deadline for you as well? Huh? How have you lived life when you don¡¯t know when the deadline of your life is? You¡¯ve got quite the mug on you. I¡¯m very curious as to if you have one testicle or two, so do you mind if I personally confirm it?¡± The young man thought in his head. Holy Christ, she¡¯s terrifying. The Chief is a beauty. She ims that her ck, straight hair isn¡¯t simple hair but is actually rather luxurious, so I should appreciate it ordingly. Although she wears a gray hoodie that is absolutely not appropriate for work, since it was on her body, it looked like some aristocrat¡¯s dress. It¡¯s still hard for me to get used to hearing the words ¡®bastard¡¯ and ¡®testicle¡¯e out of this beauty¡¯s mouth. ¡®I-I won¡¯t back down today!¡¯ The young man gulped. It¡¯s because of this personality of hers that, despite being so talented, she was pushed out of the central office and sent to the countryside. Normally, I would apologize for interrupting her and back away, but I wanted toe out victorious today. ¡°Chief! When exactly will you look at the report then?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Your mother must have known when you were going to be born when she had you, huh, you undutiful brat? For now, I¡¯ll think about it after I finish reading this, so zip your lips and go sit in a corner.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯ll think about it after you finish reading yesterday, the day before that, and the day before that!? How long do you intend to read that manga for!?¡± The woman answered cooly. ¡°Until the day I run out of manga to read.¡± ¡°New mangae out monthly and annually¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll keep reading until manga disappears from the world.¡± ¡°Do you have no intention to work!?¡± ¡°Yup. So don¡¯t give me work to do.¡± I am certain now. My superior is the worst piece of trash in the world. If you toss her in the sea next to Incheon, then I¡¯m sure that the ocean will freak out and spit her back out. If you throw her out into space, then the Sr System itself will panic because of the piece of trash and leave the Earth behind as it runs off to Andromeda¡­¡­. The young man felt as if his will would break the moment he came to this realization. In the past, he used to be proud of the fact that this woman was his superior. However, he only held resignation and disappointment now. If he didn¡¯t make the resolve that he was sacrificing himself for the sake of the Earth and outer space, then he would have hung himself on a utility pole a long time ago. Nevertheless, why was he the one who had to sacrifice himself¡­¡­? Although the young man had asked himself this question thousands of times already, he had yet to find an answer. One thing was clear, though. Whether it be God¡¯s mischief or fate, he was the only one who could educate this rotten superior. The young man snatched away all of the manga that was on the desk. The woman opened her mouth in surprise. ¡°I¡¯ll be confiscating these until you read the report!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The woman red at the man. Naturally, he didn¡¯t avert his gaze. He didn¡¯t move after raising the manga books up in the air. There was a moment of silence. ¡°Fine.¡± The woman relented. ¡°I¡¯ll have a look.¡± ¡°R-Really!?¡± The young man couldn¡¯t believe that he had seeded as he opened his eyes wide. He was also in awe. Faith can move mountains, right? Even if she¡¯s human garbage, a blob of greed, a sry stealer, and a shut-in, there are no trees that won¡¯t fall after a few hundred swings. ¡°Thank you very much, Chief! I knew that you would one day understand my sincerity¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If it isn¡¯t anything important, I¡¯m going to kill you. Seriously.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The issue was that the tree was about to fall on top of the lumberjack as well. The woman fixed her posture. She sat in her chair properly and straightened her back. She stretched her neck slightly before she reached out and started to flip through the pages. At first, it took her less than 5 seconds to flip a page. However, as she continued, she gradually slowed down before she took nearly 5 minutes before flipping a page. The young man stood directly in front of the woman¡¯s desk just in case she had any questions. 30 minutes passed. ¡°¡­¡­Hm.¡± The woman raised her gaze on thest page. She looked up at the man with bleary eyes. ¡°You¡¯re lucky that your lifespan has extended.¡± ¡°Thank you very much.¡± ¡°Who knew that he would use his Acting skill to seed like this.¡± The woman tossed the document on her desk. She then leaned back against her chair. She leaned back so far that it almost looked like she intended to lie down. The woman looked up at the in and white ceiling as if something interesting was stuck to it. The young man was well aware that this was what she did when in deep thought. ¡°When did you start observing him?¡± ¡°Since the tutorial. It was starting then that the yer managed to utilize his talent efficiently.¡± ¡°I thought he died a long time ago.¡± The woman closed her mouth. A few secondster. ¡°It isn¡¯t surprising since he¡¯s always been good with his words.¡± Shemented before closing her mouth again. The young man waited silently. However, once the woman continued to stare at the ceiling for over 20 minutes, the young man became impatient. He spoke up. ¡°There might actually be a chance. This yer should be more than capable of entering the top ranks. It would also be considered our branch¡¯s achievement.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I know you sent him there out of a fit of rage, but shouldn¡¯t you give him some aftercare? No, if anything, you should be more considerate. Give me the order. I¡¯ll tell the yer all the necessary pieces of information. I¡¯m confident that I can do it without lowering our points.¡± ¡°No.¡± The woman shook her head. ¡°Chief!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. I read your report attentively.¡± ¡°Huh? Then why¡­¡­?¡± The woman gave the young man a sidelong look. ¡°Don¡¯t give him any information whatsoever. Not even the tiniest bit of information. We¡¯ll lose points just from the mere fact that we came in contact with the yer. From now on, I forbid you from doing anything that could lower our points. Just don¡¯t get involved and leave him be.¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°The difficulty is currently set to lunatic, right? Hmm, can I raise the difficulty any further?¡± Once the woman was about to tilt her head and fall into deep thought, the young man spoke up in a panic. ¡°Uhm, Chief. I don¡¯t get it. Why shouldn¡¯t we give him any information?¡± ¡°Are you deaf?We¡¯ll lose 10 points theinstant wee in contact with him to give him information.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s only 10 points.¡± ¡°Jeez, you imbecile.¡± The woman let out a sigh. ¡°Do you know what the point difference is between the world 1st and world 2nd? It¡¯s 132 points. Only 132 points. If we start to intervene with the intent to just give him tiny bits of information, then we¡¯ll lose a hundred points in a matter of seconds.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t that only for the highest ranks? Be it a hundred or a thousand points, entering the top 1000 should still be a¡­¡­.¡± The young man stopped in the middle of his sentence as if he realized something. ¡°D-Don¡¯t tell me. Do you think this yer can reach the top 100?¡± ¡°Are you crazy?¡± The woman smiled. ¡°He¡¯ll make it to the top 10 if he ys his cards right. Idiot, this is why you¡¯re stillcking. Even though you¡¯re the one who wrote this entire report, you failed to recognize the yer¡¯s actual talent.¡± ¡°T-Top 10!?¡± The woman got up and patted the man¡¯s cheek. ¡°Your thoughts are as clear as day. Hey, do you know why he didn¡¯t make Paimon pay for her transgression?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡­wasn¡¯t it because Paimon was pitiful and he felt sympathy?¡± ¡°What? Sympathy?¡± The woman opened her eyes wide before breaking out into augh. Her entire body shook as sheughed, so she nearly fell off of her chair. ¡°Kuhahahaha! Sympathy, he says! Kahaha, sympathy, of all things!¡± She continued tough for a while. The young man¡¯s face became red as he realized he was being mocked. He then asked back in an upset tone. ¡°Sheesh. Then why didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°My God, you¡¯re such an imbecile that even that grandpa Buddha can¡¯t fix you. You don¡¯t know A from B. Hey, what could he possibly earn from punishing Paimon? Pride? Money? There¡¯s something much more valuable than that next to those things. It¡¯s the support of high-ranking Demon Lords. Of course, he could stand proudly and be immediatelypensated, but who would look at a low-ranking Demon Lord who had rebuked a high-ranking Demon Lord with weing eyes? It¡¯d be a relief if he didn¡¯t get bullied by the other Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Are you saying that he had calcted all of this?¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± The young man looked as if he failed to understand. ¡°I personally don¡¯t think this yer is that calcting. Look at that time with Jack nd. He could have killed him, but he didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Say it right. Since that guy was such a small fry that it didn¡¯t matter whether he died or not, he didn¡¯t go out of his way to kill him. The woman¡¯s smile grew bigger. ¡°Don¡¯t judge a book by its cover. Are there any certainties that a person is kind just because he didn¡¯t kill someone? Are there any certainties that a person is evil just because he did kill someone? It¡¯s psychological. Read into their mentality as deeply as possible.¡± ¡°But the yer definitely got sad after Jack died!¡± ¡°I¡¯d be sad if you died too.¡± The young man tilted his head. He then blushed once he realized that she had indirectly told him that she cherished him. ¡°Eh, eeh?¡± ¡°But if there is a need to kill you, then I will. Without any hesitation whatsoever.¡± She grinned. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There are all sorts of personalities. Even if they don¡¯t seem reasonable at nce, they could be perfect on the inside. Anyone could. Jeez, it¡¯s been a long time since Iughed like this. Sympathy? Hahaha. What kind of utter nonsense is that?¡± The woman looked up at the ceiling again. ¡°This is why humans are fun. Most of them are unbearably boring, but they very rarely show unthinkable potential. This is what I¡¯m betting on as well. I was wondering what sort of bastard wouldin to me about ¡¯s system, but he¡¯s exceeded my expectations¡­¡­. Hey, raise the difficulties of everything you can raise.¡± ¡°Uhm, Chief? It¡¯s already in Lunatic Mode.¡± ¡°He can do it.¡± She dered. ¡°My eyes never lie. This guy¡¯s special.¡± ¡°Then the chances of him gaining hostile rtionships will increase and too many events will ur. Well, his current affection with the people he¡¯s met already won¡¯t change, but still¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Just do what I tell you to do and stopining. Do you want me to let you shower in the Jordan River?¡± ¡°Haa. Understood.¡± The young man returned to his desk and started to type away at his keyboard. In order to raise the difficulty. He mentally apologized to the yer. I¡¯m sorry, I took a liking to you so I wanted to lessen your burden a bit, but I ended up increasing it. I¡¯m dealing with an irresistible force. Please understand¡­¡­. After the young man finished, he raised his head. The woman had raised her feet on her desk as she was now reading her manga in the mostfortable position possible. The thought that only he was working hard caused him to raise his voice. ¡°Again, again with the manga? Stop reading those already.¡± ¡°I read manga when I¡¯m bored.¡± ¡°You read manga every second of the day, Chief!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± The woman didn¡¯t add anything more after that. She simply raised the corners of her lips slightly. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This ¡®Quest Breaker¡¯ section only has 3 chapters, so I will most likely continue tranting on to the next section before going back to Handholding. Other than that, I don¡¯t have much else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter! Chapter 45: Quest Breaker (2) Chapter 45: Quest Breaker (2) * * * Two days have passed since I returned from Niflheim. I wonder if this is an aftereffect of vacations since I felt like old gum stuck under a desk and syed myself out on my bed as soon as I got home. One¡¯s home, especially the bed of one¡¯s home, possesses a bizarre power. The realization that I already considered this ce as my home put a bitter smile on my face. Of course, there are things I can do while lying down. Like doting on the monsters I haven¡¯t seen while I was gone. ¡°You¡¯re ticklish here, right?¡± ? Kyarururu! The fairy giggled once I rubbed her side with my index finger. She would fly up as if to tell me to not tickle her, but she would eventuallye back down slowly. This was probably like a scary, but fun amusement park ride to her. I put my heart and soul into massaging the fairy. All while lying on my bed. ? Kyaha? Kyaha. A different fairy approached and grabbed my left index finger. She then looked at me expectantly. ¡®Me too? Me too?¡¯, it was like her eyes were asking me this. Even I couldn¡¯t help but feel my heart tighten. Are they perhaps not fairies but angels? If I ever have children, I wasn¡¯t confident that I could dote on them as much as I do these fairies. ¡°All right. I¡¯ll use my special move¡­¡­.¡± I dered more grimly than I intended. This is my ultimate move. This double-edged skill that I wouldn¡¯t dare to even use in a life or death situation. It¡¯s like an inescapablebyrinth once used or like the mouth of a rafflesia flower. ? Kyahaa? The fairy must have sensed my seriousness as she looked right at me. Hah, you noticed toote. You¡¯ve already awoken a monster that mustn¡¯t be awoken. I raised my hand. I raised my hands like a pianist who was about to start performing the cadenza of Mozart¡¯s concerto. I then used each of my hands to tickle both the fairies at the same time. ? Kyaruru! Kyarururu! The two fairies squirmed around on the bed. I can¡¯t hide it anymore. This is my genuine skill that far surpasses something like . Although my two-handed assault has a 100% chance of subduing my target, it has a single w. It¡¯s the fact that I can¡¯t do anything else with my hands. Both of my hands are sealed. Adding to this, since I¡¯m lying down on my bed right now, I can¡¯t use my feet either. Some onlookers may retort that I could just get up from my bed, but those onlookers are people who don¡¯t know what beds are. Beds aren¡¯t objects that you get off of. Beds are objects that youy on. If you get up from a bed, then it¡¯s like you¡¯vepletely forgotten the true purpose of beds. For starters, only when you haveid on a bed to the point where you feel like you¡¯ll remain there forever if you stay lying any longer, is when you¡¯ve used a bed properly. Although it feels like I had just heavily alluded to the reason why I spent my time unemployed in my original world, in consideration of my mental state, I disregarded it. What ultimately mattered was the fact that both my arms and legs were currently incapacitated. This eternal recurrence of being unable to retreat until the other party surrenders to my tickling. By getting sucked into this looping logic, I must roll the Dharma Wheel of Sisyphus forever¡­¡­. While I was wallowing in the remorse of my tragic life, the other fairies had gathered around us. I wonder if what we were doing appeared incredibly fun to them. Seeing the fairies gather around and dere that it was their turn now reminded me of the elementary school kids back in my world who would gather around an arcade machine in front of a stationary store and argue about who would get to y first. I mumbled in shock. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­do you all intend to impose a more extreme situation upon me!?¡± They intended to retaliate against my powerful assault with numbers. Eternal absolute tactics were being carried out on Rank 71st Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord bed within his Demon Lord castle. The fairies looked at my expression and giggled. I am certain that it wasn¡¯t only my imagination that theirughter sounded like they were saying, ¡®That is so, we are the nightmare that will defeat you. Despair andment, O Foolish One.¡¯ I felt like how Goguryeo¡¯s Yang Manchun must have felt as he stood atop of Ansi City and watched the armies of the Tang Dynasty approach endlessly. ¡°Kuh, you cheap Chinese bastards! Let us fight using our abilities and not with numbers!¡± ? Kyahaa? Kyaruru. ¡°What was that? The human-wave strategy is also a respectable strategy?¡± I let out a groan. I don¡¯t know who these monsters belong to, but they were truly cheap and underhanded girls. Even I can¡¯t imagine how perverse and malicious the master that raised these monsters could be. I poured all my strength and stamina into tickling them. It was a desperate attempt; however, it was fruitless. Once a fairy gave up and retreated, another one woulde in and rece her. This would repeat over and over again. ¡°T-The fairies aren¡¯t giving up¡­¡­!?¡± What is this? This is unreasonable. It was like the referee was allowing the other team to rece their members not three times but infinitely even though our team was breathing heavily from exhaustion. There wasn¡¯t even a morsel of sportsmanship. If this sort ofpetition happened during the World Cup, then I¡¯m certain that the viewers would all get upset and raze FIFA to the ground. I would most likely be the one standing at the front as a vanguard while holding a banner. The fact that things that couldn¡¯t happen in sports could happen as many times as possible made it clear how unfair life is. ¡°If this is how you girls are going to y, then so be it.¡± I stopped tickling them. ¡®Kyaa?¡¯, the fairies uttered as they looked up at me with question marks for eyes. Although their adorableness was extremely deadly, I didn¡¯t let myself be tempted. It¡¯s because I knew that horrendous dastardliness and heinousness were hiding behind their cute faces. I raised my head and snorted. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to use this ability. Remember that you were the ones who pushed me this far.¡± ? Kyaha? ¡°The Wings of Corruption soar across the sky that has lost its stars¡­¡­. Fate shall be imprisoned in a gap between time and roam eternally. Heraclitus and Anaximandros, Antinomy and Endless that smile in the early evening, I shall summon a legend here under the name of Paradox.¡± (TL Note: This part is entirely just chuunibyou speak. It¡¯s pretty hard to get a firm grasp at what he¡¯s talking about.) I raised my hands like an orchestra conductor. At this moment, I was truly like a Demon Lord. The representation of fear who appears in fantasy stories and sows anxiety into the main character¡¯s party while muttering some unknownnguage. A pitiful Demon Lord who didn¡¯t even have more than a hundred statsbined was nowhere to be seen here. Only a perfect, dark, and terrifying man was present. The more terrifying thing was the fact that I didn¡¯t bite my tongue even once, which means that even if the sophists of Ancient Greece were to form an alliance and retaliate against me, they would all lose to my eloquence andmit suicide by throwing themselves into the Mediterranean because of the humiliation. There was only perfect and wless narcissism here. ¡°Behold this miracle where one bes two and two be ten. !¡± That¡¯s right. There was no reason for me to only use ¡®one¡¯ finger of my hand to tickle them. If 10 fairies approach me??then I just have to face them with 10 fingers! That¡¯s . ? Kyaruruk!? Kyaha, kyarururu! The oue was impressive. 10 fairies were all subdued at the same time as they fell over helplessly to my tickling. As I thought, using my pinky to tickle the fairies was quite a difficult task, but I did my best to tickle them as delicately as possible. The fairiesughed nonstop. It was a bargain sale ofughter. ¡°Kuhaha! You dirty Chinese bastards, you most likely came at me believing in your numbers, but it is your fault for not realizing that the river is shallower than usual today?!¡± ¡°Ah ha.¡± I heard the sound of awe next to me. ¡°So you¡¯re dividing and conquering numerous opponents at the same time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. This is my trump card. The secret move that I, Dantalian, have been hiding all this time!¡± ¡°You have an intuitive sense for military tactics as well, I see. How impressive. I have been with you for a month now, but I am still discovering new things about you. You are like an onion with infiniteyers.¡± ¡°Well, even if youpliment me like that, I¡­¡­?¡± I stopped ying with the fairies with my fingers. Once I turned my head, I saw Laura De Farnese sitting at the side of the bed. She was looking this way with her usual colorless and odorless eyes. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A cold bead of sweat flowed down my back. ¡°I¡¯ve dealt with quite the number of adventurer parties after I arrived here. I had be confident because I thought that I might actually have a knack for tactics, but it seems that I am still wet behind the ears whenpared to you. How embarrassing. I will continue to better myself.¡± ¡°May¡­¡­May I ask how long you have been watching me for?¡± ¡°Hm? What do you mean by, ¡®how long¡¯?¡± I gulped. ¡°I-I mean. Since when did you start watching me y with the fairies?¡± ¡°It has not been that long.¡± Laura brushed her blonde hair behind her shoulder as she spoke. ¡°To be exact, I started watching around the time you shouted .¡± ¡°That¡¯s from the beginning!¡± I grabbed my head and cried out. It must have been because I was lying on my side as I didn¡¯t notice Laura sit next to me. Even though the Demon Lord room was scruffy, the bed was the only thing that was extravagant, so it was tall. Who knew that that would create such an opening. A cold-hearted Demon Lord on the outside and a warm man on the inside was my image. At the very least, I wanted to have this image with Laura. Laura is an individual who will one day grow up to be one of the greatest strategists in the world. At the very least, I wanted to leave this sort of impression on her. That way, she wouldn¡¯t betray me. But I wound up getting caught as a fool who ys with his monsters. To make matters worse, even Lapis has never seen me in such a lowly state! ¡®No. Calm down.¡¯ My brain worked quickly. If I consider Laura¡¯s tone¡­¡­she didn¡¯t sound like she knew that I was just now roleying extremely childishly. Therefore, there was a chance that my image hadn¡¯t been greatly harmed yet. The best thing to do was act as brazenly as possible in times like this. In order to make it appear as if I weren¡¯t just ying around and that there was some bigger picture behind my actions. ¡°But Dantalian, I have a couple of questions.¡± ¡°W-What is it?¡± I responded nonchntly. My voice quivered a little, but this was enough to receive a passing grade. ¡°What does it mean for the Wings of Corruption to soar across a sky that has lost its stars and for fate to be imprisoned between a moment of time and made to roam forever? I don¡¯t quite get it.¡± ¡°Guaaaah!¡± I screamed. H-Hearing it out loud hurts much more than I imagined! I wanted to immediately hide in a hole, but I couldn¡¯t pull myself together in time because of Laura¡¯s following questions. ¡°Also about Heraclitus and Aniximandros, and the two that smile in the early evening, Antinomy and Endless¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Guah! Guaaack! Stop, please stop!¡± ¡°You said that you would summon a legend under the name of Paradox, but what corrtion does a legend have with the movement of ten fingers? It sounds like there is a hidden meaning behind this which I cannot possibly grasp yet.¡± ¡°My dark past! My dark past is being brought back to me!¡± Back when I was in elementary school, I would pretend as if I were a secret agent who had immense power and I would mutter to myself, ¡®Some strange bastards are trying to invade Seoul again¡¯. There was a girl who was walking to school with me one of the times I said that and she asked what I was talking about, so I shook my head as if the masses couldn¡¯t possibly understand. I then told her, ¡®You¡¯ll get hurt if you knew. I don¡¯t want to drag you into this cruel world.¡¯ I will never forget her face at that moment. She looked as if she wanted to vomit blood. On the other hand, Laura lookedpletely serious. ¡°Please, I ask that you teach me the secret meaning behind your tactics.¡± ¡°My tactics¡­¡­my tactics, huh¡­¡­.¡± My head went nk. I had no idea how to respond. Nevertheless, my brain, heart, and stomach had fused together and were screaming that I had to do whatever it takes to get out of this situation. I shouted in my mind. ¡®A-Acting skill activate!¡¯ I wonder if it was because I had shouted it more earnestly than I ever had before. My Acting skill activated with a fancier sound effect which I had never heard before since the tutorial. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has stopped just barely at the corner of the table! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ¡®fairly¡¯ lowered.¡¹ Considering how the other party¡¯s doubt has only been lowered ¡®slightly¡¯ until now, it seems that I seeded in using my skill a level higher than before. Why am I getting such good luck now!? This didn¡¯t happen during the Walpurgis Night when I actually needed it! No, I don¡¯t have the time to regret something that has already passed. I have to first recover from the cmity that had fallen before me like a wildfire. I spoke whatever gibberish came out of my mouth. ¡°Tactics is something thatbines 36 stratagems and 108 schemes¡­¡­. Antinomy, Paradox, and Endless included¡­¡­. You are hearing some of these words for the first time because they are ruses that I had secretly attached a name to¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°If you wish to deceive the enemy, you must deceive your allies. And if you wish to deceive your allies, you must deceive yourself first¡­¡­. By showing actions that appear as if they have absolutely no meaning, those actions will pile up andpress together to ultimately transcend into a single stratagem¡­¡­. The opponent will have lowered their guard and only realize the meaning behind all of your actions at thest moment, but it will already be toote¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Laura was moved. ¡°In other words, a profound stratagem is hiding behind your words that sounded meaningless. They thenbine at the end and be 10 fingers.¡± ¡°C-Correct. For you to have figured that out, you¡¯re also quite impressive yourself, Laura¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t so. In truth, I still do not understand what road Antinomy and Paradox that smile in the evening could have taken to lead to tickling. It is embarrassing to think that your profound words are located somewhere which my rationality still cannot reach. I will continue to better myself.¡± ¡°Haha, working hard is always good. Haha, ha¡­¡­.¡± As I let out a forcedugh, I heard a sound effect. ¡¸Laura De Farnese¡¯s affection has risen by 2!¡¹ ¡¸Laura De Farnese¡¯s affection has reached 50. Her affection will not increase any further until an event urs.¡¹ I somehow did it. Even I don¡¯t know how I did it, but I know that I managed to pull through in the end. This was good enough. I don¡¯t need anything more. Right when I was about to let out a sigh of relief, Laura tilted her head and asked a question. ¡°Nevertheless, the education I received until now was insufficient, so it is not enough for me to figure this out on my own. I am ashamed to say this, but it is the truth. Thus, I am curious as to whether I can ask Lapis for her opinion the next time she visits about the true meaning behind your words?¡± ¡°That is the one thing you absolutely mustn¡¯t do!¡± My cry echoed throughout the caverns of my dungeon. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Yadda yadda, nothing much to say, yadda yadda, coronavirus, yadda yadda, my next uni semester starts on the 16th. I honestly don¡¯t know what else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 46: Quest Breaker (3) Chapter 46: Quest Breaker (3) * * * Laura¡¯s ve mark. Dealing with this was also one of my goals while visiting Niflheim. After the Walpurgis Night, Barbatos seemed to have taken a liking to me as she took me to all sorts of ces. She bossed me around like an attendant before she went back to her dungeon. For an entire day! She took me to a brothel for lesbians and I was at first surprised to know that that sort of ce exists, I was then shocked when I found out she intended to use me like a ything, and I was finally stunned when I learned that Barbatos was bisexual. I would have be a toy for a bunch of lesbians if I hadn¡¯t struggled desperately. Should I call it a reward for entertaining her for an entire day? Barbatos introduced me to a high-ranking mage. I was able toeasilyacquire what I needed due to her acting as the mediator. ¡°Now then.¡± I ground a golden magic stone into a fine dust. I then poured that golden powder into some water and it became sticky like some ceramic ze. This is a magic liquid that¡¯s used to get rid of ve marks. ¡°Please wait right there for a moment.¡± ¡°Understood. Is here fine?¡± Laura sat on the cave floor obediently. Her white dress rested on the ground. The dress I had bought as a present while I was in Niflheim wasn¡¯t just a simple dress as it was also self-cleaning, so it didn¡¯t have to be washed. It was only natural that I would reward Laura since she had protected the dungeon while I was gone. I took out a scroll. There was a geometricallyplex symbol drawn on it. I kept turning to look at the scroll as I copied the symbol on the floor. I used chalk first. If I mess up, then I would have to go all the way back to Niflheim and purchase another magic stone. Referentially, this magic stone is extremely expensive because it was made through a unique spell. I drafted the symbol with chalk first before painting over it with the golden liquid. A magic circle was slowly drawn with Laura at the center. ¡°Mm.¡± After a lengthy period of time, I stretched. I was done. If I had to give my honest opinion about my work, then I¡¯d genuinely say that it was overwhelmingly aesthetic. I possessed a talent that would have definitely pushed me up to stardom if I had been born in the artistic city of Paris. I had all the necessary ingredients. Laura who was subjected to very. A magic circle that removes ve marks. And a human forearm with a ve mark on it. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I pulled out a box from under my bed. Once I removed the iron lid, Jack¡¯s forearm which had a preservation spell cast on it by Lapis was revealed. The muscles were protruding and itsplexion was healthy as if it had just recently been severed. I felt a little sad. It wasn¡¯t a sadness that would make me shed a tear. It was a depressing feeling as I thought about how this was the only way humans could leave behind proof of their existence. I was certain that this was a somewhat luxurious emotion to have for the culprit who had pushed this human to die. ¡°From ancients to ancients, dust to dust, and innocence to innocence. Imand the spirit confined within to return to whence you came.¡± After I ced the forearm with the ve mark on it right in front of the magic circle, I recited the chant taught to me by the mage. The more words I spoke, the brighter the light emanating from the magic circle became. I stabbed a dagger that I had prepared beforehand into Jack¡¯s forearm. ¡°Uu, guuuuh¡­¡­!¡± Laura groaned in pain. There was a ve mark on her back as well, so her mark was vanishing along with the one on Jack¡¯s arm. ording to the mage, this should feel as if you¡¯re being burned in a fire. This was a necessary procedure, so I continued reciting the chant. ¡°Guh, hkkk¡­¡­uugh¡­¡­!¡± Beads of sweat began to form on Laura¡¯s pale forehead and nape. She twisted her hip and her shoulders trembled. It seems there were times where she couldn¡¯t endure the pain as her back would abruptly straighten asionally. She would let out a pained cry whenever it did. She ran out of strength by the time I finished the incantation and had copsed on the cold cavern floor. ¡°Are you all right?¡± I approached Laura immediately after I confirmed that the mark on Jack¡¯s arm had disappeared. Laura continued to breathe heavily. She managed to speak coherently after about 5 minutes. ¡°¡­¡­No problem. It was somewhat painful, but this much is nothing.¡± ¡°I apologize. I tried to find the easiest method possible, but this was the best I could do.¡± ¡°I am aware.¡± Laura looked up at me with teary eyes. ¡°I know that you did your best. When I was first marked, it hurt five times more than this¡­¡­ Dantalian, are you my master now?¡± ¡°I am not your master.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Only you can be your own master. I simply wish to form a fair contract with you as two parties that respectively own themselves.¡± ¡°A contract¡­¡­.¡± She nkly repeated my words. ¡°That is right. Laura, let me make this offer once more. Devote your resourceful mind to me. I will treat you respectfully as a faithful vassal. As I vow to never betray you as long as you do not betray me first, I, Dantalian, promise you that we will get revenge on the world that had abandoned and insulted you.¡± ¡°What a foolish offer.¡± A fine smile appeared on her slender lips. ¡°I had already epted being your subordinate long ago. I may not have a mark, but I will still use my knowledge, body, and soul solely for the sake of your glory. I, Laura De Farnese, will eternally be yours, Dantalian.¡± At that moment, a sound effect that was more extravagant than any of the sound effects I had heard before rang in my ears. ¡¸You have recruited Laura De Farnese!¡¹ ¡¸A loyalty stat will now be disyed on Laura De Farnese¡¯s status window.¡¹ ¡¸A pure and noble devotion! The other party fully considers you as their monarch right off the bat. Thanks to this surprising sense of loyalty, a new title will be given to the other party.¡¹ My chest filled with delight. ¡®Finally! Finally!¡¯ I finally managed to obtain one of the greatest characters in . Now I didn¡¯t have to go through great pains just to raise Laura¡¯s affection a little. The degree of her devotion is to the point of giving her a title, so what is there to worry about now? ¡®Status!¡¯ I immediately checked Laura¡¯s status window. Her affection had exceeded 50, so more details appeared than before. Due to ¡¯s strict affection system, not only did the affection points not go above a certain limit until various conditions were met, but it would also refrain from properly showing the other party¡¯s information until it did. Since Laura had be my subordinate, she had broken past the cap of 50 points. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Laura De Farnese Race: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(-15) Level: 10¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 492 Job: Intrigant(D), Schr(D), Sex ve(E) Leadership: 41¡¡¡¡Might: 10 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 44 Politics: 9¡¡¡¡Charm: 54¡¡¡¡Technique: 1 Affection: 51 Loyalty: 95 *Titles: 1. Duke¡¯s Daughter(Fallen) 2. Prodigy 3. Loyal Subject *Abilities: Horsemanship B, Rhetoric C, Music C, Tactics C, Geometry D, Operational Art E *Skills: ¨C Current thought: ¡®I will naturally look towards the same goal you are striving for, and I will naturally follow behind you on the path you wish to tread. If a mountain range is blocking your view, then I will destroy that mountain range. If an ocean is blocking your path, then I will fill that ocean.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Wonderful. I see no ws! The most surprising thing is the fact that three of her stats are over 40 even though she¡¯s only level 10. She is most likely being buffed by her titles. To be more precise, the ¡®Prodigy¡¯ title is a typical cheat title in the game that¡¯s really good when raising a character during the early and mid portions of the game. Out of all the characters in , be it allies or enemies, there were only 15 characters that started off with this title. ¡®Titles aren¡¯t always good, though.¡¯ Was it not impressive when you consider the fact that a Demon Lord like myself wasn¡¯t able to obtain even a single title? I focused my sight on the titles and another window popped up once I did. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Titles]
  1. Duke¡¯s Daughter(Fallen) ¨C The esteemed daughter of a fallen, high noble family. This person was exiled from society. A debuff is currently being applied for having obtained the sex ve job: Politics -20, Charm -10, Fame -500
  2. Prodigy ¨C The possessor of unprecedented intelligence. Stats and skills will grow at an incredibly fast rate: On level up, all stats +4, skill growth rate x2, job level growth rate x2
  3. Loyal Subject ¨C The possessor of pure and noble devotion. Favored by their lord: Leadership +5, Intelligence +5, Charm +5
©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Sure enough, she was filled with the best titles that could only be obtained early on. The Duke¡¯s Daughter(Fallen) is a w in the crystal, but it didn¡¯t matter since it only affected politics, charm, and fame which were things that weren¡¯t immediately useful right now. What I wanted from Laura was already clear. Leadership and intelligence! As long as she excels in the two skills that are necessary for intrigants, then the other factors honestly don¡¯t matter. Did I expect Laura to be powerful like Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu, or charming like a femme fatale who could charm all of her enemies? I dedicated a lot of my time and money so that she would fill the fields Ick in, which are stratagem and scheming. In that regard, Laura has met my expectations perfectly. It was while I was in the middle of feeling awed. ¡¸The scenario has destroyed a predestined fragment of fate!¡¹ A notice that I have never seen before in this world or while ying appeared before me. ¡®¡­¡­Huh?¡¯ As I tilted my head in curiosity, 3 more notices appeared over each other with a gloomy sound effect. I gazed at the notices that were shing hectically. There were lines that I couldn¡¯t easily understand written on the notices. ¡¸A Rank scenario has been pletely¡¯ destroyed!¡¹ ¡¸S Rank scenario has been ¡®severely¡¯ destroyed!¡¹ ¡¸B Rank scenario has been pletely destroyed!¡¹ A Rank scenario? S Rank scenario? ¡®¡­¡­What is this going on about?¡¯ Female Iron Chancellor is obviously a nickname referring to Laura De Farnese, but for the scenario to have been destroyed? Until now, the notices that appeared while in this world were fundamentally the same as the ones in . The only difference was that instead of appearing on my monitor, they appeared as holograms in front of my face. However, even as someone who was an avid fan of , I have never seen these notices before. The most bewildering thing happened immediately after. Loud and energetic sound effects that were aplete contrast to the gloomy sound effects earlier rang out. ¡¸Level up!¡¹ What? My jaw dropped. That wasn¡¯t the end. The same sound ovepped each other and rang out over and over again in my ears. ¡¸Job(Demon Lord) levelup!¡¹ ¡¸Level up!¡¹ ¡¸Level up!¡¹ ¡¸Level up!¡¹ ¡¸Level up!¡¹ . . . ¡¸Level up!¡¹ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I nked out as I listened to the marching song of notices. The sound effects stopped after a short while. I rubbed my eyes in order to confirm whether I was dreaming or not, but the light blue notice windows before me didn¡¯t disappear. My head was nk, but my eyes unconsciously read the numbers on the notices. One, two, three¡­¡­seven, eight¡­¡­fourteen, fifteen¡­¡­. Sixteen. My basic level had gone up by sixteen. The levels I worked my ass off to raise a couple of for the past few months©¥went up by sixteen in a single moment and it appeared along with lines I had never seen before in my life. This wasn¡¯t the end either. More sound effects followed as if this system intended to hit me with an uppercut while I was still in a daze. It¡¯s probably an exaggeration, but the sound effects this time were so loud that I felt like my entire body was being shaken. ¡¸Congrattions! You have destroyed a B rank scenario. You have received a new title due to this surprising achievement!¡¹ ¡¸Congrattions! You have destroyed an A rank scenario. You have received a new title due to this miraculous achievement! The preexisting title will be reced by this new title.¡¹ ¡­¡­. ¡°Dantalian. What is wrong? You have been zoning out since earlier.¡± A voice came from afar. However, my consciousness couldn¡¯t decipher what that voice was talking about. ¡°On another note, a subordinate speaking down to her lord and a lord speaking up to his subordinate is not right. This has been bothering me for a while now. Therefore, I will use honorifics when referring to you. I ask that you also refer to me however you wish.¡± Creak. I very slowly raised my head. Over the wall of notices that had appeared chaotically, the blonde girl was smiling tenderly. Something must have been embarrassing her as her cheeks were flushed slightly. It was then that I was finally able to utter a word. ¡°Eh.¡± If you can consider that as a word, that is. What exactly¡­¡­did you do just now, Laura? *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. There was a slight dy, but I managed to get this out. My proofreader/editor has been pretty busytely and I don¡¯t want to rush him since he¡¯s been doing this for me for so long. In any case, the next chapter might take a slight bit as well, but I¡¯ll try to get it out within the next few days. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 47: E-Rank Adventurer Party (1) Chapter 47: E-Rank Adventurer Party (1) I¡¯m going to have to take some time to think about thister. I responded to Laura appropriately. We had a casual conversation where I told her that she didn¡¯t have to go out of her way to be stubborn about speaking formally to me. I could tell that it was awkward for her to speak formally. Truth be told, if we created a hierarchy ording to our age, then Lapis should be informal with me, but¡­¡­. I imagined it for a second. ¡®Dantalian? Why did you do that again? Do you ever think? You¡¯re really pathetic. Can you even call yourself a Demon Lord like this? You just want to disappoint me, don¡¯t you?¡¯ ¡­¡­Just thinking about it terrified me. Laura shook her head. ¡°There must be a firm rule between a lord and their vassal.¡± ¡°Let us do this, then. You can be formal with me when we are in the presence of others; however, when it is just the two of us, we can speak as we always have.¡± ¡°I am okay with that.¡± There was a glint in her eyes. ¡°Relieving the personal concerns of one¡¯s lord is also my duty as a vassal. Although my body iscking, I will do my utmost to take care of both your public and personal matters, Dantalian.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice that you¡¯re overflowing with ambition¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, a notice that an adventurer party had just invaded popped up. Laura must have noticed as well, but that was because she had on a ne that automatically let out a warning rm if someone invaded the dungeon. She slowly got up from my hold. ¡°Hm, I¡¯ll be off, then.¡± ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t exhausted after having your mark removed? I can handle this one if you want.¡± ¡°No. I already feel refreshed thanks to your concern. A lord must not act needlessly. I will hastily take the necks of our enemies, so wait here. I shall beautifully handle this first official battle as your vassal.¡± It seems Laura actually was feeling healthy as she walked out of my Demon Lord room with energetic steps. She even looked excited to a degree. In any case, this was something to be grateful for. I now have time to organize my thoughts. Let¡¯s confirm the current situation first. I muttered with a trembling voice. I have to speak in my head when I¡¯m with other people, but there was no reason for me to be concerned when I¡¯m by myself. ¡°S-Status.¡± A ¡®Ding!¡¯ that absolutely didn¡¯t fit the current severe situation resonated. If I could change one thing in this world, then the biggest thing I would want to change was this god damn sound effect. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: Dantalian Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 20¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 1120 Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(E) Leadership: 25/30¡¡¡¡Might: 7/10 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 29/30 Politics: 24/30¡¡¡¡Charm: 15/20¡¡¡¡Technique: 4/10 *Titles: 1. Demon Lord of Fear *Abilities: Tactics(F), Marksmanship(F), Mining(F) *Skills: Acting [Achievements: 2] [Subordinates: 42 units/210 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ My stats had changedpared to before. The limit of all of my stats had gone up drastically because my Demon Lord job went up a rank. The more a yer¡¯s job level increases, the higher their stat threshold increases as well. Nevertheless, I felt like the threshold of my stats had gone up way more than it should have. This meant that it wasn¡¯t only my job level that was affecting it. I quickly looked at my title. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Titles]
  1. Demon Lord of Fear ¨C This person has caused arge part of the world¡¯s order to copse. The owner of this title will receive the respect of demonkind and the fear of humanity: Leadership limit +10, Intelligence limit +10, Charm limit +10, Subordinate limit +100, Infamy +500
©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°As I expected!¡± I unintentionally let out a cry. This was quite a great title. No matter how much a yer levels up throughpleting quests or grinding, they¡¯re unable to raise their stats beyond a certain limit. For example, if the limit of your strength stat is 30, then even if your base level is 99, your strength will never go beyond 30. Therefore, it¡¯s important to raise your job rank appropriately. The rankings of jobs consist of 9 stages: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS. Each time your job rank increases, the cap of certain stats increases by 5 as well. Your base level increases your fundamental stats and your job level increases the limit of your stats. There¡¯s no gain in grinding mindlessly. No matter how much you increase your base level, if your stats have hit their limits, then nothing will increase and your extra stats will just lie dormant until you increase their caps. Simr to how yers must upgrade their PC¡¯s hardware and software together, they must also raise their characters while ceaselessly paying attention to both their base and job levels. In this regard, a title that can increase the limit of your stats greatly like , something that can usually only be done by raising your job rank, is incredibly good. Normally, you¡¯d have to go through great lengths to raise your job rank. For example, if you want to raise your swordsman job, then you have to hunt as many different monsters as possible and duel against people from different martial sects¡­¡­. Gah, thinking about how hard I had to work in the past to raise my character is raising my blood pressure. To put it simply, is like receiving 2 job rank ups for free. ¡°Well, then.¡± I then became dispirited. It was surprising, but I didn¡¯t feel happy. My base level and job rank increasing is definitely good news; however, I don¡¯t know why they had gone up. I¡¯m not stupid enough to be delighted by some unknown miracle. Let¡¯s say that someone offers to give me 100 million won. The other party doesn¡¯t respond when I ask them why they¡¯re giving me that much money. I don¡¯t know who the other party is and I have no way of knowing what sort of goal they could possibly have in mind by giving me 100 million won. In this sort of situation, who would be naively happy and pounce on that money? The issue is that I had already received 100 million won. Now I have to do whatever I can to figure out what the other party wants. ©¥ The scenario has destroyed a predestined fragment of fate! ©¥ A Rank scenario has been pletely¡¯ destroyed! ©¥ B Rank scenario has been pletely destroyed! ©¥ S Rank scenario has been ¡®severely¡¯ destroyed! ¡°This is definitely the cause¡­¡­.¡± I quietly gazed at the 4 notices. I didn¡¯t have to think for long. Once the shock had dissipated and my head had gone back to normal, I immediately understood what these 4 sentences meant. It didn¡¯t require much thought either. ¡°These are game scenarios.¡± These notices appeared after Laura became my subordinate. Therefore, all of these scenarios are connected to Laura. Female Iron Chancellor is referring to Laura. The scenario is also most likely rted to Laura. It¡¯s probably referring to the event where Laura allies with a portion of the Demon Lords in order to attack the protagonist¡¯s forces. is definitely talking about how the human side was split between the empire, which the protagonist belongs to, and the kingdom that¡¯s led by Laura. The A, B, and S rank is probably determined by how close they are to the main scenario. Therefore, by making Laura my subordinate, the events that were supposed to happen in the game aren¡¯t going to happen anymore. ¡°Why are these obvious things helping me?¡± The question went somewhere else; nheless, it didn¡¯t take me long to answer this question as well. The fact that I was seeing this rm for the first time meant that there was something different from the ¡®me¡¯ in the game and the ¡®me¡¯ in this world, which resulted in the creation of this new type of notice. A notice that the hero can¡¯t see, but Demon Lords can. What is a hero? A hero is an existence that progresses through quests. Then what are Demon Lords? To put it simply, they are existences that interfere with quests, so if a hero¡¯s mission is toplete quests, then the mission of Demon Lords is to make it impossible to clear those quests. Therefore, if the hero gets experience points frompleting quests, then, in reverse©¥. ¡°Demon Lords get experience points by destroying quests.¡± The situation became clear. I understood why I didn¡¯t receive any quests in this world like I did in the game. In the past, I simply thought that it was because there was a difference between real life and the game, but that wasn¡¯t the case. Quests don¡¯t appear for Demon Lords at all. If anything, finding and breaking quests rted to the main scenario is the ¡®hidden quest¡¯ for Demon Lords! Breaking quests are Demon Lords¡¯ true tasks. Paradoxically, the act of ¡®beating¡¯ a quest includes both the act ofpleting and truly breaking a quest. Something dawned on me at that moment. ¡°¡­¡­Wait, then why didn¡¯t anything appear for Andromalius?¡± Andromalius is the reason why the hero decides to subjugate Demon Lords. If I¡¯m supposed to earn experience points by breaking quests, then shouldn¡¯t I have received a huge amount of experience points by killing Andromalius? Don¡¯t tell me that Andromalius doesn¡¯tactually influence the hero on his quest. There¡¯s no way. ¡°Damn it. I don¡¯t get it.¡± Iid down on my bed. I surrender! I can¡¯t figure it out. I was severelycking in information. I¡¯d have to one day either find and defeat an individual rted to the main scenario or make them my subordinate in order to answer the rest of my questions. Laura returned to the Demon Lord¡¯s room as I was scratching my head fiercely. ¡°Huh? You¡¯re back sooner than I expected.¡± ¡°There is a good reason for my early return.¡± I tilted my head. Come to think of it, I didn¡¯t receive a notification telling me that the adventurer party had been annihted. ¡°There are people currently waiting at the entrance of the Demon Lord castle.¡± ¡°Waiting? They aren¡¯t invading?¡± ¡°That is so. They are not invaders, Dantalian.¡± If they aren¡¯t invaders, then what are they? Once I looked at Laura curiously, she spoke in a serious tone. ¡°They are envoys. ording to them, they came here as representatives of the viges nearby. They say that they have something important to tell you.¡± * * * The envoys mainly consisted of elderlies. Excluding the youngsters who appeared to be their escorts, the envoys were either vige chiefs or people of simr positions. Once I appeared with thirty golems and ten fairies, the elderly people quickly bowed. I call it bowing, but all they did was lean their bodies on their canes. I paid it no mind as I knew that this was genuinely the most etiquette that people of this age could possibly show. ¡°Raise your heads.¡± ¡°We are most grateful, O Great Being.¡± The elderly man standing at the front raised his torso. Sure enough, he was the vige chief of one of the viges I had subjugated before going to Niflheim. ¡°I will briefly heed your words. For what reason have youe here?¡± ¡°O Great Being¡­¡­!¡± The elderly man abruptly got down on his knees. It was so sudden that I feared my knees would break just by watching him. Oh dear, you¡¯ll end up getting on the train to the afterlife before it even arrives at the station, old man! Nheless, I responded coldly since I knew that I shouldn¡¯t underestimate the other party when I don¡¯t know what their intentions are. ¡°I said that I will heed your words.¡± ¡°My apologies! My sincerest apologies! This humble one is the vige chief of the vige at the bottom of Mt. Lauch and those here with me right now are also vige chiefs. As you had requested, we have been diligently exterminating the adventurer parties that came to our viges; however, we were unable to deal with a single party.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hm.¡± It is natural that there will be adventurer parties that these vigers can¡¯t handle. They¡¯re probably a group of E-rank adventurers. I responded in an offhanded manner. ¡°Everyone makes mistakes. The weight of the apology you are disying to me right now is heavier than your mistake.¡± ¡°T-The adventurer party rallied a couple of viges and created a type of alliance.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± I frowned. The old man¡¯s already lowered body was almost touching the ground now. ¡°Our sincerest apologies¡­¡­most viges have been obeying your orders, but there are a couple of viges that have been wanting to rebel since the beginning. They were won over by the adventurers¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Won over? Won over by what?¡± ¡°T-They are aiming for your¡­¡­treasure, O Great Being¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hah.¡± I was dumbfounded. The adventurers probably exaggerated a lot to those vigers. They probably used some obvious repertoire like there is a mountain of gold in my dungeon and ignorant country bumpkins will probably get tempted by that. Nevertheless, it¡¯s only some vigers and an E-rank adventurer party. It was a little unpleasant, but I didn¡¯t intend to reprimand these old people foring all the way here to tell me this. And yet, I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by what they told me next. ¡°They say that the individual leading the group of traitors is a man from Jalsen Vige named Riff.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My university semester started now, but they¡¯re just giving us a bunch of assignments and making us listen to online sses. I¡¯d be happy if the number of assignments wasn¡¯t so high. I¡¯ll be semi-busy while I take a day or two to get all of those done as soon as possible, but I¡¯ll try to also reach my daily trantion quota. Chapter 48: E-Rank Adventurer Party (2) Chapter 48: E-Rank Adventurer Party (2) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Riff, huh? That¡¯s a name I wasn¡¯t expecting to hear. I was suddenly struck with regret. Riff of Jalsen Vige, how could I have forgotten about him? Not only was he the leader of the first adventurer party I defeated, but he was the first person I met in this world. ¡°¡­¡­Tell me exactly how many viges allied with the adventurers.¡± ¡°Five viges, O Great Being. They all possess their own civilian militia.¡± ¡°Those guys have been threatening us however they want!¡± An entirely different voice spoke up. The voice belonged to a young man with overwhelming muscles. He gave me a slight bow. His tan, upper body waspletely revealed since he was topless. His eyes were filled with vigor. ¡°I apologize for interrupting! However, I believe that this conversation will take all day if we leave the talking to this old man. This humble one will exin the rest.¡± ¡°This old man is the leader of a vige. Do you have the qualifications to take his ce?¡± ¡°I may be young, but I am also a vige chief.¡± Seeing as none of the other envoys spoke up, he was most likely speaking the truth. Once I turned to gaze at the old man, he let out a sigh and took a step back. The young man stepped forward and took the old man¡¯s ce. ¡°Your Honor! The reason why a youngster like myself even became a vige chief is because of those adventurer bastards. They¡¯ve been visiting viges with those civilian militias and they would ask the vigers to join them. My father, the original chief of our vige, immediately refused them.¡± The young man gnashed his teeth. ¡°And those bastards immediately cut off my father¡¯s head. Your Honor, do you understand what I¡¯m trying to say? If we refuse, then our heads will have to say goodbye to our bodies, and if we ept, then we would have to risk our lives to fight against Your Honor as a vige that doesn¡¯t even remotely have a noteworthy civilian militia. There are no good options.¡± ¡°O Great Being¡­¡­.¡± The old man who was talking before bowed. ¡°Please forgive this humbled. He is uneducated, so his words are a little crass, but he is by no means ill-natured.¡± ¡°Why are you being like that, old man? Is the way you talk really important right now?¡± ¡°Fool! You simple baboon!¡± The old man shouted at a volume I had no idea his throat was capable of creating. ¡°One must always be courteous when addressing a person of a higher standing!¡± ¡°Hmph. I don¡¯t know what courtesy is and no one has taught me about it, but there is one thing that I do know, though.¡± The man looked at me with zing eyes. ¡°The situation we are currently in is incredibly crucial to Your Honor as well. Since this is the case, isn¡¯t it a good thing that we made our way here hastily in order to tell Your Honor about this matter? Acting for the sake of others is the greatest courtesy, is it not? You really are narrowminded, old man.¡± ¡°This barbaric boy!¡± I clicked my tongue in my head. The young and old man were arguing about an antiquated topic. Personally, the discussion was rather interesting and I did want to listen to the man talk a little longer, but this wasn¡¯t the time or ce for that. I raised my right hand. ©¥ Thud. Thirty golems all stomped at the same time. The envoys stumbled once the ground shook abruptly. Some of them even fell over. They looked at me in a panic. ¡°How dare you have an unpermitted argument before me.¡± ¡°My apologies!¡± ¡°Please forgive us, O Great Being!¡± The group of almost 20 envoys all got on their knees at the same time. ¡°It is only natural that one should be courteous. It is also correct that the situation should be conveyed quickly due to its urgency. From what I can see, young vige chief, it would be too much to ask of you to be courteous as you have never been educated on the matter. Therefore, I will allow you to omit this courtesy today.¡± ¡°I knew I could get through to you, Your Honor!¡± The man shot up. Sheesh, he¡¯s more like an animal than a human. I let out a mental sigh before continuing. ¡°Nevertheless, it was wrong of you to have rebutted your senior when he gave you a reasonable piece of advice. Before deliberating further on the situation, give a formal apology to the older gentleman first.¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± The man¡¯s face contorted as if he genuinely didn¡¯t want to do that. ¡°Uhm, Your Honor. This humble one is also a vige chief by name.¡± ¡°Allow me to kindly teach you a single piece of etiquette. Do not make me repeat myself. If you make me needlessly repeat my words, then I will make you pay the appropriate price.¡± I didn¡¯t want to overlook this. I didn¡¯t like the way the old man exined things either. He would only answer my questions and wouldn¡¯t tell me anything else on his own. The young man¡¯s opinion was right. I currently didn¡¯t have the time to go along with that kind of conversational method. Nheless, if I take the young man¡¯s side here, then the pecking order among the vige chiefs would get messed up. The old man was most likely elected as the representative of the envoys because he was the oldest. Therefore, age is a traditional standard that has been determined tacitly among them. If that standard copses, then it¡¯s obvious that these vige chiefs would have no idea who to pick as their representative and how to makepromises. They¡¯ll then harbor hatred towards me for creating that disorder. I acknowledge what they ept as their standard for prestige. This is why I ordered the man to apologize. Nevertheless, I felt like the young man would give a better exnation, so I nned to make him speak. I guess you could say that I¡¯m both profiting and getting a justification from this. ¡°Uhm¡­¡­I¡¯m sorry, old man.¡± ¡°Tsk.¡± I raised my right hand. Another thud shook the earth. The man seemed to immediately pull himself together as soon as it did since he promptly groveled before the old man. ¡°I apologize for speaking so crassly. I will not do so from now on.¡± The old man happily epted his apology. The ordeal must have been putting a lot of pressure on the old man. He had a grateful expression on his face once I helped him preserve his honor. I didn¡¯t do this for his sake, but there was no need for me to correct his misunderstanding. The other envoys behind him were also nodding their heads in satisfaction. Notifications that their affection had increased appeared before me. This was proof that I had made the right choice. ¡°Now then, proceed with the exnation which you seemed to be so confident about, young vige chief.¡± ¡°Ehem. As this humble one had said earlier, some piece of trash named Riff is leading the adventurer party and the civil militias. Putting them all together, they have roughly more than seventy people. Your Honor, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re aware, but it would be difficult for even soldiers to suppress seventy well-trained warriors.¡± ¡°If a group of seventy people travels together, then provisions should be a difficult matter to handle.¡± I looked upward. These viges managed to survive despite being threatened by abat group of more than seventy people. They chose to not fight against me as well. It¡¯s obvious what this means. They had to provide them with something as a price for being spared. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°We offered them food. They said that it was our lives on the line or our wheat, so we had no other choice. We came here to also apologize about that as well.¡± The envoys all groveled again. They started to plea and apologize. I wasn¡¯t interested in something like that. I didn¡¯t want to reprimand them for offering their food in order to save their viges. These guys aren¡¯t my vassals and their viges aren¡¯t a part of my territory. Simplying here to apologize and inform me about this matter was enough for these people to be considered loyal to me. It would probably be fine if I just scare them a little and send them back. The vige chiefs most likely know this as well. We were loyal to our duties. Thus, even if youe out victorious in your battle against the adventurers, please do not punish us. We had our own reasons as to why we had to provide the other side with provisions. These envoys chose the best possible option for their viges. In other words, they found a way to survive whether the adventurers won or I won. What would happen if I intimidated them more than necessary here? Their demeanors are telling me that they¡¯ll threaten to betray me and also join forces with the adventurers. This is a simple business deal. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± What drew my eyes weren¡¯t the envoys who were alluding to an illicit exchange, but the young man. Only the young man didn¡¯t bow and continued to stand brazenly. He spoke up before I could question him. ¡°Allow me to be honest. I seriously don¡¯t like our current situation.¡± ¡°Y-You insolent fool!¡± The old man was struck with dismay. ¡°Ah, old man. Can you be quiet for a second? I don¡¯t like these kinds of ploys.¡± ¡°What are you talking about¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Stop. Let me talk first, okay? Just listen to me! After handing over the wheat we worked our asses off all year to harvest, we came here to tell His Honor about what has been happening. You guys think you did the smart thing by doing this, but I think differently!¡± The young man looked at the other envoys. ¡°Let¡¯s say that we defeat those adventurers. Will it end there? Do you think the civilian militia that was made with an alliance of five viges will simply disperse? Those bastards already made us their bitches once. Damn it, they took the wheat they didn¡¯t even harvest themselves! They already had a taste of being able to do ¡®something like this¡¯ with a group of 70 people. Do you think they¡¯ll just disperse or do you think they¡¯ll keep taking advantage of us?¡± I was somewhat surprised. He did so before, but he crassly pointed out what was important. I might need to use my skill. I activated the skill in my mind before waiting for the perfect moment to speak. ¡°This is undeniable! Did we not be ustomed to this kind of behavior before? It¡¯s what those wretched lords would do to us all the time. What we¡¯re doing right now is no different from bringing up another one of those lords ourselves.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They have broken our rule to not invade the other viges! We must punish those who have broken the rules. Do you understand? If we don¡¯t want to be pushovers, then we must put an end to those bastards. With this in mind, would it be a good idea for us to work together, or to work together with His Honor?¡± The vige chiefs turned to look at each other. They had astonished looks on their faces, but it was clear that they were trying to figure out which option would benefit them more. ¡°I don¡¯t know where you guys are using your years on. If His Honor were to win, wouldn¡¯t we still be in a bad situation? We revealed that we¡¯re a bunch of rats that had teamed up with both sides, so would His Honor trust us? I¡¯m certain that we¡¯ll one day have to pay the price.¡± ¡°Kuhahaha!¡± Iughed loudly. The young man and the envoys all focused their gazes on me. ¡°Young vige chief, tell me your name.¡± ¡°I-It¡¯s Parsi.¡± He answered me in a somewhat terrified tone. I grinned widely. ¡°Parsi, I thought you were only a runt who did not know manners, but it seems I had underestimated you slightly. That is right. You guessed correctly. I intend to make you all pay for this; however, you are wrong about one thing, young vige chief.¡± ¡°W-What is it?¡± ¡°I am not going to make you pay the price after I have dealt with the adventurers. I am going to make you pay the price before. Cutting the enemy forces¡¯ supply line is one of the most basic of basic strategies. I learned that you are the ones providing them with provisions, so why would I not take care of you all first!? I will run them dry by annihting your viges first!¡± The old envoys¡¯ faces became pale. They began to plea for mercy again. I paid them no mind as I continued to speak over their heads. ¡°Cease. You have only two choices. You can either assist me or join the adventurers and be another one of my enemies. Decide now!¡± ¡°O-O Great Being¡­¡­! Even if we were to s-submit to you¡­¡­we have no way to protect our viges from our immediate threat!¡± The old vige chiefs trembled. ¡°We¡­¡­We beg for your kindness¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Do not worry. Did you think I would simply make you act as arrow cushions?¡± Since I had threatened them with death, I have to offer them a way to survive now. ¡°T-Then?¡± ¡°Vow that you will assist me. I will then kindly show you all a bright future.¡± I grinned twistedly. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! I hope you guys are all doing well during these, uh, tough times. Albeit, it mustn¡¯t be that bad since everyone is just being told to stay at home. I¡¯d be happy if these online sses didn¡¯t take hours of my time to finish. In any case, I¡¯ll try to maintain this pace while doing my assignments. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 49: E-Rank Adventurer Party (3) Chapter 49: E-Rank Adventurer Party (3) * * * I sent the envoys back. After I sent them away, I walked back to the Demon Lord room. Only the sound of a couple of fairies giggling and my footsteps echoed throughout the cavern. It took roughly an hour to reach the Demon Lord room, so it was a 2 hour round trip. The two hours didn¡¯t feel that long to me. For starters, there was the fact that I was deliberating about how I was going to deal with the adventurers, and it was also because I had gotten ustomed to the fundamentally slower perception of time in this world. I arrived back at the Demon Lord room before I knew it. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura was seatedona boulder in a corner of the roomand silently reading a book. The boulder had a red nketacting as a cushionon top of it. The pleasant sound of pages being flipped echoed throughout the room each time she used her index fingers to turn a page. That corner space had be a world of its own with only a red nket and the sound of a single book. Time would slow down every time she turned a page of her book. She then abruptly raised her head. Our eyes met. She opened her mouth as if she knew I would be standing here for a long time and as if she was naturally bringing up another topic in a conversation that had been ongoing. ¡°What did the humans say?¡± Humans, she says. Doesn¡¯t this make it sound like she isn¡¯t human? It seems that Laura was drawing a line between her and her own race. I held back a chuckle before giving her a detailed exnation of what urred. I posed a question to her as if I were asking her a riddle. ¡°Now then, how should our forces retaliate against a group of seventy people?¡± ¡°A simple battle is all that is necessary.¡± Laura needed no time to think as she answered immediately. ¡°I heard that you have the ability to summon monsters, Lord. Although more funding and materials are required to summon better monsters, our forces should still have some financial freedom. All we have to do is summon enough troops to overpower the enemy. Fight numbers with numbers?this is the basics of warfare.¡± Laura suggested that we could just increase our numbers as well. This was indeed a rational strategy. I currently have 14000 gold, so I would have money to spare even if I summoned another thirty lowest-tier golems. If I do this, then I will have a force of seventy golems. If I add my fairies here, then my troops would be so overwhelming that it would be practically impossible for the average adventurer party to defeat it. Nevertheless. This wasn¡¯t the answer I wanted. ¡°Laura. That is the worst possible n.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura didn¡¯t ask me why or look at me with dissatisfied eyes. She immediately epted my response and began to think about why I had told her that. In this regard, you could really tell how much she trusted me. Laura fully believed that I wasn¡¯t the type of person who would say something like that without any reason. Laura opened her mouth a short momentter. ¡°¡­¡­It is said that one must consider the Sky, Earth, and People in tactics. I only considered the people. I simply took into consideration the number of enemies and concluded that we just had to also have an army of seventy units. I did not consider the terrain of the battlefield or the duty that is tied to the battle.¡± ¡°There are three types of people in the world.¡± I grinned. ¡°Someone who does not know what they had done wrong, someone who knows what they did wrong, and someone who had done something wrong but knows what they should do. In this regard, the answer you gave does not meet my expectations, Laura.¡± Laura then fell into deep thought. She twirled her side bang as she did. This was a habit of hers that woulde out whenever she was genuinely deliberating something. Honestly, it was only natural that she would suggestcking ns or stratagems. She has only experienced small-scale battles up to this point. She led a group of around 30 monsters and dealt with adventurer parties with roughly twenty members. At most, all she had to consider until now was when to put the golem units forward and when she should make the fairies fire at the enemy. Although a 16-year-old girl being used tobat is also impressive¡­¡­. ¡®It¡¯d be absurd at her current level.¡¯ I had recruited a 16-year-old Laura De Farnese, not a 16-year-old girl. She has to demonstrate her ability so that she can meet my expectations. I don¡¯t think this is cruel. Simr to how she believes in me, I believe in her as well, no, I believe in her even more. Of all the people in the world, I trust Laura the most. I know how outstanding she¡¯ll be in the future, after all. Show me who you are. ¡°I understand.¡± Laura took in a breath. ¡°I want to first point out where this youngdy wascking in and then I wish to speak about how we can deal with the adventurers efficiently.¡± ¡°I am looking forward to it.¡± ¡°For starters, I would like to bring up the first dimension of military arts, Sky.¡± Laura extended her index finger. ¡°Sky is a metaphor for everything in the world. That is why in the art of war, it is advised that battles should be seen in the perspective of war, and wars should be seen from the perspective of nations. Therefore, for this group of seventy adventurers, our forces should think about what will happen in the future and not only the battle before us. If we were to hire arge number of golems, then we will be able to ovee the immediate threat; however,¡± I smiled. I had a feeling that she hade to the right conclusion. My smile must have increased her confidence as Laura spoke in a more cheerful tone. ¡°As expected, will we be attacked by weak adventurers like this in the future as well? It cannot be helped but to think about this. There are many adventurers who can handle a few dozen golems with ease. We will be at their mercy if they decide to hire a mage one day.¡± Laura was on the money. This was the current state of our dungeon. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Dungeon: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle] Rank: Over the hill(F) Technology Research: 0 Magic Research: 0 *Special Skill: None *Monsters: 42 units *Wealth: 13900 gold ¡ùThere are no security measures installed in the dungeon. A human who became a bandit the other day considers this dungeon as a ce to take a walk. You can be invaded at any moment. Research technology and magic and install various facilities! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Lowest-tier golems cost 400 gold. If I hire 30 more of them, then I will have to use 12000 gold. I would be using almost all of my funding. When we face high-level adventurers not so far in the future, then the lowest-tier golems would be nothing more than target practice for them. What would happen if we poured all of our money into lowest-tier golems when, in our current situation, we have to gradually prepare for higher and higher level adventurers? That would be unfathomably foolish. ¡°We must save our resources for the sake of our future. It would be more than enough to use our current forces to deal with the enemy. Therefore©¥.¡± * * * ¡°Allow me to introduce these two, Your Highness Dantalian.¡± Lapis spoke. There were two dwarves standing behind her. ¡°These two are talented cartographers from the demon world.¡± ¡°It is an honor to be in your presence.¡± I reached out and shook hands with them. ¡°I wee you both. Allow me to get straight to the point.¡± I immediately got down to business. Dwarves detest going through formalities by nature. They¡¯re inherently artists and master craftsmen, so they only have interest in things that they can genuinely devote their passions to. ¡°I ask of you two to create a map of the area around my Demon Lord castle.¡± ¡°We are honored. We did not dare to assume that Your Highness had called us for any other reason.¡± The dwarves responded happily. ¡°We shall do our utmost to prepare a map ording to Your Highness¡¯ request; however, there are a couple of things we wish to confirm first.¡± ¡°Feel free to ask.¡± ¡°How wide of a range do you wish for the map to cover?¡± ¡°For starters, bear in mind that I wish for several maps.¡± I looked at the dwarves seriously. ¡°I desire a total of 5 maps. The first map I require is theplete map of the continent, the second map I require is theplete map of the Teuton Kingdom, and the third map I require is a map of the region within the Teuton Kingdom that my Demon Lord castle is located in. Can you acquire these three maps first?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The dwarves seemed a bit surprised. ¡°There should already be several pre-existing maps that meet each of those three conditions.¡± ¡°I only want the highest quality of maps.¡± ¡°Understood. May we ask what the remaining two are?¡± ¡°For the fourth map, I want you to draw a map of the nearby viges and castles. You must include the elevation of thend, the wide and narrow roads, they of thend, and the scale of the viges.¡± The glint in the dwarf¡¯s eyes changed. ¡°¡­¡­I am certain that this will be quite the full-scale map.¡± ¡°For my final map, create a map of the inside of my Demon Lord castle.¡± ¡°As is your right, of course.¡± The dwarf bowed deeply. ¡°Considering how Your Highness requested for even the elevation of thend, we now know that Your Highness has a deep understanding of cartography. We may be undeserving, but as we are professionals that would be saddened to be called the second-best in the demon world, we shallply with your demands.¡± The master craftsman dwarf managed to obtain the first three mapsimmediately. It would take some time to produce thetter two maps, but once I asked them to first produce the map of the area around my Demon Lord castle, they promised to create a partial draft of the map as soon as possible.¡± * * * ¡°©¥We, the army of the Demon Lord, must leave the castle and assault our enemies. Traditionally, being on the defense is three times more advantageous than being on the attack; however, that is only under the condition that the defensive side has a proper fortress. Contrary to its name, far from even having a fortress and a palisade, the Demon Lord castle does not even have a wooden fence. Furthermore, the passageways are excessively wide, so it is not appropriate for a small number of troops to defend.¡± Laura spoke calmly. ¡°Under these conditions, it is far more favorable for our foes since they can attack whenever and however they desire. While they are able to retreat whenever they want after entering our Demon Lord castle, we cannot do the same. We cannot allow them to have such freedom. We must force a disadvantageous battlefield onto them.¡± Laura looked straight at me. Her eyes were sparkling. ¡°Our forces shall operate a detached force. We shall head towards the vige the adventurers are residing in and attack them there. For this sake, we require a detailed map of the vige nearby. This map will be worth the investment as it will continue to help us from now on.¡± ¡°Wait one moment. Couldn¡¯t the adventurers abandon the vige?¡± ¡°They absolutely cannot.¡± She assured me. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°A majority of the adventures were born in that vige. If the adventures abandon the vige, then they would be betraying all of the civilian militia from that vige. The adventurers would not be able to bear the loss of so much manpower in an instant. They have no other choice but to firmly defend the vige for the sake of maintaining their force of 70 people. Taking in the civilian militia for the sake of strengthening their numbers has, in turn, harmed their mobility greatly.¡± I found myself giving her a round of apuse. She had made the right suggestion. ¡°So their manpower will decrease immensely if they abandon the vige, and they cannot invade our castle since they have to defend the vige, thus, in the end, the adventurers will lose their goal and be busy trying to defend their own!¡± ¡°To be exact, it is not their ¡®own¡¯, it is the civilian militia¡¯s. The adventurers may im that they had brought in the civilian militia for the sake of their goal, but©¥we will reverse this situation. The adventurers will have to help for the sake of protecting the civilian militia¡¯s vige.¡± We will turn what the other party considers as their advantage into their weakness. Infantrymen are strong in head to head battles. Therefore, by putting forward bowmen, you can transform the strength of infantrymen into a weakness where they are then ¡®only capable of head to head battles. Knights boast perfect defenses due to their heavy armor. Both bows and spear des are unable to pierce a knight¡¯s armor. Therefore, by making the battlefield a swampish area, you can transform their strength into a weakness where they are then ¡®unable to move because their armor are too heavy¡¯. Be it soldiers, armies, or nations, they all have strengths and weaknesses. For certain nations, having most of their region be rough mountain passes would normally be seen only as a bad thing. Their harvest would be bad and it would be hard to travel to. However, in the art of war, by using the rough mountain passes which would normally be a disadvantage as a part of their defenses, then you could turn it into an advantage. Laura exined that this was a fundamental of war. ¡°Nheless, more troops would be required in order to force the adventurers to defend. However, if we acquire more golems for that sake, then we would be putting the cart before the horse. This discussion started under the basis that we are not going to get more golems, after all.¡± ¡°You are correct.¡± ¡°Up to this point, is the dimension of Earth.¡± She smiled nervelessly. ¡°Now it is time to discuss People.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter! I¡¯m sorry for the dy. I totally didn¡¯t get sucked into the new Animal Crossing game. Well, I also had a lot more assignments this week, so it was a bit of a pain to handle everything. In any case, I¡¯ll try to get the next chapter out sooner, but I can¡¯t make any promises that I won¡¯t get distracted by Animal Crossing, hehe. Chapter 50: E-Rank Adventurer Party (4) Chapter 50: E-Rank Adventurer Party (4) The card she pulled out was something that I hadn¡¯t expected. ¡°There are several goblin tribes near the vicinity of our Demon Lord castle. We must use those goblin viges.¡± ¡°Are you saying to use the goblin tribes as reinforcements?¡± I asked back in rtive surprise. I was genuinely astonished this time. It was the first time since the beginning of the conversation that Laura pointed out something that even I hadn¡¯t consider. There are certainly several goblin tribes nearby. Before I went on my trip to Niflheim, I appeased the human viges because I was afraid of the adventurers invading while I was gone. The offer I gave to appease them was that ¡®goblins will no longer attack your vige¡¯. I furrowed my brows. ¡°Laura, it is nearly impossible to utilize untrained monsters as a part of our forces. It is true that they are inherently friendly towards a Demon Lord like myself; however, it is still a question as to whether they would risk their lives for me like the monsters that are currently under me.¡± ¡°Even the civilian militia will most likely not risk their lives for the adventurers.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± The reason why the civilian militia is joining the adventurers isn¡¯t due to the fact that they¡¯re loyal to them. They are after their own gains. If I were to also promise a benefit like that to the goblins, then they would most likely join the battle as well. ©¥This is what Laura is trying to say. ¡°Your Lordship had forbidden the goblin tribes from hunting humans. This was to bring the humans over to our side. Would a simple logic not form with this? We can tell them that they can now hunt the human viges that have turned hostile towards us freely.¡± ¡°Hunting and war are on two entirely different dimensions. Even if we allow them to hunt, we cannot force them to take part in a war.¡± Laura shook her head. ¡°Your premise is wrong.¡± ¡°My premise?¡± I asked back in interest. ¡°What premise are you saying is wrong?¡± ¡°Why do you think we must force them to take part in a war? Your Lordship, this is this youngdy¡¯s remonstration. You are much too nice to monsters. Your Lordship unconsciously thought that we are driving the monsters to fight. Is this not a terrifying misunderstanding?¡± Laura pointed at a fairy that was sitting on my shoulder. ¡°You must not make this misunderstanding. Monsters are not your pets! Monsters are brutal and savage wild beasts just like humans, thus they are warriors that will run out into battle as long as it is beneficial for them.¡± Her words burrowed into my head. I abruptly recalled the piece of advice that Lapis offered me back at the ve market. When I saw the way the humans treated subspecies, I got upset. At that time, Lapis said this to me: ¡®Being excessively empathetic is not wise. The understanding shared between the womenfolk in shopping districts and the verdict made by judges in the court ofw, these things do not befit a king.¡¯ ¡®A king must understand and make a verdict.¡¯ I thought I had heeded her words sufficiently, but it seems I still have a tendency to consider all monsters as allies. ¡°I guarantee it. If we present a situation to the goblins where they can gain something, then they will voluntarily participate in war even if we tell them not to. Your Lordship, please think rationally. Be it humans or monsters, they are nothing more than pawns on a chessboard called war.¡± Ipletely acknowledged that Laura was right. A certain corner of my mind had a soft spot for monsters. I simply intended to alienate the rtionship between the viges and make the adventurers self-destruct. I never even considered using monsters. Nheless, instead of feeling ashamed, I felt happy. ¡®Supporting one¡¯s lord when they fail to notice something is also an intrigant¡¯s duty.¡¯ I never thought that I would be able to handle everything by myself anyway. If I did, then I would have never recruited Laura in the first ce. I¡¯m the type of person who has more concerns about himself than confidence. Laura was currently filling those concerns. ¡°Your Lordship.¡± Laura¡¯s green eyes stared straight at me. She was waiting for my response. ¡°¡­¡­Let us say that we use the goblin tribes, with what gain do you intend to make them act?¡± ¡°That is also a simple matter.¡± Laura responded without a moment of hesitation. ¡°Be it humans or monsters, things that belong to others naturally seem better.¡± * * * A forest that had grown densely without any restrictions. Parsi, the young vige chief, was advancing while pushing the foliage aside with his cane. He swore each time a branch or a sharp de of grass scratched his flesh. ¡°Ow, fucking hell. These damn bugs!¡± He turned back to look at me. His front hair was stuck to his forehead. ¡°Your Honor! Please allow me to ask something.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll allow it.¡± ¡°Why me?¡± I answered Parsi as Ifortably followed the path he had opened. ¡°You are the youngest and strongest, after all. I couldn¡¯t possibly make an old man act as a guide, now could I?¡± ¡°Ah, then you could have chosen any of the hunters at the vige to do this¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I havealso taken a liking to you.¡± ¡°Geh.¡± Parsi didn¡¯t seem to like that. Nevertheless, that was all. It seems he couldn¡¯t think of anything else to say as he proceeded to swing his cane firmly. Despite always saying whatever was on his mind, he appears to be the type of person who gets embarrassed if someone is honest with him. ¡°How cute.¡± ¡°C-Cute? Did you just call me cute?¡± Parsi turned pale from shock. He started jumping in ce. His behavior was childish which was befitting for a young man from the countryside. This made meugh. It¡¯s hard to not find this amusing when in the presence of a person like Parsi who expresses themselves without any reservation. ¡°Aah. You probably are not aware of it yourself, but you are quite cute.¡± ¡°Fuck! In all my life, even my mother never called me cute! Are your eyes damaged? Even if Your Honor ims that your eyes are fine, I¡¯ll firmly believe otherwise!¡± Parsi¡¯s shoulders trembled. ¡°Your Honor¡­¡­ do you perhaps, pitch for the o-other side?¡± ¡°Other side?¡± ¡°You know, they say there are guys who¡¯re interested¡­¡­ in other guys.¡± Sheesh. I gave Parsi a pitying look. He must have also felt awkward once I did since he scratched the back of his head. ¡°E-Ehem. That¡¯s a relief. I was simply curious.¡± ¡°Even if I were a sodomite, I assure you that your rear hole would be nowhere near my list of goals.¡± ¡°Rear hole? What are you talking about?¡± It appears that this country bumpkin only knows that there are men who prefer other men, but has no idea what they do to get it on. I grinned. ¡°Referentially, when two men really, really love each other¡­¡­.¡± Due to my duty as an intellectual to teach ignorant people the truth and my desire to be considerate of a country bumpkin, I gave him a detailed exnation of how two males have sex. Since I had diligently listened to a liberal arts ss about sex at my university, my exnation was both concrete and detailed. I¡¯m beingpletely honest here, but I have absolutely no ulterior motives behind giving him this much information. All I have are my duties as an intellectual and my considerate personality. Parsi¡¯splexion became paler and paler as my exnation continued. ¡°N-No way!¡± He shouted to the point of almost fainting. He was like a 5-year-old boy who had just discovered for the first time in his life that girls don¡¯t have penises. ¡°So, so you¡¯re saying that, they use it to prate there!?¡± ¡°To make it purely urate, the anus is where¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Stop! Stooop!¡± Parsi screamed as he blocked his ears with his palms. Based off of his reaction, this guy is a male bachelor. Despite having a rough way with words, he has never experienced a woman before. This made him seem even cuter. ¡°Please do not use such vulgar words!¡± ¡°I personally do not know that much about it, but I heard that it is incredibly pleasurable.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to believe it! Mymon sense! Mymon sense is!¡± ¡°Common sense is meant to be broken.¡± I retorted cooly. ¡°Young man, you should open your eyes to a new world.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want that kind of world!¡± The innocent young man¡¯s scream resonated throughout the green forest. I learned about this earlier after talking with him for a bit, but this hairy giant is actually only 16 years old. He¡¯s the same age as Laura. He just looks really old. The foliage in the forest was thick. It had rained a few days ago, so the greenery had grown at a terrifying rate. It was hard to find a spot that wasn¡¯t covered in moss and there were no trees that weren¡¯t covered in leaves. It felt like this was the forest¡¯s desperate attempt to hold on to the leaving summer as it stubbornly tried to remain green. I arrived in this world in spring and now summer was almost over. ©¥Keruruk, keru. ©¥Keruruk. Countless footsteps followed behind us. ¡°Sheesh.¡± Was he trying to change the subject? Parsi nced behind us. ¡°I never thought in all my life that I would be on the same side as goblins.¡± There were nearly a hundred goblins. This massive troop was following behind us in two lines. The goblins were holding primitive weapons like hatchets and stone spears. Interestingly enough, there were a lot of stone-throwers. They were walking while holding the slings they used to shoot stones and they would hunt birds and rabbits every now and then as we advanced. On a side note, my weapon was a crossbow. I undoubtedly had the most luxurious weapon out of all of us. As a joke, I earlier said: ¡°I have no idea how they intend to fight with those.¡± But once I did, Parsi made a face as he refuted me. ¡°What are you talking about? I don¡¯t care about the other goblins, but I¡¯d rather not get into a fight with the ones holding slings.¡± ¡°How strong could a mere stone possibly be?¡± ¡°Your Honor, you don¡¯t know the taste of rocks, do you? Rocks are the scariest things in the world. Even the toughest of guys would get sent to the next life if they take a direct hit from one of those.¡± Would I as well? I wondered. It was honestly hard to believe that a sling could be that powerful, but Parsi sounded so confident that I didn¡¯t say anything more about it. It would only be a good thing if Parsi was right, so I hoped the goblin stone-throwers would give it their all. In any case, looking past their equipment, the march of almost a hundred goblins was quite the grand spectacle. ¡°It feels weird being on the same side as monsters.¡± ¡°Are you afraid?¡± ¡°Rather than afraid, I feel weird.¡± Parsi twisted his lips as if he were displeased. ¡°Who would ever believe that humans and monsters teamed up? People would probably tell me to stop being delusional and criticize me. Honestly, I still can¡¯t believe this.¡± A delusion, huh. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead. There are two types of people in the world who genuinely talk about delusions. Revolutionists or idiots. I¡¯ve met both types of people until now. Jack belonged to thetter. He died. The person who belongs to the former is©¥. ¡°Someone ising.¡± Parsi spoke up. He was pointing behind me. Once I turned around, I saw Laura approaching us while riding on top of a donkey. It didn¡¯t take her long to swiftly pass the goblins and reach me. Laura got down from her mount gracefully. ¡°Your Lordship.¡± Even as ayman I could tell that her horsemanship was excellent. The issue is that her mount is way too shabbypared to her skills. They say that masters don¡¯t distinguish between their tools, but a donkey was too much. Laura seemed to not care about this whatsoever as she kneeled before me. The fairies that were flying around her came to me. ¡°Thus far, there have been no goblin tribes that have left the formation.¡± Laura spoke formally. She was doing this because Parsi was next to us. Since I also believed that public and private matters should clearly be separated, I didn¡¯t mention how her formal way of speech was a bit awkward. ¡°Well done. Parsi, how long until we reach the vige?¡± ¡°Uh? Huh? Oh, it shouldn¡¯t be too far now.¡± Parsi, who had beenpletely infatuated by Laura¡¯s face, responded in a hurry. He must have been awestruck since this was his first time seeing the beauty of a noble¡¯s daughter after living all his life in the countryside. ¡°Uhm, we should be able to see it soon if we keep going like this.¡± ¡°All right. Laura, that will be yourst report.¡± I patted her shoulder. ¡°Advance by my side from this point on.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I ordered the goblins to march silently. Sure enough, as Parsi had said, the forest path soon came to an end. A man saw us in the distance and became surprised. He seemed to be a lumberjack. He screamed his lungs off before running away. He was too far away to shoot him with my crossbow or get hit by a sling. ¡°A surprise attack is out of the question now. Is this okay?¡± ¡°Do not worry.¡± How much could they possibly aplish by getting ready now? We continued like this straight to the vige ahead. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It took me a bit to finish, but I got through it. My universitypletely changed the online ss system once we got into week 3, so I had a lot more work to do. I¡¯ll do my best to keep pumping out these chapters. Chapter 51: E-Rank Adventurer Party (5) Chapter 51: E-Rank Adventurer Party (5) ¡°Goblins, goblins are invading!¡± ¡°Stick to the fences! Fuck, don¡¯t run away! Stick to the fences!¡± ¡°Sefar, you son of a bitch! Just think about running away and I¡¯ll make sure your family gets it!¡± The vige was already inplete mayhem. Vigers were gathering behind the wooden fences, but since there were people shouting at the other vigers to stick to the fences, people trying to get as far away from the fences as possible, people screaming helplessly, and people picking up whatever they could in order to prepare for battle, these various types of people mixed together created the physical representation of mayhem. We watched the vige from a distance. The tiered fields around the vige didn¡¯t exactly make the scenery romantic, but it was still quite a pastoral sight. If there weren¡¯t people desperately running through the fields and towards the vige, that is. I spoke leisurely. ¡°It is surprising to see that no one is trying to run away.¡± ¡°When ites to relentlessness, no group is as relentless as the humans that live in the mountains. They are worlds apart from those cowards that live in the ins.¡± Parsi acted conceited. I wonder if there¡¯s bad blood between mountain people and nd people. I smiled bitterly. If there are any outside differences, humans are the type of people to stick whatever reason they can to make their differences distinguishable. ¡°Those people are wanderers among the lower ss.¡± Laura informed me from my side. She brushed aside her blonde hair that was blowing in the wind, but the way she did it was so cool that I almost forgot that she was riding on a donkey. In other words, it looked funny. I¡¯m definitely going to gift her an excellent steedter on. ¡°They were driven here to this monster-ridden mountain range in order to avoid the tax collectors and regional lords. They are resolved to protect what is theirs. The world has made it so that they would be unable to survive if they do not resolve themselves.¡± ¡°Do you feel guilty about attacking innocent people?¡± ¡°They are the ones who dared to point their swords at Your Highness first. This youngdy was never taught how to feel sympathy for Your Highness¡¯ enemies.¡± She gave a reliable answer. It was around this time that the goblins started to let out a cry even though I hadn¡¯t ordered them to. It felt like a mob of monkies with slightly husky voices were chanting in unison whilepletely disregarding all intonations and rhythm. The goblins hopped around randomly, sang in anguage I didn¡¯t understand©¥it roughly sounded like ¡®Kuruguruguruguru!¡¯©¥and danced around as if they were iling their limbs. One of them banged on a green leathered drum and managed to make the others somewhat follow a rhythm. This was the anthem of the goblins. ¡°A battle of spirit.¡± ¡°How interesting. Out of all the music I have listened to before, I prefer this one the most.¡± ¡°My apologies, Your Lordship, but is there a genre of music that you like particrly the most?¡± ¡°I dislike music.¡± Laura chuckled. The vigers on the other side of the fences raised their voices in retaliation. Their song was about protecting the abundant amount of corn that¡¯s harvested on a mountain. All sorts of instruments were utilized, simr to that of an orchestra. Their musical talent was clearly a grade higher than the goblins¡¯. Each time their lead chanter started off a line, the majority of the vigers would follow along. There were even a couple of people who picked up an instrument and followed the beat. I came to a surprising realization. There was a gong among the instruments used by the vigers, and, if I have to be honest, I hate gongs the most out of all instruments. I always questioned what type of music gongs were ever invented for. Nheless, the mystery that I couldn¡¯t solve back in my original world was finally solved here. I¡¯m now certain that gongs are instruments that are meant to be used professionally in war! Despite the loud cries of both the goblins and humans, the gong managed to ring out and prate through all of that noise. ¡°Kill those damned bastards, kill them dead!¡± ¡°Hear hear!¡± ¡°Kill those damned bastards, kill them deeeead©¥!¡± The hills near the vicinity of the vige were soon filled with chanting and the sound of instruments. Honestly, it might be a stretch to even refer to this as music. No, this was just loud noises. ¡°How long do we have to wait for!?¡± I shouted. My voice was almost buried under the noise. ¡°My apologies, Your Honor! Normally, there is a rule on anthems when human armies face each other! There is an implicit agreement on what must be done in order to win or lose! Nevertheless, it¡¯s this humble one¡¯s first time watching monsters and humans face off with their anthems, so I¡¯m not sure!¡± ¡°Parsi!¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple!¡± Parsi responded as loudly as he could. ¡°We just have to wait until one side stops dues to exhaustion!¡± What a simple rule. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I had to listen to this damn ruckus, I would have praised the person who created this rule. ¡°And what if this drags on excessively!?¡± ¡°If it drags on, then it drags on! If you¡¯re feeling bored, Your Honor, then how about dancing? The goblins are already going nuts!¡± Sure enough, the goblins were dancing as a group now. No matter how much I looked at them, it felt like I was watching a bunch of warlocks holding a ceremony to summon a greater demon. You¡¯re telling me to hop in the center of that and start shaking my hips? I¡¯d rather die. Fortunately, contrary to my concern, the fight of spirit quickly came to an end. There were no more than approximately 50 vigers. That was far too little to face against almost a hundred goblins. As time passed, the human voices got buried underneath the anthem of the goblins before, eventually, only the sound of a gong could be heard from their side. They had grown exhausted. ©¥ Kerururururu! ©¥ Kiruruk! Keru, kirururuk! The goblins cheered in victory. These guys had also been shouting for a while now, but they didn¡¯t look tired at all. Strangely, in war, people tend topletely forget about their exhaustion whenever they¡¯re overflowing with motivation. On the other hand, if your spirit is beaten, then your strength diminishes drastically as the stress, exhaustion, and feeling of oppression washes over you. This was what was happening to the vigers right now. Their civilian militia had been transferred to the adventurer partytemporarily. Their manpower wasckingpared to the monsters. Even their morale dropped. Victory after victory („Ù±øÏÈ„Ù¶øááÇó‘ð). Armies that win go to war after establishing their victory beforehand. Even though a single drop of blood had not been shed yet, the victors had already been clearly decided. ¡°Your Lordship, it is time.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°Would you like to say something before the battle?¡± I turned around. The massive army of goblins managed to enter my field of vision. I was able to see all of them in a single nce because the goblins were short. Green goblins filled the evergreen hills. They almost looked like a bunch of squirming caterpirs. I tore a scroll that had an amplification spell on it. A transparent film appeared in front of my face. I activated my skill before then shouting. ¡°Warriors!¡± A hundred pairs of eyes turned to look at me. I paused for a moment before continuing my speech. ¡°I beseech you all to behold those fences!¡± I stretched my hand out towards the vige. The vigers were quietly listening to me as well. ¡°Those mountain people have arrogantly built those fences thinking that thisnd is theirs. After creating their vige and piling up some wood, they have begun to act like the owners of this mountain range¡­¡­Were humans the owners of this mountain range?¡± ©¥ Kerururuk! ©¥ Kiiruk! Kiiruruk! The goblins started to hop around like aggravated monkeys once I asked them that question. The rage of beasts spread throughout the area. I could clearly understand their words since I was a Demon Lord. ¡°Goblins have lived here before those humans put down their fences. Goblins have lived here before those humans began to farm. Before those humans dared to step foot on this sacred mountain, goblins had already been here for thousands of years!¡± ©¥ Kirururururu! ¡°Very well then. Allow me to ask you, proud species of the mountain, this.¡± I raised my arms up. ¡°Do you love this sacred mountain range!?¡± ©¥ Keruruk! Keruk! Keruruk!¡± The goblins all responded at once as they stomped. I shouted as loudly as I could. ¡°Are you the warriors that rule these mountains!?¡± ©¥ Keruk! Keruk! Keruruk! ¡°Will you punish those arrogant pigs that have invaded our greatnd!?¡± The goblins cried out. ¡°That is right! Kill them!¡± I made a firm fist. ¡°Do not forgive those pig bastards that have muddied our food! Strip their flesh! Tear their muscles! Sever their intestines and take their heads! Prove to them who the true owners of these mountains are! Make them realize that they are nothing more than boorish swine! Show them who the hunters©¥and the hunted are!¡± I turned my back towards the massive group of goblins as I spoke. At that moment, Laura tore a magic scroll. We had arranged to do this beforehand. The scroll she tore had a medium-scale teleportation spell on it. My golems appeared along with a bright sh of white light. A small earthquake shook the earth once theynded. The goblins cheered at the appearance of their reinforcement while the humans screamed in terror. I then gave my finalmand. ¡°All soldiers! Advance!¡± ©¥ Khrwuaaaah! ©¥Kiirurururuk! A roar that was far superior to all of the singing that had happened earlier echoed throughout the area. The golems took the lead. The wooden fences broke apart like matchsticks once the golems swung their bulky fists. ¡°R-Run away!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll die if our frontline gets pushed back! We¡¯ll die if our frontline gets pushed back©¥!¡± ¡°Fuck! There¡¯s no way we can block them!¡± ¡°No! Stick to the fences! It doesn¡¯t matter whether you live or die as long as you stick to the fences, you fucking idiots!¡± That one movepletely destroyed the vigers¡¯ formation. My golems, which had an average level of 7, weren¡¯t foes that somewhat sturdy mountain vigers could possibly handle with ease. If it was just the goblins, then they could have defended for a while by sticking their spears between the gaps in the fences. However, they had never considered the possibility of defending against golems. Once the golems destroyed the fences like battering rams, goblins poured into the newly formed openings like water. It was over like that. A portion of the vigers ran away without turning back. The ones who had remained to fight till the very end lost their will to fight once they saw the others flee. Rather, the runners and archers bumped into each other, causing even more havoc. Goblins and golems rushed in as well which added salt to their wounds. ¡°Don¡¯t ki©¥guah!¡± ¡°Uaah, uaaaah!¡± I had no mercy in my hands. I gave the goblins permission to pige. To goblins, piging meant tearing the flesh off of humans. A ughter that didn¡¯t discriminate between young men, women, the elderly, and children was carried out. I slowly walked through the massacre. Laura and Parsi were standing at my sides as bodyguards. Parsi asionally looked terrified and appalled, but it seems he had some courage since he managed to not fall behind. I still couldn¡¯t believe it from his outer appearance, but Parsi is 15 years old. ¡°Secure their granary. Group 1, go that way, and group 4, go this way.¡± Laura readily gave the golems orders as she walked. Since I had acknowledged her operational authority, the golems obeyed her without anyints. Referentially, Laura¡¯s expression hadn¡¯t changed since the beginning of the battle. Unbelievably, she¡¯s 15 years old. ¡®As I thought, were people mature even when they were young during the medieval ages?¡¯ I was mentally moved by the people of this era. Honestly, the very fact that the vigers fought back against the monsters that had an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers was surprising. I had dyed the appearance of my golems because I was worried that a worrying battle would start where the vigers tried to run away as soon as they saw the goblins. Humans are more tenacious than I expected. Of course, there were people who abandoned their family,rades, everyone in order to save their own necks, but they were an extremely small minority. ¡°O Great Being! I beg of you, please spare this child at the very least!¡± A woman got through the wall of goblins and groveled before me. She had left behind her right arm somewhere while her left arm was holding an infant. I stopped walked. ¡°This child¡­¡­this child has done no wrong! Please¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Laura.¡± There was no need for me to give her an exnation. Laura pulled out her long sword that was on her waist and pierced the woman through her chest in an instant. The de prated through the woman¡¯s soft chest and came out her back. Laura pulled out her sword in one smooth movement. Blood was sttered on the floor. She copsed to the ground and kept pleading for mercy until her final breath. I disregarded the woman¡¯s corpse and the infant in her arms as I continued forward. Parsi came up right next to me. ¡°Uhm, did you have to go out of your way to kill that one?¡± ¡°No, I did not.¡± Watching heaps of humans be ughtered was definitely a sad sight. It¡¯d be fine to even call it a tragedy. The maternal instincts of a woman who desperately made her way through the goblins despite having lost an arm pained my heart especially. Nevertheless, putting aside my personal feelings, this is a battle between monsters and humans. As I am the leader of these monsters, I can¡¯t allow others to see me be sympathetic towards humans. I spoke with purely only a political intent. ¡°Nheless, there was no reason for me to go out of my way to spare her.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m sorry. I actually had this chapter finished and edited like 2 days ago, but I somehow forgot about it as I worked on the next chapter. A real feels bad. I¡¯ll try not to forget next time. Ehehe. Chapter 52: E-Rank Adventurer Party (6) Chapter 52: E-Rank Adventurer Party (6) Parsi shrugged. He didn¡¯t say anything more, but seeing as how I didn¡¯t receive a notification telling me that his affection had gone down, this meant that even he wasn¡¯t being sincere while asking that. The adventurers that invaded my dungeon were like that as well. They possessed both cruelty and innocence at the same time. On one hand, they would shoot their arrows without any hesitation, while on the other hand, they would open themselves up with utmost ease. I heard that, contrary to how they¡¯re normally portrayed, farmers during the medieval times could change into bandits just as easily as ouws could if necessary. This kind of two-faced personality is most likely amon trait among the people of this era. ©¥ Kirururuk! The vige quickly degraded into a massive banquet. Even after filling all of the goblins¡¯ stomachs, there was still plenty of meat left from the fifty-nine pieces of human flesh. ¡°An outright victory. With this, the degree in which the goblin tribes will participate in battles will increase greatly.¡± ¡°Aah. However, as we discussed previously, we will have to devote ourselves to the false attack operation.¡± ¡°Correct. I will order the golems to transport the corpses.¡± We stood in the vige za and conversed casually. It wasn¡¯t because there was a particrly new topic to discuss. It was so we could allow our soldiers to enjoy a brief party. There are over 14 goblins tribes spread throughout the nearby mountain range. If we were tobine all of those tribes, then having an army that surpasses 500 goblins would be an easy task. They wouldn¡¯t all be able to go into battle, but I could have mobilized a number of goblins that far surpasses the hundred I used in today¡¯s battle. Nevertheless, there¡¯s a simple reason why I was able to bring only a hundred. The goblin tribes were afraid that they would suffer losses. It was only natural. Goblins may attack and pige human viges like mountain bandits at times, but they wouldn¡¯t go to full out war. When a simr number of goblins and mountain men go to battle, thetter has the advantage. It is especially difficult for goblins to attack human viges that have fences or any other type of security measures. The goblin tribes weren¡¯t enthusiastic about my proposal to subjugate the humans. They remained steadfast even when I told them that I would minimize their losses by putting my golems at the front. For goblins, humans are usually beings that they don¡¯t go to war with, but they would instead pige them every now and then whenever they felt like trying something different. Be it humans or monsters, no, especially for monsters, it¡¯s hard for them to escape old habits. I was only able to bring a hundred goblins because I¡¯m a Demon Lord, a being that inherently gains the affection of monsters. If I weren¡¯t a Demon Lord, then I wouldn¡¯t have been able to bring a single goblin. Laura took out a map. ¡°Immediately invading the next town would not be the best idea.¡± It wasn¡¯t aplete map, but it was something that was roughly drafted by Parsi and the other humans that were friendly towards us. The locations of the human viges and goblin tribes were drawn on it. ¡°Our forces will be going clockwise and razing the viges to the ground one by one. The adventurers will figure out our route after we have captured at least two viges. Surprise attacks may be a basic tactic in war, but we still have some time to spare.¡± Laura pointed at the goblin viges on the map one at a time. ¡°Therefore, let us disperse our army of goblins right now.¡± ¡°Eh, what?¡± Parsi seemed confused. ¡°We barely managed to gather a hundred of them during thest few days and you want to disperse them now!?¡± Even if we had a map, not only was it a rough draft, but Laura and I weren¡¯t ustomed to mountain paths. For the past few days, Parsi acted as our guide as we went up and down the mountain. From Parsi¡¯s perspective as someone who had to go through that endeavor, dispersing the group would be like wasting his efforts. Laura smiled. ¡°The reason why His Highness Demon Lord had put in his own legwork to gather the goblins is due to them refusing to participate in the battles voluntarily. However, the situation has changed now. The goblins suffered no losses in today¡¯s skirmish.¡± Sure enough, human corpses were lined up in the vige. There were a couple of goblin corpses near the fences; however, that was enough to still regard this as them not having suffered any losses. ¡°They have only benefited from this. Dozens of human corpses is a harvest that goblins cannot possibly imagine to obtain. Allow me to ask you this.¡± Laura turned to Parsi. ¡°Let¡¯s say that we order the goblins to gather at a certain ceter for the next battle before dispersing them. How many goblins do you think will join them on their next excursion?¡± ¡°U-Uh¡­¡­do you think things will turn out that well?¡± Parsi struggled to meet Laura¡¯s gaze. As expected of a noble¡¯s daughter, each of her motions was elegant, so it seems she was too much for a country boy to face. Sheesh, he says whatever he wants to a Demon Lord like me, but he can¡¯t lift a finger against an actual beauty. ¡°We had a good haul today, so let¡¯s stop here!¡­¡­Couldn¡¯t they think like that?¡± ¡°If they can gain something without losing anything in return, then they will alwayse flying. The goblins will go back to their tribes and brag about how easy today¡¯s battle was and how many corpses they obtained. How do you expect the other goblins would react?¡± Laura seemed to feel no need to talk to Parsi any longer as she turned to face me. She disyed a confident smile as she spoke. ¡°I dare to dere my certainty that Your Lordship will have an army of over 300 troops in the next battle.¡± I heeded her advice and disbanded our troops. Parsi kept holding his head half in doubt as they dispersed. Two dayster. Laura¡¯s prediction was spot-on. When we arrived at the crossroad to the next vige, there were already hundreds of goblins crowded there. The mountain valley was filled with green waves. Parsi stared at Laura in utter surprise. Lauramanded the army as if this were a natural turnout and we conquered the second vige as if we were taking candy from a baby as well. * * * ¡°Son of a bitch!¡± Riff flipped over a wooden table. The table toppled over loudly. This was a home where the seniors of the adventurer party were residing. This house was obtained after threatening the original residence of this home, but Riff felt nothing about throwing the furniture around however he pleased. Once Riff learned about what was happening from a survivor, raged filled his chest. ¡°Shit, fucking bastard! How dare that pathetic son of a bitch!¡± His fellow senior adventurers didn¡¯t dare to stop him as they stood still. Riff had raised a bunch of second-rate countryside adventurers into a first-rate party within a couple of months and won over the civilian militia of another region, so he exercised absolute leadership. They knew very well that things wouldn¡¯t turn out well even if they tried to restrain their currently upset leader. ¡°Fuck, get your stuff! We¡¯re going to invade the dungeon right now!¡± ¡°Right this instant?¡± One of the seniors asked carefully. ¡°The civilian militia folks have be really anxious once they heard that two viges have been massacred. It¡¯d be best if we tried to at least raise their morales a bit¡­¡­.¡± Riff red at the guy fiercely. He then punched him in the stomach abruptly. The man held back his groan as he bent forward. The other adventurers became more nervous and they unwittingly tensed up their backs. Riff shouted at the other seniors who still didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°You fucking retard! When else would we invade!? That Demon Lord fucker is attacking viges! That means his dungeon is empty right now!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°You empty-headed idiots¡­¡­! Go outside and tell the others that we¡¯ll be leaving in an hour!¡± The other adventurers vacated the premises in a hurry. Only a single person stayed behind, a girl who didn¡¯t fit in with Riff¡¯s party of only male adventurers was sitting in the corner of the house. Riff paid her no mind as he began to think. His now calm demeanor made it hard to believe that he was the same enraged person earlier. Contrary to his image, he doesn¡¯t actually have a short temper and tends to think deeply. He got mad and threw a fuss earlier so that he could make the other adventurerse back to their senses after hearing about the viges being massacred. Hisrades were trustworthy when it came tobat prowess, but he couldn¡¯t trust them one bit when it came to using their heads. ¡®It¡¯d be great if Cyclops were here in a time like this.¡¯ Riff recalled therade he had previously lost in Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord castle. Cyclops and Riff were a great duo. Riff would take hold of the atmosphere, while Cyclops would control the situation appropriately. You needed to establish these roles firmly if you want to lead dimwitted adventurers efficiently. Right now, Riff has been taking on all of the roles, so his exhaustion has been increasing by the day. When he thought about how this was all because of that Demon Lord bastard, it frustrated him even more. Two viges being annihted hurt. ¡®But this really doesn¡¯t harm us.¡¯ He concluded coldly. There were 3 things Riff was relying on. First, viges may have disappeared, but that didn¡¯t harm his party. The civilian militia were all residing in the same vige as the adventurers. To Riff, he honestly didn¡¯t care if a few viges disappeared as long as the manpower known as his civilian militia was fine. It wasn¡¯t his vige anyway, so why should he care? Second, he had hired a mage. The woman who was sitting in the corner of the room and dozing off was the mage. Furthermore, she wasn¡¯t some rookie One Circle or Two Circle mage, but a Three Circle! As a battle mage, she was someone who could deal with lowest-tier golems with ease. ording to the report, the Demon Lord has golems, goblins, and fairies under his wing. It should be a rtively easy battle as the mage deals with the golems while the adventurers fend them and the goblins off. Riff was very lucky to have been able to hire a mage despite being a low-ranking adventurer. Low-ss mages tend to not have their own workshops, so they spend most of their time working and learning at mage towers. However, as their Circle rank increases, the fee required to continue learning magic increases exponentially as well. Thus, low-ss mages would often work part-time in adventurer parties for a season in order to earn some funding. From what Riff could tell, this woman also belonged to thattter group. ¡®Who would have known that an idiot like her would take the bait? Hehe.¡¯ She was seriously ignorant of how the real world works. asionally, there are ignorant people among the mages who have no idea how cruel society can be because they spend all their lives studying. Adventurers referred to these mages as pushovers. This woman was the representative of pushovers. The way she looked around after entering the adventurer guild screamed, ¡®I¡¯m a pushover, please take advantage of me¡¯, so Riff approached the woman without hesitation. It took less than five minutes to sweet-talk her into signing an unfair contract after telling her about how Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord castle was filled with gold but has no traps and only has lowest-tier golems for monsters. We promised to give her 5% of the total profit. This was practically like hiring a Three Circle mage for free, but the woman agreed and followed us. Riff had probablyughed at the girl in his mind over a hundred times now. In the end, the only ones who profit in the world are the ones who deceive. ¡®Like that Demon Lord bastard.¡¯ Riff gnashed his teeth. It still frustrated him whenever he remembered how he was deceived by that guy¡¯s acting. He really was stupid back then! Logically speaking, there¡¯s no way that a Demon Lord would act for the sake of adventurers. And yet, Riff and the other adventurers of Jalsen Vige trusted the Demon Lord like sheep. It was literally like they had been possessed. ¡®That fucking son of a bitch. I¡¯ll rip your guts out and twirl it around.¡¯ It was around this point that Riff put his emotions in order. He was certain that he would be able to get back at the Demon Lord for the rage he was feeling right now. And the third final reason¡­¡­. ¡°L-Leader.¡± One of the adventurers returned. It was the man who got hit by Riff earlier. He had apletely horrified look on his face. ¡°Huh? Why are you back already? Have you finished the preparations?¡± ¡°Well, uhm¡­¡­there¡¯s a problem.¡± ¡°A problem? Fuck, what problem?¡± Riff retorted sharply almost as if he intended to chew him out. The young man answered while ming the world for making him take this role. ¡°It¡¯s, well¡­¡­the civilian militia¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What about the civilian militia!?¡± ¡°T-The civilian militia is saying that they absolutely won¡¯t go to the dungeon!¡± Riff¡¯s face contorted greatly like a piece of paper. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! Well, this chapter came out quicker than normal since I had practically finished it by the time I remembered to upload the previous chapter. My mistake. I don¡¯t know if I like this quarantine or not anymore. It¡¯s nice being at home, but at the same time, my university has decided to give us even more assignments. It¡¯s greeeaat. Well,ints aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 53: E-Rank Adventurer Party (7) Chapter 53: E-Rank Adventurer Party (7) ¡°What utter nonsense is that?¡± ¡°Like I said, the civilian militia are refusing to¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fuck, do you think my ears don¡¯t work? They have a reason why they¡¯re saying that, right!? Why are the people who came here willingly suddenly refusing to go?¡± The young man fidgeted as he failed to answer. He only learned that the civilian militia had refused to go out, he had never considered asking them why they didn¡¯t want to go. He had simplye running here because he thought that the leader would want to hear about this as soon as possible. Riff could tell that this was the case by the young man¡¯splexion. In other words, it was confirmed once more how ipetent and ignorant hisrades were. Riff held back his sigh and spoke. ¡°You seriously¡­¡­ Damn it, go learn why they don¡¯t want to go.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The young man was downcasted as he turned around. ¡°No, wait. Just tell the heads of each of the civilian militia toe here themselves.¡± Riff quickly changed hismand. He could tell by the young man¡¯s demeanor that he most likely wouldn¡¯t learn their reason properly either. The young man left the house hastily while failing to understand the subtle meaning behind his leader¡¯s change ofmand. ¡®Damn it. This party can¡¯t get anything done without me!¡¯ Riff scratched the side of his head temperamentally. 5 men entered shortly after the young man ran out. They were the heads of each vige¡¯s civilian militia. Among the heads, two of them had lost their hometowns to the goblin army. Once they found out that their friends, parents, spouses, and children were killed, their chests were filled with rage. They¡¯ve been longing to exterminate the goblin poption from the world. Riff managed to keenly grasp what was going through their heads. ¡®There¡¯s no reason to pour oil on the mes.¡¯ He immediately put on the most forlorn expression he could muster on his face. Since Riff¡¯s previous upation was a lumberjack, his features were rough. There was also nothing as genuine as a rough man¡¯s forlorn face. Brother, Riff began to speak. Riff and the heads of the civilian militia were in a rtionship where they referred to each other as brother. ¡°I heard the news¡­¡­ I cannot say anything but offer my sympathy.¡± ¡°You have nothing to say? Did you just say that you have nothing to say?¡± The neck of one of the men who had lost his vige was burning red. ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard, you¡¯ve already said everything you wanted to say!¡± ¡°Brother, please calm down. I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re upset, but surely¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know why I¡¯m upset? Did you just say you don¡¯t know why I¡¯m upset!?¡± The heads pointed their fingers at Riff angrily. ¡°You said that we¡¯ll receive arge share if we raid the dungeon! That we¡¯ll turn our lives around! But look at what happened! The Demon Lord retaliated after we got enticed by you. Rather than turn our lives around, you¡¯ve ruined thempletely! Completely! ¡­¡­We shouldn¡¯t have upset him!¡± ¡°This would have never happened if you didn¡¯t drag us into this. It¡¯s all your fault!¡± Riff closed his mouth. He was dumbfounded. ¡®What are they, kids?¡¯ No, did they never consider the possibility of them suffering losses the moment they decided to go against a Demon Lord? They even went as far as to threaten a couple of viges under the pretext of acquiring provisions. Did they never consider the chances that those viges would go to the Demon Lord and ask him for his help? ¡°So what do you want me to do?¡± Riff spoke in a cold tone. ¡°Should I apologize? Will that help calm you down?¡± ¡°What? You ill-mannered bastard.¡± ¡°Manners is something you can shove up your ass. I lost half of myrades to that Demon Lord bastard as well.¡± Riff growled. His desire to be reasonably courteous had disappeared. ¡°Did you think that by trying to rob a Demon Lord, he¡¯d be like ¡®Oh adventurers, oh humans, please take all of the gold I¡¯ve gathered.¡¯? Cold air must be going in your lungs. Has no one taught you that you have to resolve yourself to lose something if you want to take something else?¡± ¡°Hah, you¡¯re worse than a dog! Your true face has been revealed now!¡± ¡°You fucking nimwits are the ones exposing your true faces.¡± Riff pulled out his handaxe that was on his waist and threw it on the ground. The edge of the ax¡¯s de dug into the wooden floor. This sudden action made the men flinch. Riff used that opportunity to take a step forward and shove his face towards the civilian militia heads. ¡°How long has it been since you guys decided to follow me. You guys seemed delighted by the opportunity to get your hands on some gold; and yet, now you guys want to turn tail? Huh? Men should never go back on their words even if they die, right? Ha, the fact that you guys think you¡¯re the only victims here disgusts me so much that I don¡¯t think I can call you brothers.¡± ¡°No matter what you say, we won¡¯t go to the dungeon.¡± A man met Riff¡¯s gaze and spoke. ¡°We don¡¯t know which vige is going to be targetted next. Even if we be rich, there¡¯s no point if we have no home or family to return to. If you want to go, then go. We¡¯re going to protect our homes.¡± He has to change the topic. Riff racked his brain. The flow of the conversation wasn¡¯t going well. It was obvious that the civilian militia would prioritize their viges. If Riff¡¯s hometown were in danger, then he would have tossed everything aside and ran home as well. What¡¯s sadder than a lonely wanderer? Wandering without reason after having lost one¡¯s family andrades was a fate that all men feared. Riff searched for a scapegoat, a target which he could direct their anger towards. ¡°Brothers, people would think that I hadmitted a crime punishable by death if they were to see this, would they not? Think about it. Who was it that had destroyed your viges?¡± ¡°What an obvious question. It¡¯s obviously the Demon Lord. You¡¯re the one that made that gentleman furious.¡± Gentleman! Riff¡¯s chest was filled with anger. They called him a gentleman! For some reason, these guys seemed to hate the Demon Lord but they also strangely respected him at the same time. That son of a bitch who asked us to spare him while in tears, brazen-facedly lied to humans, and cowardly struck us from behind! Riff wanted to pick his ax up and m it into the man¡¯s skull. However, he left his emotions as emotions and talked coldly. ¡°Isn¡¯t that interesting? Are you guys not curious about how the Demon Lord somehow only targeted your viges?¡± ¡°¡­¡­What are you talking about?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying that you all know nothing, brothers. Ha, if you have heads, then use them. There¡¯s no way that Demon Lord bastard would have been able to only attack your viges if some son of a bitch didn¡¯t tell him!¡± Their eyes opened wide in shock. ¡°T-Then?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a traitor! There¡¯a traitor among us humans! It¡¯s obvious. One of the viges that had given their provisions to us probably went begging to the Demon Lord.¡± Riff grinned. ¡°No, it might not have been only one ce, but all of them.¡± ¡°Those sons of bitches!¡± The civilian militia heads became enraged. ¡°I knew it!¡± ¡°They sold off their fellow humans just so they could save their own necks!¡± Riff yed along with them appropriately. Before long, instead of it being the Demon Lord or some other person©¥Riff being included among those other people©¥they firmly established another rtable enemy. The people who had sold them out. From Riff¡¯s perspective, the civilian militia that threatened other viges and stole their provisions were also traitors, but there was no need for him to fan the me by bringing that up. ¡°Brothers. One¡¯s revenge will not bete even if a decade were to pass. That¡¯s not what¡¯s important right now.¡± Riff spoke in an almost whispering tone. ¡°At any rate, those traitors have no troops in their viges. If we were to go up against them, then we¡¯de out victorious 10 out of 10 times. They¡¯re acting up like this because they believe in that Demon Lord bastard, so if we get rid of him first¡­¡­. Yeah? Wouldn¡¯t it be as easy as snapping a chicken¡¯s neck to take care of those traitors afterward?¡± ¡°But, brother. They say the goblins number in the hundreds.¡± The man¡¯s face was mixed with anger, sadness, and more than anything else, concern ¡°No matter how well armed we are, we can¡¯t defeat hundreds of goblins.¡± ¡°Hah, why would we have to waste our time fighting those goblins?¡± ¡°What?¡± Riff patted his chest in frustration. ¡°Shit. Didn¡¯t I tell you to try using your heads for once? Look. Have hundreds of goblins ever grouped up together before?¡± ¡°Ah, we thought that was weird, too.¡± The man furrowed his brows. ¡°Those goblins usually group together with their tribes and their tribes alone, so, at most, they¡¯d have a force of 50 goblins. What could make hundreds of them gather¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all because of the Demon Lord. Demon Lords bring together and lead monsters. In other words, if the Demon Lord is gone, then those goblins will disperse and fight among each other like before.¡± Therefore, Riff uttered and raised his finger. ¡°The Demon Lord has no other choice but to move together with the goblins in order tomand them. His mobility is slow because he has to lead hundreds, so we¡¯ll use this opportunity to rob his empty dungeon.¡± ¡°Wait. Stop trying to twist the focus of the problem. We¡¯re asking you what you¡¯re going to do if a vige gets attacked while we¡¯re gone?¡± ¡°Ha, seriously¡­¡­.¡± The corners of Riff¡¯s mouth twisted grimly. ¡°Brothers, where are you using your heads for? I¡¯m saying that you should relocate all of your vige people to a single vige. If we do that, then we¡¯ll have hundreds of people in a single vige, right? If there¡¯s that much, then they should be able to fend off hundreds of goblins for a couple of days and we can use that time to pige the dungeon before joining back up with the vige.¡± Riff pulled out his handaxe from the floorboard. He then started to spin the ax around impressively as if it were a pencil. ¡°The goblins would gradually get worn down after trying to attack the vige for a while, wouldn¡¯t they? While they¡¯re focused on the vige, we¡¯lle in from behind and tear up their rears. Do you think they¡¯d be able to do anything if they¡¯re attacked from both sides?¡± ¡°Ooh!¡± The men apuded. Riff¡¯s suggestion sounded reasonable to them. Riff judged that he had seeded in persuading them as he continued. He intended to mix in some words here to grab their hearts. ¡°This is what they call the Hammer and Anvil tactic. The vige will be the anvil, while the adventurers and civilian militia will be the hammer and m down on those goblin runts. You¡¯ve heard about this tactic before, right, brothers?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve definitely heard about it! Yeah, all right. That sounds good.¡± Like hell you¡¯ve heard of it, Riff smirked on the inside. ¡°The most important part of this tactic is speed. Hurry and gather your weapons. Okay? We¡¯ll leave in an hour after we¡¯ve gathered in the za. All right?¡± Each of the men voiced their agreement. They walked out confidently after having resolved themselves to get revenge on the traitors after they¡¯ve plundered the dungeon. Riff saw them off at the door. Riff then returned to his chair and sat down. He had a splitting headache. Once he turned his gaze, he saw that the female mage had been paying absolutely zero attention to themotion as she was silently reading a book. Mages are all crazy. This was what Riff thought. Ever since he was a child, he had always hated magic for some reason and ever since he was deceived by Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s so-called ck magic, he hated it even more. It happened while he was calmly getting ready to go to battle. The wooden door opened and the young adventurer from before returned. ¡°L-Leader.¡± ¡°Fuck, you shitty dog.¡± Riff found himself swearing whenever he saw this young man. What news was he hear to tell him while stuttering like that this time? Riff spoke in a tone that genuinely sounded as if he were requesting the youngster to not anger him any more. ¡°What? Huh? What is it now?¡± ¡°A third vige. Another vige was destroyed¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Damn it.¡± It was bad news. If he wanted the Hammer and Anvil tactic to work, then he needed enough vigers to act as the anvil. If a vige that could have been used as manpower is destroyed, then the tactic loses that much ground as well. Riff let out a sigh. ¡°Haah, which vige was it this time?¡± Riff¡¯s expression could only turn confused once he heard the name of the vige. It was the name of a vige that didn¡¯t have a civilian militia©¥one of the traitorous viges that they had assumedtched on to the Demon Lord. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I might slow down this week because a couple of my sses suddenly decided to give us big projects. It¡¯s like weekly assignments weren¡¯t enough. I did hear that a lot of the students have been doing their assignments really poorly, so the professors are probably doing this because of that. In any case, I¡¯ll try to bnce my assignments with tranting, but it¡¯ll definitely be a challenge. Chapter 54: E-Rank Adventurer Party (8) Chapter 54: E-Rank Adventurer Party (8) * * * ¡°The adventurers will definitely fall into disarray.¡± Laura spoke as she twirled her side bang. The sultry rays of the mountain range shined on her. Girls would normally worry about their skin because of these rays, but she didn¡¯t care about it at all. Laura¡¯s green eyes remained fixated on the map. ¡°The ones they thought were traitors got attacked by the enemy as well. Something that logically does not make sense had happened. Dull-witted people would ignore this, but that human named Riff has a head that is good enough to unite several viges. Two possibilities will most likelye to mind for him.¡± Did the Demon Lord get rid of the traitors? Or were they not actually traitors? ¡°It will be hard for him to think that the enemy is taking out their own forces. Therefore, that man will¡­¡­.¡± * * * ¡®There are no traitors¡¯. A gruesome scene entered Riff¡¯s vision. Riff¡¯s group surveyed the vige. The vige, no, it was where the vige used to be. There were a couple of goblin corpses around the now destroyed wooden fences. Other than the fences, none of the buildings inside the vige were heavily damaged. If it weren¡¯t for the gruesome chunks of flesh and bloodstains here and there, you might have thought that the vigers were all out for work. This made it even eerier. This meant that the goblins had consumed the human corpses without leaving anything behind. One of the adventurers clicked his tongue. ¡°Just how savagely did those goblins eat for there to not even be a single corpse left looking decent?¡± ¡°Jeez, there are only bones left. There should have still been over 50 people, but did they all eat them here?¡± ¡°Of course not. They took the humans they couldn¡¯t eat back to their tribes¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh my God!¡± After confirming that there were no survivors, Riff¡¯s group left the vige. A civilian militia head spoke to Riff. ¡°Jeez. I don¡¯t get it. Why would the Demon Lord attack this vige?¡± ¡°I think¡­¡­kuh. There might be no traitors. At the very least, it wasn¡¯t all of the viges that don¡¯t have a militia that betrayed us. I apologize for muddling your heads, brothers.¡± It seems that the first two viges belonging to the civilian militia were simply a coincidence. ¡°Nevertheless, brothers, this is actually an opportunity!¡± ¡°An opportunity?¡± The militia heads had be dejected after they witnessed the horribly devastated vige. Once Riff spoke brightly to change the mood, the others looked at him quizzically. The fact that Riff had never talked nonsense before gave the others hope. They believed that if it¡¯s Riff, then he could do something about this. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean that the Demon Lord is stupidly attacking viges while not knowing who his enemies and allies are? How do you think the other viges would react if we spread this information?¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The civilian militia heads and the other adventurers let out a sound as they seemed to realize what Riff was trying to say. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Riff grinned. ¡°They¡¯ll immediately try to join forces with us, won¡¯t they? We¡¯ll be making more allies without having to lift a finger. Our rtionship hasn¡¯t been good until now because we forced them to give us their provisions, but would those past problems matter when their lives are on the line?¡± ¡°He¡¯s right. If there¡¯s amon enemy, then they¡¯lle together!¡± The others joined in excitedly. ¡°Keke, what a foolish Demon Lord!¡± ¡°He wound up helping us on his own!¡± ¡°He¡¯s probably nearsighted, that demon bastard.¡± Riff almost clicked his tongue. It bothered him to see them get all excited knowing that they would have most likely never figured this out if it weren¡¯t him. This was a pointless thought to have, so Riff didn¡¯t go out of his way to ruin the mood. News quickly spread throughout the party about how the Demon Lord was crazily attacking all of the human viges without exception. As Riff hoped, the other viges responded strongly. They started to cry out for the Demon Lord to be overthrown as they joined Riff¡¯s group. ¡°If he can¡¯t be stopped alone, then we can stop him together!¡± ¡°It¡¯s regrettable, but leave your current vige and gather in one ce. You can think of this as a tactical retreat so that we can take two steps forwardter.¡± All of the vige chiefs promised to listen to his party¡¯s orders. There had never been conditions as favorable as this. There were exactly 2 viges that refused to cooperate, but Riff wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡®They¡¯re the traitors!¡¯ Riff had already figured out that the Demon Lord¡¯s army was advancing from the west side of the mountain range to the east. It wasn¡¯t a coincidence that the two viges that didn¡¯t join were at the east end of the mountain range. It was then that everything became as clear as day. Out of the twelve viges on the mountain range, 2 had betrayed the others. The Demon Lord army was intentionally advancing from the west so that they wouldn¡¯t reveal who the traitors are. ¡®You checkmated yourself, you damn coward.¡¯ Riff ridiculed Dantalian. If he were Dantalian, then he would have passed over the viges that didn¡¯t have a militia. He would have put people in a gloomy doubt so that they wouldn¡¯t know who the traitors were. If he did, then 7 viges©¥3 viges out of the 12 were destroyed and 2 viges had betrayed the others, so there were 7 viges left©¥ wouldn¡¯t have formed an alliance. An imprable fortress of almost 400 humans would have never been created! Riff gathered everyone to the fourth vige in line if going in a line from the west to the east. Sturdy fences were put up inyers and a moat was dug out as well. ¡®Now the Hammer and Anvil is perfect!¡¯ The Hammer is the adventurers and the civilian militia with a total of roughly 70 people. They were all heavily armed. They weren¡¯t afraid of a hundred or two hundred goblins. The key point of the Hammer is its offensive ability, and they were exceptional in that regard. The Anvil is therge group of approximately 400 vigers. Although their equipment was shabby, they had sturdy fences and a moat. When considering the vital point of the tactic is ¡®the Anvil defends against the enemy while the Hammer attacks from behind¡¯, 400 humans, fences, and a moat was more than enough. 400 goblins? They could defend against them for any number of days! Riff looked around the fences. The 4 rows of fences were sturdy enough to block even a normal army. Satisfaction, excitement, and before long, sadness, fell over him. ¡°¡­¡­Daneff. I¡¯ll be able to avenge you soon.¡± His vigerades that were sacrificed after being deceived by that treacherous Demon Lord. For how long has he craved for revenge? ¡°Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s head¡­¡­I¡¯ll put it on disy in the center of our Jalsen Vige!¡± Riff clenched his fists. The next morning, Riff set forth while leading a group of 70 menbefore the sun could rise. They managed to invade the dungeon without any interference whatsoever. As Riff predicted, there wasn¡¯t a single monster left to protect the dungeon. They piged the Demon Lord¡¯s room as much as they wanted before leaving the dungeon leisurely without suffering any casualties. Riff let out a mental cheer. ¡®We¡¯ve won!¡¯ * * * ¡°They will most likely think that they had won.¡± A cold smile appeared on Laura¡¯s lips. ¡°Your Lordship, do you remember the lesson you taught me a few days ago? If you wish to deceive the enemy, you must deceive your allies. And if you wish to deceive your allies, you must deceive yourself first. By showing actions that appear as if they have absolutely no meaning, those actions will pile up andpress together to ultimately transcend into a single stratagem.¡± I nodded. On the day I leveled up drastically because of Laura, that was the nonsense I had said in order to hide my embarrassing moment. However, it seems that Laura had discovered some impressive truth from it. ¡°After having lowered their guardpletely, even if the other party figured out the intent behind every action at thest moment, it will have been toote. ¡­¡­Your Lordship had bestowed me with this knowledge. This youngdy, Laura De Farnese, can only stand in awe before Your Lordship¡¯s insight.¡± She looked ahead, so I followed her gaze. A scene straight from Hell was unfolding before us. ¡°Kuaaaah! My arm, my aaaarm!¡± ¡°Spare me! Please spare me! I¡¯ll give you anything you want, so please©¥.¡± ¡°Mommy! Uaaah! Mommy! Mommy!¡± Pandemonium. Hundreds of humans were being ughtered by hundreds of goblins. The goblins would act like a pack of wolves as they chased after the people who desperately tried to escape the vige. Even the toughest of men couldn¡¯t run away after their thighs were pierced, arms were severed, and their necks were bitten. Like this, people would fall to the ground already half dead. The cries of the killers and the killed resonated at the same time and the earth became a river of blood. Laura and I stood at the entrance of the vige and watched hell befall upon humanity. Some people were brave enough to try and run towards us, but they would end up losing both of their legs after being blocked by golems and goblins. The only reward they received for their bravery was the goblins¡¯ atrocious teeth. Crunch, crunch©¥several goblins wouldtch on to a corpse and chew away at their flesh as if they intended to even eat their bones. ¡°The adventurers¡¯ defeat was decided from the beginning.¡± Laura spoke in a t tone. It seems that the sound of flesh and bone being chewed on was simr to that of birds chirping to her. ¡°Since the beginning, was it? When are you referring to?¡± ¡°The moment the adventurers forced the other viges to give them provisions. They paraded their strength. As a result, the humans were split up into two groups: those that joined the adventurers and those that were extorted by them. They caused infighting from the start.¡± That was what created the current scene before us. Sure enough, 4 rows of fences and a moat were a line of defense that couldn¡¯t be easily handled. Even if I were to deploy my golems, they would get stuck in the moat and be incapable of charging. If I can¡¯t use my golems, then the only other thing I can rely on is the massive army of 400 goblins, but even they couldn¡¯t prate a fortress of that size. My forces would be put in a deadlock due to the humans¡¯ strong resistance and we would have gone on a slow offensive and defensive battle until Riff¡¯s party returned. However, that was only under the condition that my forces had to get through their defenses. The attack was incredibly easy. We sent our goblins forward. Around the time our massive force reached their fences©¥their main gate opened from the ¡®inside¡¯. The so-called traitors acted in secret from inside the vige. ¡®W-What!?¡¯ ¡®Fuck, why did the gate open!?¡¯ ¡®There¡¯s a traitor!¡¯ Their defenses fell into a bowl of confusion. With Parsi as the lead, two viges¡¯ worth of people were in charge of a section of the fences. It was the fences with the path that was connected to the main gate. The monsters leisurely passed through the main gate at the same time. Having failed to distinguish who the traitors were, the humans were swarmed by monsters as they couldn¡¯t decide whether they should fight back or run away. The result was as obvious as watching a fire. The battle ended so quickly that it was hard to believe that 400 sturdy mountain people©¥a hundred of which were traitors©¥were defending this fortress. ¡°Your Honor Demon Lord! Haha!¡± Parsi came walking down the main road. He was being escorted by his vige people. They all had a string tied around both of their wrists and this was a sign that told the goblins that they were ¡®humans you can¡¯t eat¡¯. They were dragging a bunch of old people behind them. ¡°Look! These are the vige chiefs that pointed their spears at Your Honor! They were tempted by those adventurers at the chance of getting their hands on Your Honor¡¯s wealth. They¡¯re also the sons of bitches who stole our precious wheat! Damn bastards!¡± Parsi smacked their backs. The old vige chiefs had bodies that were studier than expected but being struck while their arms were tied forced them to fall down with little effort. Once they noticed me, they started to cry out desperately. ¡°O-O Great Being! Please forgive us!¡± ¡°T-The Devil was in our eyes! We would not dare to©¥!¡± There was no reason to listen to them any further. I drew my finger across my throat. Once I did, Parsi¡¯s group raised their axes and spears as if they had been waiting for this, before stabbing the old vige chiefs in their backs. Spearheads came out the other sides of their chests. The old men spat out blood before their heads dropped to the floor. Thus, an eternal night covered their eyes. I shook my head in disgust. ¡°How foolish. How could they have abandoned the path of co-existence and choose the path of ruin?¡± ¡°Do not worry about it. I shall make those who ridiculed Your Lordship¡¯s mercy pay the appropriate price.¡± Laura¡¯s beautiful voice foretold a horrible future without even the slightest bit of hesitation. ¡°Everything will be as Your Lordship desires. They wille to realize the meaning behind all of our actions at the veryst moment; they will realize that it¡¯s already toote.¡± I gazed at the vige that had be a sea of blood as if I were staring at an autumn hillside. The sun was at its highest point. More time was needed before the sound of screaming disappeared from the blue sky. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! So I¡¯ve piled up like 3 big projects to do within the next 3 days, so expect the next chapter to take a bit more time. Other than that, nothing else to really say. I hope you guys are all doing well during this quarantine and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 55: E-Rank Adventurer Party (9) Chapter 55: E-Rank Adventurer Party (9) The adventurers returned around the time the sun passed its zenith and began to gradually touch the western mountain range. They appeared over a hill a fair distance away from the vige. We split the group into humans and goblins and pretended as if we were battling. Bundles of straw were tied to the ankles of about a hundred goblins, so it appeared like a fierce battle was being carried out as a huge cloud of dust was kicked up. Within the cloud of dust, the humans used a gong and sang their anthem while the goblins cried out loudly. The sound of metal and metal colliding echoed clearly throughout the sky. Laura spoke while covering her mouth with her sleeve. ¡°The enemies are approaching.¡± ¡°They most likely think a battle has been ongoing for quite a while now.¡± ¡°We shall proceed to the next stage, then.¡± I gave her an approving nod. Once I did, Laura began tomand the monsters. Although she couldn¡¯t convey her orders as instantaneously as I can©¥In my case, I could telepathically give orders to the golems and fairies that I had formally purchased in my dungeon©¥she managed to lead the monsters in her own way through gs. ©¥Keururuk! ©¥Kiru, kiruruk! The goblins ran towards the main gate of the vige in a hurry like a bunch of stragglers that were retreating due to the sudden appearance of more enemies. As we nned beforehand, the humans chased after the monsters right away. Laura and I stood in a corner of the vige and watched. ¡°Wooo! The monsters are retreating!¡± ¡°Kill them! Capture them all!¡± From the perspective of the adventurers, the situation most likely appeared like this: the monsters and vigers have been fighting for a long time and as both sides were in the middle of an intense battle, their group appeared behind the monsters. The monsters were then rmed by the sudden appearance of more humans and began to retreat. ¡°They have taken the bait.¡± The adventurer-civilian militia alliance charged after the retreating goblins. A retreating army is the most appetizing prey. The adventurers intended to use a pincer formation with the vigers to put a full stop to the battle. However, as the monsters weren¡¯t retreating but were charging at the adventurers©¥. They also had no idea that the vigers who appeared as if they were pursuing the monsters were actually going to attack them. Laura and I muttered almost exactly at the same time. ¡°It is over.¡± ¡°This is the end.¡± * * * ¡°Kuhaha, the vige people did better than I expected!¡± Once Riff witnessed the battle that was happening at the vige, he ordered his men to charge without any hesitation. He couldn¡¯t see properly because of the cloud of dust, but he was certain that it was a fierce battle. The loud noises, shouting, and screaming all pointed towards it being a bloody battlefield. At a nce, the fences appeared to have been breached. Riff first thought that the vige was in an unfavorable situation, so he intended to quickly carry out his Hammer and Anvil strategy before the vige got wiped out. However, his thoughts changed once he saw the goblins run out of the vige as soon as his men started to approach. ¡®They¡¯re equally matched!¡¯ The vige wasn¡¯t at a disadvantage. Even if the fences had been breached, the fight was seesawing constantly inside the vige. The monsters most likely lost arge number of its forces while trying to get through the fences. Thus, once Riff and his men appeared at their rear, the Demon Lord¡¯s army panicked and were ordered to retreat. The situation has changed. There was no need for the vige to be the anvil and for them to be the hammer. On the contrary, it was their turn to be the anvil and hold on to the retreating goblins. The vigers will be arge hammer and m the goblins from behind! Riff shouted in excitement. ¡°Brothers, do you see it!? The goblins are running away like mutts with their asses on fire!¡± ¡°Yeah! As clear as day!¡± ¡°Our spears are more than enough to take care of these little runts!¡± The adventurers and civilian militia let out a cry. There were some people who were already shouting to charge. The goblins and Riff¡¯s group charged towards one another. The distance between the two groups decreased quickly. At that moment, the number of people letting out battle cries increased drastically. They got rid of their fear of battle by shouting. Their hearts became heated as they ran and their cries let out hot breaths. At that moment, the adventurers jumped into battle in the truest sense. ¡°Let¡¯s kill, let¡¯s kill them!¡± ¡°Huff! Huff! Huff!¡± ¡°Kill those sons of bitches!¡± The goblins were right in front of them. The monsters then let out a fearsome cry. ©¥Kirurururuk! ©¥ Keruk! Keruk! Keruruk! Riff pushed the end of his spear out forward. It was a spear he had acquired after a certain wealthy city merchant decided to support him. It was longer than a short spear and shorter than a long spear, and though it may have been somewhatcking to face against other humans, it was more than enough to impale goblins that were much shorter than humans. ¡°Speeears!¡± ¡°Graaaah! Die!¡± ¡°Yahooooo©¥!¡± Once Riff gave out his order, all of his men held out their spears. Muscr arms, physiques that were overwhelminglyrger than that of goblins, and their log-like chests and legs held their spears firmly. Finally, the two groups collided. ¡°Guaaaah!¡± Arge cry echoed throughout the ins. A strong impact traveled up Riff¡¯s arm. Two whole goblins had gotten impaled by his spear. His palms hurt and his pace slowed. Despite this, Riff put more strength in his right leg as he pushed himself forward. An impact would travel down his spear each time he took a step forward. Like moths to a me, the goblin bastards were jumping right into his spear! ¡°Try and kill me, you fuuuucks!¡± ¡°Charge! Chaaaaarge! Don¡¯t stop! Don¡¯t stop moving!¡± ¡°Hans, you son of a bitch, keep moving!¡± The adventurers-civilian militia alliance was like a moving rocky coastline. The goblins collided against them non-stop, but they quickly fell away like waves on rocks. For goblins, the spear charge of heavy infantrymen was as powerful as a group of charging knights. At most, the goblins had on leather armor, but it still revealed most of their body. On the other hand, the humans were wearing good quality cloth armor with chainmail on top. Although they couldn¡¯t cover their entire bodies with expensive chainmail, they were able to properly protect their upper bodies and thighs. A couple of goblins waded their way through the forest of spears and swung their clubs. However, it was difficult for them to do any massive damage past the chainmail. A small portion of 8, out of the 73, people unluckily died during the process of the charge. The 65 remaining heavy infantry carried on without reserve. Almost a hundred goblins had perished around the time they came to aplete halt. ¡°Brothers! Stick together!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to show off and fight together! Hey! Hans! Do you want to die!?¡± The humans hastily created a tight formation. The members that got too excited and charged further ahead were surrounded by goblins. They couldn¡¯t do anything but get torn to shreds by the goblins¡¯ teeth like a couple of deers that got caught by a pack of wolves. There were 60 men left. They formed a square and calmly stabbed at the goblins. ¡°Kuhaha! It¡¯s like taking candy from a baby!¡± ¡°Match our breaths. Hah! Stab! Hah! Pull back!¡± ¡°Hah! Huah! Hah!¡± The civilian militia that had defended their viges from goblin attacks all their lives were especially active. The civilian militia knew better than anyone else that they could escape from anyrge dangers as long as they don¡¯t let the goblins surround them. It was around the time the excitement of the charge had settled down slightly. ¡°Hah! Hah!¡­¡­?¡± One of the senior adventurers furrowed his brows. He red at the area in front of him persistently before speaking to Riff who was swinging his spear next to him. ¡°Leader! Hah! Something is strange!¡± ¡°Huff! What, you bastard!? Don¡¯t talk nonsense and keep stabbing!¡± ¡°There are too many goblins!¡± Riff¡¯s brain, which he had stopped using until now as he had been pouring all of his concentration on killing goblins, finally activated. ¡®¡­¡­There are too many goblins?¡¯ Riff¡¯s field of vision soon widened in an instant. Not only could he see the goblins right in front of him, but he could now see the ones beside, behind, and behind the ones behind as well. Hisrade was right. There were way too many goblins. Even though they should have killed almost a hundred of them in their initial charge, the area was still overflowing with green monsters. ¡®Wait. Shouldn¡¯t their numbers have decreased during their assault on the vige?¡¯ From what he could see, there were approximately 300 goblins. It was strange. The goblins should have been trying to invade the vige until Riff¡¯s group arrived. Their numbers should have dropped to at least 200. What, did that Demon Lord bastard scout more goblins? As a few guesses went through his head, Riff¡¯s party shouted. ¡°Oi! What¡¯s going on!? The vige people are splitting to the sides!¡± ¡°They probably intend to join together with us instead of attacking the goblins from behind!¡± ¡°Those cowards!¡± Riff¡¯srades continued to swing their spears as theyined. Riff also followed their movements automatically. The contents of hisrades¡¯ words filled his head. ¡®The vigers aren¡¯t attacking the goblins from behind?¡¯ Riff swiftly turned his head and looked at the battlefield. The vigers were definitely splitting to the sides and passing the goblins by. The vige people were practically surrounding the goblins and the adventurers on both sides. ¡®What the fuck? What are they trying to do?¡¯ It was understandable that they would want to fight alongside the adventures instead of taking on the goblins by themselves. The adventurers were far stronger, after all. Nheless, weren¡¯t the goblins candidly revealing their backs to the vigers? Is there a reason you wouldn¡¯t want to take out foes that have their backs towards you? Were the vigers that cowardly? Furthermore, why were the goblins being so tenacious when they were being routed? ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Riff came to a realization before then being struck with dismay. There was only a single thing that could answer this bizarre situation©¥the vigers had betrayed them! ¡°Fuck!¡± Riff involuntarily swore. That¡¯s it. For some reason, the vigers had teamed up with the Demon Lord¡¯s forces. The goblins weren¡¯t actually retreating, but they wereing to attack them, and the vigers were currently moving topletely surround the adventurers. The battle hadpletely turned around. The situation that seemedpletely favorable to them up to this point was now being shone in the exact opposite light. It wasn¡¯t them who were carrying out a Hammer and Anvil tactic. It was the goblins that were holding down the adventurers as the anvil while the vigers became the hammer¡­¡­to crush the adventurers! Riff almost let out a scream as he shouted. ¡°Retreat! Everyone retreat! Retreat!¡± ¡°Huff? Leader, what do you mean¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk back and retreat! Fuck! There¡¯s no time to escape! Quickly!¡± Riff left the formation and ran back. Hisrades screamed. Some of them even swore at him, but Riff paid them no mind. This was thest moment. The adventurers were set up. Completely and utterly trapped. However, the vigers hadn¡¯t surrounded thempletely yet. It may be a matter of time¡­¡­but if he misses this opportunity, then the group will get wiped out after getting surrounded by the goblins and the vigers. They have to escape before then! ¡°What!?¡± But it wasn¡¯t long before Riff had toe to a stop. The adventurers who started running after Riffrecklessly also came to a stop. They could also tell that something bad was happening now. Approximately a hundred humans were blocking their retreat. They were none other than the vigers from the western end of the mountain range that Riff thought were the traitors. Roughly 2 viges¡¯ worth of people. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Okay, I rushed this a bit too fast. I STILL HAVE ASSIGNMENTS. Welp, I¡¯ma go under for a couple of days. See you guys after I finish my work at thest second. Chapter 56: E-Rank Adventurer Party (10) Chapter 56: E-Rank Adventurer Party (10) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Of course, Riff had no way of knowing where the people before him hade from. There were a few things that he did know, though. The fact that it would be impossible to shake off a hundred pursuers. The fact that his armor was weighing him down. The fact that he had used up a lot of stamina because he had been fighting until now. In the end, this meant that his chances of dying were incredibly high. ¡®What should I do? What should I do?¡¯ Riff lowered his right arm and the tip of his spear fell to the ground. The muscle pains which he didn¡¯t know he had because of the thrill of the battle soon emerged. His entire body was groaning out of exhaustion. ¡°Leader! What¡¯s happening!?¡± ¡°Who are those bastards over there!?¡± The other adventurers ran up to Riff¡¯s side. They were the ones who hurriedly broke away from the others because of Riff¡¯s order. Some of them kept swearing at Riff for being irresponsible and ruining the formation. Riff looked around nkly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Eyes filled with anxiety and restlessness, the infantry line that was quickly falling apart once a portion of the adventurers broke away, and the goblins that jumped into those openings. Hundreds of humans were gradually making their way through the blood and to them. The encirclement which Riff had wanted to avoid the most waspleted. Goblins at their rear, the vigers on both their sides, and the hundred that came from who knows where. ¡°¡­¡­A square.¡± He muttered weakly. ¡°Form a square¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Form a square!¡± One of the senior adventurers made out what the leader said and shouted. The order immediately spread throughout the group. The remaining 30 people of adventurers and remnant civilian militia created a square formation with Riff at the center. There were a couple more civilian militia members that couldn¡¯t handle the unrelenting goblin attacks and left their positions to join Riff. ¡°Move move! ¡°Fuck, what the hell is happening!?¡± However, only 5 additional people managed to join the square formation. The rest copsed and died after theirrades abandoned them and their line crumbled apart. Naturally, Riff and the others could hear them swear at Riff as they died. ¡°Riff, you son of a biiitch!¡± ¡°You, fucking, guuuah! Guaaaack!¡± In the end, the remaining half of the group couldn¡¯t manage to run away or fix their formation as they fell to the earth powerlessly. The roach-like goblinstched on to the corpses. They tore their flesh and sttered blood everywhere. Someone gulped as they watched that sight. They had formed a defensive line, but their current morale wasughable. ¡°Leader, what the hell is going on¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t those fucking vigers attacking!? How long do they intend to keep watching!? Leader! Are we going to keep taking it like this!? We¡¯ll get wiped out at this rate!¡± ¡°Brother!¡± Riff didn¡¯t respond to them. The mage was standing in the center of the defensive formation. Since the mage was constantly in the back when the group first charged the goblins and during their fight with them, she was able to retreat back to the new group with ease. This woman, who always seemed like her mind was in a cornfield, must have also realized the severity of the situation as she was looking around with a sharp gaze. ¡®This pushover is ourst hope.¡¯ Riff gnashed his teeth. He had conserved the mage because he wanted her to take care of the golems, but thanks to this decision, the mage wasn¡¯t tired at all. Her capabilities are unknown, but she should be able to use powerful spells without reserve. He¡¯ll use her magic as a ¡®fang¡¯ and aim it towards the weakest part of the encirclement. And while the enemies are bewildered by the sudden magic, he¡¯ll use that opportunity to run through the opening. ¡®Shit, is this going to work?¡¯ There was no time to spare. The goblins had almost reached them. Their defensive formation can block off the immediate threat, but 35 people can¡¯tst for long. He had to do it whether this n worked or not. Riff asked the mage a question. ¡°Oi, can you prepare your biggest and strongest spell?¡± ¡°Mmm. I have something, but it¡¯ll probably be hard to get out of this situation even if I use it.¡± The mage answered casually as if this wasn¡¯t her problem. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to boast, but I specialize in one to onebat, so I don¡¯t know anyrge area of effect spells. Well, just think of it like this, you have to be a Five Circle to be able to userge area of effect spells.¡± ¡°Fuck, stop prattling and just prepare to cast it.¡± ¡°I already did. I finished reciting the spell around the time you stopped running like a dog with its tail between its legs.¡± Riff looked at the woman in surprise. ¡°This is the first good news I¡¯ve heard since this all started.¡± ¡°Haah. It¡¯smon sense to think a step or two ahead, Mr. Ignorant Adventurer. Mages are a bit smarter than people like you. And I¡¯m also a part of that smart side. In conclusion, I¡¯m much smarter than you. This is important, so make sure to underline it.¡± ¡°Damn it.¡± Was this mage bitch always this talkative? Riff wondered as he furrowed his brows. Regardless, this wasn¡¯t the time to think about that. He darted his eyes around and searched for the weakest part of the encirclement where a group of roughly 30 people could squeeze through. The mage kept talking to herself. ¡°Despite my greatness, I think I¡¯m slightly below the gentleman that¡¯s leading these monsters. He¡¯s able to exploit humans to their most basic of roots. He purposely made two viges not join us so that all suspicion would go on them. He made us believe that they didn¡¯t join us because they¡¯re the traitors.¡± She seemed excited as if she finally encountered something interesting for the first time in her boring life. Her eyes sparkled underneath her longshes. ¡°Even though it should be the opposite. Traitors would try to participate even more actively and aim to break things apart from the inside. If they made all 4 viges join, then it might have been suspicious. But he cleverly made 2 viges join and 2 viges stay¡­¡­Hm. It¡¯s psychological, really psychological.¡± ¡°Shut up, you¡¯re getting on my nerves!¡± ¡°You should shut up. Your breath smells. Your breath smells so bad that I get confused whether you¡¯re human or a pile of waste. More importantly, why isn¡¯t he using his golems? That¡¯s what I¡¯m curious about. Human infantrymen are definitely strong, but using golems to deal with them should be enough. Hmm.¡± Riff gave up on making the female mage shut up. He couldn¡¯t find a weak point in the encirclement. No matter which side it was, their numbers far surpassed theirs. There were approximately 200 humans¡­¡­and 300 goblins. Adventurers kept dying one by one. One of their members got his head crushed after it got hit by a stone tossed by a goblin slinger. ¡°Leader! We can¡¯t hold on any longer!¡± ¡°B-Brother!¡± The other membersseemed tofinally realize that the vigers that wereing in from the sides weren¡¯t allies. There¡¯s no way that allies would look so bloodthirsty. However, no one mentioned this fact out loud. It felt like everything woulde to an end the moment someone said it. In the end, Riff decided to take the gamble as he pointed at a direction. ¡°Fes! Run that way as soon as the spell goes off! Don¡¯t stop! Leave the stragglers and run! Do you understand!?¡± ¡°Yes, Leader!¡± ¡°Fire!¡± Riff shouted at the woman. The woman was already reciting her spell before he could even finish speaking. Dark rays of light emanated from the bottom of her staff as soon as she struck the floor with it. A small magic circle spread across the ground before it widened to the point of covering the entire group. ¡°Cleanse curses with curses.¡± The woman only had to say one line for her spell to activate. 12 pirs of fire appeared out of nowhere. Once she raised her staff and pointed it towards a direction, balls of fire flew towards the direction like a boulderunched by a catapult. The goblins and humans that were in its line of fire couldn¡¯t even react. ¡°Huh?¡± Balls of mes that were asrge as a human body swallowed them whole while they were startled. The stream of fire elerated. 30 goblins and 10 humans were set aze. In an instant, a single section of the encirclement was thinned out. The spell had a lot more firepower than expected. Several goblins screamed and ran off in random directions since they have a natural fear of fire. The humans who had never seen magic before were also greatly shocked. To them, magic was no different from a natural disaster. Riff cried out. ¡°Uwaaaah!¡± He didn¡¯t give an order. He just ran forward. This wasn¡¯t a problem as the other members of his group weren¡¯t waiting for hismand. Now the group which had dropped down to 25 fighters cried out all at once as they ran towards a single direction. ¡°Kuuaaah!¡± There were some humans that didn¡¯t panic because of the magic and bravely tried to stop the adventurers. There was no time to deal with those people, so Riff reflexively pulled out his handaxe from his waist and threw it towards the person blocking his path. The handaxe rotated a few times before getting stuck dead center in the person¡¯s head. The person¡¯s neck twisted back as his body fell to the floor limply. 25 people stepped over the corpse. ¡°Fuuuuck! We only die once!¡± ¡°Die! Die die die!¡± There was no formation. They advanced with brute force. Only their experience and instincts kept them alive. They swung their spears wherever their arms went, worked together with their allies, and killed the monsters and humans before them. The mage also created fire pirs at her own discretion and fired it towards the most threatening obstacles. Forward, they swarmed forward. As time passed, members dropped one by one. Magic managed to properly invoke fear in people, but they were far too outnumbered. Spine getting shattered by a rock slinger, falling down after getting jumped by 5 goblins, and getting stabbed in the arm by a spear held out by one of the enemy humans. The members of Riff¡¯s group continued to fall one by one for all sorts of reasons. Only a single fate awaited those that fell. Death. Nevertheless, there were people who managed to step over theirrades and get out of the encirclement. There were only 3 survivors that managed to get through the wall of people. Riff, the mage, and a senior adventurer. They continued to run for a long time after they got out of the encirclement as they knew that monsters and people could chase after them at any moment. * * * ¡°How surprising. To think they would hire a mage.¡± I was in pure awe. I knew very well how valued mages are in this world. The average mage usually umtes several generations¡¯ worth of their family¡¯s¡¯ records and utilizes spells ording to what they have umted. Several generations¡¯ worth of work and effort is required to give birth to a single useful mage. ¡°Please punish this youngdy.¡± Laura kneeled on the floor. ¡°Being unable to wipe our foesoutpletely is solely my blunder.¡± ¡°Do you think I knew of the existence of their mage? Our foes had simply been hiding a trump card from us. Do not me yourself too much. Look.¡± I pointed towards the ins at the bottom of the vige. ¡°Only 3 have managed to get away. No, now there is only 2.¡± One of the three people fell over at that moment. It seems they got hit by a rock that was slung by one of the many goblin slingers. The remaining two quickly ran into a nearby forest. It¡¯s easier to run away while in a forest, after all. ¡°You have captured a vige with 4yers of fences, ughtered almost 300 humans, and massacred the entirety of the infantry unit excluding 2 people. If this is not a great victory, then I do not know what is!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The monsters and humans on the ins cheered. It was a cheer of victory. The earth was dyed as red as the evening sky and the ones standing on top of it weren¡¯t the enemies but us. Furthermore, I didn¡¯t lose even a single golem. ¡°Laura, I am proud to have you as a subordinate.¡± I personally pulled her up. I was serious. Who would believe that a 16-year-old girl could manage to aplish something this amazing? Through this battle, she proved that she really is Laura De Farnese and had obtained my full trust. Laura continued to keep her head down even after I pulled her up. It was then I noticed that her slender shoulders were slightly, very slightly trembling. That¡¯s right. Even if she was fated to be the Iron Chancellor 10 years in the future, not only is she currently an esteemed daughter who had fallen into ruin, but she was treated as a sex ve not so long ago and she had never led an army before in her entire life. She must have felt incredibly pressured. She must have endured it all in order to meet my expectations. She must have buried it in a corner of her heart. Now that everything was over, the stress she had garnered all this time must have washed over her as soon as she rxed. Did she kneel because she thought that she didn¡¯t meet my expectations after letting 2 people get away? I stroked her blonde hair. You did well, Laura. You did really well. While holding these thoughts, I stroked her head as softly as possible. ¡°Do your best to not do something that will cause you to kneel before me again.¡± Laura raised her head. ¡°¡­¡­Yes, My Lord.¡± She was smiling. The corners of her eyes were moist. The invasion of a 5 vige alliance and an E-rank adventurer party of 70 adventurers and civilian militia members, ended with our overwhelming victory. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not much to say this time. I¡¯m still fairly swamped with work. One more chapter before this section is over. I¡¯ll finally be able to go back to working on another Handholding chapter. I can¡¯t tell if this idea of switching back and forth was good. I feel bad that it¡¯s taking this long to finish a volume¡­ I guess I¡¯ll probably go back to my old method after I finish the current volume. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release! Chapter 57: E-Rank Adventurer Party (11) Chapter 57: E-Rank Adventurer Party (11) * * * ¡°Hah¡­¡­haah, hah¡­¡­.¡± Riff waspletely out of breath. Has he ever ran as much as he had today? Riff ran so much that he remembered the time during his childhood when he ran for dear life after encountering a pack of wolves while he was out gathering firewood. He ran deep, deep into the forest. ¡°This far should be enough.¡± Compared to Riff, the mage seemed rxed. She had taken care of the couple of goblins that had been chasing after them. ¡°Haah!¡± Once he heard those words, Riff dropped to the ground. He flopped over almost to the point of rolling. The ground was bumpy with rocks and roots, but he didn¡¯t have the energy to be concerned about those things. His heart felt so bloated that he thought it might explode and his lower stomach hurt greatly. This was because he hadn¡¯t run properly. ¡°Tsk tsk tsk. What a sloppy man. This is why women are better than men.¡± ¡°Hk¡­¡­hah, hah¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The love between a man and a woman is inferior and the love between a woman and a woman is noble. The love between a man and a man is somewhere in between, but it¡¯s only better because it doesn¡¯t interfere with women. Here you go.¡± The woman held her staff above Riff¡¯s face like a fishing line. Water started to flow out of the end of her staff once she muttered something quietly. ¡°Ah. Open your mouth. Aah.¡± ¡°Ugggrgl¡­¡­pbbh.¡± ¡°There you go. You look like a fish.¡± Riff waved his hand weakly. The women continued for 5 more seconds even though she knew what that gesture meant. However, once she saw that he didn¡¯t react any further than waving his hand, she clicked her tongue and put away her staff. ¡ªMii-n, min, minmin. The final cries of cicadas filled the forest. Riff¡¯s consciousness felt distant. His sense of bnce was faint and he felt dizzy as if his head was filled with hot steam. The woman kept talking excitedly next to him, but her words didn¡¯t enter his ears properly. It might have been because of the cold water that had entered his mouth, but his senses were slowly returning. At that same moment, he began toprehend what the woman was saying. ¡°He¡¯s been looking at the battle from a different perspective since the beginning. Hey, Mr. Leader. You only thought about conquering the Demon Lord Castle, right?¡± ¡°Hah¡­¡­of, course¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yeah. You must¡¯ve.¡± She nodded. ¡°In the first ce, Demon Lord castles are like that for adventurers. It¡¯s the same for Demon Lords as well. Demon Lord castles are something you have to protect from being conquered, that¡¯s the gist of it. But that Dantalian is different!¡± She whispered excitedly. ¡°Dantalian was looking beyond his Demon Lord castle while the adventurers were busy focusing on it. He was looking right at the adventurers. He knew that it didn¡¯t matter where he fought the adventurers as long as he could defeat them. Keke, should I call it a different ne of thinking? He¡¯s not a foe that a person who used to be a lumberjack can handle.¡± ¡°This fucking bitch¡­¡­.¡± Riff weakly clenched his jaw. ¡°Different ne of thinking, my ass. Fuck, all that bastard Demon Lord did was run away from a disadvantageous battlefield cause he¡¯s a coward.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Look, we were able to take that Demon Lord fucker¡¯s money because of that. Although we lost all of it other than my share because everyone died¡­¡­in any case, that guy is a cowardly and stupid bastard.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The woman looked down at Riff coldly as if she were looking at a fat fly. ¡°This is why men suck. Instead of thinking that they lost because they were outmatched, they think they lost because of their own blunder. Hey, you grain of rice that can only use its head as a washbasin, he didn¡¯t run away from a disadvantageous battlefield, he deliberately chose a battlefield that¡¯s advantageous for him. Do you not understand that? Tsk tsk. Furthermore, you sure talk a lot for someone who couldn¡¯t have gotten into the Demon Castle¡¯s vault if it weren¡¯t for my magic.¡± The woman let out a sigh. She lost interest in Riff. She stretched like one of the fir trees next to her. ¡°Yup. Getting some fresh air for the first time in a long time is nice. I get the desire to live my life only saying refreshing and right things today. This might sound a little insane, but even I want to live my life speaking elegantly and civilly. I¡¯m serious. I¡¯m in a good mood since it¡¯s been a long time since Ist saw a great strategy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Until now, Riff thought that the mage was a pushover with flowers in her head. He had no other choice but to change this perception of his. The person in front of him kept chattering on endlessly, and to make things worse, she kept muttering to herself even though she had no conversational partner. ¡°If I trace back to when the adventurers made a mistake, then it¡¯s the fact that they went out of their way to pige other viges. If I trace back even further, then it¡¯s the fact that they never expected the viges would be the main battlefield. This is because of their fixed idea of Demon Lord castles. Hm, thinking about it now, I have a rough grasp of why he used the goblins as his main force.¡± ¡°Upsie daisy.¡± Riff struggled to push himself up. He felt like if he left her alone, then she would review what happened eternally. He had recovered his senses somewhat, so he had to run away even further in case they still had pursuers. ¡°After this battle is over, there will only be 7 human viges left on this mountain range. Adding to that, all 7 viges are allies that obey Dantalian. If it bes like that, the goblins would outnumber the humans. Even if youbine all 7 viges, they¡¯ll barely have 300 people while the goblins have 400 fighters alone. They wouldn¡¯t stand a chance.¡± Dantalian did his best to intentionally diminish the number of goblins, the mage concluded. ¡°While the adventurers were looking at the battle with a narrow-sighted point of view, Dantalian was looking one, two moves ahead. He even considered the ecosystem between the monsters and the humans! Keke, seriously. There¡¯s no way mere adventurers could stand a chance against¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yeah. Yeah. That Demon Lord bastard is great and you¡¯re greater. Well-off people should suck each other¡¯s ass. I¡¯ll be going first.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Riff trudged down a forest path. He intended to find a high ridge and confirm his location first. As long as he could get a grasp of the area¡¯s geography from the summit, then he should be able to reach a city within a few days of walking. ¡®Fuck. Do I have to start from the beginning again?¡¯ Due to this battle, Riff had lost the rest of hisrades that came from the same vige as him. Once this thought crossed his mind, the desire for revenge dyed his insides ck. ¡®No, not yet. I need to focus on getting to a city right now.¡¯ The mountain range wasn¡¯t a ce that was simple enough to survive while having other thoughts. Riff knew this better than anyone else as a lumberjack. Let¡¯s first be grateful for having survived that hellish battlefield and it won¡¯t be toote to think about other thingster, Riff convinced himself like this as he walked. ¡°Hey. Where are you going?¡± The woman¡¯s voice came from behind him. Riff spat on the grass. ¡°What do you mean where am I going? Fuck. I¡¯m getting off this shitty mountain range.¡± ¡°Hm? You can¡¯t leave, though.¡± The woman gave a long sigh. ¡°All right. I¡¯m in a good mood today. And I can¡¯t pretend as if the past few days with your group never happened¡­¡­. Hey, you ignorant lumberjack bastard. Don¡¯t take more than 5 steps from there.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah. You¡¯re really great. If you¡¯re going to follow me, then do what¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I warned you to not take more than 5 steps.¡± It was at that moment. ¡ª Slice. Riff¡¯s ankle was severed by ¡®something¡¯ as he continued to walk while ignoring the woman¡¯s warning. ¡°¡­¡­Huh?¡± Riff fell over helplessly. He didn¡¯t fall over in an unsightly manner or anything. He simply tumbled because he could no longer put any strength into his right ankle. He skillfully cushioned his fall with his arms and left foot. ¡°Huh? Guh? I can¡¯t¡­¡­.¡± Riff made a face as he wondered if the exhaustion of the battlefield had finally caught up to him. He tried to get back up several times, but he couldn¡¯t put any strength into his right foot to push himself back up. No, he couldn¡¯t feel anything. Be it the sensation of his foot firmly supporting his entire body or the tension transferred through his muscles from his heels up to his thigh, he couldn¡¯t feel any of these things. ¡°Fuck, what happened.¡± ¡°I gave you a clear warning.¡± He heard the sound of snickering behind him. Riff turned around. The woman was leaning against her staff and grinning widely. ¡°Most humans have ears, but, strangely, their ears are rarely ever connected to their brains.¡± ¡°Shit, are you ying a trick on me, you bitch?¡± Riff growled while on the ground. ¡°Return me back to normal. If you don¡¯t, then I¡¯ll introduce my ax to your head.¡± ¡°Hmm. I do like confident people, but I don¡¯t like brats who don¡¯t know their ce. Hearing the sound of a defeated dog barking ruins the mood. Well, it¡¯s just a mood. I¡¯ll kindly give you another warning this time as well. Speak formally.¡± ¡°This fucking bitch, know your c¡ª.¡± With a grin still on her face, the woman flicked her index finger. ¡ª Slice. It was at the moment Riff felt as if something went by his waist. He abruptly rolled on the floor. He could no longer feel his lower body, be it his calves, thighs, or his waist. ¡°Eh? Eh?¡± He felt no pain. He felt nothing at all. As if his lower body had disappeared entirely. ¡°Sheesh, this really does suit me best. I thought my head would explode using the four elements when I¡¯ve never fucking used it before in all my life. Fuck the four elements! People don¡¯t know what romance is, you know? In the past, people didn¡¯t even treat the four elements as magic.¡± ¡°¡­¡­This fucking whore, what did you do to me?¡± ¡°I cut your soul.¡± The woman hummed. ¡°If I gave you a detailed exnation, then your pea brain wouldn¡¯t understand, so just make do with that simple exnation. Right now your lower body is dead. You¡¯re half a corpse.¡± ¡°You bitch, who¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah. You have a lot of questions, right, little child? I¡¯ll tell you everything since you¡¯re going to die anyway.¡± The woman bent down towards Riff who was on the floor. She seemed to be in an even better mood now as she was grinning happily. ¡°I¡¯ll only tell you this once, so listen carefully. No one has ever received this much kindness from me before dying. Now then, I¡¯m Rank 8th, Demon Lord Barbatos and I noticed that Paimon¡¯s idiotic fans were trying to do something to Dantalian, so I came here in secret to help Dantalian in case he got fucked up. Thus, I transformed into a human and approached you on purpose, and, fortunately, you took the bait thinking that I was a pushover, but you were the pushover all along.¡± ¡°What? Demon Lord? The hell are you saying?¡± ¡°Dantalian fought unexpectedly well, so I lost the chance to make my appearance. I¡¯m in a good mood now because I¡¯ve finally met a good younger generation Demon Lord after such a long time. Simr to how lions shove their children off ledges to make them grow stronger, I¡¯m thinking about doing the same as well. And, finally, I was thinking about using this opportunity to ask Dantalian to clean up the pieces of trash that don¡¯t act like Demon Lords. Is that enough? I told you everything.¡± Wait¡ªRiff uttered as he raised his hand. The woman, Rank 8th, Demon Lord Barbatos smiled. She spoke. ¡°No. I told you to speak formally, didn¡¯t I, you son of a bitch?¡± Barbatos¡¯s index finger bobbed teasingly. Riff felt something simr to a weak breeze go through his forehead. That was it. Riff felt nothing, thought nothing, and copsed. It was a death without any pain whatsoever. ¡°Kuuuuuh.¡± Barbatos raised her body and did some lower back stretches. After she finished her neck exercises, she looked down at Riff¡¯s corpse. ¡°Hm. How will I give a hint to that baby Dantalian?¡± She put her hand to her chin as she thought. After a while, she let out an ¡®Ah¡¯ and brought her fist to her palm. She sang about how much of a genius she was as she engraved a certain symbol on Riff¡¯s chest. After she confirmed that she made no mistake in drawing the symbol, she cast a spell to prevent animals and bugs from approaching the body. ¡°Good. Perfect. Only good things have been happening today. It¡¯d be nice if something like this happened at least once a year, fuck.¡± She beamed happily before then walking to the forest with a satisfied gait. Her appearance soon disappeared silently into the darkness of the forest. ¡ªMii-n, min, minmin. Only the sound of cicadas crying on the fir trees surrounding the corpse filled the air. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Okay, there¡¯s a good chance I¡¯ll slow down either this week or next week because of my midterm exams. It¡¯s sort of weird because we have to do them online, so I¡¯ll probably have to actually look into the exam procedures more carefully to make sure I don¡¯t make any mistakes. On another note, I¡¯ve finished this ¡°E-Rank Adventurer Party¡± section, so I¡¯ll be going back to do another chapter of Handholding. This section was admittedly long and I feel bad for making the Handholding fans wait this long. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release! Chapter 58: ending no.02 (1) Chapter 58: ending no.02 (1) Author¡¯s note: This chapter is a ¡®what if¡¯ supplementary story. Those of you who dislike Bad Endings can skip this chapter. Ending conditions 1. Lapis Lazuli¡¯s affection is lower than 30. 2. Dantalian¡¯s infamy is above 150. . . . Imperial Calendar, 1506,the morning of the 22nd day of the 1st month. Today was a day where it didn¡¯t matter whether it was the 21st or the 23rd, nor did it matter if it was the 12th month or the 2nd month. The only noteworthy thing about today was the fact that it was snowing. It was a blizzard. The snow poured down like rain. The wheels of carriages were buried under the snow and carters would avoid taking passengers unless offered a handsome fee. ¡°There is no certainty that we will arrive on time.¡± Carters would say this even after being offered a handsome fee. The carter used his entire body to block the snow and wind before lighting his pipe. ¡°Hm, this is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen a blizzard like this.¡± That was a lie. It wasn¡¯tst year, but this much snow had fallen the year before that. But why did that matter? Both the carter and the passenger knew what ¡®first time¡¯ implied here. In other words, they knew that the phrase only acted like an adverb like ¡®very¡¯ or ¡®incredibly¡¯. ¡°It does not matter.¡± A girl wearing a fur coat responded sternly. ¡°Take me to Tenebris Opera House!¡± ¡°Kuh. All right.¡± The carter removed the straw mats he had covered his horses under. The carter wanted to leisurely smoke his pipe and rest on a day like this. White snow was falling from the sky, so didn¡¯t this mean God, or, at the very least, angels were scattering them from above? There must be a profound meaning behind this. Would it not be disrespectful to go against this and drive a cart!?¡­¡­. The carter had gone to brothelsfrequently without his wife knowing, and he intended to cheat whenever the opportunity presented itself. Nevertheless, he still believed that he was a sincere devotee. Not only did he pay his taxes along with hismunity¡¯s taxes, but he also donated to charity as a member of themunity of believers which consisted of only carters. He had several things he could use to prove that he was a decent human being. That was more than enough for him. Simr to most other people, carters also didn¡¯t need more than 3 reasons to justify their own lives. ¡®She must be the daughter of some rich family that wants to go overseas or something.¡¯ The carter nced at his passenger. Her face was hidden behind the hood of her fur coat; however, the luxuriousness of her fur coat and gloves were extraordinary. She had a rapier on her waist which was meant for self-defense and had been trending among womentely. He could infer from this that she belonged to a family that was affluent enough to afford to teach their daughter fencing. Therefore, this meant that she had a lot of things to protect to the point of having to learn self-defense. ¡®Hmph! Rich people, of course they¡¯d watch something as pointless as opera.¡¯ The carriage traveled through the snow-covered city. Everything was slow. The snow falling from the sky was slow. The carriage was slow. People¡¯s footsteps were slow. People¡¯s coats brushed against each other as they walked through streets that were narrow as if they were meant for animals. Even the bonfires shared by bums flickered slowly. The lengthy sighs they let out asionally fogged up the air slowly. The smokeing out of the chimneys billowed slowly as well. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The girl sat on the passenger seat??it was a type of carriage where the passenger seats were exposed to the outside??and took in the slow scenery, paying no mind to the cold. She inhaled calmly as if she intended to take in the cold air all the way into her insides. Air flowed in between her small, pink lips. She was thinking like a Buddhist monk that was reaching enlightenment while holding a bottle. The theater was packed despite the ongoing blizzard. It felt like almost every single carriage in the city was currently gathered here in this one spot. A performer whose name had been trending quite a lottely was making an appearance. Adding to that, today was the premier. Aristocrats, citizens of high repute, merchants, and people with at least a pinky in the upper ss were all gathered here. As people handed over their invitations, iming to have been introduced by someone else, the guides would smile and wee them while eyeing the invitations to make sure they were real. One of the guides discovered the girl. He hastily confirmed the quality of her coat, gloves, and shoes and determined that she was undoubtedly a part of the upper ss. ¡°Where have you traveled from, Miss?¡± ¡°I heard that there will be a peculiar y today.¡± She spoke in a taunting tone that was unique to women of high standing. ¡°I am here to see .¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The guide¡¯s eyes widened slightly; however, he managed to skillfully pull himself together like a pro. He was surprised because the girl was exceedingly young for someone who hade here to watch , but it wasn¡¯t like there weren¡¯t other girls her age who couldn¡¯t ovee their curiosity and hade here as well. The guide acted more courteously than before as he bowed. ¡°We are honored to have you here at our theater today. This one shall be your guide.¡± ¡°Are you saying it¡¯s an honor while knowing who I am?¡± ¡°Pardon? Ah, I¡­¡­.¡± The girl snorted. She gestured with her hand for the guide to proceed with haste. It had been a long time since the guidest received such ridiculing words??working as a guide here at the opera was something that people envied??so his face became red, but, in the end, he didn¡¯t disy an expression or gesture that could bother the other party. He knew that the guests that were here to view were nobles among nobles, upper ss among the upper ss, after all. The guide led the girl into the theater. After getting through the crowded lobby, they walked through a hallway that was only essible to employees. There was an iron door at the end. Once he unlocked the door with a key and opened it, a descending staircase was revealed. ¡°I hope you have a pleasant viewing.¡± The guide bowed at a 90 degrees angle. The girl shook her head before descending the stairs. The iron door shut behind her. A red rug covered the stairs. Magic stones that emitted a glow were embedded into the stairs. The girl was certain that the stone emitting a light blue glow was a magic stone of the highest grade. ¡®A waste of money.¡¯ You could feed hundreds of people with that stone alone. While feeling disgusted towards the existence of this theater, the people who hade here, the ornaments on their clothes, and finally, her own fur coat, the girl descended the stairs. Did they say that this was a coat that was made with only the armpit fur of foxes? Even though this was the cheapest winter clothing she had, it was still too luxurious. ¡°Wee, Your Excellency.¡± At the end of the stairs, a gentleman in a ck tailcoat weed the girl. As the manager, he handled the performances at the back of the stage instead of the opera on the surface. ¡°We are eternally grateful that you have graced our theater with your presence.¡± ¡°I see that everyone here only knows how to say one thing. Do you know who I am to be feeling eternally grateful?¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± The gentleman approached the girl and bowed. He then kissed the top of her glove. ¡°Your Excellency, Countess Evatriae.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± The ends of the girl¡¯s mouth twisted downward. In the Empire of Habsburg, peerage titles are given to members of the royal family ording to traditions. Both the imperial prince and princess are given their own territory the moment they are born. A majority of the peerage titles are in name only and don¡¯t have anynd attached to them, but it bes a stepping stone to work confidently as one of the empire¡¯s aristocrats. Among those titles, Evatriae¡¯s title of ¡®countess¡¯ is a peerage mostly given to the second imperial princess. The girl was one of the three imperial princesses on the continent. ¡°No one is allowed to know that I hade here today.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°From this point forth, a shadow will follow you for the next five years.¡± The manager gulped. He had heard about the Shadow of the imperial family. Despite having fallen in terms of authority and national power to the point of being pitiful whenpared to their greatness a hundred years ago, the reason why the imperial family still has absolute authority over the other nobles is because of the shadows that act behind the scene. The manager knew very well about how the nobles that oppose the imperial family, the republicans that object to monarchy, and the priests that circte pagan ideas would disappear without a trace. ¡°I will bear it in mind.¡± ¡°How foolish. What do you intend to bear in mind?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Pathetic.¡± The girl clicked her tongue. If the manager were wise, then he would have paid a little more attention to when the girl said ¡®from this point forth¡¯. He would have taken it literally. If he did, then he wouldn¡¯t have indirectly referenced the existence of the Shadow by saying he¡¯d bear it in mind. It would have been fine if the manager didn¡¯t react in any way and simply guided her. ¡®He will most likely die in 2 months.¡¯ The girl knew from experience that it¡¯s exceedingly rare for someone whose brain iscking to pass the Shadow¡¯s test for more than 2 months. Calling him pathetic was the girl¡¯sst mercy she could give the manager, as by doing so, it would give him a reason to think about what he had done wrong. Although it seems her mercy was pointless as the manager appeared confused. ¡°Lead the way.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency. Allow me to carry your coat.¡± The girl pulled back the hood of her coat. At that moment, the manager who had seen countless nobledies for the past 25 years was in awe. Simr to other sessful men, the manager also despised women for several intellectual reasons, and he was almost at the point where he would even start to dislike the beauty of women. However, even he had no other choice but to ept the fact that perfect beauty did exist in real life. Brilliant silver hair flowed out from her hood. Silver hair that would normally be seen as a sign of ill health was nothing more than a beautiful essory to the girl. Her blue eyes were darkened because of her thick eyshes. There was a depth to her eyes like tea and they were also transparent at the same time. She stared at the manager with slight scorn in her eyes as if he were someone she had known for a long time, but she soon turned her gaze away as if there were no need to discover an already discovered scientific fact twice. A telltale aura ran amuck between her eyes and delicate lips. An aura that was clearly superfluous appeared on her face. With her detailed gaze and lips, she was controlling the energy perfectly with her expression. The perfect harmony of instincts and rationality was present on her features. Silver hair was the symbol of the Habsburg imperial family¡¯s bloodline. There are rumors that the imperial family often takes part in incest in order to preserve this hair color. The manager believed this rumor to be true and he considered the imperial family as a cave of lunatics for intentionally taking part in something like that. There¡¯s that much value in their hair¡­¡­. ¡°I told you to lead the way, but it seems you intend to stare holes into my face.¡± ¡°Ah! I-I apologize. I will take the lead right away, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Tsk.¡± The imperial princess decreased the manager¡¯s survival length from 2 months to half a month. The shadows that followed the princess were very impatient. There was a passionate follower of the imperial princess among them, and he did not wish to let those who fell for the imperial princess live. The manager led her to a parlor surrounded by ss. It was a ss room where you could see from the inside out but not the other way around. There was a high-quality sofa in the middle of the room with a hot cup of ck tea on a table next to it. Referentially, there was also a bed. Once the imperial princess realized what the bed was for, she furrowed her brows. Even the way she drew her brows together was like a masterpiece that had been exquisitely captured by a master artist. While giving her a sidelong nce??this action assured that the manager¡¯s remaining half month decreased further to two days, but the manager himself had no way of knowing this??the manager was in awe again of how it was possible to create such a perfect expression. ¡°If there is anything you need, please touch the magic stone on the table. We will be at your service immediately. Please have a pleasant time, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Haah.¡± The girl sat on the sofa. Her muscles that had tensed up while out in the winter air slowly rxed. She looked around her. There was another ss wall beyond the ss wall of her room. It was the next room over. There were dozens of other ss rooms simr to the one the imperial princess had just entered. The imperial princess wanted to vomit once she pictured what could possibly be happening within those rooms. This probably shows how popr tonight¡¯s performance is. ¡®I was also attracted here, after all.¡¯ The imperial princess mocked herself before quietly burying her body into the sofa. Shortly after, the magic stones that were illuminating the room dimmed down. The manager¡¯s voice could be heard from somewhere. ??I give my sincerest gratitude to everyone that hase here to watch tonight¡¯s performance. The imperial princess didn¡¯t open her ears to those words. She had absolutely no interest in them. Eventually, once the tedious words of appreciation were over, the stage that was built so that every guest room could see it lit up. A single man was dragged on stage. The man had ck hair and a skinny but sturdy body. He wasn¡¯t wearing anything. The girl turned her gaze towards him. The man was Dantalian, Rank 71st Demon Lord. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The author says it in the next chapter, but this is a ¡°what if Lapis never came to rescue Dantalian at the ve auction¡±. The author said it at the beginning of the chapter, but if you don¡¯t want to read these BAD ENDs, then feel free to skip them. They don¡¯t impact the story. It¡¯s simply an opportunity to take a glimpse at the other characters in the world. This bad ending has 2 parts, so if you don¡¯t like this stuff, skip the next chapter as well. Chapter 59: ending no.02 (2) Chapter 59: ending no.02 (2) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The imperial princess examined the man thoroughly. There was nothing unique about him. If it weren¡¯t for the small horn sticking out of his head, she might have mistaken him for a normal man. The man was whipped on stage and vited by the trainers. Something about watching the brutal lord of monsters get his rear prated by a mere human male was capable of stimting the hearts of the young daughters from royal families. His white skin and slim body were appealing. The Demon Lord¡¯s screams were fascinating, so it added an extra vor. While feeling disgusted by this disy, the imperial princess,as someone who had studied the disciplines of kingship all her life,also calmly evaluated the value of the subject. A ¡®special performance¡¯ which could only be viewed by the highest of imperial nobles wasn¡¯t something that was unique to this opera theater. As the ethics of the empire¡¯s upper ss degraded endlessly, if something that could stimte their luxurious but boring livesexists, then they would throw their gold coins at it without reserve. Theater owners scrambled to develop programs that could obtain the patronage and money of aristocrats. A Demon Lord is sodomized here, with this catchline in front of them, this theater has been monopolizing all of the fame recently. The Demon Lord wasn¡¯t the only one that appeared on the stage. As time passed, elves, mermaids, sirens, high-ranking fairies, etc, rare races that ve hunters would die for appeared one by one. They were vited or tortured before leaving the stage. It was up to the choice of the spectators. Not only could they view the show, but the fact that you could have intercourse??or something more than that??with whatever race you wanted was supposed to be one of the reasons behind this opera theater¡¯s fame. ¡°Yuria. If it were you, then would you pay to watch this performance?¡± The imperial princess asked while in the ss room that should be upied by only her alone. Once she didn¡¯t receive a reply, the imperial princess asked again. ¡°Answer me. This is an order.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency.¡± A woman appeared out of thin air. She was enshrouded by a ck mantle. ¡°This one has advised Your Excellency several times before, but shadows must not have mouths.¡± ¡°How could humans not have mouths?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Having personal conversations with a Shadow is not good for Your Excellency nor is it good for us Shadows. If a personal rtionship were to be formed between us, then Your Excellency would be unable to calmly cut us off when in danger.¡± Hm, the imperial princess mused before turning to look at the woman. ¡°Yuria, allow me to ask you something out of sincere curiosity.¡± ¡°Inquire anything.¡± ¡°Do I seem like the kind of person who would do that?¡± The woman called Yuria closed her mouth. The girl before her. At the age of 4, she mastered the Ancient Imperial Language. At the age of 5, she mastered the Ancient Republic Language. At the age of 7, she became well versed in every form of geometry that currently exists. At the age of 10, she was praised by all members of the Royal Society as ¡®the first prodigy of the imperial family since the founding of the country¡¯. At her current age of 16, she had be a Fourth Circle mage and a Rank 3 swordsman, and she was known as the monster of the Empire¡¯s imperial family that had mastered both literary and martial arts as an honorary member of the Empire¡¯s academy which was something that had never been achieved before. Elizabeth Atanaxia Evatriae von Habsburg. With her title as a countess, she was already taking part in imperial councils. She actively managed to create her own faction in the councilwith the goal of national prosperity and military power. Although the Empire was rotten to its core, there were still a fewpetent people who thought for the sake of the nation, and they unquestionably gathered under Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s wing. They were referred to as the ¡®Imperial Princess Faction¡¯. These days, government administration has gotten to a point where they almost can¡¯t function properly without the presence of the Imperial Princess Faction. ¡®¡­¡­There are also rumors that the assassination of the Third and Fourth Imperial Princes was Her Highness the Imperial Princess¡¯ stratagem.¡¯ There were 4 princes and 3 princesses in the imperial family. Among them, Elizabeth is the third imperial princess. Her sisters passed away due to tuberculosis when they were young and both her third brother and biological little brother died one by one. Her third brother abruptly caught an infectious disease. Her third brother was the fourth imperial prince and her biological little brother was attacked by monsters while out hunting. There was a period of time where rumors of Elizabeth¡¯s deep involvement in her brothers¡¯ deaths circted. Not only did people find it hard to believe that the third prince, who was normally healthy, would die to an illness, but it was also difficult to rationally believe that a monster like a minotaur would appear in the forest the imperial family often frequented. Since the Imperial Princess Elizabeth went up two steps in the session of the throne due to the demise of both the third and fourth imperial princes, was this not all her a part of her ploy? The conspiracists theorized. However, no one took these rumors seriously. The Imperial Princess Elizabeth??was only 13 years old at that point, after all. Furthermore, the imperial princess has been ethically perfect since she was little. She¡¯s renowned for acting for the sake of her parents and her benevolence and love for her people. Although the Empire¡¯s imperial family would even get ridiculed by random street harlots, every time these sorts of exchanges happened, ¡®except for the imperial princess¡¯ would always be added at the end. Not only is she a peerless genius, but she has her own powerful faction as well. She¡¯s ethically perfect and receives the full support of schrs and her people. Ultimately, the other sessors of the throne, the first and second princes, are known as human garbage among human garbage. The imperial princess may only be third in line to seed the throne¡­¡­but anyone with the slightest bit of wit could easily predict that she will do something to be the empress. Even if she doesn¡¯t resort to anything, the people will most likely revolt on their own and make her the Empress. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± In the end, Yuria didn¡¯t respond. She couldn¡¯t imagine the imperial princess getting held down by some trivial attachment. She shrugged with an expression that said ¡®if the imperial princess says so¡¯. ¡°Never mind. It is enough as long as you know what sort of person you are protecting.¡± Yuria lowered her head. ¡°My apologies, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°You are forgiven. More importantly, you have yet to answer my question. I asked whether you would willingly pay money to watch this performance.¡± ¡°I do not have a hobby of secretly watching another person get raped.¡± ¡°Hm. Are you not a mage that holds a curiosity towards all things in the world? Does a Demon Lord getting vited not attract your interest?¡± ¡­¡­You say that, but Your Excellency is also a Fourth Circle mage. Yuria swallowed those words before speaking. ¡°Your Excellency said that you would see this performance today, so I had personally looked into Demon Lord Dantalian.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The imperial princess seemed interested. Yuria organized the information she had in her head. She instantly concluded what would be the most effective way to give an exnation. ¡°It is difficult to understand how a Demon Lord could be caught by humans so easily. As Your Excellency knows, Demon Lords can control monsters however they want, and since they shut themselves in their Demon Lord castles and reinforce their defenses, they are extremely difficult to capture; therefore.¡± ¡°That Demon Lord had a special reason toe out.¡± ¡°Correct.¡± The imperial princess took a sip of her tea. This was her way of gesturing for Yuria to continue. Talking this much bothered Yuria as a Shadow, but she judged that it would be better to earn the genius imperial princess¡¯ affection than to try and dissuade her. Yuria was a Seventh Circle high-ss mage, but she was a half-breed between a demon and a human. There was nothing in human society that was disdained more than a demon half-breed. That¡¯s why there¡¯s no harm in getting on the imperial princess¡¯s good side. While holding this thought in a corner of her mind, Yuria continued. ¡°ording to the information I gathered, Demon Lord Dantalian foolishly made an appearance in a human city. They say it was a city in the northern region of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The reason why he went there is unclear, but Dantalian entered that city¡¯s ve market.¡± ¡°A human ve market?¡± ¡°Yes. There is an even more surprising piece of information¡­¡­.¡± A smile appeared on Yuria¡¯s lips. It was a smile of ridicule. ¡°As expected, the reasons are unknown, but he assaulted the ve market in order to let a single sex ve escape.¡± ¡°Sex ve? Did you just say a sex ve?¡± ¡°Yes. Is Your Excellency perhaps aware of the House of Farnese?¡± The imperial princess nodded. ¡°Naturally. Were they not once a distinguished duke family of the Sardinia Kingdom?¡± ¡°Daughters of the Farnese Household were rumored to be beautiful. After the House of Farnese fell to ruin after the Hydrangea War, their second daughter ended up bing a sex ve. Demon Lord Dantalian had acted for the sake of acquiring her.¡± The imperial princess knitted her fine brows. ¡°How foolish. For a monarch to act for the sake of a mere sex ve.¡± Yuria nodded. ¡°I agree full-heartedly. It is unquestionable that he is truly an unintelligent individual.¡± ¡°Be it a nation or a city, Demon Lords are the arch enemies of all humans. He acted without much restraint despite knowing that he would not be able to escape safely if his identity were revealed. He himself must have thought that he took precautions for his own safety, but the fact that he was captured and being disyed like this in some theater proves this Demon Lord¡¯s foolishness. Hm, I truly fail toprehend his actions.¡± The imperial princess brushed the corners of her mouth. After pausing to think for a moment, she spoke. ¡°Is the esteemed daughter of the Farnese family sincerely that much of a beauty? Is it to the point of touching a Demon Lord¡¯s heart?¡± ¡°I predicted that Your Excellency would be curious.¡± Yuria beamed. ¡°I personally went to see the daughter of the Farnese family myself a few days ago.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The imperial princess was slightly impressed. She thought the woman in front of her was simply a talented mage, but it seems now that she also knows basic politics. Basic politics include knowing what the other party wants beforehand and acting before anyone else to provide the other party with what they want. An informationwork and wisdom are required to learn these things beforehand, and both the ability to act and connections are required to provide it before anyone else. Politics is a battle of information, wisdom, connections, and action. ¡®It would be a waste to leave her as a mere shadow.¡¯ The imperial princess may receive theplete support of the people, but there are a lot of factions that don¡¯t think of her favorably as well. The representatives of those factions would be the first and second princes. They dispatched an endless amount of assassins. Among the Shadows, protecting the imperial princess was a task that was avoided the most. The reason was simple. It was a dying job, after all. No matter how talented the Shadows may be, the skill of the assassins sent by the first and second princes wasn¡¯t something tough at. Therefore, bloody battles where blood is washed away by blood have urred. The imperial princess believed that she should pull this mage out from the shadow and to the light. She felt that it would be a waste to let her be sacrificed in covert battles. The imperial princess valued and lovedpetent people. Yuria vaguely felt as if she had earned some points as she spoke. ¡°As expected, the daughter of the Farnese family was confined to a high-ss brothel in the Empire. Sure enough, she emitted a beauty that could cause the downfall of a country! If I were to give Your Excellency my sincere opinion, then I was certain that I would never be in awe of another woman¡¯s beauty after meeting Your Excellency.¡± Yuria bowed. ¡°But I must confess that my belief was broken a few days ago. Her Ladyship Farnese has a beauty that would not lose in radiance if ced next to Your Excellency.¡± ¡°So you are saying that it is enough to make a Demon Lord lose his rationality and act.¡± ¡°Yes. It is pathetic that a monarch would be tempted by beauty and fall into ruin¡­¡­but if you consider that there have been several monarchs throughout history that had met the same fate, Demon Lord Dantalian is not a fool of unprecedented proportions.¡± The imperial princess stood up from the sofa. Her face looked as if it had lost interest. ¡°I came here because I heard that Demon Lords couldmunicate with monsters. I figured a Demon Lord might be helpful in future revolts. Obtaining the cooperation of monsters would be greatly beneficial to the nationwide image that I am drawing.¡± She shook her head. ¡°But after hearing your information, my disappointment is immeasurable. Look at that man¡¯s face.¡± The imperial princess pointed towards the stage beyond the ss wall with her chin. The Demon Lord was being pounded by the trainer¡¯s rod there. His pitiful groans were being amplified by a magic tool and broadcasted to the ss rooms. ¡°Does it not look as if he had lost all hope? It is the face of a defeated man tired by despair. I do not wish to make a person who had lost all hope my subordinate. Especially if he is someone who had ruined his life because of a girl.¡± This was a waste of time, the imperial princess concluded as she left the ss room. Yuria cast an invisibility spell in order to follow after the imperial princess. Before leaving the ss room, Yuria turned to look at Dantalian onest time. A normal man groaning in pain was all she could see. ¡®As expected, I am partially a demon, so it is my duty to help you¡­¡­but I do not wish to serve someone as foolish as you. I apologize, but I will be following a slightly better individual.¡¯ Yuria left the room without any lingering feelings. Even after they left, the man¡¯s faint cries continued to fill the empty ss room for a while. *** ?? Ending no.02 Bad Ending: ?? An ending has been added to your album. ©¤ Would you like to rey the game? *** Author¡¯s Note The reason why Lapis¡¯ affection is the condition of this ending is due to the fact that Lapis would help Dantalian while he is in a predicament in the ve auction if her affection is high enough and run away if it were too low. Different from the main story, this Dantalian failed to escape the ve market. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. After this ending, I don¡¯t think there are any more ¡®what if bad endings¡¯. I know there is a section with another ¡®what if¡¯, but that isn¡¯t a bad ending. It¡¯s just another route. We got introduced to a new character here, so maybe we¡¯ll see her again in the main story. Nothing much else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 60: Two Schemes (1) Chapter 60: Two Schemes (1) This was something that happened one morning. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura and I were frozen. We were looking straight at each other¡¯s bodies. No, should I say we were forced to stare? We couldn¡¯t even turn our gazes. Even if we tried to turn our heads, it was like our muscles had be stone. Perplexity, astonishment, surprise, shame, and shyness, these muddy emotions came and went like the tidal waves. If we were simply staring at each other, then there would be no need for me to feel this awkward. Thus, Laura and I weren¡¯t simply staring at each other. The two of us were naked. We didn¡¯t have a single article of clothing on us. Wait a second. Let me exin myself first. This was something that happened out of pure coincidence. I didn¡¯t have some shameless goal of sneaking a peek at my one and only vassal¡¯s bare body. Even if Laura is remarkably beautiful and my carnal desire for her would asionally well up, and even if it may not be asional but actually quite frequent, I never had the stubborn desire to see her nude body! I swear. Before being my vassal, was she not also a living being? I naturally respect her opinion as well. Someone who bosses their subordinates around however they want is literally a piece of trash tyrant. It¡¯d be unsurprising if they were stabbed in the back by their vassal. Who would sincerely follow a tyrant? For the sake of my survival and prosperity, I have to cherish Laura dearly. No, more than anything else, Laura is only 15 years old! If she were in my original world, she¡¯d be in her third year of middle school¡­¡­I don¡¯t have a hobby of going after children. Seriously¡­¡­. In order to prove my unquestionable purity, I have to first exin the situation with my dungeon. My Demon Lord castle doesn¡¯t have a bathing facility. Of course, both the monsters and I don¡¯t particrly have to bathe. I don¡¯t produce bodily waste, after all. Ever since I became a Demon Lord, I no longer had a need to eat or bathe. Sleeping 2 to 3 hours a day is enough for me. It¡¯s incredibly convenient. The only reason I eat and wash is simply due to the fact I want to live a little luxuriously. It was like that this morning as well. After contemting about my army¡¯s future, I headed towards my dungeon¡¯s underground pond for a change of mood. The underground pond had formed naturally, so the water is clear and has no harmful insects or aquatic organisms in it. I was told that it¡¯s because the pond is overflowing with magic energy, but, in any case, it¡¯s perfect to bathe in. There are magic stones in the water, so there¡¯s a faint blue light glowing from the bottom of the pond all the way to its surface. Due to the heat radiating from the magic stones, the underwater temperature is at the perfect warmth. You could enjoy a mystical experience by floating in the water and feeling as if you¡¯re in paradise while slowly examining the stctites that had grown around the water. Who could possibly me me for stripping down excitedly like some child as soon as I saw the blue water??? And Laura surfaced as soon as I approached the water as if she had been waiting for me. Within this cavern which not even a single ray of the sun can reach, the girl¡¯s bare body was revealed distinctly due to the glow from the bottom of the water. Laura¡¯s long, blonde hair fluttered. I froze in ce. My calm brain understood the situation in an instant. The various insect-like egos that were living inside my head were giving their own respective statements. My brain went on overdrive like the time I dealt with Riff¡¯s adventurer group. ¡®Laura was bathing here.¡¯ ¡®Even if she¡¯s a genius, her body is that of a normal human, so she naturally needs to take baths.¡¯ ¡®I was wondering why her skin always smelled nice. She¡¯s been making sure to wash every day, huh¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®You idiot! This isn¡¯t the time to be thinking about that! This is an emergency situation! We have to go into DEFCON 2 right now!¡¯ ¡®It isn¡¯t surprising since we don¡¯t have any bathing facilities in the dungeon. If you think about it, we aren¡¯t being considerate towards Laura, a human. How about we think about facilities for humans from now on?¡¯ ¡®In my opinion¡­¡­I think it¡¯d be best if we waited for now. This isn¡¯t something we get to see often, right? Let¡¯s enjoy this moment as much as possible.¡¯ ¡®Wait. Everyone¡¯s talking at the same time. We have three choices. Run away, make up an excuse, or bathe together like this. Furthermore, I¡¯d like to add that the third option seems like the most appropriate. Don¡¯t take my words lightly. This is the conclusion I came to after much deliberation.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ve nowe to the realization that this is a gathering of retards. Stop thinking about other things and think up of an excuse first. The other party is the daughter of a duke, you ignorant fools. I know you guys are ignorant of this world since you¡¯ve been living carefree lives in a world without a hierarchical society, but¡­¡­,¡¯ ¡®Hmph, I¡¯m sorry to butt in, but I¡¯d like to add that you all sound like a bunch of barking dogs.¡¯ ¡®Woof woof! Bark bark! Arf arf!¡¯ ¡®All right. I know for certain now that most of us are mutts.¡¯ ¡®This is just my opinion, but we¡¯ve been quietly standing while staring at Laura¡¯s naked body for a really long time now. If my senses aren¡¯t broken, then roughly a minute has passed. Congrattions. In the end, we didn¡¯t pick any of the three choices and wound up selecting the worse possible option: standing still. I don¡¯t have the energy to be amazed by my stupidity anymore.¡¯ As you can see, I was fantastically falling into a pit of panic. It became clear tome that making ideological existences converse with one another wasn¡¯t a good thing for me at all. This probably means my mental state is that unstable, but that¡¯s not important right now. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I couldn¡¯t remove my eyes from Laura¡¯s bare body. A blue glow illuminated her gentle curves. A girl like a hydrangea in the rain was standing there. Even though she was 16-years-old, it was hard to see Laura¡¯s body as that of a young girl. Her body already had proper curves. Her pure white skin was exquisite. Her snow-like skin had just the perfect amount of muscle, so it was firm. That firm skin was wet with water. Droplets of water slid down her frame. ¡°¡­¡­Lord.¡± Laura stepped towards me. My chest pounded. Her body emerged more and more with each step she took. A slender waist and smooth curves that entuated her buttocks connected down to her firm thighs and calves that were clearly trained thanks to the constant horseback riding she had experienced as a young child. I got a glimpse at her most precious ce thanks to the light of the pond. Laura finally arrived right in front of me. There was some water pooled above her corbone. The water created a small stream on her body as it slid down. Droplets of water fell from her chest, fingertips, and buttocks, soaking the cavern floor. The fragranceing from the recently drenched girl¡­¡­exuded softly. My consciousness became faint. ¡°Lord.¡± A wet fragrance flowed out from between her slightly open lips once again. It was a scent that entered my ears and not my nose. While only the sound of water dripping from the stctites echoed quietly, Laura¡¯s voice resonated off the cavern walls and vibrated lowly. Was what I heard just now the sound of water falling from a stctite or the sound of me gulping? While within this space of tranquility and anxiety, Laura said somethingpletely unexpected. ¡°Are you here to take a bath as well, Lord?¡± Eh? Laura smiled. ¡°The water here is good. It is good for your eyes and body. It is not surprising that you would like this ce as well.¡± Laura didn¡¯t scream like a girl or p me as if this were some scene from a movie. She simply smiled happily. ¡°I intended to tell Your Lordship about this ce, but it seems this was not a secret ce known only to this young one. It is saddening, but it feels like we have a bond through this connection. Fufu.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­ah¡­¡­.¡± Isn¡¯t this a golden opportunity? My cockroach-like egos that had been moring noisily until now all shouted in a single voice. ¡®Go with it!¡¯ This was the most valid and appropriate suggestion out of everything that had been advocated thus far. Laura didn¡¯t feel anything in particr about showing her naked body to me or seeing my naked body. I¡¯m not sure why, but this was my saving grace. I stammered. I did my best to sound as nonchnt as possible. As if being seen in the nude wasn¡¯t a big deal for me at all. ¡°Y-You are right. I had an urge to be clean today.¡± ¡°As I predicted! Bathing allows you to wash your soul. If your body bes clean, then your mind bes clean on its own as well. This is the perfect time to relieve your exhaustion after having defeated the adventurers and subjugated the nearby viges.¡± ¡°That is correct. W-War is not simply a never-ending cycle of battles. You must rest properly when necessary and work productively when required.¡± Laura¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°You are right a hundred times over. Each and every one of Your Lordship¡¯s words is wise enough to be taken as gospel.¡± ¡°Hahaha. You praise me too much.¡± ¡°So Your Lordship ns to take a bath now, I see.¡± ¡°Yes, that is so.¡± It seems I was going to get past this without arousing suspicions. Since things that have been witnessed are being overlooked without having to take any responsibilities, I was able to obtain the best possible result. Like a bolt from the blue, the following sentence struck me while I was feeling relieved. ¡°Then how about bathing together with this young girl?¡± Pardon me? * * * Lapis Lazuli, a rank 2 personnel of the Keuncuska Firm and Dantalian¡¯s personal attendant. Recently, the amount of work she had to do had increased greatly. For starters, she was promoted to a rank 2 personnel. Once she went up from rank 4 to rank 2 in an instant, the people around her became surprised by how fast she was advancing. Therefore, people approached her politically and socially. In other words, amorous ncesthered in solicitation were thrown her way. ¡°Thank you very much, but I have no interest.¡± Lapis tly refused every offer. She poured all of the resources that were given to her into a single thing. The task of assisting Dantalian. She was certain that Dantalian will continue to bring profit to the firm. Lapis wasn¡¯t acting arbitrarily either. The owner of the Keuncuska Firm, Ivar Lodbrok also agreed. The incident that had gotten her interest recently was obviously the matter where the adventurer-civilian militia alliance fought against Dantalian. Laura and Dantalian didn¡¯t seem to care much about the incident anymore. Was there a need to think about a battle that had already been won? Lapis, however, thought otherwise. ¡®It is hard to believe that a low-ss group of adventurers could be heavily equipped.¡¯ If Dantalian is a schemer and Laura is an intrigant, then Lapis is close to being an administrator. She may not understand the intricate principles of battles that well, but she knows the field outside of battle better than anyone else. How to distribute provisions, how to secure logistics, where to gather arms and manpower from, etc. ¡®Chain armor, especially chain armor with a 4-to-1 pattern, is not something that normal civilians of the human world can get their hands on easily.¡¯ The equipment that was provided for the adventurers and civilian militia was expensive. Excessively so ifpared to their actual skills. ording to His Highness Dantalian, Riff plundered approximately 200 gold from his Demon Lord castle in the past. That may be arge sum, but that isn¡¯t enough to provide a group of over 70 people with sturdy chainmail armor and well-maintained iron spears. Furthermore, it was revealed that Riff had bribed some of the viges to betray Dantalian. Approximately 100 gold. This thus meant that Riff had at most 100 gold coins to spare. It would be impossible to heavily equip yourself with this much. ¡®It¡¯s suspicious.¡¯ Lapis suspected that the leader of the adventurer party had taken a huge loan from a bank. However, after much investigation, there was no evidence that Riff had borrowed money from anywhere. It didn¡¯t seem like an influential person or a lord was backing him either. This was even more suspicious. Where could Riff have gotten such a huge sum of gold from? ¡®A certain person or faction must have helped the adventurers, but who¡­¡­?¡¯ Lapis was going about her job while seated at her personal desk. Her face remained expressionless as she quickly dealt with the documents that lied before her. Her pink pigtails didn¡¯t move even slightly as she worked. An employee approached her carefully. ¡°Miss Lazuli.¡± ¡°Speak.¡± Lapis responded without looking up from the documents. This naturally gave the person the implicit message that they would be punished ordingly if they had interrupted her for a trivial matter. The other employees had already started to refer to Lapis as the Absolute Zero Emotions. ¡°Uhm, about the corpse of the adventurer group leader. The one that was found in the forest¡­¡­.¡± In order to investigate the matter thoroughly, Dantalian had handed the corpses of several adventurers to Lapis. She didn¡¯t want to miss even the tiniest clue. ¡°I am aware. Is there a problem with it?¡± ¡°Well, uhm, it¡¯s really troubling, but¡­¡­.¡± The employee hesitated. Lapis let out a sigh and lowered her pen. ¡°Keep the main point simple and conclusion concise.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ept your apologyter. Is there a problem with Riff¡¯s body?¡± The employee looked like they were about to cry. ¡°There is a ck imprint on the human¡¯s chest. I-It isn¡¯t a simple tattoo, but a magical symbol.¡± ¡°A magical symbol?¡± Lapis tilted her head. Lapis immediately concluded that this may be the decisive clue to the person or group that had backed the adventurers. She gazed at the employee with a cold gaze. ¡°What kind of symbol?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡­that¡¯s¡­¡­it was the sign of Rank 68 His Highness Belial¡­¡­.¡± Lapis felt as if she had taken a blow to the head. An unpleasant shiver went down her spine. ¡®Another Demon Lord was backing the people that were hostile towards His Highness Dantalian!¡¯ *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, I thought the sexual tension would happen a bitter, but uh, yeah, I was wrong. God this section is going to be a pain to trante. I¡¯m not reallyfortable with writing these kinds of details. Maybe over time. We¡¯ll see. We might have to put a stronger 18+ rating on this series if what I think is going to happen, well, happens. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 61: Two Schemes Chapter 61: TwoSchemes WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip this chapter. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there. You have been warned. * * * I looked ahead absentmindedly. My body was submerged in the pond. Laura was smoothly swimming in the center of the blue pond. She was doing the least remarkable breaststroke, but the fact that Laura was the one doing it made it look elegant. The ripples she created slowly came my way and touched my chest. ¡°Hoo.¡± How did it end up like this? No, this was unavoidable¡­¡­I can¡¯t refuse after having said that I hade here to take a bath and I can¡¯t order or ask someone to not bathe when they¡¯re the one that wants to. I wound up getting swept up in the moment and entered the bath with Laura naked. It¡¯d be a lie if I were to say that I had no indecent desires. To prove this, my imposing Johnson was in the middle of making its presence known to the world. ¡®Calm down, calm down, calm down¡­¡­.¡¯ I was unable to relieve my libido ever since I visited the brothels in Niflheim. I was busy destroying Riff¡¯s party, so I didn¡¯t have the spare time to do something like relieving myself. In truth, one of the reasons I came to the pond this morning was because I figured it¡¯d be okay to relieve myself as much as I wanted to here. How was I supposed to endure it when this bastard was standing stiff this morning, shouting at me to touch it? I would do it in my Demon Lord room, but the entrance is wide open??that Riff bastard had smashed my door down a long time ago??and I was afraid that Laura woulde looking for me all of a sudden. Thus I tried hiding in some corner of the cave, but they were all shabby. Therefore, I came down to the natural underground pond to enjoy the natural scenery and relieve my libido, but, my God, I ended up walking right into the tiger¡¯s den. On another note, Laura¡¯s body is quite smooth. From her jawline to her corbone, slender shoulders, flexible back, rear, thighs, and finally, her feet, a smooth line connected all of these things. Her ribs were barely noticeable above her waist that had no unnecessary fat. A ray of blue light resided faintly on her lovely stomach. Is this what people call a slender body? Her skin is most likely firm, but also soft. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Our eyes met. Laura stopped swimming roughly around the deepest part of the pool before turning to face me. She brushed her hair back because the water flowing down her forehead had matted it down. Laura smiled softly. The person swimming across from me like a mermaid wasn¡¯t the daughter of the Farnese family or a genius strategist, it was a single girl. To be exact, the wet body of a girl. The small body approached me and leaned slightly against me. ¡°How about going for a swim every morning from now on, Lord?¡± She let out a breath. ¡°Hm. Should I?¡± ¡°This works as exercise. It is also good for toning your body equally. Look.¡± Laura then stood up. Her body emerged from the water, causing a light ssh as it did. With slight pride in her voice, she turned her waist as she showed her body to me. ¡°This youngdy enjoyed horseback riding back when I was at my family¡¯s estate. I was unable to get any proper exercise ever since my family fell; however, my muscles soon returned after I swam and exercisedregrly.¡° ¡°It does appear supple. May I touch it?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I ced my hand on her waist. The sensation of wet, slippery skin touched my hand. While feeling slight friction and a fair amount of smoothness, I slowly moved my hand up and down in a small, contained area. I kept my motion short, slow, and mechanical so it seemed like I had no interest in her breasts above or her bottom below. I then let out a sound of awe. ¡°Oh, as expected. The firmness of your muscles is perfect. It is worth boasting about.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Laura smiled brightly. Her even teeth peeked out from between her lips. ¡°I dislike when there is too much or too little muscle. This youngdy is doing her best to maintain this degree. It feels like my efforts have been rewarded thanks to Your Lordship¡¯s praise. I honestly feel delighted.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. This is all due to your efforts alone, Laura.¡± ¡°Hm, it seems Your Lordship is well versed in psychology, butcking in matters like this. Normally, only when another views your body is when the beauty of your body besplete. There is nothing that brings me more joy than your praise. This is because I know that there is no falsehood in Your Lordship¡¯s words.¡± Only the sight of a girl¡¯s white skin entered my eyes. A little more. I touched her skin a little more. However, it would be considered weird if I touched her any longer than this. It would be found out that I had another motive besides confirming her muscles. I gave one final stroke of her skin before pulling back my hand as naturally as possible. While brushing the area of her rear ever so slightly as I did. ¡°Mmmm.¡± Laura stretched. Her back curved like a bow. Her unripe chest protruded forward. The firm tension of her back and pieces of flesh on her chest created an exquisite harmony. It felt like the bnce would burst if I even grazed it. It felt like everything would truly burst if I pushed my thing inside her small frame. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± What sound would she make as she burst? What kind of moan would it be? How would her expression that was currently smiling pleasant twist? How would her voice, refined with elegance, crumble? ¡°Mm, then this youngdy will be taking her leave now.¡± ¡°Are you leaving already?¡± ¡°I was able to exercise for quite a long time thanks to Your Lordship.¡± Laura smiled once more before turning around. Her feet have been prepared to go somewhere, as they had just caused a ripple. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to me. ¡°Ah?¡± She immediately entered my grasp. Since I was supporting her waist with one hand, she didn¡¯t fall over. Her body slowly touched mine. Laura turned her head and looked up at me. ¡°Lord?¡± A body that was just small enough that it forced her to look up at me. Only my face reflected in her gray eyes. ¡°What is the matter?¡± ¡°I recall the first conversation we shared. You asked me something that day, did you not? Do you remember what you asked me?¡± Her slender jaw moved. ¡°How could I forget? What is the meaning behind your gaze? That is what I asked.¡± ¡°That is correct. I wish to ask you something this time. Do you know the meaning behind my current gaze?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Silence followed. Her eyes abruptly grew wide. They then went back to their normal size shortly after. Ah, Laura let out a sound of realization. She may not have even let out a sound. After a brief moment, she gave a small nod. Our lips touched. They stuck together lightly in order to not miss. ¡°Mm¡­¡­mm¡­¡­.¡± A faint sound of breathing seeped out. The two of us exchanged breaths for a while. I inserted my tongue and licked her gums. Laura let out a slightly startled ¡®Ah¡¯. Before she could even finish letting out that noise, I put my tongue in fully. ¡°Auh¡­¡­mm, ah¡­¡­mm, mmm¡­¡­.¡± Saliva slid down the side of Laura¡¯s mouth. Slowly, to her nape. Once the tip of my tongue slickly grazed her neck, Laura¡¯s voice became weak. ¡°Huu¡­¡­ha.¡± Even though it was only her nape, she was highly sensitive. I then recalled that she had received training as a sex ve. Was her sensitivity developed¡­¡­? I didn¡¯t feel displeased or disgusted. I purely wished to dye even the furthest corners of her body with my color. My hands naturally went up to her chest. ¡°Huu.¡± I caressed her nape with my lips, tongue, and tip of my nose. I slowly and patiently touched her breasts. Should I say I touched them or rubbed them? I caressed them like I was transferring the heat of my palms to her chest. Her nipples brushed against my fingers as I did so. ¡°Mm, mm¡­¡­ uu, ah¡­¡­.¡± It seems this was enough to stimte her, as Laura¡¯s moans started to get heated. ¡°Is it ticklish?¡± I asked in a slight teasing tone. Laura dragged her words as if she were embarrassed. ¡°¡­¡­Not, that much.¡± ¡°That is a relief.¡± ¡°Mm, ah¡­¡­ auh¡­¡­.¡± Ripples formed as I licked her corbone and moved my hands. The water sshed. Laura wrapped her arms around my back. She was giving her entire body to me. I put more strength into my caressing. ¡°Huu¡­¡­ ah, ah¡­¡­ uuu¡­¡­ Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How is it?¡± ¡°It, feels good¡­¡­ hnn¡­¡­ Your Lordship¡¯s body is hot¡­¡­.¡± Her sentences became disheveled. She was unable to finish them properly. I teased her more. ¡°I wonder about that. I feel like the one whose body is hot is yours, Laura.¡± ¡°Those words¡­¡­ are cruel, ha, Your Lordship is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Then I will kiss you more.¡± I slid my tongue across the valley of her corbone. I tasted water. This was probably the water that had coincidentally pooled above her corbone as she swam earlier. I licked that. The scent of skin emanated from it strongly. ¡°Kyau¡­¡­mm, has, haa¡­¡­.¡± The number of times her nipples slipped between my fingers subsided at the same time. My index finger and thumb grazed the tip. Laura¡¯s panting became a little faster. My other hand went further down. As I rubbed her firm abdominal muscles, my hand drifted down and up as if it were scouting the area out. ¡°Ah¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s shoulders jumped. The tip of my hand had touched the edge of that area. I didn¡¯t want her tension to return, so I removed my mouth from her cor and brought it to her ear. I whispered. ¡°Are you scared?¡± ¡°N-Nonsens, uu!¡± Laura pulledher chinback. My tongue was moving around her ear. I licked the edge of her ear and bit her earlobe. I purposely breathed deeply. ¡°Nn! Hnn! Ah, n-no, that¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That¡¯s? That¡¯s what?¡± ¡°W-weird¡­¡­ah.¡± What could she possibly be saying is weird? I chuckled mentally as I focused my assault on her nipple. I didn¡¯t pull on it too hard but instead rolled it around between my index and thumb like a pea. ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡­! Lord¡­¡­aan¡­¡­.¡± The sound of breathing and saliva in her ear, a hand drifting around her sanctuary below, and exceedingly stimting pleasure on her breasts. She¡¯s probably struggling to keep her mind clear. The type of training she received as a sex ve was most likely on the violent side. An awakening touch that meticulously stimted all of her senses was most likely a first for this esteemed daughter from a prestigious family. I put her ear in my mouth. ¡°Ah? Aaah¡­¡­?¡± Her small ear entered my mouth. While enjoying this bumpy feeling, I bit down gently. Laura pulled her chin back once more. Goosebumps appeared on her neck. It seems her ears are rather delicate. The rougher my hand that was teasing her nipple became and the softer my hand rubbing her clitoris became, the stronger her arms holding my back became. It felt like the strength in every part of her body had left and was being concentrated on her arms. I gave her ear a light kiss before bringing my tongue to her nipple. ¡°Hua, huuu¡­¡­Lord¡­¡­hnn, Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is wet here.¡± All I did was caress the vicinity of her clitoris, but my fingers had be slick. A viscosity that was undoubtedly different from the moisture of the pond. I didn¡¯t even put my fingers in. It was to the point where I didn¡¯t have to insert my fingers or perform cunnilingus. I smiled somewhat dirtily. ¡°You turned out to be an erotic person.¡± ¡°You are wrong! ¡­¡­T-This is because Your Lordship¡­¡­.¡± I pinched her nipple before she could finish her sentence. ¡°Uu! Uuuuu¡­¡­haaa¡­¡­ah, hnnn¡­¡­uuu¡­¡­.¡± I brought my index, middle, and ring fingers together and fondled her clit. The water ripples around us continued to ssh. The stronger the ripples became, the faster my hand became. I rubbed the entrance of her sanctuary while pretending to stroke her clit. I entered it slightly. ¡°Hyau!¡± Her voice went up by an octave. ¡°Lord, not, hauh¡­¡­not, there¡­¡­.¡± It was soaking wet. I continued to rub the inside of her entrance up and down. Even though it was underwater, I could feel the liquid seeping out. ¡°You are overflowing.¡± ¡°Aaaah¡­¡­.¡± Glistening eyes looked up at me. ¡°¡­¡­You are cruel, Lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I wanted to kiss her. So I did. ¡°Mm, uu¡­¡­mm.¡± Tongue and tongue twisted together. Laura¡¯s tongue which was on the passive side earlier moved around this time. Without pulling our lips apart, I increased the strength of my hands that were rubbing her chest and loins respectively. ¡°¡­¡­! Uuuuu!?¡± I rubbed the outer walls of herdy bits. Rapidly. Laura, whose lips were being sealed by me, moaned helplessly. In a moment, her back arched like a bow. This was her first climax. ¡°Uuh! Uuuu, huuuu¡­¡­!¡± Her orgasm didn¡¯tst long. Her back slowly returned to normal. ¡°Mm, uu, uuun, ha, haa¡­¡­.¡± I removed my tongue. A long trail of saliva connected our tongues. ¡°Laura. You are lovely.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s face became red. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter? Uh, well this was weird to trante. I¡¯m not exactly experienced with this kind of writing. This continues in the next chapter, so I¡¯ma have to write lewd stuff again. W-wew. I wonder if I should paywall this :^) Chapter 62: Two Schemes Chapter 62: TwoSchemes WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip this chapter. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there. You have been warned. It seems she was at a loss for words as Laura closed her mouth tightly. She must have been called lovely a countless number of times as she lived as the esteemed daughter of a duke, so I failed to understand why she was at a loss for words now. ¡°Uu, hnn¡­¡­aaan, uu, aah, uuu¡­¡­.¡± My index finger stroked herbia. Laura¡¯s back squirmed. The amount of time her hips stayed in mid-air gradually increased. I used her wetness as a lubricant to tease the area around her entrance busily. ¡°Uaah¡­¡­no, something is, no! Uu, Lord! Something is, huaaaah!¡± I moved my finger faster. ¡°Uu, you mustn¡¯t, uu, nn, haaa¡­¡­! Aah, aaa??.¡± Her voice burst out. I thought her breathing would stop for a moment, but her lower entrance mped down on my finger with a strength that couldn¡¯t bepared to before. ¡°Hah, haaa, nn, aah, aaaaaaah!¡± Her moans sounded like screams. ¡°Ha, ah¡­¡­weird, this is¡­¡­weird¡­¡­there is no way, I would feel it like this¡­¡­there is no way, hnn??.¡± She squirmed due to the pleasure of the aftershock. Her body gradually rxed. Was she trying to take a break? It wouldn¡¯t be fun if I let her. I moved my finger up and down like I did before. Laura was tormented once more before the aftershock of her orgasm could dissipate. ¡°Hiih!? Uuu! S-Stop!¡± She tried to squirm away from me; however, as long as her nipples and sanctuary were in my grasp, her struggles were pointless. ¡°Uu¡­¡­haa, uu¡­¡­.¡± I stole her lips in order to prevent her from having any other thoughts. Once I lifted her up onto my knees, her small body entered my embrace. ¡°Mm¡­¡­haau¡­¡­haa, Looord¡­¡­.¡± She rashly put her arms around my back and pushed her lips towards mine. For a brief while, the two of us exchanged saliva and licks. I whispered into her ear. ¡°I will now put myself in you, Laura.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡­haa¡­¡­L-Lord. Okay.¡± Laura panted as she nodded. ¡°Will you be all right?¡± ¡°Hau¡­¡­I wouldn¡¯t like it, if it were anyone else¡­¡­.¡± She clung on to me as if she were pleading. This was on a different level from when a prostitute would plead formally. Right now, a single girl, a girl whose skills and dreams were more brilliant than anyone else¡¯s, was voluntarily offering her virginity to me. The feeling of conquest filled my head with excitement. I supported her bottom with my thighs. I removed my hand from her breasts and wrapped both of my arms around her body. Laura was light enough for me to lift her up with only the strength of my forearms. After I finished caressing her carefully, I slowly, through the open gap??inserted myself. ¡°Nnn, uu??, uuuuu.¡± I could feel resistance. It felt like I was prating some slippery spiderweb. I borrowed the help of her fluids to push myself in further. Tonds where no one had ever set foot in before. ¡°Hu, huaaaa.¡± I reached the end once I pushed in about 60%. Her warm interior stimted my entire rod. It was impossible for her to ept all of me. She would most likely only feel pain if I tried to move in and out now, so I decided to wait a bit for her insides to get used to my rod. I remember being told that this was better. ¡°Ah, aaaah¡­¡­I, I feel full¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s face scrunched up. Even her scrunched up face looked lovely. I slowly began to rock my hips back and forth. ¡°Mm¡­¡­L-Lord¡­¡­.¡± Her wallstched on to me, leaving no gaps. Her area where no one else has ever reached before was slowly being torn into my shape. I exerted myself so that I could reach the deepest part of Laura¡¯s body. ¡°Hkk!¡± A hard membrane touched the tip of my penis. At this moment, I had undoubtedly be the first person in Laura¡¯s entire life to reach the deepest portion of her body. Her body must have been rmed by the sudden entrance of a foreign object as I could feel her walls hastily mp around me. It was hot. ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡­.¡± I repeated my motion smoothly. ¡°Auh¡­¡­nn, hnn¡­¡­.¡± Something began to mix into Laura¡¯s cries. I changed my movement. I twisted my direction slightly and broke the rhythm every now and then. I gradually increased my intensity and speed while making sure to not stop my motions in between. ¡°Ah¡­¡­hua, nn, ah, ah, ahahah¡­¡­uu!¡± Every time I moved my hips, Laura¡¯s voice went up a pitch. The ripples around us sshed violently. Her slender back moved desperately in order to match my movement. However, since she was not used to this yet, we continued to be slightly misaligned. I paid that no mind as I continued to move. ¡°Haa!¡± Beads of sweat appeared on Laura¡¯s neck. They might have been droplets of water from the pond. Her moans became stronger, her panting hastened, and her cries would get cut off. ¡°Huah, au, ah, shah, ah, hnn, guu¡­¡­aaaa!¡± Laura¡¯s body began to fall back as she lost the strength in her arms. ¡°Oh dear.¡± I grabbed her by the hands and pulled her to me. Her entire arms were powerless, so Laura¡¯s body was pulled towards me like a doll. I matched the flow as I pushed in again. Ssh, the water of the pond sshed audibly. ¡°Haaaaaauh!¡± Her entrance tightened around me strongly. Laura¡¯s body was covered in sweat. ¡°Do you feel it? Laura, do you feel it?¡± ¡°Yes, I feel it¡­¡­I feel¡­¡­it ah, hnn!¡± Laura used formal speech. Was she instinctively surrendering and submitting herself to me so that she could make this even a little bitfier for herself? ¡°Where does it feel good the most? Is it here?¡± ¡°Mmm! Hn, has, hnn!¡± ¡°Is it not here? Then does it feel the best here?¡± I pushed towards the direction of her womb. ¡°Haaaaauuh!¡± A short spasm. ¡°I do not know¡­¡­I do not, ah¡­¡­huaaah!¡± ¡°This does not seem to be the spot either. This is troubling. Then how about here? Does this spot feel good?¡± ¡°Nnnn, mm¡­¡­uu, I don¡¯t know, I do not know, aaah¡­¡­haaaauu!¡± I grabbed Laura¡¯s small bottom and moved her up and down on my own. My rod buried deeper into her than before. ¡°Hiik! Ah, uuuuuun!¡± ¡°Did you climax?¡± ¡°Hkk, third, this is already the third time¡­¡­!¡± ¡°It has not been that long since we started, but you have already climaxed a fair bit, huh?¡± ¡°I havee a lot, huuu¡­¡­I came a lot, so¡­¡­Lord, wait¡­¡­hauk!¡± Instead of answering her, I rotated my waist. ¡°¡­¡­Gyaaaah!?¡± Laura¡¯s legs extended in a straight line. Her entire body vibrated. ¡°Again! I am, cumming again??, aaaah, again, hauh, ah, nn, again??.¡± ¡°Hoo. Hm. Hup.¡± ¡°Hua, ha, aan, hnn, hua, huuu! Hugugh, aah! No, I, cannot go any longer, hiuuuh! I cannot, haaaaah!¡± I pulled out almostpletely before pushing back in strongly. I repeated my movement quickly with brief intervals. My forearms were feeling numb because I was overexerting myself, but it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Uuuu!¡± I inserted deeply and hit her insides. ¡°Haaah!¡± I pulled back and went in deeply again. ¡°Uu, uu, uu¡­¡­huah! No more, Lord, haaaauuuuh! This youngdy, cannot??uuuuu!¡± Laura¡¯s body convulsed heavily. She jutted her chin up and arched her back. Her feeble cries continued. The sweat-covered girl had lostplete control of her body as her body trembled almost pitifully. ¡°Uuuuuu, aah, uuuuu??!¡± Her back continued to arch more like a bow. Her insides clenched down on me as if they intended to crush me. It felt like all the strength she had left in her body was being focused on her lower body. No other part of her body could move properly. Each time I entered her, Laura¡¯s body curved without any doubt. If I did nothing, then we would most likely split apart. I forcefully held Laura¡¯s arm and held her to me. Curve, pull, curve, and pull again. Laura¡¯s sensual breaths seeped out from her lungs. ¡°Uu, ah, huge, hg¡­¡­uugh, ahahah¡­¡­ahah¡­¡­.¡± It looked like she¡¯d pass out at this rate. Should I present her the carrot right about now? ¡°One more time. I will let you go after one more time.¡± ¡°Huaaah¡­¡­? One more¡­¡­?¡± She mumbled like a child. Saliva was flowing from the corner of her mouth. I gave a light kiss on her fragile lips. ¡°That¡¯s right. Laura. Onest time, so make sure to properly tell me when you climax. I won¡¯t know if you do not tell me, after all.¡± ¡°O-Okay. I will¡­¡­I will properly tell you when, so¡­¡­hguuuu!?¡± I smoothly pushed my hips upward before Laura could finish her sentence. My rod which had been on standby at the entrance pushed its way in forcefully. This alone made her spine tremble. ¡°Uuu, onest time¡­¡­hnn, just one more¡­¡­!¡± I let out augh. She was trying to convince herself. It seems she intended to climax quickly as she mustered up thest bit of her strength to move her hips on her own. This effort looked incredibly cute to me. Despite her efforts, she had no strength in her knees, so she could only squirm her bottom. ¡°Hggk!¡± Her insides contracted. Her fluids flowed down my member and into the pond. Laura mumbled weakly with an expression that looked like it was relieved that it was all over now. ¡°I came¡­¡­ Lord, this youngdy just came¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Pardon me? What did you say? You are too quiet so I cannot hear you.¡± With Laura in my arms, I stood up. Laura¡¯s thighs and calves instinctively wrapped around me like a snake in order to not fall. I held her in my arms and pushed up powerfully. ¡°Ha, uuuuuug?¡± Her face looked as if she didn¡¯t understand what was happening. My member impaled her insides erratically. ¡°Hggguuh!?¡± Laura¡¯s voice became urgent. ¡°Lord, I came! This youngdy, hnnnn! This youngdy, already came!¡± ¡°I wonder about that. I do not know.¡± ¡°Uuuu, u, an, aan? Lord, ah? Hauh, gyau¡­¡­I came, I came already! Why, uuu!?¡± ¡°I cannot hear your voice that well, Laura. This is troubling. I have no other choice if you have not climaxed yet.¡± ¡°Liar¡­¡­huaaah! You liar¡­¡­ah, ah, ahahahahah! I¡¯m, cumming, again, aaaah!¡± I could feel it as well. She was orgasming by the second. I was also reaching my end. My arms and legs were sore. Nheless, I still had the leisure to tease my partner. ¡°Weakly, do you mean like this?¡± ¡°Hiiiii!?¡± Her hip shot up. ¡°I¡¯m still, cumming¡­¡­still??uah, ah, nn¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I still cannot hear you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Ah¡­¡­ah, ah¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s sweaty body stuck to me as she clung to me. Her interior walls squirmed without rest. It broke free from Laura¡¯s control as it rampaged. She had no other choice but to let her body do whatever it wanted. ¡°L-Lord¡­¡­please¡­¡­if you move¡­¡­right now, this youngdy¡­¡­will die¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? You still have not climaxed yet.¡± ¡°Ahahahahah¡­¡­.¡± Shemented in despair. ¡°¡­¡­Uu, uuu, I¡¯m melting¡­¡­hiuuuh¡­¡­melting¡­¡­.¡± It¡¯s here. ¡°¡­¡­Laura. I am going to climax as well soon.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Huah, mm, Lord, mmm, quickly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°All right then.¡± This was thest spurt. ¡°Mm! Mm! Huuu??uh!¡± I forcefully pushed myself in all the way up to the base. The detailed lines of her inner walls stimted my entire rod. Something was rising up. ¡°Auh, uuuu, I¡­¡­ah, ah, ah¡­¡­I¡¯m, cumming¡­¡­again, Lord, hahaha, huuu. Lord, Lord, I-I¡¯m cumming¡­¡­ahah¡­¡­I¡¯m cumming now¡­¡­huaaa, hiii¡­¡­.¡± I wonder how many times that made it now. My member was also reaching its end. I pistoned energetically before pushing in as far as I could. I erupted out from the base and to the tip. ¡°¡­¡­Haah¡­¡­hauuu¡­¡­uuu¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s shoulders trembled. Her insides squirmed as it swallowed my liquid greedily. ¡°Hauuu¡­¡­uuuu¡­¡­.¡± My fluids painted Laura¡¯s insides white for a while. Once I pulled my member out, white liquid flowed out from her entrance. The liquid rode down her thigh and dribbled into the pond. ¡°Hu, ah¡­¡­.¡± Laura couldn¡¯t hold her body up as she copsed. Instead of exerting myself to keep her up, I slowly sank down into the water with her. Ssh, the water rippled as it weed us. The two of us breathed heavily as weid at the edge of the pond. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± With her lips slightly apart, Laura leaned against my chest as if she had passed out. I felt like I might fall asleep like this. I didn¡¯t have the strength to exchange words with her either. I had used up all of my stamina trying to speak as normally as possible and holding her body up the entire time we had sex. ¡°¡­¡­Laura.¡± In order to prevent her from slipping into the water by chance as she slept, I held her to me. Her small chest heaved up and down in rhythm with the sound of her breathing. I pressed my lips on her white forehead. I slowly closed my eyes. As I enjoyed the temperature of the water and her body, I wished for my current satisfaction and peace tost a long time as I felt her gentle breathing. *** TL note: Thanks for reading this NSFW chapter. I imagine that more of these kinds of chapters will appear in the future, so I guess I¡¯ma have to get used to this eventually. Uh, nothing much else to say except that my assignments haven¡¯t been letting up. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 63: Two Schemes (4) Chapter 63: Two Schemes (4) * * * ¡°¡­¡­up.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Wake u¡­¡­.¡± A nagging voice pierced through my distant consciousness. The fragmented voice kept knocking on my skull. I made a face as I forced my eyes open. My skin felt heavy. ¡°Wake up, Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°Uuugh. Lapis?¡± Once I turned my head, I saw a half-subus girl wearing a suit. It was Lapis. Her pink pigtails hung down as she bowed. I spoke while yawning. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°There is something very urgent I must report to you about. It would be troubling to tell you about it here.¡± Lapis wasn¡¯t the type of person to report about each and every trivial thing. She would deal with most issues at her own discretion and only ask me for my decision and intent. This was also because I trusted herpetence. ¡°Damn it, this must be a severe matter.¡± Lapis would never exaggerate her words or inte the importance of a situation. Even if she spoke calmly with a face void of emotions, if she says that something is very urgent, then it¡¯s indeed very urgent. It hasn¡¯t even been that long since I dealt with those E-rank adventurers. Right when I was about to get annoyed, Lapis lowered her voice a pitch and spoke. ¡°Although the urgent matter I wish to tell you about does not seem as severe as your current situation. ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Please put on some clothes first. You must maintain your dignity as a Demon Lord.¡± Ah. It was at that moment I realized that I was currently naked in the water. Adding to this, Laura was also naturally in the water with me, sleeping in my arms. It was as clear as day what we had done. I opened my mouth. ¡°Kya¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Kya?¡± Lapis tilted her head with no expression on her face. ¡°Kyaaaaa!¡± A scream echoed throughout the underground pond. Lapis could be heard muttering, ¡®¡­¡­Has the gender roles not been swapped?¡¯. * * * Lapis and I sat across from each other at a table in my Demon Lord room. With the map that waspleted by the dwarf craftsmen spread out between us, we discussed our current situation. Laura was fast asleep on my bed a fair distance away from us. I was being considerate since she must have been tired after her first time. ¡°Ehem. Please forget what you saw earlier.¡± ¡°I have already forgotten it. It is a worthless thing to remember.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± In other words, she was saying that she had no interest in my body. I¡¯ve always felt this, but Lapis really is a malicious person¡­¡­. I decided to check her current status just to see if she was disappointed in my conduct. ¡®Status.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Lapis Lazuli Race: Half-Subus¡¡¡¡ Faction: Keuncuska Firm Attribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 24¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 134 Job: Merchant(A-), Witch(B), Swordsman(D) Leadership: 59¡¡¡¡Might: 32 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 55 Politics: 74¡¡¡¡Charm: 50¡¡¡¡Technique: 2 Affection: 50 Current thought: ¡®¡­¡­Idiot.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®A-As I thought, she thinks I¡¯m an idiot!¡¯ I murmured to myself. Of course she¡¯d think I¡¯m an idiot if I y around with a girl as soon as the sunes up. Fortunately, her affection points didn¡¯t go down, so I had no other choice but tofort myself with that. From now on, I¡¯m going to have to be an even more wholesome and model Demon Lord in front of Lapis and never disy myself like some yboy. In any case. We stopped the idle chatter and went to the main topic. Lapis informed me that she found proof on Riff and warned me that I might face a higher ranking Demon Lord in the future. ¡°A Demon Lord¡¯s rank is not absolute. There are asions where a ranked sixty can defeat a rank fifty, and a rank forty can defeat a rank 30. For example.¡± Lapis¡¯ slender finger pointed towards a single piece of parchment. On the document she had brought, there were the symbols of all seventy-two Demon Lords drawn out in order. ¡°His Highness Rank 29 Astaroth. He went to war with Her Highness Rank 23 Aym 150 years ago and managed to get her to surrender. 70 years ago, His Highness Rank 32 Asmodeus defeated His Highness Rank 30 Forneus. The reason why the two Demon Lords, who would normally lose in a normal battle, came out victorious is because.¡± ¡°A battle between factions.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis¡¯ eyes widened slightly. ¡°¡­¡­That is correct. By borrowing the strength of their factions, they confronted the other Demon Lord with the help of a Demon Lord stronger than themselves.¡± ¡°I realized this clearly during the Walpurgis Night. There arerge conflicts even between Demon Lords. Paimon, who was humiliated by me, is most likely the head of a faction. Furthermore,¡± I pointed towards a certain part of the parchment. Rank 68 Demon Lord Belial. The symbol that was said to have been discovered on Riff¡¯s corpse. ¡°This Belial fellow is most likely a part of the faction that¡¯s led by Paimon.¡± ¡°Your Highness is correct about that as well.¡± Lapis was surprised. To other people, it most likely appeared like her expression hadn¡¯t changed at all since earlier, but I could read her emotions. ¡°How could you tell?¡± ¡°It would only make sense if he was.¡± ¡°It would make sense?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± I nodded. ¡°Fundamentally, you are right, Lapis. Thinking about it now, it was weird. How could Riff, who was nothing more than a low-ranking adventurer, procure heavy equipment? That would be impossible without the help of a person of means. Any formal proof that Riff had borrowed money or received support from someone could not be discovered anywhere; however, Rank 68 Demon Lord Belial¡¯s insignia was discovered on his corpse??.¡± Anyone would find this suspicious. They would think that Belial was the culprit who had supported Riff from the shadows. ¡°Why did Belial support Riff? This question can be answered easily. Belial is a part of Paimon¡¯s faction and Paimon was humiliated by a mere Demon Lord ranked in the seventies. Belial attacked me, Dantalian, in order to get revenge for his faction leader¡¯s humiliation. There is nothing weird about this.¡± ¡°This one thinks so as well.¡± Lapis nodded. ¡°Belial is known as Her Highness Paimon¡¯s ardent follower. Almost all citizens of the demon world know that he had fallen for Her Highness Paimon¡¯s nature, ideology, and beauty. It is obvious that he would be hostile towards Your Highness.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I smiled. ¡°Is it not weird?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Think about it in the culprit¡¯s shoes. Riff always stood at the lead, so it would not be strange for him to die at any moment. Would anyone want to leave candid proof of their involvement on the body of such an individual? If things went badly, then we would discover that they were the culprit. And, in reality, we did find out who the culprit was.¡± Lapis ced her hand on her chin. She fell into deep thought. Her eyes narrowed. ¡°¡­¡­So it is a ruse.¡± I grinned. I signaled for her to continue. ¡°It is a scheme to divide the prestigious Demon Lords. The culprit is not a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°You are right that this is a scheme; however, you are wrong about the culprit not being a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Why is that?¡± ¡°It is simple. There is only a small minority of people who know what happened during the Walpurgis Night. The only individuals who knew of the truth around the time Riff invaded were the Demon Lords who participated in the Walpurgis Night.¡± Originally, Paimon was supposed to give a public apology before the eyes of the people for the crime of trying to frame me. However, I was lenient towards Paimon so that I wouldn¡¯t ruin the asion. Of course, my true intention was to gain the goodwill of the Demon Lord who had taken the role of the hearing¡¯s moderator, Rank 5 Marbas. In any case, we wrapped things up with Paimon apologizing to me once in the ballroom. Riff¡¯s party approached immediately after that incident. It would take at least 2 days before the news that ¡®Paimon was humiliated by Dantalian¡¯ could spread to the Demon Lords or factions that didn¡¯t participate in the Walpurgis Night. I stayed in Niflheim for another week after the hearing ended and I was informed about Riff¡¯s party 2 days after I returned to my dungeon. By that point, Riff had already formed an alliance with the civilian militia. In other words, at thetest, Riff formed the alliance immediately after the hearing was over! An outsider heard about what happened during the Walpurgis Night and came up with this appropriate scheme within no more than 3 to 4 days? Not only did they create a scheme, but they managed to back Riff¡¯s party as well? I¡¯m certain. ¡°It¡¯s physically impossible.¡± I made a deration like some high school student with the supernatural ability to cause murder cases to happen at any ce and time. ¡°The culprit is among the roughly 30 Demon Lords who participated in the hearing during the Walpurgis Night.¡± ¡°I am amazed.¡± Lapis was purely in awe. ¡°It is as Your Highness says.¡± ¡°Well, this also means that the chief of yourpany, Ivar Lodbrok, is also included in the list of suspects¡­¡­.¡± Ivar, the person who looks like an old man on the outside but is actuallycurrentlya loli vampire, has her weakness firmly in my grasp. I threatened her with her true body. Simr to how you could probably make an assumption by the number of clones she has, she is an extremely cautious person. The chances of her rashly devising a scheme after her bitter experience during the hearing is slim, so I made the firm decision to remove her from the list. ¡°Let us lower the number of possible suspects. Lapis, could you find out which Demon Lords exactly took part in the Walpurgis Night? Also what faction they respectively belong to.¡± Lapis took out a quill pen. She then proceeded to check off the participants on the list without any hesitation. ¡®As expected of Lapis.¡¯ I was satisfied. I¡¯m not sure if she noticed, but I had just now given her a type of test. What normal merchant would constantly remember who participated in the Walpurgis Night and what faction they all belonged to? And yet, Lapis was currently checking off the list naturally. This meant that she had perfectly organized the necessary information about the participants and their factions beforeing to me. The proof was that she responded to my slightly unreasonable requestimmediately. Is this not amazing preparedness? If Lapis were ipetent, then she wouldn¡¯t have gone out of her way to do the cumbersome task of bringing a list with all the names of the Demon Lords, remember all the participants of Walpurgis Night, and know all of their rtions to each faction. She would have simply ran over just to tell me that she had discovered arge scheme. Lapis is different from those durds. ¡®She¡¯s a typical secretary through and through.¡¯ An individual that has the ability and preparedness to immediately answer anything the person they serve may ask. That is Lapis Lazuli. Both Laura and I are capable of deducing things by utilizing the information we have at hand, but there is a limit for us when ites to acquiring information in itself. She¡¯s currently bound to the Keuncuska Firm at the moment, but I intend to formally hire her into my forces one day. ¡°I have finished.¡± Shepleted my request within 2 minutes. Lapis spoke candidly as if she had done an obvious task. That expression of hers made me want her more. Ah, wait a bit. I will make you my chief retainer the instant my side bes a workce more charming than the Keuncuska Firm. The individuals marked on the list looked roughly like this. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Rank 5 Marbas ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Neutral) Rank 8 Barbatos ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 9 Paimon ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 10 Buer ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) Rank 12 Sitri ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 14 Leraje ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 16 Zepar ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 20 Purson ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Neutral) Rank 21 Marax ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 22 Ipos ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) Rank 27 Renove ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 31 Foras ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 33 Gaap ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) ¡¤ ¡¤ ¡¤ Rank 50 Furcas ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 55 Orobas ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 57 Ose ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 62 Vc ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 68 Belial ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 70 Seere ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) Rank 71 Dantalian ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ I assume the ¡®Neutral¡¯ written on the side is also the name of a faction. ¡°A total of thirty-two Demon Lord participated in the Walpurgis Night.¡± I nodded. ¡°All right. Give me a brief exnation about the factions.¡± ¡°Certainly. For starters, the Demon Lords arergely divided into three factions. First, the ins Faction¡¯s namees from their leader¡¯s, Her Highness Rank 8 Barbatos¡¯ Demon Lord Castle since it is located in the ins.¡± Barbatos is the leading Demon Lord that wants to conquer the human world. Therefore, the individuals gathered in the ins Faction are just like the Demon Lords that appear in stories as they genuinely despise, wish to wipe out, and wish to conquer humans. ¡°In truth, the castles of most of the ins Faction¡¯s Demon Lords are in the ins. The ins are an area where humans reside. If a Demon Lord Castle is located in the ins, then they have no other choice but to have discord with humans.¡± ¡°They have many old grudges against humans, I see.¡± These people were also the group that favored me. I crushed Paimon, Barbatos¡¯ arch-rival, after all. I haven¡¯t explicitly joined a certain faction, but I felt like the other Demon Lords most likely see me partially as a part of the ins Faction. A majority of the Demon Lords wouldn¡¯t believe that a mere Rank 71 had defeated Rank 9 Paimon on my own. They would most likely think that Barbatos had done something behind the scene. Whether this misunderstanding will be good for me or not will be determined by the path I decide to take. ¡°Next is the Mountain Faction. It is led by Her Highness Paimon. Among the seventy-two Demon Lords, thirty-five of them belong to the Mountain Faction. They are worthy of being referred to as the greatest faction.¡± And they¡¯re temporarily a hostile faction. ¡°A majority of the Demon Lords in the Mountain Faction reside in mountainous areas. Mountainous areas are controlled by monsters and are outside the reach of human nations. The individuals in the Mountain Faction have no reason to go out of their way to shed blood and fight humans.¡± In other words, they¡¯re the type of people who dislike and don¡¯t care about war because they reside in safe andfortable ces. This is probably one of the reasons why Barbatos regards these people ascent pieces of trash. ¡°It is a matter of course that a Demon Lord reigns in ces where monsters reside. The Mountain Faction being the greatest group is not a coincidence. Your Highness¡¯ action of turning the Mountain Faction into your enemy was not particrly wise, even if it was inevitable¡­¡­. However.¡± Lapis scanned the list with a cold gaze. ¡°Just because they are the greatest faction does not make them the strongest. There is a way for Your Highness to get out of this.¡± Her blue eyes glimmered with a dark glint. *** TL Notes: Thanks for reading the chapter. Isn¡¯t it nice to read a perfectly clean chapter after those two consecutive NSFW ones? It¡¯s nice for me. I don¡¯t really have much else to say other than the usual swarm of assignments. I¡¯ve also been ying the NA release of PSO2 and I¡¯ve been having a st. Whether the assignments or PSO2 is distracting me more from tranting is something for you guys to figure out on your own. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release! Chapter 64: Two Schemes (5) Chapter 64: Two Schemes (5) Lapis went down the list of names on the piece of parchment with her finger. ¡°As you can see, the number of Mountain Faction members increases as you go lower in rank. This is not a mere coincidence. The weaker the Demon Lords are, the more likely they are to put their Demon Lord Castle in ces where there are monsters and no humans.¡± It was as Lapis pointed out. There was a rtively equal bnce between Mountain Faction, ins Faction, Neutral Faction, and those that weren¡¯t a part of any factions among the top 20; however, the number of Mountain Faction members increased drastically beyond Rank 20. It was clear what this meant. ¡°These guys do not wish to fight the humans to the utmost extent.¡± ¡°That is correct. Ever since the expedition of the 7th Crescent Alliance, Their Majesties have been extremely reluctant to go to war with the humans.¡± In , the Crescent Alliance referred to the alliance between Demon Lords. Demon Lords formedrge-scale armies in order to conquer the human race several times throughout history. There were many times where they achieved a certain degree of sess, but the result was always the same. The failure of the expedition. There were several reasons for this. The biggest issue was the fact that the alliance of Demon Lords had a whole seventy-two monarchs. People say that too many cooks spoil the broth and this was exactly the case. Despite having an army of monsters that are much more powerful than humans, the Demon Lords of the Crescent Alliance would get defeated one by one by the humans¡¯ strategies or due to inner discord time and time again. ording to the game, there were even times where the humans did nothing and the Demon Lords dispersed on their own. Seriously, it¡¯s impossible for this to not be a pitiful story. ¡°Due to the constant failure of the Crescent Alliance expedition, the Mountain Faction, which had no more than 2 to 3 members a thousand years ago, instantly became a group with almost a majority of the Demon Lords under its affiliation. During the 7th expedition 150 years ago, they say that a majority of the Demon Lords refused to even participate.¡± ¡°How unbefitting as Demon Lords!¡­¡­is what I want to say, but.¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°If you consider the gains and losses, then that¡¯s a natural choice to make.¡± ¡°I agree as well.¡± As a merchant, Lapis agreed to this matter of factly. Why would someone spend a massive amount of funding just to go on an expedition that is destined to fail? Especially when they¡¯re going to lose due to their allies and not their enemies. Even if it is a Demon Lord¡¯s duty to lead demonkind to the human world, there is a limit to pouring water into poison. This isn¡¯t the only problem. Each time the expedition of the Crescent Alliance failed, demons, the race seen as monsters from the human¡¯s perspective, were killed off en masse. Every time this happened, the strength of the human forces would increase drastically. The Demon Lord alliance ended up helping humans. The other races that used to be on the Crescent Alliance¡¯s side a thousand years ago, like the fairies and dwarves, have started to dere themselves as permanently neutral for the past hundred years. The Demon Lords were greatly enraged by the other races leaving; however, it was hard to, in reality, cope with the humans¡¯ retaliatory wars that would follow the Crescent Alliance¡¯s defeat. With this justification, the Demon Lords had no other choice but to calm their rage. Because if you were to draw out the true meaning behind the other races¡¯ statement, ¡®Aren¡¯t we the only ones that keep incurring losses because you Demon Lords are constantly losing stupidly?¡¯ It was this. Demon Lords couldn¡¯t possibly lift their heads before the other races that had participated and made sacrifices constantly from the first Crescent Alliance to the seventh. The other races weren¡¯t bad, it was the Demon Lords that were bad. They incurred the losses on themselves and lost the trust of the other races. The Demon Lord forces became exhausted. Demonkind gradually lost hope in the Demon Lords. Even the helpers in the human world who had been supporting the demon armies turned their backs on them. For instance, Ivar Lodbrok, the chief of the Keuncuska Firm who had a personal route in . She became disappointed in the Crescent Alliance¡¯s pointless expeditions and ended up betraying the Demon Lords before joining the hero¡¯s side. Near thetter half of the game, the Demon Lords form the 8th Crescent Alliance in order to retaliate against the hero as ast resort; however, due to the internal conflict caused by the Mountain Faction led by Paimon, they were defeated. As thest Demon Lord on the surface was wiped out, the Crescent Alliance never managed to obtain a victory for their side. In the end, a majority of the Demon Lords recently began to strategize ways to defend their bases. The Mountain Faction did so voluntarily while the ins Faction had no other choice. Therefore??. ¡°Their Majesties in the Mountain Faction are fundamentally extremely passive.¡± Even if they are the faction with the highest number of Demon Lords, they rarely ever mobilized their armies. ¡°As Your Highness could tell from the way Her Highness Paimon went out of her way to start political strife with you, they may go on the offense aggressively, but they do not do so with force.¡± I understood what Lapis was trying to tell me. I nodded. ¡°Political strifes have always been a battle of justifications. Paimon, their supposed leader, lost to me a short while ago. The justification to attack me had disappeared. They wouldn¡¯t directly enforce violence until a fair amount of time had passed.¡± ¡°This one agrees. We do not know whether he is truly the culprit or not, but¡­¡­would this not contextualize the reason why Rank 68 Belial had supported Riff¡¯s party?¡± Hm. Ths situation was like this. The group that I¡¯m temporarily hostile towards is the greatest faction among the Demon Lords. If I were to fight them on my own, then I wouldn¡¯tst a day. However, they are strategizing incredibly passively and do not have a justification to attack me. Even if that Belial guy had a big enough grudge to cause me harm, he couldn¡¯t act in a way that would leave evidence back to him. In other words, there¡¯s no way that I woulde under great danger. What a happy asion. Does this mean I could rx and slowly build up my defenses? I can tter Barbatos¡¯ ins Faction appropriately, ask Marbas of the Neutral Faction to mediate, and extend my influence leisurely while destroying my enemies¡¯ schemes and the adventurer parties that approach me, right? ¡®No.¡¯ I denied this firmly. I¡¯ve never been such a pushover that I would allow those hostile towards me to do whatever they please. If they messed with me, then I have to pay them back by twice the amount. If I can¡¯t kill them, then a critical injury. If I can¡¯t cause a critical injury, then I¡¯ll bite their leg. Tolerance is a luxury only granted to the strong! The weak cannot show generosity to their enemies. There¡¯s no way to know when the enemy they released woulde back after having gotten stronger, after all. My enemies are passive? ¡®Lucky me.¡¯ I chuckled in my head. If the other party is going to be on the defense, then I will dly push from my end. ¡°¡­¡­If you do this here, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No, if you consider the Francia Empire¡¯s tendencies¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Understood. By actively spreading rumors¡­¡­.¡± I had a long discussion with Lapis about what to do from now on. As one of the best yers of , I possessed a massive amount of information. I know the weakness of every human faction. While receiving advice from Lapis about the matters I don¡¯t know, I devised a strategy that was satisfyingly perfect. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness Dantalian is truly a terrifying individual.¡± Lapis let out a sigh after our marathon discussion. ¡°No one else could devise a scheme as grand as this. Who could possibly imagine that all of this originated from a single person¡¯s brain.¡± ¡°If it seeds, that is.¡± ¡°This one could not possibly dare to give a guarantee, however.¡± Lapis looked straight at me. ¡°I can bet my life of 200 years that Your Highness Dantalian will seed.¡± ¡°How assuring. That¡¯s right, even I believe that I will be the person who will get thestugh.¡± ¡°Then I will immediately return to the demon world and execute the first n.¡± Lapis got up and bowed to me respectfully. Even though her affection was at 50, be it the past or now, she has always been firm about etiquette. I strangely felt a sense of security seeing her unchanging mannerism. ¡°On another note, Your Highness, what will you name this operation as a whole?¡± An operation name, is it? I wondered if something like that was even necessary, but I also felt like going along with the mood and ying along with Lapis. I uttered the name that came to my head. ¡°Let us call it Operation Minerva.¡± The scheme began. * * * Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos¡¯ Dungeon,monly known as ¡¸Pce of the Dead¡¹. Barbatos was sitting on a throne made of stone. She was observing the cute antics of her undead monsters with an utterly bored look on her face as usual. After she got involved with Riff¡¯s party, nothing interesting happened in her life ever since. ¡°Aah??. It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine.¡± She waved her hand apathetically. ¡°It still isn¡¯t interesting. Hurry up and go away.¡± The undead monsters groveled in apology before slowly disappearing from Barbatos¡¯ sight. Including this reaction, she was bored with everything. Only alcohol and sex could slightly relieve her boredom, but she wasn¡¯t in the mood for alcohol or women today. Within the pce where only Barbatos lived and breathed, she talked to herself. ¡°Damn it. Did they not find the proof yet¡­¡­?¡± Uugh, Barbatos grabbed her hair with her hands. A month has passed since she watched Riff¡¯s adventurer party get destroyed before her very eyes. She had heard no news about Dantalian taking any sort of action since then. Barbatos felt uneasy. ¡­¡­Did he perhaps not find the proof? No, there¡¯s no way. If he were that much of an idiot, then he wouldn¡¯t have been able to crush that Paimon bitch. Maybe he got scared and is cowering in fear? He didn¡¯t appear like a coward. Rank 68 doesn¡¯t seem like that bad of a match! If he¡¯s a man, then he should show some backbone!¡­¡­. ¡°Ei, fuck. Whatever.¡± Barbatos let out a sigh. If Dantalian wasn¡¯t able to figure anything out or wasn¡¯t taking any actions despite having found out, then that¡¯s as far as he can go. There¡¯s no value in cing any hopes in him. If it¡¯s for the sake of her goal, she would do anything, by fair means or foul. Therefore, she¡¯s used to betraying others. She¡¯s also used to being betrayed. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos swept back her white hair. ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s probably like that this time as well.¡± This wasn¡¯t anything particrly new, Barbatos muttered as if to convinced herself. ¡°Haa, then I¡¯ll have to wait a long ass time again until a useful fellow appears¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness??Barbatos??Your Highness??Barbatooos??.¡± A dreary voice filled the Demon Lord chamber. Immediately after, a pale ghost rushed out from the floor. Of all ces, it had surged out from right next to Barbatos¡¯ feet. Barbatos, who had just now entered a state of remorse, was startled. ¡°Ah, dear fuck!¡± Your Hiiiighness??there is something I must tell??.¡± ¡°Hey, you son of a bitch that deserves to get a pole impaled through their ass!¡± She shouted angrily. ¡°Did I or did I not tell you to enter through the main door when you want an audience with me? Fu??uck, if I told you this so much for the past 500 years to the point that it¡¯s piled and piled up like a mountain of earwax in your ear canal, then you should have understood this by now!¡± ¡°My sincerest apologies??but there is something I??.¡± ¡°What is it!? Fucking hell, if it isn¡¯t important, then I¡¯m going to actually send you over to the other side this time!¡± ¡°It¡¯s??Iiiiit¡¯s??.¡± Barbatos ced her hand on her t chest. Phew, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Even though Demon Lords are the most superior race and have the innate ability to survive even if their hearts were to stop, that still didn¡¯t make it a good feeling. Especially for Barbatos who once had her heart pierced by a warrior during the third Crescent Alliance expedition. Nevertheless, the news brought to Barbatos by the ghost messenger made Barbatospletely forget about the feeling of one¡¯s heart stopping. ¡°His Highness??Dantaliaaaan??is heeeereee??.¡± What? Barbatos froze. ¡°Dantalian came to visit?¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I should have announced this sooner, but I¡¯m going to slow down a bit because my finals are basically next week. And since my finals are next week, my professors have decided to roll out a bunch of assignments all at once so we can finish those quickly and focus on studying for the exams. I¡¯m actually going to die. I¡¯ll try to at least do like 500 words a day if possible, but don¡¯t hold me on this. Chapter 65: Two Schemes (6) Chapter 65: Two Schemes (6) ¡°Yeeesss??it is definitely??His Hiiighnesss Dantalian??.¡± Barbatos fell into deep thought. Why? Why did hee to visit me at this point? She made various deductions; however, she preferred following her simple intuition overplicated logic when making decisions. After concluding that there must definitely be an interesting reason for Dantalian¡¯s visit, she spoke. ¡°Tell him toe in right away! No, I¡¯ll go pick him up myself.¡± ¡°Aaas??Your Highnessmaaaaands??.¡± The nearly transparent ghost responded while dragging the ends of his words. The ghost disappeared into the ground. Normally, she would have let out a sigh about how her subordinate would wander through the ground instead of the perfectly built corridors, but Barbatos bit her finger impatiently. ¡®Maybe, just maybe¡­¡­did he perhaps noticed what I did?¡¯ A tingle went down Barbatos¡¯ spine. There¡¯s no way. Even though she knew that there¡¯s no way he could have noticed, the mere thought of him figuring this out filled her with excitement. Her heart pounded. A faint heat lingered in her breath. Of course, it was too soon to make any conclusions. It¡¯s only natural for someone to be as disappointed as they were hopeful. You have to know how to resign yourself appropriately as well. Nevertheless. ¡®In the very slim chance he does know, I¡¯ll be very satisfied, kid.¡¯ The corners of Barbatos¡¯ mouth lifted up. Her red tongue moistened her lips. Shortly after, Dantalian entered through the main gate wearing a ck mantle. Thanks to the teleportation device that was made for guests in Barbatos¡¯ Demon Lord Castle, he was able to arrive quickly. Once Dantalian saw her, he waved his hand leisurely. His attitude made it seem like he was meeting an old friend. ¡°Long time no see, Barbatos.¡± For a very brief moment, she was at a loss for words. You could say she was caught off guard. She didn¡¯t expect him to act so candidly. It was true that Dantalian and Barbatos had decided to drop formalities, but they were still Rank 8 and Rank 71. If you were topare them to the human¡¯s hierarchal society, they were like an empress and a carpet knight. Who would actually drop formalities simply because they were told to? How long has it been since she wasst greeted like this? A thick smile appeared on her lips. ¡°You rude bastard, did you smear your courtesy over some barley bread and eat it? If you¡¯re going to visit ady¡¯s house, then you should at the very least prepare a smoke pipe beforehand.¡± ¡°Oh dear, how rude of me. But can you look over this? I was so excited at the thought of seeing a beautiful maiden that I forgot about formalities. Referentially, beauty is something that is destined to make all sorts of pretense and formalities pointless in a matter of seconds.¡± ¡°Kakaka.¡± She disliked ttery, but she was fond of these kinds of joking ttery. Jokes are like the seasoning of the tiresome world known as life. Even if life is disgustingly crumbly, if you pour a little seasoning over it, it¡¯ll be a bit more ptable. ¡°You have quite a pleasant silver tongue. I¡¯ll acknowledge your gift that was able to crush that Paimon bitch¡¯s face. Nheless, I¡¯m on a different tier than that bitch.¡± ¡°Oh? What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that much of a pushover that I would overlook your rude behavior simply because of your sly tongue. Show my body which supposedly possesses genuine beauty ording to you the sincerity it deserves.¡± I figured you¡¯de out like this, Dantalianmented as he pulled something out from his pocket. It was a bottle of alcohol. Barbatos¡¯ eyes opened widely. There was a brand on the bottle which she had seen only once before a long time ago. Barbatos¡¯ words began to stutter unbefittingly. ¡°D-Don¡¯t tell me. Is it that?¡± Dantalian grinned widely. ¡°Hot Water Hell, renowned throughout the Demon world for their high-ss wine. And among those fine bottles of wine, this is the wine among wines that¡¯s only made once a year in the Lava Earl¡¯s territory, from the year 505 of the Baler continental calendar. Coincidentally, this year makes it exactly a thousand years old.¡± ¡°No way!¡± Barbatos cried out. ¡°That¡¯s the high-quality wine that even old man Baal struggles to get his hands on!¡± ¡°Ehem. I pulled some strings.¡± ¡°Insane, this is insane! Is this genuine!? This isn¡¯t genuine, is it!?¡± She couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. Her butt had already risen halfway off of her throne. She considered herself as the greatest lover of alcohol among the Demon Lords and the other Demon Lords also acknowledged this fact. That bottle of wine was like the Holy Grail to her. Barbatospletely tossed courtesy and dignity aside as she hopped down hastily. ¡°Let me see that!¡± ¡°Of course. Here.¡± Dantalian tossed the bottle. He tossed it high in the air like a ball. Barbatos was struck with dismay by his high handedness. How could he throw the most high-quality wine in the world in front of a wine lover!? Even if you started juggling a couple of masterpieces of the century in front of an artist, that would still be considered more well-mannered than this. She screamed. ¡°Gyaaaaa! You crazy fucker!¡± Barbatos unconsciously used magic in order to grab the bottle of wine from the air. A threeyer ck magic spell was cast in an instant without any incantation. , , and , these spells were all high tier spells that were at least Five Circles. Barbatos stepped on the floor and jumped more than 10 meters. She made a magical mist appear out of nowhere and made it lower the speed of the bottle. She then grabbed the bottle with Invisible Grasp. If a human mage were to witness the spells that just unfolded in session, then their jaws would be stuck on the floor and they would be in shock for multiple reasons. For starters, the fact that she had activated not 2, but 3 spells at the same time. Second, she cast three spells with no incantations and in an instant. Finally, the fact that she had used these great spells simply to grab a bottle of wine. Barbatos had absolutely no interest in the views of human mages. She was solely focused on the rich Year 505 Baler Wine that was in the air. The magic she had trained and trained again for the past 2,000 years was, at this moment, being used on this 45cm bottle of wine. Was this the fruit of herbor? The wine bottlended right in Barbatos¡¯ hands. Shended safely on the ground. ¡°Yeaaaaaaaaah!¡± Barbatos lifted the bottle with both her hands. She cried out like a basketball yer who had just sessfully pulled off a rebound in a decisive moment. She was definitely the king of the floor right now. ¡°Did you see that!? Fuck! This is the fucking majesty of Rank 8 Barbatos!¡± ¡°¡­¡­I¡¯m not really sure, but I feel like I witnessed something amazing just now.¡± ¡°Dantalian, you son of a bitch! You have no right to take even a sip of this alcohol!¡± Barbatos¡¯s head turned quickly and she red at Dantalian. Even though she was ring with the outer appearance of, at most, a thirteen-year-old girl, the powerful aura she exuded was unquestionable. ¡°My word! I can¡¯t believe it! A wine that has aged for a thousand years! This masterpiece that waspleted after going through many generations of being constantly enchanted every 15 days with the most special magic in the world while in a distillery, a special spell that was made specifically to preserve alcohol! How could you throw this treasure that isn¡¯t sold to the public and is only gifted to those whom the archduke of Hot Water Hell discerns to be beautiful and the noblest! How could you toss it like some mutt!? You¡¯re worse than dirt in a crow¡¯s w!¡± ¡°Mm. I know with certainty now that you are a diehard alcoholic.¡± ¡°An alcohol connoisseur, not an alcoholic, you idiot!¡± Barbatos stroked the bottle of wine with a trembling hand. She could feel a pleasant coldness against her palm. ¡®Whoa.¡¯ She could immediately tell since she was a great ck mage. The bottle wasn¡¯t a normal bottle either. It undoubtedly had the highest quality, semipermanent temperature preservation, and shock resistance magic imbued on it as well. Her doubt of whether this was genuine or not changed into a hope about this actually being the real deal. ¡°Y-You¡­¡­if this isn¡¯t genuine, then as punishment for deceiving me, I¡¯ll¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll let you have the first sip.¡± ¡°Gulp.¡± Barbatos unconsciously gulped. ¡°But the first sip¡­¡­t-tastes the best?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m letting you have it.¡± Dantalian grinned. ¡°Are we not friends?¡± ¡°You¡­¡­are a son of a bitch, but you¡¯re a good son of a bitch.¡± ¡°That sounds like you¡¯re swearing at me, but I¡¯ll take it as apliment out of courtesy.¡± Barbatos was moved. However, that onlysted for a moment as well. The thought of being able to have the first sip of a Year 505 Baler Wine caused her to scramble. ¡°T-This isn¡¯t the time for this! Wine ss! Where¡¯d I leave my wine ss!?¡± She swung her arm around. As she did so, all sorts of misceneous junk started to fly in through the front door. The items that had been left in a storage room were being summoned here by Barbatos¡¯ summoning magic. The vast Demon Lord room was filled with junk. It wasn¡¯t for a while longer before Barbatos found her crystal wine ss. She gulped her saliva down. ¡°¡­¡­H-Here I go?¡± ¡°Yeah. Go already, please.¡± Dantalian had grown tired of the alcoholic¡¯s antics as he answered with a sigh. Normally, Barbatos would have refuted that rude behavior, but there¡¯s no way she would have the leisure to think about something like that. In truth, she wasn¡¯t saying ¡®Here I go¡¯ to Dantalian. She was saying that to herself. ¡°O-Okay. Year 505 Baler Wine¡­¡­reveal to me the scent of your sensual flesh.¡± ¡°I feel like it isn¡¯t the wine that¡¯s sensual, but your brain¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Barbatos started reciting a spell. It was a spell to pull the cork out of the wine bottle without any tools. No matter how good the corkscrew you have is, it would still asionally drop pieces of the cork into the wine while being removed. Cork residue had a tendency to subtly lower the taste of the alcohol. In order to prevent this unfortunate ident, Barbatos developed a 1103 years ago. Barbatos was confident that out of everything she had achieved throughout her life, this was the greatest achievement she had ever aplished. Even though this was only a Two Circle spell and it could only be used to remove corks from bottles, she was still certain. Barbatos who had used spells at and above the rank of Five Circle without any incantation and in threeyers just a second ago was currently reciting the cork removal spell, which was only a Two Circle spell, carefully, slowly, and with the utmost concentration. As she continued to recite the incantation, the cork slowly rose upward. Slowly, ever so slowly it rose before finally, the cork shot out with a ¡®pop!¡¯. The wine that had aged a thousand years filled Barbatos¡¯ nose. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She was touched. Her mind had flown five hundred meters into the air. She was certain. This, this was the real deal. Without any doubt, this was a genuine . An overwhelming fra??not only was it profound and blissful, but it was distinct and deep??grance. Barbatos had yet to drink the alcohol, but she already felt tipsy. ¡°D-Does heaven really exist?¡± ¡°I¡¯m d that the smell alone is able to te you. You should try some now.¡± ¡°Try it¡­¡­? This¡­¡­?¡± She trembled. ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­you don¡¯t understand the value of this¡­¡­h-how could I drink this? You shouldn¡¯t drink treasures, you know¡­¡­?¡± ¡°You like alcohol, don¡¯t you? The best alcohol in the world is right here. You still don¡¯t want to drink it? He was right. Barbatos despaired. ¡°Kuuh! What sort of contradiction is this¡­¡­! Because I love alcohol more than anyone else, I want this Baler Wine! However, since I love alcohol more than anyone¡­¡­because of this, I must refrain from drinking this Baler even more! A paradox! An irrationality! Anguish! Is this life!?¡± ¡°Go a little further and you¡¯ll end up finding the truth of the universe through this single bottle of wine. Hey, hand the bottle back to me. I¡¯ll pour you a ss.¡± ¡°O-Okay.¡± Barbatos handed the bottle over obediently. It didn¡¯t feel like she would be able to pour the alcohol with her own two hands. With her right hand that was shaking uncontrobly, she held her wine cupout. However, she couldn¡¯t help but start shouting once she saw the way Dantalin held the wine bottle. ¡°Hey! Brat! What¡¯s with that pose!?¡± Dantalian blinked while holding the bottle with two hands. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your bottle-holding posture is wrong, your posture! You have to use one hand, not two!¡± ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°No, you fuck! Don¡¯t grab it tightly with your palm, but hold it up lightly from the bottom!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Like this?¡± Barbatos started to rage. ¡°Shit! I told you to not hold it with your palm! By using only your thumb, index finger, and middle finger??.¡± ¡°Just drink the damn thing, you alcohol addict.¡± Dantalian stared at the girl with an annoyed look. This girl was hopeless. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m sorry for the long wait. Like I said before, my finals are happening this and next week. I¡¯ve been incredibly busy trying to finish all my final assignments and exams, so I¡¯ve barely had time to trante. I¡¯ll still be busy till like the end of next week, so please be patient. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 66: Two Schemes (7) Chapter 66: Two Schemes (7) He grabbed the bottle of wine however he wanted and poured the wine. Barbatos¡¯ eyes grew wider. ¡°Hey, hey!¡± ¡°Alcohol is meant to be enjoyed, so why should you bother with the method of holding and pouring it out? Life will only be dry if you worry about those sorts of things.¡± ¡°This is why menfolk aren¡¯t good! Everything requires rules so that you can enjoy them properly!¡± ¡°Yeah yeah.¡± Dantalian responded appropriately. Barbatos stuck her lips out as she obediently received the alcohol he poured. It couldn¡¯t be helped. There was a chance that a single droplet of the wine that was more precious than gold would spill if she moved right now, after all. Dantalian also poured himself some of the wine in his cup. ¡°Cheers.¡± ¡°C-Cheers.¡± Clink, the crystal cups made a clear sound as they collided. Compared to how Dantalian tilted his ss in a single movement and drank down the wine, Barbatos didn¡¯t budge an inch. She simply stared at Dantalian who didn¡¯t even appreciate the fragrance properly and gulped down the Baler wine as if it were beer. ¡°Haah.¡± ¡°Is¡­¡­it good?¡± ¡°It¡¯s good. It¡¯s really good. Hmmm, I personally don¡¯t like wine that much, but this stuff is amazing.¡± Her golden eyes sparkled. ¡°What does it taste like? Huh? I¡¯m asking you how it tastes. Exin it to me with as much detail as possible.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You can just drink it yourself.¡± ¡°R-Right.¡± Barbatos took some deep breaths. Hoo, hoo. She started to give herself autosuggestions. This is nothing more than red alcohol, this is nothing more than a red liquid, this is¡­¡­. Her muttering must have been effective as Barbatos managed to calm herself down. Although Dantalian was looking at her as if she were a crazy person. Finally. The ss tilted, the wine flowed, and the tip of her tongue and lips touched the liquid. ¡°¡­¡­!?¡± At that moment, Barbatos felt as if she hadn¡¯t been a living being till now. She fully epted the fact that, up to this point, she had been locked inside a small room known as her skull. Not only was that ce dark, but she could only see while relying on the faint rays of light that entered through her eye holes. But what¡¯s this? Barbatos muttered from a distant and faint region of her consciousness. No, a certain God was whispering to her from afar. What¡¯s this? Is this not light itself? Behold, is light not being emitted from beyond there? How surprising, the light is bing even brighter! ¡®Aah, aaaaah.¡¯ Barbatos witnessed a fantasy. She had be a nomad and was running. She was a true nomad. She mounted a running horse without any hesitation, sped through the terrain swiftly, felt the vibration of the earth that would regrly gettransferred upward, spurred the nonexistent horse, held the nonexistent reins tightly and by doing so followed the smooth ins that spread out before her, and, as the nape of the horse disappeared along with its head, only a single strand of its mane fluttered¡­¡­. ¡°Hk, uuu. Hkk.¡± Salvation. True salvation was here. Dantalian freaked out. ¡°W-What¡¯s wrong? Are you actually crying?¡± ¡°I¡¯m d I stayed alive, uuuu. Every day was difficult and the past two thousand years were arduous, uuu, but I¡¯m d I stayed alive.¡± She shed hot tears as she continued to drink her wine. It almost felt like she was trying to replenish the water that wasing out of her eyes with alcohol. As this was happening, she took in the fragrance, rolled her tongue in the alcohol, felt the sensation of the liquid go down her throat. She made sure to go through every formal procedure necessary to enjoy the wine with every sip she took. Barbatos spoke as tears continued to pour out from her eyes endlessly. Dantalian was taken aback by how excessively postmodern this sight appeared. ¡°Hand it over.¡± After emptying her ss of wine in a blink of an eye, Barbatos snatched away the bottle of wine. She ced her right thumb on the groove on the base of the bottle. Like this, she fixed the bottle in position with one hand and poured the alcohol in the cup she was holding in her left hand. After pouring the wind, she turned the bottle elegantly so that a single drop of alcohol wouldn¡¯t be wasted by any possible chance. She had a drinking etiquette that was nothing short of paranoia. This scene repeated itself. Cry, pour, and drink. ¡°Hkk, hkk.¡± Pour. ¡°Uuhuhu, it¡¯s good, it¡¯s really good, fuck.¡± Pour. Dantalian forgot to even drink his wine. The sight of a girl who looked like a 12-year-old on the outside pouring herself alcohol while crying was, to put it nicely, surreal, and to put it badly, a little crazy. Dantalian knew that Demon Lord Barbatos was a renowned alcohol enthusiast through the game. However, the current scene before him went beyond his imagination. He carefully opened his mouth. ¡°I have a question. Why are you saying fuck all the time when you¡¯re saying it¡¯s good?¡± ¡°Sniff. It¡¯s this good, but each time I drink it, that much also disappear from the bottle. That is truly, truly a fucking travesty. Kuh. Referentially, they say that you shouldn¡¯t discuss things with someone who hasn¡¯t had Baler wine mixed with tears.¡± The source of that quote was dubious, but Dantalian decided that he should start speaking now for the sake of his goal. A fair amount of time had already passed because teasing Barbatos turned out to be unexpectedly fun. ¡°Is that so? I cannot discuss anything with you?¡± Dantalian muttered to himself as if he were troubled. ¡°How troubling.¡± ¡°Uhuhu. What¡¯s troubling, you brat?¡± ¡°I came here to talk to you about the symbol you had left on Riff¡¯s corpse. You said that I can¡¯t talk to you since I¡¯ve never had Baler wine with tears before, so of course this would be troubling for me.¡± At that moment. The fact that Barbatos didn¡¯t drop the ss that was in her hand wasn¡¯t because she was unexpectedlyposed or trying to pretend as if this didn¡¯t impact her. She couldn¡¯t react even in the slightest. That was it. Her body had frozenpletely as she was just about to tip her ss up to pour its content into her mouth. ¡°¡­¡­Uhuh.¡± She immediately grasped the situation. The habits and intuition that she had forged and trimmed for the past two thousand years told her. She had been dealt a blow with helplessness. This was a perfect surprise attack. Was this not impressive? The tipsiness in her golden eyes disappeared and the gaze of a lioness reced it. It took Barbatos only a mere few seconds to change from an alcohol fanatic to the high-ranking Rank 8 Demon Lord. After she was freed from her paralysis, she rotated her wine ss. ¡°So that¡¯s why you brought this Year 505 Baler Wine.¡± A sentence without any context. The man before herpletely understood the meaning behind this abrupt sentence. ¡°Correct. Your Highness is a Demon Lord of the 8th rank, after all. I have to pay this much of a price if it means I can lower your guard.¡± ¡°I¡¯m slowly starting to get it. You startedying down your groundwork the moment you tossed the Baler wine in the air. You forced me to focus solely on that high-handed action of yours.¡± She looked back at what had happened. Was it not strange? What sort of individual would offer a bribe by throwing it in the air? Especially when the item they¡¯re using to bribe the other party with is something the other party values more than anything else. They erase the goodwill that could have potentially been gained by intentionally throwing the treasure they had gone through all sorts of difficulties to obtain. Was this not an iprehensible act of violence? ¡°Adding to that, you spoke in a way that made it sound like you were looking down on alcohol. Therefore, you gave me this impression. Ah, this son of a bitch, Dantalian, doesn¡¯t know anything about alcohol.¡± Barbatos chuckled. She felt so refreshed that she couldn¡¯t hold it back. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense if you think about it. You¡¯re the one who procured this bottle of wine. You should obviously know very well how valuable this item is. Despite this, you muttered that this was just alcohol while treating me like an alcoholic. So this was all a scheme to make me lower my guard. huh¡­¡­ Hmm. You¡¯re quite the impressive schemer.¡± Dantalian shrugged. ¡°I won¡¯t deny it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine for you to boast about it. You managed to make me of all people lower their guard, kid. Me, Barbatos, the lord of ck magic, monarch of a hundred thousand souls, and yer of humankind. In the end, when you abruptly brought up Riff¡¯s corpse, I wound up freezing in ce for a moment. I¡¯ve acknowledged that that is something I had implicitly done.¡± Her golden eyes nced towards Dantalian for a moment. Her gaze was simr to that of a predatory animal that was ring at its rival. Her eyes were filled with caution. ¡°Dantalian, the Rank 71 Demon Lord who is known to be weak, how much effort and acting did you have to do for the sake of that single moment? Was the way you spoke to me informally from the moment we met also an act?¡± Her caution made a bitter smile appear on Dantalian¡¯s lips. ¡°Referentially, beauty is something that is destined to make all sorts of pretense and formalities pointless in a matter of seconds.¡± Those were the words that were said when they first met earlier. ¡°Hey, Barbatos. Isn¡¯t the wine that is pressed against your lips right now truly beautiful?¡± ¡°Hoh. So you¡¯re saying that this wine has enough value to steal a single moment from me.¡± Barbatos was in awe. ¡°You are right. Even if I know this, I can¡¯t help but let it happen. Hah, not only did you make me ept my defeat, but you made me ept my defeat happily. All right. I shall purely celebrate this moment. It was a perfect performance.¡± She held out her crystal cup. ¡°I, Barbatos, offer you a toast, Dantalian. To Dantalian.¡± ¡°To Dantalian.¡± Cling. A clear sound resonated. Barbatos swallowed the wine down in one gulp. She then smiled wryly. The taste was simply too fantastic. If the alcohol is this good, then there¡¯s nothing bad about getting tricked at least once. She thought to herself, even if he had brought a different high-quality wine, Dantalian might havestill been able to trick her. However, she would have been displeased with Dantalian after finding out that everything was simply a ploy. She would have felt that her consideration of allowing him to speak informally, her encouragement to not worry about Paimon, and the weing attitude she had shown despite his abrupt arrival were all betrayed and used. Dantalian treated her with the most precious alcohol in the world. This could only mean one thing. ¡®This much value is required in order to deceive you.¡¯ Was this not the greatest consideration imaginable? Was this not the greatest encouragement and kindness? Thus, she was able to drink her wine happily even after having been deceived. She despised ttery because, most of the time, ttery was nothing but lies. Nheless, Dantalian was standing across from her and gazing at her boldly. He aplished his goal and lifted her up. This wasn¡¯t some ttery that would happen between tainted people. This was like when a swordsman would acknowledge their opponent after having earnestly fought a fierce battle against one another. A kinship that would only form between warriors. Not only did Dantalian achieve victory, but he obtained his opponent¡¯s goodwill as well. It was a true victory. Barbatos smiled. ¡°How did you figure out it was me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine for you to focus on enjoying the wine right now, you know?¡± ¡°Brat, I¡¯m someone who can¡¯t bear it when there¡¯s something I want to know. If you don¡¯t tell me, then I¡¯ll end up thinking about how you had figured it out even while drinking this great Baler Wine.¡± Dantalian chuckled. ¡°All right. How troubling. It would be bad if my friend is unable to properly enjoy the gift I had gone through great pains to obtain.¡± ¡°If you already know that, then, sheesh. Whatever. Hurry up and p that smart mouth of yours.¡± ¡°After I finish this.¡± Dantalian took another sip of his wine. He was intentionally teasing the other party. Barbatos got upset by this shrewd tactic but remained silent as she waited. As the loser, she couldn¡¯t say anything and had to go along with the winner. ¡°Aah. Delicious.¡± ¡°Brat.¡± ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Dantalianughed. ¡°For starters, everyone that participated in Walpurgis Night became suspects. Considering the timing, it would have been impossible for anyone that didn¡¯t participate in the hearing to have been able to support Riff¡¯s party.¡± ¡°Fuck, all right. I get that as well.¡± Creases appeared on Barbatos¡¯ pale forehead. ¡°But 32 Demon Lords participated in that Walpurgis Night. How¡¯d you pick me out of all of them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry, but now I¡¯m smack in the middle of 3 exams, so I¡¯m really busy now. Nothing much else to say, but I¡¯ll be busy this week. Chapter 67: Two Schemes (8) Chapter 67: Two Schemes (8) ¡°¡­¡­Oh?¡± The corners of Barbatos¡¯ mouth twisted. Simple, that word alone was able to set Barbatos¡¯ desire to win aze. In conclusion, she had cleanly epted her defeat; however, was it truly a defeat aplished by absolutely perfect deductions? Wouldn¡¯t there have been a weak point? Couldn¡¯t Dantalian have deduced that she was the culprit through a little luck and intuition? Barbatos was curious about this. There are many times in battles between warriors where the victor is determined by luck. Although it may be rare for battles to be determined by pure luck, battles being determined by a certain amount of luck happen fairly frequently. Barbatos knew this as well. Luck is naturally a factor of victory. Nheless, Barbatos has always been a warrior by nature. She longed for battles that risked everything andcked luck. ¡°All right! Dantalian.¡± Barbatos tossed her empty ss on the floor. The crystal ss let out a morous noise as it shattered into pieces. ¡°I fully acknowledge that you¡¯ve won. I have absolutely noints, regrets, or feelings of contempt. If anything, I¡¯m delighted because you¡¯ve exceeded my expectations. I give you 99 points. Do you understand what this means?¡± ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯re saying that I¡¯m not a hundred points.¡± ¡°Kakaka! That¡¯s right! The gap between 100 and 99 is simr to the gap between the ocean and the sky.¡± She raised her right hand. Spirits responded to the great ck mage¡¯s gesture. The air trembled drearily. ? Goooooooh. Something that resembled a mushroom surged out from the cold marble floor. It was a , one of the greatest monsters. A beast that could easily kill the strongest monster that Dantalianmands which is a level 10 lowest-tier golem with a single swing of its sword. It wasn¡¯t alone. Dozens, hundreds of surged up from the floor solely to respond to their master¡¯s call. ? Gurururu¡­¡­. ? Gooooooh. They filled the extensive hall of the Demon Lord chamber in an instant. Barbatos made a fist with her raised right hand. Once she did, 500 monsters pulled out their swords at the same time. The metallic sound of 500 swords being unsheathed resonated noisily. Not a single person moved and even the sound of breathing couldn¡¯t be heard. The monsters had formed a perfect circle with Barbatos and Dantalian at the center. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian didn¡¯t show his emotions, but his heart pounded. He was being overwhelmed. It would most likely be difficult to find an army that could win against these 500 monsters anywhere on this continent. This army that was most likely one of the strongest in both the human and demon worlds was silently emitting an overwhelming pressure. ¡°These are my subordinates that I¡¯m proud of!¡± With a big grin on her face, Barbatos spoke. ¡°As they have participated in all of my battles for the past 2,000 years, all of them have tasted the honorable victories. They are my glory and my history. There is no Demon Lord that I respect more than these subordinates of mine. Dantalian! Try refuting me before these subordinates that I cherish more than anything else!¡± She pointed at Dantalian. ¡°This is a duel. Although swords will not be swung and blood will not be shed, this will be a duel solely between our pride. In general, an appropriate number of spectators and a suitable reward is required for an interesting match. Dantalian, ept this duel. If you win, then I will give you 12 of my honorable knights.¡± 12 Death Knights! Dantalian¡¯s heart pounded more fiercely than before. At the moment, his dungeon was still level 3 so he could only purchase F rank monsters. If he¡¯s able to gain 12 A-ranked Death Knights, then the benefits would be so immense that no calctions would be needed! Contrary to his beating heart, Dantalian contemted calmly. She said this was a match. Since she had offered an award for winning, then there should naturally be a price for losing. Dantalian spoke. ¡°That is quite a tempting prize. So, what would happen if I were to lose?¡± ¡°You will be my subordinate!¡± Barbatos spread her arms out. ¡°I¡¯ve taken a liking to you. The fact that I¡¯ve taken a liking to you even though you¡¯re a guy is really a fucking big thing. That¡¯s how much your mind and ability interest me. I promise that I will never treat you poorly and, worthy of its name, you will be acknowledged as second-inmand of the Rank 8 Demon Lord¡¯s army.¡± Rage mixed into her voice. ¡°Currently, a majority of the Demon Lords are pieces of trash! They¡¯ve forgotten the reason for our existence as Demon Lords and only care about their own singr lives. Why should we go out of our way to call them Demon Lords!? How are they any different from the numerous lords throughout the human world!? I can say with certainty that those guys are the worst type of trash out there. Dantalian, let¡¯s burn all the trash on the surface together.¡± Barbatos smiled sinisterly. ¡°We will then conquer the human world. We will build a world for demonkind. An empire that has never existed before and never will afterward! We will create a great empire! You will be the eternal prime minister of that great empire.¡± ¡°Kuhu.¡± Dantalianughed. ¡°There is no reason for me to refuse. I will ept this match.¡± ¡°All right! Then prove it to me!¡± Barbatos waved her arm. A transparent screen appeared next to her and Dantalian. It was a list that was three times taller than Barbatos. Thirty-two names were written inrge letters there. ¡°These are the names of the 32 Demon Lords that participated in the recent Walpurgis Night! Exin to me how you came to the conclusion that I, Barbatos, was the one who had engraved a mark on Riff¡¯s corpse.¡± ¡°First, I removed the entire Mountain Faction from the list of suspects.¡± Dantalian said confidently. ¡°The reason is simple. There¡¯s no way that a member of the Mountain Faction would setup Belial, another Mountain Faction member.¡± ¡°Ha, how funny!¡± Barbatosughed. ¡°Why do you think a third party was the one who left the mark? There¡¯s the possibility that Belial himself had left the mark. Dantalian, this is a sacred battleground. I will not permit even a single leap of logic. borate!¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a jump of logic or anything. There was a mark left on Riff¡¯s corpse??this fact alone is enough proof that Belial wasn¡¯t the one who left the mark.¡± Dantalian continued. ¡°Let¡¯s refer to the person who helped Riff¡¯s party as his supporter. Why didn¡¯t the supporter fight me directly? Why would they have secretly supported some group of human adventurers? There¡¯s only one answer. In order to hide their identity.¡± With his hands sped behind his back, he walked around. ¡°If this is the case, then the actions of ¡®secretly helping Riff¡¯, and ¡®leaving behind proof of their support on Riff¡¯s corpse¡¯ would clearly contradict each other. Therefore,¡± He then drew a line with the tip of his finger across Belial¡¯s name on the gargantuan list. ¡°The one who had left a mark on Riff¡¯s corpse wasn¡¯t the supporter. There was a ¡®third party¡¯ excluding Riff and the supporter. They¡¯re the one who had left Belial¡¯s mark on Riff¡¯s corpse.¡± ¡°Kaka. Okay, I ept that.¡± Barbatos waved her arm once. With a scraping sound, a line was drawn across the center of the words ¡®Rank 68 Belial¡¯. Dantalian¡¯s attack was sessful. Barbatos didn¡¯t seem to care. One suspect out of the thirty-two was cleared of suspicion. What about it? It was only one person. There were still thirty-one people left! It would still be painfully difficult to pick out who the third party was from all these people. ¡°Nheless, your logic is still wed, Dantalian. How could you eliminate all members of the Mountain Faction from the list of suspects for the same reason?¡± Barbatos grinned widely. ¡°Even if they are in the same faction, it is possible for people to hold grudges against one another. Even within the ins Faction, it¡¯s only natural for Demon Lords to butt heads. Do you think the Mountain Faction would be any different!? There might be a member of the Mountain Faction who did this because they fucking hate Belial.¡± ¡°An interesting argument; however, it¡¯s pointless.¡± Dantalian continued to slowly walk around the room with unwavering steps. ¡°I rather hate arguments for the sake of arguments. The number of times arguments that look fair from the outside turn out to be nothing more than a minor nitpick is innumerable. Belial is rank 68.¡± He put more emphasis on his words as he repeated them. ¡°He¡¯s only rank 68. If there¡¯s someone out there who genuinely has to think up a ploy for a rank 68, especially a ploy like this one that¡¯spletely roundabout, then they¡¯d have to be someone who can¡¯t face a rank 68 through normal means. In other words, someone weaker than a rank 68. Therefore, from rank 69 to 72, a total of 4 people be suspects. Oh dear, but how unfortunate.¡± Dantalian raised 4 fingers. He then lowered his index finger. ¡°I killed Rank 72 Andromalius. Remove him from the list of suspects and 3 remain. Next, Rank 71 Dantalian is me, and I¡¯m obviously not the culprit. Remove me from the list of suspects and 2 remain.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Barbatos waved her hand and a line was struck across the portion of the list that read ¡®Rank 71 Dantalian¡¯. Dantalian continued. ¡°Rank 70 Seere participated in the hearing and is alive, but they aren¡¯t a part of the Mountain Faction. They haven¡¯t joined any factions. Remove them from the list of suspects and only 1 remain. All that¡¯s left is Rank 69 Decarabia.¡± Dantalian shouted. ¡°However, Decarabia didn¡¯t participate in the hearing, so they cannot be the culprit. Thus, your argument of there being a possibility that another Mountain Faction member had framed Belial is invalid.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Kuh. But there is still a chance that someone above rank 68 had framed Belial!¡± ¡°That¡¯s too much of a stretch. Look at this.¡± Dantalian shook his head. He pointed at the list. The same exact names that were on the piece of parchment that Lapis had given to Dantalian before were on this list as well. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Rank 5 Marbas ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Neutral) Rank 8 Barbatos ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 9 Paimon ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 10 Buer ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) Rank 12 Sitri ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 14 Leraje ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 16 Zepar ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 20 Purson ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Neutral) Rank 21 Marax ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 22 Ipos ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) Rank 27 Renove ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 31 Foras ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 33 Gaap ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) ¡¤ ¡¤ ¡¤ Rank 50 Furcas ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (ins) Rank 55 Orobas ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 57 Ose ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 62 Vc ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 68 Belial ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ (Mountain) Rank 70 Seere ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) Rank 71 Dantalian ¡¤¡¡¡¤¡¡¡¤ ( ¨C ) ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°Rank 62 Demon Lord Vc is the next highest in rank. They are 6 ranks apart. Their rights to speak within the faction must be like heaven and earth. You¡¯re telling me that a rank 62 would support a human adventurer party and do something trifling like put a mark on a corpse just to frame a rank 68? Furthermore, for the sake of getting revenge against me, Dantalian, of all people when my rank is much lower than theirs?¡± Dantalianughed. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous! The one who had framed Belial couldn¡¯t have been another Mountain Faction member. It must have been someone outside the Mountain Faction that had put a mark on Riff¡¯s corpse in order to put Belial in a predicament. It is clear that the third party had a different goal of their own!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The first argument was refuted. Barbatos was certain that the culprit couldn¡¯t be pinpointed exactly since there were 32 participants, but the price for that moment of carelessness was immense. A total of 32 Demon Lords participated in Walpurgis Night. Among them, 17 of them belong to the Mountain Faction. She could only watch as Dantalian removed the entirety of the Mountain Faction from the list of suspects. The corners of Barbatos¡¯ mouth twisted as she waved her hand. ? Kkrrrrrrrr! A line was drawn across 17 names in a single moment. The security which the initial number of suspects gave had disappeared in an instant. ¡°Now then, the total number of suspects has decreased from 32 to 15. Since I¡¯ve also been removed from the list of suspects, it¡¯s actually 14. This is still a considerable number, but it isn¡¯t to a degree that it would be impossible to pinpoint the culprit.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Kuh.¡± Barbatos gulped. Dantalian¡¯s face was radiating with confidence. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get rid of some more¡­¡­before that, let me quench my throat a little.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My finals have finally ended and I¡¯m in summer break. I might rx for a bit due to how stressful this semester was, but it won¡¯t be for long. Maybe for like a day. I have been ying PSO2 a lottely, so I might get distracted, but I usually try to reach a trantion quota before I start ying. In any case, not much else to say, so see you guys in the next release. Chapter 68: Two Schemes (9) Chapter 68: Two Schemes (9) ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get rid of some more¡­¡­before that, let me quench my throat a little.¡± Dantalian took a sip of his wine. The thought of having ovee the first hurdle got Dantalian¡¯s blood pumping. Barbatos stared at him with a discontent gaze. ¡°Your words sound reasonable, but there are still gaps. There are holes like the holes in swiss cheese. What if some bastard in the Mountain Faction had gone insane? What if they didn¡¯t care about the benefits of their faction and carried out this grand scheme simply to mess with you, Dantalian?¡± Dantalian nodded. ¡°Certainly, I¡¯m thinking under the assumption that the culprits are rational to a certain degree.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s impossible. Half of the Demon Lords are insane. To be painfully honest, there¡¯s a chance that Belial had left the mark on Riff¡¯s corpse himself because he¡¯s either incredibly stupid or isn¡¯tpletely sane¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So, in other words, you want to rely on ¡®coincidence¡¯, right?¡± She shut her mouth. Dantalian rotated his cup and the crimson wine contained inside of it swayed as he did so. ¡°Whether I had figured out you were the culprit or not truly through deductions alone, or maybe it was a pure coincidence that I had chosen you as the culprit. Maybe I had brought this Year 505 Baler Wine because I wasn¡¯t confident in my deduction and thus used it as a means to confirm whether I made the right choice or not. ¡­¡­Barbatos, you suggested this match in order to confirm these things, and yet, you¡¯re now trying to argue using irrational ideas.¡± He stared straight at Barbatos. ¡°Like you suggested, some psychotic fellow could have actedpletely irrationally. The mark might have been left on Riff¡¯s corpse out of some random coincidence. How about this idea? Rank 7 Amon has the ability of irvoyance. They may not have attended the recent Walpurgis Night, but there¡¯s a chance they could have watched the hearing through their irvoyance, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We¡¯d have to include Amon to the list of suspects and that would mean we¡¯d have to consider not thirty-two Demon Lords, but thirty-three. I have no idea why Amon would be interested in me, a rank 71, and frame Belial, a rank 68, but Amon might have done something like this because he¡¯s a little insane.¡± He chuckled. ¡°No, there¡¯s also a chance that this is all my own fabrication. I could be pestering you unreasonably after having put a mark on Riff¡¯s corpse myself. At the very least, this seems more likely than Amon being the culprit.¡± Barbatos couldn¡¯t reply. He was asking her if she intended to deny her own goal for this match. He acknowledged the argument that a degree of coincidence could exist; however, if she were to make a counterargument like that, then where would her original goal of excluding all luck go? Was she going to deny their duel? ¡°Sorry. That was my mistake.¡± She admitted honestly. This wasn¡¯t a mystery drama meant for the sake of thoughtlessly digging up the truth. This was a duel that had its own set of rules and goals. Barbatos let out a sigh once she realized she had forgotten something as fundamental as this. She might¡¯ve be desperate once she saw half the list of suspects get wiped out. Thus, the second argument was restrained. Dantalian spoke with a smile. ¡°Next, I¡¯ll be getting rid of the entire ins Faction from the list of suspects. Of course, excluding you.¡± ¡°W-What!?¡± Barbatos¡¯ eyes opened wide. Out of the 14 suspects that remained, 9 of them were a part of the ins Faction. If you exclude Barbatos and remove the remaining 8 ins Faction members on the list?then only 6 suspects would remain! She had to somehow prevent this! ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous!¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s possible. The ins Faction is removed from the list of suspects simply because they¡¯re the ins Faction.¡± Dantalian continued. ¡°All the members of the ins Faction that participated in the hearing know very well about your deration to protect me, Barbatos. They also know about how you had taken me on a tour through the city after the hearing was over. Now then, let¡¯s suppose that a member of the ins Faction left the mark on Riff¡¯s corpse.¡± Why would they do that, Dantalian asked himself out loud. ¡°If Belial is truly the culprit, then there would be no reason for them to go out of their way to let me get revenge. Paimon lost in a war of words only a few days ago, and yet, a member of the Mountain Faction had impudently attacked Dantalian shortly after the hearing. Adding to this, a member of the ins Faction has proof of this act? ¡­¡­If they yed their cards right, then they could have dealt a huge blow to the Mountain Faction.¡± And yet the ins Faction remained silent. They were satisfied with simply leaving a mark on Riff¡¯s corpse. The ins Faction didn¡¯t react in any way even though Dantalian remained silent for an entire month. At the very least, they could have approached Dantalian and advised him to hold the Mountain Faction ountable. ¡°The two actions ¡®be hostile to the Mountain Faction¡¯ and ¡®don¡¯t attack the Mountain Faction¡¯ contradict each other. Therefore, you can reach a single conclusion. They can¡¯t attack the Mountain Faction even though they want to. Thus, they have no proof that Belial is the culprit!¡± Dantalian raised the volume of his voice. ¡°Despite this, they framed Belial. Why? Why did they have to go through thisplicated procedure just to frame Belial? What reason could there possibly be to utilize a scheme as grand as this simply to attack a mere rank 68 Demon Lord? A previous argument can be applied here as well. Because they¡¯re weaker than Belial. However.¡± Dantalian pointed at therge list with his index finger. ¡°As you can see, there¡¯s no ins Faction member that¡¯s lower than Belial! The lowest ranking member of the ins Faction is Rank 50 Furcas. There¡¯s a whole 18 rank difference between them. I cannot fathom that an individual like that would leave the matter of getting retaliation in the hands of me, Dantalian, the weakest Demon Lord.¡± ¡°I object!¡± Barbatos gnashed her teeth. ¡°You are theorizing under the premise that the ins Faction¡¯s goal is to frame Belial alone! That¡¯s nonsense if I¡¯ve ever heard it. If a member of the ins Faction had left a mark on Riff¡¯s corpse, then their goal would obviously not be Belial alone but the entire Mountain Faction! It doesn¡¯t matter how much of a difference there is in ranks as we have plenty of reasons to frame Belial since he¡¯s in the Mountain Faction!¡± ¡°I quite agree.¡± Dantalianughed. He continued speaking before Barbatos could feel uneasy about hisugh. ¡°It is as you said. Belial alone wasn¡¯t the ins Faction¡¯s goal. Their aim was the entire Mountain Faction. But this raises a question: How much authority must this Demon Lord have to consider attacking the Mountain Faction without any proper evidence!¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos held her breath. She had blundered! Dantalian made her admit that ¡®if the ins Faction framed Belial, then the individual in the ins Faction must be someone powerful enough to be hostile against the entire Mountain Faction without any proof. If it¡¯s like this, then??. ¡°True to their name, the Mountain Faction is the greatest faction. The only ones who can handle them would be the entire ins Faction. Among the members, there is only a single Demon Lord who could make the entire ins Faction act.¡± Dantalian pointed at her. The leader of the ins Faction. The one who despises the Mountain Faction the most. ¡°You¡¯re the only one, Barbatos.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She realized that she had been driven into a corner. There were definitely 32 suspects in the beginning; however, it wasn¡¯t long before 14 people, 15 people were slowly removed and she found herself with the arrow pointed directly at her. The situation has been changed to a way where, if the ins Faction is the culprit, then only Barbatos could be the mastermind. ¡°¡­¡­Heh.¡± She let out augh. Barbatos had a slight feeling that Dantalian was about to win this match. This intuition of hers that had saved her life countless times. There were still counterarguments that could be made. It was, however, a decisive argument, so Dantalian would still end up winning, this was what she thought. Barbatos has always sought out battles that had one¡¯s honor on the line. As a Demon Lord, honor resided in the act of conquering the human world. That was why she always stood at the forefront of the Crescent Alliance. Despite their numerous defeats, she continued to advance while believing that an honorable conclusion was awaiting her at the end. It didn¡¯t matter whether the conclusion was victory or death. Solely for the sake ofbat, for an honorable battle. 2,000 years have passed. She has not yet been able to realize this desire of hers. The Crescent Alliance fell apart time and time again due to internal strife. There¡¯s no honor in that. Cowardice and fear, jealousy and envy, and above all else, foolishness reigned supreme. Herrades gradually grew exhausted. They turned their backs and some even left. It¡¯d be hard for even her to not grow tired after all this. ¡®But if it¡¯s this guy.¡¯ The ends of Barbatos¡¯ mouth lifted up. If the guy in front of her stays at her side, then she might be able to give it her all again. She might be able to endure another 2,000 years. Different from how she would act ording to her instincts and intuition alone, Dantalian could assist the Crescent Alliance with his intelligence and insidiousness. Perhaps the grand war which she had always dreamed about will actually unfold. Therefore, let¡¯s give him one final test. Try breaking thisst objection. I will test whether you¡¯re worthy to support a Demon Lord army of tens of thousands. ¡°What utter nonsense!¡± Barbatos eximed. She had an amused smile on her face. ¡°Your statements are all under the assumption that the ins Faction is the culprit! Dear me! Even if the Mountain Faction and ins Faction are no longer under suspicion, there are still 6 suspects left! Including me, there are still 6 people left!¡± She waved her hand. A scraping sound echoed once more. All the names of the members of the ins Faction were marked off the list. Out of all their names, only Barbatos¡¯ remained untouched. ¡°I give you my sincerest praise for the aplishment of reducing the list of suspects from 32 to 6! Nheless, how do you intend to mark me out of the 6? Be it the Neutral Faction or those unaffiliated with any sides, there is a chance that one of them put a mark on Riff¡¯s chest simply to create a discord between the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction!¡± She clenched her hand into a fist. ¡°Out of the 6 remaining suspects, there is someone weaker than Belial and that is Rank 70 Seere! As you stated before, they have more than enough reason to go out of their way to carry out these plicated and tiresome procedures¡¯. The weak can only rely on schemes to retaliate against the strong, after all. They might¡¯ve been trying to gain something by using this opportunity to create a rift between you and Belial. Furthermore!¡± Barbatos pointed at the very top of the list. ¡°The leader of the Neutral Faction, Rank 5 Marbas, that old man has disliked both the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction for a long time now. If it¡¯s that senile man, then he would have the nerve to frame the Mountain Faction without any evidence at all! Why would he care?! It¡¯s more than possible for him to try and increase the strength of his Neutral Faction while the two other factions are busy fighting against one another!¡± She smiledcently. Dantalian now had two points of logic: ¡®there¡¯s no reason for someone with a high rank to go out of their way to frame Belial¡¯ and ¡®there¡¯s no reason for a low ranking person to be hostile against the entire Mountain Faction¡¯. In the case of the former, then that included Rank 70 Seere, and in the case of thetter, Rank 5 Marbas would be included. Including Barbatos, there were at least 3 culprits. ¡°Why am I, Barbatos, the culprit of all people!?¡± She was overflowing with excitement. ¡°Do you think you can defeat me!?¡± Her heart pounded noisily. ¡°Show me your potential?your skills!¡± Her voice echoed throughout the vast hall and reached all the way up to the distant ceiling. The 500 Death Knights must have noticed their master¡¯s excitement as they growled. They opened and closed theirrge hands as if they would immediately tear apart this haughty brat, as if they would tear out his guts if their master so ordered them to. Barbatos¡¯ Demon Lord Pce was filled with bloodthirst. Even the Demon Lord herself was heating up. Currently, all of her senses were focused on one thing, Dantalian¡¯s lips. How does he intend to refute this? No, is it even possible? If he can refute it, then how? His lips moved. ¡°There is a fact which we¡¯ve been overlooking. It is actually quite an important fact.¡± A calm voice seeped into the Demon Lord Pce. ¡°The question about who had killed Riff.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos froze. ¡°Additionally, it¡¯s also a question on when the marking was engraved on Riff¡¯s corpse. When the corpse was discovered, there was a spell cast around Riff¡¯s body to scare off animals and insects. The culprit most likely cast that spell around the same time as they put the marking on Riff¡¯s body.¡± She stood in a daze. She thought as she watched the lips that continued to move without stopping. Aha. I see. So that can be used. ¡°Who could kill Riff and also cast a spell? It¡¯s simple. There¡¯s nothing special to think about. Among the members of Riff¡¯s party, only two people managed to escape. Riff and the unknown mage. The mage killed Riff, put a mark on his corpse, and cast a spell around the body.¡± In other words, the real match she had craved for the past 2,000 years. The conclusion she had yearned for. ¡°This then goes to the next question. Who was the mage? I immediately looked into the adventurer¡¯s guild that was in the city which Riff resided in; however, the mage hired by Riff only appeared in the documents there. They weren¡¯t signed up to the Mage Tower at all. An unknown existence. They exuded quite the suspicious stench.¡± Even though this wasn¡¯t a battlefield of shing metal and bloodshed, would she experience it here? ¡°The mage seemed roughly like a Four Circle mage, in other words, a high-ranking mage. The issue is that the color of the mage¡¯s mana was ck. I immediately looked into the current 6 suspects. It might be because the suspects are Demon Lords who have been active for at least a few hundred years, but it was fairly easy to acquire information on both them and their vassals.¡± She believed that it had been a long time. ¡°Among them, approximately 170 of them are mages. 21 of them are high-ranking mages above Four Circle. Out of these mages, only 3 of them have ck mana. Now then, the list has narrowed. But there¡¯s an issue here. All three of them aren¡¯t human. Even though the mage that was active in Riff¡¯s party was undoubtedly a female human. How could this be? We have to change our way of thinking here. Ah.¡± She believed that she had endured reasonably well. ¡°They used a transformation spell. The transformation spell is a highly advanced Seven Circle spell. Hah! This makes things much simpler. Out of the 170 mages, only 3 of them are above Six Circle.¡± She never had a friend with whom she could talkfortably to. She went through muddy wars and political strifes while leading her waning faction all by herself. As she recalled those days that had passed, Barbatos stared at the man before her nkly. ¡°Out of thest 3 remaining people, only one of them is an archmage with ck mana.¡± Dantalian was smiling. ¡°You.¡± Silence. A lull fell over the Demon Lord Pce. Dantalian couldn¡¯t see Barbatos¡¯ expression anymore. She had lowered her head without him noticing. She was standing still and didn¡¯t budge an inch. A long time passed before she slowly raised her right hand. 5 names were scraped off the list. Rank 8 Barbatos. Solely her name remained intact. ¡°Phew.¡± Dantalian let out a sigh of relief. He had managed to refute the third andst counterargument. Something simr to the exhration one would feel after an intensive exercise regime spread throughout his entire body. Only the thoughts about the Death Knights filled his head. Just thinking about how much 12 A-rank monsters would help him made him ted. A smile appeared on his face all on its own. ¡°Well, that¡¯s what happened. It took quite some time before I figured all this out. I absolutely didn¡¯t figure it all out in an instant.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t have to give me too much. Haha. Honestly, 12 Death Knights might be a little too¡­¡­? Barbatos?¡± Dantalian paused. With her head still down, Barbatos was walking towards him one step at a time. Despite him inquiring what was wrong, he received no answer. She continued to approach him, before finally, Barbatos stood directly in front of him. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Do you intend to fight me¡­¡­huh?¡± Her small hands grabbed onto Dantalian¡¯s head. ¡°??Mm!?¡± It happened in the blink of an eye. She pulled his head down, and at the same time, she lifted her heels. Their difference in height disappeared. The distance between them diminished instantaneously. Lips and lips touched one another. His eyes opened wide in shock. Barbatos was closing her eyes. Time flowed by like that for a brief second. With her hands still holding on to his head, she pulled her lips back slightly. She was smiling. ¡°Did you know? You¡¯re really fucking cool right now.¡± Before he could give her any sort of response, she brought her lips to his once more. This time it was a deep kiss. Even the Death Knights didn¡¯t seem to want to see their lord¡¯s shameless behavior as they turned their heads away on their own. Within this wide and vast Demon Lord Pce, the sound of a man moaning resonated faintly. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I do have to admit that this definitely doesn¡¯t feel as grand as it did in the LN, but I personally think it¡¯s still decent. Nothing much else to say but I hope you guys continue to read my releases. I¡¯ll be going at a steady pace. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 69: Two Schemes (10) Chapter 69: Two Schemes (10) * * * It took 10 minutes before I was released from her grasp. A mere kisssted no less than 10 minutes. I was so utterly exhausted that I fell to my knees. The inside of my mouth felt numb. ¡°I¡¯ve been sullied¡­pletely sullied.¡± Barbatos was a technician. There was no way of knowing how many techniques she had used. I was out of breath. I managed to recognize the drill, vibration, and vacuum techniques. My memories after that were gone. I could only faintly remember that I was taken advantage of. I used to be proud in my own way that I was a master at a single technique, but she was genuinely on another level. Barbatos wiped her mouth with a napkin. ¡°A young man shouldn¡¯t be weak like a sardine. Back when I was your age, I held numerous sex parties that wouldst for three days straight. Kaka, I was quite young back then, too. I even tested out how many times I could climax because I was curious. I gave up after counting up to 300, though.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This girl who looked like a loli on the outside was proudly talking about her younger days and her sexual escapades. What a terrifying woman. As expected of a Demon Lord, she didn¡¯t care about any sort of sex ethics. Although I can¡¯t say much about this as the person who slept with Laura, a young girl, this person needs to learn some restraint. In any case, the negotiation was a sess. It turned out a lot better than expected. ¡®Status.¡¯ I checked the result of my sess. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Barbatos Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ Faction: Barbatos¡¯s Demon Lord Army, ins Faction Attribute: Evil(-40) Level: 357¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 6985200 Job: Arch ck Mage(SS), Demon Lord(S), Dungeon Manager(A+) Leadership: 330¡¡¡¡Might: 460 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 153 Politics: 159¡¡¡¡Charm: 209¡¡¡¡Technique: 301 Affection: 50 Current thought: ¡®Hmm, it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve locked lips with a man. It isn¡¯t as bad as I thought it would be. Should I just eat him whole?¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡®Okay. I¡¯ve reached 50 affection points.¡¯ ¡­¡­There was something ominous in her current thought, but I did my best to ignore it. 50 affection. This was the highest amount of points I could get using normal means. I have to aplish certain conditions in order to raise it any higher than this. The conditions range from a wide variety of things and are different from people to people, so it¡¯d be impossible for me to figure out Barbatos¡¯ hidden condition at this moment. In Laura¡¯s case, the condition was achieved as an addition to recruiting her as a vassal, but it¡¯d be hard to get that lucky twice. Well, the act of recruiting Barbatos as a subordinate was practically like a fantasy. ¡®I¡¯m satisfied with just this.¡¯ I didn¡¯t fret. Barbatos was obviously the most powerful person I¡¯ve met so far. I managed to make this strong individual into an ally. Being happy about this achievement alone should be good enough. Nheless, there was something that bothered me. ¡®¡­¡­Her stats are naturally high.¡¯ Barbatos was overpowered. To be more exact, she was excessively overpowered. Her stats were so high that it went beyond feeling awe and made me feel despair instead. If youbine all of my stats, then I would just barely be able to reach 150, but the total of her stats exceeded 1000 with great ease. This was clearly an abnormal number. She wasn¡¯t this strong in the game either. Level 357!? This was something that could only be achieved by someone at, at the very least, rank 4. Barbatos¡¯ level usually hovered around 250. No matter how high it got, it was always below 260. It wasn¡¯t something utterly baffling like 350. I was certain. ¡®I thought about this before, but the difficulty is weird.¡¯ Compared to the Rank 8 Demon Lord¡¯s level in the game, hers was a hundred levels higher. If she¡¯s like this, then how insane is the Rank 1 Demon Lord¡¯s stats? In the original game, Rank 1 Demon Lord Baal was thest boss and level 389; however, recent discoveries have been making me feel uneasy. There¡¯s no doubt that Baal¡¯s level must have increased drastically as well. He¡¯s probably at least level 500. Level 500. I had a slight headache. Even if the character I had raised in the game were here, I still wouldn¡¯t be able to beat this. If the members of the Dungeon Attack fansite saw this, then they would probably pass out. ¡®VenusPanties, that son of a bitch¡­¡­ damn it. I was wondering why F-rank and E-rank adventurers were so strong, but it was because the difficulty as a whole was high.¡¯ The individual whom I assume put me into this world, VenusPanties. I have yet to forget the words they had said to me. How could I? After asking me if I truly wanted to y their new game, they told me the following: ¨C If the goal of Dungeon Attack is to stop the Demon Lords and protect the world. ¨C Then the biggest goal of the sequel is to conquer the world. ¨C Don¡¯t forget. ¡®Hah, god damn it.¡¯ I thought this piece of information was useless at the time, but I thought differently now. It became clear to me what they meant by those words. They were telling me what my ultimate goal should be here in this world. Conquer the world. Who would¡¯ve known that the words one would say jokingly as a child would have so much weight now? Conquering the world in a game was not only easy but trivial; however, if someone asked you to conquer the world in real life, then they would naturally be treated as a lunatic. I was put in a situation where I had to genuinely carry out this insane task. Was this not utterly insane? This wasn¡¯t a simple matter. VenusPanties said ¡®the world¡¯ and not ¡®the human world¡¯. In the world of , not only was there naturally a human and demon world, but, ording to the game¡¯s setting, a God world exists as well. Were they referring to every world when they said ¡®the world¡¯? I couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious about this. If it includes the human world and all the other worlds as well, then¡­¡­it¡¯s hopeless. ¡°Barbatos, there¡¯s actually another reason why I came here today.¡± ¡°Hm? What? Do you want to have sex with me or something? If you offer me another Baler Wine, then there¡¯s nothing I won¡¯t do.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± Therefore, I have to takerge-scale actions from now on. The Demon Lords are fearsome enemies. This, I admit. Nheless, in the game¡¯s story, the Demon Lords get subjugated by the humans. In truth, the truly formidable enemies aren¡¯t the Demon Lords, but the entire human race. The hero¡¯s party had dozens of people who were as strong as Barbatos. It would be impossible to topple the hero¡¯s party through normal means in my current state. Through normal means. ¡°Hah. There are thousands of guys who masturbate every night at the thought of having sex with me. A bottle of Baler Wine is cheappared to that, you brat.¡± ¡°I get that there are at least thousands of pedophiles in the demon world. Whatever, I¡¯m being serious here. Stop raising the ends of your skirt and listen to me.¡± ¡°Hm? All right.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t start fondling my butt while saying that!¡± I took a step back. Barbatos pouted and started lifting the ends of her skirt again. Her white stockings appeared from under her skirt. How does a woman like her exist? I¡¯ve never seen anyone like her in my previous world or this world. ¡°Tsk, even if you grab your dick ande pleading to meter, you won¡¯t get anything.¡± ¡°Even I have someone who¡¯d put out for me whenever I want, you know?¡± ¡°Huh? Are you saying that bitch is more charming than me?¡± Barbatos growled. This person was really a headache. ¡°You don¡¯t know how amazing my technique is, do you, Dantalian? Even the most prestigious saintess in the entire world would start squirting like a fountain in less than 20 seconds if they¡¯re in my grasp. I don¡¯t even have to use my mouth. I don¡¯t need two fingers either. This.¡± She jokingly wriggled her index finger. ¡°This one finger is more than enough. Saintesses will turn into sluts, and sluts will turn into whores. I¡¯m saying that they¡¯ll be a part of my exclusive whore brigade. Have you ever heard the first moan of a girl from a powerful family who hade to you to receive counseling about having never experienced pleasure in 300 years? It¡¯s fucking great. Ah, ah, hnn! This is the first time I¡¯ve felt this before! Your Highness! Haah! S-Spare me! Hng! Hearing this was so satisfying. No symphony is as grand as this.¡± ¡°Aaaah¡­¡­.¡± I covered my ears. I couldn¡¯t endure it any longer after listening to this person talkwith the face of a young girl about provocative things like some degenerate old man. She¡¯s also talented at impersonations! Her moans sounded so real that it almost felt as if she were in the middle of the act right now. The issue was the strange sensation of immorality. The more sultry her voice became, the more my lower body reacted. I assume that since I could still hear her voice clearly despite having blocked my ears, she must have mixed some aphrodisiac spell in her voice. Simr to the cork removal spell earlier, this person knows way too many useless spells. ¡°Brat, try closing your eyes and leaving yourself to me for just a minute. I¡¯ll let you see Heaven for free. No, I don¡¯t even need a minute. You¡¯re acting like a eunuch right now, so 30 seconds is more than enough. They say that men can only climax once, am I right? They¡¯re quite the sad and inferior species. Nheless, if you leave it to me, then I can guarantee you at least 10¡­¡­.¡± I screamed mentally. To sum it up, my steel-like rationality managed to endure the seduction attempt. The fact that I slept with Laura, a 16-years-old, poked at me a little. Sleep with Barbatos whose appearance looks like that of a 12 or 13 year old? If I were in a beast-like state after not being able to experience the touch of another for a hundred days, then perhaps, but I wanted to firmly refuse right now. ¡°Weird, my rarely ever fails.¡± Barbatosined. As I expected, she seriously did use a seduction spell! Furthermore, she really does have a terrible naming sense! I felt absolutely gobsmacked. If she named it that unironically, then Barbatos needs to get her head checked out. ¡°Haah.¡± I barely managed topose myself properly. ¡°There are two reasons why I didn¡¯te to you andzed around for a month. The first reason was to confirm whether the ins Faction would move or not in rtion to Riff¡¯s corpse, and the other was to spread a rumor throughout the human world.¡± ¡°A rumor?¡± Barbatos tilted her head. Her young face looked purely innocent now. ¡°That¡¯s right. A disturbing rumor is currently circting throughout the human world. It¡¯s the groundless rumor that the Demon Lords had spread the ck Death. I circted this rumor on arge scale through the Keuncuska Firm.¡± ¡°Eh? Why would you do something like that?¡± Wrinkles appeared on the temple of her head. ¡°¡­¡­Don¡¯t tell me, just as that Paimon bitch imed, you really did create the ck Death? No. There¡¯s no way that a mere Rank 71 could have created the deadliest gue to have ever existed. Even the Demon Lord who specializes in creating diseases can¡¯t create something like the ck Death.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s practically impossible for a mere Rank 71 like me to create the ck Death.¡± I shrugged. ¡°The humans think that as well. There¡¯s no way that an unprecedented epidemic could appear naturally and there¡¯s no way some weak individual could create it.¡± ¡°Oho. Do they suspect that we Demon Lords are the culprit?¡± Barbatos snorted. ¡°Humans are always like that. If they¡¯re unhappy, then they try to attach the reason for their unhappiness on something else. They pray to their Gods and swear at Demon Lords. They fail to eternally realize that it¡¯s karma and that they have no other choice but to take responsibility for their sins.¡± ¡°An interesting view, but.¡± I shook my head. ¡°You¡¯ve failed to understand the severity of the situation.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°The ck Death is currently reducing almost every city in the human world into ashes. Other than the Kingdom of Sardinia that seeded in suppressing the gue during its early stages, every nation is currently suffering due to the epidemic.¡± A portion of the cities managed to sessfully prevent the spread of the disease. It was thanks to the ck Herbs I had circted. A few wise and brave regional lords used even their personal funds in order to purchase the ck Herbs and effectively protected theirnds with the herbs. However, the lords that had done that were a severe minority. A majority of them only purchased the expensive herbs to save themselves and their families. There were even lords and merchants that purchased the ck herbs from me before selling them for an even more exorbitant price to others. In the end, simr to what happened in the game, the ck Death was causing an abundant amount of harm. Once it was revealed that the ck Herb worked as a cure, several areas began to grow their own batches inrge proportions, but there were still several months left before they could carry out their first harvest. They didn¡¯t have enough time to see any benefits. They could wake up one morning to find out their mother or their sons had passed away¡­¡­the humans were in a type of Hell. ¡°Barbatos, the human world is slowly crumbling. Frustration towards lords, temples, and nations that failed to take precautions properly have skyrocketed more than ever before. There have already been 9 cases of town-scale revolts. There was even a major city-scale revolt as well.¡± Barbatos seemed to still not understand what I was trying to say. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Only I could grasp how the world would flow since I remembered the entire history of . ¡°A rumor that a Demon Lord had caused this epidemic has started to circte in a situation like this. How do you think the rulers of the human world will use this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos finally gave a proper reaction. ¡°Whether it be arbitrarily or against their will, they¡¯ll have no other choice but to utilize this rumor. The bad ones aren¡¯t the lords, it¡¯s not the temples either. The bad ones are the Demon Lords. They¡¯ll try to avoid taking responsibility. The humans will begin to trust the rumor more and more. Even now, their streets and pces are filled with talks about subjugating the Demon Lords.¡± ¡°You bastard, did you¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± I nodded. ¡°It is time to form the Crescent Alliance once more. Barbatos, it¡¯s time for war. War is approaching.¡± *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I probably should have gotten this out sooner, but same ol same ol, I¡¯ve been busy doing things. I always reach my daily quota, but it isn¡¯t much. This whole covid-19 situation is making me ponder whether I should take a semester off from uni ande back once this pandemic has died down. I don¡¯t really want myst semester to be another period of online sses. It sucks, really. At any rate, self-pondering aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 70: Two Schemes (11) Chapter 70: Two Schemes (11) Barbatos¡¯ eyes narrowed. What are you plotting? Are you sane? I inwardly hoped that she would reprimand me severely like this. No Demon Lord values the Crescent Alliance more than she does. There¡¯s a chance that she¡¯d be enraged by the fact that I had arbitrarily created a situation to make the Crescent Alliance form. However, she pleasantly sent my expectations flying. Sheughed. ¡°Go on. Give me a refreshing exnation.¡± Her golden eyes glimmered with curiosity and interest. It seems she thinks that I have some sort of profound scheme. Iughed awkwardly. Something about receiving more trust than expected from the other party made me feel a little ticklish. We sat on the chairs brought to us by the spectral butlers. I was the first to speak. ¡°For thousands of years, the Crescent Alliance has failed time and time again. Even though they possessed armies far stronger than the humans¡¯. There¡¯s no doubt here that the internal discourse between Demon Lords and rivalry are the reasons for these failures.¡± Barbatos snorted. She was letting her discontent show. It¡¯s obvious what she was discontent about. Barbatos was sick of the foolishness of the other Demon Lords¡­¡­. Don¡¯t worry, Barbatos. I¡¯ll destroy everyst bit of your stress all at once. You should just act befittingly to your appearance and have a happy life as a teenager. Stress is one of the reasons why your chest doesn¡¯t grow as a teenager. ¡°Think of it the other way around. Why did the Demon Lords start internal discourse during the wars? Who would do something so insane not once or twice, but 7 times?¡± ¡°Because they¡¯re utterly stupid.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an interesting hypothesis; however.¡± I chuckled. It seems that Barbatos abhorred the other Demon Lords vehemently. I hoped she would calm down a little. We have to proceed with our conversation with absolute calmness and with objective mindsets. ¡°If the Demon Lords were that idiotic, then they would have never survived until now. From what I understand, the Crescent Alliance failed for one reason: because it was too powerful.¡± ¡°Hey, you weasel.¡± Barbatos scowled. Weasel? Is that my nickname? No young man is as slender as I am, so this isplete nder. At the very least, I wish she¡¯d call me a fox instead. ¡°I understand that your head works quite well. I also understand that you¡¯vethered your tongue in olive oil. Nheless, it failed because it was too powerful? What sort of nonsense is that?¡± The situation was like this. No matter how much manpower is assembled, most human nations aren¡¯t able to gather more than 30,000 to 40,000 men. This may still be considered arge amount, but that isn¡¯t enough to stop a Demon Lord¡¯s forces. Even if they attacked with an army of 30,000, we could easily block them by sending three or four rank 10 and above Demon Lords. Monsters are simply that much stronger than humans. Even if every nation in the human continent were to form an alliance, they would, at the very most, be able to form an army of 300,000. A majority of their men would also be poorly-trained conscripts. On the other hand, the Crescent Alliance¡¯s forces have the manpower of at least 100,000. All of them being monsters. ¡®Overwhelmingly onesided¡¯ is probably a term that was created to be used in situations like this. I wanted to show my appreciation to our ancestors for creating this term for our future generations. ¡°To be honest, Barbatos, out of all the members of the Crescent Alliance, you¡¯re probably the only Demon Lord who genuinely hopes for the victory of demonkind. To the other Demon Lords, the human nations are nothing more than existences which they can destroy whenever they desire. If anything, what they fear most is their fellow Demon Lords.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Demon Lords being afraid of other Demon Lords?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever thought it was bothersome? A monarch is an existence that stands at the top and leads the people. Who could possibly livefortably in a nation with 72 monarchs? The only reason this abnormal structure has been allowed is due to the humans¡¯ stubborn tenacity.¡± I chuckled. ¡°Almost every Demon Lord must have thought about this at least once. What¡¯ll happen after we conquer the human world? I¡¯m certain that they¡¯re constantly trembling due to the fear of being killed by a higher-ranking Demon Lord.¡± ¡°H-Haa!?¡± Barbatos eximed with an expression that said she didn¡¯t understand. She looked like she wanted to argue, but I continued before she could. ¡°I killed Andromalius a short while ago and you took my side. How do you think this appeared like to the other Demon Lords?¡± Barbatos isn¡¯t some mere Demon Lord. She¡¯s the head of the ins Faction. Even if she approached me purely out of goodwill at that time, the others that were watching us would have no other choice but to consider the bigger picture. ¡°The entire ins Faction protected Dantalian, the Demon Lord murderer; additionally, the ins Faction has always despised the Mountain Faction, so they probably wouldn¡¯t think twice about killing other faction members¡­¡­the other Demon Lords are probably thinking along these lines. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords especially will take this case more seriously.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way they would? You¡¯ve always gone around calling the Mountain Faction pieces of trash and that you¡¯d take them out if you could. Those threats didn¡¯t sound like bluffs.¡± She closed her mouth tightly. Barbatos, you¡¯re are one of the strong. The strong would never consider the position of the weak. Once she saw the other Demon Lords not participating actively during the war against the humans, shebeled them as cowards and fools. Saying that they weren¡¯t able to win against mere humans because they were dimwitted. In truth, what they feared most was high-ss Demon Lords like her. It would be appropriate to say that the gap between rank 1 and rank 72 is infinite. In the current situation, the existence of all 72 Demon Lords is acknowledged under the justification of expanding to the human world. If a Demon Lord were to attack another a Demon Lord, they would undoubtedly be criticized as ¡®a heinous bastard who has forgotten his duty and attacks his fellow kin instead of the humans.¡¯ What would happen if they managed to actually expand into the human world? Their greatest enemy known as humans would disappear. Only Demon Lords would remain. Would the 72 monarchs all hold hands and rule the continent gleefully? That¡¯s impossible. In the end, the Demon Lords would go to war against one another and only the high-ranking Demon Lords would survive. ¡°A majority of the Demon Lords don¡¯t wish to conquer the human world.¡± To be more exact, they don¡¯t wish to use up their armies in the process of conquering humans. Defeating the human race wouldn¡¯t mean they¡¯d no longer need armies. If anything, they would need them more than ever before. Therefore, Demon Lords would try to preserve their forces as much as possible, more so the lower their ranks are. In the beginning, only a small minority of the Demon Lords must have acted selfishly. They wouldn¡¯t lose anything even if the Crescent Alliance failed. After seeing this, gradually, the other Demon Lords began to act selfishly as well. In the end, the anti-war faction that used to be a small minority 2,000 years ago has now be the so-called Mountain Faction and currently consists of almost a majority of the Demon Lords¡­¡­. Barbatos went silent. It seems she was putting the dots together. ¡°Haah.¡± She let out a deep sigh. ¡°Fuck, I see now. So that¡¯s why those fucking brats refused to move their armies to the bitter end. During the 4th¡­¡­ and the 6th expedition¡­¡­all of it¡­¡­ damn it!¡± The weak have their own way of survival. The strong simplyprehended this way of survival as them purely being cowardly and ipetent. Why? Because the strong don¡¯t believe they became strong because they were selfish but because they were brave,petent, and sessful. In order to think this way, they have a need to look down on those weaker than them more than necessary. A very simple mental structure. ¡°Trying to conquer the entire human world with a small minority of the Demon Lords is impossible. Even if a single Demon Lord were to invade, the humans would immediately unite. Therefore, we must gather as many Demon Lords as we can and create the Crescent Alliance. But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The more Demon Lords gather, the moreplicated themand structure bes; thus, the number of bastards who boldly act greedily increases! Shit.¡± That¡¯s right. This is the paradox of all Demon Lords. They¡¯re unable to defeat theirmon enemy because their allies are far too powerful. No, they can¡¯t because they could be killed in the not so distant future. Since the situation is like this, the Demon Lords refuse to invade the human world and waste their influence on pointless political strifes while shutting themselves away in their castles. In the scenario of , each of the Demon Lord factions begins to decline due to the great era of adventuring before they¡¯re eventually subjugated one by one by the hero¡¯s party. Some Demon Lords might have even been delighted to know that theirrades, who could potentially be their rivals in the future, were killed. They probably sneered and called those who had died as pathetic Demon Lords who¡¯d die by the hands of mere human adventurers. In the end, as all of demonkind continued to weaken over time, the Demon Lords only realize the severity of the situation after half of them are killed by the hero. They tried to form the Crescent Alliance quickly and retaliate against the humans, but the fight was onesided. One by one, their heads were lopped off by the hero¡¯s sword¡­¡­Such foolishness. The issue is that this foolishness wasn¡¯t born from ipetency, but from the very system of there being ¡¯72 Demon Lords¡¯. Thus, it¡¯s a foolishness which they can do nothing about. This was quite a depressing story. ¡°There¡¯s only one way to get out of this fixed situation.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Barbatos looked at me seriously. The girl who had been jokingly flirting with me while rubbing my lower body was nowhere to be seen now. Sitting before me was a single Demon Lord who was thinking about her future and the future of demonkind. I let out a sigh as I spoke. ¡°We won¡¯t be the ones to invade, we¡¯ll make the humans invade us. Additionally, we¡¯ll have to decrease the number of Demon Lords to at least half of the current amount.¡± ¡°Dantalian.¡± She stared right at me. The cold eyes of a monarch were on me. ¡°Do you understand what you¡¯re saying? You¡¯re suggesting that we should kill half of our kin which there are only 72 of in the world.¡± ¡°If we don¡¯t, then all 70 of our kin will perish¡­¡­!¡± I cautioned her. ¡°Be it slow or fast, the humans will eventually consider the Demon Lords as their mortal enemies because of the ck Death! There¡¯s a chance that some of the other races will be swept up by the groundless rumor and be hostile towards us Demon Lords as well. They will sporadically begin to conquer our Demon Lord Castles and our so-called amazing kin will watch with anticipation as theirpetitors weaken!¡± That was the future that happens in . As this was something which only I was aware of at this moment, it was a future that was immeasurably cruel to demonkind. ¡°If we allow ourselves to get to this point, it¡¯d be toote. In our current situation where our forces are entirely intact, we have to unite and decrease the influences in the human world as much as possible. We must sacrifice a few for the sake of all!¡± Naturally, this wasn¡¯t my only goal. As long as world conquest is my ultimate goal, it¡¯s more than possible that I¡¯d have to conquer even the Demon Lords. By causing this war, I¡¯ll weaken both the human and demon world in one fell swoop. The greatest war in the history of both humankind and demonkind will take ce. Both sides will incur heavy losses. It will undoubtedly take a long time for either side to recover from the ravages of war. I¡¯ll grow my own influence after buying myself this time. It can¡¯t be helped! It¡¯s practically impossible to cultivate my forces through normal means alone! How are my statspared to Barbatos who¡¯s level 357? ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: Dantalian Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Evil(-20) Level: 21¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 3750 Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(E) Leadership: 26/30¡¡¡¡Might: 7/10 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 30/32 Politics: 24/30¡¡¡¡Charm: 15/20¡¡¡¡Technique: 4/10 *Titles: 1. Demon Lord of Fear *Abilities: Tactics(E), Marksmanship(F), Mining(F) *Skills: Acting [Achievements: 2] [Subordinates: 42 units/210 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Rank 8 Barbatos is level 357. There are 7 Demon Lords stronger than her! How long would I have to grind to get my level even remotely high enough to face against those monster-like people? When would I achieve world domination? Would the other Demon Lords do nothing while I¡¯m getting stronger? What about the humans? How would I possibly handle the protagonist in 10 years along with the people in his party who¡¯ll eventually be renowned heroes as well? I severelyck the time to aplish anything. In the end, the best thing I can do is shave away at the forces of mypetitors. Not only the Demon Lords, but the protagonist and his capablerades as well. Even if they be powerful enough to shave down mountains and dry up the ocean, that¡¯s still 10 years from now. At the current moment, they haven¡¯t reached their peak potentials yet! Even the protagonist must be a 7-year-old kid right now. This is the best opportunity! It¡¯s fine to call this a gamble. Rather than wait for the future where I have no chance of winning, I¡¯d rather put all my cards down now while I can still see a chance. No, it wasn¡¯t to the degree of just seeing a chance. It was definitely possible for me since I know every piece of information on ! I¡¯ll cut the numbers in both the demon and human world and thoroughly create time for myself. I can aplish all of this through this single war. ¡°Barbatos, haven¡¯t you alwaysbelled those Mountain Faction bastards as cowards?¡± I spoke desperately and sincerely. ¡°Most of the Demon Lords who¡¯ll be sacrificed will belong to the Mountain Faction. They¡¯re bastards who¡¯ve already been blinded by greed and have given up on the wishes of demonkind and their duties as Demon Lords. Do you intend to crush the hopes of demonkind by worrying about such individuals!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Who¡¯ll be the first sacrifice?¡± Barbatos asked quietly. ¡°In order to unite all of the Demon Lords, the human invasion must be massive. An enormous expeditionary force will approach us with their des held up high and it¡¯s only natural that at least one Demon Lord must fall to this expeditionary force before we can form the Crescent Alliance.¡± She was right. The Demon Lords won¡¯t try to cooperate until they see that the danger had gotten right under their noses. Until one, two, or, if we¡¯re unlucky, three of our kin fall, they won¡¯t realize the severity of the situation. If we don¡¯t unite, then we¡¯ll be taken out by the humans one by one, this sense of crisis must be shared. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but¡­¡­the ins Faction has to make a sacrifice first.¡± ¡°Keh. As I expected.¡± Barbatos chuckled. She must¡¯ve figured out what my intentions were. If a member of the ins Faction is killed by the human army first, then Barbatos will naturally have more authority. She couldfortably express her desire to get revenge on the humans. Furthermore, this would also obstruct all of the groundless rumors about how the ins Faction had created the ck Death¡­¡­. Barbatos stood up. She then walked towards me. ¡°You sure are cruel, Dantalian. You¡¯re seriously cruel.¡± There was a gloomy tone in her voice. She stroked her hand up from my stomach, chest, neck, and finally to my cheek. It almost felt as if she were going to take my life right this moment with this hand of hers. I boldly received her touch. ¡°When I left that mark on Riff¡¯s corpse, I was just looking forward to you see you grow even slightly. I believed that you would quarrel with Belial,pete with the Mountain Faction, and grow to be a splendid Demon Lord after many moons. It seems that I was the runt all along. Keke¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± ¡°All right. I¡¯ll cooperate. War? That¡¯s what I wanted. Sacrifice? If that was something that I clung to, then I would have given up a long time ago. I can endure anything if it¡¯s for the sake of a single moment of honorable war. I¡¯m a Demon Lord, after all.¡± Barbatos turned my chin. Her and my face were nose to nose as we stared at each other. The breath that flowed out from her small lips touched my face. ¡°But this is surprising and interesting. Dantalian, you definitely did this because you already know what my personality is like¡­¡­. How far are you looking forward and what do you desire? I¡¯m so curious where your path is going to lead you that I can¡¯t hold back anymore. Look.¡± She grabbed my hand and brought it between her legs. She pushed aside her skirt and brought my hand deeper before the tips of my fingers touched a thinyer of cloth. It was soaked. ¡°I¡¯m wet¡­¡­The mere thought of how cruel the war you¡¯ll bring will be excites me. It¡¯s my first time meeting such a devilish, nasty, and dog-like person.¡± Ah. It was that again. Her seduction spell. This time Barbatos was softly whispering to me while licking my ear. I felt dizzy. A carnal desire that couldn¡¯t bepared to before drove its way into my ear. It shook my brain and travelled down to my lower body through my spine. My body heated up. A viscous voice kept pouring over me as I desperately tried to maintain my sanity. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to be pounded by a dog-like bastard and pant like a bitch in heat¡­¡­want to give it a go?¡± That was it. My consciousness stopped here. The only thing I could vaguely remember was her and I having intercourse while pushing our way through the vast Demon Lord Pce. We connected in all sorts of different positions while utilizing various things like tables, chairs, and anything else we could get our hands on. She gasped between moans. I thought as I looked down at her. This is a type of contract. A secret contract between two people about participating in the scheme of making their kin fall to hell from now on¡­¡­. Winter approached. The season changed. On the first spring I met aftering to this world, Rank 49 Demon Lord Crocell of the ins Faction fell in battle against the humans¡¯ invasion. *** Author¡¯s Afterword ©¥ Chapter END. ©¥ Part 1 is now over. Part 2 will now begin. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Of course this section had to end like this. This reveal about the Demon Lords¡¯ true nature came out a lot sooner in the WN. It does make me curious to see how the war will progress if Barbatos is let in on this sooner. On another note, since I¡¯m done with this section, I¡¯ll be doing another chapter of Handholding. I sort of do wish that people would read that series more since I genuinely enjoy it. Although recent chapters have been a bit of a struggle cause I sort of feel like I¡¯m repeating myself a lot while tranting. Well, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 71: Filibuster (1) Chapter 71: Filibuster (1) Around the time Rank 49 Crocell was killed in battle, the 12 nations of the human world were spending their time energetically as usual. At a dome-shaped meeting hall with a high ceiling. This ce was almost inplete shambles. Theplexions on the faces of the aristocrats were daunting. They may not have been raising their swords, but they were saying every possible nder they could possibly think of to the other parties. They didn¡¯t care about keeping face even remotely despite all being key retainers of the empire. Today they were arguing over a matter rted to the military system. The Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction requested that the foreign mercenaries hired by the imperial pce should be disbanded immediately if they wished to pass their agenda. To this, the Imperial Prince¡¯s Faction responded that this was an ¡°extremelyplex issue¡±. If you were to trante this intoyman¡¯s terms, then they were basically telling the other party to ¡°go fuck yourselves¡±. In regard to this, the Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction responded that this was ¡°quite the unfortunate matter¡± which could easily be interpreted roughly as ¡°then fuck off¡±. Naturally, the matter regarding the military system exploded splendidly in the air. In short, the nobles shouting at each other was like the aftermath of a splendid fireworks session. ¡°Your wife does not have any breasts either!¡± ¡°What nonsense are you saying? My wife has excellent breasts, breasts that are ten times better than your wife¡¯s breasts. In that regard, your wife lives with an unsightly mole on her bottom.¡± ¡°What?¡± An aristocrat with a long mustache wrinkled his forehead. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± A fat aristocrat then responded: ¡°Because I saw it with my own two eyes. Not only have I seen it, but I¡¯ve touched it with this very hand. Moreover, I¡¯ve licked it with my tongue as well. What a lousy woman she was! I¡¯ve always wondered how someone as awful as you could have an experience as sacred as marriage, but my curiosity was answered after I saw your wife. Truly a match made in heaven.¡± The fat aristocrat nodded to himself. The mustached aristocrat¡¯s face became pale. I was wondering why that harlot had stopped nagging, but she was cheating on me, huh¡­¡­? ¡°Your wife is nothing to write home about either. Her breasts may berge, but that¡¯s it. Her face isn¡¯t good at all. Furthermore, she weighs so much that I doubt any sow is as heavy as she is. She kept trying to kiss me while we were doing it, but she almost crushed me to death.¡± A third party, a bald noble man intervened in the conversation. He belonged to the same faction as the mustached aristocrat. Because the mustached man seemed to be in a daze after the fact that his wife cheated on him became public, the bald man had stepped in to save him. ¡°A-Are you mocking my wife?¡± The fat aristocrat¡¯s nostrils red. The bald noble paid him no mind as he shrugged. ¡°What? Did you not also mock that man¡¯s wife?¡± ¡°I request a duel!¡± ¡°All right.¡± The bald noble nodded. ¡°But first have a duel with that person. The sequence would only be correct if you were to do that first.¡± The Imperial Princess was watching this unfold from her upper seat. No, she wasn¡¯t watching them. She was covering her face with her hands. Elizabeth Atanaxia Evatriae von Habsburg. She had already received the position of an earl, was referred to as an unprecedented prodigy at the age of sixteen, and was revered as the hope of the Habsburg Empire. The Imperial Princess with beautiful silver hair was, however, despairing over the currentmotion¡­¡­. These nobles were the highest leading members of the Habsburg Empire¡¯s government. They were all capable people who received the best possible education since they were little. In other words, they were the Habsburg Empire¡¯s ¡®finest¡¯. Was this not a nightmare? The empire¡¯s supreme council was reaching its climax. ¡°No¡­¡­telling me to take on two opponents at once is cowardly.¡± ¡°Being called cowardly is not an issue. I personally enjoy being called cowardly. To be honest, every time I hear the word cowardly, the area around my nipples gets tingly.¡± ¡°Dear Lord, how horrible¡­¡­. Who would have guessed that this bald man was a masochistic pervert.¡± The bald noble then shouted angrily. ¡°Do not mock masochism?!¡± The other nobles who were rambling around them became startled. They all turned to look at the bald noble. The bald man was well-known for his sly tone and arrogance, but no one had ever seen him get upset. The fat aristocrat must have also been startled as he stammered. ¡°W-What sort of tone is that when we both have simr statuses?¡± ¡°The person with a bad tone is you!¡± The bald noble¡¯s head became red. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you jeer at me or my wife, but I will not allow you to mock masochism!¡± ¡°E-Excuse me¡­¡­ Are you insane? Masochism or whatever¡­¡­ is that not simply the antics of degenerates!?¡± The nobles around them nodded. Everyone nodded regardless of their factions. Masochism is perverted, this was an indisputable fact. This miraculous unity must have given the fat aristocrat courage as he eximed energetically. ¡°To not only enjoy being hit by others but to feel it sexually as well? How is that not the behavior of degenerates? It is so slovenly that that man who ys with the wives of other people appear gentlemanly. No, at least there is some romance in the act of ying with other people¡¯s wives! Masochism is simply a side of degeneracy!¡± The other nobles nodded their heads again. Their factions didn¡¯t matter this time as well. The reason was simple. When it came to sharing their wives with each other, they all belonged in the same faction. They were male nobles and the act of hunting for other people¡¯s wives was treated as an activity that befitted male nobles. ¡°Hmph.¡± The bald man didn¡¯t back down as he let out a snort. ¡°Romance? How ridiculous. You do not know what romance even means. You do not know what true romance is! You all most likely believe that you are living passionate lives while carrying out childish activities.¡± The nobles started to stir. They looked terribly displeased. They might have been fine with their political beliefs being denied, but they absolutely would not allow someone to deny them of their sexual romances. ¡°Drag that bastard out!¡± ¡°How dare you mock the supreme council of the Habsburg Empire!¡± ¡°We must indict him for ndering our empire!¡± Shouts erupted from here and there. Their heads were raised up high and their necks were red. In this dome-shaped building, only a single person, Imperial Princess Elizabeth, was gradually lowering her head. The ones ndering the supreme council of the Habsburg Empire isn¡¯t just the bald nobleman but all of you, you lustful mutts¡­¡­. Of course, the Imperial Princess was an exception among exceptions. The absolute majority was yelling with the intent to scalp the bald man. The bald man must have felt as if he were Socrates. Like the time the philosopher stepped forward to expose the truth in the courts of Athens. While feeling as if he were the guardian of his personal beliefs??with eyes that didn¡¯t have even the slightest bit of doubt??the bald noble spoke in a clear voice. ¡°Masochism, I assure you that this is the peak of sexual romances. Compared to this, extramarital affairs are below the dirt. In other words, the degenerate act of dogs. You foolish plebians! What possible meaning could extramarital affairs have besides the ruin of socialws? Love does not exist there.¡± The bald man made a fist and raised it into the air. ¡°That is right. Love. Extramarital affairs are only filled with greed that is mistaken for love. On the other hand, how about masochism? In order to enjoy masochism, it is necessary to have a partner who will treat you poorly. A sadistic partner who will dly hit, bind, and step on you. A partner like that is rare and valuable¡­¡­. Next, consider the most fundamental part of masochism: the binding. Imagine if my hands were bound by rope right now!¡± He shouted ardently. The man was overflowing with passion. ¡°No matter what I do, I cannot free myself¡­¡­My heart pounds! That is right, being so scared that your heart pounds is the meaning of being bound. Especially if it is someone else who binds you¡­¡­that terror would obviously be immense! To allow such a thing, to trust someone so unconditionally, no, to trust each other in such a way! This is what masochism is!¡± The other nobles looked at each other nkly. Was this argument not a lot more rational than expected? They began to listen to the bald man more. He was going with the flow. ¡°Everyone has a desire to be tormented. Everyone wishes for someone else to conquer them and we also long for someone to vite us until we be messes¡­¡­Am I wrong, you hypocrites!?¡± He is right. The nobles of Habsburg who were more honest about their sexual desires than anyone else nodded their heads. He is right, I say. I also asionally wish for someone to pound me from behind like a beast. To be able to feel that heavy weight on my entire body¡­¡­a certain earl muttered quietly to himself with a dreamy gaze. He didn¡¯t realize that the duke next to him had heard him and was shocked. ¡°Why do we feel delighted about respecting thew? Why do we listen to the acmation of our conscience when we follow ethics? Why would we feel such things if it weren¡¯t for our innate sadistic and masochistic tendencies? I will solemnly dere right now that, simr to how all ethics have a little masochism in them, there is a little ethics in masochism as well! Listen to your partner¡¯s eager requests and dly hit their rear. If this is not love and respect, then I do not know what is!¡± The fat aristocrat fell back on his seat. ¡°I-Impossible¡­¡­. Are you telling me that I have been wrong all this time? Masochism is not immoral, but love instead¡­¡­?¡± The corners of the bald man¡¯s mouth lifted up. ¡°That is correct. Masochism is the zenith of all sexual romances! You are the pervert for calling this act, that is so filled with love, perverted. You are truly pitiful. You are truly pitiful for not knowing what love is.¡± The meeting room filled with apuse. The other nobles were touched by the bald man¡¯s speech. They felt incredibly satisfied because they were able to listen to such an excellent debate for the first time in a long while, especially with a sexual topic like this. There were even people who were rating this as the greatest speech they had ever heard in the supreme court in recent times. Solely, solely the Imperial Princess alone had to hold her aching head. ¡°I-I cannot ept this.¡± The fat aristocrat who was abruptly turned into a pervert by a pervert trembled. He murmured. ¡°Masochism is not the peak of sexual romances.¡± ¡°Hmph, it seems the defeated is trying to struggle till the bitter end.¡± ¡°No! I understand your genuine mindset of pursuing sexual romances. I give you my sincerest respect in that regard¡­¡­. However, I cannot ept that masochism is the peak.¡± The bald noble furrowed his brows. ¡°You cannot ept it? Hah. Are you saying that something like cheating on your spouse is the highest act? That is quite the peak you have there.¡± ¡°Wrong!¡± The fat aristocrat shouted in anger. ¡°The peak of sexual romances is incest! Especially the incestual love shared warmly between brother and sister??!¡± ¡­¡­. The meeting hall froze. The mouths of the nobles were held open in shock. Even the guards who were supposed to always be emotionless were taken aback. , this silent chorus was being sung by everyone present in the meeting room whose mouths were hanging open. Even the guardian of masochism, the bald noble, was put into a daze because of this world-shaking deration. ¡°Stop already, you lunatics¡­¡­.¡± The Imperial Princess now felt a skull-shattering pain as she muttered those words. Her voice was mixed with so much anguish and sadness that one wouldn¡¯t believe that it hade out the mouth of a 16-year-old. Her radiant silver hair appeared strangely dull right now. Nheless, the Imperial Princess¡¯ words were too weak. No one had heard her. Even if they honestly did hear her, they would have probably ignored her deliberately. Including the fat aristocrat who asserted incest just now. The fat aristocrat continued. ¡°The beauty of sex is in immorality. An act that is forbidden by society! An act that most consider as ethically disagreeable! These things are impregnable walls. Sexual romances have value only when you have to cross those intimidating walls for the sake of love. Think about a love story between a noble and a peasant. Why is their love noble? ¡­¡­The answer is simple. It is because their households do not permit it. It is because they continue to pursue their love, despite the resistance from their families, that their love proves to be more precious than the wall known as family ties. Thus their love is noble.¡± The other nobles slowly nodded their heads. His view appeared right as well. The fat aristocrat seemed to gain confidence from this reaction as he continued boldly. ¡°That is correct. The higher the wall is, the higher the value of the love we obtain bes. The perilousness of the wall proves how much value that love has. If the one you love is poorer than you, and yet you still love them, that love is noble. Behold. In recent times, is there a wall higher than homosexuality? How about incest? Is there a wall taller than incest? Adding to this??if homosexuality and incest were to fuse together, would a love that¡¯s capable of oveing such a ginormous wall exist? If not, then is there a love that is as great as the love between brothers? No. There absolutely is not!¡± The fat aristocrat spoke with an expression filled withment. ¡°How strong must their bond be for brothers to love each other¡­¡­? Imagine how fierce their love could be. A type of anguish that weighs almost as much as the continent itself would most likely press down on their love. They would suffer and agonize over this time and time again. Why am I like this? Why do I love my brother? I should not do this, I must not, and yet¡­¡­.¡± The fat aristocrat¡¯s tone sounded so pragmatic that people couldn¡¯t help but imagine it. Their hearts felt heavy. How much must they love each other? ¡°They would most likely treat the one they love cold-heartedly. They would run to a temple and pray to God about their love. O Lord, why have you given me this love? With a love like this, hatred would seem like gold. Please take away from me this love, this zing heart¡­¡­. And yet, despite this, they cannot stop their love¡­¡­!¡± Tears welled up in the fat aristocrat¡¯s eyes. The other nobles sympathized with hismenting tone. Ah, that truly is a grand love. ¡°Like an unstoppable flood! Like an overwhelming summer storm! You cannot possibly suppress the love between two brothers. What could befall those two? They are proving with their love that there are no ethics,ws, or emotions greater than love! Love is something that shows to us directly how great it is! In this dreary era, in this era where we would even kill our previousrades like flies for the sake of our political beliefs, how could the love between brothers not be blinding¡­¡­?¡± The fat aristocrat looked up with moist eyes that were on the brink of crying. Silence fell over the meeting room. It wasn¡¯t a heavy silence. The nobles were touched by the fat aristocrat¡¯s speech. Yeah, he is right, someone whispered. That¡¯s what love is. Love is something that does not bend no matter how much society and those around you go against it. This is why people are great. That¡¯s right, the other nobles agreed. Having been moved by the fat aristocrat¡¯s deration, they then started to converse with one another. I¡¯ll try loving my brother from now on. I¡¯ll dote on my little brother. On top of a bed, that is. Yup. Hear, hear. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The bald noble who had imed masochism was the peak of sexual romances walked forward. He approached the fat aristocrat and held his right hand out. ¡°I have lost. This is your victory.¡± ¡°No. There are no losers here.¡± The fat aristocrat smiled brightly. It was the face of a man in his fifties, so his innocent and beautiful smile was a rare sight to behold. ¡°We are all victors for acknowledging each others¡¯ beliefs.¡± ¡°Heh, that is true¡­¡­.¡± The two then shook hands. Arge round of apuse followed after. One of the nobles whistled. Currently, at this very moment and location, there was no Imperial Prince¡¯s Faction or Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction. Only tolerance existed here. In this era of the empire¡¯s ongoing decline, they had finally reconciled after having shed countless drops of blood and tears. A breathtaking miracle was taking ce here. Only a single person, the Imperial Princess was excluded from this. ¡°¡­¡­Charles.¡± The Imperial Princess called out to the knight who was standing behind her. The knight didn¡¯t respond. He had also been moved by the speech and was apuding fervently. It wasn¡¯t until the Imperial Princess called out to him once more that he regained his senses. ¡°Charles.¡± ¡°Huh? Y-Yes! Your Excellency!¡± ¡°Drag those fools out of here right this instant.¡± The knight named Charles seemed troubled by this order. ¡°Uhm¡­¡­Your Excellency. One of them is an influential person of our faction.¡± ¡°Do you think I am not aware of that?¡± Elizabeth let out a dejectedugh. Her eyes looked as if she had given up on everything. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn¡¯t an expression that a 16-year-old should make, but it suited her perfectly. ¡°No, I wish I did not know¡­¡­. For a man who had a homosexual and incestual rtionship to be an influential member of the Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction. If the people from the church were to find out about this, they would most likely strip down and start dancing. They might designate today as an anniversary. Charles. Batter those fools.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­¡­with my bare hands, Your Excellency?¡± The Imperial Princess shook her head firmly. ¡°No. With a cudgel.¡± ¡°A-As Your Excellencymands.¡± Charles bowed. He then promptly approached the culprits behind the ruckus. They were grabbed by their cors. They were dragged away as everyone else could only let out a confused ¡®huh?¡¯. The two nobles couldn¡¯t resist the strength of a knight as they were dragged out of the meeting hall helplessly. ¡°Guaaaaaah!¡± ¡°Kuhaa, kuhaaaak!¡± Cutthroat screams could be heard from outside the meeting room. It was a gruesome sound. Beads of sweat began to form on the foreheads of the nobles that remained in the conference room. The awe and love that had wrapped around them a moment ago were long gone and a cold northern wind took their ce. The knight returned shortly after. He went back to standing behind the Imperial Princess as if nothing had happened. There was blood on his right cheek, but there was no one brave enough to point it out. The Imperial Princess spoke. ¡°Let us proceed to the next matter on the agenda. The ck Death.¡± The nobles nodded their heads enthusiastically. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I mentioned it before, but I¡¯m already back to the DD WN because the recent chapter of Handholding was pretty short. Furthermore, this section of DD is also rtively short, so I figured it¡¯d be fine toe back to this real quick before returning to Handholding. Nothing much else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. Chapter 72: Filibuster (2) Chapter 72: Filibuster (2) The conference was over. Imperial Princess Elizabeth undid her hair tie as soon as she returned to her office. She then threw herself on the floor. ¡°I cannot stand this!¡± ¡°P-Pleasepose yourself.¡± ¡°Compose myself? Do I look like I canpose myself? Sexual romances? You damn mongrels, if I could chew you up, then I would dly be a cannibal.¡± The Imperial Princess couldn¡¯t ovee her anger as she struck the wall. Bang, a hole was punctured through the section she had punched. Since she was also a swordsman who was capable of controlling her aura at will, the wall couldn¡¯t handle her excessive strength as it broke. The knight, Charles, closed his eyes as he flinched. If she gets worked up, then even the emperor himself visiting wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop her. ¡°The people of the empire are continuing to die by each passing day due to the ck Death! Our finances have already fallen into ruin long ago due to those people¡¯s merrymaking, while our military is the only thing that is functioning properly. And yet, those mongrels.¡± ¡°Please do not say such obscene words with Your Excellency¡¯s sacred mouth¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Those sons of bitches gathered at the assembly today and bickered shrewdly! They do not even do anything! They leave the management of their territories entirely to their stand-ins and lead dissolute lives gathered in the Imperial Pce!¡± The Imperial Princess fumed. ¡°This nation is hopeless. It is no different from a sewer.¡± ¡°Y-Your Excellency.¡± The knight sweated profusely. Not only were the people of the empire aware of the signs of the Habsburg Empire¡¯s declining future, but the entire continent was aware of it as well. Despite this, this was the imperial pce, the heart of the empire. Who knows what crimes you could be charged for if people found out that you were ndering the nation. The Imperial Princess continued to shout despite the knight¡¯s attempt at calming her down. ¡°Do they truly find my presence to be that sickening!?¡± She already knew. The nobles were ipetent, but they were as crafty as foxes when it came to their own benefits. The reason why they wasted time chatting about something as pointless as sexual romances was??none other than to chase the imperial princess out. A long time has passed since the first and second prince had stopped participating in the supreme council. They are probably ying around with whatever maid they were able to get their hands on right now. The Imperial Princess participated in the supreme council despite their absence. The nobles who participated on the sides of the first and second princes most likely felt ufortable by this. They were afraid that the agenda would proceed towards a more advantageous situation for the Imperial Princess if they made even the slightest mistake. That¡¯s why they deliberately dragged the subject towards adultery and incest since they were things that would undoubtedly trouble ady of virtue. In order to prevent the Imperial Princess from intervening. It was hard to imagine how much of a political impact there would be if a rumor that ¡®the Imperial Princess seemed to have a sizeable interest in homosexuality and incest¡¯ were to spread¡­¡­. The Imperial Princess had no other choice but to silently wait for their obscene discussion to end. The nobles were indirectly protesting to Elizabeth, the Imperial Princess. ? We have no honor or dignity to lose even if we acted like fools. ? And yet, does Your Excellency the Imperial Princess not have many things you could possibly lose? ? This is a meeting room that only nobles can enter. Do not go out of your way to sully Your Excellency¡¯s precious ears and please take your leave. We wille to an agreement regarding our nation¡¯s general public on our own. They thoroughly rejected the Imperial Princess from the council. Even a noble of her faction agreed with their sentiment. They¡¯ll most likely im that they only wished for her to leave the matters to her underlings and to be at ease, but how could the Imperial Princess not be aware of their true intentions? They did not want their authority of deciding on important empire matters to be impeded on. In the end, time passed and the meeting was adjourned. The nobles dispersed without having resolved even a single agenda. That wasn¡¯t all. An hour hadn¡¯t even passed since the meeting had ended, and yet, rumors about how the Imperial Princess had unjustly punished two nobles had already begun to circte between the maids. The Imperial Princess became keenly aware of how unseemly and tiresome the interest group that didn¡¯t care about their dignity was. ¡°Oh dear. The vibrations caused by Your Excellency¡¯s kicks are reaching the far corners of the pce.¡± The door opened and a man entered the office. He had a pleasant smile on his face. He was a member of the Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction and managed the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Imperial Princess nced at the man before letting out a sigh. ¡°Sir Heidelburg. I am doing this for people to hear.¡± ¡°Those nobles would not care regardless. Your Excellency should know very well that they aremonly known as the most stubborn people on the continent.¡± ¡°I am going mad.¡± She plopped herself down on a luxurious sofa. Her anger had finally subsided after venting it all out for a moment. She groaned. ¡°I am only 16-years-old and yet I feel as if I am going to prematurely start having gray hair¡­¡­. It is fine to bet whether I will pass away or not due to a mental disorder caused by repressed anger and stress within the next 10 years.¡± ¡°Is Your Excellency¡¯s hair not silver? No one would notice even if your hair started to go gray.¡± ¡°Are you trying to say that as a joke right now?¡± The corner of the Imperial Princess¡¯s mouth twitched. The manager of foreign affairsughed. He then promptly got rid of his smile and got serious. ¡°The messenger has arrived. The Brittany-Batavia Alliance has subjugated Rank 49 Demon Lord Crocell¡¯s castle. They say that they mobilized a force of 3,000 men. ording to the alliance, they say that the Demon Lord Castle was filled with valuables. A total of 10 gold coins were distributed per person, so it must not be entirely an exaggeration.¡± The Imperial Princess¡¯s expression became serious as well. ¡°Do you intend to resolve this matter by pouring the grievances of the nation onto the Demon Lords? That is quite distasteful.¡± ¡°They are quick on their feet. To a certain degree, the Demon Lords are the ones who spread the ck Death. Thus the royal family had punished them ordingly, so do not use the royal family¡­¡­. I apologize, Your Excellency. We do not have any other options.¡± ¡°What did the higher-ups of our army say?¡± ¡°They say that they would act immediately as long as His Highness the Emperor gave them the order.¡± The Imperial Princess let out a sigh. ¡°Sir Heidelburg.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Do you know how this rotten nation was able tost this long?¡± The manager of foreign affairs furrowed his brows with a troubled look on his face. He hesitantly opened his mouth. ¡°Because of the secret acts of virtue by His Highness the Emperor and because we have the blessings of the Gods¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So you can release tulence from even your mouth. There is only one reason. It is because our militia is excessively talented.¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth drank straight from the wine bottle that was on the table. Although this was a demeanor that a member of the imperial family shouldn¡¯t be disying, both Heidelburg, the administrator of foreign affairs, and Charles, the knight, couldn¡¯t say anything to stop her. She emptied half the bottle in an instant. ¡°Kuh. Grievances have been piling up endlessly throughout the country. Constant years of poor harvest, a broken economy, policy errors, and an epidemic this year. Whenever these grievances pile up, our great Habsburg Empire always invades somewhere. We thene out victorious. Our people then get drunk off of that victory and, for a brief moment, forget about the suffering that is reality¡­¡­. This is how it has been. We have been covering up our national failures with the sesses of our militia.¡± It might be thanks to continuous luck, but great generals kept being born in the Habsburg Empire. In the past hundred years, the number of wars the Habsburg Empire had lost could be counted on a single hand. Adding to this, they weren¡¯t great losses either. The people took pride in the empire¡¯s strength andforted themselves by saying that despite their difficult lives, they were still better off than other countries. ¡°It is an excessively deformed system. The pce nobles believe that the militia will handle everything for them. Themon people believe this as well. Instead of trying to put in the effort to solve something politically, they invest everything into our army¡­¡­. When ites to our army, the empire does not distinguish betweenmoners or nobles.¡± ¡°Our forces being capable is a great blessing.¡± ¡°I know that!¡± She mmed her fist on the table. ¡°On the contrary, that talent is shaving away at the empire. Are the chief retainers not doing whatever they please because they believe they can cover up their political failures with war!? The same thing is happening this time as well. With no hesitation whatsoever, they suggested that we should relieve the grievances caused by the ck Death through a war against the Demon Lords!¡± ¡°Your Excellency.¡± ¡°What happened to taking responsibility for not carrying out proper preventive measures against the epidemic? What happened to being reprimanded for not acquiring ck Herb inrge quantities¡­¡­? I am sick of this. They do not have even the slightest sense of responsibility.¡± A stillness fell over the room. The administrator and the knight stood silently. The Imperial Princess realized that nothing woulde from venting her anger now. She gave a sincere apology. ¡°I apologize. I showed you two something unsightly.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. We know that Your Excellency worries about the safety of our nation more than anyone else. Nheless, we simply wish to inform Your Excellency that it would be a good idea to hastily participate in the subjugation of a Demon Lord Castle as well.¡± The administrator of foreign affairs spoke brightly. ¡°I have looked into an appropriate Demon Lord Castle beforehand. Your Excellency, have you perhaps heard about the Keuncuska Firm?¡± ¡°The Keuncuska Firm?¡± The Imperial Princess fell into deep thought. Out of the approximately 300 merchant group she was aware of, Keuncuska Firm was a name which she did not know. She shook her head. ¡°This is my first time hearing of it.¡± ¡°It is a firm which only a small minority of people know. This is because it operates in the demon world. They are able to easily obtain items that humans normally cannot get their hands on, so only the highest of aristocrats utilize their services.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The weariness in the Imperial Princess¡¯ gaze vanished. A merchant group that is operating in the demon world was a rather interesting topic. Once the administrator noticed that her mood was improving, he spoke in a more casual and brighter tone. He entertained the Imperial Princess¡¯ ears with his wide knowledge regarding the demon world. As a rising noble in his twenties, the young man had both talent and aspirations. Thus, once he came to the realization that the future of the empire was with the Imperial Princess, he swore his loyalty to her. He had a habit of willingly changing his expression and tone if it meant he could make his lord happy. The Imperial Princess was aware of this as she felt pleased on the inside. ¡®A fortune among misfortunes. There are many talented people among the young nobles.¡¯ The chief retainers that were currently ruling the empire were all equally greedy; however, their sessors were different. Not only were they so honorable that one wouldn¡¯t believe they shared the blood of their fathers, but they were talented as well. After exactly one decade, they will inherit their fathers¡¯ titles of nobility. The empire will be able to transform itself into an entirely different form by then¡­¡­.¡± ¡®What the empire requires is 10 years.¡¯ The Imperial Princess managed to regain her smile. She has been enduring each passing day with her hopes of the future. As she chuckled at the administrator¡¯s skill at talking, she suddenly had a question. ¡®¡­¡­How could those pathetic nobles have suchpetent children?¡¯ It was a matter which she had never thought about before. She pondered deeply about it for a moment, but she soon set it aside. Even she was the daughter of an emperor who was crazy about his carnal desires. It seems the im that children resemble their parents was a lie. The gap between the perfectly ipetent current generation and the perfectlypetent next generation. It almost felt as if someone had deliberately separated the generations like this. ¡®There is no way that could be possible.¡¯ The Imperial Princess berated herself. In any case, there was hope. In only ten years, the irresponsibility, greed, and current degree of ipetence that are currently covering the empire will quickly disappear. Covering up the political evils of the nation with war??although this is nothing more than a temporary solution, it should easily be able tost another 10 years. ¡°ording to the secret information I received from the Keuncuska Firm, Rank 68 Belial¡¯s Demon Lord Castleespeciallyshould have arge number of gold coins.¡± ¡°Rank 68? Is their rank not excessively low? Generally, the higher the rank, the more goods there are to plunder in their Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°I was worried about that as well, but the people at the Keuncuska Firm said¡­¡­.¡± After a brief discussion, the Imperial Princess gave her seal of approval to dispatch the troops. There was nothing much to deliberate on. Compared to the retainers in the pce, the imperial army of Habsburg was vastly more capable. A thousand imperial soldiers were more than enough to take care of a mere Rank 68 Demon Lord. For the Imperial Princess, the Demon Lords were nothing more than fools. They have never been able to unite. The past history of several thousands years proved this to be true. Elizabeth, the Imperial Princess, was certain that their attitudes wouldn¡¯t abruptly change after a single one of their castles is conquered. Revved up by her approval, the dispatch of troops was immediately permitted during the conference of nobles that was carried out the following day. Even the nobles weed the idea of sending out their troops in order to direct the grievances caused by the ck Death towards the Demon Lords. The imperial soldiers who had already been preparing to leave immediately set off as soon as they received the order. There were two things that Elizabeth, the Imperial Princess, and the Habsburg Empire had overlooked. First, it wasn¡¯t only the Habsburg Empire, but every nation in the human continent had dispatched their troops towards Demon Lord Castles that were appropriate to them. Contrary to the Imperial Princess¡¯ intentions, a total of 12 Demon Lord Castles were engulfed in the mes of war. And second??the information spread by the Keuncuska Firm was fabricated. ¡°And then they told me that the food in the demon world is normally spicy! Seriously, I thought a hole would melt through my tongue!¡± ¡°Fufu.¡± The young Imperial Princess chuckled lightly in response to the administrator¡¯s exaggerated body gestures. In the end, she had no idea that all of this was going ording to a single Demon Lord¡¯s n. It wasn¡¯t only her, but the leading members of the 12 nations that exist on the continent all had no idea as well. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. People really seemed split in half about the previous chapter. It was mostly rified in this chapter, but I do admit the previous chapter went on for a bit too long. It did make a point, though. In any case, life goes on. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 73: Filibuster (3) Chapter 73: Filibuster (3) * * * The official residence of the mayor of Niflheim. A heated discussion was currently being had in the same ce where the hearing was held a while ago. If Walpurgis Night is a gathering that¡¯s organized for the sake of socializing, the Demon Lords currently present had gathered hastily in order to discuss the events that were happening in the human world. The scale was different as well. Different from Walpurgis Night which only had 32 Demon Lords in attendance, there were no less than sixty Demon Lords here at the moment. Practically every Demon Lord was present. ¡°We must burn down the Frank Empire! Even the women and children.¡± ¡°Leave! If you intend to only say such things, then leave right this instant!¡± ¡°Get out! There¡¯s no reason to even listen to the ins Faction¡¯s nonsense??.¡± ¡°We should rip out the insides of every human that exists on the surface!¡± The conference room was in an uproar. Dozens of people were talking over each other. It was impossible to distinguish who was saying what, so the entire conference room looked like a massive mouth to me. That massive mouth was making iprehensible noises without end. I whispered to Barbatos. ¡°I can¡¯t see an end to this.¡± ¡°Hmph. Serious meetings held by Demon Lords are usually like this.¡± Barbatos answered with an irate expression on her face. She wasn¡¯t upset at me but was actually pretending to be angry right now. She was attending this meeting as the head of the ins Faction, so she had to show that much dignity. The ins Faction had lost one of their Demon Lords. There was a need for her to disy to the others around us that their faction¡¯s loss angered her greatly. I furtively nced around the room. The room wasrgely divided into 4 groups. A majority of the Demon Lords were standing on the left side of the room. The Mountain Faction. Among them, Paimon was looking forward while in deep thought about something. The ins Faction was upying the right side of the room. With Barbatos at the center, the ins Faction Demons Lords were standing in a row on both of her sides. Roughly 10 Neutral Faction Demon Lords were clustered around the entrance of the room. I could see Rank 5 Marbas, the one who handled the proceedings of the hearingst time, standing among them. Finally, on the opposite side of the entrance, there were 5 Demon Lords seated at the seats of honor. They were all silent and looked either unfriendly or bored. No one could approach them as they were the 5 strongest monarchs present in the conference room. Rank 2 Agares. Rank 3 Vassago. Rank 4 Gamigin. Rank 6 Valefor. Rank 7 Amon. Not a single one of them had uttered a word since the meeting had started. Nheless, you could still tell that everyone who was currently shouting and screaming was being conscious of the 6 monarchs. Despite the 6 monarchs¡¯ silence, they were releasing a formless pressure. I also had goosebumps. Their aura was intense. I whispered to Barbatos. ¡°Hey, why are they acting like a bunch of mutes?¡± ¡°Because old man Baal isn¡¯t here.¡± Baal was referring to the Rank 1 Demon Lord. ¡°Even if they bbered right now, it¡¯d be moot once old man Baal shows up. If they pointlessly assert something now and that old man denies itter, then fuck, they¡¯d just be losing face.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me to endure this marketce ruckus until Baal shows up? How dreadful.¡± ¡°Hm. Yeah, it is dreadful. I should get them sorted once.¡± Barbatos stood up. The Demon Lords that belonged to the ins Faction shut their mouths. Barbatos then shouted at a volume which one wouldn¡¯t believe coulde out from such a small body. ¡°Quiet!¡± Her voice echoed throughout the conference room. Themotion died down in an instant. The Demon Lords who had been arguing all turned to look at Barbatos and she red back at them. They quietly turned their heads away once their eyes met hers. Barbatos spoke in a tone overflowing with grandeur which was aplete contrast to her usual demeanor. ¡°Rank 49 Crocell has died. Rank 50 Furcas has lost his Demon Lord Castle as well. The other races that imed to be allies of demonkind in the human world have abandoned us without any hesitation.¡± She waved her right hand. Arge, transparent map appeared in midair. The human continent was drawn on the map and the Demon Lord Castles of all 72 Demon Lords were marked on it. An X was drawn over the two castles that were marked as ¡®Crocell¡¯ and ¡®Furcas¡¯. ¡°ording to the most recent piece of information we were able to obtain, the army of the Habsburg Empire has begun to march north. Is there anyone here who has more information regarding this?¡± ¡°My informant within Habsburg told me something.¡± A Demon Lord from the Neutral Faction responded. ¡°He informed me that the imperial army has departed towards the Valencia province. Rank 68 Belial and Rank 61 Zagan are located there. We must prepare for the invasion from the northern region of Habsburg!¡± ¡°That is absurd!¡± A Demon Lord from the Mountain Faction shouted. ¡°The Empire of Habsburg has not made any moves. Our armies are more than enough to handle the empire. The humans are not invading, they are trying to appease the other races! They are using this opportunity to create an alliance. Even now, the fairies and dwarves are meeting with the human messengers! They are trying to create an anti-Demon Lord Alliance. There is a chance that we may once again lose our control over the other races within the human world.¡± ¡°Nonsense!¡± A ins Faction Demon Lord retorted this time. ¡°The fairies and dwarves will not go against their stance as neutral parties! They know very well about our power. I am certain that humans are creating an alliance with other humans. The Habsburg Empire is not the only group that has moved! All 12 nations have mobilized. They intend to gather their forces at the entrance to the ck Desert.¡± Thud, the conference room shook. Barbatos stomping caused a small earthquake to ur. Once everyone¡¯s eyes were focused on her, she spoke. ¡°We will first merge the pieces of information that we have. We cannot have a discussion when our information differs. Paimon.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Did you call for thisdy?¡± Paimon, the leader of the Mountain Faction, responded. She gave Barbatos a doubtful gaze. Barbatos and Paimon are well-known for being enemies. Barbatos also despised the idea of conversing with Paimon, but she had no other choice but to put up an act right now because of my earnest request. ¡°My ins Faction acquired the information that all 12 nations of the human world have mobilized their troops. We also have a good idea as to where each army is going. How about the Mountain Faction?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon ced her chin on her hand. She was most likely contemting how she should respond. I already know that she received the same information as the ins Faction. I was the one who ordered for the information to leak to her as well, after all. Barbatos had chosen me as her advisor, so the ins Faction had acted as one under my ns. Paimon let out a sigh. ¡°We have acquired the same information. Thisdy is aware that the armies of all 12 nations have moved.¡± ¡°You probably know quite well where their armies are heading.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I will not deny it.¡± Barbatos flicked her wrist. Once she did, thick lines were drawn on the map that was hovering in the air. The 12 lines represented the human armies. Each line started from the capital of each nation and headed towards different locations. Among them were the already destroyed castles of Crocell and Furcas. Finally, the lines all merged together at one point. ¡°The northern region of the continent. It is where an absolute majority of our Demon Lord Castles are located.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon didn¡¯t answer. Everyone understood that her silence meant she wasn¡¯t denying it, thus the room broke out into an uproar once again. The Demon Lords began to mor. Their shouts came pouring out like a flood. ¡°Is that true, Miss Paimon!?¡± ¡°This is not a simple invasion! Those human bastards are forming an alliance!¡± ¡°Those damn pieces of trash! How dare they try to aim for ournd!¡± I mentally chuckled. For the past 5 months, I had pulled a countless number of strings in order to control the movement of the human armies. The Keuncuska Firm made many bribes in order to approach the higher echelon of the human world and managed to seed in spreading our information. The paths of 12 armies merging into one is the result of that. Each respective course of the 12 armies was headed towards a single direction. There¡¯s no way people would check this off as a mere coincidence. They would naturally begin to worry and think that the humans are preparing for a massive invasion. Adding fuel to their concern, the two Demon Lord Castles that were in their path had actually been conquered. A Demon Lord had even died in battle. The human invasion isn¡¯t something to be taken lightly. It wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to believe this to be the case¡­¡­. ¡°Please assist me! My Demon Lord Castle is in danger!¡± A Demon Lord with a mustache cried out. Once I whispered to Barbatos and asked her who he was, I was informed that he was Rank 68 Belial. In many regards, he was someone I had an ill-fated rtionship with. The reason for Belial¡¯s urgency is simple, it¡¯s because his Demon Lord Castle is located right in the path of Habsburg¡¯s imperial army. Habsburg¡¯s imperial army has 2,000 men. It wasn¡¯t a number which Belial, a Rank 68 Demon Lord, could possibly handle. Belial must feel like danger is at his doorsteps. ¡°Please assist me!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Our great cause must not crumble because of the humans! We are the predators and the humans are our prey. We must not let the hunters be the hunted¡­¡­. Please, I beg of you!¡± The other Demon Lords turned away as if they found Belial to be bothersome. As long as the mes of war weren¡¯t going to engulf them any time soon, they weed the potential decrease inpetitors. This was most likely what they were thinking. Belial¡¯splexion became pale. He approached Paimon with weak steps. Did he intend to rely on the head of the faction he belonged to? Belial got on his knees and raised a hand towards Paimon. ¡°Miss Paimon, please help me. A thousand, no, if you send an army of at least 500 men! This humble one, Belial will never forget your grace.¡± Paimon remained silent. As expected, she was wise. If she announced here that she was going to send him reinforcements, then that could be interpreted as the Mountain Faction¡¯s intent to actively participate in the war. The risk was too high for her since she was the leader of the Mountain Faction that went against the idea of going to war with humans. She spoke quietly. ¡°For now, please be silent.¡± ¡°Miss Paimon!¡± Belial¡¯splexion changed into that of shock. Paimon had just abandoned Belial for the sake of the Mountain Faction as a whole. This may have been a rational decision for the leader of the faction to make, but in the case of Belial, who had just been tossed aside, it was a statement that broke his will. This is the time. I looked at Barbatos. She noticed my gaze and nodded. Barbatos¡¯ voice echoed deeply throughout the conference room. ¡°Belial, I, Barbatos, will help you.¡± ¡°I-Is that true!?¡± The eyes of the other Demon Lords opened wide in surprise. The ins Faction and the Mountain Faction being archrivals is a well-known fact. There¡¯s no way they wouldn¡¯t be surprised when the leader of the ins Faction, Barbatos, offered to help a member of the Mountain Faction. Paimon furrowed her brows as she red at Barbatos. Nevertheless, Barbatos uttered the words we had discussed beforehand. ¡°We arepatriots. Although we may normally be enemies, we are all living under a single goal of conquering the human world. How could we allow ourselves to be tied down by our usual favor and spite and ignore our cause when those humans are aiming for ournd!? I, Barbatos, will immediately mobilize 500 of my Death Knights!¡± ¡°O-Ooh¡­¡­! Thank you, thank you very much!¡± Belial was moved. 500 Death Knights alone were more than enough to crush 2,000 imperial soldiers. Belial bowed over and over again as he thanked Barbatos. Paimon had an annoyed expression on her face as she watched this unfold. I barely managed to hold back myughter. Paimon was way too cautious. With this, the Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction will start to harbor doubt towards Paimon¡¯s leadership ability. Paimon who decided to stand by and watch as a member of her faction falls into ruin and Barbatos who had dly offered reinforcements despite being on the other side. It¡¯s as clear as day which side appears more trustworthy. The ins Faction scored a point in the first round. Things were proceeding ording to the outline Barbatos and I had drawn beforehand in a calm and orderly way. ¡°R-Rank 1!¡± The doorman at the entrance of the conference room shouted. The doorman was terrified. ¡°The first monarch and Grand Duke of the demon world! The ruler that leads sixty-six armies and lord of all des! His Highness Baal has arrived??!¡± The heavy doors of the conference room kicked up dust. All of the Demon Lords hastily bowed towards the entrance. There were no exceptions, be it even Barbatos or Paimon. Even the 6 highest-ranking Demon Lords that were on the seats of honor disyed the utmost courtesy. The true ruler of the demon world was approaching. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing of much importance to say this chapter, so I hope you guys are having a safe and pleasant summer. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release, and then I¡¯ll be going back to Handholding. Chapter 74: Filibuster (4) Chapter 74: Filibuster (4) Barbatos whispered to me. ¡°Don¡¯t make eye contact. You¡¯ll piss yourself.¡± I felt slightly dazed. A majority of the Demon Lords I¡¯ve met until now have had self-conceited personalities. They weren¡¯t always formal to other Demon Lords if they happened to have a higher rank than them. It was rare to see them greet someone courteously. And yet, every Demon Lord bowed the moment Baal appeared. ¡°They aren¡¯t greeting him. They¡¯re pretending to greet him.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You feel fear if you make eye contact with old man Baal. It¡¯s fucking terrifying. They¡¯re avoiding his gaze as naturally as possible by pretending to greet him because they don¡¯t want to experience that.¡± This was shocking. In other words, the Demon Lords would rather show the utmost courtesy than meet Baal¡¯s gaze. How terrifying must his gaze be that the people whose prides are as high as the Himyas themselves would go out of their way to formally greet him simply to avoid making eye contact? ¡°Is it that scary?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re curious, then give it a shot.¡± Barbatos brusquely muttered in response. ¡°I won¡¯t stop you, but make sure you put on a diaper beforehand.¡± The grand doors of the conference roomslowlyopened. The hinges squeaked. The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed drearily throughout the room. At the same time, the twenty chandeliers attached to the ceiling shattered morously. The room became dark in the blink of an eye. The faint light leaking through the opened doors was the only source of light we had. I hastily lowered my head. Step. I could hear the sound of footsteps. Each step was slow. Resolved footsteps that seemed determined to make every ce it touched into their territory approached the other side of the door. The air vibrated with each step. This person filled an entire building with his footsteps alone. A footstep would fill the conference room to the brim and slowly fade away before filling the room again with another footstep. Like a tune that doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯d continue, but does. It almost felt as if he was being considerate so that the conference room wouldn¡¯t copse under the pressure of his footsteps. As he was crossing through the conference room, he suddenly stopped. I couldn¡¯t grasp the situation properly as my head was still lowered. Nheless, if I were to make an assumption to where he had stopped, it was most likely near where the Neutral Faction was gathered. ¡°Marbas. Have you been doing well?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thanks to you, Baal.¡± ¡°Neutrality is a lonely path. I pray that your loneliness is not that of a mere sailor held captive by the sea but as that of a captain that has to navigate through the sea on their own.¡± The footsteps continued. They then stopped around the location where the Mountain Faction was gathered. ¡°Paimon. Your beauty never fails to amaze me.¡± ¡°It is an honor¡­¡­Sir Baal.¡± ¡°Strategy is not something that is only used for battles. You must have an ideal world that you are looking out towards. I give you my support that you may approach that ideal of yours with resolved steps no matter how long it takes.¡± The footsteps continued once more. It wasn¡¯t long before they stopped nearby. He spoke to Barbatos in a lowish tone. ¡°Barbatos. O eternally pure warrior.¡± I felt goosebumps. I felt his voice ring right next to, no, inside my ear. It felt like his voice was reaching into my ear and shaking my brain. My sense of bnce in my feet faltered. I desperately maintained my posture. If I hadn¡¯t heeded Barbatos¡¯ warning earlier and exerted pressure on my lower body, then I would have probably fallen over and humiliated myself. ¡¸Demon Lord Baal has activated .¡¹ ¡¸The skill will be resisted ording to your might and intelligence stats.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has been tossed, but by some sort of miracle, it has stopped in midair! You have failed to resist due to the ¡®overwhelming¡¯ difference in stats. You will be given a penalty.¡¹ ¡®Yeah. This is how it should be.¡¯ This wasn¡¯t particrly surprising. From what I could remember, Baal didn¡¯t have a skill like Degradation of Skills in . Baal probably has many more skills in this damned world than what he had in the game. Right as I was about to obediently ept the stat penalty, something covered me from the front. It was Barbatos¡¯ shadow. She had slightly covered me from Baal. ¡°Long time no see, old man. You¡¯re as energetic as usual, huh?¡± ¡¸Demon Lord Barbatos has activated .¡¹ ¡¸The skill has been canceled! The penalty effect will not be removed.¡¹ I was surprised. This idiotic loli! What is she doing!? Although I¡¯ve decided to publically be a part of the ins Faction, it¡¯d be troubling if I stood out in the eyes of others. I¡¯m weak. The weak do not have the right toboldly reveal themselves and take action. Hiding behind the strong and shrewdly pursuing survival is the proper conduct of the weak. If Barbatos covers for me excessively, then that would be no different from announcing to everyone around us that we have an umon rtionship! Sure enough, Baal let out an amused voice in response to Barbatos¡¯ action. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve always been curious as to how you¡¯ve been able to stay up all night with that burning body of yours when you don¡¯t have a wife. Are you perhaps doing that?¡± Barbatos chuckled crudely. I couldn¡¯t tell since my head was lowered, but I had a good feeling she was making an indecent hand gesture right now. Baal chuckled as well. ¡°At the very least, the sex life I possess is not particrly honorable enough for me to openly discuss it with others. It is rming and intriguing that you would be interested in my sex life. If it would not be rude of me to ask, may I ask if your sex life has been affluent?¡± ¡°Oh, I can assure you that my sex life is a lot more colorful and entertaining than whatever that whore Paimon has and what you have, old man. Honestly, it¡¯s hard to imagine you having intercourse. In, out, in, out, in, out, and spray. I feel like it¡¯d end with that.¡± ¡°Kuhahaha!¡± The sound ofughter resonated throughout the room. I felt the far corners of the building shake. An unpleasant tingling sensation went down my spine. The other Demon Lords around Baal joined in as theyughed cautiously. My Lord, they were trying to fit his mood. After seeing this, who would possibly imagine that these are the same Demon Lords that bring about fear in the human world? ¡°It has been a long time since I, Baal, had such a satisfyingugh. I can only be grateful that someone willing to toss jokes at me is still alive and breathing. O pure warrior, how could I not love you?¡± His voice became mellow. ¡°For me who dly ushers in life, among butterflies, bubbles, and mortals, those like butterflies and bubbles appear as if they know most about life.¡± ¡°Sheesh, old man. You¡¯re great and all, but I often can¡¯t tell if you¡¯re speaking to me or reciting a poem. I sometimes wonder if we¡¯re actually speaking two entirely differentnguages but we¡¯re somehow understanding each other through some miraculous and astronomical chance.¡± ¡°What can I do? My life has been so long that my way of speech is different from youngsters these days.¡± I¡¯ve also lived for 2,000 years, Barbatos grumbled. Baalughed once more. ¡°I will overlook this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± There was no reason to exin what he was overlooking. This meant that he wasn¡¯t going to say anything more about how Barbatos had protected me. Baal left our side and continued forward. He was now greeting the 6 highest-ranking Demon Lords below him. If asking a one-sided question and receiving an answer is considered a greeting¡­¡­. Barbatos murmured. ¡°Haah. I thought I was going to die.¡± ¡°Hey, why¡¯d you do something like that?¡± ¡°You dimwit. Shut up. Did you not notice that the old man red at you?¡± What? ¡°¡­¡­He red at me? Why?¡± ¡°Fuck, how would I know? If I let things be, then you would have been crushed. For a weakling, you sure don¡¯t know how to be grateful.¡± Barbatos curled her lips. I couldn¡¯t figure out why. I don¡¯t recall doing anything that could¡¯ve attracted Baal¡¯s attention. Have I ever stuck out in the first ce? The only thing I can think of is the incident where I killed Andromalius, but it was hard to believe that the Rank 1 would show this much interest in me simply because I killed our own kin. More than anything else, I roughly have a grasp of Baal¡¯s personality. In the game, Baal was more of an advocate of war than Barbatos. No, it¡¯d be better to call him a battle devotee. As he only finds meaning in life through battles alone, he believes that demonkind had declined because conflicts had disappeared. The Great Demon Lord who adheres to bloodstained battlefields more than anyone else. This should be Baal¡¯s true nature. ¡®Did he perhaps find out that I was the one who spread those groundless rumors about the ck Death?¡¯ This isn¡¯t good. I don¡¯t have enough information. Ick the material to make a clear judgment¡­¡­. At the very least, if Baal¡¯s affection was above 20, then I could peek into his state of mind, but the only things that would appear when I called up his status were his monstrous stamina, attack, and defense stats. I decided to refrain from making any conclusions for now. Damn it, it felt like a ck entity was now sitting in the corner of my mind. ¡°I wish to give my word appreciation to you all for havinge here despite this rough season.¡± Baal sat at the center of the seat of honors. At that moment, 6rge balls of mes appeared in midair. They reced the now shattered chandeliers in lighting up the room. Baal paused for a moment as he looked around the room. I couldn¡¯t possibly look at him directly, so I was lowering my head slightly. A majority of the Demon Lords were assuming a posture simr to my own. Marbas of the Neutral Faction, Paimon of the Mountain Faction, and Barbatos of the ins Faction¡­¡­only an incredibly small minority of people were able to keep their backs up straight and look directly at Baal. One¡¯s line of vision represented their authority. I never would have imagined that this proposition would weigh down on me so heavily. ¡°Normally, the path of Demon Lords is something that is decided after a long period of debate and deliberation. The right sequence of events would be for the highest-ranking Demon Lords to not intervene in the discussion if possible and considerately allow you all toe to a decisionvoluntarily. However, I, Baal, would like to voice my will this time around.¡± An ufortable silence fell over the room. It almost felt as if gravity had gotten stronger. Baal¡¯s heavy voice rang out throughout the conference room. ¡°War!¡± That single word announced the formation of the 8th Crescent Alliance. Baal began to say the names of each and every Demon Lord while they were all frozen. An irrefusable deration wrapped around all 60 Demon Lords that had gathered here. ¡°Rank 9 Paimon.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Paimon walked to the center of the room with elegant but fast steps. She grabbed the edges of her dress and raised them slightly as she bowed courteously. ¡°Order thisdy Paimon however you wish.¡± ¡°I am appointing you as themander of the 1st legion. Lead the Mountain Faction in the direction of the Kingdom of Teuton and the Republic of Batavia! Shred the lungs of those humans so they cannot live to taste the air ever again. You have the authority tomand the Mountain Faction autonomously.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Paimon bowed once more. Paimon, the biggest pacifist and pro-human individual, obliged to thismand without even a hint of hesitation. As someone who was aware of her conviction and how she tried to pursue friendly rtions with humans even as she met her fate in the game, thispliance of hers naturally rmed me. Paimon epted the task of invading a human nation without showing any defiance whatsoever! ¡°Rank 5 Marbas.¡± ¡°I am here.¡± Marbas walked out with dignified steps. He didn¡¯t bow, but he did raise his right hand to his chest. It was a salute. ¡°This noble Marbas will heed your royalmand.¡± ¡°I am appointing you as themander of the 2nd legion. Command the Neutral Faction and march towards the Anatolia Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. Ravage the eastern side of the continent.¡± ¡°The eastern side of the continent will be turned to dust and be referred to as a desert.¡± Marbas spoke as if he were vowing to himself. ¡°Rank 2 Agares.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The woman who was also seated at the seat of honor stood up. She strutted her way to the center of the room yfully. She brought her hand to her forehead and performed a salute. ¡°Agares of Quakes, tell me whatever you want.¡± ¡°I am appointing you as themander of the 3rd legion. Take the Demon Lords with no affiliation and crush the Kingdom of Moscow and the Kalmar Alliance! Show those humans that the north used to be and of perpetual snow.¡± ¡°Eeh, I hate the cold¡­¡­. It can¡¯t be helped. I¡¯ll make sure the humans aren¡¯t able to see the snow in the north anymore.¡± With somewhat exaggerated movements, she spread out her arms and kneeled. ¡°Rank 3 Vassago. I am appointing you as themander of the 4th legion. Go with Rank 6 Valefor and reduce the Kingdom of Bernicia¡¯s navy to ashes!¡± ¡°That is sufficient for me.¡± A man nodded and went to stand at the center of the conference room. ¡°Rank 4 Gamigin. I am appointing you as themander of the 5th legion. Support all of the armies from the home front with Rank 7 Amon! Remain in our territory.¡± ¡°Oh dear, oh dear. You¡¯re giving the boring task to me, my goodness. You sure are cruel, Sir Baal.¡± A maiden walked out to the center with a light smile, but, despite her demeanor, she still managed to maintain a posture that didn¡¯t go against militia rites. Baal¡¯s voice was eventually directed towards us. ¡°Rank 8 Barbatos.¡± ¡°I was starting to get angsty waiting for you to call on me.¡± Barbatos walked out boldly. She spoke merrily despite being next to Demon Lords that were like glittering stars. ¡°It¡¯s obvious where I¡¯m going to go, ain¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I am appointing you as themander of the 6th legion. Advance towards the Habsburg Empire. I shall allow you tomand the entirety of the ins Faction.¡± ¡°Fuck yeah, all right! I¡¯ll rip apart all of the humans!¡± She raised her right hand to her chest. With this, the Mountain Faction, Neutral Faction, unaffiliated group, highest-ranking Demon Lords, and even the ins Faction, everyone had been mentioned. There was only a single person left now. The heat between the Demon Lords began to heighten. Their fighting spirit began to boil. This was the first time in 2,000 years since thest Crescent Alliance where every Demon Lord was in attendance. Trample, conquer, and destroy. Words that were designed for Demon Lords were prowling around the room. It felt like they could already smell blood and were salivating. ¡°And finally, I, Baal.¡± Baal spoke. ¡°I dere myself as both themander of the 7th legion and themander-in-chief. I shall wipe out the Frank Empire on my own. By dividing our army into 7 legions, we shall cause 7 trails of destruction and screams. Comrades! Make those humans realize who the true owners of this world are.¡± He stood up and unsheathed the sword that was on his back. ¡°Crescent Alliance! Advance!¡± Immediately after, the bellows of beasts filled the room. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter.Seriously though, DD WN is really an entirely different story. Same premise and characters, but an entirely different approach. Never thought I¡¯d see the other Demon Lords. The genders of some of these Demon Lords were never brought to light until now, so I think I might have referred to some of them as ¡®he¡¯ and ¡®him¡¯ because of their names, but now that I have a rification with this chapter, I¡¯ll try to keep it aligned from now on. Now that this section is done, I can go back to Handholding. I¡¯ll see some of you guys there. Chapter 75: Watchdog of Humanity (1) Chapter 75: Watchdog of Humanity (1) The year 1506 of the Imperial Calendar. Late Spring. A year has passed since I had fallen into this world. 1 year, it felt like a joke. I have never been more aware of how much the concept of time flowed like water until now. I¡¯m still far from being an old man, though. I almost got killed by Riff¡¯s party, I made a whole bunch of money through the ck Death, I rescued Laura, killed Jack, killed Andromalius, got caught up in amotion at Niflheim because of it, and now, after persuading Barbatos, I circted a groundless rumor and incited a war that would make the human world tremble in fear¡­¡­. No matter how you looked at it, this is a ridiculous amount of things to fit in the schedule of a single year. Even workaholics would run away if they saw this schedule. I wonder what would happen if I could go back in time by a year and tell my past self what the future had in store for me. Hey, you shut-in, you¡¯re going to fall into a world that¡¯s exactly like the one in and struggle desperately to survive as the weakest Demon Lord. I¡¯d probably call myself a crazy bastard. Nheless, this insane thing actually did ur. My God, I suddenly want to see my mother¡­¡­. On another note, this world also has cherry blossoms. The area where our unit had set up camp was surrounded by a bunch of fully bloomed cherry blossoms. Everything appeared radiant under the brilliant cherry blossom petals that even orcs looked beautiful. Someone called out to me while I was in deep thought watching the blossoms. ¡°Your Lordship, Commander Zepar is calling for a meeting.¡± It was Laura. She was participating in the Crescent Alliance as my adjutant. There were some people that would openly taunt me for having a human as my adjutant, but I disregarded them. I like people with talent. As long as they can keep me alive in this world, I don¡¯t care whether they¡¯re a demon or a human. ¡°I am amander with only 50 soldiers. What meaning would there be for me to be present?¡± ¡°Commander Zepar is calling for all of the Demon Lords that are a part of the vanguard. Your Lordship should at least show your face.¡± Laura smiled wryly. She looked as if she were looking at her troublemaker little brother. Oh dear, it seems Laura¡¯s mental age is higher than mine. I did end up letting out aint on reflex. Rank 71. The way I¡¯m treated is almost tear-inducing. I may be a Demon Lord, but I only have 50 soldiers under mymand. To make matters worse, a majority of them are lowest-tier golems and lowest-tier fairies. The other Demon Lords would naturally question my presence. I understand how most of them probably feel about me; however, I don¡¯t intend to let it slide if they try to pick a fight with me. I¡¯m a rather stingy person. ¡°I apologize. The number of peopleing to taunt us has increased¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Can we not silence them by showing them what we are capable of?¡± Laura looked straight at me with her green eyes. ¡°I trust Your Lordship.¡± Jeez, Laura sure is mature. Even though, as a human, she should be receiving far more terrible and crudements than me. I tried to shift the conversation so we could pleasantly mock the other Demon Lords, but I ended up being encouraged instead. Ever since our bodies connected, my bond with Laura has be more stable. I felt embarrassed, so I wound upughing at myself. ¡°Then, shall I go show my face?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I was assigned to the vanguard of the 6th legion which was being led by Barbatos. Barbatos hastily organized the 6th legion as soon as the Crescent Alliance was formed. All of the ins Faction Demon Lords worked together to quickly organize the systematic structure of the legion under Barbatos¡¯ orders. The line ofmand, the militarymand, and sub-units were established in an instant to create a whole legion. Naturally, the first legion to advance was the 6th legion. Paimon watched us march with an unamused gaze. The ins Faction is a den of war fanatics and Barbatos is the head honcho of that den. They disyed to everyone how much they¡¯ve been preparing for war. I can say with certainty that on the day the Crescent Alliance was formed, the people who cheered in the meeting room were all members of the ins Faction. On the other hand, the Mountain Faction was dilly-dallying. ording to the rumors I¡¯ve heard, they haven¡¯t even established a line ofmand yet. Although people weren¡¯t openly criticizing them, this was something that hurt Paimon¡¯s pride as themander of the 1st legion. ¡®Hm. Does the 1st legion intend to go flower watching?¡¯ The finishing blow was the words Barbatos said directly to Paimon¡¯s face. Barbatos asked if the 1st legion intended to simply follow the path that the other legions had already painstakingly paved out. Paimon¡¯s face naturally became red. She red at Barbatos fiercely, but she couldn¡¯t retort. The ins Faction had already secured a point through the matter regarding Belial, so the ins Faction scored a point in the 2nd round as well. I pray that they¡¯ll exert themselves. It¡¯d only be worthwhile for me and my n for a grand war if they did their best. ¡°You¡¯re here, Dantalian.¡± I entered the barracks with Laura apanying me. Once I did, an old man that was seated at the head of the table weed us. He was the Demon Lord who was appointed as themander of the 6th legion¡¯s vanguard, Rank 16 Zepar. ¡°Yes, Sir Zepar. I am here to heed yourmand.¡± ¡°Mm. Feel free to waitfortably.¡± Zepar seemed satisfied with how courteously I performed my military rites as he nodded. He had a splendid beard, so he gave off a well-aged look, but hecked a fancy side since he acted and talked prudently. Nheless, he gave off the strong impression of a veteran general. ¡®He looks like that, but he¡¯s younger than Barbatos.¡¯ You can¡¯t determine a Demon Lord¡¯s age with their appearance alone. I sat at my assigned seat while Laura stood behind me. We must have arrived first, as there was no one else here excluding Zepar, his adjutant, myself, and Laura. ¡°I apologize for beingte.¡± ¡°Did you call for me, Sir Zepar?¡± ¡°I am at your beck and call.¡± As time passed, the other Demon Lords entered one by one. Some of them performed military rites, while the others omitted them. The former were the Demon Lords who had participated in previous Crescent Alliances. It¡¯d be fine to call them veterans. Thetter were the rookie Demon Lords who were participating in the Crescent Alliance for the first time. The rookies babbled about how the humans were cowards and greenhorns and that the humans would run away once we showed them the greatness of the Crescent Alliance. What fools! They¡¯re the greenhorns. If the humans were truly cowards, then the Crescent Alliance wouldn¡¯t have failed 7 times now. The rookies failed to recognize how pitiful our armies actually are and how terrifying the human forces are. ¡°¡­¡­Hm.¡± I took a slight nce at Zepar and noticed that he was also feeling ufortable. Most people probably wouldn¡¯t notice this, but his right eyebrow was raised a bit. I was told that he had participated in the 4th Crescent Alliance and all the ones that followed that until the 7th. He should know very well what process led to the defeat of the Demon Lord armies. The current attitude the rookie Demon Lords were showing was one of the reasons the Demon Lord armies lost previously. He must be displeased by them¡­¡­. Zepar must be quite thepetent person for Barbatos to appoint him as the leader of the vanguard. Should I try relying on him? ¡°By the way, you sure have quite the unique adjutant, Sir Dantalian.¡± Dear me, the arrowhead has been turned towards me. One of the rookies was looking at me with a sly smile. It was Rank 58 Demon Lord Amii. Everyone turned to look at me. Did they run out of things to talk about? It felt like he was dering that he was going to target me. ¡°To make a human your adjutant, this is unprecedented.¡± ¡°Precedences are something to be made, are they not? I trust in the skills of my adjutant.¡± ¡°I¡¯m curious as to what those skills might be. If it¡¯s rted to her beauty, then she is certainly extraordinary.¡± The rookieughed as if he found this to be funny. He was basically insinuating that I had brought Laura for the sake of relieving my lust after he saw her appearance. Jeez, ying along with idiots isn¡¯t an easy task. I guess I¡¯ll socialize with them a bit. ¡°Well, she is a lot more useful than your adjutant.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you mocking me right now?¡± ¡°Banish the thought. From what I have heard, Sir Amii, your adjutant has been entrusting all of their paperwork to my adjutant. I can only be grateful that you would trust my adjutant to such a degree. Although I am worried that your adjutant is doing this because they are not confident in doing paperwork.¡± Amii¡¯s expression contorted. What I said was the truth. This was probably a type of bullying as the adjutants of a couple of Demon Lords had been pushing their work on Laura. I guess they wanted to see how well a mere human could take care of the tasks meant for the Demon Lord army. Even if you put their intentions aside, leaving your work to another unit of equal rank is quite an impressive thing to do. What would they do if I had ulterior motives and tampered with their ount books? Commander Zepar must have thought the same thing as he furrowed his brows. ¡°Amii. Is he speaking the truth?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I apologize, but I have never been informed about this. Sir Dantalian! Please refrain from ndering people needlessly while in the presence of others.¡± ndering, huh? I shrugged. ¡°It appears that Sir Amii¡¯s unit has 20% more provisions than the other units. Especially when ites to supplies like alcohol. Are you already feeling festive even though the war has yet to begin? I am jealous of your confidence.¡± ¡°You bastard!¡± Amii sprung to his feet. His face was red. ¡°How dare you try to humiliate me when you are only a Demon Lord of fifty soldiers!¡± No, I was being serious when I said I was jealous. Even if my head were to be a field of flowers, I don¡¯t think I could drown myself in liquor when we¡¯re going to be engaging in battle soon. How nice would it be if I could live with his mentality? Please bestow upon me that mental strength of yours. Demon Lord of Fifty was my nickname. It was given to me after I showed up to the Crescent Alliance with no more than 50 soldiers. It has an ill-natured meaning since fifty is half of a hundred, thus ¡®Demon Lord of Fifty¡¯ is like being called half a Demon Lord or half a coin. I¡¯ve been called half a coin more than my own name as ofte. Seriously, Demon Lords sure do love picking fights with people. Once the atmosphere became heavy, Zepar gave a warning. ¡°Cease this shameful conduct.¡± He¡¯s probably afraid of going against a Rank 16. Amii couldn¡¯t hide his annoyance as he sat back down. Honestly, he¡¯s cutepared to Barbatos. It seems I don¡¯t have to worry about there being a dull moment during this war thanks to this guy. Thest Demon Lord arrived. He tilted his head in confusion due to the heavy atmosphere. He looked like he wanted to ask what happened, but Zepar didn¡¯t give him the opportunity to do so as he immediately started the meeting. ¡°Fortunately, our 6th legion is the first to advance. We are the vanguard of the 6th legion. Therefore, we are the spearhead of the Crescent Alliance. Our victory or defeat will determine how the historians write about the 8th Crescent Alliance. I am honored to be able to make history with you all.¡± Apuse erupted throughout the barracks. The phrase ¡®make history¡¯ seemed to excite a couple of the Demon Lords. Zepar raised his right hand up sternly. The apuse naturally subsided. ¡°Do you understand? Any blundersmitted by us will not be the blunder of a single group, but the entirety of the 6th legion, no, the entirety of the Crescent Alliance. Right here, at this moment, we are representing all of the Crescent Alliance! The vanguard of the 6th legion must work together and move as one. I will not forgive individual actions.¡± As expected, he took out the whip after presenting the carrot. Zepar may be themander, but everyone here is also a Demon Lord and a monarch. It wouldn¡¯t be weird for them to ignore their superior¡¯s orders and go on a rampage on their own. A militia without a line ofmand was terrifying to imagine. Zepar intended to use this opportunity to establish his authority. If we fail, then we¡¯ll be ridiculed by the other Demon Lords to no end, so listen to his orders, this was what he was trying to say. If the Demon Lords gathered here understood this, then they¡¯ll be careful from now on. The issue is the idiots who didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Do not worry! Those humans will cower in terror just by hearing an ogre breathe! There is nothing to fear!¡± Amii dered. Once he did, two other Demon Lords agreed. He asserted that the humans were nothing to be afraid of. In other words, out of the 6 Demon Lords that were present for this meeting, 3 of them were losing tickets. No less than half are bad¡­¡­I felt a headacheing. Will we be able to endure properly in this war? Ipetent allies are scarier thanpetent enemies. I want to avoid bing a witness to this saying¡­¡­. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This chapter got dyed a bit because of some real-life stuff I had to handle. I might make a rant post about it because the experience annoyed me that much, but that depends on if you guys even want to see something like that. On another note, this section is 10 chapters long, so I might stop midway to finish Handholding since I¡¯m practically at the end of the volume. Think there¡¯s only 1 chapter and maybe a side chapter after? I actually haven¡¯t checked in a while, so I¡¯m not sure. Either way, I might as well finish that off quickly so people who¡¯ve been waiting for the volume to finish can actually start reading. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 76: Watchdog of Humanity (2) Chapter 76: Watchdog of Humanity (2) The meeting came to a close. In the end, it became a discussion about how inferior the human race is. It¡¯s pathetic. Overestimating your enemy may also lead to your defeat, but it¡¯s a lot better than underestimating them. The rookie Demon Lords were diligently creating ways for our defeat. They have an excuse for their actions, though. It¡¯s only natural to raise our morale before we engage inbat, after all. ¡°I will end the meeting here.¡± Zepar¡¯s exhaustion was as clear as day. That¡¯s right. I¡¯m not the only one who had drawn bad cards. It¡¯s not surprising that you would lose your will to fight when half the people who came as your subordinates are like that. If these rookie Demon Lords were our foe¡¯s vanguard, then they had aplished a sessful skirmish. Aren¡¯t they great officers? They managed to lower our morale before the battle has even begun, after all. I held back a sigh as I was about to take my leave, but Zepar called out to me. ¡°Dantalian. I would like for you to stay.¡± ¡°Huh? Understood.¡± I sat back down before I could even get up from my chair fully. I wonder what¡¯s the matter. The other Demon Lords left and the tent soon became chilly. Zepar, his adjutant, me, and Laura, the 4 of us were the only ones that remained. Zepar gazed at me seriously. ¡°The leader of the 6th legion informed me that you are trustworthy. She told me that although she is not certain about your proficiency in tactics, your resourcefulness is something which she is confident in.¡± I smiled bitterly. Barbatos, huh? She¡¯s sometimes like a tomboy little sister, other times she¡¯s like a sensuous brat, and other times she¡¯s like a reliable older sister. They all shared the same sentiment that you couldn¡¯t lower your guard around her. She¡¯s quite the troubling Demon Lord. ¡°I am only a schemer.¡± ¡°I was also present when you brought down Miss Paimon during the previous Walpurgis Night. I would like to mention that watching a Rank 71 force Miss Paimon into a corner is quite a memorable scene to witness.¡± Is that apliment? This old man¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change at all. He isn¡¯t innately emotionless like Lapis. His impassiveness came from his dignity and maturity solidifying over the years. This sort of person usually struggles to express themselves. Honestly, it should be fine to take this as apliment. No, should I be a bit modest here¡­¡­? From what I can tell, he doesn¡¯t consider Barbatos as simply the leader of the faction he¡¯s in, but someone whom he personally respects. There¡¯s a high chance thatplimenting Zepar here would only sound like ttery. Let¡¯s make use of the other party¡¯s respect. ¡°Thank you very much. However, I did note out victorious from the hearing with my strength alone. If it were not for Commander Barbatos¡¯s assistance, I would have been at the mercy of Miss Paimon.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Zepar nodded. He sounded satisfied. It feels like it should be okay to take it a step further. ¡°I learned through the hearing that themander is different from the rumors circting around her and is actually a dignified person. I wonder if her usage of crude words is intentional to make the other factions lower their guards¡­¡­. She possesses both acting prowess and insight. Even now, she has the justification to subjugate the human world as the leader of the ins Faction. There is most likely no one who deserves to be called a monarch as much as her.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± I heart a certain sound effect for the first time in a long while. ¡¸Demon Lord Zepar¡¯s affection has risen by 5!¡¹ A sense of aplishment spread throughout my chest. I grasped what the other party wanted and utilized it to my advantage. It was an easy victory, but it was still pleasing. I had this thought before, but I think my true talent is in garnering affection. I have yet to fail in my attempts to farm affection points. Zepar spoke. ¡°I trust in ourmander and I trust in those that ourmander trusts. Thus, I could not help but test you in my own way since you will be acting under mymand. Dantalian, I am the one who had encouraged your ostracization.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I was calm. Zepar furrowed his brows instead. ¡°You do not seem surprised?¡± ¡°If I may offer my opinion, Your Excellency Zepar is aware of our mission as the vanguard. Discord between allies is something you must be wary of the most. Nheless, a week has passed since we began our march and yet Your Excellency did not get even remotely involved in the war of nerves that was happening between Demon Lords. I believed that Your Excellency had another goal besides properly establishing militarymand.¡± ¡°Hm, you are correct.¡± ¡¸Demon Lord Zepar¡¯s affection has risen by 2!¡¹ Zepar gazed at me deeply. ¡°More than a tactician, you are most likely a strategist, no, a schemer. And yet, themander assigned you to the vanguard. In this skirmish where a tactical victory is more important than anything else. Do you understand what this means?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I never thought about it. I figured she simply wanted me to distinguish myself in action. It should be fine for me to not get involved in military operations for at least 2 months. I should be able to spend my time leisurely. This is a disadvantageous position for a Rank 71 to devise schemes freely, so I have no other choice but to make a name for myself through meritorious services in war¡­¡­. Was there a reason beyond this? Zepar spoke nonchntly while I was in deep thought. ¡°I wish to talk about Rank 58 Amii.¡± I don¡¯t know why he¡¯s suddenly bringing up Amii, but I listened quietly. He¡¯s most likely going to answer my curiosity now. ¡°He originally did not belong to any faction, but he voluntarily joined the ins Faction around the time the Crescent Alliance was formed. He basically does not have a position in our faction since he has only joined recently. Therefore, Commander Barbatos was most likely being considerate by giving him the opportunity to distinguish himself in the vanguard and strengthen his position.¡± ¡°Ah. So that is why he was speaking so radically.¡± I was wondering why there were 3 rookies assigned to a vital position like the vanguard, but there was this kind of back story to it, huh? Certainly, Barbatos and I have different positions. What¡¯s important to me is the overall situation of the Crescent Alliance; however, Barbatos also has to worry about her faction members as the leader of the ins Faction. I get it. Regardless, 3 people is still too much. This is the vanguard that will determine the oue of the 8th Crescent Alliance¡¯s first battle. Are you saying that you¡¯re okay with these shabby members, Barbatos? Zepar examined my expression before smiling slightly. His wrinkles naturally created dimples. It was a smile that only well-aged men could pull off. If I were a woman who had a preference in dandy men, then my heart would have probably skipped a beat. ¡°I see you have yet to grasp themander¡¯s intentions.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°She has bestowed upon you an opportunity to create subordinates.¡± Subordinates? What is he talking about? Once I looked at him cluelessly, Zepar continued. ¡°This is what themander is suggesting to you: how long do you intend to help from only the shadows? Create your own group before the true battle begins. ¡­¡­Truly, it seems like Her Excellency the Commander trusts you greatly, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± I opened my eyes wide. Is that so!? Is that what she wanted!? Barbatos didn¡¯t send me to the vanguard just so I could distinguish myself in battle. She wants me to bring the 3 recent members of the ins Faction with weak positions under mymand. What would have happened if these three weren¡¯t sent to the vanguard and were instead split into different units? They would have probably sought out higher-ranking Demon Lords to protect them and submit themselves to. Barbatos doesn¡¯t reign the ins Faction like an empress. There are several Demon Lords under Barbatos who have their own smaller factions. These 3 rookies would have instantly merged into those sub-factions. However, she had intentionally lumped these three together at the vanguard. Even if General Zepar is included in the vanguard, it still only consists of 6 Demon Lords. 3 out of 6 are in simr situations¡­¡­ obviously they would stick together. (TL Note: I changed Zepar¡¯s title from Commander to General because it was confusing. The title used for Zepar and Barbatos can both be tranted to ¡®Commander¡¯, so I did that until now, but it¡¯s been bothering me. I¡¯ll make the adjustments in previous chapters.) General Zepar has no intention of making a faction of his own and is satisfied being Barbatos¡¯ vassal. The other Demon Lord isn¡¯t exactly a high rank either. At the very least, the vanguard doesn¡¯t have anyone else in it that would try to reach out and bring the 3 rookies under their wing. Therefore, getting into a group and receiving protection isn¡¯t a goal for these three Demon Lords now. They can¡¯t pursue this goal even if they wanted to. Distinguishing themselves as much as possible and strengthening their positions is unquestionably their greatest and most likely only goal. What else can they do? Thus, there are 3 Demon Lords that have no positions within the ins Faction which already has a fully establishedposition of power. This is the best possible opportunity for anyone trying to establish their own group. No, Barbatos created this opportunity! She disguised it under a rational pretext of ¡®giving the neers an opportunity to distinguish themselves¡¯. ¡®Are you telling me to take these three in? Are you telling me to create a group so that I can stand next to you and not only in the shadows¡­¡­!?¡¯ I shuddered. Barbatos¡¯ attention to detail exceeded my expectations greatly. A corner of my mind might have been underestimating her. I might have subconsciously thought of her as a girl who was taken by my stratagem after getting drunk on wine¡­¡­ How foolish of me! ¡®Damn it. I became careless because I hadpleted a rough sketch of the war.¡¯ I honestly admitted my blunder here. I believed that it wouldn¡¯t be toote to pursue a group of my own after the war was over. However, in Barbatos¡¯ eyes, I looked like I would end up in a precarious situation if I didn¡¯t create a group as soon as possible. It wasn¡¯t the person directly involved but another party that noticed the urgency of the situation. The rookie Demon Lords were at least doing their best to build up their own positions. If they¡¯re nothing more than idiots, then what am I? An idiot that goes beyond idiots, a stupid idiot. I only mocked their foolishness and never considered why these foolish individuals were assigned to the vanguard in the first ce. ¡°Your eyes have changed.¡± Zeparmented. I bowed, genuinely this time. ¡°Thank you very much. If it were not for Your Excellency, then I would have most likely remained as a fool until the end of the war. I will definitely repay this favor by performing meritorious deeds.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. Themander has instructed me to show you tactics. Use this chance to watch how battles are carried out against humans.¡± So even Zepar is a private tutor that was dispatched for my sake¡­¡­? My sense of awareness is rather weakpared to Barbatos. I thought the vanguard was the prelude, but Barbatos considers it as the beginning of war itself. I felt frustrated. I suddenly recalled the words that Zepar emphasized during the meeting. ¡®Any blundersmitted by us will not be the blunder of a single group, but the entirety of the 6th legion, no, the entirety of the Crescent Alliance. Right here, at this moment, we are representing all of the Crescent Alliance! The vanguard of the 6th legion must work together and move as one. I will not forgive individual actions.¡¯ I thought this was a warning towards the rookie Demon Lords. It was the opposite. More than anyone else, I was the one who should have engraved those words into his bones. A sense of shame spread throughout my entire body. What was I thinking? Was I acting superior to them by saying ¡®I¡¯m not like them¡¯ when I¡¯m only level 21? What a piece of trash. It¡¯s as Zepar said, our vanguard will represent the entirety of the Crescent Alliance. Looking down on your own allies will not be allowed. Not only did I naturally have to distinguish myself in the vanguard, but I have to win over the three Demon Lords. I absolutely can¡¯t get careless. Thus, I put as much of my strong will into my military rites this time as I saluted Zepar. ¡°I will study Your Excellency¡¯s militarymands without fail.¡± ¡°Mm. You may go now.¡± I thought to myself as I left the tent. That¡¯s right. This is Barbatos¡¯ surprise gift to me. I can¡¯t call myself a proper adult if I can¡¯t even receive a gift properly. What more is there to say when it¡¯s also a gift from a girl? All right. I¡¯ll grow as you¡¯re hoping me to, Barbatos. I¡¯ll definitely surprise youter¡­¡­. Not only will that be my surprise gift to you, but it will also be the best way to repay you. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It was pretty nice being able to rant like that. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a good thing to know that there are arrogant trantors like the one I had the misfortune to encounter, all around the world. It¡¯s pretty scary to think about. In any case, my final semester has started so my pace may slow down a slight bit. I only need passing grades for this final semester, so I probably won¡¯t stress over things too much. We¡¯ll see how things go. See you guys in the next release. Chapter 77: Watchdog of Humanity (3) Chapter 77: Watchdog of Humanity (3) ¦¯ * * * *** ¡®They¡¯reing again.¡¯ Hans was a veteran soldier. He thought to himself as he saw a group of orcs in the distance. It has already been 15 years since he was assigned to the mountain range unit. He¡¯s experienced numerous small-scale battles. In other words, he was a seasoned soldier. To him, the group of orcs approaching from the distance was nothing more than something that was going to add to his already abundant battle experience. The northern region of the continent is where many Demon Lord Castles are heavily concentrated. In order to invade into the center of the continent where a majority of the human nations are located, you have to go through here, the ck Mountains. Numerous outposts and multiple fortresses were built on the ck Mountain in the case of an invasion. Among those positions, Hans was located at the outpost closest to the front line. The front line is a solitary ce. No one would stop you even if you deserted your position. He hasrades, but if he ran away with thoserades, then that would be the end of it. Nheless, Hans and hisrades have protected this outpost for 15 years now. They did so voluntarily while holding pride in their job as soldiers. It isn¡¯t because they considered being soldiers as an honorable job for men. Hans despised people who would go around iming that being a soldier is the greatest job in the world. He wasn¡¯t particrly patriotic either. Not only do nobles still possess a strong authority over the country he was born in, the Habsburg Empire, but Hans is a part of the ruled ss since he¡¯s amoner. He loves his hometown, not his nation. Hans possessed a sense of duty that was much stronger than something like patriotism. Watchdog of Humanity. The garrison at the back of the ck Mountains will move ording to how quickly the person at the front line discovers the invasion of the Demon Lord armies and urately pinpoints their route. If the garrison is destroyed, then the Demon Lords will have free ess to the continent. What a terrifying thing to imagine. It wasn¡¯t only Hans, but every other sentry on the front line of the ck Mountains also believed that it solely depended on them whether the continent became a sea of mes or not. They patrolled with devotion. Even if they fail to notice oing enemies, the 2nd line, the 3rd line, and the 4th line will definitely notice¡­¡­they trusted theirrades. The margraves would asionally send the provisionste, but the sentries would manage on their own by hunting. The sentries even had a baker and a cksmith among their ranks. Furthermore, although they¡¯re only Two Circles, they have a mage as well. They were already a small but strong army that didn¡¯t need support from the outside. Althoughdozens of nations have risen and fallen in the past 2,000 years, nothing has changed here on the ck Mountains. Keep watch over the mountains and give a hasty report if monsters approach¡­¡­. Be it now or 2,000 years ago, the sentries¡¯ jobs have remained the same. Simr to how humans and monsters will eternally be enemies, the duty of the sentries will most likely also be eternal. An eternal spiritual heritage was flowing through Hans¡¯ veins. ¡®I should meet with the others at the guard post first.¡¯ Fortunately, the area he was patrolling wasn¡¯t far from the outpost. Hans quickly hiked up the mountain and returned to the outpost. Hisrades were outside the stone structure??this outpost was built more than 200 years ago??enjoying the fresh air and ying chess. ¡°A group of monsters is approaching.¡± ¡°Damn it. Again?¡± Hisradesined; however, despite their grumblings, they were already moving with haste. They had begun to put on their armor before Hans could even finish his report. ¡°It¡¯s a group of orcs with some goblins and low-tier golems mixed in. There were also 5 ogres. Altogether, there¡¯s approximately 500 of them.¡± ¡°A full-fledged invasion, huh? Has it been 2 years since thest invasion with over 500 monsters?¡± Frederick, the captain of the outpost,mented. Orcs, goblins, and low-tier golems are trivial enemies. If the sentries from the 50 outposts nearby gathered, then they could handle something like that with ease. Captain Frederick alone has in 32 orcs and more than a hundred goblins throughout his life. There was nothing to fear. Hisrades chatted as they equipped themselves. ¡°How many of those guys do you think formed an alliance to make a group of 500?¡± ¡°Probably two or three. Hans, how many banners were there?¡± ¡°Three. I confirmed 3 banners.¡± Frederick brushed his beard. ¡°Three Demon Lords, huh? Depending on whether a higher ranking Demon Lord is acting as the leader or this is an alliance of three simr ranking Demon Lords, the situation will change drastically depending on which one it is.¡± Hans nodded. ¡°They were too far, so I couldn¡¯t confirm the emblems on the banners. Nevertheless, they were moving with 5 ogres. There¡¯s a high chance that they¡¯re under themand of a single Demon Lord.¡± Hisrades gulped. Ogres are dangerous. They¡¯re the true owners of the mountains. Usually, a mountain is upied by only one ogre and they are highly territorial. If you were topare them to humans, then they¡¯re like the lords of small regions. Compared to ogres, orcs and goblins are likemoners. One of the soldiers hid his unease as he spoke. ¡°What should we do, captain? This isn¡¯t something we can resolve on our own.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s split the group into three. Fabian, go with Oliver and inform the other outposts nearby about the appearance of orcs. You only have to inform our direct neighbors.¡± ¡°All right.¡± The soldier promptly removed his chain armor. There¡¯s no reason for him to be wearing chainmail and holding a shield when he¡¯s only going to notify the other outposts. If anything, he should be as light as possible in case he has to make a quick escape. ¡°What should we do afterward?¡± ¡°Retreat to the mountain fortress. We¡¯ll most likely be facing the monsters there. Bruno, you and Nichs will be taking our equipment and heading to the fortressimmediately.¡± ¡°Understood, captain.¡± Captain Frederick put on his helmet. It was a helmet that was covered in charcoal so that it wouldn¡¯t reflect light. ¡°I will go with the remaining members to follow behind the orcs. Hans, lead the way.¡± ¡°Roger.¡± ¡°Men. This is the first time in 2 years since we¡¯ve had an invasion of over 500 monsters. Although there¡¯s no way that humanity¡¯s fortress could be brought down by a mere group of 500, we must lower our losses as much as possible. If it turns out that our outpost was the first to discover this invasion, then our mission bes that much more vital. Act with haste.¡± The group of 10 sentries nodded. They acted leisurely, but their gazes were sharp. Frederick seemed satisfied with his unit¡¯s expertise as he began to recite a chant. It was a chant from their ancestors which had been passed down for generations among the sentries for 2,000 years. ¡°??Until the day all evil has been vanquished.¡± His unit responded in unison. ¡°We are the hounds of humanity!¡± * * * General Zepar¡¯s quarters.Today¡¯s meeting was a stark contrast to yesterday¡¯s light-hearted gathering as we began to discuss military operations in earnest. The rookie Demon Lords who were excited on their own yesterday must have been influenced by the atmosphere as they quietly listened to the outline of the operations. ¡°Our role as the vanguard is to capture humanity¡¯s outermost wall. Right here.¡± Zepar pointed at the map with a rod. ¡°Our goal is this green fortress. If we ignore this green fortress and continue to advance, then we will be separated from the main army. The humans will link with the other fortresses and force sporadic battles on us and the main army. We must upy this green fortress at all costs so that we can advance safely.¡± The ck Mountains. It¡¯s the mountain range that naturally acts as the border between the humans and the Demon Lords. There are only 3 routes wide enough to allow the passage of a massive army. Each route leads to the Kingdom of Teuton, the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, and the Empire of Habsburg respectively. The grand strategy of the expeditionary force into the center of the continent is as follows: (1) Rank 9 Paimon, she leads the 1st legion of the Crescent Alliance, the Mountain Faction. The 1st legion will traverse through the first route and head to the Kingdom of Teuton. (2) Rank 5 Marbas, he leads the 2nd legion of the Crescent Alliance, the Neutral Faction. The 2nd legion will traverse through the second route and head to the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. (3) Rank 8 Barbatos, she leads the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance, the ins Faction. The 6th legion will traverse through the third route and head to the Empire of Habsburg. This is the first operation of the grand strategy. The goal of the operation is to put the entirety of the ck Mountains under the control of the Crescent Alliance. The reason we¡¯re advancing down all 3 routes at once is to split up the enemy forces as much as possible. During the first, second, and third Crescent Alliance, the Demon Lord armies concentrated their forces and tried to get through the ck Mountains with a single push; however, they failed every time. The ck Mountains are excessively vast. It takes more time for the Crescent Alliance to get through a route than for the human armies to gather their forces at a single point. It¡¯s a given since the Crescent Alliance has to tread through rugged mountain terrains while the human armies move through ins and nds. Thus, while the human margraves were defending a single route, the armies of each nation were able to unite and face off against the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­. The leading members of the Crescent Alliance came to a realization after experiencing multiple defeats. They have to split the human armies up and they have to split their armies up as well. Contrary to how humans grow stronger and stronger the more they group up, it¡¯s more likely for internal conflict to ur the more Demon Lords gather and gather¡­¡­. There¡¯s a reason why the legions are formed around factions. It¡¯s less likely for internal conflict to ur when a legion consists of like-minded people. Although, despite this, internal conflicts never failed to ur from the 4th Crescent Alliance to the 7th. Now then, let¡¯s concentrate on our 6th legion. We have to go through the third route of the ck Mountains. The third route boasts the most steadfast defenses. It¡¯s because we have to get through no less than 4 fortresses in order to reach the borders of the Empire of Habsburg. 1st gateway, the green fortress. 2nd gateway, the blue fortress. 3rd gateway, the gold fortress. And finally, the 4th gateway, the red fortress. Truly, this is a horrifyingly high hurdle to get across. Naturally, the fortresses be sturdier the further you get. Even if we manage to get all the way through to the gold fortress, the red fortress would practicallybeimpregnable. The issue is the amount of time it takes for us to get through the first three fortresses. The mighty margraves of the Habsburg Empire would have finished gathering their armies and be waiting for us at the red fortress by the time we get through the first three fortresses¡­¡­. To make matters worse, our forces will most likely be exhausted after getting through those fortresses while the humans will be in prime condition since they had just been convened together. It¡¯s obvious who¡¯d win here. Therefore, we have to maintain our military strength as much as possible until we reach the red fortress. Our role as the vanguard is to capture the first gateway, the green fortress, and cause as much harm as we can to the blue fortress. That¡¯s it. We¡¯re allowed to leave the rest to the main army. Zepar spoke. ¡°The green fortress has roughly 500 troops residing in it. Compared to them, we possess an army of 2,000. Even if our enemies utilize the defenses of the fortress, we have 10 ogres.¡± ¡°So our victory is certain!¡± Rank 58 Amii eximed. Although it¡¯s unsightly to see someone be so certain of their victory before the battle has even happened, I also agreed that the green fortress will most likely be taken down with ease. There¡¯s no way the green fortress couldst if 10 ogres ran at it all at once. Zepar seemed to agree as he nodded. ¡°That is correct. However, bear in mind that simply achieving victory is not what is important. What is important is how much of an overwhelming victory we achieve. We must preserve our fighting power as much as possible before the decisive battle at the red fortress. I will not allow our troops to be wasted carelessly.¡± All of the Demon Lords present gave an energetic response. The atmosphere felt like we had already won. ¡°Please leave the ogres to me!¡± ¡°No, leave them to me! General Zepar, I will destroy those gates without losing even a single ogre!¡± Oh dear, they¡¯ve begun arguing over who gets the achievement¡­¡­. Generally speaking, their vigor is a bit too excessive. Zepar had just warned us that it¡¯s important to preserve our troops. You guys need to think about what you can do to satisfy Zepar¡¯s condition. ¡°Hm. Does anyone have a good idea?¡± See? Zepar is asking that as well. You have to know how to be a subordinate who knows how to read what their superior is thinking. Amii spoke confidently. ¡°We go through the front. We have 10 ogres! Those humans would just piss themselves and run away.¡± The other 2 rookie Demon Lords agreed with that sentiment as well. Sheesh, giving an answer he shouldn¡¯t have given. If our opposition was just a normal human army, then Amii would be correct. Drafted soldiers would undoubtedly run away with their tails between their legs if they even saw an ogre¡¯s hair. However, the soldiers stationed on the ck Mountains aren¡¯t drafted soldiers. The mountains are packed with ever-ready troops and volunteers. Seasoned soldiers who deliberately came to the front line to protect humanity. If they were cowardly enough to run away because they saw a lot of ogres, then they wouldn¡¯t have applied to be stationed on the ck Mountains in the first ce. ¡°¡­¡­Any other ideas?¡± Zepar asked like he was letting out a sigh. I might be imagining things, but it feels like he¡¯s ncing at me. I spoke courteously. ¡°Your Excellency, I have an idea. Let us split our forces into two.¡± ¡°Split our army into two?¡± Zepar made a face. The moment he did so, Amii taunted me. ¡°Hah! It seems you do not know what tactics are. Gathering our forces and attacking a single point, this is a basic tactic. Sir Dantalian, are you sure you are not underestimating the enemies too much?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± Iughed on the inside. I¡¯m not the one underestimating the enemy. You are. Amii almost looked adorable to me now. Although watching your cute antics is fairly cute, keep your mouth shut for now. I¡¯m the only one here who is familiar with the situation of the human armies. What¡¯s there to hide? In , I had faced the Demon Lord armies at those very fortresses. Naturally, I know the weaknesses of the human armies like the back of my hand. Even the 4 fortresses that look impregnable from the outside have quite a critical w. We just have to dig into that. This is a tactic that seeded in . *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t really have much else to say. I¡¯ll be tranting to chapter 80 before going back to finish off volume 4 of Handholding. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 78: Watchdog of Humanity (4)ΟΟΟΟ Chapter 78: Watchdog of Humanity (4)¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ The other Demon Lords stirred because of Amii¡¯s instigation. They were talking about how splitting up our troops was unusual and went beyond all reason. Zepar stopped them. ¡°Quiet. Dantalian, let me hear your suggestion.¡± ¡°With pleasure. As I said before, we will split our vanguard into 2 groups. We will then split those 2 groups and create a total of 4 units.¡± Amii snorted. He deliberately appealed to the people around us with a dumbfounded look. The others also looked at me as if I were insane. ¡°Two units weren¡¯t enough, so you want four now? I¡¯m beginning to doubt whether your head is on straight or not.¡± ¡°I said that I will listen to Dantalian¡¯s suggestion.¡± The corners of Amii¡¯s mouth twisted downward once he was warned by Zepar. He quietly muttered that he understood. He didn¡¯t even remotely sound as if he intended to apologize to me. ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°We will have a total of 4 units with 500 troops each. One of these units will disregard the fortress and continue marching.¡± Zepar looked dubious. I may not be able to read his emotions, but it was obvious what was on his mind. For what reason would they ignore the fortress? This is what he was asking. Our goal as the vanguard is to clear the path for the main force so they can pass through the gateways while incurring the least amount of losses as possible. Ignoring the fortress goes against the goal of our operation. I maintained the calmness in my voice. ¡°Your Excellency, may this humble one exin further using the map?¡± ¡°I allow it.¡± Let¡¯s keep cool. I discussed this with Laura multiple times before this meeting. Laura De Farnese, the girl who¡¯ll be one of the greatest tacticians in the future, gave me her assurance and, as someone who had yed the game, I already know that this strategy is going to work. There¡¯s no way this will fail. ¡°First, in regard to the four fortresses in our path towards Habsburg.¡± I pointed at the fortresses with a rod. ¡°The green, blue, gold, and red fortresses work together fairly well. Among them, the green fortress is protected by approximately 500 soldiers. The blue fortress is also protected by 500 soldiers. The gold and red fortresses are upied by a thousand troops respectively.¡± Zepar nodded. He naturally knows how many troops the fortresses have respectively. A total of 3,000 enemy soldiers. Compared to our army of 2,000, they have 1.5 times more soldiers than us. ¡°Have you never thought this was strange? The humans created multiple fortresses and split their troops up. If their goal is to defend, then it would be more efficient to focus all of their militia into a single fortress. A fortress protected by 500 and a fortress protected by 2,500, it¡¯s obvious which would be considered the impregnable stronghold.¡± It¡¯s hard to rationalize putting troops at 4 different fortresses. An army of a thousand elite monsters is more than enough to breach the defenses of a gate being defended by 500 human soldiers. If their goal is to defend, then it would be much better tobine the 500 soldiers in the green fortress and the 500 soldiers in the blue fortress. And yet, the humans chose to utilize this inefficientyout. Why¡¯s that? Is it because they¡¯re foolish, or¡­¡­? Zepar narrowed his eyes. ¡°Are you saying that the fortresses are not meant to defend against us?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± He immediately understood where I was going. As expected of the person who Barbatos deemed appropriate to be the leader of the vanguard. ¡°The fortresses were built to block the Crescent Alliance. No one, not even the humans, would think that a single fortress would be enough to defend against our Crescent Alliance. They only expect one thing from their 4 gates. They expect the gates to keep us upied long enough for them to gather their massive militia together.¡± The fortresses aren¡¯t meant for defense, they¡¯re meant to dy us. The fortresses aplish their goal by simply slowing our forces down. Even if there are only 500 soldiers defending the green fortress, the Demon Lord army has to stop their advance momentarily for the sake of carrying out a siege. This will take at least a day. During that day, the humans will use a magic tool to send a report to the Empire of Habsburg. The margraves of the empire will then immediately rally their troops. ¡°The fortresses are nothing more than sacrificialmbs. If I may be frank, the green, blue, and gold fortresses are like the bridesmaids to the red fortress. Sacrificialmbs with the sole purpose of slowing us down until the margraves are able to send reinforcements to the red fortress.¡± No matter how fast our troops move, it¡¯ll take a day to reach the green fortress, a day to conquer the green fortress, a day to reach the blue fortress, a day to conquer the blue fortress, and a day to reach the gold fortress¡­¡­. Getting this far will take at least 5 days. Within the span of 5 days, the margraves will have sent their elite cavalry and they would have already arrived at the red fortress. They might have even conscripted more troops by then. ¡°Your Excellency, this naturally concerns me greatly. The soldiers stationed at these fortresses intend to fight us despite knowing that they are sacrificialmbs. They are prepared to die. They will fight desperately until their final breaths. Solely for the sake of dying our march by a single day. It would not be wise to carry out a siege on a stronghold that is being defended by these sorts of people.¡± ¡°I understand that.¡± Zepar spoke. ¡°However, our foes being brave is not a reason for us to avoid fighting them.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, I am not suggesting that we should avoid fighting them. I am saying that we should avoid carrying out a siege.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What do you mean?¡± Zepar, it seems you¡¯re a tactician and not a strategist. Tactics are something that is performed during a battle where strategies have already been determined. On the other hand, what¡¯s important in a battle of strategies is thwarting the other party¡¯s strategy entirely. ¡°After dividing our vanguard into 4 units, we will position one of the units between the green and blue fortresses. We will then make that unit set up an encampment. The human infantries will be confused. At that point, a different unit will attack from the front.¡± ¡°A diversion tactic, is it?¡± Five hundred from the rear and five hundred from the front, a total of a thousand troops will attack the fortress from both ends. The green fortress will easily be captured. ¡°I understand that this would be more effective than attacking from only one side; however, I am curious as to why you are choosing to not utilize the remaining two units of five hundred soldiers. Dear me, General Zepar. Pulling off a diversion tactic is not the goal, it is a trick. ¡°It is for the sake of hiding our fighting power from the other fortresses. If the green fortress is captured through the usage of a diversion tactic, then the humans will think this: the demon army that is invading this time around only has a thousand troops. They used a diversion tactic to preserve their numbers as much as possible¡­¡­.¡± The other Demon Lords blinked. They didn¡¯t seem to understand yet, so I borated further. ¡°An army of only a thousand soldiers. The remaining fortresses should be more than capable of fending those numbers off. Thus, the margraves will not do anything.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Zepar opened his eyes wide. ¡°So the diversion tactic is a decoy!¡± ¡°Correct. After the green fortress is the blue fortress. We will repeat the same movements. We will make 500 units ignore the fortress and advance to the mountains and order them to set up an encampment between the blue and gold fortresses. There is no reason for us to hurry. It should be perfect if we move at a decent pace for 2 days.¡± I smiled shallowly. ¡°The slower we move, the more confused our foes will be about our objective. Maybe the demons are not trying to breach all the way to thest fortress? Maybe their objective is to only get past the gold fortress and strengthen their forces? We will sow a seed of anxiety into them. There is a high possibility that the humans will misinterpret our stratagem as the hammer-and-anvil tactic.¡± I turned to nce at Amii. His expression looked fierce. He wasn¡¯t following along at all. Wait a second. I¡¯ll kindly spell it out for you guys. I¡¯m feeling generous today. ¡°The leading members of the fortresses will most likely think along these lines: the total military strength of the Demon Lords is around a thousand. What is their goal? To preserve their military strength as much as possible and capture the fortresses. What do they fear the most? Troops gathering at a single fortress and bing an impregnable wall.¡± Therefore, the humans will conclude that the demons are putting in an effort to cut the connection between the fortresses. ¡°At most, an attack force of a thousand troops can ovee a defense force of a thousand troops in a siege. Therefore, the Demon Lords are preemptively creating a blockade so that the defense force cannot exceed a thousand soldiers in the slight chance that another fortress tries to send reinforcements¡­¡­. To the humans, the 500 between the two fortresses will seem like the anvil and the 500 attacking from the front will seem like the hammer.¡± In a situation like this, what¡¯s the best move the humans can make? I grinned. Oh dear, a bad habit of mine came out. I always end up grinning wickedly like this whenever I start to predict things. This is why you can¡¯t find a spec of dignity as a Demon Lord on me. Nheless, holding back this grin is unbearable. ¡°Your Excellency, it will appear like the demon army has split their army of a thousand soldiers up in order to conquer the fortresses. What do you think the humans will do once they see this?¡± ¡°They wille out of their fortresses and try to take us out one by one¡­¡­!¡± Zepar struck the table with his fist. He was clearly excited. I gave him a nod. The blue fortress has 500 men. If 500 monsters attack from both ends respectively, then the fortress won¡¯t be able to even put up a fight. Therefore??the humans will undoubtedly try to pull off an attack of their own. If the 2,000 soldiers from both the gold and red fortresses were to assault the 500 monsters from behind, then the monsters will most likely get wiped out in an instant since there would be a 4 times difference in military strength. During this time, the blue fortress will continue to defend against the monsters attacking from the front. Let¡¯s organize this. The humans will respond to our diversion tactic by trying to divide and conquer us. First, the blue fortress will defend against the unit of monsters attacking from the front. The troops from the gold and red fortresses will swoop in to attack the monsters from behind and wipe them out. They will then join up with the blue fortress to overwhelm the rest of the monsters. The humans will undoubtedly believe that this tactic will lead to their certain victory. It truly would if, ¡°If the military strength of our vanguard was truly only a thousand soldiers, that is. We will then mobilize our remaining soldiers and conquer the blue fortress. Contrary to their expectations, a total of a thousand five hundred monsters will attack from the front!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, this is the highlight of this operation.¡± Zepar¡¯s eyes are filled with excitement, but he isn¡¯t smiling. I¡¯d appreciate it if he did since this is quite the entertaining deception tactic. Our foes will think this is a small-scale invasion that happens every year. But that¡¯s wrong. This is the Crescent Alliance¡¯s skirmish. By moving slowly and prolonging the battle, we¡¯ll make our enemies believe that this can¡¯t be the Crescent Alliance. They¡¯ll think we¡¯re prolonging the battle strategically. But that¡¯s wrong. We¡¯re plotting short battles and forcing short battles on them. We¡¯ll make them worry that the blue fortress will fall to the deception tactic if they don¡¯t end the battle quickly and we¡¯ll use this concern of theirs. They¡¯ll think that we¡¯re carrying out a deception tactic. But that¡¯s wrong. The deception tactic is nothing more than a bait. We¡¯re making them underestimate our military strength. The margraves of the empire will conclude that there¡¯s no reason for them to mobilize their troops if there are only a thousand monsters. They¡¯ll believe that the troops stationed at the fortress will be more than enough to handle us with ease. They¡¯ll think that they¡¯re going to divide and conquer us. But that¡¯s wrong. They may think that the blue fortress can hold us off while the troops from their gold and red fortressese to attack us from behind, but the truth is that the unit we ced in between will be the ones holding them off while the rest of our troops assault the blue fortress. ¡°Our enemies will confidently believe that they are pushing us into a mire, but it is the other way around. The moment they neglect the true strategic value of the fortresses, our vanguard will conquer those empty fortresses without shedding a single drop of blood. And, pfft.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°P-Pardon me. I was imagining how Commander Barbatos will react when shees here and discovers that we have already conquered the red fortress when, at most, she had only expected us to reach the gold fortress. I could not help butugh.¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. I let out augh. It isn¡¯t as bad as before, but I¡¯m somewhat bipr. It seems the flood gate has broken. ¡°Huhahaha!¡± General Zepar must have not been able to hold hisughter back any longer as well as heughed with me. As expected, he may look a stern, refined gentleman on the outside, but he still has a sense of humor. There¡¯s no way he would im to be Barbatos¡¯ vassal if he didn¡¯t have one. That girl¡¯s brain has a few loose screws, after all. However, no one elseughed excluding the two of us. For some reason, the rookie Demon Lords were looking back and forth between me and Zepar with slightly pale faces. Their faces were filled with shock. What? Where¡¯d all that big talk run off to, Amii? That was a rather good joke, you know? By all means,ugh as much as you want. It¡¯ll only make me feel embarrassed as the one who said the joke if you¡¯re going to look all serious like that. If Barbatos were here, she would probably be rolling on the floorughing. Was expecting Amii to have a sense of humor like this asking for too much? I found this truly to be regrettable. ¡°Very well. Let us proceed ording to Dantalian¡¯s n. Men, let us first destroy the green fortress!¡± On this day, General Zepar chose to carry out my strategy. Operation . The general gave it this name. Is it not the perfect name? Our unit of 500 will be a flytrap and lure the 2,500 soldiers stationed at the fortresses. Don¡¯t the soldiers of these fortresses refer to themselves as the watchdogs of humanity? How nice of them to refer to themselves as dogs. Nheless, you guys won¡¯t stand a chance. You watchdogs will die pitifully without being able to even cry out to your masters and it¡¯ll all be because of me¡­¡­. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Honestly, this chapter was pretty repetitive, so it got a bit difficult to trante. I do my best to avoid repetition, but since the same ideas kept getting reiterated, I had a hard time tranting. Well, the author probably could¡¯ve ended this chapter early, but ending a chapter a thousand words shorter than every other chapter would be weird. I¡¯m not going to dislike an entire series for it. In any case, wordpress did another huge overhaul of the editor, so I have to get used to a new ui again. If you see anything weird, then it¡¯s probably because I¡¯m still fumbling with things. Please understand, I¡¯m still learning :^) Chapter 79: Watchdog of Humanity Chapter 79: Watchdog ofHumanity ¡°Your Excellency, we have received an urgent message.¡± ¡°Did something happen?¡± A man who appeared to be in his forties looked up from the documents he had been working on. Fritz von Rosenberg. He was an aristocrat of the Habsburg Empire and was also one of the two margraves in charge of the ck Mountains. He possessed an elite cavalry. ¡°The green fortress has fallen.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± He removed his monocle and gazed at the butler sharply. ¡°What are their numbers?¡± ¡°ording to the report, it is an army of a thousand monsters. 3 Demon Lords have formed an alliance, but none of them are higher than rank 30. Nheless, they possess 5 ogres.¡± ¡°5 ogres, is it?¡± The margrave brushed his mustache. ¡°That is indeed threatening; nevertheless, that is not something which the remaining fortresses cannot handle. What did themanding officer say?¡± ¡°They said that Your Excellency has nothing to worry about as they will stop the monsters.¡± He nodded. ¡°It is an opportunity for them to distinguish themselves in battle. My rtionship with themanding officers will only worsen if I were to swoop in and take all the glory. Inform them that I will trust in their confidence and not dispatch my troops. However, I will prepare my soldiers so that they can be dispatched immediately if they request for it. Also, inform the captain of the Scarlet Wild Boar cavalry to rally his men.¡± ¡°Immediately, Your Excellency.¡± The butler bowed courteously and left the office. For a brief moment, Margrave von Rosenberg considered the possibility of a thousand monsters getting through the remaining 3 fortresses. He didn¡¯t have to think for long. A thousand monsters isn¡¯t even remotely a threat. The only task he has to worry about is restoring the losses that the fortresses may suffer while fending off the monsters. The margrave returned to working on his documents. The ck Mountains are safe. The issue isn¡¯t external but internal. He had heard that the political strife in the capital has been bing more fierce. The margrave fell into deep thought about whether His Highness the Crown Prince would seed or not. * * * My strategy proceeded without any problems. A unit took a detour around the green fortress and set up an encampment behind the fortress. Once they set up their encampment, we sent another unit of 500 monsters to attack the fortress from the front. We assaulted the gate from both ends. It¡¯sparable to crushing a tomato in your hand. The green fortress was captured with almost no effort. Normally, people say that the attackers have to have a force three times the size of the defenders when trying to carry out a siege, but that¡¯s only when humans are fighting each other. I¡¯m not sure about goblins, but orcs have a much better physique than humans on average. If you y your cards right, then you could carry out a siege with equal numbers. We have a thousand monsters including 5 ogres. Not only were Demon Lords takingmand and making the monsters move in an orderly manner, but we assaulted them from both ends as well. Even if the defending troops were veterans, a fortress being defended by an army of only 500 human soldiers is nothing special. ¡°War feels unexpectedly empty.¡± ¡°It is different from taking down a few adventurer parties.¡± Laura responded sincerely to my thoughtfulment. ¡°Your Lordship ismanding from the barracks and not the front line. It is very rare for amander to personally witness the horrors of war.¡± Laura and I were looking around the camp while mounted on horses next to each other. It¡¯s as she said. I may have gotten involved in the operation, but in terms of strategy, I didn¡¯t participate in the battle. I¡¯m participating in the Crescent Alliance with only 32 golems and 10 fairies. Thus, we were excluded from the battle. I smiled wryly. ¡°Horrors of war, is it? What we are witnessing right now is already quite horrifying.¡± The monsters around us, in other words, our allies, were eating. Regardless of the time period, logistics are the most important when ites to managing armies. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the flow of war is determined by how you give provisions and other types of supplies to your forces. Different from modern society, this is an era where maintaining a supply line is difficult. Therefore, a fundamental of army logistics is to ¡®procure things locally¡¯. In the case of humans, they would aplish this by purchasing provisions from locals or piging. But what about monsters? ? Krrrb, kkchh. An orc was biting away at a piece of meat just a few meters away from us. The orc nonchntly tossed aside the leather and chain armor that got in his way as if he were deboning a fish. He then took a bite. I could clearly hear the sound of saliva sttering around. The piece of meat was a human¡¯s leg. The local procurement method that demons resorted to was brutal. They offered the corpses that resulted from the battle as provisions. It wasn¡¯t only the human corpses, but goblin and orc corpses were treated as provisions as well. Even now, there were several trails of smoke rising here and there. They were all the results of corpses being cooked¡­¡­. From the humans¡¯ perspective, this would probably seem like Hell itself. I was vomiting all over the floor just three hours ago. The wretched scent of intestines and corpses burning had filled my nostrils and shook my skull. And yet, the feeling that was being transmitted to me, in other words, the feeling being felt by the monsters was hunger. Damn it! My senses were being overwhelmed by a horrid stench, and yet the feeling blooming in my mind was hunger. Seriously, is this not torture? I can say with the utmost confidence that being able to read the emotions of others isn¡¯t a blessing. I¡¯d like to sincerely refrain from feeling hunger towards human flesh. ¡°Your Lordship is right. This is also a horror of war. Nevertheless, I believe there is a different burden that monarchs must carry.¡± ¡°A burden meant for only monarchs¡­¡­.¡± I muttered absentmindedly and Laura nodded her head. ¡°Normal soldiers are allowed to cry out after seeing how harrowing war is. Peasants canment and curse about the unfairness of life. However, monarchs are different.¡± She paused which resulted in me stopping as well. Before I knew it, the two of us were facing each other on horseback. Laura¡¯s unwavering gaze was directed right at me. ¡°Commanding officers are not allowed to me someone else for the misery. They cannot me the world either. This is because they are the ones taking responsibility for the war.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Lordship, look at the corpses scattered around us. There are no distinctions between humans, goblins, and orcs. Why did they die? Who are the ones who forced them onto a battlefield?¡± There was nothing to say. I was the one who had ushered them into a battlefield. Zepar, Amii, and all the other Demon Lords are the culprits behind this war. However, there being a lot of aplices doesn¡¯t change the fact that I¡¯m one of the culprits. Especially since this strategy went ording to my design. What if the battle went in a different direction? ¡­¡­Then some of the people who died now might have met a more favorable fate. I had caused their deaths. Laura looked at me with a steely gaze. ¡°You will suffer and it will be tiring. It is fine for you to feel these emotions. However, at the very least, ming another is something that is absolutely not allowed for a monarch.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I.¡± I opened my mouth and was surprised. My voice felt emotional. Am I sad? Even now, after having received Laura¡¯s words in their entirety, I felt sadness. Funny enough, this fact made me feel relieved. I¡¯m currently taking in the hunger of hundreds of orcs. This isn¡¯t my own hunger. What am I supposed to settle with while within this hellish pot of emotions? Sorrow, only this is my emotion. I was validating myself¡­¡­. Nevertheless, my sense of self was way too weak. How long will I be able to maintain myself while within these waves of emotions pouring out from other people? At the moment, I¡¯ve gone as far as to suffer from manic depression. However, the Demon Lord syndrome that Lapis told me about before might happen¡­¡­ Laura¡¯s right. Leaders have to carry a burden, but what will happen if the mental state of the person carrying the burden crumbles? This is what I fear. ¡°What will happen if I begin to suffer too excessively? I mean to the point where I can no longer carry this burden. No, what will happen if I be so impoverished that I can no longer be called Dantalian¡­¡­?¡± ¡°You have this youngdy.¡± Laura assured me. ¡°I will never leave Your Lordship¡¯s side. Have you forgotten? I have devoted my all to you. I vowed that my sess and loss will be solely Your Lordship¡¯s sess and loss. This is applied the other way around as well. Your Lordship¡¯s sess and loss will also be my sess and loss.¡± Her tone didn¡¯t falter even slightly. I continued to listen to her in silence. ¡°Your Lordship has killed a thousand people. I have resolved myself to follow you who had done that. Therefore, the responsibility of murdering a thousand also lies on me. The suffering Your Lordship experiences, I shall experience as well. I will share the pain that Your Lordship goes through.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you remember the man who was this youngdy¡¯s master while she was a ve?¡± Of course. Jack nd. He was a foolish but beautiful ve merchant. I wanted to be his friend, but I couldn¡¯t. ¡°At that time, Your Lordship could have killed that ve merchant and you naturally should have killed him. There was a possibility that Your Lordship¡¯s life could have been at risk if you let him live, after all. Despite this, you did not kill him. When I questioned Your Lordship about your decision, you told me this: to you, life is something where you take in all of the coincidences.¡± I remember. How could I not remember this? ¡°For some reason, Your Lordship wished to spare the ve merchant, regardless of whether that decision came back to bite you or not. Your Lordship, if that ve merchant came back in the future to get revenge, would you have regretted your decision?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No.¡± Laura nodded as if she had expected this response. ¡°You tried to spare the ve merchant because that is what you wished for. As that was solely your decision, Your Lordship would have most likely epted any conclusion without regrets. This youngdy decided to follow Your Lordship because I was charmed by that way of life. Your Lordship had shown me that¡­¡­people are able to guarantee things besides their own death.¡± She smiled widely. ¡°This youngdy wishes for Your Lordship to continue to live like this till the very end.¡± ¡°¡­¡­How unfair, Laura.¡± I shrugged in an exaggerated manner. I felt like I wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on if I didn¡¯t joke around like this. ¡°Laura, you know that this battle is not the only thing which I am responsible for. I am the one who instigated the 8th Crescent Alliance. The vanguard, the 6th legion, the entire Crescent Alliance, all of the wars which these groups will cause¡­¡­. If you think about it, they will have all been caused by me. Laura, you are asking me to simply carry all of this as a burden. Tens of thousands of lives might vanish. Are you telling me to carry the weight of this number of lives?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± She answered without any hesitation. No, there was even a smile on her lips. Normal people would struggle to even carry the burden of a single person¡¯s life. She was asking me to take responsibility for hundreds of thousands of lives. As if it were a matter of fact. ¡°Your Lordship is not a sage-king. Are you not a Demon Lord? If you are a Demon Lord, then you must naturally take responsibility for those lives in this manner. Your Lordship, walk the path of a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°The path of a Demon Lord is it¡­¡­? It is Hell.¡± Iughed weakly. Regardless, Laura is right. This is the only way of life that I can choose. I only now figured out why Laura had dragged me out from my tent while I was vomiting and brought me out to look at the encampment while on horseback. She was telling me to stop trying to run away. This field that¡¯s covered in corpses and the numerous clouds of smokeing from the campfires cooking the corpses. As I am the one who had brought upon this scene, I have to take this sight in more than anyone else??This is what Laura is telling me. She also intends to bear this sight. Laura has sworn to ept things at the same weight as my burdens. I couldn¡¯t bear this situation withoutughing. ¡°A vassal that drops her lord into Hell. It appears that I have obtained quite the disloyal subordinate. Very well, then. Will you fall into the same Hell as me, Laura?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± An immediate response. I know that that wasn¡¯t a light answer. This scene of ughter must undoubtedly look dreadful to a 17-year-old girl. Laura had responded as such while feeling this. Seriously, she¡¯s way more mature than I am. We urged our horses forward again. We advanced between the corpse-burning fires and flesh-eating monsters. If the Crescent Alliance expedition goes as I n, then a massacre far greater and iparable to this battle will ur. If I can¡¯t take this current burden on, then there¡¯s no way I could endure in the future. I moved my horse at a reasonably slow pace. Laura matched my speed. This was for the sake of engraving the sight before me even more into my brain and eyes. The sound of mes crackling and flesh being chewed on didn¡¯t leave my ears for a while. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This was a lot easier to trantepared to thest chapter. Repetition hurts. In any case, I still hate the new WordPress update. They removed useful functions cause they apparently haven¡¯t fleshed this update outpletely yet. I confirmed this when I asked them where certain functions were, but was told that they¡¯re still trying to improve this update. Please don¡¯t release an update if you haven¡¯t worked everything out. It isn¡¯t an improvement if you¡¯re trying to work back in functions that previously existed. Bleh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 80: Watchdog of Humanity (6)ΟΟΟΟ Chapter 80: Watchdog of Humanity (6)¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ Chapter 080 ¨C Watchdog of Humanity(6)¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ * * * ¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ I loathe politics! I loathe nobles even more. This was Kurz Schleiermacher¡¯s sincere opinion. He was currently listening to theints of his superior. His superior was both a noble and a soldier. If you excluded the beauty of their blonde hair, there wasn¡¯t a single good thing about them. ¡°Look. In military tactics, you have to first take over the fortress before you fight your opposition.¡± The young noble bbered. ¡®I wonder if this person has ever starved a day in their life.¡¯ There was a time when Kurz and his unit was surrounded by the enemy and didn¡¯t have the leisure to even feel hunger. That¡¯s what it means to be a soldier. Military tactics and reality are two different things. Is this young master aware of this¡­¡­? Kurz let out a deep mental sigh. ¡°Those monsters are desperately struggling to capture the fortresses. But,¡± Bang, the noble mmed his fist on the table. ¡°Our imperial army still has 3 fortresses! Gateways that were built a thousand years ago. In other words, our forces have been winning since a thousand years ago. Her Excellency the Third Imperial Princess once praised this as the peak of all tactics.¡± ¡°I see. I can only be moved by Your Excellency¡¯s insight.¡± Kurzmented in spite of his genuine emotions. There was nothing to gain even if he voiced hisints. However, Kurz felt like his insides would get twisted up at this rate if he didn¡¯t let his frustrations out. That¡¯s why he said he was moved by his superior¡¯s insight. If the reason for this battle¡¯s victory was predetermined since a thousand years ago, then that would naturally mean that it had nothing to do with the superior before him. Hisment was a taunt under the guise of ttery. ¡°Haha. I am also a proud soldier of the empire. It would be embarrassing if I couldn¡¯t do this much.¡± His superiorughed. As expected, Kurz thought as he held back a snicker. It seems His Excellency had failed to notice that he was mocked just now. He was born into a wealthy family, received a good education, and was made tomand an elite squad. This was probably the entirety of this noble¡¯s life. His superior is living a life that¡¯s aplete contrast to Kurz¡¯s life as amoner. Kurz wasn¡¯t jealous, but he did feel envy. He envied that there could be a race of people who could live without a brain. This surprised him. Kurz thought to himself. If people could actually add and remove their brains at will, then this would be the exact moment he would remove his. As a rational human being, going along with this rookie noble¡¯s talk about military tactics was far too tasking. ¡°An urgent message, Your Excellency!¡± At that moment, an envoy ran into the barracks. Kurz was so happy that he wanted to let out a cheer. However, his decades of experience as an elite soldier naturally made him act in a more dignified manner. Additionally, he frowned as if to make it seem like an interesting conversation had just been interrupted. He was gifted in being able to almost instinctively make himself look good in front of his superiors. ¡°Do not make a ruckus. This is themander¡¯s office. What is the matter?¡± ¡°Y-Yes. The blue fortress has lit signal fires. There are three signal fires! This is a stage three invasion!¡± So it has begun! Kurz¡¯s heart pounded. Originating from the Habsburg Empire, various kingdoms used the following signal fire system. Stage one ¨C When less than 10 foreign enemies have appeared on the frontier. Stage two ¨C When 100 to 500 foreign enemies have appeared on the frontier. Stage three ¨C When 500 to 1000 foreign enemies have either appeared or entered the frontier. Stage four ¨C When more than 1000 foreign enemies have attacked. The envoy reported that three signal fires had been lit. This meant that approximately 500 enemy troops have been spotted. This was just as Kurz and the other fortressmander-substitutes had predicted. The Demon Lord army this time around has roughly 1000 soldiers. They¡¯re going as far as to pull off a diversion tactic for the sake of trying to capture the green and blue fortresses¡­¡­. Their tactic was definitely effective. The green fortress was unable to put up a fight as it got captured with ease, after all. ¡®There must be someone among the Demon Lord army who is able to use their head quite well. However, things won¡¯t turn out how they want it to from now on.¡¯ Kurz wore a content smile on his face. The Demon Lords must be underestimating the connection between the fortresses. Normally, the green, blue, gold, and red fortresses act separately. This is because, rather than trying topletely defeat the Demon Lord armies, their goal is to slow their advance. Since their goal is to only slow the demons down, it¡¯s better to have several obstacles instead of putting all their troops into a single ce. ¡®However, since we know that their goal isn¡¯t to invade the continent, there¡¯s no reason for us to obsess over our fortresses.¡¯ The Demon Lord army only has a thousand troops this time. It¡¯s difficult to think that they would be aiming to invade into the continent with this number of troops. Furthermore, they¡¯re advancing way too slow. It has been 4 days since they captured the green fortress. If the Demon Lords intended to invade into the continent, then they would be trying to blitz through us. Capturing the fortresses before the margraves could send their reinforcements was the strategy that the Demon Lords have used for the past thousand years. However, they weren¡¯t doing that this time¡­¡­. What could this mean? Kurz came to a conclusion after mulling over this for a moment. Their objective is to upy the green and blue fortresses. If this is the case, Kurz thought. We must wipe them out before they can upy the blue fortress. It just so happens that the enemy has split their army into two units again. This is an opportunity for them to divide and conquer. While the blue fortress is blocking one of the units, the gold and red fortresses will work together to attack the remaining unit. ¡°Your Excellency, it is about time for us to go.¡± ¡°Mm. Order the rest of our soldiers to sortie.¡± ¡°Understood. My troops from the red fortress will continue our advance.¡± His superior was a rookie who had never experienced war before, but he wasn¡¯t an utter fool. He managed toprehend the vital points of the strategy he had been earnestly exining. ¡°But lieutenant.¡± The noble sounded somewhat anxious. ¡°Would it not be better to meet the enemy in battle at a fortress? There is no need for us to go out of our way to leave our fortress toe into contact with the monsters. I cannot help but feel uncertain.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency.¡± This again? Kurz was already tired of this. This rookie superior of his kept saying things like this even though their n had already been decided. What a fool! Kurz felt like shouting. ¡°I understand that an army of monsters is terrifying; nheless, what do you think will happen if we let those monsters do whatever they want?¡± ¡°Mm.¡± ¡°They will capture the blue fortress and sit on it. 2 fortresses of the ck Mountains will have been captured. The imperial army cannot reim them after they have done so.¡± We¡¯d be the ones who¡¯d have to carry out a siege against the demons¡­¡­. Normally, you need an army three times the size of the defending army when performing a siege, but if the defending army consists of monsters, then you¡¯d need an army that¡¯s 5 times their size. It¡¯s hard to imagine how many people we¡¯d lose during this process. Something like this happened 20 years ago. At that time, the green fortress had been captured and was left that way. In the end, the soldiers of the remaining fortresses had to team up with the margraves to reim the fortress. They seeded in eliminating the monsters, but that was only because the margraves had assisted them. ¡°But is that not fine? The margraves are supposed to support us. Allies help allies. I do not understand what about this is disagreeable.¡± Kurz furrowed his brows. His superior was exceedingly stupid. Allies help allies, although this seems right on the surface, militias are not that simple. The mere act of rallying your troops costs money. How many provisions and supplies would be required to prepare for a siege? The defenders of the fortresses are not given a territory of their own. They are poor. In the end, the ones who supply them are the margraves. What would happen if they made the margraves spend money? The soldiers will incur a debt. They would have to hand the leadership over to the margraves in every battle. In other words, their authority as militiamanders will be severely threatened. Is this brat aware of this¡­¡­? Kurz felt a headacheing as he spoke. ¡°If we lose a fortress, then that would be our blunder. On the other hand, reiming a fortress would be an exploit for the margraves. Your Excellency, I am afraid to know how the higher-ups of the imperial army would think of us.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± His superior eximed. Kurz snickered on the inside. Now he understands. ¡°Pardon me, but if I may be allowed to be frank, this will prevent themanders stationed at the fortresses from being promoted. In truth, themanders who had lost the green fortress 20 years ago ended up retiring without ever receiving a promotion.¡± ¡°Is that so? It cannot be helped, then. We must settle this as soon as possible. We cannot let those margraves steal our glory¡­¡­. Those guys are in the Imperial Prince¡¯s faction, after all. The nobleman nodded his head several times. Kurz was certain that he had managed to convince his superior. The noble felt even more pathetic to him now. He kept opposing the idea from a strategic standpoint, but once Kurz mentioned the political aspect, he was persuaded instantly. He rattled on about military tactics earlier, but he¡¯s still a typical noble who¡¯s blinded by greed. Kurz was used to these sorts of people. The Habsburg Empire would dispatch talented and high-ranking soldiers to the fortresses here on the ck Mountains. Fierce battles against monsters happen almost every year here, so it¡¯s possible to naturally gain achievements over time. If you distinguish yourself enough, then you can get promoted¡­¡­. In other words, the fortresses on the ck Mountains are being used as tools to let elite noble soldiers make a name for themselves. When did it be like this? Kurz pondered to himself. It wasn¡¯t like this a decade ago. Only the most promising individuals used to be assigned asmanders here. They protected the front line of humanity; thus, individuals who had that sense of duty were chosen. But it all changed. After the imperial prince and princess started struggling for power, they began to do whatever they could to put their faction members into positions of authority in the military. ¡®The imperial army is still powerful. Recently, they have been way too political. Tsk tsk.¡¯ Kurz decided to stop thinking about that. Nothing goodes from a soldier being well versed in politics. Soldiers are supposed to protect His Majesty the Emperor, the people of the empire, and wipe out the evil known as Demon Lords. That¡¯s our only mission. Kurz was a proud soldier of the empire and was loyal to the duty he had been given. ¡®I have to coax this brat first.¡¯ Kurz smiled bitterly before speaking. ¡°Do not worry, Your Excellency. The demons may have 1000 soldiers, but we have 2,500. Furthermore, they have split their troops up. There is no way we could possibly lose.¡± ¡°Mm. I believe that as well. I simply cannot help but feel strangely uneasy about this.¡± Are you serious? Kurz snickered on the inside. His voice was trembling. It seems that the rookie¡¯s mentality as a soldier wasn¡¯t strong enough to find assurance in military tactics. In times like this, he has to throw in another bait besides tactics. ¡°We will turn the situation around and divide and conquer the monsters. An army of a thousand monsters will be wiped out. Your Excellency¡¯s name will spread throughout the empire.¡± ¡°You are right.¡± The noble¡¯s face lit up. Kurz was certain that the thought of having the rookie¡¯s name spread throughout the empire had managed to light a fire under his heart. The noble was 19-years-old. Most soldiers his age would obviously be starved for fame and glory. Kurz shook his head. ¡®To think I¡¯d have to support a brat at my age¡­¡­. Sheesh.¡¯ Ipetent aristocrats are bothersome. The only good thing about this situation was the fact that the rookie noble knew his ce, so he knew to rely on Kurz¡¯s abilities. In truth, Kurz was the one who was actually leading the troops of the red and gold fortresses. Kurz gave his sympathy to the enemy advisor whom he didn¡¯t know the name of. Their diversion tactic was quite splendid; however, the fact that they fell into the stereotype of believing that the soldiers of the fortress can only defend was their fatal mistake. ¡®At the very least, I¡¯m not that foolish. ??Obediently fall under the might of 2500 elite soldiers, you Demon Lord bastards.¡¯ Kurz ordered all of the soldiers to advance. ¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ * * * ¦¯¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Your Excellency, we have received a report that the imperial army is moving.¡± I informed Zepar. He returned a nod. ¡°So they have taken the bait. Dantalian, light the signal fire.¡± ¡°Understood. I will order the troops in the back to advance.¡± I conveyed the order to Laura and she gave a salute before moving with haste. I turned my head to look at the blue fortress. We were in the middle of a siege. The humans looked as if they were sessfully defending against our attack¡­¡­ from an outside perspective, that is. The truth is different. We¡¯re simply attacking them halfheartedly. The true assault is going to happen once our troops in the back join up with us. The humans are probably feeling at ease right now since they think we don¡¯t have any more ogres. They most likely think we only have 5 ogres and that we had sent them all out with the troops at the front. How pitiful. We have 10 ogres. The remaining 5 ogres are with the unit in the back. The blue fortress will be captured just as easily as the green fortress was. This operation¡¯s deciding factor relied heavily on whether our unit in the rear got discovered prematurely or not. I seeded in preventing them from being discovered early. The humans did their utmost to defend against us as they had stationed as many troops as they could at the blue fortress. Therefore, even the sentries were rallied. They most likely did their all in order to win¡­¡­but how sad. Our enemy haspletely misread our intentions. ¡°You are also quite the cruel man.¡± ¡°This humble one has no idea what you may possibly mean by that.¡± ¡°Kuhuhu.¡± Zepar chuckled lightly. Although he¡¯s a gentleman who rarely showed emotions on his face, he started tough more frequently since thest meeting. It seems he¡¯s beenughing more often especially in front of me. His affection points also went above 20. After reading his mental thoughts, I confirmed that he likes me a lot. ¡°I initially thought it would be bothersome when Commander Barbatos told me to take care of you. I am a warrior by nature. Mentoring a schemer about military tactics is a rather tiresome task¡­¡­. However, the man whom I thought was a schemer turned out to be this sort of individual. It would be more appropriate to call you a scheming general than a simple schemer.¡± ¡°I am undeserving of such praise.¡± Zepar shook his head. ¡°Nonsense. I understand why themander favors you. The humans will not know what they did wrong even as they fall to their deaths. I am looking forward to seeing what sort of battles you will leave behind in history from now on.¡± I didn¡¯t know how to respond, so I simply smiled awkwardly. Zepar didn¡¯t say anything more after this. He proceeded to give out militarymands calmly and quickly. Thanks to him being themanding officer, we didn¡¯t suffer many losses in the siege. He made soundmands. I had a lot to learn from him. More importantly, I was surprised when we received intel that Kurz Schleiermacher was one of the humans managing the fortresses. We discovered this after we tortured one of the humans we had captured as prisoners. Kurz Schleiermacher, this is a name that yers of are fairly familiar with. He was a seasoned general who had a friendly rtionship with the hero and his party. He was a soldier who started as amoner and seeded in bing a general. Kurz liked the hero since the hero used to also be amoner. A person who was going to y an active role 10 years from now. He was currently working as a deputymander-in-chief for the red fortress. Should I call this a twist of fate? I¡¯m going to end up facing him with the vanguard I was assigned to. Kurz Schleiermacher must be killed. He ys a part in weakening the ss struggle that happens in the Empire of Habsburg in the future. His image of bing a general despite being amoner will be used. Imperial Princess Elizabeth raises her approval rating with themoners by bringing Kurz to her side. Like I¡¯d let this happen. Imperial Princess Elizabeth is a severe threat. She possessed the greatest allied army in . The hero was the one who killed the Demon Lords, but it was the Imperial Princess who supported the hero from behind. If the Imperial Princess didn¡¯t exist, then the hero would have gotten swept up by political strife early on in his journey and been executed. From the perspective of the Demon Lords, the Imperial Princess was their worst enemy¡­¡­. I have to reduce the Imperial Princess¡¯ faction as much as I possibly can. Killing Kurz Schleiermacher will be the first task. I suddenly felt sympathy for him. What horrible luck for him to be stationed at the red fortress now of all times. ¡®It is unfortunate, but you must die, Kurz.¡¯ The soldier who¡¯s supposed to be a renowned general in the future will die here. I have no personal grudge against him. If anything, I liked Kurz when I yed the game. He was an amazing character, after all. Nheless, I¡¯m not the hero now. I¡¯m a Demon Lord who has resolved himself to walk the path of Hell. Laura had helped me resolve myself¡­¡­. General Kurz Schleiermacher, be sacrificed for the sake of my survival and prosperity. You would often say in the game that you¡¯re a proud soldier of Habsburg. You will fall in battle against the Demon Lord army. There is no honor as glorious as this. I will bestow upon you a glorious death. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I can¡¯t tell if I finished this chapter fast or not. I sort of lost my sense of time because of my online sses being spread throughout the week. Usually professors upload their sses on Sunday, but I have like 3 professors who upload their sses randomly throughout the week. Big confusing. In any case, I mentioned this early on, but I¡¯ma finish a Handholding chapter after this since we¡¯re so close to the end of the volume. I¡¯ll see you guys when I finish that. Chapter 81: Watchdog of Humanity (7)ΟΟΟ Chapter 81: Watchdog of Humanity (7)¦¯¦¯¦¯ It became night. Clouds blocked the moonlight. The siege entered a temporary lull period. Despite this, we didn¡¯t leave the monsters alone. ?Kruuuuu, gruuu. ?Grarara. Orcs and goblins got into a rhythm as they sang a war song. It was different from the song that was sung by the goblin tribes I had utilized when I annihted the E-rank adventurer party. Instruments like bugles were used here. The sound of bugles echoed drearily throughout the night sky. Thump, thump, thump, the monsters slowly moved their feet. We didn¡¯t light any torches around us. Our surroundings werepletely dark. From the perspective of the humans on top of the fortress walls, it must feel like the singing of monsters was crawling towards them under the shadow of the night. The enemymander must think that we¡¯re aiming to lower their morale. ¡°Your Excellency, the rear unit led by Bm has arrived.¡± ¡°Did the humans notice?¡± Zepar asked in an amused tone. Despite his tone, the fact that he still sounded dignified made it hard to make light of his years of experience. ¡°They most likely think we are doing something pointless.¡± The humans protecting the blue fortress are elite soldiers. They¡¯ve subjugated monsters before. Even if we were to sing all night, the humans would simply snort at us. They might even treat this as a luby and fall asleep while feeling happy that we¡¯re exhausting ourselves. That¡¯s how much grit they have. They¡¯re able to act leisurely. They have a good enough reason to be so confident. The reinforcements from the red and gold fortresses will most likely get through the monsters positioned behind them by tomorrow. Thanks to this, the humans have been able to maintain high morale. How long will this belief of theirsst, I wonder? Will the humans still be able to fight once they lose this hope? It doesn¡¯t matter. Either way, their chances of victory are incredibly slim. Not only their victory, but their chances of survival as well. Shortlyter. The Demon Lord leading the rear unit arrived. Rank 51 Bm. He was one of the rookie Demon Lords. He had done his task well. He steadily followed behind us while leaving more than a day¡¯s worth of distance between us. The humans had gathered all of their scouts at the fortress in order to defend against a siege. This was a fatal mistake. They failed to notice our additional troops in the rear. If they knew that we were the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance, then they would have maintained their scouting parties as much as possible. However, they didn¡¯t know. They think this is simply another small-scale invasion like usual. It¡¯s been more than 200 years since thest Crescent Alliance. 200 years was enough to make the humans lower their guards¡­¡­. Bm saluted. ¡°I have arrived after carrying out my task. General, the army is already lined up and are awaiting yourmand.¡± ¡°Good work. Stop the chanting.¡± Zepar raised his right arm. Bm and I did the same. At that moment, it became silent all around us. Our thoughts had been conveyed to the monsters. The monsters wentpletely silent as if they had never been chanting and stomping to begin with. I wonder if it was because of the abrupt silence as the human soldiers on top of the ramparts began to stir. I couldn¡¯t hear them since they were far away, but they were probably confused by the sudden silence. Or perhaps, they realized instinctively that the current silence wasn¡¯t normal and was actually something to be extremely unnerved about. ¡°O Artemis, we take sanctuary within your glorious twilight.¡± Zepar spoke in a low tone. It was a song-like prayer. After he recited that line first, Bm and I repeated it. ¡°O Artemis, we take sanctuary within your glorious twilight.¡± The volume of our voices was weak. If we were humans, then this would seem excessively pathetic to be the signal to notify the start of the war. However, we are Demon Lords and our subordinates are monsters. The monsters all felt our thoughts as we whispered them. ¡°Friendship when met with hardship, equality before our foes, and freedom will be bestowed as death approaches. We shall vow on the battlefield. A vow of friendship, a vow of equality, and a vow of death.¡± Zepar and our voices covered the ground like ayer of darkness. ¡°O Artemis, we shall vow before you with our scarlet blood that the humans will be our eternal foes, that demonkind shall be loyal like hounds for the sake of an honorable future, and although we may win or lose, please allow for this asion to not be a time of loss.¡± Zepar handed each of us a ss cup before pouring wine into our cups. He poured wine into his own ss as well. Themander in chief personally pouring a ss of wine for their subordinates is a tradition that has been passed down for many generations. I will take all responsibility. I heard that this is what this action means. ¡°For the glory of conquest.¡± ¡°For the glory of conquest. For the glory of Zepar!¡± ¡°For the glory of Barbatos!¡± I finished the wine in a single gulp and threw the ss cup on the ground. 3 ss cups shattered noisily. In stark contrast to how he had been whispering until now, Zepar suddenly shouted in a booming voice. ¡°Tonight, the ck Mountains will be ours! Soldiers, attack!¡± ¡°Attack!¡± ¡°All forces, attack??!¡± The monsters cried out. Ogres, orcs, goblins, and golems roared. It tore through the night air with almost the intent to pierce the clouds. We didn¡¯t need a prudent advance. We intended to break through the gate with a single assault. An army of 1,500 monsters charged as a single mass. Controlling monsters as if it were another arm was an ability that only Demon Lords have. Bm spoke up. ¡°General! Please allow the ogres to take the lead!¡± ¡°No. It is highly unlikely that those human bastards did not set up defenses in the case of a sudden assault. Send the orcs with shields first.¡± Zepar has a clear understanding of how wars are carried out. The sound of gongs being struck echoed loudly and it didn¡¯t take even a minute for dozens of archers to appear between the torches. It was almost as if they had been waiting for us. If I were to guess the number of archers, then it most likely exceeded 300. An overwhelming number. In truth, every soldier defending the fortress knows how to shoot a bow. In this day and age, archers are practically treated as elite soldiers, although not to the same degree as cavalry. It¡¯s because a painful amount of time is required in order to raise archers. You can imagine what sort of rigorous training the humans protecting the fortresses of the ck Fortress must¡¯ve gone through. Once the orcs holding shields got close to the ramparts, the archers pulled back the strings of their bows. They all fired their arrows at once. ¡°Close formation!¡± ¡°Shields, together!¡± Zepar shouted and Bm repeated hismand. The orcs at the front got into a tight turtle formation with their shields like the diators from Rome. A rain of arrows fell on their shields. Orcs are able to use shields that are twice the size as the ones meant for humans. It would be difficult for an arrow to get through thoserge barriers. Despite the arrows from hundreds of archers, our forces barely received any harm. This is why the Demon Lord armies are powerful. Humans have to utilize things like gs and signals tomand their armies. The demons under themand of Demon Lords are different. The monsters are linked with the Demon Lords mentally, so the middleman is removed. Theoretically, absolutely perfectmand is possible as long as Demon Lords don¡¯t quarrel with other Demon Lords. You couldn¡¯tpare a normal mob of monsters and a mob of monsters led by a Demon Lord. Bm got excited as he spoke. ¡°It will take them some time to fire again. Let us use this opportunity to advance the rest of our troops.¡± ¡°No. They fired on purpose.¡± Zepar refused firmly. ¡°They fired even though we did not fully enter their shooting range. This is a stratagem to lure us in.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, it is currently night.¡± I spoke carefully. ¡°Demons may be able to perceive objects even during the night, but humans cannot. Are you not certain that they had done this simply because their vision is limited?¡± ¡°They are not fools. They must have several soldiers who are able to see well in the dark in the case of night battles. And yet, they fired their bows even though we were outside their range. This is a ploy. Soldiers, lift the turtle formation and spread out as much as possible.¡± Bm seemed dissatisfied, but he followed Zepar¡¯s orders without anyints. It didn¡¯t take long for Zepar¡¯s decision to be proven right. Catapults appeared. 10 boulders flew through the air and collided against the monsters. The boulders were muchrger than the ones normally flung by catapults. The orcs were crushed helplessly under the boulders. As expected, arge shield wasn¡¯t nearly enough to block a boulder. Zepar groaned. ¡°They gave up on acquiring a shooting distance and chose to raise their offensive power instead. Impressive.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency¡¯s insight is amazing. If we kept our men close together, then we would have suffered more losses.¡± ¡°This is our opportunity. All troops, keep your shields up and advance.¡± Zepar¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change at all as he continued to givemands. It was as Bm said. I was genuinely awed as well. Naturally, the battle didn¡¯t gopletely as nned. No matter how well you strategize, it takes no more than 10 minutes for the flow of battle to go beyond your predictions. The catapults prepared by the humans were the things in this battle that went beyond our predictions. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would prepare siege weaponry that has a shorter range than bows? They utilize the catapults first and then the archers after, this is amon tactic. Zepar managed to see through the enemy¡¯s mistake. Why did they fire their arrows when we were outside their range? The reason was simple. To make us charge in before they could fire again. In other words, they were luring us. They wanted us to approach while grouped together¡­¡­. For what reason? Even Zepar didn¡¯t know that far. Nheless, he simply judged that we should do the exact opposite of what the humans want. If our enemies want us to stick close together, then we simply have to spread out. As a result, our monsters received only a slight amount of harm despite the concentrated assault from the catapults. This is surprising. Is this the ability of a Demon Lord that has participated in the Crescent Alliance 3 times? ¡­¡­If I were themanding officer, then would I have been able to grasp things as fast as Zepar? This was doubtful. I probably wouldn¡¯t. For starters, it was doubtful whether I would have noticed that the enemy didn¡¯t actually make a mistake and was trying to trick us instead, and even if I did notice, I would probably end up wasting time trying to grasp their intentions. In terms of being a general, Zepar and I were on different levels¡­¡­. ¡°The humans will shoot a rain of arrows again. Make the ogres advance as soon as the shower has ended.¡± Even as I continued to seriously reflect upon myself, the battlefield was still fiercely going on. ¡°The enemy forces are firing again.¡± ¡°Now! Make our ogres charge!¡± Like before, arrows poured down on our shield-bearing orcs. Massive entities began to rush forward before this downpour even ended. It was the 5 ogres that had been waiting at a fair distance away from the ramparts. The 4 meter-tall ogres were quite literally like moving boulders. ? Krrrhaaaaaaaa! The ogres didn¡¯t care about their allies as they ran forward. A goblin was killed instantly as it was crushed under an ogre¡¯s foot. The ogres picked up their pace. There were 500 meters between them and the ramparts. The ogres were like cannonballs as they ran that 500 meters in an instant. They were standing in a line and each of them had a stake-like log in their arms. The tips of their logs were covered in steel. They were battering rams. The humans had no preparations for the ogres. This is because they thought we only had 5 ogres and that they had all gone around the blue fortress. We have had 10 ogres since the beginning. They werepletely fooled and this was the price they were paying for being tricked! ? Baaang! The ram of the first ogre that ran forward collided against the gate. The gate trembled. The ogre immediately got out of the way. Once it did, the second ogre¡¯s ram mmed into the gate. And then the third, fourth, and finally, the fifth ram. Each strike contained the entire strength of the ogres and the speed they had picked up as they ran 500 meters. ? Baaaaang! An opening was made. The gate was destroyed! As soon as the humans panicked at the appearance of the ogres, their defenses had been destroyed. They might think of this as a natural disaster, but, in the end, they were simply fooled! Zepar shouted as if he had been waiting for this moment. ¡°All units, charge! Let out a battle cry! ughter our enemies!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m going to be very busy today and tomorrow because I have a family reunion to attend since it¡¯s a big holiday. I just wanted to make sure I released this chapter before I left. Also, I¡¯ve been getting very distracted by Genshin Impact, so uh. If my releases seem slow, you know why :^). Although, the family reunion will be the main reason for now. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. Chapter 82: Watchdog of Humanity (8) Chapter 82: Watchdog of Humanity (8) * * * It was 2 in the morning when Kurz received the report about the night attack. ¡°D-Deputy Commander. We received urgent news.¡± ¡°Yeah. Considering the state in which you ran here, it must be huge.¡± Contrary to when he was with his superior, Kurz was now talking in a casual tone. This is Kurz Schleiermacher¡¯s usual demeanor. Although he earnestly said ingenuine words when talking to his aristocrat superior, when he was only with the members of his unit, he acted like some uncle. This was a characteristic that formed as a soldier defending the fortresses. He couldn¡¯t act like they were simple soldiers when they¡¯ve been living together for over a decade. The sergeant felt frustrated. Certainly, his attire was a mess since he had run here immediately after he received the message, but wasn¡¯t Kurz more disorderly than he was? Kurz was sitting with his feet on the table and he was loudly chewing on dried meat. It was like he was experimenting with how far a human could go to look like a delinquent. However, he must have been handling military affairs as he was looking at some documents with furrowed brows. A candle was lit thiste at night. The sergeant felt confused about whether his superior was a diligent person or not as he gave his report. ¡°The enemy is attacking. A signal fire has been lit at the blue fortress.¡± ¡°A night raid!?¡± Kurz shot up and fixed his posture in an instant. He straightened his military uniform and put on some chainmail armor. Kurz tried to figure out the reason behind the enemy¡¯s night raid as he diligently put his equipment on. ¡°Wake up the rest of our kids. Even the fellows from the gold fortress.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Tell them that they do not have to visit the barracks. Move with haste!¡± The soldiers moved so quickly that it didn¡¯t take more than 5 minutes for them to all be lined up and ready despite this being an order to dispatch in the middle of the night. This isn¡¯t because they¡¯re elite soldiers. It¡¯s because Kurz had informed the sergeants beforehand of the possibility of an attack by the enemy at night. The slowest person to finish their preparations and arrive was none other than the aristocrat officer. ¡°Deputy Commander Schleiermacher! What is the meaning of all this fuss in the middle of the night?¡± ¡°A night raid, Your Excellency. The Demon Lords intend to conquer the blue fortress before we can arrive on time.¡± ¡°W-What!? That¡¯s bad!¡± The noble¡¯s eyes opened wide. There was still gunk around his eyes. Normally, Kurz would¡¯ve pointed it out, but there wasn¡¯t enough time for that right now. Kurz spoke clearly so that his superior and the soldiers around him could hear him. ¡°There is nothing to worry about. The enemy has noticed our n to leave the fortress and attack them directly. They are under the mindset that they must attack the blue fortress before they are done in by us. They are being impatient!¡± With torches burning around them, Kurz¡¯s voice rang clearly throughout the open space. His words were logical and contained confidence. There were enough rational facts used as the foundation of his words to persuade others. The soldiers burned with anticipation as they engraved into themselves the reason why they must fight and why they must risk their lives in this battle. ¡°This does not alter our n. The two enemy units must be currently pressuring the blue fortress. Among those two units, one of them is right before us, in the darkness ahead. They are showing us their rears. Let us go forth andsh their backsides!¡± Kurz felt a renewed sensation of pride towards the imperial army. ¡®Politics will always be a mess, but we protect the empire from outside threats. If we keep this up, then the inner workings of the country will one day change. The rigorous battles we carry out will lead the empire, no, all of humanity, to a brighter future!¡¯ He cried out. ¡°Tonight, we will be heading out without packing up any supplies from the quarters. The key point of this battle is carrying out an all-out surprise offensive. We will crush our enemies to death while the blue fortress is blocking the enemy¡¯s feint attack. We will not be bringing provisions with us for the sake of advancing as hastily as possible. We have no other choice but to wipe out the monsters and receive supplies from the blue fortress!¡± The nobleman could feel Kurz¡¯s passion. ¡°¡­¡­Schleiermacher.¡± ¡°There will be no second chances in this battle! If we seed, then we will wipe out the enemy. If we fail, then our bones will be buried here. Archers must urately pierce our enemies¡¯ eyes, and I will not forgive a single spearman if they leave the line of battle. We shall seize victory! Your Excellency! Please order our men to march!¡± The noble nodded. The panic he felt after being awokente at night vanished as a dignified expression reced it. It¡¯s good to know that this person hasn¡¯t forgotten what his role is. Kurz smiled. The boy in front of him may be a dunce, but he¡¯s a good dunce. The noble shouted. ¡°Advance! Sieg Kaiser Habsburg!¡± The soldiers roared. ¡°Sieg Kaiser Habsburg!¡± ¡°Sieg Habsburg??!¡± For the glory of His Majesty the Emperor, for the glory of Habsburg! The soldiers all shouted together. No one had to even take the lead as everyone began to sing the traditional anthem of the fortresses in unison. Just as they had been trained to do so for the past 10 years, the troops quickly got into formation and began to march quickly. The darkness didn¡¯t slow their advance even slightly. This is the ck Mountains. They are the owners of thisnd and thisnd is practically like their front yard. ??We¡¯d rather be buried here than lose! ¡°Deputy Commander Schleiermacher, what happens if the blue fortress is captured before we arrive¡­¡­?¡± Kurz quickly looked around. He was the only one to have heard what his superior had just said. The sergeants were busy dispatching the scouts and getting everyone in line. Kurz let out a mental sigh of relief. This idiot! Why is themanding officer saying something so pessimistic? Even if he¡¯s only a figureheadmanding officer, he¡¯s still themanding officer. You can¡¯t let the soldiers know that even themanding officer is uncertain of their victory. Even if defeat is right before their eyes, you must remain firm. Fortunately, the noble had lowered his voice before speaking¡­¡­. He isn¡¯tpletely careless, Kurz thought. ¡°That will not happen. We have been sending out scouts periodically to check our enemy¡¯s movements. Just an hour ago, it was confirmed that the monsters were still in their encampment. Therefore, at most, an hour has passed since they began to carry out their strategy. With only an hour, they should not have arrived at the blue fortress yet.¡± Kurz was thorough. As long as the advisor on the side of the Demon Lords isn¡¯t a fool, they should understand what will happen if wee out with the intent to divide and conquer them. What choice will they make? They only have two options. They can either make a sudden retreat or attack the blue fortress before we can make our move to strike them. ¡­¡­They chose to not retreat. Even though they¡¯ve already lost in terms of strategy, they decided to fight until the very end. Kurz sneered. War is something you fight after you¡¯ve already won. In spite of having already lost, the opposition is trying to turn this situation around. In other words, they¡¯re being stubborn. Are they feeling confident because they have 5 ogres? In any case, their advisor is a fool. Of course, he also acknowledges the fact that the oue of war is unpredictable, so strategic defeat and victory can be overturned. However, that¡¯s like a gamble. It isn¡¯t just a normal gamble, it¡¯s an utterly cruel and selfish gamble that uses the lives of your soldiers as betting chips. The Demon Lord armies are only on that level. They don¡¯t treat the monsters as subordinates but as disposable tools. It¡¯s good if they win, and they don¡¯t lose anything if they lose. They might be treating the situation like this. Kurz was certain that there¡¯s no way the imperial army of Habsburg would lose to such individuals. It wasn¡¯t a question of strength. They were onpletely different levels as armies. ¡°Believe in our allies, Your Excellency. The men of the blue fortress are also elite soldiers like us. They should be able to endure the enemy¡¯s series of attacks for at least six hours.¡± ¡°Six hours. Six hours, is it?¡± The noble murmured. He was trying to convince himself. Kurz was satisfied with this. This was the noble¡¯s firstrge-scale battle. It isn¡¯t weird for him to feel nervous. He did his role of showing his dignity when he should as themanding officer of 2,500 elite soldiers. That was more than enough. No one expected any strategic ability from this boy. ¡°Monsters discovered ahead of us!¡± A scout came back and reported. It hasn¡¯t been more than 2 hours since we started our march. ¡°The monsters are attacking the blue fortress!¡± Kurz clenched his fist. The fortress is still holding up! It¡¯s as expected, but things not going as expected is a norm on battlefields. With this, everything he had been nervous about has been wiped clean. ¡°Did you confirm it with your naked eyes?¡± ¡°It was dark, so I could not confirm it. Nevertheless, I could clearly hear the sound of shouting and metal shing.¡± Good, Kurz nodded as he proceeded to give orders. His aristocrat superior had officially given him the authority tomand the troops. Currently, the one leading 2,500 imperial soldiers was Kurz Schleiermacher, a man who used to be amon soldier. The leading officers of each fortress gathered and began a discussion. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we ambush them?¡± ¡°The monsters have better vision than us during the night. They will most likely notice us before we arrive.¡± ¡°We should be able to make the Demon Lord leading the monsters panic. If we do not give them the time to think, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will make a signal fire and notify the fortress that we have arrived.¡± Be it the noblemanding officers from the red or gold fortresses, they all remained silent. The deputymanders who had been defending the ck Mountains with blood and sweat for decades were the only ones talking. Kurz, who was in essence the suprememander, spoke. ¡°There are 500 monsters in front of us. While we are pressuring both of their nks, a unit will cut through the center of the enemy¡¯s formation. We will split them into two groups. Both nks will then increase their pressure and wipe each side out.¡± ¡°The strength of the center unit is the key factor of this operation. Who will take this position?¡± ¡°I, as the major general, will lead the cavalry and break through the center. As you can tell, the effort of our soldiers is more important thanmanding them borately. We will join up with the blue fortress as soon as we have wiped out the foes immediately before us.¡± That¡¯s all there is to this operation. The blue fortress is ying the role of the anvil for us. We simply have to act as a powerful hammer and strike at our enemies. They will undoubtedly get wiped out helplessly. ¡°Attack!¡± Themanding officers turned their horses and stood at the lead. There was a need formanding officers to be positioned at the lead during night battles. This is because it¡¯s difficult to givemands. With themander at the lead, morale increased among the soldiers. It wasn¡¯t long before the soldiers were giving a battle cry and charging forward. This will lower the effect of our ambush, but it¡¯ll increase our battle power. ¡°Your Excellency, I will takemand! Please retreat to the rear!¡± ¡°I am also a soldier of the empire! I cannot leave everything to my adjutant! Despite how I may appear, I am a rank 4 warrior! I can protect myself!¡± The noble shouted as he steered his horse forward. Kurz let out a loudugh. His superior officer went beyond being an okay fool and was a brave fool! Not bad. Although he was a noble who was dispatched to the fortresses because of his political connections, the fact that he wasn¡¯t a coward was enough for Kurz to give him a passing score. They closed the gap between them and the monsters in an instant. They were able to confirm the location of the monsters despite being under the cover of night. The monsters must have known they wereing as shield-bearing orcs were standing in a line. In a moment, the thrill of battle filled Kurz. His eyes were aze. How foolish! Do you think you can block the imperial army¡¯s advance with that!? His horse must have felt his rider¡¯s rage as it ran forward more powerfully. Kurz held up his spear and let out a cry. ¡°Tear them apart!¡± The soldiers roared like a pack of wolves. 200 cavalry soldiers collided against the shield of orcs. No matter how well trained shield-bearers are, it¡¯s impossible to block the charge of a horse. As Kurz crushed an orc along with its shield under his horse, he felt an explosion of emotion wash over him. It was the rush of war. He kept releasing a beastly cry. Kurz wrapped an aura around his spear. He then charged into the 2nd line of orc shield-bearers that were trying to line up to stop the cavalry. The steel spear wrapped in an aura sliced a shield in half and prated through an orc¡¯s chest. His horse stepped on the monster¡¯s corpse as it fell over. In the blink of an eye, the line of shield-bearers was breached. The rest of the cavalry poured into the newly formed gap like a tsunami. Kurz was aware that he had prated the enemy¡¯s formation by himself. ¡°Kuhahahaha!¡± Commanding Officer Kurz had vanished and rank 3 warrior of the imperial army, Kurz, appeared on the battlefield. Every time he swung his steel spear, the limbs of orcs flew into the night sky. There was no need for him to even deal with goblins. His horse crushed them under its hooves on its own. Ogres, where are the ogres!? Kurz instinctively sought out his foes. It may have been because of his limited vision in the dark, but he couldn¡¯t see any ogres. If so, then this meant that the nks had to deal with the ogres. This wasn¡¯t an issue. In terms of manpower, they had an overwhelming advantage. Sure enough, the two groups of 1,100 soldiers respectively charged into the monsters that had been split into two sides. Kurz instinctively knew that they had won. The Demon Lord army had tried to conquer the fortress as fast as possible, but they failed. Rather, their unit of 500 soldiers ended up getting breached helplessly. This meant that the only soldiers they had left were the 500 monsters on the other side of the fortress that were currently carrying out a siege. To make matters worse for them, they have no high-tier monsters like ogres on that side. It¡¯s over! They have no possible way of blocking an army of 2,500 imperial soldiers! Right when Kurz was about to go with his fellow cavalry to wipe out the rest of the monsters, the noble approached him and shouted. His sword was drenched in blood. For the first time ever, Kurz saw his superior in a good light. There was nothing in the world that invokedradery more than fighting together. ¡°Kuhuhu, you are quite impressive yourself,mander!¡± ¡°Adjutant! This is clearly weird! Were these monsters truly in the middle of sieging the fortress!?¡± What is he talking about? Kurz furrowed his brows. The goodwill he felt had vanished. He slew another orc before shouting. ¡°Are there notdders ced upon the fortress!? It is obvious!¡± ¡°And yet none of them are even near the fortress!¡± ¡°They must have backed away after they noticed our approach from behind! Damn it!¡± Kurz inadvertently let out a swear. However, it was impressive enough that he didn¡¯t shout at the noble and call him a fool. This was different from usual. The thrill of battle was currently coursing through him. His ability to be formal with his superior was long gone. ¡°But look! None of our allies are on top of the fortress! If they know that we have arrived, the least they could do is let out a cheer!¡± ¡°Our allies?¡± Kurz looked at the ramparts. He couldn¡¯t see clearly, but there was definitely no sign of life around the torches on top of the ramparts. No, there were way too little torches lit. They were being sieged in the middle of the night. Naturally, they should¡¯ve lit as many torches as possible¡­¡­. The wrinkles on Kurz¡¯ forehead thickened. It didn¡¯t make sense. It was as his rookie superior had said, they should have cheered when they saw us in order to raise morale¡­¡­but why? Why was there no response? The cry of monsters echoed all around us. Kurz was startled. This wasn¡¯t a cry that could¡¯ve been made by only a few hundred monsters! This needed at least a thousand! More than a thousand monsters were roaring at the same time! ¡°Adjutant!¡± The noble looked at Kurz with a pale face. A chill went down Kurz¡¯s spine. He didn¡¯t know what had happened, but there was one thing he was certain of. Kurz¡¯s instincts were screaming at him. This ce is going to be Hell soon! ¡°Your Excellency! It¡¯s a trap! We¡¯ve fallen into a trap! We must retreat immediately!¡± It was at that moment. The gates of the fortress that had beenpletely silent opened. Kurz quickly turned his head. He saw a group of soldiers pour out from the gate. They weren¡¯t humans. They were monsters. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I identally lowered my guard. I thought there wouldn¡¯t be any online sses because of the 5 day holiday, but I was wrong. I found out yesterday that my professors all put sses up, so now I have to quickly work on those assignments. I hate this. Putting my suffering aside, I hope you guys have been enjoying the chapters. I still haven¡¯t decided which series to resume tranting due to my recent busy schedule, but I¡¯ll let you guys know when I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. Chapter 83: Watchdog of Humanity (9) Chapter 83: Watchdog of Humanity (9) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Why!? Why are there monstersing out of the blue fortress!?¡± Kurz was shocked. Among the monstersing out of the fortress gate was an ogre. Although he couldn¡¯t see clearly in the dark, he was certain it was an ogre. Kurz has never seen any other monster that was more than 4 meters tall. He was also aware thatmanding officers must always be calm andposed. Even if they¡¯re ambushed, they mustmand their troops with an ¡®An ambush? I predicted this much,¡¯ kind of attitude. There¡¯s no way soldiers could rx and fight when theirmanders are scrambling. And yet, Kurz remained shocked. He couldn¡¯t control it. Was the blue fortress unable tost a few hours? There should have only been 500 monsters on the other side of the fortress. The ramparts easily surpass 15m. Those walls were unable to hold on for 2 to 3 hours? ¡­¡­That¡¯s impossible! This is ridiculous! ¡°Kuh! Your Excellency, please follow me!¡± ¡°What do you intend to do?¡± Kurz clenched his jaw. What did he intend to do? ¡­¡­He wasn¡¯t thinking at all! Kurz wanted to pass out right now. However, he was certain of one thing right now: he and the cavalry unit were currently isted by the enemy. ¡°We must first break out of here! Cavalry! Men, we are turning around! We will be making a path all the way to our base!¡± The cavalry unit was all gathered in one ce. Kurz¡¯ order was immediately carried out. The cavalry unit which only had a hundred soldiers from each fortress was the most elite squad of them all as its members were all rank 7 warriors or above. They didn¡¯t falter at all as they let out a roar. ¡°I, themanding officer of the gold fortress¡¯ cavalry, Rackenberg, shall pierce through their formation!¡± ¡± I am themanding officer of the red fortress¡¯ cavalry, Rubrouk. I will support the rear!¡± The order was quick, thus the execution was unwavering. The horses turned around and started charging in the opposite direction they hade from. Their formation had already copsed, but the orcs and goblins that survived stood in the way of the cavalry. Although the monsters couldn¡¯t defend against the spears of the cavalrymen, they at least managed to slow the cavalry down. As we continued to lose time like this, the enemy¡¯s encirclement formed around us. Someone screamed. ¡°T-The ogre has caught up!¡± The ogre?! Kurz turned only his head around as he continued to make his horse advance. Somethingrge like a boulder was wiping out the cavalry from behind. It was an axe. An axe that wasrger than a human was being swung around and tearing through both the soldiers and their horses. It was like a torrent. Each time the axe was swung, a soldier was buried in the dirt. ¡°Our rear has been taken!¡± ¡°Rubrouk has fallen!¡± This was a nightmare of a retreat. They didn¡¯t lose even 20 men when the cavalry initially broke through the orc formation; however, once an ogre caught up to them, an entire part of their unit was wiped out in an instant. Kurz shook with rage. So much time and effort were required to raise even a single cavalryman. If he could face the ogre head-on, then he was confident in his ability to take it on, but they had to escape the enemy¡¯s grasp as soon as possible. As they could no longer rely on the support from the units that had split to the nks, being stuck in the enemy¡¯s grasp meant death. ¡°Break through! We will get out of here!¡± 3 minutes. Only 3 minutes had passed. The cavalry broke through the same spot they had breached earlier. However, it was a nightmarish 3 minutes. The ogre stuck to their rear like a hound and thirty cavalrymen voluntarily stopped in order to halt its advance. Thanks to that, the rest of the cavalry managed to escape and head towards the rest of the human army. The nobleman spoke. ¡°Adjutant, we have seeded! We have escaped!¡± ¡°We did not seed. All we did was offer a sacrifice!¡± Kurz cursed as if he were spitting out blood. A fourth of the cavalry was wiped out in 3 minutes. It wasn¡¯t until this moment that Kurz managed to finally grasp their situation. The Demon Lord forces didn¡¯t have 2 armies of 500 soldiers. They most likely had a manpower of roughly 2,000 soldiers. He had been thoroughly deceived. The cavalry returned to where the chain ofmand for the human army was being carried out. As Kurz expected, they were also panicking. Twice the number of monsters they had expected suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It¡¯d be weird if this didn¡¯t shock them. At the very least, once Kurz returned, they calmed down a fair bit. ¡°Give me a progress report.¡± Kurz panted roughly as he spoke. He got off his horse as soon as he returned and joined the others. There was no time to rest. The advisors scrambled to respond. ¡°The enemy has surrounded us on three sides.¡± ¡°The men that have gone to the nks have been isted and are being assaulted. We must rescue them immediately.¡± ¡°We have confirmed the presence of 7 ogres. We do not know how many more there may possibly be beyond this contemptible darkness.¡± Kurz gnashed his teeth. ¡°Add one more. We were pursued by one as we made our way back.¡± ¡°Eight ogres¡­¡­.¡± Someone muttered. A formless pressure weighed down on everyone. Even now, the sound of metal shing and the screams of people, both humans and monsters, echoed all around them. Their allies were holding up well. Nheless, everyone here was already considering the worst possible situation since it was doubtful whether their allies couldst long against this overwhelming ambush. Kurz spoke up. ¡°Let us retreat.¡± ¡°Deputy Commander Schleiermacher, you should know very well that retreating during the night is not a simple task¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Then do you all n to die here? Even if it is only a small number of us, we must escape.¡± The othermanders groaned. Kurz was suggesting for them to abandon their allies and run away. All of themanding officers here had been trained to have martial spirits and love theirrades. Even if they knew that a retreat was the only option they had left, they couldn¡¯t help but contemte. No, it was a question as to whether they could even retreat or not¡­¡­. ¡°I will take up the rear.¡± ¡°D-Deputy Commander Schleiermacher!¡± Kurz spoke with a resolute voice. ¡°I am the one who mapped out this n. It is only natural that I would take responsibility for it as well.¡± ¡°Let us just fight until the very end. It is not as if our defeat has already been determined¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What will you do about the fortress!?¡± Kurz shouted. ¡°If we get wiped out here, then we will be handing everything up to the red fortress to the demons. We cannot let this happen. We must hold the fort until the margraves can send their armies as reinforcements. We must send back as many of our men as possible. Make a hasty retreat while I am taking up the rear!¡± The advisors shut their mouths. ¡°¡­¡­R-Retreating might be impossible.¡± At that moment, the noble spoke up carefully. One of the advisors frowned as he questioned him. ¡°Your Excellency, what do you mean by that?¡± ¡°I am not confident either, but¡­¡­if I were to make a guess, then the Demon Lord forces have roughly 2,000 soldiers. However, when they attacked both the green and blue fortresses, they only showed a thousand to us. This means that they were tricking us to lure us in.¡± The blonde noble let out a sigh. ¡°They intentionally made us aim to divide and conquer them. Once we moved ording to their n, they surprised us with the rest of the troops they had been hiding. You, you all must understand what this means.¡± ¡°That we were ying in the palms of their hands since the beginning¡­¡­? Is that what you¡¯re saying!?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, that is correct.¡± He rubbed the edges of his eyes. His eyes were tired. Night battles are mentally and physically stressful for humans. It didn¡¯t affect monsters as much. They¡¯re able to perceive objects clearly in the dark like beasts. This difference will definitely be more and more clear in the ongoing battle happening around them. In the young noble¡¯s mind, he was already certain of their defeat. The issue at hand was how long they canst. 30 minutes? If they do well, then maybe an hour¡­¡­. After that, a one-sided mop up will most likely ur. Within 3 hours, the elite army of 2,000 imperial soldiers will be ughtered. The young man spoke as he calcted these odds. ¡°Mm¡­¡­even if we were to retreat with our small number of troops, it is toote. At most, 300 will manage to escape. However, it is impossible to obstruct an ogre¡¯s pursuit with only infantries. The 300 soldiers will be incapable of maintaining their formation as they are ughtered by the ogres¡¯ axes. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. Your Excellency is correct.¡± ¡°Even if 300 of our men managed to return to the red fortress, it would be impossible for them to defend against a siege. The monsters will overwhelm them. We have lost. No matter what we do, we cannot protect the red fortress. The ck Mountains have been breached by the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­.¡± One of themanding officers spoke in a trembling voice. ¡°T-The Crescent Alliance? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Well, hm. Think about their goal. They are trying to capture everything up to the red fortress with only 2,000 monsters. If we struggle desperately here, then we might be able to diminish their numbers to about a thousand¡­¡­?¡± Everyone held their breaths as they listened to the young man. ¡°T-Then let us say that they have 1,500 monsters left after this. If they capture the red fortress, then that would naturally cause the margraves to rally their armies. Do you think 1,500 monsters are enough to fight against those massive armies?¡± The blonde man shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s impossible. And yet, they are still trying to take the red fortress. Why is that? There is only one reason. They are confident they can take the margraves¡¯ armies on.¡± ¡°??There are moreing! There are still more troopsing!¡± Kurz became bbergasted as he shouted. The young man smiled bitterly. ¡°Yeah. That is what I think as well¡­¡­. The enemy has a massive number of reinforcementsing. If it is an army that is able to send 2,000 monsters as their vanguard, then it is hard to imagine how massive their main forces could possibly be¡­¡­. It is the Crescent Alliance or an armyparable to the Crescent Alliance. Mankind will most likely face an unimaginable crisis once again¡­¡­.¡± Kurz finally saw the full picture. The enemy wasn¡¯t trying to carry out a prolonged battle. If anything, they wanted a brief battle, an annihtion that could be carried out in a single moment. That¡¯s why they lured the soldiers from the other fortresses. He had pushed the lives of 2,000 soldiers to their deaths. ¡°I had no idea¡­¡­ and I¡­¡­.¡± A suppressed tone. Kurz couldn¡¯t consider the wordsing out of his own mouth as his own voice. The noble spoke. ¡°Do not me yourself, Deputy Commander. I am the one who approved your n. It was not only me, but everyone here acknowledged that your n was our best course of action. It was not you alone who had pushed the soldiers to their deaths¡­¡­.¡± Everyone nodded. One of the advisors ced their hand on Kurz¡¯s shoulder. Kurz lowered his face. As he felt regret, rage, and endless guilt towards the other soldiers, Kurz spoke as if he were groaning. ¡°¡­¡­Commander, please take the cavalry and withdraw.¡± The noble looked around. ¡°W-What are you talking about? Even if I were to retreat, the red fortress will still be lost. There is no use.¡± Kurz med himself. The boy in front of him was treating his death as the most natural conclusion here. He wanted to struggle till the very end here if they aren¡¯t able to protect the red fortress anyway. He was treating this as if this were the only choice he had left. He didn¡¯t have even the slightest desire to abandon the soldiers here¡­¡­. He was already aplete soldier. Did Kurz really treat someone like him as a fool? Did he really conclude that the boy hade here only to gain achievements simply because he¡¯s a noble and young¡­¡­? It seems he didn¡¯t have an eye for people, Kurz mocked himself. ¡°Someone must inform the margraves about this situation. This is nothing more than the first battle. From now on, a war between the imperial army and the Crescent Alliance will ur. Whether the margraves rally their armies first or the Crescent Alliance arrives at the red fortress first will determine the flow of the war.¡± Kurz raised his head and gazed at the nobleman. ¡°Take the cavalry unit and inform the margraves about what has happened here. If you do, then our struggle here will not be in vain. The longer we hold on to the enemy here, the more time the margraves will have to arm their troops. Even if we may lose here, this will give us an advantage in the war against the Crescent Alliance.¡± ¡°Wait a second. The logic there is weird.¡± The young noble frowned. ¡°There is no reason for me to be the one to tell the margraves. Simply letting the cavalry unit escape should be enough.¡± ¡°I daresay, I can confidently say that I am not an utterly foolishmanding officer. And yet, I was toyed with as if I were some small child. The Demon Lord army possesses an advisor with terrifying capabilities. That individual created this cmity tonight¡­¡­.¡± Instead of feeling anger towards this unknown schemer, Kurz felt fear. It isn¡¯t hard to win a battle by overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers. However, that schemer had brought us to ruin by lowering their numbers. This was not something that can be done by normal schemers. ¡°Until now, the Demon Lords have never resorted to such tactics. They only relied on utilizing strong monsters. There is now a strategist among their ranks. If it were not for Your Excellency, we would have never realized that the army before us is only the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­. Rather, Your Excellency was the only one who had managed to grasp the enemy¡¯s intentions. From this point forth, the empire requires individuals such as yourself. Please survive and fight against that wicked strategist.¡± ¡°Deputy Commander Schleiermacher¡­¡­.¡± There was concern in the young man¡¯s blue eyes. He was contemting whether he should take joint responsibility for this operation and heroically fall in battle with his men or survive on his own for the sake of the war that will take ce after this. ¡°I agree.¡± Anothermanding officer stood forward. ¡°Your Excellency, we will take care of matters here, so please survive.¡± Kurz was rmed. ¡°Second Lieutenant Rackenberg, what are you saying? You must escape as well. I alone am more than enough to handle the rear.¡± ¡°What nonsense. Did you not say so yourself? We must dy the monsters for as long as possible.¡± The othermanding officers agreed. ¡°I second that. How does one man intend tomand 2,000 soldiers alone?¡± ¡°You will be wiped out in an instant. You must put the cart before the horse. I will also stay behind.¡± ¡°You fools!¡± Kurz shouted. All of themanding officers present were trained under Kurz. On unofficial asions, they¡¯re like siblings. Kurz ended up speaking informally due to their unreasonable decisions. ¡°How much do you think you guys could help if you stayed behind!? Get out of here!¡± ¡°And how much do you think you¡¯ll help when you¡¯ve screwed things up? If you¡¯ve taken a shit, then the people around you should help. It¡¯s impossible for you alone.¡± ¡°Naturally. How am I supposed to run away when I¡¯m constantly worried about when our rear will copse?¡± Themanding officersughed. Kurz was dumbstruck as he looked around. Everyone wasughing, but their gazes were unwavering. They were eyes that could only be shown by those who were resolved to die. Kurz realized that he could no longer persuade them. ¡°These idiots¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Commander, please leave this ce to us. Make haste and depart with the rest of our cavalry.¡± The young man became silent. He wasn¡¯t confident he could forgive himself if he ran away by himself after seeing the sight before him. However, the only reason they were willing to sacrifice themselves was for the sake of his survival. No, for the survival of the empire¡¯s future. His voice trembled. ¡°You guys are making me disgrace myself.¡± ¡°Yes, we apologize. Your Excellency must survive for the sake of the Habsburg Empire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Fine. Death is not the only way to take responsibility.¡± The young man turned to look at everymanding officer present. ¡°My goal was to advance my career. This was why I wanted to assist whoever I wounded up attending. Although I had my doubts about this battle¡­¡­this was my first battle, so I ended up treating it lightly because I believed it would be fine to leave things to everyone else since you are all more experienced than I am. Thus, I am also responsible.¡± Kurz then recalled that it was the noble who suggested that they shouldn¡¯t leave the fortress. At that time, Kurz simply thought he was afraid of monsters. He thought that the noble only agreed with his n in the end simply because he wanted to seed in his career¡­¡­. This wasn¡¯t the case. The young man had a goal of his own. Kurz had disregarded this unterally. ¡°I vow to you all that I will take the life of the schemer who put the lives of 2,000 elite soldiers to rest. I willy their head on your graves.¡± ¡°There is nothing more we could ask for.¡± The officers saluted and the young man saluted them back. This exchangested longer than usual. The young man spoke in a low voice. ¡°Sieg Kaiser Habsburg.¡± ¡°Sieg Habsburg.¡± Kurz and the young man decided to switch equipment as a precaution. If the monsters found out that the suprememander was making an escape, then there would be the risk of him being pursued until the very end. Kurz intended to trick the enemy by wearing the attire of the suprememander. The young noble retreated with the 100 or so cavalrymen that survived. Once he was gone, Kurz shouted as loudly as he could. ¡°You imbeciles could have run away as well, but you all went out of your way to drink from the poisoned chalice. Don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be allowed to die easily. From this point forth, you aren¡¯t allowed to die until you have taken out at least 1 ogre!¡± ¡°One ogre per person? That is quite the exchange ratio.¡± The officers chuckled. Kurz alsoughed. ¡°That¡¯s right. It is easy to live, but dying is difficult. Now engrave this fact into our enemy as well. Shove at least another monster in its grave! For starters, we will bebining the two sides that have split apart! We will create groups of only rank 5 warriors and above and take care of the ogres with them! What are you all doing!? Move quickly, you fools!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Their response resonated around them. Kurz thought to himself. That¡¯s right. The war isn¡¯t over yet. It has only just begun. Let us show them how terrifying the watchdogs of humanity truly are. Themanding officers resolved themselves. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Don¡¯t got too much to say this time. I¡¯m going to take a day off from tranting cause I¡¯ve been a bit feverishtely. Might as well rest it off before it bes anything worse. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 84: Watchdog of Humanity (10) Chapter 84: Watchdog of Humanity (10) * * * The battle was reaching its end. The human army which started with 2,000 soldiers now only had roughly a thousand left as they fought back desperately. In terms of manpower, fifty percent of their military might had been wiped out. It would be fine to call this an annihtion. Adding to this, they¡¯ve also beenpletely surrounded. They have no hope for survival, and yet¡­¡­. ¡°How persistent.¡± Zepar muttered, visibly unamused. It was true. The humans were being persistent like hunting dogs. At this point, there¡¯s no way they haven¡¯t realized that they¡¯re currently trappedpletely. Despite this, they are still struggling desperately. ¡°Hah, I do not understand. These roaches¡­¡­. Are they hoping to somehow turn this situation around?¡± Rank 58 Ami voiced hisint as well. He had joined up with us after leading the 500 monsters that were sent to the front. He was the one in charge of luring the imperial army out. It wouldn¡¯t be incorrect to say that he contributed the most to this battle. Was he no longer feeling desperate to earn feats now? He had much less of a temper nowpared to before. Although he would turn his head away as if he were scared whenever he made eye contact with me¡­¡­. What a bad man. If you¡¯re afraid of me that openly, then that just hurts my feelings. Despite my appearance, I¡¯m the kindest man in the demon world. Don¡¯t avoid me too much, please. I spoke up. ¡°They have most likely figured out our goal.¡± ¡°They know what our goal is?¡± Zepar asked back. On the other hand, Ami squirmed and slowly avoided my gaze. He¡¯s still like this. My feelings are seriously going to get hurt¡­¡­. Oh well. I have no other choice but to have a calm conversation with the rookie Demon Lords when the opportunity presents itself. ¡°It is possible that they have pieced things together and figured out that we are the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance. I believe they are earnestly trying to slow us down for as long as possible from getting to the red fortress.¡± ¡°I see. So they still have hope despite their desperate circumstance.¡± Zepar nodded with an impassive but dignified look on his face. Did Zepar feel affection towards the humans who were struggling till their veryst breaths? But hope, is it¡­¡­? ¡°It is like Pandora¡¯s box.¡± The other Demon Lords looked at me quizzically. Dang it, it seems the myth about Pandora doesn¡¯t exist in this world. Fortunately, the battle was starting to be boring, so I might as well tell them about it as a way to pass the time. It is said that as long as hope exists, humans can endure the travails of life. A writer of mythology twisted this belief around and created the story about . In truth, hope does not exist anywhere in the world and it is hidden within a box which a God created as a joke. Humans are not aware of this, so they breathe in the dust of life while seeking out hope¡­¡­. ¡°So hope itself is a type of cmity for humans.¡± Zepar sounded as if the story had moved him slightly. I agreed with the conclusion he reached. This story wasn¡¯t praising the idea of hope at all. The story itself was the cynicalughter of a writer who was warning people that hope is something that will always call upon a cmity. This myth seemed to fit the taste of Demon Lords as the others chuckled as if they had just been told something interesting. Sheesh. As I thought, Demon Lords are all twisted psychopaths. How would my mother react if she found out that her son was hanging out with these sorts of people? ¡®How could my kind son be hanging out with such cruel delinquents¡­¡­?¡¯ She¡¯d probably utter these words and shed a tear. This truly is troubling. He that touches pitch shall be defiled. That¡¯s right. I should be careful so that my innocence isn¡¯t influenced by these fellows.(TL Note: ¡®He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled,¡¯ is a proverb. In general, it is a warning against wickedness. Keeppany with evil men and soon you will be ¡®tarred with the same brush¡¯ ¨C no more virtuous than they.) ¡°But I do not like this. Are we so feeble as cmities that they are still able to have hope?¡± I chuckled. ¡°Demon Lords are supposed to be cmities among cmities, we would be shaming His Excellency if we allowed them to have hope.¡± ¡°Oh? Dantalian, do you have a n?¡± Zepar looked at me with a gaze filled with interest. This man, it¡¯s hard to tell with how dignified his face is, but he¡¯s quite the pervert. I can hear my mothermenting from here. It can¡¯t be helped. He¡¯s my superior and I¡¯m a pitiful junior employee. I have no other choice but to obediently obey hismands. ¡°I apologize, but there is a trump card I have been hiding in case something like this were to happen. If Your Excellency would allow me, then I wish to disclose it here.¡± ¡°Very well. I will forgive everything regarding this matter. I am very curious to see what this trump card of yours is and I assume the others are as well.¡± Zepar sought the approval of the others around us. Bm, Ami, and the other Demon Lords nodded their heads. With this, my actions were forgiven not only by Zepar, but by everymanding officer of the vanguard as well. The responsibility was shifted skillfully. Are the rookie Demon Lords aware of this? Do they realize that Zepar¡¯s weakness has disappeared due to their single nod? They probably don¡¯t and never will. Augh slipped out from between my teeth. Ami must have heard myughter, as his shoulders trembled. The fact that he reacted to every little thing I did was entertaining. I might get addicted to this. I¡¯m sorry, mother. Your undutiful son has been affected by foul waters¡­¡­. My trump card is the given to me by Barbatos. They¡¯re normally in their astral form, but they hover around me so that they can appear at a moment¡¯s notice. Once 12 death knights appeared, the other Demon Lords let out a sound of surprise. Death knights rivaled the power of ogres. However, since they¡¯re as small as humans and are capable of stealth, they are undoubtedly far superior to ogres. ¡°Splendid! Even a lion hides a w when fighting with all its strength.¡± Zepar apuded. However, contrary to his enthusiastic voice, his eyes were sharp. An ally of his had hidden their full power and preserved it. If we had sent the death knights from the beginning, then the fortresses would have been captured with even more ease. If I were to exaggerate slightly, what I did was no different from benefiting the enemy. I lowered my head courteously. ¡°If I may, I wish to end our foes¡¯ final struggle.¡± ¡°Understandable. I will allow it.¡± I promptly ordered Laura to annihte the enemy¡¯s highmand. The reason why I didn¡¯t order the death knights directly and chose tomand them through Laura was so that Laura could get all of the experience points. I¡¯ve been giving all of the experience points like this to Laura ever since we dealt with the E-rank adventurer party. Thanks to this, Laura now boasts some impressive stats. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥Name: Laura De FarneseRace: Human¡¡¡¡ Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord ArmyAttribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 31¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 512Job: Intrigant(B), Schr(D), Sex ve(D) Leadership: 81¡¡¡¡Might: 11 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 84Politics: 10¡¡¡¡Charm: 57¡¡¡¡Technique: 1 Affection: 76Loyalty: 99 *Titles: 1. Duke¡¯s Daughter(Fallen) 2. Prodigy 3. Loyal Subject*Abilities: Horsemanship B, Rhetoric B, Music C, Tactics B+, Geometry D, Operational Art C*Skills: ¨C Current thought: ¡®Hm, this should be slightly easier than breaking a chicken¡¯s neck.¡¯©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ There¡¯s a distinct difference between me who¡¯s still at level 24 and her. As usual, she looks reliable. I ordered Laura to ¡®capture themander known as Kurz Schleiermacher alive¡¯. She gave me a trustworthy salute and departed with the 12 knights. Everything that unfolded after that was straightforward. Although there were only 12 of them, it was like a bunch of ogres with small bodies had gathered together and charged in. Additionally, death knights also have an 80% resistance against physical damage. Not only are they simr in terms of power and defense as ogres, but imagine only doing 20% of your normal damage when you attack them with a sword. If your unit didn¡¯t have any mages, then it¡¯d be like a bunch of Grim Reapers had descended on the battlefield. The monsters flooded into the opening that the death knights had created. The battle ended with that. The humans who managed to survive for almost 40 minutes despite beingpletely encircled, were wiped out helplessly. Shortly after, I received 5 consecutive notifications that Laura¡¯s level had increased. Her aplishment of breaking through their formation and annihting all of theirmanding officers must have been acknowledged. ¡°This man is Kurz Schleiermacher, Your Lordship.¡± Laura returned apanied by the knights. Her beautiful blonde hair was dyed red in blood. My eyes must truly be rotten to the core since even this seemed beautiful. ¡°You ursed lepers!¡± A human man was being held between two death knights. He was swearing profusely with blood flowing out from his mouth. From the looks of it, his right arm was severed. Laura bowed as if she were truly sorry. ¡°I apologize. He resisted rather intensely¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ah, it is fine. Something like an arm can just be grown back.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The rookie Demon Lords looked at me in surprise. Their gazes were saying that arms aren¡¯t like strands of hair. This made me sad. It was only a simple dark joke. Kurz Schleiermacher, who had been literally vomiting blood since earlier, stared at me. ¡°I am the one who invited you here, Kurz Schleiermacher. I have been interested in you for quite some time now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­For quite some time?¡± ¡°That is correct. A very long time.¡± I smiled gently. I then proceeded to check his status.
Name Stamina Attack Defense
Kurz Schleiermacher 5/65 43 34
Bingo. This is the person I was looking for. His face looked somewhat roughpared to his illustrations from the game, but the same went for almost everyone else. The only weird thing was his attire. I heard that he was a deputymander, but his outfit made him seem like a noble. There was even a family insignia drawn on his breastte. I tilted my head. ¡°Were you not amoner?¡± ¡°¡­¡­His Excellency fell in battle.¡± ¡°Aha, so an adjutant with amoner background was pretending to be themander.¡± I had a rough grasp of the situation. Since their suprememander had fallen in battle, putting the othermanding officers aside, the soldiers would most likely begin to panic. In order to hide his death, Kurz Schleiermacher put on the suprememander¡¯s armor. As expected of the general who was renowned for having a high sense of responsibility towards his own soldiers in . ¡°Then that means you are basically the suprememander of this current human army. Although it is an army that has already been fated for defeat.¡± ¡°Ptooey!¡± Kurz spat. It was a direct hit on my left eye. With my smile still on my lips, I wiped the saliva away. It was mixed with a lot of blood, so it was sticky. ¡­¡­Well, whatever. Since I¡¯ve already confirmed his identity, there¡¯s no reason for me to be interested in him anymore. I took out a dagger and stabbed it into Kurz¡¯ forehead. The feeling of his skull cracking was transmitted through the dagger. Kurz¡¯ body lost its strength and it fell to the ground face first. Dirt covered his eyes. In the end, his final words or word was ¡®Ptooey!¡¯. Was this not quite the impressive final moment? If other people weren¡¯t watching me right now, I would have probably apuded him. I waited for a moment. Kurz Schleiermacher was in charge of quite a lot of important scenarios in . By killing him, I will most likely be rewarded with a lot of experience points. This was thest thing I was aiming for through this battle. However. ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Even after waiting a couple dozen seconds, I didn¡¯t receive any notifications. I examined Kurz¡¯ corpse in case he wasn¡¯t actually dead. If he wasn¡¯t dead despite his forehead being pierced, then that meant Kurz was a zombie and not a human. How strange. ¡°What? Why isn¡¯t the Quest Breaker notification appearing?¡± Did the way I kept tilting my head appear weird, I wonder. Zepar asked me if something was wrong. I told him it was nothing. I couldn¡¯t really respond in any other way. I couldn¡¯t tell him that I didn¡¯t receive a reward for breaking a quest. I smiled awkwardly. ¡°It is nothing. Your Excellency, please dere our victory.¡± The battle was over. Operation ended in a huge sess. While we lost only 3 ogres and an assortment of 500 misceneous monsters, the humans lost all of their soldiers from the green, blue, gold, and red fortresses. In other words, they lost approximately 3,000 men. Dawn approached. The glow of dawn reflected off the ground and the human corpses that covered it. The monsters had been cooking the corpses all night, so they were moving around busily. Several pirs of ck smoke billowed up to the sky that was slowly being filled with the light of dawn. I questioned myself as I watched this solemn scene. ¡°¡­¡­What did I do wrong?¡± Naturally, someone who could answer my question was nowhere to be seen. In the end, I decided to simply be satisfied with this victory as I returned to my quarters. Zepar and the rookie Demon Lords were rejoicing over our great victory. I¡¯d only ruin the mood if I kept moping around like this. Nevertheless, while I expressed happiness on the outside, a corner of my mind remained ill at ease. An unexpected sense of difort followed behind me like a shadow. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. As usual, yadda yadda, nothing much to say. My midterms are next week and I guess I should prepare for them. On another note, I¡¯m sort of in like a daze since this is myst semester and I haven¡¯t really decided what I want to do after I graduate. If something happens rted to this and it causes me to either stop or slow down greatly, then I¡¯ll make an announcement post. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 85: Watchdog of Humanity (11) Chapter 85: Watchdog of Humanity (11) * * * It has been 4 days since we took over the red fortress without shedding a single drop of blood. Knights approached from a distance. It was the knights of the Scarlet Wild Boar. Out of the 2 margraves in charge of the northern region of the Habsburg Empire, these knights were under the control of Fritz von Rosenberg. Margrave Rosenberg is a rather big nuisance. He would constantly oppose the main character in the game. ¡®The act of wiping out the Demon Lords is the duty of our nation, no, it is the duty of humankind. It is not a task for a single individual to handle on their own.¡¯ This was Rosenberg¡¯s deration. He believed that if they relied on a single hero to take care of the Demon Lords, then humans would begin to treat war as someone else¡¯s business. As people all around the continent cheered the hero and his party on, only a small minority of humans warned about the dangers of this behavior. Margrave Rosenberg was one of these people. ¡®The empire is currently too absorbed in the concept of heroes.¡¯ Those who speak harshly of things are destined to be hit by rocks. While the hero and his party were dutifully taking out the Demon Lords one by one on their own, the armies led by the margraves failed to kill even a single Demon Lord. What are the knights doing? Aren¡¯t youining about heroes simply because you¡¯re jealous of their dazzling aplishments? Theseints were made openly¡­¡­. As an earl whose household had been protecting the northern end of the continent for almost 500 years, this was most likely a great insult. In the end, the margraves forcefully rallied their troops. They abandoned their defensive positions and ventured on an expedition beyond the ck Mountains. Although, in the beginning, it seemed like they would regain their lost fame and dignity as they won victory after victory, they were all wiped out by the alliance led by Rank 2 Agares and Rank 4 Gamigin. Due to this incident, the human world was thrown into even more turmoil. A man with pride towards his household, a sense of duty to protect the people of the empire, and in the possession of a substantial army¡­¡­. In more ways than one, he¡¯s a formidable opponent. It would be incredibly dangerous to face this man right now. He does get wiped out by Agares and Gamigin, but if you look at it from another perspective, it meant that you needed people on the same level as the Rank 2 and Rank 4 Demon Lords to form amon front in order to wipe him out. The other Demon Lords heeded my warning as they decided to not send our troops out. ¡°They may be knights, but there are only a hundred of them. We should be able to handle them.¡± Amii was the only one who wanted to attack. He must¡¯ve gained some confidence in his own skills after we won the previous battle. I have to reveal how cruel reality is to this adorable fellow. ¡°Each knight of the empire has a strength equal to that of an ogre.¡± ¡°E-Each knight?¡± ¡°Basically, it is like there are a hundred ogres over there. Well, half of them are most likely squires, so let us say there are seventy ogres. They are loitering about over there because they are trying to lure us out. If you wish to face seventy ogres in an open field, then be my guest, friend. Do not worry. I will make sure to pick up your bones.¡± Amii looked back and forth between the knights and me with terror-filled eyes. I understand him looking that way towards the knights, but why is he looking at me like that as well? The world is filled with so many iprehensible things. Hisints ended there. The vanguard of the Crescent Alliance didn¡¯t move from the fortress despite the presence of a hundred prey before them. We had managed to conquer the green, blue, gold, and red fortresses with no more than 2,000 soldiers in only 5 days. This was the fastest pace ever achieved by the Crescent Alliance. Due to this feat of arms, the rookie Demon Lords obediently followed General Zepar¡¯s orders. They probably calcted that it would be fine for them to not push themselves now since they¡¯ve acquired enough merits to leave a strong impression on the higher-ranking members of the ins Faction. In any case, it¡¯s a good thing that they knew their ce. 4 days have passed since we started this war of nerves against the knights. General Zepar spoke up. ¡°Commander Barbatos will be arriving today.¡± We all let out a sigh of relief. This is because we were worried that the knights might attempt to carry out a siege despite their disadvantage. On the evening of the same day, the main force with 17,000 monsters arrived at the fortress. It was quite impressive to see 17,000 monsters marching in formation. We all stood outside the gate to wee the main force. As we stood there, a leading officer approached us. The way his ck mantle fluttered as he walked firmly towards us made me picture someone from a mafia family. The man was 4 meters tall. It was Demon Lord Beleth who, at Rank 13, was the next highest ranking Demon Lord in the ins Faction under Barbatos. Although he appeared to be upset, this was apparently his normal expression. ording to him, his face naturally turns into a scowl whenever he enters the human world because he hates it that much. In other words, he was unintentionally revealing to the world that he has some loose screws in his head. ¡°Good work, Vanguard General Zepar.¡± Beleth the giant growled his words like a tiger. Zepar nodded his head. ¡°You arrived faster than I expected.¡± ¡°It felt like I came out to sightsee because you had cleared the path for us. I should inform you that the Commander was incredibly pleased. Be happy, you are both in name and in reality themander¡¯s number 2 subordinate.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Number 2?¡± Zepar¡¯s brow twitched. ¡°Either my ears are faulty or your mouth is malfunctioning. I, Zepar, am definitely themander¡¯s number 1 subordinate.¡± ¡°You jest. You are not Miss Barbatos¡¯ number 1 subordinate, I am. You are only a runt who has lived for almost 2,000 years while I have lived for 2,400 years. I have been Miss Barbatos¡¯ loyal servant for 400 years before you were born. Ehem.¡± The giant snorted inughter. ¡°It is 400 years too soon for you to be iming to be her number 1 subordinate, little boy Zepar.¡± ¡°I was wondering what you were going to say, but you are only boasting about your age. Referentially, numbers are not what is important, it is your devotion. My loyalty to themander easily surpasses something like 400 years. My devotion can even surpass 10,000 years.¡± The two of them shook hands. With their left hands. Their veins were pulsing on the backs of their hands. ¡°This brat who¡¯s only old on the outside??.¡± ¡°You pig who only has a big body??.¡± The other Demon Lords must have been ustomed to this scene as they appeared apathetic. They wanted to hurry up and enter the fortress to rest. This desire of theirs was very evident. If I were to offer my opinion, then, well, I find it hard to understand why these fellows haven¡¯t killed themselves yet. I fully understand the reason why the Crescent Alliance failed 7 times. Putting her rank aside, Barbatos has the appearance of a 12-year-old girl. In other words, these two Demon Lords are currently carrying out a fierce battle of wits to see who¡¯s the more loyal fan of a 12-year-old girl. They¡¯re helpless lolicons. The higher-ranking members of the ins Faction consist of lolicons. If the humans heard this, wouldn¡¯t they think it¡¯s a joke and break out inughter? ¡­¡­A voice was asking from some corner of my mind who it was that actually had sex with that loli, but I ignored it. It felt like the dignity I have as a human would degrade by another level if I admitted that. Well, I¡¯m not a human now anyway, but I still have a final Maginot Line that I won¡¯t cross. Zepar spoke. ¡°In any case. We are not here to wee a warthog like you. Where is themander?¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Beleth scowled further with his already menacing face. At this point, I might get his face confused with a wrinkled up ball of aluminum foil. ¡°Miss Barbatos will arrive in 18 seconds.¡± ¡°18 seconds?¡± ¡°Now 16 seconds.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Ah. So it is like that.¡± Zepar nodded as if he understood something. Out of everyone here, Zepar was the only one to understand Beleth¡¯s words. Amii then inquired. ¡°Your Excellency, what do you mean by 18 seconds?¡± ¡°Mm, you must not know since you are new. There are now 10 seconds remaining.¡± Zepar then pointed up at the sky. The other Demon Lords followed the direction he was pointing and looked up at the sky. It was at that moment, a ck dot appeared in the blue sky. The dot instantly became bigger in three dimensions. No, it became massive. It was a dragon made of bones. ¡°A-A bone monarch!¡± Amii let out a scream. I didn¡¯t make a sound, but I was also surprised. Bone dragons went beyond Rank A and were Rank S monsters! They¡¯re strong enough to devour a low-ranking Demon Lord if they wanted to. The emotion of fear from the monsters was transferred to me relentlessly. Even the ogres were trembling. The dragon pped its wings directly above our heads. A cloud of dust was kicked up. I covered my face with my arm. I felt like I would be sent flying if I removed any strength from my legs. The Demon Lords were naturally pushed back. The dragon slowlynded in the opening that had opened due to this. The pping stopped. Clouds of dust filled the area. Only the massive shadow of the dragon could be seen beyond the brown dust. Someone stepped on the dragon¡¯s bones as they descended from its back. Barbatos. It was the Rank 8 Demon Lord. ¡°Aah. Sorry, sorry.¡± She walked forward as everyone held their breaths. ¡°I¡¯m a littlete, right? I clearly told him to wake me up at 1, but fuck. That stupid butler woke me up an hourte. I came flying here like mad because I thought I was going to bete.¡± She spoke in a casual tone; however, 18 Demon Lords and 18,500 monsters knelt down as soon as she appeared. The ground shook. ¡°We wee themander!¡± 18 Demon Lords shouted in unison. A crease formed on Barbatos¡¯ pretty forehead as she frowned. ¡°You guys are going nuts for no reason. Get up. Do you think that doing this would appeal to me even slightly? Ah, of course.¡± Barbatos smiled slyly as she looked towards me. She made her way to me. ¡°Very rarely, there¡¯s a nice fellow. Hey, Zepar. You really did it this time, huh?¡± ¡°You honor me, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°This guy. It feels like just yesterday when you ignorantly charged in during the 6th Crescent Alliance! Kekeke!¡± Barbatosughed as she pounded on Zepar¡¯s back. Zepar¡¯s body shook greatly whenever her palm hit his back. He knit his brows as if he were troubled. ¡°Is there anyone here who remembers the 6th Crescent Alliance? I was bbergasted when some rookie charged at a group of human knights. That rookie is this guy. Our vanguard general, Rank 16 Zepar who we¡¯re so proud of!¡± Several of the other Demon Lords chuckled. The heavy atmosphere that had fallen over everyone with the appearance of the bone dragon had vanished. ¡°It would have been fine if they were normal knights, but they were the Green Rose from the Kingdom of Brittany. Even my mouth fell open when I saw that charge. I then realized, wow, this guy is a lunatic among lunatics. Fuck, he¡¯s an imbecile but he¡¯s also really cool.¡± The other Demon Lordsughed more. Zepar, who had abruptly be the target ofughter, kept his head down. Even I couldn¡¯t help but let out augh after seeing Zepar look so solemn. As this happened, Beleth asked harshly. ¡°Was he sessful?¡± ¡°I said that he was an imbecile but cool. Keke! Even if someone¡¯s cool, an imbecile is still an imbecile. He fucked up greatly. Did you guys know? He put all his military power into that fight, so even now he only has 20 ogres left. A Rank 16 fellow only has 20 ogres!¡± Barbatos nudged Zepar¡¯s side teasingly. ¡°Hah, it was so embarrassing that I couldn¡¯t dare to go around bragging to others that you¡¯re the third strongest person in the ins Faction. Sheesh, you crazy imbecile. Why¡¯d you do that back then? Confess now. Let¡¯s solve this mystery that¡¯ssted 500 years.¡± Zepar lowered his head even more as if he hadmitted a treasonous crime. It looked like he was being teased ruthlessly by a girl who was young enough to be his granddaughter. Naturally, everyone burst intoughter once more. Once theughter subsided, Barbatos took out a fan and started fanning herself. ¡°But I think I can boast about you now. Zepar, the Rank 16 Demon Lord is a warrior that the ins Faction holds in pride. It was none other than Zepar who had achieved this feat of taking over the ck Mountains in only 5 days.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency.¡± Zepar slowly raised his head as Barbatos grinned. ¡°On a smaller scale, you¡¯ve attained glory for yourself, but on arger scale, you¡¯ve aplished something great for the Crescent Alliance. You went beyond my expectations for the first step of this great cause. Comrades, offer your praises to Zepar here.¡± Everyone began to apud. Beleth the giant pped with an unsatisfied look on his face. Zepar responded to the apuse by saluting. Barbatos nodded. ¡°It would only be appropriate for I, Barbatos, to offer you a reward for this aplishment. Myrade who has been with me for 1,200 years, Zepar, I bestow upon you a bone monarch.¡± ¡°¡­¡­! Y-Your Excellency!¡± Zepar was stunned. He wasn¡¯t the only one who was surprised either. All the other Demon Lords let out a gasp as well. Beleth¡¯s jaw dropped. You couldn¡¯t possibly put a price tag on the value of an S Rank monster and something like that was given as a reward. ¡°That reward is too much for my humble achievement!¡± ¡°I will not ept any refusal.¡± Barbatos responded sternly. ¡°I will also grant Vepar, Bm, Murmur, and Amii 10,000 gold. The others will also be rewarded ording to their achievements on the day the Crescent Alliancees to an end.¡± ¡°W-We are forever in your debt!¡± ¡°Thank you very much!¡± The Demon Lords whose names were called immediately bowed. I couldn¡¯t help but be in awe. As expected of Barbatos. She was establishing military order before the start of the real war. The most basic form of military order is the reward system. No matter how much pride Demon Lords have, they just witnessed an S Rank monster be rewarded to someone. There¡¯s no way this wouldn¡¯t rile them up. If they didn¡¯t follow Barbatos fully before, they will now due to their greed. Previously, we discussed the reason why the Crescent Alliance failed in the past. It was due to people being worried about how they¡¯d survive after the Crescent Alliance is sessful and how this would cause the Crescent Alliance to break apart from the inside. However, what if you could obtain an S Rank monster here? Even if the human world is conquered, they should have enough spare power to survive afterward. They¡¯re given a practical goal. The Demon Lords will desperately try to gain Barbatos¡¯ favor. ¡°And now, there¡¯s one person left.¡± Barbatos turned to look at me. ¡°Aah, Dantalian. My dear friend.¡± The other Demon Lords standing around us held their breaths once again. Barbatos has never referred to anyone as her friend before. A shock more sizable than when the bone dragon was bestowed onto someone spread throughout the crowd¡­¡­. I don¡¯t really like receiving attention like this. ¡°Zepar was the executor and you were the nner. The ck Mountains that have tormented our Crescent Alliance constantly for the past thousand years yed in the palm of your hands. What sort of praise should I offer you? What sort of reward would be appropriate for you?¡± This girl, she¡¯s intentionally talking in this manner. I¡¯m certain now. The more shocked and bewildered the other Demon Lords are, the more it fuels her sadism. This ill-tempered loli! You¡¯re a sadist and a psycho. I gulped before disying a smile. ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯re praising me too much. I simply did what was asked of me.¡± ¡°Keke. If the other Demon Lords did their jobs like you, then we would¡¯ve already conquered the human world 5 times by now. Now then,e closer.¡± She beckoned me over with her finger. I had no other choice but to get closer to her. ¡°Normally, it would only be appropriate to give you an exceptional soldier or arge sum of money, but well, I don¡¯t want to do that. Dantalian here has been doing really well as ofte. He¡¯s been doing so well that I might be jealous.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A crude grin appeared on Barbatos¡¯ lips. I became even more nervous. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t reward someone who had done a meritorious deed. Haah. What should I do? I thought about this for quite a while, but as expected of my genius brain, I thought of the perfect reward. Dantalian.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She held my head with her hands. Right as I felt as if I were experiencing deja vu, her small hands pulled at my head with unbelievable strength. Shortly after, her fine lips touched mine. Twice. This was the second time! She got me again! I wasn¡¯t going to fall into panic again. As this kiss was being forced onto me, I red at her. Barbatos was grinning. She knows what she¡¯s doing! A silent conversation was exchanged between us in an instant. ?? How are you going to handle this!? ?? What? Do you dislike this? ?? How are you going to handle the aftermath!? ?? I don¡¯t know. I do whatever I want. If I want to kiss you, then I¡¯ll kiss you. ?? You might be able to do that, but I can¡¯t! ?? It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. You won¡¯t die. Now stick out your tongue. An insufferable amount of time went by. Whenever I felt like I had escaped her lips, I couldn¡¯t get away from her tongue. If a global kissingpetition were held, then Barbatos would definitely win. I guarantee it. Damn it. I was freed from her after a long time had passed. Barbatos took a deep breath as if she felt refreshed. ¡°Hoo. My kiss is your reward. How was it? It was killer, right?¡± Yeah. It was killer, all right. Literally. I furtively nced at the others around us. Sure enough, faces that looked as if they had faced the end of the world were present. Their dignity was gone as ten or so Demon Lords had their mouths agape. They weren¡¯t able to say anything either. It was only natural to be unable to speak after receiving a certain degree of shock. Only Barbatos was capable of talking jubntly. ¡°Ah,rades. As you saw, I¡¯ve called dibs on him, okay? I put my saliva on him first. If anyone tries to take him from me, then I¡¯ll kindly and courteously beat the shit out of them, so only those who are confident in their ability to fight me should go up to the mound. From this day forth, Dantalian is my lover.¡± Who are you calling your lover!? I wanted to shout that, but I somehow managed to hold it back and smile. I suddenly felt murderous gazes from nearby. Once I turned my head, I saw Zepar and Beleth ring at me intensely. If looks could kill, I¡¯d be long dead by now. It seems I¡¯ve been firmly marked by the lolicon gentlemen¡­¡­. What else can I do but let out a sigh? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This marks the end of this segment. The next segment is only 2 chapters long, so I¡¯ll work on those next. However, I will be taking a brief pause to take care of some of my exams since exam week has just started. I don¡¯t have too many exams, but considering this is myst semester, I want to do them properly. I say this, but I might end up tranting anyway like I didst semester. We¡¯ll just have to see. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. Chapter 86: Age of Schemes (1) Chapter 86: Age of Schemes (1) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°We are retreating.¡± Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg dered. The bone dragon reflected off his gray eyes. With only a single phrase, all 100 knights of the Scarlet Wild Boar cavalry turned around. No one questioned his decision. His adjutant spoke up. ¡°Your Excellency, it is Barbatos. This is almost certainly the Crescent Alliance.¡± ¡°They brought an utterly inefficient bone monarch.¡± The earl¡¯s words flowed coldly. Although his voice was low enough to get buried under the sound of hooves clopping, it could be heard clearly by the cavalrymen whose senses were far more developed than normal humans. ¡°They are not aiming for efficiency, they are aiming for justification. Barbatos has gotten involved in a war that requires justification.¡± ¡°I see. Is that why it is the Crescent Alliance?¡± ¡°We must report this to His Majesty the Emperor.¡± The adjutant smiled wryly. ¡°Will His Majesty respond properly?¡± ¡°I do not hold any expectations towards the individuals within the royal pce. However, His Imperial Highness the Crowned Prince is also there. He must take control of the militia.¡± The adjutant¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Are you saying that we should report to the Crowned Prince before His Majesty the Emperor?¡± ¡°Put a three hour gap between the reports. Three hours should be enough for His Highness the Crowned Prince toe into contact with the military.¡± Margraves. Arge amount of freedom is given to margrave households aspensation for protecting the border. They are able to possess more soldiers than what is normally allowed byw and are excluded from various duties. They¡¯re practically like kings of their own territories. Naturally, the royal court of the empire believes that the margraves could start a revolt at any moment. The reason why the margraves have never been charged for treason for the past 500 years is simple. They¡¯ve always supported the legitimate heir. No matter how trashy the Crowned Prince¡¯s personality turned out to be, and regardless of their ipetence, the margraves have always supported the Crowned Princes simply because they were the legitimate heirs. By maintaining this attitude constantly, the margraves have been able to take a step away from the political battles within the royal court. ¡°Her Highness the Third Imperial Princess will most likely lose her position after the war is over.¡± ¡°She is not the third imperial princess. Refer to her as Earl Evatriae.¡± Earl Rosenberg responded sternly. The first prince of the empire resembles his father greatly, so he is ipetent. Not only is he ipetent, but he has a rotten personality as well. There is a secret shared between only an extremely small minority of high-ranking nobles. It¡¯s about how the first prince, along with his siblings, raped their older sister. After being raped continuously, the first imperial princessmitted suicide. Although the public was told that she died from a disease. The adjutant asked carefully. ¡°Your Excellency, will the Habsburg Empire be destroyed?¡± ¡°It could.¡± If a man of noble birth were to overhear this conversation, he would most likely be shocked. It would make sense even if three generations of their families were condemned for the crimes of ndering the imperial family and treason. However, be it the adjutant, Earl Rosenberg, or the hundred other cavalry knights present, not a single one of them batted an eye. To them, the empire was nothing more than a tool. ¡°There are 2 paths. One is where the empire survives. In this situation, Earl Evatriae overtakes His Highness the Crowned Prince and seizes the throne. The empire will undoubtedly fall into disarray, but it will eventually recover. However, in this situation, the margraves will fall into ruin.¡± ¡°What is the other path?¡± ¡°The path where the empire falls.¡± Earl Rosenberg maintained his cold tone. ¡°After His Highness the Crowned Prince inherits the throne, the internal workings of the empire will rot and eventually copse in on itself. However, our household will be given the honor of having never betrayed the nation as we solely focused on the protection of mankind. Even if the empire falls and a new nation takes it ce, our sincerity will be acknowledged.¡± The future of the empire or the future of the margraves. Or perhaps, the future of mankind¡­¡­. The adjutant contemted this as he spoke. ¡°If Earl Evatriae is able to get a hold of power, what will Your Excellency do?¡± ¡°If we are going to be treated as treasonous households, then I would rather go down grandly.¡± The earl¡¯s gray eyes glowed dimly. ¡°I will form an alliance with the other margraves and carry out an attack beyond the ck Mountains. We will be surroundedpletely and annihted. However, the names of our families will remain throughout history as the protectors of mankind. At that point, they will most likely be indebted to us. It will then no longer matter if our families copse.¡± A cynical smile appeared on his lips. ¡°You only have one life. It would be best for a household toe to an end brilliantly.¡± * * * A young, blonde man who used to be themander of the red fortress entered a stable. All of the stables on the outskirts of the city were shabby, so they appeared unused. This was a cover. The stable was a hideout where the members of a certain group would share intel in secret. The young man pulled out a crystal ball that was hidden in a corner of the stable. Once he recited a spell, the crystal ball lit up. Shortly after, blue light emanated from the crystal ball. The light created a thin curtain and a single woman was then projected on the ball. The young man spoke to the ball. ¡°Sister, Rosenberg has returned.¡± ¡°Right now?¡± ¡°Uh, if you add the time it took for me to get here, it has been roughly 20 minutes since his return.¡± The woman snorted. ¡°Her Highness the Imperial Princess hasn¡¯t been informed at all. I guess Rosenberg has resolved himself to serve that ruffian. As expected of a relic from the past.¡± ¡°Uh, well¡­¡­ he didn¡¯t seem like that bad of a person.¡± The woman red at the young man. The young man showed a troubled smile. ¡°Well, what should I do now?¡± ¡°Haah¡­¡­. Her Highness the Imperial Princess wants you to move together with the cavalry.¡± ¡°D-Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s ordering me to fight against the Crescent Alliance?¡± The young man spoke in a pleading tone as if he were asking to be spared. The woman let out a sigh. ¡°What do you expect to do with only 100 cavalrymen? The Crescent Alliance is going to cross the red fortress and tear apart the northern region of the continent. There will naturally be refugees. Rally those refugees and create a volunteer army. You must now act as the leader of this army. We¡¯ll prepare you the necessary funding within a week.¡± ¡°Wait, Sister. It¡¯s not like anyone can just be the leader of an army, you know?¡± The young man looked desperate. ¡°I need a certain amount of fame if I want to lead themon people. I have less fame than some random street harlot. Furthermore, I¡¯m also a defeated general. A general who lost the red fortress.¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple if you just pretend to be someone else.¡± The woman smiled widely. ¡°You said that excluding you and the cavalrymen, all of the soldiers that were defending the fortresses were wiped out. If so, then it shouldn¡¯t be difficult to pretend to be someone else. Use the name of one of the reasonably famousmanding officers who were a part of that defending force. The onlymander who managed to lead his troops and survive the red fortress. You just have to push this sort of image forward.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The young man pressed his hand against his chin as he pondered. ¡°¡­¡­I see. I could do that. Mm, I could just exin to the remaining cavalrymen that I have no other choice but to borrow the name of one of the deceased in order to gather volunteer troops. It shouldn¡¯t be hard to persuade them if I say that this is for the sake of avenging our allies.¡± ¡°All right. Is there a name that sticks out to you?¡± ¡°Kurz.¡± The young man grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll go with Kurz Schleiermacher.¡± ¡°The deputymander of the red fortress? Well, that sounds appropriate. I¡¯ll include the identification papers with the funding. Although the name is a bit too cute for your personality.¡± ¡°How rude. What¡¯s wrong with my personality¡­¡­?¡± The two talking individuals were the imperial princess¡¯ shadows. They¡¯ve devoted everything they have to the existence of the empire and the imperial princess¡¯ supremacy. The two of them had neither a name or an identity. They became merchants, alchemists, and assassins whenever it was necessary. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend to be innocent, it¡¯s gross. You were going to get rid of him at some point anyway, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Well, obviously¡­¡­ but it still felt like a waste.¡± The man let out a sigh. ¡°He was a good person, but he had no interest in Her Highness the Imperial Princess. It¡¯s unfortunate, but there¡¯s no other choice but to eliminate those who refuse to swear their loyalty to the true ruler of the empire.¡± He muttered. ¡°Fortunately, the Crescent Alliance moved at an appropriate time, so the defending troops were wiped out without me having to do anything. Mm, if I yed my cards wrong, then Kurz Schleiermacher might have stayed at the rear and survived, but after I told them that the enemy might be the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­. Well, they all dered that they were going to stay and fight as if it were the most natural conclusion.¡± The woman gave the man an unamused look. ¡°In the end, you killed them all with a single assumption. Seriously, your wickedness knows no bounds.¡± ¡°Uhm, I¡¯m not the one who killed them. They resolved themselves for death. Please don¡¯t push my image in a weird direction¡­¡­.¡± The woman shook her head. From her perspective, the young man seemed fine on the outside, but his insides were rotten. Nevertheless, his skills were undeniable. As long as he was genuinely loyal to Her Highness the Imperial Princess, his ability and fealty were enough to overlook his crooked personality. ¡°In any case, good work. You just have to work a little bit more. Also, don¡¯t forget to report to us what Rosenberg does.¡± ¡°The margrave¡¯s army is going to be unable to avoid a battle with the Crescent Alliance and Her Highness the Imperial Princess is going toe in, after having obtained military control, and handle the situation in one fell swoop¡­¡­. As expected, Her Highness is talented as usual. A viinous hero in a warlike era is a phrase meant specifically for Her Highness the Imperial Princess.¡± ¡°Of course. Good luck out there. Don¡¯t get stabbed in the back somewhere.¡± Right as the woman was about to disappear from the crystal ball, the young man quickly stopped her. ¡°Ah, Sister. Wait. There¡¯s something I¡¯ve been wanting to ask.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about Her Highness the Imperial Princess. How did she find out about the Crescent Alliance¡¯s invasion so early?¡± The young man furrowed his brows. ¡°It¡¯s weird. She found out way too fast. Even if us Shadows are capable, we don¡¯t have a spy in the Demon Lord army.¡± ¡°Kurz.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± The woman smiled brightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ll get hurt.¡± The light from the crystal ball vanished. The stable became dark. The young man let out a long sigh. * * * The 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance has captured the path through the ck Mountains. ??This news quickly spread throughout the other Demon Lord armies. More than half of their troops haven¡¯t even been dispatched yet, and yet, the fact that the 6th legion had already created a path to the continent wasn¡¯t exactly wee news to the other prideful Demon Lords. Even the Demon Lords who had been dawdling all this time quickly prepared their armies. The 2nd and 3rd legion didn¡¯t care who went first as they held their departure ceremonies. The 4th legion¡¯s task was only to support from behind, so they remained silent. The 5th legion consisted of only 2 Demon Lords, so there was no need for a rowdy departure ceremony as they departed quietly. Excluding the 7th legion which consists solely of Baal and his forces, there was only 1 legion left. The Mountain Faction legion led by Paimon. She was staring closely at a map. The 2nd highest Demon Lord under her at Rank 12, Sitri, was prattling on beside her. ¡°Ah, big sis. The others are really starting to annoy me. They keep going on about how the Mountain Faction is slow because we only have high numbers, and they keep asking if we still have any pride left. I seriously want to stab them in the ass.¡± Sitri was renowned for having bizarre carnal desires. For starters, she has both male and female genitals. She was originally born with only the female bits, but after going through aplex surgery, she ended up with male genitals as well. Nothing up to this point is overly weird. There are a lot of cases throughout the demon world where people would intentionally be hermaphrodites like Sitri. The issue was the fact that she didn¡¯t distinguish between goblins, orcs, and other races as she indulged in her lust. Even the demons who are normally broadminded when ites to pleasure loathed this. There were many women and men among demonkind who enjoyed being on the receiving end from monsters; however, there was only an extremely small minority of people who enjoyed putting the monsters on the receiving end. In regard to this, Sitri dered that ¡®It is only natural or, if anything, you are obligated to give after having received¡¯ and heavily criticized the social conditions of the current demon world. Of course, Sitri¡¯s criticism only managed to bewilder people and nothing more. ¡°Sis! Are you listening to me?¡± ¡°Of course. Why would I ignore you, Sitri?¡± Sitri pouted. ¡°I don¡¯t get what¡¯s on your mind sometimes. What could you possibly gain by secretly telling the humans that the Crescent Alliance has formed?¡± ¡°Something to gain, is it?¡± Paimon smiled brightly. ¡°There is a lot. There is a lot to gain.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This week felt like a blur. Head empty, no thoughts. Not much to say in this chapter, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next one. Chapter 87: Age of Schemes (2) Chapter 87: Age of Schemes (2) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ Paimon returned her gaze to the map. Sitri looked unamused. She hade to see Paimon because she had gotten bored of ying with 3 centaurs all this time. Sitri may be the representation of sexual desire, but Paimon was impressive in her own way as well. She wanted to spend an obscene and beautiful time together with Paimon since it had been a long time, but to her disappointment, Paimon kept observing the map in silence. Sitri pouted. ¡°Hmph. It¡¯s obvious what¡¯s on your mind. Do you think I¡¯m dumb?¡± ¡°Oh dear.¡± Paimon giggled. ¡®It seems she¡¯s begun to pout because I¡¯m not ying with her. How cute.¡¯ Then should I try hearing her out, Paimon thought as she looked back up at Sitri. Sitri¡¯s face was brimming with confidence. ¡°Other people call me stupid, but I¡¯m the Rank 12 Demon Lord despite my looks. I can think beyond what normal people can think.¡± ¡°Oh dear, oh dear. I didn¡¯t know that our Sitri was so smart.¡± ¡°Hmmph?. You¡¯re trying to do that one thing, right? Chadu Murder.¡± The smile on Paimon¡¯s lips thickened. It¡¯s Chadoh murder, not Chadu murder, but there¡¯s no reason for her to point that out. She fully understood what Sitri was trying to say. Once Paimon remained silent, Sitri took that as an affirmation and promptly began to talk excitedly.(TL Note: Chadoh Murder is the act of killing someone with another person¡¯s sword. In other words, achieving a goal through sinister means.) ¡°We¡¯re going to use the opportunity given to us by that annoying Barbatos brat as she uses all her power to fight against the humans so we can advance with ease, right? Am I right?¡± She was acting just like a dog that was waiting for its owner to praise it. This was the image that Paimon received. ¡°You are half correct and half incorrect.¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± Sitri furrowed her brows. She looked like an otter that was facing a once in a lifetime threat. ¡°Half correct¡­¡­and half wrong? If it¡¯s right, it¡¯s right, and if it¡¯s wrong, it¡¯s wrong, right? Uugh. How can I be half right and half wrong?¡± Sitri is a high-ranking Demon Lord who got to her position through her power and leadership ability. However,pared to her incredible military prestige, she¡¯scking in terms of resourcefulness. Whenever she enters a battlefield, her foolishness would vanish without a trace as her instincts would conquer the battle perfectly, but in other fields outside ofbat, her mentalpetency bes questionable. If Barbatos is a warrior who utilizes her resourcefulness and schemes to transcend battlefields into works of art, then Sitri is a warrior who conquers battlefields with her strength and instincts. She specializes in battles more than wars, so Paimon believes that that is why she can see things others cannot. Paimon thinks of herself as a ruler and not a military master. ¡°How do you think the world will change once the Demon Lord armies conquer the continent?¡± ¡°Huh? Wouldn¡¯t it be a world where demonkind can live happily?¡± Paimonughed. Sitri¡¯s innocent answer felt refreshing to hear. Sitri puffed her cheeks out as it seemed like Paimon was teasing her. Paimon didn¡¯t avoid her gaze. She gazed at Sitri in a rxed manner with her scarlet eyes. After she carefully selected her words in her head, she opened her mouth and spoke smoothly and clearly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It is quite rare to see someone who still has their innocence when in a high position like yours, Sitri, so I unintentionally giggled. It felt like I was meeting a maiden who had just bloomed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Sitri dropped her gaze once she realized that was a genuinepliment. Her face became red. This side of her is unfair, Sitri thought. Paimon would always gaze at the other party sincerely. This sort of sincerity was almost non-existent among the Demon Lords. While everyone is caught up in betrayal and devising schemes, Paimon is the only one who clearly draws a line between her allies and enemies. She treats allies like allies and enemies like enemies. She doesn¡¯t hide the fact that she loves humans and all other races. The following is how Paimon and Barbatos are different. Barbatos obviously distinguishes her allies and enemies, but she tries to rule her allies as the leader. On the other hand, Paimon treats her allies as equals. It is due to this reason that the Mountain Faction has more members than the ins Faction. ¡°I-In any case! What do you mean by half right and half wrong!?¡± ¡°A world where demonkind can live happily. This is correct. This will most likely happen; however, if you look at it from another perspective, it will be a world that is that much more difficult for humans to live.¡± Paimon slid her palm across the map of the continent. ¡°But look. There are so many humans. Even if the Demon Lord armies manage to conquer the continent, they will not be able to wipe out humankind. Humans will most likely be ves and fall into a ss where they have to serve the society of demonkind.¡± ¡°Hmm. What¡¯s so bad about that? It¡¯s only natural that the weak would serve the strong.¡± Paimon gazed at Sitri with forlorn eyes. ¡°But would that truly be a world for demonkind? Sitri, I do not believe this to be the case. I do not believe that is a world for demonkind, it is a world for Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°Demon Lords can read the emotions of demons. Therefore, demonkind is not simply another party to Demon Lords. Individuals who are able to treat others like themselves, that is what it means to be a Demon Lord¡­¡­. Thus, it would only be appropriate for Demon Lords to be the one to rule when ites to ruling for the sake of demonkind. Everyone believes this to be the case.¡± Demon Lords, demons, and even the other races treat this as an obvious fact. Even if Demon Lords probably cannot establish an absolute dictatorship due to realistic difficulties, a dictatorship under Demon Lords is an ideal held by all demons. Whether they ept this ideal or not, they know that it is the right direction. Paimon used to be like that as well. In truth, she believed in this ideal more than anyone else. During the 1st Crescent Alliance, there weren¡¯t a lot of Demon Lords who participated more actively than she did. Until that time, Paimon and Barbatos wererades who pursued the same ideal. Almost every Demon Lord did. However, after the 2nd Crescent Alliance, Paimon started to have her doubts. Is this really the case? Is a world ruled by Demon Lords truly the right path? She contemted over and over again. Demon Lords have been trying to annihte the human nations simply because they are incapable of reading their emotions. Humans were nothing more than an obstacle in their goal to establish an absolutely perfect society. However, after going through several massive battles, Paimon witnessed that humans and demons aren¡¯t so different. Eventually, during the 3rd Crescent Alliance, Paimon and Barbatos shed. ¡®What are you talking about?¡¯ ¡®We simply cannot read their emotions. What difference is there between humans and demons? Barbatos, they also bleed. They also know how to suffer. They know how to be happy as well. Most importantly, they are able tomunicate with us.¡± ¡°So? Fuck, what about it?¡¯ Despite Barbatos¡¯ aggressive gaze, Paimon continued her statement firmly. ¡®Think about it¡­¡­. How would the world be like if us Demon Lords did not exist? If Demon Lords being able to read their emotions is the only distinguishable difference between humans and demons¡­¡­then would humans and demons not be the same if Demon Lords did not exist? Barbatos, is it not us Demon Lords that is a foreign substance to the world and not the humans?¡¯ This was the decisive statement. After this day, Barbatos parted ways with Paimon. From Barbatos¡¯ perspective, she couldn¡¯t possibly ept Paimon who was questioning the very existence of Demon Lords. The demon world is almost entirely barren. The demons that live in the demon world dream to live equally on fertile soil. Demon Lords are the ones who carry out that dream. Barbatos longed to bring that dream to fruition and believed that they had to get rid of humans in order to establish an equal society. Demon Lords are the only appropriate rulers to watch over the emotions of tens of thousands of demons¡­¡­. On the other hand, Paimon had her doubts. If humans and demons aren¡¯t different, then would it be right to annihte the human race in order to establish an ideal society? Wouldn¡¯t an ideal society be a world where humans, demons, and all other races are able to live together equally? In the current conflict of the world, Demon Lords are present. It is because Demon Lords are present that demons and humans are treated as two entirely different races. A genuinely ideal world should be a society where all people are equal even without Demon Lords¡­¡­. This was the decisive moment where the ins Faction and Mountain Faction split apart. ¡°An equal world under the rule of Demon Lords. This truly does sound like a good world; however, the truth is like this: Demon Lords will reign above all, and humans will serve as ves below everyone else. Thisdy finds it hard to believe whether this type of world is truly ideal or not.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Sitri couldn¡¯t understand Paimon¡¯s words that well. Nheless, she could somehow tell that some incredible words wereing out of Paimon¡¯s lips. ¡°In this Crescent Alliance, our Mountain Faction must face both the Teuton Kingdom and the Batavian Republic. This is fortunate. Sir Baal must have done this intentionally out of consideration of thisdy¡­¡­. He is giving me an opportunity to work together with the Batavian Republic¡­¡­. It seems I will constantly be in debt to Sir Baal. Although his consideration has be needless this time.¡± Paimon had a smile on her face that looked as if it were on the brink of vanishing. Sitri frowned as she gazed at Paimon. She spoke honestly. ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t know what big sis is talking about.¡± ¡°In the end, there is only one way for humans and demons to live equally. Sitri, I am not referring to an absolute monarchy with Demon Lords at the center. I am referring to a nation where everyone has sovereignty. In other words, a Democratic Republic is the only answer.¡± The Batavian Republic is the only republic in the human continent. The concept of republicanism has spread to other nations as well. Paimon intends to cooperate with the republican factions and go against the royalists. The leading members of most human nations are royalists anyway. Royalists are also the ones who will be directly harmed the most by the Crescent Alliance. This is the same for demonkind as well. Whether it be intentional or unintentional, the ins Faction, who ys the most active part in wars, supports the monarchy. ¡®In the end,¡¯ Paimon mentally scoffed. ¡®Those who adhere to the monarchy are tearing away at each other¡¯s flesh.¡¯ The Demon Lord armies and the royalists will exchange blows enthusiastically. While this is happening, the Mountain Faction will cooperate with all the republican factions. It is clear that the groups who support monarchy in both the Demon Lord armies and the human armies will be incredibly weak as soon as the war is over. Paimon will use that opportunity. The Mountain Faction of the demon nation and the Republican factions of the human nation will work together and turn the state of affairs around in an instant! Chadoh murder. This is why Sitri¡¯s assumption was only half correct. She isn¡¯t making the humans fight with the ins Faction. To be more precise, she¡¯s making the royalists and the ins Faction fight. Giving the third imperial princess of the Habsburg Empire information about the Crescent Alliance was on the same line of reasoning. As long as war has begun, the Third Imperial Princess will have no other choice but to give military power to the official heir, the first prince. There¡¯s no way that the crown prince would leave the imperial princess alone after gaining military control. The imperial princess will have no choice but to take certain measures¡­¡­. Paimon could roughly guess what choice the imperial princess is going to make. No, Paimon intends to lure the imperial princess into making that very choice. Paimon rolled up the map. ¡°Let us end the difficult discussion here. Sitri, shall we spend a cozy time together.¡± ¡°Huh? Ah, sure. Hehe. Leave it to me today, Sis. I¡¯ll send you to heaven.¡± Sitri lifted Paimon up energetically as if she had been waiting for this moment. She thenid Paimon on a bed that was sitting in a corner of the room. Paimon chuckled. ¡°Oh dear. Thisdy dislikes being handled roughly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t know the true potential of violence. Okay. Call me Master from now on.¡± ¡°Are we roleying? I am fine with that. Master, please treat thisdy kindly.¡± ¡°Oh? How dare this lowly maid ask for kindness!? Just be grateful that your dirty hole is going to be filled by my noble member.¡± Sitri didn¡¯t even finish stripping Paimon before she began to caress her. Paimon pondered to herself as she enjoyed the exquisite touch. Even though she hoped that the humans and the Demon Lord armies would fight more fiercely, Dantalian, that man had carried out an odd strategy. She never thought they would be able topletely breach the ck Mountains with only 2,000 soldiers. She has to tell the humans to be cautious of Demon Lord Dantalian. As she contemted who she was going to tell and how she was going to pull it off, she let out a hot breath. ¡°W-Wait. Hkk, you are being too rough! Master, ack, be more gentle¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Shut up. Hoo. You aren¡¯t being honest when your lower lips are already this wet.¡± ¡°Uu, huaaaaa!¡± ¡­¡­For now, I¡¯ll have to think about it after this is over. Paimon thought to herself. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. There isn¡¯t much for me to say this chapter other than that I¡¯ll probably keep tranting DD WN for a bit longer before I resume tranting another novel. I¡¯m still weighing Handholding and Million Dor Bill. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 88: A King and his General Chapter 88: A King and hisGeneral WARNING: NSFW CONTENT.Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip the first half of this chapter. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there.You have been warned. ¦¯¦¯¦¯ It was dawn. The morning light shone dimly beyond my eyelids. It would be right to get up around this time, however, I pulled my nket over my head and dug myself further into my bed. Something that was right was, in other words, something you could dy if you didn¡¯t feel like doing it¡­¡­Is this sophistry? No. If something can¡¯t be wrong, then it can¡¯t be right¡­¡­. Therefore, I want to sleep more. I have the right to do so. Who achieved the most in the vanguard? Everyone should turn a blind eye to this degree ofziness. ¡°Lord.¡± There was a time when Schopenhauer overlooked nationality and positions and looked into the point of sameness between humans. The answer was simple. Laziness, this principle turned out to be both a part of human nature and our essence. All humans are the same in the fact that they¡¯rezy. Therefore, my current action of pulling a nket over my head at dawn is justified by Schopenhauer¡­¡­. ¡°Lord, wake up.¡± Is it truly a lie if a lie isn¡¯t revealed as a lie? Newton shouted while his mustache bounced up and down. The apple went up in reverse! The apple got tired while falling down, so it went back up¡­¡­. As Newton got excited by this new revtion, he climaxed. His partner surprisingly turned out to be General Zepar. Is that so? So Zepar is Newton¡¯s partner, huh? Did my subconscious perceive Zepar and Newton as partners? I am in awe of my creativity. ¡°Hah. Your Lordship intends to sleep in today, it seems. ¡°Why is General Zepar defending¡­¡­Mmh.¡± ¡°If you do not wake up, I will do something obscene to you.¡± ¡°Aristotle¡¯s lover, huh¡­¡­? A splendid camis¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Very well, then.¡± I felt something squirm around. It was my nket. nkets tend to move around asionally. In a world where apples go up to the sky, squirming nkets aren¡¯t weird at all. ¡°Mm¡­¡­mm¡­¡­.¡± Something warm enveloped my lower body. And then, ¡°Guaaaaaah!?¡± A tingling sensation filled my skull and a strong wave of pleasure washed over me. My spine shivered and my hips were forced into the air. My mind must have not been conscious enough to properly give orders to my body as it was swept away by the rapid torrents of pleasure that had abruptly breached the dam. ¡°Chuuu¡­¡­slurp, mm.¡± ¡°W-What, are you, uuuuugh!¡± I barely managed to figure out what was happening as I lifted my nket up. A blonde girl hadtched her head against my lower body. It was Laura. She was licking one specific area of my body even though it wasn¡¯t erect. The way she was performing her fetio was unique as she was using both hands to hold the foreskin open. She licked the inside while holding it open like a flower petal. ??Not only have I never received this sort of oral sex before, but I¡¯ve never felt this much pleasure before either! ¡°L-Laura. Please wait. Calm down. Let us discuss, wait!¡± ¡°Mm, nn, mmm, nnn¡­¡­slurp.¡± ¡°Guuuiiiiiih!?¡± Another wave of pleasure washed over me. I kept curving my back like some sort of shrimp. My mind became nk as Iid on the bed panting. I was like a flower that had its stem bent. A ringing sound kept echoing in my head. Laura spoke to me while my consciousness was still hazy. ¡°Gulp. ¡­¡­Good morning, Lord.¡± She spoke in her usual, peaceful tone. ¡°I hope you were able to sleep wellst night.¡± ¡°Thanks to someone, I was able to sleep r-really well.¡± This is bad. My voice was still shaking. I couldn¡¯t control my tongue. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°What do you mean by ¡®that¡¯?¡± ¡°The thing just now.¡± Laura wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief. There was another thick white substance beside saliva on her face. Laura wiped her face clean. ¡°Mm, was it not a fetio? This is not the first time, so I do not understand why you sound so surprised. I recall that I did this the day before yesterday behind the quarters.¡± ¡°I am asking because it wasn¡¯t a normal fetio!¡± ¡°Aha. I see.¡± Laura nodded. ¡°It must have been a first for Your Lordship. Personally, I refer to what I did just now as foreskin fetio.¡± ¡°F-Foreskin fetio.¡± I repeated her words involuntarily. This wasn¡¯t a phrase that a girl who was of royal birth from a duke family should be saying. Whether or not Laura noticed that I was dumbstruck, she proceeded to proudly borate about the details about foreskin fetio. ¡°For starters, foreskin fetio can only be performed when the man is not erect. Peeling the skin and licking the inside is what you call foreskin fetio, so since the penis and skin will be firm if the member bes excited, the skin cannot be peeled. Therefore, it is a fetio that can only be performed when the skin is loose.¡± ¡°Penis, member, foreskin¡­¡­.¡± I shuddered. Who was it? Who¡¯s the person that¡¯s making this 17-year-old girl utter such words? Laura is using words that would be more normal for a 37-year-old to say and not a 17-year-old. ¡°I heard that this fetio presents a special kind of pleasure different from normal fetios, so I decided to test it out today. It seems it satisfied Your Lordship, so I am pleased.¡± ¡°The sensation was way too overwhelming. Also, foreskin? Is that not filthy? Please keep your dignity as ady.¡± Laura tilted her head. ¡°Your Lordship does not use the bathroom and you do not sweat. How could it be filthy?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± She¡¯s right. Ever since I became a Demon Lord, I didn¡¯t have to use the bathroom unless I happened to eat quite the amount of food. It¡¯s the same with sweat as well. I could only sweat if I ran like crazy. This interested me, so I tried looking into it and it turned out that it was because half the bodies of Demon Lords consist of mana. Therefore, my body didn¡¯t give off a bad scent or give a dirty feeling when feted. Once the sensation of pleasure finally washed away, I noticed what was in front of me. Something was floating in midair. It was a hologram. The following sentence was written on the blue hologram. ¡¸Laura De Farnese¡¯s job level (Sex ve) has risen!¡¹ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I stared at the notification, stupefied. Once I checked her status, her sex ve job actually did rank up to C from D. This meant that Laura performing that foreskin fetio or whatever raised her job level. I don¡¯t know what to say¡­¡­. This is quite the postmodern method of level raising. ¡°Hurry up and get up. A long time has already passed since the rooster has cried. A healthy mind raises a healthy body, and a healthy body provides healthy living habits.¡± ¡°Uugh. I understand.¡± I got up. Honestly, it¡¯d be fine for Demon Lords to only get 2-3 hours of sleep a day. They¡¯d be fine even if they stayed up for 4 days straight. I¡¯ve been staying up all night for the past few days, so I wanted to get in a bit more sleep today. Once I managed to push my urge to sleep away and got dressed, I heard Laura say something behind me. ¡°Mm, this was effective. From now on, I will wake you up like this every day.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± You¡¯re going to level up like crazy, Laura. I exited my quarters after I finished getting dressed. I briefly washed my face using the washbasin that was located just outside of my quarters. The morning wind brushed against my face. I stretched before taking in the sight before me. Thousands of campfires were burning on a vast in. The monsters didn¡¯t need anything like a tent. Campfires were more than enough for them. Some monsters even disliked the heat from the campfires. Areas were separated ording to races as family members andrades slept leaning against each other. Tens of thousands of vague emotions drenched my mind. I took in the emotions for a moment before I consciously ignored them. Recently, I¡¯ve been getting more proficient at reading other people¡¯s emotions. I could block them off to a certain degree if I didn¡¯t want to read them. Although it was difficult to ignore excessively powerful emotions like excitement during battles. You could get used to anything as long as you tried hard enough. At that moment, a giant approached from an empty lot. I didn¡¯t have to guess who it could be. Excluding the ogres, there is only one person who is more than 4 meters tall. The giant deliberately waved his left hand in greeting. ¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t the lover whom Miss Barbatos favors.¡± It was Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth. I mentally groaned. ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Yes. It is quite a good morning. After seeing your face, I believe that my already good morning will be even better. Ptooey!¡± Beleth spat on the ground. He was really easy to read. There was nothing to guess. Ever since Barbatos publicly dered that she would make me her lover, Beleth has been treating me like this constantly. He was the stingiest lolicon in the world. ¡°Hey.¡± Beleth bent down and shoved his face towards mine. Don¡¯te near me, you ogre boar. How will you take responsibility if your lolicon stench gets all over me? ¡°Yes? What is the matter?¡± ¡°Khmph.¡± The boar snorted. What¡¯s up with him? Is he hungry? Is he trying to turn on his charm and ask me for food right now? There are hundreds of human corpses in that tent over there, so go fill yourself over there. It¡¯ll only be troubling for me if he tries to turn on his charm. ¡°Ehem. There is something I wish to discuss with just the two of us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Laura De Farnese here is my devoted retainer. Please do not mind her.¡± ¡°No, well. It is something that females should not really hear.¡± Beleth furrowed his brows. ¡°Be more perceptive!¡± I was stunned. Who would¡¯ve thought that Beleth, who looks like half of his brain is made out of muscles, had enough rationality left in him to distinguish between male and female! If I wrote a thesis on this, then I would undoubtedly throw the academic world into disarray. Furthermore, this boar used an advanced word like ¡®perceptive¡¯¡­¡­. There¡¯s a chance that this guy thinks of himself as a person. This is an earth-shaking event. The academic world will most likely go into a serious debate on whether a boar could be considered as one of the other races. ¡°Laura, I will be having a brief word with Sir Beleth.¡± ¡°Understood. I will be waiting at the front.¡± Laura bowed her head. Once she had walked far enough, Beleth brought his face closer to mine. Referentially, this guy¡¯s nostrils are as big as my head. Warm air kept going in and out of those holes. I almost felt like an electric fan was being pointed towards me. ¡°Hey, you. It¡¯s about that.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Ehem. Khm, it¡¯s about that. That you know? Did you do that?¡± I looked at Beleth as if he were a crazy person. It appears that ogre-boar hybrids have a uniquenguage of their own. It consists solely of demonstrative pronouns. His entire method ofmunication consisted of only saying ¡®that¡¯. Well, he is a gentleman whose brain is filled with muscles, it must be difficult toe up with a word beyond ¡®that¡¯. ¡°Please speak properly. I do not understand what you are trying to ask.¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you if you really slept with Miss Barbatos!¡± Sheesh. I felt a headacheing. A guy who was more than a thousand and five hundred years old is stuttering while asking if someone slept with someone else. Why is a guy who should know this much acting innocent? I answered him in a really pitying tone. ¡°Are you really that curious? Did you not ask the same question yesterday as well? People might think that Sir Beleth is a virgin if they were to hear this conversation.¡± ¡°W-Who are you calling a virgin!?¡± Beleth jumped in anger. The ground shook slightly as the 4 meter tall giantnded back on the ground. This boar isn¡¯t a normal boar. If you grilled a boar this big, then you could probably feed an army of 20,000 for 4 days. Beleth mumbled in a tiny voice. ¡°I have simply been living a life of abstinence for the past 1,400 years.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°I have never embraced a woman ever since I began to serve under Miss Barbatos. It would be disgraceful towards my devotion if I did such a thing.¡± Beleth looked incredibly serious. What did this ogre crossbreed say just now? ¡°I made a vow one thousand four hundred fifty six years and forty six days ago. The day I met Miss Barbatos was genuinely a historical moment. I swore that I would not take my eyes off Miss Barbatos until the day my resolve vanishes¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wait one moment. Sir Beleth, I do not understand fully, so I wish to ask you something.¡± ¡°What is it? I was about to tell you about how manly I am.¡± Beleth stuck his lips out as if it were disappointed. That honestly made me want to vomit, but I held it back as I asked. ¡°In other words, Sir Beleth¡­¡­are you saying that you did not have sexual intercourse for the past 1,400 years? Furthermore, you also remember not only the year you met Miss Barbatos, but the exact day as well?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Beleth nodded confidently. ¡°That is how sincere my feelings are.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± I¡¯m certain now. This guy is a serious nut job. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading this chapter. I didn¡¯t expect this chapter to start off with NSFW stuff. It gave me a PTSD shback to that temporary job. The one I ranted about. I need to hurry up and bury that memory. It¡¯s fun tranting the lines where Dant is making fun of people, so that helped. Other than that, nothing else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 89: A King and his General (2) Chapter 89: A King and his General (2) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°¡­¡­Impressive. I respect you as a fellow man.¡± ¡°Ehem. There is no need to go as far as to respect me.¡± Beleth cleared his throat and turned his head slightly away. A blush appeared on his brown cheeks. Dear God. He¡¯s getting embarrassed after a singlepliment. Beleth, who appeared as a peerless warrior in , was actually the biggest Romanticist of the century, no, of the millennium. Referentially, I interpreted the term Romanticist as someone who¡¯s na?ve and innocent. ¡°In any case, back to my question. Did you do it with Miss Barbatos?¡± Beleth was looking at me impatiently. His eyes are rather bright and sparkly. If you edited out everything but his eyes, they¡¯d probably look like the eyes of a Shih Tzu. The body of an ogre, the face of a boar, and the eyes of a Shih Tzu¡­¡­ I had to keep holding back my urge to vomit. ¡°Of course not. Sir Beleth, you should be well aware of Her Excellency the Commander¡¯s preference. She only gets involved with women.¡± I shrugged. ¡°As you can see, I am a man.¡± ¡°But did Miss Barbatos not refer to you as her lover? What is that supposed to mean?¡± Beleth gave me a doubtful re. His brain muscles are capable of doubting, huh? This is troubling. To think that I would gain the hostility of a high-ranking Demon Lord simply because of some unfunny word like ¡®lover¡¯. I want to refuse it as much as possible. ¡®Acting skill activate.¡¯ Several notice windows appeared in a line. ¡¸Acting has been activated.¡¹¡¸A bonus effect will be granted to your skill ording to your intelligence and charm stats.¡¹¡¸The die of luck has stopped just barely on the corner of the table! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ¡®considerably¡¯ lowered.¡¹ I let out a sigh once I confirmed that the skill activated properly. ¡°In other words, I am a toy.¡± ¡°A toy?¡± ¡°Yes. I am not sure if you know this, but¡­¡­.¡± I took a step towards Beleth while moving in a way as if I were telling him some important piece of information. Once I did, Beleth naturally turned his ear towards me. ¡°Her Excellency the Commander is a massive sadist.¡± ¡°I-Is that so?¡± ¡°Of course. Have you ever seen Her Excellency the Commander y with women? It is truly amazing. Being whipped is a given and tight bondage is nothing more than an entr¨¦e. 3 consecutive hours of torture on a wooden horse is a basic and hot wax dripping is dessert.¡± Beleth gulped. The sound of his gulp was way too loud. The scale of things done by boar crossbreeds is always huge. This guy must¡¯ve been picturing the things I was saying as there was clear drooling down the side of his mouth. Barbatos is probably naked and swinging a whip in this guy¡¯s imagination right now. Damn pervert. ¡°I simply yed out the role of a minor spectator. You could think of me as a type of seasoning for the various cuisines. I was tied to a wall while Her Excellency the Commander had a pleasant time with the other women.¡± ¡°Tied to a wall?¡± Did he not understand? As expected of a person who has been a virgin for 1400 years. Strictly speaking, he isn¡¯t a virgin, but everything has an expiration date. I¡¯m not sure what the expiration date for the title of being sexually experienced is, but it is definitely below a thousand years. Beleth is a virgin ording to the universal expiration datew. ¡°Consider how beautiful Her Excellency the Commander is.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± ¡°Furthermore, also consider how beautiful Her Excellency¡¯s women are. These women were twisting around each other chaotically. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I couldn¡¯t help but get excited as I witnessed this. Her Excellency the Commander treated me like a toy while I was in this excited state.¡± ¡°I see!¡± Beleth sounded like Dharma the Buddhist as he arrived at a revtion and eximed. ¡°I did not know that the term lover contained such a meaning.¡± ¡°Naturally, simply being able to witness Her Excellency the Commander¡¯s marble statue-like body was a fortune in itself.¡± Her body was t like a marble statue. ¡°However, even though this marble statue-like skin was right before my eyes, I was powerless and could not do anything. Even if I wanted to do it, I could not. It drove me insane.¡± ¡°That is quite¡­¡­ a heaven-like hell.¡± Beleth looked conflicted about whether he should envy me or feel sympathy for me. ¡°It was humiliating, lethargic, and filled with despair. Sir Beleth, let me be honest with you. I am not confident that I can endure such a situation again.¡± I wrapped my hands around Beleth¡¯s right hand. ¡°I may be merely rank 71, but I am also a Demon Lord. I am being treated as a ything. If it is a dignified warrior like Sir Beleth, then you must surely understand my travails!¡± ¡°Hm? Of course. I am a true warrior, after all.¡± ¡°There is only one way for me to escape from this pit of Hell. It is by Her Excellency the Commander finding her truepanion. If Her Excellency the Commander ends up genuinely loving a man, she will no longer use me as a ything!¡± I sniffed back a tear. This was quite heated acting. If people of the academy were to see me, then they would tear away at their regtions to bestow upon me the award for best leading actor. Deceiving a boar crossbreed was child¡¯s y. ¡°Ehem, would that not be unlikely? There is no way that Miss Barbatos would do something likemit adultery.¡± Is he joking? I can¡¯t imagine Barbatos getting married, but if she did, she would probably seduce around 30 men and have a sex party with her husband on their honeymoon. She¡¯d probably turn her husband into a meat hole and make the other men take turns using him. I guarantee you that the Barbatos in Beleth¡¯s mind is a Goddess and the Barbatos I know is a bitch who¡¯s 250,000 light-years away from his fantasy. ¡°It is as I said. Sir Beleth, I realized this the moment I saw you, but you are the most appropriate match for Her Excellency the Commander!¡± ¡°W-What?¡± ¡°Sir Beleth is an individual who is practically second-in-charge of our ins Faction. There is no one more appropriate than you to lead the ins Faction together with Her Excellency the Commander. Additionally, have you not served under Her Excellency the Commander for the past 1,456 years? I have never heard of anyone else who managed to preserve their unrequited love for 1,456 years. What marvelous love! I am certain that even the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, would kneel before Sir Beleth and surrender.¡± I elucidated loudly. ¡°Status and devotion. There are no candidates who could defeat Sir Beleth in these two fields. I guarantee that Sir Beleth must be Her Excellency the Commander¡¯s partner. This must undoubtedly be something that had been determined by fate for thousands of years. From this day forth, I n to secretly assist you, Sir Beleth.¡± ¡°Assist me¡­¡­ with what?¡± ¡°What else could it be? Obviously, I will be assisting Sir Beleth with connecting your unrequited love. I may be nothing more than a ything, but I am still Her Excellency the Commander¡¯s lover. I will uncover what type of men Her Excellency likes, what sort of gifts she likes, and any other information like this before delivering these pieces of information to you.¡± Beleth¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°Are you serious? Will you seriously do that much for me?¡± ¡°I, Dantalian, despite my appearance, have never lied before in my life. You most likely cannot find someone as far apart from the act of lying as me.¡± I¡¯m the only one who exists in that world, after all. ¡°Please trust in me. If you cannot trust in my sincerity, then trust in my misfortune. Trust in my misfortune where I was bound to a wall and had to stare at Miss Barbatos¡¯ bare skin for six hours straight without being able to do anything. Sir Beleth! Only your marriage with Her Excellency the Commander will release me from this Hell!¡± ¡°You¡­¡­you, are truly¡­¡­.¡± Beleth shook. ¡°You are truly a good man!¡± He then spread his arms out and pulled me into a hug. Crack, I could hear the sound of my bones creaking. I think a bone in my arm broke. A sharp pain spread throughout my arm. I let out a weak groan. Despite this, I didn¡¯t forget to maintain the smile on my face. ¡°I am sorry. I have misunderstood you all this time!¡± ¡°Her Excellency the Commander is quite the mischievous person, after all¡­¡­kuh. She most likely talked in a way that could easily be misunderstood intentionally in order to mess with many people.¡± ¡°Yes. You are right. Miss Barbatos does have a mischievous side to her!¡± She doesn¡¯t have a mischievous side, she¡¯s the very embodiment of mischievousness. ¡°Dantalian, no, my brother! If you help me with my love business, then I will definitely pay you back. Even if the Goddess does not take our sincerity kindly and my devotion of 1,400 years is not acknowledged, I, Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth, will never forget my brother¡¯s support.¡± ¡°I am truly grateful.¡± I grinned happily. Although the corners of my mouth were trembling due to the ongoing pain I was feeling in my arms. ¡°I will also treat Sir Beleth as my brother from now on. Please ept this brotherly bond.¡± ¡°Ah, I will. Little brother! I will be in your care! Even though we cannot ask for our birth to have been at the same time, same day, and same night, I vow to die at the same time, same day, and same night as my brother!¡± We hugged each other passionately. I felt my bones creaking again. My arms were way too delicate to endure the pressureing from an ogre crossbreed. A sound effect rang in my ear as I was barely managing to stayposed. ¡¸Demon Lord Beleth¡¯s affection has risen by 20.¡¹ ¡¸You have entered a special bond of being sworn brothers with Demon Lord Beleth! By forming a special bond with a great being, your reputation (infamy) has increased sharply.¡¹ ¡­¡­Like this, we became sworn brothers. Beleth and I, andter on, after even General Zepar joins us, we be known as the Three Brothers of the ins Faction. This tale willter be twisted and twisted until it eventually turns into a tale of ¡®a military spirit, a general, and a schr taking an oath of brotherhood for a single cause.¡¯ Although in reality, it¡¯s simply 2 lolicons and 1 criminal. Life sure is weird. * * * 4 days have passed since we set up camp in front of the red fortress. During that time, the margraves had begun to gather their armies. We deliberately waited for them. There was an illicit agreement here between the Demon Lord army and the human army. For starters, human flesh is the Demon Lord army¡¯s source of provisions. Rather than carry out small-scale battles throughout a long period of time, it is more efficient to have arge-scale battle in a short period of time. This way they can procure provisions more easily. The human army also prefersrge-scale turnovers over small-scale guerris. If they resort to small-scale guerris, then the Demon Lord army will be forced to split their troops and spread them out. This will, in turn, cause the surrounding human viges to be burned down by the monsters. Even if the humans win the battle, the people will be gone from this region and it will be practically impossible to restore this territory. To the lord of this territory, the viges aren¡¯t simply sources to receive taxes from. Each vige also acts as a front line against the monsters. There are monsters all over the continent even if they aren¡¯t being led by Demon Lords. Goblins live in the mountains behind the viges. It¡¯s the job of these viges to suppress these small groups of monsters. The viges raise militias and subjugate the monsters within the vicinity on their own. If arge number of viges are destroyed within a short time frame, then the monsters will use that opportunity to grow their forces while the militias are absent. From the territory lord¡¯s perspective, the viges aren¡¯t just a source of ie, but they¡¯re also a unit of the military that regrly controls the monster poption. They can¡¯t be discarded so casually. In this regard, themoners of this world have a stronger voice than the ones in my original world. Nations are unable to thoughtlessly oppress themoners unless they have a strong centralized authoritarian rule. However, this sort of only works one way. Regional lords can often take up an uncaring attitude and tell viges to solve their own problems if they ever have any. Their welfare policy is rather weak. The ck Death is a good example. When the ck Death first started to spread throughout the continent, the lords immediately took care of their families first. If they did provide the cure to themoners, it was usually only to the viges directly below their castles. ording to the rumors, there were even lords who used the ck Death as an opportunity. There were several lords who demanded viges to hand over a substantial part of their autonomy for ck herbs. Despite the severity of the situation, it¡¯d be ridiculous to expect a bond to form between nobles andmoners, cities and viges, and so forth. If you were to ask a randommoner where they¡¯re from, an overwhelming number of them would answer what vige they¡¯re from rather than say they¡¯re a citizen of the Habsburg Empire. The only time theye together is when arge-scale monster invasion urs like the Crescent Alliance. Only the forces that defended the ck Mountains count as one of the extremely rare counterexamples. In any case, both the Demon Lord army and the human army were hoping for arge-scale battle. We received news that the margraves had gathered all of their troops. Their manpower was roughly 35,000. They were an incredibly abnormal army with almost 1,500 cavalrymen. With this, the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance held a meeting. ¡°The stubborn livestock are gradually gathering in a single position.¡± Barbatos spoke in a somewhat annoyed tone. We were in arge tent. 18 Demon Lords were seated on both sides of the table while Barbatos was seated with her legs crossed at the seat of honor. ¡°Even so, it¡¯s not like pigs will suddenly turn into orcs. It¡¯s time to show them their ce. But there is one piece of unpleasant news.¡± The corner of her mouth went up in a sneer. ¡°Paimon, that whore from the 1st legion hasn¡¯t moved yet. That loose cunt probably wants us and the humans to wipe each other out. As insidious as ever, that whore. Wiping out the human army is something that we want, but I want to avoid letting that bitch move however she wants.¡± Barbatos looked around the table. ¡°I want to wipe out the humans while not going along with that bitch Paimon¡¯s scheme. Does anyone have a good idea? Don¡¯t hold back and offer whatever idea you can think of.¡± A silence fell over the tent. It was only natural. Barbatos had practically just asked everyone for a way to wipe out the margraves without incurring any loss whatsoever. Something like that is impossible. Barbatos must have expected this response as she clicked her tongue. The other Demon Lords avoided her gaze awkwardly. At that moment, there was a Demon Lord who raised his hand. It was my right hand. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I unno how this chapter came out as fast as it did. I think these sorts of chapters are a lot easier to work with. My head has been feeling heavytely. Probably nothing big. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 90: A King and his General (3) Chapter 90: A King and his General (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Hmm.¡± Barbatos gave me a sidelong nce. She even added a nasal noise. Her gaze being strangely sexual despite her being a brat is troubling. I¡¯d be grateful if she refrained from using her sex appeal in a public ce¡­¡­. Look. Brother Beleth and Brother Zepar are both acting restless because of you. A young child shouldn¡¯t tease adults. ¡°Our weasel Demon Lord with a bag of tricks, Dantalian. What sort of malicious scheme have you thought up of to be able to raise your hand so confidently?¡± I smiled awkwardly. ¡°Let us put humans forward.¡± ¡°Put humans forward? What do you mean?¡± ¡°The margraves¡¯ army consists mostly of cavalrymen and conscripted soldiers. The conscripted soldiers are vigers who have voluntarily gathered because they are afraid of Demon Lords. We will persuade these vigers. We will dere to them that we will not harm those who surrender to us. We will allow them to live their lives as usual. However, they must pledge their loyalty to us. If their lives are guaranteed, then even they will want to avoid going to war. This will greatly weaken the margraves¡¯ forces.¡± It¡¯s not like farmers join the military because they feel some sort of loyalty to their territory. It is simply because it would be better to gather in a single ce and retaliate together as a group rather than try to fend off the Demon Lord forces alone. An army that has a thorough understanding of each other¡¯s interests, thus they are able to disy a strong, focused power. ¡­¡­However, it is also an army that could copse at any moment if we offer them a better offer. ¡°There¡¯s no way that those humans would trust us so easily.¡± ¡°That is why we must put other humans forward. If fellow humans are trying to persuade them, then even they will listen. Coincidentally, I am in possession of some humans that are appropriate for this task. We will use them.¡± I spoke while recalling the viges near my dungeon. Starting from Parsi, he¡¯ll make the vigers into a type of envoy. They¡¯ll make their rounds around the viges within the margraves¡¯ fiefs and rmend them to surrender. ¡°A majority of the vigers will be half in doubt. There will be viges where the persuasions go well and where the persuasions go bad. At that time, we will mobilize a detached force. We will turn the viges that refused to surrender into an example and wipe them out.¡± ¡°Will the humans easily cooperate with us as you suggest?¡± General Zepar asked. ¡°They despise us.¡± ¡°Of course. However, there is something else that the humans despise more. If we promise to prevent that, then the humans will dly serve us.¡± ¡°And what may that be?¡± ¡°Death.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My words must¡¯ve not been very persuasive as the response from the other Demon Lords sounded lukewarm. However, it was carried out anyway since we didn¡¯t have much to lose even if we tried it out. The results were as I expected. While the viges that seemed even slightly willing to surrender were left alone, once we burned down the viges that unterally ignored our warnings, the remaining viges scrambled to surrender. After five days, 2,000 men from the margraves¡¯ army of 35,000 soldiers deserted them. The margraves were surprised and attempted to wipe out the viges¨Dthe desertion was carried out by entire viges and not individually¨Dunder the pretext of betraying mankind. This is where they messed up. Whenever they tried to attack the viges, our 6th legion would send a dispatch force as reinforcements. We kept our promise with the viges to protect them. On the other hand, the margraves, who should be responsible for the protection of the people, had to attack the viges in order to maintain their forces. The conscripted soldiers started a revolt and deserted the margraves in mass. In the end, the margraves¡¯ army decreased to 17,000 soldiers. They had lost half of their forces before even a proper battle could be had. ording to rumors, Margrave Rosenberg practically spat out blood because of how enraged he became. How pitiful. The Demon Lord army was also simrly surprised by this unexpected result. Our forces truly didn¡¯t do anything in particr. We only sent envoys to ask the viges to surrender and we protected them just as we promised ording to the capittions they signed. Once we managed to make the enemy troops cave in on themselves with only this tiny bit of effort, the other Demon Lords struggled to understand the reasoning. They looked at me as if I were some sleight-hand performer. I smiled as I gave them a calm exnation. ¡°You all have overlooked 2 things. The firstes from prejudice.¡± ¡°Prejudice?¡± Beleth acted as the representative as he asked back. ¡°That is correct. Whether it be consciously or subconsciously, you are all treating the human army as a single entity. But think about it. What could possibly be making all those humans gather together? They also have a hierarchical system, fiefdoms, and conflicting interests. The only reason they have gathered is because of us. However, if we reveal that we are not going to be hostile towards them, then they have no reason to go out of their way to fight against us.¡± The humans also have a simr prejudice. They probably treat the Demon Lord army as a single entity simply because it¡¯s led by Demon Lords. However, we have inner circles like the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction that are hostile towards one another. How could such groups not exist? The Demon Lords unconsciously treat the numerous humans as a single group and don¡¯t believe they can split the humans apart¡­¡­. This prejudice is the result of the forces that defended the ck Mountains. The soldiers defending the ck Mountains had the special responsibility of protecting mankind. Since Demon Lords are their absolute enemies, they believed they couldn¡¯t possibly surrender to them. No, only those who believed this volunteered to defend the fortresses¡­¡­. The first human forces the Demon Lords encountered when invading was always the humans defending the fortresses, so this prejudice was created. In , there is a scenario where the human world bes divided. Even in the original story, the humans split into two groups as this prejudice falls apart. The side that seeks survival by cooperating with the Demon Lords and the side that wants to eliminate the Demon Lords. I¡¯ve simply pulled this event forward a bit. ¡°The second thing everyone has overlooked is fear. You are all not aware of how much fear humans feel when they hear the term ¡®Crescent Alliance¡¯. At the longest, the average human¡¯s lifespan is about 60 years. The 7th Crescent Alliance was 200 years ago. To them, the Crescent Alliance is like a nightmare of the past that is only spoken about like legends. That nightmare has returned. They will most likely wish to avoid it if possible.¡± Demon Lords can live forever. As long as they aren¡¯t injured to a certain degree, they can keep living. If the Crescent Alliance is like an ¡®Oh, another Crescent Alliance?¡¯ to Demon Lords, then to humans, the Crescent Alliance is more like ¡°Dear Lord! The Demon Lords are working together to invade!?¡¯ Even if a couple of dozen monsters were to approach, that would be enough to severely threaten a human vige, but a Crescent Alliance meant that hundreds of thousands of monsters were invading. This could instill nothing but fear in humans. You could tell this is true by the demeanor of the soldiers that had been protecting the ck Mountains. They didn¡¯t realize we were the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance. They only realized in their final moments¡­¡­. ¡°As long as we assure them that we will not attack without reason, Demon Lords are no different from human lords.¡± Zepar nodded. ¡°Certainly. Prejudice and perception, is it¡­¡­. This makes the imperial army rather pitiful. They lost almost half of their soldiers before they could even face us inbat. A tactic and a scheme. Having a schemer like you is a blessing for us and a curse for the humans.¡± The 6th legion advanced without hesitation. Now the imperial army was below the 6th legion even in manpower. The imperial army has 17,000 soldiers while the Demon Lord army has 18,000 soldiers. Monsters are normally superior to humans. Therefore, they would only lose if they tried to defend against us now. The margraves soiled themselves as they retreated. They even abandoned the towns below their castles. They fled further ind in order to join up with the main army in the center of the empire. Naturally, they had more deserters as they retreated. Afterpiling the information gathered from the deserters, only about 8,000 people followed the margraves all the way. This was a huge sess. ¡°Fuck, what¡¯s up with this.¡± Barbatos cursed at the victory she attained. We were currently gathered in the castle owned by Margrave Rosenberg in a reception room made out of expensive marble stones. Barbatos was seated on the margrave¡¯s throne and had the most annoyed look on her face. ¡°What the fuck is up with this!? Were the margraves always this easy!?¡± No one could answer Barbatos¡¯ roar. This was because the other Demon Lords felt the same way as Barbatos. They also wanted to ask the same question. I smiled wryly. ¡°It is a bloodless victory. It should be fine for you to be a bit happier about this.¡± I was standing the closest to Barbatos. My rank was disregarded and I was acknowledged as having contributed the most to the 6th legion. This was only natural since my operation seeded in conquering the northern fiefdom of the Habsburg Empire without shedding a single drop of blood. ¡°No, but what about the painstaking effort we went through for the past 2,000 years¡­¡­? We only ever managed to get this far 3 times and that was after fighting desperately.¡± ¡°They say that your body goes through hardship if your head is bad.¡± Barbatos looked as if her soul had left her body. She was currently in the middle of experiencing a mental copse. In truth, it wasn¡¯t just Barbatos but the majority of the other Demon Lords here felt the same way. ¡°So, what? Are you saying that the bullshit we did for the past 2,000 years was pointless spadework¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The term spadework sounds rather rash, Your Excellency the Earl.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency the Earl? What?¡± I pulled out a scroll from my pocket. ¡°The people of thisnd have resolved themselves to enthrone Your Excellency as the rightful margrave of this fiefdom. The responsibility to take care of your people will follow Your Excellency the Earl, and your people are required toply if you draft them.¡± ¡°Eh. huh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Congrattions. You are the first Demon Lord to have control over both demons and humans. Throughout all of history, you are the only one to have ever aplished such a feat. From this day forth, you will reign as both the Rank 8 Demon Lord and the margrave of Brandenburg.¡± I bowed deeply. ¡°Wait a second! Fuck, what nonsense are you spewing? Why should I take care of humans!?¡± ¡°Did you not ept their surrender?¡± I spoke to Barbatos in a subtle tone. ¡°It is only natural that the one who rules the people is a noble.¡± ¡°Hey, Dantalian, you son of a bitch. Confess now. You¡¯ve been nning this all along, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Did Your Excellency not say it before that you wanted to take care of Rosenberg without falling to Paimon¡¯s scheme? I simply acted in ordance with Your Excellency¡¯s request.¡± She shut her mouth. I was right, after all. ¡°You will simply be ruling the humans temporarily until we finish conquering the continent. It would not be toote to deal with them after we have turned the entire continent into a world for demonkind. Make use of the humans until then.¡± ¡°Hah. This is weird. Something about this doesn¡¯t feel right, but, fuck. I did win, but why do I not feel satisfied?¡± Barbatosined. She didn¡¯t want to do something so pointless and tiresome, so she pushed everything rted to managing the fief to me. The first policy I enacted was mobilizing troops in order to subjugate the wild monsters inhabiting the mountains of the fief. Since we aren¡¯t able to gain flesh by fighting humans, we have to use monster meat as a substitute. The sight of monsters subjugating monsters was surprising and made the people of the fiefdom praise the new lord for their bold and merciful policy. We acquired provisions and improved our image with the people, two birds with one stone. We stationed our army of 18,000 monsters at the town below the castle. All of the humans who were born in this town followed the margrave, so it was perfect to use as a garrison. ¡°You are insidious, Lord.¡± Laura said to me as I was seated at a table and looking at documents. ¡°In the end, from start to finish, Your Lordship has controlled this war and you will most likely continue to do so.¡± ¡°You are overpraising me.¡± I grinned. I was being honest. I was simply acting ording to the things that happened in . The world would probably call this a cheat, but what about it? I¡¯ve done nothing wrong. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Am I getting faster? I should slow down or I¡¯m going to end up raising expectations :^) Nothing much to say, as per usual, so see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 91: A King and his General (4) Chapter 91: A King and his General (4) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The sound of a quill pen scraping against a piece of paper resonated gently throughout an office. I resolutely dipped the pen in an ink bottle and wrote thick, ck lines. It¡¯s truly mysterious how I¡¯m able to move the tip of this pen so easily. Obviously, anguage that I had never learned like Habsburgian and thenguage of the Ancient Empire were written on the document. I instinctively understood the meaning of the words. Not only could I read, but I could write in thenguages of this world at will. If I were reborn as a human and not a Demon Lord, then I would¡¯ve probably be a diplomat. ¡°Your Lordship and themander judged that Paimon is most likely scheming a Chadoh Murder.¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± I responded while slowly looking over the documents. ¡°Paimon¡¯s plot appears appropriate at a nce, but there is something about it that raises suspicion.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°The 6th legion is facing the humans on the Habsburg side. On the other hand, the Mountain Faction, the 1st legion, is going against the Teuton Kingdom and the Republic of Batavia. Even if Paimon is aiming for a Chadoh Murder here, the Habsburg Empire may get weakened, but the same does not apply to the troops of Teuton and Batavia.¡± The forces that the 1st legion must face are still healthy, so what goal does this Chadoh Murder have¡­¡­? This is what Laura is questioning. ¡°Who knows? Is she not simply aiming for our forces in the 6th legion to be weaker?¡± ¡°If that is the case, then the behavior of the 1st legion is much too poor.¡± Laura dered. ¡°They did not even dispatch their troops yet. An intrigant would try to hide their intentions, but if Paimon is simply hoping for the 6th legion to weaken themselves, then she is acting way too obviously. At the very least, the 1st legion could at least dispatch their troops to the ck Mountains and pretend to fight¡­¡­. Our side is busily fighting the human forces as well, we are not acting selfishly. They could have justified their actions like this.¡± Paimon didn¡¯t move at all. Recently, the demon society has been heavily criticizing Paimon and the Mountain Faction. They are being referred to as selfish people who are doing nothing while theirrades are fighting desperately. ¡°Why are they inviting people to criticize them? Does Paimon perhaps have a different goal? She is not moving because of some other unknown reason¡­¡­this would be the more correct conclusion.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± I kept my eyes fixated on the document before me as I moved my pen. The document dered that Brother Beleth and Brother Zepar were now barons under the margrave. With this, 1 earl and 2 barons have been created in ordance with the official documents of the empire. The vige chiefs even gave us their blood vows. They vowed that they would treat Demon Lord Beleth and Demon Lord Zepar as their fair rulers. ¡°Then allow me to ask you a question. What do you think Paimon¡¯s true intentions are?¡± ¡°It is actually a rather simple answer. Simr to how the Demon Lord army has the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction, the Habsburg Empire also has internal groups that arepeting against one another. Your Lordship pointed it out in thest meeting. Be it the Demon Lord army or the human army, they all have prejudices against each other. Inrge groups, it is only natural that there would be conflicting interests, thus there are many factions opposing one another¡­¡­.¡± I put down my quill pen. Filling out paperwork was a rather interesting experience. It seems that I¡¯m suited for doing paperwork. I was only using rhetoric to fill out forms, but it gave me a strange sense of satisfaction. It oddly gave the same pleasant sensation as when I deceived people. When ites to acting like something you aren¡¯t, isn¡¯t paperwork also simr to lying? If I were born as a human in this world, then I would¡¯ve probably been in middle management ying with paperwork¡­¡­how unfortunate. Demon Lords are for rotten lolicons, it doesn¡¯t fit my innocent personality. ¡°Laura, do you enjoy whiskey?¡± ¡°This youngdy likes anything Your Lordship gives her.¡± I took out some whiskey and ss cups from a drawer. This was something I had quickly snatched from Rosenberg¡¯s warehouse. The margrave must be an alcohol lover as his warehouse wasn¡¯t filled with treasure, but with rare alcohol. A majority of the items in the unusual warehouse was taken by the overly excited Barbatos, but I managed to swipe 4 bottles. I handed Laura a ss and filled her cup. ¡°Cheers.¡± ¡°For the glory of Dantalian.¡± Clink, the ss cups let out a clear sound as they collided. The acidic taste of whiskey drenched over my throat that had been covered by ayer of ink. The illusion of my head bing clear washed over me. ¡°De Farnese is a duke household in the Kingdom of Sardinia. As someone who has grown up there, you most likely have a better understanding of the inner workings of the Habsburg Empire, am I correct?¡± ¡°That is right. I was not very interested in politics, but I was able to learn about the situation around the continent by simply listening to others in this youngdy¡¯s household.¡± Thus, she was able to notice something suspicious about our situation that the Demon Lords could not. I oddly felt happy. I could tell that my voice sounded ted. I¡¯ve gotten reasonably ustomed to my bipr symptoms. There was no one present here who I could read the emotions of, in other words, this happiness was entirely my own. This isn¡¯t so bad if it¡¯s my own¡­¡­. Laura took a sip of her whiskey and spoke. ¡°The Habsburg Empire is currently walking the path of ruin. Anyone you ask would agree upon this. However, even if they are falling to ruin, the throne to be the absolute monarch is being fought for fiercely by the three sessors.¡± The crown prince and the son of the emperor¡¯s first wife, the first imperial prince. The second son, the second imperial prince. And finally, the third daughter who was born to the second wife, the third imperial princess. The emperor originally had 4 sons and 3 daughters, but they all died excluding the previously mentioned 3. It was officially dered that they either died of a disease or by an unforeseen ident, but there aren¡¯t a lot of people who believe that. Most of the literate stratum of society believe that they were killed due to political strife within the royal family. That was true. In the game, there is a route where the Third Imperial Princess, Elizabeth, is the main heroine. It¡¯s the route that gamers would refer to as the True Heroine route. The protagonist bes the third imperial princess¡¯ lover as the hero and gains control of the continent. The third imperial princess confesses to the protagonist around theter half of this scenario. ¡®I am the one who killed my third brother and younger brother.¡¯ Imperial Princess Elizabeth chuckled as she stood next to a window lit by a sad moonlight. This was a rather famous scene in the game. ¡®I was only 13-years-old at the time. At 13-years-old, I soaked these hands of mine in blood as I killed my brother and younger brother. I then covered it up as an ident. Am I not a vile woman? How could a young girl do something so unpardonable if she weren¡¯t an incarnation of the devil himself?¡¯ ¡®The one who killed the imperial prince at that time may have been the devil; however, all I see before me now is a maiden who is grieving because she was destined to live a cursed life.¡¯ It was only a matter of course that the third imperial princess waspletely taken by the protagonist¡¯s response. A certain type of scene followed afterward. Adding to this, the first and second imperial princesses were gang raped so theymitted suicide because they couldn¡¯t handle the shame. They were raped by none other than their own father and brothers, in other words, they were tossed around by the emperor and the imperial princes. It was a royal family that would even p the face of those absurd TV dramas. The Habsburg Empire is rotten all the way down to their royal family. The fights between factions are fierce as well. The third imperial princess unites the patriotic people and renews the empire from the ground up¡­¡­. This is a main scenario in Dungeon Attack. During this, the protagonist adds on to the imperial princess¡¯ faction. As the people support the hero as he subjugates the Demon Lords, the hero supports the imperial princess, so, in turn, the people support the imperial princess. If you look at it negatively, then the hero is nothing more than a propaganda device. Well, it ends in a Happy Ending, so being used for propaganda might not matter, but that is something that is going to happen 15 years from now. Furthermore, there are way too many irregrities in this country. The imperial princess is far from being able to reach the Happy Ending. Laura extended two fingers. ¡°From what this youngdy understands, the crown prince has a hold of a majority of the military authority of the Habsburg Empire. The main army is split evenly between the prince and the princess, but the margraves give their absolute support to the prince. Thus, this youngdy came to an assumption.¡± Her blue eyes stared right at me. ¡°Is Commander Paimon perhaps in a type of alliance with the third imperial princess?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If my assumption is correct, then the main army that is joining up with the margraves supports the crown prince and not the imperial princess.¡± I stayed silent as I tilted my ss of whiskey. ¡°The crown prince is most likely thinking along these lines: If hebines the main army with the margraves¡¯, then they will have a massive army of approximately 50,000 soldiers. He will most likely conclude that there is no way an army of 50,000 imperial soldiers could lose to a single legion of the Crescent Alliance. Once he bes certain of their victory, he¡¯ll thoroughly prevent the imperial princess from obtaining any militarymand. This is only natural. The crown prince must want all the credit to himself, after all.¡± ¡°Mm. The feat of wiping out the Demon Lord army by yourself would definitely echo throughout the continent.¡± ¡°That is correct. The nobles and themoners would all support the crown prince. He would instantly knock the third imperial princess aside and stand first in line to inherit the throne. To the crown prince, this invasion most likely looks like a treasure trove and not a crisis.¡± I mused as I tasted the whiskey. ¡°That is an interesting assumption. It seems usible; however, there is no proof. We cannot determine the path of the 6th legion with only an assumption that sounds usible.¡± ¡°I knew Your Lordship would say that.¡± Laura took out a roll of paper. ¡°This is a list of generals from the main army that is joining up with the margraves. The third imperial princess¡¯ name is not written anywhere here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­When did you acquire this piece of information?¡± ¡°Previously, when Your Lordship suggested to Commander Barbatos to use humans as envoys.¡± She smiled. ¡°Your Lordship¡¯s actions already seemed suspicious at that point. The humans may serve the Demon Lord army, but that is only to avoid the immediate danger. They would not serve Demon Lords sincerely. They would betray us if even the slightest threat were to approach them. It was truly strange! This youngdy knows very well that you are wicked, insidious, cowardly, and weak.¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°It is hard to believe such crude words are being said by my own vassal.¡± ¡°No, it is apliment. It is because you are weak that you are able to detect when a threat is approaching better than anyone else. There is no way that Your Lordship would leave alone a force in the rear that could start a revolt at any moment. Your Lordship has a sense of smell like that of a beast when ites to danger; therefore, you do not turn a blind eye to threats and instead try to tear them apart. Thus, it was not like Your Lordship to give such a suggestion to Commander Barbatos.¡± Oh dear. Laura is capable of making people feel bashful since she¡¯s always straightforward. ¡°Well, that may be the case.¡± ¡°This is what this youngdy thinks. The crown prince has done whatever he could to monopolize the military in order to gain a superior position in seeding the throne. On the other hand, Commander Paimon and the third imperial princess have formed an alliance. They have only one goal. If the crown prince¡¯s expeditionary force gets wiped out by our 6th legion, then the third imperial princess will try to start a coup d¡¯¨¦tat.¡± I took another sip of my whiskey. Delicious. Mm, expensive alcohol definitely tastes different. I should prod Barbatos into giving me a couple more bottles. ¡°The third imperial princess will make a deration as soon as she starts her coup. She will dere that this new Habsburg Empire does not possess any hostility towards the Crescent Alliance, so she will suggest an armistice for the sake of the people who are suffering due to the war. While every human and demon on the continent are confused by this proposal, Commander Paimon will respond: ¨DI, Paimon, will represent the rest of the Crescent Alliance as the Rank 9 Demon Lord and ept the new Habsburg Empire¡¯s request for an armistice.¡± Laura spoke theatrically. It suited her a fair bit. ¡°Lord, what would then happen to our 6th legion?¡± ¡°We would be trapped between the 1st legion and the imperial soldiers of Habsburg.¡± The corners of my mouth lifted slightly. ¡°Laura, that was excellent. You figured me out. You are correct. The reason why Paimon, themander of the 1st legion, is not moving is not due to the fact that she iszy or a fool. It is because she is waiting for the right moment like a wolf.¡± ¡°Then the 1st legion¡¯s goal is not the Teuton Kingdom.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I raised my cup. ¡°The 1st legion¡¯s goal is here. The Habsburg Empire. Paimon intends to form an alliance with the imperial soldiers and surround us.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The weather has been getting coldtely. I still feel mentally dead. Uh, I¡¯m tranting faster than usual still. Who knows whether this is a good thing or not. There¡¯s definitely a lot more scheming in the WN than the LN. That¡¯s all I have to say for now. See you guys in the next release. Chapter 92: A King and his General (5) Chapter 92: A King and his General (5) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The office became quiet. It felt like the temperature had dropped. I heard the boisterousughter from outside the window. Once I glimpsed outside the window, I saw Brother Beleth with a liquor jug holding a small banquet with a few Demon Lords on the castle courtyard. Brother Beleth must¡¯ve felt my gaze as he waved towards me. I smiled and waved back. Anguidndscape of fir groves and mounds of red y on a hill stretched out beyond the castle walls. I drank a gulp of my whiskey as I stared out the window for a while. There was a type of eternity paused within nature itself. Theugher from the banquet grabbed on to it and dragged it out. ¡°Commander Paimon will end up betraying the demon world. She will be attacking her own allies. Would this not infuriate the Neutral Faction and the unaffiliated Demon Lords?¡± ¡°They simply have to create a justification. The demon world has already experienced 2,000 years of failure. The number of demons that doubt the Crescent Alliance, no, the number of demons that doubt Demon Lords themselves are not few in numbers.¡± Ivar Lodbrok is a prime example. As the owner of the Keuncuska Firm and a vampire lord, she was greatly disappointed in the genuine state of Demon Lords. In the end, Ivar betrays the Demon Lord army. She devotes herself to the freepany led by the hero. It is highly doubtful that she alone is the only citizen of the demon world that has disassociated themselves from Demon Lords. ¡°If there is no hope for sess, then what is the point of these expeditions? Every time the Crescent Alliance fails, hundreds of orcs, ogres, and other monsters die. Are the Demon Lords not gambling with the lives of demonkind¡­¡­? This concern is undoubtedly in the minds of the people.¡± It isn¡¯t a coincidence that the Mountain Faction managed to push the ins Faction aside and be thergest faction of the Demon Lord army. The rise of the Mountain Faction is also reflected by the trends within demon society. Instead of needlessly wasting campaign funds and the lives of demonkind, we should try to work together with the humans¨DThis sort of ideology has been on the risetely. ¡°In this situation, the ins Faction will cooperate with the third imperial princess. The ins Faction will officially ept the third imperial princess¡¯ request for an armistice and she will acknowledge thend the Demon Lord army had upied as ours. Do you know what this would mean? With this, the Demon Lord army will have not conquered the continent, but it will have acquired a certain amount ofnd.¡± A hopeless conquest or a definite acquirement ofnd. Even if you didn¡¯t ask, it¡¯s obvious which option demon society would prefer more. The demon world was clearly exhausted after 2,000 years of expeditions. People would more than dly send their apuse to Paimon¡¯s decisive measure if it means we can acquire an immediate, tangible achievement. ¡®A Demon Lord who attained a definite profit over some antiquated cause.¡¯ Paimon will be praised like this. I smiled. ¡°The first achievement in 2,000 years of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s history. There is a reason why Paimon is a frightening individual. Paimon is not the one who fought while shedding blood. The ins Faction did that. And yet, Paimon will manage to reap every merit for herself simply by having a secret treaty with the third imperial princess. War is nothing more than a scheme. A single person¡¯s tongue is more terrifying than a hundred people¡¯s fists.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Commander Barbatos will not stand idly by.¡± I shook my head. ¡°What else can she do? Laura, we previously discussed the Heaven, Earth, and Man aspects of war. Compared to the 1st legion, the 6th legion is behind in all three aspects.¡± First, a cause. While the 6th legion has some old and dated cause like conquering the continent, the 1st legion has the cause of leading demonkind to a new world in a more practical way. If the former is nothing more than a cause, then thetter is practical as well. Next, they of thend. If things go ording to Paimon¡¯s n, then the 6th legion will be surrounded by the 1st legion and the third imperial princess¡¯ army. The popr sentiment of the people will instantly begin to shake as we lose ground, and this will lead to them revolting here and there in order to look good for the future owners of thend. We¡¯ll have enemies on all sides followed by internal discord. There¡¯s no way we could win. Finally, manpower. The 6th legion ins Faction has a force of 18,000 soldiers. This number will most likely be sharply reduced after fighting against the margraves and the crown prince¡¯s soldiers. On the other hand, the 1st legion Mountain Faction is thergest group in the Demon Lord army with 30,000 troops. Include the third imperial princess¡¯ army here. The ins Faction will have to fight against a force almost 3 to 4 times their size. The result is obvious. ¡°We will be surrounded and wiped out¡­¡­.¡± Laura let out a sigh. I nodded. ¡°If themander refuses the armistice and we end up fighting for our lives, then that would simply lead us into being criticized by demonkind. They would say that we are throwing away a golden opportunity to obtainnd for the sake of something trivial like a cause.¡± Paimon will most likely shed alligator tears as she deres this: It is truly sad that we must fight our own kind, but for the sake of a greater cause, we must continue forward. Let us embrace this tragedy for the sake of achieving the wishes of demonkind¡­¡­. As a result, the ins Faction will be wiped out. The Mountain Faction will upy the northern region of the Habsburg Empire. The Mountain Faction will once again be acknowledged as the biggest faction of the Demon Lord army. At that point, the Neutral Faction and the Demon Lords with no affiliation will have no other choice but to be led by the Mountain Faction as they make decisive decisions. Paimon, as the Rank 9 Demon Lord, will practically have control over the entire Demon Lord army. For the sake of the Mountain Faction¡¯s absolute supremacy¡­¡­. If you exclude how she trusts her own people too excessively, she is quite a capable individual. ¡°Is this not a terrible situation?¡± Laura spoke up somewhat urgently. ¡°We will be utterly helpless. What do you n to do?¡± ¡°Well, let us apud Paimon¡¯s scheme.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Lord.¡± Laura narrowed her eyes and red at me. I was being serious, though. To be able to win a war without fighting, that is truly an impressive n. Her style ispletely different from Barbatos who believes war is an aggregation of battles. Honestly, I prefer Paimon¡¯s methodology over Barbatos¡¯. A methodology that¡¯s wicked, silent, and mercilessly stabs the back of the opposition. Oh dear, Laura¡¯s gaze has gotten stronger. It seems this is as far as my joke goes. I spoke with a smile. ¡°Our 6th legion will have only one option left. We will ept the imperial princess¡¯ armistice. We will immediately stop the war against Habsburg. We will take the fame Paimon is trying to acquire for ourselves.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Laura twirled her side bang around her finger. This was a habit of hers that woulde out whenever she was in deep thought. ¡°I see. It will be the 6th legion that conquers the northern region of Habsburg and not the 1st legion. Therefore, our 6th legion will be the one to receive the support of demonkind¡­¡­. That is not bad.¡± ¡°It will not satisfy the ins Faction as they wish to conquer the continent, but, well. we will simply have to teach the members of the ins Faction how to be satisfied with life.¡± For the most part, Barbatos, that loli earl, is way too greedy. She¡¯s the type of person to want everything or get nothing at all. She needs to live a little more wisely. ¡°If we do this, then Commander Paimon will gain nothing.¡± ¡°No. Even if the 6th legion epts the armistice, Paimon does not lose anything.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Must you really ask?¡± I asked back. Laura touched her golden hair. Shortly after, her eyes opened wide. ¡°¡­¡­! The Teuton Kingdom!¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± As I thought. Laura is a great conversation partner. She tosses me the questions and answers that I want to hear. Referentially, you must have at least the same amount of knowledge as Laura in order for a conversation to have a moderate amount of tension. A conversation where only one side does the talking isn¡¯t interesting. ¡°The 1st legion would profit greatly simply by advancing through the northern region of Habsburg. The 1st legion would normally have to go through the fortresses on the ck Mountains like we had in order to advance to the Teuton Kingdom; however, the 1st legion will be able to get through the ck Mountains without shedding a single drop of blood by using the path we had opened up. Most importantly¡­¡­.¡± Laura continued in an excited tone. ¡°If the armistice is established safely, then the 1st legion can turn their g bearers and invade the Teuton Kingdom from the southern side of their nation which has no defenses against demons prepared! If the 1st legion ys their cards right, they could seize the entirety of the Teuton Kingdom!¡± I nodded gently in agreement. That¡¯s right. To Paimon, it doesn¡¯t matter whether the 6th legion epts or denies the armistice. If we refuse, then she¡¯ll form an alliance with the third imperial princess and wipe the 6th legion out, gaining control over the northern region of Habsburg. If we ept, then they¡¯ll turn their attention towards the Teuton Kingdom. Traditionally, the Habsburg Empire and the Teuton Kingdom have had friendly rtions, so Teuton has not set up any particr defenses on their border with Habsburg. The 1st legion will invade from that front. The Teuton Kingdom will most likely get trampled over miserably. In the end,pared to the 6th legion, which will have only conquered a corner of the Habsburg Empire, the 1st legion will have achieved an even greater feat by conquering an entire kingdom. This will solidify the Mountain Faction¡¯s position even more. This isn¡¯t all. The ins Faction won¡¯t be the group to lead the armistice with the third imperial princess, it¡¯ll be the Mountain Faction. The ins Faction will simply have acknowledged the agreement a littleter. The Mountain Faction will take a portion of the in Faction¡¯s achievement as well. Paimon will benefit no matter what we do. Barbatos¡¯ loss¡­¡­this will be a great, inexcusable loss. Laura emptied her ss in an instant. Her shoulders were trembling ever so slightly. ¡°Is this a trap?¡± ¡°Yes. This is war.¡± They say that the people who win wars are the ones who ascertain their victory before fighting¡­¡­. Fundamentally, it¡¯s no different from the battle that was forced upon us by Riff and the party of 70 adventurers he was leading. Laura started an internal conflict between the mountain viges and caused the copse of Riff¡¯s party. The 6th legion took the task of breaching the ck Mountains and defeating the margraves as their mission. We were simply looking at our opponents as enemies. Paimon is different. She has a thorough grasp of the situation within the Habsburg Empire and distinguishes between people who could be her allies and her enemies. Thus, she has nned things out to be advantageous for her allies regardless of what the 6th legion does. Think ahead of people who think ahead and obtain victory before people who act ahead. ¡°¡­¡­It feels like this youngdy¡¯s understanding of war has abruptly broadened.¡± ¡°Congrattions. Please continue to grow quickly.¡± ¡°However, there is arge hole in this n. You.¡± Laura held her ss towards me. ¡°Excluding Your Lordship, no one in the 6th legion should have grasped this situation. No, even in the Mountain Faction, Paimon is most likely the only one who is aware of this. But Your Lordship managed to figure it out. The ying field will change ording to how Your Lordship decides to act. However, Your Lordship has not told anyone about this and is simply drinking away by yourself. What exactly is Your Lordship hoping to aplish?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I pour Laura more whiskey with an impassive look on my face. Her ss was soon filled. I didn¡¯t stop pouring. The alcohol overflowed out of her ss and spilled onto the ground. I continued to pour the whiskey until the bottle was empty. ¡°There is only one thing that I want. Anarchy.¡± ¡°Anarchy¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Laura, lengthen and widen your view. Themander of the 1st legion forms an alliance with the third imperial princess of the Habsburg Empire and themander of the 6th legion signs a treaty as well. Do you not understand what this would mean?¡± I chuckled. ¡°This means that Demon Lords will be diving into international politics. Until now, demons and humans have been nothing more than archenemies. However, it will suddenly be revealed to the world that demons and humans are capable of working together or against one another. The war between races wille to an end. Demons and humans will not act ording to their races, they will act solely for the sake of their own interests. Groups will form and split up ording to each individual person¡¯s interest.¡± Laura¡¯s soft lips opened. I could feel the shock in her breath. She must¡¯ve figured it out as well. I continued as my enjoyment surged out. ¡°Anarchy, Laura! We will arrive at unprecedented anarchy. The long-cherished wishes of each race will fade into history and rivalries where people fight solely for the sake of their own factions, profits, and beliefs, will unfold. Do you not hear it yet? The sound of a new era approaching!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Yup, I¡¯m tranting sort of fast now. Enjoy it while you can! I might burn out soon. Uuuh¡­that¡¯s all I have to say? See you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 93: A King and his General (6) Chapter 93: A King and his General (6) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ There are many inconveniences in this world. One of them being music. There are asional moments in life when music is needed. It would be perfect if Georges Bizet¡¯s Habanera were resonating yfully throughout the room right now. Or maybe even Maurice Ravel¡¯s Bolero! I wanted to take Laura by the hand and dance. What can I do when there¡¯s no way to listen to music? I made do by humming. ¡°Why anarchy? Why does Your Lordship want anarchy?¡± ¡°Solely for the sake of survival.¡± I spoke while doing my best to not lose the rhythm of the music. ¡°As you know well, I am weak. I have no power to strengthen. Compared to me, how are the other Demon Lords? How are the human nations? They are much too powerful. There is a need for them to drop into a swamp and fall into chaos.¡± ¡°And Your Lordship will strengthen your forces while that is happening¡­¡­.¡± That¡¯s right. Barbatos has my intentionspletely wrong. She thinks that I¡¯m intentionally lowering the number of Demon Lords for the sake of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s sess. That¡¯s wrong. Why would I foolishly let the Crescent Alliance seed!? The Crescent Alliance must seed and fail at the same time so that both the human and Demon Lord forces create an exquisite bnce. Once an armistice is established between the ins Faction, the Mountain Faction, and the third imperial princess, Demon Lord Barbatos will immediately be the owner of a small piece ofnd on the continent. Demons Lords and human monarchs aren¡¯t so stupid that they would fail to understand the significance of this¡­¡­This would undoubtedly appear like a golden opportunity for the viinous heroes of anarchy. Humans and demons will cooperate indiscriminately for the sake of either obtaining morend or protecting theirnd. It¡¯ll be hard to start, but it should be simple afterward. If the third imperial princess and themander of the 6th legion cooperate and disy that they¡¯re able to obtain a tangible profit, then the other monarchs will scramble to their abacuses. You don¡¯t have to worry about the monarchs who are unable to dive into anarchy because they¡¯re afraid of public opinion. I¡¯ll dly kick their heavy rears. It¡¯ll be a special service. Please do enjoy it since it¡¯s free. Laura gazed at me with eyes as deep as the ocean. ¡°Humans and demons will die in countless numbers.¡± ¡°That is what I want. I want them to die and die some more.¡± ¡°Numerous tragedies will unfold. Commoners will wander thend after losing their families andpanions.¡± ¡°How unfortunate. I can cry for them. I might cry so much that I dry up. However, my tears are not the tears of a noble.¡± Commoners are not weak. Anarchy is an opportunity formoners as well. Revolt as much as you want. Start as many revolutions as you desire. Carry out an uprising. The era will be that intense and that much profit will return to me. I know. In , the human world consists of Royalists and Republicans. I will light a fire on that side as well. For example, what would happen if I published a book simr to the Communist Manifesto under an anonymous name? How will the era respond to a book that it cannot withstand? It might simply be buried. It could also result in somethingpletely unexpected¡­¡­. It¡¯s definitely something worth testing. ¡°Has your impression of me changed?¡± ¡°No, I was simply confirming Your Lordship¡¯s resolve.¡± ¡°Dear me. I have a disrespectful vassal who tests their own lord.¡± Well, I did get dizzy by the smell of burning human flesh a short while ago. Laura must¡¯ve wanted to test my resolve at least once. ¡°Your Lordship is twisted. You are someone who does not hesitate to do the cruelest thing in order to survive, but you end up shedding tears when you actually witness it for yourself. People must be bold to a certain degree in order to maintain their sense of self. This is not my fault, this is a tragedy which they have incurred upon themselves. You have to be bold like this.¡± Laura took a step towards me. ¡°However, Your Lordship said this to me. On the day we first met, you imed that this was the arrogance of the strong. A privilege that only the strong can enjoy. If this is the case, then what art of living does the weak have left¡­¡­? They have no other choice but to stare directly at the horrors they have created. They cannot cover it with an excuse or rationalize it as they must take in the tragedies in their entirety. And yet, they must continue forward without being crushed under the weight. Is this sort of attitude possible? Can it be maintained?¡± She took another step. ¡°Your Lordship is not alone. I am walking this path with you. However, this is a forest path which no one else has ever walked before. It is a path where straw shoes are chafed by thorns. Lord, this youngdy is afraid that our future may be smeared by some usible rhetoric in the end.¡± ¡°That is why I have chosen anarchy. Nothing has been determined. There are no safety measures to help you back up. We have no other choice but to prove our method of life.¡± We quietly clinked our cups together. The sound of ss couldn¡¯t shatter the silence of the office. If anything, it deepened the silence. In the center of this silence, we spoke. ¡°To Dantalian.¡± ¡°To Laura De Farnese.¡± We slowly tilted our sses. Slowly, but without stop, we drank the whiskey while giving each other sidelong nces. Once our mouths were decently filled, no initiative was necessary as our mouths ovepped. Her sweet alcohol flowed down my throat. From this point on, we will cut across the center of anarchy. If I were alone, then there¡¯s a high chance that I would lose my way. But if there are two people, if the number of people to walk together increases from three to four and beyond that, then the path through the sea of trees will be trodded on more and more until it eventually bes a single, respectable boulevard. How unfortunate, Barbatos. You think that I am simply a Demon Lord. You trust me fully. You believe that I¡¯m arade who¡¯s walking towards the same ideal as you. However, I would gain nothing even if the Crescent Alliance seeded immediately. You¡¯ve overlooked this fact¡­¡­. Please continue to overlook this. Traditionally, a lover is simr to a beautiful rose to a monarch. The number of monarchs that have fallen into ruin throughout history due to their lovers is insurmountable. As long as you¡¯ve made me into your lover, you must be resolved to have your name included in those history books. Well, we are still good allies right now. At the moment, we have to take care of the margraves, the crown prince, and their united imperial armies. This battle will most likely be the skirmish to open the curtains to anarchy. Let¡¯s try to get along for now. * * * ¡°Brother! What is the meaning of this!?¡± A girl threw open the door to the crown prince¡¯s personal office. She was the third imperial princess of the Habsburg Empire, Elizabeth. The guards couldn¡¯t possibly try to stop the imperial princess as they followed behind her helplessly. Even if you¡¯re a part of the imperial family, you normally aren¡¯t allowed to enter the crown prince¡¯s personal office without permission; however, anyone who stood even remotely in her way or tried to stop her were met with, ¡®I am here to discuss a serious matter rted to the empire! Are you trying to control the fate of the empire!?¡¯. Thus, they couldn¡¯t do anything. ¡°Dear me, Earl Evatriae. You should maintain your dignity as a noble.¡± The young man seated in a chair let out a sigh. It was a sigh that mocked the other party. The young man who had be 26-years-old this year was the crown prince of the Habsburg Empire, Rudolf von Habsburg. ¡°It is because you act rashly like this that the public opinion of the imperial family has been bing worse by the day.¡± ¡°If we were to discuss the degree of rashness, then I could not possibly hold a candle to you, Brother.¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth walked over to the Crown Prince with wide strides. She then mmed her hand down on his table. A single piece of paper was pinned under her palm. Crown Prince Rudolf raised his right brow. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It is about theposition of the imperial army that will face the Crescent Alliance. The names of the generals participating in this expedition are written here. Let me ask you this again, Brother. What is the meaning of this? Half of the main army is not written here!¡± Rudolf gave the Imperial Princess a pitying gaze. ¡°Is it not obvious? Who will protect the capital if all of our forces are dispatched? It would only make sense to leave behind half.¡± ¡°Defend the capital, you say?¡± The Imperial Princess snickered. ¡°Every nation is being invaded by the Crescent Alliance. What sort of nation would fall into madness during this time to invade another nation? This is the safest the empire has ever been from the other nations thanks to the Demon Lords.¡± ¡°It is exactly for that reason.¡± Rudolf spoke confidently. ¡°Everyone would think like that. No one would think that a monarch would try to attack another human nation while the Crescent Alliance is invading. This ismon sense, after all. However, this sort of situation would undoubtedly appear like a golden opportunity for underhanded rulers. If we empty the capital simply due to the belief that the other nations wouldn¡¯t dare to attack us during these trying times, then we would basically be asking for them to strike us on the back of the head.¡± ¡°Hah! Invade another nation when they are already struggling to defend their own nations? That ruler would be insane. I cannot imagine that such an individual could have be the ruler of a nation.¡± Despite the Imperial Princess¡¯ clearly mocking tone, the Crown Prince answered back in a casual manner. ¡°I believe the same; however, how could one possibly see through the veils of the world? This is simply a precaution. It is the responsibility of the one who has inherited the throne to consider every single possibility. Earl Evatriae, do not irrationallyin about this matter anymore.¡± A possibility, is it? Imperial Princess Elizabeth snorted. There¡¯s a limit to how much you can bury your head like an ostrich. Every single general that belongs to the Imperial Princess¡¯ faction was excluded from the list of participants announced by the Crown Prince for the expeditionary force. He ims that it¡¯s for the sake of protecting the capital, but even a mere child would be able to see that there¡¯s political reasoning to this. The Crown Prince¡¯s intentions were as clear as day. He was trying to take all the glory of defeating the Demon Lords. It has been 200 years since thest Crescent Alliance. The opportunity to seize a radiant token as the ¡®royal who had saved humanity from cmity¡¯ had presented itself for the first time in 200 years. The Crown Prince didn¡¯t try to hide his greed. Normally, he would include at least two or three generals from the Imperial Princess¡¯ faction in order to save face, but he made the expeditionary force consist of only his men. In this situation where the entire imperial army probably wouldn¡¯t be enough to face this threat to mankind, he brought upon an internal discord all for the sake of distinguishing himself. The Imperial Princess wanted to spit on his foolishness. ¡°Very well, then. Thisdy knows very well how tactically capable you are, so I will quietly submit to your decision.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you mocking me!?¡± The Crown Prince mmed both his hands down on his desk as he stood up. His face was slightly red. Three years ago, there was a time when the Crown Prince advanced as the suprememander in order to suppress a revolt that had started in one of the provinces. Even though his army was twice the size of the rebel forces, the Crown Prince still lost. Naturally, the rebel forces became high-spirited after their victory. The third imperial princess, who at the time was 14-years-old, wiped out the rebels with an army 3 times smaller than theirs. This incident plummeted the crown prince¡¯s honor to the dirt while surging the imperial princess¡¯ military prowess up to the sky. Elizabeth was mocking Rudolf by implicitly referencing that incident. ¡°You are acting high and mighty for someone who came in like a mutt and took down the foes that I had weakened beforehand¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Interesting. After your defeat, four barons and seven viscounts joined the rebel forces. If you simply consider their manpower, then their forces had increased by two times. As someone who is short of knowledge, I do not know which book on tactics refers to raising enemy numbers by two times as having weakened them.¡± Rudolf swung his hand. The sound of fleshing in contact with flesh resonated. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The attendants and guards around them were taken aback. Rudolf had just pped the imperial princess. The imperial princess¡¯ neck didn¡¯t turn even remotely in response to Rudolf¡¯s p which contained all his strength. She simply continued to gaze at the crown prince coldly. ¡°Get out of here! The fate of the country relies on military strategy! You havemitted the crime of going against our principals when not only our nation, but the fate of mankind is on the line, and, although it would not be satisfying even if I were to punish you now, I will overlook this transgression since we are siblings!¡± Elizabeth and Rudolf red at each other for a moment. It was the imperial princess who turned her gaze away first. She turned away without hesitation and her dress fluttered like a mantle as she left the office. The crown prince fumed as he sat back down. He vented his anger. ¡°That hypocritical bitch!¡± She probably came here because she wanted achievements as well. Despite that, she hid her intentions by using words like tactics and whatnot. The crown prince despised Elizabeth. There are plenty of foolish and blind people in the empire! What about that girl is so impressive that she¡¯s praised as thest hope of the empire!? Even if she¡¯s a little smart, she¡¯s still a woman. All she has to do is obediently serve under him, the crown prince. Her sister also didn¡¯t know her ce and tried to climb up. It wasn¡¯t until after he shoved his penis into her vagina a couple of times before she realized her ce andmitted suicide. Since she¡¯s the little sister of that woman, the crown prince came to the conclusion that he should utilize the same method. Once this expedition seeds, his faction will be overwhelmingly superior. No one would try to shelter the imperial princess. He¡¯ll go to her at that time and make her realize her ce. She may be an arrogant bitch, but her looks are impressive. There should be some merit in kindly educating her. The crown prince calmed his rage as he looked forward to the future. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m slowly losing things to do as the semester draws to an end and my graduation approaches. Oh God, I¡¯m not prepared. Here¡¯s to another chapter while I¡¯m going through a mental struggle. See you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 94: A King and his General (7) Chapter 94: A King and his General (7) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ News that the crown prince had pped the imperial princess like some servant spread throughout the entire castle in an instant. The imperial castle of Habsburg was on the small side. The castle garden could amodate, at most, a thousand people, but if you consider the amount of territory and prestige the empire has, that was definitelycking. The current emperor had attempted to expand the castle several times now. However, the nobles would always refuse to invest money into the imperial family and the imperial family didn¡¯t have enough spare funding to try and renovate the castle with their own money. Absolute monarchy has copsed. ¡­¡­Imperial Princess Elizabeth stopped. She had stopped in the middle of a marble corridor that sparkled like ss and stared at the scenery between two pirs. The sun was setting on the city. An amber glow was flowing into every alleyway. For a moment, the world became surreal as the serenity and the splendor of the setting sun opened like curtains in the distance. Imperial Princess Elizabeth muttered. ¡°They say that there is something that glows brighter as the world gets dark¡­¡­was it not the empire?¡± The nation that once boasted absolute fame a hundred fifty years ago was now gone. The empire was falling into ruin in the most unsightly way. She had deliberately taunted Rudolf the Crown Prince, but she didn¡¯t think he would have such a short temper. He was a foolish man. These rumors won¡¯t benefit him at all. All the people of the empire will know that the imperial princess wished to go to battle, but Rudolf the Crown Prince had firmly refused from his side. In other words, he had sealed the possibility of rumors going around saying that the imperial princess intentionally held her troops back so that the crown prince would fail. The empire is in need of surgery. Its flesh must be cut open and the rotten parts must be torn out firmly. There is a chance that the patient might die due to the scale of the surgery. Most importantly, the 50,000 soldiers mobilized for the expedition led by the margraves and the crown prince will be sacrificed¡­¡­. This is most likely a responsibility the doctor must carry. This thought went through the 17-year-old imperial princess¡¯ head as she stared down at the city lit by the setting sun. * * * The empire¡¯s massive army has begun to move. ¨DThis piece of news shook the ins Faction. 20,000 in the main army, 20,000 mercenaries, and 10,000 from the margraves, an army with a total of 50,000 soldiers was marching towards us in Brandenburg. Commander Barbatos called for a meeting as soon as we obtained this piece of information. The 19 Demon Lords of the 6th legion gathered in the conference room. No one was panicking at the size of the army that was approaching us. It simply felt like something that was expected was finallying. Beleth and a couple of other Demon Lords were clearly excited. We all had a ss of wine in our hands filled with the wine that Barbatos had poured out for us personally. Barbatos smiled as she spoke. ¡°We¡¯re skipping the appetizer and going straight to the main course. The property owner is offering to treat us luxuriously, so it¡¯d be rude as guests to refuse. There¡¯s no need for a siege. We¡¯ll end it all in a single battle.¡± We didn¡¯t have a strategy meeting this time. The 6th legion intended to destroy the enemy forces of 50,000 soldiers with their 18,000 soldiers. A battlefield more advantageous for us has already been selected and our formation wasplete. The 6th legion was going to intercept the enemy forces with Barbatos¡¯ unit, Beleth¡¯s unit, Zepar¡¯s unit, etc. I was naturally a part of Zepar¡¯s unit. ¡°Comrades. What do you think an army requires?¡± Barbatos spoke haughtily. ¡°An army requires victory. An absolute victory. An overwhelming victory. Comrades, I don¡¯t want some normal victory. I don¡¯t want a battle where we win on one half but lose on another. I want a thorough victory!¡± She shouted. ¡°A victory that will prevent them from ever underestimating us! I wish to see all the people of the empire with their limbs severed, tongues cut off, and innards spilled. I want the blood of 50,000 imperial soldiers to create a scene of red covering nature. Through this battle, I want to make those humans realize that humans could never win against demonkind. Comrades¨Dwould it be fine for me to be hopeful? To hope that you all will have an indomitable will.¡± Someone shouted, ¡°For blood!¡±. The other Demon Lords followed suit as they shouted as well. I also followed along in a loud voice. For blood! For blood! For blood!¡­¡­. ¡°Good.¡± Barbatos raised her right arm. ¡°Comrades, yourmander will always stand at the forefront. When your formations break, the enemy¡¯s cavalrymen shake the world with their hooves, and you look forward with despair as the single word ¡®retreat¡¯es to your mind, know that I, Barbatos, will always be there in front of you. When you are ordered to charge and you look forward, I, Barbatos, will always be running ahead of you all!¡± She gulped down her wine. The other 18 Demon Lords drank their wine as well. There was a moment of silence. After drinking her wine in a single gulp, Barbatos tossed her ss on the ground. The ss shattered into pieces. ¡°For victory!¡± Our march began. Four dayster, the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance arrived at the hilly region of Austerlitz. This was the path towards the capital from the northern end of Habsburg. If the crown prince and margraves¡¯ expedition force ignore this ce and go around us, then we¡¯d have a direct path to invade the capital. This is a key point the Habsburg Empire has to protect at all cost. We continued to pay attention to our enemy¡¯s movements as we continued our advance. We figured out which of their generals were participating and theyout of each unit. ording to the information we had gathered, although Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg is the suprememander in name, the person actually givingmands is Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg. We managed to get these pieces of information easier than expected, so the members of the 6th legion started to have their doubts. They suspected that this might be false information. ¡°This information is not fake.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± I gave several reasons in response to Zepar¡¯s question. I know that all of this was deliberately leaked under the connivance of the third imperial princess. ording to the information I gathered through the Keuncuska Firm, the crown prince striking the imperial princess is one of the biggest topics in high society that has been circting recently. The Habsburg nobles looked into the reason behind this incident, and, after utilizing their informationworks befitting for nobles, they discovered that it was rted to the participation of the expedition force. Due to this process, the list of generals participating in the expedition force was passed around. Therefore, this list of generals was acknowledged by the members of Habsburg¡¯s high society. Imperial Princess Elizabeth had probably done this intentionally. Her goal is to give us this information¡­¡­As usual, her ploys are wicked. ¡°The margraves¡¯ troops are inmand and not the main army. The generals of their main army will undoubtedly be displeased by this fact. Regardless of the situation, Margrave Rosenberg is a defeated general. He had helplessly lost his territory to us. Why would such an ipetent man act as the suprememander¡­¡­? Themanding officers of the main army most likely do not acknowledge Rosenberg as theirmander.¡± There were blocks that looked like the knights from chess ced on top of a map that was spread on top of the conference table. Each piece represented each and every unit of our enemy forces. I split them into two groups as the main army and the margraves¡¯ army. ¡°There is also a variable of 20,000 mercenaries here. They were hired by the crown prince. Even if Margrave Rosenberg has the right tomand, they are a unit that will move ording to the crown prince¡¯s desire if he ever decided tomand them. The main army has 20,000 soldiers and there are 20,000 mercenaries. A total of 40,000 soldiers. Even if the margraves takemand, they are inferior in numbers with their 10,000 soldiers. The generals of the main army will most likely try to persuade the crown prince and take the right tomand from Rosenberg.¡± Barbatos grinned. ¡°In other words, their line ofmand is an unstable mess.¡± This is as far as my role goes. I¡¯m capable of grasping the situation of the enemy forces and interpreting it, but I¡¯m ipetent when ites to using that situation in order to achieve a tactical victory. That was the job of Barbatos and several other high-ranking Demon Lords. They¡¯re warriors who have gone through numerous battlefields, after all. Barbatos spoke. ¡°We will use the enemy¡¯s disunity. Before Margrave Rosenberg¡¯s right tomand is shaken, we will bombard them with assaults. This will cause them to desire a quick victory. They¡¯ll probably run at us like some rutting male horses. If they see a point in our army that seems the weakest, they¡¯ll obviously try to focus that spot with all their forces. Therefore.¡± She moved a knight. It was the knight that represented our forces. ¡°We will provide them with a high ground that¡¯s advantageous for them. Here, we will deliberately let them have the high ground at the center.¡± There is a hilly area in the center of Austerlitz. It is called Pratzen Heights on the map. Zepar mused to himself before speaking to Barbatos. ¡°Your Excellency, if we give them the hills, then the enemy cavalrymen will have free reign.¡± In this era, cavalrymen are a monstrous group that goes beyond imagination. Even in my original world, they were considered the ultimate weapons, but in this world, cavalrymen also have skills and auras. Normal infantry couldn¡¯t possiblypare to them. Thus, every war that happens in this world always revolves around the cavalry. If the enemy forces gain the high ground, then it would be easier for them to charge at us since it¡¯d be downhill and not up. This isn¡¯t the only advantage as it will also be possible for them to see every unit on the battlefield with ease, which allows them to act more systematically with other troops. That¡¯s why it¡¯s important for us to take the high ground first. ¡°I know. I¡¯m letting them go wild for a bit.¡± However, Barbatos refused thismon sense. She borated as she pointed at a certain terrain on the map. The area she was pointing at was where a bunch ofkes were located. ¡°I have fought around this area 200 and 500 years ago. I know this terrain rather well. There are a lot ofkes, so there is a rather thick fog every morning. I intend to start the battle at dawn and end it before the afternoon. Their vision will be obscured, so they will be unable to move with much freedom.¡± ¡°But Your Excellency, does that not also mean that if the battle is prolonged, their cavalry will be able to charge at us freely?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I said we¡¯re going to end it before the afternoon, you brat.¡± Barbatos grinned slyly. ¡°Trust in me as much as I trust in you. I assure you that Austerlitz will be the imperial army¡¯s mass grave.¡± Throughout the entire meeting, Barbatos remained firm with her decision. There were Demon Lords who said that the risk was too high, but once Brother Beleth and Brother Zepar agreed with her, the flow of the conversation drastically tipped in her favor. In the end, we decided to not dispatch any of our troops in Pratzen Heights. ¡°We will split our forces into three. The center, the left wing, and the right-wing. I, Barbatos, will take the center, the left wing will be managed by Beleth, and Zepar will take the right wing. The oue of this battle will be determined by the right wing.¡± Barbatos turned to Zepar. ¡°Zepar. I will be assigning the least number of troops on the right wing.¡± General Zepar slowly nodded his head. ¡°As I thought, I will be acting as bait.¡± ¡°Yeah. You have to appear like the weakest part of our forces to the humans. That way those bastards will get erect and chase after you. Zepar, your goal is to keep your asses safe until the end of the battle. Don¡¯t let those human bastards near your butt.¡± Zepar saluted. ¡°I will defend the right wing with my life.¡± ¡°Comrades, our battle will end with a single sharp blow. It will be a battle with everything on the line. I will not forgive any clumsiness. Fight while bearing the pride of Demon Lords.¡± We all saluted. Barbatos returned our salute. Two dayster, the imperial army arrived at a corner of Austerlitz. They positioned themselves at Pratzen Heights as if it were the most natural thing to do. Will things proceed ording to Barbatos¡¯ prediction, or will the battle proceed in the most basic form? I¡¯m not skilled enough in tactics to make an urate guess. Even Laura seemed half and half about Barbatos¡¯ n. What can we do but believe? I mobilized my and stood at the right wing with General Zepar. I feel like a difficult battle is going to unfold¡­¡­ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry, I might slow down a bit because of a sudden increase in more time-consuming assignments. I had it easyst week so that¡¯s why I was able to trante faster than usual. I¡¯m not sure how much it¡¯ll affect my speed yet, so we¡¯ll have to wait and see.Other than that, uh, this was a somewhat annoying chapter to trante. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 95: A King and his General (8) Chapter 95: A King and his General (8) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ Sure enough, the foreboding feeling I had was on the spot. Our strategy went off the rail from the very beginning. The reason was overwhelmingly simple. Everything Barbatos predicted had urred but to an excessive degree. A thick fog covered all of Austerlitz. The fog formed aroundte in the evening and didn¡¯t let up at all the next day. ¡°¡­¡­Mmm. We will not know if the enemy is near us even if they are right under our noses.¡± Laura was concerned. She was right. Our vision on the battlefield became limited in a matter of moments. The fog would reach its peak around daybreak. We couldn¡¯t see more than 100 meters in front of us. We could barely even see 50 meters ahead of us in areas where the fog was more severe. Even if I were to excuse myself for a moment and have sex with Laura a distance away from everyone, I doubt any of our allies would notice. ¡­No, this doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m actually going to do it. Laura and I know full well that there is a time and ce for everything. A field of vision limited to 100 meters. This is bad. 100 meters can¡¯t even be considered a measure of distance for cavalrymen. They could charge through 100 meters in a blink of an eye. If we make any mistakes, then we might bepletely exposed and defenseless to their cavalry. Even if we set up our defenses thoroughly, a cavalry assault is something you can¡¯t defend againstpletely. If we get attacked without preparing any defenses, then¡­¡­I don¡¯t want to imagine it. Naturally, the other Demon Lords also became worried. General Zepar tried to figure out the reason for this fog himself; however, the cause of this abnormal natural phenomenon wasughable. I felt so taken aback that I asked back. ¡°Pardon? Are you saying that a spell failed?¡± ¡°To be more exact, it was too sessful.¡± This was what happened. Commander Barbatos was concerned that there wouldn¡¯t be enough fog to cover Austerlitz, so she had been preparing a countermeasure since before we began our march. She had ordered our mages to cast a weather spell. Each Demon Lord has about two to three mages under theirmand. If you scrape together every mage in the 6th legion, then you could create a unit with approximately 50 mages. 50 mages at or above Three Circles. They arrived near thekes of Austerlitz before us and had been manipting the weather for six days straight. Ultimately¡­¡­the mages were so capable that they ended up covering the entire area with a thickyer of fog. ¡°Even Her Excellency the Commander was surprised.¡± ¡°Of course she would be. Is this not too much?¡± ¡°Some of the mages went wild with their spells due to their personal curiosities.¡± General Zepar stroked his mustache. ¡°They got excited because they were allowed to use weather magic which is something that they are often not allowed to do.¡± ¡°Haah.¡± A sigh came out on its own. The creatures known as mages really aren¡¯t suited for battlefields. No matter how much you educate them, they care more about themselves than the group. The reason why they do their best in battle isn¡¯t so that their allies can win, but because they can test out their spells freely. It¡¯s obvious what would happen if you gather 50 of those weirdos together. ording to General Zepar, the mages failed to realize what they had done wrong and had run up to Barbatos while asking to be praised for their efforts. Barbatos obviously blew up at them. However, we can¡¯t lose our mages which possess a lot of military power when we¡¯re going to battle soon, so all she could do was fume in anger. Pitifully. I spoke with a little bit of hope. ¡°Will our n change, Brother?¡± ¡°I am hoping for that as well, but¡­¡­Her Excellency the Commander is a rather subjective person, so there is no way to know what will happen. Let us try contacting them for now.¡± ¡°Those that go on an offense will have an advantage over the ones that stay defensive in battles with limited vision. When both parties are unable to grasp the other party¡¯s situation, then the first to move will automatically gain the initiative. If we allow the imperial soldiers to attack us first, then we will have no other choice but to move ording to their actions.¡± General Zepar nodded. This was one of the most basicmon sense. In any situation outside a siege, the attackers usually have an advantage over the defenders. While the attackers are able to attack whenever and wherever they want, the defenders are forced to move after they¡¯ve been attacked. There¡¯s no way Barbatos wasn¡¯t aware of this when she has 2,000 years worth of battle experience. ¡°I was rejected.¡± However, my hope was soon crushed. ¡°Her Excellency has ordered us to continue with our original n. We will proceed to go into a defensive stance on the right side.¡± ¡°But, Sir Zepar.¡± A Demon Lord who was joining us for the first time spoke up. ¡°It is concerning whether we will be able to cooperate with our allies properly in this situation. We have to construct our line of defense, so we cannot be gathered here at all times to carry out orders. We will have to be in our respective positions and intercept the enemy forces systematically. However, it will be difficult for us to work together with our allies within such thick fog.¡± I mentally agreed with their statement. If I were a human general, then I would carry out a feint attack. I would attack the right wing with my main force and use the cavalry to instantly prate through a portion of the right wing¡¯s defense while they are mostly busy fighting off the main force. With fog this thick, it shouldn¡¯t be difficult to hide the cavalrymen. Thanks to this, the cavalrymen should be able to breach through in a matter of moments and join up with the main force to wipe us out from both sides. It¡¯s a simple but effective tactic. In order to prevent this cmity from unfolding, we must be able to work together andmunicate with our allies properly. How much a certain side is being attacked, where a certain ally unit has moved, and if our defenses get breached, where that breach is, we must have an urate grasp of all of these things constantly. ¡°Your concern is reasonable; however, do not worry. Her Excellency the Commander has urgently dispatched a mage for the sake of helping us work together.¡± ¡°A unit of mages?¡± ¡°No, a single mage.¡± I was confused. How can a single mage solve ourmunication issue? Are they going to use wind magic and get rid of the fog? ¡°The mage will be in charge of not just the right wing, but the systematicmunication of our entire army. The mage will be distributing one of their familiars to each and every Demon Lord. If you need to report something, then do so by using the familiar.¡± ¡°I apologize, but I do not understand fully yet.¡± Rank 58 Amii spoke up carefully. He may have the right to speak now because of the achievements he obtained in the siege of the ck Mountains, but he was reserved since he was still a neer. Well, even if he wasn¡¯t a neer, it¡¯d still be hard to speak normally with Rank 16 Zepar. Even the Demon Lords in the middle echelon of the ins Faction speak in a partially formal tone when addressing him. ¡°How will we give our reports?¡± ¡°You will give your reports to the familiars. If you do, then the report will immediately be sent to the mage who is bound to them. The mage will then act as a ry and give the report to the appropriate unit. The mage will be located in my quarters and orders will be given on the spot through the mage¡¯s familiars.¡± ¡°Ah, so that sort of method exists.¡± Amii was in awe. I was as well. In other words, the familiars were going to act as two-way radios while the mage acts as the ry station! It was a step down from the two-way radios in my world since it¡¯d have to go through another step, but it¡¯s better than nothing. If anything, highmand will have a constant grasp of the battle situation, so this might be a positive. Zepar continued while I was busy feeling a newfound respect towards the strategic value of mages. ¡°Additionally, we will release 300 demon fowls into the sky above the battlefield. You all should be able to observe the battlefield with more freedom through these fowls. The mage will also utilize their familiars to scout out the area.¡± I immediately understood what General Zepar was trying to say. In other words, we¡¯re going to use our ability to read the emotions of monsters. If the imperial army suddenly turns or attempts to charge at a single point, then the monster birds in the air will see them and warn us. The warning will immediately be transmitted to the Demon Lords. It¡¯d be like a type of rm system. The birds won¡¯t be able to see the entire battlefield due to the thickness of the fog, but this is a hundred times better than not having them at all. Now we have drastically decreased the chances of being attacked by the enemy while beingpletely off guard because of the fog. On the contrary, we might be able to create an advantageous situation for our forces. Would the humans have prepared this much in the case of fog as well? If they haven¡¯t, then Austerlitz will be a massive, gray grave for them. Once the meeting ended, Laura whispered to me in an overly excited voice. ¡°Lord, this is a revolutionary idea!¡± I agreed with her. Shortly after, a familiar was distributed to me and every other Demon Lord in the right wing. Surprisingly, the familiar turned out to be a slime. This small monster that was made up of blue mucge stuck to my neck. The fact that it had something like a mouth hole made it different from normal slimes. I decided to test out the slimemunicator. ¡°This is Dantalian. All clear on this end.¡± A few secondster, a mechanical voice came out from the slime¡¯s small mouth. ¨C This is themand center of the right wing. Understood. All the other officers are also currently informing us that it is all clear on their ends. Only report important matters from now on. I chuckled. This meant that I wasn¡¯t the only one testing out the slime¡¯smunication ability. The other Demon Lords are probably making up a bunch of excuses as they test out their slimemunicators. Wouldn¡¯t General Zepar be feeling annoyed trying to respond to each and every Demon Lord? Laura listened in on the transmission and spoke. ¡°The imperial army absolutely cannot do something like this.¡± ¡°Hm? Would it not be possible for them to do this if they utilize mages as well?¡± ¡°The issue is the familiars. A familiar needs a decent amount of intelligence to understand and give reports. You either have to create a high quality familiar or a mage has to focus on a single familiar and create aplete mental bond with it. Regardless of what they choose, this cannot be used formunication on arge scale. It might be possible if a mage is attached to each and every unit, but that is unlikely.¡± She smiled. ¡°All of these procedures are unnecessary for Demon Lords since they give both orders and imagery to monsters. In the end, they skip another step and transfer the image to the mage themself. Now I understand what themander¡¯s intentions are¡­¡­. A battlefield covered in fog will always be advantageous for the Demon Lord army.¡± Laura¡¯s exnation went like this: the line ofmand has not been properly established in the imperial army and there is friction between the main army and the margraves¡¯ army. The discretion ofmanding officers will naturally berger in battlefields like Austerlitz where one¡¯s vision is heavily restricted. The enemy forces might abruptly appear just a hundred meters ahead of them, so they can¡¯t sit idly and wait to receive orders from their superiors. Even if Margrave Rosenberg gives an order as the suprememander, the othermanders will be able to say, ¡®Sorry, but I will act under my own discretion ording to the situation of the battle.¡¯. The suprememander will be unable to actively confirm the ongoing situation of the battle, so they¡¯ll have no other choice but to allow themanders to do as they please. Now that they have an excuse, would the 20,000 soldiers from the main army and the 20,000 mercenaries obediently follow the suprememander¡¯s orders? It is obvious that they will act unpredictably while saying ¡®The situation is different here¡¯. The point of the suprememander¡¯s existence will be vague. The imperial army will mess around¡­¡­while, on the other hand, the 6th legion will have a perfectmunication and scouting system. I look forward to seeing how much of a decisive difference this will make in battle. A day passed for the imperial army and the Demon Lord army. The imperial army had set up their camp in the center of Pratzen Heights and the Demon Lord army had devised a countermeasure for the fog and refined it. The first day the two armies stood face to face ended quietly. The next day. The imperial army started their attack around 5 in the morning. This was something we hadn¡¯t expected. The way they attacked was rather unique. The ground trembled and the vibration shook me awake. I ran out of my tent, but it was dark and foggy, so I had no idea what was happening. The slime was probably meant for times like this. I asked General Zepar what sort of attack was happening. ¨C Wait. I am also trying to grasp the situation. I waited patiently. Before long, Laura had also exited the tent. While all of this was happening, numerous thuds kept echoing throughout the area. Which unit was being attacked? What sort of attack could it be for it to be audible from this distance? A moment filled with anxiety flowed by. Shortly after, the slime¡¯s mouth opened. I became stunned once I heard General Zepar¡¯s message. ¨C This is a message for all forces. Catapults are the reason for the loud sound. I repeat. Catapults are the reason for the loud sound. The imperial army has set up a couple dozen catapults and isunching boulders at us. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Okay, this is a minor announcement, but I¡¯m going to take a break for the next 2 days. I have somest-minute assignments to take care of and I have to visit my brother at his new ce. I mean, 2 days isn¡¯t much, but I figured I should mention it here since I¡¯ve sort of been picking up my pace recently and people might be expecting the next chapter to pop up soon as well. So yeah, I¡¯ll be back soon. Chapter 96: A King and his General (9) Chapter 96: A King and his General (9) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I became speechless for a moment. I was bewildered. Catapults are hard to aim even when you have a clear view. If youunch boulders anyway, then they¡¯ll get swallowed by the darkness and the fog and you won¡¯t be able to confirm whether they hit anything or not. I couldn¡¯t understand the enemy¡¯s thought process. ¡°In the middle of the night? They do not even have a clear view of us. Have any of our forces been injured by this attack?¡± Does the imperial army perhaps have a way to confirm where their shotsnd? If so, then that would turn this situation aroundpletely. This would mean our enemy could pelt us freely since we have no way to attack their siege equipment. We had set up our encampment here in preparation of a cavalry charge, but that might end up being pointless as we run away in order to avoid the projectiles¡­¡­. General Zepar got rid of my concerns. ¨C Currently, all of our forces in the right wing are unharmed. All forces, do not lower your guard and be prepared. Afterward, General Zepar continued to tell us over and over again to not lower our guards and to not break formation. He must¡¯vee to the conclusion that the enemy was trying to make us panic by using catapults. Well, I agreed. I couldn¡¯t think of any other intentions the enemy could have had. Laura thought differently. She spoke while twirling her blonde hair. ¡°There is no way they would utilize catapults without any clear intentions.¡± ¡°But what purpose do catapults have if you cannot hit anything?¡± ¡°You must change your way of thinking. I believe that the imperial army thinks it is fine if they do not hit anything.¡± In other words, the boulders beingunched at us weren¡¯t for the sake of hitting us. I felt Laura¡¯s seriousness as I lowered my voice. ¡°¡­¡­If they are not meant to hit us, then.¡± ¡°I believe that their goal is to seal our movements. Even if their uracy is absolutely abysmal, they are still firing their boulders. Our forces naturally shrunk back. We are unable to move our troops hastily. I do not know for what reason, but the imperial army is trying to hold us in ce.¡± I rubbed my forehead. Laura¡¯s assumption seemed usible. Although Laura said that she didn¡¯t know the reason, I immediately figured out the enemy¡¯s intentions. Laura most likely doesn¡¯t know because she hasn¡¯t experienced arge-scale battle yet. I felt a headacheing. ¡°The imperial army is nning to go on a full-offensive right now.¡± ¡°Mm? How do you know that?¡± This is a basic strategy. They¡¯re trying to hold our forces in ce by applying pressure across our entire army. They¡¯ll then focus all of their troops into a single point of our army. If a section of our line of defense copses, then that would be our downfall as long as we don¡¯t have any countermeasures prepared. And unfortunately¡­¡­we¡¯re the ¡®single point¡¯ that the imperial army has chosen. This is obvious. The right wing was the only ce boulders weren¡¯t flying towards. This meant that the imperial army was already moving this way. Even if the imperial army had some god-like catapulting ability, they wouldn¡¯t risk catapulting boulders towards a direction their allies are moving towards. They must¡¯ve observed our forces yesterday evening and realized that our right wing is the weakest side. I immediately reported this. General Zepar took my assumption seriously. He must have fallen into deep thought about something as his words trailed off at the end. ¨C The right wing will experience the fiercest battle. Just as themander had hoped¡­¡­. All of the units that were assigned to the right wing entered a state of alert around 5 in the morning. Our surroundings were dark and the fog prevented even monsters who had good night vision from being able to see beyond a hundred meters. The imperial army believed that this was the perfect opportunity to attack. 30 golems, 10 fairies, and 12 death knights. My unit consists of a total of 52 monsters. My golems and fairies have reached the highest level attainable by lowest tier monsters which happens to be 10. They¡¯re stronger than the average monster. Adding to this, my death knights are level 50. In human standards, my army has foot soldiers, archers, and elite knights. I may not have a lot, but I¡¯m confident in their strength! We¡¯re in a dark and foul battlefield anyway. Numbers don¡¯t mean a lot here. How the enemy attacks is the key point. Are they going to use traditional tactics and put their infantry at the front, or are they going to aim for a surprise attack and make their cavalrymen charge first? If it¡¯s the infantry first, then I have a chance of winning. If it¡¯s the cavalry, then¡­¡­I did dig a hole in front of our position and set up some stakes, but I honestly don¡¯t feel like this would slow them down. I¡¯ll have to pretend as if I¡¯m fighting and use the fog as a shield while I run away. I have to defeat them by uniting with the other units around me. ¨C A familiar has discovered the enemy troops. We were informed about what our scouts saw. The situation was proceeding ording to how Laura and I had predicted. The imperial army was marching towards our right wing and they intended to attack our entire right wing. They¡¯re probably nning to make our right wing copse and then take care of our left wing and center armies one by one. ording to the report, the imperial army had mobilized foot soldiers and cavalrymen. This meant that they didn¡¯t intend to end it by simplyunching a surprise attack. This will be a rough battle for both the enemy and our allies. The hills of Austerlitz will be drenched in blood all throughout winter and spring. I waited nervously. Boulders were still causing the earth to shake in several minute intervals. How much time has passed now? Something flew towards us from the swampy darkness of the ck fog. It wasn¡¯t only one thing. It was several dozen. They flew sharply through the air andnded near us. One of them happened tond directly in front of me. An arrow. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura and I unconsciously turned to look at each other. We both looked speechless. It wasn¡¯t because the arrow was weird. It was because, in the distance beyond a hundred meters, we could hear the sound of hooves. Arrows and the sound of hooves. This could only mean one thing. The corners of Laura¡¯s mouth contorted before she made an unpleasant remark. ¡°¡­¡­Those are not just cavalrymen, are they?¡± The enemy was utilizing mounted archers. * * * The imperial army, no, would it just be Supreme Commander Margrave von Rosenberg in this situation? The margrave¡¯s strategy was absurdly original. If it weren¡¯t, then would Laura have lost herposure for a moment? ¡°To think they would use mounted archers in the middle of the night!¡± Using catapults to suppress our left wing and center army was understandable. However, using mounted archers was unimaginable. This was because of an incredibly fundamental reason. Mounted archers are meant for the sake of shooting arrows at the enemy from a distance and then retreating a set distance. It¡¯s obvious, but mounted archers require perfect coordination. If they shoot an arrow and turn in the wrong direction, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if they crashed against one another. They must naturally maintain a set distance between one another and they have to all fire at the same time in order to raise their uracy. There¡¯s no way their uracy could be good when on horseback, so they have to increase it through sheer numbers. In short, horseback archery is hard to master, but executing it in small groups usually isn¡¯t a hard task. ¡­¡­However, the battlefield right now is incredibly dark. It¡¯s so dark that if they mess up even slightly, they could collide seriously with the other archers. Using elite mounted archers in a situation like this is crazy. The issue is that this crazy tactic is working on us. ¡°Do these crazy bastards not care how much arrows cost¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Their arrows were most likely provided by their knights. I have never heard about the Habsburg Empire raising mounted archers at a professional level. They are most likely the attendant cavalrymen serving under Rosenberg¡¯s knights.¡± Laura and I conversed while hiding behind a cover. We had built our encampment as sturdy as possible in case of a cavalry charge, so we naturally had a lot of cover that could be used to avoid arrows. From the wagons we had ced under requisition to the doors we had taken from the viges as we traveled from Brandenburg to here. The citizens of this world usually have sturdy and thick front doors because of the constant threat of monsters, so they also make excellent shields in case of emergencies. Thanks to the citizens of this world, my unit is able to receive almost no injuries whatsoever despite the endless torrent of arrows. If the arrows that got stuck in two golems count as injuries, that is. For golems with 50% additional endurance against physical attacks, arrows are no different from mosquito bites to them. Referentially, death knights reduce physical damage by 70%. The fairies are the size of peas, so there¡¯s no way they could get hit by arrows. It wasn¡¯t intentional, but my unit is almostpletely immune to arrows. However, ¡°¡­¡­We cannot move at all.¡± Laura groaned. This was the issue. We have to hide our bodies behind cover and stay still. My unit has a high resistance against physical damage so we can move to a certain degree, but the other units are different. Other units consist of mostly orcs and goblins. Both of which do not have even a tiny bit of physical resistance. All they can do is quietly sit behind cover as arrows continue to barrage us. The barrage from the mounted archers wasn¡¯t happening to only my unit but the entire right wing. This means that the right wing¡¯s movement has been almost entirely sealed. The imperial army¡¯s intention was clear. They intended to move around freely while holding us down. ording to the reports from the familiars that were scouting, their foot soldiers are being concentrated towards a single point of the right wing. They were nning to wipe out a portion of the right wing while holding everyone else down with mounted archers. I let out a sigh. ¡°As expected of Rosenberg. It is a simple but effective strategy.¡± First, the catapults. Second, the mounted archers. Everything was operating under one principle. Seal off the center and left wing of the Demon Lord army through an endless assault from catapults, seal off the entire right wing with mounted archers, and then focus their forces at a single part of the right wing. ¡­¡­¡¯Raise your mobility and kill the enemy¡¯s mobility¡¯, they were executing this strategy to a tee. The troubling thing is the fact that we couldn¡¯t really do anything even though we¡¯ve figured out their strategy. If we want to do something, then we need to be able to move first! Damn it. The enemy forces are carefully advancing their foot soldiers through the fog, but all we can do is hide behind a wooden door and sigh. ¡°How about asking for reinforcements from themander?¡± ¡°It will most likely be rejected.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Barbatos wants the right wing to lure as much of the enemy forces towards us as possible. If she sends troops from either the center army or the left wing just to protect the right wing, then that would be putting the horse before the cart.¡± We¡¯re pressed for time. At this rate, a part of the right wing will helplessly get breached. We can¡¯t ask the other armies for reinforcements and the other units in the right wing aren¡¯t able to move freely either. In the end, my unit has only one choice left. It¡¯s a shitty choice, though. ¡°Our unit has to wipe out the mounted archers with our own power.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that okay? Your Lordship¡¯s troops will be harmed.¡± ¡°I do not want to, but it cannot be helped. If I do nothing because I do not want to waste my troops, then that would allow the enemy foot soldiers to breach us and wipe us out anyway.¡± Seriously, this is such a bothersome enemy. Margrave Rosenberg is definitely a level higher than Kurz Schleiermacher from the fortresses on the ck Mountains. It was the same with Kurz, but I¡¯m going to have to kill Rosenberg for the sake of my future as well. I adjusted my armor and spoke. ¡°Go prepare, Laura. It seems that our unit has been selected as the hope of tonight¡¯s ball, here in Austerlitz.¡± Laura nodded. She must have fallen into deep thought as her gaze shifted towards the pea patch. What was she thinking about? Was she feeling remorse about stepping foot in arge-scale battle for the first time? Or was she perhaps feeling a sense of irony for being on the side of the Crescent Alliance, the enemy of mankind, and fighting against the imperial army? I had no way to find out. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry for the slow upload. I did say I was taking a break. Although I didn¡¯t actually take a break. I still tranted every day, albeit a little slower than usual cause I was busy. I have one more week of assignments before my finals are here. I do think I should take a proper break for like a week or something some day before I end up burning out. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 97: A King and his General (10) Chapter 97: A King and his General (10) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The situation gradually became more pressing. For starters, I reported to General Zepar that I was going to go on a counteroffensive on my own. As expected, Brother Zepar felt really stifled because of our current situation. We hastily organized the current situation. A new operation was established on the spot. Befitting his position as a veteran general of the ins Faction, Zepar had a clear grasp of what was happening. He seriously considered my proposal of performing a gueri operation with my small unit. Kuh, this is why you need to meet a good superior. If Zepar were ipetent, then he would¡¯ve hesitated to make any rash changes. As a result, the right wing would¡¯ve withered away until it ultimately perishes. The imperial army being led by Rosenberg was certainly talented. To the point of being able to use mounted archers in the middle of the night. However, the troops under Brother Zepar¡¯smand was also capable. This fact fueled me with confidence. ¨C However, rather than going on a counteroffensive with a small unit, how about doing so on arger scale, Dantalian? Before epting my suggestion, General Zepar suggested his own. His n was as follows: even if we have to force it a little, we¡¯ll make the entire right wing retaliate all at once. Since the enemy¡¯s vision should be as limited as ours, if we rush at them quickly, the mounted archers will be forced into a close quarters battle. There is no way mounted archers could fight in close quarters. They will have no other choice but to retreat and we¡¯ll encircle their foot soldiers while we¡¯re also pursuing the archers. An annihtion will immediately begin. ¡°Certainly! That would be much better.¡± I was in awe. General Zepar¡¯s method sounded good. With this, the enemy¡¯s goal will immediately be blocked. Our right wing will be free and we will be able to force their foot soldiers into a fiercely chaotic battle. The more chaotic the battlefield bes, the more advantageous it bes for monsters than humans. Monsters have better night vision and are capable of receiving direct orders from Demon Lords, after all. Adding to this, the Demon Lords all have a method ofmunicating with each other as well. There is a high probability that we¡¯ll be able to carry out a sessful annihtion of their troops¡­¡­. ¨C We will immediatelyunch a counterattack, then. Stay on standby for a moment. It was right when I was about to agree. Laura carefully cut in the conversation. She requested the right to speak. I tilted my head and dly gave it to her. I¡¯m the deputy director of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 6th legion and Laura is my closest advisor, so she naturally has the right to be treated as the chief advisor. After receiving my permission, Laura promptly spoke to General Zepar. ¡°Pardon my intrusion, General. This one is the chief advisor of the operation, Laura De Farnese. I humbly apologize, but this youngdy believes that there is a severe w in going on a counterattack.¡± ¨C Mm? What is it, Chief Advisor Farnese? ¡°There is a chance that heavy cavalrymen are waiting behind the imperial army.¡± I was surprised. Cavalrymen? We¡¯ve already confirmed that the foot soldiers were advancing on their own. We didn¡¯t receive any reports about them moving together with cavalrymen. General Zepar seemed also taken aback as his voice went up a pitch. ¨C Cavalrymen? Why do you think that? ¡°This youngdy believes that the imperial army is not only trying to hold our right wing down. They are trying to lure us in.¡± Laura gave a quick and precise exnation. The scenario that she believed Margrave Rosenberg was trying to carry out went like this: First, an assault by mounted archers. Like pieces of clothing slowly getting drenched in a drizzle, our right wing will umte losses as we continue to receive the downpour of arrows. Since the Demon Lord army will only end up getting breached if this situation is allowed to continue, they will try to turn the situation around by counterattacking all at once. ¨DLaura predicted that cavalrymen will abruptly appear behind enemy lines at this moment. I spoke in a serious tone. ¡°¡­¡­If Laura is correct, we will have to carry out a pitched battle with their cavalry.¡± ¨C Agreed. It is horrifying to imagine fighting knights without any sort of countermeasures prepared. General Zepar¡¯s tone was filled with hate. Come to think of it, he had once charged towards cavalrymen by himself and lost almost all of his troops in one of the previous Crescent Alliances. There¡¯s probably no one else who is more aware of the power of the human cavalry than Zepar. General Zepar immediately mobilized the familiars used for scouting and made them do a concentrated survey of the area behind the imperial army. If Laura¡¯s prediction is wrong, then we would have wasted our precious time scouting. Even now, the imperial army¡¯s foot soldiers were gradually approaching us. Laura¡¯s mistake will also be my mistake. If we lose this battle, people will definitelye out and say that I should take responsibility. However, I decided to heed Laura¡¯s warning. She is someone who had well-matched battles against the greatest group of fighters, the hero¡¯s party, for several years. Since I know Laura¡¯s original fate, I can¡¯t just overlook her warning. Were the mounted archers really bait? Did the imperial army have a trump card of cavalrymen prepared¡­¡­? Will Laura¡¯s genius be proven or not? I prepared my unit to be able to charge at a moment¡¯s notice regardless of the result. Five nerve-wracking minutes went by. The slime¡¯s mouth then opened. General Zepar¡¯s voice flowed out mechanically. ¨C Dantalian. We have discovered a cavalry unit behind the imperial army. They are hiding in our blind spot behind a hill. It is as your chief advisor has predicted. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± I found myself turning to look at Laura. Her eyes were glowing as she received the entire darkness of the night. I felt a chill go down my spine. Even though her prediction was spot on, even though she managed to save our army from meeting a pitiful fate with only a few words, she didn¡¯t show any sort of emotion as she continued to think calmly. Is she not a tremendous monster? She¡¯s only 17-years-old! I used to doze off on the chairs in the self-study rooms after school at her age¡­¡­Laura changed the fate of an army at the age of 17. I felt a chill. Just now, without the usage of swords, Margrave Rosenberg and Chief Advisor Laura De Farnese carried out the most silent battle in the world. And Laura won¡­¡­. ¨C I thought that you were only an impressive schemer, but after this turn of events, you also have potential as a ruler. A ruler¡¯s potential is also determined by the potential of their subordinates. I would like to go on and praise both you and your subordinate, but I will omit it for now due to our situation. ¡°Understood.¡± Now we have almost aplete grasp of the enemy¡¯s strategy. The mounted archers had two goals. The first was to suppress the movement of the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing, and the second was to act as bait. I unconsciously peered over my cover. The mounted archers must have a lot of arrows to spare as they continued to fire dozens of arrows every minute. The rain of arrowsing our way was no different from a hand of temptation. They were speaking to us through these arrows. ¡®Are you frustrated? Thene out here and try to get rid of us. Come out of your sturdy defenses that you¡¯ve set up against cavalry charges. Let¡¯s have a proper fight on an empty hillside!¡¯ What crafty bastards. Laura organized the situation. ¡°From the imperial army¡¯s perspective, it does not matter how we respond. If we stay like this and endure their arrows, then they will continue to advance their foot soldiers. A section of our right wing will get breached. If our forces carry out a counterattack, then their mounted archers will retreat and be reced by the cavalrymen behind them. Our forces will copse.¡± ¨C Mm. Our side will be at a severe disadvantage in both cases. It seems that the margraves of the empire are not ipetent this time as well¡­¡­. As long as our counterattack n is no longer possible, we only have one option left. The original n that I had suggested: a guerri operation performed by a small unit. We immediately came to the agreement that this was the only choice we had left. The small unit in this case was obviously Dantalian¡¯s unit that specializes in physical defense. The new objectives that my unit was given were as follows: First, we have to wipe out the small unit of mounted archers directly in front of my troops. Second, after getting rid of this small unit, my troops will immediately start a guerri attack. We¡¯ll bring down the mounted archers holding down our allies one unit at a time. Third, during this process, we¡¯ll frequently assist our allies. The imperial army had split their mounted archers into small groups. Guessing from the number of arrows that would get fired at my unit, there¡¯s most likely about 20 mounted archers directly in front of us. This isn¡¯t surprising. The imperial army isn¡¯t trying to pin down a single portion of the right wing, but the right wing in its entirety. They have no other choice but to spread their mounted archers thin. Therefore, even if they have a thousand mounted archers, we will only have to take them down in groups of twenty and fifty. There is a chance of winning. No, we¡¯ll create a chance of winning. That is what it means to be on a battlefield! If you don¡¯t take any action, then no one is going to hand you a victory. ¨C I can only pray for your sess. I hope that we will be able to share a celebratory drink after the day is over. Themunication ended there. ¡°Hoo.¡± I took in a deep breath. The cold night air soaked into my lungs. From this point on, the entire right wing will be staying in ce and defending except for me. No matter how much the mounted archers harass them, they will remain in their base. They will endure until the very end in their positions which they had set up like a stronghold in the case of a cavalry assault. The imperial army¡¯s trap was ruined by Laura. ¡°This will be a race against time.¡± ¡°Indeed. A battle against time.¡± Will the imperial army¡¯s foot soldiers attack a part of our right wing first, or will my guerri force cause the mounted archers to retire first. This will determine the battle here on Austerlitz. All in all, this has be quite a ridiculous situation. The only form offort that we have is the fact that the imperial army is advancing their foot soldiers at an incredibly slow pace due to the fog. Although the reason that they¡¯re slow isn¡¯t only because of their limited vision, it¡¯s to also give their mounted archers enough time to try and lure us in. They don¡¯t know that we¡¯ve already seen through their trap. This blindness gave me a sense of relief. Margrave Rosenberg, your mistake is the fact that you¡¯ve overlooked the presence of Laura De Farnese. She is a genius. She¡¯s still young, but she definitely has atent potential to conquer all battlefields. I¡¯ll show this to you. ¡°Your Lordship, it is time.¡± The mounted archers had finished firing their round of arrows and were backing off. We could hear the sound of hooves backing off further into the fog. Laura and I came out of our cover. We then charged towards the fog. We weren¡¯t charging forward recklessly by ourselves. A dozen of my death knights had be invisible as they followed behind us. After advancing a fair distance, we lowered ourselves to a crawling position. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± des of grass that were drenched in morning dew stabbed at my cheeks. There were insects crawling around, but I paid them no mind. I brought my ear to the ground in order to hear the hooves of the mounted archers. It was around 30 secondster, the ground started shaking slightly. The sound of hooves was approaching quickly. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. There¡¯s not much to say this time around since I already said everything I wanted to in thest chapter. I¡¯ll be busy until the end of next week, so don¡¯t expect fast updates. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 98: A King and his General (11) Chapter 98: A King and his General (11) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Hiyaah!¡± ¡°Whoa there!¡± The mounted archers were no more than 20 meters away from where we had crouched down. They were shouting at each other loudly, but that was most likely so that they could urately grasp the location of their allies. It¡¯d be a cmity if they couldn¡¯t figure out where their allies were due to the darkness and end up crashing into one another. The mounted archers passed Laura and I. They weren¡¯t paying attention to their nks at all. Well, it¡¯s only natural since they¡¯re using all of their concentration keeping an eye in front of them and figuring out each other¡¯s location. This is why night battles are usually avoided when possible. Out of the five senses, sight is one of the most important senses for humans. Stepping out into a life-threatening battle where your vision is restricted puts a heavy mental strain on people. ¡­¡­The very fact that an army would resort to a night battle proves how elite their soldiers are and the fact that they would even use mounted archers, which are already difficult to use, shows that they are not conscripted soldiers but professionals. But why does that matter? Even elite soldiers can¡¯t survive if their necks are broken. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I silently clenched my right fist. This wasn¡¯t some sort of signal. I was simply moving my hand on my own. However, the effect was absolute. Dark entities started to surge out from the ground. They looked like slimes made out of shadows. The shadows instantly formed into the shapes of death knights, and, although they were fully equipped in armor, half of their bodies were still submerged in darkness. The sound of crickets disappeared. The death knights¡¯ overwhelming presence caused the crickets to go quiet. 12 death knights. They were the night itself. Kill them. The death knights let out a breath. It was a terribly icy breath. It was far from the warm breath that would normallye out from humans. Their breaths were the remnants of the mana that prevented undead monsters from bing dust. I could tell that the ck knights wereposing their killing intent. Now. The mounted archers began to shoot their arrows towards my encampment. No matter the era, soldiers are at their weakest after they¡¯ve just attacked. Right as the mounted archers were turning their horses to back away, my death knights rushed at them like bullets. It was only a single strike. 12 ck knights cut 12 mounted archers in half. The mounted archers split into two pieces with their horses. ¡°U-Uh¨D.¡± Fortunately, the few mounted archers who weren¡¯t chosen for the first attack only let out a shocked noise. I couldn¡¯t see them well because of the dark, but their eyes were probably wide open. They didn¡¯t have enough time to scream. The death knights naturally swung their swords again and again, as they killed off the rest of the mounted archers. The small group of 20 mounted archers was annihted. ¨C Guuuoooo. The death knights lowered their swords and looked at me. Is this it? Is this all we get to face? They implicitlyined to me. These high-ranking monsters are formally my subordinates, but they¡¯re prideful at all times. Should I say they¡¯re like a pearl ne on a pig? Due to my Demon Lord level being E and their monster level being exceedingly higher at A, they look down on me. Well, they still listen to my orders, so it¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no need to share a deep mental connection with all monsters. It¡¯s different from my goblins and fairies. The death knights are strong. That¡¯s all I require from them. I nodded with satisfaction. Afterward, we proceeded to quickly subdue the mounted archers in other areas. I moved while leading 12 death knights and 10 fairies. After taking out 3 groups, I came to the conclusion that the mounted archers didn¡¯t move in groups of more than 50 just as I had expected. These numbers were more than enough for me to handle. I used various methods to deceive the groups of mounted archers. ¡°Hey, bad news! The enemy is retaliating!¡± I approached a group of mounted archers on horseback. The archers became wary due to my sudden appearance from the fog. ¡°Who are you? Which unit do you belong to?¡± ¡°Friedrich. I am Sir Refheim¡¯s attendant.¡± This was the name of a soldier I had just dealt with. I looked at his identity through his status window before killing him. ¡°Listen here, my unit has split up and we¡¯ve been running around like dogs in heat in order to inform the other units about the situation. The monsters have finally stepped up in order to charge at us.¡± The mounted archers appeared half in doubt as they looked at each other. It seems that since I looked human, was wearing armor meant for humans, and could speak the Habsburgnguage fluently, their suspicion towards me was lowered. ¡°But there has been no response on our side¡­¡­.¡± It was at that moment. The death knights surged out from the ground once they managed to approach the mounted archers from behind while in their spirit form. The horses reared in surprise. Right as the mounted archers were about to unsheathe their swords on their waists, the death knights swung their swords faster. Red blood sttered through the air. The headless corpses slumped before weakly falling to the earth. Thud, thud, thud, the corpses fell to the grass one by one. A few of the horses that were free from their riders ran off into the fog. The remaining 6 horses must have not realized their riders were dead as they proceeded to snort. ¡°Lord, we must continue to wipe them out.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Laura and I mounted our own respective horses. Since we¡¯ve confirmed that the mounted archers aren¡¯t a match for the death knights, it¡¯d be wise to annihte our enemies as fast as possible instead of resorting to surprise attacks. ¡°Knights, heed my words! I understand that you are unsatisfied with serving me instead of Barbatos. However, this is a battlefield!¡± I shouted pompously and raised my right arm. ¡°Put your pride aside. Feed the honor spoken of by losing soldiers to the dogs. Swing your swords for the sake of your true cause, for the sake of your allies who are painstakingly enduring the enemy¡¯s assault even now! If you cannot even do this, then you would be smearing the name of the person who had bestowed you all upon me. You would be smearing Barbatos¡¯ name! ¨C Guuuoooo. The death knights let out a discontent cry in response to my words. They were clearly annoyed, but I could tell that they understood what I was saying. There¡¯s no problem, then. You guys just have to obediently obey mymands! It¡¯s only natural that they¡¯d be unsatisfied when they¡¯re suddenly serving a Rank 71 Demon Lord after serving the Rank 8 Demon Lord. Who cares? I, Dantalian, am the one who won a match against that Rank 8. The battlefield isn¡¯t generous enough to care about your emotions. You guys should know this very well as professionals of the battlefield! ¡°There is no need for you to enter your spirit form! Charge!¡± I turned my horse and rushed to the next location with Laura right at my side. My death knights were running at superhuman speeds at both of our sides while my fairies flew next to us. Familiars located here and there throughout the sky notified me of the enemy¡¯s location. We eventually collided with another group of mounted archers. ¡°Demon Lord Dantalian is here!¡± The mounted archers turned to me in surprise. They hastily knocked their bows and immediately shot at me. Their reaction speed was rming. I made the fairies use their wind magic to create a type of wind shield in front of me. The arrows made a shrill noise as they went around Laura and I. ¨C Gruuuaaaaah! It seems the death knights got hit by a couple of arrows, but they didn¡¯t slow down and continued without faltering. The mounted archers didn¡¯t get another opportunity to shoot an arrow. The death knights swung their swords and split the heads of the imperial soldiers. It was a strike filled with nothing but strength. As their swords continued to swing and stab, nearly 20 mounted archers were cut down in the blink of an eye. It was like a tram was crushing soldiers underneath it. ¡°How are you guys slower than someone as pathetic as me!? The training you experienced in Barbatos¡¯ army must have not been harsh!¡± After confirming that the entire unit had been annihted, I hid my satisfaction and smirked. The death knights got worked up despite the obvious taunt. They had been with Barbatos for hundreds of years, so they had pride in once being a part of the Rank 8 Demon Lord¡¯s army. I used their pride. At that moment, one of the mounted archer units must have heard themotion as they shot a barrage of arrows at us. Contrary to the other units that had been taken by surprise until now, they attacked first. After shooting a volley of arrows at us, they unsheathed their swords and charged at us. ¡°It¡¯s a Demon Lord! ughter him!¡± This time, the scale of the battle was quite big. At a nce, they had about 40 soldiers. This was either two small units that had beenbined, or it¡¯s a unit that¡¯s being led by a somewhat high-ranking general. As the mounted archers naturally transitioned into light cavalry, they let out a roar as they raised their swords. Among the cavalrymen, two of them swung their sabers at me. However, their des never managed to reach me. Right as their swords drew an arch as they were about to slice into me, a single broadsword blocked them both. ng, a sharp metallic sound rang out. A single broadsword managed to block two sabers at the same time. A death knight had managed to reach my side and protect me with their sword. ¨C Gruuaaaah! The death knight pushed their sabers away and swung its de. The sword sliced the waist of the two cavalrymen in one slice. Their armor was destroyed and their warm innards burst out. Arge amount of blood sshed onto my body. ¨C Guoooooh. The death knight looked at my face for a moment. It was for only a brief moment. Should I say it looked at me or that I could feel its cold gaze from behind its helmet? It turned away and jumped into a group of mounted archers. Each time their swords cut the morning air, the heads of imperial soldiers burst and their bodies were split in two. The cavalry unit of about 40 men was wiped out quickly. ¡°R-Retreat!¡± ¡°That bastard is the leader!¡± I shouted towards the cavalryman who ordered a retreat in amanding tone. One of my death knights threw their sword like a javelin. The two-meter long two-handed sword sunk urately into the cavalryman¡¯s shoulder. The soldier¡¯s entire right arm was torn off. The man let out a cry as he fell from his horse. He wasn¡¯t able to brace himself as he fell since hended head first and broke his neck, dying instantly. A normal ughter followed after. A light cavalry can¡¯t stand a chance against death knights that are the greatest heavy soldiers. The imperial soldiers daringly engaged in a close-quarters battle, and their daringness ended there as they had to pay for their bravery with their lives. We were finished here. I shouted towards my death knights. ¡°To the next point!¡± We managed to deal with 12 units of mounted archers within roughly 30 minutes. At times we carried out close-contact battles and at other times we either pursued or were pursued. The imperial soldiers were ughtered mercilessly during close-quarters battles and we let a fair amount of them escape during pursuits. My goal is to make the imperial army give up on using mounted archers. If they¡¯re going to retreat obediently, then there¡¯s no need for us to go out of our way to pursue them. During one of the battles, an arrow avoided the fairies¡¯ wind shield and hit my thigh. This was the only injury I sustained throughout the 12 small skirmishes. It was terribly painful, but that was all. Demon Lords have an impressive regeneration power. I won¡¯t die from something like this. Come to think of it, I got hit in the thigh by an arrow shortly after I woke up in this world as well. Hm, what an odd misfortune. During the final battle, I, unfortunately, lost a single death knight. There was a genuine knight mixed in as one of themanding officers for the mounted archers. He was most likely in charge of all the mounted archers. He had his own standard, so I was certain. The battle came to an end with me acquiring a standard for the first time in my life. ¡°I believe that this is enough.¡± Laura spoke in an obviously exhausted voice. She didn¡¯t manage to kill a single soldier; however, shemanded the death knights and the fairies with me. I was also slightly tired, so I nodded. ¡°Yes. I would be grateful if they all went back like this¡­¡­.¡± If I were to make a rough estimate, we¡¯ve killed about 240 soldiers and nearly the same number of soldiers have retreated. The on-scenemander of the imperial army must be currently contemting whether they should continue using mounted archers or not. If it¡¯s something they can¡¯t decide on their own, then they would have sent a report to Margrave Rosenberg. Therefore, the right wing of the 6th legion has bought that much time¡­¡­. Sunlight was beginning to light up the horizon. The sun waspletely covered by the fog, so only its rays shined hazily beyond the mist. Our field of view didn¡¯t get any better despite the arrival of dawn. I gazed towards the area where the enemy soldiers were located. No matter how much you attack us with mounted archers, we will note out. The type of battle that you are hoping for will not happen. Now, what will you do, imperial soldiers? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Please be patient for the next chapter because I¡¯ll most likely have to dy it a fair bit. My entire next week is filled with 5 final exams, so I¡¯ll definitely be busy. I¡¯m dreading it already. I also have to start thinking about what I want to do after I graduate, so I¡¯m stressing out. Ugh. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. If I¡¯m still alive. Chapter 99: A King and his General (12) Chapter 99: A King and his General (12) * * * Mounted archers, retreat! Margrave Rosenberg was able to receive the report from the frontline rtively quickly. The imperial army has numerous liaison officers between the subunits and the main units. Thanks to this, the imperial army is able to coordinate closely between units. ¡°Has the Demon Lord army begun their counterattack?¡± ¡°No, Your Excellency. They are using a small group to defeat the mounted archers one unit at a time.¡± The officer answered stiffly. It wasn¡¯t only Margrave Fritz Rosenberg who was present in the tent. The first heir to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, Crown Prince Rudolf Habsburg, General Mikhail Kolovrate, General John Kutuzov, and Mercenary Captain Ferdinand Wallenstein¨Dthe highestmanders of the imperial army were also present. These individuals were like glittering stars to the liaison officer. The officer had to report the retreat of their allies to these individuals. ¡­¡­They might get upset at the officer¡¯s awful report and, as an example, the crown prince might begin to kick the liaison officer. He will then have to live his life with the title of ¡®the one who got stepped on by His Highness the Crown Prince¡¯. This would basically mean the officer would have no chance of seeding in life. The liaison officer despised the mounted archers that lost to the monsters and, most of all, he cursed the fact that he was the one who had to report this¡­¡­. ¡°Did I not tell you, Earl?!¡± Crown Prince Rudolf spoke in a loud voice. ¡°I warned you time and time again that a defensive strategy would be pointless. I have basically lost individuals who could have be my knights. Talented individuals are what form national power. Earl, are you perhaps not treating the lives of your soldiers lightly?¡± ¡°My apologies.¡± The margrave bowed courteously to the crown prince. It was a submissive attitude, but there was pure discipline in his movement. The crown prince waved his hand as if to say that he would magnanimously ept his apology; however, his inner thoughts weren¡¯t like that at all. ¡®This damn roach that leeches off the empire.¡¯ Crown Prince Rudolf longed for a powerful, absolute monarchy. He intended to get rid of all the margraves as soon as he became the emperor. To him, the margraves were nothing more than dormant traitors with excessively powerful military strength. A local margrave would only obstruct a government heading towards an absolute monarchy¨Da one ruler, one army, and one nation policy. The crown prince¡¯s intent was already clear. It wasn¡¯t only because of his contorted face. Before the battle even began, the crown prince didn¡¯t offer to put the main army forward and instead ordered the margrave to move his troops first. He even decided to put the mercenaries behind the margrave. Anyone could tell that he wanted to use up the margrave¡¯s army. The margrave refuted by bringing up the incredibly simple logic that they shouldn¡¯t bring politics into military operations. In response to this, the crown prince and the other generals of the main army gave a simple answer. ¨DIf you don¡¯t like it, then hand over the right tomand. Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg had a headache. It couldn¡¯t be helped. As the suprememander, it wasn¡¯t entirely irrational to expect him to take initiative and lead by example. If the margrave¡¯s army of 10,000 soldiers wanted to lead the 20,000 soldiers from the main army and 20,000 mercenaries, then he had to expect a certain amount of losses. In the end, the foot soldiers and knights dispatched towards the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing consisted solely of the margrave¡¯s 10,000 soldiers. The crown prince and the main army generals took a step back from the margrave¡¯s bold decision with a demeanor that was saying that they¡¯d watch to see how well the margrave manages. The margrave spoke to the liaison officer. ¡°The mounted archers are all knight attendants. They should not have fallen easily. What method did the Demon Lord army utilize?¡± ¡°The monsters were wearing ck armor. They swung swordsrger than people¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Death knights.¡± The margrave recalled the passage that was written in his grandfather¡¯s diary as he cut off the liaison officer¡¯s words. He gulped. The margrave¡¯s ancestors were naturally also margraves and they had written down everything that had happened in their battles against the Demon Lord army for the past several centuries. In the diary, a passage that started with ¡®ording to records from 150 years ago¡¯ goes into detail about how terrifying death knights are. The margrave had read his ancestors¡¯ records many times since he was a child, so he immediately recognized the description. Once he did, the other generals became interested. Death knights. This was a new name to them. However, there was a problem with keeping face, so no one could ask about it first¨Dif a general from the main army reveals that they do not know of a monster that the margrave knows, then that would be a problem for the entire main army and not just the general¨DFortunately, Mercenary Captain Wallenstein managed to read the mood. The mercenary captain asked. ¡°Supreme Commander, this is my first time hearing about death knights. Despite having traveled to every corner of the continent, I have never heard of that name before. Could you tell us what sort of monster they are?¡± ¡°They are a type of undead monster with an astral form. It is known that only warlocks at or above Seven Circles can make them into their familiars. Each death knight possesses the strength of well over a hundred men and they are as skilled as the most elite knights.¡± ¡°Oh dear.¡± The mercenary captain shrunk his shoulders back. ¡°That is quite terrifying.¡± ¡°You can think of them as Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos¡¯ royal guards. I have never heard of any other Demon Lord besides Barbatos handling death knights. The Demon Lord army seems to have solidified their right wing as well.¡± ¡°I see. If that is the case, then would it be fine to assume that Demon Lord Barbatos is in the enemy¡¯s right wing?¡± The margrave shook his head. ¡°The possibility of that is low. Seeing as they are nothing but a small detached force, only a small number of troops must have been dispatched on that side. Liaison officer, tell us how big the detached force was.¡± ¡°Yes. There were some size differences, but the number of monsters that assaulted the mounted archers rounded up to about sixty.¡± ¡°Sixty, huh?¡± The margrave stroked his mustache. Sixty was neither arge number nor a small number of soldiers. If you exclude bone dragons, death knights are the strongest soldiers in the Demon Lord army and these monsters were positioned in their right wing. ¡­¡­Therefore, the right wing is the Demon Lord army¡¯s weakest side, so Demon Lord Barbatos assigned a portion of her royal guards to that side in order to make up for their weakness. If they need 60 death knights, then the right wing might be a lot weaker than expected. Although his strategy to use the mounted archers as bait has failed, this wouldn¡¯t turn the battle around. At this point, only a small bonus was lost. Their side is still at an advantage¡­¡­. ¨C Gulp. The liaison officer swallowed his saliva. Sixty death knights is a number that was reached by the heavy exaggeration of themanding officers on the frontline. Currently, 10,000 of the margrave¡¯s soldiers were facing the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing. However, the one leading all of them was someone from the main army and not the margrave¡¯s army. Once it became determined that the margrave couldn¡¯t leave the centralmand for the sake of doing his job as the suprememander, a general from the main army was dispatched in his stead. The Habsburg imperial army¡¯s mdy was exposed here. As Dantalian predicted, the upper management of the imperial army was split into two sides. The main army and the margrave¡¯s army. They fought constantly over the authority tomand and this caused themanding officers on the frontline to act politically. The failure of a general from the main army weakens the main army¡¯s authority and the failure of a general from the margrave¡¯s army weakens the margrave¡¯s authority. Therefore, once the strategy with the mounted archers failed, the divisionmander mixed some exaggeration into their report so that it would seem like they had not lost because of their ipetence, but because there were too many enemies. In the first ce, there being both a nominal suprememander and an actual suprememander was a problem. There¡¯s no way an army can function properly when you attach two heads on it. The reason why this dreadfully inefficient system was established was so that if they won, Crown Prince Rudolf, the nominal suprememander, would get the achievement, and if they lost, all of the responsibility would be thrown onto the margrave, the actual suprememander. Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg was already aware of this fact. Although he gave his unconditional support to Crown Prince Rudolf in consideration of his household, even he couldn¡¯t help but be slightly displeased by the current state. However, the ones the margrave despised the most wasn¡¯t the crown prince but the generals of the main army around him that constantly aimed to seize militarymand. Therefore¨D. ¡®The nobles in the capital are all nothing but roaches.¡¯ It became a situation where the main army and the margrave¡¯s army treated each other as roaches. The main army resented the fact that a mere margrave was acting as the suprememander in a battle the crown prince was present, and to make matters worse, it was a margrave who had pitifully lost theirnd. The margrave¡¯s army resented the main army for belittling and not trusting them even though they have the most experience fighting against Demon Lords. Throughout this, the crown prince constantly tried to intervene with militarymand while carrying the support of the generals from the main army for the sake of strengthening his authority, and the mercenary captain acted as the bridge between the generals as he tried to act as the mediator, but, in the end, he followed his employer, the crown prince. The result was simple. ¡°I have always had myints. Everything was wrong since the moment we started to poke away at them with catapults!¡± ¡°Why are you saying that now? Was that not something we all agreed upon during thest meeting?¡± ¡°The catapults restrict not only the enemy¡¯s movements but ours as well. We should stop and¨D.¡± ¡°It is clear that the mounted archers have failed.¡± ¡°So are we going to send in our royal cavalrymen or not!?¡± For starters, the meeting became incredibly long. There would often be meetings that wouldst for several hours and didn¡¯t reach a conclusion. Of course, the margrave, the suprememander, knew very well that holding long meetings during a war wouldn¡¯t benefit their side even slightly. ¡°I understand. Let us attack the right wing with 10,000 soldiers.¡± He decided to take on all of the responsibility for the sake of ending this meeting. ¡°Ehem.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Hm.¡± The crown prince and his generals looked unsatisfied as they gazed at the margrave. The suprememander had just offered to dispatch his own army, so they had no right to refuse. Albeit, they were naturally prepared to gnaw away at Margrave Rosenberg like a bunch of dogs if his attack were to fail¡­¡­. There was only a single reason Fritz von Rosenberg was so unyielding despite facing both internal and external problems. It was his absolute confidence! He trusted his army and he had also figured out that the right wing was the weakest side of the Demon Lord army. The margrave was certain that there was no way he could lose when his strong troops were going to strike weak enemies. ¡°You, take this directive and mobilize our troops immediately.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency!¡± The order was quickly sent to the frontlines. It was a directive signed by Crown Prince Rudolf himself. In this period where the emperor has publicly retired from the political world, no directive heavier than this could possibly exist in the Habsburg Empire. A divisionmander from the main army, Keinmacher, immediately shouted at his elite troops in a pompous tone. ¡°All forces, advance!¡± 8,500 foot soldiers and 1,500 cavalrymen walked into the thick fog. The location they were headed towards was the military camp that the right wing of the Demon Lord army had earnestly set up for the past couple of days and the 4,000 monsters beyond that. The order given to the imperial army was to breach the enemy¡¯s right wing at all costs, and the order given to the Demon Lord army was to defend the right wing at all costs. The imperial army¡¯s spear and the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 6th legion¡¯s shield, Rosenberg¡¯s siege and Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar¡¯s defense were now going to unfold in full swing. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry for the dy, but the next chapter will have a dy as well. I¡¯ve been really busy with exams this week. I¡¯ve finished 3 out of 5, so I have myst 2 next week. Still need to figure out my life, but, yeah. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 100: A King and his General (13) Chapter 100: A King and his General (13) * * * They must have realized that their attempt to lure us out had failed as the imperial army quickly retaliated. Thanks to our scouts, we knew where exactly the imperial army was going to strike. Every unit in the right wing assembled at that position. The two armies finally collided after about an hour. Laura and I gazed at the battle in front of us. ¡°They areing at us in a typical way.¡± ¡°They are powerful because they stick to standards.¡± The first to charge was naturally the cavalrymen. They most likely intended to end the battle by sending in their foot soldiers after their cavalrymen manage to create an opening. The cavalrymen fearlessly charged at our encampment that was protected by fences and sharp stakes. As expected, the wave of cavalrymen that appeared from the fog 100 meters away from us and closed the distance between us in an instant was ruthless. They pushed against us like tanks. Their charge was so fierce that we almost lost our first line of defense on just the first charge. ¡°You idiotic pigs! Raise your spears! I told you to raise your spears! Why are you cowering in fear!? Where¡¯s that arrogance you had when you were raping those humans!?¡± A nonmissioned officer that happened to be a lizardman shouted as he kicked the rears of orc soldiers. A few orcs fell over. They hurriedly adjusted the helmets on their heads and grabbed their spears. Demon Lords may be the ones ordering them, but that doesn¡¯t mean monsters would suddenly be brave and lose their fears. ¡°Grrb, grruub, grrb!¡± The orcs held up their spears. Normally, humans hold long spears that are 5 to 6 meters long, but orcs held spears that were longer than 9 meters since they were much stronger. Spears that were practically 10 meters long were being held up like the thorns of a hedgehog. Adding to this, these spears were a lot thicker than human spears. No matter how much aura a knight releases, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get through this forest of spikes with ease. ¡°Kiyaaah!¡± Of course, it was only natural that there would be a monster-like human. A single cavalryman let out his aura like an explosive st and destroyed six to seven spears with a single swing of his sword. A gap was formed in an instant. ¡°I, Frederick of the Wild Boar Cavalry, will earn the most merits!¡± The knight let out a cry as he pushed into the opening. An ogre that was waiting in the back immediately rushed in. ng, the knight¡¯snce and the ogre¡¯s axe collided. The ogre had deliberately equipped himself with arge axe in preparation for cavalry. Anything that wasn¡¯t arge axe would normally get destroyed by a knight¡¯s aura. The knight¡¯s advance stopped for a slight moment, and that was more than enough time for us. ¡°Krrb, grhuub!¡± The orc infantries that were waiting in the second line of defense all charged in at once and stabbed at the horse the knight was riding on. The cavalry in this world rode specially raised horses that had monster blood mixed in them, so warhorses meant for cavalrymen were exceptional; however, there¡¯s no way that a horse could endure a countless number of spears stabbing at it. The spears prated through its thigh and into its flesh. ¨C Neeeigh! The horse rampaged and headbutted the ogre in front of it. It was two times the size of a normal horse, but a horse of that size only managed to weaken the ogre¡¯s posture slightly. That was itsst act of desperation. ¡°Thou are steel! Novae copiae!¡± The mages that were positioned a set distance between one another ran over and began to hastily chant a spell. It was a spell to greatly increase the piercing power of spears temporarily. After receiving the spell, the orc spearmen thrust their spears forward once again. They pierced into the knight¡¯s chest, waist, and one of them managed to urately pierce the horse¡¯s head. Blood poured out. ¡°Ugh, khhb!¡± Was it because he had strengthened his body with his aura? Despite being impaled in the chest and waist by spears, he managed to raise his sword and cut the spears. He had quite the vitality. Nheless, the knight still ended up dying despite his struggle. The ogre had swung his axe while the knight was busy dealing with the spears. The de of the axe shattered the knight¡¯s helmet, head included. Brain matter sttered everywhere. ¡°Hruuaaaah!¡± The ogre roared. He was unting that this was his domain after catching a strong prey. The orc spearmen followed along and roared as well. The gap that seemed to open in the first line of defense was patched up by the second line of defense. Our formation was firm. That knight had the honor of being the first person in the imperial army to breach the Demon Lord army¡¯s first line of defense, but the price wasn¡¯t cheap. The first cavalry charge ended like that. A few ces in our formation became unstable. Fortunately, no spot gotpletely breached. Once the cavalrymen turned their horses around and went back, the monsters cheered as if they had already won. ¡°They are withdrawing rather easily despite having charged at us so intensely.¡± I stood at the fourth line of defense as I observed the situation. My death knights were in their spirit form at the first line. It wasn¡¯t the time for them to step forward yet. Due to this, I had nothing to do. All I could do was pray for my allies and watch them like this. ¡°That was only the first assault. That was most likely a test charge to see how we defend ourselves. The battle will be more intense from now on, Your Lordship.¡± I nodded in response to Laura¡¯s insightfulment. The reason why we managed to sessfully block their charge was due to the fact that the cavalry only intended to confirm our strength and because we had set up numerous wooden fences and stakes. The cavalrymen had to reduce their speed slightly to either remove the obstacles or avoid them entirely. This managed to reduce the strength of their charge considerably. ¡°What are you doing, you sons of bitches!? Why aren¡¯t you running after them!?¡± ¡°Do you intend to get us all killed by cking off, huh!?¡± A couple of nonmissioned officers kicked at the goblins. The goblins hid behind the orcs before rushing out ahead after the officers pressured them. A hundred goblins ran out at the same time. ¡°Kerururuk!¡± ¡°Kerub, kehururuk!¡± The goblins ran out in pairs of three. One of them carried a bunch of stakes on its back, one of them received the sakes and put them in the ground, and thest one swung its hammer and impaled the stakes deeply into the ground. The goblins were the sappers in this battle. The sound of stakes being set up resonated throughout the battlefield. It didn¡¯t take more than a minute for sharp stakes to be set up all throughout our frontline once more. After they finished working, the goblins ran back as fast as they were chased out, no, they returned faster than that. ¡°Superb.¡± Laura was in awe. ¡°The division ofbor is perfect. By using the goblins to set up the wooden stakes, we diminish the charging power of the enemy cavalrymen. The orc spearmen fight back against the cavalrymen. If their formation happens to get breached, then the ogres waiting in the back will immediatelye forward and support. With the orcs from the second line of defenseing forward to encircle them as well, the mages will help with finishing them off¡­¡­General Zepar truly is talented.¡± ¡°Mm. He does specialize in defense more than offense.¡± I spoke while recalling my memories from the game. Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar and Rank 13 Beleth are theplete opposite of one another. If Beleth relies on his immense strength, then Zepar is a strategist, one that specializes in defense at that. From what I can tell, there¡¯s a simple reason why Zepar has a high rank. It¡¯s because his Demon Lord Castle is god damn difficult to conquer. There is a characteristic that bes more prominent the higher a Demon Lord¡¯s rank is. It¡¯s the fact that each Demon Lord has a fixed type of monster that they favor. For example, Barbatos only has undead monsters in her Demon Lord Castle. That¡¯s why, although it¡¯s hard to beat the boss, Barbatos, getting through her castle is fairly easy. You simply have to bring along a saint that¡¯s extremely effective against undead monsters. In , you have to figure out the characteristics of the Demon Lord you¡¯re going to be facing and n ordingly. However, Zepar doesn¡¯t have a particr type of monster that he favors. He¡¯s the only Demon Lord above rank 20 that uses orc soldiers. The other Demon Lords try to keep face by forming units with monsters at least 2 ranks above orcs. Zepar even has goblins! F rank goblins! Be it orcs or goblins, Zepar positions them in ways that draw out their potentials the most, which results in the creation of an impregnable Demon Lord Castle. From the perspective of the yers, he¡¯s an incredibly annoying enemy. What¡¯s the reason why yers have an advantage over NPCs in RPGs? It¡¯s because yers have a typing advantage. yers can use a fire skill if a slimees out and if a me smander appears, they can just use a water skill. On the other hand, the NPCs can only use the skills that match their race and elemental typing. yers naturally have an overwhelming advantage. By putting together an appropriatebination of monsters, Zepar is able topletely nullify ¡®a yer¡¯s elemental advantage¡¯. What can you do? The yers have no other choice but to churn their brains as much as possible and strategically n out each and every battle. Or grind heavily until they out level the monsters. Well, if you look at this from another perspective, defeating the boss, Zepar, is rather easy once you manage to get through his castle¡­¡­. ¡°Look. The cavalrymen have returned.¡± Laura pointed towards the area in front of us. ¡°They seemed perplexed by the new stakes. Nothing has changed after their first charge.¡± She was right. The cavalrymen charged in bravely and a few of them managed to get through here and there. However, because of the stakes, they had to charge at a set distance away from each other which meant that even if they did manage to get through, only one or two knights could get through the opening. The result was obvious. Ogres came out urgently, support from the second line of defense spearmen, and enhancement from mages. The same exact scenario from earlier repeated itself. This wasn¡¯t all. During the first charge, the orc javelin throwers and goblin stone slingers missed their timing so they had to wait, but they went all out this time around. A knight surrounded by aura shed away all of the javelins that flew at him from his front. However, he couldn¡¯t deflect the projectiles that came at him from his blind spots. A few spears hit the warhorse. The warhorse that had been moving with powerful steps lost its bnce in the blink of an eye. The knight fell off from his horse helplessly. The knight took in the impact that had the terrifying speed the horse had been advancing at added to it. I witnessed 6 knights either die or get injured after falling from their horses. On a side note, one of the knights got up as if nothing happened. He then ran off back towards where he hade from. I was so bewildered that I watched him the entire time until he disappeared into the fog. Is his body made of steel¡­¡­? The right wing of the 6th legion defended against the 2nd charge perfectly. The morale of our army spiraled all the way up to the sky. I could only see about a hundred meters around us because of the fog, but I could hear the cheers of monsters from all around us. The goblin sappers were in high spirits as they went out to set up the stakes again. The military band started ying music at that moment. They yed an awful song that consisted of bugles, gongs, etc. In other words, it was the perfect anthem for monsters. Ogres, orcs, goblins, lizardmen, and beastmen all stomped along to the rhythm. They were all singing their respective anthems that had been passed down their lineage or viges. It was a bizarre and noisy choral symphony. The third assault from the imperial army wasn¡¯t another cavalry charge. The mounted archers made another appearance. They were most likely the mounted archers that my unit didn¡¯t defeat and let go. They shot arrows from afar and retreated over and over again. Most of the wooden fences were destroyed by the cavalrymen, so the monsters were exposed to the arrows. I clicked my tongue. ¡°Dang it. Should we utilize the death knights again?¡± ¡°No. Lord, look over there.¡± The mounted archers strategy which looked like it might be sessful was immediately shot down. The situation now was vastly different from several hours ago. Back then, the Demon Lord units were spread out thin, but we were now gathered. Therefore, we have a lot of ogres and mages positioned here. The mages cast a luminous spell increasing our field of view and clearly revealing the mounted archers. The lords of the mountains didn¡¯t let this opportunity go to waste. ¡°Kruaara!¡± The ogres took the javelin throwers¡¯ spears and threw them towards the mounted archers. The spears flew through the air like bullets and pierced through the mounted archers like skewers. They didn¡¯t drop in speed as they continued through the air with the corpses attached. This scene happened all throughout the battlefield. In the end, the mounted archers could no longer bear the loss as they tucked their tails between their legs and retreated. The roars of the ogres echoed throughout the battlefield. *** Author¡¯s note: Something that Dantalian doesn¡¯t know. Q. Why does Zepar use monsters in such a unique way despite being a Demon Lord? A. In chapter 85, there¡¯s a specific line of dialogue where Barbatos is teasing Zepar. ¡°I said that he was an imbecile but cool. Keke! Even if someone¡¯s cool, an imbecile is still an imbecile. He fucked up greatly. Did you guys know? He put all his military power into that fight, so even now he only has 20 ogres left. A Rank 16 fellow only has 20 ogres!¡± During the 6th Crescent Alliance, in other words, when he had recently be a Demon Lord, he made a huge strategic mistake. He charged at the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s royal cavalry, the , which was known as the third strongest in the continent. No matter how strong cavalrymen are, they can¡¯t possiblypare to ogres! The young Demon Lord thought as he ordered his army to charge. As Barbatos said, the result was catastrophic. They were done in by the aura-using knights riding warhorses with monster blood coursing through them. ¡®Never fight against cavalrymen on an open field¡¯, not only did Zepar learn this lesson, but his name wound up being put up as an example in military textbooks. Zepar ended up reaching a point beyond recovery due to this incident, so he naturally had to gather whatever monsters he could possibly get his hands on in order to protect his castle. Therefore, the reason why Zepar became a genius in defensive battles was due to him losing all of his high-ranking monsters like his ogres. (. .. ) They say that defeat is the mother of victory, isn¡¯t that beautiful? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Wow, chapter 100! I¡¯ve gotten far. There¡¯s around 500 chapters so this means I¡¯m almost 1/5 done with the WN. I don¡¯t know if this is fast or not. In any case, the end is near (of my exams). Still got thest 2 exams left. I got nothing much else to say except that I¡¯m still contemting about my life, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 101: A King and his General (14) Chapter 101: A King and his General (14) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I gulped. I could intuitively tell that a chaotic battle was now going to unfold. Both charging at a single point with cavalrymen and attacking from a distance with mounted archers no longer worked. The imperial army has only 2 options left. The first option is to retreat. There¡¯s no general who would choose to retreat without aplishing anything or when there¡¯s nothing to gain by retreating. Therefore, they actually have only 1 option left. A ck, shadowy wave approached from the wall of fog along with a piece of refined marching music unique to humans. Different from the noisy nging of gongs performed by the mountain vigers before, the imperial army performed with horns and drums. The sound of horns resonated all throughout the fog. ¡°It has begun.¡± A close-quarters battle with foot soldiers at the front. The imperial pikemen formed a line as they slowly approached us. The orc javelin throwers and goblin slingers barraged them relentlessly. However, they would lose their strength since their projectiles would collide at least once against the many pikes being held up. Simr to how the ripples in ake would calm down after a while, the imperial soldiers didn¡¯t budge at all by our ranged attacks. Damn it. It was at that moment that our catapults set up in the back were used. They were the very catapults that caused us quite a lot of trouble back on the ck Mountains. They sacrificed range for power, and instead of being used for sieges, they were perfect for night battles like this. General Zepar had taken all of the catapults from the fortresses for this very moment. 10 boulders flew across the sky at the same time. They flew beyond the fog and bombarded the enemy below. Due to the characteristic of pikemen, they were advancing in ratherpact formations, and these types of formations are extremely weak to bombardment. Cannons haven¡¯t been developed in this world yet, but catapults were a pikeman¡¯s worst nightmare. ¡°Guaaah!¡± ¡°D-Dodge them!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t dodge them! You fuckers, don¡¯t leave your positions!¡± Large boulders swept away imperial pikemen wherever theynded. Not only were they suffering from a substantial loss, but they were also experiencing psychological atrophy. Imagine, boulders were falling like meteors from the foggy sky. There are only an extreme few people who could maintain theirposure and stay in formation when boulders are falling from the sky. Laura made a simple evaluation. ¡°Hm, their mistake was using all of their catapults in order to hold our left wing and center army down.¡± ¡°They wound up losing strategically after stubbornly pursuing a tactical victory.¡± The imperial army naturally also has catapults; however, since it¡¯s difficult to use catapults due to their limited vision in the fog, they decided to use them to fire relentlessly towards the left wing and center army of the Demon Lord army for the sake of holding them down. The imperial army aplished their goal, but at the price of being bombarded by us right now. All tactics have their pros and cons. I calmly observed the enemy troops before clicking my tongue. ¡°Tsk.¡± I was hoping that the catapults would have a better effect at ruining the enemy¡¯s formation. My hopes were easily betrayed. The imperial army panicked, but their formation didn¡¯t copse. They maintained their pace as they gradually encroached on our position. These crazy bastards. ¡°The same thing happened with the soldiers back at the fortresses. Is the imperial army full of only superhumans? They never back down. This goes againstmon sense.¡± ¡°They are most likely regr troops and not conscripted soldiers. It is widely known that the regr troops of the Habsburg Empire are brave. ¡­¡­They might even be soldiers under Margrave Rosenberg¡¯s direct control. Soldiers that have constantly trained under the pretext of protecting mankind. They are not like normal soldiers.¡± ¡°Damn mankind.¡± I growled. ¡°For mankind. To protect mankind. These are all catchphrases that reek of rot. Allow me to tell you the truth, Laura. You cannot possibly move arge number of people if there is nothing to gain. The Habsburg Empire provided their soldiers with proper bait for the sake of this expedition of theirs.¡± All things considered, I¡¯m the one who brought upon this war. Since several months ago, I¡¯ve been utilizing the Keuncuska Firm¡¯s informationwork to get a firm grasp of what was happening throughout the continent. I even know what sort of propaganda the leading members of the Habsburg Empire used. ¡°Since the start of this year, every nation throughout the continent has begun to harvest ck herbs in mass. And yet, themoners are still dying to the ck Death. Do you know why? It is because they are giving ck herbs to their armies first. ck herbs are being grown by every governmental body. They have plenty to spare even after treating all of their regr soldiers. Despite this, they refuse to open their storages¡­¡­They are telling the people to join the army if they wish to receive ck herbs!¡± There is no nation that goes to war with only their regr soldiers. In this era, conscripted soldiers are made into pikemen and used as meat shields. When trying to draft more soldiers, not only do they have to face the strong dissatisfaction and resistance from the viges they visit, but they use up a lot of time traveling to each and every vige in the region. A majority of the nations decided to use ck herbs as bait to make the peoplee and apply by themselves. In the end, people put their viges behind them and walked towards the army assembly ces for the sake of obtaining ck herbs. For the sake of bringing medicine to their families. For the sake of protecting their viges. Many sick people put theirst hopes on the line to crawl there. However, the sick would rarely make it all the way through the long journey. They would often die on the road. In every corner of the continent, the sick were going on a pointless venture¡­¡­. ¡°Something like the protection of mankind is nothing more than a pretext. If those lords responded properly in the beginning, then that would have drastically decreased the number ofmoners gued with the ck Death. They cultivated ck herbs with the money paid by taxpayers, but that was no longer enough as they began to threaten the people to join the army if they wished to get their hands on ck herbs. All of the responsibility and suffering were passed on to the people. To call that for the sake of mankind¡­¡­There is no bullshit as great as this!¡± Margrave Rosenberg was the same. He made sure to give ck herbs to his cavalrymen and elite knights. This is the reason why barely any of his elite soldiers deserted after the Margrave lost hisnd while retreating. He had shown them kindness. From the margrave¡¯s perspective, this was most likely a wise decision, but what about his remaining people? He threw them away under the justification of protecting mankind. Who is this humanity for? People will naturally begin to ask this. Ifmoners don¡¯t exist in the mankind that the empire and the margraves want to protect¨Dthen there¡¯s only one mankind left. A nation for aristocrats. The royal family. What kind of mankind is that!? Themoners most likely want to spit on their faces. This is why it didn¡¯t take much effort for themoners to switch from serving aristocrats to Demon Lords. Under my instructions, our 6th legion distributed ck herbs, the same ck herbs that the margrave refused to give out. The Keuncuska Firm had formed contracts with herb farms and began to grow ck herbs inrge numbers sincest year. ording to my contract with the firm, I own about 5% of all the ck herbs they grow. That¡¯s what I distributed. The families that had death waiting at their front doors were saved. Themoners praised our army. They voluntarily epted Commander Barbatos as their new earl¡­¡­Who protected mankind? In the end, the Habsburg Empire put forward a justification that only served as lip service as they deluded the world and deceived the people. I will destroy that fa?ade of theirs. Not yet, but not too far in the future either. Crushing the pride of the strong who put forward their justification as these guys do is something that I enjoy doing the most. I really look forward to that day. Laura made a troubled face once she saw my expression. ¡°Mm. Your Lordship is thinking of something bad¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Please do not nder me. No other Demon Lord thinks of pure and bright thoughts as much as I do.¡± ¡°I feel like I just heard a word that does not fit Your Lordship one bit, did this youngdy hear wrong?¡± ¡°You misheard it. Aplete misunderstanding.¡± Laura let out a breath from her nose as she smirked. It seems that her respect for her lord was gradually fading. Was this truly not a cocky and impious vassal? Once this battle is over, I¡¯m going to have to patiently teach her the courtesy between a sovereign and their subject on top of a bed. ¡°Grrhhkkb!¡± ¡°Push! Push them back!¡± The orc spearmen and the imperial spearmen finally collided. It was a dogfight. Even though the other side were obviously holding out their spears, they had no other choice but to dive into the swamp of spearheads. In this situation, the side that naturally had an advantage was the side with the longer spears. In terms of length and thickness, the spears used by orcs were far superior to that of human spears. In order to make up for this disadvantage, the imperial army used dismounted cavalry knights. Knights holding two-handed swords instead ofnces stood in front of their spearmen. They cut down the orcs¡¯ spears with their aura swords and struggled desperately to make an opening for their spearmen. This method was rather effective. Knights are an appropriate counter for ogres and they can also be made to stand between soldiers in order to cut spears. On the other hand, it¡¯s difficult for ogres to be used in such a way because of their massive bodies. The imperial army¡¯s morale increased as the knights cut down the orcs¡¯ spears. I was waiting for this moment. I gave an order in my mind. The death knights that were hiding in the orc spearmen¡¯s shadows jumped out as soon as they received my order. Due to the sudden appearance of the death knights, the imperial knights wound up taking a surprise attack. The knights were helpless as they were impaled and killed. 10 imperial knights ate dust as their faces fell to the dirt. The enemy army immediately sent in another group of knights. The knights charged in bravely in order to fight the death knights even though numerous spears were stabbing at them. Iughed as I watched them. ¡°A pointless effort.¡± I made anothermand. I told them to submerge themselves. All of the death knights entered their spectral forms as they hid in the shadows again before the imperial knights could reach them. The knights were obviously frustrated as they began to shout about how cowardly we are. ¡°The greatestpliment one could offer. We win because we are cowardly and they lose because they are not cowardly. The price of defeat is the mass deaths of your elite soldiers. There is no need to discuss which option is more of a virtue.¡± ¡°They are most likely not saying that genuinely. ¡­¡­More importantly, Your Lordship, I do not think those are words someone who imed to be pure a second ago should be saying.¡± ¡°I am purely cowardly.¡± I answered frankly. Laura gave me a sour look, but what? It¡¯s not about what you say, it¡¯s how you say it. The knights stubbornly stabbed at the shadows with their des, but that was literally a waste of time. They soon gave up and went back to their main task. Earnestly cutting down our spears. Once they did, it felt like the imperial pikemen would overwhelm the Demon Lord army, but¨D. ¡°Da capo.¡± I hummed merrily as if I were conducting an orchestra. The death knights surged out from the shadows. The imperial knights that were preupied with the orc spearmen fell for the surprise attack again. The imperial knights let out a cry as they were struck down. This same scene repeated itself over and over again. The imperial knights had to constantly be wary of an abrupt assault from death knights while also being stabbed at by a bunch of orcs. This was probably maddening for the knights. They¡¯re already dealing with dozens of spears in front of them, but they also have to worry about the ground under their feet. This is asking for the impossible. In the end, the knights either ran out of their auras and got stabbed by the orcs¡¯ spears or they got ughtered by a death knight. Auras aren¡¯t something that can be maintained forever. Only swordmasters could maintain their auras for long periods of time, but these knights had to use their auras if they wished to cut the orcs¡¯ hefty spears. The imperial knights used up their auras at a drastic pace. There was nothing to fear about a knight without any aura. The imperial knights were resolved to die as they kept swinging their two-handed swords endlessly. The imperial knights were true to their fame as they fought desperately. The orc spearmen had no other choice but to back away because of their valor. Exactly 5 meters. The orcs backed away exactly 5 meters from their initial positions. More than 50 imperial knights died for the sake of 5 meters. If you do some simple calctions, then they have to sacrifice 10 knights per meter. We don¡¯t know exactly how many knights the imperial army had sent here. However, there was one thing that was certain. A battlefield where they have to sacrifice 10 knights per meter¨Dis definitely not an engagement that¡¯s worth it for the imperial army. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Head empty, no thoughts. This section really is long. Already on the 14th chapter of this part, and there¡¯s still another 3 left. Nothing much else to say since I¡¯m still trying to figure my life out, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 102: A King and his General (15) Chapter 102: A King and his General (15) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ However, this didn¡¯t mean that our entire frontline was doing as well as our position. I managed to have some fun with my death knights, but the other Demon Lords obviously don¡¯t have death knights of their own. They were fully exposed to the imperial army¡¯s assault from the knights. They tried to counter the knights with beast warriors and lizard warriors, but they¡¯re considerably weaker than knights. Bad news came from the slime transmitters. A section of our defense had been breached! General Zepar immediately concentrated the ogres at the breach, but more areas of the right wing began to copse one by one like dominos. The first line of defense that had been doing well until now began to buckle in on itself at a fast pace. The spearmen that had lost their positions were basically like an appetizing lunch for the knights. I can¡¯t see it from my position, but I¡¯m sure that arge number of orc spearmen are being cut down by aura-filled swords right now. ¨C Retreat back to the second line. All troops, retreat back to the second line of defense. General Zepar made a quick decision. The orc spearmen matched their steps as they backed away. Matching each other¡¯s pace and retreating one step at a time wasn¡¯t an easy thing to do. A unit that consists of dozens of orcs has to synchronize, after all. In the end, we lost arge number of orcs during this process. ¨C Hurry! Is there a unit that has not managed to retreat yet? I repeat, if there is a unit that has not finished their retreat, then fall back as soon as possible. Shortly after, the orcs from the first line of defense joined up with the orcs from the second line of defense. It took 5 minutes since the order to retreat for us to fall back about 20 meters. If youpare this to how we were being pushed back 5 meters per hour, this was incredibly fast. ¡°The orc bastards are running!¡± ¡°Stay on their tails, boys! If we push a little further it¡¯ll be our victory!¡± The imperial soldiers were really in high spirits. Their nomissioned officers weren¡¯t letting their spearmen rest as they ordered them to advance. They most likely believe that they¡¯re gaining momentum. In war, you can seize victory almost instantaneously if you manage to follow up on opportunities properly. They believe that this is an opportunity. The imperial knights and spearmen followed after us more stubbornly. At that moment, General Zepar shouted. ¨C Mage unit, attack! The mages that had been only casting support spells until now shifted gears. 10 mages in the backline cast fireballs all at once. The fireballs soared above the imperial soldiers andnded 30 meters behind them. mes erupted. The firended where we had set up our wooden fences. A lot of hay bales had been piled up to look like a means of defense. In truth, we had actually covered the wooden fences in oil and only used dry straw in the bales. We naturally filled the insides of the straw piles with oil as well. Once the fireballsnded on them, the fire spread in the blink of an eye. General Zepar had reserved our strongest card known as mages for this moment. The fire spread and created a wide horizontal wall. The entire imperial army was split apart due to the fire. The soldiers who were exceedingly quick-witted hastily retreated before the fire got too big. However, simr to when our orc spearmen were retreating, the imperial spearmen couldn¡¯t retreat freely either. The spearmen weren¡¯t acting individually but as groups, after all. In the end, the imperial soldiers that chased after us like dogs were trapped by the fire. They were clearly panicking. They had to fight with their backs to the sea, no, to the fire. The monsters that acted practically like a pack of wolves naturally wouldn¡¯t miss this golden opportunity. They pressured the imperial army excessively. The orc spearmen utilized the difference in their reach to advance one step at a time and the goblins went between the orcs¡¯ legs¨Dgoblins are short enough to move around under the spears as much as they want¨Dand sliced at the knees of the imperial soldiers. The imperial knights fought desperately, but that was all they could do. They couldn¡¯t use their auras for long periods of time. They had to either keep getting switched out with the soldiers in the rear or only let out a burst of power in a single moment like during the cavalry charges. However, all of their options were sealed since they were trapped by the wall of fire. They quickly used up all of their auras. Once they ran out, the monsters swarmed them like piranhas and the knights fell one by one. ¡°U-Uaaaaaah!¡± The imperial spearmen¡¯s formation ultimately copsed. Their morale had plummeted. The dismounted knights who were standing at the front were dying and their rears were being stroked by fire. They wouldn¡¯t be human if they could hold their ground in a situation like this. The imperial soldiers either abandoned their positions and tried to carry out a hopeless charge against us or they jumped into the fire in an attempt to survive. The oue was obvious. They either got skewered by our spears or became a barbeque in the fire. Some of them did neither and called out to their mothers while cowering in ce¡­¡­spearmen that no longer stood their ground have no value. All of them were killed unsparingly. ¡°How gruesome¡­¡­.¡± Laura repeated in an unpleasant tone. ¡°A thousand? No, two thousand soldiers have most likely died.¡± The mes crackled. The intense heat managed to reach us from several dozen meters away. When we set up our encampment, we thoroughly weeded out the area between the first and second line of defense. The me sought out things to burn towards the imperial army¡¯s direction and not ours. It would be difficult for this fire to be anythingrger than this due to the severe fog and the morning dew on the foliage; however, it wasrge enough for us to know that it would take the imperial army¡¯s mages a long amount of time to extinguish everything. Just as we did with the first line of defense, we set up numerous stakes again while the imperial soldiers were upied. Furthermore, we realigned our spearmen since their formation had be rather disorderly during the retreat. In this regard, the Demon Lord army definitely had an advantage over the humans. On our side, the Demon Lords simply have to say, ¡®You monsters, gather over here!¡¯ and that would be enough to reorganize everything instantly. We even went as far as to order our troops to eat. Eating was not only effective, but it was a simple matter as well. The monsters just went out and feasted on the human corpses that were scattered out in front of them. One of the ogres decided to give his food a little more taste as he cooked the corpses on the fire. I¡¯m not sure where he got it from, but he had impaled the corpses on a spear like a skewer. Laura and I became speechless as we watched. How should I exin it? It felt really post-modern¡­¡­. We received a report from our scout familiars that the imperial army had retreated a fair distance, so our catapults stopped firing as well. It¡¯d be stupid if they came forward to get hit by boulders when the fire hasn¡¯t settled down yet. A temporary ceasefire happened between our two armies. * * * ¡°These ipetent idiots!¡± Once Crown Prince Rudolf received the report that the imperial army failed to breach the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing, he mmed his fist on the table. It wasn¡¯t only the crown prince, but the othermanding officers of the main army like General Mikhail von Kolovrate, General John von Kutuzov, etc got upset as well. ¡°8,500 elite soldiers and 1,500 cavalrymen were unable to get through? Margrave, please exin this. Did you not im with the utmost confidence that you could conquer the right wing with only 10,000 soldiers!?¡± Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg gnashed his teeth. ording to the report, their side incurred about 3,000 casualties since the start of the battle. They were all soldiers that the margrave had raised throughout his life. It was the margrave who was the most upset here. The crown prince and the other generals didn¡¯t even send any support! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The margrave didn¡¯t respond to the crown prince¡¯s inquiry. He simply lowered his head slightly, but everyone understood that this was his way of saying that he had nothing to say for himself. Furthermore, it was also clear that Margrave Rosenberg had lost his right to speak as the suprememander. ¡°Hah! It seems they are not wrong when they say that subordinates resemble their superiors.¡± The crown prince promptly began to act as the actual suprememander instead of as the nominal suprememander. For starters, he concluded that the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing must¡¯ve received a considerable amount of damage even if the margrave didn¡¯t manage to breach their defenses. This was the situation that the crown prince wanted since the very beginning. In other words, a situation where the enemy troops are injured while his main army is in perfect condition. ¡®If I send in my troops now and achieve victory, then all of the glory will be mine.¡¯ Acent smile appeared on the crown prince¡¯s lips. There was a lot to gain from this battle alone. Even now, the margrave¡¯s army, which could potentially be rebel forces, had been weakened. Adding to this, by summoning the main army for this battle, the crown prince¡¯s power ofmand had gotten stronger. Taking control of a group by using another group. The crown prince thought to himself. This is the knowledge of monarchs. Be it aristocrats, the margrave¡¯s army, themoners, or anyone else, even if they swear loyalty to me on the outside, they are all dogs that only care about their own benefits. Referentially, monarchs must know how to make those dogs fight amongst one another. He managed to damage the margrave¡¯s army without lifting a single finger. If he manages to send in his troops and breach the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing, then he will be praised as the guardian who protected mankind from the monsters sent by the Demon Lords. He¡¯ll then be treated as the sole suitable heir to the throne¡­¡­This glorious dream fell before him like a ripe apple. He simply had to reach out and pick up that apple! ¡°General Kolovrate! General Kutuzov! Take 10,000 of our proud Habsburgian soldiers and head to the enemy¡¯s right wing.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. We will not betray your expectations.¡± The two generals responded boisterously before leaving the tent. The margrave continued to stare at the ground with his mouth shut the entire time. The mercenary leader shrugged. 10,000 imperial soldiers marched towards the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing. They descended Pratzen Heights with their borate banners fluttering above them. A small demon fowl watched this sight from above. The demon fowl pped its wing and flew through the fog. And then. A girl at a location far from Pratzen Heights had her eyes closed. White hair. It wasn¡¯t weak white hair that grew from old age but brilliant white hair that had always been white since the very beginning. The girl smirked before slowly opening her eyes. Her golden eyes glittered like that of a predatory beast. ¡°All right.¡± Barbatos, the Rank 8th Demon Lord stood up. She couldn¡¯t control her excitement. Zepar! He met her expectations. She was also using the slimes to have a full understanding of the right wing¡¯s battle situation. Zepar defended splendidly. By creating a subtle bnce that made them appear as if they were on the brink of copsing, they made the imperial army send in more troops than necessary. Barbatos reconfirmed that her Demon Lords weren¡¯t ipetent. No, her ins Faction wasn¡¯t ipetent! Throughout the past 7 Crescent Alliances, the ins Faction was never the reason for the Demon Lord army¡¯s continuous defeat¨DWe arepetent, brave, and, most importantly, we know how to win. It was now time for her to show this. There was no reason for her to issue an order. Barbatos had sent every Demon Lord except herself to the left and right wings. Barbatos was the only Demon Lord that was protecting the center army. Therefore, all of the monsters present received orders from her directly. ¨C Step. She only had to take a single step to order the entire center army to advance. Barbatos walked in silence. Zombies, skeleton soldiers, and all sorts of other undead monsters followed behind her. There was no fancy anthem. There were no cries filled with excitement. They were warriors and warriors even after death, so they knew how to fight in silence. The army of 5,000 soldiers directly under Barbatos¡¯mand has always marched like this for the past 2,000 years. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sheesh, it feels like I¡¯ve been on this section/arc for so long now. Nothing much to say. I¡¯m just trying to pump these chapters out while taking time to myself since I¡¯m done with my university. Lot of mental sorting and stuff like that. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 103: A King and his General (16) Chapter 103: A King and his General (16) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ It was a wordless requiem. The earth trembled slightly each time Barbatos took a light step on the grass. 5,000 monsters had intentionally matched their footsteps with Barbatos¡¯ perfectly. Despite being unable to let out a loud roar because they were going for a surprise attack, they were dering to their lord that they were going to win by matching their footsteps with hers. Barbatos smiled. ¡°My lovely kids.¡± She wasn¡¯t originally a necromancer. She was a warrior. She relied on her weapon as she dove into the fray. She was strong. She survived until the very end as herrades and subordinates died around her. Before long, all of herrades that had sworn to fight with her forever had died and she was thest one left standing. At that point, Barbatos struggled desperately to bring back herrades. She interacted with magic for the first time in her life. She had no talent, so she experienced failure after failure. Additionally, necromancy is an incrediblyplicated form of magic and is rare in both the demon and human worlds. Despite this, Barbatos didn¡¯t give up. She didn¡¯t give up because she believed it was worth it for herrades to continue living. They were too blinding, powerful, and beautiful to die for some pitiful reason¨Dlike getting hit by a stray arrow on the battlefield, sacrificing themselves for theirrades, and dying due to a foolish order. Thus, she decided to make them breathe forever herself. Barbatos threw away her sword for their sake. Without even the slightest bit of hesitation. She chose herrades that would be with her forever over her weapon that had supported her all her life. One by one, she resurrected her soldiers into undying monsters. Even the weakest of zombies among the monsters walking through the fog of Austerlitz now were created by her hands. There wasn¡¯t a single undead monster that hadn¡¯t fought together with her on an honorable battlefield before. For how long did they walk through the sea of fog? A breeze started to blow from a certain direction as the fog gradually faded. The sun had risen. At that moment, Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg, Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg, and Mercenary Captain Ferdinand von Wallenstein were receiving reports at the top of the hill. A liaison officer was out of breath as he ran into the tent. He forgot to even salute. ¡°Y-Your Excellency!¡± ¡°How impudent. Since when has our army¡¯s discipline be sox?¡± The liaison officer quickly raised his arm up in a salute. He had most likely run a long distance as his chest was still heaving. The liaison officer spoke before he couldpletely catch his breath. ¡°The enemy¡­¡­Enemy forces have appeared at our frontline!¡± ¡°Enemy forces have appeared?¡± The crown prince furrowed his brows. He got upset as he wondered who promoted this idiot to be a liaison officer. ¡°Get a hold of yourself! You should be telling us where they appeared from and how many there are!¡± ¡°Outside¡­¡­go outside¡­¡­quickly!¡± The crown prince clicked his tongue. The man in front of him wasn¡¯t in a state that allowed him to talk properly. The crown prince adjusted his mantle as he exited the tent. Margrave Rosenberg and Mercenary Captain Wallenstein followed after him. They went to the end of the hill and looked down. ¡°What are we supposed to be looking at¡­¡­.¡± They were surrounded by fog on all four sides. The fog slowly dissipated. Once the sunlight started to shine down on Austerlitz, the ck foot of a monster stepped out from the fog. It was a hideous foot with exposed flesh. One foot soon became two feet and it didn¡¯t take long before the number increased from a hundred to a thousand. Thud, the earth trembled. Eventually, the monsterspletely stepped out from the fog. Numerous banners fluttered in the wind. The insignia that represented the Rank 8th Demon Lord was disyed on arge banner at the front. A single line was written in the ancient imperialnguage on a banner that had a crown of death drawn on it. Valkyries, march eternally¨D. Eleven other banners fluttered behind it. They weren¡¯t the banners of other Demon Lords. These gs represented the various groups of royal knights that once existed throughout the human nations. The Blue Horse Knights, the Red Eagle Knights, the Temrs, the Golden Magi Knights, the Silver Lily Knights, the Blood and Iron Knights, the Rhine Alliance Knights, the Freedom Alliance Knights, the Green Deer Knights, and the Helvetica Lion Knights. The insignias of these now fallen royal knight groups that once served the empire and the kingdom¨Dwere fluttering in the air. These banners were the pride of Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos¡¯ army. They¡¯ve always stood at the frontlines in every Crescent Alliance and went face to face against the strongest knights throughout the nation. Among the knights they had fought, they wiped out 11 groups and secured their banners. They even had the g of an empire that had fallen 1,600 years ago. In other words, 2,000 years¡¯ worth of history between the Demon Lord army and the human army was fluttering energetically in the fog. A single zombie growled. Here stands the invincible and immortal army. A skeleton soldier responded with a wave of mana. Here stand the Valkyries that march eternally. 5,000 undead monsters started to sing an anthem in an incredibly low tone like that of a pipe organ. It was a tone that dug deep into one¡¯s skull. They have gone through 700rge and small battles, made 11 nations fall into ruin, and were seeking to increase that number from 11 to 12. Here we stand with no way to die because we are dead. We do not know of retreat as we are undying. Oh Lord, please give us your grace. Valha is here on the surface¨D. ¡°W-What is this!?¡± Crown Prince Rudolf gasped. 5,000 monsters were climbing up the hill incredibly solemnly. At first, the crown prince thought he was seeing things. The monsters managed to get really close to them without them noticing. How could something like this be possible? The foggy climate of Austerlitz causes a geographical problem of being unable to see the londs from the hills since they¡¯re shrouded by the fog. Furthermore, the undead don¡¯t make any noise apart from their footsteps. Therefore, by putting all of these factors together, the imperial army failed to notice the Demon Lord army¡¯s approach until they were practically right under their noses. The monsters remained solemn as if they were carrying out a funeral. The feeling of death seeped out from the corpses and reached all the way to the top of the hill. Who was this funeral procession for? Who are they holding this mass for? ¡°Now then, my dear morticians.¡± Barbatos spread her arms out. ¡°Let us hold the Habsburg Empire¡¯s funeral.¡± The monsters let out a roar before they broke out into a sprint. They didn¡¯t have to be silent anymore. Their surprise attack was a sess as the human army was trembling in fear only 600 meters from them. It wasn¡¯t only the normal soldiers that were panicking. Nomissioned officers,manders, generals, and even the crown prince, they were all in an uncontroble state of panic. ¡°¨DThe Undying Barbatos!¡± Only Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg had the wits to grit his teeth and shout. He immediately figured out Barbatos¡¯ intentions. If they retreat here, then there was the risk of the entire imperial army being divided and conquered. The margrave turned to face the crown prince. He then shook his head. The crown prince was standing with his mouth slightly agape as if his soul had left his body. There was no way he couldmand the troops properly while in that state. The margrave had to step forward here. ¡°Realign the catapults and attack! Hurry!¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± Themanding officers standing around the margrave gave a dazed response. Margrave Rosenberg went against his usual behavior and used violence. He kicked an officer in the shin. The officer let out a cry as he fell over. ¡°Have your wits about you! The enemy is here, so we must defeat them. Did you not be soldiers of the Habsburg Empire for this purpose!? Answer me!¡± ¡°Y-Yes!¡± ¡°Captain Wallenstein!¡± The margrave called out to the mercenary captain. Mercenary Captain Ferdinand von Wallenstein, who had been staring at the fog while in a daze, finally came back to his senses. ¡°Yes, Your Excellency Margrave. Did you call for me?¡± ¡°Currently, your troop of 20,000 mercenaries are the only soldiers of the main army that are present here. Do not let those monsters get through you. Do you understand? Defend our position with your lives.¡± Mercenary Captain Wallenstein gave a salute. They were Habsburg¡¯s greatest mercenaries that were hired specifically for a situation like this. Although the mercenary captain mainly followed his employer, the crown prince, he dly received the margrave¡¯s orders since he acknowledged the margrave¡¯s skill. ¡°I will show you the greatness of Landsknecht. Your Excellency, we are the greatest on the continent.¡± ¡°You must endure for as long as possible. This will be the deciding factor for the battle! 10,000 of our troops were dispatched to breach the enemy¡¯s right wing. The empire will be victorious if they manage to get through their right wing.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The mercenary captain couldn¡¯t help but be in awe. He wasn¡¯t being ordered to simply be a meat shield. He was given a proper strategic goal. If they manage to defend this position long enough for their dispatched troops to prate the enemy¡¯s right wing, then they will win. If their defenses copse before the dispatched troops can prate the enemy¡¯s right wing, then they will lose. Simply having a goal is more than enough to change the demeanor ofmanding officers and soldiers. ¡°If necessary, my royal cavalry will assist you. Do you understand? We still have some reserved troops left. Focus purely on defending.¡± ¡°As youmand!¡± The mercenary captain responded strongly. The margrave wasn¡¯t talking to the mercenary captain alone. There were othermanding officers around the two generals who were very obviously listening in on their conversation. He was talking to them as well. He assured everyone that they only had to endure for a certain amount of time. He assured them that this wasn¡¯t a hopeless situation and that they could win if they y their cards right. Themanding officers of the Habsburg Empire quickly shook away their panic. They ran off to their respective units and shouted the same words that Margrave Rosenberg had told them. The message went frommanding officers to nomissioned officers to normal soldiers. ¡°Fuck it! We can only die once!¡± ¡°Trying at us, you bag of bones!¡± The mercenaries gripped their spears and shouted. They weren¡¯t just random mercenaries you could find in any town, they were elite fighters who had gone through countless battles under Wallenstein¡¯smand. Their loyalty to their country simply changed to loyalty to their employer. No, to be more exact, it¡¯s changed to loyalty to money. The mercenary captain appropriately announced that ¡®If we manage to sessfully defend against the enemy¡¯s attack, every soldier will be given 100 gold!¡¯. It was a spontaneous announcement, but it worked. Different from other mercenary leaders, Ferdinand von Wallenstein has never failed to pay his men. If he promises to give 100 gold, then he¡¯ll really give 100 gold. The mercenaries¡¯ morale increased tenfold as they began to chant their anthem. ¡°Your Excellency! We apologize, but we cannot use the catapults.¡± ¡°Are you unable to get the right angle?¡± The corners of the margrave¡¯s mouth twisted. The enemy soldiers were too close. They couldn¡¯t use the catapults at this range. Not unless they intend to squash their allies along with the enemies. ¡°We can still hold them off. Ready the royal cavalry at the rear.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency!¡± The liaison officer went around to report the situation to every unit. The actually important news from the 10,000 imperial soldiers that went towards the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing hadn¡¯t arrived yet. They were most likely engaged in battle now. If the margrave were to make a guess, the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing most likely has a military might of 20,000. Their allies have to hurry¡­¡­. Margrave Rosenberg clenched his fists as he red at the battlefront. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I guess this would be the part where Barbatos kills Georg in the LN and captures the prince, but it¡¯s really hard to tell with how different the stories are now. In any case, Merry Christmas everyone. I¡¯m going to take Christmas off to rest, but I¡¯ll try to get the next chapter out soon since it¡¯s basically the finale of this long arc. I¡¯ll see you guys after Christmas. Chapter 104: A King and his General (17) Chapter 104: A King and his General (17) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Earl¡­¡­What are you saying!?¡± The crown prince spoke as his shoulders shook. ¡°The royal cavalry are mine tomand. You do not have the authority to use them however you please!¡± Even now, he¡¯s going on about authority. Margrave Rosenberg was sick of this, but he couldn¡¯t show his distaste on the outside. He spoke as courteously as possible. ¡°Your Highness, please bestow me the right tomand. I will do my best to stop the enemy.¡± ¡°Stop? You are going to stop them? Those corpses?¡± The crown prince flew into a rage. ¡°Are you insane!? T-Those are not monsters. Devils¡­¡­that¡¯s right, they are undoubtedly devils. Are you saying that humans can go against devils!?¡± ¡°Please calm down. They are nothing more than simple monsters.¡± ¡°Let us rally the royal cavalry and retreat immediately!¡± Rosenberg felt his heart cool down. ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°Have you gone deaf? Order the royal cavalry to prepare for our retreat. We cannot lose the royal cavalry here¡­¡­. We must retreat and realign our line of defense while those mercenaries are acting as our shield!¡± ¡°¡­¡­How do you intend to realign our line of defense? Most of our soldiers are currently engaging the enemy¡¯s right wing. If we retreat, then they will all die.¡± The margrave spoke in a matter-of-fact way. ¡°Your Highness, the battle is not over. It has only just begun. If we can defend this position, then our men will soon wipe out the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing. Once this happens, we will be able to turn this situation around.¡± ¡°And if we cannot defend this position!?¡± The crown prince shouted. ¡°The main army will get wiped out and I will also fall in battle! Rosenberg, do you understand what you are putting on the line right now? It is the future of Habsburg! You are using the Habsburg Empire¡¯s soon-to-be emperor as a gambling chip!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You said that we can win if we endure until our soldiers breach the enemy¡¯s right wing, right? What will you do if we cannot endure for that long? Do you think you have the right to determine the fate of all of Habsburg!? You bumpkin!¡± The crown prince turned around and walked off while fuming. ¡°Bet your own life if you are going to bet something. I am not some man of lowly birth, I am the sole ruler of Habsburg! I will retreat to Habsburg while you are blocking those devils.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I humble apologize, but I cannot allow you to do that.¡± Margrave Rosenberg stood in the crown prince¡¯s way. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I am saying that it is impossible for Your Highness to retreat.¡± ¡°This traitor has finally revealed his true colors!¡± The crown prince instinctively tried to unsheathe his sword; however, the margrave¡¯s hand was faster. The margrave grabbed the crown prince by his wrist. He wasn¡¯t only amander but a robust warrior, so there was no way the crown prince could win against the margrave in terms of strength. ¡°Ugh, guuh¨D!¡± ¡°Those soldiers out there are defending this position. What do you think will happen if the suprememander were to run away? Their morale will plummet instantly and our army will fall apart pitifully. Our main army will copse and the soldiers on our nks will be taken out one by one. Austerlitz will be forever remembered as the hills where the Habsburg Empire was disgraced¡­¡­.¡± The margrave revealed his white teeth as he grinned. ¡°Well, it does not particrly matter. Our empire is already disgraceful. Nothing much will change if we add another disgraceful moment to our history.¡± ¡°You¨D! This traitorous bastard!¡± ¡°What is important is not the empire¡¯s dignity. Your Highness, it is the safety of mankind.¡± Margrave Rosenberg strengthened his grip. The crown prince could only groan in pain. He struggled desperately to pull his right hand away, but it was all in vain. The margrave¡¯s grasp was firm like the roots of a massive tree. ¡°Failures are frequent when contending for victory. Winning or losing once is not very impressive. However, you must not go back on your beliefs. This is because humans gather to those beliefs like moths to mes.¡± ¡°Wha, guh, are you saying¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness is right. There is a chance that we may lose. At that point, I cannot guarantee Your Highness¡¯ well-being. Regardless, it is for this very reason that I cannot allow for Your Highness to retreat. The crown prince of the Habsburg Empire had run away from the Demon Lord army and used his allies as scapegoats¡­¡­The world will learn of this.¡± The margrave shook his head. ¡°The empire will trulye to an end at that point. Our soldiers will no longer be able to fight and the people will no longer trust us. Mercenaries will no longer work for us. No, this will not only affect the Habsburg Empire. We will have an adverse effect on the people of other nations as well. Does Your Highness not think you might be a nuisance? As Your Highness¡¯ vassal, I cannot stand and watch you be a public nuisance. It would not be enough to simply praise me for being such a loyal subordinate.¡± The margrave seemed entertained by his own words as he smiled. Since the very beginning, his eyes were the only things that remained cold. He looked down at the crown prince emotionlessly with owl-like eyes. ¡°Your Highness, please die for the sake of the empire.¡± Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg felt a cold sweat go down his back. This old man was being serious! The crown prince felt a stronger fear than what he felt when the army of undead appeared from the fog. ¡°Although Your Highness does not have even an ounce of talent as amander; fortunately, your title as the empire¡¯s crown prince can be used. The crown prince himself fell bravely in battle while fighting against the atrocious Demon Lord army¡­¡­The other nations will surely be enraged once they learn of this. The people of all nations will work together to fight the Demon Lord army.¡± ¡°Y-You can just die instead!¡± Crown Prince Rudolf managed to shout those words out as his jaw trembled. ¡°D-Did you not be a margrave to die at a time like this¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°I apologize, but I am not significant enough to die alone.¡± The margrave snorted. ¡°As your loyal vassal, I would not dare to send Your Highness to the afterlife by yourself. Do not worry. Although I may be inadequate, I will go with Your Highness to the other side.¡± At that moment, an officer unsheathed his sword and ran to the margrave. ¡°You traitor!¡± The officer cried out valiantly as he raised his sword meant for cavalrymen. The margrave didn¡¯t even turn around as he pulled out a dagger and tossed it. The dagger impaled the officer¡¯s forehead just as he was about to swing his sword down. The officer let out a short death throe before falling face-first into the grass. It became quiet. The crown prince could only manage to stare at the margrave like a surprised frog. It was then that he vaguely remembered that Fritz von Rosenberg was one of the two hundred Rank 2 knights that exist in the empire. ¡°Great soldiers of Habsburg, heed my words.¡± Margrave Rosenberg spoke to the other officers. ¡°I do not know who you all have sworn your loyalty to; nevertheless, I wish for you all toe to a conclusion on your own. Look upon this with unbiased eyes. Whether you think it is right for Supreme Commander Rudolf von Habsburg to run away or not.¡± The sound of soldiers shouting in the distance could be heard. The army of 5,000 monsters and the army of 20,000 mercenaries have finally collided. The mercenaries have 4 times the number of troops, but the margrave and the other officers couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling of this being theirst moments. ¡°If you have sworn your loyalty to the empire, then consider what would be the better path for the empire. If you have sworn your loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor, then consider what path would be for the emperor¡¯s sake. If we retreat here, then we would simply be tossing our lives away here in Austerlitz. ¡­¡­Could you forgive yourselves?¡± The margrave didn¡¯t try to intimidate the officers. He simply spoke in a low voice while meeting each and every officer¡¯s gaze. This was much more persuasive than some long speech. All of the officers could tell that Margrave Rosenberg had resolved himself to toss down his life here. He was determined to risk his life here for the sake of the empire¡¯s future. To the soldiers of Habsburg, this was enough for them to believe that it would be honorable toy down their lives while standing side by side with such a superior. The officers nodded their heads solemnly. At that instant, everyone present had resolved themselves to face an honorable death. ¡°It is not toote! You can be a vassal of merit if you take down this traitor!¡± The crown prince cried out as if he were screaming. The margrave turned to look at him. ¡°Your Highness¡¯ task is simple. Wee our great imperial soldiers in Valha and tell them that they fought well.¡± ¡°I¡­¡­I am Habsburg itself!¡± ¡°Surely, you jest.¡± Margrave Rosenberg smiled imposingly. ¡°How could a single person be the same as an entire nation? Habsburg is here and over there. The men risking their lives to protect this nation and humanity are Habsburg.¡± Furthermore, the margrave continued. ¡°We need someone to represent sovereignty. Nheless, you do not have to worry. Even if an unfortunate event were to happen to Your Highness, do we still not have another heir to the throne?¡± ¡°Y-You! Were you that bitch Elizabeth¡¯s underling!?¡± The crown prince started to struggle more desperately. ¡°I knew it! I knew from the very beginning! Elizabeth, that traitorous bitch always says stuff like this! Guuaaah! Elizabeth! Elizabeth¨D!¡± The crown prince cried out as he got dragged away. His arms were bound and a piece of cloth was wrapped around his mouth. He was then thrown into the far corner of a tent. A thought went through the margrave¡¯s head as he watched the crown prince get taken away. Of course, the imperial army mighte out victorious. If they do, then he¡¯ll dly offer his head. The margrave spoke to the officers. ¡°Men, the quality of their soldiers may be superior to ours, but we outnumber them greatly. If we work together to resist, then we should be more than able tost for a couple of days. Your strength is required now more than ever. I pray that each of our soldiers has the power to face a hundred.¡± ¡°Yes, General!¡± The officers responded firmly. They hastily ran off to do their respective tasks. Some of them went to the frontline, others went to convey orders, and the rest started to run around in order to get a grasp of the current situation. Margrave Rosenberg took the table out from the tent and set it up outside. He raised and lowered his head over and over again as he updated the map of the current ongoing battle in real time. A liaison officer came to give a report. ¡°General, our first line of defense has fallen. They have merged with the second line of defense. Fortunately, there was not a lot of confusion while they retreated.¡± ¡°Continue to defend like that. Remind our soldiers that we can win if we endure long enough.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Shortly after, a liaison officer came with another report. He wasn¡¯t the same liaison officer as the one that came earlier. He had taken their ce because the previous liaison officer had died. Margrave Rosenberg responded without raising his gaze from the map on the table. ¡°Our second line of defense has fallen. The second line has joined up with the third line and they are fighting back. Our troops¡¯ morale is still high. Once they were informed that His Excellency the Supreme Commander will be with them to the very end, they responded with a cheer.¡± ¡°Good. The most important thing is for our soldiers to not feel as if they were abandoned. Even if they are not that effective, continue to use the catapults and archers. We will show the enemy a fight to the death.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Another liaison officer came to give a report. Once again, it was a different individual. They had to urgently rece the previous liaison officer because he had fallen in battle. He gave a salute before clearly exining the current situation. Margrave Rosenberg once more responded in a firm tone. ¡°Our third line of defense has been breached. Our remaining forces are fighting back at our final line of defense near our encampment. Mercenary Captain Ferdinand von Wallenstein fell in battle so there was a problem with the chain ofmand, but it was quickly fixed.¡± ¡°Send the royal cavalry in from the right side. The enemy¡¯s formation must have be sloppy due to their continuous advance. Use the opportunity given to you by the cavalry¡¯s assault by defending the third line of defense.¡± ¡°Yes, General. May the fortune of war be upon you.¡± And then another officer and another¡­¡­. Eventually. There was no one left around Margrave Rosenberg. Befitting their title as the best mercenary brigade on the continent, the Landsknecht mercenaries fought valiantly to the very end. The Habsburg royal cavalry managed to put the enemy in a precarious position, but everyone starting from the cavalry captain to the lowest attendant ended up falling honorably in battle. The officers had also been wiped out. Thest person to give a report to Margrave Rosenberg wasn¡¯t an officer but a soldier without any rank. He reported that the third line of defense had fallen before immediately returning to the battlefield. Step, the sound of footsteps could be heard. ¡°Hm. Are you Fritz von Rosenberg?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± The margrave continued to look down at the map on the table. The war was still going on in his mind. The girl standing in front of the margrave spoke in a pleasant tone. ¡°The battle is over. What are you looking at, human child?¡± ¡°The battle.¡± ¡°What will you look at if even that battle is over?¡± ¡°The battle.¡± The girl nodded. Arge scythe shed through the air. The de severed through human flesh with ease. With a thud, something fell to the grass. It rolled for a moment beforeing to a stop. Fritz von Rosenberg¡¯s eyes continued to look ahead. Nothing reflected off of those eyes and they could no longer perceive things. Their frozen gaze simply continued to stare off towards a certain direction indefinitely. As if an endless battle was still ongoing in that direction. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Jeez, this was a long arc. I¡¯ve still been thinking about what to trante next. I want to continue Million Dor Bill, but I¡¯m realizing that it might also be a series that isn¡¯t updated for years. Thest volume came out several years ago now. The only two safe bets are DD WN and Handholding since they¡¯re bothpleted series. I wonder if it¡¯s rare for Korean LNs to ever reach their conclusion. Maybe I should search for a new series¡­ Eh, whatever, I¡¯ll continue tranting DD WN chapters till I can sort this out. Chapter 105: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (1) Chapter 105: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (1) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The year 1506 of the Imperial Calendar. The 30th day of the 3rd month, 9 o¡¯clock in the morning. The elite soldiers led by Barbatos defeated the imperial forces that were beingmanded by Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg. The Demon Lord army sessfully captured Pratzen Heights. Barbatos turned her troops as soon as she finished reorganizing them. She deployed all of them to the right wing where General Zepar and I were defending desperately. The 20,000 imperial soldiers that were overwhelming the Demon Lord army¡¯s right wing were now surrounded on both ends. ¨C The Crown Prince has been taken prisoner! The margrave has fallen! Themanding officers of the imperial army clearly began to panic once they were told that the generals that were at the top of theirmand had been wiped out. The desire to retreat to minimize their losses and the desire to fight till the very end collided. The former suggestion came from the officers from the main army while thetter suggestion came from the officers that served the margrave. The right wing of the Demon Lord army had been fighting fervently since the middle of the night, so their original military might of 4,000 had been reduced to 1,500. Barbatos¡¯ unit had also been reduced to 2,500 soldiers. On the other hand, the imperial army still had a healthy number of 20,000 men. While the imperial army was struggling toe to a decision, Barbatos utilized her for the first time in this battle. An immense amount of mana is required to move a bone dragon, so the mage unit had to use up all of their energy to provide mana as fuel. Regardless, the dragon proved extremely effective. Once the 20-meter bone dragon descended on the battlefield, the imperial army was consumed by fear. Their formation copsed for an instant. General Zepar and Commander Barbatos didn¡¯t let that opportunity go by as they sent in their troops. Even with 50 mages pouring mana into it, the could only rampage for 10 minutes. However, 10 minutes was more than enough to turn the tide of battle. The imperial army didn¡¯t stand a chance against the Demon Lord army¡¯s coordination as they fell apart. Despite their faction disputes, everymanding officer of the imperial army was still valiant. They fought back against the wave of monsters until theirst breaths. Kolovrate, Kutusov, Kienmayer, Langeron¡­¡­brave generals whose names were rather renowned in died one by one. This was enough to aplish half of my goal. The Habsburg Empire will now undergo a severe shortage of talented individuals. Even if Elizabeth, the Third Imperial Princess, gains more authority from this, if she doesn¡¯t have talented individuals to support her materially and morally, then there¡¯s nothing to fear. The third imperial princess may be the biggest munchkin in the game, but it¡¯s impossible for her to manage a country by herself. The human world has definitely been weakened. With this, the Demon Lord army¡¯s center and right wing were victorious. The left wing reported their victory soon after. In the first ce, the left wing led by Beleth had the most troops with 8,000 soldiers. He imed that it was an easy victory. It was around when the sun shined down upon the hills and ins of Austerlitz. The battle came to aplete end. The Demon Lord army reaped an additional bonus by pursuing the retreating soldiers of the imperial army. Normally, most casualties don¡¯t happen on the battlefield, but during pursuits. Well, the elite soldiers of the empire were unusually brave, so we suffered a lot of casualties on the battlefield as well¡­¡­. Why did they fight so desperately? I don¡¯t get it. The Demon Lord army gathered in one ce and we praised each other¡¯s achievements. All 19 of the Demon Lords that participated in the battle survived. During the final charge, General Zepar had stepped forward too much and took an arrow to the shoulder, but that was the biggest injury that anyone suffered. ¡°Seriously, you can¡¯t hold back your instincts to charge.¡± Barbatos clicked her tongue. General Zepar seemed ashamed as he shrunk back. Brother Beleth was amused by that sight as heughed heartily. As the Crescent Alliance 6th legion¡¯s general staff, I organized the results of the battle. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Battle of Austerlitz Date: Imperial Calendar, Year 1506, Month 3, Day 30Location: Northern region of the Habsburg Empire, Bruno of Moravia, Austerlitz ?Crescent Alliance 6th legion? Key figures:Rank 8 BarbatosRank 13 BelethRank 16 Zepar16 other Demon Lords Military strength:16,325 monsters Casualties:8,031 monsters ?Habsburg¡¯s United Expeditionary Force? Key figures:Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg(Captured)Margrave Fritz von Rosenberg(Deceased)Baron Ferdinand von Wallenstein(Deceased)Baron Mikhail von Kolovrate(Deceased)Earl John von Kutusov(Deceased) Military strength:Margrave¡¯s army, approximately 10,000 (Roughly 1,500 cavalrymen)Main army, approximately 20,000 (1,000 royal cavalrymen)Landsknecht mercenaries, approximately 20,000 Casualties:Approximately 45,000 imperial soldiers ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ The imperial army met its end withplete annihtion. The 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance lost more than half of their total troops, so we were basically almost annihted as well, but Barbatos¡¯ unit was immediately revived by her magic. Thanks to this, our 6th legion still has a military strength of 10,000. I realized once more how impressive Barbatos is. No matter how many casualties her army experiences, if she just uses her ck magic constantly for one or two weeks, she¡¯ll be able to restore her troops! This is why Demon Lords with single digit ranks are overpowered. Sheesh. Once half of the 6th legion ended up being taken up by Barbatos¡¯ army alone, the other Demon Lords felt pressured. All of them led their respective units and scoured the mountains and forests in order to find monster tribes. They recruited the native monsters here through persuasion or force. Like this, the Demon Lords replenished their numbers. However, we subjugated the monster tribes in the margrave¡¯s territory. This was for the sake of replenishing provisions and gaining the people¡¯s support. Now that the situation haspletely changed, we managed to draft a type of militia. Oh, we also don¡¯t have to worry about provisions for a while. There were 40,000 corpses from the imperial army in Austerlitz. They were all smoked and stored. I would have to fight with my inner human whenever I passed by the food storage and got a whiff of the appetizing smell from the smoked meat. Seriously, it smells way too appetizing¡­¡­. Once the drafted soldiers from the monster tribes got a taste of the smoked human meat, they immediately swore their loyalty to us Demon Lords. The monsters in this area apparently never dared to attack the human viges nearby because there were a lot of elite soldiers in the area. It had been so long since theyst had a taste of human flesh that a new world opened up to them all of a sudden as soon as they enlisted (it¡¯s written as enlisted but read as forced conscription). ¡­¡­Once word got around, the monster tribes that tried to avoid getting drafted by us came back to enlist voluntarily. 2 weeks after the battle at Austerlitz. Our 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance was able to bolster the number of our troops back up to 18,000. Our military strength was higher now than before the battle! I couldn¡¯t help but be bewildered. Laura felt the same way. She shook her head from side to side as she muttered. ¡°¡­¡­This truly goes beyondmon sense. I have realized now thatpared to humans, Demon Lords can manage their armies much easier.¡± On the other hand, what did I do? I used 500 gold to buy a goblin even though other Demon Lords are able to replenish their soldiers this easily! Of course, they are only working under a temporary contract, so they have to be released after a while, but still¡­¡­. ¡°Haah.¡± Whatever. What¡¯s done is done. I¡¯ll keep this information in mind for next time. * * * Urgent news arrived in the 6th legion while we were in the middle of training our newly conscripted soldiers. ¡°Eeh? Apparently, a coup d¡¯¨¦tat has urred in the Habsburg Empire.¡± Barbatos hummed as she read the contents of the report that was written on a scroll. On a side note, she was currentlyying down on a sofa naked. She suddenly wanted to receive a massage, so she hired me as her exclusive masseur for the day. What a wicked loli. ¡°It says that Elizabeth von Habsburg started the coup. She seized the Imperial city and took control of their government within a day. She must be quite a capable person.¡± ¡°She¡¯s only 17-years-old.¡± ¡°Hm. Is she a genius or being used by the people around her? Uu, hnn. Hey, your hand is moving indecently.¡± I did that on purpose. We¡¯re busy reorganizing our forces today. She stubbornly dragged me here just to receive a massage¡­¡­. I won¡¯t be able to vent my annoyance if I don¡¯t retaliate a little like this. I earnestly rubbed olive oil all over Barbatos¡¯ body. Her marble-like white skin glistened brightly due to the slick oil. ¡°Ah¡­¡­hnn. I can¡¯t talk like this, brat.¡± I snorted. ¡°Says you. You called me here to have sex anyway.¡± ¡°Oh? You noticed?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had sex with you dozens of times now. The scenarios are obvious, you know?¡± Barbatos cackled. ¡°This kid who used to be awkward in bed like a virgin has grown up to be an athlete, huh? It¡¯s a rather bitter feeling since it feels like my shy little brother has grown up to be a yboy.¡± ¡°Little brother? Me? You mean older brother.¡± ¡°I may look like this, but I¡¯m 2,000 years old, little Dantalian.¡± Mm. She¡¯s right if you consider her actual age, but wouldn¡¯t I have to call her grandma and not sister? Of course, I didn¡¯t ask this out loud. What sort of girl would want their sex partner to refer to them as grandma? I¡¯m a very considerate man. The massage naturally transitioned into sex. We came about thirty times each. The good thing about being a Demon Lord was the fact that I could experience climax after climax despite being a man. I was told that it¡¯s because half of my body is made of mana, but I¡¯m aplete dunce when ites to magical logic, so I don¡¯t get it exactly. Well, don¡¯t look a gift horse in the mouth. After about two hours, we caught our breaths on the sofa. I was on the bottom while Barbatos was sandwiched on top of me. My member was still inside of her, but the both of us felt toozy to pull it out so we justid there. Barbatos spoke with her face buried in my chest. ¡°Haa¡­¡­huu¡­¡­. So, is this our chance to attack Habsburg?¡± ¡°No. We must stay put at all costs.¡± Barbatos lifted her head and looked up at me. ¡°Why?¡± Her pupils were sparkling. This expression of hers was so cute that I unconsciously found myself patting her head. Barbatos let out a snort, but it must have not felt bad as she was smiling. Thisfy momentsted for a while. ¡°It¡¯s because the Empire is in chaos right now because of the coup.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we attack them since they¡¯re in chaos?¡± ¡°No. ording to my informants, the third imperial princess has gathered republicans inrge numbers in order to get supporters from the middle and working sses. This means she has lost that much support from the nobles. The middle and working ss don¡¯t support the imperial princess unconditionally either.¡± The Habsburg Empire¡¯s political system has be severely convoluted. The nobles and generals from the imperial army that once made up the Crown Prince¡¯s Faction were removed due to the previous battle at Austerlitz. This is only natural since the leader of their faction, the crown prince, was taken as a prisoner. The third imperial princess had led her royal guards and taken over the patriarchy in a matter of moments before the others coulde to their senses. The emperor who was already only the ruler in name was sent to a separate royal vi and the 2nd imperial prince was put under strict supervision while he was sealed in his estate. ¡®For the sake of protecting the imperial family from those that may use this period of chaos to their advantage.¡¯ Elizabeth the Third Imperial Princess had imed this, but there were few people who believed this to be the only reason. The Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction took over quickly. By personally holding multiple positions as the chief of military affairs, highmand, andmander of the defense force, Elizabeth the Third Imperial Princess seized militarymand. She now stood at the pinnacle of Habsburg¡¯s military administration, order, and the execution force. The Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction had won. This was certain. And yet, it was still too soon to say that they had wonpletely. Even if the aristocrats from the Crown Prince¡¯s Faction were imprisoned, they still possess their own armies in their territories. Furthermore, the second imperial prince is also alive and well. Our enemy is falling apart on their own due to internal discord. From an outside perspective, this might seem like the best possible opportunity. Despite this, I gave Barbatos a clear response. ¡°If we go in now, we¡¯ll lose.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Happy New Years everyone! I hope you guys had or are having a good holiday. New Years Resolutions? What are those? Do they taste good? I simply live the life I¡¯ve always lived, but with more existential crisis. In any case, this chapter was done earlier, but my editor was busy cause of the holidays. Please understando. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 106: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (2) Chapter 106: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (2) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ This was an incredibly self-evident fact. The other party was in the middle of a major internal strife. What would happen if the Demon Lord army, an army that just emanates the aura of being the enemy of mankind, were to advance upon them during this time? The third imperial princess would use that opportunity to y her trump card of acting ¡®for the sake of mankind!¡¯ and seize even more military authority. All other pretexts would crumble apart before this. Regardless of one¡¯s position, if they don¡¯t cooperate with the Imperial Princess¡¯ Faction, then they would be executed under the name of mankind. If we march towards the capital now, then we would only be doing the imperial princess a favor¡­¡­. ¡°On the other hand, if we don¡¯t do anything, then the imperial princess will run herself dry on her own. No matter how much she tries to downy what she has done, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that she has carried out an uwful coup. Her legitimacy is incredibly weak. Therefore, she needs some sort of clear cut achievement to gain the support of the people.¡± This is the fate of all coups. Those whose authenticities are weak must do whatever they can to gain some sort of clear achievement. Whether it be giving more rights to the people or reforming the economy. The imperial princess seized control under the pretext of protecting the nation from the threat of the Demon Lord army. Since this is the case, there is only one type of feat she can achieve. A military feat. ¡°The longer we do nothing, the weaker the imperial princess¡¯ justifications be. She dered she would subjugate the Demon Lord army but we won¡¯t be approaching them at all. Her political opponents will attack her. Before long, a time wille where she will have no other choice but to take action. The imperial princess will have to dispatch troops from her side.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Barbatos hummed. ¡°So instead of attacking the enemy, we¡¯re going to lure them to us, huh?¡± ¡°Yes. It would also be a good idea to spread some rumors.¡± The crown prince fought bravely till hisst breath at the frontline. It was a valiant struggle. And yet, what was the imperial princess doing? She didn¡¯t even take part when the imperial army left the pce. The crown prince lost because the imperial princess publicly obstructed him¡­¡­. ¡°Well, this much should be enough.¡± ¡°Kekeke.¡± My idea was immediately epted. I smiled wryly as I left Barbatos¡¯ quarters. I had just now lied to her. Everything I said would only work if you don¡¯t consider Paimon¡¯s 1st legion. The massive army of 30,000 monsters led by Paimon and the Mountain Faction was marching towards us even now. The imperial princess will call for an armistice as soon as possible. Barbatos will most likely tilt her head and question whether the humans were on drugs, but the 1st legion will appear behind the 6th legion and formally ept the armistice. Barbatos will suddenly appear like a deer in headlights. Therefore, in the imperial princess¡¯ perspective, it didn¡¯t matter whether we attacked or not. If we attack then she¡¯ll getplete control of the military and fight back, if we don¡¯t attack, then she simply has to wait until Paimon¡¯s 1st legion arrives. What a formidable woman¡­¡­. However, I also have several trump cards. It¡¯d be a mistake if you think I¡¯ll quietly let myself get done in by you, Imperial Princess Elizabeth. You too, Paimon. Despite what everyone says, I¡¯m a gentleman. I wouldn¡¯t be able to hold my appearance as a gentleman if I leave everything to the women. I¡¯ll make sure to escort them gracefully. * * * As I expected, things proceeded hectically. In only a few days, the Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth abruptly called for a truce. Barbatos couldn¡¯t hide the baffled expression on her face as she looked at the truce proposal sent by the third imperial princess. Shortly after, even Barbatos couldn¡¯t hide her surprise when a massive army of 30,000 monsters suddenly appeared behind us the next day. ¡°¡­¡­Haah? Why are those Mountain Faction bastards here?¡± A heated discussion was carried out within the 6th legion. Perhaps they had gone through the path we had opened up in order to cross the ck Mountains without any casualties? Or maybe they¡¯re nning to cooperate with us to take care of the Habsburg Empire first before heading to the Kingdom of Teuton? None of the theories were even close to being correct. Barbatos got frustrated and sent an envoy to the 1st legion. She demanded to know what they were doing. I¡¯m reiterating this as politely as possible right now since the actual message was filled to the brim with profanities. Nheless, Paimon¡¯s response was enough to make the Demon Lords of the ins Faction go pale. ¡°No, who does she think she is to ept the armistice?!¡± A truce resolution. The document started with a line saying that the Demon Lord army and the Habsburg Empire acknowledge each other¡¯s authority. It ended with the Habsburg Empire and Paimon¡¯s royal seal properly stamped at the bottom. The funny part was the fact that there was also a section prepared for Barbatos to stamp her seal as well. This was a bolt out of the blue for Barbatos who had crossed the ck Mountains and went through a lot of effort to get through Austerlitz. She was suddenly being told to reconcile with the enemy even though we¡¯ve been endeavoring on our own all this time. It was unthinkable. Barbatos shouted that she was going to turn her troops around and attack the 1st legion. However, it wasn¡¯t until Imperial Princess Elizabeth led an army of 40,000 soldiers and marched towards us that Barbatos realized something was wrong. The situation was proceeding precariously. ¡°Wait. Fuuuck, am I the only one who doesn¡¯t understand our current situation? Huh?¡± It rained heavily that day. Barbatos called upon an emergency meeting. Barbatos wasn¡¯t the only one with a serious look on her face. The faces of the 18 other Demon Lords were also crinkled like a ball of aluminum foil. Their entire bodies were wet because they got hit by the rain, so they looked even more enraged. ¡°So that imperial bitch spontaneously asks for an armistice and those Mountain Faction bastards came here instead of going to Teuton. Fine. Let¡¯s say they have their reasons. But why is that imperial bitch and the Mountain Faction bastards blocking our front and back? Fuck, aren¡¯t they threatening to attack us on both sides?¡± Barbatos stomped. The shape of her right foot appeared visibly on the ground. ¡°Did that whore Paimon beg the humans to help her take us out!?¡± ¡°Those sons of bitches need to be sent to Hell!¡± Beleth roared. The other ins Faction Demon Lords started to shout in agreement. They yelled about how traitors deserve to die. They were so riled up that if Barbatos gave them themand, they would spring out of this war tent right this instant and get ready for battle. I spoke up at this moment. ¡°Everyone. Paimon is aiming to fish in troubled waters.¡± The gazes of Demon Lords turned towards me. They were all filled with murderous intent. However, their murderous intent turned into rage and their rage turned into shock as I borated. By the time I finished speaking, the tent became so quiet that you couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it was ever filled with shouting to begin with. ¡°But Dantalian.¡± General Zepar managed to speak up. ¡°I understand that Paimon would profit whether we choose to fight them or not. If we fight, they will use that opportunity to wipe us out, and if we don¡¯t fight, they will gain the achievement of ¡®capturingnd in the human world¡¯. Nevertheless, would Paimon not be betraying all of demonkind and not only us? Would our allies stay silent and simply allow this to happen?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Brother, it has been 2,000 years. The Crescent Alliance has failed for 2,000 years. A myriad of demons have started to question the existence of the Crescent Alliance. They are tired of this. If this armistice is epted, then the Demon Lord army will gain the possession of a piece ofnd that is officially acknowledged by the Habsburg Empire.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± ¡°Rather than a continental conquest that may or may not fail, we would be able to obtain a definite amount ofnd¡­¡­. This would seem more appealing to the people in the demon world.¡± They would praise Paimon as the great Demon Lord who had managed to aplish this feat. The first achievement in the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 2,000 years¡¯ worth of history. General Zepar understood my point and gulped. A curtain of silence fell over the war tent again. ¡°¡­¡­So, what?¡± Barbatos, who had been sitting quietly the entire time, spoke in a low voice. ¡°That bitch Paimon will profit whether we choose to fight or agree to the armistice? Furthermore, there¡¯s only a small chance that the people from the demon world will support us? Is that what you¡¯re saying?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I lowered my head in response. Barbatos¡¯ face became nk. ¡°But why¡­¡­. Aren¡¯t those bastards from the Mountain Faction the traitors? Why are we the ones being disregarded? Huh?¡± She looked at every Demon Lord one by one as if she were waiting for them to agree with her. ¡°Aren¡¯t we the ones who fought the hardest? Didn¡¯t we shed the most blood? For the sake of achieving the dream of demonkind¡­¡­how many of our men have we lost in these foreignnds¡­¡­? Why is Paimon the one being supported when all she did was watch quietly from the sideline? Friends, the only crime we havemitted is the crime of fighting zealously.¡± The other Demon Lords lowered their heads as they avoided Barbatos¡¯ gaze. ¡°They got tired because 2,000 years is a long time? Then what about us? Throughout the past 2,000 years, we never rested even when we were tired and we continued to fight as we refused to give up¡­¡­. What does that make our resolve and blood? We could¡¯ve used our authority and livedfortable lives. We could¡¯ve messed around instead of raising our armies. We could¡¯ve done all that, but because of our damn duties as Demon Lords, we continued forward for the past 2,000 years without rest¡­¡­and now you¡¯re telling me to stop? The ones in the wrong aren¡¯t those unsightly traitors, but us?¡± She mmed the table. Wood fragments flew in the air from the area her fist had collided. ¡°Don¡¯t make meugh! How dare they! How dare they belittle our pride! Our blood andnd!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency.¡± ¡°I lost 6,000 men in the 1st Crescent Alliance! I lost an arm and a leg in the 2nd Crescent Alliance! My army crumbled apart in the 3rd Crescent Alliance because we weren¡¯t given any rations for more than 2 months and we got wiped out in the 4th Crescent Alliance because our allies ignored us! Nothing changed in the 5th, 6th, or the 7th Crescent Alliance!¡± She cried out in a pained voice. ¡°Who were the ones that bled during these seven tragedies? Was it the people sitting quietly in the demon world? Was it those bastards from the Mountain Faction who only think about their own profits? No. Of course not! We¨DWe were at the frontlines! We were the most dedicated and valiant! Is this our reward for 2,000 years of dedication and bravery?!¨DDon¡¯t make meugh!¡± Barbatos stood up. ¡°Paimon, that fucking whore¡­¡­Fine, you want a bloody battle, right? So be it! How dare you treat my, our pride as a doormat¡­¡­I¡¯ll kill you.¡± She left the tent. Barbatos¡¯ steps were so firm and intimidating that the other Demon Lords and I didn¡¯t dare to stop her. We remained in the tent, but no words were exchanged. Someone would let out a sigh every now and then. A long time passed before General Zepar spoke up in a quiet tone. ¡°I believe that it would be best to ept the armistice.¡± He said only one line. The other Demon Lords seemed like they understood everything after hearing that single line. It was clear that they were thinking the same thing. However, they were remaining silent because they were devastated by the fact that they had to stop fighting because they had fallen for another Demon Lord¡¯s scheme. Brother Beleth gnashed his teeth. ¡°Do you understand what you¡¯re saying?¡± ¡°Calm down, you boar. You should also know that we have no other option but to ept the armistice.¡± ¡°Yeah. Like you always say, Little Zepar, I¡¯m an idiot. But there¡¯s one thing I do know, and it¡¯s the fact that we¡¯re warriors and we¡¯re being insulted. Warriors do not put up with insults!¡± Beleth roared. Once he did, Zepar didn¡¯t back down as he continued. ¡°What do you intend to do by not putting up with insults?¡± ¡°Is that even a question? We¡¯ll fight!¡± ¡°You will fight? Do you have the confidence to win against the 1st legion¡¯s military power of 30,000? The 1st legion will not be the only army you will be facing. We will be pincered by the Habsburg Empire¡¯s army of 40,000 soldiers. 30,000 monsters and 40,000 humans. We will not stand a chance.¡± ¡°Fighting and meeting your end after running out of luck is the fate of all warriors! I don¡¯t know how long you¡¯ve only fought battles you can win, but there are things that warriors will not step down for! Destroy and annihte everything! That¡¯s it!¡± General Zepar scowled. ¡°You war fanatic¡­¡­do you intend to wipe out the ins Faction!?¡± ¡°A ins Faction that has lost its pride is no longer the ins Faction!¡± The dispute became heated. The Demon Lords instantly became split into two groups: war advocates and peace advocates. Fools that don¡¯t consider the future and cowards that don¡¯t know when to fight, all sorts of insults were thrown around from both parties. The majority opinion was for peace. Beleth and a portion of the war advocates wanted to fight to the death. Naturally, no one would want to start a battle where their defeat is obvious¡­¡­. ¡°B-Bad news!¡± At that moment, a beastman officer came running into the war tent. He began to speak despite the tense atmosphere between the Demon Lords. The news was so urgent that it managed to pour cold water over the heated mood. ¡°Her Highness Barbatos is sortieing by herself!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter! It¡¯s a new year and I haven¡¯t made any resolutions. I wonder if it¡¯s fine to live life so casually. One thing is certain though, I need to obtain a practical way of making money now. My Patreon isn¡¯t exactly a stable ie. This will really determine how my schedule will turn out in the long run. I mentioned it many times before, but I really hope whatever job I get is rted to tranted and not under the supervision of some egocentric old man. Life contemtions aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 107: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (3) Chapter 107: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ Brother Beleth ran out of the war tent as soon as the officer finished talking. Zepar and I immediately followed after him. I could hear the sound of footsteps behind us, which means that the other Demon Lords understood what the officer had said a secondte. It was raining and the ground was covered in mud. We ran while sttering the mud all around us. Our bodies were drenched because of the rain, but that wasn¡¯t important right now. There was a unit marching out of our encampment and through the rain and the mud. It was a unit of undead monsters. ¡°Dear Lord, Miss Barbatos!¡± General Zepar who always had a serious expression on his face disyed a look of shock. ¡°We must stop her right this instant! Charging at the 1st legion with only 5,000 soldiers is insane!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s attack like this!¡± One of the Demon Lords following behind us shouted. The rainwater made me close my eyes, so I couldn¡¯t see their face for a moment. General Zepar cried out. ¡°The enemy has 30,000 soldiers while we do not have even 20,000! To make matters worse, are you telling us to also charge at their encampment where they have set up their defenses? If you are going to kill yourself, then do so on your¨D.¡± Lightning struck. General Zepar¡¯s words were buried under the bolt. Damn it, the weather was horrible. I want to take over a nearby city and restfortably, but our monsters wouldin that ¡®cities are ufortable¡¯, so we never could. These dang animals. There was no point in talking any more than this. We ran to the undead monsters. Other monsters hade out in droves to see what themotion was. Fortunately, the undead monsters stopped just as they were about to leave our base. Brother Beleth had gone to the front and was blocking their path. Brother Beleth and Barbatos were having an argument, but watching a 4-meter-tall giant and a girl shout at each other was a rather interesting sight. No, should I say they were shouting¡­¡­. For the most part, the girl was hitting the giant. She was assaulting Brother Beleth¡¯s calf and thigh with punches and kicks. We managed to get within earshot of their conversation once we caught up to them. ¡°Move! Get out of the way, you fuck!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You son of a bitch! I said move!¡± Despite her outer appearance, Barbatos¡¯ strength is insanely high. There was some incredible power in her fists. Despite this, Beleth remained silent as he continued to receive Barbatos¡¯ attacks. He disregarded the rain flowing down his face as he looked forward. ¡°You, you¨D!¡± Barbatos summoned her scythe. It was a weapon that represented her. Barbatos raised her instrument of Death and shouted. ¡°Fuck off before I make you!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you think I won¡¯t!?¡± She really intended to swing her scythe. General Zepar rushed in between the two. He spread his arms out and spoke. ¡°Sortieing is out of the question, Miss Barbatos.¡± ¡°Did you all do drugs together or something¡­¡­? What, it¡¯s out of the question? I¡¯m themander!¡± ¡°There is no army that fights in order to intentionally get wiped out.¡± Brother Beleth opened his mouth from behind Zepar. ¡°If we¡¯re going to fight, then we should do it properly. If we just rush in like dogs, then we would only be discarding our men just as Little Zepar once did. Your Excellency, this isn¡¯t the way to do this.¡± ¡°He is right.¡± General Zepar agreed. His hair was matted down due to the rain. He wasn¡¯t the only one. Brother Beleth, the other Demon Lords, and Barbatos were also soaked. ¡°Has Your Excellency not always been calm andposed? This is when you shouldpose yourself the most. Nothing can be gained in a battle without any ns.¡± ¡°All of our ns are done for!¡± Barbatos cried out. ¡°Our cause has copsed. Our pride was insulted! Zepar, the only option we have left is to fight¨DWhat could there possibly be left for a warrior that has lost their sense of direction!? We¡¯re simply ughtering machines. We¡¯ll ughter those bastards that are looking down on us over there!¡± ¡°Miss Barbatos¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Those pigs from the Mountain Faction havee before us to do something so arrogant as to pincer us!¡± Her cries resonated through the sound of rain and thunder. ¡°Our pride is in war. Those bitches are trying to use their disgusting pig feet to step on it and ruin it! How could I let them do something like that!? You Demon Lords! My close sons of bitches! Let me ask you as well! Could you allow them to do something like that!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No one could answer her cries. It wasn¡¯t because we didn¡¯t agree with her. We all felt the same way; however, if we sympathize with her now, everything wille to an end¡­¡­Both our dream for world conquest and our lives. Barbatos breathed heavily as she looked around. Once she saw that no one was responding, her expression began to gradually lose its form. Barbatos, who was like an impregnable fortress, crumbled¡­¡­. The rain was flowing down the girl¡¯s face. However, even now, I¡¯m uncertain as to whether that was truly rain or not. Eventually, she dropped her scythe. The weapon that had never left her hand even in the most hopeless of battles fell to the mud powerlessly. ¡°A-Aah¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, Brother Beleth and Zepar grabbed their mantles as if they had arranged to do this beforehand. They then covered Barbatos. Their mantles fluttered like curtains as they hid Barbatos from everyone¡¯s sight. The sound of crying could be heard from behind the scarlet mantles. ¡°Hua, ah¡­¡­uu¡­¡­.¡± Referentially, the leader of the ins Faction is supposed to be the most indomitable Demon Lord. Rank 1 Baal is the greatest Demon Lord. Rank 2 Agares is the strongest Demon Lord. Rank 3 Vassago is the wisest Demon Lord. However, the most adamant Demon Lord who always stands at the frontlines¨Dwhose banner will never fall, whose advance will never stop, whose cries will never cease, and will always be the one to push demonkind from behind and lead them to a newnd, this has always been the Rank 8 Demon Lord. The Lord of Immortality. ¡°Uuuu¡­¡­hkk, uuaah¡­¡­.¡± Therefore, Barbatos cannot cry. The sight of her crying must not exist. Before she¡¯s a warrior, she¡¯s the Demon Lord that represents demonkind¡¯s past and present desires for continental conquest. If she were to fall into despair and cry, then that would be dashing the lives of all the demons that have shed their blood. ¡°Huuah¡­¡­guh, huaaaa¡­¡­ah¡­¡­.¡± Beleth and Zepar held their mantles out and looked forward as if they couldn¡¯t see anything. We did the same. We turned our back towards Barbatos. We simply gazed out into the distance. Beleth and Zepar were first, then the other Demon Lords, before finally, the monsters. All 18,000 of us turned away. Rain fell all around us. That¡¯s right. The only thing we could hear was the damn sound of rain. We couldn¡¯t hear anything else. Anything. * * * ¡°How strange.¡± Rank 9 Demon Lord Paimon muttered to herself. She was under a canopy taking cover from the rain. She disliked being closed in, so she preferred canopies over tents. This also allowed her to see the area outside. ¡°Sis, is something wrong?¡± Sitri, Paimon¡¯s lover and the Rank 12 Demon Lord, asked from her side. Sitri was wiping her chain sword with a piece of cloth. She was readying herself since there was no way to know when the 6th legion woulde to attack them. ¡°I am talking about Barbatos. She should have lost her temper by now¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm? Isn¡¯t her head like a chunk of ice?¡± Sitri tilted her head. She had also participated in several Crescent Alliance expeditions. There was even a time where Sitri fought together with Barbatos after they were assigned to the same unit. Back then, Barbatos would always lead her armies in a calm andposed manner. Contrary to the other armies that would always roar and shout, marching her army inplete silence was one of Barbatos¡¯ main traits. ¡°People often misunderstand, but Barbatos is actually hot-tempered.¡± Paimon chuckled. ¡°She simply uses her rationality for the sake of achieving her emotional goals, but her violent and sinister true nature is always ready to pop up at any moment. You can tell this is the case if you consider the fact that she has pursued a futile dream like continental conquest for 2,000 years. She is a very emotional child.¡± ¡°Is that so? You know Barbatos rather well, huh, Sis?¡± ¡°¡­¡­We wererades, after all.¡± One of the most trustworthyrades. The middle army was directed by Marbas, the left wing wasmanded by Paimon, and the right wing was led by Barbatos. These were their positions during the 1st and 2nd Crescent Alliances. 1,700 years ago, they were praised as being undefeatable as they managed to wipe out two human kingdoms. If their allies hadn¡¯t cut off their supply lines, they could¡¯ve marched to the far ends of the continent. Afterward, the Crescent Alliance regressed as they could no longer lead armies of 100,000 soldiers. Their armies shrunk to the size of 10,000 to 30,000 soldiers and a new method of acquiring provisions by procuring them on the spot arose. It would be a nightmare to have an army of 100,000 soldiers when it was uncertain when their allies would decide to cut off their supplies, after all. During the 2nd Crescent Alliance, Marbas, Paimon, and Barbatos had to carry out a retreat while they were deep within the continent. They had to do so for 3 weeks with no supplies and while being surrounded by the enemy. With no provisions, ogres had to eat orcs while orcs had to eat goblins. To make matters worse, knights would give them no time to rest as they would charge at them in droves¡­¡­. The 1st legion that had a massive army of 130,000 soldiers was reduced to 20,000 soldiers in only 3 weeks. The greatest sess turned into the worst failure. The three Demon Lords that represented the brawns side of the Demon Lords ended up holding a severe meeting about the Crescent Alliance. What is this Crescent Alliance for? What are these sacrifices for? Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas established the Neutral Faction. He believed that stopping the greedy conflict between Demon Lords was the most important goal. It was also Marbas who hosted the meeting of Demon Lords, the . He wanted a political solution. Rank 9 Demon Lord Paimon established the Mountain Faction. Continental conquest is an impossible pipe dream, therefore, we must lessen our losses as much as possible by working with the humans and learning to live together. She sought out a practicalpromise. Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos established the ins Faction. She could no longer trust her allies. Thus, she only gathered Demon Lords she could trust. These Demon Lords united under Barbatos¡¯ charisma like knights and they began to move their armies autonomously starting from the 3rd Crescent Alliance. They went from being normal extremists to more aggressive extremists. 1,500 years went by. These individuals who once worked together in a single legion were now walking down their own paths after being split apart into the 2nd legion, 1st legion, and 6th legion. Adding to this, Paimon was marching for the sake of biting the neck of her own allies ¡­¡­. ¡®I am doing the same thing those Demon Lords in the rear did to us during the 2nd Crescent Alliance.¡¯ Paimon mocked herself. Who could¡¯ve imagined that things would turn out this way? A sudden wave of guilt washed over her as she remembered the sound of Barbatos¡¯ childishughter. Barbatos has notmitted any crimes. Paimon knows this as well. The reason why the Crescent Alliance has always failed wasn¡¯t due to a single Demon Lord doing well or bad. It was because of every Demon Lord¡¯s desperate desire to live and their fear of having their lives questioned if the Crescent Alliance were to seed¡­¡­. Thus, the Crescent Alliance will never seed. Paimon became sure of this 1,500 years ago. Demonkind will not be the ones to grasp victory after all this is over. The humans will win in the end. It would be toote to make any changes at that point. The most she could do would be to give her body up and beg the humans to give demons at least a single autonomous city to live in¡­¡­. Paimon trusted in her beauty and charm. Charming a human was like taking candy from a baby. However, that would be humiliating. A single race must not be ced above another as the absolute superior. All races must establish a subtle line of equality. They must respect each other¡¯s words. ¡­¡­This is why an armistice is necessary. For starters, the 1st and 6th legion must form a treaty with the Habsburg Empire. This will be like the starting re. The other Demon Lords and the humans will realize that ¡®they are a side that we can form a treaty with if necessary¡¯. ¡®This will bring an end to an era where one side must bepletely ughtered for the other to survive. No, I will make it end¡­¡­!¡¯ Paimon believed in the greed of humans and demons. She had been horribly betrayed by that very greed, so she paradoxically trusted in it even more. After demons and humans fight for a while, they will eventually try toe to an agreement if it seems that they¡¯re losing. Gradually, at an almost snail-like pace, demons and humans will be ustomed to each other. This may take a thousand years. Simr to the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 2,000 years¡¯ worth of history, this goal might require another 2,000 years. ¡®It does not matter.¡¯ Paimon had already resolved herself for that. She has lived for 2,000 years, so another 2,000 years was not something to be afraid of. Most importantly, she had hope now. She was hopeful towards a world where humans and demons could live equally. Crushing Barbatos under her feet is the first step towards that world. ¡®Barbatos, you are much too violent. You incur the fear of not only humans but demons as well.¡¯ Paimon hoped for Barbatos to not take this quietly ande to attack her. She would still gain something even if Barbatos does nothing, but using this opportunity to wipe out the ins Faction was much more appealing. She red at the terrain ahead of her from under the canopy. Her vision was limited due to the heavy rain, but she knew that Barbatos was somewhere beyond the rain. ¡®I will not take her life due to our past camaraderie¡­¡­but I will make it so she cannot resume her operations.¡¯ Barbatos did not attack that day. Only the rain struck the camps of both armies strongly. Paimon even wrote a letter with deliberately taunting words in order to lure Barbatos out. The tone of the letter was very snide. It was an ultimatum dering that something bad might happen if the armistice isn¡¯t signed within the next 2 days. Paimon¡¯s strategy was simple. First, the third imperial princess will inform Barbatos that ¡®We will immediately agree to the armistice if you leave ournd¡¯. There is no way that Barbatos would ept this. The third imperial princess will then carry out a ¡®demonstration¡¯ in order to make Barbatos leave. It would only be a demonstration in name as it will actually be an attack. Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion will naturally fight back. At this point, Paimon¡¯s 1st legion will participate in the battle in order to help ¡®induce¡¯ the armistice. The armistice will be their justification. In reality, her goal will be to push Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion to the point of almost being wiped out through a pincer attack. Finally, once they¡¯ve lost all of their ability to fight, she will force the armistice on the 6th legion. A ssic type of political war. Paimon waited leisurely. There was no hole that Barbatos could slip out of in this n. Paimon simply had to do a show of force after waiting for a day or two. However, this was Paimon¡¯s mistake. There was already a person who had seen through her n a long time ago¨Dand, unfortunately, they were a part of the ins Faction and not the Mountain Faction. Simr to how Demon Lords normally don¡¯t expect a Demon Lord to attack another Demon Lord, Paimon also failed to realize that there could be a Demon Lord who expects Demon Lords to attack each other. It wasn¡¯t surprising. This was almost impossible to do unless you could see the future. The price for this mistake ended up being massive. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, not really much to say. My head has been emptytely. Like, I want to focus on something, but the drive isn¡¯t there. It¡¯s probably just a random mood thing. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 108: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (4) Chapter 108: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (4) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ Paimon decided to finally carry out her n that day. She had already established a line ofmunication with the imperial princess through magic orbs. They came to an agreement to march their troops before dawn so that it would be incredibly difficult to know which side had attacked first. This was for the sake of iming that Barbatos had attacked first. In truth, this was a stroke of luck for Paimon in the midst of misfortune. Scouts had to remain activete in the night and a single group of monsters reflected in the beastly eyes of a hardworking wolf rider. At first, he thought that a monster tribe was being relocated. Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion was still receiving volunteers and there were rumors about how the auxiliaries were being paid in delicious human flesh. ¡®Uugh, I¡¯d love nothing more than to get a single bite out of some thigh meat.¡¯ There¡¯s no way that the 6th legion could be flourishing enough to give every volunteer soldier some thigh meat, but it was a mouth-watering proposal nheless. The 1st legion which the wolf rider belonged to hadn¡¯t fought against humans yet, so they didn¡¯t have any human flesh. To make matters worse, Commander Paimon established a militaryw that strictly forbade them from piging human viges! It was unknown as to what went on through the heads of people in high positions, but the monsters of the 1st legion would always have to go into a deep state of meditation whenever they went by human viges and towns. That isn¡¯t human flesh, that isn¡¯t human flesh, that isn¡¯t human flesh¡­¡­. The wolf cavalry¡¯s godliness became wretchedly firm. They made do with whatever they could get. The 1st legion marched while wiping out every single monster vige in the area. Goblin and orc meat also tasted rather good. The wolf rider earnestly tailed the monsters that he believed were most likely heading to Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion. He wanted to hastily return to the main base and proudly report that he had discovered more food once he managed to pinpoint their destination. ¡®Are they orcs or goblins? Their bodies are somewhat big, so they¡¯re probably orcs. Kuku. Their ears are mi¡­¡­Huh!?¡¯ The dark elf instinctively hid himself in the darkness. Heid his body t against the back of his wolf. Only his face continued to look forward, but his gaze was trembling greatly. It wasn¡¯t a small monster tribe. What he once thought was only a few dozen soon increased to a few hundred, no, a few thousand. Even though it was the dead of night, they were walking in ranks with banners fluttering above them. ¡°I-I-It¡¯s a bunch of knights!?¡¯ Scouts had to memorize the insignias of every important knight group on the continent beforeing out here. The dark elf had an especially good grasp of the knights of the Teuton Kingdom since that was where the 1st legion was supposed to have gone to originally. The dark elf could see well in the dark, so he instantly recognized the banners being carried by the group. They belonged to the . ¨DThey were the Teuton Kingdom¡¯s royal knights! ¡®Fuck, let¡¯s get out of here¡­¡­no. Wait a second.¡¯ Right as the dark elf was about to run away without looking back, he paused to think for a moment. His curiosity and duty as a scout took priority over his fear of the knights. This wasn¡¯t the Teuton Kingdom. They were in the northern region of the Habsburg Empire. Why would knights from the Teuton Kingdom, the very knights who should be protecting the throne room, be here? No matter how much he thought about it, something seemed off. The dark elf wisely concluded that this might determine the fate of the uing battle. He quickly pulled out his writing utensil and wrote a report. ¨C Roughly 90 kilometers at the rear. An army from the Teuton Kingdom has been discovered. At least 1,000 soldiers. Holding the insignia. The dark elf rolled up the piece of paper and put it inside the case being held around the wolf¡¯s neck. He ordered the wolf to return back to base while he secretly followed behind the knights. Thanks to the wolf rider¡¯s quick actions, it took only 2 hours for the 1st legion to obtain the news about the sudden appearance of the Teuton Kingdom¡¯s army. Adding to this, through the wolf rider¡¯s daring and speedy reconnaissance, he was able to also grasp that it wasn¡¯t only the Teuton Kingdom, but the army of a Habsburg Empire margrave as well. So they had at least 9 different knight groups and 20,000 foot soldiers. Once the wolf rider believed he had gathered enough information, he retreated as fast as possible. Thanks to this, the 1st legion was able to get an approximate grasp of the enemy¡¯s military strength by the dawn of that day. The wolf rider was awarded a medal for his ¡®wise decision-making skills and tremendous courage¡¯ after it was revealed that his information was true. Naturally, the human thigh meat that he had constantly been craving was also given to him as a reward. However, separate from the wolf rider¡¯s personal fortune, the leading members of the 1st legion were in disarray. The very appearance of the Teuton Kingdom¡¯s army was literally out of the blue. The n to attack before dawn was abruptly shelved. 28 Demon Lords including Paimon had to wake up from their deep slumber and gathered under the canopy of their main camp. Some of the Demon Lords weren¡¯t able to even wash their faces, so they looked sloppy. Paimon spoke in a serious tone. ¡°This is not normal. Why has an army from the Teuton Kingdom appeared at our rear? Adding to that, they even brought their knights.¡± The other Demon Lords remained silent. There¡¯s no way they would be able to answer this question. Nheless, there was an implicit fact that they all agreed upon. The Teuton Kingdom army definitely wasn¡¯t going to be friendly towards them. A Demon Lord spoke up cautiously. ¡°Maybe the Habsburg imperial princess called for reinforcements?¡± ¡°And kept it a secret from us?¡± ¡°Yes. In truth, it is difficult to believe that the imperial princess would ce herplete trust in us. To the humans, be it the 1st legion or the 6th legion, we are all simply demons to them. She may have prepared this as a precaution in case we tried to betray her by allying with the 6th legion¡­¡­.¡± Paimon brought her hand to her chin. That was usible. There was also the possibility that after allying with the 1st legion and dealing with the 6th legion, the imperial princess could immediately betray them by forming an alliance with the Teuton Kingdom and attacking them from both sides. But this was impossible. Paimon didn¡¯t like leaving room for betrayal. Ever since she was betrayed by her allies during the 2nd Crescent Alliance¨Dthe traitors in question imed that it was out of their control and there was proof of it, but Paimon wasn¡¯t so na?ve that she would believe their words¨Dshe made sure to take every measure possible to prevent herself from being betrayed ever again. This time, she had set up dozens of magical devices while cooperating with the imperial princess. Among them was a vow to never withhold information regarding military affairs. As long as a legendary Ten Circle mage doesn¡¯t get involved, it would be impossible to break this vow. ¡°Then one thing is certain.¡± Another Demon Lord had given them the information. ¡°They came here to strike the back of our heads.¡± ¡°But is it not strange? How did they know we would be here¡­¡­?¡± ¡°¡­¡­A mystery indeed.¡± They couldn¡¯t figure it out. After the wolf rider arrived in the morning and gave his report about the enemy forces and the inclusion of a margrave¡¯s army, they came to the conclusion that ¡®this margrave must have brought in another nation¡¯s army¡¯. The identity of this margrave was Margrave Westphalia who protected the border between Habsburg and Teuton, different from Margrave Rosenberg who protected the fortresses on the ck Mountains. In any case, the appearance of enemy forces behind them was an undeniable fact now. The 1st legion hastily set up defenses at their backline. The situation was bing erratic. Just yesterday, Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s imperial army and the 1st legion of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s army had Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion surrounded. Now the 6th legion and the Teuton Kingdom¡¯s army had Paimon¡¯s 1st legion surrounded. Paimon did her best to obtain more information, but that wasn¡¯t an easy task to do in only a few days. Nevertheless, it was also within those few days that they received a new piece of information. ¡°The Frankish imperial army has appeared!?¡± ¨C That is correct. I also do not understand what is happening. The image of the Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth in the magic sphere was furrowing her brows. She had just ryed the information that 4,000 soldiers from the Frankish Empire had appeared this morning. They seemed to have gone around through the Teuton Kingdom¡¯s borders and not theirs. ¨C For now, we urgently dispatched an envoy. We will be able to figure out the situation once they arrive¡­¡­However, considering that they did not notify us even after invading ournd, they most likely do not have good intentions. ¡°Then¡­¡­are you saying that they are hostile?¡± ¨C It would be best to at least be prepared. The blue light from the magic sphere faded away. The situation has be dire. Compared to the Teuton Kingdom¡¯s 20,000 soldiers, the 4,000 soldiers from the Frankish Empire definitely weren¡¯t that imposing, but the fact that the armies of several different nations had gathered in a single spot was a severe issue. Some sort ofrge-scale alliance was being established. Paimon had a very foreboding feeling that some sort of scheme was unfolding in a ce where she couldn¡¯t see. It wasn¡¯t an easy task to make the armies of multiple nations support one another. It would only be possible if numerous understandings and pretexts were to ovep. No, what¡¯s important is figuring out what their purpose is. In order to wipe out Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion? If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s weird that they aren¡¯t trying to cooperate with Elizabeth the Third Imperial Princess. In the first ce, it would only be right for the people of Habsburg to take care of a problem in their ownnd. This was a clear infringement of sovereignty. In order to wipe out her 1st legion? No, it has only been 4 days since the 1st legion arrived here. How could they have armed their troops and dispatched them here within that time frame? That¡¯s impossible. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon fell into deep thought as she kept ncing at the map. The other Mountain Faction Demon Lords were also in a simr state. They either wandered about the encampment or were busy pressuring the scouts. Most importantly, the military power of both sides has practically be equal. 30,000 soldiers from Paimon¡¯s 1st legion and an additional 10,000 soldiers from the imperial princess¡¯ army, so their side has a total of 40,000 soldiers. On the other hand, the enemy they have to face is the 18,000 soldiers from Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion, the 20,000 soldiers from the Teuton Kingdom, and the 4,000 soldiers from the Frankish Empire. In total, that¡¯s a military power of 42,000. ¡­¡­If you only consider their military strength, the alliance between the imperial princess and Paimon was at a disadvantage. ¡°Your Excellency!¡± The leader of the reconnaissance group ran urgently into the war tent. Traditionally, scouting has always been done by dark elves and the one that had just ran under the canopy was also a dark elf. The look of shock was prominent on his face. Paimon had a terrible gut feeling once she saw that face. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Another army has appeared behind us.¡± ¡°Haah.¡± Paimon rubbed her forehead. Her foreboding feelings were always right. What army was it this time? The Republic of Batavia? The Kingdom of Polish-Lithuania? Or did Teuton or Francia send reinforcements? None of her guesses were correct. ¡°They are carrying the insignia of a headless bull. There is a mark of a headless bull on their banners!¡± ¡°¡­¡­What?¡± Even Paimon ended up letting out a bbergasted sound. Her train of thought stopped for a moment. She slowly mulled over the words the dark elf before her had just uttered. Eventually, Paimon¡¯s mouth gradually opened wide as she began toprehend what this meant. ¡°This is impossible!¡± ¡°It is true. A g was also discovered. It was the g of the Meadow Wolves.¡± ¡°No, but, that is not possible!¡± She shouted almost to the point of screaming. ¡°Why¨Dhas Marbas¡¯ 2nd legione here!?¡± The Crescent Alliance¡¯s 2nd legion led by the head of the Neutral Faction, Marbas. An army of 20,000 monsters had appeared behind them. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing much to say again except that this came out sooner than I expected. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 109: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (5) Chapter 109: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (5) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The incident happened half a year ago. A Demon Lord¡¯s mark was discovered on Riff¡¯s corpse, the adventurer party leader. Dantalian and Lapis carried out a long meeting regarding this. The Demon Lord and the half-subus came to the agreement that every group that is hostile towards them or could potentially be hostile must be weakened. The two exchanged whispers in the Demon Lord room with a cavern ceiling. ¡°In our current state, we cannot determine whether it was truly Belial who had sponsored Riff or if this is one of Paimon¡¯s shrewd tricks. In the worst-case scenario, Paimon may have done this herself.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Lapis agreed impassively. ¡°Most importantly, the issue is that Sir Dantalian has be more conspicuous than necessary. The first Demon Lord in history to personally kill another Demon Lord. ¡­¡­Many people could be ufortable about your existence.¡± ¡°I will have to turn the eyes of the Demon Lords and demon society away from me. I might as well use this opportunity to also crush the factions that could potentially be hostile towards me. Make them believe that I am not worth being concerned over.¡± This was the instant the Crescent Alliance was instigated by only two people. ¡°Sell the ck herbs to only the humans in high society. We should be able to profit and also create arger rift betweenmoners and nobles if we do this.¡± ¡°I will circte a rumor that demonkind had caused the ck Death and another rumor that the human nobles had spread that initial rumor to cover up for their mistakes.¡± Due to the people¡¯s trust in their nations plummeting because of this unprecedented gue, the monarchs of each nation sent out their troops under the pretext of ¡®getting rid of the Demon Lords who are the source of this curse¡¯. All for the sake of redeeming their people¡¯s trust. Each army had at most 2,000 or 5,000 soldiers, but once every nation started to mobilize an army of that size all at once, the people of demonkind couldn¡¯t help but be worried that ¡®those human bastards are nning to invade us¡¯. In order to counter this, the Demon Lords decided to fight back. Their n was to strike before the human armies. Once a Demon Lord from the ins Faction fell in battle while fighting against the humans, the Demon Lords became more concerned. Up to this point was the first step. ¡°In all respects, this Crescent Alliance expedition will be a defensive war. We are acting under the notion of striking them before the humans can go on the offensive. Therefore, excluding Barbatos¡¯ ins Faction, there is a high chance that the other Demon Lords will only y on the edge. They will do the bare minimum before stopping.¡± ¡°At that point, Your Highness Dantalian will join the ins Faction. You will then breach the side that is being managed by the ins Faction as fast as possible. ¨DThis will make the monarchs of the human nations anxious.¡± The ins Faction was assigned to the Habsburg Empire. This wasn¡¯t a coincidence. Dantalian told Barbatos to be assigned the Habsburg Empire at all cost and that is what Barbatos requested of Rank 1 Baal. At the moment when the Crescent Alliance was being formed, Baal and Barbatos had this exchange: ¡®Rank 8 Barbatos.¡¯ ¡®I was starting to get angsty waiting for you to call on me. It¡¯s obvious where I¡¯m going to go, ain¡¯t it?¡¯ ¡®I am appointing you as themander of the 6th legion. Advance towards the Habsburg Empire. I shall allow you tomand the entirety of the ins Faction.¡¯ The destination had already been agreed upon between the two Demon Lords. Just as Dantalian had nned. The 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance was sent towards Habsburg. Here, Dantalian copied the tactic that was sessful in and triumphantly got through the ck Mountains. ¡­¡­The news that a few thousand monsters managed to get through the ck Mountains in only four days shook the humans more than it did the demons. ¡°Spread a new rumor immediately after this. Tell people that the Demon Lord army is not ughtering the humans in thend they conquer but are instead giving out ck herbs for free.¡± ¡°You must actually do so.¡± ¡°Ah. Of course I will.¡± For starters, Dantalian avoided facing Margrave Rosenberg in battle. He persuaded Barbatos to conquer the newly acquired territory without shedding any blood. Additionally, not only did he hand out ck herbs to gain the people¡¯s trust, but he also subjugated the monster tribes nearby. Themoners voluntarily raised Barbatos up as their new earl. News that the Demon Lord army had gotten through the ck Mountains at an unprecedented speed and the fact that they were even epting people as their citizens impacted human society. The 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance didn¡¯t think too much about this, but this was an immense threat to the monarchs of other nations. Their public sentiment had already dropped to the lowest point it could possibly reach due to the ck Death. It didn¡¯t matter whether the provider was a Demon Lord or not, the fact that someone was giving out ck herbs was like finding an oasis in a desert for the people whose sons and husbands were dying. Until now, all of humankind from emperors to ves would unite in order to fight against the Crescent Alliance. However, it has be difficult for them to rely on this unity this time. The hostility between nobles andmoners was stronger now more than ever before. Commoners and ves revolted as they demanded ck herbs while the nobles suppressed them mercilessly. Something like ¡®for the sake of protecting mankind¡¯ didn¡¯t work at all in this situation. The fact that Margrave Rosenberg was chased out of his territory without being able to put up a proper fight drove in the nail. His massive army of 30,000 soldiers shrunk to 10,000 soldiers in the blink of an eye. It was revealed that, excluding the knights, conscripted soldiers didn¡¯t intend on being loyal to their nation. Finally, all 12 nations came to the same conclusion that, throughout its 2,000 years of history, this 8th Crescent Alliance was the most dangerous. Up to this point was the second step. ¡°Now the most important part is what we must do in order to cut down both the Demon Lord army and the human army¡¯s numbers¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes. We will have topletely focus both sides to a single ce.¡± A non-stop all-out war! Dantalian hoped for both sides to receive major blows so that he could buy enough time for his own growth. In order to aplish this, both sides have to ¡®frantically¡¯ pour out all they are capable of. Give the Demon Lords the idea that they will lose if they cannot get through this location. Give the humans the idea that they will be annihted if they cannot protect this location. What must be done to aplish this? ¡°If they receive news of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s arrival, then the humans will want to go to war before the Demon Lord armies can invade their nations.¡± It¡¯s not like every nation shares its borders with the Demon Lords. Excluding the Kingdom of Teuton, the Habsburg Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Moscow, the other nations are far away from the demon territory. If the Demon Lord army wants to invade the Frankish Empire, then they would have to conquer the Habsburg Empire first. Fortunately, the Frankish Empire wanted to intercept the Demon Lord army in Habsburg instead of their own territory. They wanted to do this before the Habsburg Empire could fall. War does severe damage to thend they take ce on. It was much better to fight on another nation¡¯s soil than their own. The Frankish Empire, the Batavia Republic, the Kingdom of Brittany, the Kingdom of Castile, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, a total of 5 nations immediately mobilized their troops as soon as the fortresses on the ck Mountains had copsed. Fortunately¨Dthey thought they were fortunate¨Dthey had already prepared vanguards. It was the units of about 2,000 to 5,000 soldiers they had sent out to conquer the Demon Lord castles before the Crescent Alliance was formed. Those nations first dispatched these vanguards of theirs before urgently putting together their actual armies. Each unit marched all the way to the borders of Habsburg. They sent a request to the Habsburg Empire to allow them to march through theirnd. However, both the crown prince and the third imperial princess denied their requests. The crown prince did so for the sake of monopolizing all of the achievements, while the third imperial princess did so for the sake of using this opportunity to form an armistice with the Demon Lord army. ¡­¡­The other nations were bewildered. They didn¡¯t know the exact situation, but they weren¡¯t being allowed in even though the Demon Lords had invaded! Dantalian was certain. ¡°If there is a justification, they will surely enter Habsburg without permission.¡± ¡°That is correct, but how do you intend on creating a justification?¡± ¡°There is a reason why I went out of the way to select the Habsburg Empire.¡± I grinned. ¡°Currently, there is a fierce political battle happening between the imperial prince and princess in the empire. There is a high probability that the royal family will step forward in order to gain more military power if a war were to ur. To lords, wars are both a crisis and an opportunity to legally take over military control.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I understand.¡± Lapis nodded. ¡°Be it the imperial prince or the imperial princess, you can create a justification if you manage to capture even one of them.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± The battle in Austerlitz broke out while the mental battle between the Habsburg Empire and other nations was bing more intense. The crown prince had personally appeared and, as Dantalian predicted, the imperial army waspletely defeated. One of the key factors in the battle of Austerlitz was the fact that the Demon Lord army hadn¡¯t utilized any mounted soldiers. In truth, Dantalian and Barbatos had prepared a separate detached force in case they missed one of the enemy¡¯s leading officers. The detached force was sent around the battlefield to intercept any of the officers that tried to retreat. However, this became unnecessary as the crown prince was easily captured. This made everything simple. While Barbatos was resurrecting her immortal army and the other ins Faction Demon Lords were drafting from monster viges, Dantalian sent a message to all other nations. A video of the crown prince was captured in a magic sphere and sent. ¨C I am Rudolf von Habsburg, the rightful ruler of the Habsburg Empire and the one and only heir to the sacred throne. It pains me to say this, but my empire is currently in imminent peril. Thus, I, Rudolf von Habsburg, send out a request to the rulers of other nations in the belief of your love and friendship for mankind¡­¡­. It was a request for reinforcements. The crown prince had already been killed and was now nothing more than a doll that was revived by Barbatos¡¯ ck magic. However, this wasn¡¯t discernible through a magic sphere. No, even if it was discernible, the rulers of other nations probably didn¡¯t care. The other nations, who were afraid that their nations would be the next to fall after the Habsburg Empire, cheered once they received the message. The document that was sent along with the magic spheres had the crown prince¡¯s undeniable stamp on it. They knew that the current ruler of the Habsburg Empire was now Elizabeth the Third Imperial Princess, but it didn¡¯t matter. They got their hands on a justification! Dantalian had cleverly sent the message to the Habsburg Empire¡¯s margraves as well and not only the rulers of other nations. Mostly, the margraves who had sworn their loyalty to the first sessor of the throne responded immediately. They acted as guides as they marched together with the armies of other nations. Up to this point was the third part. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness Dantalian is truly a terrifying individual.¡± Lapis let out a sigh after our marathon discussion. ¡°No one else could devise a scheme as grand as this. Who could possibly imagine that all of this originated from a single person¡¯s brain.¡± ¡°If it seeds, that is.¡± ¡°This one could not possibly dare to give a guarantee, however.¡± Lapis looked straight at me. ¡°I can bet my life of 200 years that Your Highness Dantalian will seed.¡± ¡°How assuring. That¡¯s right, even I believe that I will be the person who will get thestugh.¡± ¡°Then I will immediately return to the demon world and execute the first n. ¡­¡­On another note, Your Highness, what will you name this operation as a whole?¡± ¡°Let us call it Operation Minerva.¡± The Keuncuska Firm yed a key role in this grand n. There was no other group that could spread rumors and offer bribes along with messages to the leading members of various human nations like how the Keuncuska Firm could. The main issue was that even if Lapis assisted with his n hastily and efficiently, it was a question as to whether the entire Keuncuska Firm would go along with Dantalian¡¯s n. Of course, Dantalian knew that they would. Ivar Lodbrok, Vampire Lord and the owner of the Keuncuska Firm, despised Demon Lords more than anyone else, after all! Ivar Lodbrok met with Dantalian in secret. They had a serious conversation for a lengthy period of time. Ivar¡¯s expression was dyed in shock at first before bing dyed in serious reflection and ending with a cold gaze. He understood that this n would inflict a great amount of harm to the Demon Lords. Ivar abruptly muttered something. ¡°¡­¡­Great Angolmois Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Dantalian gave Ivar a quizzical look. Ivar shook their head. ¡°It is nothing. I simply remembered something that happened in the past. I, Ivar Lodbrok, may be inferior, but I vow to fully cooperate with Your Highness Dantalian¡¯s n.¡± Of course, it was also Ivar who prepared the most valuable bottle of wine in order to entice Barbatos. In truth, this was actually all there was to Dantalian¡¯s n. He was confident in his n to lure in the human armies, but he didn¡¯t know how to bring in the other Demon Lord legions outside of the 6th legion. All he did was consider the possibility of them being chased by the humans all the way back to the ck Mountains. Thus, once it was discovered that Paimon was nning to betray the Demon Lord army¨DDantalian became excited. He was so delighted that he almost took out the rest of the wine and drank it together with Laura. How could he not? The fourth and final step waspleted all on its own! ¡°Paimon! What a fool!¡± He burst outughing. ¡°You have truly been helping me from start to finish!¡± Dantalian promptly leaked the information to Marbas of the 2nd legion, Agares of the 3rd legion, Vassago of the 4th legion, and Gamigin of the 5th legion. About how Paimon of the 1st legion was nning to attack Barbatos¡¯s 6th legion. A majority of the Demon Lords didn¡¯t exactly trust Dantalian¡¯s leaked information. They believed it was absurd. However, Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas, whom Dantalian had raised the affection points of during the hearing that was held on thest Walpurgis Night, took Dantalian¡¯s words seriously. Most importantly, Marbas knew a lot about Paimon¡¯s personality. He determined that this scenario was more than possible. Marbas stopped the march of his 2nd legion and kept an eye on the 1st legion¡¯s movements. In truth, the 1st legion was moving strangely. The Mountain Faction may dislike war, but they were moving much toozily. When the 1st legion finally began to move, they moved towards the Habsburg Empire and not the Kingdom of Teuton. ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian was right.¡± Marbas gulped. It wasn¡¯t only Marbas. The othermanders may not have taken the information seriously, but they did at least attach 1 spy on the 1st legion. The news about the 1st legion going towards Habsburg was immediately sent to the leadingmanders of the Crescent Alliance. The high-ranking Demon Lords that dominate the demon world came to a decision. ¡°Men, we are changing our course. We are going to Habsburg.¡± -Rank 5 Marbas, Commander of the 2nd legion. ¡°Kyaah. Paimon, that girl. I can hear her brain churning from here. I can¡¯t let that girl have all the fun! Let¡¯s go!¡± -Rank 2 Agares, Commander of the 3rd legion. ¡°We are changing the direction of our march. -Rank 3 Vassago, Commander of the 4th legion. ¡°Sheesh. This has be troublesome. I¡¯ve been feeling unluckytely.¡± -Rank 4 Gamigin, Commander of the 5th legion. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th legions, practically all of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s manpower had promptly changed their course towards Habsburg. They didn¡¯t want Paimon to take all of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s achievements. Paimon was currently shocked by Marbas¡¯ appearance, but if she knew that 3 othermanders were approaching her as well, then she might¡¯ve passed out. The countdown for the great war that Dantalian had constantly been wanting had begun. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Another chapter, another day with empty head, no thoughts. I hope you guys are doing well. I¡¯m just trudging along. Welp, nothing else to really say. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 110: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (6) Chapter 110: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (6) * * * I won the gamble. I inadvertently let out a cheer when Marbas appeared with his 2nd legion. Honestly, I was going to consider the timing and suggest to retreat back to the ck Mountains mainly because the humans will most likely gather faster than the Crescent Alliance. However, Marbas took my statement seriously. This was the result of raising his affection. The fact that I didn¡¯t make Paimon pay for her crime during the hearing resulted in the affection of Marbas, who at the time was the moderator of the hearing, going up. That affection influenced this war. In the end, everything started at the hearing¡­¡­. I used to belong to no faction, but I created a connection with Barbatos and became a part of the ins Faction which eventually led to the creation of the 8th Crescent Alliance. Is the world not treacherous? The misfortune that Paimon is currently facing all stems back to something she had done herself. ¡°So you¡¯re the one who called over old man Marbas, huh?¡± Barbatos stared at me quietly. I couldn¡¯t read her gaze. I revealed several things to her. The fact that I had nned all of this since the beginning will most likely get revealed in the future, that¡¯s why it was better to disclose a certain amount to Barbatos before then. It¡¯d be troubling if people started to doubt whether I¡¯m an active supporter of the ins Faction or not, after all. Barbatos makes a great support beam. A support beam that could protect against the attacks of other Demon Lords. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Why did you trick me?¡± I chuckled. Barbatos¡¯ brow twitched. ¡°You¡¯reughing? Did you justugh?¡± ¡°Ah, of course. It¡¯s funny, after all.¡± Barbatos¡¯ palm came flying towards me. p, it struck my cheek. She wasn¡¯t a normal girl. Her strength stat is in the hundreds. I fell to the ground in an unsightly manner. The inside of my mouth felt numb and I could taste blood. Something solid rolled around my tongue. It was a tooth. ¡°Don¡¯tugh.¡± An ice-cold voice settled on top of my head. Was she holding back her emotions? Was she so upset that she wouldn¡¯t be able to think straight if she didn¡¯t hold it back? I spat the tooth out. ¡°I tricked you? Don¡¯t make meugh. I have never deceived you.¡± ¡°You son of a bitch, how dare you try to use sophistry¨D.¡± ¡°Be quiet!¡± I pushed myself up and stared right at Barbatos. Ah, now I could clearly read the emotion in her eyes. It was rage. She believed that I had betrayed her. She was throwing a tantrum because she thought she was deceived by someone she trusted. This isn¡¯t like you, Barbatos. ¡°Do you remember the day I visited your Demon Lord Castle? The day we drank that damn Baler wine. That was where we first decided to start the Crescent Alliance. It was quite the impressive scheme we came up with, wasn¡¯t it?¡± She red at me. I continued without faltering. I repeated the conversation we had that day. ¡­¡­A majority of Demon Lords don¡¯t want to conquer the human world since the high-ranking Demon Lords might ughter the low-ranking Demon Lords once they do so. This was the reason for our internal discourse and therefore we must paradoxically lower the number of Demon Lords in order for the Crescent Alliance to seed¡­¡­. Barbatos shouted. ¡°So what!? You said it yourself, didn¡¯t you!? If those Demon Lords don¡¯t want to fight, then we just have to make those human bastards attack us first!¡± I definitely did. In a not so distant future, the humans will start to despise the Demon Lords to a drastic degree because of the ck Death. At that time, a subjugation of Demon Lords will most likely ur with a hero standing at the forefront. We have to weaken the humans considerably before then. We will make the humans attack us voluntarily and start a war. If this happens, then even the selfish Demon Lords will have no other choice but to fight earnestly. ¨DThis is what I had stated. However. ¡°Are you not forgetting something, Barbatos?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something else that I said.¡± I let out augh. ¡°I definitely said that ¡®we have to greatly reduce the number of Demon Lords.''¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos¡¯plexion changed. Now she remembered. I strangely felt pleased. My cheek that had gotten struck by her started to feel sore. I continued talking. ¡°Did you think that the number of Demon Lords would be reduced if we just start the Crescent Alliance? Did you think that¡¯s the only method that I considered? I have no other choice but to say that you¡¯ve severely underestimated your lover¡¯s ability¡­¡­Kuh.¡± ¡°You¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yeah. I did everything.¡± I intentionally told her to take the margrave¡¯snd. This way, the leading members of human society would be anxious. I intentionally asked her to capture the crown prince. This way we could lure in the other nations. I intentionally did nothing even though I knew that Paimon woulde. ¡°This way we could bring in the other Demon Lords!¡± I got worked up and shouted. ¡°The ins Faction is the bait! A venus fly trap that¡¯s meant to lure in the armies of both the demon and human world! Here, in the Bruno ins of Habsburg, the armies of all nations will gather. The nightmare will start here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I tricked you? Let me say this again. Don¡¯t be ridiculous. In the first ce, you agreed that we had to lower the number of Demon Lords. This was also the purpose of the Crescent Alliance. Up to this point, I have constantly been loyal to this goal of ¡®ours¡¯. Am I wrong?¡± Barbatos refused to answer. She had lowered her head, so I could no longer see what sort of expression she was making. However, I know that if it¡¯s her, she shoulde to the realization that I was right. Barbatos muttered with her head still lowered. ¡°Then¡­¡­you could have told me beforehand.¡± ¡°No.¡± I answered immediately. ¡°We have to thoroughly make the ins Faction out to be the victims. We absolutely cannot allow the word to spread that we had deliberately set all of this up. Look. You were able to cry genuinely because I didn¡¯t tell you. The Demon Lords and monsters that saw you will treat you as the undeniable victim.¡± I, Dantalian, was able to coincidentally notice Paimon¡¯s scheme because I happened to doubt her. This has to be the main scenario that¡¯s established. The ins Faction will gain a justification once the 8th Crescent Alliancees to an end. The justification of having fought at the forefront for the sake of demonkind. On the other hand, the Mountain Faction will lose their goal of ¡®attacking their allies for the sake of demonkind¡¯ and simply be known as ¡®the faction that tried to attack their own kind¡¯. If we¡¯re lucky, then the current political situation with the Mountain Faction above the ins Faction will end up reversed¡­¡­This will push the Demon Lord armies further into turmoil. ¡°If you wish to trick your enemies, you must first trick your allies. This is a basic strategy. It may not be praiseworthy, but what I did was not something that warranted a p.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Another long silence fell over us. How much time had passed? Barbatos abruptly asked a question. ¡°What about that¡­¡­human advisor of yours?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The question was so out of the blue, that I ended up asking back. My human advisor, in other words, she meant Laura De Farnese. Why was she bringing up Laura here? I didn¡¯t understand. Barbatos asked again. ¡°I¡¯m asking you whether that human advisor of yours knew or not. The fact that you had controlled everything about this war.¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. She knows a certain amount, but she doesn¡¯t know everything. I¡¯m not the type of person to tell people everything just because they¡¯re my subordinate.¡± ¡°Then, is there anyone else?¡± Lapis came to mind. ¡°There is.¡± ¡°Is it only one person? Or several?¡± Her questions were bing more ambiguous. No, is there some sort of meaning behind these questions? I recalled Ivar Lodbrok and answered. ¡°Two. Probably.¡± ¡°Two, huh.¡± Another silence. What was she getting at? Barbatos slowly got up while I was staying silent since I didn¡¯t know what to say. She then murmured something in a whisper. I didn¡¯t know what she had said, but I could tell that she had cast a spell. ¡°All right.¡± Barbatos spoke. ¡°This ce has beenpletely sealed. No one will be able to hear us even if one of us were to scream.¡± A sense of unease washed over me. I spoke in an extremely courteous tone. ¡°¡­¡­Uhm, Miss Barbatos. Why did you cast such a spell?¡± ¡°Hoo.¡± She smiled slyly. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that you¡¯ve been allfortable by yourself even though the people around you have been miserable, huh? Adding to this, there are two people in the world who know something that I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°You have to first trick your allies in order to trick your enemies? Bullshit. Then am I just an ally and those two people are your true allies?¡± The situation was taking a weird turn. Barbatos seemed to be incredibly upset about something. Her face was smiling, but the aura she was emitting wasn¡¯t pleasant at all. If anything, she looked more annoyed than when she pped me earlier. ¡°You were my first, too¡­¡­. Someone like you went around cheating on me?¡± ¡°W-Wait! Cheat? Cheeeat? What kind of nonsense is that!?¡± I yelled in fear. ¡°When did we officially be a thing!?¡± ¡°You fucker. I¡¯ve been a maiden for 2,000 years. You have to take responsibility when you fuck a worldly maiden, you know? Not only did you not cherish me more than anyone else, but you dared to trick me as well?¡± ¡°When did I fuck you!? You fucked me!¡± ¡°Hah. I was a maiden and you weren¡¯t.¡± Is she insane!? I raised a finger. ¡°Who cares whether you were a maiden or not!? Who¡¯s the one who used their seduction spell and forced me to get excited!?¡± Barbatos¡¯ brow twitched. She was definitely smiling, but there was a shadow over her face. It was as if I had dared to mess with her royal anger. ¡°Oh, what? Did you not like having sex with me?¡± ¡°No, well, that¡¯s not what¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Then did you enjoy it?¡± I nodded very cautiously. I was certain that if I responded negatively, then a scythe would immediately be summoned to send my head flying. In truth¡­¡­it wasn¡¯t that bad either. Barbatos spoke in an even tone. ¡°In conclusion, you enjoyed having sex with a girl who looks like a 12-year-old on the outside and, even though you were that girl¡¯s first man, you didn¡¯t take responsibility like a man and decided to deceive her.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The public likes to refer to men like you as sons of bitches, you son of a bitch.¡± No, this is definitely wrong. She isn¡¯t wrong if you look at the situation without any context¡­¡­but, in any case, this is a false usation. Furthermore, it may have been Barbatos¡¯ first time with a guy, but hasn¡¯t she yed with women numerous times? What does she expect to aplish by acting pure, by acting as if her first time had been taken by a guy? Why is the flow of the conversation turning me out to be the bad guy now? ¡°Additionally, it¡¯s only appropriate for sons of bitches to get beat up like sons of bitches.¡± Something was summoned in Barbatos¡¯ hand. It was a whip. A cold sweat went down my back. I managed to open my mouth, but my tongue trembled on its own. ¡°B-Barbatos, I¡¯m not sure why you¡¯re mad, but let¡¯s have a rational conversation. Okay?¡± ¡°You retard. I¡¯m upset because you don¡¯t know why I¡¯m upset.¡± Barbatos grabbed the whip with both hands and pulled at it as if to test its strength. At the very least, the whip looked incredibly firm from my perspective. This absolutely wasn¡¯t a good piece of information to receive on my end. ¡°Furthermore, my anger has been piling up every single time you opened your mouth and said something. So it¡¯d be a good idea to keep your mouth shut.¡± ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m sorry for not telling you about my n beforehand!¡± For now, I tried apologizing. I don¡¯t believe I did anything wrong, but I remember being told that apologizing to women was usually always the right answer. However, Barbatos continued to only smile slyly for some reason. ¡°Retards remain retards till the very end. Hah, how could I have let someone like you get the best of me!?¡± ¡°U-Uaaaaah!?¡± The tip of the whip flew towards at a terrifying speed. I will omit what followed after for the sake of protecting my dignity. However, I will mention that I begged in every conceivable way and, ultimately, I managed to calm Barbatos down. Of course, the reason why she was so upset still remains a mystery. She liked me because I was like a dog, but now she beat me up because I was like a dog. This is a guess, but it might be because I made her do something embarrassing like cry in front of her subordinates. Barbatos is a very proud person, after all. She might treat this as a type of eternal humiliation. If this is the case, then it¡¯s understandable that she would beat me up this much. Nheless, even if this were the case, isn¡¯t it unfair? It¡¯s illogical¡­¡­. If I weren¡¯t such a benevolent man, I would¡¯ve be sullen and left the ins Faction a long time ago. What a wretched woman. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. These chapters have been pretty fun to trante. Compared to other stories I¡¯ve worked on, I can at least rely on the DD author to word his sentences properly and not repeat the same type of phrases over and over again. In a lot of the Korean WNs I¡¯ve seen, they strangely like to use the same expression almost constantly throughout the chapter. Maybe Korean people don¡¯t mind it as much, but I personally dislike seeing a lot of repetition since it¡¯s like one of the things that¡¯s drilled into you when you¡¯re little: that you should avoid repetition in writing. Sort of feels likezy writing when the same structure is seen constantly. Well, rant aside, life goes on. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 111: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (7) Chapter 111: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (7) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Old man Marbas has called for a meeting.¡± Barbatos collected her whip as she spoke. My body trembled as I pulled up my pants after being forced into experiencing some SM y. It stung a lot when my pants reached my rear¡­¡­. ¡°A meeting?¡± ¡°Old man Marbas, the whore slut, and me, he wants a meeting with the three of us.¡± Whore slut was referring to Paimon. Barbatos must not have been satisfied with just calling Paimon a whore as she decided to put the words whore and slut together. I chuckled as I responded. ¡°Don¡¯t go. Marbas is going to try to act as a mediator between you and Paimon. There¡¯s no reason for you to go right now. If you wait a little longer, you¡¯ll be at more of an advantage.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± The meeting has to be held not when the 2nd legion arrives, but when the 3rd legion, 4th legion, and the 5th legion all arrive. The more Demon Lord armies present, the harder it will be for the Mountain Faction to coordinate with the Habsburg Empire. The Demon Lord army and the Habsburg Empire are still enemies, after all. This will make things absurdly troubling for the Mountain Faction that¡¯s a part of the Demon Lord army and also the human empire¡¯s ally¡­¡­. On the other hand, this will give our ins Faction more of an advantage. ¡°Then we¡¯ll just wait.¡± ¡°Yeah. Time is on our side.¡± We decided to waitfortably. Like this, several days had passed. The Demon Lords of the ins Faction became more rxed as well. They walked around the encampment casually as if the time they were mulling over whether ¡®we should fight honorably or, although it¡¯s cowardly, survive for now¡¯ was in the distant past. In particr, Brother Beleth would often be seen grinning. Simr to the time when we were in the lord of Brandenburg¡¯s castle, he would asionally hold small banquets with a few other Demon Lords. Drinking in the middle of our camp¡­¡­well, it¡¯s fine as long as they keep it in moderation. Nheless, I¡¯d be really grateful if he stopped trying to force me to drink with him. If I were to make aparison, Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth was like Zhang Fei from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He believes that everyone in the world enjoys alcohol as much as he does. This 4-meter tall ogre crossbreed lifted up a 1-meter barrel of alcohol like some sort of professional weightlifter and chugged it down! ¡°Kuaah. Those humans know how to make some good alcohol.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I watched as the 1-meter barrel of alcohol was emptied in real time. I was bewildered. Howrge is his stomach? If his stomach isrge enough to contain the alcohol from a 1-meter barrel, then I don¡¯t think you can call that a stomach anymore. ¡°Burp.¡± Beleth let out a burp. The wretched smell of alcohol spread all around him. I wanted to faint. I already felt annoyed because I got forcefully dragged into this when I just happened to be passing by, but I also had to experience another man¡¯s breath. ¡­¡­Seriously, the world is cruel. ¡°Now then, Dantalian. Drink up!¡± Beleth poured some alcohol into my cup. ¡°This is too much¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Nonsense. If you¡¯re a man, then you should be able to drink this much through your nose!¡± If we were to go by his standards, a man has to first also share the blood of an ogre. Unfortunately, I¡¯m human. But it seems this ogre mixed breed has faulty eyes because he was treating me like I was the same race as him. This isn¡¯t right. I let out a sigh and chugged the alcohol down. ¡°Ooh.¡± The other Demon Lords around us let out an exaggerated sound of awe. One of them spoke. ¡°Impressive. He drinks well despite his figure.¡± ¡°What about my figure?¡± If possible, I¡¯d like them to say that my style is that of a young noble. Macho men like you guys are not the general trend. The trend is men like me with slender lines. I¡¯m serious. I¡¯m not a shut-in but a young noble who prefers a life of seclusion. ¡°Kuh, Vepar lost as well! 4 people have lost already!¡± ¡°Hahaha! If you wish to beat me in a drinking battle, then you have to bring three times more than this!¡± Rank 42 Demon Lord Vepar copsed. There were 3 other Demon Lords on the floor beside him. All of them had started a drinking contest with Brother Beleth and lost miserably. They are truly pathetic. Why is it that drunkards are unsightly whether they win or lose? ¡°You¡¯re next, Dantalian!¡± Alcohol spewed out from Beleth¡¯s mouth as he called me out. ¡°Eh!? Me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re my younger brother. If you¡¯re my younger brother, then you must naturally drink as much as me!¡± A ss was forced into my hands. It was a big porcin bowl that was probably mistaken as a cup when it was brought over from the kitchen. Beleth poured alcohol into the bowl. ¡°B-Brother, this is too much.¡± ¡°Hmmm? I can¡¯t hear you¨D?¡± Damn it. Was he trying to act cute just now? It¡¯d be great if he bit his tongue and killed himself right now. ¡­¡­No. Let¡¯s calm down. Even Beleth should have a limit to the size of his stomach. Hepeted against 4 other people before this, so it should be rather full now. If you look at this objectively, Beleth should no longer have any room left inside of him¡­¡­. Therefore, my victory is guaranteed! I chuckled. It was the leisure of the wise who knew how to use their headpared to a warrior who only knew how to use their body. ¡°Very well, then. I will take the title as the greatest drinker of the ins Faction.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! Kuhaha,e at me, little brother!¡± I let out a short shout before raising my bowl of alcohol. My memory was sent flying. Once I managed to force my eyes open, I saw 7 other Demon Lords copsed on the ground pitifully around me. Beleth wasn¡¯t among them. He most likely defeated 2 more people after I copsed. He wiped us outpletely. You shouldn¡¯t venture to do things you aren¡¯t used to in life. There were small incidents like this, but¡­¡­for the most part, the atmosphere in the ins Faction was fairly good. Human and demon armies continued to set up their positions on both of our sides, but no one seemed worried or acted like defeatists. We weren¡¯t excessively rxed either. We trained our drafted soldiers and reinforced our camp. We were rxed, but we also kept our guards up. Our forces managed to maintain this ideal state of mind. A majority of the Demon Lords from the ins Faction were bred for war. They knew when and how to rx better than anyone else. Armies started to gather on the Bruno ins where we had set up our encampment. The army from the Republic of Batavia arrived first. Once they arrived, the humans on the other side of the ins let out a cheer. Different from themanding officers who now had to integrate theirmand, humans were simply on the side of humans while demons were on the side of demons to the normal soldiers. They weed the sight of more humans with opened arms. Next, the armies from the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom arrived at the same time. They both had 20,000 soldiers respectively. Their dignity was impressive. The tents and banners of the human armies on the other side of the ins created a forest. With this, the human army consisted of Habsburg, Francia, Batavia, Sardinia, and Polish-Lithuania. Thus, with a total of 5 nations, they made up a massive army of 80,000. Their morale increased exponentially. For only four days. ¡°Lord! Come outside quickly!¡± Laura ran into the tent urgently. I thought that some sort ofplication had urred so I asked no questions and followed her outside. I then witnessed a surprising scene. ¡°¡­¡­A fortress?¡± A massive fortress was ¡®moving¡¯. The structure that was about 50 to 80 meters above the ground was being supported by 6 ws that were incredibly slimpared to the main body itself. It made me think of the movie Howl¡¯s Moving Castle. Of course, if you exclude its ability to move, then they shared absolutely no simrities. The body of the fortress looked slender while the legs were long. Furthermore, there were 3 cogwheels that were as big as the body attached to the stronghold. The cogwheels turned endlessly. I wasn¡¯t the only one that was surprised as there were other monsters and Demon Lordsing out of their tents to stare up at the sky with nk looks. Only Barbatos could speak calmly. ¡°That¡¯s Valefor.¡± ¡°Valefor? The Rank 6th?¡± Barbatos nodded. ¡°That¡¯s Valefor¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. The moving fortress, .¡± Dear Lord! My mouth fell agape. A dungeon like that didn¡¯t exist in the game. If I remember correctly, Valefor definitely had a grand castle like the other high-ranking Demon Lords. Albeit, the unique thing about his was the fact that it was in the ocean¡­¡­. Wait a second. The ocean? I asked Barbatos. ¡°Hey, out of curiosity. Where is his castle normally located?¡± ¡°It¡¯s usually sitting in the Germania Ocean. That guy really likes the ocean.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I understood now. That imposing castle is usually sitting in the ocean, so it normally looks as if it¡¯s floating on the surface of the ocean, but it¡¯s actually capable of walking around like it is now. Even an avid fan of Dungeon Attack like myself wasn¡¯t aware of this hidden setting¡­¡­. Rank 6 Valefor¡¯s castle overwhelmed anyone that looked at it. This was an era where tall buildings don¡¯t exist. You could live your entire life without seeing a building that¡¯s over 10 meters, and yet, a structure that¡¯s no less than 60 to 70 meters tall had suddenly appeared. Adding to this, the structure could also move around freely. The morale of the human army naturally dropped. Referentially, Rank 6 Valefor made up the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 4th legion with Rank 3 Vassago. Two people were being treated as an entire legion, but if they¡¯re like this, then they¡¯re definitelyparable to an entire legion. Think about it. An impregnable fortress can move around on its own. The amount of strategic value this has is unimaginable. The next day, Rank 2 Agares arrived while leading the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 3rd legion. The main army of the Frankish Empire arrived at around the same time. The armies of all nations hastily gathered here as if it were some sort of race. The arrivals slowly trickled down after a week. The human army¡¯s military strength was as follows. 20,000 soldiers from the Habsburg Empire, 20,000 soldiers from the Teuton Kingdom, 5,000 soldiers from the Republic of Batavia, 35,000 soldiers from the Frankish Empire, 25,000 soldiers from the Kingdom of Sardinia, 25,000 soldiers from the Polish-Lithuania Kingdom, and 5,000 soldiers from the Kingdom of Brittany. ¨DA total of 135,000 soldiers. The Demon Lord army¡¯s military strength was as follows. 30,000 soldiers from the 1st legion, 20,000 soldiers from the 2nd legion, 35,000 soldiers from the 3rd legion, 5,000 soldiers from the 4th legion, 5,000 soldiers from the 5th legion, and 15,000 soldiers from the 6th legion. ¨DA total of 110,000 soldiers. If you put together the military strengths of both sides, then this will be a war with over 200,000 soldiers. Be it the humans or the demons, they intended to bet their all in this single battle. Paimon¡¯s n had gonepletely up in smoke. Would she still side with the humans in this situation? For starters, since it¡¯s obvious that the Third Princess Elizabeth doesn¡¯t have power over all of the human army¨Dshe¡¯s only 17-years-old and a ¡®strong candidate for the throne¡¯, so there¡¯s no way she would be acknowledged as the suprememander of that massive army¨Dit¡¯s questionable how much the leading members of the human army would even cooperate with Paimon. It¡¯d be a relief if they didn¡¯t backstab her. Furthermore, our side wouldn¡¯t let that happen either. If you¡¯re going to betray us, then give it a shot. The demon world might¡¯ve understood if she used the ins Faction¡¯s 6th legion as a sacrificialmb, but there¡¯s no one who would consider the sacrifice of every legion from the 2nd to the 6th as a simple sacrifice. She can¡¯t put out a justification. She¡¯ll simply bebeled as a traitor. ¡°Old man Marbas is calling for a meeting again.¡± Barbatos grinned as she handed me the letter. A request for ¡®themanders and top advisors of every legion to gather¡¯ was written neatly on the piece of parchment. ¡°It should be fine for me to go now, right?¡± ¡°Of course. Let¡¯s go and give Paimon a good beatdown.¡± The two of us looked at one another andughed insidiously. We truly looked like Demon Lords. ¡°Oh right. You¡¯ll have to look as sad as possible.¡± I warned Barbatos. ¡°Our greatmander is an innocent girl who almost got sacrificed in that wicked Paimon¡¯s n, after all. You have to look as pitiful as possible.¡± ¡°Kekeke. Don¡¯t worry, brat. I¡¯m already a rather pure and innocent girl.¡± ¡°The purity of the world has been wiped out.¡± ¡°Do you want to get wiped out first?¡± The two of us bantered as we headed to the gathering area. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if Valefor¡¯s castle will actually y a part or if it¡¯ll just be swept under the rug and forgotten. It wasn¡¯t important enough to appear in the LN, after all. Welp, I guess we¡¯ll find outter. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 112: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (8) Chapter 112: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (8) * * * This is the first time since the Walpurgis Night that I¡¯m meeting the other Demon Lords like this. Come to think of it, it¡¯s been about half a year since the hearing. At the time, I was participating in the position of the used. Paimon tried to hold me ountable for killing Rank 72 Andromalius¡­¡­. Now the situation has been turned around. It¡¯s my turn to hold Paimon ountable for her crimes. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of irony from this. This is probably just how life is. In the center point of all our armies, a silk tent was set upyer uponyer. Attractive youths from both genders were naked and waiting to receive guests. They were a treat for the eyes. Barbatos observed one of the women¡¯s bodies¨Das you know, she¡¯s a lesbian¨Dand hummed happily to herself. ¡°Hmm. I thought this would be a simple gathering, but they¡¯re going all out.¡± There was arge assortment of races. Subi and incubi are indispensable for these sorts of things, so they were naturally present. However, even the tiger people and cat people who are traditionally respected for their high standings in demon society were also present. If I were topare this to India¡¯s caste system, I guess they¡¯re simr to Brahmins. ¡°We will guide you.¡± Once we reached the entrance, 6 young girls prostrated before us. White butts glistened in the sun. The fact that young women were assigned to us was most likely to amodate Barbatos¡¯ preference. In any case, Barbatos seemed incredibly pleased. ¡°Old man Marbas definitely knows how to treat his guests.¡± ¡°Kuh. Isn¡¯t this too extravagant?¡± 2 girls were assigned to me as well. They removed my clothes while checking for weapons and rubbed herbs on my body. They then dressed me in a toga-like cloth normally seen in Ancient Greece. It was an attire that clearly revealed your chest and thighs. The attractive people that I wouldn¡¯t even dream of treating me nicely in the past were attending to me with the utmost care. The social position above the clouds that treated this treatment as something natural was obviously the Demon Lords. ¡­¡­This is probably why that Andromalius guy became so arrogant. ¡°What? Do you not like luxurious things?¡± Barbatosmented. She was enjoying herself. She was ying around with a catgirl¡¯s earlobe. The catgirl must¡¯ve felt incredibly honored to be touched by a Demon Lord that she blushed. She probably doesn¡¯t know that such an innocent reaction would only fan the mes of Barbatos¡¯ sadism. How pitiful. It was like I was watching a richdy ying around with a rookie businesswoman. No, it was troubling because Barbatos and the catgirl looked like peers from an outside perspective. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not used to these sorts of things.¡± ¡°From my perspective, you aren¡¯t very Demon Lord-like. Be it in both a good and bad regard.¡± That¡¯s obvious. I have to speak in a solemn tone to survive, but that isn¡¯t my true nature. I felt so sick of talking informally all the time that I¡¯d intentionally talk to Laura in a formal tone. The fact that no one asked any questions and treated me respectfully was a lot more stressful than one might expect. We followed the attractive guides into the cloth tent. The tent rustled due to the breeze and shined radiantly under the sun. We eventually reached a wide-open space after we had continued through theyers andyers of cloths that made the tent feel like abyrinth. We had reached the center of the tent. ¡°Oh dear, who¡¯s this? Long time no see~.¡± There was someone who had arrived before us. It was a woman. She wasying on her side on a bed. She wasn¡¯t wearing her clothes properly, so her breasts were on full disy. Honest to God, they were probably the biggest breasts I¡¯ve ever seen sinceing to this world. They went beyond being gigantic and were explosive. G-cup? No, H-cup? I couldn¡¯t guess their size. She was the Demon Lord that had a clear split in her fan base among the yers of , Rank 4 Gamigin. This blonde and beautiful woman was on her side eating grapes. She wasn¡¯t eating the grapes with her own hands but was being fed by a white-haired butler next to her. Gamigin would eat the grapes after the butler had peeled the skin off of them. The grapes rolled down her red tongue. It was a rather sensual sight to behold. Barbatos chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re justpletelyid out, huh? You enjoying yourself?¡± ¡°It¡¯s reeeeaaally great~. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t really expecting much from this gathering. I was sighing because I thought it¡¯d be boring and just filled with bloodlust, but to my surprise, the reception turned out to be amazing.¡± ¡°Oh, my head. Considering your tone, you must¡¯ve already gone a round.¡± ¡°Think of it as a special privilege for the person who arrives first~.¡± We also sat on the beds that were prepared for us respectively. A few attendants approached us and began to wash both Barbatos¡¯ and my bare feet. The spaces between my toes felt cool. Immediately after they finished, they brought us a variety of fragrant alcohols. A soft melody was being yed on the other side of the cloth. Musicians were most likely ying music around this tent. The sound of a flute tickled my lungs. Attractive men and women, high-quality alcohol, and even music. With this, most hostile intent would disappear and be all warm and soft. How impressive. I was certain that Demon Lord Marbas, the one who had called this meeting, had nned this out in detail before proposing this gathering. ¡°But who is this gentleman? I don¡¯t remember him.¡± ¡°Demon Lord with beautiful blonde hair, I am Rank 71 Dantalian.¡± ¡°Aah!¡± Gamigin pushed herself up from her bed. ¡°So you¡¯re Dantalian! Wow. I pictured some wicked and rotten-looking grandpa, but you¡¯re a lot younger than I expected.¡± I forced a smile on my lips. Who are you calling wicked and rotten? I¡¯m emphasizing this again, but there¡¯s no one who¡¯s as pure as I am. ¡°Ah! Don¡¯t worry! I like wicked and rotten old men! If I get pounded by that kind of trashy person, then it feels like I¡¯m bing trash as well, so it feels unbearably good. It gets me excited!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was for a very brief moment, but I seriously had to contemte whether to take this as apliment or not. Barbatos, who took the bed next to me, spoke tly. ¡°She¡¯s a masochist.¡± Sadist Barbatos and masochist Gamigin, huh? The Demon Lords sure have some diverse personalities. I¡¯m not interested in how they enjoy their private lives and I don¡¯t want to say it, but you shouldn¡¯t go on about your sexual preferences when meeting someone for the first time. I have no idea how I¡¯m supposed to respond. Is it that? Is this like a type of voyeurism? Does she feel some sort of pleasure by openly revealing her preferences? She¡¯s a pervert that ascends one¡¯s imaginations¡­¡­. I¡¯m not calling myself the purest out of all Demon Lords for no reason. ¡°Hmm. This is pretty interesting. Hey, can I speak to you casually?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Mhm, mhm. Since we¡¯re friends now, mind if I ask you something no holds barred?¡± If you can speak informally does that make you friends? What a simple mindset. Once I was about to smile bitterly, Gamigin continued while maintaining her jolly demeanor. ¡°Can I kill Paimon?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± How should I say it? She really is frank. Once I remained silent with a pleasant smile still on my face, Gamigin continued excitedly. ¡°I¡¯ve wanted to kill Paimon since a long time ago! I hated the fact that she dragged in a majority of the Demon Lords into her faction. Furthermore, that girl always acts while shouldering the justice of demon society on her back~. Seriously. If I killed her, I¡¯d obviously get scolded really badly, so I did my best to endure.¡± She revealed her white teeth as she smiled. ¡°It should be fine to kill her now, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll let you two in on a secret.¡± Gamigin brought her right hand to her mouth and whispered quietly. Although it didn¡¯t matter since the attendants around us could still hear her. ¡°Right now, there are 300 wyverns flying about a thousand meters above us~. If I give them the order, then they¡¯lle attacking with a swoosh! Hehe. They¡¯re cute, but they¡¯re also fairly strong kids. If we put our strength together, then I¡¯m sure we can hunt Paimon down!¡± A chill went down my spine. Hundreds of wyverns that are considered Rank A monsters. The woman who looked like she intended to only attend the meeting peacefully and enjoy herself had just revealed that she had set up a death trap¡­¡­. What a deceitful viiness. No. She¡¯s just confident in her strength. She has absolute confidence in her ability to ughter someone like the Rank 9 Demon Lord if she¡¯s simply given the opportunity to do so. Therefore, she¡¯s capable of casually discussing someone¡¯s death. This is the reason. I maintained my expression as I spoke carefully. ¡°The Mountain Faction is thergest faction in the Demon Lord army. If you mess with them rashly, then you would not gain anything, Miss Gamigin.¡± ¡°Hmm? I don¡¯t get it. Isn¡¯t it fine to crush someone as long as you have the justification to do so?¡± The blonde Gamigin tilted her head as if she truly didn¡¯t understand. ¡°It¡¯s not like Paimon is treated like some sort of empress in the Mountain Faction. Including Sitri, there¡¯s about five or six people who¡¯ve sworn their loyalty to her and I¡¯m more than capable of crushing them all! I¡¯m not trying to brag, but I¡¯m rather strong!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If we take Paimon and their heads, then the rest of the Mountain Faction will cooperate with us appropriately. Well, if they don¡¯t cooperate, then let¡¯s get rid of them too. Hehe.¡± I couldn¡¯t give her an answer. Shortly after, more guests began to pour in. Rank 3 Vassago, Rank 2 Agares, Rank 10 Buer, and the host of this meeting, Rank 5 Marbas. They either greeted each other courteously or disyed t out hostility towards one another. However, once Marbas stood forward to mediate, the atmosphere became mostly pleasant. And finally, Rank 9 Paimon arrived. She was apanied by her lieutenant, Rank 12 Sitri. Paimon only greeted the other Demon Lords out of formality, but she remained silent the entire time. Our eyes met as well. We exchanged greetings through our gazes. There were someplicated emotions behind Paimon¡¯s eyes. Did she also feel this was ironic as she recalled what happened during the Walpurgis Night? ¡°Wow, where¡¯d this bitche from?¡± Barbatos spoke smugly. ¡°Paimon, it¡¯s nice to see you, you know? Keke.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hey, at least she knows that she¡¯s shameless. Look at her keeping her mouth shut. If she protected her chastity like that, then she wouldn¡¯t be called a whore. Isn¡¯t that so, whore slut?¡± ¡°Shut up. You¡¯re being rude.¡± Rank 12 Sitri was the one to respond in Paimon¡¯s stead. In the game, she had formed sisterly ties with Paimon. It seems it was the same here as well. Barbatos red at Sitri. ¡°You¡¯re the one who should shut up, you mindlessly speaking whore. Do you not understand the situation you¡¯re in? Do you think I came here so we could happily reconcile? I came here to fuck up you Mountain Faction bastards, you bisexual insect.¡± ¡°Ha? Do we look like pushovers to you?¡± Sitri sneered. ¡°We could wipe out you weaklings from the ins Faction whenever we want. Barbatos, I heard that you cried like a baby a few days ago? Did you go insane after crying once? Do you think you can take me on?¡± ¡°Keke. You talk well for a brat who only knows how to betray their allies.¡± Barbatos red coldly at Sitri with her golden eyes. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll fight you. I¡¯ll cut off that dick of yours and shove it in that whore slut Paimon¡¯s mouth so be grateful. Won¡¯t it be great to receive a blowjob after you¡¯ve died?¡± ¡°This bitch¡­¡­!¡± Marbas let out a sigh as he stood between them. ¡°You two never escape my expectations. I always hope that maybe one day you will, but it feels pointless now. Do you think only the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction are gathered here? Control yourselves.¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t control myself.¡± Barbatos spoke. ¡°Grandpa Marbas, I respect your attitude, but what I¡¯m trying to say is that I can¡¯t just sit around and y nice with that bitch Paimon. If I go along with it here, then wouldn¡¯t I just look like some pushover? Regrettably, I don¡¯t have any intention to be treated that way.¡± Barbatos got up from her bed. She then pointed towards Paimon and made a deration. ¡°The banquet or whatever can wait tillter. I, Rank 8 Barbatos, would like to use Rank 9 Paimon of the act of betraying her kind. I request for a formal hearing!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ve been in my head too muchtely and I often end up trying to distract myself which leads me to being unproductive for a couple of hours. I think the most optimal situation I could have would be if I got paid for these chapters, then I could trante without worry, but that¡¯s highly unlikely. Sort of makes me worry whether I¡¯ll have to stop one day just to make a living. I want to see this through until the very end, but who knows what the future holds. In any case, tangent aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 113: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (9) Chapter 113: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (9) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ Sitri scowled. She shouted about how that was ridiculous, but Paimon herself remained cool. Paimon most likely understood that the general consensus was on our side. Things would simply be disadvantageous for her if she tried to im to be innocent here, this was most likely what she was thinking. Or perhaps, she had something else in mind. Sitri shouted. ¡°In the first ce, it doesn¡¯t make any sense! What? We came here to attack the ins Faction from behind? Hey you, yeah you. Dantalian or whatever. I heard you wrote that in your message and sent it out? If you have any evidence, then show it.¡± Oh dear, the arrowhead is pointing to me now. Did she think I¡¯d be easier to deal with than Barbatos? Be it here or in the game, Sitri was never an eloquent Demon Lord. She was purely a fighter. It seems this meathead was understandably looking down on me. The other Demon Lords, whose presences were like that of glittering stars, were looking towards us with interested eyes. In truth, they only took action because of my message. Marbas was the only person among them who was present during that fateful Walpurgis Night. Therefore, this is like my debut for them. Well, whatever. If Marbas is the host of this gathering, then I¡¯m the host behind the curtains. As the host, it is my duty to entertain my guests. Shall I try throwing out some bait? ¡°If it is proof, then there is more than enough. It is as clear as day even if you only look at the letter you people sent to the ins Faction.¡± I took out the letter from my pocket and waved it around for people to see. ¡°Agree to an armistice with the human army that has always been sworn enemies to demonkind, if you do not, then we will attack you¡­¡­. No matter how you look at this, this is an act of treason. There is no proof better than this.¡± ¡°Hmph. That can¡¯t be treated as a betrayal.¡± Sitri snorted as if she had expected this. ¡°We simply acted for the sake of our greater cause. Taking over a portion of thend on the continent for demonkind to live. This is our purpose. We could have taken the northern region of Habsburg without shedding a single drop of blood if we epted that armistice!¡± ¡°Without shedding a single drop of blood, is it?¡± I snickered. This wasn¡¯t an act. I fully disyed the emotion I was feeling. ¡°Whose blood could you possibly be referring to?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We struggled desperately to get through the fortresses on the ck Mountains. We defeated Margrave Rosenberg and established peace in a portion of the northern region. Ultimately, we won against a total of 50,000 imperial soldiers. Do you believe that not a single drop of blood was shed during this process? A countless number of demons have fallen.¡± Even I got hit by an arrow on the thigh during the battle in Austerlitz. At the very least, my blood has seeped into this earth. ¡°Sitri, the ¡®we¡¯ you are referring to most likely is directed to only the Mountain Faction. The numerous deaths within the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance is not a part of your ¡®we¡¯. Before thinking for the sake of the entire Crescent Alliance, a Demon Lord is thinking only for their specific faction. What a dereliction of duty. How preposterous.¡± I shrugged. A few Demon Lords around usughed. It was Barbatos and Gamigin. The greatest sadist and masochist of the Demon Lord army, huh? It seems I only give a favorable impression to perverts and not normal people. It seems that saying about birds of a feather flocking together was wrong. ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying!¡± Sitri¡¯s face became red. However, that was it. She imed that I was wrong, but only an incoherent excuse followed after. I found myself letting out a sigh. This conversation is bing disappointing. At the very least, Paimon, who¡¯s currently in the distance looking at me impassively, almost got me killed during the Walpurgis Night. If I hadn¡¯t used my knowledge from the game to coax Ivar Lodbrok, then I would have definitely lost. It¡¯d be great if she could disy this much ability as well¡­¡­but this was probably asking too much from a fighter who only has muscles for a brain. ¡°In any case, I¡¯m saying that your im has no proof!¡± ¡°So you are saying that the Mountain Faction has nevermunicated secretly with the Habsburg Empire. Is this what you are saying?¡± ¡°Of course. Our Mountain Faction has only acted for the sake of demonkind.¡± I mused and pretended to contemte her words. ¡°Then the Mountain Faction considers our ins Faction as allies, correct?¡± ¡°Naturally. We¡¯re all a part of the Crescent Alliance, after all.¡± ¡°Mm, very well, then.¡± I relented. Sitri furrowed her brows. It must seem suspicious since I was suddenly being submissive despite being so aggressive a second ago. However, I¡¯ve already managed to reel in my bait. Arge chunk of the Mountain Faction was currently caught on the bait. ¡°I also wish for the Mountain Faction to be innocent. However, the problem is how this appears to others.¡± ¡°Others?¡± Sitri scowled further. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Regardless of your intentions, the Mountain Faction had threatened the ins Faction. If the othermanders present here today had not arrived, then the ins Faction would have undoubtedly been wiped out. A portion of the Demon Lord army and demon society have already begun to treat Miss Paimon as a traitor.¡± ¡°Haah? What kind of bastard thinks¡­¡­.¡± I cut her off. ¡°Miss Gamigin, may I ask you for your personal opinion? Do you believe that Paimon and the Mountain Faction have betrayed the Demon Lord army?¡± ¡°Yup. I do think that they betrayed us.¡± The blonde Demon Lord answered immediately with a bright grin. ¡°Sorry that a bastard like me thinks that way~.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But, you know, wouldn¡¯t the people who think otherwise actually be the minority? It¡¯s over if you just attach a justification, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that the ins Faction would¡¯ve ended up with their faces in the dirt. You can go on about it being for the sake of demonkind, but you were still trying to shave away at the Crescent Alliance¡¯s military strength.¡± Sitri was at a loss for words. Gamigin openly winked at me. She looked like she wanted me to praise her for doing a good job. This made it feel like I was looking at arge dog with blonde hair. ¡°Well, that is how it is. Regardless of whether Miss Sitri acknowledges this as proof or not, the Mountain Faction will be seen as guilty once the hearing is opened. In this case, excluding the user and the used which are the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction¡­¡­roughly 25 Demon Lords will be able to participate in this hearing. How many of them do you think would believe in the Mountain Faction¡¯s pure and lofty justification?¡± Demon Lords are greedy people. They wouldn¡¯t even bat an eye if presented with an opportunity to weaken someone else. I guarantee that the Mountain Faction will be found guilty. Sitri must¡¯ve realized this as well, as she spoke in a slightly less confident voice. ¡°If you guys don¡¯t hold a hearing, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We refuse. You said that there is no proof of the Mountain Faction¡¯s guilt, correct? Allow me to return those words. Is there proof that the Mountain Faction is innocent?¡± Sitri couldn¡¯t respond. ¡°Since both sides do not have any proof, let us settle this through a vote. This would only be fair.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The room became quiet. Gamigin and Barbatos whispered to each other, but their conversation could be heard clearly since no one else was talking. ¡°I like him~. Can I have him?¡± ¡°Fuck off, you masochist. I called dibs 140,000,000 years ago.¡± ¡°Eeh. That¡¯s unfair.¡± ¡­¡­Don¡¯t treat someone like some sort of object you can pass around. The leader of the Neutral Faction, Marbas, let out a sigh. His wrinkles were refined, so he looked like a rather handsome middle-aged man. ¡°Dantalian, Demon Lord of Many Faces, I also believe that you have a point; however, if we let this happen, then a river which can never be crossed will appear between the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction. The Mountain Faction and the ins Faction are the 2 main forces of the Demon Lord army. In truth, this would cause the entire Demon Lord army to be split apart.¡± ¡°Is it already not split?¡± ¡°It is a matter of degree, Dantalian. Everything in the world is a matter of degree.¡± Marbas removed his monocle and cleaned it with a piece of silk cloth. ¡°Should we go to war with the humans or should we consider the situation and withdraw¡­¡­? There is no absolute answer for which action is correct. It changes depending on the situation and time. Nheless, we may be immortal, but that does not make us all-knowing. It is impossible to urately distinguish these things.¡± What must be done? He asked again. ¡°This is why we need factions. One side will dere why war is good while the other side will dere why war is bad. Both sides will gather proof to support their ims. By doing this, the Demon Lord army will gain a general opinion. You could call this a division ofbor. Do you understand? The goal of a debate is not all there is to a debate. The goal is to reach a bnce by debating.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A statement that befitted the head of the Neutral Faction. He was saying that discourse between factions is fine, but doing so excessively to the point of killing one side for the survival of the other would be going too far. Do not go too far. ¡°A bird that loses a wing will be unable to fly. Dantalian, if the Mountain Faction trying to attack the ins Faction is wrong, then would it not also be wrong for the ins Faction to try and wipe out the Mountain Faction in retaliation? I wish for a reasonablepromise. Of course, if the ins Faction chooses to be tolerant, then the Neutral Faction will support you fully.¡± In other words, he¡¯llpensate us politically and materially. Hm. Originally, I never nned to wipe out the Mountain Faction. That would only be doing a good thing for those humans, after all. Even if I¡¯m officially a part of the ins Faction, my ultimate goal will always be to survive and conquer. For this sake, both humans and demons have to be bnced in terms of strength. The issue is convincing Barbatos. If a hearing is held, then the Neutral Faction will deliberately take the Mountain Faction¡¯s side. The Neutral Faction will most likely lead a back and forth debate before finally suggesting apromise. I had nned to convince Barbatos to ¡®back down here¡¯ at that point. But this is different. ¡­¡­Marbas is already offering apromise. It sounded rather reasonable. If it¡¯s this, then I might be able to convince Barbatos. It¡¯s a question as to how many people here noticed the nuance behind Marbas¡¯ words, but, at the very least, I managed to see through it. It would be hard to expect the Neutral Faction¡¯s support if a hearing is held. ¡­¡­Among the 25 Demon Lords that have the right to vote, the Neutral Faction has about 10 seated members. I have to take a step back here. I spoke calmly without batting an eye. ¡°You make an excellent point. Hearings are naturally impeding matters. Simr to how you mentioned that you are a member of the Demon Lord army before being a part of the Neutral Faction, I am also a single Demon Lord before being a part of the ins Faction.¡± Marbas never said that ¡®he is a member of the Demon Lord army before being a part of the Neutral Faction¡¯. The reason why I decided to fabricate these words despite this was purely political. For starters, I ced the words ¡®hearings are naturally impeding matters¡¯, which can be taken as nothing more than diplomatic rhetoric, at the front. I ced the word ¡®hearing¡¯ at the front like a traffic sign and followed it with context. By doing this, I disyed that ¡®I understand that your Neutral Faction is going to participate in the hearing while considering the position of the entire Demon Lord army.¡¯ If you look into these words that seem like only a simple exchange on the surface, you¡¯ll discover an excellent political trade. Marbas is the great individual who has acted as the mediator between the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction for more than a thousand years. He should be able to understand the nuance behind my words with ease. Sure enough. ¡¸Demon Lord Marbas¡¯ affection has risen by 10.¡¹ A notification window popped up with a sound effect. Marbas was satisfied that his intentions had gotten across clearly and he had received the answer he wanted. ¡°Of course, the Mountain Faction is in the wrong. This is unquestionable. I simply wished to cool down this heated mood. It would not be toote to discuss this hearing a littleter.¡± What should I say? I don¡¯t dislike this old Demon Lord before me. He nailed in the fact that ¡®the Mountain Faction is in the wrong¡¯ in consideration of the ins Faction and he threw out smoke to cover the context behind our conversation by iming that he wanted to ¡®cool down this heated mood¡¯. After saving the party¡¯s face and hiding the implicit conversation, he naturally continued by adding ¡®it would not be toote to discuss this hearing a littleter.¡¯ He was telling me to discuss this with Barbatos. ¡°Now then, I would like to wee everyone for epting my invitation.¡± Marbas gave a light p. Once he did, attractive men and women formed a line as they appeared from between theyers of cloth while dancing. Their skin glistened with oil. A portion of them were wearing clothes while the rest were naked. This was most likely for the sake of pleasing a variety of tastes. There are a lot of people who prefer clothes, after all. The musicians beyond the cloth walls yed their instruments louder. Excluding Paimon and Sitri, the other Demon Lords enjoyed the party. I exchanged whispers with Barbatos while taking enjoyment out of this extravagant party. ¡°What should we do? Do we hold the hearing or not?¡± ¡°What are you saying? Of course we¡¯ll hold it.¡± Mm. Barbatos failed to capture the implicit meaning behind my conversation with Marbas. Once I quietly exined it to her, Barbatos muttered. ¡°Dear Lord, fuck.¡± We smiled pleasantly. We were managing our facial expressions since we didn¡¯t want other people to know what we were discussing. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hm, a couple of people suggested putting early viewable chapters on Patreon. I never really wanted to do that in the past, but it¡¯s been more than 3 years since I made my Patreon and times are changing. If I really want to do this, then I¡¯m going to have to sit down and try to trante as much as I can in a single day. I don¡¯t want to force a dy on regr releases. I¡¯ll also have to think about how many early viewable chapters should be avable on Patreon first and what the dy would be. I¡¯m not really sure how people will really react to this either. I¡¯ll have to ruminate over this for a bit. Don¡¯t expect anything big any time soon. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 114: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (10) Chapter 114: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (10) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Is that really what that old man is scheming?¡± ¡°In my opinion, we should try to reach a reasonablepromise. We can also use this opportunity to make the Neutral Faction owe us a favor.¡± We discussed what a reasonablepromise would be. I brought up the alternative that I had already prepared beforehand and made it seem as if I had thought it up on the spot. Barbatos was unable to throw away her desire to hold a hearing, but there were no alternatives since we didn¡¯t have anything else to persuade the Neutral Faction with. In the end, my suggestion was epted. I gave Marbas a nce, notifying him that we had finished our discussion. Marbas wasn¡¯t even looking at me, but he must¡¯ve been paying attention to me at all times as he stood up as soon as I sent him a nce. ¡°It appears that everyone is enjoying the banquet. As the host, I am honored. Allow me to have the honor of making a toast. For the Crescent Alliance!¡± ¡°For the Crescent Alliance!¡± The Demon Lords emptied their sses in a single gulp. The volume of the music gradually dimmed down. The young men and women that were dancing in the nude slowly made their way out. Marbas had most likely sent them a signal. The borate nning of a Demon Lord who specializes in politics was impressive. ¡°Although I personally wish to carry on with this banquet forever.¡± Marbas gazed at each and every Demon Lord. ¡°Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a war. The goal of this banquet is for themanding leaders of our army to get ustomed to the faces of the allies they will be marching together with on the battlefield. Therefore, war is the first and foremost goal.¡± Once Marbas nodded, a peculiar three-dimensional image appeared in the center of the room. It was a map of Bruno ins where both the Demon Lord army and the human army were currently positioned. It urately disyed the locations of all 6 legions of the Crescent Alliance and the human nations from the Habsburg Empire to the Kingdom of Brittany. ¡°The human forces have a total of 140,000 soldiers. Our Crescent Alliance has 110,000 soldiers in total.¡± Marbas continued. ¡°If we consider the quality of our soldiers, then we have an overwhelming advantage; however, at least 25 knight brigades will be taking part on the human side. Among them, a majority of the knights from the will most likely be included. In the end, this will not be an easy battle. If we are unable to trust each other in this situation, then we will undoubtedly fail. Thus, as the host of this banquet and the leader of the Neutral Faction, I would like to ask you all a favor. Put aside your internal strife. Will you consider my request?¡± I stood up. ¡°I, Rank 71 Dantalian, shall speak as the representative of the ins Faction. Regardless of the Mountain Faction¡¯s intentions, it is true that we were essentially threatened. For the sake of forgiving this crime, the Mountain Faction must prove that they truly did not intend to betray us.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Marbas nodded. ¡°But how are they supposed to prove themselves? They do not have any backing piece of evidence.¡± ¡°They can create it, then. People of the Mountain Faction!¡± I red at Paimon and Sitri. ¡°Stand as the vanguard for the great war that will soon unfold! The very act of fighting against the humans at the forefront will be enough proof that you are still loyal to the Demon Lord army.¡± Sitri looked like she chewed on a bug once I finished talking. Being the vanguard in arge-scale battle will undoubtedly incur the most losses. There¡¯s no way to avoid this since the battle will be fought by more than 200,000 soldiers in total. To put it simply, we were telling them to prove their innocence through blood. ¡°You bastard¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Keep in mind that our proposal is incredibly generous. We are not asking you topensate us with money or give us a public apology. We are simply offering you the honor of standing as the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance.¡± ¡°Hah, honor? We¡¯ll die a dog¡¯s death!¡± Sitri started to fume again. She really is a hotblooded fellow. Nheless, this is something she can¡¯t refuse. ¡°I am telling you this beforehand, but there is no room for negotiations. Will you ept this or refuse it. You only have these two options. If you refuse this offer, then the ins Faction will immediately send the Mountain Faction a deration of war.¡± I wasn¡¯t bluffing. Barbatos isn¡¯t someone who¡¯s naive enough to do nothing after being attacked. She wanted revenge even if it meant that this Crescent Alliance expedition could fail. It was for the dignity of her group. Sitri became dumbstruck. ¡°You guys are the ones betraying the Crescent Alliance!¡± ¡°Crescent Alliance this, Crescent Alliance that¡­¡­. If you truly do cherish the Crescent Alliance, then prove it through your actions. All of the actions that the Mountain Faction has taken until now clearly went against the cause of the Crescent Alliance. No one will believe you if you only put your words forward and nothing else.¡± Iughed. ¡°You do not wish to fight at the forefront, but go on about acting for the sake of demonkind¡­¡­and when you think you can profit, you start scheming for things like an armistice? You surely are blessed. I envy you.¡± Schemes are a double-edged sword. Schemes that fail be incidents to bemoan as theye back to you like arrows. Or, at the very least, they¡¯re like arrows that leave the bow and scrape off your skin. A bullet that can kill the schemer because of the ricochet. This is why schemers must always dig two graves. If they intend to kill someone, then they need to resolve themselves to die as well. Paimon, have you made that resolve? ¡°This weak little shit, acting all exalted¨D.¡± ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Paimon intervened right when Sitri was about to shout something. Sitri looked discontent, but she backed down obediently once Paimon stopped her. It was now that Paimon opened her mouth for the first time today. ¡°Dantalian. We will ept your suggestion.¡± ¡°S-Sis!?¡± Sitri was shocked. ¡°Please stay silent. ¡­¡­Stand as the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance. Will you believe in our innocence if we do this?¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct. I assure you that the ins Faction will not ask for anything more in regard to this incident after this.¡± ¡°Very well, then. However, we have a condition.¡± ¡°A condition?¡± Paimon nodded. ¡°There is a ceremonial procedure that is always carried out before a war of this size. One representative from both sides wille out and give a speech in order to lower the enemy¡¯s morale and raise the morale of their allies. It is unnecessary for raid operations, but it is a very useful procedure in situations like this.¡± Ah. I know what she¡¯s talking about. This was something that was possible because magic exists in the world of . A representative is put up on arge hologram screen and their voices are amplified so that they can give a speech to the opposing side¡¯s army. This is usually done for the sake of boasting one¡¯s strength and dering how weak their foes are before iming that their actions are justified in this war while their enemies¡¯ are not. The main character in was talented in this. Mankind, rise! Let us fight together! Every human army would respond with a cheer once the protagonist shouted these words. In the game, you would toss a die and the morale of your troops would increase and decrease ording to the result of the toss. In other words, this gave a buff. So a system in the game is treated like a ¡®ceremony¡¯ here. But what about it? I gave Paimon a curious look. ¡°Dantalian, I request that you give the speech as our representative.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°This is the Mountain Faction¡¯s condition. We as well will not allow room for negotiations.¡± Paimon closed her mouth as if that was all she had to say. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It didn¡¯t make sense. How could going out as the representative to give the speech be considered a condition? I requested a moment to think and went to discuss with Barbatos in private. I felt too uncertain to make any decisions on my own. The sound of music filled the room again. Thinking about it now, the music has an effect of preventing people from listening in on secret conversations between people. Marbas really is thorough. ¡°Paimon probably shared a magical vow with the imperial princess from Habsburg. I¡¯m not certain, though.¡± ¡°Aha. So that¡¯s why it¡¯d be troubling if she were to make the war deration first.¡± Barbatos¡¯ spection definitely seemed usible. Be it the imperial princess or Paimon, they made a secret agreement with the race their respective kinds had been fighting for over 2,000 years. They most likely set up some safety precautions. For example, a spell that puts a curse on them if they ever decide to break their vows and attack the other side. Hmm. Magic is still a new thing for me, so I never considered this possibility. Well, it doesn¡¯t particrly matter since there¡¯s no way of knowing what sort of contract they could¡¯ve made¡­¡­. ¡°But why me?¡± ¡°She¡¯s trying to get revenge, idiot.¡± Barbatos seemed to enjoy my misfortune as she chuckled. ¡°Until now, you¡¯ve constantly been scheming behind the curtains. What do you think would happen if you stepped forward and made the deration of war in a battle of this size? Your face will be remembered by both the humans and demons.¡± ¡°Damn it. Her grudges are incredible.¡± It made sense, but it wasn¡¯t exactly enough to convince me. Are you telling me she set that condition simply because of her personal grudge towards me? No matter how you try to put it, that just seems stingy and immature. The reason why Paimon failed wasn¡¯t due to my insidiousness, but because she messed up. I¡¯ve only been acting ording to her ns. I let out a sigh. ¡°Well¡­¡­It can¡¯t be helped.¡± ¡°Oh? So you¡¯re going to ept it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like giving a speech is going to hurt me that much.¡± To put it bluntly, there are most likely only a few humans who know that I¡¯m the Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian. No, wouldn¡¯t it be close to none? My name will go around a bit if I go out as the representative, but that¡¯s it. People remember the generals of the invading army, not the envoys. At most, my infamy might go up a little. No, if anything, this might increase my right to speak in the Demon Lord army. If you put this into consideration, this might actually be a rather honorable position. It was on the spot, but a good idea came to mind as well. I immediately gave an answer after I finished consulting with Barbatos. ¡°Very well. If the othermanders here agree to it as well, then I will more than dly go out as the representative of the Crescent Alliance.¡± The othermanders readily agreed. It was because Marbas actively asked for their approval. The blonde Gamigin didn¡¯t seem pleased as she remained stubborn until the end, but she ultimately consented. Gamigin was probably disappointed that she couldn¡¯t use this opportunity to crush the Mountain Faction. The negotiation came to an end. In conclusion, our ins Faction managed to force the Mountain Faction into a situation where they will incur losses without us having to dirty our hands. The Neutral Faction managed to show their authority once more by mediating between the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction. By chance, the remaining Demon Lords with no affiliations managed to prevent the Mountain Faction from monopolizing all of the aplishments from the Crescent Alliance. And, finally, the Mountain Faction pushed their innocence through. Each group obtained a rtively satisfying result from this meeting. We all agreed that we had to go to battle as soon as possible. We had gathered an excessivelyrge army. Going to battle was essential for the sake of obtaining an ample supply of provisions, human flesh. The Demon Lord army repositioned themselves in a rather disorderly way. The Mountain Faction¡¯s 1st legion was the vanguard. The Neutral Faction¡¯s 2nd legion, Vassago and Valefor¡¯s 4th legion, and our ins Faction¡¯s 6th legion made up the middle army while the rest of the Demon Lords took up the rear. It took 2 full days for us to reposition ourselves like this. During this, the human armies were also organizing their battle array. We could see the Frankish Empire¡¯s g fluttering in the distance across the ins. It seems the Frankish Empire was the vanguard for the humans. War was gradually approaching. For the past 2 days, I was shut in my quarters busily preparing a speech. I ended up with the important role of saying the opening words for the uing war, after all. I¡¯d be theughing stock of 200,000 soldiers from both the human and demon sides if I identally bite my tongue during my speech. I won¡¯t embarrass myself like that! ¡°I believe that much preparation is enough.¡± Lapismented. Referentially, it was around this time that she, an employee of the Keuncuska Firm and my exclusive merchant, had arrived. It felt like a long time had passed since Ist saw her pink hair. Even though it had only been 2 months since west met. ¡°You can never have enough practice.¡± ¡°Haa. Is that so?¡± Up to this point, she had been following my orders and spreading rumors throughout the human and demon worlds. Furthermore, she made contact with leading members of the human army by using bribes when necessary. In other words, she had been moving as my hands and feet while I was out on this expedition. ¡°In regard to Her Highness Paimon, she is also contracted to our Keuncuska Firm so we noticed her movements. She has apparently been concentrating her efforts on gathering intel on Your Highness Dantalian.¡± ¡°Hm? On me?¡± ¡°Yes, it has already been a month since she has started.¡± A lot of time has already passed if she started a month ago. She¡¯s been gathering information on me all this time? ¡°¡­¡­Did she notice that I¡¯ve been acting behind the scenes?¡± ¡°My information gathering did not manage to get that far.¡± However, Lapis continued. ¡°Be careful. Her Highness Paimon is not one of the highest-ranking Demon Lords only in name. There is a chance that she could be hiding a trump card.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The general consensus seemed okay with me putting early ess chapters on my Patreon, so I spent the past few days just tranting as much as I can so I wouldn¡¯t dy my normal releases but also have extra chapters on my Patreon. I¡¯m not really sure what a ¡®fair¡¯ price would be, so I set the chapters to be essible by people who pay $3 or more. Custom pledges, unfortunately, don¡¯t allow you to see the posts even if you pay more than $3 because Patreon isn¡¯t advanced enough for that apparently. They¡¯ll only let you see posts meant for ¡®All Patreons¡¯. In any case, I guess we¡¯ll see how this goes. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter, or on my Patreon now I guess? Chapter 115: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (11) Chapter 115: The One Who Curses Digs Two Graves (11) * * * Both armies finished getting into formation with the ins between them. The human army had spread their cavalrymen out in a line on both their right and left sides so that they could charge whenever they wanted to. If I were to make a rough estimate, they had at least 10,000 cavalrymen. Seeing 10,000 cavalrymen was truly a sight to behold. A thing called aura exists in this world. Each nation likes to call it something different like air, emanation, aurora, etc, but in any case, it¡¯s something that allows humans to be superpowered. This is what makes the military system here vastly different from the one back in my world. To put it simply, it can drastically increase the strength of a knight. No matter how strong you make your defenses with spearmen, if a knight swings his aura-enhanced sword, then he could cut the spears like a de through stalks of corn. You can¡¯t pierce a knight¡¯s body even if you stab them with a sword ornd a direct hit with an arrow. They be literal human tanks. The military power of each nation depends on how many knights the lords of each respective nation possess. Rulers tend to be especially worried whenever they discover that one of their vassals have a lot more knights than necessary. You created another battalion of knights? Are you trying to start a rebellion?¡­¡­They usually think along these lines. Due to how important knights are, people tend to hire anyone that has a talent in using auras whether they¡¯re a fallen noble or amoner. The lords of minor territories are usually kept in check by their rulers, so they aren¡¯t able to scout talented individuals. Therefore, those who are gifted are usually sent to the capitals of kingdoms or dukedoms where an effort to raise knights are usually made. In other words, where academies are born. The ¡®right to establish an academy¡¯ is incredibly important. Minor lords naturally don¡¯t have the authority to create academies. You¡¯d have to be someone like Margrave Rosenberg to be able to get those rights. As a result, the margrave had thousands of knights and cavalrymen. If they didn¡¯t have the utmost trust from their rulers, then they would never be given the right to establish an academy. Despite this, spearmen and archers are not in a decline in this world. Why is that you may ask? The reason is simple: because monsters exist. Monsters live in rtive peace in the territories of prominent lords. Knights woulde to subjugate them if they rampage too much, after all. They go wild to an appropriate degree, get appropriately subjugated, and live appropriately. The lords would even go out of their way to clear up unimportant ces like mountain viges. All things considered, monsters are also shrewd creatures. On the other hand, the situation in the territories of minor lords is theplete opposite. As mentioned earlier, minor lords only possess a small number of knights. They don¡¯t have enough to send them out however they please to take care of rampaging monsters. Thus, monsters pige viges in these areas as much as they want. It¡¯s a type of contradiction within human society. They have no knights because they¡¯re minor lords, it¡¯s hard for them to subjugate monsters because they don¡¯t have knights, and since it¡¯s difficult to subjugate monsters, themoners incur the most losses. Moreover, themoners aren¡¯t able to move even if they wanted to because they don¡¯t have the right to do so. The affluent territories continue to flourish over time while it bes harder and harder for smaller territories to live. Commoners can only live their entire lives either hoping to be talented in using auras or hoping that their sons or daughters are born gifted¡­¡­. Is this not funny? It¡¯s a world where auras exist, but it¡¯s still the same as my original world when ites to these key factors. Except, the only difference is probably the fact that those gifted in using auras aren¡¯t discriminated against by their gender and are all treated greatly. The numerous spearmen and archers across the ins are those very lower-ss people. How else could they fight against monsters when they can¡¯t rely on knights? There¡¯s only one answer. If you have no teeth, then bite with your gums. Vigers have no other choice but to arm themselves. They pick up their spears and bows and face off against terrifying threats like orcs and goblins by themselves. Like this, each vige naturally creates its own militia. And then, when arge-scale invasion of monsters happens like it is now with our Crescent Alliance, they are ¡®summoned¡¯ under the pretext of protecting mankind. They call it a ¡®summon¡¯, but it¡¯s no different from a forced draft. If you understand up to this point, then my intentions should be clear. Paimon. You most likely intend to make me receive the public rage of the humans by putting me as the representative of the Crescent Alliance. However, you are treating the humans as a single entity. This is most likely the limit of someone who was born as and has lived as a Demon Lord. I was born a human and lived as a human! I know that human society is not and has never been a single entity. There are nobles. There aremoners. There are ves. There are men and women, adults and children. As there are oppressors and the oppressed, there are those who resist and concede. There is control and revolts. If there¡¯s a fabrication that¡¯s as borate and detailed as physics, then there are those who can see through this fabrication. I know about this contradiction of human society. I¡¯m the only one who can among the Demon Lords. You shouldn¡¯t have made me the representative. I¡¯ll prove to you that you made a mistake. ¡°Lord, it is time.¡± Laura spoke up quietly. I was staring at a corner of my tent. Staring wasn¡¯t exactly the correct term. My eyes were simply open. I was in deep thought. My consciousness surfaced like a submarine once Laura spoke up to me. Once I turned my head, I saw the blonde-haired Laura and the pink-haired Lapis standing there. A human and a demon were standing side by side. These two were the most important people to me. Laura was my lover and vassal skilled at military affairs while Lapis was my loyal vassal who was the first girl to ever trust me in this world. That¡¯s right. It¡¯s more than possible for these two to be side by side. I n to drag this simple possibility into reality. ¡°All right. Shall we go?¡± I left my quarters with the two of them apanying me. Orc soldiers were standing at both of our sides like a wall. They were protecting the path I had to walk. I was the representative of the Crescent Alliance until the end of my speech. It¡¯ll probably be difficult for another day like this where I¡¯m treated with this much reverence to arrive. If it does, then it will most likely be in the very distant future. I walked forward. The emotions of monsters washed over me like a wave with each step I took. Excitement, anxiety, boredom, worry, concern, hunger, respect¡­¡­. I was used to it. They washed over my shores for a moment before pulling away. My field of vision broadened. An empty in appeared before me. I hadpletely left our camp. The Demon Lords were gathered here. Paimon, Marbas, Agares, Gamigin, Barbatos¡­¡­. Chairs were only prepared for the highest-ranking Demon Lords. You¡¯d have to be as skilled as them to be able to control a massive battlefield. They could give orders no matter where their battalions were. Low-ranking Demon Lords didn¡¯t have that much control, so they had to move with their troops. The very fact that these individuals could sit here leisurely proved that they were the most talented individuals of the Demon Lord army. ¡°How do you feel, Dantalian?¡± Barbatos sounded strangely pleased as she hummed. ¡°You aren¡¯t shivering like some coward, right?¡± ¡°Of course not. My life is a bit too cruel for me to be able to do something like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be crueler.¡± She grinned. ¡°The reason why I didn¡¯tin that much about the Mountain Faction¡¯s condition isn¡¯t just because of the negotiation. Dantalian, I figured that there¡¯d be no stage better than this for you to step out from the shadows and onto the main stage.¡± Barbatos was showing a gentle smile that didn¡¯t befit her. She looked like a poet who was looking down at a young child. ¡°Monarchs are those who lead. They represent the collective opinions of their subjects. You cannot be a king through only schemes and ploys. Do you have the qualities to lead the people? Do you have the appropriate justifications? We have to prove these things with every step we take. From this point forth, your words will not only be words, but it will also be the will of the people. Now then, Dantalian.¡± She pointed up at the sky. ¡°Look at the sky.¡± It was a clear sky with no clouds in sight. The spring showers were gone and the sun was shining down on thend. As usual, the sky was peaceful. ¡°Look behind you.¡± She pointed behind me. There were 10,000 monsters crowded there. The emotions of 10,000 wished for either the battle to start or for this to end as soon as possible. The sound of metal nging together resonated throughout the crowd and the sound of shouting could also be heard. A countless number of red banners fluttered in the wind. ¡°Look forward.¡± She pointed forward. The ins were before us. The only thing I could see on thend in front of us was an open and smooth field. There was nothing there that could be considered an obstacle. It was deste but peaceful. However, it was distant, but I could clearly see the movement of gs and banners beyond this destion. Small dots filled the other side of the ins. For an instant, everything felt silent. Complete stillness. ¡°This is a battlefield that rulers gaze upon.¡± Barbatos continued in a low voice. ¡°My beloved friend, go ande back a ruler.¡± Is that so? Is this the scene that has always been in front of her all her life? Has she lived for thousands of years while facing this solitude? She didn¡¯t want me to stop at only being a schemer, strategist, and subordinate that is used in the ins Faction. She wanted arade who could stand as her equal and look forward to the future together. At one point, Paimon and Marbas were herrades. She most likely believed that anotherrade would appear one day. She then waited. She waited for a long time. It was then that I appeared before her. She saw me as a promising individual. She tested me with slightly wishful thinking. I had gone and exceeded her expectations. I wonder what she felt. It¡¯s most likely not a simple affection that Barbatos has towards me. It¡¯s something that can¡¯t be fully exined through the word affection. I¡¯m the possibility that finally appeared after a thousand years of waiting. Thus, she treated me more cruelly. She gave me affection but assigned me as the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance. She made me her general staff but also sent me out on the battlefield. Now she was pushing my back and urging me to be a ruler. Truly, is she not a troubling Demon Lord? At most, I¡¯m someone who will only be a schemer. I could cry and grovel on the ground hundreds of times if it means I could survive. Telling someone like me to be a ruler. I felt both happy and troubled at the same time, so I wound up showing an awkward smile. ¡°I¡¯m going to end up dying at that rate, you know?¡± Barbatos chuckled. ¡°A life with no danger and hardship doesn¡¯t exist. Even if one does exist, what purpose would that kind of life have? Go forth. Put your foot forward and face the hardship. Shouldering more danger the further you go is only natural, but what of it? Dantalian, something valuable enough to be grasped by these hands lies beyond that danger.¡± Don¡¯t aim only for survival but aim for what lies beyond as well. Barbatos assured me that it was now time for me to do this. She really is a strict teacher. She wasn¡¯t encouraging me like Lapis did by saying that she trusted me, nor was she vowing to be by my side forever like Laura did. She was simply reprimanding me and telling me to stop cking off since this is just how the world is. I shrugged. The 10 or so mages that were preparing the magic circle on the side reported that they had finished their preparations. Marbas gazed at me. His gaze was asking me if I was ready to begin. I gave him a nod. Marbas began to count down. ¡°Let us begin. Ten, nine, eight¡­¡­.¡± The magic circle let out a white glow. Magic circles be white whenever multiple people stack their magic on top of each other. The magic circle created a vivid line of light that instantly encircled me. I could still hear Marbas¡¯ voice beyond the white light. Five, four, three, two, one¡­¡­. It was time. A massive three-dimensional image should¡¯ve appeared above us around now. It should be disying something like an image of me. I was curious as to how it must look, but I restrained myself. It would only make me unsightly. Currently, hundreds of thousands of humans and demons were looking only at me. ¡°Oh, humankind, listen.¡± As this all unfolded, I opened my mouth. ¡°All of history until now has been the history of ss strife.¡± Now then. It¡¯s time to poison the world. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s time for the famous Speech of Bruno ins again. All things considered, this sort of means we¡¯ve mostly caught up to the LN in a way? Well, these two versions aren¡¯t exactly the same, but this means we¡¯ll be treading on new ground that the LN hasn¡¯t reached. Hooray? On another note, the Patreon thing is going well so far. Doesn¡¯t seem like anyone is reallyining. It¡¯s not a substantial boost, but it¡¯s a start. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next release. Chapter 116: The Longest 15 Minutes (1) Chapter 116: The Longest 15 Minutes (1) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The third imperial princess, Elizabeth von Habsburg, was bored. She had already lost her authority in the human alliance. The number of soldiers from the Habsburg Empire wasn¡¯t that impressive and the dukes dispatched from the other nations disregarded her in an offhand manner because of her young age. She knew that the opportunity to establish an armistice had already passed. That¡¯s why, even in this moment where a total of 200,000 soldiers had gathered, all she wanted was for the battle to get wrapped up as soon as possible. The other nations continued to send reinforcements even now. Humans will most likely seed in chasing the Crescent Alliance away this time as well. ¡®War is important, but how you deal with the aftermath is more important. Who knows what sort of ridiculous derations the other nations will make after this is over.¡¯ They¡¯ll probably boast about how they had rescued the Habsburg Empire. Even though they had forced Habsburg to be the battlefield because they didn¡¯t want to fight on their ownnd. What a bunch of mutts! Imperial Princess Elizabeth calmed herself down. At that moment, a huge person was disyed over the ins. It was a rather slim-looking man. He had clearlye out to give the Demon Lord army¡¯s side of the ceremonial speech. Imperial Princess Elizabeth let out a sigh. She was also selected as the representative to give the ceremonial speech in the human army. Despite having no authority, she was simply ced as the figurehead to give the speech¡­¡­. It was most likely the same for that man as well. The imperial princess couldn¡¯t help but pity him. It was obvious what he was going to say. The Demon Lord army is powerful and humans are weak, so surrender peacefully. The ceremonial speeches recorded throughout history have always been the same from the Crescent Alliance. Humans are foolish, but they aren¡¯t so idiotic that they¡¯d be affected by a speech of that level. In the end, this is nothing more than a waste of time¡­¡­. ¨C Oh, humankind, listen. That¡¯s why, when the man opened his mouth, ¨C All of history until now has been the history of ss strife. The imperial princess couldn¡¯t help but tilt her head. What was he saying? The man¡¯s voice echoed loudly throughout the ins. ¨C There are two wars in the world. One is the war between humans and demons. However, the fact that there is a more tenacious war than that, a war that has been ongoing for the past two thousand years without a single moment of rest, at that. Do you, mankind, know what that war is? The man¡¯s voice was crystal clear. There was no anxiety in his tone, so he sounded dignified and he didn¡¯t exaggerate his words, so he gave off a trustworthy impression. Furthermore, he utilized inflections skillfully, so his words had the power to draw in people¡¯s attention. ¡°What a bizarre thing he is saying.¡± ¡°No matter what he says, humanity is an impregnable fortress.¡± The generals around her began to mutter among themselves. The contents of the speech were much different from what they were expecting. Rather, the speech itself was strange. A war that¡¯s far greater than their conflict with the Crescent Alliance? Not only have they never been taught about something like that, but they¡¯ve never witnessed anything even close to it. Imperial Princess Elizabeth couldn¡¯t help but be interested. ¡°Oh?¡± What is he trying to say? Life returned to her eyes. The imperial princess enjoyed it when things went outside of her expectations and she enjoyed it even more when things exceeded her expectations greatly. ¨C This is, in other words, a devastating war thatsts forever. The man¡¯s voice pierced through the murmurs and resonated throughout the area. ¨C Compared to this, the war between humans and demons is almost foolish! Humans and demons have only conflicted a total of eight times; however, this massive war has continued on every year, every month, every day, and every second¡­¡­. He began to name them one by one. Free citizens and ves. Aristocrats andmoners. Barons and serfs. The suppressors and the oppressed. ¨C This is the eternal war. Even if our Crescent Alliance were to disappear from the continent, you will all still be at war. As 2,000 years have already flown by, and even if another 2,000 years were to flow by once more, the war of ss, the war of authority will continue unchanged. To all those being oppressed, listen. The man shouted as if he could see the soldiers directly in front of him. ¨C 2,000 years ago, the Crescent Alliance advanced onto the continent for the first time in history. On that day, the rulers of the ancient republicsmented about the conservation of mankind. Your ancestors went to war while risking their lives in order to protect mankind. Despite this, even after the war was over, ves remained ves and serfs remained serfs. ¨C 1,800 years ago, the Crescent Alliance descended onto the continent for the second time. On that day, the emperor of the ancient empire ordered humanity to stand and protect mankind. Your ancestors put their lives on the line once more and marvelously came out victorious. Despite this, even after the war was over, ves remained ves and serfs remained serfs. ¨C 1,500 years ago, the Crescent Alliance marched onto the continent for the third time. Your ancestors fought once more against a massive army of 300,000 monsters and won. How surprising. How impressive! You are all truly the shield that protects humankind, and if it were not for you, the continent would have fallen into the hands of us Demon Lords long ago. You have been the guardians of mankind for thousands of years. You are the true owners of the continent. I am honored to be in the presence of such prominent individuals who have constantly won throughout history. The man apuded. The sound of pping echoed throughout the ins like the sound of drums. The soldiers were clearly bewildered. There wasn¡¯t even a hint of mockery in the man¡¯s face or voice. ¨C 1,500 years have gone by. We have now arrived on thisnd for the 8th time. But what is this? The man¡¯s hands stopped as his tone abruptly changed. ¨C O owners of the continent, men who have protected mankind. You are all still ves, serfs,moners, and the weakest of the weak who continue to starve and die off due to a gue. What has happened? What have you all died for until now? It was around this time that Imperial Princess Elizabeth stood up. She immediately grasped the man¡¯s intentions. The curiosity and interest that was once in her eyes had disappeared without a trace. Her mouth simply hung agape as she watched the man¡¯s projection with shock-filled eyes. The imperial princess soon came to her senses. She then shouted at the mages who were preparing the magic circle. ¡°Activate the spell immediately!¡± ¡°Y-Your Highness?¡± ¡°Did you not hear me? Activate it immediately!¡± The old man who had been slowly chanting the spell furrowed his brows. ¡°I apologize, butrge-scale spells require time. We still require another 15 minutes.¡± ¡°15 minutes¡­¡­.¡± The imperial princess grasped at her head. This cannot be! 10 minutes is more than enough for that man to finish his speech and have some extra time left over. If this is allowed to happen, then everything will truly be toote! Their side had been preparing slowly because it¡¯s more advantageous to give the ceremonial speech second. This was a mistake. The human army slowly began to prepare their magic circle after they saw the Demon Lord army begin their speech. Regardless of whether they noticed the imperial princess¡¯ anguish, the mages continued to chant their spells in a delicate and strict manner. The man¡¯s voice boomed over them like thunder. ¨C You all have certainly defended the continent. That continent is and that remains the same both before and after wars. You are still poor. Even if your parents catch the ck Death and groan in pain as they slowly die, you all are impoverished to the point that you are unable to buy even a single herb. What did you fight for? What were those sacrifices for? Did you put your lives on the line for 2,000 years only to protect your poverty? ¨C That is not so. ¨C Humankind, the truth is like this. You are not a part of the mankind that rulers of republics, emperors of empires, and aristocrats cry out for. You are not a part of the continent that those nobles cry out to defend. Those authority figures have lived to this day not wanting to protect the lives of the people and thend of the people, but solely for the purpose of defending their own lives and their own fortunes. ¨C The thing that your ancestors protected while shedding tears and blood was not something which belonged to them, but to someone else. In other words, they protected the belongings of nobles. Thus, it is only natural that you would all still be poor after every war! Nobles remained nobles andmoners remainedmoners. You are the ones who have helped those nobles! The man clenched his right fist. ¨C Howmentable! What type of fellows are those nobles in general? Even if monsters swarm to your viges, they do not dispatch their knights in order to protect you. They have thrown you, humans, away. Despite this, the instant Demon Lords approach, those nobles force you to sacrifice yourselves. For the sake of mankind! ¨C Even though the ck Death has spread throughout your viges, those people in power did not provide you with the cure. They have thrown you, humans, away. Despite this, the instant Demon Lords approach, those nobles force you to sacrifice yourselves. For the sake of mankind! ¨C Even during those years of bad harvests, those nobles refused to lower their taxes. Even though your fields had dried up and you were slowly starving to death as you could not even feed your sons and daughters bread crumbs. The reservoirs were full of water, and yet, those nobles did not give you water rights. They have thrown you, humans, away. Despite this, the instant Demon Lords approach, those nobles force you to sacrifice yourselves. ¨C For the sake of mankind! ¨C Now the mankind that those nobles are referring to has be clear. The humankind that they are talking about are the humans called aristocrats. The continent that they are referring to is solely thend that those nobles possess. ¨C What was this mankind for? It was a mankind for the suppressors. What were these wars for? The wars were solely for the sake of preserving this suppression. What were those 2,000 years for? You have all died and continued to die for the past millennia and more solely for the sake of foolishly passing down your eternal poverty to your sons and daughters! ¨C O mankind, not the mankind that those nobles say with honeyed words, but you, serfs, peasants, ves, and those of you who have truly shed tears and blood. You, the owners of thisnd!Is something not off? Are you all truly ves? Are you not all the true rulers of thisnd and¨Dif anything, are those very aristocrats not the ves since they have lived off of your blood like parasites? ¡°What utter nonsense!¡± ¡°This damn Demon Lord!¡± The generals around the imperial princess burst out in rage due to those words. They continued to shout curses at the sky. Instead of shouting at the sky, Imperial Princess Elizabeth calmly looked around her. A chill went down her spine. The soldiers¡­¡­the soldiers were staring up at the man with nk gazes! ¨C Why is the grain and corn that you harvest being taken by the nobles and not you? Why do the nobles not procure their own food? Is it because they are your masters? If that is the case, then why is it that when viges are attacked, nobles do not step forward in battle even though they are the owners of these viges? ¨C The reason is simple. It is because your viges do not belong to them. ¨C Naturally, your viges belong to you, the people who live in these viges. The nobles are simply extorting you. In other words, there are no differences between nobles and those monsters that attack your viges. They are both thieves that are after your goods. There is no way that a thief would act as andlord and protect your homes. Therefore, the nobles do not protect you. ¨C The only thing that nobles do is rob from you. They eat the grain that you have harvested, they live in the homes that you have built, and wear the clothes that you have sewn. How could such parasitic creatures exist in humanity? How has something as ridiculous as this continued to happen for the past 2,000 years? ¨C Humankind, the reason is this. It is because they are holding weapons. There is no other reason than this. ¨C If you do not pay your taxes, then the knights that you would wish desperately for whenever monsters attacked your viges will appear. They are fine with other thieves taking from your homes, but they will not forgive you if you do not allow them to steal from you. ¨C If you justly dere that your harvests, homes, and clothes are yours, then those parasites and thieves will ruthlessly resort to force. That is right. The reason why nobles have been able to remain as parasites is solely due to their power. ¨C O humankind, listen. ¨C What must you then do in order to protect what is yours? ¨C What must you do in order to take back what is yours from thieves? The generals began to shout even louder. Contrary to them, a terrifying silence lingered over the soldiers. The imperial princess berated the mages for not being ready yet; however, a corner of Elizabeth¡¯s mind already knew that it was toote¡­¡­. ¨C That is right! You have no other choice but to fight force with force! The man shouted. ¨C Raise your spears, grab your bows, and take what is yours. Make the obvious, obvious! Do not let yourselves be fooled into believing you are ves! You are the rulers of thisnd. Thus, what grows on thisnd is naturally yours! ¨C Fight! ¨C No one will get back the things that are yours in your stead. Therefore, you have no other choice but to stand up yourself. ¨C Fight! ¨C No one will live your lives in your stead. Therefore, you have no other choice but to reim your lives by yourselves. ¨C Fight! ¨C O mankind, what are the people? They are everything! Only you can call yourselves mankind with justice. What have the people been throughout the past 2,000 years of history? Nothing! Therefore, what must you, as the one and only mankind, be? ¨C Everything! ¨C I, Dantalian, dere as a Demon Lord and the representative of the Crescent Alliance, we will participate as your eternal allies in your war! The people of the northern region of Habsburg have already joined our cause. ¨C You are being deceived. We target the nobles, not the people. We have granted ck herbs to all the people in the northern region of Habsburg. To everyone. We have subjugated the monsters that have escaped our control for the sake of the people and we have not asked for anything in return. Taxes do not exist in the northern region of Habsburg. ¨C And where taxes do not exist. Does this not sound like the ideal world? ¨C Humans and monsters are not hostile towards one another in our Crescent Alliance. They co-exist. You form viges while monsters form tribes and live in peace without invading each other¡¯snd. Does this not sound ideal to you all? The mages finally reported that they had finished preparations. However, the imperial princess was standing still with her hand covering her face. ¡­¡­It¡¯s toote. From this point forth, as the representative speech giver, she will have to state that everything that man had said was a lie; however, the seeds of doubt have already been nted deep inside the human army. What is this mankind for? What is this war for¡­¡­? If they be even slightly disadvantaged during this war, the drafted soldiers will most likely be demoralized and desert the army. Some might even surrender to the Demon Lord army¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian was it? A preposterous man has appeared in the Demon Lord army, I see.¡± The imperial princess muttered to herself. The man spoke eloquently in the distance. ¨C This ideal does not exist far away. It is time for you all to take hold of thend deeds that should have been yours all along. It is time for you to escape from the dark valley of lies and walk the bright path of righteousness. Descendants of God, the door of opportunity has opened for you and your children. ¨C Sing of righteousness. As the people, take the ce of the people and outrage as the people. Make those nobles realize who the true masters are. Your song must vow that you will not descend into being ves again. The day you cry out and raise your spears will be the day where the bright future known as tomorrow arrives. ¨C We despise the ves who go around pretending to be masters. We respect the true masters and long for the day where we can all live together as masters. Make the ruling ss shudder before the presence of your revolution. You have nothing to lose through this revolution other than your chains of lies. Only the world and everything else that should naturally belong to you awaits you. ¨C Fight back, humankind! *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I guess I sort of ended up picking up the pace after I worked on those early chapters. It¡¯s not a bad thing. In any case, the speech is simr but also different from the LN. It definitely ends differently. Be it the LN or the WN, this part is still exciting. Really curious about how the WN will take it. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 117: The Longest 15 Minutes (2) Chapter 117: The Longest 15 Minutes (2) * * * The ins became quiet. It wasn¡¯t only the human army. The demons from the Crescent Alliance were also holding their breaths. The 5 Demon Lords who had been listening from directly behind Dantalian¨DRank 2 Agares, Rank 4 Gamigin, Rank 5 Marbas, Rank 8 Barbatos, and Rank 9 Paimon¨Dwere especially silent. ¡°Wow. He¡¯s a good talker.¡± Gamigin¡¯s rxed voice broke the tension. ¡°Hasn¡¯t it only been two days since he started preparing for this? That¡¯s impressive.¡± ¡°Well, he can definitely make a living with just that tongue of his.¡± Barbatos muttered. ¡°¡­¡­But I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be this good. It must¡¯ve probably been a hassle just to memorize that entire speech.¡± ¡°That speech might have surprisingly been improvised. There are asionally individuals who are loved by the Goddess Polyhymnia, after all.¡± ¡°Old man Marbas, I bet you everything I have that it wasn¡¯t improvised. If that speech was improvised, then every orator in the world would bite their tongues and kill themselves.¡± The Demon Lords whispered among themselves. A majority of them concluded that Dantalian¡¯s speech had managed to splendidly put the human army into disarray. In the Demon Lord army, most generals and soldiers fight as one body and mind. The human forces they often engage are usually the defenders of the ck Mountains and the armies sent by margraves. These men also happen to be far from any internal strife. Therefore, the concept of internal strife within one¡¯s army was a rather foreign concept to the Demon Lord army. This is the reason why most Demon Lords are not familiar with tricks and schemes. They lead united armies against a united enemy. They were more familiar than anyone else when ites to tricking their enemies on the battlefield, but when it came to making the enemy fight against one another and defeating them politically, they were inexperienced. However, there was one person. ¡°Everyone¡­¡­.¡± It was different for a single Demon Lord who was always interested in humans and believed that there was no other choice but to cooperate with them in order for demonkind to survive. Paimon did her best to suppress her passion as she barely managed to squeeze out her words. ¡°Everyone, do you not realize the meaning behind that speech?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Gamigin tilted her head. ¡°Meaning? Isn¡¯t it a splendid ploy¡± ¡°It is more than that! That is a revolution!¡± Paimon¡¯s face became red. ¡°Human society is simr to demon society, but it is also different. A hierarchy exists in demon society as well, but it is something that can be changed ording to your abilities! Even if you are born as a goblin, it is more than possible to get promoted to one of the highest positions by developing yourself as a mage!¡± Torkel, an individual who is both a goblin and an executive of the Keuncuska Firm, is a prime example of this. He managed to raise his position through his skills and effort despite being a goblin. ¡°But this is not the case for humans¡­¡­. Everything for them is decided solely by their bloodlines! Even if they are gifted enough to be a knight, at most, they can only be a knight of the carpet. They cannot ovee their bloodlines. Dantalian has pointed out this intrinsic contradiction within human society! ¡­¡­Ah!¡± Paimon raised her brows as if she realized something. She dropped her head and started to mutter to herself. ¡°Is that it¡­¡­? Is this the reason!? This is why he spread the ck Death¡­¡­. This exins why he only provided ck herbs to the upper ss of human society, why he took Brandenburg as hisnd and subjugated those monsters¡­¡­. Was it all for this moment!?¡± Her entire body became cold. Once she realized that Dantalian was a dangerous individual, she used her personal connections and wealth to carry out an investigation on Dantalian. She most likely knows more about what Dantalian has done more than any of the other Demon Lords present here, even Barbatos. She thought that he was a witty man. She was awed by his wisdom. She also regretted the fact that she had rashly tried to attack him during the hearing. Nevertheless, she still had her doubts about whether Dantalian truly did not spread the ck Death. That hearing felt way too strange. As soon as Dantalian whispered something to Ivar Lodbrok, the chairman of the Keuncuska Firm, Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s attitude did aplete 180 as he acted as if nothing had ever happened. Furthermore, her right-hand man, Torkel, killed himself. ¡­¡­It was normal to think that something was weird. Paimon was now certain. Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian was undoubtedly the one who had created the ck Death! However, the ck Death was nothingpared to the true epidemic. The truly terrifying epidemic had flowed out of Dantalian¡¯s mouth just now. This gue will swallow the entire continent in a matter of moments and corner hundreds of thousands of people. The people will do so voluntarily! Paimon could not stop her body from trembling. At the same time, she felt happy. The individual whom she thought was her enemy¡¯s faithful servant until now turned out to actually be harboring thoughts simr to hers. The fact that all people are equal. The fact that any rational being should be equal and be the master of their own lives. Dantalian was wise enough to avoid using direct words like equality and freedom. He simply spoke about the frustrations the people must have about the nobles. Thus, even the Demon Lords ended up only hearing Dantalian¡¯s speech as ¡®a ploy to divide nobles andmoners¡¯. But how could Paimon not see through it? How could she not see that the belief in equality is boiling underneath those words like magma? He was like her. Arade with shared ideals which even the other Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction did not understand or attempt to understand. If this is the case, then that makes matters more urgent. ¡®We must stop him from giving the rest of his speech!¡¯ Paimon had inserted a plot into this speech. A critical plot. She could not let Dantalian fall into that plot. She has to do whatever she could now to convince the other Demon Lords to bring Dantalian back¨D. ¡°Oi, whore bitch.¡± Barbatos then let out a snort and spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re going to go around like an imbecile on your own, but Dantalian wasn¡¯t the one who spread the ck Death, you know? Are you still acting like this even though you were humiliated to such an extent during that hearing? You should drop your suspicions while you still can.¡± ¡°No, that is not the issue! No less than 150,000 humans have heard that speech. 150,000 and they are also normal people who have been armed! The history of the continent is going to¡­¡­.¡± Paimon noticed something once she raised her head to speak passionately again. The 4 other Demon Lords were staring at her with incredibly impassive expressions. ¡®Ah.¡¯ She came to a realization. ¡®They¡­¡­they must think that I am trying to nder Dantalian.¡¯ This wasn¡¯t uncalled for. She was clearly the most hostile Demon Lord towards Dantalian. From the moment he appeared for the first time during the Walpurgis Night all the way up to this speech. Paimon had incessantly been grabbing Dantalian by the ankle. Dantalian was officially dered innocent during the hearing about the ck Death. Paimon had apologized about that. In truth, the fact that it ended with only an apology was a very lenient punishment. It wouldn¡¯t be weird if she felt indebted to Dantalian. Despite this, Paimon chose to corner Dantalian. It would not be strange for the other Demon Lords to tell her to give it a rest. Barbatos spoke coldly. ¡°Is that why you made Dantalian the representative?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°Were you going to nitpick and reproach Dantalian regardless of what kind of speech he gave? Hah, this whore hasn¡¯te to her senses. Hey, do I look like aplete pushover now since I let you growl at my ins Faction once? Do you seriously want to fight?¡± A sense of urgency filled Paimon further. ¡°That is not what thisdy intended, but¨D.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what your intentions were, just sit down and shut up. It wouldn¡¯t be weird for me to cut your head off right this instant.¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± Paimon called out to her rival desperately. ¡°Please believe me. We must stop Dantalian¡¯s speech. He will be in danger if we let him continue.¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression didn¡¯t change. Her golden eyes red at Paimon. ¡°I told you to shut up.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon dropped her head. There¡¯s no way she could do anything if she can¡¯t even persuade the leader of the ins Faction. Dantalian will now end up confronting the orators from the human side¡­¡­. It felt coincidental. Out of the 200,000 humans and demons gathered on these vast ins, there were only two people, Imperial Princess Elizabeth von Habsburg and Paimon, the leader of the Mountain Faction, who could see Dantalian¡¯s real intentions. Dantalian¡¯s greatest enemies contrarily understand him the most. After suspecting and doubting Dantalian all this time, she finally found out that he was not her enemy. However, it was toote. Even if she wanted to save Dantalian from harm¡¯s way, she could not do so. If anything, once this speech ispletely over, they will most likely return to being arch-rivals. The trap that he is about to fall into was dug by none other than Paimon, after all. Paimon closed her eyes tightly. If I had found out sooner¨Deven a little bit sooner. ¡°It seems the representative of the human army hase out.¡± ¡°Wow, she looks pretty! Who is she?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. The imperial princess of Habsburg and the queen of Brittany are probably the only females prominent enough in the human world to represent the human army. Wouldn¡¯t this be the imperial princess, then? Jeez. She really is pretty, though. She looks tasty. I wouldn¡¯t mind riding her once.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Barbatos, I do not wish to discuss your preferences, but have you considered speaking with a little more dignity?¡± The Demon Lordsmented about the beauty of the human representative. Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s silver hair shined like that of a Goddess. Even the Demon Lords who had lived for thousands of years couldn¡¯t help but be in awe of her beauty. Paimon was excluded from the conversation as she was the only one with her head down. There was nothing she could do. She could only pray for Dantalian to get out of this crisis on his own in a wise manner. This wasn¡¯t something the person who had set the trap up to begin with should be praying for; however, there was nothing else Paimon could possibly do¡­¡­. * * * Imperial Princess Elizabeth appeared as arge visual image and looked this way. Elizabeth von Habsburg¡­¡­. Born as the third imperial princess, she will soon be the empress of the empire and eventually be the supreme ruler who conquers half of the continent. A prodigy that¡¯s good at handling military affairs, politics,bat, stratagems, the public sentiment, and diplomatic affairs. All fans of acknowledge her as the best heroine. If it weren¡¯t for her, then the protagonist of the story would have simply lived as a strong, young man before fading away. People that lose their families and viges in this era receive the worst treatment. To make matters worse, the protagonist is from a sh-and-burn vige. He was no different from a ve. Imperial Princess Elizabeth decides to appoint the protagonist after only seeing his skills. Even though everyone around her opposed her decision greatly, she supported the protagonist till the very end. As a result, she manages topletely drive out the Demon Lord army from the continent¡­¡­. You cannot possiblypare her to the average ruler. I also liked her. It made me emotional to see her before me. She looked a lot youngerpared to her illustrations from the game, but her white forehead, silver hair, firmly shut mouth, and sharp but clear eyes were undoubtedly characteristics of Imperial Princess Elizabeth. She was like a roc that has yet to spread its wing or a dragon that hasn¡¯t reached its prime. However, she was now nothing more than an enemy that I have to thoroughly defeat. ¡°Elizabeth von Habsburg, the third imperial princess of the empire and also known as Earl Evatriae. You truly do possess the charm to have rumors spread about you as the greatest beauty of the continent. A true blessing for my eyes.¡± Elizabeth raised her brow slightly. Was she surprised that I knew about her? Her expression didn¡¯t change at all. It remained imposing. How regrettable. It¡¯d be nice if she panicked a little¡­¡­. A tiger is still a tiger even when they¡¯re a cub, huh? She was not going to be an easy target. Nheless, the mood itself was tense. Well, it would be weirder if she didn¡¯t feel anything after hearing that speech just now. If you do not rx a little more, then I¡¯m going to take the initiative, Imperial Princess of Habsburg. Are you prepared? ¡°Your grand lie was quite the spectacle to behold.¡± ¡°Oh? Are you saying that I am lying?¡± The imperial princess nodded. ¡°That is so. From start to finish, your tongue has only uttered lies and deceit.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Something about this part has made me pick up the pace. Let¡¯s see how long I can maintain this speed. I¡¯m sure a lot of you guys are looking forward to these chapters as well. Nothing else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter! Chapter 118: The Longest 15 Minutes (3) Chapter 118: The Longest 15 Minutes (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I chuckled lightly. How should I say it? It felt like I was watching a cornered rabbit desperately trying to bare its front teeth after being cornered. Imperial Princess Elizabeth was definitely panicking. tly denying the other party¡¯s words was far from her usual way of speaking. ¡°Men of all nations!¡± She ignored my chuckle as she continued. ¡°Do not be fooled by his words. Have you all not lost your parents, friends, andrades to the vicious teeth of those very monsters? That man is a Demon Lord. The ruler of monsters.¡± I waited leisurely. I could cut her off and speak up, but that would be a bad idea. We¡¯re not having a debate right now. We¡¯re exchanging speeches. The orator¡¯s attitude is more important then the contents of the speech when ites to drawing in the listeners¡¯ attention. I would only be harming my image if I were to cut her off at every turn. Listening appropriately and obtaining an overwhelming victory afterward¡­¡­. This was the best measure to take. ¡°He stated that the Demon Lord army had not killed the people; however, is there any other lie as grand as this? Who were the ones that sacrificed their lives to protect the continent 2,000 years ago? Who were the ones to put their lives on the line to protect mankind 1,800 years ago?¡± The imperial princess began to dominate the ins with her natural charisma. Her beautiful and firm voice echoed throughout the sky. Her voice seeped in between each and every soldier like the wind. ¡°1,500 years ago, who were the ones to stay under the Scarlet Ramparts and swing their swords until only one person remained? 1,400 years ago, who were the ones to charge at 10,000 ogres on the ins of Ulm? And today, who was it that threw everything aside to fight 100,000 monsters for God and to protect their families and sons?¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth raised her arm and shouted. ¡°That is right! It is you, the proud sons and daughters of all nations! O heroes, it has always been the people who were ughtered by those monsters. It was those monsters that invaded whenever you reimed your fields and when life was about to be peaceful again. When fathers were about to smile lovingly at their children, it was those monsters that would mercilessly murder our children. Right when we were about to be united and live together in harmony, it is those monsters that stepped all over our lives.¡± She clenched her fist. ¡°Now they are saying to you that they have never threatened the people. Allow me to ask you all this. ¨DIs this true?¡± It became silent. The imperial princess turned her head and looked at a part of the human army. ¡°O Boeotians, I remember that 500 years ago, on the rocky terrain of Aulis, you faced 20,000 orcs and protected mankind¡¯s line of defense for more than 4 days. I know that the great prince, Peneleos, who had led you, is resting under those hills with your fellow men.¡± She turned her gaze to another unit. ¡°O Nemeans, I remember that 200 years ago, at thend of pigeons, Tisbai, you protected the city against an army of 30,000 goblins with only 500 men. The lord of the city, nobles,moners, and ves all came together and united as one to fight off those monsters. Humanity will never forget your struggle.¡± The imperial princess turned her gaze once more. ¡°O Aspledonians! How could we forget the legendary battle you showed us 700 years ago!?¡± It was from this moment that the units from the tribes and cities the imperial princess called out to began to cheer. ¡°O people of Locris! Honorable people that live on the banks of the noble Cephissus River! 1,700 years ago, your people defeated no less than 2 dragons on the sacrednd of Euboea. Even the Goddesses up above were moved by your great achievement!¡± A unit let out a cheer while the other troops around them gave the people of Locris hurrahs. ¡°O people of Abantis and Alpheios! Your glorious battle is still engraved on every brick of the fortress that was left behind by the ancient republic. When I was 16-years-old, I made a resolution as I touched the walls of that fortress. I vowed to remember everyst one of these valiant names. Adrastos, Menestheus, Elpenor, Stura, Opus, Scarpe, Augeas, Tarpea¨D.¡± She really did say everyst name. Her voice gradually became louder. Once she said ten names, a single unit of the human army let out a cheer. Once the number of names she had uttered exceeded twenty, the Habsburg imperial soldiers were all cheering. By the time the number of names she called out went beyond thirty and fifty¨Dthe entire human army was cheering. ¡°Humanity!¡± The imperial princess shouted. ¡°You, who used to be referred to as by many names, stand here today as Habsburgians, Franks, Bretons, Batavians, Teutons, Castilians, Sardinians, Anatolians, Moscovian, Kalmarians, and Bernicians. However, we know. We know that we used to be united as one!¡± She turned her back. She didn¡¯t speak towards the Demon Lord army but towards the human army. ¡°At times, we were divided. At times, we resented and killed one another. Despite this, we have always remained as one. Whenever those monsters stepped onto our belovednd and killed our friends and families, we have alwayse together as one and fought back! Even the likes of scorn and hate could not stop us. Even the rough teeth of ogres could not stop us! That is right. It is because we are human. We are humans since the day we are born and we will dly die as humans!¡± The imperial princess unsheathed her sword from her waist. A fancy rapier glimmered under the sunlight. ¡°For the past 2,000 years, those monsters have tried to divide us by using a countless number of tricks. However, we remember that we have always been one!¡± A hundred thousand humans raised their swords to the sky and cheered. ¡°They are trying to divide us again right now. But we know. We know that we are united today! Our descendants will remember us; therefore, even if another two thousand years were to go by, humanity will still exist as one united race!¡± The imperial princess pointed the sharp end of her rapier towards her hair. She cut a portion of her beautiful silver hair and held it in her left hand as she cried out. ¡°I, Elizabeth von Habsburg, vow to always stand at the forefront during today¡¯s battle. When you fall to your knees before the mercilessness of those monsters and look forward, you will see me standing before you. When you begin to doubt the strength of mankind and feel as though you are about to drop your swords, I will be at your side to support you.¡± She opened her left hand as she let her silver hair scatter through the air. ¡°Today, some of you will die and some of you will live. The blood of humans will drench Bruno ins. Despite this, will you all still go forward? Soldiers of all nations! Descendants of those proud ancestors! Will you¨Djoin me in showing those savage monsters that we are human!? Have you made the resolve to be left in this continent¡¯s history once more!?¡± The sound of cheering echoed throughout the entire ins. The humans boisterously pounded away at their drums. They didn¡¯t need any rhythm or tempo. The sounding out from their lungs came together and resonated powerfully. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I take back the thought I had earlier. The imperial princess wasn¡¯t like a rabbit. Be it the 27-years-old Elizabeth or the 17-years-old Elizabeth¡­¡­she was a prominent figure that couldmand the continent. She was wise. She didn¡¯t try to nip at everything I had said. She recognized that this wasn¡¯t a matter of rationality but emotions, so she brought out the ideal that stimted human emotions the most, heroism. By calling out to each individual human army, she brought out the pride they had towards their hometowns. This is an era where humans don¡¯t live alone, but as members ofmunities. There¡¯s most likely nothing that¡¯s as firm as their pride towards their hometowns. The imperial princess had splendidly made use of that. She even went as far as to advertise herself. She put on a little performance by cutting her own silver hair. She then asked the people ¡®will you go forward with me?¡¯. She wasn¡¯t asking them to go forward with a noble. She was solely asking if they would put their trust in her, Elizabeth von Habsburg. The soldiers responded by cheering¡­¡­. Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s political position ascended in an instant. Now no one could deny that she was more than eligible to seed the throne of the Habsburg Empire. Even if a struggle of sses were to ur after this Crescent Alliance is over, Imperial Princess Elizabeth will not lose her support from the people. It was clear that she would contrarily be stronger the more danger other nobles are ced in. What an impressive girl. Figuring out what is important in this speech. Pinpointing which part of the audience she has to conquer to achieve that important goal. And finally, what she must do to raise her position. In only a few minutes, within the short time frame she had after the start of my speech, Elizabeth von Habsburg managed to find a way to achieve all three of these things and she carried it out. A genius. She was truly a genius. She was born an empress and raised as a supreme ruler. It wasn¡¯t only because of the hero that the Demon Lord army lost in . It was because the protagonist had the imperial princess. Imperial Princess Elizabeth was undoubtedly the worst, ultimate, and greatest enemy. ¨C p, p, p. The sound of pping echoed throughout the ins. It was a sharp and clear sound. People turned to look at the source of the sound. There was a man who was apuding with an expression that looked as if he were truly moved. Well, there¡¯s no reason for me to hide it. It was me. ¡°Amazing. As expected of Elizabeth von Habsburg. So this is the final hero born by the empire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­If you intend to ridicule me, then it is pointless, Demon Lord. Our resolve is firm.¡± ¡°Ridicule!?¡± I truly was awed by Imperial Princess Elizabeth. I¡¯m being honest here. If I were in her position, then I wouldn¡¯t have been able to give a speech like that. I would either panic and stutter or embarrass myself in front of 200,000 people. The reason why I was able to talk for so long was due to my speech being written on a hologram window in front of me. On the other hand, the imperial princess didn¡¯t need any sort of help as she gave her speech on the spot. She was impressive. This is unfortunate, Imperial Princess Elizabeth. If I weren¡¯t the one standing here, then you would have seized all of the glory for yourself. I smiled. ¡°That was not my intention, Sister Elize.¡± ¡°Sister¡­¡­?¡± She furrowed her brows. ¡°How impertinent of you. Do you intend to mock me?¡± Oh dear. It seems she doesn¡¯t remember. But that doesn¡¯t mean all hope is lost. Her memory is impressive enough to remember the entire history of the continent. She should be able to remember if I give her a little hint. ¡°There was a boy who used to call you Sister Elize a long time ago. ¡­¡­Do you still not remember?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!?¡± Her eyes opened wide. As I expected, she didn¡¯t betray my expectations. I was delighted, so I proceeded to imitate a young boy¡¯s face and voice. ¡°Sister Elize, where will we go y today? The ck Hunting Grounds? Wow, I¡¯m so excited! Would I be able to ride a horse as well? No? But I was looking forward to it¡­¡­. If it¡¯s like that, then I won¡¯tin. Howe big brother Rudolf won¡¯t y with us?¡± ¡°What¡­¡­.¡± The imperial princess¡¯ eyes started to tremble. It was like watching an impregnable fortress fall apart slowly. Gradually, her fortified persona was being stripped away. If I were to make a personal remark, the mere fact that a shocked cry didn¡¯t slip out from her pretty lips was something to be praised. This heroine who looks as if she wouldn¡¯t have even a single weakness. The one and only memory she has that has remained as a trauma¨Dwas when she murdered her biological brothers with her own two hands when she was little. Among the two brothers that were murdered, her biological little brother, the 4th imperial prince, was killed due to his political threat despite his young age and innocence. You are unable to escape from this guilt even when you reach your thirties. You most likely woke up in a cold sweat this very morning because you were being tortured by a nightmare where your little brother appeared. It is on the day you be 29-years-old, when the protagonist sleeps next to you, that you spend your first night ever without nightmares. In this world, I am the one and only person who knows this weakness of hers. ¡°Huh, sis? That isn¡¯t the way to the hunting ground. Eh? You found a new hunting ground? Wow! What can you find there? Boars? Don¡¯t tell me there are unicorns! Okay. Let¡¯s hurry up and go! ¡­¡­How was that? Do you still not remember?¡± The imperial princess¡¯ face was evidently pale now. I could see it. Not with my eyes, but I could clearly see it in my mind. The soldiers of the human army are most likely looking up at the imperial princess with puzzled looks. Not only the soldiers, but the nobles were probably shaken as well. I deliberately used the word ¡®big brother Rudolf¡¯. The only boy who could refer to Imperial Princess Elizabeth as sister and Crown Prince Rudolf as brother met a mysterious death 4 years ago in a forest. The nobles who were aware of this situation should be feeling something from the imperial princess¡¯ behavior. I smiled gently. ¡°Oh dear. It seems you still do not remember. Very well, then. I will be merciful. ¡­¡­Elizabeth. This happened 4 years ago. Do you remember? It was when you were still 13-years-old. It was a warm spring day. You suggested going horseback riding in a forest with a boy.¡± The boy trusted his sister more than anyone else. He followed her into the forest without even a sliver of doubt. ¡°However, your goal was not actually to go hunting. Hm? Is this not so? No, maybe you could call it a type of hunting. Your goal was to hunt something in the end, after all. Also, in terms of prey, nothing could possiblypare to this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Stop.¡± ¡°It was a beautiful forest of cherry blossoms.¡± The imperial princess¡¯ face hardened. ¡°The boy got off the horse and let out a sound of awe. Sister! It¡¯s so beautiful! You brought me here to show me this, huh? Wow, this is my first time seeing something so beautiful!¡± ¡°Stop¡­¡­I will not stand idly by as you mock me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Listen to me!¡± I let out a shout. The imperial princess flinched. ¡°The boy turned around slowly. Do you remember? You are obligated to remember. Did you not say so proudly during your speech earlier? That you will remember forever. Ha, is this not something which you must remember forever? It is a sight which only you know, after all!¡± ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is right, the boy turned around slowly and his eyes became wide. ¡­¡­Sis? What are you doing? A look of disbelief filled the boy¡¯s eyes. Regardless of this, you strengthened your grip. You gripped tightly with both hands. This was not enough¨Das you even used your aura! The same blue aura that the boy would always praise as being amazing and beautiful!¡± The imperial princess shut her ears and lowered her head. Her shoulders continued to tremble. At that moment, the three-dimensional image that was floating above the ins turned off. I wonder if the mages from the human side canceled their magic on their own. It didn¡¯t matter. You most likely wish to end it here, but I don¡¯t. This is war. You can¡¯t quit simply because you want to. ¡°The boy asked you! With a voice that sounded as if he had to strain his words because his throat was shut, he spoke while barely managing to let out a breath! It hurts¨Dsis, it hurts¨Dwhy¨Dwhy¡­¡­. Why?¡± I waited 5 seconds before speaking dejectedly. ¡°That was the boy¡¯s final breath. Why? He did not pour rage or resentment towards the person who killed him¡­¡­. He simply asked why. The boy truly did not understand why his beloved sister would kill him. The boy had sincerely loved his sister.¡± Do you understand, Elizabeth von Habsburg? ¡°You are a filthy, disgusting, murdering piece of trash.¡± Silence. The ins became silent once again. There were no longer any humans cheering or giving the imperial princess an ovation. They were only filled with confusion and bewilderment now. With this, Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s political position should¡¯ve plummeted greatly. In other words, this meant that one of the barriers blocking my survival has be weaker. I went through a lot of strenuous effort until now to weaken the humans, but I contrarily ended up empowering the imperial princess during this process. If the opportunity presents itself, it¡¯s best to stomp down the sprouts even if I have to somewhat force myself. It¡¯s rather unfortunate since I¡¯m one of the people who liked her in ¡­¡­but, well, let¡¯s just think of this as also fate. I spoke to the human army with a solemn face. ¡°O humankind, the people. Do you now realize? That is the bare face of the noble you had cheered for. They force you onto the battlefield and kill their biological brothers in the back.¡± My voice settled alone atop of Bruno ins. ¡°An unpardonable atrocity against mankind. Even ves love their parents and animals cherish their children. How could a brute that ys their own kin speak of mankind¡­¡­?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s sort of disappointing to see the Imperial Princess get shaken this badlypared to her stoic demeanor in the LN, but it¡¯s also enjoyable to see Dantalian overwhelm herpletely. I guess I¡¯m fine with both styles. Uh, nothing more to say, see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 119: The Longest 15 Minutes (4) Chapter 119: The Longest 15 Minutes (4) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ At that moment, a notification window appeared. ¡¸Frank Empire Soldier Micelle¡¯s affection has risen by 13.¡¹ That was the starting point. ¡¸Batavia Republic Soldier Nik¡¯s affection has risen by 30.¡¹¡¸Habsburg Empire Noble Alexander von Bavaria¡¯s affection has risen by 2.¡¹¡¸Sardinia Kingdom Soldier Pavia¡¯s affection has risen by 11.¡¹ ¡­¡­. A blue tsunami filled my vision. The tsunami was overflowing with notifications about how some people¡¯s affection had gone up while some other people¡¯s affection had gone down. It wasn¡¯t only one or two notifications either. Hundreds of thousands of notifications washed over me like waves. Di-ring, di-ring, the sound effect kept ying over and over again. The notification windows filled my vision of the ins and the sky in an instant. This overwhelming sight put me at a loss for words for a moment. I was certain. At this moment, the giant known as history has taken a single step forward. A sense of pleasure went down my spine. My entire body was filled with excitement. A sense of height that I had never felt before sent shocks throughout my head. The fact that I could influence no less than 100,000 humans got my heart beating. It was a sensation that could only be felt when you hadplete control over everything. ¡¸The scenario has destroyed a predestined fragment of fate!¡¹ This wasn¡¯t all. ¡¸B Rank scenario has been ¡®severely¡¯ destroyed!¡¹¡¸A Rank scenario has been pletely¡¯ destroyed!¡¹ Quest breaker. It was an event I was seeing for the second time ever since I erased Laura¡¯s ve seal. The One who Bears the Hope of the People was undoubtedly referring to Imperial Princess Elizabeth. She was a ruler who stood up while shouldering the hopes of nobles,moners, and ves, after all. Her path to bing that kind of ruler has now been obstructed¡­¡­. Excellent! I was a little uncertain about what the Alliance Between Royalists and Republicans was referring to. Was it referring to the event that happens in the Frank Empire or the event that happens in the Habsburg Empire? Regardless, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that both of them would be obstructing the humans from uniting. In the end, it wasn¡¯t bad news¡­¡­. ¡®I can do this.¡¯ I felt nervous. Rank 71 Demon Lord. The total of his stats was below 100. He was trash among trash. A character that couldn¡¯t even beat a lumberjack from some mountain vige in terms of strength. I managed to drag everything this far with this kind of body¡­¡­. I managed to break Imperial Princess Elizabeth who was going to be the supreme ruler of the continent in the future! It was none other than Dantalian who had done this! ¡®Try sending anyone at me.¡¯ I know the ins and outs of every single major character from . There¡¯s no such thing as a person without any scars. If you only look inside their psyche, then they¡¯re all cripples that have been broken at least once. Be it the greatest swordmaster of the continent, the queen who willter unite the Kingdom of Brittany and the Frankish Empire, or the lord of assassins, they all have weaknesses. Thus, when an unfamiliar voice came from across the ins, I remained rxed. ¡°¡­¡­Demon Lord Dantalian, you are quite eloquent.¡± Did the human side send another representative to speak? It isn¡¯t surprising since it¡¯s clear that they¡¯d be at a disadvantage if they chose to engage us after that. It¡¯s highly likely that the human army desperately wishes to level the ying field. I wonder who they could¡¯ve possibly sent as the next batter. I closed all of the notification windows at once. Once I did, the blue wall vanished and I could see the other party. It was a woman wearing a pure white dress. Her hair was gray. I immediately recognized her to be Saintess Gracia. She was the NPC who would give the main protagonist and his party quests day in and day out, but she¡¯d work the protagonist to the bone with little pay saying that it was the Goddess¡¯ will, so she was resented by the yers. For example, after making the protagonist subjugate a massive army of ogres, she rewards him with only a single item. She would use her position as a saintess to practically make the hero work for free. In , the hero was an orphan and a mercenary. Different from the protagonists from other RPGs, he was knowledgeable about worldly affairs. The protagonist tried toin about this unfair treatment, but Saintess Gracia would respond to him without even the tiniest shift in her expression. ¡®You are able to personally have the honor of witnessing my noble face. Is there any reward greater than this?¡¯ ¡­¡­This is why yers would refer to her as a witch and not a saintess. Well, she did receive the Goddess¡¯ blessing and lived for over a hundred years with the appearance of a girl in her twenties. Certainly, in a normal person¡¯s position, it might be an honor to be able to even meet her. In any case, they sent the saintess as the next batter. A good choice. She¡¯s a priest to the people and the title of saintess is a natural object of awe. Since the dignity of nobles has fallen apart, there is no one better than the saintess who couldfort the human army. ¡°Is this not Saintess Gracia, the one loved by the Goddess? Why has such a precious person step foot on this rugged battlefield?¡± ¡°¡­¡­God knows that Hell exists in the human world, so clerics will always be present near the bottom. War is quite literally the Hell of the human world. There is no other ce more appropriate than this for a person like myself.¡± Gracia narrowed her eyes when I expressed that I knew her, but she continued unfazed. ¡°Demon Lord Dantalian, I have witnessed your ability. To think that you would infuse your words with magic and bewitch the other speaker. Who would have expected you to use magic powerful enough to harm Her Majesty the Imperial Princess¡¯ mind¡­¡­. You are impressive.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± So that¡¯s how they¡¯re going to spin it? ¡°The words I said were untrue, is this what you are trying to say?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± She didn¡¯t even bat an eye as she confirmed my words. This was being dered by a saintess, a high authority figure. This wouldn¡¯t be enough topletely free the imperial princess from the suspicion of killing her family members, but it should at least lower the amount of public criticism she receives. Unless you intend to make the church your enemy. Brazenfaced and impassive. She also digs into your weaknesses. She¡¯s just like the Saintess Gracia I remember from the game. ¡°How magnificent. However, O Saintess, it would be wise to make the right choice. Genuine faith from a person who fools themself would be outrageous.¡± ¡°Infusing magic into your words again, I see. No matter what you try to whisper to me, my Goddess will protect me. Your insidious ploys will no longer work.¡± ¡°Kuhu.¡± This wasn¡¯t a jeer that I was expecting. Augh came out on its own. ¡°You are already a tier 1 priest. Do you look after the backs of nobles during your spare time? Dear me, even I, as a Demon Lord, might end up devastated by this world. That was only a singleyer of deceit. How much more tragedies and bloodshed must humankind go through to peel that singleyer?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your fun stops here, Demon Lord.¡± She took something out of her pocket. It was a small button. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± I furrowed my brows. Why did she take something like that out? I couldn¡¯t tell where she was trying to take this. Did she intend to use that object as aparison to spit out some fancy saying? Personally, I don¡¯t favor speeches that do that. Should I poke around a bit¡­¡­? ¡°I do not know. It is an unfamiliar object to me.¡± ¡°It is also unfamiliar to me as well. This is because this is an incredibly expensive artifact. It is something only the richest people on the continent can get their hands on.¡± The saintess ced the button on top of her palm and opened it. ¡°The magic known as Memoria has been enchanted onto this. This is an artifact that records the sound and scenery around it. Not only is the spell itself incredibly difficult to cast, but it was also ced upon an object of this size. This is almost impossible to make without the assistance of an archmage.¡± I tilted my head. I understood what sort of item it was, but I didn¡¯t understand why she had taken it out. ¡°Saintess, I have note here to be lectured on magic.¡± ¡°Please do not be in such a hurry, Demon Lord. This is not a new item. It has already been used. Can you guess who this belonged to?¡± ¡°I apologize, but I am poor despite being a Demon Lord.¡± I shrugged. ¡°My life is quite distant from such expensive items.¡± ¡°There was a certain father.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Saintess Gracia spoke in a calm tone. ¡°That father had a single son. His son was talented but inexperienced. The father somewhat forcefully made his son be independent in order to make him experience the world. Nevertheless, how could a father not worry about his child? He gifted his son with a Memoria artifact. Just in case something were to happen to him.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do unfortunate premonitions always turn out to be correct? A tragedy urred. His son had died in another province. The cause of death was unknown. There was a chance he could have been assaulted by bandits as his son¡¯s dead body was discovered on a forest path¡­¡­.¡± She narrowed her eyes. ¡°However, his son was wise. He did not forget about the gift his father had given him as he had activated the magic on his Memoria artifact during his final day. He may have died, but he left behind proof of why he had died. Thanks to this, the father was able to know who had killed his son.¡± A sense of unease filled me. Saintess Gracia spoke in a t tone. ¡°The son¡¯s name was Jack nd.¡± ¨DFor a moment. My head stopped. The sense of unease became more defined as it crawled up my spine. This ckish-red entitytched itself around my skull and filled my brain. Jack nd. The ve merchant, Jack¨D. Why was that foolish and na?ve name being brought up here? The saintess looked at me with a cold gaze. ¡°This happened a little more than half a year ago. A small rebellion urred in the city of Vernia on the northern end of Sardinia. It was an incident that happened due to the incitement of the mercenary guild. Arge fire erupted and many citizens lost their lives and livelihoods to that fire. ¡° Don¡¯t tell me. No. It can¡¯t be possible. ¡°His young son, Jack nd¡¯s corpse was discovered in a forest near Vernia. His dead body was found leaning against a boulder. The boulder was covered in Jack nd¡¯s blood. Furthermore, on the portion of the boulder that was being covered by his corpse, the words¡­¡­ ¡®Revenge (di vendetta)¡¯ were found written in blood.¡± A shiver went down my spine. There were words written on the boulder? Jack died after smashing his own head against the boulder. He hadmitted suicide. As he could not fight against me or maintain his beliefs, he chose to kill himself instead of let his beliefs be in vain. This is what I believed, so I decided to leave his corpse alone. As a token of respect. I thought his actions were beautiful. ¨DSo you¡¯re telling me it wasn¡¯t just that? He left behind a dying message!? Jack nd¨Dthat absolutely idiotic idealist did!? ¡°For what purpose was he asking revenge for? This obviously came under question. Fortunately, his corpse remained intact. The Memoria artifact that was disguised as a button on his clothes was unharmed. The father hired a mage after he discovered the corpse and deciphered the artifact. ¡­¡­Demon Lord Dantalian. No, Herbalist Lolita.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± ¡°This was his final moment.¡± A screen appeared above the artifact that was ced on the saintess¡¯ palm. The screen wasrge enough for both the Demon Lord army and the human army to see clearly. ¨C Guha, guaaaaaaack! Guuaaaaaaack???! The first thing toe out from the video was an ear-piercing scream. The surrounding scenery slowly became clear. ¨C Kuh! Guuuuuk! Guhaaack! G-Ghuaaack! ¨C Haa, Jack¡­¡­this is truly regrettable. ¨C Kubuuuh! Guuk! Lolita!? Lolitaauuc!? ¨C I asked you three times. Three times is a truly, truly generous amount. It was also a request which must not be denied. And my figure¡­¡­appeared. The me in the video stepped on Jack. ¨C I understand that it hurts, but you¡¯re being too loud. Jack! Jack! You can hear me, right? I¡¯d appreciate it if you could be a little quieter. Nothing good woulde from being loud here. Jack! Shut up! If you ignore my request now, then I¡¯ll slice off your left arm as well. Understood? I¡¯ll sever your left shoulder. ¨C Guh, huuuk¡­¡­guhuuk¡­¡­! ¨C Very good. Excellent, Jack. You¡¯re doing good. If you keep this up, then there¡¯ll be no more bloodshed. I promise you that. The scene flowed by. I watched it as if I were possessed. I could do nothing but watch. ¨C Think about it. Jack, it¡¯s very simple. Why would the other party refuse to perform a formal trade in a Merchants Guild? Why would they choose to do something so extreme? If you ask yourself these questions, then an answer should naturally form. ¨C A position¡­¡­where you can¡¯t trade legally¡­¡­? ¨C You got it. In truth, it¡¯s actually difficult for me to enter a town properly. ¨C You were never a merchant¡­¡­Lolita! ¨C Cut off his left pinky. ¨C Understood. Another horrifying scream burst out. The torture continued. Searing, screaming, and threats. A scene that most normal people would be incapable of watching continued. I maintained an incredibly rxed attitude on the screen. Jack rolled around the ground in pain with an arm missing. ¨C The fact that you had a herb that could cure the gue, khhk! It was all a lie! ¨C Yeah! That¡¯s right! You¡¯re the bastard who summoned the monsters in the auction house! ¨C You¡¯re right about that. I admit it. ¨C The fire as well! ¨C Now your head is working properly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I was dumbstruck. A corner of my mind was screaming at me. I shouldn¡¯t stand idly by and let this unfold. I have to do whatever I can to cover this up. However, this screaming was much too distant. ¨C If we summarize everything you had said in the past minute, then I¡¯m a devil, a scam artist, the biggest bastard in the world, a lunatic, and a mother fucker who¡¯s going to Hell. I admit all of these things. ¡°¡­¡­This is as far as the Memoria magic had recorded.¡± The video turned off. Saintess Gracia spoke in a cold tone. ¡°You set a city on fire for your own gain. You are a habitual liar. You do not refrain from carrying out cruel and brutal torture. You are quite literally a Demon Lord. A monster among monsters that does whatever it takes to aplish your goals. A beast among beasts.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is your identity, Demon Lord Dantalian!¡± I couldn¡¯t say anything. Only a single name kept swirling around my throat. A single na?ve ve merchant¡¯s smile came to mind. Jack¡­¡­. Jack. Jack, nd! So you were my enemy? Not Elizabeth, the supreme ruler of the continent¨Dor Baal, the Great Demon Lord. It was you whose name isn¡¯t even mentioned in the game, a mere romanticist like you¨D. You were my, Dantalian¡¯s enemy!? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Would you look at that, Dant is facing repercussions for his actions! The ve market incident was swept under the rug in the LN, but it¡¯s actually being used here. Hm, been uploading at a rtively fast pace so I don¡¯t have much else to say. This has been bing a very frequent urrence. Head empty, no other thoughts. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 120: The Longest 15 Minutes (5) Chapter 120: The Longest 15 Minutes (5) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°¡­¡­This is definitely not a pleasant sight to see.¡± My tongue moved on its own. My mind was still in shock, but my tongue wasn¡¯t raised to be docile and do nothing in these sorts of situations. ¡°I am uncertain, but it seems that man was a ve merchant. A man who captures others and sells them. Being kind to such an individual would instead be alienating the people. It is surprising to see the saintess, who acts for the people, side with a ve merchant.¡± That¡¯s right. Good job, my tongue! It¡¯d be foolish to question the authenticity of that video. I¡¯m not sure what sort of method she used to link a fake name like Lolita to me, but the fact that she¡¯sing forward with it so boldly must mean she has a method to verify this¡­¡­. Wait. How¡¯d she know Lolita was me? I was thorough when it came to using my fake name. I did reveal my actual name to Laura, but I never mentioned that I was Dantalian to Jack. But how¡­¡­? She knew it was me simply because we looked the same? That was impossible. I was basically an unknown Demon Lord with nothing to my name. There¡¯s no way she could¡¯ve looked into this. And yet, how did she¡­¡­. ¡­¡­. Paimon. ¡®So it was you?¡¯ My mind was able to escape from a state of paralysis. The bolts in my head began to turn faster than ever before. That¡¯s right, Lapis told me earlier that Paimon had been gathering information on me. Jack nd. His father was definitely a wealthy figure within the Kingdom of Sardinia. He was most likely using his resources to figure out what sort of person Lolita was. Paimon and Jack¡¯s father, they used their respective resources to gather information on me¡­¡­which led to their information lineing in contact. Is this what happened? Paimon believes that I had spread the ck Death. She must have found out that I had disguised myself as a herbalist. I had used the ck herbs as bait to appease groups like the mercenary guild and cause a fire throughout the city¡­¡­. From Paimon¡¯s perspective, she must have seen me as some guy who was acting recklessly with his ck herbs after causing the ck Death. What a fool! ¡°Of course, the fact that you cruelly tortured a young man is also important, but there is a bigger issue. It is the fact that you are the culprit behind the ck Death.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± Fine. With this attack of yours, I now understand what you¡¯re trying to do, Saintess Gracia. She intends to me the ck Death on me after disying to the world how cruel of a Demon Lord I am. Do you also intend to use the proof that Paimon had gathered until now? Damn, how great. This is quite the one, twobo. No. Nothing good woulde from allowing her to talk about the ck Death for a long period of time. The truth doesn¡¯t matter to the public! Simply being put under suspicion about causing the ck Death is enough to put me at a disadvantage. The people are the ones who have suffered the most because of the ck Death. If I end up receiving their ire¡­¡­. I have to deny that video¡­¡­. But how? ¡®Let¡¯s say that it was fabricated.¡¯ No, I can¡¯t. What would happen if I requested for the artifact to be verified? I¡¯mpletely ignorant when ites to magic. There might be some sort of magical procedure to verify whether the artifact is real or fake. No, there definitely is. She wouldn¡¯t be this confident if there wasn¡¯t. If I attack her sloppily and receive a counterattack instead, then I would truly lose my standing. ¡®I could back out and say that wasn¡¯t me.¡¯ I could im that the person in the video isn¡¯t me but someone pretending to be me. Polymorphing exists in this world. It should be more than possible for someone to pretend to be me. Even if there is a spell that can verify the authenticity of the artifact, there shouldn¡¯t be a spell that can discern whether the individual in the video is real or fake. ¡®No, that won¡¯t work!¡¯ I¡¯d be making a grand usation of saying that the human army had resorted to using a polymorph spell to frame me of all people. They aimed specifically for me when they couldn¡¯t have known that I woulde out as the representative speaker? Paimon definitely leaked this information to the human army. However, there is no way for me to prove this here! The reasoning would be farfetched. It¡¯d be forced reasoning even if I know the truth¡­¡­. Damn it, how could such an irrational situation ur!? ¡°We know that you, Dantalian, were the first to discover the curative properties of the ck herbs. ording to this ledger¡­¡­.¡± While I was busy maintaining my calm demeanor on the outside but thinking desperately for an idea on the inside, Saintess Gracia continued all on her own. Everything she brought up was stuff that I expected. She mentioned the Keuncuska Firm and other obvious points. Hah. Paimon is a longtime customer of the Keuncuska Firm. She must have connections inside the firm. With those connections, she got her hands on things like ledgers and handed them over to the humans¡­¡­. That woman is seriously resolved to¡­¡­no. Let¡¯s think about Paimonter. I don¡¯t have enough mindpower at the moment to worry about her as well. ¡®Let¡¯s say that ledger is fake.¡¯ No, it¡¯d be the same as before! The name Dantalian is clearly handwritten on the ledger that is currently being magically disyed. The ledger was about the ck herb farm that I had contracted the Keuncuska Firm to make. It¡¯d be impossible to forge a document of this degree shortly after the start of my speech. If I im that it was forged, then¡­¡­¡¯We did not know that you were going to be the representative, but are you saying that we went through this much effort simply to frame you, a Rank 71 Demon Lord?¡¯. Is there a way to insist anyway? I could say that it was forged by magic¡­¡­. No, wouldn¡¯t they also have a way to confirm whether the documents were created by magic? What should I do? It¡¯d be easy to keep denying the matter regarding the ck Death. I could be stubborn and say that they had forged all of this evidence and that these usations were ridiculous, but how would the people react after seeing all of this evidence? Would they believe me? Me, the person whom they had watched only a moment ago brutally torture Jack nd? Or would they believe the saintess? The answer is obvious. They would naturally trust the saintess¡¯ words! Damn it, Jack nd! ¡°You created the ck Death. The fact that you knew about the cure before the disease had started to spread and the fact that you even went as far as tomission herbalist guilds to gather the cure beforehand make this clear-cut. If you are not the culprit behind the ck Death, then how did you know what the cure would be for a disease that did not exist yet?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You created this disease and used it to make personal gains. Even now, the people of the continent are dying because of the ck Death¡­¡­. You sacrificed the continent for the sake of your own personal gains!¡± I have to end this topic as soon as possible. ¡­¡­All right. I¡¯ll go on a personal attack again. I¡¯ll reveal Saintess Gracia¡¯s dark secrets in full detail and use the opportunity provided by her shock to cover this matter up. Doubt towards me will unfortunately remain, but I can still turn this situation around¡­¡­. It was at that moment. ¡°What an absurd usation to make.¡± Someone approached my side. It was the culprit behind this mess, Paimon. ¡°You¡­¡­.¡± I nearly cursed at her out loud. Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s nning to use this chance to corner me and side with the saintess. It would truly be the end of me if she does! The impact created by a Demon Lord pegging another Demon Lord as the culprit would unquestionably be massive. However, if you do this, Paimon, you¡¯ll forever be the ins Faction¡¯s enemy¡­¡­. Do you intend to corner me while bearing this risk? That would be foolish, Paimon! Think about the Mountain Faction¡¯s future! You¡¯re the leader of the biggest faction within the Demon Lord army! Even if you bear a grudge towards me for ruining your ns, if you destroy your great faction because of some personal emotions, then you would go beyond being a foolish ruler and be an ipetent ruler. Please think rationally! It was unknown whether Paimon noticed my gaze or not as she spoke. ¡°Everything you have brought forward was fabricated.¡± The words that came out of her mouth werepletely unexpected. Even the saintess was surprised as her eyes opened wide. I was the same. ording to the circumstances, I was certain that Paimon and the saintess had made a secret agreement. Paimon would provide the documents and make me the representative speaker while the saintess would use the prepared documents to bury me. Was this not it? ¡°¡­¡­Fabricated? Are you saying that all of this evidence was fabricated?¡± ¡°Yes. Everything. It does not make sense if you think about it rationally as well. How could a single person create a gue that could shatter the entire continent?¡± Paimon chuckled. ¡°Furthermore, Dantalian here is a Rank 71 Demon Lord. He is the weakest among us Demon Lords. If someone like him were able to create a disease as disastrous as the ck Death by himself, then the continent would have fallen into our hands a long time ago. I am Rank 9 Demon Lord Paimon. I dere here and now that Dantalian does not possess such an ability.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Saintess Gracia red at Paimon. This isn¡¯t as you promised. That was what her eyes were saying. Paimon was simply smiling confidently. I couldn¡¯t grasp what was going through Paimon¡¯s mind. It felt like she was covering for me, but there was a high chance that this could be a ruse. We¡¯re enemies, after all. The saintess spoke. ¡°¡­¡­A Demon Lord is supporting a Demon Lord. There is no reason for us to believe in your words. In the first ce, you imed that these are fake, but how could they be?¡± ¡°First things first, the video of Dantalian torturing a human is fake. Do you have any proof that the person in the video is truly Dantalian?¡± The saintess snorted. ¡°Their voices and appearances are the same. There is no room for doubt.¡± ¡°A polymorph spell was most likely used. There is a spell that allows you to disguise yourself perfectly as another person. As a 7 Circle elementalist, I, too, am capable of this.¡± Paimon lightly waved her hand. Once she recited a spell that was about 3 sentences long, a red light surrounded her. Once the light was gone, Saintess Gracia was standing where Paimon once was. ¡°Like this, it is possible topletely copy another person¡¯s image.¡± Paimon smiled with Gracia¡¯s face. She waved her hand once more to lift her spell. ¡°There are many mages in the human world who are capable of this as well. Would you like to hear my theory? You people utilized a mage and prepared an actor and disguised him with Dantalian¡¯s face. You then went to a forest and put on a performance. This is the truth.¡± ¡°Then that would mean we must have known you would make Dantalian your representative speaker a long time ago!¡± Saintess Gracia shouted. ¡°Do you intend to dere that finding actors, preparing this spell, and recording this¨Dthat this entire process is something that can be done within a short period of time!? It has not even been an hour since that man has revealed himself. Did we prepare all of these ledgers, this magic artifact, and documents in only an hour?¡± She jeered. ¡°You Demon Lords really impress me. I understand very well how unreasonable Demon Lords are.¡± The exact arguments I had predicted came out. That¡¯s right. This wouldn¡¯t make sense. I can¡¯t acknowledge her evidence as the truth. This is obvious. However, I can¡¯t refute the evidence as being fake either. The evidence they have is much too borate and sizable to im that they could have created it all on the spot. It was a dead end. It couldn¡¯t be denied or epted. We could only force our justification forward. I¡¯m not sure why Paimon is trying to help me now, but it would be incredibly difficult to defeat Gracia¡¯s logic. I turned to look at Paimon. What do you intend to do? This is the trap that you dug. Don¡¯t expect me to weep in tears and thank you even if you decide to help me now. ¡­¡­Oh, is that it? Does she n to evade suspicion by pretending to help me here? What a ridiculous n. Do you think Barbatos and I would forgive you? How foolish. Paimon slowly opened her mouth. ¡°I do not know what you are talking about, but you naturally started to fabricate all of this a long time ago.¡± ¡°Hah. Do you think we have the ability to predict the future? Are you saying that we predicted that Dantalian woulde out as the representative of the Demon Lord army? Howughable.¡± ¡°Of course, you do not possess the ability to predict the future.¡± Paimon smiled. ¡°But you did know beforehand that Dantalian woulde out as the representative speaker. This is because I, Rank 9 Paimon, gave you this information in secret.¡± My mouth fell open. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hm, I really am curious to see how this turn of events will influence this war. The war in the LN didn¡¯t even get to start properly cause they promptly retreated. In any case, I mentioned this in a Patreon post, but I will most likely do a character poll at the end of this section. Although I still haven¡¯t decided whether I¡¯ll do it when the Patreon chapters finish this segment or when the chapters here reach the end of the segment. There might be some big moments at the end of this segment that could influence who you vote for, after all. We¡¯ll have to wait and see. On another note, it¡¯s Lunar New Years so the next release will take a bit. I have to visit rtives and do family stuff. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 121: The Longest 15 Minutes (6) Chapter 121: The Longest 15 Minutes (6) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The saintess was also taken aback. She pursed her lips as she red towards us menacingly. Her gaze appeared as if she were berating Paimon. Paimon received her gaze with a smile as she continued. ¡°Life is full of coincidences, Saintess Gracia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­The Gods will not forgive you.¡± ¡°Oh, I doubt that. The Gods are not so benevolent that they would care about thisdy.¡± Paimon waved her right hand. ¡°Memoria-recordatione.¡± A video was disyed in the air. Simr to when the scene of me torturing Jack was being yed, this time, a scene with Paimon and Gracia appeared. ¡­¡­The two of them were seated and facing each other in a stone chamber that was lit dimly by the sun. ¨C Dere Demon Lord Dantalian as the culprit behind the ck Death¡­¡­? ¨C Yes, that is correct. ¨C The evidence seems concrete, but why? I do not understand your intentions in giving this information to us. The Paimon in the video showed a pleasant smile. ¨C Gracia, thisdy knows very well about your people¡¯s habits. You require a scapegoat, correct? ¨C ¡­¡­. ¨C As theints from themoners gradually reach a boiling point and the divide between nobles bes more severe, this situation must be making it incredibly difficult for you people to even manage your armies. Maintaining the royal throne¡¯s authority, or even the authority of the church, during a time like this¡­¡­must unquestionably be a difficult task. Saintess Gracia replied coldly. ¨C That is not something for you to be concerned about, Demon Lord Paimon. ¨C That is correct. Let me return those same words back to you. Why thisdy wishes to make Dantalian fall is something you should not be concerned about. Whether or not thisdy¡¯s proposal will benefit you, that is all you should be considering. ¨C ¡­¡­Very well, then. If that is the case, let us vow. ¨C Yes. Let us vow. A promise with no lies. The magically recorded video ended there. I waspletely stupefied. I watched the scene of the two people exchanging a secret promise in utter surprise. Just thinking about how far Paimon¡¯s connections must go sent a shiver down my spine. I thought she was only cooperating with Elizabeth the Third Imperial Princess, but now it turns out she was acting in concert with the famous saintess as well¡­¡­. Until now, I thought that Paimon acted for the sake of the hero simply because she loved humans, but was there actually a different reason hidden underneath? Was it not only about her affection towards humans but a certain political reason as well¡­¡­? Has she been engaging in secret political schemes that go so deep that you cannot see the roots? If this is the case, then it made it even harder to understand. She has this many connections, this much manpower. She had crushed all of this simply to prove my innocence. Now no human ruler will trust Paimon. It is painfully impossible for her to recover their trust now. Why? Why has she helped me even though she was the one who dug the trap? There is a limit to giving a disease and the cure. If you look at this from another angle, Paimon had just thrown away the trust she had most likely worked hundreds and thousands of years to build up in a single moment by saving me. I can¡¯t see this as a rational decision¡­¡­. ¡°Demon Lord Paimon.¡± Saintess Gracia¡¯s voice resonated. ¡°I believed that your cause was for the coexistence of all rational beings¡­¡­but it seems that was my mistake. Do you understand what you have done? It is over for you now.¡± ¡°Nothing is over.¡± The saintess snorted. ¡°May God¡¯s blessing be upon you.¡± The saintess¡¯ appearance disappeared from the ins. The magic they had prepared for the speech had ended. The nobles of the human army received a blow because of my speech. Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth, who came out as the relief pitcher, had also fallen. Even Saintess Gracia, who came out as the firefighter to douse the mes, had been taken down. The ceremonial speeches ended with the human army¡¯s 3 consecutive defeats. There was no human who could turn this around. They had lostpletely. Paimon raised her right arm and shouted. Her ck mantle fluttered elegantly. ¡°Humans! These are the true faces of nobles and clerics! If it is for the sake of victory, they will cover their lies with sweet words and sacrifice the people. If it is for the sake of their authority, they will attack someone with fake evidence. Will you fight to protect these sorts of people?¡± Her silvery voice echoed throughout the ins. ¡°The Gods have given you life. Your lives were not given to you for you to live fake lives. The red blood flowing throughout your body does not exist for that lie. Your hands do not exist to hold on to that lie. Your feet do not exist for you to turn away from deception. Our two hands exist to grab the truth. Our feet are meant for walking towards the truth. Therefore, we must shoulder the truth that we all know and walk towards the truth that must exist.¡± Paimon shouted sternly. ¡°Nobles are two-faced. This is a truth that we all know! We muste to a world where people can cultivate their ownnd. This is a truth that we must all pursue! We were given life to realize this evident fact and no powerful noble or sharp de can keep us from this truth. Mankind! Humanity!¨DFight back under the name of God!¡± A ray of light enveloped me and Paimon. The magic meant for the speech had ended on our side as well. I stared at Paimon. She was quietly catching her breath. The small sound of her breathing felt unusually loud to me. Paimon spoke up first before I could reproach her. ¡°Do you have a handkerchief?¡± ¡°What?¡± I didn¡¯t know what she was saying so I red at her. She smiled as if she had expected this response. Her smile looked strangely weak. ¡°Please carry around a handkerchief from now on. That is the refined duty of a gentleman.¡± ¡°What kind of nonsense¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, Paimon began to cough fiercely. After the ominous sound of coughing continued for a while, a clot of blood came out of her mouth. She bent down and vomited blood. It wasn¡¯t normal blood. A ckish-red clot spewed out every time she coughed. The abruptness of the situation caused me to panic and support her body as Ipletely forgot that she was my archenemy for a moment. The clots were all clumped together, so I couldn¡¯t distinguish their shapes, but, at the very least, it was painfully clear that they weren¡¯t things that should be leaving the body. You could no longer call what Paimon was doing as simply coughing as it was now mixed with painful groans and cries. ¡°O-Oi. What¡¯s wrong? What is this?¡± ¡°She¡¯s going through mana reflux.¡± I heard a familiar voice. Once I turned my head, Barbatos was already at our side. She clicked her tongue as she spoke. ¡°To a mage, it¡¯s something far scarier than a fatal disease. It happens when your circles go out of whack, but it¡¯s more severe for higher mages with more circles. Right now, the 7 circles inside of her are most likely throwing a chaotic banquet. Tsk. What an idiotic bitch.¡± Barbatos looked down at Paimon with extremely cold eyes. She might understand all this, but I didn¡¯t get it at all. ¡°Damn it, put it in simpler words! I don¡¯t know anything about mana or circles!¡± ¡°To put it simply, her life as a mage is over. The thing she trained for 2,000 years was sent flying in a single moment. ¡­¡­If she were human, then she would¡¯ve died a long time ago. Well, you¡¯d probably be better off dead than endure that pain. It probably feels like all of your limbs are beingcerated.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± Everything a mage had pursued in their life bes pointless. It¡¯s hard for me to understand as someone who isn¡¯t a mage, but it¡¯s easy to understand that this isn¡¯t a normal situation. In other words, wouldn¡¯t this be simr to a warrior losing their arms and legs? While I was still dumbstruck, Paimon vomited more blood while being held in my arms. My clothes had be soaked in her dark blood. The smell of blood filled my nose. It didn¡¯t smell even remotely as bad as human intestines. It simply smelled like blood. ¡°But why¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. She probably swore on her circles when she made a secret vow with that saintess person. So, what¡¯re you going to do?¡± What am I going to do? I gave her a puzzled look. I didn¡¯t have the leisure to ask the question out loud. Someone was vomiting her guts out in my arms right now. It¡¯s difficult for even me to remain calm in a situation like this. Barbatos maintained her low voice as she exined. ¡°It¡¯s be clear that this whore bitch screwed with you. You could convict her here and now if you want to.¡± ¡°Convict her? The Mountain Faction would oppose¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I can take care of that.¡± Her voice was firm. ¡°We overlooked it a few days ago because we didn¡¯t have any proof; however, we now have undeniable proof in our hands. Dantalian, you may only be Rank 71, but you represented the entirety of the Crescent Alliance the instant you became our speaker. Therefore, Paimon betrayed the Crescent Alliance the moment she set you up.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the only one who thinks this.¡± She gestured behind her with her chin. Marbas, Gamigin, and the other high-ranking Demon Lords were seated about 10 meters away from us. They gave me a slight nod once I met their gazes. ¡°Agares, Gamigin, and even old man Marbas are in agreement. He may be stubborn about his position as the mediator, but this is way too clear. However, he put down a condition. Dantalian, he said that he¡¯ll leave the final decision to you.¡± My eyes met with Barbatos¡¯. Her golden eyes lookedpletely indifferent. She wasn¡¯t pressing me to answer or begging me to decide, she was simply waiting quietly for my answer. ¡°You¡¯re the one who got betrayed and you¡¯re the one who was saved. In the end, you¡¯re the only one who can make the decision. If you want to convict Paimon, then I¡¯ll cut her head off right here and now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantalian, I¡¯ll give you a special exnation since it seems like your head isn¡¯t working properly. This is a golden opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, then your chances of stopping Paimon will decrease greatly.¡± I didn¡¯t even have to ask her why as she calmly exined. ¡°Paimon will be able to make an excuse from her position. She could say that she made a secret promise with the saintess to throw the enemy forces further into disarray. After the saintess trusted her and tried to corner you, Paimon appeared and denounced the saintess. In the end, she managed to greatly lower the human army¡¯s morale. This kind of scenario can be built up.¡± Paimon¡¯s Mountain Faction wasn¡¯t officially dered guilty, but they didn¡¯t escape from suspicion either. That¡¯s why they¡¯re standing as the vanguard of the Crescent Alliance. If they want to prove their innocence, then they would have to prove it through bloodshed. At this point, if it bes revealed that Paimon sacrificed her own magic for the sake of her allies in order to deceive the enemy. If this scenario is carried out¡­¡­the Mountain Faction would be deredpletely innocent. Not only did they agree to stand as the vanguard, but the head of the faction sacrificed herself. What more did they have to prove? No one was saying this yet, though. The only truth that existed right now was the fact that Paimonmunicated in secret with the enemy. If I wish to punish Paimon, then right now might be the best¡­¡­or perhaps, the only opportunity¡­¡­. ¡°The decision is yours, Dantalian.¡¯ Barbatos concluded. The bolts in my head weren¡¯t turning properly. Would killing Paimon here benefit me? No, but why did Paimon endure this much risk to help me in the first ce? I don¡¯t get it. Was she hoping that I would feel sympathetic for her? Damn it, fine. I feel sympathy. It¡¯d be a lie if I said that I didn¡¯t feel any sympathy while watching her cough her guts out. Nheless, even if I feel sympathy, I¡¯m not so kind that I would let an opportunity go by¡­¡­. Despite this, rather than sympathy, I felt much more curious about the reason behind her actions. I had a feeling that there might be something about Paimon that I don¡¯t know about, something that doesn¡¯t even appear all throughout . Is this a golden opportunity? Or an opportunity to get a mystery answered? I¡¯ll most likely have regrets no matter what I choose. Then which choice would leave behind less regret¡­¡­? ¡°I¡­¡­.¡± I opened my mouth. My lips felt heavy as if weights were holding them down. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ve been finishing these too fast. I ended up tranting during the holiday, too. I guess I sort of feel obligated to trante at a faster pace since I started those early ess chapters. I have a desire to get everyone caught up and because of the poll that I¡¯m nning to do. After I finished thest two chapters of this segment, I realized that I should do the poll once everyone is caught up to the end of this segment. There are some character moments that might warrant people having second thoughts, after all. So yeah, character poprity poll once the public chapters reach the end of this arc. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 122: The Longest 15 Minutes (7) Chapter 122: The Longest 15 Minutes (7) * * * The war had finally started. The Demon Lord army put Valefor¡¯s moving fortress at the front. The human army¡¯s formation fell powerlessly once the massive fortress moved and charged towards them. Their morale was already at rock-bottom anyway. The first battle ended in the Crescent Alliance¡¯splete victory. If the enemy didn¡¯t have that many knight brigades, then this entire war would have probably been decided by this first battle alone, Barbatosmented. I was told that the drafted soldiers in the human army didn¡¯t fight properly. If the situation seemed even slightly bad for them, they would almost always flee. A single unit fleeing doesn¡¯t result in a single unit leaving the battle. As fleeing soldiers retreat, they often crash into the allies that were positioned behind them. The morale of the rest of the troops decreases exponentially as they watch their allies, who should be fighting at the front, running away. There are even soldiers that use the chaos to be deserters¡­¡­. This results in at least 3 units bing neutralized. I learned about the hollowness of the term ¡®tactical retreat¡¯ after I fell into this world. If you aren¡¯t as skilled as trained knights or the soldiers defending the ck Mountains, then a tactical retreat was impossible. The simple act of retreating could easily break the formation of your allies. Trying to reorganize and realign units that have gotten tangled up will most likely take a few days. There¡¯s no way that enemy forces would sit and wait patiently for those few days. There¡¯s no future for an army that retreats. This cmity had apparently happened in multiple areas throughout the human army. There were most likely more humans that died at the hands of humanmanders who were in charge of taking out retreating soldiers than at the hands of monsters. The leading officers of the human army have probably realized the impact of losing the speeches was far greater than they had expected. There¡¯s a reason why I¡¯m talking about today¡¯s battle from a third-party perspective. I didn¡¯t participate in the battle. ¡°¡­¡­Give me some time to think.¡± It was approximately an hour after the war of words. My head was ringing. Adding to this, Jack nd¡¯s counterattack and Paimon¡¯s estranged action bewildered me immensely. I desperately needed time to cool my head down. ¡°Don¡¯t stall for too long.¡± ¡°Half a day¡­¡­. Give me half a day.¡± Barbatos nodded. For now, Paimon was confined under the pretext of treating her mana reflux. She was taken to the Neutral Faction¡¯s camp instead of either the Mountain Faction¡¯s or the ins Faction¡¯s. Anyone could easily tell that this was more for the sake of istion over treatment. I entered my quarters to rest. I spread a nket out andid down. I wasn¡¯t trying to go to sleep. I just wanted to clear my head. A nk period of time flowed by¡­¡­. Jack. I could¡¯ve dealt with him cleanly, but I chose not to. He was someone whom I didn¡¯t want to kill. I wanted him to survive and watch over how he lives. When hemitted suicide, I left his corpse alone as a way to show respect. That decision ended up bing a fire that wouldter push me into a corner. A pushover. You could probably call me that. I might have been subconsciously acting as if I were ying a game. I¡¯ve been desperately struggling to survive, but this feeling of ying a game most likely remained in a corner of my mind. ¡­¡­Nevertheless, if you think about it, it wasn¡¯t Imperial Princess Elizabeth or Baal that had ever put my life in danger. Riff of Jackson Vige and ve merchant Jack. They were people whose names weren¡¯t even mentioned in . These sorts of people were always the ones threatening my life. Am I a pushover? Was a section of my mind underestimating these guys¡­¡­? Until now, I believed that I genuinely considered Jack as a human, but what if Jack nd was a famous character in ? Would I have tried to spare him back then? Probably not. And yet, I did. Yeah, I¡¯m not sure now. ¡°Status.¡± I muttered to myself. I wanted to check my current status for now. A clear bell sound rang as if it were mocking my currentplex emotions. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: DantalianRace: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord ArmyAttribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 34¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 4510Job: Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(D) Leadership: 34/37¡¡¡¡Might: 7/12 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 32/37Politics: 35/35¡¡¡¡Charm: 20/20¡¡¡¡Technique: 4/12 *Titles: 1. Demon Lord of Fear*Abilities: Tactics(E), Marksmanship(E), Mining(F)*Skills: Acting [Achievements: 3][Subordinates: 54 units/260 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Titles]
  1. Demon Lord of Fear ¨C This person has caused arge part of the world¡¯s order to copse. The owner of this title will receive the respect of demonkind and the fear of humanity: Leadership limit +10, Intelligence limit +10, Charm limit +10, Subordinate limit +100, Infamy +500
©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ My level had gone up by 10. It felt smallpared to the amount of effort I had put in, but, well, that¡¯s to be expected as Dantalian. My level went up by only 16 when I destroyed the S and A Rank scenarios. I managed topletely destroy an A Rank scenario. Should I be satisfied with this? ¡­¡­More importantly, my infamy went up by a lot. ¡°Jeez.¡± It basically went up by almost 3,000 with this single urrence. I don¡¯t know what exactly infamy influences, but, at the very least, I¡¯m certain that it was raising the bounty on my head. The higher my bounty, the more adventurers will try to subjugate me. I¡¯m drawing more aggro. My level only went up by 10, but my infamy went up by 3,000. Was this not a marvelous leveling rate? If a game like this were released in my original world, then someone would probably set the developer¡¯s building on fire the next day. If no one does, then I¡¯ll do it. Damn it. There was one thing that reassured me and that was my job level. My Demon Lord level went up from E to D. This meant the level cap for my stats had increased. Most importantly, I could hire arger variety of monsters now. I decided to test it out by opening the monster hiring menu. ¡°Monster Employment Tab.¡± A window appeared before me. I was given an option to select from F, E, or D Rank monsters. In the past, I was a little disappointed when I went up from F to E Rank. Goblin Stone-thrower, goblin spearman, etc, the only thing that increased was the type of goblins I could hire. I selected D Rank. My selection range definitely increased a bit this time. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Monster NameStaminaAttackDefensePrice Torture Slime 20 1 2 500 Gold Gnome(Low ss fairy) 7 2 5 500 Gold Goblin cavalry 10 10 8 800 Gold Goblin mage 5 20 5 1000 Gold Zombie(*) 2 5 5 100 Gold *Due to reaching 50 affection points with Demon Lord Barbatos(Darkness), you are able to perform a special hire (Zombie)! [Useable Fund: 6102Gold] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°Uegh.¡± Expensive! They¡¯re still expensive! Goblin mages don¡¯t sound impressive, but I¡¯m finally able to hire a mage-type monster. Adding to this, I can also hire a mounted monster. This was something to be happy about. Having ess to mages and mounted soldiers was enough to drastically increase the number of strategic tactics I can pull off. Now there¡¯s no need for me to be fixated on fighting with golems at the front and fairies at the rear. I should be able to maintain myposure and deal with adventurers ording to the situation in a flexible manner¡­¡­but they¡¯re still expensive! Even if I use all the money I have, I can only hire 6 goblin mages. If it¡¯s like this, it¡¯s a question as to whether I can even make use of the variety of monsters that I¡¯ve finally gotten ess to. On another note, the special hire option was new. I¡¯ve never seen this option before. I focused my gaze on the word ¡®Zombie¡¯. Once I did, detailed information on zombies appeared along with a notification window popping up with a ding. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Congrattions! You have activated the special hire function for the first time. Special hire monsters cannot be hired by normal means. They can only be hired if you have eitherpleted a special quest or raised the affection of a specific character. You can hire more and more special monsters the higher the difficulty of quests youplete and the higher the affection someone has towards you! The type of monsters you can hire depends on the type of quests you aplish or the characteristics of the person you increase the affection points for. If you wish, you could fill your dungeon with monsters of a specific attribute. For example, you may be bestowed a special effect if you only hire monsters with attributes¡­¡­? However, if you only utilize monsters from one specific attribute, you may encounter some disadvantages. The choice is yours. Create a dungeon ording to your design! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°I see.¡± So this kind of function exists. That¡¯s rather interesting. Every Demon Lord has their own unique characteristic. Valefor, who owns that massive moving fortress, specializes in the attribute. Barbatos obviously specializes in . The uniqueness of the dungeons owned by Demon Lords depends on these attributes. The special hire option is giving me the ability to obtain this kind of uniqueness as well. No, even if I don¡¯t seek out something specific for myself, the very fact that I can hire a variety of monsters was good. Even if you only look at the zombies that have just been activated, their stats may look average, but they cost a mere 100 gold to hire. They¡¯re practically free. If adventurers invade while I¡¯m tight on money, I can just hire a swarm of zombies as an emergency measure. Mm. This isn¡¯t bad. My head, which had be hazy because of the matter with Paimon, gradually cleared up. Seeing these functions started to fill me with excitement. That¡¯s right, even if my infamy increased, I¡¯m definitely growing. There¡¯s no need for me to be unnecessarily impatient. I¡¯m a yer who reached the very top of . I don¡¯t have to be afraid of any heroes as long as I have enough money and monsters. I¡¯ll return to My Sweet Home, my Demon Lord castle once this Crescent Alliance is over anyway. I¡¯ll be able to distance myself from these wearisome political battles for a brief period of time. I¡¯ll have to earnestly raise my strength while managing my dungeon. In other words, a time of self-reflection¡­¡­. That¡¯s right. There¡¯s no need for me to be in a hurry. I¡¯ve been doing a rtively good job up to this point. I wonder if I can hire royal knights if I raise Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s affection enough? ¡°Heh.¡± There¡¯s no way that would happen, though. Not only are royal knights not monsters, but it¡¯s impossible to raise Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s affection in the first ce. She and I are now sworn enemies. If I see even a glimpse of her silver hair, let¡¯s run away immediately. I was interrupted while I was in the middle of thinking of ways to decorate my dungeon. ¡°Your Highness Dantalian.¡± Someone spoke up from outside of my quarters. It was the voice of the beastman who was put up as a guard outside. I told him beforehand to not bother me unless it was important. That¡¯s why even Laura and Lapis aren¡¯t here. I spoke while still on the ground. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°The chief of the Keuncuska Firm, Ivar Lodbrok has requested for an audience with Your Highness.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± I see. This does seem important enough to report. The Keuncuska Firm was currently supplying the Crescent Alliance. From the 1st legion to the 6th legion, there was a total of 6 legions here. We have be toorge to maintain with only piging. I fixed my posture and spoke. ¡°Send him in.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Not only has Ivar Lodbrok supported me fully throughout this plot, but we agreed beforehand that he would manage the supplies if the legions were toe together like this. A financier is valuable to any legion. Ivar¡¯s standing was tacitly like that of a high-ranking Demon Lord. I can¡¯t just refuse when someone of his standing asks for an audience. The entrance drapes of my quarters opened as an old gentleman entered. He got down on one knee as soon as he saw me. ¡°Glory to Dantalian.¡± ¡°You can skip the formalities. Lodbrok, why have youe here?¡± ¡°Your Highness, you have splendidly granted this one¡¯s wish.¡± Ivar spoke while kneeling. ¡°This one¡¯s wish was for the division of the Demon Lord army. Your Highness managed to see through this one¡¯s desire. A desire which this one has never revealed to anyone before. This one is still curious about how Your Highness had managed to see through this one¡¯s desire, but it is unquestionable that Your Highness had granted it.¡± He had apletely solemn look on his face. ¡°I lived my 3,000 years of life like a corpse because I believed that my life was in vain. However, I have now realized that my life has all been for the sake of this single moment. I, Ivar Lodbrok, wish to devote myself as Your Highness¡¯ vassal.¡± Ivar got up from his knee before prostrating. ¡°Please allow for this one to serve you.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The next chapter may or may not take a tiny bit longer to upload because of my graduation tomorrow. The graduation ceremony itself was cancelled, but my university is opening a small photo zone for people to rent those graduation garbs and take pictures. I was going to skip this but my family insisted that we should at least get photos taken. So yeah, I¡¯ll be officially graduating soon. See you guys when I¡¯m a free person. Chapter 123: The Longest 15 Minutes (8) Chapter 123: The Longest 15 Minutes (8) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I blinked. Ivar wants to be my subordinate? Ivar is the head of the Keuncuska Firm and also a powerful Vampire Lord. An individual who has money, wit, and power. If someone like that were toe under my wing, then it would definitely benefit me greatly. Nheless¡­¡­doesn¡¯t this sound too good to be true? ¡®Status¡¯. I muttered the word in my head while looking at Ivar. I wanted to confirm it. Sure enough, I could only see a simple window with Ivar¡¯s stamina, attack, and defense. This meant that Ivar¡¯s affection hadn¡¯t even reached 20. He¡¯s lying. Currently, Laura and Lapis are the only ones under my wing. It only became possible to recruit them after their affection points had reached 50. This was a problem with the system itself. Ivar Lodbrok was asking to be my subordinate even though his affection points hadn¡¯t reached 50, let alone 20 yet. His motives were suspicious. ¡®Haa¡­¡­.¡¯ Why are the people around me always like this? One woman went a year saying she didn¡¯t do it and then suddenly sets me up saying I did it, another person furtively put pressure on me for the sake of bncing the factions even though he knew the truth, and another girl invited me to partake in murder with her while smiling brightly. They were all people who could probably raise at least 10 snakes in their stomachs. Now someone was telling me that they were moved and that their life was changed because of me even though they didn¡¯t mean it at all. Can I go a single moment without dealing with politics? No, this isn¡¯t something I should be saying¡­¡­. I would sometimes act slyly around Laura and Lapis as well. I don¡¯t even have to mention Barbatos. There¡¯s probably no one who¡¯s as political as me. In the end, is it a crow next to a crow¡­¡­? My head ached. I tapped the floor with my index finger. ¡°Listen here, Lodbrok.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± ¡°To be honest, I like you.¡± I spoke with the utmost sincerity. ¡°Your wisdom that allowed you to live for 3,000 years must truly be marvelous. In order to ovee the limit of demonkind that must absolutely submit to Demon Lords, you moved your soul to a doll to preserve your free will. You are on a different levelpared to the others who simply have to live while yielding to Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Your words honor me.¡± ¡°However.¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°This is why I am disappointed. Why are you lying to me?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°For the past 6 months, we have performed a splendid dance together. If it were not for you and your Keuncuska Firm, the Crescent Alliance would not have gotten this far. Do you understand? Our rtionship is not simply that of a Demon Lord and a demon. We are partners. Comrades walking together towards a single goal.¡± Ivar didn¡¯t budge an inch as he stayed on the ground. ¡°If you truly intended to be my vassal, then you would havee to me with your true body.¡± ¡°Your Highness, this is a misunderstanding. These are urgent times, so I could note here with my true body.¡± ¡°Why would it be urgent for you?¡± I chuckled. ¡°There is no reason for you to be my vassal right this instant. It would be correct to carry out the proper formalities once you are able to find the time to do so at your own pace. Despite this, you came here urgently at a time like this¡­¡­. This means that your goal is something that cannot be aplished unless you approach me now. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Paimon, huh.¡± How obvious. In truth, there is something that Ivar has to be called to ount for. It was the ledger that Paimon had prepared and handed to the saintess. The ledger was something that absolutely should not have entered the hands of another party because of the contract between me and the Keuncuska Firm. However, this incident went beyond being a simple leak and almost ended up killing me, the contracting party. ¡°Do you intend to ask me to kill Paimon at the price of bing my vassal? She obtained the ledger through the Keuncuska Firm, after all. You must want to get rid of the evidence.¡± ¡°Your Highness, that is not true¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Ivar Lodbrok!¡± I shouted. ¡°This is how you have always been! You were like this back during the hearing as well. That old goblin most likely did not try to screw me over by himself, as it is clear that you must have meddled in it as well. Despite this, the goblin took all of the responsibility and killed himself. Have you ever given me a proper apology about the hearing? You feigned ignorance!¡± Heat spread throughout my body as I continued to speak. Was I getting worked up excessively? No. This is the right time to get worked up! ¡°Were you that afraid that watching Andromalius die woulde back to bite you? Is that why you wanted me dead? Now it is Paimon¡¯s turn¡­¡­. Hah! Is the way you conduct yourself not impressive?¡± ¡°This one was¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You push all of your wrongdoings onto other people. If it is too difficult to push them over, you get someone killed instead. How many people have you gotten killed by doing this? If Demon Lords are monsters, then what are you? A being far worse than a monster! A vampire! A bat bastard who cannot live without seeing another person¡¯s blood!¡± Ivar raised his body. Our gazes met. There was no trace of the calm andposed expression he had earlier. Ivar¡¯s eyes were boiling likeva. Did you take offense to what I said? ¡°Then what should I do!?¡± Ivar shouted with a suppressed voice. ¡°Simply harboring presumptuous thoughts is enough to be called out, and our bodies do not listen even if we want to fight back¡­¡­. That is the limit of demonkind when facing a Demon Lord! You have no idea what it means to be born as a demon!¡± Ivar¡¯s voice was filled with anger, sorrow, and frustration. ¡°At one point, I relied on people like you. However, every time I did, all I received in return was betrayal! To Demon Lords, demons are nothing more than lesser beings that areparable to household pets. They im that they will conquer the continent for the sake of demonkind, but even if that is aplished, Demon Lords will rule while demonkind will forever be ruled!¡± Ivar red at me with a gaze that contained several thousand years¡¯ worth of resentment. ¡°Say it! Was demonkind created to be ruled!? Regardless of how terrified and scared they are, are they doll-like beings that have to die if they are ordered to die!? Even if they spend hundreds of years to be skilled at something¡­¡­to create a precious family¡­¡­do they have to give that all up simply because it is a Demon Lord that orders them to!?¡± I grabbed Ivar by his cor. I brought his face right up to mine and growled. ¡°Are you frustrated because you were born a demon? Do not make meugh. Birth itself is unfair. Do you think I wanted to be born in a world like this!?¡± ¡°Kuh¡­¡­!¡± ¡°I do not care about how miserable you are. That ispletely outside of my interest. Simr to how you are being dragged around by your misfortunes, I am also busy carrying my misfortunes. Regardless, it disgusts me to no end whenever I see people like you try to throw their misfortunes onto someone else entirely!¡± Thud, I headbutted him. It hurt immensely. His might stat was definitely higher than mine. However, I couldn¡¯t hold myself back without hitting him once. ¡°I am not the Demon Lord that betrayed you! I am Dantalian. I am Dantalian and no one else! Regardless of whether you had to offer the life of your kin, your first love because you were deceived by some Demon Lord bastard¨Ddo not treat me like you do that Demon Lord!¡± Shock filled Ivar¡¯s eyes. ¡°H-How¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you made a mistake, then apologize for it. If you have a w, then think about how to go forward with it instead of trying to cover it up. That is how you should treat yourrades! If you go on about being a vassal or whatever without adopting a stance of this degree, then you are only fooling yourself!¡± I pushed Ivar back with the hand that was holding his cor. He fell backward. ¡°Get out of here! If you are only here to discuss some half-hearted friendship, then it would be easier to treat you as aplete enemy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar and I red at each other in silence while catching our breaths. Ivar let up first. His eyes were filled not only with anger but perplexity as well. He couldn¡¯t subdue anyone with a gaze like that. In the end, Ivar turned away first. He got up and left the tent with weak steps. ¡°Hoo¡­¡­.¡± I let out a deep breath. The delight I felt after discovering the new functions that came with my level increasing had long disappeared. My insides felt like they were boiling. Damn it. I was already feeling anxious because of the matter with Paimon, but now some guy was trying to also strike the back of my head. We are bound by gains and profits anyway. In other words, we have a rtionship that meant we would betray the other party the moment we see a chance at a bigger profit. There is a chance that the Keuncuska Firm leaked the ledgers regarding the ck Death deliberately. Destroy Paimon politically and get rid of me at the same time¡­¡­. This could be possible. This is how politics is. How filthy. ¡®I¡¯ll spare Paimon.¡¯ I came to a decision. During this Crescent Alliance expedition, the Keuncuska Firm had contributed greatly to the Minerva Operation that Lapis and I had devised. However,pared to Lapis, I couldn¡¯t trust Ivarpletely. He¡¯s a bastard who could betray me at any moment, no, a wench. I need at least one leash. Paimon¡¯s survival will make Ivar docile. Paimon is the head of the Mountain Faction and I¡¯m a key figure within the ins Faction. I¡¯m in a position that allows me to ask Barbatos for assistance whenever I want. No matter how great the Keuncuska Firm is in the demon world, it can¡¯t survive if it gets pressured on both sides by the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction. Come to think of it, didn¡¯t Paimon get screwed over by Ivar as well? If Ivar didn¡¯t betray her during the hearing, then she would have beat me. Let¡¯s utilize this to persuade her. Well, I¡¯m offering to spare her life. It¡¯d be bad if I couldn¡¯t profit from this as much as I could¡­¡­. I¡¯ll wring you dry. The beastman standing guard outside spoke up. ¡°Your Highness, Demon Lord Sitri is requesting for an audience.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll snap your neck.¡± I unintentionally muttered those words. It seems I won¡¯t be able to get any rest today. No, do these people not have anymon sense? Verbal battles are also a type of duel. Therefore, I¡¯m like a general that had just returned after fighting the Crescent Alliance¡¯s first skirmish. Why are people trying to bother someone who just wants to rest? ¡°Tell them toeter!¡± ¡°Understood, Your Highness¡­¡­Your Highness Sitri, I apologize, but.¡± I don¡¯t have the strength to deal with Sitri as well. Regardless of my desire, it seems the other party genuinely didn¡¯t have anymon sense. I could hear the sound of arguing outside before Sitri forced her way into my tent. I was about to shout at her brash attitude as a guest, but I was at a loss for words the moment I saw her. ¡°Have mercy. Please have mercy!¡± Sitri didn¡¯t even look at me properly before prostrating on the ground. Is prostrating the moment you see me a recent trend? No, that isn¡¯t the issue¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Uhm, Miss Sitri?¡± ¡°I will give you anything you want. I will be your ve if you ask me to. So please¡­¡­at least spare Paimon, Big Sis Paimon¡¯s life¡­¡­!¡± She mmed her head against the ground as she bowed. She wasn¡¯t just bringing her head down out of courtesy. She was sincerely, with all her strength, mming her head against the ground. I was inadvertently taken aback by the degree at which she bowed. I was troubled about where to look. ¡°That¡¯s not, uhm.¡± ¡°Do you not need a sex ve? Despite my appearance, no one canpare to me when ites to that field of expertise. I am being serious. I could give you any pleasure that you could possibly imagine on the surface of the earth as long as you spare Big Sis Paimon!¡± ¡°¡­¡­How about putting on some clothes first?¡± Sitri waspletely naked. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, I got my pictures taken. I guess I¡¯ve graduated? Time to struggle within society. On another note, I¡¯ll be somewhat busy for the next 2 days because a bunch of my friends from my university and high school wanted to meet up and stuff since I¡¯ve graduated. Honestly, this chapter should¡¯ve taken longer toe out, but I wound up sitting down and finishing it. I might be able to do that again for the next chapter but don¡¯t expect too much from me. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 124: The Longest 15 Minutes (9) Chapter 124: The Longest 15 Minutes (9) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ She didn¡¯t have even a single piece of cloth on her. Sitri¡¯srge breasts and plump rear were on full disy. I do think she has a nice body, but her current state looked pitiful so I grabbed a nearby nket and tried to cover her. ¡°I am begging you here!¡± Once I approached her, Sitri grabbed on to me and clung to my pants. If someone were to enter my quarters now, then they would probably think that I had done something bad. Furthermore¡­¡­I saw it. Something was hanging there! There was something between Sitri¡¯s legs¨Dsomething that a female should definitely not have¨Dsomething incrediblyrge and prominent was making its existence known! ¡°Guah!¡± ¡°Just tell me what to do! A blowjob? Do you want a blowjob?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m okay!?¡± I shouted as if I were screaming. Come to think of it, Rank 12 Demon Lord Sitri was known as a bisexual in the game. However, I didn¡¯t know that she herself was also ¡®bi¡¯. That wasn¡¯t mentioned anywhere. Sitri was a beauty with voluminous ck hair. She hadrge breasts, a slender waist, and a plump butt, making her quite literally curvy in just the right ces. However, there was another area that curved out. That heterogenous cannon overwhelmed everything else. It wasn¡¯t even excited and it was approximately 15cm¡­¡­. It was sorge that even the ck people in my world would probably get frightened¡­¡­. Sitri raised her head. There was blood flowing down her forehead. Her eyes glimmered scarily as she spoke. ¡°If you don¡¯t want a blowjob, then¡­¡­sex, you only want sex, huh? That¡¯s okay. I¡¯m good at that. Whether you like to get pounded or do the pounding, or maybe both, just tell me what you prefer!¡± ¡°Hiiiik!?¡± The breasts in front of me bounced. They were truly impressive breasts. It would definitely feel like I¡¯m in heaven if I were to bury myself in them. Nheless, rather than feeling any lust, I felt like my life was in danger. That definitely wasn¡¯t normal. It was a monster created by a mad scientist who came to hate females after being bullied during his school life, so he created it to destroy every female¡¯s reproductive organ. He had somehow overlooked the fact that something that could destroy a female¡¯s reproductive organ could also destroy a man¡¯s as well. In other words, it could cause the cmity of mankind¡­¡­. A nuclear weapon that could ruin even the creator himself. ¡°No way in hell!¡± ¡°B-But why? I can satisfy both heterosexuals and homosexuals! If you are not heterosexual or homosexual, then there is nothing I can do¡­¡­ah.¡± Sitri seemed to realize something as she let out a gasp. She then proceeded to give me a cautious and awkward gaze. ¡°I am asking this just in case, but do you perhaps get excited by animals¡­¡­? It would be difficult for even me to satisfy those needs¡­¡­. No, I do get it. I apologize, but would youpromise with me wearing an animal costume? I will do my best to imitate the sound the animal makes as well.¡± ¡°My sexual preference is absolutely normal and average!¡± Sitri looked greatly puzzled. ¡°Then why are you turning me down? It¡¯s definitely better to have both instead of only one¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t decide something like you¡¯re doing some simple additions!¡± This wasn¡¯t some buy one, get one free event. ¡°Uhm, I¡¯m not trying to brag, but my female part is amazing, you know?¡± Sitri spoke while pushing her chest against my thigh. ¡°I can control everyst crease ording to my will. I can tighten it to the point of being able to break a walnut and make it soft like pudding! If you experience it even once, then you won¡¯t be able to sleep with anyone else! I-I¡¯m serious!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± For a moment, a very brief moment, I almost felt tempted. However, I shook my head and came back to my senses. Even if Sitri is the greatest instrument on the surface of the, I don¡¯t want to sleep with a girl who has a 15cm cannon. This was a matter of perception than pleasure. ¡°How many times do I have to tell you? No.¡± ¡°Ah! You hesitated just now, right? Right? Were you tempted by my words?¡± ¡°A baseless nder. Please leave my quarters right this instant.¡± I ordered her to leave. ¡°In the first ce, Paimon is a high-ranking Demon Lord. The fact that you are trying to save that sort of individual with your body is outrageous. I will pretend as if this conversation never happened.¡± ¡°S-Sir Dantalian.¡± Sitri brought her head to my shoe. I could hear her kissing it. This went beyond what a Rank 12 Demon Lord should do to a Rank 71 Demon Lord. That¡¯s why I felt troubled. ¡°I beg of you. Big sis Paimon¡­¡­you may not know her that well, but she has done many things for the Demon Lord army. She is not someone who does not know shame. If you show her benevolence, then she will undoubtedly pay you several times back¡­¡­.¡± If she came to me saying that the entire Mountain Faction would seek out revenge if I decide to kill Paimon, then I wouldn¡¯t feel troubled. A Rank 12 Demon Lord has enough authority and ability to throw out a threat like that. However, Sitri fully acknowledged what she and Paimon had done was wrong and was desperately asking for my forgiveness. This was like the leader of a nation kissing the foot of amoner. While naked, at that. Even if I was indeed nning to take Paimon¡¯s life, Sitri¡¯s desperation would definitely have made me reconsider. Of course, she doesn¡¯t know that I already decided to spare Paimon. How should I use this? ¡°Mm.¡± I furrowed my brows. I pretended as if I were thinking deeply. Once I did, Sitri believed that I was contemting Paimon¡¯s fate as she proceeded to beg even more desperately. ¡°Big sis Paimon won¡¯t be the only one to repay you. I¡¯ll pay you back as well. If you don¡¯t like my body, then something else, I¡¯ll pay you back with money or whatever.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll revere you like a maid that has been educated splendidly. Please believe me!¡± ¡°Miss Sitri.¡± I spoke in a serious tone. ¡°I am not sure if you are aware of this, but Paimon had tried to set me up in the past as well. Originally, I was supposed to receive a public apology andpensation; however, I only received a private apology in consideration of Paimon¡¯s image. She is someone whom I have already forgiven once.¡± ¡°T-That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There is no guarantee that something that happened once could happen again. However, it is highly likely for something that happened twice to happen again. Is this not so?¡± ¡°I will make sure that something like that never happens!¡± Sitri hammered her forehead against the ground again. ¡°Hoo.¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°¡­¡­Very well, then. I will overlook this incident in consideration of Miss Sitri¡¯s honor.¡± ¡°R-Really!?¡± Sitri¡¯s head shot up. Her face was filled with delight. The fact that she was smiling brightly despite the amount of blood flowing down her forehead was rather terrifying. She was now holding my shoe in both of her hands and raining kisses on it. ¡°Thank you! Sir Dantalian, thank you very much! I will never forget this favor!¡± ¡°It is not free.¡± ¡°Of course! Tell me whatever you need! I, Sitri, will even offer my life!¡± I continued while looking down at her. ¡°I want you to listen to two requests regardless of the time and ce.¡± ¡°Two requests?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I nodded. ¡°There is nothing in particr that I want from Miss Sitri. I made up my decision to forgive Paimon because of the sincerity you put into your apology. I cannot ask you for something right this instant; however, in the future, when I need Miss Sitri¡¯s assistance, I wish for you to help me two times.¡± Sitri pounded her chest confidently. ¡°I can easily do that much!¡± ¡°Do you understand? You have to obey me no matter what. Even if my request may result in you being hostile toward Paimon.¡± ¡°Uh, that¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± She paused for a moment. However, a certain thought must have gone through her head as she immediately nodded. ¡°¡­¡­I understand. Quite literally anything. I willply with two of your wishes no matter what they may be.¡± ¡°All right. I will look forward to it.¡± ¡°If my strength iscking and I am unable to grant your wish, then I willpensate you with my death. My life would have no meaning anyway without Big sis Paimon.¡± Sitri gazed at me with a genuinely serious look. ¡°Sir Dantalian, you have basically spared the life of both Big sis Paimon and myself. A wish for a life. It¡¯s simple if you think of it like that. I swear on my life and everything else that I will execute whatever Sir Dantalian asks of me on two asions.¡± I could hear the sincerity in Sitri¡¯s tone. I felt pleased. It wasn¡¯t only because I managed to receive the favor of a powerful Demon Lord for free. Different from Ivar Lodbrok, Sitri acknowledged her mistake. She didn¡¯t try to solve this politically but instead acted solely for the sake of rescuing Paimon. I liked that purity. I was tired after the political chicken fight I had with Ivar earlier. I was beginning to feel depressed as I wondered if there was no one around me who didn¡¯t act politically. At that moment, Sitri appeared and showed me her innocence¨DI¡¯m not praising her or ridiculing her¨Dand that pleased me. I¡¯m probably an unredeemable piece of trash for obtaining a political gain from such an innocent individual. Hahaha. ¡°But are you sure you don¡¯t want my body? It¡¯s amazing, you know? You could try closing your eyes and¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯m good!¡± I also shouted from the bottom of my heart. I really don¡¯t want that! * * * A hearing was held once the sun had set. The defendant was obviously Paimon. It was very evident that Paimon was in a severe state because of her messed up magic, but she dragged her suffering body here anyway to partake in the hearing. Herplexion was almost like that of a corpse and she couldn¡¯t even manage to utter one proper sentence throughout the hearing. As the intiff, I was asked what Paimon¡¯s punishment would be. Surprising to them, I wished for Paimon to be deemed innocent. ¡°¡­¡­If we consider this, although Paimon¡¯s aggression towards me is certain, there are also extenuating circumstances. The Mountain Faction stood as the vanguard today and contributed in our victory. Paimon, albeitte, corrected her ways and sacrificed herself for the Demon Lord army.¡± I spoke while looking around at the other Demon Lords. ¡°Her crime cannot be forgiven. Whether it can be forgiven or not, the crime will remain as a crime. It will be like a stain that can never be cleaned. Nevertheless, I believe that she canpensate for her crimes by carrying out a good act that outweighs her crime. Therefore, I mercifully wish for the Mountain Faction and Paimon to be dered innocent.¡± I bowed my head as I finished speaking. Apuse erupted from the Mountain Faction and the Neutral Faction. Most of the members from the ins Faction let out a groan. They were emitting an aura that was saying that they¡¯ll overlook this since I¡¯m the one who made the decision. Brother Beleth seemed especially displeased as he was snorting all throughout the hearing. Barbatos was¡­¡­letting out a sigh. What a magnate. How respectful. ¡°I am also grateful for your magnanimous decision.¡± The moderator of the hearing, Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas spoke. ¡°Agares, Gamigin, Barbatos, and I made up our minds to respect Dantalian¡¯s decision. Is there anyone here who opposes this?¡± This meant that the high-ranking Demon Lords were all supporting me. There was no one here who would try to voice their opposition after hearing something like that. Marbas gave a satisfied nod before making a deration. ¡°Then I hereby dere Paimon¡¯s innocence. Shameful things have happened today, but that does not change that our Crescent Alliance has alsoe out victorious. It is not much, but I have prepared a banquet. I wish for you all to enjoy yourselves.¡± The hearing ended smoothly. It was a result that pleased both the Mountain Faction and the Neutral Faction. It should probably be fine for me to expect them to treat me favorably from now on. Most importantly, this meant that there were now no more factions that were hostile toward me, Dantalian. Both the Mountain Faction and Neutral Faction were indebted to me and the ins Faction was t-out on my side. Having no enemies was incredibly important when it came to survival. Brother Beleth grabbed me by the shoulder and took me toward where the rest of the ins Faction had gathered. As I was being dragged along, I caught a glimpse of Paimon who happened to also be looking at me. She gave me a courteous nod. Was she thanking me¡­¡­? Like this, my first war came to an end. From the entire Crescent Alliance¡¯s perspective, the war has only just begun; however, it was over for me. There was now no more reason for me to step forward. My goal of making the human army and Demon Lord army collide had already seeded¨DThat was my only goal in this war. The humans may have lost the first battle, but they haven¡¯tpletely gathered yet. Even now, almost a total of 100,000 reinforcements were stilling from the Frankish Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Bernicia, etc. They will carry out a grand skirmish against the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­. ¡°Now then, Dantalian! Our hero! Drink as a hero should!¡± ¡°Drink! Drink! Drink!¡± Although it feels like I won a bit too excessively in the verbal battle, oh well. Things don¡¯t always go ording to n. Let¡¯s think about how to deal with the wine being poured by Brother Beleth right now. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ve barely had the time to work on these chapters cause I¡¯ve been going out fairly often these past few days. Got one more meeting with friends tomorrow and I should be free again. Well, depending on how you define ¡®free¡¯. In any case, this is apparently the end of Arc 2 of the web novel. It¡¯s also as far as the paperback version of this series got. I mentioned this before, but I will be making another post shortly after this with a character poll on it. People will be able to vote for their favorite characters thus far in the web novel version of Dungeon Defense. It¡¯s been a long time since Ist did this, so I hope people are still interested in these things. I¡¯ll see you guys on that character poll. Chapter 125: Morning in Rome (1) Chapter 125: Morning in Rome (1) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ War gives birth to heroes. Some people live and some people die. An extremely small portion of these people are somehow able to survive despite being in situations where they should have definitely died. People refer to those who are able to get back on their two feet after wading through mires of blood as heroes. There is a thickyer of blood hidden out of sight underneath the feet of heroes. The Crescent Alliance¡¯s war dyed the ins with blood and inevitably brought upon the banquet of heroes. ¡°That, that damn imperial princess!¡± Barbatos broke her baton in half out of anger. The other Demon Lords seemed ashamed as they lowered their heads. Elizabeth von Habsburg, the girl who was mercilessly defeated during the ceremonial speeches before the first battle¨Drampaged throughout the battlefield as if she wanted revenge. At first, people didn¡¯t pay that much attention to her. Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth only moved around while leading a small unit of elite troops. The Demon Lords mocked her saying that she must have lost the trust of her soldiers, so she could onlymand her royal guards. 3 of the Demon Lords that mocked her had died. The detached force led by the imperial princess only appeared while aiming for the most important ces and at the most optimal times. They filled up the weak spots in the human army and they charged in at the weak spots in the Crescent Alliance. At first, the Demon Lords of the Crescent Alliance were amazed by the young imperial princess¡¯ ability. However, all of the Demon Lords of the Crescent Alliance came to a realization after a month had passed since the start of the war. Elizabeth von Habsburg was a monster. ¡°If your unit isn¡¯t more than three times the size of her unit, then don¡¯t face her in battle!¡± Barbatos dered urgently. This was immediately after a unit of almost 3,000 soldiers was lost to the detached force that barely had a military power of 1,000. The Crescent Alliance wasn¡¯t the only side that realized the abnormal strength of the imperial princess. The humans also realized that their side had a rare genius. As the days went by, the imperial princess¡¯ detached force grew in size. At this point, she was definitely ruling the battlefield. If Imperial Princess Elizabeth weremanding the entire human army, then the Crescent Alliance would have fallen. It was pure luck to the Demon Lords that she had lost her authority with the nobles. The imperial princess could only influence the imperial army of Habsburg. It would be hard for her to turn the tides of war with only that. The Crescent Alliance wasn¡¯t ipetent either. ¡°¨DWe are not so weak that we would lose to humans.¡± ¡°Kuhu. Is it finally time for me to stretch my muscles?¡± Zepar and Beleth started to take full charge of dealing with the imperial princess. They were the two aces of the ins Faction. Zepar became the shield while Beleth acted as the spear in order to face the imperial princess. A bloody back and forth battle was carried out. The battlefield soon reached equilibrium again. ¡°Damn it. We should have dealt with her sooner¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos went on a king-sized fit, but the boat had already left the harbor a long time ago. Several other flowers besides the imperial princess bloomed on the battlefield. One of the most brilliant flowers was the young ruler from the Kingdom of Brittany. This queen with flowing scarlet hair and a great smile personally partook in the battles at the young age of 19. Henrietta de Brittany. Not only was she obviously a major character in Dungeon Attack, but she was also someone with whom I had a deep connection. It¡¯s not like she was one of my favorite characters. Mm¡­¡­. She¡¯s the person who should¡¯ve be Laura¡¯s lord. In the game, Laura bes the Iron Chancellor of the Kingdom of Brittany, after all. Naturally, she would serve Henrietta, the Queen of Brittany, as her lord. I felt rather strange whenever I heard information about Henrietta ying an active role. I felt like a thief who was hearing about the owner of the home he had stolen from¡­¡­. In any case, these things weren¡¯t rted to me anymore. I was severely injured in battle. I fell off of my horse and broke my right leg. I had to leave the frontline due to this injury. No one was opposed to this. The unit I led only had about 50 troops. 50 was like a grain of sand on a battlefield with over 200,000 soldiers. The other Demon Lords sent me off as if they were saying ¡®You did a good job, so get some rest¡¯. Of course, falling from my horse was a self-fabricated story. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for me to reside on the battlefield longer than necessary. Haha.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Lordship is rather wicked at times.¡± I gave all sorts of excuses in order to return to my Demon Lord Castle. I imed that an adventurer party had invaded my castle while I was absent. A party actually did, so it wasn¡¯t a lie. It¡¯s just that, in truth, the adventurer party consisted of vigers that I had secretly asked a favor. I mean, I aplished my goal. There¡¯s no reason for me to continue working hard on a perilous battlefield. My eyes sparkled as I responded confidently. ¡°Referentially, it is important to know when to go in and when to back out. Let us leave with haste.¡¯ ¡°Haa¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Now then, Laura. Let us depart with our heads held up high. Our lovely home awaits us!¡± I dragged Laura with me back home as she let out a sigh. Goodbye Barbatos. Goodbye Elizabeth! Please fight diligently. My chances of survival increase the more diligently you guys fight, after all. I genuinely pray that you have a good fight. We returned to my Demon Lord Castle after about half a year. * * * WARNING: NSFW CONTENT.Please be advised that the following segment has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip this part. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there.You have been warned. I confined myself in my abode for 2 weeks after I returned to my castle. I gave myself a little holiday. No matter how you look at it, I worked way too hard for the past year. I¡¯m actually azy person by nature. I only work desperately when I think my life is on the line. And the life-threatening crisis has passed! ¡°Uuh, Lord¡­¡­w-we already did it earlier. Why agaain?¡± ¡°It is not my fault. It cannot be helped when Laura¡¯s body is so pretty. What can I do when I simply wish to do it again and again?¡± ¡°Hn, that is, unreasonable¡­¡­hgh!¡± So I becamepletely engrossed in sex. I did do it in the military camps with either Barbatos or Laura while avoiding onlookers, but we were at war, so it would always end quickly. We couldn¡¯t do it often either. I think I understand why soldiers would cruelly pige towns and viges after winning battles. They aren¡¯t able to hold back their desires which have piled up continuously. A rather sizable number of prostitutes would follow battlefields. The soldiers would use them to release their sexual desires. Despite this, they usually aren¡¯t able to do so fully because of the pressure thates from technically still being at war. Laura and I went around naked for half a month. There was no point in wearing clothes when we were going to end up taking them off anyway. We didn¡¯t care about the location as we did it in ces like my Demon Lord room, the caverns of the dungeon, and the undergroundke. On certain days, we would do it 7 times. ¡°This is not the lifestyle of rational beings!¡± In the end, Laura burst. ¡°No matter how many times you do it, you should only do it once a day and six times a week! Give me at least one day to rest! This youngdy will not be able to get anything done at this rate. Recently, my stomach has started to ache to the point where I can barely walk!¡± I made a teary expression. ¡°Only one time a day¡­¡­? That is too little.¡± ¡°In, the, first, ce! Your Lordship¡¯s stamina is unusual! It goes beyondmon sense!¡± Laura roared like a lioness. ¡°Is Your Lordship some ogre in heat? Even on the days we do not do it that much, you make us have intercourse at least 4 times¡­¡­. Even if Your Lordship is the only man that this youngdy has ever slept with, I know for certain that this is not normal. Look, Lord!¡± She used her fingers to spread herself. She was naked even now. A cloudy substance flowed out from her hairless genital and flowed down her thigh. The liquid fell to the cavern floor and created a small puddle. ¡°Your Lordship did this! There is not a day where Your Lordship¡¯s semen is able to dry up in this youngdy¡¯s stomach. Would you understand if I said it feels like pouring a bucket of warm water in your belly? We do it almost at all times that this youngdy¡¯s stomach is about to burst soon.¡± ¡°Eeh, that sounds like an exaggeration.¡± More importantly, Laura, weren¡¯t you the esteemeddy of a duchy? How could the esteemed daughter of a duke spread herself open with her own fingers like this? How could you have fallen so much? As Laura¡¯s lord and educator, this saddens me greatly¡­¡­. ¡°Were you not the one who made me like this!?¡± Laura grabbed me by the arm. She looked up at me with a terribly intimidating gaze. ¡°This is not a joke. If this continues, this youngdy will die of coitus! Do you intend to kill your only retainer, Lord? I am asking you to be satisfied with something reasonable like a fetio. Even this morning, I did it with my mouth 4 times, and this ogre in heat is still¡­¡­!¡± ¡°B-But.¡± I found myself getting pushed back by her intimidating eyes as I stammered. ¡°You are just so appetizing. Your insides are tight, your breasts are soft, and your rear would glisten pleasantly whenever I touch it¡­¡­. You could say I feel a whole bunch of tightening sensations by just putting it in you once.¡± ¡°Why should I care!?¡± It really wasn¡¯t something she should care about. I protested. ¡°I am not the only one who has been enjoying it. You have also been enjoying yourself, so it is cowardly for you to only me me.¡± ¡°Of course, this youngdy has been enjoying it as well. The issue is that it is too enjoyable! I easily climax over 30 times when we do it only once, so what do you expect from this youngdy!? Your Lordship, do you understand? At least 30 times. This youngdy would basically be experiencing about a hundred climaxes on a day we have intercourse only 3 times!¡± Laura grabbed her head and started muttering gloomily. ¡°Do you know how it feels to climax a hundred times? You can no longer distinguish night and day¡­¡­. I cannot tell whether I woke up a few minutes ago or a few hours ago. I also be uncertain about whether I ate or not¡­¡­. I have been like this for half a month now¡­¡­. This is probably what people mean by a hell of pleasure¡­¡­. No, a hundred times is better. The moment you climax two hundred times¡­¡­.¡± Laura emitted a gloomy aura as she continued to mutter to herself. Kuh. This makes it feel like it¡¯s my fault. Laura is still 17 years old. If it bes revealed somewhere that I had sex all day and night for half a month with a 17-year-old girl, then I would most definitely be cursed at. ¡°Commander Barbatos¡­¡­no, at the very least, Miss Lapis needs to be here.¡± Laura turned to me with a sad gaze. ¡°At least 2 people are required to withstand Your Lordship¡¯s boorish lower body. To be honest, this youngdy wishes for 3 or 4 people¡­¡­. Uuu. When will Miss Lapis return?¡± ¡°I am not sure. Lapis is an employee of the Keuncuska Firm, after all. Hmm. She has to finish her work there first.¡± Laura fell to her knees on the cavern floor. She was filled with despair. ¡°Miss Lapis, pleasee back soon. This is the first time in this youngdy¡¯s life that she has ever earnestly awaited someone¡¯s arrival¡­¡­.¡± Mm. I don¡¯t have that kind of rtionship with Lapis in the first ce¡­¡­. I don¡¯t know what to say. Right now, Laura was copsed on the ground with her butt in the air which made it seem like she was presenting herself. Her butt was plump like a ripe apple. My member became stiff again. See? It isn¡¯t my fault. Laura is naturally gifted with the ability to seduce men. ¡°Very well, then. I will limit how many times we have sex. But what should I do? I am not trying to boast, but our castle is shabby. Besides sleeping with you, there is nothing else to really do around here.¡± ¡°Did Your Lordship not make the viges nearby submit to you?¡± Laura muttered while still in her despair pose. ¡°In other words, Your Lordship has be their lord. Those viges will develop or decline ording to what you do. How about merging the viges together and creating a genuine territory for yourself?¡± ¡°Hm. A territory for myself, huh?¡± I never considered that. However, after hearing Laura¡¯s words, it felt like it might be interesting. My Demon Lord Castle and the viges nearby¡­¡­. It might turn out to be more enjoyable than expected. But before that. Grab. ¡°¡­¡­Lord?¡± ¡°You may speak.¡± ¡°If I am not mistaken, Your Lordship is currently grabbing my butt.¡± ¡°You are not mistaken.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you intend to go another round¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Mm. My semen will act as a lubricant.¡± Laura shouted urgently. ¡°You mustn¡¯t! We already did it 4 times today! Please, at the very least, after a 2 hour break!¡± ¡°It is your fault for having a pretty butt, Laura.¡± ¡°H-Huaaa!?¡± I pushed my hips forward strongly. A lovely voice echoed pitifully throughout the gloomy caverns¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m still not used to tranting NSFW stuff, but I do it for you guys. To be fair, these sorts of scenes kind of exins why Dantalian was called a sex-fiend in the LN even though we weren¡¯t really shown much examples there. Obviously, the author couldn¡¯t include these scenes in the LN, but he still wanted the implications of Dantalian¡¯s deviancy to still be there. Either way, I guess Dant had a lot of pent up desires since it¡¯s been so long since thest NSFW chapter. This might be the horny chapter segment. Who knows. Oh, also, the character poprity poll has been up. Very obvious characters are in the lead. Sort of surprised, but also not that surprised, to see Paimon and Elizabeth more prominently lower on the list. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 126: Morning in Rome (2) Chapter 126: Morning in Rome (2) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I did it with Laura two more times before leaving my castle. Laurashed out and called me a sex-crazed ogre in heat; however, I had an excuse. What else could the vigers do but panic if I visited them suddenly? I used a magic orb to inform them beforehand that I would be visiting. I made sure to tell them that there wasn¡¯t a significant reason behind my visit and that I was simplying by to see how they¡¯ve been doingtely. Mm. Aren¡¯t I kind? Not only did I inform them of my uing visit, but I told them to not make a fuss about weing me as well. There¡¯s probably no Demon Lord that¡¯s as gentle as me. I leisurely made my way to the vige the next day. * * * It may have not been significant to Dantalian. However, the forewarning he gave to the vigers about his visit was like a bolt from the blue to them. The person visiting was a Demon Lord. Furthermore, he was the merciless and cruel tyrant who beheaded everyone that went against him with Riff¡¯s party without exception. To the vigers, the name Dantalian was nothing more than a target of fear. The viges fell into turmoil once Dantalian notified them through the magic orb of his visit. The chiefs of each vige gathered urgently in order to hold a meeting. They utilized the already few horses they had to gather as soon as possible. ¡°The fact that he is suddenly visiting us after never having done so before¡­¡­. I-It definitely means that, right?¡± ¡°Mm. Most likely.¡± The men whose bodies became rugged through doing farm work all their lives nodded with serious looks on their faces. ¡°He finally wants us to offer him a tribute, huh¡­¡­.¡± The faces of the vige chiefs became dark. A tribute. It was like a type of tax. Originally, they had no reason whatsoever to pay taxes to the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord asked for only their loyalty and assured them their full freedom in return; however, the incident with Riff¡¯s party caused a problem. There were 12 viges located near the dungeon. 5 of those viges revolted. That was nearly half of them. Demon Lord Dantalian granted them freedom at the price of their loyalty, and yet, the viges couldn¡¯t even maintain their loyalty¡­¡­. Their contract had been broken. Among the viges that survived, there were many ces that did whatever it took to survive during the adventurer party incident. There was a notion shared among the vige chiefs that their viges could also get wiped out if they made even a single mistake. Tomorrow might be the day that that mistake is made. The atmosphere of the meeting gradually became gloomy. ¡°Let us voluntarily offer him a tribute before he asks for one.¡± One of the vige chiefs let out a sigh as he spoke. ¡°Did we offer a tribute because he asked for it and we thought it was unavoidable or did we do it on our own free will? There is arge difference between these two things. His Highness will most likely consider our honor.¡± ¡°Are you sure about that? I personally witnessed His Highness lead his armyst year. That was definitely an evil spirit.¡± Another person shuddered. He remembered seeing Dantalian give a passionate speech in front of his massive army of goblins. The sight of hundreds of monsters baring their teeth and cheering. He realized at that moment why Demon Lords were called the lords of monsters. ¡°He is not someone to consider our honor. He might include our heads on the list of tributes¡­¡­.¡± ¡°T-That¡¯s why I¡¯m saying that we should prepare as many tributes as possible.¡± It was around the time the meeting of vige chiefs was bing more grave. ¡°Hm.¡± The young vige chief, Parsi, tilted his head as he watched the others. He was the one who personally followed Dantalian and fought alongside him during the adventurer party incident. He got to watch Dantalian up close and thus knew that the Demon Lord wasn¡¯t the type of person to go around demanding tributes like some delinquent. ¡®This is irrelevant to me.¡¯ Even if Dantalian ordered them to offer a tribute, Parsi believed that his vige would be excluded. He fought the hardest on the Demon Lord¡¯s side during the adventurer party incident, after all. ¡®Honestly, these old coots are just cowering on their own. It also feels like that one saying, a guilty conscience needs no user¡­¡­. Should I try prodding them?¡± Parsi narrowed his eyes and nced at the faces of each and every vige chief. Something smelled bad. Parsi may be illiterate, but he was born with a sharp wit. He caught Dantalian¡¯s eyes because of this intuition of his. Right now his intuition was telling him that something about these vige chiefs gave off a bad stench. ¡°Hey, you old men.¡± The young vige chief opened his mouth. Everyone turned to look at him. ¡°Let¡¯s be honest here. You guys did something that would get you in trouble if the Demon Lord found out, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Huh, what are you talking about?¡± One of the vige chiefs acted innocent. It was an excellent reaction, but the faces of 3 other vige chiefs twitched. This didn¡¯t escape Parsi¡¯s sharp eyes that had been trained as he lived his life as a hunter. These old coots actually did something! The polite tone that Parsi had out of formality quickly changed to a crude one. ¡°Fuck, say it now. What did you guys do?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Like I said, what are you saying we did? Don¡¯t reprimand us for no reason.¡± ¡°Jeez, you idiotic old man. I can tell just by looking at you guys that a couple of your viges had done something. Don¡¯t you guys understand that it¡¯ll all fall apart the instant one of you guys decides to snitch?¡± Parsi jeered at them. ¡°You guys are already contemting how much you should offer as a tribute. Do you really think someone isn¡¯t going to snitch just so they can offer a little less for the tribute?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The man¡¯s expression crumbled apart. He had a look of despair. Parsi was right. It was definitely possible that someone would snitch to the Demon Lord just so that they would not have to offer any tribute. There isn¡¯t some sizable sense ofradery between the viges, after all. They only maintained the bare minimum of trust whenever it was necessary. In other words, they would betray each other if necessary. Just a year ago, the militia of some viges joined together with the adventurers to pige the funds of other viges. Four vige chiefs turned to look at each other. They looked incredibly troubled. ¡°Well, actually¡­¡­.¡± Shortly after. Parsi shouted at the top of his lungs. ¡°You absolute morons!¡± The other vige chiefs who weren¡¯t involved in this incident also stared at the group of culprits in disbelief. They looked as if they were staring at lunatics. A vige chief from the wrongdoing group stammered. ¡°I-I mean, it would have been a waste to not do anything on a perfectly good field¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Are you saying that as an excuse!? Those fields don¡¯t belong to you guys!¡± The crimemitted by the four vige chiefs was as follows. There were viges that were burned down after getting swept up in the Riff incident, but that didn¡¯t mean the fields they had cultivated were also destroyed. The vige chiefs salivated as they stared at the fields that had survived. Can¡¯t we use those? There are many second sons and third sons who don¡¯t have their own fields. They were used as a type ofbor force since they couldn¡¯t seed their families¡¯ farms. The vige chiefs persuaded them and gave them the fields to work on as if they were an act of kindness. As if the fields belonged to them. They asked for half of their harvest aspensation. ¡°You guys should get hit by an arrow!¡± Parsished out. The other viges might end up getting wrapped up in this because of what these guys had done. Think about it. What would happen if someone were to snitch about a matter that no one else had noticed until now to Dantalian when he visits? It would seem like we had intentionally kept this a secret. We would all be suspected as aplices. Thend of the viges that had disappeared because of the revolt belongs to Demon Lord Dantalian. Thend that belonged to rebels goes to the person who suppressed the rebellion, this is the most basic ofmon sense. In other words, what these vige chiefs had done was take possession of pieces of their lord¡¯snd at their own discretion and give them to their vige people while applying their own taxes. This was a splendid act of rebellion. Assuming ownership ofnd without permission and the crime of making their own taxes¡­¡­. Parsi couldn¡¯t fathom what they would have to do to pay for these crimes. This wasn¡¯t something that could be resolved by offering the heads of 3 or 4 vige chiefs. It probably wouldn¡¯t be enough even if an entire vige¡¯s worth of people were executed. ¡°H-Help us. If you guys feign ignorance, then even the Demon Lord shouldn¡¯t¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Are you insane? Damn it. I don¡¯t have a hobby of getting myself killed.¡± Parsi took out his dagger. The vige chiefs started to shout in a panic once they saw him pull out his weapon. ¡°What are you doing!?¡± ¡°If we let this slide, then the innocent people in our viges will end up losing their lives. Sorry, but you guys are going to have to die here. Hey! If you guys want to live, then stick with me!¡± Parsi¡¯s action was quick and decisive. He moved in swiftly like a beast and stabbed at one of the vige chiefs who hadmitted the crime. His dagger urately stabbed into the vige chief¡¯s neck. The vige chief let out a cry as he fell over. The other vige chiefs took out their daggers once they saw this. A short scuffle followed. Thanks to Parsi¡¯s efforts, the innocent vige chiefs came out victorious. Parsi wiped the blood from his de as he grunted. ¡°Let¡¯s offer their heads to the Demon Lord first.¡± ¡°What should we do about the tribute?¡± ¡°Hm.¡± The situation had be troublesome. The tribute which they originally didn¡¯t have to offer had now be essential. Fundamentally, the people here were used to sharing responsibility. It¡¯s not like you could avoid being punished since you weren¡¯t the one tomit the crime. If a pair of brothersmit a crime, then the entire family would take responsibility. If a neighbormits a crime, then the 5 households around that neighbor would have to take responsibility as well. This was an era where this had be normalized. From the Demon Lord¡¯s perspective, this would simply seem like an urrence that happened because the other viges didn¡¯t watch over each other properly. Parsi gnashed his teeth. He suddenly remembered the human girl who walked alongside the Demon Lord. Laura or something. He was certain that she was around the same age as him. She was a girl with unimaginable beauty. ¡°How many single women do you guys have in your viges?¡± ¡°We have two.¡± ¡°Our vige has three¡­¡­.¡± Adding them all together would make around ten. It wasn¡¯t a number that satisfied Parsi, but he suggested offering them to the Demon Lord anyway. They might be able to make their tribute look more appealing by adding virgins as a type of bouquet. ¡°Dear me, I am already getting a headache about how the young¡¯uns from my vige willin.¡± ¡°Will we have to buy ves from somewhere? Tsk tsk. Even the Gods are indifferent to our troubles. How have things ended up like this?¡± Everyone had mixed emotions. There were originally 12 viges, but it was reduced to 7 after the rebellion and now they were about to shrink down to 3. The saying that humans are their own worst enemy went through everyone¡¯s heads. ¡°Sons of bitches!¡± Parsi couldn¡¯t hold back his anger as he stepped on a corpse. It was incredibly disrespectful, but no one stopped him. The remaining vige chiefs immediately returned to their viges. They were pressed on time. They spent the entire night pushing their vige people to create a tribute. The single women who suddenly had their fates bound to a Demon Lord wept. Their families were extremely angry, but they had no other choice but to withdraw once they found out it was for the sake of their vige. This wasn¡¯t an era that was good enough to allow one to live on their own without the support of their vige. The sound of women crying echoed throughout the night. * * * ¡°Have mercy!¡± ¡°Please, would you look into your heart to forgive us this one time?¡± The first thing I saw as soon as I arrived at a vige was a bunch of people prostrating on the ground. They had piled up arge stack of grain. For some reason, orcish girls were sitting quietly in front of the grain with flowers in their hair. I¡¯m certain I told them there was no meaning behind this visit. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I felt so bewildered that my mouth hung agape. What are you guys doing? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uhm, I don¡¯t have much to say. The character poprity poll is still going on if you some of you guys happened to miss it. I¡¯m actually surprised by the number of votes VenusPanties has. She seemed like such a minor character to me, and yet, she has more votes than 5 other characters. A truly surprising result. Welp, the month is ending. I hope you guys are adapting well to 2021. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 127: Morning in Rome (3) Chapter 127: Morning in Rome (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I looked down at Parsi as I waited for an exnation. Parsi was holding his head up slightly while prostrating like the other vigers. This was so that he could respond to me ordingly. This guy¡­¡­he definitely has a knack for politics. Despite looking like a bulldog. ¡®I could probably use him if he learns how to read.¡¯ It was a little unfortunate. I had an urge to send him off to study. Parsi was the same age as Laura. In other words, he was 17 years old. He was young, but he was also at an awkward age to start learning something. Well, people are usually able to effectively learn new things before they¡¯re thirty. Let¡¯s think about this slowly. Parsi got up. ¡°Let me guide you inside first.¡± ¡°All right. Lead the way.¡± I was led to a nearby wooden house. It was the vige chief¡¯s house. It was a rather shabby ce for the person with the most authority in the vige to be living in. This meant that he wasn¡¯t someone who cared about needless extravagance. Hm. I like him even more now. ¡°Now then, give me an exnation.¡± I spoke as I sat down on the floor. Parsi let out a deep sigh after he sat downfortably. Overall, the way he held himself made it clear that he didn¡¯t know the rules of etiquette. Despite this, it didn¡¯t bother me or feel unsightly to me. He would dly act servile if I demanded it; however, we both knew that there would be no sincerity in that. I want to be sincere with you since I believe you are qualified to receive my sincerity. ¨DEvery bit of Parsi¡¯s demeanor gave off this impression. ¡°Things have be messed up.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like another adventurer party caused a problem.¡± ¡°A couple of other viges conspired together and leeched off of yournd.¡± Parsi made a serious look. I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t know what the problem is. ¡°Mynd? You are not talking about my Demon Lord Castle, are you?¡± ¡°I am talking about the viges that were destroyed because they worked together with the adventurers. They had fields they were cultivating. People from other viges took over those fields.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I put my hand on my chin. I contemted the severity of this incident. I thoroughly piged all of the viges that conspired with the adventurers. I distributed the provisions I took from them to the viges that were on my side. That was as far as the reward and punishment went. Everything else that wasn¡¯t mentioned obviously belonged to me. Therefore, this meant that those vigers plundered my belongings¡­¡­. ¡°Just punish the perpetrators. Furthermore, it seems that none of the citizens of this vige took part in that crime. Mm. I feel like the apology is more excessive than the crime itself¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Damn it. It would be great if stealing from you was all they did. Unfortunately, it was the vige chiefs who took the lead and goaded their viges to cultivate yournd. Those vige chief bastards even went as far as to apply taxes on those fields as if they belonged to them.¡± Wow. I scowled. ¡°Are they insane?¡± ¡°They¡¯re insane.¡± Parsi nodded. I now understood the severity of the situation. I rxed my posture and shifted my legs into a morefortable position. One should make their bodies asfy as their minds have be agitated. This was what this meant. ¡°What was the tax rate?¡± ¡°Seven-tenth of their harvest.¡± ¡°Christ¡­¡­they really were crazy bastards.¡± They took 70% of the harvest as tax. They went beyond normal thieves. Of course, taking 70% of one¡¯s harvest is a verymon urrence in this era. You could consider it to be normal. It was so normal that a lord that only took 50% as tax would be praised as a lord brought down by the heavens. The issue is the fact that this tyranny is only allowed forndowners. The vige chiefs acted like thendowners of mynd. In other words, they sinned against the lord. Theymitted treason. I clicked my tongue. ¡°Tsk. A vige does not have only one or two people. I am certain that hundreds of people did not conspire together to trick me. Did the vige chiefs perhaps lie to them?¡± Parsi¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°How¡¯d you know? Jeez. You could probably make it big as a fortune teller.¡± ¡°Put the needless banter aside and exin.¡± ¡°The vige chiefs apparently told their viges that they were going to give the tax to you.¡± They even fabricated documents? This was getting better and better. All of the mountain viges had submitted to me. They had an obligation to report to me whenever they cultivatednd. They call this a remation report. During medieval times, there was a belief that allnd belonged to the king. You couldn¡¯t cultivate however you wanted just because there was a lot ofnd. You had to give a detailed report about the who, what, when, where, and how of thend that was going to be cultivated. In this era, how much farnd a territory has determined the strength of the nation¡­¡­. If you start cultivatingnd without giving a report, then it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if people used you of revolting. Vige chiefs aren¡¯t for nothing. Vige chiefs are the ones who keep ledgers of ie and expenses and report to the lord about cultivatednd. Despite all of this, these vige chiefs decided to t out not give remation reports. To make matters worse, they kept the taxes that they were supposed to give to me for themselves. This wasn¡¯t something you would do if you had a brain. It was needless to say that they deserved to be executed. ¡°I must have seemed like quite the pushover to them.¡± A corner of my mind went cold. It was settled that the vige chiefs were the masterminds, but that wasn¡¯t the problem. This problem could very easily grow to an exponential size. I could already think of two charges off the top of my head. What were you guys doing while the vige chiefs from the viges over weremitting treason? Even if the vige chiefs were lying, the other vigers cooperated either way. How should I punish these vigers? Do I have to punish their entire viges? ¡­¡­This isn¡¯t a joke. I might have to punish every mountain vige indiscriminately for guilt-by-association. To put it simply, this meant that I would be losing workers. Currently, I have a total of 5 viges under my wing. Even if I decided to only punish a single vige¡¯s worth of humans, I would be losing one-fifth of my total profit. I had to wander about outside due to the war and now an incident like this had urred immediately after Laura nagged me into managing my territory. What did I do to deserve this? If I apply guilt-by-association, then I would be losing workers. Nevertheless, if I decide to only punish the vige chiefs, then I would be harming my dignity. The lord is thew of thend. The lord¡¯s dignity is thew¡¯s dignity. There is no power in and where thew stands on unstable footing¡­¡­. What should I do? Parsi spoke up carefully while I was busy contemting my options. ¡°For starters, we already took the heads of those vige chiefs.¡± ¡°What? That¡¯s good!¡± I pped. A justification is required if I want to prevent them from being implicated. I need an excuse that would put into consideration circumstances that made it clear that they were not involved. Parsi took care of the vige chiefs that hadmitted the crime. He personally dispatched the traitors. What political options were avable now? It¡¯s a good thing that he took care of the traitors; however, it wasn¡¯t right of him to punish the traitors on his own without receiving the lord¡¯s permission. There are merits and demerits, so now I have to figure out how I¡¯m going to punish Parsi as the lord and judge. I can¡¯t praise Parsi here. I¡¯d be giving him judicial power if I did. I absolutely have to punish Parsi in a situation like this. However, I have to punish him on the outside while actually forgiving him on the inside. I grinned as I spoke. ¡°I will now order you to lower yourself.¡± ¡°I will bow a hundred times in gratitude for your mercy.¡± Parsi grinned as well. ¡°I should emphasize my authority as the lord so that something like this never happens again. You sneaky cur! Confess! I am certain that you have already decided what you will give up on.¡± ¡°I will offer my water rights.¡± Parsi responded coolly. Water rights was the rights to use reservoirs like waterways for farming and so on. For farmers, this was more important than their lives. For example, if there¡¯s a year of bad harvest, then farmers would have no other choice but totch on to lords or priests who have water rights. Lords and priests would allow them to use the waterways at the price of having their taxes increased by 20% for the following year. Farmers would have no other choice but to ept this exchange with teary eyes for the sake of surviving that current year. Simply having ess to a stream could make you wealthy in an instant. The fact that he would give something as important as water rights to me would make his loyalty seem impressive on the surface, but¡­¡­. ¡°What reservoirs are there even here? What a contemptible thing to offer.¡± It¡¯s obvious, but there¡¯s only a shabby mountainous area around my Demon Lord Castle. Infrastructures like reservoirs don¡¯t exist here. There are only a couple of small streams here and there. Even if I gain possession of these small streams, the vigers would have to tacitly take care of the streams themselves anyway. If I apply taxes on the streams, then the vigers would immediately revolt. Gaining ownership meant that I could step forward as the mediator if a couple of farmers were to start arguing about whose turn it was to use the streams. All sh and no substance. ¡°Would this not be the best thing to offer? Hehe.¡± Parsi smiled slyly. I was probably making the same face. Even if they didn¡¯t alsomit treason, the other viges ultimately neglected the matter. Normally, it would only be right to wipe them all out due to implications; however, they quickly dealt with the traitors. I have to give them an appropriate punishment as the lord of the region. I will order them to offer something up to me. They will all be moved by my magnanimous punishment. They will vow their loyalty to me again and offer their water rights in return for my magnanimity. I will ept this and promise to not give any additional punishment in regard to this incident. Parsi and the vigers will be able to maintain their lives and I will be able to preserve my authority as the lord. It¡¯ll be a win-win. ¡°I have a good idea to add to this.¡± ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± ¡°It is about the fields left behind by the destroyed viges. How about I hand them over to you guys under the condition of giving me 70% of the profits annually? You and the other vige chiefs can determine who to give the fields to.¡± Parsi was moved. ¡°Wow. Are you showing us consideration since our situation might be worse due to the prohibition?¡± ¡°Of course, I will only be giving them to you. You must properly distribute them fairly yourselves. Only then will you guys be able to maintain your dignity.¡± ¡°Additionally, your reputation will also skyrocket by opening up privatend to the farmers. We¡¯ll be happy to have more ess tond and you¡¯ll be happy to receive more taxes. In other words, mutual benefit. I now understand why you¡¯re a Demon Lord.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Well, this much is normal.¡± ¡°But there is still one problem left. Even if you settle it like this with the viges that didn¡¯t take part in the treason, what will you do about the viges that did? Their vige chiefs may be dead, but that doesn¡¯t seem like enough as punishment.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I¡¯ve been thinking about that as well. What should I do? ¡°Hm. I do have an idea of my own.¡± ¡°I am looking forward to it. What is it?¡± ¡°To be honest, you have only promised us one thing. To stop goblins from invading. That¡¯s it. Since they have gone against the promise they made with you, then can¡¯t you ignore the promise you made with them?¡± I let out a gasp of realization. ¡°I can order the goblins to attack them!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Don¡¯t attack them too aggressively, hehe. Just enough. If you y with them enough, then they should be able to grasp the severity of their situation on their own. O Your Highness Demon Lord, please forgive us for we have sinned. They¡¯lle to you crying like this.¡± ¡°Ah ha. I can generously forgive them at that time. I¡¯ll increase their taxes by 10% and use them for some forcedbor.¡± The implications would be written off for those vigers. They will probably believe that they¡¯re being let off the hook lightly. In the end, every problem will be solved with only the vige chiefs being killed and no one else being caught by implications. ¡°A splendid n! This is a splendid n! You have a good head on your shoulders!¡± ¡°Haha. You are praising me too much. I can¡¯tpare to Your Highness.¡± ¡°Hahaha.¡± Two men were sitting in the corner of a houseughing slyly. If someone saw us, then they would probably call us perverts. It didn¡¯t matter, however, since we were busy feeling overjoyed. Referentially, politics are fun because of moments like this. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s now that slow period where I can¡¯t think of what to say here. I end up just sitting here for a solid 10 minutes trying to think of something. I feel like if it goes beyond 5 minutes, I should just do the usual ¡°Head empty, got nothing to say¡±. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 128: Morning in Rome (4) Chapter 128: Morning in Rome (4) * * * The verdict was made ording to what Parsi and I discussed beforehand. ¡°The fact that you were neglectful when neighboring viges were showing signs of revolting and the fact that you guys acted arbitrarily without reporting to me first are sizable crimes. However, your action of taking care of the traitors hastily has made it clear that you all have no intentions to conspire against me. Therefore, I shall ce a prohibition on the three vige chiefs. Additionally, I will be seizing their assets.¡± I confiscated the three vige chiefs¡¯ assets. I didn¡¯t take the tribute that the viges had prepared. The vigers praised my verdict for being so magnanimous. From the perspective of the vigers, it must seem like the vige chiefs had sacrificed themselves for the viges. It¡¯s almost obvious where most of the tribute I¡¯m returning to them is probably going to go. It¡¯d be like burying your head in the sand. Thanks to this, the vige chiefs and I should be able to save face. I sent a group of goblins to the remaining viges. Three dayster, envoys from the viges arrived at my Demon Lord Castle. They prostrated at the entrance of my dungeon and begged. They pleaded for me to forgive them. They had a taste of ¡®a life where monsters don¡¯t attack¡¯. They were able to focus purely on farming while not having to worry about anything else. They didn¡¯t even need to make a militia. They desperately didn¡¯t want to return to how things were before. ¡°There will be a 70% tax rate.¡± Even if this is normal in this era, it is still considered a heavy tax rate. The elders of these viges will thank me at first for forgiving them, butints will naturallye pouring out over time. They will naturally start to question why they have to pay a 70% tax simply for the protection against goblins. This is where I employed an expedient. The more they take part in misceneous tasks like water conservation efforts, the more I will lower their taxes. ¡°I will decrease your taxes the more you work for this region. Do your best to work for the sake of those around you.¡± The actual tax rate is 40% for working civilians. They only have to offer 40% of their profits. A 40% tax rate was something so generous that citizens would make songs about the magnanimity of their lord. Afterward, I continued pushing forward this 40% tax rate for working citizens. Well, the viges that didn¡¯t take part in the treason don¡¯t have to pay any taxes. This is probably appropriate. Furthermore, I didn¡¯t put my hands on their second crop of barley. Normally, farming consisted of growing and harvesting wheat and then growing and harvesting barley. They would harvest 2 crops a year. I only applied taxes to their wheat harvest. ¡°This should be enough to prevent them from starving to death, right?¡± I asked Laura while I was consulting her about this. Laura was the esteemed daughter of a dukedom. I wanted to rely on her since I figured she would be well informed about matters regarding taxes, but. ¡°I apologize, Lord, but this youngdy ispletely ignorant when ites to territory management.¡± Come to think of it, Laura was ostracized in her household as well. She was most likely excluded from any sort of education sses meant for sessors. There was no way she could have been taught about advanced work like territory management. She wasn¡¯t reliable at all¡­¡­. ¡°It is disappointing to know that my one and only vassal in name is this ipetent.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡­. T-Thisdy helps when ites to military tactics. Is that not enough!?¡± Laura¡¯s face became red as she retorted. You¡¯re originally supposed to be a prominent figure who reaches the position of chancellor in the Kingdom of Brittany, you know? How could the chancellor of a nation be well versed in military affairs but absolutely pathetic when ites to politics? I worry for that nation¡¯s future. Ah, the Kingdom of Brittany does fall into ruin in . This exins their copse. ¡°Military tactics are not necessary at this moment. It will be a very long time before we participate in another war. This means that you are useless until that very distant future. What a splendid freeloader.¡± ¡°Uuuuuh.¡± Laura red up at me in frustration. It was cute. I shrugged. ¡°It cannot be helped. There is only one thing that you can do now, Laura.¡± ¡°What is that? Lord, please tell me. This youngdy will do her best.¡± ¡°As long as Laura¡¯s head is useless, the only thing you have left is your body.¡± Laura¡¯s expression quickly became nk. It was like the face of a schr who had just lost their country. ¡°N-No way.¡± ¡°Stick your butt this way.¡± ¡°No! I clearly told you that I cannot do it anymore, Lord! Uh, hhk!¡± Laura resisted desperately, but she ended up bing a single meal in the end. A pleasant sound effect rang in my ear at that moment. ¡¸Laura De Farnese¡¯s job (Sex ve) level has increased!¡¹ Among Laura¡¯s jobs, her Sex ve job had ranked up from C to B. It was a useless job that only lowered your politics and charm stats. Nevertheless, I ended up discovering a hidden merit from the Sex ve job. In others¡­¡­your sex ve level determined your quality when it came to things rted to sex. The higher your level, the better you feel! Sure enough, the sensation wrapping around my member became tighter the instant her level increased. It almost felt like a hot slime was doing its best to tighten around me. We did it for 6 hours that day. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura was KIA. She was copsed on the corner of the bed. Her final moments were glorious. ¡°Phew. I have defeated the enemy general.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I uttered acent line, but Laura didn¡¯t respond. She must¡¯ve passed out. I had enough stamina to make a lively 17-year-old girl pass out. I scooped up a bowl of water to drink while feeling a strange sense of conquest. After my carnal desire had swept through my body and left, only a realistic concern remained. How should I manage my territory? ¡°Mm.¡± Although I know how to draw the full picture, I¡¯m not confident when ites to doing the actual work. This wasn¡¯t like Margrave Rosenberg¡¯s territory. Procedures like tax rates had already established themselves there through hundreds of years of traditions. All I had to do was sign the documents that came up. On the other hand, the situation was different for the mountain viges around my Demon Lord Castle. These viges were created after being chased away by their original lords¡¯ tyranny and the invasion of monsters. An area where the authority of their lords could not reach and also only had goblins for monsters. These were probably the best geographical conditions one could find. And then I appeared all of a sudden. I have to build up systems like tax rates from scratch. Simr to how people say the beginning determines half of everything, what we do now will determine the picture my territory will draw in the future. I can¡¯t be even slightly careless. A savior arrived at this moment. Three weeks after I practically escaped from the Crescent Alliance, a pink-haired subus visited my Demon Lord Castle. ¡°I apologize. Logistics work had piled up, so I could only arrive now.¡± Lapis bowed courteously as she spoke. ¡°From this day forth, I will resume my work as Sir Dantalian¡¯s exclusive merchant again. Please take care of¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Laaaaaapis!¡± ¡°Miss Lapis¨D!¡± Laura and I ran up to her at the same time. Wetched onto Lapis¡¯ pant legs and cried. No matter the time and ce, Lapis boasted her cold and impassive face at all times. Even though a lord and his vassal were making a scene crying next to each other¨Dthey were also both naked¨Dshe waspletely unfazed. She raised a brow as she looked down at us. ¡°¡­¡­What is the matter?¡± ¡°My territory! The taxes! Thews! I don¡¯t know where to begin!¡± ¡°His Lordship is a sexual fiend! He has his way with this youngdy hundreds of times a day. I cannot endure this any longer. Miss Lapis, please stop His Lordship¡¯s sexual appetite!¡± Lapis let out a sigh. ¡°Please talk one at a time.¡± Lapis had the most seniority in territory management. She first listened to the idea I had set up for the viges. Lapis calmly listened to what I had to say before nodding. ¡°That should be enough. However, there are some parts that need to be fixed.¡± ¡°I figured.¡± I chuckled. ¡°First, there is an issue with the tax reduction policy. Being able to lower your taxes throughpulsorybor is good; however, how do you intend to determine how much work a person has done? You cannot choose a different supervisor every day and tell them to report to you.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± She was right. Compulsorybor is just manualbor. Let¡¯s say that we are going to create a reservoir. Dozens of people woulde to work. In this situation, how would I urately calcte the total amount a person has contributed to the construction? I¡¯d just be hazarding a guess. ¡°Leaving it to the vige chiefs¡­¡­is out of the question.¡± ¡°That is correct. You would be dividing your authority.¡± If I leave this task to the vige chiefs, then their authority would increase immensely. The vigers would desperately try to appease the vige chiefs. Everyone could do the same amount of work, but those closer to the vige chiefs would be reported as having done more work. Ultimately, they would receive a higher tax reduction than others. What would the people who receive the tax reduction do? They would give about half of what was reduced to the vige chiefs. In the end, not only would the vige chiefs be in charge of everything, but they would also be wealthy proprietors as well. If it¡¯s like this, then I would only be exerting my ability while the vige chiefs monopolize all of the profits. ¡°What should I do?¡± ¡°There is a simple and effective solution. Apply the reduction rate on the entire vige and not on each individual person. You can reduce the tax rate ording to the efforts of the entire vige.¡± ¡°Aha!¡± My eyes widened on their own. What a splendid solution. In other words, I could order them to build this and that and reduce their taxes altogether once they¡¯ve aplished their tasks. There would be no need to makeplicated calctions, then. ¡°Additionally, you would not have to worry about ckers.¡± ¡°ckers would get berated by everyone in the vige since they would all be trying to help each other!¡± ¡°If a single person makes a mistake, then their entire vige would be incurring a loss. This will naturally promote a joint responsibility environment.¡± Not only would this make calction easy, but it would also get rid of one of the deep-seated weaknesses ofbor,ziness. This was quite literally killing two birds with one stone. I couldn¡¯t help but be in awe. ¡°Amazing. How did you think of such a solution?¡± ¡°I am undeserving of such praise. This solution is not that impressive.¡± Lapis responded impassively. She must genuinely believe that it wasn¡¯t that impressive. However, Lapis managed to prevent numerous harmful consequences by only slightly altering the direction of my policy. This wasn¡¯t something that a normal person could do. ¡­¡­If the intrigue Parsi and I utilized was considered dark politics, then what Lapis had disyed was true politics. ¡®Status¡¯. I checked Lapis¡¯ stats. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥Name: Lapis LazuliRace: Half-Subus¡¡¡¡ Faction: Keuncuska FirmAttribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 25¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 194Job: Merchant(A-), Witch(B), Swordsman(D) Leadership: 59¡¡¡¡Might: 32 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 57Politics: 76¡¡¡¡Charm: 50¡¡¡¡Technique: 2 Affection: 50Loyalty: 82 *Titles: 1. Rags-to-Riches 2. Keuncuska Merchant*Abilities: Trading(B+), ounting(B+), Arithmetic(B), Dissemination(C), Swordsmanship(D)*Skills: ¨C Current thought: ¡®¡­¡­He praised me.¡¯©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Titles]
  1. Rags-to-Riches ¨C Started from the bottom of society and obtained status with their own two hands. Politics +10, Charm +10, Skill Growth Speed x1.2
  2. Keuncuska Merchant ¨C A merchant of the greatest firm in the demon world. +0.5, +0.5, Fame +50
©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Her politics stat had exceeded 70. This was a radiant numberpared to Laura¡¯s 10 points in politics. Lapis¡¯ politics ability most likely focalizes her actual work while I specialize in intrigue and schemes. Even if two people have the same exact 70 points in politics, their abilities will differ depending on their specialization. For example, this is an assumption, but most of Barbatos¡¯ politics points are probably slotted into faction management. She¡¯s a veteran when ites to dealing with conflicts between factions and mediating rtions. However, she¡¯s most likely weak when ites to territory management. ¡®I¡¯m d I recruited Lapis to my side early. My discerning eye is never wrong.¡¯ Lapis spoke up carefully while I was in the middle of feeling pleased. She was acting unusually hesitant. ¡°Sir Dantalian, what I told you definitely was not something impressive.¡± ¡°Hm? No. It¡¯s amazing. You did well. Sheesh, I feel like I can finally breathe now.¡± ¡°Then, would it be all right to ask for a small reward?¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course! Tell me what you want! I¡¯ll grant you anything.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Anything?¡± For an instant, Lapis¡¯ eyes shimmered. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry about thete chapter. I finished this awhile ago, but my editor was gone for a couple of days. The next chapter will probably have a dy because I¡¯ve been suffering from indigestion. I¡¯ve been feeling nauseous and I couldn¡¯t eat anything yesterday. I don¡¯t feel that bad today, but I might as well get some proper rest. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter once I¡¯m better. Chapter 129: Morning in Rome (5) Chapter 129: Morning in Rome (5) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I suddenly felt worried. I abruptly remembered my mother¡¯s advice to not give out nk checks no matter what happens in life. ¡®Especially, son, although it will probably never happen to you, in the rare chance a woman approaches you.¡¯ My mother continued. ¡®Never say the word thoughtlessly. Something big might happen.¡± ¡®Something big? What do you mean?¡¯ ¡®Mm. You might end up having a child like you.¡¯ I realized what she meant after a while and shivered. At the time, I was in high school and in the middle of enjoying my rebellious phase. I raised my voice andined. ¡®That¡¯s mean. If I knew it would be like this, then I wouldn¡¯t have been born as your son.¡¯ ¡®If I knew my son would end up like you, then I wouldn¡¯t have given birth to you either.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ I was beaten down mercilessly. I set my needless rebellious phase aside and focused on studying for my exams afterward. Thanks to this, I ended up getting into a fairly decent university. Although I basked in a trashy unemployed life after that. Why did I suddenly remember my mother¡¯s advice? I¡¯m certain that a certain part of my subconscious was trying to coax me into taking back my words. I was a secondte as I turned to look at Lapis so that I could rephrase my sentence. However. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My spine became cold. The other party¡¯s eyes were way too serious. If you go back on your words now, then I¡¯ll show you whether you have guts inside your stomach or shit water¨D. That¡¯s what her eyes were saying. Words spewed out of my mouth like a leaky faucet. ¡°Y-Yeah. Anything.¡± ¡°Very well, then.¡± Lapis nodded her head in a restrained way. It might have been my imagination, but it felt like there was an air of satisfaction lingering over her emotionless face. ¡°I am fine with a small reward, but if Sir Dantalian is willing to go out of his way to offer anything, then it cannot be helped. Not only am I an employee of the Keuncuska Firm, but I also serve Sir Dantalian. I cannot possibly refuse Sir Dantalian¡¯s kindness. I am obliged to ept your order.¡± ¡°Uh, huh¡­¡­? S-Sure.¡± The sense of worry grew heavier. What sort of wish do you intend to ask me that you have to flourish your words to this extent like some sort of skunk? Were you given secret orders by Ivar? I timidly added an unnecessaryment. ¡°I¡¯m telling you this beforehand, but it has to be a wish that I can grant, okay?¡± ¡°Of course. I know better than anyone else about Sir Dantalian¡¯s limits. There is no way that I would want something that you cannot grant.¡± ¡°Mm. That¡¯s right.¡± Lapis has known me since the day I only made 2 gold coins a day mining in my cave. My tie with her is the longest I have in this world. From the day I mistook pyrite for gold (My mind still yells at me to stop thinking about this), to the day I spent money like water at a casino in the demon world, she knows everything about me. We may be bound by the fundamental bond between a Demon Lord and a demon, but I personally feel a deep connection with her. It¡¯s different from Laura. Honestly, Laura sort of looks at me with rose-tinted sses. No matter what I do, she would always respond with ¡®As expected of Your Lordship. You are amazing!¡¯. Her eyes would shine brightly as she praised me. On the other hand, Lapis would widen her eyes as if she were surprised and say ¡®How impressive¡¯ in a tone that genuinely sounded shocked. The spoken words may be simr, but the emotions underneath them were like Heaven and Earth¡­¡­. Well, I prefer Lapis¡¯ response. It¡¯s more reassuring. It¡¯d only be troublesome if you constantly receive someone¡¯s unconditional support. Wouldn¡¯t a friend be someone who can point out your stupidity regardless of your rtions? In this regard, Lapis is my friend. There are people who believe that a man and a woman can never be friends. I can¡¯t help butugh at them. Sex isn¡¯t everything between men and women. We aren¡¯t animals or something. True friendships can be established between anyone. My rtionship with Lapis could probably be considered a prime example of this. I¡¯m partially a Demon Lord while Lapis is a half-breed that¡¯s ostracized within demon society. It¡¯s because we have these simrities that we are able to bepanions regardless of our genders and positions. Sexual desires had no ce between us. Was this not truly a tonic and beautiful story!? I changed my mind. I already promised her, so let¡¯s grant whatever she asks with a smile. ¡°Okay. I already dered that I would grant you a wish, so let¡¯s do it now. What do you want? Hm? Do you want me to kill all those bastards who treated you like an outcast? Should I ask Ivar to promote you to a 1st rank employee?¡± Lapis nced at Laura. ¡°¡­¡­No. I cannot think of anything right now. I will tell you when I do.¡± ¡°All right, sure. Tell me whenever you want. I¡¯m more than able to grant your wish now.¡± Laura, who had been listening to our conversation quietly, tilted her head. ¡°Miss Lapis? I could pardon myself if you want. As you can see.¡± Laura gestured to her lower body as she spoke. She was naked. There were clear signs on her lower body of my member going in and out of her earlier. To be exact, there was semen smeared everywhere. ¡°This youngdy has to go wash up anyway. I n to go to the underground pool and submerge my body. You could continue your discussion while this youngdy goes to wash herself.¡± ¡°Haah.¡± Lapis let out a deep sigh. ¡°It has only been a few days since west met, but I see Miss Laura has also fully be an animal. Even the harem of the Infernal Hell¡¯s archduke is most likely not as promiscuous as this. Is this your true colors?¡± ¡°Mm¡­¡­you would understand this youngdy¡¯s situation if you were here together with His Lordship for the past 15 days.¡± For some reason, a sad smile appeared on Laura¡¯s face. ¡°Embarrassment is nothing more than incense that boosts your enemy¡¯s desires here. It is like adding spices to some grilled meat. If anything, behaving shamelessly is at least the second-best tactical option to take. This youngdy had no other choice but to throw away her honor for the sake of survival.¡± ¡°Is it that bad? ¡­¡­To be exact, how many times a day?¡± ¡°Mm. It is different every day, but the average is four times a day.¡± Lapis opened her mouth slightly. ¡°Climaxing four times is impressive, but that much should not¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Miss Lapis? I think you are misunderstanding something.¡± Laura chuckled. There was a shadow cast over her eyes. ¡°I am not climaxing only four times, but we are doing it four times. If I were to make a rough estimate of how many times I climax, then at least ten times. Ten times each round. Therefore, forty times in total. You could say it happens at least forty times a day.¡± ¡°Forty¡­¡­times?¡± At that moment, I witnessed something very rare. I witnessed Lapis¡¯ impassive face change to that of shock. I realized that they were talking about my stamina, so I used this opportunity to slip away. I went to the water canteen in the corner of my room and grabbed a bowl. ¡°That is ridiculous. Something like that should not be possible.¡± ¡°This youngdy thought it was impossible as well. This youngdy also thoroughly realized how futile humanmon sense is¡­¡­. Fufu. Looking back at it now, it is impressive that I managed to survive for this long. Fufu, fufufu¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But, if a man goes that far, then the woman¡­¡­as long as you are not someone who climaxes prematurely, their experience should be three times stronger.¡± I could hear their voices while I was drinking water. Mm. Having one¡¯s stamina as the subject matter is a rather embarrassing thing. I pretended to not hear anything as I drank some water. ¡°Indeed. It more than easily reaches that intensity.¡± ¡°If that is the case, then that would beparable to thirty times each round, so a hundred twenty times a day. I cannot believe it.¡± ¡°That is on average. There are some days where it goes beyond two hundred times.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you understand, Miss Lapis? This has continued for half a month.¡± The two of them lowered their voices so I could only make out some words every so often. In any case, they were having a rather serious conversation. ¡°Impossible¡­¡­divided¡­¡­just the two of us.¡± ¡°But if you resolve yourself¡­¡­an estimate¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I cannot wait any¡­¡­will break before then! ¡­¡­quickly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­start¡­¡­at that time. I cannot concede more than this.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Hope has finally arrived for this youngdy.¡± It seems they had reached an agreement. ¡°Haha. Are you two finished talking?¡± I approached the two of them happily since it seemed their conversation was over. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± However, what I received in return were cold gazes that looked as if they were staring at a monster. Eh, what? * * * There are seven human viges and eight goblin tribes around my Demon Lord Castle. Thus, there are a total of fifteen settlements in my domain. The poption is about 400 humans and 1,100 goblins. A census had never been performed, so this wasn¡¯t an urate value. However, it was clear that the total wouldn¡¯t even reach 2,000 if youbined the two races. It would beughable to go around iming to have a barony if the number of citizens you have doesn¡¯t even exceed 2,000. This is an era where your national power is proportionate to your poption. Originally, the limit of my Demon Lord Castle was clear, but¡­¡­. ¡°This is going to increase drastically from now on.¡± Laura, Lapis, and I held a meeting around a round table. Not only were we the highest-ranking members of my Demon Lord army, but we were also the only members. Therefore, the scale was a bit small, but it was like we were holding a National Assembly. ¡°I spoke quite well during the ceremonial speeches, after all. The wild rumor that you could harvest whatever you cultivate if you go to thend of a Demon Lord named Dantalian should have circted. Therefore, deserters, there is a high probability that deserters from the human army wille here.¡± ¡°That is a usible conclusion.¡± Lapis agreed. ¡°This location in the Kingdom of Teuton is within walking distance from the northern region of Habsburg where the war is currently taking ce. Two or three people out of ten will most likelye here. I believe that at least two hundred people will be arriving here soon. That wasn¡¯t a difficult number to handle. There are five ruined viges in my territory. The fields that were being cultivated by the five viges are still intact as well. Of course, the crops that were being grown there were now gone, but the ridges between the fields, the furrows, and the state of the fields had been preserved. There was no need to reim thend. Someone could juste at any time and start using the fields. These fields should be able to cater to approximately three hundred people. Therefore, my territory has the leeway to ept about three hundred more people. ¡°The issue is the fact that immigrants will continue to increase.¡± Imented. ¡°The poison I sprayed throughout the human world is tenacious. The longer the war with the Crescent Alliancests, the more taxes the nobles will force onto their people. These are people who are already exhausted due to the ck Death. There will be a point where they cannot bear the war funds.¡± It might even happen very soon. ¡°At that time, many humans will be tempted by the idea of not having to pay any taxes and flee tond owned by Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Lord, why would that be a problem?¡± Laura furrowed her brows. ¡°Is it not a good thing if the poption increases?¡± ¡°An excess of anything is a bad thing. Right now, we must train our stomachs to allow us to consume arge amount of food at once.¡± Additionally, immigrants aren¡¯t the only ones that wille here. The number of adventurers aiming for me will increase as much as my infamy as a Demon Lord has increased. ¡­¡­Not F or E Rank adventurer parties, but D and C Ranks. Perhaps even B Ranks. This is my opportunity while the continent is being swept up by the mes of war caused by the Crescent Alliance. I have to prepare for the not-so-distant future. ¡°In any case, I am thinking about establishing a special dungeon city.¡± ¡°A special dungeon city¡­¡­?¡± Laura looked at me quizzically. ¡°A dungeon is what adventurers call Demon Lord Castles, right? But a special dungeon city? This youngdy has never heard of such a thing. What is that?¡± ¡°In other words, it is a city that develops while relying on adventurers and dungeons.¡± I smiled. ¡°Normally, Demon Lords think of adventurers as enemies. However, if you change your perspective a little, adventurers are the biggest suckers in the world. You could establish a somewhat decent town if you wring their pockets dry.¡± Every adventurer is technically a soldier. No matter how poor they are, they will always have weapons and armor. Just taking their metal weapons and leather armor should be enough to make a fairly decent profit. And this would be the minimal profit. More than this, it would be¡­¡­. ¡°You will create a small town by using adventurers?¡± ¡°I apologize, Sir Dantalian, but I do not understand.¡± The two of them looked even more confused. I guarantee that if things go as nned, then Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯snd will be an unprecedentednd of adventurers. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s city building simtor time. On a slightly more serious note, I¡¯m still fairly sick. This stomach issue hassted for 4 days so I ended up going to the hospital this morning. I got some medicine and I¡¯m hoping it helps. Thankfully, I don¡¯t get sharp pains in my stomach, but there¡¯s still this ufortable feeling I get at times and waves of nausea. Forgive me if the next chapter takes a day longer than usual to trante (although this chapter came out at a pretty regr time despite my sickness). I¡¯ll see you guys when I hopefully get better. Chapter 130: Morning in Rome (5) Chapter 130: Morning in Rome (5) * * * ¡°¡­¡­How does that sound?¡± Roughly an hourter. I gave a lengthy exnation about the future I had nned for my Demon Lord Castle. Lapis and Laura mulled over it silently. Shortly after, the two of them opened their mouths. ¡°That is absurd.¡± ¡°I agree. That is a pipe dream.¡± ¡°How much money do you think we will need? The maintenance fee of the main road alone would take up arge sum¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Most importantly, it would be excessively dangerous. Instead of intercepting the adventurers, we would be luring them in. If things go wrong, then your life would be in danger, Lord.¡± I grinned. ¡°But it would be interesting.¡± They went silent again as they thought about it. Lapis spoke up as if she intended to organize one detail at a time. ¡°Setting aside whether this is an absurd n or not, let us first discuss each practical detail. Sir Dantalian, you mentioned you would perform a drastic renovation of your Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°That is right.¡± My Demon Lord Castle was much too shabby. It was just a cave. It was ridiculous. It¡¯s not like I want to spruce it up like a pce and live extravagantly, but I would at least like to have various facilities that would help an army of monsters defend my dungeon. This was the final size that I had nned. ¡°¡­¡­But 10 floors underground. Such a scale is unheard of.¡± Lapis sounded fed up. A dungeon that goes 10 floors underground! The cavern my Demon Lord Castle resides in is massive. It takes several hours just to walk from the entrance to my Demon Lord room. Due to this size, we spend most of our time near my Demon Lord room. At most, the furthest we go is to the underground pool that is in a secluded corner of the cave. I wanted to expand this by 10 floors. From Lapis¡¯ perspective, this was a preposterous scale that made her speechless. ¡°The final goal is 10 floors, but we have to first prepare the 1st floor. In any case, my Demon Lord Castle has to be much bigger than it is now.¡± My n was simple. I intended to ept an extreme number of monsters into my Demon Lord Castle. I only realized this aftering to this world, but residing within a Demon Lord Castle was apparently considered a great honor for monsters. It isn¡¯t because they get to live alongside a Demon Lord. Apparently, living in a Demon Lord Castle was like heaven itself for monsters. The substance that preserves the bodies of skeleton soldiers and zombies, beings that should normally lose their strength and be bones and clumps of flesh, is none other than mana. Mana flows all throughout nature. However, if you wish to obtain enough mana to maintain your physical form, then you have to eat animals. The higher the species are on the food chain, the more mana they have in their bodies. This is the reason why humans are the most appetizing prey to monsters. Humans have lived their entire lives eating all sorts of animals, so they¡¯re practically clumps of manapared to other races. Humans can live without using any mana at all while monsters have to consume mana to live¡­¡­. It¡¯s inevitable that the two races would fight. However, what would happen if a monster is inside a Demon Lord Castle? Demon Lord Castles have an overwhelming amount of mana flowing through it all year round. It is a ce where you could get magic stones just by mining in the caves. Basically, monsters don¡¯t have to painstakingly hunt humans if they live in a Demon Lord Castle. The simple act of breathing is enough to preserve their lives! If Demon Lords didn¡¯t have absolute authority over monsters, then they would have invaded and taken over Demon Lord Castles long ago. That¡¯s how tempting this ce is. ¨DAnd I intended to open this up to them. It didn¡¯t matter if goblins, orcs, lizardmen, or zombies came. I nned to ept all monsters that came to my dungeon indiscriminately. They don¡¯t need any qualifications either. They don¡¯t have to go out of their way to be my subordinates either. They just have to bring themselves here. ¡°Every Demon Lord only pursues a small number of elite soldiers. Demon Lord Castles are mana repositories. Only those with great ability are allowed to bask in its treasures. ¡­¡­Although this logic does make sense, it cannot be used in my Demon Lord Castle.¡± I brought my hands together and grinned. ¡°We will go with numbers. We will simply rely on overwhelming our enemies with numbers.¡± We will create a great dungeon with 10 floors. Each floor will be filled to the brim with monsters. I will reside on the 10th floor. By putting my Demon Lord room on the bottom floor, I¡¯ll be able to livefortably and peacefully. If you exclude the absurd amount of money this will cost, this was quite an amazing solution. Lapis groaned. ¡°The dignity of your Demon Lord Castle¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What dignity? You would probably die trying to find the dignity of a Rank 71 Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Lord, you mentioned overwhelming our foes through sheer numbers, but there is a fatal w in that n.¡± Laura seemed intent on doing whatever she could to stop my n. She was most likely also on the side of having a small group of elite soldiers over arge army of low-quality soldiers. Oh dear, this is why tacticians are troublesome. They always romanticize small groups of elite soldiers regardless of the era. ¡°Speak.¡± ¡°If we go with numbers, then the average person will definitely be unable to invade; however, what will you do if the other party is a small group of extremely powerful elites?¡± Laura spoke in a confident tone that sounded as if her argument was foolproof. ¡°There would be no need to subjugate every monster in a Demon Lord Castle of that size. They simply have to go through the shortest path¡­¡­from the entrance straight to your Demon Lord room. They would aim for a blitzkrieg. On the other hand, we would only have a disordered rabble. It is obvious that they would only run away if strong foes were to appear. The Demon Lord Castle will easily be captured.¡± ¡°Huhu.¡± I chuckled. ¡°That is the reason, Laura. That is why we need arge-scale reconstruction.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°I intend to turn the entire Demon Lord Castle into a single massivebyrinth.¡± Laura tilted her head. From her perspective, she was talking about the efficiency of the Demon Lord Castle itself, but I had abruptly mentioned abyrinth. However, it was an obvious choice for me to turn my dungeon into a maze. This was for the sake of limiting the adventurers¡¯ path. ¡°For starters, the travel route will be like this.¡± I drew a rough blueprint of the maze on the floor with a piece of chalk. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Dungeon Entrance (First floor)©¥©¥B1 Entrance©¥©¥B2 Entrance©¥©¥B3 Entrance ¡­ B10 Entrance©¥©¥Demon Lord Room ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°Here, we will surround both sides of the path with a firm wall.¡± ¡°Ah. Is that why you are calling it abyrinth?¡± I nodded. ¡°We will have to make the walls very thick and sturdy so that adventurers do not try to break them down. The condition here is that we cannot make the distance from here to the entrance excessively long. For example.¡± ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ B1 Entrance©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥B2 Entrance ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°If the adventurers are forced to walk an excessively long distance for a single floor because thebyrinth twists and turns to a drastic degree, then they would consider breaking the walls down to be a more efficient form of travel. Breaking all of the walls down would naturally take more than a few days, so they would most likely start to take over thend gradually from the entrance. We cannot allow them to do this.¡± There¡¯s no point if the path is excessively short. The adventurers would barely suffer any losses. There¡¯s no point if the path is excessively long. The walls that we would be paying so much for would get destroyed by the adventurers. ¡°It has to be the perfect length. It must feel somewhat long, but also short enough that it would seem like a waste of time and effort to break the walls down just to go a bit faster. We will also have to be concerned about the areas where the monsters will live.¡± ¡°Are the monsters not going to live in thebyrinth paths?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I intend to make those paths rather narrow. Although it will differ in size depending on the area. In any case, arge number of monsters can¡¯t reside in a ce where the path is narrow. Therefore, a residential area for the monsters will be prepared over thebyrinth walls.¡± I added to the drawing on the floor. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö B1 Entrance©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥B2 Entrance ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡ö: Labyrinth wall ¡õ: Monster residential area ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Laura stared at myyout for a moment before shaking her head in disapproval. ¡°Then the adventurers will bepletely isted from the monsters! There will be no fights.¡± ¡°You are killing me, Laura. The drawing is like this as a matter of convenience. We will make openings at appropriate locations. We will make them go through areas where the monsters will want to protect.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± If we do this, then fights will only ur at specific intersections. I added a slight detail to the blueprint. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö B1 Entrance©¥©¥©¥ (¡î) ©¥©¥©¥B2 Entrance ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡ö: Labyrinth wall ¡õ: Monster residential area ¡î: Battlezone ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Adventurers will have to go through a battle every time they go through this spot. From their perspective, it would probably seem like monsters are spawning in an empty path. Of course, we will have to set up various devices to prevent them from realizing there are openings. In other words, this would be a respawn area. ¡°For example, we could cultivate arge number of mushrooms here. The mushrooms will absorb the mana within the dungeon as they grow. As the mana in the air decreases, the monsters will have to consume the mushrooms to live. For the adventurers, mushrooms filled with mana could fetch for a good price. ¡­¡­The two groups will collide as the monsters fight to protect this spot while the adventurers fight to pige the spot.¡± Even I think this would be diabolical. If I left them be, then lots of monsters could live by breathing alone although not to an affluent degree. However, if we grow mushrooms, then that would be impossible. They would have to fight adventurers. ¡°Despite this, they are only adventurers. Whether it would be more efficient to live in the wild and pige entire viges or live in a Demon Lord Castle and fight a few dozen adventurers every now and then. I am looking forward to seeing which option they choose.¡± Furthermore, I added. ¡°Each floor has a different mana density. The mana bes denser the deeper you go into the cave. We will give monsters that fight off adventurers well the right to relocate. If you wish to live well, then fight well. Would this not be a good source of motivation?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura hummed with a somewhat dissatisfied look on her face before nodding her head. ¡°Then only elite monsters would remain on the 10th floor.¡± ¡°That would be in the distant future. We still must start with the first floor underground. In other words, we still have to test whether things will go ording to my n on a single floor first.¡± Lapis spoke up at this moment. ¡°Sir Dantalian, you must resolve the prerequisite first.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°The money.¡± Lapis continued in a very serious tone. ¡°You are referring to them as simple walls, but this is a task of creating maze-like paths throughout this enormous space. This construction would be massive. A few gold coins are not nearly enough. Where do you intend to get such money?¡± ¡°Oh, that?¡± I responded casually. ¡°I¡¯m going to borrow it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°Have you heard of a loan? I¡¯m going to go big.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Fortunately, I think my health has improved a lot now. My appetite is now smaller than before, but that isn¡¯t really a bad thing. As long as my stomach isn¡¯t actively trying to kill me. Well, there¡¯s nothing else to say. I¡¯m just trudging along. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 131: Morning in Rome (6) Chapter 131: Morning in Rome (6) Lapis¡¯ expression became cold. ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°Yes, I know what you want to say. I know. You want to tell me that I shouldn¡¯t receive a loan thoughtlessly, right?¡± I waved my hand. There was a time that I asked Lapis for a loan one year ago. I was trying to prepare as much money as possible in order to buy ck herbs. Lapis firmly refused back then as well. She advised me to slowly make money over hundreds of years. Despite being a merchant, she strangely disliked loans. Even though you have no other choice but to be in debt in order to make a lot of money. No, maybe she¡¯s cautious of loans because she¡¯s a merchant. That may be the case. ¡°That is correct. Of course, Sir Dantalian¡¯s credibility has increased greatly. The sole fact that you are Her Highness Barbatos¡¯ close aide is enough to make any firm want to loan you money. Nevertheless, going in debt without any sort of n is a straight path to ruin.¡± ¡°You are right; however, if there is a will, there is a way. Fufu. Well, just you wait. In any case, you don¡¯t have to worry too much about the budget.¡± ¡°Haah.¡± Lapis gave me a doubtful look, but she didn¡¯t push the issue regarding money any more than this. I had assured her that there was a way. She most likely intended to put her trust in me for now. Lapis may nag at me a lot, but she was a nagging person who trusted me. Laura spoke. ¡°Lord. I understand theyout which you wish to construct. From this youngdy¡¯s understanding, Your Lordship has not ced your focal point on simply defeating adventurers. You said that you are going to win through numbers, but you intend to also bring in entire tribes of monsters and create homes for them. At that point, instead of a Demon Lord Castle, it would be better to refer to this as a city instead.¡± As expected of Laura. She may not be gifted in politics, but her intuition is good. ¡°Therefore¡­¡­Your Lordship is not nning to simply turn your Demon Lord Castle into a fortress. You intend to create a city and rule over it. Is this youngdy understanding this properly?¡± ¡°Excellent. You are right. I am not nning to simply take in a few monsters as my subordinates.¡± A voluntary ecosystem. This was what I wanted. For example, let¡¯s say a bunch of monsters invaded a human vige and the vige didn¡¯t have a vige chief or a prominent figure who could act as a leading figure. Would the humans not try to fight back because of this? No. For the sake of protecting their families, their neighbors, and their livelihoods¡­¡­they would voluntarily fight back without being ordered to do so. This isn¡¯t because they have some lofty morals. It¡¯s because their lives would also be ruined if they allow their vige to be destroyed. Fighting to protect their vige is an extension of fighting to protect their lives. Someone ran away even though their vige is on the verge of being destroyed? This means that they¡¯re confident enough in themselves to live without their vige. They can distinguish between the necessity of a vige and their lives. When I invaded the margrave¡¯s territory as a member of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 6th legion, the people easily surrendered once their rights to live were guaranteed. This was because they believed it didn¡¯t matter to them whether Rosenberg or Barbatos took the seat of margrave. On the other hand, Margrave Rosenberg resisted until the very end. He wanted to defeat the Crescent Alliance and take back hisnd. Why? It was because Rosenberg believed that he couldn¡¯t split his life away from the title of margrave¡­¡­. The efficiency of an ecosystem within a society is determined by whether the members of the society act voluntarily or not. Rosenberg may have been an excellent soldier, but he was not an excellent lord. A majority of the rulers in this era are probably like him. I want the monsters to protect the dungeon voluntarily. I deliberately won¡¯t order them to defend the dungeon. I¡¯ll leave them alone so they can run away whenever they want. I want the monsters to bare their fangs and ws at the adventurers despite all of this. It¡¯d make things convenient for me as well. How many more years will I live for? Different from humans, Demon Lords don¡¯t have a lifespan. Be it a hundred or a thousand years, we can live for as long as our luck allows. A countless number of adventurers will undoubtedly invade during this long period of time. Do you expect me to contemte how to deal with adventurers every time they invade? I¡¯d rather not deal with such hardbor. I¡¯ll let the monsters take care of it on their own. If a talented individual appears among them, then I¡¯ll let them move further down. I¡¯ll considerately allow them to live in areas with denser mana. If, in the rare chance, a type of crime ismitted, then I will try them as an impartial judge. Dealing with a reward and punishment system is already a lot of work. Telling me to also rule over a bunch of monsters while doing all this would be insane. Laura made a correct assumption. I¡¯m not trying to only create a Demon Lord Castle. I want to create a city for monsters, a city for myfort. And, in truth, this was going to happen. * * * The next day, a guest arrived. It was Rank 12 Demon Lord Sitri. She was invited by Lapis who had moved after receiving secret orders from me. Teleportation scrolls were used, so it didn¡¯t take much time for them toe and go. ¡°Heh, so this is your castle?¡± Sitri looked around my room. Her eyes sparkled at first, but that shine quickly faded. My Demon Lord room went beyond being frugal and simply looked shabby. This was incrediblycking for Sitri¡¯s aesthetic sense since she most likely has a glorious castle. I smiled awkwardly. ¡°It is shabby, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. I thought you would be living like a young noble, but this is surprising.¡± ¡°It would most likely be difficult to find another Demon Lord like me whom the term young noble fits the least.¡± I was instead confident in going well with the term bum. Sitri uttered an ¡®Is that so?¡¯ as she tilted her head. ¡°In any case, why did you call me? Sorry, but we¡¯re still in the middle of a war. I dide because you¡¯re the one who called for me, but I can¡¯t stay for more than an hour.¡± She looked genuinely apologetic. ¡°If you called me because you wanted to have sex, then I rmend rescheduling. We need at least 4 hours if you want to experience the most¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That absolutely is not the reason! Do you think I am some sort of stallion who invites people to have sex even though they are busy fighting a war!?¡± ¡°Eh? That isn¡¯t why you called me?¡± Sitri opened her eyes wide in surprise. ¡°I was sure that you were going to make that kind of request since you called me all of a sudden.¡± ¡°I am very curious to know what sort of image Miss Sitri has of me in your mind.¡± The corners of my mouth twitched. ¡°Uh, but¡­¡­I heard rumors that you¡¯re quite good at it.¡± ¡°Rumors? Ruuuumors? There are rumors about me being good at sex?¡± ¡°Yeah. Barbatos would always go around bragging to the other female Demon Lords.¡± This is news to me. ¡°He makes you climax a hundred times in a day, he knows all sorts of positions so it¡¯s fun to let him have his way, and he learns really fast so it¡¯s fun to teach him new things. The way she bragged about her lover did seem foolish, though.¡± Barbatoooos! For some reason, I could clearly imagine Barbatos sharing risque stories with the other female Demon Lords while smiling like a creepy old man. She probably used obscene hand gestures while she talked about how satisfying the sex she had the other day was. That lewd loli! ¡°Ah, I also heard that you recently opened your eyes to BDSM.¡± All right. I made up my mind now. I¡¯ll definitely kill that loli one day. I¡¯ll tie her up and tickle her to death. I¡¯ll tickle her until beads of sweat form on those pale armpits of hers. However, Sitri¡¯s bombshells didn¡¯t end there. ¡°I was really surprised. Who knew that Barbatos would take the masochist role. I was certain that she would always take the sadistic role all her life. Even Barbatos herself seemed surprised! What did she say again? Being dominated by a trashy bastard made it seem like she was lower than trash, so the pleasure was immense.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± That girl has a motor for a mouth. How dare she recount the secret fetish ys they did to other people? Think about it, what would happen if I went around telling other Demon Lords that Barbatos pleaded to me while crying? Naturally, Barbatos would show up the next day and whip me almost to death. And yet, she herself ced obscene stories up on a cutting board. It felt amazing because you felt like trash? Okay, then, you crude bastard. I¡¯ll receive your demand. Look forward to our next meeting. I won¡¯t forgive you even if your perk butt goes red. I developed a highly acimed in my mind. While I was doing this, Sitri sat down on a chair. I suddenly noticed the blood smeared on the edge of the armor she was wearing. This meant that the war the Crescent Alliance was facing was fierce enough to prevent even a Demon Lord from properly cleaning their armor. Although Sitri was acting casual in front of me¡­¡­she might have exerted herself greatly toe here. Well, it isn¡¯t surprising. Sitri is the Mountain Faction¡¯s spearheadmander. Paimon is currently injured, so, technically, Sitri has to act as the head of the Mountain Faction now. The Mountain Faction was assigned to the vanguard, so the tasks she has to handle are most likely heavier than everyone else¡¯s. I have basically called for the busiest Demon Lord. ¡°If it¡¯s not for sex, then why¡¯d you call me?¡± ¡°I will get straight to the point. I need money.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Sitri responded without even the slightest bit of hesitation. She ced her hand against her chin and muttered to herself. ¡°600,000 gold is my entire fortune. That was how much I had when Ist organized my money 200 years ago, so it should roughly be the same. If you include physical items, then it might reach 1,500,000 gold¡­¡­and if I empty the jewel storage and that storage¡­¡­. I might just barely have 1,600,000.¡± She seemed to have finished her calctions as she turned this way with a grin. ¡°Yup. How much do you need? Just give me the word. I can offer up to 1,600,000 gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± How should I put it? It felt like the river in my mind had widened a little. You can¡¯t obtain the position of Rank 12 by only ying card games. Many things must ovep for several hundred years like your strength, resolve, and a little bit of luck. If you really want to fall, then you could fall straight to hell. She promised me that she would grant anything I asked for. So, she would do anything I asked for without reserve. This was most likely Sitri¡¯s thought process. However, how many people are there in the world who could say ¡®so¡¯ like this? Even among the authority figures of the Demon Lord army¡­¡­. I did whatever it took to survive for the past year. For a mere single year. Sitri was able to maintain her innocence in a sense despite having lived for hundreds of years. Did she have no reason to be underhanded because she was innately powerful? Or did she continue down a path of righteousness even though she had an opportunity to descend a dark path? Or, perhaps, was she so dimwitted that she couldn¡¯t distinguish between innocence and depravity? There was no way to know what was the truth. However, there was one thing that was certain and it was the fact that the woman sitting in front of me had managed to go against all odds to maintain her position today. Simr to how there was no reason to know what method was used to create a painting when observing a masterpiece, being awed by Sitri¡¯s behavior didn¡¯t mean that I had to know what sort of life she had lived. ¡°Please loan me 1,000,000 gold.¡± ¡°Sure. Mm. But there¡¯s a bit of a problem. My money is in my Demon Lord Castle, so I can¡¯t give it to you right away.¡± She looked sullen. ¡°Sorry, but can I give you the money after the war is over?¡± I smiled bitterly. This is natural. ¡°It seems you have misunderstood. I am not asking you to give me money. I am asking you to loan me money.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Huh?¡± ¡°I wish for you to loan me 1,000,000 gold. I will pay you back one day.¡± Sitri furrowed her brows. ¡°But I can just give it to you?¡± ¡°I appreciate the thought; however, if you do that then I could not say that I am standing on an equal position with you, Miss Sitri. I do not wish to have such a rtionship.¡± I wanted to obtain Sitri¡¯s trust. I didn¡¯t want a rtionship where we simply used each other. I wanted us to be genuinerades. This is an utterly perilous world. I would feel reassured if a pure-hearted Demon Lord like Sitri were on my side. I grabbed Sitri¡¯s right hand with both of my hands. ¡°E-Eeh?¡± ¡°Miss Sitri. I wish to be with you forever.¡± For some reason, her cheeks became red. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This came out faster than I expected. Honestly, you wouldn¡¯t expect Sitri to be like this after everything we saw in the LN. It¡¯s a surprising change. It sort of makes me more curious about what the author intended to do with Sitri in the LN. Well, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 132: Morning in Rome (7) Chapter 132: Morning in Rome (7) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°W-Wait a second. I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°There is nothing to understand. Everything I have said is the truth.¡± I spoke sincerely. I was being genuine. Someone who is strong and won¡¯t betray you, is there anyone out there who could make for a better ally than this? It was surprising to know that someone as weird as Paimon has such a promising individual under her wing. ¡°I have fallen for Miss Sitri¡¯s personality.¡± ¡°Ha¡­¡­haa? My personality?¡± ¡°That is correct. That passion of yours that is willing to offer your entire body to save the person you have given your heart to. That loyalty of yours that makes sure to keep the promises you make. These two things alone are enough to make Miss Sitri have a better personality than every other Demon Lord.¡± Was it because she was being showered with praise? Sitri started to fan her face with her hand. Her cheeks weren¡¯t the only things that were red as it was her entire face now. Aha, it seems that Sitri is incredibly weak topliments. Is she weak to praise because she¡¯s pure-hearted¡­¡­? That¡¯s usible. I decided to use this opportunity to raise Sitri¡¯s affection as much as possible. ¡°Of course, your personality is not the only thing that I have fallen for. Miss Sitri is also charming.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°Lovely hair and a voluptuous body that Barbatos cannot evenpare to. Haha. To be honest, as a man, I cannot help but be charmed by it as well!¡± Although she has a cannon attached down below. ¡°If a beautiful person such as yourself were to be with me, then that fact alone would naturally fill my shoulders with strength.¡± It was around this time that I heard a bell. ¡¸Demon Lord Sitri¡¯s affection has risen by 6.¡¹ Sitri lowered her head. She mumbled as if she were talking to herself. ¡°Since when¡­¡­since when have you thought this?¡± ¡°Naturally, since the moment I first saw you.¡± When she ran into my quarters naked in order to beg for me to forgive Paimon. I found outter that she ran through the middle of the Crescent Alliance naked in order toe to me. She didn¡¯t care about honor or whatever as she ran to my quarters. There¡¯s a little weird thing about me. I can¡¯t help but have a soft spot for people who are pure-hearted or innocent. I end up restraining myself even though I could strip them of everything they have. If possible, I want to be their friend. It was like this for Jack nd as well. It¡¯s probably because they are so different from me. Simr to how bugs yearn for light, I must subconsciously yearn for pure-hearted people. Even though I know that it¡¯s foolish. The type of people I hate the most are the ones who act pure but do all sorts of diabolical things behind-the-scenes. Paimon is a prime example of this. She¡¯s a political woman who ims to purely love humans. Well, what am I saying? I¡¯m also a prime example of this. One of the reasons why I dislike Paimon is probably partially due to me hating my own kind. ¡°Uuuh¡­¡­this is a first for me¡­¡­.¡± Sitri couldn¡¯t stay still as her fingers fidgeted. She was lowering her head, so I couldn¡¯t see what sort of face she was making. ¡°I don¡¯t have a good reputation, you know? ¡­¡­I have sex with monsters and I¡¯m often called dirty¡­¡­. People rarely ever call me charming¡­¡­. I-If it¡¯s Big Sis Paimon, then sure, but me, charming? Impossible.¡± ¡°Pfft. Paimon?¡± That woman is charming? Don¡¯t make meugh. Even when I yed , Paimon was one of the top two female characters that I disliked. Her position became a little better after she helped me at the end of the ceremonial speeches, but I still don¡¯t have a favorable opinion of Paimon in my mind. Compared to her, Sitri was an angel. Although she has a cannon attached below. ¡°I know that you hold Paimon in high regard. Forgive me for badmouthing her a bit. To me, you are a hundred times more splendid than Paimon.¡± ¡°Huaah?¡± ¡°If someone asked me to pick between Miss Sitri or Paimon to be together forever with, then ten out of ten times and a hundred out of a hundred times I would pick you, Miss Sitri. This is unquestionable!¡± She¡¯s a woman who struck her own kind on the back of their head for the sake of humankind. Why would I make her myrade? An absolute majority of Demon Lords would probably choose Sitri as well. Sitri spoke in a quiet and squeaky voice. Her voice was dipped in embarrassment at first, but it was nowpletely submerged. ¡°But¡­¡­I¡¯ve already given my body and devotion to Big Sis Paimon. A-Also, you have Barbatos!¡± Mm. She¡¯s right. I¡¯m not sure what was going to happen to Paimon from now on, but she¡¯s still the head of the Mountain Faction. On the other hand, I¡¯m one of the leading members of the ins Faction. Being friendly with me would put a rather sizable political burden on Sitri. For starters, her rtionship with Paimon might be bad. No, it definitely would be bad. This would sadden Sitri. She would undoubtedly start to contemte whether she wasmitting betrayal or not. However, I¡¯m not particrly trying to bring Sitri over to the ins Faction. In the first ce, I don¡¯t have any reason to do more than necessary for the ins Faction. As long as they can keep pace with me, I don¡¯t care whether they¡¯re from the ins Faction or the Mountain Faction. I need to make this fact clear. ¡°Please do not misunderstand. I do not have a rtionship with Barbatos. I am a single Demon Lord before being Barbatos¡¯ close aide. I wish to form rtionships with whomever I desire.¡± Factions will most likely be less important now. They will descend into simply being figureheads or causes to follow. The Habsburg Empire was done for. Or, at the very least, their central and northern regions will enter the Crescent Alliance¡¯s grasp. Many Demon Lords will take hold of viscounties and earldoms as they situate themselves in the human world. Factions will split apart into territories. Until now, Demon Lords have only cooperated for the sake of overthrowing humans regardless of whether they hated them or not. This was because there was a clear divide between Demon Lords and humans. However, what will happen if we obtain the northern and central regions of the Habsburg Empire? For starters, the Mountain Faction will approach the human residents in a friendly manner. The Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction will probably think ¡®The war is over! We finally got our hands on some humannd so let¡¯s have a good time!¡¯. The group that would normally oppose high-ranking Demon Lords if theirnd were to expand¨Din other words, humans¨Dwould no longer be present. Taking over a portion of the Habsburg Empire would be just enough. The high-ranking Demon Lords will be happy since they¡¯ll be able to hold their ground while the others will be happy because they¡¯ll be able to situate themselves within the affluent human world. This would be the best possible scenario for the Mountain Faction. What about the ins Faction? They will oppress the humans. The ins Faction will ultimately aim for conquering the entire continent. They¡¯ll treat humans as annoying obstacles. Demon Lords will be nobles, demons will bemoners, and humans will be ves in areas controlled by the ins Faction. Naturally, all sorts of trouble will happen because of this. Humans will gradually realize that they cannot group Demon Lords together as simply ¡®Demon Lords¡¯. They will cooperate with some and fight with others. Yesterday¡¯s enemy will be today¡¯s friend. We will arrive at an absolutely chaotic era¡­¡­. If this situation continues, then the Demon Lords will all walk their own respective paths in order to survive. For example, let¡¯s say that there¡¯s a Demon Lord from the Mountain Faction. What would they do if theirnd was directly next to the ins Faction¡¯s? Would they continue to rely on the Mountain Faction until the very end? Of course not. They would have no other choice but topromise in order to survive. If youpromise once, then you¡¯ll do it again and again¡­¡­until eventually, your personal survival bes the most important. A portion of the Demon Lords from the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction may even end up creating their own new faction. This is more than possible depending on the location. It will quite literally be a turbulent age. An eraparable to the Thirty Years¡¯ War in Europe is approaching. ¡°I ask you to please forget about Paimon right now. I too will forget about Barbatos. Please look at me as a fellow Demon Lord. I wish for you to determine with unbiased eyes whether you can trust me or not .¡± ¡°Ah, uh¡­¡­uuuh?¡± ¡°Miss Sitri.¡± In order to prepare for that future, I have to bring the Rank 12 Demon Lord over to my side. ¡¸Demon Lord Sitri¡¯s affection has risen by 11.¡¹ Another notice window appeared. I was on a roll. I sped Sitri¡¯s hand once more. Once I did, Sitri carefully raised her head. Herplexion was as red as an apple and the corners of her eyes were a little moist. Our eyes met and Sitri turned away in rm. However, I could clearly see her sneaking nces at me out of the corner of her eyes. ¡°I am not implying that I will throw Barbatos away. Miss Sitri, there is no reason for you to turn your back on Paimon either. I simply wish to establish that Barbatos is Barbatos and Paimon is Paimon. Furthermore¡­¡­.¡± ¡°F-Furthermore¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Miss Sitri is Miss Sitri, and I am myself.¡± She looked at me nkly. She must have forgotten about her embarrassment as she stared straight into my eyes. I realized that this was the final impasse. I have to show her my sincerity here. Silently, I stared into her eyes while hoping for her to see my sincerity. Fanfare rang in my ears. ¡¸Demon Lord Sitri¡¯s affection has risen by 8! The other party now trusts you.¡¹ ¡¸The other party¡¯s affection has reached 50. You can now persuade them to be your ally.¡¹ Sitri mumbled with strangely hazy eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll be¡­¡­in your care¡­¡­.¡± I smiled brightly. ¡°Of course. I pray for a long union.¡± Time was up so Sitri got up. An hour had already passed since she arrived at my Demon Lord Castle. The battlefield was still in an urgent situation. Sitri looked fairly sad about having to leave. She was like this even though only a few minutes had passed since we becamerades. As expected of my discerning eyes. She was definitely the furthest away from the word betrayalpared to every other Demon Lord. ¡°I¡¯ll go end the war quick!¡± Sitri spoke while gripping a teleportation scroll in her hand. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to talk to Big Sis Paimon properly so she doesn¡¯t misunderstand. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll send you the money once the war is over and I¡¯lle over often¡­¡­. No, maybe I should just move here¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Haha. I will just take the thought for now. Let us have a more in-depth discussionter on when we have the time.¡± ¡°O-Okay. Sure.¡± Sitri nodded her head energetically. This Demon Lord has a cute side to her. Although she has a cannon attached below. ¡°Take care of yourself, master.¡± ¡°Please call me Dantalian, Sitri.¡± Sitri¡¯s eyes widened slightly. A broad smile soon appeared on her face. ¡°All right! Dantalian!¡± Her white teeth sparkled as she grinned. The magic circle was activated. A yellow light wrapped around Sitri¡¯s body. The glow filled the entire room. Shortly after, the glow faded away and the spot where Sitri was standing was now empty. Sitri was probably standing in her dreary tent now. I prayed for her to have a good fight. ¡°Hoo.¡± I let out a satisfied sigh as I sat down. With this¡­¡­I¡¯ve acquired one ally. Should I call this an alliance? If I¡¯m in danger, Sitri will help me, and I¡¯ll help Sitri if she is in danger. A mutual profit. ¡°¡­¡­¡± I felt a gaze so I turned my head. Lapis was standing in a corner of the room. She guided Sitri here ording to my order and stood in silence the entire time. A secret conversation between Demon Lords. Obviously, a mere subus like herself wouldn¡¯t dare to open her mouth in that situation. ¡°Aah, Lapis. Good work. Things were able to go well thanks to you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your speaking prowess is as skilled as ever. I was moved.¡± Hm? Why was Lapisplimenting me all of a sudden? I guess that even from her perspective, I did an amazing job persuading Sitri. I felt strangely proud. I couldn¡¯t help but feel strangely happy whenever Lapis acknowledged me. I grinned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve done something like this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that so? This is not the first time.¡± ¡°Despite my looks, I am quite the easy-going gentleman.¡± In terms of eloquence, I¡¯m probably one of the best among Demon Lords. This, I¡¯m confident of. ¡°I did not know this. I am seeing you in a new light now, Sir Dantalian.¡± Contrary to Lapis¡¯ praise, her expression was cold. Lapis continued to treat me coldly for the rest of the day. ¡­¡­But why though? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if this is an affection gaining speedrun. Really makes you think whether you should feel bad for Sitri or not. Welp, nothing else to really say. I guess I should say I¡¯m feelingpletely better now. Just going to be more careful with what I eat now. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 133: Rich Autumn (1) Chapter 133: Rich Autumn (1) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ A famine swept over autumn this year. It was a season where the golden grains of wheat were supposed to be abundant; however, the fields were deste. ¡­¡­There were corpses of soldiers and people who had starved to death scattered throughout the streets. A devoted son exerted himself in order to dig a grave for his father. That son died the following week. He had caught the ck Death from the corpse. On the other hand, those who had abandoned their families to survive on their own had lived. Those who were loyal to their families and neighbors died first. The ck Death ran more rampant in cities where the citizens cared about each other more. The people from ces with little morals ran away to the many corners of the continent in order to survive. Vice became a virtue and survival became a shallow joke. There was an absolute shortage of workers. Grain would dry up and die before being able to grow fully. A great famine followed the ck Death¡­¡­the rulers of the human world were bewildered by this unprecedented cmity. They understood that farmers were dying in great numbers because of the epidemic. They understood that they had fewer workers. However, didn¡¯t this also mean that there were fewer mouths to feed? Feeding a family of ten and a family of three, it¡¯s obvious which would be easier. Despite this, why wererge numbers of people dying of starvation throughout the continent? The problem was with the rulers themselves. When the Crescent Alliance initially invaded, the rulers of each nation gave the following deration in order to draft soldiers effectively. ¨C The distribution of ck herbs will be prioritized to the military. ¨C If you wish to receive the cure, then volunteer as a soldier! This was under the logic that an appropriate reward would be bestowed upon people who fought the Demon Lords for the sake of mankind. The logic itself didn¡¯t have any ws; however, the rulers didn¡¯t expect how much of an impact a deration like this would make as people were dropping like flies after each passing day. ¡°Supplies have not arrived today either!¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth von Habsburg mmed her hand down on a table as she shouted. ¡°You are the ones who promised to support our army. This is no different from viting an international treaty!¡± ¡°I apologize, Your Highness.¡± A cold sweat went down the back of the ambassador from the Anatolia Empire. ¡°If you give us three more days, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Last time you asked for four days, the time before that you asked for a week. Now you need another three days? Hah. At this rate, you might as well say that you will supply us after the war is over.¡± This wasn¡¯t only happening to the Habsburg Empire. This same scene was happening in every camp throughout the human alliance. The war against the Crescent Alliance went into full swing around the end of spring. Even if the war was prolonged, they believed that they could easily endure as long as they set their eyes on the autumn harvest. Every nation nned its provisions around this belief. However, the actual harvest was abysmalpared to what they had expected. This was because the manpower in farming viges was practically non-existent. The poption had already decreased because of the ck Death, but the workers who were still somewhat healthy joined the army in order to receive ck herbs. Most of the people who remained in farming viges were either powerless elderly people or women. The harvest this year was almost half¡­¡­no, there were many ces where the harvest had decreased by 20 percent this year. Wise rulers realized that they had fallen into a vicious cycle. An army is necessary in order to fight the Crescent Alliance. Manpower must be taken from farming areas in order to maintain one¡¯s troops. If they take people from farming areas, then the harvest will decrease. If the harvest decreases, then their supplies will shrink. In the end, they won¡¯t be able to maintain their armies¡­¡­. After sending the ambassador away, Imperial Princess Elizabeth gripped at her hair. Her beautiful silver hair looked frayed now. ¡°This is bad. The Crescent Alliance is not the problem. At this rate, the basis of the nation will end up falling apart¡­¡­!¡± She muttered to herself anxiously. Recently, the number of days the imperial princess would stay up all night contemting things had increased. Their fight against the Crescent Alliance, issues regarding supplies, the political conditions ongoing in the imperial system, the rebellious movement of the Second Prince¡¯s faction, etc. There were numerous things to think about, but the real reason for her insomnia was her nightmares. Her little brother would always appear in her dreams whenever she went to sleep. His eyes would fall out and tears of blood would stream out of the empty sockets endlessly. Her little brother would scream and repeat, ¡®Sister, I can¡¯t see, help me¡¯ over and over again. She would panic and start searching the floor for her little brother¡¯s eyes; however, the ground would have already been submerged in blood. It became impossible to tell where his eyes were. She would desperately wade through the blood to find his eyes, but her arms, legs, and entire body would simply end up soaked in blood. When she finally does find his eyes, she would turn her head only to discover that her little brother had already drowned in the sea of blood¡­¡­. Truly, a horrible nightmare. ¡°Your Highness, the Queen of Brittany has arrived.¡± A soldier announced from outside her tent. The imperial princess felt inwardly delighted as she responded. ¡°All right. Please tell them toe in.¡± ¡°You do not have to tell me that since I am already here.¡± A woman pulled open the entrance of the tent and entered. Her hair that was as red as blood fluttered. Henrietta Brittany. She was the female monarch who ruled the Kingdom of Brittany. ¡°You look rather tired. Have you gotten any sleep?¡± ¡°No¡­¡­. It is not the time to be sleeping.¡± The imperial princess of the Habsburg Empire and the queen of the Kingdom of Brittany. These two individuals had be friends during this war. The two heroes had basically acknowledged each other. If the humans had overwhelming control of the continent, then these two heroes would¡¯ve probably been fighting for supremacy. Nheless, no matter how you tried to sugarcoat it, humanity was not in a good situation right now. They had both internal and external troubles. The ck Death was tearing them apart from the inside while the Crescent Alliance was attacking from the outside. To make matters worse, a great famine was also taking ce. ¨DThere¡¯s a chance that humanity might actually get destroyed by the Crescent Alliance this time. The two heroes reached the same bleak conclusion. Thus, they were pleased to know that someone shared their opinion. It would be nerve-racking to have them as enemies, but they were also the most reliable people to have as one¡¯s allies. It didn¡¯t take more than a week for the queen and the imperial princess to be close friends. ¡°Let me ask you honestly. Elize, do you have any provisions left?¡± There was no small talk. She got straight to the point as soon as she sat down at the table. This is most likely proof that the queen is in a simr situation, the imperial princess thought. ¡°No. We do not have anything to spare¡­¡­. No matter how much we try to conserve our supplies, at most, they willst us only a month.¡± ¡°A month, huh? That¡¯s about the same as us. Our side has enough for maybe a month and a half. This is also if we exclude the supplies necessary for when we return to my kingdom.¡± The two of them let out a sigh at the same time. It was almost as if they had nned to do so beforehand. Once they did, the two nced at each other before letting out augh. The imperial princess thought it was strange. For some reason, she could be more honest in front of this personpared to her own vassals. Was it because she was also destined to shoulder the fate of an entire nation? The imperial princess couldn¡¯t help but be upset that it took her this long to meet Henrietta. ¡°All right, then. We have only one choice left.¡± ¡°Yes. A short, decisive battle.¡± Queen Henrietta nodded her head. The two female leaders originally intended to prolong the war. They knew that the Crescent Alliance¡¯s biggest weakness was their food supply. It¡¯s difficult to maintain an army of monsters without human corpses. They were going to avoid fighting as much as possible until therge bodies of monsters copsed in on themselves. ¨DThis was the original n. ¡°Who would have guessed that our provisions would be short by fifty percent. I never would have expected this.¡± Queen Henrietta stuck her lips out in a pout as if she were unamused. Now the situation has changed. The human army ended up having the provisions problem instead. At most, one month. They had to end this war within a month. This will most likely force an abnormal amount of stress on the soldiers. A cruel hellscape will unfold before them¡­¡­. ¡°But that is not the only problem.¡± Queen Henrietta narrowed her eyes as she gazed at the imperial princess. ¡°Let us be honest. How is the situation on your side? Does it feel like a revolution will happen in Habsburg?¡± ¡°A revolution, is it¡­¡­?¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth groaned. She wanted to deny it and say that that would be ridiculous. If the other party were a normal ruler, then Elizabeth would¡¯ve denied this without any hesitation; however, the Queen of Brittany was special. There was no point in putting on airs in front of her. ¡°I can only say that we are in a precarious situation; however, I have worked together with republicans for five years now. Almost every republican in our regime supports me.¡± ¡°It is dangerous, but you can manage it. So it is like that for you¡­¡­I¡¯m envious. The situation on our side is rather bad.¡± Queen Henrietta smiled bitterly. ¡°As you can see, I became a ruler with a female body. Acquiring the cooperation of nobles was essential during the process of my ascension. It would not be an exaggeration to say that my influence is maintained through nobles. Well, it is probably the same for most other countries.¡± She poured the bottle of wine that was on the table into a cup. ¡°Is it all right for you to be drinking alcohol?¡± ¡°The Gods created alcohol for it to be consumed during times like this.¡± ¡°Hm. If that is the case, then I will partake in a ss as well.¡± Queen Henrietta looked surprised. ¡°Oh? But you said it is unhealthy to drink at night.¡± ¡°I do not intend to maintain my health while also making a friend lonely.¡± ¡°A friend? A friend, huh?¡± The queen mused about thest time she had heard that word as she poured the imperial princess a ss of wine. The two smiled as they clinked their ss cups together. The queen moistened her throat with wine before speaking. ¡°I met the people of the Batavian Republic in secret and listened to what kind of republic they are working for and what sort of reformations are necessary to achieve it¡­¡­but it¡¯s impossible. It is not at a level that the nobles of my nation would understand. An uprising will undoubtedly happen soon.¡± The imperial princess¡¯ expression became severe. ¡°But what else can you do? At the very least, you have to make it seem like you are trying to make reforms. The ire from themon soldiers is only increasing by the day. The officers with noble standings are gradually bing more and more anxious. They are probably afraid that their soldiers might try to overthrow them.¡± ¡°So it is the same on your side as well, huh?¡± Queen Henrietta let out a sigh. ¡°Themoners wish for change while the nobles wish to maintain the status quo. It is like an army has two different armies inside of it. You cannot possibly call this a proper fighting force. Did you know that training is now an issue of the past? The soldiers¡¯ will to fight is dancing on a thread. I had to behead three deserters on my way here.¡± It was actually twelve, the queen added. If there are a lot of deserters, then that alone could lower morale. Only three of them were publicly executed while the other nine were taken out in secret. This was something the queen had ordered herself. ¡°An army that has to fabricate the number of deserters, this is not a joke¡­¡­.¡± The two drank their wine in silence. The imperial princess¡¯ mouth felt incredibly bitter. It wasn¡¯t only because of the wine. Morale never went up. For what purpose were they sacrificing their lives? Were they truly fighting for the sake of mankind, for the sake of their families? ¡­¡­These doubts spread throughout the soldiers like spores. The more doubts there are, the duller an army bes. It heavily influences military strength as well. The only saving grace was the fact that they distributed the ck herbs beforehand. The soldiers were treating that as something they had to pay back in kind. They could no longer trust in nobles, but they wouldn¡¯t go against the ruler who had bestowed them with ck herbs, this was the basic consensus. ¡°If I try to push reforms, then the nobles will revolt. If I do not make any reforms, then theints from themoners will eventually burst. I will lose the support of my soldiers. This is a dilemma.¡± The queen groaned. ¡°Things would be different if my sovereign power were stronger.¡± The imperial princess sympathized with the queen¡¯s troubles. If their sovereign power were strong enough, then they could¡¯ve just pushed for reforms without having to worry about revolts. However, Henrietta ascended the throne as a woman and Elizabeth started a coup as the third imperial princess. Their sovereign power was far from being strong. It would be more urate to say that they were only barely getting by thanks to their charisma. 10 years. If they had 10 more years, then their authority would have stabilized by then. They could have created a hero among themoners. They could have made them aplish enough things to prevent the aristocrats fromining in any capacity. If they pushed for reforms while using that hero as a figurehead, then even the aristocrats wouldn¡¯t be able to do much about it. Their sovereign power would be stronger, they would receive more support from themoners, and their nations would be rich and powerful. Why did this have to happen now? The imperial princess couldn¡¯t help but have this thought often. It was already spilled milk, but it was so unfortunate. It was only 10 years. 10 years would have been enough to change everything. Why did this have to happen now¡­¡­? The two female rulers talkedte into the night. Rather than it being some sort of official meeting, they were moreining about their problems. The queen and the imperial princess were at the top of their nations. They were in positions that didn¡¯t allow them to freely consult with others about their problems. They could only be honest with each other. Queen Henrietta spoke as she got up. ¡°I, I am going to wipe my army out.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Reforms are impossible anyway since the aristocrats will revolt. I will use the battle as an excuse to kill all of themoners. My soldiers are currently the only people from my kingdom who have heard ¡®that¡¯ speech. I¡¯ll uproot the seeds of revolution.¡± The imperial princess was about to refute her, but she kept her mouth shut. Not only were the queen¡¯s eyes filled with sorrow, but it was also filled with rage. She longed for a wealthy and powerful nation more than anyone else. The people are the basis of a nation. The queen felt deeply enraged by the fact that she had to kill those people of hers with her own two hands. ¡°A monarch is basically the father ofmoners. In other words, I am going to have to kill my children. Was Dantalian that person¡¯s name? That bastard is making memit an immoral crime. ¡­¡­I will definitely get my revenge one day.¡± Those were thest words the queen left behind before leaving the tent. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth fell into deep thought as she was left alone in her quarters. She was recalling the individual whom Henrietta had just mentioned. Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian, she was remembering the words he had said. ¨C That was the boy¡¯s final breath. Why? He did not pour rage or resentment towards the person who killed him¡­¡­. He simply asked why. ¨C The boy truly did not understand why his beloved sister would kill him. The boy had sincerely loved his sister. ¨C You are a filthy, disgusting, murdering piece of trash. As a genius, she remembered Dantalian¡¯s words perfectly. Thus, the pain caused by those words was also vivid. There was no way Imperial Princess Elizabeth could hold back her confusion whenever she would wake up in a cold sweat from her nightmares about her little brother. How did that man know everything? What is that man¡¯s identity? ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± She muttered; however, her question could not be answered as she fell further into confusion. The image of Dantalian lingered in the imperial princess¡¯ mind as she slipped into slumber. As expected, the imperial princess dreamt of her little brother again and woke up feeling blood on her hand. ¡°Robert, I am sorry. It¡¯s my fault. I am sorry, Robert. I am sorry¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth brought her face to her pillow and wiped her tears away with it. She had to grit her teeth as she did this so that the sound of her crying could not be heard from outside. There was a close battle on Bruno ins the next day. The 1st legion of the Crescent Alliance and the Kingdom of Brittany came into a full collision. The army of monsters led by Demon Lord Sitri received a lot of casualties, but they seeded in encircling the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army. They were wiped out. The battle was so fierce that only the queen of Brittany and a few of her close vassals managed to escape with their lives. On that day, the queen left the human alliance and returned to her country. It is said that the queen of Brittany cried for her soldiers constantly as she returned to her nation. *** Author¡¯s Afterword While Queen Henrietta and Imperial Princess Elizabeth were shedding tears of blood, Dantalian and Laura were passing the time pleasantly and obscenely. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Henrietta finally got some screen time. I don¡¯t know why but she gives off an older sister vibe. It¡¯s probably cause she¡¯s a queen while Elizabeth is still a princess.On another note, WordPress needs to stop changing their format. They¡¯ve been changing a lot in the past few weeks and I don¡¯t mind most of the changes, but now they made the font size like 7pt in the draft mode. I have to actively zoom in on the page now when I¡¯m working or I end up squinting like crazy to make out the words. Stop trying to change things that were never an issue. Please. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 134: Rich Autumn (2) Chapter 134: Rich Autumn (2) * * * I no longer had anything left to do after the blueprint for the dungeon waspleted. Even if I wanted to start working on my dungeon, I have to receive funding from Sitri first. Adding to this, the Crescent Alliance¡¯s war has toe to an end before Sitri can move her money around. Therefore, I basically have a lot of free time until the war ends. I frequentlymunicated with Sitri through magic orbs. ording to her, the battle was going in a very favorable direction for the Demon Lord army. However, there was an incorrigible issue that the Crescent Alliance couldn¡¯t fix. Apparently, they were severelycking in provisions. ¨C We¡¯ve finally gathered, but every legion is acting on their own. The image of Sitri disyed in the magic orb pouted. The number of supplies that 10,000 monsters consumed regrly was actually immense, so the provisions the 6th legion had gathered until now bottomed out almost instantly. ¨C Those slippery humans keep running away whenever we try to fight them too¡­¡­Grr! If an army of monsters wants to acquire food, then arge battle is necessary. The human corpses that appear as a result of battles are immediately used as monster food, after all. Naturally, the humans know about this as well. The human army would do their best to avoid big confrontations with the Demon Lord army and force prolonged battles. A rather unpleasant scenario was ying out for the Crescent Alliance. The human army confiscated the farm areas around them indiscriminately as they slowly drew the line of battle back. They would chase farmers away since a swarm of a hundred thousand monsters was approaching. They would give some pocket change to a few of the farmers as they obviously piged their supplies. It was somewhat okay for the people who received somepensation, but the number of people who received absolutely nothing and had everything taken from them was countless. They say that the human army even burned the viges down. ¡°Cheongya tactic, huh.¡± ¨C Huh¡­¡­? Clear field tactic? What¡¯s that? I see. The term Cheongya tactic doesn¡¯t exist in this world. Usually, the words I use are automatically tranted before being transmitted to other people, but there are times like this where the system would trante the words literally. I exined to Sitri what Cheongya tactic was.(TL Note: Cheongya tactic is basically scorched-earth policy.) Sitri furrowed her brows after she listened to my exnation. ¨C Eeh? Then what are they going to do about their peopleter? ¡°It is fundamentally a tactic that does not think about the future. It is that effective, after all. ¡­¡­Human rulers are different from us Demon Lords. They cannot feel the emotions of their own people, so they naturally are that muchcking when ites to being considerate to their own kind.¡± Despite saying this, I personally thought it was a rather good idea. For starters, not only does this get rid of things that could potentially be eaten by monsters, but it also increases their own food supply. What¡¯s important here is what excuse you give in order to steal the food that the farmers had shed tears and blood to harvest. The Demon Lord army has invaded, a massive army of monsters is approaching¡­¡­there is no excuse stronger than this. ¡®No, that¡¯s not all.¡¯ A couple of schemes came to mind as well. If I were a leading member of the human army¡­¡­then I would treat morale as one of the most important things to maintain. The man named Dantalian had ruthlessly poisoned everything during the ceremonial speeches. There is probably a lot of tension between soldiers and officers right now. What can they do to subdue the mes within their army? It¡¯s simple. They just have to enforce an ¡®aplice¡¯ mentality. They¡¯ll let their soldiers pige viges as much as they want. Their soldiers are poor, so they would participate in the piging fervently. They would feel an immediate satisfaction after filling their famished stomachs, however, what about afterward? Could they me the nobles without feeling any sort of guilt themselves¡­¡­? They stole from other people so that they could survive. The soldiers were the same as the nobles in that regard. They still couldn¡¯t trust the nobles, but, at the very least, this would make it difficult for them to openlyin. This should be able to temporarily prevent morale from dropping to the point of creating mutinies. Going beyond this. ¡®If it were me, then I would distribute ck herbs to the vigers who got piged.¡¯ During thest harvest season, the human nations did everything they could to cultivate ck herbs. The harvest wasn¡¯t even nearly enough to save their entire nations, but they had enough to at least treat their soldiers. They should have some excess left right now. I would use those now. If viges are piged by soldiers, then the vigers would naturally me the person in charge. The rulers could show mercy at that moment and distribute ck herbs to the vigers. Not only would they be able topensate them to a certain degree, but the rulers would also be able to keep up their image. What would happen then? The soldiers won¡¯t be able to trust the noble officers, but they would at least trust in their merciful rulers¡­¡­this should be the general consensus. The soldiers won¡¯t work as hard as they once had unless it¡¯s a direct order from their ruler. Thus, the ruler would naturally gain more sovereign power. If you take into consideration the army as a whole, then losing the trust between themander and themon soldiers would be incredibly detrimental. However, if the ruler knows how to look into the distant future during a difficult situation like this¡­¡­then they would realize that this crisis could also be an opportunity. The nobles aren¡¯t idiots either. They¡¯ll immediately piece things together if their rulers start doing something like this. Therefore, the only rulers who can aplish this are those who are confident in their ability to go head-to-head with nobles. Which nation¡¯s leader will use this method? Which nation is strong enough to take this gamble? There was a need to keep an eye on the war while keeping these facts in mind. How interesting. I personally think highly of Henrietta from the Kingdom of Brittany and Elizabeth from the Habsburg Empire. They might show their ss during this war. They were the two supreme rulers of the continent in . Who will take the lead here¡­¡­? Now then, how should I behave? I decided to leak some information to Sitri. ¡°Miss Sitri, there is a chance that the human army intends to give up on the northern region of Habsburg, no, the entire central region.¡± ¨C Huh? What are you talking about? ¡°If their goal is to only exhaust your provisions, then there would be no need to set viges on fire. Monsters do not require viges. They are a type of species that prefer to live outdoors. And yet, they set viges aze¡­¡­. This means they are trying to destroy thend so that it cannot function as a rble domain.¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth loves her people. She will use all sorts of cruel methods if necessary, but she will always be gentle on the inside. This is an era where it¡¯s natural to y your own kin for the sake of authority; however, the fact that shements over killing her one little brother to this extent makes Elizabeth von Habsburg¡¯s personality clear. There¡¯s no way that the imperial princess would destroy her ownnd for no reason. There¡¯s no way that she would approve of this. Therefore, this means that the imperial princess has already given up on the northern and central regions of Habsburg. After handing half of Habsburg over to the Crescent Alliance, she most likely intends to reform her empire in the south. ¡°A final line of defense is most likely being prepared in the southern region of Habsburg right now. I assume they are going to make their final stand there. At the earliest, this autumn. At thetest, during the winter¡­¡­. The Crescent Alliance will receive arge-scale counterattack around this time.¡± It bes easier for other nations to send reinforcements the further down the human army retreats. As the human army continues to retreat further south, they will eventually join forces with the reinforcements sent by the other nations. I don¡¯t know how many people will gather. How am I supposed to know the poption of this era? ¨C Hmm? But Dantalian, if you¡¯re right¡­¡­wouldn¡¯t the humans want to defend in a siege instead of trying to retaliate? The capital of the Habsburg Empire is like an impregnable fortress. If they shut themselves inside and defend for a couple of years, then we would have no choice but to give up on Habsburg.¡± ¡°Ah, they cannot do that.¡± I shook my head. ¡°They do not have enough food.¡± ¨C Eh, food? Sitri tilted her head. ¨C But it¡¯ll be autumn soon¡­¡­. ¡°Even if autumn is approaching, they need people to do the harvesting. Not only has the ck Death mercilessly decimated their poption, but all of the healthy men were also drafted into the military. Their farms are severelycking in manpower. I guarantee you that the humans will face a serious shortage of food soon.¡± I smiled. ¡°Thus, they will have no other choice but to fight back at their final line of defense. They will probably try to turn the tide in a single moment. Well, it does not matter either way¡­¡­. Miss Sitri, you must leave the war as soon as possible.¡± ¨C Huh? Sitri must¡¯ve been struggling to follow along as she was almost on the brink of tears. How cute. I felt strangely sympathetic, so I kindly gave her an exnation. ¡°Think about it. The human army will not care about their own well-being as they fight back desperately. Will the other Demon Lords also fight actively when they realize this?¡± There are extremely few Demon Lords who actually want the Crescent Alliance¡¯s expedition to seed. At most, it¡¯s only the Demon Lords from the ins Faction and a few war fanatics who are confident in their ability to fight against high-ranking Demon Lords. The rest only want to fight to a reasonable degree. The 8th Crescent Alliance has already aplished a reasonable amount. ¡°Everyone will keep their hands behind their backs as they wait for someone else to take the hit first. No. They want to receive a certain amount of harm. They need to have losses if they want to use something as an excuse to leave the Crescent Alliance, after all.¡± They will then emphasize all of the feats they had aplished as they try to take somend for themselves. ¡°You will only incur more losses the longer you are there.¡± ¨C Uh¡­¡­Sorry. I don¡¯t get it. What am I supposed to do? ¡°Your honesty is your strong point, Sitri.¡± I smiled brightly. ¡°Simply fight with any human army. Incur a certain amount of losses from them. If possible, you should try to make the battle shy. ¡­¡­That¡¯s right, getting encircled should be good enough. If you experience this type of battle, then you should be able to leave the Crescent Alliance first.¡± ¨C Okay. Get encircled, right? ¡°You have to incur a reasonable amount of losses. A reasonable amount.¡± ¨C All right! Sitri nodded energetically. She clenched her fists as if she were dering that she would definitely carry out my n. Her enthusiasm was pleasant to see. I can feel reassured if Sitri¡¯s side is intact. They are allied forces, after all. This was the only thing of interest that happened. I spent my days rxing,pletely detached from the Crescent Alliance. There was nothing to do, so it seemed like I would spend some heated nights with Laura again, but Laura protested greatly here. She imed that I was only having obscene thoughts because I spend most of my time in a cave. ¡°Go outside and do some farming! Maybe you will not have the strength left for intercourse if you go out and let out some sweat.¡± ¡°I dislike moving my body, though¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Lord, do you want this youngdy to hang herself?¡± Laura asked that in apletely serious tone. It really sounded like she was going to hang herself, so I had no other choice but to go outside. I had a vacation home built in Parsi¡¯s vige and spent my summer there. I received a separate field and cultivated it. I decided to take some monsters and made them swing some pickaxes, but it turned out to be a lot more effective than expected. The other farmers were in awe as they watched the never-before-seen monster-farmer hybrid with their mouths agape. ¡°A task that usually takes 6 people is being done by a single monster!¡± ¡°Y-Your Highness, if you have some extra manpower, then could you lend our family one¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hey! You disrespectful chaps.¡± But the monsters were the only ones that were impressive. Parsi taught me how to farm, but he would snort every time he saw me swing a hoe. ¡°You¡¯re pretty crap when ites to using your body, huh?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ording to Parsi, I was apparently more inefficient than a 12-year-old child. Damn it. However, efficiency wasn¡¯t an issue. Surprisingly, the vigers were incredibly moved when they saw me doing fieldwork despite basically being their lord. The vigers, who once had a hard time approaching me, were gradually opening up to me now. ¡°Dear me, Your Highness Demon Lord. Are you going out now?¡± ¡°That is right.¡± ¡°Have you had breakfast? How about having lunch with us humble onester? My wife is actually quite the professional when ites to baking.¡± Whenever I went out to the field at dawn, I would receive courteous but affectionate greetings from the other farmers. I don¡¯t know how to put it, but it gave me a strange feeling. Watching the grains of wheat grow steadily made all the desperate running around I had done feel pointless. What was so important that I had to crawl around like that? ¡­¡­Is this the world that farmers see? The summer passed like this. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. From territory management simtor to dungeon management simtor and now to farming simtor. Dant is quite the talented fellow. Although these parts are interesting, I do wonder when things will start to ramp up again like during the war. It¡¯s definitely a lot more exciting to trante those parts. Nothing much else to say, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 135: Rich Autumn (3) Chapter 135: Rich Autumn (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ While the entire continent was suffering due to a famine, my territory was met with an abundant harvest. The fields of wheat emitted a golden glow as they swayed in the wind. The sound of farmersughing echoed above the wheat like holy bells. The womenfolk joked around merrily as they swung their sickles. They were like dolphins swimming through a yellow sea¡­¡­. Oh dear, I¡¯ve be way too sentimental. Farming had managed to exhume a lot of negative energy from metely. It was the first time in my life seeing ¡®something I had grown and could be harvested¡¯. It shouldn¡¯t be weird if I got a little mushy, right? It was an unimpressive field that was slightlyrger than a vegetable garden, but it was a ce that had been cultivated purely by my own two hands. It was practically overflowing with grains of wheat. I felt my chest tighten. ¡°Huhuhu.¡± Parsiughed beside me while I was in the middle of being deeply touched. He patted my shoulder as if he understood what I was going through. ¡°I was incredibly moved during my first harvest as well. I still get emotional even now. It must be the same for you as well, huh?¡± ¡°Uh-huh. The grains of wheat look as lovely as goblins.¡± Parsi made a disgusted face as he handed me a sickle. ¡°¡­¡­I don¡¯t understand your sense of aesthetics, but, in any case, good job, young master. Now it¡¯s time for the final job.¡± ¡°My farming ability has already exceeded that of experts.¡± I snorted. I was genuinely confident. I was clumsy at first, but after being taught by Parsi and reaching this far, I¡¯ve started to wonder if farming was actually my true calling. Adding to this, I even gained the Farmer job in my status window. It didn¡¯t only appear. Its level exceeded every other job by a significant amount! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ True Name: DantalianRace: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ ¡¡Faction: Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord ArmyAttribute: Neutral(-10) Level: 36¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 4543Job: Farmer(C), Dungeon Manager(F), Demon Lord(D) Leadership: 34/37¡¡¡¡Might: 11/22 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 32/37Politics: 35/35¡¡¡¡Charm: 20/20¡¡¡¡Technique: 8/17 *Titles: 1. Demon Lord of Fear 2. Innate Farmer*Abilities: Farming Technique(C), Tactics(E), Marksmanship(E), Mining(F)*Skills: Acting [Achievements: 3][Subordinates: 54 units/260 units] ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ [Titles]
  1. Demon Lord of Fear ¨C This person has caused arge part of the world¡¯s order to copse. The owner of this title will receive the respect of demonkind and the fear of humanity: Leadership limit +10, Intelligence limit +10, Charm limit +10, Subordinate limit +100, Infamy +500
  2. Innate Farmer ¨C This is given to those who raise their Farmer and Farming Technique levels in a surprisingly short period of time. You will receive respect from those in the same field of work: Might limit +10, Technique limit +5, +10 affection points from everyone who has the Farmer job
©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Its name shined radiantlypared to my F rank Dungeon Manager and D rank Demon Lord jobs. It was a rank that was so sacred that it could potentially be sacrilegious to say it out loud¡­¡­Rank C. Even though my Marksmanship refused to go beyond E rank despite practicing like crazy, my Farming Technique went from F to C rank just by doing some manualbor throughout the summer and the beginning of autumn. Thanks to this, my Might stat went up by 4 as well. I was truly gifted in farming. A genius, no, a prodigy¡­¡­it would probably be fine to call me that. I even got a title. This world¡¯s system has also acknowledged my innate farming abilities. I have a talent that the world was obligated to acknowledge. It sent a chill down my spine. I scare even myself. Is it okay for you to be this amazing, Demon Lord Dantalian!? Fufufu. Augh came out on its own. Parsi gave me a weird look, but I paid him no mind. He was nothing more than a simpleton. He couldn¡¯t possiblyprehend my greatness with that medieval brain of his¡­¡­. With my tolerance as a ruler, I will show him some sympathy. ¡°Did you know? You¡¯re sometimes incredibly annoying.¡± ¡°T-That¡¯s going too far!¡± Even if you feel that way, shouldn¡¯t you keep that to yourself out of courtesy for your lord!? I know. I know that I¡¯m being annoying. But, but¡­¡­what¡¯s so bad about bragging a bit!? A year and a half have passed since I fell into this world and the limit for my highest stat is only 37. It hasn¡¯t even reached 40 yet. Despite this, I managed to raise the limit of my might stat by 20 within the past few months. This is incredibly fast. Isn¡¯t it fine if I brag a little!? ¡°I am asking this because of your fast growth, but how old are you this year, lord?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­I should be exactly 25-years-old next month. Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m 17 years old.¡± Parsi let out a snort. ¡°It is honestly hard for me to rte when a person who is 8 years older than me is bragging about growing quickly. If you¡¯re 27-years-old, then wouldn¡¯t you only be able to call yourself a man if you cultivate about 10,000 square feet ofnd?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Yeah, I¡¯m old. You boorish guy who looks more like a bear than actual bears. ¡°You should go harvest more. While you are busy cultivating thend, I will be busy cultivating myself.¡± ¡°It is written all over your face that you think you said something cool just now, but it was not cool at all so I would appreciate it if you stopped, lord.¡± ¡°You really are going too far!¡± I already have Lapis and Laura being hard on me constantly, but now Parsi was joining the list. I¡¯m still a Demon Lord, you know¡­¡­a territory ruler¡­¡­. Well, I¡¯m Rank 71 and the only territories I own are 7 viges and 8 monster tribes. I shrugged. ¡°Hmph. No matter what anyone says, I am now an experienced farmer. The raising part is difficult, the harvesting should be easy enough. I should be able to finish a harvest like this within a day.¡± ¡°Do you think you can do it without my help?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± For some reason, Parsi grinned as if he found this to be interesting. ¡°I will be looking forward to it, O veteran farmer.¡± ¡°Yeah, just watch me!¡± I held the sickle in my right hand. I then approached the field in front of me valiantly. It didn¡¯t take more than 3 hours for me to learn the meaning behind Parsi¡¯s smile. Shortly after¨D. ¡°B-Back! My back!¡± I rolled around on the ground while grabbing my back. This wasn¡¯t a joke. I had bent down, harvested the wheat, tied them into bundles, and moved them to a single spot. My back started to hurt like hell after doing this over and over again for three hours. My monsters looked concerned as they watched me from the side. Golems were incredibly effective when it came to tilling the soil, but they were, unfortunately, unable to do more delicate work like harvesting. At the very least, Blingy was able to help me. Should I call it help¡­¡­? Blingy was a lot better than me. Goblins are shorter than humans, so they¡¯re able to swing their sicklesfortably. Blingy had finished ten piles by the time I finished piling up my fifth bundle. I couldn¡¯tpare to him. ¡°No, my dignity as the master¡­¡­!¡± I tried to force myself up. At that moment, an intense pain washed over me. ¡°Kuah.¡± I fell back over. Why is it that my back is able to hold just fine when having sex with Laura for four to five hours, but it dies after swinging a sickle for 3 hours? Even if the muscles that are being used are different, isn¡¯t this too much? ¨C Gyarururu! The fairies were flying around above me energetically even though their master was currently dying. My fairies were criminally charming 365 days a year, but at this very moment, theirughter sounded incredibly cheeky. You girls weren¡¯t even helpful during the cultivation process! It was like they discovered a new yground as the fairies deemed the wheat fields as a special hide-and-seek spot. They dived into the golden field of wheat and darted around. They kept peeking their heads up from between the grains and teased the seeker. That looks fun¡­¡­. I want to y hide-and-seek with the fairies too¡­¡­. I want to hug the fairies andy down¡­¡­. Despite all this hard work, I only managed to harvest one-fourth of the entire field. ¡°Ah, at least nine more hours.¡± This hopeless number glimmered before my eyes. I can¡¯t do anything more today. Even if I wanted to work, I can¡¯t do anything with my back like this. I¡¯ll probably die from muscle cramps tomorrow as well. I dered that I would finish this within a day, but it was actually going to take around three or four days. ¡°See? What did I say, veteran farmer? Kekeke.¡± I could clearly picture Parsi taunting me in my mind. This bastard. I doted on him because he was a little smart, but now he was trying to crawl on top of my head. I¡¯ll have to tten that nose of his one day¡­¡­. Kuh. He¡¯s probably going to get even more ted. ¡°Your Lordship? What are you doing on the ground?¡± I heard a voice. I turned my back and saw Laura standing there. She was like a youngdy drawn by a certain painter from the Nethends as she was wearing yellow-coloredmoner clothes. Laura possessed three types of clothing. One of them was dresses. Her main dress was the one she was wearing when I abducted her, so it was one that had a noble charm. I had also bought her several other dresses as a gift. The other outfit she had was a ck military uniform that I made her wear when we were fighting for the Crescent Alliance. Thest type of clothing she had was amoner outfit. Once Laura and I started to reside in the vacation house that was built in the vige, the women of the vige sewed an outfit using precious materials. ¡®We embedded the most beautiful symbols that had been passed down for generations in our vige.¡¯, this was what they told us. Although it was doubtful that something made in a mountain vige could be luxurious, it was clearly created with much sincerity. It was an orange outfit with white patterns, but it really suited Laura¡¯s blonde hair. Laura was incredibly delighted as she received their gift. ¡®This youngdy must be the only girl in the world to receive such an amazing gift!¡¯ Ever since that day, Laura wore themoner outfit the most. She was even wearing it now. Mm, she honestly seemed happier than when I gifted her those other dresses¡­¡­. Women are difficult and Laura is the mostplex out of them all. A girl¡¯s mind isparable to the Germannguage. I don¡¯t understand it at all. ¡°I was taking in the feeling of the earth.¡± ¡°The feeling of the earth¡­¡­? Is there a gnome there?¡± ¡°Everything that humans eat on a daily basis is gifted to them by the earth. I always live my life showing the earth my gratitude. I do this with my body.¡± Laura tilted her head. ¡°I never knew that Your Lordship worshipped the Goddess Demeter. Your piety is also important, but how about eating some lunch first?¡± ¡°Ooh. I have been waiting.¡± Laura was holding a basket in her arms. She¡¯s been bringing me a light meal for lunch every day. I groaned as I pushed myself up. Today¡¯s lunch was sandwiches. It wasn¡¯t the triangle sandwiches with pure-white bread that I would often eat in my original world. It was wheat bread sandwiches with bacon and vegetables squeezed between the slices of bread. Laura wasn¡¯t exactly good at cooking, so she would often make meals that used simple ingredients. Lunch after a hard day of work tasted the best. ¡°This is delicious! You did amazing, Laura.¡± ¡­¡­I am happy if Your Lordship is happy.¡± Laura smiled gently. Laura¡¯s smile looked utterly beautiful in times like this. Laura handed me a canteen of water the instant some wheat bread got caught in my throat even slightly. I gulped the water down. Did she just get this water from the well? The refreshing water flowed down my throat and cooled off my body that had gotten cooked under the sun. How refreshing! I got up once I finished my meal. I was revitalized. ¡°Ow, ow ow.¡± Even if I can¡¯t do it all in one day, I should finish the harvest in at least 2 days. If I don¡¯t, then Parsi will probably mock me about it. Laura spoke. ¡°Does your back hurt, Your Lordship?¡± ¡°Harvesting wheat is a lot more difficult than I expected. Kuh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm. Were you cutting the wheat with that sickle?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°To think you would intentionally choose the hard path. This youngdy thought that Your Lordship was a hopeless slob all this time, but it seems this youngdy was wrong. Your Lordship truly intends to learn the feelings of farmers.¡± I tilted my head. ¡°Thank you for thepliment, but I am not sure what you mean.¡± ¡°Would you not be able to cut the wheat with ease if you used the fairies? Despite this, Your Lordship chose to go through hardship, so this youngdy is in awe by your determination again.¡± Fairies? ¡°How would I use the fairies? Their arms are too weak to even hold a sickle.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Lord, have you forgotten about magic? Could you not cut everything all at once with wind des?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I turned my head. The fairies were still ying hide and seek in the field. I quietly gave them an order in my mind. ¡®Fire a volley.¡¯ The fairies lifted their heads promptly. They then fluttered their wings as they gathered at a corner of the field. Once they were all grouped up, they matched each other¡¯s movement as they fired a wind cutter. A transparent de cut through the wheat as it swiftly flew through the air. With a single cast of magic, one-third of the field was dealt with. ¡°Fuuuuuuuuuck!¡± I grabbed my head and screamed. Why didn¡¯t I think of this sooner!? ¨C Kyarururu. Even though I wasmenting pitifully, the fairies flew over and started to giggle. I must look funny to them. Damn it, don¡¯t pull on my hair. Don¡¯t get on my back either. This is just making me look more pathetic! Laura muttered in a dumbfounded tone. ¡°Do not tell me you did not think of this? Your Lordship really is¡­¡­. You are smart at some times, but an absolute idiot at other times. Well, I was wondering why Your Lordship was working so hard.¡± ¡°My back, my three hours of blood and sweat!¡± Laura snorted. ¡°If your head is bad, then your body will suffer. I recall this being your favorite saying.¡± What a smartass. This is why geniuses are annoying! *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This took it a bit longer than usual since my editor has not been getting a lot of sleeptely. I swear it¡¯s not my fault.I forgot to mention this before, but I mistranted the amount of money Sitri was going to lend Dantalian. It was 1,000,000 gold and not 100,000 gold. Off by a 0. I struggle with numbers sometimes because Korea has a very awkward way of putting numbers into words. Unlike English where you have thousand, million, billion being split as 1,000-1,000,000-1,000,000,000, Korean has ?, ?, ? which is 1,000-10,000-10,000,000. The numbers don¡¯t have any sort of pattern between them unlike the English version which does a new word with each additional 3 digits, so it takes me a solid bit to figure out the number sometimes when reading Korean. I might make this mistake againter, so please be understanding. I make mistakes when I try to trante at a decent pace. In any case, the next chapter will probably be out soon. I¡¯ll see you guys then. Chapter 136: Rich Autumn (4) Chapter 136: Rich Autumn (4) * * * Dantalian and Laura were happy all throughout the summer and autumn. From an outside perspective, they appeared as if they argued frequently about insignificant things like sleeping several times a day, however, they were actually having the best time of their lives. They waded through political strife and war until finally acquiring the peace they had longed for all this time. However, this peace was the nucleus of a storm. Rank 71 Dantalian. This rookie Demon Lord, who only made an appearance for the first time atst year¡¯s Walpurgis Night, managed to make a meteoric rise and be a prominent figure in the Demon Lord army within a single year. Of course, Demon Lords whose powers far exceeded their ranks would asionally appear. Demon Lord Paimon, who was currently falling, may only be Rank 9, but her influence made herparable to the top 5 Demon Lords. But the Rank 71¡­¡­since Rank 72 Andromalius was killed, that made this the lowest rank. There were extremely few precedents of a Demon Lord who was as pathetic as this being able to extend their influence out throughout the entire Crescent Alliance. A rising star had appeared for the first time in a genuinely long time. Demon society would always keep an eye on the movements of the Demon Lord armies. Dantalian managed to be quite the hot topic. But there was a problem. ¡°But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Who exactly is Dantalian?¡± There was an abysmal amount of information. Until now, barely anyone cared about the Rank 71. Information on Dantalian was incredibly rare to find. A little truth and mostly lies. There were even rumors added in by conspiracists. The demon world stirred greatly. ¡°ording to what I heard, he¡¯s Her Highness Barbatos¡¯ right-hand man. He isn¡¯t just a subordinate. There are rumors they have a rather close rtionship¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You idiot! Her Highness Barbatos is a lesbian. There¡¯s no way she would take a man in as her lover. More importantly, I heard he¡¯s actually the highest advisor of the ins Faction. He¡¯s basically the brains of the faction.¡± The rumors about the romance between Barbatos, who had kept her virginity for the past 2,000 years, and Dantalian got the demon world even more excited. Barbatos has always been popr among the demons. Not only was she famous for being the most dedicated to demonkind among the Demon Lords, but she received a lot of support from the maniac male fans¨Dand a small number of female fans¨Dwho revered her for being a lesbian and also managing to protect her virginity all this time. It wasn¡¯t umon to find portraits of Barbatos hung up in people¡¯s homes. Has Barbatos finally decided to get together with a man? Rank 8 and Rank 71. A gap far too wide for love to be possible. The romance between these two Demon Lords grabbed the hearts of many. There were people who imed that this was the biggest love story of the era and there were others who were angry and dered that this could not be allowed. ¡°That thieving bastard!¡± ¡°How dare he defile Our Highness Barbatos!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll cut that brat¡¯s dick off.¡± A demon author realized the potential of this situation. He wrote a story titled, . The story was nothing more than a copy of a talemonly heard on the streets but with some slight changes, and yet, it received a lot of poprity. All of the authors in the demon world didn¡¯t have to worry about money for a while by copying . Most demons have a tendency of getting worked up about gossip. Those who wished to look at the situation a little more wisely took a step back from the romance aspect. ¡°There¡¯s no way that a Rank 71 could have that much influence. Think about it. Ever since Dantalian emerged, the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction started to go against each other openly. What do you think this means?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Demon Lord Dantalian is nothing more than a decoy set out by the ins Faction so that the Mountain Faction would focus him?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. The timing is much too precise for it to be a coincidence. Dantalian will most likely get sacrificed in the not-so-distant future. The ins Faction will probably hand him over to let the Mountain Faction keep face. In the end, he¡¯s just a moth.¡± To them, wisdom meant having a different opinion than themon masses. Therefore, they didn¡¯t hesitate when it came toing up with whatever logic they could to support their theory that differed from others. Self-satisfaction was more important to them than the truth, so, to be more exact, they only wanted pieces of the truth that satisfied them. Only a small minority of demons knew the truth. They were people of power. They didn¡¯t have to deduce the truth since they stood in a position that allowed them to obtain the truth directly. People of power knew that Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian had truly taken a key position in the Crescent Alliance. They treated this situation seriously. ¡°It isn¡¯t only with Barbatos, but he is on friendly terms with Beleth and Zepar as well. He has even sworn brotherhood with them. He is apparently treated with the utmost respect within the ins Faction.¡± ¡°He also has Marbas on his side. Hah! How ridiculous.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t only the ins Faction and the Neutral Faction. I previously heard that Gamigin was also interested in him¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No, even Sitri¡­¡­.¡± He was an unprecedented rookie. It would make matters simple if he managed to rise up that fast because of his strength. This was rare, but it has happened before. Even the Great Demon Lord Baal, who currently stands at Rank 1, used to be a low-ranking demon 3,000 years ago. This rookie was different. He didn¡¯t have any strength or substantial wealth. The astounding thing was his political power. His political influence was immense. Dantalian was now able to influence the ins Faction, the Neutral Faction, and unaffiliated Demon Lords. ¡°B-But, even if this is the case, he is still Rank 71. He shouldn¡¯t have that much authority.¡± ¡°Are you an idiot? There is no reason for Dantalian himself to use his authority. He simply has to act as a bridge between the various groups. This alone can flip the Demon Lord army aroundpletely!¡± ¡°His individual strength is pitiful, but his political strength is unimaginably vast¡­¡­. The path of the Demon Lord army may start with Dantalian and end with Dantalian from now on.¡± He was that much of a prominent figure. They had to make connections with him no matter what. The people of power throughout demon society moved hastily; however, once they eventually found out that there was no possible way toe in contact with Dantalian, they screamed. ¡°How is there no one acquainted with Dantalian!?¡± ¡°He debutedst year. It would be weird to be acquainted with him. But to think we wouldn¡¯t be able to find even a single person, this is bad¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Mobilize the information bureau! You ipetent bastards! Set this as your number one priority!¡± The authority figures were tenacious. It was around the middle of summer that they were able to find out that Dantalian had an exclusive contract with the Keuncuska Firm and that a certain low-ranking subus named Lapis Lazuli was in charge of him. If Ivar Lodbrok hadn¡¯t solidified the security of the firm for the past thousands of years, then these people of power would¡¯ve originally obtained this information within a day or two. Thus, ¡°Miss Lazuli! This is a message from the archduke of Kak. Please, if possible, we wish for His Highness Dantalian to participate in this autumn¡¯s harvest festival¡­¡­.¡± ¡°A supporters¡¯ association to apud the Crescent Alliance¡¯s great cause has been created. We wish to invite His Highness Dantalian to an event being held by the supporters¡¯ association. This isn¡¯t much, but we¡¯ve prepared somepensation for Miss Lazuli to pay for the trouble.¡± ¡°The Marquis of Nirabuda wishes for her second daughter to¡­¡­!¡± ¡°No, the Duke of Utp.¡± All sorts of requests and bribes washed over Lapis like a tsunami. After being treated like an outcast all her life for being a half-breed, Lapis¡¯ life flippedpletely around in a single night. The flippant rulers of the Demon World were acting like meekmbs as they approached Lapis. Just a year ago, the authoritative figures wouldn¡¯t dare to look up to a lowly subus, but their proxies were now doing their best to curry favor with Lapis. There were even some who offered to give her the title of baron. Her position had ascended simply by being Dantalian¡¯s close aide. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis felt a thrill. She was a woman of humble birth. She had lived a shabby life. However, she shed blood, sweat, and tears in order for her life to not end that way as well. Her efforts were finally awarded¡­¡­. If this much authority was enough to intoxicate her, then this would probably be the furthest she was going to get. However, Lapis wasn¡¯t that type of person. This was the reason why Dantalian had appointed her as his aide. Lapis first pretended to listen to the requests sent by the people of power. She made sure to take as much of the bribes as she could. They were offering them for free, after all. There was no reason for her to refuse. The people of power poured out all sorts of bribes with the hope that they would be able to meet Dantalian soon. But the day they got to meet Dantalian did not arrive so easily. ¡°Miss Lazuli, did you not promise me a meeting with His Highness Dantalian this month!?¡± ¡°I apologize.¡± Lapis responded with an utterly impassive face. ¡°The Crescent Alliance war is still ongoing. His Highness Dantalian has been spending his days very busily due to the war. He has not gotten an opportunity to visit the demon world.¡± ¡°You said thatst month and the month before that!¡± The expression of the silver wolf who was sent as a proxy by a certain Hell¡¯s archduke contorted greatly. ¡°It is now the beginning of autumn. It is already autumn. When exactly will we be able to meet His Highness Dantalian?¡± ¡°I will set up a ce for you around the middle of September.¡± ¡°Kuh.¡± The silver wolf¡¯s mouth twitched. June was the initial month that this request was made. Before long, the promise was pushed back by 3 months. It wasn¡¯t only one or two groups within the demon world that wanted to meet Dantalian. They were eager to make connections with Dantalian before anyone else, but the subus before them was mocking them. ¡®Only her face is emotionless. I bet her insides are filled with dozens of venomous snakes!¡¯ How dare a lowly half-breed look at a noble silver wolf with disdain. If he could, he would tear her mouth out and eat her neck, but he couldn¡¯t do that. The other party had the knife, after all. The silver wolf swallowed down his anger before speaking. ¡°Understood. September! Without fail! We will meet His Highness no matter what!¡± ¡°Yes. I wish to thank you in His Highness Dantalian¡¯s stead for your patience.¡± Lapis bowed her head. Her movement was so clean and courteous, that the silver wolf had to hold back his murderous intent once more. He took out the golden box that he had prepared beforehand. The gold box was filled with gems. ¡°This a small gift of sincerity that the Archduke wishes to give to His Highness Dantalian.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. His Highness will surely be delighted.¡± Lapis didn¡¯t waver even slightly despite having arge amount of money ced in front of her. She simply received the box. The silver wolf got sick of this subus¡¯ nerve. He inadvertently let out a sigh as he left Lapis¡¯ office. He strangely had a feeling that he wouldn¡¯t be able to meet Dantalian even in September¡­¡­. Lapis saw the silver wolf off before checking the value of the chest. Lapis had been interacting with gems quite frequently recently, so her discerning eye for gems had be quite skilled. Lapis appraised each gem while wearing gloves. ¡°Sapphire, diamond¡­¡­and some gold coins. This is about 2,000 gold.¡± This is a somewhat hefty sum, Lapis nodded to herself. She was in the middle of ying a game of tug of war with the rulers of the demon world. Not only did these rulers wish to meet Dantalian, but they wanted to do so before theirpetitors as well. Lapis utilized this desire of theirs. Her strategy was as follows: I can connect you to Dantalian. However, I cannot do so with empty hands. I will not provide a meeting easily. Hand over your money. The person who gives the most money will be prioritized. You gave 10,000 gold? That is not enough. You brought 20,000 gold this time? That is still not enough. Money, offer more money. In other words, Lapis was treating the people of power within the demon world as racehorses and making thempete. The rulers figured out what Lapis was doing, but they couldn¡¯t do anything about it. They had no other choice but to desperately offer bribes in order to not fall behind theirpetitors. Lapis sealed the box up and took out a piece of parchment from her pocket. She wrote down the value with a quill. ¡°80,000 gold now¡­¡­this should be enough.¡± Throughout the past 3 months, she managed to take a total of 80,000 gold from those influential people! She was collecting all of this money for Dantalian. ¡®This is the time to be making money. This is the most opportune moment to do so since everyone is overestimating His Highness Dantalian.¡¯ Lapis knew very well about Dantalian¡¯s sloppy attitude. Thus, she knew better than anyone else that this was the greatest opportunity since Dantalian¡¯s value had skyrocketed far beyond his true value due to the Crescent Alliance. ¡®Therefore, I have to wring them dry now.¡¯ Lapis¡¯ blue eyes glimmered. Her merchant soul was on fire. Shortly after, the proxy for a different person of power came by her office. It was a dwarf this time. The dwarf shouted boisterously. ¡°Miss Lazuli! Did you not promise a meeting with His Highness Dantalian this month!?¡± ¡°I apologize. His Highness Dantalian had received secret orders from the Crescent Alliance, so he is currently¡­¡­.¡± Lapis thought to herself as she proceeded to skillfully cook the dwarf. ¡®Let¡¯s gather just 20,000 more gold.¡¯ Even as she was making this resolve, Lapis remained utterly calm on the outside. All of the leaders of the demon world shuddered in terror before this low-ranking subus¡¯ wickedness. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. That was some nice world building. I know I said in the previous chapter that this chapter woulde out rather quickly, some personal matter with my editor came up involving his family and he had to take a few days off. Don¡¯t worry, though. The chapter after this will definitelye out fast this time(probably tomorrow). I¡¯ll see you guys then. Chapter 137: Rich Autumn (5) Chapter 137: Rich Autumn (5) * * * In the end, we finished the harvest in one day. I had a casual look around the vige the next day. There was a merry mood flowing around everywhere thanks to the abundant harvest. Laura saw this and gave a satisfied smile. ¡°The people are happy, so that makes this youngdy happy as well.¡± ¡°It is the same for me as well. This is all a part of my wealth, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What a tilted point of view.¡± Laura looked at me with dead eyes. ¡°Did you know? Your Lordship asionally uses foul words deliberately. Hypocrisy receives scorn, but dysphemism is equally deplorable. This hides your sincerity and creates excuses, after all.¡± ¡°Ehem.¡± I twisted my mouth awkwardly. Recently, the number of asions where Laura criticized me had increased exponentially. The timing coincides exactly with when those obscene days started. People say that women nag less when men start to work harder, but why was it the opposite with us¡­¡­? ¡°In any case, Your Lordship, why do you not lend your golems to the farmers?¡± Laura changed the topic. What a spiteful girl! Different from Lapis, Laura¡¯s nagging neversted long. She would give a single cutting remark before changing the topicpletely. This prevented me from giving any sort of retort. ¡°It was proven that golems disy an overwhelming efficiency when ites to farming. If you loan them to the farmers, then the harvest should increase ordingly.¡± ¡°Of course they are efficient.¡± I shrugged.¡± ¡°But they go against fairness.¡± ¡°Fairness?¡± ¡°Yes. Think about it. A certain rich farmer decides to use a lot of money to borrow a golem. Farming will then be surprisingly easier.¡± This much is fine, but what would the other farmers think? Our lord prioritizes people who have money. Whether you have money or not is our lord¡¯s discerning factor¡­¡­. This is how they will take it. ¡°This would be troubling. The power of unity will decrease if you only try to pursue efficiency. This would basically be splitting the people up into two groups. Intentionally weakening the total strength of yournd just to earn a little more money is not something a monarch should do.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Laura tilted her head. ¡°Is the lord¡¯s strength not the strength of his territory? It is the rich farmers who will be of great help to Your Lordship, not the poor ones. Would it not be more beneficial for Your Lordship and the region if you set up a policy that gives those rich farmers a slight edge?¡± That was possible. Excluding republicans, the people of this era believed that domains belonged to lords. Laura seemed to contemte various things rted to her, but she wasn¡¯t interested in things like society and republicanism. Even though she was someone who was supposed to be the chancellor of a society-. I told you there¡¯s a reason why the Kingdom of Brittany falls in . I gave her an answer. ¡°Well, everything is a matter of efficiency. In society, there are those who rule and those who are ruled. There should not be a lot of rulers in this situation. If one person follows one ruler and another person follows a different ruler¡­¡­then it will only appear as if they are united on the outside. However, there will actually be many different societies.¡± There will be a split in public opinion. There can only be one ruler, one Demon Lord Dantalian, in my territory. ¡°Let us say that wealthy farmers are treated better. I can think of several immediate consequences. First, people will think that money is the only way to seed in life.¡± When building reservoirs and ramparts, they will all have to do it together. If an external threat invades, then they have to all stand side by side and risk their lives together. Why should the rich gain more benefits? Loyalty isn¡¯t what is important to our lord. It isn¡¯t dedication either. Isn¡¯t money the most important thing¡­¡­? ¡°In the end, people will be less loyal to me as they desperately try to increase their own wealth. Laura, do you understand? This would be creating two rulers in onend. Two rulers known as Demon Lord Dantalian and ¡®money¡¯.¡± This can¡¯t be allowed to happen. Whether you have a lot of money or not should be a personal matter. You umted a lot of money? Congrattions. Enjoy it. But that will not sway the decisions I make as your ruler. This is because you are only a citizen and I am the sole monarch. ¡°I want to be the absolute ruler. This does not mean that I wish to get involved in everything. I have to be a mountain which the people cannot possibly look over. This will make things convenient for me as well!¡± ¡°Surely.¡± Laura was in awe. ¡°Wealth is not what is important, it is how loyal they are to you and that alone.¡± ¡°I am basically the representation of this territory. It would be fine to also describe this as them showing how dedicated they are to mynd as a whole.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Laura seemed to have inferred something from these words as she fell into deep thought. A few of the women working in the fields noticed us and gave us a wave. I waved back at them with my right hand. They appeared to get excited about something as the olddies abruptly started to giggle. I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I watched them. Once we followed the path and eventually got close enough to the group ofdies, they stopped swinging their sickles and spoke up to us. ¡°Oh, you look so pretty today, Miss Queen!¡± ¡°You two truly look like a match made in heaven whenever we see you two together!¡± Laura seemed surprised as she stammered. ¡°Q-Queen¡­¡­? It is not like that.¡± ¡°Nonsense. You are His Lordship the Demon Lord¡¯s wife, are you not? Then of course you are the queen.¡± The other women agreed. ¡°W-Wife¡­¡­?¡± Laura¡¯s face became red. She waved her hand frantically as she tried to deny this. ¡°This youngdy is just, how should I say it? Not a wife, but a vassal¡­¡­no, should I say that I am His Lordship¡¯s partner¡­¡­? I-In any case, I am not his wife! I am nowhere close to being a queen!¡± ¡°Eeh? We always believed that the miss was the Young Master Demon Lord¡¯s wife.¡± Their gazes focused on me. It looked like they were waiting for an exnation. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura fidgeted as well as she peeked up at me. Her head was lowered as she nced up at me furtively, but she hastily turned away once our eyes met. Oh? There was no reason for me to read her status window. Laura is a 17-year-old girl with a lot of dreams. She was cynical of the world with her particr view of death, but bing someone¡¯s wife must mean a lot to Laura as well. Setting aside whether we actually were a couple or not, we appeared like one to others¡­¡­ This alone was enough to make Laura feel shy. Was she not acting cute like a girl her actual age? ¡°Laura, look here.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± She turned her head. I naturally wrapped my right arm around her waist. I then used my left hand to support the back of her neck. Right when a puzzled look appeared on Laura¡¯s face¨DI kissed her. ¡°¡­¡­Mmb!?¡± Laura¡¯s eyes opened wide in surprise because of the surprise kiss. She kept making sounds as if she wanted to shout something, but it was pointless. I paid her retaliation no mind as I pushed my tongue between her lips. It was a deep kiss. ¡°Oh dear, oh dear!¡± ¡°Kyaaa! Dear me!¡± I could hear the women let out a surprised sound. It was a sound of shock that was also filled with enjoyment. None of them reprimanded me for being shameful. They all cheered as they enjoyed the scene. Laura iled her arms as she tried to struggle. Her green eyes were ferventlyining, clearly embarrassed about doing this in front of others. Sorry girl, but I¡¯m doing this because we¡¯re in front of others. I moved my tongue more energetically. Insert. ¡°Ubb, mm, puah!?¡± Caress. ¡°Uub, ubb, kb¡­¡­uuuum, hua, hb, ub!¡± Suck. ¡°Huaaa, Lord, uub! Hmmmm¡­¡­ah, haa, uuh, ah, hppuah!¡± And intertwine. ¡°Uub, huub¡­¡­mm, hnnnn¡­¡­Lord, ah¡­¡­n-ubbb, hmm, no, uuuuuh¡­¡­!¡± Laura¡¯s knees gave out as she copsed into my chest. Her face was red and she breathed heavily as if she had been deprived of oxygen. I turned to look around while holding Laura with one arm. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The women were no longer squealing. Even the olderdies looked embarrassed as their cheeks were red. They all avoided my gaze and fidgeted. One of the youngdies who appeared to be a maiden was covering her face with both of her hands. I spoke with a smile. ¡°By nature, it is normal for a king to have three or four concubines. This girl is mine. Is there anything more that has to be said?¡± Thedies shook their heads as they gave a meek response. They must¡¯ve been too embarrassed to stay here any longer as they picked up their farming tools and hurried away. They had left their work behind and ran away even though the sun hadn¡¯t set yet. While I was chuckling at the innocence of the farmers, Laura muttered quietly. ¡°L-Lord¡­¡­.¡± She grabbed the chest area of my shirt and looked up at me with moist eyes. Her breath was hot. Oh dear, did I tease her too much¡­¡­? It seems I had flipped a switch. ¡°You want to do it?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s head nodded by exactly 0.1cm. I smiled gently. She¡¯s in her blooming period. I don¡¯t intend to tease her for getting turned on by an intense kiss. It¡¯s my fault, after all. ¡°Please strip.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Laura became wide-eyed. ¡°What are you saying¡­¡­we should go to the house and¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am telling you to strip here.¡± Her face became pale. ¡°B-But we are outside¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Right this instant.¡± I pulled Laura slightly closer with a bright smile still on my face. ¡°I wish to enter Laura right here and now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­N-N-No!¡± Laura pushed at my chest, but there was no strength in her arms so it didn¡¯t do anything. ¡°Beast! Orc! You rutting dog! H-How could you do something like that outside¡­¡­I cannot believe you!¡± ¡°Hah. You were the one who was asking to do it a second ago, but now you are getting upset when I agree? You are contradicting yourself.¡± I hugged her more tightly. ¡°If you are going to act like this, then even the generous and kind me will get upset!¡± ¡°H-Huaah.¡± She was almost on the brink of tears. ¡°You mustn¡¯t, Lord¡­¡­. If you do, then how would this be any different from having intercourse with a beast? Please maintain your dignity as a Demon Lord!¡± ¡°Be it humans or demons, we are all originally animals. It would not be strange to have intercourse like beasts!¡± ¡°That is absolutely wrong¨D!¡± My resolve stayed firm whether Laura despaired or not. I stripped Laura right then and there and did her from behind in the middle of the wheat field. Stalks of wheat were covering the ground, so my knees didn¡¯t hurt. I got overly excited about doing this outside for the first time that we ended up doing it until the sun set. I¡¯ll just say that the glow of the setting sun radiating off of Laura¡¯s bare white skin was incredibly beautiful. Laura was the one to get heated up this time, so it took about a week for us to cool down. Someone most definitely saw us, but who cares? Does it not feel better when someone is watching, is what I thought in my mind. I never uttered these words out loud. * * * Lapis came to see me around the time the entire vige had finished harvesting. I expected her toe around this time, so I was going to wee her happily, but to my surprise, she didn¡¯te empty-handed. ¡°¡­¡­What is this?¡± ¡°These are yours.¡± There was quite literally a mountain of treasure in front of me. Jewelry boxes, chests filled with gold coins, and all sorts of ornaments and weapons that looked expensive. Dear Lord, what is all of this? ¡°This is exactly 103,504 gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis handed me a piece of paper while my mouth was hanging agape. A list of names I had never seen before was written on it. ¡°W-W-What is this?¡± ¡°This is a list of the key figures in the demon world that you must meet.¡± Lapis¡¯ tone sounded as if she was simplymenting about the nice weather. ¡°I know that you have been spending your timefortably. I considered the possibility of you bing bored, so I created work for you to do.¡± This girl? ¡°I¡¯m going to rest a little longer!¡± ¡°How unfortunate.¡± Her tone didn¡¯t sound as if she thought this was unfortunate at all. ¡°I received this 100,000 gold under the pretext of letting them meet you, Sir Dantalian. If you do not wish to meet them, then we have to return all of this¡­¡­. Should we return everything?¡± Lapis asked with an impassive face. A truly viinous girl. I have never met an opponent as formidable as you. *** Author¡¯s afterword Lapis: Little sister, this is how you handle a man who doesn¡¯t work. Laura: (Sparkling eyes) Sis¡­¡­. Dantalian: ¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Like I promised, this chapter came out in only a day. The schedule should return back to normal, although it hasn¡¯t really changed that much to begin with. I honestly can¡¯t tell. Nothing much else to say since this came out pretty fast, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 138: Rich Autumn (6) Chapter 138: Rich Autumn (6) I was able to make 100,000 gold again. Although it can¡¯tpare to the 1,000,000 gold that Sitri had promised to lend me, it was enough to start working on the construction of my dungeon. My ns were pulled ahead of schedule. This was like an initial capital for my business funds¡­¡­. There¡¯s no way I would return this. I have never returned something that was presented to me once. If it¡¯s in my hands, then it¡¯s mine! ¡®But I don¡¯t want to work¡­¡­!¡¯ I have sex if I want to have sex. I mess around if I want to mess around. I farm if I want to farm and if I¡¯m not in the mood for farming, then I leave the work to my monsters. This is quite literally heaven itself. 100,000 gold may be great, but asking me to leave heaven with my own two feet is outrageous. I spoke with the utmost serious tone. ¡°How about taking the money and pretending we don¡¯t know them?¡± Lapis¡¯ eyes became cold. It felt like she was looking at a piece of non-burnable trash. Kuh. It¡¯s impossible, huh? It¡¯s a matter of course. As long as the influential people of the demon world aren¡¯t idiots, they¡¯ll do whatever they can to retaliate. Damn it. ¡°Why did you act on your own without my approval in the first ce?¡± ¡°If I did not act first, then you would have cked off until the very end, Sir Dantalian. You have be a leading member of the ins Faction, so making connections throughout the demon world is unavoidable.¡± Lapis lowered her head. ¡°Sir Dantalian, you can me me all you want; however, I wish for you to listen to my reasoning. You said this to me during the . ¡­¡­It would only be beneficial for you if the enemy chooses to be passive. You can go on the offensive if the other party decides to be defensive.¡± Minerva Operation. It was the n we used to lure in Barbatos and start the 8th Crescent Alliance. I called it by this name when I was devising this plot with Lapis. It was supposed to have the meaning of flying forward while everyone else was sleeping. ¡°Everything truly did carry out as Sir Dantalian wanted. Nheless, what have you been doing recently? Under the pretext of rest, you are spending your days obscenely. You are killing time simply because you have yet to gather enough funding.¡± Lapis pointed directly at me. ¡°The one being passive right now is you, Sir Dantalian. Every nation on the continent is currently fighting desperately. The Demon Lord army and the human forces are fighting in their own way as they engage one another in neck-to-neck battles.¡± I felt a pang in my chest. Lapis continued in a t tone. ¡°The main culprit behind everything is sitting back in his territory and spending his days peacefully. To me, this does not look like peace, but a calm before the storm. Sir Dantalian, you must be aware of this as well, but the humans will be genuinely hostile towards you once the war is over. What exactly are you doing?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I was at a loss for words. I prepared a blueprint for the sake of preparing for the future. I spent my time leisurely for the past few months because I didn¡¯t have enough money yet. Was I really prepared for the future? I gained the trust of my people and strengthened my position as the lord, but was that the best I could do? No. I know the truth better than anyone else. ¡°Stop acting like a child. Your influence is still unimaginably weak, Sir Dantalian. It is so weak that it would fall apart if you did not have Her Highness Barbatos¡¯ trust. Sir Dantalian, you are the one who said that you should be the one to determine your own fate.¡± These were the words I said to Lapis a year ago. I had definitely said this to Lapis when I was trying to convince her to join my side and she was refusing because she believed that a lowly subus would be of no help. ¨C I am the one who will determine how I will live my life, not you, Lapis Lazuli! What am I doing right now despite having shouted those words so confidently? What did I appear like to Lapis? ¡°Nothing is over yet. Sir Dantalian, please stand up by yourself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I became silent. She was right a hundred times over. It has only been a year since I got caught by Riff¡¯s party and almost died. At that time, I trembled in fear as I made the resolve to survive. However, this resolve of mine had be soft after only a single year. Did I get overconfident because my scheme worked? Did I lower my guard because I figured it would be okay to rest a little? How pathetic. ¡°You are right, Lapis.¡± Nothing is over yet. ¡°There is still much left to show those who hold us in disdain and those in power. ¡­¡­Who would have thought that I of all people would forget this. Is this what you would call a tumor of the mind?¡± Lapis raised her right hand to her chest and bowed. ¡°I have gone out of line and reprimanded you. Please punish me.¡± ¡°I would not be here if it were not for you and any future form of myself would not exist either.¡± I forgave Lapis with those words and also thanked her at the same time. Lapis bowed even further. We did not have to talk any more than this. It was silent, but the air around us was heated. Something has begun. No, something will be made to begin. Simr to when I made my decision to use the ck Death and drop the entire continent into hell, this was the same type of atmosphere that was lingering over us. That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve always been the person to start things. Before I knew it, I had drifted away from this and Lapis had brought me back¡­¡­. It seems the number of things to thank her for will continue to increase. A word of gratitude is most likely not what Lapis wants. I know. That¡¯s why I will have to show her my gratitude through my actions from now on. ¡°The leaders of the demon world, was it? They gave me 100,000 gold in order to meet me once. They would probably be disappointed if I do not meet their expectations.¡± I stroked my chin. ¡°Lapis, tell me who gave the most money. Let us contact them in that sequence from most to least.¡± ¡°I knew you would say this.¡± Lapis smiled slightly. The smile was so faint that you wouldn¡¯t have noticed it at all if you weren¡¯t used to seeing her face. Lapis slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out a scroll. ¡°This is a list of those who have invested in an opportunity to meet you. Among the 26 archdukes currently residing in the demon world, 20 of them are on this list. You must meet them first.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Iplimented her finesse. There are 26 Hells in the demon world. The phrase ¡®Hell¡¯ is simply a figure of speech as it¡¯s just another word for the territories. Therefore, the demon world consists of 26 territories. The names of several hells were listed on the piece of parchment that Lapis had given me. She had written the names of the territories that were ruled by the people who invested in me. Ksutra. Raurava. Maharaurava. Tapana. Avici. (TL Note: It took me a while to realize that the names of these hells are a reference to Naraka. In other words, the hells within Buddhism. All of the names will be adjusted ordingly. Inferno Hell = Tapana Poison Hell = Kak) The names of 20 other regions were also listed after these. The people who ruled these hells were referred to as archdukes, and the name of their respective territory would be attached to their titles. For example, the archduke that rules Tapana is referred to as Tapana Archduke. The 72 Demon Lords with bases in the human world and the 26 archdukes that rule the demon world. These are the highest-ranking people that rule demonkind ideologically and substantially. There are several methods to be a Demon Lord. You could either be born as a Demon Lord or live your life normally as a demon before suddenly bing a Demon Lord one day. In other words, it¡¯s fickle. On the other hand, there is only one way to be an archduke. Survival of the fittest. Those with incredible strength be archdukes. Your origin doesn¡¯t matter. Your status doesn¡¯t matter. You can only be an archduke after climbing up the ravine known as endlesspetition. Betrayal, schemes, and alliances aremon urrences in this ravine. There are absolutely rotten individuals like Rank 72 Andromalius among the ranks of the Demon Lords¡­¡­but the archdukes of hell are different. They are capable individuals. They are people who have transcended and know instinctively when to bow their heads and backstab. They have concluded that right now was the time to lower their heads to me. Why? It isn¡¯t because I¡¯m powerful. They most likely believe I¡¯ve risen up as a core member among the Demon Lords like Barbatos, Marbas, Sitri, etc. A key individual like that doesn¡¯t have any connections with an archduke yet. They have to move faster than anyone else to make contact with Dantalian. If they¡¯re able to win me over, then they¡¯ll be able to influence the ins Faction, the Mountain Faction, and the Neutral Faction¡­¡­. Did they think this far? They acted quickly. Lapis had already seen through this. She most likely dragged it out as long as possible to make the archdukes anxious. The archdukes had no other choice but to get pulled around by her despite knowing this. They couldn¡¯t let themselves fall behind the other archdukes, after all. The morepetent of a ruler you are, the warier you are about falling behind yourpetitors. In this case, theirpetence was used against them. They tripped over their own feet. As expected of Lapis. She unquestionably possessed first-ss skills when it came to handling money. Even if you put this skill of hers aside, the fact that she dared to manipte the greatest people of power of the demon world despite her humble birth showed how much guts she had. ¡®This might have also been her way of being considerate of me.¡¯ Lapis wasn¡¯t a foolish workaholic. She believed that one should rest when they had to. Back when I was experiencing a severe case of Demon Lord syndrome, she was the one who rmended me to go on a vacation to Niflheim. She didn¡¯t nag at me even once during that time as she allowed me to rest. However, during that time, Lapis moved in my stead. She allowed me a moment of rest as she prepared for what must be done for the future. She must¡¯ve only arrived today because she concluded that I had gotten enough rest now. Was she not an amazing woman? I slowly read through the scroll before suddenly looking up at Lapis. Her azure eyes were gazing right at me. ¡°Do you have any questions?¡± She didn¡¯t only judge wrong as wrong. She thought extremely realistically. She gave me time to regain my stamina and acted while calcting what she must do to persuade me. It¡¯s because she acted this realistically that she managed to get this far from a low-ranking demon. ¡°No, it is just.¡± I chuckled. ¡°I just felt that it was quite great to have you at my side.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis paused as if thatment had caught her by surprise. That also onlysted for a brief moment. She responded in her usual, t tone. ¡°That is not the only document that you must check. I also researched each respective archduke¡¯s tendency and the rtionships between them. There are archdukes close to the ins Faction and archdukes that are cooperating with the Mountain Faction among them. It would be troubling if you did not have a clear grasp of their political standings as well.¡± ¡°Dear me, I am going to die at this rate.¡± I pretended to moan in agony. Of course, I felt grateful to her on the inside. These were obviously things I had to do myself. I spent the rest of the day looking through the documents. Lapis¡¯ reports only included key points. They didn¡¯t feel like they were written in a way that was showing off how much information she had researched. They were ordered logically and only included the most important bits of information. ¡°This is a bit weird. Even if the Mountain Faction has been a powerhouse until now, there are way too many archdukes that are allied with the Mountain Faction. Is there an exnation to this?¡± ¡°Yes. A majority of the archdukes are skeptical about the idea of conquering the human world, so¡­¡­.¡± Furthermore, she would immediately answer my questions whenever I asked them like this. It would probably be hard for a person to be morepetent than this. Thanks to this, I was able to get a full understanding of the power structure within the demon world in only a single night. Laura dropped by and listened in on our conversation for a bit, but she quickly got bored and went to sleep on the bed. Lapis and I lit candles as we continued this exchange throughout the entire night. ¡°All right.¡± It was around dawn. ¡°This should be enough to execute our n with no issues.¡± ¡°I think so as well.¡± Ah, Lapis smiled faintly again. I wanted to do my best to protect that smile. This thought went through my head. ¡°Then let us go out to meet these archdukes of hell.¡± With a way and means that befits ¡®Dantalian¡¯. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We¡¯re back to scheming bois. Now we get to watch Dantalian mess with people¡¯s heads again. Nothing much else to say. Life is still bncing on a very delicate string, but we¡¯ll see what the future has in store for me. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 139: Irrefusable Offer (1) Chapter 139: Irrefusable Offer (1) The Archduke of Kak had heard a rumor recently. ¡®The man named Dantalian. He is the lowest-ranking Demon Lord at rank 71¡­¡­but he seems to be in high spirits.¡¯ Recently, Dantalian had started to meet the archdukes of hell one by one. There was nothing of interest if this was all you looked at, but the archdukes who met Dantalian became strangely careful afterward. I heard that you met that Dantalian from the rumors. How was he in real life? All of the archdukes remained silent even when they were asked this. They didn¡¯t want to talk about it. They didn¡¯t want to remember it. This was the impression they gave off. True to their name, the archdukes of hell were at the highest of the power structure when it came to ruling demonkind. Despite this, these people didn¡¯t want to talk about it. This wasn¡¯t normal. ¡®Interesting.¡¯ The Archduke of Kak became even more curious as he kept trying to get more information from the other archdukes. Once he did, the other archdukes remained silent for a long time before saying one thing. They didn¡¯t all say the exact same thing, but it could be summarized by this one line: Don¡¯t underestimate him. Honestly, the Archduke of Kak lost interest once he heard this. It wasn¡¯t Dantalian who he had lost interest in. Don¡¯t underestimate him¨Din other words, the other archdukes had underestimated Dantalian at first. ¡®What a bunch of fools.¡¯ Did they lower their guards since his rank was 71? If anything, they should have been even more resilient since he managed to rise to a key position within the Crescent Alliance despite being only rank 71. The other archdukes didn¡¯t even think of this? What a bunch of disappointments. The Kak Archduke thought to himself. I won¡¯t underestimate Dantalian. He definitely has a trick up his sleeves. The Archduke didn¡¯t have a way of figuring out what that trick was at the moment, so he was going to have to keep his guard up as much as possible until he managed to figure it out. Now then, let us see what the other party is capable of. ¡°Let us hold the grandest of balls.¡± The other archdukes most likely shared a private conversation with Dantalian. They were fools. Demon Lords can read the emotions of demons. If you face him alone, then your mental state will be as clear as day to him. You have to prepare as many people as possible. You have to make it so that he cannot focus on your emotions. ¡°Invite all of the noble daughters who have made a name for themselves here in Kak.¡± From tiger people, cat people, deer people, to elves, the Kak Archduke has numerous earls and viscounts under his wing. Out of the daughters of these individuals, he was going to gather those who were rumored to be beauties. He wasn¡¯t expecting Dantalian to be someone who gets swayed by beautiful women, but men are fundamentally weak to women. Beautiful women will be chatting all around him. Will he be able to maintain hisposure in a situation like that? Even if he is, an opening will definitely appear. The Archduke will make use of that opening fully. ¡°Gather the most talented musicians, chefs, and jesters.¡± I will paralyze his sense of hearing, taste, and vision. Every single one of his senses. In the end, the mind is influenced by the body. If your body rxes, then your mind will rx as well. The Kak Archduke spent 5,000 gold preparing this ball. The Archduke personally saw to the preparations. There was no need to mention how the people under the Archduke behaved. Every personnel under the Archduke devoted themselves to setting up the ball as well. All 5,000 gold was used to set up this single trap. The saying about lions putting in their all even when hunting a rabbit was most likely appropriate for this situation. The day of the ball had arrived. The influential demons all throughout Kak gathered. ¡®A meeting to gather the funding necessary for the Crescent Alliance¡¯, was the pretext for the ball, and Demon Lord Dantalian was going to be here as the representative of the Crescent Alliance. ¡°It has been a long time, Your Highness. Have you been doing well?¡± ¡°Oh, Earl Rombach. Thank you foring to this ball.¡± ¡°Your Highness! It is highly fortunate to see that you are healthy.¡± ¡°I cannot help but be jealous as you grow more handsome by each passing day, Viscount Baruch.¡± Tiresome greetings and empty exchanges. As the Kak Archduke watched over the participants who seemed excited by the grand ball, which was an infrequent event, heughed coldly on the inside. They didn¡¯t know the true goal behind this ball. There was most likely an incredibly small number of people who were going to try to look good in front of Dantalian. The demon world and the continent were basically two separate worlds. The Crescent Alliance is practically irrelevant to the aristocrat demons who wish to gain more authority in the demon world. This is what they most likely think¡­¡­. ¡®That is why you guys will stay as earls and viscounts forever.¡¯ How many greetings had he received? Finally, the name he had been waiting for was called out by the doorman. ¡°Rank 71! His Highness Demon Lord Dantalian has arrived!¡± Everyone¡¯s attention focused on the entrance of the ballroom. A man wearing a ck suit was making his entrance. A woman wearing a red dress was escorting him. Pink hair. Was she the subus that was Dantalian¡¯s aide? ¡®To think he woulde here with a low-ss demon.¡¯ The Kak Archduke quickly churned his head. This was a ball for high-ranking individuals. It went againstmon sense and courtesy to bring a lowly subus with no title or ranking as a partner. There must be some sort of motive behind this¡­¡­. The Kak Archduke smiled brightly. ¡°Your Highness Dantalian.¡± He bowed as far as he could in greeting. ¡°It honors me greatly that you would step foot in this one¡¯s humble ball.¡± ¡°It seems I have misunderstood the meaning of the word humble all this time.¡± Dantalian smiled back. ¡°The entrance alone was quite fancy, so I could not help but be awed, Archduke! I am sincerely honored that you would invite me to this asion.¡± ¡°The honor is mine.¡± How should I say it, the Kak Archduke thought to himself. ¡®He¡¯s a lot more normal than I expected.¡¯ He wascking in dignity as a Demon Lord, he looked unreliable, his narrow shoulders gave him an undependable appearance, the way his back bent slightly was unsightly, and it was quite obvious that he wasn¡¯t used to any sort of noble courtesy. ¡­¡­A person like this is the new rising star in the Crescent Alliance? The Kak Archduke snorted in his mind. ¡®I see. So this is why everyone advised me to not underestimate him.¡¯ His appearance was so shabby, that you would automatically start to underestimate him. The other archdukes most likely lowered their guards because of Dantalian¡¯s appearance and wound up getting overwhelmed. It was a pathetic story. Don¡¯t be deceived by outer appearances and be careful about what¡¯s on the inside. Is this not the most basic rule of politics? The Kak Archduke¡¯s eyes had a dark glow. ¡®You will not be able to deceive me, Demon Lord.¡¯ He skillfully managed his expression as he spoke. ¡°Your Highness, please enjoy the ball to your heart¡¯s content.¡± ¡°I thank you for your hospitality.¡± Dantalian smiled slightly. ¡°Let¡¯s have fun, then.¡± * * * 4 hours had passed since the ball had started. The Kak Archduke was lost in his thoughts. He turned to look at a section of the ballroom. Dantalian was thereughing while surrounded by women. The youngdiesughed loudly as if they had just been told some funny joke. ¡®That man¡­¡­is he really that impressive?¡¯ Dantalian had genuinely been enjoying himself for the past 4 hours. He had his first dance with his subus partner before inviting each of the youngdies one by one to dance. His partner kept changing. He didn¡¯t dance with a single partner continuously. He was a man with no principles. ¡®How long does he intend to y around with women!?¡¯ There was a limit to being a lecher. There were multiple influential people currently present here in the ballroom. If you were a normal Demon Lord, then you would be trying to talk with them and not the women. Despite this, Dantalian waspletely engrossed in talking to the women and didn¡¯t approach the influential people of the demon world at all. With how things were, the men were unable to approach Dantalian. He looked as if he was actually enjoying the ball¡­¡­. ¡®No.¡¯ The Kak Archduke shook his head. ¡®That is also a ploy. A strategy to make me lower my guard¡­¡­. I will not be fooled so easily.¡¯ The Kak Archduke waited patiently. He believed that Dantalian would slip away from the women ande his way. 6 hours had passed since the start of the ball and Dantalian hadn¡¯t moved an inch. ¡®Damn it! He isn¡¯t acting!¡¯ The Kak Archduke gnashed his teeth. It was almost time to end the ball. The nobles and the young women were all tired now. There definitely wasn¡¯t enough time for Dantalian to try to pull something now. ¡°Pardon me.¡± In the end, the Kak Archduke had no other choice but to act first. He pardoned himself from the group of nobles he was with and walked towards Dantalian. The youngdies quickly noticed his approach and curtseyed. Dantalian noticed the Kak Archduke a littleter. ¡°Oh. This is truly a splendid ball, Archduke.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. I hope that I am not interfering with anything, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Of course not. Please have a seat.¡± The Archduke smiled. You idiot! Do you think I came here to chat with some greenhorndies? ¡°That is a charming offer, but, Your Highness, there is something that I wish to tell you. If it would not be so rude, I wish to guide you to a more interesting ce¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Is that so? Hm. It cannot be helped then.¡± Dantalian gave a yful nod to the women. ¡°Ladies. It was fun. If you ever happen to find yourself on the continent, then please visit my Demon Lord Castle. I will grant you a wondrous night.¡± The youngdies giggled shyly before saying their farewells to Dantalian. The archduke felt his insides turning as he watched this. He wanted to believe that it wasn¡¯t true, but he started having his doubts about whether Dantalian had brought a subus as a partner for ¡®that¡¯ reason. The Kak Archduke guided Dantalian to a private room. The room was approximately 10 meters wide on all sides. It only had a wooden table and chairs for furniture. The room was sealed with soundproofing magic, so it was perfect for having secret conversations. ¡°I apologize for the humble room.¡± ¡°No. I have also been wanting a break.¡± The two of them sat across from each other. ¡°Your Highness, I believe that we will receive more than 6,000 gold in donations through tonight¡¯s ball.¡± ¡°That is good. I will make good use of the funds that you are all so generously putting together.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Is that it? Does he have nothing more to say to one of the highest authority figures of the demon world? The Kak Archduke couldn¡¯t hold back any longer as he decided to go on the offense. ¡°Your Highness seems rather uninterested in the nobles of the demon world. You spent your entire time with only thedies during the ball¡­¡­haha. Many of the aristocrats around me were saddened by this. They were looking forward to sharing a word with Your Highness.¡± ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± Dantalian responded in an apologetic tone. ¡°But I have no interest in you all. You are all going to die anyway.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me?¡± Dantalian wiped his neck with a handkerchief as he spoke. He was speaking in such a casual tone, that the Kak Archduke unconsciously asked back. Dantalian smiled. ¡°I said that you are all fated to die anyway, Archduke.¡± At that moment, the Kak Archduke felt the air be cold in an instant. It waspletely different from before. His smile was the same. His tone was still calm and rxed. Despite this, the quality of the air around them had changed. The Kak Archduke didn¡¯t have time to be surprised as he managed his face. ¡°Fated to die¡­¡­? Well, demons are indeed fated to eventually die. Even those with long life spans look like mere mortals before Demon Lords.¡± Dantalian grinned. ¡°Are you feigning ignorance or do you truly not know? Well, it does not matter to me.¡± He kept wiping his neck. He didn¡¯t say anything more after that. The Kak Archduke whispered to himself on the inside. ¡®Calm down.¡¯ It¡¯s a bluff. A threat. There¡¯s nothing dangerous here. It has simply been confirmed that Dantalian was indeed acting during the ball. This truth has been revealed. That¡¯s all. ¨DBut what does he mean by being fated to die? ¡°Your Highness, if you are upset at me about something, then please tell me. I will apologize.¡± ¡°Do you know how the Crescent Alliance is currently going, Archduke?¡± A sudden question. The Kak Archduke didn¡¯t panic. ¡°I had the honor of hearing that our Demon Lord army is currently at an advantage. I give you my congrattions.¡± ¡°You are half right and half wrong.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± Dantalian smiled. This time, it was a clear, cold smirk. ¡°The Demon Lord army is winning. However, what do you mean by ¡®our¡¯? What do you mean by this? What are you congratting us for?¡± ¡°I apologize¡­¡­this humble one iscking, so I do not understand what Your Highness is trying to say.¡± ¡°I am saying that the Demon Lord army is not on your side, Archduke.¡± Dantalian glowered at the Kak Archduke briefly. ¡°Do you know where the Demon Lord army will go after they have conquered the continent? The demon world. By conquering the demon world, the Demon Lord army will make it clear that only Demon Lords should be the rulers of the world. Is it not funny for someone who is going to be subjugated first to say ¡®our¡¯?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The Archduke¡¯s heart became stiff. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. There was like a day dy with this one because I had to go to my grandpa¡¯s 88th birthday. My brother couldn¡¯t make it, so I had to go by myself. In any case, this segment (I still don¡¯t know what I should refer to these parts as) is starting off strong with schemes. I already know how it ys out cause of the early ess chapters, so you guys can look forward to see how he cooks these archdukes alive :^). I¡¯ll see you guys in the next release. Chapter 140: Irrefusable Offer (2) Chapter 140: Irrefusable Offer (2) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The other party had finally yed his card. The Kak Archduke knew instinctively that this was the fork in the path that led towards victory or defeat. ¡®The card he¡¯s ying is intimidation.¡¯ The Archduke thought to himself. Intimidations are something that look incredibly threatening from the outside¡­¡­however, in essence, they are nothing more than negotiations. He wants to gain something. He wants to make me give something. ¡®In other words¨Dthey aren¡¯t actually nning to conquer the demon world.¡¯ If he was really nning to conquer the demon world, then there would be no reason for him to go out of his way to threaten me like this. There are two things I have to figure out right now. ¡­¡­Does the other party have the strength to subjugate the demon world? This is the first thing I have to find out. If he doesn¡¯t have the strength to do it, then this is a bluff. A bravado. ¡®And in the very slim chance that he does have the strength to pull this off?¡¯ The chances are slim, but it should still be considered. In this situation, things will be a bit harder to handle. The other party has the strength to conquer the demon world but he hasn¡¯t done it. Why? Because there is something more beneficial than conquering the demon world. What could be more beneficial? What benefit could be greater than the demon world as a whole? This has to be pinpointed¡­¡­. For starters, should I test out whether this is an empty bluff or not? The Kak Archduke disyed a troubled smile. ¡°Haha. Your Highness, you must be teasing this humble one. I am rather weak-willedpared to my position, so I cannot help but be surprised if Your Highness says something like that.¡± ¡°Why would I tease you, Archduke?¡± ¡°Then, are you being serious?¡± Dantalian¡¯s smile vanished. He nodded seriously. ¡°Archduke, there is something that you should know. I never lie.¡± ¡°I apologize, but my humble mind is unable toprehend this.¡± This rookie is rather eloquent, the Kak Archduke thought to himself. This guy is skillfully controlling the atmosphere around them. If a rookie aristocrat were in the archduke¡¯s position, then they would have probably been immediately tricked. However, the person here right now was one of the 26 archdukes of the demon world. A person who reached the peak after surviving the endless battle of the fittest all throughout hell. He has never been tricked or deceived before. The Kak Archduke¡¯s passion as a politician was burning. Most Demon Lords are simply people who got their positions through sheer luck. They have never fought with monsters before. Do you know how terrifying an orc¡¯s fists are? Do you know how scary a lycanthrope¡¯s teeth are? Do you think you can beat someone who was able to survive all of that on a daily basis!? ¨DO weakest Demon Lord, let us fight a swordless battle! The Kak Archduke brought his hands together as he spoke. ¡°Even if the Crescent Alliance currently has an advantage, this is still the initial stage of the war. They have only conquered a portion of the Habsburg Empire. Putting aside half the continent, the Crescent Alliance has yet to conquer even a quarter of the continent. To talk about the subjugation of the demon world now¡­¡­. I apologize again, but this does not seem realistic.¡± The Kak Archduke was certain. Humans and demons are sworn enemies. There¡¯s no way that humans or demons would bow their heads to each other simply because somend was conquered. The humans will revolt heavily. It is overwhelmingly more difficult to bring stability to a region than the act of conquering it. The Crescent Alliance currently has not even conquered anynd. Having an advantage didn¡¯t mean that they could rx. Saying that they would conquer the demon world during this situation would be ridiculous. Dantalian examined the Kak Archduke¡¯s expression before chuckling. ¡°Why does our Demon Lord army have to conquer the entire continent?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Excuse me?¡± The Archduke furrowed his brows. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Oh dear. It seems you are misunderstanding something greatly.¡± Dantalianughed as if he found this to be humorous. ¡°The Demon Lord army is not a single entity. You are also well aware of this fact, are you not, Archduke?¡± ¡°If you are referring to the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction, then this humble one is aware of that as well. Nheless, are you saying that is rted to our current¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am not referring to the factions. Archduke, this is more fundamental than that. There are high-ranking Demon Lords and low-ranking Demon Lords in the Demon Lord army. Is that not so?¡± Dantalian¡¯s gaze looked as if he were testing the archduke. How deeply do you know about this? That was the mood he was giving off. The Kak Archduke had a bad feeling, but he nodded anyway. ¡°We concluded that the reason why the Crescent Alliance has failed for the past 2,000 years was because of the low-ranking Demon Lords. You cannot say that this is unrted to you, the archdukes of hell, right?¡± The archduke froze for a brief moment. Don¡¯t tell me, does this guy? The instincts that the archduke had trained for the past hundreds of years were starting to ring the rm bells in his head. How much does the man in front of him know? Has hee to a hasty conclusion? Is he trying to peer into my mind? If not, then¡­¡­. Dang it, no. Wouldn¡¯t this hand the initiative over to him? The Kak Archduke concentrated on not letting his expression falter. He responded. ¡°I have been unable to follow what Your Highness has been saying since earlier. The reason why the Crescent Alliance failed was because of other Demon Lords?¡± ¡°Oh? Well, fine. You invited me to a luxurious ball today. I will graciously forgive a bit of your rudeness since I managed to see some rather cute youngdies.¡± Dantalian¡¯s tone was filled with enjoyment. ¡°People often say that conquering the human world is the wish of demonkind¡­¡­but demons that do not wish for the human world to be conquered also exist. Can you guess who those people are, Archduke? No. It is fine if you do not answer this. I have a rough understanding of your position, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is the low-ranking Demon Lords and the archdukes of hell.¡± The Kak Archduke felt his sweat building up between his fingers. ¡°If the continent is conquered, then there will be no more human rulers as solely Demon Lords reign as monarchs. However, 72 monarchs is too much. The Demon Lords that had cooperated until now will try to put forward their respective authorities and fight one another. Naturally, only the strong, high-ranking Demon Lords will survive.¡± Do you understand, Dantalian asked. ¡°Low-ranking Demon Lords do not wish for the continent to be conquered. On the contrary, those Demon Lords can only maintain their lives and positions if the human world exists. Well, I am the weakest Demon Lord. There is probably no one more trustworthy than me when ites to this. Although this is something that you already know.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Kak Archduke¡¯s expression became stiff. The other party was currently denying the meaning of Demon Lords himself. By attacking himself, he¡¯s preventing the Archduke from saying anything in retaliation. ¡­¡­What is happening. How am I unable to grab the initiative? The Kak Archduke started to be anxious. ¡°You are being too modest. This humble one knows better than anyone else that Demon Lords have devoted themselves to the Crescent Alliance regardless of their ranks.¡± ¡°Devoted? They devoted themselves?¡± Dantalian chuckled lightly. ¡°Sure. They were definitely devoted.¡± Dantalian then paused for a moment. The silence squeezed the Kak Archduke¡¯s nerves. The Archduke realized that the other party¡¯s speaking ability wasn¡¯t simply at the level of being able to ¡®trick amateurs¡¯. He doesn¡¯t always go on the offensive even if he has the chance to do so. He knows that not attacking is asionally more effective. If Dantalian denied the archduke¡¯s words just now, then the archduke could¡¯ve mentioned the names of the low-ranking Demon Lords who devoted their lives fighting for the Crescent Alliance throughout history. This would have broken Dantalian¡¯s point apart. Or, at the very least, it would have ruined his momentum. However, Dantalian simply acknowledged this in an off-handed manner. ¡°It is true. Even if you only look at the 2nd Crescent Alliance¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you intend to give me a boring lesson on history? You can stop. I only wish to talk about the current Crescent Alliance with you.¡± Like this, the archduke was unable to avert the direction of the conversation. The Kak Archduke¡¯s palms became sweaty. ¡°This is not an issue for only the low-ranking Demon Lords. The archdukes ruling the demon world¡­¡­if the human world is united under the Demon Lords, then this would be a problem for you guys as well. The Demon Lords have stayed in the human world until now under the pretext of conquering the continent. However, what would happen if the humans are wiped out?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Demon Lords will naturally turn their line of sight toward the demon world. Soon after, your rule wille to an end. Am I right?¡± ¡°If Your Highness thinks that way, then¡­¡­.¡± The Archduke shut his mouth slowly. This was the only response he could give. If the Archduke agreed, then he would give space for the Demon Lord to intervene in the affairs of his territory. If he disagreed, then he would bemitting treason against the Demon Lords. He was caught between a rock and a hard ce. This idiom came to the Kak Archduke¡¯s mind. ¡°Both the low-ranking Demon Lords and the influential people of the demon world do not wish for the domination of the human world. It makes sense that the Demon Lord army had struggled this much for the past 2,000 years. It is quite pathetic.¡± Dantalian shrugged. ¡°However, the high-ranking Demon Lords are not idiots, so if the same scenario repeats itself over and over again for 2,000 years, then it is only natural that they would piece things together. They will realize that a group had been acting against the Crescent Alliance in secret.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Well, I will not mention the identity of that group. Not only do I only speak the truth, but I am also magnanimous. My throat is feeling parched.¡± Dantalian took out a sk of water from his person and drank from it. He brought a sk with him even though he knew he wasing to a ball. This meant that he was always cautious of being poisoned. Furthermore, he disyed his sk now of all times. What did this mean? His action showed that he suspected the possibility of the Archduke trying to poison him. He was wordlessly denouncing the archdukes for aggravating the Crescent Alliance¡¯s constant defeat. The Kak Archduke felt the back of his throat be dry. This is a lecherous man? There¡¯s a limit to nonsense. This man is a warrior, a warrior who ces a sword next to his headrest even when he sleeps at home. ¡°That is why we came to a decision. We will push the assault on the human world aside for now. Let us first clean house.¡± After saying that much, Dantalian broke out into augh as if he couldn¡¯t hold it back. ¡°Is this not hrious? Even though we split into factions when faced against humans, ourmon enemy, we joined forces when faced against our fellow Demon Lords and demons. Surely, even the Goddess knows how to make jokes sometimes.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness has been saying ¡®we¡¯ for a while now, but who exactly are you referring to?¡± The Kak Archduke couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity as he decided to ask this. He felt as if this was a question he shouldn¡¯t have asked, but he couldn¡¯t help himself. Dantalian met the Archduke¡¯s eyes directly. The Archduke felt a chill go down his spine. ¡°Baal, Barbatos, Paimon, Marbas, and Gamigin. These are probably the most significant cooperators.¡± The Archduke gasped. This cannot be possible! Are you telling me the Rank 1 Demon Lord, the leaders of the ins Faction, the Mountain Faction, and the Neutral Faction, and the highest-ranking unaffiliated Demon Lord¨Dare you telling me that they are all working together!? This meant that the big shots from each respective group participated in this discussion. In other words, a majority of the high-ranking Demon Lords had formed an alliance! ¡°What? Does this sound unbelievable?¡± Dantalian smiled bitterly. ¡°That is understandable. They fought so desperately until now, after all. But think about it. How angry do you think we were when we found out that the reason we fought so desperately was because of somepletely unrted third-party?¡± The Kak Archduke refused this with all he had in his mind. This is a lie. He has no proof. This is nothing more than a threat. ¡°Do you think that I have no proof?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Dantalian grinned. ¡°You most likely heard about how Paimon lost all of her magic in order to save me half a year ago. The leader of the Mountain Faction sacrificed herself to save a low-ranking Demon Lord of the ins Faction. Have you never thought that that was strange?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Why do you think the factions that worked separately until now had gathered at the Habsburg Empire? In order to keep the Mountain Faction in check? And yet, the Mountain Faction did not receive any sort of punishment. Do you still not understand why Barbatos, the person who despises the Mountain Faction more than anyone else, conceded?¡± Dantalian smirked. ¡°How soft. O Archduke of Kak, you are utterly soft. You do not even know the reason why the Rank 1 Great Demon Lord, Baal, has yet to fully participate in the Crescent Alliance.¡± The Kak Archduke couldn¡¯t hide his anxiety now. What was he talking about? Great Demon Lord Baal should be taking care of the Frankish Empire. He wasn¡¯t going to move until the pathway known as the Habsburg Empire was cleaned up sufficiently. However, if you think about it¡­¡­Francia¡¯s imperial army is currently participating in the battle within Habsburg. It wouldn¡¯t be strange if Baal moved. Was there some sort of motive hidden under this? An intent that even the archdukes of hell failed to notice? Dantalian¡¯s words fell like a bolt of lightning on the panicked Kak Archduke. ¡°It is for the sake of preserving our forces. Our forces to subjugate you¨Dthe archdukes who rule the demon world.¡± The subjugation of the demon world. They have to clean up their inner rooms before they can conquer the continent. Baal was preparing for this sake. It wasn¡¯t only Baal. Once a section of Habsburg is dealt with, the ins Faction, Mountain Faction, Neutral Faction, and the unaffiliated Demon Lords will also participate¨D. ¡®This was not an empty bluff¡­¡­!¡¯ The high-ranking Demon Lords were genuinely preparing to conquer the demon world. ¨C Do not underestimate him. The Kak Archduke finally realized what the other archdukes were warning him about. The other archdukes did not lower their guards. They made the same amount of preparations as he did. And yet, they were still yed with. No, they were hunted. This wasn¡¯t an issue of lowering your guard or not. A predator and a prey¡­¡­the other party had already finished all of their preparations to tear this side apart. Don¡¯t underestimate him. Do not even think for a second that you are on the same level as the other party. This was what the other archdukes were warning him about! The Kak Archduke felt his vision be hazy. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This came out pretty quick and I couldn¡¯t think of anything to say here, so uh, I hope you guys are having a good April. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter? Oh no this might be the shortest TL note. Chapter 141: Irrefusable Offer (3) Chapter 141: Irrefusable Offer (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ ¡°Never in all of history¡­¡­have Demon Lords ever pointed their swords at the demon world.¡± The Kak Archduke could tell that his voice was dry. He poured some wine from the bottle that was on the table in a leisurely manner to make it seem as if Dantalian¡¯s words were just interesting to him. ¡®I am not panicking. This conversation is like a side dish you¡¯d have with some wine.¡¯ This was the impression that he wanted to give. The Archduke was desperate. ¡°Will unrest not settle upon demonkind because of this unprecedented act? This may contrarily cause the chaos to spread to the Crescent Alliance. The n to bring stability to the Crescent Alliance¡¯s rear may end up having the opposite effect.¡± ¡°Oh? You seem rather worried about the Crescent Alliance.¡± Dantalianmented sarcastically. The Kak Archduke¡¯s expression remained unchanged as he bowed his head politely. ¡°This humble one may be lowly, but I am still a member of demonkind.¡± ¡°It does not matter if it bes somewhat chaotic. That is why we will defeat the human army thoroughly for that sake. His Highness Baal¡¯s army is still fully intact. That is more than enough to conquer the demon world.¡± That¡¯s right. Baal¡¯s army is the greatest in the entire world. Baal is also the most revered by demonkind. What would happen if he attacked with a decent pretext¡­¡­for example, the liberation of the demon world? The Kak Archduke took a sip of his wine. This cannot be allowed to happen. The archdukes would undoubtedly lose. Demons have alwaysined about the way the archdukes ruled with an iron fist. The demon world would be overflowing with people cheering the Rank 1 Demon Lord on. Demons are unable to resist Demon Lords in the first ce. Even if they resisted with everything they had, it¡¯s doubtful whether they¡¯d be able tost for a long time or not. At best, they could probably endure for 2 or 3 years. The demon world will be unified under the Demon Lords. The Kak Archduke became more desperate once he thought this far. ¡°Well, do not be too disappointed. We Demon Lords will govern over the demons. Is this not a natural course of action? The demon world should have always belonged to the Demon Lords. We simply left it under the care of you archdukes temporarily. You are simply returning something back to its original owners. If you think of it like this, then there is nothing to feel sad about.¡± Dantalianughed pleasantly. ¡®How dare this weakest being.¡¯ The Kak Archduke¡¯s anger rose. What do you mean by returning something back to its original owner!? The demon world doesn¡¯t belong to anyone. It is nothing more than a deste, barrennd. It was hard to get even 2 or 3 grains of wheat after nting a seed and wells were impossible to create no matter how much you dug. Demons despised their homnd and thus referred to it as hell. The Demon Lords had abandoned thisnd. They put this world behind them. They left for the sake of going to more fertilend. Many demons followed behind them. The monsters currently spread throughout the continent are the descendants of these immigrants. On the other hand, there were those who stayed. They did whatever they could to get ustomed to this hell. It was a survival of the fittest where the winner took everything. This cruel cogwheel spun for an unbearably long time that it almost felt like an eternity. The archdukes were the ones who were able to escape from this cogwheel. Now you want to take the demon world back? It was originally yours so it¡¯s only natural for you to take it back? The Kak Archduke screamed in his mind. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me!¡¯ How dare the people who pointlessly wasted lives in the human world for something idiotic like the Crescent Alliance deny the true owners of the demon world who had devoted their flesh and bones to survive these wastnds? Baal¡¯s army? Fine. Come at us. I¡¯ll dly fall into ruin. But know that we have a couple of tricks up our sleeves. I will curse you all until the end of the world. I¡¯ll turn the entire world into hell¡­¡­. The Kak Archduke prepared for the worst-case scenario in his mind while maintaining his casual demeanor. However, there was something he had to confirm before he began to fight back desperately. It was Dantalian¡¯s goal. The other party genuinely had the power to conquer the demon world. They had a reason to do so as well. Despite this, instead of attacking immediately, Dantalian came here to talk to him, an archduke of hell. Why? The best-case scenario would be if the other party intended to make apromise. The worst-case scenario would be if he only came here to deliver the ultimatum¡­¡­if it was this, then the Archduke would have no other choice but to either fall into ruin or surrender. Dantalian chatted away. ¡°Oh dear. Archduke, the mood has be much too stiff. Rx.¡± ¡°Haha. My apologies. I could not help but be surprised after being met with such unexpected news.¡± ¡°There is not only bad news for you guys.¡± Is this the main part? The Kak Archduke prepared himself. ¡°¡­¡­What does Your Highness mean by that?¡± ¡°Did I not tell you already? As you know very well, the Demon Lord army is split into multiple factions. While there are people who believe that we should show the residents of the demon world their ce, there are those who wish to only give a warning.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The Kak Archduke felt his vision be clearer. There were certainly Demon Lords who favored the demon world considerably. Barbatos would be a prime example of that. Coincidentally, the man in front of him was Barbatos¡¯ close aide. ¡®Is that it? So it was like that!¡¯ The Archduke instantly understood the full story. The high-ranking Demon Lords came to a type of alliance. The reason was simple: to deal with the archdukes who plotted for the Crescent Alliance¡¯s defeat in secret. However, there must have been much debate about how exactly they would deal with these criminals. ¡°What¡­¡­ is Your Highness¡¯ opinion?¡± ¡°Our opinion is rather moderate.¡± Dantalian uttered the word ¡®our¡¯ again. The Archduke could tell that this word was different from the word mentioned before. In other words, this was the opinion of the ins Faction. Barbatos¡¯ opinion. ¡°Would it not be fine as long as you archdukes show proof of your absolute loyalty to the Demon Lords? This is what I think.¡± Dantalian smiled. His eyes were cold. ¡°I believe that you know what this means.¡± ¡°I pray for the Crescent Alliance¡¯s sess and will donate 1,000,000 gold.¡± The Archduke immediately responded. ¡°Not only now, but I will devote myself whenever the opportunity presents itself to assist Your Highness. If it is Your Highness, then I believe that you will undoubtedly handle 1,000,000 gold wisely.¡± The Kak Archduke made sure to emphasize the enunciation of ¡®Your Highness¡¯. I will leave 1,000,000 gold in your hands alone. You can take as much as you want from it as the middleman. I will not get involved. This was what he was implying. Dantalian showed a vague smile. He raised his sk and moistened his lips. The Kak Archduke struggled to figure out what Dantalian¡¯s gesture meant. Was that enough? Or was that not enough? He couldn¡¯t see the bottom of the man before him. ¡°You are just filled with worries, Archduke. We are not here to wring you guys dry of your money. There is no reason for a vassal to pledge their allegiance to their lord every day. Is that not so?¡± Thus, this was going to be thest bribe. The Kak Archduke churned his brain quickly. As expected, the high-ranking Demon Lords are wise. They knew that the effectiveness of threats will diminish the more they pile on top of each other. Even the archdukes of hell couldn¡¯t spit out a massive sum like 1,000,000 gold infinitely. The money they have to offer will quickly be an incredible burden to them. Even if the archdukes are obedient on the outside, they will gradually be filled with grievances. A revolt will happen. They will burst like a dam. ¡®Would it be¡­¡­fine to say that he is genuinely trying to cooperate with us?¡¯ If they truly intended to ughter all of the archdukes, then they would have just kept asking for money. They would have deliberately made the archdukes go past their boiling points. They could¡¯ve invaded the many hells under the pretext of suppressing rebels. Instead of doing that, he asked for them to swear their loyalty once¡­¡­. Dantalian can¡¯t be trusted. Baal can¡¯t be believed either. But if it¡¯s Barbatos, the Kak Archduke thought. If it¡¯s the Demon Lord who has yearned for the domination of the human world all her life, that Demon Lord was trustworthy. She must¡¯ve felt very displeased when the others were debating about bringing stability to the rear and punishing the archdukes. They finally obtained an opportunity to conquer the human world. This isn¡¯t the time to be fighting among ourselves¡­¡­If it¡¯s Demon Lord Barbatos, then there is a good chance that she thinks this. Thus, she dispatched her aide, Dantalian. ¡°I will add an additional 1,000,000 gold.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Dantalian finally smiled broadly. ¡°But Your Highness, 2,000,000 gold is quite arge sum for this humble one as well.¡± ¡°Hm? Do not tell me that you think it would be a shame to hand over that much.¡± ¡°Of course not. However, if there is one thing that this humble one has learned throughout his 400 years of life, then it is the fact that there is nothing wrong with being sure of things.¡± The Kak Archduke lowered his ss of wine. ¡°If Your Highness is satisfied by this humble one¡¯s loyalty, then, if I may dare ask, could Your Highness also show some proof?¡± ¡°In other words, proof that I am truly on Barbatos¡¯ side.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes, Your Highness.¡± The Archduke already lost count of how many times a chill had gone down his spine today. The man before him kept jumping straight to the point. He kept seeing through the archduke as if he could read him like an open book. Rank 71, but the true advisor of the ins Faction. Is this the real Dantalian? ¡°Well, that¡¯s fine.¡± Dantalian readily agreed. He then pulled something out from his pocket and ced it on the table. The Kak Archduke could tell that it was a magic artifact. ¡°This is?¡± ¡°It is an artifact with the Memoria spell cast on it. You can confirm whether this is fake or not. You probably know one or two verification spells.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± The Kak Archduke was not a mage; however, he had many mage subordinates. Among the rings fitted on his right hand, he brought forward the artifact on his ring finger. The Archduke muttered the activation spell. Once he did, a green light came out from the ring. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± There was no response. No magical traces could be found on the Memoria artifact. The Archduke wasn¡¯t sure what sort of recording was on the artifact, but it should be fine to believe in its authenticity. The Kak Archduke ended the spell on his ring. ¡°Pardon me, Your Highness. It has undoubtedly not been tampered with.¡± Dantalian chuckled jokingly. ¡°Are you certain? The contents of the recording are rather stimting. I rmend you confirm it again so that you do not get surprisedter.¡± ¡°Haha. Your Highness is piquing this one¡¯s curiosity.¡± The Kak Archduke smiled. ¡°I appreciate the suggestion, but this is a tool that was created by one of the few Eight Circle mages in the demon world. I do not wish to waste more of Your Highness¡¯ time.¡± ¡°All right, then. Do enjoy yourself.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The Archduke activated the artifact. The artifact started to vibrate. Dantalian spoke up right before the recording was about to start ying. ¡°Do not say that I did not warn you.¡± A video started to y in the private room. The Kak Archduke readied himself as he wondered what the recording could possibly be to make Dantalian warn him this much. Finally, the first sound came out from the video. ¨C Ah, hkkk! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Kak Archduke¡¯s expression fell apart unintentionally. Theposure he was able to maintain before Dantalian all this time broke apart powerlessly in this single moment. It¡¯s only natural. ¨C Hkk! Stop! No! Please, hkk! Stop¡­¡­! ¨C Shut up, you dirty sow. When did I allow you to say words? Pigs should oink like a pig should. The recording contained a sex scene, after all. The Archduke panicked as he turned to look at Dantalian. ¡°Y-Your Highness, what is this?¡± ¡°Be quiet.¡± Dantalian¡¯s face looked extremely cold. I¡¯m not joking, so pay attention. This was what his expression was saying. The Kak Archduke quickly came back to his senses. That¡¯s right. There¡¯s no way that Dantalian would ridicule him aftering this far. This recording must contain some sort of meaning. What was it? The moaning from the artifact bothered him, but the Kak Archduke did his best to concentrate on the video. ¨C Oink¡­¡­oink, ooink¡­¡­. ¨C Good. That¡¯s it, you dirty sow! You¡¯re the lowliest and most worthless meat ve in the world. Do you understand, you sow? You¡¯re nothing more than a piece of meat that was born to roll around on the ground. The Kak Archduke immediately realized something shocking. The image of a man and a girl was being disyed in the video. The identity of the man was the person right in front of him, Dantalian. He was acting like a tyrant as he reigned over the girl. Lick my toes, masturbate, and call yourself a sow. He kept making unreasonable demands. And the girl¨D. ¨C All right. What am I, you dirty sow? Even you, a pig with a gaping bottom hole, should have a mouth of your own. Try saying it with that obscene tongue of yours. What am I to you? ¨C Master¡­¡­Dantalian is, hhk, the master of this sow, Barbatos. It was the Rank 8 Demon Lord and the leader of the ins Faction, Barbatos. *** Author¡¯s Afterword That¡¯s how the two of them y. It¡¯s incredibly warm and cozy. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The adult video has a different purpose here, huh. Well, I guess it¡¯s sort of the same purpose since the video is being used to convince someone. In the LN it was Marbas, but it¡¯s the archdukes here. In any case, I still can¡¯t remember what I wanted to say before, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 142: Irrefusable Offer (4) Chapter 142: Irrefusable Offer (4) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Kak Archduke became silent. Different from an old person¡¯s white hair, her hair had a vibrant sheen. Her skin was as white as her hair and she had a small body. The girl in the video was undoubtedly Demon Lord Barbatos; however, the expression she was making waspletely different from the Barbatos that the Kak Archduke remembered. Humiliation and submission, but also a look of pleasure that she couldn¡¯t suppress because of the powerlessness she felt towards herself¡­¡­. It was none other than Barbatos, the Demon Lord who always looked confident, that was currently submitting to the humiliation. Moans kept leaking out from the gap between her small lips. ¡®Master?¡¯ The Kak Archduke gulped. He carefully turned to look at Dantalian whose face looked impassive. ¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­it¡¯s Dantalian who¡¯s on top in their rtionship and not Barbatos?¡¯ The Kak Archduke has also lived for hundreds of years. His knowledge was broad when it came to sexual acts. Who takes the role of master and ve during special roley sessions like this isn¡¯t rted to one¡¯s actual rtionship. Even if someone acts like a ve when roleying, it is more than possible for them to actually be in a much higher position than their partner. ¡®But, if he upies a higher position during intercourse¡­¡­.¡¯ Barbatos and Dantalian are most likely on equal grounds. A great amount of trust must be rooted deeply between the two of them. ¡°Your Highness, I think I have seen enough.¡± ¡°No, this is not enough. Continue watching.¡± Is something else going to happen? The Kak Archduke could feel droplets of sweat fall down his back. He waspletely caught up in Dantalian¡¯s pace. However, he couldn¡¯t find an opportunity to break away. Shortly after, the sexual session between the two ended in the recording. The two of themid down on the bed. No, would it be right to say theyid down? Barbatos appeared to still be in the afterglow as she was faced down on the bed. Her fragile shoulders moved up and down each time she breathed. ¨C Barbatos. ¨C Huh¡­¡­? ¨C About your Death Scythe. What sort of weapon is it exactly? Barbatos muttered in an incredibly exhausted tone. The Kak Archduke¡¯s guess was confirmed. The Rank 8 Demon Lord and the Rank 71 Demon Lord spoke to each other informally. Even though one side was the leader of a faction and the other side was the lowest-ranking Demon Lord in that very faction. The two Demon Lords were equal¡­¡­or, at the very least, the two of them thought so. ¨C It messes up the mana of those it cuts through and artificially creates mana refluxes. ¨C My God. Like what happened to Paimon? That¡¯s overpowered. ¨C Well, if it¡¯s a mage who¡¯s as talented as that slut or a swordsman, then it won¡¯t be as effective to them. Uugh. Hey, you fucker. Today was way too foul. Even I don¡¯t want to bathe in your piss, you know? Fuck.¡± Piss? What kind of nonsense was that supposed to mean? The Kak Archduke turned to gaze at Dantalian. Dantalian grinned broadly. ¡°We did something like that before this Memoria recording. I was uncertain how broadminded you might be when it came to these sort of things, after all. So I excluded that part.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It seems this recording was only a tiny glimpse at their perversion as a whole¡­¡­. The Kak Archduke turned his head. He had yet topletely submit to Dantalian, but, at the very least, the Kak Archduke couldn¡¯t help but start to feel respect as a fellow man in this regard. ¨C Your upper hole may be saying that, but I don¡¯t know. ¨C Shut up. ¨C Understood. Barbatos growled; however, her voice was so weak that she sounded like a crying kitten to the Archduke. Most importantly, the corners of Barbatos¡¯ eyes were still moist. Something about her state stimted a man¡¯s inner sadism. ¨C Do other Demon Lords have something overpowered like your scythe? ¨C Hm, I think you¡¯re misunderstanding something. My Death Scythe isn¡¯t an object that¡¯s separate from me. It¡¯s the physical manifestation of my powers. I have the power to ¡®cut souls¡¯, so I¡¯m able to summon my scythe. Barbatos raised her right hand. ck mana gathered at her palm before a battle scythe appeared out of nowhere. ¨C It¡¯s a bit hard to exin, but, guh. It¡¯s like a sense? Different from utterly weak people like you, you get something like a sixth sense when you¡¯re as great as me. ¨C Sorry for being utterly weak. ¨C In any case, I¡¯m expanding that sixth sense of mine. It¡¯s hard to exin it any better than this. It¡¯s probably the same for the others. Every well-off Demon Lord has their own respective sixth sense¡­¡­. The recording ended there. The Kak Archduke now understood why Dantalian told him to keep watching. It lowered the chances of the Memoria artifact being fake even further. There was a chance that the girl in the recording could¡¯ve been a phony. Someone could¡¯ve used a polymorph spell to disguise themselves as Barbatos. However, the Death Scythe that appeared at the end of the video obliterated those chancespletely. The Kak Archduke was in awe of Dantalian¡¯s negotiation agility. ¡®He¡¯s thorough.¡¯ A magic circle is drawn for every spell that is cast. It¡¯s the same for even chantless spells. Despite this, no magic circles appeared when the girl in the recording brought out her scythe. A scythe appeared even though she didn¡¯t use summoning magic¡­¡­this was proof that she was the real Demon Lord. The Kak Archduke was now certain that the Memoria artifact waspletely genuine. ¡°Well, I am a little embarrassed since it feels like I have shown you something obscene.¡± ¡°I apologize since it seems like I peeked into a secret moment between Your Highness and Her Highness Barbatos.¡± ¡°There is no ¡®seems¡¯ as you have indeed peeked into it.¡± Dantalian showed a gentle smile. ¡°It will be a good idea to keep your mouth in check from now on. It does not matter to me, but if Barbatos were to find out that you went around talking about the contents of this Memoria, then¡­¡­who knows what could happen.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I trust that you understand this.¡± A direct threat. Take the contents of the recording with you to the grave. If you don¡¯t, then you¡¯ll be forced into an early grave. This was what Dantalian¡¯s gaze was saying. ¡°Of course.¡± The Kak Archduke intended to do just that even if Dantalian didn¡¯t threaten him. It was only natural. Who could he possibly talk to about this? The high-ranking Demon Lords of the Crescent Alliance had formed an alliance and were eagerly seeking out an opportunity to take over the many hells. However, among those Demon Lords, Barbatos was the only one on their side. If the Kak Archduke went around talking about what he saw in the Memoria artifact, then he would be cutting his own lifeline himself. Dantalian and the Kak Archduke had be aplices. ¡°Good. Have I shown you enough proof now?¡± ¡°Your Highness has shown enough that it would be impossible to be any more certain than this. Your Highness, please forgive this humble one for daring to have any doubts.¡± ¡°Did I not tell you earlier? I will forgive you since you held such a splendid ball.¡± Dantalian stuck his right hand out. The Archduke received Dantalian¡¯s right hand with both of his hands. The ball was over. A majority of guests had already left by the time the Demon Lord and the Archduke came out from the private room. A few of the youngdies seemed to have been waiting for the Demon Lord as they weed him with a smile once he appeared. The demon world was a lot more openpared to the human world when it came to sexual matters. Enjoying one¡¯s own time with a good man was of little issue to women, especially if the man had a position much higher than theirs. Whether the youngdies had really taken a liking to Dantalian or had some ulterior motives, they intended to spend the night with him. ¡°I apologize.¡± Dantalian gave them a clear refusal. ¡°It is unfortunate, but I have neglected my partner far too much today. If I decided to do so even for the night, then I am afraid of what will befall meter.¡± ¡°By your partner¡­¡­is Your Highness referring to that subus?¡± One of thedies furrowed her brows and pouted. The woman named Lapis whom Dantalian had brought was standing at a corner of the ballroom drinking wine. Her other hand was holding a thick book. She was reading in the middle of an archduke¡¯s ball. She didn¡¯t pay attention to Dantalian even though he had reappeared as she waspletely immersed in reading. ¡°It is not Demon Lord-like to be concerned about such a woman! If anything, I-.¡± ¡°Miss.¡± Dantalian spoke. His eyes were stern. ¡°I will not stand idly by as you insult my partner.¡± The atmosphere became cold. The youngdy who had justined was the daughter of a noble tiger beastman. They were one of the noblest bloodlines in the demon world. Dantalian had just dered that a mere subus was more important to him than her. ¡°I-I apologize.¡± The youngdy immediately bowed. Her face was red with shame. The Kak Archduke mentally clicked his tongue as he watched this from behind. That girl was most likely ordered by her father to do whatever she could to get close to Dantalian. In other words, for a political reason. The young miss had carried out her father¡¯s order faithfully. She fawned over Dantalian for 4 hours since the start of the ball. She was probably disappointed by Dantalian¡¯s shabby outer appearance, but she didn¡¯t let her disappointment show. She understood Dantalian¡¯s political significance. Thus, even if it was rather impolite, she did her best to approach Dantalian. She was splendid and impressive. She possessed the wisdom and bravery necessary for a noble of the demon world. ¡®But you met the wrong opponent.¡¯ The Kak Archduke was certain of this now. Dantalian wasn¡¯t a lecher. He only acted like one for the sake of luring the archduke out. Unfortunately, the young miss got caught up in Dantalian¡¯s act. It wasn¡¯t only her, but the 4 other youngdies who had been waiting as well¡­¡­. But, the Kak Archduke couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Dantalian had rebuked her much too harshly. He should have been able to refuse her a little more politely. And yet, why did he choose to refuse her so harshly to the point of being almost ridiculing? ¡°¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, Dantalian nced at the Kak Archduke. The Archduke nodded. ¡®I see. He is telling me to respect that subus.¡¯ It was for the sake of sending the Archduke a signal. From this point on, the Archduke was going to have to send 2,000,000 gold to Dantalian throughout the period of the next 6 months. During this period, that very low-ranking subus, Lapis Lazuli, was going to be acting as the clerk. The Kak Archduke was going to only be meeting Lapis from now on since he was no longer going to be able to meet Dantalian personally. By rebuking the youngdy, Dantalian was implicitly sending the Archduke a warning. Do not look down on her just because her standing is low. She has my utmost trust. If you disregard her, then you will incur my wrath. At this point, the Kak Archduke wanted to let out a strainedugh. ¨DIsn¡¯t this guy way too thorough? He has no openings whatsoever. Every action he made and every word he spoke was dyed in political intrigue. He didn¡¯t try to simply obtain aplete victory. He only wanted to win moderately. He saw through the Archdukepletely and told him exactly how he should act. It was like this before as well. Instead of paying taxes regrly, he requested for only a single payment. He made the Archduke an aplice while also showing him proof. And finally, Dantalian made it clear how much he trusted the subus. ¡®Being earnest when interacting with the subus would be the same thing as being earnest to Dantalian.¡¯ He was telling the Kak Archduke how he should behave from now on. Even if they have be aplices, if they are unable to meet face to face, then their trust would quickly dissipate. However, Dantalian established the subus as his representative. Treat her well. As long as you are able to do this, our rtionship shall remain firm¡­¡­. ¡®It makes me not want to defy him when I know that he¡¯s this calcting.¡¯ The Kak Archduke saw Dantalian off. He kept watching the carriage carrying Dantalian until itpletely disappeared from his sight. It wasn¡¯t until then that the Archduke could finally rx and return to his abode. On his way back, the Archduke noticed a young girl get on a carriage. It was the girl who was ridiculed by Dantalian. The Archduke felt interested so he approached the young girl. The girl looked at him in surprise. She seemed greatly honored to be able to even see the Kak Archduke¡¯s face as she bowed. ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°Ah, there is no need for pleasantries. Who is your father?¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± The youngdy abruptly got down on the floor. She didn¡¯t seem to mind the dirt getting on her beautiful dress. ¡°If this youngdy hasmitted a sin, then please only take this youngdy¡¯s life! It was this youngdy¡¯s fault, this youngdy¡¯s father and family have done no wrong.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The Archduke felt satisfied. He thought that there were only trashy people among the nobles, but he managed to discover a useful household. If they were able to raise a daughter like this, then the father must undoubtedly bepetent as well. ¡°Put your worries aside. I am here topliment you.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°His Highness Dantalian is not like your usual person. I can only be pleased to know that someone under my wing was able to notice his true nature even slightly.¡± ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± The youngdy was moved. ¡°That is great praise to both me and my household. This youngdy is the second daughter of Earl Gerinheight.¡± ¡°I see. Gerinheight had a second daughter? Tell him to visit me when he has the time. Also, tell him that he has given birth to quite the splendid daughter.¡± The youngdy got on her knees once more as she showed her gratitude. The Kak Archduke felt satisfied as he resumed back to his home. He thought to himself as he walked through the night path. Dantalian was definitely a powerful opponent. It was undoubtedly hisplete defeat. However, this didn¡¯t mean that he or the demon world was weak. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate him, huh?¡± The Archduke chuckled. He quite literally couldn¡¯t underestimate him. ¡®¡­¡­Moreover, his lower tool was also quite immense.¡¯ The Kak Archduke recalled the recording from the Memoria artifact. As he expected, does one have to be that impressive down there in order to defeat a Demon Lord like Barbatos? He really couldn¡¯t be underestimated¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t really have anything in particr to say about the chapter, but on apletely different note, an official trantion of Handholding might being out soon. I¡¯ve been working together with Meteor Strike Media to get it released and I think it should be fine for me to mention it here since they announced it in their Discord server. I¡¯m not sure what will happen with the trantions that¡¯s up on my site yet, but I¡¯ll probably have a discussion with them about it sooner orter. It¡¯d be sad to take them down, but hey, the official trantion was also done by me, so it¡¯s more like swapping my old trantions out with more refined ones (Although they¡¯ll have a price tag). Welp, I¡¯ll say more when I have more info. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 143: Irrefusable Offer (5) Chapter 143: Irrefusable Offer (5) * * * On my way back from the ball. ¡°Kuhuhu.¡± I had been chuckling to myself ever since I boarded the carriage. Lapis stared at me from the carriage seat opposite of mine. Was her dress ufortable? Lapis kept fumbling with the edge of her dress around her cleavage area. ¡°What is so funny?¡± ¡°Well, the face that guy made when I turned the Memoria on. He was acting like a proper gentleman up to that point, but his expression crumbled apart in a matter of seconds.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis looked at me in silent disgust. I disregarded her as I concentrated on counting my fingers. Let¡¯s see. Barbatos had bbed to about 15 other female Demon Lords about our ¡®acts¡¯. I¡¯ve met 17 archdukes of hell so far, and among them, I showed the recording on the Memoria artifact to 7 of them, so¡­¡­. ¡°I have to leak this video to exactly 8 more people.¡± I chuckled. The sound of myughter sounded sinister to even my ears. Oh well. Demon Lords are supposed to be wicked. In that regard, you probably can¡¯t find a Demon Lord as sincere and reliable as me. The symbol of sincerity and trustworthiness, Dantalian. Being praised by everyone would probably not be enough to show how great I am. ¡°Getting an equal amount of payback. No matter how you look at it, I am very conscientious.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Excuse me?¡± Lapis was perplexed. ¡°That was rude of me. I almost thought that I heard the word conscientious¡­¡­but from my knowledge, there is no one in the world who is further away from the word conscientious than Your Highness. I must have misheard.¡± ¡°No, you heard right. Think about it! I could easily get more payback than what was done to me, but I am not doing too little or too much as I get an equal amount of payback.¡± I was such an inspirational figure that I thought I was going to fall for myself because of my own evenhandedness. ¡°A righteous executor, a wise judge, and an honest partner. These are the bare minimum titles necessary to describe my character. Although they are actually stillcking, so people would have to invent a new title entirely.¡± A wave of sadness hit me while I was feeling awed. I was like a person who had witnessed something unimaginably beautiful, but wasmenting due to the limitation of words as a word to describe that beauty did not exist. I nodded with mixed feelings on my face. ¡°But that is life. You cannot express yourself even if you want to. No matter how many times you try, you cannot express yourselfpletely. This frustration of endless defiance and titudes¡­¡­. I have be the embodiment of a greatness that cannot be described by people. What a tragedy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis stared at me silently. How should I put it? Her face looked like a cocktail of confusion and annoyance. She pped the cor of her dress as if she felt incredibly stifled. I put my hand on the window of the carriage before asking her. ¡°Is it stuffy in here for you? Should I open the window?¡± ¡°If you are going to jump out of that window, then please, Sir Dantalian. Please do.¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t really want to do that.¡± Lapis let out a sigh. She muttered something to herself. I couldn¡¯t hear her properly, but it was something along the lines of not being this bad in the past and not knowing when someone had be so brazen. In other words, it didn¡¯t make sense to me at all. I should stop joking around now. I took out a piece of paper from my sleeve. I wrote down ¡®Kak Archduke, 2,000,000, 6 months¡¯ on it in Korean. The names of the other archdukes who had promised to send their support were also listed on the piece of paper. ¡°We have now been promised 10 million gold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­So we have reached our initial goal.¡± Lapis¡¯ face instantly became serious the instant money was mentioned. Lapis didn¡¯t let herself get swept up by the mood. She was clear-cut when she had to be. ¡°Do you intend to ask the archdukes for their aid from now on?¡± ¡°Our n has been working rather well, after all.¡± I had been using only lies to threaten the archdukes. The high-ranking Demon Lords had formed a secret alliance, they agreed to take care of the demon world first before conquering the human world, and Barbatos objected to this¡­¡­these were all lies. There was no way that something like an alliance could have formed. I made it seem like the Crescent Alliance was in a state where the impossible would be possible. Why did the legions gather in a single spot? Why did the ins Faction overlook the Mountain Faction¡¯s transgressions? Why¡­¡­? The current situation was outside the archdukes¡¯ expectations. The more sensitive you are towards information, the more desperate you would be to try and figure out the truth. I tossed them a usible answer while they were in this desperate state. I told them that this was a skirmish to get rid of the archdukes. ¡°I am d that the archdukes arepetent.¡± ¡°You are d? Would it not be a problem if the opposing party ispetent?¡± ¡°Well, normally it would be; however, that is not the case in this situation. It is because of the archdukes¡¯petency that they tripped over their own feet.¡± They know how things are proceeding, but they do not know the ¡®why¡¯. In cases like this,petent people tend to analyze these situations from a pessimistic perspective instead of an optimistic one. They think skeptically. This was simr to a match of go. Let¡¯s say that two professionals were to face off and one side does apletely unexpected move. What would the other professional think? There must be some hidden meaning behind this move. I can¡¯t lower my guard. I might pay dearly if I am careless. Let¡¯s be careful. ¡°If the archdukes were ipetent, then they would have brazenly challenged us in return. My scheme would have been entirely pointless. It is fortunate that the archdukes werepetent.¡± ¡°One¡¯spetence can asionally bite you back.¡± Lapis muttered to herself absentmindedly. She had worked all her life to bepetent. Something I said must have resonated with her. Beingpetent is not enough. You have to also trust yourself. The world revolves around you. I will make this happen. You need to have this kind of confidence. The high-ranking Demon Lords formed an alliance and are going to invade? Nonsense! You have to asionally have the strength to exim this. I chuckled lightly to myself. ¡®Although I can never be that kind of person.¡¯ Unfortunately, I was closer to being like the archdukes. I doubted everything. I was able to predict how the archdukes would act because I was simr to them. This was as far as my schemes went. The title of hero fitted people like Imperial Princess Elizabeth. She was bothpetent and broad-minded. She was quite literally a shining talent. I¡¯m jealous, but I won¡¯t lose. There are other things that those who doubt everything can do. Even the lowliest of ves can stab a dagger into an emperor¡¯s heart. ¡°Sir Dantalian, there is something that I wish to ask.¡± ¡°Ask me anything. I will tell you anything except for the color of my underwear.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I already know that Sir Dantalian never wears any underwear.¡± What? ¡°H-How did you know that?¡± ¡°Who do you think has been preparing your clothes up to this point? The clothes you have on right now; in other words, your mantle, your pants, and your vest, those were all prepared by me. Underwear was the one and only thing that you did not ask for.¡± Lapis nced at me with genuinely scornful eyes. ¡°Naturally, I am aware that Demon Lords innately have a low metabolism. There are many days where you do not shed a single drop of sweat. Nheless, not ordering even a single article of underwear is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am sorry. Please ask me the question.¡± I lowered my head. I should¡¯ve just taken the question instead of trying to throw out a joke. I only ended up taking a huge hit instead. The refutation that I didn¡¯t allow the Kak Archduke to even make was done by Lapis almost as naturally as she breathed. Is she not terrifying? ¡°You have currently met 17 archdukes.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°However, you only asked for aid from 6 of them. I do not understand this. Would it not have been better to receive aid from all 17 archdukes?¡± ¡°No.¡± I gave an immediate response. ¡°Lapis, you are saying that it would be better to have received a million or two million gold from all 17 archdukes respectively, correct?¡± ¡°Yes. You are only receiving aid from 6 of them, and yet you have already been promised ten million gold. Who knows how much more you would have gotten if you asked for aid from all 17 of those archdukes¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± I inadvertently let out augh. ¡°It was for the sake of raising awareness.¡± ¡°Awareness¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That is right. The archdukes are not idiots. They are sending between a million and two million gold. There is no way that they would not do any sort of research when they have to send such arge sum of money.¡± The archdukes will utilize their informationworks for the sake of confirming whether what I told them was true or not. They will first try to reach out to the other archdukes around them. They will then realize that there were those who had promised to send Dantalian money¨Dand there were those who weren¡¯t even told to offer any money. ¡°Do you understand what this means?¡± ¡°I apologize.¡± Oh dear, it seems Lapis isn¡¯t very knowledgeable when ites to this. She is extremely talented when ites to financial matters, but she¡¯s weak when ites to genuine games of authority. Should I give her a hint? ¡°Think about what the archdukes would think their support would mean here. Those guys will definitely start to believe that the people who have invested arge sum of money will have their ¡®safety¡¯ guaranteed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Lapis¡¯ eyes widened. It seems she figured it out. ¡°To make them think that you had cherry-picked them¡­¡­?¡± I nodded. ¡°The high-ranking Demon Lords did not ask for the loyalty of every archduke. They requested for the fidelity of only a small minority of archdukes. If this is the case, what will happen to the archdukes that weren¡¯t asked to offer their support? Why did they only receive money from certain archdukes and not even mention it at all to the other archdukes¡­¡­?¡± A smile danced on my lips. ¡°Can you imagine what the archdukes who had promised to send money will think?¡± ¡°You are setting an example¡­¡­is it?¡± Lapis barely managed to utter those words. Bingo. ¡°The Demon Lords have not fully relinquished the idea of conquering the demon world. They simply separated the loyal subjects from the disloyal ones. Dantalian was not a tax collector who was dispatched to gather money. He was actually an envoy whose goal was to select which archdukes to spare and which archdukes to kill¡­¡­. This is what the archdukes will think.¡± They will then shudder in terror. They will realize that they had unwittingly managed to escape from being purged. ¡°The backs of their necks will probably go cold once they realize this.¡± I chuckled. It was impossible to hold back augh after picturing their reactions. ¡°That is why I put in a bit of effort. I deliberately excluded the archdukes who were openly hostile towards Demon Lords. I simply threatened them a bit and ended the conversation after some small talk. I only received money from those who were docile towards Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Was this perhaps why you hired spies to gather information throughout the demon world for the past month?¡± ¡°It was for the sake of looking into the usual behavior of those archdukes.¡± As a result, I found out that only 9 archdukes were rtively respectful to Demon Lords. The rest of them were all uncooperative. No, to be more exact, they were uncooperative with the Crescent Alliance. Some of them were even offering their financial aid to low-ranking Demon Lords. There was a reason why the Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction seemed high-spirited. They were so brazen that it almost made me speechless. ¡°Well, that was not my only goal. The other archdukes will soon¨D.¡± It was at that moment. The sound of arge explosion boomed in front of our carriage. The tremor shook the carriage before it immediately lost its bnce and tipped over. Lapis quickly got up and covered me. ¡°Sir Dantalian, please lower your head.¡± I didn¡¯t have the opportunity to even say something in response. Lapis held my head as close to her chest as possible before deliberately getting on the floor of the carriage. Shortly after, another explosion rang out. It happened right next to our carriage this time. I instinctively knew what was happening while I was being held by Lapis. ¡®It¡¯s a terrorist attack!¡¯ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, I¡¯ve been releasing pretty fast and regrlytely, so I don¡¯t have much to say. I guess I¡¯m sort of looking for something to do in my free time. I¡¯ve gotten to the point that I¡¯ve started to y League of Legends again. This is terrible. Maybe I¡¯ll resub to FFXIV. I don¡¯t know. This just feels like a series of short, random thoughts. I¡¯ll stop here before I go insane. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter! Chapter 144: Irrefusable Offer (6) Chapter 144: Irrefusable Offer (6) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The carriage fell over. Lapis and I bounced around like baggage. The coachman that was driving the carriage let out a cry; however, he must have been unable to endure the shock as his voice flew off into the distance. ¨C Screeek! The carriage scraped against the road as it slid on its side. Our bodies flipped over as we collided against the wall of the carriage. It must have been thanks to Lapis, but the impact was not that intense for me. However, this meant that Lapis¡¯ slender back took the entire shock. She let out a short cry. ¡°Lapis!¡± Damn it! I hastily lifted myself up and pulled Lapis into my arms. She wasn¡¯t severely injured, was she? ¡°Sir, Dantalian.¡± Lapis¡¯ face was contorted in pain. Her eyes, however, were extremely clear. ¡®Do not worry about me. There is something more important you should be worried about¡¯, this was what they were saying. Her gaze was surprisingly cold. I could feel my heart quickly calm down. I helped her up. We had to get out of the carriage as soon as possible. I didn¡¯t know who was attacking us, but they were aiming for our carriage. I kicked open the carriage door. Lapis muttered weakly while leaning against me. ¡°Sir Dantalian, go first¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± What do you mean by go first!? She was probably telling me to escape first. There was a limit to nonsense. Lapis kept saying something while I was supporting her, but I couldn¡¯t hear her. It was irrelevant. I¡¯d rather focus on something else than listen to absolute nonsense. I shouted in my mind as we made our way out of the carriage. ¡®Do what you¡¯re being paid for, you big idiots!¡¯ I was talking to my death knights. They would normally reside in my shadow in an ethereal state. A dark phlegmatic substance started to move inside of my shadow once I shouted at them. They soon surged out of my shadow. 10 death knights immediately took their corporeal forms. ¨C It seems you are in trouble, temporary master. One of the death knightsmented. His tone was mocking. The death knights stopped growling like animals ever since my job went up from Rank E to Rank D. They would asionally speak to me. Although they would always do so with an annoying tone. ¡°We are being attacked. Protect me and Lapis.¡± We were currently in an urgent situation. There was no time to point out their way of speech. A snicker came from behind the ck helmet being worn by the death knight. ¨C Her Lordship Barbatos ordered us to only protect our temporary master. We do not wish to protect some lowly subus. Do not treat us like mercenaries. ¡°Listen well, you hogs. If your rotten heads have ear holes, then you should be able to understand this. If Lapis dies, then I will immediately kill myself. Do you understand? Don¡¯t argue with me. Protect me and Lapis.¡± The death knight let out a snort; however, he didn¡¯t say anything more. How many seconds have passed? Fireballs came flying at us from a distance. They were definitely fired by our attackers. The knights lifted their swords and cut the fireballs down. ¡°Death knights!¡± ¡°Spread out! Do not let them approach you!¡± I could hear the sound ofmands being given. Our carriage happened to be going through an unpopted area. They were probably aiming for this. The attackers were all wearing ck robes and they were shouting towards us endlessly from about a hundred meters away. There were at least thirty of them. A death knight spoke in an unamused tone. ¨C A dark elf, huh? A race of magic. They are an annoying foe to fight. Death knights are strong against physical attacks, but their resistance does not work against magic attacks. Damn it. Did they n this far ahead? I carefullyid Lapis down. She must have broken a bone as Lapis kept letting out pained groans. I felt my anger towards the attackers swell up further as I saw her in pain. Those bastards! I took out a potion. It was a potion meant for demons. I opened the lid¨Dit refused to open easily so I got frustrated¨Dand I slowly poured the wine-colored potion into Lapis¡¯ mouth. Lapis opened her eyes and looked up at me. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Do not worry. That was what her eyes were saying. My anger became more intense. What piece of shit did this to Lapis? My partner who has been with me through life and death. I didn¡¯t care how much damage my death knights took. I was going to wipe out everyst bastard that attacked us. I¡¯ll tear their intestines out and tie them into knots. ¡°Knights, do you think you can get through them?¡± ¨C How foolish. Getting through them is not the answer. We do not know if they have reinforcements or not. Instead of attacking, it would be best to focus on defending as we escape from this ce as fast as possible. Escape. In other words, we would be running away. Running away when the bastards who hurt Lapis were right in front of me? Do I really have no other choice¡­¡­? It was at the moment I was about to open my mouth and order a retreat. A group of people approached from the road our carriage hade from. There were about forty people! The speed they were running at was incredibly fast. Were they enemy reinforcements? My heart pounded. A death knight spoke from beside me. ¨C We are not their target. ¡°What?¡± ¨C It seems the Goddess of Fortune is watching over you, temporary master. Unfortunately, we will be under yourmand for a while longer. It was just as the death knight said. The newly arrived group went past our carriage and immediately rushed towards our attackers. The death knights joined them even though I didn¡¯t order them to. I wanted to scold them, but I stopped myself. I could tell just by a nce that our side was overwhelming the enemy. But reinforcements? Where did theye from? I quietly watched the battle unfold as a feeling of suspicion and anxiety loomed over me¡­¡­. The disturbance quickly came to an end. The sudden arrival of forty men and the addition of my ten death knights made it so that the dark elves couldn¡¯t put up much of a resistance. ¨C They were rather well-trained assassins. A death knight grumbled as he returned. He was holding an elf¡¯s head in his right hand. Apletely decapitated head. Once I saw its face filled with shock and pain, rather than my anger abating, I felt more enraged. Shock and pain weren¡¯t enough. These bastards should¡¯ve experienced an unimaginable amount of suffering before they died. ¨C I caught him as a prisoner, but he killed himself. Hemitted suicide with a chantless spell. I cut open his chest and saw that his heart was shattered to pieces. This means there was a spell cast on his heart, hmph. There are not a lot of assassin groups that use methods as vile as this. ¡°Do you have a hunch on who they are affiliated with?¡± An intensely cold tone seeped out of my mouth. The death knight shrugged. ¨C I can take a guess on what assassin group they are from; however, there is no way to know who hired them. What you want to know is the identity of the person who hired them, correct? Well, be it an assassin group or their clientele, they are too much for you to handle, temporary master. You have no power to get revenge. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± I knelt down and ced my left hand against the ground. I felt around my side for my dagger and unsheathed it. I could hear a voice of surprisee from the death knight. ¨C Temporary master? What are you¨D? I stabbed my left hand with the dagger. To be exact, my index finger. A pained cry escaped from my throat. I grit my teeth as a terrible pain spread throughout the nerves of my body. I ignored the pain as I brought the dagger down once more. This time, the bone of my middle finger was severed. Another scream. ¡°Hoo, hbb¡­¡­! Hooo¡­¡­.¡± Tears wereing out of my eyes. It felt likeva was erupting from the corner of my eyes. I barely managed to maintain my breathing while undergoing the intense pain. My breathing was forcefully trying to suppress the pain. I raised my head and roughly wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my shirt. ¨C ¡­¡­. The excitement of battle had already faded away a long time ago. The death knights and the reinforcement that came from an unknown source were staring at me nkly. I gnashed my teeth. ¡°You arrogant bastards. Teleport to Barbatos immediately and give her the news. Tell her that Dantalian was attacked by assassins and that he was severely injured. He even lost 2 fingers.¡± ¨C D-Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­you intentionally injured yourself for this sake. ¡°Shut up. I am not done talking.¡± The death knight became silent. I endured the paining from my left hand as I spoke. ¡°Tell her that we were unable to figure out who hired them, but we think that it was one of the archdukes of hell. Barbatos will give a portion of her troops to you while ordering you to send the assassins hell, literally. Bring those troops straight back to me. As fast as possible. Do you understand?¡± I put my right hand in my pocket. My hand was trembling, so I struggled a bit to grab the item I wanted. I managed to grab the item I wanted, a teleportation scroll. I tossed it to the death knight. I then picked up the fingers that were still on the ground with my shaking right hand and tossed them to him. ¡°Make sure to show these to Barbatos. ¨C ¡­¡­. The death knight leaned down and received the scroll and my fingers. He still seemed bewildered as he looked at me. I red at him. ¡°You fucker, do I have to make another hole in your skull for you to understand me?¡± ¨C ¡­¡­As youmand. The death knight bowed. He unrolled the scroll and uttered the activation chant. A ck magic circle appeared and covered the death knight. He soon disappeared. Now for the next matter. I looked at the reinforcement and spoke to them. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°This is our first meeting, Your Highness.¡± A person from the group walked forward. It was a female voice. She was wearing a gray robe, so I couldn¡¯t see her face. She got down on one knee and showed me extreme courtesy. ¡°We are a part of an assassins guild that resides in Niflheim. We were ordered by our client and have been secretly protecting Your Highness for the past seven months.¡± ¡°Seven months?¡± Damn it, what the hell is this supposed to mean? I was still with the rest of the Crescent Alliance seven months ago. Who could¡¯ve ordered them to protect me since then? I felt dizzy. Fortunately, thanks to the innate vitality of Demon Lords, the bleeding quickly stopped. I wasn¡¯t going to die of blood loss just by talking here a little. ¡°Who hired your group? Was it Barbatos?¡± ¡°Normally, we are forbidden from giving the name of our client, but this is a special case. The client herself requested that we reveal her name to Your Highness if a situation like this were to ur.¡± The woman removed her hood. Her light blue hair flowed down freely. She had a beautiful face, but half of it was burned severely. It was terribly unsightly, but as someone who was being assaulted by the pain from his left hand, I didn¡¯t care whether the other party had burn marks or was fried with oil. I silently waited for her to continue. The woman¡¯s eyes widened slightly. ¡°You are not surprised by this one¡¯s face, I see.¡± ¡°I do not care. Hurry up and tell me who hired you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It was not Her Highness Barbatos. If anything, someone whom you could consider to be on bad terms with her hadmissioned our guild.¡± The female assassin bowed her head as she spoke. Someone on bad terms with Barbatos? This made things even more confusing. ¡°Was it Sitri?¡± ¡°It was not Her Highness Sitri either. Your Highness, we were hired by none other than Her Highness Paimon.¡± ¡°Paimon!¡± I was shocked. Paimon, why was that woman¡¯s name being brought up here!? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Isn¡¯t it nice seeing Dantalian being so protective over Lapis? I wonder if he¡¯ll somehow reattach his fingerster.On another note, I ended up just resubbing to FFXIV since they added that new Nier raid recently. This¡¯ll keep me distracted for a while, probably. I¡¯ll see you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 145: Traitor (1) Chapter 145: Traitor (1) The day was getting dark. We set up camp at some ruins nearby. The campfire flickered. The light from the fire illuminated the old castle ruins. Murky shadows swayed quietly on the castle walls. They were like a bunch of actors practicing a script for a performance that was never going to happen on a stage that had long been deserted. ¡°Our client¡­¡­Miss Paimon, has been incredibly interested in Your Highness.¡± One of the shadows opened its dark mouth. ¡°For a very long time now.¡± ¡°Exactly how long?¡± ¡°It has been a little over a year now.¡± A year. That was around the time we held the hearing during Walpurgis Night. So you¡¯re telling me that Paimon has been monitoring my every movement since then¡­¡­? ¡°We have been gathering information on Your Highness. From when you took a human from a ve market to when you murdered an influential merchant¡¯s son¡­¡­. Does Your Highness perhaps dislike the smell of cigars?¡± I shook my head. I was telling her that I didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Pardon me.¡± The woman with light blue hair took out a pipe. She spoke while pushing tobo leaves into her pipe. ¡°We were honestly surprised. Our group has quite a reputation even in the demon world. Instead of contracting us for a month or so, she made a long-term contract with us. We were tasked with looking into the background of a rank 71 Demon Lord¡­¡­. Although it was fine with us since we were in a bit of a recession.¡± The woman smiled brightly. To me, the woman¡¯s smile feltpletely dry. I have the power to read the emotions of demons, so I could tell that no emotion was going through her mind right now. The remaining half of this woman¡¯s face that was untouched by severe burns was nothing more than a mask. ¡°You must have been disappointed.¡± ¡°We were, until half a year ago.¡± The woman blew out a cloud of smoke from her mouth. ¡°Half a year ago, the Keuncuska Firm started to dabble in ¡®this¡¯ side of work. They were so cautious and careful about it, that if we hadn¡¯t been monitoring Your Highness already, then we would have never noticed. We had no other choice but to acknowledge our client¡¯s, Miss Paimon¡¯s discerning eye.¡± The woman turned to me with a smile still on her face. ¡°Since that moment on, Your Highness was undoubtedly the center of the world for approximately five months.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How many people in the world are aware of the truth? You had spread rumors throughout both the demon world and the human world and skillfully utilized those rumors to make the humans dispatch their armies.¡± She sounded as if she was getting excited. ¡°You distorted the truth around the human armies being dispatched to incite the Crescent Alliance. How many people know that the Rank 71 Demon Lord was behind all of this? I guarantee you that there are less than ten people. Less than ten people throughout the entirety of both the human world and the demon world who know the truth. We have the honor of being a part of that ten.¡± The woman chuckled. ¡°Truly. It is moments like these that I am able to feel fulfilled in life after being born as an assassin. I am sincerely grateful to Her Highness Paimon. Even if I live for another century or two, I will most likely not be able to experience the same amount of excitement as I have for the past 6 months. ¡­¡­Your Highness, did you know? I am currently extremely excited because I am finally able to talk to Your Highness like this.¡± I took out my water sk and took a sip. ¡°Despite your words, I do not feel any particr emotions from you.¡± ¡°Ever since my birth, I have only killed my emotions.¡± The woman chuckled again. She was a girl whoughed often. ¡°People who live in a desert and people who live next to ake. The value of water is like night and day to them.¡± ¡°Are you saying that even the smallest amount of emotion is actually rather big for you?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Certainly, if you want to sneak up on a Demon Lord, your emotions have to be as faint as this woman¡¯s. I suddenly became curious. How are assassins raised? Once I asked this indirectly, the woman took a puff of her pipe before responding. It was almost like she was unraveling a tangled ball of yarn. ¡°For starters, you must be a ve in order to be able to go against Demon Lords. If both your soul and body are subordinated to a person, then you can be hostile towards Demon Lords even if you are a demon.¡± ¡°Would this not rid you of your freedom?¡± ¡°Who knows? When you are young, a loaf of bread is more important than your freedom.¡± I had a rough understanding of what this woman¡¯s life was like now. Be it the human world or the demon world, there was an abundant number of starving people everywhere. Among those people starving to death, there were a lot of orphans. The heads of assassin groups and guilds most likely gathered these orphans. The orphans would agree to these ve contracts. No, they would only gather orphans who have no other choice but to ept¡­¡­. ¡°Can you not get rid of the ve seal?¡± ¡°Ah, that is a bit difficult. It is engraved in our hearts. This is done intentionally when surgery is done upon us.¡± ¡°On your heart?¡± Come to think of it, the death knight mentioned something about the heart. ¡°How do they engrave a magic seal on the heart?¡± ¡°A type of initiation ceremony is done when you first join. A healing magic circle is drawn and the chest is cut open while on top of the circle. They pour a healing potion into the chest, cut the flesh, and on the heart they do¡­¡­. Well, all sorts of things.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I made a disgusted face. In other words, they use healing magic and potions to keep a decrepit person alive and do all sorts of things to their heart. They call it surgery, but it was no different from torture. The woman seemed to understand how I felt as she nodded. ¡°This is a rather perilous era.¡± ¡°Yes, it truly is.¡± She smiled. A brief silence fell over us. It wasn¡¯t an awkward silence. A perilous era. A brief moment of time was required to mull over the weight that line had. ¡°It has not been that long since Miss Paimon had a change of heart. Miss Paimon abruptly changed her request immediately after the first skirmish with the human army on Bruno ins. She ordered us to protect Your Highness.¡± ¡°Why did she do that?¡± ¡°Our client wished to get on Your Highness¡¯ good side.¡± My good side, huh? It was like that when I was with the Crescent Alliance as well. Paimon helped me when I was in a bad situation during the ceremonial speeches. She lost the magic she had garnered for the past few thousand years in order to help me. Logically speaking, it was ridiculous to think that Paimon of all people would be trying to help me. Why was she doing this? ¡°Our client refers to herself as a republican.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She said that you would understand if we told you this.¡± A republican? Who? Paimon? I felt like a hammer had hit my head. I had just heard a word that I had never even considered. Was Paimon not simply a pervert? In , Paimon falls for the protagonist. That was why she was so obsessed with the hero. Although the way she showed her affection was abnormal since she did it by sending an endless wave of monsters after the hero and his party. During one of the scenarios in the game, Paimon was the only one to not ughter the humans when both the humans and demons were trying to massacre each other. If the humans die, then she would no longer have any ythings. That was her reason. I could only think of her as a pervert. But¡­¡­a republican? What was this supposed to mean? Are you telling me that she wasn¡¯t simply a human lover? ¡°¡­¡­I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Our client also said that she wished to know why certain people ruled while others were ruled. Where did everything go wrong? ¡­¡­She wished to know these things.¡± Inequality, irrationality, and illogicality. An era where those who ruled and those who were ruled were determined at birth. She considered this to be weird and wrong. She believed that this was not an obvious and natural urrence and wanted to discover the hidden reason behind this. That was undoubtedly¨Dthe silent and blind child of revolution. I asked the woman a question. ¡°Is republicanism a familiar term to demons?¡± ¡°No. We do not understand it at all.¡± The woman chuckled. ¡°Prior to receiving thismission from Miss Paimon, I had never heard of it before. I did know that there was a nation called the Republic of Batavia in the human world, though. I started to look into it because of Miss Paimon¡¯s request.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What is your opinion on republicans?¡± ¡°They seem like perfect targets to capture and kill.¡± That wasn¡¯t surprising. ¡°But I do think that it sounds appealing.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Enough to make someone dly risk their life for it.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes turned to look at me. Contrary to her smiling lips, her gaze was indifferent. ¡°Is Your Highness aware that the speech you gave at Bruno ins is circting here and there throughout the continent?¡± ¡°No.¡± I didn¡¯t know this at all. ¡°Currently, it is only being circted in specific areas of the human world and the demon world. Nheless, the response has been fervent. The speech will most likely spread through hundreds and thousands of cities and viges before long. Your Highness, I would like to mention that this humble one is not an exception to this.¡± The woman lowered her pipe and looked straight at me. ¡°Your Highness spoke solely about the inequality in the human world; however, I have always wondered about something ever since I was little. This was something I was curious about ever since I was little and struggled to get my hands on even a single loaf of bread or strand of mana. Back when I had to reveal my heart to survive. ¡­¡­I always wondered why I was born poor.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It would be understandable if I had azy personality, had done something wrong, ormitted a sin. It would only be natural to live a hard life if I were making up for my wrongdoings. It would make sense. However, I have been poor since birth. What had I done wrong? Was my birth itself a crime?¡± But, if that¡¯s the case, the woman continued. ¡°Why are some people able to live such beautiful lives?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Some people¡¯s lives are a blessing since the moment they are born and some people are cursed instead. This was something that I truly struggled to understand. Why was I a part of thetter? Is reincarnation real? Did Imit a crime before I was even born, so I have to live like this because of that?¡± For the first time, I could feel the tiniest bit of emotion from the woman. It was a hatred that was viscous like mucus. ¡°I did not believe that this was true. I did not know why it was not true; however, it had to be a lie. There was no way that this could be the truth. It mustn¡¯t be. ¡­¡­Even if the world allowed these sorts of things, I could not ept it. I had done nothing wrong. The world is at fault here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Miss Paimon said that she wanted to confirm whether Your Highness truly shared her interests or not. I also have the same hopes as our client. Did Your Highness truly roar for freedom at Bruno ins? Would it be all right¡­¡­if people like us who were born as low-tier demons and have no other choice but to live as the garbage of society¡­¡­genuinely epted Your Highness as our king?¡± The woman asked. If I agree with her here, then I would most likely be able to meet Paimon through her. If I tell her that she was wrong, then she would simply leave. I stayed silent. I fell deeply into my thoughts. How was this woman¡¯s life? To no surprise, her life made me feel sorrow. Demon Lords can read the emotions of demons, so I fully understood how much shemented and despised her life. Nheless, I can¡¯t act simply off of emotions. From the pros and cons of bringing a lower demon under my wing to the pros and cons of talking behind closed doors with Paimon when I¡¯m a part of the ins Faction. I have to consider everything. I opened my mouth. ¡°I am not sure.¡± The woman blinked. ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°Why must I answer you? Do I have to tell you everything that is going through my head? Okay, then. Let us say that we share interests and this results in you devoting your loyalty to me. Even if this were to happen, this does not mean that you represent every low-tier demon of the demon world, right?¡± The woman was perplexed. ¡°But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Was your life unfortunate? Was your life difficult? Do you think that that is enough to make you the representative of everyone¡¯s misfortune?¡± I smiled. ¡°Do not get ahead of yourself. You cannot take the ce of others. Even if you were the most unfortunate person in the world, your misfortune does not give you the right to take the ce of others. Assassin, deal with your misfortune on your own.¡± I stood up. ¡°If an archduke of hell is blocking your path, then kill that archduke. If a Demon Lord is obstructing you, then kill that Demon Lord. If a nation or the continent itself is interfering with your life, then destroy that nation or that continent.¡± If you can ally yourself with me during this process, then go ahead. If you have to distance yourself from me, then do so. There is no such thing as an eternal ally. Eternal loyalty does not exist either. It would only trouble me if you ask me to be your impartial king for all of eternity. I simply make choices that are good for me ording to the situation. ¡°Tell Paimon that if she wishes to speak to me, then bring something to trade besides emotions.¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°I am tired. I am going to rest.¡± I entered my carriage. I heard the woman try to call out to me, but I ignored her. I really did feel tired. I had a battle of wits with the Kak Archduke, got attacked by unknown assants, and received a bombshell about Paimon being a republican all in one day. It¡¯d be weird if I wasn¡¯t tired after all that. I need to let my brain rest. Lapis was already sleeping peacefully in the carriage. I haphazardlyid a nket down on the floor before lying down. ¡®Paimon is a republican¡­¡­so what? What does this change¡­¡­?¡¯ Come to think of it, I was way too honest with that woman. Would it have been better if I had mixed in a little more rhetoric? Would it have been wiser? But I didn¡¯t want to. I really am weak to honest people like her. What a burdensome personality I have¡­¡­. I soon fell asleep. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t have that much to say, but I would like to ask people to stop posting spoilers in thements. I noticed that people have been posting in differentnguages, and some of them are from people talking about how they machine tranted everything and are acting as if they fully understood the story. They then gave detailed spoilers. I will be deleting thesements whenever I see them now. Christ, people need to learn to keep spoilers to themselves. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 146: Traitor (2) Chapter 146: Traitor (2) * * * Paimon was in front of me. I looked down and saw that I was wearing shoes. This alone was enough for me to know that I was in a dream. What was happening? I quickly churned my brain to find an answer. ¨C Subus Queen. That was Paimon¡¯s race. She was one of the people who became a Demon Lord after being born as a normal demon. Subi could freely control the dreams of humans. Paimon still had this ability even after bing a Demon Lord. Even in the game, the protagonist had spoken with Paimon multiple times in his dreams. However, there was something more important here. ¡®She was hiding among the group of assassins.¡¯ A subus¡¯ ability was not omnipotent. They couldn¡¯t meddle with the dreams of people who were several hundred kilometers away. They had to be nearby. What did this mean¡­¡­? This meant that Paimon had secretly mixed herself in with the group of assassins. She was probably one of the gray-robed figures. She pretended to be a normal assassin as she watched me from the side and she most likely heard the entire conversation I had with the light blue-haired woman. Damn it. This was my mistake. ¡®She hid within a group of assassins that have little to no emotions.¡¯ Demon Lords cannot read the emotions of other Demon Lords. If the assassins were normal monsters, like orcs, then I would have immediately noticed Paimon¡¯s presence. She would have stuck out like a sore thumb as the only individual with no emotions out of all the monsters. It would naturally seem odd. Assassins are incredibly dry when ites to their emotions. This was like hiding a leaf in a forest. You are better than I expected, Paimon¡­¡­. I put a courteous smile on my face as I bowed my head. ¡°Long time no see, Your Highness.¡± ¡°As I thought, you are not surprised.¡± Paimon brushed aside her scarlet hair as she chuckled modestly. ¡°Pardon my rudeness. I wanted to see your look of surprise at least once.¡± ¡°I am more than surprised right now. However, I was already surprised multiple times today. I do not have the energy to make a fuss out of being surprised again.¡± She raised the edges of her dress as she greeted me with a curtsey. ¡°It has been a while, Dantalian.¡± ¡°Indeed. I never would have imagined that we would be reunited in this manner.¡± Paimon nodded. Once she did, a table appeared between us. It was covered by a white tablecloth and had a ceramic tea set on top of it. I approached the table and pulled out a chair for her. Paimon thanked me as she took a seat. ¡°Dreams sure are impressive.¡± I sat at the other side of the table as I spoke. ¡°Is anything possible? Like, for example, summoning a dragon.¡± ¡°Thisdy can only recreate things that she has seen and experienced.¡± Paimon picked up the ceramic teapot and poured out some tea. It was green tea. The scenery around us changed rapidly as the cups were slowly filled with tea. A dragon with golden scales appeared right next to us and was sleeping with its head down like a drowsy dog. ¡°Amazing!¡± I let out a sound of awe, but I wasn¡¯t utterly shocked. I was still mulling over why Paimon had invaded my dream. I was engaging her in small talk in order to give myself time to think. ¨C The light blue woman asked what was on my mind. ¨C There is a high probability that Paimon had ordered her to do that. ¨C I fell for it on the spot. If I were a real republican, then I would have weed the woman¡¯s words, but I didn¡¯t. From Paimon¡¯s perspective, it was truly questionable whether I was a genuine republican or someone who was simply using the ideology for his own personal gains. ¡°So this is the reason why subi are referred to as beings of the night. My subordinate is also a subus, but she has never shown me something like this.¡± ¡°That is most likely because the subus blood in that child is weak. This is not an absolute rule, but only pure-blooded subi can roam through dreams.¡± Despite this, she came into contact with me anyway. She easily could¡¯ve left after discovering that we weren¡¯t exactly like-minded, but she went out of her way to enter my dream and talk to me anyway. I don¡¯t believe she was here to only confirm whether I was on her side or not¡­¡­. What was her goal? I had to figure this out. ¡°If anything, not being pure-blooded might be a blessing.¡± ¡°Oh? Why is that?¡± ¡°Because you can have a family.¡± What did she mean by that? Paimon covered her mouth and chuckled once she saw me tilt my head. ¡°As you can see, subi can create all sorts of things within dreams. Men are often charmed by this aspect. Men that pair up with subi all end up bing infatuated with this ability as they are able to see the world¡¯s most beautiful woman, most beautiful scenery, and most delicious food.¡± The scenery changed. The dragon disappeared and was reced by dozens of beautiful women. The scene was now that of a harem. The women all had on only a singleyer of thin fabric as their morous bodies were practically on full disy. ¡°In the end, the men turn their backs on reality. To live in a perfect dream or a miserable reality, it is obvious what they would choose¡­¡­. They ignore their wives and children. They have more beautiful wives in their dreams and children that are more perfect than their counterparts in reality, after all. This is why a majority of subi do not fall in love.¡± They would only get betrayed, after all. Paimon pushed a cup of tea to my side. I courteously picked up the cup. The taste of the green tea was excellent. Not only did it have the perfect amount of bitterness and warmth, but it also cleansed my pte nicely. ¡°Thisdy pondered about this a long time ago. If the most beautiful woman and the most delicious food exists, then perhaps¨Dwould it not be possible to dream of a perfect society?¡± ¡°A perfect society, is it? Would something like that really be possible?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± Paimonughed. ¡°It is impossible. Or, at the very least, it was impossible back then and it still is now. Nheless, thisdy is a subus, a race that sows dreams into people. Thisdy believed that allowing one to have a single dream would not make someone live beyond their means. Thisdy required a dream of her own to continue living like the others.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I understand.¡± I didn¡¯t understand. ¡°It was like that at first. 2,000 years ago, I thought that a world ruled by Demon Lords was the closest to perfection.¡± The scenery changed once again. This time, we were in the center of a bunch of soldiers. Orcs, ogres, and trolls moved around our table busily. We were in the center of a massive army with tens of thousands of soldiers. They were standing in ranks and holding banners up high. There were three individuals leading them all. A girl, ady, and a middle-aged man. ¨C Men! Demons! You have all aplished a great feat! Among the three individuals, the white-haired girl started to shout. Adorned on her was a silver helmet and matching armor. The sunlight shined radiantly upon her. Paimon spoke while pointing to her. ¡°That is Barbatos. She was not much different than how she is now.¡± ¡°She wore armor back then, huh?¡± ¡°Back then, Barbatos was a warrior and not a necromancer, after all.¡± In that case, were the two individuals standing next to the girl Paimon and Marbas respectively? Are you telling me that the three individuals who are now separated into the ins Faction, Mountain Faction, and the Neutral Factionmanded their armies together 2,000 years ago? Barbatos shouted as her red mantle fluttered in the wind. ¨C However, there is still work to be done! We are the phantoms of conquest. Therefore, we must not be fools who are unable to utilize the momentum of our victory. Soldiers, O Great Descendants of Satan, raise your weapons once more. Something like rest will only slow us down. ¨C We cannot lose our days of glory. Those weak humans and cowardly demons would say that they had fought enough and that it is now time to rest if they were in our position. However, we¨Das beings that havee together indiscriminately solely due to our genuine camaraderiee together as one and shout. ¨C For more battles! For more blood! ¨C If we cannot pursue eternal glory, then bestow upon us eternal death! The monsters cheered. They started to blow their horns, pound their drums, and stomp their feet all on their own. The earth trembled and the humans that were across the ins were terrified as they felt the vibrations. The 1st legion of the Crescent Alliance had never lost before. Barbatos of Immortality, Paimon of Victory, and Marbas of Nobility¨Dthis elite army led by these three individuals made even the human knights tremble in absolute terror. ¨C I promise you, no, we promise you that the Demon Lords that will be fighting with you will not be hiding in the back. We are different from cowards. We are warriors, thus we will live and die together with our fellow warriors. ¨C We are on the front line! ¨C When you are struck by a knight¡¯s aura and look up in despair, you will see us standing there. When your knees are on the ground and you are ovee by a sense of powerlessness, we will be standing one step ahead of you. ¨C Warriors! We are on the front line! Barbatos raised her right hand. ck mana started to surge in her hand before a battle scythe appeared. Her remaining mana spiraled upward like a tornado. At the same time, the woman and the man, Paimon and Marbas also raised their hands. A white staff appeared in Paimon¡¯s hand while a long sword appeared in Marbas¡¯ hand. ¨C Show those humans who the true reapers of war are! Tens of thousands of monsters raised their arms. Spearheads were thrust up to the sky. The sunlight reflected off these des and created tens of thousands of shimmers. Goblins, orcs, and trolls all shouted in their respectivenguages. It didn¡¯t matter if they didn¡¯t speak the samenguage. There was no need for them to understand the words spoken by theirrades. Our Lords, the great Demon Lords understood them, after all. ¨C Descendants of Satan¨DAll forces, advance! Barbatos turned around and her mantle fluttered like a banner. She then jumped ahead as if she had nothing more to say. She ran forward with her weapon in her hand like a normal soldier. Tens of thousands of monsters followed behind her like a wave. The humans propped their spears up as they formed a defensive line; however, something about them was awkward. A palpable feeling of dread was flowing between them. Their defeat was already set in stone¡­¡­. ¡°It was a grand battle and we won magnificently.¡± Paimon brought her cup to her lips. The tea flowed between her lips soundlessly. She quietly lowered her empty cup on the table. ¡°With a legion of 120,000 soldiers, we managed to wipe out the human army of roughly 250,000 men. Two human kingdoms were destroyed in a single battle. Barbatos, Marbas, and I were certain that we were invincible. That we would never be defeated and that we would be able to create a beautiful nation on the surface.¡± And yet, the 2nd Crescent Alliance failed. It was recorded as the most horrendous Crescent Alliance expedition in all of history. ¡°Before our own kind betrayed us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We immediately marched into the deepest part of the continent once we conquered two kingdoms. This was shortly after the human alliance was annihted. We intended to shake the continent to its core before the humans could organize another alliance. This was the outline of our n. Our assumption was most likely not that far off the mark¡­¡­.¡± However, the Demon Lords who were in charge of handling the supplies in the rear had betrayed them. They consisted mostly of low-ranking Demon Lords. Low-ranking Demon Lords don¡¯t have a lot of soldiers. It was better for them to handle the supplies instead of making them fight at the forefront. Making the high-ranking Demon Lords take the front while the low-ranking Demon Lords took the rear was incredibly rational. However, those low-ranking Demon Lords betrayed them¡­¡­. The scenery shifted. A dignified army was nowhere to be seen now. It was an army that couldn¡¯t move properly because their supply line had been cut off. A massive army of 100,000 soldiers was more a burden than anything else. Their provisions bottomed out quickly. The humans fortified themselves inside a fortress and stood their ground. Even after the demons managed to destroy the fortress, the humans carried out a scorched earth policy. The 1st legion had no other choice but to retreat since they had already charged too far into the continent. Knight brigades kept biting away at them from all sides like packs of wolves. If they kept fighting back, then they would lose their opportunity to retreat. Barbatos shed tears of blood. Her lips were already blistering as a side-effect of being low on mana. Blood flowed down her mouth once she bit her lips. ¨C Retreat¡­¡­Ignore them and retreat. Barbatos watched her allies get torn apart by the knights before turning around. Paimon and Marbas did the same. All they could do now was send as many of their men back home alive. ¡°Dantalian, do you know how many survived out of those 120,000 soldiers?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I remember it even now. 2,000 years have passed since then, but I still remember¡­¡­26,084. Out of our massive army of 120,000 soldiers, only 26,084 warriors made it home alive.¡± Barbatos was crying in the background. She was on her knees and crying audibly with her torn-up, hole-ridden mantle wrapped around her. The Paimon of the past quietly ced her hand on Barbatos¡¯ back with her head lowered. ¡°Truly, why did something like this happen? What had we done wrong¡­¡­?¡± The Subus Queen was sitting at the table and staring at her past self from 2,000 years ago¡­¡­ and also the girl who was once her close friend. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter! Life is normal. I¡¯ve been grinding some levels in FFXIV and my body is also sore after ying Beat Saber for a couple hours.Hm, I¡¯ve been seeing a lot of non-englishments for a while now. I wonder if they¡¯re reading in English and simply leavingments in anothernguage. Or are they using like Google¡¯s autotrante function or whatever. I guess that would be better than trying to get it to trante Korean to whatevernguage. I sort of have to check thements when they¡¯re in anothernguage just in case it might be spam. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 147: Traitor (3) Chapter 147: Traitor (3) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ The background vanishedpletely. The corpses of monsters and the ins were all gone. Our surroundings became pure white. The only ones that remained were Barbatos and Paimon. Only the sound of the girl crying could be heard in the white void. It was a scene quite disparate from reality. Strangely, this white space fitted Paimon. This was most likely the most basic form of her memory. Everyone has at least one or two memories like this. ¡°At that time, I could notfort Barbatos by telling her that it would be all right, that things would get better. I might have already known instinctively back then that we would no longer be able to fight together.¡± It was around this time that I figured out Paimon¡¯s intentions. She was still trying to persuade me even though she should¡¯ve concluded that my ideology was uncertain. She was pleading for me to join her side. She and I were Demon Lords. We couldn¡¯t read each other¡¯s emotions. We couldn¡¯t receive the other party¡¯s absolute trust through normal means nor could we genuinely persuade each other. Despite this, she utilized the dream world. What sort of life she had lived, what she had felt, what the issue was, and what had to be done to solve it, she intended to show all of this to me vividly within a dream. ¡®What a noble attitude.¡¯ She was putting her whole life on disy and opening herself up to mepletely. By doing this, she was asking if I could cooperate with her. ¡®¨DBut emotion alone is not enough to move me, Paimon.¡¯ I took a sip of tea. Try to persuade me. You paid off your debt to me from the hearing by helping me during the ceremonial speeches. There is now nothing between us other than some lingering resentment. ¡®We are on equal grounds.¡¯ What sort of n do you have? How borate is the scenario you have nned out? What is there for me to gain by investing in it? I¡¯m not an easygoing man. You have to convince me properly. ¡°Dantalian, you most likely know the reason why the Crescent Alliance has continued to fail.¡± ¡°Even if they are all Demon Lords, the difference in power between high-ranking Demon Lords and low-ranking Demon Lords is like night and day. If the continent is united, then the high-ranking Demon Lords will start to pressure the low-ranking Demon Lords. At that time, a great war will happen not between humans and demons, but between demons and demons¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is right.¡± Paimon chuckled as if she were pleased. ¡°Thisdy realized thatter. Until that point, I always thought that our supply line was destroyed by the humans. I never would have imagined that our fellow Demon Lords had secretly leaked information to the humans. When I tried to hold them ountable, it was toote.¡± There was no proof. The low-ranking Demon Lords desperately tried to defend the supply line. However, they couldn¡¯t defend against the knight brigades that kept attacking them elusively. Many low-ranking Demon Lords lost their lives defending the supply base to the very end. ¡°They were most likely the ones who were loyal to the Crescent Alliance. They either refused to cooperate with the humans or seemed like they simply would not, so they were purged by their ownrades¡­¡­. No, they might have used the humans to murder them in their stead.¡± The high-ranking Demon Lords failed to realize this. They believed that it was the human army that was skilled instead of thinking that the low-ranking Demon Lords had done anything wrong. Or perhaps, it was their fault for advancing so far into the continent. It was due to their actions that the supply line had be excessively long. This was what they thought. ¡°At the time, Barbatos and the other high-ranking Demon Lords apologized to the low-ranking Demon Lords. Saying that it was due to their strategy that the Crescent Alliance expedition failed.¡± However, Paimon realized the truth a momentte. As someone who started as a mere subus and became a Demon Lordter, she was able to think in the shoes of low-ranking Demon Lords. This led to her realization. What the low-ranking Demon Lords feared¡­¡­. ¡°But Miss Paimon, I still do not understand why you chose to create the Mountain Faction.¡± I asked out of curiosity. ¡°You realized what those low-ranking Demon Lords had done. Could you not have set up a trap for them during the 3rd or 4th Crescent Alliance?¡± I would have. They could have pretended to advance deeply into the continent and ambushed the low-ranking Demon Lords as soon as they betrayed them. They could have rounded up the low-ranking Demon Lords. If Paimon insisted to the others that the low-ranking Demon Lords were plotting to betray them, then they would have had a reasonable excuse to set up a trap. Would this not have been the best decision? ¡°It was because I knew that there was a more pressing matter.¡± ¡°A more pressing matter? What might that be?¡± ¡°The fact that a war would break out as soon as we unite the continent.¡± Paimon spoke. ¡°Thisdy believed that unifying the continent would be the most optimal path for demonkind. That demonkind would experience peace and wealth if we managed to conquer the human world. However, the unification of the continent would actually be the start of cmity. The demons that had been united as one under the pretext of conquering humankind would split up and go to war for the sake of the Demon Lords they served respectively.¡± For the sake of one ruler. The entirety of the demon world would get engulfed by cmity for the sake of raising up a single ruler. For what purpose were they conquering the continent? The im of unifying the continent for the sake of demonkind was nothing more than a lie¡­¡­. As I thought, Paimon harbored doubts about the Crescent Alliance¡¯s very purpose. ¡°Thisdy realized that humans are a necessary evil. Demons are a necessary evil to humans as well. If either humans or demons did not exist in the world, then the remaining race would go to war with each other endlessly.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Thisdy thought about how war would happen regardless of whether the continent was united or not. Is this not strange? There is nomoner that wants war. If their lives and wealth are guaranteed, be it humans or demons, no one would go out of their way to step foot in a battlefield. And yet, why do wars happen?¡± Paimon turned to me. ¡°It is because of rulers.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Let us say that in order for a war to happen, themoners have to agree to it. Themoners would have to voluntarily shoulder all of the sufferings that happen in war by themselves. They would have to decide whether they want to pick up their spears,mit murder, pay for all the war expenses, and restore all of the cities and viges that are destroyed by war. They would naturally never agree to war.¡± Paimon¡¯s voice started to get heated. ¡°But it is not the same for rulers. They are notmoners. They are the owners ofmoners. If it is for the sake of obtaining something far greater, then they would more than dly throw out their wealth, the lives ofmoners, and the homes ofmoners like some gambling chips. Thisdy realized¨Dbe it the human world or the demon world, as long as someone in society is being treated like an object, war will nevere to an end!¡± Her eyes that were as dark as obsidian shimmered with rage. ¡°Is this notughable!?¡± She shouted. ¡°How foolish have we Demon Lords been? We thought we were acting for the sake of demonkind, that we were fighting for them. And yet, Demon Lords were not the ones who were actually dying. Only a small minority of Demon Lords died in battle. The ones sacrificed on the battlefield¨Dthe hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives¨Dwere not the Demon Lords but the demons!¡± Paimon gnashed her teeth. ¡°Despite this, we thought that we were acting for the sake of demonkind! Such hypocrisy and deceit. This hypocrisy and deceit will not end even if the continent is conquered. Rather, they will burn even stronger and singe the human world, the demon world, and eventually, the entire world to the ground. Simply because we Demon Lords cannot read the minds of humans¡­¡­because they are unfamiliar to us, we sacrificed the lives of hundreds of thousands of demons for the sake of wiping them out!¡± The scenery around us changedpletely. The white space disappeared and was reced by a battlefield. An orc was ughtering the humans in a vige. The sound of screams and groans echoed throughout the sky. On another side, a human was massacring a goblin vige. Young goblins were yed with like toys before letting out a final cry of desperation as arrows pierced their chests. ughter, an endless ughter continued. ¡°We Demon Lords are at fault!¡± Paimon cried out. ¡°It is not the fault of humans or the fault of demons either. For the purpose of establishing an ideal nation ruled by a perfect monarch, for the sake of creating this shy empire, we Demon Lords deceived everyone¡­¡­!¡± There were 8 Crescent Alliance expeditions in the past 2,000 years. The Mountain Faction would always participate the least ever since the 3rd Crescent Alliance. In the end, this resulted in a majority of the demons who followed the Demon Lords in the Mountain Faction surviving. On the other hand, the demons of the ins Faction continued to die off. The ins Faction referred to the Mountain Faction as traitors. However, the Mountain Faction returned that sentiment and used the ins Faction of betraying demonkind. Which side was right or wrong¡­¡­? I spoke up. ¡°So you decided to establish a republic.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Paimon nodded. ¡°In the end, Demon Lords must all disappear. Whether you can read the emotions of others or not is not important. Humans cannot read each other¡¯s emotions, and yet, they have continued to live. They think and act as we do.¡± Demon Lords are beings that shouldn¡¯t exist. This was what Paimon was dering. ¡°Humans and demons must establish a society and maintain it on their own. This will not stop conflicts, however, they should eventuallye to an understanding. They will realize that we are all simrly rational beings.¡± Her eyes glimmered with certainty. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This was an interesting story. As someone who knew how history was originally supposed to unfold in this world, I was fifty-fifty about agreeing with her. Paimon was right. In the end, the republic won. However, how much blood was shed in order to reach that ¡®end¡¯? It was not in the tens of thousands. It wasn¡¯t in the hundreds of thousands either. It was tens of millions. People carried out ughters and were ughtered constantly¡­¡­. Could the term ¡®in the end¡¯ handle the weight of all that blood? I disagreed. ¡°Miss Paimon, pardon me, but you simply sound like an idealist to me.¡± Your opinion was filled with passion. However, it did not have any persuasive power. ¡°I guarantee you, Miss Paimon, that for the sake of creating your ideal republic society¡­¡­a society where humans and demons live equally, an endless amount of blood will have to be shed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes, thisdy believes that as well.¡± Do you really? How much blood are you actually prepared for? I continued. ¡°The blood that will be shed by demonkind after the continent is conquered and the blood that will be shed by both humans and demons in order to establish a republic. If you were topare these two options, then they are probably not that different. There will be sacrifices no matter what path you choose to take. Do you understand this?¡± Whether you follow Barbatos¡¯ ideal or Paimon¡¯s ideal, demons will lose their lives either way. Despite this, Paimon, I really am curious. ¡°What makes you think that you can do this but Barbatos cannot?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you are unable to give me an answer, then you are nothing more than another Demon Lord. A Demon Lordparable to a fire. You set the entire world on fire for the sake of aplishing your goal and demons jump into the ze like moths to a me. I personally refer to these people as monsters.¡± They¡¯re also known as the strong. Those who sacrifice others without reserve for the sake of their philosophy. Those who fool themselves into believing that they aren¡¯t acting for ¡®their own sake¡¯ but for some lofty ideal; thus, the sacrifices that are made are for the sake of everyone. Not me, though. I don¡¯t make excuses when I kill someone. It¡¯s not for the sake of some ideal. It¡¯s not for everyone either. Hawk, Jack nd, Riff¡­¡­all of them were killed purely because of my selfishness. This was the truth and I knew it. ¡°I have no intention of criticizing your beliefs. I honestly think they are praiseworthy. However, in that same regard, I think that Barbatos is also praiseworthy.¡± You are unable to persuade me. ¡°If you wish to persuade me, then do not only talk about your ideals. Tell me about what there is to gain. At the very least, show me an outline. A republic? Sure. But how exactly do you intend to establish one? Is it possible?¡± Paimon didn¡¯t respond. She simply gazed at me silently. I waited for a moment. As expected, I received no answer. I stood up in slight disappointment. ¡°Even if you are only looking at ideals, please walk in reality. I could lie to you, but you assisted me while I was in the Crescent Alliance. You also rescued me when my carriage was assaulted today. I gave you an honest response in order to pay back this debt. ¡­¡­Please do not expect me to be honest like this next time as well.¡± I turned away and walked. This was a dream. I couldn¡¯t go anywhere even if I walked away, but this was basically my way of implicitly asking her to end the dream. How many steps had I taken? ¡°If it is an outline, then I have one.¡± Paimon spoke from behind me. ¡°Thisdy is not just a fool. 1,700 years ago, when thisdy first had this thought and initially did not rte it to republicanism, thisdy decided to test this idea out carefully.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I didn¡¯t turn around and simply gave her a verbal response. So? ¡°Thisdy thought, would it not be easier to establish a republic in human society than a society where heterogeneous beings like Demon Lords exist? So I decided to test whether a republic was truly possible or not in the human world.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± That line forced me to turn around. Paimon was still sitting casually in her chair. Her eyes were still filled with certainty like before. Don¡¯t tell me, I started to utter. ¡°What do you mean¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The Republic of Batavia.¡± Paimon spoke with a smile. ¡°It is the sole republic in the human world. Did you think that the humans created such a peculiar nation by themselves?¡± The bombshell fell on my head. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Honestly, I don¡¯t remember how the part about Paimon being the founder of Batavia was revealed in the LN. It¡¯s been so long. Welp, on another note, my arms have been killing me because a friend has been making me y Beat Saber with him for the past 4 days. 2 hours every day really strains your arms. It burns. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 148: Traitor (4) Chapter 148: Traitor (4) ¦¯¦¯¦¯ I opened my mouth and closed it again. I felt like I might trip over my words if I tried to speak right now. The Rank 9 Demon Lord who loved humans more than anyone else and ultimately ends up betraying her kind. ording to the yers of Dungeon Attack, she was either a characteristic prostitute or a pureblooded maiden with unrequited love. From the perspective of demonkind, she was the biggest traitor. This was the image of Paimon that I had until now. The fact that she was involved in the founding of Batavia¡­¡­not only was this not mentioned in the game, but it was never stated in any part of her lore either! I barely managed to clear my throat. ¡°What do you mean the Republic of Batavia was not created by the humans alone?¡± ¡°Now you finally panic.¡± Paimon covered her mouth and giggled. I felt a chill go down my spine. Who was this woman before me? Who have I been facing until now? ¡°Creating a republic nation was not an easy task. Everything was new to thisdy. If thisdy may exaggerate it a little, it was basically like creating apletely new world. There was a lot of trial and error. Truly, a lot.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But I seeded.¡± The scenery around us changed to that of a vige. It was a sequestered fishing vige. There were only a couple of mudts, boats, and shabby huts gathered together. Time started to flow quickly as soon as Paimon waved her hand. Vigers gathered, a dock was built, followed by a harbor, tall structures were raised up, and a white wall was created. It became a city. Stone pavement covered the fields and mudts. Dozens of waterways went through the center of the city. People rode gonds through those waterways. The sound of a bell ringing echoed from a temple. It echoed throughout the harbor city. ¡°The establishment of the capital of Batavia, Amstel, took 200 years. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I utilized the money, informationwork, and military power that had umted during that time to start a war of independence. This took 50 years. This was followed by a revolutionary war that was carried out under the pretext of inheriting the ideology of an ancient republic nation. This took 60 years. Finally, a liberation war was incited under the great cause of liberating other races. We even joined forces with the 4th Crescent Alliance. This took another 60 years.¡± Paimon got up. She spread her arms out as if she couldn¡¯t endure how much she loved the scene before her. A dozenrge ships created a fleet as they sailed across the sea beside Amstel. ¡°Finally, after 400 years, thisdy managed to create a conurbation of 13 cities, the Batavia Federated Republic.¡± She silently looked over the scenery she had created for a moment. Paimon was pressuring me by going silent. The person standing before me was no longer a simple idealist. Ideals stop being delusions when you have the strength to carry them out. Jack nd couldn¡¯t possiblypare to this. Paimon had an ideology, she acted to realize it, and she actually managed to seed. In the middle of this medieval era where kings and knights are running amok¨Dshe alone created a republic nation. What an aplishment. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to simply say that she was great. That was much toocking. Even as someone who learned about the original history of the world secondhand, I knew how much of a ridiculous and absurd delusion this was. And Paimon achieved this. ¡®¡­¡­!¡¯ At that moment, a current went through my brain. A theory that sounded ridiculous but could be usible. Rank 1 Great Demon Lord Baal, why did he leave the side with the Teuton Kingdom and the Republic of Batavia to Paimon on her 1st legion? A dreadful theory. A theory that was more ghastly than any other theory I¡¯ve ever had was put together in my head quickly. My throat felt parched. I drank some tea. I swallowed it down as calmly as I could. I then forced my mouth open. ¡°What rtionship¡­¡­do you have with Great Demon Lord Baal?¡± Paimon turned her gaze away from the sea and to me. She was awed. ¡°As expected, you are impressive. Truly surprising. But, yes.¡± She smiled shamefully. ¡°Thisdy is not in a position to be able to talk about that.¡± That response alone was enough to answer everything. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I squeezed everyst bit of strength I had left to maintain myposure. The strongest monarch of the Demon Lord army, Rank 1 Baal. The monarch with the strongest faction in the Demon Lord army, Rank 9 Paimon. These two individuals were in some sort of partnership. ¡®Damn it. Barbatos, did you know about this?¡¯ No. Barbatos most likely doesn¡¯t know about this. She respects Baal. She even refers to him affectionately as old man. Barbatos¡¯ attitude would¡¯ve beenpletely different if she knew that Paimon and Baal were colluding. The ins Faction doesn¡¯t know about their alliance¡­¡­. The other Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction probably don¡¯t know about it either. This changes everything. It doesn¡¯t matter what sort of ideals Paimon had until now. Paimon genuinely possessed a great amount of power. Not only did she lead the Mountain Faction, but she could control a nation in the human world from behind the curtain. Her influence probably spreads beyond the Batavia Republic and reaches out to the other republicans here and there throughout the continent. Adding to this¡­¡­although I don¡¯t know the details of their rtionship, Great Demon Lord Baal was supporting Paimon as well. ¡®This isn¡¯t a simple yes or no question now.¡¯ I gulped. ¡®I have to cooperate with her at all costs.¡¯ I had to take advantage of this. Her ideas don¡¯t have any persuasive power? That doesn¡¯t matter. An authoritative figure with the ability to influence both the Demon Lord army and the human army was standing right here in front of me. I have to gain her goodwill and make her trust me. For the sake of making this benefit me somehow. I was already resolved to create a close rtionship with Paimon. ¡°Dantalian, you asked thisdy earlier whether a republic could be established in the demon world or not, and, going beyond this, whether a republic of humans and demonsbined could be created or not. This is my answer.¡± She spread her arm out and pointed to the city. ¡°Yes, it is possible.¡± Paimon assured me. ¡°In the Republic of Batavia, we ept beings from other races as citizens. 20,000 elves and 30,000 dwarves are currently living with the humans in this city. 2,000 years ago, elves and dwarves were all treated as demons, but not today. Dantalian, what we treat as reality today was once nothing more than a dream in the past.¡± She spoke in a whimsical tone. ¡°Thisdy can say this as someone who has lived for over 2,000 years. Although time flows so slowly that it can asionally deceive our eyes, it still proceeds forward without a second of dy even now. Some people call this the flow of history. Others praise this as fate predetermined by the Goddess.¡± Paimon smiled modestly. ¡°Thisdy refers to this as the realization of a dream. Life is harsh and abject, thus it disappoints us constantly. Therefore, you and I, and eventually, every human and demon will be disappointed by life one day and stop dreaming entirely. However, that is not today. One day, this ideal will be nothing more than a shabby joke, and the day maye where we can no longer yell out what is right or wrong.¡± She looked at me. ¡°However, that day is not today.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°One day, every great g may fall along with everyst warrior. The Gods may depart thisnd and leave behind only revenge and deception to roam around the continent like specters. Mountains may be steeper and canyons may be deeper. Eventually, all of mankind may one day be ves. But that day is not today. ¨DSince the day of destruction is not today, we must go forward one step at a time while believing it will not be tomorrow either.¡± Paimon extended her right hand to me. ¡°Our feet are meant for going somewhere and our hands are meant for holding on to something. This is what thisdy believes. If they are not meant for these things, then why do we Demon Lords have hands and feet when we are neither humans or demons?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantalian, please walk together with thisdy and grab hold of tomorrow.¡± I gazed silently at her white hand. Mares are a species that is able to freely control people¡¯s dreams. They tease and satisfy people with various types of pleasures and reside within their dreams. Keeping them happy eternally. However, the woman before me didn¡¯t want to stay in a dream and wished to step into reality. In order to turn reality into a dream. Thus, she was appropriately referred to as the Queen of Subi. ¡°I have¡­¡­one question.¡± There was one final thing that was bothering me. I opened my mouth in order to resolve it. In Dungeon Attack, Paimon betrayed demonkind. Why did she do this? I couldn¡¯t hold back my curiosity. ¡°Feel free to ask me anything.¡± ¡°This might sound like a somewhat peculiar question¡­¡­. I will most likely be unable to make you understand why I am asking this kind of question, but that does not change that this is a very important question. If possible, I wish for you to answer honestly.¡± Paimon¡¯s expression became serious. She gave me a solemn nod. I carefully selected my words as I spoke. ¡°For example¡­¡­let us say that there is a very powerful human.¡± ¡°How powerful exactly?¡± ¡°Incredibly powerful. They are ten, no, a hundred times stronger than us. Even the strongest fighter of the empire, the Swordmaster is unable to defeat them. Only the corpses of demons lie in that human¡¯s path. Great Demon Lord Baal cannot defeat them alone either.¡± Paimon looked like she didn¡¯t really understand, but she didn¡¯t say anything about it. She had epted my request to take this question seriously. It wasn¡¯t surprising that she found this hard to believe; nheless, a hero like that was destined to appear in this world of Dungeon Attack. General Zepar will die to their de and Brother Beleth will also fall in battle. Barbatos will be beheaded and Paimon, you will also die a cold death. The Demon Lord army will then get chased off of the continent. ¡°That human cleverly faces us Demon Lords one person at a time. We have no other choice but to fall one by one. At that rate, every Demon Lord will end up dying. In this situation, Miss Paimon¡­¡­if you found yourself in this sort of situation, then what would you do?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon brought her hand to her chin. She tilted her head twice. ¡°Can our Demon Lord army note together to attack them?¡± ¡°No, we cannot. They do not lead an army. They will either work alone or with a small group of at most 15 people to attack us.¡± ¡°Therefore¡­¡­a group that is able to take us out one by one with only 15 people. You are telling me to imagine a group like this.¡± I nodded. Paimon fell into deep thought. ¡°Can we erase them politically?¡± ¡°The strongest monarch of the human world trusts thempletely.¡± ¡°Mm. Is the human world unified in this situation?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No.¡± ¡°In this situation presented by you, which nation does this strongest monarch rule? Is it the Habsburg Empire? Or perhaps the Anatolia Empire?¡± ¡°¡­¡­The Habsburg Empire. Not like the empire that has currently been defeated by the Crescent Alliance, but an empire that has grown to be a powerful nation.¡± The corners of Paimon¡¯s mouth twitched as she audibly hummed in rumination. ¡°Then thisdy would divide the human world.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Habsburg Empire is located in the center of the continent. If they are powerful, then their authority should be able to reach the far corners of the continent, but this also means that they would have a lot of enemies around them. Yes. Thisdy would incite either the Frank Empire or the Kingdom of Brittany to action.¡± I was in silent awe. Paimon was nowpletely focused on my hypothesized scenario as she continued. ¡°It would be dangerous to let the Habsburg Empire grow any further. You all must actively keep this nation in check. One of the two nations will undoubtedly take the bait. If thisdy is lucky, then I might be able to lead the two nations into forming an alliance. Like this, I would induce the humans to go to war with one another. Thisdy would use the opportunity presented to us by the human world falling into chaos by getting rid of that powerful human.¡± Was that it? Were you the culprit behind the human world¡¯s division in Dungeon Attack? While a majority of the Demon Lords were helplessly being ughtered by the hero¨D. ¡°So, Dantalian? Would it not be possible with this?¡± Paimon. You were plotting the hero¡¯s political demise more seriously than anyone else. ¡°¡­¡­Certainly, that is an absolutely splendid idea. Unfortunately, even that method will fail. The monarch who rules Habsburg is so formidable, that they bring both the Frank Empire and the Kingdom of Brittany to ruin.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± Paimon nced at me. ¡°How could such a ruler possibly exist? The premise of a human being stronger than Baal is already hard to believe, but a ruler that is powerful enough to practically unite the entire continent as well? That is impossible. In that situation, even if we managed to kill that strong human, would that ruler not be the bigger threat? There would still be a problem even if that strong human were to die.¡± ¡°Please ept that impossibility as a part of the premise.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Paimon groaned as she mulled over it further. I wonder how many minutes have passed. She let out a sigh andughed weakly. ¡°Well, then thisdy will sell her body.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Regardless of that human¡¯s gender, thisdy is the Queen of Subi. I am confident in my ability to bring down at least a single human. I will pretend to be as affectionate as possible with that human in order to gain their trust. Afterward, I will do various things in order to make them love me.¡± Like this. ¡°If this does not work either, then I surrender. Fufu. Thisdy cannot think of any other method.¡± All of my questions were answered. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel like I was going to say something here, but I forgot. I did want toment in thest chapter about how surprised I was to see all those foreignments, but that slipped my mind. I usually write the TL notes for these chapters as soon as I wake up, so I naturally forget about a lot of things. I should probably do something about that like write these a day earlier. Oh well. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 149: Traitor (5) Chapter 149: Traitor (5) I had fully trusted the information I had gained from the game until now. For example, the Demon Lord army being split into various factions like the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction was new information to me. However, it was simply new. It didn¡¯t conflict with the information I had from the game. The information that appeared in and the information that I obtained here; they never conflicted with one another. Thanks to this, I was able to make use of the ck Death and also deal a huge blow on Imperial Princess Elizabeth. It was different for Paimon. It was weird if you thought about it. The protagonist and Paimon met for the first time in a human city. The Rank 9 Demon Lord was visiting a city and the hero just happened to be there as well. The two then met coincidentally and became acquainted. How much of this was a coincidence? Was it actually a coincidence¡­¡­? I hadn¡¯t questioned this. It was a game scenario, after all. A coincidence of that degree was eptable. However, this wasn¡¯t just a game now. This was reality. Could coincidences like that happen in reality? Why did the leader of the Mountain Faction who was also one of the most influential Demon Lords visit a human city, and what were the chances that she would also meet the hero? Paimon made this meeting happen. She approached the hero intentionally¡­¡­this hypothesis sounded much more usible. A chill went down my spine once more. I had a rough memory of what Paimon said to the protagonist in the game. She whispered so sweetly into the hero¡¯s ears. ¨C Yes, thisdy is a Demon Lord. I deceived you. But is that a problem? Thisdy loves you. Regardless of our difference in race, status, and whether we are allies or enemies, thisdy loves you wholeheartedly. Thisdy has loved you since the moment I firstid eyes on you and will continue to do so. ¨C Hah, really. If it were not for thisdy, then you would already be dead. Humans are also rather unsightly. You are their hero. The person who saved the continent. Why would they try to kill a person like you¡­¡­? Humans are irreparably foolish, I see. At the very least, we demons do not betray our kind. This was all an act. ¨C Humans are truly amazing! I heard that there is a republic nation in the human world. They say that humans, elves, and dwarves live equally without any discrimination there. To have equality with no discrimination¡­¡­. One day, this day will arrive for demons and humans. I am sure of it. ¨C In thisdy¡¯s final moment¡­¡­would you at least bestow thisdy a kiss? In the end, she took the protagonist¡¯s first kiss. It wasn¡¯t his lord the Imperial Princess or his childhood friend the mage. It was the hero¡¯s enemy that took it, a Demon Lord. Even in her final moment, Paimon pleaded for her archenemy¡¯s love. Thest thing she felt during her final breath was most likely the hero¡¯s lips. What could¡¯ve been going through her mind at that moment? A pubescent confession of love, blushing cheeks, and a final kiss. Hundreds of lines and thousands of gestures. What did this subus feel as she put on this performance? This will forever be a mystery¡­¡­. ¡°But no matter how much you think about it, that ruler of Habsburg would be the bigger issue. Even if you bring that strong human to your side or barely manage to kill them, that would not get rid of the actual problem. You would have to alienate the two of them somehow¡­¡­. Honestly, thisdy may be confident in political schemes, but not in normal schemes. This is quite an issue.¡± Paimon was still talking about the theoretical situation seriously. She probably has no idea what I¡¯m currently thinking about. Iughed. ¡°Yes, you certainly do seemcking when ites to schemes.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you making fun of me? I even gave you a serious response.¡± ¡°No, I was being genuine.¡± I shrugged. ¡°You founded a republic nation. That is impressive. But why was it done so simplemindedly? You got into an excessive amount of conflicts with the nations around you. If it were me, then I would have made the continent fall into chaos first. For example, it would have been easier to establish a nation during a war with the Crescent Alliance.¡± ¡°B-But.¡± Paimon furrowed her brows. ¡°If I did that, then we would have been targeted by the human alliance.¡± ¡°You could have been a supplier for the human army. Amstel could have offered the human army financial support. You had the ability to control the Mountain Faction, in other words, you could have made the war continue endlessly. This would have resulted in the humans bing more desperate for money. You could have then made Amstel im various types of rights one by one aspensation for providing supplies.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± That¡¯s right. This should have been more than possible if Paimon and Baal were working together. A revolution? Why would you do something so arduous? It would have been better to take advantage of the war. ¡°Especially when ites to knights, they may be powerful but they use up a lot of money. If it were me, I would have made the knights indebted to me and coerced them into epting my demands. Oh right. Come to think of it, it seemed like you also had connections with the church. You should have used them!¡± Oh dear, it seems like I was having fun with this now. Paimon¡¯s situation was much closer to that of a yer than my situation. Not only did she have more than enough authority in the demon world, but she could also influence the human world. Furthermore, she had ample funding and was well-connected. Couldn¡¯t she quite literally live however she wants? ¡°The churches are also in the position of supporting the war with the Crescent Alliance. However, they would also suffer from financial pressure. I would aim for that. I would make the churches issue me an indulgence.¡± ¡°An indulgence¡­¡­?¡± ¡°A certificate that deres that your sins have been pardoned. If you acquire this, then that shows how loyal you are to God. Blocking the wicked Crescent Alliance is God¡¯s will, thus participating in the defense against the Crescent Alliance would be serving God. You could just unt it around like this.¡± Paimon opened her mouth. ¡°There is no way¡­that the churches would be so corrupted.¡± ¡°Humans would more than dly be corrupted if they are given the right amount of pretext. This is for the sake of humanity and the continent. I am absolutely not doing this for money¡­¡­. Well, would it not be simple to corrupt them? You have to do things like this at first for things to eventually go smoothly. Although your life would gradually be busier. It is rather easy to make money if you throw around God¡¯s name.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Divine power exists in this world. Your divine power bes stronger the more faith you have. People are able toe in contact with God¡¯s power. It was probably because of this that people didn¡¯t doubt the existence of God. This was why priests had a lot of authority. The more faith they have, the easier it was to turn them into fanatics. To defend humanity from the wicked Demon Lords. Could there be a cause nobler than this? Priests would demand funding from nobles andmoners without reserve. Even those priests would find themselves slowly falling under the charm of money¡­¡­. War is quite an excellent business opportunity. ¡°Even if they sell indulgences, that would not be enough to cover all of their war expenses. They would reach a limit. This is where Amstel could have stepped in. Amstel could have purchased the indulgences in mass. Whether it be 100,000 gold or 1,000,000 gold, you could have poured it all in. The churches would have probably praised Amstel for being a city that had devoted itself to humanity! May you forever be blessed!¡± Iughed. Mm, I think my bipr disorder is back. I was getting worked up. I couldn¡¯t help it since I was a fan of . Out of the countless number of yers, only I knew about this secret lore. I was honestly ted. War of independence? A revolution? And what was the other one? A war for liberation? ¡°That would be it. Everything would be settled then. Why would you start a liberation war to ept other races as citizens? What a terrible thing to do. You could have just said this to the churches when you purchased the indulgences in mass for the second time: The other races in our city voluntarily donated to the cause.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Kuh. That¡¯s right. That was all you had to do. Money bes a tyrant the longer warsts. You could have reached a point where you could buy the rights for the other races with money. You would have helped humanity and served God which makes for the perfect justifications. The knights who had be indebted to Amstel and the churches that are basically the mental leaders of the continent would have acknowledged the other races. Nothing is impossible if you have the proper justifications and authority. ¡°Finally, you could have started a diplomatic game around the end of the war. The leaders of the human army would most likely start to fear the end of the war. The day they would have to pay back their debt would arrive, after all. At that moment, you could have simply whispered to them: Free a couple of cities and we will write off the debt.¡± Aah. That¡¯s it. Amstel was probably affiliated with another nation at that point. Was it the Frank Empire? The Teuton Kingdom? I¡¯m not sure, but it was definitely a part of another nation. Nheless, even that nation would be unable to refuse when numerous knight brigades and churches request Amstel¡¯s independence. Well, you could also lobby actively to the higher-ups of that nation¡­¡­this would let them save face as well. How about giving the indulgences Amstel had purchased to that nation for free? At most, they¡¯re just pieces of paper, but they have quite the symbolic meaning. A nation that gave up some of its territories for the sake of humanity and God. This should let them maintain their dignity. See? Everyone would have gotten a happy ending. The churches would have been happy to receive money, the nations and knights would have fewer campaign funds, and most importantly, Amstel would have had a really good rtionship with the higher-ups of almost every nation. They would have obtained a strong diplomatic presence. Well, it would take an immense amount of money to aplish this¡­¡­butpared to going to war for several decades for things like independence and liberation, this would have probably taken the same amount of money but for less effort. It would have been simple once you got the ball rolling. The Crescent Alliance went on an expedition several times. You could have liberated a city or two under the pretext of war funding each time they did. It wouldn¡¯t have taken long to obtain about 13 cities. Paimon¡¯s republic nation would have probably gone down in the history books as the noblest republic in the word, the guardian of mankind, and servant of God¨Dthe great Republic Alliance of Batavia. Let others do the fighting. The blessed nation of Batavia! Buy everything with money! ¡°Fantastic¡­¡­what an amazing n. No, it would be troubling to stop here. I would then nt seeds of jealousy and dissatisfaction throughout the continent. The envy of nobles andmoners is an impressive thing, is it not? We also bought indulgences and made sacrifices to protect humanity. Why was Batavia the only one to gain independence? Why is it that only the citizens of Batavia are able to bask in freedom?¡­¡­Fantastic, this would have been truly splendid.¡± The unity of mankind would gradually break apart each time the Crescent Alliance invaded. I was certain of this. ¡°There is no better fertilizer than jealousy and envy to make a republic grow rapidly. You could have won over republicans and made them start revolutions in their own nations. Chaos would sweep through the continent. The kingdoms of the human world would be unable to ignore these revolutions¡­¡­. The nobles would split into sides and themoners would rise up. Ah, the Crescent Alliance cannot attack during this time. You were finally able to start an internal discourse, so adding amon enemy to that would be troubling¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantalian.¡± A pair of cold hands gently pressed against my cheeks. ¡°Huh?¡± I quickly came back to my senses. Paimon was grabbing my cheeks with her hands. Our eyes met. Her gaze looked somewhat fuzzy. ¡°Did you know? This was when Barbatos and thisdy were still friends. As you know, Barbatos is an irreparable lesbian. Thisdy is also simr to her, so we would asionally enjoy each other¡¯spany.¡± What a shock! Barbatos and Paimon were a couple in the past! This shock was 26 times stronger than when I discovered that Paimon was a republican. ¡°I-Is that so? How should I say it? That is a very, very big surprise.¡± ¡°Rather than lovers, we were more like friends. We wouldfort one another whenever one of us craved the touch of skin. During those times, we would often joke around. In the rare chance, although it soundspletely ridiculous, in the rare chance that we fall for a man, what sort of person would that man be?¡± Paimon smiled. Huh? Why does this feel like deja vu¡­¡­? ¡°When I heard that Barbatos had a male lover, I thought it would be something strictly unique to Barbatos. Fufu. But to think our tastes would match even here. Truly, I wonder what sort of rtionship thisdy had with Barbatos in our previous lives. There is no fate as entric as this.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°Please close your eyes.¡± I wasn¡¯t even given the time to close my eyes. Paimon raised her heels and kissed me. I couldn¡¯t resist. The way she moved made it clear that this wasn¡¯t her first time. Her movement felt incredibly natural. I felt internally shocked as I stared into her face. Her eyes were closed. Why do these Demon Lord women never care about my consent? They both kept calling each other their archrivals and yet they both do the exact same thing! Don¡¯t tell me that you two never actually had a bad rtionship. At the very least, Paimon didn¡¯t insert her tongue. It seems she simply enjoyed the touch of the lips. She was a gentlemanpared to Barbatos. I guess you could call this a type of sce¡­¡­. No, Paimon is the Subus Queen. She might do something like Barbatos did when she used her lust spell. Damn it. Please give me an opportunity to save face¡­¡­. I couldn¡¯t do much to resist as I simply waited for time to pass¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, there you go. Paimon is now an official member. An official member to what you may ask? You already know. On another note, this chapter was a bit annoying to trante cause of Dantalian¡¯s monologue about what he would¡¯ve done. A fair bit of tense switches. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 150: Traitor (6) Chapter 150: Traitor (6) *** Quite some time had passed before Paimon finally raised her head. A wet sensation remained on my lips. ¡°Thisdy prefers to strike while the iron is hot, though.¡± She smiled shyly. ¡°I have never been the one to ask first. My pride as the Subus Queen is on the line, after all. If you asked for it first, then thisdy would more than dly offer her body¡­¡­. How about it?¡± ¡°I respectfully decline.¡± I shook my hand from side to side. I have never seen something goode out of letting a female y with one¡¯s middle leg thoughtlessly. Furthermore, you want me to be a guy who has rtions with both Barbatos and Paimon? That would be insane. I would meet a political end almost immediately. I don¡¯t want to voluntarily buy an express ticket to the Styx river. ¡°Mm. Your defenses are higher than I expected.¡± Paimon furrowed her brows as if she were disappointed by my reaction. ¡°Do you perhaps have a preference for younger bodies like Barbatos¡¯? This is a dream. Thisdy could change her figure for you.¡± ¡°I absolutely do not have such a preference.¡± Although I ended up bing lovers with Barbatos and Laura, people with smaller figures, ever since I fell into this world, it was not intentional. This was definitely the doing of some sort of cosmic entity that was messing with fate. My sexual preferences are absolutely normal. Seriously. Damn it. Paimon pouted. ¡°Very well, then. The moment you conquer an impregnable fortress is when you bask in the most satisfaction. Making the first man Barbatos has ever taken as a lover kneel before thisdy and plead¡­¡­Fufu. Now that will truly be an amazing sight. I am looking forward to it.¡± Please don¡¯t look forward to it. I was now certain. Be it the Mountain Faction or the ins Faction, the brains of every high-ranking Demon Lord were dyed pink with lust. Barbatos was literally the most perverted, BDSM-loving, loli bitch, the blonde and unaffiliated Rank 4 Demon Lord Gamigin was a masochist, and the woman before me was a woman who didn¡¯t lose out to her past lover when it came to perverseness. I don¡¯t understand why these three split into groups. They shouldbine their factions and create the Perverted Party. I guarantee you that they would be able to unify the Demon Lord army without shedding a single drop of blood if they did this. Would that not be amazing? These Demon Lords were all the same¡­¡­. I emphasize this often, but you can¡¯t find a Demon Lord as reliable and sincere as me. ¡°I will be in your care, Miss Paimon.¡± ¡°Indeed, Dantalian. Let us work together for the sake of each other¡¯s goals.¡± We shook hands. ¡°Additionally, I hope that we are able to have a close rtionship even behind closed doors.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is, uh, an honor.¡± How persistent! I¡¯m a man who knows how to manage his sexual desires. I have a rational head on my shoulders. I won¡¯t be tempted no matter how much Paimon wags her tail. However, I was a little curious. Paimon¡¯s affection towards me was somewhat low. Considering her personality, she doesn¡¯t seem like someone who would just kiss anyone. ¡®Status.¡¯ I decided to check Paimon¡¯s status window just in case. Her affection was probably low, so I was most likely only going to be able to see her basic stats. If this was the case, then that would make this incredibly terrifying as it would mean that Paimon was tricking me even now. She could be pretending as she did with the hero. Nheless, my concerns were wiped outpletely. ¨C Ding! ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Paimon Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ Affiliation: Paimon¡¯s Demon Lord Army, Mountain Faction, Liberation Alliance Attribute: Evil(-34) Level: 349¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 5354100 Job: Demon Lord(S), Dungeon Manager(A+), Archmage(Ruin) Leadership: 300¡¡¡¡Might: 224 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 107 Politics: 448¡¡¡¡Charm: 572¡¡¡¡Technique: 349 Affection: 44 Current thought: ¡®Should I just do him here? Hm.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ I¡¯m not sure why, but Paimon¡¯s affection was at 44. I didn¡¯t understand. ¡®I never saw a notification window telling me that Paimon¡¯s affection had gone up, though?¡¯ More importantly, her stat points were distributed very unevenly. Her politics and charm stats were abnormally high. This exined why, ording to her, she specialized in political schemes but not in normal schemes. It makes sense that she was able to be the leader of the greatest faction in the Demon Lord army with stats like those. ¡­¡­Her current thought worried me, but I decided to ignore it for now. I kept having a sense of deja vu. I did my best to calm down before asking a question. ¡°Pardon me, Miss Paimon, but what about me do you like exactly?¡± ¡°What an abrupt question.¡± Paimon pondered for a moment before speaking. ¡°Well, back when you were giving the ceremonial speech for the Crescent Alliance, I fully believed that you could be thisdy¡¯s ally.¡± ¡°Ah, so it was from back then.¡± It happened in the middle of the speech, huh? It was probably immediately after I defeated the imperial princess. Thousands of notice windows washed over me at that time telling me about the affection points of all sorts of people. I couldn¡¯t possibly check each and every notification, so I turned them off all at once. So Paimon¡¯s affection notice was one of them¡­¡­.It wasn¡¯t surprising that I failed to notice it. ¡°Do you have no more questions? All right. Then it is time for me to introduce you.¡± ¡°Huh? Introduce me?¡± ¡°We are many and we are also one.¡± An unreadable smile appeared on Paimon¡¯s lips. ¡°It is time to wake up, Dantalian.¡± Flick, she snapped her fingers. My eyes opened at that moment. The white void was nowhere to be seen now. All I could see was the carriage¡¯s ck ceiling in front of me. It was night. I hastily raised my upper body. Lapis was sleeping peacefully on the other side of the carriage. Only the sound of Lapis¡¯ regr breathing resonated quietly throughout the carriage. ¡­¡­Did I wake up from a dream? It was weird. It felt like a lot of time had passed, but it also felt like only a moment had passed. My head felt clear as if I had gotten a good night¡¯s rest. I got up slowly as my body moved subconsciously. I then carefully opened the door to the carriage. ¡°Wee, Dantalian.¡± There, standing in front of me, was Paimon in a ck dress. It wasn¡¯t only her. There were about a dozen other people lined up behind her. They were all wearing ck robes. They were standing solemnly and in silence which made me feel like I was at a funeral. We were in the ruins of a castle. The campfire was no longer burning, so with only the pale light from the moon shining down on her¨DPaimon grabbed the ends of her dress and curtseyed as if she were thedy of this castle who had slipped through time. ¡°We are the Liberation Alliance. The one and only federation of the human world and the demon world.¡± Thud. The people who were standing upright behind Paimon brought their right hands to their chests in unison. ¡°As we believe that all living beings that are able to think rationally are equal, we have therefore decided to return the world back to its most basic state. We are partners that have decided to devote our blood and sweat into revolution until that fateful day arrives.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I was bewildered as I took in the scene before me. Starting from the person to my right, they started to speak in order. Their voices melted into the night sky. A person with a fuzzy beard bowed his head as he greeted me. ¡°It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness. This humble one goes by the name Stephan Timofeyevich. I am a mix between a ins elf and a human. I am in charge of the Liberation Alliance branch in the Kingdom of Moscow. I act as the suprememander of the Don Cossacks Cavalry. It is nice to meet you.¡± Next, it was a stout dwarf¡¯s turn to speak. ¡°This lowly one¡¯s name is Jack Bonhomme. I am from the Greenbeard dwarf n. I am the branch manager of the Frank Empire branch of the Liberation Alliance. I lead the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade. I have heard a lot about Your Highness.¡± ¡°Greetings. This one¡¯s name is Wat Tyler! I am in charge of the Liberation Army branch in the Kingdom of Bernicia!¡± Like this, they continued to introduce themselves one by one. Moscow, Frankia, Bernicia, Brittany, Castile, Sardinia, Habsburg, Teuton, Kalmar Union, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Anatolia¡­¡­and finally, a girl with dull blonde hair spoke. ¡°This humble one¡¯s name is Anna de Bis. I am the general manager of the Liberation Alliance and the branch manager of the Republic of Batavia. I also have the lowest seat among the 13mittee members of the nation. Please treat me well.¡± A total of 12 people. They were rooted deeply in every nation on the continent. One of them was the leader of arge nomadic tribe, another was a high-ranking government official of a kingdom, and another had a key position in the republic¡¯s power structure. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The republic that Paimon mentioned was a lotrger and deeply enrooted in key positions of every society than I expected. If these people were to act, then they could more than easily make the continent fall into chaos. I was at a loss for words as I imagined their capabilities. Paimon was the final person to speak. ¡°Thisdy is the leader of the Liberation Army. Rank 9 Demon Lord Paimon.¡± I barely managed to utter a response. ¡°I am the Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian.¡± ¡°Dantalian, can you swear to never reveal information about the Liberation Alliance even if a knife were to be ced against your throat?¡± This wasn¡¯t a simple oath swearing. There was probably a magical contract being applied here. That was what Paimon¡¯s gaze was saying. If I take a step forward here, then I will enter a world that I have never experienced before even in the game. The pieces of information that I had until now will no longer have as much strength as they did before. Therefore, my survival will be solely determined by my own abilities. While standing before this forked path, ¡°Yes, I swear.¡± I gave a firm response. Paimon smiled. ¡°From this point forth, you are now an eternalrade of the Liberation Alliance. Dantalian, I wee you.¡± She must¡¯ve prepared them beforehand as bottles of wine and wine cups were passed around. A wine that was as red as blood filled the cups. I thought to myself as I shared a toast with them. I can no longer predict future events. The impact of the ck Death was a lot weaker here than how it was supposed to be. The Crescent Alliance happened a whole decade early, and different from how it went in the game, the Demon Lord army was winning. Elizabeth, who was fated to be the ruler of the continent, had received a huge political blow. The rtions between nobles and farmers had deteriorated. And there were people here who craved for revolution. ¡°We are many and we are also one.¡± Paimon quietly raised her ss as she led the toast. It was the Liberation Alliance¡¯s slogan. ¡°For revolution.¡± They all shouted in unison. ¡°For revolution!¡± ¡°For revolution¨D!¡± Including me, all 14 people present emptied their cups instantly. We then threw our cups on the ground and shattered them. A custom from the Demon Lord army was also maintained in this organization. The ss cups shattered and glimmered as the moonlight reflected off of the many shards. ¡®Be it the ins Faction or the Mountain Faction, I¡¯ll use them all.¡¯ As this was what I have been doing. I will continue to do so. * * * Dawn approached. The members of the Liberation Alliance were gone. They used teleportation magic to return to where they belonged. Paimon remained until the very end and gave me some heavy words. ¡°The Liberation Alliance branches do not only exist in the human world.¡± ¡°They exist in the demon world as well, huh?¡± ¡°Thisdy knows what you have been going around and saying to the archdukes of hell.¡± Paimon smiled brightly. In other words, there was a republican among the archdukes as well. It was hard to fathom how far Paimon and Baal¡¯s reach went. I smiled bitterly on the inside as I saw Paimon off. I sat on a boulder as I stared out at the horizon. The sun was slowly rising. While I was basking in thenguidness of dawn, I heard a voice behind me. ¡°¡­¡­Sir Dantalian.¡± It was Lapis. I turned my head and grinned. I then returned my gaze to the horizon. Lapis naturally came to my side in silence. She also stared out at the horizon. I am sorry for causing you trouble. No, I am the one who should be sorry. I have no injuries because you covered me. That is naturally my role. ¡­¡­Lapis and I knew that we had no reason to go out of our way to share this kind of conversation. A single line. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Yes. Thank you very much.¡± Thanking each other like this was more than enough. The two of us silently watched the faint light of dawn rise up. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. God I love when just pressing enter to make a space between line doesn¡¯t work and it disappears when the post is published. Some people might be curious about why I would always put in like invisible ¦¯s as line gaps, but that¡¯s the reason. For some reason, just pressing enter to make the gaps works sometimes, but other times, it doesn¡¯t and gets deleted when the chapter is published. Single line gaps often work, but if I want to make the gap bigger, I have to resort to using the ¦¯s. WordPress just doesn¡¯t like line gaps. On another note, I might take a day off because I feel like I¡¯ve been burning myself out. I feel a tad tired. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 151: Age of Tyrants (1) Chapter 151: Age of Tyrants (1) ¡°We are at an extreme disadvantage.¡± Elizabeth von Habsburg, the Third Imperial Princess opened her mouth. The many generals of the empire were currently seated in a tent. Most of them were young. The old generals who had previously led the imperial army had all fallen inbat at the Battle of Austerlitz. The ones who reced them in the current imperial army of Habsburg were a bunch of youngmanders. One of them was listening to the imperial princess¡¯ strategy impassively, another was writing everything down seriously, and another person was chewing on some shells of wheat with his two feet on top of the table. There were all sorts of people gathered here. There was even someone who wasn¡¯t even wearing his military uniform properly. However, no one scolded him for being ill-mannered. All of them had obtained their positions through their skills alone, after all. ¡°The scorched earth policy is finally starting to have an effect as the legions of the Demon Lord army have split up in order to acquire provisions. Our time to strike has arrived.¡± Tap, Imperial Princess Elizabeth tapped on the operation map with a silver rod. ¡°An opportunity has finally arisen for our human army.¡± Just as she had said, the Demon Lord army had lost its pivot. The 2nd legion and the 6th legion were moving further apart. This was amon phenomenon that urred when you didn¡¯t have a supply group and utilizedrge and separated armies. You have to pige the area nearby since you don¡¯t have any supplies. The troops would split apart in order to get their own supplies. A young man with a gentle face spoke up at that moment. ¡°But, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Receive permission first before you make a remark, Medical Captain Kurz Schleiermacher.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± The young man scratched his blonde head awkwardly. ¡°My apologies. This one is still not ustomed tomon etiquette. ¡­¡­I request for the right to speak, Your Highness.¡± ¡°I allow it.¡± ¡°Thank you. The fact that the Demon Lord army has split apart is definitely good news for us; however, the same could be said for our side as well.¡± A few of the other generals nodded in agreement. The Demon Lord army wasn¡¯t the only side running short on supplies. The human army was also facing a severe shortage of supplies. The mercenary groups had started to ask for wheat instead of gold for their service fee, and the armies of other nations had sent requests out to their homnds for more supplies. In this situation, Imperial Princess Elizabeth made a major decision. ¨C Use the scorched earth policy as an excuse to pige the people. She had ordered her men to pige their own people. In this era, there were very few people who still believed that the military should protect the people. Soldiers prioritized the rulers more than anyone else. Furthermore, rather than protectingmoners, they were more meant for guarding nobles. However, a majority of the people who followed the imperial princess were a part of the republican party. They immediately opposed the moment the imperial princess gave that order. ¨C An army that attacks their own people should not exist! ¨C An army that is unable to protect mankind should not exist either. Answer me. Do we have any other options left besides using a scorched earth policy? If there is, then I will retract my order. ¨C ¡­¡­. The talented people under the imperial princess were allpetent individuals. And it was because they werepetent that they knew that they had no other choice. Under the pretext of ¡®if you stay here, then you will be ughtered mercilessly by the wicked monsters¡¯, the imperial soldiers of Habsburg made people settle somewhere. They called it resettlement, but it was no different from forcefully kicking them out. There were farmers who refused, saying that they would protect their homes with their lives, but the Imperial Princess remained firm. ¨C Those who resist will be dealt with using martialw. ¨C Your Highness! ¨C Calm yourself. Even I have a heart. Her subordinate discovered the pain that was in the imperial princess¡¯ eyes. This made the subordinate retract his words. That¡¯s right. His lord has always acted for the sake of the people even before the war. Even she possesses the heart of a human¡­¡­. The imperial princess¡¯ army gradually retreated from the central region of Habsburg. They used gueri tactics in response to the Demon Lord army¡¯s pursuit. She prolonged the battles for as long as possible and carried out the scorched earth policy with the intent to not leave even a single grain of wheat behind in the central region of the nation. One step back, one step back¨D. Finally, they had reached a point where they could retreat no further. They arrived at the imperial capital. ¡°Currently, the legions of the Demon Lord army are gathering here. The 2nd legion will most likely arrive first in two weeks and the remaining legions will most likely follow shortly after. Mmm. Would this not be an issue?¡± The young man known as Kurz Schleiermacher scratched his cheek. ¡°The enemy may currently be split apart, but they all have the imperial capital set as their goal. They will group up the more time passes. On the other hand, the human army does not have a single goal like that¡­¡­. Well, how much would the people of other nations fight for the sake of our capital¡­¡­?¡± That wasn¡¯t the only issue. A different general raised his hand. ¡°I would like to request the right to speak.¡± ¡°Granted.¡± ¡°Thank you, Your Highness. I apologize, but the armies of other nations are demanding that we shouldbe responsible for the supplies and provisions. The Demon Lord army is currently resupplying as they make their way to us. At the very least, they will most likely have enough provisions tost 15 days to a month.¡± However, the general continued. ¡°Our imperial army does not have that many provisions left.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? Our forces have enough supplies tost us 3 more months.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is only if we consider our imperial army.¡± The general cleared his throat. ¡°However, it is absolutely necessary for us to have the reinforcements from other nations in order to protect the capital¡­¡­. We do not have enough provisions to maintain the armies of other nations. Therefore, our imperial army of Habsburg has only one option left.¡± The imperial princess showed an interested smile. ¡°Oh? And what may that be?¡± ¡°We must not defend the capital. We must actively go on the offensive.¡± The general strengthened his tone as he continued. ¡°The legions of the Demon Lord army are drawing closer by each passing moment. However, this also means that they have not arrived yet. There will be a gap in time between each of their arrival¡­¡­. We can aim for that gap in time to divide and conquer our enemy.¡± Divide and conquer five legions of the Demon Lord army. This was the only method left to protect the capital and, going beyond this, the fate of the empire. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The room became silent. The people here knew how ridiculous this strategy sounded. The imperial army of Habsburg was barely able to maintain its military strength at 10,000 soldiers. On the other hand, each legion of the Demon Lord army had tens of thousands of soldiers. ¡®Mm. Wouldn¡¯t that be impossible?¡¯ The blonde man, Kurz Schleiermacher smiled bitterly. If youpared a human soldier with an orc soldier, then thetter would obviously be stronger¡­¡­. Thus, even if a legion only had thousands of soldiers, they could still stand a chance against the imperial army of Habsburg. Even if you tried to be optimistic, the best you could expect was a draw. ¡®To fight and win against enemy forces with the same military strength as us five times consecutively¡­¡­Jeez. That¡¯s impossible even if the Goddess were to help us, Your Lordship.¡¯ Kurz shook his head. It was impossible no matter how much he thought about it. Ever since the Crescent Alliance and the human allied forces first fought, the Habsburg Empire had fought exceedingly well. They fought so well that it would be fine for the other nations to praise them. Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth was a genius when it came to military tactics, and instead of her genius bing duller as the war continued, it became even sharper. While every other army was being defeated over and over again, only the army led by the imperial princess continued toe out victorious. If you consider the blow she received during the ceremonial speeches, this was an amazing feat. ¡®But there is a clear line between the usible and imusible-.¡¯ It would be difficult for even Imperial Princess Elizabeth to attack the Demon Lord armies one by one. This, Kurz was certain of. ¡®This is a problem. A big problem. Haha.¡¯ He didn¡¯t particrly care whether his homnd was destroyed or not. Even if humanity were to fall into ruin, he would simply shrug it off as a slight inconvenience. Humanity and nations were nothing more than absurd jokes to him anyway. These sorts of jokes were mostly boring. However, he was curious. ¡®What will you do, Imperial Princess?¡¯ He nced at the imperial princess¡¯ face. ording to the information Kurz had, the imperial princess was the mostpetent genius in the world. He couldn¡¯t imagine someone being superior to her. To Kurz¨Dthe imperial princess was the peak of humanity. The most valuable human. How was the peak of humanity going to respond to this situation? Kurz couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity. If the imperial princess was not averse to the impossibility of this challenge, then so be it. Kurz was ready to ept her decision. He would dly go to the frontlines with the imperial princess and sever the heads of orcs and stab the chests of goblins. He could die there¡­¡­and the imperial princess could die as well. This could result in the capital being taken and humanity being destroyed¡­¡­but who cares? That would be the limit of humanity. He would humbly ept that, in the end, humans were a species that could only go that far. ¡®Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to fall into despair or let out a sigh, Your Highness.¡¯ He smiled in secret. On the other hand, he was also full of anticipation. The thought of being able to witness the peak of humanity¡¯s face crumble in despair! That would be the despair of humanity itself. Not only would it be the cruelest piece of art, but that would also make it the most beautiful masterpiece. When Kurz saw the imperial princess¡¯ face. ¡®¡­¡­!¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help but be in silent shock. ¡®She¡¯s impassive¡­¡­even in a situation like this?¡¯ There wasn¡¯t even a single fragment of emotion on the imperial princess¡¯ face. An incredibly cold and emotionless expression was all that was on her face. ¡®I can¡¯t believe it.¡¯ Kurz couldn¡¯t understand. He knew how much the imperial princess loved the people and cherished mankind, and that this current situation they were facing was a crisis that threatened the imperial princess¡¯ most important things. Everyone fears losing their most important things. Humans could remain aloof before life-threatening situations if they have something they value more than their own lives. However, if something more important than their lives¡­¡­. For example, the Goddess to priests. That¡¯s right. It¡¯s a bit ridiculous to say, but let¡¯s say the Goddess was dying before some priests. Could the priests maintain their impassive demeanors then? If you torture the father of a filial son or ughter a lord before their vassals, would they be able to remain emotionless in these situations? That would be impossible. However, the imperial princess was calm. It wasn¡¯t a calmness that came after having given up on everything, but a calmness that came fromposing oneself. Was this superhuman patience and self-control truly possible¨Dfor a mere human mortal? ¡®There must be something!¡¯ An electric current flowed through Kurz¡¯s spine. ¡®She must have some sort of n to defeat the Demon Lord army!¡¯ It wasn¡¯t only Kurz who noticed this. Once they noticed the imperial princess remain silent no matter how much time passed, the other generals slowly raised their heads. They were slightly perplexed as they tried to grasp the imperial princess¡¯ mood. The imperial princess then spoke. ¡°I have a method to stop the Demon Lord army.¡± She spoke in apletely t tone. ¡°We will give up on the capital. All soldiers of the Habsburg Empire, will immediately leave the capital and retreat further.¡± The sound of shock spread throughout the tent. Kurz found himself speaking unconsciously. Hepletely forgot about asking for the right to speak. ¡°Y-Your Highness, what do you mean by that? Give up on the capital?¡± ¡°I will say it again. From this day forth, our Habsburg imperial army will abandon the capital of Vindobona.¡± All of the generals stood up in unison once the imperial princess confirmed her words. They were all worked up. ¡°Your Highness! I object!¡± ¡°The capital is the heart of Habsburg! A nation cannot breathe without its heart!¡± Nheless, the imperial princess did not falter as she continued. No, it wasn¡¯t just that she didn¡¯t falter. It was hard to notice, but Kurz saw the imperial princess¡¯ lips go up in a smile ever so slightly. ¡°If the capital is the heart of Habsburg, then we will move that heart.¡± ¡°This humble one cannot fathom Your Highness¡¯ intent¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Evacuate all of the citizens. Force them out. Furthermore, in order to acquire more funding, dig up the graves of previous rulers. And finally, in order to not leave anything behind for the Demon Lord army¨D.¡± The imperial princess concluded. ¡°After we finish retreating, we will burn the entire capital down.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Why did Kurz have to be a recurring character? It¡¯s so hard to remember his dangst name. I usually have to go to a previous chapter with his name in it to copy it. We¡¯re back to the build up part of the segment where things aren¡¯t incredibly interesting. Although that¡¯s probably just a personal opinion. I sort of ended up doing this chapter anyway even though I mentioned taking a break. A true gamer moment. Well, if you see a chapter take a bit longer than usual, I probably decided to take a day off. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 152: Age of Tyrants (2) Chapter 152: Age of Tyrants (2) Everyone remained quiet due to the overwhelming deration. They were being told to throw away the capital city that had a history of 500 glorious years. They had to force out the citizens of the capital who harbored that glory in their hearts¨Das if they were chasing out a bunch of animals. To make matters worse, they were ordered to also dig up the graves of previous emperors for the sake of money. A tyrant. Kurz gulped. The same word was going through the heads of all the generals who were currently seated in the tent. Someone spoke up amidst the cold silence. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, we understand well how much you wisely cherish your men.¡± Kurz quickly turned to face the deputy officer, Baron Wittenmyer. He was famous for having gray hair despite being young. He constantly looked somber due to the bags under his eyes. ¡®It¡¯s the smarty-pants general.¡¯ Kurz mentally clicked his tongue. It wasn¡¯t just the members of the Imperial Princess Faction that was present. Talented individuals who were once from either the 1st or 2nd Imperial Prince¡¯s factions or took a step back from the disputes entirely were all gathered here. Among them, Baron Wittenmyer was a young man who was once fervently on the Crowned Prince¡¯s side before converting to the Imperial Princess Faction. Kurz Schleiermacher couldn¡¯t help but be ufortable around Baron Wittenmyer. The Baron was a bit too ethical for his taste. Kurz heard that Baron Wittenmyer had never gone out with a woman before, so he wondered what type of joy the Baron could possibly be living for. ¡°Your Highness wakes up before anyone else and sleepster than anyone else. During this time of desperation where our soldiers are starving, themanding officers of other nations are eating extravagant meals like grilled pork, and yet, Your Highness alone eats the same meals as everyone else.¡± ¡°That was a slight act of hypocrisy.¡± The Imperial Princess responded without any hesitation. Kurz Schleiermacher was in awe as he listened in on their conversation. The Imperial Princess had openly called her good deed an act of hypocrisy. Could any other ruler do the same? Kurz knew that genuine good will was only born when someone was capable of admitting their hypocrisy. Baron Wittenmyer continued. ¡°Indeed. Your Highness refuses to wear borate military uniforms and wears frayed, ck outfits like ay priest. Your bedding is also simr to that of low-ranking officers¡­¡­Of course, I know that that is a way to show a type of military order.¡± ¡°Baron Wittenmyer!¡± An older general shouted. ¡°It is fine.¡± The Imperial Princess raised her right hand to stop the older general. Her eyes signaled Wittenmyer to keep talking. ¡°However, simr to how some lies are mixed in with every truth, I believe that some pieces of the truth are also mixed in with every lie. The ability to skillfully manipte truth and lies¡­¡­Your Highness may refer to this as hypocrisy, but I would dare to say that that is the virtue of a great ruler.¡± Isn¡¯t this smarty-pants saying something rather nice? Kurz¡¯s attitude changed. Smarty-pants Wittenmyer wasn¡¯t making an argument against throwing the capital away, nor was he talking about how we should maintain the empire¡¯s dignity. The Baron carried on. ¡°My insight may be short, but I am certain that Your Highness is more befitting to be a ruler than anyone else. The fact that someone of your caliber would make such a tyrannical decision¡­¡­I am certain that there must be some advantages and disadvantages to your decision. I wish to know the pros and cons that Your Highness has considered.¡± Baron Wittenmyer gazed around the room. ¡°I believe that the others here are also equally curious.¡± The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. People were no longer denouncing the Imperial Princess for giving a tyrannicalmand. They were now simply curious to know why their wise lord would make such a rash decision. They all turned to look at the imperial princess with a serious gaze. ¡®Wow. As expected of the smarty-pants.¡¯ Kurz Schleiermacher was honestly impressed. The Baron had stepped forward in everyone¡¯s stead. He first went a little far as he taunted the Imperial Princess¡¯ virtue. Once he did, those loyal to the Imperial Princess were enraged. This alone was able to slightly alter the mood of the room. Immediately after, he revealed that his taunt was actually apliment. He did so by saying that every truth had some lies hiding underneath and how that was the virtue of a ruler. Everyone here knew how to look at the world pragmatically. They knew that that was truly the virtue of a great leader. Everyone agreed with Baron Wittenmyer¡¯s underlying intent. They also asked the same question¡­¡­. Why had the Imperial Princess decided upon a n that sounded nothing but self-satisfying? Was there something to gain from it? ¡®He¡¯s so formtive that I almost wouldn¡¯t have noticed.¡¯ Kurz acknowledged that the mood had changed thanks to the smarty-pants. He had escaped from the shock and was now simply waiting for the Imperial Princess to open her mouth. Imperial Princess Elizabeth spoke. ¡°Baron Wittenmyer, answer my question. What would our Habsburg Empire lose by abandoning the capital?¡± ¡°Understood. By abandoning the capital, there will be three types of losses: short-term, mid-term, and long-term.¡± Baron Wittenmyer answered without any hesitation. ¡°First, in terms of short-term losses, we would estrange our public sentiment. We have already erased almost half of our nation¡¯snd through our scorched earth policy. Arge portion of the citizens who lost their homes have created refugee camps near the capital. The public sentiment around the capital is already incredibly unstable¡­¡­. If we announce that we would also be abandoning the capital, the symbol of the empire, then the people would undoubtedly start a rebellion.¡± The other generals nodded. That¡¯s right. A rebellion started by the people was probably the biggest thing they had to fear. Normally, you could subdue them by using military force, but the current situation was not good. ¡°The Demon Lord army would be approaching us from the outside while our people would be stirring on the inside. Adding to this, although there are not that many left, the existing members of the 1st and 2nd Imperial Princes¡¯ factions would try to take advantage of this. The empire will fall into ruin.¡± ¡°What are the mid-term losses?¡± ¡°The administration within the empire will almost entirely be destroyed.¡± The Baron answered seriously. ¡°The administration is not simply handled between vassals. Where a report has to go, where tasks are handled collectively, and what sort of procedures policy ns have to go through, all of these things are managed within the administration. If we abandon the capital¡­¡­then the empire will continue to be in a drastic state of chaos even if we manage to suppress the rebellion.¡± As expected from the deputy officer who handles the military administration. The Imperial Princess asked another question while the others were giving another nod. ¡°What are the long-term losses?¡± ¡°Humans would no longer have the strength to fight back against the Demon Lord army. It has been half a year since that ursed Demon Lord gave his speech¡­¡­. Our situation is fairly better inparison, but there has been open discord between officers and soldiers in the armies of other nations. I heard that the degree of disorder caused by the insubordination is uncontroble.¡± The sound of groaning came from various ces in the room. The people here knew better than anyone else how it felt when soldiers did not trust theirmanders. For the past several months, they had to quite literally step out on the frontline in order to regain their soldiers¡¯ trust. There was a fair number of generals who fell in battle because of this as well¡­¡­. If the people present weren¡¯t both talented and lucky, they probably wouldn¡¯t have been seated here today. Baron Wittenmyer let out a small sigh. ¡°Your Highness is telling us to abandon the capital while we are in this situation. For what purpose are we moving the capital? The empire that should be protecting its people is running away to preserve the royal family¡­¡­. Our nation¡¯s dignity would plummet straight to hell. This would not only impact Habsburg. The people of other nations would also be disappointed when they see this. They would denounce us saying that this is simply what nobles do.¡± The Demon Lord army would actively make use of this and push humans back in terms of justification, the Baron concluded. ¡°I suggest that we all go out together and face a valiant end. We can evacuate the people while making the royal family and the nobles of the empire remain. Of course, some nobles will try to escape, but we will force them to stay. We will then face the Demon Lord army. Every noble of the empire will most likely fall in battle. The empire itself may fall as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°However, humanity will still have its pride.¡± A silence fell over the room. Kurz nodded. He had thought of that as well. Making the royal family, the knights, and every noble fall in battle while defending the capital was the most optimal option. Such a noble fall would make the aristocrats and themonerse together again. Sacrificing your flesh to strengthen the bones. But the flesh this time is them¡­¡­that would be it. Was there any other method than this? ¡°An excellent idea, Baron Wittenmyer.¡± ¡°Thank you very much.¡± ¡°However, I have a way to ovee all three of those losses.¡± The generals were surprised. The Imperial Princess looked around the room slowly, but her gaze felt as if she were staring far off into the distance. ¡°Demon Lord Dantalian said that I hadmitted something immoral. My reputation had plummeted. Despite this, you all continued to believe in me and followed me this far. Therefore, I believe that you all have the right to hear the truth.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I murdered the 4th Imperial Prince of Habsburg¡­¡­my little brother Robert.¡± The air froze. The generals looked at the Imperial Princess and at each other in bewilderment. ¡°That is absurd¡­¡­Your Highness, what do you mean¡­¡­?¡± Kurz couldn¡¯t tell who had spoken. It honestly didn¡¯t matter. It was a voice that was speaking for everyone here. ¡°I knew that I was different from everyone else around the age of 5. I could see things that others could not. However, a majority of other people were unable to see the things I could see. I then came to the conclusion that the empire will fall at that rate.¡± The tent became quiet. Ufortably quiet. Habsburg was still under the rule of the Emperor. However, he was confined by the Imperial Princess Faction. The 2nd Imperial Prince was also imprisoned in some secluded tower. In truth, Imperial Princess Elizabeth currently hadplete control of the empire. The highest person in the empire was talking about ruin¡­¡­. ¡°It is as Demon Lord Dantalian had said. Nobles are selfish and have no sense of responsibility or duty. Policies are fine as long as they benefit them. The royal family did nothing to disloyal subjects and loyal subjects were either ostracized or exiled to remote viges. We may have been called an empire, but we were actually a rotten corpse.¡± The Imperial Princess smiled bitterly. ¡°We required a massive reformation. My first goal was to stop the fight between heirs. At that time, there were 6 heirs to the throne excluding me. There were far too many heirs. ¡­¡­I dealt with 2 of them while Rudolf took care of the other 2.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­!?¡± Shock spread throughout the tent once more. The Imperial Princess mocked herself. ¡°As expected, the same blood flowed through our veins. I may have been different from my brother in every regard, but we were the same when it came to one thing: immorality. It would only make sense for me and my brother to fall straight to the bottom of hell.¡± There was a feeling of solitude lingering in the Imperial Princess¡¯ self-mocking face. ¡°Robert¡­¡­my little brother¡¯s maternal rtives were powerful. Grand Duke Brunswick was supporting him. The Grand Duke was definitely going to put Robert forward as a way to get involved in the battle for the throne. A powerful maternal rtive would only hinder the stability of the empire. Therefore, I killed Robert without any hesitation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He was a pure child. A child who had yet to evene in contact with things like the empire¡¯s politics or his maternal rtives. To Robert, I was simply a kind sister. Thus, Robert did not die as Habsburg¡¯s 4th Imperial Prince. He died as my, Elizabeth¡¯s little brother¡­¡­.¡± The Imperial Princess let out a dryugh. ¡°The Demon Lord was not wrong. I am a disgusting, murdering piece of trash. A monster that was born solely to protect our walking corpse of an empire. That is my true nature.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Wittenmyer is fine, I still hate typing Schleiermacher. Oh God, the day that I actually memorize how to spell that name is going to be depressing. I¡¯m going to feel defeated. Well, nothing else to really say, so I hope you guys have a great May. See you guys on the next chapter. Chapter 153: Age of Tyrants (3) Chapter 153: Age of Tyrants (3) A curtain of silence fell over the generals. They were allpetent nobles. In other words, they were people who survived by stepping on thepetition. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to find someone among them who had also secretly killed their sibling for the sake of safely inheriting their peerage. However, the peerage that was on the line for Elizabeth was emperor. It was obvious what she would do if youpared the stability of the empire with her little brother¡¯s life. It¡¯s a crime to kill one¡¯s younger sibling; however, nobles don¡¯t fear the act ofmitting crimes. They only fear having to make excuses for them. Don¡¯t make excuses and simply rush forward toward authority. This was the ideology of nobles. If you are unable to bear the me after havingmitted numerous crimes during your process to acquire authority, then that would be your limit. If you cannot avoid it, then harbor it. This was the same for Elizabeth von Habsburg. ¡°Why am I admitting to ying my kin? You must all be thinking this. I dere here and now that I will continue tomit immoral deeds.¡± She looked forward with a dark and cid gaze. ¡°Our Habsburg imperial army will raze the capital to the ground. However, I will not be the one to give this order. It will be His Majesty the Emperor.¡± ¡°The Emperor¡­¡­? Has Your Highness perhaps suggested this n to His Majesty the Emperor?¡± Baron Wittenmyer furrowed his brows. The Imperial Princess shook her head. ¡°Of course not. I am acting on my own. Tonight, I will lead my royal guards to attack the imperial pce. My father has already been confined, so we will simply be picking him up. We will then forge a royal order.¡± ¡°Forgery!?¡± The Baron gasped. The generals around him reacted in the same way. ¡°We will also be securing the 2nd Imperial Prince, my brother Ferdinand. The Emperor will make the order for the capital to be burned down while the 2nd Imperial Prince will be the one to carry it out. This will affect their public sentiment. At that time, I will be the only one to argue that we should protect the capital. ¡­¡­Of course, I am a devoted daughter who cannot go against her father.¡± Elizabeth let out a snort. ¡°I will argue that we must protect the empire¡¯s pride and our people, but it will be pointless. Elizabeth von Habsburg will shed tears of blood as she ultimately follows her father¡¯s orders. However, as a final protest, I will confine myself to my room.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness intends to turn all of the people¡¯s rage toward the royal family?¡± Wittenmyer asked. He couldn¡¯t hide the trembling in his voice; however, no one pointed it out. All of the other generals felt the same way, including Kurz Schleiermacher. The Imperial Princess spoke. ¡°Pige the richmoners, the merchant groups, and dig up the graves of previous emperors. ¡­¡­However, you generals will secretly distribute the money that has been gathered in this way back to the people.¡± ¡°Thus¡­¡­while the utterly clueless nobles andmanders are piging the people¡­¡­we, Your Highness¡¯ subordinates, will be raising our public sentiment¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± A stillness fell over the tent. It was the same silence as before in the fact that no one was opening their mouth; however, different from before, this silence was sweeping through the tent. It was like they were in the eye of the storm. ¡°But, Your Highness, we would be using His Majesty the Emperor and the His Highness the Imperial Prince as disposable cards.¡± Wittenmyer spoke carefully. ¡°This will harm the dignity of the royal family.¡± ¡°Did I not say that I will continue tomit immoral deeds?¡± Kurz Schleiermacher thought of the worst as he listened to the conversation. Forging a royal order and also putting all of the me on the Imperial Prince were already quite the splendid immoral deeds. However, the Imperial Princess dered that she would continue tomit more immoral deeds. What could that possibly be? ¡°Immediately after we have abandoned the capital and retreated, I will kill the Imperial Prince.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± ¡°The opinion of the people is the will of Heaven. Punishment must naturally befall upon someone who goes against the will of Heaven. I, Elizabeth von Habsburg, will punish my second brother, no, the criminal Ferdinand von Habsburg.¡± Kurz Schleiermacher felt his palms get sweaty. He wanted to shout and ask if she was sane. She was already suffering from the guilt of having killed her little brother in the past. As the Imperial Princess¡¯ secret spy and close aide, Kurz knew that the Imperial Princess had nightmares every night. He would asionally hear her groans from outside her tent. Robert. I¡¯m sorry, Robert¡­¡­. She would often say these words in her sleep. And yet, she wants to kill her kin again? ¡®You will fall apart, my lord.¡¯ There is a high likelihood that the Imperial Princess¡¯ emotions will die. Her body will be unable to endure it as well. If she weren¡¯t a third rank swordmaster who could use aura, she would have died from overwork a long time ago. She may have resolved herself to be the monster of this age, but she also has emotions. She¡¯ll look fine on the outside, but her insides will slowly crumble until, eventually, she falls apart like a temple that was unable to stand against the test of time and crumbled to dust. The Imperial Princess had not finished talking. ¡°Afterward, I will threaten the Emperor and receive the throne.¡± ¡°Abdicating the throne by force¡­¡­.¡± Immoral deed after immoral deed. ¡°Immediately after, I will gather the refugees of the capital to one ce and make a loud deration. Although our Habsburg Empire with 500 years of history has fallen on this day, a new Habsburg Republic will take its ce.¡± A new Habsburg Republic. The faces of the generals contorted as they knew how much destructive force these words had. Just now, the suprememander of the empire dered that she would end the empire herself. She was going to end her gant and glorious bloodline. ¡®But why a republic? Is there something to gain from that!?¡¯ Kurz shouted in his mind. Even if there was something to gain politically by carrying out a scorched earth policy, abandoning the capital, killing the Imperial Prince, and receiving the throne, was that enough to also abolish the Imperial Throne? ¡°Your Highness, that is reckless! That would create an excessive amount of burden.¡± ¡°A republic? There is no reason for us to turn our back on the empire and establish a republic!¡± ¡°Please reconsider!¡± The tent became chaotic like a shaken beehive. Please reconsider. I do not understand. It would be better to maintain the empire¡¯s pride and fall valiantly in battle. All of the generals shouted their sincere thoughts. Kurz desperately churned his brain while amidst all the noise. This was a n given by Her Highness the Imperial Princess. Even if it looked reckless at a nce, it was most likely guileful on the inside. He wanted to know its secret intent. ¡®Administrative and economic power will decline momentarily once the capital is gone. Even if we are able to maintain our public sentiment, it¡¯ll be pointless if the nation itself falls to the very bottom.¡¯ Furthermore, Her Lordship would personally be taking on a scar that she could never remove¡­¡­. What could there possibly be to gain by burning the imperial capital¡­¡­? A reason for taking on this incredible burden in order to establish a republic¡­¡­. This would only worsen their rtions with other nations¡­¡­. ¡®Wait¨Dother nations?¡¯ At that moment, an electric current shot through Kurz¡¯s brain. ¡°There are¡­¡­! There are things to gain by abandoning the capital and dering a republic nation¡­¡­. There are enormous things to gain¡­¡­!¡± Kurz Schleiermacher couldn¡¯t control his mouth. He blurted out his words due to his shock. The other generals turned to look at Kurz. The blonde medical captain wasn¡¯t in the mental state to notice their gazes as he continued. ¡°First, we would be able to cater to both our public sentiment and the sentiment of our military¡­¡­. The people¡¯s anxietyes from the scorched earth policy and will be increased by the evacuation of the capital while the anxiety of our soldierses from the ideology that was spread by that ursed Demon Lord. By punishing the Imperial Prince and establishing a republic nation¡­¡­this would make both the people and the military support Her Highness fully.¡± ¡°General Schleiermacher, our public sentiment is not the issue.¡± Baron Wittenmyer retorted. He had also gotten worked up. ¡°Our administration and the economy of our nation are the immediate issues as they will be destroyed.¡± ¡°Administration¡­¡­Yes, the administration may be an issue¡­¡­. However, the misfortunate situation of our administration and the economy may turn out to be a blessing in disguise!¡± ¡°A blessing in disguise? What do you mean¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Think about it, Baron Wittenmyer.¡± Kurz spoke passionately. ¡°The reason why the Demon Lord army is currently overwhelming us is due to the fact that they have a greater justification than us. They have destroyed our justification of defending humanity and are iming to be the true liberators of mankind. However, what would happen if Habsburg announces that they have be a republic nation? The Demon Lord army will no longer be able to invade! If they do, then they would be dering to the world that their justification was a lie.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It is hard to think that the Demon Lords would cling to something like justification. We will still be at a disadvantage.¡± ¡°The Demon Lord army is also running low on provisions like us.¡± A smile slowly spread across Kurz¡¯s lips. ¡°The Demon Lord army had split their army into legions because they cannot maintain themselves in a single group. Despite this, they are currently approaching our capital¡­¡­. Why are they rushing toward us when they arecking in provisions? There is only one reason. They intend to resupply by capturing the capital. However, if we abandon the capital¡­¡­they would no longer be able to resupply¡­¡­and that would force them to stop pursuing us!¡± The desperate scorched earth policy that had been carried out for the past several months was finally going to prove useful. ¡°The Demon Lord army will have no other choice but to retreat. If we decide to fight valiantly and fall bravely in battle, then we would simply be benefiting them as we offer them our bodies. We must abandon the capital.¡± ¡°General Schleiermacher, you have not answered my question yet. What do you intent to do about the empire¡¯s administration and economy?¡± Kurz smiled. There was a tinge of madness lingering on his lips. ¡°Do you still not understand, Baron? By bing a republic, Habsburg will be able to stop the Demon Lord army. Therefore, our new Habsburg Republic will once again be a wall that defends against demonkind.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Currently, the other kingdoms are trembling in fear because they are unable to stop the Crescent Alliance. If wee in and take away the Demon Lord army¡¯s cause by bing a republic¡­¡­then they will be unable to attack¡­¡­. The other nations will have no other choice but to acknowledge the necessity of our Habsburg Republic.¡± Baron Wittenmyer pushed his seat back as he stood up. His eyes were wide open. ¡°I see! We can receive the aid of other nations!¡± Kurz nodded. ¡°That is right. Habsburg is located at the center of the continent. If we fall, then the other nations will fall as well. If they do not wish to face the Demon Lord army and want to preserve their dynasty, then they must acknowledge our republic nation and send us continuous support.¡± ¡°Awful threat¡­¡­We would be taking advantage of our unfortunate situation¡­¡­.¡± Baron Wittenmyer let out a grunt. It was around this point that the other generals started to grasp the full picture of the n. They soon joined in on the excitement. It was as the Imperial Princess had said. Baron Wittenmyer pointed out 3 negative points. The deterioration of the public¡¯s trust, the destruction of our administration and economy, and finally, the loss of humanity¡¯s cause. However, if they proceed with Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s n, then they would be able to ovee all 3 of these issues. They would regain not only the people¡¯s trust, but the army¡¯s as well. Their administration and economy would recover through the unlimited support from the other nations. And finally, the Habsburg Republic would protect humanity¡¯s cause and be humanity¡¯s shield. They would quite literally be the cause itself. Normally, the other nations wouldn¡¯t ept the empire changing into a republic, but it was possible now. No, if anything, it was something that the other nations all wanted. They earnestly wanted for the royal family of another nation to sacrifice themselves to stop the advance of the Crescent Alliance. The people, nobles, and the royal families. Quite literally, all of humanity would praise the birth of the new Habsburg Republic. Kurz Schleiermacher turned his head and the other generals also turned their trembling gazes to the Imperial Princess. ¡®Since when was it?¡¯ When did she start nning this? ¡®Was it when Crowned Prince Rudolf was captured at Austerlitz? Or when you were defeated during the ceremonial speeches on Bruno ins? Or was it perhaps when the Queen of Brittany visited you? Since when¡­¡­did you start nning to abandon the capital and establish a new nation?¡¯ Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s sapphire-like eyes glimmered. ¡°How foolish! Do you think that is it!?¡± She shouted at them. The generals all flinched before the 17-year-old girl. ¡°From now on, you all are no longer simple generals of Habsburg. You are the warriors that will protect humanity at the frontline. If we fall, then all of the other nations will fall. Our defeat means the defeat of humanity. ¨DDo you all realize the weight of your responsibility?¡± The Imperial Princess took a step forward. ¡°We will no longer be allowed to be divided. From themoners to the imperial family, and the army to the merchants and farmers, every human must unite to create a single nation. That is what this new Habsburg Republic will be. That is the true color of the nation will we soon be!¡± She unsheathed her sword, revealing a de that shined as radiantly as her silver hair. ¡°We will also punish the vassals who have been ruining our empire for the past hundreds of years while we are punishing Imperial Prince Ferdinand. There will be no exceptions. We must take disciplinary action against corruption. Show the people that our nation is worth devoting their lives to.¡± The gaze of every single general seated at the table was directed to Imperial Princess Elizabeth. ¡°If the Crowned Prince Faction and the Imperial Prince Faction are dealt with, then you all will take those vacant positions. From this point forth, you will all be essential, leading members of the nation. You have the ability to do so, thus the people will support you ording to your abilities. For this sake, we will only observe as the capital is piged. We willter return the piged supplies back to the people.¡± Manipte everything from behind while acting nobler than anyone else while in front of others. Save humanity through a lie. The devils who were causing this havoc were contrarily going to be the defenders of heaven. ¨DKurz Schleiermacher shuddered at the thought of this paradox. The Imperial Princess made a deration. ¡°Today, from this moment on, we will deceive all of humanity and history itself.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t have anything in particr to say about the chapter this time. It¡¯s just a lot of politics. I do feel like I should thank all of you guys who have been reading my trantions and have been supportive of me. Even if you aren¡¯t paying for early chapters, just knowing that there are so many people out there who¡¯ve been enjoying my trantions is good enough to keep me going. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 154: Age of Tyrants (4) Chapter 154: Age of Tyrants (4) * * * *** ¨C I¡¯m so relieved. The oldest memory he had was that of a greatly contorted face. She was a beautiful girl. Men found words like ¡®beautiful¡¯ and ¡®girl¡¯ to be embarrassing. They weren¡¯t words that men should utter. This was a rather aggressive way of thinking, but it was an era where you could only survive if you wore that aggressiveness around you like armor. Among the many races of demons, the man was one of the prideful tiger beastmen. He had been on the battlefield for a hundred years and he had just now met his end. He died instantaneously after being impaled through the heart by a knight¡¯s sword. ¡­¡­That was definitely what had happened, but why did he see a girl before him? Tears were flowing down from her eyes. ¨C I¡¯m so relieved¡­¡­you are alive. The tears were clearly falling on the man¡¯s cheek. The sensation felt foreign to him. It didn¡¯t feel cold or hot. It only felt like something was falling and colliding against his cheek. ¨C Thank you. Thank you for being alive¡­¡­and I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­ The girl continued to cry. Her face was a mess of tears and snot. This is troubling, the man thought. His memories were slowly returning to him. The girl in front of him was his lord. His lord who possessed beautiful optimism. He wanted to follow that belief to the end of the world. That was why he left his home and took up her banner. ¨C Are you crying because of this humble one, Your Highness? ¨C No. She sobbed heavily as she spoke. The girl could no longer speak. Her crying had swallowed her voice. This is troubling, the man thought once more. His dull-wittedness must have made the girl cry. How could he make his lord cry? He was a disgrace as a subordinate. ¨C I have disgraced your death. I ridiculed your conviction as a warrior. ¨C What do you mean? ¨C You fought splendidly and fell splendidly in battle. Meeting your end like that would have been the greatest end for you as a warrior. However¡­¡­I have revived you. I am sorry¡­¡­. The man looked down at his hands. His right hand with brilliant copper fur was nowhere to be seen. All he saw was the rotten hand of a corpse. Is that so? The man thought. I died and came back to life¡­¡­. ¨C I defiled your life and creed. I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­I¡¯m truly sorry¡­¡­. ording to an old saying, warriors are those who are honest to a fault and meet their ends in a single ultimate moment. The girl was the lord of those individuals. She knew better than anyone else how wrong it was to deny the death of a warrior. ¨C Do you require this humble one again? ¨C Yeah. I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know until now, but it seems I was a helplessly foolish child. The girlughed. The ends of her mouth were trembling. She was just barely able to maintain the awkward smile on her tear-ridden face. It was a mess. ¨C Life is unbearable since you guys are gone. I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m alive. A world without your cheering andughter simply feels cold to me. I¡¯m sorry. Because of my selfishness¡­¡­could you please live one more time? He already knew fairly well that the girl before him was unexpectedly fragile. There was a time where he and hisrades had a discussion about this in secret. It was incredibly impious to think this, but it might have been better if their lord hadn¡¯t been born as a Demon Lord. She was a sincere person and, above all else, she was someone who couldn¡¯t lie to herself. She epted being born as a Demon Lord and clearly understood what it meant to live as one. While other Demon Lords were satisfied with the authority they had, the girl was the only one to raise her battle scythe and continue forward. The man smiled. Was he capable of smiling after bing a living corpse? He wasn¡¯t confident; however, he wanted to tell the crying girl that it was all right now. He had been swayed by her a long time ago and he had already resolved himself to always live as a warrior. ¨C A hundred years ago, I vowed to support Your Lordship till the day I die, but¡­¡­it seems I am lucky. I can continue to work for your sake even after death. Lord, be it once, twice, a hundred, or even a thousand times, I, in, will always live for your sake. So please stop crying, the man asked. ¨C Our lord whom we are proud of, Barbatos. The girl¡¯s face crumpled up again. Her expression contorted before she started to sob again. It wasn¡¯t like earlier where she was crying calmly. She was sobbing so loudly that it could be heard from every direction. The man raised his right hand to pat the girl¡¯s head. ¨C ¡­¡­. However, he stopped once he noticed how unsightly his hand had be. He was no different from a zombie now. On the other hand, the girl¡¯s white hair was radiant. The man couldn¡¯t forgive himself if he sullied such a magnificent work of art. ¡­¡­From now on, he will most likely never be able to touch the girl¡¯s head. The man epted this fact, but also felt bitter about it. Grab. Something grabbed the man¡¯s hand at that moment. The girl had grabbed his hand with hers. The man was surprised. Come to think of it, his lord had the ability to read the minds of demons. She didn¡¯t let go of his hand even as she continued to cry. This is troubling, the man thought as he tightened his grip as well. He still couldn¡¯t feel any heat, but something warmer than any sort of heat was being transferred to him. It was being transmitted to him directly without any tampering whatsoever¡­¡­. This was how were born. A total of 500. They were all equipped with pitch-ck armor from head to toe. They imed that it was for the sake of raising their defensive power, but the truth was different. They didn¡¯t want their lord to see their bodies that had be living corpses. A look of guilt would appear on their lord¡¯s face whenever she saw their bodies. They didn¡¯t want that. These individuals who were able to serve their lord again for a second time raised their swords proudly. ¨C Now then. Let us go forward, brothers, fellow Walkure. ¨C Here and now, we are an invincible and immortal army. Here and now, we have already died, so we cannot die again. Thus, we will never know defeat. ¨C Gods, please look over us. Valha is here on the surface. Their lord¡¯s smile eventually returned. She started to joke around like usual. This alone was enough to satisfy the death knights. That¡¯s right. They didn¡¯t need to go to some heaven in the sky. If they could see their lord smile and fight by her side, then they were already in heaven. On the day the Goddesses no longer granted a future for their lord, then they too would be dust and disappear since they lived on their lord¡¯s magic. They would be meeting their end together with theirrades and their lord. That was enough. They couldn¡¯t ask for anything more. This was what the man thought. Before that damned brat showed up. * * * ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Death Knight in became silent. If he were actually alive, then he would probably be sweating profusely right now. It was a relief that he was already dead. Seriously. The girl before him was that enraged. ¡°These¡­¡­are Dantalian¡¯s fingers?¡± The girl gnashed her teeth as she spoke in a shaking voice. Death Knight in immediately thought of the perfect answer to this. ¨DYes, they are. They are the fingers of that son of a bitch, Your Highness. Why are you so upset? Is it not normal for someone to lose a finger or two on a battlefield? If anything, this is a good thing. I never liked that brat in the first ce. He looks incredibly feeble despite being Your Highness¡¯ lover. I thought that brat was a woman the first time I saw him. Seriously! How does he intend to get anything done looking like that? It¡¯s ridiculous. He should go die somewhere. It¡¯s good that he lost his fingers! If he has an injury, then even a dandy-looking guy like him would look a little more manly. While we¡¯re at it, I want to make a deep knife mark on that guy¡¯s face. That¡¯s the only way to fix this. Please allow me to make that brat into a true man, Your Highness. ¨DIt took only 2 seconds for him to think of this answer. It was easy. The Death Knight had always contemted what he could do to most effectively screw that brat over. It wasn¡¯t just in. Dantalian was amon enemy for the other death knights as well. Their lord had preserved her purity for no less than 2,000 years. And he took it! Their lord also looks only 12 or 13 years old on the outside too! He doesn¡¯t deserve a normal death. All 500 of the death knights agreed with this. However, their opinions differed on the method of death. Let¡¯s fry him alive, let¡¯s cook him alive, let¡¯s y him, let¡¯s hack all of his limbs, let¡¯s throw him to the orcs, let¡¯s drown him in the ocean, etc. A total of 36 ideas were suggested, but in personally liked the idea of punching Dantalian¡¯s face until he died. However, contrary to his inner thoughts, in answered courteously. ¨C Yes, Your Highness. They are undoubtedly Dantalian¡¯s left index finger and middle finger. Barbatos¡¯ shoulders shook. ¡°What fucker¡­¡­did this?¡± ¨C Dantalian told us to tell Your Highness the following: We do not know who ordered the attack on me. We suspect that it may have been one of the archdukes of hell. Barbatos mmed her fist on a table. The wooden table shattered helplessly. She had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm her anger down. ¡°I definitely announced that Dantalian is my close aide and lover. By attacking him, they are saying that they don¡¯t care that he is under my protection. I don¡¯t know who did this, but I¡¯ll show them hell.¡± Aah, in despaired on the inside. His lord used to always be calm and collected, but she got caught by a rotten dandy.¡­¡­ Aah, our proud lord is¡­¡­. He wanted to tell her the truth immediately. He wanted to tell her that it wasn¡¯t the attackers who cut those fingers but Dantalian himself. Thus, he was making a scene all by himself. Unfortunately, he was currently Dantalian¡¯s subordinate. He had yet to fully ept Dantalian as his lord, but he could not betray his lord even if it was only by name. in deliberately said ¡®Dantalian told us to tell Your Highness the following¡¯ so that his lie wouldn¡¯t be revealed. It was true that that was what Dantalian had said. in didn¡¯t lie. ¡°This was probably done by the archdukes under the Mountain Faction, those fuckers. If we weren¡¯t already near the capital, then I would¡¯ve personally descended on those hells¡­¡­. Fuck, is that why they did this now? Those rutting mutts.¡± Barbatos fumed. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a hundred knights. Go fuck up the culprit.¡± ¨C Your Highness! That is too many! inined. Barbatos was currently leading an army of 5,000. Among them, she had roughly 500 death knights. If she dispatches a hundred of them, then that would be no different from removing 10% of her entire army. They were soon going to enter arge battle against the human army with the capital of Habsburg on the line. Dispatching 10% of your troops at this time would definitely not be a wise thing to do. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Barbatos remained firm. ¡°My legion is not the only one that is going to be fighting this time. The other legions are also rushing here like a bunch of frogs with their asses on fire, so there¡¯s no way we would lose even if my numbers decreased a little.¡± ¨C But Your Highness, there is always a chance that something may happen¡­¡­. ¡°Hey, hey. I also know that you guys don¡¯t particrly like Dantalian.¡± Barbatos let out a sigh. ¡°But think about it, you brat. Okay? What would happen to my honor if people found out that I did nothing after my close aide got attacked? The other Demon Lords would probably be delighted to have another thing to tease me about.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m also angry that Dantalian got hurt. I acknowledge that. However, my honor is more important. If you don¡¯t step on a bug, then they¡¯ll never know that they¡¯re a bug. So think of it as doing something for your original master even if you dislike Dantalian. Okay?¡± ¨C ¡­¡­Understood. As youmand. in gave a salute. She was right. A ruler¡¯s dignity must always be prioritized. It was only right to be scolded since his distaste toward Dantalian made him forget about this. However, instead of scolding him, she consoled him instead. in could only be grateful. in returned to hell with a hundred of hisrades the next day. The death knights were disappointed to leave Barbatos¡¯ side when a huge battle was going to be happening soon, but protecting their lord¡¯s dignity was also as important. They obeyed her order faithfully. Barbatos gave them onest word before sending them back. ¡°Oh right. I¡¯m saying this for caution¡¯s sake, but don¡¯t kill Dantalian and say that it was an ident during a fight. You guys will die by my hands, then.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­. Tsk, starting from in, all of the death knights clicked their tongues in their minds. It seems that Dantalian¡¯s life was going tost a lot longer than expected. Unfortunately. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I totally forgot to release this chapter yesterday. Sorry about that. I don¡¯t know how it slipped my mind entirely. I think I subconsciously thought that I had already released a chapter the day before, so I didn¡¯t think about it too much. Welp. This means the next chapter will probably be out by tomorrow, so I guess it¡¯s not a bad thing? I wonder if this death knight is going to have a more prominent role now. I guess we¡¯ll just have to wait and see. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 155: Age of Tyrants (5) Chapter 155: Age of Tyrants (5) * * * The 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance led by Barbatos advanced. She had dispatched a rather sizable amount of her military power, but Commander Barbatos had no intentions of slowing down. Her tactical doctrine was very simple. Move faster than the enemy. This was it. ¡°How about we wait until the other legions arrive and advance together?¡± Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar proposed the idea. He was a careful old veteran. He had white patches of hair, but that didn¡¯t make him look shabby. The aroma of a hundred years¡¯ worth of fierce battles emanated from his white hair. ¡°If we wait three to four days, then the 2nd legion should be able to join up with us. Our military power would basically be doubled. This will allow us to dominate the human army more easily.¡± Barbatos shook her head. ¡°The enemy will also make all sorts of preparations while we are waiting for our allies. If we attack them while we are not fully prepared, then the enemy will also have to take our attack before being fully prepared. Do you know what the difference between us would be in this situation? It¡¯s the fact that we will know where and where to attack while the enemy will have no idea when or where the battle will ur.¡± She spoke firmly. ¡°If anything, we should speed up further. Those humans probably think we¡¯ll attack after we¡¯ve alle together. This ignorance will open an opportunity for us. I will be dismissing Zepar¡¯s proposal. Beleth!¡± ¡°Yes, Commander!¡± Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth responded energetically. Beleth was a man with a physique asrge as an ogre. Once he let out a shout, the Demon Lords whocked nerves inadvertently flinched. Beleth¡¯s voice sounded like that of a wild beast. ¡°I will leave the 400 death knights under mymand to you. My knights do not require food or rest. Charge forward with them regardless of whether it¡¯s day or night. Also.¡± Barbatos took out a dagger and tossed it. It stood upright as it stuck to the ground. A strategy map was being disyed by Barbatos¡¯ magic on the ground. The word ¡®Krems¡¯ was written where the dagger hadnded. ¡°Assault Krems and capture it.¡± The fortress city of Kerms. That was the Habsburg Empire¡¯s final line of defense. The river of Danubius ran across the center of the continent behind the fortress. If you cross this river, then you would immediately reach Vindobona¨Dthe capital city of the Habsburg Empire. ¡°Kuhuu.¡± Demon Lord Beleth let out a heated breath. Beleth¡¯s copper-toned muscles glistened like that of a snake¡¯s. He was clearly excited. The Danubius River. For the past 2,000 years, the Crescent Alliance had only managed to cross this river twice. The first Demon Lord to cross the Danubius River was the current Rank 1 Baal. The second person to cross it was none other than the Rank 8 Demon Lord before them, Barbatos. It was now Rank 13 Beleth¡¯s turn to have his name written in the history books. ¡°Commander¡­¡­ No, Miss Barbatos. Do you see it? My body is trembling with excitement.¡± His name was going to follow Baal¡¯s and Barbatos¡¯. Beleth couldn¡¯t help but feel moved. ¡°Just give me the order¡­¡­. Annihtion, destruction, or repelling. I, Beleth, will carry out whatever type of victory you ask for.¡± ¡°There is only one thing I want.¡± The Demon Lord grinned. ¡°Annihtion. An utterly cruel annihtion. Make those humans so weak that they can no longer put up a resistance. Make them so terrified of us that they fall to their knees and scream if they even see our toes. Make their lives have no other meaning than being underneath an ashy sky. This is the kind of annihtion that I want.¡± ¡°As youmand!¡± Beleth let out a roar. The Demon Lord¡¯s voice echoed ominously through the cloudy sky. Beleth immediately led the 400 death knights. Demon Lords normally don¡¯t require a lot of rest, and this was especially true for Beleth since he was a fighter. Beleth ran with the death knights for 4 straight days as if he had never experienced exhaustion before in his life. On the contrary, the wolf monsters they were riding, the ck wolves, ended up getting tired first. Beleth did not care. He had prepared 3 ck wolves for each person in case something like this were to happen. Whenever one ck wolf got tired, they would rotate to another one. After running for four days, the towering city of Krems entered their vision. It was a fortress that used the river to naturally create a moat. Beleth¡¯s unit had truly advanced like a typhoon. ¡°What, the Demon Lord army has already arrived!?¡± Themander of the fortress shouted in surprise. The messenger nodded. ¡°Yes! Their number is about 400. All 400 of them are death knights.¡± ¡°400 death knights¡­¡­.¡± Themander gulped. Barbatos¡¯ prediction was correct. The imperial army had expected the enemy to arrive a weekter at the soonest. The current suprememander of the imperial army, Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth was a genius when it came to tactics; however, there was no way for her to know what sort of personality the Demon Lord known as Barbatos had. Nheless, the Imperial Princess had set up a precaution just in case. She had gathered the elite knights of Habsburg at the fortress beforehand. She told her men the following as she assigned skilled knights at Krems: ¨C Regardless of what enemy forces approach, endure for at least four days. Do you understand? Defend the fortress with your lives for four days. Only four days. The military strength of the knights that had gathered at the fortress to y for time was definitely excessive. They had two Rank 1 , 30 Rank 2 swordsmen, and 50 Rank 3 and Rank 4 swordsmen. A total of 550 swordsmen were currently residing in the fortress. Their numbers may have been small, but they were a powerful force. Themander of the fortress was also a . A powerhouse that wasparable to an army. If the enemy forces that had appeared in front of the fortress hadn¡¯t been death knights, then themander would have definitely let out a snort and dealt with the situation with little effort. Themander clenched his jaw. ¡°Four days¡­¡­in just four more days, reinforcements will have arrived.¡± The n was all messed up now. Imperial Princess Elizabeth was currently in the middle of executing her n in the capital. She was evacuating all of the people. Arge number of soldiers were being used to maintain public order. In four days, Imperial Princess Elizabeth would have sent reinforcements; however, Beleth, no, Barbatos was a step faster. The fortress had to stop Beleth with only 500 soldiers. They did have another hundred sentry guards, but they were normal soldiers. They probably wouldn¡¯tst even a second before a death knight¡¯s de. ¡®We have to stall for as long as possible!¡¯ Themander quickly came to this conclusion. The sound of bells rang morously throughout the entire fortress. The knights that were restingfortably in their quarters quickly put on their armor. Today was probably the fastest the attendants had ever moved in their entire lives. Equipping someone with sturdy armor was a surprisingly difficult task. On the other hand, themander of the fortress sent a outside the fortress. They were going to stall for time by having the swordsman duel the enemy. ¡°You petty demons! Are any of you willing to taste my de!?¡± The Master of the Sword stood out on the ins and shouted. What themander wanted was simple: lure the enemy into epting a duel by dispatching a swordmaster. If they agree to the duel and send in a death knight to fight one at a time, then they would be able to stall for that much time. Although this would probably only earn them about half a day at most, this was the best he could do as themander. ¡°Pfft.¡± However, themander¡¯s n didn¡¯t work. ¡°Men! It seems that these humans are aware ofmon courtesy. They even sent out a prettydy to wee us.¡± Demon Lord Beleth easily saw through the human army¡¯s intentions. He may have been a meathead, but he was also a general. He wouldn¡¯t mess up their original n simply because he liked duels. Beleth raised his right hand. ¡°The other party has willingly gone out of their way to be polite. As the most gentlemanly demons in the world, we cannot possibly ignore this. ¨DShall we show them how we demons respond to courtesy!?¡± A ckish-red mana started to surge around Beleth. Immediately after, a huge axe appeared out of thin air. ¡°Let us go! Gentlemen of the demon world!¡± The death knights and the ck wolves all let out a roar. The cries from the monsters that sounded like metal on metal scraped the inside of the skulls of the humans who heard it. The death knights had let out a sound through their magic power instead of their throats. The swordsmen of the imperial army all possessed magic inside of them, so the sound emitted from the death knights would give them an uneasy feeling as their magic responded to the sound. ¨C Khuaaaaaaaaah! Beleth charged along with 400 death knights. None of the decorum that followed usual battles like ceremonial speeches or duels was carried out. The death knights roared like a bunch of barbarians as if they had forgotten something like decorum a long time ago. ¡°T-This goes against the decorum of the battlefield!¡± The Master of the Sword shouted in a panic. Her mana-enhanced voice echoed throughout the ins. ¡°You insolent bastards! If you are truly warriors, then you would agree to my¨D.¡± ¡°Huhahaha! Humandy! The maximum courtesy we can show you is by viting you guys a bunch!¡± Beleth let out a cheer as he raised his axe. ¡°Be grateful that you¡¯ll be able to taste my rod of meat!¡± ¡°You absolutely cowardly son of a bitch!¡± ¡°ording to my sworn brother, bastardly men are poprtely! Kuhaha!¡± The Master of the Sword had no other choice but to retreat. She jumped up the rampart and into the fortress. This was a move that she could do since she was a master of her ss. ¡°Damn it.¡± The fortressmander gnashed his teeth. Their stalling tactic didn¡¯t work. Despite looking like an ogre, that Demon Lord¡¯s head worked properly. There was nothing else he could do in particr now. All he could do now was follow the Imperial Princess¡¯mand and protect this ce for 4 days. The humanmander and Beleth both shouted at the same time. ¡°Men, protect the fortress!¡± ¡°Ravage them however you want!¡± The death knights approached the rampart in an instant. They had fought together for hundreds of years. They hopped off their wolves and started to climb up the rampart in perfect unison. The death knights wearing ck armor started to flutter their ck mantles like bat wings. ¡°Stop them! Work together with yourrades!¡± ¡°We have the topographical advantage! Do not get swept away by them!¡± The imperial knights unsheathed their weapons at the same time. They relied on the rampart as they fought back against the approaching death knights like hunting hawks. The knights of the human world and the knights of the demon world collided. ¡°Kuaaaaah!¡± ¡°Die!¡± Everyone here was skilled. The fight wasn¡¯t decided in a single moment. The death knights were unable to capture an area on top of the rampart. Some of them managed to push back the humans, but they backed down without any hesitation. Only a few death knights had managed to get up, so they hopped down and got ready to charge again. ¡°We stopped them! We can keep this up!¡± ¡°Move in unison with those around you! Don¡¯t forget it! Move in unison!¡± A small cheer erupted from the knights. They weren¡¯t so ipetent that they would let a small battle influence their emotions. However, this was the early phase of the battle. They had to deliberately raise their morale however they could. They had intentionally let out a cheer in order to motivate the people around them. The Imperial Princess¡¯ order passed through themander¡¯s head. Endure for 4 days! ¡®We can do it. Your Highness, be it three or four days, I will defend this ce for as many days as you want!¡¯ A tinge of excitement welled up inside of him as he looked around. The death knights were attempting to climb up the rampart for the second time. All of a sudden, he realized the most dangerous individual in the enemy army was nowhere to be seen. ¡®Wait a second. Where did the Demon Lord go?¡¯ At that moment, the entire fortress started to shake as if an earthquake had hit it. Themander of the fortress skillfully maintained his bnce and figured out where the tremor came from in an instant. He then began to panic. The vibration¨Dhade from the fortress gate. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, like I said, I uploaded the previous chapterte so this one came out a lot sooner since I was already finished with like half of it by the time I released the previous chapter. Uh, I hope you guys did something nice for your mothers on Mother¡¯s day. I don¡¯t got much else to say. I suck at small talk. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 156: Age of Tyrants (6) Chapter 156: Age of Tyrants (6) ¡°Impossible!¡± Themander of the fortress eximed. There were all sorts of magical enhancements that had beed applied to the front gate. Among them, there was even a spell from an Eight Circle mage that had persisted for the past 200 years. . Regardless of the strength of the attacker, as long as what is being done is an attack, the gate will block it once. These sorts of high-end spells were stacked on top of each other seven times. To put it simply, even if you cast a meteor spell on the gate, you would have to do it seven times. Each meteor strike is considered as one attack, after all. However, what the fortressmander saw was the gate that had been destroyed powerlessly and a Demon Lord holding an axe. ¡°It felt like there was a bunch of stuff on that gate. Sorry about that.¡± Beleth walked in through the entrance that was now covered in a cloud of dust. The gatekeepers who had been on standby behind the gate had exploded into chunks of flesh along with the gate. There were soldiers who had been unfortunately impaled through the head by fragments of iron and wood, soldiers who were severed cleanly in half and had their guts spilled everywhere, and there was even a man who had unfortunately survived the st and was now groaning in pain. ¡°Hoo¡­¡­.¡± Beleth matched the swing of his axe with the tempo of his steps. Human flesh and groans of pain, a human ughterhouse created by these two things was a sight that Demon Lord Beleth loved seeing the most. It was only during moments like these that Beleth felt alive. Demon Lords are generally unstable beings. This is because they can clearly feel the emotions of the demons around them. It¡¯s hard for them to distinguish where their emotions end and where the emotions of others begin. This border is vague for Demon Lords. Every Demon Lord has their own way to maintain their minds. The method Beleth had chosen was ughter. To leave nothing standing around him except for himself. This was a moment that he would always arrive at when on a battlefield. The moment of victory. A moment which only the strong could bask in. This absolute moment of solitude gave Beleth the certainty that, yes, this was ¡®him¡¯. This was all him. The groansing from the half-dead corpses sounded like a sweet melody to Beleth. Thus, instead of rushing through the gate as he should, he deliberately walked in a leisurely manner so that he could drag this moment out a bit longer. ¡°You bastard, what conniving trick did you pull!?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± A dissonant noise interrupted the melody. Beleth clicked his tongue. It was the swordmaster who cried out for a duel earlier on the ins. She must have been from a noble family as she denounced the Demon Lord in a refined tone. ¡°Eh, missy. You must have no ss. Do you not see that I¡¯m trying to enjoy the music?¡± The swordmaster narrowed her eyes. ¡°¡­¡­Music? What nonsense are you saying? The only thing here is death.¡± ¡°Oh, you have a way with words. Nothing but death. I should use that as the title for today¡¯s song. Mmm. It¡¯s poetic. Very poetic. Mhm.¡± Beleth nodded to himself in satisfaction. The swordmaster felt as if her opponent was making fun of her, so she got upset. She determined that there was no point in maintaining war decorum now, so she found no problem in unsheathing her sword. ¡®He has a big body, so he should be that thickheaded as well.¡¯ The swordmaster lowered her stance as she charged at the Demon Lord. Having arge body meant that he had a longer reach. A difference in reach could be a decisive factor in 1:1 duels. Attacking when the opposition wasn¡¯t in a fighting position yet was the best and only opportunity. There was no way that the other party would let someone enter their reach. ¡®I only have to dodge the first attack.¡¯ An attack to keep her away was definitely going to happen. It would be the end of her if she got caught up in that attack. The other party would slowly apply pressure while trying to maintain their advantage. Simr to how a pride of lions slowly corners an injured animal. In the end, she would wither up and die if she let this happen. ¡®Huh?¡¯ However, Beleth allowed her to enter his range. That wasn¡¯t all. He didn¡¯t raise his axe either. He was simply smiling as if he were watching something entertaining. ¡®Is this a trap?¡¯ This suspicion passed through her head for a moment. No, the swordmaster quickly concluded. She was already thinking two steps ahead. Therge ogre-like man genuinely had his guard down. He was probably scheming something. The swordmaster wasn¡¯t underestimating the Demon Lord before her; however, there were a few facts that were certain. The fact that she could stab him with her sword and the fact that the other party had yet to put his guard uppletely. There was no reason for her to hesitate. ¡°Hiyaaah!¡± The woman let out a shout as she thrust her longsword forward. Beleth still had a casual grin on his face. * * * ¡°Your Highness, pardon me for asking, but I have a question.¡± Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar spoke up. Barbatos turned to him while making a ¡®hm?¡¯ sound. ¡°What is it? Say it.¡± ¡°Why did you leave the vanguard to Beleth and not me?¡± Currently, the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance had safely joined together with the 2nd legion and was advancing together. Hundreds of banners fluttered in the wind as they crossed the ins. Barbatos wasn¡¯t riding on a warhorse or a ck wolf, but a white bear. The pure white bear matched Barbatos¡¯ white hair. Barbatosughed. ¡°What? Are you sulking right now? What kind of man are you?¡± ¡°Ehem.¡± Zepar could only cough in response. He had once vowed to never lie while in Barbatos¡¯ presence. It would be incredibly embarrassing to admit that he was sulking, and denying it would be going against his vow. Barbatos knew how Zepar felt, so she couldn¡¯t help but dote on this old man. Barbatos was three times older than Zepar, so he looked like a rather young Demon Lord to her. He was like a boy. Seeing a boy trying to hide his embarrassment like this only looked adorable to her. ¡°Keke. You really are sulking, huh? C¡¯mon, say it. Is our Zepar upset?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, I also have to maintain my honor as the major general.¡± Zepar muttered in a troubled tone. Even the way he spoke sounded cute to Barbatos. She grinned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s true that I¡¯m intentionally making you and Belethpete. All groups require a two-factor interaction, after all. If a group only has a single point of view, then the organization as a whole would lose its credibility. The other kids in the ins Faction are able to learn a thing or two by making you twopete against one another. Look, if you don¡¯t work hard, then you can¡¯t maintain these two factors.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand that.¡± Zepar bowed his head courteously. ¡°I hold great pride in being used by Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Ew.¡± Barbatos made a disgusted face. ¡°What¡¯s with that handmaiden-like attitude? As someone who was born as a man and a Demon Lord, can¡¯t you have a little more backbone? Don¡¯t say that you¡¯re happy to be used. Say that you¡¯ll conquer the world or something.¡± ¡°Your Excellency is the one who is shouldering the dreams of demonkind. In other words, you are the embodiment of their wishes. Serving Your Excellency would be, by proxy, working for the sake of demonkind. I believe that working for the sake of demonkind is our duty as Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Ugh. You¡¯re way too sincere.¡± Barbatos shook her head. It felt nice to know that he was that loyal to her, but how should she say it? She wanted to see him act a little more Demon Lord-like. In that regard, Dantalian was special. Dantalian obeyed her while also stubbornly walking down his own path. ¡®Even now, he¡¯s up to something.¡¯ Why was the guy who said he was going to rest at his Demon Lord Castle wandering around the demon world? He was definitely scheming something. Seriously, he was someone who earnestly devised plots without end. Barbatos preferred Dantalian over the others. She couldn¡¯t trust himpletely like she did Beleth and Zepar, but while Beleth and Zepar would always remain as her subordinates, Dantalian went beyond a master-servant rtionship and stood as her friend. They both had their own goals and they were friends who dly used each other. Dantalian was the only friend Barbatos had that she could do this with. She had another¡­¡­in the past, but not now. Even if their goals were different, they could remain as friends as long as their goals could co-exist. However, it was more than possible for people to have goals that cannot exist together. An unsubstantial friend could suddenly be your archenemy. Would that happen with Dantalian as well? After some time passes, would Dantalian betray her as that woman did in the past? If that happens, would she be able to endure it? It took her 1,500 years since she split up with that woman before Dantalian became her new intimate friend. How many thousands of years would she need next time¡­¡­? ¡°If that happens, then I¡¯ll beat him up and make him my servant.¡± ¡°Pardon me? I apologize, Your Highness, but I do not understand.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I simply thought that punishment is the perfect medicine for brats that don¡¯t listen.¡± Zepar looked utterly confused, but Barbatos ignored him. ¡°Hmm. Understand my position where I have to make you and Belethpete. Zepar, you got a bunch of fucking merits by getting through the ck Mountains. You also seeded in sealing the enemy¡¯s repeated attack at Austerlitz.¡± ¡°Those were all due to Your Excellency¡¯s grace.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m also the reason why the sky is blue and inds are made. In any case, you did way too much during this Crescent Alliance expedition. You¡¯ve gained the most merits. Adding to this, the person to contribute the second most was Dantalian, and he was also a part of your unit on the surface.¡± Barbatos made an X with her arms. ¡°It¡¯d be an issue if you did any more than this. You would gain too much power within the ins Faction. If that happens, then I would have to bring you down using an irrational method. I don¡¯t want to do that. It¡¯d be much better to let Beleth achieve his own share of merits.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Zepar nodded his head meekly. Barbatos¡¯ favor was more important to him anyway. Zepar was simply worried for a moment that Barbatos favored Beleth more than him, hence why Beleth was sent as the vanguard. Zepar looked a bit more rxed now. He didn¡¯t care whether Beleth took the vanguard or not since his concerns were now gone. Honestly, as long as Barbatos was in good health, Zepar didn¡¯t care about the internal politics within the ins Faction. ¡°Well, Beleth is also more suited to be a vanguard than you.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Zepar, you¡¯re splendid when ites tomanding soldiers, but how should I say it?¡± Barbatos grinned. ¡°That guy, he¡¯s rather wicked despite his looks.¡± * * * ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The swordmaster came to a stop. She couldn¡¯t take another step forward. Her longsword stopped right in front of Beleth¡¯s nose. Just one more step. If she took one more step, then her aura-d sword could destroy the Demon Lord¡¯s head. However, the swordmaster could not take that single step. ¡°Ku, huuk.¡± Blood flowed down her mouth. Her scarlet blood didn¡¯t flow out from only her mouth. Her ankle, calf, thigh, waist, chest, and shoulder¨Dsix swords were piercing through six areas of her body. The swords wereing out from the ground, or to be more exact, from the shadow. Six swords had surged up and decimated her body the instant the swordmaster was about tond a blow on Beleth as if they had been waiting for her. Death knights. The swordmaster used her superhuman endurance to bear the pain as she remembered that death knights were beings that normally resided in the shadows. However, all she could do was bear it. The swords had pierced her body so skillfully that she couldn¡¯t move even an inch. ¡°Y-You coward¡­¡­. Do you have any pride¡­¡­as a warrior¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Ah. No. I don¡¯t. Didn¡¯t I tell you earlier?¡± Beleth casually raised his axe in the air. He grinned as he held it above his head. ¡°Bastardly men are poprtely.¡± He then brought his axe down like he was chopping firewood. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if I should stop saying this after every chapter. I¡¯ve just been saying it for so long. Maybe I could say something else? Eh, I¡¯ll think about it. If it doesn¡¯t change in the near future, then that probably means I was toozy to even think about it. Uh, nothing else to say. Next chapter very soon. I¡¯ll see you guys then. Chapter 157: Age of Tyrants (7) Chapter 157: Age of Tyrants (7) The woman was split in half. The cut was not even remotely clean. The de of the axe bluntly and mercilessly dug down from the top of her body to the bottom. Red chunks and liquid sttered everywhere. The solids that collided with the axe were the woman¡¯s bones. Beleth enjoyed the vibration that was being transmitted to his palms. Eventually, the body was split horrendously in half from the skull to the pelvis. The swords returned to the shadow. Once they did, the severed body could no longer hold itself up as the sides of the body fell in opposite directions. Does this not look like a red flower has bloomed? Beleth thought to himself. He didn¡¯t feel anything beyond this. ¡°Hmm, hoo. Khmp khmp, khmhp, khmhup, khmhmhp.¡± Beleth hummed to himself. He walked between the woman¡¯s body that had been split in half and stepped on her innards that had fallen. Toward the cloud of dust that had been kicked up after the gate had fallen, Beleth walked as if he were on a morning stroll. The female swordsman met a tragic end. Considering her title as , this was a tragically empty death. However, her death wasn¡¯t meaningless. She was able to hold Demon Lord Beleth in ce for a brief moment. That brief moment was enough for the imperial army to gather at the gate. ¡°Get into formation!¡± Themander of the fortress came down from the rampart as well. The Demon Lord had entered. It would be difficult for his men to endure if he didn¡¯t step forward as a swordmaster. He reassured his men as he kept an eye on the gate. ¡°Khmp khmp, khmrp. Khmmp. Khmo, khmrp.¡± The cloud of dust was denser than before. The sound of humming could be heard from the cloud. The melody was slow, but you could clearly hear the sound of footsteps growing closer. Furthermore, the number of voices would increase after each step, so the humming that started alone eventually became a dreadful chorus. ck shadows slowly became visible within the dust. ¨C Khmp. Khhp. Khmo. khmrp. ¨C Khrp khrp, khmrp. Khhp. Khmo. ¨C La palilia, kmho khmo. It was an old military song. During an era where instruments were yet to be invented so the only musical tool you had was your vocal cords, this was a song sang by ancient demons who didn¡¯t even have a score to follow. The linear melody was sacred like the singing in a temple, but it was also so crude that the harmony didn¡¯t line up at all. This primitive song made the imperial soldiers boasted by the Habsburg Empire tense up. Step. A foot appeared from the cloud of dust. It was the Demon Lord¡¯s foot. Shortly after, hundreds of feet appeared out of the golden dust as well. Death knights that were d in pitch-ck armor were lined up with no gaps between them. Even the dust cloud couldn¡¯t find an opening as the dust particles bounced off their armor. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The two sides confronted one another. A curtain of silence fell over the imperial army and the Demon Lord army. A peculiar feeling swept over the fortressmander. The Demon Lord standing at the front, the man who was asrge as an ogre had a strange expression on his face. He had an overjoyed expression on his face like a man who had just reached his climax. ¡°I am a rank 1 swordsman of the Habsburg Empire, Viofalt von Ragrants.¡± Themander shouted in order to change the atmosphere. ¡°I believe that you are a Demon Lord worthy of receiving my de. State your name!¡± ¡°Sheesh. What a hopeless moron. Are the warriors of the empire all like this?¡± Beleth shook his head. ¡°Whether you belong to the empire or are a rank 1 swordsman does not matter at all. Are you not a warrior? Generally speaking,¡± Beleth pointed to the sky with his left hand that wasn¡¯t holding his axe. ¡°As the sky is above our heads and the earth is below our feet, warriors are people who are satisfied just by holding their weapons in their hands. Outside of this, fame, honor, and decorum are nothing more than inconveniences.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I have already forgotten that I am a Demon Lord. My name is Beleth. The one who will fight you, defeat you, and insult you! Kuhahaha!¡± Beleth charged forward like a boar. His massive body was like a cannonball as he ran. Hundreds of death knights followed behind Beleth. They let out a fierce roar as they shot forward like a flock of seabirds diving at food. The imperial soldiers didn¡¯t want to lose here so they also let out a cry as they ran forward. The swordsmen created a closed formation as they dived into the battlefield covered in clouds of dust. ¡°Kuhuaaaa!¡± ¡°Push them back! Kill them all!¡± The narrow path in front of the gate instantly became a ferocious battlefield. As spears and shields, swords and swords collided against each other, the sound of metal rang loudly through the sky. The warriors pushed back their opponents with their shields and let out cries of rage. The air shook due to the shouting from the humans while the mana in the air began to surge as the demons shouted. This caused ears to be numb and for every fiber of muscle in everyone¡¯s body to start shuddering in excitement. ¡°Beleth, I am your opponent!¡± Themander of the fortress held up his iron rod. He came here with the goal of facing the Demon Lord. Since the other party was swinging around a massive axe, he had to fight back with a different weapon than a sword. Themander¡¯s mana-enhanced voice traveled straight to Beleth¡¯s ears. ¡°Kuhu!¡± Beleth bellowed inughter. Beleth had just crushed a swordsman¡¯s chest te with his elbow. Even though it was protected by a blue aura, it was destroyed with ease. The swordsman vomited blood as he fell to the ground. ¡°Are you calling for me, Beleth, you human!?¡± Beleth wasn¡¯t wearing any armor. His copper-toned upper body waspletely revealed. He already had a few red cuts, but they quickly healed. The fearsome regenerating ability of Demon Lords was basically Beleth¡¯s armor. Themander of the fortress and Beleth ran at each other. Distance meant nothing to them. It only took a single leap for both of them to collide. Sparks flew as their axe and rod mmed into one another. ¡°Kuhahahaha! Excellent!¡± Beleth let out a manicugh. He skillfully parried the rod as soon as it blocked his axe before immediately thrusting the handle of his axe. The fortressmander blocked the handle with his elbow before it could gain any momentum. The gap between them closed in an instant. Beleth shouted with the fortressmander¡¯s face right in front of him. ¡°Antagonize me! Despise me! Bare your teeth before no one else but me, Beleth!¡± ¡°Such nonsense!¡± The fortressmander punched Beleth¡¯s abdomen with his right hand. His fist was blocked by muscles that were as sturdy as metal. ¨DAs themander predicted, the Demon Lord had a monstrous body. Beleth didn¡¯t even let out a grunt as he continued tough maniacally. Themander backed away quickly once he realized his attack was blocked. ¡°I feel alive when you humans despise me!¡± Beleth shouted passionately as if he were some young girl who was giving a confession. He raised his axe and brought it down heavily. Themander hastily raised his rod to block the strike. The axe itself was like andslide as it mmed down on the rod. Themander had no other choice but to let himself slide back in order to alleviate the impact. ¡°Kuuuh!¡± ¡°Throughout all thend, only you humans despise me! You guys are the only ones to confront me with your pure hatred and animosity!¡± Demon Lords are monarchs that take in the emotions of others and judge them fairly. However, Demon Lords be meaningless before humans. They cannot read their emotions. They could stand against each other as absolute individuals. Ever since Beleth discovered that humans exist, he vowed to war against them eternally. Humans do not submit to him. Thus, they are worth conquering. Humans do not try to curry favor with him. Thus, it is worth making them submit. Humans do not obey him. Thus, they are worth killing. Humans werepletely different from demons. The only reason Beleth joined the ins Faction was due to the fact that they were hostile toward the humans the most. Compromise with the humans?! How ridiculous. Beleth believed that demons and humans exist solely to fight each other. If this were not the case, then why did both demons and humans exist? ¡°Aah! I truly do love humans!¡± Demon Lords cannot read the emotions of other Demon Lords. Demon Lords cannot read the emotions of humans. Therefore¨Deach and every individual human was like a Demon Lord to Beleth. They were equal to him. There was no joy in making demons submit to him. The sole act of making humans submit to him was the meaning of his existence. Bodies upon bodies piled up around the path to the gate. The screams of carnage resonated throughout the air. The roars from those who win and the pained cries from those who lose, these sounds mixed together and created hell on earth. This hell was Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth¡¯s home. Beleth swung his axe down again like a typhoon. ¡°Is that it, human!? Does your hatred only go that far!?¡± ¡°Kuuh!¡± ¡°I will destroy your hometowns! Children, the elderly, and women. From the weakest person to the strongest, I will leave no one behind as I ughter them all. Your fields will be burned down and the viges you¡¯ve built up for the past hundreds of years will fall into ruin. Aah! I swear on this!¡± Beleth shouted. ¡°I will destroy everything you have. I will rape your wife and put your children on disy after mutting them. I will graciously offer your ruler to the pigs!¡± Themander mustered up all of his aura to receive the axe. ¡°Be¨Dleth!¡± ¡°If you wish to save them, then give me the best you got, human! Kill me!¡± Themander swung his rod. An impact that was far stronger than the one before managed to make Beleth¡¯s hands go numb. Themander was using up all of the aura he had left in his reserve. He disregarded the order Imperial Princess Elizabeth had given to him to defend for four days. Belethughed crazily. This was it. This was the type of war he wanted. He knew very well how much effort a human had to put in to be a swordmaster. He must¡¯ve strived desperately to get this far. His muscles must¡¯ve ruptured tens of thousands of times. Despite this, he managed to swing his sword with a clear state of mind before eventually reaching the top. In other words, the blow he had received contained the swordsman¡¯s entire life. It¡¯s heavy! It¡¯s possible for life to be this heavy! ¡°Kuhahaha!¡± What sort of days and nights did you go through? Did you harbor doubts about your own intelligence at times? Did you feel delighted while being loyal to your lord? Did it feel marvelous to be able to experience enlightenment with each swing of your sword? Was this your life? Beleth received all of this lifeforce and raised his battleaxe once more. ¡°Viofalt von Ragrants! I shall end¨Dthat life of yours!¡± Was he surprised because the Demon Lord remembered his name? Themander¡¯s eyes widened. Beleth swung down with all his might. Themander managed to block it, but all he had done was block it once. ¡°Crumble!¡± Top to bottom, right to left, left to right, diagonally, Beleth swung his axe continuously. Themander managed to deflect by after blow; however, he wasn¡¯t blocking them because he was predicting their trajectories. He was just barely able to move his arms in time to block the strikes each time. This feeble human was enduring the weight of a Demon Lord who had lived for 1,500 years. A human may one day be able to withstand a Demon Lord¡¯s attack. The day may eventually arrive where a human manages toe out victorious in a sh of lives against a Demon Lord. However. ¡°Crumble before me, human!¡± The aura-enhanced rod was cut. Beleth¡¯s axe dug into themander¡¯s face before he could even show a look of surprise. The de of the axe crushed his head gruesomely and kept going all the way down to his neck and chest. ¡°¨DKruuuuaaah!¡± Beleth pulled his axe out and roared like a beast. However, that day was not today. As it has always been this way for the past 1,500 years and will most likely continue to be this way for a while longer, the one to survive today was not the human but the Rank 13 Demon Lord, Beleth. The earth trembled in terror and respect to the Demon Lord¡¯s victory. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Something about Beleth¡¯s taunts were a bit hard to trante. They still don¡¯t sound exactly right to me, but oh well. I hope you guys appreciate the chaptering out quickly. Fast chapter = no time for me to think of something to say here. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 158: Age of Tyrants (8) Chapter 158: Age of Tyrants (8) * * * The vanguard of the Crescent Alliance¡¯s 6th legion had captured the Habsburg Empire¡¯s fortress city of Krems! It wouldn¡¯t be enough to simply say it was captured. There was a ughter. Even though there were two swordmasters, Beleth swept through the fortress like a violent gale. Everyst imperial soldier resisted till the very end as if they were trying to prove to the world that they were the most elite soldiers. They didn¡¯t start iling like animals once their chances of survival vanishedpletely. They persistently and tenaciously fought back desperately in order to at least take one more person with them to the grave. They fought back while believing that the more they struggled, the longer their empire would survive. ¡°Ooh.¡± Demon Lord Beleth could only be moved by their valiant spirit. A single tear flowed down his crude face. Beleth was an emotional man. Even if he couldn¡¯t think with his head, he knew how to feel with his heart. He gave an order as his emotions gushed forth. ¡°ughter all of the people within the fortress. Make their final moments more tragic so that they will be decorated as heroes.¡± Beleth had lived for more than a thousand years. He knew rather well what he had to do to remain in human history. He went as far as to slow his advance to personally kill the humans that were residing in the fortress. A majority of the people had already been evacuated. The men and women who couldn¡¯t leave their homes and were hoping that the conqueror would be merciful were all killed indiscriminately. Beleth felt as if something decisive wascking by only killing them. ¡°Mm. Let¡¯s tie the corpses together and create rafts.¡± 500 imperial soldiers and 400 civilians. They were massacred and tied together by the dozens. Rafts made of human flesh werepleted. Beleth contemted for a moment before he decided to specially make another raft out of human heads. Once he was done, he marveled at the rafts like he was looking at works of art. ¡°These are amazing!¡± Beleth was satisfied. He pushed the corpse rafts respectfully down the Danubius River. Unfortunately, some of the rafts ended up sinking. A fair breeze caught the sails of a majority of the rafts and helped them travel down the river loftily. This was a type of antic using terror that was done by demonkind called . The corpse rafts followed the river beforending at various viges and asionally some cities. Every person who approached the vessels out of curiosity was met with utter shock. The fear that was hiding within their subconsciousness ended up peering its head out once more. The advent of the Demon Lords. In every Crescent Alliance expedition, the ins Faction was always the most aggressive. They always imed to be the gentlemen of war, but that was nothing more than a nominal title. Their mission has always been to carry out a massacre. The various massacres that were highly exaggerated in the history books were all carried out by the Demon Lords from the ins Faction. However, the 8th Crescent Alliance had Dantalian. Dantalian was put off by massacres. He disliked seeing needless blood and was in the position that wanted to conciliate the humans if he could. Even when the ins Faction took over Margrave Rosenberg¡¯s territory, no massacres were carried out. Dantalian, and Barbatos who ended up trusting Dantalianpletely, had stopped the Demon Lords of the ins Faction from doing so. The ins Faction refrained from massacring even after the battle at Bruno ins. Dantalian had imed that ¡®the moremoners we spare, the higher our chances of victory will be¡¯. However, half a year had passed since Dantalian broke away from the ins Faction. The true nature of the ins Faction Demon Lords was resurfacing. ¡°Humans! The only freedom we can bestow is fear, the only liberation we can gift to you is domination, and the only truth we will allow you to have is ignorance!¡± Beleth soon crossed the Danubius River. He earnestly cleaned up the human viges that were in his path. Due to this ughter, the 500 imperial soldiers that died while protecting the fortress were remembered as tragic heroes, just as Beleth had wanted. Beleth wasn¡¯t just obsessing over aesthetics. There was a practical reason for his ughter. Beleth gathered the corpses from the viges he massacred as he advanced since he intended to use them for the siege that was going to soon happen at the capital of Habsburg. ¡°There are a lot of ways to use corpses.¡± Beleth grinned. The sight of damaged corpses by themselves was enough to incite fear within the human army, they could be used to demoralize the enemy forces, and you could even enchant them with ck magic andunch them on catapults. If you¡¯re lucky, this might cause a gue to spread within the enemy army. ¡°They entertain me when they¡¯re alive and they serve me when they¡¯re dead. There are no other beings that help us Demon Lords as much as humans do.¡± Beleth put a bunch of corpses on the backs of the ck wolves. The death knights also advanced while carrying a corpse on their shoulders. Thus, they wound up transporting about a thousand human corpses. This caused their pace to slow down, but that didn¡¯t matter. Beleth was just the vanguard anyway. There would be nothing to do even if he arrived at the capital early. The capital was one of the most fortified cities on the continent. The Crescent Alliance has never managed to conquer the city ever since it was made. The brains of the Crescent Alliance judged that, at the soonest, it would take at least a month. Beleth thought the same. His mission was only to secure a path. It was the right decision to gather human corpses instead of advancing quickly. ¨DThat is, if the human army only had a normal ruler. Four days after conquering the fortress, Beleth¡¯s forces arrived at the capital. ¡°¡­¡­Hey, hey. What happened here?¡± Beleth stopped. A t ins area was spread out before him. In the center of the ins stood the capital city. Beleth let out a flippantugh as he took in the sight before him. ¡°Did some shrewd bastards capture the capital before us?¡± The ins was already brown from being burned down. The castle walls were ckened. Thin lines of smoke were rising up from various ces within the city. The capital was already on fire. * * * The capital of Habsburg ispletely on fire! Beleth immediately used a magic sphere to send a report. Themanding officers of the Crescent Alliance didn¡¯t understand. The capital was on fire? What was he talking about? The most important focal point of this war was none other than the capital. The Crescent Alliance had to capture it while the human army had to protect it at all cost. Despite this, it was already on fire before the Crescent Alliance had even arrived. Themanders of the Crescent Alliance initially doubted each other. ¡°¡­¡­Old man Marbas, was it you?¡± ¡°Nonsense. My 2nd legion was a day behind you.¡± ¡°Oi, my closerades.¡± Barbatos looked around with a cold gaze. ¡°Something isn¡¯t right here. Someone here got there before everyone else. Hey, Sitri. Look me in the eyes. Don¡¯t look away. Did you do it? Did the 1st legion sneak behind our backs?¡± ¡°Your brain must be small since your body is small, Barbatos.¡± Sitri snorted. She was currently leading the 1st legion of the Crescent Alliance and the Mountain Faction in Paimon¡¯s ce. ¡°I understand that you don¡¯t have a lot of brain cells, but you should at least remember the important things. We used up almost all of our forces in order to wipe out the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army. How could we have destroyed the capital of Habsburg when we don¡¯t even have any soldiers to spare?¡± Barbatos turned away and looked at the blonde Demon Lord who was casually drinking some wine. ¡°Gamigin.¡± ¡°Gosh, don¡¯t even try to point your finger at me. You shouldn¡¯t doubt yourrades. My 5th legion was thest to join up with everyone, you know? I don¡¯t go behind people¡¯s backs and plot things like you guys. Also, our numbers aren¡¯t as great as the 2nd legion. How could we have captured the capital by ourselves?¡± ¡°Hmph. It¡¯s possible if you weren¡¯t acting alone.¡± Barbatos sneered. ¡°Agares, Vassago, and Gamigin. The three of you could have schemed this beforehand. Confess, you pasta brains. I was wondering why you guys kept fightingzily saying that you wanted to conserve your troops. Fuck, did you guys leak out a detached force behind our backs to attack the capital?¡± ¡°Oh my. Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself, little miss.¡± Rank 2 Demon Lord Agares chuckled. Her light blue hair made her easy to distinguish. ¡°Your 6th legion was the one in charge of Habsburg in the first ce. We marched all the way here to specially help you. You know that, right? Not only should you not be questioning us, but we are not of aughable standing that allows a Rank 9 of all people to raise their voice at us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not Rank 9, I¡¯m Rank 8, you musclehead.¡± Barbatos growled. Agares let out an ¡®Oh dear¡¯ before covering her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry! Your rank is so low that I forgot itpletely. But you¡¯re also at fault, you know? You should at least be in the top 5 to make it easier for people to remember your rank. Rank 8? That¡¯s such a huge number that a fool like me would never remember it.¡± ¡°Oho. I could personally engrave it into that foolish brain of yours if you want.¡± The two Demon Lords smiled at each other menacingly. ¡°If you want to fight, thene at me Madem-fucking-moiselle.¡± ¡°You bitch, I¡¯ll kill you.¡± Marbas let out a loud sigh the moment Barbatos was about to summon her battle scythe. ¡°It seems that meetings never go peacefully here. Barbatos. Agares. If you two want to fight here, then so be it. I do not have the authority to either moderate or stop your fight, so I will fall back quietly. However, do not expect to ever be invited to another banquet.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± Barbatos and Agares turned away from each other. Marbas was the only individual who could act as a mediator between Demon Lords. Rank 1 Baal would always remain as a spectator as long as the situation wasn¡¯t seriously dire. The rest of the higher-ranking Demon Lords had a lot of pride so they didn¡¯t listen to others. Only the leader of the Neutral Faction, Marbas, had the ability to mediate or console other Demon Lords. Even though his rank was only 5, he practically had the most authority within the Demon Lord army. If Marbas steps forward, then you had to take a step back. Marbas spoke. ¡°There would be no end to it if we start to doubt each other now. Every legion has been on their own for the past few months. Only themanders of each respective legion knows what they have done. There is not a single legion that can clear themselves of suspicion entirely. Barbatos, this includes the 6th legion.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Most importantly, this is not something that needs to be kept a secret. Someone capturing the capital city of Habsburg is undeniably beneficial to us. The Demon Lord to make the capital fall would be praised eternally. What could you possibly gain by keeping this a secret?¡± Marbas slowly looked at the other Demon Lords one by one. His gaze was telling them to say something if they didn¡¯t agree, but no one responded. He was right, after all. Marbas continued prudently. ¡°Even if we doubt each other now, there would be no basis to that doubt. It would simply be nder. As this is the case, if none of us did it, then it would only be right to conclude that the enemy had burned their own capital.¡± ¡°Mmm. Habsburg burned their own capital?¡± Gamigin tilted her head. Her blonde hair swayed. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense to even me. The capital is the capital. The heart of the country. What could they possibly gain by burning that down?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No one responded this time as well. Although it was incredibly rare for kingdoms to set their capitals on fire and run away, it has happened before. However, none of those kingdoms burned their capitals thoroughly. There was a time wheremoners burned their pce down in rage, but an entire capital being burned down was unheard of. Cities were treasures that had to be regained for humans. Even if they were pushed away, cities were something they could recapture in the future. Humans have repeated this process numerous times throughout history. Why would they abruptly burn their capital down? ¡°¡­¡­It does not seem like anyone has a clue. Let us continue advancing for now. It should be fine even if we discover the reasonter.¡± Everyone gave a nod to Marbas¡¯ proposal. The Crescent Alliance advanced to the already burning capital. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s sort of hard to stop saying this line after saying it constantly for like 4+ years now. Old habits die hard I guess. In any case, names are hard. Especially when it¡¯s a name that¡¯spletely unique with no historical precedent or anything. Whenever I see these names, I have to look into them to see if I¡¯m going to have to make my own version in English or use a name that already exists. Korean does not do a good job when ites to changing English names into Korean. Schleiermacher is probably a good example. God I still hate that name. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 159: Age of Tyrants (9) Chapter 159: Age of Tyrants (9) Five dayster, the legions arrived at the imperial capital of Habsburg. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lords could only fall into silence as they passed through the tall gates. They were stepping foot in the capital city of Habsburg for the first time ever. They were looking forward to a glorious and joy-filled victory; however, all that was left was ck smoke. There was nothing there. They couldn¡¯t even see a single animal. The sharp smell of smoke left by the mes dug deeply into their noses. The Demon Lords set up a rough encampment above the razed city grounds. Barbatos looked around at the city with a forlorn look on her face before her eyes suddenly opened wide in realization. She hastily spoke to the other Demon Lords. ¡°This is a tactical retreat. Damn it.¡± ¡°They deliberately retreated?¡± Gamigin furrowed her brows as she spoke. She had been covering her nose with a silk cloth ever since they entered the city. Her voice was muffled because of this. ¡°Do you remember the 5th Crescent Alliance? Agares. You were in charge of Moscow at that time.¡± ¡°It was the Kingdom of Kyiv back then and not Moscow.¡± The ends of Rank 2 Demon Lord Agares¡¯ mouth twitched as if she were displeased. ¡°Why are you bringing up someone¡¯s bad memories all of a sudden?¡± ¡°They¡¯ve already been doing it during this war, but the humans carried out a scorched earth policy back then as well. It also happened to be winter. You went through all sorts of effort to get to Kyiv, but there was nothing left by the time you got there.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying the Habsburg Empire abandoned their capital as a part of their scorched earth policy?¡± Agares brought her hand to her chin. She would always have a smile lingering on her lips, but she now looked serious. Barbatos continued speaking to the other Demon Lords. ¡°See? The imperial tombs were all emptied. They basically disassembled their imperial pce and took it with them. They probably intend to move their capital. Fuck, this is ourst chance. We have to send out our elite soldiers to pursue them.¡± ¡°This is ourst chance?¡± Marbas asked back. ¡°What do you mean, Barbatos?¡± ¡°Those imperial bastards are trying to pick up their entire capital and move it elsewhere. Do you think their people would nod obediently and follow along? I¡¯m sure that they forced them to move. Their public sentiment must have taken a severe blow!¡± Barbatos got worked up. ¡°They¡¯re retreating while trying to console those people. They¡¯re probably moving at a snail¡¯s pace. This is the moment we can bring this empire down. If we pursue them and bite their asses, then the entirety of Habsburg will be ours! Now then,rades. Let¡¯s raise our gs and attack them now!¡± ¡®So?¡¯ Barbatos looked at the other Demon Lords. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos¡¯ brow twitched. This wasn¡¯t the response she wanted. ¡°What? Do you think I¡¯m wrong? Then say it.¡± ¡°Barbatos, the 2nd legion is satisfied with capturing the capital city of Habsburg.¡± Marbas spoke carefully. ¡°The best tactic is a bloodless victory. We managed to take over the most reputable city in the center of the continent without shedding a single drop of blood. Is there a reason for us to needlessly pursue more battles?¡± ¡°Mhm. I agree.¡± Gamigin chimed in. ¡°From what I can tell, this means the higher-ups of the human army turned their backs toward their people. Wouldn¡¯t we gain a psychological advantage if we just leave them be?¡± The other Demon Lords nodded. A fierce look appeared on Barbatos¡¯ face once she saw this. ¡°¡­¡­Hey, my closerades. What are you talking about? I¡¯m starting to doubt my ears right now. Let me exin it to you guys one more time. If we work together to pursue them now, then we could erase the Habsburg Empire from the map entirely. They¡¯re hastily retreating while also trying to cumbersomely take care of their people.¡± ¡°About that.¡± Agares chuckled. ¡°Unless they¡¯re idiots, wouldn¡¯t those imperials be expecting us to pursue them? Hm? I feel like they¡¯re tossing out bait and asking us to bite it. Why should we intentionally take the bait?¡± ¡°¡­¡­It doesn¡¯t matter if they¡¯ve set up a trap or are lying in wait to ambush us, Agares.¡± Barbatos barely managed to push her anger down her throat as she spoke. ¡°There are only two things that are important. The enemy is weak and we¡¯re strong.¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to say that they aren¡¯t hiding a trump card?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos could tell that something wasn¡¯t right. Marbas, Agares, and Gamigin, the leading members of the Crescent Alliance had apathetic looks on their faces. It didn¡¯t matter if the enemy had set up a trap since they could just break it apart with their overwhelming strength. There was no way that the Demon Lords gathered here weren¡¯t aware of this fact. Despite this, their minds were obviously elsewhere. In other words, they weren¡¯t interested in destroying the Habsburg Empire. There could only be one reason for this. ¡°You fuckers¨Ddon¡¯t tell me. Do you guys not want to conquer the continent?¡± The Demon Lords didn¡¯t think the 8th Crescent Alliance could conquer the continent. The blonde Gamigin tilted her head before speaking. ¡°Eeh?¡± She made it seem like Barbatos was the weird one and not them. ¡°There¡¯s no way our Crescent Alliance¡¯s expedition will seed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Seriously, you say the weirdest things sometimes, Barbatos. You should be satisfied with taking over the northern part of Habsburg. Why are you getting greedy? You¡¯re going to get an upset stomach at that rate. Hehe.¡± Agares followed up. ¡°If anything, this is a good thing. Since they¡¯ve abandoned their capital, the people of Habsburg most likely don¡¯t have the strength to strike back. If we use this opportunity to clean up the remaining areas of the empire, then we should be able to take our time enjoying our spoils of war.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°My 2nd legion was originally assigned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Barbatos. The only reason I joined you this far was to secure a path to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth without having to go through the ck Mountains. Since there is now no reason for us to worry about our rear, my 2nd legion will be returning to our original goal.¡± Marbas continued. ¡°Conquering the continent is a sizable task that will require a lot of time anyway. There is no reason for us to be impatient and try to get it all done at once, Barbatos.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Don¡¯t be impatient?¡± Barbatos gnashed her teeth. ¡°You retards¡­¡­. Is that something Demon Lords should be saying? An opportunity to destroy a human empire is right in front of our noses. Our mission is to wipe out the humans and gift the continent to demonkind. You guys are¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ah, ah. Who cares about that mission! It¡¯s just annoying.¡± Agares shouted. ¡°Go pursue that great mission on your own, you old school brat. All of the demons that genuinely wanted to take over the continent died a thousand years ago. Other than the people around you, no one believes in that nonsense anymore. Do you understand? We¡¯re satisfied as long as we can feed the people that follow us.¡± ¡°You¡­¡­ how could the rank 2 person.¡± ¡°Sorry, Barbatos.¡± Gamigin chimed in with a smile. ¡°I also don¡¯t want to go out of my way to incur losses. Of course, we could probably wipe out the empire if webine our forces, but those imperial soldiers know very well that it would be the end of their nation if we attacked them now, so they would fight back that much more desperately. Hehe. If that happens, then I would actually lose the soldiers I managed to preserve while pretending to fight!¡± Gamigin blew her nose into her handkerchief. ¡°Mhm. Paimon¡¯s forces decreased significantly, and you also lost a lot of soldiers because your ins Faction fought the hardest. I¡¯m probably in my prime right now~. Should I say that I¡¯m happy since there¡¯s nothing more that I can ask for~? Hehe.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh right. This doesn¡¯t mean that you can take all of thend in the center of Habsburg, okay? I may have conserved my troops, but we still fought together! I trust that you¡¯ll distribute thend fairly.¡± Barbatos¡¯ hands were shaking. ¡°Distribute thend¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yup. Why do you think we moved our troops toward the side you were in charge of?¡± Gamigin grinned brightly. ¡°It was hard because I had to constantly worry about when our provisions would run out. Yup, the humans weren¡¯t idiots, so they didn¡¯t go out of their way to engage us. What army was it? The Teuton Kingdom? They followed my legion, but when we stepped out a little, they would also step back a little. Hehe. They didn¡¯t really want to fight either!¡± In reality, it was already determined which armies would fight the hardest during the 8th Crescent Alliance. On the Demon Lord army side, it was Barbatos¡¯ 6th legion and it was the imperial army led by Imperial Princess Elizabeth on the human side. The 6th legion struggled for the sake of conquering the continent while the Habsburg Empire fought back desperately to protect their nation. From the very beginning, the remaining legions of the Demon Lord army only moved for the sake of a political goal. In other words, they acted for the sake of lowering the Mountain Faction¡¯s power since they were the greatest group within the Demon Lord army. Since they had aplished that goal, there was no reason for them to waste more of their military strengths. It was the same for the other armies within the human alliance. Not only did their morale drop because of the ceremonial speeches, but they had no reason to fight back actively as long as the Demon Lord army didn¡¯t attack them genuinely either. The human armies piged the viges and cities within Habsburg for the sake of consoling their military personnel. Humans stole from other humans under the pretext of a scorched earth policy and the justification of being soldiers that were dispatched to protect Habsburg. If they didn¡¯t pige them, then the Demon Lord army would take everything anyway. There was no reason for them to hold back. There were simr interests within the Demon Lord army and the human army. The other members of the Demon Lord army and the human alliance respected each other¡¯s boundaries as if they had promised to do so beforehand while Barbatos and Elizabeth were engaging each other in battle constantly at the front. The Demon Lord army piged this side, while the human army piged that side. Battles rarely urred and they would also be small-scale whenever they did. They only focused on profiting off the Habsburg Empire¡¯s soil. The only army that paradoxically fought rather actively was the Mountain Faction. The Mountain Faction had to struggle so that they would no longer be suspected of having betrayed their kind. As a result, the Mountain Faction incurred heavy losses while wiping out the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army. ¡­¡­Of course, they had made a show of the battle and made it seem bigger than it was. ¡°That¡¯s right. We also have the right to be given a fair share.¡± Agares smiled as she spoke. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not that greedy. Just give me somend that¡¯s as big as a dukedom. It¡¯s fine if you take the capital, Barbatos. Mm, even I think I¡¯m being incredibly generous.¡± ¡°Ah, I would like an area near the ck Mountains if possible. I came here even though Baal told me not to. It¡¯d be weird if I gotnd that¡¯s far from the mountains. Mhm. I¡¯d be satisfied with Brandenburg or something.¡± ¡°Oh right. The location is also important. Hm. What should I do?¡± Barbatos became silent. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Rather than anger, she felt more like vomiting. She didn¡¯t want to admit that these people were her equals. They didn¡¯t have even a sliver of pride. They were a pack of coyotes that only moved for the sake of their own personal gains. Barbatos left without a word. No one tried to stop her. Only the Demon Lords from the ins Faction followed her. She gave an order with an absolutely cold expression on her face. ¡°Prepare a pursuit group.¡± ¡°Are we going to pursue with only our legion?¡± Zepar spoke carefully. ¡°Your Highness, I apologize, but I cannot guarantee that we will seed.¡± ¡°Sess is not something you predict. It¡¯s something you go out and grab yourself.¡± Barbatos responded sternly. ¡°The other Demon Lords may be pieces of trash, but, at the very least, we have to show demonkind that we Demon Lords are still fighting for their sake. That is what a monarch has to do.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Understood.¡± ¡°Sons of bitches.¡± Barbatos growled. She red behind her out of the corner of her eyes. ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s what you guys want, then we¡¯ll conquer the continent at ater date! Before that day arrives, I¡¯ll clean up all the trash that exists in the world.¡± It was at this moment, the ins Faction separated themselves from the other factions. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry, I finished this chapter a day sooner, but I forgot to send it to my proofreader immediately after I was done. A little dy won¡¯t kill anyone. I think. Probably.Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 160: The Mans and the Womans Situation (1) Chapter 160: The Man''s and the Woman''s Situation (1) There was something I¡¯ve been contemting for a very long time now. ¡­¡­I¡¯m a Demon Lord, but aren¡¯t Icking a lot in terms of dignity? This was a serious matter. Even my strength and charm stats werecking. A type of charisma that all rulers should have that was capable of making people cower before them was basically non-existent within me. If I didn¡¯t have a horn on the back of my head, then I doubt anyone would think that I was a Demon Lord. I do have more dignitypared to how I was as a rookie a year ago. I also got used to seeing humans die inrge numbers and I have a decent understanding of this world¡¯s politics, and yet, I didn¡¯t gain any sort of charisma. ¡°So this is a rather big problem. Don¡¯t you think so as well?¡± I audibly hummed to myself as I continued in a serious tone. ¡°This will create a group of people who either forget that I¡¯m a Demon Lord or t out disregard this fact entirely. Hah. I didn¡¯t understand why rulers would create such needlessly extravagant pces, but now I do. If you sit on a golden throne in a pce made of marble, then you would naturally appear dignified. All things in the world have a deeper meaning behind them even if they appear useless on the outside. Don¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡­. Yes, Your Highness!¡± A middle-aged man was bowing under my feet. He was prostrating. There were dust and blood smeared all over his red, silken attire. ¡°I-I think so as well!¡± ¡°I am d that you understand.¡± I grinned. ¡°Sadly, I do not n to build a needlessly fancy pce. I already have a lot of things I have to spend money on, after all. Hm, this really is a big problem. A big problem indeed. I do not possess any innate dignity. Therefore, I have no other choice but to acquire it manually. What should I do to acquire this grandeur?¡± ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­i-is already overflowing with grandeur.¡± ¡°Oh. Thank you for thepliment.¡± I raised my right foot and gently patted the man¡¯s head with it. I moved my foot slowly as if it were my hand. The man¡¯s body was trembling. ¡°But I truly do not have any dignity. If I did, then would I have received such a dastardly attack? I was attacked even though they should have clearly known that they would be killed if they failed. Therefore, I must have looked like a pushover to them.¡± ¡°Your¡­¡­Highness.¡± The man¡¯s voice was shaking uncontrobly. I stepped down on his head. I could feel his body tremble through my foot. The other party was currently consumed by absolute fear. It wasn¡¯t a bad feeling. The man cried out with his nose pushed against the ground. ¡°Spare me¡­¡­. P-Please spare me!¡± ¡°So I have decided to make my own symbol.¡± I removed my foot and nced at the death knight who was waiting on the side. Once I did, the knight raised the man up by his waist. ¡°H-Hiiik!¡± The man dangled in the air like a child. A murky liquid flowed down the side of his pant leg. It emitted a terrible smell. I raised my left hand and showed it to him. ¡°Look carefully. Do you see that I am missing two fingers?¡± ¡°Yes! Yes! Hkk, I see it¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You see, your loyal subordinates had cut them off. They were quite dexterous. I did not even have the chance to feel any pain. Haha.¡± The man¡¯s face became deathly pale. ¡°Y-Your Highness¡­¡­Please¡­¡­have m-mercy¡­¡­¡± Iughed. ¡°Well, the past is the past and the present is the present. I am quite a benevolent person. I would not kill you abruptly or do something brutish simply because your subordinate made a mistake or two.¡± ¡°Thank you¡­¡­hggh, Your Highness¡­¡­thank you very much!¡± The man rubbed his hands together as he bowed over and over again. This was my first time seeing someone apologize while rubbing their hands together. It looked more pathetic than I thought it would. Well, it might be because all 10 of the man¡¯s fingers were broken. ¡°By the way, what is that ring on your middle finger?¡± ¡°Huh? A-Ah, yes. It is a ring that signifies my position as an archduke.¡± ¡°Remove it and give it to me.¡± The man huped. ¡°T-This is a ring that can never be removed.¡± ¡°Cut it.¡± The death knight immediately twisted the man¡¯s finger once I gave the order. ¡°Guaaaaah!¡± His scream rang out. The man¡¯s middle finger on his right hand was pulled out like a white radish being pulled out from the earth. The death knight removed the ring and presented it to me. I gave him a satisfied nod. The man was busy screaming and groaning. I continued speaking to him. ¡°This is no longer necessary for you, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡­hggghk.¡± I got up and patted his cheek. The man had been drooling so my hand ended up getting wet. It was a bit gross, but I didn¡¯t mind it. ¡°I do not n to go out of my way to have this injury healed. Think about it. I am leaving an injury that can be treated at any time alone. An injury that also sticks out this much. Every person I meet will most likely see this injury. They will then remember the fate that befell those who went against me.¡± ¡°Pardon¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Repent in the afterlife, you fool.¡± I pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into his throat. The sharp de of my dagger slid into the area where his neck met his jaw. His body trembled as he let out a death throe. Red blood sttered onto my face. I kept my eyes open as I silently watched the man¡¯s final moments. He convulsed for a moment before the strength in his body gradually faded away. I pulled out my dagger and cleaned it with a piece of cloth. It was a dagger that Barbatos had gifted to me. I have to treat it with care. Weaponsst longer if you clean off foreign substances like blood promptly after being used. She gave this to me so I couldmit suicide with it if necessary, but that wasn¡¯t the first time Barbatos had been so crude, so I disregarded that advice. I spoke in a calm tone. ¡°Hang his head up on the top of the pce.¡± The death knights nodded. On this day, among the 26 archdukes who rule the demon world, the Archduke of Atata died. The pce the Archduke resided in was thoroughly demolished and the 200 people who lived within the pce were mercilessly ughtered. The Archduke and his servants¡¯ heads were hung from the top of the pce¡¯s spire. I wrote a single special line near the heads. ¨C Know thyself. * * * I dragged my tired body back to my Demon Lord castle. I was originally supposed to be meeting a few more archdukes right now; however, the need to do so had disappeared. I had already made an example of someone, so the rest of the archdukes should naturally start to offer me tributes as long as they have brains. Most importantly, there was a need for me to adjust my strategy entirely. It was revealed to me that Paimon was a republican and that republicans were hiding in various ces throughout the continent. I had be their aplice. I have to devise a new n that is able to utilize this. I took a moment to rx in the underground pool. However, I was given shocking news before I could even finish taking my break. ¡°Barbatos was defeated?¡± Sitri nodded to me from within the magic sphere. ¨C Yeah. Although she didn¡¯t suffer that many losses even though she was defeated. What was she talking about? I asked her back in confusion. ¡°No, how did the girl who doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d die even if you killed her lose?¡± ¨C Well, about that¡­¡­. Sitri¡¯s exnation went as follows: they advanced to the capital of Habsburg to put an end to the empire, but when they got there, the capital was already empty. The imperial people had abandoned the capital and ran away. Barbatos suggested that they should quickly pursue the imperial soldiers and wipe them out. The other factions didn¡¯t want to cooperate, so the motion was turned down. Thus, Barbatos pursued the imperial soldiers by herself. However, the empire had been waiting for the Demon Lord army to pursue them. The pursuing troops were met with an ambush as they passed a canyon. They were pincered. ording to Sitri, twenty swordmasters had rushed at them. It wasn¡¯t only the swordmasters from Habsburg, but the swordmasters that were dispatched from the other human nations as well. Barbatos hadmenced the pursuit on short notice, so she wasn¡¯t able to mobilize arge number of soldiers. To make matters worse, these soldiers were exhausted since they weren¡¯t able to get much rest after reaching the capital as they had to immediately start marching again. It was only natural that they would get done in by the human army that had been waiting vigntly for them. Barbatos was defeated. She barely managed to get out of the canyon alive. Barbatos ended up losing her left arm because five swordmasters kept attacking her persistently. A Demon Lord like Barbatos could easily regenerate an arm or two, but if you look at it from another angle, this meant that a Demon Lord as great as her had lost an arm. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that this was an utter defeat. ¨C Haah. She¡¯s an unsightly girl, but seeing here back with a missing arm and without her subordinates was, how should I say it? I felt bad for her. Sitri let out a sigh. ¨C If I knew that was going to happen, then I should¡¯ve gone with her. She fought the hardest during this expedition. I don¡¯t like seeing the person who fought the hardest also lose the most. But this doesn¡¯t mean I can apologize to her! Uuuugh. What should I do? Sitri kept muttering to herself. It seems she was genuinely concerned about this. Only a single thought went through my head after I listened to Sitri¡¯s exnation. ¡®¡­¡­What is she plotting now?¡¯ Sitri probably wasn¡¯t aware of this, but there were times where Barbatos¡¯ inner thoughts and actions didn¡¯t align. This was the case if you looked at her sexuality as well. Anyone would think that she was a sadist, but whenever she had sex with me, she would often be a masochist. Every single archduke was shocked when they saw the memoria video of Barbatos squealing like a pig while buried in my crotch. It was just that surprising to them. She has a crude tongue, so the people around her would often think that she has a bad personality, but¡­¡­. I¡¯m not sure. She was also unexpectedly soft. When she fell for Paimon¡¯s scheme and got surrounded by enemies on all sides, Barbatos cried like a child in front of her subordinates. In other words, she was a treacherous person. If you only look at her way of speech and the faces she made, then there was no one as hot-tempered as her. However, Barbatos, the person who cherishes her subordinates more than anyone else, intentionally dove into the enemy¡¯s trap? Things didn¡¯t line up. I was certain that there was something very sinister hiding underneath. I thought for a moment before asking Sitri a question. ¡°Sitri. How many people were in Barbatos¡¯ pursuit group?¡± ¨C Hm? Sitri furrowed her brow and tilted her head from within the magic sphere. ¨C Mmm¡­¡­ probably about 1,500? There were at least over a thousand. Barbatos had approximately 5,000 soldiers. If you take the entire ins Faction into ount, then she had 15,000 soldiers. And yet, she only took a thousand of them to pursue the enemy¡­¡­. There was something suspicious about this. It reeked. ¡°Were there death knights among them?¡± ¨C Yeah. Hundreds of them were lined up. Aha. Sitri asked back. ¨C Why do you ask? ¡°No, I was just curious.¡± I could vaguely see Barbatos¡¯ intentions. Before feeling pleased about seeing through her actions, I couldn¡¯t help but think that she was absurd. She really was a wicked fellow. She should learn a thing or two from Sitri who was genuinely feeling sorry for her right now. ¡®That girl, she lied to them, huh?¡¯ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Posting chapters as soon as I wake up is a real struggle. Why do I post in the morning? Because that¡¯s when most of you guys are active. Doing this in the morning while I¡¯m still like half asleep makes me worry that I might mess up something and post the wrong chapter. Thankfully that hasn¡¯t happened yet. I¡¯m definitely going back to sleep after I post this. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 161: The Man’s and the Woman’s Situation Chapter 161: The Man¡¯s and the Woman¡¯sSituation WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip thetter half of this chapter. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there. You have been warned. To put it simply, Barbatos had put on a show. She could¡¯ve left the death knights in her shadow. In situations like pursuits where speed was key, it would naturally be more efficient to move around with them in your shadow. If Barbatos genuinely intended to pursue the imperial army, then she would have only gone out with a few elite Demon Lords like Beleth. She would¡¯ve assaulted the imperial army during the night. Death knights are quite literally the most optimal soldiers for surprise attacks, after all. Despite this, she marched while putting her death knights on full disy. I was certain. ¡®She probably didn¡¯t lose even a single death knight.¡¯ In reality, she must¡¯ve led shabby soldiers like orcs and skeleton soldiers on her pursuit. 1,000 of these soldiers¡­¡­. Well, it was questionable whether she actually lost all of them or not. At the price of losing less than a thousand soldiers, Barbatos managed to obtain the feat of being the only Demon Lord to pursue the humans till the very end. The world wille to know that, while the other Demon Lords were showing their true colors and standing idly by, Barbatos alone participated in the Crescent Alliance genuinely. Demonkind will most likely give Barbatos their full support. Even if a majority of demonkind believes that conquering the continent is impossible, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that Barbatos had achieved this feat. They will have no other choice but to give her their respect. ¨C Kekeke. I could hear Barbatos¡¯ugh in my head. She sure likes employing underhanded methods. I sometimes wonder if she never gets tired of being so underhanded. Making the people around you smile while living a bit more sincerely and earnestly, wouldn¡¯t this be a life worth living? Barbatos had a rotten personality. Seriously. Tsk tsk. It¡¯d be best to not get involved with people like her. I thanked Sitri. ¡°Thanks, Sitri. I was able to learn about how the Crescent Alliance has been doing thanks to you.¡± ¨C Hehe. This is nothing. You don¡¯t have to thank me for this. Sitriughed. She had long forgotten the concern she was having about whether she should apologize to Barbatos or not. Wouldn¡¯t you be able to live a happier life if you lived as simply as Sitri? This thought went through my head. ¨C By the way, Dantalian, you¡¯re not in good shape at all! Sitri abruptly hit me with an uppercut. I was currently in the underground pool and I was obviously naked. I had adjusted the angle of the magic sphere to only show my upper body, but Sitri made thatment after seeing my body. The corners of my mouth trembled a bit. ¡°I¡¯m not in good shape? You¡¯re ndering me. My physique ispletely average.¡± ¨C Huh? Sitri looked genuinely perplexed. What is this guy saying? This was what her gaze was saying. ¨C No, you¡¯re wrong. Your physique definitely isn¡¯t average, but below average. This, I¡¯m certain of. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¨C You have no muscles, your arms are thin, your shoulders are narrow, and your chest is t. What about this seems average to you? You have to draw a line here. With your physique, you can¡¯t farm or go out on the battlefield. There was no malice in Sitri¡¯s expression or tone. It felt like she was simply saying the honest truth. She spoke a matter-of-factly like she was exining what she had for dinner today. She was pure-hearted, so it hurt me that much as well. I tried to give an excuse. ¡°I-I¡¯m not the type of Demon Lord who goes out and swings his sword. I don¡¯t need things like muscles since I¡¯m in the back thinking up strategies and tactics. That¡¯s right. What¡¯s important to me isn¡¯t the muscles in my body, but the muscles in my brain.¡± ¨C Eeh? That¡¯s not right. You should at least have an appealing body. Dantalian, your appearance iscking as both a ruler and a schr. Be honest with me. You don¡¯t get any exercise, do you? You need to work out! Even if our regenerative ability is more exceptional than normal demons, that doesn¡¯t mean our average physique will also go up by itself. Ah, I felt like I was experiencing deja vu. It felt nostalgic and made my desire to rebel surge up. If I¡¯m not mistaken, then I¡¯m certain it was this. The thing that all humans naturally start to rebel toward¨Da mother¡¯s nagging. ¨C You¡¯ve be a highly reputable Demon Lord now, so you have to act more Demon Lord-like. I¡¯m able to act like a debauchee since I¡¯m Big Sis Paimon¡¯s subordinate, but you don¡¯t intend to always stay as Barbatos¡¯ subordinate, right? If that¡¯s the case, then you have to give people the impression that you¡¯re not like the other Demon Lords! Woow¡­¡­I gave Sitri a bitter look. Why was I only surrounded by people who nagged at me? I didn¡¯t have to even mention Lapis and Laura who fwould always nag at me whenever it came to doing exercise. Now Sitri was included in this list. What sin did Imit to make people form an alliance to nag at me? I know. This era prefers muscr men. In other words, macho men were revered. It¡¯s obvious if you think about it. Muscr men have more of an advantage when ites to farming and they also have an advantage in battle. In this era where survival is treated as the greatest goal, people only sought out macho men. It was hard for men who weren¡¯t muscr to survive. I made a bold deration as I stood in the center of this irrational era. ¡°Slender men are the current trend!¡± ¨C Eh? ¡°Muscles are nothing but symbols of violence and oppression. Why must all men be muscr? A wretched prejudice¡­¡­. This is a prejudice that infects this era and its people. Beauty is not exclusive to females. Men can also be slender!¡± ¨C Wait a second, Dantalian. What are you talking about? I don¡¯t understand. ¡°Hoo. Sitri, you may be pure-hearted, but is it because of this that you were unable to escape from this era¡¯s prejudice? Were you also a specter who got caught by this era¡¯s obstinacy? s, I feel as if I may cry when I look at you. It cannot be helped. We should end the call here. ¨C Dantalian? Dantalian! Wait, I still have more to say¡­¡­. I turned the magic sphere off. Sitri¡¯s image faded away and the cavern became quiet. I couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed. Sitri, I believed that I could genuinely be friends with her; however, the prejudice of this age turned out to be this heavy. That¡¯s life¡­¡­. In the end, there is a wall between people. I stepped out of the pool and didn¡¯t put any clothes on. Ever since my Demon Lord level went up, I gained the ability to slightly control the temperature of my dungeon, so it was currently at a perfect warm and cool temperature. Laura and my monsters were the only ones present in my dungeon anyway, so it didn¡¯t matter if I walked around naked. I returned to my room. Laura was in the middle of reading a book. The sight of a blonde girl reading a book felt like something you¡¯d see in a painting. ¡°Aaaah, Laura! Laura!¡± I ran to Laura naked. Laura let out a terrified cry as she wrapped her arms around her book to protect it and stood on the chair. However, she was caught by her waist. ¡°Huah! Lord! What are you doing!?¡± ¡°The world is tormenting me, kuh. It keeps taunting me saying that I¡¯m not in good shape and that my physique isughable. Laura! You do not think this as well, right? My physique is average, is it not?¡± Laura made an incredibly annoyed face. ¡°There is no way that is true. Your Lordship is quite literally the definition of an unattractive man.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Uah!? Why are you massaging my chest, Lord!? Ah, uu, why are you taking off my skirt!? Wait. Wait a second! At least do some forey before you put it in! No, don¡¯t put it in right, hggh!? Lord, it hurts! Hgg, Lord!¡± Four hourster. I looked down at Laura who wasying on the bed and breathing heavily. Her butt twitched each time her body spasmed. ¡°So, Laura. Is my physique average?¡± ¡°You¡­¡­have the greatest body¡­¡­in the world¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fufufu.¡± I grinned. I puffed my chest out in pride. ¡°You¡¯ve finally admitted the truth. Now then.¡± I brought my lower member to Laura¡¯s face. ¡°As an apology, please lick it clean.¡± Laura looked disgusted. ¡°Uugh. Semen and juices are mixed together and emitting an indescribably strange smell¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is your juices. You should clean up your own mess.¡± ¡°Then clean up your semen yourself, Lord.¡± ¡°A vassal should naturally clean up after their lord.¡± I responded coolly. Laura shed a tear. ¡°How has this youngdy fallen this low? Where did my life go wrong? Has life always been irrational and illogical since the beginning? O Goddess, please show sympathy to this frail mortal.¡± ¡°The Goddess has fated you to lick my tip. This has been determined since the beginning of the world. Now then, hurry up and start licking.¡± ¡°I will definitely kill the Goddess one day¡­¡­hggh.¡± Laura uttered some absolutely sphemous words as she licked my ns. She moved her tongue around as if she were exploring before eventually putting the tip in her mouth. ¡°Mm.¡± A light and soft sensation spread throughout my lower body. Laura kept letting her saliva flow out as if she intended to clean her juices with her saliva. My member soon became slick. Laura continued to suck while making audible slurping sounds. She was still skilled at giving fetios. ¡°Continue to suck while you listen. It is about the situation with the Crescent Alliance.¡± ¡°Uu, lick¡­¡­haaub. Uh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Crescent Alliance sessfully managed to capture the capital city of Habsburg. It was a bloodless victory. They say that the imperial soldiers of Habsburg abandoned their own capital and retreated. ording to the rumors, the Emperor himself ordered the retreat.¡± Laura paused for a moment, but she soon resumed bobbing her head back and forth as she earnestly sucked my member. It would only be natural to be tired after 4 hours of sex, but my lower rod had be hard again as it ravaged the inside of Laura¡¯s mouth. ¡°Due to the Emperor¡¯s order, Imperial Princess Elizabeth, who had been leading the imperial soldiers until now, has partially lost her position. The person who had more of a hand in cleaning up the capital and retreating was the Second Imperial Prince and not the Imperial Princess¡­¡­.Compared to the Imperial Princess who has a lot of support from the people and the military, the Second Imperial Prince shoulders the support from the nobles in the royal pce. Therefore, it should be fine to say that the Habsburg imperial family has been taken over by the Second Imperial Prince and the pce nobles.¡± ¡°Hbb, uuu¡­¡­haam¡­¡­chlup.¡± Ah. Laura bared her teeth a little. It wasn¡¯t an ident. She had intentionally scratched the skin on the tip of my member with her teeth lightly. I didn¡¯t dislike this sensation. It sent a tingling sensation through my body. Laura started to use her hands now. She covered the top of my member with her mouth while using her hands to grab the base and stroke it up and down. The soft pleasant feeling and the stimting pleasant feeling mixed together as they reverberated together. I could feel my climax crawling its way up. Come. Hurry up and fill my mouth with your thick and smelly semen. Laura bobbed her head more intensely as if she were saying that to me. ¡°Hm.¡± I felt like it would be vexing if I came like this, so I leaned over on the bed and picked up some beads. The beads were connected by a string. They were oiled up so they had a sheen. I ced them against Laura¡¯s rear. ¡°Laura, let me ask you some questions.¡± ¡°Haub?¡± Laura looked up at me with my rod still in her mouth. Only the desire to finish this up as soon as possible could be seen in her green eyes. They had been going at it for 4 hours. She was exhausted. ¡°If you get this correct, then we will end it here. However, if you get it wrong, then I will put this in your rear.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I¡¯m not sure if I was seeing things, but Laura¡¯splexion went dark. Having her rear teased wasn¡¯t an issue for Laura. She had received a lot of education as a sex ve before she was hired by me, and anal y was a part of this so-called education process. However, she dreaded the idea of doing this any longer. This was how she felt. Of course, it didn¡¯t particrly matter what she felt, so I arbitrarily continued with my questions. ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry too much. There are multiple questions. You only have to get one of them right. How about it? Does that not sound easy?¡± Laura dropped her gaze and went back to feting me. Do whatever you want. That was what she was saying. ¡°Here¡¯s the first question. ording to the rumors, Imperial Princess Elizabeth was confined by the Emperor and the Second Imperial Prince. Will Imperial Princess Elizabeth lose her standing because of this? Now then, if you think she will lose her standing, then lick the tip slightly. If you think otherwise, then deepthroat it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura looked up at me with an annoyed gaze since I was talking like some quiz show host. The fact that she didn¡¯t take her mouth off of my member throughout all this made it clear how strong her service spirit was. ¡°You must give an answer in 10 seconds! Starting now! Ten, nine, eight, seven¡­¡­.¡± Laura fell into deep thought. She moved her head carefully once I counted down to four. Her small tongue licked the tip of my member. It was cute because she was moving like some sort of pet animal. I grinned. ¡°Unfortunately, you are incorrect.¡± I slid the first bead into Laura¡¯s ass. Laura, who had still not taken my member out of her mouth, involuntarily squirmed as she let out a moan. ¡°Hk, hah, haaaauh!¡± ¡°Ah. I did not say this beforehand, but I will insert a bead every time you get a question wrong. I am very curious to see how many beads you can take.¡± I smiled brightly. Despair filled Laura¡¯s eyes. *** Author¡¯s Afterword Dantalian: Jeez, you rotten and wicked loli. Barbatos: Sheesh, you pervert who only thinks about fucking up others. Laura: ¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. You know, I thought this segment wouldn¡¯t have an NSFW part because of how the first chapter went, but I guess I was wrong. It¡¯s not like I hate doing these parts. It just feels awkward. Oh well. What¡¯s done is done. Nothing much else to say. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 162: The Man’s and the Woman’s Situation Chapter 162: The Man¡¯s and the Woman¡¯sSituation WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. It¡¯s only a very brief part in the beginning, but I¡¯m putting this warning up anyway. You have been warned. ¡°G-Give me an exnation that I can understand.¡± Laura spoke. Her voice was almost pitiably sad. She herself must know that this was a pointless struggle. I smiled from ear to ear. ¡°Think about it. The Imperial Princess is monopolizing their military power. If you exclude the margraves in the rear, Elizabeth von Habsburg practically hasplete control over the imperial army.¡± ¡°The ministers of the imperial pce are also¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Military power bes authority the more critical the situation is, as it is now. Do you understand, Laura? The Imperial Princess has the most authority within the empire.¡± I stroke her small butt. It must have been because of the foreign object that had been inserted inside of her, as her face would asionally contort and she would let out a hot breath. ¡°Military power must be dealt with by military power. If you wish to make the Imperial Princess lose her position, then you must have a military strength that is almost equal to hers. The ministers do not have any military power. In this case, they would have to either bribe the Imperial Princess¡¯ subordinates or pull in the margraves.¡± However, there was no news of this happening. ¡°ording to the rumors, the Imperial Princess voluntarily secluded herself. Once the emperor ordered the evacuation of the people from the capital, she stepped down as she was unwilling to follow the royalmand. ¡­¡­Fufu. Does this not make her ulterior motives clear?¡± If the ministers truly had power, then they would have used any means to spread malicious rumors about Imperial Princess Elizabeth. It would only be right for the Imperial Princess to retire. This is the right decision. They would have gone through the effort to make people think this. However, only good rumors about the Imperial Princess were being circted. The people were instead mad at the ministers, the Emperor, and the Second Imperial Prince. ¡°How would this seem to the people? Elizabeth, the Third Imperial Princess, was the one who had been stopping the Demon Lord army¡¯s violent approach until now. However, the imperial army hopelessly lost the capital as soon as the nobles took action. This is how it would seem like to the public.¡± Margrave Rosenberg was chased out of hisnd without even putting up a proper fight. Crown Prince Rudolf suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz. Both the Margrave¡¯s army and the central army had been wiped out. The Third Imperial Princess appeared like aet and shed with the Demon Lord army. Even though the Demon Lord army had 100,000 soldiers, the Third Imperial Princess managed to miraculously achieve victory after victory with a small number of troops¡­¡­. ¡°The people are not aware of the minute details behind the war.¡± This distortion was iparable to others. In truth, the victories that the Third Imperial Princess achieved in battle were small. They were nothing more than tactical victories. In terms of strategy, the Third Imperial Princess had continued to retreat before eventually giving up on even the capital. This fact was hidden underneath the deceptive appearance of tactical victories. The people were cheering for the victories that could only be seen from the outside. ¡°This is my assumption, but the Second Imperial Prince has most likely already be Elizabeth¡¯s puppet. The true people to lose their standing is most likely them and not the Imperial Princess¡­¡­.¡± * * * ¡°S-Sister, I have a request.¡± A man spoke carefully. The woman sitting at a table didn¡¯t even remove her gaze from the documents in her hands as she responded. ¡°What is it, Brother?¡± ¡°Could you allow me to see Father at least once?¡± ¡°I apologize, but that is something that I cannot permit.¡± An immediate answer. The man gritted his teeth. The Second Imperial Prince of Habsburg, Ferdinand von Habsburg. The 24-year-old young man wasn¡¯t particrly obsessed over bing the next emperor. In truth, he had no interest in the peerage. Ferdinand believed that if you end up taking such a heavy responsibility, then your life would only be miserable. However, authority was still important. You had to have a certain amount of authority if you wished to live afortable life. Ferdinand raised his own faction while also cooperating with his brother the Crown Prince. His faction was a perfect size. Be it his brother, the Crown Prince, or his sister, Imperial Princess Elizabeth, they had to receive the support of the Second Prince¡¯s faction if they wanted to win the battle of sessors. He didn¡¯t want to be the emperor himself; however, he could make the next emperor. Ferdinand was satisfied with his role of kingmaker. It didn¡¯t matter who seeded the throne as long as he could maintain his luxurious life. However, this art of living only worked when the factions were bnced. He had already forgotten how many inspections he had to go through simply to meet the Imperial Princess. A body search was a given and even an anti-magic spell was cast on him. This was an incredibly discourteous thing to do to a prince; however, Ferdinand was in a position where he had no other choice but to ept this disrespect¡­¡­. He got on his knees. ¡°Theints from the people are spiraling out of control¡­¡­. They will start to revolt at this rate. Sister, not only does this involve the safety of our father, but the fate of Habsburg is also on the line¡­¡­. As the imperial prince of Habsburg, I have a duty to request our father to console the people!¡± One of the noblest people of the empire was kneeling down on the cold ground. To the Imperial Princess whom the public believed was secluding herself. If someone were to see this, then they would probably turn pale from astonishment. Nheless, the Imperial Princess refused to look away from her documents. Compared to the documents she was looking at, her older brother kneeling to her had no value whatsoever. This was what her demeanor was saying. ¡°Did I not tell you already? His Highness the Emperor made a royal decree that he does not wish to meet with anyone. Even I have been unable to meet him after I was chased away previously.¡± ¡°That is why I am asking you to somehow¡­¡­.¡± It was a lie. Ferdinand wasn¡¯t an idiot. How could he not know that his little sister was lying to him? The families of the ministers had been taken hostage. Even the Imperial Prince¡¯s wife and son were confined. They kept being told that it was an ¡®Imperial order¡¯, but abandoning the capital and digging out the imperial tombs were absolutely ridiculous orders. The ministers and the Imperial Prince naturally kicked their way into the Imperial estate, however, what met them wasn¡¯t the Emperor but a bunch of warriors leaking out murderous intent. The warriors imed to be ¡®the Emperor¡¯s escorts¡¯ as they chased them out. It was then that the nobles realized who had orchestrated all of this. None of them had the courage to point the truth out before that certain person. No, to be more exact¡­¡­they no longer existed. All of the nobles who resisted were thoroughly disposed of. Their entire families were destroyed. The capital was under turmoil for a while as they tried to evacuate the citizens. A few households being destroyed was buried under the chaos. It was the same for the Second Imperial Prince as well. He has a son and a daughter and they were both being ¡®escorted¡¯ by the Imperial Princess¡¯ faction. They were being protected strictly in case the people were to be enraged and attack them¡­¡­. The Imperial Prince could only talk in a roundabout way. ¡°Somehow, is it?¡± The Imperial Princess chuckled. Herugh was as dry as the desert. This was the first time she was showing any interest since her brother had entered the room, but rather than wee the response, the Imperial Prince felt terrified. She most likelyughed just like this when she ordered the destruction of several noble households to set an example. ¡°You are making quite the onerous demand, Brother. As long as I do not be the emperor myself, how could I possibly refuse His Highness the Emperor¡¯smand?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ferdinand trembled in fear. He had also lived in the pce for more than a decade. There was no way he could not notice what the other party¡¯s intentions were. His little sister had just dered openly that she would usurp the throne. That wasn¡¯t all. She was saying that she wouldn¡¯t take the throne herself, but that he, her brother, would be the one to enthrone her¡­¡­. ¡°Y-Your Highness.¡± The way he referred to his little sister had changed. Just kneeling was no longer enough as he brought both his palms down on the ground. ¡°Although our family was not that close, I still believe that we are kin bounded together by our blood¡­¡­. Please allow your brother to know at least a small portion of the truth.¡± ¡°Brother. Of course, I am also your faithful little sister.¡± Contrary to her gentle words, the Imperial Princess had yet to turn her head even once. She didn¡¯t tell him to not refer to her in that way or that she would allow him to know the truth. The Imperial Prince felt vexed. ¡°What will happen to me¡­¡­no, our family?¡± ¡°You are already the head of a single family. A family¡¯s fate is determined by the head¡¯s actions.¡± The fate of his wife and his kids depended on him. The Imperial Prince prostrated further. ¡°Should I¡­¡­assist Your Highness so that you are able to meet His Majesty the Emperor?¡± Do I have to help you start a coup d¡¯etat? This was what he was asking. This was the best idea he could think of as the Imperial Prince. He could betray his father and enthrone his little sister. However, this would ensure his family¡¯s life. Was there anything better he could do to show his devotion? The other party denied him. ¡°No. That is not what I am expecting from you.¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth got up from her chair. She approached her brother and slowly lowered her posture. She ced her hands on her brother¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Recently, wicked individuals have been appearing among the people. They go around openly saying that the wrath of Heaven will fall upon us. They im that this is the end of the Habsburg Empire and that the people must destroy the imperial throne with their own two hands¡­¡­.¡± The Imperial Prince was already aware of this. Even now, he had used the people¡¯s anger as an excuse to receive an audience. ¡°You must punish them, Brother.¡± ¡°What do¡­¡­.¡± The Imperial Prince inadvertently raised his head. The people were already on the verge of bursting. If they take aggressive measures, then the people would undoubtedly start a rebellion. There was no way his smart little sister wouldn¡¯t know this, so why¨D. His eyes met his sister¡¯s. Her eyes that were as blue as the seas were staring at him coldly. ¡®Ah.¡¯ The Imperial Prince realized everything once he saw those eyes. A chill went down his neck. His voice shook uncontrobly as he failed to even finish his sentence. ¡°I¡­¡­I am, g-going to be a sacrificial pawn¡­¡­?¡± ¡°My guards will protect your family at all costs.¡± The Imperial Princess didn¡¯t mention his protection. The Second Imperial Prince will suppress the people. Right when the people are about the burst, the Imperial Princess will dispose of her brother. He will die while taking on all the anger. On the other hand, the Imperial Princess will receive their support and be able to pursue the next step. It was like killing the dog after the hunt. Imperial Prince Ferdinand grabbed his sister¡¯s hand and pleaded. ¡°E-Elize¡­¡­please have mercy¡­¡­please, forgive me¡­¡­. Are we not a family¡­¡­? Do we not share the same blood¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Do not refer to me by that name.¡± She abruptly red at the Imperial Prince. ¡°Since the moment I was born, I have never considered being in the same bloodline as you people as being a blessing. Ferdinand, I hope you have not forgotten what you and Rudolf had done.¡± There were other imperial princesses besides Elizabeth in Habsburg; however, those imperial princesses passed away from an illness several years ago. This wasn¡¯t the truth. Crown Prince Rudolf and Imperial Prince Ferdinand had conspired together to rape the imperial princesses. It wasn¡¯t a one-time thing either. They raped them persistently for several years. In the end, the imperial princesses could no longer endure the humiliation and chose death. It was told to the public that they had died of a disease¡­¡­. ¡°Do not hope to receive mypassion now. Has there ever beenpassion in our family?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We definitely share the same blood. We are both ursed monsters. You raped your sisters while I am driving you to death. Are we not quite the splendid family?¡± The Imperial Prince noticed a hint of madness within his little sister¡¯s eyes. He also realized that his death had already been determined and he had no other choice but to do what his sister says if he wishes for his wife and children to live. ¡°It will not be only you. The ministers will also be suppressing the people. Your path to the afterlife will not be lonely. Well, think of this as myst sign ofpassion to you. I will at least treat you as a family in your final moments.¡± Elizabethughed. The Imperial Prince left the room powerlessly. It felt like the Imperial Princess¡¯ugh had stuck to his back and refused to leave him. He shed tears as hemented. Since when? Since when did it all go wrong¡­¡­? Four dayster, the Imperial Prince¡¯s faction carried out their violence. Second Imperial Prince Ferdinand von Habsburg mobilized dozens of other nobles and soldiers to suppress the people residing in the capital indiscriminately. 300 bystanders were killed during this process. Imperial Princess Elizabeth, who had been silently secluding herself, became enraged by their tyranny. She tossed away her seclusion as she personally led some troops to wipe out the soldiers of the nobles. Every noble that participated in the tyranny were executed. The Imperial Princess¡¯ brother, Ferdinand, was not an exception. The Second Imperial Prince was decapitated and his family was also simrly beheaded afterward and tossed to the people. The people praised the Imperial Princess who had stepped up for their sake. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Did I even have to put that NSFW warning at the beginning. I feel like I¡¯ve already forgotten to put that warning up once before for a NSFW chapter. I can¡¯t remember to be honest. I know I don¡¯t have to actually leave a warning all the time, but I know there are some people who find this kind of stuff sort of jarring to read. I know I would feel a bit awkward if I was suddenly thrown into some NSFW stuff without any warning whatsoever. Gotta be considerate. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 163: The Man’s and the Woman’s Situation Chapter 163: The Man¡¯s and the Woman¡¯sSituation WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. It¡¯s only a very brief part in the beginning, but I¡¯m putting this warning up anyway. You have been warned. * * * ¡°Habsburg will still fall into ruin despite their efforts.¡± I spoke while stroking Laura¡¯s bare skin. ¡°It is hard to think that a nation that has lost half of itsnd would have a future. The Imperial Princess is not a god, after all. They will hang on a thread until that thread is eventually cut by either the Demon Lord army or another human army¡­¡­.¡± In the end, my Crescent Alliance expedition was a sess. I managed to sever the limbs of the most dangerous individual within humanity, Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Adding to this, the division between the Demon Lords had be as clear as day now. Paimon had plotted to ughter the ins Faction and all of the Demon Lords, excluding Barbatos, gave up on pursuing the enemy when the final battle was right before their eyes. Furthermore, there was also the betrayal from the archdukes of hell. This had be quite the splendid bem. ¡°Now for the second question, Laura.¡± ¡°Uub.¡± Laura groaned. She appeared nervous. How cute. ¡°I have managed to buy some time and the continent has be utterly disorganized. Nheless, there is a single group that is still trying to maintain their unity even if by only a pretext. Which group is this?¡± ¡°The human army.¡± Laura answered immediately. ¡°Excluding Habsburg, the other nations are still grouped together under a single g. Your Lordship¡¯s speech may have created a divide between nobles andmoners, but that division has yet to spread outside their armies and reach the far corners of the continent.¡± ¡°Ooh.¡± ¡°This is probably why the human army is wandering around Habsburg. They are doing this either for the sake of increasing their unity with their soldiers, or perhaps for the sake of preemptively decreasing their numbers in the case of a revolution in the future.¡± ¡°Bingo. You are correct.¡± I apuded her. She was right. As expected of Laura, she was well-informed when it came to military affairs. ¡°Revolutions are not things that happen easily. They were going through both the ck Death and a famine. I also poisoned the world with my speech. Despite all this, we are stillcking onest blow.¡± We have topletely divide the human nations that were unified on the surface. What I wanted was a struggle between all people. Whether it be conquering the continent for the sake of demonkind or uniting for the sake of fighting back against the Demon Lords, all of these justifications had to get wiped out. People must act for the sake of their own factions¡­¡­. They must bepletely greedy. ¡°This is why I intend to execute two grand strategies. Would you care to take a guess at what those strategies might be?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura hesitated. I waited patiently for her to answer. She mulled over it for over a minute before eventually giving up. ¡°I, I do not know.¡± ¡°All right. Herees the next bead-.¡± I pushed another bead into Laura¡¯s rear. Laura let out a strange cry. ¡°Since you were unable to answer both of my questions, I will be adding one more.¡± ¡°W-Wait a second. Lord, your math is a bit wei¡­¡­haugh!¡± Laura¡¯s entire body trembled. Mhm. This was a rather satisfying sight. It gave me great satisfaction to see a naked 17-year-old girl trembling in my arms. Rather than increase my sexual desire, seeing her face contort and look somewhat fearful as she moaned made it feel like I was looking at a piece of art. In other words, I¡¯m not a pervert. I am merely a spectator observing a piece of art¡­¡­. That¡¯s right. I am nothing more than a dandy Parisian walking through an exhibition. Come to think of it, was one of the new monsters I could hire now. Couldn¡¯t I use them in an entertaining way? Hm. Laura, a beautiful blonde girl being teased by sticky slime¡­¡­. That could work. That could definitely work. Even the prestigious gentlemen from Paris would probably give a standing ovation to this idea. Let¡¯s think about this moreter. ¡°Well, I will gradually show my n to you over time. You cannot stay uninterested in politics forever. In the end, military affairs are a part of politics, you know? Please do your best.¡± ¡°Uugh¡­¡­I understand.¡± Out of my two ns, the first one was rted to how I had visited the many hells of the demon world. In other words, the task of building my Demon Lord castle. The donations¨Dalso known as the voluntary tax payments¨Dfrom the archdukes were going to arrive soon. I was confident of this. * * * Half a monthter. Lapis arrived with the money from the archdukes and an architect. In the demon world, goblins and dwarves had a firm grasp over the building industry. The building industry was so exclusive that people from other races couldn¡¯t even take a single step into the field. Dwarves controlled 70 percent of the field while goblins had 30 percent, so I ended up calling for a representative from each industry. I didn¡¯t n to do this originally. At first, I was going to simply leave it to the most well-known group. This was a big project that was probably going tost at least a decade. It would only be natural to leave it to the most reputable group. However, once I submitted an inquiry to which was run by dwarves, they requested a huge amount of gold. I gulped as I read the estimate. ¡°Mm. At the very least, this will cost twenty million gold.¡± This was troubling. If you put together all the money I had taken from the archdukes and will continue to take from them in the future, then I will just barely be able to scrape together twenty million gold. This was a sum I was gaining through a scam anyway. It wasn¡¯t really a waste if you consider the fact that I was basically obtaining a dungeon for free¡­¡­. I shrugged. ¡°It cannot be helped. Let usmission .¡± However, Lapis was vehemently against my decision. ¡°Are you insane, Sir Dantalian? If you send a request to only a single ce, then of course they would try to overcharge you.¡± ¡°Hm? Huh? Is that how it is?¡± ¡°That is how it is.¡± Lapis assured me. Once I gave her a naive response, Lapis became enraged as if she had witnessed something unforgivable. ¡°You should never ept the first price given to you by a dealer. We must first set a budget. After this has been done, send all of the groups this budget and order them toy out a n that could use that budget efficiently.¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°Their goal is to make money anyway. It is only natural to make thempete with one another in order to lower the price even by a small amount. Is this not a fundamental technique in business?¡± Come to think of it, she was right. ¡°T-Then I will leave estimating the budget and selecting thepanies to you.¡± ¡°Naturally. On another note, Sir Dantalian, you are now an incredibly wealthy person.¡± Lapis¡¯ eyes let off a scary glint. Her eyes would glitter like this whenever she was about to start nagging at me relentlessly. ¡°You currently possess 14 million gold. You will soon receive about 1 million gold from Miss Sitri. Adding to this, the archdukes willter send you 5 million gold. You will ultimately possess approximately 20 million gold. You have been managing your money rather clumsily until now, but I will no longer allow you to handle your money in such a crude manner any longer.¡± ¡°Calling it crude is a bit¡­¡­.¡± Lapis¡¯ choice of words was sometimes terrifying. But I have an excuse. I have never kept and managed a record book before. I had lived my life without any connections tomerce or financing. ¡°Even if we were to abruptly change the way my funding is managed.¡± ¡°Additionally.¡± Lapis cut me off. ¡°You started to personally govern the viges near the Demon Lord Castle this year. This means that taxes have been paid. You must systemize this tax-receiving process.¡± ¡°S-Systemize?¡± ¡°Order the old vigers to submit their tax records. Furthermore, make it mandatory forndowners to manage their tenant farmers in viges. We must also pay attention to the shared warehouse. These are fundamental tasks.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Yes, I understand that a lot ofplicated issues have been dotted around. ¡°T-Then I will also leave the task of managing the viges to you.¡± ¡°Are you insane?¡± ¨C Thud! Whoa. It seems myment just now had struck a nerve. Lapis, Lapis of all people had mmed her hands down on the table! The woman who has always been the physical embodiment ofposure and calmness¡­¡­. The person who didn¡¯t even lose her cool when our carriage was assaulted by assassins had mmed her hands down! ¡°S¡­¡­Sorry.¡± I instinctively shrunk back. I would already be cautious whenever I was in front of Lapis, so all I could do was lower my head in shame before her wrath. It was like I was being scolded by a rtive during a family reunion. ¡°You are the lord of the viges, Sir Dantalian. I may partially be your vassal, but I am still an employee of the Keuncuska Firm. Giving someone like that the task of a lord is not something that a responsible lord would do.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Furthermore, territorial management is not a task that is easy enough to be handled alone. Appoint a manager. Create a group of vassals. In the first ce, Miss Laura is your one and only proper vassal.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Laura, who had been eating wheat bread in the corner of the room, turned to look at us once her name was mentioned. Her cheeks were full of bread, so she looked like an adorable hamster, but her cuteness didn¡¯t help me one bit in my current situation. ¡°Yes, Miss Laura. You shoulde here, too.¡± ¡°T-This youngdy?¡± Laura looked back and forth between me and Lapis. Did she notice the heavy atmosphere? Laura responded with a tiny voice. ¡°As you can see, this youngdy is in the middle of eating¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Listen while you are eating.¡± ¡°O-Okay.¡± Laura scurried to my side. Laura and I sat side by side at the table with our heads lowered. We quite literally looked like a pair of siblings that were being scolded by their mother. Lapis raised her finger before she continued. ¡°Think about it. Sir Dantalian, you are the Demon Lord who obtained military prestige on the human continent and established a name for yourself in the demon world. Despite this, you only have a single vassal. To make matters worse, that vassal of yours is only able to handle military affairs. She is no different from a concubine on a normal basis. This is extremely abnormal.¡± ¡°Sorry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I apologize¡­¡­.¡± Laura and I apologized. It strangely felt like we had to. ¡°What you require now is a clean and distinct management system. The writing style and forms of tax records, written directives from the lord, statute books, notices on a noticeboard, decrees, and diplomatic papers must be standardized. No. Come to think of it, you have not even createdmandments yet.¡± Lapis let out a sigh. She felt more annoyed than upset. That was how her sigh sounded. ¡°What have you been doing all this time, Miss Laura? You are Sir Dantalian¡¯s first vassal. The head of all vassals. It is an aide¡¯s duty to point out their lord¡¯s mistakes and support them.¡± ¡°I-I apologize¡­¡­.¡± Laura¡¯s tone sounded sorrowful. It wasn¡¯t just Laura. I was also feeling bad. By reproaching Laura, Lapis was criticizing me at the same time. ¡°You must establish a foundation with what you believe is right and look into the customs that already exist in the viges and how those customs control their lives before creating themandments.¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± I raised my right hand. I did this for the sake of pulling aggro since I would feel bad if Laura were to take on all the scolding by herself. ¡°Yes, Sir Dantalian? You may speak.¡± ¡°Why must we createmandments? Could we not make them followmonws? I could intervene whenever there is a problem.¡± ¡°This is because you must monopolize all of the jurisdiction as the lord.¡± An immediate answer. ¡°Commonws are quite literallymonws. When there is a problem, the people will take care of it as they always have. This would be no different from giving the people a jurisdiction of their own. This would create two jurisdictions within a single piece ofnd. Although they should respect themonw, jurisdictional power should remain solely with the lord. That is the first step of authority.¡± She was right. Miss Lapis let out another sigh. ¡°It cannot be helped. Let us slowly execute one n at a time. Sir Dantalian, you cannot stay uninterested in politics forever. In the end, schemes are a part of politics. Please do your best.¡± ¡°Uugh¡­¡­I¡¯ll do my best.¡± ¡°I will work hard to assist His Lordship¡­¡­.¡± Laura and I could only drop our heads. What else could we do? In the end, the unfortunate truth was revealed that our power structure was monsters < Laura < Me < Lapis. More importantly, I have to appoint a new manager, huh? ¡®Hm.¡¯ There were obviously tons of capable individuals littered throughout . Among them, I had only picked out Laura. I thought that that would be enough all this time. It really was enough until now. But, yeah. Lapis made a good point. There was a need for me to increase my number of vassals. Should I start thinking about who to hire from now on¡­¡­? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Dantalian is finally going to recruit more people. After all this time with practically the same core members in both the LN and WN, we¡¯re finally going to see another character soon. Well, we¡¯ve seen a lot of new characters in the WN so far, but almost all of them were minor characters and haven¡¯t had much screen time. Although I¡¯m pretty sure there have been people on reddit and several forums that¡¯ve already spoiled this part, hopefully most of you guys managed to stay spoiler-free. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 164: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows Chapter 164: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows The temple was on a cliff. The dark waves crashed against the cliff and dispersed. Pure white marble pirs were lined up far above where the waves could never reach. The pirs were toppled over miserably. The roof was partially copsed and there were several pirs that had crumbled at the waist. They could not endure the test of time as they made up the lost empty space and emanated the light scent of the sea. Thus, the temple was half enveloped by sunlight while the other half was enshrouded in shadows. It was the same for the people gathered here as well. They were enveloped by the sunlight and the shadow as they stared at the empty ground in the center of the temple. They were waiting for someone¡¯s voice to fill that empty space. ¡°Finally, the time hase.¡± In order to meet their expectations¨DDemon Lord Paimon opened her mouth. The ocean sunlight and the ocean darkness had gently settled over her. ¡°The human nations have be divided. The Demon Lord army has be disorganized. The ghosts that have been wandering the ins, mountains, and rivers have died. Humans, for the sake of glory. Demons, for the sake of richnd. These fake justifications are finally breathing theirst breaths.¡± The sound of waves resonated quietly between Paimon¡¯s words. Even now, the powerful waves continued to crash against the cliff endlessly. ¡°Right now, we have been given a mandate from Heaven.¡± However, Paimon¡¯s voice had the power to make the waves sound like peaceful ambiance. ¡°The mandate from Heaven is ordering us to present a cruel demise to those false justifications. The mandate from Heaven is ordering us to destroy all of the crowns and thrones that exist in the world.¡± It felt like the temple was traveling back in time, returning to a time when it was still shining radiantly as Paimon continued to speak. ¡°The mandate from Heaven is ordering us to release the people who are suffering simply because they were born asmoners from their chains. It is ordering us to not ept the irrationalities of the world simply because they are treated as being natural and that we must destroy these irrationalities because they must not be treated as being natural. Comrades, we do not require a reason beyond this.¡± The people gathered around Paimon nodded their heads in silence. ¡°There are numerous reasons as to why justice should not exist. It is too difficult. It is impossible. We can give thousands of excuses to drag justice down. On the other hand, justice only has one reason to exist. Paimon raised her ss cup. ¡°Because it is right!¡± Dozens of people followed suit and raised their ss cups as well. ¡°People are asionally disgusting. The masses are asionally wicked. Therefore, we do not act for the sake of the people or the masses. Simrly, we are not acting simply because we despise nobles. There is only one reason for our actions¨D.¡± ¡°Because they are right!¡± Someone shouted. Once they did, the others raised their voices as well. ¡°¡±Simply because they are right!¡±¡± Paimon nodded. She brought her ss to her lips as if she believed that there was no reason to say anything more. The wine flowed down the side of her transparent ss cup and into her mouth. A bit of the wine strayed down a different path and flowed down Paimon¡¯s jawline. Paimon threw her ss on the ground. ¡°For revolution!¡± Soon after, dozens of other ss cups were tossed on the marble floor. The cups shattered into tens of hundreds of brilliant shards. The smell of the sea, the smell of life rotting away enveloped those ss shards for a moment. * * * The construction of the dungeon was handled ording to Lapis¡¯ advice. As she suggested, once we gathered the representatives from a bunch of different building industries and told them to put forward a budget, Dear Lord, the initial price of 20 million gold that was demanded had shrunk to 14 million gold. It had gone down by a whole 6 million gold. The dwarf representative from , who was the first one to ask for 20 million gold, was so fidgety that he couldn¡¯t meet my eyes. Of course, I wasn¡¯t the type of person to not say something about this. ¡°Look here, Chief. I have experienced all sorts of things throughout my life, but this is the first time I have ever made 6 million gold in only 4 days. This is all thanks to you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­O-Our group can build Your Highness¡¯ abode with only a total of 13,500,000 gold!¡± The dwarf responded while sweating profusely. I smiled contently. ¡°Well, people are innately greedy creatures. In this regard, you are quite the splendid person, dwarf chief. A splendid man of character. There are not many people in the world whom I haveplimented the character of, so you can be proud of this.¡± ¡°I-I am unworthy of such praise.¡± ¡°This is not about being worthy or not. I get you. Hahaha.¡± I put my hand on his shoulder. The dwarf was sweating so much that his beard was on the brink of being drenched. Heated discussions were carried out throughout the rest of the day. This was for the task of building an underground dungeon with 10 floors. How was it going to be designed and how were the pathways going to be arranged? Most importantly, they were taking on my request with fresh eyes. It was the task of creating a maze-like dungeon. Furthermore, they had to create a vige for demons beyond the thickbyrinth walls. Despite being goblins and dwarves who have been in this field for thousands of years, this was the first time they had ever been given a task like this. As the discussion continued, their opinions naturally split into two sides. Goblins and dwarves. A goblin frothed at the mouth as he shouted. ¡°Keruruk! You stupid dirt lovers! Why can¡¯t you understand something so simple!? If you don¡¯t raise the ceilings of the central paths, then that will make it difficult for the bigger demons to move!¡± ¡°Hmph, as expected of green moles. You guys can only think about one thing but not another.¡± A dwarf let out a snort. His snort was so strong that it made his white beard flutter. ¡°If you raise the ceiling too much, then that would weaken the structure. The Demon Lord Castle would copse in less than a thousand years.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you guysck in skill. Keruk, You just have to support each floor with orichalcum.¡± ¡°Hah, you really are a race of creatures with tomato juice in your skulls. Support each floor with orichalcum? I can¡¯t imagine how much that would possibly cost. Don¡¯t even mention 20 million gold, 30 million gold wouldn¡¯t be enough either.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to refine the ore. Keruruk, put the ores in whole! You guys alwaysck in creativity. This is a Demon Lord Castle. It¡¯s overflowing with magic! It¡¯s iparable to other ces.¡± I held back a yawn as I watched the two races argue. I have no idea what orichalcum is, but it¡¯s probably an incredibly delicate and important issue to professionals in the building industry. ¡°Lapis, why are they getting so worked up?¡± I quietly asked her. Lapis was standing next to me. She was participating as my secretary and the top advisor of this project. Lapis also answered in a small voice. ¡°Goblins and dwarves have always despised each other. The two races have a lot of professional fields that their skills ovep in, after all. It is simr to how subi and nymphs hate each other.¡± ¡°Hm? What do nymphs usually specialize in?¡± ¡°Naturally, prostitution.¡± Aha, is that so? A majority of upations were determined by one¡¯s race, huh? Lapis must have noticed my interest as she borated further. ¡°Prostitutes have a ranking system as well. Although the standard is slightly different depending on the hell, they are roughly divided into Tier 3, Tier 2, and Tier 1. Tier 3 prostitutes only provide bodily satisfaction. On the other hand, Tier 1 prostitutes follow their customers to balls and other sorts of social gatherings. They could be referred to as the Flowers of the Banquet.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Subi are mostly Tier 3 and Tier 2 prostitutes. A majority of Tier 1 prostitutes are nymphs. Due to this, despite being prostitutes all the same, they mock and belittle one another.¡± Scorn and envy can be found anywhere. I felt rather cynical as I sneered. ¡°How foolish.¡± ¡°Yes, it is severely irrational.¡± ¡°Hm. There are people who are only able to defend their existences by scorning others.¡± We turned our gazes back to where the heated discussion was still taking ce. The goblins and dwarves were practically at each others¡¯ throats now. There was probably something else other than their pride as master craftsmen that was making them behave like this. I turned to nce at Lapis and chuckled. ¡°So that¡¯s why you deliberately called for both the goblins and dwarves, Lapis.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°People tend to be irrational when their pride gets needlessly involved. If these builders worked together to raise the price, then I would have had no other choice but to pay 20 million gold. It would have probably gone like this if we had either called for only the goblins or only the dwarves.¡± However, Lapis had deliberately called for the two races that were hostile toward one another. We goblins can build it better than them! We dwarves can build it more efficiently than them! ¡­¡­They wound uppeting not only for profits but with their pride on the line as well. I smiled. ¡°Should I call it pride in one¡¯s race? In any case, when a group¡¯s pride is on the line, they tend to dly take the loss in profits for the sake of winning. This is a splendid idea, Lapis. I will give you a bonus payter.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It is interesting.¡± Lapis stared at me with herzurite blue eyes. ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°You arepletely ignorant when ites tomerce. From what I can tell, you also do not excel at military tactics either. Despite this, be itmerce or military tactics, when a bit of intrigue is involved, your insight bes like that of a different person.¡± I¡¯m not sure, but I think she wasplimenting me. ¡°As I thought, you need a working group under you, Sir Dantalian. If a group ofpetent professionals were to gather under you, then they would most likely be able to perform a terrifying opera under yourmand.¡± ¡°Ah. I was already nning to go out for a bit after this matter is settled with.¡± The construction of the dungeon wasn¡¯t something that would end within a few days. It has to get started first. Once it does, I n to go around the continent for the sake of finding talented individuals. I would like to hire at least 4 people if possible. If things go well, that is. Well, there was also the request that Paimon happened to give me as well. I should be able to do that at the same time. The heated debate between the goblins and the dwarves finally came to an end after six hours. A few fisticuffs were exchanged during the argument, but I didn¡¯t feel like stopping them, so Lapis and I watched them fight with interest while pouring each other wine. I bet 5 gold that the goblin would win while Lapis bet 5 gold that the dwarf would win. The dwarf won. That was the instant I decided to never make a bet with Lapis. ¡°We would like to present Your Highness¡¯s royal abode for 17 million gold.¡± ¡°We humble ones will create a Demon Lord Castle far superior to any other for 12 million gold.¡± The estimated price was split into two sides. The first price was higher for the sake of buildingrger hallways. Most of the goblins supported the first price. They imed that a higher ceiling would allowrger monsters to move with ease and create a better environment for monsters to live. The second price¡¯s goal was to save as much money as possible. The dwarves supported this idea. They wanted to only raise the ceilings for the floors whererge monsters would reside while lowering the ceilings on the other floors. With these two proposals before me- ¡°My Demon Lord Castle will have ten floors. I will leave each floor to a different group.¡± I took in both races. This was also suggested to me by Lapis. If we leave the work to only one group, then there would be no morepetition. All of the architecture groups gathered here were first-rate. There was no way that they would present to me a faulty design. The issue was how hard and earnestly they would work. Lapis was going to be the supervisor. The Keuncuska Firm was going to be the middleman in purchasing construction material and hiring builders. As long as Lapis¨Dwith the most legendary merchant, Ivar Lodbrok¨Dwas supervising them, it should be hard for them to ck off. ¡°A-A wise decision.¡± The goblins and dwarves looked disappointed, but they obeyed. They wouldn¡¯t be able to pocket money for themselves now, but this was an understandable decision to them. The construction of a dungeon in itself was already a massive business that guaranteed a huge profit. The foundation of my dungeon¡¯s construction was settled like this. After temporarily leaving the task of managing the viges to Parsi and leaving the tasks rted to my Demon Lord Castle to Lapis and Laura, I quickly departed. My destination was the Empire of Francia. It was where Paimon¡¯s was waiting for me. ¨DIt was also the country where the hero, the protagonist of Dungeon Attack, lives. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Dantalian is going to recruit more people and also going to the country with the hero. I wonder if there¡¯s any connection :^). Well, I don¡¯t really know either. Only assumptions can be made. Welp, May ising to an end and summer is going to start soon. I hope you guys are ready for the heat because I¡¯m not. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 165: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (2) Chapter 165: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (2) * * * This time, I moved together with Paimon¡¯s . The Liberation Alliance was already preparing for arge-scale peasant uprising. I didn¡¯t know the exact scale that they were preparing for. However, since they were saying that it would berge-scale with the utmost confidence, it should probably be big enough to shake the foundation of an entire nation. The members of the Liberation Alliance nned to be the leaders of the peasant uprising. I was supposed to provide supporting fire while moving with these leaders. ¡­¡­Yeah. There was no point in hiding it. The Liberation Alliance asked for me to help them ¡®instigate¡¯. Even if the world has fallen into chaos due to the ck Death and the famine that followed, there weren¡¯t a lot of farmers who would willingly pick up their spears and scythes to fight the nobles. The nobles have knights. Knights that could use aura were something that farmers feared. Madness was required to ovee that fear. Giving speeches was an exceptional way to nt madness into the popce¡­¡­. I have to admit, there was probably no better person than me to do this since I was the one who made this division clear during the 8th Crescent Alliance¡¯s ceremonial speeches. It should be okay to say that Paimon and I shared a simr goal. She wants the kingdoms in the human world to copse while I simply want the human world to fall into turmoil. Recruit people who could be my knights in the Kingdom of Frankia while asionally giving speeches to the public. This was my schedule. I arrived at Frankia with a teleportation scroll. The white light that had enveloped me soon faded away. Once I opened my eyes, there were already people gathered in the clearing in front of me. There was a small dwarf mixed in among them. The dwarf slowly approached me once he saw my arrival. He then bowed courteously. ¡°Jack Bonhomme of the Greenbeards gives his humble greetings to His Highness Dantalian.¡± I had already met Jack Bonhomme before. He was present when I stayed the night at the ruins of a castle and was introduced to the Liberation Army by Paimon. However, we didn¡¯t have enough time back then to learn more about each other. This was basically our actual first meeting. People often say that first impressions allow you to get a glimpse at the other party¡¯s true nature. Was this really the case? If I were to give an answer, then yes. You could figure someone out to a certain extent. Jack Bonhomme didn¡¯t greet me as soon as he saw me. He first gave me a nod before approaching me slowly. He was checking whether anyone else was teleporting in after me or not. He was a prudent person. Additionally, he had on shabby clothes. The people standing behind Jack Bonhomme were definitely mercenaries. They had swords attached to their waists and were wearing extravagant clothes that were blue, yellow, and purple. They were bearded people who spruced themselves up needlessly. Despite this, their leader, Jack Bonhomme, was wearing normal, frayed clothing. This meant that he had unconditional confidence in himself. Leaders tend to wear more extravagant clothing the less confidence they have. The fact that he was wearing frayed clothes meant that he was undeniably a powerful leader. Jack Bonhomme was most likely an incredibly charismatic person within this mercenary group. A person of his standing had greeted me courteously in front of his absolutely loyal subordinates. Therefore, he made it clear that he didn¡¯t intend to disregard an outsider like me. If anything, he was setting an example for his subordinates so that they would treat me with respect as well. Putting it all together. Jack Bonhomme has a prudent personality, hasplete control over his group, does not like being extravagant, and treated me with respect since we were going to be travelingpanions. What a gentleman! I intentionally smiled widely. ¡°It has been a while, Comrade Jack Bonhomme. Have you been doing well?¡± I patted his shoulder. ¡°You still have quite the impressive body. Even time does not have the power to harm your body. I feel safe already knowing that you will be leading our journey. I will be in your care, Captain Jack Bonhomme!¡± Jack Bonhomme had given me his sincere respect, so what could I do in return? Sustain the pecking order. I¡¯m saying this again, but I¡¯m nothing more than an outsider. I may be a Demon Lord, but from the ¡¯s perspective, I¡¯m nothing more than a neer. I have no idea how the organization operates and what must be done during this journey to achieve our goal. I was no different from a child. Despite this, the other party was trying to treat me with respect because I was a Demon Lord. It would be the end of me if I tried to act as his superior here. Jack Bonhomme would have no other choice but to treat me with respect, like I was some sort of king, while his subordinates would be displeased by this rtionship and end up bing hostile toward me. A group falling apart from the inside is a lot scarier than one might think. Did my reactione as a surprise? The dwarf raised his brow slightly. He soon smiled back at me. He didn¡¯t give off a crude feeling despite being a dwarf. I could only feel happiness from him. I nodded. It appears that we were going to get along. ¡°I have the honor of escorting Your Highness for the following two months. The weather is still cold since winter has yet to pass, but I will do my best to provide Your Highness with afortable journey. Hey! What are you guys doing?¡± Jack Bonhomme shouted at the soldiers gathered behind him. The mercenaries gave a loud response before lining up in front of me. They were all wearing cuirasses. They were definitely elite soldiers. They were probably a renowned mercenary group within Frankia. ¡°Double Ax Mercenary Brigade!¡± Jack Bonhomme put his hands behind his back and shouted. I was almost caught off guard. He had been talking in a small voice all this time, but he suddenly let out a shout that echoed throughout the hills. The soldiers stood in a single file line and put their halberds forward. Their halberds shimmered coldly as they received thete winter sunlight. ¡°Salute to His Highness Dantalian!¡± Thirty mercenaries got down on one knee at the same time and greeted me. It was quite the sight. In this era, it was hard to find an army with this much unity outside of knights. I apuded them. ¡°How splendid! I am Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian. If there is anything that I can help with on this journey, then I will do everything within my power to do so. Let us work hard together.¡± ¡°We are honored. Please refer to this one as Jacquerie.¡± Finally, Jack Bonhomme, no, Jacquerie gave me a 90 degrees bow. Haha. I could tell that this was going to be a rxing journey. ¡°Hm?¡± However, there were still some people remaining in the back who had yet to be introduced. They were wearing gray robes. Different from the mercenaries, I could barely feel any emotions from them as they stood in the back and watched in silence. ¡°Who are they? Are they your workers?¡± ¡°Well.¡± Jacquerie made aplicated face. Huh? This wasn¡¯t a response I was expecting. I wonder what the issue was. One of the gray-robed people walked forward right when I was about to inquire further about them. The person got down on one knee in front of me. ¡°We have the honor of meeting Your Highness once more.¡± ¡°Once more?¡± I furrowed my brows. Come to think of it, they had a strangely familiar voice. They removed their hood as I was trying to search through my memories. Sky blue hair fluttered out of their robe once they removed their hood. ¡°Ah, you are¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Our client ordered us to escort Your Highness this time as well.¡± The woman smiled. Half of her face was covered in severe burn marks. The assassin who had saved me and Lapis under Paimon¡¯smand when I was attacked in the demon world, that woman was currently kneeling before me. She was the woman who asked if she could serve me but had to back away after I nagged at her. ¡°I see. It has been a while, but¡­¡­.¡± I turned to nce at Jacquerie. A mercenary brigade and an assassin group. I wasn¡¯t told that these two groups would be working together. How did the hierarchy work here? Were the mercenaries on top or was it the assassins? Who listens to whose orders? My response had to change ording to this. Jacquerie made a face. ¡°I am the branch manager of the Liberation Alliance branch in the Kingdom of Frankia. This person belongs to a group that Her Highness Paimon had personally hired.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I almost gagged out loud. Didn¡¯t this mean that there was no system ofmand? This was definitely not good news. Who was going to grab the reigns and give orders to all of these people? I reprimanded Jacquerie with my gaze. This was a matter he should¡¯ve resolved before I got here. It was hard to think that such a veteran mercenary captain would¡¯ve overlooked a problem as important as this. What was the problem? Jack Bonhomme must¡¯ve understood the meaning behind my gaze as he looked apologetic. ¡°This journey will be mainly under the g of the Liberation Alliance. Thus, this one had tried to receive the authority tomand, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Our client ordered us to receive orders from Your Highness.¡± The woman spoke up. ¡°Since we have taken this request, Your Highness should naturally have the authority tomand us. We also have no intention of taking orders from a midget.¡± ¡°¡­¡­We also have no intention of listening to a frail and small woman.¡± Jacquerie scowled as he looked at the woman. It felt like he wanted to say all sorts of bad words, but was holding them back since I was present. Contrary to his outside appearance, Jacquerie might actually be a rather aggressive person. The woman smiled brightly. ¡°I do not know if you go by Double Ax or Rotten Ax, but you most likely only yed around in the human world. We are quite literally an assassin group that crawled out of hell. Would you like to know what will happen if your throat gets shed by a frail and small woman¡¯s dagger?¡± ¡°I wonder if your foolish brain will start to work correctly if an axe is mmed into your skull.¡± In the end, the two leaders started a battle of nerves. Come to think of it, Jacquerie was a dwarf and the woman was an elf. Dwarves and elves were famous for being mutual enemies. Not only were they disputing over the chain ofmand, but the favor and spite within their races were also involved. This was quite literally the worst case scenario¡­¡­. I let out a sigh. ¡°Haah.¡± There would be an upset party no matter whose side I decided to take. Even the smallest ofints could cause a group to divide. I had already long given up on the idea of having afortable journey. ¡°It cannot be helped. Jacquerie.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness?¡± Jacquerie immediately stopped arguing as he responded courteously to me. There was only one solution left. ¡°I had intended to leave everything to you while relying on your experience and performance, but it, unfortunately, seems like I am unable to do that now.¡± ¡°I apologize.¡± ¡°From this point forth, I will be taking the authority tomand the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade.¡± Jacquerie kneeled. ¡°As youmand, Your Highness.¡± That¡¯s right. The only way to bring together groups that act separately is to give all the authority to the individual whom they both acknowledge. Jacquerie had probably expected this. That was why he was incredibly polite to me from the very start. Kuh, and here I was getting all excited because I thought I had met a true gentleman. I turned to look at the assassin woman. ¡°Name?¡± ¡°Please refer to me as Jeremi, Your Highness. This one is the leader of the Scarlet Scar Assassins.¡± The woman smiled. Her emotions were still faint as usualpared to her facial expressions. ¡°Very well, then. Jeremi, I will be giving the Scarlet Scar Assassins orders from now on.¡± ¡°As you wish.¡± Jeremi, the woman with sky blue hair and a face covered with burn marks, bowed her head. The assassins behind her also kneeled at the same time. With this, thirty mercenaries and twenty assassins came under mymand. I now had to be ustomed to the tasks carried out by a mercenary brigade and an assassin group¡­¡­what¡¯s up with this? I was definitely nothing more than an outsider. Rather than being an outsider, I ended up bing the top dog of the group. Damn it. ¡°Haah.¡± Why was it that nothing ever goes smoothly for me? I already feel a headacheing. Curse the world¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The assassin¡¯s name being Jeremi sort of threw me off. It really isn¡¯t a namemonly used for females. I looked around online to confirm this and the ratio is around 9:1, the 9 obviously being males with the name. On another note, the recent early release chapter was rather frustrating to trante so I¡¯m probably going to take the rest of the day off. That chapter is probably a prime example of a chapter you can never MTL. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 166: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (3) Chapter 166: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (3) * * * Our group traveled on the Empire Road. The stone roads that were built throughout the continent thousands of years ago when an ancient empire had control of over half the continent were still being used to this day. Thanks to this, we were able to move at a stable pace while pulling a carriage. I was surprised by the scenery that greeted us. The Frankia Empire was no different from France in my original world. When I thought of France, I would often think of wide and peaceful fields. However, what I saw after crossing the border waspletely different. Forest. Forest after endless forest¨D. Thin and dry winter trees surrounded us on all four sides. It felt like tens of thousands of snakes had frozen in ce. Open fields where trees had been chopped were a very rare sight. Once we got to the top of a hill, I could see that the forest stretched out all the way to the horizon. I have never felt anything in particr while looking at naturalndscapes; however, I was overwhelmed this time. I learned that if you leave nature alone, then it would propagate to a creepy degree. I stared in astonishment at the sight. ¡°The scenery is quite differentpared to Habsburg.¡± ¡°It shows the strength of the lords in the area.¡± Mercenary Captain Jacquerie responded. ¡°Logging rights and cultivation rights mostly belong to the lords. The scale of a forest changes ording to the strength of the lords and how weak themoners are. You will be able to see something interesting when we visit a vige.¡± I could hear a slight sneer in Jacquerie¡¯s tone. This dwarf would rarely ever voice his own opinions, so it was rather jarring whenever he showed his emotions like this. ¡°There are manymoners who freeze to death during the winter because they are unable to buy any firewood despite being surrounded by trees. The second and third sons of households are unable to cut down trees since the firstborns are the ones who inherit all of thend. Most people that secretly try to evade taxes end up losing an arm or a leg.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jacquerie let out a snort. ¡°Winter is ending and we will be entering spring soon. As usual, some have survived the winter while others did not. Nheless, among the people who have died, it most likely does not include the people rted to the lords.¡± ¡°So you are saying that there is more to it than this.¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± After hearing Jacquerie¡¯s exnation, the forest around us looked different. It felt deformed and bizarre. The tree branches looked like human arms bent backward. ¡°Whoa there.¡± Jacquerie, who was in the lead, slowed his pace. There was a group moving in the distance ahead of us on the Empire Road. Jacquerie narrowed his eyes as he stared at them before speaking. ¡°It¡¯s a merchant group. They have about 10 escorts.¡± ¡°Do you think there will be a conflict?¡± ¡°Only if their entire group is insane.¡± We deliberately approached them slowly. The merchant group had already started to panic since the moment they saw us in the distance. They were so nervous that some of them even ran into the forest while the others were moving to the edge of the road. Jeremi spoke once she saw this. ¡°They seem to be afraid of us.¡± ¡°That is only natural. We are a group of about fiftybatants.¡± Jacquerie answered in a mocking tone as if he were exining something incredibly obvious. Jeremi smiled brightly. ¡°Did you know? You are beautifully annoying.¡± ¡°Drop it. My ears are the only things that will be dirty if an elfpliments me.¡± ¡°How could the way someone speaks be so beautiful?¡± The two urged their horses forward as they bickered. I followed behind them with the rest of our troops. Jacquerie was right. If we have this many elite soldiers, then we could easily burn down a single region. We are probably like a nightmare to that merchant group. Sure enough, the merchant group was clearly terrified by our scale. An old man who appeared to be the representative of the group came forward and greeted us. ¡°May Hermes¡¯ blessing be upon you.¡± The old man didn¡¯t say anything more as he raised up a bag of money and presented it to us respectfully. In other words, he was paying a toll fee. ¡°Mm.¡± Jacquerie took the money while on top his horse. He shook the bag and the sound of coins clinking together could be heard. He was confirming how many coins were inside the bag. He shook the bag about six times before giving a satisfied nod. ¡°May Hermes¡¯ blessing be upon you as well.¡± ¡°Thank you for your generosity.¡± The old merchant bowed deeply as he thanked us. Jacquerie spoke. ¡°Your wisdom has simply granted you salvation. Is there something that you wish for?¡± ¡°If it is not too much to ask, may I inquire where your lieges are headed?¡± ¡°We are responding to the call from Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager, de¡¯ Medici.¡± The merchant let out a sigh. ¡°Hoo. Is Lutetia Parisiorum fated to be drenched in blood?¡± ¡°If possible, I advise that you avoid doing business at Lutetia Parisiorum as well.¡± The merchant let out another sigh as he shook his head. ¡°I thought that we would have enough time to sell armaments in Paris¡­¡­. It seems the Heavens are against me. No, Your Liege¡¯s advice is worth a thousand gold. Thank you very much.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Jacquerie nced at the merchant group¡¯s carriage. His face looked like he had just thought of a good idea. He approached me and whispered. ¡°Your Highness, it is a bit early, but would it be all right to set up camp here for the night?¡± ¡°It seems you have an idea.¡± ¡°Yes. A rather good one, at that.¡± Jacquerie gave an earnest nod. Jacquerie knew more about the world as a mercenary captain who had marched through the continent. I dly gave him permission. Jacquerie went back to the merchant and spoke. ¡°If it is all right with you, we could purchase your armaments.¡± The old merchant opened his eyes wide. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Indeed. We will be meeting with Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager anyway. It would be good to have more weapons.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The merchant stroked his beard. He seemed to genuinely consider the proposal. Jacquerie waited a few seconds before continuing in a casual tone. ¡°You do not have to make an immediate decision.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°We will be setting up camp soon. You have already paid a toll, so we shall stand guard for you. You can spend the night mulling over this carefully.¡± ¡°¡­¡­A truly generous treatment. I give you my utmost gratitude.¡± We decided to follow Jacquerie¡¯s decision to camp with the merchant group. The old merchant shouted at his travelpanions that the knights were going to protect them for the night. Once he did, the people who had been hiding in the forest slowly came crawling out. ¡°You fiends! I even treated you guys kindly! You ungrateful scoundrels!¡± The old man raised a small whip and started whipping at their backs. ¡°Hiii! Forgive me!¡± ¡°We won¡¯t do it ever again!¡± They cried out as they prostrated themselves and begged for forgiveness. A portion of their workers seemed to have run away when they saw our army approach. Their wages were probably going to be cut by more than half after this. Our group paid them no mind as we proceeded to set up our tents. The mercenaries set up the tents with dexterous hand movements. They finished setting up their quarters in about an hour, so they truly were elite soldiers. ording to the mercenaries, it usually takes two to three hours when trying to set up a genuine military camp, but that still didn¡¯t change the fact that they were quite fast. Late in the evening. The leading members of our group gathered around a campfire. We shared a drink of boiled brandy as we conversed. The sound of chatting could also be heard around us at the other campfires. Jacquerie spoke. ¡°I wish to exin why I suggested we should set up camp here.¡± ¡°Granted.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. Your Highness, do you know the current state of affairs within the Frankia Empire?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I do not. Exin.¡± I have a rough understanding of what was happening in every nation around this time thanks to the lorebook, but I didn¡¯t feel confident with only game knowledge. I had made the 8th Crescent Alliance happen a whole decade early. I have to know how this was going to affect the world. ¡°Currently, the Frankia Empire is split into two sides. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager are opposing each other while both leading their own powerful factions. What Your Highness needs to know is the fact that we will be cooperating with the Empress Dowager.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°The Empress Dowager thinks favorably of republicanism.¡± That was definitely a good enough reason. ¡°The Empress Dowager, Catherine de¡¯ Medici, was not born in Frankia. She was sent to be wed from a ducal household in the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Kingdom of Sardinia professes to being a kingdom on the surface, but the cities within its borders actually have fairly strong autonomous rights. Not only is republicanism not an unfamiliar ideology to the Empress Dowager, but it is also an ideology that is near and dear to her. Despite this, this does not mean she is a member of our .¡± It made sense to me. This was something I knew through as well. The Empress Dowager has been acting as the regent for three generations now. The emperors would keep dying at a young age, so the Empress Dowager hade into power temporarily. The Empress Dowager was rather talented, so the nation was managed well, but¡­¡­. ¡°The young emperor is discontent with his mother.¡± The issue was the fact that the parent and child had a very bad rtionship. ¡°The current emperor, Henry III, is fairly young. Different from his brothers who died of disease early on, he is healthy and energetic. He will be 18-years-old this year.¡± ¡°So he wants to seize power and run the nation himself, huh?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± The young emperor of Frankia was reaching the peak age of his life, and yet, the nation was still revolving around the Empress Dowager who had been in power for three generations now. The Emperor didn¡¯t have a lot of supporters or influential vassals around him, so he could only be discontent with the current situation. ¡°There is another problem. The Empress Dowager is generous to religion and its beliefs. This may have been an inevitable decision as a female trying to lead an entire nation. Thanks to this, despite being located right next to the Batavia Republic, royalists and republicans used to coexist rather well.¡± Used to. Past tense. This meant they no longer were. ¡°The Emperor does not take after his mother, I see.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Jacquerie took a sip from his brandy before continuing. ¡°Before Henry III became the Emperor of Frankia, he had taken the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for a brief moment of time. As you know, the nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth possess a lot of authority¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They are a nation close to that of an aristocratic republic. I know.¡± The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a nation where royal authority was extremely limited. Who knows how difficult life must have been for Henry III when he was from another nation and could not even speak to them properly. The nobles would do their utmost to protect their own power rather than swear their loyalty to the king, and when the king wants to make a decision, it has to be permitted by the council of nobles. They would only be a king in name. In truth, they were nothing but a figurehead. Republicanism must seem like a horrific idea for a young emperor who was overflowing with ambition¡­¡­. ¡°Once the previous emperor, in other words, his brother died of a disease, Henry III returned almost instantaneously as if he were running away from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. All for the sake of inheriting the throne. However¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Republicanism was being publicly established in Frankia as well.¡± He was a part of the bloodline of emperors. He had a good enough cause. Hispetency wasn¡¯t verified yet, but he was young. He was overflowing with passion. However, he didn¡¯t obtain any authority as a king or an emperor. He was a mannequin emperor. Eventually, the young emperor became enraged at republicanism and stood up to take his authority back from his mother. ¡°A civil war had already been predetermined.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± ¡°Not only is the Empress Dowager a foreigner, but she lost her husband a long time ago. Despite this, she devoted her entire life to the Frankia Empire. In truth, she was the one who created and preserved the current empire. She was deeply upset that her son would try to ruin her country.¡± Iughed. They had quite an impressive broken family. ¡°In response to this, the Empress Dowager called for the soldiers of the nearby lords and mercenary groups. Even now, soldiers from all around the nation are gathering to the capital. Your Highness, we will be participating in that civil war as one of those groups.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if Jacquerie and Jeremi are going to have more prominent roles in the future or if they¡¯re just going to fade away after this arc is over. Jeremi feels like an interesting character. She resembles Humbaba in a way since they were both shunned by society. Jeremi has burn marks and Humbaba+witches were burned. Maybe I¡¯m reading into it too much. Well, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 167: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (4) Chapter 167: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (4) ¡°I understand.¡± To put it simply, the situation was a mess. A regent and an emperor, a mother and a son, fellow countrymen and foreign forces, royalists and republicans. All sorts of positions were being mixed together and creating chaos. The noblemen of this nation were probably churning their brains as hard as they could in order to determine which side they should take. Local territorial battles may have already urred. ¡°If Your Highness does not have any more questions, then I will proceed to exin what role our group will take from this point on. We will continue to follow the Empire Road and¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± I tilted my head. ording to what I remember from the game, the civil war within the Frankia Empire had a moreplicated situation underneath it. An important fact hadn¡¯t been exined yet. Jacquerie seemed to notice my expression as he spoke out to me. ¡°Your Highness, was something about my exnation unsatisfactory?¡± Jacquerie inquired. The dwarf genuinely believed that he had exined everything. I see. I then came to a realization. ¡®That¡¯ was still a secret at this point in time. It will be a public fact 10 years in the future, but only a small minority of people know of it now. This was something that even Paimon¡¯s Liberation Alliance, despite having spies throughout the continent, didn¡¯t know about. No one knows yet¨D¨D. A hot feeling of excitement started to swell up from inside me. I knew. I knew how the civil war of Frankia was going to be carried out and how this would alter the continent. An outline of events that would simply seem like boring historical facts ten years in the future; however, this information was currently priceless. ¡°Haha.¡± I let out a lightugh which resulted in Jacquerie and Jeremi giving me a weird look. Fortunately, the two groups happen to both be under mymand. I could use them however I want. I do want toin to Paimon about how she had sent me two groups with a conflicting chain ofmand¡­¡­but the situation was different now. Thanks, Paimon. I don¡¯t know what you were expecting of me, but I¡¯ll show you a sess that far exceeds your expectations. ¡°Jacquerie, how much do you know about the state of affairs within the Kingdom of Brittany?¡± ¡°The Kingdom of Brittany? I only know that Queen Henrietta lost to the Crescent Alliance and returned to her nation¡­¡­.¡± He looked confused about why I was asking this all of a sudden. With this, I was certain that there were things that the Liberation Alliance didn¡¯t know in regard to the civil war in Frankia. ¡°Get in contact with the branch manager of the Liberation Alliance in Brittany right now. Confirm whether there are troops moving around at the kingdom¡¯s border.¡± ¡°Pardon me? Your Highness, I do not understand what you are¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Emperor of Frankia should have requested the Queen of Brittany to send troops.¡± Jacquerie¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°What are you saying!?¡± ¡°A brat who has only recently be an emperor and the Empress Dowager who has run a country for several decades. It is quite obvious who has the advantage here. Furthermore, not only is the Empress Dowager being supported by her homnd, the Kingdom of Sardinia, but she is also close to the Batavia Republic. If a civil war is carried out in this state, then the Emperor would have no choice but to submit to the Empress Dowager.¡± I smiled. ¡°Do you think the Emperor is not aware of this?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, he is going to borrow foreign troops and retaliate with them¡­¡­?¡± That¡¯s right. Although reaching your hand out to foreign powers was undoubtedly a shortcut to ruin, from the young Emperor¡¯s perspective, losing a bit of his national power for the sake of gainingplete authority was worth it. Adding to this, the Kingdom of Brittany is the most hostile nation to republicanism. During the war with the Crescent Alliance, Queen Henrietta wiped out her entire army simply because she was afraid of republicanism spreading within her nation¡­¡­. She probably seems a lot more trustworthypared to the republic nobles who are loyal to the Empress Dowager. Jacquerie looked at me with perplexed eyes. ¡°But there is no proof. No, how does Your Highness know this?¡± ¡°Do not be concerned about how I know this. What is important right now is confirming with the branch in Brittany whether this is true or not.¡± I smiled. ¡°Jacquerie, you are the branch manager of the Liberation Alliance in Frankia. I believe that you must have a way to contact the other executives.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jacquerie got up and went somewhere. A few minutes passed. I listened to the sound of owls hooting in the forest for a while before Jacquerie finally returned. He had a rather serious look on his face. ¡°Queen Henrietta has currently vacated the capital. She has apparently left with some nobles to go on arge-scale hunt due to the appearance of ogres at the border. The royal family and nobles do not often mobilize their troops to go onrge-scale hunts, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is also asionally used as an excuse to hide a war.¡± Jacquerie gulped. ¡°¡­¡­That is correct.¡± ¡°The Empress Dowager most likely does not want to genuinely start a civil war. Both her allies and enemies know that she has the advantage, after all.¡± She probably intended to only gather her army in order to intimidate her son. Compared to the Emperor who doesn¡¯t have the money to even hire mercenaries, the Empress Dowager possesses a massive amount of funding. He waspletely outmatched. Scaring her son and making him submit to her was probably all there was to the Empress Dowager¡¯s n. ¡°But what will happen if the Emperor drags Brittany into the fray?¡± ¡°The Empress Dowager¡­¡­would never overlook a foreign power getting involved.¡± ¡°Indeed. This will cause a genuine war to unfold.¡± Jacquerie gulped down his brandy. His hands were trembling very slightly. ¡°How does Your Highness think the war will progress?¡± ¡°Huhu. It will probably prove that you can go further than rock bottom.¡± The corners of my mouth lifted up slightly. I didn¡¯t do this consciously. They went up on their own. The excitement that was swelling up from inside me had heated up my chest and was now warming up my throat. ¡°Jacquerie, try thinking about it carefully! Use your imagination to think about how this will alter the territory within Frankia. Despite everything, the Emperor is still the true heir to the throne. Furthermore, the Empress Dowager is of foreign descent. Devoting your loyalty to her would be treasonous. People should devote their loyalty to the Emperor.¡± However, I continued. ¡°That very Emperor has also called in a foreign power. Brittany and Frankia have been sworn enemies for a very long time. Would the Emperor not be the true traitor? It will be very difficult for the nobles to pick a side!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In the end, the nobles will be at a loss. Some people will go this way, while others will go that way. They will get split up and move ording to their respective beliefs. Simr to how the Habsburg Empire has fallen, a different empire is also making a mad dash toward chaos!¡± They were running into an utterly chaotic situation. Let us say, for example, there was a royalist noble. He has sworn his loyalty to the Emperor; however, by swearing his loyalty to the Emperor, he is forced to cooperate with the Kingdom of Brittany. There¡¯s no way that Brittany would help the Emperor for free. The upper echelon of the empire¡¯s authority will thus be handed over to Brittany. If this noble swears his loyalty to the Emperor, then he would also be volunteering to help their sworn enemies profit off of them¡­¡­. Nheless, it would also be troubling for him to go against Brittany. If he fights against Brittany¡¯s invasion, then that would mean he would be cooperating with the Empress Dowager. Therefore, he would have to share his meals with republican nobles. He couldn¡¯t do this or that. In other words,plete turmoil. ¡°Is this not entertaining!?¡± Iughed. ¡°In the end, that is how authority is. There is no affection between mother and child. It does not matter whether someone is your nation¡¯s sworn enemy or not. It does not even matter if your people end up shedding a lot of blood because of a civil war. Solely for the sake of authority. People are fine with being serenaded with blood-soaked screams from other humans for the sake of obtaining authority!¡± How bold and honest they are! I could feel the dignity of the strong from here. They were dering that they were strong and that everyone other than them was ¡®qualified¡¯ to be sacrificed. I always feel respect whenever I see people be so confident in their own strength. I want to watch those people fall apart with my own two eyes! Just imagining the faces they would make when they realize they are no longer strong is exciting me¡­¡­. When they are brought down by the people who they had deemed to be weak and when they are ridiculed and mocked by those people, would they still be able to maintain their usual lofty expressions? Aah. I¡¯m already having fun! I can¡¯t erase the smile from my lips! ¡°Brittany only mobilized a few thousand soldiers during the Crescent Alliance war. On the other hand, Frankia had dispatched hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Even if Brittany loses to Frankia in terms of national power, they are currently on equal grounds. A back and forth battle will definitely ensue.¡± And as the war continues, a countless number of citizens within Frankia will be plundered. It didn¡¯t matter whether it was by the imperial soldiers, the kingdom soldiers, mercenaries, deserters, or thieves. Their nationality and affiliation didn¡¯t matter. The soldiers will ravage viges for the sake of either sating their hunger or satisfying their desires. The people who were barely able to survive the ck Death and the famine will have to, once more, endure the cmities of war. They will no longer be able to hold themselves back. This was truly the perfect time to spread the gue known as republicanism. There was no reason to give a detailed exnation about the concept. The recipients were the people of this era. They were dumb. They wouldn¡¯t understand and that was a good thing. I simply have to let them hear the words their ears wanted to hear. Freedom! Equality! Stand up against oppression. Take back the authority that should¡¯ve been yours. These were nothing more than sugar-coated words. Commoners normally dislike nobles. They respect the dignity that nobles have, but they still detest them. Nobles steal from their farms which they had worked hard to cultivate and force them to fight in wars. My role is to fan the mes, so these sugar-coated words are necessary to incite that anger¡­¡­. We have to make them feel as if they¡¯re revolting because of their own personal justice and not for their hatred for nobles. Freedom! Equality! Stand up against oppression and take back what should be yours. These modifiers should be more than enough to cover up their hatred. I will make this happen. ¡°Jacquerie, what did Paimon order you to do?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Well, to work together with the Empress Dowager and improve our image.¡± Haha. That¡¯s too weak. Paimon, that is way too weak. What kind of order is that supposed to be? Isn¡¯t that too abstract? Improve our image? What do you mean by that? Are you telling us to kill as many royalists as possible, or are you telling us to go around to republic viges and give speeches? As I thought, scheming does not suit her. Scheming is a tool for the weak. God generously created schemes for those who are too weak to fight a fair fight. For Paimon, who has lived for almost 2,000 years, the impatience and the insecurity of the weak are probably unfamiliar concepts to her. She was fated by nature to never be a schemer. ¡°I will be refining that order.¡± I was born as the weakest race known as humans and became a Demon Lord. Schemes suit cowards like me. ¡°I, the Rank 71 Demon Lord, Dantalian of Many Faces will hereby give you amand. Jacquerie of the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade and Jeremi of the Scarlet Scar. As honorable demons, you two will heed this Demon Lord¡¯smand.¡± The dwarf and the elf perked up instantly before kneeling before me. ¡°Our goal is to trigger the civil war within the Frankia Empire. Going beyond this, we will also be amplifying the war. First, Jacquerie.¡± ¡°Yes! Please give me yourmand!¡± ¡°There are Demon Lord Castles spread throughout the Frankia Empire as well. We will be working together with those Demon Lords. We will make them invade the territories that belong to those royalists.¡± We will respond to the other Demon Lords¡¯ armies within the territory and make the nobles lose. On the other hand, we will manipte the battle to make it seem like our mercenary brigade won. Our fame will increase while the public opinion of the nobles will decrease. ¡°I will be in charge of persuading the Demon Lords. Next, Jeremi.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Prioritize assassinating the smaller nobles that are affiliated with the republican faction.¡± Jeremi opened her eyes wide for a moment before smiling. ¡°I did not expect to be given an assassination mission here as well, but I will carry it out at all cost since it is Your Highness¡¯ order.¡± It would be difficult to assassinate prominent figures like earls and viscounts. However, we have twenty professional assassins here. They should be able to handle bars and the like. Several of the nobles from a certain faction were going to be assassinated moments before a civil war was about to erupt. The royalists will naturally fall under suspicion. Especially the Emperor. An emperor who not only mobilized foreign troops but assassinated the nobles from his own nation for the sake of authority. His reputation will plummet unimaginably. I look forward to seeing the face he makes. That night. I was writing with my pencil endlessly while sitting next to a campfire. I managed to finish several thick manuscripts in a single night. The same logic and rhetoric I had used during the ceremonial speeches were contained within these manuscripts. I intended to send these to the Keuncuska Firm and have them copied inrge quantities. We were then going to circte them throughout every vige we passed by. ¡®The Habsburg Empire and now the Frankia Empire.¡¯ I must have had something against empires in my past life. Well, I was probably abused by them one-sidedly in that past life. I¡¯m simply paying them back for what they did to me. This would probably make those imperial nobles feel better if they knew this. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Time for another rousing bout of Dantalian plotting behind-the-scenes. It¡¯s been gradually getting hotter and I got bit by one mosquito like 5 times in one day. This is suffering. Mosquitos were a mistake. Rambling aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 168: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (5) Chapter 168: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (5) ¡°Hoo.¡± I stretched. The cool night air refreshed my lungs. A sense of aplishment filled my chest. There were dozens of pieces of paper in my hand. I had stayed up all night writing down the entire timeline of what was going to happen in Frankia¡¯s civil war. It would probably be fine to call this my life¡¯s masterpiece. Civil wars and revolutions are not simple events. These things require extremely borate devices. I had split these devices into three parts and put them together. The first device was this manuscript of about 15 pages. The title of this manuscript was . The manuscript started with the following paragraph. ¨C Even if the price is great, I must break away from this facy that is binding me. I must then inform the world of theplete truth and carry it out ordingly. This is the mission that has been given to all rational beings. The document was written in the ancient imperialnguage. The papers I was going to circte weren¡¯t going to be used on themoners. Commoners require intense emotions rather than some coherent logic. On the other hand, a mask known as logic is necessary to convince the more cultured and young schrs among the nobles. They were no different from themoners even if they were cultured. Even they act emotionally to a certain extent. They simply have a higher ¡®boiling point¡¯ thanmoners. Logic was a device that helped cultured people reach that boiling point more easily. ¨C Farmers are like ves as they are under the control of nobles. They are sometimes under the control ofrgendowners. As we are aware of this, there is no way that we could possibly be oblivious of this fact. This is because our ie relies on this very ve system, thus we cooperate with it voluntarily. Adding to this, we know very well that this system is cruel and unfair¡­¡­. ¨C ¡®If I inherit my parent¡¯s peerage, I will distributend to the farmers¡¯, is there someone who has never made this resolve when they were younger? Why does one bear pride in the morning but resign themselves in the evening? This is because of our lives. We end up wasting 300 libra every year, so we feel the need for the ve system once more. ¨C If we were to expose our lofty lives out in the open, then it would be like the following: our lives are not lived as we intended. We simply live ording to how our lives flow. We have lostplete control of our ability to control our lives. ¨C How could anyone not be aware of this paradox? Until now, people believed that the ve system ced normal people under the control of nobles; however, the truth is the exact opposite. Nobles are the ones who are under the control of the ve system and are thus unable to lead their lives toward what they believe to be the right path. ¨C Today, the concerning notion that ¡®the dignity and level of the ruling ss are bing more feeble as the days go by¡¯, has be the talk of the town. The cause of this phenomenon is none other than that paradoxical ve system. In other words, the ones who are supposed to be the masters are paradoxically put under the control of ves¡­¡­. ¡°Amazing! These are some great lines.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be moved after reviewing my manuscript up to this point. This was a literary gem. This wasn¡¯t a schrly document. This was fundamentally no different from a speech. Speeches are given to persuade the other party, so you must have a grasp of what the other party wants and likes. The target audience of this manuscript was young schrs. Young nobles are brats who are obsessed with honor. They fear bing ves more than anything else and firmly believe that they are pioneering their own lives. However, they know that something like freedom doesn¡¯t exist in the life of nobles as well. If you were born as the first son, then you absolutely had to inherit everything. If your ruler starts a war, then you had to ept the draft. Second and third sons could at most be knights and wander around. All sorts of responsibilities were attached to them. I was pointing this fact out. ¨C The Gods had ordered us to be the rulers of thend. That is why we have been cultivating thend for thousands of years. However, if we look back at it now, we have not be the rulers of thend, but the ves of thend. This is the result of us knowing what is right but disregarding it anyway. ¨C It has been discussed numerous times at conferences and official government meetings about whymoners are poor and what policies must be enacted to improve their lives. And yet, we would always remain silent when it came to the only right and proper method of improving those farmers¡¯ lives. In other words, having ournd taken from us by the farmers.¡± First, I have to acknowledge their pride. After that, I have to criticize them for how they had betrayed their own pride. I then follow this up by presenting them a detailed outline of what they could do to regain their pride. The important part here was to make the tone of the text sound as if they were being lectured. I¡¯m reprimanding them bluntly while also giving them the delusion that they could be righteous if they put in the effort. I¡¯m provoking their self-respect and making them act. Putting a fire under their hearts. ¨DThese lines written in the ancient imperialnguage were seditious lines with decent-sounding logic sprinkled on top. I guarantee that this alone would be enough to persuade some nobles. And finally. ¨C Land should not be privately owned. ¨C Things like water, air, and sunlight should not be considered as products to be sold. ¨C All humans should equally share the benefits reaped from thend. These things must be stated a matter-of-factly. In other words, it has to give the impression that this should be the logical conclusion of everything that was said before. Like this, people will ept this text as a logical conclusion instead of simply as inciting words. Of course, this would not be enough to persuade some people. ¡®So I have to add a few more instruments.¡¯ I continued to review my manuscript with a grin on my face. Interestingly, there wasn¡¯t a single mistake in my writing. I have never been grammatically incorrect ever since I came to this world. It felt like some unknown power was being applied to my linguistic ability, but it didn¡¯t particrly matter. ¨C The earnings received from thend must be shared equally. Therefore, farmers should receive their ownnd, pay thend fee ording to a joint agreement, and the money will all go to a joint funding. This joint funding will naturally be used for the sake of the farmers. ¨C The rent fee will be determined by the local government of the farmers. That¡¯s right. I have to give them a detailed suggestion. However, I¡¯m not an expert when ites to policies. How could I offer a detailed exnation in such matters? That¡¯s why I used cool-sounding words like ¡®joint agreement¡¯, ¡®joint funding¡¯, and ¡®local government¡¯. I made it seem like something impressive was being said. Normally, proper nouns have the power to discourage people. If you change the sentence ¡®Life has always been fucked¡¯ to ¡®Life is fundamentally irrational¡¯, then it makes the line sound like you are making some sort of profound statement. Nobles enjoy this kind of rhetoric. Even more so the younger they are. Stimte their pride, disguise instigating words as a logical conclusion, and give a detailed exnation on how to bring that logical conclusion to reality with fancy words. This should be enough to persuade arge number of nobles. Now for a final uppercut. ¨C That is correct. Throughout all the problems that happen in our lives, there is no way for us to know the significance of those problems nor can we understand them. Why was a man named Hans born? Why did I do something nasty? Why are some people dying while I am still alive? Why have I turned away from the truth? ¨C Trying to understand all of this, in other words, trying to understand the fate and providence of the Gods cannot be done by my power alone. Nheless, it is possible to implement the divine will of the Gods that has been engraved in my conscience. We know this. ¨C Thus, as we continue to contemte endlessly, there is something more new and awe-inspiring that approaches our hearts. The sky above where the stars sparkle and the conscience within me. As we behold and feel these things before us, it will start where I stand and continue to the worlds beyond the infinitely vast worlds ording to that glorious divine will¡­¡­. ¡°C¡¯est si bon! C¡¯est si bon!¡± I subconsciously became a French gentleman as I was in awe. A literary ability that could have definitely lifted me up to stardom if I had been born in Paris was right here. The final part covered religion and ethics. Everyone has a side to them that is passionate about religion and ethics. Even the coldest of people will be greatly invigorated if their sense of ethics is ignited. After talking in a logical tone in the beginning, it ends ethically. Kuh. ¡°I¡¯m in awe of my own talent¡­¡­.¡± I looked up at the sky momentarily as I felt deeply moved. I could see the darkness of the night running away over the mountains because they were so surprised by my talent. I see. I have finally gained the power to make even the sky fear me¡­¡­. This talent¡­¡­ this genius¡­¡­ even I can¡¯t help but be afraid of myself¡­¡­. I finished reviewing my first manuscript. I was going to have this copied into booklets and circted among the nobles. It didn¡¯t matter whether they were royalists or republicans. It was also included in the manuscript that the nobles would temporarily manage the joint funding of the local government. Therefore, this would provide an appropriate position for the nobles as well. Royalists that have a strong sense of chivalry would definitely be tempted by this. ¡°Mhmhm.¡± I hummed to myself as I picked up another bundle of paper. This was the second device that I had prepared for the sake of the civil war and revolution. This was also a manuscript. However, it was a slight dramatization of the ceremonial speech I gave on Bruno ins. It was dering that all nobles should be captured and killed. This was also going to be printed as booklets and circted among the nobles. However, only to the republicans. ¡°Let¡¯s nt the seed of division beforehand.¡± It would be troubling if the humans formed a grand alliance under the name of republicanism. In the first ce, if the kingdom bes a republic, then its national power would increase drastically. It happened in France back in my original world as well. The people rose up for the sake of revolution on their own. Soldiers that stood up voluntarily to protect their country and soldiers that were forcefully mobilized to protect the Emperor. It was obvious which side would be stronger. Humans have to remain divided even if republicanism manages to win. I worked so hard to bring down an empire and now an even stronger republic was going to appear after that? That¡¯s an unfunny joke. I have to induce them into forming several factions under republicanism. Extremists or moderates, wipe out all the nobles or forgive them, an aristocratic republic or a democratic republic¡­¡­I have to divide those under a single faction with numerous ideologies and make them fight amongst each other. I smiled. ¡°I¡¯d be grateful if you guys fought for at least 400 years due to differing ideologies alone.¡± I¡¯d be even more grateful if you fought for longer than 400 years. Well, either way, this will give more rights tomoners. It would only be right for the humans on the continent to thank me. I¡¯m pulling forward the revolution that you guys would have done anyway some day in the future. Furthermore, I¡¯m also generously establishing their factions for them! It¡¯d be only right if they built a statue in honor of the virtuous Dantalian. Up to this point was the second device. If the first two devices targeted nobles and cultured people, then the third device was aimed atmoners. This wasn¡¯t a speech. It wasn¡¯t a schrly book either. It was simply a song. From Kresy to the Hydrangea WarPoitiers and Agincourtck hills stained in tears and bloodWe have only walked barefoot Let us advance, sons and daughters of thend.Scream till your throats burn,our moment of glory has arrived! From the Scarlet Fortress to the Ulm insBoeotia and NemeaListen to the hellish scream of the enemyResonating throughout the hills and river! Raise your bloodstained gs of war!Raise your bloodstained gs of war! The enemy is approachingto take the heads of our wives and lovers!Grab your spears,rades!Stand at the front! O Goddess, give us salvation on every hill and river!O Goddess, allow justice to sing! Let our enemies¡¯ blood overflowon our parchednd! ¡°This should be somewhat effective.¡± I grinned. It was a song of revolution. I¡¯m not sure how exactly the song will beposed, but I¡¯llmission the people at Keuncuska to leave it to the most renownedposer in the demon world. I do hope that the human revolutionaries are pleased by my little gift. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The next few chapters were very annoying for me to trante. Dantalian phrases a lot of the lines in the manuscript from an awkward perspective. Not only does he keep switching the tense around, but it keeps going from first-person to third-person and so on. I guess it sort of works fine in Korean, but it felt really awkward to do in English. Hence why these chapters took longer to trante. In any case, I hope you guys are having a better time surviving the heat than I am and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 169: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (6) Chapter 169: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (6) * * * People started to wake up at dawn. ¡°We will sell.¡± The old man from the merchant group came and told us this. It was clear that he had mulled over this throughout the night. His face looked rather slimpared to yesterday. Deciding whether to trade with us or not was probably a rather crucial moment for his merchant life. Nheless, his eyes were still clear and strong. Jacquerie more than dly epted his decision. ¡°A wise choice. How much do you intend to sell?¡± ¡°As much as your side desires.¡± The two parties reached an agreement. Exchanges such as these would normally be tenser, but they were arms merchant and we were mercenaries. They were all experts when it came to weapons. They quickly reached an appropriate price. We split ways with the merchant group and continued down the Empire Road. We continued through the endless clusters of dry trees once more. We moved leisurely while pulling a carriage. Jacquerie spoke from on top of his ck horse. ¡°This was basically their lucky day. If people were to see a carriage filled with weapons during a civil war, then they would have undoubtedly been plundered while being promised moneyter.¡± ¡°Jacquerie, do you n to offer the weapons to the Empress Dowager in order to give her a strong impression?¡± Weapons are always in demand during wars. If you were to offer up a lot of weapons during this time, then you would receive a lot of rights. You would go from simply being used in battle to being able to voice your opinion. This wasn¡¯t a bad idea. This probably wouldn¡¯t be enough to acquire a position among the higher-ups thate up with the strategies, but being able to influence the positioning of your unit would be good enough. One¡¯s survival rate could change drastically depending on whether you got assigned to the right side or the left side. Jacquerie made the right decision. ¡°That is right.¡± ¡°Very well, then. However, that is not the most optimal course of action.¡± ¡°Could you exin why?¡± Jacquerie didn¡¯t seem bothered by myment. Jacquerie had be more humble toward me ever since our meeting endedst night. If he was like a mercenary being courteous to his employer yesterday, then he was like a knight serving his lord today. I weed this change. ¡°Instead of giving the weapons to the Empress Dowager¡¯s camp, give them to themoners instead.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I am telling you to incite a revolt.¡± Jacquerie furrowed his brow as he fell into deep thought. He finally opened his mouth after a while. ¡°Your Highness, revolts are incredibly dangerous. Frankia is different from the other nations. Commoners have little to no rights and there are many knights present. Suppressing a revolt is a rather easy matter here. Furthermore, the republicans within Frankia are in support of an aristocratic republic. They would never overlook a revolt.¡± Jacquerie was a branch manager of the Liberation Alliance. He knew about the inner workings of Frankia better than anyone else. He probably contemted a lot about whether it was truly possible for a revolution to ur or for Frankia to be a republic. This was clearly the most rational decision he had arrived at after deliberating over this as one of the leading members of the Liberation Alliance. He believed it was too soon to incite an uprising. ¡°If the scale of the revolt is notrge enough, then it would get suppressed almost instantly. There would be no point in it. Therefore, we do have to incite an extensive revolt¡­¡­but, in this case, we might end up giving the royalists an excuse.¡± In the end, the republic faction¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t to overturn this master-servant rtionship. The royalists would criticize the republicans like this. This would put the republic faction on shaky grounds. They also happen to be nobles, so a majority of the republican nobles wouldn¡¯t approve of amoner uprising either. ¡°The royalists and the republicans might stop their civil war in order to work together. All of our efforts would have been in vain. Your Highness, I am humbly against the notion of giving themoners our weapons.¡± ¡°But what if the Kingdom of Brittany is involved?¡± I smiled. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Frankia and Brittany are sworn enemies. Themoners rose up to fight back against Brittany themselves.¡± They wouldn¡¯t be going against the nobles. They would be fighting back against Brittany¡¯s invasion. Would the nobles have an excuse to stop them? ¡°They would be treated like an army raised in the cause of justice.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Jacquerie¡¯s mouth fell open. It had opened by itself. His face contorted more than ever before. He had a habit of contorting his face a whole bunch whenever he fell into deep thought. ¡°It¡¯s possible¡­¡­no, it would definitely work!¡± He muttered in a small tone. He was boiling with excitement. ¡°The Empress Dowager and the nobles of the republic faction would give this civilian army their full support!¡± ¡°Indeed. Referentially, there is nothing more terrifying than a political power that is supported by the people.¡± Themoners are rising up on their own to protect their nation. This would raise the republic faction¡¯s position drastically in a single moment. This battle for justifications that has been bncing on a thread would add a weight on the Empress Dowager¡¯s side. The uprising would be stronger the longer the warsts. This would increase the number of times the civilian army, the Righteous Army wins against the foreign forces. The Righteous Army¡¯s merits would undoubtedly reach a point where even the nobles would be unable to disregard them. This would strengthen the rights of low-ranking nobles andmoners. If a civilian army bes a veteran army after countless battles and also gains the right to speak, then¨D. ¡°Let me ask you a question. Do you think the nobles of the republic faction would simply watch over themoners¡¯ growth?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. Most of them would try to suppress themoners.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± I smiled. ¡°Now let me ask you another question. Do you think themoners would simply stand idly by as those republican nobles suppress them?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± From the civilian army¡¯s perspective, there would probably be nothing more unreasonable than this. They had shed tears and blood for the sake of their homnd. The nobles who had been supporting them up to that point, the nobles who had gone around saying nice words like equality and freedom, would suddenly be turning their backs to them the instant the war was over. This would be a clear-cut example of killing the dog after the hunt. Themoners would naturally be enraged. ¡°If they had no battle experience or weapons in their hands, then their anger would simply end as anger. However, a fair portion of themoner army should have be elite soldiers by this point. Furthermore, they should also possess sharp spears.¡± ¡°Arge-scale¡­¡­revolution¡­¡­.¡± That¡¯s right. This would ignite a genuine revolution. ¡°The Emperor of Frankia was blinded by authority and brought in foreign forces despite knowing that this foreign army would harass his people. The Emperor¡¯s authority has already plummeted. Even if the Empress Dowageres out victorious, she would still not be the rightful heir to the throne. The empire would no longer have a justification.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°At this point, we have to provide the people with a cause.¡± I had stayed up all night writing these manuscripts for this sake. Excluding the illiterate majority ofmoners, low-ranking nobles and affluentmoners will also join the revolution. They will read my booklets and arm themselves with logic. They will then give speeches to the people about righteousness. ¡°Well, this is still a long way off. At the soonest, this will take about 2 to 3 years. We will have to work hard for the sake of this future.¡± Iughed as I turned to look behind me. Jacquerie and Jeremi were staring at me nkly. Their expressions were funny to look at. ¡°It would be troubling if you only go with the intent of cooperating with the Empress Dowager. Resolve yourselves to raise the g of revolution here and there throughout the nation once the Frankia Empire¡¯s g has fallen. I will make your dreamse true.¡± * * * Our group arrived at a vige for the first time. Bercy was a bar in control of a small amount ofnd. There were a lot of corpses piled around the Empire Road as if to prove they had barely managed to get through a difficult winter. These corpses had been brought here from the vige. They mostly consisted of old people and children. ¡°This is amon sight in the hells of the demon world.¡± Some of them could have intentionally been murdered by their families, Jeremimented. Children and old people were nothing more than unusable manpower. Pointless mouths to feed were the first thing that had to be dealt with when an epidemic and a famine were sweeping over the continent. They must have given out an emergency order once our group of about fifty people arrived with horses and a carriage. Once we reached the entrance of the vige, dozens of soldiers were holding their spears up at us cautiously. There was a knight wearing te armor among them. He was probably the bar. ¡°Stop!¡± A man who was standing next to the bar stood forward and shouted. He was the lord¡¯s attendant. He was both the lord¡¯s close aide and adjutant who would lead the troops in his lord¡¯s stead when necessary. He was probably the vige chief of one of the viges under the bar¡¯s control. Seeing as how they had gathered dozens of soldiers, they must¡¯ve noticed our approach a while ago. I guess this means the lord has fairly decent control over his territory. The soldiers weren¡¯t holding farming tools but proper spears and bows. ¡°Thisnd is ruled by Bar Bercy that was bestowed upon him by His Majesty the Emperor! Identify yourselves!¡± ¡°I am Jack Bonhomme of the Greenbeards. I am the leader of the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade.¡± Jacquerie went to the front of the group with his horse and took out a scroll. ¡°We have been traveling on the Empire Road after receiving Her Highness the Empress Dowager¡¯s draft. We wish to stay in yournd for a night. I hope that you do not disregard Her Highness the Empress Dowager¡¯s will.¡± The attendant walked out to us. He received the scroll from Jacquerie and delivered it to the bar. Bar Bercy took off his helmet and slowly read the scroll. He was a man with bright blonde hair. Bar Bercy nodded his head once and spoke. ¡°We definitely received orders from the capital to provide mercenary groups with ease of passage.¡± Was he around thirty years old? His voice had a perfectly bnced weight to it. He was clearly ustomed to the ways of nobility. If he¡¯s a bar with his ownnd, then he was superior to amon knight. ¡°The Double Ax Mercenary Brigade was also definitely among the listed names. However, Mercenary Leader Jack Bonhomme, I have no interest in the pointless political battle that has been urring. I have no reason to abide by this order from the capital, especially when it is from someone that is not His Majesty the Emperor.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I whistled quietly. His tone was definitely fierce. He was either that capable on his own or he was being supported by a powerful noble. Well, he was in charge of a center point of the Empire Road. There was no way that he wouldn¡¯t be capable¡­¡­. Jacquerie responded bluntly. ¡°I do not care about your situation. We are moving in ordance with Her Highness the Empress Dowager¡¯s order, so you simply have to decide whether to amodate us or not. Of course, Her Highness the Empress Dowager will show great interest in Your Excellency¡¯s decision here.¡± It was quite obviously a threat. Nheless, Bar Bercy didn¡¯t back down at all. ¡°I will be honest. This territory does not have the leisure to give amodation and food to almost fifty soldiers. You are nothing more than unweed guests.¡± ¡°You really are honest.¡± Jacquerie let out a chuckle. The lord turned out to be an interesting gentleman. ¡°Then what will you do? Will you chase us away like this? You should fear the anger from the capital.¡± ¡°Of course I am afraid. However, do not feign indifference, Mercenary Leader. Frankia has two suns. Our decision here will not influence the capital¡¯s temperament.¡± In other words, he was saying that he didn¡¯t want to be a part of the Emperor¡¯s or the Empress Dowager¡¯s side. ¡°I will allow you to set up camp in front of this vige. We will also provide you with warm soup. However, I cannot allow you to step foot in this vige. Please understand our situation, Mercenary Leader.¡± ¡°There is no situation that cannot be understood, Your Excellency.¡± Jacquerie smiled. This was where the negotiation was going to begin. The desires of both parties have been put forward. Now we only had to persuade them somehow. ¡°We have already slept outside for the past few days now. Our muscles are sore and our hips hurt. I believe that Your Excellency must understand our desire to rest our constantly alert bodies somewhere warm.¡± ¡°What do I have to gain by understanding your situation?¡± ¡°Our group is also delivering a small amount of ck herbs.¡± This was the truth. The ck Death was still circting around the continent. It would be the end of an army if the gue happened to infect even a single soldier. That was why we had a reasonable amount of ck herbs in our carriage. ¡°Hm.¡± Bar Bercy folded his arms and tapped his right foot on the ground. ¡°That is a tempting offer. My territory is in need of ck herbs. If you are able to provide us with a certain amount of ck herbs, then we could include some chicken in the soup. However, the earnings and expenses will not match if we also incur His Highness the Emperor¡¯s wrath. Could something be done about this?¡± ¡°This individual here is not a mercenary but a priest from the Temple of Artemis.¡± Jacquerie gestured to me. I had put on a ck robe a few hours ago. This was the disguise that Jeremi had prepared for me. There was nothing funnier than a Demon Lord like me bing the priest of some temple. I enjoyed these kinds of funny situations. I gave the lord a nod. ¡°He is on a pilgrimage tofort the pitiful souls during these difficult times.¡± ¡°Therefore, we would not be providing amodation for mercenaries but a pilgrimage group?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°Mm¡­¡­.¡± Bar Bercy nced at me. ¡°Splendid.¡± He spread his arms out. ¡°O Priest of Artemis! And sacred warriors who are protecting him! We wee you!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t really have anything in particr to say about the chapter this time. I already ranted in thest few. On apletely different note, I¡¯ve been ying the new PSO2 NGS that came out. It¡¯s been pretty fun as long as you can ignore the frequent server issues, but that¡¯s to be expected with big releases like this. It¡¯s rather annoying that SEGA decided topletely destroy the market in PSO2 before NGS came out, so most outfits and emotes cost hundreds of millions of meseta. A big mood. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 170: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (7) Chapter 170: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (7) We entered Pometra, a vige in Bar Bercy¡¯s territory within the region of Lorraine. ¡°Please distribute these to the soldiers.¡± Bar Bercy gave us a genuinely warm wee. He wasn¡¯t the type of person to lie. The bar caringly wrote a billet directive for us which was basicallyparable to a free admission pass. If a soldier were to follow the directive and go to a house, then the house owner would have to take the soldier in for the night. This was a natural duty thatmoners had to fulfill for their lords. Be it soldiers from their own nation or a foreign power, amodations were handled like this. However, like all tasks, providing amodations wasn¡¯t exactly a weed task. A stranger would be staying in the same house one¡¯s wife and daughter were also staying in. This would cause an incredible amount of stress. There was nothing more bothersome than having to provide a free meal and amodation for rough-looking soldiers. Adding to this, a majority of our group are dwarves and elves¡­¡­ in other words, we couldn¡¯t possibly be more foreign to the vigers than this. They will still obey their lord¡¯s order, but they will definitely be frustrated. Nheless, do not worry, my mercenaries and assassins. I took out a pouch from my pocket as I spoke to Bar Bercy. ¡°Pardon me, Bar, but do you have silver and copper coins? ¡°Hm? I am sorry, but I do not understand your question.¡± ¡°This is 100 libra. If you can exchange this for copper coins, I wish to distribute those coins among the guards of my pilgrimage group.¡± Bar Bercy paused while in the middle of writing a billet directive for us. ¡°¡­¡­100 libra? Wait one moment. We do not have enough copper coins to cover such arge sum.¡± ¡°If you cannot exchange an equal amount in coins, then the equivalent amount but in trading goods for the remaining sum is also all right. Whether it be wheat, a bit of meat, or vegetables. It would probably be good for both us and your vige people if we are able to take with us the ingredients to make stew instead of going empty-handed.¡± I handed the pouch to the bar¡¯s attendant. The attendant looked in the pouch. ¡°Whoa.¡± The arms of the attendant who seemed to be in his mid-twenties trembled. He gave a nod to his lord. ¡°I-I am not sure if there is exactly 100 libra in here¡­¡­b-but there is definitely a lot of gold coins. It is my first time seeing so much hard currency, my lord.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Bar Bercy¡¯s expression changed. He couldn¡¯t check the pouch himself because he wanted to keep face, so he looked like he was on the verge of losing hisposure. That¡¯s right. If we offer him money in exchange for the goods instead of receiving everything for free, then that changes everything. Bar Bercy was looking at us as guests until now, but his eyes suddenly changed to that of a gambler who was staring down a golden opportunity. Being able to receive 100 gold coins for letting people stay for only a single night could be seen as nothing but a golden opportunity. ¡°Attendant, take ten or so young men with you and head to the main city. I will allow you to take two carriages. Buy as much wheat, meat, and vegetables as you can. I will give you a quarter of a day to do this.¡± ¡°A-A quarter of a day?¡± The main city was referring to the capital within thend managed by the bar. It was probably the biggest vige or city in this area. ¡°Your Lordship, that is a bit¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will lend you my personal warhorses. Know that there will be dire consequences if any of them return injured.¡± ¡°Eh! Understood!¡± The attendant ran out in a hurry. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t have to go around and knock on a bunch of doors in order to gather the soldiers. There were still about forty soldiers gathered in the town square. Once he shouted something at them in the square, the soldiers let out a cheer toward our direction. ¡°It seems I misjudged your group. You are not unweed guests but people who bring great fortune. Please forgive my rudeness.¡± Bar Bercy¡¯s tone had changedpletely. He was speaking formally to me even though I looked younger than him by many years. He probably believed that I was not a normal priest. But to change his way of speechpletely without even batting a single eyelid¡­¡­he has quite the nerve. I smiled widely. ¡°I may have once possessed blue blood, but I have already reached enlightenment. As someone who has resolved himself to stand underneath the Goddess, I humble myself before all people. Please feel free to speakfortably with me.¡± ¡°If that is what you wish.¡± Oh? Would you look at him? He went back to his usual tone without any hesitation either. Blue blood meant that I was part of a noble lineage. He was dropping all formalities even though I had told him that I had a noble background. I was starting to like the man before me even more. Bar Bercy must¡¯ve definitely been handsome during his youth, and thanks to his effort of treading through hardships wisely, he had matured firmly like a tree. A hundred gold had just gone before his eyes and he had already regained hisposure. The Bar was clearly poor. Despite this, was this what you would refer to as the dignity of a lord? The feeling of stability and dignity were both naturally wrapped around his body. I have no proof of this, but his household probably has a long history. He definitely didn¡¯t ascend into nobility abruptly. An amicable air flowed between the people on the bar¡¯s side and our side. As I expected, money was always a useful tool when trying to smooth things over. ¡°So you are from the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade? You are surprisingly gentlemanly.¡± ¡°We are not a mercenary brigade. We are simply pilgrims who have wandered here for the sake of the Goddess.¡± ¡°Pardon me. I misspoke.¡± We sat in a corner of the square and shared pleasant conversations with the vigers. It was midday. It would only be cold if we went indoors now, so it was better to enjoy the warm sunlight outside. I¡¯m not sure where they had brought it out from, but arge, wooden table was ced in the center of the square. People from the lord¡¯s side and the leading members of our group were seated at that table. ¡°Your bodies must be stiff after traveling such a long distance. It may not be much, but I do hope you enjoy yourselves.¡± Bowls of soup were provided straight from arge pot. It must have just been made as the stew was thick. They didn¡¯t have any white bread, but bread that was sufficiently soft enough was piled up like a small hill. Our group ate the bread and stew heartily. Adding to this, a warm honey wine was also passed around. This was definitely enough to be a banquet. An unseasonable festival was held. Bar Bercy provided free bread and soup for his vige people as well. The elderly and children who had remained indoors gathered at the square as well. The younger people took off their armor and started chatting away as they shared sses of beer. ¡°Drink! Drink! Drink!¡± ¡°Uhahaha! I shall show you the magnificence of Greenbeard dwarves!¡± There was no better ce for outsiders to mix in with others than a festival. The mercenaries quickly mingled with the vigers. People cheered loudly and apetition to see who was the best drinker soon began. Dwarves were people who may run away in battle, but never did when it came to alcohol. The vige became heated underneath the warm winter sun. ¡°Thank you. We were able to end the winter pleasantly thanks to you.¡± Bar Bercy drank his wine. His voice sounded a bit more rxed thanks to the alcohol. He was giving off a rather gloomy air. ¡°Ournd may be small, but it is rich. The ruling household has never changed in the past 200 years. We had prepared enough provisions beforehand to endure the famine. Despite this, we could not prevent people from dying of starvation¡­¡­.¡± ¡°These are rough times.¡± I paid a silent tribute. Once I, as a priest, paid a silent tribute, the other people seated at the table did the same. It almost felt like I had be a leader. Huh? This is surprisingly fun. I should make use of this more often. Being a priest wasn¡¯t just a boring job, huh? ¡°I tried to prevent as many deaths as possible, but seven people died in this vige alone. If you include the people who were lost due to the ck Death this year, then it would be about 23 people. Do you believe it? 23 people died in a single year. We did not lose this many people in the previous battle. That is right, this much is¡­¡­.¡± Bar Bercy shook his head. It felt like he was shaking off the exhaustion that was matting down his blonde hair. He was worried about his people and he did his best to prevent losses. He was in anguish for the unavoidable losses that were incurred. He was even willing to receive political pressure by preventing our group from entering the vige. Well, the assets of the vige were by proxy Bercy¡¯s assets as the territory lord. It was probably a lord¡¯s duty to protect their assets at all costs. In terms of protecting his assets, Bar Bercy was exceptional. There were many people in the world who couldn¡¯t even protect their assets, after all. ¡°To be honest, the atmosphere in the vige was the worst¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Pardon me, but you mentioned a previous battle. Was there a war nearby?¡± ording to the way the Bar spoke, a battle happened not too long ago. If there was a recent battle, then it could have been a conflict between royalists and republicans. I can¡¯t let this information slide. However, what the Bar told us was a lot more realistic. ¡°Indeed. A bunch of bandits had taken up arms nearby. It happened only four months ago.¡± ¡°Bandits¡­¡­.¡± ¡°ording to early reports, it was a group of about twenty bandits. I intended to work together with the other lords nearby to subjugate them; however, when the battlemenced, it turned out that they had fifty people and not twenty. Can you imagine it? A group of fifty bandits had settled down in this small region.¡± Bar Bercy pressed his finger against his temple. ¡°I found outter that there were also farmers among them. Those damned gentlemen next door could not manage their own people properly. Their people could not endure their hunger any longer and became bandits.¡± Bar Bercy¡¯s tone became fierce for the first time. The Bar was probably the only lord in the area that did his job properly. Although it felt a little excessive from my perspective. The Bar managed a portion of the Empire Road. He basically had his foot in Frankia¡¯smerce supply line. The lodging fee paid by merchant groups alone was enough to put his territory on apletely different level than other regions. There was an extremely few numbers of territories that could bask in such fortune¡­¡­. Territories that were capable of enduring both a gue and a famine were almost nonexistent. The Bar¡¯sint was a bit irrational. Well, I do understand his frustration since he had lost his precious people to a group of bandits that had formed irrationally. ¡°The situation is the same everywhere. There were numerous lords who had to enter military service because of the ursed Crescent Alliance. A gue, a famine, and a great war, there has only been bad news after bad news recently.¡± Ah, I¡¯m the one who caused that. Sorry. On another note, the wine tasted great. Mm. It might be because of all the honey that was added, but it had a deep vor. How splendid¡­¡­. Did they have a good grape orchard nearby? I should buy someter. Most of the wine in Habsburg tasted like expired vinegar, so they were never worth drinking. I¡¯m not expecting something on the same level of the Year 505 Baler Wine that I gave to Barbatos, but, at the very least, I wanted a wine that I didn¡¯t have to dilute heavily with water¡­¡­. I¡¯m a Demon Lord, so I don¡¯t need that much sleep or food. I would be satisfied with a wine that could satisfy my tongue. Mhm. This is great. It still tastes good after the first sip¡­¡­. Jeremi was smiling brightly next to me for some reason. She knows theplete truth about the Crescent Alliance. She was probably itching to tell the Bar that ¡®this person right here was the very culprit behind that ursed Crescent Alliance¡¯. Keep quiet, Jeremi. It would only trouble the Bar if he were told something like that. Etiquette is something that exists in the world. Quietly letting this pass would be the most courteous thing you could do for the other party. You need to learn how to be considerate. Learn from my example. The Bar didn¡¯t notice us exchange nces as he raised his voice. ¡°Now the people up above are trying to start a civil war. Such absurdity. Do you understand why I said I did not care about both the royalists and the republicans?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Yup, I understand very well that the people from every area except for here are on the verge of bursting. I will continue to work hard as the Rank 71 Demon Lord. I moistened my throat with the wine and smiled gently. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hm, I don¡¯t really have much toment about this chapter. It really is just a continuation of thest one with Dantalian scheming. I will admit that I¡¯ve been taking a liking to Jeremi more. Maybe she really will be a core member to Dantalian¡¯s group. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 171: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (8) Chapter 171: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (8) A moment of silence fell over us. The Bar seemed to have fallen into deep thought. He was most likely thinking about how the civil war was going to ruin Frankia and how that was going to affect his territory once they end up getting involved. The vige was currently in a festive mood, and yet, this mood made the Bar feel even more uneasy. How long was this peace going tost¡­¡­? On the other hand, I was just thinking about how nice the soup tasted. Mm, there was chicken in this, so it was probably chicken soup. And yet, there were also all sorts of vegetables floating around. The ratio of chicken to vegetable was very disproportionate. Would it be all right to call something like this chicken soup? This was the true problem¡­¡­. ¡°I am able to have a brief moment of respite thanks to you all. If winter were to have ended normally, then the mood within the vige would have been utterly gloomy.¡± ¡°It would only please me greatly if our pilgrimage was of any help to you.¡± Why was this soup named after the meat¡­¡­? In order to figure this out, I had another spoonful of the soup. It¡¯s good. All right, let¡¯s just call this tasty soup. ¡°Thanks to your arrival, my people will be able to meet spring with lighter hearts. We are greatly fortunate. I give you my thanks.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it.¡± I¡¯m not insincere. I was contemting more seriously than the bar. I was trying to go against the prejudice of man and protect the rights and interests of vegetables. The fate of Frankia didn¡¯t even remotely matter. This was the difference between a bar and a Demon Lord. Hm, should I try dipping a piece of bread into the soup? ¡°There is something I wish to request of your group.¡± ¡°As long as it is within our power.¡± Why does this guy keep talking to me? I¡¯m currently mulling over the discrimination between vegetables and meat through the soup in front of me. Do not interfere. ¡°Strangely, goblins have begun to run amuck sincest year. Monsters rarely ever appeared in this area. This is because there is a Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°Monsters tend to not stray far from Demon Lord Castles, after all.¡± There is a bunch of mana concentrated at Demon Lord Castles. Therefore, Demon Lord Castles were like bowls of chicken soup to monsters that live off of mana. They obviously wouldn¡¯t want to leave it. ¡°That is right. However, monsters have suddenly started to appear. The Demon Lord here most likely started to act in ordance to the Crescent Alliance.¡± Bar Bercy brought up an interesting theory. In other words, while the Crescent Alliance was fighting the humans on the frontline, the Demon Lords who had already taken up positions within the continent were attacking from the rear. He was iming that that was what the Demon Lord nearby was doing. Sorry, but that¡¯s wrong. The monsters have been running amuck because their chicken soup was gone. Their anger was understandable. I had a certain conversation with someone before. ¨C Where is your Demon Lord Castle? ¨C It¡¯s in the Frankish Empire. Lorraine province¡­¡­Raelleria mountainside. ¨C Excellent. What are the names of the viges near your castle? ¨C Pometra and Kampanyl¡­¡­ Lorraine province, Bar Bercy, and the vige of Pometra. This was thend that the Rank 72 Demon Lord¨DAndromalius once resided in. The humans still don¡¯t know that Andromalius had died. The goblins were rampaging because the mana around the Demon Lord Castle vanished after the Demon Lord¡¯s death. Andromalius died in the demon world, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that the Bar wasn¡¯t aware of his death. Andromalius had shoved a bunch of goblins inside a mine and made them work all day to sustain his gambling funds. Those goblins had probably poured out of the dungeon. I thought to myself as I wiped my mouth with a napkin. ¡®In Dungeon Attack, the protagonist¡¯s vige gets burned down by goblins. I should first confirm whether the hero¡¯s vige is safe or not¡­¡­.¡¯ A Quest Breaker notification didn¡¯t appear when I killed Andromalius. At the time, I didn¡¯t know that Demon Lords could destroy quests. I felt relieved until Iter found out that I could break quests. At that point, a single question had been stuck in my head. Why didn¡¯t a notification telling me that I broke the hero¡¯s quest appear? The reason why the protagonist bes the hero was because of Demon Lord Andromalius. The protagonist starts to harbor a deep hatred toward Demon Lords once Andromalius destroys his vige mercilessly. The protagonist should no longer have any reason to be the hero since Andromalius was no longer in the picture. ¡®And yet, the quest wasn¡¯t broken.¡¯ Was the protagonist fated to be the hero regardless of whether Andromalius disappeared or not? Or was it possible for anyone to progress down the hero questline even if they aren¡¯t the protagonist¡­¡­? There were all sorts of probabilities. No matter what the answer was, there was only one thing I had to do. I had to root out the sprout destined to be the hero. I was working together with the Liberation Alliance and had set our course in this direction for this purpose. It wasn¡¯t a coincidence that we arrived in Bar Bercy¡¯snd. In this current situation where both the Demon Lord army and the human forces were bing weaker, the human fated to be the hero was now the biggest threat to my future safety. I have to get rid of them at all costs. ¡°Very well, then. We will suppress the goblin tribes. This is probably the Goddess¡¯ will.¡± I took away the aftertaste of the soup with some wine. ¡°However, please provide us with a guide who knows the terrain well. There must be bandit groups and sh-and-burn viges around the foot of the mountain. We might end up getting into an unintentional fight.¡± My countenance was being reflected off the bloody red liquid that was contained within my ss. The face that was being reflected off of the wine was truly that of an earnest priest with a gentle smile. * * * We had a good night¡¯s rest. The lord¡¯s attendant had bought a bunch of food from the main city, so the festival continuedte into the night. The dwarven mercenaries led the festival. Thanks to this, instead of being reluctant to abide by the amodation directive, every one of them insisted that we should stay the night at their ce. At noon, we received cheers from the vigers as if we were some civilian militia that was going out on an expedition. The two people who were assigned to us as guides were middle-aged hunters and they had aprehensive map of the area in their heads. ¡°sh-and-burn viges? Well, there is one.¡± ¡°They probably arrived from another country, but they would fight the monsters in the area on their own, so our lord left them alone.¡± That was definitely the ce. I split our group into two. I made Jacquerie take his mercenaries and head to the goblin-infested area. On the other hand, I made Jeremi and the assassins follow me. When Jacquerie asked me why I was splitting the group up, I told him this: ¡°Our departure was dyed because you guys slept in. There may only be about 20 goblins in a tribe, but if we move together, we would at most only be able to subjugate one tribe in a day. That is inefficient.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Jacquerie nodded. ¡°We did receive a lot of support from the vigers, so we should repay them in kind.¡± ¡°Our credibility is on the line here. We have to work hard in order to get hired by other lords in the future. Coordinating with the other Demon Lords in order to deceive the humans is something that willeter. For now, we must work earnestly.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± That was half a lie and half the truth. I intended to cooperate with the Demon Lords within the continent to raze down certain areas. However, this wasn¡¯t something we could do right from the start. We have to be patient until the lords trust our mercenary brigade greatly. Subjugating goblins was an easy task that was also perfect for gaining credibility. On the other hand, I didn¡¯t trust Jacquerie fully yet. Jacquerie was a passionate republican. He moved ording to his ideology and beliefs. If I were to tell them that I intended to wipe out a sh-and-burn vige without a good reason, then he would immediately refute me. There was no way he would understand if I told him that the sh-and-burn vige contains a man who was one day going to be the hero. In this regard, it was convenient to use Jeremi and her assassins. Assassins were used to killing people without any reason. It was their duty to carry out their tasks without asking any questions if their employer gave them an order. Sure enough, when I told Jeremi that we had to erase a sh-and-burn vige from the map, she nodded. ¡°I believe that Your Highness has thought this through.¡± Jeremi responded with a smile. That was it. She was undoubtedly a trustworthy subordinate. We followed the guide for about 3 hours before we eventually caught sight of the sh-and-burn vige from between the foliage. Pirs of smoke were rising up from their campfires. People wearing shabby clothes were walking slowly between tent-like homes. ¡°Jeremi, you will be annihting the target in front of us.¡± I lowered my voice and gave her the order. Jeremi turned to nce at the vige. ¡°This will be simple. At most, they have about thirty people, ten of which are young men. I can deal with them all within 5 minutes.¡± She replied with a smile still on her lips. I still couldn¡¯t feel any particr emotion from her despite her expression. She probably wouldn¡¯t leak out any killing intent even as she¡¯s stabbing someone in the neck. ¡°There may be people who are currently not present in the vige.¡± The protagonist also happened to be outside the vige when Demon Lord Andromalius attacked the sh-and-burn vige when he was little. That was how he survived the attack. There was no way for me to know that that wouldn¡¯t happen this time as well. ¡°I wish for the annihtion of every inhabitant of this vige.¡± ¡°Then what should we do? Should we wait until the evening?¡± ¡°No, I have a good idea.¡± I took out a magic scroll. It was the same mid-tier teleportation scroll that had provided me with ample opportunities. ¡°I n to summon my golems with this.¡± ¡°You are going to attack the vige with the golems and make us go around and take care of the possible survivors?¡± ¡°It is nice that you understand quickly.¡± Jeremi smiled. ¡°This is my expertise, after all.¡± ¡°Keep in mind that overconfidence can be dangerous. There is a monster hiding among the enemy that is one day going to conquer the continent. It is a boy. If you discover him, then do not approach him carelessly and report to me first. Do you understand? Do not confront him.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The light in Jeremi¡¯s eyes changed. Her gaze changed from that of a hunter going after small game, to a hyena that was hunting a lion. She didn¡¯t talk about how a boy could possibly do anything. She trusted my words fully and changed her attitude ordingly. ¡°Understood.¡± Including Jeremi, twenty assassins disappeared without a sound. When I turned around, I saw our guide unconscious and on the ground. There was no one around me. As expected of the strongest assassin group in the demon world. I took in a deep breath. The hero. He went from being a sh-and-burn viger to a mercenary, to catching the Imperial Princess¡¯ eyes and gaining military power, to eventually annihting the Empire of Frankia and the Kingdom of Brittany, and to ughtering all 72 Demon Lords¡­¡­. A monster among monsters. In the past, I controlled him as the yer, so I know better than anyone else how powerful he is. I was going to kill him now. I, who used to be the hero, was going to kill him now as a Demon Lord. All of this was for the sake of my survival. ¡°Arcessitus.¡± A white light burst out as soon as I tore the scroll. Large stone soldiers descended upon a dark mountainside. I pointed at the shabby vige for my subordinates who were now used to being summoned. ¨C Kruaaaaaaaah! The hunt has begun. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder what leads from Dant nning to kill the hero to ¡®rescuing¡¯ himter like we got to see in a very early chapter. Well, I actually do know because of the early release chapter, but you know. I gotta act like I don¡¯t and get you guys interested as well. Heh. Welp, I hope you guys have a great day and see you in the next chapter. Chapter 172: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (9) Chapter 172: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (9) The golems let out a roar as they advanced. The trees cracked loudly as they were pushed aside ruthlessly. The fairies flew behind them. The golems and fairies had marched together many times now. They had all reached their max level of 10 as the lowest-tier monsters. Their stats were also increased nicely thanks to Laura raising them personally. I could leave the battle to them with an easy mind. I simply had to watch them from behind. On a side note, I ordered them to not murder humans if possible. It was fine if they just incapacitated them. If the boy who was going to be the hero turned out to be missing, then we would have to ask the sh-and-burn vigers about his whereabouts. There was no way that sh-and-burn vigers would be able to retaliate properly when abruptly hit by a surprise attack. They would have no choice but to quit fighting back once their limbs were broken. However, if they still refuse to give up, then we¡¯ll behead them. That was all there was to it. ¡°Hoo.¡± I strangely felt tired. I sat down on a boulder nearby. The sound of screaming broke out from the vige. I could hear the sounds of screaming children and women as well. I still have some sympathy left inside of me. It was like an unnecessary piece of fat attached to my emotions. I had to let this damned luxurious emotion go through my chest for a while. It was only for an instant anyway. I looked down at the ground and pushed a rock around with my foot. This will all be over in an instant. ¡°Your Highness, we are here to give a ¡®battle¡¯ report.¡± Shortly after, Jeremi jumped down from above. Shended gracefully. Had she been jumping through the trees? She barely made any sound as shended. ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°There was a total of thirty-four people in the vige. Three of them died while trying to fight back, and five of them were taken out because they tried to escape. The remaining twenty-six people have been greatly injured and taken as prisoners.¡± No human got away. The boy who was going to be the hero was either in the vige or was already outside the vige before the battle started. I personally hoped that it was the former. ¡°Good work. Do not lower your guard. Jeremi, you will be following me.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I took out a mask from my bag and put it over my face. There was a chance that the hero might get away. I can¡¯t let the hero see my real face in case that were to happen. I told Jeremi to not lower her guard and the same applied to me as well. I walked into the vige. The golems had destroyed the tents which resulted in the vige naturally bing an open field. There were dozens of humans trembling in fear on the ground. There was even a woman who was bleeding from the face. There was crying¡­¡­. Did they also have a newborn baby? They did a good job getting through the rough winter. This meant that these vigers were genial. Their bond was so firm that they didn¡¯t abandon young children or the elderly. Well, different from themoners that live in this territory, sh-and-burn vigers are able to get firewood whenever they want. They made full use of this, huh¡­¡­? I held my back up straight as I stood there. The humans looked at me with fear in their eyes. Even though I looked almost identical to them, they didn¡¯t thoughtlessly be hostile to me or think of me favorably. They probably figured out that I wasn¡¯t a normal person since I had arrived with the monsters. ¡°I am the master of all demons, Rank 72 Demon Lord Andromalius.¡± One of the humans let out a shriek. The shriek was cut off mid-way, so the person next to them must have urgently covered the person¡¯s mouth. That was wise of them. It was best to not make a ruckus in a situation like this. ¡°Put aside your questions like why I am threatening you and why I decided to attack you. From this point forth, you are not allowed to ask any questions and must only give me answers.¡± ¡°O-O Greater Being, please grant us mercy.¡± The man at the front spoke up. I nced at Jeremi. Jeremi pulled out a dagger from somewhere and¨Dwith a speed that could barely be seen with the naked eye¨Dshe tossed it. The dagger stabbed directly into the man¡¯s throat. The man couldn¡¯t even let out a death throe. He grabbed his neck and fell over. ¡°Kyaaaah!¡± ¡°Vige Chief!¡± That man just now was apparently the vige chief. Since he had managed to lead a sh-and-burn vige of this size, he must have definitely been a capable man. I folded my arms and waited for them to settle down. They calmed down surprisingly fast. Their fear was practically taking a physical form around them. ¡°This is my final warning. I will not allow you to ask any questions. You are tasked with only giving me answers. If you are not able to give me a proper answer, then I will kill another person as an example each time.¡± I took out a wooden ball from my pocket and held it in my hand. This was a habit of mine that I would do whenever I wanted topose myself. I recalled my goal as I proceeded to speak in a calm tone. ¡°Is there a boy named Luke here?¡± Luke. This was the name that was automatically given to the protagonist in the game. As long as the yer doesn¡¯t go out of their way to change his name, his name would get set to Luke by default. However, none of the vigers responded. I was only met with silence. ¡°Hm¡­¡­.¡± How should I interpret this? Does Luke not exist in this vige? Did I perhaps choose the wrong vige? Or was the protagonist¡¯s name set to something other than Luke? Or were the vigers feigning ignorance despite knowing who I was referring to? I spoke up. ¡°Maria¡¯s husband Pierre and Pierre¡¯s wife Maria.¡± A few people flinched. The corners of my mouth twitched. I got you. Pierre and Maria were the protagonist¡¯s parents. Is that it? Does this vige have a stronger bond than I imagined, huh? They were covering for each other even with death before their eyes. Should I praise them for being impressive or mock them for their foolishness? ¡°To think you would dare to ignore my order, you all have quite the nerve.¡± The vigers trembled more intensely. ¡°I am truly in awe by your camaraderie. Very well, then. It is fine if you do not tell me who Luke is. In order to show you my respect, I will ughter everyst child in this vige.¡± ¡°Luke went to go y at the stream!¡± A certain man shouted. ¡°Wurtz!¡± ¡°How could you sell out a fellow viger!? Are you insane!?¡± ¡°How could you betray us!?¡± All of the vigers condemned the man indiscriminately. There was a big uproar for a moment. The vigers who were trembling in fear were now shaking with anger. The man protested with a shaky voice. ¡°I am sorry¡­¡­but we cannot sacrifice all of our children!¡± ¡°You bastard, have you already forgotten that Pierre lent you some ryest year!? How could you repay good with evil!? Dear Lord! Please smite this man!¡± ¡°Sorry, I really am sorry¡­¡­I¡¯ll repay this sin with my life¡­¡­.¡± The humans continued to mor for a while. However, it wasn¡¯t long before they all closed their mouths one by one. They had just noticed that I had been watching them in utter silence. I muttered with an impassive look on my face. ¡°I now understand why the other Demon Lords are unable to trust humans. To think it would feel this ufortable to be unable to read emotions.¡± After myment, Jeremi responded with a smile. ¡°Should we kill them all, Your Highness?¡± ¡°No, let us show them some generosity.¡± The anger in their faces disappeared and was soon reced with fear once again. Their lives had almost ended at that moment. I hope that they realize that it would be a simple task to kill them all here. ¡°Do you have a smoke?¡± ¡°I do¡­¡­but what I have is rather noxious. It is highly addictive.¡± Tsk, a drug, huh? There was a time I tried marijuana in the past. It really didn¡¯t fit my body. I¡¯m not sure how the drugs in this world are like, but I doubt a skilled assassin like Jeremi would give out something weaker than marijuana. ¡°Next time, carry around a pipe exclusive to me.¡± ¡°I apologize for being unable to meet your expectations. Hehe, my body has built up such a strong immunity that I require drugs of this caliber to affect my body¡­¡­.¡± The vigers remained dead silent while Jeremi and I were conversing. They managed to learn how to be quiet. ¡°Wurtz.¡± The man panicked as he looked up at me before dropping his head again. ¡°Y-Y¡­¡­Yes!?¡± ¡°Did Luke go on his own?¡± ¡°Y-Yes, O Great Being. He went to the stream alone.¡± It was better to single a person out when asking a question in a situation like this if I wanted answers. That was why I singled out the snitch. ¡°When will the child return?¡± ¡°M-My¡­¡­apologies.¡± So he doesn¡¯t know that much. ¡°If Pierre and Maria are here, present yourselves to me.¡± Among the humans, a man and a woman staggered as they stood up. The man¡¯s right arm and legs were greatly injured. This was proof that he resisted intensely against a golem. They barely managed to step forward as the woman supported the man. They bowed before me as courteously as possible. Hm. ¡°I praise you both for not even flinching when the name of your precious child was mentioned.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The sh-and-burn couple remained silent while bowing to me. They remembered that they were only supposed to respond when I asked them a question. In the game, these two people cherished their son Luke greatly. They remained calm even though their beloved son was in danger. No, a majority of the vigers here were calm. Even though their neighbors had died to my golems¡­¡­. Looking to the side, I could see a woman desperately trying to soothe a newborn baby. She was most likely aware of what kind of misfortune would fall over them if the baby were to cry. They may have tried to feign ignorance to my question, but that was for the sake of not betraying the trust of their neighbors. This was a world where betrayal happened almost as naturally as people breathed. It would only be right for these vigers to be praised for their sincerity. They have not done anything wrong¡­¡­. ¡°Hoo.¡± I let out a sigh. It seems the people before had ¡®value¡¯ in their lives. It was the same for Jack nd. At the very least, they had the right to know why they had to die. My bad habit, in other words, my habit of being merciful to people whom I had taken a liking to had pushed its way into my head again. ¡°Pierre, Maria, and the rest of you humans who live by burning the forest, I will now tell you why you must die and why the boy named Luke must also die.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The woman¡¯s shoulders trembled once I mentioned Luke¡¯s name again. She didn¡¯t speak up or cry. She was a strong person. Come to think of it, this was the woman who gave birth to the hero¡­¡­. ¡°A prophecy has been told. The most renowned shaman in the demon world was the one who received this prophecy. The Goddesses forewarned that a decade from now, a cold de will be stabbed into the hearts of Demon Lords one by one before they are eventually all gone.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The name of the human who will end the lives of us Demon Lords is Luke.¡± The vigers started to stir. ¡°There must be a countless number of Lukes throughout the continent, this thought must have surelye to your minds. However, this prophecy was precise to an unprecedented degree. In the Lorraine province near Laelia Mountain. Near the towns of Pometra and Campagne, that Luke will be born in a sh-and-burn vige with no name.¡± The couple that was prostrating at my feet started to shake visibly. They could no longer make any excuses. ¡°Therefore, I descended upon this vige in order to kill this boy named Luke. It is a misfortune that must be hard for you all the ept, so I will not make any more unnecessary remarks. For the sake of myself and the other Demon Lords, and going beyond this, the fate of demonkind, I must have you all die here today.¡± ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Someone shouted from among the humans. It was a young but ambitious voice. ¡°O Great Being, there is something I must inform Your Highness.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. So, you guys should probably know that I may have gotten a job recently. It isn¡¯t official yet since I have to still send them the sample text I worked on, but if they decide to hire me fully, then my trantion speed for DD will definitely slow down. I still don¡¯t know how my schedule will look like, but they said that I will probably be busy for a while. Either way, I¡¯ve been struggling with money recently since my family is nning to move, so this is a good thing for me. The donations I receive from you guys for early ess chapters definitely isn¡¯t small, but it isn¡¯trge enough to fully support a person¡¯s lifestyle either. Honestly, I¡¯m just hoping that I don¡¯t end up experiencing a repeat of what happenedst time with that egotistical old man. If that happens again, you guys can expect another rant post. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter! Please understand if the releases are slower from now on! Chapter 173: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (10) Chapter 173: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (10) A young kid had stood up in the middle of the group of humans who were seated. I turned to look at their face because they had spoken in an old-timey way of speech despite being a sh-and-burn viger. It was a girl. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Eyes that were as dark as obsidian were shimmering with life. Her gaze alone wasn¡¯t nearly enough to contain all of her life force as it stretched out on all sides like invisible branches. There was a certain type of air flowing around the girl that was different from the dry ticking of a clock. It felt like a melody that was influencing the time. I was caught in those ck eyes and could not move for a while. The girl raised her hand to her chest and bowed neatly to me as soon as we made eye contact. She was waiting for my response. In other words, a lot of time hadn¡¯t passed since our eyes met. ¡°Daisy!¡± The woman, the hero¡¯s mother who didn¡¯t flinch or weep all this time let out a shout. She raised her head and looked at the girl with despair. Her face was already covered in tears, so it was like adding a flood to a river. Although it would only be right to reprimand her for her discourtesy, I felt like a hammer had struck my head. Daisy, that was the name of the hero¡¯s little sister. The protagonist would constantly mutter ¡®Mom, Dad, Daisy¡¯ over and over again throughout the game whenever he anguished over his lost family. I was familiar with the name Daisy. Considering the reaction the woman had just given, this girl was undoubtedly the hero, Luke¡¯s little sister. If Daisy was simply Luke¡¯s little sister, then I wouldn¡¯t be panicking this much. There was another fact that was actually important. ¡®Daisy¡­¡­she bes the hero if the yer chooses to y a female character!¡± Simr to other games, Dungeon Attack lets you select the protagonist¡¯s gender as well. If you select a male character, then the little sister dies when the vige is invaded by monsters. If you select a female character, then it happens to the brother instead. I chose Luke. I didn¡¯t have a habit of selecting female characters when ying games. Thus, I naturally thought that this world would select Luke as the hero as well. Come to think of it, this was just a conclusion I had made arbitrarily. But why? ¡®ording to the scenario, one of them should be dead. Why were both Luke and Daisy alive¡­¡­ah.¡¯ I came to a realization. Andromalius¡¯ invasion event had disappeared because of me. Andromalius didn¡¯t lead his goblins to crush this sh-and-burn vige, so naturally, neither of the siblings perished. No, selecting a gender wasn¡¯t a procedure that happened within a game event. It was a setting that was selected before starting the game like inputting your character¡¯s name. Who would have thought that a setting-establishing procedure would be mirrored in this world¡­¡­. I felt a chill. ¡®Two heroes could¡¯ve appeared if I didn¡¯t visit this ce.¡¯ The hero was a monster who was capable of ughtering Demon Lords on their own. There were two of them. I had killed Andromalius in order to prevent the hero from being born, but it ended up making things even more dangerous. Without anyone knowing, the Demon Lord army had been put into a disastrous situation. Calm. Stay calm. There¡¯s nothing else that you can do except use your brain, Dantalian. Shovel coal into that rotten brain of yours. Think until steames out of your ears. Think of what you should do in this situation. ¡°Your demeanor is impressive for a child who was raised in such a secluded ce.¡± I managed to move my lips. ¡°Although I should punish you for opening your mouth when I did not ask a question¡­¡­.¡± The woman prostrating before me, the mother of two heroes was looking up at me. She was pleading for mercy with her tearful eyes. The fact that she didn¡¯t audibly beg for mercy made her an impressive human. ¡°This is an assumption, but I believe you are a blood rtive to the boy, Luke. You have the right to speak up about your family¡¯s demise, brat.¡± The mother was so moved that she was touching her head on the ground. It wasn¡¯t only once. Five, six times, the woman continued to pound her head on the ground. This was the best way she could show her gratitude since she wasn¡¯t allowed to speak. As expected, the father was also doing the same thing. ¡°Keep in mind that I am not so generous to give you multiple chances. I will only give you one opportunity to give a rebuttal. O child who was born and raised on a mountainside, are you prepared to shoulder this single chance?¡± ¡°Yes, O Great Being.¡± Daisy answered immediately with her head lowered. Her tone wasn¡¯t overflowing with confidence; however, she didn¡¯t sound servile either. Simr to when a vassal would swear their loyalty to their lord, the girl spoke in a refined manner. I couldn¡¯t picture her as a child who was around 10 years old. She was most likely an innate genius. As expected of someone who had the fate of the world on their shoulders. She was someone who was going to grow up to be a hero. So you¡¯re telling me that I shouldn¡¯t judge her by her outer appearance alone¡­¡­? I woke up all of the nerves in my entire body. I made the eyes of even the smallest molecules in my body open up to stare at the other party like my life was on the line. I was familiar with the male hero, Luke. However, I knew practically nothing about the female hero, Daisy. What kind of personality does she have? What about her habits? I had to figure this all out with an unprecedented amount of caution. ¡°Very well, then. I will allow you to speak. You will be granted the right to speak freely even when I have not asked a question. However, you must first answer my question.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Step forward.¡± Once Daisy raised her feet, the humans naturally opened a path for her. She walked down that opened path and stopped about six steps away from me before getting down on one knee. I felt a bit bewildered. Wasn¡¯t she the daughter of some sh-and-burn farmers? How was she used to performingmon courtesies? ¡°¡­¡­You imed that you wished to rely upon my magnanimity. With what proof do you believe that I would be magnanimous? If that was simply rhetoric, then I will punish you ordingly.¡± ¡°That is because Your Honor had already shown us clemency twice.¡± The girl responded. ¡°I showed clemency twice already? This is the first time I am hearing of this.¡± I intentionally let out an audibleugh. This was for the sake of applying psychological pressure. I didn¡¯t think I was being shameful even though I was only facing a child. Before being a child, the girl before me was a hero candidate. ¡°Yes, I truly am curious as to how magnanimous I must be when I have already killed several humans in this vige including the vige chief. Go on, tell me.¡± ¡°Understood. First, Your Honor did not send your forces to the stream even though you were told that Luke was there. Your Honor could have immediately sent your troops to capture Luke. This was Your Honor¡¯s first act of magnanimity.¡± I rolled the wooden ball in my palm. ¡°¡­¡­Tell me the second instance.¡± ¡°Yes. After not giving any orders, Your Honor ordered Luke¡¯s parents toe forward. After they came forward, Your Honor exined to them why their son had to die. Your Honor went out of your way to give humble people like us an exnation.¡± Daisy continued. ¡°Your Honor could have simply killed us. You have more than enough authority to have done so. Despite this, Your Honor had put your authority aside for a moment to give us an exnation, I can only refer to this as magnanimity.¡± ¡°How truly foolish of you. This still does not change the fact that I will be killing you all. Calling this magnanimity when only a couple of your questions were answered would be ridiculous.¡± Daisy bowed her head further. ¡°O Great Being, we are sh-and-burn vigers. We are a kind that is lower than ves and have been cursed by the heavens. We do not have the right to have questions nor do we have the right to have them answered. What Your Honor has granted us was undoubtedly magnanimous.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Honor has shown us another clemency besides allowing this one to speak.¡± There was one more? I felt ufortable because it felt like she was reading my mind. Iposed my emotions before speaking to her. ¡°What would that be?¡± ¡°Your Honor referred to me as ¡®you¡¯.¡± The girl¡¯s voice rang clearly throughout the area. ¡°Before allowing this one to speak, Your Honor called this one a brat, but Your Honor graciously referred to this one as ¡®you¡¯ afterward.¡± She was definitely looking toward the ground. ¡°O Great Being, even lords do not simply refer to their people as ¡®you¡¯ and there is not a single noble in the entire world that would say such a thing to ursed sh-and-burn vigers like us. Allowing this one to speak is not the only thing that Your Honor had allowed.¡± And yet, it felt like her utterly pure eyes were staring straight at me. ¡°Your Honor had acknowledged me as a single person.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am not the only one Your Honor had acknowledged. Your Honor had acknowledged the two people prostrating before you as a boy¡¯s mother and father and not as simply two sh-and-burn vigers. Your Honor had acknowledged the people behind me not as simply sh-and-burn vigers but as people who have the right to hear an exnation before their deaths.¡± I messed up. I had changed the way I spoke to her subconsciously. That was enough to fill the girl before me with certainty. Damn it. How pathetic of me. I had resolved myself to not lower my guard, but I had done so anyway. However, how could someone not be a person simply because they are a sh-and-burn viger? I couldn¡¯t deny this. I wasn¡¯t killing livestock. I was killing people. Everyone I had killed directly and indirectly were all people. This has been amon urrence throughout every battle. I didn¡¯t intend to deny this. This was why I epted that I was the worst piece of trash in the world. Even pieces of trash have their own sense of pride. ¡°Your Honor must currently be debating whether it would be okay to kill us like this or not.¡± A mere 10-year-old girl managed to see through me, huh? ¡°O Great Being. Therefore, I wish to rely upon your magnanimity. If the prophecy is only directed at Luke, then you do not have to kill us all. Please take the life of Luke alone.¡± Daisy also managed to fluster me. I thought that she would ask to spare her brother¡¯s life, but she requested for me to take only his life. Daisy continued once I stared at her impassively. ¡°However, please allow me to be the one to kill Luke.¡± Her parents¡¯ shoulders shook. That was how absurd her statement was. It was already immoral to ask for me to only kill her brother, but she was also pleading to let her be the one to do it. The other vigers seemed baffled as well as they stared at Daisy. She wasn¡¯t acting like the girl they had known all this time. She was most likely a child who followed her brother around constantly. That was how she was described in as well. Her words just now went against her usual personality and themon sense of this world. And yet, I knew why she was saying this. Be it the vigers, her parents, or anyone else, no one would understand. I was the only person here who knew exactly what she was saying. Daisy¡¯s upright tone was telling this to me. I asked a question with confidence. ¡°Let me ask you a question.¡± ¡°Ask me anything, O Great Being.¡± ¡°Killing your kin is thergest sin. Why do you wish to voluntarilymit this sin?¡± Daisy chuckled lightly. It was a self-deprecatingugh that didn¡¯t suit a 10-year-old child at all. ¡°It is because, O Great Being, there is a need for it to be eternally remembered that I was the piece of trash who caused her own brother to die.¡± ¨DAah. The girl before me was the same as me. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s Daisy time. I feel sad that I constantly got spoiled about the existence of this characters from time to time, hopefully she lives up to all the hype around her. On another note, my job hasn¡¯t immediately started yet. Thepany is still setting up their schedule and stuff like that so they said they¡¯ll get back to me within the week. In other words, I don¡¯t know how much work I¡¯ll be getting yet. If my upload bes slow, then you know why. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 174: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (11) Chapter 174: The World a Demon Lord Only Knows (11) ¡°¡­¡­Your head.¡± I choked on my words. It wasn¡¯t the words of an actor who had ten different roles on a stage and was calcting everything. My emotions were swelling up. ¡°Raise your head.¡± She did as I told her. Pure ck eyes stared back at me. ¡°I ask you this. Why do you wish to make yourself an eternal piece of trash?¡± ¡°O Great Being, that is because I cherish myself to an insane degree.¡± Her lips curved slightly. ¡°I cherish myself so much that I cannot lie to myself. I may one day think to myself like this: forcing Luke to die is a sin, but ¡®it could not be helped¡¯ for the sake of the vige. I did nothing wrong.¡± Daisy let out a smallugh. ¡°No, it could have been helped. I could die for Luke¡¯s sake; however, I will not. This is my choice. I chose Luke¡¯s death. I did not want to hide this truth from myself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Therefore, I will personally kill my brother. I will dye my soul with his red blood. I will live eternally as a piece of trash. O Great Being, I believe that you will generously tolerate this request of mine.¡± Because you are the same as me. Daisy¡¯s eyes were whispering that to me. Why have you acknowledged sh-and-burn vigers and someone like myself as humans? Why have you done something so pointless? I know the reason. I am the only one here who knows¡­¡­. You intended to shoulder the deaths of all these vigers by yourself. Is that not so? You did not try to avoid it. You told us the irrational and selfish reason why you were going to kill us. You are someone who cannot control how much you cherish yourself. I know this. Because I am just like you. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ording to a myth that had been passed down for generations in this world, people¡¯s souls were a bit wider a very long time ago. They were wide enough that you could live without having to sacrifice other people. People wereplete. It was enough to love yourself. The Gods started to be afraid once they realized how excessively perfect people were. The Gods forcefully tore their souls apart. Some people were torn into two, three, or four pieces. People¡¯s souls be small and they could no longer endure without sacrificing others. Now people wander eternally trying to find their lost half. ¡°You are, incredibly dangerous.¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± The girl nodded as if she had heard something obvious. ¡°If I were to kill Luke¡­¡­then you would try to avenge him till yourst breath.¡± ¡°That is correct, O Great Being.¡± The girl didn¡¯t deny it this time as well. ¡°Even if my life were toe to an end, I would leave this fate to another and it will continue to be passed down until the day of Your Honor¡¯s demise eventually arrives.¡± Daisy¡¯s parents trembled greatly, but I didn¡¯t care. ¡°I am afraid of you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The girl smiled. ¡°I am also afraid of Your Honor.¡± ¡°Then what must be done? Do I have to kill you?¡± I wasn¡¯t threatening her. I asked her this sincerely with terror and fear. Daisy responded. ¡°Your Honor would have to ughter everyst human here including me. Someone may one day try to get revenge on Your Honor, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What will you do if I say that I was going to do just that?¡± ¡°That would truly be a wise decision. However, please allow us to end our lives on our own.¡± Several vigers let out a gasp. The girl and I continued to stare at each other, paying absolutely no mind to the reaction of the others around us. ¡°We would be ending our own lives. Your Honor would have no other choice but to allow this.¡± You are not that much a great man to be able to deny us of this, this was what she was saying. ¡°Dozens of humans would bemitting suicide because of Your Honor. The men would cry as they stab their own necks angrily. Mothers would cry as they kill their babies and stab their own necks with the same des they had used to kill their children. This may take many hours.¡± You, as someone who has acknowledged us as humans, cannot interfere during this process. ¡°This may take an entire night or multiple days. Several days may pass and people may die of thirst.¡± However, you still cannot interfere. I would not be able to do anything. Ever. Because of the creed that you willingly decided to carry on your own. ¡°O Great Being, would you be able to shoulder this scene for the rest of your life?¡± There was a smirk on Daisy¡¯s lips. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My golems and fairies who were linked with me emotionally became restless. The golems started to groan with a low voice while the fairies started to panic and dart around the air frantically. The vigers who were near the monsters let out short cries once the monsters started to move. ¡°That is my problem. Girl, that is not something for you to be worried about.¡± The girl didn¡¯t respond. She simply bowed her head respectfully. The choice is yours, that was how I interpreted her gesture. I stayed silent for a while. I contemted and contemted. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A needless part of my emotions, huh? You fool. Think about the time with Jack nd. This could be a repeat of what happened back then. But, despite that¡­¡­. I nced down. Daisy and Luke¡¯s parents were still prostrated before me. The father was heavily injured because he had fought a golem. His arm and leg were bent badly. I let out a sigh. It seems that I was fated to die as a fool. I was going to have to take a gamble again. ¡°Jeremi, heal this man.¡± I ordered while pointing at Luke¡¯s father. Jeremi didn¡¯t say anything back as she took out a potion. She soaked a washcloth with the potion and used it to wipe the injured areas on the man¡¯s body. She had to twist his limbs asionally so that his bones would heal properly. The man groaned. ¡°Heal the other injured people as well.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Jeremi went around and healed the vigers. The vigers seemed to have no idea what was going on, but their faces lightened up once they realized that they were going to live. However, my face was utterly frigid. ¡°Girl, do you understand why I am healing them?¡± ¡°I assume that it is to obtain my favor.¡± ¡°That is so, you damned brat.¡± I growled. ¡°You seeded in dragging out my goodwill. In other words, you made it so that I no longer wish to kill you. You did quite a splendid job gambling with your life and the lives of the vigers!¡± ¡°You tter me.¡± The girl responded without batting a single eye. There¡¯s really nothing this 10-year-old girl can¡¯t say. I got annoyed. ¡°I will make a wager with you. I will do whatever it takes to win Luke over. If Luke genuinely swears his loyalty to me, you damned brat, not only will I spare Luke¡¯s life, but I will spare you, your parents, and the rest of this vige.¡± However, I continued. ¡°If, despite my best efforts, Luke refuses to swear his loyalty to me¡­¡­then I vow to every Goddess that Luke, you, your parents, and everyone here will be turned into cold corpses.¡± I exined the rules of the game to Daisy. ¡°Your brother is a big risk. A normal oath of fealty will not be enough. I cannot acknowledge him without a magical ve contract that devotes his entire body and soul to me. Furthermore, you cannot tell your brother about my goal or intentions.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy stared at me seriously. ¡°For this sake, you must be my ve temporarily.¡± ¡°Your ve?¡± ¡°That is correct. By engraving a ve seal on you, it will prevent you from doing anything that goes against my will. You will be unable to do things that I forbid. If you cannot agree to this, then I will kill all of you here and now.¡± This was quite literally the bare minimum safety measure that I could take. Could she tell that I was being serious? Daisy gave an immediate response. ¡°Understood. O Great Being, I will be your ve.¡± ¡°Even if Luke does swear his loyalty to me and you win this wager, I do not intend to rid you of your ve seal. You are that terrifying of a human, after all.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Daisy nodded her head. What an impudent brat. * * * I had to tear two mid-rank teleportation scrolls. This was for the sake of sending the vigers back to my castle with my golems. I ended up using hundreds of gold coins in an instant. The vigers were going to live under Parsi and his vige. However, I kept Luke and Daisy¡¯s family behind for a moment. I then nned out a theatrical stage y thoroughly. I first set the sh-and-burn vige on fire. I made the firerge enough that you could see the smoke from anywhere. Sure enough, a boy started to run toward the vige desperately once he saw the smoke. I stayed hidden as I watched him. The boy shouted. ¡°Dad! Mom! Daisy!¡± Once he did, as we decided beforehand, Luke¡¯s father shouted back at him. ¡°No!¡± That one word was enough to make the boy stop running and jump back. In truth, we had actually prepared more lines besides a simple ¡®no¡¯, but that one line was enough to make the boy understand the situation. As expected of the boy fated to be the hero. The boy ran almost insanely. Despite being a child, he ran through the forest like a wolf. If I hadn¡¯t ced my assassins behind him, I would have probably lost him. The boy eventually slowed down and I appeared near him wearing a disguise as a soldier. It wasn¡¯t hard to disguise myself since I was wearing armor underneath my priest clothes. I proceeded to shout while looking around to make it seem as much of a coincidence as possible. ¡°I¡¯m a patrol officer! Are there any survivors!? I¡¯m a patrol officer! Damn it. Survivors, are there any survivors!?¡± The boy jumped out from a bush. ¡°I-I¡¯m here! Mr. Soldier! I¡¯m here!¡± He took the bait. I smiled widely. ¡°Oh, my word! Dear Lord, you¡¯re really here!¡± ¡°A monster, a monster attacked¡­¡­.¡± The boy was treating me like his savior as he told me about what had happened without any hesitation. He was practically shouting at me to save his family. ¡°The vige is on fire! My mom and dad!¡± ¡°All right. You are a brave child. Calm yourself, calm down.¡± I lowered my back and patted the boy¡¯s cheek. Luke, the boy who will be the hero. I gently stroke the cheek of the boy who was one of the candidates to cut out my heart. ¡°A punitive force has just now entered the vige. I was ordered to go around and look for potential survivors.¡± ¡°A punitive force? Really?¡± Luke jumped up and down. ¡°Are my mom and dad really going to survive? My little sister too? Also the vige people?¡± ¡°Of course. I promise you. You¡¯ll be together with all of the vige people soon.¡± My constion must have helped him rx as the boy started to cry. He had thought that his family had died, but he was just told that they were still alive. Of course he would be happy. ¡°Oh dear. It seems your tension has finally left you. All right,e here.¡± I picked the boy up. ¡°Your little sister¡¯s name is Daisy, right?¡± ¡°Hkk¡­¡­ Mister, you know Daisy?¡± ¡°Yes, I do. And your name is Luke.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I grinned. ¡°I know your vige inside out. I heard a lot about it! I even know about the girl next door whom you confessed to when you were 7???.¡± ¡°Eh? Aah! Aaah! How do you know about that!?¡± Because I¡¯m your sworn enemy, hero. I walked through the forest with Luke in my arms. He was heavy. His weight wasn¡¯t the only thing that was making him heavy. The weight of my life was also there. That was how it felt. The performance was beginning once again. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder how many people are going toin about Dantalian¡¯s decision. I can definitely see iting. Welp, I have nothing else to announce. Just patiently waiting for the job to get back to me. I think they¡¯re trying to also hire an editor, so I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ll see you guys whenever the next release is done. Chapter 175: Malevolent Flower (1) Chapter 175: Malevolent Flower (1) The monarchs of every nation assembled their soldiers once the ck Death swept across the continent. They wanted to point their des at the Demon Lords before the gue could harm their public opinion. The armies of twelve nations advanced while shouting for the subjugation of Demon Lords. Rank 49 Demon Lord Crocell fell in battle because of this. The Demon Lords became conscious of the threat and retaliated. An alliance was formed. The Demon Lord army smashed into the human army like an angry wave. The soldiers from Brittany led by Queen Henrietta were wiped out while the Habsburgians led by Imperial Princess Elizabeth went as far as to give up on their capital as they retreated¡­¡­. ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s what you guys want, then we¡¯ll conquer the continent at ater date! Before that day arrives, I¡¯ll clean up all the trash that exists in the world.¡± The head of the ins Faction who had taken the position of the vanguard of the Demon Lord Army, Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos was defeated after chasing after the enemy troops too far. With Barbatos at the lead, the ins Faction broke away from the Crescent Alliance. Year 1507 of the Imperial Calendar. The ins Faction upied a central portion of Habsburg. Barbatos wisely chose to not govern thend herself. She controlled the body of the already deceased Crown Prince Rudolf with ck magic and put him at the front. Crown Prince Rudolf made a deration. ¡°Elizabeth von Habsburg, first, you are an immoral person who killed your own father and brother. Second, you are a tyrant who abandoned your people and the capital. Third, you are a traitor who caused the copse of the empire. May you be cursed eternally as the witch whomitted these three heinous crimes!¡± Thousands of humans held their breaths as they stared. The imperial pce had burned down. Crown Prince Rudolf was wearing an impressive uniform and standing within these remains. It was a radiantly scarlet outfit. The Crown Prince¡¯s clothes shined awkwardly within the imperial pce of an empire that had already fallen. ¡°I, Rudolf von Habsburg, dere that I am the rightful heir to the throne and the guardian of the empire. I alone have the right to lead the empire; however, I, unfortunately, do not have the power to rid the evil that has spread across thend. Therefore.¡± The Crown Prince lifted up a silver crown in his hands. ¡°I bestow the duty as the guardian, the task of cleansing thend, and regency over Habsburg to this person here¨DBarbatos.¡± A girl with beautiful white hair received the silver crown. She half-heartedly slipped the crown on her left arm. Her actions went against all formalities, but no one said anything about it. The girl grinned as she looked down from the pce. She spread her arms out. ¨C Guuuuuoooooh! ¨C Keruk, kirururuk! ¨C Kuh khrb! Khhb! Tens of thousands of monsters let out a cheer at the same time. The humans who were surrounded by these monsters trembled in fear. They had been dragged out here to act as witnesses for this event. Only a small minority of humans who realized the era had changed followed along with the monsters and shouted ¡®All hail Her Highness the Regent!¡¯. Barbatos. The Demon Lord of Immortality and the Rank 8 Demon Lord who leads the ins Faction became the regent of Brandenburg, Austerlitz, and finally, the Habsburg Empire. On this same day. ¡°All humans were born free!¡± The Third Imperial Princess of Habsburg, Elizabeth von Habsburg, made a deration in front of hundreds of thousands ofmoners and soldiers. ¡°The Gods have bestowed upon us a right that should not be conceded to others. We must protect our own lives. We must pursue our own freedom and our own happiness. This will always be a value that can never be broken.¡± Several generals wearing ck military uniforms were standing behind Elizabeth. They had been disposing of court nobles for the past few weeks. The disposal was carried out before the watchful eyes of the people. The people would all cheer every time it was carried out. ¡°Humanity created governments solely for the sake of protecting this right. Where does this government¡¯s authoritye from? That is correct. You, their authorityes from the consent of the people. If any government dares to take the right of the people, then you can bring that government down¨Dand you should!¡± ¡®That¡¯s right!¡¯ and ¡®yeah!¡¯ were shouted from the crowd. A countless number of cheers echoed throughout the sky like fireworks during a festival. ¡°O proud people of Habsburg, I ask you this. Has the empire protected your lives!?¡± ¨C Nay! Nay! Nay! The people shouted in a single voice. They raised their long spears. There were heads impaled on the ends of their spears. They were the heads of court nobles and their families. The city was dyed in blood. Elizabeth stretched her arm out and shouted. ¡°Has the empire protected your freedom!?¡± ¨C Nay! Nay! Nay! ¡°Has the empire, the nobles, protected your happiness!?¡± ¨C Nay! Nay! Nay ¡°That is right! The empire was unable to protect your lives, your freedom, or your happiness! We must therefore stand up here and now and tear down those governments that are not for the people. Realize the promise that was made a long time ago. The promise of authority that the Gods had given humanity long ago!¡± Elizabeth unsheathed the sword that was on her side. At that moment, the generals standing behind her unsheathed their swords at the same time as well. The sun reflected off their des as dozens of swords stabbed up at the sky. ¡°From this day forth, I, Elizabeth, shall abandon the castle known as Habsburg and be amoner like you all. I, for the sake ofmoners, as the representative ofmoners, dere the end of the Habsburg Empire¨DI avow that a new Habsburg Republic has been founded!¡± Hundreds of thousands of cheers filled the city. Elizabeth. The woman who had filled the position of Third Imperial Princess of the Habsburg Empire, secretary of military affairs, and suprememander, ascended as the representative of the national assembly that consists of 12 members, the imperator of the revolutionary mercenaries, and finally, the leader for life of the new Habsburg Republic. The imperial regent that rules the north, Barbatos. The republican leader that rules the south, Elizabeth. Habsburg was split in half and was ced into a situation that no one could have possibly predicted. ¡°That fucking brat¡­¡­she¡¯s trying to monopolize the human world, huh? We can¡¯t let that happen.¡± ¡°Big mouthfuls often choke. Hehe, it¡¯d be troubling if she forgets about how we had saved her from Paimon.¡± A majority of the Demon Lords were upset that the ins Faction had taken the human world for themselves. They each led their own armies to forcefully take over a portion of northern Habsburg. The other monarchs of other human nations came to the conclusion that they had no other choice but to support the republic within Habsburg, so they sent aid funds to the republic under the pretext of suppressing the Demon Lord army. However, the rulers were shocked when they found out that the Demon Lord whom they expected to always aim for the destruction of the human world dered that she would be the regent of an empire. They started to wonder if Demon Lords were actually more political than they expected and the potential uses they could have¡­¡­. A gue and famine, war and piging, unity and division. During this time where the continent was entering an unprecedented amount of chaos. The very culprit behind all this chaos¨DDemon Lord Dantalian was silently tilting a ss of wine. * * * The procedure of engraving a ve seal onto Daisy had begun. Fortunately, there was someone who was an utter expert when it came to ve seals. It was the leader of the assassin group, Jeremi. She was on the receiving half of this procedure when she was little and she waster put in charge of carrying out the procedure on dozens of people. ording to her, this procedure was incredibly painful. The ve seal was engraved on the heart. Hearts were the center points of one¡¯s mana. If that point is taken from someone, then a ve would never be able to go against their master¡¯s orders. Jeremi let out a small chuckle as she exined this. ¡°They cannot inflict harm on their masters and they would experience severe pain even if they only think about killing their master. Fufu.¡± Jeremi ced a de into some boiling water. She was preparing for the procedure. ¡°Almost every ve is rebellious at first. I¡¯m going to kill my master, I won¡¯t stand for this, they would stay up for multiple nights building up their resentment like this instead of dreaming. However, after experiencing heart-tearing pain every time they have that thought¡­¡­fufu, it doesn¡¯t take long for their rebellious spirit to disappear.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy didn¡¯t respond as she kept her mouth shut. The 10-year-old girl wasying on a wooden bed naked. Her arms and legs were bound tightly. Even her neck, waist, and thighs were shackled down in case the anesthesia were to wear off. It would be bad if she started to twist around due to the intense pain of the surgery. The method of engraving a seal on the heart was simple and barbaric. You had to cut the flesh until the heart was revealed and pour potions into the opening constantly to prevent the patient from dying. There were already dozens of potions prepared on a table. Jeremi smiled. ¡°Think of this as an honor. You are receiving a surgery that costs hundreds of gold coins. Your master has basically acknowledged that you have that much value. There is nothing greater than this as a ve. Is that not so?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy remained silent. She simply stared at Jeremi with emotionless eyes. She didn¡¯t seem afraid or hesitant even though her chest was going to be opened. Jeremi seemed pleased by this as she continued to chuckle. ¡°How could someone be so like me when I was little?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Now then, open your mouth. You have to consume a lot of potions.¡± Daisy opened her small mouth. Jeremi picked up a bottle and pressed the opening of it against the girl¡¯s mouth. A red liquid flowed down the girl¡¯s throat quickly. ¡°Another bottle.¡± Jeremi put the empty bottle away and picked up another bottle. Daisy¡¯s throat continued to gulp down the contents. The bottle became empty and Jeremi picked up another one. ¡°And another one.¡± It wasn¡¯t long before five bottles were emptied. Daisy¡¯s brow started to twitch around the sixth bottle. The speed at which she consumed the potions had visibly decreased. The girl groaned as if she were in anguish. ¡°Uuub¡­¡­uub¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi chided her. ¡°The potions will lose their effect if too much time passes. If you continue to drink like a sloth, then you could die during the procedure, you know? One more bottle.¡± ¡°Uub, uuub¡­¡­! Haa, huu¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Be quiet and drink.¡± Bottle after bottle. ¡°¡­¡­Uub, uub! Haa! Uuub¡­¡­.¡± Once the number of bottles that were empty had exceeded 10, Daisy¡¯s face became visibly pained. She looked like she was just barely managing to hold back her retching. A lot of the liquid from the potions that couldn¡¯t be swallowed was flowing down the side of her mouth. Nheless, Jeremi paid this no mind as she picked up another potion. ¡°Do not spit it back out. This is all gold.¡± ¡°Haa, hb¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You cannotpare to how expensive these potions are. Hurry and open up.¡± It finally came to an end once she emptied her twelfth bottle. Daisy¡¯s face was contorted as if she were about to vomit; however, her gaze somehow managed to stay cold. Even if her face was contorted and her lips were trembling, Daisy continued to stare at the other party withpletely emotionless eyes. I was watching this while seated in a corner of the room. ¡°I will ask you onest time. Are you sure that you will not regret your decision?¡± I asked her. ¡°You will be a doll who will have to listen to my orders for all your life. Not only your body, but your mind will also be subservient to me. A life with no freedom will be promised to you. Will you truly not regret this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No answer. She might have stayed silent because she was afraid that she would start vomiting if she tried to speak. Nevertheless, I knew that Daisy¡¯s gaze was a more than sufficient answer. I nodded my head and turned to Jeremi. ¡°Jeremi. Continue.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Lots of big events happening around the world, huh? Today¡¯s TL note will be rather short since I can¡¯t think of anything else to say here :^). I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 176: Malevolent Flower (2) Chapter 176: Malevolent Flower (2) ¡°As youmand.¡± Jeremi picked up a cup that was in the shape of a horn. It contained a wine that had mandrake mixed in it. Mandrake, often referred to as mandra, was a nt that had substances within it that caused hallucinations. It had been purified into a powder and put into wine so that it could be drunk. It was an item that alchemists made the most money from in this world. It could be used as an aphrodisiac and also as anesthesia. Jeremi most likely put a lot of the powder into the wine. ¡°Ub¡­¡­guulp.¡± Daisy was in anguish as she drank the wine. I didn¡¯t know if I should even say that she had drunk it. Half of the wine didn¡¯t even manage to go into her mouth as it flowed down the side of her jaw instead. Jeremi smiled as she saw this. ¡°This is anesthesia. It will only hurt for you if you do not drink it, you know?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your bare flesh will be torn and you will bleed endlessly. I will not take responsibility.¡± Daisy red at Jeremi with impassive eyes. The amount of liquid that flowed down the side of her mouth lessened. Nheless, it seemed Daisy¡¯s stomach had already reached its limit as she couldn¡¯t take in the rest of the wine. If you consider the number of potions that were already in her stomach, it wasn¡¯t surprising. Jeremi then proceeded to light some incense. A light gray smoke started to fill the room. ¡°Seriously, you should consider yourself lucky. I did not have something like this when I was little.¡± A total of 6 incenses were ced around the bed. These were supposed to also act as a type of hallucinogen and anesthesia. They could only be made by herbs found solely in Maharaurava, one of the hells in the demon world. Jeremiined as she lit up the incenses. ¡°Dying of shock during the procedure would simply be the end of it. Out of my 6rades, half of them died before being able to make a name for themselves in our assassin group. Sheesh¡­¡­how much do these cost?¡± Her vocal cords were grumbling, but I didn¡¯t feel any emotions from her. As always, she maintained her demeanor as a cold assassin. There was a possibility that Jeremi smiled excessively and made exaggerated facial expressions because she was trying to desperately recreate the emotions she had lost. ¡°¡­¡­¡± I drank my wine. Once we came back after subjugating two goblin viges, the bar gave us even more special treatment. This was a wine that would often be presented to kings. This precious wine that should taste absolutely sweet felt utterly bitter to me. A 10-year-old girl was going to receive an autopsy in front of me in a second. Her heart was going to be revealed. All for the sake of being turned into my ve. Simply because of the possibility that she may one day be a threat to me in the future. This was insane. No. This wasn¡¯t simply a possibility. This world was an exact copy of the world in ¡­¡­. The game revolves around the hero more than anyone else. This girl was destined to be the hero. The quest wasn¡¯t broken even though I had killed Andromalius. Was this not proof that her fate was something that couldn¡¯t be changed that easily?! This was the bare minimum safety precaution. The least I could do¡­¡­. ¡°Uhm, Your Highness?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hm?¡± I ended up respondingte because I had been in deep thought. The bizarre fragrance from the incenses was painting the inside of my nostrils. It seems the incenses were taking effect now. Once I came back to my senses, I saw Jeremi holding a surgical knife and looking at me. The operation had begun before I knew it. ¡°Uh¡­¡­ha, ugh¡­¡­.¡± Daisy kept groaning while bound to the bed. Her bare skin had been cut open. Her once clear eyes were now hazy. There was a lot of saliva flowing down the side of her mouth. She had lostplete control of her body. Despite the pungent smokeing from the incenses, Jeremi remainedpletely unfazed. ¡°These hallucinogens are rather powerful. It would be difficult to be here without an immunity. Your Highness will most likely not experience any longsting effects, but you do not have to stay here and watch any more than this. It would be fine for Your Highness to step out now.¡± Jeremi¡¯s voice resonated from a fair distance away. I shook my head like a fish pping out of water. Even the wordsing out of my own mouth sounded as if they wereing from afar. ¡°No. I will watch until the very end.¡± I believed that this was my obligation. I didn¡¯t know why, but I had a strong feeling that I shouldn¡¯t leave this ce right now. Jeremi nodded and turned away. The surgical knife started to move. ¡°Ha, uh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Whoa. Your Highness, this child is no joke. Her mana is manifesting because of the potion, but it is incredibly dense. No, this is my first time seeing a child with such dense mana¡­¡­. She is almost like a monster. Dear Lord.¡± ¡°Kuh¡­¡­ugh, hkk¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Despite being a child, her mana already has a will dwelling within it. It is trying to protect its master. Whoa, this is insane. There really are people who are gifted. If one of those old geezers from the Mage Tower were to see this, their jaws would probably drop. What did you eat to grow up like this? I¡¯d like to have some of this as well.¡± Jeremi continued to chatter on. She was most likely talking like this deliberately in order to prevent Daisy from going insane. Her hands were dexterously and precisely cutting into the girl¡¯s flesh despite her rampant mouth. ¡°She probably never caught the recent gue or any sort of other diseases because of this mana. Her skin is also luscious. But this is unfortunate.¡± Her words and hands were moving ording topletely different rhythms. The scene in front of me flowed bizarrely like a silent film. ¡°You should regret having been gifted with this much mana right now. It is because of your mana that this surgery is bing more difficult, fufu. Keep your wits about you. You might actually die if something were to go wrong.¡± Her pure white skin was covered with an excessive amount of scarlet liquid. Daisy appeared like she was struggling to even breathe now. Groans leaked out from her lungs endlessly. ¡°Hkkgh, uh, ah¡­¡­guuaah! Aagh! Hu, khh¡­¡­.¡± Her screams rang loudly in my ears. White skin, a red clump, dense smoke, and an excessively pungent fragrance mixed together with the vague scent of blood¡­¡­. What I felt as I watched the girl go through intense agony wasn¡¯t sympathy. It simply felt strange. It was strange and bizarre. It was weird if you thought about it. Leader Hawk, Jack nd, Riff, and Kurz Schleiermacher, they all groaned in pain as they died. Why must people feel pain? Why can¡¯t they¡­¡­well, why can¡¯t they experience aform of pain that was a little cleaner? Why does it have to be pain? My thinking became gradually duller. The inside of my head felt tingly. The fragrance had managed to seep into my skull. Why did they try to kill me? I didn¡¯t wrong any of them. It would be a joke if the only reason they had to kill me was due to the fact I was a Demon Lord. I didn¡¯t be this because I wanted to. You guys are the ones who forced my hand first. Why do I have to take all of the responsibility? Even for the things I did not bring upon myself¡­¡­. ¡°Guh, huuuuah!¡± So shut up, Jack. You¡¯re screaming way too much just because your skin is being burned a little. I clenched my teeth and begged to the adventurers when there was an arrow in my thigh. Use your brain. Use all of your energy to think of a n. Even if you get caught in a tiger¡¯s den, you can still hit a tiger cub by the back of their head as long as you stayposed. ¡°You devil¡­¡­!¡± No, this is just business. It¡¯s simply unfair like most other businesses. You probably understand that now. The fact that you used a Memoria artifact was splendid. I took a blow because of that. If it weren¡¯t for Paimon, then I would¡¯ve probably fallen due to some rookie, no-name merchant who doesn¡¯t even appear in Dungeon Attack. We might¡¯ve be great friends¡­¡­. ¡°Guuh¡­¡­khhb, uugh, uuueeegh¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Do not spit it out! Swallow it down! Swallow the damn potion! You¡¯ll definitely die if you spit that out now. Do you understand? If you don¡¯t want to die, then swallow it.¡± ¡°Kffpb¡­¡­kbu¡­¡­kuuuh¡­¡­.¡± Roughly how many people died? 10,000? About 2,000 people died in the ck Mountains¡­¡­. It was probably around that range. In any case, those orc bastards eat way too much. Even if they make smoked meat out of thousands of corpses, all of that is consumed almost instantly. They were sometimes cute, but they were mostly damned bastards. Blitzkriegs, monsters dying quickly was a good thing in wars. On the other hand, humans were different¡­¡­. ¡°Damn it!¡± Barbatos was right. It was damned. For humans, their soldiers weren¡¯t simply soldiers but also theirbor force. They have to worry about theirbor force dying out as well. In that regard, I¡¯m d that I wasn¡¯t born a human. Even if I was assigned some important role like as Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s close aide, I would probably be struggling more than I was now. I may be the weakest Demon Lord, but it was probably a good thing that I became a Demon Lord at all¡­¡­. 10,000 people have died. 10,000 people could almost make up an entire world. ¡°Hguuuuaaah¨D!¡± That¡¯s why, from now on, my mind will always be slightly bigger than a world of ten thousand people. ¡°Pull yourself together. Sheesh, you passed out. Hey! Hey! Come back to me! Do you want to die? Do you want me to stab you with this knife first before you can die, you brat? You son of a bitch, open your eyes! Open your eyes! If you die, then that brother of yours will die as well. Your parents will also die. Fuck, hey!¡± Is that so? I understood why I wanted to save Daisy¡¯s life so much. I wished for her to be like me. I wished for her to end up in the same situation I was in. If there are two pieces of trash instead of one, then they should be able tofort one another. I wanted tofort another person. I wanted to be a strong person who was capable offorting and leading another person as their mentor or parental figure. My mind had be weak at some point. How much of a piece of trash am I? To think that I would want tofort someone because I saw that they were like me¨DWhat am I talking about? I have the stories of Leader Hawk, Jack nd, Riff, Kurz Schleiermacher, and 10,000 humans inside of me¨Dthey have to beforted by me? By their murderer? Don¡¯t make meugh. It sounded like the most pathetic excuse. How was this any different from a noble showing a farmer sympathy? You could¡¯ve died instead of staying alive. You did notmit suicide. ¡°Your Highness?¡± Before I knew it, I had stood up and gone to Jeremi¡¯s side. The girl¡¯s naked body wasid out before me. Flesh that had been cruelly cut open, red inner flesh that was twitching, and blood, there was so much blood. I slowly took in this sight. I then turned to look at the girl¡¯s eyes. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy¡¯s eyes regained their focus. Her gaze instantly became fierce. This girl who stayed expressionless all this time now had a look of rage mixed into her gaze. She most likely realized that I was the reason why she was experiencing pain far worse than death. I was her sworn enemy. I smiled coldly. ¡°So this is as far as you can go.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You talked so confidently, so I believed you were quite strong, but you are unable to endure a mere surgery. In the end, you were more or less nothing but a 10-year-old girl. You were unable to take your brother, your parents, or your fellow vige people on your shoulders. You could not even shoulder the lives of merely 30 people.¡± Daisy opened her mouth. A voice that was as faint as her breath came leaking out. She mumbled like a newborn infant several times and failed several times before she barely managed to say aplete line. ¡°I will¡­¡­kill you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I swear.¡± I let out a loudugh. My brain which had been dampened by the incense instantly became clear. That¡¯s right! Everything became clear. What I needed was this sort of clear hostility! A person who has killed 10,000 people must naturally receive the hostility of 10,000 people. However, most of them had died without even knowing that I was the one who killed them. They fell without getting a chance at revenge. Was this not unfair? ¡°Please do.¡± If I¡¯ve killed 10,000 people, then you must have a will that is stronger than 10,000 people. I will continue to make tens of thousands of people die. You must witness these sights in their entirety while standing at my side. Since the ones who have died to me were so weak and ignorant, thus they could not possibly be my enemy, you must take the ce of each and every person that has been killed. ¡°I wish to have you at my side.¡± I will remember everything I havemitted every time I see you, after all. So that I cannot run away from what I¡¯ve done, from my life. So that I cannot find refuge in something likefort or sympathy. ¡°You will be my eternal living witness.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. These have been some slow days. I¡¯ve been getting hit by a thunderstorm for like 10 minutes every day for the past several days now. Feels like I live in a tropical area right now because of this weather. On another note, Daisy is turning out to be quite the character. I can¡¯t wait to see how she develops over time. Welp, uh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 177: Malevolent Flower (3) Chapter 177: Malevolent Flower (3) * * * The rest of the surgery proceeded without a hitch. Daisy no longer passed out or let out pained cries. She would sometimes let out a beast-like groan, though. ¡°Kuh, uh.¡± She was biting her lips. They were torn and blood was flowing out, but Daisy didn¡¯t seem to notice this. It was because of the acute pain piercing through her body. The pain she felt from the surgery was probably overwhelmingly stronger than the pain from her lips. The room became quiet. Jeremi waspletely silent as if all the talking she was doing earlier never happened. The procedure was carried out calmly and quietly. During this time, Daisy and I were ring at each other. Her eyes were as deep as wells. Her resentment was surging up from her deepest depths like sewage. I dly received Daisy¡¯s gaze. I have already witnessed several scenes of pandemonium. A few droplets of resentment wasn¡¯t enough to make it overflow. The two of us stared at each other until the surgery came to an end. ¡°¡­¡­It is finished, Your Highness.¡± Jeremi let out a sigh. She had sewn Daisy¡¯s chest back together and was sterilizing it with a towel soaked in vinegar. ¡°This child is now Your Highness¡¯ ve. You may order her however you please.¡± ¡°Do not harm me. Do not harm the people close to me. If I or the people I care for are ever in danger, do not ignore me or them.¡± I didn¡¯t break eye contact as I continued. ¡°You will obey my orders and prioritize my life over your own. These are the first orders that I am giving to you. From this point forth, you must obey these orders thoroughly. ¡°¡­¡­Yes.¡± Daisy¡¯s head dropped before she could even finish saying that single word. She had passed out with her eyes open. ¡¸You have subordinated Daisy as your ve!¡¹ ¡¸Your ve¡¯s status window will bepletely revealed to you regardless of their affection rate. A ¡®subservience level¡¯ will be added to the ve¡¯s status window.¡¹ ¡¸Atrocious subservience!¡¹ ¡¸A vassal rtionship has been established through a powerful magical seal. However, the other party has not acknowledged you as their owner even slightly. Due to the atrociously low subservience, a new title will be given to the other party.¡¹ A bunch of holographic notifications appeared along with a sound effect. ¡°Hm.¡± It was amusing. When I recruited Laura as a subordinate, her loyalty immediately reached the highest it could possibly be, while for Daisy, something called atrocious subservience appeared. It seems that only the extremes of things happen to me all the time. It didn¡¯t matter. It was fine as long as she couldn¡¯t fight back against me. I can slowly handle the other problems gradually over time. My journey to start a civil war in Frankia has only just begun. I¡¯m overflowing with time. The notification windows didn¡¯t end there. ¡¸Congrattions! You have obtained your first ve. An ¡®education¡¯ window will now be activated in regard to the ve.¡¹ ¡¸Daisy¡¯s Resistance Seal (Lv. 3) has increased!¡¹ ¡¸Daisy¡¯s Pain Seal (Lv. 3) has increased!¡¹ ¡¸Daisy¡¯s Humiliation Seal (Lv. 1) has increased!¡¹ ¡­¡­This was also an unfamiliar window. There was no ve function in Dungeon Attack where you turned NPCs into ves. An education window? This was my first time seeing it. This was now the second time I was witnessing a function that didn¡¯t exist in the game. The first one was the quest breaker. This was probably the difference between being the hero and a Demon Lord. I should take my time looking over thister. I have to praise the person who contributed the most to the surgery right now. ¡°You did well, Jeremi.¡± I patted Jeremi on the shoulder. ¡°I made you do extra work.¡± ¡°It was a pleasure. We were hired to carry out Your Highness¡¯ orders.¡± ¡°No. I still wish to reward you.¡± Surgeons also get severely exhausted while performing surgeries. Furthermore, engraving a seal on a heart was a procedure that required immense skill. It wasn¡¯t something that could be carried out halfheartedly. It was only possible for Jeremi who had received the surgery once and also carried it out several times. ¡°You are the one who prepared the potions, the mandrake, and the incense. It would only harm my image if I were to take advantage of such a capable individual for free. I will grant you a reward that is within my capabilities.¡± Jeremi brought her hand to her chin and thought. ¡°If Your Highness insists¡­¡­would it be all right for this humble one to make a selfish request?¡± ¡°Go ahead. I vow on Goddess Artemis¡¯ name.¡± I grabbed her hands with my own like a priest and bowed my head. ¡°Pfft. Y-Your Highness, being a priest really suits you.¡± ¡°If I were not a Demon Lord, then I would have probably be a high priest.¡± Jeremi gave a refreshingugh. A man and a womanughed in a room that was soaked in a 10-year-old girl¡¯s blood. There was nothing about this that looked sane. Even more so if you consider the fact that both of their emotions had not budged despiteughing on the outside. Jeremi spoke. ¡°Your Highness, could you tell me who this girl is?¡± ¡°Mm. I was hoping that you would ask for money, but I guess this was to be expected¡­¡­.¡± I brought the bottle of wine that was on a table in a corner of the room. The taste of the wine felt rather sour due to the smell of the fragrance that was still pungent in the room. ¡°This one has watched over Your Highness as you nned out the Crescent Alliance and carried out your n. As I told you before, that period of time was one of the rare moments that this humble one ever felt satisfaction. What Your Highness is thinking and what you are aiming for, these are the things that this humble one is the most curious about.¡± Despite her curiosity, Jeremi had remained quiet until now. Even while we were assaulting the sh-and-burn vige, threatening the vigers, and luring Luke away, Jeremi never questioned me. She did as I ordered. She had suppressed her curiosity since she believed that she would be going out of line if she were to ask any questions. Jeremi only chose to ask me this after I gave her the right to do so. She clearly understood when to approach a matter and when to back down. She truly was a professional. Her being a part of the best assassin group in the demon world wasn¡¯t an exaggeration. ¡°Very well, then. Jeremi, what I am going to tell you is a top secret among top secrets.¡± ¡°I vow to never leak this information to anyone.¡± ¡°Do you know what a hero is?¡± Jeremi nodded. She took out her pipe and put the powder she had used during the surgery into the pipe before lighting it. ¡°Yes. I apologize, but I am aware that that is a title given to the person who ughters Demon Lords.¡± ¡°This girl here and her brother will be heroes.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Jeremi blew a puff of smoke into the air above. The woman with a burn mark across half her face was smiling modestly. ¡°Where you had obtained this information¡­¡­would it be possible for this humble one to know this as well?¡± ¡°Would you believe me if I told you it was a prophecy?¡± ¡°Of course, O Great Being.¡± I had said that as a joke, but contrary to my expectation, Jeremi took it seriously. I gulped down a mouthful of wine. ¡°It will not end with the life of only one or two Demon Lords. Numerous Demon Lords will lose their lives¡­¡­. I came here to the Frankia Empire in order to stop this. ¡°She definitely does have a monstrous amount of magic inside of her.¡± Jeremi seemed to understand something on her own as she nodded her head twice. Her curiosity was apparently solved with that. No, it felt like her interest had gone elsewhere. I had resolved myself since I thought she would keep questioning me¡­¡­. Well, if sheprehended something, then there was no need for me to get more involved. I turned away. The girl¡¯s flushed, naked body was powerlessly bound to the wooden table that was now a mess. She had twisted and turned so much during the surgery that the areas of her skin that were covered by the shackles had be torn. ¡®Status.¡¯ A disgustingly refreshing bell sound rang out. A status window far more detailed than anything I had seen before was disyed before me¨Dand I was shocked. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥Name: DaisyRace: Human¡¡¡¡ Master: DantalianAttribute: Neutral(0) Level: 1¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Fame: 1Job: Adventurer( ¨C ), Swordsman( ¨C ) Leadership: 9/100¡¡¡¡Might: 13/140 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 13/125Politics: 9/95¡¡¡¡Charm: 10/100¡¡¡¡Technique: 8/81 Affection: 0Subservience: 0 *Titles: 1. Legendary Adventurer ( ¨C ) 2. Legendary Mercenary ( ¨C ) 3. Dungeon Breaker ( ¨C )*Abilities: Tactics( ¨C ), Swordsmanship( ¨C ), Operation Arts( ¨C ), Persuasion( ¨C ), Horsemanship( ¨C ), Elemental Magic ( ¨C )*Skills: Volunteer Soldier ( ¨C ), rity( ¨C ), Lethal Move Nullify ( ¨C ) Current thought: This cannot be disyed due to the influence of the affection and subservience stats.©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Was this what it means to be speechless? I felt the blood draining away from my head. My entire body felt like it was bing stone. I¡¯ve seen these stats before. No. It wasn¡¯t just that I had seen them, they were incredibly familiar to me. These stats, titles, abilities, and skills¡­¡­all of them, all of these things were familiar to me¡­¡­. My limbs became paralyzed due to the shock. ¡®This.¡¯ It was obvious. I was the first one to conquer all 72 dungeons on the fansite and even found the Great Demon Lord¡¯s hidden dungeon to defeat Baal. I overcame numerous failures and repeated dozens of ythroughs and received a castle called Mundus from the rulers of the human world. ¡®These are my character¡¯s stats.¡¯ This was the one and only thing I held in pride. The stat limits, skills, abilities, and titles that I had shed tears, blood, and sweat to obtain were here. I felt like I was possessed by something as I pried deeper into the status window. *** [Titles]
  1. Legendary Adventurer ( ¨C ) ¨C Highest possible rank for the job (Adventurer). This person represents all of the adventurers in the world. There is no dungeon that they cannot conquer, and there is no monster that they cannot y. Currently inactive: On level up, [Might] +6, [Intelligence] +1, [Charm] +4. Job [Adventurer] level up rate x4
  2. Legendary Mercenary ( ¨C ) ¨C Highest possible rank for the job (Mercenary). This person represents all of the mercenaries in the world. There is no mercenary who would refuse to be drafted by this person and there is no army that they cannot wipe out. Currently inactive: On level up, [Leadership] [Might] +6, [Politics] +2. Job [Mercenary] level up rate x4
  3. Dungeon Breaker ( ¨C ) ¨C Title given to the hero who conquered every dungeon. Currently inactive: Upon entering a dungeon, [Leadership] and [Might] increase by 140%
*** ¡°¡­¡­.¡± After those. *** [Skills]
  1. Volunteer Soldier ( ¨C ) ¨C An SS Rank active area buff skill. Currently inactive. Excluding the caster, grants a buff to all allies within your unit: Attack 140%, Defense 140%, nullifies the attack and defense decrease that ur upon taking damage
  2. rity ( ¨C ) ¨C An SS Rank active self-buff skill. Currently inactive. Grants to self: [Leadership] and [Might] are increased by 140%, nullifies disease penalties and terrain penalties
  3. Lethal Move Nullify ( ¨C ) ¨C SSS Rank passive self-buff skill. Currently inactive. Grants to self: Once hit by an enemy¡¯s skill, the damage cannot exceed 50% of your remaining health
*** ¡°¡­¡­Ha.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let out augh. Everything I saw before me were the things I achieved after going through the hardest possible difficulty. For example, the title and the skill meshed together. Let¡¯s say that your might was at 100. If this character were to fight inside a dungeon, the title would increase their strength to 140 and then the skill would increase that further to 196. Your might would basically be getting doubled. This was the result that I had barely managed to obtain after thinking for many hours about which titles and skills I had to obtain to get the best possible result. It was already a close call knowing that there could¡¯ve been two heroes and not only one¡­¡­. ¡®Now they¡¯re copying my yer data?¡¯ I could only mock myself. ¡°Ha, haha.¡± It seems that this world was a lot more messed up than I thought it was. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, I guess we get to see just how overpowered the heroes are. Well, if they were allowed to develop normally, that is. Who knows how Dantalian intends to raise them. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 178: Malevolent Flower (4) Chapter 178: Malevolent Flower (4) Daisy most likely didn¡¯t seed these stats by herself. Both Luke and Daisy, in this scenario where one of them had to be the hero, most likely inherited the same stats¡­¡­. This was terrifying to think about. Jeremi gave me a nk stare once Iughed to myself. It didn¡¯t look like she was giving me a weird look. Although she was curious as to why I wasughing, since she believed that I probably wouldn¡¯t give her an answer if she were to ask now, she was holding herself back, that was the sort of expression she was making. ¡°Jeremi, I will leave this girl in your care until she is awake.¡± ¡°Understood. She will most likely be bedridden for three days anyway.¡± ¡°It seems I will continue to be indebted to you.¡± ¡°Nonsense. Just imagining how much Your Highness will stir this continent.¡± Jeremi covered her mouth andughed. ¡°This thought alone makes this much work worth it.¡± ¡°You are also quite the pervert.¡± ¡°Dear me. To be called a pervert by Your Highness, there is no honor greater than this.¡± I stared at Jeremi feeling taken aback. Once I did, Jeremi gave me an exaggerated shrug. ¡°You said that you were the most earnest and trustworthy out of all Demon Lords, correct? Yes, of course you did. Your Highness has said that so many times now that it has be embedded in this one¡¯s ears. Your Highness may make passionate love to Her Highness Barbatos who has the appearance of a child, but you are definitely not a pedophile.¡± ¡°You¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Even today, Your Highness and a 10-year-old human girl may have stared at each other intensely for an hour straight, but you are still definitely not a pervert. Naturally. Sheesh. Your gazes were so heated that I thought I might get burned by being near you two.¡± I realized something right as I was about to refute her. Jeremi was intentionally being overly chatty. She had sensed that my mood had be overly serious, so she had thrown out jokes to alleviate my mood. Honestly, I was able to stop concentrating on the hero for a moment thanks to her. I ended up worrying someone who wasn¡¯t even an official subordinate. How pathetic of me¡­¡­. I let out a sigh before showing a thin smile. I then patted Jeremi¡¯s head. Her soft, sky blue hair brushed across my palm pleasantly. ¡°Huh?¡± Jeremi widened her eyes in surprise. Her eyes were constantly half-closed because of the drugs and hallucinogens. Jeremi, who rarely showed any signs of emotions, was genuinely startled this time. I put as much gratitude as I possibly could in my palm as I stroked her head gently. ¡°The ve seal is what plummeted your life to hell. I had ordered you to do something that had forced you into the mud. It was an absolute garbage thing I had done. From this point on, you have the right to call me a piece of trash.¡± ¡°¡­¡­No, I was.¡± ¡°You asked me this back at the remains of that castle.¡± Jeremi wasn¡¯t acting as her usual self as she nodded hesitantly. On the day I first met Jeremi, we had set up camp at the remains of a castle. Jeremi, who was wondering if she had no other choice but to live a terrible life because she was born as a lesser demon asked me to change this unfair world and be her king. ¡°My answer has not changed. I cannot shoulder your misfortune for you. Jeremi, if your life is trash, then it is the same for me.¡± Iughed. ¡°However, I can at least walk by your side. Let us exist in a single world together. As fellow pieces of trash.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She had saved Lapis and my life. Adding to this, she made a hero into my ve. I will pay her back one day. Jeremi shut her lips. Shortly after, she gave a faint ¡®yes¡¯. I¡¯m not sure why, but I let out augh. I gave her hair one final stroke before leaving the room. * * * That night, a festival was held in the bar¡¯s territory. Bar Bercy had carried out a festival for, not 1 day, but for 4 days straight. This was because the lord¡¯s aide had bought a lot of food and beverages from the city and distributed them. Our group was naturally treated as the stars since we had subjugated two goblin viges. Even now, the dwarves were chatting away loudly at the center of the town square. It seems that drinking battles no longer ended in sour moods as the dwarves and the men of the vige carried out an intensepetition. This really was the crucible of madness. There was apetition that was approved by Bar Bercy called . The men would all stand in a line in the town square. They would then take off their pants and reveal their burly and asionally not burly members. And just like the name of thepetition¡­¡­they would e¡¯. For the sake of doing so before anyone else. It was none other than Bar Bercy who had approved of this insanepetition. ¡°Mm. Is it not entertaining?¡± The Bar even dered that he would give the winner a pig. A breeding pig, at that. The men naturally got worked up. Dozens of males lined up regardless of their race or age. They imed that they would show off the ¡®skill¡¯ they had trained and refined throughout the years. Thepetition consisted of four preliminary matches, two main matches, and one final match. The preliminaries were currently being held in the town square. Ten people who believed they were unmatched had gathered. They all had serious looks on their faces, like a bunch of otters facing the biggest threat of their lives. The wives who were blinded by the prospect of obtaining a pig cheered their husbands on. There were a fair number of reluctant husbands who were forced to participate because of their wives. ¡°Kyaaa! Dear! Faster! Do it faster!¡± ¡°Those menfolk would always climax so fast at home, but they¡¯re so slow outside! Damn it!¡± ¡°H-Hey! Look at my breasts and cum already, you scrawny bastard!¡± One of the women couldn¡¯t sit still as she tore her top off. The spectators cheered. However, contrary to her intentions, her husband¡¯s member shrunk instead. The pair panicked as they didn¡¯t seem to know what to do. ¡°Kuhaha! Look at him shrivel up after seeing his wife!¡± ¡°This makes me really worried about that pair¡¯s nightlife! Haha!¡± Teasing and heckling poured down on them. The woman who had mustered up the courage to shower her breasts didn¡¯t even stay for the main matches as she ran away. The spectatorsughed again as they saw her run. The sound of theirughter became like a firework as it resonated clearly throughout the night sky. ¡°Kakaka.¡± Bar Bercyughed as he apuded. He was already incredibly intoxicated as his face waspletely red. The bar was a serious and stern lord, but he was someone who understood the lives of the people down to the bone. It was fortunate that these people managed to get this person as their lord. ¡°So will you be leaving tomorrow?¡± ¡°Yes. We have already finished with Your Highness¡¯ request.¡± ¡°How regrettable.¡± The Bar seemed genuinely sad. ¡°Thanks to you and your men, we were able to pass the winter safely and you also subjugated the goblin viges for us.¡± ¡°It is as the Goddess willed.¡± ¡°Fufu, the Goddess, is it¡­¡­?¡± He raised his horn cup with wine in it. ¡°I do not follow any God. No matter how much we plea to the Gods, they do not help us when we are tormented by famines or gues. In the end, starvation belongs to humans and bone-wrenching pain also belongs to humans. Gods do not experience hunger or pain¡­¡­.¡± Bar Bercy gulped down his wine all at once. It must be incredibly stressful to live sincerely as the lord of a single region in an era like this. Your job instantly bes a 3D business the instant you volunteer to take up noblesse oblige. This would focus politics, military affairs, diplomatic affairs, trials, records, marriages, architecture, etc all onto a single person. Even if a vige chief or andowner were to help you, the regional lord would have to have a grasp of everything. Adding to this, not only would they also have to be wary of the lords with higher positions around them, but they have to either cooperate or fight with the smaller lords around them as well. ¡°How could the Gods who have never felt hunger or pain before sympathize with us humans? The greatest misfortune we humans have is the fate of having to die after being born.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± I won¡¯t die of old age as a Demon Lord, though. The Bar stared straight at me. ¡°How interesting. I said something sphemous just now. Are you not upset?¡± ¡°Is the divinity spoken by humans not simply the divinity of humans? If the Gods do not respond no matter how much we worship and plea to them, then the Gods will most likely not get upset even if we were to nder them.¡± I brought my hands together and muttered like I was saying a prayer. ¡°Dear Gods, please stay still and watch over us. Let us humans handle ourselves.¡± Bar Bercy looked like he had lost. He let out a loudugh. ¡°Hahah! You are right. It seems I have tripped over my own words. All right, let us have a toast to our Goddess Artemis! For the Goddess!¡± ¡°For the Goddess.¡± We clinked our horn cups together. The sound of cheering echoed clearly from the center of the square. The preliminaries had ended and the contestants to go on to the next round had been chosen. The vicious part about thatpetition was the fact that they had to masturbate during the preliminaries, main matches, and finals, so for a total of three times. Who would create such apetition? The Bar grinned, but he spoke with a serious tone. ¡°My beliefs have changed greatly ever since I met you, Priest Jean Bolle.¡± Jean Bolle was my fake name. ¡°A priest is able to give hope to the world without the help of their God.¡± ¡°You are praising me far too much.¡± ¡°No, that is not true. You have given hope to hundreds of people already. Including me.¡± The man before me will most likely never discover even at the moment of his death that Jean Bolle was actually a Demon Lord and that he was the culprit behind the fear and despair experienced by hundreds of thousands of humans. This made it fun. ¡°Furthermore, you have also taken the survivors of a vige that was destroyed by goblins under your wing.¡± He was talking about Luke and Daisy. ¡°Yes. I intend to raise them as my adopted son and daughter.¡± ¡°As your adopted son and daughter?¡± The Bar was surprised again. sh-and-burn vigers were treated worse than farmers. On the other hand, priests upied the peak of the ss pyramid. He was most likely surprised to hear that one of the noblest of people was going to take in the lowest of people into his family. ¡°No, are they not sh-and-burn vigers? It would be more than enough to take them in as servants, so is there a reason you are adopting them?¡± ¡°Your Excellency.¡± I grinned. ¡°Simr to how the affairs of Gods are the affair of Gods, the affairs of humans belong solely to humans. Be it a priest, noble, or a ve, the Gods are not aware of the boundaries that humans have drawn on their own.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Another silence. The Bar¡¯s eyes became sober. His usual serious and stern face of a noble revealed itself. He spoke in a low voice. ¡°Is that the republicanism that supports Her Highness the Empress Dowager?¡± ¡°No. Her Highness will most likely maintain this noble hierarchy. We, humans, tend to not live the way we think and simply think the way we live.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I will pretend as if we did not have this conversation today. You overlooked my sphemous remark earlier, after all.¡± As I thought, Bar Bercy was aw-abiding individual. ¡°If Your Excellency does not believe in God, then you must not believe in ranks either. People say that ranks were established by the Gods, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Bar didn¡¯t respond. I was satisfied with that. The Bar was someone who lived his life seriously. The seeds of doubt that I had nted into his head will gradually grow and bloom into a flower one day¡­¡­. The Frankia Civil War will not end within one or two years. It might continue for over a decade. If Bar Bercy participates as a republican at that time, then that would mean I had seeded. This task ofying down the footwork for earnest nobles like him was a duty that I had ced upon myself to carry out during this journey. Please begin to doubt yourself and nobility. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hm, I wonder if this means Jeremi is a full member of Dantalian¡¯s group now. We didn¡¯t get any notifications about it, so I¡¯m not really certain. Something could potentially happen down the line. Who knows. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 179: Misanthropy (1) Chapter 179: Misanthropy (1) The person who won the masturbation contest was none other than our mercenary captain, Jacquerie. He managed to finish within 15 seconds. No one could possibly beat his vigor. The title of was bestowed upon Jacquerie. What an honor. The next day, the Bar¡¯s face remained serious even as we left the vige. Once his people noticed their lord was quiet, they did their best to lighten up the mood. They came all the way to their vige entrance in order to give us a grand farewell. Four days had passed since we resumed our nights on the Empire Road again. ¡°Your Highness, he isn¡¯t like your average boy.¡± Jacquerie¡¯s voice was filled with excitement and his face was red. ¡°Who are you referring to?¡± ¡°I am talking about the boy Your Highness left in my care. I swear on the Goddess that I have never met such a talented individual. You teach him one thing, and he learns ten. Teach him ten things, and he learns a hundred. That boy was undoubtedly born to be a fighter!¡± For someone who would always act stern, Jacquerie was getting all worked up. I gave him a small smile. ¡°Hm. Is he that impressive?¡± ¡°Yes. It would not be enough to simply call him a genius. He is like a mercenary who had once mastered swordsmanship learning to hold a sword again after not doing so for a long time¡­¡­. It is like he is remembering the things he once knew how to do in the past. In any case, his skills are astounding.¡± I handed the task of educating Luke to the mercenaries. The mercenaries reacted halfheartedly at first. I had basically brought a boy who looked like a beggar and was supposedly the survivor of a sh-and-burn vige and told them to teach him swordsmanship. They didn¡¯t understand why I would give them such a task nor did they feel the motivation to carry it out. ¡°Swordsmanship isn¡¯t something you be ustomed to after a single night.¡± ¡°I am not sure what Your Highness¡¯ intentions are, but we will do it since you are telling us to.¡± That was their general mood back then. They were already feeling tired since the mercenaries would stand at guard at the front. There was no way to know when or where bandits might attack us. They were suddenly also given the task to teach a child, so even if they didn¡¯tin to me openly, this must¡¯ve felt incredibly bothersome to them. The first day. Luke was left with the youngest member of the mercenary brigade. They had basically handed the bothersome luggage to their newest member. They were ordered to do it, so they intended to carry it out, but they didn¡¯t understand the reason. This was their way ofining to me. ¡°Hey, kid. Try giving this a swing.¡± The youngest dwarf tossed Luke a sword. It was a cheap wooden sword. Luke tilted his head. ¡°A sword?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re a man, then you should know how to protect yourself.¡± ¡°Eh, that¡¯s bothersome.¡± The dwarf nced at me. I was watching them out of the corner of my eyes from a fair distance away. The dwarf was really giving off a ¡®this is seriously bothersome¡¯ mood. I drank some grape vinegar diluted in water and gave him a bright smile. Do what I say. The dwarf let out a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s more bothersome for me, you brat.¡± ¡°Why do we have to do it when it¡¯s bothersome for both me and you? If someone who doesn¡¯t feel like doing something does a bothersome task, then it would just feel even more bothersome.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll probably learn this when you grow up, but there¡¯s nothing that isn¡¯t bothersome in the world. Waking up every morning is bothersome as well.¡± The dwarf lightly hit Luke¡¯s forehead. ¡°Let¡¯s say, for example, a wolf or a bandit suddenly attacked you. What would you do?¡± ¡°A-A wolf?¡± There was clear fear in the boy¡¯s face. ¡°Y-You guys can protect me!¡± ¡°Of course we will, but this is a hypothetical. There¡¯s no guarantee that you will truly be safe at all times if we protect you. What if we miss a single wolf? And what if that wolf goes after you of all people? Hm? Are you going to show sympathy for the wolf since he managed to survive the cold winter and offer him a bite of your chest?¡± ¡°Uuugh.¡± Just thinking about it seemed to terrify him as Luke blocked both his ears. The boy was very expressive with his body gestures. Watching the way he behaved was enough to keep me entertained. ¡°Brat, you should learn while I¡¯m still in a good mood. Your little sister is bedridden right now, so you should also learn how to protect her while you¡¯re at it.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡­you¡¯re right. I have to protect Daisy.¡± Luke seemed to finally gain the motivation to learn as he picked up the wooden sword. Referentially, Luke believes that we are a part of the Emperor¡¯s army. We were patrolling the area and we coincidentally came upon Luke¡¯s vige being attacked, so we helped them. Another unit was taking the sh-and-burn vigers to a new vige, while our group was put in charge of taking care of Luke since we discovered himte¡­¡­this was the scenario. Why would a unit under the Emperor¡¯s directmand wander around these sticks? It was a ridiculous lie. The 11-year-old Luke seemed happy just to be able to travel together with soldiers. Should I say that he had an incredibly natural demeanor as a kid? Was it because his little sister, who was younger than him by a year, acted in a mature way that far surpassed her actual age? Luke¡¯s reaction was natural, but it felt weird¡­¡­. ¡®Well, it¡¯d be terrifying in its own way if there were two Daisys.¡¯ Daisy grit her teeth and red at me even as her flesh was torn open and her heart was engraved on. One child like this was more than enough in the world. Luke swung the wooden sword sloppily. He was clearly swinging a sword for the first time in his life. ¡°I-Is it like this?¡± ¡°Yeah. From top to bottom. That¡¯s right, like that. Spread your feet apart. Good.¡± ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re doing good. Now try doing a hundred swings like that.¡± The dwarf¡¯s tone was overflowing withziness. He would make Luke practice his swings every time we stopped to take a break. It was a simple movement that only made him move his sword up and down, and even ayman would know that this was the most fundamental of fundamentals. Well, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. It should be fine to let them proceed at this pace. I stopped paying attention to them and discussed with Jacquerie about our destination. * * * The sun was bright on the second day. I had the privilege of sleeping in the carriage. The carriage had a powerful enchantment on it, so it should be more than enough to defend against attackers in the rare chance they were to appear. I wanted to rest with the soldiers, but both Jacquerie and Jeremi asked for my consideration since this was a matter of escorting me. I wasn¡¯t the only one in the carriage as Daisy was also with me. However, she had yet to open her eyes even once ever since the surgery ended. Even now, she wasying in a corner of the carriage like a corpse. ording to Jeremi, she was going to require at least two more days before waking up. My travelingpanions had already finished making breakfast by the time I came out of the carriage. They had made soup on top of a campfire. They had cooked a proper meal with flour and butter. This would be considered a luxury for beggars. ¡°You¡¯re cooking tomorrow, understood?¡± ¡°Fine, fine. You¡¯re taking quite the stance after creating a simple soup.¡± Jacquerie and Jeremi ate their meals while growling at each other. The two leading members of our group were even bickering about something like who was going to make the meals. It seems that the mercenaries were in charge of today¡¯s breakfast. ¡°Sheesh. You nitwits, why are you trying to bite each other over something as simple as putting water into a pot and boiling it?¡± Both Jacquerie and Jeremi turned to look at me at the same time once I reprimanded them. They both had serious looks on their faces. Both Jacquerie who naturally has a crude-looking face, and Jeremi whose face was half-burned, so they were a bit scary. ¡°My apologies, Your Highness, but this is a matter between dwarves and elves.¡± ¡°That is correct. The history of the division 3,000 years ago is at stake here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± History of the division 3,000 years ago my ass. Have they gone insane? I partially gave up on trying to reconcile the mercenary brigade and the assassins. I can only hope that they won¡¯t be hostile to one another when a battle does ur. Someone approached us while we were eating out soup in one ce. ¡°Uhm, Your Highness. My apologies¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm??¡± It was the youngest dwarf. He was fairly withdrawn as if he felt genuinely sorry to disturb us. It was understandable since he was interrupting a Demon Lord¡¯s breakfast. Jacquerie red at the youngest dwarf with a ¡®is this guy crazy?¡¯ kind of look. ¡°Rekan, are you deranged? Since when has my unit lost all their sense of courtesy?¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry, Captain. But I believed that I should report this as soon as possible¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Stand down.¡± I raised a hand and stopped Jacquerie. ¡°Let us hear what he has to say first. What is the matter?¡± ¡°It is about the human child you left in our care, Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± The young man spoke hesitantly. ¡°Uhm, this humble one can no longer take care of him.¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± Jacquerie¡¯s voice grew louder instantly. ¡°Even if they are private lessons, His Highness is the one who gave this order. Are you not afraid of death, Rekan?¡± ¡°Captain, that is not what I mean¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is a dance of questions and answers. It seems you have be cid after His Highness treated you kindly all this time. For the crime of being discourteous to the king despite being born a demon and going against military discipline as a soldier, I will take your neck as repentance for your crimes.¡± Jacquerie grabbed his axe and stood up. What a pain. ¡°Ah, ah. Wait a moment, Captain Jacquerie. Crimes are evesting, so you can bring down punishment upon him at any time. Let us listen to why Rekan believes this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­If Your Highness says so.¡± Jacquerie frowned as he took a step back. Jacquerie, the young dwarf, and I know that this was all an act. All of the mercenaries here were professionals. If it weren¡¯t for something important, then he wouldn¡¯t have tried to give a report while also interfering with our meals. Jacquerie was simply making a scene as a way to maintain strict regtions. ¡°Now then, Rekan, speak. Why are you saying that you cannot take care of Luke?¡± ¡°Thank you for generosity, Your Highness. I will keep it short and simple. That child is far beyond me.¡± ¡°Far beyond you?¡± The young dwarf nodded. ¡°Yes. At first, I thought he had a lot of stamina because he was raised on a mountainside. I also figured he had a good head on his shoulders despite being a kid. However, I gradually became more and more certain and came to a conclusion after watching over himte into the night.¡± ¡°What did you conclude?¡± ¡°Your Highness, that boy is a genius.¡± The young dwarf looked awkward as he said that. ¡°These sort of people appear very rarely. People who were born for the sole sake of holding a sword. This boy is a prime example of this. I only taught him how to swing down and swing down at an angle, but he has already figured out how to bnce his legs, chest, head, and arms.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Jacquerie frowned. This wasn¡¯t an act this time. He was genuinely taken aback by the young dwarf¡¯s statement. ¡°What are you saying, Rekan? You aren¡¯t lying because you don¡¯t want to do something bothersome, right?¡± ¡°Jeez, Sir Jacquerie. Even if I did go insane, why would I do something like that?¡± The young dwarf got frustrated and changed his tone. ¡°If you want, then you can try teaching him yourself. I was also uncertain about it before, so I tried testing things out all night.¡± ¡°Bncing oneself is not something that can be done with talent alone. It is something you gain naturally by practicing and training numerous times. How could a mere human child¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s why I pretended to be insane to report this to His Highness. Even I don¡¯t want to interfere with His Highness¡¯ breakfast. The others are already ring daggers at me over there.¡± I nced behind the young dwarf and the other mercenaries gathered at the clearing were all looking this way. The fact that none of them was uttering a word made it seem like they intended to beat up the youngest once he returned. The young dwarf shook his head and let out a sigh. ¡°Honestly, this was a downyed report as well. From what I can tell, that brat¡­¡­I think he¡¯s circting mana throughout his body through his breathing.¡± ¡°What, mana?¡± Jacquerie¡¯s voice went a note higher. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Luke seems like quite the generic MC of a story. Thank God he isn¡¯t the main character of this story :^). There really isn¡¯t much else toment about in this chapter. I just want to see more of Jeremi and Daisy at this point. Let¡¯s hope we get to see more interactions with them soon. Chapter 180: Misanthropy (2) Chapter 180: Misanthropy (2) ¡°You didn¡¯t teach him breathing techniques in secret, did you?¡± ¡°Jeez, please believe me, Captain! Do you think I have the skill to teach someone about citta?¡±(TL Note: Citta) The young dwarf was sweating profusely. Breathing techniques were the first step of mana citta. The method itself wasn¡¯t difficult, but whether you could do them properly or not was an entirely separate matter. There was a time where I acted like an unruly child as I tried to learn martial arts from Lapis. At that time, Lapis said this to me with cold eyes as she taught me about breathing techniques. ¨C Your Highness has absolutely no talent when ites to things rted to martial arts. She dered. After that day, I obediently practiced shooting a crossbow. Luke was being praised as some sort of genius and prodigy with the stats that I had painstakingly raised. Life couldn¡¯t be more unfair than this. ¡°I made him practice swinging his sword around 400 times and I suddenly started to hear that familiar hoo, hoo, sound, you know? When I listened more carefully, I realized he was doing a breathing technique. Damn it. You have no idea how surprised I was.¡± ¡°How could some mountain child figure out citta on his own?¡± Jacquerie didn¡¯t seem convinced. The young dwarf started patting his chest. ¡°Ah, why would I lie about this? I told you, didn¡¯t I? You should see for yourself. Even if you torture me now, you¡¯lle to your senses once you see it for yourself.¡± ¡°I agree with Rekan.¡± I decided to give him my support. ¡°If he is telling the truth, then would this not be interesting? Jacquerie, you should try taking care of Luke once.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I understand. If it turns out that Rekan was lying, then.¡± Jacquerie red at the young dwarf as he continued. ¡°I will carry out strict military procedures.¡± ¡°Very well. You can cut my head off or whip me. I don¡¯t care.¡± The young dwarf received the threat pompously. ¡°But you¡¯ll also experience the same thing I did soon.¡± ¡°Hmph, you¡¯ll see. I do not believe in prodigies.¡± Jacquerie, therefore, withdrew from doing top-level work. Like this, a small uproar urred because of the hero siblings, but that was nothing more than a ripple in a river. Even if the ripples were huge, the river was still going to flow to its destination. Our unit continued like that without stopping. We were originally nning to go to the capital in order to join up with the Empress Dowager. However, I had changed our ns after I took control of our group. We headed for the northern region of Frankia. The northern region of Frankia was renowned for its richnd. Different from the northeastern region, their remation work was done so vastly that you could see golden wheat from one horizon to the other. They also had the highest poption. It would be fine to call it Frankia¡¯s lifeline. There are two Demon Lord Castles here. We have to cooperate with them and flip Frankia over. If they attack from the outside whilemunicating in secret with us on the inside, then even the strongest of domains would inevitably fall. ¡°His Highness Leraje is a key figure within the ins Faction.¡± First, Rank 14 Demon Lord Leraje. ¡°He is the next strongest after Her Highness Barbatos and His Highness Beleth. He is a traditionally powerful individual. However, as you can see.¡± Jeremi showed me a map. A detailed map of the geography within Frankia was drawn on it. It was the highest quality map you could use for military affairs. She was able to acquire this as the leader of the finest assassin group, but even nobles wouldn¡¯t be able toy their eyes on something like this. There were areas on the map marked with thick crosses. ¡°Different from most other Demon Lords, his base is in the center of the continent. It is extremely difficult to build up your forces in such a position. Fufu, that is why His Highness Zepar has more authority within the ins Faction than His Highness Leraje.¡± Brother Beleth is Rank 13, Leraje is Rank 14, and General Zepar is Rank 16. If things went ording to their ranks, then Beleth and Leraje should be the onespeting for second-inmand. However, even during thest Crescent Alliance, the Demon Lords who werepeting for second-inmand were Brother Beleth and General Zepar. I felt uneasy. Someone weaker than them was being treated with respect within the faction. There weren¡¯t a lot of people who would ept a situation like this peacefully. ¡°Mm, he must have a lot ofints about the current situation.¡± ¡°Yes. His Highness Leraje was unable to join up with the main army during thest Crescent Alliance. His Highness Leraje had to attack the humans from the back with a detached force while the main army was fighting the human alliance vigorously on the frontlines.¡± Thanks to this, the Empire of Frankia was unable to fight the Crescent Alliance with their full force. It was only a single Demon Lord, but Rank 14 was right below the strongest individuals. The monsters under hismand totaled between 2,000 and 3,000. Thousands of monsters were moving together and attacking the backline as a single entity under a Demon Lord¡¯smand. This prevented all of the regional lords within the northern area of Frankia from moving. What lord would dispatch their troops when their domains could be turned into dust if they were to make the wrong move? Leraje carried out his part splendidly. However. ¡°Despite all his efforts, he only has a few exploits¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He definitelycks in anything shy. The flowers of war are therge-scale battles, after all.¡± He carried out a role that was barely rewarded. For example, look at General Zepar. He was assigned as the vanguard and got through the ck Mountains. All sorts of praises followed his aplishment. This opened a path for the Crescent Alliance, showed the strength of the ins Faction, and created an honorable start to the war¡­¡­. What about Leraje? In truth, Leraje managed to hold down half of the northern region of Frankia on their own. The number of human soldiers that were being held down by Leraje most likely totaled around 15,000 men. He managed to handle 15,000 soldiers on his own and this was definitely a huge aplishment when you look at the entire picture of the Crescent Alliance. However, what he did was nothing more than gueri warfare. Leraje¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t to win battles. It was to prevent the humans from departing by making them constantly uneasy about when and where they might get attacked. Leraje would be busy intimidating the humans while the humans would be busy protecting theirnd¡­¡­. This prevented any sort ofrge-scale battles from urring. So he naturally didn¡¯t have a lot of major aplishments. This was why Barbatos couldn¡¯t award Leraje that much even if she wanted to. If Leraje was deemed as the person who contributed the most, then the other Demon Lords would immediatelyin. ¨C How are we third-rate contributors when we lost our precious men on the battlefield, but the Demon Lord who didn¡¯t shed a single drop of blood is being treated as if he contributed the most? ¨C If it is like this, then why do we have to shed so many tears, sweat, and blood? It was obvious that it would end up like this. The other Demon Lords obviously know that detached forces are as important as the main army. However, what you know in your head and what you feel in your heart are two separate things. They had lost hundreds of the monsters which they had raised for several decades, but that other person didn¡¯t incur any losses at all. And yet they contributed less than him? Most people wouldn¡¯t understand this. Distributing military merits is an unimaginably intricate task. ¡°Leraje might dislike me.¡± ¡°Hm? Has Your Highness met His Highness Leraje before?¡± ¡°No, this would be no different from a first encounter.¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°That person has been silently doing their own task and I am someone who had appeared out of nowhere and climbed up thedder at a blinding pace. It would be unsurprising if they were saddened by this. They might think that there¡¯s no point in working hard.¡± ¡°But, no one can possibly deny that Your Highness contributed the most¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is not a matter of rationality. This is a matter of emotions.¡± Leraje will probably try to vent his pent-up sadness and frustration out on me. It would be like venting one¡¯s anger out on a third party. This would only harm me. There was nothing of worst quality than a matter that involves emotions. ¡°I was thinking about using my position as Barbatos¡¯ close aide to negotiate, but¡­¡­Hm. It will probably be impossible to be the ass in the lion¡¯s skin.¡± ¡°I see. Then what will you do?¡± Jeremi sounded interested. ¡°Should we turn around and head south? There is a Demon Lord Castle in the southern region of Frankia as well.¡± ¡°No. The south is much too poor inparison to the north. Even if we meddle with things there, we wouldn¡¯t influence the civil war in any impactful way. We will be going north.¡± ¡°As I expected, I knew Your Highness would say that.¡± Jeremi smiled widely. She was happy to know that I was willingly taking the difficult path. Tsk, this damn perverted girl. Why are there no sane people around me? Only perverts are gathering around me as time passes. That old saying about birds of a feather flocking together was all a lie. Jeremi pointed at a different spot on the map. ¡°Next is His Highness Ronove.¡± Rank 27 Demon Lord Ronove. ¡°His Highness Ronove belongs to the Mountain Faction. Her Highness Paimon most likely ordered him to cooperate with us beforehand. You should be able to obtain his cooperation with ease.¡± ¡°I can only wish.¡± Jeez, I really have no luck either. Why did the two Demon Lords belong to different factions? Their rtionship bes worse the closer they are. There¡¯s a high chance that Leraje and Ronove are on cat-and-dog terms. ¡°Haah.¡± I let out a sigh. This sigh had be habitual. Not only did I have to work together with a Demon Lord who is jealous of me, but I also have to mend the rtionship of two Demon Lords. I didn¡¯t have a good feeling about this. I should think up a concrete n tonight about how I am going to make the two Demon Lords cooperate¡­¡­. I also have to deal with the lump known as the hero siblings. What is this? My peaceful days are being ravaged mercilessly. I want to live a calm life farming or something, but my surroundings won¡¯t let me. Laura, are you doing well? I already miss Laura¡¯s cute moans. When I return, please gift me with four days of happy nights¡­¡­. * * * We set up camp again on the road at night. In the end, Jacquerie got so caught up with handling Luke that he neglected top-level work again. Jeremi and I had to make all themands and the assassin group wound up having to prepare lunch and dinner as well. Preparing meals for about fifty people was a lot more of a hassle than I imagined. ¡°That snotty premature ejactor!¡± Jeremi fumed and imed that this was all a part of that dwarf¡¯s wicked scheme. Despite being someone whose emotions were usually as calm as ake, this was one of those rare moments where she was genuinely angry. Both Jacquerie and Jeremi would usually go about things at their own pace, but that would all get thrown off bnce once the two of them got involved with each other. A match made in heaven. Iughed and tossed out a joke. ¡°Hey, want me to be your officiantter? I¡¯m a priest of the Goddess right now, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I only tossed out a joke, but genuine bloodlust was sent my way. I flinched. The bloodlust of a trained assassin was quite literally overwhelming. I immediately surrendered and fled as soon as I received my stew. I thought I was going to die! The sky soon became dark by the time I finished my bread and stew. I secretly paid the soldiers on night duty¨DI have to do this to keep things interesting for them and prevent wolves from getting anywhere close to us¨Dand patted their shoulders. The soldiers on night duty were extremely grateful. ¡°Work hard. This may not be much, but a Demon Lord¡¯s life is in your hands. Even if it is only for tonight, you all are a Demon Lord¡¯s royal guards.¡± ¡°We are honored!¡± ¡°We will keep a strict watch and prevent even an ant from getting by us!¡± As expected, money was directly linked with loyalty when it came to mercenaries. Their eyes changed the instant I slipped them a few gold coins. A miracle urred where a sergeant had instantly turned into a vigorous new recruit. I gave them a grin and returned to my carriage. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy was sleeping in the carriage. The girl¡¯s small body had its back turned to a corner. Two days had passed since the surgery, but she still showed no signs of waking up. Honestly, I also felt like it¡¯d be great if she just kept sleeping like this forever. I rebuked myself. ¡®There¡¯s no way that would happen.¡¯ If she was going to meet her end like this, then she would¡¯ve never be the hero in the first ce. It was a silly hope. Iid a nket out on top of the seat-cum-bed in the carriage and lied down. I was rather tired after practically riding a horse all day. My eyes automatically closed as soon as I lied down on the bed. I could hear an owl hooting in the forest. It was a pleasant luby. I went to sleep while hoping to not have any nightmares. ¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. How much time had passed? I could hear a voice beyond my faint consciousness. ¡°As I thought.¡± It was like a white curtain fluttering gently in the wind. The voice knocked on my consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes. The shadow of a person and the darkness around us entered my vision. A girl darker than the night itself was right before me. The girl was sitting on my body. She was looking down at me with emotionless eyes. There was something sharp. A sharp dagger was being pointed toward me. The feeling of sleep had yet to fully leave my head. My eyes felt heavy. Daisy muttered quietly while I was still failing to understand what was happening. ¡°As I thought, I cannot.¡± She was holding a dagger in her two hands and holding it against my neck. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hello and wee to another game of ¡°Guess that Demon Lord¡¯s Gender!¡±, featuring Leraje and Ronove, more ambiguous names! I know I used male pronouns for now, but it¡¯s just something I defaulted to in order to make writing a bit easier. I do know Leraje¡¯s gender now because of the early ess chapters, but that still doesn¡¯t change the turmoil I go through whenever a new Demon Lord¡¯s name is mentioned. A true struggle indeed. Welp, see you guys next time. Chapter 181: Misanthropy (3) Chapter 181: Misanthropy (3) ¡°¨DGuh!?¡± I urgently raised my knees. It was an instinctive action. My knee mmed right into Daisy¡¯s stomach as I brought it up. The girl let out a groan as she rolled off the bed. nk, a metallic sound rang out as the dagger was dropped somewhere. She wasn¡¯t on top of me anymore, but I could still feel the coldness left behind by the de on my neck. The de was genuinely brought to my neck with the intention of stabbing it. There was clear bloodlust there. My nape felt cold. I rubbed my neck as if there was something smeared on it. This damned brat. I clenched my jaw. Once the fear faded away, it was reced with anger. I looked down and saw Daisy on the ground. It seems that my knee had luckily struck her sr plexus. I stood up and got above her. The girl¡¯s small body was easy to subdue. Daisy looked up at me impassively. It was hard to think of this as the expression of the child who had just tried to kill me a couple of seconds ago. Her impassiveness poured oil on my anger. ¨C p! I struck Daisy¡¯s cheek with my palm. Her head turned easily like a stalk of corn snapping. However, Daisy slowly turned her head back to look up at me again. This rotten brat. ¡°It seems you have a death wish.¡± ¡°No. I swore to kill you.¡± Her gaze didn¡¯t change at all. It remained rebellious and annoying. Her efforts, however, were trifling. Iughed at her. ¡°So? Were you able to kill me? Ha, this is unfortunate. I will not let things turn out the way you want it to. You will have to receive permission from me to even breathe from now on.¡± ¡°It seems that is the case. It is unfortunate.¡± Daisy spoke with a face that didn¡¯t even remotely look as if she found this to be unfortunate. I didn¡¯t like this so I struck her cheek once more. Stronger this time. The sound of flesh smacking flesh resonated throughout the narrow carriage. ¡°Confess. When did you wake up?¡± ¡°When the sun rose today.¡± This meant that she had been waiting for an opportunity like this since the afternoon. Her throat should be absolutely parched and her hunger should be unbearable since she had been asleep for four days, but she managed to endure all of that. All for the sake of testing whether she could kill me or not. A venomous brat. My chest felt so hot that I thought it was going to burst. I could literally feel the anger welling in my eyes. Daisy seemed to not notice this, no, she most likely did, but she was intentionally ignoring it as she opened her mouth. ¡°Who is Jack?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Do you always have nightmares? You mutter people¡¯s names endlessly. There are names that you repeat. Jack, Hawk, nd, Riff¡­¡­and mother.¡± The ends of Daisy¡¯s mouth lifted up. Her eyes weren¡¯t smiling, though. ¡°It is surprising to know that existences like you also have mothers.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Snap. I felt my rationality snap apart. I could no longer hold back my anger as I proceeded to p Daisy over and over again. I continued on and on. Daisy¡¯s head would snap to the side each time I did, but it would slowly return to its original position to look at me with emotionless eyes. I dly inflicted harm on her. I wanted to do so greatly. Naturally, nothing much could be said about the stamina of a girl who had been passed out for several days. There was a limit to how long she could endure this. Once her lips were torn and blood started to flow out, Daisy seemed to no longer have the strength to move her head as her head remained turned to the side limply. Like a doll that had its strings cut. However, she was still breathing heavily. I grabbed her chin with my right hand and pulled her head close to me. I brought her so close that I could practically count her eyshes. I growled at her. ¡°I will burn your mother and father alive. Do you understand? If you cut off my finger, then I will cut off your mother¡¯s arm, and if you cut off my toe, then I will tear your mother¡¯s insides out and ughter her. I will carve your father¡¯s eyes out and shove them down your throat. You should heed my warning while you still can. I am the type of person who returns any humiliation by tenfold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Half-closed, bleary eyes turned to look at me. The girl spoke as if she were squeezing out thest bit of air from her lungs. ¡°You cannot do that.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are incapable of doing that.¡± Daisy closed her eyes. Her breathing became weak. She had said whatever she wanted and passed out however she wanted as well. The hand that I was using to hold her face started to tremble severely as if I had essential tremor. It may have been the end of it for her since she had lost consciousness, but it wasn¡¯t the case for me. My anger was spewing up like a volcano. Theva that had yet to burst out hadpletely filled out my throat and intestines. ¡°Fine.¡± I muttered. ¡°I will show you what an eye for an eye means, you brat.¡± I pushed Daisy aside and got up. I felt like the upper part of my abdomen would burst if I didn¡¯t manage to vent some of this heat out, so I exited the carriage while letting out deep breaths. It was the middle of the night, so it waspletely dark outside. Red campfires were burning here and there. The campfire that Jeremi was residing at was the one closest to the carriage. I approached that fire. She must have noticed my approach as Jeremi got up. She had once told me that assassins could sense the presence of people around them at all times, so I could sleep without any worries. ¡°What is the matter, Your Highness?¡± ¡°The kid woke up.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Jeremi nodded her head. ¡°Her body must be very weak, then. I will get some honey water for her immediately.¡± ¡°She truly is weak. She tried to assassinate me.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± I let out a snort. ¡°She hid the fact that she had awoken during the afternoon and lied in wait until I fell asleep in the carriage. She took out my dagger and tried to stab me here. That damned brat.¡± I pointed to my neck as I spoke. Talking about it only fanned the mes of my anger further. ¡°Ha, I even told her that she cannot escape the control of the ve seal.¡± Jeremi let out a forcedugh. ¡°She is a lot more vicious than I expected. What do you intend to do, Your Highness?¡± ¡°I will torture her thoroughly. I will not inflict upon her physical pain. However, my anger will only be alleviated if I torment her mind thoroughly.¡± ¡°So?¡± Jeremi asked in an interested tone. I smiled as I muttered a line in my head. ¡®Monster Employment Tab.¡¯ A holographic window quietly appeared before me. It was a selection window to choose from F Rank, E Rank, or D Rank monsters. I chose the D Rank option. A list of hirable monsters unfolded before me. ***
Monster Name(D) Stamina Attack Defense Price
Torture Slime 20 1 2 500 Gold
Gnome(Low ss fairy) 7 2 5 500 Gold
Goblin cavalry 10 10 8 800 Gold
Goblin mage 5 20 5 1000 Gold
Zombie(*) 2 5 5 100 Gold
*Due to reaching 50 affection points with Demon Lord Barbatos(Darkness), you are able to perform a special hire (Zombie)! A notice telling me that I possessed about 9 million gold also appeared. This was because I had to pay a down payment of 5 million gold in order to build my Demon Lord Castle. Lapis and Laura were probably in the middle of directing a bunch of carpenters right now. If I consider the 5 million gold that the archdukes were going to send me, I could hire whatever I want right now. However, what I needed right now wasn¡¯t arge unit of monsters. I focused my gaze on only a single monster that was on the list. ¡®Torture Slime. One.¡¯ A window appeared asking me to confirm my purchase. I selected ¡®yes¡¯ without any hesitation. Once I did, a purple magic circle was drawn on the ground in front of me and a transparent, phlegmatic monster was summoned on top of it. Slimes were known as the mostmon monster in the world, but they were practically strangers to me. Jeremi let out a gasp next to me. ¡°Alchemy? No, summoning magic¡­¡­? Without a chant as well¡­¡­?¡± ¡°This is my one and only talent. Do not reveal this to anyone.¡± ¡°Of course. But to think you hid a trump card like this all this time¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi looked at me with newfound respect. ¡°It is hard to guess how many ws Your Highness is hiding. The Demon Lord of Many Faces title was truly made for Your Highness¡¯ sake.¡± Not only was I far from being able to use summoning magic, but I couldn¡¯t cast a fireball as well. Nheless, this was something others would never be able to guess. It was better for me if the other party misunderstood on their own. I wouldn¡¯t be able to exin my ability anyway. ¡°This is a fellow I made while I waszing around in my dungeon.¡± I picked up the slime with my hand. The transparent slime was capable of manipting its body freely. Once I gave it amand in my mind, the slime immediately shrunk down to fit perfectly on top of my palm. ¡°A special slime developed strictly for torture. I will use this child.¡± ¡°Aha. I see.¡± Jeremi looked as if she understood what I was going to do. ¡°If I dare say so myself, I am a pro in this field. Slimes are a fundamental and mental torture device. Your Highness is nning to toy with the girl named Daisy in a sensual way, correct?¡± I nodded. Jeremi raised the corners of her mouth wickedly as she smiled. ¡°I also prefer this sort of method overcerating flesh and grinding bones. But, Your Highness, are you sure this will be effective? The demeanor that girl disyed during the surgery made it obvious that she is unlike your average person.¡± ¡°Indeed. She is not like your average person.¡± I smiled mischievously. ¡°That is why I will go about it in a different way.¡± ¡°A different way?¡± ¡°Give me your ear.¡± I gave her a detailed exnation about how I intended to torture Daisy. Jeremi¡¯s face went through multiple emotions as my exnation continued. It went from confused to bewildered before ending at surprised. ¡°I see. I am genuinely moved. That is an absolutely magnificent and boundlessly Demon Lord-like idea. I was able to witness Your Highness¡¯ various faces tonight.¡± ¡°This will not bring her down in one blow, but it should cut away at her mind thoroughly.¡± I remarked as I pulled my face away from Jeremi¡¯s ear. ¡°We have to leave to meet Leraje tomorrow. We have to select someone to take care of this task. I can only hope that this task will be finished by the time we are back.¡± ¡°Did you not say that the girl is passed out right now?¡± Jeremi chuckled. It was the typicalughter of a viiness. ¡°Would it not be better to finish it now?¡± ¡°No. I wish to let her witness it from beginning to end.¡± ¡°Your Highness has quite the foul taste¡­¡­. Then I will go wake the child up.¡± Jeremi rubbed her hands together. ¡°It has been quite a while since Ist felt this excited. O Magnificent and Noble Demon Lord, I will finish this by tonight, so please leave it to me. I hope that you can watch from the best seats in the house.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My God, I felt like I had something I wanted to say here, but the heat has made me forget everything. It¡¯s been really hard to concentrate on trantingtely because of this heat. It still rains every now and then, but there¡¯s no wind. Everything just feels humid. Maybe I¡¯ll remember what I wanted to sayter. Can someone turn off the sun? kthx. I¡¯ll see you guys when the sun is gone. Chapter 182: Misanthropy (4) Chapter 182: Misanthropy (4) Jeremi took out a bunch of equipment from her traveling gear. She was overflowing with confidence. ¡°These are potions I had kept in reserve.¡± There were clear bottles stored inside of a wooden box. Each bottle sloshed with various liquids of different colors. Aside from the potions, the surgery knife, incense, and herbal powder that I sawst time were also stored in otherpartments. How should I describe this? It was like I was looking at the belongings of a herbalist, doctor, and perfumer all in one. ¡°Mm. It seems that you are not a simple assassin, but also a hardworking alchemist, huh?¡± ¡°It is normal for an assassin to know about medicine if they want to at least be the vice-captain of an assassin group.¡± So it¡¯s essential for them to know about poisonous substances and gases? In that case, assassins have to be gifted in both fields. The image I had of assassins had been quite different until now. We finished our preparations and returned to the carriage. Daisy was still copsed on the floor of the carriage. Jeremi immediately put Daisy on the bed and started to treat her. She poured some sort of yellow liquid into Daisy¡¯s mouth. When I asked her what it was, it was apparently a honey liquid with several different herbs melted into it. ¡°Not only is she suffering from the aftereffects of excessive potion use¡­¡­sheesh, Your Highness, you also injured her severely. Look at her torn lips. I feel like these injuries are probably more severe than the aftereffects.¡± The inside of the carriage was lit by candlelight. Jeremi stripped Daisy out of her ragged clothes and dipped a towel inside some boiled herbal water before wiping Daisy¡¯s entire body clean. ¡°She is still a girl. You shouldn¡¯t ruin her face.¡± ¡°There is a lot more weight to those words since you are the one saying them.¡± ¡°Fufu.¡± Half of Jeremi¡¯s face had been burned horribly, after all. ¡°She taunted me.¡± I plopped myself down on the seat on the other side. ¡°She is a disgustingly devious brat.¡± ¡°Oh, she taunted you? What sort of taunt could she have done to make Your Highness so upset? You are usually so calm and collected. Even I cannot help but be curious.¡± ¡°Put your needless interest somewhere else.¡± She mentioned my mother. I got so angry that it surprised even me. Even now it had yet to subside. ¡®That girl knows how to urately influence my emotions.¡¯ I thought to myself as I watched her get treated from the side. It was like that back at the sh-and-burn vige as well. The 10-year-old girl spoke as if she could clearly see the words she had to say to affect my mind. What she had to do to obtain my goodwill and to drag up my understanding and mercy. It was like she was reading the mind of an old friend. My rage would have most likely subsided if Daisy apologized after trying to assassinate me. She was the hero, after all. No, she was like the shell of a hero. It was obvious that she would try to kill me. However, I would have not forgiven her for trying to kill me while I¡¯m unaware. That was something I would never forgive. Someone doing something arbitrarily and causing death without me knowing is something I absolutely do not want to experience again. ¡°That brat deliberately got on my nerves. The surgery must have hurt quite a bit, that damned brat¡­¡­.¡± ¡°She deliberately got on Your Highness¡¯ nerves? What could she possibly gain by doing that?¡± ¡°It means that she does not intend to apologize even if she were to die.¡± I gnashed my teeth. Even if she was able to read me like an open book, I could easily tell what was on her mind as well. It was obvious. However, it seems that Jeremi didn¡¯t understand what I meant as a third party. She was tilting her head. ¡°I apologize, Your Highness, but I do not understand what you mean by that.¡± ¡°To put it simply, it is a battle of pride. She does not want to apologize for trying to assassinate me. If she does, then she would no longer be able to attempt it ever again. Nheless, she does not want to rely on my generosity to receive my mercy either.¡± She¡¯s trying to put me on equal terms with her psychologically. ¡°¡­¡­Are you saying that she provoked you knowing that she would get hit like this?¡± ¡°Did I not tell you already? She did not simply do it knowingly. She did it with that very intention in mind.¡± My insides felt like they were boiling. ¡°She sent me a deration of war. The girl has absolutely no intention of building up an equal rtionship with me since we have be master and ve. Let us constantly carve away at each other¡¯s minds and spend our hellish days together¡­¡­this is what she is most likely trying to tell me. This shitty brat.¡± Adding to this, she might have even nned further than this in order to prevent me from taking the initiative. No, I was certain of this. If things had gone ording to my original n, then I was going to put myself in an advantageous position by being kind to Daisy after she had be incredibly weak due to the surgery. It didn¡¯t matter if my kindness was real or fake. The mere fact that I was kind to her would have prevented Daisy from acting carelessly. While I could do all sorts of kind acts to Daisy, she would barely be able to do anything for me. My kindness would pile and pile up as time passes before Daisy eventually gets mentally overwhelmed by mepletely. That was the scenario I had nned out. Therefore, tonight was the only chance that a reversal of positions could happen. She taunted me to the point of making me beat her. If you look at this objectively, then not only had I made her a ve and forced a terrible surgery upon her, but I acted violently upon a patient. I was at a loss in terms of psychological warfare. If I do kind things for her now, then that wouldn¡¯t simply be kindness butpensation for everything I had done to her until now. This impertinentss! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi was listening to me in silence before carefully opening her mouth to speak. ¡°Uhm¡­¡­Your Highness? Do you perhaps think like ¡®that¡¯ every time you interact with other people? Like what the other person is thinking and what sort of psychological structure has to be established to gain an advantage¡­¡­? Furthermore, you are saying that this girl does this as well?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I furrowed my brows. ¡°I am the weakest Demon Lord at rank 71. If I cannot grasp what the other party is thinking and their intentions, then I would simply be prey to be hunted. If you know your enemy and yourself, you can win every battle. Is this not a basic among basics?¡± ¡°Naturally¡­¡­that is obviously the case if you make grasping the intentions of others such a simple task. However, who in the world would devote their way of speech and demeanor entirely on that¡­¡­no. Never mind.¡± Jeremi let out a sigh. ¡°That is the way of a schemer. I understand now. Jeez. A preposterous way of life does exist. But how does Your Highness know this girl is the same as you?¡± I let out a snort. ¡°You can tell just by looking at her. She¡¯s quite the fucker.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi¡¯s hands stopped treating Daisy for a moment as she turned to give me a befuddled look. Her mouth was twitching as if she wanted to say something, but she soon let out a sigh and returned to her work. She muttered something to herself as she shook her head, but I couldn¡¯t hear her. After about two hours, Daisy opened her eyes fully. It must have been thanks to the effect of the herbal water as even her torn lips were healed. Her skin was back to normal. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy turned to look this way. She looked back and forth between me and Jeremi before lowering her head courteously to Jeremi. ¡°Thank you for treating me.¡± ¡°Oh dear. Don¡¯t mention it.¡± I felt like my rationality was going to snap again. This absolutely shitty brat! Her disy of gratitude to Jeremi was more of a performance she was putting on for me. I would never thank you, this was what she was saying to me. I barely managed to take out my wooden ball with my trembling left hand. I calmed myself down as I rolled the ball around in my palm. My head cooled down once I felt the sensation of the ball pressing down on my hand. Yeah. That¡¯s right. Calm down, Dantalian¡­¡­. She¡¯s more than ten years younger than you. Don¡¯t fall for such an obvious ploy. We only lost our initiative temporarily, she does not have any more tricks up her sleeves. ¡°It seems thess with a bright future in assassination has awoken.¡± I smiled. I had regained enoughposure to cover my anger with a smile. Nheless, I couldn¡¯t do anything about my mocking tone. ¡°I wonder if you were able to sleep well. Are you not curious as to whether the left arms and legs of your parents are still fine?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hoo.¡± The girl let out a snort. Damn it, a snort. She was genuinely trying to drive me insane. Her face waspletely emotionless, so the fact that she was mocking me with simply the sound of a snort angered me further. I subconsciously strengthened my grip on my wooden ball. I wanted to p that annoying girl again. It would only be right to hang people and execute them on the gallows for snorting at people. It wasn¡¯t illegal, but it was still a weapon! Reacting to a weapon with a p was only fair to a certain degree. I curled my lips as I spoke. ¡°All right. Let us put aside any needlessments.¡± ¡°I did not say anything.¡± Daisy stared straight at me as she remarked. My urge to kill surged up. ¡°¡­¡­I was personally deeply moved by what you pulled in the middle of the night. It was an amazing deration of war. Thus, I prepared a small gift for you. Do you know what this is?¡± I raised my right hand. A transparent and slimy substance was squirming around in a round shape. ¡°A slime.¡± ¡°I will now be putting this into your body. I do hope that you ept it.¡± ¡°As you wish.¡± All of her responses were short. She didn¡¯t want to let herself get pushed back in terms of spirit even if she were to die. You¡¯re so amazingly haughty, hero candidate Daisy. I look forward to seeing whether you can maintain that expression or not in a few days. ¡°Jeremi.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Jeremi received the slime from me. Once she tickled the center of the slime with her finger, the slime naturally split into two pieces. ¡°Now then, Miss Daisy. Please spread your legs.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy seemed to now realize what the purpose of the slime was. She looked at the slime impassively before looking up at me impassively again. This was probably her way of implicitly telling me to not look. Why was she acting like this when I had already seen everything there was to see when her heart was being engraved? Nevertheless, her action felt strangely adorable so I turned my head away appropriately. I heard a voice once I did. ¡°I will be in charge of your education from now on, so it would be troubling if you didn¡¯t listen to me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I understand.¡± This was the first step. Jeremi was going to insert one half of the slime ¡®into¡¯ Daisy. The transparent slime will most likely hesitate, but it will continue to gradually crawl further inside. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Did she think it was going to start now? I could hear Daisy hold her breath. The sensation of a foreign substance entering you will most likely feel incredibly vivid especially since it was a type of monster. A minute passed. I was tapping the floor with my foot out of boredom. Jeremi spoke. ¡°It is done. Now I will put in the next one.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± The slime that had gone inside first should have slipped out by now. I turned my head to look at Daisy. She was looking at me as well. From her perspective, something she hadn¡¯t expected was happening. By her gaze, she was earnestly trying to figure out my intentions by examining my face. I felt pleased so I gave her a smile. Regardless of our exchange, Jeremi inserted the second slime. Nothing happened this time as well. The only difference was the fact that, different from the first slime, the second slime wasn¡¯t removed. Therefore, the second slime had positioned itself inside Daisy¡¯s body. ¡°Does it feel ufortable?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. It does not.¡± Daisy seemed to think that it was finally over now. ¡°I can barely feel anything.¡± ¡°Oh dear, that¡¯s good. It was a sess, then.¡± Jeremi spoke gently. ¡°Now then, you should get up and put a mantle on. Aren¡¯t you hungry after sleeping for so long? There¡¯s still some warm soup left in the pot, so you can go have a te.¡± Jeremi supported Daisy as she got up. She then wrapped Daisy¡¯s body with a mantle she had prepared beforehand. It was worn out, but it was a top-grade item with a cold resistance spell cast on it. ¡°Ah, please refer to me as your teacher from now on.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes, teacher. I will be in your care.¡± Jeremi left the carriage with Daisy. Daisy couldn¡¯t hide her suspicion even as she left the carriage. But what does she know? I chuckled to myself as I was left alone in the carriage. No matter how smart she is, she¡¯s only 10 years old. She can¡¯t counteract something like this. This was what I was aiming for¡­¡­. Attacking someone¡¯s weak point was one of the biggest fundamental in military tactics. There was nothing wrong with this. I¡¯m genuinely looking forward to seeing what sort of face she was going to make. However, I, unfortunately, have to go and meet the other Demon Lords first¡­¡­. I¡¯ll get my revenge for what you did tonight when I return from those meetings. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m writing this as soon as I woke up, so my head is pretty empty right now. The weather is still being a pain here. A really strong thunderstorm went by yesterday, but the temperature hasn¡¯t changed at all. Why can¡¯t the wind blow or something. It¡¯s just ufortably hot. I¡¯ve also been having a really bad headache sincest night, so I¡¯m probably going toy down after I post this. On another note, Leraje is confirmed a male. Not sure about Ronove yet. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 183 – Misanthropy Chapter 183 ¨CMisanthropy WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. It¡¯s only a very brief part at the end, but I¡¯m putting this warning up anyway. It¡¯ll continue on to the beginning of the next chapter. You have been warned. * * * It wasn¡¯t easy to meet a Demon Lord just because they also belonged to the ins Faction. I¡¯ve been trying to get in contact with Rank 14 Leraje for the past few days now, but I didn¡¯t receive a favorable response. The other party made their disapproval apparent. He was questioning why I wasn¡¯t going through the formal procedure that was necessary to meet him. What ulterior motives do you have to try and approach me using unofficial means? Most importantly, why is a Demon Lord who should be participating on the frontlines of Habsburg here in Frankia all of a sudden¡­¡­? To put it simply, we seemed suspicious. However, there was one good thing. The name Dantalian was enough to make the other party reconsider. I was a rising star in the ins Faction, after all. Even if we were pushed a step back in the battle of factions, the Rank 14th spot of the Demon Lord army wasn¡¯t something that could be easily obtained through a card game. There was no way that Leraje didn¡¯t know about me. As I expected, Leraje quickly informed me about a ce where we could meet. The location where I was going to be granted an audience was a rather special ce. ¡°To think we would meet in a human city. That Demon Lord is a rather spontaneous individual as well.¡± ¡°Furthermore, look here. There is an invitation to an opera here as well.¡± ¡°Oh dear, there really is. Does he wish to hold a secret meeting in an opera house?¡± Jeremi let out an interestedugh as she read the invitation. Demon Lords would normally hold meetings at their Demon Lord castles since they were familiar territories. On the other hand, human cities were rather dangerous for Demon Lords. There was no way to know when their true identity could get revealed, after all. ¡°Should my assassin group go to the city first and lie dormant?¡± ¡°No. There is no need. Leraje is most likely trying to test my courage. It would be best to minimize our entourage as much as possible before we go there.¡± I went to the city with only Jeremi. * * * It was the evening. We arrived at the opera house on a carriage like the other guests. There was a bunch of beggars fighting at the front of the theater. They were trying to fight for the best spot to beg for money. The people who lost the fight were chased far away. The faint sound of music drifted out from the theater. A girl rushed to us the moment she saw us exit our carriage. ¡°Madam, some coins, please.¡± The girl held her hands out to Jeremi. ¡°God¡¯s blessing will be with you.¡± ¡°Oh dear. To think a person like me would be blessed.¡± Jeremi ced a coin on the girl¡¯s palm. ¡°Thank you! Thank you very much! Madam, God will surely bless you.¡± The girl thanked Jeremi with exaggerated body movements before turning to stick her hands out to me with a gaze that looked as if she had found another prey. I smiled and dropped a silver coin in the girl¡¯s hands. The glimmer from the silver coin was apparent even when the sun had already set. The girl was surprised. I lowered my head and whispered to the girl. ¡°I am a renowned pimp from Parisiorum. I intend to take you with me and raise you as a harlot. I will use you as a ve forever, girl. However, I will give you a silver coin every week. What do you think?¡± ¡°K-Kyaaah!¡± The girl screamed as she scurried away quickly. I chuckled as I watched the girl disappear down the road. Once I did, Jeremi gave me a look. ¡°Why did you do that?¡± ¡°That girl will now always be wary whenever she sees a silver coin. She will think that the other party might have ulterior motives. I simply gave her the little bit of doubt that is necessary to live.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I sometimes wonder if you look crazy to normal people because you are so generous and kind-hearted or you look generous and kind-hearted because you are crazy.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Who cares? I am probably an insane and generous man.¡± Jeremi chuckled lightly. ¡°A wise answer to a silly question from my wonderful gentleman.¡± Shemented as she naturally linked her arm with mine. The two of us were pretending to be an aristocrat and his lover today. I was hiding the small horn on the back of my head with a wig and Jeremi was wearing a hat with a around it to cover her burned face. We probably looked like a normal couple to others. There were upper-ss people crowded at the entrance of the theater. ording to their chattering, not only was this opera performance the first premiere, but a famous actor was going to be performing as well. That was why all of the men and women who had a social life in this city had gathered at the theater. A theater attendant acted as our guide after receiving our invitation. We arrived at a room. We had a clear view directly in front of the stage. ¡°Oh? These are the most expensive seats.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°You must not have a lot of interest in operas, monsieur.¡± I nodded. This was my first timeing to an opera in the entirety of both my previous and current lives. I didn¡¯t have even the slightest bit of expectation from the performance. I know very well how terrible my sense of aesthetics is. I¡¯m a man who had dozed off while listening to Beethoven¡¯s Symphony No. 5. I can still clearly remember the look of terror in my music teacher¡¯s eyes when I was in high school. Mm, it was a good ss to take naps in. ¡°When will His Highness Leraje be arriving?¡± ¡°He will most likely arrive when the other spectators are busy watching the performance.¡± On the other hand, it seems Jeremi liked this sort of thing. A frivolous type of excitement had beening from her since earlier. Even though she knows that the performance was just an extra to our secret meeting with Leraje. This was surprisingly out of character for her, so I couldn¡¯t help but be amused. These sorts of cultural activities were more suited for Laura than someone like me. She was the esteemed daughter of a duke, so her understanding of the fine arts must be impressive. She was definitely the type of person to makements like ¡®This part of the performance was good¡¯, ¡®But their execution was a bit excessive. It would have been better if they had kept it milder¡¯, and ¡®The director¡¯s interpretation was rather subjective, so¡­¡­¡¯ once the performance was over. I¡¯m sure of it. Lapis would¡­¡­be like a cold critic and point out all the ws. Things like, ¡®The main actor bit his tongue while saying the 15th line during the 2nd scene of the 3rd act¡¯ or ¡®If the actress does not change the way she acts within the next 3 years, then her life will notst long¡¯. And after criticizing them relentlessly, she will probably say something like ¡®it was a decent performance¡¯. Barbatos would just fall asleep. I¡¯m certain of it. She was the type of nuisance that would snore loudly during a movie. She would probably stretch andment about how well she slept after the movie was over. ¡°Look, monsieur! It¡¯s about to begin!¡± Jeremi pushed herself against me while I was passing the boring time in my imagination. Tworge and soft clumps of flesh pressed against my arm. She was definitely more excited than usual. Did she like operas that much? As I expected, the opera wasn¡¯t that interesting. The story was about an abandoned prince who starts a rebellion against his father and ultimately destroys the country as well. Jeremi watched the stage with sparkling eyes¨Dit wasn¡¯t the usual fake smile she would have on her face. I don¡¯t know. The only personal thought I had was that the prince was the biggest idiot alive. Why would he tell everyone around him that he was going to rebel? Why was he upset that his little sister went to a foreign country to be wedded? I couldn¡¯t understand him. If he could bring in a foreign power through his little sister, then his coup d¡¯¨¦tat would¡¯ve been easier. He only had to appear subservient on the outside to his father. It would only be natural that the father would be so cautious of the son when he was rebelling so openly. Shoddy¡­¡­it was way too shoddy. The kid knew nothing about politics. Even the king was an absolute idiot to appoint someone like that as the crown prince. Why weren¡¯t the nobles supporting a different heir? Were there only fools in that country? Hurry up and die. It would be better for the people and the nation if politicians like you died quickly. I was more than ready to start an uproar if this performance didn¡¯t have a bad ending, so hurry up and hang yourself and end this boring performance. ¡®¡­¡­More importantly.¡¯ I looked around. The entire audience was focused on the stage. ¡®Leraje hasn¡¯t arrived yet.¡¯ The performance was already more than halfway over now. If Leraje was going to arrive, then he would¡¯ve done so sooner. Secret meetings required at least three hours. Despite this, not only has Leraje yet to arrive after two hours since the start of the performance, but we didn¡¯t see even a single one of his subordinates either¡­¡­. Is this a trap? My mind went cold. Was there a possibility that Leraje would try to hand me over to the humans? ¡­¡­No. If he fears Barbatos¡¯ wrath, then he would never do something like that. Leraje should also have no idea what our goal is. It was highly unlikely that he would try to attack me. ¡°Uhm, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Mm?¡± Jeremi whispered into my ear. Even though she had promised to not refer to me as ¡®your highness¡¯ in the city since it could be dangerous. She most likely thinks our current situation is weird as well. However, Jeremi¡¯s next words werepletely unexpected. ¡°Do you want me to suck it?¡± ¡°¡­¡­What?¡± I unconsciously raised my voice. I saw Jeremi¡¯s usual smiling face once I turned to look at her. What did she say just now?¡± ¡°It seemed like Your Highness hasn¡¯t been enjoying the performance one bit. How could a lowly servant like me enjoy the show by herself when her master is bored? So I want to make it entertaining for Your Highness as well.¡± ¡°No, what are you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I know that you enjoyed all sorts of luxurious hobbies with Her Highness Barbatos. Doing something like this in an enclosed space and in public should definitely be able to satisfy Your Highness.¡± She sounded genuine. It was ridiculous. How could I possibly make her fete me in a theater? My image had been established in a weird direction because of the scandal that Barbatos spread on her own in the Demon Lord army. I am not an exhibitionist. ¡°I¡¯m fine, so stop joking¨D.¡± It was right when I was about to wave her off with my hand. I noticed that Jeremi had a serious look on her face and a good idea went through my head. ¡°¡­¡­No. That might be a surprisingly good idea.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Jeremi smiled slyly. The corners of my lips went up as well. ¡°All right, Jeremi. I will allow it. Try doing it as obscenely as possible.¡± ¡°As youmand. Despite my appearance, I am well-versed in various techniques. I will not disappoint you.¡± Jeremi got on her knees and went below my waist. Jeremi started to lick my member after pulling it out. Soon after, her warm mouthpletely enveloped it. ¡°Ub¡­¡­amn, hmmn¡­¡­.¡± A feeling of pleasure spread up from my lower body. I looked around the theater sharply. ¡®Now then. Where are you, Demon Lord Leraje?¡¯ There were partitions set up between the seats in our private room. The people around us wouldn¡¯t be able to see what Jeremi was doing, but¡­¡­. ¡®If he¡¯s been watching our room since the start of the performance, then he will definitely notice.¡¯ A pair of audience members were abruptly doing something vulgar. It was incredibly rude; however, making your guests wait 2 hours was also rude. Therefore, this was our way ofining to Leraje. What was he doing after having invited us all the way here? There weren¡¯t a lot of ces in the theater that could see our position. At most, maybe the seats at the furthest ends of the sides. I waited patiently for a response while slowly looking from my left to right. And then. The singing stopped for a moment. The music from the instruments was still being yed, but the male lead had stopped singing all of a sudden. Of course, it was only for a moment. The male lead quickly resumed singing. I grinned. ¡®I see. So you were there?¡¯ My gaze went to the top of the stage. Toward the male actor wearing a mask. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The NSFW part sort of caught me off guard, but it wasn¡¯t entirely out of my expectation. I don¡¯t know why I sort of knew it was going to end this way once Dant started talking about how boring the performance was. I guess this is one way to make Jeremi have a bigger role? Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. It¡¯ll be NSFW for the first half of the next chapter. Chapter 184 – Misanthropy Chapter 184 ¨CMisanthropy WARNING: NSFW CONTENT.Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. It¡¯s basically the first half of the chapter.You have been warned. ¡°He was in a rather unexpected ce, huh?¡± ¡°Slurp¡­¡­mm.¡± Jeremi carefully removed her mouth from my member. She brushed the tip slightly with her lips. Jeremi took in a deep breath as she turned to look up at me. Half of her face was scarred. This might seem unsightly to some people, but it felt strangely charming in a way to me. ¡°Was there a reaction, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Indeed there was. You¡¯ll be surprised to know where from. His Highness Leraje has been on the stage. And not as a supporting character, but as the main male actor.¡± ¡°Oh my. That person has quite the unique hobby as well.¡± Jeremi chuckled as she lowered her head again. Her warm tongue wrapped around the tip of my member again. Her entire mouthtched onto me like some sort of viscous entity. It almost felt like I was naturally getting sucked into her. At the very least, Jeremi was more talented than Laura when it came to fetios. ¡°You can¡¯t be an actor in an opera just as a hobby, can you?¡± ¡°Mmh, mm, hmmn¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi responded by letting out a lovely sound through her nose. Of course not, was what she was trying to say. Yeah, if you want to appear in an opera, you have to know how to act and also be able to sing. It isn¡¯t easy. Hm. This means that Leraje is rather serious about opera¡­¡­. ¡°This might be bad news, Jeremi.¡± ¡°Hauhm?¡± ¡°Ah. Don¡¯t stop and just listen. It feels good.¡± I spoke while looking at the stage. The pleasureing from my lower body became a level stronger. Jeremi started to bob her head back and forth faster. I could hear the sound of opera singers singing and Jeremi¡¯s obscene slurping mixing together. I¡¯m not sure, but the quality of the music seemed to have improved greatlypared to before. ¡°Leraje was reluctant to meet us at first. I thought that it was simply because he couldn¡¯t figure out our intentions, so he was keeping his distance¡­¡­but if Leraje is a passionate opera actor, then doesn¡¯t that mean he couldn¡¯t give up on his opera performances?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Mm, mhm, mmm.¡± Jeremi stopped for a very brief moment. ¡°There is a chance that he was hesitant to meet us since it could ovep with his performance schedule. ording to what I had heard, there will be another performance tomorrow and the day after. He would only be able to make time for us after those performances, but Leraje must¡¯ve not wanted to make us wait for four whole days either¡­¡­.¡± Imented beforeughing. ¡°He didn¡¯t want to give up on his opera performance and he didn¡¯t want to refuse a meeting with us. If that¡¯s the case, then there is a chance that he was trying to amuse us by inviting us to this premiere ande out saying ¡®Surprise! I was the male lead actor! Are you amazed?¡¯¡­¡­Ah, I¡¯m about to cum.¡± ¡°Mm, hnn, mm, mm¨Duub, hbb.¡± My member tensed up four to five times as it spewed out sperm. Jeremi didn¡¯t stop her mouth until she received all of it. She audibly gulped as she swallowed it all down. The pleasure from the climax flowed through my body. I let out a long breath. ¡°Haa¡­¡­if this is the case, I¡¯ve basically been goingpletely against Leraje¡¯s tune. I never would have imagined that my artistic taste would cause such a big problem in a ce like this.¡± ¡°You have basically given yourself the worst possible first impression to the other party.¡± Jeremi wiped her mouth with a handkerchief as she spoke. ¡°What are we going to do? Your Highness has already yawned a total of 17 times throughout the performance. As an actor, Leraje¡¯s impression of you must have fallen further below rock bottom.¡± ¡°Damn it.¡± I felt frustrated. ¡°Why would he think that I would also enjoy the fine arts that he enjoys? If anything, I felt ufortable because I was dragged out to watch such a boring performance.¡± ¡°People who like this type of art are usually like this. They hope for other people to enjoy the things they enjoy. This is especially the case for jobs that involve acting since those revolve around the desperate need for other people¡¯s attention. His Highness Leraje may have deliberately disyed his singing and acting skills to Your Highness for the sake of obtaining a favorable impression from you¡­¡­.¡± Jeremimented with a smile. This girl was definitely feeling entertained by what was currently happening. She was rotten to the core. ¡°Why are you trying to avoid taking responsibility? You are the one who offered to fete me first.¡± ¡°Your Highness is the one who allowed it. You could have also ordered me to stop at any point, but Your Highness never did even after finding out His Highness Leraje¡¯s identity. Why would you try to me me after having enjoyed it this much?¡± ¡°Wow, look at this girl.¡± Are you telling me to stop something that has begun? That is impossible. At the very least, it is impossible for men. We have to see it through to the end even if a storm were to hit or a terrorist were to shoot at us. ¡°Sheesh. Whatever, I don¡¯t care. What could I possibly gain by swearing at you? I will have to bullshit my way out of this.¡± ¡°Bullshit? I do not think that a lie would work in this situation where it is painfully apparent that you had done something obscene.¡± ¡°This humble one will handle it on his own, so stay out of it, Miss Jeremi. Hey, do it one more time.¡± Jeremi gave me a strange look. ¡°Again? Are you serious?¡± ¡°I am saying this because I have a n. Just do as I say.¡± ¡°No, but more importantly¡­¡­it has only been a few seconds since youst came.¡± Jeremi looked doubtful. You really have no idea what my full power is like, elf captain of the Scarlet Scar. ¡°I am a person who had once spent two whole days only eating and having sex. I will not be affected even if you were to suck me off throughout the entire opera.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Jeremi let out augh. Her eyes weren¡¯t smiling. It seems I had stimted some sort ofpetitive spirit inside of her. ¡°Despite my current appearance, this humble one was in charge of the honey traps in our assassin group before I received these burn marks.¡± ¡°Is that so? Your technique earlier was not that impressive.¡± ¡°That was because we were in the middle of watching a performance. Pardon me, Your Highness, but if I were to go all out, then we would start bothering the people around us because Your Highness would be incapable of holding back your moans.¡± There was no need to say it. Apetition had begun between the two of us. Sure enough, Jeremi started to caress the tip with a strength that was iparable to what she did before. It felt like her entire mouth had be a vacuum. It was on another level. I climaxed about seven times during thest hour of the performance. However, I seeded in holding back my voice! I didn¡¯t let out a single sound even during the seven times I climaxed. My lips remained firm like a fortress gate built by dwarves. Jeremi increased her pace as the performance drew closer to the end, but it didn¡¯t matter. I almost let out a gasp, but I managed to hold it down. The audience got up and gave a standing ovation. The curtains fell. ¡°N-No way¡­¡­there is no way this could be possible. This must be a dream!¡± Jeremi muttered in despair as the sound of apuse echoed around us. ¡°I, who was once known as the ck Rose of Prantapance¡­¡­how could you not make even a single noise¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is a Demon Lord ss item, O foolish demon.¡± I told her coolly. I pulled up my pants as I got up so that I could apuse as well. Jeremi stayed defeated on the ground the entire time. Well, I was able to enjoy the boring opera thanks to her. I shall praise her in that regard. I headed to a lower floor as soon as the apuse ended. Many of the audience members were already gathered at the lobby. They must have been moved immensely by the performance as they would give a thunderous cheer whenever one of the actors or actresses came out. The peak was when the actor who I assumed was Leraje came out. ¡°Jockey Bernard!¡± ¡°Oh, Bernard! Please look this way!¡± ¡°Kyaaa! Jerome! The sixth Bernard!¡± Leraje was wearing a white mask, so only the area below his nose was out in the open. It seems his stage name was Jockey Jerome Bernard. It definitely gave off the feeling of an actor. Leraje smiled as he waved at the people around him. Once he did, the women in particr started screaming with the firm intent of passing out due to ack of oxygen. He was quite popr. Leraje¡¯s arms were soon filled with bouquets and the people who were unfortunately toote to gift him a bouquet started showering the actor with flower petals. I spoke as I watched this sight. ¡°The situation is gradually bing worse.¡± ¡°This humble one is going to have to give Your Highness more bad news. If it¡¯s Bernard, the opera actor from Frankia, it is a name that even I have heard of despite living in the demon world. I heard that their family mostly focuses on music and acting.¡± ¡°An actor who is famous not only in the human world but the demon world as well, I see.¡± There was no need to say it. He was someone whose pride pierced the clouds. His family consisting mostly of actors was most likely a lie. It was most likely all Leraje himself disguising himself as his own descendants. The entire Bernard family line was most likely Leraje himself. This realization made me feel a little disappointed about my own discerning eye. ¡°I yawned while watching the greatest actor in the world, huh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I did notice how impressive he was. If it were not for Your Highness, I would have watched till the very end.¡± What do you want from me? Don¡¯t cry over spilled milk. I gave Jeremi several orders. Leraje slowly waded through the crowd of people and made his way to the exit of the theater. He eventually reached where we were standing. It looked like he had approached us coincidentally, but he had done so intentionally. I smiled widely. ¡°An excellent performance, Monsieur Bernard.¡± ¡°Oh? I see that we have an important guest here.¡± Leraje also beamed back at me. ¡°It would please me greatly if that is how you truly feel, Monsieur Bole.¡± Although nothing about what he said sounded like he was offended, his choice of words in themselves was ominous. He was asking whether I truly thought it was an excellent performance or not. The Rank 14 Demon Lord was undoubtedly a monster among monsters. He could probably take me out with a single punch. This kind of monster was currently talking to me in a negative manner. Dear me. My head hurts. Nothing in life is easy. I put on a brazen front as I spoke. ¡°Of course that is how I truly feel. Mademoiselle Barba is greatly depressed that she was unable to attend tonight¡¯s performance. As you already know, she is not in a position that allows her to attend such events.¡± ¡°Oh, is that so? It is an honor that she thinks that way.¡± Barba was obviously referring to Barbatos. I was implying that I wasn¡¯t here for my own personal reason, but in order to deliver Barbatos¡¯ intentions to him. I thought he would lighten up after hearing Barbatos¡¯ name, but Leraje¡¯splexion didn¡¯t change at all. Leraje nced around us. ¡°This does not seem like a good location for us to catch up. How about it, Monsieur Bole? If it would not be a bother, would you like to join me in my carriage?¡± ¡°Oh, I must confess that among all of the invitations I have received this year, this might be the most heart-pounding.¡± In a bad way, that is. ¡°Of course I ept, Monsieur Bernard. I am sorry for the other attendees, but I will be taking your side.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Please follow me. Do be careful to not get swept away by the crowd, haha.¡± Leraje immediately turned around and headed to the exit. His strides were strong. This was proof to me that contrary to his expression, he was actually incredibly upset. Jeremi and I followed behind him. We managed to get through the crowd and enter his carriage. It was a red and fancy carriage. It was being pulled by four horses and that made it easy to guess what sort of position Leraje had within this city. I had my doubts at first, but it seems he had even disguised himself as being of noble descent. Leraje turned to look at me as soon as the carriage door closed. The elegant atmosphere that was once swirling around the actor had disappeared without a trace. A dry voice came out of his throat. ¡°All right, the highest advisor of our ins Faction.¡± Leraje took off his mask. Beyond his mask was a handsome man that almost looked like a sculpture. His curly, ck hair flowed down like grapevines. ¡°I am unsure whether you watched this lowly one¡¯s performance well. Well, you most likely enjoyed it to the point of climaxing. I have never felt this much honor before as an actor.¡± There was a cold smile on Leraje¡¯s lips. He was clearly being hostile to me. The inside of my mouth tasted bitter. Now then, I hope my excuse works¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I unno if this chapter came outter than usual. I¡¯ve sort of been busy trying to get caught up on stuff. I hope everyone is having a good summer, because I¡¯m dying. I¡¯ve been going through a heat wave that¡¯s beenpletely ignoring the rain. It¡¯s just constantly hot even as it rains. I guess the heat is also hindering my concentration. To put it simply, it all sucks. My patreon site specifically is down at the moment of writing this, so the early ess chapter will have to wait until they fix the site. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Hopefully I haven¡¯t suffered a heat stroke by then. Chapter 185: Misanthropy (7) Chapter 185: Misanthropy (7) ¡°I am not sure what you are saying, Monsieur Bernard.¡± ¡°You dare try to disdain me? Hah. You have be quite arrogant after having received Barbatos¡¯ affection.¡± Once I deliberately said his fake name, Leraje furrowed his brows. It wasn¡¯t surprising that he would be upset since I chose to act ignorant instead of apologizing for being discourteous. ¡°I smell the foul stench of a pig¡¯s rotten innards. Is it not your pride? You are making a foolish mistake if you think Habsburg and Frankia are the same, young Demon Lord. The sacrednd of Demon Lords and the ck Mountains do not exist here!¡± ¡°I still do not understand what you are trying to say.¡± Leraje was giving off a very fierce mood. It was to the point that the rims of my eyes were trembling. If I hadn¡¯t already faced numerous high-ranking Demon Lords before, then I would have probably pissed myself and groveled. ¡°As Your Highness pointed out, I am young and do not know many things. Nheless, there is one thing that I am aware of.¡± However, I knew how to move my tongue despite the fear my body was feeling. I was like a canvasser, who had spent their entire life wandering, facing an emperor during a period of war. ¡°Regardless of whether it be Habsburg or Frankia, Demon Lords are Demon Lords and humans are humans.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Demon Lords are the enemy of humans and the humans are the enemy of Demon Lords¡­¡­is this not the case?¡± Leraje¡¯s face contorted further. I was simply smiling like a polite youth. ¡°I must confess that I have been waiting a long time to meet Your Highness. The other Demon Lords in the ins Faction seem to ignore Your Highness somewhat, but I am different. It is a fundamental strategy in military tactics to assault the enemy from behind during a war. It may only be a basic, but a basic nheless.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No one would want to do this, but someone had to. Not only does it not attract much attention, but it gives little merits as well. This is the type of task that Your Highness had carried out. I believed that, without a doubt, Your Highness was loyal to our true cause and devoted to the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­.¡± Leraje¡¯s expression lightened up as I continued to speak. I could tell that his mes were waning. ¡°Thus I was rather disappointed by Your Highness¡¯ disy today. Why were you so passionate about something that belongs to human culture? Humans are our enemies.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± Leraje let out a snort. His interest was gone. That was the impression I got from him. ¡°I was wondering what sort of person you were since you¡¯ve been making a name for yourselftely¡­¡­but it seems you are but a simple ¡®Demon Lord¡¯.¡± Leraje took out a bottle of wine from a chest that was inside the carriage. He uncorked it with his bare hands before drinking straight out of the bottle. ¡°A simple Demon Lord?¡± I asked back a little more shamelessly. ¡°Your Highness has been saying confusing things since earlier.¡± ¡°I am saying that you are not interesting, young Demon Lord. Gravitas is like a ray of sunlight that chases away all of the subtle shades and shadows of the world. Furthermore, it makes everything boring and strict under the pretext of cleansing them. This is why I dislike myrades of the ins Faction to a certain extent.¡± His anger was long gone. Leraje was now scorning me. Contrary to Leraje¡¯s young appearance, he spoke like an old man. There was a strange kind of charm hearing a handsome, young man talk like an old man. The Demon Lord before me possessed both the air of a young man and a wise, old man. ¡°Let me ask you a question.¡± Leraje spoke with a jeer. ¡°Not only did you not pige thend of Brandenburg, but you promised them safety and freedom. This is an absurd decision to make for someone who believes that humans are our enemies. Why did you do this?¡± ¡°Because our long-cherished ambition far precedes something like my own personal feelings.¡± I responded a matter-of-factly. ¡°Killing the humans in Brandenburg would have given an immediate satisfaction, but that would push the day we conquer the continent further away. If it is for the sake of our ambition, I can more than dly endure the foul stench of humans.¡± ¡°Kuku. Our ambition, is it¡­¡­?¡± Leraje gulped down the wine. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since Ist met a loony this devoted to the ins Faction. It makes sense that Barbatos would want to raise you. How could she not be happy when she found a dog that would earnestly bark for her?¡± I erased the smile from my face and brought my voice down to a serious tone. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness. I apologize, but are you criticizing our suprememander?¡± ¡°Kuhahaha!¡± Leraje burst out into abruptughter. ¡°He¡¯s even loyal to his master! This is quite the spectacle. You must bark quite a bunch in front of Barbatos. Kuku. I can guess what sort of state the center of the continent must be in if Habsburg was split apart by someone like you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Well, then. I understand why Barbatos sent a guy like you to me. Your mind is on the level of a child, so it would naturally frustrate those under Barbatos.¡± Leraje was now looking at me with a gaze partially mixed with scorn and sympathy. Scorn and sympathy, this meant that he waspletely looking down on me. I grinned broadly in my mind. ¡®It worked.¡¯ There was something that I realized after dealing with crafty and wicked Demon Lords for the past year. Persuading the other party and making them understand wasn¡¯t the only way to go about things. Strategy and tactics exist in the art of conversation, so even if you lose the battle, you simply have to win the war. You don¡¯t have to move the other party emotionally. You don¡¯t have to receive their goodwill either. I was going to pretend to be a typical idiot and give Leraje the impression that I was a foolish and shortsighted individual. It was easy to make him perceive me as ¡®this sort of character¡¯. If I do this, then. ¡°You, your name is Dantalian, right? Have you ever stayed in a human city for at least half a month?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. I have not.¡± ¡°Kuh. You speak of annihting humankind despite not having touched flesh with them for even half a month. I have never witnessed someone act like such a clown. Is this not like trying to conquer a mountain without having ever seen one before?¡± ¨DThe other party was under the delusion that he was superior. There was no need for him to investigate further into me. His reconnaissance was basically over. This will make him think that I¡¯m not strong enough to be worried about and that it should be fine to ignore me. He was basically lowering his mental guard before mepletely. Of course, I couldn¡¯t end it here. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, something like that is not important in our current situation.¡± ¡°Our current situation? Did you say our current situation? Kuhaha. How could you resemble my young self so much?¡± Lerajeughed while spilling some of his wine. ¡°It is like the arrow that I had thoughtlessly shot in the past hade back now to pierce me through the heart. How intriguing. It is quite the sight to see someone who does not even know himself talk about the current situation. Fine. Tell me about it.¡± ¡°As you know, our Demon Lord army is on the verge of splitting apart again.¡± I told him. I gave off a tone that sounded as if I were upset after Leraje had scorned me, but barely managed to endure it. Leraje seemed to notice this as well as he constantly had a smirk on his lips. I must look like a child who¡¯s trying to do his best. There was nothing more refreshing to see than this for Leraje. He had been working hard by his lonesome at the border and some rookie Demon Lord he had never seen before had risen up in rank within the main army. He was curious to see what sort of person the rookie was, but it turned out that he was a rather immature brat who believed all humans were evil and all demons were good. A brat among brats¡­¡­. This was mixed together with the negative emotions Leraje had inadvertently piled up over time toward the main army, thus making it feel as if Leraje wasughing at the entire main army byughing at me. He was definitely below the main army in terms of distinguished military service, but he was far superior when it came to the ss of Demon Lords. The main army isn¡¯t impressive. The aplishments the 8th Crescent Alliance managed to make were most likely from luck¡­¡­. He will probably console himself subconsciously like this. I spoke with a serious tone. ¡°Her Highness Barbatos and our ins Faction had shed sweat and blood in order to conquer Habsburg, but the other Demon Lords are atrociously demanding for thend to be divided. Apromise is impossible if you consider Her Highness Barbatos¡¯ temper. Therefore, the Crescent Alliance expedition is no longer simply about the humans fighting demons.¡± Leraje nced at me as he drank his wine. ¡°The problem is the humans. We must keep in mind that the humans had cooperated with that wretched Paimon before. The humans had worked together with Paimon in order to set our ins Faction up in a trap and annihte us all at once¡­¡­.¡± I grit my teeth. I made it seem like I got angry just at the act of mentioning Paimon¡¯s name. Even I felt like I was putting on an amazing performance. ¡°What does this mean? This means that humans and Demon Lord are more than capable of cooperating for the sake of their own personal gains. This is especially the case now since the Demon Lord army had be divided.¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Contrary to our army¡¯s division, the human alliance is still strong. If the other Demon Lords try to bring the humans in now to hurt their fellow kind, then this would only benefit the humans. Your Highness, the Crescent Alliance will fail once again.¡± Leraje spoke up. ¡°So? What are you saying we have to do in order to prevent the failure of the Crescent Alliance?¡± ¡°Uniting the Demon Lord army is a far-off task. We have no other choice but to put our enemies in the same situation as us because of this. Your Highness, we must divide the human world.¡± ¡°And how do you intend to do that?¡± The boredom in Leraje¡¯s eyes slowly faded away. He no longer believed that I was simply a ¡®shallow-minded rookie¡¯. He probably thinks I¡¯m a ¡®shallow-minded, but somewhat cunning rookie¡¯ now. ¡°Frankia is definitely right below Habsburg in terms of size. Lord Satan must be watching over us as a civil war is brewing within Frankia.¡± ¡°The Empress Dowager and the Emperor do not intend to fight seriously.¡± Leraje asserted. ¡°What mother would try to kill her own son?¡± ¡°But the Emperor does not think the same¡­¡­now does he?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Leraje put down his bottle. Now he thinks I¡¯m a ¡®shallow-minded and somewhat cunning rookie with a formidable informationwork¡¯. I was deliberately leading him on to think this. ¡°A civil war will happen. The issue is how much this civil war will expand. It cannot simply end as a fight between royalists and republicans. There is a need to incite the people of Frankia as well.¡± ¡°Incite the people of Frankia?¡± ¡°Not only were they hit with the ck Death and a famine, but if the lords were also to forget their duties¡­¡­then those foolish humanmoners would no longer be able to hold back their anger.¡± Leraje touched his front bangs. This seemed to be a habit of his that woulde out whenever he fell into deep thought. Okay, let¡¯s remember this. ¡°What do you mean about lords forgetting their duties?¡± ¡°It is simple. I will lead a trustworthy group of mercenaries. Please lead your troops to attack certain areas. We will respond from the inside.¡± ¡°Hm. So you¡¯re saying that you will ultimately conquer those territories. There is no point in even considering this idea. Demon Lords are the enemy of humankind. This will only give them an excuse to stop their internal fighting.¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, it is the opposite. I apologize, but Your Highness must get driven back.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°However, you must get driven back by our mercenaries and not the lords.¡± I continued. ¡°The armies of those lords will be unable to handle the Demon Lord army that was suppressed by mercenaries. The areas protected by our mercenaries will suffer almost no losses, while the areas protected by those lords will incur great losses. This will dramatically decrease the trust these regional lords possess.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If our mercenaries leave in this situation¡­¡­can Your Highness imagine how themoners will react? Their frustration toward their lords should be at its peak at this point.¡± Leraje became silent. He finally opened his mouth after fiddling with his front bang for a while. ¡°Tsk, I see. You¡¯re a rookie, but your skills are unquestionable.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You are praising me too much.¡± I gave a doubtful response. I made it seem like I wasn¡¯t pleased with being called a rookie. Of course, my true thoughts differedpletely. I didn¡¯t care whether he thought I was a rookie or not. It didn¡¯t matter if he thought I was an idiot either. I can endure ridicule. What does pointing at a pile of garbage and calling it garbage change? You simply have to enjoy the meals I prepare for you, Leraje. He gets to feel satisfied by his sense of superiority while I get to aplish my goal. No one is losing here. It¡¯s a win-win situation. Everyone can be happy as long as I alone throw away my self-respect? Isn¡¯t this a great business deal? However. My mind felt cold. Something would get worn down whenever I would deceive and scorn someone overwhelmingly more powerful than myself and create a seat for myself like I am now. It was another side of my mind. This was why I needed someone like Laura and Lapis. I need someone whom I don¡¯t have to pretend around next to me. They will probably greet me with a smile and say I did a good job when I return¡­¡­. That was more than enough for me. I put on ame, rookie-like expression on my face. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Weather is really hot. I¡¯m dying. Coming home to 97F/37C is the worst. Summer wasn¡¯t this badst year. What was this chapter about again? I don¡¯t know. Can¡¯t concentrate. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 186: Path of Pilgrimage (1) Chapter 186: Path of Pilgrimage (1) Wittenmyer got off work early for the first time in a very long while. Early for him, however, was normal closing hours. This youngster was so earnest, that his earnestness alone was enough to have rumors about him spread throughout the other government departments. ¡°The insomniacmissioner.¡± People would stand in awe as they called him that. Wittenmyer literally did not sleep. He would alwayse to work earlier than anyone else and leaveter than anyone else. Even the officers who were on night duty never saw him get up from his seat to leave work for the day. Wittenmyer from the General Affairs Department did not sleep, he was Minerva¡¯s owl, a guard dog loyal to Elizabeth¡¯smands who kept an eye on everything¡­¡­. The rumors made it sound like he was a ghost who wandered the departments. This very person had left work at a normal time. An uproar urred within the General Affairs Department. ¡°We must have done something wrong!¡± ¡°This is his way of scorning us for beingzy¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Everyone, do not even think about going home today. We are all doing overtime.¡± The other officers gave a resolute nod. Wittenmyer managed to make all of his coworkers stayte after work simply by leaving at a normal time. This was the moment a new legend was created within the New Habsburg Republic. On the other hand, Wittenmyer himself had no idea that he had made such an outstanding aplishment as he headed to a bar¡­¡­. ¡°Hey, General Affairs Baron! Over here!¡± Someone shouted as soon as he entered the building. There was already a group of people who were upying a corner of the bar. Wittenmyer confirmed their faces before letting out a sigh and approaching them. ¡°General Schleiermacher, how many times do I have to tell you this? I am no longer a baron. A long time has passed since I have discarded my title as a noble.¡± ¡°Oh, right. You did do that. I forgot. Haha.¡± ¡°Please be careful.¡± Kurz Schleiermacher gave a cheekyugh. Wittenmyer let out another sigh once he saw this. This man named Kurz was definitely a capable person, but he couldn¡¯t get close to him for some reason. It wasn¡¯t simply because their personalities didn¡¯t match. Wittenmyer felt like they weren¡¯t aligned in a more fundamental aspect. It¡¯d be fine if it was simply a feeling, but¡­¡­Wittenmyer thought to himself as he sat down. Soon after they clinked their beer mugs together. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the first time that the five of us have gathered since the founding of the country?¡± ¡°Mm. Probably. My memory isn¡¯t exactly trustworthy, though.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. You can trust my memory, Foreign Affairs Chief.¡± ¡°Please call me Heidelberg. There is nothing greater than when a beauty calls you by your name.¡± Kurz, Wolfram, Charles, and Julia were seated at the table. Including Wittenmyer, that made 5 people. The people here were all Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s closest aides. There were hundreds of humans who would tremble in fear if they knew that these people had gathered in a single ce. Even now, they were the only people present in the bar excluding the bar owner. Kurz Schleiermacher, the suprememander of the imperial guard. Wolfram Heidelberg, the chief of Foreign Affairs. Charles Richthofen, the captain of the royal knights. Julia, the first secretary. And finally, Maximillian Wittenmyer, chief of General Affairs¡­¡­. The top members of the republic were all gathered here. It wouldn¡¯t be weird if they started to immediately discuss a coup. If these people were to talk about killing someone today, then that person¡¯s corpse would probably be discovered the next day. ¡°It is hard to believe that a month has already passed.¡± Juliamented as she drank her wine. Even her voice had a type of charm to it as it was capable of pulling the attention of other people¡¯s ears even when she was speaking quietly. ¡°Indeed. It does not feel like even a month has passed. To be honest, things still do not feel very organized¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Is that so, Sir Heidelberg? My knights aren¡¯t particrly busy right now.¡± ¡°Never before have I ever been as jealous as I am now of soldiers, Captain Charles. I would go and form an alliance with the Demon Lord army if it means I could hold a sword instead of a pen.¡± Wolfram Heidelberg smiled bitterly. ¡°It is already hard enough trying to form a bond with a single nation, and yet, I am currently carrying out a battle of wits against twelve nations all at once in order to establish diplomatic ties. They are all mulling over what they can do to send as little support funds as possible and how much they should support to spare our republic¡¯s life! They are damned bastards. It would probably be easier to negotiate with demons.¡± He shook his headically. The other chuckled. ¡°Do not think we are all like Captain Charles just because we are soldiers.¡± Kurz Schleiermacher shrugged. ¡°It is miserable over here. The number of generals has decreased drastically since the nobles are being killed off. We are trying our best to discover talented people and give them higher positions, but I must confess, this is all a vain effort. The military is only barely maintaining its outer appearance.¡± ¡°Is that so? I heard that you received a lot of volunteer officers.¡± Schleiermacher let out a sigh. ¡°Yes, we did. If I were to send out a draft notice right now, then I could probably scrounge together a massive army of about 10,000 soldiers. but that is all sh and no substance. What could we possibly do with a bunch of riff raffs who have never been trained before?¡± ¡°You can just train them.¡± ¡°Weck in the generals necessary to carry out such training. Jeez.¡± Wittenmyer nodded his head as he listened. Schleiermacher was the suprememander of the imperial guards and Wittenmyer himself was the chief of General Affairs. They were both soldiers. Charles Richthofen was also a soldier, but the royal knights were a special case. It wasn¡¯t surprising that he would sympathize with Kurz Schleiermacher more¡­¡­ Heidelberg scowled as he listened to what was happening within the army. ¡°As I thought, the defeat at Austerlitz had a great impact¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There were capable generals andmanders within the Crown Prince¡¯s Faction as well. Is that not so, Wittenmyer?¡± Wittenmyer furrowed his brows. He was originally from the Crown Prince¡¯s Faction. Schleiermacher was making that implication. ¡°Of course. General Kolovrate, General Kutuzov, General Kiermaier, and General Langeron¡­¡­they were all extremely talented people. Pardon my rudeness, but if the Crown Prince had not led our troops so recklessly, then they would not have died so pointlessly.¡± ¡°And yet they died and only our chief of General Affairs survived.¡± Wittenmyer¡¯s frown deepened. ¡®He is intentionally teasing me. He needs to fix this habit of his.¡¯ This was the reason why he couldn¡¯t get along with Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher would try to tease people whenever he got the opportunity to do so. This was why he couldn¡¯t genuinely sympathize with him. ¡°I do not think that I survived because I was particrly morepetent than them. The Goddess simply favored me more.¡± ¡°Therefore, it was all fate¡­¡­.¡± Kurz Schleiermacher chuckled. ¡°Everyone, I have some rather interesting news about Demon Lord Dantalian.¡± ¡°Dantalian? Are you talking about the person who gave that speech on Bruno ins?¡± Heidelberg tilted his head. He was a civil servant, so he didn¡¯t partake in the war with the Crescent Alliance personally. It must have been because of this that the weight which the name Dantalian had was different for him. It wasn¡¯t like this for only Heidelberg. It was like this for every other civil servant. Barbatos, who had taken regency over Habsburg, was far more important than some Rank 71 Demon Lord who had given an impressive speech before one battle. It was theplete opposite for soldiers. Barbatos was definitely terrifying, but they could fight back. Consul Elizabeth, who at the time was the Third Imperial Princess, had gone to battle with Barbatos¡¯ army several times during the war. The Imperial Princess won every single time. On the other hand, Dantalian¡­¡­was the only one who managed to defeat the Imperial Princess. ¡°New information? What could that be, General Schleiermacher?¡± Wittenmyer¡¯s eyes glimmered. His eyes that would normally look tired were shimmering. ¡°Mm, this is about the battle at the ck Mountains.¡± Schleiermacher drank his beer with a smile. ¡°As you know, the defenses at the ck Mountains fell in only 4 days. Do you know who was leading the Demon Lord army¡¯s vanguard at the time?¡± ¡°ording to the reports, I heard that it was Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar.¡± ¡°Correct, Chief Wittenmyer. However, what would you do if I were to say that there had been a different Demon Lord who had nned their strategy.¡± Wittenmyer¡¯s face became stiff. ¡°¡­¡­Don¡¯t tell me.¡± ¡°Yes, it was Dantalian. He was the one who got through the fortresses on the ck Mountains at an unprecedented speed. That¡¯s not all.¡± Kurz Schleiermacher continued. He sounded like he was having fun. ¡°The scouts finished their reconnaissance of the northern region of Habsburg the other day, but there was something rather interesting in their report. This is something that has not been told to Her Excellency the Consul. They say that the people of Brandenburg are unexpectedly living rather peaceful lives.¡± ¡°That is impossible!¡± Heidelberg blurted out in surprise. ¡°Is Brandenburg not the first region that was captured at the beginning of the war? How could they have not received much harm from the Demon Lord army?¡± ¡°That is the interesting part. They had legited a neww that forbade any piging of the people.¡± ¡°They forbade piging?¡± It was Julia this time who spoke up. She got louder. ¡°The Demon Lord army didn¡¯t pige humans? Why not?¡± ¡°It was to increase the distance between the people and nobles. Think about it. At the beginning of the war, Margrave Rosenberg could only retreat without fighting even once. Why did he do this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Because of the mass desertion of conscripted soldiers.¡± Wittenmyer answered. ¡°I heard that tens of thousands of conscripted soldiers ran away. I am aware that Margrave Rosenberg just barely had enough soldiers to reach 10,000¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is where Dantalian intervened.¡± Schleiermacher smiled. ¡°He forbade piging and distributed ck herbs for free. He even went as far as to subjugate nearby monster tribes¡­¡­. It isn¡¯t surprising that the public sentiment would transfer over from the Margrave to the Demon Lord army. Haha. In the end, Dantalian was also the reason why we had to withdraw from Austerlitz.¡± Everyone became silent. Only Captain Charles was drinking his beer with a perfectly calm face. Julia nudged him with her elbow. ¡°Hm? What? Are we out of alcohol?¡± Charles looked around urgently with a confused face. Julia let out a sigh. Charles eventually noticed the heavy mood as he carefully lowered his mug. He looked like a squirrel who was putting down its acorn. Wittenmyer slowly opened his mouth. ¡°¡­¡­The speech at Bruno ins did a severe amount of damage on our side. It was a ploy to divide normal soldiers and the noble higher-ups. If Dantalian had been nning this since the beginning, then does that not mean the magnanimity that he showed to the people within the Margrave¡¯s territory was also all a part of his n?¡± Schleiermacher nodded his head in silence. Wittenmyer gulped. ¡°Then¡­¡­from the breaching of the ck Mountains, the bloodless takeover of the Margrave¡¯s territory, the battle of Austerlitz, the battle at Bruno ins, and to the regency incident¡­¡­this would mean that all of this was nned by a single Demon Lord. Furthermore, all of these ns were realized in full. This means a single Demon Lord manipted the entire continent on his own. Is something like that possible?¡± A curtain of silence fell over the bar again. It wasn¡¯t fate that led to the empire¡¯s demise. It was revealed that it was the deed of a single Demon Lord. Heidelberg gulped down his words as he spoke. ¡°After hearing your information, it seems Her Excellency the Consul is enduring against quite the preposterous fellow¡­¡­. Should we not start making countermeasures for this Demon Lord Dantalian?¡± The others nodded. However, how exactly they intended to make countermeasures was never brought up throughout the rest of the evening. Wittenmyer had no other choice but to acknowledge who the true enemy of the republic was¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Once again, more and more people are learning about Dantalian. Also, why¡¯d Kurz Schleiermacher have toe back? Please, I still hate your name. Couldn¡¯t you have taken a better person¡¯s name? On another note, it¡¯s still hot. It rained heavily yesterday, but the temperature didn¡¯t change at all. So it was raining and hot. The absolute worst feeling. Hot rain. May summer end soon. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 187: Path of Pilgrimage (2) Chapter 187: Path of Pilgrimage (2) * * * How could it be possible for a certain country to never receive the resentment of another nation? How could it be possible for a certain country to have never despised another country¡¯s emperor, aristocrats, or even their people? Favor and spite are not new concepts on a continent where several nations were already tearing each other apart. The Empire of Frankia and the Kingdom of Brittany did not simply hold grudges against one another. They had built up a history of resentment which resulted in them bing bitter enemies. Whenever Frankia got in a fight with another country, Brittany would always be scheming a war behind them. Frankia despised Brittany. Therefore. ¡°Look at this, Saintess Jacqueline. The Emperor sent me a love letter.¡± The Queen of Brittany, Henrietta, could onlyugh. She burst out intoughter as she read the letter from on top of her horse. Her hair which was as red as blood fluttered. As the queen, she was very honest about her emotions, and her vassals considered this to be one of Henrietta¡¯s charm points. ¡°Oh? That is interesting.¡± Jacqueline Longwy, a saintess of the Goddess Athena, received the letter. ¡°Let this humble one read the love letter of His Excellency the Emperor¡­¡­.¡± The Saintess read the letter out loud while fiddling with her splendidly curled side bangs. In other words, Saintess Jacqueline was impertinently holding a letter sent by the emperor of an empire with her left hand and reading it out loud. There were twelve high-ranking nobles around her, but no one pointed out the Saintess¡¯ rude behavior. ¡°O Queen! Recently, while outrageous hooligans have been starting riots throughout my empire and your kingdom¡­¡­. Oh dear. Outrageous hooligans, is it? Fufu, a certain someone would be quite sad if they heard this.¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± Peopleughed. The person who the Emperor of Frankia was referring to as an outrageous hooligan was none other than his own mother. Even though this was an official letter with a diplomatic purpose, it was actually riddled with nder. Saintess Jacqueline cleared her throat before she continued reading. ¡°¡­¡­throughout my empire and your kingdom, you once sent me a letter. At that time, you firmly took my side. Even though the hooligans went on about all sorts of causes, in the end, not only were these hooligans undermining my vassals and my royal authority, but they were stealing from my wealth and using it as their own.¡± The Emperor¡¯s tone made his opinion about republicans as clear as day. In short, republicans were absolutely useless when it came to strengthening his power and were nothing more than thugs who stole from the empire¡¯s funds. ¡°Now that these hooligans are showing their true faces as they try to take over the empire, this is trulyparable to a hedgehog stealing from a cave of snakes or a robber acting like the owner of the house they are robbing from. I look around and all I see are rebels and disloyal subjects. This has added a shadow to my already dark mind.¡± ¡°Hmm, His Majesty the Emperor is definitely not a literary person.¡± Queen Henrietta snickered. Saintess Jacqueline nodded her head. The two women were childhood friends and would asionally put their status and duties aside to have fun with men. They¡¯ve probably gone through more than 400 love letters now. ¡°¡­¡­Therefore, you and I are the only friends underneath the sky. Although it is said that the Goddesses have made my empire and your kingdom rivals throughout history, how could the heavens possibly go against us finallying together to cooperate? I hope for a helping hand from my friend¡­¡­.¡± Saintess Jacqueline tossed the letter. Queen Henrietta grabbed it out of the air and put it away. She steered her horse around. There was a total of 12 high-ranking nobles wearing light armor around the queen. In terms of ramparts, this was like the inner city. Around those nobles were the knights under theirmand. The knights were holding tall spears with the respective banners of each household pping valiantly in the wind at the ends of their spears. This was the Queen¡¯s second rampart. Around those knights, spread across a vast in¨Dwere approximately 10,000 soldiers. They were following their general¡¯s order and standing in perfect formation. As the Queen¡¯s third rampart, this was the outer city that was capable of mercilessly destroying any external threat. ¡°Sons and daughters of Brittany!¡± Queen Henrietta de Brittany looked down at the three ramparts. The mages that had been waiting beforehand were prepared to amplify the queen¡¯s voice. Henrietta¡¯s powerful voice echoed far throughout the ins. ¡°Today we will be entering the empire. Not as invaders, pigers, or even traitors. Here is a letter from the leader of Frankia who has approved of our march!¡± The scarlet-haired queen raised her hand firmly. ¡°There is nothing under the sky that can stand in your way. Your asional hesitation will release your rough hands. Temptation will discourage your powerful cries. Nheless, sons and daughters of Brittany! I, Henrietta, guarantee that you are justice! Devastate the enemy without any hesitation. Do not allow yourself to fall into temptation and listen to yourmander¡¯s every order. The only thing we require is unity! Brittany¨Dunite!¡± The soldiers responded to their beautiful and powerful queen with their cheer. Henrietta de Brittany had to cooperate with numerous nobles for the sake of ascending the throne. However, she brought her de down upon the nobles who refused to cooperate with her. A significant proportion of the 10,000 soldiers had personally witnessed how merciless the Queen was when it came to stamping out her enemies. There were some soldiers who believed that Henrietta was the living embodiment of the Goddess of War. They respected the queen with burning red hair. ¡°Unite! Unite!¡± ¡°Glory to Brittany!¡± ¡°Glory to Her Highness the Queen¨D!¡± There was no need to say anything more. Henrietta de Brittany steered her horse back around. ck, Henrietta¡¯s warhorse had taken a step forward. The Queen had crossed the border between the Kingdom of Brittany and the Empire of Frankia. There was no line drawn on the ground, but the Queen had definitely stepped into the empire. Everyone was aware of this. Soon after, the twelve high-ranking nobles, the knights, and then thousands of soldiers crossed the border. Saintess Jacqueline Longwy sang. ¡°Aah¨D.¡± A beautiful melody flowed out from the saintess¡¯ lips. It was sacred and elegant, but also upright. It had the air of a female warrior. The song to the Goddess Athena was also their anthem. The power of magic was borrowed as the singing resonated above the heads of every soldier. The Goddess was blessing them¡­¡­. The royal army of Brittany with a total of 9,000 soldiers. Advanced under Henrietta de Brittany¡¯s leadership. * * * I immediately went to sleep as soon as I returned from my long battle of wits with Leraje. It seems I was a lot more tired than I thought. I ended up taking a nap. I was alone in the carriage by the time I opened my eyes. No one had woken me up. Were they being considerate¡­¡­? New information had arrived as I awkwardly exited the carriage. ¡°The royal army of Brittany has crossed the border.¡± Jacquerie reported with an incredibly serious look on his face that approximately 10,000 Breton soldiers had begun their march. ¡°It seems a saintess has also joined their ranks. Jacqueline Longwy, a worshipper of Athena.¡± ¡°She is not a normal saintess to get involved in such a political mire¡­¡­.¡± Saintess Longwy appeared as an enemy in . It was obvious since the nation the hero belonged to, the Empire of Habsburg, fought against Brittany. It was already difficult to deal with Laura¡¯s forces, but Saintess Longwy would also cast buffs constantly and make it even more annoying. She would use her healing magic to restore the enemy units I had desperately struggled to bring to the brink of death¡­¡­. Healer units are always the number one target to tear apart first in RPGs. It wasn¡¯t very different here either. No, I¡¯m certain that she¡¯ll be an even bigger nuisance here. ¡°Hoo.¡± I rubbed my face with my palm. I was able to rub away a bit of my drowsiness with this. ¡°They are basically shouting to the world that they have a just cause by having a saintess move with them.¡± ¡°ording to the information I received, the Emperor of Frankia personally sent them a letter.¡± ¡°What a fool. What kind of emperor would voluntarily call for his enemy?¡± He only had to acknowledge the republic. The Emperor¡¯s pride was bringing the downfall of a great nation. I smirked as I drank some vinegar water that was contained in a leather canteen. ¡°Even if he manages to overwhelm the republicans by borrowing the strength of Brittany, what would he be gaining? His authority would be established after having relied on a foreign power. No one would genuinely respect him. The Emperor is wringing his own neck¡­¡­.¡± To make matters worse, the person who was protecting the republicans was the Empress Dowager, his mother. Not only was he ruining his own country, but he was alsomitting an immoral sin. As expected of an emperor, his buy-one-get-one-free ability is on a different level. In any case, the emperor¡¯s name will be recorded in the history books as a narrow-minded and foolish king. ¡°As we discussed beforehand, we will be going on a pilgrimage to the northern region of Frankia.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Queen Henrietta most likely does not want the war to get prolonged. She probably wants to reap all of the benefits she can get before slipping out slyly. If the royalists win and the republicans fall, then as a reward for their efforts, they could take a portion of Frankia¡¯snd. This could easily be Queen Henrietta¡¯s aim. Nheless, even if she can enter however she pleases, she won¡¯t be able to do the same when leaving¡­¡­. I intend to turn Frankia into a mire. Let us roll in the mud together, Henrietta de Brittany. ¡°Also, Your Highness, he isn¡¯t normal.¡± ¡°Who isn¡¯t?¡± ¡°The boy Your Highness left in my care.¡± Ah, I forgot about Luke. I had been too focused on the matter with Leraje. I was probably still feeling a little sleepy. I shook my head in order to chase away any bit of drowsiness that still remained. This probably wasn¡¯t going to help, but it¡¯s the thought that matters. I had to slowly take care of Brittany, the civil war, and the hero one at a time. ¡°What is Luke doing right now?¡± ¡°My subordinates are teaching him swordsmanship right now.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I stroked my cheek. ¡°Jacquerie, boys are usually overflowing with libido at eleven years old, right?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± Jacquerie blinked in surprise. ¡°¡­¡­Of course. Even oak trees will look like female bodies to him.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Call Jeremi here.¡± Jeremi arrived at my carriage shortly after Jacquerie left. Daisy was right next to her. Ever since they adopted a teacher-disciple rtionship, Daisy had be Jeremi¡¯s attendant. Daisy was looking at me impassively. I¡¯m curious to see how long she can keep that up. Jeremi spoke. ¡°Your Highness, I heard that you called for me.¡± ¡°Indeed, I did. Proceed with the n I told you yesterday.¡± ¡°Oh dear, Your Highness is being hasty.¡± She smiled widely. It probably wasn¡¯t my imagination when I felt something sinister in that bright smile of hers. ¡°Then I should take my leave now. Should I carry it out today?¡± ¡°Naturally. Tell Jacquerie that this is my order and do whatever you want.¡± ¡°Fufu, it seems I will be able to invigorate myself for the first time in a while thanks to Your Highness.¡± Jeremi turned away with augh. Once Daisy turned around to follow her teacher, Jeremi waved her hand at her. ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t have to follow me. Stick with His Highness for today. He is going to need you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Understood.¡± Daisy furrowed her brows a bit, but she must¡¯ve taken it as an order as she nodded her head obediently. Daisy and I were the only ones remaining once Jeremi left with light steps. I stroked Daisy¡¯s head. Slowly. As if I were basking in the sensation of her hair. Daisy made her expression look even more emotionless since she probably thought that I would be pleased to see her react even slightly. What a disappointing child. ¡°I told you that I would not forgive you, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Just wait. Something rather interesting is going to happen.¡± I smiled gently. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing much to say this time around. Summer heat is still a pain. This really is the longest heatwave ever. Climate change is cool. Uh, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 188: Path of Pilgrimage Chapter 188: Path ofPilgrimage WARNING: NSFW CONTENT.Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience.You have been warned. Daisy looked up at me with her pitch-ck eyes. She spoke. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°You imed to be Andromalius when we first met. After that, you imed to be Dantalian. And now you are Jean Bole.¡± Her eyes were rebellious. It wasn¡¯t rebellious simply because she didn¡¯t want to obey me obediently. A type of certainty was contained within her eyes. ¡°What should I refer to you as?¡± ¡°Simply call me Dantalian.¡± ¡°Dantalian.¡± Daisy opened her mouth slightly. ¡°Is that truly your name?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± She muttered. It was like she was trying to engrave the pronunciation onto her tongue and mouth. I was quite pleased to see this. There was nothing that gives you more pride than when you see how important you are to another person. Even if the other person is trying to kill you. ¡°That¡¯s right, Dantalian, you brat from a Raelian mountain vige.¡± I chuckled and pulled out a pipe. This was the item that I had requested from Jeremi. I pushed down the herbs and lit a fire with some flint. A scent lingered around the end of my nose. Hoo, I blew out some smoke. It had a nice fragrance. Jeremi said that these were high-quality herbs that an alchemist had created by hand, so she seemed quite proud when she gifted them to me, but, sure enough, it really was something to boast about. ¡°Call me master when in front of others. However, you have be my adopted child, for now, so call me father when necessary. Basically, you can call me father when we go to cities or viges and when there are unfamiliar people around us.¡± ¡°Father, is it?¡± Daisy smiled quietly. It was the same smile she showed back at the sh-and-burn vige. In other words, it was a smile that made it clear that she understood exactly how I perceived her. It has only been a few days since the ve seal surgery, and yet, she had already returned to her normal pace. ¡°What? Do you not like me being your father?¡± ¡°I do not believe that there is a father out there who would abuse their daughter so severely.¡± ¡°A daughter who tries to assassinate her father in his sleep does not exist either. We have quite an amazing household.¡± After sharing an idle conversation for a while, it became time for me to start. I took out a vial from a pocket inside my priest robe. ¡°Open your mouth and stick out your tongue.¡± ¡°Would it be fine for me to ask what that is?¡± ¡°An aphrodisiac. Three drops would be enough to keep you excited all day.¡± Daisy let out a disgusted snort. ¡°Now you are making your daughter drink an aphrodisiac? It seems I have been given quite the impressive person as my father. I personally think that this is an honor, O Great Being.¡± ¡°The world already knows that I am impressive even if you do not praise me. Open your mouth.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy opened her small mouth. Her red tongue came out from between her lips. I lowered my back and matched my height with her before giving her precisely two drops of the drug. The purple droplets dissolved into her tongue almost instantly. It must have tasted weird as Daisy furrowed her brows. ¡°Do not utter a sound no matter what happens from now on. This is an order.¡± ¡°Understood, Father.¡± Out of the three options of Dantalian, Master, or Father, it seems she had taken a liking to thest one. Of course, she didn¡¯t have even the slightest intention to treat me like her real father. She was doing it strictly to taunt me. How does it feel to be called father? What a creepy child. I grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her into the forest at the side of the road. A few of the mercenaries saw us leave, but no one said anything. No one. * * * The trees were overgrown. Spring was now sprouting all around us. Tree branches were covering the sky like webs and the sunlight that managed to avoid these threads created thin lines of light that reached the earth. It wouldn¡¯t be strange for things to happen deep within forests. Rape and murder probably stained them many times. The trees within forests have truly seen many things. They were capable of this because they knew how to stay splendidly quiet. People believe that trees cannot talk. They believe this because a tree has never spoken to them before. This simple reason of not being spoken to was enough to make people believe that trees were not capable of sentient thought. They believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that sentient beings would naturally try to talk to them¡­¡­. Therefore, people would do things they normally wouldn¡¯t do in front of others while under the watchful gazes of trees. Kiss, vow, lie, scheme, murder, rape¡­¡­. How could one list every single thing that has happened under a tree¡¯s shade? It¡¯s understandable why forests maintain their silence. If someone were to be a tree, then even they would end up keeping their mouth shut after taking in the fragrance of so much semen and blood. ¡°¡­¡­Haa.¡± It didn¡¯t take long before Daisy¡¯s breathing became heavier. Her pale neck was now red. We were only walking, but the number of times Daisy would stiffen up gradually increased to the point of being visibly apparent. We didn¡¯t get that far before Daisy could no longer walk properly. Was it because of the vibration that would travel up her spine with every step she took? Daisy¡¯s shoulders would tremble each time as if a bolt of electricity were shooting through her. Her moans managed to squeeze their way through the gap between her teeth and mouth. ¡°Here we are.¡± I stopped walking and crouched down. I pressed down on Daisy¡¯s back to make her sit down as well. Daisy leaked out another moan once I applied pressure on her back with my hand. ¡°Now then, Daisy. Look over there.¡± I pointed beyond the foliage. Daisy followed where I was pointing with an absent gaze. It felt like she was struggling to perceive the things right in front of her for a bit. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Daisy¡¯s eyes opened wide after a slight dy. She seemed to forget the electric current that was assaulting her body as she looked at the sight before her. She was finally able to hear the sound that wasing from that direction as well now. Jeremi and Luke were beyond the foliage. ¡°Miss, please wait, hgh, I can¡¯t¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Oh dear. You¡¯re quiterge for a kid, huh? Are you trying to pick on someone by growing like this?¡± Luke was seated on a boulder. His pants were lowered and a member that was far too big for an 11-year-old to have was sticking out. Jeremi, who had her top stripped off, was ying with it. She was massaging Luke¡¯s member between her breasts. ¡°Seriously, you are different from your peers. You¡¯re still energetic even though you¡¯vee twice already. It seems to have been worth teasing you.¡± ¡°I already, came earlier¡­¡­! Hgg, why¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Are you about to cum? You¡¯re about to cum, right? Fufu. This tip here feels good, right?¡± ¡°A-Again¡­¡­hggh, again¡­¡­!¡± Luke was unable to collect himself due to the wave of pleasure that he was experiencing for the first time in his life. He reached his climax whilepletely unaware of the drool that wasing out of his mouth. Daisy watched this scene in silence. Was it because she witnessed a woman ying around with her brother? Daisy turned to re at me and muttered quietly. ¡°Was this your goal?¡± It was a crystal clear gaze. A wave of silent anger was lurking behind her eyes. ¡°Did you order that woman to y with my brother? Do you intend to vite me now? Taking advantage of a pair of siblings in a single ce. This feels rather shallow and simple-minded for a person as great as you.¡± ¡°Kuhu.¡± A young child was using this kind of vocabry without any hesitation. It wasn¡¯t weird for Daisy. ¡°Do not misunderstand. That is something that Luke himself wanted.¡± ¡°There is no way. My brother is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your brother is going through puberty. Do you think your brother would refuse if a mature woman like Jeremi were to seduce him?¡± Daisy¡¯s brows twitched. She then let out a small sigh. ¡°Fine. If this is something Luke wanted, then I will not get involved. But why are you showing this to me? I do not recall having a foul hobby of peaking at my brother¡¯s personal life.¡± ¡°Oh. Do not worry. This is my bad hobby.¡± I stroked Daisy¡¯s cheek. ¡°¡­¡­!?¡± The girl¡¯s body shook greatly. Her incredibly sensitive body had surprised her. Daisy grit her teeth and red at me. She was like a wild beast. ¡°Watch silently.¡± I paid her no mind. I grabbed her by the cheek and turned her head. Daisy turned to look at where Luke was with moist eyes even as her entire body shuddered. Jeremi and Luke were in the middle of their session. No, it would be too much to say that they were still in the middle. Luke was alreadypletely exhausted. The pleasure was probably much too strong for someone his age. ¡°Our adorable Luke, do you know what this is?¡± Jeremi took something out at that moment. The main event was now going to begin. ¡°W-What is it?¡± ¡°Fufu. Well actually, Luke.¡± Tadah! Jeremi gave a little fanfare as she spoke. ¡°This is amazingly a recreation of a woman¡¯s spot down there!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Mm. In other words, if you use this, Luke, it would feel like you¡¯re putting it in an actual woman. You are still young, so you cannot go any further than this with me! A true shame. That¡¯s why I want you to have fun with an imitation that is as detailed as this instead. This is something that all boys do!¡± Jeremi¡¯sment distorted the sexual life of every young boy in the world. On the other hand, Daisy looked like she didn¡¯t understand the conversation that was happening over there. She was crouching down next to me with her brows furrowed. Jeremi continued regardless of the girl¡¯s confusion. ¡°Now then. I brought you here today to gift this to you. You probably don¡¯t know about this since you were raised in a mountain vige, but this is something girls usually gift to boys! It is an old tradition where girls gift these things to the boys they have taken a liking to.¡± A nation with a tradition like that would¡¯ve fallen into ruin a long time ago. The innocent boy blinked his eyes. ¡°I-Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve taken quite a big liking to you, Luke.¡± Jeremi smiled. ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°I would be genuinely happy if you were to gleefully receive this gift I had worked hard to prepare.¡± Luke was fundamentally a good-natured boy. He couldn¡¯t refuse someone who imed to like him. Adding to this, it was from someone whom he just had a pleasurable experience with a second ago. There was no way that a boy who was ignorant of the world would refuse this. Luke spoke hesitantly. ¡°If it¡¯s a gift from you¡­¡­then okay. I¡¯m happy as well.¡± ¡°Really!?¡± Jeremi pulled Luke into a hug. Luke¡¯s skin must¡¯ve been sensitive as he let out a cry that was simr to a groan. Despite this, the fact that he didn¡¯t refuse Jeremi made it clear who the prey and predator were. ¡°Now, I¡¯ll personally let you have your first experience with this item.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It feels really good, so I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be happy as well!¡± Did she realize something now? I heard a gasp next to me. I turned to see Daisy¡¯s pale face. She was looking at Luke with an uneasy gaze. Her usually calmplexion was long gone. Only the fear of the unknown was left. ¡°Do not tell me¡­¡­.¡± I smiled. ¡°Your suspicions are correct, youngdy.¡± Daisy looked at me with fearful eyes. I chuckled in response. I felt greatly pleased. This was the first time this girl ever looked fearful. I slowly blocked Daisy¡¯s mouth with my hand. I whispered to Daisy. ¡°Slimes who divide their bodies have special properties. If one side is injured, then the other side receives the same pain. Of course, other sensations besides pain is also transferred over¡­¡­. Mhm. Please enjoy it to your heart¡¯s content.¡± The girl in front of me stared at me in shock. I could hear Jeremi getting excited in the distance. ¡°Now then, Luke! Please enjoy my gift!¡± A slime onahole. Jeremi shoved the item that shared the same properties as the slime that was inside of Daisy¡¯s body against Luke¡¯s lower body. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Daisy arched her back. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry about the dy. My brother got engaged and he came over yesterday with his fianc¨¦, so I¡¯ve been busy doing family things. On another note, I don¡¯t know what to say about this chapter. I did end up getting spoiled about it a while back, so it felt pretty nd to trante. Remember guys. Don¡¯t spoil the story just because you decided to MTL the rest of the novel. Also, please stop messaging me for the raws. I¡¯ve stated explicitly that I¡¯m not going to give out the raws on my end, but multiple people have DM¡¯d me on Discord and emailed me asking for them. It might all be the same person, but still. Stop asking. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 189: Path of Pilgrimage Chapter 189: Path ofPilgrimage WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. You have been warned. It was a simple n. After splitting a slime in half, we made it share its senses before nting one inside of Daisy¡¯s body. The other one was transformed into an onahole that was a perfect recreation of Daisy¡¯s body. Afterward, we gifted the onahole to Luke. To Luke, it was simply an ¡®item that feels very good¡¯¡­¡­but it waspletely different for Daisy. The vibration, movement, and the tiniest of squirms meant something entirely different to her. They were her brother¡¯s vibrations. ¡°¨D, ¨D!?¡± Daisy was assaulted by a relentless wave of pleasure. No moans managed to escape her lips since I was blocking her mouth. However, her back remained arched like a bow. The girl shuddered like a fish out of water. Luke¡¯s voice could be heard from beyond the foliage. ¡°Miss, hgh! This, this feels¡­¡­!¡± ¡°What is it? What is our Luke trying to say to me with your mouth agape like that? Feels, what? Does it feel strange? Hm? Tell me exactly.¡± ¡°This, feels¡­¡­too good!¡± Jeremi let out augh. ¡°Is that so? ¡®This¡¯ is something that feels good, huh?¡± ¡°Yes, hghh¡­¡­. Miss, slow down, ugh, I think I¡¯m going insane!¡± ¡°What feels so good about it? Hm? Now then, Luke, I¡¯ll start moving it slowly¡­¡­so feel everyst wrinkle within it. Fufu. What about this feels good?¡± ¡°I-I don¡¯t know. I really don¡¯t know. All of it, feels good¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi definitely looked like she was having fun. She was teasing Luke and forcing him to give a detailed exnation about how the onahole felt good. Pitifully, Luke honestly confessed which parts felt good to him. It felt stiflingly good each time he went inside, he felt like he was going to pass out each time he brushed past a wrinkle within the hole, and he confessed that his spine felt tingly whenever he reached the end of the onahole. He had no idea what that item was a recreation of and who was struggling in the bushes right now. ¡­¡­. The boy was going through purgatory. Luke climaxed three more times due to Jeremi¡¯s teasing. He had already climaxed two times earlier, so he basically came five times in a row. Should I say that he was wrung dry down to his roots? This could only be too much for a young boy. He may be destined to be a hero in the future, but right now, he hadpletely surrendered and had to be taken out of the forest while on Jeremi¡¯s back. However, that was nothingpared to the other hero candidate. ¡°Haa, haa¡­¡­.¡± Daisy was copsed on the ground. She was wearing a pure white cassock, a religious attire that kids devoted to God would wear. That outfit was nowpletely drenched in sweat. It was now an utter mess as dirt had gotten smeared all over it. Daisy climaxed dozens of times every time Luke climaxed once. She had climaxed approximately thirty times within this short time frame. Her climax had basically continued endlessly. She even passed out a couple of times because she couldn¡¯t endure it. She climaxed while passed out. Despite this, she heard everything her brother had said. She had no choice but to listen to him praise the onahole¡­¡­. ¡°Your brother seemed to be quite satisfied.¡± I smiled. ¡°He even gave you a positive review. You must be happy.¡± ¡°You¡­¡­are a trashy son of a bitch.¡± Daisy red at me with moist eyes. The sweat on her skin had yet to dry. There was sweat all over her slender arms, abdomen, thighs, etc. She was assaulted by the sensation of that area being prated while her body was also sensitive to the point of trembling when touched. This wasn¡¯t simply due to the pleasure. She had endured the pain of having a seal engraved onto her heart. Not only was her body conquered, but her mind was as well. The fact that the pleasure that washed through her body, the sensation that had pounded inside of her originated from Luke¡­¡­this thought was tormenting Daisy. In truth, no sort of intercourse was carried out. Despite this, it didn¡¯t feel like that for Daisy herself. Not only had she copsed under the intensity of the pleasure she had experienced for the first time in her life, but her mind was falling further because she knew that her brother was the reason for that intensity. Daisy probably feels as if she had crawled out of hell. ¡°Your mistake was the fact that you tried to deal with death so casually.¡± I told her. ¡°Not only did you try to assassinate me, but you tried to do so while I was asleep andpletely oblivious! Is that how you do things? Answer me.¡± I gnashed my teeth. It must have been painful to have a seal engraved on your heart. Enough to want to kill me. That hatred was perfectly rational. However, it would only trouble me if you express your hatred while breaking the ¡®rules¡¯ of our game. ¡°I could have pretended to keep my promise with you and killed both you and your brother! I could have done this at any time! I could have killed you and only kept your brother with me! I believed that we had established a type of contract¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Still¡­¡­Luke is, unrted!¡± ¡°Then conduct yourself properly if you do not want unrted people to get involved!¡± The two of us red at each other. ¡°Or only form bonds with people whom you do not mind getting involved. Dear me! Did you unintentionally form a bond with your family? That is quite unfortunate!¡± ¡°You, you really are¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What are you so worried about? Luke is unaware of anything anyway.¡± I chuckled. Being able tough when you wanted to was also a type of authority. ¡°Your brother seems like quite the kind soul. He is quite innocent,pared to a certain someone. I do wonder about what would happen if he were to realize that what he had done was no different from having intercourse with his own sister.¡± Daisy¡¯s shoulders shook. I lit my pipe as I continued. ¡°Listen carefully. I tried to destroy your vige and ended up killing 7 people in the process. However, I listened to your plea and stopped my ughter. I went beyond this and even gifted the people of your vige a portion of mynd to use as their new home. Our exchange was appropriate up to this point.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And yet, you tried to kill me. In a way that was not even remotely beautiful. I will not forget this. If you do not wish for your brother to know the truth, then behave appropriately from now on. Do you understand? Especially if you wish to take my life.¡± I brought my face close to hers and blew smoke into it. ¡°Do so while I am awake. Do so boldly before my very eyes. I will do the same when the dayes where I have to kill you.¡± We didn¡¯t exchange any words beyond this, but we knew. We knew who won the battle of nerves that started since the assassination attempt the other night. Daisy obtained aplete victory at the sh-and-burn vige. I gave her aplete defeat this time. I could instinctively tell that the two of us were going to fall into a muddy swamp one day. We were already submerged up to our calves. But who cares? There are only swamps in this world. * * * Our mercenary brigade swept through the northern region of Frankia with a violet force. Once Demon Lord Leraje rallied his army and started attacking on arge scale, the minor lords of the region were thrown into turmoil. The lords had already dispatched reinforcements to fight the 8th Crescent Alliance and they had even fewer soldiers now because they had abided by the draft sent by the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. There were a fair amount of lords who dispatched troops to both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. They were scheming so that they could make an excuse regardless of which side were to win. The lords had basically created a refuge in their own way, but their timing was bad. Their borate n ended up putting their own lives in danger. I could only give them my condolences. ¡°800 gold! I will give you 800 gold. Please help mynd!¡± ¡°We will pay 1,000 gold! Please bring salvation upon Rarowe¡­¡­.¡± ¡°1,100 gold¡­¡­I do not have enough funds to offer anything beyond this. I implore you, O priest of Artemis. Do not turn a blind eye to someone in peril¡­¡­¡± The lords urgently sent their servants and attendants to solicit us. The bravery our mercenary brigade disyed at Bar Berci¡¯s territory and the gentlemanly demeanor that differentiated us from other mercenary groups had spread through the grapevine. The Double Ax Mercenary Brigade led by Jacquerie was already renowned. The other lords rushed to receive our aid since our credibility had been verified in another region already. I put a troubled look on my face whenever the envoys requested an audience. ¡°I am merely a servant who carries out the will of the Goddess and she has ordered us to help all people; however, there is a problem¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What is the problem, O sacred priest? Barbaric monsters are threatening to tear our people apart. Could there be anything more troubling than this?¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°It just so happens that envoys have arrived from not only Garcivel but from Rarowe and Trowin as well. They are also under the imminent danger of monsters. The location of one¡¯s residence does not matter as people are all the same. I am unsure as to which region we should help first.¡± The envoys would always leave with a scowl once I told them this. They would then return the next day and ask for help again while trying to look even more pitiful and sad. This was because they had confirmed that the other lords did actually ask for aid as well. It¡¯s unsurprising, but attendants have mastered the way of life. ¡°I hope that the Goddess will be satisfied with this small gift.¡± ¡°We will pay 1,100 gold in advance and pay another 500 gold if the subjugation is a sess.¡± ¡°We will pay 1,400 gold as a single payment¡­¡­we really cannot offer any more than this!¡± I disyed a more troubled look. ¡°I am truly grateful for your sincerity. Nheless, how could the Goddess assign an order to her people?¡± ¡°Then what do you want us to do, priest!?¡± ¡°As a humble servant, I cannot make these sorts of decisions. Please have a discussion among yourselves.¡± I gathered the attendants in one ce and slipped out on my own. I could hear them argue about whose territory was in more danger from beyond the door. They brought up that one territory was already being protected by an earl and they eventually even brought up the territorial battle that happened a decade ago that was for the sake of obtaining authority. The next day. ¡°1,600 gold, no, 1,700 gold!¡± ¡°1,500 gold in advance and another 500 gold afterward!¡± ¡°Please, O priest¡­¡­we will pay 1,600 gold all at once. I beg of you. We truly do not have any more than this!¡± The value of our mercenaries had skyrocketed through the stratosphere. They even offered to pay a premium if we decided to save their territory first. Of course, I was a kind man. I was kind, so I furtively informed the other attendants about this premium offer. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, the deal grew in size as well. It was around the point ourmission fee had reached about 2,000 gold. I looked down at them with a bright smile. In other words, it was like the descent of God¡¯s mother. Truly, it was a smile that was only possible by the mother of God. ¡°May the Goddess¡¯ merciful embrace be with you all. Now then, bring your hands together. Let us all pray so that we can endure the invasion carried out by this wicked Demon Lord.¡± In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Okay, so the next 6 chapters after this are going to be an ¡°IF route¡± thing. It¡¯s sort of different from those various endings that we¡¯ve seen so far. But yeah, I¡¯m sure some people will just skip these chapters. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll particrly matter, but I think they¡¯re pretty interesting. It does have some tongue in cheek bits to it. In any case, I¡¯ll see you in the IF route. Chapter 190: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense Chapter 190: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense The pce was unusually rowdy that day. The servants moved around more hastily than usual and the maids would gather and chat whenever they could. The entire pce was enveloped in a tense mood. The sound of whispering came from one hallway while the sound of muttering came from another. The Habsburg Pce that normally boasted its silence was unusually loud today. And there was one person who definitely didn¡¯t miss this shift in mood. ¡°Sebastian, did something happen?¡± ¡°Ah, Your Highness Johanna¡­¡­.¡± A man in his forties let out a ¡®darn it¡¯. The man had worked in the pce for decades and did not reveal his emotions on his face. Even a servant of his level could only sweat nervously while in the presence of this little princess. ¡°Ah, that face means that something definitely happened!¡± The young girl with silver, spiraling hair hopped up and down. ¡°I¡¯m sure of it! I¡¯m a hundred, no, a thousand percent sure!¡± ¡°Your Highness¡¯ words are making me sad. What kind of face did I make to make Your Highness so certain?¡± ¡°Hehe. Even if you try to feign ignorance now, the water has already been spilled, Sebastian.¡± The girl shook her index finger from side to side. ¡°Sebastian, you may be one of the best servants who has worked in this pce for 37 years, but you have one bad habit. Whenever you lie, you habitually bend your back ever so slightly.¡± ¡°Eh, really?¡± The man turned pale from shock. This is a big problem! As the most experienced servant in the pce, Sebastian would handle not only official work but unofficial work as well. In other words, he would often receive confidential orders from the emperor or the prince. He can¡¯t let his emotions out. If the young princess is right and he does have a habit¡­¡­then he might have unintentionally leaked some information to several nobles! ¡°Of course I¡¯m lying. Stupid idiot Sebastian. Did you believe that?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way this strict pce would promote a man with a bad habit like that to be our first-rate servant. Especially you, Sebastian, who¡¯s the fourth son of a duke and doesn¡¯t have anything to inherit since you¡¯re an illegitimate child.¡± The girl grinned brightly. ¡°In other words, this means you were able to climb up this high while relying on your powers alone, Sebastian. There¡¯s no one who is as self-made as you within this pce that¡¯s corrupted by bribes and connections. You really are amazing.¡± ¡°T-Thank you very much¡­¡­Your Highness.¡± ¡°Yeah? You¡¯re grateful, right?¡± The man couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯re so grateful that you¡¯re willing to sacrifice yourself for me, right?¡± ¡°Y-Yes¡­¡­of course. This humble one is always prepared to sacrifice himself for the royal family at all times.¡± The girl was in awe. ¡°Jeez. I recognized your loyalty a long time ago. That¡¯s why you¡¯re the pride of Habsburg¡¯s interior ministry. Mister Sebastian whose unparalleled sincerity and wit helped you seed in life despite being the fourth son and the illegitimate child of a duke.¡± The girl grabbed on to the man who was twice her size and smiled slyly like some old man. ¡°So hurry up and tell me what happenedst night. If you do, then I won¡¯t tell the high steward about how unsightly our Sebastian was in front of the imperial princess. Huhu.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Johanna von Habsburg. She was the 2nd Imperial Princess of the Habsburg Empire, one of the absolute powerhouses of the continent alongside Frankia to the west and Anatolia to the east. This 14-year-old youngdy was also referred to as the ¡®Terrifying Ruler¡¯ among the hundreds of servants and maids who worked in the pce. In the end, the veteran servant, Sebastian, surrendered. ¡°Hoo, very well, then. I will tell you everything.¡± ¡°Yay! I did it! I defeated Sebastian¨D!¡± Imperial Princess Johanna raised her arms. Sebastian smiled bitterly. Imperial Princess Johanna was definitely a stubborn tomboy, but she was overflowing with a type of cuteness that made it hard to hate her. You could say that she had a charm that made people automatically lower their guards. This was probably the reason why there have been no problems even though Imperial Princess Johanna would bother them almost every single day. In this regard, Imperial Princess Johanna was incredibly differentpared to her little sister, in other words, Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Her Highness Elizabeth was renowned for being a genius, but she was strangely difficult to approach¡­¡­. ¡°You absolutely must not tell anyone about what I am going to tell you.¡± ¡°Mhm, okay. I swear on Sebastian¡¯s conscience and honor!¡± ¡°¡­¡­May I ask why Your Highness is swearing on this humble one¡¯s conscience and honor and not your own?¡± ¡°Tsk tsk. A man shouldn¡¯t worry about such trifling matters.¡± Sebastian let out a deep sigh. ¡°Last night, we discovered a man who had infiltrated the pce.¡± ¡°What, here!?¡± The Imperial Princess opened her eyes wide like a frog in surprise. It was the reaction that Sebastian was expecting, so he let out augh. ¡°Yes, indeed. The sound of something falling in theke on the west side of the pce was heardst night. A maid who happened to be passing by at the time heard it. She panicked and called for the guards and when they got there, they discovered a man in the pool.¡± ¡°W-wow¡­¡­. He managed to get through the pce¡¯s barrier on his own? While avoiding the thousands of security spells and hundreds of guards?¡± Sebastian nodded. ¡°Yes. That is why there has been an uproar. People think that there might be a hole in the pce¡¯s absolute defenses. Furthermore, this is a secret that has yet to spread to the maids, but¡­¡­.¡± He got close to the Imperial Princess¡¯ ear and whispered. ¡°Surprisingly, the man who fell in theke is not a swordmaster, a mage, or even an assassin. They say that hispatibility with mana is absolutely abysmal. He got over the pce¡¯s absolute barrier without using force or magic!¡± Imperial Princess Johanna shuddered. It wasn¡¯t surprising that she¡¯d be scared, Sebastian thought to himself as he nodded. She may be called the ¡®Terrifying Ruler¡¯, but she was still a sheltered 14-year-old girl. The fact that this man with an average amount of strength and magic could¡¯ve targeted her life must be a rather big shock to her. However, that was nothing but an assumption. ¡°Amazing¨D!¡± The Imperial Princess clenched her fists and shouted. Her voice was so loud that it echoed through the halls. It was so loud that it surprised the maid who was at the end of the hall and made her look towards them. Nevertheless, the girl got all giddy as if she forgot all of the pce¡¯s manners. Sebastian tried to calm her down. ¡°Y-Your Highness? Your voice is too loud. Why are you¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s amazing! The fact that a really normal man who can¡¯t use auras or cast spells managed to practically get right up to our noses is amazing! It sounds like a story from the past! He could¡¯ve been a hero! He¡¯s really amazing!¡± ¡°Your Highness, your voice¡­¡­please, your voice.¡± Imperial Princess Johanna¡¯s excitement-filled voice stopped there. She slowly turned to look at Sebastian. At that moment, an unknown chill traveled through Sebastian¡¯s spine. All traces of her childishness was gone as she stared at the servant with a sharp gaze. The blood of a ruler. A dignity that could only be possessed by people who were born with the ability to rule over humans was present. Sebastian started to sweat for a different reason than before. Did he perhaps¨Doverstep his boundaries and try to order her around too much? The girl before him was one of the most highborndies in the world. Did he end up annoying someone like that? The Imperial Princess spoke up the moment Sebastian felt like her savage beast-like gaze was squeezing down on his heart. ¡°Tell me where he is, Sebastian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me?¡± ¡°The hero of theke. He was probably put in a cell somewhere. Tell me which cell.¡± Sebastian¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. ¡°D-Do not tell me. Does Your Highness intend to meet the intruder!?¡± ¡°There is nothing to be surprised about. I am obviously going to meet him. Do you think I would ignore something as interesting as this? I definitely have to meet him.¡± ¡°Please reconsider, Your Highness!¡± Sebastian got down on his knees without any hesitation. ¡°The matter regarding the intruder is currently like a bomb within the pce.¡± ¡°And it just now became my bomb.¡± The Imperial Princess didn¡¯t back down. ¡°If I can¡¯t meet that man, then I¡¯ll explode first. Sebastian, know that the day I explode will be the day that Habsburg falls.¡± ¡°Your Highness, even His Majesty the Emperor is furious about this incident! If Your Highness approaches a matter as huge as this simply because of your curiosity, then at best you will lose the trust of the pce people and at worst you will incur the wrath of His Majesty the Emperor!¡± Imperial Princess Johanna went silent. She stared at Sebastian quietly for a while. She then raised the corners of her mouth. ¡°My Sebastian whose sincerity and loyalty are admirable. I¡¯m sorry, but this is a matter that I should handle above anyone else.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°Hmph. You can only think of one thing at a time, huh?¡± The Imperial Princessughed through her nose. ¡°You said it yourself, Sebastian. You said that it was a maid who first discovered the hero of theke. The maid then immediately called for the guards.¡± ¡°That is correct. But what is the problem?¡± ¡°Think about it. Someone broke into the pce. And it was done by an incredibly incapablemoner¡­¡­. Who do you think would have to take responsibility for this?¡± Imperial Princess Johanna extended her fingers on her left hand before folding them down one by one. ¡°The guards who maintain the public order within the imperial city? This was done by a single person and not a group, so it¡¯s hard to treat this as an example of the public order bing bad. That¡¯s out. The mage tower that cast the 3,680 protection spells on the pce? Then I guess we would have to announce that those respectable mages are less capable than a talentlessmoner, but we can¡¯t start a tiresome confrontation like that. That¡¯s out.¡± Oh dear, the 14-year-old Imperial Princess said theatrically. ¡°There are no external problems, so where else could the problem lie?¡± Ah, Sebastian let out a sound. ¡°Internally¡­¡­this means there was a sympathizer on the inside, Your Highness!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, you stupid idiot Sebastian.¡± Imperial Princess Johanna nodded her head. ¡°There¡¯s now going to be a tense battle of nerves between thedy-in-waiting and the pce¡¯s royal guards. This matter became convoluted because the maid who witnessed it first went to the guards before reporting to her superior. If the maids of thedy-in-waiting handled the matter on their own, then they could have easily passed the me onto the guards. But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The achievement of imprisoning theke man was split in half between thedy-in-waiting and the royal guards¡­¡­. Therefore, they cannot shift the responsibility to either side!¡± ¡°Huhu. One wrong move and the head of either the head maid or the captain of the guards could get sent flying.¡± Sebastian now realized how severe the situation was. The Emperor was undoubtedly angry. Blood might drift through the air at any moment¡­¡­. ¡°I guarantee you that the hero of theke is probably half-dead about now. The maids and the guards must¡¯ve tortured him all night in rotation demanding to know who their connection was. Tsk tsk¡­¡­I was wondering why I didn¡¯t see Captain Herci at morning training. Well, if I don¡¯t step forward here, then who would?¡± Imperial Princess Johanna shook her head. ¡°What do you intend to do, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Hm? Are you curious?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Imperial Princess grinned. ¡°If you¡¯re curious, then tell me where my hero is located. This Terrifying Ruler will handle everything.¡± ¡°Haa, who would think that I would get wrapped up in this kind of mess after working here for 37 years¡­¡­.¡± The earnest servant made a sad face. The Imperial Princess paid him no mind as she pushed him from behind. Sebastian started to walk down the hall feeling defeated. ¡°Oh right. What is our hero¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Is he our hero now instead of your hero¡­¡­? Understood. Mm, he has a rather unusual name. I personally do not know where his namees from.¡± ¡°Hm? What kind of name is it?¡± Sebastian recalled theyout of the underground prison as he answered. ¡°He¡¯s called Lolita, Your Highness.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing much to really say. I won¡¯t spoil this segment too much since it¡¯s the first chapter, but as I mentioned before, this ¡®What if?¡¯ segment is going to be 6 chapters long. I guess the author had fun writing this one. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 191: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense (2) Chapter 191: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense (2) * * * This was truly the worst. I can confidently say that this was the worst 12 hours in my entire life. It seems my life had already ended once, but who cares? I fell into a pool of water as soon as I opened my eyes. I mustered all of my strength to swim out, but all that was waiting for me was a special ride on the torture train. This wasn¡¯t a joke. I was tortured before I could fully understand my situation. Even after I begged them to forgive me and to at least tell me why they were torturing me, they didn¡¯t relent. ¡°Who supported you inmitting this crime!?¡± ¡°You met with Captain Hercist Wednesday. Is this correct?¡± They kept asking me things that made absolutely no sense to me. I¡¯m not sure why, but my survival instincts were telling me fiercely that I shouldn¡¯t answer ¡®yes¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯ to their questions. I had a feeling that my life would actually be ended the moment I gave them a certain answer. I kept telling them I didn¡¯t know and they kept torturing me. The surprising fact was the potions. They would pour some sort of blue liquid on me and all my wounds would get healed. It was at that point that I realized I had fallen into another world. The conversation I had with VenusPanties before I died and a world where potions exist¡­¡­. Imperial Princess Johanna was the nail in the coffin. She barged her way into the prison and took me with her. It seems she got in a big argument with the wardens because of her stubbornness. The reason why I¡¯m saying ¡®it seems¡¯ is because I passed out around this point. I ended up fainting due to the excessive pain from the torture. If Imperial Princess Johanna hadn¡¯t rescued me, then I definitely would¡¯ve died¡­¡­. I would¡¯ve no longer been able to endure the torture and simply admitted to every ridiculous usation and be executed afterward. I was genuinely grateful to the Imperial Princess. ¡°Is your body feeling okay?¡± Sebastian entered the room while I was resting in the bed. This person was also my savior. It may have been Imperial Princess Johanna who gave him the order, but I heard that Sebastian was the one who conciliated the wardens. He was also the one who arranged this bedroom for me. ¡°Yes, thanks to your care.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. I was simply following Her Highness the Imperial Princess¡¯ orders.¡± Sebastian answered a matter of factly. Sebastian was a first-rate servant in the empire and I was a foreigner with no connections whatsoever. In terms of status, we were like heaven and earth. Despite this, Sebastian remained courteous to me. This alone made it clear how much an upright person this man was. ¡°I must apologize to you, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°A problem has urred, I assume. What should I do?¡± Sebastian was slightly surprised by my quick response. ¡°You seem calm for someone who got out of prison only a few hours ago.¡± It was natural from my perspective. I may not know the circumstances, but the imperial princess of a nation arbitrarily decided to snatch away a man who was on death row. There¡¯s no way that this wouldn¡¯t cause a problem. My stamina had recovered thanks to the miraculous items known as potions. The only thing left was to resolve myself mentally. ¡°They say that you can survive in a tiger¡¯s den as long as you keep your head straight. If it is something that I can do, then I will do it.¡± ¡°A splendid attitude. Very well, then. What should I exin first¡­¡­?¡± Sebastian gave me an exnation of the current situation within the pce. The exnation was brief and clear, so it was easy to understand. Seriously, if the people who tortured me were even partially like Sebastian, then I would¡¯ve dly confessed. ¡°That is the basic gist of things. The head maid and the captain of the royal guard have joined together in denouncing Her Highness Johanna.¡± Sebastian let out a sigh. ¡°Even now, Her Highness is currently in a meeting with the head maid. There is a limit to how much you can endure with your stubbornness, so it is concerning.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Leaders of groups with their pride on their line and the Imperial Princess, a child. This definitely didn¡¯t look good. This made my position even more perilous. But thedies-in-waiting and the royal guard, is it¡­¡­? ¡°Mr. Sebastian, is there someone among the royal family who is especially close with either thedies-in-waiting or the royal guard?¡± ¡°Mm, His Highness Crown Prince Rudolf is close with thedies-in-waiting.¡± Normally, thedies-in-waiting are supervised by the highest female noble in the pce, the Empress. Crown Prince Rudolf is the legitimate son of the Empress, so he was naturally closer to thedies-in-waiting than others. ¡°Then is there a person whom the royal guard support separately?¡± ¡°Indeed. The royal guard mostly supports Her Highness Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Throughout the past hundreds of the imperial family¡¯s bloodline, she is the most skilled in martial arts, after all.¡± And the royal guard that respected chivalry supported the world¡¯s greatest prodigy, Elizabeth. I lowered my head for a moment to think. Johanna von Habsburg. That was definitely the name of Elizabeth¡¯s older sister. She never makes a personal appearance in . Johanna von Habsburg was already dead at the point where the game starts off. The cause of death was suicide. She hung herself after being unable to endure being gangraped by the princes, in other words, her older brothers for several years. It wouldn¡¯t be weird to call this a murder instead¡­¡­. To put it nicely, she was a victim, and to put it badly, she was a loser. Sebastian had only given me a brief summary, but that was enough for me to understand that the political struggle here was hellish. Being weak in this sort of ce was definitely not something to be proud of. No, it was because Imperial Princess Elizabeth had survived this hell that she came out victorious in Dungeon Attack. Strength was a virtue and weakness was a sin. Johanna von Habsburg was a part of the weak. If you look at this calmly, then she was ultimately a mediocre character. She was apletely shabby existencepared to Elizabeth who was going to unite the continent and subjugate all of the Demon Lords in the future¡­¡­. Nevertheless, it was this very person who saved me. ¡°Mr. Sebastian, please help me have an audience with Her Highness the Imperial Princess.¡± ¡°Did you think of a good idea?¡± Did he notice the confidence in my voice? Sebastian didn¡¯t try to hide his expectations. He might¡¯ve been thinking highly of me since I wasn¡¯t wasting my time wondering about something pointless like why she had saved me. ¡°Yes, the situation is rather perilous, but it may be able to deal arge blow.¡± That¡¯s right, the reason didn¡¯t matter. She rescued me. This means my course of action was already determined¡­¡­. Shortly after, Sebastian brought me along to the Imperial Princess¡¯ reception room. The title of Second Imperial Princess must¡¯ve not been that impressive as her reception room was small. Sebastian knocked on the door courteously. ¡°Your Highness, it is Sebastian.¡± ¡°Come in.¡± A clearly bored voice came from behind the door. It didn¡¯t give off much of apetent feeling. I suddenly felt anxious. My anxiety was then amplified once the door was opened. A girl whose silver hair was done into impressive rolls was seated on a luxurious chair. Should I say she was seated? Her body was burrowed into it. She was giving off an aura that made her boredom almost palpable. ¡°Wow! You¡¯re already awake!¡± However, she abruptly let out a shout the moment she saw me. I¡¯m not sure, but her behavior felt rather dopy for the imperial princess of an empire. To be honest, my first impression of her wasn¡¯t great. I didn¡¯t let my thoughts appear on my face as I knelt down. ¡°This is respectfully our first meeting, your beautiful honor of Habsburg.¡± ¡°Yup, mhm. My face is rather great.¡± She let out an easyugh as she boasted. There wasn¡¯t a single bit of doubt in her voice. My first impression might¡¯ve been on the good side¡­¡­. ¡°Now then,e here! I¡¯m really interested in you. How did you get through the pce¡¯s absolute defenses? Are you really amoner who doesn¡¯t know any martial arts or magic? What¡¯s your goal? Your trick? Do you actually have an aplice on the inside?¡± Imperial Princess Johanna barraged me with questions. Sebastian gave me some supporting fire while I was struggling to figure out what to answer first. ¡°Your Highness, it has only been an hour since he got out of the torture room. I feel like it should be fine to have this discussionter¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Mm? Hm. That¡¯s true.¡± Johanna fiddled with her side bangs. ¡°We don¡¯t have that much time. At most, maybe two hours? After two hours, your name was Lolita, right? You¡¯re going to get dragged away by either thedies-in-waiting or the royal guard.¡± Only two hours¡­¡­my throat felt dry. It felt like someone was choking me from behind. Imperial Princess Johanna smiled. It was an honest smile. ¡°For starters, I¡¯d like to say sorry. Lolita, I¡¯m sorry. You seem to be treating me like your savior, but I can¡¯t save your life. I only managed to dy your death by about 3 hours.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°However, I can at least avenge you to some degree. The court nobles and everyone else within the pce learned about this incident because I kidnapped you. If thedies-in-waiting or the royal guard punish you, then everyone will know you were sacrificed unjustly.¡± Thedies-in-waiting¡¯s and the royal guard¡¯s reputation will plummet. The Imperial Princess before me didn¡¯t flourish her words as she dered that this was the least bit she could do for the sake of avenging me a little. ¡°Now then, we don¡¯t have that much time left to get friendly with each other. I want to first hear the answers for the questions I asked earlier. How did you get here, this ce where normal people can¡¯t enter or leave even if they wanted to?¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± I bowed my head to the ground. ¡°Your Highness had undoubtedly saved this humble one¡¯s life.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Johanna tilted her head. ¡°No, wait. I seriously can¡¯t do anything even if you plead to me. That¡¯s a waste of time.¡± ¡°What if I were to say that I have a method?¡± ¡°Oh? The glint in the Imperial Princess¡¯ eyes changed. ¡°All right. I¡¯ll dly hear you out. However, Lolita, I advise you to be careful.¡± If her eyes were like that of a mischievous child until now¡­¡­they were now the gaze of someone that was testing another person. Her innocent curiosity was gone and was reced with the gaze of someone who was born to rule. ¡°If you¡¯re unable to offer a decent method, then I will lose interest in you as well. This means the 2 hours I had guaranteed you will also be taken from you. You will return to that hellish torture chamber.¡± I bowed my head. I was prepared for that. ¡°This is about the time I was being tortured. The head maid and the captain of the royal guard visited the torture chamber. At first, I did not know who they were, but Iter found out through their conversations with the chief warden.¡± ¡°Hm? What about it? It isn¡¯t surprising that they¡¯d be concerned about this since their pride is on the line.¡± ¡°Even if they visited once every hour?¡± The malicious look on Johanna¡¯s face disappeared. ¡°¡­¡­Once every hour? That¡¯s rather unusual.¡± ¡°Yes. It felt like they were excessively nervous.¡± ¡°It¡¯s only been half a day since an intruder fell in thekest night. Of all people, why would the head maid and the captain of the royal guard be worrying constantly?¡± My guess was like so. Crown Prince Rudolf has control over thedies-in-waiting. On the other hand, Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth managed to charm the royal guard by disying great talent inbat despite her young age. It was already a clear fact in politics that these two werepeting for the throne most intensely. ¡°Therefore, there is a high chance that this political bickering has be a skirmish in their battle to seed the throne.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying they have people above them that are pressuring them¡­¡­. Those people being Rudolf and Elizabeth.¡± Johanna gulped. ¡°Rudolf and Elizabeth are trying to make their winning move. The person who wins this will probably gain control of the entire pce. Kuh, I ended up stepping on a snake¡¯s tail while trying to quench my curiosity.¡± ¡°What if I were to tell you that it was the snake¡¯s head and not its tail, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Johanna gave me a strange look. I smiled. Don¡¯t worry. You saved my life, so I¡¯ll stop the future where you¡¯re raped by your brothers until you ultimatelymit suicide. Even if that makes the Crown Prince of the empire and the future ruler of the continent into my enemies¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry bout the dy. Just some personal matters that made me forget to upload this yesterday. Expect another chapter tomorrow, so I¡¯ll keep this note short. Chapter 192: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense (3) Chapter 192: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense (3) * * * The Emperor was furious. He was originally known for being uninterested in the national affairs of Habsburg and spending all of his time drinking in a detached pce. However, it seems he had be enraged because his daily routine was almost threatened. He would very rarely summon the Lord Chambein and the High Steward to his detached pce. ording to the rumors, he shouted ¡°How dare you try to bring harm upon this royal body!¡± and threw a clock at them. I don¡¯t know if I should say he¡¯s petty or deplorable. It¡¯s quite impressive that an amazing person like Elizabeth was born from a father like that. Nheless, the Emperor was the Emperor. Thedies-in-waiting and the royal guard moved quickly in order to avoid the Emperor¡¯s wrath. They got in contact with the influential sessor candidates as a part of this. The Emperor¡¯s wrath and apetition to seed the throne. The pce quickly entered into a state of panic. If another day were to pass like this, then the ministers would¡¯ve probably gotten involved as well. The empire itself would¡¯ve been shaken violently. However, the incident went down a path which no one could¡¯ve possibly predicted. ¡°This so-called intruder in this incident is an individual whom I am sponsoring.¡± Johanna von Habsburg dropped a bombshell. She dered that the pce¡¯s security as a whole seemed to beckingtely, so she tried testing it out. There was naturally an uproar. What kind of absurd thing had the imperial princess done? Even if the Second Imperial Princess was rumored to be a tomboy, did she not have ack of awareness as a member of the imperial family¡­¡­? Once theseints were made, Imperial Princess Johanna gave a statement during an official meeting. ¡°I believed that even if the throne were to fall into a crisis, the popce within the pce would work together to deal with this incident ordingly. Thus, I deliberately ordered the intruder to fall in theke. However, after the incident urred, the people within the pce only argued about who was responsible¡­¡­.¡± The beautiful 14-year-old imperial princess shed a tear. ¡°I was taught that our empire had ovee the numerous threats that it had faced by uniting. Where has our past glory gone? I did, not expect things would turn out this way¡­¡­.¡± This was the moment the incident was resolved instantly. The ministers of the pce immediately changed their stances and condemned the pce workers. ¡°What were you doing when the royal throne was in danger!?¡±, ¡°Did you forget your duty because you were busy trying to pass on the me!?¡±, ¡°Do not joke around!¡±. Be it thedies-in-waiting or the royal guard, they were the aides of the royal throne. The withering of thedies-in-waiting and the royal guard only meant the weakening of the Emperor¡¯s power, and the weakening of the Emperor¡¯s power meant the strengthening of theocracy. Furthermore, a warning could be given to the future rulers, Rudolf and Elizabeth. This probably seemed like a perfect opportunity for the ministers. Once the situation proceeded like this, thedies-in-waiting and the royal guard were no longer able to continue their power game. The head maid and the captain of the royal guard backed down after saying that they would take responsibility. Only the Emperor could have stopped their resignation, but there was no justification. This all happened because the Emperor himself got enraged. He couldn¡¯t take his words back now. This was a matter of authority before dignity. The ministers probably feel like they had just blown their noses without using their hands. A tragedy brought forth by an immature imperial princess and a foolish crown prince. This incident was going to be settled like this, but¡­¡­Imperial Princess Johanna made another deration during the official meeting. ¡°I do not wish for the head maid and the captain of the royal guard to resign. The two of them have realized their mistakes, so is this not the time for them to work together and create countermeasures? I believe in our vassals.¡± If the previous deration was a straight punch, then this was an uppercut. The Emperor promptly gave an order as if he had been waiting for this. ¡°How could the Gods not be impressed with how admirable our Imperial Princess is being? You all may have made a mistake, but you are also the only ones who have the chance to regain our Empire¡¯s honor. Resolve yourselves.¡± Both the captain of the royal guard and the head maidter came to give their thanks to Her Highness Johanna. This was quite literally giving someone a disease and then medicine afterward, but what could they do about it? They could only look moved on the outside while feeling frustrated on the inside. They even apologized to me. Those damned bastards, serves you right! The pce ministers were suddenly the only ones making a vain effort. The ministers had attacked the inner workings of the pce under the pretext of internal discord. They couldn¡¯t speak up against the captain of the royal guard and the head maid working together since that would mean they would be the ones causing an internal discord, then. In the end, the captain of the royal guard and the head maid received a pay cut for a year. The ministers were sad because they couldn¡¯t do anything more. They had to be satisfied with this result and back down. The incident was settled and announced to the public, and the people praised His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s secret act of virtue and the Imperial Princess¡¯ nature¡­¡­. ¡°Lately, wandering minstrels have joined in as well.¡± Sebastian informed us. ¡°They say that the scene where Her Highness sheds tears and speaks about the honor of the empire is the most popr.¡± ¡°Puhahaha!¡± Imperial Princess Johanna burst out intoughter. She rolled around on the floor as sheughed. She moved around so much that her skirt got pulled up, making her white thighs visible. Sebastian cleared his throat. This was the true form of Second Imperial Princess Johanna von Habsburg, the ¡®Imperial Princess who cried for the Empire¡¯¡­¡­. The truth is quite terrifying. ¡°Your Highness, that is not proper etiquette.¡± ¡°Well, Mr. Sebastian, is this not fine?¡± I spoke up with a smile. ¡°This matter has beenpletely settled. Her Highness must want tough as much as she wants to. Herughter is like a reward to us today.¡± ¡°Hm. If you put it like that, then I will overlook this today.¡± Sebastian stroked his mustache and nodded. This man was sincere and strict, but he also had a soft side to him. This was what made him charismatic. Not long ago, Sebastian had been assigned as Her Highness Johanna¡¯s exclusive butler. He was basically being assigned as the closest person to the Imperial Princess, so it was a promotion. ¡®It¡¯s only a promotion in name, though.¡¯ Sebastian got involved in the process of getting me out of prison. The incident may have been wrapped up with a moving ending, but a servant who breaches his authority has to receive a type of punishment. It was like that. It would be fine to say that he was removed from the rat race known as thepetition for sess. Despite this, Sebastian never showed any signs of frustration to me. Seriously, I could only be grateful to this man. Who knows if I¡¯ll ever be able to fully repay him for this debt¡­¡­. ¡°That¡¯s right. As I thought, Lolita is the only one who understands me!¡± ¡°Your Highness, this humble one specifically said only today.¡± ¡°Aaaah-, why do I only have petty servants around me?¡± Johanna stuck her lips out and pouted. She was still on the ground. I subconsciously smiled bitterly because it felt like I was taking care of an unruly little sister. Referentially, I was selected as Her Highness Johanna¡¯s exclusive attendant. The Emperor, wait. No, that¡¯s not right¡­¡­. His Excellency the Emperor was very content by Her Highness¡¯ quick wit. The Emperor knew that the chain of events was all an act. He was informed of our entire n before Her Highness Johanna made her announcement, after all. His Excellency had a private conversation with Her Highness Johanna and told her that he would grant her one wish. At that moment, Her Highness answered without a moment of hesitation. ¡°Please allow Lolita to be my exclusive attendant, Father.¡± ¡°I will allow it. As a way for themoner, Lolita, to protect the imperial family, he will be given the surname Defensor.¡± Thus, I became Lolita Defensor. I may not be a noble, but His Excellency the Emperor had given me a surname. I was partially treated as a noble. Just a week ago I was being tortured ruthlessly in the underground prison, so should I be happy about rising up this much¡­¡­? Hip hip hooray for Her Highness the Imperial Princess. ¡°Oh right, Father gave me a task.¡± ¡°A task?¡± Imperial Princess Johanna sprung up and dusted her dress. ¡°He told me to prepare and host this year¡¯s grand hunting party. Father still likes to dote on me.¡± ¡°The grand hunting party!?¡± Sebastian was surprised. His reaction roused my curiosity. ¡°Pardon me, Mr. Sebastian, but what is the grand hunting party?¡± ¡°It is a hunting party that is held every 4 years where the margraves gather and a hunt is carried out. Its purpose is to publicly disy that the imperial family and the margraves are still united. Of course, many retainers tend to participate as well.¡± Margraves¡­¡­. In other words, people like Rosenberg in ? I had a rough grasp of things. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the margraves were in charge of Habsburg¡¯s borders. Therefore, this meant that the strongest militarists were gathering. This was definitely not a light event. I could tell just by seeing Sebastian¡¯s face. ¡°Usually, the person who is next in line to be the emperor is the one to host the grand hunting party. Crown Prince Rudolf had been in charge of this until now. This crucial event is being left to Her Highness Johanna¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Uugh. It already feels like a hassle.¡± On the other hand, Her Highness Johanna just looked annoyed. ¡°Preparing for the hunting party is going to involve ordering around all of the servants and guards in the pce. From the cement of the maids and to everyst soldier¡­¡­. Ah, I should make the head maid and the captain of the royal guard pay back their debt now. I¡¯m a genius!¡± She grinned. It seems Johanna was only interested in administrative work. She talked happily about how she was going to arbitrate andmand the leaders of the maids. Naturally, there were groups among the servants as well. Managing all of them andpleting the party were big tasks as well. Sebastian and I slipped out of Her Highness¡¯ separate room. We spoke in a low voice as we walked through the hallway. ¡°Mr. Sebastian, it seems Her Highness has yet to realize the severity of the situation.¡± ¡°Indeed. It is concerning what His Highness the Crown Prince is going to think about this. Her Highness Elizabeth will also be a problem.¡± Sebastian let out a sigh. ¡°This is a big issue. The race for session had been gradually narrowing down to those two individuals. Her Highness Johanna has now suddenly squeezed between them. No one has been particrly keeping Her Highness Johanna in check until now, but who knows what could happen now¡­¡­.¡± Theke incident wasn¡¯t simply a moving story. Only an extremely small minority of people were aware of this, but the winner and the losers were clearly split apart. Her Highness Johanna was obviously the winner. For starters, she made thedies-in-waiting and the royal guard indebted to her. Their leaders may have received a pay cut, but if they were allowed to go at each other until the very end, then one side would have probably beenpletely demolished. No one wants that. They probably feel grateful to the Imperial Princess since she managed to mediate the situation appropriately. She also received His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s good grace and increased her poprity with the people. The ministers may have been a little unsatisfied, but they were still able to deal a blow. They weren¡¯t going to be hostile towards Her Highness Johanna any time soon. The losers were Crown Prince Rudolf and the Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth. The two of them had tried to use that opportunity to gain the lead in the battle for session; however, they ended up being ambushed by someonepletely unexpected. Johanna von Habsburg was a joker that they had never even considered the existence of. The ambush was painful. Not only were they unable to help thedies-in-waiting and the royal guard, but they were suspected of having stirred the disorder among the groups. They lost the trust of their subordinates and built up suspicion with theirtent enemies. They only faced losses. They will probably be extremely cautious of Her Highness Johanna now. They were going to get serious. Elizabeth von Habsburg, the Third Imperial Princess was someone we were going to have to especially pay attention to. She was someone who killed her beloved little brother simply because he was going to be a threat to her in the future. There was no way that she would hesitate to murder her older sister whom she barely has any connections with. Her Highness Johanna was probably being targeted by the mostpetent and dangerous person in the world. And the task of stopping that was given to me, Lolita Defensor¡­¡­. ¡°Mr. Sebastian, there is something I must tell you about those two individuals.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°It involves Her Highness Johanna¡¯s safety. It is incredibly crucial.¡± Apletely mediocre person like myself was going to obstruct the genius Elizabeth. It wasn¡¯t a matter of whether it was possible or not. The only thing waiting for Her Highness Johanna if she were to lose this battle for authority was death. I have to aplish it¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I do feel like a lot of information is being left out since this is pretty much a side chapter thing. As in, the author isn¡¯t very focused on the details and is simply trying to progress through the story. It does seem dubious that people would trust Dantalian/Lolita this much when he literally appeared out of nowhere andnded in ake. The author definitely could¡¯ve set this up better, but that would¡¯ve probably required more chapters. This ¡®IF route¡¯ ended up being 6 chapters long, so the author probably cut some corners. I don¡¯t particrly mind it, though. This scenario is pretty interesting in itself as long as you can ignore how easily people started to trust Dantalian/Lolita. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 193: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense Chapter 193: IF ROUTE; PrincessDefense * * * An attendant¡¯s morning is busy. I have to get up as soon as I open my eyes at around 5 in the morning. I then move quickly. It takes about 15 minutes to wear my uniform properly. I leave my room while chewing on the leftover piece of wheat bread fromst night. ¡°Oh, Mr. Lolita.¡± ¡°Good morning, Mr. Lolita.¡± The maids were already awake as they greeted me. There were rooms exclusive to the maids on the west side of the pce, and among those rooms was arger room where six people resided together. ¡°Aren¡¯t you being way too casual when entering a maiden¡¯s room!?¡± ¡°My apologies. Being able to behold such a beautiful sight every morning helps me wake up.¡± ¡°Hahaha.¡± The maids giggled. Even the way theyughed was stylish. Everyone here was either the third or fourth daughter of a noble household. The room was luxurious as it even had a firece, and it was this very firece that held my interest. I had left some stones to cook overnight inside the firece. I used a pair of tongs to pick them up and put them inside a wooden container. Two wooden containers were soon filled with rocks. I lifted up the containers with both my arms. ¡°Then, I will be taking my leave now,dies.¡± ¡°Wait one moment. May I go with you?¡± A lovely maid followed me right as I was about to leave the room. Dear me, this has been happening a lottely. I could hear the other maids say things like ¡°Oh my, you¡¯re so brave, Eliel!¡± and ¡°Oh my gosh!¡± behind me. ¡°It¡¯s not like that!¡± The maid turned around and shouted at the others. She was blushing. She looked up at me carefully. Her gaze was asking me for permission. It can¡¯t be helped¡­¡­. I kept my annoyance on the inside as I smiled brightly. ¡°Of course, Miss Eliel. I cannot escort you, but you are free to join me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you.¡± We walked shoulder to shoulder down the hallway of the pce. I heard the sound of teasing from the other maids again from behind us. Someone even whistled. Rumors about Eliel and I will probably have spread throughout the entire pce by tonight. ¡°You are such a kind man, Mr. Lolita. It is hard to believe that you are amoner.¡± ¡°That is a rather stereotypical viewpoint, Miss Eliel. The world is overflowing withmoners far more courteous than I.¡± ¡°Is that so? I find that hard to believe.¡± Eliel giggled cutely. Would this be called a date? The Habsburg imperial pce was incredibly vast and it was filled with deste areas. It wasn¡¯t umon for servants who had taken a liking to each other to have a ¡®pleasant night¡¯ in one of these deste areas. A couple secretly having sex inside the most magnificent pce in the world¡­¡­. It was a luxury that far surpassed normal people¡¯s means. ¡°Luckily, this morning has been warm. It is getting a bit hot, though.¡± Elielmented as she pped the cor of her dress a bit. This was an obvious attempt at sex appeal. I pretended to not notice. ¡°Is that so? Well, the maid outfits are heavier than what the men have to wear. Just imagining how hot it will be for youdies once summer arrives is dreadful. I will be impressed every time I see one of the maids outside.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That isn¡¯t true, we at least do lessborious work.¡± Eliel looked a bit disappointed. Don¡¯t do that. You¡¯re making it seem like I did something bad. Still, this maid was more on the meek side. There was a girl who approached me and t out asked to spend the night together. Geez, be it Crown Prince Rudolf, Imperial Princess Elizabeth, or the ministers, there were a lot of things I had to be concerned about, so only my stress was building up. It wasn¡¯t like I particrly disliked sex. I just felt unwilling because her intentions were so obvious. I was amoner who was bestowed a surname by His Excellency the Emperor and was instantly made into Her Highness Johanna¡¯s exclusive attendant. I was also the lead character in the tales sung by wandering minstrelstely in the capital. There was probably no game more appetizing to young women than someone like me. ¡°I slept with him!¡±, this one line alone would be enough to make you a star within the pce. In other words, I was in a bubble economy. A bubble that far surpasses my actual value was being inted. It was ridiculous. The very fact that I was being mentioned by other people¡¯s mouths was dangerous in itself. Why would I take a risk just to have a moment of pleasure? I preferred women who didn¡¯t care about poprity or rumors. ¡°Who cares about rumors? Fuck that! First and foremost, I like you. Now take your pants off for a second!¡±, a girl who¡¯s able to say something like this openly and confidently walk down her own path is what I think is charming. I admit that this might be a weird preference as well, but whatever. ¡°Come to think of it, I heard that Her Highness Johanna likes sweet snacks.¡± ¡°That is correct. She always makes a fuss and orders me to get her snacks. It is rather troubling¡­¡­.¡± I let out a sigh. Referentially, Her Highness Johanna hadpletely be like my little sister in my mind. I want snacks! I want to eat Speiseeis! She would ask for snacks regardless of the time and ce. If I tell her that she shouldn¡¯t eat sweets all the time, she would roll around on the floor. This wasn¡¯t rhetoric. She would literally roll on the ground. ¡°Snacks! Snacks! Snacks!¡±, she would cry out. It was maddening. Her taste in food and behavior was undeniably that of a brat! Normally, getting snacks from the kitchen was an easy task; however, I wasn¡¯t exactly in a good position. I was being treated as the guy who had suddenly shot up the ranks. I would have to plead to the servants in the kitchen to acquire that day¡¯s snacks. When I drag my tired feet to her room and hand Her Highness the snacks¡­¡­Imperial Princess Johanna would smile brightly like a blooming flower. ¡°Thanks, Lolita!¡± She would then hug me. The Imperial Princess hugged anyone. It didn¡¯t matter whether they were an old person or amoner, she would do it to anyone if she felt like it. Was she not amazing? This absolutely wasn¡¯t a simple matter. Everyone who was in the range of her smile would suddenly get hit and sink. Sebastian and I would smile bitterly and forgive Her Highness and she would be happy. In the end, Her Highness¡¯ stubbornness will get to us againter. ¡°It would be disrespectful to say this, but Her Highness Johanna is cute.¡± ¡°Quite. It is impossible to resist Her Highness.¡± That¡¯s right, she has a strange charm to her. That master of mine. That¡¯s why it was hard to leave her be¡­¡­. ¡°I know a good snack shop in the city. Do you want me to introduce you to them?¡± ¡°In the city?¡± ¡°I heard that the servants in the kitchen have been giving you a rough time.¡± I see, was she trying to be considerate now? She wasn¡¯t a simple girl who would back down simply because her straight dash had failed. Eliel spoke with a bright smile. ¡°If an exclusive attendant like Mr. Lolita were to keep lowering your head to the kitchen servants, then¡­¡­An attendant¡¯s dignity is also the dignity of their master. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± She was being considerate and she also brought up the obligation of an attendant. Now I had no reason to refuse her. She seemed fully intent on making me indebted to her. I smiled wryly as I decided to back down. ¡°Thank you very much. I didn¡¯t even consider going out to the city. I am stillcking in many ways. I will continue to be under your guidance.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. We¡¯re both in a situation where we have to work hard.¡± Shortly after, we arrived at Her Highness Johanna¡¯s room. Eliel excused herself and walked off as soon as we reached the door. Those were the footsteps of a winner. ¡°Hoo.¡± Now I understood. The Habsburg Empire¡¯s pce was a ce where demons resided. It wasn¡¯t only the Crown Prince and Elizabeth. There wasn¡¯t a single person here who was easy to deal with¡­¡­seriously. I knocked on the door. ¡°Your Highness, it¡¯s Defensor. Did you sleep well?¡± No response. There was no response no matter how many times I called out to her. This was something I was used to as well now. It wasn¡¯t until I knocked about twenty times that I heard a tiny voice from behind the door. She was probably telling me toe in. ¡°Pardon me.¡± I opened the door. A thick, red carpet wasid out on the floor in this room that was madepletely out of marble. The morning sun entered through the expensive skylight. This room was iparable to my pathetic personal room. Well, unsurprisingly. ¡°Mmmmm¡­¡­Lolita¡­¡­?¡± The owner of the room, Her Highness Johanna, had her face buried in her bed. Her voice grumbled strangely. Her nket had been pushed so far into the corner of her bed that it dropped to the floor, giving me the honor of being able to see her sleepwear. Her calves and stomach were on full disy. I was also used to this. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Defensor. Your Highness, were you able to sleep well?¡± ¡°Ngggh¡­¡­the sun¡­¡­block the sun¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± I put down the wooden containers and headed to the window. I then pulled open the curtains fully. It was still early in the morning, but the sunlight shined brightly through the window. As expected of this pce that was built in the sunniest ce in the empire and the Imperial Princess¡¯ room which was located in the perfect spot to receive the sun. ¡°Guah, uaaaaaah¡­¡­!¡± Her Highness Johanna groaned like a zombie. I ignored her. I headed to the bathtub in the center of the room. This pure white bathtub was the most expensive and luxurious item in Her Highness¡¯ bedroom. Whenever there was a toxic substance in the bathwater, it would automatically detect it and purify it. Thanks to this, there was no need to refill it with water every morning. ¨C Ssh, ssh, ssh. I dropped the stones that had been left to cook all night. Steam rapidly started to form. My schedule would start like this every morning, heating up Her Highness Johanna¡¯s bathtub. ¡°Sun, the sun¡­¡­it is trying to kill me. Lolita, defeat the sun¡­¡­!¡± ¡°That is a troubling order. Even I cannot defeat Apollo, the God of the Sun. Your Highness, what made you sleep sotest night?¡± ¡°I was reading an epic that has been trending in Frankia recently¡­¡­.¡± In other words, she stayed up all night reading a novel. I chuckled as I dipped my hand in the water to check the temperature. Mm, the heat was just right. I¡¯d have less work if there were a firece in Her Highness¡¯ bedroom. Her Highness may have constantly received the cold shoulder from her family until now, but her bedroom was at least still of the highest quality. This room had an artifact installed in it that allowed the temperature to be controlled freely. If a different servant were to enter this room, they would¡¯ve probably passed out. It made me lightheaded just imagining how much gold was poured into making this room¡­¡­. ¡°Your Highness, the preparations areplete. It¡¯s time for your morning bath.¡± ¡°Why do people have to wash their bodies every day¡­¡­? Field animals are able to go for several days without washing. Humans were made wrong¡­¡­. The world is unfair¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because humans are struggling to differentiate themselves from animals. Now then, Your Highness.¡± In the end, I had to help Her Highness up myself. Her Highness Johanna stumbled her way to the bathtub. Her one-piece sleepwear slipped down with each step she took. Her slender and white body was gradually revealed. She carefully dipped her toes into the bathtub before slipping in entirely. ¡°Haaaa-.¡± Her Highness Johanna let out a pleasant sigh after she submerged her body. She sshed her face with water. It felt like I was watching a kitten. Johanna muttered with an utterly rxed expression on her face. ¡°I might be living just for the sake of this single moment.¡± ¡°As expected of Your Highness, to be trying to find a meaning to life even though you are only 14 years old.¡± I sat next to the tub. I held Her Highness¡¯ right arm and earnestly rubbed flower-scented oil on her skin. Her skin became glossy and smooth as I applied the oil. ¡°Hm? Are you praising me?¡± ¡°Of course, Your Highness. Your Highness Johanna von Habsburg is the most beautiful and wisest person in the world. How could I possibly say anything other than praises to such an individual?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, huh? Hahaha. I really am amazing.¡± ¡°Now then, Your Highness. It¡¯s time for your left arm.¡± Her Highness Johanna obediently held her left arm out to me. How cute. It¡¯s obvious, but I could only see her as being cute. Why would I start harboring weird thoughts after seeing a 14-year-old girl¡¯s bare skin? I¡¯m apletely sensible human being. Her Highness wouldn¡¯t have hired me in the first ce if I had such interests. ¡°The grand hunting party will finally be held in 4 days. Your Highness, you have done a great job preparing until now.¡± ¡°Yeah! I really did work hard. Ugh, I¡¯m definitely going to refuse if Father asks me to handle this again next time.¡± Her Highness Johanna shuddered inside the bathwater. She seemed to be gnashing her teeth. In truth, Her Highness Johanna had only made the ns. Sebastian was the one who did all of the actual negotiations and preparations. ¡°I absolutely won¡¯t ever do this kind of work again!¡± Sebastian screamed the same thingst night. Sebastian had lost a lot of hair in the past few weeks. I may have assisted him on the side, but I was still a rookie when it came to practical work. I wasn¡¯t that much help. Poor Sebastian¡­¡­. He already seemed worried about his hair. ¡°You just have to endure for 4 more days. Just 4.¡± ¡°Ugh, 4 days¡­¡­. 4 days¡­¡­.¡± I washed her hair and applied the fragrant oil to it afterward as well. Her Highness Johanna got out of the tub. I wiped down her wet body with a high-quality towel. I was done once I finished drying her hair. After this, I had to leave her to the maids who specialized in make-up and grooming. I wrapped a piece of cloth around Her Highness Johanna who had be dry and soft. ¡°But Your Highness can do it, isn¡¯t that so?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± Her Highness Johanna fluttered the white piece of cloth like a mantle as she nodded. ¡°Naturally. I¡¯m amazing, after all. Lolita, make sure you¡¯re able to keep up with me in the future.¡± ¡°Of course, my master.¡± I ced my hand on my chest and bowed. A bright ray of sunlight was now entering through the window. Her Highness Johanna¡¯s silver hair shined. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, I got nothing to say for this chapter. I sort of covered everything I wanted to say in thest chapter, so, uh, I hope you guys have a good day? Summer ising to an end, so the weather is bing more bearable. Congrats to everyone who survived. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 194: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense Chapter 194: IF ROUTE; PrincessDefense ¦¯ ¦¯ The day of the grand hunting party. Fortunately, the weather was clear. The grand hunting party was actually Her Highness the Imperial Princess¡¯ debut into the political world. Sebastian and I were hoping for the greatest stage. If the sky were gloomy, then the atmosphere throughout the hunting party would¡¯ve been the same as well. Many nobles gathered in a forest near the imperial capital. Her Highness Johanna had to greet each individual noble as the host of this event. The first person she greeted was naturally Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg. ¡°What good weather we have, little sister. Congrats.¡± Crown Prince Rudolf¡¯s lips twitched as he spoke. It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t in a good mood. His eyes were fiercely saying that he should be the one standing in Johanna¡¯s position. It was a bit stupid. Congrats? What was he congratting her for? Because the weather was good? That makes it sound like he wanted the weather to be bad. How could such a narrow-minded person be the crown prince? Even if you¡¯re narrow-minded, you should at least be able to hide it. ¡°You do not seem to be in a good mood, Older Brother. Are you perhaps not feeling well?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Crown Prince Rudolf fell silent for a moment. The Crown Prince¡¯s tone may have been blunt, but our Imperial Princess Johanna had a bluntness that far surpassed his. He was probably at a loss for words. How unfortunate, Crown Prince Rudolf. Our Highness behaves in an unprecedented way. He probably didn¡¯t know his little sister¡¯s personality since he was never interested in her before. Ignorancees back to bite you. It¡¯s regrettable, but you have to endure this. ¡°¡­¡­No, I¡¯m not unwell. Thank you for your concern.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good! If you start to feel unwellter, then feel free to tell me.¡± Her Highness Johanna let out a grand sigh. ¡°Sheesh. My body isn¡¯t feeling well after preparing all this. I realized a few days ago how amazing you are, Older Brother, for having hosted this twice already.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thanks. I hope you get better soon.¡± Crown Prince Rudolf responded bitterly. He looked like he had no idea how to respond. I understand how you feel, Your Highness. Sebastian and I experience that often, after all. In the end, His Highness the Crown Prince walked away almost like he was running away. The nobles around us started to buzz. Anyone could tell that Her Highness Johanna had won the first round. However, Her Highness Johanna¡¯s depth was still unknown¡­¡­. The nobles seemed interested in the imperial princess whom they were unfamiliar with. The greetings with high-ranking nobles continued. ¡°You are much more beautiful than what I heard through the rumors, Your Highness!¡± ¡°Mhm, thanks, Margrave Westfalen. I have not heard any rumors about your appearance, but if I did, I am sure that I would have returned the same words to you.¡± ¡°Hm? Haha, thank you very much.¡± Most of the nobles were satisfied with Her Highness Johanna¡¯s reception. Her Highness was a frank person by nature. The etiquette that was hammered into her since she was a baby was still engraved into her every action, but she herself wasn¡¯t very ceremonious. It was a strange bnce. ¡°Throughout my fifty years of life, who would think that I would have my appearanceplimented by the Imperial Princess. I still have much to experience.¡± ¡°That is unfortunate. If you were half your age, then I would have confessed to you.¡± ¡°Huhahaha!¡± Her Highness Johanna looked truly discouraged. This idle chat made the other nobles around themugh. More important than anything else, Her Highness Johanna had a quick wit. Not a wit that was forced out, but a quick wit that came out naturally. A majority of the nobles here were meeting Her Highness Johanna for the first time. However, they were quickly taking a liking to the young imperial princess. A hidden pearl. This same thought was probably popping up in their heads. ¡°Kuh. To think I missed an opportunity to receive Her Highness the Imperial Princess¡¯ confession. I curse the heavens.¡± Margrave Westfalen cried out. ¡°Hey, Fritz! Did you see this? I am a man of this much quality!¡± ¡°This chap is going to turn into a monkey in front of Her Highness at this rate.¡± An older gentleman who was next to greet Her Highness shook his head. He was an old man with a heavy build. He stepped in front of Her Highness and bowed. It was a courteous greeting, but even that wasn¡¯t capable of diminishing this old man¡¯s intense pressure. ¡°I offer my greeting to Her Highness. My name is Fritz von Rosenberg.¡± I let out a silent ¡®ah¡¯ in shock. Fritz von Rosenberg. He was an incredibly special individual in the game. He didn¡¯t acknowledge the hero, but he wasn¡¯t hostile to the hero either. Margrave Rosenberg valued the duty of humankind more than anything else. Humankind shouldn¡¯t rely on a single hero but should instead fight as humankind. Even if they manage to beat the Demon Lord army, humankind would only end up being gued by the idea of heroism¡­¡­. Till the very end, the margraves sortied iming that they would show the world humanity¡¯s pride. For the sake of showing everyone that humankind could fight against the Demon Lord army without relying on the hero. In the end, the margraves lost, but they were the first people in history to advance past the ck Mountains. Her Highness Johanna smiled gently. ¡°Wee, Proud Lion of the North. I¡¯ve heard a lot about you.¡± Proud Lion of the North¡­¡­. It was as Her Highness had said. There was no better title than that to describe Fritz von Rosenberg. The person in question must¡¯ve been surprised as the Margrave widened his eyes slightly. A thin smile soon appeared on his lips. ¡°I am an old man who has left his prime and is now slowly dying. I am truly grateful for this honor Your Highness has bestowed upon me.¡± ¡°You are? Puhaha, what nonsense. If you are dying, then almost everyone in the world must also be dying.¡± Her Highness Johanna chuckled. It was enough to just barely not be discourteous. Margrave Westfalen and Margrave Rosenberg watched her with great interest. ¡°I may be young, but I know that things are not determined by whether you are old or young. Contrarily, there are lives that are proven after death. Margrave von Rosenberg, my greeting to you was not an emptypliment.¡± ¡°¡­¡­My apologies, Your Highness.¡± Margrave Rosenberg bowed his head deeply. The atmosphere feltpletely different from the courteous bow he had done earlier. It felt genuine. ¡°If there is an individual who remembers this humble one, Fritz von Rosenberg, here in the imperial metropolis, then this alone is enough to make this one return to the north happily.¡± ¡°Dear me! You are way too rigid.¡± Margrave Westfalen spoke up. ¡°Why are you being so serious in front of Her Highness? This is why you are less popr than me, old man.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hoo, they say that tadpoles have bad memories. It seems you have forgotten about how I had taken Miss Marienburg from you.¡± ¡°H-Hey! You promised to never bring that up!¡± Margrave Westfalen floundered. Margrave Rosenberg watched this and smiled. It was a mischievous smile. It was surprising to see as someone who had only seen the Margrave¡¯s serious and calm side in , but it wasn¡¯t awkward. ¡°Your Highness, my apologies, but if the two of us were half our age, then you would not have confessed to Sir Westfalen.¡± ¡°Is that so? That is interesting. Why is that?¡± ¡°That is because this humble one would have confessed to Your Highness first. I must inform Your Highness that I have taken a total of 7dies from Sir Westfalen.¡± Her Highness Johanna let out augh. Herugh was contagious as it made the other nobles around usugh as well. Margrave Westfalen who had suddenly be the man who had his women taken from him was the only one with a red face. ¡°T-That is not true! Your Highness! That is a groundless statement.¡± ¡°Oh? My friend, do you intend to lie in front of Her Highness? I could whisper the names of the 7dies to you right now if you want.¡± ¡°It¡­¡­was not seven, it was six!¡± Margrave Westfalen cried out. If this were a battlefield, then the nts and trees would¡¯ve trembled. Unfortunately, this was a hunting ground. The other nobles broke out intoughter. There was a warm air flowing between the margraves and the pce nobles who were normally hostile to one another. I was satisfied. The debut was an immense sess. Now then, how will things proceed from here¡­¡­. Imperial Princess Elizabeth walked forward while wearing a military uniform. Her hair was silver like Her Highness Johanna¡¯s. However, different from Her Highness Johanna, Imperial Princess Elizabeth let her hair grow long. Her silver hair fluttered in ordance with her stern strides. It was the Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth¡¯s turn after the margraves. She officially had the title of Earl Evatriae. As long as she wasn¡¯t the host of a pce banquet or an event, her priority was treated simrly to that of earls. ¡°It has been a long time, Sister.¡± ¡°Likewise, Elizabeth! Long time no see. Has it almost been 2 years?¡± ¡°It has been about that long. Being unable to see my own sister¡¯s face for so long has made me realize how busy the times have been.¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth smiled. It was a smile that was so refined that you wouldn¡¯t think she was only 13-years-old. Well, Her Highness Johanna would also show a level of insight that went beyond her age. What¡¯s with this bloodline¡­¡­? ¡°Thest time we met was at our oldest sister¡¯s funeral. If she were still alive, then she would have been delighted to see how gantly you have grown. It is unfortunate.¡± Her Highness Johanna¡¯s expression froze for the first time at that moment. The air around them became cold. The words she had said weren¡¯t a problem; however, the nobles gathered here had all gained their positions after getting through a battle of session in their own way. They weren¡¯t so simple-minded that they wouldn¡¯t be able to see through the Imperial Princess¡¯ intent. Since the previous year to the start of this year, two imperial princes had died in session. The Third Imperial Prince and the Fourth Imperial Prince. It was told to the public that they had either died from a disease or an ident, but¡­¡­there were also rumors that Imperial Princess Elizabeth had nned their assassinations. Elizabeth, who had received these suspicions before, had mentioned the First Imperial Princess. She was warning Johanna. Why are you stepping out of line? Do you want to die like our elder sister? Imperial Princess Elizabeth smiled. It genuinely looked like a little sister was saying loving words to her older sister. ¡°It is fortunate that our family still has you and our brothers. Of course, our father is in good health as well. I truly pray that our small family will remain peaceful.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Her Highness Johanna¡¯s face became pale. I was able to notice her shoulders tremble ever so slightly since I was standing right next to her. I took a step forward. I stepped between Her Highness Johanna and Imperial Princess Elizabeth ever so slightly and courteously held out the wine I had prepared beforehand to Her Highness Johanna. She naturally turned to look at me. We exchanged nces briefly. That was enough. Her Highness Johanna¡¯splexion returned to normal as she received the cup of wine. Her shoulders had stopped shaking as well. I silently returned to my original position. From an outside perspective, it simply looked like a servant had offered a drink. ¡°That¡¯s right, Elizabeth. Our family has undergone too many misfortunate events. Robert¡¯s death was especially shocking for me¡­¡­. May the Goddess watch over our family¡¯s souls.¡± I then prepared another cup of wine and offered it to Imperial Princess Elizabeth. With this, I probably made it seem like the wine I had offered to Her Highness Johanna waspletely natural. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± For an instant, the Imperial Princess¡¯ blue eyes turned to look at me. An unknown, cold sensation flowed down my spine. It was only for a very brief moment. Imperial Princess Elizabeth was still smiling. ¡°Indeed, Sister. May the Goddess watch over our family.¡± Cling, the two sisters clinked their cups together. *** Author¡¯s Afterword I had fun while writing this, so I intend to finish this in the next chapter. Well, I was originally going to end the grand hunting party and this apocrypha in chapter 193¡­ Johanna is cuter than I expected. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Quite the tension in this chapter. Elizabeth is constantly built up as this overwhelming character in every single side route that has been released so far, but we haven¡¯t really been able to see that much of her in the main story. She was sort of swept under the rug after she lost to Dantalian in that speech. Of course, this will most likely change after this arc is over, but we probably won¡¯t see her much until the matter in Frankia is dealt with. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 195: IF ROUTE; Princess Defense Chapter 195: IF ROUTE; PrincessDefense * * * The grand hunting party started without any incidents. The nobles split into groups however they wanted as they would asionally work together orpete to increase their game. Once lunchtime arrived and it became time to take a break, dozens of servants returned carrying their masters¡¯ games. ¡°Margrave Westfalen gives this as an offering to Her Highness Johanna von Habsburg.¡± ¡°Baron Richthofen presents this as an offering to Her Highness Elizabeth von Habsburg!¡± ¡°Margrave Rosenberg dedicates this offering to Her Highness Johanna von Habsburg.¡± There were twodies of the imperial family present during this hunting party, Her Highness Johanna and Her Highness Elizabeth. The nobles offered their game to thedy of their choice. Deer, boars, and other sorts of game were piled up splendidly before the two imperial princesses. ¡°Hee.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± The two imperial princesses watched them with interest. The margraves and the nobles who belonged to the Crown Prince Faction interestingly offered their game to Her Highness Johanna. On the other hand, the nobles who belonged to the Imperial Princess Faction dedicated their game to Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Her Highness Johanna grinned. ¡°What should I do, Elizabeth? It seems like I am the top mademoiselle today. ¡± The Johanna who shook in fear before Elizabeth¡¯s threat was nowhere to be seen now. There was only a mischievous and innocent imp left. Of course, Imperial Princess Elizabeth was a high-level trickster. There wasn¡¯t a single moment where her casual smile had left her lips. ¡°That may be so at the moment. However, there is still much more hunting left to be done, Sister.¡± ¡°Hmm. Yeah, there is still a lot of time left for this event. But isn¡¯t it boring to wait until then?¡± ¡°It is boring?¡± Her Highness Johanna turned to nce at me. I received her signal and gave a respectful bow. I was smiling coldly in my mind. It was time for us to show the ¡®highlight¡¯ of this hunting party. ¡®Now then, Crown Prince Rudolf and Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Shall the games begin?¡¯ The two of them had made a deration of war to Her Highness Johanna. One of them did it directly, while the other did it indirectly. Both of them were arrogant heirs to the throne. It was as I expected. They dared to be discourteous to Her Highness Johanna whom His Excellency the Emperor had personally elected as the host. ¡®We¡¯ had already predicted that these two would act like this. ¡°Kuh, gh.¡± I ordered the servants who were temporarily ced under mymand to carry over arge box. The servants grunted as they brought it here. Thud, the box made a loud sound as it was ced on the ground. The other nobles who were enjoying their light meals turned to look at us with interest. ¡°My beloved warriors! You have done well.¡± Her Highness Johanna got up and pped. Everyone¡¯s gaze focused on her. ¡°However, I cannot help but worry about your hobbies after seeing you all try to court me so passionately even though I am young enough to be your granddaughter. The future of Habsburg is of great concern.¡± ¡°Hahaha.¡± The nobles raised their sses and gave a toast to Her Highness. People toasted from here and there throughout the crowd without any sort of order. This mess of a toast strangely became harmonious as it heightened the atmosphere. Only Crown Prince Rudolf looked sour. ¡°You have my gratitude, my beloved warriors. I have prepared a gift for you all.¡± ¡°Oh? What may that be, Your Highness?¡± Margrave Westfalen asked. The volume of his voice was naturally loud. He had only asked a question, but it was heard by everyone. ¡°A prey to hunt. You all have presented this many beasts to me, so shouldn¡¯t I, as the host, also capture a fair animal?¡± ¡°Hm? Did Your Highness go hunting?¡± ¡°Yup. It was quite the big game.¡± Her Highness Johanna smiled boldly. ¡°It is unfortunate, but I must confess that my game is on a level higher than the game you all have gifted to me.¡± ¡°Hoho, I am looking forward to seeing it.¡± The eyes of the nobles sparkled. They already knew that Her Highness Johanna wasn¡¯t the type of person to bluff. If Her Highness wasing out like this, then it meant that it was either an impressive game or a quick-witted joke. ¡°Lolita.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± I opened the lid of arge box. Once the box was opened and the ¡®game¡¯ was revealed, the nobles could only give a confused look. This was because there was a young maiden inside the box. ¡°Is this youngdy Your Highness¡¯ game?¡± Margrave Westfalen tilted his head. His body was asrge as a gori, so it was rather awkward to see him do that head tilt. Her Highness Johanna spoke with a smile. ¡°Indeed. She is a traitor.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me? My apologies, Your Highness, but I do not believe I heard correctly.¡± ¡°I said that she is a traitor, Margrave Westfalen.¡± A traitor. The nobles started to stir. They gave each other doubtful looks before turning to look at the girl. I paid them no mind as I quickly turned to check Crown Prince Rudolf and Imperial Princess Elizabeth. The Crown Prince was just scowling while the Imperial Princess had an even smile on her lips. This was enough to put two and two together. ¡®Imperial Princess Elizabeth, it was you.¡¯ I furtively clenched my right hand. * * * Sebastian and I had been making ns for weeks. We predicted that Her Highness Johanna would be targeted by the other heirs to the throne since His Excellency the Emperor had left the grand hunting party to her. The First Imperial Princess, the Third Imperial Prince, and the Fourth Imperial Prince, all three of them had died of unknown causes. As long as you weren¡¯t naively stupid, anyone could tell that there were ulterior motives behind their deaths. We believed that ¡°the threat of assassination will approach Her Highness Johanna¡± and that ¡°it will arrive quickly¡±. ¡°Eh. Aren¡¯t you guys thinking too much?¡± Her Highness Johanna was skeptical after she heard our thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s only been a few days since I was given this task. Would Rudolf and Elizabeth really move that quickly?¡± ¡°Life may go as fast as an arrow, but death moves faster than that, Your Highness. Please put this into consideration.¡± ¡°But how do they intend to kill me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m in the imperial pce. This is the safest ce in the world. There¡¯s no way an assassin could get in.¡± ¡°Your Highness, there are already numerous assassins spread throughout the pce.¡± ¡°Hah? Who?¡± ¡°The maids and attendants. Are there any guarantees that they will not get persuaded?¡± Her Highness Johanna got upset once she heard this. ¡°There¡¯s no way that could happen, idiots!¡± Her Highness Johanna had been in the pce since she was little. Thanks to this, she was close to the maids and servants. In truth, all of the workers inside the pce adored this cute Second Imperial Princess. Nheless, schemes start in ces where you believe that something isn¡¯t possible¡­¡­. Sebastian and I barely managed to persuade Her Highness after our joint effort. Her Highness fumed as she shouted. ¡°Fine! Do as you please. But if it¡¯s revealed that there was no assassination attempt, then know that I¡¯m going to reveal your asses and spank you!¡± When Her Highness threatens to hit our asses, then she was being serious. We sweated profusely as we told her we understood and thanked her for giving us a chance. Our n was simple. ¡°If someone is nning to assassinate Her Highness, then they will definitely try to do so through a servant. The issue is the fact that Her Highness only has 2 exclusive servants.¡± I told Sebastian. ¡°The assassin will most likely not try to use you, Mr. Sebastian.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because Mr. Sebastian is an old pce resident. Your loyalty to Her Highness Johanna is certain and you¡¯ve resided in this pce for decades, so it would be difficult to use you for an assassination.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Sebastian stroked his mustache. ¡°I understand. In other words, they will try to carry out their assassination through you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Indeed. His Highness Rudolf and Her Highness Elizabeth have most likely ordered their vassals to keep an eye on me by now.¡± I smiled. ¡°As proof of that, there has already been a total of 23 maids who¡¯ve asked to secretly spend the night with me.¡± ¡°Hahaha.¡± Sebastian let out a strainedugh. ¡°It seems you have be the most popr servant in the history of the empire. Congrattions, Lolita. I envy you.¡± ¡°This is why it¡¯s troubling to be popr. Well, there may have been some women who approached me with the pure intent to simply get to know me, but¡­¡­I refused them all.¡± Sebastian raised a brow at me. ¡°Why did you do that? We can only prepare for the assassination beforehand if you bait them in.¡± ¡°Did I not tell you already? Some of those women may have genuinely only wanted to sleep with me. There isn¡¯t enough proof to point one out as an assassin.¡± Therefore, I suggested. ¡°I will spread a rumor that I¡¯m in charge of all of Her Highness¡¯ snacks.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you not actually already in charge of that?¡± ¡°The important part is the ¡®rumor¡¯, Mr. Sebastian.¡± I stared at him seriously. ¡°Until now, I have obtained all of the snacks through your connections. It will be different from now on. I will be visiting the kitchen myself to acquire the snacks.¡± ¡°But¡­¡­if you do that, then you will have to beg the kitchen servants shamelessly.¡± ¡°That is my goal.¡± Sebastian still seemed confused. It couldn¡¯t be helped, so I borated. ¡°I will be ced in a difficult situation where I have to struggle to obtain Her Highness¡¯ snacks. Let¡¯s say that this rumor was to spread. What would the people aiming to assassinate Her Highness think of this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Sebastian¡¯s eyes widened in realization. ¡°Is that it? They will try to take advantage of your distress!¡± ¡°Indeed. There will be people who will try to introduce me to confectioners or snack shops.¡± I grinned. ¡°If they try to mend my rtionship with the kitchen servants, then there is a low probability that they are the assassin. However, if they try to introduce me to a professional confectioner or a shop outside of the pce, then¡­¡­it¡¯s certain. That person is the assassin.¡± We calmly set out the bait. Sure enough, a single maid approached me a few days before the grand hunting party. Eliel. Not only was she the fourth daughter of a declining pce noble, but she was also the daughter of a mistress so she was basically cast out of her family. There was no one more suitable than her to be used as an assassin. It came as a shock to Her Highness Johanna. There was someone among the maids who was aiming for her life. To Her Highness Johanna who had never experienced even a fraction of familial affection before, the servants were like her real family¡­¡­and yet one of them had betrayed her. Furthermore, the person who schemed this assassination was either Crown Prince Rudolf or Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Her older brother and little sister. This was probably the perfect moment to say that we were reaching the climax. Her Highness Johanna let out a depressed sigh. ¡°Yeah, I knew the pce was a ce like this, but it¡¯s still sad. In the end, I don¡¯t have something like a family¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°Lolita. Tell me what I should do.¡± Her Highness Johanna¡¯s gaze was dark and calm. This pained me, but there was also a part of me that believed that this was also necessary¡­¡­. * * * ¡°She has already confessed to being an assassin. However, she has maintained her loyalty and refused to reveal the name of her employer to the very end.¡± Her Highness Johanna chuckled as she spoke. The nobles were aghast as they stared at Her Highness. A few days ago, I pretended to ept Eliel¡¯s advances and lured her in. Eliel followed me happily,pletely unaware of the fate that was awaiting her. A cruel type of torture followed. A type of torture that involved knives, an act which a woman couldn¡¯t possibly endure, was carried out. She only managed to endure it for two hours before confessing. However, there must have been a type of spell cast on her as she couldn¡¯t say who her employer was. Her Highness Johanna grabbed a sword and tossed it at Eliel¡¯s feet. ¡°Now then, pick up that sword, assassin.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Eliel looked down while shaking. You couldn¡¯t see it because of her clothes, but her body was already a mess because of the torture she received. The torture was carried out before Her Highness Johanna. Eliel was clearly trembling in fear. Her Highness Johanna smiled. It was a cruel smile. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You tried to kill me. A member of the royal family. You tried to kill me, I, the Second Imperial Princess, Johanna von Habsburg. I¡¯m giving you this opportunity.¡± ¡°Uh, gh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am warning you, but the battle willmence whether you hold the sword or not.¡± Eliel held up the long sword with her shaking hands. There was no way a maid¡¯s thin arms could hold a sword properly, especially after having been tortured. Her Highness Johanna nodded after she saw this. She unsheathed a sword of her own. The duel had begun. ¡°U-Uuaaaagh!¡± Eliel let out a scream as she charged at Her Highness. Anyone could tell that her posture was a mess. Nheless, the fact that the end of a de was approaching Her Highness¡¯ body was enough to make the nobles around us panic. They were about to rush in to stop the maid. ¡°Your Highness, it is dangerous!¡± However, Her Highness Johanna took a step first before they could. She easily avoided Eliel¡¯s sword by turning her body. She followed the dodge with a swing of her de. The de urately slit Eliel¡¯s throat. Eliel couldn¡¯t control the momentum of her charge as she fell over. The maid never got back up after her face hit the dirt. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Everyone became silent. The nobles were speechless as they gazed at Her Highness. Only Her Highness was standing with her back straight. She flicked her sword and scattered the blood off of her de and onto the ground. ¡°Beloved warriors of Habsburg. Great Margraves who are the guests of honor to this hunt. I¡¯m aware that unsavory rumors and bad news from the imperial throne have continued to reach your ears.¡± She was referring to the suspicious deaths of the imperial princess and princes. ¡°But I hope that you will keep in mind that Habsburg has yet to forget its honor. No matter what sort of illegal method threatens the imperial throne, and even if a disreputable group dirties the name of the throne, I, Johanna von Habsburg, will show you that I will protect the honor of a warrior until the day I die.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Thus, you do not have to worry about the imperial throne. Return to yournds. Return to your battlefronts. Manage your territories ording to the duties given to you and protect our borders. I, Johanna von Habsburg will faithfully devote myself to the imperial pce while you are protecting the ramparts of Habsburg.¡± Her Highness Johanna smiled. ¡°This is the game that I am presenting to you.¡± * * * The grand hunting party came to an end. The hunt continued after lunch, but there wasn¡¯t a single noble who could focus on hunting anymore. They realized that the Second Imperial Princess, who had been living a life of seclusion until now, had officially entered the race for the throne. Furthermore, she did so by using a sacred method that had been passed down since ancient times called the ¡®duel¡¯. Nobles with more refined tastes believed that this method was barbaric, but a majority of the nobles who were passionate about chivalry were deeply moved by Her Highness Johanna¡¯s actions. Especially the margraves who have always been soldiers continued to dere their support for Her Highness Johanna long after the hunting party was over. The night grew deeper as the day ended. Her Highness Johanna didn¡¯t enter her bed like usual. She kept drinking wine. I stood next to her and quietly poured her more wine whenever she asked for it. ¡°Lolita, I never thought that I would everpete against Rudolf or Elizabeth.¡± She muttered. Rather than speaking to me, it felt like she was talking to something outside the window. I kept my mouth shut. ¡°I would¡¯ve been satisfied even if I died after living happily like this. But, even the servants whom I thought were my friends tried to assassinate me. If I continued to live like this, I would¡¯ve probably been silently assassinated one day¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No. A more cruel demise was waiting for you. But I couldn¡¯t say this out loud. I mustn¡¯t. ¡°I killed someone for the first time today. Will this continue to happen from now on? Have Rudolf and Elizabeth¡­¡­already done something like this numerous times? Why¡­¡­? The throne has absolutely no value¡­¡­.¡± Her Highness¡¯ shoulders trembled slightly. I turned away. A mere servant shouldn¡¯t watch their master cry, after all. However, I may have turned away, but I could still ce my hands on this young princess¡¯ shoulders. That¡¯s right, Your Highness. We will go through this dozens, hundreds, and thousands of more times. This is because the person aiming for our lives is the woman who will one day be the supreme ruler of the continent. But don¡¯t worry. I will never abandon you. I will support you so that you will never feel lonely. Just as you had saved my life, I will protect yours as well. Even if you were to die, I will die with you. That¡¯s something even a mere servant like myself can aplish¡­¡­. The night grew darker. We quietly supported each other, unaware of how much darker the night was going to be¡­¡­. *** Author¡¯s Afterword ¨C IF Route END. After this, Imperial Princess Johanna von Habsburg, Lolita, and Sebastian will most likely rely on each other to get through these perilous times. How they will face the future supreme ruler and survive will be left up to your imagination. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, that¡¯s the end of this IF Route. It was definitely a long one. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s going to be another one for quite a while, so we¡¯ll be back to the main story. It would¡¯ve been pretty cool if the author decided to continue writing this after he finished everything, but oh well. Nothing much else to say since the weather has been pretty cool and nice now. I hope you guys have a good day. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 196: Path of Pilgrimage (5) Chapter 196: Path of Pilgrimage (5) * * * There was chaos in the beginning¡­¡­. That was what the myths in this world imed. Everything was born from within this crucible of chaos. Doesn¡¯t this mean that chaos should be considered the greatest God? Despite this, out of all the Gods worshipped in this world, none of them was called Chaos. Surprisingly enough. I now understood that it meant nothing if the world had a starting point. I wasn¡¯t born because I wanted to be anyway. I was just born. Is the world not the same? In the end, the world itself wasn¡¯t born because it wanted to be either. Simr to how a sex partner who had no ns to raise a child would confess to their boyfriend, ¡°Huh? I think I have a child. Hehe,¡± it was something that simply happened to be created. The only difference was probably the fact that humans have contraception, but the world doesn¡¯t. If someone knew beforehand that this bastard child would spread all sorts of curses, pain, diseases, war, and death throughout the world, then¨Dif the world also possessed a gynecologist and they were told, ¡°I strongly rmend, from the bottom of my heart, that this child should be erased,¡± if the gynecologist could¡¯ve said whether this bastard child was going to be ¡°Good!¡± or ¡°Bad!¡± for this world, then wouldn¡¯t it have been great? However, there were no gynecologists in the myths here. There was no midwife who could tell the creator whether the world being born would be a good thing or not. There was only chaos in the beginning¡­¡­. The world was born arbitrarily. Therefore, it was never determined whether the world being created was a good thing or not. Was this not a militant myth? If the Gods are healthy and the heroes rise up, then the world would be ¡°Good¡±. If the Demon Lords stir and monsters sweep across the earth, then the world would be ¡°Bad¡±. People can¡¯t determine from the beginning whether it was a good thing that the world was born. It has to be determined after heroes and Demon Lords fight constantly. Was this current era good or bad? ¡°Then I ask you, people of Frankia.¡± I raised my voice from atop my horse. ¡°What must you do if Frankia is currently being dyed in evil? The gue is spreading and the reapers areughing wickedly on every street. People of Frankia, do you not hear it? Are the reapers not whispering clearly into your ears?¨DIt is time to die, mortals. Only suffering remains.¡± I spoke as if I were truly whispering into their ears. My performance had already reached its zenith. I could sense that the 600 innocent people that had gathered in the town square were trembling in fear. A woman let out a short shriek before passing out. I was currently wearing a ck robe. I might have looked like an actual reaper to them. Aah, performing for the people of this era was really worthwhile. ¡°You are running out of provisions and your families are dying. Every second is pain and suffering. Brittany¡¯s army is piging your remaining provisions as they approach from the west. Frankia is being tinged with an unprecedented evil. Let me ask you once more, what must you all do?¡± ¡°Let us destroy those Brittany bastards!¡± A man in the center of the square shouted. Once he did, hundreds of others joined in. ¡°Kill them all! Don¡¯t let them steal from us!¡± ¡°I won¡¯t pay my taxes now! I won¡¯t offer even a single bale of wheat!¡± ¡°If they¡¯re going to collect taxes from us, then give us ck herbs first¨D!¡± Men and women, the elderly and the children, they all shouted in unison. They shook their fists. Their arms that had be firm due to all the farming they had done glistened under the sun. ¡°That is right! You must rescue Frankia from the evil!¡± I raised my voice more. It went beyond shouting as my voice echoed throughout the square with the assistance of magic. ¡°Who were the nobles in the beginning when the men were plowing the fields and the women were weaving!? Humans were all born equal in the beginning, thus you have the power to defeat the evil and save Frankia! Great people of Frankia! Take up your weapons!¡± I clenched my fists. ¡°March! Charge! I dare say that the day given to us by the Gods has finally arrived. Cast aside this oppression and regain your freedom. You are the only ones who have the right to establish a sacred nation within Frankia!¡± Hundreds of citizens cried out like animals. As we had nned beforehand, the dwarf mercenaries started to hand out weapons at one side of the za. Short spears, long spears, and swords, people grabbed whatever they could get their hands on. Their passion turned into madness as it set the atmosphere throughout the city aze. Being armed and unarmed made a huge difference as being armed meant that you could urately point your de at a target. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the lord¡¯s estate! Let¡¯s take back the ck herbs!¡± ¡°Let us pige the armory! Friends, let us rise up for Frankia!¡± ¡°Rise up for the glory of God!¡± Once the provocateurs shouted these words, 500 roars tore through the sky. They went down every alley to recruit their friends and families and the 500 soon turned into 1,000 as they advanced to the lord¡¯s estate on the other side of town. I waved at them as I joined up with the dwarven mercenaries. ¡°Good work, Your Highness.¡± Mercenary Captain Jacquerie gave me a salute. ¡°Appreciated. Did you provide exactly 200 weapons?¡± ¡°Yes. We mainly distributed spears, axes, and swords.¡± ¡°Once the civilians have gotten into the armory, provide those who are still unarmed with weapons.¡± My n of turning the entire region of Frankia into awless area was going smoothly. Demon Lord Leraje invaded the territory. The lord got scared and hired our mercenaries. After that, we colluded with Leraje¡­¡­. We would inform Leraje of the lord¡¯s ns and the position of his soldiers, so Leraje was able to wipe out the lord¡¯s army with ease. The mercenary brigade ended up being treated as saviors. Our Double Ax Mercenary Brigade would sh ¡®violently¡¯ with the Demon Lord army and ¡®just barely¡¯ manage to chase them away. It was a battle that was so fierce that even the lord fell in battle. From the people¡¯s perspective, the mercenaries had saved them right when they were starting to fear that they would be eaten by the monsters. Of course, it wasn¡¯t only the people who felt that way. ¡°Wow! Mr. Priest, Mr. Priest! You were really amazing!¡± Luke came running up to me with a bright smile. The little boy was practically looking up at me as if I were a hero. ¡°You¡¯re here, Luke. Did you study hard today?¡± There was no way that I wouldn¡¯t return a bright smile with a smile of my own. I also gave Luke a gentle smile as I patted his head. Luke got embarrassed as he nodded. ¡°Yes! I also learned swordsmanship from dawn to noon today!¡± ¡°You¡¯re quite the earnest boy, Luke. The Goddess loves earnest people. However, Luke, you still have not answered my question.¡± I made a stern face. ¡°Swordsmanship is swordsmanship and writing practice is writing practice. You finished your studying quota for today, right?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­well. Not yet¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dear me, this incurable troublemaker.¡± I lightly rapped my knuckles on Luke¡¯s head. It shouldn¡¯t have hurt, but Luke made a fuss about it as he grabbed his head. Referentially, Luke¡¯s education consisted ofbat skills from Mercenary Captain Jacquerie and liberal arts from Assassin Leader Jeremi. ¡°Mr. Priest! Isn¡¯t it enough if a man just knows how to write his name? I want to quickly be a soldier and fight for the sake of Goddess Artemis and Frankia!¡± ¡°Jeez. You have grown quite the head after receiving so much praise.¡± I grabbed his cheek and pulled on it. Luke let out a weird noise as he groaned. ¡°Ii hurs, ii, huurrss.¡± ¡°Listen carefully. It will be easy for others to deceive you if you do not think and only study. If you only think, but do not study, then you will end up in perilous situations. You are iming that you want to serve the Goddess now, but do you know whether it would be the right thing to serve her or not?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I let go of his cheek. Once I did, Luke narrowed his eyes as he rubbed his cheek. ¡°Isn¡¯t the Goddess always right?¡± ¡°Then why is the Goddess always right?¡± ¡°Because¡­¡­she¡¯s the Goddess? Huh? ¡­¡­Uh?¡± Luke tilted his head side to side. ¡°Hoho. So you are saying that you will serve the Goddess blindly despite not knowing why the Goddess is right, Luke?¡± ¡°S-Something is weird, Mr. Priest! I¡¯m not sure what it is, but it¡¯s weird!¡± ¡°This is why I¡¯m telling you to study, you reckless child.¡± I rapped my knuckles on his head again. A little harder this time. ¡°Uuuh!¡± Luke gave me a frustrated look. It looked like the face of a dog that wanted to use the bathroom looking up at its master¡¯s face. Don¡¯t be so upset. I¡¯m someone who managed to survive this long thanks to my speaking prowess. If I were to lose to a sh-and-burn brat who knows nothing about the world, then I would¡¯ve killed myself a long time ago. ¡°Now then, the sun is setting. Hurry on over to Jeremi and continue your studying with her.¡± ¡°Ah, so¡­¡­haaa. Fine. I just have to learn, right¡­¡­?¡± Luke slouched his shoulders as he walked off. It wasn¡¯t like he particrly hated studying. A battle, a heroic speech, and an uprising were happening right before him. Every instant must feel historical to the boy. The fact that he couldn¡¯t take part in any of this and had to learn the ancient imperialnguage and the ancient republguage must be making his body feel impatient. Well, there was another reason. Jeremi didn¡¯t simply make him study. To be more exact, she would make him do a different type of ¡®studying¡¯. Luke headed to the inn in the distance. The other mercenaries entered the inn as well. I turned around and spoke. ¡°He is truly an innocent and kind child. Don¡¯t you think so as well?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy stared at me silently. The eyes of the girl who stood firmly against me back at the sh-and-burn vige had weakened greatly. Recently, her gaze would frequently be hazy. ¡°You must be proud to have Luke as your brother. Of course, he must also be proud to have you as his little sister. You do share your affection with one another every evening. You two are not like normal brothers and sisters.¡± I chuckled. Daisy¡¯s eyes came back into focus. ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯re deceiving Luke, Father. Everything you said in the za was also a lie.¡± Daisy was still stubborn about calling me her father. Her goal was to make me have a moment of carelessness by making this nickname stick with me. ¡°Hm. Why do you think that?¡± ¡°I get a feeling in my gut whenever you are lying. Most importantly, Father, you never speak in an oratorical tone when you are speaking the truth. You undoubtedly only told lies in the za just now.¡± ¡°Intuition, is it!? That is quite the talent you have.¡± I hummed. At that moment, Daisy¡¯s shoulders tensed up. ¡°¡­¡­Ugh.¡± It has started today as well. The torture using the slime onahole was still being carried out. The goal of it was to trim away at Daisy¡¯s mind. To make her experience a sin that she could never wash away. Jeremi was probably having an enjoyable time with Luke in the inn right now. ¡®You siblings must be incapable of going far away from us.¡¯ Luke was bing devoted to me mentally while being bound down by Jeremi physically. Like this, I gradually restrained the future hero. Daisy wrapped her arms around herself as she barely managed to endure the wave of pleasure. I watched her¨Dsolely because of my bad hobby since Daisy feels even more shame when I¡¯m watching her¨Dand drew the map of Frankia in my head. ¡®We will be arriving at the bursting point soon.¡¯ I could hear the sound of angrymoners over at the lord¡¯s estate. The servants will try to fight back fiercely, but the people have weapons. Stabbing someone was an incredibly simple task. The west became a mess because of Brittany¡¯s army, while the north became awless area because of me and Demon Lord Leraje. Something will be bursting soon¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, we¡¯re back to the main story. It does feel sort of weird that the author didn¡¯t finish this section, Path of Pilgrimage, before going into the IF Route. The start of this chapter does feel like the start of a new segment, though. In any case, we¡¯re back to Dant¡¯s usual hijinks now. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 197: Path of Pilgrimage (6) Chapter 197: Path of Pilgrimage (6) The next day, Jacquerie came back with news. ¡°The army of Brittany has entered the imperial capital.¡± ¡°Hm. It has been exactly 20 days since they crossed the border¡­¡­.¡± I dropped my gaze to the map that was spread out on a table. ¡°They are quite literally moving at a violent force.¡± ¡°A vigor that breaks bamboos¡­¡­? It does feel like that.¡± The dwarf, Jacquerie, nodded. The idioms I say would asionally get tranted literally. How exactly does this mechanism work? Oh right, I found out aftering to Frankia that my pronunciation was incredibly refined. Jacquerie pointed this out to me one day while drinking. ¡®Your Highness speaks like a pce noble. Did Your Highness receive an education somewhere?¡¯ ¡®Ah, well. Something like that.¡¯ ¡®I heard that you are also fluent at Habsburgian. Are there othernguages that you are proficient at?¡¯ I¡¯m probably fluent in every singlenguage that currently exists. The people of this world usually don¡¯t try to learn foreignnguages, especially the people who are rich enough to buy magic artifacts. A trantion spell exists, after all. ¡®Mm. I know most humannguages.¡¯ ¡®Really? That is amazing!¡¯ Jacquerie was surprised. ¡®Most Demon Lords arezy when ites to studying¡­¡­. no, Your Highness is unlike normal Demon Lords. You are truly amazing.¡¯ ¡®Hm. Hm.¡¯ Jacquerie started to look at me with a more respectful gaze ever since we had that conversation. I kept my mouth shut. I felt a pang of guilt, but who cares? When ites to feeling guilt, I¡¯ve already sliced it up and put it on disy hundreds of times now. In any case, the situation within Frankia was more important than my elegant pronunciation right now. A foreign army had invaded and entered the capital in only 20 days. This was abnormally fast. It was something that would only be believable if they had marched there without getting into a single battle. If they didn¡¯t have to fight even a single time¡­¡­. ¡°Frankia may be helpless, but are they not being too helpless?¡± ¡°The Kingdom of Brittany is a lot stronger than expected. The queen¡¯s fame is also extraordinary.¡± The situation was like this: The nobles of Frankia panicked at first when the foreign army suddenly invaded. The war with the Crescent Alliance had yet to end. No one could¡¯ve expected that an army from the same human side would invade when the Demon Lord forces and the human armies were still fighting fiercely. ¡°To make matters worse, the nobles within Frankia had sent a lot of their soldiers to fight against the Crescent Alliance. The surveince of their borders must have been weaker than usual.¡± Jacquerie stroked his beard. ¡°The Frank nobles are criticizing Brittany vehemently for attacking another human nation when humanity is in the middle of a war with the demons.¡± ¡°What fools.¡± This was enough to clearly outline the difference in ability between Brittany and Frankia. ¡°Queen Henrietta of Brittany has already deduced that the Crescent Alliance¡¯s expedition is over. The new Habsburg Republic would definitely be unable to endure an attack from the Crescent Alliance. Despite this, the Crescent Alliance had yet to attack them¡­¡­. She was most likely able to derive the reason from this.¡± She realized that the Demon Lord army had split apart again. The Demon Lords were infamous for doing utterly useless things all throughout every sessive Crescent Alliance. They were enough to make me regret being reincarnated as a Demon Lord if you lined them all up. Queen Henrietta was probablyughing at the Demon Lords on the inside. Even though the opportunity to wipe out all of mankind was right before our eyes, something idiotic like a dispute between factions was enough to make us miss this chance of a lifetime. It was pathetic¡­¡­. ¡°ording to the spies, Queen Henrietta had drafted another army beforehand. She most likely thought that humanity would losepletely at Habsburg, so she had prepared another army.¡± That army was used to invade Frankia. Frankia didn¡¯t only have idiots. A local army was quickly created with some marquises at the center. The veteran marquises were going to fight back while leading that army, but¨Da bombshell of a directive was suddenly sent from the capital. ¡®Brittany is not our enemy. They are our allies. All forces are ordered to open a way for Brittany and provide them with the supplies that they require.¡¯ What was there to hide? It was the Emperor of Frankia who had ordered this. That was the moment themanders around Frankia fell into chaos. What sort of emperor would open the path for a foreign power and also provide them with supplies? Regardless of their disbelief, it happened. Were they going to retaliate against the foreign forces or listen to the Emperor¡¯s decree? A fierce debate was held between themanders. This was an unprecedented predicament. Brittany took advantage of this chaos to advance leisurely through Frankia. Even if someone tried to block their path, ¡®This is the directive that was given by His Excellency the Emperor of Frankia.¡¯ ¡®We are here to defend¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Quiet! You bastards! Do you intend to go against the Emperor¡¯s decree!?¡¯ Queen Henrietta would shout at them like this. She actually was carrying around a piece of parchment with the Emperor¡¯s orders written on it. Normally, people wouldugh at it and say that it was forged; however, the imperial army could only take a step back this time¡­¡­. ¡°A total of 3 armies had to act like blind men as they watched the kingdom¡¯s army advance. They say that a garrison was even unarmed.¡± It was an Emperor who did retarded things that even the Demon Lords couldn¡¯tpare to. Brittany¡¯s army passed through the border and the fortified areas without incurring any sort of losses. It was around this point that several Frank nobles started to think that this was wrong. The republican nobles were especially shocked. Inparison, this was like the king of the Joseon Dynasty bringing in Japanese soldiers for the sake of teaching his own vassals a lesson. ¡®The Emperor had invited Brittany, our sworn enemy, just to get rid of us!¡¯ Several nobles could no longer stay silent as they stood up. The suprememanders of Frankia¡¯s armies, General Montmorency, Duke Guise, General Saint Andre, etc, the nobles from both the Empress Dowager¡¯s side and the neutral side gathered. They hastily called together an army. They were only able to gather about 15,000 soldiers. Brittany was approaching like a storm. They had gathered all they could within the short frame of time that was given to them. In contrast, Brittany¡¯s army had roughly 9,000 soldiers. Frankia had an overwhelming advantage in terms of manpower. For a country that calls itself an empire, should I offer them praise here? The imperial army and the kingdom¡¯s army shed at a strategic point. ¡°The Frank soldiers most likely believed that they stood a chance with their numbers.¡± ¡°Well, they probably thought that they could chase Brittany away entirely.¡± Anyone would¡¯ve thought this. Except for one person. * * * The Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army was having a loud strategic meeting. ¡°We must wait until the Emperor of Frankia sends reinforcements.¡± ¡°Can we really trust that emperor? We should just keep doing what we have been doing all this time. If we tell them that we are here under the Emperor¡¯s decree, then they will all panic and run away in fear!¡± ¡°I wonder about that. General Montmorency is their suprememander this time. He will most likely snort at any sort of threat.¡± Most of the nobles were under the opinion of waiting a little longer. Facing off against 15,000 soldiers with only 9,000 soldiers would put too much of a strain on them. This was simply a natural reaction. Queen Henrietta was watching the meeting from the seat of honor. Queen Henrietta finally spoke up once the generals were about to reach apromise. ¡°We will be carrying out an all-out attack tomorrow at dawn.¡± Marquis Coligny, an old veteran, acted as the representative and spoke up while the other nobles remained silent. ¡°Your Highness, the Frank Empire has promised to send us reinforcements. We believe that there is no reason for us to deliberately put ourselves in a dangerous situation when we are clearly outnumbered.¡± ¡°The imperial soldiers before us are only figureheads that look sturdy on the outside. Their insides arepletely empty.¡± The young, scarlet-haired queen spoke confidently. ¡°Their numbers may seem formidable, but they do not have many mounted troops. Out of their 15,000 soldiers, they have less than 3,000 cavalrymen. On the other hand, we may only have 9,000 soldiers, but 5,000 of them are mounted. Men. You are all misunderstanding something.¡± Queen Henrietta put up 4 fingers. ¡°They do not outnumber us. We outnumber them by 4 times.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon? What do you mean by 4 times, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Their nobles are still hesitating because of the Emperor¡¯s orders. A majority of the soldiers in front of us are conscripts. Therefore, they are not knights. They are alreadycking in mounted soldiers, but they must have even fewer knights. At most, a hundred.¡± Queen Henrietta smiled. ¡°On the other hand, we have 900 knights. We overwhelm them in terms of quality. This is the reason our army is above them by ¡®2 times¡¯.¡± Now then, the Queen uttered as she folded two fingers down. ¡°Even if the enemy forces have gathered, they are still anxious about the idea of going against the Emperor¡¯s orders. They are as reluctant to fight as we are. The enemy is probably split between going on the offense or biding for time. ¨DThe enemy is currently split into two sides. Therefore.¡± Queen Henrietta lowered herst two fingers. ¡°They have to face our army which is twice as strong as theirs and while their military power is also currently split in half. This is why I am saying that they are weaker than us by 4 times. Men! We are united while they are divided.¡± The nobles stared at the Queen¡¯s fist without a word. They were being drawn in by the Queen¡¯s passionate voice. ¡°The more time passes, the more time the enemy forces who are against the Emperor¡¯s orders will have to gather. Our opportunity is now while a majority of their nobles are currently sitting on their hands!¡± The Queen mmed her fist down on the table. ¡°Coincidentally, Montmorency, Guise, and Saint Andre are a part of the enemy forces! They are the leaders of the Empress Dowager¡¯s faction. If we get rid of them, then the center of the Empress Dowager¡¯s faction will weaken greatly. Men, the Goddesses have prepared a banquet for us!¡± Queen Henrietta smiled. ¡°Inform the knights. The Gods will have prepared the most glorious victory for Brittany tomorrow at dawn. The enemy will not be allowed to scream and will instead die like pigs.¡± * * * The imperial army waspletely defeated. The fundamentals of warfare were like this: infantrymen are positioned in the center while mounted troops are positioned on the sides. The cavalry surrounds the enemy on their sides while the infantry holds them down in the center. However, Queen Henrietta had positioned most of her mounted troops in the ¡®center¡¯. Hundreds of knights and thousands of mounted troops rushed forward. The Frank army was surprised. They quickly rallied their troops and sent 2,000 cavalrymen forward. 2,000 mounted troops were basically almost all they had. They were hoping that those troops would be enough to buy them some time. The battle between mounted troops ended after only a single sh. The mounted troops led by Queen Henrietta quite literally tore the Frank army apart. The Frank army was so scared out of their minds that they fled. A cmity urred where allies were hit by the hooves of horses as the mounted troops ran away¡­¡­. Supreme Commander Marquis Montmorency dragged his seventy-year-old body out on the battlefield for the sake of maintaining their ranks as much as possible. However, a knight from Brittany stabbed Marquis Montmorency through his chest before they could fully regain their formation. The suprememander had died as soon as the battle started. The Frank army was already demoralized due to the defeat of their mounted soldiers, so this made them fall even further into disarray. Queen Henrietta wasn¡¯t someone to miss this kind of opportunity. The Brittan army sliced through the middle of the Frank army. The Frank army was torn apart helplessly as they were divided and conquered¡­¡­. In conclusion. ¡°The Frank army suffered 5,000 casualties and 6,000 were captured as prisoners¡­¡­. On the other hand, the Brittan army only lost about 400 soldiers.¡± ¡°What a horrible result.¡± I smiled wryly. Henrietta de Brittany. As expected of the monarch who led the Iron Chancellor Laura de Farnese in Dungeon Attack and aspired to unite the continent. She will undoubtedly be a difficult opponent to deal with. *** Author¡¯s Afterword During the battle on the where Dantalian first debuted. There was a scene where Barbatos came to congratte her troops after the battle and teased Zepar who was themander of the vanguard. She called him ¡®a brat who recklessly shed with knights and lost all his soldiers¡¯. The knights of Brittany were the knights in this case that had wiped out Zepar¡¯s troops. The Kingdom of Brittany and Teuton both boast the strongest knights on the continent. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Another day, another moment where I feel like I had something to say here but I don¡¯t remember at all now. Oh well, Path of Pilgrimage is finally over. I¡¯m going to take a nap again. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 198: Lily War (1) Chapter 198: Lily War (1) My strategy to deal with Queen Henrietta was simple. ¡°It has been revealed that Henrietta is not a normal ¡®mademoiselle¡¯, but is instead a female lion. A female lion that eats the male lion. She is much too terrifying to have as a dance partner at a ball¡­¡­.¡± I told Jacquerie. ¡°There is absolutely no reason to ask her for a dance when it is obvious that she will refuse. Jacquerie, we will now be making Henrietta into a ¡®flower on the wall¡¯.¡± ¡°Does Your Highness intend to avoid an all-out war with the Queen of Brittany?¡± Jacquerie gave me a curious look. ¡°Indeed. This is like a new star suddenly appearing in high society. Outstanding beauty and absolute charisma¡­¡­all the men in the ball have fallen for her. Do you know what one must do in order to bring down such ady?¡± I chuckled. Something was beating within my chest, far deeper than my heart. I¡¯ve waited for quite a while. I managed to wait patiently. My insides had dly endured all the stress for the sake of this hellscape that was now going to unfold. My starved intestines were demanding a banquet of fresh blood as a reward. ¡°By bringing all of the otherdies to one side and establishing a united alliance. No matter how morous one¡¯s debut is, there is no way to survive high society if you turn everyone else into your enemy. This is the same.¡± Henrietta, your victory was a bit too excessive. A formidable army puts fear in the hearts of their enemy. However, that also makes their enemies group together. Simr to how neighbors would work together to take out an orc even if they¡¯re normally at each others¡¯ throats. Shall wemence the game? There was a group that Queen Henrietta had overlooked, no, it was inevitable that she would overlook them. I used a magic sphere to contact them immediately. ¨C Dantalian, the Republic of Batavia¡¯s army is ready to be dispatched at any time. It was the that Demon Lord Paimon had created in secret and nted all throughout the continent for the past hundreds of years. Paimon was smiling brightly within the sphere. I may have not personally talked to Paimon myself for a while, but Jacquerie, who was a part of the Liberation Alliance, had naturally been sending regr reports to his leader, Paimon. ¨C Just as you told Jacquerie, it seems Brittany has really invaded. Your insight is still surprising. If it is not too rude to ask, may I ask how you are able to urately predict the future despite not having the ability of foresight? ¡°It is simply a trivial talent, Miss Paimon.¡± ¨C Trivial, is it? Very well, then. If that is what you think, then thisdy will leave it at that. I will keep silent about how that trivial talent of yours has shaken the continent and is about to shake it once more. Regardless of Paimon¡¯sment, I wasn¡¯t being modest. Queen Henrietta attacking Frankia was an established fact in the game and I was pretending as if the information I already knew wasing straight from my own head. That was it. The person before me, Paimon, was probably the one who actually shook the continent. She managed to build her faction up this far with her own two hands. If you exclude my plots and schemes, then I can¡¯t evenpare to her¡­¡­. ¨C When should I dispatch the troops? They are already positioned at the border. ¡°Not yet. The reinforcement from Batavia has to have an overwhelming cause. Order your men to march as soon as the nobles of Frankia hold their hands out to you first, Miss Paimon. If you do that, then we can easily obtain the support from everymoner within Frankia.¡± ¨C That is true. Paimon ced her hand on her chin and nodded. I was surprised when I heard that she had already positioned her army at the border. This meant that Paimon had prepared her army the moment Jacquerie had reported up to her after I told him that ¡®Brittany is going to attack¡¯. ¡®She¡¯ll probably believe anything I say at this point¡­¡­.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly. Paimon trusted mepletely. Yesterday¡¯s enemy is today¡¯s most reliable friend. I was experiencing this saying firsthand. I had driven Paimon into a corner so many times that it made her trust in my ability that much more. It was the same for me as well. I found out that Paimon was the one who fought the hero the most persistently in . That was more than enough of a reason to trust her. -What are you nning to do? Frankia also has their pride. They will not ask for aid so easily. ¡°Do not worry about that. I will act as an envoy and persuade those nobles.¡± I was making the people revolt for the sake of persuading them. Our mercenary brigade had ¡®liberated¡¯ Garcivel, Rarowe, Laciarel, and Trowin, a total of 4 regions. I instigated Demon Lord Leraje into attacking certain territories and made it so that the lords would die because of these shes. On the other hand, our mercenary brigade became guardians that protected thend and received the support of the people. There was approximately a total of 1,500moners who had be armed after being freed from their lords¡¯ control. This number increased greatly if you also included themoners who weren¡¯t armed but still dly joined in the uprising. There was no one present who could calm the people down since the central government was a mess due to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager¡¯s battle. There were some priests from the temples, but¡­¡­. ¡®I¡¯m one of those very priests!¡¯ As Jean Bole the priest, I was inciting the people instead. The cries to fight against the devilish people of Brittany had quickly spread throughout the northern region of Frankia. The lords panicked once the people stood up and took up their spears. I visited these lords and persuaded them. I, Jean Bole, was already renowned for being the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade¡¯s sponsor and a popr preacher. It wasn¡¯t hard to receive an audience with the lords. ¡°Your Excellency Viscount, what is there to hesitate about? Since ancient times, the will of the people has always been the will of the heavens, so the Goddesses are secretly spreading their will through the people. Standing up against Brittany is the pathid out for the people and the nation.¡± ¡°But¡­¡­Priest Jean Bole, His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s strict orders.¡± Even the republican nobles were hesitating because of the imperial decree. However, I knew that their hesitation wasn¡¯ting from theirck of loyalty. These nobles were afraid. They were afraid of going against the Emperor of Frankia and the army led by the queen of Brittany. Even the suprememander of the main army, General Montmorency had fallen in battle. It was natural to be afraid. Nheless, a person who was hesitating because of their fear of a foreign power can also be handled by a foreign power. I furtively gave them some information. ¡°What if I were to tell you that the Republic of Batavia has promised to assist?¡± ¡°The republic!? Is that true!?¡± The noble was surprised. ¡°I have friends within the temples of Batavia. As a result of talking to them, I learned that the higher-ups within Batavia are genuinely concerned about the illegal pressure that is being applied to the republicans within Frankia¡­¡­. Your Excellency, you are not alone.¡± This made a visible impact on the nobles. The Batavia Republic was a nation that was established after centuries of fighting for their independence. Assistance from a nation like that could only be a good thing. 11 of the lords within the northern region of Frankia gave me permission to negotiate with Batavia for them. They had to know if Batavia could truly send reinforcements, how many they could send, and how fast. I returned to our mercenary group and immediately got in contact with Paimon. Paimon chuckled. She gave 4 short answers. ¨C 15,000 infantrymen. 7,000 cavalrymen. Tomorrow. No mercenary fee. That was the moment it was determined that the Batavia Republic would be participating in the war as well. The northern region of Frankia shared a border with the Batavia Republic, so it was only natural that a lot of republicans would be present there. The northern lords found out that they would have enough reinforcements and that the other party wasn¡¯t going to demand a mercenary fee, so they were quick to decide. They made a deration. ¡°Currently, treacherous retainers are pretending to be loyal within the imperial pce, bandits are acting like they are our royal guard, and a foreign enemy is going around as if they are an army of our nation. Thus, we, as people worried about the safety of Frankia and the future of our people, dere¡­¡­.¡± Their deration was rather long, but, in summary, they were going to annihte Brittany¡¯s army. The northern lords dered that they were only rising up to get rid of the treacherous retainers. They never mentioned that they were going against the Emperor. Of course, no one believed that. Well, that stupid Emperor might¡¯ve believed them. The entire nation was soon consumed by chaos. Just as they promised, the Republic of Batavia started their advance only a single day after the nobles made their deration. Batavia pointed at the northern lords and stated: ¡°These men know what genuine honor and loyalty are. We are happy that they had reached out to us and we will help our friends with all our might. This assistance from us is built solely around our friendship. We vow that we will not ask for a type of territorial exchange for this in the future.¡± ¡°The entire continent is currently writhing due to the invasion from the Demon Lords. Brittany has disregarded the safety of the entire continent and has acted solely for the sake of their own personal greed. It is only natural for them to be condemned for this. We order the Kingdom of Brittany to stop meddling with the internal affairs of Frankia!¡± This was what they dered. How should I say it? I couldn¡¯t help butugh because of how sly it was. The cause for them sending reinforcements was because their ¡®friends¡¯, the nobles of Frankia, had asked for them. While they were acting for the sake of the entire continent, Brittany was acting disgracefully¡­¡­. No, this could have actually been Batavia¡¯s opinion, but the individual behind the republic that had made this deration was Paimon. It was funny since this was like a Demon Lord dering that they were going to act for the sake of the continent¡¯s peace. Seriously, Paimon is also a unique person. It wasn¡¯t just Frankia that was shaken by this. The entire continent jolted as well. Was Brittany¡¯s military expedition an interference in domestic affairs? Was the Emperor of Frankia¡¯s action right or wrong? Was the Republic of Batavia¡¯s response justified or not¡­¡­? This issue that could¡¯ve ended simply as an internal discord between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager had escted into an international conflict once Brittany and Batavia got involved. The Empress Dowager¡¯s birth country, the Kingdom of Sardinia, condemned Brittany harshly for their actions. At this rate, other nations might join the fray. It was impossible to guess how big this situation was going to blow up. The Emperor of Frankia and the Queen of Brittany are probably dumbfounded right now. I¡¯m not sure about the Emperor, but Queen Henrietta ispetent. She would¡¯ve considered the possibility of Batavia getting involved. However, Batavia¡¯s response happened way too fast. That was the problem. ¡°Now then, do you understand what Queen Henrietta did wrong here?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I unfolded a map and asked Daisy. Daisy would be taught by Jeremi during the daytime and act as my attendant during the evening and night. I would asionally throw all sorts of questions at Daisy. It was like a type of game. Asking questions and receiving answers from this girl whose personality was exactly like mine was interesting because it felt like I was talking to myself. Although it would sometimes feel disgusting. ¡°Queen Henrietta¡­¡­underestimated Batavia.¡± Daisy pointed at the map as she spoke. ¡°The war with the Crescent Alliance has yet to end. Most human nations should most likely be afraid of mobilizing their troops so hastily. The Republic of Batavia should have been the same¡­¡­Queen Henrietta most likely thought this.¡± Her ck eyes were staring at the map carefully. ¡°However, Batavia does not share any borders with the Demon Lord army. The Kingdom of Teuton is protecting them. Therefore, they have the leeway to participate in another nation¡¯s civil war. Is this not it?¡± I grinned as I spoke. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a bad answer, but you are unfortunately wrong.¡± The answer was the fact that the person in charge of dealing with the Republic Batavia in the Crescent Alliance was Demon Lord Paimon, who was also the leader of that very republic. Therefore, Batavia would¡¯ve never fought with the Demon Lord army in the first ce¡­¡­so they could participate in Frankia¡¯s civil war without any concerns. This made Queen Henrietta make a mistake from the very beginning. Who could¡¯ve known this? It was only natural that both Daisy and even Henrietta didn¡¯t know this. There was no way that they could¡¯ve known that Demon Lord Paimon was controlling a republic in the human world from behind the scenes. In the end, Queen Henrietta didn¡¯t make a mistake. ¡®However, that doesn¡¯t mean the responsibility disappears as well.¡¯ Now then, Queen who builds an empire after conquering Frankia in the history of the game. You may have splendidly won in battle, but the Liberation Alliance and I have been nning this out for a very long time now. What will your next move be? Elizabeth, who is still an imperial princess, has already been driven further away from her supreme power. You¡¯re next. Please perform a magnificent waltz for me. I am waiting patiently for you like a person longing for their lover¡­¡­ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel like I¡¯ve been cking a bit in terms of trantionstely. I¡¯ve sort of been out of it. I¡¯m not really sure what to say. I just have a lot on my mind. I¡¯ve also been thinking about whether to start tranting Million Dor Bill or Handholding again. Handholding had been put on hold because of the official trantion that was being nned, but that process has been fairly slow. I might ask if I can just keep tranting it for now and take it down if they ask me toter. We¡¯ll see. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 199: Lily War (2) Chapter 199: Lily War (2) * * * ¡°There is a mastermind.¡± Queen Henrietta dered. One of the generals seated in the room questioned her. ¡°A mastermind¡­¡­? Your Highness?¡± ¡°I mean what I said. This situation is so splendidly damned, that I can onlyugh.¡± The young, scarlet-haired queen let out a snort. Her tone was colder than usual. ¡°I am fine with being tricked. It is not like you are only tricked once or twice throughout your entire life. What is there to grieve about if that number goes up by one? An unexpected enemying in as reinforcements? Well, that is fine as well. Life has always been a struggle between people. However, men. However¡­¡­.¡± Queen Henrietta mmed her fist down on the table. A loud ¡®thud¡¯ resonated throughout the room. ¡°I cannot forgive both of these things happening at the same time. That is a damned situation that can never be tolerated!¡± The generals went silent. Talking while their ruler was angry was like walking to a rampaging boar boldly. Henrietta breathed heavily for a moment before breaking out into a smallugh. The generals gave each other troubled looks. Their ruler was angry at first, but now she wasughing. They had no idea what was going on. ¡°Men, think about it. Did those republicans not move abnormally fast?¡± The Queen pointed at the map on the table. ¡°From Batavia¡¯s position, the Demon Lord army is to their east while Frankia is to their west. Batavia should have naturally gathered their troops at the east since the war with the Crescent Alliance is still ongoing. Despite this, what actually happened? Those republicans crossed the border when not even a month has passed since we started this war.¡± Queen Henrietta continued. Of course, it¡¯s possible for the Republic to move their troops from the east to the west within a month. The republicans within Frankia could bemunicating with Batavia in secret. However, that premise wouldn¡¯t work¡­¡­. ¡°The premise, Your Highness?¡± ¡°In order for this to be the case, that would mean Batavia had figured out our objective since a month ago.¡± Queen Henrietta¡¯s gaze became still. It had the same tranquility of a blue me. ¡°Brittany had attacked Frankia. What is the problem with this? We could have simply been invading Frankia. We have done so many times already. Nothing was disclosed a month ago. ¡­¡­How could those harlots from Batavia have known so precisely that ¡®we invaded to wipe out the republicans¡¯?!¡± ¡°¡­¡­! A traitor!?¡± The generals gasped. That¡¯s right. Even if Batavia noticed that Brittany was rallying their troops, they shouldn¡¯t have known the precise reason. How did they figure out that the Emperor of Frankia had even given the order to subjugate the nobles of his own nation so quickly? Someone had leaked the information. In other words, there was a traitor. The air became cold. It was obvious, but only themanding members of their group knew about their objective. Someone who was currently sitting in the room with them had betrayed them¡­¡­. Henrietta smiled pleasantly. ¡°What are you worried about? I do not know when the brave men of Brittany had be as cowardly as a child.¡± ¡°But, Your Highness. Having a traitor within our midst is not a matter we can take lightly.¡± ¡°There is no reason for the traitor to be amongst us.¡± The generals looked perplexed due to Henrietta¡¯s confusing words. Henrietta let out another snort. ¡°There is also a chance that someone on the Frank Emperor¡¯s side had leaked the information.¡± The faces of the generals contorted. ¡°That idiotic and bratty Emperor!¡± ¡°Not only did he pull us in here, but he called for those republican pigs as well, that detestable bastard!¡± ¡°Your Highness, please give us the order! We will turn Parisiorum into a sea of mes.¡± The generals stood up and shouted. They cried out loudly at the thought of having been fooled and also for the sake of proving their innocence to the queen. Henrietta smiled widely. ¡°Men, I understand how you must feel, but do not make such a fuss. Have I ever doubted your loyalty before? It is troubling since you are all so easy to read. You all receive failing marks as gentlemen to make a mademoiselle feel troubled.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The atmosphere became awkward due to the queen¡¯s response. The generals cleared their throats as they sat back down. Her Highness really knows how to embarrass us, the generals gave each other looks that said this. However, it wasn¡¯t a bad feeling. Their lord didn¡¯t doubt their loyalty. There was nothing more reassuring than this. Queen Henrietta definitely had a valid reason to doubt them for treason just now. She could¡¯ve demoralized them. This would¡¯ve strengthened the Queen¡¯smanding power even further. Despite this, the Queen told her men that she trusted them¡­¡­. It was this demeanor of hers that made the nobles under her serve her willingly. Queen Henrietta¡¯s military and social skills were supporting her. ¡°Men, before you get upset, think calmly about this for a moment. Is this not an opportunity?¡± ¡°An opportunity, Your Highness?¡± ¡°There is no way that Emperor of ours could have leaked the information himself. As you all stated, His Excellency is ipetent and an absolute fool.¡± The generals chuckled. Even themon soldiers within Brittany¡¯s army treated the Emperor as an utter idiot. ¡°Then who could have leaked the information?¡± ¡°Could it have been the Empress Dowager or the Emperor¡¯s close aide?¡± ¡°Indeed. And the republicans.¡± Queen Henrietta continued. ¡°Men, it does not matter who had actually leaked the information. The important fact is the circumstantial evidence that proves ¡®a republican had betrayed His Excellency the Emperor¡¯. This should be enough for our Emperor of Frankia.¡± There was something ambiguous about the Queen¡¯s words. While the generals were busy thinking, Jacqueline Longwy, the saintess who had dedicated herself to the army spoke up. She was furrowing her pretty brows. ¡°Do not tell me¡­¡­. Is Your Highness aiming for a purge?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± Henrietta smiled. ¡°Men, inform the Emperor that the republicans had leaked information. Are you not curious to see how the Emperor, who gets upset just by mentioning their names, will react to this? This is a chance to snuff out every single republican that resides in Parisiorum.¡± On that day, the sound of the Emperor¡¯s wrath resonated throughout his entire castle. The royalists and republicans have always hated each other. There were extremist nobles among them who fully supported the royalists. The Emperor called them in secret and told them about the ¡®traitor¡¯. The royalists realized that now was the opportunity to wipe out the cockroaches from the capital. Four dayster, the ughter began in the middle of the night. The royalists split Parisiorum into multiple parts and assigned them to each member. They shouted ¡°Kill the traitors! Kill the ones who shamed Frankia!¡± as they carried out their assault. Their ughter was nned out thoroughly. A majority of the citizens in Parisiorum were royalists, so it was easy to incite them. ughters may be difficult to start, but once they do begin, they are destined to run rampant. Once you¡¯ve gone from one to three people, it is only a matter of time before that number skyrockets to ten or twenty. The mob was dyed by madness as they ran rampant through narrow alleyways and wide roads. ¡°Execute the traitors who sold our nation out!¡± ¡°Rise up for Frankia! Do not hesitate! The Goddess has blessed us!¡± ¡°Kill them all. Kill them indiscriminately. The God of Death will sort the good and evil out!¡± Even the normal citizens became mad with bloodlust. From partisan interests, personal revenge and hatred, simply bing intoxicated by the bloodlust caused by the ughter, and finally, for the sake of stealing from the republican nobles, the reason for joining the mob was various. A portion of the republicans noticed something sinister was happening a day or two before the ughter. ¡°How strange. The mood is abnormal¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hurry and back your things. Do not ask questions! Take only the hard currency and get on the carriage!¡± They packed up their money and escaped the capital. Most of them had devoted their lives to republicanism and had vowed to keep their ideologies even if they were to face the Emperor. However, it was only a small portion that had escaped. Most of the republican nobles and themoners who were particrly rich like the merchants remained at the capital. ¡°Mm, His Excellency may favor the royalists, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Have we not been paying our taxes properly until now? Even if something were to happen, it will only be for a moment.¡± ¡°This is my hometown, so where else could I go?¡± There was no way the Emperor would personally harm them, right? They remained optimistic as they continued with their lives. The price for their optimism was immense. The wealth of the rich merchants excited the rioters more. As the night went on, rather than settling down, the ughter spread more violently like a wildfire. Even the merchants who weren¡¯t republicans were attacked. Men, women, elderly people, and children were all stabbed through the chest with spears by the rioters. The rumor had bepletely distorted somewhere along the line. The republicans tried to assassinate His Excellency the Emperor, the Emperor was so filled with anger and fear that he had no other choice but to reach out to Brittany, let us protect His Excellency the Emperor and Frankia ourselves¡­¡­. A tragedy was unfolding. The Empress Dowager, Catherine de¡¯ Medici, woke up in the middle of the night and got up from her bed in surprise. The extremely strict Empress Dowager of the empire didn¡¯t even have the time to change into her usual clothes as she ran through the castle in her sleepwear while shouting. ¡°Ooh! Dear Gods, what is happening!? Why is there screaminging from the city!? Guards! Where is the royal guard!?¡± The Empress Dowager entered the throne room along with some maids who were also in sleepwear as they had to follow the Empress Dowager in a hurry. She pleaded to her son to end the ughter. ¡°Your Excellency! You are the Emperor of Frankia! They are your sons and daughters. In other words, they are the people whom you must nurture and care for!¡± The Emperor, Henry III, scoffed. ¡°I have never raised a child who points their spear at their father, Mother.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, this will curse the empire! There is no future for a nation where the father kills his children and the children despise their father! Your Excellency, I beg of you¡­¡­it is not toote, please show mercy to the people¡­¡­.¡± The Empress Dowager fell to her knees as she pleaded to the Emperor. The mother who was in her fifties was weeping in her sleepwear that revealed her aged skin. Even the royal guard couldn¡¯t help but sympathize with the Empress Dowager. Regardless, the young Emperor remained firm. ¡°There can not be two governments within a single nation!¡± Henry III roared as he stood up. ¡°You are truly detestable, the mother who had given birth to me! The very person who brought down my power and allowed the nation to be divided was none other than you, Mother. How could I consider those congressmen who dare state to be above the Emperor as members of the empire?¡± ¡°Henry¡­¡­My Henry. Please, be merciful¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You were the one who snatched away my mercy, Mother.¡± The Empress Dowager had reached her right hand out while kneeling on the ground. The Emperor cast his mother¡¯s hand aside. ¡°From this day forth, Frankia will have only a single sovereign power.¡± ¡°Dear Lord!¡± The Empress Dowager¡¯s face became red as she got up. Her entire body was trembling with rage. ¡°It would have been better if I had given birth to a bunch of venomous snakes instead of an embarrassment like this! I loathe that night of pleasure where I received that sinful seed inside of me! Dear Gods! Oh, dear Gods!¡± ¡°Take her away.¡± The Emperor gestured to the royal guard. The soldiers hesitated as they approached the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager spat out all sorts of curses as she was dragged out of the throne room. The Emperorughed as he watched her get dragged away. ¡°Confine the maids separately. The traitor¡¯s daughter may be among them. Thoughtless generosity will only lead to further troubles. The Gods will only ept this night to be perfect.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Almost every single emperor we¡¯ve seen so far have been really dumb, huh? I wonder if the author just has something against emperors. Welp, nothing else to say. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 200: Lily War (3) Chapter 200: Lily War (3) * * * I was sleeping in a room with Daisy like usual. I would always sleep in the same room as her ever since I took Daisy in. I told the people around us that she was my adopted daughter, so there was nothing strange about it. Whenever I would return after a day of work to our quarters or inn room, Daisy would be seated on a chair doing homework. Most of the homework Jeremi would give her involved studying the ancient empirenguage. ¡°¡­¡­Ugh, hgh.¡± She would asionally muffle herself as she moaned. Those were the times Luke was using the slime onahole to masturbate. That sensation was being transferred to Daisy. The libido of a boy going through puberty was rather immense, so Daisy would have to suppress her moaning in a corner of the room twice, or, at most, five times a day. It was a relief if this happened while she was in her room. However, she would have to run off somewhere private whenever Luke started masturbating while Daisy was outside since her face would turn red. Luke was passionate that day as well. I woke up to the sound of moaning that sounded like a cat crying and saw Daisy on the ground next to her bed squirming around. ¡°Haa¡­¡­uh, ha¡­¡­.¡± The ck-haired girl convulsed for a moment before letting out a weak breath. I got halfway up from my bed. My head was still hazy since I had just woken up. ¡°Is that the sixth time today? Kuku. Luke is quite impressive. To be able to do it six times at his age.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That was the fifth. Don¡¯t add another number by yourself. It is disgusting.¡± Daisy turned to look at me. Her tone was rather sharp, but it wasn¡¯t scary at all since her eyes were teary. If anything, it was entertaining for me. ¡°Be it five or six times, it is still a surprising number. When I was his age, once every three days was also considered a lot. As I thought, an individual destined to be the hero is different down to his roots. I look forward to seeing the future of a lustful hero.¡± ¡°You are the worst.¡± ¡°The worst? Thank you for thepliment. Oh right, it also amazes me that his first time was with a slime that is mimicking his little sister. As expected of the hero. He is definitely differentpared to his peers even during his childhood!¡± I chuckled. Daisy must¡¯ve gotten upset as she threw a pillow at me. Poof, the pillow urately hit my face. Sorry, but it didn¡¯t hurt at all. I onlyughed louder. Daisy got up and charged at me. She picked up the pillow and started hitting my body with it. This childish antic was actually the most that Daisy could do to struggle. She couldn¡¯t even throw anything heavy or sharp at me. A pillow. Or a ball of cotton. Maybe droplets of water as well? These were the only things Daisy could strike me with. If you could even call it striking. ¡­¡­ve seals were a rather convenient thing. Haha. ¡°Sir Dantalian, there is a problem!¡± The door opened with a m as Jeremi entered in a hurry. She turned to look at me before freezing like a statue. Daisy and I also froze up in surprise. An adult was rolling around on a bed with a 10-year-old girl. In our pajamas. How this must¡¯ve appeared to a third party was apparent by how Jeremi¡¯s expression gradually turned into a scowl. ¡°¡­¡­Aah. So Your Highness has that kind of preference. I had a suspicion that this was the case. I knew you were a pervert, but I didn¡¯t think you were this much of a pervert.¡± ¡°Oi, Jeremi. I know very well what you are thinking, but you are wrong.¡± Jeremi looked at Daisy. ¡°Daisy, is that true?¡± ¡°Teacher, it may be impudent of me to say this, but.¡± Daisy didn¡¯t even bat an eye as she continued. ¡°If Father were to order it, then I am powerless to resist.¡± Her left shoulder strap had slid down even though she had been wearing her clothes properly until a second ago! She had used that brief moment in time to pull down her clothes casually. Jeremi nodded her head sternly like a judge before turning to look at me with cold eyes. ¡°Your Highness Pedophile Demon Lord, do you have anything to say for yourself?¡± ¡°T-These cold-hearted sows¡­¡­.¡± I trembled. These two have been going around as a teacher and disciple pair recently, so their chemistry together had improved. ¡°You may be saying Your Highness, but there¡¯s no courtesy in your words at all!¡± I shouted as I threw a pillow at Jeremi as hard as I could. Jeremi dodged it with so much ease that it annoyed me more. ¡°This is my bedroom. It ismon courtesy to knock whether it is an urgent matter or not. Do you not use that hat holder of yours for anything other than assassination!?¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Jeremi quickly came back to her senses. ¡°Sir Dantalian! There is a big problem! I forgot for a moment because I saw something so obscene!¡± ¡°¡­¡­I will fix this misunderstandingter. Fine, O noble Miss Jeremi. How urgent is it for you to barge into a Demon Lord¡¯s room?¡± I spoke in a sarcastic tone, but Jeremi answered seriously. ¡°A purge is going to¡­¡­no, is happening in Parisiorum!¡± *** Shortly after, I walked out with just a mantle over my sleepwear. The estate we were staying at used to be a rich person¡¯s home. Our mercenary brigade and assassin group started to reside here after themoners rioted and neatly separated the rich person¡¯s head from his body. The leading members of our group were already gathered by the time I came downstairs. A table, a military map, and a magic sphere which someone was constantly giving reports through were ced in the lobby. Jacquerie listened to the report with a serious face as he nodded. ¡°Good work, everyone. It seems we have ended up holding a pajama party in the middle of the night.¡± I spoke as I quickly descended the stairs. The dwarves and elves quickly gave me a salute. I raised my right hand and told them to be at ease. ¡°Give me a report of the current situation first. An analysis of the cause cer.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. Approximately 4 hours ago, a disturbance swept over the cityscape of Parisiorum. It did not happen in only one specific area but throughout the entire city.¡± Jacquerie spoke in a clear voice. ¡°Most of the mobs are being led by servants of nobles and they are inciting others to execute the traitors who had betrayed the Emperor. Currently, we know that General Saint Andre who was injured in thest battle was attacked. It is being publicly stated that Baron Cornatton, Viscount Telenye, and Viscount Rochefoucauld have been killed.¡± I pressed my hand against my forehead. ¡°Are they not all on the Empress Dowager¡¯s side or a republican? This is not an idental riot. This was nned. Have you finished figuring out the cause?¡± ¡°¡­¡­We are not certain yet, but.¡± Jacquerie spoke carefully. ¡°It is being said that the Emperor of Frankia gave the order himself. We assume that the extremists among the royalists were assigned to carry out this task¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How insane.¡± I rubbed my face with my hands. Insane. This single word lingered in my mouth for a while. I needed something to drink. I needed some type of stimulus that could help me think better. At that moment, Daisy held up a horn chalice for me. It was filled with water mixed with grape vinegar. Daisy was also wearing her pajamas still and she had been silently listening to our conversation. I took the chalice and gulped the grape vinegar down. The sour taste of vinegar violently traveled up to my brain. All right. My mind is clear now. Dantalian, let¡¯s figure out what¡¯s happening. ¡°First, we must figure out whether this is an arbitrary decision made by the Emperor or not. Jacquerie, is Brittany getting involved in the ughter? Or are the royalists the only ones moving?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. As of this moment, rioters wearing Brittany¡¯s military uniform have not been spotted yet.¡± In other words, Brittany has not gotten involved, or at least on the surface they haven¡¯t¡­¡­. ¡°What about Henrietta? Where is the queen?¡± ¡°Henrietta and the rest of Brittany¡¯s army have been residing in a fortress on the outskirts of the capital. However, we have yet to determine if the Queen was still in the fortress tonight.¡± The army from Brittany moved to a fortress nearby as soon as they arrived at the imperial capital, Parisiorum. ¡°So you are saying that, at the very least, this looks to have been donepletely by the Emperor and the royalists on the surface?¡± ¡°That seems to be the case. The citizens of Parisiorum are shouting that as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Jacquerie, this is too bizarre.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± I tapped the floor with my right foot as I spoke. ¡°The Emperor¡¯s authority was already plummeting, but he ismitting a ughter on top of this? That would be foolish. That would be like cing a lump of metal on top of a boat that has already sunk.¡± The Emperor started to annihte the republicans through force. He was also utilizing his own troops instead of asking Brittany for help. This was probably wee news to the royalists, but what about the republicans and the other factions? ¡°People were not against the Emperor simply because they were republicans or on the Empress Dowager¡¯s side. There were many among them who stayed neutral and tried to abide to the Emperor¡¯s orders as much as possible. How will they react if a massive ughter is carried out like this one?¡± They will group together for the sake of their own survival. It was only natural. The republicans have no other choice but to pick up their weapons and retaliate since their lord was ughtering his people mercilessly. The ughter contrarily caused the gathering of the anti-Emperor group. No matter how much of a fool Henry III was¡­¡­no, was he already a retard the moment he brought in a foreign power? Let¡¯s just ignore him. The problem was Henrietta de Brittany. I couldn¡¯t believe that she was only an onlooker in this situation. The Emperor would¡¯ve at least informed the Queen about the ughter since they were working together. Henrietta of all people should¡¯ve immediately noticed the negative effect this ughter would have. Why didn¡¯t she stop him? Why¡­¡­? ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Mm, I don¡¯t get it.¡± I muttered to myself. I could feel the dwarves and elves looking at me. ¡°Could the Emperor have actually been arger fool than we initially thought, so he did this without consulting the Queen?¡± ¡°¡­¡­It is terrifying since that sounds usible.¡± Jacquerie furrowed his brows as he responded. However, there was no way the Queen wouldn¡¯t have nted a spy next to the Emperor. She would¡¯ve noticed it one way or another. And yet, why¡­¡­? Make the enemy gather¡­¡­. Not only Batavia but numerous nobles from the Empress Dowager¡¯s side¡­¡­. Aah, is that it? I understand now! ¡°A pitched battle, Jacquerie. The Queen of Brittany is aiming for a type of pitched battle.¡± ¡°Excuse me, Your Highness? A pitched battle?¡± The people present looked at me with confused faces. Did I jump too far ahead? I spoke with a bit of excitement in my voice. ¡°The group that opposed the Emperor has not been that sizable until now. However, if such arge-scale ughter is carried out, then an anti-Emperor faction would gather in an instant. They would easily be able to procure an army of 30,000 soldiers.¡± Nobles of high positions will most likely be lined up like shining stars among them as well. Their strength would overshadow the few lords in the northern region who had called for Batavia¡¯s army. ¡°How would Batavia treat this group that has gathered enough power by itself?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jacquerie thought for a moment before his eyes opened wide. ¡°Your Highness, their right tomand will be divided!¡± I nodded. ¡°If the anti-Emperor group does note together, then Batavia would be able to monopolize the right tomand.¡± Normally, the side that has the highest military strength would seize the right tomand. The Republic of Batavia¡¯s army was muchrger inparison to the lords in the northern region of Frankia. Thus, Batavia would¡¯ve had the right tomand all to themselves¡­¡­. ¡°However, the flow changes if the nobles within Frankia are able to build up an evenrger army.¡± The Republic of Batavia has 22,000 soldiers. If the nobles manage to gather about 30,000 soldiers, then¡­¡­Frankia would have the higher number! Batavia would no longer be able to monopolize the right tomand. However, this wouldn¡¯t be enough for Frankia to take Batavia in under itsmand. In this situation¡­¡­. ¡°There will be a suprememander in Frankia¡¯s army and Batavia¡¯s army respectively!¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± I gave Jacquerie a nod. That wasn¡¯t all. Frankia¡¯s side wouldn¡¯t consist of only republicans. They would only be a portion. The majority would probably be people from the Empress Dowager¡¯s side and the neutral nobles. ¡°The nobles will be cautious about letting Batavia have more military power than necessary and will try to move on their own as much as possible in order to avoid letting others interfere with their domestic affairs. Brittany only has 10,000 soldiers.¡± Even if you include the mercenaries with the Emperor¡¯s royal guard, they have at most 20,000 soldiers¡­¡­. If they have that much, then the nobles could probably wipe them out without reaching out to Batavia. The nobles of the Empress Dowager¡¯s side will most likely think this. What was Queen Henrietta trying to do by dividing their militarymand? There was nothing more appetizing than an army with a split head¡­¡­Therefore, a pitched battle. She was going to wipe them out in a single stroke. Queen Henrietta was boldly nning to wipe out the northern lords of Frankia, the Empress Dowager¡¯s faction, and Batavia¡¯s army, which all totaled at about 50,000 soldiers, with her army that barely reached 20,000. She was quite confident in herself. My spine went cold. Gathering allied forces and dividing enemy forces was a fundamental military strategy. However, Queen Henrietta did the opposite and made the enemy forces gather. She was making it so that an army with only a massive body but two heads would be created. She was certain that even if our side had 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers, she could defeat them all! *** Author¡¯s Afterword Before I knew it, DD has reached 200 chapters. I¡¯d like to thank all of my readers who¡¯ve been cheering me on. Have a good day ^^ TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hooray, we¡¯ve reached chapter 200, but we still aren¡¯t even halfway done with the series. Well, it¡¯s still something to celebrate. I also got my first covid vination shotst night, so my arm is feeling a bit sore now. I wonder if I should rx for the day. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 201: Lily War (4) Chapter 201: Lily War (4) * * * There was nothing in particr that we could do just because we had figured out Henrietta¡¯s goal. Even if I were to make a fuss about it, the others would simply tilt their heads at me and ask ¡®What¡¯s the problem?¡¯. There weren¡¯t any problems on the outside, after all. Our forces were increasing with each passing day. The northern lords (most of them were republicans), the nobles on the Empress Dowager¡¯s side, the mercenaries hired by them¡­¡­and Batavia¡¯s army was going to be added on top of this. This was enough to easily make our military power reach 30,000. ¡°All right, Henrietta! If this is how you are going to y, then I will magnificently go along with your dance.¡± I came to a conclusion after contemting throughout the night. Brittany¡¯s cavalrymen were definitely powerful. This was proven in their previous battle as well. Brittany¡¯s army of 10,000 soldiers may actually be capable of wiping out our 30,000 soldiers. But what about 35,000 soldiers? This would probably make it a struggle for them. How about 40,000? What about a massive army of 50,000? ¡°Will you still be confident in your victory then, O arrogant and impudent queen?¡± This was the moment a n was devised. The other party was aggressively aiming for a strategical victory. On the other hand, I was solidifying our tactical superiority. If they¡¯re aiming to be a sharp spear in order to pierce through us¨Dthen we simply have to be a mountain and crush them beneath us. There was no reason to hesitate now. We will defeat Henrietta with an overwhelming number of soldiers! I quickly went into action once I had set a goal. I was going to carry out my n by any means necessary. First, I persuaded the northern lords again and made them circte a manifesto throughout Frankia. ¡°I humbly ept this cause as I act as an envoy to inform the world. The foreign enemy, Brittany, and the disloyal retainers have deceived the heavens and divided thend, they have swallowed the nation and cajoled His Excellency the Emperor. They have caused the imperial pce to fall into chaos and begun to ughter innocent people. There is no de of grass that has not trembled before this sin and no river that has not been enraged by this evil.¡± ¡°We have received a secret order from His Excellency the Emperor and will raise a righteous army here. Until the day we have repulsed that vile foreign enemy, we vow to devote ourselves like warhorses that never rest. Those who have inherited the wills of the heavens! Rise up together with us to bring salvation to the people who have fallen into a mire and protect His Excellency the Emperor!¡± Propaganda. More propaganda! Henrietta de Brittany, even if you are moving together with the Emperor, the cause is in our hands. The royalists may have the most members in the nation, but there are only a few people who would swear their loyalty to a foreign enemy like you. I utilized every possible group I could influence like the assassins, the Liberation Alliance¡¯s cabalists, and the servants of nobles tounch a major offensive. I put up a notice at every town in the nation. The people from the Emperor¡¯s side responded by iming this was a conspiracy and an uprising. The information became so tangled up, that the people could no longer determine what was true or false. Nheless, this mess of a situation was the best possible battlefield for me. You can¡¯t figure out what¡¯s the truth? Perfect. Power and rhetoric are the only things that can shine when the truth is obscure. I visited viges and cities without rest. I gave speeches all throughout the northern and eastern regions while on my pilgrimage. ¡°People of Frankia! What must we do now that the nation is in chaos? Goddesses, what must we do to receive your grace?¡± I borrowed the power of a volume enhancement spell to make my voice echo far throughout the za. ¡°The Goddesses have spoken. First, your heart must not follow where your body goes. You must instead lead your body to where your heart is pointing! Second, do not try to find meaning on a path that has already beenid out for you. You must instead pave a path to where your cause is taking you! Third, only after you have done all this will our sky be so vast that nothing will ever be lost!¡± I raised my right hand and shouted. ¡°The sky¡¯s will help the good and not let go of the weak! Protect ournd from Brittany! People of Frankia, righteous people of Frankia¨Drise up!¡± Crowds of thousands and crowds of tens of thousands cheered passionately as they were caught up in the mood. The sky shook and the ground lurched. The city itself became a single mass as it shouted. ¡°Yeeaaah! For the glory of Frankia! For the glory of Frankia!¡± ¡°Take the heads of our enemy! Kill those Brittany dogs!¡± ¡°Jean Bole! Jean Bole! Jean Bole!¡± It was around this point that my ability to instigate had reached its peak since the start of the Crescent Alliance expedition. The people appointed themselves as a sacred army and started to protect me even though I hadn¡¯t ordered them to. Goddess Artemis¡¯ priest, Jean Bole. Nobles andmoners who had heard rumors about me would show up wherever I traveled. They would hold their breaths whenever I gave my speeches in low tones, and they would get riled up whenever my speeches became impassioned. Tens of thousands of people would cheer ¡°For the Goddess!¡± in unison at times and they would also be absolutely silent during silent prayers. I would spread the booklets I had prepared beforehand during these speeches as well. I gave them out regardless of whether they were royalists, republicans, nobles, ormoners. Once I had handed out about 3,000 booklets, the people started to reproduce them themselves. ¡°No matter what price we have to pay, we must destroy this lie that is holding us down¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Gods have ordered us to be the masters of thisnd!¡± ¡°Humans all have equal rights to thend and the benefits obtained from thend.¡± Themoners who knew how to read would receive the booklets and read them to their friends and families. The contents of the booklets started to spread like a gue as people would gather together and create volunteer armies. They weren¡¯t simply volunteer soldiers. They were soldiers armed with an ideology. Furthermore, there was no army more tenacious and powerful than an army with an ideology¡­¡­. While speeches were immediately powerful, their effects didn¡¯tst long. On the other hand, the booklets had a longsting effect. The booklets would remain in the ces I had departed from, so the people would motivate themselves. Thus, about 12,000 volunteer soldiers had risen up. The nobles were surprised. They probably never imagined that themoners would respond this fervently. Their morale increased again thanks to these unexpected reinforcements. ¡°There is no doubt. The Gods are holding their hands out to our great cause.¡± ¡°Let us advance to capture Brittany¡¯s queen!¡± I didn¡¯t do this to only motivate others. There were nobles who started to worry about the future as well. ¡°I do want to praise their chivalrous that has caused them to rise up for His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s sake, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Is this not giving the republicans too much power?¡± Be it the Empress Dowager¡¯s side or the Emperor¡¯s side, they were still nobles. They were concerned about the people getting ¡®diseased¡¯ more than necessary. I had to persuade these people using a different method. If we purge the enemy nobles, then we would gain thend they own. If we want to do that, then we must first defeat Brittany. For the sake of victory, let us overlook the armies created by the people. They are benightedmoners anyway, are they not? Even if they raise their voices now, they will forget all about this after a while¡­¡­. Nobles always want to expand their territories. It was a valid means of persuasion. Negotiations happened several times. The nobles appointed me, the most popr priest among themoners, Jean Bole, as themander of the volunteer army. ¡°We acknowledge your contribution of persuading the northern lords and your valiant act of traveling throughout Frankia for the sake of saving it from its crisis.¡± This was what they said on the surface. The truth was actually simpler. You are the perfect person to stop themoners from rampaging and leading the situation into something favorable for the nobles. They were probably telling me to also take responsibility. It didn¡¯t matter. If anything, I was hoping for this. In my original world, farmers were nothing more than a ragtag bunch with little training and morale, but it was different here. They would get attacked by goblins once every few years or several times in a single year. If they were unlucky, then they would even fight against orcs. Every vige had its own militia. They definitely didn¡¯tck training. The drafted farmers in my original world couldn¡¯tpare to these farmers. Well, it wasn¡¯t just farmers, but the knights of this world were much stronger than the ones in my original world as well. In any case, I ended upmanding 12,000 fairly well-trained soldiers. I had more than enough military funds since I was probably one of the wealthiest individuals even among the Demon Lords. There was no problem. Henrietta de Brittany. I will defeat you by any means necessary¡­¡­. ¡°At this rate, we wouldn¡¯t be able to lose even if we wanted to.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am ignorant when ites to military tactics, but I have to agree as well.¡± Jeremi, who had been watching all of my actions, shrugged her shoulders. Daisy nodded next to her as well. I looked like I was doing my damnedest even in the eyes of the leader of the greatest assassin group in the demon world and a prospect hero. Starting propagandas, giving improvised speeches, and distributing books filled with ideologies. I manipted the rtionships between nobles as their envoy, secretly helped the most renowned duke among them be the leader, acted as a mediator between Frank nobles and themanders of Batavia¡¯s army, and finally, I ordered our mercenary brigade to train the volunteer soldiers¡­¡­. ¡°Kuh.¡± I drank the vinegar water in a single gulp. The inside of my mouth felt tingly. I guarantee that the past few days have been the busiest I¡¯ve ever been in my entire life. I wanted to show this to Lapis. Even the unppable Lapis would apud and praise me saying, ¡°Amazing work, Sir Dantalian. Outstanding work. You are truly the most sincere and diligent individual out of all Demon Lords.¡±. Atst, our forces had finished gathering. *** Suprememander: Duke Henry de Guise Sumander: Supreme Council Member, Anna de Bis ¦¯ ¡öFirst army: Empress Dowager¡¯s noble army. Supreme Commander: Duke Henry de Guise.Infantry 24,000 (mercenaries, conscripts). Cavalry 5,000 (1,000 knights) ¡öSecond army: Republic of Batavia¡¯s army. Commander: Supreme Council Member, Anna de Bis.Infantry 15,000 (mercenaries, civilian militia). Cavalry 7,000 (150 knights) ¡öThird army: Frankia volunteer soldiers. Commander: Artemis¡¯ priest, Jean Bole.Infantry 12,000 (farmers) ¡õ Total soldiers: Infantry 51,000. Cavalry 12,000 (1,150 knights) *** Our military power was immense. I was worried that Brittany would try to divide and conquer us before we could rally our forcespletely, but it turned out to be a needless concern. Instead of aiming for us, Brittany replenished their forces back at their homnd. Despite this, they only had 15,000 soldiers. If you include the Emperor¡¯s royal guard, then they had about 25,000 soldiers. It wasn¡¯t a small number, but sadly for them, we had a massive army of 60,000. No matter how much Henrietta de Brittany runs wild, it was practically impossible for her to ovee an army that was more than 2.5 times bigger than her army. Furthermore, ourmanders weren¡¯t ipetent! Not only was Duke Henry de Guise a man of dauntless courage, but he had the dignity to control the other nobles. I had met Anna de Bis before when I joined the Liberation Alliance. Anna was second to Paimon in terms of talent in the Liberation Alliance. She was most likely not ipetent. And Jean Bole¡­¡­I¡¯m not particrly talented in military affairs. However, I have the highly experienced mercenary captain, Jacquerie at my side. I was also charismatic enough to fully dominate the volunteer soldiers. Three years was also enough to learn a thing or two. I had front-row seats when I watched General Zepar and Barbatosmand their troops. Those were valuable experiences. I was confident that I at least wouldn¡¯t make a mistake as long as I managed my troops while listening to Jacquerie¡¯s advice on the side. If there was one rule that I had adhered strictly to throughout my entire life, then it was the rule to achieve victory before the battle. A winning army is an army that guarantees its victory before the battle. Henrietta de Brittany, I have prepared a pitched battle as you desired. But it is unfortunate¡­¡­. It seems I have already obtained an overwhelming victory before you could show off your talent. This is your loss. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Dant is definitely acting too confident. Somethingpletely unexpected is clearly going to happen during the battle. The question is probably just how Dant is going to ovee it. On another note, I only had a sore arm for a day after my first shot. Hopefully the second shot isn¡¯t that bad, but I won¡¯t know until the end of October. Like a month and a half gap between shots. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Might be soon. Chapter 202: Lily War (5) Chapter 202: Lily War (5) * * * The march began. ¨C Raaa listi, trii freude¡­¡­. ¨C Greecia sisbi mer bremedea The singing of priests resonated over the heads of soldiers. A fair number of clerics had joined our cause. We didn¡¯t have anyone at the level of a saint, but numerous priests and priestesses were singing a sacred song in harmony. The melody was amplified by a spell as it went up to the skies and descended like rays from the sun. A massive army of 60,000 soldiers marched together with this harmony. Jeremi brought her horse next to mine before speaking. ¡°Danta¡­¡­no, do you not n to sing a verse, Mr. Priest?¡± ¡°I apologize, but I am aplete flunky when ites to music.¡± I stuck my lips out. In truth, this was what made priests so pivotal when it came to armies. The holy anthem increased the soldiers¡¯ morale greatly. They helped prevent the soldiers from going out of control and also greatly decreased the likelihood of things like piging and self-indulging from happening which were things that happened fairly often in armies. Well, the hymn was basically descending upon the soldiers marching under the sun. It probably feels like they were being blessed by God. This should probably reduce things like PTSD as well. ¡°Oh? I guess children don¡¯t actually take after their parents.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°I am referring to Daisy. She is really good at singing. It almost felt like a spirit was singing.¡± Huh? Was the hero good at singing in the game as well? ¡°¡­¡­She has never done any singing while in my presence.¡± ¡°Of course not. Who would want to sing in front of a priest?¡± ¡°Would you look at the sharp tongue on this bright adulteress?¡± ¡°Kekeke.¡± Jeremiughed. I could only growl at her. I was the one who enjoyed being feted while the greatest opera singer on the continent was giving a passionate performance. Seriously, I know nothing about the fine arts. Jeremi pointed behind her with her thumb. ¡°But where do you intend to use all that?¡± ¡°Ah, the wooden fences?¡± Our army was pulling about a hundred wagons. Piles of pre-built fences were stacked on top of the wagons that were being pulled by donkeys. I had ordered the farmers to build them. They were my secret weapon. ¡°From what I can tell, there are only two strategies that Henrietta can carry out. Hmm, I can¡¯t really call the first one a strategy, but it¡¯s the pitched battle that she wanted. If that happens, we simply have to overwhelm her with our numbers. But¡­¡­the second strategy, the Emperor might show up himself.¡± ¡°The Emperor of Frankia?¡± I nodded. ¡°We deliberately made our targets the ¡®Emperor¡¯s disloyal retainers¡¯ instead of the Emperor himself for the sake of fortifying our cause. We made it sound as if the Emperor was an innocent victim in this matter. What do you think would happen if the Emperor were to appear on the enemy¡¯s side in a situation like this?¡± ¡°Aha. It would affect our morale.¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± What I feared was the Emperor himselfing out to give the opening speech. In this world, there was a custom where representatives would step out and give ceremonial speeches before massive armies collided. These speeches could be summarized into 3 lines. Surrender. No. Then die. Since knights were unimaginably powerful, a chivalrous procedure was naturally established within wars as well. It was an effective way to raise your troops¡¯ morale and deal a blow to the enemy¡¯s morale. It would be very troubling for us if the Emperor of Frankia were toe out as their representative in this situation¡­¡­. ¡°However, that would give the Emperor the right tomand.¡± It was hard to believe that Henry III could show any sort of military talent when he had only shown us his ipetent side up to this point. Therefore, making the Emperore forward was a double-edged sword. They could lower our morale greatly during the opening speeches, but ipetent orders would be given during the actual battle. ¡°Henrietta de Brittany¡¯s intentions will be clear depending on whether the Emperores out or not. If hees forward, then Henrietta is aiming for a pitched battle and a political victory. However, if he doesn¡¯t¡­¡­.¡± I trailed off. ¡°That means she is genuinely aiming to annihte us all without relying on any sort of political or diplomatic means. I prepared these fences in case of thetter.¡± Our forces arrived at St. Denis ins near the vicinity of Parisiorum. The Brittany-Emperor Alliance was setting up their headquarters here. Just from a nce, I could tell they didn¡¯t have even 30,000 soldiers. After sending out scouts to gather intelligence, we learned that the Emperor had not arrived. There were no banners that indicated the Emperor of Frankia was here either. Only the gs of the generals who were acting as the Emperor¡¯s proxy were fluttering in the wind. ¡°So you are aiming for a total annihtion, Queen?¡± I red at the enemy camp on the other side of the ins. There were a few nobles who, unbeknownst to the enemy, were within the enemy¡¯s camp. Thanks to this, we were able to get a fairly urate grasp of the enemy¡¯s forces. They probably had spies nted in our side as well. *** Supreme Commander: Queen Henrietta de Brittany Sumander: Deputy General Gaspard de Tavannes ¡öFirst army: Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army. Supreme Commander: Queen Henrietta de Brittany. Infantry 5,000 (mercenaries, conscripts). Cavalrymen 8,000 (1,000 knights). ¡öSecond army: Emperor of Frankia¡¯s army. Supreme Commander: Deputy General Gaspard de Tavannes. Infantry 2,000 (conscripts). Cavalrymen 8,500 (600 knights). ¡õ Total soldiers: Infantry 7,000. Cavalry 16,500 (1,600 knights) *** We immediately held a war council with the intel we had received. We had Duke Henry de Guise as our suprememander, Anna de Bis, a member of the Council of Thirteen, as themander of the Republic of Batavia¡¯s army, the mercenary leaders we had hired from the dwarven alliance, etc. All sorts of nobles and generals were gathered here. ¡°It is clear now. The Queen of Brittany is aiming for a cavalry battle.¡± Sumander Anna de Bis spoke. She was a half-elf and a self-made heroine who had climbed to the highest ranks of the republic as a child of mixed blood. She was also a member of the like me. ¡°Our side seems to be inferior when ites to our cavalry. Their knights are especially menacing. As long as they are aiming for a cavalry battle, I believe that we should not go along with the enemy¡¯s desire.¡± Anna stated. She had green hair which was hard to see within human society. As expected of a half-elf, she was also beautiful. It wasn¡¯t surprising to see that a few of the nobles were staring at her nape and hair with nk eyes. ¡°I agree. I had a bitter experience with their cavalry not that long ago.¡± Supreme Commander Henry de Guise smiled bitterly. He was a duke who had aged to his forties well and had an impressionable beard. He waspletely defeated by Brittany¡¯s army in his previous battle. ¡°If His Excellency were present, then it would have made things perplexing, but as Priest Jean Bole pointed out, it seems the Queen of Brittany is nning to wipe us out.¡± ¡°Indeed. I am not sure if I should call her reckless or overconfident.¡± ¡°Nheless, she has the talent to back up her confidence.¡± Duke Guisemented as he stroke his beard. Carelessness is forbidden. He was giving off this kind of mood. From what I was told, despite Frankia¡¯splete defeat, he was the only one who managed to retreat safely with his men. He may not be a genius, but he wasn¡¯t incapable. It should be fine to leave him as the suprememander. ¡°Position the cavalrymen behind the infantry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is important to put spearmen in between so that there are no openings.¡± The generals stayed modest as they had their free discussion. As I expected, Anna received the right tomand Batavia¡¯s army while Duke Guise took the right tomand the noble army. However, there was one thing that pleasantly went against my expectation. There was surprisingly less discord between themanders than I thought there would be. Duke Guise may be considered second-rate as a generalpared to Henrietta. However, he was definitely first-rate as a noble. During the meeting, some of the aggressive mercenary leaders and nobles would shout things like: ¡°What is everyone saying? We have 60,000 men while the enemy only has 20,000. I cannot bear to listen to you all trembling in your boots before some woman even though our army is three times bigger than theirs! Supreme Commander! Leave a unit under mymand. I will capture the woman and bring her head to you.¡± However, whenever they did, Duke Guise would respond to them sternly. ¡°You are truly brave! However, I will continue to defer from utilizing our cavalrymen for now. Cavalry battles are not the only way to show your bravery. There is no reason for us to go along with what that queen desires.¡± Duke Guise skillfully talked themanders down and proved that he didn¡¯t receive his title through something like a card game. ¡°Our forces will be carrying out Priest Jean Bole¡¯s n.¡¯ Duke Guise dered firmly and I responded with a respectful bow. My n was rather simple. I was going to ce down the wooden fences that had been painstakingly transported here by the donkeys in front of our army. We were then going to position our spearmen around those fences. ¡®I borrowed General Zepar¡¯s idea.¡¯ I smiled on the inside. General Zepar had splendidly defended against a bunch of knights during the Battle of Austerlitz by using wooden fences and stakes. I won¡¯t be able to show the same magnificentmanding skill as General Zepar©¥that skill was something that was only possible because a Demon Lord wasmanding monsters©¥but it shouldn¡¯t be hard to take advantage of our fences. Setting wooden fences up in front of our army would naturally decrease the charging power of the enemy¡¯s cavalrymen. The cavalry charge that Queen Henrietta was most likely going to rely on was going to lose its power. Our men would then plunge their spears into the cavalrymen who had lost their speed. Normally, the army a the smaller number of soldiers would defend against therger army. However, it was going to be the opposite for us. We were going to carry out a defensive battle even though we had an absolute advantage in terms of manpower. ¡°The cavalrymen and knights boasted by the Queen will be stopped by our shield and lose their strength. We will attack them in earnest once they are exhausted.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Duke Guise nodded in response to my exnation. I had already informed him of this n beforehand, but we were deliberately putting on this exchange for the sake of the others around us. In other words, this was a strategy that was designed solely to stop mounted troops¡­¡­. A formation that was created purely to deal with Queen Henrietta. Several generalsined that this was a cowardly n, but Supreme Commander Duke Guise had personally experienced the terror of Brittany¡¯s cavalrymen a short while ago. Duke Guise would never allow his men to fight rashly. I felt reassured. Ourmanders weren¡¯t ipetent, so it was unlikely for us to lose because of them. Even St. Denis ins was advantageous for us. There was a river on the left side of the ins and a forest on the right side. The ground near the riverside was soft, so it wasn¡¯t appropriate for cavalry charges. There was no need to mention the forest either. Therefore, St. Denis ins was a fairly bad ce to try and rely on cavalry charges. There was no advantage for Brittany. Duke Guise gave a gant shout. ¡°Not only do our forces have an advantage in terms of numbers, but our strategy is superior as well. The battlefield favors us as well. I ask of you generals to fight with the certainty of our victory!¡± Brittany¡¯s army started to move the next morning. The sun was rising upon St. Denis ins. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t know why, but this segment feels pretty long. Maybe it¡¯s because I don¡¯t particrly enjoy tranting war scenes and tactics. Who knows? Well, the fight is actually going to start in the next chapter. Not much else to say. I¡¯ve just been ying some Minecraft recently. Be nice if that server were a bit more active. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 203: Lily War (6) Chapter 203: Lily War (6) At dawn. The sound of horns started to resonate from the other side of the ins. It started with a single horn, but once a flock of sparrows coincidentally flew up into the sky, dozens of more horns followed suit like birds following the flock. Horns rang 400 years ago when a unit of ogres belonging to the Crescent Alliance was wiped out in a single assault. Be it 500 years ago or 800 years ago, horns have always sounded without fail whenever a cavalry charge won a battle in the history books. They were arrogantly dering to the world that they were going to recreate history. ¨C Kiaaaagh. ¨C Grrrrguu, guaah¡­¡­. The forest spirits started to stir. Did they foretell that the nts and grass were going to be showered in blood? Spirits emitting a green light peaked out from behind the trees, but they quickly fled into the forest once the sound of horns rang out again. The branches and leaves were swaying even though there was no wind. ¡°Spearmen forward! Spearmen forward!¡± The dwarven mercenaries encouraged the farmers. The dwarves had small bodies, but they had innately powerful voices. Dwarves were naturally one of the most elite soldiers in the world as they were born in sterile, alpine areas and would spend either their entire lives or at most 150 years on the battlefield. ¡°Do you understand? Do not step away from the fences! If the person in front of you falls, then immediately go forward and take their ce next to the fences.¡± ¡°Regardless of whether the knights fly or crawl, they cannot charge through our barricade. Remember this. Defend the fences! If the fences fall, then we will perish. If the fences stand firm, then the enemy will perish.¡± The dwarves walked between the soldiers and pped them on their rears. They were trying to rx their nerves. All 50 of the dwarves from the Double Ax Mercenary Brigade had be officers and they skillfully led our soldiers to battle. The farmers knew how to use their spears against goblins and orcs. Spearheads that can pierce through monsters can obviously pierce through humans as well. What they needed now was to learn how to keep ranks, not how to wield their weapons. The mercenaries were helping them with that. ¡°¡­¡­It seems the Queen of Brittany intends to omit the speeches.¡± I muttered. I was standing behind my army, so I could see all 12,000 soldiers all at once. Jeremi, who was acting as my guard, chimed in. ¡°It is more certain that the Emperor is not present.¡± ¡°Mm. She must not be confident in a battle of causes.¡± She even omitted the procedure where the priests would go forward and sing a hymn before the battle. Even though they have a saintess. Henrietta de Brittany was focusing purely onbat. ¨C Foooosh! There was a thinyer of morning fog settled around us. Roughly 5 to 6 bolts of fire pierced through the white mist. The mages on the enemy side were attacking us. Fire spells were powerful and also an easy way to set our wooden fences aze. As expected, they were treating the fences as proper obstructions. Nheless, they weren¡¯t the only ones who had mages. ¨C Protege! ¨C Scutum! Our army had 26 mages. Most mage towers had dered their neutrality, but the nobles did whatever they could to bring mages here. Mages extremely despised their magic spells, which they had refined through many years of studying, being used as mere tools for mass ughter, but being summoned by a noble wasn¡¯t something they could take lightly. A wide shield appeared above us in the air. The fireballs were blocked in midair. A certain mage even went as far as to show off and urately hit a fireball with a water bolt. ¡°Wooooooaaaah!¡± ¡°Glory to Frankia!¡± Our soldiers started to cheer once the enemy¡¯s assault failed. The dwarves were leading the cheer. Raising our morale like this before our soldiers actually went into battle was crucial. On the other hand, the enemy beyond the fog was quiet. ¡°It seems they are not going to attack us with spells anymore.¡± ¡°Indeed! They must have concluded that it would be difficult to burn down our barricade.¡± I clenched my right hand into a fist. Strength had unconsciously flowed into my hand. Our magic prowess was either above or, at the very least, equal to the enemy¡¯s! There were numerous advantages to making St. Denis ins our field of battle. There was a river to our right and a forest to our left, so the terrain was narrow. The fact that it was narrow was what was important. Our main battle power, the spearmen, became stronger the closer together they were. ¡°Now the only card left in the Queen¡¯s hands is her cavalry charge¡­¡­!¡± On the other hand, cavalrymen became stronger the more spread out they were. They would wield 3 to 4 meter-longnces. Brittany¡¯s cavalry was especially known for using 8 meter-longnces. Although normal cavalrymen that cannot use auras have no other choice but to use 4 to 5 meter-longnces¡­¡­. Cavalrymen would stand in a line and hold theirnces forward. This sight in itself was terrifying. However, what if they had to fight on terrain as narrow as St. Denis ins? That would weaken the strength of their cavalry charge. To make matters worse for them, we also had wooden fences set up in front of our army. There were only tiny gaps between each fence. Brittany¡¯s cavalrymen have no other choice but aim for those small gaps. Their strength wouldn¡¯t be simply decreasing, it would be decreasing drastically. Our spearmen were the final uppercut. They only had 5 meter-long spears, but if they rely on the fences, then they would be able to deal with both the cavalrymen and the knights. I guarantee that this was going to be their grave. ¨C Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop¡­¡­. A portion of their cavalrymen finally appeared from beyond the fog. Were they about 200 meters from the barricade? Hundreds, thousands of cavalrymen wearing borate armor and helmets brought their horses to a trot. The numerous tes of armor were approaching like a silver tsunami. ¡°A spectacle is still a spectacle, I see.¡± I clenched my baton tightly. Cavalrymen were most likely approaching our other armies as well. It was time for the battle to begin. ¡°Jeremi. Order them to fire!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Once Jeremi gave a sign with her hand, assassins wearing soldier garb raised their gs. The dwarves at the front received the signal and started to shout loudly. Ready your bows! Ready your bows! 3,000 archers raised their bows with a slight dy. Our army didn¡¯t ignorantly have only spearmen. We had positioned plenty of archers in the back as well. While our spearmen blocked the knights from charging with the wooden fences, our archers rained arrows down on our enemy. It was practically a perfectbination. The dwarves shouted energetically. ¡°Fire! Fire!¡± A volley of arrows flew through the sky andnded on Brittany¡¯s mounted troops. About 20 cavalrymen fell off their horses. Arrows weren¡¯t very effective against heavy cavalry and their te armor, but some of the horses would, unfortunately, get hit instead. I let out a cheer. ¡°Good! Continue to fire our arrows! I will pay the full amount for our arrows!¡± ¡°Spearmen! Spearmen forward!¡± The cavalrymen who managed to avoid the arrows quickly arrived in front of our fences. 20 people falling off their horses probably doesn¡¯t sound like much, but that was 20 people bing powerless after a single volley. If we fire a few more volleys, then we could easily neutralize a hundred of them. Their losses will only increase as long as they cannot get through our barricade. ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡± Jeremi let out a gasp next to me. I turned to see Jeremi¡¯s eyes wide open. ¡°I thought something was weird! Commander! They don¡¯t have them!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have them? What do they not have?¡± ¡°Theirnces!¡± Jeremi shouted. ¡°They do not have theirnces!¡± ¡°What?¡± I looked back at the battlefield in surprise. Silver-ted armor that had no opening. Warhorses that were bred by crossbreeding with monsters. They had everything necessary to be considered heavy cavalry©¥and yet, they didn¡¯t have theirnces! Be it the 8-meternces that were characteristic to Brittany and which usually brought fear to normal infantrymen or even themon 5-meternces, none of them were present. The heavy cavalrymen were instead holding somethingpletely different. ¡°Bows¡­¡­!?¡± At that moment, thousands of arrows flew through the air. Brittany¡¯s cavalry unit had be mounted archers! They got about 10 meters in front of our barricade before readying their bows. Our forces werepletely bewildered by this unexpected attack. ¡°A-Arrows!¡± Screams erupted from here and there. The soldiers that were clinging to the fences were shot down by the arrows. Dozens, no, I could tell from a nce that hundreds of our spearmen had fallen. Different from the heavy cavalrymen who were in full armor, our side mostly had farmers. Their defenses against arrows were abysmal. Brittany¡¯s mounted archers kept firing in rotation a short distance from our barricade. The front row would shoot their bows before retreating and changing position with the row behind them. Like this, it felt like they would repeat this endlessly. A swarm! They were doing a swarm tactic! Brittany¡¯s cavalrymen that boasted the most discipline in the continent were carrying out a tactic meant for mounted archers which wasmonly carried out by nomadic tribes. ¡°Auaaaagh! Dodge!¡± ¡°You fools! Raise your shields! Raise your shields!¡± ¡°Guaagh, arm, my arm!¡± Our army instantly fell into disarray. The spearmen did the best they could to block the arrows with their small wooden shields. The farmers hastily raised their shields to their heads. They were experiencing a rain of arrows for the first time. This naturally caused them to gradually lower their spears. I was so dumbfounded that I was at a loss for words for a few seconds. The words that came out of my mouth right after were more like a sound of astonishment than an actual sentence. ¡°Was this what you were aiming for, Henrietta¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°Commander! Please give an order!¡± Jeremi brought me back to my senses. Damn it. I didn¡¯t have the time to even get angry. Our formation was still being maintained thanks to the dwarves, but we would only incur more and more losses if we let things continue like this. I gnashed my teeth and shouted. ¡°Fight arrows back with arrows! Send the archers forward and make those who have shields protect the archers!¡± ¡°Give the order to the others immediately!¡± Fortunately, they were elite assassins whopeted for first and second ce in the demon world. Even though there were thousands of spearmen crowded together, they dashed in skillfully and gave the orders to the dwarves. It didn¡¯t take even two minutes since I gave the order before the dwarves started to shout the order. ¡°Archers forward! Archers forwaaard!¡± ¡°Defend the archers with your shields! Men, don¡¯t be scared! Archers always win against mounted archers!¡± ¡°Believe in your allies! Protect your allies!¡± The soldiers moved urgently. The archers merged with the frontline. The archers who had gotten swept away during the panic were pushed forward with the help of theirrades. There was a bit of a dy, but they began to fire back. The dwarves did their best to raise morale. ¡°Aim for the horses! Shoot at the horses!¡± A majority of our 3,000 archers were hunters. They couldn¡¯t fire volleys like trained military archers, but their aim was at least up to par. The archers trusted that they would be protected by their allies as they proceeded to fire their bows. ¡°Damn it!¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back my anger as I stomped on the ground. I waspletely fooled! Queen Henrietta knew that we would go on the defense. Our side was in high spirits because we were going to fight on St. Denis ins. However, Queen Henrietta was hoping for that. I grit my teeth. I had experienced something like this before. Margrave Rosenberg, he had also turned his highly trained cavalrymen into mounted archers. ¡°Is this going to be a repeat of Austerlitz¡­¡­!?¡± There were tens of thousands of spearmen crowded on these narrow ins. This was probably the perfect opportunity to maximize our losses by using bows against us. We were so afraid of Brittany¡¯s cavalry charge that we didn¡¯t prepare countermeasures for mounted archers. ¡°Commander, we still have the advantage.¡± Jeremi spoke to me calmly. She wasn¡¯t faking an emotion on her face like usual. Her natural cold and dry face came out. ¡°If we continue to protect our archers with shields, then their mounted archers will have no other choice but to retreat. Look. The wooden fences are carrying out their roles.¡± Jeremi was right. I made sure our fences were made incredibly sturdy, so they were acting as excellent shields against the arrows. A fair number of archers clung on to them to avoid the enemy¡¯s attack before peaking out the small gaps between the fences to fire their arrows. The spearmen were slowly backing away to where the arrows didn¡¯t reach. ¡°I know. However, I feel pathetic for allowing myself to get fooled by Queen Henrietta!¡± ¡°Their sudden attack may have been immediately effective, but it does not change the fact that Queen Henrietta does not have the advantage. If we continue to remain calm¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi trailed off. She was staring ahead of us. I instinctively felt a foreboding feeling when I saw her eyes. I turned my head as I followed her gaze. Their mounted archers slowly backed away. There were several warhorses that were shot down by arrows sprawled out here and there on the ground. At a nce, it looked like they were withdrawing in order to avoid our arrows. ¡°Their second line¡­¡­!¡± The cavalrymen in their second line came forward like they were changing ces with their first line. Cavalrymen that were wearing more borate armor than the mounted archers we saw a second ago hade forward. It was their knights. Knights wearing mantles that had a ck lily, the symbol that represented Brittany, embroidered into them made their horses gallop towards us. Even their horses were fully armored. Different from their first line of offense, the cavalrymen of their second line were fully armed. That¡¯s right. Fully armed! They were holding their 8 meter-longnces! Urgent cries came out from our soldiers. ¡°Knights! It¡¯s a cavalry charge©¥!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. As expected, it¡¯s time for Dant to struggle after acting so overconfident. He actively jinxed himself before the fight.On another note, Korean Thanksgiving is next Tuesday. I¡¯m not sure when, but I¡¯ll probably be visiting my rtives on Monday or Tuesday. There are still heavy restrictions on gatherings here, so I¡¯m honestly not sure if I¡¯m actually going or not. I¡¯ll just wait for one of my rtives to contact me. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 204: Lily War (7) Chapter 204: Lily War (7) I let out a gasp. A cavalry charge after a swarm!? The enemy was firing a volley of arrows with their first line before immediately switching with their second line to charge. I swung my baton frantically. ¡°Spearmen! Send the spearmen forward!¡± Themand gs iled about. Jacquerie and the other dwarves were already shouting at the spearmen to go forward before the order was even fully conveyed. The peasant soldiers were stupefied because of the chain of unexpected events, but they quickly began to move again once the officers kicked them in their rears. ¡°Graaaaauh!¡± Our infantrymen gripped their spears tightly as they stuck to the barricade. Some of them ended up dropping their spears because they were in such a hurry. Unsightly mistakes were happening over and over again. I couldn¡¯t hide my anxiety. Our line and rank were aplete mess! The hunters who had stepped forward to show the enemy¡¯s mounted archers their ce withdrew. Chaos erupted here and there as the retreating archers and the advancing spearmen collided. This was a moment where every second was precious. Archers couldn¡¯t possibly be able to endure ance charge. Especiallynce charges that have the auras of knights imbued into them. We had to change our formation as soon as possible. Brittany¡¯s knights were approaching us like a tsunami right this instant. Finally, the knights reached us. Their horses were galloping as fast as they could as they charged rampantly. The knights poured into the gap between the fences while letting out battle cries. ¡°Daffodil Company, charge!¡± ¡°For Her Highness the Queen! For Henrietta de Brittany!¡± The knights and spearmen collided. Blood sttered. Lances imbued with aura stabbed through several infantrymen. The monstrous warhorses with mixed blood cried out as if they weren¡¯t afraid of the spears at all. The knightnces that were overwhelmingly longer than the spearmen¡¯snces stabbed through their shoulders, necks, and chests. The warhorses stepped over all of the shields that were blocking them. It all happened in an instant. Dozens of spearmen fell in unison. I couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. ¡°Stop them! Stop them no matter what!¡± I got on my horse and immediately urged it forward. Jeremi shouted something at me from behind but I ignored her. She was obviously trying to tell me that it was dangerous. Was it not funny? I wasn¡¯t the one in danger, it was our allies! Henrietta de Brittany executed a deception tactic and a surprise attack simultaneously. These were things that showed their effectiveness at the beginning of the battle. If our soldiers get scared and leave the wooden fences, then©¥that would be the end for us. ¡°Do not retreat!¡± We have to at least defend the barricade. I activated the sound amplification spell that was prepared on my ne beforehand and shouted. My voice echoed throughout the battlefield like a bolt of lightning. ¡°Mr. Priest?¡± The soldiers around me turned to me in surprise. These idiots! I rode my horse to the very rear end of our spearmen unit. ¡°Men of Frankia, look forward! Do not back down!¡± The soldiers who had turned around quickly turned their heads back around. It wasn¡¯t over yet. I have absolutely no intention of letting you end the battle like this, Henrietta de Brittany. ¡°Heed me! The knights may seem impressive at a nce, but they have not gotten past our defenses. Those knights will use their aura to destroy our fences without any hesitation the moment you step away from them. We will lose if this happens. Soldiers, stick to the fences! Stop the knights from approaching us!¡± To the fences! To the fences! The dwarves echoed my orders loudly. Whether the soldiers understood me or not, their feet took them forward as they were swept up by the heat of the battle. Woaaah! Woaaah! The soldiers shouted as they stepped forward one step at a time. The dwarven mercenaries ran around to the point where their feet bled in order to maintain our line and rank. Not too fast and not too slow. A knight had in 5 infantrymen, but who cares? We just had to send in another 5, 10, or 20 soldiers! ¡°Uaaaagh! Die!¡± ¡°Stab the horse! Let these pigs of Brittany taste the metal of our spears!¡± ¡°For the glory of His Excellency the Emperor! For the glory of Frankia!¡± It wasn¡¯t like every single cavalryman that had charged at us were knights. The knights were at the front, but all of the cavalrymen that followed after were normal cavalrymen. Their 5-meter longnces were still terrifying, but they didn¡¯t have any aura imbued into them. Lances weren¡¯t weapons that could be used over and over again. You have to pull yournce out after a single stab. The knights and cavalrymen released theirnces and unsheathed their swords. Their curved swords collided sharply against the spears. It didn¡¯t matter whether they were the most elite soldiers of Brittany or not, it was impossible for them to apply pressure on barricaded spearmen with only swords. The cavalrymen became visibly slower after they lost their charging power. This was good. Cavalrymen without any speed were nothing more than food for spearmen! ¡°O proud warriors of Frankia, behold!¡± I could feel something hot surging inside of me. ¡°Those Brittany bastards are all dickless! Their dicks may be long, but they ejacte after only two thrusts. Sons of Frankia! Show those dickless bastards what real men are!¡± The soldiers burst intoughter. They weren¡¯tughing because it was funny. I was making them squeeze augh out of their lungs. There wasn¡¯t a single person who tried to escape even though theirrades were ughtered by the knights. This was the power of infantrymen tightly packed together. If our formation was spread thin, then we would¡¯ve fallen to the cavalry charge. However, there were dozens and hundreds of people behind every fallen soldier. If one person out of a group of ten were to fall, then the rest would be restless. If one person out of a group of a hundred were to die, then they would still stand firm. Simply having a countless number of allies around you would give you the feeling of being like an impregnable fortress. We even had barricades¡­¡­. Brittany¡¯s mounted archers and cavalry charge were definitely impressive. You could tell how much training they received under Queen Henrietta¡¯smand. They most likely practiced their strategy numerous times after arriving at St. Denis ins first. But they were only impressive. Our 10,000 volunteer soldiers were still enduring splendidly. ¡°You really are reckless! What would you have done if something happened!?¡± The assassin group members panted as they reached my side. Jeremi was in the lead. I turned off my amplification spell for a moment to speak to them. ¡°Jeremi, take your unit and defeat those knights! There will be nothing to fear if we take care of the knights. Take their warhorses¡¯ legs down and give our spearmen fodder.¡± ¡°No, if I go as well, then how do you intend to give your orders?¡± ¡°Do not worry. Yourmander will find an aide by himself.¡± I urged Jeremi to quickly go. ¡°All 10,000 of our volunteer soldiers here in St. Denis are my aides!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Aah, seriously! This is a mess. Fine! I just have to go, right!?¡± Jeremi scratched her head before shouting behind her. ¡°You damned bastards of the Scarlet Scar, it¡¯s time to ughter some pigs! Cut their useless dicks off from the root!¡± The unit of 20 assassins disappeared into the frontline as soon as Jeremi finished speaking. Jeremi spat on the ground and unsheathed her dagger from her waist. She left without even saying goodbye. Furious voices, the sound of metal hitting metal, screams from the defeated, and the cheers from the victors shook the earth. Brittany¡¯s army struggled desperately to push us back. Our forces did their utmost to push Brittany¡¯s army outside of our fences. The assassins immediately disyed their effectiveness as soon as they got involved. Several of Brittany¡¯s knights were like matchless warriors as they were sweeping through our forces with only curved des. These people suddenly fell off their horses. ¡°The knight has fallen! Stab him! Stab him now!¡± ¡°Uaaah! Everyone rush at them!¡± The further in the knights were into our formation, the more surrounded they were by enemies. Our spearmen ran in like hyenas as soon as they saw even the smallest opening and thrust their spears. Dozens of spears and axes rained down on the knights once they hit the ground. The knights died without being able to get back up. This scene gradually repeated itself. The assassins would hide among the spearmen and only sever the legs of the warhorses before leaving and letting the soldiers handle the rest. I didn¡¯t tell them anything, but the dwarves seemed to figure things out themselves as they supported the assassins. Did they realize that doing anything more was impossible now? ¡°Retreat! Retreat with haste!¡± One of Brittany¡¯s units turned their horses around. Once a single unit started to retreat, almost every single cavalryman turned around at the same time. The sound of cheering from our allies, the realization that we had sessfully defended against the knights spread throughout the ins. Victory! We had won the first skirmish. Farmers and peasants had managed to repel knights and elite cavalrymen. ¡°Wooooaaa! Glory to Frankia! Glory to His Excellency the Emperor!¡± ¡°Fuck those shitty Brittan dogs!¡± The mounted soldiers retreated through the opening between the fences where they hade from. A portion of our archers didn¡¯t seem to want to let them leave just like that, so they shot their bows until the very end. It was in vain, but it was proof that our soldiers were fighting without any concern about the price of the arrows. ¡°Let me ask you this, Sons of Frankia!¡± I shouted with a rugged voice. ¡°Are you proud of your empire!?¡± As soon as these words came out of my mouth, the soldiers roared chaotically. All we required were beastly roars. ¡°That is right! We are proud of this nation. These rutting hares are trying to step all over this nation¡­¡­Will you allow them!?¡± ¨C Non! Non! Non! The soldiers kept chanting ¡®Non!¡¯. ¡°How should we cook these dirty hares!?¡± ¨C Kill them! Kill them! Kill them! ¡°That¡¯s right, kill them! Do not hesitate! ughter them!¡± I was improvising everything as I shouted. Yes, it was fine for speeches that were prepared beforehand to be discarded in situations like this. 10,000 humans had merged into a single mass and were being swept up by the madness of the battlefield. No, we had be a wave and were washing over the battlefield with chaos! ¡°An endless ughter. A ughter that cannot be satisfied! Let the grass and nts of Frankia grow with the blood of the enemy! Engrave into the enemy what sort of end the Gods have prepared for barbarians that pige this empire! Warriors of Frankia, show to history that we are the ramparts of the empire!¡± I took in a deep breath before shouting as loudly as I could. ¡°Here, and now, we shall be the victors!¡± The soldiers cried out vigorously. Viva Frank! Viva Frank! The shouting that started from the left wing soon spread to the middle and the right wing that was beyond the morning fog. I was certain that all of our forces had managed to stop the cavalry charge. The surprise assault that Queen Henrietta was confident in was denied! However, the sound of hooves could be heard approaching once more from the other side of the ins. I barely managed to calm my excited heart down as I stared at the ins in front of me. Mounted archer. More than a thousand archers were approaching us again. ¡°Kuh.¡± I realized what Henrietta de Brittany¡¯s strategy was. The Queen was nning to attack us endlessly by rotating between mounted archers and mountednces over and over again. Therefore, all we had done was stop the first wave. Was it going to be Brittany¡¯s spear or Frankia¡¯s shield? The sun had only just now started to rise. I ordered our archers to go forward again. Today was definitely going to be a long and exhausting day¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, I was able to squeeze this chapter out before going to my family reunion. The next chapter will probably bete by a day, though. I don¡¯t know if other people are celebrating a holiday too, but uh, I hope you guys have a good one. Time to sit ufortably in a small room talking to rtives about probably nothing because not enough time has passed since thest gathering. Fun. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 205: Lily War (8) Chapter 205: Lily War (8) The bad feeling I had became a reality. The enemy seemed to not get tired as theyunched a series of attacks over and over again without rest. As time passed, their warhorses would charge and the knights would thrust their spears once before retreating. First-line mounted archers, second-line cavalry charge. This cycle had repeated itself 7 times now. They were persistent bastards. I spat out words that were indistinguishable from a sigh or a scream. ¡°Do Brittany¡¯s warhorses not eat!?¡± 5 hours had passed since the start of the battle. During this time, one of Brittany¡¯s units had already charged about 12 times. Their cavalrymen didn¡¯t care about their dented armor as they threw their bodies at our spearmen. ¡°But they are gradually losing power.¡± Jeremimented while wiping the blood off of her dagger. ¡°No matter how impressive their horses are, they are still living and breathing creatures. There is no way they would not get exhausted.¡± ¡°The problem is also the fact that our soldiers are nearly exhausted as well. Damn it.¡± Our spearmen were growing visibly tired. Three to five of our troops would die for every cavalryman we killed. The difference was almost by four times. I had tried sending an envoy to the central army and the right wing, but it turned out that their situations were pretty much simr to our own. Our army had quite literally shoved our 5,100 infantrymen right into the fold. We seeded in defending our barricades thanks to this. If the size of our army wasn¡¯t three timesrger than the enemy¡¯s¡­¡­I didn¡¯t want to imagine what would¡¯ve happened. ¡®I understand why General Zepar considers human cavalries to be terrifying.¡¯ They were abnormally powerful. From the knights who knew how to bring their auras outside of their bodies and the cavalrymen who were training their auras under those knights. The lengths of theirnces were outrageous. They ranged from 5 meters to 8 meters! Only orc spearmen would want to fight them on an open in. They were no different from a living nightmare. I now understood what Barbatos meant. General Zepar was truly an idiot among idiots to order a charge against knights. They weren¡¯t human. They were something fucked that waspletely different from humans. ¡°They are charging again.¡± ¡°Damn it. These sons of bitches who are more bitch-like than bitches.¡± Thousands of horses were charging to us from across the ins. ¡°I¡¯d rather suck Parsi¡¯s dick than have to fight a pitched battle against knights again!¡± ¡°Who is Parsi supposed to be? Sheesh.¡± Jeremi let out a sigh as she excused herself to head out to the frontline again. Jeremi and her assassins had to be prepared in the rare chance that a knight managed to get through. We had already lost 5 assassins. ¡°Cough, cough¡­¡­fuck.¡± I wanted to encourage our soldiers again with an amplification spell again, but it was impossible. My voice had already be as hoarse as an old man¡¯s. This happened 3 hours ago. The soldiers who had be a kebab at the end of ance screamed. Warhorses let out miserable sounds as they fell to the ground. Be it our allies or the enemy, we had all be shabby. The people who had been farming all their lives were soaked in blood and tears as they cried out and the Brittans were sacrificed on and far from home. ¡°Sir Priest¡­¡­please save this man¡­¡­.¡± A soldier came up to me while supporting an injured man. I let out a sigh on the inside. Again. ¡°This man has lost his arm. Sir Priest, please be merciful¡­¡­.¡± There was no need for me to tell him myself. It was as clear as day even to me. The injured man had lost both his left and right arms from the elbows. The cut was almost scarily clean. Unfortunately, it seems that he encountered a knight that was above rank 3. The soldier kissed the tip of my shoe multiple times as he bowed over and over again. ¡°This is thest person from the same hometown as me. If he dies as well, then how could I show my face at our vige¡­¡­? Sir Priest, please be merciful¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Look here, myrade.¡± I struggled to speak. My throat felt heavy. This was really a shitty thing to do. ¡°It is unfortunate, but even a priest that serves the Goddess cannot revive the dead.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That man is already dead.¡± The soldier turned to look at the injured man¡¯s face. The injured, no, the fallen soldier¡¯s mouth was agape and had bleary eyes. It was almost like he wanted to see more and say more. The soldier¡¯s face became pale as he looked back and forth between his friend and me. ¡°Uh? Huh? What? But earlier, no, just a second ago, he was talking¡­¡­huh?¡± His eyes looked as if they were asking me to take back my words. The soldier was probably telling the truth. He had most likely been sharing a conversation with his friend until a second ago. Just hold on, hold on a little longer, the priest will heal you. Just a little longer¡­¡­. He was probably saying things like this as they slipped away from the frontline. The injured soldier died along the way. He wasn¡¯t able to even say farewell to his friend from the same hometown as him. That was it. The soldier pped the deceased man on the cheek. He told him to open his eyes and get up. There was no response. It was then that he realized that his friend had entered an eternal slumber and broke out into tears. Tears flowed down the face of the middle-aged man with a rugged beard. His cries were partially muffled by the dust. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I patted the man¡¯s back. I was being a hypocrite, but hypocrisy was probably what he needed right now. There was no good in war anyway. Something had to be done, but what? Either the enemy fell from exhaustion first or our forces copsed first. It was one or the other. There was nothing else we could do but endure¡­¡­. Did the othermanders think the same thing? ¡°The duke wishes to throw in the reserve troops.¡± An envoy from the suprememander had arrived. It seems the othermanders had also concluded that ¡®something had to be done¡¯. It wasn¡¯t surprising. While I was in charge of 12,000 soldiers, Supreme Commander Duke Guise was in charge of the lives of 63,000 soldiers. 10,000 and 60,000 were onpletely different levels. This wasn¡¯t just rhetoric. They were vastly different. You couldn¡¯t evenpare them in terms of mental pressure. ¡°The reserve troops? We still have reserve troops?¡± ¡°Our cavalrymen. The Duke ns to use them.¡± I let out an ¡®ah¡¯ once the envoy borated further. Why didn¡¯t I consider this before!? That¡¯s right. Our side also has cavalrymen. We have 1,000 knights and 10,000 cavalrymen. They probablycked in qualitypared to Brittany¡¯s powerful mounted soldiers, but the enemy was tired now. On the other hand, our cavalrymen were still lively. It was only natural since they hadn¡¯t participated in the battle yet. ¡°I see¡­¡­I did not even consider them since I do not have any cavalrymen under mymand. The Duke seems to have prepared a trump card.¡± I nodded. ¡°Should I report that themander of the left wing is on board with this n?¡± ¡°Very well, then. I do not have any cavalrymen anyway, so my input is not very useful. Tell His Highness the Duke that I wish him luck.¡± I smiled bitterly as the envoy quickly departed. Honestly, they didn¡¯t have to get my approval. Only the nobles of the Empress Dowager¡¯s faction in the center and Batavia¡¯s republic army in the right possessed cavalrymen. They could¡¯vee to an agreement themselves and informed me about itter. Despite this, they went out of their way to get my approval by sending an envoy. This made it clear how thorough Duke Guise was. His benevolence had the power to attract the people around him. ¡®If the Emperor was even partially like Duke Guise, then this civil war probably would¡¯ve never happened.¡¯ It was unfortunate for Frankia, but it was fortunate for me. It was also unfortunate for the injured soldier who had died a second ago¡­¡­. I got on my horse and stared at our rear line of defense. 10,000 cavalrymen were slowly moving. I ordered our men to make a path beforehand so that they could traverse past our spearmen more easily. I let out a sigh. ¡°Is the end drawing near? This wasn¡¯t an easy battle¡­¡­.¡± * * * ¡°It has finally begun.¡± Queen Henrietta smiled. She was in full armor and mounted on a warhorse. Brittany¡¯s advisors were in a line around the Queen. Their horses were also facing forward. The enemy¡¯s ursed fences. The spearmen were slowly stepping away from the gaps between each wooden fence. The Queen calmed her excitement as she spoke. ¡°Tell the mounted archers to take up theirnces immediately.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± An advisor passed the order down to the envoys. The envoys gave a firm salute before dashing away on their horses like arrows. The number ofnces they had prepared for today¡¯s battle was beyond count. Not only did they strip the armory of Frankia¡¯s imperial pce of everything it had, but they also worked the cksmiths in Parisiorum to the bone for the past few dozen days. ¡°Saintess Longwy, I stated previously that it was someone close to the emperor who had leaked the information.¡± ¡°Huh? Ah, yes. I remember, Your Highness. Athena¡¯s saintess, Jacqueline Longwy responded. ¡°That was a lie.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me?¡± Henrietta de Brittany let out augh. ¡°If the person who sold the information was actually trying to stop us, then they would not have asked for reinforcements from a republic nation which is also another ¡®foreign power¡¯. Someone had arbitrarily brought the republic in on their own. There are two possibilities.¡± She first pointed out a single individual. The individual who had borrowed the republic nation¡¯s power in order to be enthroned, in other words, Duke Henry de Guise who was currently leading the noble army. ¡°Duke Guise was the only person who made it out safely in thest battle. On the other hand, his political rival, Montmorency, had fallen in battle. There is a high possibility that Duke Guise had schemed all of this.¡± ¡°What is the second possibility, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Longwy, think outside the box.¡± Henrietta received ance from her attendant. Brittany¡¯snces were made from fir trees and would be carved out to be hollow. It made them that much lighter, but it also lowered their durability. Brittany¡¯snces were designed to pierce enemy soldiers even as they broke. Henrietta, as a Rank 2 warrior, grabbed thence deftly. ¡°No one made Batavia move. The republic itself had manipted the northern nobles of Frankia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Batavia did?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. This would exin why Frankia is relying on a foreign power to ovee a threat. Mm. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve done a horseback charge.¡± The horse the Queen had mounted let out a light neigh. It felt like it was telling her to not worry. The warhorse was pitch ck and also had a ck mane. The Queen had given this horse the name ¡®Crow Feather¡¯. It was her favorite horse that perfectly represented a ck lily, the symbol of Brittany. ¡°If Duke Guise is the culprit, then we must lure him in.¡± Queen Henrietta gently stroked the mane of her horse. ¡°He is a shrewd man who is capable of getting his political rival killed. If the battlefield isn¡¯t advantageous to him, then he probably wouldn¡¯t step foot in it at all. Hmm, he would have prolonged the battle for as long as possible. Not only is our cause weaker, but we are disadvantaged in prolonged battles. Batavia would have also utilized political schemes.¡± The cavalrymen that were attacking in a rotation were starting to form a line on the ins. A straight line formation was a ssic battle array for cavalry charges. The enemy¡¯s cavalrymen wereing out from behind their defenses and creating a stable line as well. ¡°Whichever is the truth, we must get rid of both Duke Guise and Batavia¡¯s army. Today, we must do more than simply win.¡± Queen Henrietta spoke casually as she steered her horse. Her advisors followed after her. ¡°We must crush them thoroughly. Saintess Longwy, pray for me and my men. We have to exert ourselves one more time.¡± ¡°Yes, may fate be with Your Highness¡¯ cause.¡± The Queen¡¯s group merged with their cavalrymen so that they could take the lead. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I was somehow able to finish this chapter even though I was out visiting rtives for two days. Unfortunately, I ended up getting a huge headachest night and it¡¯s been affecting me since. I¡¯m probably going to take the day off and get some proper rest. The headache started the moment it started to rain heavily, so I feel like there¡¯s probably a corrtion. Something something pressure change. But yeah, the weather is getting cooler and there¡¯s been a lot of storms happening all over, so I hope you guys take care of yourself. I¡¯ma goy down now. See you guys when I get better. Chapter 206: Lily War (9) Chapter 206: Lily War (9) Saintess Longwy parted her red lips. ¨C Strength is something that only I can verify. Her voice rang clearly throughout the blue sky. She had been waiting for this moment after staying silent throughout the entire battle. A position that was filled by only 1 person per nation, so only 12 of them existed on the continent. The number had actually shrunken down to 11 since the saintess of Habsburg was executed for secretlymunicating with the demon lord army. One of the 11 saintesses had begun to sing. ¨C The mind was once that of God before it eventually became that of amoner and a ve. O Goddess, those destined to perish are once again blessing your hymn once more. Please dance with the feet of a great tribe and forgive all life for bing luxuriant. The cavalrymen formed a wide line. The Saintess¡¯ singing seeped into the cracks of their dented armor, between their helmets and breasttes, and through the manes of the tired horses that had been soaked by dust and blood. Even the spirits who had fled from the sound ofbat came to peak out of the forest. Henrietta only had 6,000 cavalrymen left. It would be difficult for even a saintess to reinvigorate all of them by even the smallest amount. Saintess Longwy felt as if her entire body was being stabbed by needles. Nheless, she was still a saintess. She didn¡¯t even furrow her brows. She continued to pray as if she were utterly in peace. ¨C In truth, we are far from death. However, we wish to bask in the one and only freedom granted to us; the freedom to face death. We know that this is the one and only immortal trait which those destined to perish possess. O Goddess Athena. A blue glow appeared on the soldiers and the warhorses for a moment before fading away. It almost felt like the cavalrymen who had charged at the enemy¡¯s defenses more than four times already had suddenly regained their strength like travelers who finally got a drink of cold water after traversing through a desert. The warhorses let out beastly growls like they once did six hours ago. The Saintess brought her hands together. ¨C Please allow their deaths to be deaths. Saintess Longwy fell from her horse after saying those words. She had passed out. The attendants that were around her horse had safely caught the Saintess¡¯ body. Her entire body was drenched in sweat even though the prayer she had given was only about a minute long. ¡°That was excellent, Jacqueline Longwy. My friend.¡± Queen Henrietta made her horse take a step forward. The scarlet-haired queen turned her horse around and faced the thousands of cavalrymen in front of her. The scarlet-haired queen let out a lightugh as she received their intense gazes. ¡°My beloved soldiers, when do armies lose?¡± The Queen activated the amplification spell on her ne as she spoke. ¡°Do they lose when they are defeated in battle? Do they lose when they are defeated in war? Do soldiers lose when they have lost theirmander or when their gs have been piged? No, that is not the case.¡± The Queen shook her head. ¡°Warriors, your battle is elsewhere.¡± She pointed at her own nose. ¡°It is here. This is our battlefield. When you decide whether to help your allies or turn a blind eye to them, that is where your fight lies. Your fight is deciding whether to flinch before an oing spear or not. Will you face excruciating pain and ept your death? That is where your battle is.¡± Queen Henrietta pointed at the ground. ¡°Let us say that there is a single person here. He is living a normal life. He was born average, lived an average life with his family, and died after living like that for 60 years. And.¡± She raised her left hand and pointed at the sky. ¡°There is a single person there as well. She jumps down from the same height as the moon. She descends to this earth slowly, but unwaveringly. She falls for 60 years¨Dbefore eventuallynding and dying. A human who lived on the ground for 60 years before dying and a human who fell for 60 years and died. What is the difference between these two deaths?¡± The Queen¡¯s 6,000 soldiers listened to her quietly. Henrietta¡¯s tone was firm and sonorous. It was like the roots and branches of a tree firmly holding on to her words that were like the leaves. ¡°There may not be any differences. A life that lived normally on the surface for 60 years and a life that had fallen for the same duration, are these two not the same? Men, this is humanity¡¯s problem and will continue to be so eternally. A question among questions. What is the difference? Are you all not falling as well? Is something not rotting and dposing?¡± The Queen let out a deep breath before continuing. ¡°You are standing here on a battlefield today. You are being forced to answer these questions. This is because battlefields are a ce where these questions are forced upon you the most intensely. Howmentable! Even if you wish to avoid these questions, you cannot.¡± Queen Henriettaughed. ¡°Every second. These questions will assault you like a storm with every passing moment. Will you turn away when yourrades are in danger? Will you close your eyes when the enemy stabs their spears at you? Will you turn away from death when you are dying slowly after being injured gruesomely?¡± Thousands of warhorses started to stomp their front hooves, kicking up a small cloud of dust in the process. The cavalrymen took in deep breaths as they roused their fighting spirits. Queen Henrietta let out a shout once she saw this. ¡°Men, you have not lived until this moment. You will be tested here today to determine whether you are alive or have been dying all this time. This is your victory and defeat. Wars and battles are only secondary when ites to figuring out the answer to this apex question!¡± Henrietta¡¯s ck warhorse raised its front hooves high in the air. The Queen looked down at her soldiers from this elevated height. ¡°Will you slowly copse for thest remaining decades of your lives!? Or will you take another step forward!? Warriors, be reborn as humans on this continent of wandering corpses! Take a step forward and face the hardship. A life that is genuinely worth living lies beyond that hardship!¡± Queen Henrietta raised hernce up to the sky. Her army couldn¡¯t hold back their voices any longer as they let out a roar and their warhorses neighed. 6,000nces stabbed at the sky and 12,000 front hooves stomped on the ground. ¡°Only then will the humans trying to die today will continue to live while the humans trying to live will continue to die! I have never once believed that my army has lost and I never will. Warriors! Sons and daughters of Pas Athena! Warriors who will grandly win a battle where the odds were against them!¡± Queen Henrietta turned her horse back around. Before her were Frankia¡¯s 12,000 cavalrymen. Not only were they twice the size of the Queen¡¯s army, but they werepletely energetic since they hadn¡¯t fought yet. The Queen let out a shout. ¡°¨DCharge!¡± The Queen¡¯s horse began to move first. The cavalrymen behind her let out war cries as they urged their horses forward. Their warhorses let out beastly growls. There were Brittans, Frankians, Bernicians, and Castilians among them. Knights and mercenaries. However, at this very moment, they all served under a single ruler: Henrietta de Brittany. They were all being led by this single person. The 12,000 cavalrymen on the enemy¡¯s side started to move as well. Supreme Commander Duke Guise was also with them. Befitting his title as an honorable knight and a splendid high noble, the Duke stood alongside his cavalry unit. The Duke had also given a speech that instigated Frankia¡¯s cavalrymen to ride their horses courageously. The space between the two armies gradually narrowed. ¡°They have 10,000!¡± Queen Henrietta cried out. She weakened her amplification spell so that only the nobles around her could hear her. ¡°They are twice our size! Are you afraid, men!?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°We will charge at them twice and split them into four. We will crush each of the enemy¡¯s fragments after they have been divided into groups of 2,500. Do you understand? They are not twice our size. We will be twice their size!¡± Queen Henrietta roared. ¡°Generals under my wing should be more than able to wipe out an army that is only the size of half our army with ease!¡± ¡°Your Highness is right!¡± ¡°If there is a general who is unable to take at least ten heads, then know that today will be your funeral!¡± The Queen lowered her helmet¡¯s visor. The other nobles did the same. All of the Queen¡¯s close aides followed after her excluding the advisors who were not fighters. Henrietta¡¯s horse was renowned for being unmatched, so she naturally took the lead. The noblemanders whose horses weren¡¯t as good but were still excellent followed right behind her. Behind them were 6,000 cavalrymen. With the Queen as the vanguard, they created a triangle formation as they dashed across the ins. Trot. The cavalrymen increased their speed to a trot once they were about 200 meters from the enemy. The cries let out by the soldiers kicked up a cloud of dust. Canter. The cavalrymen tightened their grips on their horses¡¯ reins once they were 100 meters away. The sound of hooves mming into the earth started to resonate more loudly than the soldiers¡¯ shouting. They directed theirnces forward. ¡°For Her Majesty the Queen!¡± ¡°For the glory of Henrietta de Brittany!¡± Gallop. Once they were only 40 meters away from each other, the warhorses sped up to their highest speed. The gs hanging at the ends of their spears fluttered wildly. A second of time was trampled by the hooves and¨Dthe two armies collided. ¨C ash! sh! Cavalrymen and cavalrymen collided. First, the 8-meter-longnces were enveloped by swirlingyers of aura as they pierced through the hearts of the other cavalrymen. The 3 to 5 meter-longnces pierced into each other. An iron spear pierced through the shoulder of a man named Pierre. The strength of the spear knocked Pierre off of his horse and made him fall face-first into the dirt. Another spear pierced out the back of the neck of a knight named Maximillian, making hisrge build fall to the ground. The brilliant pieces of armor on the corpse nked loudly. A soldier named Deore managed to dodge ance, but he was sent flying off of his horse as he was unable to endure the impact. Deore fell into the cloud of dust and struggled to breathe. He stuck his hands out trying to find hisrades. At that moment, a warhorse kicked up another cloud of dust and stepped on Deore¡¯s abdomen. Its hooves crushed his abdomen mercilessly and made his guts burst out. Deore¡¯s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he screamed. ¡°Kuuuuaaaah!¡± Henrietta tossed hernce and unsheathed her sword. An enemy soldier¡¯s chest would get crushed and an arm would fly into the air every time her sword was wrapped in blue light. Red blood sttered everywhere. An ear-shattering sound would resonate every time a spear struck armor and swords shed. The warriors let out a roar. A single collision was enough to fill the ins with blood and guts. The sound of ughter echoed all around Henrietta de Brittany, numbing her ears. The Queen reached a state of perfect self-effacement as she swung her sword. Her beloved horse bit and kicked the other horses. The Queen became one with her warhorse as they annihted everything in their path. Hands, arms, and heads would float for a moment with blue light in the ces the Queen had passed before falling to the ground without mercy. ¡°Your Highness! Your Highness!¡± One of the nobles shouted. The Queen immediately came back to her senses. The enemy soldiers were no longer in front of her. She could now see the enemy¡¯s wooden fences and spearmen in the distance. They had gotten through! Queen Henrietta skillfully turned her horse around and raised her sword. ¡°Let us turn this around! Follow me!¡± The Queen¡¯s army pierced through Frankia¡¯s 12,000 soldiers. They had be a sword and sliced through the curtain of humans. It was now time for them to split the enemy army that had been divided into 4 pieces. The Queen saw something at that moment. In the middle of the enemy¡¯s formation, there was a g with a white rose on it. Queen Henrietta shouted. ¡°There you are, Henry de Guise!¡± Her warhorse became a cannonball as it shot forward. There was no need to give any orders. Henrietta¡¯s ck Crow knew instinctively that the most appetizing prey was right before it. The warhorse that had a monster for a father let out a terrifying growl as it charged. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ve lost count of the days that went by. Did I actually get any rest? Honestly, at this point of tranting this segment, I think I sort of got tired of this whole war sequence. It might just be my own personal taste, but tranting Dantalian¡¯s banters with other characters is far more enjoyable. Nevertheless, you can¡¯t really have a functional story if it¡¯s nothing but banter from start to finish (or can you?). Truly sad. If you¡¯re like me, then don¡¯t worry! This Frankia arc(?) is ending soon! The early ess chapters finally escaped this battle. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 207: Lily War (10) Chapter 207: Lily War (10) * * * We nervously watched the bloody battle that was unfolding on the ins. The Queen¡¯s cavalrymen had be quite weakened after 5 hours of fighting. It was probably thanks to their heavy armor as there weren¡¯t a lot of casualties on the enemy¡¯s side. Most of the casualties were their horses. Thanks to this, we had the advantage in terms of mounted soldiers. ¡°Heave ho!¡± ¡°Hurry up and drag it out!¡± There were horses that were 1.5 times bigger and more ferocious-looking than the ones from my original world copsed and breathing heavily on the ground near our fences. Our spearmen carefully stabbed them to death. The corpses were dragged out from behind the fences and used as another type of barrier. ¡°¡­¡­Queen Henrietta seeded in her charge.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Indeed.¡± I gave Jeremi a casual response as if it were a matter very distant from me before I continued to think to myself. Dust filled the battlefield. The individual who I assumed to be Queen Henrietta raised their sword up high before entering the cloud of dust again. This was my first time witnessing an extensive cavalry battle. However, it wasn¡¯t exactly good news that a breach was allowed. ¡°Will our forces lose?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That may happen.¡± I let out a sigh. Didn¡¯t that mean there was definitely a chance that we could lose? ¡°Are they monsters? We outnumber them. No, we also have a terrain advantage. We were definitely superior to them in everything except their mounted archers. Is it possible for us to lose in a straightforward battle?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi squirmed. She probably thought I was upset, but she was wrong. I wasn¡¯t angry. I got angry when we were dealt a blow by the mounted archers because I had not prepared any defenses against them despite the fact that I had experienced cavalrymen changing to mounted archers during the Battle of Austerlitz. In other words, it was my mistake. It was different now. Queen Henrietta¡¯s army was conquering the battlefield purely through their skills alone. There was nothing to be upset about here. It simply perturbed me. ¡°Jeremi, bring Jacquerie here.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I¡¯m themander. It¡¯d be unsightly if I just kept sighing here. I had read every single military strategy book that I could get my hands on ever since I initially joined the Crescent Alliance and I learned that amander¡¯s capability shines the most when they lose. I had to be ready for a defeat¡­¡­. ¡°Did you call, Your Excellency?¡± Jacquerie approached. This sturdy mercenary captain had basically returned after taking a blood shower. It was mostly thanks to our mercenaries that we were able to repel Brittany¡¯s army when our archers on the left wing were significantly weaker than the other armies. My speech was basically secondary. We were able to endure this long because the mercenaries were giving orders to the farmers. ¡°Jacquerie, be honest with me. Do you think our cavalrymen will lose?¡± ¡°¡­¡­It is normally difficult to determine who the victors will be, but I believe they will lose as well.¡± Jacquerie spoke bluntly. Victory and defeat were probably insignificant to a dwarven mercenary who had been on a battlefield for more than a century. ¡°Henrietta de Brittany is undoubtedly the greatest cavalry leader in our era. The continent will bow before her achievements for at least 20 years. She will probably earn herself a nickname like Blutbefleckt (Bloody) Henrietta.¡± ¡°Blutbefleckt Brittany, huh?¡± I also nodded solemnly. That was an appropriate nickname. A queen with fluttering, scarlet hair who stands in front of everyone¡­¡­the title of Bloody truly suited her. She will drain the blood of Franks and Brittans before ultimately trying to conquer the continent. I intended to make Queen Henrietta leave the stage early. Troubled times gave opportunities to both crises and heroes. Simr to how she did in , I believed that Queen Henrietta would use the chaos in Frankia to rise as the victor. That was why I had to stomp her out before she could. If it was now, I believed that it was more than possible since we had an advantage in terms of both strategy and causes. But was it impossible in the end¡­¡­? Queen Henrietta was probably thinking the same thing. Did shee to the conclusion that she had to subdue Duke Henry de Guise early since he seemed like the mostpetent noble? Did she make us gather here by intentionally giving us the impression that this battlefield was advantageous for us¡­¡­? ¡°I¡¯m jealous.¡± Henrietta possessed a powerful army. An army that was so powerful that they didn¡¯t have to resort to makingplicated ns or strategies. If I were topare this to a game, then it was like character levels. An absolute value. I didn¡¯t have that. I was weak. I had to incitemoners and scheme alliances to make up for mycking power. However, it seems that even this wasn¡¯t enough before a powerful army. This was probably the limit of a Rank 71 Demon Lord. I spoke. ¡°Jacquerie, it is obvious where our allies will retreat to if they lose.¡± ¡°Indeed. They wille to us.¡± A river to our left, a forest to our right, and Brittany¡¯s army standing firm up ahead. Backward was the only direction in which ourpletely defeated cavalrymen could retreat¡­¡­In other words, to our wooden fences. The cavalrymen were going to run to our wooden fences and beg to be saved. It wouldn¡¯t be that much of an issue if it were the enemy that did that and not our allies. We would simply have to keep defending as we had been if it were the enemy. However, it was going to be our allies running up to us. We couldn¡¯t kill them. Our barricades will get pushed out of ce and our spearmen will be flustered. Our allies will be the ones messing us up. It¡¯d be fine to say that this was the worst possible situation. It was clear that Queen Henrietta¡¯s aim was to charge at us when that happens. I chuckled. ¡°It is quite ridiculous if you look at it like this. Does this not make it seem like the Queen had been waiting for us to bring out our cavalry all this time? There was a reason why she had reserved her saintess until now. St. Denis ins will be a hellscape where allies are crushed by allies¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What should we do? We could retreat first.¡± I shook my head. ¡°If we retreat now, then we would have to bear the responsibility for this loss. Jacquerie, stick our troops close to the forest. We will continue to battle while using the trees as another form of defense. Queen Henrietta will advise us to surrender.¡± ¡°Understood, Commander.¡± We acted with haste as we positioned our soldiers in the forest. The forest was the worst possible ce for cavalrymen to charge at, so that made it the best possible line of defense for us. We also moved our wooden fences to the forest as well. The issue was the fact that our cavalrymen started to retreat before we could finish repositioning. I was hoping that they would endure for at least 10 minutes, but I realized the sudden change due to the terrified cries from our cavalrymen. ¡°H-His Highness Guise has fallen!¡± ¡°Retreat! Retreat and regroup!¡± Supreme Commander Duke Henry de Guise had fallen in battle. From what I could tell, he had honorably exchanged blows with Henrietta de Brittany. The champions crossed des before one side lost their head. The beautiful queen defeated the enemy¡¯smander in a duel. This will probably make the busybodies of the continent erect all at once. If I weren¡¯t on the losing side, then I would¡¯ve dly tipped my hat to this as well. Damn it. Sure enough, the cavalrymen on our side ended up ruining our defenses as they retreated. The spearmen formation that had been courageously fighting against the enemy was torn apart. I saw Brittany¡¯s cavalry following right behind our men. ¡°They should¡¯ve just fought to theirst breaths, tsk.¡± The cavalrymen that belonged to the Frank nobles ripped through their allies¡¯ infantry formation. However, that only happened to the center army and the right wing. I had ordered our civilian militia to attack anyone that approached our wooden fences be it ally or enemy. The mounted soldiers panicked as they shouted. ¡°We¡¯re allies! We aren¡¯t your enemies!¡± Our soldiers stabbed their spears at the cavalrymen as they booed. ¡°Fuck that! People who were defeated aren¡¯t our allies!¡± ¡°Fuck off, cowards! Do you even have dicks, you bastards!?¡± In the first ce, my men had joined the army because they were moved by my speeches. Units like cavalries were a type of high-end power that mostly served nobles or their guards, so farmers naturally disliked them. The mounted soldiers had bewildered looks on their faces. ¡°Damn it! How ridiculous!¡± ¡°Let us go somewhere else!¡± They spewed out curse words as they turned their horses around. We limited the damage received by the left wing that I was in charge of. We chased our allies away as we slowly prepared our defenses at the forest. However, the situation was different for the areas ced under themand of the Empress Dowager¡¯s nobles and the Batavia Republic. They didn¡¯t have a natural form of defense like a forest on their side. Furthermore, the mounted soldiers belonged to them. What kind ofmander would chase out their own army? Their infantry line was ruined. The friendly cavalrymen stomped on their own side as they retreated which was shortly followed by Brittany¡¯s army doing another cavalry charge on them. It was impossible to expect their infantrymen to be able to endure in a situation like this. Their spearmen were gradually pushed away from their wooden fences. There were also a fair number of infantrymen who could instinctively tell that they were going to lose, so they ran away with the cavalrymen. Like how a weak dam would eventually copse, random spots throughout their formation started to break apart. Once Brittany¡¯s army did ance charge in those locations, theypletely fell. The dam had copsed. The spearmen and archers could no longer fight back as they continued to withdraw. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A curtain of silence fell over the civilian soldiers. It was only natural. A ughter was happening before us, after all. Our defenses were falling apart with each passing moment. The spearmen who were unable to get into position were nothing more than fodder for the knights. Several infantrymen struggled desperately to maintain their positions, but the knights ran at them with their aura-imbued swords as if they intended to get payback for all the hassle the infantrymen had made them go through up to this point. It was impossible for a small number of infantrymen to block knights. They had no other choice but to die. Only the suprememander would be able to control a situation like this. However, Duke Guise had already been decapitated. Once the soldiers became certain of their defeat, they stopped resisting and tried to escape. ¡°How foolish¡­¡­.¡± I muttered. Running away meant showing your back to the enemy. Infantrymen who were running away on foot and cavalrymen who were pursuing them on horseback. It was obvious what was going to happen. They would probably have a higher chance of surviving if they simply yed dead. There were still a few mercenary groups that were resisting fiercely. They couldn¡¯t ovee the unfortunate fact that their will wasn¡¯t enough to stop aura. The mercenary groups were ughtered mercilessly without exception. The Brittan soldiers piged their enemies excitedly. They stole from the wagons and stripped corpses of their armor. It was all money to them. Queen Henrietta had told them that they were free to pige the enemy however they desire as a way to reward them for fighting so bravely. Once the battlefield had settled to a certain degree, Brittany¡¯s gaze naturally turned toward us. The only army that had set up at a position and continued to defend. Our volunteer army. A knight that looked like they had fairly high standing approached us. ¡°Hm.¡± The knight examined our wooden fences before ncing at the forest. He must¡¯ve concluded that it would be difficult to charge us. He shouted at us. ¡°Hand over yourmander! If you hand yourmander over, then we will let the rest of your men go!¡± I felt my heart sink for a moment. He was obviously lying. He was probably going to wipe us out after taking themander. It was a basic scheme, but it would be the end of me if our soldiers got tricked by it. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not much to say about this chapter. I¡¯ve been notified that some of the pdf/epub links on the DD LN Table of Contents page are broken now because they¡¯ve been active for almost 4 years. They¡¯re apparently broken for some people but fine for others. I¡¯ve added a new link near the top of the page, so if the other links don¡¯t work, that one should. On another note, tomorrow (Oct 1st) is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 208: Lily War (11) Chapter 208: Lily War (11) It happened right when Jeremi was about to refute the knight. ¡°Get your bullshit out of here! Do you think we¡¯ll surrender to a dog of Brittany!?¡± A middle-aged man with a thick beard stepped forward and shouted before Jeremi could say anything. It was like a chain reaction after one person shouted. The other soldiers loudly agreed as they started swearing at the knight. Some of them even threw rocks at him. The knight easily blocked 6 to 7 stones with his hand. ¡°Fools. You have already lost.¡± The knight continued. ¡°Those of you here are nothing more than stragglers of a defeated army. Do you intend to kick aside this rare chance for mercy? Think carefully. Just hand yourmander over. We promise to let the rest of you go home safely¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll consider it if you guys hand over your queen first.¡± One of our soldiers suggested mockingly. ¡°I heard that she spends hot and steamy nights with the nobles in the pce every day.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t they say she has a harem of over 200 pretty boys and ys with them!? But did you guys know? They say the Queen of Brittany never bangs only one pretty boy, but four at once.¡± ¡°Oh, why is that?¡± ¡°One penis isn¡¯t enough to fill her hole since she¡¯s done it so many times. One isn¡¯t enough, so she has no other choice but to use two!¡± The civilian soldiers cackled. Hoo. I let out a sigh. On the other hand, the knight¡¯s face contorted. Seeing his reaction, he probably wasn¡¯t a knight who grew up in the sticks but was raised in a knight academy consuming the luxuries of his nation. In other words, he was a dweeb. He was shaking with anger after hearing some cheesy dirty talk. ¡°How dare you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wait, but that¡¯s only two pretty boys. What about the other two?¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t only a single hole that a penis can go in. You know, hehehe. When the proud Queen of Brittany has sex, I heard she looks like a masturbating spider with all those pretty boys on her.¡± The soldiers burst out inughter. ¡°Sheesh, we can¡¯t lose to that! Hurray for the queen spider.¡± ¡°Do not worry, Sir Knight. We¡¯re pretty well known in Frankia when ites to sex. Even if you can¡¯t satisfy her with your soft dicks, we¡¯re confident that we can send Her Highness over the edge. Hurry up and bring her on over!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The knight was staring daggers at us. He then turned his horse around and left. Our soldiersughed louder. ¡°Soft dick impotent brat!¡± ¡°Come back after you peel your dick, kid!¡± I let out a forcedugh. Even Jeremi wasughing beside me. I muttered quietly. ¡°It seems I ammanding quite the generous soldiers.¡± ¡°Yes, indeed.¡± Volunteer soldiers who were assembled urgently were more trustworthy than allied cavalrymen who had lost pitifully. I would¡¯veughed if this were a joke, but I could only let out a forcedugh since it was actually the truth. These individuals were fighting in this war because I had incited them. Their beginning may have been a lie, but their wills were true. They were actual human beingspared to a clown like me. The Emperor tried to start a civil war in and where people like this lived? It was hard to think he was sane. I made my decision. ¡°Gather the injured separately.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I will use a teleportation artifact to move them to a city behind us. Even if the enemy epts our surrender, there is no way they will treat our injured fairly. They will continue to suffer before eventually passing over to the other side.¡± If we move them to a city behind us, then they should be able to get treated. The treatment was probably going to be crude, but it was better than nothing. The fact that the nobles¡¯ armies were wiped out in today¡¯s battle made the civilian militia more important. The city managers will treat these soldiers so that they won¡¯t have to surrender to Brittany. Jeremi spoke with a concerned look on her face. ¡°But, Commander. How many teleportation scrolls do you even have?¡± ¡°I have enough to at least protect myself.¡± I tapped my chest. ¡°You know very well how much money I have, right? Well, these artifacts cost far more than a few dozen gold coins, but think of this as the generosity of a parvenu. I should award them appropriately for their great performance.¡± ¡°Haa. All right¡­¡­if you say so.¡± Jeremi grumbled about how I was using money like running water. Jeremi knew that the funding for the soldiers¡¯ provisions was also from my pockets. We gathered our injured to a single ce. There was a man who kept shouting that he was still fine and to leave him alone, but what could a man with broken bones do¡­¡­? He got knocked out by Jeremi in a single blow and was obediently dragged away. The other soldiersughed as they watched that unfold. Our morale was sufficient and we were overflowing withposure. This was probably the most suitable unit forbat. We filled the gaps between our fences with the warhorses that had piled up. It was like we had built a small fortress. It was around this time that Brittany¡¯s forces approached us. There was nothing more to say about their approach. The enemy forces repeated the same tactic they had performed since early dawn. Have they not grown sick and tired of this by now? Their mounted archers would fire a volley of arrows from about 20-30 meters away before their cavalrymen would charge with theirnces. However, their impact had diminished greatly. The trees became a natural shield for us along with our wooden fences. They were vital in protecting us from both the arrows and the cavalry charges. The enemy became more exhausted. The Saintess¡¯ hymn, in other words, their momentary buff had lost its effect. The cavalrymen were clearly moving slower after having charged over and over again for 6 to 7 hours. They would¡¯ve still been a force to be reckoned with if we were on the ins, but we were in a forest. Our civilian soldiers splendidly fended the enemy off three times. ¡°Retreat!¡± Even after their fourth charge, the enemy cavalrymen had to withdraw without obtaining any sort of ground. They simply continued to lose their expensive warhorses. The corpses of the warhorses became new barricades for the enemy to charge through. ¡°Huhaha! Mr. Priest, these guys aren¡¯t anything impressive!¡± ¡°Only their suits of armor are shiny! But their balls are tiny!¡± ¡°Aah. Amazing work.¡± I praised them with a hoarse voice. Our army hadpletely regained its confidence. However, this favorable situation wasn¡¯t going tost long. The enemy also had infantrymen. Infantrymen who were overflowing with energy and stamina since they hadn¡¯t participated in the battle yet. If theye here and start a close-quarters battle, then we would lose. In the end, this was simply a light in the darkness¡­¡­The final ember. The best result would be Brittany¡¯s army giving us a chance to surrender again. But this time, with fairly generous conditions. Brittany had already won the overall battle. There was no way they would want to waste their infantrymen. That was our only hope. After one final cavalry charge, the enemy sent an envoy. It was a noble wearing a red mantle. The young noble shouted once he got near the wooden fences. ¡°I am Bar Garzon de Dezei of Brittany. Who is yourmander!?¡± ¡°Goddess Artemis is ourmander!¡± One of our soldiers shouted back bluntly. ¡°And the person acting as the substitute for ourmander is Jean Bole!¡± ¡°Jean Bole¡­¡­. I see, , is it?¡± The noble nodded as if he came to understand something. I learned for the first time what the people in Brittany called Jean Bole. The Mad Priest!? They have a terrible naming sense. I guess it would be illogical to expect some sort of sense from those Brittany pigs¡­¡­. ¡°Priest Jean Bole, I wish to speak with you!¡± ¡°If I am correct, we have already been conversing for 7 hours.¡± I answered as I stepped out from between our spearmen. The noble took off his hat and gave a polite bow. I followed the decorum of a priest and returned his greeting. Our two sides naturally came to a momentary armistice. The noble put his feathered hat back on before getting straight to the point. ¡°Priest Jean Bole, is the war not already over?¡± ¡°If I remember correctly, the Queen of Brittany mentioned that war is an eternal struggle for warriors. My ears must already be failing me.¡± I shrugged. ¡°People age quickly on the battlefield. Am I wrong, Bar Garzon de Dezei?¡± ¡°O noble priest of Selene. You do not have to prove to me that you are an eloquent speaker.¡± The noble gave a troubledugh. ¡°Your reputation is well known to us as well. Our Queen would often listen to philosophical speeches before she ascended the throne. I believe that they are noble and adequate for nobles like myself. Nheless, before being a noble, I am here as a soldier.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Then what are the words that Garzon as a soldier wishes to say?¡± The noble took in a deep breath before speaking. ¡°Will you choose an honorable surrender or a shameful death!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was a straightforward question. Will you surrender or die a dog¡¯s death here? Once I went silent, the young noble beyond the wooden fence spoke in a dignified tone. ¡°Priest Jean Bole, this might seem pointless, but let me ask you this one thing. What do you think is the difference between belief and obsession?¡± ¡°Belief is rational while obsession is emotional.¡± ¡°A textbook answer.¡± The noble smiled. ¡°As a soldier, this is what I believe. Belief is walking forward boldly while believing in your chance of victory while obsession is running straight to defeat.¡± I understood what the noble was implying. ¡°There are things that can be gained by being defeated.¡± However, I had to deflect it back at least once. If I just said ¡®Yes, I understand,¡¯ then that would restrict our surrender conditions even more. I intentionally responded in a stern tone. ¡°If that is the pride of one¡¯s nation, then that would not be a shameful death. I have no reason to believe that surrendering is more honorable.¡± ¡°Of course, the history books will praise Jean Bole and his civilian militia; however, would their praises not simply be mud? The descendants of your nation will never forget the sin you hadmitted by allowing innocentmoners to die on a battlefield for the sake of the nation¡¯s pride.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I pretended as if I were mulling over his words. Did he think he had persuaded me? The noble threw in anotherment. ¡°Please cherish the lives of the people. Priest Jean Bole, there is no reason for themoners to foolishly bear the responsibility, to shed tears and blood for this civil war.¡± The soldiers behind me shouted once he finished. ¡°No, you guys are the ones who invaded us first! You guys are the ones who confined His Excellency the Emperor!¡± ¡°Sir Priest! There is nothing to hear from thisd. Let us crush that dandy man¡¯s face!¡± ¡°I won¡¯t rest until I kill all those Brittany runts! Boo!¡± I slowly raised my right hand. The soldiers promptly shut their mouths. I spoke once it had be silent again. ¡°¡­¡­What guarantee is there that you will not harm the soldiers who have surrendered?¡± ¡°I swear on every Goddess. ¡­¡­would probably not be enough to relieve you of your concerns.¡± The noble chuckled awkwardly. ¡°Her Highness the Queen is currently interested in something else. Her goal is to pursue and eliminate the remnants of Duke Guise¡¯s and Batavia¡¯s army. If I may be honest, your civilian militia is nothing more than a thorn in our side.¡± ¡°Ufortable, but nothing beyond that.¡± ¡°Correct.¡± The noble raised his hand to his chest and swore. ¡°Throw away all of your weapons and surrender. Your army does not possess any soldiers with considerable value. Head east with your free hands and feet. I swear on my family and my lord¡¯s honor that my unit will be your guarantor and escort you to the nearest city.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I closed my eyes. The afternoon sun shined through my eyelids. I dwelled upon the sun of St. Dennis ins with both my face and body. The sunlight seeped into my skin. This imprinted into me my first defeat. I opened my mouth. ¡°We will surrender.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My birthday is over and so is this war segment! I¡¯d celebrate but there were 3 mosquitos in my roomst night, so my legs are just covered in bites now. I¡¯m suffering. I did manage to kill them all, but the damage has been done. Why do mosquitos exist? Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Maybe these mosquito bites will have faded away by then¡­ Probably not. Chapter 209: D-Rank Adventurer Party (1) Chapter 209: D-Rank Adventurer Party (1) Our volunteer army was disbanded for the time being after we were safely escorted to a nearby city. Brittany¡¯s forces ended uppletely taking over a portion of Parisiorum. A majority of the royal troops that disobeyed the Emperor¡¯s orders ended up getting subjugated. The Empress Dowager¡¯s faction had mostly fallen. The people of Frankia were in both fear and awe of the young queen¡¯s aplishment. The Emperor¡¯s faction¡­¡­. Well, should I include Brittany and call them royalists now? It should be fine to say that the Royalists had firmly established their position. The mass ughter that started at Parisiorum spread like a gue to the other cities. At some point, the Emperor¡¯s mistake had been disguised as ¡®His Excellency¡¯s action to get rid of the republican traitors¡¯. The republicans were ughtered all throughout Frankia excluding the ones in the north. The mayors and bureaucrats were the ones who led these ughters. In other words, this was their way of saying ¡®I¡¯m on the Emperor¡¯s side so please spare us!¡¯. The country was in quite the state. The bureaucrats had been debating whether they should take the Emperor¡¯s side or the Empress Dowager¡¯s side, but the battle at St. Dennis ins was the final push they needed. Everyone bowed their heads to the Queen who annihted 60,000 soldiers with only 20,000. Everyone was desperately participating in the ughters so that they wouldn¡¯t get used of sitting on their hands. The mayors that happened to have a conscience simply overlooked the ughters. The tide had turned. Republicans were going to have to be careful even when they masturbated in the safety of their own homes¡­¡­if they weren¡¯t already dead, that is. They fully understood how defeat felt. ¡°They say that the knights that departed from Habsburg mostly gathered at Frankia.¡± ¡°The dismissed knights?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Paimon took a sip from her cup of green tea. I was called by Paimon immediately after our defeat. I was worried that she was going to tell me to take responsibility for the loss, but, fortunately, that wasn¡¯t the case. Even from Paimon¡¯s perspective, she could tell that the battle at St. Dennis ins wasn¡¯t something that a singlemander could handle by himself. Batavia Republic¡¯s Government House. Paimon and I were seated at a table in the secret garden near the Government House. Spring had arrived. There were blue and red flowers blooming here and there throughout the garden. ¡°There is still a fair number of nobles left in the New Habsburg Republic. Arge portion of them are knights.¡± ¡°I see. They would only be potential rebels if they left those nobles in their nation¡­¡­Elizabeth basically killed two birds with one stone by sending them to Queen Henrietta. Is this the basic gist of what happened?¡± Paimon smiled brightly. She was like a maiden from a respectable family. ¡°It seems your discerning eye has not gotten rusty, Dantalian.¡± ¡°I am nothing more than amander who had lost pitifully.¡± I shrugged back at her. There was an alliance between Consul Elizabeth and Queen Henrietta. It was good for Consul Elizabeth since this meant that she could deal with her knights with noble backgrounds without having to shed any blood while Queen Henrietta got her hands on a powerful army. These two used to fight like cats and dogs in for the sake of ruling the continent, but for some reason, they had formed an alliance in this world. This wasn¡¯t right. ¡°There are always mistakes in both victory and defeat. You have done more than enough, Dantalian.¡± ¡°I wonder about that¡­¡­.¡± ¡°At the very least, the republic¡¯s influence has managed to spread throughout the northern region of Frankia. In other words, one of the most affluent areas of Frankia is now within the republic¡¯s grasp. If this is not an achievement, then what is? Have more confidence in yourself.¡± Paimon quietly brought her teacup to her lips. ¡°I am undeserving of such praise. Haha.¡± I scratched the back of my head. I¡¯m not sure how to exin it, but it felt like our positions had switched. However, this was probably Paimon¡¯s personality. She was more used to defeat than anyone else. She had devoted hundreds of years to establish the Batavia Republic. Slowly. More leisurely than everyone else. This was most likely Paimon¡¯s belief. From her perspective, upying the northern part of Frankia was probably a sizable aplishment. ¡°This is not only happening in Frankia, the is rising up all throughout the continent. Revolutions are currently being carried out in Bernicia, Sardinia, Castile, and Moscow. They will also be happening in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Kalmar soon.¡± ¡°You are going all out, I see.¡± I quenched the inside of my mouth with some tea. I felt the anxiety that was wracking my body melt away once the hot water flowed down my throat. ¡°¡­¡­What do you think our chance of winning is?¡± ¡°Aplete victory will most likely be impossible, but we should be able to liberate some provincial cities.¡± Paimon responded calmly. It sounded modest, but she had basically dered that she would mass-produce numerous free cities. Most of those cities were probably going to be affluent. This was going to decrease the amount of taxes paid to the nation and deal a critical blow to the rulers. ¡°You did well during these past few months, Dantalian. You also need to rest. I will call for you if somethinges up again.¡± ¡°Thank you for your consideration.¡± ¡°Hm. If you have no ns today, then how about spending some time with thisdy?¡± Paimon smiled. Her eyes glimmered like a female lion eyeing her prey. ¡°I am honored, but I must refuse, Miss Paimon.¡± The title of ¡®Man who had sex with both Barbatos and Paimon¡¯ was tempting, but I was afraid of the future problems that a title like that would bring. Paimon was definitely going to go around telling the other female Demon Lords that she had slept with me. Solely for the sake of teasing Barbatos. Barbatos will thene running at me with her scythe. She would say something like, ¡®I won¡¯t let you use your dick however you want ever again¡¯ with a wide smile and rip it off. I wasn¡¯t joking. Barbatos would actually do something like that. Paimon let out a small sigh. ¡°Haah, I am still the Subus Queen. Please be honest. Am I really that unappealing?¡± ¡°Miss Paimon, you are one of the most beautiful women in the world. However, Barbatos will kill me if she were to find out. Well, I may reconsider if you promise to keep this a secret from Barbatos.¡± ¡°But it would not be fun, then.¡± Paimon covered her mouth with her fan andughed. Sheesh, I knew it. I said my farewell and left the garden. The thought of going back to my Demon Lord castle after 2 months made me not care that much about my defeat. Right when I was about to take the secret tunnel out of the Government House, I realized that I had left something behind. I had forgotten the wooden ball that I would hold in my right hand whenever I felt anxious. ¡°Silly me, Miss Paimon. I forgot¡­¡­.¡± I ended up witnessing it as I was about to apologize. In the middle of the garden that was blooming with spring flowers, Paimon¡¯s head was lowered under the bright sunlight. She was covering her face with a handkerchief¡­¡­and her shoulders were shaking slightly. The sound of crying seeped out from the gap between her face and her handkerchief. The sound of a Demon Lord crying flowed throughout the garden that didn¡¯t have even a single attendant present. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± What was she crying about? There were several very obvious guesses. The sadness that came from being another step away from a world with a free republic. The sadness that came from one¡¯s people losing their lives pointlessly. The sadness that came from being unable to end a civil war in one swoop and ended up dropping the entire nation into turmoil instead. I thought she was used to defeat, but that was a mistake. No one was used to defeat¡­¡­. There were only people who were used to acting as if they were used to defeat. I¡¯m such a fool. Paimon cried when a mere goblin merchant, a merchant who had betrayed her, killed himself. This time, tens of thousands of people who sympathized with her cause were ughtered. It was impossible for me to fathom how much grief she was going through right now. I smiled bitterly. ¡®It would¡¯ve been better if she just med me.¡¯ And yet, she didn¡¯t me me at all. Paimon was quite the proud Demon Lord¡­¡­. I quickly tip-toed my way out of the Government House. I may be cooperating with the Liberation Alliance at the moment, but I could betray them at any point for the sake of my own gain. My resolve might weaken if I let myself see something like this. I¡¯ll pretend as if I didn¡¯t see anything this time. Tears didn¡¯t suit selfish Demon Lords like us. Don¡¯t you agree, Paimon? * * * I gave Jacquerieplete control of the civilian militia before returning to my dungeon. As a side note, Daisy, Luke, Jeremi, and her assassin group followed me. The group was rather sizable so I had to use an intermediate teleportation scroll. I first dropped Daisy and Luke off at a vige¨DI was being considerate to them so that they could meet their parents¨Dbefore running off to my Demon Lord castle. ¡°The libertine who had left home has returned, my lovely sweet home!¡± I approached the entrance of the cave which I called my Demon Lord castle and shouted. However, the external appearance of the cave hadpletely changed. Large pirs had been built like some sort of temple. There were goblin workers next to those pirs carving detailed sculptures. ¡°Ooh! Is the first floor almost finished already?¡± ¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t Your Highness?¡± A goblin who appeared to be the supervisor came up to me and bowed. ¡°Has Your Highness been in good health? No issues I hope.¡± ¡°Haha. Just hearing your greeting is enough to wash away the fatigue that had built up during my travels.¡± I patted the goblin¡¯s back. The goblin must¡¯ve thought that his brown-nosing had worked as he rubbed his hands together more eagerly. ¡°This humble one is in charge of the entrance and we are already putting the finishing touches. We did the best we could, but we were unable to portray all of Your Highness¡¯ prestige due to ourck of skills. Please forgive me.¡± ¡°Nonsense, this looks more than good enough. If a Demon Lord¡¯s home looks too borate, then I would get made fun of for being human-like. It should be prudent and dignified to a degree, don¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°Truly wise words! Hehe.¡± The goblins who were working nearby chimed in and shouted ¡®As expected of His Highness!¡¯. They were practically in sync. Aah¨D. This was the feeling. This atmosphere of everyone submitting themselves to me and doing their utmost to look good in front of me. I wasn¡¯t able to experience this while I was at Frankia. As expected, Demon Lords have to be in the center of demons to shine the brightest. ¡°Hahaha. I am in a great mood! Let us have a grand banquet today!¡± I took out a pocket and scattered a handful of coins. The goblins let out a cheer as they rushed to my side. ¡°Gold! It¡¯s gold!¡± ¡°Kerururuk, our sry is on the ground!¡± The goblins crawled on the floor like dogs as they picked up the gold coins. Their race was the most renowned for being greedy in the demon world. Even the goblin who had been trying to appeal to me had thrown away his dignity and was crawling on the floor picking up coins with the other goblins. ¡°Huhaha! My purse is still hefty so there is no need to worry!¡± ¡°Keruk! Hooray for His Highness Dantalian!¡± ¡°Hooray for the greatest Demon Lord on the continent!¡± I made a shower of gold fall whenever I wanted it to and the goblins cheered whenever I did. This was why humans and demons were all the same when it came to money. I was easily able to improve my mood like this even though I had been feeling depressed after losing a battle. I made it rain gold at every tunnel I passed through in the cave. The dwarves and goblins who had been focusing on constructing the Demon Lord castle let out a cheer for the untimely luck. This much celebration was required for a Demon Lord¡¯s return. After about 30 minutes of walking, I saw Lapis in the distance. Lapis was wearing her usual ck business suit and giving orders to the workers. A dwarf and goblin who appeared to be executives were following her around. I let out a shout. ¡°Laaaaapisss, it is I! Dantalian has returned!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis turned to nce at me. The blue eyes that I had longed for even in my dreams were directed to me. However, the response I expected didn¡¯te out. Lapis remained impassive. ¡°Yes. Reserve a spare space in that area. We will need a storage room. No, there is no need to make that area wide. I hope that your people at Blue Celosia are able to secure the materials¡­¡­.¡± She turned away and resumed givingplicated orders to the construction workers. The workers didn¡¯t seem like they particrly cared about my presence either. I felt awkward as I carefully approached her. ¡°Uhm, Lapis. It¡¯s Dantalian? The Demon Lord you haven¡¯t seen for two months? I¡¯m not hoping for some borate wee party, but maybe you can offer at least one warm line¡­¡­?¡± Lapis responded emotionlessly. ¡°Can you not see that I am working right now? You are getting in the way, so please talk to meter.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis was Lapis as usual. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry about thete upload. Well, I think this is ate upload? My head has been a bit of a messtely, so I lost track of time. On another note, it¡¯s great that we¡¯re finally seeing Lapis again after what felt like such a long time. It¡¯s banter time. I think I¡¯m most looking forward to seeing how Daisy and Jeremi interact with Laura and Lapis. Did I mention this before? I don¡¯t even know anymore. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 210: D-Rank Adventurer Party (2) Chapter 210: D-Rank Adventurer Party (2) ¡°I-Is that so? You¡¯re working, are you? All right. Work is important, after all.¡± I let out an ¡®Oh, right!¡¯ and awkwardly put my hand in my money purse. ¡°I will give you all an incentive for all the good work you have done so far. Now then, my workers who havebored earnestly, take as much gold as you can hold!¡± Iughed gantly as I scattered gold coins. I wasn¡¯t squandering my money. I was gone for two months, so the workers probably didn¡¯t know how to deal with me. I intended to change the mood by holding a small festival and make them able to approach me without reserve. A clear sound rang out as gold coins poured onto the cavern floor. The goblins¡¯ and dwarves¡¯ necks practically snapped as they turned their heads to me the moment they heard the coins hit the ground. They raised their feet as if they intended to immediately rush over to me, but¨D. ¡°¡­¡­Hm?¡± They stood still. The workers carefully, very carefully turned to look at the same ce with bloodshot eyes. The person who was at the end of their gazes was none other than Lapis Lazuli. The pink-haired subus was standing there. ¡°It is fine if you raise the central ceiling on the first floor. You do not have to worry about the solidity.¡± Lapis continued to give orders as if the gold coins didn¡¯t matter to her at all. ¡°In consideration of the distant future, the first floor will have various shops catering to adventurers. A za might get created in the center. You have to consider this much as well. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Y-Yes. Understood, General Manager.¡± The workers bowed to Lapis. They looked at the gold coins scattered on the ground out of the corners of their eyes and gulped, but they didn¡¯t dare to take even a single step toward the gold. I came to a realization. These guys¡­¡­they are all being careful around Lapis! Individuals that were practically known as representatives of the construction industry in the demon world were all gathered here. Most of them were either heads or substitutes for the heads of their agencies. Despite this, these individuals weren¡¯t able to even budge an inch before a mere half-blood, low-tier subus. I was baffled. What exactly happened in thest two months to make these guys act like new recruits straight out of boot camp? ¡°Furthermore, Sir Dantalian.¡± Lapis called out to me without even raising her gaze from the documents in her hands. In a very stern tone. I flinched. ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°I am grateful that you are trying to inspire their will to work, but work has yet to end for the day. There are three hours left until the end of the workday. Please distribute a bonus in onerge batch at that point.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Okay.¡± I bent down and picked up the coins that had fallen on the ground. It felt like I had be a president who had needlessly showed up and spoiled the mood when everyone was busy as they were putting the finishing touches at the worksite. No, it wasn¡¯t aparison, that was what actually happened. ¡°Uhm, where is Laura?¡± ¡°I do not know. She might be in Your Highness¡¯ chamber reading a lofty philosophy book.¡± For an instant, Lapis¡¯ gaze looked as if she were looking at a rotten piece of trash. Like the gaze of a fifty-year-old officer worker who had experienced all the bitterness and sourness of life staring at a brat who had just stepped foot into society. It was terrifying. ¡°I-I¡¯ll go to my room for now. Keep up the good work.¡± I could tell instinctively that it would be best if I left this spot as soon as possible. I waved my right hand at Lapis as I backed away. Lapis¡¯ impassive gaze returned as she responded tly. ¡°Yes. We will. Although we have been this whole time.¡± Lapis resumed giving orders. The cave had be colder ever since I arrived. Wasn¡¯t her reaction a bit too much when we were meeting for the first time in a while¡­¡­? I felt like I hadmitted a crime, so I walked with dispirited steps. However, a sound of surprise and awe would leak out with every step I took. My dungeon waspletely different. The cave that used to curve randomly had been organized and there was now a wide, straight tunnel. ¡°Wow.¡± Large walls blocked the sides of the tunnel without leaving any openings. Monster viges were going to be created behind those walls. I was incredibly fascinated to see the idea that I had only imagined all this time in my head be a reality as I walked around with my mouth agape like some sort of child who was invited to an amusement park. ng! ng! ng! There were miners working somewhere in the tunnel. Pickaxes moved without rest as they carved away at the cavern walls. sterers were moving their hands earnestly while goblins who appeared to be mages were shaking their heads and muttering something angrily. ¡°Dang it, we can¡¯t cast a strengthening spell like this. Start over from the beginning.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have a lot of adamantium left in the storage¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The director! Call the director here!¡± It was arge-scale construction. Everyone was moving and talking busily. I had left the construction work to multiple agencies instead of one in order to reduce the construction fee. It did lower our expenses, but it also put a lot of burdens on the general manager. They had to give orders to dozens of agencies and also fine-tune all of their individual work. ¡°Uaaaah.¡± It makes sense that Lapis would be in such a bad mood. She probably has a lot of pent-up stress. It would naturally be annoying if the person who should¡¯ve been the total supervisor casuallyes back saying ¡®I¡¯m back. Are you d to see me?¡¯. I walked for about 2 hours before I reached my Demon Lord room. The room had changed so much that I couldn¡¯t recognize it. There was now a cliff in front of the room. Actually, I¡¯m not sure if I should call it a cliff or a moat. There was a narrow stone bridge ced on the moat. You had to cross that bridge to reach the door to the room. The front door¡­¡­the wooden door that was easily struck down by Riff¡¯s hand ax was nowhere to be seen. The thing before me was more like arge sculpture than a door. A sculpture with a grim face was opening its mouth menacingly. Its mouth was the door. It quite literally gave off the impression of a Demon Lord¡¯s dwelling. It was in incredibly poor taste. I¡¯m not sure how they did it, but the eyes of the statue were aze. I carefully made my way forward while feeling pressured. There were words engraved above the door, in other words, between the upper lip and nose. A sentence written in the Ancient Imperialnguage said the following: ¨C Throw away all hope, those who havee to nirvana. ¡°Uuugh.¡± They really went all out. It was genuinely Demon Lord-like. It felt like something you would see at the entrance of a boss room in an RPG. Was this the type of image Lapis had of ¡®Demon Lords¡¯ in her head? Isn¡¯t this a bit childish for someone who has lived for over 200 years!? No, even Barbatos refers to her castle as ¡­¡­. This sort of childish design might unexpectedly be universal for all Demon Lord castles. If so, then demons have an extremely bizarre artistic sense. Don¡¯t some of them have pink suits and enjoy wearing them as outfits for balls? I gave up partially as I dragged myself into my room. The inside of the room was surprisingly deste. They must have not started working on the inside yet. ¡°Laura? I have returned. The Dantalian that you love has returned.¡± My voice echoed throughout the room. Once it did, something peaked out from the bed on the other side of the room. Blonde hair. It was Laura de Farnese. ¡°Lord¡­¡­is that really you?¡± Laura looked at me with a wavering gaze. She looked incredibly exhausted for some reason. Even her blonde hair that used to be vibrant like the warm spring sun had lost its color and was now brittle. ¡°Or is this a hallucination spell meant to trick this youngdy? Are you real?¡± ¡°A-A hallucination spell?¡± I was shocked. What exactly happened while I was gone? Laura was terrified. I smiled gently as if I were approaching a kitten. ¡°Laura, it¡¯s me. I¡¯m not some sort of hallucination. I¡¯m the real Dantalian.¡± ¡°Is it really Your Lordship, the person who usually acts incredibly stern but breaks under even the slightest pressure and lets out a strainedugh that makes the people around him feel anxious?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes, I am that Dantalian.¡± Laura stuck only her head out from underneath the covers and continued in a nervous tone. ¡°The person who bluffs all the time saying he is the most sincere and earnest person in the world but lusts after this youngdy¡¯s body at every opportunity, so, in that regard, the person I acknowledge as the most sincere and earnest sex maniac in the world. Is it really Your Lordship, the person who does not consider women older than 17 as women?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Laura, I now have a good understanding of your opinion of me.¡± My lips twitched. ¡°I am not a sex maniac or a pedophile. I am Dantalian. I just happened to have rtions with a girl who is slightly below the average age.¡± ¡°Aah, that shamelessly brazen face undoubtedly belongs to milord!¡± Laura got up and rushed to me like a pet who wasing to wee its owner who had been at war for several years. ¡°Lord! Lord! I missed you! This youngdy sincerely missed you!¡± She then jumped and hugged me with her entire body. I muttered to myself sullenly. ¡°¡­¡­What is this? This is definitely a heartwarming reunion, but a corner of my heart feels sad. What is this emotion?¡± ¡°Aah, to be able to see this petty and crafty face again!¡± Laura was so moved that she was shedding tears. ¡°Your poorly curved back and narrow shoulders! Hair that has grown out haphazardly because you didn¡¯t get a haircut for two to three months! Your mouth that has been twisted crudely because of the amount of dastardliness that had condensed around it! Ah, you are the real deal. You are certainly the real one!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Ah, yeah. Is that so?¡± ¡°Your Lordship is undoubtedly the cheapest Demon Lord in the world, but this youngdy likes you because you are cheap!¡± Laura reached out and grabbed my head. She then gave me a strong kiss. One kiss must have not been enough, as she showered me with them. Of course, I didn¡¯t feel anything in particr from my perspective. ¡°All right. This much wee is enough.¡± I pulled Laura off of me as I spoke. ¡°But what about you? What is with your appearance? You should take a look at yourself before throwing insults at me about my dirty appearance. Your hair is frilly and your skin has lost its luster¡­¡­. I cannot believe that this is the appearance of a 17-year-old girl and someone who was once the esteemed daughter of a duke. Have you even bathed?¡± ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s because¡­¡­hgh.¡± Laura wiped away a tear. To be honest, this was probably the most unsightly Laura has ever been. I¡¯m not just saying this because I¡¯m upset after being insulted a bunch by her. It was an objective observation. ¡°Miss Lapis had¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡¯Miss¡¯ Lapis?¡± ¡°N-No. What I meant to say is, Big Sis Lapis keeps giving this youngdy difficult tasks!¡± Laura hastily corrected herself. Her choice of words was so shocking that it couldn¡¯t be overlooked, but I kindly ignored it as a man with a gentle heart. I had a rough grasp of what happened as well. ¡°This youngdy has no idea how religious precepts andmonws within viges work. Is it not good enough if I lead things down the most efficient path? And yet, Big Sis Lapis¡­¡­. Furthermore, that man named Parsi is also doing the same¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Clean your nose for now.¡± I handed her a handkerchief. This 17-year-old girl may be radiant, but there was no way her snot could be radiant as well. Absolutely not. Laura blew her nose. ¡°They are looking down on this youngdy like some child who knows nothing of the world!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yeah. I understand. You do not have to exin any further. I have a good understanding of what happened.¡± It seems Laura de Farnese, the individual who became the greatest strategist in the game and renowned as the Iron Chancellor, was despairing over the fact that she didn¡¯t know how politics worked. I let out a sigh. I had a bad feeling that the management of my Demon Lord castle and the surrounding region was going to be very difficult. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This ispensation for uploading thatst chapter a bitte. I¡¯m sure a lot of you guys were probably looking forward to more Lapis and Laura stuff anyway. Uh, nothing much else to say? Have a good weekend! Chapter 211: D-Rank Adventurer Party (3) Chapter 211: D-Rank Adventurer Party (3) * * * I immediately went to the vige without changing out of my traveling attire. Parsi weed me. ¡°Wee, Your Highness.¡± ¡°You look much older than your actual age as usual.¡± ¡°Oh, hush! If Your Highness is not going to take responsibility for my farsightedness, then do not bring it up.¡± Parsi stuck his lips out and pouted. It was funny since a man who looked like a boar was doing it. He had aged considerably since thest time I saw him a few months ago. In actuality, not only was Parsi the substitute ruler of the area, but he also had the role of leading and consoling the vigers from Daisy¡¯s sh-and-burn vige. From what I was told, he went through a lot of trouble trying to mediate the discord caused between the vigers. We entered the vige chief¡¯s house and had a direct conversation. ¡°Mm. Miss Laura de Farnese is not naive.¡± Parsi furrowed his brows as if he were troubled. ¡°But, Your Highness, she does not understand human physiology.¡± ¡°She does not understand physiology?¡± ¡°She has her head in the clouds and only says idealistic things.¡± Parsi blew his nose. He had caught a cold. ¡°For example?¡± ¡°Well, Miss Farnese, what did she call it again? She said that the vige chiefs andndowners should manage the viges, thews should be personally created by Your Highness and your vassals, and additional people should be hired to execute thosews.¡± Parsi smeared his snot-covered hand on the ground. What a dirty bastard! Parsi continued casually. ¡°That is easy to say, but what about actually carrying it out? Think about it. From the vigers¡¯ perspectives, they would be getting judged by some outsider who is unrted to Your Highness and the vige chief.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± What Laura had dered was a division of powers. A legition that establishes abstract rules about how a territory should be managed. A justice system that applies those rules concretely. An administration that follows thosews and rules faithfully while also ruling over the people. This is an idea that tears authority into multiple parts by dividing it beforehand so that the ruler cannot obtain too much power. ¡­¡­However, it wasn¡¯t surprising that normal vigers like Parsi wouldin about this being needlesslyplicated. The judicial power was especially an issue. In this era, legal disputes were basically daily urrences. Multiple households would usually get involved when fields are cultivated. In this situation, who lends their farming equipment? Who does thebor to cultivate thend? How much of the cultivated field is given to each household? How much is each person¡¯s share within the granaries that the viges manage together? If the head of a household abruptly dies of a disease, then who should support the family¡­¡­? The list goes on. The viges had a simple solution for situations like this. By gathering rich andpetent farmers like the vige chief andndowners and making them decide! I spoke up. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you leave the judicial power to reliablendowners?¡± ¡°Hm. Then would there be a group ofndowners who manage the viges and another group in charge of making judgments? Those people always marry each other and are no different from being a single household, so that would be quite the fair and equal group.¡± ¡°Kuh.¡± I groaned. ¡°They would naturally have a close rtionship. Is that the issue?¡± ¡°At that point, it would be better to make all thendowners handle judicial matters, you know? If they scheme together, then it would be very obvious. They wouldn¡¯t be able to since the watchful eyes of the other vigers would be terrifying. But, if they make it seem fair on the surface¡­¡­hm.¡± Parsi trailed off. It would look fair on the surface, but thendowners would cohere closely together through things like marriages and money. Even if it is obvious how things will progress, if they do not make it obvious, then it would be more difficult for vigers toin¡­¡­. ¡°How about appointing an inspector so that thendowners do not form alliances?¡± ¡°Where will you hire that inspector from? Inside the viges? Or outside?¡± Parsi let out a snort. ¡°If you hire them from the inside, then they would also give favors to the people they have connections with. If you hire them from the outside, then they would not understand the inner workings of the viges and end up making partial decisions after hearing only one side of the story. Or they will get bribed by thendowners. No, all of this won¡¯t even matter if thendowners simply spread a rumor that ¡®those who leak information to outsiders will be considered an enemy of the vige¡¯.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡­.¡± In the end, we were back to the starting point. There were two policies spread out before me. First, handing over all of the authority to the viges. Second, carry out Laura¡¯s suggestion and thoroughly divide the power within the viges. Let¡¯s examine the first policy. In order for things to be handled fairly within the viges, all of the authority has to be given to thendowners. If a decision turns out to be wrong or outrageous, then the responsibility will fall entirely onto ¡®all of thendowners¡¯. It would be a joint responsibility. The vigers would simply have to denounce thendowners. This would make it clear who was responsible. However, thendowners aren¡¯t stupid. Why would they let themselves be bound and imprisoned? If they take a risk and things go wrong during a trial, then only they would incur losses. Thus, they only had to follow ¡®customaryws¡¯. Why did you make this decision? Because it is our custom. Why is that person taking morend? Because it is our custom. Why is the well allowed for certain people but forbidden for other people? Because it is our custom. Everything would solely be because of customary reasons¡­¡­. ¡°In the end, would customaryws not be establishedws as well as a religious belief?¡± ¡°What¡¯s so bad about that?¡± Parsi furrowed his brows. If they pursue customaryws, then any sort of responsibility would vanish into thin air. Thendowners wouldn¡¯t be at fault even if things went bad. They would say that things had gone bad because they were ¡®unlucky¡¯. In short, fatalism¡­mon folk beliefs will take root over everything. If things go well, then it was because they were lucky. If things go bad, then it was because they were unlucky. There would be no need to change customaryws and it wouldn¡¯t be necessary to appoint more judges aside from thendowners. They would simply pray to some local myth so that they could have good luck¡­¡­. A vigemunity = a joint trial and kangaroo court = evaporation of responsibility = fatalism = folk beliefs. Things that seemed separate at a nce were actually bound together firmly by a chain and if you wanted to change even one of these things, you would have to change the system entirely. It was easy to imagine how difficult and time-consuming it would be to do that. ¨DTherefore, this society known as a vige will be extremely conservative. I smiled bitterly. ¡®It¡¯d be fine if they were conservative simply because they were uncivilized and brainless.¡¯ They were far from being uncivilized. If anything, the farming vige¡¯s conservativeness was extremely rational. Rational conservativeness was probably the perfect term for this. It was the result of the painstaking effort the farmers had to go through in order to create their own kind of fair society. However. ¡°What will happen to my position as the lord?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Well, to be honest.¡± Parsi answered bitterly. If the vigemunities manage themselves and hold trials on their own, then my duty as the ruler would disappearpletely. What could the ruler possibly say if they want to keep acting ording to their customs? ¡°Mmm, we¡¯ve been paying you taxes, so how about being satisfied with that?¡± ¡°What kind of son of a bitch are you? It doesn¡¯t matter whether you guys pay your taxes or not since that money is as insignificant as a piece of booger to me anyway. Why would I be satisfied by taking the pocket change from a bunch of children?¡± ¡°Kekeke.¡± Parsiughed like an old man. ¡°This is why Your Highness is the most ideal lord for our viges. You prevent monsters from attacking us, you barely demand any taxes from us, and you don¡¯t particrly try to get involved with our authority. Glory to His Highness Dantalian!¡± Parsi raised his arms to the air and cheered. I punched him in the stomach out of anger. He fell over and groaned saying something like ¡°Oh dear, I¡¯m dying!¡±. He was quite good at exaggerating. I had hit him jokingly, so it shouldn¡¯t have hurt at all. ¡°Then how about this? Hold trials using the elders from other viges.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± The young and clever vige chief who happened to look rugged tilted his head. ¡°The elders from other viges? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Parsi. How many viges are under my rule?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­give me a second. 3 viges that have existed from the start.¡± Parsi folded his fingers. ¡°2 viges that the second and third sons of multiple families went off and made together. And, including the sh-and-burn vigers that Your Highness had irresponsibly handed over to us, that makes 6.¡± ¡°That is more than enough. Consider this idea: if an incident happens in a single vige, then wouldn¡¯t it be fine to send the concerning party to another vige and have their trials held there?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Parsi¡¯s expression turned stern. I continued. ¡°They would be at a different vige, so they should be more impartial than anyone else. They are a part of the same territory and you guys make exchanges with one another, so they are not outsiders. They are not exactly insiders, but they are notplete outsiders either. What do you think? Do you not think this is a good idea?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Certainly. Sniff.¡± Parsi blew his nose. ¡°Certainly, that does seem like a decent idea. But this might end up causing viges to harbor grudges with one another. This would create internal conflict within Your Highness¡¯ territory. Are you okay with that?¡± ¡°Tsk tsk. That is why they will carry out the trials more carefully.¡± I raised my index finger and waved it side to side. ¡°They could start an internal conflict if they make the wrong choice, so they will have to be as fair as possible¡­¡­. Would the elders from every vige not assume this?¡± ¡°Hm. Hm. Hmm.¡± Parsi rubbed his hands together as he thought it over. There was snot between his palm, so he was slowly creating a green sandwich. ¡°If you believe that the trial has still not been carried out properly, then you are allowed to raise an objection once. At that time, as the territorial lord, I will leave the decision to the vassals I have personally appointed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­A trial on top of a trial?¡± ¡°Well, you could call it the Supreme Court.¡± The wrinkles on Parsi¡¯s forehead deepened. In this era, the principle of ¡®an issue that happens within a ss should be resolved within that ss¡¯ was like an unwrittenw. If someone goes running to the lord and asks them to solve an issue for them, then that person would basically get treated like an outcast by the people of the same standing as them. So going against this unwrittenw by not epting the first trial and appealing to a higher court¡­¡­. In other words, it was highly unlikely that it would ever go this far as long as it wasn¡¯t a crucial trial. It would be hard for people to appeal to a higher court simply because they didn¡¯t like how their trial ended. This meant that the first trial wouldn¡¯t be nominal. ¡°It might be due to this humble one¡¯s ignorance, but that sounds like a rather good system.¡± ¡°Of course. Who do you think thought of it?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Did you know, Your Highness? You are sometimes very, very annoying.¡± I punched him again. This time I was serious. I had struck him exactly in the center of his abdomen, but he didn¡¯t budge. Damn muscr farmers! ¡°I will also make it illegal forndowners from one vige to marryndowners from other viges just in case. This should be effective in preventing them from creating close rtionships.¡± ¡°Ho. You are being quite thorough.¡± Parsi was in awe. With this, I was able to find a point ofpromise between the division of powers that my vassal, Laura, wanted and the vigemunity policy represented by Parsi, my substitute ruler. Judicial power was stripped from every vige, but not from the viges as a whole. It was a solution that anyone should be able to understand. ¡°But Your Highness, there is still a problem. The vigers have been living fine up to this point. If we suddenly tell them that they should live in a different way, then would the people really follow obediently? This is what I¡¯m worried about.¡± ¡°That is a good point.¡± I nodded. ¡°If it benefits them, then they would agree without any hesitation.¡± ¡°Benefit? The new method doesn¡¯t sound like it has anything particrly beneficial.¡± Parsi tilted his head. Even if I were to say that dividing the authority would make themunity stronger¡­¡­that was still vague and abstract. We can¡¯t persuade the people with a gain that is ¡®not visible¡¯. If we want to push forward a new policy, then they need an immediate benefit. I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s simple. If there are no gains, then make one.¡± The next day, I ordered Jeremi to go to the nearest and biggest city. I then had her put in a request with a massive bounty. The request was simple. ¡º4,000 gold will be awarded to whoever brings Demon Lord Dantalian.¡» ¡ºThis is an urgent request. The deadline is until the end of this month.¡» ¡ºDead or alive.¡» This request riled up the mercenaries and adventurers who happened to be within the city. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. As usual, Dant ends up talking about politics when he meets up with Parsi. On a more important note, I¡¯m getting my second vine shot tomorrow. If the next chapter takes longer than usual toe out, then know it was because I¡¯m suffering from my second shot. Maybe I¡¯ll be one of those people who don¡¯t get much of a reaction from the second shot. I guess we¡¯ll have to see. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 212: D-Rank Adventurer Party (4) Chapter 212: D-Rank Adventurer Party (4) * * * Adventurer. It may appear like a job that is overflowing with romance, but it is actually the furthest away from romance. For starters, they aren¡¯t citizens of a city or farmers in a vige. They have no home. They are barely able to make a living by taking care of the requests asionally given by civilians. Take care of a monster den that had abruptly appeared, bring me a rare ingredient necessary to create a regional product¡­¡­. In other words, they were the city¡¯s subcontractors. They don¡¯t have to pay taxes since they aren¡¯t citizens, but they are only seen as parasitic vagrants because they don¡¯t pay taxes. Adventurers mostly consisted of disced people and orphans. Someone who was unable to endure the tyranny of the lord they lived under and were barely able to stay alive as an adventurer¡­¡­. This wasn¡¯t an umon tale. Their origins were extremely doubtful. They weren¡¯t trustworthy. ¡°It¡¯d probably be better to leave a herring to a cat than leave a request to adventurers.¡± This was the general notion that people held about adventurers. They were basically unreliable. Different from the modern era wherews and public order have developed, ¡®trust¡¯ was abnormally crucial in this era. It wasn¡¯t surprising that anyone would doubt adventurers since they had unknown origins. Let¡¯s say you¡¯re hiring someone to work part-time at your store. What will you do if the part-time worker steals money from you and runs away? It wouldn¡¯t be a problem in the modern era since public order is maintained thoroughly and the personal information of every individual is easily obtainable. You just had to report them to the police and get them caught. However, the public order here was shabby and an information base only existed in an incredibly crude form. If the part-time worker escapes out of the city, then it would be practically impossible to capture them. Therefore, everyone tries to use people whom they can ¡®trust¡¯. An example of this would be the sons and daughters of other citizens. They will receive their citizenshipter, so they are less likely to run away from the city. Even if they do run away, you could make their parents pay for the losses you had incurred. It was secure. Another example would be someone who was guaranteed by a priest or a city bureaucrat. People like that were trustworthy. Priests and bureaucrats would personally handpick who they rmend for the sake of their own fame. That¡¯s why you had to receive a reference from a reputable priest, bureaucrat, or, at the very least, a merchant if you wanted to receive work. Adventurers didn¡¯t have something like that. ¡°They can join a mercenary brigade if they manage to garner enough achievements.¡± ¡°Life isn¡¯t easy.¡± Jeremi smiled bitterly. She and I were currently in the hall of the adventurers guild. This was an old building. The floor squeaked with every step and they sold cheap beer despite charging an exorbitant amount for them. I looked at the scenery within the guild as I emptied the cheap beer in my mouth. ¡°Recruiting adventurers to go to Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle!¡± ¡°I promise to give 15% of the total profits to yellow adventurers and 10% to green adventurers!¡± It was loud and noisy like a flea market. People kept moving around inside the building which made the floor squeak almost everywhere. The adventurers shouted as they looked for other adventurers to form parties with. They were doing their utmost to try and get at least decentpanions. This was the adventurers¡¯ base. The guildhall. People can¡¯t trust adventurers, so the thing that the adventurers devised in order tobat this was a guild. Most cities would have an adventurer guild like this. The guild¡¯s job was to manage the ¡®trust¡¯ of adventurers. Civilians would submitmissions to the guild. The adventures would then choose amission they want to take from themission board that the guild puts up publicly. If the adventurerpletes the quest sessfully, then the guild writes in their ledger that ¡®this person has sessfullypleted a certain quest¡¯. Naturally, if they give up on amission, then it gets written down that ¡®this person has boldly neglected amission¡¯. This umted data on how much each adventurer could be trusted. Adventurers with extremely low trust rates are kicked out. No one would want to leave amission to them. It might seem cruel, but this was inevitable in order for the adventurer job to exist. Insincere people are destined to be eliminated no matter the world you¡¯re in. Adventurers are no exception¡­¡­. That is why adventurers never try to take quests that are beyond their capabilities. People ruin themselves by trying to ape their betters. Is this quest within my capabilities? Is there a chance that I might fail? They have to contemte these sorts of things carefully. For example, let¡¯s say there is amission saying ¡¸50,000 gold will be awarded to the adventurer who captures Demon Lord Barbatos!¡¹. Even if the reward seemed tempting, this was absolutely absurd. Only crazy people would take amission like that. However, they couldn¡¯t be too careful either. They still have to make a living, after all. It was necessary for them to have enough courage to face a certain degree of danger. Caution and courage to preserve. Only those who had these two things could seed as adventurers. They also required a bit of luck to let them survive until the very end¡­¡­. I took another swig of my beer. ¡°But my Demon Lord castle is renowned for being shabby.¡± ¡°You got that right. It feels like almost every single adventurer in the city has gathered here.¡± My dungeon didn¡¯t even have a name. Like Barbatos¡¯ ¡¸Pce of All Dead¡¹ or Paimon¡¯s ¡¸Forest where Lethe Slumbers¡¹, my dungeon didn¡¯t have any sort of amazing nickname attached to it like most well-off Demon Lord castles would often have. It was simply Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. It hurt knowing how painfully pitiful it made me appear as the owner of that shabby dungeon¡­¡­. Well, in any case. A 4,000 gold reward was attached to that shabby dungeon. There was also the 1,000 gold bounty that the mayor of the city had personally attached to my neck. In total, that was arge sum of 5,000 gold. This was like a stroke of luck for adventurers. Even if they made a party of 10, each person would receive 500 gold. There was no way they would miss this opportunity. This was probably what the adventurers were thinking. ¡°Although that¡¯s what I¡¯m aiming for.¡± ¡°Fufu, how surprised would they be if they knew that that very Demon Lord was currently in a corner of the guildhall.¡± Jeremi chuckled. That¡¯s right. You might be able to tell by the fact by our presence here, but thatmission was a trap. The adventurers were currently misinformed because they only knew about the previously recorded data on Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. ¡°A bunch of the lowest-ranking adventurers will most likely gather. Sheesh, how pitiful. They¡¯re all going to die.¡± It was just as Jeremi had said. My ce wasn¡¯t as brutal as Barbatos¡¯ ce, but it wasn¡¯t as easy as one might think now. It was only the first floor, but it was made by the greatest builders in the demon world. I¡¯ve also poured in an almost infinite amount of money into the construction. Various traps andbyrinths were built in the dungeon. It was at the level where it was basically inescapable for any adventurer that happened to venture deep into the dungeon. ¡°Still, Your Highness, wouldn¡¯t it be dangerous if someone with talent were toe?¡± ¡°Every skilled individual is currently out as a mercenary in the Lily War.¡± I shook my head. The Lily War was referring to the civil war that was still happening in Frankia. The ck Lily represented Brittany while the White Lily represented Frankia. That was why it was being called the Lily War. War was an excellent business opportunity for talented adventurers. Parties would simply turn themselves into mercenary groups and fight for whoever pays them. The passive battle against the Crescent Alliance in Habsburg and the civil war in Frankia. It may be an unfortunate time for most people on the continent, but for adventurers who are starving formissions, this was the best time for them to make a living. I spoke up. ¡°All of the adventurers who are still in the city are just rabble. An absolute majority of them have the lowest rank. In other words, the type of people that can¡¯t be used as mercenaries. Well, I would say that, at most, anyone above average has left the city.¡± That was why I deliberately wrote themission as so. ¡º4,000 gold will be awarded to whoever brings Demon Lord Dantalian.¡» ¡ºThis is an urgent request. The deadline is until the end of this month.¡» ¡ºDead or alive.¡» ¡°The important part is the ¡®urgent request¡¯. I¡¯m only giving them about half a month. Even if the high-ranking adventurers out on the battlefield were to hear about thismission, it would be impossible for them to participate.¡± ¡°Haa, so it had that kind of purpose.¡± Jeremi¡¯s eyes widened slightly. ¡°As I thought, Your Highness is skilled at thinking up these sorts of tricks. You never cease to amaze this humble one.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that apliment?¡± ¡°Of course. You may be the wittiest in the world, but Your Highness was unable to defeat 20,000 soldiers with an army of 60,000.¡± I kicked Jeremi¡¯s shin under the table. Jeremi let out a yelp as she frowned. ¡°That was because Henrietta de Brittany is overpowered¡­¡­! Like hell I¡¯ll ever attempt a pitched battle against an army whose main unit is their knights again!¡± ¡°Oww. To think you¡¯d kick ady. Your Highness is a savage.¡± ¡°Does it hurt? Does it hurt a lot? I feel the same way.¡± I snorted. I¡¯m not sure how this happened, but I didn¡¯t have even a single vassal who sincerely respected me. Lapis is on top of my head, Laura used to follow me around cutely but now she¡¯s been getting weird thoughts in her head, and Jeremi is just rude. ¡°Damn it, you vile things. None of you will even praise me for havinge up this far from being penniless¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It would be troubling if you misunderstood, Your Highness. I actually respect and revere Your Highness greatly.¡± Jeremi smiled brightly. ¡°But, how should I say it? I feelfortable when I am near Your Highness.¡± ¡°Comfortable?¡± ¡°Mm. This humble one also respects Her Highness Paimon, but she has no openings whatsoever. I cannot help but think of her as a hero who was born with rity, so I end up being solemn and serious whenever I¡¯m next to her.¡± But, Jeremi said as she continued. ¡°Your Highness gives off the impression that you¡¯re missing a screw in your head.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I silently kicked her in the shin again. However, Jeremi must¡¯ve predicted my action as she skillfully dodged my foot. Dang it. ¡°I¡¯m not saying this to ridicule Your Highness. If Her Highness Paimon is like a camel who is constantly walking upright straight to her ideal without a single wasted step¡­¡­mm. Then Your Highness looks like someone who is simply leaving themselves to the flow of time.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you just saying that I don¡¯t seem reliable?¡± ¡°Ah, of course. Your Highness isn¡¯t reliable at all.¡± Jeremiughed. ¡°But Your Highness, someone whose life revolves solely around pursuing their ideal exhausts the people around them. They are like a burning me, so they heat up those who gather around them. However, at the same time, they also burn those people and turn them into piles of ash¡­¡­. Your Highness is far from being like a fire.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I drank my beer indifferently. I didn¡¯t understand what she was trying to say, but I decided to overlook it since she was insisting that she wasn¡¯t mocking me. ¡°The individuals that gather around Your Highness are most likely people who have found shelter within Your Highness¡¯ unique type of ckness. In a world filled with nothing but thorns, a shelter like that is precious for certain people.¡± The conversation stopped after that. Jeremi kept smiling at me and I felt ufortable under her gaze, so I drank my beer silently. ¡°Hey, can I join you guys?¡± It was around this point that an adventurer approached us. It was a man wearing rather luxurious-looking leather armor. He gave off a solid impression. The man had a pleasant smile on his face as he asked for our permission. ¡°Hm? Do you have business with us?¡± I responded with a business smile. Honestly, I was capable of changing my expression within 0.5 seconds at any time and ce. ¡°We are currently making a party.¡± The adventurer said as he sat down next to us. ¡°You guys look rather skilled. How about it? Want to create a party with me?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, the second dose definitely hit me. My experience wasn¡¯t as bad as a couple of my friends¡¯, but I definitely felt like I had a fever for an entire day. I wasn¡¯t able to get any tranting done that day, hence why this chapter came out a dayter than usual. The feverish feeling is gone, but my shoulder is still aching. Hopefully it¡¯ll all be gone by tomorrow. I¡¯m going to be honest, I sort of wanted to experience the really bad fever that my 2 friends went through. I guess it¡¯s like a morbid curiosity? One of them said they were so out of it that they had to stay in bed all day. Welp, insane rambling aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 213: D-Rank Adventurer Party (5) Chapter 213: D-Rank Adventurer Party (5) ¡°Oh? That is presumptuous of you. May I ask what about us made you think that?¡± ¡°You learn a thing or two if you roll around at the bottom for 5 to 10 years.¡± The adventurer tapped his forehead. He was a bald man who looked to be in his 30s. There was a long scar near his right eye and he seemed to be wearing an eye patch because of it. His skin was pleasantly tanned. He was both bald and had only one eye. He gave off quite the delinquent energy. ¡°You get an eye for these sorts of things. I can tell who¡¯s just glitter on the outside and who¡¯s a diamond in the rough. You see those guys with loud voices over at the reception desk?¡± The bald man pointed at the crowd. ¡°They¡¯re the type of rookies toe running out shortly after entering the Demon Lord castle. They¡¯re the youngest sons of their families who ran away from home after gaining some confidence from killing a few goblins. It¡¯s obvious.¡± ¡°You seem quite confident about this.¡± ¡°I used to be like them as well.¡± The bald man grinned. It wasn¡¯t an ill-mannered smile. It was an incredibly wise smile that intellectuals would show when acknowledging others. His expression soon changed. His muscr body gave off a wild vibe and his one eye made him look like a pirate captain or an ouw. A type of gentleness enveloped these things. It might seem like a silly description, but the bald man was like a gentlemanly vagrant. ¡°Rookies like them mostly die during their first actual fight. Let¡¯s see. About 30% of them will die and another 30% will get scared and run from their first fight.¡± He raised up four fingers. ¡°40%. Do you understand? Only 40% of those rookies will manage to remain in this field of work. Their lives are very simple. They¡¯ll either end up as corpses on the cold floor of the Demon Lord castle or they¡¯ll die from some sexually transmitted disease after spending a night with a prostitute.¡± I gave him an interested look. ¡°Hm, is there no instance where they survive?¡± ¡°It¡¯s better to think that they don¡¯t. If they¡¯re super lucky, then maybe they¡¯ll be able to live to their 50s. But what then? Do you think mayflies like us have any savings? We don¡¯t prepare for old age.¡± The bald man spoke up to a female worker who happened to be passing our table. ¡°Miss, 3 beers here.¡± ¡°Just 3 beers? Coming right up.¡± The employee seemed annoyed as she grumbled and held her hand out. The bald man gave her about 6 bronze coins. ¡®Hmm.¡¯ I mentally gave a high grade to the adventurer before me. The bald man had expertly bought Jeremi and I some beer. He showed us not only with his words but with his action as well that he wanted to aplish something with us. People like him were either noble spirits or scam artists. There would only be an issue if he turned out to be a scammer and not a noble spirit. A gentlemanly smile was a trick that scammers often used. I wonder which category this guy belongs to¡­¡­. ¡°You two probably know this as well, but adventurers can die at any moment. We¡¯re mayflies. Our heads might bid our bodies farewell tomorrow. Think about it. What will happen to the money you deposited in the guild¡¯s warehouse after you die?¡± The bald man spread his arms out and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯ll all vanish into thin air. The guild executives will probably give a toast and have a big meal on that same night¡­¡­. The funds you had saved up so you could live a good life once you¡¯re older simply end up in the pockets of someone else. At that point, it¡¯d probably be wiser to shout que sera, sera.¡± He was right. Women aren¡¯t going to marry adventurers whose lives are light years away from being stable. They have no families either. Thus, the only love adventurers receive is from the dandelions on the side of the road¡­¡­. In other words, prostitutes. They live luxurious lives for a few days after they¡¯re able to make a lot of money from a dungeon. They pour all their money out at luxurious brothels and enjoy expensive food and wine. The cherry on top would be if they gambled as well. Prostitutes, alcohol, and gambling. If these three things arebined, then your money will evaporate in an instant. The adventurers will then return to their usual, dreary lives afterward, making it seem like the luxury they had experienced was nothing but a dream. They will starve because they are no longer able to afford even a hard loaf of bread. They get stared at by the city people as they fill their stomachs with water from the well. They roam around the front of the guild¡¯smission board like scoundrels as they count the days until they can experience that luxury again. Sess, luxury, starvation, sess again, luxury, starvation¡­¡­. ¡°They then die one day. That is what we adventurers are.¡± It sometimes happens because they¡¯re unlucky. They could meet their demise because a rock thrown by a goblin happened to hit their head of all ces. Sometimes it happens because the party makes a mistake. The ranger who should¡¯ve been scouting the area might miss an ogre and forces the party to engage in a desperate battle. Humans are weak. Even if they don¡¯t lower their guards, they can still easily die. In terms of percentages, they don¡¯t have a high chance of dying, but if they go on dozens and hundreds of adventures, then they could hit the jackpot at any moment and win the ultimate prize of death. A garbage life at the bottom of the barrel. This was probably the best description for adventurers. It was the same for the hero character in the game . You would always go to a brothel after you finished a quest. There was an annoying system there where your character had a 0.01% chance of getting syphilis after having sex with a prostitute. You would basically hit a bad end! What made this even more malicious was the fact that the syphilis in the game had atent period. To be precise, signs of the disease would only start showing after a year and a half in the game. So even if you were unlucky enough to hit that 0.01% chance¡­¡­you only realize you were unlucky after you¡¯ve progressed far into the game. In other words, after a year and a half passes in the game. It shouldn¡¯t be surprising that most people wouldn¡¯t have a save file that goes back a year and a half. It was a run ender. It would only make sense to swear up a storm when this happens. Those fucking dicks who are more dick-like than actual dicks. Those fucking bastards. I had met a bad end twice because of syphilis. I would¡¯ve rather gotten killed by a Demon Lord. If I did, then I could¡¯ve ovee the situation by using the divine save/load tactic. Where was I supposed to get data from a year and a half ago? Even if I did manage to get a save file that went back that far, I would still have to y the year and a half again. Did those developer bastards smear semen all over their conscience?! If you had grinded your level heavily during that year and a half, then¡­¡­it would be the end for you. I had done that. I honestly wanted to kill myself. This horrendous system incurred a lot of resentment. The yersined about it incessantly, but the developers gave a ridiculous response to theirints. ¡¸The chances of contracting syphilis is normally 0.01%, but that percentage increases depending on whether the yer¡¯s level far surpasses the level of the current content they are going through. Please refrain from grinding mindlessly to increase your levels.¡¹ In other words, they were telling us to slowly level up by only doing quests. Those damned bastards! This naturally terrified the yers. Threads would often appear on the forum about how people would lose their game data because they grinded. In the end, the yers had to give up on grinding and progress through the game. This was the reason why ¡¯s difficulty was so high. Was this not a perverse game? Aah, I¡¯m getting angry just thinking about it! I¡¯m certain that VenusPanties was the one who added that shitty system. I have no proof, but I¡¯m sure of it. I can say without any reserve that everything bad in the world is that person¡¯s fault. The bald man seemed to misinterpret my reaction. ¡°Oh? I see that you are also frustrated with the state we adventurers are in.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me. I¡¯ve shown you something unsightly. How embarrassing.¡± ¡°Nonsense. It is only natural to be more enraged the younger you are.¡± The bald man gave an understanding nod. He gave me a kind look. He most likely thought that he saw my humane side. Well, there was no need for me to correct him, so I left it be. ¡°Just three beers. Fabian, you should order some wheat beer sometimes.¡± The female waitressined as she served us the beer. The bald man shrugged. That seemed to be his habit. ¡°I¡¯ll order 300 sses of wheat beer once I¡¯m back from emptying Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°You do know that everyone is saying that right now? Daedalus already made a party and left. Favian, you¡¯re alreadyte.¡± ¡°Daedalus is someone who has survived this long through sheer luck.¡± The bald man raised his ss and spoke. ¡°It¡¯s about time for him to kiss the dirt. Do you want to make a bet with me, Fleur? He¡¯s going to have a wedding with the Goddess of the Earth within four days. His skeleton will be so pale that you won¡¯t know who is wearing the bridal gown.¡± The female employeeughed. ¡°You would be more likable if you couldn¡¯t talk! Please don¡¯t listen to this guy too much. He may not be a scam artist, but he¡¯s more malicious than them. He looks fine on the outside, but he¡¯spletely insane. He¡¯s infamous for spending 60 gold in one dayst year. Dear Lord, he bought all of the most expensive prostitutes in the red-light district and had the time of his life!¡± ¡°It was 80 gold to be exact.¡± The bald man nodded. ¡°That was an amazing night.¡± ¡°You really are insane.¡± The employee cackled. ¡°I¡¯m not joking, Fleur. I no longer have any regrets in life ever since that day. And yet, a greatmission like this ended up appearing. The Goddesses are most definitely watching over me. I¡¯m thinking about opening a weapon shop after taking this opportunity in my hand.¡± ¡°Your dreams are also shrewd. Make bravados like that after ordering some wheat bear, O One-eyed Fabian.¡± The waitress gave a curt farewell with her hand as she walked away. Her orange hair bounced with each step. The bald man turned to face us after she left. ¡°Great as usual. What do you guys think?¡± ¡°What are you referring to?¡± ¡°I¡¯m talking about Fleur. Isn¡¯t she quite charming?¡± The bald man whispered. ¡°A majority of the scoundrels that wander the guildhall have a crush on Fleur. She¡¯s the daughter of a Red Rank adventurer and she¡¯s been doing chores like this ever since her father died. Not only is she well-informed about the life of adventurers, but, as you can see, she¡¯s also pretty. And yet.¡± The man waved his hand side to side. ¡°She is so prideful that she doesn¡¯t sleep with anyone more than once no matter how strong they are. You might be able to sleep with her once if you happen to get along with her, but you¡¯ll never get in bed with her twice. She¡¯s quite the special case.¡± ¡°Oh? You must have slept with her as well, Mr. Fabian.¡± ¡°That was the second greatest night of my life.¡± The bald man pushed the remaining sses of beer toward us. We each received a ss and gave a toast. The beer was lukewarm and tasted bad, but it suited the noisy atmosphere within the guildhall. ¡°That¡¯s also the reason why I¡¯m nning to join those clowns. 500 to 600 gold is enough to immediately start a new life. I have some connections with the city guards here, so it¡¯s possible for me to create a weapon shop. I should be able to take Fleur as my wife then.¡± Gulp gulp, Fabian emptied his ss in one go. ¡°Kuh. Thismission has my dignity as a human and various other happiness on the line. How could I create a flimsy party when all of this is at risk? It¡¯s best to stay calm and pick out the best members the more urgent you are. Skilled adventurers all know this¡­¡­.¡± Fabian looked at me and Jeremi. ¡°And yet, a male and a female are quietly sitting at a table together. While observing the adventurers in the hall. It¡¯s almost as if they¡¯re trying to discern ¡®who¡¯s useful¡¯. And you, Miss. You reek the most.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Jeremi had been smiling brightly ever since Fabian sat down with us. Fabian raised the corners of his mouth. ¡°You give off quite the stench of blood. A smell that only people who have escaped from hell several times can emit ising right from you, Miss. I immediately realized that you guys were probably thinking the same thing as me! You guys weren¡¯t nning to depart until you gathered decentrades¡­¡­. Am I wrong?¡± I took a sip of my beer before speaking. ¡°You are correct, Mr. Fabian. We are looking for ¡®someone¡¯ necessary to us.¡± However, what we were looking for wasn¡¯t arade, but appetizing prey. I smiled quietly. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This was certainly an interesting chapter. It¡¯s stuff like this that makes me wonder if people would actually y Dungeon Attack if it were a real game. It sounds so unforgiving. Welp, nothing else to say. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 214: D-Rank Adventurer Party (6) Chapter 214: D-Rank Adventurer Party (6) Fabian shifted his gaze to me. ¡°Mm. I should also prove that I¡¯m not all talk and that I¡¯m useful as well. I¡¯m a Yellow Rank adventurer in this city. You can confirm this with the guild.¡± He was implicitly asking us for our ranks by revealing his. Yellow adventurers were basically portrayed as D Rank in the game. No color was the lowest rank (F Rank), Green (E Rank), Yellow (D Rank), Orange (C Rank), Red (B Rank), ck (A Rank), and White (S Rank). An absolute majority of the adventurers here were between F and E Rank. ¡°Truly, that is impressive.¡± I nodded. Yellow was enough to confidently call yourself a veteran. There were only a few ck and White ranking adventurers throughout the entire continent anyway. Moreover, those individuals would¡¯ve been recruited into a knight corp or be acting as the leader of a high-ranking mercenary troop. They would¡¯ve basically been promoted up from a life of living at the bottom of the barrel as adventurers. Red was enough to make you the leader of a decent mercenary brigade. It was only natural. It was the same for assassins as well. Let¡¯s say that there¡¯s an assassin who¡¯s capable enough to assassinate a knight with ease. Why would a talent like that stay as an assassin? They would probably quit immediately. They would probably serve a lord somewhere and be their knight. Well, that was only for assassins who didn¡¯t have ve seals on their hearts like Jeremi. Excluding an extremely small minority, the highest rank that an adventurer could realistically reach was Orange. In other words, C Rank. Fabian was D Rank so he may not be the best, but he was still exceptional. I maintained my smile as I spoke. ¡°We traveled here from Orl¨¦ans. We reached Orange qualifications there.¡± ¡°Oh, I really have a good eye for people. Isn¡¯t Orl¨¦ans quite therge city in Frankia?¡± Fabian let out a sound of awe. It may have been the same rank, but qualifications from arge city were more trustworthy than something gained from a small city. However, there wasn¡¯t only awe in Fabian¡¯s eyes. There was also a tinge of doubt. ¡°If it isn¡¯t rude of me to ask, I would like to know why adventurers from a distant city like Orleans came to a remote city like this. We may face life and death situations togetherter on, so please understand why I¡¯m asking this.¡± ¡°Of course I understand. Mr. Fabian, you are aware that there is a war going on in Frankia, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard the rumors.¡± Fabian nodded. ¡°Brittany took over a portion of Paris and Orl¨¦ans was one of the areas they took over. We had a bad feeling that something like this would happen, so we hastily departed. You should also know how adventurers are treated in ces of war, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­We¡¯re the first to be drafted. Aah, I understand now.¡± Fabian stroked his hand over his bald head. From the perspective of mayors, adventurers were a group of people that guaranteed a certain degree of strength that could be utilized immediately. It was almost certain that the adventurers would get forcefully conscripted while being told by the mayors that they would receive citizenship if they manage to perform meritorious deeds. ¡°You came all the way here in order to avoid the draft, huh? Kuku. A little further from here is the ck Mountains, so it¡¯s the perfect ce to escape.¡± ¡°We also happened to know how to speak Teutonic, so we were able to take refuge somehow. And now we were fortunate enough to encounter amission like this during our travels. Hahaha.¡± Fabian¡¯s eyes became cold for a moment. ¡°¡­¡­Teutonic must sound rather crude for a Frank.¡± ¡°No, that is not the case.¡± ¡°Nonsense. You don¡¯t have to be modest. Teutonic is barbaricpared to Frankish. By the way, do you think you could sing me a song that¡¯s trending in Frankia? It¡¯s an opportunity to clean my ears since I¡¯m meeting a Frank.¡± He was doubting whether I was truly originally from Frankia or not, so he was asking me to sing. ¡°Why not?¡± I smiled widely before I began to sing. From Bruno to St. Denis¨DHill of swords stained with tears and blood,I have only walked barefooted. Let us march, sons and daughters of Frankia.Roar with your burning throats,your moment of glory has arrived. From the scarlet castle to Ulm insBoeotia and Nemean.Listen to the enemy¡¯s hellish screams,echo throughout the hills and rivers! Raise the bloodstained gs of war!Raise the bloodstained gs of war! May the enemy¡¯s blood overflowon our nation¡¯s parchednd! It was none other than the song I hadposed myself, so I was able to sing it with ease. I couldn¡¯t remember the exact lyrics, so I adlibbed some parts, but songs were things that always changed as they were passed around. ¡°Wow, you are a great singer!¡± Fabian apuded. I was honestly far from being a great singer, but he was probably reacting like this as a way to apologize for doubting me. The bald, one-eyed adventurer, Fabian, no longer pried into our background. There were many adventurers with tear-jerking stories after all. Fabian bought a total of 12 wheat beers that night and we received them all gratefully. However, Fabian waspletely surprised when I revealed to him that I was a spirit tamer. Spirit tamers were rarer than mages. ¡°Is that true? No, I¡¯m not trying to doubt you. But are you really a spirit tamer?¡± ¡°Of course. Here, let me show you¡­¡­.¡± I discreetly took something out from underneath my coat. It was a low-tier spirit. I had brought several sylphs with me so that I could disguise myself as a spirit tamer. Even now, there were two other sylphstched on to me like sloths as well. ¨C Kya? The sylph sat on my palm and tilted her head. Where is this, Master? It felt like she was asking me this. The sylph wouldn¡¯t understand even if I exined it to her, so I simply stroked her head with my finger. ¨C Kiha, kyaaah~ The spirit clung to my hand and rubbed her cheek against it. How cute! A Demon Lord¡¯s body mostly consists of mana, so they¡¯re very popr with spirits since they can only live in ces with a dense amount of mana. Fabian muttered with his mouth agape as he watched us. ¡°I-It really is¡­¡­a spirit.¡± His jaw was practically touching the floor. I gave him a grin before hastily putting the sylph away in my clothes again. I wanted to y with her more, but this wasn¡¯t the time or ce for that. I¡¯ll y with you a bunch once we¡¯ve wiped out all the adventurers, my sweet pea! Just wait a little longer. ¡°So? Do you trust me now?¡± ¡°Y-Yeah. Of course. How could anyone possibly doubt you when you¡¯ve shown such undeniable proof. Dear God, this is my first time ever meeting a spirit tamer.¡± Fabian brought his ss of beer to his mouth absentmindedly. The ss was empty. He then realized he had done something stupid as he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°To think I would find people as talented as you two. It seems my eye for people hasn¡¯t gonepletely bad yet. I¡¯m almost certain that we¡¯ll seed. I¡¯ll be in your care.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who will be in your care.¡± We both ordered another beer before doing another toast. I wonder if finding a Demon Lord when trying to look forrades made his discerning eye amazing or horrendous. In any case, it didn¡¯t change the fact that it was still impressive¡­¡­. * * * We left the city two dayster. Fabian must¡¯ve prepared a lot during that time as he even had a map to my Demon Lord castle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about getting lost, friends.¡± I was basically being guided to my own home. It was rather humorous, but Jeremi and I were acting like adventurers from a faraway city, so we quietly let him guide us. We stopped at a couple of viges here and there and reached our destination after four days. 6 hills and the 6 viges built on those hills. People from other areas don¡¯t know this, but I¡¯m the ruler of this small kingdom. There were practically no taxes here. Only the families that hadnd were required to send 30% of their ie as taxes, and as a reward for obeying this, I stopped monsters from approaching them¡­¡­. It was heaven for farmers. These people were currently suffering from the sudden swarm of adventurers. ¡°Please, sir! That is our family¡¯s brood hen!¡± ¡°Ah jeez, I said I would buy it. Why are you making a fuss?¡± A group of adventurers took from the families in the viges while only giving them chump change in return. The farmer looked devastated that he was going to lose his brood hen for only a few bronze coins, but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. There were almost 30 adventurers in this vige alone. ¡°Is this not enough? Then why not lend me your daughter for the night.¡± ¡°N-No, this is enough¡­¡­.¡± The farmer held the coins tightly and bowed. The adventurers patted the farmer¡¯s shoulder jokingly as they left. They were probably going to have chicken soup for dinner today. The poption of each vige had decreased once the youngest sons became independent. The smallest pioneering vige only had 50 people while thergest barely had over 90. The civilians could only submit to the violence. Even if these vagrants had only dealt with goblins before, the adventurers were still people who had held swords all their lives. A civil militia would have to step forward to deal with these people. However, the civil militia in my territory had decreased drastically ever since the incident with Riff¡­¡­. ¡°Tsk, the atmosphere here isn¡¯t good at all. Let¡¯s go to another vige.¡± Fabian clicked his tongue. We went to the next vige over, but it had also be a crime-ridden area. Quirinale, Viminale, Esquilino, Capitolino, Aventino, and Celio¡­¡­all of these ces were bustling with adventurers. All 6 viges were suffering due to the pestering from the outsiders. ¡°Damn it, only a bunch of scoundrels have gathered! I knew this would happen. These shitty greenhorns.¡± Fabian let out an annoyed shout as we had ended up traveling through my territory for half a day. He spat on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s because of those bastards that people treat adventurers like vagrants! They have no obligations or moral principles. They have no idea that they¡¯re pouring mud all over our field of work.¡± ¡°None of the viges have inns. We¡¯ll have to sleep outside.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯d be foolish to not rest properly before entering a Demon Lord¡¯s castle.¡± Fabian shook his head. ¡°We have no choice but to ask someone to let us stay the night.¡± ¡°Hm. That would make us no different from those other adventurers.¡± ¡°What do you take me for? I¡¯m obviously going to pay a lodging fee. Let¡¯s meet at the entrance of the vige in the morning.¡± Fabian grumbled as he walked off somewhere. I feel bad for him, but Jeremi and I already have a ce to stay. I headed to the entrance of the vige with familiar steps. The house that used to belong to a hunter was now the vige chief¡¯s home. I knocked on the door. A man¡¯s voice came from the other side. ¡°Aah! If you¡¯re an adventurer, then fuck off! If you¡¯re a viger then fuck off even more! Not only am I not going to give you guys a ce to stay, but I don¡¯t intend to chase the adventurers in your homes out either!¡± I chuckled. ¡°Parsi, it¡¯s me. Your great ruler whom you take such pride in.¡± ¡°Ah geez!¡± The sound of things falling over could be heard from inside before the door soon opened. The person with the most aged eyes in the vige was here, Parsi. ¡°I thought my balls would shrink waiting for you toe, Your Highness!¡± ¡°Why are you acting up already when it has only been a few days?¡± ¡°The vige has flipped more than 10 times during those few days. Hurry and enter.¡± I asked Parsi a question as I let him guide me inside. ¡°All right, are the vigers a bit upset because of those adventurers?¡± ¡°A bit? Did you say a bit just now? Don¡¯t even say that. They¡¯re basically screaming that they would rather go out shoving their balls in their eye sockets than let those adventurers take advantage of them.¡± ¡°In other words.¡± I sat down andughed. ¡°Things are going very well.¡± Parsi let out a deep sigh. ¡°Yeah. Damn it, everything is proceeding just as Your Highness had nned.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, nothing much toment about this chapter. The temperature had suddenly dropped by like 15 Celsius in the span of 3 days, so that¡¯s something. I thought the mosquitos would be gone because it became colder, but nope, I¡¯m still catching about 2 mosquitos every day in my room. True suffering, that¡¯s what this is. Please go away you dang bloodsuckers. Mosquito rant aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 215: D-Rank Adventurer Party (7) Chapter 215: D-Rank Adventurer Party (7) Out of the 6 vige chiefs, only Parsi knew about my n. The n was to gather a bunch of adventurers. The non-local delinquents came and made a mess. The viges had to endure this unfair treatment since theycked a civil militia. They couldn¡¯t take care of this by themselves, so they had to borrow someone else¡¯s strength. ¡­¡­The vigers looked around to see who could help them and realized they had to reach out to their lord, Demon Lord Dantalian. ¡°What did the other vige chiefs say to you?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even ask. They kept asking me to talk to the Demon Lord and make a request even when I told them that I couldn¡¯t¡­¡­Jeez. I¡¯m sick of it already.¡± Parsi rubbed his face with his hands. There were clear signs of exhaustion around his eyes. Parsi was mostly known as my aide. The other vige chiefs all rushed to Parsi since they knew they had to get to the horse first before the general. He wasn¡¯t just a vige chief. Thendowners from each vige¨Dthey were naturally targeted by the adventurer parties the most, so they were being piged the most¨Drushed to Parsi¡¯s ce as fast as possible and even the normal vigers also came to ask him to talk to His Highness the Demon Lord. ¡°Ah, I kept telling them that I couldn¡¯t do anything, but they must have dog shit in their ears.¡± ¡°Yeah. You must have had it rough.¡± But what can he do? He¡¯s probably going to have to work even harder from now on. I was going to cherry-pick talented people from Frankia in order to lessen his burden¡­¡­but I can¡¯t get anywhere near them now after gettingpletely defeated by Henrietta. Haha. Recruitingpetent people here isn¡¯t as easy as it was in the game. I¡¯m not entirely a bad person, though. I brought people who could be raised to fill that part. ¡°Have you met Daisy and Luke?¡± ¡°¡­¡­The young siblings? Of course I know them. I brought them to their parents.¡± ¡°Bring them with you to the next vige meeting.¡± Daisy was a given, but Luke also had a good head on his shoulders. Jeremi had tutored them for only a month, but not only could they read Frankian, but they could splendidly understand the Ancient Empirenguage as well. They will probably be skilled at Habsburgian soon as well. However, Parsi looked doubtful. ¡°What do you want me to do with a couple of kids?¡± ¡°I intend to raise those two like attendants. They will probablye in contact with the viges in my stead. I need them to start learning about the livelihood within the viges.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Well, if that¡¯s what you want, Parsi remarked with a shrug. ¡°But that little girl isn¡¯t very dainty. Sheesh, I¡¯m not sure if I should tell Your Highness about something like this.¡± ¡°Hm? Did something happen?¡± ¡°I let them stay at my ce for a night. The boy must¡¯ve had to take a dump or something since he went outside in the middle of the night. That woke me up. I¡¯m a rather light sleeper, so even the smallest movement can wake me.¡± Parsi furrowed his brows. ¡°But I started to hear a strange sound. I thought I was being haunted by a ghost or something, but that wasn¡¯t the case. When I listened carefully, I found out the sound wasing from where the girl was sleeping. I was really surprised. She was masturbating!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I went silent. I felt my sweat flow down my forehead. ¡°Y-You probably heard wrong.¡± ¡°My ears may be bad, but do you think I¡¯d get confused by the sound of masturbating? Sheesh, she probably doesn¡¯t even have any hair down there, and yet she was panting obscenely¡­¡­. She may be young, but that isn¡¯t something you should do while you¡¯re a guest at someone else¡¯s ce.¡± Parsi clicked his tongue. ¡°I¡¯m telling Your Highness this because you said you were nning to raise her. I don¡¯t have a great opinion of her because of that incident. I would be grateful if Your Highness gave her a proper lesson about etiquetteter on. You aren¡¯t going to let her continue her perverted antics, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Indeed. You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll give her a firm talking to.¡± I¡¯m the culprit who had forced that perverse behavior onto her, Parsi. More importantly, isn¡¯t Luke the problem!? Seeing as how he goes out in the middle of the night to masturbate, he was clearly addicted to the slime onahole. The 11-year-old boy has be infatuated by the slime¡¯s sensation. He has no idea that the inside of the onahole is a replica of a certain someone. I give my sympathy to Daisy who was being mistaken for a pervert because of her older brother¡¯s libido. Of course, I only offered her my sympathy in my mind. ¡°Well then. I guess it¡¯s time to give the other vige chiefs a response.¡± I quickly changed the topic. Parsi didn¡¯t seem to notice as he nodded. ¡°They¡¯re all waiting with anticipation for your response like horses in a rut, so they¡¯lle running if Your Highness calls for them.¡± ¡°My position is clear and simple. This is my ordinance.¡± In essence, there was only one contract made between me and the viges. They acknowledged me as their ruler as long as I protected them from monsters. This gave me the obligation to manage the monsters within my territory like the goblins while the vigers were given the obligation to not betray me and give a report whenever they decided to reim morend. ¨DThere was no line in the contract that said ¡®I will protect you from humans¡¯. Adventurer parties were wreaking havoc in the viges, but what did that have to do with me? Adventurers aren¡¯t monsters. Demon Lord Dantalian has no reason to get involved if other humans decide to pige or even ughter them. I continued. ¡°Give them these exact words. This situation is outside the bounds of our contract. Demon Lords are beings that rule over monsters, so how am I supposed to stop the intrusion of humans? Human matters should be handled by other humans.¡± The viges had already betrayed me twice. The first time was when Riff¡¯s party invaded. Only the viges that didn¡¯t betray me survived. They should know very well what I did to traitors. It was highly unlikely that they would decide to team up with the adventurers and try to plunder my castle as well. The second time was when the vige chiefs embezzled. I had generously forgiven them for this. The vigers understand this as well. If they have any shame, then they wouldn¡¯t ask me to ¡®chase away the adventurers for free¡¯. A business transaction was the only option left between me and the vigers now. ¡°If you decide to leave human matters to me as well, then¡­¡­it would only be appropriate for me to rule you all like a king as this would mean that you would be appointing me as one. Be faithful to ourws. If youmit a crime, then you must go and receive judgment from the elders of another vige. In return, I will guarantee youplete protection.¡± Parsi smiled wryly. ¡°I will tell them.¡± The farmers here were conservatives, so they didn¡¯t ept new policies. Therefore, I made it so that the farmers saw the new policy as a ¡®deal with strings attached¡¯. If you promise to receive your trials at another vige, then, oh my? His Highness the Demon Lord will promise to protect you. What a deal! I wasn¡¯t even asking them to pay more taxes. I wasn¡¯t telling them to be soldiers and fight for me either. They were simply being told to receive their trials from the people of power at other viges¡­¡­. This will practically feel free to them. The truth was different. This was no different from them giving up on their judicial power autonomously. It was unlikely that they would consider a political concept like judicial power when they were currently being harassed by adventurers. I had injected them with a poison called adventurers to cure them of their conservativeness. The vigers were having their things plundered while being cured. There might be a few families whose daughters were raped by adventurers. I carry out notorious schemes like this not only to my enemies but to my own people as well¡­¡­. I went beyond being a foolish ruler and wasparable to a tyrant. No, a malicious lord would probably be the more appropriate term. Barbatos said that I should be a monarch, but this was the only way I knew how to rule people. ¡°But Parsi, you¡¯re also rather sly.¡± ¡°What are you saying all of a sudden?¡± Parsi tilted his head. Did he really not know? Or was he acting? It didn¡¯t matter either way. I was confident that I could like Parsi¡¯s character regardless. If it was the former, then his blind naivety. If it was thetter, then his dirty underhandedness. Those were both traits that I valued. ¡°Is a vige chief not a position that should protect the assets and customs of their people by any means necessary? You have basically lost sight of your duty and have sworn your loyalty to me. Between duty to your people and duty to your lord, you have chosen thetter. Why is that?¡± I smiled coldly. ¡°Do you think my side has more value than your people? Do you intend to be my loyal retainer before being a vige chief?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not worry, Parsi. I¡¯m not trying to berate you. You have always been loyal to me. I am simply curious. I want to know what you are thinking and what your true intentions are. Please be honest.¡± Parsi¡¯splexion settled down as he responded in an offhanded manner. ¡°Well, to be honest, I don¡¯t feel any sort of loyalty to Your Highness. I didn¡¯t group up with Riff¡¯s party and I stepped forward to deal with those vige chiefs when they were fucking around. In other words, there¡¯s not a lot of things that can get me down. But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°It was when I met Your Highness for the very first time.¡± His tone became t. He spoke with a voice that somehow sounded young, old, and middle-aged all at the same time. ¡°Do you remember? I had lost my father at that time, so I had just be the vige chief. There were other people who could¡¯ve be the chief, but they were all so afraid of Riff that they forced the job on a young kid like me.¡± ¡°Ah, I remember.¡± Parsi was rude since our first meeting. However, he had a way with words despite his rudeness, so he knew how to consider his own gains while also not disregarding the other party. He was born with a knack for politics. ¡°Do you remember why my father died?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Was it not because he refused to cooperate with Riff¡¯s party? That is how I recall it.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Parsi nodded. ¡°But it is actually a bit moreplicated than that. My father tried to lead an assault on Riff with the other vigers. Mm. He was going to pretend as if he were weing Riff¡¯s party and take them out in one fell swoop.¡± ¡°I see.¡± This was the first time I had heard about this. Wasn¡¯t he just as splendid as his son? ¡°Just as he had nned, the adventurers made their way deep into our vige. My father then gave the order. ¡®Attack! Attack!¡¯, he shouted.¡± ¡°Splendid. What happened next?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Parsi cackled. ¡°The other vigers had be frozen in fear once they actually saw the adventurers before them. They didn¡¯t move even after my father gave them the order. Nothing happened. My father basically ended up shouting by himself in front of 20 adventurers.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It was almost scary how fast that Riff bastard figured out what had happened.¡± Riff immediately swung his axe once he grasped the situation. Parsi¡¯s father wasn¡¯t able to retaliate properly as his head was done in by an axe because he was so shocked by the other vigers¡¯ betrayal. Parsi had apparently witnessed everything from start to finish. This was probably why Parsi was able to turn away from his duty as vige chief. ¡°¡­¡­Is that so.¡± Parsi nodded his head indifferently. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± I took out a tobo pipe and passed it to Parsi after lighting it. Parsi received the pipe without a word and took a long puff. The silent smoke flowed between us. He passed the pipe back to me and I naturally blew more smoke into the air as well. I knew that this was Parsi¡¯s way of giving a ceremonial service to his father in the sky. A human without a scar didn¡¯t exist. That was obvious. That was why I could only respond with ¡®is that so¡¯ and Parsi could only say ¡®that¡¯s right¡¯ in return. That¡¯s just how it was. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We¡¯re finally getting a bit more backstory on Parsi, huh? It¡¯s truly sad that he isn¡¯t another waifu, but Dantalian does need a guy pal. I wonder if he would¡¯ve ever appeared in the LN. Considering the actions Dant took in the LN, it seems highly unlikely. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 216: D-Rank Adventurer Party Chapter 216: D-Rank AdventurerParty I looked up at the smoke. ¡°A certain wise man once said¡­¡­happy people mostly look the same while unfortunate people all have their own respective differences.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, that line simply came to my head even though I have never thought about it since the first time I read it a few years ago. A person¡¯s memory is a rather mysterious thing.¡± When was it? Did I hear it during one of my 1st-year college sses? It was only a few years ago, but it felt like a distant memory now¡­¡­. It was definitely the first line in Tolstoy¡¯s novel . I didn¡¯t think much about it at the time and simply skimmed over it, but I was now remembering a line that was nothing more than ck letters on a white page. It was probably because I was only surrounded by broken people. The half-breed between a demon and a human, Lapis. Laura who was sold as a ve by her family. Jeremi who was forced to live a life as an assassin since a young age¡­¡­. And now Parsi who was forced to be the vige chief after his father¡¯s death. These were the states in which all the people who could be called my vassals were in. Parsi didn¡¯t be the vige chief because he wanted to and bing an assassin wasn¡¯t Jeremi¡¯s decision either. Laura naturally didn¡¯t be a sex ve because she wanted to as well. Lapis wouldn¡¯t have wanted to be born as a half-breed either. These people were all forced into unfortunate situations despite having done nothing wrong. Wasn¡¯t this unfair? ¡°¡­¡­.¡± We spent the night at Parsi¡¯s ce. There was no problem if I didn¡¯t sleep for several days, so I sat on a window sill and thought to myself while smoking. ¡®It would be fine if one were to be unfortunate because they had done something wrong.¡¯ They could repent and reflect on what they did wrong so it doesn¡¯t happen again. By doing so, they might be able to be happy. But what were people who had done nothing wrong but were still in unfortunate situations supposed to do? They have nothing to repent about and no one to ask for forgiveness. It was the world that was in the wrong, not them. Therefore, they have the right to get revenge on the world. Misfortune was unfairly forced upon them, so it was now their turn to force unfairness onto the world. We are individuals of condensed malice and our malice has been approved of by the world. I¡¯m a Demon Lord. Kings are people that carry out the wishes of their subjects. As a Demon Lord, I will carry out my vassals¡¯ revenge. Indiscriminate revenge. ¡®Barbatos, this is my principle of royalty.¡¯ It probably seems absolutely filthypared to your principle of carrying out the dreams of demonkind as a whole. But this is the only method we have. Would you be able to understand this, girl with great pride? The night flowed by quietly. * * * ¡°Oh, did you sleep well?¡± I met up with Fabian the next morning. It wasn¡¯t only Fabian that was here at the vige¡¯s entrance. There was a rowdy group of 20 adventurers gathered here as well. They were a party that hade here from the city to invade Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. ¡°I was, fortunately, able to get a ce to sleep. How about you, Mr. Fabian? Did you sleep well?¡± ¡°Damn it. I ended up sleeping in a stable even though I paid a lot for lodging. The vigers here seem to gnash their teeth just at the thought of adventurers.¡± Fabian scratched his bald head. ¡°They seemed to at least have a conscience, though, since they gave me fresh hay to use as a nket. It wasn¡¯t that bad. It¡¯s better than using air as a pillow, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Of course¡­¡­. But there seems to be a lot of people here. Is this some sort of appointment time?¡± I looked around. Fabian seemed surprised by my response as he spoke. ¡°Have you never participated in arge party before?¡± ¡°Yes. I have mostly been in parties of 5 or 10.¡± ¡°Aha, I see. So this is your first time.¡± Fabian smiled slyly. ¡°You¡¯ll understand soon enough. Have a look at what happens when over a hundred adventurers gather.¡± Shortly after, dozens of adventurers started to move on their own. Once a party took the lead and went forward, the others slowly followed behind them. Jeremi and I walked while chatting in the Ancient Empire Language. However, this wasn¡¯t happening only in the vige that we had stayed in. We started to see more and more adventurer groups like ours to our left and right the closer we got to the Demon Lord castle. Once the groups gathered, the number of adventurers skyrocketed from 20 to 100 in an instant. ¡°Hoo.¡± We eventually arrived at the entrance where there was already a queue of adventurers. Just from a nce, there were probably about 150 people. Fabian spoke up beside me once I stared at the spectacle in awe. ¡°When this many adventurers gather like this, then they gather at a specific time and go in together. They don¡¯t n this beforehand, but it¡¯s like an unwritten rule.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°You have a higher survival ratepared to when you go in alone.¡± Fabian shrugged his shoulders. ¡°We don¡¯t know what monsters live in the Demon Lord castle and what kinds of traps there are, after all. Everyone is basically hoping that another party will trigger the traps for them. It¡¯s like a type of meat shield.¡± I see. It was simple but effective. They weren¡¯t expecting anything like unity from the other parties. Another person acting as bait was more than good enough. I didn¡¯t know this since only small-sized parties appeared in the game. ¡°Would it not be disadvantageous the further ahead you are? I feel as if everyone would want to goter.¡± ¡°Keke. You¡¯re right, but thepetition also increases the further back you are.¡± It was dangerous to go first, but the reward was high. That was what he was saying. ¡°Demon Lord castles overflow with mana. Demons that live by consuming that mana¡­¡­their skin is sturdy and firm, so you can sell them to merchants and you can sell their bones to mage guilds. They¡¯re all money.¡± ¡°Go to Demon Lord castles if you want to make a lot of money, but if you care about your safety, then don¡¯t go first¡­¡­.¡± Fabian nodded. ¡°In the end, people who are confident in their skills will go first. It¡¯s also a matter of pride, you know? News about a certain party going in earlier than another group or falling behind another group will immediately affect their reputation. Look over there.¡± Fabian pointed to the entrance. There were adventurers standing there who were clearly distinguishable from the rest of the rabble. Some of them were wearing high-quality leather armor while others even had chainmail on. They were probably at least D rank adventurers. They were all fidgeting while keeping an eye on each other. ¡°Daedalus the Gust, Myriel the Crazy, Poison Crow Diethard¡­¡­. All of the somewhat reputable fellows have gathered here. If you exclude the ones who went off to war, they¡¯re the next best in line. Hm, those guys definitely have a lot of issues with each other.¡± It¡¯s surprising that no one has taken their sword out yet, Fabianmented casually. ¡°Well, it¡¯ll be settled soon.¡± It was as he said. An adventurer who was built like a mountain took the first step. A group of adventurers followed behind him one by one as they walked through the entrance. Once they departed, the other adventurers who were ring at each other quickly turned away and shouted. ¡°We¡¯re going as well!¡± ¡°Pull yourselves together!¡± Everyone swarmed forward once a single person made the first move. Scouts took the lead¨Dthey were mostly forest rangers and hunters¨Das they ran in first. They didn¡¯t n anything beforehand, but the scouts cooperated with each other as they moved together like a scouting party. Fabian seemed displeased as he scrunched up his nose. ¡°Hmph. Daedalus is really heated up. He¡¯s definitely going to die first.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee that he will die.¡± ¡°Quite, but there is also no guarantee that he will survive, right?¡± Fabian cackled. We were also swept up by the people around us as we entered the Demon Lord castle. Different from the sunlight outside, the inside of the dungeon was filled with a blue light that was emanating from the mana stones. It became awkward for the adventurers who had brought torches in case the dungeon was dark. Fabian had also brought a torch, but he murmured in surprise. ¡°This ce is a lot more abundant with mana than I expected. At the very least, we won¡¯t have to go back because we¡¯ve run out of torches.¡± ¡°Is that a good thing?¡± ¡°It¡¯s both good and bad. The good thing is the fact that we won¡¯t have to rely on damn torches¡­¡­. Hey, you fucker! Keep your distance!¡± Fabian suddenly stopped exining and shouted at the people behind us. The adventurers who were right behind us had bumped into him. Fabian exchanged a few swear words with them for a while before they nonchntly distanced themselves. ¡°Sheesh. There¡¯s no room to swing your sword if people are clustered together too much. We¡¯ll all just die in one big clump. Seriously, these kids are way too impatient¡­¡­. Mm, how far did I exin?¡± ¡°The bad thing about a Demon Lord castle having a lot of mana.¡± ¡°Ah, right. The bad thing. It¡¯s simple.¡± Fabian shrugged. ¡°If there¡¯s a lot of mana, then a lot of monsters will live here as well. It¡¯s obvious. You could also interpret this as there being a lot more things to hunt for money.¡± ¡°¨DAnd it also means we could end up as the prey.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Fabian grinned. At that moment, we heard shoutinge from ahead of us. The sound of metal and shouting resonated as it bounced off the cavern walls. Someone shouted ¡°Goblins!¡±. It seems the first group that had gone in had encountered monsters. The uproar soon came to a stop. The adventurers must have dealt with the goblins with ease. ¡°It mustn¡¯t have been an impressive monster. No one shouted about running away. Well, it isn¡¯t surprising since we¡¯re still at the entrance. I have a good feeling about this.¡± We continued to walk like this for about 10 minutes in this mood. The number of adventurer parties diminished as time passed. It wasn¡¯t because they were getting done in by monsters. There were forked roads inside the dungeon. The tunnel forked into three different paths. The parties split down the path of their choice. ¡°¡­¡­Hmm.¡± Fabian paused in front of the forked path. Did he realize there was no point in contemting? Fabian chose the right path which a majority of the other groups had also taken. We encountered another forked road a short bitter. This time it split into only two different paths. The other adventurers paused for a moment once they reached this second forked road. They were worried about their numbers diminishing, but the path had also be too narrow for 50 people to fit in. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The adventurers split up once more. We went down the right path. Our party which had departed rtivelyter than the other groups ended up getting closer to the front as the people in front of us had disappeared. We walked for about another 10 minutes like that. This time the adventurers came to aplete stop. Before long, therge crowd that started with 150 adventurers had shrunk down to 20. They had stopped in one spot and were looking at each other anxiously. Fabian muttered to himself. ¡°¡­¡­This is a bit worrying.¡± There was another forked road in front of them and the paths were a bit narrower than before. If the adventurers split into smaller groups again, then the groups will go from 20 to 10. They would basically be bing the same size as normal, small-scale parties. It wasn¡¯t surprising that the adventurers who were confident because of their numbers would be reluctant to split up now. Fabian spoke out to the hesitating adventurers. ¡°Hey, how about we work together here? It might be packed, but I think it would be better if we all went down one tunnel.¡± The other adventurers must¡¯ve also felt anxious about splitting up as they agreed with Fabian. Everyone maintained a fair bit of distance between each other as they went into the right tunnel one by one. They didn¡¯t know where they were going. These people had no idea that this was a ¡®beta test¡¯ for my new Demon Lord Castle. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not too much to say about this chapter. I wonder what fate lies in wait for these adventurers. How is Dantalian going to cook them alive? Haha, I totally don¡¯t know what¡¯s going to happen :^). On another note, I¡¯ve been ying FFXIV again. I just sort of idle in the game while I trante/do other things. If you¡¯re in Primal, feel free toe by and say hi. I go by Chint Cake in Hyperion. Please don¡¯t question my naming choice. Chapter 217: D-Rank Adventurer Party (9) Chapter 217: D-Rank Adventurer Party (9) * * * War hero. There were heroes who were called that in the past. Bai Qi of the Qing Dynasty had ughtered more than one and a half million enemy soldiers. Han Xin made an enemy nation fall into ruins by wiping out an army of 100,000 with only a rabble of 20,000 soldiers. War heroes were people who carried out wars that went beyondmon sense like this. ¡°It seems the goblin scouts have discovered the enemy.¡± Laura got up. This very girl was fated to be a war hero in this world. Laura de Farnese. She was born in a duke household within the Kingdom of Sardinia and ends up bing a sex ve, but after about a decade of gnashing her teeth with vexation, she murders her master with her own two hands. Afterward, she is taken in by Queen Henrietta who has a good eye for talent. She proceeds to climb up the chain ofmand within their military while having a secret rtionship with the Queen. The Queen¡¯s subordinates disregard Laura because they know that she was only appointed by orders from above. However, Laura de Farnese manages to take out Habsburg¡¯s army of 60,000 with only 20,000 soldiers. She starts to obtain overwhelming victories with men that had been inferior to the enemy. If the hero didn¡¯t appear, then Laura would¡¯ve probably remained as an undefeated general. The hero who destroys strategies with tactics and tactics with duels. Only a nightmarish human weapon was able to fight back against Laura de Farnese. And, no one knows of this yet, but that very hero was currently under the care of Dantalian. ¡°We will now divide and conquer the adventurers.¡± There was no one who could stop Laura de Farnese now. She was wearing a thin dress that looked like sleepwear. Rather than wearing it, it felt more like she just had it draped over her. There was more bare skin than skin covered by the white piece of cloth. The girl who was going from 17 years old to 18 years old had a body that was as radiant as a bouquet. Adventurers had asionally invaded during Dantalian¡¯s several months of absence. Every time they did, Laura wouldmand the goblins that had just started to migrate to the dungeon and repel the invaders with ease. About forty adventurers had be corpses on the cavern floor. Laura collected the forty skulls separately and piled them up in a corner of the Demon Lord room. It was a terrible hobby for a girl to have, but Laura would clean the skulls with a towel whenever she was free. The adventurers weren¡¯t aware of two things. First, the Demon Lord castle being of the lowest grade was already in the distant past. Second, every single adventurer that had invaded was ughtered brutally, so no one was able to report that the Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle had an increase in rank. As a price for that ignorance, Laura was now going to gain an additional 150 skulls in her personal collection. ¡°Blingy, I will be in your care today as well.¡± -Kerurk. Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s first monster, the low-ranking goblin nodded his head. This goblin was in charge of acting as Laura¡¯s envoy to deliver orders to the monster soldiers. Laura spoke. ¡°First, we will take care of the adventurers that have entered area Alpha 31. Stop them with our 3rd goblin toon. Afterward, retreat back to Alpha 11 and ambush them together with the ambush team.¡± ¨C Keruk. Blingy gave a firm salute. Blingy proceeded to pass the orders down through a magic orb. There were 18 magic orbs lined up on a table. An endless stream of status reports came in while Laura sat silently and drew the battle out in her head. This was Laura¡¯s headquarters. She was sitting at the entrance of the Demon Lord room and giving orders to the troops throughout the dungeon. She was unable to see the areas directly and thenguage wall prevented her from giving her orders straight to the monsters. Despite these two major shorings, Laura de Farnese continued to give orders without hesitation. ¡°The adventurers in area Alpha 23 should have been repelled by now. 2nd toon, immediately make your way to Alpha 12.¡± ¡°The adventurers in area Gamma 13 are not moving. They may be aiming for a prolonged battle, but attack them from both ends of the tunnel and wipe them out.¡± ¡°Chase down the adventurers that are running away from Beta 12. However, do not wipe them out and only pursue them. We will be making them join together with the adventurers at Beta 24. Force them into a state of chaos.¡± The orders were being given so fast that it was a struggle for Blingy to pass them all down in time. There was a dungeon map spread out in front of Laura, but she didn¡¯t even look at it. She had a clear picture of the current battle in her head. There wasn¡¯t only a map in the corner of her head, but a number as well. It was the approximate number of the adventurers that were still alive. The number would decrease by the tens whenever Laura gave a new order. The number that started at 150 slowly decreased to 140, 130, 110, and so on. Laura¡¯s eyes remained shut as she subtracted from that number indifferently. That nonorganic number was soaked in the blood and screams of adventurers. The adventurer parties were confident at first because they had arge number of people. They had more than enough manpower for a dungeon that was supposed to be the lowest grade. Theyughed confidently as they dealt with groups of two to three goblins every now and then. When they came out from a narrow passageway and into an open area, the adventurers were happy as they thought they would finally be able to have a decent fight. There were about a dozen goblins in the open space. They could take care of them without incurring any losses as long as they didn¡¯t lower their guards. Sure enough, the goblins started to flee after being pushed back for about five minutes. ¡°They¡¯re running! Chase after them!¡± ¡°Today¡¯s the day we make bank!¡± The party of 10 pursued the goblins energetically. Monsters would instinctively run to the center of the dungeon. If they followed the goblins, then they would be able to go straight to the Demon Lord room without getting lost. After a few minutes of pursuit, the party arrived at another open area. It was right when they thought they only had to push the goblins back a little further. Goblins started pouring out from another passage connected to the open area. The adventurers panicked because of the sudden ambush. A few of the humans even got cut down because they couldn¡¯t react in time to the unexpected situation. ¡°Don¡¯t falter! They¡¯re still nothing but goblins!¡± The leader of the party shouted. They managed to create a slightly awkward defense formation. It was hard for goblins to get through their defenses since they were smaller than humans. However, once a fireball came flying at the adventurers from the goblins on the side, the party fell into great disarray. ¡°M-Magic?¡± ¡°The goblins are using magic!¡± One monster was holding a staff and being defended by a bunch of goblins. It was a that could be hired once Demon Lord Rank D was reached. They were a unit that cost 1,000 gold each, but Dantalian poured in arge sum with no reservation. ¡°No way¡­¡­I-Isn¡¯t this dungeon supposed to have the lowest ranking!?¡± ¡°What have the evaluators been doing!?¡± The effectiveness of the investment was clear. The adventurers¡¯ morale dropped exponentially once they realized there was a magic caster among the monsters. The people of this era were extremely afraid of beings that could control magic ording to their will. The goblin shaman could only cast fireballs, but once an unlucky person got hit by the fireball and caught on fire, the other adventurers¡¯ will to fight was brought down. Most of them were rookie adventurers who didn¡¯t have much sense of camaraderie anyway. They ran away without any hesitation. ¡°Those idiots! We¡¯ll all die if you run away now! We¡¯re all going to die!¡± The leader of the party shouted at them. They had used up a lot of their stamina pursuing the goblins. How far could they possibly go if they started to run now? Goblins may be small, but they have great stamina. If the adventurers run away like that, then they were definitely going to get caught by the goblins and killed! It¡¯d be better to just charge at the shaman even if it meant life or death. ¡°¨DGuaaaaah!¡± The party leader opened his mouth to tell them this, but the only thing that came out of his throat was a scream. A fireball had enveloped him. The party leader immediately rolled on the ground, but the fire grew more intense rather than die down. ¡°H-Help me! I don¡¯t want to die!¡± The leader reached his hand out to his fellow party members. Even his hand was on fire. The adventurers¡¯ faces grew pale as they witnessed this horrendous sight and the individuals who were still maintaining the defensive formation ran away. The leader let out a terrible scream as the others ran down the tunnel they hade from. ¡°You¨Dsons of bitches, after all¨DI¡¯ve done for you!¡± The mes eventually burned his mouth and throat to the point where his screams were no longer coherent. Shortly after, only the sound of a corpse burning could be heard within the cavern. Keruk! Keraruk! The goblins let out a cry as they chased after the stragglers. The quietly burning corpse was all that was left in the open area now. These kinds of situations happened all throughout the dungeon. Laura de Farnese carefully lured the adventurers into the deep areas of the dungeon before using the terrain tounch an ambush. Being ambushed and the appearance of a goblin shaman afterward was enough to make the parties run away with their tails between their legs. Laura gave orders to the monster units at the perfect moment every single time. Out of the 13 ambushes, she never got the timing wrong even once. The goblins felt as if they had be the limbs of a single body and experienced almost no losses as they ughtered the adventurers. This was an impressive aplishment if you consider the fact that normally 2 to 3 goblins would die in order to kill one adventurer. An hour went by like this. ¡°Are there 50 left now?¡± Before long, the number in Laura¡¯s head had shrunk down to 50. A hundred adventurers had been ughtered in roughly an hour. On the other hand, out of the 200 goblins, only 20 of them had died in battle. The ratio was 1:5. The 18-year-old girl who had sent the intruders to Hell in the most efficient way possible simply stretched as a way to show that she was pleased with herself. ¡°Hnnng-.¡± Just as she was stretching, another report arrived through a magic orb saying that an additional 30 adventurers had been killed. ¡°Now only the adventurers with His Lordship are left. Good work.¡± Laura patted Blingy¡¯s head. Blingy was currentlypletely exhausted after having passed down Laura¡¯s orders nonstop. Once the girl patted him gently, Blingy forgot about his exhaustion as he purred like some cat. ¡°His Lordship really is weird. He could have left everything to this youngdy, and yet he decided to join the adventurers because he wanted to see it for himself.¡± ¨C Keruru, ruk. ¡°It is because he is earnest? Hm. Blingy, you are way too blinded by His Lordship.¡± Laura responded tly. Blingy started to jump up and down in anger once she did. ¨C Karururuk! ¡°O-Okay. Okay. His Lordship is an earnest person. This youngdy misspoke. I apologize.¡± ¨C Kiruru. Blingy gave a satisfied nod. Laura was fairly familiar with thenguage of goblins. She couldn¡¯t use it fluently, but she was at least able to grasp what the other party was trying to say. It wasn¡¯t like she had particrly studied theirnguage. She just happened to learn it naturally after spending time with them for a while. She was bing one of the extremely few people within humanity who knew how to speak with goblins. With a little more time, she will probably be able tomand the goblins with kerurus and keruras. ¡°Then I will be giving my final orders. All units in Alpha move to Alpha 4. If you discover an adventurer that managed to run away, then kill them immediately. All units in Beta move to Beta 0 and all Gamma units set up ambushes at Gamma 11 and Gamma 12.¡± Soon after, the sound of affirming keruks came from 18 magic spheres all at the same time. The goblin shamans received their orders and moved the units under theirmand ordingly. Laura disyed a content smile. ¡°Mm, these sorts of things are more suited for this youngdy than things likews. No matter how much Big Sis Lapis disregards me, generally speaking, every vassal has their own use. Big Sis Lapis is good at internal affairs and this youngdy is good at military affairs. This is a splendid distribution of work.¡± She muttered to herself and nodded. ¡°This youngdy is not stupid. Yup, this youngdy is not stupid.¡± Laura de Farnese was one day going to be a war hero and be renowned as humanity¡¯s nightmare. She was more afraid of a single half-blood subus than 150 rugged adventurers¡­¡­. *** AUTHOR¡¯S AFTERWORD The yer character in Dungeon Attack has a ¡®lust¡¯ parameter. This value goes up over time and if you don¡¯t take care of it ordingly, then you could receive a debuff during battles. The chances of being afflicted by ¡®charm¡¯ and ¡®excitement¡¯ increase as well. The game is already difficult anyway, but if you receive these kinds of debuffs, then all hope is lost, so yers have to do whatever they can to lower their lust value. The problem is the fact that you can¡¯t conquer a heroine¡¯s route until thest portion of the game. In other words, yers have no choice but to click the ¡®Go to a brothel¡¯mand¡­¡­. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This afterword from the author would¡¯ve probably been better on the chapter where the brothels and stuff were initially brought up. On another note, I think I mentioned it before, but thest few chapters of this segment have been really enjoyable to trante. It¡¯s pretty satisfying, so I hope you guys look forward to them. Halloween is alsoing up. What do most people usually do outside of trick-or-treating or watching scary movies? I¡¯ve been a part of thetter. I sort of enjoy just watching a bunch horror movies even if they¡¯re B-rated. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 218: D-Rank Adventurer Party (10) Chapter 218: D-Rank Adventurer Party (10) * * * Fabian naturally became the leader of our party that had increased to 20 members. Our progress to capture the dungeon was going smoothly. It was sort of embarrassing to say that we were capturing the dungeon. The biggest obstacle we had faced so far had been 3 to 4 goblins. We overwhelmed them with both our numbers and overall strength. The adventurers had forgotten about how they had panicked after facing consecutive forks in the road and were now chatting about how silly it was that they got scared and that this really was a low-ranking dungeon. However, I was able to tell. ¡®They were all young goblins. Tsk tsk¡­¡­.¡¯ Humans can¡¯t really tell a monster¡¯s age. It¡¯s especially difficult since the bodies of monsters grow to their full size when they¡¯re still young. However, their cries are slightly different. As a Demon Lord, I could tell just by their faces whether they were young or old. ¡®These were probably monsters that didn¡¯t hear the evacuation notice and couldn¡¯t get away in time.¡¯ How unfortunate. There were monster settlements beyond thebyrinth walls. All of the goblins that lived around the Demon Lord castle had immigrated here. They would normally live in the empty spaces at the end of tunnels, but they would make their way out through the hidden tunnels whenever adventurers invaded like the current situation. I was allowing monsters to live in a mana-filled environment for free. However, each residential area was assigned a point which the monsters had to defend from adventurers. They had to protect those points whenever the dungeon was in danger. If you were topare this to a human nation, then these were like local armies¡­¡­. Should I call them slightly converted garrison farms? The monster vigers would protect specific points while the elite monster unit led by Laura supported them. As a Demon Lord, I was basically obtaining defending troops by simply giving monsters a ce to stay. There was nothing for me to lose. I did tell them that young monsters didn¡¯t have to fight, but¡­¡­there will always be troublemakers. The young goblins probably missed their chance to evacuate because they were busy ying in the tunnels. This resulted in them bing prey for the adventurers. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about if this is as tough as they get.¡± Fabianmented leisurely. ¡°I was worried that the tunnels might be narrower, but that didn¡¯t happen. And there are no traps.¡± ¡°What kind of traps would be considered dangerous?¡± ¡°Hm? For example.¡± Fabian thought for a moment before answering. ¡°It would¡¯ve been bad if there was something like a spider nest. There was a Demon Lord castle that was a cave and had nothing but spiders and bats. Have you ever seen a spider that¡¯s asrge as a water buffalo before? They dart across the walls and attack you endlessly. I almost went insane trying to fight one.¡± ¡°I see, a spider nest, huh?¡± I went around asking the adventurers things like ¡®What are you d isn¡¯t in this dungeon?¡¯ and ¡®What would¡¯ve been dangerous?¡¯. It probably seemed like idle chatter to them, but I was going to use this informationter. In the game, monster spiders were nothing more than trash mobs. I thought they weren¡¯t very efficient monsters since they could get cut down with a single sword slice, but it was different for actual adventurers. I would have never known about this if I hadn¡¯t joined this adventurer group and asked questions. The adventurers showed off their knowledge as they gave all sorts of answers to my questions. ¡°There¡¯s nothing that could really be called a trap other than the forked roads.¡± There were people who were more afraid of traps than monsters. ¡°There are only goblins, so this is a piece of cake!¡± There were people who said conquering dungeons was easy if the type of monsters that appeared in it was fixed. ¡°We have a wide field of vision thanks to the bright mana stones.¡± And other people who pointed out things that were never described in the game. ¡°I see. So even that is helpful.¡± I yed along and nodded. In other words, I was questioning the beta testers. The beta testers I had paid a lot to bring here were splendidly pointing out the ws in my dungeon. The adventurers were only scoundrels, but they had a lot of pride¨Dvagrants always have a lot of pride¨Dso if you give them a chance to boast, then they will always take it. Thanks to this, Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle was going to be improved in many ways. Mhm, thank you very much. The ws you¡¯ve reported will be patched before opening day. Please look forward to the officialunch. If you survive that long, that is. ¡°We should be arriving at the Demon Lord room soon.¡± Fabian spoke up. It has been about 2 hours since we entered the dungeon. It was reported by the exploration team that went through the dungeon yesterday and the day before that you could reach the Demon Lord room in two hours regardless of the route you took. They, however, had made a mistake. The explorers had gone through the dungeon when the goblins were behind the walls. Well, who would think that there would be monster settlements behind thebyrinth walls? The explorers reported to the adventurers that this was ¡°a perfect example of a low-ranking dungeon¡±. A misinformed report leads to the ruin of parties. The adventurers realized this the moment they emerged from thest tunnel. The front entrance of the Demon Lord room. The adventurers saw something they had never predicted to see in the open space before them. ¡°¡­¡­A girl?¡± There was a blonde girl there. It was Laura. The adventurers furrowed their brows as they failed to understand why some girl would be in the middle of a dungeon. However, the biggest mystery was the object that the girl was holding in her hands. Laura was holding a human skull. ¡°Mm? Oh. So you have finally arrived.¡± Laura turned to face us once she noticed our arrival. She let out an obvious yawn. ¡°Truly, you fellows are much too slow. This youngdy almost fell asleep waiting for you all. To think you would take more than two hours to get here when this youngdy had not assigned any sort of unit in your tunnel! I do not know who your leader is, but they are much too cautious.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The adventurers became quiet. The girl¡¯s tone sounded way too t for the location they were in. There were dozens of heads lying around Laura. She handled a dagger skillfully as she skinned the head and carved out the eyeballs with a poise that made it clear that she was ustomed to this act. She didn¡¯t stop moving her dagger even as she spoke to the adventurers. With a ¡®thud¡¯, Laura tossed the head to the side once she was finished skinning it. There was a small hill of skulls with tiny bits of flesh attached to them just next to her. If you included those, then there were more than a hundred ¡®things that were heads a few moments ago¡¯. ¡®Jeez, she¡¯s doing it again.¡¯ I felt a headacheing. Laura acquired a weird hobby ever since she came to my dungeon. She would turn every intruder that had tried to invade the dungeon into a skull and put them on disy like some sort of museum. I told her to stop since it looked horrendous, but she was at it again. Sheesh. Laura spoke with a tone that sounded as if she werementing about today¡¯s weather. ¡°I was bored, so I started working on yourrades first. No matter how scum adventurers may be, it is rude to make a maiden wait.¡± ¡°B-Bleeeugh!¡± Someone vomited. It was probably a rookie adventurer who had little experience. There decapitated heads scattered about. Their eyeballs, tongues, and skins were soaked in blood. This was more than enough to make someone sick if they¡¯ve never experienced a battlefield before. A few veteran adventurers managed to figure out that ¡®she¡¯ wasn¡¯t a normal girl and took out their spears. Fabian was one of them. ¡°¡­¡­Who, who are you?¡± ¡°Hmm. Is it not courtesy to reveal one¡¯s own name first before asking for the name of a mademoiselle?¡± Laura furrowed her brows. Fabian¡¯s expression turned stiff as he felt as if the girl was taunting him. I knew, however, that Laura was truly trying to maintain formalities. Laura was different from me and didn¡¯t have a hobby of cajoling her opponents. ¡°Fabian, I¡¯m an adventurer.¡± ¡°This youngdy goes by the name Laura de Farnese.¡± Laura got up and greeted them. She lifted the ends of her skirt and bowed as if she were somedy at a ball. Her pure white knees were revealed when she raised her dress to bow. Fabian became bewildered as he asked back. ¡°¡­¡­a noble?¡± ¡°I am the second esteemed daughter of Parma. My family has already fallen into ruin, so there is no reason to worry about it.¡± ¡°Why is the esteemed daughter of a noble doing in a Demon Lord castle? Were you perhaps kidnapped by the Demon Lord?¡± ¡°Mm? Kidnapped?¡± Laura chuckled. Herughing face was truly bright like that of a girl in her teens. ¡°You have listened to too many fairy tales. What would a Demon Lord do by kidnapping a noble¡¯s daughter? No, it is not exactly wrong to say that I was kidnapped.¡± ¡°If you were kidnapped, then we will protect you. If the Demon Lord is making you do that, then you can stop right now and¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How foolish. If your wit is as slow as that, then you will only get done in by this youngdy.¡± Laura let out a sigh. She was still skinning the head. ¡°This youngdy is not here due to another person¡¯s will. I decided to stay here on my own. Oh, I was able to skin it cleanly this time. As I thought, it is easier to do work on a female.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Doing something like that to a corpse, is that solely your will as well?¡± Laura nodded. ¡°It is a recent hobby of mine.¡± ¡°Damn it. You¡¯re just an insane girl.¡± Fabian spat on the ground. ¡°You brat, you talked about maidens and courtesy, but where is your courtesy to the dead!?¡± ¡°This is this youngdy¡¯s own way of holding a funeral. These heads would have rotted away as meals for monsters if I left them be anyway. Would it not be better for the dead if at least their skulls remained? At the very least, this youngdy will remember their deaths.¡± Laura responded calmly. She genuinely believed that. Fabian¡¯s face contorted with disgust. ¡°Yeah fucking right. You¡¯re just mocking the dead.¡± ¡°Mm. That may be the case.¡± But, Laura tilted her head as she continued. ¡°Are you not the ones who invaded this Demon Lord castle first? You are the ones messing this ce up, not us. You are the ones who were disrespectful first.¡± She smiled lightly. ¡°Is there a problem with desecrating the lives of pieces of rubbish?¡± ¡°Uuuaagh!¡± One of the adventurers couldn¡¯t hold back any longer as he ran forward while shouting. He raised his axe up high and swung it down as hard as he could. It was what you would call a Rage sh where you would swing with all your strength. ¨C aash! However, the adventurer¡¯s head went flying a few steps away from his target. A longsword had appeared out of Laura¡¯s shadow and sliced the adventurer in half from his groin to his head. The sword returned to her shadow once the corpse fell powerlessly to the ground. ¡°Death knight, you should have left the head intact!¡± Laura red at her shadow and shouted. ¡°I cannot add it to my collection like this¡­¡­! You guys kill humans much too inefficiently. Your de will only be dull faster if you swing your swords like that! Aah.¡± She looked at the severed corpse with a disappointed gaze. The adventurers felt themselves get consumed by fear once they witnessed the girl seem genuinely disappointed by the state of the corpse. What was that just now? What is this girl? ¡°I am asking this just in case, but¡­¡­where, did you get those heads from?¡± ¡°Obviously, I got them from the other intruders who came here with you guys. Honestly, they were so weak that I was let down. I had some hopes since there were 150 of you, but they were quite literally a rag tag group of weaklings.¡± The adventurers trembled. Laura smiled as she stared at them. There was neither affection nor hostility in her gaze. It was like she was giving a passing smile to a random person she happened to meet the gaze of. Her smile held no other meaning. ¡°You can run away right now if you want. Ah, 20 people would be a bit too much. You all cane to an agreement and allow 5 members of your group to run away. This youngdy will be capturing the remaining 15.¡± ¡°¡­¡­To think this is a Demon Lord castle protected by a necrophilic girl. We¡¯vee to quite the ridiculous ce. Everyone, get into formation with me in the center! Let¡¯s show this crazy bitch her ce!¡± The adventurers formed a line of defense with Fabian at the center. ¡°It cannot be helped if you are going to approach me willingly to be punished.¡± Laura ced the head she was holding on the ground before unsheathing the sword at her waist. ¡°Regret andment the fact that you looked down on Demon Lord Dantalian, adventurers.¡± Several notifications appeared before my eyes. ¡¸Adventurer party ¡®Fabian¡¯s party (temp)¡¯ has appeared!¡¹ ¡¸1st-floor boss ¡®Laura de Farnese¡¯ is intercepting the enemy.¡¹ ¡¸A boss battle has begun!¡¹ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This is pretty exciting. We¡¯re getting a lot of things we¡¯d probably have never seen in the LN here. It really does make you understand how vastly different the WN and LN are. I guess it also exins why the author is struggling to write the LN since so much was changed. Why do I feel like I said this before already?¡­. Welp, this was still a fun chapter and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next one! Chapter 219: D-Rank Adventurer Party (11) Chapter 219: D-Rank Adventurer Party (11) Oh, a message appeared saying that a boss battle had started. There was also a ¡¸Warning!¡¹ notification blinking in red letters. Was it trying to tell me the urgency of the situation? An open area within a dimly lit cavern. A girl who was once the esteemed daughter of a duke and 20 adventurers were staring at each other on the path that had to be passed in order to reach Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s room. Logically, the girl should have been the side that was nervous, but¡­¡­. ¡°Uu, uuu¡­¡­.¡± The adventurers were clenching their jaws and ring at the girl. They couldn¡¯t hide the anxiety and concern within their gazes. The horrendous hobby of collecting skulls and the sword that hade out from the girl¡¯s shadow, these things had lowered the adventurers¡¯ morale. On the other hand, the girl was perfectly calm andposed. Twenty adult males were being pushed back by a single little girl. Did he think it would be bad if he let the situation continue like this? Fabian smirked. ¡°But, to think that ady who used to be the esteemed daughter of a duke would spread her legs to a Demon Lord. The world is quite the ce.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Laura furrowed her brows. Fabian snickered once he saw her response. ¡°That thing that came out from your shadow just now isn¡¯t yours, right? That was probably a reward from that Dantalian fellow or whatever. Aren¡¯t you an impressivess? How much did you beg? You must be quite skilled in bed if you¡¯re able to win over a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Well, you do have a nice face. Although the inside of your head reeks of shit.¡± Was he trying to taunt Laura? Certainly, there¡¯s nothing more terrifying than a calm soldier. Trying to get the other party riled up so that they would make a mistake was a wise choice. ¡°Does a Demon Lord¡¯s dick taste good? Do you feel good having sex with one when the rest of the continent is struggling to fight the Demon Lord army? If you had even the slightest bit of a conscience left in you, then you would¡¯ve tried to assassinate the Demon Lord. You could¡¯ve at least bit your tongue andmitted suicide. And yet, you did nothing. You¡¯re nothing more than a simple whore!¡± Fabianughed. ¡°If we are pieces of trash, then what are you? Betrayer of humanity, a girl who spreads her legs to anyone, even a Demon Lord, as long as they spare her life¡­¡­. That¡¯s right. You¡¯re below trash. At least we don¡¯t offer our asses to Demon Lords.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The expression on Laura¡¯s face faded away. I could tell that she was genuinely upset. Laura was the type of person who became quiet when upset. That wasn¡¯t a bad taunt, but you¡¯ve chosen the wrong person. Laura muttered quietly. ¡°¡­¡­Do you know what I cannot stand the most in the world?¡± ¡°Hm? What nonsense are you saying now?¡± ¡°Pigs that cry out while not knowing their ce.¡± Laura slowly raised her left hand. ¡°I was going to spare 5 of you, but I have changed my mind.¡± The adventurers raised their shields in a hurry. They felt as if an attack wasing. However, a few seconds passed and nothing happened. Fabian smirked. ¡°You¡¯re going to meet your end here anyway. You can stop bluffing¡­¡­.¡± It was at this point that the adventurers started to hear a weird sounde from all around them. The sound of hundreds of footsteps echoed throughout the cave. The growling unique to monsters resonated throughout the cavern as the source of the sound approached one step at a time. ¡°W-What!?¡± The adventurers looked around in a panic. Goblins, a countless number of goblins were making their way out from the tunnels. The adventurers who immediately figured out they were in a trap turned around in order to flee. ¨C Kerururuk. ¨C Kiruk, kiruru. But they were toote. There was a group of goblinsing from the tunnel they had just exited. The adventurers took a step back instinctually. ¡°¡­¡­Uh, huh?¡± The goblins started to create arge circle around the adventurers like spectators at a coliseum. From oneyer to twoyers, the wall of goblins eventually became 6yers thick. It was probably impossible for a party of 20 to get through this wall. The goblins were being strangely docile. They had ughtered 150 adventurers. All of the monsters present surrendered themselves to Laura de Farnese¡¯s grandeur. There wasn¡¯t a single monster that allowed their beastly instincts to take over and rush in by themselves. Laura¡¯s military authority had been established thoroughly. ¡°Damn it.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡­what the hell is this?¡± Other than Demon Lords, there has probably never been a human who could rule over monsters like this. The adventurers could only curse. Their curse words were more simr to screaming. There were even a few people who dropped their weapons in fear. ¡°Hoo.¡± Someone started tough. ¡°Haha, kuku¡­¡­.¡± Laura wasughing beyond the wall of monsters. It wasn¡¯t her usual gentle and warmugh. It was the sameugh that warriors would burst out into when mocking and ridiculing their enemies on a battlefield. Thatugh felt strangely familiar to me. ¡°This youngdy¡¯s life is going to end here? This is where my curtains will fall?¡± Laura scowled. Her smile vanishedpletely as it was reced by a malicious grimace. ¡°Do not make meugh, trash! There is no way this youngdy, Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s deputy general will be hunted by the likes of you!¡± She let out a voice that was surprisingly loud for her small body. Her roar caused the adventurers to flinch. ¡°You guys are not the ones hunting. That may have been the case in other Demon Lord castles, but that is not the case here. Absolutely not! This is a hunting ground that was created solely to ughter trash like you. Do you think this youngdy would get hunted by trash?!¡± Laura raised her dagger. ¡°I will engrave into your bones how pathetic and weak you are. Adventurers who were blinded by a bounty and dared to bare their arms within this dungeon, you will all be ughtered here today.¡± One of the adventurers¡¯ legs must have lost their strength as the adventurer copsed on the ground. Well, he might have gotten on his knees deliberately. ¡°Guh, s-spare me! Please forgive me!¡± ¡°You bastard!? Get up! Get up right this instant!¡± Fabian shouted in a panic. However, Fabian was only a temporary leader anyway. It was impossible for him to have any control in a situation like this. If anything, once a person got on his knees first, the others soon followed suit. ¡°P-Please forgive us!¡± ¡°I¡­¡­I was blinded by greed!¡± They dropped all of their weapons. The sound of metal ttering echoed loudly as shields and spears were dropped. The adventurers¡¯ morale had copsedpletely. Before long, there were only three of us still standing. Fabian, Jeremi, and I were the only ones with our legs straight. ¡°Now we are on the same level.¡± Laura showed a content smile. She narrowed her eyes and stared at Fabian. ¡°Although I do see a dog who still does not know his ce.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Fabian slowly got down on his knees. His face was twisted with shame. Jeremi and I were now the only two left standing. The adventurers nced at us while begging for forgiveness. They were reprimanding me with their intense gazes. Why aren¡¯t you getting down on your knees!? Do you intend to get us all killed!? This was what their gazes were saying. They were afraid that I was going to make Laura upset. ¡°Hu.¡± I chuckled. Laura is doing rather well, isn¡¯t she? She may be talented, but I thought that she would still be a little green when it came to mind games. As I thought, I have a good eye for people. Lions are still lions even when they¡¯re young. There¡¯s no way that the Iron Chancellor, Laura de Farnese, the person who held her chin up high even in front of the hero, would fail at pressuring mere D rank adventurers. I slowly began to walk. My direction was forward. Straight to Laura. ¡°T-That crazy bastard!¡± ¡°You son of a bitch, what are you doing!?¡± I heard the sound of shock behind me. However, once the wall of goblins split apart like when Moses parted the Red Sea, the sounds of shock changed to confusion. Huh? Huh? The adventurers were at a loss for words. I stopped in front of Laura. Laura smiled brightly as she looked up at me. Her eyes were sparkling. She was like a pet that was waiting to be praised. I unconsciously patted the top of her head. ¡°Good work, Laura.¡± ¡°Mm. It was nothing.¡± Laura responded modestly. But, honestly, only her words were modest. Her tone made it as clear as day that she was actually saying ¡®I did well! I did well, right!?¡¯. Laura was definitely a kid when it came to this side of her. She might be treating me like a father figure instead of as her lord. ¡°Your Lordship also did well. It must have been hard to lower yourself to the level of adventurers.¡± ¡°Nonsense, it was nothing for me as well. It was actually surprisingly fun.¡± It was exciting since it felt like I had gone back to when I was still a human and was ying as an adventurer. I¡¯ve also gained a lot from this beta test. ¡°On another note, I see that you are able to make a face like that when I am not around. You are also good at mind games. I was surprised. I feel like you could even be a match for Barbatos if she were toe.¡± ¡°Fufu, you are overpraising me. This youngdy learned from Your Lordship¡¯s example.¡± We chuckled together. ¡°Dear me. People might misunderstand if you say something like that. I am more sincere and diligent than anyone else and do not have a hobby of collecting skulls.¡± ¡°In the first ce, Your Lordship needs to be a little more Demon Lord-like. This hobby is practical as well. Imagine thousands of skulls piled up in front of the Demon Lord room. Would it not be rather effective in lowering the enemy¡¯s morale?¡± ¡°Lowering morale, huh? I see, so they can also be used like that¡­¡­.¡± I nodded my head. The adventurers were watching us with nk expressions. ¡°Oh right, Lord. I have captured the female adventurers separately.¡± ¡°Hm? Why would you do something as bothersome as that?¡± ¡°It is my way of showing Your Lordship consideration so you can relieve your lust whenever you want.¡± Eeh, I let out a disgusted sound as I furrowed my brows. ¡°Sex ves? Why would I need them when I have you?¡± ¡°Because it is hard for this youngdy to endure by herself, Your Lordship who is in heat at all times.¡± Laura flicked my forehead. ¡°This youngdy was hoping that Big Sis Lapis would take over a bit, but there was no news after several months. It is clear what Your Lordship is going to do once tomorrow arrives. You probably intend to vite this youngdy¡¯s body due to the lust that had piled up during your trip to Frankia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This girl definitely knows how to read minds. I went around trying to make Laura¡¯s authority and the traditions of the vigespatible as soon as I arrived from Frankia. Honestly, I worked too hard. After getting rid of the adventurers, I was going to stick to Laura, saying something like ¡®You were able to save face thanks to me. I am expecting a reward!¡¯¡­¡­. Laura let out a snort. ¡°You were probably going to say that we were able to solve the vige issue thanks to you and that I should repay you with my body. It¡¯s obvious.¡± ¡°Kuh¡­¡­!¡± She figured everything out, huh!? This is why geniuses are annoying! This was bad. How pretty could female adventurers be? They were all tough and rough-looking people who went through dungeons like men did. They couldn¡¯tpare to Laura¡¯s radiant beauty. I hastily tried to give an excuse. ¡°Laura, I am not simply a sex-starved beast. I get excited because you are my partner. I also have pride as a man. I do not want to embrace anyone other than Laura.¡± ¡°Hm? I am happy to hear that. However, despite your sweet words, did you not have a rather magnificent time in Frankia?¡± The corners of Laura¡¯s mouth went up. ¡°Your Lordship, I heard that you had quite the fun at an opera.¡± ¡°Jeremiiiii!¡± I shouted at Jeremi who was standing right next to me. When did she spill the beans!? Jeremi shrugged her shoulders casually. ¡°Dear me. I don¡¯t know anything about this.¡± ¡°Who else could it have been except for you!?¡± ¡°I wonder. Maybe your conscience had confessed in secret, Sir Dantalian? If you have any conscience left, that is.¡± Jeremi chuckled. Damn it, I don¡¯t have a single trustworthy vassal. Laura spoke up. ¡°In the end, Your Lordship is able to do it with anyone with at least average looks. Do not worry. This youngdy also has standards. I only spared the female adventurers with especially nice looks, so they should be more than enough to satisfy Your Lordship¡¯s lower body.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡­not¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You do not have to make any more excuses. This youngdy understands everything.¡± Laura patted my back. She was smiling. It was a smile that you would expect from a middle-aged man. My sex life was being consoled by a girl who was going to be 18 years old soon¡­¡­. ¡°W-What are you saying¡­¡­!?¡± It was at that moment, someone shouted from the group of kneeling adventurers. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me! What are you¡­¡­!?¡± It was Fabian. He gripped his shield and sword tightly and stood up. His eyes were burning with rage. ¡°Your Lordship? Dantalian? ¡­¡­Are you telling me that you¡¯re Demon Lord Dantalian!?¡± ¡°Oh. That is exactly the case, Mr. Fabian.¡± I grinned as I apuded him. ¡°I am the 72 rank of the Demon Lord army. The Demon Lord of Many Faces. The top advisor of the Crescent Alliance and an executive of the ins Faction. I am also called ¡®The Limp¡¯, ¡®The Insulter¡¯, and ¡®ughterer of Bruno¡¯ by a few other people. I am that Demon Lord Dantalian.¡± The adventurers were looking at me with dumbfounded faces. ¡°Oh right. You all did very well. Of course, 5,000 gold is no small sum, but to think that you would all act in such a predictable way! I am truly grateful. Thank you for your work. I was able topletely wash away the frustration I felt at Frankia thanks to you all!¡± I let out a loudugh. I was genuinely grateful to them. I was able topletely relieve the stress that had piled up because of Queen Henrietta. Myughter spread to Laura and Jeremi as theyughed with me. The three of us pointed at each other as weughed louder. The adventurers continued to watch us with absolutely confused expressions. ¡°Kuh. You devoted yourselves to us this much, so I must reward you. Laura, I will ept your proposal of using the female adventurers as sex ves. However, in return, I would like you to leave the fate of these individuals to me.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I may be her lord, but she was the one who contributed the most in this battle. There was naturally a need to respect that. Laura pondered for a moment before nodding her head. ¡°Very well, then. It would only be appropriate to give them a cruel punishment for having belittled this youngdy and Your Lordship, but if Your Lordship insists, then I will hand the decision over to Your Lordship.¡± ¡°Ooh, I appreciate it.¡± I spread my arms out to the adventurers. ¡°Now then, everyone. Do you wish to survive? You are all people who kill others and act like delinquents because of money, but the desire to live is something shared by even nobles and kings. I understand your desire perfectly.¡± So, I continued. ¡°I would like to give you all an opportunity.¡± ¡°An opportunity?¡± ¡°Yes. An opportunity to get out of here alive. Are we notrades who had traveled together for several hours? I am also rather weak when ites to the affection of humans.¡± I responded to Fabian¡¯s question. A nervous hope started to appear in the adventurers¡¯ eyes. There were even people who were bowing and thanking me already. Well, don¡¯t get too ahead of yourselves. I still have more to say. ¡°You all must kill each other.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°A duel. Do you know what diators are? Kill each other until there is only one person left standing. I will do absolutely nothing to thest human who survives. No matter what.¡± I continued with a bright smile. ¡°I am not lying. Honestly, I have never told a lie before in my entire life. I promise on my name. Now then, you may begin.¡± I am truly a generous man. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, this was a good chapter. I enjoyed every bit of tranting it. On an unrted note, I¡¯m going to be busy for the rest of the day. My brother is getting married and the parents are doing like a formal meeting today. I¡¯m getting dragged along for some reason. Normally, this would be like one afternoon, but the ce the meeting is being held is 2 hours away, so I probably won¡¯t be home until the evening. Uuugh, I really don¡¯t want to go. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. It mighte out a day sooner depending on how the meeting today goes. Chapter 220: D-Rank Adventurer Party (12) Chapter 220: D-Rank Adventurer Party (12) Fabian opened his eyes wide. Dear me, his eyes will pop out like that. Laura would probably be pleased. She wouldn¡¯t have to remove the eyeballs from the head herself. ¡°You son of a bitch¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Mr. Fabian, more people than just yourself have assumed that my father was a dog.¡± I spoke. ¡°That is truly a bold guess. All of the people who made this guess share themon trait of currently being dead. I hope that Mr. Fabian is able to stay alive despite this and be thest survivor.¡± Augh slipped out of my mouth. I couldn¡¯t stop it. It was the same for Laura and Jeremi as well. It was like our lungs were filled with nothing butughter. There was probably something important, something incredibly important to normal people, broken inside of the three of us. ¡°The staff member who works at the adventurer guild¡­¡­was her name Fleur? Did you not want to get married to that person? Then you will first have to get out of here alive. It would be troubling if the newly wedded bride spends her first night with a corpse.¡± ¡°You fucking bastard! I hope you get cursed by every God and die!¡± Ooh, he still has spirit. Fabian wasn¡¯t simply a vagrant adventurer. He was someone who also had pride as a human. Pride was usually useless, but it was even more useless in a situation like this. ¡°Kuuah!?¡± Whether Fabian was upset or not, the battle royal had already begun. An adventurer had stabbed a dagger into the person next to him. The adventurers looked at the sudden murder in shock. ¡°What are you doing!?¡±, ¡°How dare you betray yourrades!¡±, the other adventurers shouted in anger. ¡°I-I don¡¯t want to die.¡± The murderer stood shakily while holding his dagger. ¡°I didn¡¯t want toe here to begin with¡­¡­. If you guys didn¡¯t lie to me that this was an opportunity to get rich quickly! Y-Yeah. You guys are the ones at fault¡­¡­. I have a farm back home¡­¡­. I¡¯m on a whole different level than you guys who are at the bottom of the barrel!¡± ¡°You murdering bastard!¡± A different adventurer charged at the murderer and swung their axe at his face. The murderer let out a shriek as he raised his dagger, but it couldn¡¯t block an axe. His head was split open as the axe shattered through his skull. That became the starting point. The remaining adventurers took up their shields and spears as they started to charge at each other. Several loud ringing sounds resonated as sharp objects came into contact with shields. Fabian stopped ring at me as he had no other choice but to take part in the chaotic fight. I want to live. I don¡¯t want to die. Or, I want to get out of this hell as soon as possible. These sorts of primitive desires flowed through their weapons as they were swung around. Some fairies came flying up to me while I was spectating the diatorial battle with my arms folded. Four fairies were doing their best to carry a wine bottle while another three fairies were each holding a wine ss. They knew their master had a craving for alcohol, so they came to deliver some. How could they be so cute!? ¡°My fairies are the kindest in the world!¡± I received the bottle and patted their heads fiercely. The fairies giggled. We poured each other a ss of wine as we watched the colosseum. The battle was incredibly intense. The intensity made it that much more entertaining. Adding wine on top of this made it quite a splendid viewing experience. There were adventurers who fought intensely and individuals who were being careful because they were afraid of killing theirrades. ¡°Damn it, don¡¯t fight! Don¡¯t get tricked by the Demon Lord¡¯s words! Damn it. Fuck!¡± And there was a person like Fabian who was trying to stop the fight. The adventurers who had already gotten intoxicated by the bloodlust didn¡¯t listen to Fabian. Fabian continued to try and stop the fighting but it was to no avail. He also had no choice but to swing his sword in order to stop the adventurers who ran at him with their weapons. I whistled. ¡°Humans tend to show their true nature when in the face of danger.¡± ¡°Mm. There are things that are beautiful because they are unsightly.¡± After about 10 minutes, the 20 adventurers had shrunk down to 7. The remaining 7 people weren¡¯t unscathed. Someone who was stabbed by a dagger, someone who wascerated by a sword, they were all covered in injuries. They were all breathing heavily while ring daggers at each other. No one tried to make the first move. They had ended up in a stalemate. This would only make the gamest longer than it should. There was nothing more boring than a game thatsts longer than necessary. I decided to give them some motivation. ¡°Now now. Everyone, stop fighting for a moment and look over here.¡± I pped to attract their attention. 7 pairs of eyes that were filled with bloodlust, exhaustion, and fear turned to look at me. I took out a heavy pouch and shooked it in front of them. ¡°Do you see this?¡± Clink, clink, the sound of metal objects colliding against one another rang out from the pouch. ¡°There is a lot of gold in here. About 50 libra. I will specially gift 50 libra to the person who survives. Now then, please continue the battle.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Greed filled their eyes. 50 gold was no small sum for an adventurer. The desperate battle for survival changed to a battle with a prize on the line. The adventurers lowered their postures and caught their breaths. ¡°Kuuaah!¡± They let out a cry as they charged at each other. Rage sh, Crown sh, and Cross Slice. They all used their own individual sword techniques as they became animals solely for the sake of murdering each other. The sound of metal colliding rang like a chaotic symphony. I cheered them on with a smile. ¡°There you go! That¡¯s how you should do it. You have to be able to kill your fellow man if it¡¯s for the sake of survival and money. This is only natural. I knew that you all would understand. C¡¯est Si Bon! C¡¯est Si Bon!¡± Laura spoke up. ¡°You have a really bad hobby, Lord.¡± ¡°Hah, I don¡¯t want to hear that from thedy who collects skulls.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You two seem the same to me.¡± Jeremi muttered under her breath. The battle soon came to an end. After 5 minutes, there was only one human left standing in the colosseum surrounded by goblins. A man stood with 19 dead bodies scattered around him. ¡°Hoo, hoo¡­¡­kuuh.¡± Fabian. He was struggling to breathe. He had sacrificed his left arm trying to block someone¡¯s attack. It was dangling like a broken toy after getting partially chopped by an axe. There was a dagger stabbed into his thigh and the blood flowing out of it like a fountain was showing no signs of stopping. ¡°Splendid. I knew that you would be able to do it, Mr. Fabian.¡± ¡°Kuh¡­¡­hkk, hggh.¡± ¡°Congrattions.¡± I gave Fabian a round of apuse. Laura and Jeremi apuded as well. I ordered the goblins to do it as well while I was at it. Soon, hundreds of goblins were pping their hands. You couldpare this to the citizens of Rome apuding a brave diator who had struggled to the very end and showing their respect even though the diator was a ve. Fabian was truly standing like a hero in the center of hundreds of apuse. He was a true man! However, there was one thing that was weird. Fabian didn¡¯t seem happy about our congrattions. His face was filled with pain and shame. Why was that? We were genuinely congratting him. Fabian, you are probably the first human in history to be apuded by goblins. You should be proud. ¨C Clink. I tossed the pouch of money. Itnded right next to Fabian¡¯s feet. Fabian slowly lowered his head and looked down at the money pouch for a moment. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was like he was staring curiously at an animal he had never seen before in his entire life. Fabian soon lost interest in the pouch as he turned to look at my face again. ¡°That is the promised reward. An appropriate reward must naturally be given to the winner. Please do not decline it. You can think of it as a gift with my feelings inside of it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Kuuh.¡± Fabian¡¯s eyes were blood-red like he was about to cry tears of blood. There was still bloodlust in his eyes even though the duel was over. Aah, I understand. I understand youpletely. I smiled calmly. ¡°Mr. Fabian, you wish to kill me, correct?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not worry. I promised you before, did I not?¡± That I wouldn¡¯t do anything to thest surviving human. ¡°If you wish to kill me, then you can try as much as you like. You have the right to kill me. Well, it isn¡¯t exactly enough, but I was able to enjoy quite the spectacle thanks to you all. I will say that you do have the right.¡± However, I added. ¡°You have only been given a single chance. A single chance to attack me. Do not be too heartbroken. Is this not life? A second chance is hard to find¡­¡­. It is unfortunate.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you do not attack me and decide to leave instead.¡± I took out a potion. A red liquid sloshed around inside the ss bottle. ¡°My word! A national holiday has arrived, so an additional reward is being granted by Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle! A rare item, a luxurious health potion will be given to you for free. This is quite the asion. This should guarantee Mr. Fabian¡¯s life since you are almost at death¡¯s door because of your excessive bleeding!¡± I rambled on with the potion in my hand. Laura and Jeremi chuckled at my clown act. Only Fabian failed to understand the joke as he continued to re at me as if he wanted to kill me. ¡°How about it? Will you use this one opportunity to kill me? Or will you return home with glory after taking the potion and the gold? This is your decision to make, One-Eyed Baldy Fabian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Fabian unsheathed a dagger from his waist. His right hand was already shaking. He probably didn¡¯t have the stamina to even walk now, meaning he didn¡¯t have the strength to run at me with his de. That was why he was going to try and throw his dagger. He chose to kill me over his own survival. ¡°¡­¡­Amazing.¡± I was in a good mood. Compared to other people, I was someone who valued his own life more than anything else. This fact ted me. I quietly smiled and watched as Fabian the adventurer raised his dagger. ¨C Swiiish! An attack with that squeezed out thest bit of his strength came flying at me. Surprisingly, despite his hands that were shaking uncontrobly, Fabian was still skilled at hitting his target. Shunk, the sound of flesh being pierced came from my body. The dagger had impaled the right side of my chest. I smiled bitterly. ¡°How unfortunate. Demon Lords cannot die with only this.¡± I tapped my forehead with my finger. ¡°Here. You should have aimed for here and not my chest.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Fabian¡¯s body could no longer hold itself up. His knees buckled, making him fall. He fell to the floor and twitched. He was bleeding from his entire body, but the ground was already soaked in the blood of the other adventurers. We watched until Fabian¡¯sst breath. At most, it was only going to take 10 minutes, so it wasn¡¯t that boring. Once I removed the dagger from my chest, the wound slowly closed. I felt a sharp pain, but I had leather armor on, so it was bearable. ¡°F¡­¡­Fleur¡­¡­Fleur¡­¡­.¡± Fabian muttered the name of the guild staff member until the very end. The muttering stopped after about 10 minutes. Once I approached him, I confirmed that he had indeed stopped breathing. In the end, the girl¡¯s name became hisst words. What a clich¨¦ man. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I can¡¯t believe Thanos from Avengers: Infinity Wars giarized Dantalian¡¯s line here. The raw for this chapter came out much before the movie after all. On another note, this was a good chapter. Although I did struggle a bit with the sudden inclusion of like weapon skills. They had some weird names so I couldn¡¯t really trante them properly. They also don¡¯t sound as impressive in English. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 221: D-Rank Adventurer Party Chapter 221: D-Rank AdventurerParty * * * Suspicious rumors had started to spread in the city nearby. There were rumors about how more than a hundred adventurers had run away in the middle of the night. The number of vagrants in the city had actually decreased greatly as well. The city folk whispered to one another as they exchanged rumors. ¡°Did you hear? The adventurers made a killing in the Demon Lord castle.¡± ¡°They all ran away together because they were afraid of paying taxes to the city. The vigers in the area were the ones who testified.¡± ¡°I heard the Demon Lord castle over there is overflowing with gold and treasure.¡± The adventurers failed at subjugating Demon Lord Dantalian. However, they made a huge profit killing the monsters there. They made so much money, that the adventurers ran away to another city because they didn¡¯t want to pay the taxes for their earnings¡­¡­. ¡°They say the adventurers fought each other for the money.¡± ¡°There were more people who died due to internal disputes than people who actually died at the Demon Lord castle!¡± ¡°Sheesh. That¡¯s adventurers for you.¡± Rumors piled on top of rumors. After a few days, a legendary tale was created about how 150 adventurers killed each other over a mountain of gold and gotpletely wiped out. The city folkughed at the adventurers¡¯ foolishness. This was the rumor that I had spread deliberately. Out of the 155 adventurers, only 2 people survived. Me and Jeremi. The rest of the adventurers were unable to escape and had their bones buried inside the dungeon. The goblins held a grand festival that day. The goblins praised His Highness the Demon Lord while feasting on human flesh. There were more people outside the initial 150 that came aiming for the reward. There were adventurers who arrived a few days after the ughter. They were, however, few in numbers. They weren¡¯t confident in their ability to subjugate the Demon Lord, so they went around catching goblins at the entrance of the dungeon. I spread the rumor through them. You were a stepte. You missed a haul of a lifetime. These adventurers were filled with these thoughts as they returned home with frustrated steps. They vented their anger at pubs saying things like, ¡°If only we had gone sooner!¡±. They were truly lucky people. Well, the adventurer parties were a secondary problem anyway. What was important was establishing a proper judicial system within my territory. I gathered all of the vige chiefs andndowners. There were about 20munity leaders. Not only were they directly managing the area, but they were also the head of their households who were going to be my close advisors from now on. ¡°As you all desired, I got rid of that atrocious group of adventurers.¡± I spoke while looking at each and every person¡¯s face. The humans quickly lowered their heads whenever our gazes met. I was a lord that had annihted 150 adventurers in only half a day. In other words, thesemunity leaders knew very well that their lives wereparable to that of flies. ¡°I am not hiding anything from you all. If something is hidden between a lord and his vassals, then that small gap will gradually widen before eventually swallowing the entire territory whole. Patriarchs of the viges.¡± I paused for a moment before continuing. Themunity leaders carefully raised their heads. ¡°I will not say that I had dealt with the adventurers purely out of my own goodwill and mercy. I will acknowledge all of you as long as you remain loyal to me. Thus, I will honestly reveal that I had annihted 155 adventurers because there is something that I am hoping from you all.¡± The only thing I wanted was for them to hand their judicial power over to me. I didn¡¯t want them to deal with matters in secret if a problem were to arise in their viges, but for them to instead receive their trials at another vige. This way, the court ofw would be crystal clear on the outside. If an issue arises, then the trial will be held publicly so that everyone could judge what the problem was and whether it was irrational or not. This would therefore give the vigers an opportunity to improve themselves. It will be clear who will be responsible for innocent and guilty verdicts. Thus reducingints about wrong verdicts and allowing the trials to be praised highly. As a result, this will be a Panopticon where everyone keeps an eye on each other. ¡°Leading members of the viges, will you ept this trial system?¡± ¡°Of course, Your Highness. As youmand.¡± All 20 of the people present stood up and bowed courteously. We were currently on a hill at the exact center of my territory. I had ordered the dwarf builders to create an amphitheater here. As expected of a renowned building group from the demon world, theypleted a decent-looking amphitheater in only 4 days. The center was low while the spectator seats went up on the sides like stairs. I was standing in the center while talking. On the other hand, themunity leaders were seated at spectator seats that were ced higher than my head. Theyined that this sort of seating was ¡°excessively disrespectful¡±. Well, they had no other choice but to sit after I pressed them to. There was a reason why I went out of my way to create a ce like this. ¡°From this point forth, you will only be able to hold your courts ofw here. The parties directly involved in the trial will stand where I currently am. Furthermore, anyone who wishes to watch the trial can sit up there in the spectator seats.¡± It was to make the trials public. The more important and trivial matters of vigers are held in an open court under the bright sun, the more I will be able to understand their situation. I will be able to manage them more meticulously. There would be no way of knowing who was watching the trials. There was a chance I could¡¯ve nted an informant. Themunity leaders will probably start to worry that I might get notified if they were to make the wrong decision. It was that very ¡®might¡¯ that was going to provide me with an unseeable form of authority. There was no need for me to monitor the leaders at all times. The humans weren¡¯t going to be watching over each other either. It was the suspicion and doubt nted in every person that was the true watcher. One of themunity leaders asked a question incredibly courteously. ¡°I must respectfully ask, does Your Highness mean every trial?¡± ¡°Indeed. Every trial. You all also have your livelihoods to handle, so a trial will only be held twice a month.¡± In order to put doubt into people¡¯s minds, the trials cannot be held in secret. Everything must be transparent. Everything must be clear. Everything must be held in an open za for everyone to see. I decided to add another method here. I smiled gently as I spoke. ¡°Community leaders, this will also include me. If an incident urs that is substantial enough to involve me as the judge, then I will also use this ce as my court.¡± ¡°Even Your Highness¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Indeed. If one bes a judge, then one must be impartial at all costs. It does not matter if they are a Demon Lord or a ve. Bear this in mind. A judge must be impartial!¡± I repeated sternly. ¡°People will watch your decisions here in this amphitheater. Even if many are not watching, news of your trial will travel from vige to vige through word of mouth. Think of this as carrying out your trials under the watchful eyes of every viger and every goddess.¡± Therefore, I continued. ¡°Have pride. Every decision you make must set an example and be recorded in the logs of justice. Reveal to the people what the right decisions are and what wise solutions look like.¡± My method was to give people ¡®pride¡¯. This wasn¡¯t simply a task. It contained an immense amount of worth as well. Justice,ws, morals, and ethics, the most important things in the world were being ced on their shoulders. As the individuals carrying out this duty, they are ¡®the most important people in the world¡¯. ¡°As the Demon Lord, I am the ruler of thisnd; however, who is the ruler of justice? Was it ever determined who rules ethics?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Themunity leaders held their breaths as they stared at me. They knew that I was saying something different from what wasmonly said by other lords. ¡°Of course, the Gods are the ones who manage justice and rule over ethics. However, the Gods will not act as judges for us in the court ofw. Thus, each and every one of you has no other choice but to be the rulers of justice and ethics.¡± Humans be dissatisfied with society when they feel as if each passing day has no value. What do you achieve by attending school? Is all the hard work that I am doing right now nothing more than trivial tasks in the end? However, if they believe they have an important calling, if they feel as if they have to be the ones to actually carry out thew and maintain justice, then anyone would be blind to the power. They would no longer doubt their duties. ¡°I will say it once more. Have pride, mortals!¡± I desire and that consists of workers ants who do not doubt their tasks. ¡°Be reborn as agents of thew. Be the servants of the Gods and bring judgment onto the lowest of ces.¡± Do not doubt Demon Lord Dantalian¡¯s reign. Was a trial done wrong? That isn¡¯t Dantalian¡¯s fault. That¡¯s the fault of the judges. The fault of another human. Why couldn¡¯t they make a wiser decision? It¡¯s their own fault for being shortsighted¡­¡­. Demon Lord Dantalian will maintain his sanctity. ¡°From this day forth, this hill will be named Ptinus, the Pce of Justice. Whether an imperishable kingdom will be established or not on thisnd where the Gods cannot manifest lies solely on your shoulders.¡± ¡°Glory to His Highness!¡± Someone shouted as he could no longer hold back his excitement. ¡°Glory to the Great Dantalian!¡± ¡°Glory to Ptino Dantalian!¡± The others soon got infected by the chanting as all 20 leaders began to cheer in unison. The amphitheater became heated with their passionate chants. Their eyes were zing. Today, despite being the lord, I was standing at the lowest part of the theater. The highest person of authority had set an example. Themunity leaders should be able to also stand here without any hesitation now. No, they will probably feel pride just by being able to stand in the same position as a Demon Lord. I put Jeremi and her assassins in charge of the public order. If an adventurer causes trouble in a vige, then they should be able to handle it in an instant. Only fairly skilled adventurers would be able to stand a match against Jeremi¡¯s assassins. Furthermore, we decided to build a wall around Ptino. If arge army were to attack, then it would be impossible to stop them with only assassins. In those cases, we¡¯ll evacuate the people from the viges and gather them at Ptino. ¡®Although they are separated by their viges, they be united when ites to the court ofw and martial rule.¡¯ The court ofw and martialw, these were the only two things I needed. What else would I require? I disyed a pleasant smile as I was showered by cheers from the vige leaders. Afterward, I personally carved some words into the court in Ptino with a sculpting knife. ¡¸You all shall be the proudest servants.¡¹ Of course, this was a sick joke. What I was actually telling them was to have pride even though they were servants. Pride as servants. It was doubtful whether someone who understands this will ever appear in thisnd or not, but, well, waiting for the appearance of someone who understands might also be one of the joys of life. Demon Lords can live for thousands of years. It is as long as long can be. Let¡¯s wait patiently as a Demon Lord¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Of course this segment ends with politics. I almost forgot the reason behind this whole adventurer invasion. This was a pretty fun segment. The segment after this is actually starting off pretty interestingly as well. Immediately involves the characters that I think you guys care about the most. You guys can look forward to that, heh. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 222: Witch’s Prophecy (1) Chapter 222: Witch¡¯s Prophecy (1) I discovered Barbatos in my Demon Lord room when I returned to it one day. ¡°Hi. You still look annoying as usual. Oh right, it looked tasty, so I¡¯ve been drinking some.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I¡¯m going to exin literally what I had gone through just now. No, it was hard to say that I went through something when it made no sense at all. I returned home after taking care of my duties as a lord at a vige. However, when I opened the door to my room, I discovered a white-haired girlying on my bed. She was also drinking my most luxurious bottle of wine which I had been keeping in reserve straight from the bottle. That wasn¡¯t all. I was also told ¡®You still look annoying as usual.¡¯ in an incredibly casual way as if it were a greeting. If a tribe or nation that uses this as a greeting existed, then they would¡¯ve fallen into ruin within 3 hours due to a civil war. Is there something wrong with this loli bitch? ¡°Uu©¥©¥eeh©¥©¥uu?¡± I approached Barbatos and started touching her cheeks. I was hoping that this was an illusion or a well-made costume. Barbatos questioned my actions with her gaze. ¡°There are a lot of things I want toin about, but let me ask you this first. What¡¯s the girl who should be acting as the regent of Habsburg doing here?¡± ¡°I got tired of fighting with that bitch Agares and Gamigin. Fuck.¡± Barbatos brushed my hands off of her and let out a sigh. There was currently a substantial struggle for power happening in thend that was once the Habsburg Empire. It was between Demon Lord Barbatos who leads the ins Faction, Rank 2 Demon Lord Agares, and Rank 4 Demon Lord Gamigin. Out of the three, Barbatos had the dominant position, but it seems that things weren¡¯t going that well. ¡°All you have to do is ignore a bunch of people making a fuss about wantingnd.¡° ¡°Yeah, and have I given them anynd? Sheesh, you retard.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that from a retard, you mega retard.¡± Barbatos stuck out her lips and handed the wine bottle to me. I sat on the bed and drank from the bottle with one hand. Well, Barbatos was probably stressed in her own way. She was both a Demon Lord and the leader of arge group known as the ins Faction. She has to be mindful of other people¡¯s gazes. She can¡¯t relieve her stress however she pleases. She probably reached her breaking point and came to my dungeon partially in order to escape and in order to take a break. I¡¯m not so cold-hearted that I would question why a tired person was here and try to chase them out Barbatos spoke. ¡°Oh right, your security here sucks. I wasn¡¯t stopped even once on my way here, you know? I was wondering how impressive it¡¯d be since you poured millions of gold coins into this, but you just open your legs to anyone like a used rag, huh? I¡¯ll call your Demon Lord castle Rag from now on, keke.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± As I thought, I want to chase her out. This rude bitch. ¡°But there was one person who seemed to recognize me as soon as I came here.¡± Barbatos pointed up. ¡°She was quite the brave fellow, so I captured her for now.¡± I followed her finger and looked up©¥to see Daisy hanging from the ceiling. She was like a fly caught on a web. Daisy was staring at me impassively. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± What are you doing up there? How would I know? Do not look. We shared a silent conversation with our eyes. We were both at a loss for words about the current situation. Referentially, after reuniting with her parents, Daisy has been handling her meals and lodging in my Demon Lord room while acting as a maid. She ended up in this unexpected incident while I was absent. Only Barbatos was chatting happily in this room. ¡°I had cast an invisibility and a stealth spell, but she saw right through it. From the looks of it, she¡¯s a human brat who just grew up from being an infant, but it¡¯s like she has a sixth sense. Seriously. I was so amazed that I did a bunch of tests.¡± Barbatos patted my shoulder. ¡°You really have a good eye for people. She¡¯s pretty good. Where¡¯d you find someone like her? On that note, give this brat to me. Let me raise her so I can use her a bit.¡± ¡°Like hell.¡± I made a V shape with my middle and index fingers. This gesture basically meant ¡®fuck you¡¯ in this world. ¡°Do you know how much work I had to do to get her out of where she was?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I do know one thing.¡± Barbatos put her hand in her pocket. She took something out. I was at a loss for words when I saw what she had taken out. A transparent slime was squirming around on top of Barbatos¡¯ palm. She smiled slyly. ¡°You nted quite the interesting thing inside of the girl, huh?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Our Dantalian has be quite the pervert since thest time we saw each other, huh?¡± Drops of sweat flowed down my forehead. ¡°You shouted about how you would never do something as perverted as this when you yed around with me and you made such a big fuss as you cried about wanting to have normal sex. And yet, you¡¯re secretly enjoying this kind of y behind my back? Hey, Dantalian. Mr. Demon Lord who is supposedly the most diligent and sincere person in the world. Would you like to exin this to the obscene and perverted me?¡± ¡°W-Wait a moment, Barbatos. This is a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding, I say.¡± I hastily reached my hand out to the slime, however, Barbatos easily avoided my attempt to grab the slime. ¡°There is a reason here that is beyond your understanding¡­¡­an incredibly deep reason! It isn¡¯t perverted at all!¡± ¡°Oh? I¡¯m rather interested to know what sort of deep reason it could¡¯ve been to put a torture slime inside of an 11-year-old girl.¡± Barbatos leaned her body against me slightly. She was close enough that I could feel her breath. Damn it! This girl¡¯s eyes were already glimmering with lust. My throat felt clogged. I did my best to not get caught in the lust spell that she kept casting as I spoke. ¡°Well, she¡¯s an incredibly dangerous person¡­¡­so I had to create a type of mental safety measure so that she wouldn¡¯t rebel against me¡­¡­Hey! Stop touching me!¡± ¡°How does putting a torture slime in a girl¡¯s hold be a mental safety measure? I don¡¯t understand.¡± Barbatos grinned as she started to rub my crotch. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this here right now! A kid is watching!¡± ¡°That¡¯s not something a guy who was tormenting a girl with a slime should be saying. Also, so what? There¡¯s that, you know?¡± She came close and whispered into my ear. ¡°I get more excited when there¡¯s someone else watching.¡± We ended up doing it. While Daisy hung from the ceiling and stared right at us. Adding to this, Barbatos had taken the role of the master while I was the ve. I was forced into this kind of roley while being watched by an 11-year-old girl. What a messed up situation. I begged Barbatos to forgive me, but that got her more excited as she shouted ¡°Kekeke! Scream, scream more you dirty dog!¡±. Why did I think otherwise? Barbatos has always been like this. She has always been a crude person. I had no other choice but to be quiet after realizing that my partner was a person who liked it the more I shouted¡­¡­. * * * ¡°Call all of your girls here.¡± Barbatos said to me as soon as our y was over. She had stolen my pipe and was smoking from it on her own volition. On the other hand, I was sitting at a corner of the bed being depressed. It felt like the gender roles had been swapped, but the other person was Barbatos. What could I do? ¡°My girls?¡± ¡°There are girls you care about, right? The girl you brought as your adjutant during the Crescent Alliance and the girl that helped you when you sold ck herbs. If there are other girls you have sex with, then bring them too.¡± Why? Barbatos scowled at me when I gave her a rebellious look. ¡°If I tell you to call them, then call them.¡± It was shitty being the weak. Shortlyter, a few people gathered in my room. Lapis who just started work on the construction of the first basement floor, Laura who was striving to do some military training with the goblins, and even Jeremi who was fooling around at Ptino. All of the females who were even slightly close to me had been gathered. ¡°This humble one gives her greetings to the Great One.¡± ¡°I bow in respect to Your Excellency the Supreme Commander.¡± ¡°I give my greetings to Her Highness the Demon Lord of Immortality.¡± They all greeted Barbatos cordially. They lowered their heads to the ground as they prostrated themselves. In reality, a Rank 8 Demon Lord was no different from the most honorable monarch in the world. It was probably a position that lowly individuals like Lapis and Jeremi couldn¡¯t dare to handle. They were both extremely nervous. Especially since Barbatos was naked right now. She didn¡¯t get dressed after having sex with me. She met the girls while there were still clear signs of our antics everywhere. It was clear that the girls were panicking because they didn¡¯t know where to look. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Raise your heads.¡± Barbatos ced a hand on her chin as she spoke arrogantly. She was sitting on the throne that was crafted specifically for me as if it were the most natural thing to do. ¡°Who was the first person here to meet Dantalian? Raise your hand.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It was this humble one.¡± Lapis raised her hand impassively. ¡°What task do you handle under Dantalian?¡± ¡°It is temporary, but this humble one is in charge of finances.¡± Mm, Barbatos nodded. ¡°Finance is the highest position. Then which one of you here has fucked Dantalian the most?¡± Laura raised her right hand. ¡°My apologies, but it is this youngdy. Your Excellency, this youngdy is in charge of military affairs.¡± ¡°I figured it¡¯d be you.¡± Barbatos nodded again. ¡°Do you remember how many times you¡¯ve done it so far?¡± ¡°At the very least, I believe about 200 times.¡± ¡°Mm. If it¡¯s that much, then you¡¯ve done it more than me.¡± The girls in front of me were discussing how many times they¡¯ve slept with me with incredibly serious looks on their faces. I wanted to run away from this scene that felt excessively postmodern. What is this? Is this a newly developed torture method? ¡°Who has yed with Dantalian in the most perverse way here?¡± ¡°¡­¡­This youngdy has done it outside.¡± Laura spoke carefully. Barbatos clicked her tongue. ¡°Tsk tsk, that¡¯s nothing. That doesn¡¯t even reach a corner of obscenity. Anyone else?¡± ¡°This humble one has done it with him in the spectator seats of an opera.¡± Jeremi spoke. ¡°In the spectator seats that are in clear view of the opera actors and actresses, Your Highness.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit better, but it¡¯s stillcking.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis looked at me in shock. An emotionless shock. She looked like she wanted to nag at me, but was holding herself back since she was in Barbatos¡¯ presence. I was probably going to get scolded by Lapis once Barbatos leaves¡­¡­. ¡°Kittens, as you all know, Dantalian is,¡± Barbatos pointed at the ceiling. Daisy was hanging there still. ¡°A debauchee. If he goes out, then he will always bewitch a girl. He might even be hiding a lover or two from even me and you. Of course, I support free love, but all things require organization. Don¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± The three of them answered in unison. Barbatos grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll say it clearly right now. I¡¯m the legal wife.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You are all concubines. Financial advisor, military advisor, and you, elf, I will only acknowledge the three of you as his concubines. If Dantalian says that he wants to include another woman, then do so after getting the approval of his legal wife, me.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This segment is really starting off strong by gathering literally all the waifus together. I guess Paimon is the only one left out. Welp not much else to say, life is slow as usual. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 223: Witch’s Prophecy (2) Chapter 223: Witch¡¯s Prophecy (2) Everyone had be dumbfounded. Barbatos continued to drop more bombshells. ¡°Ah, this doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m actually Dantalian¡¯s wife. To be more exact, Dantalian is my lover. Dantalian¡¯s ownership belongs to me. But I¡¯m merciful. I don¡¯t mind generously forgiving my lover even if he cheats on me.¡¯ Barbatos slowly crossed her legs. ¡°However, it¡¯d be troubling if he goes around ying with whoever he pleases. Dantalian, you¡¯re the lover of none other than me, Barbatos. The lover of a ruler. Do you understand what this means?¡± ¡°¡­¡­If it bes known that I¡¯m a debauchee, then it would also harm your image.¡± A ruler¡¯s lover ying around with whoever they wanted was insulting in itself. The lover wouldn¡¯t be the only one to have their image ruined. Why did you make a person like that your lover? Do you actually have a good eye for people? Like this, the ruler would also have their image tarnished. However, I spoke up to ask a question. ¡°You may have not slept with men, but you¡¯ve always yed around however you wanted until now. Do you have an image to be tarnished all of a sudden?¡± ¡°Idiot. The important thing is the fact that you¡¯re my one and only male lover.¡± Barbatos let out a sigh. ¡°I know that there may be no sweet feelings between us, but it¡¯s meaningful in the eyes of other people. This is the first time in 2,000 years that I¡¯m going out with a man.¡± I understood now. In the demon world, a man¡¯s adultery wasn¡¯t even considered a scandal. The demon world is unrivaled when ites to being sexually free. Although there wasn¡¯t a lot, a minority of people who would boast about having sex with the vilest creatures did exist. However, not being able to properly manage your ¡®wife¡¯ or ¡®husband¡¯ was a different matter. It wouldn¡¯t matter to the person whomits adultery, but the partner who allows them to do so would get ridiculed. ¡°It¡¯s troublesome being a high-ranking Demon Lord.¡± Barbatos looked rather tired. ¡°Try having some nonsensical rumors about you circte behind your back. It¡¯ll probably spread throughout the entire demon world in an instant. For example, if a rumor were to spread that Dantalian was actually an incredibly vulgar debauchee and that Barbatos fell for him, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Agares and Gamigin would probably be the first to celebrate. Damn it.¡± This would put Barbatos at a bit of a disadvantage in her fight for justification. In the political world, there was nothing more effective than attacking your opponent¡¯s image. I see. I¡¯ve climbed up to a position where I now have to be concerned about my rtionship with females¡­¡­. I¡¯ve be an individual who could harm others if I acted however I pleased and ording to my desires. This was so troublesome. I med her bluntly. ¡°Then why¡¯d you make our rtionship public like that?¡± Once I did, Barbatos seemed to get incredibly annoyed as she furrowed her brows. ¡°Rumors were destined to spread anyway. If you don¡¯t have a pig¡¯s ass attacked to your neck, then think about it, you idiot. Do you think rumors wouldn¡¯t spread when you visit my quarters and don¡¯te out all night? It¡¯d be better to juste out publicly and hammer the nail down beforehand. In any case, don¡¯t wave your penis around thoughtlessly anymore.¡± ¡°Haah.¡± I let out a sigh. This is why politics are annoying. It came to me right as I was getting depressed about having to live whilepletely bound to Barbatos. I came up with a great idea. I ced my hand on my forehead as I thought for a moment. I reviewed the idea to make sure it made sense or not. ¡°¡­¡­Uh, Barbatos. Can we talk with just the two of us for a moment?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Barbatos looked at my eyes before nodding. ¡°You seem to havee up with an idea.¡± ¡°Indeed. Although it¡¯s a bit strange.¡± ¡°Everything in your skull is strange, so there¡¯s no point in bringing it up now. The rest of you can leave.¡± Barbatos waved her hand. Lapis, Laura, and Jeremi didn¡¯t utter a single word ofint as they were dismissed. Daisy was also dismissed after Jeremi freed her from her bindings. ¡°All right. Tell me your idea.¡± ¡°I have to be careful with who I sleep with because I slept with you. You¡¯re right about that, but how about applying that the other way around?¡± She gave me a quizzical gaze. ¡°The other way around?¡± I gave her a meaningful smile. ¡°I¡¯ll t out be an extraordinary womanizer.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hah?¡± What nonsense is this guy saying? That was what Barbatos¡¯ face was saying. I continued without backing down. ¡°Barbatos, turn your way of thinking around. The issuees from Demon Lord Dantalian being only Barbatos¡¯ lover. It won¡¯t be an issue anymore if I also sleep with almost every female Demon Lord!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Haaah?¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression was now saying, ¡®What bullshit is this guy spewing?¡¯. How dense. Does she still not understand!? ¡°Picture this. What would happen if I be lovers with Paimon, Gamigin, Sitri, and you? Barbatos, it wouldn¡¯t mean that you aren¡¯t able to manage me. It would make me into an impressive fellow.¡± That¡¯s right. If a man has a secret rtionship with a queen, then he would naturally have to be careful. However, what if that man has a rtionship with not only one queen, but the queens of other nations as well? He would be a genuinely impressive man. Any woman would get ridiculed if they sleep with a debauchee. However, what if that debauchee was a Casanova? It wasn¡¯t the woman¡¯s fault. The Casanova was simply that impressive. ¡°¡­¡­Wait. Sorry. My head is a mess right now.¡± Barbatos muttered as she pressed her hand against her forehead. ¡°I¡¯m starting to doubt whether you and I are talking in the samenguage. Dantalian, so what you¡¯re trying to say is¡­¡­you¡¯re going to sleep not only with Paimon but Sitri and Gamigin as well?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± I pped. ¡°I¡¯m d that you understand quickly.¡± ¡°©¥Go die, you son of a bitch.¡± Barbatos kicked me with all her strength. I predicted that Barbatos would attack me, so I barely managed to dodge her. Barbatos¡¯ face was incredibly red as she shot words at me rapidly. ¡°Are you an idiot? Are you stupid? Insane? Crazy? You¡¯repletely mental!¡± ¡°No, rx and think about it calmly. This is actually a lot more rational¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You took my virginity, you shitty bastard!¡± Barbatos got up. ¡°I may be about free love, but you know? You were my first man! Do you think I would¡¯ve had sex with you without any thoughts or feelings? Dear God. I know your mind is in the gutter, but how could you say something as ridiculous as that? How could you say that you¡¯d also sleep with that bitch Paimon in front of m©¥.¡± ¡°I also prefer you the most!¡± I raised my hands and shouted. ¡°You empty-headed idiot, why are you only able to think about one thing!? Let¡¯s say that I slept with Paimon and Gamigin! Despite this, what do you think would happen if rumors spread that Dantalian cherishes Demon Lord Barbatos the most!? God damn it, then that would make you, Barbatos, the greatest out of every female Demon Lord!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos paused. ¡°¡­¡­I would be ced above Paimon and Gamigin?¡± ¡°Yeah! Your pride can fucking shoot right through the roof! Don¡¯t you think people will ask me which Demon Lord I cherish the most out of all the ones I¡¯ve slept with? At that time, fuck, I can fucking tell them that I¡¯ve tasted all of the beautiful Demon Lords in the world but none of thempares to Barbatos!¡± I swung my fist in the air. ¡°It¡¯d be over with that! You would quite literally be my favorite at that point! Do you understand? Paimon, Sitri, and Gamigin will be nothing more than lovers whom I enjoy one-night stands with, but, Barbatos, you will be worshipped as the heroine who has even the greatest debauchee on the palm of your hands!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression contorted. ¡°¡­¡­Shut up. Damn it, you¡¯re making bullshit not sound like bullshit because you¡¯re the one talking¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Of course it doesn¡¯t sound like bullshit since it isn¡¯t bullshit!¡± ¡°I told you to shut your trap, you fucker.¡± Her tone was rough, but I had a feeling. She was currently getting convinced by me. I could tell. She just wasn¡¯t convinced from an emotional point of view. I had to push her more in a time like this. This was a significant issue. I¡¯m going to live for thousands of more years as a Demon Lord and like hell I was going to let Barbatos hold me down already! I¡¯m not the one who should be the lover between us, it¡¯s her. ¡°Hey, Barbatos. I¡¯m doing this all for your sake.¡± ¡°You talk so well even though your trap is twisted¡­¡­. How could sleeping with other women be for my sake!?¡± ¡°This is your golden opportunity to crush Paimon as a ¡®woman¡¯.¡± Quietly, I whispered into Barbatos¡¯ ear. If someone were to see me from the side, then they would¡¯ve probably called me the Devil. Well, that didn¡¯t matter to me. I¡¯ve always wanted to be the Devil. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to win against Paimon? Not simply as a Demon Lord, but as a woman, don¡¯t you want to crush her under your feet? Don¡¯t you want to drop Paimon¡¯s pride and dignity to the bottom of a pit and let out a bigugh?¡± ¡°Uu¡­¡­uugh¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos groaned. She was gripping her head with her hands in torment. I continued to whisper like a general who was about to conquer an imprable fortress with one more push. ¡°It¡¯s honestly disgruntled you, hasn¡¯t it? I heard that Paimon would always call you a brat. She¡¯d call you the washboard Demon Lord who doesundry on her chest. Does it not hurt your pride? Is it fine for you to leave Paimon be like this? The people of the demon world probablypare you two all the time.¡± ¡°Uuuugh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s show the world.¡± I gently stroked Barbatos¡¯ head. ¡°Having big breasts isn¡¯t great. It¡¯s because you¡¯re small, no, the smaller the girl, the more charm you have. The ignorant masses are ignoring this truth. Barbatos, this might be yourst opportunity to make Paimon taste utter defeat¡­¡­. Don¡¯t you think so as well? When do you think you¡¯ll sleep with another man besides me?¡± ¡°But¡­¡­I don¡¯t want to share the same man with Paimon.¡± Her voice had be weak. This basically meant that she had been defeated. I let out a yell of delight in my mind. Barbatos has a type ofplex. She was the only one with a small frame when the Demon Lord army was filled with curved beauties. I had made use of thisplex of hers. ¡°This is taking one step back to take two steps forward, no, a hundred steps forward. A war to defeat Paimon. You have to be able to endure some losses. Isn¡¯t that only natural?¡± ¡°You, idiot¡­¡­what certainty do you have¡­¡­that Paimon would sleep with you, let alone Sitri and Gamigin.¡± Barbatos made a sulky face as she looked up at me. The way she was gritting her teeth looked quite cute. ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t tell you because I thought you¡¯d get upset.¡± I gave Barbatos a serious gaze. ¡°Actually, Paimon has made passes at me twice already.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Sitri already likes me, and Gamigin, well, I noticed it before, but I think I can convince her with a little persuading.¡± Barbatos became dumbstruck. ¡°D-Don¡¯t lie! Why would Paimon like someone like you!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the truth. Do you know what she told me? She told me you two used to date in the past.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos shut her mouth. ¡°You two told each other that if either of you ended up liking a guy, then you¡¯d both be very curious to see that man for yourselves. Paimon told me that she never expected to have the same man in her mind as you.¡± ¡°U-Uugh¡­¡­!?¡± Checkmate, Barbatos. I spoke with a furtive smile. ¡°Barbatos, give me a little push. I will raise you up as the greatest female Demon Lord. Who do you think I am? I¡¯m Dantalian. The man who breached the ck Mountains and burned all of Habsburg down. You believe me, don¡¯t you?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Dantalian is really working his tongue this chapter. I didn¡¯t even know if I should root for him here since you sort of feel bad for Barbatos. Welp, like I said before, this segment is really starting off strong. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 224: Witch’s Prophecy (3) Chapter 224: Witch¡¯s Prophecy (3) Barbatos kept her head down as she remained silent for a while. I waited patiently. I already said everything I had to say, and I had finished persuading her. Saying anything more than this would actually be detrimental now. I simply had to wait for Barbatos to put her emotions back together. She slowly opened her mouth. ¡°You aren¡¯t doing this for any other reason, right?¡± ¡°If I did, then I would¡¯ve done it with Paimon already. I managed to endure the Subus Queen¡¯s seduction. There¡¯s probably no better proof than this.¡± I actually avoided her because I was afraid of the consequences, but I won¡¯t say that. ¡°¡­¡­Am I really the best?¡± ¡°As you know, I¡¯m not particrly loyal to the ins Faction, Barbatos. I respect General Zepar and I like Brother Beleth, but I don¡¯t intend to devote my body to the ins Faction¡¯s ideology.¡± I brushed Barbatos¡¯ front bangs to the side as I spoke. ¡°In other words, I¡¯m your friend regardless of any sort of partisan gains. I don¡¯t care that you¡¯re the leader of the ins Faction or a high-ranking Demon Lord. Barbatos, I simply consider you yourself as a friend.¡± ¡°By any possibility¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos red at me. ¡°If you go over to Paimon¡¯s side, then I¡¯m going to kill you.¡± ¡°I keep saying that you¡¯re my number one, but you¡¯re still acting like this, Your Highness.¡± Iughed as I gave Barbatos a kiss. I didn¡¯t kiss her on the lips. I gave a respectful kiss to the top of Barbatos¡¯ foot as she stayed seated on the throne. If I went for her lips, then there was a high chance that Barbatos would refuse me because of her mood. That¡¯s why I lowered myself as much as possible and touched the girl¡¯s body respectfully like a servant serving his master. From her shin to her knee and to her thighs¡­¡­I crossed Barbatos¡¯ bare stomach and chest and kissed her nape. I then carefully pressed my lips against hers like I was knocking on a door. ¡°Hmm¡­¡­mm.¡± The gates opened with ease. The two of us would normally have rough and extreme sex. I wasn¡¯t saying that it was rough because we moved violently. It was simply because we were obsessed with acts that weren¡¯t simply pressing our bodies together and would do things that went beyondmon sense like whipping, torturing, and ying as master and ve. Was it because of that? Barbatos actually liked it when I approached her as a normal lover would sometimes. It was like people would say, you can¡¯t live your life only drinking soda. ¡°¡­¡­You really are a son of a bitch.¡± After our kiss, Barbatos looked up at me with moist eyes. The sharp edge in her voice was gone now. I gave her a gentle smile. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to pant like a bitch in heat while being pounded by a dog-like bastard?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± That was the line Barbatos said to me when she seduced me the first time. There was no way she wouldn¡¯t remember this. Barbatos opened her mouth partially as if she were annoyed. However, before she could say any sort ofint, I took the first move and blocked her mouth with my own. Barbatos¡¯ words lost their shape as they turned into moans. ¡°Hhb, haa¡­¡­hmm.¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± I backed away as I spoke. ¡°You said that I had be a pervert since thest time we met, right? That¡¯s the truth. I recently discovered that I¡¯m actually quite the perverted guy. Sheesh, it was quite the surprising discovery.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯ve always been a perverted bastard.¡± ¡°Oh? So you became my sex partner knowing that I¡¯m a pervert.¡± Barbatos seemed to want to swear at me a little more as she insisted on calling me names till the very end. It was unfortunate, but that was a mistake, O Demon Lord of Immortality. ¡°Barbatos, you surprisingly have a masochistic side to you.¡± ¡°Haa?¡± ¡°You normally act as the master, but you get really happy even when you switch roles.¡± I opened a system window in front of me and immediately purchased a monster. A torture slime. The same transparent slime I had used on Daisy. Barbatos furrowed her brows once she saw it. She looked up at me uneasily. ¡°What¡­¡­are you nning to do with that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you know as well, but this slime has the ability to share its senses.¡± I brought my face close to Barbatos as I whispered. ¡°I¡¯m going to put this inside of you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I n to cut it in half and keep the other half with me. I¡¯ll keep it in my pocket at all times. And whenever I¡¯m going somewhere with you, I¡¯ll fiddle with it in my pocket. How about it? Isn¡¯t it a good idea?¡± Barbatos¡¯ mouth twitched. Her expression was bing strange. ¡°A good idea¡­¡­? You crazy fucker, how dare you ask me that¡­¡­the Rank 8 Demon Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You must¡¯ve had a hard time dealing with everything in Habsburg, right? Since you¡¯re already here at my ce, we should pay a visit to Niflheim. We can go to a casino and spend a bunch of money at the most luxurious brothels, yeah? I¡¯ve gotten my hands on a lot of moneytely. It should be quite the good time.¡± I tore the slime and slid it inside Barbatos. The slime squirmed like a caterpir as it naturally made its way up. I continued to whisper to Barbatos with a smile on my lips. ¡°And I¡¯ll touch it while we¡¯re under the watchful eyes of other demons. The slime inside of my pocket. Intensely, strongly, and to the point that you can¡¯t endure it¡­¡­. The Rank 8 Demon Lord will climax in front of a countless number of demons.¡± ¡°Are you, crazy¡­¡­?¡± Barbatos, whose expression was twisted strangely©¥. ¡°Do you think, I¡¯ll let you do something like that¡­¡­?¡± She was smiling with uncontroble delight. She tried to control her facial expression, but the thought of the uing pleasure that was going to shower upon her made the ends of her mouth tremble uncontrobly. The usual confident and arrogant tyrant was nowhere to be seen. Only the remains of her pride and arrogance were barely keeping Barbatos up. I gave her a cold look. This was the signal that stated our roles were being swapped. ¡°You should learn to speak properly even if your mouth is crooked. You aren¡¯t listening to my request, you dirty pig. I¡¯m ordering you. If you¡¯re a meat toilet, then you should talk like one as well, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­, ¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression fell apart. Afterward, Barbatos wasn¡¯t allowed to speak like a person for 6 hours. I¡¯ll just say that I showed her that she could only oink like a pig. This was revenge for treating me like a ve in front of Daisy. I always repay my debts because of my incredibly earnest personality. * * * ¡°A meeting?¡± I only found outter on that Barbatos didn¡¯te here to simply escape her troubles. She had business with me as well. There was going to be a meeting between Demon Lords. My original goal was to tell you this, was what Barbatos told me. ¡°Hoo¡­¡­. The Crescent Alliance war has wrapped up to a degree, so it¡¯se to a point where we have to carry out the distribution of honors.¡± Barbatos took a long drag on her pipe. She looked tired. It wasn¡¯t surprising since we had gone to every corner of the cave for several hours. I fiddled around with the inside of my pocket like I was going to put a hole in it as I walked around together with her. Barbatos did her utmost to not climax while watching the goblin workers. Although she did anyway in the end. About 50 times as well. I knew because I had ordered her to tell me how many times she climaxed every time she did. Barbatos almost passed out at the end. She copsed on the cavern floor with unfocused eyes and muttered ¡®fifty-six¡­¡­fifty-six times¡­¡­fifty-six times¡­¡­.¡¯. On another note, a weird skill had leveled up. ¡¸Your Training(Lv. 2) has increased!¡¹ I was curious so I quickly checked what this was. I had gained a new ability ever since I made Daisy my ve. ¡®The higher your Training level, the more effectively you can train your ves.¡¯, this was disyed nicely in the description window. I should test this out on Daisy whenever I have the time. ¡°A distribution of honors, huh? ¡­¡­It¡¯s not like Baal is our ruler or something. Why do we have to participate in something like that?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that, but it¡¯s just called a distribution of honors on the surface. There¡¯s actually something else here that¡¯s important.¡± Barbatos continued. ¡°I asked old man Baal to mediate.¡± This was what she was saying: Habsburg was currently split into a three-sided struggle between Demon Lords¡­¡­. In other words, the battle between Barbatos, Agares, and Gamigin was growing more intense by the day. Normally, Demon Lord Marbas of the Neutral Faction would act as a mediator between the parties, but this fight went beyond what Marbas could do. Agares was the Rank 2 Demon Lord and Gamigin was the Rank 4 Demon Lord. There was no guarantee that they would obediently listen to Marbas who was the Rank 5 Demon Lord. That was why Barbatos asked Baal who upied the highest position within the Demon Lord army to act as the mediator. ¡°But old man Baal would never offer a solution himself. Never.¡± Demon Lord Baal fundamentally supportedissez-faire. (TL Note: Laissez-faire, also known as the let-alone policy) He was willing to act as a mediator whenever there was a problem, but he wanted the involved parties to figure out a solution themselves. Barbatos came to me so that she could take a slightly more advantageous position during the negotiations. ¡°Your talking skill is able to float even if you tried to drown it in water. Help me out.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hey, hey. Are you insane? Are you telling me to go against Agares and Gamigin?¡± I reeled back in terror. ¡°What are you going to do if they hold a grudge against me?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say Gamigin liked you? Try persuading her with that dick of yours.¡± ¡°Like hell.¡± I only met Gamigin briefly during the Crescent Alliance war, but that was enough for me to know. Gamigin was the type of individual who would resort to assassination without any hesitation if it meant she could get rid of her political rivals. I doubt she¡¯d take our side due to her personal emotions when there were interests on the line. I didn¡¯t even have to bring up Agares. I didn¡¯t have any sort of rtionship with her. ¡°Mm. There¡¯s nothing for me to gain by stepping forward as a negotiator.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Would I not be able to persuade you?¡± Barbatos looked up at me furtively. Our master-ve roley had already ended a short while ago. Despite this, Barbatos was acting surprisingly humble. This meant that Barbatos understood fully well that I would have nothing to gain by stepping forward as the negotiator. Despite this, she was requesting this of me. If you listen to my request, then I¡¯ll give you anything in return. I¡¯ll do something for you. Barbatos definitely could¡¯ve said something like this, but she didn¡¯t offer me anything. Therefore¡­¡­Barbatos wasn¡¯t considering the profit and losses and was solely asking this of me out of our friendship. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I thought about it intently. Barbatos had never made a request like this to me. Our rtionship was rather dry. We both disliked words like friendship and love. We slept together whenever we wanted. We spent our time together like friends. However, we didn¡¯t use things like friendship and love. It would be fine to call our rtionship dry. I came to a realization at the end of my contemtion. ¡®I see.¡¯ This was a trade. Barbatos had given me the okay to sleep with Paimon and the others. There was no way that this wouldn¡¯t weigh down on her emotions. ¡®I¡¯ve allowed you to do that much, so you should do this much for me.¡¯, this was the message Barbatos was giving me. The reason she didn¡¯t exin this to me openly was due to the fact that it would make love and friendship be incredibly apparent in the rtionship between. Our rtionship would instantly be muddy the instant those things got involved¡­¡­. ¡°Hoo.¡± Augh slipped out. Her behavior felt cute. She was quite the arrogant girl. ¡°Barbatos, did you bring my fingers?¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah.¡± Barbatos nodded and took out a white towel from her pocket. Two of my fingers were probably wrapped inside of the towel. They were the fingers I had deliberately cut off in order to save Lapis. She probably brought them here to reattach them to me. I spoke. ¡°Make those into a ne and keep it with you.¡± Barbatos blinked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I promised you, didn¡¯t I? You¡¯ll always be my number one even if I sleep with Paimon. It¡¯s not that great as proof, but it should work as quite the clear symbol. Show Paimon that ne when you meet herter on. Tell her I gifted it to you.¡± You may have slept with Dantalian, but he gifted me a part of his body. My rtionship with him is much deeper than yours¡­¡­. There was probably nothing more effective than this. I was going to present my two fingers to Barbatos to give her my trust. ¡°¡­¡­All right. I understand.¡± Barbatos mulled over it for a moment before muttering in a tiny voice. She held the white towel tightly in her hands. I didn¡¯t need her to rify what she had understood. Barbatos leaned against me silently. I smiled and stroked her hair softly. We were both lousy children. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Don¡¯t these two make quite the pair? Even if Dantalian is quite the big scum. You almost forget that, just a chapter ago, he waspletely toying with Barbatos¡¯ heart :^) In any case, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I¡¯ll see you in the next one. Chapter 225: Witch’s Prophecy (4) Chapter 225: Witch¡¯s Prophecy (4) * * * The girls that were dismissed from the Demon Lord room gathered at one ce. This was a room that Lapis was using as her main office temporarily. The room was filled with documents rted to the construction of the dungeon. The girls were dispirited like soldiers who had deserted a battlefield. Laura spoke in amenting tone. ¡°There is no chance of winning with Her Excellency Barbatos as our opponent. We do not have any advantages whatsoever. Our positions are pitiful inparison to Her Excellency Barbatos¡¯ position as one of the highest-ranking Demon Lords. Furthermore, His Lordship is an irreparable lolicon, so we lose in terms of physique as well¡­¡­!¡± Laura looked down at her chest with a reproachful look. ¡°Why is my body bing ampler as time passes? I am truly mortified! It would have been nice if I could have maintained my child-like form since the day I met His Lordship for the first time!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Her Highness Barbatos would kill you if she had heard what you said just now.¡± Jeremi chuckled awkwardly. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say that His Highness Dantalian absolutely prefers smaller bodies. For example, look at me.¡± ¡°No. I am certain of this. Miss Jeremi, look at that child.¡± Laura pointed to the side. Laura pointed at Daisy who was seated and quietly reading a book on philosophy. ¡¸Philosophical Exploration of the Nature of Human Freedom and the Objects Associated with it¡¹ was written on the cover in fancy handwriting. Daisy had already reached a reading andprehension level that allowed her to understand a philosophy book written in the ancient imperialnguage. ¡°Does she not look the same, or even younger than Her Excellency Barbatos!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Rather than looking young, she is literally a young child.¡± ¡°His Lordship definitely has a specific preference!¡± Laura wasn¡¯t listening. ¡°Seriously, my jaw almost dropped when he suddenly brought that child here and called her his adopted daughter. Aah. This youngdy definitely needed someone to handle His Lordship at night, but I did not mean an 11-year-old girl! That is much too young!¡± ¡°Mmm. I don¡¯t think His Highness Dantalian took in Miss Daisy to bed her¡­¡­. She is still his adopted daughter out of formality, you know?¡± ¡°It does not matter. If anything, a parent and child rtionship would just excite him more.¡± Laura dered. Jeremi was learning with each passing day how terrible Dantalian¡¯s image was ever since she arrived here. There probably weren¡¯t that many Demon Lords who were also treated like this much of a pervert by their own vassals. ¡°¡­¡­No. This might actually be a good thing.¡± Lapis muttered. ¡°If Her Highness Barbatos takes the center stage, then there would be less females who would try to approach Sir Dantalian thoughtlessly. There is no greater shield than Her Highness Barbatos to prevent the number of concubines from increasing needlessly.¡± ¡°Surely.¡± Laura nodded her head. ¡°You could see it as a type of tactical decision. Hm. We may becking in other things, but we have an advantage in terms of time. Different from Her Excellency Barbatos, we can always stay at His Lordship¡¯s side at all times.¡± ¡°Yes. There are merits and demerits to this.¡± Lapis and Laura were discussing what they should do from now on with incredibly serious looks on their faces. Jeremi thought to herself as she watched them. ¡®These girls are also a little weird.¡¯ What sort of low-tier demon would refer to a Demon Lord as a shield? The human girl named Laura de Farnese also has a hobby of collecting the skulls of her fellow humans. There was also no reason to discuss Daisy¡¯s bizarreness now. ¡®No. Do these two genuinely intend to have a love battle with Her Highness Barbatos? Really? Seriously?¡¯ Their opponent was the Rank 8 Demon Lord. They were insane. On the other hand, Daisy was quietly flipping through the pages of her philosophy book while sitting next to this chaos. Jeremi suddenly came to a realization. ¡®Wait, don¡¯t tell me. Am I actually the most rational person here?¡¯ She couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡®Me¡­¡­the person who has spent hundreds of years assassinating people and getting stained by blood in the underworld¡­¡­I¡¯m the most rational¡­¡­?¡¯ How could this be happening? There were only insane people gathered within Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord army, also known as Dantalian Familia. Lapis and Laura only looked normal at first nce, but once you got to know them, you realized they were also as terrifying as their ruler. ¡°I heard that Her Highness Barbatos has a masochistic side to her. Let¡¯s use that and¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes. Laura, you should aim for an opportunity to have a threesome with them. If you take the position at the top at that time, then there will be no problem. Her Highness Barbatos may be the legal wife on the surface, but within the pce, she is¡­¡­.¡± An immensely dangerous conversation was currently being exchanged! Jeremi¡¯s jaw dropped further and further as she listened to their conversation. ¡°Mm, wait. Wait a second. Miss Lapis, Miss Laura. Are you saying that you will put Her Highness Barbatos in the position of the ¡®ve¡¯¡­¡­while Miss Laura takes the role as the leader? Is this what you two are discussing?¡± ¡°In terms of strategy, it is among the basics to attack your opponent¡¯s weak spot.¡± Laura nodded a matter-of-factly. ¡°Her Excellency Barbatos may be going out with His Lordship right now, but she was originally a lesbian. I am embarrassed to admit this, but this youngdy is confident that her beauty does not fall behind anyone else. I will use this body.¡± ¡°Whaat¡­¡­?¡± Laura shouted boldly. ¡°This youngdy will be Her Excellency Barbatos¡¯ lover and turn her into this youngdy¡¯s ve!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°His Lordship, who is Her Excellency Barbatos¡¯ lover, will be this youngdy¡¯s lover¡¯s lover. This will put this youngdy at a higher position!¡± This girl is insane. Jeremi couldn¡¯t repress her astonishment as sweat dripped down her forehead. In other words, this human girl was saying that she would turn Barbatos into her SM partner for the sake of bing Dantalian¡¯s legal wife. Even Jeremi, who had experienced all sorts of hardship, didn¡¯t understand what could¡¯ve possibly been going through this girl¡¯s mind to havee to such a conclusion. ¡°A splendid idea.¡± Another lunatic was supporting Laura. ¡°I thought that Miss Laura was unfamiliar with policies, but I can only apud your strategical side.¡± ¡°Do not worry. Big Sis Lapis will always be this youngdy¡¯s big sister. This fact will not change even after this youngdy conquers Her Excellency Barbatos.¡± Jeremi gave up on thinking. One thing was certain, though. The Dantalian Familia was the most wicked gate to Hell in the world. Be it both the lord or his vassals, everyst person here had a loose screw in their head. The issue was the fact that they looked absolutely normal on the outside. Demon Lord Dantalian was the person who led the 8th Crescent Alliance to sess. Laura de Farnese was the rising star who prevented the Demon Lord army from getting wiped out at the Battle of Austerlitz. Lapis Lazuli was the wealthy merchant who was leading a sess story in Keuncuska. Other people would probably think this was a ce filled with splendid individuals, but the reality was different. These guys were simply ghouls that acted normal! ¡®I-I want to leave. I want to run away with all my strength. I don¡¯t want to be connected with these people forever.¡¯ Her intuition as an assassin was giving out warning signals. Nothing good woulde out from getting mixed up with these people. However, there was nothing she could do. As long as there was a ve seal on her heart, she had to obey her client¡¯s order no matter what even if she were to die¡­¡­. ¡¸Throw away all hope, those who havee to nirvana.¡¹ The words engraved at the entrance of the dungeon were right. There were no hopes or dreams here¡­¡­. On this day. The ruler Dantalian openly dered that he would sleep with every female Demon Lord for the sake of protecting his right to love freely and his vassals schemed to conquer Demon Lord Barbatos solely because they didn¡¯t want to give up on the position of the legal wife. This was the quality of the Dantalian Familia. * * * The Demon Lords gathered at the governor¡¯s mansion in Niflheim. This was my third time here now. The first time was when I was interrogated by Paimon during the hearing. At that time, I was the lowest-ranking Demon Lord without any sort of status. The second time I came here was when the Crescent Alliance Expedition was decided. At that time, I participated as a member of the ins Faction. Now, on the third visit¡­¡­I was a key member of the ins Faction and the highest advisor of the entire Crescent Alliance. This was what people meant by not knowing what the future had in store. Looking back at it now, didn¡¯t I run frantically for 3 years now? ¡°Your Highness Dantalian, wee. Hihi. It is an honor to meet Your Highness.¡± An old woman came out to greet me while I was staring at the front gate of the mansion and reminiscing the past. She had a familiar face. It was the witch that hade out to greet me when I came here for the first time a few years ago. ¡°Humbaba, is it? Long time no see.¡± ¡°Hoho? Did this humble one tell Your Highness her name?¡± The old woman squeaked like a mouse as she spoke. The voice that put me on edge in the past now felt rxing. I remember going into despair after peaking at this witch¡¯s stats and thinking ¡®I¡¯d probably get wiped out if a witch like her were to invade my dungeon¡¯. It was different now. I have death knights. I disyed a rxed smile. ¡°A Demon Lord should naturally know the name of his people.¡± ¡°As expected of Your Highness Dantalian, kiki. You truly are a prestigious individual who is renowned throughout the demon world. Now then, please allow this humble one to guide you to the mansion.¡± The old woman took the lead. This was also different from before. It was the old woman¡¯s familiar that guided mest time. I was made to realize once more that I had really gotten far in life. I went through a lot of effort to reach this position. Seriously. It was to the point that one or two sentences wouldn¡¯t be enough to describe everything. ¡°Rank 71! Demon Lord of Many Faces, His Highness Dantalian has arrived!¡± The gatekeeper announced loudly to those present in the ballroom. The guards bowed to me extremely courteously as I walked between them with my mantle fluttering behind me. I was wearing ck from my mantle all the way down to my boots. Demon Lord of the ck Death. Someone muttered those words while looking at me. There were still a lot of people who thought I was connected to the ck Death. The color ck was making people think of the ck Death. I had boldly worn ck clothes so that they would think that more. No Demon Lord dared to use me of causing the ck Death now, after all. The other Demon Lords watched me from afar. No one approached me immediately. As expected, none of the ins Faction Demon Lords had arrived yet. It was mostly people from the Mountain Faction. To them, Demon Lord Dantalian was nothing more than a nightmare that had brought their leader down. I doubt they¡¯d want to even exchange pleasantries with me. The era where the Mountain Faction controlled the Demon Lord army was now over. It was the ins Faction that clearly had a firm grasp over the politicalndscape throughout the continent now. In other words, I was the war criminal who created this change. It felt silly. However, there was one person who paid that silence no mind and approached me anyway even though there was tension between me and the Mountain Faction Demon Lords. ¡°Long time no see, Dantalian!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes, it has been a long time, Sitri.¡± The sole person within the Demon Lord army whose mind was not dirtied, the Rank 12 Sitri. Sitri linked her arm with mine as soon as she saw me. The sound of shock echoed around us. In their current fallen state, it was Sitri who was currently leading the Mountain Faction. That Demon Lord had approached the Mountain Faction¡¯s archnemesis in a friendly manner. ¡°What have you been doing all this time? You didn¡¯t get in contact with me for a while, so I thought you died!¡± ¡°Haha. I¡¯m a rather tenacious person. You do not have to worry about me.¡± ¡°You have to be careful since there are a lot of people who dislike you.¡± Sitri puffed up her cheeks as she red at me. I could genuinely feel that she was concerned about me. I let out a bitterugh. Really, thisdy. Does she know how much of a political impact her current action is going to have? She probably doesn¡¯t. This was what made her Sitri. On the other hand, there was also an individual who looked like they were raising two hundred snakes in their stomach. ¡°Hehe. Hi, Dantalian. Long time no see.¡± Rank 4 Demon Lord Gamigin. Not only was she going through a territorial dispute with Barbatos, but she was also the person I had to negotiate with as the representative of the ins Faction. Gamigin strutted her way to me while boasting her abundant blonde hair. She was smiling brightly. At a nce, she almost looked as innocent as Sitri, but I knew very well how cruel her insides were. ¡°It has been a long time, Miss Gamigin. Have you been well?¡± ¡°Yup. There hasn¡¯t been a single boring day thanks to Barbatos!¡± Gamigin grinned widely. ¡°I¡¯ll be in your care today, Dantalian. If you corner me too much, I¡¯ll sulk, okay?¡± ¡°I will also be in your care. Haha.¡± We shook each other¡¯s hand with a smile. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s really surprising to see Laura act like this when you consider how she usually behaves around Dant. Also, another chapter goes by where I get saddened by old grandma Humbaba. I shed a tear. Maybe something will happen to her in the future that turns her into the way we remember her from the LN¡­ One can only dream. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 226: Witch’s Prophecy Chapter 226: Witch¡¯sProphecy ¡°Wow. It¡¯s really nice being able to hold your hand like this.¡± Gamigin was holding a ss of wine in her left hand while feeling up my hand with her right hand. I opened my mouth to speak. ¡°Your touch is like silkpared to my own.¡± ¡°Sitri, do you mind giving us a moment? There¡¯s something I want to talk to Dantalian about~.¡± Gamigin spoke in a cute tone to Sitri. She was speaking rather politely even though it was a Rank 4 talking down to a Rank 12. Sitri puffed her cheeks out like a hamster since she seemed displeased by the idea of leaving my side, but she returned to where the other Mountain Faction members were gathered. Gamigin spoke to me. ¡°I kept throwing amorous nces at you back at Bruno ins, but you ignored them! I almost lost my confidence as a woman.¡± ¡°It was because I had quite the terrifyingdy as my mademoiselle.¡± ¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m no match for Barbatos~?¡± Of course not, I answered. ¡°All things proceed ording to fate, so one¡¯s entire life can change depending on who you meet first and who you meetter. Miss Gamigin, I can only regret not having met an individual as beautiful as you first.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± Gamigin gave a shyugh once I courteously gave her a gentlemanly response. She had actually been smiling before she even approached me. There were only two types of people in the world who would go around smiling for no apparent reason. They were either an incredibly kind person¨D¨D. ¡°So, what do you want?¡± Or a very dangerous person. Furthermore, if that person wasn¡¯t a normal individual but a person who held the 4th ranking position out of all the Demon Lords, then¡­¡­it wasn¡¯t hard to guess what they were. The number of humans Gamigin had ughtered alone probably numbers in the tens of thousands. I maintained the smile on my lips as I spoke. ¡°What do I want? I naturally only wish for your goodwill, Miss Gamigin.¡± ¡°Hm? You¡¯re going to feign ignorance? Fufu, there¡¯s no need for that.¡± Gamigin continued smoothly. ¡°I know very well that Dantalian isn¡¯t Barbatos¡¯ confidant. Do you remember the letter you sent in the past to screw Paimon over? I thought it was strange since that time. I didn¡¯t understand why it was Dantalian who sent the letter and not Barbatos~.¡± Previously, Paimon had tried to annihte Barbatos by forming an alliance with Elizabeth. I became aware of this scheme and sent a personal letter to the other high-ranking Demon Lords. Gamigin was saying that that was strange. ¡°It would¡¯ve been a lot more credible had Barbatos been the one to send the letters, and yet, she didn¡¯t. Perhaps, Barbatos wasn¡¯t aware of your n at all? Fufu.¡± ¡°Mm. How troubling.¡± I smiled awkwardly. ¡°Allow me to be honest. I was not absolutely certain that Paimon would take such actions or not. I intentionally framed it in a way that allowed me to take all of the responsibility if my prediction were to be incorrect¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Got you.¡± At that moment, Gamigin¡¯s narrowed eyes widened. Gamigin repeated the phrase ¡®got you¡¯ over and over again as she brought her face close to me. ¡°Got you. I got you~.¡± Her bright red eyes were brimming with an uncontroble joy as they glimmered ominously. ¡°Dantalian. I said that Barbatos might not have been aware of ¡®your n¡¯.The n of calling all of themanders together in order to denounce Paimon¡­¡­. As I thought, it was you, Dantalian, who nned it all by himself instead of Barbatos~?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In the end, you¡¯re also the one who provided a reason for us to fight over thend in Habsburg. Ah, don¡¯t worry. I cast a soundproof spell around us, so no one can hear us!¡± Shit. I swore in my mind. Not yet. I still had excuses I could make. However, it was right when I was about to open my mouth calmly. Gamigin gently let go of the wine ss in her left hand. The ss descended and let out a morous sound as it shattered. Gamigin was staring directly into my eyes the entire time. ¡°Dantalian. Your expression is ¡®frozen¡¯, you know?¡± Gamigin smiled with her eyes. ¡°Unfortunately, people who create a role for themselves and get immersed in it are unable to escape their role even when something unexpected urs. Like a third-rate actor who continues to act like a king when a spectator suddenly steps up on stage~.¡± Gamigin stepped on the shards of ss. The sound of ss cracking resonated unpleasantly. ¡°A ss had just shattered, but rather than get surprised, you¡¯re still smiling. Your expression has stopped. You shouldn¡¯t do that, Dantalian. You shouldn¡¯t~. Acting like that may be able to deceive the people who are earnestly living their lives, but it¡¯ll get seen through by a ¡®first-rate actress¡¯ like myself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My mind went cold. ¡°Jeez, now you¡¯re getting way too serious. This was just a small bit of fun. You should enjoy it together with me.¡± ¡°May I ask why you are trying to sound me out?¡± ¡°Ah. Because I felt a sense of kinship.¡± Gamigin spoke. ¡°The world is too fucked to just live smiling, right? If you want to live in a world like that while smiling, then you have to be a more fucked up person than the entire worldbined. That¡¯s why I¡¯m always smiling. I believe that you¡¯re the same, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You and I are the same type of person?¡± An unpleasant emotion started to boil within my chest. ¡°Don¡¯t people like Barbatos and Paimon really annoy you~?¡± Gamigin smiled widely. ¡°People like them believe something like justice exists in the world. The two of them probably wouldn¡¯t admit it themselves, but they resemble each other a lot. They keep talking about grand things like the wishes of demonkind and peace of the demon world, so I don¡¯t want to y with them. I¡¯ve wanted to kill them so many times, but I¡¯ve been just barely able to hold myself back.¡± ¡°You are wrong. I like Barbatos.¡± ¡°I wonder about that. Are you sure that isn¡¯t just longing?¡± Gamigin tapped my forehead jokingly. ¡°I¡¯m Rank 4. I was Rank 70 2,800 years ago. Rank 4, this position was the furthest I could get. No matter how many times I deceived and insulted people, I couldn¡¯t get up to Rank 3 or above. That¡¯s where the real monsters are. Do you understand? I¡¯m the furthest you can get.¡± Gamigin was in a situation worse than mine in the distant past. Back then, there were high-ranking monsters that rampaged in order to not get controlled by Demon Lords even though they were demons. Furthermore, the Demon Lord army was dying off trying to defeat the dragonkin before they could even set their sights on the continent. Gamigin was revealing to me that she started at Rank 70 and climbed up to Rank 4. She probably had to go through all sorts of hardships in order to survive. Moreover, she had also mastered the same survival skill as me¡­¡­. Treachery. As I expected, Gamigin was smiling on the surface, but she was a person who had snakes inside of her. ¡°Let me give you a prediction as your senior and ilk. I, Gamigin, say this as the greatest witch among witches, a great misfortune will fall upon those who mistake yearning for love! Handsome Dantalian, stop acting and let¡¯s have a little more constructive discussion.¡± ¡°A constructive conversation?¡± ¡°I asked earlier, didn¡¯t I? What do you want?¡± Gamigin continued. ¡°A smart child like you wouldn¡¯t have gone against Agares and I without any reason. There¡¯s probably some sort of profit that only you can see. That¡¯s why I t out asked you what you wanted~.¡± Aah, I see. Sure enough, Gamigin and I were simr. She acted only after thoroughly thinking out the gains and losses. Things like ideals, beliefs, and righteousness were probably nothing more than empty words to Gamigin. Survival was the only thing that had value so she sacrificed everything else for it. Therefore, I made a deration. ¡°Gamigin, I am different from you.¡± She blinked. ¡°Are you still trying to back down? Jeez, there¡¯s no reason for that.¡± ¡°No, I am being serious. There is a decisive difference between you and I.¡± It was so decisive that it was enough to clearly say that we weren¡¯t of the same ilk. ¡°Gamigin, you are a part of the strong. You have climbed up to a high position and you treat others as simple-minded as you look down on them. To you, Barbatos and Paimon are nothing more than fools who say nonsense. Survival is the ultimate truth. Everything else is false and delusions¡­¡­. You are most likely certain of this. This is a correct viewpoint to have.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± Gamigin gave a quick answer. ¡°So? What about it?¡± ¡°You are ignoring the beauty of delusions.¡± If you were in my position, then you probably wouldn¡¯t have made the same questionable decisions as I. You wouldn¡¯t have tried to spare the ve merchant, Jack nd¡¯s life. You wouldn¡¯t have spared the lives of Daisy and Luke who were fated to possibly be heroes in the future. ¡°They are values that have no meaning. However, the act of pping one¡¯s wings fruitlessly towards things like the wishes of demonkind and peace is what is beautiful. It is not disgusting because it is hopeless. It is because they are hopeless that they are contrarily moving.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What?¡± ¡°Oh dear. It seems you do not understand my taste, Miss Gamigin.¡± I smiled. ¡°Think about it. Everything is going to disappear anyway. Let us say that, as Barbatos had hoped, demonkind is able to reach an ideal society. Even if they do, everything would be gone without a trace after a few million years. Miss Gamigin, it is the same for you as well. Even Demon Lords are not eternal.¡± It was exciting. There hasn¡¯t been a single boring moment ever since I had fallen into this world. Even Gamigin, whom I thought was simply an obscene miss, turned out to be a splendid person of great character. I liked people like her as well. ¡°Fundamentally, the world is like a colosseum. diators put their entire bodies on the line to survive each passing day. They pierce the skins of their opponents, shed blood, and let out cries of victory. However, whether it be the next day, the day after, or three yearster, they will one day lose and die a cold death!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As a Demon Lord, can you not help but love that cockroach-like, absolutely pointless struggle!?¡± I grabbed Gamigin¡¯s hand and shook it. She had cast a soundproofing spell so I shouted as much as I wanted. Aah, I might be meeting arade who understands my preference. There was no way I wouldn¡¯t be ted! ¡°Barbatos will probably perish without realizing her ideal. The same goes for Paimon as well. Those individuals holding such lofty ideals¡­¡­. They carry willpowers that normal people couldn¡¯t dream of and after hundreds, thousands of years those people going forward¡­¡­will ultimately fall! They will meet their ends! Without any worth or meaning.¡± This was truly¨D. ¡°Does this not excite you!?¡± So magnificent. Gamigin¡¯s expression was rigid. Her smile had frozen. I pushed up against her more. ¡°Truly, what sort of wills will they leave behind? How beautiful will their deaths be? Aah, just imagining it is amazing. Miss Gamigin, do you not agree? What sort of final testament will Barbatos leave behind in her final moment, what sort of life will Paimon show us in the end, are these things not something that keeps you up at night!? Oh. There are people like this even among the humans. Rarely, there are existences that possess a ¡®splendid will¡¯.¡± I recalled Fabian. Among the recent people I¡¯ve met, Fabian was the most splendid. I will cultivate an image of him in the temple within my mind forever. The thought of him will probably put me in awe like a firework rocket. ¡°I, Dantalian, believe without a doubt that our duty as Demon Lords is to watch the birth and fall of these wills!¡± *** Author¡¯s Afterword Gamigin: Fufu, I¡¯m this area¡¯s crazy person¡­¡­. Dantalian: Gyahahaha, gyarurururk, ggumrugrghkrgjrk! Gamigin: ¡­¡­Sorry, can I leave? TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. What a weird afterword from the author. All things considered, after the whole lovers thing with Barbatos and the others, it sort of makes you wonder how Dantalian is going to interact with Gamigin to get her under the sheets as well. I don¡¯t feel like Gamigin would be particrly interested in sleeping with Dant after this, but who knows? Maybe she¡¯s into this kind of stuff? Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 227: Witch’s Prophecy Chapter 227: Witch¡¯sProphecy ¦¯ ¦¯ Several notification windows opened at that moment. ¡¸Demon Lord Gamigin has been ¡®overwhelmed¡¯ by you!¡¹ ¡¸The status condition will be resisted ording to Demon Lord Gamigin¡¯s intelligence and charm stats.¡¹ ¡¸The die of luck has miraculously been fixed on 6 out of pure chance! You have seeded in applying a status condition despite your ¡®overwhelming¡¯ difference in stats!¡¹ Sound effects rang noisily. ¡¸You¡¯ve cleared a miraculous mission.¡¹ ¡¸One of your skills will be strengthened as a reward.¡¹ ¡¸Congrattions! Your skill has been upgraded to !¡¹ It was quite a surprise. It had been so long since Ist obtained a skill. If I remember correctly, Kiss of Judas had the effect of applying a bonus when engaging in diplomacy or intrigue in the game. Different from a trash skill like , which had questionable uses, Kiss of Judas was rather useful. Dear God, to think I would obtain an okay skill after 3 years of being here. There should be a limit to a hellish difficulty setting. If this were an actual game, then the yers would probably get methrowers and charge the developers. ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin¡¯s mouth opened for a moment before closing again. Something like a sigh slipped out from the small gap between her lips. She looked me straight in the eyes before repeating herself. ¡°Dantalian, you¡¯re insane, huh?¡± ¡°Oh. Please tell me what your standards of insanity are first. Couldn¡¯t everyone in the world be considered insane depending on the standard?¡± ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯ve already crossed the line. People like you asionally appear among us Demon Lords.¡± Gamigin let go of my right hand. ¡°Did you know? There are only two types of people who enjoy watching things like that. An adventurous person who loves to live life on the edge, or gamblers who are constantly trying tomit suicide. Regardless of which they are, they are both lunatics that want someone else to kill them.¡± ¡°So what?¡± I tilted my head. ¡°Sure, let us say that I am insane. Is that noteworthy in any way? Are you not insane when you think everything other than survival is pointless? Is Barbatos sane when she has ughtered hundreds of thousands of humans solely for the sake of demonkind? We are all insane.¡± I looked around. There were a few Demon Lords who seemed concerned about our conversation as they kept ncing at us. Most of them seemed like they were busy just trying to catch up with their fellow faction mates. The sound they were making was blocked, so I couldn¡¯t hear them. I spoke while feeling perfectly isted despite standing in a single spot. ¡°Only insane people can be Demon Lords. It is something we are because we are insane. Gamigin, you pointed out that there is nothing to possibly gain by helping Barbatos, but on the contrary, I am simply happy by being able to watch Barbatos from the side.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ah, of course. I also like you, Miss Gamigin. I am amazed by what sort of life you must have lived to be able topletely divide your outer appearance with your inner thoughts. I wish to have an intimate discussion with you about this one day.¡± Gamigin red at me coldly from between the slits of her eyes. ¡°¡­¡­Sure. If the opportunity presents itself.¡± Gamigin maintained her smile until the very end as she turned away. She walked back to where she had been standing. There were no Demon Lords here who were friendly with me, so I naturally ended up alone. Sitri was giving me a rueful look, but she couldn¡¯te to be because she was surrounded by Mountain Faction Demon Lords. She was probably being nagged at by herrades for being friendly with me. ¨C Help me, Dantalian! Sitri was pleading to me with her gaze. I responded to her with a simple shrug. She deserved to hear a little nagging. She was the representative of the Mountain Faction now, not Paimon, so it would be troubling if she didn¡¯t restrain herself to a degree. ¨C Give up. You need to listen to some nagging anyway. ¨C Traitor! Liar! I¡¯ll hate you forever! Sitri gave me a look full of despair, but I didn¡¯t waver. It¡¯s normal to go through some hardship in order to grow. There were a few other Demon Lords who nced at me, but none of them tried to approach me. Demon Lord Dantalian currently held a rather delicate position. For starters, everyone acknowledged my aplishments within the Crescent Alliance. There were probably a fair number of Demon Lords who wanted to get close to me. However, the problem was the fact that there were way too many risks with trying to get close to me rashly. I was a core personnel of the ins Faction and also known as Barbatos¡¯ lover. People might think that simply getting close to me would mean they were getting close to the ins Faction as a whole. The ins Faction was famous for being uncontroble extremists even within the demon world. This probably didn¡¯t seem appealing. Furthermore, I had also made the decisive contribution to Paimon¡¯s fall. In other words, it meant that I was a thorn to at least the Mountain Faction¡¯s side. It would be hard for anyone to approach me if they didn¡¯t have the guts to be enemies with the Mountain Faction. ¡®Well, enjoying a banquet alone is also rxing in its own way.¡¯ I made my way to a corner of the banquet hall with light steps. There was an assortment of luxurious and extravagant refreshments piled up like a mountain here. These were luxury goods that were hard to get your hands on. Fantastic. I received a wine ss from an attendant before checking my status window. As I expected, the skill had disappeared and was reced by . I checked the details of the skill with bated breath. *** [Skill]
  1. Kiss of Judas.
Rank A Weak Active Skill. If the target¡¯s affection is below 20: yer¡¯s Political Power +10%, Charm +10%. If the target¡¯s affection is above 20 and when you attack the target: Target¡¯s Leadership -20%, Might -10%, Intelligence -20%, Political Power -20%. (¡ù This is an upgraded version of . When activated, it will also include the effect of .) *** ¡°Mm. This is good.¡± I took a sip of the wine as I nodded. It had some trashy effects despite being an A-Rank skill, but it was better than nothing. The Acting skill only had a single line for its description: ¡®Increases the chance of persuading the target¡¯. A long time had passed since I decided to be lenient about my own stats, so the fact that this skill could buff my Political Power and Charm by 10% almost made me want to thank the world. Indeed, it¡¯s important to be grateful. People have to be modest. The sound of music echoed throughout the hall. The orchestra which consisted of dark elves yed their instruments with great skill. Referentially, dark elves were the most artistic race in the world while pure-blooded elves would mostly look down on music as a ¡®vulgar form of art¡¯. ¡°Hey, what are you doing in the corner like some loser?¡± More and more Demon Lords arrived as time passed. Barbatos was naturally one of them. She looked around at the other Demon Lords for a moment as soon as she entered the ballroom before approaching me without reserve. I gave her a cool response. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m enjoying the banquet.¡± ¡°Bullshit. The guy who¡¯s supposed to be the guest of honor tonight is sitting in a corner like some outcast. Good job.¡± Barbatos ced her hands on her hips. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you a short while ago that if you act pathetically, it¡¯ll affect my image as well?¡± ¡°Fufu. You are mistaking something right now, Barbatos. I may be in solitude, but this solitude isn¡¯t the solitude of a sailor who has be lost at sea. I am simply a lonely captain who has to determine where to steer his ship¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Shut up before I rip out your tongue.¡± I¡¯ll shut up now. Barbatos picked up a cookie. I could hear her audibly chew on the cookie. I almost said that she should worry about her own image herself, but I remained quiet since I didn¡¯t want to lose my tongue. Different from her normal attire, she was wearing a pure white dress. If you thought of Barbatos, you would usually think of the colors ck and red first. She was famous for wearing only ck and red outfits, whether it was on the battlefield or at banquets, but she was unusually wearing a snow-white dress today. It really suited her white hair. It was like looking at a pearl with a thinyer of snow on top of it. I personally wanted to give her a perfect score since it matched the pureness that was inside of her. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you wearing your normal clothes?¡± ¡°I matched my outfit with yours, you nitwit.¡± Barbatos swiped the wine ss out of my hand and gulped the wine down. ¡°Kuuh. You always wear gloomy and ck colored rags. I figured you¡¯d do the same today as well, so I decided to match your look with something white. Is this a good enough exnation for you?¡± ¡°Dear me, dear me. I am greatly honored.¡± I held my hand out to her. ¡°O Beautiful Snow Fairy, will you give me the honor of this first dance?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I came here, dull gentleman.¡± Barbatosughed as she ced her hand on top of mine. Her hand was much smaller. I carefully held on to this soft and delicate thing as if I were handling a work of art made of ss. We went to the center of the ballroom and began to dance. ¡°Your dancing ability has improvedpared to before.¡± Barbatos chuckled. ¡°Did you practice with some other girl somewhere?¡± ¡°There was ady who kept making fun of me saying that I didn¡¯t know how to dance. I practiced quite a bit in order to not step on any heels.¡± It was none other than Barbatos who teased me. ¡°Hmph. You¡¯re all bark and no bite.¡± ¡°Gamigin approached me earlier. She tried to start a negotiation with me by asking what I wanted.¡± Barbatos mused as her eyes glimmered. ¡°So what did you say in response?¡± ¡°I gave her an honest response by telling her that I preferred little girls, so people like her who had a needless amount of fat attached to them were not to my taste.¡± ¡°Kekeke.¡± Barbatosughed loudly. I was obviously lying. Gamigin¡¯s body type was actually closer to my preference than Barbatos¡¯. I was simply trying to make her feel better. ¡°You know you¡¯re a real idiot, right?¡± ¡°What are you saying all of a sudden?¡± We joked around like this as we proceeded to dance. * * * ¡°Oh dear, look over there. It¡¯s Miss Barbatos and Dantalian.¡± ¡°I heard rumors that they didn¡¯t have a normal rtionship, but it seems they were true!¡± The female Demon Lords whispered amongst each other. The women gathered around Gamigin didn¡¯t belong to a faction and were people who focused on enjoying their lives as Demon Lords instead of concerning themselves over things like political rivalries. There was nothing that got them more excited than love talk. ¡°It¡¯s almost like a small fairy dancing with an elf!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Miss Barbatos is definitely beautiful, but her partner¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh dear. I actually prefer people like her partner.¡± Gamigin watched Barbatos and Dantalian in silence. They were smiling at each other. There was an air about them that strangely made it difficult to approach them. It was like there was a wall that separated them from others. It was probably trust. The two trusted each other. ¡®Absolutely worthless.¡¯ Gamigin drank her wine. The alcohol was sweet. A female Demon Lord spoke to Gamigin. ¡°How about you, Miss Gamigin? I saw you have a conversation with Dantalian earlier.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± Gamigin was smiling brightly as usual. She thought to herself. What sort of response would be good for a moment like this? Should I imply that I have a rather deep rtionship with Dantalian? Yeah, that sounds good. Female Demon Lords were basically the center of high society and the source of all rumors. If a groundless rumor goes around saying that Gamigin and Dantalian had a special rtionship, then it might stir some panic within the ins Faction. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s embarrassing, but should I say I¡¯m a little interested in him~?¡± ¡°Oh my, oh my. Really!?¡± ¡°Are you perhaps saying you have feelings for him?¡± The female Demon Lords crowded around Gamigin like hyenas. Gamigin spoke to them while skillfully calcting the political gains. She didn¡¯t forget to blush. She also made sure to smile awkwardly. She sent Barbatos and Dantalian a sidelong nce. They still looked far away. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if the scene of Gamigin watching Barbatos and Dantalian dance from afar would¡¯ve showed up as an illustration in the LN¡­ if the LN ever got this far. Hahaha¡­ Barbatos also acting rather cute(?), matching her outfit with Dant¡¯s. Of course, there¡¯s a political reason, but maybe there¡¯s something more? Who knows? I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 228: Witch’s Prophecy (7) Chapter 228: Witch¡¯s Prophecy (7) Once we finished dancing, we were apuded from here and there throughout the ballroom. The locations in which the apuse came from and the people who sent it made it evident what the currentposition of power within the Demon Lord army was like. The group that apuded the most energetically was the ins Faction. On one half, they were showing their respect and affection to Barbatos, and, on the other half, they were praising the greatest advisor their faction had ever given birth to. However, Beleth and Zepar looked displeased that the position as Barbatos¡¯ partner had been taken. ¡°Kuh! I was the one who escorted Her Excellency when Brother wasn¡¯t around.¡± ¡°Does Her Excellency prefer schemers over warriors¡­¡­!?¡± The two Demon Lords hadpeted for the position as her partner for centuries, but they both shed tears of blood today. Pathetically. Next was the Neutral Faction. This small faction of sensible individuals, like Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas, considered me, Dantalian, as a like-mindedrade who was understanding. To them, Dantalian was a rose that had miraculously bloomed in the ins Faction which used to only be filled with ignorant warmongers, so I was also their only conscience. ¡°He forgave Paimon during the Walpurgis Night¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And he tolerated the Mountain Faction during the Crescent Alliance. He is a man who can be spoken to.¡± To the Neutral Faction that valued political tolerance and bnce, Dantalian was a politician who ¡®sought profits but made sure to never cross the line¡¯. This was also the image of the ideal politician. People like Paimon who cried out about the gains of everyone as a whole instead of their own gains were dangerous. Even if they were to offer something, people like her would refuse to negotiate because of things like their great cause and ideologies. The type of people who would run rampant and cross the line thoughtlessly were naturally dangerous as well. On the other hand, Dantalian always sought out his own gains and was always ready to negotiate. In other words, he was someone who could be spoken with. Demon Lords that could be negotiated with were precious within the Demon Lord army that was filled with mental patients. The people of the Neutral Faction hoped that Dantalian would continue to stay in the ins Faction and hold their reins. Finally, it was naturally the Mountain Faction. They were looking at the ballroom ufortably. They looked like they weren¡¯t in the mood to apud. The Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction whispered among each other as they referred to Barbatos and Dantalian by bad names. ¡°The Lunatic and the Crippled. As expected, aren¡¯t they the perfectbination?¡± ¡°One of them spills blood under the sun while the other sucks the blood up under the moon. The ins Faction possesses quite the impressive leader and advisor.¡± Only Sitri was being fidgety as she looked between her fellow faction members and Dantalian over and over again. ¡®Isn¡¯t Dantalian our benefactor who saved Big Sis Paimon¡¯s life?¡¯ She honestly couldn¡¯t understand the current situation. It was the Mountain Faction that made a preemptive strike. Not the ins Faction. It wouldn¡¯t have been weird if the Mountain Faction were broken into pieces after taking responsibility. ¡®Shouldn¡¯t we actually be grateful to him? Hnnng.¡¯ If Dantalian didn¡¯t make a magnanimous decision back then, then the Mountain Faction would¡¯ve been disbanded. This was what Sitri believed. She couldn¡¯t understand why herrades would hate and scorn the person they should¡¯ve been grateful for¡­¡­. The apuse ended. Dantalian gave a courteous bow before walking somewhere. He went to where the Neutral Faction was gathered. Several Demon Lords tilted their head as they wondered why a member of the ins Faction would go to the Neutral Faction. ¡°Will you grant me your first dance?¡± Dantalian had invited a Neutral Faction Demon Lord to dance. The other Demon Lords gasped. Their shock wasn¡¯t surprising. The person who received Dantalian¡¯s invitation©¥was the head of the Neutral Faction, Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas. Demon Lord Marbas was naturally a man. Dantalian had asked a man to dance with him! ¡°What is he trying to do?¡± ¡°Is he sane?¡± ¡°He¡¯s gone mad¡­¡­.¡± The sound of shock came from multiple Demon Lords. Even if the demon world was lenient to homosexuals, a male-male duo wasn¡¯t allowed in an official ce like a banquet for Demon Lords. No, even if it were allowed, it wasn¡¯t something that Dantalian, who was a mere Rank 71, could possibly do! Marbas gave Dantalian a vague look. ¡°Hmm.¡± The two Demon Lordsmunicated with their eyes alone. Marbas stroked his beard twice before letting out a lightugh. ¡°Of course. To think that I would be selected as the next beautiful flower after Barbatos, it is an honor.¡± ¡°Haha. If Barbatos were not my close friend, then you would have been the first flower.¡± ¡°An even greater honor.¡± Marbas ced his hand above Dantalian¡¯s. The female Demon Lords started to get excited as they watched the two male Demon Lords walk forward. ¡°Dear Lord! Look, this is my first time seeing Sir Marbas dance!¡± ¡°Wait, wait. Don¡¯t tell me, is Sir Marbas also Dantalian¡¯s lover!?¡± ¡°Kya! This is spicy!¡± On a side note, there was no better topic than male homosexuals when it came to getting females riled up. Especially if the man was someone as dandy and popr as Marbas. The eyes of the female Demon Lords became aze as they discussed ¡®who between Marbas and Dantalian took the role as the male¡¯. The person who seemed to be having the most fun was obviously Barbatos. She was cackling while holding her stomach. Beleth was also pointing at the two Demon Lords andughing loudly. ¡°Wooo! Good on you! Keep it up! Keep going!¡± ¡°You really suck at leading for a guy!¡± The quiet ballroom was now long gone. It didn¡¯t matter whether they were from the Mountain Faction or the ins Faction as the female Demon Lords cheered. Most of the spectators were watching with interest, but there were some who looked disgusted. Gamigin was agitated. With this, the rumor she had started would be pointless. Rumors about whether Marbas and Dantalian had some sort of unique rtionship were overwhelmingly more interesting than a rumor about Gamigin and Dantalian being in a rtionship. High society was probably going to be filled with talk about the two male Demon Lords for a while. The rumor Gamigin had devised had vanished before it could even spread¡­¡­. * * * The first night ended with only a banquet and the negotiations were supposed to start on the second night, but©¥high society was already filled to the brim with discussions about me and Marbas. ¡°The Neutral Faction is supporting Dantalian.¡± ¡°They¡¯re probably nning to take the ins Faction¡¯s side in the uing negotiations.¡± Groundless rumors had begun to circte. There were people who were saying that Marbas wasn¡¯t my lover and that his disy at the ballroom the other day was his way of showing that he thought favorably of the ins Faction. It was an excessively broad guess, but people seemed to ept this answer more. This felt more natural than saying that it only made sense for Marbas to abruptly start dating Dantalian since he was someone who had lived his entire life without even a single partner¡­¡­. Well, this was my intention. Sir Marbas was indebted to me for multiple things now and I basically forced him to repay it. We didn¡¯t discuss it beforehand, but we naturally came to an agreement. He probably realized what I wanted almost immediately. As expected of the old man with peerless political skills. Like this, the negotiations started while I was already in a favorable light. Baal was seated in the mediator seat, but he barely said anything. Just as Barbatos had said, it seemed like Baal really didn¡¯t n on doing anything other than preparing a ce for us to negotiate. Gamigin came out as the representative for the other side while I came out as the representative for our side. Honestly, this was enough. The air felt heavy with just Baal sitting nearby. Baal had an overwhelming atmosphere about him that prevented people from talking thoughtlessly. Was this what you called years of experience? ¡°The ins Faction wasn¡¯t the only group to contribute to the conquering of Habsburg.¡± Gamigin continued. ¡°It was something that was obtained through numerous legions moving together. It¡¯d be troubling if your side suddenly ims to be the regent of Habsburg and swallows up everything~.¡± ¡°Are you saying that we should calcte who contributed the most during the war?¡± I calmly refuted. ¡°It was our ins Faction that faced Habsburg¡¯s main force. It was also our ins Faction that noticed Paimon¡¯s n first and crushed it. It would only be appropriate for thend of Habsburg to be given to the ins Faction. Of course, I am not saying that the other legions should not be rewarded.¡± ¡°Hmm~?¡± ¡°A sizable amount of the goods gathered in Habsburg will be given to the other legions aspensation. I promise that the reward will be satisfactory.¡± Gamigin tilted her head. ¡°That¡¯s just messing around. Do you think we¡¯re doing this because we don¡¯t have enough gold? Obtainingnd of our own on the continent. Only this is important. I¡¯m going to be honest, but the ins Faction trying to be the heroes of the demon world by themselves is gross.¡± ¡°So, what are your demands?¡± ¡°The ins Faction can take 5, while Agares and I will take 2.5 each. How about it? I feel like this would be an appropriate distribution ofnd.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Let uspromise with the ins Faction taking 8 while Miss Gamigin and Miss Agares take 1 each.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Gamigin let out a long sound. The Demon Lords in the spectator seats started to buzz. Gamigin maintained her polite smile as she whispered to me. ¡°Does the ins Faction want a war?¡± ¡°I will speak without any preamble. Who incurred the most losses during the recent war? Miss Agares and Miss Gamigin may have both led a legion, but everyone knows that the both of you avoided engaging in any direct confrontation with the humans.¡± I deliberately spoke so that others could hear. ¡°Who captured the fortress city of Krems? It was the ins Faction. Who was it that pursued the surviving members of the Habsburg army after we made Vindobona fall? It was the ins Faction. Miss Gamigin, you chose to retreat even though the stragglers of Habsburg were right before your eyes.¡± ¡°It was a strategical retreat.¡± Gamigin maintained her smile as she answered boldly. ¡°Barbatos lost her army trying to pursue them. I¡¯m not foolish enough to waste my soldiers for such a pointless battle.¡± ¡°A pointless battle, was it¡­¡­?¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°Defeating the humans and creating a world for demonkind on the continent. There will naturally be losses for the sake of this great cause. They are not pointless sacrifices. They are sacrifices that are absolutely necessary. It is through these sacrifices that we were able to capture the northern part of Habsburg. And yet, someone who refused to make sacrifices is trying to take thend of someone who had made sacrifices¡­¡­. That is quite the splendid mindset. I am in awe.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was an obvious provocation. The sound of mumbling from the spectators became louder. Did they think I had gone too far? Of course I would. I have to go too far. I wasn¡¯t here as only one Demon Lord. I was out here as the representative of the ins Faction as a whole. I¡¯m the ins Faction. I can¡¯t be submissive in front of Gamigin who was out here as a single Demon Lord. ¡°Everyone is misunderstanding and thinking this negotiation is for a power struggle. That is not the case. To all intents and purposes, this is the ins Faction trying to protect their cause and everyone else arguing to try and make personal gains.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a bit harsh~?¡± ¡°It is not harsh at all.¡± I answered firmly. ¡°Look at the Neutral Faction. The Neutral Faction had also retreated instead of proceeding with the pursuit. However, the Neutral Faction did not stay in Habsburg and try to takend for themselves. They instead advanced to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This is what conviction looks like.¡± I smirked. ¡°On the other hand, the attitude Miss Gamigin and Miss Agares have been disying has honestly been disappointing. The areas you were in charge of were somewhere else, not Habsburg. Why are you not going there? Is it because you do not wish to fight or make sacrifices? I did not know that someone who did not fight or make sacrifices could acquirend¡­¡­ I do not know when being a Demon Lord had be such an easy job.¡± In the end, the negotiations that day fell apart. Both Gamigin and I refused to take even one step down from our positions. This will probably end with a majority vote between Demon Lords after running in parallel to each other for a while. If that happens, then I was the one with the advantage, not Gamigin. I nned to prolong the negotiations. I thought it would be fine if it ended with the ins Faction taking 7 and Gamigin and Agares taking 1.5 each. However, once I saw Barbatos enter my room with a red face the next day, I realized that something had gone wrong. ¡°That bitch Agares invaded while we weren¡¯t home.¡± ¡°What?¡± Barbatos fumed as she shouted. ¡°She snuck in and piged while we were out, that bitch!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh oh, the overpowered Agares is starting shit. I wonder how they¡¯ll deal with her and also handle the negotiations.On another note, FFXIV Endwalker ising out soon. If my release speed slows down, you guys will know why :^) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 229: Witch’s Prophecy (8) Chapter 229: Witch¡¯s Prophecy (8) I immediately got dressed. The beastman prostitute I had invited yesterday was on my bed, but she let out a scream once she recognized who Barbatos was. She covered her naked body with a nket©¥I¡¯m not sure if you can call her covered when there was more of her left out in the open©¥and urgently kneeled on the ground. However, both Barbatos and I didn¡¯t have the leisure to pay her any mind. I tossed a nearby pouch of money to the prostitute before leaving out the door. I was still a mess as I hadn¡¯t even put my clothes on properly. ¡°What about a deration of war? Was there a deration of war?¡± ¡°There was. If you can call them giving a warning 5 minutes beforehand a deration of war.¡± I gnashed my teeth. Rank 2 Demon Lord Agares hadunched a surprise invasion while a majority of the ins Faction was currently here in the demon world! The words trickery and trap naturally popped up in my head. ¡°I felt like Gamigin was acting way too casually. This was what she was aiming for!¡± ¡°I dispatched Beleth and Zepar for now, but I don¡¯t know what the current situation is.¡± Barbatos spoke. She was deliberately holding back her anger. It was weird now that I thought about it. Why did Gamigin participate as the lead negotiator alone? I figured it was because Gamigin was skilled in negotiating. This was a miscalction¡­¡­. Agares and Gamigin had teamed up and skillfully created amon front. ¡°Dantalian, listen carefully. I¡¯m going to head to Habsburg immediately. As long as Agares is taking part in this personally, it would be impossible for them to hold on without me.¡± ¡°So all authority will be left with me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I talked to Baal and prepared a ce for you.¡± Barbatos continued. ¡°I wish you luck. Don¡¯t get done in by someone like Gamigin.¡± ¡°All right. Barbatos, I wish you luck as well.¡± I bowed and we shared a short kiss. Barbatos cast a spell and immediately disappeared. I headed to Niflheim Pce alone. There were already about fifteen or so Demon Lords gathered at the pce. They had quickly heard the news from somewhere and rushed here to see the spectacle that was going to unfold up close. There were no ins Faction members among them. All of them excluding me had probably returned to Habsburg with haste. ¡°Oh dear, Dantalian. You¡¯re a bitte~?¡± Gamigin was staring at me casually from the negotiation seat. Just like yesterday, her expression didn¡¯t change as if she didn¡¯t know what had happened. A wave of rage surged up for a moment. How brazen-faced¡­¡­! The good thing about me was the fact that my head became colder the angrier I got. I first gave a bow to Baal who was seated in the seat of honor. Baal was the one who arranged a ce to hold this negotiation. Since Agares and Gamigin had one-sidedly broken the negotiation, Baal should now take the ins Faction¡¯s side. ¡°I ended up hearing quite the news in the middle of the night, so I failed to get a good night¡¯s sleep. Miss Gamigin, I am curious to find out what has happened.¡± I sat down at the negotiation seat and spoke. ¡°You are trying to invade the other party¡¯snd when a formal negotiation is taking ce? Maybe I am still green behind the ears since I am only Rank 71, but is this the courtesy of all high-ranking Demon Lords?¡± ¡°Oh dear. You seem quite upset. There is one thing, however, that you¡¯re wrong about.¡± All right, Gamigin. Let¡¯s hear what you have to say for yourself. This entire situation can only be ced on Gamigin¡¯s shoulders. Even if someone other than Gamigin were toe, they wouldn¡¯t be able to make an excuse. ¡°Something I am wrong about? Could the high-ranking Demon Lord bestow upon this low-ranking Demon Lord the honor of knowing what I have said wrong.¡± Gamigin smiled. ¡°Yup. It¡¯s not ¡®all¡¯ high-ranking Demon Lords. You should¡¯ve used the singr form, not the plural.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Your informationwork must be slow. Agares didn¡¯t attack only the ins Faction.¡± I became speechless once I heard the following words. ¡°Thend I was upying got attacked too, Dantalian.¡± * * * I had taken a blow. That was the only way I could describe this. Agares didn¡¯t set Gamigin forward as their joint representative. She pretended to give all of her authority over while she actually went behind Barbatos and Gamigin¡¯s backs to hunt two rabbits at once. The Rank 2 Demon Lord¡¯s army should easily be able to capture the ownerless territories. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m rather angry as well~. Or maybe it¡¯s rather refreshing getting backstabbed so splendidly.¡± ¡°So Miss Gamigin is also a victim here?¡± Gamigin nodded. ¡°Well, if I had to say it, then yeah.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Does that mean Agares had nned everything on her own? I furrowed my brows as I fell into deep thought. This was weird. Was it fine for a Demon Lord to act this recklessly even if she was Rank 2? Baal was here. The Rank 1 Great Demon Lord was giving us a ce to carry out these negotiations. Furthermore, not only did Agares attack the ins Faction, but she had betrayed Gamigin whom she had appointed as her negotiator. In other words, she had turned everyone into her enemy. No matter how powerful Agares is, she can¡¯t stop a storm with only her ten fingers¡­¡­. Where was she getting this confidence from? ¡°I do not understand. If Miss Gamigin is on our side, then there is nothing for Miss Agares to gain¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm? What are you talking about?¡± Gamigin then tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯m going to keep negotiating with you, Dantalian.¡± What was she talking about? Hernd was invaded and she was betrayed by her ally. Anyone would think that we should cooperate right now. And yet, she wants to keep negotiating? I had a bad feeling crawling up my spine so I spoke carefully. ¡°Miss Gamigin, pardon me but I figured that it was not the time to continue with our negotiations. Should you not return to Habsburg and punish the traitor?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m saying I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± For a moment, it almost felt like her red pupils were sparkling between her narrowed eyes. ¡°Why do you think I¡¯ve been betrayed by Agares?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°I mean, Dantalian. Agares did attack my territory. An absolutely disgusting move! But this is basically a group attacking another group they¡¯re hostile to, you know? There¡¯s no reason to exaggerate and say that it was a betrayal.¡± I was struggling to understand her words. ¡°I apologize, but, Miss Gamigin, were you not here as Miss Agares¡¯ envoy¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Aah. I thought that as well, but it seems like that wasn¡¯t the case.¡± Gamigin smiled brightly as she flicked her own forehead lightly. ¡°Now that I think about it, Agares had never said that she was leaving her diplomatic rights in my hands!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Aah, I see. Now I understood. ©¥So this was how she was going to y it? ¡°When I was going toe to Niflheim, Agares suddenly told me to go alone. So I thought, oh, she¡¯s leaving the negotiations to me. You¡¯d normally think that, wouldn¡¯t you? Ahahah.¡± Gamigin continued on by herself. My mind gradually became colder. ¡°I made a mistake. I should¡¯ve received an ¡®official¡¯ confirmation from Agares. I ended up overlooking it on my own, so I don¡¯t have any sort of documents. Mm, I was an idiot. I¡¯m embarrassed. It¡¯spletely my mistake. I¡¯ll take responsibility andpensate youter.¡± ¡°¡­¡­So you.¡± My lips trembled as I barely managed to speak. ¡°You did not hear even one word of confirmation about being her negotiator?¡± ¡°Yup. I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡± Gamiginughed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t told anything at all.¡± ¡°Do not mess around!¡± I mmed my fist on the table as I stood up. This was the worst and dirtiest ploy. Agares and Gamigin were colluding. Agares never verbally said that she acknowledged Gamigin as her negotiator. Despite this, Gamigin misunderstood on her own and acted like she was. This was a mistake. However, the one to start the war was Agares by herself, so the responsibility for the war is on her. Adding to this, Agares even invaded Gamigin¡¯snd. In terms of war, Gamigin was also just a victim! What about Agares? She started a war, so she should naturally be criticized for this. However, Agares never participated in the negotiations. Everyone, Gamigin included, had basically ¡®misunderstood¡¯ and thought that she was participating through Gamigin. Therefore, Agares may have been responsible for the war, but she wasn¡¯t responsible for breaking down the negotiations. And, damn it! Power struggles were a daily urrence in Habsburg right now! There were many times Barbatos started regional wars first and there were many times where Agares attacked first. We couldn¡¯t really me Agares for just starting a war. In other words¡­¡­these negotiations themselves were a huge deception tactic! ¡°Even a child would understand that you are trying to evaporate all forms of responsibility!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°You have ridiculed His Highness Baal¡¯s authority and crushed the ins Faction¡¯s will. We will not overlook this incident.¡± Gamigin made us lower our guards which led to a surprise attack, but since she was also attacked, she was innocent. Gamigin simply had the responsibility of making a foolish mistake. Agares had caused the negotiations to break down and started a war, but she had never agreed to the negotiations to begin with, so she was innocent. Agares only had the responsibility for starting a normal battle. The two high-ranking Demon Lords had colluded so that they could screw the ins Faction over without incurring any losses themselves! These sons of bitches! ¡°Weeell, Dantalian. I understand why you¡¯re so up in arms, but~.¡± Gamigin continued leisurely. ¡°Nothing good woulde to the ins Faction for getting angry at me, you know?¡± ¡°Who else would I get upset at in this situation if not you, Gamigin!?¡± ¡°I told you already. I¡¯m going to keep negotiating.¡± Gamigin knit her fingers together. ¡°Now then, Dantalian. Agares has currently captured all of the areas within the Habsburg Empire excluding yournd. This is from ¡®my informationwork¡¯, so you can trust it. I¡¯ll also inform you that the imperial capital Vindobona was also captured.¡± Her face was definitely covered by a thousandyers of stoicism. By her ¡®informationwork¡¯, this probably meant that she was receiving information from Agares directly. Moreover, it obviously wasn¡¯t good news that the central northern area of Habsburg was captured other than my territory¡­¡­. ¡°Yup, this is a crisis of a lifetime for the ins Faction. In that case, Dantalian, wouldn¡¯t the Demon Lord before you be an existence that can save you from this crisis?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Gamigin, you.¡± ¡°I have more than enough reason to help the ins Faction. I was also screwed over by Agares, so my desire to get revenge is also zing. So¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin smiled widely. ¡°Weeell, I¡¯ll consider sending reinforcements if you hand over about 50% of thend in the central northern area of Habsburg.¡± I clenched my jaw. This was Gamigin¡¯s true intent. By teaming up with Agares and threatening us, she was forcing the ins Faction to agree to this unfair distribution ofnd. What would this do? In the end, it would make it so that even Gamigin¡¯s mistake would be overlooked. Gamigin smiled with her eyes as she looked at me. ¡°Shall we begin the negotiations, Dantalian?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This is quite a difficult situation for Dant and it¡¯s also the end of this segment. I guess we¡¯ll be seeing Agares in action in the next segment. On another note, I¡¯m still grinding away in FFXIV. The new expansion is pretty great and I¡¯ve been enjoying it so far. Pray that it doesn¡¯t distract me too much, heh. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 230: Battle of Demon Lords (1) Chapter 230: Battle of Demon Lords (1) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The calctor in my head worked quickly. Let¡¯s put my anger towards Gamigin aside for now. I can get angry whenever I want. I convinced myself. In that case, what could I appeal to in order to turn this situation around? Laws and courtesy? When did I ever worry about things like that? The other Demon Lords would simply be pleased to know that something interesting had happened. Even now, there were about a dozen Demon Lords seated in the spectator area watching with great interest. The dignity of the mediator¡­¡­. I could appeal to Great Demon Lord Baal and go on the offensive against Gamigin. This was possible. ¡®I¡¯m not sure why, but Baal seems to dislike me.¡¯ The issue was the fact that the degree of the punishment which he could guarantee was uncertain. We may have the just cause, but Gamigin also has an excuse. Will he listen to me and push the responsibility of the war itself onto Gamigin? Or will he listen to Gamigin and simply make her take responsibility for her mistake? Politicians will usually put on a brazenface as long as they have an excuse¡­¡­. I organized my thoughts before speaking to Gamigin. ¡°To want half of everything. Is that not too muchnd for a single Demon Lord to monopolize for themself?¡± ¡°There are times when you should overeat.¡± ¡°Are you perhaps nning to split thend with Agares after receiving half¡­¡­? What is there to say that something like this will not happen?¡± Gamiginughed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what evidence you have to be able to say something like that.¡± She was seriously being shameless from start to finish. Anyone coulde to the deduction that she would happily split thend with Agares after taking fifty percent from us. For the next couple of hours, we continued to quietly fight like this while biting at each other¡¯s nerves. It wasn¡¯t a pointless battle. At the very least, I learned what the other party wanted. There was no need to make any decisions already. The situation could changepletely whether Barbatos manages to defeat Agares or not¡­¡­. I have to conquer the other party in a flexible manner from this point on. I had a hunch that this was going to be a difficult diplomatic battle. * * * Barbatos decided to dere war after she heard my opinion. ¡°All our problems will be solved if we can beat that bitch Agares into a pulp.¡± Barbatos was right. There would be no longer be a need for negotiations if the ins Faction manages to wipe out Agares¡¯ forces. We could grab hold of both a just cause and actual profits as we apply pressure on Agares and Gamigin. ¡°But didn¡¯t Agares capture most of thend already? Vindobona has already been taken and you only have Brandenburg and Saxony left. Will you be all right?¡± ¡°Agares may be powerful herself, but her head sucks.¡± Barbatos answered confidently from within the magic sphere. ¡°We have to be cautious, but there¡¯s no reason to be scared.¡± Barbatos immediately rallied 18 Demon Lords from the ins Faction. Their military power reached 20,000. Agares was also leading an army of 20,000, but ording to the information we received, a portion of them were unaffiliated Demon Lords who had teamed up with Agares. ¡°I¡¯ll crush her with an all-out surprise offensive.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What are you going to do if you get ambushed?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way someone as stupid as Agares could carry out a scheme like that. That bitch only knows how to do direct confrontations and prolonged battles. Dantalian, when a Demon Lord has lived for more than 2,000 years, then they stop changing as a person.¡± Barbatos¡¯ strategic eye was always precise. The ins Factions chose the shortest, but roughest terrain for their assault. If Agares were to position ambushes there, then the ins Faction would end up embarrassing themselves. However, Agares stayed holed up in thend she had captured as she waited for the ins Faction to approach. Agares even waited as the ins Faction slowly raised their banners. The ins Faction had just finished a difficult march. If Agares had attacked now, then she would¡¯ve had a great advantage. Despite this, Agares simply set up camp outside of the castle. Outside of it. I rxed once I was told this. Sure enough, Agares was like Brother Beleth and Sitri. She didn¡¯t have an eye for tactics and fought by using her strength as a weapon. Amander like this was suited for leading the assault force of an army. However, they weren¡¯t suited for leading an entire army. Contrary to my relief, Barbatos gradually became more anxious. I thought it was weird, so I questioned her. ¡°Isn¡¯t it over with this?¡± ¡°No. The battle has just begun.¡± I found out the next day what Barbatos meant by this. Barbatos¡¯ army and Agares¡¯ army collided for the first time on this day. Barbatos split her army into 3 regiments with her leading the first one, Brother Beleth leading the second, and General Zepar leading the third. This was the ins Faction¡¯s traditional style of attack. General Zepar took the center and received the enemy¡¯s assault. While this was happening, Barbatos and Brother Beleth went to the sides and surrounded the enemy. In other words, they were nning topletely surround the other army. On the other hand, Agares¡¯ lineup was absurd. This was a rumor that spread after the battle, but, ording to this rumor, Agaresughed as she watched the ins Faction¡¯s army of 20,000 approach her. Agares, the Rank 2 Demon Lord who was known as the ¡¸Strongest Demon Lord¡¹, said this to her vicemander. ¡°I will leave 20,000 soldiers to you. Prevent the enemy¡¯s advance.¡± ¡°Pardon me? Then what will Miss Agares do?¡± ¡°I will take the second unit and strike those fools from behind.¡± The vicemander was confused as he asked back. ¡°My apologies, O Strongest One, but 20,000 soldiers is all that we have. How do you intend to create a second unit?¡± Agares answered as she hopped on a red wolf. ¡°I am the second unit!¡± After saying this, Agares became a tempest as she truly charged at the enemy ¡®alone¡¯. The Demon Lords under Agares¡¯mand panicked, but they couldn¡¯t stop her because of their strict orders. The location Agares headed to was the ins Faction¡¯s second regiment: the unit of 5,000 led by Brother Beleth. Brother Beleth©¥the following was what he told me personally©¥became speechless as he watched the enemy¡¯s Supreme Commander approach on a wolf alone. ¡°That¡¯s Agares, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That¡¯s what it appears like.¡± Brother Beleth¡¯s adjutant responded unconfidently. It wasn¡¯t surprising. What kind of Supreme Commander would split from their main army and attack by themself? Brother Beleth stared out in the distance with nk eyes for a moment. Agares was approaching. ¡°Kuhaha! Are you telling me that Miss Agares does not know fear!?¡± Brother Beleth suddenly burst intoughter. ¡°Seeing someone throw their body at an army of 5,000 without hesitation, it is like a flower falling towards a waterfall! Is this not like a scene from legends? Splendid. This is splendid, O Agares!¡± Brother Beleth raised hisrge axe. ¡°I, Beleth, will dly receive your will! Men! Charge!¡± The ins Faction¡¯s 2nd regiment charged with Beleth at the lead. They had only a single goal: Demon Lord Agares. Thus, Agares collided with an army of 5,000 in the center of an open field. The first to collide with Agares was Brother Beleth. The two Demon Lords, both being the two biggest fighters of the Demon Lord army, swung their halberd and axe respectively as they exchanged 20 strikes. However, it was only 20 strikes. Agares¡¯ halberd shed and something flew in the air. Brother Beleth¡¯s face contorted in shame. Demon Lord Beleth¡¯s right arm was severed from the shoulder. ording to Brother Beleth, it wasn¡¯t an unexpected strike. He had simply sacrificed his arm in order to avoid a critical blow. Brother Beleth sacrificed his right arm and rolled to the side. He barely managed to stay alive. ¡°Stay down and drink the muddy water, brat.¡± Agares apparently smirked as she looked down at Brother Beleth who had fallen on the ground. She seemed to then lose interest as she put Brother Beleth behind her and headed to her next goal. Her other goal was the remaining 5,000 soldiers that had just lost theirmander. A dark blue aura burst out from Agares as she roared. ¡°Grrraaaaaaaauh©¥!¡± Demon Lord Agares charged with a beastly cry. Dozens of soldiers died helplessly every time she swung her halberd. Guts and blood rained from the sky like a sudden shower. The Demon Lords that were a part of the 2nd regiment utilized ogres to try and stop this fearsome enemy. Twenty ogres went forward like boars. However, Agares ughtered each ogre with a downward strike and an upward swing. The ogres that would bring terror to the hearts of humans and demons alike were unable to fight for even 5 minutes before their heads were in the dirt. The ins Faction still had thousands of soldiers left, but there was no way they could stand properly after witnessing something like this. Demon Lord Agares descended on the battlefield. She swept through the battlefield as if she wereughing at the ins Faction, as if she were taunting Barbatos. ¡¸Strategy¡¹? ¡¸Tactic¡¹? Those are nothing more than the desperate iling of the weak. Those that are truly strong don¡¯t need something like a strategic eye or a knack for tactics. The strong only required a single spear and their body. It was like she was demonstrating that this was how Demon Lords go to war. Agares keptughing maniacally. The monsters of the ins Faction shook in terror each time herughter echoed throughout the sky. Barbatos watched this sight clearly. She swore out loud. ¡°This god damn bitch who probably masturbated with her umbilical cord while inside of her mother¡¯s stomach.¡± If things continued like this, then the battle would be unfavorable for them. Barbatos gripped her battle scythe and shouted. ¡°Those of you who are good at fighting, follow me!¡± Barbatos along with 8 other ins Faction Demon Lords charged at Agares. Barbatos personally engaged in a duel between her and Agares. She couldn¡¯tpare to Agares in terms of strength, but Barbatos managed by using her ck magic appropriately. She also utilized her death knights who were her shadow. The more than 400 death knights fought against Agares one by one. With this, the battle became bnced. A fierce battle unfolded as Agares and Barbatos engaged in a back and forth battle. This meant Barbatos¡¯ defeat. Once most of themanders within the ins Faction had left to stop Agares, Agares¡¯ army of 20,000 started to overwhelm the ins Faction on the battlefield. The ins Faction was slowly pushed back. It would be bad if they kept incurring losses like this, so Barbatos had no other choice but to clench her jaw and retreat. The first battle ended with the ins Faction¡¯s defeat. I grabbed my head after I received the report. ¡°¡­¡­This fucking shitty difficulty.¡± The Agares in wasn¡¯t this powerful! What the hell? Is she the Demon Lord army¡¯s ultimate weapon? Facing an entire army alone on the back of a wolf, even the greatest swordmasters in the world wouldn¡¯t be able to pull this off. The hero might be able to pull it off if they reached the level cap! I had to go into negotiations again with Gamigin after having received this report. Is this not fucked up? Gamigin was smiling as usual while sitting in the negotiation seat. However, there was a different meaning behind her smile now. Look at you now. Didn¡¯t I tell you before? You should¡¯ve listened while you still had the chance. This was what her smile was saying. Gamigin smiled widely once she saw me. ¡°Give me 60% of Habsburg aspensation for these negotiations~.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this now, but this is a big discount, you know?¡± I want to kill her. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Overpowered characters are pretty annoying when they aren¡¯t on your side, huh? Well, that¡¯s sort of a given. How the heck is Dant going to talk his way out of this one? On another note, I¡¯ve still been able to consistently release chapters despite my constant ying of FFXIV. I even managed to get all my crafters/gatherers to 90 already. My mental well-being is questionable right now. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 231: Battle of Demon Lords (2) Chapter 231: Battle of Demon Lords (2) 60% of everything!? Her brain probably has a bunch of holes in it like swiss cheese. If we do that, then thend would get split between the ins Faction, Agares, and Gamigin by 4:3:3 respectively. It wasn¡¯t a deal that could be epted. The other party was acting rather arrogant simply because they won the first battle! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I touched my left hand. I would sometimes touch the stubs where my fingers once were after I had gifted my index and middle fingers to Barbatos. I could utilize a Demon Lord¡¯s regenerative ability to heal it, but I deliberately left it alone. I could die at the snap of a finger if I were to lower my guard. This wound acted as a reminder. I recalled the confusion and fear I felt when I was suddenly ambushed in the demon world. Compared to that, there were no assassins here nor were their des and spells flying around. Let¡¯s proceed calmly. ¡°¡­¡­Currently, a portion of the Demon Lords who are a part of Miss Agares¡¯ army are unaffiliated. The unaffiliated Demon Lords with no pivot or cause who had joined because of the Crescent Alliance were simply roped in because of Miss Agares¡¯ natural charisma.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Gamigin tilted her head. ¡°What are you saying all of a sudden?¡± ¡°They are incredibly weak as a group.¡± Even a group of vagrants would be able toe out strong in the beginning. A group¡¯s stability is only put under question when they are threatened. There have been many cases where rebel forces had copsed due to traitors appearing among their ranks after receiving only one counterattack. It didn¡¯t matter if they had been advancing with great force. ¡°I dare to say that Miss Agares¡¯ strength is capable of making almost every Demon Lord tremble in fear, but, in other words, this means that the army itself is only relying on the strength of one person. It must be nice since they have won once. They will most likely be excited about the spoils they are going to share. However, what do you think will happen if they are defeated even once?¡¯ In this regard, the ins Faction was peerless. They may have lost their first battle, but Barbatos retreated and immediately reorganized her army. There wasn¡¯t a single person among the ins Faction¡¯s 19 Demon Lords who had either surrendered to the enemy or run away. If anything, Brother Beleth exined to me that, ¡°Next time, I¡¯ll crush Agares¡¯ right arm!¡±. It was already surprising that a defeated army could reorganize themself without any issue, but their morale hadn¡¯t decreased at all either. ¡°Miss Gamigin, what do you think is the most terrifying army in the world?¡± Gamigin responded while twirling her blonde hair with her finger. ¡°Obviously, an army that keeps attacking even after getting stepped on over and over again like a cockroach.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Anyone who has been amander and led an army before would give this response. An army that attacks again as if nothing had happened even after having been defeated. I guarantee that there¡¯s nothing more terrifying than this. The ins Faction was that kind of army. Barbatos was an ideological leader and a militaristicmander. In other words, out of all leader types, Barbatos was a part of the most wicked group. Only fanatics gathered around her. These people werepletely dyed in this ideology and came together to form a single ughtering machine. ¡°The ins Faction will probably persistently get up over and over again after being defeated. In order to ultimately defeat the ins Faction, you will have to quite literally wipe them outpletely.¡± ¡°Hm. Do you think that¡¯s impossible for Agares?¡± ¡°I am honestly not sure.¡± I showed my palms as I smiled wryly. ¡°But can you guarantee it? That the Demon Lords with no affiliation will not lose even once?¡± Gamigin didn¡¯t answer as she continued to stare at me silently. There was a smile on her lips, but the purpose of it was to be silent. ¡°Different from the ins Faction, the unaffiliated Demon Lords will most likely be uneasy the moment they are defeated once. There is no way Barbatos will miss that opportunity.¡± Barbatos was probably the greatest tactician within the Demon Lord army. She will bite down on a weak point like a wolf and refuse to let go. ¡°Miss Gamigin, in essence, Miss Agares is the one who is at a disadvantage in this internal struggle, not the ins Faction.¡± ¡°Agares is at a disadvantage?¡± ¡°Yes. Miss Agares cannot allow even a single defeat. This is an absolutely dangerous gamble.¡± Gamigin crossed her legs. She had a white piece of cloth draped over her like someone from ancient Greece, so her thigh waspletely revealed as the cloth was pushed to the side. ¡°So? It is only natural that there would be a lot of risks the higher the stakes are.¡± ¡°What I am trying to say is that right now is the only time Miss Gamigin will have this much value.¡± I pretended to be nonchnt as I smiled. ¡°If the ins Faction wins, then you would forever lose this opportunity to sell yourself this high. Miss Gamigin, I will promise to give you 20% of the north region of Habsburg after this battle is over. Please cooperate with our ins Faction.¡± ¡°Sorry, but no can do.¡± Gamigin let out a loudugh. ¡°You¡¯re saying some nice words, but they aren¡¯t that persuasive. Agares is maintaining her army with her charisma alone? Fine. But if you turn that around, that means the ins Faction had lost to a person like that~.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin didn¡¯t seem like she would ept this proposal. I thought that she might cooperate if I offered her a decent amount ofnd, but it seems there was a stronger alliance between her and Agares than I thought. They might¡¯ve used magic to prevent either of them from betraying the other. I spoke. ¡°I definitely warned you, Miss Gamigin.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who definitely gave you an offer first, Dantalian.¡± The two of us red at each other while smiling. The second negotiation ended without any sort of gain. I decided to utilize the trick I had been hiding up my sleeve. * * * The negotiation has broken down! Agares immediately moved her army. She disagreed with something like negotiations, so she was greatly pleased when Gamigin told her the news. Agares was confident that she could win. ¡°The ins Faction is all bark and no bite.¡± In the first ce, she disliked the fact that Barbatos was seen as the representative warmonger within the Demon Lord army. In Agares¡¯ opinion, tactics were nothing more than a game for humans. For demonkind, overwhelming your enemy with pure strength was the only thing that mattered. On the other hand, Barbatos was trying to obtain a terrain advantage even now. She set up her position on high ground and made it easy for the enemy to grow tired whenever they charged. Barbatos learned from her previous battle and t out prepared a separate unit to face Agares. It was none other than a unit that contained Barbatos, Beleth, 9 other Demon Lords, and 400 death knights. An elite unit that could make the entire continent tremble in terror. Zepar pointed something out worriedly. ¡°If Your Excellency takes charge of Agares, then who willmand the rest of the army?¡± ¡°You canmand, Zepar.¡± Thus, an unprecedented battle unfolded where the suprememanders of both armies discarded theirmanding duties and fought each other head-on. The ins Faction managed to engage in battle again even though the shock from the previous defeat had yet to settle. The army led by the ins Faction was a gathering of units that had gone into battle for hundreds of years without rest. They surpassed Agares¡¯ army in terms of quality. ¡°Brats! Let¡¯s go another round!¡± However, to Demon Lord Agares, the quality of her army meant nothing as her strength was just that overwhelming. Agares mounted her red wolf and charged throughout the battlefield without rest. Barbatos did her utmost to face Agares, but Agares fought against the 9 Demon Lords and 400 death knights as if she wanted to show that her Rank 2 position wasn¡¯t just for show. ¡°Does that ignorant bitch¡­¡­not get tired!?¡± Barbatos swore between her panting. The battle had been going on for 6 hours now. During this time, Barbatos had already used up more than half of her magic power. When arge amount of magic power leaves the body all of a sudden, it induces nausea, vomiting, and, before long, intense stomach pain. Barbatos wasn¡¯t the only one in a bad state. Beleth had retrieved his lost arm from thest battle, but his left arm got cut off twice in today¡¯s battle alone. He healed his injuries with his immense regenerative ability, but that only increased his exhaustion. Once Barbatos and Beleth gradually got tired, Agares started to rampage even more. ¡°Are you already done!? You would always boast about carrying out the wishes of demonkind, but is this enough to tire you out!? How pathetic, you ins Faction bastards!¡± Agaresughed in the middle of the battlefield. ¡°Life is rtive! As there are stronger people above the strong, there are weaker people below the weak! For people who are unaware of this simple and clear truth, how dare you pretend to be a part of the strong simply because you believe you¡¯re a little strong!¡± Agares swung her halberd. ¡°Anyone could pretend to be strong! They can talk like the strong, think like the strong, and move like the strong. But the actual strong are on a whole different level!¡± Three death knights died due to getting swept up by Agares¡¯ violent gale. The death knights were blocking the areas that Barbatos and Beleth couldn¡¯t handle themselves, but they were losing manpower at a significantly fast rate. Agares let out a burst of aura as sheughed loudly. ¡°I feel alive whenever I snuff out insects like you who act like you¡¯re strong! Barbatos! Despair at your powerlessness.¡± ¡°I see your top hole is as ragged as your bottom hole, you fucking bitch.¡± Barbatos gnashed her teeth as she tightened her grip on her battle scythe once more. It was at that moment. ¡°©¥©¥?¡± Agares repositioned her halberd as she nced to the side. Barbatos thought that she was intentionally dropping her guard to lure in an attack, but Agares didn¡¯t like that kind of ¡®trick¡¯. In reality, Agares¡¯ face gradually contorted. Barbatos decided to put a safe distance between her and Agares before turning to follow Agares¡¯ gaze. There were hundreds of gs fluttering on a hill in the distance. Thanks to the superior physical ability of a high-ranking Demon Lord, she was able to recognize the symbol on the gs despite the distance. They weren¡¯t Agares¡¯ gs. They weren¡¯t the symbol of an unaffiliated Demon Lord either. Barbatos¡¯ face contorted just like Agares¡¯ once she recognized the symbol. ¡°¡­¡­Sitri?¡± A goat with three horns. It was a symbol that represented the Rank 12, the person who was now in charge of the Mountain Faction after Paimon¡¯s fall. * * * Sitri was with 6 other Mountain Faction Demon Lords. She was riding a mountain goat and looking down at the battle that was unfolding further down the hill. She looked like she was trying to distinguish who her allies and enemies were. ¡°Hmm. Agares is putting her butt on full disy.¡± Sitri had made a promise to Dantalian a while ago. She promised to fulfill two of his wishes aspensation for sparing Paimon. The first wish was for funding, and, a few days ago, Dantalian secretly told Sitri his second wish. His wish was for her to participate in the internal strife within Habsburg and help Barbatos. In other words, he was telling her to help Barbatos who had been her archnemesis all her life. Normal people would¡¯ve probably contemted this. However, Sitri agreed with no hesitation whatsoever. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords opposed, but Sitri rallied her troops alone. She had a really simple reason. She had made a promise, after all. This reason was more than enough for Demon Lord Sitri. Sitri raised her right hand. ¡°All forces, let us courteously and gently rape Agares.¡± She was smiling happily as if she were pleased to be able to fulfill Dantalian¡¯s wish. ¡°My specialty is viting people¡¯s asses, after all.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, you guys know why this chapter came outte if you read thest two updates. I did manage to get my Discord ount restored, but my servers are still gone and the support team has yet to respond to my request to restore them. ording to some people, Discord isn¡¯t able to restore servers, so I might have to just ept this. Doesn¡¯t change the fact that this still sucks. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get over it one day. Until then, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 232: Battle of Demon Lords Chapter 232: Battle of DemonLords Agares¡¯ expression contorted. Each strand of her ck hair contained aura and floated as if they were alive. With a crack, the ground which Agares was standing on top of crumbled by ayer. Cracks appeared everywhere like the cracked earth after a severe drought. ¡°Mountain Faction, those baboons.¡± The female Demon Lord with a beautiful face was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that remained was an angered evil spirit. ¡°How dare she not know when to intervene and when not to intervene.¡± The Demon Lords surrounding Agares gasped because of the aura that was bursting out of her. Their bodies became paralyzed. They were all Demon Lords who had been on the battlefield for more than 300 years. Even they felt stifled. She was so overwhelming. It was hard for them to believe that the female Demon Lord before them was part of the same race as them. She looked like a different race that was on a different dimension. It made sense why she dered that she was the only true Demon Lord. There was one individual who charged at this overwhelming power. ¡°©¥I stand before the Great Spirit and vow.¡± Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos. She became a single streak of light as she dashed forward. ck mana seeped out from Barbatos¡¯ battle scythe as it came down right between Agares¡¯ eyes. Therge scythe was held back strongly by something just 2 centimeters from its target. It was stopped by the aura that had dded Agares¡¯ entire body. It wasn¡¯t blocked by any sort of technique but by pure aura alone. Barbatos frowned due to this outrageousness as she continued to chant her spell. ¡°I coldly vow one loyalty, one blood, and one war.¡± ¡°You damn fly!¡± Agares swung her halberd in anger. ng, the halberd was stopped. 7 broadswords had sprung out from Barbatos¡¯ shadow and defended against the halberd. 6 of the broadswords were shattered into pieces, but thest one barely managed to block the strike. The chant continued to flow out from Barbatos¡¯ small mouth. ¡°Serve as the hound of the one and only kingdom. Soar and prophesize as the eagle thatmunes with storms.¡± ¡°Barbatos!¡± Agares didn¡¯t stop as she showered blows upon blows. ck broadswords would surge out from the shadows every time she did. If someone with good eyes were to witness this fight, then they would probably be awed and terrified by this extremely high-level duel. One side had overwhelming strength. This strength was swung down with the intent to crush all. This was no different from a natural cmity as it rampaged violently without the need for any sort of technique. One-man army was a term made just for this woman. On the other hand©¥the other side was pure technique. Barbatos was a warrior in the past. She swept through the battlefield while relying on a single sword. She learned necromancy for the sake of reviving her subordinates, so she thus became a unique existence in the world as both a warrior and a necromancer. She raised her battle scythe and engaged in closebat with her opponent. Her limbs skillfully maneuvered her weapon without rest while her mouth continued to chant spells endlessly. Spells that made her opponent¡¯s movements duller, confused their sense of vision, made them lose their bnce, and had them see illusions were cast. Hundreds of familiars protected this necromancer-warrior. They were all death knights that were referred to as the strongest soldiers. The death knights stopped the attacks that were aimed at their lord. Agares¡¯ attacks could crush the earth, but the death knights formed an imprable wall and they blocked against them. Standing there was a single massive fortress defended by a warrior, a mage, and knights. The battle to determine which was stronger, a one-man army or a one-man fortress intensified, and©¥. The duel between two Demon Lords surpassed the realm of a duel and entered the realm of war. ¡°You mayfly! Fight with your own strength!¡± ¡°This is ¡®me¡¯, Agares.¡± Barbatos¡¯ entire body was covered in sweat. Her white hair was stuck to her forehead because of the sweat. She was burning all of the mana left inside of her. Her heart and her entire body were screaming because of how fast she was burning up her mana. Barbatos disyed a strained smile. ¡®Dantalian, you bastard!¡¯ Barbatos hadmunicated with Dantalian before the battle. Dantalian said from the other side of the orb that ¡®I¡¯ve prepared a small gift for you to win this time¡¯. He was only honest in times like this. He may be a liar, but he never lied about these sorts of things. ¡®This isn¡¯t a small gift, you son of a bitch!¡¯ She didn¡¯t know how he had done it, but he managed to bring the Mountain Faction in as reinforcement. Furthermore, the one leading the reinforcement was Rank 12 Demon Lord Sitri, the strongest fighter in the Mountain Faction. The army led by Sitri was undoubtedly going to assault Agares¡¯ army with a pincer formation and wipe them out. Barbatos just had to y for time until then. She instinctively knew what her role was. She had conserved her magic power until now and made sure to not use more than half of her total mana. From what Barbatos could tell, she had to drag this battle on in order to have a chance of winning. She intended to gradually burn up Agares¡¯ army over the course of 6 to 7 battles. However, Barbatos started to use all of her mana the moment she discovered Sitri¡¯s g in the distance. She threw away her ns for a prolonged battle. She instinctively knew that this was the decisive moment and that she had to pour in everything she had. ¡°You crossbreed of a mayfly, even your way of struggling is disgusting!¡± Agares roared. ¡°To think you¡¯d protect your life by surrounding yourself with your subordinates! Is that your kingship, bitch!? Is that how a monarch of demonkind should act!? You¡¯re swinging your weapon without any shame! Barbatos, you¡¯re sullying the image of Demon Lords!¡± A storm of blows continued to rain down. A barrage of blows that could even kill the holder of the sword in one strike continued like a violent storm. Barbatos took a step into the center of that storm. ¡°Let me fix your misunderstanding, Agares.¡± Broadswords continued to shatter miserably before Agares¡¯ strikes. ng, ng, the sound of metal resonated like the sound of rain during a rainstorm. The pieces of metal that scattered each time a broadsword shattered scraped Barbatos¡¯ cheeks. Blood sttered. Despite this, the smile on Barbatos¡¯ lips was unchanging. ¡°I¡¯m not surrounded by my subordinates.¡± Barbatos swung her scythe upwards. The scythe that went all out and struck with full force was easily blocked by Agares. The scythe was flung away by her aura. Despite this, Barbatos took another step forward as if she expected this. ¡°My subordinates are ¡®following me¡¯.¡± Agares swung her halberd. ¡°Ha, are you saying that you¡¯re protecting them!? How arrogant. Demon Lords are those who bring upon cmity! They are those who harvest the earth with a strength that no one can approach and with a fear that no one can rebel against! Demon Lords do not need something like subordinates. They only require overwhelming strength!¡± ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡± 6 broadswords blocked the halberd. The broadswords couldn¡¯t stop the halberd, but the output of the strike was weakened enough that Barbatos could stop it with her scythe. Barbatos consumed thest bit of her remaining magic power. Another step. She took another step forward. ¡°A monarch, is simply someone who is a step ahead of others.¡± All of the death knights who were protecting Barbatos from her shadow were herrades. They were with her even after death. They vowed that they would never stop fighting until the day their ideal was realized. They shared a single body with Barbatos. That was why every step Barbatos took wasn¡¯t simply a single step. It was the step of everyone who had devoted their lives and deaths to the girl known as Barbatos©¥so that demonkind could one day sing of peace, so that they could reach a nation where fathers and mothers did not have to sell their sons and daughters. ¡°As the path will not remain as a mere trial and will one day be arge street for all of demonkind to tread. I may be alone, but I am not one person.¡± Barbatos shed her scythe upwards. ¡°This is the path of a monarch, Agares!¡± The shadow broadswords that had been purely used for defense suddenly attacked for the first time the moment Agares tried to block the strike with her halberd. 18 broadswords stabbed at Agares all at once. Agares didn¡¯t panic. She spun her halberd around like a wheel and easily repelled 10 depoints. She used her elbow to hit aside one of the broadswords and she dodged another 2 by twisting her body. The remaining 5 were pushed away by the strong gale that was produced by her movements. Her body movement was almost godly. However, the broadswords had opened a path for their lord. A ck scythe sliced through the air. Therge scythe emitted a sharp sound as it was swung upwards. It went straight up the path that the 18 broadswords had barely managed to open up. Shiiick. Blood sprayed into the air. Something was severed from the body and floated in the air for a moment before falling powerlessly to the ground. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Agares scowled as she looked down at it. Her left ear was on the ground covered in blood. For the past 2,000 years, no one had ever been able to harm Agares¡¯ body. She had never been grazed by a sword before as well. Receiving an injury for the first time in thousands of years was such an unfamiliar sensation for Agares that it was unbearable. Slowly. Agares¡¯ expression gradually contorted as she recalled that this was the feeling of being injured. ¡°You, fucking bastard.¡± ¡°Now your face looks a bit appealing.¡± Barbatos panted heavily as she grinned. She raised her index and middle finger in a V shape. This gesture meant ¡®fuck you¡¯. ¡°The face of a defeated dog suits you, you bitch with lopsided ears.¡± ¡°©¥©¥!¡± Agares yelled. It was a cry that no beast could possibly imitate. She became utterly furious like how a God would react if they were injured by a human. The earth and air trembled. The sound was so intense that even the monsters that were fighting a far distance away turned their heads in shock. A reddish-ck aura erupted like a volcano. The wind pressure that burst out as Agares¡¯ aura exploded easily swept throughout the entire battlefield. Goblins shook in terror and orcs had to raise their arms to block the wind. Agares became a beast as she charged at Barbatos. At that moment, the other 8 ins Faction Demon Lords including Beleth intervened. The Demon Lords coordinated to stop Agares¡¯ attack. Belethughed fearlessly within the flood of attacks that could take his neck if he were to make even a single mistake. ¡°You¡¯ll have to y with me, Agares.¡± ¡°Kuaaaaah! Fuck off, brat!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do that. I don¡¯t know about other things, but I¡¯m the type of person who thoroughly repays his debts. Since you¡¯ve taken my arm three times, you¡¯re going to have to offer your arm three times as well!¡± On this day, the ins Faction fended off the one-man army called Agares until the very end. Agares was truly terrifying as it took 9 Demon Lords to just barely hold her back. However, Demon Lord Zepar of the ins Faction and Demon Lord Sitri of the Mountain Faction performed a pincer maneuver on Agares¡¯ army while she was busy being held down. The fight between Agares and the Demon Lords ended in a stalemate, but Agares was defeated in the war between armies. Agares shed tears of blood as she retreated while crying out that she was definitely going to crush Barbatos¡¯ neck. This was how the Demon Lord who was referred to as the strongest was defeated. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It really is a mood when you need to have so much help just tond one blow on an overpowered character. On another note, sorry about thete chapter release. I sort of lost track of time after a while. Discord has YET to respond to my request to recover my servers. They really just recovered my ount and ghosted me afterward. I guess it really is low-priority now, but I noticed that my friend still hasn¡¯t gotten his ount back yet. Discord support is really¡­ inconsistent? I unno. Welp, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 233: Battle of Demon Lords (4) Chapter 233: Battle of Demon Lords (4) * * * I was sitting in my chair nervously. My leg shook as I tapped the floor with my foot. It was an unsightly habit, but what was I supposed to do about it? The fate of the ins Faction was hanging on this battle. I stayed up all night stooped over on a chair and ring at the crystal ball ced on my table as I waited to be contacted. ¡®Barbatos can¡¯t fall already.¡¯ The northern central region of Habsburg had a great amount of geographical importance. The region known as the sacrednd of Demon Lords, where an absolute majority of the Demon Lords resided¡­¡­was surrounded by the ck Mountains. My Demon Lord Castle was also among them. It was located in the westernmost area known as Pagegiai. The name didn¡¯t matter. The issue was the fact that this area was extremely dangerous. The Teuton Kingdom was to the west while Habsburg was to the south. The region was basicallypletely exposed to the humans. Barbatos¡¯ faction had to manage this very region for me. As someone who had gained the immense animosity of several human rulers¡­¡­in other words, it¡¯d be the end of me if Elizabeth were to go wild and send an army after me. A faction friendly to me has to be my shield and prevent these hostile forces from thinking that sending troops at me would be a viable option. It would be a problem for me if Agares or Gamigin were to upy this area. They obviously weren¡¯t on my side. ¡®Oh darn, I wasn¡¯t able to deal with the troops sent by an enemy nation! Sorry!¡¯, they¡¯ll probably say something along these lines as they turn a blind eye to the expeditionary force sent at my dungeon. Imagine what would happen if five hundred soldiers led by knights were to invade. It would be horrifying. ¡®I may be fortifying my dungeon, but it can¡¯t stop an army.¡¯ Barbatos has to be my shield until my dungeon is able to finish building at least 7, no, 5 floors. ¡­¡­Bringing Sitri out was my ace up my sleeve. Sitri¡¯s strength was acknowledged as being a level higher than that of Brother Beleth¡¯s. The chances of victory should increase if she were to join with reinforcements. Of course, there was still a chance of losing. Victory or defeat. Depending on the situation, I might have to run up to Gamigin, get on my knees, and start licking her toes. This wasn¡¯t a joke. I could clean some toes dozens of times if it means I can increase my chances of survival in the future. However, I also earnestly didn¡¯t want Barbatos to be defeated¡­¡­. ¨C Dantalian. A blue light flowed out from the crystal ball. General Zepar appeared within the ball. I was finally being contacted! ¨C Dantalian, are you there? ¡°Yes, Brother Zepar! I¡¯ve been waiting.¡± I could tell just by a nce that General Zepar was utterly exhausted. He was still wearing his armor, so the battle must have only just ended. I hastily got closer to the crystal ball and hunched down. I was nervous on the inside. Why wasn¡¯t Barbatos contacting me herself? Barbatos had been the one to contact me all the time. It didn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d let another person do it without a special reason. Therefore, it meant that Barbatos wasn¡¯t in a state that allowed her to contact me. Injured, defeated, lost¡­¡­hopeless words started to pop up in my head on their own. I asked in a trembling voice. ¡°The battle. How did the battle go?¡± ¨C Ah. We won. They won! Barbatos won! I covered my face with my hands. My chest pounded as I let out a relieved sigh. It felt like the exhaustion that had piled up for the past 4 days as I stayed up all night had vanished all at once. Barbatos had won! ¡°How big are our losses? What is the state Her Excellency Barbatos is in? Was she injured to the point of being unable to contact me herself? Has Agares been captured? What is happening to the unaffiliated Demon Lords? ¨C Dantalian, you are in too much of a hurry. General Zepar let out a heartyugh. ¨C I cannot answer all of those questions at once. Calm down. ¡°¡­¡­My apologies, I have just been on edge for the past few days.¡± ¨C Our forces were victorious. This fact will not change. There is no reason for you to be in such urgency now. The frantic battle has ended, so it is time for your calm sense of reason to return. The duty given to you is far from any sort of excitement¡­¡­am I wrong?¡± ¡°No. It is as you said.¡± I nodded. That¡¯s right. I¡¯m a diplomat in this internal discourse, not a general. I have to be calmer than everyone else. Even if my opponent was someone who has about 200 snakes in her stomach, Demon Lord Gamigin. She was definitely a formidable opponent. ¡°Brother Zepar, please tell me what the losses are on both sides first.¡± General Zepar¡¯s expression became serious. ¨C Within our army of 18,600 men, we lost about 4,000. 3,000 were injured and 1,000 were killed in battle. We do not have the exact numbers yet. And for the enemy¡­¡­out of their 21,000 men, they suffered about 10,000 casualties. My face lit up. Their casualties reached up to 10,000 out of their initial army of 21,000 men. It wasn¡¯t a simple victory. It was an overwhelming victory! You could almost say that Agares¡¯ army was annihted. My breathing became heavier. I did my best to hide my excitement as I asked calmly. ¡°How is Supreme Commander Barbatos¡¯ condition?¡± ¨C I understand your unease, but you can put your concerns aside. Her Excellency had simply used too much magic power during her battle against Agares. There is a chance of a mana reflux happening if she were to exert herself any more than this, so Her Excellency is currently recuperating. ¡°So she is not injured?¡± ¨C To be honest, she is rather full of energy. Beleth and I were barely able to stop her from shouting about trying to pursue Agares as we put her to bed. What a relief. I let out another sigh. It almost felt like I had be a grandpa who was filled with worries and woes. Damn it, they say that you grow older the more you sigh. ¨C Unfortunately, we failed in capturing Agares alive. Well, it is questionable whether capturing Agares alive is actually possible or not. It is not exactlyparable, but we captured three unaffiliated Demon Lords as prisoners. ording to General Zepar¡¯s exnation, Sitri¡¯s army abruptly appeared from behind while the ins Faction was holding down the enemy. As a result, they were able to wipe out the enemy troops by carrying out the most ancient hammer and anvil maneuver. General Zepar smiled wryly. ¨C I never imagined the day we would get helped by the Mountain Faction would ever arrive. Dantalian, our ins Faction has constantly been in a state of surprise because of you as we continue to wonder what sort of magic trick you will perform next. You ended up being the biggest contributor to the battle despite not participating in the battle yourself. ¡°This is embarrassing. Then would it be fine for me to immediately go into today¡¯s negotiation?¡± ¨C Indeed. Her Excellency has given her royal permission. Do your best to hunt that Desert Fox. Desert Fox was Gamigin¡¯s nickname. She had beautiful blonde hair, but she was also as sly as a fox. It was now time for me to hunt that fox. I nodded. I, Dantalian, was powerless before the strong, but I was also utterly powerful against the weak. I¡¯ll torment you until you cry, Gamigin. Look forward to it. I¡¯ll be applying a tax to all the teasing you have done until now¡­¡­. * * * Gamigin possessed arge vi in Niflheim. It was probably best to refer to it as the most recent style of architecture in this era. Most of thend consisted of a garden with a stream flowing down the middle, and the vi was ced deep within this plot ofnd. The building was small but fancy. It seemed like every person with a high rank possessed at least one vi of their own in arge city within the demon world. I smiled as I walked past a beautiful fountain. Gamigin was probably making a sour face while holed up in this fancy vi. The thought pleased me. ¡°Pleasee this way.¡± I was led by a maid to one side of the garden. The foliage had all been pruned with the utmost care. There was an artificial beauty here. It was identical to Gamigin who had also lived her entire life deceiving others with her smile. It made sense that her personality was rotten since her taste was rotten as well. Haha. After walking on the garden¡¯s dirt path for a while, I arrived at an open field that seemed like it was being hidden by the foliage. Gamigin was seated here. ¡°Come on in, Dantalian.¡± Gamigin weed me with a smile. She still had the strength to smile. How splendid. ¡°This is the first time a man has set foot in my garden.¡± ¡°How many men have you whispered that line to up to this point?¡± ¡°Mm, maybe about 200~?¡± I knew it. I sat down across from her. ¡°You seem to have quite the leisure. I expected you to be a bit more nervous.¡± ¡°Despite how I look, I¡¯m actually really anxious on the inside.¡± Gamiginughed. Her smile may have been stered on her face for so long that she could no longer take it off. I suddenly became curious to see how this woman¡¯s face would look if she scowled. The thought of her expression contorting in pain and pleasure to the point that she couldn¡¯t possibly smile. Wouldn¡¯t it feel like paradise? The thought of it alone excited me. ¡°Only the two of us are here, so there should be no need for us to keep up appearances.¡± ¡°Oh dear. Are you saying that we have a special rtionship between us?¡± ¡°Who knows¡­¡­? That may happen depending on how things proceed from now on.¡± I deliberately ended it with an open-ended sentence. Hmm, Gamigin mused as she tilted her ss. She was wearing a cloth attire that was more revealing than her usual clothes. Was this her sleepwear? Her thigh and cleavage line werepletely revealed because of the way the cloth draped over her skin. The cloth was also thin, so Gamigin¡¯s white skin was also fairly visible through it. The sun was setting, so it wasn¡¯t weird for her to be wearing her sleepwear. However, wearing something like this while weing a guest was way too insincere. She was clearly taunting me with this attire¡­¡­.A clear seduction tactic. This was probably her intent. Considering Gamigin¡¯s personality, was she trying to seduce me? Was she trying to pull me in with her beauty? How interesting. Let¡¯s see how skilled her seduction skills are. ¡°I will get straight to the point, our ins Faction will not distribute even a tiny piece of ournd.¡± ¡°Oh? You¡¯reing out rather strong?¡± ¡°I gave you a clear warning during thest negotiation.¡± I removed the smile from my lips. ¡°That was honestly thest opportunity for Miss Gamigin to suggest a ¡®good¡¯promise. Our ins Faction has won and we will continue to do so. Miss Agares and the other unaffiliated Demon Lords no longer have this opportunity.¡± ¡°Why? Victory and defeat are fickle things.¡± Gamiginmented as she fiddle with her side bang with her finger. ¡°Agares may have lost today, but who knows what will happen tomorrow. Agares has the strength to turn the tables. You can¡¯t deny this.¡± ¡°Naturally, I acknowledge this fact. Miss Agares is undoubtedly the strongest fighter in the world. Out of the entirety of both the demon world and the continent, there is probably not a single person in this day and age who would dare to be hostile against her.¡± However, I added as I continued. ¡°Therefore, I have been busy in order to remove even the slightest possibility.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°The day after tomorrow, Sir Marbas will lead the Neutral Faction and cross Habsburg¡¯s border.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin paused for a moment. ¡°Don¡¯t lie. Marbas would never get militaristically involved in a power struggle.¡± ¡°You are correct. However, that is if this internal discourse was a struggle between ¡®factions¡¯. In all respects, this situation was caused by Miss Agares alone. All of the Demon Lords involved on her side are unaffiliated.¡± I smiled. ¡°From Sir Marbas¡¯ perspective, this is like an unaffiliated group is stirring trouble. An era is approaching where the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction are finally about to co-exist after having been enemies for more than a thousand years; however, there is a group who is unable to read the mood and is trying to interfere with this era of coexistence¡­¡­.¡± I casually took the ss from Gamigin¡¯s hand. I took a sip of the alcohol before continuing. The alcohol was sweet and had a deep taste. It was a high-quality wine. I gradually felt better. ¡°This is probably incredibly displeasing to him. Monkeys that interfere with the concord of factions could only be annoying. It would only be natural to use this opportunity to stomp them out. Don¡¯t you think so as well?¡± Was I seeing things? Gamigin¡¯s red eyes became cold. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I said I would get this chapter out sooner but I was busy with some real life stuff yesterday, so I wasn¡¯t able to upload this chapter. Sorry about that. Uh, nothing too important to say here today. Still no response from Discord about recovering my servers, but at this point, I might have to just give up on them. It really sucks that all the memories will be gone, but what else can I do? It¡¯s my fault for getting hacked temporarily. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 234: Battle of Demon Lords (5) Chapter 234: Battle of Demon Lords (5) The Neutral Faction was greatly indebted to me. This dated back to when the Crescent Alliance was still active. At first, Barbatos wasn¡¯t going to forgive Paimon who had put her in a trap. She was going to hold an official hearing and crush Paimon there. However, Marbas of the Neutral Faction hosted a gathering and urged them to reconcile. At that time, Marbas said this: ¡®A bird that loses a wing will be unable to fly. If the Mountain Faction trying to attack the ins Faction is wrong, then would it not also be wrong for the ins Faction to try and wipe out the Mountain Faction in retaliation?¡¯ He then also added. ¡®I wish for a reasonablepromise. Of course, if the ins Faction chooses to be tolerant, then the Neutral Faction will support you fully.¡¯ He stated that he would ¡®support us fully¡¯ at the end. It was thepensation the Neutral Faction had to pay us since we had generously forgiven the Mountain Faction¡­¡­. This was the trump card I had pulled out. We were dealing with Agares, the strongest battle fiend. It wasn¡¯t a waste at all. Marbas¡¯ army was currently crossing the border. He had about 8,000 men. The Neutral Faction had been carrying out their operations in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The area of Habsburg that shared a border with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was none other than©¥. ¡°Miss Gamigin, it¡¯s the region that you are currently upying without permission.¡± The Neutral Faction was going to swoop in and attack Gamigin¡¯s territory. I smiled. ¡°Of course, this is currently the territory that Miss Agares has forcefully taken over. If what Miss Gamigin said is true, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The ins Faction, Mountain Faction, and the Neutral Faction will be moving together as one. This is happening for the first time in 2,000 years. This will most likely start amotion in the demon world.¡± Barbatos will stand at the forefront as the suprememander while the Neutral Faction and the Mountain Faction support her from behind. History had already proven how much power this array had. They had annihted two countries during the 2nd Crescent Alliance expedition. Despite all of my effort during the 8th Crescent Alliance, we couldn¡¯t evenpletely annihte the Habsburg Empire in the end. If youpare these, then you can guess how powerful an alliance between the three factions is. ¡°The era of faction disputes has passed and an era of harmony and unison will arrive. Demonkind will undoubtedly perceive it like this. Miss Agares and Miss Gamigin will be chosen as the sacrificialmbs for the sake of this new age. It will be quite the fancy and extravagant festival.¡± Gamigin, there was only one thing you didn¡¯t predict. You never imagined that the Mountain Faction and the Neutral Faction would help Barbatos. However, I was next to Barbatos. I possess the ability to make Sitri and Marbas take action. You were not aware of this. ¡°I see. I understand now.¡± Gamigin broke her silence. ¡°So this is how you do things. You never step forward yourself and solve your issues by bringing in other groups. It was like this during the Crescent Alliance as well. When Paimon created a trap, you brought in the other legions. And now you¡¯ve brought in the Mountain Faction and the Neutral Faction in order to ruin me and Agares.¡± She red at me quietly with her narrow eyes. Her red pupils were glowing coldly behind her smiling eyes. ¡°Your life is simr to that of a parasite, Dantalian. You know, I¡¯ve been wondering why you chose to stay as Rank 71. Even though it would¡¯ve been fine if Baal and Vassago decided to raise your rank sooner. But now it¡¯s be clear.¡± Gamigin flicked her finger. Once she did, the ss in my hand shattered. The fragments of the cup scattered andnded on my right hand. ¡°Dantalian, Rank 71 suits you the most. Rather, you should go down a rank. Throughout the long history of the Demon Lord army, there has never been someone who parasitized off of others as shamelessly as you. Marbas won¡¯t forgive us? From Marbas¡¯ ideological perspective, we are nothing more than obstacles to him?¡± Gamiginughed. It was different from her usualugh. It was a mockingugh. The smile that was as soft as the sun had disappeared and was reced by coldness. ¡°Unpleasant. This is truly unpleasant. You never even thought Marbas¡¯ ideology was correct in the first ce. You only think it¡¯s beautiful. You treat it as a simple spectacle to watch. Do you understand, Dantalian? That¡¯s ¡®the most unpleasant way to step on¡¯ someone¡¯s ideology.¡± ¡°If you are about to call me a son of a bitch and a piece of trash, then.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I should inform you beforehand that it is useless. Those are already established facts.¡± ¡°You¡¯re ridiculing every Demon Lord. Be it Barbatos or Marbas, they didn¡¯t live their lives to be put on disy as art exhibitions for your amusement. At the very least, I know this fact better than you.¡± ¡°What does it matter?¡± I dusted the ss fragments off of my hand. They were bothering me. ¡°Baal is capable of distinguishing between real and fake. You aren¡¯t a Demon Lord. You¡¯re a fake. You simply live as a parasite without a belief of your own.¡± ¡°That is a somewhat original reproach. I like it.¡± ¡°As long as Baal¡¯s red eyes remain open, you will remain as the lowest rank forever.¡± Mm. I¡¯m not sure why, but the number of people who swear at me has increasedtely. It was truly unfair. Aren¡¯t they the ones who always start it? They¡¯re the ones who attack and provoke me first. I¡¯ve simply been responding in kind. Despite this, people call me a piece of trash and a fake. I may be a damned piece of trash, but that was rude. It was saddening. When did the world sink so far¡­¡­? ¡°Well, I more than understand why you are upset, Miss Gamigin, but I do not believe anything good woulde from venting that anger out on me.¡± Gamigin stared at me quietly. I could clearly feel her bloodthirst. Dear me, I was simply returning the same words she had said to me before right back to her¡­¡­. You should¡¯ve never said this to another person if you¡¯re going to get this upset. She wasn¡¯t able to maintain even the most basic part of ethics. How disappointing. Hmm. Should I try taking a step back here? It won¡¯t be good for our negotiations if I only raise her tension. ¡°Of course, I know my ce. As Miss Gamigin had said, Rank 71 is the perfect spot for a person like me. I may have a bit of an advantage, but that does not mean I intend to threaten Miss Gamigin.¡± ¡°Hm. Then what?¡± ¡°Let us negotiate.¡± I continued. ¡°Betray Miss Agares. No, if the term betrayal does not work for you, then fine, retaliate against Miss Agares. You were abruptly attacked by Miss Agares, were you not?¡± If we were to believe her statement, that is. I¡¯m a courteous gentleman. I wasn¡¯t going to deny a maiden of what she had insisted. I will always respect ady¡¯s opinion. ¡°If you do, then we will acknowledge most of the territory that Miss Gamigin had upied without permission as yours. You will have to give a slight portion, but you should be able to give up that much. Do not worry. We will not ask for any more or any less than 40%.¡± I smiled widely. ¡°Referentially, this is actually a huge deal. Our ins Faction will recover thend that had been unjustly taken from Miss Gamigin and we will only be taking amission fee of 40%. Is this not quite the generous deal?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin went quiet. She will be losing 40% of hernd as a price for losing the war. It would be a huge loss. Gamigin had started this war because she was unsatisfied with her small amount ofnd, so it wasn¡¯t exactly a weed proposal. ¡°There is a way to lower it to 20%, but¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin gave me a puzzled look. I reached my hand out and stroked her chin. Her soft skin brushed against my fingers. My action was obvious. Gamigin snorted. ¡°Are you telling me to offer my body? You really do know your ce. You really are a third-rate actor.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s your real face, Miss Gamigin.¡± A twisted face that sees the world as a pile of garbage and bile. Once her warm smile hadpletely disappeared, there was only a cynical smile and jeer left. Like an old, wise person who had been tossed around by the world excessively, Gamigin was mocking the entire world with a single facial expression. This was the first time that I felt that Gamigin was charming. ¡°If I am a third-rate actor, then what may you be, Miss Gamigin? You¡¯ve revealed your true face before a third-rate actor. Wouldn¡¯t you be like an actress who went to the big city full of confidence but failed miserably?¡± ¡°You probably don¡¯t want only my body. You¡¯ve never looked at me with ¡®those¡¯ kind of eyes, after all.¡± Was she also sensitive to the way people looked at her? There was a chance that Gamigin was so sensitive to everything that she eventually started to believe that the world only had rotten desires. She was right. I had never seen her as a target of sexual desire. ¡°You are correct. Unfortunately, I have not suddenly been charmed by you. Well, who knows if this will continue to be the case in the future.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about your personal matters. What do you want?¡± ¡°I made a promise with Barbatos. After sleeping with every female Demon Lord who is renowned for their beauty, I have to dere to the public that Barbatos is still the best.¡± Gamigin gave me a baffled look. ¡°Whaat?¡± ¡°Our Little Miss Demon Lord is actually more delicate than you might think. Believe it or not, that is my condition. Be my lover. And then spread rumors that we had be lovers.¡± Gamigin¡¯s expression became more baffled. ¡°In the end, you¡¯re just saying that you¡¯re going to sleep with me.¡± ¡°In a more elegant matter of speaking, yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll preserve the territory I have with that? You really are charitable.¡± The ends of Gamigin¡¯s mouth twisted. ¡°But I have a condition. Preserving only 80% of mynd isn¡¯t good enough. Acknowledge all of thend in my upation as mine.¡± ¡°Very well, then.¡± I gave an immediate answer. Barbatos will most likelyin, but I have plenty of excuses. For example, I could say that this couldn¡¯t be helped for the sake of cornering Agares further and that it would be unwise to make more enemies. How much did I invest in order to give Barbatos victory in this internal dispute? I used myst wish with Sitri and wrote off Marbas¡¯ debt to me. It wasn¡¯t a small loss. It should be fine to arrange a secured sexual life for myself as well. ¡°Now this makes things simple.¡± I said casually while seated. ¡°Strip.¡± Gamigin gave me a sidelong re. She got up and brought her hands to her clothes. Her white dress slowly slid off of her skin. The dress let out a light thud as it fell to the garden floor. The sun was setting, so the amber rays from the sun shone brightly across Gamigin¡¯s body. Gamigin gave me a look of humiliation that looked even more humiliating because she was trying to hide it. I simply smiled. I guarantee you that this sight was more beautiful than any notable painting that existed in the world. *** Author¡¯s Afterword The promise made with Marbas appeared in chapter 113. Dantalian¡¯s memory isn¡¯t exact, so the words are a bit different. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I think it was around the point that I was tranting this chapter that the whole discord hacking thing happened. Pardon me if there are any errors in this. Also, the following chapters are going to be NSFW, so keep that in mind. You don¡¯t exactly have to read those chapters to know what¡¯s happening, so it¡¯s honestly fine to skip them if you want. You¡¯ll know the nsfw parts are over when there isn¡¯t a big NSFW warning at the start of the chapter. Heh. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 235: Battle of Demon Lords (6) Chapter 235: Battle of Demon Lords (6) * * * The third round of negotiations was carried out at Niflheim Pce the next day. The Demon Lords were noisy for a different reason today. The female Demon Lords especially paid no attention to their surroundings as they chatted©¥Demon Lords never really paid attention to those around them©¥because of a certain scandal. ¡°Yes, I heard about it as well. Last night, Dantalian went to Miss Gamigin¡¯s vi¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I heard that someone was interested and ced a familiar at the vi¡¯s front gate, but Dantalian was seen leaving after dawn. The rumors are true!¡± ¡°The truth will be revealed ording to how this uing negotiation is settled¡­¡­.¡± I had deliberately entered through the front gate when I went to Gamigin¡¯s vi. It was only natural. My goal had always been to start this sort of scandal with Gamigin. It was better for rumors to have more fuel. High society became even nosier once the news about the Neutral Faction¡¯s participation in the battle arrived a whileter. People had already been interested in this matter because I had danced with Marbas during the banquet. There was a portion of people who actually thought that I had a rtionship with Marbas. Sitri was also added on top of this. On the first day of the ball, Sitri had approached me without any hesitation and linked arms with me. There was no way the other Demon Lords wouldn¡¯t notice this. It wasn¡¯t surprising that people would start to give me suspicious looks once they found out that Sitri had also led a portion of the Mountain Faction to participate in the battle as well. Therefore. ¡°So if you include Miss Barbatos¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How many people is Dantalian going out with?¡± There were now three rumors lingering around me. First, Gamigin and I are passionate lovers. Second, I have some kind of intimate rtionship with Marbas. And third, Sitri and I are very close. I had a total of three scandals. They weren¡¯t simply groundless rumors. All three of them had circumstantial evidence backing them. The name of Dantalian was transcending as a hot topic all throughout high society. Female Demon Lords whispered in somewhat loud voices even though I was already seated at the negotiating seat. ¡°Dear me! It is clear that he has a preference in both young and olderdies since he has taken Miss Barbatos and Miss Gamigin, but he seems to not care about gender either as he has also captured Sir Marbas.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably not all. You know how Miss Sitri is like as well. In other words, he has a wide interest in men, women, and even hermaphrodites¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a pervert like that!¡± ¡°How impressive!¡± Referentially, being treated like a pervert was like a type of medal in the demon world. The female Demon Lords gave me strangely admiring looks. No, I¡¯m not that much of a pervert. In the first ce, out of those three Demon Lords, only one of them actually got in bed with me. Well, to be exact, we did it in a garden, so we never got in a bed. Gamigin was a goody. She bit her lips the entire time as she tried not to moan. She must¡¯ve thought that I would be happy if I heard her moan. Sorry, but that¡¯s a big misunderstanding. I¡¯m not the type of person who gets excited when I hear my partner moan because of my sexual technique. There was a time where I was like that before, but not anymore. If anything, I get more excited seeing my partner¡¯s face twist and turn as they tried their best to hold back their moans. Aah, Gamigin really did try to endure! My desire to win burned stronger. If an imprable fortress were ced in front of a tactician, wouldn¡¯t they want to conquer it no matter what even if it meant pouring in their all for their entire lives? I was the same. It was about an hour after we started having sex. I¡¯m sure that she had climaxed about six to seven times at that point, but Gamigin refused to let out a moan the entire time. Her brows may have furrowed a bit, but she remained firm. Her perseverance was formidable. I put a genuinely awed expression on my face as I spoke to her. ¡®Impressive. Single-digit ranking Demon Lords truly are different. No, even Miss Paimon pales inparison.¡± ¡®¡­¡­Paimon? Don¡¯t tell me you also did it with her?¡¯ ¡®I did.¡¯ It was a lie. ¡®Let me ask you in return. Do you think Miss Sitri would dare to help me while also going against Miss Paimon¡¯s will?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ Gamigin shut her mouth. It was a widely known fact that Sitri was Paimon¡¯s loyal hound. That was why they raised Sitri, Paimon¡¯s loyal retainer, up in Paimon¡¯s ce after they had to nominally remove Paimon from her position as the head. In reality, Paimon was still controlling the Mountain Faction. Sitri was nothing more than a figurehead. Therefore, the one who was helping the ins Faction in this battle was none other than Paimon. She¡¯ll probably think this! I made Gamigin mistake me for some great person. This made it so that it would be difficult for her to betray me in the future. Attacking Dantalian means turning Barbatos, Marbas, and even Paimon into enemies. I would be grateful if she thought this. ¡®Miss Gamigin, would you like to make a trivial bet with me?¡¯ ¡®A bet?¡¯ ¡®To be honest, I am confident in my sexual skills. However, Miss Gamigin is a fortress wall that cannot be toppled easily. This has lit mypetitive spirit.¡¯ I raised my index finger. ¡®For exactly one more hour¡­¡­. Yes, this sounds good. If Miss Gamigin begs for me to stop during this hour, then it will be my victory.¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s expression became weird. ¡®Of course, it is my lost if Miss Gamigin manages to endure for an hour.¡¯ ¡®What are we wagering?¡¯ ¡®Hm. Not only will we acknowledge thend you currently own as yours, but we will also add thend originally owned by Miss Agares.¡¯ She thought about it for a while. Gamigin was currently upying the region of Silesia. If she also gains Moravia which had been taken by Agares, then Gamigin¡¯s territory would increase by two-folds. This was an unbelievably sweet deal. It was because it was unbelievably sweet that Gamigin had to think about it carefully. ¡®And if I lose?¡¯ ¡®Then continue to asionally y with me like this. If possible, I would like it if you didn¡¯t refuse my request to share a bed.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ The technique I showed Gamigin for the past hour was what she had to consider. She had to decide whether she could endure another hour or not. Even if Gamigin was able to endure well until now, erogenous zones gradually be more sensitive over time. It wouldn¡¯t be an easy game. Nevertheless, the reward was too tempting. One hour. She would get her hands on an immense amount ofnd if she managed to endure for only one hour. On the other hand, the price of losing wasn¡¯t that significant. She despised Dantalian as an individual, but sleeping with him every now and then wasn¡¯t really a cmity. ¡®Fine. Sounds simple enough.¡¯ Gamigin snorted. ¡®Don¡¯t think about going back on your promise, brat.¡¯ ¡®Do not try to go against our promise simply because you are Rank 4.¡¯ I just had to cheat. I took out a bottle and beamed brightly. ¡®In any case, please enjoy.¡¯ It was the that I used to conquer Daisy in the past. A single drop of it on the tongue was enough to turn your entire body into an erogenous zone. I probably don¡¯t have to tell you how the match went. Thirty minutester. ¡®Hggh, haa¡­¡­guh, ghhh¡­¡­.¡¯ Gamigin was lying on the grass sprawled out and twitching like a broken doll. It seemed she had lost control of her body as her butt and shoulders twitched on their own. I pictured a fish out of water as I stroked Gamigin¡¯s rear. Just the mere touch of my palm must¡¯ve been agonizing as Gamigin let out a shriek. Her body had be unbearably sensitive. ¡®Dear me. Did you perhaps climax just now? I only touched you with my hand, but it seems Miss Gamigin has turned into an irreparable masochist. I, Dantalian, am truly surprised.¡¯ ¡®Hggh¡­¡­huh, huugh¡­¡­!¡¯ ¡®Now then. There is still one bottle left. Please open your mouth.¡¯ Gamigin looked up at me with a tear-stained face. I was holding an aphrodisiac bottle in my hand. ¡®Another bottle, left¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®Indeed. I have a rather skilled pharmacist under my wing. A normal person would experience hell after only a single drop of this due to how sensitive their body bes; however, as expected of Miss Gamigin, you are different. You are still fine after drinking an entire bottle!¡¯ I grinned. Even the hero candidate, Daisy, was defeated by a single drop, and Gamigin had taken an entire bottle of that. Her brain was probably scalding to the point of melting right now. It was impressive that she could even speak. As expected of a high-ranking Demon Lord. ¡®Dear me, dear me. I might lose at this rate. I am starting to get nervous. Thus, Miss Gamigin, I would appreciate it if you drank another bottle.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Unless, do not tell me. I do not think this is the case, but.¡¯ I swayed the bottle side to side and the purple liquid sloshed pleasantly as I did so. ¡®Are you going to ask me to please stop?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®I have nothing against it. If you beg me to stop, then I will not use this drug. What sort of merciless monster would I be to enjoy watching Miss Gamigin suffer?¡¯ Referentially, I was really enjoying it. ¡®Now then, Miss Gamigin. Please tell me. Please stop making me drink more, please.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­I¡¯ll drink it.¡¯ Gamigin red daggers at me. ¡®I¡¯m not so pathetic, that I¡¯d lose to something like that.¡¯ ¡®Oh! Marvelous. C¡¯est si bon, c¡¯est si bon!¡¯ I pulled out the cork. ¡®Then, as you have requested, I will present the second bottle to you with haste.¡¯ I poured the contents of the bottle between Gamigin¡¯s lips. Jeremi has to spend a thousand gold to create even one of these bottles, but it wasn¡¯t a waste. If I wasn¡¯t going to use it on the Rank 4 Demon Lord because I thought it would be wasteful, then who in God¡¯s name would I use it on? ¡®¡­¡­!¡¯ Shortly after, Gamigin¡¯s face contorted greatly. Ah, ugh, guh, these short sounds leaked out from between her lips. The moaning increased once a breeze swept through the garden. She had be sensitive enough to react to even the wind. ¡®Haa, uuuh¡­¡­kuuuuh¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Truly impressive. You are still enduring greatly. Such impressive will. Such impressive perseverance. Now then, Miss Gamigin, open wide.¡¯ ¡®Ha, huh¡­¡­?¡¯ Gamigin looked at me with her hazy eyes. She was asking me why with her gaze. I smiled broadly. ¡®I still have another 6 bottles left.¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s pupils shook. ¡®Ah¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®Miss Gamigin is such a woman of grandeur that it would be risky for me if I do not give it my all. This is my first time meeting such a formidable opponent.¡¯ ¡®Wa¡­¡­it.¡¯ ¡®Oh. Please, you do not have to speak! You want to say that this is nothing to you, right? As expected of Miss Gamigin. Now then, please allow me to disy my full sincerity and respect.¡¯ I poured another bottle down Gamigin¡¯s mouth before she could even say anything. *** Author¡¯s Afterword Q: Is ¡®this kind of person¡¯ really the main character? A: Yes, ¡®this kind of person¡¯ is really the main character. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I did say it was going to get NSFW from this chapter on, but it was actually chapter after this one. This chapter was sort of on the light side in terms of NSFW. Like there¡¯s nothing really ¡®explicit¡¯. In any case, I forgot to say Merry Christmas in thest chapter so¡­. uh. Merry Christmas! I hope you guys had a good holiday. I mentioned it before, but Christmas isn¡¯t really celebrated here in Korea, so I honestly forgot about it. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter release. Chapter 236: Battle of Demon Lords Chapter 236: Battle of DemonLords WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip this chapter. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there. You have been warned. The potion poured into her mouth in great volumes. ¡®Ub, uug¡­¡­ha, hbb¡­¡­!¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s face contorted in pain. I paid her no mind as I continued to feed her more of the drug. The aphrodisiac wasn¡¯t able to all go down her throat as some of it flowed down the sides of her mouth. Gamigin¡¯s eyes were already brimming with tears due to the intense pleasure. She became aplete mess once the drug and her saliva mixed together around her mouth. Once I pulled the bottle out of her mouth, it made a cute ¡®pop¡¯ sound. Gamigin spoke with a trembling mouth. ¡®Wait, I told you¡­¡­I told you to wait!¡¯ Her gaze was still sharp. Her brain should be like a pink cocktail right now, and yet her hostility remained. ¡®Wait? Don¡¯t tell me you intend to stop.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s not it, but¡­¡­hgh¡­¡­do it a bit slower¡­¡­!¡¯ ¡®Sorry, but that is impossible.¡¯ I looked down at her with a truly apologetic gaze. ¡®There is a time limit to this match and 35 minutes have already passed. I am truly sorry, but I do not have the leisure to consider Miss Gamigin¡¯s situation.¡¯ To be honest, I wanted to shove my rod into Gamigin right this instant. She¡¯d probably go crazy due to the intense pleasure and surrender, but what¡¯s the point of that? That would becking in an aesthetic sense. It would be like derooting a beautiful flower with a sledgehammer. I whispered into Gamigin¡¯s ear. ¡®I would not be able to win if I do not give it my all. You are just that formidable, Miss Gamigin. You are a beauty.¡¯ ¡®Ugh! ¡­¡­Don¡¯t whisper, in my ear!¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s shoulders trembled the moment I blew into her ear. She had reached the point where even whispering was enough to stimte her senses greatly. The second aphrodisiac I had fed her was gradually taking effect now. Very good. The entire world probably feels like a torture device to Gamigin right now. Every de of grass on the ground probably feels like a rod prating into her and the asional breeze that went through the garden probably feels like merciless caressing. ¡®Hgh, guh¡­¡­ah, huaah¡­¡­! Ugh¡­¡­!¡¯ Gamigin climaxed several times even though I hadn¡¯t done anything. Her juices flowed down her thighs without end. It smelled sort of like peaches. ¡®How about this? I will use the drug slower since that is what Miss Gamigin desires. However, please increase the time limit by 30 minutes.¡¯ ¡®Ah, huu, aah¡­¡­.¡¯ Gamigin shook her head. She didn¡¯t have the strength to verbally refuse. It couldn¡¯t be helped since she was moaning non-stop. ¡®How unfortunate.¡¯ I actually suggested this for courtesy¡¯s sake. This gave the other party hope, after all. Gamigin probably thought that I was feeling pressed on time. Maybe I was pretending to be calm and suggesting this in order to extend the time limit as much as possible? Nope. I may have been struggling, but I wasn¡¯t at a disadvantage. She was the one fretting, not me. Just a little more, she only had to endure for a little longer¡­¡­. A little longer. In the end, this made the other party endure better. This was a truth that I arrived at after numerous experiences. Do you want to torment someone? Then give them as many opportunities as possible. Don¡¯t corner them and give them no escape routes or choices. In other words, that would be in poor taste in terms of aesthetics. Their despair bes sweeter the more opportunities they have and the more opportunities they kick aside on their own. ¡®Dear me, Miss Gamigin. Your eyes are a mess. Let me wipe away your tears.¡¯ ¡®Ah, wait, no©¥hhgg, don¡¯t do that!¡¯ Gamigin shouted desperately. She was incredibly terrified at the thought of what might happen if my finger were to touch her skin in her current state. I smiled gently. ¡®Should I stop?¡¯ Gamigin paused. I used that moment to brush her tear away with my finger. ¡®Huaaaaaagh!¡¯ Her coquettish voice tore through the sky. ¡®Do not worry. My finger is not so boorish that it would leave a maiden alone when she is crying right before it.¡¯ ¡®Huaaah, hggggh! Hnng, hg, aaaaagh!¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s hips twisted every time I wiped away her tears. Her ribs protruded a bit as she twisted around. She looked like she was covered in oil because of the sweat that wasing out of her entire body. This was it. Was I not gentlemanly? I didn¡¯t act oppressing by shoving my member into Gamigin from the very beginning. Gentlemen must behave gentlemanly, so it would only be natural to appoint yourself with the difficult path. Give the other party a chance, bear the risk of failure, and gift them hope. And then, make them realize that there is no hope anywhere. This was the absolute truth. I believed without a doubt that this was the that our ancestors wanted to pass down to their descendants. Viva Pandora! Viva Gamigin! ¡®But it seems your tears are refusing to stop. My hand will end up getting drenched by tears at this rate!¡¯ ¡®I, haugh, guuuh! No, this, hgh, no!¡¯ I continued to gently wipe her tears away. Gamigin would keep crying due to the intense wave of pleasure that hit her every time I wiped away her tears, so thanks to this, I was able to wipe her tears away non-stop. It was a fantastic cycle! I was simply wiping her tears away, but this had created a loop of constant pleasure. I was in awe by thew of nature. Viva Gamigin! Viva entropy! I stopped my hand before speaking. ¡®There are only 20 minutes left.¡¯ ¡®Nhua, guuuh¡­¡­huaang¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Miss Gamigin, are you listening?¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s pupils werepletely out of focus now. I wasn¡¯t touching the area around her eyes anymore, but her body was still convulsing due to the pleasure that still remained. Dear me, it would be troubling if she copsed already. Barbatos and I have done things three times more intense than this without any issues, you know? I raised my voice. ¡®Miss Gamigin, Miss Gamigin! There are only 20 minutes left now!¡¯ Gamigin finally turned to look at me with her hazy eyes. ¡¯20 minutes¡­¡­ugh, 20 minutes¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®Yes, only 20 minutes. You have endured for a whole 40 minutes now. You can be proud!¡¯ ¡¯20 minutes¡­¡­20 minutes¡­¡­¡¯ Gamigin muttered weakly. It was like she was forcefully inserting a sentence into her brain. The light in her eyes gradually returned. It wasn¡¯t like they had returnedpletely. Half of it was lost to the sea of pleasure and the other half had just barely managed to reach the shore on a wrecked ship. That was enough. ¡®I am starting to get anxious. I am worried that I might actually lose. Aah, I am so worried, I might go insane.¡¯ I took out another bottle. ¡®So, Miss Gamigin. Let us proceed with the third bottle.¡¯ The aphrodisiac sloshed pleasantly inside of the bottle. ¡°¡­¡­, ¡­¡­.¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s mouth hung open. A long time had already passed since the theatrical mask she would normally wear over her face had shattered. The fear on her bare face was as clear as day. She was in her current state after 2 bottles. What would happen if she consumed another bottle while in her current state¡­¡­? ¡®All¡­¡­pour all of the remaining medicine¡­¡­all at once.¡¯ ¡®Pardon me? What did you say?¡¯ I asked back in surprise. ¡®All of the remaining medicine? Are you serious? There is still a lot left.¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re nning to make me drink it all anyway¡­¡­!¡¯ Gamigin uttered while shaking. ¡®Do you think I can¡¯t see through your vulgar intentions? With each bottle, hggh! Hgh, you¡¯re enjoying yourself¡­¡­by torturing me one bottle at a time!¡¯ I see, so rather than gradually increase the intensity over time, she wanted to take it in all at once. I was impressed. This was like a student telling a teacher that they would rather get hit by a ruler in quick session instead of one slow hit at a time. She would rather prefer to get hurt big in a single instant than let the pain continue over time. However, how could youpare the punishment you receive in a ssroom to the storm of pleasure she was experiencing right now? I mumbled to myself subconsciously. ¡®How splendid.¡¯ This was impossible without a considerable amount of willpower. Considerable in this situation meant having willpower that wasparable to a hero among heroes. I already mentioned that Daisy got knocked down by a single bottle. Compared to that, Gamigin was truly worthy of her position as Rank 4. ¡®I understand. I will fully respect Miss Gamigin¡¯s wish.¡¯ I nodded. Honestly, I wanted to apud her. ¡®But this is saddening. Torture? I have simply been giving Miss Gamigin one bottle at a time because I was worried that you might be perplexed by the sudden usage of potions.¡¯ ¡®Don¡¯t, make meugh¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®It is quite saddening to be misunderstood.¡¯ I shrugged my shoulders. ¡®I will ask you this one more time. Do you really intend to consume the remaining bottles all at once? I am warning you for your sake. Miss Gamigin, please do not misunderstand.¡¯ ¡®Ha, what¡­¡­? Are you worried, that things won¡¯t go ording to your n¡­¡­?¡¯ Gamiginughed. She couldn¡¯t control the ends of her mouth, so theugh trembled pitifully. Wonderful. ¡®Haa, it cannot be helped, then. If Miss Gamigin wants to do it that badly, then I cannot do anything about it.¡¯ I took out the remaining bottles and ced them on the ground one at a time. One, two, three, four. ¡®Miss Gamigin, there is something I should apologize to you about first.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®I actually have more than 6 bottles.¡¯ Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. ¡®I have a total of 13.¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s face became rigid. ¡®Huh¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®Dear me. I deliberately said that I only had 6 bottles because I believed Miss Gamigin would have a hard time. However, since you have ordered me to pour out ¡®all¡¯ of the bottles I have left, I cannot do anything as the lowest-ranking Demon Lord.¡¯ Aah, how can someone be this foolish? Why is she able to think of one thing but never two? Now then, Gamigin. ¡®Mm. There are 11 bottles left.¡¯ ¡®A-Ah¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®As you requested, I will be thorough.¡¯ I held onto Gamigin¡¯s chest tightly. ¡®Higuuuuuugh!¡¯ Gamigin screamed. I had touched an erogenous zone for the first time since the start of ourpetition. All of the pleasure she had felt until now was probably like child¡¯s ypared to this. I poured the aphrodisiac into her now open mouth one bottle at a time. ¡®Let¡¯s start with the first bottle.¡¯ Gamigin tried to close her mouth, but I pinched her nipple whenever she did. I can¡¯t let you do that, Gamigin. Gamigin had no other choice but to abide by her body¡¯s orders and moan. Each time she did, I poured another potion into her forcefully opened mouth. ¡®Second, third, fourth bottle©¥.¡¯ Another potion. ¡®Seventh. Eighth. Ninth bottle.¡¯ ¡®Pbbrb, grgg©¥haa, puhkb!¡¯ Gamigin let out a pained breath. There was a lot of potion in her mouth, so a lot of it overflowed. Nheless, it didn¡¯t matter. More was going in thaning out. ¡®Tenth. Eleventh bottle!¡¯ I emptied myst remaining bottle. Gamigin was gasping for air. The sudden cascade of aphrodisiacs and the waves of pleasure that came from the stimtion to her breasts and nipples went beyond what her brain could endure. She had almost cked out. ¡®Congrattions, Miss Gamigin. There are now only 10 minutes left. Be happy.¡¯ I apuded her like an audience member who was watching an opera. ¡®It will be your victory once 10 minutes pass.¡¯ Although, those 10 minutes will probably be worse than hell. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing to see here. Just Dantalian spending some quality time with Gamigin. Look at how much fun Gamigin is having! Jokes aside, I guess this is one way to beat someone vastly superior to you. New Years will probably arrive before I get the next chapter out. Oh, I didn¡¯t even consider the chance that the next chapter might get dyed because of New Years. Well, if it does get dyed, you guys know why. Sudden New Years ns mighte up. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 237: Battle of Demon Lords Chapter 237: Battle of DemonLords WARNING: NSFW CONTENT.Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. If you do not wish to read such things, then feel free to skip this chapter. This will not affect your reading experience as long as you know the implications are there.You have been warned. ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ Gamigin was lying on her side on the ground. She looked fine at first, but soon after, the tsunami started to wash over her with a moment of dy. ¡®Ah, ah, ah¡­¡­.¡¯ Her mouth opened. Her tongue remained rigid and frozen in ce in the middle of her mouth. Gamigin couldn¡¯t even let out a cry as she only barely managed to let out short, cut-off moans. Her entire body started to shake like she was having a seizure. She almost looked like someone who was just barely holding back an explosion inside of their body. ¡®Hghhb, ah¡­¡­hgh¡­¡­.¡¯ Sweat. A tremendous amount of sweat flowed out of her. It was like Gamigin was doing her utmost to stop the tsunami of pleasure as she was afraid that letting even a tiny bit seep out would be like a dam bursting and that she would no longer be able to control her body if she allowed herself to convulse even further. ¡®Are you holding back, Miss Gamigin?¡¯ ¡®Auh, hgh! ¡­¡­Uuugh, hb.¡¯ ¡®How surprising. I do not think that Barbatos can take more than 10 bottles. If I were to make a guess, Paimon would probably go mad after about 8 bottles. In that regard, as a way to show my respect to Miss Gamigin, I will count down the minutes. Referentially, there are 9 minutes left.¡¯ Gamigin didn¡¯t respond. ¡®In good news, please be relieved. I do not intend to have intercourse with you until the end of this match. However, the evening is much too beautiful for us to remain only here.¡¯ I carefully lifted Gamigin in my arms. ¡®Hiigggh!¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s head tilted up as soon as I touched her. She gritted her teeth, but her back curved like a bow as she climaxed. It wasn¡¯t only once. Gamigin continued to climax as she was held in my arms. Moans kept leaking out from her face. Her expression made it evident that she was feeling pleasure. ¡®Nnng¡­¡­! Ghu, huaang¡­¡­.¡¯ It must be quite nice since women are able to climax multiple times in quick session. I hummed as I walked across the garden. ¡®N-No¡­¡­! Ugh, khb¡­¡­ghuuugh, no, no¡­¡­!¡¯ The mere act ofing in contact with her body was destroying the barricades that she had desperately built. Gamigin¡¯s love juice continued to flow nonstop and turned my thighs into soggy towels as they becamepletely drenched. The unique scent of a female Demon Lord was tickling the inside of my nose. Demon Lords mostly had good body odors. It was because they didn¡¯t have a reason to eat food, so they would usually only drink high-quality alcohol or eat fruits whenever their mouths felt lonely. It was only natural that their sweat and body fluids would be fragrant after eating only fresh fruits for hundreds of years. Gamigin smelled like peaches¡­¡­. No, the scent of strawberries was a bit stronger. It seems that she mainly ate strawberries. Strawberries are quite nice. I like them as well. Barbatos smelled like apples. It was fun since it would feel like I was licking an apple whenever I licked her chest. I suddenly became curious to know what fruits Paimon and Sitri tasted like. Was this a fruit market? A stall with a bunch of female Demon Lords lined up, that would be extremely luxurious¡­¡­. I¡¯ll patiently look into thister. ¡®Mm, uugh! Hnng¡­¡­!¡¯ Gamigin panted sweetly. Her mouth was open like she was going to melt. ¡®Hgh, kuh¡­¡­n-no¡­¡­, aaah!¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s sweat-soaked body writhed wildly. Her pale white skin glistened because of her sweat. Her movements were feeble. She couldn¡¯t escape my hold. No, she wasn¡¯t struggling to escape my grasp in the first ce. She was holding on to my shoulders tightly. It was like she was enduring for her life by holding on to me. In truth, she should¡¯ve been trying to escape from my grasp as soon as possible. Simply brushing up against her was enough to make her feel like she was going insane, after all. Despite this, Gamigin subconsciouslytched on to me like a child. It appears that she was no longer able to think rationally. ¡®Miss Gamigin, there are 8 minutes left. 8 minutes.¡¯ ¡®Huaaah! Uu, ugh¡­¡­, huaaa!¡¯ ¡®How many times have youe now? Do you remember, Miss Gamigin? Was it 10 or 20 times?¡¯ ¡®Hnng¡­¡­! I don¡¯t know, something like that¡­¡­!¡¯ Gamigin shook her head side to side. She wasn¡¯t just denying this. Her head was also moving on its own because of the pleasure. ¡®Don¡¯t tell me. A hundred? Have you gone beyond two hundred?¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t know¡­¡­haauugh, guuh! I don¡¯t know, hgh!¡¯ I walked through the garden with lighthearted steps. ¡®I believe that you came roughly that many times. It¡¯s truly impressive. You climaxed 200 times within an hour. Isn¡¯t this an unprecedented achievement?¡¯ ¡®No¡­¡­hnaa! Nhua, noo!¡¯ What was she saying no to? Iughed. The words that came out of her mouth were aplete mess. She probably doesn¡¯t know what she wants to say either. ¡®Now then, we have arrived.¡¯ I stopped walking. Gamigin slowly turned her head. Any form of sharpness in her gaze had evaporated, having been reced by euphoria. She only turned her head as an automatic response to my words, but it seemed like her eyes weren¡¯t able to perceive anything. ¡®Do you see it? It¡¯s the fountain. The fountain.¡¯ ¡®Nahuhyaa¡­¡­?¡¯ Gamigin let out a weird sound. I chuckled before continuing. ¡®Look, Miss Gamigin! Has your body not be too dirty? You are covered in sweat and body fluids. We may be having a serious match right now, but how could a high-ranking Demon Lord like yourself be this dirty? As your junior, it pains me to see you like this.¡¯ I approached the fountain. This fountain was connected to the waterway that went through the center of the garden. The water that was going to be sent down the waterway spewed upward without pause and the stream flowed powerfully like a brook after a monsoon. ¡®I cannot do anything amazing¡­¡­but I can at least bathe you earnestly.¡¯ ¡®Hueh¡­¡­?¡¯ ¡®Yes. A bath. I will wash your body with flowing water.¡¯ I whispered to her. ¡®Everyst corner. I will make you squeaky clean.¡¯ She would climax crazily just by the mere touch of another person. What would happen if ¡®flowing water¡¯ were to touch her while she was in this state? It was such a beautiful idea that I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡®It will definitely feel refreshing. Don¡¯t you think so as well, Miss Gamigin?¡¯ ¡®N-No¡­¡­hiii, noo¡­¡­.¡¯ Gamigin opened and closed her mouth. Her voice was as weak as a mosquito, but there was desperation inside of it. I pretended to not hear it as I asked back. ¡®No? What are you saying no to?¡¯ ¡®No¡­¡­hggh, pleeease¡­¡­please, no¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Dear me. That¡¯s not the type of answer that I wanted to hear.¡¯ I entered the fountain. The water level was actually rather high. It was high enough to submerge me up to my thighs. I walked straight to the center of the fountain. And then. ¡®I do want to wash Miss Gamigin myself, but that would be a great discourtesy to a maiden. I apologize. You will have to bathe yourself, Miss Gamigin. I dropped Gamigin¡¯s body just like that. The sound of Gamigin¡¯s scream erupted alongside the sound of a loud ssh. ¡®Higyuaaaaah©¥!¡¯ Her entire body shook as she reached orgasm. To be more exact, it was a chain of orgasms. As the water flowed andtched on to every corner of her body, Gamigin climaxed every second since her entire body had be an erogenous zone. ¡®Hauuaaagh! Nghu, haah! Khuuuug! Huaaah!¡¯ Gamigin wriggled inside of the fountain. The water around her sshed chaotically. The waves became stronger the more she struggled, which caused the simtion to return stronger as well. Gamigin couldn¡¯t endure the stronger stimtion as she started to struggle again. ¡®Guh, aaug! Hii! Huuuugh!¡¯ Ssh, ssh, the sound of water getting kicked up became stronger. Screams that were filled with fear, pain, and more than anything else, pleasure, came out of Gamigin¡¯s mouth nonstop. Magnificent. I unintentionally became moved. ¡®There are only 5 minutes left! Just a little longer!¡¯ ¡®Ghu, stop¡­¡­. Ah! Ah! Hugh, stooop, uah! Aaah!¡¯ The drenched maiden struggled with a look of fear and euphoria on her face. Moreover, she was climaxing and spasming because of the waves she was creating herself. In her garden. In the fountain that she had ordered to be built. The sight of this being aplished by something as trivial as natural water satisfied me. There was no sight as magnificent as this. ¡®Stop? Miss Gamigin, but there are only 5 minutes left now!¡¯ ¡®Huaaaaang! Huah, no, hnng! I don¡¯t want¡­¡­hgggh! To cum, anymore¡­¡­huaah!¡¯ Gamigin orgasmed as she struggled. ¡®Mm. Can¡¯t you endure a little longer?¡¯ I tilted my head. There were actually 6 minutes left, but I reduced it by a minute to give her a bit more hope. I am such a kind man. I wanted her to entertain me a bit longer. ¡®Think about it. This is your opportunity to obtain everything from Silesia to Moravia. If you endure for just 5 more minutes, then all thisnd will be yours for free!¡¯ I spread my arms out as I spoke. ¡®Just picture it. You only have to hold on for another 5 minutes, Miss Gamigin.¡¯ ¡®Uugh! Noo, hggugh! Noo¡­¡­!¡¯ ¡®Very well, then. It cannot be helped.¡¯ I nodded my head. ¡®Then how about 3 minutes? Just 3 minutes. 3 minutes is nothing. This is a great discount deal that¡¯ll nevere again. By upying the center of Habsburg, you¡¯ll have a major transportation point at the center of the continent. You¡¯ll create a strategic position in Moravia. Fine. How about 1 minute? 1 minute. 60 seconds. How about it?¡¯ ¡®P-Please¡­¡­hgggh, ah! Augh! Pleeaase¡­¡­uuuugh, huaah! Guuuh!¡¯ Was this her limit? I let out a sigh. I wanted to enjoy myself for as long as possible even if it meant it¡¯d get risky, but it appeared that it was going to end here. The game had toe to an end since the other party had surrendered. This was a rule. There was no point in a match if the rule was going to be ignored. ¡®Very well, then. Then I am the winner of this wager.¡¯ I shrugged my shoulders as I spoke. ¡®Thend that Miss Gamigin was upying before the internal discord will be acknowledged as yours. Moravia will not be included in this. Furthermore, I now have the right to sleep with you from now on. Miss Gamigin is obligated to acknowledge this.¡¯ ¡®Ghugh¡­¡­! I don¡¯t, ugh! Care about that, so uugh¡­¡­aah!¡¯ ¡®Yes. The bet is over.¡¯ I picked Gamigin up and set her down outside the fountain. She was panting heavily. On the other hand, I took off my clothes, held Gamigin in my hands, and pressed my member against her groin. ¡®Eh? Wait¡­¡­what, what are you doing? What are you doing?¡¯ Gamigin¡¯s face became pale as she looked up at me. She iled her limbs as she tried to push me off; however, she didn¡¯t have any strength. Gamigin mumbled with a face full of despair. ¡®Please, I beg you¡­¡­not there¡­¡­please, spare me there¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Did I not tell you already? If I win, then you will have to have sex with me asionally.¡¯ I smiled widely. ¡®Please ept your loss.¡¯ ¡®Next time¡­¡­I¡¯ll do it with you however much you want next time, so¡­¡­nggh, please¡­¡­I beg you, Dantalian¡­¡­. I was wrong¡­¡­I was wrong, so please, please, not there¡­¡­huaaaah!¡¯ As an answer to her request, I immediately inserted my member into her. We had sex in the garden like that starting from the evening of that day until the following morning. Gamigin passed out dozens of times during this. However, she couldn¡¯t even pass out properly because of how sensitive her womanhood had be and the stimulus that shook her body every time my member pushed inside of her. I got up and put my clothes back on once dawn arrived. ¡®It was an amazing night, Miss Gamigin. Oh right. You haven¡¯t forgotten about the third round of negotiations today, right? I will be waiting at the governor¡¯s official residence.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ Sperm was flowing out from Gamigin¡¯s open hole. I left behind Gamigin who had passed out for the 42nd time and walked out of the garden with light steps. This was what happenedst night. I waitedfortably while seated at the negotiation seat. The other Demon Lords were chatting from a distance away. The time for the negotiation to start had finally arrived. If you consider the fact that you normally had to be here 30 minutes beforehand, Gamigin was clearlyte. ¡°Isn¡¯t Miss Gamigin a bitte?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, the shock of losing the battle¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No. There¡¯s no way Miss Gamigin would bete because of that. Isn¡¯t she famous for always being on time?¡± I wonder about that. I mentioned it before, but Barbatos and I couldn¡¯t function properly for two days after taking 4 bottles of the aphrodisiac. Gamigin had, however, consumed 13 bottles. It was questionable whether she would be able to make it here or not. I smiled. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, we¡¯re in 2022 now. I hope you guys had a memorable New Years. I didn¡¯t really do much, so it was the same as usual. Sort of feels weird that this is the first chapter toe out in 2022¡­ Should I feel embarrassed? I¡¯m not really sure how to feel about it. In any case, I hope you guys have a great start to 2022 and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 238: Battle of Demon Lords (9) Chapter 238: Battle of Demon Lords (9) The appointed time for the negotiation arrived. The chair across from me was still empty. Gamigin had yet to arrive. The sound of people moring around me grew louder. The other Demon Lords were whispering to each other. ¡°Did something happen?¡± ¡°Why isn¡¯t Gamigining?¡±. There were people who were intrigued by this unexpected urrence and even Demon Lords who were using this opportunity to ridicule Gamigin. Should I say that it was as I expected¡­¡­? It seemsst night was too intense for a maiden. It wasn¡¯t surprising since she orgasmed every time I pushed into her. Once every pump. The number of times she climaxedst night was probably in the thousands. Women also experienced stronger orgasms than men. I was rather curious how it would feel like to orgasm thousands of times. I smiled wryly as I turned to talk to the audience. ¡°It seems Miss Gamigin is rather discontent with me. I understand that she may dislike me, but for her to disy her discontent like this¡­¡­. She must be looking down on me greatly. Life for a low-ranking Demon Lord is tough.¡± I¡¯d be a fool if I didn¡¯t use this golden opportunity to give myself a political advantage. I made them think that Gamigin was looking down on me for having a low rank. This wasn¡¯t going to help with negotiations, but, at the very least, it will bring more people to my side. ¡°What will you do?¡± Baal, who had been sitting quietly in the center, asked me in a quiet tone. ¡°If you wish for it, then I will adjourn this meeting.¡± ¡°No, I do not mind waiting a bit longer. This is not a matter that can be ended simply because I wish it. The ins Faction is strongly hoping for a peaceful resolution.¡± Gamigin was not only disregarding me but the entire ins Faction. I made this implication as I finished speaking. This should be enough. Baal nodded his head and closed his eyres. I have no idea what this man is thinking. Nevertheless¡­¡­Rank 1 Great Demon Lord Baal, huh? I knew almost nothing about Baal. The reason was simple. I only cleared Baal¡¯s dungeon once. I may have cleared the dungeons of other Demon Lords several, or, in the worst-case scenarios, hundreds of times in , but Baal was someone whom I had beaten only once. Since the ins Faction had defeated Agares, the Rank 2 Demon Lord, there were no longer any groups that could mess with the ins Faction thoughtlessly. The only person of concern now was the Great Demon Lord Baal. Agares had disyed a formidable power. How much more could Baal do, then? I have to use this opportunity to figure out Baal¡¯s intentions. It should be fine. I¡¯m currently the representative of the ins Faction. Even he shouldn¡¯t be able to treat me lightly. Let¡¯s see Baal¡¯s inclination¡­¡­. Mm. If I consider his lines in the game, he likes confident and honorable warriors. This was evident when you saw how he doted on Barbatos. Should I proceed with that image in mind? ¡°It would only be boring to wait here silently until Miss Gamigin¡¯s arrival. How about it, Sir Baal? Would you care to share a conversation with an uncouth individual such as myself?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Baal opened his eyes and nced my way. The Demon Lords around us also stopped whispering to each other as they turned to look at us. A low-ranking Demon Lord like the Rank 71 speaking to the Rank 1 first was an unprecedented act. However, if my assumption is correct, Baal was someone who hated these kinds of formalities more than anyone else. ¡°I heard that Your Highness Baal used to be a normal demon a very long time ago.¡± ¡°Indeed. I was a vampire.¡± A smile appeared on Baal¡¯s lips as he readily answered. This meant that my assumption was correct. ¡°However, in today¡¯s standard, I would not have been normal.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Back then, there were only vampire lords. But now there are less than 10 of us left.¡± I see, so he was a vampire lord. Vampire lord referred to pure-blooded vampires. It was possible to crossbreed with other races, so as time passed, the number of pure-blooded vampires decreased. Even in , Ivar Lodbrok, the chief of Keuncuska was the only vampire lord to ever appear. ¡°That is a bit different from the rumors I had heard. I heard that Your Highness started as one of the lowest foot soldiers before climbing up to your current position today. Would you not have been treated as a noble in the demon world if you were a vampire lord?¡± ¡°Use your imagination. Do you think vampires were the only pure and noble race in the past?¡± ¡°Aah, so it was the same for the other races as well. I understand now¡­¡­.¡± The people around us looked at us with surprised faces. Logically speaking, talking to the Rank 1 Demon Lord about his past as ¡®an unremarkable demon¡¯ was insane. Despite this, I was speaking to Baal in afortable tone like I was his friend. Should I try to pry further? ¡°Pardon me, Your Highness, but Miss Agares had started a war during these negotiations. Of course, Miss Agares most likely has an excuse for this, but what does Your Highness think about this situation?¡± Baal looked straight at me. He raised the corners of his mouth. ¡°Are you having fun since the entire world is like a stage to you?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Do not act in front of me.¡± Baal slowly closed his eyes. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I couldn¡¯t say anything for a moment due to the shock. What did he say just now? Don¡¯t act in front of him? What does he mean by that? I recalled something Gamigin said to me. She said that my lifestyle was that of a parasite. Did Baal think the same way? I felt anger swell up inside of me; however, I didn¡¯t forget the fact that the highest person of power in the demon world was right before me. Carefully, I hid my anger thoroughly. ¡°I understand. Then I will continue to patiently wait for Miss Gamigin¡¯s arrival.¡± Gamigin didn¡¯t arrive after 30 minutes had passed. The other Demon Lords were now openly voicing theirints. They were all Demon Lords with great pride. Gamigin was making all of them wait. If anything, it would¡¯ve been strange if no oneined. ¡°Is she messing with us!?¡± ¡°She may be a high-ranking Demon Lord, but she should not be allowed to disrespect us like this. When did thew and order within our Demon Lord army be so ck?¡± Several of the Demon Lords vented their anger as they went outside. Gamigin arrived after an hour had passed the appointed time. She walked to the center of the meeting room with calm steps. ¡°I give my sincerest apology for making everyone wait on my behalf.¡± Gamigin bowed her head and apologized. She was wearing a thickyer of clothes. If you consider how she would normally go around in a thin dress, it was an extremely thick attire for her. I came to a realization once I saw this. She¡¯s still sweating and leaking like crazy! My mood that had soured because of Baal immediately turned around. Yup. Gamigin was unable topletely cleanse her body of the drug despite having the regenerative power of a Demon Lord. If Gamigin wore her normal cloth attire, then it would¡¯ve probably clung to her body because of the sweat and basically reveal everything underneath. She deliberately wore something thick to avoid this as much as possible. There was probably a type of spell cast under her clothes to remove all the body fluids and odors that came out of her body. The other Demon Lords shouted in anger. ¡°Miss Gamigin! Even by normal standards, you are way toote!¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry. I¡¯m really sorry. I give you my sincerest apology.¡± ¡°Hah. I don¡¯t feel any sincerity in your apology¡­¡­!¡± Gamigin continued to respond impassively and in a robot-like manner. There was naturally not even an ounce of sincerity in her tone. The other Demon Lords were enraged, but only I knew why she was behaving like that. She was currently struggling just to maintain her tone and expression. Her expression would probably copsepletely if she let down her guard. She would probably let out an obscene moan. Gamigin had no other choice but to remain impassive while her body was screaming due to the pleasure. I pped to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Now then, I fully understand why everyone is angry; however, Miss Gamigin must also have ¡®various¡¯ circumstances of her own as well. Please show her some forgiveness.¡± Some of the Demon Lords gradually backed down since the person who should¡¯ve been the most upset had suggested everyone to settle down. Gamigin gave me a bow. ¡°¡­¡­Thank you, for your generous understanding.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± I gave a pleasant smile. ¡°I also have times where my body does not feel well, so I end up beingte. Unexpected things happen all the time throughout life. Well, a person¡¯s character is also determined ording to how they are able to control those unexpected urrences, but¡­¡­no one is always perfect, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I understand, Miss Gamigin.¡± For an instant, Gamigin gnashed her teeth. She did return to her emotionless face, but I clearly noticed the slip up since she was facing me. Dear me, it¡¯ll be troubling if you show your emotions so easily like that. We still have much ahead of us. ¡°Now then, Miss Gamigin. Wee. Let us begin the negotiation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin approached with incredibly slow steps. She sat down on her chair carefully, but the ends of her mouth trembled ever so slightly the moment her butt touched the chair. I was certain that she had orgasmed just from the contact with the chair. Superb. I knew why Gamigin was an hourte. There was no way she could walk all the way to the conference room in her current state. The use of personal teleportation spells was also strictly forbidden within Niflheim. Therefore, Gamigin had toe here on a carriage. How many times did Gamigin climax during her bumpy ride on the carriage? She probably had to ask the coachman to stop the carriage dozens of times. Gamigin had to endure her orgasms alone in the carriage as her shoulders continued to shudder¡­¡­. ¡°I assume Miss Gamigin does not wish for the discussion to get prolonged any longer as well. I will get straight to the point. We of the ins Faction acknowledge that Miss Gamigin is also a victim in this incident.¡± The Demon Lords around us started to stir loudly. Well, we had already discussed this beforehand. ¡°I was informed earlier that troops hidden by Miss Gamigin had joined forces with our group. Miss Gamigin and Miss Agares have no connections with each other¡­¡­it should be fine toe to this conclusion.¡± ¡°Mhm. That¡¯s right.¡± Gamigin responded with a robotic tone. ¡°I told you before, but I have no way of knowing how Agares will act.¡± ¡°As the representative of the ins Faction, I would like to give Miss Gamigin our gratitude for the military support. Therefore, as a way to show our appreciation, we would like to hand over the ruling rights to Moravia over to Miss Gamigin.¡± ¡°Thank you for your offer.¡± I apuded her. ¡°Excellent. We have misunderstood each other until now, but we have resolved our misunderstanding and now only the path of reconciliation is left shining in the distance!¡± The Demon Lords around us were giving us confused looks. The ones who heard the rumors about seeing mee out of Gamigin¡¯s vi in the morning had suspicious gazes. Something happened. They were definitely thinking this. Rumors about how Gamigin and Dantalian are passionate lovers will have probably spread by tomorrow. That was naturally something I was hoping for. The more Gamigin gets mixed together with me and the more other people start to misunderstand our rtionship, the harder it will be for her to betray me. If she doesn¡¯t want to gain the reputation of betraying the man she loves, that is. Would Gamigin be able to shoulder this sort of critique when she¡¯s going around acting like an innocent maiden? I stood up and spread my arms out. ¡°Now then, Miss Gamigin. Let us hug as a way to show that we have reconciled!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡­Wait¡­¡­.¡± I embraced Gamigin before she could say anything. I hugged her tightly with my arms. Gamigin let out a muffled moan while within my arms. Her body convulsed like a small animal. I spoke. ¡°I wish to invite Miss Gamigin to dinner tonight. As a way to pledge the eternal friendship between the ins Faction and Miss Gamigin. You wouldn¡¯t refuse, would you? Considering our rtionship.¡± ¡°¡­¡­, ¡­¡­¡± Gamigin nodded. She had to nod since she couldn¡¯t say anything. However, it was obvious what the other Demon Lords were going to think upon seeing her face go red from afar. I could already hear thedies in high society get excited from here. Like this, everything was resolved peacefully. Happy day, happy day. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I, uh, don¡¯t really have too much to say for this chapter. It¡¯s just a fun chapter watching Dantalian mess with Gamigin. On another note, I¡¯m d the new server has been going well. We¡¯re back to 300+ members which isn¡¯t anywhere near how much we had before the deletion, but most of the active people are here. Discord did respond, but it was just to tell me that server deletions can¡¯t be reverted. At this point, oh well. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter! Chapter 239: Politics are Trickery (1) Chapter 239: Politics are Trickery (1) Imperial Calendar, Year 1507. Every schr in the world was in awe. In both the human world and the demon world. The war started by the Crescent Alliancest year had now entered a lull period. However, humans and demons all started to engage in internal discourse the moment this lull period arrived. Why were humans and demons all fighting among each other when they should¡¯ve been working together? ¡®If either side functioned properly, then the continent would¡¯ve probably been united by now.¡¯ The schrs smirked cynically. Bloody battles repeated over and over again in Frankia as both the Emperor¡¯s faction and the Empress Dowager¡¯s faction brought in foreign powers, while Habsburg was experiencing a territorial battle as the ins Faction fought against Agares. In this moment where cooperation and unity were the most important things, these people were pointing their swords at each other¡­¡­. Of course, there was an extremely unjust side to this criticism. Who would order the Emperor of Frankia to ¡®sacrifice yourself for the peace of the continent¡¯ when he had all of his authority taken from him by his mother already? Who would tell Agares to ¡®calm down for the sake of the demon world¡¯ when she ended up like a dog chasing a chicken because Barbatos had suddenly taken all of thend for herself? The situation was like this. Simr to the schrs who sung about the peace of the world by adhering to their own perspectives, Henry the Emperor of Frankia, Henrietta the Queen of Brittany, Demon Lord Barbatos, and Demon Lord Agares©¥all of these people adhered to their own perspectives as well. While everyone is busy walking their own path, there are asionally a minority of individuals who look around them instead of only looking ahead. This leads to theming to a realization. ¡°It¡¯s Dantalian.¡± Leader Elizabeth spoke. Elizabeth was reading a leaflet with shaded eyes. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion, but her gaze was still clear. This was the Republican leader¡¯s office. Only the executives of the government were allowed entry. A table, documents, and a chair. All other borate decorations were removed, so the room gave off a cold and empty atmosphere. Elizabeth was seated on the wooden chair. ¡°Pardon me?¡± The female secretary who was seated nearby raised her head once she heard Elizabeth mutter those words. The secretary respondedte because she had heard a rather unfamiliar name. ¡°My apologies, Your Excellency, but this one did not hear what you said.¡± ¡°Look at this.¡± Elizabeth tossed the leaflet to the secretary. It was a rude gesture that was unlike the republic¡¯s leader. The female secretary was taken aback by this as she clumsily received the leaflet. It was rather thin. How could something like this bother Her Excellency so much? ¡°This book doesn¡¯t have a title¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It has the name of the author.¡± ¡°Jean Bole? This one¡¯s knowledge is short, so this is my first time hearing this name.¡± The secretary carefully opened the leaflet. It took her twenty minutes to read all of it. Elizabeth asked her a question once she finished. ¡°Yuria, what do you think?¡± ¡°Yes. I personally think this is a splendid book.¡± The secretary gave her honest opinion. ¡°Would this not be the most appropriate instrument of propaganda for the sake of spreading republicanism? Jean Bole may be a rather anonymous writer, but I believe that our republic has a lot inmon with his beliefs.¡± ¡°Is that so? So you have failed to notice it.¡± A corner of Elizabeth¡¯s lips went up. This surprised the secretary once more. Her Excellency was someone who heavily refrained from letting any negative emotions seep out. Not only had she tossed the leaflet earlier, but the smirk on Her Excellency¡¯s face did not fit her. Regardless of whether she noticed her secretary¡¯s panic or not, Elizabeth continued while staring out the window. ¡°That was written by Demon Lord Dantalian.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, are you referring to the ¡®Nightmare of Bruno¡¯?¡± ¡°¡­¡­This is my personal guess, but I am most likely correct.¡± Her tone was also weaker than usual. Her Excellency would usually always be overflowing with discipline and dignity when in front of others. ¡°My apologies, Your Excellency, but what proof do you have to be so certain of this?¡± ¡°Not a day has gone by where I have forgotten about the ceremonial speeches.¡± Elizabeth muttered in a tone that sounded like she was chewing on something painful. ¡°His tone, the way he moved, and the way he spoke¡­¡­all of these things have been engraved into me as if I had witnessed them just a short moment ago. Every night Robert appears with Dantalian in my dreams, that Demon Lord¡­¡­.¡± It was more like she was telling herself these things rather than telling her secretary about them. Herplexion gradually grew darker. ¡°Queen Henrietta sent this leaflet to me. Henrietta probably failed to realize this as well. No, no one has. But he can¡¯t trick me¡­¡­. Aah. Dantalian. You may have fooled the entire world, but me¡­¡­you can never fool me. Did you get involved in Frankia¡¯s civil war? Do you hate mankind and wish for them to be destroyed this badly?¡± Elizabeth soon began to ramble on by herself. ¡°There is someone who has falsified Dantalian¡¯s status as a priest. The church¡­¡­there is a high chance that Dantalian is connected to someone in the church. Or is it Paimon¡­¡­there is a chance she might¡¯ve acted as a mediator between them. I see. That¡¯s possible¡­¡­. I can feel him from each and every sentence, word, and even the empty spaces. Robert. At least don¡¯t be like me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency.¡± The secretary gave Elizabeth a worried gaze. There was a chance that Her Excellency was behaving like this because of the exhaustion that had piled up due to the sheer amount of work she had to do recently. There was still a lot of work to be done within the New Habsburg Republic. Elizabeth noticed the secretary¡¯s gaze and quickly raised her head. ¡°Ah? Sorry. It seems I went too deep in thought.¡± ¡°It is okay. This may be presumptuous of me to ask, but are you perhaps tired, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°Tired? Me?¡± The secretary nodded. ¡°You have been up for three days straight now. Your life cycle has gotten messed up. You need to stop and return to sleeping early and getting up early.¡± ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Elizabeth waved her hand. She clearly thought it was bothersome. ¡°I finally managed to retire my nanny, but it seems that my secretary has be my new nanny and is tormenting me. Yulia, sleeping fitfully has been a norm for me since I was 12 years old. Do you think you¡¯ll be able to fix it now after all this time?¡± ¡°Your Excellency is not even 20 years old yet. Your time as a woman has yet to begin.¡± ¡°A woman? I¡¯m surprised to hear that a life as a woman has been set aside just for me.¡± Elizabeth chuckled. ¡°If you perhaps have the crazy idea of making me marry someone, then give up on it now. I am already married to this nation.¡± ¡°Haa. You were even born as the most beautiful woman in the world, too¡­¡­.¡± The secretary pressed her hand against her forehead. She had a headache. People say that nothing is worse than working for someone who is crazy about their work, and Her Excellency Elizabeth was the perfect example of this. ¡°There is something I have been curious about for a while now. What sort of man would have to appear for Your Excellency to even consider them as a partner?¡± ¡°Mm. A man who can bed me, is it?¡± Elizabeth fiddled with her side bang as she spoke. ¡°At the very least, shouldn¡¯t he be capable of bringing me the heads of every single Demon Lord? I would more than dly give my virginity to such a capable man.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you just saying that you¡¯ll never get married!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a joke. Mmm.¡± Elizabeth stretched. ¡°Well, I will most likely enter a political marriage one day. I will more than dly get married if an adequate partner appears. However, it is too soon to waste my strongest card. I am the suprememander of a single nation. This value will not diminish even if I were to be 20 or 30 years old.¡± ¡°You sure are confident¡­¡­.¡± The secretary who had long passed her age for marriage grumbled aint. ¡°If you think it is unfair, then how about being the suprememander yourself?¡± ¡°My apologies, but I do not want to get executed for treason. Your Excellency, please go rest for a bit.¡± Fine fine, Elizabeth uttered as she got up. She was pushed from behind by her secretary into the bed that was prepared in the room next to the office. It really had been three days since shest slept. However, 20 minutes hadn¡¯t even passed before Elizabeth shot up from her bed. There was sweat on her forehead. Elizabeth breathed heavily as she covered her face with her hands. A groan that couldn¡¯t be held back seeped out from between her fingers. ¡°¡­¡­Sorry, Robert. I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­your sister¡­¡­this sister of yours, Robert¡­¡­.¡± How many months have passed since then? Ever since the day Dantalian taunted her on Bruno ins, Elizabeth has never been able to sleep longer than 2 hours. She would always get tormented by nightmares the moment she slept. It was already like this in the past, but it became worse recently. Originally, A man was supposed to appear and save her in the future. He was supposed to cut down all of the Demon Lords on the continent and devote his entire being to the Queen. Elizabeth was then supposed to beforted by this man and stop suffering from her nightmares. However, everything changed because of a single person. She was no longer the Imperial Princess or the Queen. She was now the leader of a republic nation. The man who was supposed to give her salvation was already on a different path. ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± Her eyes glowed sharply between her fingers. ¡°At least not like me, never¡­¡­never¡­¡­¡± Elizabeth continued to mutter ambiguous words. She continued to repeat these words over and over again before she tired herself out and fell back asleep. She would then wake up again 30 minutester. The same thing happened over and over again for 2 hours in this ce of rest where no one else was allowed to enter. * * * I returned to my Demon Lord Castle after the negotiations came to an end. The diplomatic battle ended somewhat sessfully. I helped the ins Faction win and put a cor on Gamigin. It wasn¡¯t a perfect victory, but it should be fine to say that it was half a sess. No, a perfect victory doesn¡¯t exist anyway. In that regard, I seeded. There was something I realized as well. Generally, my chances of defeat increased the more I stepped into the limelight while my chances of victory increased the more I hid in the shadows. ¡°Jeez, I¡¯m not some sort of tactician who can fight on par with heroes. I should just hide and rest in an alcove like an old man.¡± To put it simply, I figured out my ce. Queen Henrietta and Demon Lord Agares are tactical nukes. Despite this, I lost to the former and won against thetter. If you look at war from a tactical perspective, there are way too many variables. Especially here since things like auras exist. ¡°I understand it perfectly now. I¡¯m going to keep my hands out of tactics from now on! You won¡¯t see me stand on a battlefield holding a baton anymore.¡± ¡°A wise decision.¡± Lapis responded as she received my coat. ¡°There are many things you have to take care of aside from war. It would be more efficient to leave military matters to Miss Laura. I rmend not leaving your Demon Lord Castle from now on.¡± ¡°I would love that, but the world doesn¡¯t always revolve the way you want it to.¡± Hoo, I let out a sigh. ¡°So? Were there any problems while I was gone?¡± ¡°Everything has been proceeding as nned. However,¡± Lapis furrowed her brows ever so slightly. ¡°As expected, the viges are the problem. It appears that they are struggling to adjust to the newws.¡± ¡°I see. Why is that? Is the trial system not working properly?¡± ¡°The vigers are putting in an effort.¡± Was she saying that new beginnings always have rough voyages? I stretched. Uah, work after work. ¡°I guess it¡¯s obvious. Leave it to me. I¡¯ll take care of this within 3 days.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness seems to be overflowing with enthusiasm despite having just returned from the demon world.¡± Lapis sounded surprised. I grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll get to it after I rest today. I worked rather hard, you know? Referentially, the saints say that you shouldn¡¯t leave work that can be done tomorrow on the you of today.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis let out a small sigh. Why am I not surprised? That was the mood she was giving off. What? You¡¯re making me sad. I really am living earnestly and sincerely, you know? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve seen Elizabeth. You can¡¯t help but sort of feel bad for her. She¡¯s probably one of the characters suffering the most because of Dantalian. On another note, I¡¯ve been sort of distractedtely and forgot to upload this chapter yesterday. I¡¯ve still been tranting properly. I¡¯ve just been forgetful about uploading it. It¡¯s probably because of FFXIV but let¡¯s not think about that :^) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. It¡¯ll probably be sooner. Chapter 240: Politics are Trickery (2) Chapter 240: Politics are Trickery (2) I put my luggage down in a corner of my room. A bag filled with various potions and writing utensils made a thud as itnded on the bed. ¡°Today is a holiday!¡± I leaped on the bed with my bag. I then started to move my limbs as if I were swimming. The bed received my body into its warm embrace. ¡°That is bad manners, Your Highness.¡± Lapis organized my luggage for me. She skillfully organized the contents of my disorganized bag before cing each item in its respective location around the room. She knew exactly where everything was supposed to go. I spoke while performing a freestyle stroke on the bed. ¡°You always remind me of an older sister whenever I see you, Lapis~.¡± ¡°Yes. And Sir Dantalian is like a high-maintenance little brother.¡± ¡°In other words, a ball of lethal charm and adorableness, huh? I know.¡± Lapis let out a sigh. I chuckled. Iy on my bed with my arms and legs syed out. ¡°Haaa.¡± There was a luxurious chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Luxurious items like that were non-existent in this room only a few months ago. However, Lapis utilized an immense amount of capital to turn my fortune into a firm ocean that cannot dry out. I became certain again as I stared at the faint light that was being emitted by the chandelier. Everything has finally be stable. I was irrationally killed in an ident, fell into a weird world¡­¡­and ended up in ridiculous situations, but I struggled desperately. I managed to get this far after oveing those situations in my own way. I honestly did really well. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I slowly closed my eyes as I lied on myfortable bed. A dream snuck into my consciousness as if it were carefully knocking on a door. My mother was in my dream. She usually always looked concerned about her son, but she wasughing for some reason. It wasn¡¯t just her. Lapis, Laura, Barbatos, Paimon, and even Elizabeth were seated in the living room andughing harmoniously. A hazy ray of sunlight was wrapped around them. It was a ridiculous scene. It was so absurd that I ended upughing. I was split into two people in the dream. One version of me was in the foggy light andughing with the others. Theughter felt sacred as it swirled around them. On the other hand, the other version of me. I was in a worldpletely separate from the fog where everything was clear and vivid. There were white walls all around me. It felt like even the flow of air had stopped. It was a ce suited for a mental patient. There were some people here as well. They were all seated on dull wooden chairs. Jack, Riff, and Hawk¡­¡­these individuals were seated on the chairs and staring at me. Quietly. They remained silent as they stared at me. This was a dream that I¡¯ve had dozens of times now. The pattern was always the same. At first, I would try all sorts of methods to talk with them, but none of them would respond. They were quiet like a bunch of corpses. I would then give up after a while and be silent like them. I would wake up shortly after. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My forehead felt cold. Damn it, I felt like shit. I pushed myself up partially and quickly went through my pockets. I couldn¡¯t find it. I couldn¡¯t find my drugs. Did I leave them in my coat? I scratched my head with one hand as I muttered temperamentally. ¡°Damn it. Lapis? Lapis. Sorry, but can you give me my coat?¡± ¡°¡­¡­It has not been 20 minutes since you fell asleep.¡± Lapis was seated at a nearby desk. ¡°How about sleeping for a bit longer?¡± ¡°I slept enough. You know that we Demon Lords don¡¯t need a lot of sleep. Now get me my coat.¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± Lapis spoke impassively. ¡°The number of times you have sought out drugs has gradually been increasing. You are drinking wine much too often. Have you not also been taking other drugs like aphrodisiacs recently? I heard from Miss Jeremi that you would request for the production of drugs frequently.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯m sorry.¡± I responded anxiously. My body was trembling with unease. I felt like I might get upset unintentionally. However, getting angry at Lapis at any moment in time was something I would never forgive myself for. Lapis was the one who helped me climb up this far. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything without her. She was an extra that didn¡¯t even make an appearance in , but to me, she was someone whom I cherished the most. I can¡¯t get mad at her. Damn it! I¡¯m serious. It¡¯s impossible to get mad at Lapis. I barely managed to contain what I felt to be an angry tone. I then made a conscious effort to speak in a gentle voice. ¡°I¡¯ll listen to your nagging whenever you wantter, okay? Lapis. Give me my coat.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°You already know that it¡¯s only this bad immediately after I wake up¡­¡­. Yeah? I¡¯ll get better after one puff. I¡¯ll return back to normal after just one puff¡­¡­. Drugs are also considered medicine if you use them appropriately, so it¡¯s fine.¡± Damn it, I had a skull-splitting headache. I thought this was because of manic depression before; however, after asking the skilled doctors in the demon world, it turned out to be something far from manic depression. This was a more vicious mental illness. The doctors couldn¡¯t find the cause and gave up as well. My symptoms became worse as time passed. At first, I could get rid of them by drinking alcohol, so I often drank high-quality wine. After that was sex. My head didn¡¯t hurt and my mood didn¡¯t change drastically whenever I did it with Laura. After that was smoking. After that was an opioid that was a little stronger than smoking¡­¡­. Now I¡¯ve started to asionally use medicinal drugs. I wasn¡¯t carrying around 13 bottles of aphrodisiacs for no reason. This really sucks. ¡°Sorry, Lapis¡­¡­but hurry¡­¡­.¡± My headache would disappear for a while whenever I took aphrodisiacs and had wild sex. However, this was ast resort. My life would basically be over if I became a drug addict. I also couldn¡¯t use bad things like drugs with Laura¡­¡­. I could only do it with people like Barbatos who had already gone all the way. Or perhaps a shameless prostitute. However, I couldn¡¯t have Barbatos or a prostitute next to me at all times. At those times, I would do it with Jeremi¡­¡­. ¡°Here you go.¡± Lapis hade to my side before I knew it. I raised my head to see Lapis holding my pipe out to me in her hands. Dried herbs were already pressed down into the pipe. She had put the herbs in for me in consideration of my headache. ¡°Thanks.¡± I quickly received the pipe from her. Lapis used magic to light it. I put the end of the pipe in my mouth and took a long puff. My headache slowly receded like the waves on a sandy beach during low tide. The pressure and anxiety that was pressing down on my entire body faded away. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I smoked in silence. My headaches were especially bad immediately after waking up. I would always have bizarre dreams and those dreams would ruin my mood. If people bother me while I¡¯m in this state, then I can¡¯t control myself. A good example of this was probably when Daisy failed to assassinate me. Anyone who messes with Little Dantalian will get fucked. Mm, it seems my mental condition has stabilized since I¡¯m able to make jokes now. I turned my head to see Lapis ncing at me. She was expressionless like usual, but I could easily tell that she was genuinely worried. I spoke brightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. Most of our problems have been resolved now, you know?¡± ¡°But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Be it the humans or the Demon Lord army, they¡¯ve all incurred losses. They will have to pour all of their resources into rebuilding their forces for at least a decade. Potential threats to my Demon Lord Castle have been dealt with in our vicinity. I¡¯ve also gained the support and backing of the ins Faction, Mountain Faction, and even the Neutral Faction.¡± Imperial Princess Elizabeth has be a wingless bird and the hero siblings are being held down by me. I had gotten rid of even the worst-case variables. ¡°All threats have been removed. Lapis, this splendid achievement was only possible because of your help. I did be a little messed up during the process, but everything in the world has a price.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see.¡± Lapis nodded her head carefully. ¡°It is as Sir Dantalian has said. Most threats have definitely been dealt with.¡± ¡°Right?¡± I let out a candidugh. ¡°We¡¯ve also made a huge load of money. Now, all we have to do is enjoy afortable life for the next decade or century.¡± My headaches and nightmares will probably fade away as time passes. I was certain of this. There¡¯s nothing that time can¡¯t cure, after all¡­¡­. I continued to smoke my pipe as I looked up at the glowing chandelier. * * * As was discussed during the previous meeting, a neww was established in mynd. The problem was the fact that my people were still not used to it yet. They had solved all of their problems using themonw until now, so there was no way that people would suddenly ept a neww after it had just been announced. It seems like they were struggling to get used to it. ¡°They aren¡¯t going to revolt because of the new legal system, right?¡± ¡°No. The issue isn¡¯t about getting ustomed to it, Your Honor.¡± Parsi spoke. Parsi had started to genuinely take the role as the lord¡¯s representative. It was a bit shabby, but we built an office out of bricks on the hills of Ptino and this basically acted as the government office. Although, Parsi was the only administrator here. ¡°It¡¯s hard for them to switch to a new custom since they had been using the old one all their lives.¡± ¡°Tsk. You¡¯re still young, Parsi. If you aren¡¯t able to change the way you live, then any sort of reformation will disappear in smoke. If you¡¯re going to change, then change big.¡± Parsi shrugged. ¡°What am I supposed to do when theye saying that they didn¡¯t follow the neww because they forgot? Do you want me to fine them?¡± ¡°Forcing the people to ept a neww would be the worst policy. No matter how good a neww is, if coercion is stacked on top of it, the people would only try to oppose it at first. You have to make them abide by it voluntarily.¡± I turned to look at Daisy. The girl was listening to our conversation in silence. ¡°Daisy, do you have a good idea?¡± Daisy had been following Parsi around and learning about the important and trivial matters throughout the viges. It was to give her some insight as my maid. She was still much too young to learn about territorial management, but I didn¡¯t intend to go easy on Daisy of all people. It¡¯s often said that lion cubs only learn when they¡¯re pushed against a wall. Daisy wasn¡¯t a lion cub but a dinosaur baby. I had to push her against a wall and drop a boulder on her. Daisy answered calmly. ¡°It would be best to wait for now.¡± ¡°Wait? For what?¡± ¡°Until one of your citizens makes a huge mistake. If one person breaks thew in a grand manner, then we can use them as an example and execute them. Punish them as a warning to others.¡± She gave a model answer. Referentially, there was nothing more effective than making an example out of someone. It sounded like a good idea to Parsi as well as he stroked his beard and nodded. However, I let out a snort. ¡°How foolish. You only have book smarts, so even the solution you suggest is witless. What, execution? What did you learn after following Parsi around for a couple of days? Do the lives of the people seem as worthless as flies to you?¡± Daisy paused. ¡°Where did that little girl who stepped forward on her own two feet in order to beg me to spare the lives of her vige people go? Do you not care about them if they are not from the same vige? You hypocrite, are you not ashamed to show your face before your brother?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I believed Father would prefer the most effective method above all else.¡± ¡°Kuh. You are even delusional.¡± I scoffed. ¡°I clearly said that we should not use force. I thought the slime had left your body, but it seems it had gone to your ears. I see, executing someone as a warning to others must not seem like a forceful thing to you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°O such a wise and enlightened monarch has descended upon us! I am so honored to have such a wise girl as my adopted daughter.¡± The girl bit her lips. Parsi spoke up to me awkwardly. ¡°Aren¡¯t you being too rough on a young child? She¡¯s still a kid.¡± ¡°Parsi. I will decide on how I will raise my daughter.¡± ¡°If you say so. Well, it¡¯s not my responsibility¡­¡­.¡± Parsi smacked his lips awkwardly. He didn¡¯t intervene any more than this. Despite his looks, he was someone who knew when to stop prying. ¡°In any case, does Your Honor have some sort of ingenious n?¡± ¡°Simple. Prepare 3rge boulders.¡± ¡°Why boulders? What are you going to use rocks for?¡± Parsi tilted his head. I patted his shoulder. ¡°Watch carefully. You may be more knowledgeable when ites to farmwork, but this is my field of expertise. I¡¯ll show you what politics are like.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We¡¯re getting a peak at Dantalian¡¯s mental decay in this chapter, huh? I guess we¡¯re finally getting it visualized in a way with his brain wanting to split into two sides. It does make me worry for him in the future with how much his mind is sort of falling apart. We¡¯ll have to wait and see how he decides to handle this. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 241: Politics are Trickery (3) Chapter 241: Politics are Trickery (3) * * * The next day, there was a boulder the size of a small child at the very top of the Ptino hill. The boulder strangely had a luxurious piece of silk draped over it. People who passed by would turn to nce at the boulder at least once because of this. Some people would even examine the boulder carefully because they thought that the rock might be some sort of sacred object. However, no matter how much they looked at it, it was a normal-looking rock. Everyone tilted their heads in confusion. ¡°Why is something like this in front of the Grand Assembly Hall?¡± ¡°Maybe someone ced it here as a joke? Jeez, youngsters these days.¡± ¡°Do you think people have enough silk to spare to do this as a prank? Don¡¯t make fun of young people just because you have some wrinkles, old man.¡± The Grand Assembly Hall referred to the courthouse that was built under Dantalian¡¯smand. Demon Lord Dantalian called this a courthouse, but the vigers started to naturally refer to it as the Grand Assembly Hall because of how often they would gather here for trivial and important matters. In order to distinguish this ce from the buildings the vigers used to originally hold their trials, they called this ce the ¡®Big House¡¯. ¡°There¡¯s a decree written on the silk.¡± A small portion of the people knew how to read letters. It was the people who were born in households that belonged tondowners. They noticed that words were written on the luxurious piece of silk. ¡°It says to move the boulder to the bottom of the hill.¡± ¡°Huh? Why¡¯d they have to write a decree to order something like that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either¡­¡­.¡± The man furrowed his brows as he read the rest of the text. ¡°But it says that 100 gold will be given if you move it.¡± ¡°100 gold?¡± The people went silent for a moment as they turned to look at each other. They thenughed. ¡°As I thought, it¡¯s a joke. I told you so, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°You¡¯d probably end up as aughing stock if you got caught doing this. It¡¯s obvious.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± It was obvious that someone wouldugh at them if they took the words written on the piece of cloth seriously and actually carried the boulder down the hill. They¡¯d use up all their stamina and also be treated as the joke of the town for a while. The people ignored the boulder as they entered the Grand Assembly Hall. The people came back out after the assembly was over and the boulder was still there next to the entrance. ¡°What idiot decided to defile the entrance to this ce when His Highness was the one who had this building constructed!?¡± People scowled at the boulder. ¡°Oi, Old Man. You should¡¯ve gotten rid of this a while ago. Why have you left it here?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me an old man, you old man. Who¡¯d call a 17-year-old guy old?¡± Parsi walked out from the Grand Assembly Hall behind them. Peopleughed. ¡°If you received a high position from His Highness, then you¡¯re an old man regardless of your age. You say you¡¯re 17, but your mug doesn¡¯t look it at all. You¡¯ve already lived your entire life, you aged child.¡± ¡°Fuck off. I¡¯ll definitely get a bride by the end of this year.¡± Peopleughed even louder. ¡°Sure you will. I¡¯m sure a guy like you who looks like the son of a bear will be able to get married.¡± ¡°Ah, I said to fuck off!¡± Parsi roared. Parsi was someone who could ax a vige chief in the head if they got on his nerves, but he was usually just a young man who was fun to tease. Furthermore, most people knew whichdy Parsi had a crush on and how futile that crush of his was. Parsi had a crush on His Highness the Demon Lord¡¯s wife, Laura de Farnese. It was love at first sight. Considering his appearance and status, it was an impossible love. The beautiful blonde girl was also the one who had implemented the neww throughout the domain. It was clear even to themoners that she wasn¡¯t someone who would plow the fields like a farmer¡¯s wife. A few people started to whisper to each other in the back as they hid behind the people who wereughing. ¡°That guy really is a retard. Does he think another girl will catch his eyes if he gets his heart taken by a girl as beautiful as that?¡± ¡°Tsk tsk. Not only is he a vige chief, but he also received His Highness¡¯ trust so he could probably take the hand of any girl he wants if he lowered his standards. He¡¯s kicking his own luck¡­¡­.¡± They let out a sigh. That guy is an idiot. ¡°My wife said that she saw His Highness and the blondedy banging in the middle of a wheat field a while ago! There¡¯s no maritalpatibility as good as theirs, so this guy is utterly hopeless.¡± ¡°I heard the rumors, but I didn¡¯t think it was actually true.¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s true. I saw it as well. Our Highness is quite the man!¡± They cackled. They made a bet about whether Parsi would get married within 5 years or 7 years. Parsi, the precocious Lord¡¯s representative had no hope whatsoever¡­¡­. ¡°In any case, Parsi, get rid of that unsightly rock. Why is this in front of the Grand Assembly Hall? If you want, we can give you a hand.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you old coots are thinking, but.¡± Parsi shrugged. ¡°That isn¡¯t there as a joke. It was ced there officially by His Honor.¡± ¡°Eeh?¡± The others furrowed their brows further. ¡°What is His Highness thinking¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Do you think I understand everything His Honor does?¡± Parsi grumbled. ¡°He told me to put it here, so I did. Damn it, I thought my back would go out trying to move this rock at the crack of dawn.¡± ¡°You should take care of your back since you¡¯ve never even used it yet. Keke.¡± ¡°Fucker. Do you old coots enjoy messing with me?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing sweeter than this.¡± A few people fell into deep thought while the others wereughing. From the people¡¯s perspective, Demon Lord Dantalian may have not been a virtuous lord, but he was at least a wise one. He did have some bizarre sides to him like when he would perform shameful deeds with his lover in a wheat field or when he would personally work in the fields despite being the lord. Nevertheless, when it came to managing thend, he always held on to disciplined and moral principles. Disciplined referred to how he would never repeat something he had already said before his people and his moral principles referred to his flexible rule that knew how to adapt to the time and ce. For example, Dantalian had thoroughly kept his promise that he would not take taxes from them. His people were prepared to ept it even if he were to put a bunch of different taxes on them. Most of them were sons and daughters who had run away from other territories. They werepletely used to tyranny. This was an era where tyranny itself wasn¡¯t the problem, but the degree of it was. In this regard, it was firmly engraved into everyone that Dantalian was a well-disciplined lord. Our Lord doesn¡¯t lie. If he says he¡¯ll do something, then he¡¯ll do it. This was what they believed. ¡®The Lord probably¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Yeah. He is probably nning something with this.¡¯ The old elders exchanged a conversation with their eyes. They nodded. His Highness was probably nning something with this. This was more than enough for them. They believed that trying to figure out the Lord¡¯s intentions would be presumptuous of them. In truth, they didn¡¯t have to either, right? Different from the elders who would always be two steps away from life, a youngster stepped forward with lively steps. ¡°If His Highness is guaranteeing it, then that changes things.¡± The youngster¡¯s name was Yammer. He was the second son of andowner. Just like the other second sons in this era, Yammer didn¡¯t inherit his parent¡¯snd. Instead, he entered the tenantnd that Dantalian had ced a 30% tax on. ¡®It¡¯s all thanks to His Highness.¡¯ The youngster was grateful to Dantalian since he had given an opportunity to second sons like him. As he was someone who always thought this, as long as it was His Highness the Demon Lord giving the order, then he would dly do it even if it seemed like a joke. ¡°Move out of the way. I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Hm? No, but there¡¯s no way he¡¯d give 100 gold for moving a single rock.¡± The rest of the people who had yet to understand the situation tilted their heads. Even Yammer didn¡¯t believe that 100 gold would be given. He simply thought that he should naturally carry out this order since His Highness was the one to give it. ¡°His Highness was the one to give this order, so I doubt it¡¯d be a lie, right? He might even give the silk that¡¯s draped over this boulder. This alone would be enough to be a profit for me.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Even the silk would be good enough.¡± The others nodded. There were now people who were staring at the rock with greedy eyes. It was because the silk alone had quite the value. However, it was firste, first serve, so people could only smack their lips since Yammer had stepped forward first. ¡°Hgggh. Up we go!¡± Everyone watched as Yammer used all his strength to carry the boulder. It was considerably heavy. ¡°Kuuh¡­¡­! Parsi. Is it fine to ce it anywhere as long as it¡¯s at the bottom of the hill?¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t particrly say anything about the ce, so do whatever you want.¡± ¡°All right! The Mighty Yammer is heading oout!¡± Yammer walked down the hill with big strides. The others followed Yammer down the hill as they watched in interest. The only thing everyone had left to do was return to their respective viges since the assembly was over, so they figured they¡¯d stick around to find out what kind of joke His Highness the Demon Lord was nning. Yammer¡¯s limbs trembled every now and then as he barely managed to walk. ¡°How can a guy who does farmwork be so weak!?¡± ¡°Booo! You¡¯re going slower now! The Mighty my ass!¡± The spectators got excited as they started to jeer. A vein popped on Yammer¡¯s forehead, but his face was red because of the weight of the boulder. He didn¡¯t have the leisure to listen to theirints. ¡°Kuhaaa! God, my body!¡± Four minutester, Yammer arrived at the bottom of the hill. The boulder let out a loud thud as he dropped it on the ground. Yammer lied down on the ground right then and there. ¡°This thing is damn heavy!¡± ¡°Look at this guy. He¡¯s lying down after carrying a little rock.¡± ¡°Who knows if he¡¯s able to show his wife any love with strength like that.¡± It happened right when people started tough loudly. A couple of public order officers, in other words, members of Jeremi¡¯s assassin group who had followed Jeremi here, approached the crowd after they watched everything unfold from the outpost at the top of the hill. The vige people knew that the public order officers weren¡¯t people to mess with, so they became somewhat nervous. Did something happen? The elven public order officers brought out an extravagant box. ¡°Who was the one who moved the boulder?¡± ¡°I-It was me.¡± Yammer hastily stood back on his feet. One of the officers shouted. ¡°The rest of you listen! As I will be following the decree given under Dantalian¡¯s name, I will now be giving this individual his promised 100 gold.¡± ¡°Uh, what¡­¡­?¡± ¡°This is the reward given to you by His Highness the Demon Lord. Please ept it humbly.¡± Yammer¡¯s eyes immediately became refocused. He held out his swollen palm that had ended up this way after moving the rock. The officers handed him the box courteously. The box was as big as his chest. The people gathered here knew that just selling that box would be enough to you a few gold coins as well. ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that¡­¡­this is, uh.¡± Gulp. Yammer audibly gulped. He opened the box resolutely with a determined look on his face. There was actually a pile of gold inside of the box. ¡°Huuuaah!?¡± Yammer unintentionally let out a cry. Was this a dream or reality? The other citizens became like a choir as they also let out cries. Even the elders who were calmly waiting to see what would happen forgot about their age as they also cried out. It was gold. Gold coins that farmers would never see in the countryside were piled up before them! *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, I honestly have nothing to say this chapter. Nothing new has really happenedtely for me to bring up. This chapter isn¡¯t particrly noteworthy either. So, uh, yeah¡­ I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 242: Politics are Trickery (4) Chapter 242: Politics are Trickery (4) 100 gold coins were given for moving a single boulder. This news quickly spread to all of the viges. People started to whisper among each other asking if His Highness the Demon Lord was perhaps pulling an extremely bizarre joke. Three dayster, a new decree was posted at the front door of the Grand Assembly Hall. It was another ridiculous order. ¨C 300 gold coins will be given to whoever returns the boulder that Yammer had moved three days ago back to its original position. This time no oneined. They all ran straight to the bottom of the hill. ¡°Get out of the way you old coots! You¡¯ll break your backs if you push yourselves too hard!¡± People shouted at each other as they ran to the boulder. A young man had arrived first, but the others didn¡¯t care as theytched on to the boulder like a bunch of leeches. ¡°No, why are you guys acting like this when I got here first!? This is mine, mine I say!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as yours or mine. Huhu, the decree doesn¡¯t say that only one person can move it.¡± ¡°Dear Lord, this guy is trying to rob me in broad daylight!¡± The young man blew a fuse. Even an old man who was past his 60s let out a snort as he stuck to the boulder. ¡°John, have you already forgotten the help I gave you when you were starving duringst winter?¡± ¡°W-What? Why are you bringing that up now?¡± ¡°You brat! The Goddesses will probably be enraged and call you a bastard if you chase me away now!¡± More people gathered once the young man hesitated. ¡°Hey! You know that my family runs a cksmith, right? Just you try to take this all for yourself. If you do, then I¡¯ll never loan you any more farming tools.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be an outcast in your vige, then you better share. Or you can try leaving your hometown and living well on your own!¡± The young man looked like he was about to cry. It couldn¡¯t be helped. In the end, a total of 14 people moved the stone together. Once they ced the boulder in front of the Grand Assembly Hall, sure enough, the public order officer came running out and gifted them the gold. There were actually 300 gold coins in the box. The 14 citizens let out a cheer as they split the gold among each other equally. Something strange happened after this. People would start to wait in line in front of the Grand Assembly Hall almost every day. The number of people there went beyond a hundred. Unfortunately, another decree to move the rock never appeared again. Peoplemented. ¡°Uugh, as I thought, His Highness was just bored¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I should¡¯ve been there back then!¡± Shortly after, a few dwarves came and started to sculpt the boulder. The people there started to watch the dwarves curiously. Words were being engraved on the rock. The dwarves promptly left after they finished carving the words. The words were as follows: ¡¸First Amendment. Thend will be ruled by the Lord, the Immortal Sovereign. ¡¹ ¡¸Second Amendment. The people of thend are equally delegated the right to live freely by the Lord. As long as the Lord¡¯s sovereign power is not infringed upon, the people¡¯s right to live freely and equally will be protected.¡¹ ¡¸Third Amendment. The people¡¯s freedom, the people¡¯s assets, the people¡¯s safety, and the development and peace of the world must be promoted ording to the rights delegated to the masses and each individual person.¡¹ Three amendments were engraved on the stone. People immediately realized that they were thews that were created recently. They also understood that this wasn¡¯t some random joke by His Highness the Demon Lord, but it was so that he could hand his decrees down to them as clearly as possible. There were actually more uses to the new decrees; however, Dantalian decided to engrave the most important uses into the heads of his people. The stone was called . Dantalian had named the boulder himself. He then gathered the people at the next Grand Assembly that was held and spoke there. ¡°From this point forth, if I wish to give you all an order or request for your cooperation, then I will ce a decree in front of Yammer¡¯s Boulder. For those of you who do not know how to read, I will order a proxy to read the decree out loud for you.¡± ¡°But why is it Yammer¡¯s Boulder?¡± ¡°I am the one who will be creating thesews, but why is it that I chose to put the name of a normal citizen on this symbolic boulder instead of simply calling it Dantalian¡¯s Boulder?¡± ¡°Men and women of my fief, it is because you are the ones who will ultimately carry out thesews!¡± ¡°Your right to live freely and equally undoubtedlyes from me, Dantalian. Nevertheless, I am not the one to live your free and equal lives. Bear this in mind.¡± ¡°Only you can live your lives.¡± ¡°Your Lord can never live your lives in your stead! Simr to how the Goddesses have given us life, we must also be the ones to cultivate our own lives. In other words, your Lord is like a priest that acts as a medium between you all and the Goddesses.¡± ¡°Therefore, I will call that stone Yammer¡¯s. This means that these are yourws. My people, live while bearing this in mind.¡± There were naturally artifices hidden within these words. The most critical one was the fact that the sovereign was just one person, Demon Lord Dantalian, and not the people. The people will live freely and equally; however, within the rights ¡®benevolently¡¯ given to them by the Lord. This meant that the people had to live while constantly feeling grateful to the lord, and, it was obvious, but this led them to treat Dantalian as a sacred being. ¡­¡­What is the reason we live well? It¡¯s obviously because we work hard. However, why are we able to work hard in the first ce? It¡¯s because His Highness Dantalian granted them the right to live freely. Even if we live well, enjoy peace, and bask in freedom, all of these things are fundamentally thanks to His Highness Dantalian¡­¡­. This was an uncanny and dangerous logic. ¡°Glory to His Highness Dantalian!¡± However, the people didn¡¯t waver as they cheered. Authority was an unfamiliar concept to the people anyway. There was only one thing important to them. The fact that everyone under the Lord was equal. This meant that there were no nobles or ves and that everyone was equal! It was only natural for people to fervently support Dantalian since he had just dered to the people, who used to suffer by the tyranny of nobles, that ¡®there will be no nobles or ves in this territory¡¯. * * * I returned to my Demon Lord room after I finished my speech at the Grand Assembly Hall. I had to hastily leave as people kept cheering out my name for a while. Daisy had been at my side from start to finish as my attendant. Once we returned to my room©¥we were able to return quickly because the teleportation device to my room was finished©¥Daisy quietly opened her mouth. ¡°This does not make sense.¡± The ck-haired girl stared at me coldly. ¡°What are you saying doesn¡¯t make sense?¡± ¡°Everything. Everything said by you was filled with deception and lies, Father.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean by that.¡± I chuckled. Daisy spoke back once I did. ¡°No one can live another person¡¯s life in their stead, and people obviously have the right to live their own lives. You cannot live their lives in their stead, so how are you giving them the right to live their lives?¡± Daisy raised her voice. ¡°You¡¯re infringing upon your own words, Father. This is a contradiction.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°All you did was gather people and say some nice-sounding words to deceive them.¡± I lied down on my bed and stretched. ¡°Mmm. So what?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It seems that our Daisy has be a republican activist while I wasn¡¯t looking. Were you infected by Luke? This is mynd, in other words, my possession. I have no idea what you¡¯re saying is contradicting when all I am saying is that what¡¯s mine is mine. If you want to take something that is mine and make it everyone else¡¯s, then, well, wouldn¡¯t it be the people who should stand up on their own and not me?¡± I never intended to create a democratic region. Why would I do that? It was at that moment that the crystal ball on the table next to my bed started to glow. I had several crystal balls, but the one to glow was the one directly connected to Paimon. I quickly got up and activated the orb. ¨C Have you been doing well, Dantalian? The beautiful, red-haired Demon Lord was disyed in the air. ¡°Yes, I have been resting well thanks to you.¡± Paimon would reach out to me like this asionally. It wasn¡¯t because of some important reason. We would have casual conversations about personal affairs and how the recent revolution was unfolding. Paimon would oftenin about how it would be harder than expected for the revolution to seed. I would smile gently and console Paimon every time she did. ¡°Miss Paimon, please do not grieve too much. People often be a ve to tradition and forget the fact that they are equal and free. You must ovee that power of oblivion and lead the continent to the true ideal society¡­¡­. There is no way that this would be easy.¡± Paimon let out a sigh. ¨C Of course. Nheless, I cannot help butin¡­¡­ ¡°If you were to look at the hardship Miss Paimon is currently enduring from another perspective, this is not anguish for Miss Paimon alone, but anguish that you have taken upon yourself in the stead of mankind and demonkindbined. That anguish will naturally be heavy.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­. ¡°Do your best. Even if everyone else is unable to understand Miss Paimon and denounces you, I will, at least, always be here to support you. Until the day republicanism is victorious.¡± Our conversations would mostly end like this. Paimon was probably having a hard time as well. She does have her allies in the Liberation Alliance, but, strictly speaking, they weren¡¯t equalrades. To a certain extent, Paimon was their leader. As the leader, she couldn¡¯t show her weak side to her subordinates. Moreover, among the Demon Lords who were equal to her in rank, none of them understood republicanism. Only I was in the position to hear Paimon out. Well, I personally think of this as a type of counseling. I can maintain my friendship with Paimon by chatting with her like this for a couple of minutes. There was nothing to lose from this. Once I turned my head, I saw Daisy staring at me. ¡°Mm? Ah, where were we?¡± ¡°¡­¡­You were talking about how you have no intention to acknowledge your people¡¯s right of freedom.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. If they want to get their own rights, then they should start a revolution or something. Well, there¡¯s no reason to rashly give them their rights. That¡¯s life.¡± Daisy suddenly let out a big sigh. ¡°Hm? Who taught you to sigh when someone is talking?¡± ¡°No. I just realized that it was stupid of me to bring this up to you.¡± Daisy mocked herself like someone in their sixties. ¡°Even though I know what sort of person Father is.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to say. In any case, it¡¯s true that you¡¯re stupid.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all my fault. Truly.¡± Huh. Daisy was honestly admitting to her mistake for some reason. Even though she was someone who was so prideful that she would never acknowledge her mistakes even if she were to die. This made her appear a bit cuter than usual. I was pleased by this, so I decided to not torment Daisy tonight. This is why people need to be honest with themselves. You be so much nicer to look at when you¡¯re honest. *** Author¡¯s Afterword For reference, it may not have been depicted, but Dantalian has been training Daisy every day. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, politics are weird. How do they work? Well, in other news, I¡¯m going to be getting my booster shot in March and my brother is getting married next month. I sort of feel like I¡¯m in a daze. It probably wouldn¡¯t be such a big deal if my mom didn¡¯t have an issue with my brother¡¯s fiancee. Marriage issues often get dramatized in kdramas, but it¡¯s nothing like that for us. Just my brother¡¯s fiancee being somewhat rude and my brother being a pushover and not being able to mediate the situation properly. It¡¯s just annoying for me since I end up having to mediate between my mom and my brother. Just let this be over with already. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 243: Dungeon Master (1) Chapter 243: Dungeon Master (1) A peaceful period of time went by. To be more exact, only my side had a peaceful time. Civil wars were still happening throughout the continent. Frankia, Brittany, Habsburg, Polish-Lithuania¡­¡­. There was probably no ce that was safe from the mes of war. Hundreds of thousands of refugees came here to escape. People¡¯s livelihoods had been so devastated that they were willing to walk their way all the way here due to some obscure rumor like ¡®People say there¡¯s a utopia somewhere below the ck Mountains¡¯. Fortunately, my territory was rich enough to ept refugees. ¡°Thisnd is ruled by a Demon Lord. Is that fine with you?¡± ¡°I heard that the taxes are low here and that there are no conscriptions.¡± A dirty-looking vige chief who had led his entire vige here spoke. ¡°I also heard that Your Highness protects your people from monsters.¡± ¡°That is true.¡± ¡°Ooh, O Goddess. Bless this soul.¡± The vige chief got down and started to kiss the foot of the culprit who was the cause behind the wars that were happening throughout the continent. ¡°If that is truly the case, then it does not matter if Your Highness is a Demon Lord. O Great Being. 7 people starved to death just trying to get here. I beg of you, please ept me, my family, and my vige people!¡± I took them in magnanimously. I equally distributed farnd to them and also applied a 30% tax. After a year, the empty farnd became full. When I applied a 10% tax to the uncultivatednd and distributed them, they were filled within half a year. The number of subjects under my rule soon surpassed the hundreds and reached 2,000. Farming has always been good around the ck Mountain. Numerous spirits would go through thend and forest, so it was unlikely for the farnds to be unfertile and it would often rain as the clouds went over the mountain range. However, the fact that there were many spirits meant that there was a lot of mana¡­¡­which, therefore, also meant that the area would be overflowing with monsters. Monsters would appear at all times, so only humans who had tossed away their lives would be willing to settle near the ck Mountains. I was protecting them from the monsters in this ce. Furthermore, the tax rate was also ridiculously low. I didn¡¯t take any taxes from them even when they ground their wheat using a windmill. I didn¡¯t collect taxes even when they opened a marketce. There was no problem as long as they simply obeyed thew. This must surely seem like a Land of Happiness to many people. We were now out of farnd to give out, so we could no longer amodate any more refugees. However, after 2 years of progress, the 5th floor of the dungeon was finallypleted. ¡°It is time to open the Demon Lord Castle to adventurers!¡± I was finally able to put my in motion. Humans had continued to gather around the ck Mountains, but this also meant that the monsters were forcefully holding themselves back because of my orders. I may be a Demon Lord, but it was inevitable that the monsters would have theirints. I had epted all of these monsters into my dungeon. In my dungeon that had an endless supply of mana. The monsters dly moved into my dungeon without reserve. At first, it was only goblins, but, other types of creatures like minotaurs, lizardmen, and dwarves¡­¡­beings that were more demon-like than simple monsters gradually started to arrive. I positioned the weak beings on the first floor while cing the stronger ones on the lower flowers. Of course, individuals who were able to raise their level despite being of a weak race were allowed to move down. Thus, Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle became a monster department store. It should be fine to call this a new concept dungeon. Normally, strong beings and weak beings would live mixed together in dungeons. The stronger executives were allowed to reside closer to the Demon Lords, but there were no Demon Lords who went out of their way to position only the weak ones at the entrance. It was obvious. Why would they want to let adventurers get ustomed to their Demon Lord Castles by cing the weak monsters at the front? Sending in powerful monsters to wipe parties out when they were still new to the dungeon. This was the standard procedure. However, my goal itself was different from the other Demon Lords. ¡°Demon Lords and adventurers are no longer enemies.¡± Why should we annihte parties? Adventurer parties are equipped with expensive equipment. They don¡¯t trust others and live their lives as vagrants, so they always carry around their entire fortune. You could call them walking piles of gold. ¡°We are ¡®business partners¡¯.¡± Adventurers are able to acquire meat and bones filled with mana by hunting the monsters in my dungeon. I get to take the equipment and money dropped by the adventurers who die while hunting. See? Isn¡¯t this a win-win situation? There is an excessive amount of mana in my dungeon, so the monsters breed like rabbits if you leave them alone. The adventurers will manage my monster poption for me. Adding to this, there will be many cases where monsters be stronger by eating adventurers. These monsters will be appointed as my royal guards. I am truly grateful to adventurers. ¡°There¡¯s no morend to farm? Then pick up a spear instead of a hoe. Be an adventurer and hunt monsters! There are only weak goblins on the first floor anyway. Anyone should be able to survive.¡± Elite troops like the goblin shamans were already moved to a lower floor. The first floor truly did only have the weakest monsters like goblins and slimes. The farmers of this world should be more than able to beat them if they worked together. If you want to live, then go to the dungeon! The refugees that came to mynd started to take up weapons one by one. There were many among them who lowered their guards and died, but there were a lot more people who managed to start making a stable living. It only took people a bit of time to hop in the dungeon. The giant cogwheel of the city¡¯s economy started to gradually pick up in pace. First, mages from throughout the continent and demon world arrived after hearing the rumors. ¡°O Great Being, it is an honor of the lifetime to be granted an audience.¡± ¡°There is no need for courtesy out of pretense. I am aware that mages are the type to convulse at the idea of decorum.¡± The mage stroked his white beard. ¡°Dear me, dear me. As expected of Your Highness Dantalian whose fame is widely known. In that case, please allow me to get straight to the point. We of the Lusatia Mage Tower wish to establish a branch here in Your Highness¡¯nd.¡± ¡°Fufu.¡± I took a sip of my wine. ¡°Is your objective the materials gathered by the adventurers in my Demon Lord Castle?¡± ¡°Ooh, Your Highness has great insight. What could this humble one possibly hide? You are correct.¡± ¡°Is it for the sake of magic research?¡± The mage smiled brightly like a child. ¡°That is correct! The meat and bones from monsters filled with mana are the greatest materials that can be used to temper one¡¯s alchemy and magic skills. The monsters that are normally found eating grass on the ins cannotpare to the ones here¡­¡­!¡± He looked at me with pleading eyes. ¡°O Great Being, I heard that you benevolently allowed humans to step foot in your castle. However, the expenses required to transfer the materials from here to another city alone are going to be incredibly costly. How about it? Our Mage Tower will purchase the goods immediately.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll allow it.¡± I nodded my head. I was the one who spread the rumors to the Mage Towers in the first ce. There was nothing bad about having mages move into my territory. Well, it would probably be different for people like Barbatos who cringe at humans. ¡°However, mortal, this ce is ruled solely by me, Dantalian. You mages cannot bask in an authority higher than that of a normalmoner. If you are nning to be treated like nobles, then give up now.¡± ¡°That is of no concern.¡± The mage bowed without any hesitation. ¡°What is important to us is researching magic. In essence, the ranks and privileges mentioned in the mundane world do not matter to us at all.¡± ¡°Then let me ask you a question. I am a Demon Lord. You are a human. Does bing a citizen of a Demon Lord not bother you?¡± ¡°O Great Being, that is a matter for the mundane world.¡± The mageughed. ¡°Very well, then. There are several other Mage Towers besides yours that have decided toe here.¡± ¡°I-Is that so? Hoo. I guess we will not be able to monopolize the materials¡­¡­. No, I predicted this would probably happen.¡± The old man became sullen. However, he perked up once I told him an additional piece of information. ¡°Aah. A Mage Tower from the demon world is among them.¡± ¡°The demon world¡­¡­? R-Really!? From the demon world!?¡± Demon mages were much stronger than human mages. It was only natural since demons were more skilled at controlling magic. In terms of magic development, the demon world was naturally a level higher than the continent. It was because mages knew this that they would try to summon demons from the demon world in order to learn magic from them. However, not only were the chances of summoning a demon who knew how to use magic incredibly slim, but even if they did, it was difficult to imagine a demon would be friendly to a human. To mages, demon mages were like a pie in the sky, a subject to admire. ¡°I-In that case, we will definitely move here! Please allow us to move here! It doesn¡¯t matter how much taxes we have to pay! Your Highness, please be merciful!¡± Their target of admiration was going toe as a whole Mage Tower and not as just a single person. The human mage was about to lose his mind. I grinned. ¡°A 30% tax when you exchange monster goods. Adding to this, I will receive preferential treatment when ites to purchasing your medicine and equipment.¡± ¡°Yes! No, that is practically nothing to us! Let us make a contract now!¡± The old magepletely forgot about anything like maintaining his dignity as he breathed through his nose intensely. Like this, a total of 12 Mage Towers ended up entering my territory. An unprecedented historical moment happened as a joint magic research branch between humans and demons was born. If there¡¯s a Mage Tower that specializes in alchemy, then there¡¯s a Mage Tower that specializes in reinforcing metals. The Mage Towers carefully exchanged their magic systems, which they had independently developed, and inspired each other. There were even some Mage Towers that received such a huge shock that they decided to move their entire headquarters here as well. ¡°They say that a unique effect appears if you add a concoction to a magic amplification spell and apply it to a weapon!¡± ¡°There might be a way to use powerful spells regardless of your Circle!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t conserve your materials. We made our money to use it in a time like this. Develop without reserve!¡± The mages started to research energetically. Weapons and medicine that were developed during their research were sold to me. I had the funding to purchase all of their products. Of course, my wealth wasn¡¯t infinite, so I did spend a sizable amount, but it didn¡¯t matter. I resold the magic tools that I bought like this and released them into the continent and demon world. The Keuncuska Firm took a huge brokerage fee in the middle, but I got an even bigger profit, so I didn¡¯t care. Monsters that became materials. Adventurers that became producers. Mages that became processors. And a firm that sold the products. With this 4-step process, I started to make a huge profit. Luxurious magic tools were something that was always in demand, so this had a bright future. For example, medicine that increased one¡¯s lifespan by a tiny bit was sold for an exorbitant price to the rich people in the human world. The profits from my territory were so huge that Ivar Lodbrok, the chief of Keuncuska, came looking for me quickly. Ivar had his admittance refused by mest time. In other words, the profits were big enough to make him forget about the humiliation he went through. ¡°Your Highness, please allow our Keuncuska Firm to act as the sole broker for the products manufactured by the Mage Towers.¡± ¡°Naturally, as you and I have a special rtionship, Chief Ivar Lodbrok, I have a desire to listen to any of your requests. It¡¯s thanks to you that I am in my current position, are you not?¡± Ivar¡¯s face lit up once I gave him a positive answer. ¡°However, you have still chosen to visit me with your fake doll¡¯s body. I am sure that I told you before that I will not trust you unless you visit me with your true body.¡± ¡°Pardon me¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Visit me personally with your vampire body. If you do not, then I will never ept your contract.¡± Ivar¡¯s expression became sour. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Jeez, I still struggle with Ivar and my memory is terrible. I can¡¯t even remember what I decided to do about Ivar¡¯s pronouns. I think I was going to keep using male pronouns until we actually see Ivar¡¯s female body appear in the story? Maybe? I don¡¯t know. Welp, either way, I¡¯m going to be busy for a day because my old uni professor suddenly contacted me and asked me to trante a research paper for them. I¡¯m not sure how well I can do thosepared to novels since they¡¯re two vastly different things. I¡¯ll do my best, I guess. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 244: Dungeon Master (2) Chapter 244: Dungeon Master (2) ¡°Your Highness, that¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok went silent. He couldn¡¯t possibly finish his sentence. I know how much this person despises Demon Lords. In , Ivar Lodbrok joined the human army even though he was one of the representing members of the demon world. There¡¯s a method for a demon to escape from the innate control that Demon Lords have over them¡­¡­in other words, applying a ve seal on yourself and giving a stronger power of control over to someone else. Ivar Lodbrok willingly became the hero¡¯s ve. This was around the time the hero had only defeated up to Rank 20 of the Demon Lords. Not only Agares, but Barbatos was still alive and healthy. No one believed that a mere human swordsman could ughter all of the high-ranking Demon Lords. ¡°A human who knows how to swing his sword a bit,¡± that was the impression they had. However, Ivar Lodbrok threw away the career, connections, and money he had built up for thousands of years in the demon world in order to join the hero¡¯s group. It was a gamble. The chances were abhorrently slim, but the possibility of killing every single Demon Lord was enough for Ivar Lodbrok. He despised Demon Lords enough to throw his life¡¯s work into mes. He probably wouldn¡¯t want to show his main body even if it meant his life. Especially to a suspicious Demon Lord like me. I asked him a question. ¡°Head of Keuncuska, is there no way around this?¡± I wasn¡¯t reproaching him. I spoke in a troubled tone. ¡°There is a lot that has been built up between us. Nheless, I have never attacked or criticized you. I do not know if you are aware of this, but my connections are not that thin either. If I so desired, I could have told Barbatos, Marbas, and Gamigin to stop trusting in Keuncuska.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok listened to my words quietly. His expression wasposed, but who knows what was going on in his mind. Merchants live off of trust. Demon Lords were like trust certificates to merchant firms in the demon world. A Demon Lord purchasing goods from your firm was like a mark of honor. What were to happen if they were abandoned by those Demon Lords they relied on so much? No matter how well the Keuncuska Firm is doing, they¡¯ll receive a huge blow. This was something that Ivar Lodbrok definitely didn¡¯t want. ¡°But I didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you know why? It¡¯s because I¡¯m grateful to you. Cornering Paimon during the Crescent Alliance was something that would¡¯ve been impossible without you.¡± Ivar Lodbrok bowed courteously. ¡°I am honored.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand at all¡­¡­.¡± I shook my head as if I were tired. I didn¡¯t bring that up to be thanked for appearance¡¯s sake. ¡°Do you still not understand? I am treating you like a person of equal standing to me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Ivar Lodbrok looked shocked. ¡°I do not forget my gratitude to other people. I form my rtionships with people while considering the things they did for me in the past. This is how I show that I am treating the other person as an equal. This is impossible if the other person doesn¡¯t look straight back at me.¡± I muttered bitterly. ¡°I have tried to establish this kind of rtionship with you since a long time ago, but it seems that I appear no different from other Demon Lords in your eyes¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok came to me immediately after the ceremonial speeches and hemented as if he were crying out. He cried out about how demonkind was nothing more than pets to Demon Lords. That they were not given freedom in the end¡­¡­. ¡°Between us, is it not you who is refusing to look at the other party properly? You are judging me at your own discretion. I cannot stand this.¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I will leave the brokering rights of the magic tools to Keuncuska.¡± I stood up and turned my back to Ivar. This was a clear sign of dismissal. ¡°I hope you good tidings with this business, Chief of Keuncuska.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok couldn¡¯t say anything. I could feel his perplexed emotions from behind my back. He was feeling distraught as he didn¡¯t know how to react. Ivar Lodbrok left the reception room as if he were running away. The reception room. A room like this was made as my Demon Lord Castle became more borate. Famous works of art from the demon world and the main continent were hung on the wall like wallpaper. On one wall was the head of an ogre, which I had never hunted before, that was clearly severed and stuffed. The room was luxurious but quiet. * * * Rumors about Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle soon spread throughout the entire continent. Refugees gathered as if they were clutching at straws, but there were also people who headed to the Demon Lord Castle with clear hostility. ¡°Isn¡¯t Dantalian the Demon Lord who ridiculed and cajoled humanity? Hah. How could someone reach out to a Demon Lord like him in order to live? I¡¯ll subjugate Demon Lord Dantalian!¡± They were normally young humans with a strong sense of justice. There were a fair number of knight applicants among them. Most of them were young men around the age of 15 and 18 who were admitted to the academy because they had some talent when they were little but wereter revealed as being ¡®defective¡¯. The education fee of academies was something that normalmoners couldn¡¯t handle. They would have to work as vassals under lords for several decades in order to pay off their debt. The issue was the fact that even lords would feel reluctant to use defective products as vassals. They were definitely more useful than normal foot soldiers. It was only natural since they were educated to be knights for several years. However, their pride was needlessly high. ¡°You all will grow to be knights that will one day protect our lord and king. Be proud as knights and always act as honorable warriors no matter where you go.¡± Knight applicants would get fed these words constantly before their brains could properly mature. Education that went beyond their means was engraved into their bones. If you added them to a normal army, then they would only create discourse because of their pointlessly high noses. Fortunately, a few of them woulde to their senses. They would do their best to show their instructors that they were useful. Only these people would be capable of bing nonmissioned officers and be the knights of one of the lords on the lower end. However, there will always be people who refuse to lower their pride at any point in time. This young man was one of them. He was extremely angry. He was disappointed by the instructors who failed to notice his potential and he was jealous of his ssmates who became sessful even though they weren¡¯t as righteous as he was. ¡°Just you wait. When I be a hero and my name bes widely known, I won¡¯t be a knight even if theye begging to me!¡± Of course, the young man had nothing since he was amoner. He only had his brilliant diploma in his hand. In other words, a document that shows he has decades¡¯ worth of debt to pay off. The diploma was only an object of pride to the young man. ¡°I¡¯m someone who graduated from Frederick Academy.¡± It wasn¡¯t much, but it was because he himself had nothing else that the piece of paper felt like it had some immense value to it. There weren¡¯t a lot of paths that this young man could take. If he turned his head a little, then he would actually see a lot of paths, but he had no desire to turn his head. He was seeking out a path that satisfied his pride and also ascertained his sess¡­¡­. ¡°I¡¯ll subjugate the Demon Lord.¡± Thus, the young man packed his traveling equipment and headed to the Demon Lord Castle. Demon Lord Dantalian being the lowest rank was also an important fact. The young man may have been foolish, but he would never even consider taking on a higher-ranking Demon Lord. Nheless, shouldn¡¯t he at least be able to defeat the Rank 71 Demon Lord? Even if he can¡¯t do it on his own, couldn¡¯t he do it if he gathered a fewrades? With this absurd dream in hand, sword swingers started to gather to Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. ¡°¡­¡­I thought it¡¯d be more deste here, but it¡¯s not.¡± The young man was surprised after he saw the fairly decent city built near the Demon Lord Castle. The ck Mountains were known to most humans as a ce where monsters were asmon as the pebbles. The fact that a city like this was under the ck Mountains was surprising. The young man was now truly broke. The small amount of money he had gathered was also used up traveling to the Demon Lord Castle. The young man quickly headed to the city¡¯s adventurer guild. The adventurer guild was a decent building. It wasn¡¯t an old structure that looked like it was on the brink of copsing. The guildhall being built properly by bricks meant that the guild would be functioning properly as well. ¡°Mm.¡± The young man seemed satisfied as he nodded to himself. This was the perfect spot to begin his journey as a hero. The young man entered the guild filled with hope. The inside of the guild was rather noisy. ¡°Is there anyone who wants to go subjugate goblins? 2 silver coins per goblins.¡± ¡°No, how does 1 gold per person make sense!? We¡¯re already barely able to make a living!¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you, Helena Mage Tower offers more than that other Mage Tower. I¡¯ve been living at a reasonable loss all this time, fuck.¡± Rough-looking adventurers were either trying to recruit members for their parties, hire people for a fee, or were sharing useful information with each other. They were all at least 4 years older than the young man. The young man got a bit nervous, but he believed that he had to behave that much more confidently. After registering as an adventurer at the reception desk©¥he didn¡¯t have the 1 gold for the registration fee, so the young man had to go even more in debt©¥the young man walked to the center of the building with bold steps. ¡®You can do it, Schiller. You¡¯re someone who¡¯s capable.¡¯ The young man took in a deep breath. ¡®I¡¯m different from these riffraff. I¡¯ve held the de since I was little. There¡¯s no way I¡¯d be afraid of a Demon Lord. I¡¯ll seed here and return home in glory. Now then, let¡¯s do this. Let¡¯s go with a bang.¡¯ The young man shouted sonorously. ¡°Adventurers! Those whose lives are closest to that of warriors!¡± His loud voice made the adventurers who were talking noisily stop to look at him. The young man almost cowered as all of the delinquent-looking people in the room turned to look at him all at once. The young man continued. ¡°You all must have once held the passion to subjugate a Demon Lord, but how are you all now? You are happy being able to make a living by ying a few mere goblins. Are you not ashamed by your current lifestyles!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As you all know, Demon Lord Dantalian is a criminal who has done unpardonable atrocities to us, humans. The Goddesses will not forgive us if we do not y him!¡± There were no changes in the adventurers¡¯ expressions. They all simply looked at the young man quietly. The young man let out a yell of delight in his mind. The adventurers were listening to him. As he expected, adventurers were humans too. Even if they didn¡¯t now, there was probably a point in time where they did aspire to y a Demon Lord. He continued in high spirits. ¡°My name is Schiller. I¡¯m a knight who graduated from Frederick Academy. I¡¯vee all this way to subjugate Demon Lord Dantalian. If there are those of you who also wish to put your names down in history, then don¡¯t be shy and step forward! Let us defeat Demon Lord Dantalian together!¡± There was a long moment of silence. The young man believed that he gave a fairly good speech. His voice wasn¡¯t excessively loud or weak. He didn¡¯t look down on them or tter them too much. The young man believed there was a ssic beauty to speeches. However, the adventurers didn¡¯t give him the response he expected. ¡°¡±Puahahaha!¡±¡± Laughter. He received a great amount ofughter. More than forty adventurers started tough all at once. Even the staff members behind the front desk were chuckling. Adding to this, the adventurers didn¡¯t evenugh that long as they stopped exactly 5 seconds after they had startedughing. They turned away as if nothing had happened. The adventurers went back to their previous conversations. ¡°I¡¯ll only take 2 silver coins for each goblin-.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go with 5. This is the lowest I¡¯m willing to go. All right? If you have a conscience, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Okay. The Mage Tower ran by demons is surprisingly more trustworthy. I was hesitant at first as well, but after I got used to them, well, it was fine.¡± After that brief moment, the adventurer guild immediately returned to its usual noisy state. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The young man was the only one who didn¡¯t understand what had happened. What kind of response was that? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder how long this knight aspirant is going tost? He¡¯s definitely not off to a good start. On another note, I¡¯vee to terms that I really dislike having to trante research papers. 2 pages could¡¯ve been shortened to like maybe 4 sentences. I¡¯m getting paid for this, but it definitely didn¡¯t feel like it was worth the effort. I¡¯ll probably avoid tranting this kind of work from now on. Welp, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 245: Dungeon Master (3) Chapter 245: Dungeon Master (3) ¡°Uh, hey. Anyone, uh, with me, the Demon Lord¡­¡­!¡± The young man was perplexed as he tried to bring it up again. It was at that moment, a female staff member who was serving the food and drinks tripped the young man from behind. The young man made a pitiful sound as he received the unexpected assault and fell in an unsightly manner. ¡°Oh dear, I¡¯m sorry! I wasn¡¯t looking in front of me.¡± The young man was faced with one unexpected situation after another. He naturally went along with what the waitress said as his mind still wasn¡¯t fully together. The female staff member held her hand out with an apologetic look and the young man absentmindedly took her hand. The waitress let go right when the young man was about to pull himself up. The young man lost his bnce helplessly and fell back down. Thud, the adventurers who were watching him from afar chuckled once the young man fell again. ¡°Dear me. What am I to do? I¡¯m rather weak because I¡¯m a woman.¡± The waitress lowered herself to look down at the young man¡¯s face. ¡°But Mr. Self-proimed Knight Aspirant, I¡¯ll be cheering you on. If you defeat the Demon Lord, then I¡¯ll be the woman who made the hero fall, wouldn¡¯t I?¡± The adventurers around themughed. They were clearlyughing at the young man. The young man was able to put the pieces together once things got this far. His face went red. ¡°How could you do something so discourteous¡­¡­!¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who was discourteous first, little gentleman. Listen carefully.¡± The waitress continued. ¡°This isn¡¯t a practice ground for young aspirant knights toe and use the things they learned. Understand? This is our workce. A ce where we make a living. Do you get it? The world may be screwed up, but you shouldn¡¯t openly try to destroy our meal tes. That¡¯s basic manners.¡± ¡°How could you treat a Demon Lord like a means to make a living!¡± The young man got up and started to shout while pointing his finger. ¡°Finding a way to maintain your livelihoods is naturally important; however, there are many things in the world that are more important than that! ying a Demon Lord that¡¯s tormenting the continent ¨C that¡¯s our important duty as humans!¡± ¡°Kid, no one cares what sort of ethical beliefs you have. Even if you were to die right this instant, the world is overflowing with people who can rece you.¡± The waitress grabbed the young man¡¯s finger tightly. ¡°Thousands of adventurers are able to live their lives thanks to a single Demon Lord Castle. In this city alone, there are thousands of humans who are able to make a living thanks to the Demon Lord Castle. If you y the Demon Lord with that great sword of justice, then we¡¯ll all be jobless©¥Can you take responsibility for the lives of thousands?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The young man had never thought of it like that. ¡°Of course we¡¯dugh when someone who can¡¯t even take care of himself ims that they¡¯ll shoulder the burden of thousands.¡± The pretty female staff member with orange hair snorted. ¡°If you aren¡¯t here to work, then get out, you limp dick. As you can see, this ce is always busy. If someone like you just stands here absentmindedly, then even I¡¯ll end up bumping into them unintentionally.¡± The young man couldn¡¯t say anything back as he was chased out of the guild. The other adventurersughed once more as they watched the young man make his way out in a hurry. They didn¡¯t have any sort of malice towards the youngster. It simply felt like an interesting fellow had shown up during their awfully boring day. They were grateful since he gave them augh despite their difficult lives. There were a fair amount of adventurers who genuinely thought this. It would only be a loss for them the more seriously they took their lives, after all. How could someone possibly live the life of an adventurer and also live their lives seriously at the same time? ¡°You¡¯re way too nice to greenhorns, Fleur.¡± One of the adventurersmented as he drank his barley beer. ¡°I told you many times already that you don¡¯t have to. Leave them be! Durds like them have dark futures ahead of them anyway, so they have no idea if someone is trying to help them. It¡¯s pointless. Pointless, I say.¡± Several other people voiced their agreement as well. The girl ced her hands on her hips and sighed. ¡°Quite the great senile old man has descended upon us. Do you think the world flows however you want it to? I say the things I do because I can¡¯t win against my own temper. This is how I am, so keep your nose out of my business, old man.¡± ¡°Our guildss also has quite the sharp tongue.¡± The adventurer took a swig of his beer. ¡°Kuh. I¡¯ve always been curious. Fleur, why are you always so kind to greenhorns? You say it¡¯s because of your temper, but that honestly sounds like a lie. No matter how much I think about it, this kind of meddling doesn¡¯t fit you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The girl muttered quietly. ¡°I would be happy if no one died. Especially inside of that Demon Lord Castle¡­¡­.¡± The other adventurers nodded solemnly in response. It was amon story. Someone precious to her probably died inside of the Demon Lord Castle. Be it her parents, her lover, or perhaps a sibling. It was amon urrence in this world. Thus, the adventurers decided to not pry any further. Don¡¯t ask someone something they don¡¯t want to answer. This was one of the unspokenws you had to keep at all cost if you wished to survive in this field of work for as long as possible. The adventurer thought to himself as he drank his beer. ¡®Come to think of it, her father was a famous adventurer.¡¯ He was apparently a Red-ranked adventurer. He was undoubtedly a father to be proud of. Being able to raise a child in itself was an achievement for adventurers that was as impressive as saving the world. Fleur had apparently been working in the guild at the next city over before she was able to transfer here thanks to her father¡¯s connections. ¡®I don¡¯t think I ever heard about a Red-ranked adventurer dying in Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle¡­¡­.¡¯ The adventurer was curious, but he naturally stopped thinking about it. ¡®Well, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡¯ The adventurer was a veteran who wasing up on his 7th year as an adventurer. He knew better than anyone else that it was best to not think about things too much in this neighborhood. Well, he thought to himself. The more secrets the world and ady have, the more beautiful they look¡­¡­. * * * The young man who was chased out of the guild had to sleep on the streets that night. He didn¡¯t have any money. ¡°¡­¡­At least it isn¡¯t that cold.¡± The young man pushed his way in between a couple of buildings. He did so in concern that his body might be rigid due to the cold wind, but it was also for the sake of being prepared against thieves. If a couple of thieves approached him while he was resting in this alleyway, then he should be able to fight them off. ¡°Haah.¡± A sigh came out on its own. He did check on lodging fees just in case, but it was as he expected. It wasn¡¯t even a matter of having enough money to stay at an inn, he didn¡¯t have enough to even rent some family¡¯s stables. If he lowered his head and begged shamelessly, then he could probably stay a night for free. The people in this city didn¡¯t seem cruel. However, the shameless part bothered him. The young man¡¯s life until now had not ustomed him to the act of begging¡­¡­. His entire fortune was now only a single silver coin. He could buy 4 pieces of bread before bingpletely broke. Of course, he could endure for a couple of days, but what about after that¡­¡­? ¡°No, I can¡¯t be weak.¡± The young man pulled himself together. ¡°What are you doing, Frederick Schiller!? Your resolve is weak and the world is harsh. They say that the harsh world is like a mountain, so only those who conquer it can be heroes, right!?¡± The young man recited the words he had learned from his ss as he stared up at the night sky. It was the same night sky he saw when he was still in the academy and had big dreams. The young man semanticized this. Therefore, it didn¡¯t matter where someone came from, whether they were born a noble or a ve, and whether they lived their lives as a knight or an adventurer. There was only one path that people should walk. The path of justice. It didn¡¯t matter where he was right now. His current self was undoubtedly shabby. Not only was hepletely shabby, but he was also about to sleep in a dirty alleyway. Nheless, it didn¡¯t matter¡­¡­. The next day. ¡°Is there anyone here brave enough to y the Demon Lord¡¯s servants with me!?¡± The young man returned to the guildhall and shouted loudly. He felt like Goddess Artemis had given him another air of confidence after a night of rest. Although he did change it from ying the Demon Lord to ying the Demon Lord¡¯s servants. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The female staff member nced at the young man. She didn¡¯t say anything, but her gaze was much colderpared to yesterday. She ignored the young man and continued serving barley beer to the other adventurers. The same adventurer from yesterday let out a snort as he received his beer. ¡°See, what did I say? He won¡¯te to his senses.¡± ¡°Say something stupid in front of me one more time and I¡¯ll break your dick in half.¡± ¡°Hiiik!¡± It wasn¡¯t surprising that no one responded to the young man¡¯s gant shout. The young man had no choice but to return to the alley without making any results today as well. The day after that. ¡°Is there no one brave enough to y wicked monsters with me!?¡± The young man remained confident, but his face was slightly paler than usual as he shouted. The other adventurers were already used to this, so they didn¡¯t even turn to nce at him. In truth, they had actually made bets about how long the young man was going to keep this up for. The next day, the day after that, and the day after that¡­¡­. For four days straight. The young man was starving. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± He was hungry. His body was already exhausted after his long trip to get here. Adding several days¡¯ worth of hunger on top of this was difficult for even a young, prospective knight to endure. Fortunately, it was Sunday. People would make a new batch of soup every Monday. Thus, the soup would be nd like water after each passing day. Sunday was when people¡¯s soup stock would taste the ndest. Beggars would get chased away ruthlessly on Mondays when they came begging for some soup, but they would be given at least a single bowl on Sundays. ¡°May I have one bowl of soup¡­¡­?¡± The young man spent the entire day going to 6 different viges. The reason was simple. He was afraid that he would look shameless if he went around begging in only a single vige. The people looked annoyed, but they gave him some soup anyway. ¡°Why is a youngster with all his limbs still intact doing something like this¡­¡­tsk tsk.¡± Normally, even this nd soup would go to a specific group of people. Every vige has orphans. If an orphanage doesn¡¯t exist, then the orphans would live on the streets, so a ¡®Grace of Sunday¡¯ would be prepared for these orphans. So people were taken aback to see a young man, who still looked healthy,e begging for soup even though he obviously wasn¡¯t an orphan. The young man couldn¡¯t endure the humiliation any longer. He couldn¡¯t getrades, but he entered the Demon Lord Castle by himself anyway. Two goblins attacked the young man. Beastly monsters that he was taught were the weakest among monsters. Regardless, the young man almost lost an arm trying to deal with the two goblins. ¡°Ha, hggh¡­¡­haa.¡± Studying about them and reality were two different things. If handling two goblins was this difficult, then what would happen if three had attacked him? Fear washed over him. The Demon Lord Castle wasn¡¯t some ce he could wander alone. The young man put a goblin corpse on his back and left quickly. He never learned how to butcher monsters, so he ignorantly put a corpse on his back before escaping. The young man left the corpse to a butcher and made a single silver coin. He was ripped off, but it couldn¡¯t be helped since he didn¡¯t know the going prices. He bought a loaf of bread, a lump of cheese, and some soup with the silver coin. The food was so tasty that he shed tears. The next day. The young man returned to the guildhall and spoke carefully. ¡°I¡¯ll take a silver coin per goblin. One silver coin per goblin¡­¡­!¡± He sounded a bit awkward, but his voice melded into the noisy atmosphere inside the building. ¡°Does anyone want to go catch goblins? 2 silver coins per goblin. I know how to butcher them.¡± ¡°I told you, one gold per person is insane!¡± ¡°Hey. I found out that the Mage Towers ran by demons and humans are all the same. There¡¯s no one trustworthy in the world!¡± Like any other day, people were looking for work as usual. The female staff member smirked as she watched the young man from afar. ¡°Now he¡¯s learned how to talk properly.¡± *** Author¡¯s Afterword There are probably people who remember this, but Fleur was the girl that the ¡®One-eyed Bald Adventurer¡¯ Fabian loved. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m honestly surprised to see Fleur again. She seemed like such a small character. I guess this probably won¡¯t be thest time we see this little knight. The author gave him a name and everything. He must be important, right? Right? In any case, Chinese New Years is approaching. I¡¯ll probably be able to get another chapter out before then, but keep in mind that there¡¯ll most likely be a dy afterward since I¡¯ll be gone for an entire day meeting rtives. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 246: Dungeon Master (4) Chapter 246: Dungeon Master (4) * * * A few dayster, Ivar Lodbrok sent a letter. ¡¸Next Monday, I wish to show my sincerity to Your Highness at the main branch of Keuncuska in Niflheim.¡¹ There was only one line written in the letter. It was written with very refined handwriting. If someone else were to have read this, they probably wouldn¡¯t have understood. Ivar Lodbrok was finally going to show me their real body. I smiled. ¡°What pretty writing.¡± Typography hasn¡¯t been developed yet, so one¡¯s handwriting was rather important whether you were in the human continent or the demon world. Not only did it show how refined the writer was, but it was also a way to disy what sort of person you were. However, a majority of Demon Lords have terrible handwriting. No, to be more exact¡­¡­it was way too good. If your writing with a brush bes too impressive, then it contrarily bes harder to read. It was simr to that. For example, Sitri¡¯s handwriting flew off to the side like a figure skater skating across the ice. I couldn¡¯t tell if she had written words or made a work of art. There was a time when I received a love letter from Sitri. ¡®I¡¯ve been thinking of youtely before I fall asleep.¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s hard to only meet every half a month. Can¡¯t we meet more often?¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re busy. Sorry. You¡¯re always busy, after all¡­¡­.¡¯ Wasn¡¯t this so innocent that it looks like it was written by a middle school girl? The issue was the fact that it took me more than an hour to decipher her writing. The refreshing feeling within her letter hadpletely evaporated by the time I managed to read it entirely! All I had left was a headache. Sheesh¡­¡­. On the other hand, Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s handwriting was perfectly aligned as if it were printed by a machine. This showed the other party¡¯s personality. For starters, it showed that they were pragmatic. They did their best to hide their personalities from others and extremely disliked showing off. The handwriting was truly Ivar Lodbrok-like. ¡°Daisy, what does my schedule look like around next Monday?¡± ¡°Father has promised to meet Her Highness Paimon this Friday.¡± Daisy answered while standing next to my throne. ¡°On Saturday, you will be participating in a banquet in Niflheim held by the archdukes of the demon world. On Sunday, you will remain in Niflheim and spend the day with Her Highness Gamigin. On Monday, you will return and inspect your territory in secret.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± I gave a satisfied nod. Daisy didn¡¯t even hesitate for a moment to recite my schedule from memory. Daisy was now 13 year old and had the dignity of a handmaid. She was always prepared to answer my questions. ¡°How about Tuesday?¡± ¡°You will be visiting Mannheim to see Her Highness Paimon and Her Highness Sitri.¡± ¡°Aah, I just remembered. I have to go meet Barbatos during the weekend¡­¡­.¡± I unintentionally let out a weak sound. My schedule was far from being pleasant. ¡°How did my ns get twisted up like this? The world is a cruel ce.¡± ¡°You brought this upon yourself, Father. I told you before, didn¡¯t I? If you keep making excuses and dy things over and over again, then, in the end, you will have no other choice but to meet a bunch of people all at once.¡± Daisy smirked. ¡°You dyed your appointment with Her Highness Sitri once 21 days ago and another time 12 days ago. You missed your appointment with Her Highness Paimon 16 days ago. This is why both of these appointments were pushed to next week.¡± Daisy¡¯s tone was polite, but that was the only thing about her that was polite. This was akin to calling customer service and being told, ¡®Hello dear customer. What fucking thing can I help with you today?¡¯ from the customer service worker. ¡°¡­¡­You brat, your memory is needlessly good.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. It is because I have someone besides me who tortures me if I do not remember things properly.¡± Daisy bowed her head. This damned bitch. ¡°Haa. You used to be a cute fellow who trembled before a single slime¡­¡­. How did you grow up to be such a dull person?¡± I naturallymented. ¡°Who knows? That isn¡¯t something the person who shoved two slimes in my body should be asking.¡± ¡°Kuh. Has Luke not been masturbatingtely?¡± ¡°It seems my dear brother has finally escaped from masturbating and opened his eyes to women.¡± Daisy answered unwaveringly. ¡°Recently, he has been switching to a new lover every month. I hear that he has slept with every prostitute in all 6 viges. I doubt he has the time to y with the slime.¡± ¡°Damn it¡­¡­! Has that brat forgotten that his little sister is the best!?¡± I grabbed my head and groaned. I was wondering why Daisy¡¯s levels haven¡¯t been increasing welltely while training her. I raised the sensitivity level of her breasts, anus, and genitals all to 5, but nothing had been increasing. Now I¡¯ve learned that Luke has been trolling me. What an ungrateful bastard! His little sister was the one who taught him the taste of women! How dare you toss your sister aside and y with other women just because I scratched your head a little!? This is why humans don¡¯t know what kindness is. The girl smiled widely. ¡°How about giving up now?¡± ¡°Shut it. It¡¯s still a hundred years too early for you to feel victorious.¡± I growled. My n to put Daisy into a mentally lower position than me by giving her an endless amount of shame and humiliation was effective. As a side note, Daisy was obviously still a virgin. I¡¯m not sure if it was because of me, but it seems that she developed a hatred for men. She started to stick to Laura and ogle at her recently and I couldn¡¯t help but find this funny. It¡¯d be quite funny if the hero and the chancellor who were archrivals in were to be lovers. Well, personally, I was absolutely lenient when it came to my vassals¡¯ sexuality. I don¡¯t have even the slightest intention to restrict my partners sexually. They can do whatever they want. However, it seems like Laura has more interest in Barbatos©¥surprisingly, really surprisingly, Laura became one of Barbatos¡¯ lovers!©¥than Daisy. ¡°I will cancel the inspection that was nned for next Monday. Instead, I will immediately head to Niflheim after leaving Gamigin¡¯s vi.¡± ¡°Understood. I will inform Miss Jeremi who was going to escort you during your inspection.¡± * * * The continent was still in the middle of civil wars, but war was like a distant tale to Niflheim, the city built by demons stacking gold. The archdukes of the demon world would lobby over and over again in order to prevent the mes of war from reaching them. A luxurious banquet was held every half a month. The most expensive dancers of Niflheim were hired for these events. Even alcohol that wasparable to drinking gold was also prepared without reserve. ¡°Haha. Miss Gamigin is undoubtedly the most beautiful in the Demon Lord Army.¡± Rank 4 Demon Lord Gamigin was naturally on the list of invited people. ¡°Others im that Miss Barbatos and Miss Paimon are more beautiful, but if I am to be honest, I believe those opinions are a little biased. As most people know already, the two are popr for different reasons.¡± An archduke spoke while smiling politely. ¡°There is ack of objectivity in their preferences. I have always believed that Miss Gamigin is the most beautiful flower.¡± ¡°Is that so? Thanks.¡± Gamigin raised the ss of wine in her right hand and smiled brightly. ¡°But I can¡¯t help but feel a little small before Barbatos and Paimon. Should I say that they have a type of mysterious charm?¡± ¡°That may be the case. Regardless, if I were to judge them solely based on their looks¡­¡­.¡± The archdukes were having a congenial conversation while surrounding Gamigin. Contrary to her the bright smile on her face, Gamigin was feeling bored on the inside. ¡®What obvious lip service. They¡¯ll say the exact same thing to both Barbatos and Paimon but with the roles switched around depending on who they¡¯re talking to anyway. There should be a limit to obvious ttery.¡¯ Gamigin yed along skillfully as she drank her wine. She could feel a few of the archdukes sneak a nce down at her cleavage. Gamigin enjoyed wearing clothes with a lot of exposure and this ended up stimting the archdukes¡¯ lecherous desires. It was strangely fun to her. ¡®A high-ranking Demon Lord like me can see through everything even if you try to control your emotions, you idiots.¡¯ Gamigin didn¡¯t go out of her way to tell them. Rather, whenever she met an archduke¡¯s gaze, she would give a yful wink and show the archduke a questionable gesture. Every time she did, the archdukes would always apologize while being unable to control their excitement. Bedding a high-ranking female Demon Lord ¨C this was probably a dream some archdukes had. ¡®Go ahead, keep looking. It¡¯s fine if you look right at me. Hurry up.¡¯ The archdukes didn¡¯t notice, but Gamigin was secretly casting a charm spell around her. However, something happened right as she was about to masterfully capture the archdukes. An attendant who was standing at the entrance of the banquet hall announced in a loud voice. ¡°Rank 71, Demon Lord of Many Faces! His Highness Dantalian has arrived©¥!¡± The hall became quiet for a moment. All of the archdukes who were peaking at Gamigin¡¯s breasts looked away. This was rather rude, but Gamigin was the one who turned her head first, so she couldn¡¯t reprimand anyone. A man was there. He stopped near the door. He turned to his left and right before standing still for a moment as if he were basking in the light from the chandelier. He then started to walk again. The man greeted the people in the banquet hall as he slowly approached. He had long legs and a skinny body. He wascking in flesh in an unsightly way. She wasn¡¯t sure how other people felt, but Gamigin felt strangely bothered by the wide smile on his face. He was definitely someone you couldn¡¯t describe as handsome. ¡°It appears that quite the venerable individuals are gathered here. Miss Gamigin, long time no see.¡± However, his voice was special. He didn¡¯t talk loudly, but his words could still be heard clearly. It felt like his voice was able to find its way into people¡¯s ears on its own. At the very least, Gamigin rated his voice highly. ¡°Mm, Dantalian. Long time no see.¡± ¡°I wished to visit you before, but my body was being terriblyzy. It is all my body¡¯s fault. Please do not me me, but my body.¡± ¡°Every Demon Lord already knows that you¡¯rezy, Dantalian. I understand.¡± Gamigin smiled. ¡®This insolent brat.¡¯ Dantalian had just indirectly asked for sex. Gamigin and I have a physical rtionship, he had informed the people around us about this. It displeased her greatly, but Gamigin couldn¡¯t deny it. ¡°Come to think of it, His Highness Dantalian and Her Highness Gamigin are on close terms!¡± Sure enough, one of the archdukes took the bait. Dantalian received a ss of wine from one of the attendants before responding. ¡°Indeed. I personally like her quite a bit.¡± ¡°On a rted note, if it isn¡¯t rude of me to ask¡­¡­. I heard that you are also close to Her Highness Barbatos, Her Highness Paimon, and even Her Highness Sitri.¡± Dantalianughed. ¡°What is there to be rude about? You are right.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡­Your Highness, out of the female Demon Lords, who do you think is the most beautiful?¡± The archdukes looked at Dantalian with great interest. Of course, they knew that as long as Gamigin was here, he would have no other choice but to say it was her out of courtesy. Not only was that basic manners, but it was also a conversational method. However, they were also interested to know who Dantalian was interested in since he was together with several female Demon Lords. Dantalian answered without any hesitation. ¡°Aah. Of course, Miss Barbatos is the most beautiful.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The archdukes froze in ce. Their facial expressions looked as if they had seen a ghost while the person in question was drinking his wine nonchntly. ¡°Oh. This wine is rather luxurious.¡± It truly seemed like he didn¡¯t think much about it. The atmosphere gradually became colder. The archdukes didn¡¯t know how to react to this unexpected turn of events. If it were another demon, then they would¡¯ve scolded them, but the other party was a Demon Lord. None of the archdukes was in a position that allowed them to reprimand Dantalian. The archdukes carefully turned to look at Gamigin. As their gazes turned to focus on her, Gamigin thought to herself. ¡®Seriously, this son of a bitch.¡¯ Even now, she could do nothing but smile. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I mentioned it in thest chapter, but Lunar New Year is in a few days from now, so the next chapter will be dyed. Same as usual holiday stuff. I don¡¯t know how many of you guys celebrate it as well, but uh, happy holidays! I¡¯ll see you guys when I get back and finish another chapter. Chapter 247: Dungeon Master (5) Chapter 247: Dungeon Master (5) At first, the archdukes were d that they were able to meet Dantalian and Gamigin together. The two Demon Lords were important figures, after all. There were no better cast members to show up in this banquet where building friendships was the goal. However, they were now screaming inside their heads, begging to be pulled out of this situation. ¡®Why did you mention Barbatos there!?¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s obvious to even a child that you should¡¯ve praised Her Highness Gamigin at that moment!¡¯ ¡®Do you n to screw us over¡­¡­?¡¯ The archdukes mentally rebuked Dantalian as they desperately tried to maintain their peaceful demeanors. It was like a quiet graveyard built next to a beach¡­¡­. They did whatever they could to manage their emotions. Demon Lords are able to read emotions. Therefore, they had to control their emotions as much as possible even if they were onlyining in their heads. The archdukes were very ustomed to this. Although none of this mattered before the Rank 4 Demon Lord. ¡°Haaaa~.¡± Gamigin was making all sorts of faces in her mind, but her tone was light and cheerful. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Who else could possibly lighten the mood in a situation like this? ¡°Dantalian, you¡¯re so mean sometimes. Do you have to praise another woman when I¡¯m right here in front of you? I¡¯m going to get mad if you keep acting like this.¡± She had to step forward herself. Her position was forcing this upon her. She was insulted greatly as a woman, but she had to be the one to arbitrate. This soured Gamigin¡¯s mood to no end, but she couldn¡¯t do anything about it. Dantalian received her words yfully. ¡°My apologies. I would be quite lonely if Miss Gamigin were to hate me. Please forgive me.¡± ¡°Sure, sure. Watch yourself.¡± She acted as if she weren¡¯t angry at all, as if her mood hadn¡¯t been soured at all. Gamigin controlled everything with great detail from the intonation of her voice and the way her gaze wandered. It came so naturally to her that it was probably more appropriate to say it was instinctual than say that she was consciously controlling everything. Her acting skill was exceptional enough to easily deceive the archdukes. ¡°Haha. Your Highness Dantalian has quite the particr taste.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I have no intention of denying Your Highness¡¯ preference, but doesn¡¯t Her Highness Barbatos have a rather young appearance?¡± The archdukes quickly followed the flow once Gamigin paved the way for them. They were simply grateful that the situation didn¡¯t escte into anything bad. The banquet itself might have erupted if they made the wrong move. ¡°Gentlemen, please do not me me too much.¡± Dantalian smiled awkwardly. ¡°I do not like Miss Barbatos because I like young girls. It just happens that the person I came to like looks like a young girl.¡± ¡°I am asionally afraid because Your Highness¡¯ words sometimes sound like the truth. Your Highness, we humble ones are unenlightened, so please be merciful. We might actually take it the wrong way!¡± ¡°Stop acting coy.¡± Dantalian and the archdukesughed. The banquet proceeded smoothly after this. The pretext of this banquet was food talk. Chefs that could be called the representatives of the demon world came out and prepared all sorts of delicacies one by one like the banquet was some sort ofpetition. The good thing about food talk was the fact that there was always something to talk about. A new course of food woulde out whenever a conversation was about to end. ¡°Ooh. This has quite the particr taste¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness Gamigin, this finishing dish is rather splendid.¡± ¡°Chef, what did you have in mind while cooking this?¡± Like this, the conversation would liven up again. The people serving our food consisted of only the most beautiful men and women©¥a portion of the archdukes assured that they would ¡®make sure to hire girls with young faces the next time His Highness Dantalian visits¡¯. Talking was like alcohol. People¡¯s minds would start to gradually be nk if they talked non-stop. If you add alcohol on top of this, then people would genuinely be lightheaded as theyugh and chat with others. Words woulde out more easily the more lightheaded you are and peoplee to a misunderstanding where they think they be closer by being able to say things with ease. It was for this sake that the archdukes prepared expensive alcohol for Demon Lords. ¡°Oh? As I thought, I prefer white wine.¡± ¡°Is that so? Well, it did feel like there was another taste hidden underneath.¡± ¡°Your Highness Gamigin has quite the sharp sense of taste. This wine was sold for a limited period of time throughout the summer by the Earl of Naraka¡­¡­.¡± Smiles easily came to people¡¯s faces. Everyone was drunk on talking and alcohol. Everything blended together like a blob. Demon Lords aren¡¯t capable of getting drunk, but both Gamigin and Dantalian had gotten drunk off the atmosphere as they were all smiles. ¡°Good. Very good.¡± Gamigin shook her empty ss of wine yfully. ¡°Another ss of wine here.¡± Gamigin¡¯s line was the perfect summary of today¡¯s banquet. ¡°Your Highness Gamigin, I have been curious for a long time now. Would it be all right if I asked a question?¡± ¡°Sure. Ask away. It wouldn¡¯t make sense if you didn¡¯t have any questions when the wine is this good~.¡± ¡°Do you perhaps have a special rtionship with His Highness Dantalian?¡± Gamigin let out an audible hum as she smiled lightly. ¡°I wonder? Dantalian? He¡¯s asking if we have a special rtionship.¡± ¡°Of course. We¡¯ve always had a special rtionship.¡± Dantalian drank the rest of his red wine in one gulp. The archdukes started to make a fuss. ¡°There have actually been a lot of rumors since a few years ago about the deep rtionship between Your Highnesses! It seems the rumors were true. Nheless, Your Highness Dantalian, as everyone knows¡­¡­are you not also in a rtionship with Her Highness Barbatos?¡± ¡°Aah. You are correct.¡± Several of the archdukes who were gathered here had been threatened by Dantalian before. The fact that they saw Barbatos cry out like a ve as she clung to Dantalian naked was a secret they had to take to their graves. ¡°I also heard that Her Highness Paimon and Her Highness Sitri are included in your circle¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I swear to Artemis that that is the truth.¡± ¡°Dear Lord! Then that means Your Highness is dating every Demon Lord renowned for their beauty within the Demon Lord army!¡± ¡®Is Your Highness not going too far?¡¯, the archdukesined together. ¡°You all are the ones going too far.¡± Dantalian chuckled. ¡°What did I do for you all to condemn me so?¡± ¡°If Your Highness monopolizing all of the beauties is not a crime, then I do not know what is. Please tell us your secret. How did you acquire the hearts of such beauties?¡± ¡°What¡¯s important is your heart. You all know this as well, but everyone has an ailment inside of them somewhere. You simply have to gently embrace that part of them. There is nothing more or nothing less to it.¡± The archdukes whistled. ¡°How wonderful. What does Your Highness Gamigin think about what Sir Dantalian had said?¡± ¡°Mm~.¡± Gamigin smiled widely. ¡°I¡¯d be grateful if someone smacked him on the back of the head randomly while walking down a road.¡± ¡°Kuhahaha!¡± ¡°It seems the female Demon Lords think otherwise, Your Highness Dantalian!¡± Dantalian shrugged his shoulders without a word. People became more of a mess as the night went on. There was even an archduke who started to harass one of the waitresses. No one reprimanded him, however, since this was a gathering that was expected to end up like this. ¡°I am going to step out for some air. It seems I have gotten too drunk tonight.¡± ¡°Ah, me too~. My head is screaming at me to let it taste some fresh air.¡± Like that, none of the archdukes said anything in particr as Dantalian and Gamigin stepped away. They simply told them to have a pleasant trip. The archdukes who didn¡¯t have that much alcohol in their systems yet had smirks on their faces as they watched the two leave. There was a room prepared at a corner of the banquet hall for ¡®private time¡¯. There was one table, a chair, and a sofa. There was a bottle of wine in a bucket of ice prepared on the round table. Behind arge window was a veranda made of marble. This was quite literally a ce for lovers. ¡°I really came here to get some air, though.¡± Dantalianmented as he closed the door. His expression and tone were calm as if he had never been drunk in the first ce. ¡°The archdukes should be satisfied since we went along with them up to this point. Should we gradually make our way to your vi, Miss Gamigin?¡± ¡°Hmm~.¡± Gamigin ignored Dantalian as she walked past. She took the bottle of wine out of the ice bucket and poured herself a ss. The wine overflowed out of the cup due to her poor strength control. Gamigin¡¯s right hand was soaked in wine, but she didn¡¯t pay it any mind as she drank the alcohol. ¡°¡­¡­Miss Gamigin, I am asking this just in case, but are you drunk?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking abooout.¡± ¡°Dear me.¡± Dantalian furrowed his brows. ¡°There is no way that a Demon Lord like Miss Gamigin could get this drunk. You intentionally turned off your regenerating powers, huh?¡± ¡°Mhm. Hehe.¡± ¡°Are you insane? They are still the rulers of hell. They will rip you apart like a pack of wolves if you lower your guard. I do not understand you.¡± Gamigin poured herself another ss and gulped it down. Alcohol flowed down the side of her mouth. The scarlet liquid flowed down her jawline and dropped down on her milky white corbone. ¡°What is a Demon Lord like me supposed to be?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m lesser than Barbatos anyway. Isn¡¯t that right? There¡¯s nothing impressive about me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian looked as if he were staring at a mental patient. ¡°¡­¡­You really arepletely intoxicated. Well, there are times when people want to get drunk. I struggle to understand why that had to be today.¡± ¡°People like you, mhm. Are really like dogs, Dantalian.¡± Dantalian let out a sigh as he sat down, making it evident that he didn¡¯t want to deal with a drunkard. After seeing that, a difficult-to-exin emotion enveloped Gamigin. Herst bit of rationality that was left helped her cast a soundproofing spell on the entire room. After checking there were no devices hidden in the room, Gamigin let out a low growl. ¡°I can¡¯t go along with this kind of act anymore. I¡¯m sick and tired of it. It disgusts me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you have to ridicule me in front of other demons? I get it. Barbatos is important to you. But there¡¯s a time and ce for everything.¡± Dantalian quietly took out a pipe and put the end of it in his mouth. A smoky fragrance soon filled the room. ¡°I also have my pride as a Demon Lord. A scumbag like you probably doesn¡¯t know what that is.¡± ¡°Miss Gamigin, did you soundproof this room?¡± ¡°You¡¯re reeeaally fast at pointing that out, our wise and glorious Dantalian.¡± Gamigin let out a snort. ¡°What? Are you afraid that people might see through your act? You¡¯re a coward. An utterly useless coward. Not only do you only know how to ridicule and insult people, but you don¡¯t know how to get drunk during a drinking party. Am I insane? Don¡¯t make meugh. What about you? How sane are you?¡± ¡°Fine. You can stop if you want to.¡± A sly smile appeared on Dantalian¡¯s lips. ¡°But have you forgotten? You did this to yourself, Miss Gamigin.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so sorry that I colluded with Agares to take somend!¡± Gamigin threw her cup on the marble floor. The ss shattered loudly. ¡°You should try holding that over me for a few decades or even centuries. See how that turns out. Did you know? I can attack that great lover of yours whenever I want. If you think Agares is the only Demon Lord to treat Barbatos lightly, then you¡¯re making a big mistake!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, I¡¯m back from my family reunion. It was actually the first time in a couple years since everyone was able to gather properly, so it was mentally draining catching up with everyone. I still feel exhausted. They mostly just talked to me about my brother¡¯s uing wedding. He visited a day before the reunion, so he wasn¡¯t there to answer their questions. How the hell am I supposed to know about how he met his fiancee? I just want to sleep¡­ I¡¯ll probably take a nap after I upload this. Uuh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 248: Dungeon Master (6) Chapter 248: Dungeon Master (6) ¡°You really are out of your mind¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian took a puff from his pipe. His expression gradually died down. ¡°Be d that there is no Memoria artifact here. The Goddess was generous and made me leave one behind. Your political life could¡¯ve ended just now, Gamigin.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Gamigin grabbed Dantalian¡¯s pipe and threw it. The head portion of the ceramic pipe shattered the moment it touched the ground. Dantalian looked up at Gamigin with unconcerned eyes. Their faces were directly in front of each other. ¡°That was a pipe made by a master craftsman in Saxony. It was rather expensive.¡± ¡°I¡¯m warning you for thest time.¡± A rage-filled breath seeped out from between Gamigin¡¯s teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t insult me.¡± Her red eyes were zing. Not only was she a Demon Lord, but she had also reached the peak of magic as an archmage. A magic aura poured out from her entire body as she emitted bloodlust. ¡°¡­¡­Very well, then.¡± Dantalian spoke. ¡°Do you want me to apologize?¡± ¡°For being disrespectful to me.¡± ¡°I had previously handed Moravia over to you. I believed that all matters ofpensation would be over with that, but¡­¡­well, that¡¯s fine. There is nothing more that I can do for you officially anyway.¡± Dantalian remained impassive. ¡°Despite this, do you still wish for me to apologize?¡± Gamigin didn¡¯t respond and simply continued to re at him. Dantalian nodded his head before standing up from his chair. Once Gamigin stepped back to make way for him, Dantalian went to the center of the room and slowly got on his knees. He was probably going to put his head on the ground and apologize. Gamigin stared at him with a displeased look. His apology would definitely have sincerity, but wasn¡¯t she insulted in front of other people? The insult happened publicly. Compared to that, this apology was taking ce in a private room. It was difficult to find any fairness in this. ¡®¡­¡­But.¡¯ Let¡¯s still forgive him. Gamigin thought to herself as she barely managed to suppress her anger. There were definitely a lot of things that Dantalian had conceded to her as well. Not only was her sovereignty over Silesia acknowledged, but the Moravia region that she had before was also given to her. It has almost been 2 years since the internal discourse and Gamigin was now ruling unwaveringly as a nation¡¯s ruler. In return, Gamigin has been cooperating with Dantalian politically. Barbatos may be Dantalian¡¯s strongest supporter, but she had a lot of restraints since she was the leader of an entire faction. Dantalian had been carrying out his activities freely while shouldering the name of the Rank 4 Demon Lord. The two parties had a satisfying exchange of material gains and moral duty. Gamigin knew in her head that this was a fair trade¡­¡­. However, this was an emotional problem. ¡®Even if it was a fair trade¡­¡­it should be fine for him to also consider my dignity a bit!¡¯ They had shared a bed almost a hundred times now. They mostly happened after Dantalian had forced a request upon her; however, Gamigin had never refused. Dantalian had said this when they made the bet in the past: ¡®And if I lose?¡¯ ¡®Then continue to asionally y with me like this. If possible, I would like it if you didn¡¯t refuse my request to share a bed.¡¯ Don¡¯t refuse my request if possible. It was an incredibly light condition. Even if Gamigin lost, she could¡¯ve refused whenever she wanted. Today is a bad day, I¡¯m tired, I don¡¯t want to sleep with you¡­¡­. There was an endless number of excuses she could¡¯ve given. Despite this, Gamigin never did. She genuinely did her best to respect the bet they made. From her perspective, she has continued to respect Dantalian while Dantalian would constantly ridicule her. Wasn¡¯t this unfair? She wasn¡¯t asking for much. She just wanted him to show a simr amount of consideration in return for her respect. Does she have to get angry at him like this for him to notice? Gamigin felt her rage surge up, but she suppressed it. At that moment, Dantalian took out a dagger. ¡°Eh?¡± Gamigin had no time to ess the situation. Dantalian stabbed himself in his abdomen. Immediately after, he pulled the dagger upward. The de tore open his stomach. Blood soaked his clothes and instantly spread. Kuh, Dantalian let out a pained groan. ¡°W-What are you doing!?¡± Gamigin finally realized what was happening. She panicked as she rushed to Dantalian¡¯s side. She tried to remove Dantalian¡¯s hands from the dagger, but he refused to let go. Blood continued to seep out as this happened. ¡°You idiot©¥let go!¡± ¡°Kuaah!¡± Gamigin was confused, but she took very wise measures. She forcefully twisted Dantalian¡¯s fingers one by one. Dantalian let out a cry as he let go of the dagger. Gamigin tore Dantalian¡¯s clothes to reveal his wound. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­!¡± It was bad. Not only was the de impaled deeply into his body, but his internal organs werepletely sliced. Demon Lords may be able to regenerate, but Dantalian was the lowest-ranked. His abilities were pitiful. He needed help. Dantalian groaned. ¡°With this¡­¡­kuh, I¡¯ve apologized¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Idiot! Bastard! Retard!¡± Gamigin shouted all sorts of curse words as she applied healing magic. The wound quickly healed; however, healing magic actually consumed one¡¯s stamina temporarily. A potion, or any kind of medicine that supported the body¡¯s energy, was urgently needed. But¡­¡­when was thest time she carried around potions!? Gamigin carried around things like that when she was still a weak Demon Lord. She didn¡¯t need them after she became an archmage. While being held in her arms, Dantalian¡¯splexion became visibly worse as his breathing became more ragged. ¡°We should ask the archdukes¡­¡­no, they¡¯ll start having suspicions. The servants as well¡­¡­. Damn it, what the hell can I do¡­¡­!¡± Her vi was overflowing with potions. Teleporting there and bringing those potions was a simple matter. However, teleportation spells were strictly forbidden in Niflheim since it was a neutral zone. If someone ever teleported, then it was decided that all of the Demon Lords woulde together and attack them. What could she do? Gamigin racked her brain desperately. She couldn¡¯t let the archdukes see her being vulnerable and it was impossible for her to resolve this situation alone. What could she possibly do? ¡°Uhh, ah¡­¡­!¡± Gamigin quickly went through Dantalian¡¯s clothes. That¡¯s right. There was no way that a careful person like Dantalian wouldn¡¯t have one or two potions on him. There were several potions hidden inside of his mantle. Among them was the aphrodisiac he would always use to torment her. However, that didn¡¯t even enter Gamigin¡¯s line of sight. Out of the 6 ss bottles, one of them was especially red. Gamigin quickly uncapped the bottle and took a whiff. ording to the contract that was signed between all alchemy guilds, healing potions must always give off the fragrance of rosemaries. The scent of rosemaries was emanating strongly from the bottle! Gamigin¡¯s eyes were spinning. She didn¡¯t know why. She slowly poured the contents of the potion into Dantalian¡¯s mouth. Twice every minute. This was the most efficient method that she discovered when she used to get injured a very long time ago. Although it was a distant tale that was more than a thousand years ago, it came back to her almost instinctively¡­¡­. ¡°Mm¡­¡­mm¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian¡¯splexion gradually got better. It was working. He hadn¡¯t regained his consciousness yet, but it should be fine to rx now. Gamigin brushed back her beautiful blonde hair with her hand. She was exhausted as if she had just returned from a battlefield. Why did things turn out like this? Anger, shock, and relief, all of these emotions mixed together chaotically and almost made her tear up. She stared at the ground absentmindedly for a moment. A brief moment of time went by. Gamigin got up and helped Dantalian up. She returned to the banquet hall while dragging Dantalian with her. ¡°Ooh. Your Highness Gamigin, you took your time.¡± ¡°His Highness Dantalian seems a bit off¡­¡­?¡± Gamigin smiled brightly. She had already equipped a mask over her face. Although it took some time to put it on in the first ce. That was why she was staring at the floor earlier. ¡°I told him to stop drinking, but now he¡¯spletely lost it!¡± ¡°Kakaka. Her Highness Gamigin has her own share of trouble.¡± The archdukesughed once Gamiginined to them jokingly. She gave them a quick wink. ¡°He usually never gets drunk, but he must¡¯ve been in quite the good mood today. Mm, I think it should be fine to tell you since the person in question is drunk. He went on about how honorable and considerate you guys are.¡± ¡°Haha. Nothing pleases us more than to hear that Your Highnesses had a good evening.¡± The archdukes were delighted. Putting Gamigin aside, Dantalian was infamous for being difficult to deal with, so him gettingpletely drunk off of the atmosphere was a great achievement for them as the hosts. ¡°I had a pleasant night as well, but I think we¡¯ll be taking our leave since this guy ended up like this. Sorry about leaving first.¡± ¡°Dear me! There is nothing to be sorry about! It is already quitete!¡± The archdukes hastily got up. They straightened out their clothes before bowing courteously. ¡°It was a great honor to be able to serve Your Highness today.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve prepared a carriage and coachman outside. Please have a safe trip home.¡± ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll be waiting for your next invitation.¡± Gamigin smiled pleasantly. Despite the other party being a Demon Lord, the archdukes couldn¡¯t help but rx as a beautiful woman smiled sincerely at them with a slightly red face. The carriage headed to Gamigin¡¯s vi. Her vi was absent of servants, so Gamigin had to support Dantalian¡¯s body by herself. Gamigin had let all of her servants go on a holiday for today and tomorrow. The reason was simple. She had promised to spend the night with Dantalian and they were going to have a type of sex that would be embarrassing for her if others were to overhear or see it. Dantalian didn¡¯t hold himself back whenever he had sex. She absolutely didn¡¯t want to show that to her servants. However, it was because of her decision that Gamigin, the Rank 4 Demon Lord, was doing something unbefitting like supporting an injured person¡­¡­. ¡°You son of a bitch!¡± Gamigin shouted loudly several times before she finally arrived at her bedroom. ¡°You damned bastard! You damn ape that even a horse wouldn¡¯t fuck! Shoving dirt in your mouth wouldn¡¯t be enough to satisfy me!¡± There was no one else here anyway, so she could take off her usual mask and swear as much as she wanted. ¡°Kuh¡­¡­!¡± Gamigin set Dantalian down on the bed. She had strengthened her body with magic, so Dantalian hadn¡¯t felt heavy. However, an unknown feeling of fatigue enveloped her whole body. A sigh came out on its own. Gamigin nced down at Dantalian. The other party in question waspletely oblivious as to how much Gamigin had struggled as hey on the bed with his eyes closedfortably. Gamigin felt another wave of anger wash over her. It would¡¯ve been better if he had died. ¡°¡­¡­Haa.¡± Gamigin covered her face with her palms. How did things end up like this¡­¡­? *** Author¡¯s Afterword Question: My sex partner keeps trying to act like my lover. What should I do? Dantalian: Stab yourself with a knife. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Now this is some drastic measures. Casuallymitting harakiri in order to apologize. What a chad. Honestly, people could learn a thing or two from Dant. Okay, don¡¯t actually. I really hope that no one makes Dant their role model. Please be respectable people in society, everyone. :^) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 249: Dungeon Master (7) Chapter 249: Dungeon Master (7) * * * Ah, acting was harder than I expected¡ª. I was lying still on the bed. Gamigin was next to me trying to muffle her crying. It sounded like she couldn¡¯t hold back her tears. If I were topare this sound to something, then it was like a soothing luby. She probably didn¡¯t know that I was awake. I actually never lost consciousness to begin with. It was quite pleasant and rxing being practically carried all the way here by Gamigin. I had a feeling that Gamigin¡¯s stress had been building up drasticallytely. People aren¡¯t machines. No matter how fair the trade is, people always want to receive the utmost respect and, at the very least, don¡¯t want to get knocked down a peg in front of others. Even if that was the path they chose to take. No, if anything, the fairness itself might¡¯ve been the problem¡­¡­. Gamigin is the Rank 4 Demon Lord. She might think that having a fair deal with a person like me is, on the contrary, unfair. People tend to easily forget the times when they were weak. There was probably a time when Gamigin was also the lowest rank. Nheless, after a few centuries of being an authority figure, people inadvertently start thinking to themselves, ¡®I¡¯m not insignificant enough to be disregarded like this. I should be treated better than this¡­¡­.¡¯ I can onlyugh at these people in response. What could possibly change after hundreds of years? Am I going to be some impressive person if 200 or 300 years go by? Ridiculous. Even after 300 years, I¡¯ll still die if I lose my head. Life is that simple. Once people be foolish, they easily forget the fact that losing your head should be something you should always be cautious about first and foremost. Bing foolish is a simple matter. It happens when people no longer think they¡¯re weak. There¡¯s no fun in teasing people who¡¯re this dimwitted¡­¡­. Gamigin imed that survival was the only thing with value. Despite saying this, she talked about her pride. I could only describe her as being carefree. If I were Gamigin, then I would¡¯ve submitted to me fully. I would¡¯ve acted as if I were charmed and waited until I revealed my weakness. Think about it. I would be getting ttered by the Rank 4 Demon Lord. No matter how cold-blooded I appeared, even I would¡¯ve been happy to be praised by someone of her stature. However, Gamigin was sloppy. She chose to not be fully cooperative or fully hostile to me. She was being wishy-washy. ¡®Status¡¯. I opened one eye slightly and looked at Gamigin. A window soon appeared in front of me. ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ Name: Gamigin Race: Demon Lord¡¡¡¡ Affiliation: Gamigin Demon Lord Army Attribute: Evil(-55) Level: 396¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Infamy: 5233100 Job: Archmage(SSS), Demon Lord(SS), Dungeon Manager(S) Leadership: 295¡¡¡¡Might: 320 ¡¡¡¡Intelligence: 353 Politics: 371¡¡¡¡Charm: 449¡¡¡¡Technique: 446 Affection: 22 Current thought: ¡®I¡¯ve had enough of everything¡­¡­ All of it¡­¡­.¡¯ ©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥©¥ I raised Gamigin¡¯s affection towards me above 20 exactly a year ago. At the time, Gamigin and I were doing rather well together. It may have started roughly, but we were business partners that exchanged necessary things with each other. Mixing in some sex every now and then naturally helped build our rtionship further. From my position, having the Rank 4 as my ally was incredibly reassuring. I naturally treated her kindly and carefully selected my words in front of her. After a while, her affection would go up by 2 to 3 points every month before finally going over 20 after a year. It was slow but steady. Everything was proceeding smoothly. The problem started at ¡®that¡¯ point. ¡®¡­¡­Don¡¯t get close to Sabnak.¡¯ We were lying on a bed together and basking in the afterglow of some intense sex. I was confused. ¡®Pardon me?¡¯ Sabnak was the Rank 43 female Demon Lord with no affiliation. She was on Agares¡¯ side when the internal discord urred, so she had been careful around the ins Factiontely. The way she would furtively beg for forgiveness was interesting, so I had spoken with her a few times. ¡®I didn¡¯t think she was a particrly impressive individual.¡¯ ¡®If you¡¯re going to get along with her, then go ahead. She was the first one to run away when things became unfavorable for Agares.¡¯ ¡®I see.¡¯ I chuckled. ¡®Are you perhaps worried about¡­¡­.¡¯ Wait, I thought to myself. Gamigin¡¯s back was turned towards me, so I couldn¡¯t see what kind of expression she was making. Regardless, I felt an unknown chill wrap around me as I stared at Gamigin¡¯s exposed white back. What did Gamigin say just now? She had just told me the information of someone who was once her ally in order to win a bit of my favor. Why? For what reason was she doing this? If someone else were in my position, then they probably wouldn¡¯t have noticed. However, I could tell instinctually that Gamigin was trying to put me in her debt! All rtionships start to fall apart the moment emotional debt gets involved. I had done this much for the other party and showed them this much good faith, but I wasn¡¯tpensated appropriately. You have to repay me in kind¡­¡­. Things be irreparable once a business rtionship starts to break apart. Barbatos and I were well aware of this. Thus, we made sure to not be more considerate than necessary or be shown an unnecessary amount of consideration. All for the sake of not letting the other party hold any grudges. Prevent them from saying things like, ¡®I did this much for you, but why are you only doing this much for me!?¡¯ People aren¡¯t machines. However, they rust in a way as machines do. I could smell something metallic from the way Gamigin was behaving. ¡®¡­¡­You¡¯re worrying about me. Thank you.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ A sound effect rang telling me that her affection had gone up. Sure enough, Things started to tilt to one side as time passed. ¡®Miss Gamigin. Wait, please wait!¡¯ ¡®Gh¡­¡­!¡¯ ¡®Why are you acting this way? Damn it, were you bothered because I said I prefer Barbatos the most? Did you not promise to overlook that anyway?¡¯ ¡®Go¡­¡­go away!¡¯ Gamigin was clearly holding back her tears. Keeping her back towards me in order to not let me see her cry was probably thest bit of pride she had left as a Demon Lord. It was then that I realized that I was treating the Demon Lord known as Gamigin incredibly lightly. If you think about it, Gamigin¡¯s mask had never shattered before meeting me. She had maintained her mask for more than a thousand years. It was easy to guess how sad and lonely she must¡¯ve been. Therefore, Gamigin was aplete amateur when it came to dating. She may have gone out with many people and slept with them, but she probably never formed a proper bond with any of them. I was the first person she was dating without her mask on. There¡¯s no way that a girl like her could take hearing ¡®you will always be second¡¯ from me. I judged her wrong. I thought that Gamigin would naturally also be proficient with these sorts of things since Barbatos, Sitri, and Paimon were all impable. I would have noticed sooner if I had paid more attention! Thus. I decided to y my ultimate card. ¡®I¡¯ll stop her from even thinking about putting me in her debt.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯llpletely suppress her with a massive debt first¡­¡­!¡¯ I was the one who urged the archdukes to hold a banquet. The first step of my n was to have invitations only be sent to me and Gamigin among the Demon Lords. We were both wrapped up in a scandal and were mass producing more. We participated in the banquet like partners while in this scandalous state. The archdukes wanted to tter us Demon Lords andthe perfect couple happened to be right in front of them. It was predictable what kinds of questions they were going to ask. ¡®Then¡­¡­Your Highness, out of the female Demon Lords, who do you think is the most beautiful?¡¯ ¡®Aah. Of course, Miss Barbatos is the most beautiful.¡¯ I deliberately ridiculed her. ¡®Oh. This wine is rather luxurious.¡¯ I followed it up by nonchntly talking about the taste of the wine to fan Gamigin¡¯s anger further. Gamigin naturally couldn¡¯t bear to take this ridicule. ¡®I am going to step out for some air. It seems I have gotten too drunk tonight.¡¯ I got up after a moderate amount of time had gone by. If Gamigin had been acting ording to her emotions as I expected, then she would undoubtedly follow me. ¡®Ah, me too~. My head is screaming at me to let it taste some fresh air.¡¯ As expected, Gamigin obediently followed me to the private room. I almostughed because of how smoothly my n was going. I took out my pipe after entering the room. The herbs that I had put in my pipe weren¡¯t normal herbs. They were a type of anesthetic. I had been nning to stab myself from the beginning. I¡¯d be insane if I stabbed myself while I could still fully feel the pain. I¡¯m a detail-oriented man. It was a herb that made the sense of pain in one¡¯s entire body be dull. It might have been a side-effect, but it also made my facepletely stiff, but that didn¡¯t matter. It was a situation where I didn¡¯t have to put a fake emotion on my face. Once my body became dull enough, I took out a dagger without any hesitation and stabbed myself in the stomach. As expected, being under the effects of anesthesia didn¡¯t mean that the pain would bepletely gone. It was just barely endurable. ¡®W-What are you doing!?¡¯ Gamigin, who had no way of knowing what was going through my mind, panicked. It wasn¡¯t a joke how panicked she was as she tried to heal me. I disemboweled myself knowing that Gamigin was an archmage and proficient at healing. There was no risk of my life being in danger. And everything went as I nned. ¡°Uh, guuh¡­¡­ugh.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian? Are you conscious now?¡± Gamigin approached me. I caught a glimpse of her quickly wiping her tears away with a handkerchief. I shouldn¡¯t have to exin it, but I pretended to not notice something like that as I contorted my face as if I were in great pain. ¡°Where¡­¡­?¡± ¡°We¡¯re at my vi.¡± Gamigin red at me. I couldn¡¯t distinguish whether she was crying or feeling angry. People often made this expression whenever they felt bad but didn¡¯t want to apologize. I did that often with my mother. ¡°Why the hell did you do something like that!? Do you know how much I¡­¡­!¡± ¡°¡­¡­To apologize.¡± I struggled to answer. Referentially, it really was hard. It was hard trying to pretend as if it were hard. I looked straight into Gamigin¡¯s red eyes as I spoke. ¡°In order to apologize, to you¡­¡­ugh, I had no other option¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Gamigin¡¯s expression contorted further. That was what I wanted. Guilt. I was earnestly hoping for her to get swept up in that muddy feeling of guilt. There was nothing better than guilt to make someone shrivel back. Now Gamigin won¡¯t be able to dere that she¡¯s my lover in front of me. She was the very culprit that caused me to harm myself, after all. It¡¯d be great if she thought that. ¡°¡­¡­Considering, my position¡­¡­I made a vow to Barbatos¡­¡­.¡± I threw in another blow. ¡°If it¡¯s Gamigin¡­¡­I thought that, you would understand¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Tears immediately started to pool in the corners of Gamigin¡¯s eyes. Now was the perfect time. I slowly closed my eyes as if I were too tired to keep them open. One shouldn¡¯t watch when the other party is crying. I must remain as the victim alone. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to let her use her tears to act as if she¡¯s the victim. ¡°It seems, I¡¯m a little tired¡­¡­I¡¯m¡­¡­sorry, Gamigin¡­¡­sorry¡­¡­.¡± My eyes gently shut. Soon after, I heard the sound of Gamigin crying. It was clearly the sound of her ming herself. Of course, epting all of Gamigin¡¯s loneliness was an option. There was probably a path where we relied on each otherpletely, shared our emotions, and walked together. But why do I have to go out of my way to choose that path? It¡¯s the same with Barbatos as well, but I have no intention to be tied down by a single person. I n to livefortably even if Gamigin ends up living her entire life feeling guilty like this. People have to shoulder their own problems. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­uugh, hhg¡­¡­uuuh¡­¡­.¡± The sound of Gamigin¡¯s crying sounded like a beautiful luby as I let myself actually fall asleep this time. Mm, I worked hard today as well. *** Author¡¯s Afterword I dearly hope that none of my readers meet a bad man. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I share the same hope as the author. I hope you guys don¡¯t meet bad people ? Nothing too much toment. Life feels a bit hectic with my brother¡¯s wedding approaching and I¡¯m still trying to figure out my work situation. I don¡¯t exactly have a stable lifestyle at the moment¡­ Hopefully I can figure something out after my brother¡¯s wedding. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 250: Dungeon Master Chapter 250: DungeonMaster Deceiving Gamigin was nothing more than a concurrent task for me. It honestly wasn¡¯t anything impressive. I was simply teaching a good life lesson to an amateur dater. The sight of me disemboweling myself will probably remain as a trauma for her. Blood, broken ss on the ground, and pained groans¡­¡­. From now on, she will probably never try to dominate her future partners because of this trauma. In this regard, I¡¯ve be a great benefactor for all of Gamigin¡¯s future partners. People say that being too nice will only cause inconveniences, but look at me being this nice. ¡°You¡¯re up?¡± Gamigin was acting as usual when I woke up. At a nce, nothing about her had changed. Should I say that this was as expected of her? Her mental state should be extremely unstable right now, but she was good at hiding it. Her mask was perfect. I also acted like usual. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­!¡± However, when eating breakfast, I contorted my face and abruptly grabbed my stomach as if it were in pain while I was eating soup. Gamigin dropped her silver spoon in surprise. Her face became pale. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± I put on an awkward smile which made it seem like I was forcing myself to smile. ¡°I¡¯m all right, Miss Gamigin.¡± That was it. Gamigin couldn¡¯t put her mask back on throughout the entire day. The mask she had created so desperately had fallen apart with little effort. At lunchtime, there were surprisingly no knives ced on the table among the silverware. This was rather interesting. It seems any sort of knife-like object reminded her of her trauma now. At this rate, she¡¯s going to have a hard time if she goes to war in the future. Hahaha. I¡¯ll tell Barbatos about thister. Barbatos is someone who understands my personality fully. There was nothing to hide. Barbatos was also someone who hated humans so much that she would often say things like wanting to make children kill their own parents. In a way, we were mutually equal. ¡°Tsk tsk.¡± Barbatos clicked her tongue from her side of the crystal ball. ¡°Who knew that the day I would pity Gamigin would ever arrive. You live and learn.¡± ¡°Right? How could she have lived for that long and never had a proper rtionship before? Sheesh.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Well, yeah. That¡¯s not what I was feeling sympathetic about.¡± Barbatos took a puff out of her long pipe. ¡°Let me ask you something. Do you not feel bad about tricking Gamigin?¡± ¡°Hm? Why? The person who gets tricked is at fault.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, the expression on Barbatos¡¯ face crinkled up so much that I couldn¡¯t possibly describe it with words alone. I was just being honest. The number of humans that Gamigin ughtered easily went over ten thousand, so what was so wrong about giving that sort of viin a little trauma? The person who gets tricked is at fault. * * * Keuncuska Firm HQ. This building was always brimming with customers as there were no products the firm didn¡¯t deal in, whether they were from the demon world or the human continent, and they epted all customers indiscriminately. Small merchants were making a fuss as they were doing whatever they could to bargain with the staff members of the firm. The entrance was made out of marble in the style of the ancient republic. Beyond it was a tall, gothic-style structure that looked as if it were built recently. It was magnificent enough to im the title as the best in the demon world. This ce was my main objective for visiting Niflheim. In order to meet Ivar Lodbrok and see her real body. However, there was an issue. Getting here was easy enough after pleasantly leaving Gamigin¡¯s vi, but I wasn¡¯t sure how I was going to meet Ivar Lodbrok. I had forgotten the magic orb I used to directly contact Ivar back at my Demon Lord Castle. ¡°Ah, I don¡¯t really feel like going all the way back to my Demon Lord Castle aftering all the way here¡­¡­.¡± I was troubled. It¡¯d be great if there was a reception desk somewhere, but all I could see was a sea of merchants. I was too unfamiliar with theyout of the building. It was silly if you think that I was unfamiliar with the headquarters of the firm that I had traded with hundreds of times now. I can¡¯t do anything about it now. I decided to stop and ask one of the staff members. ¡°Hey, you. Let me ask you something. Where do I have to go to meet Ivar Lodbrok?¡± ¡°What?¡± The staff member gave me a weird look. ¡°¡­¡­Ha, is this guy retarded?¡± He let out a snort before continuing on his way. Well, I wasn¡¯t offended. He probably didn¡¯t know that I¡¯m a Demon Lord. Different from Barbatos and Paimon, my face isn¡¯t that known to the public. ¡®There¡¯s a man going out with several female Demon Lords,¡¯ this is the most that people know about me. I didn¡¯t let this bother me as I stopped another person. ¡°You there. I don¡¯t know theyout of the building that well. Do you perhaps know where Ivar Lodbrok is?¡± ¡°The exit is that way.¡± The staff member politely pointed outside the building. She walked away with quick, short steps. Mm. ¡°Ivar Lodbrok? You aren¡¯t talking about our chief, right?¡± ¡°How can a perfectly normal-looking man go so insane? Keke.¡± ¡°Why are you bothering me with this bullshit when I¡¯m busy!¡± The same thing happened dozens of times. The staff members either cursed at me or ignored me whenever I approached them. It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t understand them. To them, Ivar Lodbrok wasn¡¯t simply the CEO of the firm they worked for. He was the God of the business world who had been reigning for hundreds of years. It¡¯d be like a tourist going to the Vatican and asking ¡®Where do I have to go to meet the pope?¡¯. People would probably give them weird gazes. It was the same here. Except, understanding with my head was a separate matter from progressing the situation. I was standing in the center of the busy marketce like a solitary ind. ¡°¡­¡­What should I do?¡± Should I show the horn on the back of my head to prove that I¡¯m a Demon Lord? No, I still have my dignity as a Demon Lord¡­¡­. Moreover, not only do I only have one horn, but it¡¯s also rather small for a Demon Lord. Among Demon Lords, your horn size wasparable to a dick measuring contest between men. You were respected therger it was and ignored the smaller it was. My horn was so small that it was almost invisible under my hair. ¡°I don¡¯t really want to show it¡­¡­.¡± It was hopeless. I continued to ask for directions while hoping that I¡¯ll luckily find a nice person. However, far from being nice, there were only sharp-tempered assholes here. One of them even called the guards to chase me out, saying that I was a crazy person. 3 orc guards came up to me. ¡°Guest, you cannot act like this here.¡± The orc who appeared to have the higher position growled in a rather refined tone despite his looks. His toned body made it obvious that it¡¯d be dangerous to mess with him. ¡°Listen here. I really received an invitation from Ivar Lodbrok. I¡¯m a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Jeez, it seems this rude customer won¡¯t listen with just words. Guide him outside.¡± ¡°Hah¡­¡­.¡± I scratched my head. ¡°It probably won¡¯t matter if I say this to you guys, but you¡¯ll regret this soon. I¡¯m serious.¡± ¡°Huhu.¡± The orc guardughed while showing his teeth. ¡°I¡¯d regret it if I don¡¯t make a rude customer like you leave. Well, I don¡¯t like violence. Let¡¯s proceed peacefully so we don¡¯t have any bitter feelings toward each other afterward.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± If I wanted to, I could use my power as a Demon Lord to force them to listen. But I don¡¯t like making a scene. There¡¯s something Barbatos would always say to me whenever she had the chance, and that was to please keep my dignity. My body is no longer mine alone. It¡¯s funny, but that¡¯s the truth. I¡¯m the lover of Barbatos, Sitri, and Gamigin¡­¡­. If my reputation goes down, then theirs will as well. What would happen if a rumor got around saying that a Demon Lord mercilessly used his controlling power over the good people in the middle of a market hall? Niflheim consists of demons with aposed society. They aren¡¯t just a bunch of savage monsters. It might be different on the battlefield, but doing it thoughtlessly in a ce like this would only sully the names of Demon Lords. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll walk out on my own two feet.¡± ¡°Don¡¯te back.¡± I ended up sitting helplessly next to the fountain in front of the HQ building. I absentmindedly watched the sun set behind the city. A light gust blew through the city. Theundry lines that were set out like spiderwebs between buildings fluttered. Articles of clothing and nkets fluttered in the wind as if they were coincidentally caught on the lines after flying through the air. They all swayed in the same direction like a bunch of leaves on a tree branch. Those who have never stepped on air before and, even if they did, most likely did for only a moment before stepping foot on newnd, were talking, working, and returning home. I heard a young girl¡¯s voice from somewhere. ¡°Apples! Freshly picked apples for sale!¡± Another voice shouted. ¡°No, even if it were really big.¡± Arge cloud went over the city. A long shadow was cast over the city spires, expansive rooftops, and streets made of stone. The cloud soon passed the city. People were momentarily sad about the loss of the cool shade, but that was it. They returned their eyes back to the things that attracted their attention around them. The one thing that was clear was the fact that no one paid any interest in the man sitting quietly next to the fountain. It was after about 3 hours that a rather extravagant carriage came to a stop in front of me. A man hastily exited the carriage. ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t Sir Dantalian!¡± The man expressed his friendliness by taking my hands in his. Rank 68 Demon Lord Belial. Ever since Barbatos saved him when his Demon Lord Castle was about to get captured by the human army, he would act kindly to me since I happened to be Barbatos¡¯ lover. ¡°Ah, Sir Belial. It has been a while.¡± I smiled slightly. Referentially, there was also a time when I suspected that this guy was the culprit who supported Riff¡¯s party from behind. Although I had forgotten about that since there was no proof. ¡°I never imagined that I would meet you here on the street like this. No, may I ask for what reason you are here sitting calmly on the floor?¡± ¡°Haha. I was actually chased out from the firm.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± Belial¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock. ¡°You were chased out?¡± ¡°I came here because I have an appointment with the chief of Keuncuska, but the staff members must have failed to realize that I¡¯m a Demon Lord as they refused to let me see him. It is troubling. I promised I would get here before evening¡­¡­.¡± Belial let out a weird gasp. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have used your Demon Lord authority?¡± ¡°There were too many people around. I was afraid that bad rumors might begin to circte if I were to use it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true¡­¡­. Huh. That¡¯s a turn-up for the books.¡± In the end, I was able to arrive at the reception desk with Belial¡¯s help. This desk was meant specifically for weing VIP guests. It was on theplete opposite side of where I was, so I wasn¡¯t able to find it. ¡°Thank you very much, Sir Belial.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it¡­¡­haha.¡± Belial left after guiding me here. The old man soon came down once I told the receptionist to notify Ivar Lodbrok of my presence. It was Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s clone. He was apanied by subordinates on both his sides as if he were some mafia member. He bowed deeply the moment he saw me. ¡°I greet the O Great Being!¡± I waved my hand. ¡°Yeah, yeah. You¡¯re working hard. I¡¯ll allow you to skip the pleasantries.¡± ¡°My apologies, Your Highness, but I thought you would arrive sooner¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok spoke in a slightly perplexed tone. We didn¡¯t set an exact meeting time, but we did say that we would be meeting today. The other party was probably waiting all day. It definitely wasn¡¯t polite to keep them waiting. Especially when the person in question was the chief of Keuncuska. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. ¡°I actually arrived three or four hours ago.¡± ¡°Pardon me? Why did Your Highness note up?¡± ¡°I was chased out.¡± Ivar Lodbrok made the same expression Belial did earlier. ¡°My apologies, but this humble one is struggling to understand¡­¡­.¡± ¡°People failed to realize I¡¯m a Demon Lord, so I was chased out by the guards.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The temperature around us instantly dropped to below freezing. ¡°I revealed that I¡¯m a Demon Lord, but they insulted me and said I was a rude customer.¡± Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s expression became ghastly pale as if he had just witnessed the end of the world. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This was a fun chapter. Nothing too big, but it makes you look forward to see how Ivar will try to amend the situation. On another unrted note, next chapter has a chance of being a dayte because I have to go to like a pre-wedding dinner tomorrow. Basically, our family is going to have a meal at the wedding hall where my brother is going to get married to ¡®test the food¡¯. It doesn¡¯t sound like much, but it might end up taking up my whole day depending on how long people talk for¡­ God I hope it doesn¡¯tst long. In any case, if the next chapteres out a bitte, it¡¯s because of that. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 251: Dungeon Master (9) Chapter 251: Dungeon Master (9) ¡°Our guards, did that to Your Highness?¡± Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s voice was shaking. Iughed. ¡°Indeed. But you don¡¯t have to be too sorry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We¡¯vemitted a grave sin!¡± Ivar Lodbrok bowed before I could even finish speaking. He was fully groveling on the ground. Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s entourage also bowed at the same time. Basically, a dozen demons had bowed to me in unison. ¡°We¡¯vemitted a grave sin!¡± ¡°We¡¯vemitted a grave sin!¡± That wasn¡¯t all that happened. The chain ofmand must be really thorough here as even the staff members who couldn¡¯t possibly hear our conversation started to grovel one by one as soon as they saw an executive grovel first. With me at the center, every demon within a few dozen meters got down on their knees like dominos. It was quite the spectacle. ¡°W-What?¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Once all of the employees started to bow, the guests and merchants who were here for business became confused as they turned to look towards us. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I let out a mental sigh. Fine, Ivar Lodbrok. You politics-crazed old coot! I left peacefully when the guards chased me out. It was only natural. I was going to carry out a war of words with Ivar Lodbrok soon. In other words, I was handed an opportunity to put a bit of responsibility on the other party. Forgetting my crystal ball was my mistake; however, I was able to use that mistake in order to shift the me onto the other party. Nheless, Ivar Lodbrok acted lightning fast as soon as he heard what happened. Niflheim is the one and only neutral city in the demon world and Ivar Lodbrok is one of the magnates who rule this city. Ivar¡¯s standing is higher than most Demon Lords. Despite this, a person of his prestige groveled before the eyes of his subordinates. ¡°¡­¡­You have done nothing wrong.¡± Naturally, I had no other choice but to ept their apology. ¡°There is nothing for me to forgive. Please cease this excessive apology and stand back up.¡± I was going to say it was fine, but the other party had taken the initiative. Well, I already knew that Ivar isn¡¯t a pushover who would fall for a scheme as lowly as this¡­¡­. More importantly, how did Keuncuska educate their employees for them to grovel without even a single word ofint? These guys aren¡¯t normal either. ¡°That is not the case, Your Highness. Discourtesy is something that does not disappear unless forgiven.¡± Ivar Lodbrok kept his head pressed on the floor as he spoke. ¡°We shall go capture the individuals who hadmitted this sin and bring you their heads!¡± I furrowed my brows. Sheesh. You¡¯re really putting the nail on the coffin, huh? I had said ¡®there is nothing for me to forgive¡¯ earlier. The way I phrased it was incredibly ambiguous. It meant that I would overlook this incident, but that I wouldn¡¯t forget it. I was trying to put a mental burden on Ivar Lodbrok. The other party immediately realized this and responded by saying ¡®Let¡¯s punish them! Very severely!¡¯. In other words, the few words we exchanged in the past couple of seconds could be tranted to the following: ¡®What should we do since your men sinned against me?¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m sorry. Please forgive us.¡¯ ¡®I can¡¯t forgive you, but I¡¯ll overlook it for now.¡¯ ¡®If you can¡¯t forgive us, then how about giving them a solid punishment now and ending it here?¡¯ In other words, he didn¡¯t want to be in debt to me no matter what. This clever rat. What could I possibly gain from executing some orc guards? It would ruin my image. It was obvious that only bad rumors about how Dantalian had a tiny heart would circte. It would only be right to generously forgive them here. ¡°Heed me. There is a tale that has been passed down by sages for many generations.¡± Of course, I didn¡¯t have even the tiniest intention to go down silently. ¡°A certain nation was so rich and peaceful that the First Lord of a neighboring nation decided to go to this nation in disguise in order to learn something. Sure enough, the ruler of this nation received unending praise and his sovereignty was firm.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± People were obviously confused once I started to tell them an old tale. I spoke in the same way I did back when I was giving speeches in Frankia so that I could slowly bring the atmosphere over to my side. ¡°The First Lord was curious and decided to question amoner who happened to be nearby. ¡®How virtuous is the ruler of this nation to be so loved by his people?¡¯, he asked. Once asked this question, themoner nodded and answered him like this: I don¡¯t know what our ruler does.¡± I deliberately spoke in a soft tone. ¡°The First Lord was startled. Why are people praising this lord when they don¡¯t know what he does? Obviously, this unenlightened farmer knows nothing. The First Lord cursed at thismoner before looking for someone else.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Thus, the First Lord asked the same question to another person, but what¡¯s this? It turned out that the new person he asked didn¡¯t even know the appearance of their lord.¡± I could tell that the people around me were listening attentively to my story. It was probably because this was their first time hearing about such a story. I was simply reciting an old tale from an era of peace that I had once heard about before. Well, things like copyright don¡¯t exist here. In other words, I can use it however I want. ¡°Be it the third person, the fourth person, and eventually the seventh person he asked, they all answered that they didn¡¯t even know the name of their ruler. It was then that the First Lord came to a shocking revtion. By nature, the people only care about their own well-being! If the world is rich and peaceful, then who cares about the name or even the appearance of the ruler? On the other hand, the more chaotic the world is, the more the people care about the ruler. Thus resulting in them making fun of the ruler¡¯s name and ridiculing their appearance.¡± The sound of someone letting out an astonished gasp came from the crowd. I wasn¡¯t the one who made this story, but it was still a genuinely well-written one. ¡°Despite having arrived at this firm, I was chased away by the guards. They did not realize that I am a Demon Lord. If the Demon Lords of this era oppressed you all like tyrants, then you would have all memorized the appearances of every individual Demon Lord and recognized me immediately. I am actually pleased that no one was able to recognize me in this busy building. What is there to forgive when there is nothing to be sad about?¡± I smiled widely. ¡°Fortunately, I have confirmed here and now that I, Dantalian, have not erred you all in any great way up to this point. Employees of Keuncuska, cease this nonsense and stand back up. Your apology will contrarily be discourteous if this continues.¡± The employees of the firm hesitantly stood back up starting from the executives. Ivar Lodbrok shouted with a truly awed expression on his face. ¡°We are honored to receive Your Highness¡¯ Royal grace!¡± Following this, the sound of people saying they were honored resonated throughout the building. I smiled benignantly as I patted Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s shoulder. Ivar Lodbrok also smiled back at me brightly as he led the way. Glory to His Highness Dantalian! Glory to His Highness Dantalian! The people around us cheered. I smiled slightly at Ivar with my eyes. ¡®If you think I¡¯ll step down quietly, then you¡¯re making a grave mistake.¡¯ Once I did, the wrinkles around Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s eyes became deeper. ¡°How could we not praise Your Highness, when your benevolence has spared the life of a mere guard?¡± ¡°I am the one who wishes to praise you after seeing all of your employees look so satisfied and at peace.¡± In the end, didn¡¯t you go into a long speech just because you didn¡¯t want to punish some guard? Yup. You should take responsibility for managing your employees. Don¡¯t try to tuck your tail between your legs. This was the rough outline of our conversation. We pretended to have an amicable mood around us as we walked. ¡°Now then, pleasee this way.¡± There was a teleportation device installed at one side of the firm. It was going to take us to the highest floor. Even if this device had a preset location, the fact that they were allowed to use teleportation magic showed how much authority Keuncuska has. The two of us were the only people who used the teleportation device. We left the remaining executives behind. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The highest floor of the building waspletely quiet. The bustling atmosphere from earlier had vanished without a trace. We walked silently as if we had entered a separate dimension and went through the doors at the end of the hall. A dark room. A disembodied minotaur¡¯s head was hung up on the wall as decoration. Statues of bizarre demons and monsters filled the room. The room was overflowing with a dreary atmosphere. I could only say that the decoration in this room was in bad taste. And there were 10 coffins in the center of the room. Ivar Lodbrok opened his mouth. ¡°Your Highness, this is the first time in 2,000 years¡­¡­that this humble one is revealing her true body.¡± ¡°I swear to all of the Goddesses above that I, Dantalian, will not reveal your true identity to anyone.¡± Ivar Lodbrok slowly nodded his head. He walked forward with a firm look of resolve on his face. He entered one of the 10 coffins and a different coffin opened shortly after. A girl came out from that coffin. ¡°This humble one is Ivar Lodbrok, I greet Your Highness Dantalian once more.¡± The blonde girl raised the sides of her dress courteously. I carefully examined the girl¡¯s face. ¡°How long do you intend to make a fool out of me, Chief of Keuncuska?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± The girl blinked. ¡°What are you saying, Your Highness?¡± ¡°That is not your true body.¡± A small girl with blonde hair. It was the same up to this point. However, her eyes were different from what was portrayed in the game¡¯s illustrations for Ivar Lodbrok¡­¡­. Her eyes should be purple like amethyst. The girl in front of me had ck eyes. It wasn¡¯t Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s main body. I smiled. ¡°This is my final warning. Do not try to test me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Silently. The face of the monster that led a huge firm was cracking. ¡°¡­¡­How do you.¡± The girl¡¯s lips trembled as she spoke. ¡°My main body¡­¡­no one, truly no one should have ever seen it! How does Your Highness know about it!?¡± ¡°There are no perfect secrets. That is all there is to it.¡± The other party held back her sorrow as she turned away. She then returned to the coffin she had just stepped out of. Once she did, something happened as a different coffin opened up. With a creak, a type of smoke came flowing out from the coffin. A girl stood uppletely nude. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She slowly opened her eyes. They were purple. ¡°I greet His Highness Dantalian. I had resolved myself to never step out into the world again, so I did not have the time to prepare a proper attire. Please forgive me.¡± A vampire lord, the strongest puppet master, controller of a thousand bodies, a traitor among traitors who betrays the Demon Lord army and allies with the hero¡¯s party, the heroine who has her own special route in . I smiled brightly at the girl in front of me. ¡°Ivar Lodbrok. We finally meet.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel like I should know the story Dantalian tells here, but I have no idea. In any case, I can finally use female pronouns for Ivar. It¡¯s been so confusing for me.On another note, the single day dy did end up happening cause the wedding prep thingsted the entire day. I thought I could get some tranting done in the morning, but I got dragged around. Sorry about that. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 252: Fastest Man in the World Chapter 252: Fastest Man in theWorld I took off the ck mantle that was wrapped around my shoulders. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The girl closed her eyes tightly. It looked like she was resigning herself to her fate. It seems she was misunderstanding something because I had taken off ayer of my clothes. I held back myugh as I approached her. I realized once more how blindingly beautiful the girl in front of me was once I was only a single step away from her. Well, it might have been blinding simply because her outer appearance was that of a young girl. I took my pipe out of my mantle and put it into my pant pocket. I carefully ced my mantle around her pale, naked body. ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Ivar Lodbrok cautiously opened her eyes. She looked up at me. Her eyes made it clear that my actions werepletely unexpected. A casual smile appeared on my lips. ¡°It¡¯d be troubling if I were to let ady catch a cold.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I was certain that Your Highness would covet this young girl¡¯s body.¡± ¡°Hah? Why would I do something like that? I¡¯m no louse.¡± What a ridiculous assumption. Ivar Lodbrok furrowed her brows once I gave her that response. ¡°My apologies, but don¡¯t you prefer younger women, Your Highness? I was absolutely certain that that was the case after considering your rtionship with Her Highness Barbatos and the young girl whom you have as your servant.¡± ¡°That is absolutely incorrect.¡± Why is nder unregted and allowed to run rampant in the world? I don¡¯t get it. ¡°I prefer mature women. Even if that were my preference, I am not so foolish as to sexually harass the head of Keuncuska. Is this not obvious?¡± ¡°Mm. I see, so was the report incorrect?¡± Ivar Lodbrok stroked her chin as if there were a beard there. I gave her a puzzled look. It was then that she noticed what she was doing and stopped her hand. Ivar Lodbrok cleared her throat awkwardly as she wrapped the mantle around herself properly. ¡°Hm. It has been such a long time since I was in my main body that I have picked up some weird habits. Pardon me.¡± It wasn¡¯t only her body gestures, but the way she spoke was also no different from that of an old man. It was rather entertaining since it felt like I was watching a little girl trying to act like an adult. ¡°It is fine. All things considered, I bear the responsibility since I am the one who made you reveal yourself like this. Well, putting that aside. You really do not know how to treat a guest.¡± I plopped myself down on the sofa next to me. ¡°You have yet to bring out even a single cup of wine! How do you expect me to get along with you like this?¡± ¡°Your Highness, did you trulye all the way here to have a drink with me?¡± Ivar Lodbrok was staring right at me while holding the mantle with both of her hands. It seems she hasn¡¯t fully grasped the situation yet. ¡°What about it? Did you think I wanted to meet with your true form in order to grab hold of your weakness? I¡¯ve told you this several times already, but I only wish to get along with you.¡± I grinned. ¡°I am looking forward to seeing what sort of luxurious wine the head of Keuncuska will bring out for her guest. Please don¡¯t disappoint me. I¡¯m looking forward to it a lot.¡± Now then. Let the games begin. * * * It¡¯s a rather surprising fact, but I¡¯ve never met a heroine from ! Of course, I¡¯ve met a lot of female characters from the game. However, not a single one of them was a main heroine. Mortifyingly, everyst character that I had formed a rtionship with was a part of the side that was hostile to the main protagonist¡­¡­! Laura de Farnese was affiliated with Brittany which was tantly hostile to the protagonist. Barbatos, Paimon, Sitri, and Gamigin were Demon Lords, so they were naturally impossible to romance. I¡¯ve conquered every route for the heroines that appeared in the game. I knew better than anyone else how to coquet with them. Regardless, this meant that I obviously didn¡¯t know how to conquer the women who weren¡¯t heroines! I took a sip of wine and smiled bitterly. ¡®Thanks to that, Barbatos, Paimon, and Sitri¡¯s affections are all stuck at 50.¡¯ Dungeon Attack was really a shitty game. Every heroine had a type of ¡®Affection Lock¡¯. This was also a ratherplex system, but if I were to summarize it, you have toplete a specific quest in order to go over the first cap of 50 affection and then the next cap of 99. The prerequisite quest was different for each heroine. yers would have to go through all sorts of repetitive grinding in order to conquer certain heroines since the game gave almost no hints. However, I know them all. Trying to figure out the quests for the main heroines was so difficult that only a small number of guides even appeared on the forums. There were dozens of posts from people whining about wanting to see the H-scenes faster. I know them all. Not only were there a total of 72 major and minor heroines in total, but it was practically impossible to know how to conquer every single heroine since some of them had absurd conditions like, in the case of Imperial Princess Elizabeth, you had to beat Baal, the hidden boss, in order to go down her True Route. Nevertheless, I know them all! I¡¯m the game fanatic who grinded like crazy just to see Elizabeth¡¯s true ending. ¡°Haha, this alcohol has a special taste. As expected of Keuncuska.¡± ¡°I am relieved to hear that you like it.¡± What is there to hide? Ivar Lodbrok who was currently drinking high-quality wine in front of me¡­¡­was naturally one of the heroines for whom I had memorized the Affection Lock sequence! Ooh. O Goddess©¥. It was impossible to not be moved. As a priest of the Goddess Artemis, I could only be grateful for the blessing and fortune that filled the world. I have honestly been waiting for an opportunity like this. Seriously, the fact that I haven¡¯t been able to have sex with any of the heroines after falling into my favorite game was the most ridiculous thing ever! ¡°Kuh. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve gotten drunk. Come on now. You should also have another ss!¡± ¡°Of course, Your Highness.¡± The night was getting deeper. Ivar Lodbrok and I were both getting drunker. Both Demon Lords and vampires have very high tolerances against alcohol. Their regenerative powers prevent them from getting intoxicated. Because of this, a strange type ofpetitive spirit formed between us as we proceeded to fill our stomachs with alcohol as if we were drinking water. Ivar Lodbrok probably thinks we¡¯re simply drinking right now. We¡¯ve been chatting for more than three hours and she had yet to lower her guard since she was wondering when I was going to reveal my true face. ¡®Sorry, Ivar, but the game has already begun.¡¯ I smiled contently in my mind. The first hurdle to conquer Ivar Lodbrok, the vampire puppet master. There are 4 conditions standing in the way of this hurdle. First condition ¨C The yer character and Ivar Lodbrok must be drinking ¡®alone together¡¯. Second condition ¨C More than ¡®three hours¡¯ must have passed in the game since the yer character and Ivar Lodbrok started drinking together. Third condition ¨C At least ¡®one year¡¯ in the game must have passed since the yer character met Ivar Lodbrok. Fourth condition ¨C The yer character must hear a ¡®certain story¡¯ from Ivar Lodbrok. Originally, your affection with a heroine had to be fairly high in order to have a drink with them alone. There¡¯s no way that a man and a woman would be able to drink togetherte at night if they don¡¯t have affection, right? The problem is the fact that raising Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection in itself is incredibly difficult. It¡¯s apparent when you consider the fact that her affection hasn¡¯t reached 20 even though I¡¯ve known her for almost 3 years. You should be able to grasp how difficult this is. However. ¡®My prestige allows me to drink with the other party regardless of her affection.¡¯ Should I call this a cheat? I was able to create a shortcut and aplish something that was normally strictly restricted within the game system. How long a heroine drinks with you was also determined by their affection, but I was able to easily satisfy this condition as well. ¡®Let¡¯s satisfy the fourth and final condition.¡¯ I pretended as if I werepletely drunk as I proceeded to speak. ¡°I¡¯m saying this since it¡¯s just us two, but¡­¡­kuku. Demon Lords are real fucking bastards. They¡¯re assholes.¡± ¡°Your Highness?¡± ¡°I mean, you know as well, don¡¯t you? Look. A long time has already passed since the 8th Crescent Alliance was wrapped up. Despite this, I¡¯m still Rank 71 even though I probably made the biggest contributions¡­¡­. Do you know what this means?¡± Ivar Lodbrok closed her mouth tightly. This was a politically sensitive issue and she was probably uncertain about whether I was actually drunk or not yet. I acted even drunker as I started to shout. I actually was a little drunk. ¡°Baal is fair? Even bullshit sounds fairer than that. I don¡¯t know why, but he doesn¡¯t want to raise my rank. Damn it. Be it Baal or anyone else, Demon Lords are all selfish and arrogant bastards in the end¡­¡­!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok carefully opened her mouth. ¡°Do not grieve too much. There are still people like Barbatos and Sitri, right?¡± ¡°Oh? You aren¡¯t listening to me. I said that they¡¯re all selfish and arrogant!¡± I acted as if I were angry as I showed my left hand. ¡°Look. I don¡¯t have two fingers, right? I lost them because Barbatos asked for them.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°It was something about wanting proof of love. She wanted to cherish a promise that proved that she was the most important person to me. My fingers were cut off for a selfish reason like that. I heard she turned them into a ne and wears them around.¡± I grabbed a bottle of wine and drank straight from it. ¡°Kuh. What can I do? Barbatos is no different from being my owner¡­¡­. I can¡¯t offend her. If she wants my fingers, my toes, or even my eye, I have no choice but to let her have them¡­¡­. They¡¯re all selfish. All of them¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, you are exaggerating.¡± A shadow cast over Ivar Lodbrok¡¯splexion. I had a feeling the other party was slowly taking the bait. ¡°Exaggerating? Nonsense! If I could choose, then I wouldn¡¯t have chosen to be born as a Demon Lord. Demon Lord! Realizing the ideals of demonkind my ass!¡± I muttered. ¡°This race makes no sense. People should realize their ideals on their own¡­¡­. That is what makes ideals meaningful. Demon Lords are a mistake from birth. They are like an error in this world¡­¡­or whatever.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Honestly, the only difference between demons and humans is the fact whether Demon Lords can read their emotions or not. That¡¯s it¡­¡­. In other words, if Demon Lords didn¡¯t exist, then humans and demons are practically the same©¥.¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± Ivar Lodbrok shouted. ¡°If you say any more than that, then you will be going too far!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that so? Have I gone too far?¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°But that is the truth. I personally do not know why Demon Lords exist¡­¡­. We are simply politicians. We scheme, push people down, and incite the masses with our speeches like all other politicians¡­¡­. That is all we do. And yet, I¡¯m the one who has gone too far¡­¡­?¡± I dropped my head. ¡°But, aren¡¯t Demon Lords the ones who truly have gone too far? A countless number of demons and monsters have lost their lives because of the nonsense prattled on by Demon Lords¡­¡­. Ivar Lodbrok, even when I¡¯m drunk, I can confidently say which side has gone too far¡­¡­.very clearly¡­¡­..¡± A moment of silence went by. The two of us drank in silence. How much time had passed, I wonder? A voice came from where Ivar Lodbrok was sitting. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, do you truly think that?¡± Good. I smiled broadly in my mind. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, next chapter will definitely be dyed. The day has finallye. My brother is getting married tomorrow. I¡¯m already dreading it. I¡¯m definitely happy for him, but I don¡¯t like the idea of going there early and just standing around doing nothing for hours. I¡¯ll try to suck it up, I guess. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys after my brother¡¯s wedding. Chapter 253: Fastest Man in the World (2) Chapter 253: Fastest Man in the World (2) ¡°Hm¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I asked whether Your Highness truly thinks that or not.¡± I raised my head and looked at the girl. The room was luxurious but dark. In this space lit by a few shimmering candles, the vampire¡¯s purple eyes glowed like gems. The gems had no emotions. Her gaze contained nothing but beauty. ¡°¡­¡­No. Not exactly.¡± I have to deny it once here. I made it seem like I had sobered up, like I was urgently trying to take back the words that had slipped out because of the alcohol. I grabbed the cup of water which I had never touched since we had started drinking and gulped the water down. I¡¯m drinking water to sober up. I was probably giving off this impression. ¡°You know as well, do you not? I have a tendency to exaggerate my words. Haha. I simply said those things because we happen to be drinking, so do not worry about it.¡± ¡°As Your Highness has said, we are drinking tonight. Therefore.¡± Ivar Lodbrok filled my ss. ¡°Everything will simply evaporate into thin air no matter what is said. If Your Highness has any grievances, then this humble one will more than dly listen to them.¡± ¡°Huhu. Is the head of Keuncuska my drinking buddy? It seems I have also reached sess.¡± I changed the subject here again. ¡°Very well, then. We should start to discuss the establishment of a shop inside my Demon Lord Castle. I do not have a great desire to bargain with you. You went out of your way to reveal your true body to me, so I should also be considerate in my own way, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Of course, this humble one would only be grateful.¡± Ivar Lodbrok answered calmly. She took a sip of her wine. We had entered a new topic just now. The other party drank her wine despite this. What did this mean? You¡¯re able to close your mouth when drinking alcohol, so you¡¯re naturally able to take a step back from the conversation. ¡®Now then. What¡¯s on your mind now, Ivar Lodbrok?¡¯ There were two probabilities. First, the other party was letting me talk. In other words, this was like an ¡®All right, let¡¯s see what you have to say about this new topic¡¯-kind of attitude. This was practically an instinctual gesture. It¡¯s a rather interesting thing, but people tend to do something else when they want to agree with something. So in Ivar¡¯s case, her drinking wine and turning her gaze away by 30 degrees from me¡­¡­ these sorts of gestures could be tranted as the following: ¡¸Despite doing other things like this, not only do I agree with what you said, but I cannot help but nod because of some irresistible force.¡¹ You¡¯re intentionally showing that you¡¯re distracted. You want to focus on the new topic but failed because you were so interested in what the other person was saying. That¡¯s how much I was focusing on your words¡­¡­. It roughly meant something along these lines. All things considered, it was a rather strategical gesture. People are almost never genuine, so they have no other choice but to utilize these kinds of minor ¡®acting tools¡¯ in order to feign sincerity. However, Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s behavior did not fall under this first category. I wasn¡¯t supposed to be the one to start talking earlier. The other party was supposed to respond since I brought up the topic. Despite this, she ignored the timing and drank her wine instead¡­¡­. Therefore, the second probability¡­¡­she was deliberately showing her disapproval. ¡¸I am not very interested in the new topic that Your Highness has brought up. Furthermore, I do not agree with changing the subject.¡¹ This was a rather aggressive expression of opinion. This could easily be overlooked in a normal conversation, but that¡¯s not possible in drinking parties between politicians. In boxing terms, this was like a light hook. She probably wants to see how I respond to this attack. ¡®Fine.¡¯ It took 2 seconds for me to reach this conclusion. I moved my hand to ce my cup on the table as I mulled it over. ¡®Should I pretend as if I didn¡¯t understand again and ignore it? How would she respond? Would this be a good measure to take?¡¯ A corner of my mind immediately vetoed this idea. ¡®No. I¡¯m currently acting as if I had quickly sobered up. That means I should be incredibly on edge right now. It¡¯d be impossible to not notice the other party¡¯s intent. No matter how much I tried to manage my expression, it¡¯d look forced.¡¯ All right. I¡¯ll ept her opinion. Then what would be the best response? 3 seconds were about to pass. I¡¯ve almost ced the cup of water back down on the table. I don¡¯t have much time left. This is the only thing your head is good for, you idiot. Hurry up and find an answer. Isn¡¯t observing the other party¡¯splexion and responding ordingly your specialty!? ¡®What about silence?¡¯ That¡¯d be the worst. Silence is the most contrived acting in the world. Only the worst actors think silence is the most natural state. ¡®If anything, I should be aggressive.¡¯ That¡¯s it. Now something useful ising up. I thought to myself as I smiled gently. That¡¯s right. I had just sobered up. I¡¯m in the middle of regretting my actions after revealing my true self too much. I should be fairly on edge right now. ¡°¡­¡­Ivar Lodbrok.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Let me first apologize for trying to change the topic. Yes, I did dere before that trust is required between us.¡± Despite this, the other party went on the offensive against me. What should I do? I have no other choice but to fray my nerves and growl back like a mutt. I was certain that this was the answer as I spoke. ¡°But I must admit that I still feel hesitant. You refused to show me your true body until the very end. You acquired a body that looked almost like you and put that forward.¡± ¡°Your Highness, that was¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am not reproaching you.¡± I chuckled as if I were trying to reassure her. ¡°Well, we have known each other for several years now. I have gradually gotten used to your methods. You are the type of person who cannot bear it if you do not prepare tests after tests and obstacles after obstacles.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But I hope that you can understand. Your decision of trying to test me until the very end has made it difficult for me to open myself up to you with ease. At most, a bit was only able to slip out thanks to the influence of alcohol. That is all.¡± Now she should be the one feeling impatient. Cunning people tend to believe that the solution theye to on their own is the right answer. No matter how rational someone else sounds, people will always doubt the words of others initially. This happens more frequently the smarter the person is. On the other hand, people think that they are close to the answer if theye to a conclusion after mulling over it carefully. Currently, Ivar Lodbrok has only one question on her mind©¥whether I¡¯m being sincere or not. The demeanor that I had furtively disyed to her until now and the fact that I was being on edge after trying to change the topic at first were the only clues she had¡­¡­. ¡°Very well, then.¡± The girl swept her blonde twin tails behind her as she spoke. ¡°Your Highness mentioned that you were able to talk thanks to the influence of the alcohol. If that is the case, then we simply have to receive Dionysus¡¯ Blessing.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I raised a brow as if I were surprised. ¡°In other words, you are courteously suggesting that I should drink until I be dead drunk¡­¡­. Is it fine for me to think this?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± She raised her right hand and flicked it in the air. Before I knew it, there were strings attached to the tip of her fingers and they glimmered slightly as the light from the candles reflected off of them. The strings soon wrapped around a few dozen bottles of alcohol that were on the other side of the room. She pulled the bottles to her with a ¡®woosh!¡¯ and she received them gently by fluttering the mantle over her shoulders. It was a fantastical performance. ¡°Impressive!¡± I found myself apuding her. The girl¡¯s pale naked body was on full disy because she was using the mantle to receive the bottles, but it didn¡¯t matter. Ivar Lodbrok ced the wine bottles down one by one from the mantle. Thud. Thud. Thud. The bottles were lined up like the walls of a fortress. Once the number exceeded thirty, the bottles gave off an imposing aura. ¡°If this humble one may, I believe that Your Highness is by no means a light drinker. This humble one is also fairly well-versed in drinking.¡± ¡°Are you saying it would be difficult to speak with only normal alcohol?¡± ¡°That is correct. Everything that has just now been presented before Your Highness is the strongest liquor you can find in Naraka. If a normal vampire were to drink this, they would be a drunkard after only a single bottle.¡± How about it? The girl offered a bottle to me daringly. ¡°Would Your Highness like to wager whether Your Highness¡¯ truth or this humble one¡¯s truth is lighter?¡± ¡°Kuhu.¡± I apuded her once more. ¡°Now you are showing me some grandeur. I have been longing for a moment like this, head of Keuncuska.¡± The girl in front of me was undoubtedly smart. She probably remembers every conversation we¡¯ve had and had thuse to this decision. Despite not knowing that she was tripping herself because of this clever side of hers. ¡°Then?¡± ¡°Will I partake in this match? Of course I will.¡± Since I didn¡¯t have anything like the truth in the first ce. The only person here who has something to confess is you, Ivar Lodbrok. ¡°Despite my flimsy appearance, I am someone who has drunk with Barbatos and Beleth. I cannot say that I am the best in the Demon Lord Army, but I am at least in the top ten. I will tell you this now, but you wille to regret challenging me to a drinkingpetition.¡± ¡°Being able to drink with Your Highness is already an honor in itself, so what is there to regret?¡± We both believe that we have nothing to lose. From Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s perspective, I already have a grasp of almost all of her truth. I knew that Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s main body was something else and that she had lost her lover to a Demon Lord a very long time ago. In other words, there was nothing else she could reveal to me¡­¡­. She probably thinks that my truth is the only thing that¡¯s left to be revealed since everything she had hidden away was already revealed. A fight where she had nothing to lose. ¡®But this is actually a fight where only you have things to lose.¡¯ She came into this fight trying to pry something out of me that never existed in the first ce. How utterly foolish. ¡®For example, Ivar Lodbrok.¡¯ I took out my pipe and put the end of it in my mouth. ¡®You have no idea that I prepared herbs that relieve hangovers.¡¯ Half of the herbs that were mixed into my pipe were of that relief medication. This was the precaution that I had asked Jeremi to prepare. The medicine wasn¡¯t made out of a single herb, but was instead created by fusing a whole bunch of herbs together. This way, she shouldn¡¯t be able to know what I¡¯m smoking with just the smell alone. ¡°Hoo.¡± I took a long puff from my pipe. I could feel my head bing clearer. I¡¯m not sure if it was because of my mood, but the effectiveness of the herbs was amazing. Keke. ¡°Then let us drink.¡± ¡°Yes. Allow this humble one to pour Your Highness a cup first.¡± Ivar Lodbrok courteously poured me a ss. This was a match where the result had already been predetermined, but that¡¯s life for you. Life is a game since the victor is always predetermined. Largepanies build casinos because they¡¯re certain of their victory. One hour. Two hours. And eventually, five hours. We drank without even a moment of rest. A long time had passed since we finished the first thirty bottles, and then another thirty bottles, and then another. Thus, the girl in front of me ended up like this. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­.¡± Her face was bright red. ¡°Ivarrr Lodbrook? Are you drunk? You drunk? Kuhaha.¡± ¡°No¡­¡­Your Highness, is the one, who¡¯s drunk.¡± ¡°No I¡¯m not! Not one bit!¡± I cackled. I really looked like a drunkard. Both Ivar Lodbrok and I have been slurring our words for a while now. ¡°Now then, it¡¯s now your turn. It¡¯s your turn to drink!¡± ¡°Very well¡­¡­here I go!¡± The naked girl raised a bottle of wine high into the air. She then drank straight from the bottle. The sound of her gulping echoed audibly and it didn¡¯t take long before the bottle was empty. ¡°Kuh! It is now Your Highness¡¯ turn¡­¡­!¡± Referentially, Ivar Lodbrok had taken my mantle off at some point. She was drinking naked. Not only was her face red, but her neck and chest were red as well. Apletely drunk girl was in front of me. I grinned widely as I responded. ¡°Fine¡­¡­fine! Wait, let me take a puff from my pipe.¡± I put the end of the pipe in my mouth. Mm. What a fragrant taste. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, I¡¯m back from my brother¡¯s wedding. I¡¯m so tired. My back hurts. I had to go out again the day after the wedding to return the hanbok that my mom rented from a store an hour away. This has been such a mental and physical drain. I just want to chill right now, but I also don¡¯t like being behind on tranting. What a conundrum. I¡¯ll just see how my well-being is tomorrow. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 254: Fastest Man in the World (3) Chapter 254: Fastest Man in the World (3) ¡°Hooo.¡± A sweet-smelling smoke flowed out from between my lips. A drunk and beautiful girl was in front of me with cheeks as red as a ripe apple. A delicate wine in my right hand and herbs that my subordinate had made specially for me in my left hand. This is the life. This is what it means to be a man. It¡¯s so beautiful life. I¡¯d have to borrow a westerner¡¯s tongue in order to be able to express the current emotion I was feeling. I was so moved that I absentmindedly stared at the smoke that dissipated in the air. Ivar Lodbrok seemed to misunderstand something as sheughed slyly. ¡°Your Hiiighness? I¡¯ll put the alcohol away if you can¡¯t handle any more?¡± ¡°Kuku. You aren¡¯t intimidating at all when you¡¯re slurring so much.¡± ¡°This humble one¡¯s tongue is fiiiiiine, though©¥?¡± ¡°Sure you are.¡± The corners of your mouth have meltedpletely and you can¡¯t control your facial expressions at all now. I picked up a bottle and gulped it down. The confident look on the girl¡¯s face gradually became darker as the bottle became lighter. Eventually, Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s expression became nk once I emptied the bottlepletely. Should I try poking her now? ¡°Phoo¡­¡­.¡± I lowered my head as if I couldn¡¯t take any more. The girl¡¯s voice lit up a bit once I did. ¡°Is it too much for you nooow?¡± ¡°Kuuh. No. Any more¡­¡­hoo, might be hard.¡± I dropped the bottle in my hand to add a little more realism to my acting. The bottlended softly since the floor was carpeted. Ivar Lodbrok must¡¯ve thought that I waspletely intoxicated as she quickly got up from her side of the table and sat down next to me. She patted my back as she spoke. ¡°Your Highness? Will you stop? Shall we call it my win, then?¡± Her words sounded concerned, but her tone was filled with joy. Seeing her in such a messy state made her look rather cute. I even wondered for a moment if I should push her down and take her here and now. Ivar Lodbrok is a wise person. She¡¯d probably be delighted to make a physical bond with a Demon Lord like me since she could use it politically. But it was still too early for that. I wasn¡¯t particrly infatuated with Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s beauty. It was simply a desire to formally copte with a heroine from the game that I love so much. ¡°Fine, fine¡­¡­I surrender! I can¡¯t take it anymore. I give up. If you want to ask me something, then go ahead. I¡¯ll answer anything that I can.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡­Your Highness. It may be impudent of me, but allow me to ask you something.¡± Ivar Lodbrok stroked my back. ¡°How did Your Highness know about this one¡¯s past¡­¡­whether it be about how this one had hid her true body or how this one had lost her lover a long time ago, how did Your Highness know about these things?¡± ¡°Oh? Those? It¡¯s simple. I have the power to see the past.¡± I gave her the answer I had prepared beforehand. ¡°The power to see the past?¡± ¡°Whenever I see someone¡­¡­I naturally recall the things they went through in the past. Well, it isn¡¯t an amazing ability. And it¡¯s not like I always recall things either. For example, I cannot recall the past of Demon Lords. I only get small glimpses very rarely.¡± ¡®So you aren¡¯t a prophet¡­¡­.¡¯, the girl muttered to herself. ¡°Then when Your Highness spoke down to the woman from the imperial family of Habsburg on Bruno ins?¡± ¡°Indeed. I was lucky at that time. I recalled those events as soon as I saw her. I admit that I must have recalled¡­¡­her most painful memory.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Ivar Lodbrok sounded convinced. ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­you said that you question the reason why Demon Lords exist. Why is that?¡± ¡°Hm? Didn¡¯t I tell you? Be it demons or humans, the only reason there is a difference is because of the petty tricks of Demon Lords.¡± I mixed in groans between my words to make it seem like I had a headache. I also made sure to talk in a long-winded way like a drunkard. I had to make sure that it sounded like I was telling the truth, but also as if this was the prattling of a drunk. ¡°When ites to sentience¡­¡­yeah. In regard to them being sentient beings, humans and demons are no different. What does it mean to be sentient? They are free beings. They are able to control themselves. And yet, because of Demon Lord, solely because of Demon Lords, demons are robbed of their freedom¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If demonkind wishes to be born again as demonkind, then Demon Lords must all disappear. Yup. My goal¡­¡­My goal is to make all Demon Lords disappear.¡± I heard the girl gasp. ¡°All Demon Lords¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That will be the start of everything. Mhm, that¡¯s right. Only then will demonkind be able to live fairly¡­¡­. They will be able to live as genuinely sentient beings.¡± ¡°B-But, didn¡¯t Your Highness lead the Crescent Alliance to sess?¡± ¡°What¡¯s important is bnce.¡± I raised my head and stared straight at Ivar. ¡°Out of all the things dered by Demon Lords, there is one thing they got right¡­¡­. The fact that Hell is too barren for demonkind to live. Look at the orcs. The orcs that have settled on the continent are prospering everywhere and breeding¡­¡­but what about in Hell? There are, at most, a few thousand. That is how much the environments differ when youpare the continent with Hell¡­¡­.¡± I grabbed a bottle that was on the table and took a swig. ¡°Kuh. What would happen if all the Demon Lords were to die right now? An unprecedented mass panic would ur. The humans would then use that opportunity to chase everyst demon out of the continent. We must weaken the human forces before we can get rid of the Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Bnce, is it¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok mumbled to herself. ¡°Bnce. Both sides must be shaved down to a fair size through continuous wars. The 8th Crescent Alliance was the first step for that n. Although we ended up winning a bit too much. That was a miscalction.¡± I stared straight into her eyes. ¡°That is why I caused a civil war.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that¡­¡­?¡± Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s voice shook. ¡°That war happened through the arbitrary actions of Her Highness Agares and Her Highness Gamigin¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How foolish. Despite having schemed the battle, Gamigin did not receive any sort of punishment. Instead, Barbatos gave her somend. Do you think this was a coincidence?¡± ¡°Is Your Highness saying that you nned that war from the very beginning!?¡± I smiled. ¡°Agares may not be smart, but she isn¡¯tpletely stupid either. If I didn¡¯t put an ally like Gamigin at her side, then she wouldn¡¯t have even tried to start a war. We did have to give all of Moravia to Gamigin in order to persuade her, but, oh well, it wasn¡¯t a bad trade.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The girl¡¯s purple eyes wavered. ¡°Thanks to that, I was able to weaken the Demon Lord army a bit. Now the Demon Lord army does not have enough strength to continue the Crescent Alliance. No, even if they did, they probably still wouldn¡¯t. Do you know why?¡± ¡°¡­¡­This one is clueless.¡± ¡°Huhu, you must be drunk. Normally, you would have easily put the pieces together. It¡¯s simple. A seed of doubt has been nted in the Demon Lord army. Agares had already started a war once. What certainty do the other Demon Lords have that one of their allies won¡¯t betray them?¡± In truth, the Neutral Faction had stopped their expedition after the internal discord that urred. There was a potential threat of being betrayed by allies. That has happened numerous times throughout history and Agares did so again recently. It should be fine to say that the 8th Crescent Alliance was over now. ¡°As a result, the humans gained the opportunity to take a breather. Isn¡¯t it fortunate for them?¡± ¡°If the humans are able to recover their forces¡­¡­does Your Highness intend to start another war?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± I asserted. ¡°In the next war, I will push both humankind and the Demon Lord army to the brink of annihtion. I will make it so that the humans cannot continue the war even if all of the Demon Lords were to fall. That¡¯s right, it should be enough if we let Bernicia and Castile remain¡­¡­it should bnce out with that.¡± ¡°That is absurd. That is an absurd path!¡± The girl red up as she shouted. ¡°How many lives do you think will be lost!? Tens of thousand¡­¡­no, hundreds of thousands of people may die indiscriminately. You said that you would give freedom back to demonkind, but you would be forcing demons to their deaths¡­¡­that is outrageous!¡± ¡°Oh? Then? Are you saying that we should leave things like this?¡± I smirked. Ivar Lodbrok doesn¡¯t have much love for her kind anyway. This can be solved easily. ¡°The number of demons and humans that died throughout the past thousands of years because of the Crescent Alliance already exceeds the hundreds of thousands. How many more will die in the next few thousand years? Like that, those thousands of years will repeat pointlessly with the Demon Lords still alive and the demons without freedom.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If hundreds of thousands of lives will be lost anyway, then it would only be appropriate for Demon Lords to die as well! It doesn¡¯t matter if this sounds absurd. This path is more correct!¡± I grabbed the girl by her hand. Her hand was small and soft. ¡°Ivar Lodbrok¡­¡­do you not feel resentful? Speak to me. What you went through in the past. All of the unjust things that were done to you. Tell me about the resentment you have toward Demon Lords!¡± ¡°I¡­¡­I.¡± The corners of the girl¡¯s mouth shook. ¡°¡­¡­I was a member of a small and weak group. His Highness Vassago¡­¡­he made a promise with this one¡¯s kin. He promised us riches and prosperity as long as we helped him.¡± Finally, the ¡®story¡¯ that I wanted to hear from Ivar Lodbrok wasing out of her mouth. Vassago. The Rank 3 Demon Lord. There was a time when Ivar Lodbrok had sworn her loyalty to him in the past. ¡°But, once he fell into imminent peril while fighting the dragonkin¡­¡­Vassago, he¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He what?¡± I asked back strongly. ¡°What did Vassago do?¡± ¡°He used this one¡¯s kin¡­¡­as a sacrificial scapegoat.¡± Ivar Lodbrok shed a tear. ¡°He used his oppressive power as a Demon Lord¡­¡­. While we were unable to flee and continued to die off, only Vassago escaped¡­¡­. My father, my mother, and my lover, they all¡­¡­. I was the only¡­¡­. I hid underneath the corpses and survived alone¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is just how Demon Lords are¡­¡­. This one made a vow to one day get vengeance! That I would return to them a betrayal of the same weight to those people who have ridiculed, toyed with, and betrayed us¡­¡­!¡± Thus, after losing her entire kin, she entered the business world by herself. Even Demon Lords require money. She was determined to take hold of every Demon Lord¡¯s funding by creating the biggest merchant firm in the demon world. She did whatever means necessary as a vampire and did her best even if it meant throwing away some bodies. The poststorm that urred after Ivar Lodbrok betrayed the Demon Lords in really did end up being immense as well. The biggest merchant firm in the demon world ended up copsing in only a single day. The numerous smaller firms that had been relying on Keuncuska ended up going bankrupt, the entire economy of Niflheim burst, and, naturally, the Demon Lord army fell into extreme panic. Ivar Lodbrok achieved her revenge. ¡°Hhg¡­¡­gh¡­¡­.¡± The girl was crying. Her small shoulders trembled as she remembered the family and lover she had lost long ago. Thousands of years are more than enough to make one¡¯s desire for revenge and yearning for one¡¯s family fade; however, Ivar Lodbrok managed to walk all the way here while shouldering that vow. ¡°I know.¡± I hugged her tightly. ¡°I know what you have gone through and how cruel Demon Lords are. That is why I have always wished to work together with you. I believed that you were the only one who could understand my hatred for Demon Lords.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness.¡± ¡°Ivar Lodbrok. Myrade. I may be a Demon Lord and you a demon, but we harbor the same feelings despite that.¡± I stroked her blonde hair as I whispered. ¡°Let us rid the world of Demon Lords. Let us create a world where no one will cry due to being wronged by a Demon Lord. Let us believe that this is the reason we were born into this world. Even if it means shedding the blood of hundreds of thousands of people¡­¡­.¡± I could feel the girl nod with her head against my chest. Of course. Everything I said was a lie. ¡®Kuh.¡¯ She probably doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m smiling right now. Get rid of every Demon Lord? That would include me as well. That¡¯s not even funny. I don¡¯t have a hobby ofmitting suicide. I simply went along with Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s feelings and told her the words that she desperately wanted to hear. ¡®I did it! I¡¯ve cleared all of the conditions!¡¯ I had to clear the following conditions in order to break the cap on Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection: First condition ¨C The yer character and Ivar Lodbrok must be drinking ¡®alone together¡¯. Second condition ¨C More than ¡®three hours¡¯ must have passed in the game since the yer character and Ivar Lodbrok started drinking together. Third condition ¨C At least ¡®one year¡¯ in the game must have passed since the yer character met Ivar Lodbrok. Fourth condition ¨C The yer character must hear a ¡®certain story¡¯ from Ivar Lodbrok. If you fulfill all four of these conditions, then you can raise Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection above 50. I can smoothly raise it all the way up to 99. Although I have to fulfill one more condition if I want to hit 100. Furthermore, the condition to break the greatly anticipated 99 affection cap is this: ¡®See Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s ¡®true¡¯ body!¡¯ That¡¯s right. When Ivar Lodbrok joined the hero¡¯s side, she didn¡¯t use her true body from the very beginning. She used the body she showed me earlier, the body with a simr frame but different colored eyes. She had quite a careful personality. Dear me. I ended up already seeing Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s true body. ¡®In other words¡­¡­I broke two of her Affection Locks at the same time!¡¯ It was for this sake that I kept singing about wanting to see her true body over and over again. In truth, the victor was already decided since the moment Ivar Lodbrok came to see me with her true body in tow. Didn¡¯t I say so earlier? Games are something with predetermined results. Sure enough. ¡¸Deep friendship! The other party considers you as a genuinerade. A new title has been given to the other party because of this bond.¡¹ ¡¸Absolute trust! The other party considers you as a lifelong partner. A new title has been given to the other party because of this surprising bond and trust.¡¹ The notification that would appear when breaking an affection cap appeared right before my eyes. Even though Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection hadn¡¯t exceeded 20 yet, the notification had appeared because the cap was broken. This was the biggest trick among tricks. Now all I had left to do was raise her affection with no obstructions whatsoever to block me. It should go up even faster now thanks to the effects of the new titles. Conquering her should be like taking candy from a baby. ¡°Hgh¡­¡­hgg, hu¡­¡­.¡± I smiled happily while hugging the crying girl in my arms. I lied a little, but I didn¡¯t have even a slither of conscience left in me to feel guilty about lying now. The fact that I had conquered an official heroine filled me with a great sense of aplishment. This was the moment when the fastest route clear in history took ce. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, I¡¯m reminded over and over again how maniptive Dant is. He really makes women swoon. It¡¯s only a coincidence that Ivar looks sort of young :^) I don¡¯t have much else to say this chapter. I¡¯ve been ying Lost Ark recently. I wanted to y on NA West since I have the best ping there, but all my friends went to East, so now I suffer with slightly more ping. It¡¯s a pain, but I do it for my friends :¡¯) Man, I¡¯ve been waiting for this game toe out globally since 2018. That¡¯s like 4 years. Why¡¯d it take them this long? Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 255: Fastest Man in the World (4) Chapter 255: Fastest Man in the World (4) ¡°It¡¯s okay. Everything will be okay now.¡± I leaned backfortably on the sofa. I stroked Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s back as I pressed her face against mine. I naturally ended up covered in her tears. I couldn¡¯t stop lying yet. ¡°It may be slow like a camel walking through a desert¡­¡­but everyst step will be taken with no corners cut. Dawn will always arrive no matter how long the night is. Everything will be okay.¡± I whispered to her as gently as I could. I was like a shaman that was trying to hypnotize a child. I made it seem like I would ept her entirely. ¡°Everything, everything will be all right. Ivar Lodbrok, O prideful vampire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The girl looked up at me for a moment with her tear-filled eyes. Our surroundings werepletely dark. The candles only made the darkness darker. My face was the only thing that was reflecting off of her purple eyes. The girl muttered quietly. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness.¡± I wasn¡¯t dull enough to not know the implication of her gaze. A pair that understood one another. Two people who have vowed to walk together. A dark night, a candle-lit room, and the scent of alcohol that melted one¡¯s senses. I nodded. I slowly brought my face closer to hers. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok closed her eyes. Her light pink lips looked soft. However, I didn¡¯t go there. I instead gave her a light kiss on her small forehead. Ivar Lodbrok blinked at me in surprise. ¡°Why¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I am not so barbaric that I would embrace a preciousdy such as yourself while under the influence of alcohol, Ivar Lodbrok.¡± I gave her a thoughtful smile. Her already red face became even redder as she blushed. Ding, a sound effect rang loudly. ¡¸Vampire Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection has risen by 14!¡¹ Her affection genuinely went up for the first time. The affection of a heroine who was among the highest tier of demons went up by a whole 14. This was definitely the influence of breaking the affection limit. Ivar Lodbrok avoided my gaze and started to babble. ¡°Uh¡­¡­this one, didn¡¯t mean it like that¡­¡­I apologize, but I was, uh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Come to think of it you, you¡¯re rather cute.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Her face went red again. It felt like she was trying to show how far someone could go to reach the color red. Another notification appeared telling me that her affection had risen by 2. This was quite literally an affection festival. Ivar Lodbrok moved her arms around in order to get away from me. Although her struggle was useless. She was drunk, so her movements were sluggish. This made her attempts to push me away fruitless. ¡°Y-Your Highness, it is veryte now. So this one will¡­¡­. This one©¥hbb!?¡± She couldn¡¯t finish her sentence. I blocked her before she could. Pushing the other person away gently when they approach and chasing after them aggressively when they try to back away. This was my favorite tactic. Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s eyes opened wide and she iled her arms because of this unexpected assault. It was way too weak to say that she was putting up a resistance. ¡°Mm¡­¡­gbb, haa. Wait¡­¡­mm.¡± Our lips ovepped and our tongues intertwined. A hot breath of air would linger between us every time a momentary gap appeared between us. The inside of Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s mouth was sweet like the wine we had drunk all night. Before long, the arm that was trying to push me away lost its strength. After confirming this, I slowly drew my lips back. I whispered to her teasingly. ¡°How was it? Have you sobered up a little now?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok dropped her head. She muttered incoherently. ¡°I-I¡¯ll be in your care.¡± Even her embarrassed tone was tinged in red. When a girl gives consent, it¡¯s important to distinguish whether she¡¯s doing so genuinely or because she¡¯s going along with the mood. This doesn¡¯t matter if I intended to only spend a single night with this girl, but if I¡¯m going to continue spending time with her for a very long time, then I have to make sure there are no regrets in the beginning. It¡¯s normally very difficult to discern this. Especially since we were both drunk. Nheless¡­¡­. ¡¸Vampire Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection has risen by 14!¡¹ There was a person who could see through someone¡¯s true feelings through an incredibly strange method. And that person was me. ¡°Mm¡­¡­.¡± I stroked the girl¡¯s cheek as I kissed her again. This time, she didn¡¯t try to push me away at all. We naturally let gravity take hold of us as weid on the sofa. That night, the girl who had forgotten the touch of a man for thousands of years was thoroughly made to remember how pleasure felt. * * * Ivar Lodbrok wasid out on the sofa naked. ¡°Mm, m¡­¡­hggh¡­¡­.¡± She must have still been feeling the aftereffects of the pleasure as she would asionally moan while sleeping. Traces of our intense intercourse could be found flowing down her thighs, hair, and crotch. Her pure white body almost looked blinding as the candlelight asionally glimmered off of it. I stroked her head a few times before getting up. ¡°Hooo.¡± I took a puff from my pipe. ¡°¡­¡­Was I a bit too rough on the girl who had just returned to being female?¡± I felt like I had gone a bit too far with her. I honestly admitted my mistake. My standards had increased after being with Laura for so long. Laura, who had surprisingly reached S-rank in her Sex ve level, would have intercourse with me all day even if she passed out one or two times during it. On average, Laura and I would do it for at least 6 hours. I forgot to be considerate to the other party and went wild because I was so ustomed to that. Darn it, I should¡¯ve been considerate to Ivar Lodbrok since she had just returned to a female body after thousands of years! The result was obvious. Ivar Lodbrok passed outpletely. ¡°Ugh. I ended up giving her a rather intense memory as her first experience.¡± You stupid foolish idiot. Of course, Ivar Lodbrok wasn¡¯t actually a virgin. The reason she had sworn to get revenge on a Demon Lord was because of her past lover, after all. But thousands of years had passed. In other words, there¡¯s an expiration date on not being a virgin as well, so if she hasn¡¯t had any experiences as a female for the past few thousand years, then it would only be right to treat her as a virgin. Like how thousand-year virgin Brother Beleth is still a virgin. I should¡¯ve been considerate. Damn it. Seeing one of the heroines from the game panting in front of me ended up destroying my breakspletely. Something had burst. I scratched the back of my head as I looked at the girl lying weakly on the sofa. ¡°¡­¡­I should at least wash her.¡± I lit the firece. I found a reasonable-looking container to fill with water and dropped a stone that was heated by the firece into it. Steam started to emerge as the water was heated. Hot waterplete! I tore a bit of my mantle and turned it into a temporary towel. I dipped this towel in the hot water and carefully, while making sure to not wake her up, cleaned Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s body. ¡°Hmhmhm, hmm.¡± I unconsciously started to hum. This wasn¡¯t a particrlyborious task. On the contrary, it was fun. I guarantee that there is no man in the world who would refuse to earnestly clean the body of a beautiful girl. ¡°Mm¡­¡­ha¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok moaned every now and then. I paid it no mind as I earnestly washed her slender arms, legs, and slightly hilly chest with the warm towel. This was an utterly natural form of decorum. Imagine what would happen if a girl were to pass out after an intense bout of sex. If she were to wake up and find herselfpletely covered in a film of sticky and slimy liquid, then it would end up being the worst wake-up call in her entire life! ¡°Uuuu.¡± Dear God, it¡¯s terrible just picturing it¡­¡­. I pray that every woman in the world is able to have pleasant mornings. As someone who went wildst night and failed to be considerate, I¡¯m obligated to present her a ¡®good morning¡¯. Well, even if it was intense, people who wake up pleasantly end up believing that st night was amazing!¡¯. In other words, I¡¯m doing prep work so that the other party would have a good impression of me. ¡°Cleaning done!¡± Ivar Lodbrok became clean shortly after. Her skin became milky clean from her fingertips all the way down to her toes. Iid her down properly on the sofa and put my hands together as if I were praying. I lowered my head solemnly. ¡°Thank you for the meal.¡± ¡°Hnng¡­¡­kuh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It was really delicious.¡± I offer my gratitude to the Goddesses up in Olympus for providing me with another meal for my daily life. Gamigin yesterday, Ivar Lodbrok today, and Paimon and Sitri tomorrow. What else could this possibly be than the blessings from the Goddesses? As the humble servant of Aphrodite, I will execute and cultivate my love ording to the order you have given the world. Please forgive me if you find that I amcking and provide me with a greater blessing if I am worth being praised. ¡°Amen.¡± I drew something like a cross in the air due to the influence of my time as a priest. Not only was I actually the priest of Artemis and not Aphrodite, but ¡®amen¡¯ wasn¡¯t something that you would say to Artemis. Furthermore, Aphrodite is actually the guardian of maidens and purity©¥and yet, I reformed the goddess¡¯ will, tranting it as the following: ¡®look after and harvest every maiden and purity in the world¡¯. It¡¯smon for all forms of religion to be reiterated and reformed over time. ¡°Mm, I¡¯m done. Perfect.¡± I gently ced my mantle over Ivar Lodbrok like a nket. I then left the firm while feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. ¡°Hmhm~. Advance, sons and daughters of our nation~.¡± Was this the aftereffect of faithfully following the Goddess¡¯ merciful will? My feet felt incredibly light and I felt utterly refreshed after I left the merchant building. I walked with a swagger as I smoked my pipe. The cool morning air mixed together with the fragrant herbs created a great sensation. ¡°Grabs your spears,rads~. Urara, stand at the forefront~.¡± The sunlight shined fully down on my body. It was in times like this that I believed I shouldn¡¯t take the world more seriously than necessary. Isn¡¯t the world beautiful? * * * ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Ivar Lodbrok let out a gasp as she raised her upper body. She looked around the room as if she were possessed by something, but there was nothing there. Ivar furrowed her brows as she tried to remember what happenedst night, but she was hit by a sudden headache. ¡°¡­¡­Ugh.¡± She had a hangover. It was then that she noticed the bottles of alcohol that were littered on the floor. Thirty, fifty, seventy bottles¡­¡­the habit she had built as a merchant came alive as she counted the bottles, but her headache was interfering. She counted up to seventy-two bottles before giving up. Her head was refusing to work. Ivar Lodbrok knew through years of experience what she had to do in situations like this. ¡°So¡­¡­I met His Highness Dantalian and¡­¡­.¡± She started to talk out loud instead. Ivar borrowed the strength of the words that wereing out of her mouth to slowly recollect everything that happenedst night. ¡°I made a bet¡­¡­we drank for a while¡­¡­and then¡­¡­.¡± It was then that she remembered. What she had done. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar Lodbrok grabbed her head with both her hands and let out a soundless scream. What has she done!? Was she crazy? How could she sleep with the most dangerous individual currently in the Demon Lord army?! You may have been drunk, but how could you have been so foolish, Lodbrok!? You idiot! ¡°¡­¡­No, no. It wasn¡¯t an ¡®exchange¡¯ with only losses.¡± The girl talked to herself anxiously. ¡°That¡¯s right. Creating a deeper bond with His Highness Dantalian will allow me to intervene in the Demon Lord army from a different side. I have to use this from now on¡­¡­. Okay. I¡¯ll act like a maiden who had fallen in love and¡­¡­.¡± Did she move around too much? Something slid down her body and fell to the floor. Ivar Lodbrok looked down and saw a rather expensive-looking mantle on the ground. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar picked up the mantle. She remembered this as well. It was His Highness Dantalian¡¯s mantle. She spread the mantle out with her arms and stared at it for a while. Ivar Lodbrok slowly brought her nose to the mantle and sniffed it quietly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Fortunately, there was no one watching her. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should put the NSFW warning at the start of this chapter. It isn¡¯t exactly explicit like the other ones. I think it should be fine to not put a warning for this one. Well, if people think it¡¯s needed, then I¡¯ll add itter depending on your response. I¡¯ve been grinding it out on Lost Ark. I know Elden Ring came out, but I was never a huge fan of the Souls games to begin with. I¡¯d y them, but they weren¡¯t things that I¡¯d get really excited for. I¡¯ll just wait for when the game goes on sale or something :^) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 256: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (1) Chapter 256: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (1) ¡°You are way too wicked, Dantalian.¡± Paimon took a sip of her tea. Contrary to her words, she lookedpletely unbothered. We were currently riding on a small boat. A small ferry that was painted in a clean white color. Our boat created a smooth wave as we drifted down a river. It was afortable ride thanks to the water spirit that was pulling our boat from below. A peaceful afternoon. Enjoying a boat ride with a spirit as one¡¯s boatman was probably a luxury that was unimaginable for anyone other than Demon Lords. ¡°Can you not be more considerate to women?¡± ¡°Considerate to women? There is no man more considerate to women than me.¡± ¡°Hah. I would probably like you more if you couldn¡¯t talk. Sitri, what do you think?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Sitri, who hadn¡¯t even touched the tea and had been snacking on the biscuits this entire time, tilted her head. She looked back and forth between me and Paimon before she soon looked apologetic. ¡°Ah, well. Big Sis Paimon is right, but should I say that Dantalian is really kind¡­¡­or good at being considerate¡­¡­? Uuh. Sorry, Sis.¡± ¡°This is why friendships between women are flimsy.¡± Paimon shook her head. ¡°The adorable Sitri who used to call out to me all the time while following me around has finally fallen for a man. So you are saying that this man is more important to you than me whom you have maintained a sisterly bond with for a thousand years? I am truly disappointed, Sitri.¡± ¡°A-Ah!¡± Sitri tossed her biscuit aside as she panicked. The biscuit fell in the water with a ssh. ¡°No! Not only is Dantalian not considerate to women, but he¡¯s also a bad guy! Just as you said, he¡¯s so wicked that the smell of his hair alone is enough to scare women away! The Goddesses have also stopped watching over the surface simply because Dantalian is here.¡± Sitri seemed satisfied with what she had said as she nodded her head fervently. At that moment, Paimon and I shared a look. We didn¡¯t utter a single word, but we managed to share a brief conversation. ¡°Yup, Dantalian is bad. Big Sis is right.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am devastated, Sitri.¡± I tried putting on the saddest look I could muster. ¡°To think that this is how Sitri has always thought of me¡­¡­. I am hurt.¡± ¡°Eh? Huh?¡± ¡°I believed that even if the entire world were to point fingers at me and curse my name, Sitri, yes, at the very least, I believed that Sitri would continue to trust and support me. But it seems that even Sitri is treating me like an irreparable bastard¡­¡­.¡± Sitri became bewildered. ¡°T-That¡¯s not it! That¡¯s absolutely not what I meant! Dantalian, this is because of Big Sis!¡± ¡°It¡¯s because of Paimon? Are you saying that you made up insincere words because of Paimon?¡± ¡°Y¡­¡­Yeah.¡± I red at Sitri. ¡°Have you always been someone who would nder me if someone told you to do it? So that is how much my existence means to you, I see. O Goddess, I thought that Sitri was my true friend all this time¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Uaaah? Uaaeh?¡± Sitri couldn¡¯t stay still as she grabbed my hand. ¡°S-Sorry, Dantalian. I didn¡¯t think it would hurt your feelings like this¡­¡­. I was afraid that Big Sis would get angry and I just¡­¡­sorry. I really wasn¡¯t serious! I won¡¯t do it again, so¡ª.¡± ¡°Wait one moment, Sitri. What do you mean by that?¡± Paimon spoke up with a tone filled with discontent. Sitri turned her head in panic. ¡°Are you saying that you were not being even remotely sincere to me just now?¡± ¡°S-Sis? That¡¯s not.¡± ¡°I am disappointed. Truly disappointed. Aah, I never would have imagined that the day Sitri would lie to me as casually as she breathed would ever arrive.¡± Paimon covered her mouth with her fan as she let out a long sigh. On another note, this is something that I learned aftering to this world, but I guarantee you that noblewomen carry around fans in order to sigh like this. It¡¯s super annoying if someone openly covers their mouth with a fan and proceeds to sigh in your face. There¡¯s no better gesture than this to annoy others with. ¡°I might not be able to trust Sitri anymore. Friendships can rust as well.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­uugh!¡± In the end, Sitri blew up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to both Big Sis and Dantalian! As a way to apologize, I¡¯ll push the boat myself, so please forgive me!¡± She abruptly stood up. The small boat started to sway because of her sudden movement. Sitri dived into the river before we could even say anything. ¡°Kyah.¡± Paimon let out a small cry because of the big ssh of water. That was an act. Sitri probably couldn¡¯t see it, but I could clearly see Paimon¡¯s amused smile behind her fan. ¡°Paimon, please watch your expression.¡± ¡°But you are also grinning, Dantalian.¡± ¡°Whoops.¡± Darn it, I identally lowered my guard because of how cute Sitri was acting. We smiled brightly as we both turned to look at Sitri. Sitri was swimming and pushing our boat from behind. The boat was going much faster nowpared to when only the water spirit was pulling it. Sitri shouted every now and then as she swam. ¡°Sorry! Big Sis Paimon, sorry! Dantalian, sorry!¡± It¡¯d probably be impossible for anyone to notugh after seeing this. We finally burst out intoughter. The sound ofughter echoed throughout the sky and spread through the sunlight. ¡°Mm. Enjoying a boat ride like this is nice every now and then.¡± ¡°Although we have lost all of our tea and biscuits. It has been a long time since the three of us had a pleasant time together like this.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been busy in our own ways, after all.¡± Paimon smiled gently. ¡°Thanks to you, we have acquired a total of 33 free cities.¡± The Liberation alliance may have lost greatly in Frankia¡¯s civil war, but it wasn¡¯t like peerless heroes like Henrietta existed everywhere. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Teuton, and Sardinia¡­¡­the people of all of these regions managed to sessfully carry out their uprising. There was even a ce where a revolution was carried out sessfully by only farmers. There were a fair number of ces where revolts were led by guild masters or emerging nobles. Thus, free cities started to pop up here and there like mushrooms. Paimon¡¯splexion became dark. ¡°Although, in the end, we failed at establishing a new republic nation¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Nothing is perfect from the beginning. Paimon, this may only be a small step for us, but history will remember it as a mighty leap.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon stared at my face. ¡°¡­¡­You say some surprisingly fantastic lines sometimes, Dantalian. Even though you have no artistic talent whatsoever. It¡¯s mysterious.¡± ¡°Were you not aware? The Goddesses naturally bestow their graces upon those who genuinely try tofort others.¡± I reached my hand out and touched Paimon¡¯s left hand. Paimon uttered an ¡®Oh my¡¯ as she covered her mouth with her fan. It didn¡¯t seem like she disliked it. ¡°Truly. Did you bewitch someone like this yesterday as well?¡± ¡°I was rather unfortunate due to myck of skill. I was told off for making my partner lonely at night. That is why I intend to not miss my chance today.¡± ¡°Oh dear.¡± Paimon giggled happily. While I was at it, I slowly moved my hand higher and higher. I went from her wrist and slid up her arm. Paimon leaned into me like a cat as she allowed me to touch her. Eventually, Paimon¡¯s red hair flowed between my fingers. ¡°To be honest, I wish we could continue like this.¡± ¡°Indeed. Thisdy has never done it on a small boat before, so I was looking forward to it.¡± ¡°But it seems we have arrived at our destination.¡± We turned to look at the riverside. There was a burning city there. Would it be a slight exaggeration to say that it was burning? There were about five to six pirs of smoke rising up from the city. Thousands of monsters were holding spears and surrounding the city. ¡°We have finally upied Heidelberg after a year.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the sturdiest fortress city in the center of the continent, after all. It only took a year. It would be better to say this.¡± Heidelberg was a fortress located on top of a slope. This city, which was created around the river of Neckar, was managed by the Habsburg Republic¡­¡­Leader Elizabeth¡¯s nation. It was built in order to stop the Demon Lord army from invading any further into the continent. Honestly speaking, Heidelberg was no different from being impregnable. For starters, the ramparts were thick and tall. Not only was the fortresspletely surrounded by a moat, but it was filled with towers as well. Adding to this, the size of the city was massive as well. It had a poption of more than 10,000 which was immense for a fortress. Where else would you find 10,000 people living in a single fortress? The citizens were all soldiers who were ustomed to fighting monsters and they had a knight brigade of 900. It might not have been an issue if the entirety of the Crescent Alliance had attacked, but the Crescent Alliance expedition was currently over. Paimon and Sitri had to upy this with only the forces within the Mountain Faction. It was widely known that the Mountain Faction had lost a sizeable amount of its troops due to standing as the vanguard during the previous war. Additionally, they lost even more troops due to the civil war 2 years ago. They didn¡¯t have the strength to crush a fortress like this. ¡°You simply have to encircle the fortress.¡± It was at this moment that Laura came up with a strategy. Paimon came to consult me about how impregnable the fortress was and I immediately went to consult with Laura afterward. Laura tilted her head after she listened to the situation. ¡°Laura, I told you that the fortress has the river of Neckar next to it. Even if we were to surround the city, the enemy would continue to receive supplies through the river.¡± ¡°As I said, Lord. Couldn¡¯t you seal off that river, then?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Neckar was about 500 to 600 meters wide. How would we manage topletely block something like that? ¡°Well, cing patrol boats could be somewhat effective, but¡­¡­the Habsburg Republic¡¯s army isn¡¯t ipetent. They would move their supplies during the night when it would be hard for us to see them. It would be impossible for us to perfectly block everything.¡± ¡°Seriously. Your Lordship is way too dull when ites to strategy.¡± Laura spoke in an annoyed tone. ¡°I am not saying to ce patrol boats. I am saying to put a bridge down across the entire river. This shouldpletely prevent them from moving supplies.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Make a bridge and seal the river? ¡°¡­¡­The river is wide, so making a bridge would require a tremendous amount of manpower and funding.¡± ¡°It does not have to be a proper bridge. Simply create a dock and ce a bunch of battleships in a line. And there you go, Your Lordship. A splendid bridge.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I fell into deep thought. In other words, this would be like the strategy Cao Cao used in the Battle of Red Cliffs where he lined up battleships. Using small boats as a temporary bridge was amon urrence, but doing the same thing with battleships was unheard of. It was an extremely bizarre suggestion, but¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­It is possible. No, it will definitely seed. The Republic of Batavia is on our side. If we secretly use their river to bring battleships¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Indeed. The encirclement will beplete.¡± Laura smiled brightly. ¡°Heidelberg may be the greatest fortress in the center of the continent, but how long could theyst when they¡¯ve beenpletely surrounded? At most, they willst one year.¡± ¡°Between capturing the fortress and being at a stalemate, it would be better to wait leisurely for a year¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is the idea.¡± I immediately informed Paimon of Laura¡¯s n. At first, Paimon and Sitri gave me a weird look. However, their expressions became serious as I continued my exnation. ¡°¡­¡­Mm, I feel a bit uneasy because of how bizarre this strategy is, but¡ª.¡± ¡°It definitely sounds usible. Very well, then, Dantalian. We will carry out that strategy with haste.¡± A siege that was carried out using an unprecedented method began. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, sorry about the sort of spontaneous dy? Ipletely forgot that my booster shot was like 2 days after I posted thest chapter. I started feeling feverish after I got the shot and the day after was spent with a really annoying headache, so I didn¡¯t get much tranting done. I still don¡¯t feel 100%, but I¡¯m managing. I¡¯ll do my best to recover as soon as possible. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter when I¡¯m hopefully okay! Chapter 257: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (2) Chapter 257: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (2) Preparing a bunch of battleships was the first urgent matter. The Republic of Batavia¡­¡­in other words, the nation that was actually being controlled by Paimon in the background boasted the strongest naval force. They had more than sixtyrge galleys that were affiliated with the army. It would be fine to call them a monstrous maritime country. Paimon came up with a simple solution. ¡°We will frame it so that it appears as if the Demon Lord army stole the ships.¡± Large battleships were often used for trade purposes during times of peace. The monsters under themand of the Mountain Faction ambushed the battleships that were doing business ind. Seven vessels were easily hijacked. Normal merchants naturally got killed by the maws of monsters. I couldn¡¯t help but find this funny. ¡°Don¡¯t those ships belong to Batavia? All things considered, you basically stole from yourself.¡± ¡°Dear me. I do not consider the republic as my own. The privatization of a nation is the shortest path to tyranny.¡± Paimon smiled. Tyranny is created in dictatorships. ¡°I am simply borrowing something that belongs to the people for a very brief period of time.¡± ¡°Although you ughtered all of the merchants who happened to be on the ships when you went to borrow them¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They were all from apany that had been making a mess of the marketce by trying to create monopolies. I have been wanting to ughter them whenever I had the chance.¡± Paimon said something ominous with no hesitation. ¡°They immediately took the bait when they were told by the government that they could borrow the ships for a low price. It seems they were nning to create a monopoly in a few small cities¡­¡­fufu. It is only natural for trash to get cleaned up, am I wrong?¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­¡­.¡± It was in moments like this that I was reminded of Paimon¡¯s status as a Demon Lord. Despite being both an idealist and a republican, Paimon has no qualms about killing people. She plunged hundreds of humans into a river and drowned them simply because she wanted to ¡®clean out the trash¡¯. The republic nation most likely didn¡¯t fall because this sort of individual was directing everything from behind. Theirnd was as small as a peanut, but they boasted a military strength that was as strong as the other nations of the world. I don¡¯t know the exact number, but the number of humans Paimon had ¡®cleaned up¡¯ must easily surpass a thousand. I¡¯m certain that some of them were probably killed unjustly as well¡­¡­. Well, it¡¯s not my problem. The ships were bound tightly together by chains and positioned in a line. After building a pier on both sides of the river, a sturdy bridge of boats waspleted. Heidelberg was encircled while the troops stationed in the fortress were busy being confused. It isn¡¯t surprising, but the troops stationed in the fortress made a detached force in order to try and destroy the bridge. The river being blocked meant their supply line was cut off, and having their supply line cut off while being encircled meant death. And we had expected the enemy would attack us. * * * ¡°The enemy forces most likely know how dangerous it would be to fight the Demon Lord army at night.¡± Laura was able to speak in front of us Demon Lords since she had been appointed as our highest advisor. Laura bing Barbatos¡¯ lover was a rather open fact, so Paimon and Sitri treated Laura with respect. ¡°They will undoubtedly use their knights as their main force and create a small group of elite soldiers. They will try to break through a single point with the strongest unit they can create. That is their n.¡± ¡°This is troubling¡­¡­.¡± Paimon slowly pped her fan. ¡°Knights are a mighty force to be reckoned with. We most likely will not lose, but we will incur heavy losses.¡± ¡°Yes. However, there is a way to wipe out the knights without incurring any losses.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Sitri folded her arms and gave Laura an interested look. ¡°How? I¡¯m not some Demon Lord who¡¯s easy to scare, but even I hate knights. It¡¯s impossible to wipe out knights without incurring any losses unless you¡¯re Agares. It¡¯d be hard for even Barbatos.¡± ¡°It may be impudent of me, but.¡± Laura responded confidently. ¡°Our side currently knows where and with what unit the enemy is going to attack with. It would be fine to say that we have already won half the battle.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Dantalian¡¯s soldier, tell us your n.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Laura pointed at the map. ¡°We will use all of our mages to turn the area around Neckar into mudts. The knights will most likely do a surprise attack at night in order to keep their element of surprise. However, no matter how formidable warhorses may be, they be useless if their legs get stuck in the mud.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The battlefield will be at the side of the river, so the mages should be able to use water spells as much as they want.¡± Laura smiled slightly. ¡°The river of Neckar will be the final resting ce for these knights.¡± Things proceeded so precisely ording to how Laura predicted that it was almost scary. The knights that were residing in Heidelberg aimed for the bridge at night. We found outter that almost 600 knights had been dispatched. In other words, 2/3rds of the total knights in the fortress were sent out. Reinforcements were also sent from other nearby cities. Adding them all together, a knight cavalry of about 1,500 troops attacked under the shadow of night. They may have been a cavalry, but a majority of them were either knights-in-training or apprentices from an academy. Nevertheless, they were still a powerful cavalry. They intended to rush us swiftly and leave after setting fire to the bridge. ¡°Charge! For the glory of our leader!¡± ¡°Glory to the Republic! Glory to the Leader!¡± However, the entire battlefield had been terraformed into mudts just as Laura had suggested. The cavalrymen panicked once their warhorses suddenly slowed down due to the mud. Nheless, they bravely continued to advance towards the bridge. Thus, they proved that bravery wasn¡¯t the cure-all for war. ¡°Focus on the horses.¡± Laura calmly ordered from the headquarters that was built on top of the bridge. Our forces started to rain arrows and spears down upon the enemy as soon as they entered the mudts. The spears thrown with the strength of an orc were enough to make shish kebabs out of the warhorses. Stakes, fences, and now mudts. The knights did their utmost to advance, but their warhorses continued to copse one by one due to the arrows and spears we were sending their way. What could they possibly do now? They could only get off their horses and charge themselves. The knights ended up having to swim through the mudts while wearing heavy medium armor. Sitri burst out intoughter as she watched everything unfold. ¡°This is a masterpiece! Dantalian, look at that! They¡¯re like caterpirs!¡± Mm. Sitri was also someone who gave off a Demon Lord vibe if you look at how she wasughing at the sight of people being ughtered. As I thought, I¡¯m the only normal person in the Demon Lord army. Competent knights were unfazed by the mudts and used their aura to charge in like grasshoppers. The problem was that it was only a small minority that did this. A minority of knights charging in without maintaining a formation wasn¡¯t particrly scary, so they were hunted down by the monster unit led by Sitri. They really couldn¡¯t do anything unless a bunch of swordmasters rushed in together. On this night, the knights charged a total of 16 times. They weren¡¯t as impressive as the knights from Brittany, but the knights from Habsburg were also impressive. However, they were different from Brittany in the fact that they didn¡¯t have any sort of tactical advantage. They slowly died off to our barrage of arrows. ¡°Mmm. It seems like about 400 of them ran away. Should we give chase?¡± Sitri tilted her head. She was covered in the enemy¡¯s blood. ¡°Yes. They should be slow since they are running while wearing heavy medium te armor.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying we should snuff them out? Hehe, you may be a human, but I¡¯ve taken a liking to you. I now understand why you¡¯re cherished by Dantalian and Barbatos.¡± Sitri patted Laura¡¯s back. Naturally, since Sitri¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t a joke, Laura let out a short cry and almost fell face-first into the ground. Sitri grinned. ¡°You can call me Sis from now on.¡± ¡°M-My apologies¡­¡­Miss Sitri, but.¡± ¡°Ah, jeez. Just call me Sis!¡± Laura looked like she was fed up a little as she spoke. ¡°¡­¡­Yes, Sis.¡± ¡°Good, good. Hehe.¡± Sitri let out an energetic cheer before climbing up on her wolf. ¡°I¡¯m now the sister of Barbatos¡¯ lover! Barbatos¡¯s lover¡¯s Sis! Hell yeah!¡± She led her wolf rider unit and disappeared into the darkness. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± There was an awkward silence between Paimon, myself, and Laura who were left behind in the headquarters. Paimon finally spoke up after a fair bit of time went by. ¡°Uhm, Miss Farnese? Sitri isn¡¯t doing that because of malice or anything. She purely wanted to be Barbatos¡¯ lover¡¯s sister. That child still feels indebted to Barbatos.¡± Laura smiled uncertainly. ¡°This youngdy does not doubt that Miss Sitri is being genuine. However, thisdy cannot help but wonder what I must have done in my past life to be the lover of one Demon Lord and the sister of another¡­¡­.¡± Laura looked at me with dead eyes. Me? What did I do? ¡°Wouldn¡¯t this be the first time ever for a human? How splendid. You should be proud, Laura.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Haa.¡± Laura let out a sigh for some reason. Thisss does some iprehensible things sometimes. Is this just how women are? The world is a mysterious ce. * * * The battle ended with Habsburg¡¯s utter defeat. Out of the 1,500 knights, only 200 of them returned alive. Total annihtion, this was the perfect phrase for this. Laura de Farnese proved her talent. The forces within Heidelberg used up almost all of their knights in this battle. The remaining knights were probably busy trying to defend the fortress. Our encirclement became unshakable. Now the only reinforcements they could rely on were the troops dispatched from the main capital, but¡­¡­unfortunately, the New Habsburg Republked the ability to genuinely fight a war. The Mountain Faction wasn¡¯t the only group that was currently threatening Leader Elizabeth¡¯s nation. Barbatos¡¯ ins Faction, Marbas¡¯ Neutral Faction, and Gamigin, the Habsburg Republic shared its borders with all three of these groups. They were surrounded by enemies. It was because her nation was like this that Elizabeth established fortresses in key points. She wanted to decrease her war funds as much as possible by defending fortresses. In other words, this meant that she probably didn¡¯t have the extra manpower to do anything beyond defending fortresses. ¡°Nheless, this does not mean that the enemy will simply stand idly by.¡± Laura dered a few days after the battle ended in our victory. ¡°The military authorities of the Habsburg Republic are extremely capable. I am certain that they will devise a n to save their city without using any of their war funds.¡± ¡°Hm? Is that possible?¡± Sitri asked while eating some cake. Referentially, Sitri really liked cakes. I¡¯m not sure where she¡¯s been getting them from, but she would always be eating some cake or biscuits during meetings or on the battlefield. ¡°Yes. If the enemy has an intrigant, then they would have realized by now that this encirclement relies on whether they can destroy the bridge or not. They will not have to utilize their knights or their remaining troops as long as they can destroy the bridge.¡± ¡°Mmm¡­¡­I don¡¯t get it.¡± Sitri still looked confused. The surrounding mood became warm. Sitri really does have the unknown ability to make the people around her feel warm. ¡°If I were the enemy strategist, then I would prepare arge fleet. I would then fill the ships with bundles of straw covered in oil. I will then crash these ships into the bridge and set the bridge on fire with the boats. It would be difficult for us to prevent this since we do not have much power on the water¡­¡­.¡± Laura smiled gently. ¡°If we didn¡¯t figure out their intentions beforehand, that is.¡± *** Author¡¯s Afterword The Blue Hydrangea is the symbol of Farnese. In the past, the house of Farnese caused a civil war in Sardinia and fell because they lost. Laura was sold off as a ve after falling like this. And I¡¯m not sure if people know this, but all of the battles that appear in Dungeon Defense are homages to battles that actually happened in history. There are two, no, three battles that appear in the war of this chapter. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Laura really showing off her abilities here. If only I actually paid attention in my history sses to know what battle this is supposed to be a homage to. Oh well. I¡¯m feeling pretty okay now. The booster didn¡¯t kick my butt as much as I thought it would. The headachested longer than I expected though. Uh, nothing much else to say so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 258: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (3) Chapter 258: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (3) I¡¯m not sure who it was, but I felt sympathy for the enemy general who had to face Laura. Carrying out a night attack with cavalrymen. It sounded easy enough on paper, but, in reality, they were throwing out their most powerful troops all at once. Moreover, they were doing so immediately after the encirclement waspleted. A normalmander would¡¯ve probably waited and kept an eye on the situation. Even if they¡¯re surrounded, they could endure without any problem for at least half a year. Leaving the safety of the fortress to fight a massive army of monsters, however, wasn¡¯t an easy task. Themander concluded that they would just be wasting time if they decided to y the waiting game. The capitalcked the spare manpower to dispatch reinforcements to them. If anything, they had to aim for when the demons lowered their guards immediately after they finished their encirclement¡­¡­. That¡¯s why themander attacked after rallying the knights from the nearby cities. Boldness, acute judgment, and negotiation skills, themander didn¡¯tck in any of these. Laura described them urately with a single word, petent¡¯. It was because they werepetent that Laura knew they would undoubtedly carry out a surprise attack¡­¡­. And that they would attempt a fire attack afterward. ¡°I don¡¯t really get it, but I just have to get rid of each and every boat that approaches, right?¡± Sitri wiped the cream off the side of her mouth. ¡°We can just use lizardmen and water elements to destroy all their oars.¡± ¡°My apologies, but that would be impossible, Big Sister. The enemy forces will undoubtedly attack when the wind is blowing in the right direction. It will be when the wind is blowing towards us so that they can advance with their sails even if their oars are destroyed. That is because this sort of surprise attack does not allow room for failure.¡± Laura spoke naturally as if she had the enemy¡¯s thoughtspletely in her grasps. ¡°Our defenses will increase if they fail once¡­¡­. They have only one opportunity. This is what they most likely believe. They will be extra cautious.¡± The enemy ispetent, so they will carry out their surprise attack when they know it will be the most effective. And it was because of this that Laura was paradoxically able to predict the enemy¡¯s moves. ¡°The Neckar River flows from the east. The closest city to Heidelberg is Heilbronn, but their pier is extremely small. It would not be enough to hide fire ships. Therefore, Stuttgart is the most likely ce they will have their fleet of fire ships on standby.¡± Laura trailed her finger up the river on the map. ¡°The enemy will most likely utilize three-tiered galleys in order to increase their mobility. If they sail these ships from Stuttgart, then it will take them roughly 8 hours to get here. If you include the momentary break they will take at Heilbronn, then it will take them about 9 hours.¡± We stared at Laura nkly. Laura must have not felt our gazes, as she kept twirling her hair while looking down at the map. She continued to mutter without showing any signs of stopping. ¡°When exactly they disembark. This is the problem. It is highly likely that the enemy will move at night in order to avoid our scouts again. They will probably want to arrive here between 11 at night and 4 in the morning. Then if you subtract the time, the fire ships will disembark from Stuttgart between 1 in the afternoon and 6 in the evening.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°However, it would be too bright out at 1 in the afternoon. The enemy would want it to at least be dark when they take a momentary break at Heilbronn. Therefore, they will disembark between 5 and 6 in the evening.¡± Laura raised her head and faced us. ¡°A day with strong winds and between 5 and 6 in the evening, this is when the enemy will execute their n.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If a three-tiered galley is discovered when these conditions are met, then there is a high chance that it will be a fire ship.¡± I smiled bitterly and Paimon¡¯s expression became stiff. On the other hand, Sitri¡¯s mouth was agape. ¡°Uh? Huh? ¡­¡­Mmm? What?¡± ¡°The enemy will probably take precautions against being attacked by monsters from underwater. It is very likely that they will have mages on board. Even if their oars are all destroyed, the mages will be able to crash their ships into the bridge as long as they can protect their sails¡­¡­. This is their aim.¡± Laura disyed a pleasant smile. ¡°There is no reason for us to go out of our way to y along with them. We will ambush them the moment their ships drop anchor at Heilbronn. Heilbronn is a small fishing vige with no walls. I rmend setting the ships aze together with the vige.¡± Sitri carefully raised her right hand.¡± ¡°So¡­¡­uh, attack the vige?¡± ¡°Yes. Between 10 and 11 at night and on a day with strong winds, please take a detached force and assault Heilbronn, Big Sister Sitri.¡± Laura answered matter-of-factly. She was acting like we understood everything she had said and that it was only natural to have understood. ¡°They will probably never expect to be attacked at their anchorage point. This will be slightly harder than taking candy from a baby.¡± I almost felt like I heard someone say ¡°this is as easy as pie¡±. Paimon and Sitri seemed to still be half in doubt. The bridge and the encirclement werepleted and the night assault was also stopped thanks to Laura, but this sounded almost way too precise. Paimon talked to me in secret after the meeting was over. ¡°Dantalian, thisdy isn¡¯t unrivaled when ites to strategy, but there is something I learned after going through all sorts of hell. What¡¯s important in war isn¡¯t your imagination or calctive thinking, it¡¯s your reliable decision-making skills and your power ofmand over your troops.¡± ¡°You are right.¡± Even if you carry out a creative n, it means nothing before a brave and powerful army. When to send in and withdraw troops, when to make the troops at the front retreat, and where to build an encampment, these things were much more important. In other words, a reliable decision-making skill. Most battles aren¡¯t a battle of wits. This is something that most strategists misunderstand. Strategists are like orchestra conductors. The performers are the ones actually ying the music, not the conductor. Conductors simply open a space for performers to properly y their music. Simr to that, the soldiers are the ones actually fighting the battles, not the strategist. Therefore, strategists have to prepare a battlefield where each and every soldier can fight courageously and in an orderly manner. If you do not realize this, then you will one day face defeat. Referentially, this was why I lost to Queen Henrietta. Now I¡¯m sad all of a sudden. Paimon asked with a worried look. ¡°Miss Farnese is definitely overflowing with talent. Nheless, battlefields are not so thin that an 18-year-old girl can look through them so easily. Wars do not proceed as with one¡¯s expectations¡­¡­it would be good to teach Miss Farnese this fact.¡± ¡°I agree fully.¡± Paimon gave a rather sensible piece of advice. It was sensible and also a precious warning. If I didn¡¯t know that Laura was going to be the militarymander that causes historical bloodbaths throughout the continent, then I would¡¯ve probably conceded. Iron Chancellor Laura de Farnese. It wasn¡¯t exactly a good nickname. It was actually created by Brittany, an enemy nation. It meant something along the lines of ¡®someone who went around creating bloodbaths on the battlefield despite being the chancellor of a nation¡¯. ¡°Nevertheless, Paimon, I am her supporter. I personally wish to bet on this talent of hers.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Do you think that prediction will actuallye true? You must be joking, Dantalian.¡± ¡°Of course, it is a joke. However, there may actually be a possibility.¡± I smiled awkwardly. ¡°Are supporters not the people who believe in these kinds of possibilities? I want to at least be the one to believe in her even if no one else does.¡± ¡°Truly, I cannot tell if you are a good or bad person.¡± Paimon seemed baffled. ¡°Dantalian, as amander, I cannot ept a strategy this excessive.¡± ¡°Now, now. Paimon, please consider my dignity here. If you look at this from another perspective, we will simply be sending out a detached unit once.¡± ¡°Hmm. That is true, but.¡± Paimon still seemed hesitant. Seriously, people always reveal their true personalities at times like this. This was befitting the Demon Lord who worked carefully for hundreds of years in order to build a republic nation. I smiled. ¡°How about this? In the rare chance Laura seeds, you will grant me a wish, but, if Laura fails, I will grant you a wish instead.¡± ¡°¡­¡­A wish?¡± Paimon blinked in surprise. ¡°Yes. Anything as long as it is within the wish granter¡¯s ability.¡± ¡°Anything¡­¡­.¡± Paimon covered her mouth with her fan as she mulled over it. ¡°For example, if I were to say that I want a ne made out of your fingers¡­¡­would you grant it?¡± ¡°Eeh?¡± My voice went high on its own. What nonsense is thisdy saying? Paimon swayed her fan slightly. ¡°I am simply bringing that up as an example. I was wondering if you were making this bet with the resolve to give a finger.¡± ¡°No, well, it is definitely possible. It isn¡¯t like my finger has the value of a thousand gold¡­¡­I could also just regenerate a new one.¡± But isn¡¯t this a bit too perverse? I had made a ne like that for Barbatos. Don¡¯t tell me. Did it start trending among female Demon Lords because Barbatos kept bragging about it? Nes made out of fingers turned out to be a huge trend, something along those lines. ¡­¡­It¡¯s hard for me to say that it¡¯d be impossible for something like that to start trending. Demon Lords are all perverted, after all. This is a terrifying neighborhood. If my mother were to see me now, she would probablyment and ask how her kind son could end up hanging out with such perverts. I can only apologize for bing such an undutiful child. ¡°Very well, Dantalian. I will dly take this bet.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you very much.¡± I felt a little awkward about this, but I thanked her anyway. A west wind woulde from the White Sea during this season. East winds were rather rare, and it was even rarer for them tost longer than a couple of days. Nheless, a strong east wind started to blow about 2 months after the fortress was surrounded. Laura immediately requested a war council. ¡°Today is the day. I will leave this in your care, Big Sister Sitri.¡± ¡°All right. I still don¡¯t get what¡¯s happening, but I just have to break things and make a mess, right?¡± I¡¯ll be on my way, Sitri said confidently as she left. 500 dark elves mounted on wolves left with her. Paimon still looked doubtful. She agreed to Laura¡¯s n, but she also made preparations in case we were approached by fire ships. She positioned 60 water spirits near the bridge. Sitri returned after half a day. Her entire body was covered in blood. ¡°Whoa! There really were a lot of galleys in the vige! I don¡¯t know what they had in those ships, but they burst into mes after we shot a few fire arrows at them. Thanks to that, we were able to create a panic without much effort. Hehe, it sort of felt like a waste to witness all that by myself.¡± Sitri proudly talked about the oue of the battle with a big grin on her face. I nced to my side and saw that Paimon had even forgotten to cover her mouth with her fan as it hung open. ¡°Oh right. There were also 9 mages.¡± Sitri then threw the objects she had been holding in her left hand on the ground. 9 heads were bound together. ¡°I wanted to capture them as prisoners, but they kept resisting, so I just killed them all. I did good, right?¡± ¡°Yes, you did well. As expected of Big Sister Sitri. Your ability to carry out tasks is perfect. The way you beheaded them also gives us a peek into Big Sister Sitri¡¯s sense of aesthetic.¡± Laura smiled brightly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon stared at Laura as if she had witnessed a ghost. Her mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn¡¯t manage to utter a word. She eventually turned to look at me. I smiled back at her. I moved my mouth without making a sound. ¡®The. Bet. You remember it, right? You have to grant me a wishter, okay?¡¯ Paimon¡¯s face was filled with despair. This is why you need good subordinates. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I, uh, really don¡¯t have anything to say this chapter. It really is just a continuation of thest chapter where Laura¡¯s just showing off her prowress to Paimon and Sitri. I¡¯m still ying Lost Ark. I¡¯m honestly really enjoying it. Still sad I had to wait like 4 years for global release, but it¡¯s finally here and that¡¯s all that matters. Uh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter? (I don¡¯t know what else to add) Chapter 259: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (4) Chapter 259: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (4) Well, Paimon¡¯splexion did be pale, but probably not as much as the enemy soldiers¡¯. They lost their fleet before they could even carry out their actual attack. The Habsburg Republic probably feels like they suddenly got attacked by ghosts or something. This must have confirmed the monstrous strategist on our side to them. Sorry, but it¡¯s toote to realize this now. ¡°They should have faced us in an all-out battle instead of trying to get us with a surprise attack. The result might have been different if they brought out all of their troops and carried out a skirmish while also mobilizing their knights and mages.¡± Lauramented. All of the knights within the vicinity of the fortress had beenpletely eradicated. They even lost their absolutely precious mages. In other words, their elite troops were all neutralized. On the other hand, our ogres and mages were still healthy. Despite all this, Heidelberg refused to give up. They kept creating detached units and aimed for when we lowered our guards. The nearby cities also sent reinforcements to support them. However, the moments they believed our guards were lowered were all mistakes that Laura intentionally made. Once the other cities started to use up their troops sending reinforcements, we went and captured 5 nearby cities. We overwhelmed them. This was the only way to describe this. As a final struggle, the enemy attempted an open water battle. 15rge vessels, which included fire ships, advanced to us. The enemymander wasn¡¯t stupid. They camouged the ships so that we couldn¡¯t tell which ships were the fire ships. We were in a situation where one wrong decision could let a fire ship reach us. Even in this situation, Laura remained absolutely calm as she came up with a solution. ¡°Let us respond calmly. How much a ship is submerged will tell us whether they are fire ships or not. Fire ships will be filled with grass instead of soldiers.¡± ¡°Mhm. Mhm.¡± Sitri nodded her head energetically. Sitri had resigned herself to Laura in her own way. She decided to simply smile and agree with everything Laura said since she wouldn¡¯t understand anything anyway. ¡°We will focus the lizardmen and elementals on those boats. We will deal with the remnants after we take care of the fire ships first.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that we should destroy the ships that aren¡¯t submerged as much first? All right.¡± Focus and decisiveness are always important on the battlefield. Out of the 15 vessels, there was a total of 4 boats that weren¡¯t submerged as much as the other boats. About a hundred water creatures focused on those 4 ships. The rowers were instantly ughtered and their sails fell helplessly. The 4 fire ships drifted helplessly in the center of the river after losing their sails and oars. This bundle of ships became a huge obstacle for the other human ships to go around. ¡°It is finished. Order the rest of our troops to fire the ming arrows.¡± ming arrows soared through the sky and rained down on the fire ships. There was even a ship that was set aze by a lizardman who personally carried a torch to the ship. The fire ships filled with oil-soaked grass burned rather nicely. ¡°Stop the mes! You idiots©¥don¡¯t jump off the boat and put the fire out!¡± ¡°S-Save me!¡± ¡°Abandon ship! Abandon ship!¡± It became a scene from hell for the humans. The galleys burned brightly. The enemy¡¯s fleet simply burned as they couldn¡¯t go here or there because of the obstacles in their way. Our army of monsters surrounded the river on both sides and ughtered the humans that tried to swim out of the river. One of the fire ships even had gunpowder in them. That boat exploded magnificently. It must have not wanted to drown by itself as it dragged three other nearby ships down with it. What a splendid mass suicide. Was there a need to say the result? We had an overwhelming victory. ¡°Let us hang the heads of all the knights we had captured at the castle gate.¡± The knights that were wearing medium armor were captured as prisoners as they were iling about in the water. We could have received a fair sum if we promised to release themter, but Laura executed them all without even the slightest bit of hesitation. I questioned her about this. ¡°Laura. You aren¡¯t doing this because you want to collect their heads, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Lordship, what do you take this youngdy for? This youngdy knows how to keep her private and public lives separate. This is a battlefield on the maind, not Your Lordship¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. There is no way this youngdy would try to pursue her hobby here.¡± Despite her words, the fact that she was twirling her side bangs while talking made it clear to me that she really wanted to collect the heads. I gave her a wry look. ¡°Laura, are you perhaps a pervert?¡± ¡°¡­¡­To be called a pervert by Your Lordship of all people, this is really, yup, really infuriating. This youngdy never imagined that the day woulde where she would want to hit Your Lordship, but I truly do at this very moment. Can I hit you?¡± The corners of Laura¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Hah? Are you perhaps saying that I am a pervert?¡± ¡°It is not perhaps. That is exactly what I am saying. Not only has this youngdy never met an individual as perverted as Your Lordship, but I will never meet anyone more perverted.¡± ¡°Dear me! Such nder.¡± I went mad with anger. ¡°Laura, you are someone who has sex with me for 9 to 20 hours and now you even do it with Barbatos. Your desire for pleasure regardless of gender makes it so your pervertedness shrouds over the entire world.¡± ¡°What? When did I ever do it for 9 to 20 hours because I wanted to? Those were all interactions that Your Lordship forced upon this youngdy! Your Lordship is the true deviant among deviants. You are someone who even Goddess Aphrodite would run away from in fear!¡± Laura got upset back at me. ¡°I do not even have to mention how many women Your Lordship hasin with! There should be a limit to being shameless. You brazen cheater!¡± ¡°Hmph. The world is always about quality over quantity. Even if I were to sleep with 225 women, it will always have been with the opposite sex. But what about you, Laura? You are sleeping with Barbatos who is the same gender as you! In terms of quality, you are much more perverted!¡± We were arguing so loudly that our soldiers could hear us. Paimon, who happened to be nearby, tried to stop us, but she couldn¡¯t stop us since we were already at our peaks. ¡°Even a 5-year-old child wouldugh at Your Lordship¡¯s logic. I may have slept with Her Excellency Barbatos, but what about Your Lordship? Did you not sleep with Big Sister Sitri!? Big Sister Sitri is a hermaphrodite, so Your Lordship is more densely perverted than this youngdy who slept with the same sex!¡± ¡°Do not make meugh! You doggy-style fanatic! Do not make me pounce you and do you like a dog!¡± ¡°Do it if you dare. It would be proving to everyone around us that Your Lordship is a pervert!¡± We pressed our foreheads against each other as we growled. ¡°You damned perverted vassal!¡± ¡°You useless stocking enthusiast!¡± ¡°You love it when both your holes are filled!¡± ¡°And aren¡¯t Your Lordship¡¯s knees an erogenous zone!? How hrious!¡± ¡°Y-Y-You! How dare this sex ve who¡¯s addicted to being exposed outdoors©¥!?¡± ¡°That¡¯s you!¡± Laura and I have already gone all the way together, so it was almost impossible for anyone to stop us when we got into a fight. It was obvious that we would never reach a conclusion at this rate, so we both turned to look at Paimon. ¡°Paimon! How does it seem like to you? Laura is more perverted, right?¡± ¡°Your Highness Paimon! His Lordship is both subjectively and objectively a total pervert, right?¡± Paimon furrowed her brows in anguish. An anguish that could easily kick the butt of Auguste Rodin¡¯s The Thinker was situated on her face. ¡°If I am to be honest¡­¡­the both of you are in fairly bad states and it feels as if you are only gradually getting worse. To put it simply, you are both in grave states.¡± Laura and I pointed at each other. ¡°So who are you saying is more perverted?¡± ¡°But which side is more of a pervert?¡± Paimon let out a sigh. ¡°¡­¡­The direction might be a little different, but that does not change the fact that the two of you are undoubtedly equal. That direction is also turned in a rather bad angle. You cannot debate your superiority and inferiority next to each other. Well, in a way, it is almost like you two are soulmates.¡± I was shocked. Until now, I was confident that even if I were a pervert, I wasn¡¯t as perverted as Laura. Are you telling me that a girl who can easily climax more than 200 times a day is on the same level of perversion as me? ¡°I did not realize I was that perverted¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Why are you the one acting shocked? This youngdy is the one facing an identity crisis. Dear Goddess, has this youngdy be so vulgar that she has beparable to His Lordship¡­¡­?¡± The both of us slumped down in defeat. We lost our will to live. Paimon, who unintentionally got two kills in one shot, panicked as she tried to cheer us up. ¡°Uhm. I do not understand why the two of you are feeling depressed, but¡­¡­. Did I say something wrong? Am I the one at fault here? It is not, right? I wish to believe it is not.¡± Despite having achieved a great victory, the highmand of our forces was filled with the feeling of defeat. Sitri returned shortly after. She had just returned from drowning all the normal prisoners that weren¡¯t knights. Keeping normal prisoners alive would only make us waste funds on their food, so we all unanimously agreed to ughter them all.¡± ¡°Huh? Why¡¯s the mood like this?¡± Sitri blinked in surprise as she asked. Laura and I were in the middle of riding a high-speed rollercoaster straight to depression, so Paimon had no other choice but to exin the situation. ¡°Hmm.¡± Sitri listened to the exnation. She still looked as if she didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Uhm, Dantalian. Laura. Have either of you ever had sex with a minotaur before?¡± She threw out apletely unexpected question. The both of us naturally shook our heads. ¡°How about a gangbang with goblins?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No, I have not.¡± ¡°There is no way I would have.¡± Sitri furrowed her brows like a mathematician who was facing the biggest dilemma of the century. ¡°How about underwater sex with a lizard person? Have you fucked a subus while getting fucked by an incubus? Has your throat ever felt like it was going to burst because of a troll¡¯s penis? How about getting teased by a snake person by getting squeezed inside of their stomach?¡± Once we responded to all of her questions with a no, Sitri looked even more confused as she tilted her head. ¡°Then why are the two of you ¡®perverts¡¯? You haven¡¯t done anything.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hehe. As the person who¡¯s done everything, let me make the ruling. You are both normal and pious individuals! There¡¯s no reason to fight. Now then, shake hands and make up!¡± Sitri smiled brightly as she connected our hands. Laura and I stared at Sitri in absolute shock. There was a monster in front of us. I think she misunderstood our gaze. Sitri giggled cutely. ¡°Oh right. If either of you bes interested in perverted stuff, then feel free to tell me! I¡¯ll kindly show you the ropes! I really like Dantalian and Laura, after all. Hehe.¡± We shook our heads as strongly as we could. An infinite amount of space was spread beyond the blue sky. Space was so deep and vast that a normal person could die if they tried to venture into it thoughtlessly. Laura and I came to the same truth. The boughs that bear most hang lowest¡­¡­. * * * Heidelberg surrendered after exactly 11 months. They were the ones to send an envoy first. They requested for us to at least spare the civilians. Officially, Sitri was the suprememander leading our army, but Paimon was the one leading unofficially, so the decision was given to her. ¡°We will ept their surrender.¡± Today was the day that they promised to open their front gates. While Laura was protecting the highmand, we took a pleasant and slow boat trip down the river and arrived at Heidelberg. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m sorry about the dy. I don¡¯t know if people are aware, but I do have an editor/proofreader who checks these chapters before I release them. I don¡¯t really like pressuring him to check the chapters faster and he¡¯s been a bit busy. The next chapter will probablye out a day sooner to make up for this. Returning back to the chapter, this was a rather fun chapter to trante. The banter between Dant and Laura, and then Sitriing in to put them in their ce. Very enjoyable. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 260: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese Chapter 260: The Blue Hydrangea ofFarnese ¦¯ ¦¯ A group of generals were lined up and waiting for us at the riverside. Our small boatnded on the shore. Servants immediately came out to receive us. They unrolled an extravagant red carpet. I got off the boat first and courteously put out my right hand. ¡°Madam Paimon.¡± ¡°How gentlemanly.¡± Paimon smiled as she gently took my hand. The generals all stood at attention. ¡°We greet the Supreme Commander!¡± ¡°For the glory of the Crescent Alliance!¡± A wave of salutes followed. The sunlight reflected off the river and made it blinding. gs were waving in this blinding light. A camel with four mountains that represented Paimon, a goat with three horns that represented Sitri, the various banners of the many troops, and the banners of the knights the previously mentioned gs had destroyed and wiped out¡­¡­. We walked along the carpet that wasid out in the center of the military camp. ¡°It almost feels like we are celebrating a wedding.¡± ¡°Dear me. You will be in big trouble if you go around saying something like that to people, you know?¡± ¡°I do not say this to just anyone. I am mentioning it since it is you.¡± ¡°It is because you talk like that that you do not sound trustworthy at all, Dantalian.¡± Paimon chuckled. I shrugged back at her. As expected, someone with centuries of experience dating would never get tricked by this. Paimon was a pro that Ivar Lodbrok couldn¡¯t possiblypare to. ¡°Wee, Your Highness Paimon, Your Highness Dantalian, and¡­¡­.¡± Laura, who had been defending the camp as the highest advisor, came out to wee us. Laura looked behind us and furrowed her brows. ¡°Why is Big Sister Sitripletely drenched?¡± ¡°Huaah. It¡¯s all my fault. Sorry, Big Sis. Sorry, Dantalian. Uaaaah!¡± Sitri was no different from a drenched dog. She was weeping, but I couldn¡¯t tell whether it was the river water flowing down her face or her tears. ¡°¡­¡­The envoys are waiting at the front gate. I will lead you there.¡± Laura made a face for a moment before going back to a cid expression. She immediately knew that nothing good woulde out of prying into this. What a clever girl. Just as Laura told us, a group of envoys were waiting at the front gate. Their luxurious clothes made it obvious that they used to be nobles. The Habsburg Republic boasted that their revolution was sessful, but status groups still clearly remained. Formally, instead of saying nobles andmoners, they say rank 1 and rank 2moners. In other words, they¡¯re burying their heads in the sand. What a splendid method. I still have a lot to learn from Elizabeth. ¡°We greet the Great Beings.¡± ¡°We greet the Great Beings.¡± The gentlemen who represented Heidelberg bowed. We courteously shared a greeting©¥they may have been our enemy, but that didn¡¯t mean we would be rude to envoys©¥before immediately discussing their terms of surrender. All rights over Heidelberg will be handed over to the Demon Lord army, they will pay 40,000 libra as warpensation, and those who refuse to ept our rule will have to immediately leave the city. Paimon nodded. ¡°There seem to be no issues with the document.¡± The conditions were rather generous. We didn¡¯t even ask for the lives of the ones in charge. We didn¡¯t ughter or pige their people either. The envoys praised us endlessly for being merciful. ¡°How could we not be moved by your mercy?¡± ¡°The blessing of all Gods will be with you.¡± Paimon signed the contract as our representative. A middle-aged man handed arge key over to Paimon. The man was the mayor of Heidelberg and he had handed over the key to the front gate of the city. Paimon smiled within the tension and patted the mayor¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You have finished your duty to protect your people as the mayor and have done your utmost as themander to protect the city. I, Paimon, give you my respect.¡± ¡°I-I am truly grateful for this honor.¡± The mayor was very obviously intimidated. He was a coward despite his fluffy beard. Also, what? Old man, you can only refer to yourself like that when you¡¯re talking to your lord. Everyone heard you, so even if you return alive, you¡¯ll probably get executed for treason. There¡¯s no way Elizabeth wouldn¡¯t use him as a sacrificialmb for this loss. Tsk tsk. ¡°Uhm, there is something that I wish to ask¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh? Feel free to ask anything.¡± ¡°This humble one is unintelligent and ignorant when ites to military tactics.¡± Sweat was pouring down from the mayor¡¯s partially bald head. ¡°It is because of this that our night assault ended in a failure¡­¡­. Furthermore, I still do not understand how our fire ships were wiped out in Heilbronn. My apologies, but what level of understanding has Your Highness reached to have been able to see through all of our strategies?¡± Oh? It seems this sloppy-looking old man was also their strategist. Hmmm. Hmm? Mm¡­¡­. This is suspicious. It¡¯s not much, but should I take precautions? Better safe than sorry. ¡°I wonder. What level of understanding, is it?¡± Paimon nced at me. Laura is my subordinate. I have the right to answer this question. I turned to look at Laura and handed the right down to the person in question. Laura nodded before speaking up. ¡°I was the one who prevented your strategies in advance.¡± ¡°Pardon me¡­¡­?¡± The mayor looked Laura up and down in bewilderment. Once Laura furrowed her brows in difort, the mayor quickly lowered his head. ¡°I-I am sorry. You seemed so young, so¡­¡­. Please forgive me for not being able to discern the age of a demon.¡± ¡°I am not a demon. I am human. I have only lived for twenty years and three months now, so there is no need for concern.¡± The mayor¡¯s expression soon fell into a crucible of confusion. The other envoys were also clearly surprised. ¡°You are human¡­¡­? No, more importantly, how could a 20-year-olddy¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I will not be discussing my personal circumstances.¡± Laura cut him off sternly. ¡°For starters, you asked about the required level of enlightenment one must possess to have seen through your ns, but this question in itself is wrong. The reason you lost in this battle wasn¡¯t because of something like irvoyance or fate. There are battles that are determined by luck; however, this was not one of those cases.¡± Laura fiddled with her hair with one hand. ¡°I knew full well that you were an extremelypetent general. The leader of Habsburg is a strategist with unparalleled skill, so it would only be natural for the militarymand that supports this leader to also be capable individuals. Heidelberg is an important key location. There is no possibility that the leader of Habsburg would leave this ce to an ipetent general.¡± ¡°What are you trying to say¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It means I had a rough grasp of your personality.¡± She swept her blonde hair back. This was her way of showing that the thoughts in her were organized. ¡°I know exactly when apetent soldier must be daring and cautious. I can imagine what the leader of Habsburg must have said to you as she left Heidelberg in your care. Protect the fortress at all costs.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But weck manpower, so do not hope for reinforcements from the capital and do your utmost to carry out battles while incurring as little losses as possible¡­¡­. Something along these lines. You were in a situation where you had to utilize your troops as efficiently as possible.¡± The mayor¡¯splexion gradually became pale. Laura paid him no mind as she continued. ¡°The fortress was surrounded. How did you assess the situation? Did you think you had to simply make a hole in the encirclement? Absolutely not. You arepetent. You must have immediately realized that ¡®everything will be resolved if the bridge is destroyed¡¯. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°¡­¡­T-That is correct.¡± ¡°See? This makes matters simple.¡± Laura smiled widely. ¡°What is a tactic that can destroy a single point with minimal losses?¡± ¡°¡­¡­A surprise attack.¡± ¡°Mm. To be more exact, a night attack. However, night attacks must be carried out by aptly trained troops or they will fail. Elite troops are required in order to assure your sess. In other words, you had to mobilize your knights.¡± Laura kindly exined like she was describing the secret behind a magic trick to a friend. ¡°You most likely ordered your knights to keep charging over and over again until they seeded even if we were somehow prepared for your attack. Be happy. As you ordered, your knights charged more than 16 times. Until they werepletely wiped out, that is.¡± The mayor¡¯s shoulders shook. ¡°I knew where you would attack, what you would attack with, and how you would attack. Do you need to know more?¡± The mayor lowered his head and went silent. The envoys gave him worried looks. The mayor wiped his sweat off his forehead before barely managing to open his mouth again. ¡°Then the fire ships¡­¡­how did you¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The same thing. You were low on knights, but it was very likely that you would continue trying to destroy the bridge while incurring as few losses as possible. You lost the ability to attack onnd, so what other method did you have left? The answer is on water. It was a simple choice between one and the other.¡± ¡°Simple¡­¡­.¡± The mayor raised his head. The veins in his eyes were clear. ¡°But, the fire ships were destroyed before they could even reach the bridge. I do not understand how this could have happened.¡± ¡°Hm? Is it not obvious?¡± Laura asked him back with a confused look. ¡°You most likely estimated the time it would take for the ships to arrive at the bridge when the east wind was strong. Calcting that in reverse reveals when the ships would arrive at Heilbronn. This is also simple logic. Now then, as I exined, there is no irovoyance or luck behind this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± There was a moment of silence. A short momentter, the mayor let out a pained groan. ¡°You¡­¡­You scoundrel, how dare you y with ournd!¡± Oh dear. The mayor reached his arms out and charged at Laura. His fists were emanating a faint aura. The mayor was also a knight. Screams erupted from here and there. The envoys let out gasps, Paimon¡¯s eyes opened wide, and Sitri stepped forward with haste. However, there was nothing for them to actually worry about. ¡°Hua©¥kuaaagh!¡± The mayor was already impaled by several broadswords that hade out from the shadows. It was the death knights. I had made them prepare beforehand because I had a strange feeling since earlier. It roused my suspicion after listening to him for a bit. This old man was the mayor,mander, and also the strategist. In other words, he was someone that was put in charge of the well-being of the people, the military, and also military strategies. He was an overwhelminglypetent individual. Apetent person like this was somehow failing to control his tone and facial expressions? It was suspicious. He probably wanted to lower our guards by deliberately acting weak. Sorry, but shitty acting like that wouldn¡¯t even fool an infant. ¡°Lord.¡± Laura turned to look at me. She didn¡¯t seem particrly surprised. How could a 20-year-old girl have such a steel heart? I couldn¡¯t help but find it humorous so Iughed. ¡°It¡¯s a gift, Laura. You can take this pig¡¯s head as a part of your collection.¡± Laura opened her eyes wide a bit before smiling. ¡°I couldn¡¯t possibly refuse a gift from Your Lordship.¡± Laura unsheathed the long sword on her waist. She then decapitated the mayor, who was still alive despite being impaled, with a single clean swipe of her sword. The head flew in the air for a very brief moment before falling on the ground with a thud. A curtain of silence fell over everyone. ¡°Did the invitation go out to the wrong people? It seems like these people are assassins and not envoys. How could the postman mistake the assassin guild for the government office?¡± I spoke casually to Paimon. The envoys became pale. Seeing their reactions, it seems the mayor attempted the assassination of his own volition. A single criminal while the rest are innocent. Showing hisst bit of pride as a human while the rest survive. Was that his intention¡­¡­? All right. I will show you the price for taking matters lightly. ¡°I would rather not have unruly guests ruin our banquet. We have no other choice but to return you all back to where you must go. Isn¡¯t that so?¡± Let¡¯s ughter them all. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Just as I promised, I managed to push this chapter out a day sooner than usual. Laura really flexing on the humans this chapter. They thought she could look into the future or something. Truly big brain. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 261: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (6) Chapter 261: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (6) The dozen envoys immediately groveled at that moment. Stale excuses and apologies came flowing out from their mouths. We didn¡¯t know, please forgive us, the mayor was acting on his own¡­¡­. A pathetic orchestra yed an unbearable dissonant symphony. ¡°Let us kill the human with the loudest voice first.¡± I didn¡¯t feel like calming them down, so I said the next best thing. The sound immediately stopped. How satisfying. People are easily able to seed as long as they knew when to shut up. There are asionally people who forget this. Having a mouth hole didn¡¯t mean that you had the right to speak at all times. Your mouth is meant for shutting up and not talking. The envoys received a passing grade in this regard since they seemed to be aware of this. ¡°The envoys used their surrender as bait to attack one of our key officers. Paimon, since they deceived the heavens and fooled us, they must naturally be executed. No, I am starting to doubt whether the people of Heidelberg have truly surrendered.¡± ¡°Dantalian.¡± ¡°Lightning has fallen, so it is now time for the thunder to boom.¡± I moved my right thumb across my neck, mimicking the act of slitting my throat. ¡°There is no agreement. We will execute the envoys and upy the fortress while the humans are still confused. Let us ughter the entire poption of Heidelberg and dedicate their bodies to the Goddess.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Tie the envoys up and iste them.¡± Paimon let out a sigh and gave the order. The envoys were tied up and dragged away. Sitri huffed as she personally kicked the envoys from behind. The murderous aura that was emanating from her was so dense that the envoys couldn¡¯t even muster the courage to beg for their lives. Sitri was the type of person to talk less when angry. ¡°So, Dantalian.¡± Paimon sat down at the table. Sitri left with the prisoners and I told Laura to rest at her quarters. Paimon and I were the only ones left in the headquarters. ¡°How should we respond?¡± ¡°This was a secret order from the leader of Habsburg. There is nothing more to say about this.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Humans are surrendering to Demon Lords. It would be a different matter if this were a simple surrender, but this is a surrender where wepletely guarantee the lives of the people¡­¡­. The leader of Habsburg probably knows what this would mean.¡± Paimon wasn¡¯t simply trying to upy this fortress for no reason. Before being a military vantage point, a political ploy was also nned for Heidelberg. First, it would recover Paimon¡¯s standing which had dropped in the Crescent Alliance. Currently, the Mountain Faction was temporarily being led by Sitri. However, Sitri was a given, but all of the other Mountain Faction Demon Lords still supported Paimon as well. She needed a splendid achievement in order to regain her position as a leading power. That was why she targeted Heidelberg. To take the fortress known as the greatest in the center of the continent without incurring any losses. It was the perfect feat for her return ceremony. Second, it would renew the Demon Lord army¡¯s image. ¡°The people of the Republic are extremely afraid of the Demon Lord army. The leader of Habsburg is using this to her advantage to unite the people under a single cause.¡± ¡°Indeed. If we ept a peaceful surrender, then the public opinion will begin to split¡­¡­ but it seems the other party has already seen through our intentions.¡± Paimon let out another sigh. During thest Crescent Alliance, the ins Faction had done something rather unnecessary. It was the series of ughters that Brother Beleth carried out. ording to what I heard, he created several rafts out of human heads and let them drift down a river. Not only did this naturally make the humans fear the Demon Lord army more, but it destroyed the image that I had worked hard to build up in the northern region of Habsburg. That head of his is a constant problem¡­¡­. Elizabeth turned this into an opportunity. ¡¸The Demon Lord army is a group of atrocious devils, ughterers, and snakes.¡¹ ¡¸Our Republic is currently going through difficult times. What would happen if we were to fight among each other in a time like this? We would end up getting eaten by those beasts.¡¹ She turned it into a way to protect her authority. Those who criticized the Republic were imprisoned for things like treason, revolting, and attempted ughter. There was nothing more effective in bringing stability than setting a third party as the enemy. Thus, Paimon wanted a peaceful surrender. The Demon Lord army isn¡¯t a group of lunatics crazed about ughter. We will not kill you if you surrender peacefully. She was going to cause an internal discord within the Habsburg Republic by showing this gesture, but¡­¡­. ¡°If it means she can prevent the division of her own nation, she can easily sacrifice a city. This is what the leader of Habsburg is probably thinking.¡± Paimon groaned. ¡°Elizabeth von Habsburg, is it¡­¡­? A ruler ruling with force, no, external means.¡± ¡°It is as you said.¡± She secretly ordered the mayor to attempt an assassination. For what purpose? In order to provoke us. This would make the surrender agreement fall apart. The Demon Lord army would be enraged and set the entire city aze. The 10,000 civilians in Heidelberg would also be referred to as valiant men and women that fought against the Demon Lord army until the very end. Elizabeth will probably shed alligator tears and shout something along the lines of, ¡®My people of the Republic! We shall not forget this grudge!¡¯ The humans will undoubtedly cheer for their leader. The Republic will unite even more strongly. Quite literally the pinnacle of external means. There was really a lot to learn from Elizabeth. ¡°Habsburg is tyranny with a republican disguise over it. I wanted to divide them and make their cities be independent one by one, but¡­¡­ I see it will not be easy.¡± ¡°Their leader is not a normal capable person. Among the rulers given birth to by humanity, she is undoubtedly the mostpetent. It is only natural that it would not be easy, Paimon.¡± Now then, what should I do now? We could spare the remaining envoys and resume with the surrender agreement. What Paimon wanted will probably bear fruit. However, this would hurt our pride. If we can¡¯t retaliate in any way after suddenly being attacked, then it would only be annoying. I stroked my chin for a bit before I suddenly felt someone¡¯s gaze. Paimon was staring right at me. ¡°Did you fall for my looks again?¡± ¡°Pardon me? Of course not. If thisdy were to fall for you, then it would never be because of your looks, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I curse the world. Paimon smiled shyly. ¡°Mm, it¡¯s just, that leader is impressive for being able to see through my intentions and sacrificing an entire city without any hesitation, but you are also impressive for being able to immediately see through that leader¡¯s intent.¡± ¡°Oh? So you were trying topliment me?¡± All right. That¡¯s something I¡¯ll dly allow. I really like beingplimented. ¡°Come to think of it, you have quite the deep connection with the leader of Habsburg. You also went against each other during the ceremonial speeches on Bruno ins. Have you two perhaps met before?¡± ¡°I have never met her previously, but, I guess it might be true. We may have a deep connection.¡± What sort of connection should I call it? No one would understand even if I told them she was my favorite heroine in the game. By all means, Elizabeth is not an individual who volunteers for external means. She is someone who yearns for kingship more than anyone else. She loves her people and has boundless hope for mankind, but this does not mean she turns away from the unsightly side of humans and society. She is incredibly wise. What must be done to incur the least losses and be the most efficient is as clear as day to Elizabeth. She is probably willing to walk down a path even if it¡¯s filled with despair. If possible, I wanted to walk the same path with Elizabeth. However, I¡¯m a Demon Lord. The possibility forpromise never existed in the first ce. Well, it seems like both Elizabeth and I have tickets for the express train straight to Hell. We¡¯ll be able to express our regrets in the afterlife. So let us have a good fight here while we can, Elizabeth. ¡°In regard to a countermeasure against that leader, I have a somewhat good idea.¡± ¡°I knew you would.¡± Paimon gave me a trusting look. ¡°First, we will ept Heidelberg¡¯s surrender. However, we will make them pay for being defiant against us for the past year. We will ept their surrender, but make them take responsibility for being defiant.¡± ¡°What do you mean by taking responsibility?¡± ¡°In other words, all we have to do is divide Habsburg by any means necessary.¡± Paimon tried to aplish her goal peacefully. This was a typical rule of right. This sort of method didn¡¯t suit me. I smiled. ¡°Bring the prisoners back.¡± * * * Negotiations have broken down! The people of Heidelberg became restless once the envoys returned to make this deration. It was only yesterday that they were letting out sighs of relief because they believed that the surrender would be carried out peacefully. But the words that came out of the envoys¡¯ mouthspletely turned that around. ¡°What do you mean the mayor attempted an assassination!?¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the envoys take responsibility?¡± The people shouted angrily in the za. The civilians were sacrificed bravely throughout the past year. They helped with various military affairs and they didn¡¯t revolt even when the city was surrounded and their daily necessities had be extremely scarce. They surrendered because they had reached a point where they could do nothing more. Despite this, the mayor who was representing them had irresponsibly attempted something like an assassination. The people went beyond being surprised and were instead filled with anger. ¡°Someone capture the mayor¡¯s family.¡± ¡°If we execute his family, then the enemy should show us a bit more mercy!¡± The envoys who were on the tform prepared in the center of the za were sweating profusely. ¡°People of the city. The mayor¡¯s family has already been killed. They were murdered. Yesterday, the mayor cruelly murdered his family before leaving with the envoys. In his house, his son, daughter, wife, and rtives were all found as corpses on the floor.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The people shut their mouths. He had killed his family himself. In other words, he killed his family before they could be used as an example in case he were to fail. Once his atrocious resolve made the people lose their words for a moment, the envoys quickly continued. ¡°The worst-case scenario that you are all concerned about will not happen.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The fact that we envoys were able to return safely is the proof of that. The enemymanders informed us that they still wish to ept the surrender agreement. They also promised the well-being of the people of Heidelberg.¡± However, the envoys continued. ¡°Themanders stated that there is a condition to this surrender. They said that responsibility must be taken for the retaliation that had happened until now and the assassination attempt.¡± The people who were about to cheer when they heard that their safety would be guaranteed tensed up the moment they heard there was a condition. That¡¯s right. There¡¯s no way they would be forgiven with no strings attached when there was even an assassination attempt. What sort of cruel condition was it going to be?¡± ¡°Six people.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Six people that represent Heidelberg will have to take responsibility and be executed.¡± A curtain of silence fell over the za. One of the civilians with the right to talk raised their hand. ¡°I have a question. Who exactly are you saying will take responsibility? The supervisors? Or themanders?¡± ¡°The enemy said that they do not care whoes out as the representative. They did not mention specific individuals or jobs. In other words¡­¡­.¡± The envoy who had been talking paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°We must determine who will take responsibility.¡± Another silence. The crowd gathered in the za slowly started to stir. The buzzing gradually grew louder. In an instant, the entire za became as noisy as a marketce. ¡°No, what authority do we have to choose who we should sacrifice? The mayor already died.¡± ¡°We can all survive by sacrificing only 6 people, so it¡¯s a rather generous condition¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But who¡¯s going to pick the people?¡± The people soon asked in a single voice. ¡°Who is supposed to die?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I honestly don¡¯t have much to say this chapter. A lot hasn¡¯t been happeningtely. On apletely unrted note, it apparently snowed here today. In the middle of March. Obviously it didn¡¯t snow for long, but it was still surprising. Uh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter? Chapter 262: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (7) Chapter 262: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (7) The people did not rest as they would asionally shout strongly or whisper quietly among each other. The question was who they were going to put up as sacrificialmbs. The upper-ss people were afraid that the lower-ss people would unite and try to shift the me to them and the lower-ss people were afraid that the upper-ss people would try to nder and persecute them. Everyone was aware that this was an extremely difficult problem. ¡®No matter who is chosen, I have to make sure I¡¯m not one of them.¡¯ ¡®You just have to go along with whatever anyone says in times like this!¡¯ ¡®If you try to raise your voice, then you might end up sticking out and being chosen.¡¯ For example, what would happen if someone stepped forward and tried to press someone else into bing a sacrifice? They would be able to avoid immediate danger. However, they would return to their normal lives after the war. How would the people around them think of them at that point? The person who betrayed and cornered another fellow city folk. A murderer who killed another to save their own life¡­¡­. These kinds ofbels would get attached to them for the rest of their lives. In the end, they wouldn¡¯t be able to live in the city. ¡®Anyone.¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t care who it is, but someone please step forward!¡¯ This was a moment where an instigator was needed. A person with a loud voice just had to appear and shout. For example, something along the lines of¡­¡­Everyone! Who were the ones that made us suffer for the past year? Was it the ves? The normalmoners? Or was it the upper-ss folks who own this city and wanted to protect it? The upper ss should take responsibility. Or¡­¡­Everyone! We have no other choice but to choose an oue that will incur the least losses within this tragic situation. We must choose people who will not bring any demerit to the city if they were to disappear. That¡¯s right, I propose that we should select 6 beggars. Any option was fine. As long as it wasn¡¯t them. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was at that moment, an old man stood up. The old man was wearing clothes that were made from silk. He had two servants escorting him, but the old man waved them back before walking forward by himself. The envoys hastily made way for the old man as he made his way onto the tform. ¡°¡­¡­People of the city.¡± The old man¡¯s low voice echoed throughout the za thanks to an artifact. The old man was a count. He lost all of the privileges that came with his status after the revolution. Unofficially, he was referred to as a count, but he was now a relic with no actual power who would simply show his face at social events among old people as he waited for his eventual death. However, a count was still a count. The old man had a fair amount of influence now that the mayor was dead. He didn¡¯t have much longer left to live anyway. It would be fine if he took all the responsibility and selected the sacrifices himself. It was now going to begin. The people will start to name sacrifices the moment the old man opens his mouth and gives his opinion¡­¡­. ¡°I will die first.¡± * * * ¡°Are you saying that we should choose 6 people to take responsibility?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± I spoke to the envoys whom I had called back. ¡°The sin of resisting all this time and the assassination attempt. I do not imagine you would dare ask for forgiveness in regard to these matters. Nheless, I believe the assassination was something the mayormitted on his own.¡± ¡°T-Then¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I do not believe we have to actually kill 6 people.¡± I patted an envoy¡¯s shoulder understandingly. ¡°However, we also have our dignity. How would we be able to maintain our majesty before our subordinates if an appropriate punishment is not carried out after such an incident?¡± Therefore, I added at the end. ¡°Even if sacrifices are made, choose only those who volunteer willingly. In the final moment of the execution, we will forgive the sacrifices. Well, think of this as a little prenned y.¡± ¡°Thank you very much!¡± The envoys groveled once they thought they would be spared. I looked down at them. ¡°Of course, there is a condition to this. The sacrifices must be nobles. It would only put a stain on our faces if you send random people up. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Y-Yes! That is only natural.¡± The envoys confidently stated that they would make preparations on their own before returning. * * * Everyone held their breaths. What did the old count say just now? What did the person with the noblest blood in Heidelberg say with his own mouth? ¡°Proud citizens of Heidelberg, we had carried out a battle filled with despair for the past year.¡± The old man¡¯s voice that had solidified over the years was gentle. ¡°We united while facing the terrifying ends of spears, and even though we were struggling to acquire even a single loaf of bread, we dly shared our food with our neighbors if they happened to be starving more than you. All people are equal before death.¡± The old man quoted a famous aphorism before continuing. ¡°The path to salvation is now before us. If we were to divide now with our survival right before us after having been firmly united before death, then there would be nothing moreughable than this. People of Heidelberg! The enemy believes that we are all egoists that only care for our own lives, but is this true?¡± Contrary to the old man¡¯s gentle-looking wrinkles, his eyes were filled with resolve as they peered over the za. ¡°In truth, are we©¥we humans, unable to devote our lives for others?¡± An unknown feeling of heat started to swell up from within the crowd. The old man shouted. ¡°Justice is a flower that blooms with fortitude! Righteous people! Stand for the sake of Heidelberg!¡± Two people stood up at almost exactly the same time after those words. ¡°We cannot allow ourselves to fall for the schemes of those wicked demons. Let us show them the pride of mankind.¡± ¡°This is the perfect stage to put an end to our shabby lives.¡± A baron who was a part of the envoy group. A viscount who was also a merchant and had control over the city¡¯smerce. They went up on stage and looked down at the za. Three additional people eventually stood up as well. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but be surprised when they recognized the people who had stood up. The madam with a reputable position in Heidelberg¡¯s high society, the city¡¯s judge, and the archpriest from the church¡­¡­. All 6 of the people who willingly decided to face death were nobles of high positions. The za started to buzz. Why were nobles saying that they would sacrifice themselves? Weren¡¯t they greedier than anyone else? The old man nodded matter-of-factly as he received the looks of surprise and confusion. ¡°Noble individuals must naturally carry heavier burdens than anyone else.¡± The citizens were in awe of the attitude disyed by the nobles. They prayed to their respective Gods as they hoped that the 6 righteous people would be blessed. The morning of the next day, the 6 people walked through the front gate while in their undergarments like death row inmates. The city folk came out onto the streets to see them off despite it being early in the morning. Prayers were recited endlessly on the path they walked. * * * ¡°There are two reasons why the Habsburg Republic is being maintained.¡± I said as I exined the n to Paimon. ¡°First, as we discussed before, it¡¯s the hostility toward the Demon Lord army. However, there is a second reason that is more important than this, and that is the hostility toward nobility.¡± ¡°An external threat and an internal threat, I see.¡± I nodded. As a dictator, Elizabeth is enacting a typical, but effective modus operandi. The people would unite way too much if only an external threat exists. A nation where everyone has united could potentially be a situation where the people are stronger than the dictator. An excellent dictator naturally has to establish an internal threat as well. From a dictator¡¯s position, it¡¯s easier to rule a nation when the public sentiment is split than when it¡¯s united. By doing so, the nation will maintain a state where they¡¯re decently united but also divided. It¡¯s clear what the goal is for this kind of political technique. Not to unite the nation, but to bring together the dictator¡¯s supporters. In Elizabeth¡¯s case, she turned the lofty nobles into themon enemy. ¡°By sacrificing the entire city of Heidelberg, the leader of Habsburg wanted to amplify the Demon Lord army¡¯s position as the external threat.¡± I smiled. ¡°It is our turn to counter. Let us reduce the scale of the sacrifice from the entire city to only high nobles.¡± What would happen then? The mayor wasn¡¯t the one who saved Heidelberg. It wasn¡¯t the military either. The high nobles, who are despited by the government of the Republic, would be the ones to save the city by taking death upon themselves¡­¡­. The people would be moved by the spirit of sacrifice disyed by the nobles. There¡¯s little that can passionately move the minds of people more than self-sacrifice. The image of nobles will immediately change within the Republic. ¡°The mayor elected by the government tried to carry out an assassination on his own and put the entire city in danger. The army which the leader of Habsburg boasts has also only shown ipetency. The nobles would be sacrificing themselves under these circumstances.¡± The upper management and military would lose face while the nobles would gain a higher right to speak. In other words, Elizabeth¡¯s henchmen would be weaker while her opponents be stronger. ¡°¡­¡­Their leader will not be able to do anything. Regardless of her intentions, the nobles will be the heroes that rescued the city. She will have no other choice but to praise them.¡± Paimon muttered with an annoyed look. ¡°You are truly ghastly when ites to stratagem. I am d that you are not my enemy, Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Haha. I will take that as apliment.¡± ¡°Do you intend to execute the 6 people?¡± I shook my head. ¡°That would only ruin our image. We will naturally spare them. They are great people who willingly chose death. If we spare them because their disy manages to move even Demon Lords, then¡­¡­. Look. Would this not be quite the good story?¡± Righteous nobles and merciful Demon Lords. Mm, a splendid main cast and a splendid ending. These were the perfect materials to make a great story. Bards won¡¯t have to worry about starving to death this year. I¡¯m not sure, but there are probably a lot of bards who¡¯ve benefited thanks to me. ¡°Furthermore, living heroes are far more troublesome than dead heroes. The 6 people must live and be living nuisances for the leader of Habsburg.¡± ¡°Living heroes are more troublesome than dead heroes, is it¡­¡­? That is truly a Dantalian-like line.¡± Paimon chuckled as if she found this to be funny. ¡°Has thisdy told you this before? You have quite the wicked personality.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. This is the first time I have ever been told this.¡± Paimon burst out intoughter once I shrugged at her. She folded her fan andughed for quite a while. The next morning, the execution was carried out ording to the scenario we had set up beforehand. Paimon burst out into tears and spoke right before the 6 were about to be hung. ¡°Ah, are these not the most righteous people from the city? We would only lose the already few righteous people in the world if these people are killed, so how could we possibly execute them?¡± ¡°But Paimon.¡± I pretended to be angry as I shouted. ¡°Heidelberg hasmitted a grave crime. They must be punished for their sins!¡± ¡°Thisdy wishes to ask whether killing righteous people is the right thing to do. Even if we have been divided between demons and humans, but is there a divide in the righteousness pursued by both demonkind and humanity?¡± Paimon¡¯s face became soaked in tears. ¡°Thisdy will forgive these people. Righteous people! As you have saved this city and shown the world that righteousness still exists, I, Paimon, wish to bestow upon you my respect. You will all be remembered throughout history for your devotion to noblesse oblige.¡± The 6 people were released. They already knew that they were going to be spared. That¡¯s why they stood up to be sacrificed. Be it this side or the other party, we were all in on this since the beginning. They thanked Paimon over and over again as they said that she would be the one remembered throughout history. The noblesse oblige mentioned by Paimon on this day started to trend as it was uttered many times again by bardster on. This is how history works. How unfortunate, Elizabeth. If I weren¡¯t here, then things might¡¯ve gone your way. But how many things in life truly go your way? You should take this as a good life lesson. People should be modest, after all. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I have not been getting enough sleeptely. It¡¯s gotten to the point where the top left corner of my left eye would start twitching all day. It¡¯s not even like I¡¯m missing out on a lot of sleep. It¡¯s just me sometimes sleeping only 6 hours a night. I think it might be the coffee I drink after not getting enough sleep. Welp, in any case, I hope everyone gets some proper rest. Back to ying most Lost Ark for me B) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 263: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (8) Chapter 263: The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese (8) * * * ¡°Damn it, damn it¡­¡­!¡± A middle-aged knight cursed. Heidelberg¡¯s cavalry knights were pathetically chased out of the city. There used to be 900 of them, but after their huge defeat during the night attack, their numbers had drastically decreased to 200. The majority of the remaining 200 were also apprentices as all of the veteran knights and even the knight captain were wiped out. ¡°That damn Nightmare of Bruno! Fall to Hell!¡± The middle-aged man who was currently leading the remaining 200 members was the vice-captain. He had been swearing at Dantalian for several hours now. His face waspletely red. This was because he spent the entire night drinking. The apprentice knights whispered among each other as they followed the vice-captain. ¡°Sheesh. Why has he been swearing sincest night?¡± ¡°They say the one who predicted the night attack was that Demon Lord¡¯s subordinate. I understand why he¡¯s so upset.¡± The vice-captain used to have a level road straight to sess spread out before him. He used to be second-inmand to a cavalry of almost a thousand knights. However, the knights of Heidelberg were utterly defeated. If they return to the capital like this, all that waited for them was their unit being disbanded. The situation was a little better for the normal and apprentice knights. They can be reassigned to somewhere else. But that isn¡¯t possible for the vice-captain. He¡¯ll probably be told to take responsibility for the defeat and be forever kicked out of the military. ¡°If that bastard didn¡¯t exist¡­¡­damn it!¡± If he were a talented general, then he could¡¯ve served as amoner. However, the vice-captain climbed up to his position through his moderate skill, connections, and way of life. None of these things were enough to shake away the dishonor of defeat¡­¡­. His life as a knight was now over. ¡°Die¡­¡­die like a dog¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Sheesh.¡± This was the reason why the vice-captain was drunk and swearing up a storm. The other knights sighed as they watched this, but they also understood how the vice-captain felt, so they walked in silence. It was a littleter that they noticed something while marching down a dirt path. There was a shabby-looking man sitting in the middle of the road. His looks weren¡¯t impressive, but not only was the ck mantle over his shoulders clearly luxurious, but the even weirder part was the fact that he was sitting on a marble chair that was ced in the middle of a dirt path. This was undoubtedly a weird sight. ¡°What¡¯s up with this guy?¡± The vice-captain slurred as he spoke. ¡°Isn¡¯t he a mage?¡± The attendant did his best to exin while trying to not offend his master. The vice-captain¡¯s face twisted weirdly. ¡°A mage?¡± ¡°Yes. Mages have always been known to be entric. I heard that they would asionally block the road like this and ask people riddles. They let people who solve the riddle pass while turning those who fail into toads.¡± ¡°Hmph. What retards.¡± The vice-captain snorted. However, the fact that he lowered his voice made it clear that he was being cautious to not let the mage hear him. Mages were people who always brought fear and awe. ¡°Tell him to buzz off.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± The attendant ran off after receiving the order. He conversed with the mage courteously before returning to his master with a troubled look on his face. ¡°Master. That mage is asking if we¡¯re the knights from Heidelberg.¡± ¡°Huuh? Are you telling me he knows who we are?¡± The vice-captain huped. ¡°No, if he recognized us, then he should¡¯ve gotten out of our way sooner. What is he thinking?¡± ¡°Well, uhm¡­¡­. He says that he won¡¯t get out of the way no matter what.¡± ¡°What? Ha. He really is a retard!¡± The vice-captain got off his horse. ¡°I¡¯ll ask this great mage whether he truly won¡¯t get out of our way no matter what.¡± He unsheathed his two-handed broadsword. It was a weapon that could easily decapitate someone. The vice-captain emitted his aura as he approached the man in the chair. ¡°I¡¯m the vice-captain of Heidelberg¡¯s cavalry knights.¡± The vice-captain¡¯s body that was as big as a bear¡¯s cast arge shadow on the ground. ¡°Mages may receive special treatment, but to block the path of knights, there is a limit to rudeness. Get out of the way!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The man had his hands sped togetherfortably. ¡°So you have made it. Well, to be exact, you arrived here. No, it does not matter how it is described.¡± ¡°Haa? What nonsense are you saying?¡± ¡°I am saying that I have been waiting for you all.¡± The man smiled. Even though there was a knight emitting an immense amount of aura with hundreds of more knights behind him, the man didn¡¯t seem scared or worried. On the contrary, it was the vice-captain who felt uneasy. Don¡¯t tell me? Is this guy actually a high-ranking mage? More than anything else, he was incredibly ustomed to informal speech. It was hard for anyone to be able to speak informally to the vice-captain like this unless they were a person with great skill or a noble. ¡°¡­¡­For what reason were you waiting for us?¡± The vice-captain spoke in a slightly more courteous tone. His way of living that had helped him reach his current position was sending out warning signals. ¡°You fool.¡± The man¡¯s gaze became vicious for a moment. The man with a warm and gentle smile on his face was nowhere to be seen. A thick aura of killing intent flowed out from him. His gaze was so menacing that the vice-captain, who had never lost in a battle of courage before, flinched. ¡°For what other reason would I be waiting for a pig bastard like you?¡± ¡°W-What?¡± ¡°You seem to be strolling around rather pleasantly under the sun despite having not properly carried out Her Excellency¡¯s orders.¡± The vice-captain gasped. He realized who the seated man was. There was only one type of person who could mention ¡®Her Excellency¡¯s orders¡¯ in front of him. This man was undoubtedly an emissary sent by Her Excellency the Ruler of the Great Republic! The vice-captain immediately dispersed his aura. ¡°I-I¡­¡­did not recognize you.¡± ¡°You reek of alcohol. What a sight this is. You must already know that the gallows await you back at the capital since it seems you have already been having your final drinks.¡± ¡°Gueh!¡± There was nothing more that had to be said. The vice-captain threw his pride as a knight away as he tossed aside his two-handed sword. ¡°Please forgive me!¡± Did they notice that the atmosphere was shifting into a dire direction? The men behind the vice-captain started to stir. The vice-captain prostrated without any hesitation. Pride was important; however, pride was something you could build againter on. That¡¯s impossible to do if you aren¡¯t alive. ¡°Forgive? What are you asking me to forgive?¡± The man smiled cruelly. ¡°Do you understand how you have wronged the great leader and the Republic? Fine. Go ahead and try telling me your crimes with that intoxicated mouth of yours.¡± ¡°We failed to assassinate an executive within the Demon Lord army¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How dare you try to return to the capital while being aware of that!¡± A roar was let out. The cry was so loud that one might mistake it for the sound of thunder. The vice-captain lowered his head in surprise and the cavalry knights behind him almost fell off from their horses. It was clear that the man had used a spell that amplified his voice. ¡°You pig! Try making an excuse!¡± ¡°T-This humble one tried to take part in the envoy group¡­¡­but that sly fox of a scoundrel ced a condition that forbade knights from being included among the envoys¡­¡­so the mayor had to go alone¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The man¡¯s voice loosened slightly. ¡°Her Excellency the Leader gave you guys a secret order, did she not?¡± ¡°Y-Yes. Of course.¡± ¡°In other words, you are also responsible for the assassination incident.¡± ¡°That is correct¡­¡­.¡± The man¡¯s question seemed somewhat strange, but the vice-captain continued to keep his head down. One wrong word and he might end up being executed immediately. His priority right now was getting out of this situation alive. ¡°There is one thing that you did well. Do you know what it is?¡± Was it thanks to him throwing his dignity and pride away? The man¡¯s voice became much gentler. The vice-captain rejoiced in his mind as he carefully answered. ¡°T-This humble one is ignorant, so I have only thought about my crimes.¡± ¡°It is the fact that you willingly gave me these confidential pieces of information.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± The vice-captain raised his head. The man was smiling happily. ¡®Wait a second.¡¯ The vice-captain¡¯s face froze. ¡®Come to think of it, this guy hasn¡¯t revealed his identity yet©¥.¡¯ The vice-captain couldn¡¯t continue his thought. His field of view suddenly flipped upside down before eventually going ck. A ck curtain fell over the world. ¡°I had a feeling that Elizabeth didn¡¯t give secret orders to only one person. Thank you for kindly answering my questions, Vice-Captain Frederick.¡± Thud, the vice-captain¡¯s head fell to the earth and rolled. The sword that rose up from the man¡¯s shadow sank back down into the road after decapitating the vice-captain. The other knights were shocked by the tragedy they had just witnessed. However, they weren¡¯t given much time to be shocked as swords started toe out from their shadows as well. ¡°M-Magic! He¡¯s using magic!¡± ¡°The vice-captain has fallen!¡± The knights fell into a panic. The man retrieved the vice-captain¡¯s head before taking out an artifact. A teleportation spell was activated the moment he tore the parchment. The man was teleported to the forest nearby along with his chair. The man hid his body in the foliage as he watched the knights fall one by one from afar. The knights fell helplessly to the swords that were rising up from the shadows. If there were a veteran knight among them, then they would¡¯ve realized that death knights were the ones behind this attack and that it was not because of magic. They would have then proceeded to tell everyone that the host should be nearby and that they simply had to deal with the host, but a veteran like that didn¡¯t exist in this group of knights that had practically been wiped out already. In the end, around a hundred of the two hundred men were ughtered and the remaining men ran away without being able to take their equipment. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The man ripped the skin mask off his face, revealing Dantalian¡¯s face. Dantalian muttered as if he were reprimanding himself. ¡°¡­¡­With this, I¡¯ve repaid my debt to Paimon for losing in Frankia¡¯s civil war.¡± It was only natural for the glory of victory and the goal of the battle to all go straight to Paimon. If Dantalian got worked up and pursued revenge for the assassination attempt, then Paimon would¡¯ve had no other choice but to agree. Dantalian and Laura had contributed the most to capturing Heidelberg, after all. But Dantalian held himself back. Just as how Paimon forgave him for the defeat at Frankia, Dantalian also didn¡¯tin and only considered the political gains. Even if his subordinate was almost assassinated, he absolutely couldn¡¯t pursue vengeance¡­¡­. ¡°But you bastards messed with my subordinate.¡± Dantalian looked down at the vice-captain¡¯s head he had dropped on the floor. Dantalian was well aware that Laura was a child who didn¡¯t actively seek revenge. She was someone who was satisfied with just serving her lord, and if her lord wanted to help Paimon, then she would more than dly discard revenge from her mind. However, Dantalian made a promise before. He promised to get revenge in his subordinates¡¯ stead if they were to be ridiculed. It was by no means a promise he had made lightly. Dantalian had spent two consecutive days tracking the knights down in order to keep his promise, before finally choosing an appropriate spot to carry out the revenge. Dantalian secretly ced the vice-captain¡¯s head in Laura¡¯s room within the dungeon. Laura was surprised by the new addition to her head collection, but she immediately noticed that the object that was wrapped around the head was the g of Heidelberg¡¯s knights. She then figured out who had done this and why. ¡°Your Lordship is more perverted!¡± ¡°No, Laura is more perverted!¡± But Laura didn¡¯t say anything about it to Dantalian. Dantalian also didn¡¯t make any sort of implication toward it. The master and servant called each other names and spent their daysughing. That was how the master and servant shared their feelings. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. What a nice way to end this segment. Dantalian getting revenge in Laura¡¯s stead. You wouldn¡¯t think he¡¯s a scheming scoundrel if this was all we saw of him. On a more serious note, uh, the next chapter might have some dy. I found out yesterday morning that my mom has covid, so yeah. I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s going to happen. I might end up having symptoms in a few days, so I¡¯m just doing my best to not push myself. I really don¡¯t know what¡¯ll happen, so if I do end up getting it as well, I¡¯ll probably announce it in the discord. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Hopefully I¡¯m not dead. Chapter 264: So, Who is On Top?(1) Chapter 264: So, Who is On Top?(1) Let¡¯s examine what the ranking within Dantalian¡¯s army is like. Three years have passed since the construction on my dungeon had started. The first floor, first-floor basement, second-floor basement, and third-floor basement had been perfectly built. The rest was still slowly being constructed as well. Even now, numerous goblins and dwarves were wandering around the dungeon non-stop with their tools. Among all the floors that were being built, the tenth-floor basement was created early and this was where the key members of Dantalian¡¯s army resided. In other words, people who were lodging in the tenth-floor basement were executives within our army. The person upying the very highest position within Dantalian¡¯s army was obviously me, Dantalian. ¡°Father, I brewed some tea.¡± The office created on the tenth-floor basement. Daisy approached while I was seated here and reading documents. She put down the tea. A thin strand of steam rose up from the teacup. ¡°Thanks.¡± I gave her a nod. ¡°So what poison did you put in this time?¡± ¡°I put in a poison that will melt your bones if you take it consistently for 200 years.¡± Daisy answered nonchntly. ¡°I was able to satisfy the conditions of the poison having no color, no taste, and no smell, just as Jeremi instructed. I am proud of my work.¡± ¡°Good job. Now go make the tea again.¡± ¡°Yes, Father.¡± Daisy took the tea away. Daisy became 14 years oldst month. Back when she was 10, she was a child who acted rather murderous despite being a kid. After bing 14, she gave off a young but charming atmosphere, so she grew up to be a venomous snake filled with a corrupt charm. ¡°Are you not going to punish her?¡± Lapis, who was looking at documents across from me, asked. ¡°She tried to poison you. It would only be natural to give her someshings.¡± ¡°Calm down. That was already the seventy-fourth time that brat tried to poison me.¡± She had to resort to using a poison that didn¡¯t work unless taken for 200 straight years because of the ve seal on her heart. Honestly, you couldn¡¯t really call this an attempt at poisoning me. How sad. ¡°She¡¯s someone who¡¯ll keep behaving like that her entire life, so just ignore it.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Lapis nodded impassively. She didn¡¯t offer any sort of objection to my words and went back to working on the documents in front of her. Lapis was wearing her suit as usual and her side-braided pink hair covered the chest area of her suit. Lapis Lazuli held the 2nd ranked position in Dantalian¡¯s army. She was in charge of domestic affairs. The domestic affairs department of my army had almost too much authority. Not only did they direct the public order of my Demon Lord Castle and territory, but they were responsible for the prison and half the administration of my entire territory. It was a monstrous amalgamation of the administration, the police, and the intelligence agency fused into one. Lapis Lazuli, who had the top position of this department, was¡­¡­mm, she was like the prime minister, the policemissioner, and the chief of state affairs all at once. She really has a huge position if you put it into perspective like this. Oh right, Lapis was the hobu and gongbu. In other words, she also had the lead position in the finance and construction departments. Basically, adding minister of finances and construction to her already spectacr list of other positions. The day she revolts is the day Dantalian¡¯s army falls into ruin. Haha. ¡°Sir Dantalian, please approve this document.¡± ¡°Okay, sure. I know that we have a lot of piled-up documents, but is there a need for us to work together at the same desk?¡± ¡°There is.¡± Lapis immediately answered without any hesitation. ¡°The papers have piled up because you went around ying with Miss Laura. It would be a problem if you did not take care of them quickly.¡± ¡°But there is still the weekend¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I heard that you have an appointment with Her Highness Barbatos this weekend.¡± I might have been feeling things, but Lapis¡¯ gaze felt cold. ¡°If this is dyed until then, then, at that time, you will definitely make an excuse saying that you cannot work since Her Highness Barbatos hase to visit. It is obvious.¡± ¡°You saw through my perfect n¡­¡­!?¡± A shiver ran down my spine like when you would climax. This was impossible. In terms of scheming, I was confident to not lose to anyone in the entire continent, but I was seen through by a mere low-ranking subus. ¡°How many years does Your Highness think I have been with you? You cannot run away this time. Please give up.¡± ¡°Only four days have passed since we captured Heidelberg¡­¡­hgh, I wanted to y¡­¡­.¡± I read the documents while tearing up. Well, Lapis was no different from the founding contributor. She¡¯s the only person I don¡¯t exert myself to. Without Lapis, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to make it big with the ck herbs and Operation Minerva wouldn¡¯t have seeded. If Laura messes with me, then I just have to vite her for two days straight. If Daisy messed with me, then I just have to give her a slow education session all night. However, if Lapis gets upset, then it¡¯s game over. I have to grovel and beg for forgiveness. ¡°Hoo.¡± A sigh came from underneath the desk. ¡°Lord, this is the fourth time already.¡± It was Laura. She was caressing my member with her mouth while crouched under the table. The reason why a shiver went down my spine earlier like I was climaxing was due to the fact that I actually was. Laura had let out a sigh after swallowing everything I had let out. ¡°I want to go back to my room and read the new philosophy book by Antoine Arnault I got¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You cannot. If you leave, then I would end up having to work on these documents without anything else to do. Please keep it up until I at least finish these documents.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Big sister Lapis, how much longer is there left until His Lordship finishes all the documents?¡± I wonder, Lapis responded. ¡°It will require at least 5 more hours.¡± ¡°Are you telling me to perform fetio for 5 hours straight!?¡± Laura looked like she was about to cry. ¡°Your Lordship probably is not aware of this, but this is rather hard on the jaw! Your Lordship is pointlessly big down here, so it is difficult to get my entire mouth around it.¡± ¡°Ah, ah. Wait a second. Don¡¯t hit it with your finger. It is sensitive since I just came.¡± Laura de Farnese, she held the 3rd position in Dantalian¡¯s army. She was in charge of military affairs. It would probably be easy to call her the Minister of National Defense, but she had a bit more authority than that. This was because she was in charge of the military government, militarymand, and all of the operations. All of the monsters living in the dungeon had to listen to Laura¡¯s orders. If they didn¡¯t, then Laura had the right to punish them immediately without my permission. Laura is actually dense at times, but she was merciless when she carried out military affairs. Every month, at least two or three monsters would always get executed for not listening to orders. The monsters that live in my dungeon were probably more afraid of Laura than me. ¡°It was this youngdy who captured Heidelberg, not Your Lordship! I should naturally be given a vacation and it does not make sense that I have to serve Your Lordship for 5 hours¡­¡­. This is unfair!¡± ¡°Did you only realize this now? The world has always been unfair. If you do not like it, then be a Demon Lord yourself.¡± ¡°Uugh¡­¡­!¡± With tears in her eyes, Laura began to service my member with her mouth again. Mm, a pleasant warmth enveloped my lower body. I hummed as I read the documents in front of me. Up to this point were the highest executives of Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army. Next in line was Parsi at rank 4. He handled territorial affairs outside the Demon Lord Castle. He had the administration right and the right of taxation over thend. Laura was the scariest individual to the monsters while Parsi was the scariest individual to the humans. Below him was Jeremi at rank 5. She was the civil militia leader under themand of the Ministry of Home Affairs. She was the one who actually managed public order and the prison in Lapis¡¯ stead. By managing the prison, I mean that Jeremi has the authority to burn and disembowel prisoners. And Daisy was 6th in rank. She was my personal secretary and the head maid. My cute spirits and a ratherrge number of monsters worked as servants in my Demon Lord Castle. Daisy was in charge of directing them. Furthermore, it was Daisy¡¯s job to deliver my words to the people of mynd. You could call her the closest aide among aides. ¡°I brewed another cup of tea.¡± ¡°Wee back. What poison did you put in it this time?¡± ¡°A poison that makes your intestines rot if you take it consistently for 300 years.¡± ¡°Go brew another cup.¡± ¡°Yes, Father.¡± Although I had a problem where my closest aide would try to assassinate me at every opportunity. There was no need to list the rest. Each vige chief and the high-ranking monsters in the boss rooms of every floor would probably be considered 7th. It wasn¡¯t only one or two people. Referentially, Daisy¡¯s brother, Luka, is the vice-captain of the civil militia. He¡¯s working hard to train under Jeremi. If I were to give him a rank, then he¡¯d be at 15. I wonder how it feels to be so far below his own little sister. To sum it up briefly: Dantalian > Lapis > Laura >>> Parsi > Jeremi > Daisy >>> Each vige chief + high-ranking monsters. This was the official ranking. However, if you dive deeper into it, then it besplicated. ¡°Dantalian!¡± Someone kicked the door to my office open. I raised my head to see Barbatos huffing with her white hair fluttering behind her. Once the high-ranking Demon Lord made her appearance, Lapis immediately got up and prostrated on the ground. I furrowed my brows. ¡°Hey. Is this your living room? If you¡¯re going to visit, then you should¡¯ve sent a servant here first to notify us.¡± ¡°You son of a bitch. We promised to meet at Vindobona this morning, but what? A servant? Is that thing on your shoulders a head or a bucket!?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I was surprised. ¡°Was today the promised day? Wasn¡¯t it tomorrow?¡± ¡°You bitch!¡± Barbatos clenched her teeth. Her rough breathing made it clear that she was firmly upset. ¡°I was wondering when you¡¯d arrive, but you dared to stand me up and leave me waiting until the evening?¡± ¡°W-Wait. I really thought it was tomorrow! My aide definitely said that my appointment with you was tomorrow!¡± I turned pale as I looked at Daisy. ¡°I do not know what you are saying, Father. I wrote down what you told me in the notebook.¡± Daisy responded tly. But I noticed it. The ends of her lips went up very slightly by approximately 3mm. Daisy¡¯s eyes were sparkling like a schemer who had managed to pull off their n. ¡°You!?¡± ¡°I was already upset that you went around ying with Paimon, but what? You stand me up? Dantalian, you son of a bitch, you must have quite the balls of steel.¡± Barbatos¡¯s right hand glowed with a ck mana. A whip appeared. Barbatos gripped the whip and approached me. I trembled in fear. This was the sad truth. No matter how much you talk about the ranking within Dantalian¡¯s army¡­¡­Barbatos was always on top. The difference in power was already ¡®Barbatos >>>>>> Dantalian¡¯, so what could I possibly do? I desperately looked at my vassals around me. Help me! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No one met my gaze. How could this be? Are you telling me that all of my loyal retainers have died? Is there not a single person loyal enough to sacrifice themselves for me when their lord is about to die? ¡°Hm. Sister Barbatos is here.¡± At that moment, Laura crawled out from under the table. Barbatos looked at Laura and paused. ¡°¡­¡­Laura? Why were you down there?¡± ¡°His Lordship made me perform fetio on him, so I was a bit busy. More importantly, Sister Barbatos, thest time we were together, you promised to be together the next day, but why did you disappear the next morning?¡± ¡°Oh. T-That¡¯s.¡± Barbatos stammered. Her vigor disappeared without a trace as she started to sweat. ¡°Something happened in Vindobona all of a sudden, so I had to take care of it.¡± ¡°Does a promise between us only have that much value? This youngdy was excited to be able to spend the morning with you¡­¡­. It seems you were not too happy about it.¡± ¡°N-No! That¡¯s not it!¡± Barbatos quickly unsummoned her whip as she rushed to Laura. That¡¯s right. Surprisingly, even though the hierarchy of ¡®Barbatos >>>>>> Dantalian¡¯ exists, the hierarchy of ¡®Laura > Barbatos¡¯ also exists. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This is a pretty fun casual chapter with banter. We finally see what sort of rtionship Laura has with Barbatos after that one chapter where Laura decided to pursue her. Laura is pretty terrifying. On another note, I think I¡¯m fine. I still haven¡¯t shown any symptoms yet, so I think I can confidently say that I don¡¯t have covid. My mom has been staying at a friend¡¯s ce this entire time because she said it¡¯s practically an empty house, so she doesn¡¯t have to worry about infecting others. She sounded like she was getting better thest time I called her, so I think everything is okay now? She just needs to rest for a couple more days. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 265: So, Who is On Top?(2) Chapter 265: So, Who is On Top?(2) ¡°Laura, you like warhorses, right? There¡¯s a really good one that I saw at Vindobona. It isn¡¯t your average horse. Not only does it look super slick, but it¡¯s really fast as well.¡± Barbatos grabbed Laura¡¯s hand while being flustered. It was like watching a nouveau riche trying to shower a stripper with gifts. ¡°Also a sword. Sheesh, I made a cksmith make it, but a seventh of the sword is made out of adamantium. Fuck, when I picked it up, it felt like a cane and not a sword. It¡¯s fucking light, but you can cut people¡¯s bones like paper with it. You can have it all, Laura.¡± ¡°Wow¡­¡­.¡± I unintentionally let out a sound of awe as I watched from the side. I wasn¡¯t in awe because I was impressed by Barbatos. My mouth fell open as I discovered how far a person can fall. Barbatos, you¡¯re a damn mess¡­¡­. ¡°Sister, do you think I am asking this so that you would give me gifts?¡± ¡°Of course not. Uh-huh. I know you aren¡¯t.¡± Barbatos nodded her head fervently. ¡°I just felt bad¡­¡­you know? I¡¯d feel bad if I didn¡¯t do anything for you. You understand, right, Laura?¡± ¡°I do not really understand.¡± We were reaching the climax. I had a scowl on my face. Referentially, Lapis, who was kneeling on the side, and Daisy, who was standing next to me, all had expressions that were as cold as the ins of Siberia on their faces. There was nothing more pathetic than watching a lovers quarrel from the sideline. It has roughly been a year since Barbatos and Laura started going out. Barbatos was originally a lesbian. Furthermore, she was a severe feminist, so she believed that men were all on the same level of trash and that only females were capable of having pure and beautiful love. I was the sole exception. However, the reason I was her lover wasn¡¯t due to the fact that I possessed a charm that surpassed the boundaries of gender. It was because I was the most piece of trash among pieces of trash that went beyond being food waste. There should be a limit to nder, but this was what Barbatos told me. Then let us examine Laura¡¯s characteristics here. First, she¡¯s beautiful. Her teenage years were over and she was now entering adulthood, so she¡¯s quite literally a blooming chrysanthemum. Out of everyone on the continent, there¡¯s probably only one or two people who¡¯re as pretty as Laura. Second, she¡¯s smart. She had already be well-versed in various philosophies by the age of 16 and was fluent in 6 differentnguages. People tend to be superficial when they¡¯re smart, but Laura was different. I¡¯ve never seen her boast about the books she¡¯s read or how manynguages she can speak. Finally, her third characteristic. Her skills on the bed were amazing. Laura had reached level S on her Sex ve job. Did I have to say anything more? A woman of great beauty, a jack of all trades, and a femme fatale. As expected of the girl who was going to destroy a nation with ease and shake the entire continent. How could Barbatos not get captured if a girl like this puts her mind to it? At first, she thought of Laura as some kid with a nice-looking face, but as time passed, Barbatos started to realize Laura¡¯s true value. To be more exact¡­¡­as the number of times they had sex increased. Barbatos started to gradually lose in the push and pull battle before she eventually lost the initiative to Laura a few months ago. I¡¯m not certain, but Laura probably takes the more difficult position when they have sex. From Barbatos¡¯ perspective, it was like she had to give the most distinguished girl in the continent anything she desired. She probably doesn¡¯t want to lose her. In any case, she fell into the typical state of losing in the morning and winning at night. ¡°I believed that our bond went beyond our race and status. And yet, the reality is, our rtionship is so flimsy that you leave me behind if something even minores up¡­¡­¡± Laura made a lonesome face. ¡°I am human, after all. I used to be a ve. Expecting something from you was already a type of luxury anyway. I am nothing but a human who has to suck her Lord¡¯s penis for four to five hours while crouching¡­¡­.¡± ¡°D-Dantalian! You made our Laura do something like that!?¡± Why is the arrow turning back to me? Furthermore, what do you mean by ¡®our Laura¡¯? When did Laura be your property? It was absurd and preposterous. One wrong move and she might even take my liver and dder. ¡°What? I should be allowed to make my subordinate give me a blow job. So what?¡± ¡°How is Laura a simple subordinate!? She¡¯s also my lover! You nasty bastard, how dare you treat my lover like some sex ve!¡± ¡°It really hurts being called a nasty bastard by you of all people¡­¡­.¡± There¡¯s no one with a personality as nasty as you in the Demon Lord army, Ms. Barbatos. ¡°In the first ce, Laura was my lover long before she became yours. What¡¯s the problem with doing these sorts of things with your lover? Don¡¯t try to turn the me onto me because you¡¯re losing, tsk tsk.¡± ¡°Ah, jeez!¡± Barbatos red at me. I then realized something. ¡°You¡¯re doing this even though you know what terrible things Laura went through in the past? How could a Lord make her get on the floor and make her give you a blow job!?¡± This girl, it looks like she¡¯s getting mad at me, but she¡¯s actually pleading. Her eyes were filled with desperation. She was wordlessly telling me to go along with it. Her mouth and eyes were working separately. She was sending me an SOS because she wasn¡¯t confident she could soothe Laura¡¯s anger alone. ¡°Our Laura¡¯s pretty butt must¡¯ve been so cold. Shouldn¡¯t you have considered all of this? You reallyck consideration, Dantalian. You¡¯ve been sloppy since a long time ago!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Now then. Hurry up and apologize to Laura! Right now! Beg for forgiveness!¡± I scratched my cheek. Well, it was my fault for not knowing that today was our promised day. It also wasn¡¯t particrly satisfying to see Barbatos hang off of Laura like this. I¡¯ll fold for once. I spoke to Laura. ¡°¡­¡­After listening to Barbatos, I understand that I made a mistake. Laura, I¡¯m sorry. I should have been more considerate. Barbatos is right. I went too far.¡± ¡°Hmm. Now promise that you will not make this youngdy perform fetio on you for more than an hour from now on.¡± What? I opened my eyes wide. Laura had an ted look on her face. Dear God. Was this her goal from the very beginning? She deliberately turned the target to me in order to receive an apology and also get this sort of promise¡­¡­? How terrifying. So very terrifying. Be it Daisy or Laura, who did the girls of my Demon Lord Castle learn from to be so pitch ck inside like this!? ¡°T-That is a bit troubling. One hour is far too short. If you do not do it for at least 3 hours when I am doing paperwork like today or when I¡¯m bored, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantaliaaan!¡± Barbatos shouted. ¡°Laura is saying that she¡¯ll forgive you if you¡¯ll be careful from now on! Aren¡¯t you a man? Do you not know how to properly apologize to a woman?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I red at Barbatos. Contrary to her dirty mouth, her eyes were zing fiercely. Barbatos was silently pleading to me that she¡¯ll listen to whatever I have to sayter on, so please surrender here. I let out a sigh. ¡°¡­¡­Fine. From now on, I will not ask you to give me a blow job for more than an hour.¡± In conclusion. With the establishment of ¡®Laura > Barbatos¡¯, the hierarchy within our army bes ¡®Laura > Barbatos > Dantalian > Everyone else¡¯. Bedside lovers are terrifying. ¡°Mm. Thank you very much, Lord.¡± Laura smiled with great satisfaction. A stupid smile also appeared on Barbatos¡¯ face as soon as she saw Laura¡¯s smile. She was seriously smiling like a child. Sheesh. She¡¯s really head over heels. Laura held Barbatos¡¯ hand in her two hands. ¡°Sister, I am sorry for misunderstanding your feelings. You went through this much effort for my sake¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I-It¡¯s nothing. I should be the one to apologize for leaving without saying anything. I won¡¯t do that from now on.¡± ¡°Sister.¡± ¡°Laura!¡± The two beautiful girls hugged each other. The mood around them became so genial that it felt like a white lily should¡¯ve bloomed behind them. This might appear like a moving scene to some people. On that note, in Lapis, Daisy, and my case, we were watching the two with rotten eyes. ¡°¡­¡­Sure. Have a pleasant time together. We¡¯re going to go patrol the upper floors.¡± The two maidens already created a space of their own. They probably couldn¡¯t hear me, but I said goodbye out of courtesy. We left the office together. Lapis turned around and spoke right before leaving the room. ¡°Laura. Do not forget the military training that is scheduled for tomorrow.¡± ¡°Ah, uh-huh. I know.¡± Laura, who didn¡¯t even respond to my words, immediately answered after Lapis reminded her. She most likely forgot that it was scheduled for tomorrow and only remembered after Lapis¡¯ reminder. That was probably why she automatically answered with such vigor. Thud, the door shut behind us. The three of us left the office and wandered around the 10th-floor basement of the dungeon. I felt strangely bitter, so I put my pipe in my mouth. ¡°Whenever I see them like that, I realize once more that even if you like each other, you shouldn¡¯t like each other too much.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Lapis responded emotionlessly. ¡°Mhm. A forthright rtionship can only be maintained if a line is drawn and both sides do not cross that line. Look at Barbatos. It¡¯s because she asks Laura to do everything she wants that she ended up in Laura¡¯s hands instead.¡± She should¡¯ve been more moderate with her requests. ¡°Look at how unsightly she is because she¡¯s caught up like that. Even if you¡¯re Rank 8 and the leader of the ins Faction, she¡¯spletely at the mercy of her lover. Mm, although Laura pursuing Barbatos in itself was already a surprise.¡± I honestly didn¡¯t know that Laura had an interest in other women. I let out a sound of shock when I first heard that the two were going out. I have no intention of interfering even if my subordinate starts dating other women, but Laura never hinted at these sorts of interests to me before. ¡°Did Laura meet Barbatos in secret when she was an advisor during the Crescent Alliance?¡± ¡°I have never heard of such a thing happening.¡± ¡°Hmm, bizarre things happen in the world.¡± All things considered, Laura and I have be love rivals with Barbatos between us, but Laura hasn¡¯t been particrly unkind to me. It was rather interesting. ¡°Sir Dantalian, more importantly, there are important documents left.¡± ¡°Huh? Didn¡¯t we leave the documents in the office?¡± ¡°I predicted that things would end up like this, so I packed them beforehand.¡± Lapis showed me the bag she was holding to her side. ¡°I was not able to take much, but it should be enough tost 2 hours.¡± ¡°Uuuugh, I thought I would be able to y a little¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Since your office has been taken, let us finish the rest of the work at my office.¡± Lapis didn¡¯t stop to listen to anyints as she walked ahead. I had no other choice but to follow her. From behind me, I heard Daisy mutter something like, ¡®the one actually in charge is¡­¡­.¡¯, but her voice was too small for me to hear her properly. Like this, our Demon Lord Castle was mostly peaceful. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, this was a fun segment. Filled with banter and character rtionship establishment. There honestly isn¡¯t too much to say. It was an enjoyable segment. On another note, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve been getting enough sleeptely, so I¡¯ma probably nap after I upload this chapter. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 266: Those Who Commit Treason (1) Chapter 266: Those Who Commit Treason (1) ¡°Hmm¡­¡­.¡± Laura flipped a page. She would always make an audible hum like this whenever she read. I thought it was a weird habit, so I pointed it out once, but Laura answered by telling me that she was making herself understand by making that noise. Surprisingly, this genius girl isn¡¯t able to understand a book after reading it once. This was like a technique of sorts. ¡°Lord, books filled with republican ideals have been getting published from free cities.¡± ¡°Is that so? Well, I assume that many intellectuals have been oppressed until now.¡± Republicanism wasn¡¯t an unfamiliar concept in this world. It simply didn¡¯t have the conditions to thrive. ¡°It would be nice if the thinkers of the world continued to present arguments that support republicanism. That would help the continent fall into further chaos.¡± ¡°But¡­¡­it is hard to say that there is only a single type of republic.¡± Laura twirled her side bang. ¡°In the first ce, it seems the meaning of republicanism is the biggest debate.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Look. This author is saying this.¡± Laura held her book open for me to read. The following was written where she was pointing with her slender finger: ¡¸People must be careful not to confuse a republican constitutional system with a democratic constitutional system.¡¹ ¡¸First, nations and city-states are distinguished by who has governmental power. Therefore, nations and city-states where one person, an alliance of people, or everyone that makes up the civil society has the power are referred to as a monarchy, an aristocracy, and a democracy, in that order.¡¹ ¡¸Second, nations and city-states can also be distinguished by the way they are ruled regardless of whoever is in power.¡¹ ¡¸It is through this method of rule that we can distinguish whether a nation is republican or absolutistic. ©¥Republicanism refers to the method that divides legitive power and executive power. On the other hand, the executive power carries out legitive power on its own in absolutism.¡¹ ¡¸Thus, the methods of democracy are inevitably absolutistic.¡¹ ¡°¡­¡­Huuh?¡± I unconsciously let a noise slip out from between my lips. What kind of original bullshit is this? I received the book from Laura and flipped to the next page. Sentences that were written in Habsburgian, which was infamous for being dirty to read, continued on in the next pages. ¡¸For example, let us say that one person does not agree in terms of policies,ws, etc. In a democracy, everyone would ignore that one person and decide the policies, thus everyone that is not actually everyone makes the decisions. This leads to the justification of executive power.¡¹ ¡¸Therefore, every society that is trying to pursue republicanism must choose a representative political institution instead of a direct democracy. If they do not, then the people who makews will also be the ones who execute them, and the nation¡¯s power will be nothing more than another private possession.¡¹ ¡¸All democracies have no other choice but to follow the aforementioned process.¡¹ ¡¸No, democracy makes a representative political institution impossible. This is because everyone would be trying to be the owner of the nation.¡¹ ¡¸On the other hand, as monarchies and aristocracies follow Leader Elizabeth¡¯s statement of, ¡°I am nothing more than the highest servant of the nation¡±, so ruling in this way is at least possible ording to the mentality of the representative political institution. ¡¹ ¡¸We dere. The fewer people there are controlling the nation¡¯s power, in other words, the bigger the power of the nation¡¯s representative, the closer a nation will be brought to republicanism on the contrary.¡¹ ¡¸It is for this reason that aristocracies struggle to reach republicanism more than monarchies and it is only possible in democracies through violent revolutions¡­¡­.¡¹ ¡°¡­¡­Whaaaat?¡± I let out another involuntary sound. It was so convincing that it was scary. What is this? It¡¯s terrifying. They even included what Elizabeth said like a tiny tidbit. It was apparent that this book was written with some sort of ulterior motive. ¡¸¡­¡­Is the way normal citizens are ruled not the most important thing to thempared to things like whether the nation is a monarchy or a democracy? Regardless of whether they are a monarchy or an aristocracy, the people will only suffer if that nation is despotic and has no representative. The same can be said in a democracy as well.¡¹ ¡¸On the other hand, if a nation has representation, in other words, if the nation is faithfully carrying out the intention of the people, then the people would not care whether the nation is a monarchy, an aristocracy, or a democracy.¡¹ ¡¸Therefore, people often make the mistake of thinking that a republic is the same as a democracy when they are far off from being able to even coexist. A nation must have representation if it wishes to establish a republic, and a monarchy is the most appropriate method of rule in order to establish a representative political institution.¡¹ ¡¸However, while the monarch is referred to as the king or emperor in an ¡®absolutistic monarchy¡¯, our monarch is called leader or president in our ¡®republican monarchy¡¯. By doing so, the two have a minor, but decisive difference.¡¹ ¡°Wow¡­¡­.¡± What wonderful nonsense. I waspletely baffled. I turned to look at Laura and saw that she had an amused smile on her face. ¡°How is it, Lord?¡± ¡°I was moved. I see that humans are capable of bing such logical dogs of authority. Amazing. However, it is sad that they do not realize the words they are saying is no different from a dog¡¯s panting.¡± What¡¯s the difference between a scammer and an instigator? Scammers know better than anyone else when they¡¯remitting scams. They don¡¯t scam themselves. However, instigators instigate others and themselves at the same time. I am talking logically, I am not being deceitful, I am dignified with myself, I am right¡­¡­. The moment you deceive yourself like this is the moment you be a mere instigator. Basically, second-rate. Even as a viin, you would be nothing more than a henchman. What would happen if you genuinely believe that there is something right in the world? You wouldn¡¯t be able to lie about it. The moment a scammer isn¡¯t able to scam is the moment when they gain a weakness. The result is simple after this. You¡¯ll end up being used and eaten by other scammers who don¡¯t believe your belief is right¡­¡­. Scammers must always be the ones doing the scam, they must not be the scammed. The same goes for when you¡¯re the target. What do you intend to do by scamming yourself? Regardless of any logical rhetoric or emotional rhetoric, you¡¯d just be unsightly. ¡°The fact that they think a nation¡¯s power will not be privatized, regardless of whether it is a republic or a democracy, is already foolish. People will always try to find things for themselves. That is their nature.¡± I took out some herbs and put them in my pipe. I felt a dreadful fragrance fill my lungs. ¡°There is nothing to reproach orment about. Think about it. We consider our lives as our own. But how could life be ours? We were simply given birth to by someone else.¡± Hoo, I breathed out a cloud of smoke. ¡°This is why everyone goes around trying to find what¡¯s theirs. Some people im their own face as their own, some im their lovers, some im works of art, some im wealth, and some im beautiful ideals¡­¡­.¡± Jack appeared in a corner of my mind, but I ignored it. Seeing him in my dreams was already more than enough. ¡°The bastards who don¡¯t have anything scrape together whatever sundries they can with their arms before disappearing shortly after. Authority is the biggest sundry among sundries. It is the biggest sundry in the world.¡± People can die because of the words you say. If you decide on a policy, then hundreds of thousands of people willtch on to it and make it a reality. ¡°Do you understand, Laura? Their viewpoint is wrong from the very beginning. The problem is not whether authority bes privatized or not. Authority itself has already been privatized and is something that must be privatized. The specks of dust that try to make it their own like a bunch of ghouls are the politicians.¡± Therefore, republicanism puts its focal point on making authority asmon as possible. What can they do to make authority into something useless? ¡°For example, creating auditing institutions is one method. Make the institutions keep an eye on each other. Authority must be divided as much as possible so that it cannot be monopolized. In this regard, democracy is slightly more suited for a republic.¡± It is as the author of this book said. In a democracy, everyone tries to be the owner. In the end, a political system where no one is on top is created. ¡°Furthermore, you have to assign an office term for each institution head. Allowing someone to serve as the head for their entire lives after being appointed would be ridiculous. At that point, it would be weird if someone didn¡¯t try to make the authority theirs. 10 years would be too long. 5 years as well.¡± ¡°But, Your Lordship.¡± Laura quietly listened to me speak before tilting her head. ¡°There is no way the world would reach a perfect bnce. Wouldn¡¯t one of the institutes end up obtaining more authority than the others?¡± ¡°That is correct. This would be nothing more than a stopgap.¡± The smoke slowly billowed up to the ceiling. ¡°That is why the authority itself must disappear.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°An easy solution would be to simply kill them all. Well, Laura, there is no reason for us to ¡®suddenly¡¯ be republicans, right? Everything I have said until now is if we be republicans.¡± I adore privatized authority. You could say that I love it. If you have authority, then you can order someone to die in your stead. Even now, the monsters on the upper floors are dying against the adventurer parties. If you have authority, then you can make your subordinates do what you want. ¡°Therefore, our goal is simple. We must make the powers that are stronger than us and hostile to us disappear.¡± ¡°What a simple and easy solution.¡± Lauraughed. ¡°Your Lordship is right. Thinking about how to turn authority into a form that is peaceful and eternal is someone else¡¯s problem.¡± Laura stood up and approached my side. She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her face close to mine. There was no reason for either of us to initiate as we shared a light kiss. ¡°But, Lord, would that not make things too hopeless?¡± ¡°There is hope. It simply is not hope meant for us.¡± ¡°I heard that Queen Henriette de Brittany is building an empire in Frankia.¡± I slid my fingers between Laura¡¯s hair. It was soft and pleasant to the touch. ¡°It is time to get revenge for 3 years ago. Do you not think it is about time?¡± ¡°Your Lordship waspletely destroyed. You would only break again if you fight her.¡± ¡°Mm, you are right. If I go out on my own, then I would end up recreating what happened on Saint Denis ins.¡± I kissed Laura¡¯s white forehead. ¡°However, I have a self-proimed genius militarydy on my side.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She casually raised a brow. ¡°Are you telling this youngdy to face the strongest human monarch on the continent and the strongest Demon Lord in the demon world at the same time?¡± ¡°To be honest, I did not like the fact that the two of them have been living. Fortunately, I have made Paimon indebted to me recently, so we should make use of this. Laura chuckled lightly. ¡°Very well, then. This youngdy is Your Lordship¡¯s sword. No matter which ruler may be your enemy, I will slit their throat and give you their head.¡± On the fifth month of that year, a meeting was held in Niflheim. I, Dantalian, who was only Rank 71, had called for a meeting. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I will honestly admit that this chapter took a lot longer than it should have to trante. This chapter was probably the first time in a long time that I really had to take my time to finish. Such a lot of political rhetoric. I just sort of felt frustrated with this chapter. Welp, rant aside, I hope everyone is having a good April. I found out there¡¯s actually an April Fools chapter that the author did while they were releasing this and it¡¯s at the end of this segment. If I didn¡¯t have to dy chapters because of family stuff, then I might have been able to time it perfectly. Oh well. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 267: Those Who Commit Treason (2) Chapter 267: Those Who Commit Treason (2) * * * There was a serious atmosphere around this gathering. For starters, the person who called for the meeting was the problem. Up until now, meetings had only been called by Rank 5 Marbas or the Demon Lords above him. No matter how much he had seeded as an influential figure within the ins Faction, Dantalian was still ranked 71. Out of every Demon Lord, he had the lowest position. This individual was daring to hold a Walpurgis Night. ¡°No. There is a proper order for everything, so how could someone do something this disrespectful?¡± Some of the Demon Lords who received an invitation didn¡¯t even try to hide their displeasure. To them, Dantalian wasparable to an upstart. As people who have lived for at least a few hundred years, Dantalian, who had suddenly started to seed during the past few years, wasn¡¯t someone they admired. He had only been doing well for about 4 to 5 years. ¡°What is there to worry about? The high-ranking Demon Lords will take care of it.¡± ¡°They will probably bend the brat¡¯s nose.¡± They believed that the gathering would naturally get canceled. Nothing will happen if the high-ranking Demon Lords refuse the invitation. Some people even mocked Dantalian because they thought he wasmitting political suicide. However, the situation wentpletely against their expectations. First, Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos announced her attendance. Up to this point was within people¡¯s expectations. Barbatos and Dantalian belonged to the same ins Faction, after all. Furthermore, there were rumors that Barbatos waspletely infatuated with Dantalian. ¡°Tsk tsk. How did Barbatos fall head over heels for a man¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Love can break even the most level-headed person.¡± The leader of the ins Faction forgot about procedures and one¡¯s obligations because she was just that infatuated with Dantalian. That was what several Demon Lords believed. Afterward, Rank 4 Demon Lord Gamigin announced her attendance. ¡°Doesn¡¯t Gamigin also have that sort of rtionship with Dantalian?¡± ¡°Oh right! Have all of the female Demon Lords be empty-headed? How ridiculous.¡± ¡°Hm, that Dantalian¡¯s penis must be quite the thing.¡± The Demon Lords scowled as theymented about how things were proceeding. How could they respond to a gathering called by a mere Rank 71? Regardless of whether love was involved, this was a matter that had their pride on the line. Harlots who had thrown away their pride because of their feelings¡­¡­. Even these sorts of nderous remarks were exchanged. Rank 5 Demon Lord Marbas then dered that he would participate. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was at this point that even the Demon Lords who weren¡¯t very interested in politics started to feel it. They felt that something was terribly wrong. ¡°¡­¡­Barbatos ising, so naturally all of the ins Faction will show up as well.¡± ¡°There are about 4 unaffiliated female Demon Lords who follow Gamigin, right?¡± ¡°But this means the Neutral Faction will get involved as well. At this rate¡­¡­.¡± At this rate, more than half of the Demon Lords would be participating in this gathering. No, what mattered more was the fact that Marbas agreed to participate. Up to this point, Marbas was the one who hosted all of the Walpurgis Nights as the leader of the Neutral Faction. He was formally acknowledging Dantalian¡¯s call. Finally, Rank 9 Paimon and Rank 12 Sitri announced their intention to join. Of all parties, the ins Faction¡¯s rival group was going to participate. The group that should¡¯ve been against this gathering the most. ¡°This isn¡¯t a random gathering!¡± ¡°This gathering was decided after talking with the ins Faction, the Neutral Faction, the Mountain Faction, and Gamigin beforehand!¡± The ins Faction, including Barbatos, has 17 Demon Lords. The unaffiliated group, including Gamigin, has 5 Demon Lords. The Neutral Faction, including Marbas, has 10 Demon Lords. The Mountain Faction, including Paimon, has 16 Demon Lords. ©¥A total of 48 Demon Lords were going to participate. The number of Demon Lords had temporarily decreased to 64 due to the Crescent Alliance expedition. In other words, more than 2/3rds of the Demon Lords were going to participate in this gathering. These participants alone could decide on another Crescent Alliance expedition if they wanted to. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s happening, but we have to participate.¡± ¡°Damn it, how is a mere Rank 71 leading us on¡­¡­.¡± Excluding a small minority, almost every Demon Lord ended up participating in the meeting. Rank 1 Demon Lord Baal was among them. * * * When high-ranking Demon Lords participate in a meeting, seats are usually prepared separately for them. Faction leaders were an exception since they would be bunched up with their subordinates. Rank 2 Agares hadn¡¯t been showing herselftely, so she was excluded. Therefore, from Rank 1 to Rank 10, it would only be appropriate to prepare 6 special seats. However, there were no special seats prepared for this meeting. There was no one who didn¡¯t know what this meant. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Was it because of this? The Niflheim ballroom waspletely silent until the meeting was held. The ins Faction, Neutral Faction, and Mountain Faction were allpletely silent. The Demon Lords who weren¡¯t affiliated with any group waited nervously. They didn¡¯t even know what they were waiting for. However, they knew that something was starting. That was for certain. There was a skinny man in the center of the room. Everyone kept ncing at the man as they remained silent. Did he not notice that people were staring at him? The man, Dantalian, had his eyes closed. It felt like there was a different atmosphere only around Dantalian as he looked calm. The doorman shouted. ¡°Rank 3, Demon Lord of Justice, Vassago has arrived!¡± The doorman¡¯s voice sounded especially loud due to the silence grasping the ballroom. Shortly after, a young noble walked through the doors. His face was deathly pale. ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Vassago seemed to notice the weird atmosphere as he furrowed his brows. He soon discovered that the seat that would usually be prepared for him was not present anywhere. Even Great Demon Lord Baal was standing at the side with no chair. Vassago looked at the other Demon Lords around the room before ring at Dantalian. He approached Dantalian. ¡°So discourteous. Must people be taught the fundamentals of etiquette if their rank exceeds 70?¡± Dantalian slowly opened his eyes. He smiled lightly. ¡°If it isn¡¯t His Highness Vassago. Is there a problem?¡± ¡°Problem? A problem, you say?¡± Vassago barked back sharply. ¡°Everything is a problem. The fact that you held a meeting without knowing your ce is a problem, the fact that a bunch of Demon Lords are being toyed with by a brat is a problem, and the fact that you nonchntly responded to my reprimanding is a problem. Barbatos!¡± Vassago seemed to think that there was no point in talking to Dantalian as he turned his head. Barbatos was standing at the end of his gaze. She was being poured wine by Zepar. Barbatos blinked in surprise. ¡°Huh? Why are you calling me, old man?¡± ¡°How have you been managing your subordinates to let them do something like this? If you think I will simply overlook this incident, then you are making a huge mistake. You will have to take responsibility.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Barbatos gulped her wine down. ¡°You¡¯re making it sound like I controlled him from the background. Don¡¯t misunderstand. I simply decided to join because I was invited to a gathering.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t even funny. There are regtions and procedures to things in the world. I cannot imagine how demonkind wouldugh at us in ridicule if they saw us like this. Do not think you can avoid responsibility after allowing your subordinate to¡­¡­.¡± Someone suddenlyughed. The Demon Lords turned to see Dantalianughing quietly. Vassago¡¯s expression froze due to this slighting behavior. ¡°¡­¡­You.¡± ¡°Apologies. What Your Highness was saying was simply much too humorous.¡± ¡°Humorous?¡± Vassago clenched his fists. A blue-colored mana started to emit from his entire body. The mana was dense enough that it could¡¯ve made the ballroom copse in on itself, but Dantalian remained calm as if he couldn¡¯t feel it. ¡°Yes, how could it not be? Barbatos¡¯ subordinate? That may have been the case when I was an officer during the war, but how am I Barbatos¡¯ subordinate?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We are literally Demon Lords. We are all monarchs that represent each and every demon. Be it Barbatos or anyone else, we do not serve a lord above us. Your Highness Vassago, are you perhaps misunderstanding something?¡± Vassago turned to Barbatos, but she was grinning back at him. He looked utterly agitated. ¡°Your Highness, if there are regtions and procedures to things in the world, then Demon Lords alone exist outside of those things. Treating people with a higher rank than you as your lord is a rule? That smells like foul water.¡± Vassago gnashed his teeth. ¡°It seems you are saying whatever you want simply because you have a mouth.¡± ¡°I had the fortune of being born with a mouth. Would it not be sad if I did not use it?¡± Dantalianughed. ¡°Your Highness is misunderstanding something. If demonkindughs at us, it will not be because a meeting was held by a Rank 71 Demon Lord. They wouldugh at us for trying to discuss the matter of responsibility because of the rank and faction of the Demon Lord who held the meeting.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is so pathetic that I am almost at a loss for words. Were there ranks between Demon Lords since the beginning? Treating a mere artificial thing as an absolute, it is like we are ying house. It is not surprising that demonkind is growing sick of us.¡± Vassago¡¯s shoulders shook with anger. The ranks within the Demon Lord army were determined by Baal and Vassago. Criticizing this was no different from attacking Vassago straight on. ¡°Will you only shut your mouth if blood is shed here!?¡± ¡°I apologize, Your Highness Vassago. I did not finish speaking. Your Highness said that demonkind would mock this meeting, but I wonder about that. It is a question as to whether they actually will.¡± Dantalian pped lightly. A group of people walked through the door. A wolf person, cat person, tiger person, fairy, and so on. They were the 15 merchants that represented Niflheim. At the lead was the chief of Keuncuska, Ivar Lodbrok. ¡°What is this¡­¡­?¡± ¡°They are the citizens that represent Niflheim. They have cooperated in various ways in order to help me host this Walpurgis Night. I may be a Demon Lord, but I would not hold this sort of event without reason.¡± Dantalian smiled. ¡°Walpurgis Night is an important event that can determine the direction of our Demon Lord army. Our direction is connected to the life of demonkind. The people have the right to know how a Walpurgis Night is carried out.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Vassago nced around himself. Once he did, he noticed something that he failed to realize before. At the left side of the ballroom, Rank 13 Beleth looked prepared to leap out at any time. At the right side of the ballroom, Rank 12 Sitri had her hand on the handle of her sword. At the back, Rank 4 Gamigin had been invoking her magic since earlier. ¡®¡­¡­Kuh.¡¯ Vassago gnashed his teeth. Beleth and Sitri are both the strongest warriors of their factions. Adding to this, Gamigin is an archmage. Therefore, the situation seemed like the two warriors would attack after Gamigin bound his feet with magic. The influential merchants of Niflheim were also here. ©¥Just try doing something stupid. If you¡¯re confident in your ability to stop the attack of three Demon Lords, and if you don¡¯t care if news about your actions spread throughout demon society. This was what Dantalian was implying. Vassago suddenly remembered Agares. If Agares were here, then he could¡¯ve ignored thebatant Demon Lords and caused a ruckus for a while. However, Agares was chased out after being defeated by Dantalian and the united forces of the ins Faction-Neutral Faction-Mountain Faction. If he had chased away Agares 3 years ago for the sake of this very moment©¥. When did the factions that used to be busy fighting each other unite this strongly? ¡°You bastard, since when did you¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°Stop there, Vassago.¡± It was at that point a dignified voice came from behind. It was Rank 1 Demon Lord Baal. Baal spoke with an amused tone. ¡°I thought you were a simple scammer, but it seems you know how to pull off quite the interesting trick. Very well, Dantalian. What are you trying to achieve by holding this meeting?¡± Baal¡¯s voice hung low as if there was a weight to it. It had the power to flow to the furthest corners of the room despite the silence. Dantalian received the voice head-on as he quietly answered. ¡°The reason I am holding this Walpurgis Night, is for the sake of reprimanding you for your crime, Your Highness Baal.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, this is definitely a transition from the mood of thest segment. I didn¡¯t expect Dant tofort Baal this early. Or maybe this is the most opportune moment? I unno. Welp, look forward to the rest of this segment. It was definitely an experience tranting it for the early ess. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 268: So, Who is On Top?(2) Chapter 268: So, Who is On Top?(2) A curtain of silence fell over the room. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian and Baal were staring at each other firmly. What had happened just now? A few Demon Lords had to ask themselves this. Their heads refused toprehend what Dantalian had just stated. The Rank 71 lowest Demon Lord had just challenged the highest and loftiest Rank 1 Demon Lord. This couldn¡¯t happen. This shouldn¡¯t happen either. ¡®©¥©¥!¡¯ Vassago instinctively turned to look around quickly. Separate from his shock, the instincts that he had honed for thousands of years were telling him to look around. Panicking would do nothing for him right now. This instinct alone proved that Vassago deserved his position as Rank 3. ¡®There aren¡¯t a lot of people who are surprised.¡¯ It was way too quiet. At most, there were only about a dozen Demon Lords who looked bewildered. Despite this being a disaster that should naturally shake the entire ballroom, a majority of the people remainedposed. The air was only filled with tension as people waited with baited breaths. Unrest and tension. Was there a big difference between these two things? Most of the Demon Lords looked tense, but not surprised as if they knew that this was going to happen beforehand. Thus, Vassago immediately grasped the situation. ¡®This is treason!¡¯ A small number of thebatant Demon Lords were on the tip of the iceberg. The Demon Lords of every faction were clearly prepared for a fight. This wasn¡¯t the Rank 71 Demon Lord simply provoking the Rank 1 for a fight. ¡®To face forty people at the same time¡­¡­not only Baal, but even Agares wouldn¡¯t be able to handle this!¡¯ What could he do? Vassago was frozen in ce. It was at that moment. ¡°So you have surrounded us.¡± The Demon Lord who would usually keep her mouth shut spoke. It was a woman with pure white hair like an old person. She had a bandage wrapped around her eyes. Although she was blind, she was the Rank 7 Demon Lord with , Amon. ¡°Soldiers are lying in wait. We have been perfectly deceived.¡± Amon muttered nkly like some person who waspletely out of it. Talking as if she was constantly looking into the distant future was her characteristic way of speech. Vassago did his best to not let his surprise appear on his face as he asked back. ¡°Lying in wait? What do you mean by that, Amon?¡± ¡°I can sense magicing from the shadows all around us. The scents of death and pride. They must be death knights.¡± Amon continued a secondter. ¡°There are more than 400 of them.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Vassago turned his head. Barbatos was still drinking her wine leisurely at her side of the ballroom. However, Barbatos¡¯ eyes turned into the shape of crescent moons once their eyes met. ¡°Barbatos, I knew it!¡± ¡°Additionally, there is a unit of wyverns ready to attack from above.¡± The blind Demon Lord, Amon, spoke. ¡°There are 556 of them. A massive group of mages is casting an anti-magic spell from outside. Looking at the color, it must be to block teleportation and summoning.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°ck magic, white magic, and spirit magic. They are all mixed together with the skills of an archmage. It almost looks like a beautiful rainbow. Indeed. It is incredibly beautiful.¡± Amon seemed to be moved by something as she absentmindedly stared in awe. Vassago slowly turned his head again once he understood everything. He looked at Gamigin. The female Demon Lord with beautiful blonde hair had a friendly smile on her face like usual. ¡°Mm. Vassago, what¡¯s the matter~?¡± Gamigin was the only Demon Lord who could mobilize a unit of 500 wyverns. ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s nothing.¡± But Vassago had no other choice but to stand down. It was only natural that he didn¡¯te prepared to fight arge-scale encirclement like this. It was impossible unless the city of Niflheim itself allowed it. Niflheim, the city which had maintained its absolute neutrality no matter what bribes were thrown at them by the Demon Lords¡­¡­was cooperating with Dantalian. The same question went through his head. Since when? Therge merchant firms of Niflheim were well-known for not submitting to Demon Lords. Ivar Lodbrok was also a monster who had lived longer than most Demon Lords. Since when had he captured the executives of Niflheim? Everyone¡¯s gaze was focused on one person. ¡°Dear me. You are not saying anything.¡± Dantalian casually scratched the back of his head. ¡°It does not seem like you are very surprised either. I was actually nning to surprise Your Highness if possible, but¡­¡­. I am ashamed as the one hosting this banquet.¡± ¡°No, I am rather surprised. I am surprised by the fact that a small fry like you could have this much courage.¡± The ends of Demon Lord Baal¡¯s mouth curved upward. ¡°For starters, I will hear what sort of crime I havemitted. It would only be appropriate to enjoy the appetizer before the feast.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± Dantalian respectfully raised his right hand to his chest. He was behaving courteously like a butler, but only rude usations came out from his mouth. ¡°I stand before God to dere that His Highness Baal hasmitted three serious crimes.¡± ¡°Three serious crimes? How interesting. Tell me the first one.¡± ¡°Yes. The first serious sin is the fact that you did not contribute in any way during the previous Crescent Alliance.¡± Dantalian pped. Once he did, a half-transparent map was spread open in the air. The map was of the continent and there were arrows pointing in a bunch of directions everywhere. Each arrow represented the legions of the Demon Lord army. ¡°During thest expedition, every legion had gathered at Bruno ins. This was because the humans had gathered their armies at the ins first. It went against our first n, but when you consider the grand goal of getting rid of our enemy¡¯s main forces, this was the right choice.¡± Dantalian smiled. ¡°We gloriously won and managed to establish a bridgehead on the continent for the first time in history. However, there was one legion that did not take even a single step til the very end.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness Baal, it was the 7th legion which you led.¡± Everyone knew of this, but no one had pointed it out. That was because it would be reckless to reprimand Baal. ¡°I am certain that you did not forget who it was that announced the 8th Crescent Alliance expedition. Your Highness Baal was the one who called for the Crescent Alliance here in this very ce. Nheless, only the one who decided upon the war did not move¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian put his hands behind his back as he walked around the ballroom. ¡°What could have happened? Even Her Highness Gamigin¡¯s 5th legion which was supporting us from the rear came and participated in the battle. Your Highness Baal was the only one who remained in ce as if the war did not matter. Although it seems Your Highness Baal prefers admiration, I will give you my honest opinion.¡± Dantalian nced at Baal. ¡°Your action had no trace of responsibility and was both cowardly and dirty.¡± The crowd went cold due to the excessively rudement. ¡°A hundred thousand demons bled as they fought. Your Highness, they had died because of the war that you decided upon. Despite this, the person who caused this sat in his Demon Lord Castle and spent his time peacefully¡­¡­.¡± Dantalian sneered openly. ¡°You are the strongest warrior in the Demon Lord army? Pardon me, but I believe there is something wrong. I did not know that a cowardly and dirty person could be called a warrior.¡± ¡°You, damn baboon!¡± Dantalian spoke calmly before Vassago could get worked up. ¡°Outsiders should remain still. I am currently standing here as the representative of the hundred thousand demons that bled and died. I have no intention of facing a coward who abandoned vampires to save his own life.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± Vassago paused. Shock spread across the young noble¡¯s face. ¡°You, what are you saying¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The wisest and fairest Demon Lord, Rank 3 Vassago. That is your title.¡± Dantalian chuckled. ¡°There is noedy asedic as this. A coward who breaks his promises and runs away if danger approaches and quickly offers up his rank if a Demon Lord stronger than him appears, is that supposed to be wise? Well, I guess that is wise in a way. I wish to learn from you.¡± Dantalian was smiling like a good-natured person the entire time he spoke. ¡°Your Highness Vassago, if you do not wish for me to disclose what you did to the Azure Moon n, then please be quiet. If you do not mind having your reputation plummet, then please do continue.¡± Vassago shut his mouth. His fists shook, but that was it. ¡°Mm.¡± Dantalian gave a satisfied nod. ¡°Pardon me, Your Highness Baal. There was some noisy barking, so I had to chase it away. Please forgive me.¡± ¡°Very well, then. I forgive you.¡± Baal agreed as if he were amused. ¡°What is my second serious crime?¡± ¡°Your second serious crime is the fact that you sat idly by as the Demon Lord army was divided. Three years ago, Her Highness Agares led an army with the clear intent to rebel. This was an act that benefited the enemy as itpletely destroyed our banner as the united Crescent Alliance.¡± Dantalian continued as he slowly walked through the room. ¡°At the time, Your Highness had the role of mediating the discourse. However, Your Highness showed us the perfect example of avoiding one¡¯s responsibilities. You truly did nothing at all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°With this, the conclusion is simple. Your Highness, not only do you have no interest in the sess of the Crescent Alliance, but you do not care if the Crescent Alliance bes divided. The fact that we are leaving the leader position to such an individual is by far the greatest joke.¡± Baal raised the corners of his mouth. ¡°What do you intend to do if everything you said is true? Are you going to punish me?¡± ¡°Naturally, punishment should follow. However, these are still minor cases. Your Highness¡¯ true crime is something else.¡± ¡°Oh. my true crime?¡± Dantalian nodded. ¡°Yes. It is because Your Highness intentionally remained idle. You did not do this for some simple reason like preserving your troops while the other Demon Lords used up theirs. A slightly worse reason is hidden behind this.¡± Dantalian smiled. ¡°Your Highness Baal, you are intentionally waiting for the other Demon Lords to turn against you.¡± The Demon Lords who were holding their breaths scowled. He intentionally waited for others to turn against him? What does that mean? ¡°Everyone else is most likely not aware of this, but I am. You let Her Highness Paimon do as she pleased and you overlooked Her Highness Agares¡¯ actions for an extremely selfish reason. Your Highness has continued to stir up the other Demon Lords.¡± Stop holding back and explode. Rise up because of this irrational tyranny. ¡°You dered the Crescent Alliance expedition by yourself when it would normally require a majority vote. The suprememander who should have charged forward before anyone else, did not budge an inch. The person who should have been the stern judge and given a fair punishment stayed silent¡­¡­. You kept stirring up the other Demon Lords.¡± As if he wanted them to be filled with discontent and burn with anger. ¡°This is because you are too powerful.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You must have been bored, right? It is not hard to imagine what sort of life you must have gone through climbing up to your position after being born as a low-tier demon. Every single day must have been a struggle and a war of its own. You most likely cannot forget about those difficult times. Yes, I understand. You are a warmonger, after all.¡± Dantalian was approaching Baal step by step as Baal listened to him calmly. ¡°You most likely cannot forget the excitement thates from when a person challenges you to a battle to the death. After reaching Rank 1 and bing known as the Great Demon Lord or the seconding of Angol Mois, you are probably bored of being called this all the time.¡± Dantalian stood in front of Baal. ¡°I will now reveal your third crime. Baal, you are the culprit who cut the supply lines during the 2nd Crescent Alliance expedition 1,800 years ago.¡± The Demon Lords stirred. 1,800 years ago, the 1st legion which consisted of Barbatos-Marbas-Paimon, swept through the nations on the surface. However, they ended up getting wiped out after their supply lines were cut off. At the time, the culprit was imed to have been the human knights. The reason the Demon Lord army was split apart into the ins Faction, Neutral Faction, and the Mountain Faction©¥. Was because of none other than Rank 1 Baal, this was what Dantalian was dering. ¡°It was already predetermined that you would be the one to sit on the throne if the continent were conquered at the time. The people would have served under a single Demon Lord and an era of peace would have arrived. However, you did not want this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you not desire an eternal struggle? Do you not long for a scenery where only the strong survive and they swing their swords at your tyranny?¡± Dantalian spread his arms out. ¡°That is why I prepared this. Baal, if you answer with ¡®yes¡¯ here, then©¥the scenario that you dreamed of will unfold. Barbatos will despise you. Paimon will resent you. Marbas will scorn you. Do you understand?¡± He spoke as if he were whispering. ¡°The strongest Demon Lords will aim for your heart.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There is finally only a single step left. Onest step. It is fine to be happy. I, the weakest and lowest Demon Lord, Dantalian, have prepared this all for you. Now then, Baal. Please answer.¡± Dantalian smiled widely. ¡°Are you the dirty son of a bitch who broke apart the Crescent Alliance for the sake of satisfying your petty and selfish fighting spirit?¡± Baal then. ¡°¡­¡­Kuhu.¡± The Rank 1 Great Demon Lordughed. ¡°Kuhahahahaha©¥!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We¡¯re at this confrontation but there are still more than 200 chapters left. What the heck is going to happen after this? Uuh, have a good weekend! See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 269: Those Who Commit Treason (4) Chapter 269: Those Who Commit Treason (4) The sound ofughter shook the air. ¡°Huha, kuhu, huhahaha©¥kuhahahaha!¡± It was like something that had been held back in his stomach for an extensive length of time had surged through his snake-like gullet and wasing out all at once. ¡°How long has it been since someone has said this to me!? Splendid! What a luxury!¡± Madness. This unpleasantughter seeped into the deepest part of the skull and shook around violently. The other Demon Lords stared at Baal with stupefied looks. The sound ofughter stopped as abruptly as it started. ¡°Indeed, it has truly been a long wait.¡± Baal looked up longingly for a moment. A hint of kindness brushed across his usually solemn face like a breath of fresh air. Dantalian also spoke gently. ¡°It seems it took longer than you expected.¡± ¡°How could I have known that I would have to wait 2,000 years after that day? Those doomed to perish must pay with time for their foolishness. The Gods do not forgive conceit.¡± Baal stared at the other party sternly. ¡°An unexpected person and an unexpected result. Who would have thought that the one to end thisedy and raise the curtain to the next act would be you? This might also be retribution from the Gods.¡± ¡°I apologize that a humble individual like myself was the one to end Your Highness¡¯ y.¡± Dantalian said jokingly. ¡°However, does this not prove that there are still things in the world that Your Highness cannot predict? Pardon me, but I believe that this might actually be a blessing.¡± ¡°Indeed. I am basking in utter bliss.¡± The two people conversed casually. This scene was almost iprehensible to the other Demon Lords. Didn¡¯t this seem like old friends were having a casual chat? ¡°Who did Your Highness predict would put an end to your boredom?¡± ¡°If it is Paimon, I believed there was a high probability that she would figure it out. However, it was a flimsy hope.¡± Baal nodded. ¡°Barbatos is someone who responds to the things that happen in front of her, but she has the habit of interpreting things emotionally, so she was hopeless. Marbas is the best at solving problems and controlling them, but he does not put much importance on the cause of the problem, so he was not appropriate. There is no need to mention the others.¡± Baal red at Vassago who was standing at the other side of the room with narrowed eyes. ¡°I officially created the ranking system with the goal of making the other Demon Lords upset. Why is my rank low? Why am I lower than this other person? I wanted to enme theirbative spirits with this, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It ended up fixing everyone¡¯s ranking in ce.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Baal let out a long sigh. ¡°The custom where low-ranking Demon Lords had to respect high-ranking Demon Lords became an established fact. People like Vassago appeared where they emphasized their position by using their rank. Pieces of garbage.¡± Vassago flinched. Dantalian paid him no mind as he spoke. ¡°If Your Highness revealed that you had done it from the beginning¡­¡­.¡± ¡°A silly suggestion. Would that not turn this into a performance where I start and end it on my own?¡± Baal furrowed one brow. ¡°I did not do this because I wanted a boring ending. I wish to die fighting someone stronger, wiser, and nobler than me. I was troubled because none of them were able to figure it out on their own!¡± ¡°Mm. Warriors determine their own value by the value of the one who kills them¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± It was at that moment that a low voice rang out. ¡°¡­¡­Don¡¯t make meugh.¡± In a corner of the dark ballroom, Barbatos¡¯ face was twisted with anger. Barbatos barely managed to hold back her anger as she spat out her words. ¡°Don¡¯t make meugh, old man¡­¡­you¡¯re the one who cut those damned supply lines¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Baal nodded. Dantalian let out a sigh and took a few steps away from Baal. Once he did, Baal chuckled before he continued. ¡°I was the one who struck down the three Demon Lords who were in charge of the supply lines. I still clearly remember the trouble I went through trying to cover it up so that it looked like they were attacked by knights.¡± ¡°80,000 soldiers starved to death before they could even swing their swords once!¡± Barbatos shouted with bloodshot eyes. ¡°Because of you, 80,000 soldiers¡­¡­!¡± ¡°It is truly sad. It was a tragedy.¡± Baal spoke. ¡°However, Barbatos, O pure warrior. I am asking this out of curiosity, but¡­¡­if you are that sad and upset, then why are you not getting revenge against me right now?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± At that moment, Barbatos dashed forward like an arrow. ck liquid surged up from the shadows and erupted widely around Barbatos. Dozens of broadswords sprang out from the shadows that had spread out everywhere. The broadswords expanded outwards likerge wings and poured down on Baal. It was a battle thatsted a second. Baal¡¯s mantle fluttered as he did a slight rotation. Before long, he was holding a two-handed sword in his right hand. He swung his sword in a half-circle and sliced through the broadswords that wereing at him. The broadswords shattered as if they were made of ss. Baal¡¯s de continued and severed Barbatos¡¯ right arm. ¡°Kuuaaaagh©¥!¡± Barbatos let out a scream as she used her remaining left arm to swing her battle scythe. However, Baal easily hit the scythe away as it had lost its momentum. ¡°Barbatos, this is something that I have always told you.¡± Baal threw a strong punch toward Barbatos who had lost her bnce. His fist collided directly with the center of the small girl¡¯s chest and pierced through it to the other side. Her red heart was held in his hand. Barbatos let out a choked sound. ¡°Kuh, hggugh¡­¡­hggh!¡± Barbatos miserably fell to the ground. She blocked the hole in her chest with her left hand as she groaned. The sudden wave of pain made Barbatos¡¯ body shudder like a bug. A puddle of blood gradually grewrger around her. ¡°You are much too emotional when ites to your subordinates. If you truly care about your subordinates, then you must contrarily be cold to them. This is because¡­¡­.¡± Baal casually crushed the heart in his hand. It made a wet sound as it fell from his hand after having be red mush and blood. ¡°Your subordinates be frenzied when their leader is injured.¡± Beleth and Zepar charged from their positions at the same time. Beleth let out a roar as he swung his ax down while Zepar silently swung his spear. Baal kicked away Barbatos who was on the ground near him. Once Barbatos let out a pained scream and was sent into the air, Beleth and Zepar¡¯s gazes stopped for a moment. ¡°You can also be used as a rather effective hostage.¡± Baal didn¡¯t miss this opportunity to rush at Beleth. Beleth figured out what Baal was doing and tried to twist his body, but Baal¡¯s sword had already pierced into his shoulder. Beleth¡¯s arm was severed from the shoulder. On the other hand, Zepar reacted wisely. He immediately moved away as soon as he saw Baal approach Beleth. Zepar quickly retreated after catching Barbatos before she could hit the floor. Baal let out a sound of awe as he cut Beleth¡¯s remaining left arm. ¡°So your goal was to rescue Barbatos from the start. Splendid. You did not change your goal even though I had left my back wide open.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Zepar red at Baal with cold eyes. Zepar took off his mantle and carefully covered Barbatos with it. Barbatos continued to groan in pain as she was covered by the red mantle. ¡°Hmm.¡± Baal shook the blood off of his sword. He spoke to Dantalian. ¡°Pardon me, Dantalian. There was some noisy barking, so I had to take care of it for a moment. I believe that you will forgive my rudeness.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Of course.¡± Dantalian smiled wryly. ¡°I knew that you were powerful, but this goes beyond my imagination. Is that not the Sword of the Demon Destroyer?¡± ¡°Oh? Do you know of this weapon¡¯s identity?¡± Dantalian let out a sigh. ¡°A weapon that was enchanted with every ancient spell from the eleven dragon tribes of the Scarlet Dragon. It also includes the White Dragon¡¯s ancient spell that forcefully sends back summons. You could say that it is the perfect weapon to use against Barbatos.¡± ¡°You seem to actually have quite the profound knowledge. How did you learn about this weapon which has been forgotten by time?¡± Dantalian shook his head. ¡°Out of every soldier currently surrounding the ballroom, Barbatos¡¯ summons are the most dangerous¡­¡­. Therefore, you taunted Barbatos first and lured her in. By doing so, you also neutralized her summons.¡± ¡°I am not confident in carrying out open battles like Agares, after all.¡± Baal smiled in a friendly manner. While this battle was unfolding, the other Demon Lords created an encirclement around Baal. The ins Faction, Neutral Faction, and the unaffiliated Demon Lords, almost all of them were standing in formation and ring at Baal nervously. Baal turned to face Paimon. ¡°Paimon, it is as you heard.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I wished for you to achieve a powerful nation that would have even won over the human world. This is why I spared no expense to support you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­There is essentially no difference between humans and demons.¡± Paimon coldly red at Baal. ¡°The person who said this to thisdy was none other than you. Was it all a lie?¡± ¡°A lie? That makes me sad to hear. I simply arranged a motive for you. However, it seems a part of you was still weak.¡± Baal looked disappointed. ¡°I thought you were finally going to aplish something great during thest Crescent Alliance, but you lost your magic and fell¡­¡­. I was disappointed. You amounted to only that much in the end.¡± ¡°Baal. You said that you would leave the mediation of each faction to me.¡± Marbas spoke impassively. ¡°For the sake of a united Demon Lord army. For the sake of bing one and advancing together. Was this not the intent of your request?¡± ¡°My old friend, I am sorry, but you are wrong. If that were my intent, then I would have given your Neutral Faction more power.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Although factions exist, I prevented any of them from bing excessively weak because of intense power struggles. By doing so, a force that can eventually go against you would be put in reserve.¡± Baal nodded. ¡°As expected, you are wise. However, wise people tend to be faithful to the task given to them and fail to see the situation around them. That is your w, Marbas.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you, for the advice.¡± Baal looked around slowly before returning his gaze to Dantalian. ¡°This is undeniably a great present. Dantalian, I acknowledge you as my rival. However, do you think you can kill me here?¡± ¡°I believe that there might be a possibility, but.¡± Dantalian shrugged. ¡°It does not appear like it will be easy. I am starting to suspect the mantle that Your Highness has on right now. I specte that it is a special mantle with a very powerful anti-magic spell cast on it.¡± ¡°An urate spection. There were rumors about you having the ability of foresight at one point, but it seems those rumors were true.¡± ¡°This is the worst-case scenario.¡± Dantalian spoke as he walked away from Baal. ¡°This does not mean I can simply see Your Highness out. What I hate most in the world is thoughtlessly letting prey go and getting struck on the backter on.¡± He raised his right hand. ¡°You will have to die here, Your Highness.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This goes from 1 to 100 real fast. You really wouldn¡¯t think that just a few chapters ago Dant and the others were bantering about their hierarchy. My schedule got a little bit messed up so this came outte. The next chapter shoulde out a day sooner, though. I guess I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 270: Those Who Commit Treason?(5) Chapter 270: Those Who Commit Treason?(5) * * * Up to what point is something considered a battle and at what point does it turn into a war? That line is actually clearer than what one might think. However, when the battle consists of rulers that all have the power to rival entire nations©¥this changes everything. Each sh of swords transcends and be resounding battles while duels enter the realm of war. ¡°Very well, then. Rulers.¡± Therefore, every Demon Lord standing here wasparable to an entire nation. ¡°I will dly ept this deration of war.¡± In response, a single Demon Lord stood firmly on his two feet. He was an empire that had not fallen even once in the past 5,000 years. Demon Lord Baal removed his glove and tossed it. The ck glove hit the marble floor. Forty-seven Demon Lords. And one Demon Lord. ¡°My belovedrades©¥let us start the war.¡± The first round began. First, five of thebatant Demon Lords rushed forward. The Demon Lords moved to the positions they had determined beforehand as they became five separate gusts of winds approaching from five different directions. The leader of this charge was Rank 12 Sitri. She was a monster who managed to reach her rank through her power alone. It would be messy if too many people tried to go in at the same time and sending in too little wouldn¡¯t be enough to face Baal. Thus, 5 Demon Lords were selected. They all possessed a strength that far exceeded that of swordmasters. Baal watched them with calm and tranquil eyes. ¡°Roar, Chandra.¡± One of the twelve unique spells enchanted on the sword was activated. It was a unique spell from the Scarlet Dragon tribe that was capable of making the sky and earth tremble with its simple but animalistic aura alone. It granted the user the ability to cut anything that possessed the concept of being a ¡®weapon¡¯. Furthermore, it was an absolute effect. The whip sword that Sitri swung around like a whip was cut apart as if it were made of paper. Long swords, spears, and scimitars were easily destroyed. A look of shock appeared on the Demon Lords¡¯ faces. Weren¡¯t they using the best weapons made out of adamantium? Nheless, Sitri grinned and rushed forward with her bare fists. Sitri let out a roar as she threw out a punch, but Baal just barely pushed the attack to the side with one hand. An opening had appeared. The remaining fourbatant Demon Lords attacked as nned. A series of bare-fist attacks wereunched from all four directions. ¡°Splendid. Hand-to-handbat is the most fundamental form of battle.¡± Baal swung his sword and smiled. ¡°However, your bodies are also nothing more than ¡®weapons¡¯.¡± The Demon Lords were cut at the waist. Arge amount of blood sprayed out. The Demon Lords who were cut at the waist let out screams as they fell to the floor powerlessly. Only Sitri managed to predict the attack with her animalistic instincts and managed to move to a safe distance while only sacrificing her left arm. There was no moment of pause as the second round started. ¨C Baaaaang! The ceiling of the ballroom copsed. The dolls that were lying in wait on the ceiling had jumped down. The number of dolls exceeded the number ofbatants in the first round by ten times. They were dolls that were created for the sole purpose ofbat. They were the murder machines that Ivar Lodbrok had made personally for the past 3,000 years. These soldiers were made for the sake of getting revenge on Demon Lords. They weren¡¯t sentient, so they couldn¡¯t be controlled by Demon Lords. Murder machines the girl who was betrayed by a Demon Lord had desperately designed to fight against Demon Lords. The dolls descended with expressionless faces while all holding sharp weapons. ¡°I see. You have involved a puppet master.¡± Baal was in awe as he stared up at the copsing ceiling. The fact that 50 dolls were created was already impressive, but being able to control all of them at once was also praiseworthy. Puppeteering was harder to learn than magic. It was an extremely inefficient field. Reaching this level of skill must have undeniably required blood, sweat, and tears. More importantly, wasn¡¯t the sequence of attacks interesting? First, the purebatant Demon Lords attacked. In response to this, Baal activated a unique Scarlet Dragon spell. Dolls were set in afterward. Even if Baal could cut the dolls in half, the dolls aren¡¯t living beings, so they could keeptching on to Baal like spiders even if their limbs or bodies are cut or crushed. This would make his powerful spell useless. The sequence of attacks had been fully thought out. As if the other party had a full understanding of Baal¡¯s arsenal. ©¥Dantalian. There was no one other than him who could devise this sort of n. Baal felt a surge of excitement fill his guts. That¡¯s right. This wasn¡¯t simply a war between forty-seven Demon Lords and one Demon Lord. Beyond the splendid and violentbat, Baal and Dantalian were weighing each other¡¯s moves like two suprememanders ying chess. The chess pieces on top of the board were the pure and noble Demon Lords. Wasn¡¯t this a rather luxurious chessboard? In that case, there was no reason for Baal to not go along with this divine and luxurious chessboard. ¡°©¥Disable anti-magic.¡± Baal disabled the anti-magic spell that was on his mantle. It was a powerful enchantment that nullified almost every spell used against it, but, in return, it also prevented Baal from casting any spells. Baal was filled with an unbearable amount of enjoyment once he released his seal. He began his chant. ¡°Man originally carried one life.¡± An explosive amount of magic started to burst out from Baal. It was purely magic power. Baal wasn¡¯t that skilled as a mage, but he was capable of disying the same destructive power as an archmage simply by erupting his magic power. The 50 dolls were swept up by the wind pressure. The murder machines were torn into shreds along with the ceiling rubble. Third round. ¡°O spirits, o primitive andwless nature.¡± Rank 4 Gamigin started her chant as soon as the ceiling was destroyed. A beautiful golden aura lit up Gamigin¡¯s body. It wasn¡¯t only her. 20 of the mage-ss Demon Lords started to chant their spells in a single voice like a choir. They had been preparing a huge spell since the start of the battle. ¡°Darkness to darkness©¥.¡± ¡°From intrinsic will to intrinsic will. Matter to matter.¡± ¡°Return ash to ash.¡± Hundreds of spells poured down on Baal. ¡°Kuhahahaha!¡± Baal burst intoughter as he watched the storm of spells approach him. Baal wasughing like a child as Niflheim Pce copsed around him and a thunderous roar resonated all around. As he expected, Dantalian was excellent. A rain of attacks poured down on Baal as soon as he released his anti-magic spell as if they had been waiting for this moment the entire time. Dantalian had truly nned out the scenario perfectly. He said that this was his gift to him. A gift like this wouldn¡¯t bore him no matter how many times he received it. Baal raised his sword. ¡°Rend, Nirmanarati¡± Another unique spell was activated. It was a unique spell from the Azure Dragon tribe that befitted sly mages as the tribe was more wicked and cunning than other tribes. If the Scarlet Dragon tribe¡¯s unique spell could break all ¡®weapons¡¯, then the Azure Dragon tribe¡¯s unique spell could slice through every ¡®spell¡¯. Baal swung his de once, twice, and thrice at the spells that were quickly approaching him. The first swing nullified half of the spells with the wind power alone. The next swing nullified the remaining half of the spells and the final swing was sent at the Demon Lords who specialized in magic. Wretched screams rang out. The seven Demon Lords grabbed their chests and copsed after they received the direct hit. The unique spell had severed all of their magic power temporarily. Their magic power rampaged and turned the insides of the Demon Lords into mush. It was overwhelming. Dantalian and Baal had carried out three rounds, but while one side was quickly losing their forces, Baal hadn¡¯t budged an inch. If Baal had panicked or gotten excited even slightly, then he would have probably gotten swept up by everything Dantalian had prepared. However, Baal was responding while simply feeling happy and at peace. The summons that Barbatos had set in ambush, thebined assault by thebatants, the doll swarm, and the focused attack from the mages had all been repelled. What more did he have left up his sleeves? And then, the fourth round. ¡°Mm¡­¡­!¡± Baal looked up. Up in the evening sky beyond the hole in the ceiling, hundreds ofrge objects were falling like meteors. It was the wyvern unit with 500 wyverns. The massive dragons relied solely on gravity as they descended downwards. ¡°A suicide attack, is it!?¡± In other words, a suicide squad. Baal tried throwing out wind shes that contained the unique spell, but the wyverns received no damage as they descended at a terrifying speed. Anti-magic spells had been cast on them beforehand. Baal was in awe of Dantalian¡¯s meticulousness. Let¡¯s endure it here. Baal readied himself in order to reduce the damage as much as possible. It was impossible to dodge 500 wyverns. They must¡¯ve had ve seals on them, as they couldn¡¯t be controlled via a Demon Lord¡¯smanding power. It was an unavoidable attack. However, it wouldn¡¯t be a critical blow. Baal was confident that he could easily endure being hit by wyverns. ¡°Roar, Chandra.¡± He changed the unique spell to that of the Scarlet Dragon tribe again. He was nning to sever the bodies of the wyverns before theynded on him. It wouldn¡¯t get rid of the impact, but it would definitely decrease the intensity by a fair amount. Dantalian had probably expected Baal to be injured to a certain degree by this point. He most likely thought Baal would get slightly injured by thebatant Demon Lords, more injured by the dolls, and be exhausted after the magic barrage. After that, he would finish things off with a suicide attack by the wyverns¡­¡­ was this his n? It was a splendid n, but he, unfortunately, chose the wrong opponent. ¡®Nheless, this is more than enough to be my rival.¡¯ Baal smiled as he watched the wyverns approach. He considered Dantalian to be an unpleasant and shallow person. This hadn¡¯t changed, but he was now an unpleasant and shallow person who could fight against him. Baal was pleased by this realization. Therefore, Baal decided not to punish Dantalian after achieving a victory here. However, he was going to have to at least punish Barbatos, Paimon, and Gamigin. He had heard that they were Dantalian¡¯s lovers. He was certain that Dantalian would be filled with an endless rage and be hellbent on revenge for the rest of his life if his loved ones were to die. ying along with his intense desire for revenge should be rather enjoyable. His n wasplete. The wyverns reached him just as he finished making his n. Baal swung hisrge sword and the wyverns¡¯ innards rained down as they were split into two. It was at the moment when Baal was certain of his victory and was about to smile. Something small descended on him along with the wyvern blood. It was a beautiful girl with ck, fluttering hair. ¡®©¥A human child?¡¯ Baal scowled as he was caught off guard. No matter how powerful of a Demon Lord you are, you cannot read the emotions of humans. Thus, Baal didn¡¯t even notice that a human was riding on a wyvern. Was this Dantalian¡¯sst trump card? ¡°Humph!¡± Baal hastily blocked the girl¡¯s strike with his sword. She was a young human, but her attack was surprisingly powerful despite her young age. She was worthy of being Dantalian¡¯s final hidden card. That was it. Baal may have been caught off guard, but he wasn¡¯t so weak that he would lose to this. He managed to block the blow by a razor-thin margin. Baal asked a question benignantly. ¡°Human child, how reckless of you. Why has a child stepped foot on this battlefield of the strongest?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± There was no emotion in the girl¡¯s eyes. Just as Baal was about to send the girl flying, it happened. Without any warning©¥his armor broke, his flesh was torn, and the sound of bones breaking resonated. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Baal looked down at his body impassively. Dozens of ck broadswords were piercing through his body. ck blood flowed down the des. Baal looked further down to where the des wereing from as if he were looking at someone else¡¯s body. The swords wereing out from Baal¡¯s shadow. It was the death knights which he had thought he had incapacitated at the start of the battle. ¡°¡­¡­Mm. How¡ª?¡± Before he could even finish asking his question, dozens of more des came surging out from his shadow as if they weren¡¯t going to allow him to ask questions. His right arm, left arm, thighs, abdomen, and heart. Broadswords pierced through almost every part of his body that had a name. Footsteps could be hearding from the dust cloud that was kicked up by the fallen wyverns. The footsteps stopped right in front of Baal. The sound of pping soon followed. ¡°Your strength is truly terrifying, Your Highness. I am in awe.¡± Dantalian was still smiling as if a battle never happened. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. As fast as it started, it came to an end. Thest chapter unintentionally came out a dayte, so I decided to release this chapter a day sooner. Uuuh, I hope you guys have a good day! I¡¯ll see you in the next chapter. Chapter 271: Those Who Commit Treason Chapter 271: Those Who CommitTreason ¡°¡­¡­I see.¡± Baal smiled wryly. A host was necessary for summoned beings. Summons can¡¯t move if their host doesn¡¯t provide them with mana. That¡¯s why it¡¯s a smart idea to deal with the host first when fighting summoned beings. Amon had said that there were 500 death knights in the ballroom. Out of all summoned creatures, death knights are the most powerful. That was why Baal taunted Barbatos at the beginning and lured her in. He also didn¡¯t forget to destroy her heart, the source of her magic¡­¡­. ¡°She deliberately acted as if she were defeated.¡± Considering the circumstances, it was understandable if Barbatos were to be enraged. Barbatos was the one who felt the most regret and vexation about the 2nd Crescent Alliance. Regardless, did she simply pretend to be angry¡­¡­? Baal started to piece things together. The reason why Zepar didn¡¯t attack Baal and prioritized rescuing Barbatos at any cost wasn¡¯t due to the fact that he was cool-headed, but because it was necessary for their n. Zepar covered Barbatos with his mantle after he rescued her. This was for the sake of not showing that Barbatos had recovered. Baal spoke as blood flowed down the side of his mouth. ¡°Thinking about it now, it was weird. You took a few steps away from me as if you knew beforehand that Barbatos woulde to attack me.¡± It wasn¡¯t an attack that came due to a surge of emotions. It was a move that was nned out for thest moment. ¡°In the end, it is Barbatos who deals the finishing blow¡­¡­. What a luxury.¡± ¡°Mm, that is not the case. You are half correct and half wrong.¡± Dantalian scratched his cheek. ¡°It is true that she intentionally pretended to have been defeated. It was obvious that you would aim for her heart, so she was drinking a healing potion beforehand. However, Barbatos was not the one who killed Your Highness.¡± ¡°A healing potion?¡± ¡°It was mixed together with her wine.¡± Barbatos had been drinking wine since before the meeting started. Was that a healing potion? Baal, who was almost obsessively thorough, smiled more wryly. ¡°How even more confusing. But how is Barbatos not the one to have pierced me?¡± ¡°I am not sure how it is for Your Highness, but one¡¯s heart is not something that can easily be regenerated. It hurts a lot for even high-ranking Demon Lords if their heart is destroyed.¡± Dantalian chuckled. At a snap of his fingers, more swords came surging out from Baal¡¯s shadow. The swords stabbed into Baal¡¯s body. While this was happening, the swords that had stabbed into him before returned to his shadow. They were attacking in rotation. Mm, Baal let out a groan. He was going to try and recover as much as possible while having this idle chat, but there was no opportunity for him. ¡°Daisy. Cut it.¡± ¡°Yes, Father.¡± The human girl swung down her sword. Baal¡¯s right hand was cut cleanly off. The Demon Destroyer that was being held by the Demon Lord fell to the ground powerlessly. Baal was disarmed just in case. Baal furrowed his brows. ¡°Father?¡± ¡°She is my adopted daughter. She has a fair bit of connection with Your Highness in a previous life, so please treat her well. Of course, even if you do treat her well now, it will not be for long.¡± Dantalian kicked the Demon Destroyer aside. ¡°Shall we return to the previous topic? It is true that Barbatos is doing fairly well now, but she has not recovered enough to be able to use her summons freely. And yet, how were the death knights able to attack you¡­¡­?¡± Dantalian pped once more and the swords withdrew as a new batch of swords surged up and pierced into Baal¡¯s body again. ¡°The reason is simple. It is because the power to control them was transferred to me already.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Out of the 467 death knights that were lying in wait in the ballroom, only 67 of them were sponging off of Barbatos.¡± He grinned widely. ¡°The remaining 400 are subjected to me.¡± Baal let out an ¡®ah¡¯. ¡°You tricked me.¡± ¡°Indeed. Well, do not me yourself. Everyone would naturally think that death knights belong solely to Barbatos as her elite soldiers.¡± ¡°This is a masterpiece that isparable to your eloquence.¡± Baalughed. ¡°If youunched a pincer maneuver with the death knights when thebatant Demon Lords attacked me, when the dolls swarmed me, and when the magic spells barraged me¡­¡­I might have lost. Although it would not have been an easy victory.¡± Dantalian hadpletely ignored this possibility. He pretended until the very end as if the death knights had been neutralized. All for the sake of a single opening. Dantalian shrugged. ¡°Well, saying that you might have lost also means that you might have won as well. Your Highness possesses the highest rank. It would only be right to be prepared for everything.¡± By making the wyverns attack from above, Baal¡¯s gaze was focused upward. Baal loosened his grip on his sword for a brief instant because of the attack from the human girl. The death knights aimed for the very moment Baal thought everything was over before attacking him. Dantalian lowered his voice and whispered in Baal¡¯s ear. ¡°This is a secret, but there was also a need for some Demon Lords to die. Having fewer Demon Lords stronger than me would only be a good thing, am I wrong?¡± ¡°Kuhuhu.¡± This meant that even Baal was being used in the end. Dantalian was the one to kill Rank 72 Andromalius, and it was also Dantalian who killed him, Rank 1 Baal. The Demon Lord army will undoubtedly revolve around the man standing before him. The conviction of a warrior and righteousness will most likely not exist during his rule over these turbulent times¡­¡­. ¡°Was it dying to a person like you my fate? But, Dantalian. This achievement was not aplished by your strength alone. You had to utilize every Demon Lord in order to kill me.¡± Baal had a satisfied smile on his face as he closed his eyes. ¡°My 5,000 years of life have been heavy. What more could I hope for as one doomed to perish? Has anyone else met an end as grand as this? No. There has not¡­¡­.¡± With his eyes closed, a gray sky appeared. The sky which he looked up vacantly at when he was starving unfolded before him. The demon world used to be barren. He struggled desperately just to survive. As it was only natural for the strong to have another meal, every demon sought to be strong and Baal was naturally also one of them. As Baal continued to kill and kill, a single question came to Baal¡¯s mind. If I were to die meaninglessly, then what would that mean for the numerous lives that had been taken by my hands? He had once killed a mother and her young daughter for the sake of eating a single loaf of bread. He cruelly ughtered the family that begged to at least spare the daughter. He even killed a preacher who wanted to stop the agonizing fights and walk down a path of reconciliation. All of the warriors who fell to his sword were great and noble. He ate those people and survived. ©¥A meaningless death was absolutely unforgivable. From that moment forth, Baal started to search for his end. Barbatos advocated for a world where all of demonkind could live happily. It was worth dying to someone with at least that much weight on their shoulders. Paimon dreamed of a world where every sentient being could live together peacefully regardless of their race. This was also worth dying for. Even if Dantalian¡¯s plot took the key role, in the end, Baal was in by every Demon Lord. Baal intended to ept this death happily. ¡°It seems you are satisfied. Are you looking at some peaceful scenery?¡± However, the other party didn¡¯t take his neck no matter how long he waited. ¡°I apologize, but it would be troubling if I were to kill Your Highness here. Would I not suddenly be the Demon Lord who killed Baal? It would be tiring if I drew people¡¯s attention because of that.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What are you saying?¡± ¡°Your neck is not charming enough for me to take such a risk.¡± Once Baal opened his eyes, he saw Dantalian standing with a sick smile on his face. ¡°I do not want a ¡®new emperor¡¯. Even a person of your stature is meeting your end like this. If I were to ascend to an almighty position, would that powerst longer than a millennium? I wish to simply live a long and narrow life.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Baal felt anger for the first time. Dantalian had just dered that Baal¡¯s death didn¡¯t have much value. ¡°You¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will tell you one fact. Once an absolute powerhouse such as yourself is gone, the Demon Lord army will begin to struggle internally in earnest. Agares has be partially crippled and you would be gone. My need to worry about the future has decreased greatly.¡± Dantalian chuckled quietly. ¡°It is truly unfortunate, Baal. The struggle and war that you longed for will paradoxically happen after your death. Do you understand? You had a dream that was impossible to fulfill.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But it would trouble me if you directed your hate at me. You would have died to a mere humanter on anyway if the status quo had been maintained, so, if anything, it is a relief that you are dying to me. Mhm. Your gratitude alone would not be enough to cover my consideration.¡± Dantalian whispered. ¡°A dog-like death suits a dog.¡± Dantalian then turned to face the other Demon Lords. He spread his arms out and shouted. ¡°Comrades! The culprit behind the failure of the 2nd Crescent Alliance and all of the failures afterward, Demon Lord Baal, has been defeated. It is time for the traitor among traitors who had been crushing the dreams of demonkind for the sake of his own greed to be punished.¡± However, Dantalian continued. ¡°The one to put an end to Baal will be referred to as the hero who defeated Baal. Everyone, we cannot sit idly by and allow such a tragic end. This is because Baal is not the traitor of one, but the traitor of demonkind as a whole.¡± Dantalian looked more serious than ever. ¡°Therefore, Baal must be punished by all of us. My belovedrades, we do not want a single hero. We desire a united demon world. If you are confident that you can represent all of demonkind, if you consider yourselves as the true monarchs of demonkind©¥then please step forward.¡± Dantalian unsheathed the dagger that was on his hip. ¡°For a new era!¡± He stabbed the dagger into Baal¡¯s shoulder without any hesitation. ¡°Not for the old era controlled by struggle,petition, blood, and ughter, but for a new era that is built for the sake of harmony, peace, equality, and most importantly, everyone. I ask that we open the path together with our hands.¡± Once he did, the other Demon Lords slowly approached. Barbatos was the first one. She was still panting heavily due to her injury, but she summoned her battle scythe and stabbed it into Baal¡¯s thigh. Paimon sliced Baal¡¯s right ear with a look of sadness and remorse on her face. Gamigin had her usual smile on her face as she carved into Baal¡¯s chest. It was like he was slowly being bit apart by hounds. ¡®Aah¡­¡­.¡¯ Baal thought to himself as he felt his flesh get pierced. Thest Demon Lord to step forward was Rank 3 Vassago. Vassago had always been known as Baal¡¯s supporter, so he had no other choice but to participate in this murder in order to escape the false usation of being called Baal¡¯s aide. To be more exact, Dantalian had instigated Vassago to do so. Vassago¡¯s face was filled with fear and greed. This was the true face of someone who was called a young noble. The sight of Vassago raising his sword and swinging it at his neck reflected slowly in Baal¡¯s two eyes. ¡®So this is my death.¡¯ Everything then went dark. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Quite the tragic end for Baal. Makes you almost feel bad for him. Almost. What he did was pretty messed up, so this was mostly warranted anyway. I mentioned it a couple chapters ago, but the next chapter is the April Fools chapter the author did. So don¡¯t be too confused when thates out. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 272: April Fools Special Routes Chapter 272: April Fools Special Routes
  1. Route no.07: Straight to universal unification
The Third Imperial Princess of the Habsburg Empire, Elizabeth von Habsburg, was sitting in her office. A disturbance had happened in the pce recently and it was giving the Imperial Princess a severe headache. The disturbance was about amoner who had suddenly fallen into theke inside the pce walls. The fact that a meremoner got through the impable security around the pce was a shock to all of the residents of the pce. Adding to this, there was a chance that this incident would have a political impact on Imperial Princess Elizabeth since she had influence over the pce¡¯s royal guards. What could she do? While Elizabeth was in the middle of thinking about this, the prison warden she had bought beforehand came to inform her something. He came to tell her that themoner who fell in theke was wailing and begging to be allowed to meet her. With the hope that she might be able to use the person, Imperial Princess Elizabeth secretly visited the prison. Thenky-looking young man rattled off rapidly as soon as he saw Elizabeth. ¡°It is an honor to meet the glory of Habsburg. I will cut to the chase and inform Your Highness that this humble one is aware of your desire to resurrect the empire and I will spare no expense in order to fully devote my loyalty and cooperation to your cause. First, Rudolf von Habsburg has sex ves of royal birth in the 2nd-floor basement of his mansion. Winning the session of the throne will be a simple task if you reveal this. Additionally, the Revello Company that you and Imperial Prince Ferdinand von Habsburg are contracted to is actually an anti-imperialist group that is being supported by the Kingdom of Brittany. If you scour everyst corner of their building, then you should be able to punish them for treason. Adding to this, in regard to Count Decebrit who is in charge of the capital¡¯s defense force, his two adjutants are constantly at the ready to stab their superior in the back. This is because Count Decebritid with both of their wives. You look troubled. Of course, it must be hard to believe all of this, but please believe me. This humble one knows that Your Highness had dealt with your little brother Imperial Prince Robert under the cherry crush in the forest behind the castle when you were 10 years old¡­¡­ Your Highness? Are you okay, Your Highness? Your face is deathly pale. In any case, I¡¯m not sure if the First Imperial Princess and the Second Imperial Princess are alive at this point, but this is the perfect opportunity. There is a youngdy named Laura in House Farnese of Sardinia and you must recruit her at all costs. Please use the ¡®Shadow¡¯ under yourmand to quickly¡­¡­ One moment. Your Highness. Please do not pass out. If webine our strength, then uniting the continent will be like taking candy from a©¥.¡± 2. Route no.12: Your pattern is ¡®Strong Weak Weak Strong Strong Strong Weak Strong Medium Weak¡¯. Great Demon Lord Baal was shocked. The human in front of him had wiped out every unit in his Demon Lord Castle, wasn¡¯t caught by a single trap, and managed to defeat him ¡®singlehandedly¡¯ all within 11 hours. Adding to this, the human was a ¡®little girl¡¯ and, going further, she didn¡¯t look to be older than fifteen years old! Baal barely managed to open his mouth with a holy sword piercing through his heart. ¡°How¡­¡­were you able to obtain such power with the body of a human?¡± ¡°Great Demon Lord Baal. Rank 1. A unique Scarlet Dragon spell is activated when attacked physically and a unique Azure Dragon spell is activated when attacked by magic. However, if attacked by arge number of familiars all at once, there is a pattern where he removes the anti-magic spell on his mantle, so, when this is considered, attacking after changing to a magic swordsman is the most effective.¡± ¡°W-What nonsense are you saying¡­¡­?¡± The girl had a cruel smile on her face that didn¡¯t fit her age. ¡°I saw eighty-nine bad ends because of you, you bastard.¡± 3. Route no.28: To the destruction of the world since it happens to be on VenusPanties was filled with rage once she lost the keyboard battle. No one could stop her after she got worked up, so VenusPanties got on Reincarnation Truck no.2 and hit that annoying bastard with it. However, she made a big mistake here. She should have written ¡¯72¡¯ when deciding which Demon Lord he was going to possess, but she ended up hitting ¡®2¡¯ twice and it became ¡®722¡¯. When VenusPanties looked back on itter, she gave an excuse like ¡°I drank sojust night¡­¡­.¡±, but the situation had already gotten out of control by that point. There was an error in the system since there was no Rank 722 Demon Lord, and the rank was randomized since the assigned number didn¡¯t exist. Due to the malicous, opportunistic development, and Noblesse-like cliche that filled the world, he ended up possessing Rank 1 Baal of all people. Thus, the strongest Demon Lord roared withughter. The possessed Baal was the greatest among Demon Lords because he was super duper powerful. He won against gods and demons. He won against everyone. The possessed Baal reigned supreme in the world. In any case, a dog barked. The world came to an end. 4. Route no.29: There¡¯s no way my Korea is a Jusin Empire! VenusPanties made a big mistake here. There was an error in the system since there was no Rank 722 Demon Lord. As a result, due to the malicious, opportunistic development, and Noblesse-like cliche that filled the world, he ended up reincarnating in the Joseon Penins of the sixteenth century. The original owner of the body was Prince Haseong. The boy who was going to be the Seonjo of Joseon in the future. 5. Route no.50: If Cleopatra¡¯s nose were a little tter¡­¡­. Due to some Noblesse-like cliche, Dantalian became a very handsome man. His scrawny figure was gone and was reced by an attractive body with decent muscles. His handsomeness was at the level where even the prince of a romance novel would fall for him, where Liu Bei and Cao Cao would fight over him if he reincarnated in a genderswapped version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and where he would go around sweeping tens of thousands of beautiful women off their feet if he were reincarnated in a harem novel. When Dantalian killed Andromalius and stood at the hearing, Paimon, who was going to question him at first, could do nothing but open and close her mouth. ¡®Y-You are so handsome!¡¯ A marble statue made by the Gods was standing there. Barbatos, who was sipping her wine, dropped her ss, and the lovely expression that Gamigin had maintained for hundreds of years broke. The hearts of all the female Demon Lords present pounded heavily. The issue was the fact that there weren¡¯t only female Demon Lords attending the hearing. Even the male Demon Lords ended up falling for Dantalian. A war almost started within the Demon Lord army because of Dantalian, but it ended in a temporary armistice because of Dantalian¡¯s earnest request. However, this was nothing more than the prelude to tragedy. ¡°All of history until now has been the history of ss strife!¡± At Bruno ins, Dantalian shouted as hundreds of thousands of humans and hundreds of thousands of demons were watching him. He was saying something historical, but his words didn¡¯t enter the ears of either the humans or the demons. ¡®S-So handsome!¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s almost like the God of Beauty has descended upon us!¡¯ ¡®His beauty is making me dizzy!¡¯ Thus, Imperial Princess Elizabeth, Queen Henrietta, and many other rulers joined in the struggle for Dantalian. Dantalian desperately tried to stop the war, but it was to no avail. The rulers of both the demon world and the human world joined in regardless of their gender as a genuine world war filled with shock and fear was carried out. A chaotic era unfolded just as Dantalian wanted. Surprisingly, the final victor was Sitri. 6. Route no.99: If the constitutions of Demon Lords were a bit different¡­¡­. ¡°Then let us begin the hearing.¡± Marbas spoke gravely. Marbas would always mediate disputes and was proud of his role, but he wanted to avoid hosting today¡¯s hearing if possible. Regardless, the other Demon Lords whined that there was no one else who could take the mediating role other than Marbas. To be honest, no one attempted to step forward, so Marbas had to. ¡°Defendant Dantalian.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Dantalian nodded in a dignified manner. ¡°Is the defendant aware that this is the time when the Crescent Alliance should be making our way onto the continent?¡± ¡°I am aware.¡± ¡°Therefore, you admit that losing even a single Demon Lord in this situation would be a severe loss for our forces?¡± ¡°I am aware of that as well.¡± Marbas mmed down on the table. ¡°Then why did you impregnate a bunch of Demon Lords at once!?¡± Barbatos, Agares, Paimon, Gamigin, Sitri, and 7 other female Demon Lords were seated in a line on the witness stand. They were all stroking their stomachs lovingly, all of which were bloated. ¡°This is nder. In none of these cases did I deliberately try to impregnate them.¡± Dantalian maintained his dignified look as he spoke. Marbas grit his teeth as he flipped a page. ¡°ording to the witnesses, within the span of a single month, you did it 11 times with Barbatos, 7 times with Gamigin, 7 times with Paimon, 3 times with Sitri, and at least 2 times with the other female Demon Lords. Putting this all together, you had intercourse 67 times within the span of 30 days!¡± Referentially, this was only when you limited it to the female Demon Lords. The number would increase threefold if you included the normal demons and humans. The very fact that Marbas had to read documents with these sorts of fact relevance was terrible. ¡°To make matters worse, you did this for no less than 6 months straight. Do you intend to say that you did not deliberately impregnate them despite this? Let us hear your excuse, Mr. Advisor.¡± Dantalian¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°As you know, the chance of getting pregnant is rather low and a group of people getting pregnant at the same time is considered bizarre. Despite this, it happened.¡± ¡°It is because you did it day in and day out that they inevitably got pregnant!¡± Marbas shouted. Horrendously, the female Demon Lords all requested a ¡®maternity leave¡¯ at the same time. If this were allowed to happen, then the Crescent Alliance would pitifully lose half of its forces in one fell swoop. If they lose in the war afterward, then the historians will summarize the Crescent Alliance¡¯s defeat with the single word ¡®pregnant¡¯. This was a literal nightmare. ¡°You are like a rutting dog. You could have held back for a bit during the war, but you did no such thing!¡± ¡°Are you perhaps telling me to hold back my libido? Pardon me, Marbas. I do not understand what you mean by that¡­¡­. How could someone restrain their libido?¡± ¡°Barbatos has the body of a 12-year-old! Damn it! How is she supposed to give birth!?¡± ¡°The child will also be happy since their mother will always maintain her youth.¡± Dantalian responded calmly as if he genuinely believed what he had said. Marbas then came to a realization. This guy is hopeless. Bang! An envoy burst through the door panting heavily. Marbas scowled and shouted. ¡°You! How dare you make such a racket in this ce!¡± ¡°I-I apologize, Your Excellency Commander. However, a significant issue has urred that must be reported urgently¡­¡­ His Highness Baal has gotten pregnant!¡± What? ¡°I will say it again. His Highness Baal has gotten pregnant, so he dered that he would take maternity leave.¡± Whaaaaat? ¡°W-What are you saying. Baal is a man¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He hid his gender until now, but he was actually a woman. He had been using an appearance-altering spell. Your Excellency, the 7th legion is in utter disarray. The news is spreading and causing the other legions to panic. ording to His Highness Baal, he says the child¡¯s father is His Highness Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Starting from Marbas, all of the Demon Lords opened their mouths in shock. While receiving all these looks of shock and fear, Dantalian quietly muttered to himself as if he didn¡¯t understand the situation. ¡°That¡¯s weird. We only did it ¡®once¡¯¡­¡­.¡± *** Author¡¯s Afterword Among all of the Harry Potter fan-fictions, there¡¯s a story called . It¡¯s a masterpiece. There¡¯s a side storybeled an and I had so much fun reading it that I wanted to try writing something like it as well. There¡¯s a single problem here, though. Was Baal really a female or not? But since Baal has already died in the main story, there¡¯s no way to confirm either/or, so this problem will forever remain as a mystery as ¡®Schrodinger¡¯s Baal¡¯ for all the schrs in the world¡­¡­. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed this joke chapter. Is it canon? Who knows? Maybe everyone in this series is female except for Dant? What a mystery! In any case, I may or may not have slower uploads soon. Sort of depends if I get this new job. I¡¯m not really sure yet. I¡¯m optimistic, but who knows if they¡¯ll hire me or not. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 273: Grand Coalition Chapter 273: GrandCoalition ¡°My belovedrades.¡± I stood on top of Baal¡¯s corpse. The corpse was a mess. The limbs and body were torn apart here and there to the point where it was difficult to make out the full body. It was an end that reminded me of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu. It wasn¡¯t particrly sad. He probably didn¡¯t want a noble death. That would be going above himself. An end like this was perfect for Baal. Hoo, hooo¡­¡­. The other Demon Lords were all looking at me. They were breathing heavily. The heat of the battle, the excitement that came from surviving a battle that had their lives on the line was radiating from their bodies like an unpleasant mist. It wasn¡¯t weird that they were like this. About five or six Demon Lords had actually died. ¡°Today, at five forty-five in the evening, evil was punished for the first time in history.¡± In this era where a king ruled with overwhelming power. An era of myths wasing to an end here. ¡°The Crescent Alliance did not fail because we were ipetent. There were traitors who hid and betrayed their fellow man and caused internal discords in secret. This group of cockroach-like people was strengthened by the power they were born with and used their power to act as if they were noble individuals.¡± Ivar Lodbrok was currently recording me with a Memoria artifact. Baal¡¯s confession of his crimes was also recorded. The video was going to be yed all throughout demon society after a little bit of editing. ¡°However, lies never prevail.¡± I looked forward firmly. ¡°It is easy for a Demon Lord to deceive a single person. Inciting ten to a hundred people is also an easy matter. However, once it goes beyond the thousands and reaches the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, then the lies will no longer have a ce to stand.¡± That¡¯s a lie, though. Once a single person¡¯s lie bes the lie of ten people, a hundred people, a thousand people, then that will no longer be a lie. Baal¡¯s crimes were never revealed in . There was no better proof than this. People often misunderstand, but the strength of truth doesn¡¯te from the truth itself. It is determined by the number of people who believe that truth. Therefore, whether it¡¯s the truth or a lie, instigators are essential. It is purely a battle of strength. Baal didn¡¯t lose because his lie had fallen apart, it¡¯s because an instigator like me was here. ¡°The traitor Baal had ridiculed us and all of demon society for a whole two thousand years. There may have been people who realized Baal¡¯s true face during those two thousand years. No, there definitely were. They desperately tried to reveal the truth, but died to Baal¡¯s de¡­¡­.¡± For two thousand years. They vanished pitifully without being able to leave their names behind in history. I lowered my head slightly like I was giving a silent tribute. ¡°Their deaths have beenpletely forgotten by history. Who can deny this? In that age, justice was weak, the truth was empty, and courage was practically meaningless. Thus our history is a history of corpses. It is nothing more than a quiet graveyard where millions of mortified souls scream.¡± I raised my head. ¡°My dearrades.¡± I didn¡¯t exaggerate my words as I spoke clearly. ¡°Today, at five forty-five in the evening, evil was punished for the first time in history.¡± My voice reached the far corners of the pce thanks to it being amplified by a spell. ¡°From this point forth, history will stop being a graveyard. Today, at five forty-five in the evening, time has undoubtedly stopped for a moment. The historians of future generations will refer to today as ¡®The Great Pause¡¯. This is because history will now proceed in apletely different meaning.¡± From the era of myths to the era of schemes. From an era of struggle to an era of conflict. ¡°From this day forth, we will not forget justice. I am not saying this like some hopeless optimist. Justice will asionally win and, more frequently than that, it will lose miserably. ©¥Nheless, justice will not be forgotten.¡± I will now be the one to determine which side is justice. ¡°From this day forth, which side is justice, which side is evil, what is true, what is a lie, who is brave, and who is cowardly, all of these things will be clearly recorded. People will no longer die in vain due to the oppression of a tyrant.¡± As it would only be right to write the names of fallen heroes on shrines. ¡°Lies will fall. Not because lies be powerless on their own. It is because we, the Demon Lord army and demon society, will stand at the forefront and fight against lies. If one person whispers a lie, then ten of us wille together and shout the truth. If ten people spread lies, then a hundred of us will fight back. Even if an era where hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of people pursue lies passionately, we will create an army evenrger than theirs and sing the truth courageously and firmly.¡± If they revolt against us, then we will annihte them thoroughly with an army ten times their size. ¡°Therefore, we must change people¡¯s perception. Lies will not fall on their own. We, the Demon Lord army and demon society, will be the ones to make lies fall!¡± I raised my hand. ¡°O demonkind! Unite!¡± We be stronger the more we unite. ¡°The roots nted by the great criminal Baal still run deep. There are still tens of thousands of remnants upying his Demon Lord Castle. As you all know, they are known as the strongest army. Adding to this, the criminal Agares, who attacked our fellow man three years ago and gave a huge shock to our society is still alive and healthy.¡± I can rx and sleepfortably after these people are dealt with. This was the same for the other Demon Lords as well. Agares, who was as powerful as an entire faction by herself, had to be eliminated at all costs. The ins Faction and the Mountain Faction did not want this kind of risk factor that could threaten entire factions. The Neutral Faction wants to get rid of the troublemaker who could break the bnce between the factions. Our interests aligned. ¡°We have only two choices. An unconditional surrender or a perfect and faultless union. The choice is yours. You can willingly choose to surrender unconditionally. However, that would be the ¡®freedom to be a ve¡¯. By signing our names and the names of our future descendants into very, we will return to another 2,000 years of grim darkness.¡± I continued. ¡°Demonkind, unite.¡± For the sake of victory. ¡°The leaders of the Demon Lord army are transparent. We are always prepared to sacrifice ourselves. If justice asks of us to make sacrifices, we will never ask anyone within demon society to sacrifice more than us. A hardship that we cannot endure will not be passed down to the people.¡± So do not nder or criticize the leaders. ¡°From this point forth, our lives belong to demonkind. We are merely the ¡®first unit¡¯ marching for the sake of the demon world. It is time for us to wear the most sacred and precious uniform once again.¡± I took out the piece of cloth which I had prepared beforehand. It was a g with a crescent moon on it. The g of the Crescent Alliance. ¡°We will not remove this uniform until the day justice is victorious, and if we do not win, then we will not face defeat alive. From now on, we, Demon Lords and soldiers of demonkind, will struggle for the sake of the masses. Only a single chant will exist in this struggle.¡± I gripped the g tightly and shouted. ¡°Demonkind! Unite!¡± There was blood on the g which made it seem like it was my blood. ¡°We proud demons do not need something like ves. Be it directly or indirectly, those who believe that they have the freedom to turn their descendants into ves will not survive! We do not associate with traitors. We are faithful to the principle given to us by the Goddesses, ¡®Be a person of noble character¡¯.¡± I gave a type of martialw. Those who cooperate with us will be given the tag of being righteous, while those who go against us will be called traitors. ¡°Different from humans, we do not fear death. We are simply afraid of living cowardly lives. My belovedrades, demons who have been summoned as warriors! We know that the issue of living and dying is a trivial problem. The true problem is whether the pride of demonkind is alive or not.¡± We are different from the lowly humans. I poked at the racial discrimination that was deeply rooted within demons. ¡°If we be a single army, refuse to turn away from hardship, and swear to not be ves by surrendering, then our shouts will echo into the cries of dozens. We will ovee all adversities as the cries of dozens will then echo a hundred, a thousand, and a hundred thousand times!¡± Now then. ¡°Demonkind! Rise! Be the footsteps of tens of thousands for the sake of justice! Be the hymn that exists for the sake of the new era that will now unfold! Today, at five forty-five in the evening, time paused momentarily. From now on, history will no longer be controlled by lies and deception©¥The moment has arrived where you all must move history with your own two arms and feet!¡± Let us begin. ¡°The Goddesses are asking for our help. Warriors, let us unite!¡± * * * We moved quickly. A united force was made in order to wipe out Baal¡¯s remaining troops. Baal¡¯s Demon Lord Castle was located right in the middle of the Demon Lord territory, so we were able to lead an army without having to worry about our supply lines thanks to this. We had a massive army of 50,000 soldiers. The army under Baal¡¯smand that was going against us had about 22,000 men. A single Demon Lord had been leading an army of 22,000. This showed how powerful Baal was. Regardless, we were incrediblyid back. Our victory was basically set in stone already. ¡°We simply have to wait for the Demon Lord Castle to run out of mana.¡± Barbatos let out a snort as she spoke. Indeed. The demons residing in the Demon Lord Castle lived off of mana. However, I¡¯m not sure what the principle is, but the mana within a Demon Lord Castle starts to dissipate once the Demon Lord dies. Even if there is a massive army of twenty thousand, losing their source of mana was no different from having their supply line cut off. No, in this case, twenty thousand was more of a hindrance. The amount of mana consumed by thisrge number probably wasn¡¯t a joke. We surrounded the castle and waited twenty days. Sure enough, the enemy troops burst out the front gate because they couldn¡¯t bear their hunger any longer. We strengthened our encirclement and cut them down with ease. ¡°It feels like we¡¯re hunting turkeys.¡± This was how Sitri described it. It was literally a hunt. The enemy troops weren¡¯t able to move in uniform since Baal was gone. On the other hand, the Demon Lords on our side were giving direct orders to our men. There was a massive difference between a demon army led by a Demon Lord and a demon army not led by one. The massive army Baal was proud of melted away in only 2 months. Winning a war is the most effective way to deal with society falling into chaos. The continuous disclosure of Baal¡¯s crimes, my speech, and now our military victory. Demon society began to give their passionate support to the new leaders of the Crescent Alliance. *** Author¡¯s Afterword It seems someone figured out the novel I used for reference in chapter 266. That¡¯s right, it was Immanuel Kant¡¯s ! It¡¯s also known as the theory of eternal peace. If you change ruler to president, then it¡¯s no different from a representative democracy. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t have much to say. Dant is just taking care of the aftermath. I¡¯ve sort of been stressing out recently. Two houses directly next to my ce are being demolished and the noise is absolutely insane. I spent my entire morning just hearing ss shatter for 5 hours and my entire house kept shaking because of how close they are. Like, if I were to actually measure how far they are from my ce, I¡¯d say about 5 meters. It really sucks. Ugh, I¡¯ll stop ranting. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 274: Grand Coalition (2) Chapter 274: Grand Coalition (2) After getting rid of Baal¡¯s remaining troops, we held arge-scale victory celebration in Niflheim. We had created a memorial arch two months prior for the sake of this event. We didn¡¯t have enough time, so it came out smaller than nned, but it came out rather nice thanks to the work of the expert dwarven craftsmen. ¡°Glory to Her Highness Barbatos of Immortality!¡± ¡°Glory to Her Highness Paimon of Purity! Glory to His Highness Marbas of Nobility!¡± The citizens of Niflheim came pouring out to scatter flower petals. The army of fifty thousand walked proudly. Cheers poured down from all around them. Even though it was the middle of the day, fireworks of various colors were shot into the sky endlessly. It was like a festival. We waved at the people while on horseback. There was a lot of meaning behind all of the faces that were leading the massive army. First, the three individuals who officially rose to the top of the Demon Lord army due to this incident. Barbatos of the ins Faction, Paimon of the Mountain Faction, and Marbas of the Neutral Faction were marching at the front. The three factions had always boasted their strength. However, both Baal and Agares possessed a strength that went beyond the factions and allowed them to hold their ground on a battlefield alone. It was because of this that the leaders of each faction were always treated as ¡®second¡¯. Now that Baal was gone, there was nothing to stop the factions from running ahead. The era had truly changed. The Demon Lords who had remained unaffiliated until now were starting to get anxious. Some of them joined the Neutral Faction while others looked for influential people who could protect them. The people who joined the Neutral Faction probably did so since they believed the Neutral Faction would be the most easygoing when it came to politics. The very sight of the three leaders walking together was incredibly awe-inspiring for demonkind. They were the same three people who led back during the 2nd Crescent Alliance which was historically the most sessful Crescent Alliance. The three leaders united once more in this current era where pessimists were slowly starting to worry that demonkind might get annihted by the humans one day. Although I was the one who went through a lot of effort to make this scene happen¡­¡­. ¡°Glory to His Highness Vassago!¡± ¡°Kyaah, Your Highness Gamigin! Please look this way!¡± Demon Lord Vassago and Gamigin followed behind them. It was an interesting order. If ranks were prioritized, then Rank 3 Vassago and Rank 4 Gamigin should¡¯ve naturally been at the front. Despite this, they were positioned second. Vassago and Gamigin were smiling as they waved at the people, but, well, who knows what¡¯s actually on their minds¡­¡­. ¡°Glory to His Highness Dantalian of Many Faces!¡± And then it was me, Dantalian. The respective gs of these six Demon Lords were fluttering all throughout the town. Referentially, my g had a face with seven masks on it. Coincidentally, my territory consisted of seven hills, so it was somewhat appropriate. ¡°The world is really going to the dogs.¡± I heard Vassago mutter to my left. His face was smiling brightly, but his tone was overflowing with discontent. He had quite an interesting talent. ¡°The lowest Demon Lord is walking side by side with us at the front. This would normally be unimaginable.¡± ¡°The past is gone. This is what this probably means.¡± Vassago let out a snort. ¡°Do not misunderstand, you insolent cur. Do not get ahead of yourself just because you have borrowed Barbatos¡¯ strength like a parasite. I was taken by surprise during the Walpurgis Night, but I have four spirit kings¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You are referring to the Fire Spirit King, the Water Spirit King, the Earth Spirit King, and the Wind Spirit King. The public is not aware, but I know that you also have a contract with the Dark Spirit King.¡± Vassago¡¯s expression froze. Dear me, you should quickly smile. Hundreds of people are looking at us. If you don¡¯t smile a little wider, then your political appeal will decrease, you know? Vassago is a spirit master. He himself doesn¡¯t have a lot of power, but he¡¯s fairly difficult to deal with since he has five spirit kings under hismand. If you raised your yer character as a mage or a magic swordsman, then it would basically be impossible to beat him. I¡¯m not sure why, but spirit masters have the image of possessing a ¡®clean mind¡¯. Vassago, who is at the top of spirit masters, is actually a sly person with pitch-ck insides. The world is a mess. ¡°How¡­¡­? I have never summoned it before¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dear me. I am certain I said it during the speech. Lies will always fall.¡± I chuckled. From a distance, it probably looks like we were having a pleasant conversation. It was funny. ¡°It is the same for Your Highness as well. You need to realize that an eternal secret does not exist in the world. Was the example not enough to teach you this lesson?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Barbatos will dere in today¡¯s victory speech that the ranking system between Demon Lords will be abolished.¡± Vassago scowled. He wasn¡¯t even smiling anymore. I felt this in the past, but the top 3 ranking Demon Lords are inexperienced when ites to politics. The fact that factions formed around people like Barbatos and Paimon proved this. Did people develop less politically when they have an excessive amount of strength? ¡°Abolish? What do you mean¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is as I said. The ranking system was something Baal, the criminal of high treason, had established. By assigning ranks to Demon Lords when we were originally all equal, it is a system that has been preventing the Demon Lord army from uniting. Evil practices must be done away with as soon as possible. Do you not think so as well?¡± Vassago¡¯s face went pale. It wasn¡¯t only Baal who was deeply involved in the ranking system, but Vassago himself was also deeply involved. Going against this system meant that Vassago would also be a purge target. I let out an ¡®oh right¡¯ as if I had just now realized this. ¡°Come to think of it, the reason Your Highness is called the Demon Lord of Fairness¡­es from the fact that you had assigned the ranks fairly. How troubling. We were nning to deny the ranking system itself¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is different from what you said.¡± Vassago spoke with a trembling voice. ¡°You promised that you would overlook everything if I participated in eliminating Baal. I was also the person to slit Baal¡¯s throat. Why am I still being treated as guilty by association?¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct. That is what ¡®I¡¯ had promised.¡± I made a sorry face. ¡°But it seems our otherrades think otherwise. Can we believe in His Highness Vassago¡¯s sincerity when he only stabbed Baal once? Unfortunately, this is the consensus.¡± ¡°T-That cannot be¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The logic being brought forward by ourrades is as follows: The fact that Your Highness had stabbed Baal, from another perspective, can be seen as you betraying Baal. There is no guarantee that someone who had betrayed once will not do it again.¡± I smiled awkwardly. ¡°Well, it is not exactly wrong, so I failed to defend you fully. I apologize.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Please do not reprimand me too much. Ourrades decided to give you a chance after I did my utmost to defend you.¡± ¡°A chance¡­¡­.¡± I nodded. ¡°As you are aware, we are now going to go after the traitor Agares. ording to my personal informationwork, there is a chance that Agares ismunicating in secret with the Frankia Empire. It will not be an easy threat to deal with.¡± I say the Frankia Empire, but it¡¯s actually the nation controlled by Queen Henrietta de Brittany. There is a rather high chance that Queen Henrietta and Agares will cooperate. No, it would be best to simply believe that this is exactly what they are going to do. The strongest monarch in the human world and the strongest monarch in the demon world had formed a secret alliance. This was undoubtedly horrifying. ¡°Agares must be punished at all costs. Agares is nothing more than an individual who squanders the new Demon Lord army that protects peace and harmony. Your Highness Vassago must stand at the forefront in this historical war.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Vassago¡¯s shoulders trembled. ¡°I have to stand at the front¡­¡­in a war against Agares¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yes. If you do that, then ourrades will no longer doubt Your Highness¡¯ sincerity. I swear on my name.¡± ¡°You are insane¡­¡­. Do not make meugh! It is Agares. That Agares!¡± Vassago gnashed his teeth as he shouted. Even Baal had to utilize arge army to deal with that boar-like woman! You also barely managed to defeat her after that faction of yours reached out to both the Neutral Faction and the Mountain Faction. No, I would not even say that you defeated her. Agares got away alive! This is absurd!¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°I think you are misunderstanding something, Your Highness. This is not a request. This is my final advice.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Even children are aware of Agares¡¯ strength. We know it very well as the people who fought against her three years ago. That is why we are trying to put Your Highness forward since you are known to be next in line in terms of strength.¡± To be more precise, we intend to use him as a meat shield. Vassago must have understood what I was implying as his face went red. ¡°How dare you people try to look down on me?¡± ¡°It seems you still do not understand. I told you that this is my final advice. If Your Highness refuses, then, unfortunately, I will no longer be able to protect you. I cannot hold back our otherrades.¡± ¡°You sly snake¡­¡­!¡± Vassago raised his hand as if he was going to grab me by the cor. However, he couldn¡¯t move any further. Gamigin, who was walking to my left, had turned her head slightly to look at Vassago. Vassago¡¯s face contorted over and over again before he dropped his hand back down. ¡°Your Highness, it is fine if you refuse. You have the freedom to do so. You can go back to your castle right now and settle down.¡± I whispered as gently as I could. ¡°But I do not know how long you will be able tost. Even Baal was cut down by ourrades. Public opinion throughout the demon world is already leaning in our favor. Barbatos might even dere Your Highness as public enemy number one during her speechter today¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± You could even run away and join Agares, but Baal¡¯s army melted in only 2 months. Are you confident in your ability to turn your back to us after having witnessed that? Do you have the guts to turn the entire Demon Lord Army and demon society against you? I patted Vassago¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Do not feel too ufortable about this. We would not foolishly kill the dog after the hunt. Agares is a powerful enemy. We will fully support Your Highness. You can look forward to it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Vassago nodded his head weakly after a long moment of silence. I immediately sent a message to Barbatos. The message itself didn¡¯t have any meaning to it, but it was a gesture to make Vassago rx. You have to show these kinds of gestures as soon as possible if you don¡¯t want any problems down the road. By showing them this kind of gesture, you make the other party think ¡®Yeah, I didn¡¯t choose wrong. This is the best choice.¡¯ I spoke with a smile. ¡°You said that I am leeching off of Barbatos, but did Your Highness not also leech off of Baal all this time? Your Highness and I are bothrades in leeching. From now on, we will both be leeching off the same group.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Let us get along. To be honest, I have always liked Your Highness.¡± Only Vassago¡¯s shoulders trembled as he remained silent until the end of the event. On that day, the ranking system within the Demon Lord army was publicly abolished. Under the value of . *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Vassago is having it rough, huh? He¡¯s descended into being aplete pushover now. On another note, the demolition is still stressing me out. Why do they start work at like 8am? It¡¯s nuts. Ugh, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 275: Grand Coalition Chapter 275: GrandCoalition * * * Elizabeth woke up from her light nap. A white bed. It was rather frugal for the ruler of a nation to be using. Elizabeth rubbed her disheveled eyes. A terrible feeling of fatigue was wrapped around her skull like rotten cheese. She wanted to sleep at least a minute longer. ¡°Kuh¡­¡­.¡± One of the crystal balls on the other side of the room was making a ruckus. She had awoken because of this noise. She already got too little sleep to begin with, so she automatically let out aint. ¡°¡­¡­Who would call me at a time like this? No, it would probably be more urgent since it is at this time.¡± Elizabeth walked like a ghost. The moonlighting through the window dimly lit up her naked body. Going to sleep without any clothes on had be a habit of hers since a long time ago. ¡°Mm. Henrietta, is it?¡± The tiredness in Elizabeth¡¯s eyes vanished without a trace. The crystal ball that had been set up specifically for Henrietta was the source of the sound. It was more than fine for Henrietta to interfere with her sleep. Elizabeth promptly activated the magic orb. The orb let out a ray of light as a person¡¯s shape was disyed inside of it. ¡°Hi, Eliza.¡± A queen whose hair was as passionate as fire, Henrietta de Brittany. She was smiling boldly as usual. ¡°I know it¡¯s sudden, but let me ask you something. Do you have a secret that you can¡¯t tell others?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That really is a sudden question.¡± Elizabeth smiled bitterly. The way she talked was like she was talking with a friend whom she had just been drinking with. No one would believe that she was a ruler who controlled an empire and a kingdom. Nheless, her unreserved behavior made Elizabeth feel relieved. Mm, Elizabeth put her hand against her chin as she thought. ¡°A secret, is it? This is troubling. Do you intend to figure out thisdy¡¯s secret and use it somewhere bad?¡± ¡°Lady? Don¡¯t make meugh. No one would call a girl who¡¯s lived for more than twenty years without a lover and as a virgin ady.¡± ¡°¡­¡­My mind is still that of ady.¡± Elizabeth protested, but even she felt like it was pitiful. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. Seeing your reaction, are you actually a virgin?¡± ¡°I am married to my nation. All right, Henrietta. Let¡¯s say that this is my secret to you.¡± ¡°Tsk tsk. Why are you like that when you lookpletely fine?¡± Henrietta furrowed her brows as if she truly didn¡¯t understand. Elizabeth felt sad for a very brief moment. ¡°I could pick anyone and have a good time with them if I wanted to. I simply do not feel the need to do something like that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a line often said by pretty girls who aren¡¯t able to find a lover.¡± ¡°Fine, whatever. Let us stop discussing this.¡± Elizabeth let out a sigh. The Queen of Brittany was famous for having a promiscuous sex life. This was probably the ethnic difference between people from Brittany and Habsburg, Elizabeth thought to herself. ¡°Sheesh. If my chief retainers were to overhear this conversation, then they would have probably revolted twice over. So, for what reason did you decide to ask me about something as trivial as my secrets?¡± Henrietta smiled lightly. ¡°Dantalian has moved, Eliza.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The air changed. The expression on Elizabeth¡¯s face disappeared. The girl talking to her one and only friend disappeared and all that remained was the tyrant who heartlessly ruled the New Habsburg Republic. Elizabeth suppressed her tension as she asked a question. ¡°¡­¡­What do you mean by moved?¡± ¡°Naturally, I mean that he has created an army. It¡¯s the Crescent Alliance, Eliza.¡± Henrietta spoke nonchntly as if she were talking about someone else¡¯s problem. ¡°The difference this time is that instead of going to Habsburg likest time, they areing to Frankia. It should be a relief to you.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Of course, it was a relief. It would be an utter nightmare if she had to face the Crescent Alliance again on her own soil again. Nheless, she didn¡¯t let her relief show. Their goal being Frankia meant that her friend, Henrietta, would have to face them. ¡°Who is the source of this information? Sorry if I sound doubtful, but that Demon Lord is talented in information warfare and mind games. You have to be cautious.¡± If they were to draw any rash conclusions, then they would have already fallen into the other party¡¯s trap. The Demon Lord army was on the highest watchlist even in the Habsburg Republic¡¯s informationwork. Despite this, Elizabeth hadn¡¯t been informed of any particr movement yet. ¡°This is why I asked if you had a secret. I have a secret of my own. I¡¯m actually constructing a cooperation system with one of the Demon Lords. That person is my source.¡± ¡°A Demon Lord, is it?¡± Elizabeth furrowed her brows. The fact that Henrietta was cooperating with a Demon Lord was rather surprising, but it wasn¡¯t the time to ask her about it. Henrietta had revealed her secret to Elizabeth on her own. Elizabeth focused on the current issue at hand. ¡°The chances of that information being made up is too high. This is dangerous, Henrietta.¡± ¡°Agares is the Demon Lord. You remember the civil war that happened three years ago in the regency, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Rank 2. The Demon Lord who lost.¡± Indeed. It would be somewhat trustworthy, then. Henrietta spoke. ¡°An extensive purge is currently happening within the Demon Lord army. The scale of it seems to be rather big. They say that even Rank 1 Baal was killed. I managed to get my hands on a video of Dantalian giving a speech during this process. I¡¯ll order one of my court mages to send you the videoter.¡± ¡°Please do. Then does this mean Dantalian was the one who orchestrated this purge?¡± Henrietta nodded. ¡°There is no definite proof, but that is what I think.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± ¡°Eliza. I was able to get inside knowledge about the Crescent Alliance by cooperating with a Demon Lord. Bruno ins was a stage entirely prepared by Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What do you mean by that?¡± Dantalian was the culprit behind spreading poison throughout humanity during the ceremonial speeches. Was she saying that he had a role bigger than that? Henrietta informed her about the truth she had discovered. Dantalian had secretly sent a letter to the other legion leaders of the Demon Lord army in order to prevent the Mountain Faction from getting too far ahead. Agares had naturally received a letter as well. Agares knew that Dantalian saw through the Mountain Faction¡¯s movement from the very beginning. It was through this information that Henrietta realized who the mastermind of the 8th Crescent Alliance was. ¡°¡­¡­That¡¯s what happened. The script and stage were all set up by that guy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth was unresponsive as she held her wine ss. She didn¡¯t feel like she could listen with a straight mind, so she brought out some alcohol. It was supposed to be high-quality alcohol, but the inside of her mouth only felt bitter. ¡°We were already caught in a trap the moment we gathered at Bruno ins, Eliza.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­. Are you saying that a single person managed to almost push mankind to annihtion?¡± Elizabeth shuddered. ¡°That is ridiculous. Something like that is not possible.¡± ¡°But it happened. Sorry, but you and I are rulers. We don¡¯t have the right to disregard reality.¡± The fact that something like this was reality was terrifying. It was literally a nightmare. A nightmare called Dantalian was covering the entire continent. ¡°Ten-thousand people died. Henrietta, ten-thousand people died in Habsburg alone.¡± Elizabeth muttered in a strained voice. ¡°This was done by a single person? How could I possibly tell the people about this¡­¡­? This should not be allowed even if they are a Demon Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And I had to kill off my own troops.¡± There was now a sharp edge in Henrietta¡¯s voice after talking nonchntly almost this entire time. ¡°I have not forgotten for even a moment the screams let out by my soldiers. It¡¯s probably the same for you as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time for our revenge, Eliza.¡± There was a clear difference in mood between the two people. Elizabeth was extremely warry of Dantalian and even afraid of him to a degree. On the other hand, Dantalian was a bothersome opponent but not a target of fear for Henrietta. This difference started a few years ago when Elizabeth realized the identity of the Mad Priest Jean Bole was Dantalian. Elizabeth immediately reported this information to Henrietta. Thus, Henrietta learned that the foe she had thoroughly defeated was none other than Dantalian. Therefore, Henrietta¡¯s confidence was well-founded as she had already defeated Dantalian before. ¡°Even if there is a slim chance that this information is fake, we can easily make countermeasures for it as long as we don¡¯t lower our guard. I¡¯m going to believe that you didn¡¯t lose that much confidence, Eliza.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You are right. I was a little impatient. Sorry.¡± ¡°Well, I understand. You get rather temperamental whenever the topic is about Dantalian.¡± Henrietta grinned. ¡°He¡¯s certainly a genius when ites to information warfare and mind games, but he¡¯s not very useful on a battlefield. We can make use of that and aim for a proper fight.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth fell into deep thought. She pondered for a moment about how she was going to tell her friend something before speaking. ¡°In regard to military tactics, Henrietta, I think Dantalian obtained a powerful subordinate.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You most likely know that Heidelberg was captured, right?¡± Henrietta nodded. ¡°People have been saying that the Demon Lord army has a rather capable individual.¡± ¡°I believe there is a very high chance that¡­¡­that tactician is Dantalian¡¯s advisor.¡± Henrietta¡¯s face became serious. Elizabeth continued while feeling a strange pang of pain once she saw her friend¡¯s expression. ¡°This is from the testimonies of the people who went as surrender envoys, but it¡¯s apparently a girl who serves under Dantalian. Dantalian may definitely be weak when ites tobat; however, he is not so foolish that he would leave that weakness alone.¡± Commoners ended up gaining a favorable opinion of nobles because of the conviction they showed in Heidelberg. The nobles within the government of the current Republic were also gradually getting more power. They were able to bounce back by the same amount they had been getting suppressed all this time. Dantalian was able to go beyond obtaining a simple victory and was able to shake the foundation of their politics as well¡­¡­. There is nothing scarier than an enemy who knows how to make use of their victory. Dantalian is an extremely terrifying individual. Henriettamented. ¡°So you¡¯re saying he possesses schemes, strategies, and also military tactics? He¡¯s be a ridiculous foe.¡± A moment of silence fell over the two rulers. Elizabeth spoke up as if she were trying to ovee this pressure. ¡°How about causing disorder within the Crescent Alliance? Dantalian was the one to scheme the purge, but if you consider the information, he does not have that many troops. If we divide the Demon Lords who have troops and lower the faith they have in Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll probably be difficult.¡± Henrietta shook her head. ¡°ording to Agares, he is apparently in a rtionship with all of the legion leaders. Moreover, Dantalian was the one who made the Crescent Alliance seed and put an end to their civil war. Themanders probably have immense trust in him.¡± ¡°Their faith in him is firm, is it¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Very much so.¡± The fact that a purge was carried out on the Rank 1 Demon Lord showed how much trust Dantalian had as the person who nned it all out. It was incredibly unlikely that they could be broken up from the inside. Elizabeth let out a weak sigh. ¡°What exactly is his goal? I do not understand. If his wish is to merely wipe out mankind, then he would not have had to carry out a purge¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either. But there are a couple of things that are clear.¡± Henrietta continued in a cold tone. ¡°He¡¯s the most dangerous type of person, he¡¯s the enemy of mankind, and our archenemy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you think of it the other way around, the Demon Lord army would lose its centerpiece if he¡¯s gone. Eliza, prepare to dere martialw. This time we have to go to war with the survival of humanity on the line.¡± Elizabeth took a sip of her wine before carefully nodding her head. That¡¯s right. She has no other choice but to end the nightmare herself¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s been a while since west had a chapter from Elizabeth¡¯s perspective. At least they aren¡¯t having someplex discussion about politics like that one other time. My brain is sort of like mush. Uuh, I hope you guys have a good May! See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 276: Grand Coalition (4) Chapter 276: Grand Coalition (4) * * * Elizabeth and Henrietta will undoubtedly form an alliance. I¡¯d even bet on it. The two rulers have a powerful bond established between them. I confirmed this during the civil war in Frankia. There were a lot of knights in the Habsburg Republic who were half forced to retire because they used to be nobles. Elizabeth sent those people to Henrietta. Elizabeth got rid of thetent rebel threat from her nation while Queen Henrietta got her hands on excellent knights. It was a concise and splendid coboration. ¡®Elizabeth and Henrietta.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help butugh. The two monarchs who should have been fighting for supremacy were now working together in secret. Adding the strongest on top of another strongest. A pair of Aces. Well, the fans of might have be overjoyed if they saw this. Although the fact that I was their archenemy made this hard tough at. If wepare our original abilities, then I¡¯m nothing more than the piss of arvapared to them. I have to be as careful as possible. ¡°¡­¡­But how exactly are they cooperating?¡± Paimon asked as she slowly fanned herself during the war council. ¡°The leader of Habsburg is proiming to be a republic nation. On the other hand, the Queen of Brittany is the typical monarch. It would be hard to imagine that the two of them would move together with their militaries.¡± ¡°There is always a way.¡± For example, by sending volunteer soldiers. Even if we may have different political systems, we are a part of thergemunity known as humanity before being the members of a single nation, so even if you are a detestable royalist, we muste together in order to face the Demon Lord army¡­¡­. Elizabeth will probably instigate her people in this manner. She¡¯s skilled when ites to instigation. ¡°The issue is whether this method can be realized or not. If they manage to execute it, then they arepetent. If they fail to carry it out, then they are ipetent. However, the leader of Habsburg is extremelypetent.¡± Barbatos and Paimon nodded. The two of them seemed displeased that they nodded at the same time as they let out a ¡®hmph¡¯ and turned away from each other. Do they not realize that moving in unison like that made them cuter? The two of them have been going on this war of nerves throughout the war council. I unconsciously felt content and ended up smiling like some father. ¡°Useless people who can¡¯t use magic should just go to the backroom and masturbate.¡± ¡°Dear me. A rabid dog who only knows how to charge should stay quiet until we are able to think out a n. While you are at it, please do not urinate at the side of a tent somewhere.¡± ¡­¡­I take back everything I said. They¡¯re a bit too terrifying to call them cute. Barbatos, Paimon, Gamigin, Marbas, Vassago, Brother Beleth, Captain Zepar, and Sitri, a total of eight people were participating in this war council. Barbatos and Paimon argued with each other while Brother Beleth and Sitri argued with each other. This was the basicposition. ¡°Your talent is probably diarrheaing anywhere you want, Paimon.¡± Barbatos snickered. ¡°To be honest, your hair is giving off a really thick smell of shit. Did your underlings not tell you? Oh, whoops. You don¡¯t have that many underlings anyway! I forgot.¡± ¡°Bragging about one¡¯s numbers is the characteristic of lower organisms. It seems Barbatos¡¯ brain has not fully grown yet. How sad. How about increasing the wrinkles on your brain just as you have been increasing the wrinkles on your lower hole because you use it so much? This might be asking too much from a lower organism who apologizes with their lower body and not their brain.¡± Were you two archenemies in your past lives? There¡¯s nothing more chilling than watching two pretty women exchange absolutely terrible curse words with no hesitation whatsoever. Why are they like this when they act so cute on a bed? This was the most important part when nning out Baal¡¯s subjugation. Be it formally or anything else, I had to unite the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction. Fortunately, Barbatos was indebted to the Mountain Faction. She received reinforcements from them during the internal dispute. Despite her behavior, Barbatos is thorough when keeping her private and public life separate. She cooperated under the pretext of returning the favor. Although she did so while swearing a bunch. The issue was Paimon. She was overflowing with the desire to not cooperate with Barbatos even if her life was on the line. This was also the reason why I worked together with her to capture Heidelberg. I¡¯m a part of the ins Faction. I was hoping that if it became widely known that the ins Faction had assisted the Mountain Faction greatly with their operation, then it would be easier to make them cooperate. However, I figured that wouldn¡¯t be enough, so I made that bet about whether Laura¡¯s n would work or not. The result was a huge sess. Paimon bit the bullet as she agreed to cooperate with Barbatos. ¡°Sheesh, does this subus bitch have a ragged towel in her mouth? Mine is like a barren hillpared to yours. Talk after you get rid of the squid stench from your mouth, hag.¡± ¡°Dear me, it must be so nice to be cheeky with the face of a child. I could be your mother and give you some breastmilk if you want? Our little Barbatos, you must have struggled a lot because you wanted breastmilk.¡± Even though they now believe that the reason the Crescent Alliance had failed was because of Baal, there was still an emotional problem on both sides¡­¡­. Well, they were arguing like cats and dogs. The person who gets bothered in a situation like this loses. It¡¯s not like this wasn¡¯t entertaining to listen to. Let¡¯s watch over them leisurely. ¡°¡­¡­I will not tell you to stop fighting, but could you at least behave modestly?¡± But not everyone was thick-skinned like me. Marbas pressed his hand against his forehead as he muttered. Marbas looked 10 years older as ofte. ¡°This is the first time since the 3rd Crescent Alliance that all of the legions have moved together. You should know how much hope demonkind has in this expedition. I beg of you all to please do your best to make this expedition a sess.¡± ¡°You should give up, Sir Marbas.¡± I shrugged. ¡°The fact that we were able to make them stand side-by-side during the victory celebration was a miracle in itself. It would only exhaust you more if we hope for more from them. Let us ignore them and continue with the meeting.¡± ¡°If even you give up on meditating, then I have no one else to rely on.¡± Marbas let out a sigh. ¡°Very well, then. I understand that the two rulers are cooperating. What do you think would be the best course of action for us?¡± ¡°If the enemy forces are cooperating, then ambushing them beforehand would be effective.¡± Vassago remarked with a temperamental face. Vassago¡¯s face would go sour every time Barbatos and Paimon argued. It looked like he didn¡¯t want to get involved with them because of how foolish they were acting. I wanted to tell him to enjoy life more. ¡°They are not aware of our n yet. We should march as soon as possible and deal with Frankia and Agares first. Even if the leader of Habsburg is impressive, what could she possibly aplish alone?¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Marbas stroked his beard. It wasn¡¯t exactly a bad idea. If it¡¯s possible to divide and conquer, then it would always be the best-case scenario. However, in this scenario, it could only be considered an optimistic point of view. Our opponent wasn¡¯t just the leader and the queen. Agares was also included. There were definitely people among demonkind who supported Agares still. It would be wishful thinking to believe that information about us hadn¡¯t leaked to Agares yet. It would only be rational to act while expecting some leaks. ¡°Dantalian, what do you think?¡± ¡°I wonder. It does not sound bad.¡± Vassago¡¯s brow twitched. Did he think I was putting on airs? Well, I was just being honest. ¡°Agares is cooperating with the queen. There are probably some people among demonkind who are leaking information to Agares. We are going to subjugate Agares, we should presume that they are aware of this.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Marbas nodded. Vassago scowled. You reveal your emotions too much on your face. This is why you don¡¯t receive admiration. ¡°Most importantly, the biggest issue is that even if we seed in dividing and conquering them, this does not give us that much of an advantage. No, if anything, it would give them an advantage.¡± Marbas gave me a puzzled look. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It is simple. If our main army is focused on Frankia, then our border facing the Habsburg Republic would bepletely empty. There is no way their leader would miss that opportunity. She would immediately invade under the pretext of regaining their nativend.¡± To put it simply, we would have to fight on two fronts. Barbatos was reigning in Hasburg as regent. From the perspective of the humans living there, a Demon Lord was reigning tyrannically. If they learn that Elizabeth ising to save them, then they would immediately get excited. ¡°Humans will begin to revolt throughout the regency. The sacred bridgehead into the continent that we barely managed to obtain during thest Crescent Alliance will fall into turmoil. Even if we win in Frankia, it would be utterly pointless if we lose Habsburg.¡± Marbas gulped. ¡°It would be troubling for ¡®us¡¯¡­¡­.¡± As expected of Marbas, he understood perfectly. From the perspective of the humans, the region of Habsburg ruled by a regent must look united, but for us, it was divided into several areas:nd controlled by the ins Faction,nd controlled by the Mountain Faction,nd controlled by Gamigin, andnd controlled by various other unaffiliated Demon Lords. Imagine if this ce were to be threatened. Many of the Demon Lords would desert the Crescent Alliance expedition in order to protect theirnd. For a majority of Demon Lords, protecting theirnd was more important than defeating Agares. The Crescent Alliance may appear as if it¡¯s strongly united, but the group could fall apart with only the slightest touch. Marbas emphasized the word ¡®us¡¯ because he understood this. ¡°Then what should we do? Should we leave some soldiers behind in Habsburg to defend it?¡± ¡°No. That would only spread us thin.¡± Henrietta and Agares in Frankia and Elizabeth in Habsburg. Split our forces up and fight them separately? That would be insane. We would look like perfect prey and be picked off. ¡°What weird logic.¡± Vassago spoke in an annoyed tone. ¡°We cannot focus our forces and ambush them, and we cannot split our forces up to defend both fronts. What are we supposed to do, then?¡± ¡°Your Highness Vassago is correct in the fact that we should focus our troops.¡± Don¡¯t be so impatient, Vassago. You look like an anxious dog. It would only trouble me if you try to act cute. ¡°There is no need for us to resort to an ambush. If anything, let us march slowly while publicizing our movement as much as possible.¡± ¡°Ha, that is out of the question.¡± Vassago sneered. ¡°What kind of army would march while announcing their presence to the world? We would be calling danger upon us.¡± ¡°What if the army is not the Demon Lord army, but another human army?¡± ¡°What?¡± I smiled. ¡°Crowned Prince Rudolf von Habsburg¡­¡­he is Barbatos¡¯ puppet. We will appoint him as the suprememander in name only.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The Demon Lords looked at each other. They all turned to give me a weird look. ¡°We will not be moving as the Crescent Alliance. We will join the Crowned Prince of Habsburg¡¯s army to a certain extent. A human army will be subjugating the heinous tyrant, Henrietta de Brittany, who¡¯s cooperating with the Demon Lord known as Agares.¡± With this, the image of the war will bepletely turned around. We will be attacking humanity not as the Demon Lord army, but as an army cooperating with humanity to attack a Demon Lord. ¡°In this situation, if the leader of Habsburg tries to cooperate with the queen, then she would be assisting a Demon Lord. That should greatly decrease her cause.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Habsburg Republic is united under the united front of fighting against the Demon Lord army. If the leader herself works together with a Demon Lord, then that would shatter the groundwork of the nation. This will limit her actions drastically.¡± The Demon Lords mulled over it with serious looks on their faces. They probably knew that it was possible. No, it will definitely happen. We could use Batavia and mix in a fair bit of humans to create a moderately-sized human army. Did you know, Elizabeth? War starts long before the battle. That¡¯s my method. Will you prioritize humanity or your own nation? You can only choose one. A tragic fate awaits you no matter what you choose¡­¡­. I will force you into a distressing situation again. Let us enjoy a splendid waltz. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We¡¯re back to the usual war and politics. I wonder if Henrietta or Elizabeth will be able to turn this around somehow. On another note, the demolition next to my house is over, so it¡¯s been less stressful. But the noise is going to pick up again once they start the construction. I can¡¯t wait. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 277: Grand Coalition Chapter 277: GrandCoalition * * * We immediately sent out diplomatic documents. ¡¸Our goal is to deal with Demon Lord Agares who is holding her ground on the western side of Frankia.¡¹ ¡¸We have no intention to invade Frankia, but we ask of you to let us borrow your roads. ¡­¡­Regent of Habsburg, Barbatos.¡¹ This was simr to when Toyotomi Hideyoshi asked Korea to open the way for them so that they could attack the Ming Dynasty. Asking them to lend us their roads was one thing, but, in this era, areas that armies went through were usually devastated by piging. There was no ruler who would sit idly by and allow their people to be ravaged. Laura tilted her head when I said this. ¡°But, Lord. Are there not rulers like Emperor Henry of Frankia?¡± ¡°Uh, mm¡­¡­. He¡¯s a lunatic who got help from a foreign power to beat his own mother. He¡¯s an exception.¡± There are sometimes exceptions. Sometimes. Laura and I were drinking tea in our tent. The Demon Lord army started to prepare for war once my strategy was epted. Creating white uniforms in order to make our demon soldiers mesh together with the human soldiers, there were a bunch of tasks like this that sounded trivial but were incredibly crucial. I dered that I was going to focus on diplomatic matters as an excuse to ck off. Laura and I were casually enjoying some tea while everyone else was busy. ¡°On a side note, this is also thest chance topromise. Henrietta could actually open a path for us. It is fine if she does not go out of her way to fight us in order to protect Agares.¡± In this case, hernd will get destroyed a little, but it would not escte into a war. Henrietta may be a fairly belligerent ruler, but this was something she should at least consider once. ¡°However, this would cause her to endure a political burden.¡± ¡°A political burden?¡± ¡°Currently, Frankia is basically under theplete control of Queen Henrietta. The reason why the nobles of Frankia are enduring this atrocity is simply because of how powerful Queen Henrietta¡¯s army is.¡± Small andrge revolts have been happening every year in Frankia. Some of them were led by nobles while others were led by a minority ofmoners who had been infected by the idea of republicanism. Every time this happened, Henrietta ughtered the rebelling soldiers thoroughly. ¡°If Henrietta epts our request, then the people of Frankia will undoubtedly be enraged. How could someone who did not waver when killing off other humans back away sheepishly when demons approach? What kind of person are you¡­¡­?¡± I sipped my tea. The warm liquid softly caressed the inside of my stomach. I don¡¯t know how people thought tea tasted good, but I did like it when it warmed me up on the inside. I may be a cold city man, but it should be fine if my tea is warm. ¡°This would greatly increase the chances of arge-scale revolt urring. It would naturally be a nuisance to Henrietta.¡± ¡°You are so shameless, Lord.¡± Laura muttered in a baffled tone. ¡°It is not a chance. Your Lordship will get involved and start the revolt yourself. This suits your personality more anyway.¡± ¡°Oh, did I get caught?¡± I chuckled. ¡°You are right. In truth, I do not care what Henrietta chooses to do. Her decision will only determine how long it will take.¡± I want to crush Henrietta using this opportunity. If we leave things like this, then Henrietta will most likely take over Frankiapletely. The Kingdom of Brittany and the Frankia Empire will be united under a single powerful ruler. Nothing good woulde from the creation of a massive and powerful nation. Laura clicked her tongue. ¡°What a bad personality. Your Lordship would be more charming if you were less shameless.¡± ¡°Henrietta will most likely choose war.¡± I ignored her and continued. My creed is to disregard words that are unfavorable to me. ¡°She has confidence. Simultaneously, this must also look like a golden opportunity. If Henrietta is able to defeat the Demon Lord army, then her political standing would surge immensely.¡± She would be the hero who protected Frankia while they were getting consumed by a foreign threat. There was no way Henrietta would back away with such an appetizing feast before her. War will happen. ¡°But there is a trap there.¡± ¡°Mm?¡± ¡°Look at this.¡± I ced a document on the table. It was the manuscript for the diplomatic letter we had sent asking them to open a path for us. Laura skimmed over the document. ¡°This is a trap? This looks like a typical diplomatic letter fighting for justification.¡± I chuckled. ¡°Read it carefully.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura read the document again. She furrowed her brows. ¡°¡­¡­I don¡¯t understand. I give up. Your Lordship should know that I am weak when ites to scheming.¡± ¡°Read the name of the sender at the bottom. ¡®Regent of Habsburg, Barbatos¡¯ is written there.¡± All of the diplomatic letters had Barbatos¡¯ name on them. Barbatos is known as the strongest Demon Lord to the humans. She was the perfect person to represent the will of the Demon Lord army. ¡°Henrietta will most likely think that she is refusing the Demon Lord army, but she would be wrong. She would be refusing a request from the regent of the Habsburg Empire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­! It gives us an excuse to make the puppet crowned prince participate!¡± I nodded. Prejudice, as they call it. No one would expect the Demon Lord army would appoint a human as their suprememander. Henrietta will most likely think that she was refusing a Demon Lord when declining Barbatos¡¯ request. ¡°We will make Rudolf give an announcement the moment Henrietta refuses our diplomatic request. Frankia has refused humanity¡¯s request to subjugate a Demon Lord. Why is a fellow human trying to protect a Demon Lord¡­¡­?¡± Up to this point would be round 1. We¡¯ll deal a surprise blow to the other party by utilizing deception. ¡°We are deeply disappointed by Frankia¡¯s stance, but we must subjugate this Demon Lord. Regardless of whether they allow us to or not, I, Rudolf von Habsburg will step on the battlefield for the sake of humanity. Do you get it now, Laura?¡± ¡°No.¡± Laura shook her head. I let out a sigh. Why is it that Laura is so smart, but is aplete child when ites to these kinds of schemes and ploys? People are truly weird. ¡°It means we will not allow room for negotiations. Henrietta¡¯s side will undoubtedly panic and dispatch envoys iming that they did not know the request was from the Crowned Prince of Habsburg and that, if it is an army of humans, they would allow passage¡­¡­. They will do whatever they can to buy time.¡± There¡¯s no reason for me to go along with that. Henrietta will probably feel vexed, but it¡¯ll be her mistake. We can¡¯t give her the time to appease that mistake. We must advance stubbornly. No matter what the envoys try to say to us, we¡¯ll just shout back, ¡®So are you going to join us in subjugating Agares or not!?¡¯. I smiled. ¡°From this point on will be an instigation battle. If we advance stubbornly, then Henrietta will respond in kind.¡± The start of round 2. ¡°Very well, then. Come if you are going to. You are nothing more than an underling for the Demon Lord army. All of the justifications you are iming are lies. Well, this is probably how she will respond. It will be a muddy battle.¡± The person with the loudest voice will win in this instance. It is partially true that Henrietta overlooked Agares¡¯ asylum and it is also true that Rudolf is nothing more than an underling for the Demon Lord army. Which side is more in the wrong? The side that rationalizes and talks the most will win. If both sides have faults and justifications, then the truth doesn¡¯t matter. The only thing that matters is which side can instigate the people more. And I¡¯m an expert in ¡®this field¡¯. I continued while sipping my tea. ¡°We will make the Republic of Batavia announce that they will cooperate with us the moment Henrietta tries to retaliate.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°On the surface, subjugating a Demon Lord will be their justification.¡± Brittany supports the divine right of kings. On the other hand, Batavia is the leader of republicanism. The two nations had fought during the civil war within Frankia and are hostile to one another in letter and in spirit. Henrietta will most likely feel as if she was struck from behind. From the sudden involvement of Crowned Prince Rudolf and Batavia¡¯s support following after, the flow of events will go in apletely unpredicted direction simply because she initially thought she was only facing the Demon Lord army. ¡°But, would Batavia alone be enough?¡± ¡°We will instigate the free cities that became independent recently.¡± I immediately answered. ¡°They will not help that much in terms of manpower, but if several cities announce their support of us one by one, then our political influence will increase.¡± ¡°I see. We have the free cities¡­¡­.¡± Laura nodded her head several times while in deep thought. Henrietta will most likely im that we¡¯re deceiving everyone. She will do her utmost to make the free cities leave. However, she doesn¡¯t know that Paimon¡¯s Liberation Alliance is behind all of those free cities¡­¡­. With this, we will upy the side with ¡®the loudest voice¡¯. ¡°Father, I have returned from my errand.¡± It was at that moment that Daisy entered the tent. Daisy was holding a long box while wearing a maid uniform. I stood up in glee. ¡°It has finally arrived. Laura, this is my gift to you.¡± ¡°Gift?¡± ¡°I wanted to give this to you before, but it was only nowpleted. Now then, open it up.¡± Laura furrowed her brows as she approached Daisy. ¡°Lord, this isn¡¯t another outfit where there is a hole in the panty area, right?¡± ¡°Dear me. Have you been tricked all your life? I guarantee you with my conscience on the line that this is not that kind of gift.¡± ¡°There are not a lot of things that are as untrustworthy as Your Lordship¡¯s conscience.¡± Laura received the wooden box half in doubt. She ced the box on the ground before opening it. Inside the box was a rod-shaped object wrapped in a thick piece of cloth. Laura picked the item up from the box and unfurled it. ¡°This is¡­¡­?¡± Laura¡¯s green eyes widened. The gift was a g¡ªag with the symbol of a blue hydrangea drawn on it. ¡°Laura, this is your g.¡± It was the g that represented the house of Duke Farnese. ¡°Crowned Prince Rudolf will be taking the suprememander position of this expedition, but who do you think will be the deputymander?¡± ¡°Of course, either Her Excellency Barbatos or His Excellency Marbas.¡± ¡°Incorrect.¡± I smiled. ¡°We are nning to appoint you as the deputymander.¡± ¡°I¡­¡­will be the deputymander?¡± ¡°Were you not listening earlier? We will be moving as Crowned Prince Rudolf¡¯s army, and not as the Crescent Alliance. If a Demon Lord is the deputymander, then people will suspect if we are truly a human army. If a human like you takes the position, then it would be beneficial for us in many ways.¡± Laura was in a daze as she stared at the g.¡± ¡°Of course, people will still be suspicious if we handle it like this. They might think that you are also a figurehead we had put forward in name only. You will appear as a young girl with no talent or aplishments. The people within Brittany¡¯s army will disregard you without a doubt.¡± I brushed Laura¡¯s front hair. ¡°I am aiming for that carelessness of theirs. Supreme Commander Rudolf is already a corpse. You will actually be the true suprememander.¡± Her smooth blonde hair brushed over my palm. ¡°Laura, this is the most I can prepare. I can take care of everything when ites to diplomatic warfare and the battle of instigation. But when ites down to the final part, the actual war, your power is crucial.¡± ¡°There is no way the legion leaders¡­¡­would listen to this youngdy¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°Barbatos had noints whatsoever.¡± I grinned. ¡°Paimon also confirmed your talent when we captured the fortress. They are both people who support the merit system. They are not foolish or so haughty that they would ignore yourmands because you happen to be human. I will convince Marbas.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A thin tear trailed down Laura¡¯s cheek. ¡°I¡­¡­I am a sex ve who was kicked out of her family. I do not have the right to use this g¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will give you that right.¡± I carefully brushed away Laura¡¯s tears with my hand. My smallmander. My first precious lover. To this girl who was not treated like family and sold off as a sex ve, she both loved and hated her family. However, she was now representing that family. Not only was this akin to getting revenge against them¡­¡­but it was also a great achievement. You are more than qualified to stand proudly. ¡°The House of Farnese has already fallen. Laura, you are now Farnese itself. Show it to the world. Show them who they had abandoned. Get revenge on the humans who threw you away.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, a sound effect rang in my ear. ¡¸Laura de Farnese¡¯s affection has risen by 1!¡¹ ¡¸Laura de Farnese¡¯s affection has reached 100!¡¹ ¡¸Noble and pure love! The other party considers youpletely as their lover. A new title has been bestowed upon them for this outstanding love.¡¹ Was the affection lock broken? The affection points that had stopped at 99 exactly had finally reached 100. This was my first time capturing a targetpletely and it was worth being celebrated, but that didn¡¯t matter to me. My eyes were fixed on Laura¡¯s face. Laura wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, but the tears kepting out. She kept trying to wipe her tears away before she eventually gave up and looked up at me while hugging the g tightly against her chest. ¡°¡­¡­I will, Lord.¡± Laura beamed brightly with her tear-soaked face. I can say with the utmost confidence that this was the most beautiful smile that I had ever seen. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Politics politics politics? Politics politics politics. Laura! That sums up my thoughts on this chapter. Dant giving Laura the respect and consideration she deserves. What a nice end to the chapter. Next chapter might be dyed? I¡¯m going to be meeting some friends this weekend, so I might not be able to get much tranting done. Who knows. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 278: Grand Coalition Chapter 278: GrandCoalition * * * A strong tension was looming over the castle¡¯s meeting room. All of the generals present werepletely silent. Queen Henrietta let out a sigh while everyone else was gloomy. ¡°I am sorry. They one-upped us.¡± Leader Elizabeth shook her head. ¡°There is no one here who should be sorry. I am also at fault for not seeing through the other party¡¯s intent¡­¡­.¡± There was an unusual scene in the meeting room. The table was split in half with the chief retainers of Brittany sitting at one side while 20 magic orbs were disying abined image on the other. It almost looked as if the chief retainers of the Habsburg Republic were seated there. Henrietta suppressed the frustration that was surging up as she spoke. ¡°Rudolf von Habsburg. Elizabeth, is he actually alive?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Honestly, there is no way to know. Nheless, it is widely known that Barbatos is talented in ck magic. Controlling a corpse is probably a simple matter for her.¡± Henrietta smirked. ¡°Then we were one-upped by a dead corpse. To use even a corpse for their schemes. How befitting of Demon Lords.¡± The silence looming over the room became heavier. There was a total of 17 people seated. The two nations pursued meritocracy, thus, this meant that the 17 people gathered here were some of the mostpetent people in humanity. These great individuals all looked depressed. ¡°Hmph.¡± Henrietta let out a displeased snort. She locked her fingers together as she leaned back in her chair. ¡°Batavia and the free cities are sticking with the Demon Lord army. What are they nning?¡± ¡°¡­¡­A portion of republicans believe that the very act of fighting Demon Lords is a ploy carried out by nobles.¡± Elizabeth spoke carefully. ¡°Instigating the masses so that nobles can maintain their positions, this is what they believe is the essence of the war against the Demon Lords. They most likely believe that cooperating regardless of one¡¯s status and race is the true meaning of being republican.¡± ¡°The Nightmare of Bruno.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Elizabeth nodded. Dantalian had dered at Bruno ins that the holy war was nothing more than the logic of the ruling ss. His influence was still prominent to this day. Queen Henrietta smiled cynically. ¡°Hmph, go beyond status and race? Do they not realize that that causes more political incitement? If discrimination disappears, then a new status and race will appear to be distinguished and fought against. That is how humans are. What a bunch of fools.¡± ¡°But it is true that we are in this predicament because of those fools.¡± Elizabeth didn¡¯t agree with her friend¡¯s point of view, but she overlooked it. ¡°The nobles in my country have been getting vocaltely. It may be Crowned Prince Rudolf, but is his cause of subjugating a Demon Lord itself not correct? This is what they are saying. They are hoping for imperial order again and not a republic.¡± ¡°Why are you not purging everyst one of them?¡± ¡°I also wish to do that¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth let out a weak sigh. Thinking about it now, she had been sighing a lot as ofte¡ªsomething which she never had to do before. She used to be full of confidence and her face used to shine with certainty and hope. Only a few years had passed since this time. A past that felt so distant that it was almost immemorable. Why did it feel so distant? At the time, she was in the springtime of her youth. She didn¡¯t have a single doubt about the reformation of the empire. However, the empire fell and a long drought followed. A summer of dust and drought controlled by Dantalian¡­¡­. ¡°A majority ofmoners support the attitude disyed by the nobles in Heidelberg. They do not have any actual power yet, but their influence is strong enough to sway public opinion. There is a chance public opinion could worsen.¡± That¡¯s right. Even this was because of Dantalian. The story about the people who threw themselves before death for the sake of saving their city was referred to as ¡®The Six of Heidelberg¡¯ and had immense poprity. It was so popr that the bards all around the continent have been singing about it. The story was slightly embellished as the mayor of Heidelberg was described as a cowardly and greedy soldier, while the six nobles were described as noble and great individuals. The nobles had kept quiet for the past several years. Even 2nd Imperial Prince Ferdinand was executed mercilessly. Themon nobles would get purged the moment they showed even the smallest sign of rebelling. In other words, the nobles were being favored for the first time in several years. Of all times, Dantalian had to organize a massive army during this extremely rare situation. To make matters worse, the nobles were supporting Dantalian¡¯s actions¡­¡­. Was this nothing more than a coincidence? ¡®It is too perfect for it to be a simple coincidence¡­¡­ but it is also much too grand in scale to say that it was carried out by a single person. Both possibilities do not make sense.¡¯ But what if this happened because Dantalian willed it? Then when did it all start? When he gave the nobles a tform in Heidelberg? When did he get in contact with the Republic of Batavia? Before starting the war? Or was it further back when he went around under the fake alias of Jean Bole during the civil war in Frankia? Why were the free cities agreeing with Dantalian¡¯s n? For the past three to four years, free cities have been springing up all throughout the continent. Elizabeth and the other high-ranking members of Habsburg were happy because they thought that it was because of the sess of their revolution. They were d because it meant that republicanism was gradually bing stronger. ¡­¡­But, this was a one in a thousand chance, but what if the sess of their revolution wasn¡¯t the cause? What if Dantalian¡¯s scheming was hiding behind the independence of these cities? In the first ce, weren¡¯t they able to be a republic because of Dantalian? Was Dantalian already nning out this grand scheme¡ªhis n to bring in Batavia and the free cities in order to make Frankia fall¡ªthat far back? ¡®That¡¯s ridiculous.¡¯ That¡¯s right. Even if it¡¯s Dantalian, it¡¯d be impossible for a single person to move history to this degree. Elizabeth believed she was simply overthinking things. However, she would feel as if she were caught in a swamp with no solid ground whenever she thought about how far Dantalian¡¯s scheming went¡­¡­. Elizabeth rubbed her temples. ¡°¡­¡­As long as Batavia and the free cities are on their side, the Habsburg Republic does not have much grounds to take part in the battle. If we openly form an alliance with you, then the other republic nations will be hostile to us.¡± ¡°I see. Republicans believe that you¡¯re on their side, after all. That makes sense.¡± Henrietta forced out augh. ¡°Elizabeth, this almost feels like a n targeted at you and not me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It seems Mr. Nightmare of Bruno is more afraid of you than me. Well, fine. Getting mixed up with something trivial like justifications is not my style anyway.¡± Henrietta took something out from her pocket and ced it on the table. She had taken out a fancy-looking ring. It was the ring that represented the right to exercise suprememand over Frankia and was something that only the emperor of Frankia could wear. The fact that it was with Queen Henrietta and not the emperor made it obvious who actually had control over Frankia. Elizabeth raised a brow. ¡°Henrietta, why do you¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Last night, Henry, the Emperor of Frankia, suddenly became bedridden due to an illness.¡± Henrietta smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a serious illness that is unknown, so it will be a while before His Excellency the Emperor will be able to participate in national affairs.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Why did the leader of Frankia fall ill now? Henrietta¡¯s smile alone was enough to answer this as the high-ranking officers of Habsburg shuddered. ¡°If I allowed myself to be stopped by justifications, then this would have never fallen into my hands. The great country of Brittany would have never escaped from the penins and set foot in the center of the continent. Elizabeth, justifications are temporary measures taken by people who cannot win with their strength.¡± Henrietta stood up. Once she did, all of the members from Brittany¡¯s side stood up as well. One of the generals approached Henrietta and helped her put on her red mantle while a different vassal took out a pipe and presented it to her. Henrietta took a puff from the pipe. ¡°Strength. That¡¯s absolute. No matter how much the Nightmare of Bruno uses his head to create justifications and substitute skirmishes, if we win, then all of his efforts would crumble like a sandcastle. He wants war? I will more than dly partake in that dance.¡± After saying those words, Henrietta left the room, her generals following after her. The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the meeting room for a while after they left. The magic orbs were turned off. Among the vassals of Habsburg, Kurtz carefully spoke up. ¡°Uhm, Your Highness. Even if it is difficult for us to participate in the battle, the army of Brittany is the strongest army on the continent. I am not sure, but do they not also have the Demon Lord called Agares on their side? I do not think there is a reason for us to be so pessimistic.¡± The other generals nodded in agreement. Knights were already monstrous people, but Brittany¡¯s knights were even more monstrous. Their cavalier to footmen ratio far exceeded any other nation. Nevertheless, Elizabeth shook her head. ¡°You do not know this. Henrietta does not as well. Just now, Henrietta said that she would start a war, but that is wrong. The war already started long, long ago¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth let out a sigh. ¡°We were supposed to form an alliance with Brittany during this war. This would have been the entirety of our forces. But what about the enemy? We thought it would be the entire Demon Lord army.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And yet, how did things end up? We have been removed from our side, but the enemy joined forces with a republic and several free cities. We looked away for only a moment and ended up like this.¡± The enemy managed to reinforce their army while also removing a portion of our forces without shedding even a single drop of blood. If you were to rate this in terms of strategy, this was undoubtedly an artifice that could be called the absolute best. ¡°For Henrietta, wars are determined by how they are fought. Diplomatic warfare and fighting for a cause are nothing more than the cornerstones. However, the enemy thinks otherwise. Combat is nothing more than an extension of war. They are merely the conclusion of the war. ¡­¡­This is the way of that man, Dantalian.¡± Elizabeth felt a bitter taste in her mouth. Her friend, the beautiful queen, was mistaken. She thinks she is jumping into the war of her own volition, but that was absolutely not the case. Was she aware that their very viewpoints were different¡­¡­? ¡°There is no way such an individual would leave the oue to fate. He would have nned out a battle where his victory was the only possible oue.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°My dear vassals, I am scared. Something that happens once will not happen again; however, something that happens twice will always happen again. Dantalian has already caused the Habsburg Empire to fall. If he is able to cause the copse of Frankia as well, then would any nation be able to prevent their copse before that man?¡± The answer was obvious. No nation would. Elizabeth had to do something in order to not meet such a conclusion. Even if she couldn¡¯t join the main army, she could create numerous detached forces and harass the Demon Lord army from behind. If her soldiers are disguised as volunteer soldiers, then they shouldn¡¯t get caught by the people. ¡°Let us organize detached forces. We will attack the Demon Lord army from behind via the frontier of the Habsburg Empire.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± The generals responded boisterously. They were going to cut the enemy¡¯s supply line and hinder them. If possible, they were also going to protect Brittany¡¯s army from the side. These things alone should be enough to put the Demon Lord army in a predicament. Elizabeth was confident in her ability totch on to the enemy persistently like a hound dog. The rest was up to Henrietta. Elizabeth prayed sincerely for her victory¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, not much to say. It¡¯s just going back and forth between Dantalian¡¯s and Elizabeth¡¯s perspectives. This chapter came out a dayte, but it was nice being able to just rx and hang out with friends for once. It¡¯s been like 6 months since Ist hung out with them. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 279: Grand Coalition (7) Chapter 279: Grand Coalition (7) * * * ¡°Why do I have to move with you?¡± ¡°I told you before, did I not? I like Your Highness Vassago quite a bit.¡± Vassago scowled as if he had just chewed on something sour. Dear me, even if my heart is as vast as the rivers and seas, my feelings can still be hurt if you react like that to me. I would appreciate it if he were a bit more considerate in the way he treated me. In the year 1555 of the continental calendar, during the summer, Crowned Prince Rudolf von Habsburg raised a massive army. The size of his army surpassed fifty-thousand soldiers. It was a unified army of humans and demons. Demons were the majority, but the supreme and deputymanders both being humans was a huge shock to the general masses. Laura made a deration as soon as she was appointed as deputymander. ¡°Those who vite militaryw will be severely punished regardless of their status.¡± The higher-ranking demons, who were infamous for being prideful, looked down on their newmander. Like hell were they going to listen to themands of a human, or even a young girl. This mindset had spread throughout the troops. However, once 7 officers were executed within only 10 days of the deration, their mindset changed. I¡¯m the only one who knows that Laura is the heroine known as the Iron Chancellor. People would jokingly say that the number of soldiers that were executed by Laura¡¯s hands far exceeded the number of soldiers that died fighting the enemy. ¡°How bold of you to be concerned about age and race on the battlefield. If you lose your head, then it does not matter if you are a demon, a human, a child, or an old person. You will no longer be able to talk. I expect your necks to be as tough as your boldness.¡± Laura uttered these words as she personally beheaded the demons. Adding to this, Laura skinned the flesh from the heads she had decapitated and stored their skulls in her quarters. This was the usual thing she did, but the monster soldiers interpreted it differently. ¡®There¡¯s a human girl worse than us.¡¯ ¡®We should¡¯ve realized the moment Her Highness Barbatos said she supported her.¡¯ ¡®I got hard because of her cruelty. Hehe.¡¯ There were some seriously mentally ill reactions, but I ignored them. I would never get excited by the thought of Laura getting gang banged by orcs. Never. There was a limit to how much the officers and soldiers could resist when the legionmanders were firmly giving their support. Regardless,mand and discipline were aligned within the Demon Lord army with the Demon Lords at the lead. Even Paimon, who was renowned for being considerate, was merciless and unforgiving when it came to military discipline. ¡°During times of war, soldiers are the ones who protect equality and freedom, they are not the ones who get to bask in them.¡± This was an opinion that Paimon had stated at one point. This should probably give a gist of the atmosphere within our army. The monsters didn¡¯t have something like civil rights¡­¡­. Thanks to this, Laura¡¯s military power was established. While the army of fifty thousand began to prepare for war in full swing, four-thousand troops were appointed as the vanguard. Ex-Rank 3 Demon Lord Vassago and I were included in this vanguard. Thus, we were able to share a pleasant chat as we marched together. Vassago scowled as if he was disgusted. ¡°Do not say that to me ever again, you clown. I feel like vomiting whenever I see you.¡± We were having a pleasant chat. ¡°Hmph, do you even know how to participate in a fight? You are a coward who always hides behind Barbatos and makes schemes.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± I scratched my cheek. Honestly, it was easy to deal with Vassago. Compared to most other Demon Lords who have about fifty snakes in their stomachs, Vassago was as honest as they came. If Sitri was simple because she was pure, then Vassago was simple because he was petty and crafty. ¡°Despite my appearance, I seeded in breaking through the ck Mountains and capturing Brandenburg.¡± ¡°You seem to be misunderstanding something. Zepar was inmand at the ck Mountains and Barbatos was inmand at Brandenburg.¡± Vassago smirked. ¡°Either way, all you did in both cases was hide behind their backs and make schemes. There is a world of difference between doing something as themander and doing something as the advisor during a battle, you clown.¡± ¡°Mm¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you think you canmand an army simply because you managed to do a little well as an advisor, then you are greatly mistaken. People like you often meet their demise if they suddenly end up leading arge army. I look forward to seeing your demise.¡± Sorry, but I¡¯ve already experienced a splendid loss before. I smiled brightly. ¡°Your Highness will bemanding the troops this time, so we will undoubtedly win. I will look forward to it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yeah. I am the leader of the vanguard. Do not get in my way.¡± Vassago turned away. Our horses walked side by side as we led our troops. Generally, vanguards are given two major tasks. First, they have to go ahead of the main army and check the terrain. Just saying fifty thousand doesn¡¯t seem like much, but it bes a big deal when trying to find a ce to sleep at night. A vast in would be essential. Our field of vision had to be wide so that we would be able to immediately know if the enemy tried to suddenlyunch a surprise attack. Having a river orke nearby with good water quality was also necessary. There actually aren¡¯t a lot of terrains that satisfy all of these conditions. If the vanguard doesn¡¯t go ahead and pave out a path beforehand, then it would only be troublesometer on. Second, they have to test out the enemy¡¯s readiness. If we send out a vanguard, then the enemy would respond in kind with their own vanguard. At this time, you can gauge the enemy¡¯s strength by the quality of their vanguard. If their vanguard is pitiful, then that means the enemy isn¡¯t prepared to fight yet. In other words, it means that the main army most likely sent out a hastily organized vanguard in order to buy some time. In this situation, we would quickly inform the main army so that we could strike with great haste. On the other hand, if their vanguard is splendid¡­¡­then that means the enemy is ready to battle at any time. This degree of preparation can be gauged ording to where the vanguards engage. If they meet after crossing the border and entering far into thend, then that means they were ready for war, but didn¡¯t expect it to happen so soon. And. ¡°Frankia¡¯s vanguard is in sight.¡± If the other vanguard is met only two days after crossing the border, then that meant they were well aware of our movements. As the side that was doing the invading, this was the worst-case scenario for us. Vassago examined the enemy¡¯s camp with his portable telescope. ¡°Their numbers are roughly around three thousand. We are equal¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There are two different knight gs. They seem like local armies, but they will still be rather formidable.¡± ¡°That is why I said we are equal, you ipetent fool.¡± Vassago let out a snort while still looking through his telescope. Both armies arrived on a field that was perfect forrge armies. It was hard to see this as a coincidence. The enemy had predicted our arrival, so they chose the battlefield. It was honestly difficult to guess how far back they had seen through our movements. ¡°Humans are bothersome because they die so quickly. It is practically impossible to remember those noble households since they change after only a few centuries.¡± Vassago muttered in annoyance. He was checking the enemy gs. ¡°Shields seemed to be trending 400 years ago, but now it seems like flowers are the trend. A lily, a rose, and even a chrysanthemum¡­¡­. People might think they are in a garden and not a battlefield if they were to see this.¡± ¡°Compared to us, humans have much shorter lifespans.¡± I smiled bitterly. Demon Lords can live eternally as long as they aren¡¯t murdered. Baal had the Guinness Book World Record as a Demon Lord before he died. We wouldn¡¯t beparable even if they were elves and not humans. ¡°The ck rose with a dog belongs to General Gaspard de Tabarn. Out of all the Frankian generals, he is one of the mostpetent. He once acted as the deputymander for the Emperor. Well, he probably does not have that much power as the deputymander of Frankia.¡± Referentially, he was one of the generals I had fought at Saint-Denis ins. He was irrelevant to the left side where I had been positioned, though. Vassago nced at me with a look of surprise. ¡°¡­¡­You memorized their emblems?¡± ¡°I am inexperienced, but I have a slight bit of knowledge.¡± I memorized most of the key households when I was participating in the civil war within Frankia. I even reviewed it a few days ago. I recognized every single household on the ins except for one. ¡°The emblem with two crossing spears belongs to Baron Beternan. The lion with a rose in its mouth is Earl Hevru. This is most likely where one of the knight brigades is from. The white chrysanthemum is Baron Shasta. They are all skilled generals. The cream of the crop.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They are rathercking in terms of brains, but. Mm, they are still decent as a vanguard. The very fact that General Tabarn is here is quite unpleasant on its own. General Tabarn was previously a deputymander. This individual had responded quickly¡­¡­. This means the humans were preparing for war since quite a while ago.¡± The Tabarn family is located at the southern end of Frankia. Our troops had invaded from the east. No matter how fast they are, that wasn¡¯t a distance they could traverse in only two days. ¡°Moreover, they are all families from Frankia. There is not a single group from Brittany among them. They deliberately appointed only Frankians as their vanguard. How splendid.¡± As expected of Queen Henrietta. Her instincts for war were almost beastly. It wouldn¡¯t be weird to be in awe of her skills. ¡°Even if we are victorious, it would not be a great loss for the Queen. The high nobles of Frankia are like a bunch of dormant rebels to Brittany. She most likely intends to use this opportunity to either get rid of them or chase them out onto a battlefield.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°She will use that time to take the Emperor of Frankia¡¯s authority for herself. How clever.¡± Vassago asked a question in a low voice. ¡°What do you mean by taking the Emperor of Frankia¡¯s authority?¡± ¡°Hm? Naturally, I am saying that the Queen of Brittany will use this opportunity during the war to usurp the Emperor¡¯s power.¡± I roughly guessed the number of knights. They appeared to have about 600. One-fifth of the enemy¡¯s troops were knights. That was a ratio that made them have an almost absurd amount of power. ¡°The Queen has always been aiming at an opportunity to usurp the Emperor of Frankia¡¯s authority. However, Frankia may be in a weak state, but if she tried to openly usurp the throne, then a rebellion would immediately erupt all throughout the country. We have presented her with an opportunity because of our invasion. If she repels us, then she will be considered a national hero.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Well, the Emperor of Frankia is probably confined in some corner of his pce right now. iming that he is bedridden would be a simple task.¡± Henrietta took over Frankia¡¯s military power during this. She was truly a woman who made good use of war. It¡¯s troubling since there are so manypetent humans in this world. ¡°¡­¡­You are able to specte that much just by seeing their gs?¡± ¡°Pardon? Ah, well, slightly, yes.¡± How interesting. Queen Henrietta will most likely hold a wedding with the Emperor of Frankia as soon as she wins. The Queen and Emperor are both young and going past their marriageable age. A type of coalition government would be established. Of course, it would only look like a coalition from the outside. In reality, Henrietta would have all the power herself. Furthermore, the ¡®bedridden¡¯ emperor will die off shortly after. Once that happens, Brittany and Frankia will both be Henrietta de Britanny-Frankia¡¯s possession in both name and reality. This is if Henrietta wins. Vassago muttered to himself while I was busy imagining how things will unfold. ¡°¡­¡­He isn¡¯t that much of a fool¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Pardon me? I apologize, but I missed what you said because I was deep in thought.¡± ¡°It was nothing, you half-wit.¡± Vassago responded in an annoyed tone again. He must always have a stomach ache. It was at that moment, a single person on horseback came riding out to the center of the ins. Were they sending out an envoy before the battle? The person was too well-armored to be an envoy. ¡°Heed my words, you wicked monsters!¡± The man gripped his spear as he shouted. He must have enhanced his throat with magic as his voice echoed. ¡°I, Knight Ergan of Frankia, challenge you to a duel, so if you are not cowards, thene out and fight me!¡± To put it simply, he was proposing one-to-onebat. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Vassago is sort of acting like a cliche¡¯d tsundere, huh? Refusing to admit how good Dant is. On another note, this chapter unexpectedly came outter than I wanted. My aunt suddenly visited from the states and my family wanted to get together, so I ended up spending most of my day at my grandparent¡¯s ce. Sorry bout that. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 280: Grand Coalition (8) Chapter 280: Grand Coalition (8) ¡°What are you doing!? One of you wicked monsters shoulde out and receive my de!¡± The knight roared out from the back of his horse. He looked rather young. Was he about 17 years old? Not only were the people who carried out one-on-one duels highly likely to die, but it required a lot of courage toe forward and shout before four-thousand enemy soldiers. He was undoubtedly a brave youth. ¡°What a fool.¡± Vassago smirked. ¡°Seeing that he did not mention his family name, he must be at most a second-grade fighter. Is he trying to stand before our army with his pitiful skills? I will immediately summon a spirit king and show him the difference between our strengths.¡± ¡°One moment, Your Highness. Please wait.¡± Vassago furrowed his brows. He was obviously impatient as blue-colored mana was already being emitted from his entire body. ¡°I told you before that I will bemanding the army.¡± ¡°No, do you not think it is strange? Their army is thatrge. They most likely have at least one swordmaster, and yet they chose not to bring them out. Would you not think that they have an ulterior motive?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± His blue mana gradually subsided. ¡°Ulterior motive? Are you saying that the humans are deliberately trying to lose?¡± ¡°That is right! They are intentionally trying to lose.¡± ¡°What?¡± Vassago narrowed his brows as he let out a hoarse sound. Every facial expression he made was noble. ¡°Losing a duel would only lower their morale. There is no reason for them to intentionally lose, is what Your Highness is most likely thinking.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But think about it the other way around. There is something the enemy can gain that is worth bearing a loss.¡± Vassago muttered quietly. ¡°¡­¡­Damn it. You clown, borate.¡± ¡°It is simple. As you are aware, we imed to be supporting a human army.¡± The masses are sensitive to rumors. Batavia and arge portion of free cities have joined our cause. There was no way that this cause wouldn¡¯t have affected the enemy forces in any way. From their perspective, we might actually be a human army. There must be a of uncertainty wrapped around them. ¡°This is the situation we are in. What do you think would happen if we were to send out a demon in this duel? How would the enemy perceive this? Ah, you are not a human army, but a Demon Lord army. Why did we ever doubt this¡­¡­? This is definitely how they would perceive this.¡± I smiled brightly. ¡°Your Highness, that knight is a sacrificialmb.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If we send a powerful demon to kill that knight, then the enemymander would immediately shout. Look! They are the Demon Lord army. Despite this, we were divided and doubted each other. We sacrificed arade. Now then, rise. Let us avenge ourrade¡­¡­.¡± Sacrificing one person to raise morale was a rathermon strategy. Hwarang Gwanchang was a prime example of this. The knight who hade out was also young. A young person was probably the best possible sacrifice. ¡°There is no reason for us to go along this obvious ploy of theirs.¡± ¡°¡­¡­So? What are you saying we should do if we are not sending out a demon?¡± Vassago swallowed down his frustration. ¡°Should we avoid the duel? That would mess up our morale.¡± ¡°Mm. Coincidentally, I had prepared something in the case something like this were to happen.¡± I lightly pped. ¡°Daisy.¡± Daisy walked in front of us and got down on one knee. The girl with pitch-ck hair was wearing a maid uniform like usual. She had been attending to me as a maid. If you excluded the sword and dagger on her waist, she looked like quite the splendid maid. I smirked. ¡°You are a piece of trash whose brain consists of wastewater. An absolute unremediable fool. Nheless, you should at least understand our current situation.¡± ¡°Yes, Father.¡± Daisy responded calmly with her head down. ¡°The pigs were chased out of their pens, but they forgot their ce and are oinking in the middle of the ins. They are animals that would be satisfied being back in their pens. They will calm down if you throw them some justification.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± I let out augh. Daisy was growing splendidly. ¡°That¡¯s correct, you sow. You would be the most appropriate to deal with your oinking kin. Would you like to give it a go?¡± ¡°I will require a voice amplification artifact.¡± I took out a ne artifact from my pocket and threw it. Thud, the nended in the grass. Daisy tried to politely pick it up, but I spoke up. ¡°Pick it up with your mouth.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy paused for a moment, but she soon obeyed my order and leaned down. She grabbed the ne between her teeth. Daisy was sticking her face in the ground like a dog in front of Vassago and the other officers. I gave a satisfied nod. ¡°That position fits you the most, you arrogant ve.¡± Daisy had just now gone out of her way topare them to pigs. It was only slightly, but she was acting conceited. How dare a ve act like that? I pointed this out to her and Daisy must¡¯ve understood this as she obediently obeyed mymand. ¡°Go.¡± ¡°Yes, Father.¡± Daisy slowly walked away with the ne. Vassago spoke to me once she started heading for the ins. ¡°¡­¡­This is surprising. This is my first time seeing you being emotional. Did you not say she was your adopted daughter?¡± ¡°There are some circumstances. She is talented, but she is a child who will bite her owner¡¯s hand whenever possible. She has a tendency of digging into my feelings if I lower my guard, so she is a handful.¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°People are wicked, so they tend to forget their grudges if they are treated nicely. If you wish to maintain a transparent rtionship, then you must be cold-hearted.¡± ¡°Hmph. What a trashy opinion.¡± The conversation ended there. We quietly watched the battlefront. Once a girl wearing a maid uniform stepped out onto the ins, the troops on both sides started to murmur loudly. Why was a child in a maid uniform stepping forward for a sacred duel? ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The Frankian knight was obviously perplexed. He opened his hands and started to shout something as he watched Daisy approach. He was probably telling her that he didn¡¯t intend to fight a human child like her. On the other hand, Daisy continued forward in silence as if she couldn¡¯t hear a thing. She eventually reached the knight. A single strike. All she had done was unsheathe her de upward and the head of the knight¡¯s horse fell to the floor shortly after. The knight lost his bnce and fell off of his horse. Daisy jumped swiftly and unsheathed her dagger. She then stabbed her de urately into the falling knight¡¯s armpit. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A curtain of silence fell over both armies. It took only 3 seconds for the knight to die. A fountain of blood sprayed out from the beheaded horse¡¯s corpse. The girl casually received the blood as if it were rainwater. It was such a surreal sight that it was almost sensual. She brought the voice amplification artifact to her mouth before speaking. ¡°I am a Frankian who was born in Laelia.¡± Her voice nketed the ins. She spoke in a north Frankian dialect. It was a dialect that was incredibly familiar to the enemy troops who were mostly from the northwestern side of the country. ¡°My mother and father were sh-and-burn vigers. The mountains were our vige¡¯s home. However, as it is fated for all other sh-and-burn vigers, everyone died after being attacked by a horde of goblins.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°When my mother was groaning in pain as her innards spilled out, no one came to save us. When my father was beheaded while holding me in his arms¡­¡­no one helped us then either.¡± Daisy looked straight at the human army. An unknown pressure was emanating from the girl. ¡°I did not know what justice was because I was foolish. However, I know that if a Demon Lord is allowed to coil up in the center of the continent, then the same thing that happened to me will happen again, no, it will continue to happen endlessly. Monsters will flourish while humans will die off. There is no way that this is justice.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fellow countrymen, I do not hold a grudge against you. Nheless, if you intend to stand idly by as a tragedy is cultivated in ournd, if you refer to this as justice, then I will swing my de without any hesitation.¡± Daisy turned away and swung her sword down. Blood sttered as the knight was decapitated. Daisy picked up the head and returned to where we were. Everyone on the ins became speechless because of the girl¡¯s intensity. Except for one person. ¡°Huhahaha! Look at that, Your Highness! Is the kid not rather formidable!? You have to at least be able to do that much to be considered my adopted daughter!¡± It was obviously me. I apuded her. ¡°A proud knight of the empire was beheaded by a mere maid. There is nothing more humiliating than this. I almost want to go andmission a bard to make aedy out of this! No, what are you all doing? You should be apuding our human girl who gave such an amazing performance!¡± ¡°Ah, yes!¡± The demon officers came back to their senses. They started to apud together. The pping quickly spread through the soldiers before eventually, our entire army of four thousand was cheering in unison. This should decrease the enemy¡¯s morale drastically. They were utterly defeated in a duel by a young girl. Furthermore, the girl wasn¡¯t a demon but a fellow human. This basically assured our position as a human army. The Frankian army lost their pride and cause. How unfortunate, generals of Frankia. You were nning to send out a sacrifice in order to make your army unite firmly, but we have an absurd human weapon known as the hero candidate. Those sorts of tricks won¡¯t work on this monster. ¡°Father.¡± Daisy walked in front of me and kneeled. She presented the knight¡¯s head up to me in her hands. ¡°Excellent. You performed rather fabulously.¡± I dismounted from my horse and patted her head. Daisy kept her head down in silence. I smirked. ¡°But you truly are a piece of trash. You used your own parents¡¯ names for the sake of your goal. I underestimated you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In the past, you did your utmost to protect your family, but now you use them however you want without any guilt. I can only say that you are amazing. You are an amazing piece of trash, Daisy. Your lover back home will undoubtedly be happy as well.¡± Daisy raised her head. Hatred and humiliation were lingering in her onyx eyes. The ¡®lover back home¡¯ was referring to her brother, Luke. Feeling satisfied with her reaction, I chuckled. ¡°You betrayed your family and humanity. You have nowhere left to return.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Good work. You can go back and rest in your quarters.¡± Daisy bit her lips. Blood trickled down her soft lips. The sound of her holding back her anger seeped out from between her teeth. ¡°¡­¡­Yes, Father.¡± The girl walked to the tent behind us. Our demon soldiers weed her with cheers, but she walked in silence, showing no emotions on her face. I watched her leave with a content smile before turning away. ¡°Now then, Your Highness. Now is the chance! The enemy¡¯s morale has plummeted greatly and they are now holding doubts about this battle. We would only lose face if we do not take advantage of an army like that. Please give the order to attack.¡± For some reason, Vassago was giving me a sharp look. He then muttered as if he were letting out a sigh. It seemed as if he had made up his mind. ¡°¡­¡­Like father, like daughter. Sheesh. Would you avoid shit because you are afraid of it? You avoid it because it is dirty.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°Never mind.¡± Vassago shook his head. ¡°All soldiers. Attack.¡± On that day, our vanguard was victorious against Frankia¡¯s army. About 600 of the enemy¡¯s 3,000 soldiers fell in battle. There were surprisingly not a lot of deaths, but it wasn¡¯t because they fought well. It was because a majority of them fled as soon as the battle started. Thanks to that, we only lost about a hundred men. There were no ifs or buts about it. It was ourplete victory. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Daisy gets to show off her hero skills more. Nothing interesting happenedtely, so I¡¯ll end the note here. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 281: Grand Coalition (9) Chapter 281: Grand Coalition (9) We became really busy after our victory. Our army had captured a considerable number of prisoners. We had to interrogate them thoroughly. asionally, information was more important than a single victory. Our range of actions will increase vastly once we figure out when Henrietta dispatched them. Thus, torturing prisoners was essential. Human rights? The only right humans have is the right to die. ¡°Kuaaaaagh!¡± We didn¡¯t get any information no matter how manymon soldiers we tortured, so we focused on torturing soldiers that were officers or above. A majority of them were nobles. ¡°I do not expect a lot from you.¡± I held a skewer that was heated in a fire and smiled. ¡°I simply wish to know what the situation is like within the royal pce of Frankia. How is Her Excellency the Empress Dowager doing? How bad is His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s illness? Are these not simple questions?¡± ¡°Guuugh¡­¡­You¡­¡­damn devil.¡± The aristocrat prisoner foamed at the mouth and refused to give any information to the very end. It was impressive. His endurance was undoubtedly superhuman. If I were tortured with a skewer, then I was confident that I could give out everyst bit of information without any hesitation. ¡°Very well, then. I give my respect to your perseverance. I will bestow upon you a gift as a sign of respect. I do hope that you ept it.¡± On that night, a full-course torture session was carried out magnificently. I even gave a prisoner some aphrodisiacs before letting a couple orcs rape them. Every time they refused to say anything, I brought out an innocent soldier and executed them before their eyes. Whenever they lost consciousness because of the pain, I hired a subus to torture them in their dreams as well. The result was concise. ¡°¡­¡­Her Excellency the Empress Dowager¡­¡­has been confined to a detached pce¡­¡­for the past three years¡­¡­.¡± ¡°His Excellency the Emperor has been in critical condition since a few days ago¡­¡­.¡± ¡°P-Please. I¡¯ll tell you anything, so please spare me!¡± It only took two hours for all six aristocrat prisoners to spill the information. I verified everything by cross-referencing the respective pieces of information they gave. I only had to ask all six of them the same questions andpare their answers. There was a chance that one of them could¡¯ve been lying, so it was a procedure that we had to take. Thus, it was confirmed that they had all told the truth. Such satisfaction. Thanks to this, we were able to get our hands on a considerable amount of information. Why did they resist if they were going to give us the information anyway? It would¡¯ve been better if they cooperated from the beginning. They would¡¯ve had a good time because they wouldn¡¯t have been tortured, and we wouldn¡¯t have had to waste time torturing them. This could¡¯ve been a win-win situation no matter how you looked at it. Humans are quite strange. ¡°Your Highness Dantalian.¡± An envoy arrived while I was in the middle of my torturing session. It was an elf. The elf, which was a race with an excellent sense of smell, made a face as soon as they entered the torture room. The room was filled with the smell of blood, drugs, and orc secretions, after all. I put down my skewer. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Pardon me. A guard picked up a suspicious individual. They willingly surrendered as they asked to meet the girl who carried out the duel today. They politely requested to be treated as a prisoner.¡± I furrowed my brows. Someone who knows Daisy? There was no way a human like that could exist. Daisy lived her whole life in a sh-and-burn vige on a mountainside. Right when I was about to treat it as nonsense, I couldn¡¯t hold back my surprise when the envoy revealed the surrenderer¡¯s name. ¡°The human man introduced himself as Bar Bercy.¡± * * * ¡°Sir Bar! How long has it been!?¡± Bar Bercy was kneeling in a tent with all of his limbs bound. The position he was in was humiliating, but his expression remained dignified. He resembled a grand tree that had remained firm after experiencing all sorts of hardships. Bar Bercy was surprised when I entered the tent. ¡°Jean Bole? Are you perhaps Priest Jean Bole?¡± ¡°If there are not two Jean Boles in the world, then yes. It is I.¡± I responded with augh. Yup. I was currently wearing the skin mask that I wore while acting as Jean Bole. Bar Bercy muttered. ¡°I thought that there would be a chance to meet you, but I did not expect you would actually be here¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I never would have imagined that we would reunite in a ce like this. Now then, leave it to me.¡± I took out a knife and carefully cut the Bar¡¯s bonds. The Bar¡¯s limbs soon became free. ¡°¡­¡­Thank you. But, even if we knew each other before, is it really all right for you to release me like this?¡± ¡°I trust you, Bar Bercy.¡± I smiled. ¡°The Bar I met four years ago was undoubtedly a virtuous and wise lord. If you were so weak that you could not ovee a mere four years, then what I did would be foolish. So? Are you a weak individual, Bar Bercy?¡± ¡°It seems I cannot win against you, Priest.¡± Bar Bercy smiled wryly. No further words had to be said. We spread our arms out and hugged each other. I felt his friendly and rough hands on my back. At the same time, I heard a sound effect. ¡¸Baron Bercy¡¯s affection has risen by 7.¡¹ The Bar released me from his arms and looked me in the face. He was smiling, but it seemed strangely bitter. ¡°Priest Jean Bole, I have hundreds of questions. How did you end serving the Demon Lord¡­¡­no, Rudolf von Habsburg¡¯s army?¡± ¡°I, too, have a lot of questions. Are the kind people of yournd doing well? One or two hours would not be enough for us to catch up.¡± We sat across from each other at a table. I brought out some wine. We gave our regards to each other a few times before we got to the main conversation. ¡°It would probably be pointless to hide secrets here. Your Excellency Bar, I actually have a close rtionship with the Republic of Batavia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see. I expected as much.¡± Bar Bercy nodded. ¡°Oh? You already knew?¡± ¡°I did not. However, I heard rumors about your venture even after your departure. I did not think that a normal person could have rallied the northern nobles of Frankia in order to retaliate against Brittany while also getting Batavia involved¡­¡­.¡± Bar Bercy rocked his wine ss. ¡°Priest Jean Bole, it, however, bes believable if you were the one behind it. You undoubtedly have the ability to shake the northern region. Do you perhaps remember the words you said to me before you left Bercy?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I smiled. ¡°If Your Excellency does not believe in the Gods, then you must not believe in status since people im that it was the Gods who determined people¡¯s ranks.¡± ¡°Exactly. I am unsure if you are aware, but I fell into great contemtion about the state of affairs within Frankia after your group¡¯s departure¡­¡­.¡± Bingo. I cheered in my mind. Bar Bercy was, in other words, one of the people I had sown a seed in four years ago during the civil war. The name of the seed was republicanism. The murkier the world became, the more the seed was able to grow by using that dark fog as fertilizer. Bar Bercy was a capable lord. He considered the act of protecting his people as his lifelong pride. What would a person like that think while watching the Emperor of Frankia? He brought in a foreign power without any hesitation to protect his authority and he even sinned against heaven by confining his own mother. Was it fine for him to swear his loyalty to a person like that? Was it fine to leave the fate of the country and the safety of the people to the existence known as the emperor¡­¡­? The seed that I had sown had sessfully bloomed into a flower. I wanted to let out a shout of joy, but I held it back. If I immediately try to pry further, then it would reveal my intentions too much. Let¡¯s change the subject for a moment. ¡°If it is not rude of me to ask, how did you end up here?¡± ¡°The Emperor issued a draft. All of the eastern lords of Frankia were convened with their armies. On a side note, I became a baron three years ago. I was able to bring a lot of people out to war thanks to that¡­¡­.¡± Bar Bercy gulped down his wine. Going up in rank must¡¯ve not been a very honorable thing for him. He went up in rank when the emperor had be a puppet and the Empress Dowager was confined. Therefore, it happened because of Brittany. ¡°Was that the price of neutrality¡­¡­? I understand why you have been grieving.¡± During the previous civil war, a majority of the nobles in the north participated in the revolt. Despite being in the northeast, Bar Bercy firmly maintained his neutrality. He didn¡¯t do anything. This contrarily put him in a good eye. Bar Bercy scorned himself. ¡°While mypatriots were falling for the sake of the nation, I did not budge an inch due to my resolve to protect my people.¡± ¡°That is a natural choice as a lord.¡± ¡°No, I was foolish. I never would have imagined that the Queen of Brittany would get this big. My countrymen saw a future that I failed to see¡­¡­. I foolishly acted selfishly.¡± We clinked our sses together quietly. The sound rang clearly. ¡°Was her name Daisy? I was surprised when I saw her step out for the duel. I thought that you might also be here. You are not someone who would leave your adopted daughter alone, after all. I slipped out from the retreat of our defeated army.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I took a sip of wine and carefully observed Bar Bercy¡¯s eyes. ¡°Your Excellency, you can stop the act now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Act?¡± ¡°You said that I would not leave my adopted daughter, but I would like to return those words back to you. You must have participated in this battle while leading your people. If Your Excellency¡¯s desertion is revealed, then there is no way your people would be safe.¡± Their leader had deserted them. His people would be treated horrendously. ¡°I personally cannot believe that you would abandon your people solely for the sake of meeting me. You are a role model lord who treats his duty as a noble more sacredly than anyone else.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency most likely persuaded the othermanders. You must have stated that I may be present and that you could negotiate with me. The othermanders must have allowed this temporary desertion because of your im.¡± They¡¯re an army of Frankia, not Brittany. They must be struggling to understand why they were fighting for the Queen of Brittany. If we were simply troops from the Demon Lord army, then even if they were fighting for the Queen of Brittany, it would be possible for them to at least fight under the cause of ¡®protecting mankind as a whole¡¯. However, due to the battle yesterday, our side had gained a fair bit of weight in being an army of mankind. The generals of Frankia must have started contemting. If they keep fighting like this, then they would be fighting their fellow man for the sake of the Queen of Brittany. What other meaning could this have¡­¡­? In this situation, Bar Bercy volunteered to act as an envoy. Considering Bar Bercy¡¯s usual conduct, he must have built a fair bit of trust among his allies. Hisrades trusted him and sent him here¡­¡­. ¡°In other words, Your Excellency is not a surrendering soldier but a special envoy from Frankia? Am I correct?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I really cannot beat you, Priest.¡± Bar Bercy gave a weakugh. He put his wine ss down and grabbed my hands. Bar Bercy¡¯s eyes were cold but also aze with passion. ¡°Frankia is in a desperate crisis. If things continue like this, we will end up disappearing from history without being able to even scream once. If that were all, then I could dly see Frankia off. However, history has always requested the blood of the people.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Priest Jean Bole, please cooperate with us. Please help us chase out Brittany¡¯s lunatic queen and return Frankia to its people.¡± This was the offer that I had been waiting for. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ll be honest. Ipletely forgot about Bercy. Also, I know the system messages referred to him as Baron Bercy, but Dant kept referring to him as Bar anyway. In case anyone was confused by that. On a personal note, I¡¯m absolutely devastated. Bugs are finally returning and I killed a cockroachst night. Bugs also mean mosquitos. I got bit by a single mosquito about 8 times in a single night. Someone please genocide mosquitos. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 282: Grand Coalition (10) Chapter 282: Grand Coalition (10) ¡°Your Excellency.¡± I rejoiced as I squeezed Bar Bercy¡¯s hands. If the nobles of Frankia cooperated with us, then it would be no different from having already won this war. We held each other¡¯s hands as we stared at each other. How sincere was he being? How resolved was he? ¡ªWe confirmed these things with each other. This wasn¡¯t simply an abstract exchange of feelings. I checked Bar Bercy¡¯s status window. The Bar¡¯s mentality was revealed to me splendidly since his affection was higher than 20. The Bar was definitely telling the truth. I opened my mouth. ¡°The Royalists and Republicans must not oppose each other. ¡®We¡¯ must be united.¡± ¡°There is an illegitimate child who is a coteral blood rtive. We intend to raise him up as the king and take care of things by arranging a parliament. We will take in Her Excellency the Empress Dowager as the parliament¡¯s advisor.¡± A constitutional monarchy, huh? By enthroning a young king with little obligations, the parliament would be able to seize sovereignty. With the Royalists being able to maintain monarchy while the Republicans have their parliament¡¯s superiority guaranteed, the two groups would be able topromise. Empress Dowager Catherine de¡¯ Medici, who is greatly respected by all her people, would act as the mediator. This sounded like a rather decent scenario. ¡°This is not a n that can get guaranteed within a few days. When did preparations for this begin?¡± ¡°Immediately after we lost the civil war. Duke Guise may have fallen in battle, but his younger siblings were still alive and well.¡± ¡°Duke Guise¡¯s younger siblings¡­¡­You must mean the High Priest of Lorraine and Duke Mayenne.¡± I tilted my head. When the civil war urred in Frankia, Duke Guise was the suprememander of the Anti-Brittany Alliance, also known as the Holy Alliance. His vigor was so formidable that Henrietta was incredibly cautious of him. Guise¡¯s family was sternly oppressed after the civil war was over. The High Priest of Lorraine and Duke Mayenne were both quietly assassinated. The perpetrator was never revealed, but it was obvious who did it. Despite this, Bar Bercy had just informed me that they had designed a grand n. How? Bar Bercy lowered his gaze. ¡°¡­¡­The Guise brothers prepared a scenario in case of their defeat as well. They predicted that the nobles of Frankia would dry up before being able to do anything if things were to continue like this. A small minority of high nobles made a promise. They promised to trick the eyes of Brittany even if they had to disguise themselves as traitors.¡± ¡°As traitors¡­¡­? Do not tell me.¡± I opened my mouth in surprise. Bar Bercy nodded gravely. ¡°Ourrades were the ones who ratted out High Priest Lorraine and Duke Mayenne.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is surprising.¡± The truth revealed by the bar was shocking. If the nobles of Frankia did not make any sort of countermeasures, then they would get drained and wiped out by Henrietta. Despite this, they weren¡¯t confident that they could rally another army to take Henrietta down. They had only one resort left. The nobles ¡®pretended¡¯ to sponge off of Brittany. By ratting out Duke Guise¡¯s younger siblings to Henrietta. In other words, they had betrayed their strongest allies. Henrietta dly epted these traitors since, from the perspective of the people of Frankia, they were nothing more than traitors. However, the truth was different. High Priest Lorraine and Duke Mayenne had deliberately sacrificed themselves for theirrades¡­¡­. Thanks to this, Queen Henrietta put aside her doubt. Therades that remained had waited up to this moment while being falsely tagged as traitors. They had been sharpening their des of revenge¡­¡­. Frankia was by no means an ipetent nation. They may have lowered their heads before Henrietta¡¯s militaristic greatness, but they were carrying out these sorts of schemes behind the scene. I wonder what could¡¯ve happened if the Emperor, Henry the Third, had been a little wiser. The emperor would¡¯ve hadpetent nobles backing him. They probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten swallowed up by Brittany this easily. Bar Bercy took a gulp from his wine. ¡°Hoo. The Queen of Brittany is formidable. She may have set aside her doubt, but she continued to keep her guard up. This is also the reason why she sent out an army that only consists of Frankian nobles.¡± ¡°Please tell me your total manpower.¡± ¡°A total of twelve cities are allied with us.¡± Twelve cities. It wasn¡¯t a small number, but it wasn¡¯t a big number either. If I ally with them here, then that would add the seven free cities on the north side of Frankia. In total, neen cities would be on our side. Neen, huh? What a vague number. It wasn¡¯t enough to flip the situation, but it was more than enough to at least be a kingmaker¡­¡­. ¡°Your Excellency, you must be extremely cautious.¡± I calmed myself before speaking. ¡°The Queen of Brittany is powerful. Previously, we were certain that our Holy Alliance would be victorious. And yet, we lost. We are currently weaker than that time.¡± Even if we have an advantage in terms of justification and strategy, it would all be pointless if we lose the actual battle. ¡°Do not rally your armies right now. You must continue to be patient. We will defeat Queen Henrietta and you can start your uprising afterward!¡± Bar Bercy opened his eyes wide. ¡°You are going to defeat the Queen on your own? That is too dangerous!¡± ¡°Your Excellency, victory and defeat are determined by chance. There is no guarantee that we will win if we unite. We must always have contingency ns.¡± I stared at the bar seriously. ¡°Let us say that we were to form an alliance. It sounds nice, but what would happen if we were to lose because wecked the grace of the Gods? The Queen of Brittany would purge the nobles of Frankia more fiercely.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°An extensive purge would be carried out. Even the seeds of revolt that you had managed to nt would get uprootedpletely. Frankia would meet its true end at that moment. Your Excellency! We must also consider the worst-case scenario.¡± Bar Bercy rubbed his chin as he fell into deep thought. Honestly, this wasn¡¯t a bad proposal for them. I was offering to go to war in their stead, so, if anything, they should wee this idea. We would be the ones taking on all of the burdens, so there would be no reason for Bar Bercy to refuse. ¡°¡­¡­If I may speak honestly, your proposal sounds too good to be true. Why would you voluntarily make a proposal that is detrimental to you?¡± ¡°Your Excellency, I may be in charge of the vanguard due to circumstances, but my essence still lies within Frankia. I wish to prevent any harm from falling upon Frankia.¡± I smiled bitterly. ¡°It is hard to expect a good goal from Rudolf von Habsburg¡¯s army. I cannot deny the possibility of the Crowned Prince of Habsburg taking the Queen of Brittany¡¯s spot after managing to drive her out¡­¡­. Do you not think so as well?¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Bar Bercy nodded with difficulty. He probably couldn¡¯t say it to my face, but he must have considered this possibility. ¡°I said that this was a precautionary measure. This does not only refer to the possibility of our defeat. We must also consider the possibility of the Crowned Prince of Habsburg betraying us after being victorious. Your Excellency, you must preserve Frankia¡¯s army as much as possible in the case of these situations.¡± ¡°So we should not take part in the war¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Bar Bercy was greatly moved. He stood up and hugged me. This man, who was usually like a stone statue, was surprisingly speaking in a weepy voice. ¡°You are a true patriot.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I did whatever I could to gather a group after losing the civil war.¡± I also responded back with a teary voice. ¡°Rudolf von Habsburg is Demon Lord Barbatos¡¯ puppet and Barbatos is extremely afraid of Demon Lord Agares. I barely managed to create an army by utilizing their fear¡­¡­. Your Excellency, I am sorry for beingte.¡± ¡°Priest Jean Bole¡­¡­.¡± Bar Bercy finally began to shed tears. I soon heard a familiar sound effect. ¡¸Baron Bercy¡¯s affection has risen by 11.¡¹ ¡¸Baron Bercy¡¯s affection has reached 50. The other party now ¡®trusts¡¯ you.¡¹ We shared another intense hug. The camaraderie between men was being expressed through a hug. The two of us drank wine for the rest of that day. Once the sun rose, Bar Bercy snuck out of the camp. ¡°Hoo.¡± I sat down in my chair. I managed to get apletely unexpected harvest. Bar Bercy probably thinks I said all that purely because of my patriotism, but I obviously don¡¯t have even a sliver of patriotism in me toward Frankia. I simply couldn¡¯t let the Demon Lord army covet Frankia. ¡°Things are still barely going ording to n.¡± upying the north-central region of Habsburg already gave the Demon Lord army enough power. If they conquered Frankia as well, then the bnce between humans and demons might copse. The Demon Lord army forms whenever there is human resistance. If the humans get wiped outpletely, then the Demon Lord army would enter the age of civil war. I won¡¯t sit around and let something like that happen. This current state where the ins Faction, Neutral Faction, and the Mountain Faction exist side by side is the most ideal situation. It may be a turbulent period, but it was a turbulent period created in a way that gave me an advantage. I, Demon Lord Dantalian, have to establish my authority as a mediator whenever the groupspete or harmonize¡­¡­. Four days after Bar Bercy left. Our vanguard engaged with Frankia¡¯s vanguard again. It was a scripted battle that we had arranged beforehand. Queen Henrietta still had her doubts about the nobles of Frankia. We had to show her that they didn¡¯t lose to us intentionally. For this purpose, we had to sacrifice General Gaspard de Tabarn. ¡°For Frankia!¡± This old veteran, who was in his sixties, had served Frankia all his life. Earlier in his life, he was the captain of Frankia¡¯s royal knights and he had also been the emperor¡¯s deputymander. He had literally led the most honorable life as a noble. It was only natural, but Tabarn was the individual whom Henrietta was cautious of the most. The death of such a great individual should decrease Henrietta¡¯s wariness by a fair amount. That was our aim. As we arranged beforehand, General Tabarn charged at us as soon as the battle started. It was crazy for the suprememander to take the lead and charge. Daisy rushed forward from our side. Gapard de Tabarn and Daisy. The oldest veteran and the youngest warrior faced off in the center of the battlefield. des sparked. Daisy managed to pierce through the general¡¯s chest with only a single strike. ¡°Retreat!¡± ¡°All troops, retreat!¡± The Frankian army immediately retreated after they lost theirmander pitifully. It was a hasty retreat. Honestly, it would probably be fine to say that they barely incurred any losses. Our n was carried out without any problems. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I looked down at the old general¡¯s dead body. The old man had a broad smile on his face. His physique was so healthy that it was hard to believe that he was in his sixties. It almost felt like he could stand up and swing his sword again at any moment. Daisy muttered next to me. ¡°He was smiling since the moment he engaged inbat with me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes, Father. It was the smile of a man who dly epted his death.¡± It was for this reason that Daisy didn¡¯t behead the old general. She pierced him through the chest in one strike in order to keep his corpse clean. She had treated the other party with great respect. I calmly asked a question. ¡°Did he have anyst words?¡± ¡°Thank you, was thest thing he whispered to me.¡± The old man had undoubtedly lived a life with no regrets. For the people and for his nation¡­¡­. And even in hisst moment, he devoted his death to the people and his nation as well. He most likely believed that this was the greatest death. Was that why he thanked us¡­¡­? ¡°Daisy, remember this man¡¯s final moment.¡± I spoke as I closed the old man¡¯s eyes. ¡°This is a death that people like us will never be able to experience. Remember it well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes, Father.¡± Daisy and I stared at the old man¡¯s dead body for a while. A single life was meeting its end here. A peaceful and honorable smile on his lips. One day, during our final moments, the two of us will most likely recall this old man¡¯s death and be jealous¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel so stressed and tiredtely. The construction noise is over for now since they finished the demolition part and haven¡¯t started the actual construction yet, but now we¡¯re having like a regional district mayor election next week. It¡¯s SO loud. Politicians are trying to get votes by having trucks re loud music all throughout the day. I woke up the other day to a parody of ¡®If you¡¯re happy and you know it p your hands¡¯, but the lyrics were all reced with the politician¡¯s name. It was just so bad and obnoxious. Can I have at least one good morning? God. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 283: Grand Coalition Chapter 283: GrandCoalition * * * ¡°It seems they lost their first battle.¡± ¡°Those Frankians, I thought they would at least show a little backbone¡­¡­.¡± The generals of Brittany clicked their tongues after the envoy finished giving their report. It wasn¡¯t a normal defeat, but aplete and utter defeat. The only sce was the fact that they sessfully retreated in an orderly manner. About sixty percent of their total troops managed to survive. However, General Gaspard de Tabarn, who was the suprememander, died in battle. All sorts ofints started to pour out as the generals grumbled about how ridiculous it was. ¡°This will only lower our morale.¡± ¡°I believed General Tabarn would put in more effort, but it seems I had forgotten his age. To think he would lead a cavalry charge.¡± Amander shook his head in disappointment. ¡°Ten years have already passed since that general¡¯s cavalry wasst active. The Tiger of Frankia lost his teeth a long time ago. But to think he would forget his age and make his troops charge recklessly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I wonder about that. It was probably the mistake of his knights for not being able to support him.¡± Anothermander scoffed. ¡°Maybe the general thought his cavalrymen were as strong as ours. Cavalrymen aren¡¯t all the same. Thus, you shouldn¡¯t overestimate the power of your army.¡± The generals gathered in the barracks chuckled. They weren¡¯t expecting much from the Frankians to begin with. The people of Frankia were way too caught up in their antiquated honor and traditions, especially the nobles. They were ustomed to raising their chins and acting lofty, but they weren¡¯t skilled on an actual battlefield. An aristocratic charge, honor, and fidelity. These were all good, but what was the point if they didn¡¯t have the strength to back them? ¡°This is my personal opinion, but there is nothing more hypocritical than the honor cried out by talentless people. Additionally, they aren¡¯t the ones who get sacrificed because of their hypocrisy, it¡¯s their people.¡± ¡°Although if the people are lowly, then they won¡¯t even realize they¡¯re getting sacrificed. It¡¯s normal for the masses to not even know who they are revolting for.¡± The generals had mixed feelings as they spoke partially in a mocking tone. The noble families of Brittany didn¡¯t simply let their eldest sons seed their families. It was a tradition in Brittany for the sons and daughters of noble families to fight desperately for the sessor positions. All of the nobles here had seeded their families after stepping on their siblings. Other nations saw this tradition as being barbaric. However, that barbaric nation conquered the lofty nation of Frankia. Thanks to this, Frankia was swept up in a civil war and the people were consumed by fire. The nobles of Brittany scoffed. Where was the honor in that? Which side was more honorable? Honor wasn¡¯t a value that just drifted around somewhere. It was something only given to those who prove their worth through victory¡­¡­. ¡°Cease.¡± Queen Henrietta spoke up quietly. Once she did, the atmosphere instantly settled down. ¡°Sir Gaspard de Tabarn was a true warrior. He contemted what loyalty is. Would he be loyal to the emperor, to the nation, or to the people?¡± The Queen muttered with a distant look on her face. ¡°What is a warrior? Those who are in anguish. We have no way of knowing what answer he had arrived at. However, at the very least, we do not have the right to mock his anguish. Everyone, let us give him our respect.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta closed her eyes and lowered her head. The other nobles followed suit as they lowered their heads as well. The barracks became quiet. At that moment, the priestess next to the queen opened her mouth. It was Saintess Longwy with beautiful scarlet hair. Longwy, a priestess of the Goddess Athena, slowly sang a silent tribute. ¡°Killed many, saved many, regretted many, and done many. Aah¡ªGaspard de Tabarn. May you rest on the other side.¡± ¡°O Goddess Athena, grant sce to that warrior.¡± The nobles called out to Goddess Athena as they offered silent tributes. Queen Henrietta opened her eyes. Her red eyes red ahead of her. ¡°The vanguard battle was meant to confirm the loyalty of the Frankian nobles. If they tried to win, then they would have incurred heavy losses. Conversely, if they retreated without incurring any losses, then I was going to personally purge them. General Tabarn most likely realized this.¡± ¡°I see, so it was an intentional defeat.¡± ¡°Indeed. Although they lost, they did so while covering their backs. The general sacrificed himself for this exquisite result.¡± There was a sharp edge in Henrietta¡¯s voice. ¡°My dear generals! Frankia still has their pride. They have yielded to us, but they are still upholding their pride in their own way. Do not lower your guards.¡± The faces of the generals became serious. They all nced at each other before nodding carefully. ¡°Your Highness, please give us your orders.¡± ¡°We have resolved ourselves.¡± The Brittan nobles weren¡¯t satisfied with just being told to not lower their guards. Their natures made them desire something more practical. It was the same for Henrietta de Brittany. The Queen¡¯s order to not lower their guard wasn¡¯t just her way of telling people to resolve themselves. They had to quickly take action. ¡°No human would have hope when there¡¯s no promise. The reason why the Frankian nobles haven¡¯t thrown away their pride yet is due to the fact that they have hope left somewhere. What is their hope?¡± ¡°Mm. I doubt it is their emperor. Even the pigs know that he¡¯s an unprecedented retard.¡± The generalsughed. ¡°Oi, what are you saying about our stern and excellent emperor? Despite his looks, he is our queen¡¯s future husband.¡± ¡°Dear me. That was rude of me. I failed to recognize Her Highness¡¯ pimp!¡± Henrietta smiled wryly because of her generals¡¯ banter. ¡°There are a lot of people who need to be purged. Of course, the Emperor is far from being Frankia¡¯s hope. Despite this, if their nobles still have hope, then what could possibly be the source?¡± ¡°¡­¡­A new emperor.¡± The air within the barracks became cold as if martialw had just been proimed. There was a secret policy that Brittany had been devoting themselves to for the past four years. The policy referred to as devoted itself to removing Frankia¡¯s royal bloodline from the roots. The Empress Dowager had given birth to four princes and three princesses. This was an era where virtue was in fecundity. Catherine, who was once the empress of a nation, had done her duty as ady excellently. But misfortune followed the Empress Dowager. Out of the four princes, one of them died of an illness when they were little. The remaining three ascended the throne one by one, but two died at a young age, so only one remained to be the emperor. None of them had children. Two of her daughters were married off to the Crowned Prince of Castille and the Second Imperial Prince of Habsburg respectively. Leader Elizabeth had ughtered the Second Imperial Prince of Habsburg and his family. Therefore, there was currently only one son and daughter that could continue the royal bloodline¡­¡­. In other words, a descendant next in line for the throne was non-existent. ¡°We have already put five illegitimate children to death. Are there still more?¡± If every direct descendant and coteral descendant have been disposed of, then only the illegitimate children remained. Brittany killed five of those illegitimate children and disguised their deaths as idents. This was because there was a risk that the nobles of Frankia might try to raise an illegitimate child up as their new emperor. ¡°I did not inform you all of this, but there is still one illegitimate child left. Thest child left behind by the previous emperor, Charles the 9th.¡± The generals were shocked. ¡°Hoho. Why have you been keeping that child alive?¡± ¡°Did the Frankian nobles keep the child hidden all this time?¡± Queen Henrietta smirked after receiving their questions. ¡°I deliberately kept the child alive.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Think about it. If the nobles of Frankia still desire to retaliate against us, then when do you think they will let it all out? Obviously, it will be when we, Brittany, are in a ¡®perilous situation¡¯. They most likely intend to endure until that moment arrives.¡± Henrietta spoke in an almost whimsical tone. ¡°Now then, the Demon Lord army is invading under the guise of a human army, putting us in a perilous situation. Even if our allies want to send us reinforcements, Habsburg is far to the west, so there is no point in expecting anything from them. We could try to reach out to those Bernician bastards across the sea, those Batavian scoundrels above us, those Castilian brats below us, or our distant neighbors at Sardinia¡­¡­.¡± Queen Henrietta raised four fingers. ¡°Those Batavian scoundrels have been republican since their inception, so they are out of the question. Those Bernician ind bastards do not want to see us be excessively powerful and they do not particrly dislike republicanism, so we should not expect any help from them. Those Sardinian country bumpkins cut us off diplomatically because we confined the Empress Dowager. What other option do we have left?¡± The Queen instantly folded three fingers down. ¡°The only one remaining is those fools at Castile. But their queen is the Empress Dowager¡¯s second daughter. She mighte in and dere that the imperial throne belongs to her. If we ask them for reinforcements, then they would demand the throne¡­¡­. If we do that, then the rigorous effort we went through to take over Frankia will all have been for naught. In the end.¡± She folded herst finger. ¡°There is no nation that will send us reinforcements. The nobles of Frankia know this as well. Will an opportunity like thise again? Most likely not. A situation like this will never repeat itself. Men, the nobles of Frankia will try to revolt again.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They will most likely start their rebellion while our army is out fighting.¡± This was why Queen Henrietta had grouped them up separately and sent them as their vanguard. It was meant to stomp out potential rebellions beforehand. She didn¡¯t forget to confine the wives and children of theirmanding officers in the capital just in case. ¡°But behold. I do not know if this is a coincidence, but they barely suffered any losses despite the death of their general. Something about this smells fishy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, give us themand and we will suppress them immediately.¡± Henrietta shook her head. ¡°There is no reason for us to push ourselves. Men, the nobles of Frankia are currently divided into royalists and republicans. Why do you think these two sides are able to work together? It is because they have hope.¡± Instead of maintaining their current monarchy, they were going to put forward an illegitimate child with a weak cause as the next emperor. The royalists would get to preserve their cause while the republicans gain a practical benefit. Queen Henrietta was aware that there was room forpromise here. The corners of Henrietta¡¯s lips went up. ¡°Right before we leave¡­¡­let¡¯s say a day before our departure. What would happen if thest illegitimate child were to suddenly die? Would they still be able to cooperate?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The generals opened their eyes wide as they came to a realization. ¡°The Frankian nobles will fall into a state of confusion!¡± ¡°Indeed. Defeating us is important, but what they do afterward is also fairly important. If the sessor to the throne disappears, then their reason to cooperate would evaporate into thin air.¡± The generals looked at each other and nodded. They realize what the Queen was getting at. They scrambled to speak first, their voices filled with excitement. ¡°The Frankian nobles will undoubtedly try to convene an urgent meeting.¡± ¡°It should be fine to consider the nobles who participate in this meeting as the group opposing Brittany.¡± ¡°If we leave some troops lying in wait and ambush the meeting¡­¡­We can get rid of Frankia¡¯sst remaining resistance in one swoop!¡± Queen Henrietta nodded. ¡°That is right. Men, a perilous situation is actually a grand opportunity. Those cowardly Franks do not know this, but we do. This is the difference between us and them.¡± Henrietta took out a dagger and started to spin it around between her fingers before flinging it downward. Thud, the dagger pierced through the table all the way to its hilt. ¡°Let us now ughter Frankia¡¯s pride.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, rest in peace,st illegitimate child. We¡¯ve known you for like 2 chapters. On a side note, the next chapter will have a day dy because I¡¯m going to another wedding. It just sort of popped up out of nowhere because my dad told me about it REALLYte. The wedding is going to be held on the 50th floor of a building, which I¡¯m terrified about since I¡¯m not good with heights. It¡¯s on the rooftop of the building. I¡¯ll see you guys after the wedding. Chapter 284: Puppet War (1) Chapter 284: Puppet War (1) ¡°Kyaaah!¡± A maid let out a scream. She had opened the door to wake her master up and discovered a young boy sleeping on a pure white bed. However, his sleep was an eternal kind. The 11-year-old boy¡¯s throat had been slit. His red blood soaked into the nket. Lily petals were scattered across the sullied bed in an almost mocking way. Thest remaining descendant had been assassinated. This news was quickly delivered to a portion of Frankian nobles. They were filled with shock. ¡°¡­¡­O Goddesses. Why have you added tragedy onto tragedy?¡± ¡°We definitely created that estate while avoiding Brittany¡¯s watchful eyes.¡± A rebellion was right before their eyes. The royalists and republicans had argued andpromised in secret so many times for the sake of cooperating. ¡°He was born as amoner and raised as one too. It should have been impossible for those Brittan bastards to have known unless we had a snitch¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Imprison all of the servants in the estate!¡± There were several smaller factions within the royalists and republicans. Numerous beliefs had been running in parallel lines. It was apromise that was created almost miraculously within this constitutional monarchy. Once everything went up in smoke at such a critical moment, the nobles struggled to even open their mouths. ¡°Figuring out whomitted this tragedy is not important right now. We must first discuss what we will do from now on.¡± ¡°From now on? What are you saying we can do now? Everyst imperial descendant has died. Our great empire is now over. Everything is over¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Frankia must still continue to exist. Even without the emperor.¡± ¡°I do not know what you are trying to say. Are you trying to say that we should be a republic?¡± ¡°If that is the only solution we have left.¡± Several nobles started to argue here and there. They had gathered and exchanged opinions in only small groups until now in order to avoid attracting attention, but they realized they wouldn¡¯t be able to reach any sort of conclusion if they continued to talk in only small groups. What stance were all of the factions going to take¡­¡­? The nobles started to let out theirints once the entire nation was befogged. ¡°Will we carry out our revolt as previously nned or are we canceling it!? We should at least decide on this clearly!¡± ¡°Our ns have been ruined, so we have no choice but to enthrone His Majesty Henry¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling us to serve that emperor, who put our country in this state to begin with, again? Hah. Even if we did, do you think our people will support us? We might as well start a rebellion. That sounds more usible.¡± They had to prepare countermeasures as soon as possible. The nobles agreed to hold an assembly in secret. The location was a secluded estate on the outskirts of the imperial capital, Parisorium. They also made sure to gather after Brittany¡¯s army left the city just in case. There were several nobles who refused to participate in the assembly. They were being especially cautious. Even if the political situation was uncertain, no, it was because it was uncertain that they imed they had to be more careful. ¡°We have not discovered why the imperial descendant was assassinated. There is a chance there is a spy among us, and yet you are saying that we should gather in one ce?¡± ¡°Do you think that slut Henrietta will miss this opportunity!? How unbelievable. You are allmitting suicide.¡± Will they seek safety despite the situation before them? ¡°Are you saying that we should wait until the war ends without establishing any sort of measures? Is that the safety you guys are talking about? That is not safety, that is simply you neglecting our nation and our people. That is nothing more than a dereliction of duties.¡± ¡°Brittany is currently in imminent peril. When will a chance like thise again!?¡± Or will they take a step forward despite the danger? A majority of the Frankian nobles chose thetter. They had been silent for four years already. What have they been patient for? It was all for an opportunity like this. About two-thirds of the families that were patriotic participated in this secret assembly. However, history proved that acting boldly wasn¡¯t the right answer on this day. ¡°An enemy attack!¡± It happened while everyone was having a fierce debate throughout the night. The guards came in shouting. ¡°¡­¡­They tricked us.¡± ¡°That damn harlot.¡± All of the nobles unsheathed their swords. There wasn¡¯t anyone foolish enough to ask what was happening. The royalists and republicans had both unquestionably been living their lives while trying to avoid Brittany¡¯s gaze. They immediately figured out what was happening. They had already forgotten about the fierce argument they were having a moment ago as they took defensive positions around the entrance to the estate. They were all nobles who were taught to be knights from a young age. They may be unable to use aura, but they at least knew how to fight. The soldiers that were stationed around the estate as guards were cleared out in an instant. The Brittan knights soon approached the front door with slow steps. ck, ck, their footsteps echoed clearly. ¡°Would you look at this? For what reason have such lofty individuals gathered during the middle of the night?¡± A female knight spoke in a mocking tone. She had on a silver-colored breastte with a green cape fluttering behind her. The nobles clicked their tongues once they saw the female knight. ¡°Tsk. Milian de Nazaire, is it¡­¡­?¡± ¡°A rather extravagant unweed guest has arrived.¡± The Green Rose Knights have been around since Brittany was founded. They had once managed to even make the Demon Lord army copse with only a single charge. Their vice-captain had personallye to see them. The nobles had brought somewhat reliable escorts with them, but they weren¡¯t enough to defeat the greatest knights on the continent. The female knight grinned. ¡°Those renowned for their patriotism are one thing, but also seeing individuals who are known as traitors to the public here makes it hard to imagine what sort of conversation you all must have been having. Well, it must have been quite the interesting topic.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Her Highness the Queen was also fairly interested in tonight¡¯s meeting. You can give us the details while we are in the audience of Her Highness.¡± They pretended to depart and waited for the nobles to gather. The nobles let out a strainedugh. Within their group were also a few people who had acted like traitors and snitched on their fellow countrymen to Queen Henrietta. They had managed to get this far by sacrificing their pride, but it all ended up going to waste. ¨C Shiing. The nobles held their swords forward. It didn¡¯t matter what kind of excuses they tried to make here, Queen Henrietta was definitely not going to spare their lives. Only a dirty death awaited them after an uncertain amount of torture and humiliation. They resolved themselves. They were worried about the safety of their families, but they were also proud nobles of Frankia. They were probably resolved as well. ¡°¡­¡­And what if we refuse to have an audience with your queen?¡± ¡°There is one thing that humans cannot refuse in the world.¡± The knights unsheathed their swords in unison. ¡°You must all die here.¡± The battle started. The Frankian nobles resisted valiantly. From the youngsters who had just be the heads of their households to the seventy-year-old man who had lost all of his descendants, everyone who could hold a de charged forward. There was only a single line that they shouted out in unison. ¡°For Frankia!¡± Republicans took shes for royalists. Royalists jumped into the fray in order to save republicans. Even these individuals who used to be archrivals because of their different ideologies were nothing more than allies in their final moments. ¡°For Her Highness the Queen!¡± Swords stabbed into the chests of those nobles as if they wereughing at their sacrifice. A young noble¡¯s intestines came spilling out on the floor as his stomach was impaled by a spear. The boy fell and tried to push his guts back inside of him, but he couldn¡¯t do much before dying. The sounds of screams and groaning mixed together as they dyed the estate red. A certain middle-aged man ran forward urgently with his hands up. He was the traitor who told Brittany about this assembly. ¡°Wait! Miss Nazaire! It is me! Do not kill me!¡± The vice-captain approached him with a pleasant smile. ¡°So you were here. Her Highness will be very pleased with tonight¡¯s results.¡± ¡°T-Thank you very much. Her Highness¡¯ favor is like the rivers and seas.¡± The small number of nobles and their escorts who were still alive became shocked with their blood-soaked faces. ¡°You bastard, Bethune!¡± ¡°May your dirty bloodline be cursed for all eternity!¡± The people who used to be his allies shouted curses at the man. The man flinched for a moment, but he furrowed his brows as if he were displeased. ¡°¡­¡­And how clean must your bloodlines be to sing praises about Frankia day in and day out? Nationality isn¡¯t what¡¯s important to the people. It doesn¡¯t matter who the emperor is either. It doesn¡¯t matter who the ruler is, whether they¡¯re from Frankia, Brittany, or even the Demon Lord army, as long as they rule well!¡± ¡°Shut up, your words are filled with piss!¡± A young family head shouted. ¡°Frankia was the one who raised you, not Brittany! The people of Frankia gave their taxes to you, your Frankian parents raised you, and it was the mountains and streams of Frankia that protected you! How dare a swine who doesn¡¯t recognize his own parents talk about the people!¡± ¡°There is no point in arguing¡­¡­. History is something that changes! For the sake of the people!¡± It was at that moment. The head of the man with a popped blood vessel was severed. The man fell to the ground with wide eyes. His head rolled to the feet of the other nobles. ¡°W-What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The nobles forgot about their anger as they were at a loss for words. The female vice-captain was smiling in front of them. Her sword was drenched in blood. The female knight had personally executed the traitor who should have been Brittany¡¯s ally. ¡°This is why you Franks arecking. Regardless of how right your words are, you must have the strength to back up your words.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Why did you kill that guy who betrayed us?¡± ¡°I do not understand your question.¡± The vice-captain raised her sword and readied herself. ¡°I clearly said that you will ¡®all¡¯ die here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will see if you are still able to talk about that belief of yours after you have be corpses.¡± All of the nobles were ughtered, leaving no survivors. A violent storm swept over their families as well. A portion of Brittany¡¯s army that had left the capital returned and attacked their families. A massive purge was carried out as women, children, and the elderly were killed indiscriminately. ¨C Currently, several nobles have conspired and started an uprising. ¨C ording to the Emperor¡¯s order, these disturbances will be neutralized swiftly. ¨C Due to the severity of their crimes of being moved by our enemy and trying to shake our foundation, they will be executed without any exception. Thus, within the span of only two days, nearly three hundred people were executed. The Brittan army became satisfied after they got rid of their future troubles and advanced without dy. Hundreds of thousands of troops were dispatched along with the Frankian soldiers to face the Demon Lord army. Their pace was as quick as a blitz. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The nobles who survived due to their caution bit their lips. The heads of theirrades were put on disy on the edges of spears in every za of the city. There was even the dead body of a young family head among them. The nobles walked away from the zas. They left and shed tears of blood in a secluded ce within their estates where no one could see them. ¡°I will never forgive you, Brittany!¡± Baron Bercy. Even this man, who humbly referred to himself as a bar, was among the people who survived. He roared in sorrow with his lips that had been torn by his own teeth. ¡°Never! A day where the blood dries on Brittan soil will never arrive! I will devote my life, my blood, everything to this! I will have my revenge!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Things sort of proceeded as expected for the nobles of Frankia. Excluding the smart few who didn¡¯t gather. On another note, the wedding was enjoyable. Although I did have a bad headache throughout it because I probably had a heatstroke. I had to wear a full suit and was under the zing sun way more than necessary since my brother refused to pick me up. I guess there are going to be a lot of weddings now that Covid restrictions have been lessening. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 285: Puppet War (2) Chapter 285: Puppet War (2) * * * Continental Calendar, 1511, Early June. Our troops marched through the summer wind and sessfully assembled in the northwestern region of Frankia. Harvesting was crucial during this point of the year. Even the war-crazed lords avoided rallying their armies during this period. Doing so might ruin their entire summer harvest, after all. It was also during this period that the people would strongly oppose drafts. In other words¡ªit was the perfect time for the Demon Lord army to invade the human world. Different from humans, demons weren¡¯t bound to harvesting. While the humans were heavily restricted when they could go to war, the Demon Lord army was entirely free. This was probably why knights were developed to such heights. They needed a force that could deal with demons at any time and any ce regardless of farming. However, if they raise too many soldiers, they would have fewer people to work the fields. Thus, they could only make small units of elite soldiers¡­¡­. It was an interesting matter. The existence of monsters alone can change the world to this extent. The establishment of knight academies throughout the nation was essential. They had to keep a cavalry unit prepared so that they could quickly dispatch them no matter where the Demon Lord army invaded from. Well, creating powerful fortresses in key points was also a precaution they could take. Would they put their all into cavalry knights? Or would they put their all into fortresses¡­¡­? They both had their pros and cons. The human nations mixed the two options appropriately. Habsburg was a prime example of this. On the other hand, the Kingdom of Brittany focused intensively on raising their knights. Brittany¡¯s capital didn¡¯t even have a rampart. It was destroyed about 500 years ago, but it wasn¡¯t done so by monsters. It was apparently done surprisingly by the people of Brittany themselves. Their reason was bizarre. ¡°Ramparts are something used by cowards.¡± ¡°The people will bezy with bettering themselves because they would believe that they could hide behind the walls, and this will lead them to not fight earnestly on the field and potentially run away instead.¡± ¡°Therefore, ramparts create a straight path to weakening humans as a whole.¡± Their argument was so simple and ignorant that it was shocking. The more shocking thing was the fact that the people of Brittany supported this statement fully! The people personally picked up their pickaxes and broke down their walls. The resulting stone was used to build an academy¡­¡­. Wouldn¡¯t it be fine to say that this was like a type of mental disability? They were like a battle tribe that had muscles for brains. ¡°This is why Brittany are fanatics when ites to their preference for field battles.¡± Laura concluded. She held a war council as soon as the main army caught up with the vanguard. Demon Lords wearing shy uniforms were seated in therge tent. Laura exined her strategy while calmly meeting the gazes of each and every Demon Lord. ¡°Be it both mentally or constitutionally, Brittany¡¯s army specializes solely in field battles. We passed threerge fortresses while making our way through the northwestern region of Frankia, but Brittany did not try to protect them at all. They abandoned them.¡± They probably ordered their vanguard, which consisted of only Franks, to carry out a field battle as well. It was definitely abnormal if you consider the fact that a normal human army would be extremely reluctant to fight monsters on an open field. ¡°At a nce, they seem ignorant and wasteful, but¡­¡­if you weigh their internal stability, they are skilled in mobile warfare. You could call them a mobile defense.¡± ¡°¡­¡­A mobile defense? I¡¯ve never heard of that before.¡± Barbatos tilted her head. On a side note, Barbatos was incredibly weak during the summer. It wasn¡¯t that hot, but it was enough to put beads of sweat on our foreheads. It was troubling since the area around her chest was soaked and that made her look strangely erotic. Mm, I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯ll do it with Barbatos tonight. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Puppet Crowned Prince, Rudolf von Habsburg was holding arge fan. He was courteously fanning Barbatos. Even in death, he was unsightly. The suprememander was fanning a mere general. ¡°A mobile battle is a mobile battle and a defensive battle is a defensive battle. What is a mobile defense supposed to be?¡± ¡°In a normal defensive battle, ¡®blocking the enemy¡¯ is the goal. A good example of this would be defending a fortress. In this case, the siegers and the defenders gradually cut away at each other¡¯s manpower as they wait until a conclusion is reached.¡± Laura spoke in a calm but somewhat merry tone. ¡°The winner is determined ording to which side uses up all their troops¡¯ morale and reserved supplies first. In an extreme situation, it may be possible to lose military strength during a defensive battle, but barely lose any troops.¡± The capturing of Heidelberg was a prime example of this. The fortress had more than ten thousand soldiers, but they only lost a few hundred in battle. The battle was determined by that. The remaining time was spent casually waiting for the enemy to run out of supplies. ¡°On the other hand, the goal of mobile warfare is to annihte the enemy. You try to settle the war as soon as possible by focusing your elite soldiers in one ce and having a pitched battle. Brittany is obsessed with settling things in one go.¡± A prime example of this would be the battle at Saint Denis ins. The battle where I was defeated. ¡°Therefore, Brittany will be extremely prudent when ites to making sure pitched battles ur when and where they want.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Our strategy will be established ording to this.¡± Laura smiled slightly. ¡°As you all know, a wide-scale purge was carried out in Parisiorum. Their public sentiment within Parisiorum must be turbulent right now. From Queen Henrietta¡¯s perspective, she must be worried about a potential rebellion. She most likely will not pull her troops away that far in case something were to happen. Therefore.¡± The outskirts of Parisiorum. It was a wide enough ins area where cavalrymen could easily maneuver. ¡°They will pick a battlefield that satisfies conditions such as these. From Brittany¡¯s perspective, fortresses have no value in protecting. Fortresses are often built on hills with narrow pathways, after all.¡± Laura pointed at the map with her baton. ¡°Therefore, we must take advantage of Brittany¡¯s strategy to its fullest.¡± * * * ¡°We will set up camp with the Marne River behind us.¡± Queen Henrietta dered. Marne was the river that flowed directly east of Parisiorum. The generals looked confused as they asked back. ¡°Your Highness, Marne River is much too close to Parisiorum. The enemy will sweep through the nation getting to us, so would it not be better to advance a little further?¡± ¡°No. We may have purged the group hostile to us, but there must still be a fair number of rats in hiding.¡± Queen Henrietta shook her head firmly. ¡°Our public opinion is not good at the moment because we purged men and women of all ages. If these rats start inciting people now, then a rebellion will undoubtedly form. The further we go from Parisiorum, the more likely a rebellion will ur.¡± ¡°I see. That makes sense.¡± The generals nodded. However, there was still something they were curious about. ¡°But why are we putting the river behind us? This goes against fundamental military tactics¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is to lure the enemy in.¡± Queen Henrietta smiled. ¡°From the enemy¡¯s perspective, we will appear as if our escape route is blocked. They will think that they can corner us with little effort. If you consider the Demon Lord army which prefers field battles over sieges, they will definitely engage us inbat.¡± Traditionally, humankind would respond with a defensive battle whenever the Demon Lord army invaded. This was the norm. Queen Henrietta was pointing this fact out. ¡°They might think that it is a relief that we are not holing up inside Parisiorum. Men, we will end the Demon Lord army in a single battle.¡± She wasn¡¯t present in the meeting, but Brittany was hiding Demon Lord Agares. Queen Henrietta knew how powerful this Demon Lord was. She was burning with a desire for revenge and had mentioned several times that she would dly cooperate if it meant she could kill Barbatos. It will be a difficult battle; however, Henrietta didn¡¯t intend to avoid it simply because the result wasn¡¯t guaranteed. That was Brittany¡¯s confidence. * * * Just as Laura had confidently predicted, Brittany didn¡¯te out to face us. Thanks to this, we were able to march through Frankia rather freely. We reached Marne River without much resistance. It was almost like we hade out on a pic. Nheless, everyone knew that this was the quiet before the storm. Barbatos red at the other side of the ins. ¡°Hey, would you look at that? They have their backs against a dead end.¡± Brittany¡¯s army had set up their encampment in front of a river. Including Barbatos, the executives of our army were carefully observing the enemy¡¯s camp from atop their horses. They had about thirty thousand to forty thousand troops. Their numbers were far lower than ours, but the problem was their knights. There were almost twenty knight banners fluttering in the wind. They probably scraped together every single knight corp that exists in the country. There was probably nothing more terrifying than this for the Demon Lord army. This was probably how infantrymen felt when they stared at the endless number of trenches before them during World War I. Barbatos cackled. ¡°Look look. Doesn¡¯t this mean that they n to fight to the death here? This Henrietta girl has simr tastes as me. Hey, Zepar. Look, it¡¯s the Green Rose Knights. You should give them a wave.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Please do not tease me, Your Excellency.¡± General Zepar groaned, which was a rare sight to behold. General Zepar was the unique tactician who responded to a knight charge with an ogre charge, and it was the Green Rose Knights that had crushed his ogres at the time. I wonder if it was because he was seeing the cause of his trauma, but General Zepar has had a grim look on his face since earlier. Laura spoke calmly. ¡°They got rid of their retreat path, so they will fight with the resolve to die. Going to them would not be a wise n. Let us first assess the situation with time.¡± We set up our encampment a fair distance away from the enemy¡¯s. It was at this point that Laura strongly ordered us to pretend as if we were preparing for a decisive battle. We positioned our ogres at the front to make it seem like we were going to charge with them soon. Our Demon Lord gs were also on full disy as they fluttered splendidly in the wind. However, four days, a week, and then half a month went by uneventfully. Eventually, the other side seemed to get impatient as they sent us a letter. The letter was written by Queen Henrietta herself and it was filled with ridiculing words toward Rudolf von Habsburg and the Demon Lords. She wanted to have a decisive battle, iming that nothing good woulde from dragging the war on like this for either side. Laura sent a simple response. ¡°We have no desire to learn how to go to war from you. Worry about your own army.¡± An outrageous war of nerves continued. Both armies set up their wooden fences and waited for the other army to attack first. Brittany asionally sent mounted archers, but there was no way I was going to get done in by the same tactic twice. I prepared a lot of javelin spears for this sake. We responded with ease by having our orcs throw the javelins. Did they realize we had thoroughly fortified our base? They didn¡¯t actively go on the offensive either. Small skirmishes that were no different from reconnaissance missions kept happening endlessly. ¡°How long are we going to stay like this, Miss Deputy Commander¡± ¡°Lauraaa. Just once, huh? Let me charge them just once.¡± Our side was also getting impatient. Brother Beleth and Sitri kept pleading to let them charge. The other aggressive Demon Lords gradually started toin as well. Regardless, every time they did, Laura would give them an immediate response with a vague smile on her face. ¡°We cannot.¡± Brother Beleth and Sitri looked like they wanted to cry as they turned to look at Barbatos and Paimon respectively, but¡­¡­. ¡°We will do as Lauramands.¡± ¡°Sorry, but please listen to the Deputy Commander, Sitri.¡± There was no way that the legionmanders would agree with them when they knew how important the right ofmand was. In the end, the hotheaded Demon Lords had to hold theirints in their chests and spend their time helplessly. Half a month went by like this. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Time for set up before the big battle. Laura really has grown a lot, huh? She¡¯s able to order around Demon Lords now. They grow up so fast. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 286: Puppet War (3) Chapter 286: Puppet War (3) * * * ¡°They have not moved at all since facing each other?¡± Elizabeth furrowed her brows. Fifteen days had passed since both armies had positioned themselves on opposite sides of the vast ins. The human army and the Demon Lord army¡ªthe public referred to them as the Kingdom and the Empire, but Elizabeth refused those terms¡ªhad both been moving with extreme caution. Henrietta shrugged from her side of the crystal ball. ¡°Yeah. Seriously, I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re nning.¡± It wasn¡¯t her fault that the enemy wasn¡¯t moving. That was the feeling she was getting. ¡°You still need the other hand if you want to p. I tried sending them a letter and requesting a duel, but they refuse toe out. Seriously, I came here to have a big pitched battle, but it feels like a siege.¡± ¡°Hmm. How bizarre. There is nothing for the Demon Lord army to gain by stalling¡­¡­.¡± Normally, the attackers would be at a disadvantage if a war gets prolonged. Their supply line would get stretched out because they would have to traverse deeply into foreign territory. Protecting a long and narrow supply line isn¡¯t an easy task. Of course, there was an easy solution for this. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes as she asked just in case. ¡°Are they piging?¡± Elizabeth had her doubts even as she asked this. Dantalian was someone who obsessed over justifications more than anyone else. It was hard to imagine him piging indiscriminately when this was a crucial time for wheat harvesting. People would start to favor Henrietta more if they did something like that. Henrietta may have been cruel to nobles and republicans, but she was benevolent to the people. In other words, the people who naively believed that the Goddesses had given the Emperor a wife. She didn¡¯t enact exorbitant taxes on them. Sure enough, Henrietta shook her head. ¡°No, they haven¡¯t. Instead, they are asking for something like a safety fee. I heard they promised to not pige them if they hand over ten percent of their harvest.¡± ¡°I see. Ten percent of their harvest, is it?¡± That was a fair amount. When you consider that thirty percent of the provisions they reserve for trade get piged from them as taxes, having the safety of several towns and cities guaranteed with only ten percent was incredibly generous. It probably wasn¡¯t just an off-handed promise either. They must be keeping it strictly. As expected, Dantalian was aiming for the support of the people. ¡°¡­¡­That makes things stranger. Henrietta, do not tell me that you are quietly letting them seize that wheat.¡± ¡°Of course not. What do you take me for?¡± Queen Henrietta pouted. ¡°I made a detached unit with knights and I¡¯m taking from them whenever I see their supply line. They seemed to have made their routeplicated to prevent this, but they¡¯re outsiders. They don¡¯t know the terrain as well as we do.¡± That¡¯s right. Their supplies were the issue. Queen Henrietta didn¡¯t cut her escape route off simply to raise her troops¡¯ morale. She learned how the vicemander of the Demon Lord army had captured Heidelberg. The girl had captured the river and cut off the fortress¡¯ line of supply. Thus, she decided to put the river behind her so that the enemy couldn¡¯t capture it in the first ce. This was Henrietta¡¯s countermeasure. Being against a river increased their strategic burden, but it easily solved Brittany¡¯s supply problem. A cargo vessel simply had to flow down the river and deliver their provisions. On the other hand, the Demon Lord army was struggling to obtain supplies. Not only did they restrict themselves from piging in order to maintain their just cause, but to make matters worse, their supplies were being stolen by Brittany¡¯s detached unit because they didn¡¯t know the terrain that well. ¡°This is why I¡¯m consulting you, Elize. I told you, didn¡¯t I? If that vicemander is abnormal, then why haven¡¯t they moved yet?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± As time passed, Brittany¡¯s army gradually gained more of an advantage. There was no way the Demon Lord army wasn¡¯t aware of this. Elizabeth muttered. ¡°¡­¡­What about the possibility of them trying to lure you into attacking them rashly because of a gloomy doubt?¡± ¡°Ah. I thought about that as well.¡± Henrietta scowled as if she were displeased. ¡°They have Dantalian, right? And Barbatos too. Mmm, how should I say it?¡± ¡°A trick like that is far below people like them¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yup. That didn¡¯t seem right.¡± The two rulers fell into deep thought. They couldn¡¯t figure out the other party¡¯s intent right away. Elizabeth let out a sigh. ¡°I do not know. I am sorry for being a poor consulting partner.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Honestly, if you figured out something that I couldn¡¯t, then I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep for two days because of my pride.¡± Henrietta grinned. She was being considerate. It was this side of Henrietta that Elizabeth liked. ¡°This is just my opinion, but there is a chance that Dantalian made a secret alliance with the nobles of Frankia. They might be nning to start a rebellion in Parisiorum while the Demon Lord army is invading.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They probably intend to conquer both the outside and the inside at the same time in order to defeat us. But their n was messed up because I purged all of those nobles. They basically became a chicken without a head. The Demon Lord army might be waiting to make a new n because they aren¡¯t able to do this or that.¡± It was a reasonable guess. No, no other answer came to mind when trying to exin the Demon Lord army¡¯s irrational stance. ¡°¡­¡­That might be the case.¡± This didn¡¯t clear things up in Elizabeth¡¯s head. If that assumption was right, then that would mean that Dantalian had left the sess factor of his npletely in the hands of the Frankian nobles. Would Dantalian have truly done something like that? Elizabeth suppressed her doubt as she spoke. ¡°In any case, I will quickly join up with you.¡± On the outside, people believe that Elizabeth had left to do an inspection on the general public. In truth, she had created a knight unit under the noses of her people by scraping together small portions of the knights all throughout her nation. It was a detached force that consisted solely of 1,500 cavalrymen. 1,500 cavalrymen may not be much in a war between tens of thousands of soldiers; nheless, as it was still better than nothing, Elizabeth promised to personally lead the detached unit in order to help Henrietta even a little bit. Elizabeth intended to do a surprise assault on the enemy¡¯s backline while they were busy fighting Henrietta. The enemy will undoubtedly be surprised by the sudden assault. There was nothing more dreadful than chaos erupting in one¡¯s backline during a battle. It took them some time to disguise themselves with Brittany¡¯s g and armor. They finally finished their preparations today. No one could know that the Habsburg Republic had gotten involved in this war. ¡°Mhm, all right. The battle might start at any moment, after all. I¡¯ll be in your care.¡± ¡°Indeed. I will be careful not to bete.¡± As long as they didn¡¯t know when the battle was going to begin, they had to hurry as much as possible. Elizabeth ended the transmission and went to the front of her cavalry unit. * * * ¡°Are they only building fences today as well?¡± ¡°Yes. The enemy forces are currently procuring lumber from the forest nearby.¡± Henrietta let out a sigh after receiving the scout¡¯s report. She told her friend that the fight could start at any moment, but even Henrietta doubted it. It seemed like the Demon Lord army intended to turn the open warfare into a siege. Every day, their watchtowers and wooden fences would increase in number. ¡°They started to create a hill as well.¡± ¡°Do they intend to fight a year-long war? At some point, they will not be able to maintain their numbers. How strange.¡± Saintess Longwy furrowed her brows. The nearby generals nodded in agreement with the Saintess. There¡¯s a limit to how well the enemy can maintain theirrge army of 50,000 if they aren¡¯t able to maintain their supply line in optimal condition. They will have to resort to piging or something and split their army into smaller divisions in order to procure provisions. That was the day Brittany would be victorious. Even though there was nothing to gain by stalling for time, the enemy troops were wasting no effort in fortifying their defenses as if they were expecting a prolonged battle. Why were they doing this¡­¡­? In the end, Henrietta¡¯s words to her friend turned out to not be a lie. It was on that night that Henrietta woke up due to the urgent voice of her general. ¡°Your Highness! The enemy has begun to cross the river!¡± Henrietta pushed herself up with a hazy head. She rubbed her eyes as she asked back. ¡°¡­¡­Cross the river? What are you talking about.¡± ¡°It was an urgent message from a scout. Your Highness, the enemy is utilizing floating bridges and rafts to cross the Marne River.¡± Henrietta¡¯s mind instantly became clear. The unanswerable questions she had until now were answered in an instant. Henrietta stood up in her sleepwear and shouted. ¡°Damn it, they never intended to fight in the first ce!¡± Henrietta quickly ran out while only wearing a cloak over her naked body. Her servants panicked and begged for her to at least put on her armor, but Queen Henrietta didn¡¯t even respond to them. Her body would¡¯ve been in to see if it were daytime, but it was currently night. Queen Henrietta nced up at the sky. The night sky was filled with clouds. ¡°There is no moonlight either. They were aiming for this.¡± Henrietta entered the tent meant for strategy meetings. Excluding a couple of generals, everyone was already present. Henrietta red at the generals before they could get up and salute her. It was her way of telling them to skip needless formalities. Queen Henrietta sat in the head seat. ¡°Report.¡± ¡°Yes. One of the scouts reported that they saw enemy troops crossing the Marne River. It was dark, so they could not see them clearly, but they said there were more than 30,000 soldiers.¡± ¡°Chances of it being a trick?¡± ¡°Almost none. However, we sent another scout just to be sure.¡± A mana stone was shining brightly inside of the tent. The Queen¡¯s naked body could be seen between the gaps of her cape, but there wasn¡¯t a single general who was concerned about something like that. The generals of Brittany knew instinctively that they would be engaging inbat soon. Queen Henrietta let out a snort. ¡°Your ruler will be giving you your orders, so there is no need for a meeting. Dispatch out troops right away. We must attack them before they manage to cross the riverpletely.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± The generals got up and left the tent. Saintess Longwy spoke in a worried tone as she remained at the Queen¡¯s side. ¡°Your Highness, what do you think their intentions are?¡± ¡°Building fences and watchtowers was all a trick. They were actually building bridges and rafts. Tsk, I didn¡¯t think they would avoid a final sh.¡± The servants moved as fast as they could to bring Henrietta¡¯s armor and put it on her. Henrietta was furrowing her brows the entire time. ¡°Their goal isn¡¯t to fight us. It¡¯s to capture Parisiorum. Furbishing their side so they looked like they were going to carry out a defense battle was all a deception tactic.¡± ¡°Parisiorum¡­¡­.¡± Saintess Longwy still looked somewhat confused. ¡°But what could they gain there?¡± ¡°They probably intend to free the Empress Dowager and make her an ally. There are probably remnant patriots of Frankia in Parisiorum still. They most likely made arrangements with the Demon Lord army to open the gates for them.¡± Saintess Longwy finally understood. ¡°They intend to threaten us politically and not with a war!¡± ¡°Indeed. War is nothing more than a means to an end. I had my doubts about whether they actually intended to fight or not.¡± Henrietta scowled. ¡°As I thought, Dantalian is leading the army more than their vicemander. This is a tactic that fits him perfectly. Regardless, they underestimated our scouts.¡± The Queen received her sword from a servant. She gripped the handle of her sword tightly. ¡°They are at their weakest now since they haven¡¯t finished crossing the river yet. Let¡¯s crush the troops that haven¡¯t crossed yet. Longwy, let us depart. Follow me!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Hm, looking at the chapters again, this Puppet War segment is fairly longer than most other segments. I guess a lot is going to happen during this war. We¡¯ll just have to wait and see. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 287: Puppet War (4) Chapter 287: Puppet War (4) The situation was serious. Henrietta had spoken confidently in front of her generals, but she was feeling impatient on the inside. Arge army is at its weakest when crossing a river. Even a nine-year-old child knows this much. Despite this, the enemy started to cross the river¡­¡­. They weren¡¯t idiots either. There was definitely a reason for this that made it worth the risk. Therefore¡­¡­. ¡®They¡¯ve either fortified themselves enough or this is a trick.¡¯ Henrietta walked out of the tent and mounted her horse. The camp was already filled with the sound of shouting. Soldiers were systematically being ordered into formation by the officers even though it was the dead of night. ¡°Do not fear the night! The mages will light your path and yourrades! Do not get too close to yourrades, but do not stay too far apart! Use these words as amp to find your way through the night!¡± Henrietta personally went around the camp to hype up the soldiers. Every time she did, the soldiers would either take their helmets off and shake them or wave their torches to cheer their queen whom they were proud of. ¡°Glory to Her Highness Henrietta!¡± ¡°O Goddess, please protect the Queen!¡± The soldiers¡¯ morale was high even though they were about to embark on a night battle. Queen Henrietta was their hero. She was the ruler who managed to capture the Empire of Frankia, the nation that had been their rival for hundreds of years! The captain of the royal guards approached on horseback and gave his report. ¡°The first and second squads are in position, Your Highness. They can depart at a moment¡¯s notice.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Henrietta gave a satisfied nod. Not much time had passed since the generals left after receiving her order. You could probably call this instantaneous. The Queen didn¡¯t let her impatience show on her face as she went to the front of the troops. ¡°I will be omitting any speeches. Let us depart immediately.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. Bugler, inform the others to depart!¡± The captain shouted at the bugler. ¨C Ooooooo. The sound of the bugler¡¯s horn echoed gloomily throughout the night sky. The sound of one horn spread throughout the area. More horns joined in as if they had been awoken by the first horn. A small number of soldiers were left behind to defend the base while the rest departed. ¡®If their defenses are formidable while they are crossing the river, then¡­¡­that would mean they are genuinely trying to cross the river. Their goal would be to avoid us and enter Parisiorum.¡¯ Henrietta thought to herself as she tied her hair into a ponytail. She was at the front of her troops along with her royal guards. ¡®The issue is if this is an enemy ploy.¡¯ In this scenario, it would mean that the Demon Lord army had set up an ambush somewhere. They would wait for the moment Henrietta¡¯s troops attacked the soldiers crossing the river. The enemy soldiers lying in wait would thene out and pincer her soldiers. Were they crossing the river or setting up an ambush? Both options were very possible¡­¡­. A person approached and came right up to Henrietta¡¯s side. This individual was riding a red wolf and not a warhorse. ¡°Sheesh. What¡¯s with the ruckus in the middle of the night?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Agares.¡± ¡°Children should sleep at night if they want to grow. Her lifestyle itself is an issue. There¡¯s a reason why that brat Barbatos is a pipsqueak.¡± It was Demon Lord Agares. She let out arge yawn as she muttered. ¡°Keep an eye on the sky as well. A Demon Lord named Gamigin has a bunch of wyverns.¡± ¡°The sky¡­¡­. I see. They could also attack from the sky as well.¡± Henrietta furrowed her brows. Their vision was already limited because it was night, but adding a wyvern assault on top of this was dreadful to even imagine. Rather than any actual losses, the panic of her soldiers would be a bigger issue. Once she fell into deep thought about how she was going to deal with them, Agares offered her a simple solution. ¡°Order your mages to cast a light spell to blind the wyverns if they doe.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± The mages were immediately notified of this countermeasure. Henrietta spoke to Agares. ¡°Agares, do you think they¡¯ve set up an ambush?¡± ¡°I have never thought about the enemy¡¯s intentions when I went to battle.¡± It was an arrogant answer, but Henrietta understood. When Agares was chased out of Habsburg and sought asylum here, Queen Henrietta went on an excursion to verify Agares¡¯ skills. After witnessing Agares wipe out a monster tribe like taking candy from a baby, Henrietta acknowledged her strength. Afterward, Agares constantly remained as Henrietta¡¯s guest. Queen Henrietta nodded. ¡®Agares could easily face an army by herself.¡¯ Even if the enemy had set up an ambush, there was no need to worry too much about it. It should be fine to leave any ambushes to Agares. No, if you think about it, it is highly unlikely that the enemy would resort to ambushes when Henrietta has Agares on her side. Hiding a portion of your troops would mean splitting your army in half. Splitting your troops in front of Agares was no different frommitting suicide. Are they actually trying to cross the river, then¡­¡­? ¡°Your Highness! I have returned with my report!¡± The cavalry regiment that went out to scout had returned. ¡°The enemy troops are in the middle of crossing the Marne River!¡± Queen Henrietta clicked her tongue. She already knew that. She didn¡¯t send out another scout to hear the same thing twice. ¡°Give me the exact number of their troops!¡± ¡°Yes. Their numbers exceed forty thousand, Your Highness!¡± The air became somewhat dreary the moment everyone heard that forty thousand soldiers were gathered in front of them. Brittany¡¯s army was filled with the most elite soldiers, but they weren¡¯t so desensitized that they wouldn¡¯t feel nervous before a huge army. ¡°Their floating bridge isplete and they have already transferred some of their troops on rafts. Approximately five thousand have made it to the other side.¡± ¡°Hm. Then there are about thirty-five thousand left on this side.¡± ¡°That is correct, Your Highness!¡± With this, Henrietta was certain now. The enemy¡¯s goal is to cross the river. Roughly five thousand of their troops had crossed the river already. They probably don¡¯t have the elbow room to also set up an ambush. Even if they did set up an ambush, the number wouldn¡¯t exceed ten thousand and that wouldn¡¯t be enough to be a threat to them. ¡°Men, pick up the pace!¡± As long as they have the countermeasure known as Agares, it should be fine for them to move with reckless haste. The Queen ordered her men to go faster aftering to that conclusion. It didn¡¯t take long before they could see the enemy forces. There were numerous torches lighting up their encampment. Just as the scout had reported, their floating bridge wasplete. Two more floating bridges were also being built. Trolls that were as tall as hills were in the water and setting up the bridge. ¡°The enemy is split with the river between them. Do not miss this opportunity and tear them apart!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± The generals responded strongly. Queen Henrietta thought about her friend who had yet to enter Frankia. Her friend had set aside her role as a leader and wasing to help her, but it seems her friend¡¯s efforts were about to be in vain. She probably won¡¯t be able to participate in the battle. ¨C Ooooooo. Brittany¡¯s horns rang out once more. Let¡¯s give Dantalian¡¯s head to her as a gift, Henrietta thought to herself. We¡¯ll drink wine all night. It will be the greatest drinking party of all time. She was going to have to shed some sweat and blood here in order to aplish this¡­¡­. * * * The Demon Lord army has started to cross the river. This was everything Elizabeth was told before the light from the magic orb blinked off. ¡°Oh? This is an anti-magic spell.¡± The mage who was listening next to Elizabeth tilted their head. The mage was Elizabeth¡¯s first secretary and a Six-Circle mage. Yuria, a half-elf, was skilled in magic. ¡°To be able to block a spelling all the way here, it must mean a rather expansive anti-magic spell had been cast¡­¡­. How strange. It would be impossible to do something like this by normal means unless you use about a hundred mages.¡± ¡°Are you saying the Demon Lord army brought hundreds of mages?¡± Elizabeth rubbed her aching head. She was now fully awake after hearing the urgent message. It might have been the aftereffect of her nightmare, but her head felt like it was being squeezed from every side. Yuria shook her head. ¡°No, it is difficult to imagine that they would resort to such an ignorant method. The most effective way to block anymunication spells¡­¡­would be to cast an anti-magic spell from the air. They must be on a griffin or a wyvern.¡± ¡°They put mages in the air, is it? A method that befits demons¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth smiled bitterly. On a national level, there have been many instances where people seeded in raising griffins or wyverns, but they were stillcking. In the end, they couldn¡¯t be used against the Demon Lord army. Monsters obey Demon Lords, after all. ¡°Who would have imagined the fight would actually happen right away. We should have departed sooner.¡± ¡°We had to deceive the nobles and gather thousands of soldiers without our people noticing. We did the best that we could.¡± ¡°The best effort does not guarantee the best result¡­¡­. This is unfortunate.¡± Currently, the detached force led by Elizabeth had arrived at the border between Habsburg and Frankia. They had set up their camp and gone to sleep because it waste in the night. Elizabeth and Yuria had awoken because of the message that arrived in the middle of the night. ¡°Your Excellency, why do you think the Demon Lord army is crossing Marne River?¡± ¡°Look at the map.¡± Elizabeth pointed at the map on the table. A detailed depiction of the terrain around Parisiorum was drawn on it. ¡°If they cross Marne River and march straight, they would immediately arrive at Parisiorum. They would have to also cross Sequana River, but if they have already prepared a floating bridge and rafts, then that should be easy enough to cross. On the other hand, Henrietta does not have even a raft to cross the river with¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth trailed her finger along the river. Her finger soon stopped at Parisiorum, the capital of Frankia. ¡°Henrietta has no way of intercepting them. She would have no choice but to watch the Demon Lord army slowly take over Parisiorum from the other side of the river. They would only have two options then. They would have to either fight on the streets of Parisiorum or give up on the capital.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­I see. It would be incredibly unpleasant for cavalry knights to fight on the streets of a city.¡± Knights are able to go all out when on horseback. Fighting on the streets wouldpletely ruin their advantage as knights. Elizabeth nodded. ¡°The southern walls of Parisiorum are not as sturdy as their northern walls. It would be awkward for the enemy to defend against a siege. However, it would not be that much of an issue for Henrietta. She would also have the leeway to transport the Emperor and Empress Dowager somewhere else, so if she forces them into pitched battle again¡­¡­.¡± A certain thought went through Elizabeth¡¯s head at that moment. Elizabeth¡¯s eyes slowly widened. Her eyes quickly scanned the top portion of the map. The sudden change of mood made Yuria uneasy as she stared at the consul. Elizabeth started to murmur between her lips. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. No¡­¡­but how¡­¡­.¡± How much time had passed? Elizabeth murmured without removing her eyes from the map. ¡°¡­¡­Yuria, Brittany is receiving their supplies via transport ships, right?¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± ¡°Where do you think the ships are getting their supplies from?¡± Yuria skimmed through her memory. Her knowledge didn¡¯t go that far either. ¡°I apologize. They never shared this information with us.¡± ¡°Would Henrietta have left her supplies in Parisiorum where there are potential rebels still lying in wait?¡± ¡°¡­¡­No. That is unlikely. There is a chance those potential rebels could set their supplies on fire.¡± Elizabeth nodded. Her eyes met Yuria¡¯s. ¡°In that case, their warehouse must have been built somewhere near the river that is not in Parisiorum. They did not expect the enemy to cross the river, so they probably built it along the south side of the river and not the north.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s gaze became sharp. ¡°The Demon Lord army has crossed the river. If the stronghold with Brittany¡¯s supplies is located somewhere in the south, then¡­¡­.¡± Yuria¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°The provisions! The enemy¡¯s goal is to burn their provisions, Your Excellency!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We¡¯re now finally getting glimpses of Laura¡¯s n. Or rather, a third party that¡¯s unable to get involved is piecing things together. Poor overconfident Henrietta. On another note, it¡¯s been a weird couple of days. I¡¯m apparently going to my brother¡¯s wedding again next weekend? They got signed up for a Korean TV program for couples that had disappointing weddings because of Covid, so they¡¯re doing their wedding again. It¡¯s going to be broadcasted on TV, so uh, that¡¯s something. I don¡¯t exactly feelfortable about it, though, but I have to go since I¡¯m a direct rtive. I¡¯m not looking forward to it. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 288: Puppet War (5) Chapter 288: Puppet War (5) ¡°Nothing is certain yet. There is no guarantee that their provisions are actually south of the river. The location of their supply warehouse must also be treated as a secret within their army. It is highly unlikely that the Demon Lord army was able to learn of its location.¡± Elizabeth¡¯splexion went dark. ¡°¡­¡­Nheless, if the Demon Lord army was somehow able to get their hands on this information, it would be bad. The Demon Lord army would undoubtedly pretend to march to Parisiorum. Henrietta is in a situation where she cannot lose the Empress Dowager or the Emperor. I am certain that she will run to Parisiorum in order to check on them.¡± The worst-case scenario would be if the supplies are located in the same direction as Parisiorum. It would inevitably be difficult to figure out where the enemy is going. However, Elizabeth didn¡¯t go out of her way to mention this worst-case scenario. ¡°If they lose their supplies, then Henrietta would have no choice but to keep retreating. She would be forced to pige. The hatred towards Brittany within Frankia would instantly get amplified. No, this might be what Dantalian is aiming for¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, is Her Highness Henrietta not aware that her supplies might be in danger?¡± Yuria spoke nervously. ¡°I do not think that she would bepletely unaware.¡± Elizabeth let out a sigh. ¡°The issue is the fact that there is no way of knowing the Demon Lord army¡¯s intent. They might actually be aiming for Parisiorum. Is Parisiorum where Brittany¡¯s provisions are? As long as nothing is certain, Henrietta has no other choice but to focus her army in one ce¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth ordered for the magic orb to be restored just in case. Yuria worked hard in order to get through the anti-magic spell. After about twenty minutes, Yuria spoke up in a defeated voice. ¡°Your Excellency, I apologize, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It cannot be restored?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Elizabeth let out a deeper sigh. Realizing the enemy¡¯s intentte could eventually lead to a critical blow. Noticing things sooner could lead to an entirely different conclusion. However, it was impossible for Elizabeth to give Henrietta the information she had. ¡°It seems that a Seven Circle, no, an Eight Circle mage had cast the anti-magic spell. It is not something that I¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What if we utilize all of the mages at our disposal?¡± ¡°I apologize, but this is at a level where even that would not be enough. It is not only one high-ranking mage casting the spell. It seems like more than thirty demons are also supporting the spell.¡± Elizabeth was keenly aware of the difference between human and demon mages. Opposite to knights, there aren¡¯t a lot of ways to raise mages. This was because they had to rely on their own talents to an excessive degree. To make matters worse, the Mage Tower which already had only a few mages started to cross over to the northern region of Habsburg for some reason. Thanks to this, Habsburg¡¯s magic potential had decreased greatly. Consul Elizabeth let out a long groan. ¡°No matter how much we rush, it will take us more than five days to reach Parisiorum. The fight will have concluded one way or another by that point. Yuria, there is nothing we can do but wish our friend good luck¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will raise our marching pace as much as possible.¡± They could get there two days faster if they continuously replenish the stamina of their horses with magic. So about three to four days. Elizabeth couldn¡¯t help but feel like she was grabbing at straws as she nodded her head¡­¡­. * * * ¡°They are attacking, Deputy Commander.¡± ¡°Lord, do you enjoy teasing this youngdy?¡± Laura pouted. She looked like an adorable hamster. ¡°Of course. Teasing you is the most enjoyable thing in the world.¡± ¡°Seriously¡­¡­.¡± Laura grumbled. If there were other people around us, then I would¡¯ve advised her to maintain her dignity as the deputymander, but all of the corpsmanders had returned to their armies because of the uing battle. Laura and I were the only ones in the tent. There were goblin messengers on standby, but it should be fine to ignore them. Normally, we would¡¯ve maintained ourms through crystal balls, but there was currently a wide-scalemunications-jamming spell being cast. Both the enemy and our allies couldn¡¯t rely on magically transmitted messages. The reason we did this was to cause confusion. People tend to be anxious when they realize they have lost contact with the people on the outside. It would put an even bigger mental strain if the person in question is a ruler who is responsible for the fate of a nation and the lives of thirty-thousand soldiers. I spoke as I watched Brittany¡¯s army approach quickly from our front. ¡°Seeing their torches, it seems they brought their entire army. Should I say that she¡¯s impressive or that she¡¯s bold? We should¡¯ve prepared an ambush if we knew it was going to be like this.¡± ¡°Lord, you must be joking. Even if we made a few soldiers lie in wait, they would get wiped out by Demon Lord Agares. They would not even be able to stall for time.¡± ¡°What if the ambush had more than ten-thousand soldiers?¡± ¡°Then we would have to receive Brittany¡¯s cavalry charge with ten-thousand fewer soldiers. If I remember correctly, Your Lordship got wiped out by a cavalry far smaller than this. Are you confident we can do that?¡± I shrugged. I can¡¯t win against Laura. ¡°I know. We have no other choice but to leave it to Barbatos now.¡± ¡°Her Excellency is important, but Bar Bercy¡¯s role is also crucial. It would be nice if he moved at the right time.¡± Our army hadn¡¯t moved for half a month. However, we were at our busiest even if our army wasn¡¯t moving. This was what Laura said after she saw that Brittany had set up their camp with their backs against the river. ¡®We will not fight.¡¯ What does it mean to have one¡¯s retreat cut off? It means they¡¯re determined to fight us no matter what. Laura decided to use their passion for a short-term battle against them as soon as she realized this. She first searched for where Brittany¡¯s provision warehouse was located. We had already confirmed that it wasn¡¯t in Parisiorum. This was thanks to the nobles of Frankia leaking information to us consistently. Their warehouse wasn¡¯t in Parisiorum. In that case, it means that it was in one of the fortresses near the capital¡­¡­. The problem was the fact that there were 17 small andrge fortresses near Parisiorum. It would be irrational to try and conquer all of those fortresses. After a day, Laura spoke after examining the enemy¡¯s camp. ¡®They are transporting their supplies by boats. Their warehouse is located on the riverside. Lord, how many of the fortresses are attached to the river?¡¯ ¡®Six. Mm, that definitely lowers the number.¡¯ I gave a satisfied smile, but Laura furrowed her brows. ¡®Six is still too many. Narrow it down to the fortresses on the south side of the river and not the north.¡¯ ¡®If we do that, then we are left with four¡­¡­. Why the south side?¡¯ Laura gave an immediate response. ¡®Our army attacked from the north side of Habsburg. Thus, the only route we could take was from the north. If it were Your Lordship, would you leave your supplies on the side where the enemy ising from? Or would you put it on the opposite side?¡¯ It was just as she said. The potential locations had shrunk from seventeen to four in an instant. I asked Vassago to send out water spirits. We were going to make them follow the ships and trace them back to their warehouse. However, Queen Henrietta was meticulous. The ships didn¡¯t anchor at only one ce. The ships would disembark from the north fortress and go all the way down to the south fortress while anchoring at every fortress in between. They hid everything in crates to make it difficult for us to tell what they were. Only one of the four fortresses was probably the real source of their provisions. I thought that the only choice we had left was to confirm it ourselves, so I offered a suggestion. ¡®Let¡¯s try sending in spirits to attack them.¡¯ Laura shook her head. ¡®We cannot. If an uproar urs, then the enemy will realize that we are searching for their provisions. They must not know of our intentions until the very end. Hm. You truly have no talent in warfare, Lord.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­If we can¡¯t check them ourselves, then how will we figure it out? Are you going to just guess?¡¯ ¡®Use your imagination, Lord.¡¯ Laura smiled. It was a sinister smile like that of a viin. ¡®Is there a reason for us to figure it out ourselves?¡¯ ¡®Pardon?¡¯ ¡®Brittany will reveal the location of their provisions on their own.¡¯ What are you talking about? Once I asked her that quizzically, Laura responded with confidence that I would understand if I just waited and watched. Time went by. During that time, we were getting harassed by Brittany¡¯s detached unit. The northeastern region of Frankia was sending us provisions under the pretext of a ¡®safety tax¡¯, but the enemy was able to steal those supplies from us every now and then since we were unfamiliar with the terrain. Their detached unit consisted solely of knights, so attaching some escorts to those supplies would have been pointless. There was a limit to how long we could endure with the provisions we had brought on our own. Despite this, Laura ordered our troops to procure lumber from the forest and we started to fortify our defenses with that lumber. It clearly seemed like we were preparing for a long-term battle. In the end, Brother Beleth couldn¡¯t hold back any longer as he exploded. ¡®Oi, Miss Deputy Commander.¡¯ Brother Beleth got up during a meeting. Once everyone turned to face him, Brother Beleth red at Laura as he spoke. ¡®You may be Her Excellency Barbatos¡¯ and Dantalian¡¯s lover, but I have to say my piece. Are you sane?¡¯ Laura received thement with a t gaze as she responded. ¡®I am rather proud of my ability to be sane at all times, General Beleth.¡¯ ¡®Hah. Those brats from Brittany have been stealing from our supplies. I won¡¯t stop you from dragging this out into a prolonged battle, but we can¡¯t fight with nothing to eat, you know?¡¯ Brother Beleth roared. He was actually the most against letting a human be themander, and if it weren¡¯t for Barbatos, he would have revolted a long time ago. ¡®We should increase the number of guards, or, if that doesn¡¯t work, then we should crush the enemy before we¡¯re wrung dry. Despite all this, you¡¯re telling us to peacefully cut trees. No matter how I look at this, you look like a coward who¡¯s afraid to fight.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­Haa.¡¯ Barbatos let out a sigh from the other side of the table. Brother Beleth didn¡¯t relent, though. ¡®Miss Deputy Commander, try exining yourself to us. I¡¯m warning you now, but if your answer isn¡¯t decent, then I¡¯m going to just lead my unit to attack. If you¡¯re frightened, then add guards to the supply route.¡¯ ¡®That is impossible, General Beleth.¡¯ Laura locked her fingers. ¡®Our supply route must continue to get piged.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­I¡¯m pretty sure you said that you were sane earlier. Did I hear wrong?¡¯ ¡®You heard correctly. I am sane.¡¯ Brother Beleth¡¯s expression turned into a scowl. ¡®Then you¡¯re saying we should have a prolonged battle even though we¡¯re running out of provisions? Oi, Miss. It seems like one of us shouldn¡¯t be allowed to talk about military tactics. And I keep getting the feeling that your side is the one that should be staying quiet.¡¯ ¡®Provisions are rtive.¡¯ Laura showed a casual smile. ¡®Even if we were to only have a week¡¯s worth of provisions left, it would be our victory if the enemy only has a day¡¯s worth left. We simply need to have more provisions than the enemy.¡¯ ¡®Isn¡¯t that the problem!? Those bastards are getting their supplies through the river, but ournd route keeps getting messed up!¡¯ Brother Beleth bellowed in anger. Laura¡¯s expression hadn¡¯t changed one bit even though she was receiving the murderous intent of a high-ranking Demon Lord. She spoke in a quiet voice. ¡®Brittany¡¯s army has set up their camp with their backs against a wall. They are blocked off by us. In other words, the river is the only way they can get their supplies.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­Why are you saying something so obvious?¡¯ ¡®Let me ask you a question here, General Beleth. Brittany¡¯s detached force has stolen our provisions.¡¯ The corners of Laura¡¯s mouth slowly went up. ¡®Where will they take those stolen supplies to?¡¯ Someone let out a gasp. I turned and saw that it was Paimon. Paimon spoke up while keeping her mouth behind her fan. ¡®They will head to their provision warehouse. They will store it there and add it to their own supplies!¡¯ ¡®That is correct, Commander Paimon. The provisions piged by their detached unit will be reserved in their warehouse. That is why I allowed them to pige us so that we could track them back.¡¯ Laura turned to Beleth. ¡®I have already figured out which fortress has their provisions. The only thing left for us to do now is burn that fortress down. General Beleth, as you can see, I am sane.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®I really favor brave soldiers. Since General Beleth seems like he is burning with the desire to fight right this instant, I will generously leave the most zing fight to you. Please take care of Agares. It¡¯s the traitor Agares. It should be an enjoyable battle.¡¯ Brother Beleth¡¯s face went pale. Laura smiled brightly. Her smiling face alone wasparable to that of a pure angel. Of course, the words that came out of her mouth were like a death sentence. ¡®I believe that you will not refuse, General.¡¯ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Quick apology. I genuinely lost track of time and got my days mixed up, which resulted in me forgetting to upload this chapter yesterday. I honestly didn¡¯t realize that time had gone by this fast. Doesn¡¯t really help that I¡¯ve been sort of feeling out of ittely. I¡¯ve also been rather concerned about the TV thing that¡¯s going to be happening soon. I¡¯m probably not going to appear for more than 5 minutes in it, but I REALLY don¡¯t like the idea of me appearing on TV. Ugh¡­I¡¯ll push through. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter, which will most likelye out a day sooner. Chapter 289: Puppet War Chapter 289: PuppetWar ¡®W-Wait a second. Lass, even I can¡¯t handle Agares on my own!¡¯ ¡®You do not have to be modest now.¡¯ Laura was all smiles. ¡®Are you not a person who is so impressive that you can freely disregard a mere deputymander? Compared to that, Agares may be powerful, but she is working under Brittany as a guest. She would be no match for you.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®Or¡­¡­perhaps, did youin about my ability tomand despite not being confident in your own strength to face the enemy¡¯s guest?¡¯ Brother Beleth was sweating profusely. ¨C Swish. He turned his head. He had turned to give me a pleading look. Referentially, I had already turned away a long time ago because I predicted this would happen. Sheesh, this tent was created with quite the luxurious leather¡­¡­. I wonder how expensive it is¡­¡­? ¨C Swish. Brother Beleth turned to face Barbatos this time, but Barbatos wasn¡¯t a girl who¡¯d relent because someone looked at her. She was humming while staring at the ground. I feel bad for him, but Barbatos and I both know how narrowminded Laura can be at times. She would normally overlook things, but when people are like this, they are more likely to be vicious when someone crosses their line. For example, she was incredibly hard on Barbatos when she disappeared the day after they had sex. Since ancient times, wise men would avoid women like that when they got upset. Brother Beleth¡¯s expression soon changed to that of despair. He had been abandoned by his brother and lord. It looked like there was no hope. ¡®Uhm, Laura~.¡¯ If an angel didn¡¯t exist in the Demon Lord army, that is. ¡®Yes, Big Sister Sitri?¡¯ ¡®I admit that that old man Beleth is annoying, but it¡¯s still impossible to face Agares alone. That would be a waste of manpower. Show him some mercy this time.¡¯ Sitri put her hands together and did a cute wink. The other Demon Lords were surprised. Sitri was the hardliner of the Mountain Faction while Beleth was the hardliner of the ins Faction. These two have always been at each other¡¯s throats. If the people here had to pick who was the least likely among them to support Beleth, then they would naturally pick Sitri. Despite this, Sitri put aside her personal feelings. She was speaking solely for the sake of our army as a whole. ¡®¡­¡­Big Sister Sitri is right.¡¯ Laura let out a sigh. None other than Sitri had spoken up, so Laura had to stop being stubborn. ¡®Demon Lord Agares is a powerful enemy. General Beleth is also powerful, but putting him up against her alone would be pointless. We shall discuss countermeasures against her at ater date.¡¯ ¡®T-Thank you, Deputy Commander.¡¯ Brother Beleth stood up straight and bowed. He was brought back from the dead. His body was radiating with this feeling. Laura received the apology half-heartedly. ¡®There is nothing to be grateful about. I believe you know where you should be facing.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®I will adjourn the meeting here. Be wary of the enemy¡¯s movement.¡¯ Laura stood up. The other Demon Lords seated at the table stood up at the same time. The Demon Lords saluted as they saw Laura off. At this moment, the deputymander¡¯s authority was firmly established once again. ¡®Ehem, ehem. Uhm, Sitri.¡¯ Brother Beleth carefully approached Sitri. Sitri tilted her head. ¡®What, you clumsy hog?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­Thanks for earlier.¡¯ Sitri furrowed her brows. ¡®Don¡¯t misunderstand. I didn¡¯t say that to help you. From start to finish, all you do is oink stupidly.¡¯ ¡®W-What?¡¯ ¡®You would¡¯ve dropped dead like a dog to a single swing of Agares¡¯ halberd if you tried to face her alone anyway. I heard you lost your right arm after pompously rushing at Agaresst time. That¡¯s understandable for a clumsy hog.¡¯ Sitri stuck her tongue out at him. A vein popped in Brother Beleth¡¯s forehead. ¡®It wasn¡¯t a single swing¡­¡­I endured at least twenty blows.¡¯ ¡®Sure. The Demon Lords who will face Agares have probably already been determined. You, me, and probably a few others. It would ultimately make things easier for me if you can endure twenty blows. That¡¯s why I asked her to overlook you. Dream on. It wasn¡¯t for your sake, you eunuch.¡¯ Sitriughed as she left the tent. The other Mountain Faction Demon Lords chuckled under their breaths as they followed Sitri out. Brother Beleth lowered his head. His shoulders were trembling intensely. I quickly blended in with the other Demon Lords and left the tent. Sure enough, Brother Beleth¡¯s roar echoed from behind my back. ¡®Kuaaaaaagh! I¡¯ll cut you down one day, you harlot!¡¯ This was basically a weekly event throughout the 15 days. Laura was also organizing the internal affairs while figuring out the location of the enemy¡¯s provisions. In other words, she made our goal clear and gathered the necessary strength required to aplish the goal to one side. Both the inside and the outside were crucial. The fall of one side would lead to losing the war. In that regard, Laura absolutely didn¡¯t waste her time during those 15 days. ¡°In regard to Brother Beleth, do you not think that you were a bit mean to him?¡± ¡°That was a necessary matter. I do not want a fool who rebels against their higher-ups. It does not matter how strong that soldier is.¡± Laura responded coldly. ¡°Her Excellency Barbatos, Paimon, and Marbas are all supporting this youngdy, but the other Demon Lords are not. They have their doubts about my ability tomand. Why should we listen to a human? I do not doubt that some of them are even harboring these kinds of thoughts.¡± ¡°Well, I cannot deny that.¡± I smiled bitterly. Demon Lords were all piles of pride. They wouldn¡¯t obey a human girl¡¯s orders even if the leaders of the factions epted her. There has been a thousand years of killing between demons and humans. The deep scar between the two races was deeper than one might expect¡­¡­. ¡°It is not as if I do not understand. However, something like understanding is unnecessary in war.¡± Laura looked forward with her blue eyes. ¡°What is important is one¡¯s performance. To kill more, to kill more efficiently, and to kill more calmly. We must root out any potential threat that can interfere with this ughter.¡± ¡°Is that why you deliberately made Brother Beleth burst in anger partially?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Laura intentionally didn¡¯t exin her n to the generals. Why weren¡¯t they doing anything when their supply routes were being piged? Why were we preparing for a long-term battle when we need a short battle? And why were we building rafts while also creating a fort¡­¡­? The generals didn¡¯t understand. They were probably frustrated. Brother Beleth, whose personality is like that of a volcano, exploded first. This wasn¡¯t aint that came out identally. Laura orchestrated it so that it woulde out. ¡°How clean, Laura. When did you learn how to perform such a wicked scheme?¡± ¡°The man I serve happens to be a professional in this field. I naturally learned a thing or two while being at his side. He is a splendidly wicked lord.¡± Dear me, I can¡¯t beat her in banter either¡­¡­. This is quite sad. The day I win against my vassal will probably nevere. On that night, when her fate was changed. The girl who got upset by my light taunting and tried to bite her own tongue was now gone. There was only a 20-year-oldmander in control of 50,000 soldiers standing next to me now. At that moment, I felt something grab my right hand. I looked down to see Laura¡¯s left hand. ¡°I am not impressive.¡± Laura spoke, her face still looking forward. ¡°I was born in a ducal household and spent 15 years confined in a small room. The only thing I was granted was a prison called a library. I discussed philosophy and history with myself and found sce in this world that I created.¡± The night sky suddenly became bright. The mages from Brittany¡¯s side had shot balls of light into the air. This was probably to light up the battlefield. Brittany¡¯s approaching army shined brightly like a vast wave. ¡°I was already a sex ve when I left the house for the first time. Is it not funny? I was confined in the house when I was a noble. When I thought I was finally free from that prison, I left as a ve. I believed that that was simply this youngdy¡¯s fate and that I was not allowed to have freedom.¡± For Brittany! Glory to Her Highness the Queen! The sound of soldiers shouting echoed throughout the sky. The pounding of hooves made the earth tremble. The cavalry started their charge while holding abnormally longnces. The legionmanders on our side calmly gave orders to their troops. The orcs threw their javelins. ¡°Did you know? My life became enlightened the moment I met Your Lordship.¡± The javelins pierced through the bodies of the knights. Their bodies folded like pieces of paper as they fell to the ground. The bodies that fell to the ground were crushed mercilessly under the hooves of the other warhorses that followed after. The knights continued their charge while paying no mind to their fallenrades. ¡°It does not matter if the world denounces you. A wicked clown, a contemner, or a piece of trash, no matter what people call you, you will always be this youngdy¡¯s lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Until the day I draw myst breath, my honor will be your honor and everything I aplish will be the things you aplish.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything back. I instead strengthened my grip on her left hand. I stared at the distant battlefield. ¡°Laura, I want victory.¡± ¡°If that is what you desire, then I will give you a hundred victories.¡± She immediately answered. ¡°I want to see Queen Henrietta fall into despair.¡± ¡°The ck Lily will be torn apart and will leave no traces behind as it dies.¡± ¡°I wish for Agares to die.¡± ¡°Mm, I hope that you can at least gift her skull to me.¡± ¡°Pfft.¡± Augh slipped out from my lips. I felt once more that I got my hands on quite the ridiculous vassal. She¡¯s really like a cheat key. Both armies collided. Lances and spears mmed into each other. The cavalry charge was not very effective. This was because we had dug trenches and were defending from them. We were like hedgehogs with the way our spears stuck out from the trenches. The knights were unable to get a good angle on us, so they were unable to move at full strength. Vassago was the one who dug the trenches around our river crossing point. Vassago used a spirit king to secretly dig trenches while we were having a face-off with the enemy army for 15 days. He grumbled about how we were making the ex-rank 3 Demon Lord, who even controls spirit kings, dig trenches for us. Despite this, that old man unexpectedly did his work well whenever we made him do something. Heined, but still did his work properly. It was probably because he knew how risky his situation was. What a good boy. This is why people need to know their ce. The knights attempted to charge three times, but all they did was waste theirnces with no other result. Soldiers continued to fall off their horses as they got pierced by javelins. Our trenches and javelins managed to almost perfectly block the enemy¡¯s advance. Queen Henrietta was probably feeling impatient. Even now, our army was still crossing the river with our rafts and floating bridges. If we finish crossing the river, then all of the enemy¡¯s efforts would end up futile. They most likely want to avoid that the most. And Queen Henrietta did actually have a trump card. ¡°Here shees.¡± ¡°I see it as well.¡± Even though it was in the middle of the night, there was a zing red aura that was as clear as day. A one-man army holding a halberd approached while riding on the back of arge wolf¡ª. Demon Lord Agares was approaching. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Another nice moment between Dant and Laura. Although I sort of wish we could see Lapis more, it really wouldn¡¯t make any sense for her to be here. But yeah, I pumped this chapter out sooner since I was a dayte with thest chapter, and I had no excuse. On a side note, it¡¯s been raining recently and I¡¯m sort of worried now about my brother¡¯s wedding. It¡¯s supposed to be an outdoor wedding, but it seems like we¡¯re entering rain/storm season. I can only pray for the best. See you guys next chapter. Chapter 290: Puppet War (7) Chapter 290: Puppet War (7) * * * ¡°What do you mean by guaranteeing my safety, you brat¡­¡­!?¡± Vassago muttered with clenched teeth. In this expedition, Demon Lord Vassago was the least motivated among the Demon Lords. He was someone who was satisfied as long as he feltfortable. He wouldn¡¯t have participated in this war if Dantalian hadn¡¯t guaranteed his safety afterward. And yet, this went against what he was told. ¡°It¡¯s Agares!¡± ¡°Agares is approaching!¡± Shouts erupted from here and there throughout the army. The demons started to hastily withdraw. Even if a dozen, a hundred, or even a thousandmon soldiers were to stick together, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the approaching individual. The soldiers listened to the officers and left the trenches in an orderly manner. There were only three people left. Vassago was one of them. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if my safety is guaranteed after all this when I¡¯m in danger right now¡ª!¡± This genuinely changes things. If he knew that he was going to have to face Agares, then he would¡¯ve done whatever he could to not participate in this expedition. ¡°Oi, you won¡¯t be in that much danger anyway. The harlot and I are the ones who¡¯ll actually be fighting up close.¡± ¡°Covering us from behind is more than enough, Vassago. Hehe.¡± The other two people, Beleth and Sitri, responded to Vassago¡¯s anguished cry. The two Demon Lords were holding their respective ax and whip sword. ¡°You fools. Do you even know who we are facing?¡± Vassago gnashed his teeth. ¡°It¡¯s Agares. Agares the ughterer. There is no doubt that you two will fall before taking even thirty blows. I am next in line after you two are gone. How is that not dangerous!?¡± ¡°Yup. You¡¯re right.¡± Sitri smiled cooly. ¡°That¡¯s why you should do your best to keep yourself from being in danger!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Damned fool.¡± This was why he hated meatheads. Words didn¡¯t get through to them. The biggest joke was the fact that he had to fight with these ignorant fools. Beleth spoke up apathetically. ¡°It¡¯s great to have a light chat and all, but we should start making preparations now.¡± ¡°O Goddesses, please ce a curse upon Dantalian!¡± Vassago bit his thumb. Blood sprayed out as his teeth pierced through his flesh. A sky-blue colored magic circle expanded with Vassago at the center. The magic circle expanded for about forty meters before suddenlying to a stop. Like a spiderying eggs, new magic circles appeared on the north, west, south, and east corners of the original magic circle. The intensity of the magic was so powerful that the flow of air around it became distorted. The wind turned into a gust as it swirled around the magic circles. Beleth whistled. The raging wind was making his hair flutter. The magic circle that was currently being cast was something that only Vassago could pull off. It was probably like this throughout all of history as well. No, how many people were there that could even create a single one of those small circles? Vassago scattered his blood in the air. The handsome young man¡¯s face, which was dyed in a blue light, was contorted greatly. Ex-Rank 3, the individual who was once referred to as the wisest Demon Lord shouted. ¡°¡ªHurry up ande out, you hungry servants.¡± The words that came out of his mouth were rather crude for it to be called a magic chant, but the effect was still absolute. The smaller magic circles on the four quadrants exploded with magic power. Arms and legs prated through the storm. The total number of beings that had stepped out was four. A woman with red hair, the . A woman with blue hair, the . A woman with green hair, the . A woman with white hair, the . Being able to summon even one of them would cause an uproar within human society, but four of them were summoned all at once. ¨C Dear me, how long has it been? ¨C What¡¯s the asion? The young miser called all of us at once. If my memory serves me right, thest time this happened was 2,455 years ago. ¨C How sad¡­¡­it seems you¡¯re already going senile. It hasn¡¯t been 2,455 years. It¡¯s been 2,454 years. To be more precise, it¡¯s been 2,454 years, 67 days, 7 hours, and 48 minutes. The blue-haired spirit king furrowed her brows. ¨C It must be nice having such a good memory. But did you know? You¡¯re really annoying. ¨C Being jealous of the young is a privilege for the old. If you can call that a right, that is. Mhm. In that regard, I admit that you have that right. ¨C Oh dear. You two are really overflowing with vigor. ¨C ¡­¡­. The spirit kings ignored their summoner as they chatted. Only the white-haired spirit king remained silent. ¨C In any case, your makeup is all sloppy. You should always be prepared to be summoned at any time and ce. How could you let your faces get so oily? ¨C We don¡¯t powder our brains like you, so we don¡¯t need your advice. ¨C That¡¯s right. You¡¯ve been ugly since birth, so you have to rely on makeup, but I don¡¯t need anything like that since I¡¯m naturally beautiful. The spirit kings red at each other while smiling. ¨C Oh dear, the way the ugly speak is also dirty. ¨C Look who¡¯s talking, you old maid. ¨C You want to fight? ¨C ¡­¡­Everyone. Get along. Vassago ced his hand against his forehead. He was already getting a headache. This was why he avoided summoning all four of them at the same time. This was a decision he had maintained for over 2,000 years, but it was none other than Dantalian who made him break his resolve. Vassago muttered. ¡°¡­¡­Get over here before I cancel the summon.¡± The spirit kings stopped their idle chatter. They all turned to look at Vassago. Their gazes were so blunt that you wouldn¡¯t think that they were looking at their summoner. ¨C Eeh. I don¡¯t really care if you cancel the summon. ¨C He must be in quite a serious situation if you consider that he called us. ¨C How unpleasant. What¡¯s with this unpleasant threat? ¨C ¡­¡­Knowing your ce. Is required. ¡°Damn it! If you don¡¯t want to get your summons canceled and your contracts revoked, then get over here!¡± Vassago gnashed his teeth as he shouted. Once he did, the spirit kingsined as they slowly approached. ¨C See? This guy doesn¡¯t have any sense of camaraderie. It¡¯s always contract this, contract that. ¨C Sheesh, this is why we can¡¯t bond with him. The spiritualists in the past weren¡¯t like this. ¨C What can we do? We have to do what our summoner tells us to do. ¨C ¡­¡­Tyranny. Revolution, urgent. The spirit kings got in a line. The annoyance on their faces was prominent. NEETs who were rxing in their rooms because they didn¡¯t want to work and were suddenly called out to a family reunion. This described them perfectly. The image they were portraying was a hundred thousand light-years away from what normal people would picture when they thought of spirit kings. Sitri and Beleth were watching the scene unfold from the side. They whispered to each other astringently. ¡°¡­¡­I always wondered why Vassago hated going to war.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Same. I thought it was because he was a coward, but it seems he had his own set of problems.¡± If the masses saw this, then Vassago¡¯s dignity and prestige would probably plummet to the ground. Vassago knew this better than anyone else. He gave an order with the intent to end the battle as soon as possible. ¡°The enemy is Demon Lord Agares. There is only one thing you need to keep in mind. She is stronger than any of the dragonkin you¡¯ve faced before. The one good thing would be the fact that she can¡¯t use magic whatsoever. The bad thing, however, is the fact that she is stronger than any dragonkin despite not being able to use magic. In other words, she¡¯s a monster.¡± It was at that point that the spirit kings¡¯ expressions became serious. ¡°We have two allies. The Demon Lords over there. Your jobs are to support them, cooperate with each other, and stall for as much time as possible. If possible, it would be great if you could defeat Agares, but consider that impossible for now.¡± ¨C Oh dear. You came out to fight knowing that you can¡¯t win? What¡¯s the asion? Were you threatened by someone? ¡°Personal chatter is now forbidden.¡± The spirit kings pouted as they red at their summoner. Nevertheless, Vassago was right in this regard. Beleth and Sitri were already wielding their weapons and ready to fight. There was blood lust emanating from across the field. That blood lust gradually approached before it eventually pressed down on the earth around them. The sound of soldiers shouting could be heard in the distance. The metallic sound of spears colliding echoed. However, the area around them was strangely quiet. The knights of Brittany didn¡¯t turn their horses in their direction and a long time had already passed since their spearmen had withdrawn. The sound of a wolf approaching resonated within this inapparent space where even air itself seemed like it was holding its breath. ¡°Two faces were expected, but one is a surprise.¡± Demon Lord Agares was seated on top of thatrge wolf. ¡°Vassago, I didn¡¯t think that even you would stick to ¡®that side¡¯.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Well, whatever. I can¡¯t me someone for following the crowd. But¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, a ze of fire started to pour down without any warning. The mes being shot out by the Fire Spirit King instantly engulfed Agares. The crackling sounding from the embers thundered loudly. However, after only three seconds, a gust of wind erupted from within the center of the fire, splitting the mes in half. After the mes disappeared, a dark red aura reced its ce. ¡°But, only the weak follow the crowd.¡± Agares grinned with her halberd in hand. ¡°Vassago. It doesn¡¯t matter if the new strong person you discovered after Baal was Barbatos, Paimon, or Marbas. I will give you one chance to answer this question. ¡ªAre they stronger than me?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The attack just now was by no means an attack to test the water. That was the Fire Spirit King¡¯s strongest attack. It was the perfect attack at the perfect moment, but Agares blocked it like blowing out a candle. This Agares was the one asking him this. She was implying that if he was uncertain about his side, then she would still forgive him if he switched over now. The corners of Vassago¡¯s mouth twisted. ¡°¡­¡­Agares, let me ask you a question as well. Are you stronger than Baal?¡± ¡°Hm? Maybe? I wonder what would happen?¡± Agares raised a brow. ¡°It depends on the situation, but if we aren¡¯t fighting with only our bodies, then I¡¯d probably lose. I probably have a forty percent chance of winning. Why are you asking?¡± Vassago nodded. ¡°This side killed Baal. This should be a good enough answer for you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hm. That¡¯s unfortunate.¡± Agares pointed the end of her halberd at the Demon Lords. No more questions were exchanged. Beleth and Sitri let out a shout as they charged at Agares from both her nks. Agares spun her halberd and blocked the two Demon Lords¡¯ ax and sword at the same time. After blocking the coordinated attack, Agares hopped off of her horse and ran at Sitri. Sitri¡¯s whip sword wasn¡¯t a normal weapon. It could extend freely and curve however it wanted, allowing for attacks from unexpected directions. It was an annoying weapon to go against. Therefore, Agares chose to attack Sitri first before Beleth. Sitri clenched her jaw. They had missed their timing. She didn¡¯t expect their coordinated attack to be repelled so effortlessly. Agares scoffed at Sitri¡¯s expression and swung her halberd, but¡ª. ¡°¡ªHm?¡± The halberd swung through the air and missed Sitri¡¯s face by a hair¡¯s breadth. Agares looked down to see tree roots wrapped around her ankle. She put a little strength in her legs and the roots fell off powerlessly, but that was long enough for Sitri to widen the gap between them. Before Agares knew it, Sitri and Beleth had her surrounded again. Beyond them, the Earth Spirit King next to Vassago was smirking. ¡°I see. So this is how you¡¯re going to y?¡± The spirit kings were going to intervene while she exchanged blows with Beleth and Sitri. Agaresughed once she figured out the other side¡¯s strategy. ¡°I just realized¡­¡­be it dragons, demons, humans, and the beast race, I¡¯ve at least killed one of everything, but I¡¯ve never cut down a spirit king before. How strange.¡± Agares adjusted her grip on her halberd. ¡°Let¡¯s find out if spirit kings also scream when they die.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m so damn tired. I had to go through a family dinner with celebrities on Friday and the big wedding was yesterday. It was so exhausting. The wedding itself was pretty fun, but before and after it was suffering. My mom and brother got the whole spa+makeup treatment, but I didn¡¯t receive anything, so I was just grimey all day. I was wearing a full suit and it was annoyingly hot. I was also standing for like 4 hours just waiting for things to happen. I don¡¯t even want to imagine how I probably appeared on the cameras. My hair was a constant mess. I also got interviewed at the end which was horrid. I can¡¯t speak Korean confidently and my words sort of trail off at the end of my sentences. Uuuugh¡­ The venue was also 2 hours from my ce and the interview ended at 9pm. I just want to scream. This episode is probablying out in several weeks. Maybe even a month. I swear to God if my friends from like middle school and high school recognize me and try to contact me¡­ Okay, rant aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Maybe I should just take a day off to fully cool down¡­ Chapter 291: Puppet War (8) Chapter 291: Puppet War (8) * * * The Imperial Army of Habsburg with an alliance with the Republic of Batavia and the free cities sprinkled on top. The alliance gave off a strong impression. However, if you looked inside, it was actually an army of 30,000 soldiers from the Demon Lord army. Orcs were the main fighting power within the army. This race, which wasmonly referred to as the ¡®pig race¡¯, was born with a lot of vigor and naturally strong arms, so it was much easier for them to hold meter-long spearspared to humans. This fact was crucial in offsetting the enemy¡¯s cavalry charge to a certain degree. ¡°Do not back down! Maintain your positions!¡± Demon Lord Zepar shouted. ¡°Be a wall and block the waves!¡± He was the ex-rank 16 and the best within the ins Faction and of all the Demon Lord army when it came to defensive battles. Themander who managed to block the terrifying assault of knights during the battle of Austerlitz was showing off his skills once more. ¨C Kuh, kuhurb! The orcs responded loudly. The battle was bing more intense. To their right, Demon Lord Agares and three other Demon Lords were carrying out a battle on a mythical scale. It was literally a battle where hills were getting destroyed and the earth was being sliced. Both enemies and allies didn¡¯t dare to approach that fight. The explosions were so rampant and dreadful that even Zepar decided to stop watching them. ¡°Beleth, Sitri, and Vassago¡­¡­. We can only trust them.¡± If their right nk somehow gets breached, then their n wouldpletely fail. The n that Deputy Commander Laura de Farnese had nned out was delicate like a line of dominos. Their right side had to endure if they wanted to seed. ¨C Clop, clop, clop! The sound of hooves started to approach. The knights were charging again. An adjutant general spoke up. ¡°Your Excellency! The sixth charge is approaching!¡± ¡°I also have eyes and ears. How much time has passed since thest one¡­¡­?¡± Zepar let out an annoyed groan. ¡°Are you telling me that Brittany¡¯s knights are actually monsters?¡± This was already the sixth assault. Only an hour had passed since the start of the battle. Their movement went against logic and was unnaturally fast. It was also the dead of night. It was around this time that demons had an overwhelming advantage over humans. Despite this, Brittany¡¯s cavalrymen were able to perform charge after charge while relying on the light balls they had cast earlier. They couldn¡¯t lose either. Zepar pulled himself together as he swung his baton. ¡°Mages, cast your water spells! Spear throwers, throw your spears and stones without reserve!¡± ¡°Yes, General!¡± The mages made the earth wet right before the knights collided with their side. They couldn¡¯t turn the entire region into a swamp because they had to conserve their mana, but making the ground soft was enough to slow the horses down. In the end, the enemy¡¯s sixth attempt at a charge bore no fruit as well. ¨C Keruruk! Keruk! The goblins ran out of the trenches and set up more wooden spikes as soon as the knights retreated. Installing spikes was an easy task since the earth had be soft. Now when the human mages cast a drying spell over thend to help their cavalrymen, it also had the reverse effect of fixing the spikes firmly in ce. Queen Henrietta was in awe once she saw this. ¡°How impressive. If we leave the earth alone, then our assault bes weaker. But if we use magic to counter this, we end up setting up their wooden spikes for them¡­¡­. Hmm.¡± Queen Henrietta wound up in a situation where she couldn¡¯t do this or that. She was in a rock and a hard ce. A general responded to the Queen¡¯s groan. ¡°Your Highness, our men are doing their utmost and we have barely suffered¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Any losses. I know. But the same goes for the enemy as well. Do you understand what this means? Time is going by with both sides suffering no losses whatsoever. That is exactly what they want.¡± Not suffering any losses didn¡¯t mean they were winning the battle. Even if one side is beaten to a bloody pulp, they would still win if they manage to aplish their goal. In this regard, the Demon Lord army was splendidly stalling for time so that the rest of their troops could cross the river¡­¡­. A mediocremander would probably stall for time here. However, Queen Henrietta de Brittany was not mediocre by any means. ¡°Milianne.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. I await yourmand.¡± ¡°I trust in the potential of the Green Rose Knights.¡± Queen Henrietta took out her strongest card after about only an hour since the start of the battle. She was dispatching the knights that weremonly acknowledged as the strongest on the continent. The order of knights, which possessed two swordmasters, received their queen¡¯smand and departed. ¡°Descendants of Brittany! Charge!¡± ¡°For our Queen!¡± Their mages cast wind cutters in order to let the knights charge freely. The des of wind flew over the surface of the earth and sliced the spikes in half. It was a supporting attack that didn¡¯t reserve their mana. Demon Lord Zepar gnashed his teeth once he saw that. ¡°It¡¯s the Green Rose Knights¡­¡­! Spear throwers!¡± It was the order of knights that Zepar has had an ill-fated rtionship with for many, many years. He had lost all of his ogres to those very knights. He was finally going to be able to get his revenge here. ¡°Do not preserve your mana! Attack!¡± ¡°But Your Excellency. If we do that now, then we will not have enough mana for the final sh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you have eyes, then look!¡± Zepar was unusually worked up as he shouted. ¡°The final sh is now!¡± Thus, the Demon Lord army cast their spells at the Green Rose Knights that were charging at them. The earth became moist and balls of fire rained down on the cavalrymen. It was just as Zepar had said. It became clear that this was going to be the decisive battle as even the human army had begun to use their magic without reserve. Forty balls of fire flew through the sky and went from this side to that side and from that side to this side. A transparent barrier appeared and blocked the balls of fire right when the orcs were about to run away in fear. The demon officers unsheathed their swords and roared, ¡°Do not back down! Death will be granted to those who retreat!¡± The veteran knights within the order gripped theirnces tightly and shouted. ¡°Break through! Crush them¡ªBestow death upon them!¡± There was a massive impact. Spears against swords, metal against metal. A deafening sound erupted as soon as they shed together. Red blood was scattered everywhere. Hooves stepped on the faces of orcs. Their armor was crushed along with their skulls. Spears pierced through the chests of knights and came out the other side. ¡°Kuaaagh! Khuaaa!¡± ¡°Kuhul, kuhuprb!¡± The sounds of screams and groans mixed together like a cocktail as they burst into the sky. There was nonguage there. Only the cries of beasts covered in blood were present. Warhorses bit into the shoulders of orcs while the orcs ripped the innards out of the knights that fell off their horses. ¡°Die! Kuaaagh, die already!¡± ¡°Kupurah!¡± Be it humans or demons, it didn¡¯t matter who was tearing flesh off with their teeth. Weapons were tossed to the ground. The high-pitched ringing of metal falling to the ground numbed the ears of those who could hear it. Under the orders of a queen, a Demon Lord, and most importantly, the desire to preserve their own lives, everyst soldier fought desperately. In this realm where people were bing blind and deaf¡ª. ¡°Maintain your positions! Kuh, do not break away from formation!¡± ¡°Do not rest and keep advancing! Charge! For the glory of Brittany!¡± The knights ended up breaking through the spearmen formation. At the lead was Milianne de Nazaire, a swordmaster. The blonde female knight spun her ive like a windmill. An orc¡¯s head would fly into the air every time the golden aura from her weapon cut through the air. ¡°Men, follow me!¡± Fifteen knights followed through the path the swordmaster had opened up. The path which had seemed like it would let only one or two people through at a time instantly became wider. Once the fifteen knights got through, dozens of more troops poured their way through, eventually increasing to hundreds. The Demon Lord army¡¯s line of defense had been breached. The feelings of joy and sorrow mixed together. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it! Royal knights! Keep up the charge!¡± ¡°Damn it! We must recover by any means necessary!¡± Coincidentally, Henrietta and Zepar shouted at the same time. The Queen and Demon Lord stood up and swung their batons roughly. However, at this moment when the strongest spear and strongest shield collided, the Goddess had clearly taken the side of the spear. The line of defense was split down the middle. For a moment, the spearmen at one section were ughtered. The horses easily leaped over the deep trenches that had been dug. Hundreds of cavalrymen came pouring in like a dam that had burst. It happened right when Queen Henrietta felt as if her victory was imminent. ¡°Second and third lines of defense.¡± Laura de Farnese smiled. ¡°¡ªLet them through.¡± The Deputy Commander¡¯s order was immediately passed down to the othermanders. Different from the first line of defense that Zepar was in charge of, the second and third lines didn¡¯t have trenches. They simply consisted of severalyers of spearmen. The twomanders in charge of these two respective lines raised their batons. ¡°Men, open a path.¡± ¡°Step aside for the knights.¡± Paimon and Marbas. These twomanders weren¡¯t exceptionally skilled at givingmands. When it came to offense, they were worse than Beleth and Sitri, and when it came to defense, they were worse than Zepar. Nheless, Paimon and Marbas possessed two absolute advantages that most other Demon Lords didn¡¯t have. ¨C Kuhurub! ¨C Keruru, keruk! The fact that they were high-ranking Demon Lords. The former rank 5 and rank 9. At most, Dantalian was able to transmit his will to a few dozen demons at a time. However, these two Demon Lords were able to freelymand thousands. Without the need for an envoy or any specialmand, they could makerge groups move with only a single sentence. The second advantage was the fact that they had the absolute trust of their soldiers. Paimon and Marbas have never abandoned their troops before. Even when their supply lines were cut off and their armies were starving, and even when they were isted in enemy territory and had to continue marching at any cost, the twomanders experienced these hardships together with their soldiers. True leaders prove themselves through actions and not only words. In this regard, Paimon and Marbas may not be exceptionally talented in tactics¡ªbut they were undoubtedly trustworthy leaders of demonkind. An absolute trust where the soldiers obeyed any orders given to them without even the slightest bit of doubt. By utilizing these two factors, the legionmanders were able to splendidly pull off the orders given to them. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The second and third lines of defense split open like the Red Sea. The knight order maintained their momentum as they continued forward. If they stopped there, then the enemy spearmen would surround them. The Green Rose Knights advanced straight to the enemy¡¯s headquarters. ¡°No! It¡¯s a trap!¡± Henrietta shouted urgently as she watched them advance. The generals around her tilted their heads. To them, it looked like the enemy¡¯s formation was naturally breaking apart because they were intimidated by the knights. ¡°Your Highness, their charge was sessful. Are their remaining lines of defense not running away? If we massacre their headquarters and attack their bridgehead, then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How does their movement look like they are ¡®running away¡¯!? Give Nazaire the order to retreat immediately! They must retreat even if they incur some losses!¡± Queen Henrietta could see through the enemy¡¯s movements even though she was watching them from a distance. Adding to this, even if she didn¡¯t know the enemy¡¯s n, she knew instinctively that they had to retreat. ¡°Your Highness, I apologize, but¡­¡­.¡± However, realizing something didn¡¯t give you victory. ¡°An anti-magic spell is preventing us frommunicating with them.¡± ¡°What? What are you talking about? There are spells being shot all throughout the air.¡± ¡°I apologize. It seems that only themunication spells have been blocked.¡± Henrietta furrowed her brows. ¡°They cast an anti-magic spell powerful enough to cover an entire area¡­¡­but they chose to only block our means ofmunication?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Who would do something so inefficient?¡± Henrietta¡¯s mouth slowly fell open. She quickly turned back to look at the battlefield. ¡°From the very beginning¡­¡­?¡± Henrietta gripped her baton tightly. If you were going to use an anti-magic spell, then you might as well block a various number of spells and not only things rted tomunication. If they were going to block spells anyway and devote a portion of their magic power to it, then would blocking more spells not be more efficient? Regardless, the enemy chose to only blockmunication. Like they were trying to lure in an appetizing-looking prey deep into their clutches. ¡°Death knights.¡± On the other side, a blonde girl and a tall man were standing at the Demon Lord base¡¯s headquarters. Among the two, the human called Laura de Farnese raised her right hand. ¡°Block their charge.¡± At that moment, four-hundred broadswords surged up from the ground. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not much to say in this chapter. My nights have been pretty stressfultely ever since the wedding. I keep thinking about better answers I could¡¯ve given during the interview and that¡¯s been keeping me up longer than usual. Would¡¯ve been really cool if they gave me the questions beforehand and more time to think. I¡¯ll forget about it eventually¡­ until the episode airs and then I suffer more. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 292: Puppet War (9) Chapter 292: Puppet War (9) ¨C Neeeigh! Dozens of horses let out pitiful cries. Their stomachs had been sliced open by the swords that had shot out from the earth. Their tough skins were cut open with ease as their innards came pouring out. ¡°Kaaaagh!¡± The warhorses were unable to control their speed as their bodies mmed into the dirt. It was the same for the cavalrymen. More than forty soldiers fell face-first into the dirt along with their horses. Clouds of dust were kicked up as soldiers in hefty armor rolled through the dirt. Their necks broke, killing them instantly. Dozens of elite soldiers were killed after only a single assault. However, it might be better to praise the knights. They were suddenly assaulted from all angles. Despite this, they only lost a few dozen soldiers. They had dodged the swords with almost superhuman horse maneuvering techniques. If this were a normal cavalry, then they would have probably lost half of their total manpower. Regardless, Queen Henrietta didn¡¯t give them any praise as she watched from a distance. ¡°Now then. Let us have a slow dance.¡± ¡°Shower them with arrows. Do not worry about the cost of the arrows. Keuncuska has given us the good news that they will be supporting our cause fully.¡± ¡°I hereby order the othermanders¡ªCrush the enemy to death.¡± Paimon, Marbas, and Laura de Farnese all ordered their troops at the same time. A gruesome battle unfolded. The knight order, which had yet to shake off the shock from the surprise assault, was swarmed. Arrows and magic spells rained down on them from their right, left, and front sides. The cavalrymen shouted as loudly as their throats allowed them. ¡°Dismount! Use the dead bodies of the horses as shields!¡± ¡°You fool, you will be pincushions if you stop here!¡± The vice-captain shouted. She was right. ¡°Charge! Charge forward at all costs!¡± There were more cavalrymen pouring through the opening the Green Rose Knights had made. If they tried to turn around and retreat now, then they would crash into their allies and create a huge mess. They would bemitting suicide if they deliberately made their allies panic in confusion after being surrounded on three sides. No matter if they lived or died, it was better for them to keep going forward. ¡°Charge!¡± ¡°Do not fear death!¡± Their goal was the heart of the enemy¡¯s base. If they can deal a blow there, then they would still be able to squeeze out a victory. The vice-captain personally took the lead. The cavalry picked up their pace once again. They charged while swinging their ives and curved swords. ¡°How splendid.¡± Laura was in awe. They were advancing forward despite the cascade of arrows and spells. Even death was probably not enough to scare them. As death was something that all humans had to ept, the way the knights weed it was practically superhuman. However, what would happen if a wall that surpasses death were to show up? ¡°Fourth line of defense, intercept them.¡± Laura flicked her baton. Once she did, a soldier started waving a g. Themander in charge of the fourth line of defense saw the g move and smiled. ¡°Aah, Laura. You don¡¯t have to even give the order.¡± Themander of the fourth line of defense. The Demon Lord of Immortality, Barbatos. ¡°I can very clearly see the meal that I will be giving my kids.¡± Behind the small-framed Demon Lord¡ªwas a swarm of 4,500 zombies and ghouls. Cold air flowed out from the mouths of these rotten, bloodthirsty corpses. The air around them was chilly as if this was the only ce on these vast ins that was below freezing. The dirtiest and most hideous army was standing here. Even if their flesh was rotting away and they had degraded to a state where you could no longer call them living, there was only one thing they wanted. To forever fight for their eternal ruler and that alone. This was why they were referred to as the purest warriors. A zombie growled. ¨C Here we stand, as an invincible and undying army. The skeleton soldiers responded with a pulse of mana. ¨C Valkyries that march forever. 4,500 undead monsters sang their anthem together. It would probably be more appropriate to call this a funeral march. Ghouls that couldn¡¯t utter proper words because of their rotten throats and zombies that leaked out sounds because of the holes in their mouths. Their singing turned into low-pitched groans as it settled over the earth like ayer of fog. ¡°All right, men. As your eternal employer, I, Barbatos, will be carrying out the contract.¡± Barbatos took a step forward. Once she did, the 4,500 undeads took a step forward as well. ¡°This one and only contract. This dreadful contract. This contract that was made with the souls of warriors.¡± Barbatos took another step and was followed by the trembling of the earth as the undead army of 4,500 undead stepped forward as well. Before them, knights d in sacred auras continued to approach. ¡°For more battle.¡± Before long, the 4,500 undead monsters had begun sprinting. There was a wave-like entity in front of them. It was pitch ck. The ck wave gradually grew bigger before they eventually took the forms of death knights. The death knights raised their swords as they rushed forward. ¨C Kyaaaaagh! A raspy cry filled the air. The words that Barbatos was muttering could no longer be heard as they were buried under the shouting. Despite this, she continued to speak. Barbatos and her warriors didn¡¯t need audible words to understand each other anyway. ¡°Did you say that you do not fear death, you pitiful humans? Very well, then.¡± Barbatos smiled. ¡°Then let me show you life after death.¡± The undying army and the knights collided. The cavalrymen were outstanding. They swung their weapons with great precision while on their horses. Zombies were decapitated and warhorses crushed the bodies of ghouls under their hooves. However, this wasn¡¯t a battle that would end because they managed to decapitate and crush a few zombies. Even without their heads, the bodies would continue to swing their axes. Even with gaping holes in their chests, the undead would tear out the horses¡¯ necks with their teeth. ¡°Damn it! Something keeps sticking to my horse!¡± The Green Rose Knights were blessed by the saintess before they were dispatched. Thanks to this, they were able to deal with the undead effectively, but they couldn¡¯t do much about how the undead would continue totch on to them even after being torn apart. ¡°Vice-captain, we cannot continue the charge!¡± The knight order that had been like a gale of wind had slowed down. The knights did whatever they could to push their horses forward, but the zombies and ghoulstched on to them like spiders and refused to fall off. The warhorses bled as they quickly fell one by one. It wasn¡¯t long before the knights hade to aplete stop. ¡°Dismount and fight on foot.¡± The vice-captain readjusted her ive and ordered her men. Her voice was filled with distress. The Green Rose Knights had done their best. They got through a line of spearmen in the middle of the night and continued their charge into the enemy base. They dealt an almost devastating blow to the undead monsters that appeared in front of them. Despite all this, the vice-captain thought to herself as she looked around. The monsters had them surrounded on three fronts. They were practically at arm¡¯s length now. Paimon and Marbas had finished their encirclement while Barbatos was busy stopping the cavalry¡¯s charge. They were surrounded by roughly ten thousand monsters. At most, the cavalry had only a thousand soldiers. How long could they possibly endure after havinge to aplete stop? ¡°We must endure until reinforcement arrives. No, we must cut down as many enemy soldiers as we can.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± The knights responded fervently. The vice-captain, however, knew that Her Highness the Queen probably wasn¡¯t going to save them. They were in too deep. Even if she tried to send reinforcements now, it was doubtful whether they would sessfully be able to reach them or not. It would be a pointless waste of troops¡­¡­. The vice-captain instinctively knew that death was near. This was her final resting ce. The vice-captain gave a slight nod toward the general direction of her queen. With that, she had no more remorse. She swung her ive and leaped at the monsters with no hesitation. The Green Rose Knights ughtered almost 4,000 monsters. All 700 of the knights including the vice-captain fell in battle. Later on, books on strategy will recount this grand and surprising end from a cold-hearted viewpoint. The knights failed their charge and were wiped out. Not only did this mean that Queen Henrietta¡¯s sudden assault ended in a failure, ¡°¡­¡­All forces, retreat.¡± but it also meant that Laura de Farnese had sessfully crossed the river. The Demon Lord army safely crossed the river. Afterward, they destroyed the floating bridge and marched along the riverside. The Brittan army had no choice but to watch helplessly as the Demon Lord army marched since they had no way of crossing the river. However, this didn¡¯t mean that the victor of the war had been decided. They did lose a fair number of knights including the Green Rose Knights, but the Demon Lord army had also lost a considerable number of troops. If youpared their military strength, then Brittany probably had a slight advantage in numbers. On another note, the battle with Demon Lord Agares didn¡¯t get wrapped up, but it ended in Agares¡¯ favor due to the death of the Earth Spirit King. Now the problem was whether Parisiorum was going to get captured or not. The Emperor and Empress Dowager were both in Parisiorum still. They absolutely couldn¡¯t let the Demon Lord army take them. ¡°We have to either besiege Parisiorum or at least get the Emperor and the Empress Dowager out of there¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta muttered, racked with exhaustion due to the recent battle. The generals were next to the queen with a stagnant atmosphere looming over them. ¡°The Emperor is one thing, but I don¡¯t think that granny Empress Dowager will go with us willingly.¡± ¡°We will have to besiege Parisiorum, then.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? We¡¯ll knock her out and kidnap her since she won¡¯t follow us. We have no advantage if we try to siege the capital.¡± Henrietta let out a sigh. ¡°We will kidnap the Emperor and the Empress Dowager and retreat west. The enemy has a thin supply line, so they wouldn¡¯t dare to pursue us. They would lose their cause if they tried to start piging now, so they¡¯ll be in a rather difficult situation.¡± ¡°Retreat, is it?¡± The generals didn¡¯t seem to agree with the n. Didn¡¯t this mean that they would be avoiding the final battle? Henrietta shook her head. ¡°No, retreating is simply a means to an end. Their whole cause for this war is to subjugate Agares. As long as Agares is healthy and on our side, they won¡¯t be able to leave whenever they please. They¡¯ll remain in Parisiorum with an unstable supply line while being unable to leave.¡± ¡°I see. They will slowly die off without provisions.¡± The generals nodded in understanding. ¡°That¡¯s right. After a certain point, they will no longer be able to endure ande running out of Parisiorum¡­¡­. We will force a pitched battle on them again at that moment.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Then we will dispatch a detached unit to first retrieve the Emperor and¡­¡­.¡± It happened right when they were able to finalize their ns. The amber color of dawn gradually spread throughout the sky. Once the night sky had faded away to a degree, they noticed somethingpletely unexpecteding from Parisiorum. It was a ck cloud of smoke. ¡°Your Highness! There is smokeing from Parisiorum!¡± The generals shouted urgently. Queen Henrietta bit her lip. ¡°¡­¡­Those Frankian noble bastards. How dare they¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta now understood why the enemy had only blockedmunication spells. It wasn¡¯t only for the sake of luring their knights in. They were also making sure that Henrietta¡¯s army wouldn¡¯t be able to know what was happening in Parisiorum. Did the remnant nobles start an uproar while the battle was happening all throughout the night? Their goal was probably to let the Emperor or the Empress Dowager escape¡­¡­or both of them. ¡°Damn it!¡± Henrietta snapped her baton in half. If the enemy forces are able to join up with either the Emperor or the Empress Dowager, then they would end up in dire straits. They had to prevent that by any means necessary. ¡°Gather the rest of our troops and head to Parisiorum!¡± The troops from Brittany had to march at full speed again before they could fully recover from the previous night¡¯s battle. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Poor knights. They did their best. Though I didn¡¯t expect zombies to start a musical number. Uuh, nothing much else to say. My nights are still suffering trying to forget the interview¡­ I pray I get edited out¡­. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 293: Puppet War (10) Chapter 293: Puppet War (10) * * * Queen Henrietta went ahead first with her cavalry knights. These knights, who had charged repeatedly the previous night, had to suffer further as they were forced to march again. Their armor was damaged and the warhorses were tired after having run for two hours. Despite all this, Brittany¡¯s knights had to gather their strength again. ¡°We must get to Parisiorum before the enemy!¡± The two armies raced with the Marne River between them. Brittany¡¯s cavalrymen were famous for their speed. If they were under the same conditions, then there would¡¯ve been no concern about arrivingter than the enemy. However, Queen Henrietta knew that they were already fairlyte. For starters, her army had only started to march now. On the other hand, the Demon Lord army had already sent the units that had finished crossing the river earlier. If you consider the fact that the battle took about two hours, the Demon Lord army had roughly a two-hour head start¡­¡­. Second, there wasn¡¯t a single troop from the Batavia Republic in the battle just now. To be more exact, there wasn¡¯t a single human soldier in sight. Demons may have been a majority in the enemy¡¯s army, but how could they have not seen even a single human? They didn¡¯t participate in the battle. In that case, that could only mean one thing. ¡®The republic army was a part of the group that crossed the river first.¡¯ Queen Henrietta rode her horse intensely as she thought to herself. Why did they go out of their way to make the human part of their army cross the river first? The answer bes evident if you consider that the enemy¡¯s goal is Parisiorum. ¡®It¡¯s so that they can enter the city safely.¡¯ If a unit of monsters tried to enter the capital, then the people would panic. Even if the monsters promised to never pige them and emphasized that they were an army made for the sake of humanity and not the Demon Lord army, it would be weird for the people to not be terrified when their troops have the faces of orcs. That¡¯s why they sent the humans over first. In order to not create a panic and be allowed infortably. ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­!¡± The other party had perfectly split their roles from the very beginning. They positioned the demons with high offensive power at the front. The human portion of their army, which was weak but politically effective, was sent to march to the capital while the demons kept Brittany busy. People say that war is only an extension of politics, but this was going too far. The battle that unfolded earlier was nothing more than a distraction. Their true goal was to enter Parisiorum. Going further, to snatch the Emperor and Empress Dowager. From start to finish, the enemy only had a political goal¡­¡­. ¡°Your Highness, we have almost arrived.¡± The cavalry captain¡¯s words woke Queen Henrietta up from her sea of thoughts. They had arrived at the outskirts of Parisiorum. It took them forty minutes to get here. They basically ignored their horses¡¯ stamina and came here as fast as possible. ¡°Open the gate!¡± ¡°The ruler of Brittany is here!¡± The g bearers raised their gs high. The ck Lily that represented Brittany fluttered in the wind. The guards that were protecting the east gate were surprised. They hastily went to open the gate, but the speed at which the drawbridge came down was inevitably slow. ¡°You fools! Bring the bridge down faster!¡± ¡°M-My apologies! But the bridge might get destroyed if we lowered it any faster than this¡­¡­.¡± The knights shouted at the guards. The Brittan soldiers were clearly feeling impatient. It wasn¡¯t a surprise. A ruler¡¯s emotions tend to get transferred down to their subordinates. Once Queen Henrietta started to feel mentally pressured, the pressure spread to her generals and soldiers like a gue. ¡°¡­¡­Hoo.¡± Henrietta realized how rash she had been after she saw the way her subordinates reprimanded the guards. A ruler has to be calm andposed at all times. She had forgotten about this fundamental rule for a moment. Henrietta made a conscious effort to calm down. She turned to observe the rampart instead of the drawbridge. ¡®There aren¡¯t a lot of guards protecting the walls. The gs got folded by the wind and they haven¡¯t unfurled them.¡¯ You can get a feel for a group¡¯s military discipline through the state of their gs. Currently, there were several gs that were folded messily. This meant that they were too preupied to be concerned about their gs. Furthermore, there were barely any sentries around even though the sun wasing up. They were protecting the east gate with the minimum number of guards. In other words, this meant that something was happening somewhere in Parisiorum, so most of their troops were dispatched there. ¡®The republican army most likely captured the south district or at least a portion of it.¡¯ The Empress Dowager or the Emperor has probably escaped from their detached pce and joined up with them¡­¡­. If the republican army captured a portion of the city, then Henrietta had to be ready for a fight. This was theirst chance since the main body of the Demon Lord army hadn¡¯t arrived yet. ¨C Clunk. The drawbridge finally finished descending. Henrietta spoke up to her troops right before her cavalrymen could rush forward. ¡°Men. We have done our best to arrive here. I guarantee that there is no army on the continent that is faster than you all. If, despite this, we are stillte, you are meless. The heavens are the ones to be med.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The knights looked at their queen. Their faces were filled with exhaustion, but their eyes were still very much alive. Impatience leads to mistakes and mistakes lead to defeat. The more experienced you are, the more dangerous impatience bes. Whether a soldier bes impatient or not depends on theirmander. What amander needs most is the trust of their soldiers. A fanatical belief that makes people believe they don¡¯t have to worry as long as they can rely on theirmander even if they¡¯re in a bad situation. Henrietta opened her mouth in order to fan that belief. ¡°Our homnd is a narrow penins. Even farming is difficult due to the salt in the soil. Our ancestors have always sought to expand into Frankia since ancient times. This is a wish that has been passed down for 700 years. You are the ones who fulfilled this wish.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In other words, you are the strongest in the history of Brittany.¡± Henrietta removed her helmet and raised it high in the air. ¡°Who could have imagined that a nation from a small penins could rule the continent!? And yet, we, Brittany, have made that possible! No matter the hardship we faced, Brittany has not fallen!¡± The knights removed their helmets and shouted. ¡°Glory to Brittany!¡± ¡°Glory to Her Majesty the Queen!¡± They continued to shout over and over again. The generals and petty officers figured out what the Queen was trying to do, so they responded passionately in kind. The impatience that had been looming over their minds diminished as they cheered in unison. Henrietta nodded and crossed the drawbridge. ¡°We greet the Glory of Brittany.¡± The gate captain weed Henrietta once she was across. It was a Brittan person and not a Frankian. This disyed how far Henrietta¡¯s influence had seeped into Parisiorum. ¡°Good work. Report.¡± ¡°Yes. There are currently no problems here at Parisiorum¡¯s east gate.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Henrietta¡¯s forehead became wrinkled. ¡°No problems? Where are all the guards?¡± ¡°Ah, that.¡± The gate captain looked troubled as he continued. ¡°Arge fire had broken out in the city. We received a request for assistance, so I sent some guards at my discretion.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± All of a sudden, an unknown feeling of unease spread throughout Henrietta¡¯s chest. Oblivious to this, the gate captain continued his report. ¡°This has caused us to neglect security for a moment, but the soldiers have returned safely and are currently taking a break in their quarters. I have taken measures so that they can be called out in case of an emergency.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What about the fire? Why did that break out?¡± ¡°It was reported that a fire broke out on the merchant ships at the dock. Fortunately, there were no casualties whatsoever.¡± The gate captain looked proud. An unexpected ident urred during the war, but the city guards and the gate guards worked together to deal with it quickly. There were no casualties as well. He had splendidly prevented the situation from getting out of hand. The gate captain probably thought that this was an opportunity to be personally praised by their great queen. However, contrary to the gate captain¡¯s expectations, the Queen¡¯s expression gradually became more rigid. ¡°Anything else? Did anything else happen in the city?¡± ¡°No. From what I can tell, nothing else happened aside from the fire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta ced her hand against her forehead. Considering the gate captain¡¯s tone, it didn¡¯t sound like the republican army had even approached Parisiorum. If they had breached the south gate or even approached it, then it would have naturally been reported. The other possibility was them using the chaos of the fire to extract the Empress Dowager or the Emperor¡­¡­but this wasn¡¯t what happened either. Naturally, Henrietta had specifically ced additional guards around the detached pce. If the Empress Dowager or the Emperor had managed to escape, then those guards would have requested help from all of the gate guards. There were two potential answers. They either ughtered the guards around the detached pce so perfectly that they didn¡¯t even have the time to ask for help, meaning they got the Empress Dowager and the Emperor out without anyone knowing¡ª. ¡°¡­¡­Where did those damned republicans go?¡± ¡ªOr they never came to Parisiorum to begin with. Henrietta led her royal guards into the city. Themonfolk looked on with curiosity and concern as arge number of cavalrymen passed through the streets early in the morning. Henrietta didn¡¯t have the leisure to reassure the people as she headed to the detached pce. The guard captain in charge of the detached pce gave a firm response when asked about the well-being of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. ¡°Of course. We have been guarding the pce rigorously, Your Highness.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta ordered them to check on the Empress Dowager and the Emperor just in case. Shortly after, the maids returned to report that there were no issues. Henrietta muttered to herself. ¡°Then a fire really was the only thing that urred.¡± She didn¡¯t understand. The Demon Lord army had an opportunity to upy the south gate. They could have at least encircled it for a siege. They could have easilymunicated with the Frankian nobles in secret and got them to sneak the Empress Dowager or Emperor out. But none of that had happened. The Frankian nobles didn¡¯t start an uproar and the south gate wasn¡¯t captured¡­¡­. Every possibility was gone and only questions remained. Where did the republican army disappear to? Henrietta looked down at her map with tired eyes. Her head felt nk. ¡®They took the risk of crossing the river, but missed the opportunity to arrive at Parisiorum, their goal¡­¡­. What could they possibly be thinking? Don¡¯t tell me that luring the Green Rose Knights in and wiping them out was their only goal? They moved on too much of a grand scale for that to be the case¡­¡­. Wait, their goal?¡¯ Henrietta paused. ¡®What if Parisiorum wasn¡¯t their goal?¡¯ Henrietta¡¯s gaze followed the river. Her eyes then stopped at a certain point on the map. There was a moment of silence. Henrietta¡¯s head remained down for a fair while before she slowly raised it. The sun was fully in the sky as dawn had arrived. It was shining down on thend. How much time had passed? An attendant arrived saying that an urgent message was sent by the Habsburg Republic. Lines that were written personally by Consul Elizabeth were on the letter delivered by the envoy. It was a handwritten letter that consisted of only two sentences. ¨C Military rations. Be wary. The piece of paper was crumpled in Henrietta¡¯s hands. Henrietta looked at the sky. The ends of her mouth twisted bizarrely. Like she was trying to smile, but failed to do so. A murmur that was close to a groan flowed out from between her lips. ¡°¡­¡­You¡¯re two hourste, Eliza.¡± At the same point in time. The Republic of Batavia¡¯s g was raised at the fortress where Brittany¡¯s provisions were located. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Everything is just goingpletely downhill for Henrietta, huh? I also noticed we¡¯re getting close to the big three O. Chapter 300 soon. We¡¯re more than halfway through the WN now. Time has been going way too fasttely¡­ Might¡¯ve been because of all those weddings¡­ In any case, it¡¯s raining now so I can finally breathe a bit. I pray this weathersts for a while, but it probably won¡¯t. Oh well. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 294: Puppet War (11) Chapter 294: Puppet War (11) * * * Our army¡¯s main body caught up with the rest of our army southwest of Parisiorum. With this, we had seized victory. The fortress with Brittany¡¯s precious provision warehouse was taken by us. The fortress had an incredibly long name. It was called Sage-Germain-en-Laye Fortress. It was annoying to remember or even talk about. The members of our army arbitrarily decided to call it . There were 700 foot soldiers and 200 cavalrymen protecting the fortress. Their fortifications were quite steadfast, but once our republican army of 10,000 swarmed them, the fortress didn¡¯tst for even two hours. They probably never imagined that a massive army woulde to raid them. It was a perfect surprise assault. Their only hopeid in whether Henrietta sent them reinforcements or not¡­¡­but how unfortunate. Our departure times were vastly different. We made Batavia¡¯s republican army cross the river first and had them depart immediately once they were over. While this was happening, Brittany was tied down due to their battle with us. This made them waste about two hours. Henrietta made a mistake the moment she engaged in battle with us. Of course, this was in conclusion. If she had won the battle, then Henrietta¡¯s name would have gone down in history as a renownedmander, while we would¡¯ve been referred to as the fools who were split up and conquered because we were caught while trying to cross a river. That¡¯s war. Everything is determined by the result¡­¡­. I had requested Bar Bercy to start the fire in Parisiorum. I was shocked when I heard that a mass purge had been carried out. Fortunately, Bar Bercy managed to avoid that wave of blood. The Bar was our only connection with the patriots of Frankia. It was incredibly lucky that he survived. The Bar did a splendid job in carrying out his task. Henrietta was probablymenting miserably right now. She lost her strongest fighting power known as the Green Rose Knights and her provisions. Now Brittany¡¯s elbowroom has been narrowed down significantly. Henrietta, you were too focused on pitched battles. In the end, war is about deception and more deception. By putting your backs against a river, you made it obvious that your goal was a pitched battle. On the other hand, we hid our intentions til the very end. We made walls to make it seem like we were aiming for a prolonged battle and we crossed the river to make it seem like we were trying to go to Parisiorum. But our true goal was their storage. Henrietta tripped and fell on both of these traps. At noon, Laura and I were together in our personal quarters. Our forces have seized the decisive chance at victory, but the war wasn¡¯t over yet. Brittany¡¯s army was still alive and healthy. We couldn¡¯t let our guards down. The two of us immediately started a strategy meeting as soon as we set up a military camp southwest of Parisiorum. ¡°Brittany now has only two choices.¡± ¡°They try to defend the city or they retreat.¡± Laura nodded her head. I would finish her sentences whenever she started to talk. We had a full understanding of each other¡¯s ns. ¡°The Brittans would not want a siege. Not only do they greatly prefer pitched battles, but they do not have the provisions to sustain a prolonged siege either. They would want to retreat, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The issue is where they could possibly retreat to.¡± The effects of the civil war are still widespread throughout Frankia. The influence of royalists is strong on the west and east sides of Parisiorum. It was only natural since almost every known republican was ughtered. On the other hand, the north end of Frankia became a sacred area for republicans. The north end was also where there were a dense number of free cities that had dered independence. Therefore, Henrietta would want to run away to either the west or east where the people are more amicable to them. If they kidnap the Emperor and Empress Dowager, then they could also receive a war tax under the pretext of it being the ¡®Emperor¡¯s order¡¯. They would be able to legally obtain provisions. However, we¡¯re blocking their way south and west. If the people of Brittany want to retreat south or west, then they would have to cross the river like we didst night. I shouldn¡¯t have to say it, but Laura and I don¡¯t intend to sit idly by and let them cross the river. ¡°We must order the wyvern unit to keep an eye on Parisiorum.¡± ¡°I already gave the order through Gamigin. Half of the unit is rotating every three hours to keep surveince over Parisiorum.¡± Laura smiled in response to my answer. ¡°As expected of my lord. You are what they mean by a perfect adjutant.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I feel like you¡¯re reversing our roles.¡± Laura was probably the only vassal in the world who treated her lord as an adjutant. Well, not like I cared. As long as we can win the war. If Brittany¡¯s army did something, then the wyvern unit would immediately report it to us. We were nning to move in order to prevent the enemy from crossing the river. Of course, as long as Henrietta wasn¡¯t an idiot, she should know that they were being watched by wyverns. ¡°The Queen of Brittany will either try to force their way across the river or give up on it entirely.¡± ¡°Both options are good for us.¡± Laura nodded. ¡°If the enemy attempts to cross the river, then we would be able to fight with an advantage. Although things would be different if they possessed a unit strong enough to ignore the risk of crossing the river¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But we did our bestst night to get rid of that very unit. Isn¡¯t that so, Laura?¡± The Green Rose Knights. They were abnormally powerful. It¡¯smon sense for an army to be weak when crossing a river, but the Green Rose Knights were easily capable of fending off an enemy attack while also helping their allies cross a river. Thus, we took the risk of wiping the Green Rose Knights outst night. In truth, instead of splitting our army up into four lines of defense, we could have focused everyone into a single line. If we did that, then the line wouldn¡¯t have gotten breached, but we intentionally let them break our first line of defense. As a result, Brittany lost their trump card. They didn¡¯t only lose their strongest fighting power. They also lost their ability to cross the river without burden. Well, it would take some time before Henrietta realizes this as well¡­¡­. ¡°Brittany has no choice but to retreat north.¡± That¡¯s right. Queen Henrietta has no choice but to go to and that was hostile to them. She will have to resupply by piging the viges and cities up north. This was also something that Laura and I wanted. * * * Themanders gathered in the barracks during the afternoon. Most of the Demon Lords looked pleased. We had aplished a strategic victory. It¡¯d be strange if they looked upset. However, only the faces of Paimon, Vassago, and General Zepar were firm. Paimon has always been unsatisfied with Laura¡¯s tactics. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, but she was holding them back since they won. That was the mood she was emitting. Vassago was just in a bad mood. Yesterday night was probably no different from a nightmare for him. He was making it obvious that he didn¡¯t want to fight Agares ever again. Of course, I had already marked Vassago in my mind as being in charge of Agares. On the other hand, General Zepar was clearly holding back his anger. ¡°Deputy Commander, I did not hear a single word about the n for the previous battle. Please exin.¡± The old general¡¯s wrinkles looked like they were about to burst with rage. We expected that our first line of defense would get breached. It was thanks to this that we had won, but General Zepar, who was in charge of that very line, was kept in the dark. General Zepar had struggled desperately because he thought that everyone would be in danger if he let the enemy through. Laura answered bluntly. ¡°The first line had to fight desperately in order for our n to work.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you saying that we would have fought less bravely if I was told beforehand?¡± ¡°There is a vast difference between whether we have countermeasures or not. At the very least, this would create a difference in resolution. I believe that you would also agree with this, General Zepar.¡± General Zepar closed his mouth. He understood, but he was also understandably upset. General Zepar¡¯s face made his thoughts apparent. ¡°Naturally, the person who contributed the most in thest battle was General Zepar.¡± Laura pped her hands. A beastman that was waiting outside entered the room while holding a g. The other Demon Lords looked confused as they stared at the beastman. Only General Zepar managed to recognize what it was in an instant. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s the Green Rose Knights¡¯ banner.¡± Once Laura made a gesture with her hand, another soldier approached and helped unfurl the g. ¡°I reward this g, in Supreme Commander Rudolf von Habsburg¡¯s stead, to the general who contributed the most in the previous battle.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± General Zepar¡¯s eyes opened wide. It was a g that boasted a history of 700 years. It was also something that had never been seized before throughout all of history. If a normal g goes for about 200 to 500 gold¡­¡­then the Green Rose Knights¡¯ g was priceless. It would be a great honor to have that g hanging in your Demon Lord Castle. General Zepar quietly closed his eyes. It seems he was thinking deeply about something. He was finally able to get payback for the humiliation he received 500 years ago. It would be weird if he had no remorse. ¡°¡­¡­Thank you, Deputy Commander.¡± General Zepar opened his eyes and stood up. He brought his right hand to his chest and saluted. This was the greatest courtesy a general could show when he was already serving Barbatos. Laura gave him a nod. ¡°Honor should naturally follow one¡¯s struggle. However, the war has yet to end. Brittany¡¯s army is still healthy. The actual distribution of honors will be carried out after we have won.¡± The Demon Lords nodded their heads. A portion of them looked unsatisfied. Well, what¡¯s there to hide? It was Vassago again. Once I intentionally met his gaze and gave him a smile, he cleared his throat and turned away. He is really an adorable gentleman. I was starting to like him more. Please continue to stay pure. Laura continued once the mood had settled down. ¡°Starting tomorrow, we will thoroughly pige the area around Parisiorum.¡± ¡°Hm? Don¡¯t we have more than enough supplies now? Do we have to go out of our way to ruin our image through piging?¡± Barbatos asked back. It was a logical question. Piging was normal in this day and age, but it was obviously better to not do it if possible. Laura turned to nce at me. ¡°General Dantalian will borate further in that regard. He is the one who had designed this n.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I stood up. Everyone¡¯s gaze focused on me. I cleared my throat before proceeding to give a calm exnation. ¡°This may be unfamiliar to my fellow Demon Lords, but royalists and republicans are currently opposing each other in Frankia. To put it simply, Brittany is on the side of the royalists while the Batavian army that is with us is republican.¡± A majority of the Demon Lords tilted their heads. Why should we care about the political system in the human world? That was what their faces were saying. Tsk. I understand very well why you guys kept losing during your Crescent Alliances. I smiled gently. ¡°Four years ago, arge-scale massacre urred in Frankia because of the Brittan army. At least 10,000 republicans were ughtered all throughout the nation. Therefore, the republicans of Frankia harbor a deep hatred toward royalists. We will use that hatred.¡± The Demon Lords still looked confused. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if Henrietta will somehow be able to recover from this. We¡¯re nearing the end of this segment, so I guess it¡¯s time for the Demon Lord army to start sweeping up. On another note, I was told the episode with my brother¡¯s wedding is going to air sometime in August, so uh, yeah. If I disappear for a while in August, I¡¯m probably dying from embarrassment somewhere. I¡¯m not looking forward to it. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 295: Puppet War (12) Chapter 295: Puppet War (12) ¡°Use their hatred? Please borate.¡± Marbas asked in his usual calm demeanor. If you had to pick out a Demon Lord with the most notable political viewpoint, then it would naturally be ex-Rank 5 Marbas. He will most likely understand me the most. I spoke while holding this hope. ¡°Sir Marbas, to put it simply, Frankia has two governments.¡± First, there are the royalists and the republicans. This isn¡¯t all. The royalists are also split into two sides. There are royalists who are hostile to Brittany and royalists who are friendly to them. People normally refer to the former as patriots and thetter as traitors. The republicans are also split into numerous groups, but let¡¯s narrow them down to two for now. If I make itplicated from the beginning, then the other Demon Lords wouldn¡¯t be able to follow along. ¡°A fair number of people in Frankia support the royalists. Should I say about fifty percent of their total poption? On the other hand, the republicans have the support of roughly thirty percent. If youpare this ratio, the royalists have an overwhelming advantage¡­¡­but if you consider the safeguarding factions, then that changes things.¡± ¡°Safeguarding factions?¡± ¡°First, the republicans. I will preface this by saying that the republicans in Frankia were ughtered. The north is where the people who barely managed to survive have gathered. Most of them do not have the spare manpower to create an army.¡± There are free cities in the north. Calling them free cities gives them a somewhat imposing aura, but they are mid to small factions that wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against arge nation. ¡°But they have an abundance of money. Not only is the northern region of Frankia a key trade point, but it is also a granary. The nobles there used that overflowing amount of money to create their defenses.¡± ¡°Mercenaries, I see.¡± Marbas spoke. I gave him a nod. ¡°Yes, mercenaries. Adding to that, a majority of them are soldiers from the Republic of Batavia. In other words, it would be fine to say that the Republic of Batavia is the one safeguarding the republicans.¡± This was why I sneered at these so-called patriots. It was unjust for the Emperor to bring in a foreign power like Brittany. That was clearly condemnable, but what are you trying to prove by bringing in Batavia as a means to retaliate? You¡¯re just repeating tit for tat. Frankia ended up suddenly bing a battlefield for a proxy war. It sounds simple if you describe it as a fight between the Emperor¡¯s faction and the Empress Dowager¡¯s faction, but it was actually a fight between Brittany, the followers of royalism, and Batavia, the leader of republicanism. They were swept up by foreign powers. ¡°Next is the royalists, but they are also in a bad situation. The Emperor, who should be protecting them, is ipetent. The high nobles who were being represented by Duke Guise were also wiped out. In the end, they have also been split into two sides¡­¡­.¡± My throat felt dry. At that moment, my servant-cum-bodyguard Daisy courteously handed me a cup of water. I received it and gulped it down in an instant. Marbas stroked his beard. ¡°Dantalian, by two sides, are you referring to the faction that supports the Queen of Brittany and the faction that does not?¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± As expected of Marbas. He didn¡¯t betray my expectations in a good way. He immediately noticed the implications of my words. ¡°There are many people among the royalists who do not mind serving Brittany. They do not care who they have to serve as long as their horrendous civil wares to an end¡­¡­. There are those with this belief. This faction is obviously being supported by the Kingdom of Brittany.¡± They want the Emperor and the Queen to get married and to run the nation together. In other words, a joint monarchy. ¡°Finally, there are the royalists who are against the Queen of Brittany. Their vigor is praiseworthy, but itcks a little realism. They do not have any backing.¡± ¡°Be it the republicans or the royalists, they have foreign factions backing them. That is what you are pointing out.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± It was hard to call them a normal country. It was the nobles of Frankia that pushed their country into such a state. The Emperor is an idiot? There¡¯s a simple solution for that. They simply have to abandon the Emperor and choose the Empress Dowager. If they create a puppet ruler, then they could prevent foreign nations from being asked for reinforcements. It would also prevent Henrietta from having a cause to run rampant. Despite this, the nobles waited things out with the Emperor and Empress Dowager in front of them. They made it so that neither side could win with an overwhelming advantage. Why did they do this? It¡¯s obvious. If the imperial family¡¯s authority bes stronger, then the nobles would be weaker. This means the nobles would be stronger if the imperial family became weaker¡­¡­. Both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor borrowed the strength of the nobles. They asked for their support. This probably made the nobles prideful. They must¡¯ve acted arrogant and raised their values. While a mother and child were making a mess of the royal pce, most of the nobles stood idly by as they watched them. They most likely sat in their luxurious estates and drank wine, makingments such as, ¡°What is His Excellency the Emperor doing?¡± and ¡°It would be better if Her Excellency the Empress Dowager showed some restraint.¡± To be perfectly honest, they didn¡¯t have even a sliver of patriotism. If they do im to have patriotism, then it was towards a nation that suited their specific taste. While the nobles were busy furrowing their brows at each other and arguing about their definitions of patriotism with fancy words, the ones who actually got swept up by their civil war and suffered were the people. Wiseman Bartholomew¡¯s massacre was a good example of this. At most, 10,000 people had perished. Naturally, there were 10-year-old children among those who were ughtered. Could the nobles talk however they please before those oblivious children who were killed? They lived for the sake of the country? That wasn¡¯t even a funny joke. In the end, they only live for the sake of their own lives and their ideals. It wasn¡¯t only the nobles. It was the same for Queen Henrietta as well. She¡¯s the queen of Brittany and has always lived for the sake of Brittany¡¯s glory. From our perspective, the patriots and the Queen were peas in a pod. However, all they did was say lies. They lied to themselves by saying that their actions were justified and for the sake of the nation, and by doing so, they tricked others as well¡­¡­. Henry the 3rd most likely felt this. He was undoubtedly the most foolish man in the world, but his loss of sanity was understandable. Think about it. All of his vassals would say that they were working ¡°for the sake of the people¡± and ¡°for the sake of Your Excellency the Emperor¡±, but, in truth, they only looked after their own interests. He was probably frustrated. This is just my opinion, but I feel like one of the reasons why he asked Henrietta for help was in order to screw those nobles over. Every side only thinks for themselves¡­¡­. Despite this, they lie and say that they are acting for the people. To make matters worse, the people in question aren¡¯t even aware that they¡¯re lying. The culprits aren¡¯t the ones who take responsibility for this hypocrisy, it¡¯s the people of the nation who end up having to take responsibility. In the form of ughter. This was why everything was a mess. Well, it¡¯s alreadymon knowledge that the world is fucked. It¡¯s not even a good drinking topic. This was the problem. Where does the grudge of the people who get ughtered go? Someone had clearly lied. Be it nobles, Henrietta, the Emperor, or even the people themselves, they all lied. The nobles weren¡¯t the only ones to participate in the ughter. Naturally,moners went around killing fellowmoners as well. They don¡¯t realize that some of the ughters were started by them because they perpetuate the lies. They simply fought while believing that everything was happening because of the royalists or the republicans. They had no intention of taking responsibility for the ughters. The grudge of those who were sacrificed will gradually fade away as everyone turns a blind eye toward them. After about two generations, people will talk about these events casually like uninvolved bystanders. No one will bring about justice and avenge them¡­¡­. In that case, it should be fine if I act as a proxy for their grudge. It was a grudge that would¡¯ve been forgotten anyway. A grudge that no one would¡¯ve taken responsibility for. If it¡¯s going to be abandoned and forgotten anyway, then it shouldn¡¯t be a problem if I picked it up like a random stone on the side of the road. I smiled. ¡°Brittany is currently in an extremely precarious situation. Since they have lost their supplies, they have to either defend the capital or retreat. Our goal is to restrict the number of actions they can take.¡± ¡°Restricting their actions, is it?¡± Marbas continued to look this way while stroking his beard. His cold eyes were stoic as if they were trying to assess my intentions. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. Your Excellency, we will ughter all of the citizens that belong to the royalist party.¡± The Demon Lords stirred. Brother Beleth, Sitri, and the other Demon Lords who were letting out bored yawns quickly turned to face me. Brother Beleth¡¯s gaze was especially prominent as I could tell that he was asking me to borate. He was dozing off when we were talking about politics, but he suddenly became interested the moment the word ¡®ughter¡¯ was mentioned. I couldn¡¯t help butugh because of how straightforward he was. ¡°ughter? Dantalian, I do not understand.¡± Did myugh sound unpleasant? Paimon spoke up with an anxious tone. ¡°It is as I said. We will start with the viges and cities around us and ughter the royalists indiscriminately. We will be reenacting the ughter from four years ago, but in reverse.¡± ¡°But why do we have to carry out a ughter¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is a dichotomy, Your Excellency.¡± Paimon, I know that you like humans more than the others, but this isn¡¯t a bad thing for you. ¡°If our army ughters the royalists, then how do you think the nobles andmoners who belong to the royalist party will react? They will resist fiercely. However, they do not possess any sort of manpower to actually retaliate against us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They would have only one option left. They would have to go to the Queen of Brittany and beg for help. Brittany is iming to be the guardian of royalists. For better or worse, the Queen would have to consider their request seriously.¡± To Henrietta, they¡¯re the base that¡¯s supporting her. There would be no future for her political faction if she ignored her foothold. ¡°As a side note, Parisiorum is a sacred ce for royalists. It is where their ughter was carried out most thoroughly, after all. My main point lies here¡­¡­will the Queen of Brittany be able to simply leave Parisiorum at this point?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Marbas clenched his fist. ¡°So you are saying that she would not be able to leave the city with ease!¡± The other Demon Lords got serious as well. I felt pleased by their reaction. ¡°That is correct. If they abandon Parisiorum, then the Queen would be betraying her backing faction. Even if they seed in running away, the Queen would be condemned for abandoning her duty.¡± Frankians wouldn¡¯t be the only ones condemning her, Brittans would condemn her as well. Inparison, this would be like the higher-ups of an Imic army running away when they know that their city was about to get ughtered by a Catholic army. For what purpose did their army exist? Didn¡¯t they exist to protect royalists¡­¡­? The voicesining about the Queen will grow louder. ¡°Moreover, if the enemy chooses not to escape, then that is fine as well. They will have to defend endlessly against a siege. Without any supplies, at that. It would be advantageous for us.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡­.¡± Marbas was moved. He slowly nodded his head as if he were savoring my n. ¡°No matter what option they take, their future is extremely bleak.¡± With this, it¡¯s checkmate, Henrietta. If you want to save your army, then abandon your backing faction. If you want to preserve your backing faction, then abandon your army. It seems like royalists and your army are both precious to you, but you can¡¯t have everything. You can¡¯t survive unless you throw one side away. This is the simple truth. However, you¡¯re greedy. You¡¯re trying to have your cake and eat it too. I¡¯ll use this opportunity to teach you what having only one choice is like. Well, don¡¯t worry too much. I won¡¯t take a lecture fee from you. I¡¯m a rather gentle person, after all¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, the heat is really getting to me. I almost didn¡¯t manage to get this chapter out. I usually work on tranting in the morning, but it was just so humid these past few days that I couldn¡¯t get into the mood. Please bring back the rain. The weather forecast keeps lying and telling me that it¡¯ll rain tomorrow, but that keeps getting pushed back day by day. I cry. If a chapteres outte, then it¡¯s because I¡¯m burning up. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next heatwave. Chapter 296: Puppet War (13) Chapter 296: Puppet War (13) Everyone returned to their personal quarters after the meeting was adjourned. Paimon grabbed me and pulled me to a corner. There were guards posted at the outskirts of our camp, but Paimon waved them away. Once the spectators were gone, Paimon turned to re at me. ¡°I cannot ept it!¡± There was a fire burning deep within Paimon¡¯s eyes. Oh dear, it¡¯s embarrassing if you look at me so passionately. I casually shook off her gaze. ¡°What are you saying you cannot ept?¡± ¡°Do not y dumb, Dantalian. That is a ughter. An imprudently cruel act.¡± ¡°Imprudent and cruel, is it¡­¡­?¡± I repeated those words with my mouth. Those words felt like they were sticking onto my tongue. Paimon took out a ss vial from her pocket during this brief moment and threw it on the ground. The purple liquid from the bottle created a magic circle on its own. It was probably a spell that made the area around us soundproof. Paimon lost all of her Circles, but she was still capable of creating magic potions. With this, a secret room was created. I spoke calmly. ¡°We havee too far to suddenly be reluctant to do cruel things.¡± ¡°Thisdy said that it was imprudent and cruel. Do not intentionally change my words. If there was a cause, then I would have dly stood for something like a ughter. But what cause does this n have?¡± Paimon spat out coldly. ¡°That ughter is purely for the sake of pushing Brittany into a corner. A ughter purely for the sake of seizing victory!¡± ¡°The republican¡¯s victory, Paimon.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± We locked eyes. Numerous soundless words were exchanged between us. It happened right when I thought we had finished talking. ¨C p! What a clear sound. Those were the words that went through my head. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Before I knew it, my head was turned. I turned to face Paimon again. The corners of her eyes were watery. Right when I was about to open my mouth, Paimon¡¯s hand moved once more. The sound of skin-to-skin contact rang out. My head was turned away once again. I turned back and Paimon swung her hand again. This was repeated about six times. ¡°You hypocrite¡­¡­!¡± Paimon was gnashing her teeth. ¡°How could you deliberately devise the worst possible option! If you thought that I would not notice, then you were gravely mistaken! Dantalian, you are a vile hypocrite. War kills people. It is an inexcusably evil act. Nheless, other people at least have an excuse¡­¡­. They¡¯re doing it for justice, for God, or for their nation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In other words, you havepletely eviscerated your excuse. What you are doing is undeniably evil and has no room for excuses¡­¡­. You are not trying to ask for forgiveness or understanding. You are doing this solely to maintain your horrid purity!¡± I stroked my cheek. How long has it been since I wasst pped by someone? No, I¡¯ve never been struck to this degree before. Or at least, from what I can immediately remember. Words unconsciously flowed out of my mouth as I rubbed my cheeks absentmindedly. ¡°So? Am I in the wrong? As you already know, I caused the Crescent Alliance. Tens of thousands of people have died. Do you understand? Tens of thousands.¡± Children, demons, humans, beast tribes, and even Demon Lords. They were all killed indiscriminately. ¡°Should I go in front of them and tell them, ¡®I¡¯m sorry, I have my own circumstances, so you guys have to die.¡¯? Do I have to say this? Paimon, answer me. Do they have to listen to my excuse?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Are my circumstances enough to warrant the deaths of tens of thousands? Hah! Those must be quite the circumstances.¡± I smirked. I didn¡¯t smirk on purpose. My tone and expression had all escaped my control and were moving on their own. Fine. Move however you want. It¡¯d be unsightly if I didn¡¯t make any rebuttal after being pped like that. ¡°Try standing before the lives of ten thousand and telling that to them. You have to be sacrificed for the sake of the nation, so your deaths are absolutely essential. You do not have to say it is for the nation. You can say it is for justice, for God, or for republicanism. Say whatever you want¡­¡­. Not! It is all nonsense! There is no way that they would understand!¡± I grabbed Paimon¡¯s wrist tightly with the intent to break it. ¡°There will never be a time where the deaths of tens of thousands is absolutely essential. Never! Try saying something like that in front of the victims¡­¡­. I will not stand idly by. I swear that I will kill every single oppressor in the world!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°All of the cities attached to Parisiorum will be burned down tomorrow.¡± Regardless of sex or age. I won¡¯t distinguish between good or bad people either. The n will be carried out thoroughly solely for the sake of getting rid of Henrietta and Agares. ¡°There must be no excuses for my actions. It must not be understood either! Paimon, do you understand? Tens of thousands will be killed for my sake, and since this is the one and only truth¡ªit must be an unyielding truth!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is not a problem that you can get involved with. This is a problem between the tens of thousands I kill and myself. Do not get involved however you please.¡± I pulled Paimon down by her wrist, making her stumble forward and onto her knees. Even though in terms of strength, she could overwhelm me by andslide. My entire body was screaming at me to smoke. I dug through my mantle and pulled out my pipe. I tried to press the tobo into the end of the pipe, but the pipe ended up slipping out of my hand and rolling on the ground. I picked it up but dropped it again. ¡°Damn it.¡± My hands were shaking. I couldn¡¯t tell if this was because of withdrawal or my anger. But one thing was certain: I was not in a good mood. I picked up and dropped my pipe about five times. I felt like a retard. No, maybe I am one¡­¡­. Iughed at myself. I stomped on my pipe. It was a luxurious item that a master earthenware craftsman from Saxony had specially made for me. It wasn¡¯t easy to break, so it simply got pushed into the dirt. Rather than relieve my annoyance, it made me angrier. ¡°Hoo.¡± I can¡¯t go insane. Going insane would also be an excuse. I know that¡­¡­. Hold back your anger. I closed my eyes and breathed. Think about it. You should be able to stop your hands of all things from shaking. Like hell I¡¯ll let people conclude that the person who ughtered tens of thousands was actually a lunatic. Going insane is also a right. I don¡¯t have a right like that¡­¡­. I turned my back to Paimon as I calmed down a little and walked away. Something grabbed my mantle. It was probably Paimon¡¯s hand. However, I didn¡¯t let that stop me as I continued forward. The thing that was grabbing my mantle soon fell off. I don¡¯t really remember what happened afterward. Before I knew it, I was already back in my personal quarters. Daisy was reading in the room. She made a weird face when she saw me. I paid her no mind as Iid on top of my nket. ¡°Did you clumsily lose your drugs, Father?¡± Daisy asked. Her voice came from behind me since I had my back turned to her. I muttered with my eyes closed. ¡°I don¡¯t do drugs anymore.¡± ¡°If my memory serves me right, this is exactly the forty-sixth time you imed to be quitting drugs. They say that even dogs realize their mistake after the third time, but there should be a limit to short-lived resolutions¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re amazing, so shut up.¡± It became quiet. The sound of Daisy smoothly flipping the pages of her book filled the room. I was lying down on a bed, but I couldn¡¯t sleep. It was in times like this that I despised being a Demon Lord as sleep wasn¡¯t an absolute necessity for us. I would be able to refresh my mood if I could sleep. It felt like there was a weight on my chest. I muttered as if I were groaning. ¡°¡­¡­Alcohol.¡± ¡°Haa.¡± I heard a sigh. I didn¡¯t feel like getting angry at that. Daisy spoke. ¡°Father, your n is undeniably effective, but do you have to go out of your way to structuralize the republicans and royalists? A bunch of demons ughtering humans indiscriminately. This alone would be enough to pressure the ruler of Brittany to take responsibility for the city.¡± ¡°¡­¡­How foolish. If we do that, then the other nations would get involved.¡± Pressuring Brittany isn¡¯t our only goal. Our ultimate goal is to iste Queen Henrietta. ¡°Republicans are getting revenge against royalists. If we have a cause like this, then it will lower the likelihood of another country getting involved. If demons start a ughter, then they would just form an Anti-Crescent Alliance group again¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I see. But putting Bernicia and Sardinia aside, what about the Kingdom of Castile?¡± ¡°It does not matter. If Castile gets involved, then this war would expand into an international conflict. They would ask Sardinia and Bernicia for assistance, and Frankia would fall into utter chaos¡­¡­. This is not a bad scenario¡­¡­.¡± Of course, this wasn¡¯t the best-case scenario. If this happens, then the war would escape from my grasp. Castile, Bernicia, and Sardinia, I have no connections with any of these nations. Our current situation was perfect with just the Republic of Batavia¡­¡­. ¡°For the sake of that, it would probably be good to get our hands on the Empress Dowager or the Emperor¡­¡­. We would be able to seize a firm cause¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In that case, which of the two would be¡­¡­.¡± Daisy kept asking questions. I kept giving her answers, but my consciousness was gradually fading away. My eyes were already closed, but it felt like another pair of eyelids were closing. A voice entered my ears, but it was hard toprehend their words now. On that night, it was the first time in a long while since I didn¡¯t have any dreams. * * * The next day after the n was decided, ughters disguised as piging were carried out. Piging was a normal thing in this era. Nevertheless, our army kicked it up a notch. The adult men were naturally killed, but women and children were also killed ording to the situation. The humans screamed and asked for mercy, but our answer was firm. ¡°The people you killed four years ago must have said the same thing to you.¡± There was no need to even ask. Humans were tied up and transported from the viges and towns around Parisiorum. They were all tied to logs and ced in front of Parisiorum¡¯s south gate. The Brittan guards were clearly perplexed as they looked down from the ramparts. ¡°These people are war criminals that ughtered innocent civilians under the im of them being republicans four years ago. There is no room for argument that the Queen of Brittany was the one who devised this crime.¡± I raised the volume of my voice with a sound amplifying magic tool. ¡°Lord of Brittany! If you have even the smallest bit of conscience left inside of you, if you have the courage to admit to this crime in these people¡¯s stead, then open the gate and surrender. If you do not respond within five hours, then these people will have to pay for their crime of ughter.¡± Should I say that it was as I expected? No response came back to us in those five hours. The guards on top of the rampart moved around busily, but Queen Henrietta never appeared. ¡°¡­¡­Is that your answer, Queen?¡± I slowly looked over the 50 humans who were hanging from logs. People filled with despair, people with their eyes closed and praying constantly, and people who had dropped their heads in exhaustion after desperately struggling all this time. There were dozens of types of faces here. I gave an order to our soldiers who were waiting beside them. ¡°Carry out the execution.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. We get to see Dant experience some more mental decay in this chapter. I guess it¡¯s cool in a way that Dant is trying to shoulder all of this by himself so that other people don¡¯t have to carry this burden. He already knows the amount of shit he¡¯s done, so he most likely thinks it¡¯s fine to just pile more onto that. The question is whether the people around him are able to figure this out. Well, Paimon probably pieced it together here. On a side note, the construction finally started across the street. They finished the demolition about a month and a half ago and did nothing until now. The empty space got filled with trash pretty fast, but at least the trash is all gone since they¡¯ve finally started the building process. I love waking up to drills and the feeling of my entire house shaking. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 297: Puppet War Chapter 297: PuppetWar Screams and wailing filled the sky. The humans cried out. ¡°O Great Being! Please forgive us! Please¡ª.¡± ¡°Mercy! I¡¯ll do anything, so please at least spare my life!¡± All fifty people cried out in different ways. It was almost like an orchestra was performing a de-harmonized symphony without any practice. There was no way that I wouldn¡¯t be moved by this mess of a symphony. My order remained firm. ¨C Crackle. Our troops started to set the firewood aze. The mes that spread over from the torches gradually grewrger. The screaming became a decibel louder. Burning at the stake was actually quite a hassle. You have to gather a lot of dried lumber and the burning procedure took way too much time. It was obviously inefficient since we still had hundreds left to kill. Regardless, I had only one simple reason as to why I chose this method. It was cruel. ¡°Fuck, let me go! Let me go this instant¡ª!¡± ¡°Oh merciful Persephone, please guide my soul¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Huagh! Huaaaagh! Kuaaaack!¡± Vige chiefs,ndowners, subordinates of tax administrators, and civil militia leaders, these people who most likely reigned as the rulers in their small societies were slowly burned to death from the bottom up. Their visions became blurry because of the mes. They screamed and coughed as smoke filled their lungs. Some of them passed out and some of them cried until the very end. Despite all this, their final moments were the same. They all became charred skeletons and fell to the ground powerlessly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Brittan soldiers standing on top of the ramparts went silent. There was another good thing about burning at the stake. It was eye-catching. You could easily see the smoke from a very far distance, meaning it should¡¯ve been as clear as day for the citizens of Parisiorum. People were actively dying beyond the walls¡­¡­. It would be troubling if this thought wasn¡¯t looming over your heads. My goal was to pressure the people of Parisiorum, and, by doing so, pressure Henrietta as well. ¡°From this point forth,¡± My warning echoed throughout the ckened sky. ¡°People will be burned here at the south gate every six hours. The number of lives that will be sacrificed will increase the longer the ruler of Brittany avoids her crimes. There is no mercy here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Humans of Brittany, I rmend that you pay close attention. See how immense the seeds of crime you nted have grown and how they are being harvested. Let us see how long you can turn a blind eye to these sacrifices¡­¡­.¡± From that day on, immtions were carried out four times a day. The executions happened regardless of whether it was day or night. It didn¡¯t discriminate between men, women, or the elderly. ck smoke billowed upward during the afternoon and red mes lit up the sky during the night. There was no time for the smoke to settle. As I predicted, Brittany didn¡¯t take action. No, I should say that they weren¡¯t able to take action. ¡°A protest is being held in Parisiorum.¡± Gamigin reported. She had been observing the city from the sky with her wyvern unit. The protest began two days after we started our executions. ¡°Splendid. What is the scale?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been increasing over time. At first, it was about thirty people, but now there are about four hundred.¡± The protest was growing at a fast pace. This was proof that the people were anxious. ording to Gamigin, their demand was simple. They wanted the ughter happening outside the city to stop. Henrietta most likely couldn¡¯t do anything in her position. She wanted to escape the city, but she was being tied down. Three, four, and five days went by quietly. There was a single battle during that time. It didn¡¯t happen in Parisiorum. A naval battle abruptly happened on the sea far from Parisiorum. Since theirnd routes were blocked, Brittany had tried to transport supplies through the river. Unfortunately for them, the Republic of Batavia¡¯s fleet was waiting for them at the river mouth. ¡°If they conclude that they cannot avoid a siege, then Brittany will, without a doubt, try to get their supplies through the river.¡± Laura pointed out. ¡°If wey out an ambush at the entrance of Sequanna River, then we should be able to obtain some sizable gains.¡± Brittany¡¯s army may be peerless onnd, but their navy wasn¡¯t special. On the other hand, the Republic of Batavia had one of the strongest naval armies alongside the Kingdom of Sardinia. Brittany¡¯s navy was utterly powerless before an ambush by fiftyrge galleys. Around twenty small andrge ships were sunk and about thirty supply ships were captured. Laura¡¯s prediction was urate this time as well. Once we received a report that the supply ships filled with provisions had be ours and wereing our way, themandersughed. There were even a few Demon Lords who looked at Laura with surprise and respect. ¡°At this point, you are no different from a prophet.¡± Brother Beleth grumbled. Now Laura wasn¡¯t only holding her authority because of some royalmand. She made the people around her acknowledge her position as a deputymander with her abilities. However, Laura was half a step away from the excitement around her. Her expression remained the same. This was simply a natural oue of an obvious course of events. That was the feeling she gave off. She probably believed that as well. With this, Brittany lost all their ways to receive supplies on their own. They most likely scraped together whatever they could in Parisiorum, but who knows how long they can endure with that. If they want to escape, then they have to do so as soon as possible. Wasting time without being able to do this or that was the worst thing they could possibly do. Henrietta should know this better than anyone else. * * * ¡°Our fleet was defeated by Batavia¡¯s navy.¡± Everyone became quiet once Queen Henrietta gave that announcement. The generals silently dropped their heads. Their queen had immediately contacted the navy of their nation the moment she had learned that their provision warehouse was assaulted. She had acted with the utmost speed. But that speed was made pointless¡­¡­. ¡°Your Highness, then what about our supplies¡­¡­?¡± ¡°None of our ships managed to get through Batavia¡¯s navy. Men, we can no longer expect any more supplies.¡± The fate of the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army was decided at this moment. Henrietta spoke bitterly. ¡°I was wondering why we were able to get through themunication jamming spell. It wasn¡¯t because the magic circle in the royal pce managed to pierce through it as I had originally thought. The enemy had deliberately released it so that we would ask for help from our navy¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you think the enemy was able to see that far, Your Highness¡­¡­?¡± One of the generals asked. ¡°It must have partially been a coincidence.¡± ¡°I do not know yet. There have been no coincidences in this war. They built a fortress, crossed the river, and attacked our supplies. We¡¯ve been ying on the palm of their hand this entire time¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta shook her head. ¡°We thought it was going to be a prolonged battle, but it was actually a short battle aiming for the Emperor. We thought it was only a short battle, but then they stole our provisions. And now they are forcing a prolonged battle on us now¡­¡­. I feel like we¡¯ve be puppets.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The masses referred to this war as the Puppet War. Frankia¡¯s Emperor became Brittany¡¯s puppet and the Crowned Prince of Habsburg became the Demon Lord army¡¯s puppet. It was satirical as two puppets went to war against each other. Henrietta believed that this phrase was appropriate in a different meaning. Someone had written the manuscript, and everyone, be it the Demon Lord army or the army of Brittany, was moving ording to it. Adding to this, no one knew how long this puppeteering was going tost. It was a nightmare¡­¡­. ¡°How much longer can we endure?¡± The generals turned to look at each other in response to the Queen¡¯s question. Henrietta predicted that they had enough provisions tost maybe twenty days. If they conserved them as much as possible, then maybe a month and a half? A month¡¯s worth of supplies was an almost embarrassing amount to have when defending against a siege. Henrietta spoke in a way where she was partially testing to see if her generals had a good understanding of their current situation. ¡°My apologies, Your Highness. At the very least, 15 days, but we do not have enough tost longer than two months.¡± The other generals carefully nodded. Henrietta smiled wryly when she realized that her generals hade to the same conclusion. She was pleased to know that her generals werepetent. It was also tragic that she was unable to win with suchpetent generals. That was why Henrietta could do nothing more than smile wryly. One of the generals spoke up hesitantly. ¡°We cannot enter a siege like this. Your Highness, the enemy is creating an encirclement around us. Only the south gate is blocked at the moment, but they might block the rest of the gates soon. You muste to a decision soon in order to preserve the honor of our country.¡± ¡°No, it could also be the opposite.¡± Henrietta spoke. ¡°They could intentionally be blocking only the south gate. In other words, they¡¯re urging us to run away. Generals, we have to go west in order to return to Brittany and the Sequana River will be in our path. The river which they are positioned on the other side of.¡± ¡°¡­¡­They will attack us while we are crossing.¡± The generals groaned. ¡°To make matters worse, Batavia¡¯s navy chose now to appear. They could¡¯ve led their ships and attacked while we were absent from Parisiorum. Despite this, they didn¡¯t do so¡­¡­. Why do you think they didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°¡­¡­There is no point in them going out of their way to capture Parisiorum. That is what the enemy thinks.¡± Henrietta nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Their goal isn¡¯t Parisiorum. It isn¡¯t even to win the war. They¡¯re simply aiming for our, Brittany¡¯s ruin.¡± ¡°If we defend the capital, then we¡¯ll be wrung dry. Brittany would be nothing without an army. It would end up as the weakest nation on the continent. But if we don¡¯t defend Parisiorum and escape, then our ideology would be lost. The people will start to doubt us. That would also lead to the death of our nation¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta muttered. ¡°Ruin is waiting for us down both paths. By the time we came to our senses, we were already at a dead end¡­¡­. What a persistent and terrifying enemy.¡± Persistent and terrifying. The generals could only agree to those adjectives. In truth, they didn¡¯t get to have even a single proper pitched battle. The Green Rose Knights got wiped out, but in terms of numbers, they only lost about a thousand soldiers. Nheless, before they knew it, the war was already over. Even the generals of Brittany never thought a war like this could be possible. ¡°We will split our army in two. One half will remain to defend Parisiorum while the other half will escape from here.¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°We will have to leave enough soldiers so that rumors don¡¯t spread about us abandoning the city.¡± The generals became speechless. They knew as well that that was their only solution, but that meant they would be leaving hundreds of soldiers behind to be sacrificed. ¡°They won¡¯t be able to endure long anyway. Leave mostly old soldiers and rookies behind.¡± ¡°Your Highness, but that would¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In that case, then I will remain.¡± Saintess Longwy spoke up at that moment. The Queen and her generals opened their mouths in surprise. Remaining in the city in this scenario meant death. ¡°Saintess Longwy.¡± ¡°If we all leave, then the soldiers will think that they were abandoned. Even if that may be the truth, they would be unable tost for even a day like that. There would be no point in leaving them behind.¡± Saintess Longwy spoke firmly. ¡°They will not think that they were abandoned if I remain with them. Your Highness, please allow this.¡± Henrietta furrowed her brows. ¡°No, I will personally remain. I already abandoned my soldiers on Bruno ins. I will not do the same shameful act twice.¡± ¡°Your Highness must persevere for the sake of Brittany. Guilt is a great virtue for rulers. However, you must not get swept up by that guilt. Have you already forgotten? Leading Brittany to the maind is Your Highness¡¯ obligation and mission.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Queen went silent. Saintess Longwy was the only one smiling brightly while everyone else was looking down. ¡°Do not worry too much. I do not wish to throw away my life either. I will endure for as long as possible and escape with our soldiers if I think that we are in danger. I believe the Goddess will at least bestow that much mercy upon us.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder what¡¯s going to happen to the Saintess. Does Dant have anything in particr nned for her? On a side note, the next chapter will probably get dyed because I have to go to my reserve forces training the day after tomorrow. We didn¡¯t have to go for 2 years thanks to Covid, but they¡¯re starting it back up this year. I¡¯m not sure when it¡¯s going to end, but I¡¯ll probably want to rest after I get back from that. So yeah, I¡¯ll see you guys after I get through that. Chapter 298: Puppet War (15) Chapter 298: Puppet War (15) * * * Brittany carried out their retreat. They were finally taking action. Nine days had passed since we finished our encirclement. They should¡¯ve started moving on day two if they were going to retreat. It would¡¯ve been smart to escape before the fear of ughter enveloped Parisiorum. Queen Henrietta would¡¯ve had an excuse as well. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that they would do that¡± and ¡°I never imagined that they would be so cruel¡±, she could¡¯ve covered it with these sorts of lies. She would get criticized for being careless, but she wouldn¡¯t have been used of doing nothing while people were getting ughtered. It would¡¯ve also lessened any political risks. It would preserve Queen Henrietta de Brittany¡¯s reign¡­¡­. But Henrietta ruined it. They did nothing for almost ten days. I could only call them sloppy. Was it that hard to abandon Parisiorum, the imperial capital? Or did you believe that your supply ships would sessfully make it to you¡­¡­? There was probably a whole assortment of reasons. Regardless, you made a miscalction either way. Are you aware? Your political life is already over, Henrietta. ¡°We should quickly create a pursuit team. Let us leave the Batavian soldiers at the capital. That should be enough to keep the masses of the capital under control.¡± ¡°But there are still soldiers left defending the city?¡± I blinked in surprise at Gamigin¡¯s response. ¡°What? What are you talking about? Did you not say that the Queen of Brittany escaped?¡± ¡°Not all of her men followed. About 25,000 soldiers left the city, but roughly 4,000 remained to protect the city.¡± ¡°Are you telling me¡­¡­they split their army?¡± Dear God. I lowered my head. This was Henrietta¡¯s ploy. Those 4,000 soldiers were scapegoats. She was trying to dere that she wasn¡¯t abandoning Parisiorum. They probably left behind the useless part of their army. A general with a high standing was probably also left behind to increase their credibility. She¡¯s going to take out her elite soldiers¡­¡­and hastily retreat while we¡¯re busy capturing Parisiorum. If we put aside Parisiorum to chase them, then the troops left behind in Parisiorum wille around to pincer us. It¡¯s good if we don¡¯t chase them, and if we do chase them, then they can lead the fight into a pitched battle where they have an advantage. This was probably her n. What. ¡°What an idiotic ploy¡­¡­!¡± I lowered my head andughed. I ended up arching forward unconsciously as I bellowed withughter. A masterpiece. Aah, this was a masterpiece! To think that she would try to spare her troops and her dignity. There¡¯s a limit to how foolish you can be. Henrietta learned nothing from my lessons. Was she underestimating me? Was she looking down on me because I lost during the Frankia civil war? You¡¯ve chosen the worst option, Queen. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with splitting their army? It isn¡¯t much, but they should be able to defend the capital for at least four days.¡± ¡°Gamigin, that is if we carry out a siege. However, why would we go out of our way to capture Parisiorum? There is no need for us to go along with the Queen¡¯s antics.¡± Gamigin raised a brow. ¡°Are you saying we should leave the imperial capital behind and pursue them? Our backs would be wide open.¡± ¡°You have misinterpreted my words. Gamigin, I said that there is no reason for ¡®us¡¯ to capture Parisiorum.¡± I smiled. ¡°Use your wyverns to immediately scatter some notices. Write this down on the notices: The Queen has abandoned you and ran away. People of Parisiorum, if you do not wish to be ughtered, then fight back against Brittany¡¯s oppression now. Those who rise up bravely will be granted absolute mercy¡­¡­.¡± I turned to look at Parisiorum in the distance. ¡°However, if you choose to support Brittany¡¯s ughter until the very end, then there will be no mercy. This is your final warning. Your final chance at mercy.¡± We immediately proceeded with this propaganda maneuver. We didn¡¯t have enough time to prepare the notices, so we instead took full advantage of our sound amplification spell. We flew around on wyverns outside the city walls and ordered the people to surrender without end. After almost 10 days of mass executions by fire, the Queen of Brittany, whom they had trusted, had run away. She probably left after scraping up whatever provisions were left in the city. Fear of being ughtered, betrayal of trust, and now fear of hunger¡­¡­. The people of Parisiorum didn¡¯t have a choice. That night, a fire surged up from the inside of the city. The sounds of metal colliding and shouting could be heard from a distance. Parisiorum¡¯s poption of 80,000 had started an uprising. They far surpassed what an army of 4,000 flimsy soldiers could handle. Our army formed a long line at the south gate and waited patiently. Brother Beleth must¡¯ve felt impatient while watching the chaos before him as he tapped my shoulder. ¡°Hey, Brother. Wouldn¡¯t we be able to capture the city immediately if we barge through the gates right now? How about asking Miss Deputy¡­¡­No, Her Excellency the Deputy Commander?¡± ¡°How about asking her yourself, Brother?¡± Brother Beleth shook his hands frantically. It seems the memory of being scolded by Laura had scarred him. I chuckled lightly. ¡°This could be a trap. They could be pretending as if amotion had urred in the city in order to lure us into an ambush¡­¡­. It is unlikely, but you cannot ignore this possibility. That was the Deputy Commander¡¯s decision.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Brother Beleth appeared to have understood as he nodded. In truth, this was my decision and not Laura¡¯s. Laura suggested that we should attack as soon as we saw that chaos had erupted in the city, but I disagreed. This was because something like this happens in . There¡¯s a scenario where the Habsburg Empire invades Frankia after Elizabeth bes the empress. The Frankia-Brittany alliance endures well due to having Laura de Farnese as their key general. However, they end up getting pushed all the way back to Parisiorum because of the hero. A revolt urs inside Parisiorum at this point. The hero marches into the city giddily, but it turns out to be a trick. The hero ends up fleeing after getting hit by a huge ambush. At this point, the heroine route you went down depended on whether you escaped through the north gate or the east gate, but¡­¡­mm. In any case, this situation was suspicious. In the end, I was right. The fire that started in the middle of the night really was created by the Brittan soldiers. The problem was the fact that this made the civilians think an uprising had actually started. The fear and anxiety that had built up all this time burst out as soon as the mes appeared, making the people of Parisiorum pour out onto the streets in the middle of the night. The mob of tens of thousands of citizens was immense. The weapon armories were emptied in an instant. The watchtowers and strongholds being guarded by the Brittan soldiers were all captured. People were ughtered regardless of whether they surrendered or resisted. If we had entered the capital without any caution from the very beginning, then we would¡¯ve been ambushed by the enemy soldiers hiding between the buildings. But we hadn¡¯t moved. The Brittan soldiers were split up and ced here and there waiting in ambush. However, this actually had the effect of making them easy prey to the citizens. The Brittan soldiers weren¡¯t able to group up and were horribly ughtered. Six in the morning. The city gates opened on their own. The civilian militia came out while dragging Brittan prisoners. There were about two hundred prisoners. In other words, excluding these two hundred prisoners, the remaining 4,000 in the city were all killed. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Surprisingly, there was a face I recognized among the prisoners. A pure white priest outfit. Orange, curly hair. It was the Saintess of Athena Temple, Jacqueline Longwy. She was ring at us with venomous eyes. I didn¡¯t think that the Queen would leave the saintess behind as a scapegoat¡­¡­. The representatives of the civilian militia all kneeled at the same time. ¡°Your Excellencies. The supreme rulers and upants of Habsburg.¡± There were normal civilians on top of the ramparts. At a nce, there were probably more than ten thousand of them up there. They were watching us with bated breaths. ¡°Your Excellency promised us mercy, so we, the people of Parisiorum, have subjugated your enemy and have brought them to you here. We beg that you grace us with the benevolence that you had promised.¡± ¡°You allmitted a sin in the past.¡± Rudolf spoke. Referentially, we¡¯re a human army in name, so Emperor Rudolf von Habsburg came out to meet the surrender envoys. The Demon Lords were standing behind him. ¡°However, the Gods allow us to repent for our crimes, so the same applies to you as well.¡± A monotone voice seeped out from Rudolf¡¯s mouth. The guy wasn¡¯t conscious. He was simply saying whatever Barbatos made him say. Adding to this, I was the one who wrote down the lines for Barbatos to use. Rudolf was quite literally a puppet. ¡°If someone gives you mercy, then it was not from me. It is the mercy of the Gods. People of Parisiorum, stand up.¡± Rudolf personally ced his hand on the shoulder of one of the representatives and pulled them up. ¡°From this day forth, the Frankia that is being controlled by Brittany and the Parisiorum that is suffering under Brittany¡¯s rule are no more. I vow as an eternal ally and friend of Frankia and Parisiorum: my army shall never upy Parisiorum!¡± ¡°Ooh, O venerable Emperor¡­¡­.¡± The representatives looked at Rudolf with awestruck eyes. Rudolf kindly patted the representative¡¯s shoulder¡ªJesus, I guarantee that Barbatos is the greatest puppeteer in the world!¡ªand turned his head. ¡°Great citizens of Parisiorum! I am not an invader and I am not your ruler. You do not have to give me the keys to your gates.¡± The puppet emperor shouted toward the ramparts. Of course, his voice was being amplified by magic. ¡°You will not find my army going through yourfortable homes. Soldiers will not march triumphantly through the streets you are proud of. Your women, children, and elderly will not have to live in fear. I vow to the Gods! Parisiorum will haveplete autonomy!¡± At that moment, the people on the ramparts let out a cheer. They most likely thought that we were going to upy the city. However, we had vowed that we wouldn¡¯t reside within the city for even a moment. This was a magnanimity that even the people themselves never could¡¯ve expected. ¡°Cheers to His Excellency the Emperor!¡± ¡°Glory to the Frankia Empire! Glory to the Habsburg Empire!¡± ¡°Glory to the Batavia Republic!¡± The humans came together and cheered in unison. They probably believed that the fires of war were finally over now. The city of Parisiorum, which had been under the control of Brittany for the past four years, was finally free. Of course, they became ¡®too¡¯ free, but¡­¡­I was probably the only person at this moment who knew this. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The two hundred prisoners had their heads down while everyone was cheering around them. We left the fate of the prisoners to the civilian militia as well. ¡°The people of Parisiorum were the ones who were harmed by Brittany. Therefore, only you have the right to get revenge.¡± Rudolf concluded. The citizens cheered once more due to this statement filled with deep consideration. Hundreds of the prisoners were immediately executed on the spot by the people. The civilian militia was so grateful to the Emperor¡¯s magnanimous suggestion that they let us decide the fates of the highest-ranking officials. The Saintess was included in that. Did you think that the capital would endure for at least four days, Henrietta? Sorry. Parisiorum fell in only one day. Due to an internal struggle, at that¡­¡­. I definitely said you should pick one or the other. And yet, you tried to preserve both your army and dignity. That was your mistake. You¡¯re one step behind Elizabeth in this regard. When Elizabeth was in the face of annihtion, she threw away Vindobona, the imperial capital, without any hesitation. Thanks to this, the Crescent Alliance became divided. Offer your flesh in order to take the enemy¡¯s bones. Whether you have the talent to be a ruler is decided by this. Elizabeth aplished this, so Habsburg was able to revive. On the other hand, Henrietta couldn¡¯t abandon anything¡­¡­. It wasn¡¯t a coincidence that Elizabeth became the ultimate ruler in . It was inevitable. me your own naivety, Henrietta. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m back from my reserve military training. I¡¯m actually dead. Out of all days, there just had to be a really bad rainstorm during the training. My umbre also happened to be incredibly shitty so water constantly leaked through the top and drenched my head. I thought my hair was drenched because of sweat at first, but it was literally the rain. It rained so hard that I had a severe headache by the time I got home and woke up the next day with a slight fever. I still feel a bit shitty. Bleh, I might try to get some proper rest so this doesn¡¯t turn into a full-blown fever, but my mornings have been painful because of the LOUD construction. Life is great. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter and if I¡¯m still alive ? Chapter 299: Empire Murderer (1) Chapter 299: Empire Murderer (1) I made a suggestion as soon as the Emperor finished his long speech. ¡°There is no need to hesitate. Everyone, let us start our pursuit.¡± The capital was captured in only a day. This was an unimaginable speed for the enemy. It would only be right to take advantage of this andunch a surprise attack. ¡°The Brittan soldiers scraped together whatever provisions they could from Parisiorum. They must have a fair number of supply carriages with them. As long as they are moving alongside carriages, they should not have gotten far.¡± Gamigin¡¯s wyvern unit hadn¡¯t participated at all during this war. All of them were used as scouts. In other words, they were utilized unconventionally. They didn¡¯t miss which route the Brittan soldiers took to escape. ¡°ording to our scouts, the enemy is no more than 30 kilometers from the city. Let us pursue them now and take out Demon Lord Agares. We will end this war with our hands.¡± I smiled widely. Once I did, the Demon Lords let out a unified response while filled with excitement. My suggestion was epted unanimously. * * * Did it take about an hour? We reorganized our formation before we started our march. There are over 25,000 soldiers, so even marching is a big task. We switched from a siege formation to a marching formation. While the othermanders were running around and organizing their units, I had something to do myself. I had to meet Bar Bercy. Bar Bercy was with the surrender envoys. He had run aroundst night as one of the representatives of the civilian militia. I put on my human skin mask and rushed out. Daisy quietly followed behind me. ¡°Your Excellency.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Priest Jean Bole.¡± Bar Bercy slowly turned his head. He was visibly tired. Was it because he had been fighting Brittan soldiers all night long? He spoke coldly. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I was very worriedst night. It is a relief since it seems you were not injured.¡± Bar Bercy¡¯s expression became colder. ¡°¡­¡­A relief, is it? Are you saying that it is a relief that there are no injuries on my body?¡± ¡°Of course, Your Excellency. Not only you, but I prayed for the safety of the entirety of Frankia¡¯s patriotic front line.¡± It happened at that moment. Bar Bercy abruptly grabbed me by the cor. The hands of the Bar who lived his entire life as the lord of an isted vige were strong. I didn¡¯t panic and stared straight at him. Bar Bercy¡¯s face was filled with absolute rage. ¡°How dare the ughterer who murdered innocent people say something so hypocritical¡­¡­!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I believed that you were an honest and trustworthy priest. No, before that, I thought you were a sane human being. That was why I cooperated with you¡­¡­. Tell me your excuse, Jean Bole! Why did you ughter all those innocent people!?¡± It almost felt like Bar Bercy was about to tear my neck out. It was at this moment that I realized that the man before me wasn¡¯t tired solely because of what happenedst night. ¡°Why!? Why did the people who were starving and suffering simply because they met the wrong emperor¡­¡­why did they have to die!?¡± Bar Bercy shouted with bloodshot eyes. The people suffered because of the war, hisrades were purged by Henrietta, and there was a huge ughter outside the city ramparts. These cmities had happened in session. It was too much for a single man to shoulder by himself. ¡°If you cannot answer, then¡ªI shall personally take your life!¡± Bar Bercy was probably on the brink of copsing right now. I could tell that he was keeping himself up with his emotions alone. The responsibility he felt toward his nation and his people and the guilt he felt for not being able to save them. There was also the sense of betrayal he received because of me¡­¡­. I pondered for a moment. Would it be fine to die to this person? Bar Bercy had done no harm to me. He had never threatened my life or my well-being and never would. Despite this, I used the Bar¡¯s trust. This man undoubtedly had the right to be angry at me. But, is that so? Should I test it out¡­¡­? ¡°It was for Frankia, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°For Frankia¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yes. For the sake of Frankia¡¯s future. And, more than anything else, for the people¡¯s pride.¡± I answered calmly. The strength in the hand that was grabbing my cor became stronger. It was getting harder to breathe, but this much was still fine. This was bearable. ¡°Do not use sophistry. The people you¡¯re talking about are the ones who died! I believe you will not try to act like an uninvolved party, saying that the ughter was decided by the higher-ups of your army¡­¡­. You were in a position that allowed you to negotiate with us. You cannot im to have been a spectator!¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°I do not n to act as a spectator. If anything, it is the opposite. It was I, Jean Bole, who suggested the ughter first.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Bar Bercy swung his fist. It collided fully with my cheek. My eyes met Daisy¡¯s as my head was forcefully turned. Daisy had already unsheathed her dagger partially. Her ve seal made it so that she had to prevent any threats from reaching me, so that was probably why she was in that position. Don¡¯t move. I told her with my gaze. Daisy¡¯s hand stopped. She stared straight at me with her dagger midway out of her sheath. Is it really fine? She was asking me this with silence. Yes, this isn¡¯t a problem. This exchangested for only a brief moment. I turned my head back to look at the Bar. ¡°Do you feel like you got some stress out after hitting me? I also think it is okay to solve matters with violence. Please continue to hit me until you feel better.¡± ¡°You¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But this is rather disappointing, Your Excellency. Were you truly unable to grasp my intentions? Or are you deliberately feigning ignorance?¡± Bar Bercy¡¯s eyes wavered ever so slightly. I see¡­¡­. He had an assumption, but he either wasn¡¯t certain or didn¡¯t want to believe it. So that¡¯s the state he¡¯s in. ¡°If we did not ughter those people, then the citizens of Parisiorum would not have be needlessly afraid. They would have solemnly epted a siege.¡± And the city would still get captured eventually. ¡°When the city is captured, the people from the Habsburg Empire and the Batavia Republic will be the only ones to have contributed. The people of Parisiorum will have done nothing. They will be barred from any sort of independent life.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Parisiorum will once again be seized by a foreign army. They will be switching Brittany out for Habsburg and Batavia. The foreign influence will continue. Frankians will have no other choice but to abandon any desire for independence or autonomy.¡± Bar Bercy went silent. He was angry, but he understood. That was the feeling he was giving off. All right. Despite being at his wit¡¯s end, he still has the mental capacity to understand the current situation. This was important. By my standards, Bar Bercy barely received a passing grade. ¡°What sort of future would await the people of Frankia? At most, they will end up as a foreign power¡¯s puppet government.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Please let me continue. I am not finished.¡± I red at Bar Bercy sternly. The previous demeanor I had with the man before me had disappeared without a trace. He probably couldn¡¯t deny my words. ¡°It would be a relief if bing a puppet government is all that happens. Our army is an alliance between Habsburg and Batavia. The two nations have entirely different beliefs¡­¡­. Do you understand? Habsburg and Batavia would respectively try to create royalist and republican governments.¡± The Batavia Republic made the decisive contribution of capturing the enemy¡¯s provision warehouse. This couldn¡¯t be downyed. The Habsburg Empire, in other words, our Demon Lord army had to acknowledge their contribution. I smiled snidely. ¡°Frankia would once again be split into two factions like when it was split into the Emperor and the Empress Dowager Faction four years ago. They would be puppets of an empire and a republic as they are dragged into more bloodshed¡­¡­. You will finally be free from Brittany, but end up divided afterward. What an impressive joke.¡± Bar Bercy¡¯s shoulders started to tremble. Before I knew it, the hand that was grabbing me by the cor had lost its strength. I continued to push him into a corner. ¡°It is hard for even me to imagine how much bloodshed there would be¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, do you believe that Frankians would be able to maintain their pride in a situation like this?¡± They were finally able to get an opportunity, but they would end up bing divided because of the Empire and Republic. I¡¯m sure they would fall into misery again as they continue to kill each other. For what purpose were they Frankians? For what sake were they devoting their lives to their nation? They would most likely lose any sort of patriotism they once had. All that would remain after they fight each other intensely is exhaustion and weariness. Aversion and disappointment. They would be prideless dogs. ¡°Prideless dogs obey whoever gives them food. The royalist and republican parties will eventually fall and the people will only long for a dictator who possesses a strong ability in leadership. Bar Bercy, this would be the start of a tyranny.¡± ¡°No, there is no way¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Can you say for certain that this would not happen?¡± My gaze became more stern. This wasn¡¯t utter drivel. There was an ancient country in this world that was once referred to as the old republic. In that nation¡¯s final moments, a tyrant appeared and the nation¡¯s very ideology was destroyed. Bar Bercy should know this piece of history since he¡¯s a noble. He couldn¡¯t deny it. I spoke in a cheery tone. ¡°It is as Your Excellency said. I ughtered humans. However, thanks to this, Parisiorum was able to maintain its pride.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Bar lowered his head. Is that so? You can¡¯t say anything, huh¡­¡­? I brushed the Bar¡¯s hand away. There was no strength in his grip anymore, so it naturally slid off from my cor. I calmly adjusted my clothes. I was relieved since it didn¡¯t get as wrinkled as I thought it would get. ¡°Bar, we are now going to pursue Brittany¡¯s army. Your Excellency should rally your troops and join us.¡± ¡°Why should I¡­¡­?¡± ¡°To kill the Emperor of Frankia.¡± Bar Bercy raised his head weakly. He looked like he had aged 20 yearspared to his angry state a few minutes ago. ¡°His Excellency the Emperor¡­¡­?¡± ¡°He caused a civil war and let another nation¡¯s ruler use him however they pleased. In the end, he even abandoned the capital and ran away. No one will acknowledge Henry III as the emperor now. It would be better for Frankia if an Emperor who only causes problems were to disappear as soon as possible.¡± Did he think it was disrespectful? Bar Bercy shook. ¡°Do you think it is disrespectful? Do not worry. You are no different from an aplice now since you are unable to punish me.¡± I whispered gently to him. ¡°Your Excellency, an end like the one General Tabarn met does not suit you. Continue to suffer for the sake of the people of Frankia for the rest of your life.¡± I left after telling him toe to us after 30 minutes with his troops. Bar Bercy couldn¡¯t even try to stop me. The morning sun was rising over Parisiorum. * * * ¡°My dearrades.¡± Laura raised her wine ss up. After a day of madness and ughter, the sun rose on a cold morning. The ss of wine shimmered in the dawnlight. Thirty Demon Lords mimicked Laura as they raised their wine sses up. ¡°For victory.¡± ¡°For victory!¡± Everyone emptied their sses in a single gulp. The empty cups were then mmed onto the ground. A clear sound of ss shattering echoed as dozens of cups shattered at the same time. We decided to leave the Republic of Batavia¡¯s army in the rear so that they could protect our provisions. There was also the secret intention of letting the republic make smooth contact with Parisiorum. We also imprisoned the prisoners in a fortress for now, since they were only a nuisance at the moment. The rest of the army, the 25,000 soldiers of the Demon Lord army immediately carried out a pursuit. First corps leader, ex-rank 5 Marbas. Second corps leader, ex-rank 3 Vassago. Third corps leader, ex-rank 8 Barbatos. Fourth corps leader, ex-rank 9 Paimon. Deputy Commander Laura de Farnese. Chief advisor, ex-rank 71 Dantalian. Authority figures that ruled over the continent, rival leaders who reigned as the masters of demonkind, heroes that have never fought under the same g before¡ªthese individuals were marching forward as powerful allies. The end of the war was approaching. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. You gotta feel bad for Bercy. Reality is a bitch, huh? Nothinges without a price. On another note, the day and day after I released thest chapter were pretty, uh, annoying? The fever wasn¡¯t terrible, but it was enough to just prevent me from being able to concentrate on things. I had an interview on Friday and I think I did fine, but now I¡¯m starting to worry that I might¡¯ve fucked up cause of my condition. Bleh. I¡¯ll just hope for the best. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 300: Empire Murderer (2) Chapter 300: Empire Murderer (2) * * * The Brittan army heard about the copse of the capital a stepte. ording to a report from our wyvern scouts, the enemy suddenly increased their speed two hours ago. It was a drastic increase in pace. It was evident that they were trying to escape as far as they could from a pursuit. Naturally, Laura didn¡¯t leave this be. ¡°Wyvern unit, your scouting mission is now over. Go and obstinately bite the enemy¡¯s rears.¡± After Laura¡¯s order, the 300 wyverns immediately changed into a pursuit team. The wyverns carried out a strategy where they would drop from the sky rapidly to attack before flying back up. It was incredibly annoying to deal with. It wouldn¡¯t do much if the enemy was holed up in a fortress, but they were currently marching mindlessly. They couldn¡¯t form a proper archer unit to retaliate. The enemy¡¯s pace clearly became slower. The pursuit battle that started in the morning continued into the night and the following morning. Monsters may have more stamina than humans, but there was no way that they wouldn¡¯t get tired after two days of marching. Soldiers gradually started to drop out. Nevertheless, Laura continued our pursuit. ¡°If our troops are struggling this much, then imagine how much the enemy must be struggling. One¡¯s military strength is always rtive. Even if we have losses, as long as the enemy has more losses than us, it will be our victory.¡± Once a portion of the Demon Lords asked for a break, Laura gave them a t refusal. The Demon Lord army really moved hastily while only taking the bare minimal breaks. Soldiers dropped out, but they were ignored. Day four. At this point, our forces had practically caught up to the Brittan army. The only difference was the fact that we were located south of the Sequana River while the enemy was on the north side. We were both running with the river between us. Were they unable to endure any longer? They attempted to cross the river at a ce called Pont de l¡¯Arche. However, the bridge was extremely narrow, so our forces were able to wait while fully blocking the entrance of the bridge. The Brittan army put their cavalrymen forward and did whatever they could to break through our formation. There was a sh. They might have seeded had the Green Rose Knights been the ones charging. Our troops were visibly exhausted after marching for four days straight. Nheless, it was impossible for a knight order to break through a formation of 25,000 soldiers unless they were monsters like the Green Rose Knights. They failed to cross the river. Brittany ended up losing another precious cavalry unit before retreating. On the sixth day, another sh urred at the fortress city of Rouen located in the northwest. A majority of the cities north of Frankia had conformed to republicanism due to the previous civil war; however, Rouen was located in the most southern part of the northern region. They were rtively close to Parisiorum, so Brittany had some influence over the city. They replenished their supplies and attempted to cross the river again after raising their morale¡ªbut they failed. A total of 3,000 men were lost on both sidesbined. The number of casualties was mostly the same on both sides. The fact that the losses were simr even though they were attempting something that put them at a disadvantage proved how capable the Brittan army was¡­¡­but a failure was still a failure. On the eleventh day, another battle happened at Rouen. The enemy seemed rather determined this time. Not only did they use the bridge, but they also tried to cross using arge number of rafts. However, their entire advance party was drowned before they could get even halfway across the river. The Water Spirit King under Vassago¡¯smand had sunk them. Their attempt to cross the river failed this time as well. Brittany suffered a loss of about a thousand men. Consecutive defeats. The army that was once known as ¡®the army that knew not defeat¡¯ had reached rock bottom in terms of morale. Not only did they abandon Parisiorum and run away, but they had also lost their saintess who was their mental pir. Adding consecutive defeats on top of this made their situation worse. Inparison to our army, Laura was practically being worshipped as an idol among the Demon Lords. It was at the point where they¡¯d probably believe her if she dered that she was going to make cheese out of mold. ¡°My Earth Spirit King diedst time and now my Wind Spirit King has died. You bastards, do you know how much time it takes to raise a spirit to the level of a spirit king!?¡± ¡­¡­Excluding Vassago who had to struggle desperately since he had to deal with Demon Lord Agares every time there was a fight. I kindly consoled him. ¡°Now, now. Last time you only faced Agares with three people, but didn¡¯t Her Excellency Barbatos join you this time? Do not worry too much.¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you how you¡¯re going topensate me, you thick-headed brat.¡± Vassago was making a fuss. It seems that he was rather upset since he had lost two of his precious spirit kings. Seriously, what a stickler. Vassago finally calmed down after I promised to gift him a ratherrge portion ofnd after the war was over. He was like a child who was running rampant because he wanted to have some candy. Well, excluding these small urrences, the Demon Lord army had no problems. The enemy was on a losing streak. They were able to get provisions from Rouen and catch their breaths, but there was a problem with that. The Batavia Republic¡¯s navy was still blocking the entrance of the river, so this meant that Rouen¡¯s supply line was also cut. Their fundamental supply problem was still an issue. Half a month went by. In the end, the Brittan army gave up on Rouen and left. They piged all the ces they went through in order to replenish theircking supplies. The northern region was an area that was especially hostile toward Brittany. The civilians decided to hide in the forest andunch surprise attacks, forcing the Brittan soldiers to suffer more. They were getting bit at every possible moment. This was probably the aptest description. Thest ce the Brittan army arrived at was a port city called Le Havre. It was a port city connected to the sea¡­¡­. It should be obvious, but they no longer had an escape path. ¡°We will force a siege on the enemy here.¡± Before the start of this war, Laura swore to never engage in a pitched battle with the Brittan army. That practically became a prophecy as one truly never urred after nearly a month since we started our pursuit. There have only been small-scale shes. Before long, the Brittan army didn¡¯t get to have a single proper fight before they were checkmated. Now the Brittan army was being forced to defend against a siege, something which they weren¡¯t confident in. The Republic of Batavia¡¯s navy surrounded them on the sea while our Demon Lord army was surrounding them onnd. This wasn¡¯t all. ¡°His Highness Leraje has joined us.¡± ¡°The Northern City Alliance has joined with 5,000 mercenaries!¡± Once the victor became clear, the forces that had been watching quietly until now started to gather. Ex-rank 14 Demon Lord Leraje whose Demon Lord Castle was located in the northern region of Frankia, ex-rank 27 Demon Lord Ronove, and troops from the free cities in the north. Our army increased in size by 10,000. We didn¡¯t have to worry about our supply lines anymore. Our navy fleets supplied us from the sea while the free cities in the north handled our supplies onnd. I repeated the ughter that we carried out at Parisiorum. We captured the people who were living nearby and cruelly burned them at the stake. We didn¡¯t have to do this on arge scale this time. Twenty people a day was more than enough. Our goal was to make the people of the city afraid and lower the enemy¡¯s morale, after all. 35 days since we started our pursuit. There was amotion within Le Havre. Fires started to surge as the sound ofbat could be heard from within the city walls. ¡°Lord, do you think the people have started to rebel?¡± ¡°No. Agares is probably the one causing themotion.¡± ¡°Agares?¡± I smiled. ¡°The Brittan army has finally decided to surrender. Not an overall surrender, but probably an honorable one. Therefore, a surrender where we allow them to return to Brittany. However, an honorable retreat does note without a price.¡± I didn¡¯t feel the need to kill Queen Henrietta. It was fine as long as I crushed her enough so that she couldn¡¯t establish a foothold on the continent again. This was possible by chasing her out of Frankia, destroying her powerful knight orders, and making her supporting factions turn their backs on her¡­¡­. ¡°To an extent, subjugating Demon Lord Agares is our cause. In other words, an honorable surrender can be acknowledged if they give Agares¡¯ head to us. Queen Henrietta most likely ambushed Agares.¡± ¡°And Agares figured it out.¡± I nodded. ¡°Their ambush itself was probably sessful, but their target is Agares. A sessful ambush is not enough to take her head. An intense sh between Agares and a bunch of knights must be happening in the city right now.¡± Laura grinned. ¡°Then Your Lordship, this is the perfect moment to strike.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± We looked at each other and smiled. We have absolutely no intention of epting their surrender. We¡¯ll attack them now and force the Brittan army into a half-dead state. Of course, a siege is harder for the attacking side, but the enemy is currently going through some internal discourse. This was basically a perfect opportunity. ¡°If the Queen wants to surrender honorably, then let her. However, there is no reason for us to send her army back safely as well¡­¡­kuhu. I am curious as to how people will react in Brittany if the Queen returns by herself.¡± ¡°As I thought, you have a nasty personality, Lord.¡± ¡°Are you not the same?¡± Laura beamed. She raised her baton and gave amand. ¡°All soldiers, attack.¡± A single sentence from Laura was enough to make an army of 35,000 soldiers move. Catapultsunched boulders into the air while our siege weapon mmed against the gate. The ogres personally carried logs and smashed the gate while our wyverns descended to attack the guards on top of the ramparts. The Brittan army fought bravely. It was almost hard to tell that they had been experiencing consecutive defeats. However, they werecking in vigor since all of their knights had left to fight Agares. It took only two hours for us to capture one corner of the ramparts. Our envoys delivered the good news. ¡°The south gate has been destroyed!¡± ¡°Ogre unit, charge in! His Highness Beleth and Her Highness Sitri are taking the lead!¡± Once a corner was captured, the other walls fell one by one like dominos. The Brittan army may be skilled at pitched battles, but a majority of Demon Lords are skilled at sieges. After fighting humanity for over two thousand years, capturing fortresses was all they knew how to do well. The demons swarmed into Le Havre like a tsunami. ¡°The Batavian navy has upied the pier.¡± ¡°They are cooperating with our troops to pincer the enemy. They are fighting on the streets!¡± We also had the veterans of navalbat, Batavia, on our side. The enemy was being pincered on bothnd and sea. They also had to deal with a rampaging Agares on the inside. Even Elizabeth wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything in a situation like this. We gradually gained the advantage in the street battles. And then. ¡°Agares spotted! Agares has been spotted on the west side of the city! ording to the report¡ªAgares has been severely injured! Her entire body is covered in wounds!¡± We found Demon Lord Agares, the goal of this war. It seems that not only did Agares beat the ambush, but she also endured the fierce attack from the knights. In other words, this was the best-case scenario for us. Agares had be a wounded tiger while Brittany lost an uncountable number of knights. ¡°Daisy.¡± I called out to the girl standing next to me. ¡°Yes, Father.¡± ¡°Go take Agares¡¯ head. Make sure not to make any mistakes.¡± The sword which Baal once had. It was one of the most overpowered weapons in the world, but it was now in the hands of Daisy. She may not have awakened fully as the hero, but Agares was severely injured. If she coordinates with the other Demon Lords, then she should be able to defeat Agares with ease. The ck-haired girl nodded her head. ¡°If that is your order.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Woo chapter 300. We¡¯ve reached another milestone. I hope everyone has been enjoying these trantions so far. We sure havee a long way :^). These morning constructions will be the death of me. It¡¯s like they do the loudest part of their construction at the start of the day, so I always wake up to some loud bang. On a more serious note, I actually just got hired for a job at a game trantionpany and I¡¯ll be starting on the 25th. I know I mentioned several times on previous asions that I might potentially get a job, but those always fell through. Nheless, it¡¯s legit this time. There¡¯s a 3 month training period where I may or may not get fully hired afterward. In any case, this will undoubtedly alter my schedule heavily. I will, however, do my best to keep this trantion going. Of course, the gap between chapters will probably increase. I was somehow able to maintain a 2-day gap between chapters, but that gap will most likely increase by a day or two. We¡¯ll just have to wait until I actually start working and I get ustomed to my new schedule. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 301: Empire Murderer (3) Chapter 301: Empire Murderer (3) Daisy went off somewhere with the messenger. It was probably where Demon Lord Agares was located. I contacted and informed Vassago, Gamigin, Barbatos, Brother Beleth, and Sitri about the matter through themunication orb. All of the leading fighters of the Demon Lord army participated in the hunt. There was no future for Agares. ¡°Lord, they are running to the inner walls.¡± ¡°Let them run. That is nothing more than theirst-ditch effort. Oh right. Give the order to kill all the people whoe to surrender.¡± Since we knew that Queen Henrietta intended to surrender to us, it would be best to kill the prisoners. By doing so, even if they do surrender, the Brittan army would return home with little to no soldiers. ¡°What if they struggle more desperately because of that?¡± ¡°I wee it. If anything, I wish they would fight earnestly until their final breaths.¡± The Brittan army retreated to the inner walls. The systematic resistance in the city had stopped. All that was left for us to do was sweep up. Our army piged and ughtered mercilessly. I ordered everyone not to touch the children, the elderly, or the women. In other words, it meant that they could ughter all the men. Five hours had passed since we started our siege. ck smoke was billowing up from the city. We judged that the sweep-up was mostly finished and entered the gates with the rest of our troops that were in reserve. Several areas here and there throughout the city had turned into ruins as if a bulldozer had gone through them. There were soldiers standing in formation in an area that became open after a building had copsed. As Laura and I rode our horses in side by side, the soldiers spread their arms and weed us as soon as they recognized us. ¡°Glory to General Farnese!¡± Their morale was incredibly high since we allowed them to pige practically as much as they wanted. The monsters ate human flesh until they were full and stuffed their pockets with anything they could find that looked even remotely expensive. We didn¡¯t have even a single pitched battle which was a type ofbat that was the most dangerous for normal foot soldiers. From their perspective, this war was full of ughter and piging. In other words, there was little danger and only gains. Laura de Farnese was like a war hero to them. ¡°What splendid shouts.¡± Today was undoubtedly going to be the day that Laura¡¯s name went down in history. This twenty-year-old girl led an alliance of demons and humans for the first time in history and crushed the Brittan army that was almost about to reign over the continent as a dominant force¡­¡­. More than anything else, Laura had no interest in looted goods. Normally, it was a custom to offer the looted goods up the chain ofmand all the way to themander. Laura received those offerings, but she would distribute them back to the people below her afterward. ¡®The soldiers are the main characters who stood on the battlefields with their own two feet, held their spears, and thrust their weapons while united in heart and mind. You have all contributed to our victory.¡¯ She was modest and took care of her subordinates. Laura was referred to as the ¡®General who was blessed by the Goddesses¡¯ among the soldiers. ¡°How do you feel? I believe this emotion must be new to you.¡± ¡°Mm. It is great the more themander is idolized in an army.¡± As expected of my vassal, Laura responded with an utterly shameless answer. ¡°Soldiers will believe in theirmander and endure even when their defeat seems certain, and if their victory seems certain, then they will believe they won because of theirmander. Fortunately, this youngdy also has rather good looks.¡± Laura raised the corners of her mouth teasingly. ¡°Am I not the perfect person to be idolized?¡± ¡°You¡¯re saying that yourself?¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°Who knew that my first vassal would have princess syndrome. I must have had quite the karma in my past life.¡± ¡°At the very least, you may not have been the hero who saved thend, but you are together with ady as beautiful as I. This would not be possible by saving only one or two countries.¡± I let out augh. Aah, seriously. I actually was a hero who saved thend. We arrived at the square in the middle of the city. The unitmanders were all gathered here. There were people like Barbatos who were covered in blood and Demon Lords who looked squeaky clean as if they were uninvolved in any sort ofbat like Paimon. A Demon Lord was kneeling between them. Agares¡¯ entire body was bound. I was actually surprised because I never thought that they would capture Agares alive. ¡°Impressive. To think that unrivaled Agares would get captured like this.¡± ¡°Though I lost my right arm again because of this.¡± Brother Beleth shrugged. Just as he said, he only had one arm. Other than him, Sitri had also lost an arm, and there wasn¡¯t a ce on Barbatos¡¯ body that wasn¡¯t injured. Vassago, who was all about security and trust, lost his Water Spirit King as well despite bringing out the Spirit King of Darkness. Only Gamigin lookedpletely fine with a bright smile on her face since she had been supporting everyone from behind. Barbatos chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that she was already covered in injuries. It seems those Brittan bratstched on to her rather persistently. Well, your daughter was the one who gave the decisive blow, though.¡± ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡± I looked at Daisy and saw that her face was covered in blood. ¡°Yup. The brat snuck up behind Agares while we were distracting her. Agares noticed that as well, but she probably didn¡¯t expect the brat to be using Baal¡¯s sword. Thanks to that¡ª.¡± Chop, Barbatos jokingly made that sound. ¡°She managed to slice Agares¡¯ halberd away along with her hand. That was the decisive blow. She may be a crazy lunatic, but what can she do when we all rush in and gang up on her? Keke.¡± Barbatos seemed rather pleased about capturing Agares. She did get screwed by Agares a lot during thest civil war. She probably thinks she got payback. Although it was actually Barbatos who wronged her first, I just smiled. ¡°Good job, Daisy. You did well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I took out my handkerchief and wiped the blood off Daisy¡¯s cheeks. Daisy stared straight at me with her obsidian-like pupils. ¡°You have yed a part in the defeat of both Baal and Agares, so you are a human with a fair share of responsibility now. Your face is my face and your aplishments are my aplishments. Do not forget to mind your demeanor at all times.¡± I put the blood-soaked handkerchief away in my pocket. Daisy opened her mouth a bit before closing it. It looked like she was mulling over how to respond. ¡°¡­¡­Understood, Father.¡± Was it because she was tired? Daisy¡¯s voice sounded weaker than usual. This wasn¡¯t unlikely since she had to face Agares. I could scold her for sounding so weak in front of all these Demon Lords, but, well. I overlooked it because of her contribution today. I turned to Laura. ¡°Deputy Commander, the enemy¡¯s ringleader, Agares, is here. The othermanders are waiting to hear your decision. How will you punish her?¡± ¡°Traitor Agares.¡± Laura spoke up so that everyone around us could hear her. ¡°You betrayed your allies in pursuit of your own personal gains when we should have been uniting under a single cause. Afterward, you took your troops and ran away to the human world without showing any sort of repentance. You are undoubtedly an axle of evil that creates division and betrayal, be it within the demon world or the human world.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Agares raised her head slightly. Her face was ragged due to her torn skin. Her hair, which used to shine brilliantly, was now a mess covered in congealed blood. Her eyes were the only things that were still glowing coldly. ¡°The death penalty is the only suitable punishment. There is no room for reconsideration here.¡± Laura¡¯s tone was casual as if Agares¡¯ re didn¡¯t intimidate her even slightly. ¡°However, Agares, the ex-rank 2 Demon Lord, there have been dozens of asions where you acted for the sake of your fellow kin throughout these past thousands of years and the reputation you have built up is by no means a small one. Demon Lord Agares, I ask you this as the proxy of His Excellency Rudolf von Habsburg, the Supreme Commander of our alliance.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you have any intent to regret and repent for your crimes and serve our army as amoner? If so, then your crimes will be forgiven if you cut off the horns that prove you are a Demon Lord.¡± A Demon Lord¡¯s horns were a symbol of their pride. As the horns were proof of one¡¯s Demon Lord status to all of demonkind, they could also be used as a ce to concentrate mana in some cases. Giving up on your horns was no different from giving up on your honor as a Demon Lord. Although they would still grow back over time. There was a moment of silence. Agares¡¯ shoulders started to shake as all of the Demon Lords watched with interested eyes. She wasughing quietly. ¡°Kuhuhu¡­¡­huha, huhuhu¡­¡­.¡± Agares looked like she couldn¡¯t hold back herughter. It didn¡¯t look like she was deliberatelyughing in ridicule either. Her expression looked like she was simply letting out theughter from deep inside her lungs. ¡°Is this it?¡± Agares slowly looked around and asked. ¡°You ves who once cried out about your pride. Is this how the Crescent Alliance ends? For the sake of victory, you put on human masks and hide in the back. You create a position as ridiculous as the regent of the Empire and deceive people¡­¡­. To make matters worse, you even let a humanmand your armies.¡± There was a thin smile on Agares¡¯ lips. ¡°What a rotten smell. Demon Lords were once considered gods. And yet, they¡¯ve devolved into beingmoners and are now ves. This is such an unsightly end that I cannot help butugh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is not something that you should be saying, Agares.¡± I responded. I didn¡¯t like how she was trying to act clean. ¡°When Barbatos suggested the pursuit of the enemy at Vindobona, you refused. After the civil war, you sought asylum with the ruler of Brittany. What Demon Lord pride are you talking about?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± All Agares had was excuses and betrayals. Everyone felt this way. If Agares were truly a Demon Lord among Demon Lords, then she would have backed away quietly when she lost to Barbatos. She would have had some justification left if the fight ended there. However, Agares didn¡¯t ept the result of the battle and sought asylum¡­¡­. ¡°In the end, you were betrayed by the ruler of Brittany as well. The end of a traitor is betrayal. Is this not an excellent conclusion?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I wasn¡¯t betrayed.¡± Agares gnashed her teeth. Her torn skin put her teeth on full disy. ¡°I was going to use the human ruler to wipe you guys out before killing Henrietta afterward. My ns didn¡¯t change, but Henrietta tried to surrender to you guys. I couldn¡¯t forgive her, so I attacked first¡­¡­.¡± I see. So it was Agares who caused the discord, not Henrietta. Henrietta probably suggested that Agares should surrender with them. That pushed Agares over the edge. Agares attacked them all of a sudden and Henrietta was forced into a sudden plight because of the attack, thus the chaos that swept over the city¡­¡­. I smirked. ¡°Then you are truly a fool, Agares.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Henrietta never betrays herrades. She may be a cold and cruel ruler, but, at the very least, she is extremely generous to her people andrades. Had Henrietta wanted to, she could have easily assassinated you and surrendered to us peacefully.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± And yet, Henrietta gave you a chance. A chance to run away or surrender together. ¡°The moment you caused discord saying that you could not forgive them was the moment you threw away whatever pride you had left as a warrior. You are not a warrior. You are nothing more than an animal obsessed with victory.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°My dearrades.¡± I turned to face the other Demon Lords. ¡°As you all can see, the traitor, Agares, is showing no indication of being remorseful. A majority of Demon Lords are currently present. I, Dantalian, suggest that we vote on whether to execute Agares.¡± A vote was held on the spot. There were 32 votes in favor of executing Agares. There were no votes against it. The death sentence was agreed upon unanimously. I received Baal¡¯s sword from Daisy and handed it to Laura. Laura nodded and approached Agares herself. Agares appeared to have epted her fate as she was closing her eyes. ¡°Agares, do you have anyst words?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No response. That was probably her answer. Laura swung the Demonyer sword down without hesitation. The sound of something being severed resonated in the air before an object with some weight to it rolled on the ground. Dirt got all over it. Demon Lord Agares who once made the heavens tremble with her strength alone came to an end just like that. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This chapter came out a bitte cause I was busy for thest few days. I was going out a lot cause people wanted to congratte me on getting a job. In any case, as I mentioned in thest chapter, all future releases after this may haverger dys between them. I won¡¯t know for certain until I¡¯ve fully settled in, so just keep that in mind. Chapters will also start being uploaded at this point in time since I will no longer have the leisure to do so in the morning. I¡¯ll update you guys about my work situation in the next chapter. Chapter 302: Empire Murderer (4) Chapter 302: Empire Murderer (4) * * * Our army surrounded the inner castle after we finished executing Agares. We captured the outer walls and all of the urban area, so I thought the rest would be easy, but it wasn¡¯t that simple. The inner castle within Le Havre was incredibly sturdy. The walls were tall and it had seven towers. These things alone made this castleparable to a fortress. ¡°ording to the report, roughly 13,000 soldiers managed to safely retreat.¡± ¡°That is more than I expected. I figured that, at most, six to seven thousand would manage to get out¡­¡­.¡± Despite the sudden internal conflict caused by Agares, they sessfully got more than half of their troops away. Adding to this, they aplished this while being pincered on bothnd and sea. This was by no means an easy task Queen Henrietta most likely predicted that things would progress like this from the moment the internal conflict urred. She had kept a withdrawal path in mind. This was the only exnation. Despite the sudden assault, Queen Henrietta remainedposed and kept an eye on the situation before ordering her soldiers to retreat to the castle. Hermanding abilities were truly impressive. ¡°She predicted everything, huh? Impressive.¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡­. She is certainly impressive.¡± I nodded my head before turning to question the messenger. ¡°Was a provision warehouse discovered in the city?¡± ¡°No. We could not find a location within the city where supplies were stored.¡± ¡°I see. They moved all of their provisions inside the castle before their outer walls were captured.¡± This was probably why they didn¡¯t bother defending the outer walls for long. I spoke to the Demon Lords who were seated around me. ¡°Defending the outer wall was never the Brittan army¡¯s goal. They only wanted to stall for time until they finished transporting all of their supplies into the castle. In other words, the outer wall was nothing more than a way to y for time.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that the fortress is going to be defended thoroughly?¡± ¡°Most likely.¡± I answered Barbatos¡¯ question. ¡°The castle requires less area to protectpared to the outer walls. This means their defenses will be that much morepact. They do not have to worry about being attacked from the sea as well, so they now have an advantage. A moment of rity before defeat. They are disying quite the amazing struggle in their final moment.¡± The other Demon Lords furrowed their brows. They were starting to rx because they had thought that the fight was over, but they were suddenly being told that they had to engage in another siege. Their annoyance was understandable. Barbatos hummed through her nose. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Leave it to me.¡± ¡°Corps Commander Barbatos, do you have a good n?¡± ¡°Mm. Well, I don¡¯t particrly like it, but¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos trailed off. What kind of n did she have? The other Demon Lords tilted their heads in confusion as well. However, Paimon seemed to know what it was as she let out a small sigh. Barbatos spoke. ¡°A gue. You didn¡¯t forget that I¡¯m a necromancer, right?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I pped. ¡°What a splendid n! You should be able to use your spells however you want since there are corpses everywhere.¡± ¡°Yeah. I just have to nt a disease on the corpses and send them flying with catapults. There are more than ten thousand soldiers in a small ass castle. It should take effect immediately.¡± In other words, biochemical warfare. The enemy definitely has priests, but they probably don¡¯t have several hundred priests. If ten thousand soldiers be sick at the same time, then those priests wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. If the castle has a lot of space, then they could change an area into a quarantine zone, but the Brittan army brought a bunch of supplies with them while retreating. All of the empty spaces in the castle were probably filled with provisions. Their already narrow space was narrower now. They¡¯re in the worst possible situation to deal with a disease. ¡°A clean and splendid n.¡± I was inadvertently moved. Barbatos didn¡¯t seem that pleased with my praise, though. I thought that was strange, so I questioned her. ¡°Why did you not use your magic earlier? If you used that during the Crescent Alliance, then we could have ended the war much more efficiently.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos let out a sigh. She nced at me with somewhat fed-up eyes. I pieced together the meaning behind her gaze and let out an audible ¡®Ah¡¯. I had asked a dumb question. Barbatos has a lot of pride as a warrior. Killing the enemy with a gue most likely goes against her beliefs. ¡°It does not befit a warrior¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I learned necromancy so I could resurrect my subordinates. I do not feel even remotely ashamed about this. We are still holding spears and swords and diving into the enemy troops. We exchange blows in close proximity to each other. People who have not experienced this before do not know this fear.¡± Barbatos looked into the distance as she muttered. It felt like she was being philosophical. There was a hint of sadness in Barbatos¡¯ eyes, which was unlike her usual self, so the other Demon Lords around her, including me, couldn¡¯t help but listen to her. ¡°Warriors are those who carry their fears and continue forward¡­¡­. I have pride in this. That¡¯s why I¡¯m proud of giving life to my subordinates who were once warriors. Although there are tons of people who look down on necromancy and call it witchcraft.¡± I couldn¡¯t deny it. It doesn¡¯t matter how noble they were as warriors when they were alive, they¡¯re nothing but zombies and ghouls if they get resurrected by necromancy. Their flesh rots and an abhorrent smell emanates from their bodies. There are corpses and skeletons inside death knights too. Could you truly call them living beings? If anything, are they not an insult to life? It was obvious that most people would think this. I wasn¡¯t an exception. Zombies and ghouls were simply monsters. I didn¡¯t consider them as anything more or anything less than this¡­¡­. ¡°I don¡¯t care if the people of the world criticize me. However, I will not forgive anyone if they denounce my subordinates who continue to fight even after death.¡± Barbatos lowered her gaze from the sky and turned to look at me. Her golden eyes were shining clearly. ¡°If I use my magic differently, then people will mock necromancy and, by proxy, my men. Dantalian, as thest remaining master of necromancy, I am responsible for necromancy itself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I understand. I¡¯m sorry for being rash.¡± I gave her an honest apology. In , Barbatos never resorted to biochemical warfare even in her final moment. She must¡¯ve concluded that it would be better to die at the hands of the hero than let the honor of her subordinates be tarnished. I gave my respect to her creed. Barbatos chuckled. ¡°Well, we¡¯re an alliance. I can¡¯t ruin our great cause because of my personal desire for honor. I¡¯ll suck it up this time.¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s fine.¡± I shook my head. Barbatos was truly a magnate for being able to describe her belief, which she would even risk her life for, as simply ¡®her personal desire for honor¡¯. Barbatos was the only one who could pursue both her honor as a warrior and the great cause of demonkind at the same time. Barbatos probably judged that now was the time to make some sacrifices for our alliance. She gave up on her firm creed. However, I didn¡¯t want to see Barbatos make any sort of sacrifices. ¡°Huh? But¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t change the fact that the castle possesses the perfect environment to incubate a gue. We don¡¯t have to go out of our way to use necromancy. Launching corpses at them every day should be more than enough to get a disease started.¡± Barbatos tried to say something, but I ignored her and stood up. I looked around at the other Demon Lords as I spoke respectfully. ¡°My dearrades, more than two months have passed since we defeated the traitor, Baal, and the new Demon Lord Army was established. Although I may becking, I wish to make a deration as someone who contributed to the creation of this new army. We must not force a Demon Lord to make personal sacrifices.¡± I locked eyes with each and every Demon Lord one by one. ¡°Take Baal for example. He threw away an army of tens of thousands with no hesitation in order to realize his ambitions. Also, consider Agares. She betrayed her own kind because of her obsession. They were both sinners who sacrificed other Demon Lords for their own selfish desires. We are no different from their victims.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If our newly created Demon Lord Army asks for the sacrifice of a specific Demon Lord for the sake of everyone¡¯s desires, then I can only question how we would be any different from Baal.¡± The Demon Lords stirred. Some of them were even nodding. ¡°The good of the whole should be the good of each individual person. Not the good of His Highness Vassago alone. Nor the good of Her Highness Gamigin alone. We will always aim for the good of the whole. Therefore, it should only be natural to refuse actions that do not benefit everyone.¡± I paused for a moment before turning to Barbatos. She was looking at me with a nk gaze for some reason. ¡°Barbatos. We are strong.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°All of the factions are here today along with the Demon Lords with no affiliation. Let me make this clear once more. We are strong. Do you genuinely believe that your personal sacrifice would be the only way for us to obtain victory?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­yeah¡­¡­.¡± I beamed brightly. ¡°There is absolutely no reason for you to shoulder everything alone. Trust in your allies.¡± Barbatos gave a slight nod. She then lowered her head. Her lips moved, but she was so quiet that I couldn¡¯t hear her. She was probably thanking me or something. Despite being so cheeky all the time, she¡¯s awkward when ites to showing gratitude. ¡°Deputy Commander, I support Corps Commander Barbatos¡¯ proposal. We should gather the corpses of Brittan soldiers andunch them with catapults. This will undoubtedly start a gue, and, even if it doesn¡¯t, it should lower the enemy¡¯s morale greatly.¡± ¡°¡­¡­There is no room for me to say anything.¡± Laura smiled wryly. ¡°Very well, then. I will ept Commander Barbatos and Advisor Dantalian¡¯s proposal. Gather the corpses of Brittan soldiers andunch them on catapults.¡± After that day, our army tossed corpses into the castle every day. Seeing your allies¡¯ corpses falling from the sky was unquestionably horrifying. Even from a distance, we could tell the Brittan army was terrified. After about 15 days since we started to use the catapults, a disease finally began to spread in the castle. Day by day, the Brittan army became more unwell. We deliberately carried out our sieges in the middle of the night. We called it a siege, but all we did was do hit and run tactics, forcing the enemy to undergo immense stress. After about a month, the Brittan army was gradually facing its limit. I¡¯m fairly certain that a considerable number of their soldiers were already bedridden with typhoid fever. Their priests were probably working fervently, but that wasn¡¯t going tost long. The Brittans would asionally drop corpses from their walls. This meant that they were beginning to get casualties. ¡°Her Highness the Queen wishes to negotiate.¡± In the end, the gate opened and an envoy came out. We wereid-back as we received the envoy. Different from humans, demons are very resistant to diseases in general. We had some pop up here and there throughout our troops, but we immediately isted them and prevented it from getting out of hand. In regard to being rxed, the enemy couldn¡¯t possiblypare to us. Laura lifted her chin as she spoke. ¡°Negotiate? About what?¡± ¡°Her Highness the Queen wishes for an honorable surrender.¡± Several of the seated Demon Lords let out a snort. It was obvious that they weren¡¯t going to ept it. An honorable surrender would only be an option if the enemy possessed a castle that was difficult to capture and would be epted in order to minimize our losses as much as possible. We currently had a huge advantage. ¡°Isn¡¯t death the only path to honor for warriors?¡± ¡°If they were going to surrender, then they should¡¯ve done it at Parisiorum. It¡¯s preposterous that they¡¯re trying to save their lives after all this time.¡± ¡°Tell your queen toe out the front gate herself! Well, I might even reconsider if she wears a nice dress.¡± The Demon Lordsughed loudly. They weren¡¯t showing even a speck of diplomatic courtesy. Sure enough, the messenger¡¯s face became bright red. If it weren¡¯t for their current situation, the messenger would¡¯ve probably said all sorts of curse words by now. ¡°Now now,rades. It is also true that the ruler of Brittany put on quite the desperate show for us.¡± I waited for the right moment to speak up. ¡°Would it not be fine to give our enemy a little opportunity after how much effort they¡¯ve put in? We are magnanimous, after all. Their queen might offer us something that suits our taste.¡± ¡°Hm. Dantalian, what are you suggesting we negotiate?¡± Marbas stroked his beard. I smiled. ¡°We can only decide after hearing from their queen personally. Everyone, I will personally enter the castle and negotiate with their queen. Please leave this matter to me.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, I guess I started working. There¡¯s really nothing much to say since I¡¯ve only been working for a few days now. It¡¯s apany that trantes games, so we have to y the game for a bit before we start tranting. They¡¯ve been slowly showing me the ropes while I y some games in between. I wonder if some would consider this a dream job? I really can¡¯t say much until I actually start the tranting part and I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m allowed to say the names of the games here. Probably shouldn¡¯t risk it until I look into it properly. Welp. I¡¯ll see you guys whenever I finish the next chapter. Chapter 303: Empire Murderer (5) Chapter 303: Empire Murderer (5) Barbatos raised her head. ¡°¡­¡­Why are you the one going in to meet their queen?¡± Barbatos¡¯ unique characteristic was the fact that she would always talk in a yful tone, but her voice sounded weaker than usual right now. No. Should I say it was weaker than usual or that she was deliberately being monotone? ¡°Our goal was to subjugate Agares and we aplished that goal earlier. It was thanks to this cause that we were able to block the intervention of foreign nations like Bernicia. If we don¡¯t show even the slightest bit of mercy to their queen, then things will get rather annoying.¡± Winning is good, but stomping on the enemy excessively would only make the other nations warier of us than necessary. Themanders pitched in for almost all of the war expenditures this time. Three months have already passed since this war started, and it was usually around this point that funding became a concern. People are probably thinking about making up for it through piging and taxes now. This was the perfect time to end the war. The demon soldiers would be happy since they¡¯d be receiving a good wage after not experiencing much danger, the monsters would be happy because they were able to eat a lot of human flesh, and the Demon Lords would be pleased since we would be getting the greatest conclusion despite not having spent that much money. This was a happy ending no matter how you looked at it. However, Barbatos¡¯ expression said otherwise. She brought up something random. ¡°No, I mean why does it have to be you?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re just going to negotiate, then shouldn¡¯t it be fine to send someone else?¡± I tilted my head. ¡°Well¡­¡­because I¡¯m good at talking?¡± ¡°I¡¯m also good at talking~.¡± Gamigin spoke up. She looked this way with a bright smile. Her smile looked strangely scary. ¡°Hasn¡¯t Dantalian built up a needless amount of hatred because of how often he stood at the front? I think it would be better if I went as the representative since people don¡¯t hate me as much.¡± ¡°¡­¡­No, I apologize, but Your Highness¡¯ dynamic with the humans is utterly terrible.¡± I was dumbfounded. Gamigin was indeed a negotiator, but that only applied when negotiations were required within the Demon Lord army. ¡°Do you know what sort of rtionship the Kingdom of Bernicia, the Kingdom of Castile, and Brittany currently have? Adding to this, do you know what the Emperor and Empress Dowager mean to Frankia? Are you also aware that the Empress Dowager is from Sardinia?¡± Gamigin closed her mouth, but she was still smiling. This was strange. Gamigin should know that I would be a better emissary than her. Barbatos as well. What were they so displeased about? ¡°Well, if this were not the human world, then I would have left it to Your Highness, but considering these conditions, I believe I¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If it is about the international state of affairs within human society, then thisdy is also knowledgable.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon spoke up this time. ¡°Thisdy was also the one who won over the Republic of Batavia. The Mountain Faction is a group that was established with the goal of avoiding war as much as possible and profiting through diplomacy. It would be difficult to say that thisdy iscking in skill to be the emissary when she is the leader of this very Mountain Faction.¡± But your negotiating ability sucks instead! I almost shouted in response. No, seriously. What was happening? Why were thesedies being so standoffish all of a sudden? Are they actually worried about sending me as the negotiator? This was shocking. I may be at the absolute bottom when ites to other things, but I thought I was at least acknowledged for my eloquence. ¡°Fufu.¡± Laura chuckled quietly. How could youugh when your lord is troubled! I red at her, but Laura continued to smile calmly. ¡°Calm down, Advisor. Do not re at me with such scary eyes. The othermanders are saying that because they are worried about sending you into the enemy base by yourself.¡± ¡°Haaa?¡± Laura continued in a teasing tone. ¡°Advisor, your deeplyid ns may be amazing, but your individual strength isughable. If it turns out that the Brittan army is harboring negative emotions, you would notst even a second. Themanders are offering to go in your stead because of how concerned they are about your wellbeing.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I turned to look at Barbatos, Gamigin, and Paimon. All three of them averted their gazes at the same time as if they had nned beforehand to do so. You¡¯re telling me the three women who would probably tie for first ce as the most selfish beings in the world are able to do something like worry? About me, at that? You must be joking. ¡°Hmhm. I didn¡¯t say that because I was particrly worried¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I figured we shouldn¡¯t force a bunch of roles on a single person.¡± ¡°Thisdy was simply pointing out another possibility.¡± They refused to meet my gaze. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡­¡­The mood became weird. Marbas cleared his throat. Sitri looked restless as she kept turning left and right. Vassago, on the other hand, appeared displeased for some reason as he was giving me apletely rotten look. ¡®Absolute buffoon,¡¯ was what Vassago¡¯s eyes were saying. I let out a sigh. ¡°Sheesh. Please limit your jokes, Deputy Commander.¡± ¡°Oh, you think that was a joke? I am someone who only speaks the truth.¡± ¡°Then that is worse. I do not believe ourmanders would try to meddle in emissary work because of their personal feelings when our direction as a whole is on the line. If someone were to misunderstand, they might think you were mocking ourmanders.¡± ¡°Hmm. Is that so?¡± Laura gave an amused hum as she looked around. ¡°Did I unintentionally ridicule ourmanders? I wish to ask ourmanders in question whether that is the case or not.¡± Barbatos, Gamigin, and Paimon flinched. There was obviously no one here who would admit to that. It was impossible to talk back to Laura who was no different from the suprememander. That was why she asked in my stead since I was still her lord. Sure enough, the threedies didn¡¯t respond. Laura chuckled. ¡°They say that silence means yes. Of course, in this case, it is hard to figure out what question this silence is saying yes to.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Deputy Commander.¡± ¡°Fufu. I understand. I was being too hasty.¡± Laura stood up and bowed. ¡°Commanders, please forgive my mistake. I am stillcking in experience, so I struggle with human rtions. I would be grateful if you generously overlooked this.¡± She moved incredibly courteously like a person of prestige, but there wasn¡¯t even a hint of repenting in her tone. I was a bit unsatisfied. I know Laura wasn¡¯t modest in the game either, but giving a proper apology was the appropriate answer to this situation. Tsk tsk, I guess geniuses are arrogant by nature. ¡°N-No. It¡¯s fine, Laura.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I was the one who didn¡¯t think ahead.¡± ¡°That was discourteous of me.¡± Thankfully, themanders epted her apology. In terms of social interactions, these three Demon Lords were far more mature than Laura. I should go apologize to them again in privateter since they must still be somewhat displeased. They were basically ridiculed in front of others, after all. In any case, let¡¯s change the subject before the mood gets weird again. ¡°Comrades, leave the negotiations to me. I am constantly in awe of the amazing contributions you have all been making throughout this war. I, Dantalian, will exert myself to the utmost in order to bring about a sessful conclusion to your great efforts.¡± The other Demon Lords agreed to send me as an emissary. Well, other than three certain individuals, no one else was against it in the first ce. Barbatos, Gamigin, and Paimon reluctantly agreed. What did they want to say? I don¡¯t understand them. There was no way that Henrietta would kill an official emissary unless she was the stupidest person in the world. The Brittan army was already isted from any outside help, but doing that would push them further into a corner. No, Henrietta would probably die first before they could get pushed into a corner. She¡¯d die to our army seeking vengeance. It was still a possibility, though. If it turns out that the other party has snapped, then they might resort to taking me down with them. However, I knew through that Henrietta wasn¡¯t that kind of person¡­¡­. Mm, as I thought, I don¡¯t understand why those threedies were acting like that. I¡¯ll ask them about it when I go to apologizeter. * * * ¡°This way please.¡± I was guided inside the castle by the envoy. From what I could tell, the Brittan army appeared to be in quite a bad state. For starters, some of the soldiers weren¡¯t wearing any armor. This most likely meant that they were trying to conserve their stamina as much as possible by keeping their bodies light. In other words, they¡¯ve reached a point where they¡¯re no longer able to maintain their stamina while wearing armor. The soldiers turned to re at me once I strolled into the castle while being escorted. They were defending against a siege while a gue was circting. It would be weird if they weren¡¯t on edge about an enemy emissary. I raised my voice slightly as I asked a question. ¡°I heard that a gue has been going around. Are you taking proper quarantine measurements?¡± ¡°I apologize, but I do not have the authority to speak about military affairs¡­¡­.¡± The envoy trailed off. Well, he probably wouldn¡¯t have told me even if he did have the authority. It was obvious. Regardless, I wasn¡¯t expecting the envoy to answer my question. I observed the soldiers out of the corner of my eyes. Their faces were so rugged that I couldn¡¯t possibly say that they were feeling friendly toward me in any way. They would¡¯ve let out a snort orughed at me if they were able to quarantine properly. People who have no breathing space tend to pretend as if they do in order to pressure the enemy. The fact that they weren¡¯t even pretending and were being openly hostile to me meant that their situation was just that severe¡­¡­. ¡®So they positioned their rtively healthy soldiers here.¡¯ I smiled. Queen Henrietta seemed to be in quite a difficult position. There was no news better than this for a negotiator. ¡°We are here.¡± After going through severalyers of guards, we arrived at the center of the castle. A wooden door was firmly shut. ¡°My apologies, but are you perhaps not ustomed to human formalities?¡± ¡°Aah, it is fine. I came here as the representative of our army.¡± The envoy nodded. He gestured at the knight standing in front of the door. The knight shouted in a loud voice. ¡°Your Highness! The Habsburg Empire¡¯s emissary has arrived!¡± A thudding sound came from the other side of the door. It was the sound of a guard mming the end of their spear on the ground. The wooden door creaked open. The room had little to no decorations. A red carpet and a square table were the only prominent things in the room. Seven people were seated around the table and discussing something. There was an eye-catching woman with brilliant scarlet hair seated among them who looked like a blooming flower. She was nodding as she listened to the generals speak. She then turned to face me. I was going to bow as soon as our gazes met, but I suddenly wanted to look at the woman more. There was a unique aura silently flowing out of her face. We were staring at each other. How much time had passed? The woman¡¯s lips slowly opened. ¡°¡ªIf I am not mistaken, you must be Dantalian.¡± I was then able to bow courteously as I was freed from her gaze. ¡°It is nice to meet you, O revered queen of Brittany. As you have guessed, I am Dantalian. I possess the lowest seat in the Demon Lord Army at rank 71 and was delegated the position of count.¡± Henrietta de Brittany. A hero of turbulent times. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I can¡¯t believe Dant is having three women act like tsunderes with him. Truly a man of character. First week of work is over. I feel emotionally and mentally drained. I already want to go back to how I was before :^). In any case, I¡¯ve done a couple trantions so far. The most recent one was tranting the blog post of some Korean virus scanning program. Not exactly interesting or up my alley. They almost made me trante the terms and conditions of some tech firm, but I refused that job. Actually just brain-killing text. I really hope they stop handing me all these boring technical mumbo jumbo trantion work. I just want to sit down and trante a nice story ?? Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 304: Empire Murderer (6) Chapter 304: Empire Murderer (6) Henrietta raised the corners of her lips. ¡°How should I wee you? Are you a Demon Lord? Or a court noble?¡± ¡°My apologies. What sort of person did Your Highness intend to receive as an emissary?¡± I smiled softly as Henrietta raised a brow at me. ¡°What sort of person did I intend to receive as an emissary?¡± ¡°The army currently surrounding Your Highness¡¯ castle belongs to His Excellency the Emperor of Habsburg. If Your Highness wishes to discuss military-rted matters, then I will approach you as a count.¡± Our army has been carrying the banner of the Habsburg Empire. As an emissary, I should represent Habsburg and act as a count. ¡°However, if Your Highness wishes to go beyond the current state between our armies and discuss the future of the continent.¡± I opened my hands as I continued. ¡°Then I am more than ready to have a serious discussion with Your Highness as a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Hmm. And if I do not like you as a count or as a Demon Lord?¡± ¡°Well, then¡­¡­.¡± I stroked my chin as I pretended to think. ¡°Who knows? I guess I would want to approach Your Highness as a man, then.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your Highness¡¯s beauty far surpasses the rumors. If there is a banquet prepared today, then I will look forward to it immensely.¡± Henrietta chuckled. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that a Demon Lord would ask me for a dance.¡± ¡°Your Highness has already shown us a splendid dance while using Frankia as your stage. You couldpare today with the final curtain of a banquet. Yes, this is the moment where men and women are the most honest to each other.¡± ¡°There are too many watching eyes for this to be a private asion.¡± Henrietta raised her right hand. ¡°You may all leave.¡± The generals gave a salute as they poured out of the reception room. The Queen and I were the only people remaining in the room. Henrietta leaned back in her chair and folded her legs. The smile on her face was gone. ¡°I¡¯ll get straight to the point. I want to have an honorable surrender.¡± ¡°As Your Highness is aware, there will be conditions.¡± ¡°Lay them out.¡± We were pros. There was no need for us to waste time trying to make the other party waver. I raised an index finger and spoke. ¡°First, hand Empress Dowager Catherine de¡¯ Medici over to us.¡± ¡°I ept. However, return Saintess Jaqueline Longwy back to us.¡± Henrietta nodded and I nodded in return. There was no hesitation in our decisions. I raised my middle finger. ¡°Second, give up on all of the Frankian cities and fortresses that you have been upying. Additionally, sign a nonaggression pact with Frankia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­How long will the nonaggression pactst? It cannot be longer than a decade. Furthermore, we will be taking the weapons and provisions we have been reserving in the castle with us back to Brittany.¡± A 10-year nonaggression pact. With this, we¡¯ve stopped Henrietta¡¯s desire to rule over the continent for the time being. I finally raised my ring finger. ¡°Third, kill Frankia¡¯s Emperor, Henry the Third, and make it seem like he died of an illness.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta red at me intensely. ¡°Do you intend to make us take the me for poisoning the emperor?¡± ¡°With Henry the Third¡¯s death, Frankia¡¯s royal bloodline will clearly be cut in both name and reality.¡± Not only were the direct members of the imperial family killed, but even the distant rtives were all wiped out as well. This was thanks to Henrietta going around and snuffing them out like she was catching cockroaches for the past few years. ¡°All authority will end up going to the Empress Dowager. Things might be different if we tried to reign as regent while there is an emperor present, but it should be difficult for the Empress Dowager to handle the state affairs by herself. What do you think will unfold within Frankia?¡± ¡°¡­¡­There will be another civil war.¡± I nodded. Most of the nobles who had high positions in Frankia had been eradicated. The only ones remaining were small fries. It was obvious that no matter who tried to seize dominance, they had a difficult future ahead of them. Therefore, another civil war would unfold. ¡°Until now, the royalists and republicans of Frankia have been united. Your Highness, this is because they had amon enemy. However, if a nonaggression pact is signed, then the gazes that were pointed outward will slowly move inward. They will, without a doubt, sh because of their own respective interests.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta went silent. Her eyes were filled with anger earlier, but now she was clearly hesitating about how she should handle this. Henrietta sluggishly opened her mouth. ¡°Is your goal not to drive us out of Frankia?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why are you trying to harm Frankia, then?¡± ¡°Your Highness, Brittany is not the only country that would be troubled if Frankia gained power.¡± Henrietta let out a long sigh after hearing my answer. ¡°¡­¡­You are not trying to save Frankia. You were simply afraid that Frankia would be too powerful if they joined forces with Brittany. So you cut our military power and nted the seeds of civil war within Frankia. By doing so, you¡¯re able to make a profit in the middle ground.¡± I grinned. I didn¡¯t admit or deny anything. ¡°Getting back to the main point, I believe that making the nonaggression pactst longer than a decade would be good for Your Highness as well. That would make the Frankians rx more.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see. The longer the nonaggression period is, the more the Frankians can focus on their civil war.¡± Henrietta looked at me with a somewhat defeated look. ¡°You are a terrifying individual, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°People will think that peace will return once the war is over. There is nothing strange about any of the conditions you have ced; however, it¡¯s nothing more than a scheme disguised as peace¡­¡­. The Frankians will start a civil war on their own.¡± Henrietta let out a sigh. ¡°So? What does Your Highness think?¡± ¡°As expected, this plot is wicked and heinous like a Demon Lord¡­¡­but.¡± Henrietta stood up. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for Brittany to refuse these conditions. I ept.¡± We shook hands. Frankia¡¯s fate for the next 10 years was decided here at this moment. We drafted the treaty on that day. Unofficial talks that were never revealed to the public were had. Officially, the public was told that the Brittan army and our army were divided in opinion, so the negotiations had broken down. A few dayster, Henry the Third suddenly fell ill and passed away. The Brittan army was ¡®severely shaken¡¯ by the Emperor¡¯s death and revealed that they would ¡®surrender¡¯ to the alliance as they had lost their will to fight. In response to this, we acknowledged the splendid struggle Brittany had shown us until now and proposed to them an opportunity to ¡®surrender honorably¡¯ so that they could return home with their gs and weapons. Thanks to this magnanimous offer, the official treaty was written as follows: 1. The Kingdom of Brittany and the Empire of Frankia will not invade each other¡¯s territories for the next 14 years. 2. The Queen of Brittany will give the Emperor of Habsburg one gift. 3. War reparations will not be demanded from Habsburg or Brittany. This treaty was referred to as the Le Havre Treaty. The conditions felt much too merciful to have been suggested by the army that hadpletely defeated a nation¡¯s queen. The ambassadors of others nations who were residing in Frankia had gathered to witness the signing of the treaty. Emperor Rudolf von Habsburg made a deration at the signing. ¡°Our goal was to subjugate Demon Lord Agares. Since our goal has been aplished, we have no desire to persecute Brittan¡¯s ruler.¡± With this, he had made it clear to the world that the justification our alliance had gathered under wasn¡¯t only for show. If an unfair treaty were established, then the nations that had been watching all this time would¡¯ve stepped in to put a stop to it. Simr to how people were anxious about letting Brittany be too powerful, they were also wary of letting Habsburg grow excessively powerful. However, the Habsburg Empire didn¡¯t upy anynd during the war. The people of the continent had to ept that the emperor was true to his words. Furthermore, no one had pointed it out, but there was something far more important hidden in the treaty. It was the fact that the Demon Lord Army was also included in the treaty. Until now, humanity has never made a treaty with the Demon Lord Army before. On the surface, this treaty looks like it was only between the Kingdom of Brittany and the Habsburg Empire, but there was no one who didn¡¯t know that the Demon Lord Army was included on one side. In other words, the Demon Lord Army and the humans have acknowledged each other as parties that can be negotiated with. ¡°With this, my goal has been aplished.¡± I hummed happily as I leaned back in my chair. ¡°Henrietta thinks she can restore her nation¡¯s power in 14 years, but that¡¯s highly unlikely since so many of her knights were wiped out. Furthermore, Henrietta is no longer the ideal ruler of royalists. The continent has left her hands.¡± Iughed happily as I felt Laura¡¯s hands massage my shoulders. ¡°Both the Rank 1 Demon Lord and the Rank 2 Demon Lords¡­¡­the two individuals who were closest to being the absolute rulers have also fallen. There are only political faction battles left. Laura, we have won.¡± ¡°Indeed. Well done, Lord.¡± Referentially, Bar Bercy took the Empress Dowager under his care after she was released from the Brittan army. Bar Bercy escorted the Empress Dowager back to Parisiorum with his soldiers. Thanks to this achievement, he was promoted to an earl. Earl Bercy started to take over Parisiorum as the Empress Dowager¡¯s aide and the leader of the republican faction. Now then. There were no more dictators in the Demon Lord Army now. Be it the ins Faction, Neutral Faction, or the Mountain Faction, none of these groups could move the entire Demon Lord Army on their own. The three factions coexisted and maintained their bnce. The powerhouses in the human world were also suppressed. Elizabeth fell and became the consul of a mere republican nation while Henrietta was just barely maintaining her sovereign power. The Demon Lord Army lost Baal and Agares while the humans lost Henrietta¡­¡­. In truth, this war had caused both sides to incur losses. I can say with confidence that I was probably the one who benefited the most. I had solidified my position as the mediator between Demon Lord factions. Additionally, by negotiating with a nation¡¯s ruler as a count, I set a precedent that¡¯ll allow me to be active in the human world from now on. I was returning home after ending the war on a pleasant note. I genuinely felt refreshed. That was until I was told some weird news. * * * ¡°¡­¡­Our army carried out pigings in the southern part of Frankia?¡± ¡°Yes. It was apparently done at a rather sizable scale.¡± We were on our way home after the Batavia Republic and the Habsburg Empire had separated when we were abruptly told something weird by an envoy. Imperial troops from our side had apparently piged the entire southern region of Frankia. I was baffled. ¡°No, what kind of random rumor is that? We never even set foot down there.¡± ¡°Nheless, the grudges held by the southern cities are genuine. Some ces were even razed to the ground¡­¡­.¡± Our expressions contorted the more the envoy told us. In summary, an imperial army of about a thousand soldiers had brutally piged dozens of viges. What they did was no different from a ughter. They apparently also carried out mass immtions like what we did in front of Parisiorum. For almost a month. The damages were basically insurmountable, so petitions kept getting sent to the royal pce of Parisiorum that had only recently recovered. The newly appointed cab members were apparently investigating this matter without rest. Barbatos looked around and spoke. ¡°Hey. Fess up. Who was it?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Who released a detached unit and did something needless? Huh?¡± All of the Demon Lords nced at each other. Gazes went back and forth countlessly. However, no one answered. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Who knew working would be so tiring? The weather is sort of getting better now since it¡¯s been thunderstorming here. On a side note, a friend and I decided to host a modded minecraft server to enjoy something casually whenever we¡¯re off work. Anyone is free to join it. Or rather, we want more people to join since the server does feel lonely when only 2-3 yers get on it from time to time. As long as you don¡¯t grief people. We enjoy seeing other people¡¯s structures and bases. The modpack is mostly vani+, so don¡¯t expect huge tech or magic mods. Instructions on how to join can be found pinned in the #games channel of the discord. I hope to see more people there :^) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 305: Only Two on This Continent (1) Chapter 305: Only Two on This Continent (1) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I quietly checked everyone¡¯s status windows. I read their windows one by one. Everyone was innocent. Be it Vassago or Marbas, everyone was evidently troubled by this. At the very least, none of them were behaving slyly in the background¡­¡­. ¡°Barbatos, calm down. There is no guarantee that the culprit is among us. There is also the possibility that one of the Demon Lords who did not go to war with us is the one responsible.¡± ¡°Amon and Valefor¡­¡­that makes sense. Rather than suspecting one of us, it would be more reasonable to suspect one of them first.¡± Marbas and Paimon managed to reel back the mood that was starting to be tense. Even if there was a traitor, nothing good woulde from openly letting doubt spread like this. They skillfully prevented it from spreading any further. Unfortunately, their suggestion was highly unlikely. ¡°That is unlikely.¡± ¡°Dantalian.¡± Marbas furrowed his brows. He was reprimanding me with his eyes for fanning the mes when he had managed to calm things down. Marbas, that may soothe the immediate situation, but the seeds of doubt would still remain. Our Demon Lord Army barely managed to create a new system. Doubt must be torn out from the roots. ¡°Is it not strange? Let us say that one of the Demon Lords who did not participate in this war had set out a detached unit. Their goal would be too unclear.¡± ¡°Is their goal not to defame us?¡± I shook my head. ¡°In that case, they would have used demon soldiers. The Demon Lord Army let go of their reigns and allowed their men to pige and ughter viges. Their alliance is a lie¡­¡­. They would seed in defaming us if they had done things like this.¡± I turned to the envoy. ¡°Envoy, ording to your report, the viges were burned down by imperial soldiers, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. There is no doubt.¡± ¡°See? This group did not consist of demons.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Marbas¡¯ gaze became serious. ¡°Are you saying that there is truly a traitor among us?¡± ¡°That is not correct either. It would have been more efficient to send out demons if they had intended to harm our reputation. Despite that, they went out of their way to disguise their soldiers as humans¡­¡­?¡± That was way too inefficient. No Demon Lord would benefit if the culprit was revealed to have been imperial soldiers. I shook my head from side to side. ¡°It is hard to say that this was done by a Demon Lord.¡± The other Demon Lords started to stir. While some of them nodded in agreement, there were some who were still looking around with doubtful gazes. Nheless, the mood was a little better than before. The mood became lighter once it became clear that it was unlikely that someone had betrayed us. ¡°Then who¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It must have been those Brittans. They must¡¯ve used the time they got while negotiating with us.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t they wearing imperial uniforms?¡± The Demon Lords started to discuss with each other. Most of them seemed to be under the opinion that Henrietta was suspicious. Marbas stroked his beard as he gazed at me. ¡°The culprit was not a Demon Lord. Are you trying to tell us that a human was the one behind these pigings, Dantalian?¡± ¡°Yes. I am sure of it. However, there are a few clues.¡± First, the culprit had enough authority to freely control an army of a thousand soldiers. That wasn¡¯t all. They also had the ability to acquire soldiers specifically from Habsburg. There aren¡¯t a lot of humans who are capable of this. Additionally, they knew that our forces would ¡®never¡¯ go to the south part of Frankia. In other words, they had a clear understanding of our strategic goal. They were either a very capable strategist or their political insight was excellent. I opened my mouth. ¡°Everyone, from what I can guess, I assume that the culprit is¡­¡­.¡± * * * ¡°We will give up on rescuing Parisiorum.¡± Consul Elizabeth returned after personally scouting the area around Parisiorum. After she finished scouting, she gathered her generals and made that deration. ¡°It is already hopeless for the Brittan army. Two days have already passed since they were encircled. Despite this, Queen Henrietta did not abandon the capital and chose to waste time. The war is over.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, it has only been two days. Is this not too soon to be predicting the conclusion of the war?¡± The first secretary of the Consul, Yuria tilted her head. ¡°I see. Only two days, is it¡­¡­?¡± Elizabeth smiled bitterly. ¡°Dantalian is the enemy ringleader. He considers war as an extension of his schemes. Yuria, schemes are things where it would be toote by the time you realize something is a scheme. It is not ¡®only¡¯. Two days have ¡®already¡¯ passed.¡± Elizabeth removed her helmet. Her white head towel was drenched in sweat. ¡°The Demon Lord Army will be burning humans at the stake from now on. Their crime is the fact that they actively participated in the ughter four years ago. Men, do you know what this means?¡± ¡°I apologize, but I do not understand.¡± Yuria and the other generals shook their heads. Elizabeth wiped her face with the towel handed to her by one of her attendants. ¡°Hoo. Parisiorum is a sanctuary for royalists. If the Brittan army abandons the capital, then the mes of ughter will shift over to Parisiorum. How do you think the people will react?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± ¡°A ruler who runs away while knowing that the people are going to be ughtered. She is a tyrant who cherishes her own life more than the life of the people. She will be criticized like this. Even the royalists of her own nation will condemn Henrietta.¡± Elizabeth was evidently exhausted as she plopped herself down on her chair. ¡°It would have been fine if she had escaped before the ughter started. It would just narrowly be okay if they had left a day before the ughter. However, two days have passed now. Henrietta¡¯s political life is already over.¡± ¡°No way¡­¡­.¡± Yuria¡¯s voice was filled with shock. Queen Henrietta was said to have been the closest to bing the supreme ruler of the continent. It was hard to believe that someone like that could be taken down so easily. ¡°A mere two days¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is possible if it is Dantalian.¡± Elizabeth muttered as if it were obvious. ¡°Fatal and clean. Henrietta made the worst possible type of person into her enemy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Yuria couldn¡¯t help but harbor questions. How could a schemer bring the end to a ruler¡¯s nation with such ease? Going beyond this, how was the woman in front of her capable of seeing through their scheme in an instant? ¡®Only two people on this entire continent know how this war will end.¡¯ Yuria felt a chill run down her spine. Consul Elizabeth had once called Dantalian the ¡®greatest schemer on the continent¡¯, but what did that make the Consul who was able to see through that schemer? Only like-minded people are able to see through each other. Dantalian and Elizabeth were definitely cut from the same cloth. Yuria felt her mouth salivate as she asked a question. ¡°What will Your Excellency do, then? If rescuing them is impossible, then we can only retreat.¡± ¡°No. There is something we can do.¡± Elizabeth closed her eyes. After a moment of silence, she opened them. ¡°We will imitate the enemy.¡± * * * ¡°The Habsburg Republic was born from the Habsburg Empire. Getting their hands on our imperial uniforms and banners would be a trivial matter to them. The interesting fact is¡ª¡± A smile naturally formed on my lips. ¡°ording to the envoy¡¯s report, a month has passed since the piging happened on the southern side of Frankia. Do you understand what this means? It took them at least ten days to prepare enough uniforms and banners for about a thousand soldiers. Even if they used teleportation, it still took them ten days¡­¡­.¡± We had Parisiorum surrounded for exactly ten days. Adding to this, it took a little less than a month for a surrender envoy toe out from Le Havre. ¡°In short, the Consul had already initiated her n by the time we finished encircling Parisiorum. Splendid, is she not? She saw through our motives in the blink of an eye.¡± She disguised her army as imperial soldiers and swept through the southern part of Frankia. Soldiers who were using the Habsburgiannguage and were also wearing Habsburgian uniforms while holding Habsburgian gs. They took action while the Habsburg Empire was invading. Anyone would think that what they did was done by imperial soldiers. ¡°They even imitated the same ughter method we used at Parisiorum. Should I call her thorough? As expected of the Consul of Habsburg¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But why would the Habsburg Republic do something like this?¡± Marbas asked quietly. ¡°This matter involves Frankia, not them.¡± I smiled bitterly. It did involve them. The Consul of Habsburg has her sights on the entire continent, after all. But the Demon Lords wouldn¡¯t understand even if I exined this to them. ¡°They have several goals. First, harming our honor. We have been limiting the amount of piging we did as we marched. This was so that we could build public approval. That effort of ours ended up being in vain.¡± We only received a safety tax of 10% when we were moving through the northeastern side of Frankia. That ended up bing pointless. ¡°Second, an anti-republican group will form in Frankia again.¡± Elizabeth ughtered a whole bunch of people down south under the justification of ¡®making them pay for the ughter they carried out four years ago¡¯. How would the southern cities react to this? ¡°Those cities willin about us. They will notify the Empress Dowager about the terrible disaster that fell upon them and beg her to condemn us. However, we did notmit this ughter.¡± We didn¡¯t do it, so we won¡¯t apologize. There¡¯s no way that the citizens would be satisfied by this kind of official and political answer. ¡°¡­¡­Even if we tell them that we did not do it, it would only sound like an excuse.¡± ¡°Yes. Indeed.¡± ¡°What an unreasonable usation.¡± Marbas frowned. ¡°What if we reveal the Consul as the culprit?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, we do not have any proof.¡± This was Elizabeth we were talking about. She wouldn¡¯t have left even a sliver of evidence in her path. No, she ughtered thoroughly in order to not leave any evidence. It was obvious. ¡°How about going on a political offensive¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That would be difficult. The fact that we carried out a ughter near Parisiorum is at least true. The Habsburg Republic is a nation that has never done something like this publiclypared to us who have. Which side do you think people will doubt more?¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± Marbas let out a groan. He probably felt frustrated. We couldn¡¯t acknowledge the ughter, but not acknowledging it was also difficult. But I was having a pleasant time. My heart was pounding like a youngd who had fallen in love at first sight. Elizabeth saw through the scheme that even Henrietta couldn¡¯t figure out. And she responded by immediately carrying out a ughter¡­¡­. Henrietta couldn¡¯t possiblypare to Elizabeth¡¯s decisiveness and ability to take action. ¡°It cannot be helped. Let us send a spy to the Habsburg Republic. Considering the time it took for them to act, there is a chance the Consul utilized her border guards. If we can prove that their border guards had disappeared, then we might be able to reveal their guilt with rtive ease.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Even as I spoke, I felt like this was highly unlikely. Elizabeth must have covered her soldiers¡¯ identities several times. The people of her republic most likely didn¡¯t even notice that an army had mobilized. I trusted Elizabeth¡¯s ability the most when it came to this. Marbas knit his fingers together. ¡°Dantalian, your statement is under the premise that the Consul saw through our goal in an instant. I question whether that is actually possible or not.¡± ¡°It is possible.¡± I smiled. ¡°If the person in question is Elizabeth von Habsburg.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel like it¡¯s been so long since I actually looked forward to the weekends. It feels great to rx (except in the mornings since construction is still happening). I sort of expected it, but it¡¯s still surprising that no one joined the Minecraft server. There¡¯s still a small handful of people ying, but yeah. On another note, today is the fated day¡­ I¡¯m going to be on TV. Dear God. I pray that no one I know watches TV. I¡¯m very tempted to just not watch it and pretend it never happened. Ignorance is bliss, right? Ugh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 306: Only Two on This Continent (2) Chapter 306: Only Two on This Continent (2) The ughter incident itself was solved rather easily. To be more exact, I solved it easily. In summary, Elizabeth¡¯s aim was to make it impossible for us to acknowledge or deny the ughter. However, Elizabeth had overlooked the fact that I would do things by fair means or foul. I picked out a squadron leader from the human army that participated in this expedition with us. He was being summoned by highmand, so the squadron leader arrived filled with anxiety. I didn¡¯t mince my words as I spoke to him. ¡°Our army is currently in a rather troubling situation. Do you know why?¡± ¡°M-My apologies, but I am unaware.¡± The man in front of me had a rtively low rank. He most likely did not hear about the ughter yet. ¡°An unknown army disguised themselves as us and piged the southern region of Frankia. They did so rather maliciously, so the ministers residing in that area are apparently very upset with us. They are saying that we should take responsibility for that ughter.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡­.¡± The squadron leader nodded his head awkwardly. He didn¡¯t seem to understand why I was telling him this. ¡°The problem is that even if we did want to take responsibility, there is no one among us who can. This ughter was notmitted by us, after all. Nheless, if we continue to feign ignorance, then their condemnation will grow stronger. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Y-Yes. Somewhat.¡± ¡°We were finally able to form a friendly rtionship with Frankia. It would be a joke if we were to let this rtionship be sour right from the start. We must make a political move¡­¡­.¡± The squadron leader furrowed his brows. I sped my hands together as I spoke. ¡°In conclusion, we must have a responsible attitude. It does not matter if we take responsibility or not. The government officials of Parisiorum only want us to behave appropriately.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You. I heard that you have a big family.¡± The squadron leader blinked. ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°Do not worry about your parents or children. We will take good care of them.¡± Once I gave a nce to Sitri, she pulled out her sword. The squadron leader looked confused at first, but his face was gradually filled with shock. He then immediately got down on his knees. ¡°Y-Your Excellency, I have truly done nothing wrong!¡± ¡°I know. You arepletely innocent.¡± Sitri walked over to the squadron leader with brisk steps. ¡°I will be the one sinning, not you.¡± A de beheaded the squadron leader as he let out a shout. Blood sttered on the ground. This was the moment the first scapegoat was created. On that same day, the squadron that was led by that leader was massacred. The cavalry squad of eighty-seven soldiers was rounded up. I gave them the same exnation that I gave their leader. The eighty-seven human soldiers were all confused like theirmanding officer before they eventually pieced the situation together. ¡°P-Please spare me!¡± ¡°I do not have to be paid¡­¡­. I already made enough, so at least spare my life¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Why must we die!?¡± I wasn¡¯t persuading them. I was giving them an order. Murders were carried out under mymand. Immtions weren¡¯t necessary this time. My goal was to kill them as quickly and as efficiently as possible. I obtained eighty-seven heads in less than thirty minutes. We sprinkled salt on the heads before sending them to Parisiorum. We are truly saddened about the disgraceful act carried out throughout Frankia¡¯s southern region. After some investigation, we discovered the culprits behind this shameful piging. They cleverly distorted the order that was given by our highmand and acted as a detached force. They piged and ughtered despite having not been ordered to do so¡­¡­. We did not give the order, but we will not avoid taking responsibility for this matter. Criminals are still being uncovered and captured, but we will send them to Parisiorum as soon as we capture them. This was the exnation we chose to give. We already distributed the goods we took from the Brittan army to the southern ministers. The ministers slowly closed their mouths after receiving such huge bribes. We maintained our cozy rtionship with the new Frankia government. Blood is thicker than water. The way I understood this saying was as follows: blood cannot be cleaned with water, so blood must be cleaned with more blood¡­¡­. Elizabeth is highly skilled. She framed us for the ughters she did and caused a political divide. This was a n that most people weren¡¯t capable of thinking up. Adding to this, Elizabeth was probably the only person who could bring these kinds of ideas to fruition. However, Elizabeth must¡¯ve learned through this incident that I don¡¯t hesitate when ites to creating sacrifices. If she¡¯s going to scheme, then I¡¯ll scheme in return. Did you carry out your ughter because I carried out one? Fine. In that case, I¡¯ll simply ughter more. Let¡¯s wash blood with blood. Let us create a purgatory where that blood is also washed with more blood. This is a purgatory that will never end until one side gives up first. If you wish to dance with me, you must have the courage to perform a waltz in this purgatory, Elizabeth. You should use this opportunity to learn that I¡¯m not picky about my options. * * * The Consul¡¯s office was gloomy today as well. The Republic¡¯s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Heidelberg, let out a sigh as he entered the office. On the other side of the room, Elizabeth was nkly staring out the window. ¡°Your Excellency, here are the documents.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No response. Her Excellency the Consul had be depressed ever since she returned from her secret expeditionst month. She spoke less. Elizabeth continued to stare out the window as if she didn¡¯t hear anything. Tap, tap, tap, the sound of rain colliding against the window resonated throughout the room. She stared vacantly at the droplets of water flowing down the window. Her eyes were empty and sad. It almost felt like she would fade away like a mirage. ¡®What an unpleasant image.¡¯ Heidelberg shook his head. He then raised his voice. ¡°Your Excellency the Consul.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Huh? Oh, it is you, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.¡± Elizabeth finally turned her head. ¡°I apologize. I have been hard of hearing as ofte.¡± ¡°Hoo. This humble one worries that Your Excellency might be going senile already.¡± ¡°What a rude thing to say to a young maiden like myself.¡± Elizabeth smiled slightly. From Heidelberg¡¯s perspective, even that smile looked fimble. ¡°Your Excellency, all of your vassals are concerned about you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Of course, it is only human that Your Excellency would feel guilty about what happened in Frankia.¡± Heidelberg was one of the extremely few people who knew about Elizabeth¡¯s secret mission. The Consul had piged Frankia on arge scale. Heidelberg deduced that that was the reason behind her depressed mood. ¡°Regardless, Your Excellency is the Republic¡¯s Consul. The face of a nation. A humble retainer such as myself would not dare to tell Your Excellency topose yourself, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The face of a nation, am I?¡± Elizabeth became absentminded again as she muttered. She was clearly distracted. ¡°Wolfram, the Habsburg Regent sent us a secret letter a week ago.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°There was only one word written on the letter¡­¡­World.¡± World. Heidelberg furrowed his brows. It was already weird that the regent state had sent them a secret letter, but the content of the letter was weirder. ¡°Is it some secret code, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°It is not a code. They figured out that the culprit behind the ughter throughout the southern region of Frankia was me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Heidelberg¡¯s expression turned into a frown. The upper echelon of the Republic had devoted their all to the ughter operation. The army only had a thousand five hundred soldiers, but moving those troops in utter secrecy was by no means an easy task. However, he was confident that they wouldn¡¯t get caught by anyone. Be it the people of the Republic or even the Cab members, most of them were unaware of what had happened. How did the regent state figure out the truth? ¡°It was most likely Dantalian. We should have hired demon soldiers despite the risks. If we did, then Dantalian would not have been able to discern whether the culprit was me or a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It was my mistake. It would have been better if we had hired dwarf mercenaries and shut their mouths afterward. But¡­¡­I contemted whether demons could be trusted or not. That was my mistake¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth muttered impassively. ¡°Dantalian is taunting me. ¡®Look, this is the world that you want. How does it feel to look down at the world and y with it?¡¯. This is what he is asking me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How depressing.¡± Elizabeth turned her gaze back to the window. It was still raining. ¡°In the past, I believed that conquering the world was the duty of supremacy. I did not doubt this. Even if many may fall into despair during that process, I considered the world itself to be a beautiful dream. I now know that there is no beauty in the world.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency.¡± ¡°You deceive and mock the people of the continent. You create bloodbaths for the sake of your political goals. The only things that exist are deception and intrigue.¡± A faint smile was on Elizabeth¡¯s lips. It was a self-ridiculing smile. ¡°I should have realized this when I killed Robert. Was I the fool¡­¡­? My brother, Rudolf, killed my sisters for the sake of authority. I was the same. What is the difference between me and my brother? What have I been living for until now¡­¡­?¡± Heidelberg didn¡¯t dare to open his mouth. He didn¡¯t think what the Consul did was wrong. It was only natural to require sacrifices for the sake of aplishing one¡¯s goals. A ruler¡¯s duty is to remember those sacrifices. That was what he believed, but was that wrong? ¡°Your Excellency, we must strive to create a better nation the more that is the case. That is the greatest respect we can show to the graves of those who were sacrificed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­A nation is unnecessary for the dead. Even if we achieve peace and prosperity, how does that matter to those who were lost? You are just making excuses and consoling yourself.¡± Elizabeth let out a weak sigh. ¡°So this is the world that Dantalian is gazing at. It is a gloomy and gray world. There is no romance or ideologies, so ridicule and revenge are the only things that float around like ghosts. The continent is nothing more than arge grave or memorial to Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Heidelberg struggled to understand; however, he had a feeling that no matter what he said, his words wouldn¡¯t reach the Consul. ¡°Regardless, there is something that I cannot yield. You can call this deceit. If it means I can lead the nation in the right direction, I do not care about bing another deceiver¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth turned to face Heidelberg. Her previous spirit was absent from her golden eyes. However, what was instead present was a dark and firm gaze. ¡°Secretary of Foreign Affairs.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Make an attempt to contact the southern cities of Frankia. If the free cities in the north were able to unite, then there is no reason for that to not be possible in the south as well. If the regent state is going to take over the north, then our Republic will exert our influence over the south.¡± Heidelberg bowed to his revered lord. ¡°Understood. We will immediately make contact with them.¡± ¡°¡­¡­The regent state ruled by an emperor will help the republicans of the north while our republican nation will help the royalists of the south. The enemy is too much of a cmity to call this a joke.¡± A thin smile rested on Elizabeth¡¯s lips. ¡°But it is fine. This is the world. Even if there may only be one purgatory under the sky, there should be enough space for two people to dance. I will y along as much as you desire¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s voice flowed quietly through the office room that was filled with the sound of rain. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Oh, how pitiful it must be to be Elizabeth. Every time she shows up, we see her constantly being tormented by Dantalian in one way or another. Life is rough. Man, the days between chapter releases only increased by a day, and yet it feels so long to me. Like, I feel bad about it for some reason since I got so used to the previous schedule. Ugh. Also haven¡¯t been able to trante DD too much cause I was handed a new project thepany picked up. Some sort of mobile Transformer game. I¡¯m only four days into tranting it and I¡¯m already sick of Transformers. Probably because I was given the Names, UI, and Tutorial sheets. It¡¯s so hard to figure out how to trante UIs since you don¡¯t know where shit will go. God it sucks. On another note, to anyone being cautious about joining the Minecraft server, I¡¯m probably going to be keeping it up for as long as possible. It doesn¡¯t matter if you can only get on for little bits of time every now and then. That piles up over time. I only care about seeing the server being sort of active. Just chill and y. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 307: Only Two on This Continent (3) Chapter 307: Only Two on This Continent (3) * * * The war referred to as the Puppet War ended after about 3 months. Even I thought that it ended on a rather good note. The demon world celebrated the result of this war. They were excited as the Crescent Alliance had managed a great aplishment once again and we had shown those pathetic humans their ce. It didn¡¯t take long for the treaty made with the Brittan army to be known as the ¡¸Instrument of Surrender¡¹. ¨C A historically tremendous victory that rivaled the previous Crescent Alliance expedition. ¨C Not only was it strategically perfect, but it was also a war that established demonkind¡¯s prestige throughout the entire continent. This was the general opinion. A lot of money was spent so that this kind of reputation would circte. When themanders returned to Niflheim, the citizens of Niflheim weed them more greatly than the time we subjugated Baal. More than ten thousand people gathered to watch our triumphal celebration. It was only natural. The previous triumphal celebration was about the subjugation of a single traitor. Not only did we deal with a traitor this time, but we also massacred a human army. It was obvious what the people would cheer for more. Referentially, demonkind believed that the Habsburg Empire and the Batavia Republic had ¡®submitted to the Crescent Alliance and cooperated obediently¡¯. That was a lie, but there was a slight bit of truth to it as well. Thus, it wasn¡¯t difficult to distort the public¡¯s understanding. Faking the number of losses we suffered and the number of enemy soldiers we faced was a basic among basics. We became an army that defeated a massive army of seventy thousand while only suffering a loss of about two thousand. This great victory will undoubtedly go down in history. Mm, public sentiment is quite the easy thing to control. No matter what anyone said, Laura was the main character of this war. There were some people whoined about a humanmanding the ¡®great demon army¡¯. The reason the Crescent Alliance achieved an overwhelming victory was because of the greatness of demonkind, not because of some pathetic and weak human¡­¡­. Idiots existed everywhere. Be it the human world or the demon world. Marbas openly refuted these ridiculous ims during his speech. ¡°Laura de Farnese is a human. Nheless, her pride and talent are peerless. O lofty demons, when have we ever judged others for their race and not their skills? The era where Demon Lords rule simply because they are Demon Lords and people seed simply because they belong to a specific race has already ended.¡± Marbas continued his speech with a calm and thick voice that was unique to him. ¡°Demonkind, we are warriors. Even if you were born as a human, if the pride inside of you is noble, then you are also a splendid warrior. I, along with the other representatives of the Demon Lord Army, wish to show our respect to Laura de Farnese as fellow warriors.¡± Warriors stood tall not because of their birthright, but because of their skills alone. This was the pride of demonkind. Although there was once an atrocious hierarchy hiding at the bottom of the demon world. Marbas was criticizing this. That wasn¡¯t everything. ¡°I have some unfortunate news as well. During this war, we uncovered a group who chose to pursue their own selfish gains while disregarding our victory as a whole. They broke away from us and piged innocent viges before setting them aze afterward. We believe that a Demon Lord must have been supporting them¡­¡­.¡± This announcement sent a shock throughout the crowd. I didn¡¯t sacrifice only a single squadron. I also wiped out a squadron that consisted of only demons. The reason was simple. If we only sent human heads, then Frankia would still have some grounds to suspect us. However, if we include demon heads, then their doubt would decrease drastically. ¡®We are doing our best to find the culprit behind the ughter¡¯, this was the gesture we were showing to them. ¡°I wish to give everyone the details about the situation. This is because this war was not simply the Demon Lord Army¡¯s war, it was a war for the sake of the demon world as a whole. This traitor has chosen to mock the entire demon world.¡± The squadron that went against our orders originated from the continent and not the demon world. They were orcs who were hired on the surface. These beings were usually referred to as monsters to distinguish them from demons. Beings from the demon world normally had higher intellect, so beings from the continent were called monsters because they were usually the opposite. In truth, demonkind had far more prejudices than humans. Be it demons or monsters, it was harder to go against Demon Lords the less intellect you had. Therefore, if you wanted to ignore the orders from a highmand which consisted of Demon Lords¡­¡­orders from ¡®another Demon Lord¡¯ were absolutely necessary. ¡°We have yet to figure out which Demon Lord had betrayed us.¡± Marbas spoke in a solemn tone. ¡°However, we know that this Demon Lord is capable of giving orders powerful enough to make the recipients ignore the orders from ourmanders. I do not believe that a fellowmander had betrayed us. They all fought valiantly during this war.¡± Tens of thousands of people were holding their breaths. Who would dare to betray the sacred Crescent Alliance? Marbas gazed down at the crowded za. ¡°O proud demons! Allow me to ask you a question. There is a person who shed tears, sweat, and blood for the sake of our victory despite being a human. On the other hand, there is a person who betrayed us for the sake of their own gains despite being a Demon Lord. Who is the true warrior between these two? Who is ourrade? I ask you to think about this¡­¡­.¡± That¡¯s right. This was why I didn¡¯t go out of my way to deny the ughter that happened in the southern region of Frankia. It legitimized the alliance between demons and humans. Laura¡¯s authority and honor were established. This was my first goal, but the more important goal was something else. Marbas had dered that all of themanders who participated in the war were innocent. Then who was the culprit? A ¡®strong Demon Lord who didn¡¯t participate in the war¡¯. These individuals had be suspects. The Demon Lord Army was reformed under a new rule after Baal was killed. However, there were still a fair number of Demon Lords who refused to cooperate with us. Rank 6 Valefor and Rank 7 Amon were the prime examples of this¡­¡­. These individuals were incredibly menacing since they were both single digits. They didn¡¯t openly go against the reformation of the Demon Lord Army, but they weren¡¯t cooperative either. In other words, they were like a thorn in our side. There were a couple of other Demon Lords who were uncooperative with us as well. The issue was when these individuals grouped together. In these cases, it was usually the Demon Lords who were strong enough to go against us that would most likely take the pivotal roles in these groups. Valefor and Amon were potential enemies. One cockroach leads to an infestation. You have to stomp them out as soon as possible. The ughter in the southern region of Frankia happened at a rather good time. Even if we tried to go on a national offensive against Elizabeth, it would simply end due to both sides not having enough evidence. Utilizing the situation to wipe out internal enemies was much more efficient. ¡°We are currently investigating the deserters and expect the culprit to be revealed soon. I vow to reveal their identity to the public as soon as they are uncovered.¡± This was our way of warning them. All of you Demon Lords who have been dilly-dallying and resisting passively, listen. We will not allow a half-hearted attitude. Either cooperate or retaliate. Do one or the other. If you choose thetter, then know that you will follow the same path as Baal and Agares¡­¡­. We have already used some mages topletely brainwash several monsters. The monsters fully believe that they had acted under the orders of Valefor and Amon. If Valefor and Amon ignore this ultimatum, then¡­¡­hm, there will be another bloodbath. A bloodbath known as Baal and Agares had already happened. I don¡¯t care if another one urs. The next day. A banquet to celebrate our victory was held in Niflheim Pce. The pce that had copsed because of Baal was quickly repaired while we were at war. There was still some rubble left, but we decided to preserve that area forever. We called it ¡®The Traitor¡¯s End¡¯. Every individual who could be said to be the cream of the crop of the demon world participated in this banquet. From the civilian representatives of Niflheim to the executives of merchant firms and the archdukes of the demon world. They surrounded themanders and chatted excitedly. On a side note, Laura was also surrounded by demon nobles and was suddenly holding an autograph signing. Of course, our fellow Demon Lords participated as well. ¡°Dantalian, do you mind if we have a word with you?¡± A man wearing borate clothes spoke up to me. He was bald with dark, copper-colored skin. There was a woman behind him with pure white hair whose eyes were covered by a blindfold. Valefor and Amon. They also took part in the banquet. I smiled brightly. ¡°Of course. How could I possibly ignore a request from Your Highnesses?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you would pardon me, Chief Lodbrok, I must go and speak with Their Highnesses.¡± I asked Ivar Lodbrok if I could be excused. Ivar, who was using the body of an old man again, bowed courteously before walking to the other side of the ballroom. We went to a balcony that was attached to a corner of the ballroom. ¡°What is the meaning behind Marbas¡¯ speech yesterday?¡± Valefor spoke as soon as the balcony door shut behind us. There was a clear sign of impatience in his eyes. Dear me, he must¡¯ve felt rather pressed after hearing about the speech. ¡°As you already know, I put my heart and soul into our war efforts when I was with the Crescent Alliance. I believe you did not forget that I went as far as to bring my entire Demon Lord Castle to Bruno ins.¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± I sat down in a chair and responded calmly. ¡°Nheless, it is also true that a ughter happened in the southern region of Frankia, Your Highness.¡± ¡°That was most likely done by one of the Demon Lords who participated in the expedition. Dantalian, this nder is ridiciulous. Why would I send a detached unit in secret for something like pocket money!?¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°The culprit has not been revealed yet and their goal is still unknown to us.¡± ¡°Be honest. Dantalian, did a ughter really even happen? Do not tell me that you created this charade for the sake of threatening us.¡± I nced at Valefor. ¡°Are you perhaps doubting the Crescent Alliance¡¯s official statement?¡± Valefor promptly shut his mouth. Amon had been quietly listening to our conversation. ¡°Your Highness, I put my life on the line fighting alongside the other Demon Lords in the Crescent Alliance. I do not wish to doubt myrades-in-arms. Of course, I also do not wish to put Your Highnesses, my ilk andrades, in danger either.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What is your goal?¡± Amon spoke. Her tone sounded benevolent and calm like that of a saintess. ¡°I am not experienced in these sorts of political intrigue. I have never gotten involved in these sorts of things throughout my entire life. All I understand are these two things: your group is threatening us and you are willing to negotiate.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Your Highness Amon, we would never threaten you. If anything, we are trying to protect Your Highnesses from getting framed.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Very well, then. What is the price we have to pay to have our safety guaranteed?¡± Amon asked. Getting straight to the point, how considerate. ¡°When the Demon Lord Army calls for a meeting, please take an active part in those meetings. Although Your Highnesses did not participate in this war, I ask that you express your desire to do so next time.¡± ¡°So you are telling us to cooperate with the group that you all made arbitrarily.¡± I smiled brightly. ¡°We do not need two Demon Lord armies in the world, after all. Do you not think so as well?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A weekter, the result of interrogating the deserters was disclosed. Unfortunately, the deserters didn¡¯t reveal the mastermind even after excruciatingly painful torture. The Mage Tower left ament saying that they believed a very powerful brainwashing spell had been used. The people were angered by this unknown traitor. Thus, the Puppet War came to aplete end. This war which was embellished with lies from start to finish. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The war is finally over, but it probably won¡¯t be thest one. I hope we get some casual chapters for a bit since I¡¯ve been getting swamped with worktely. It¡¯s not hard work, just sort of mind grueling. Mainly because I¡¯m currently tranting like 6k words of UI string text. It¡¯s actually mind-numbing. On another note, thest wedding episode covering my brother¡¯s wedding came out the other day. They truly did cut out every single one of my lines. I¡¯m so proud. I¡¯m d I didn¡¯t say anything good about my brother during the interviews and answered honestly. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 308: Only Two on This Continent Chapter 308: Only Two on ThisContinent WARNING: NSFW CONTENT. Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should beexclusively reserved for a mature audience. It happens near the , so please keep that in mind. You have been warned. * * * Earl Bercy was up to his neck with work. His rank had gone up from baron to earl. Adding to this, he was also appointed as the legal advisor of the Empire. In the Empire, the position of legal advisor was right below that of the emperor and the prime minister. He had instantly be a big shot. Moreover, Frankia currentlycked both an emperor and a prime minister. Emperor Henry the Third had died. The position of prime minister was temporarily taken by Henrietta de Brittany. Both of these individuals were gone now. Her Excellency the Empress Dowager was present, but she was a strawman and mostly only had a symbolic value. She was also old now. No matter how anyone looked at it, Earl Bercy was the head of the government now. Promoted from a mere bar to the one responsible for Frankia¡¯s administration as a whole¡­¡­. It should probably be eptable to say that he brought glory to his family¡¯s name. However, Earl Bercy was honestly not that happy about it. ¡°How is this an empire¡­¡­?¡± Earl Bercy pressed his hand against his forehead as he flipped through some documents. The current state of Frankia was written in the documents. Their current state went beyond being simply bad. Their financial, judicial, and military affairs were all equally a mess. The worst. These two words glimmered in the Earl¡¯s brain. ¡°This cannot go on.¡± Earl Bercy dropped the documents that were in his hands. He felt like his skull might explode if he read any more than this. How many days has it been since he was only able to get three hours of sleep every day? Four, five, six days¡­¡­. Earl Bercy stopped counting after half a month. ¡°What am I doing?¡± The Earl scorned himself. It seems that even his head had gone strange¡­¡­. Earl Bercy buried his back into the backrest of his chair which was immediately followed by a wave of exhaustion. Let¡¯s get some rest, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes. How much time had passed? The attendant outside his office spoke up. ¡°Your Excellency, Her Excellency the Empress Dowager has arrived.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Earl Bercy¡¯s eyes shot open. He promptly wiped his face with a handkerchief before standing up to adjust the buttons of his shirt and straighten his clothes. All of this happened within the span of 5 seconds. Another 2 seconds were used to clear his throat. ¡°Hurry and show her in.¡± His movements were quite literally perfect. The door opened and an olddy entered the office. Earl Bercy was about to approach her and get down on one knee, but the woman waved him off with a smile. ¡°Let us skip the formalities, Earl. Things are already exhausting.¡± ¡°My apologies.¡± The Empress Dowager stepped forward and sat down before Earl Bercy could even pull out her chair. Ladies of royal birth tended to be stricter about formalities as they grew older, but the Empress Dowager was an exception. She was probably an Amazon in her past life. ¡°How is the situation?¡± Straight to the point, huh? Earl Bercy smiled wryly. ¡°To be honest, it is incredibly bad.¡± ¡°Hah. You are a man who does not know how to be reserved.¡± ¡°My apologies.¡± The Empress Dowager furrowed her brow in annoyance, but she wasn¡¯t genuinely annoyed. The proof of that was the cozy atmosphere spreading throughout the office. Throughout this past month, the Earl has been able to figure out the Empress Dowager¡¯s personality. She despises needless formalities and has great pride despite her crude words¡­¡­. This was the Empress Dowager who gave birth to 3 emperors, Catherine ¡®de Medici. ¡°Your Excellency, how are the nobles?¡± ¡°Do not even mention them. Please get back thend I lost, please reinstate my family¡­¡­. The pigs that were quiet when Brittany was around are acting quite boldly now!¡± Earl Bercy couldn¡¯t help butugh. The way she spoke was elegant and perfectly courteous, but the actual words she was using were like that of a wild fellow. Her words were crude, but they strangely suited her. The Empress Dowager was a more entertaining conversation partner than what he imagined a long time ago. The Empress Dowager furrowed her brows. ¡°Do my words sound like lies? I am not joking. Every day, I receive more than seventy audience requests from every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Earl, this is elderly abuse.¡± ¡°That just means there are that many families that were broken up due to Brittany¡¯s involvement, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Even I know that.¡± Her eyes became serious. ¡°Regardless, Earl, I have no intention to reinstate the families of all those riffraff. They turned a blind eye when the nation¡¯s imperial family was in peril.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Prestige andnd are unmerited for those who disregarded their duties. Do you not agree?¡± Earl Bercy gulped. Brittany had forcefully dissolved thend of numerous nobles. Arge amount ofnd became the property of the imperial family. The nobles naturally revolted, but they were crushed under the Brittan army¡¯s boots. Now with this new Parisiorum government in ce, the surviving nobles have been constantly pestering the imperial family to restore their past honors. The Empress Dowager was refusing to do this. ¡°I did not think you would make such a serious face. I was under the impression that you were republican.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency, I apologize, but we do not have the spare manpower to handle a rebellion if the nobles were to revolt.¡± Even a portion of Parisiorum¡¯s security was being handled by the Republic of Batavia. They did promise to stand guard free of charge for a year, but it was unlikely that they would actively get involved if a rebellion were to ur. ¡°It has not been long since the civil war ended either. The people of Frankia all wish for peace. The nobles are necessary for the sake of reconstructing our nation.¡± ¡°I will rob them of their private fortune.¡± The Empress Dowager answered firmly. ¡°The Republic army would more than dly join if we toss them some additional pay.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Empress Dowager appeared resolute. ¡°Earl, if you look at this from a different perspective, this is a chance.¡± ¡°A chance, is it?¡± ¡°Frankia currently does not have even a single duke. They were all massacred by Brittany¡¯s queen. The current number of earls and barons is abysmalpared to before. Has there ever been a time where the noble faction was this weak?¡± It felt like the Empress Dowager had some other ulterior motives besides her republican way of thinking. Earl Bercy decided to listen carefully. ¡°No, Your Excellency. The nobles are certainly weak right now.¡± ¡°What would happen if we decided to reinstate those nobles now? They will try to regain the wealth that was taken from them by Brittany, and there is only one source they can squeeze money out of.¡± ¡°¡­¡­They will cruelly exploit the people.¡± The Empress Dowager nodded. ¡°Do you understand, Earl? It is good to wish for peace. However, if we cooperate with the nobles, then the people would only suffer. If that happens, then the people would start a rebellion instead.¡± ¡°Either the nobles start a rebellion or the farmers do¡­¡­. Is that the only difference?¡± Earl Bercy groaned. It was definitely a rational train of thought. Be it nobles ormoners, the past few years have been incredibly difficult. They were all at their bursting points. A rebellion was unavoidable at this point. ¡°If a rebellion is going to happen anyway, then we should at least consider Frankia¡¯s future.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will not leave our future to a bunch of pigs who do not know loyalty.¡± There was a sharp look in the eyes of this olddy who was in her sixties. A curtain of silence fell over them. Shortlyter, the Empress Dowager turned away and muttered quietly. ¡°It is my fault for letting the Empire fall this far.¡± ¡°Your Excellency?¡± ¡°I was confident when I was sent here from Sardinia to be wed. I was going to give birth to a splendid emperor and create a nation and castle envied by all¡­¡­but I ended up as a failure of a mother.¡± The Empress Dowager sounded so miserable that Earl Bercy didn¡¯t dare to open his mouth. ¡°I thought you had to be strict with your son in order to raise a wise ruler. And yet, my children all grew up to be timid. It was because I was too strict¡­¡­. Ultimately, Frankia fell into misfortune because of my poor teachings.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The imperial family can no longer support the country. The same goes for most of the nobles. I believe that my final mission is to hand this nation off to someone else and not the foolish imperial family or the faulty nobles.¡± Earl Bercy lowered his head. Why did the woman before him have to suffer this much? The Earl felt frustrated. It didn¡¯t make sense. She was an individual who should¡¯ve had a happy family andpetent vassals by her side. She was a noble enough individual to have deserved that much. It was at this moment that Earl Bercy resolved himself to start a civil war. In the past, he was angry at the Emperor and the Queen of Brittany for starting a civil war, but it was now his turn to start one. It was as Priest Jean Bole had said. Remaining as a bystander was impossible now. For the sake of Frankia and the people, he had to sacrifice himself. History will probably remember him as the person who started another war after peace had finally arrived. Nobles will resent him with tears of blood while the people will call him a tyrant. There would be no honor in this¡­¡­. Nheless, he couldn¡¯t keep his head down forever. He had a voice guiding him. ¡°Earl, will you join me in myst remaining duty?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency. I will devote my life to it.¡± * * * ¡°Haa, hggh¡­¡­haa.¡± The sound of rough breathing could asionally be heard. It was Ivar Lodbrok. Ivar and I were in the nude and rolling about in the bedroom that was prepared at the headquarters of the Keuncuska Firm. The first act had just ended. Despite being a vampire, Ivar was incredibly weak at night business. She had only climaxed about thirty times now, but her eyes had already be unfocused. A thin trail of saliva flowed down the side of her light pink lips. Was it because it had been a while since Ist did this? The sensation felt especially good today. ¡°Your¡­¡­Highness. No more, hggh. I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°What is wrong, Ivar? Are you surrendering already? Your moniker as a creature of the night will cry.¡± I said jokingly to her as I bit her earlobe. ¡°Huah!¡± Ivar¡¯s small body shuddered. She had reached a small orgasm. The wrinkles inside her folds tightened around my member. It felt like each and every wrinkle had be a sucker and weretching on to me. Kuh, I unintentionally let out a gasp. An exquisite instrument. Ivar¡¯s body had the ability to beg for more regardless of its owner¡¯s intentions. I held Ivar in my arms as I pressed my hips forward. We were seated on the bed and I was holding Ivar¡¯s body from the front. Ivar¡¯s small body moved up and down weakly every time I thrusted. ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­Your Highness, hgh, Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± Ivar shed tears as she hugged me stronger. She was acting as if she wouldn¡¯t be able to endure if she didn¡¯t hold on to something. Ivar¡¯s legs wrapped around my waist. It was rather cute. Did she know that my member would go deeper inside her the more she clung to me? I smiled mischievously. ¡°Chief Lodbrok, are you going to cum?¡± ¡°Hggh, yes¡­¡­I am¡­¡­uuugh, I-I already have, several times¡­¡­!¡± ¡°If you answer my question properly, then I will go slow. It seems that Frankia¡¯s new government has resolved themselves to fight the nobles.¡± Ivar looked at me with teary eyes. Hot and frivolous breaths kept flowing out of her mouth. ¡°Yes, hnng¡­¡­hgh!¡± ¡°Moreover, that new governmentcks money. Handling their war funds will most likely be quite the burden on them. How about it? How about lending money to Frankia through the Republic of Batavia?¡± ¡°Ah, hau¡­¡­Your Highness, wait, hgggh! Again, hgh, I already came a second ago¡­¡­!¡± I raised my speed and Ivar let out a moan. She pulled her head back, revealing her pale, white neck. ¡°Ah, ah, ah! No, huaaah! Why, are you¡­¡­!¡± ¡°We will put their empire in debt. We should be able to take advantage of this at a pivotal moment. Do you not think so as well, Lodbrok?¡± ¡°Uuh, hah, hgggh¡­¡­ah¡­¡­!¡± Ivar convulsed. Her entire body trembled as if electricity was coursing through her body. I decided to experiment by releasing her from my arms. The blonde girl fell to the ground like a doll whose strings were cut. Sheid syed out on the ground. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar looked at nothing with unfocused eyes. Even now, her body was still spasming due to the remnants of the overwhelming pleasure she had just felt. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s been a while since west had an NSFW chapter. Although it didn¡¯t reallyst long. Uh, I hope everyone¡¯s been doing all right? Work is the same as usual for me. Just a lot of repetitive UI string tranting at the moment. God, please free me. At least it¡¯s the weekend now. Chapter 309: Only Two on This Continent (5) Chapter 309: Only Two on This Continent (5) ¡°From what I investigated previously, Frankia¡¯s tax rate is usually around 10%.¡± I grabbed my pipe and lit it. A refreshing fragrance filled my mouth. ¡°The interest is somewhat high for a newly-established government to handle. They would dly take it if you offer them a loan with an interest rate of around 4%.¡± ¡°Uugh¡­¡­.¡± Ivar squirmed. She was probably trying to get up. However, she couldn¡¯t muster any strength in her arms as she copsed back to the ground. I leaned down and pulled Ivar up onto the bed. The girl¡¯s body glimmered with sweat. Vampires shared a simrity with Demon Lords and it was the fact that their body fluids didn¡¯t have any particr smell. A pleasant fragrance filled my nose when I buried my face in her chest. ¡°Ivar, your body smells nice.¡± ¡°¡­¡­4% is too little.¡± Ivar murmured like a mouse. ¡°Talks cannot form if we do not receive at least 7%.¡± ¡°Hm. You are quite good at calcting when you are unable to control your body properly at the moment. Fine. How could anyone match you in terms of doing business? Do what you want.¡± Ivar nodded slightly. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness is rather frugal.¡± ¡°Hm, frugal? I am?¡± I was a bit bewildered because a word that didn¡¯t fit me had suddenly appeared. Ivar Lodbrok was the richest person in the entire demon world. Did I seem like a thrifty person to a wealthy person like her? ¡°Humble as I am, I believe that I have been spending quite a considerable amount of money.¡± ¡°This matter is separate from simply spending a lot of money. Your Highness has invested in your Demon Lord Castle, yournd, bribes, and military funding. On the other hand, you do not care about things like clothes or essories.¡± Ivar seemed to be talking about how I didn¡¯t indulge in an extravagant life. I chuckled as I showed her my pipe. ¡°You might be unaware, but the herb that I am currently smoking is actually quite expensive. Imissioned an alchemist to have these herbs personally made. It may be difficult to see, but Demon Lord Dantalian is someone who indulges in luxuries more than anyone else.¡± ¡°My apologies, but that is the key point. People are unable to see it.¡± Ivar fiddled with the pinky of my left hand. My left hand didn¡¯t have an index finger or a middle finger. Ivar enjoyed touching my defective left hand. There might be an infantile desire reflected behind her subconscious action. ¡°Extravagance is meaningful when others can see it. Your Highness may spend an extravagant amount on drugs¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Tobo.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Tobo and alcohol, but you are a miser when ites to products that actually catch the eyes of others. Even now, your clothes are a good example.¡± Ivar held up the clothes that had been scattered on the bed. ¡°Your pants match the same ck color as your top. They are also frayed here and there because you have worn them for several years now¡­¡­. Only people who absolutely do not care about their attire would wear rags like these.¡± ¡°R-Rags?¡± ¡°Your Highness is scrawny and has narrow shoulders, so you look incredibly unsightly if you do not wear the proper clothes.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Why do all the women in my life nag about my style? Even Sitri. This is so sad. ¡°This severely harms Your Highness¡¯ dignity.¡± Ivar Lodbrok murmured with her hawk-like merchant eyes. ¡°Seriously, if Lapis Lazuli partially went under Your Highness as your vassal, then why did she not concern herself with something like this? This is no different from staining our firm¡¯s name.¡± She looked up at me carefully. ¡°Uhm¡­¡­so I wish to respectfully ask Your Highness. The war has ended and the banquets are mostly over as well, so.¡± Ivar fidgeted. ¡°If Your Highness has some spare time, then¡­¡­this is only if Your Highness does not think it is a bother. So.¡± ¡°Hm? I do not know what you are trying to say, but you are beating around the bush quite a lot.¡± I took a deep puff from my pipe. ¡°Hoo. You know our rtionship. I would more than dly ept a request from you. You also epted my request rted to Frankia, so go ahead. Ask away.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± In trade, if something is received, then something must be given in return. I was being serious. Once I said this, Ivar took a deep breath. Her face was slightly red for some reason. She appeared to resolve herself as she stared straight at me before speaking. ¡°W-Would it be okay if this humble one¡­¡­picked out an outfit that suits Your Highness!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± What? ¡°Well, I mean, I believe Your Highness will keep building a close rtionship with ourpany, so should I call this our duty as a firm to support Your Highness in a variety of ways? This is like the most basic form of support.¡± I forgot to take a puff from my pipe as I stared at Ivar nkly. Ivar noticed my gaze and got more flustered. Her skin was already pale, so her red cheeks became even more prominent. ¡°This is naturally this humble one¡¯s duty and I absolutely do not have any other motives, so, in other words, if Your Highness happens to be shopping or has a free day, then I figured we should take advantage of those times to deal with this issue before it is set aside¡­¡­.¡± ¡°C-Cute.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me? I did not catch what Your Highness had said.¡± I couldn¡¯t hold myself back as I pulled Ivar into a hug. ¡°How can someone be this pure!?¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! This! This is what I wanted!¡± Pureness! This overwhelming purity that makes the person shy when even asking for a single date! That bitch Barbatos hums happily whenever she asks me out on a date, but suddenly takes me to some brothel meant for lesbians, Laura is so jaded that she¡¯s indifferent about everything, Paimon constantly has that mature smile on her face and does thatid-back fufufuugh, and Gamigin regrly gives off abative vibe as if she¡¯speting to be the main wife. Sitri is the only one who gets embarrassed, but it¡¯s a bit strange. She would get embarrassed, but end up taking me to an SM club. Her shyness is that of a high school girl, but her interests could p the face of a lecherous old man. It was absurd. Now look at Ivar Lodbrok. Her goal for the date is to simply buy her partner some clothes! ¡°So wholesome. So pure¡­¡­.¡± I was so moved by this being that was as soft as a bubble of soap that I shed tears. ¡°Your Highness, why are you shedding your reverent tears? This humble one is confused.¡± ¡°Ivar Lodbrok, you are truly beautiful like a gem.¡± ¡°E-Excuse me?¡± Ivar became red up to her ears. ¡°The age of darkness is upon us. The earth that was once filled with light is filled with only wicked schemes and hypocrisies. As a wandering minstrel searching for purity, I, Dantalian, cannot help but bemoan this era.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It felt like Ivar gave me a look that said, ¡®Isn¡¯t that all your fault?¡¯, but I ignored it. ¡°After finally discovering the treasure that I have constantly been seeking, my skull feels as if it is about to ascend. Clothes? Of course, I will buy however much you want. Evening dresses? Party dresses? No, even rings and nes are all fine. Pick whatever you want.¡± ¡°Y-Your Highness, not me, but Your Highness¡¯¡­¡­.¡± Ivar murmured something, but I ignored it again. I made a gant deration. ¡°Niflheim will be leased to you today!¡± It was difficult to open my wallet. I¡¯m shrewd, after all. However, once it was open, a chaos warp would break open. I grabbed Ivar¡¯s wrist and pointed with my other hand like Amundsen when he dered that he would conquer the Antarctic. ¡°Now then. Let us depart, Ivar Lodbrok! The demon world¡¯s night sky is waiting for us!¡± ¡°P-Please wait. Your Highness, we should at least get dressed¡­¡­.¡± We ran out of the building. We were both still in our sleepwear, but it didn¡¯t matter. To be more exact, Ivar begged to be allowed the time to at least put on her clothes properly, but her words flew in one ear and out the other. I called for the most expensive carriage service in the city. ¡°To a famous clothing store.¡± I announced our destination as soon as we boarded the carriage. The elven coachman gave a courteous bow. ¡°To which famous clothing store does Your Highness wish to visit?¡± ¡°Of course, the most expensive one.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± The carriage didn¡¯t shake even slightly as it slid through the streets of Niflheim. We first visited a fashion designer¡¯s store. ¡°Dear me, this is my first time receiving such a beautiful guest. Is she Your Highness¡¯ secret lover?¡± ¡°Huh? I-I am¡­¡­.¡± Ivar stammered in response to the designer¡¯s question. I ced my hands on her shoulders. ¡°That is right. This is my new lover. Do show her your sincerity.¡± ¡°Kya! As expected of Your Highness! You really are a model bad boy!¡± There was no demon who didn¡¯t recognize my face after I became famous. The subus designer made a fuss as she brought over example designs that suited Ivar. ¡°Miss, this outfit was made using material of the highest quality. What do you think? The fact that it reflects recent trends while also maintaining a ssic grandeur is its charm point.¡± ¡°I-I see.¡± ¡°Is it too modest? Don¡¯t worry. If you turn around, then, oh my! The back is fully revealed, which gives it a rather strong sex appeal. This is perfect for women like you who are young but also give off a mature vibe. Do you like it?¡± ¡°Mm. Looks good.¡± While Ivar was speechless before the shop owner¡¯s relentless exnation, I gave a calm and collected response. ¡°I¡¯ll buy it.¡± ¡°Your Highness is so cool!¡± The shop owner¡¯s eyes sparkled like gold. ¡°Then how about this dress meant for outings? Or maybe this banquet dress? Oh, you can¡¯t miss this dress that was made specifically for sleeping in!¡± ¡°Hoo.¡± I blew out a thick cloud of smoke. I then pointed at a disy case. ¡°Everything from here to there.¡± ¡°Kyaaah!¡± Putting the shop owner who had fainted after being given a deal of a lifetime behind us, we went to our next destination. The goblin owner of a ne store came out to greet us at the entrance. ¡°I have heard of Your Highness¡¯ great deeds. It is an honor to receive Your Highness here today as a customer.¡± ¡°Bring me any ne that fits this youngdy.¡± ¡°Oho?¡± The goblin pushed up his monocle. His eyes looked like that of a professional. ¡°Her skin is white and has a slender nape. Her corbone is also unimaginably marvelous. Any ne would be delighted to be worn by such an individual. Your Highness, what kind of gem do you prefer?¡± ¡°It seems you misunderstood my request.¡± I shook my head. ¡°I asked you to bring any ne as long as it suits this youngdy.¡± ¡°A-Any ne, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Yes. Any ne.¡± The goblin gulped. The eyes of a professional had disappeared and were reced by a rainbow-tinted glow filled with a merchant¡¯s greed. ¡°My humblest of apologies. This humble one failed to fullyprehend the grandness of Your Highness¡¯ words. I will prepare them immediately.¡± The goblin ran off with his assistant before returning shortly after. ¡°Here they are. These nes were created using the highest quality gemstones from Utp. They are all masterpieces that took renowned craftsmen several years to create. Now then, Miss, please try this one on first.¡± There were about ten nes and Ivar tried them all on. ¡°What do you like most, mademoiselle?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡­like one in particr.¡± Ivar¡¯s brain had yet to catch up. Niflheim was like Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s frontwn, but this was her first time going around with her true body. She probably never imagined she would be visiting a female clothing or essory store. It¡¯s a partner¡¯s duty to make a decision if their lover is unable to. I removed my pipe from my lips and spoke. ¡°We will take everything here.¡± On this day, a total of nine shop owners passed out. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Ugh, I lost track of time again. The fact that I uploaded thest chapter past midnight made it confusing for me to figure out how many days had passed. Sorry about that. Hopefully, it doesn¡¯t happen again. In any case, work is tedious. They need to hire at least 1 more English trantor. The amount of work we get tossed around is way too random and packed. Like one person might end up getting a shit ton of work within a short time while another person gets only one or two jobs every now and then. They need to bnce it out and hire another person to take on most of the small misc tasks that are short. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 310: Only Two on This Continent (6) Chapter 310: Only Two on This Continent (6) The evening sky had arrived over Niflheim. ¡°T-This is enough! Your Highness, this is more than enough!¡± Ivar shouted with a face dyed the same color as the setting sun. There was a world of difference in her appearancepared to when we had initially left the firm earlier. It was quite literally a difference from head to toe. ¡°But we still have your important shoes left.¡± ¡°Earlier you said there were still the important bracelets left and before that you said there were still the important earrings left. This humble one will no longer be deceived!¡± Ivar turned her head sharply and red at me. Adorable¡ª. I want to buy her things. I want to buy her a whole bunch of things¡ª. There has never been a woman who could open my wallet this easily. The descent of a Goddess. This wasn¡¯t enough to fully describe her existence. This was the power of an official heroine from ¡­¡­. I thought I had be, Dantalian, an unredeemable man who was tormented by constant hardship, but it almost felt like Ivar¡¯s presence at my side was enough to heal me. Although being healed was impossible. ¡°In the first ce, I am wealthier than Your Highness.¡± Ivar stuck her lips out. ¡°I have all sorts of rare gems in my personal vault. I even have an essory made by a master dragonkin craftsman. Your Highness is greatly mistaken if you think that you could curry favor from me with materialistic goods.¡± ¡°Hm? It seems you are misunderstanding something.¡± I shook my hand. ¡°My gifts are not for the wealthiest person in the demon world or the chief of Keuncuska. I bought these gifts for a girl by the name of Ivar Lodbrok.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± Ivar blinked several times. It seems she failed to realize my intentions. I held a faint smile on my lips. ¡°For thousands of years, youid slumbering under eternal snow. Until you met me. The wealth you umted and the extravagance you indulged in do not matter. None of those things were for yourself. You were investing in the ¡®image you have in front of others¡¯.¡± In order to act as the chief of Keuncuska. Until now, the small vampire girl known as Ivar Lodbrok had been dashing forward continuously in order to seed more than others and not be ignored. I nced at Niflheim. The city was slowly submerging under the amber glow of the setting sun. ¡°Earlier today, you said to me that extravagance is meaningful when others can see it. Then what about you? No matter how much people look at you, all they see is a fake doll.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What meaning is there when no one can perceive your true form?¡± Niflheim is a city that contains a girl named Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s wish. A ce that only seeks the interest of merchants. Even Demon Lords are unable to spread their influence here. From goblins to elves, hundreds of different races gathered here regardless of their race or ss. But what is this paradox? The girl is unable to be here in this ce that has fulfilled the girl¡¯s most desperate wish while in her true form. While everyone else was living ording to their own beliefs outside the control of Demon Lords, Ivar Lodbrok was the only one excluded from this. She continued to perform endlessly in the guise of a doll. ¡°Ivar. Baal is dead. Agares has also fallen.¡± A gentle tone came out on its own. ¡°The individuals who could control the demon world with their strength alone are gone now. From now on, political justifications will most likely be important when Demon Lords want to deal with someone. The justification will be determined ording to how well they wish to appear to demon society. This should drastically decrease the instances of demons being controlled for no reason.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You do not have to live like a doll now.¡± I stroked the girl¡¯s blonde hair. ¡°Have you not realized yet? Today was the first time you spent as yourself.¡± ¡°A day spent as myself¡­¡­.¡± She muttered nkly. ¡°This must be the first time in three thousand years. Is this not a joyous asion?¡± I remarked with a smile. ¡°How was it, Ivar? How did it feel to look at your city with your own two eyes?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar closed her mouth tightly. ¡°Ah. Of course, there is something I must apologize for as well. I was originally nning to deal with Vassago as well, but his life principles were so marvelous that I could not bare to kill him. I instead got three of his spirit kings killed, so he should be unable to do much for the next several hundred years.¡± I scratched the back of my head. ¡°This is shameless of me, but could you forgive me with this?¡± Ivar lowered her head. A moment of silence went by before she murmured. ¡°You really are mean¡­¡­. How could you say this in a moment like this and after a day like that? I have no other choice but to forgive you¡­¡­.¡± The girl¡¯s shoulders were trembling slightly. ¡°Demon Lords are all liars¡­¡­ so I believed it would be the same this time¡­¡­ And yet, Baal and Agares are actually gone. My mind is in turmoil because you kept your promise, so if you say that to me¡­¡­in that way, then¡­¡­.¡± Sobs gradually filled her voice. She was someone whose life was cultivated solely through her hatred toward Demon Lords. ¡°If I no longer have to hold hatred for Demon Lords, then¡­¡­ what am I supposed to do now¡­¡­?¡± ¡°That is a problem you must think about from now on.¡± I answered quietly. ¡°As this is not something that someone else can think about in your stead, you cannot avoid it either. In other words, this is a problem unique to you. It is a problem that is given to everyone at least once in their life and must be handled with care.¡± However, I added at the end. ¡°These kinds of problems must always start with you looking back at yourself. If you continue to wear a doll mask, then you can only answer as a doll. You are a girl. You must not forget this absolutely simple and pure fact.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I already threw away my desire to live as a girl a long time ago.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± I raised Ivar¡¯s chin. She didn¡¯t resist at all. What entered my view was a girl¡¯s face drenched in tears. ¡°But you should have obtained a reason to pick up what you had once tossed away.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Y-Your Highness is also a liar!¡± Ivar shouted. Her voice was a mess as she had spoken in between sobs. Her words trembled as they were buried under the tears. ¡°Tricking me with sweet words¡­¡­ I¡¯m nothing more than a one-night stand, and even now¡­¡­ it¡¯s not like Your Highness l-loves me!¡± ¡°Mm.¡± ¡°I know everything! Who do you think receives Lapis Lazuli¡¯s reports? A trade must always be fair¡­¡­. Even if I were to devote my life to Your Highness, Your Highness wouldn¡¯t do the same, so¡­¡­!¡± When faced with a situation like this, men react in different ways. A genuinely kind man would affirm the other person¡¯s words. I cannot love you. Please forgive me. This may injure the person deeply for the time being, but in the long term, this was better. A rather evil man would cleverly deny the other person¡¯s words. No, I do love you. How could I not love a woman as beautiful as you? By some uncontroble force of nature, I opened my eyes to true love. I want to treat you as someone precious to me¡­¡­. And a really evil man would¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Kiss the girl. I gently held Ivar¡¯s head with my right hand and raised her chin with my left. I then lowered my head and gave her a surprise kiss as I stared into her purple eyes. Her eyes widened. They almost looked like wet pieces of amethyst. At first, Ivar tried to push me away, but the strength in her arms gradually faded away before she eventually closed her eyes. Her tears created a thin trail as they slid down her face. Niflheim¡¯s evening sun quietly lit up our bodies. A sudden noise rang out to shatter the silence. ¡¸Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection has risen by 9.¡¹ ¡¸Ivar Lodbrok¡¯s affection has reached 100.¡¹ ¡¸Noble and pure love! The other party considers youpletely as their lover. A new title has been bestowed upon them for this outstanding love.¡¹ I smiled in my head. ¡ªI won¡¯t lose you. Not only was Ivar Lodbrok the richest person in the demon world, but she also led a massive merchant firm. Moreover, she possessed considerable power on her own and the Ivar from the game would remain loyal to the person she had feelings for no matter what. Wealth, authority, strength, and loyalty. Only an idiot would let go of someone like that. I pulled Ivar closer to me. Once I did, I¡¯m not sure if she was conscious of it, but she wrapped her slender arms around my back. I could clearly feel her fingers against my back. The evening sun fell over the city. * * * I finally returned to my Demon Lord Castle after my business at Niflheim was over. I deliberately used a teleportation scroll in the middle of the night. At the very least, I didn¡¯t want to meet anyone tonight. Fortunately, my bedroom waspletely quiet. I let out a sigh of relief as Iid on my bed. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I¡¯m certain that I¡¯m feeling jealous of Ivar Lodbrok. Ivar only has a bright future left ahead of her now. It was fine for her to no longer wear her acting mask. She will probably be able to look at the world in the body of a girl, as her true self. Even if a tragedy befalls her, that tragedy would belong to her alone. I couldn¡¯t say the same for myself. I¡¯ve already reached a point where I can no longer remove my mask. The period of time when I could say that I had to put on a mask for the sake of survival had long passed. Ivar and I will most likely walk in different directions from now on. She will walk down a path to her true self while I will continue down a path of lies and treachery¡­¡­. The emotion I felt toward Ivar was close to that of jealousy and admiration. There was someone before me who was walking down their own path. This fact didn¡¯t make me angry or anything. It simply made me feel a little depressed¡­¡­. ¨C Knock, knock. Someone had knocked on the door. I furrowed my brows. Did someone notice my arrival? How? ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± It was Lapis¡¯ voice. I let out an exhausted sigh. ¡°Yes. You may enter.¡± ¡°Pardon my intrusion.¡± Lapis was given a tool that would notify her whenever a spell was cast inside the castle. I had gifted it to her since she was the person who was in charge of the Demon Lord Castle during my absence. But this is unexpected. I had deliberately returned in secret. There¡¯s no way the clever Lapis wouldn¡¯t realize this. Leave me alone for the time being, that¡¯s the message I was trying to give off. Why would Lapis go out of her way toe here¡­¡­? ¡°I believe you would want some alcohol.¡± Lapis was in her usual formal attire and holding a tray. ¡°Would Your Highness care for a bottle of Year 230 Valha Wine?¡± ¡°His Highness Dantalian is greatly pleased!¡± As expected of Lapis. I drank the wine straight from the bottle. Once I did, Lapis pulled out a small bundle as if she had prepared it beforehand. ¡°These tobo leaves were recently developed by Chief Jeremi. I rmend testing these leaves as a way to relieve stress.¡± ¡°Mm. His Highness Dantalian is delighted.¡± I immediately crushed the leaves in my pipe and lit it. It was amazing. Before long, this meeting that abruptly started with Lapis giving me bribes led to me singing the blues. My head was filled with drugs and I had also be a drunkard with wine. It was only natural that my words woulde pouring out like a mess, but Lapis still nodded and listened with her usually impassive look. ¡°So I burned it all down! Haha!¡± My retelling had reached its climax. I burst out intoughter when I talked about the part where I ughtered a bunch of people around Parisiorum. Lapis remained calm here as well. After listening to my retelling all the way to the end, she tossed out a remark. ¡°I see that Sir Dantalian deliberately resorted to immtion.¡± ¡°Indeed. Because that was the most efficient method! I am truly amazing!¡± ¡°I am not referring to its efficiency.¡± Lapis shook her head for the first time since I had started talking. ¡°Immtions are naturally eye-catching. However, despite its cruel outer appearance, its substance is actually surprisingly weak. This is because, out of all the methods that can be used to kill humans, immtion is one of the most time-consuming.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Eh?¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian had deliberately chosen an ¡®inefficient¡¯ method of ughter.¡± Lapis spoke emotionlessly. ¡°Although it nts an extreme amount of fear into the hearts of people, you also kill the least number of people. I understand. That is¡ª.¡± As if she were saying something obvious. ¡°Something that incredibly befits you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I closed my mouth. Lapis refilled my ss that had be empty. I silently drank the alcohol. Lapis poured another ss. ¡°¡­¡­Lapis.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir Dantalian.¡± ¡°I hate those words.¡± Lapis nodded. ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Then why did you say them?¡± ¡°Let us say that this is a privilege for those who have to listen to drunken ramblings.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I let out a sigh and drank my wine. No words were exchanged between us for a while after that. That¡¯s right. These kinds of people exist in the world. *** ¡°By the way.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Arge number of bills arrived from Niflheim. They were not at the level of a few thousand libras. As Sir Dantalian¡¯s chancellor and finance minister, I have no idea where these could havee from.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Huh? Oh, those. Well.¡± ¡°I did my utmost to keep your financial situation sound while Your Highness was out during the war, but it seems none of that mattered. Please tell me how I am supposed to deal with this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°How surprising. Does Sir Dantalian think that I said all this to hear an apology? Do you think that I value your apology more than finding out where the money was spent when I am both the chancellor and the finance minister?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am simply asking Sir Dantalian a question. Allow me to ask you again. What are all these bills for?¡± ¡°I am truly sorry¡­¡­.¡± I¡¯ll just say that Lapis¡¯ nagging goes on an average of five hours. All I did was spend my money¡­¡­. The world is surprisingly unfair. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m somehow still pumping out chapters. I¡¯ve said it before, but casual chapters like this one are nice to trante. Uh, I don¡¯t have too much to say. I¡¯m actually feeling pretty shitty right now. Got a sore throat and I¡¯m feeling a bit feverish. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s Covid, but I¡¯m not sure. I started to feel like this after the temperature suddenly dropped, so it might just be a normal cold. I guess only time will tell. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 311: Girl’s Time of Ordeal (1) Chapter 311: Girl¡¯s Time of Ordeal (1) ¡°Hello. My name is Ivar and I will be residing here in His Highness¡¯ abode from now on.¡± A blonde vampire bowed her head. ¡°My role is to represent Niflheim¡¯s parliament and act as an intermediate between His Highness Dantalian and the parliament. I intend to serve His Highness while being proud of my duty. I would appreciate it if everyonefortably referred to me as Ivar.¡± p p p. The sound of formal pping resounded. The 10th-floor basement of the Demon Lord Castle. It had been a long time since people gathered on this floor which could only be essed by executives. Chancellor Lapis, Military Affairs Minister Laura, Civil Militia Captain Jeremi, and Head Maid Daisy. They were giving the new guest a somewhat guarded look. I have to step forward in times like this. ¡°Now then, as she said in her introduction, Ivar is my point of contact with the demon world.¡± I ced my hand on Ivar¡¯s small shoulder. ¡°Due to reasons, I cannot disclose her family name. Although I will say that she is the heir of a rather powerful vampire lineage. Do not worry. I can guarantee her loyalty. Wee her as a member of our familia.¡± p p p! The apuse was slightly louder than before. That¡¯s right. Ivar Lodbrok had moved to my Demon Lord Castle. Even I didn¡¯t expect this. It seems that Ivar had made some big decision after I forced a kiss on her. Her purple eyes were burning with an unknown resolve. ¡®I am able to live a second life solely because of Your Highness. So it would only be right for Your Highness to take r-responsibility for me.¡¯ ¡®Sure.¡¯ I spread my arms out and weed her. A treasure chest was walking to me on its own two feet. Ivar didn¡¯t go by some other alias. Ivar itself was already a rathermon name. Surely no one would be insane enough to connect a blonde girl with the old fox of the Keuncuska Firm. Lapis raised her right hand. ¡°Your Highness, what position will Miss Ivar have here among us?¡± ¡°Hmm. Position, huh?¡± I scratched my cheek. Determining the hierarchy within an organization is always an important procedure. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Regardless of how amazing Ivar¡¯s family is in the demon world, this was Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. Normally, it would only be right to ce her under Daisy, the head maid, as an assistant. But. ¡®It¡¯s a bit iffy.¡¯ Lapis obviously has a high position here. However, she¡¯s also an employee of Keuncuska. Therefore, that would put Ivar in the lowest position here, but on the outside, she would be Lapis¡¯ superior. Her boss, even. This would really twist the pecking order¡­¡­. While I was mulling over this, Ivar suddenly stepped forward by herself. ¡°Chancellor Lazuli, correct? Please treat me as a maid with the lowest standing.¡± ¡°Very well, then.¡± I turned to look at Ivar in surprise. Ivar was smiling confidently. Was it really fine for her to be ced in a position far lower than her actual subordinate? ¨C Your Highness said so yourself, did you not? I am not Ivar, the Chief of Keuncuska. I am simply a girl whose name happens to be Ivar. Ivar secretly transmitted those words to me telepathically. She was also gifted in magic. ¨C If a neer like myself were to suddenly mess up the pecking order, then I would end up being isted. I do not wish to receive the ire and jealousy of the people whom I will now be working with. Please allow me to do this. Well, if this is what the person in question wants¡­¡­. Ivar took another step forward as I nodded awkwardly. ¡°I do not wish to have my family¡¯s authority riding on my back. I intend to serve His Highness Dantalian as a loyal vassal. I shall work with the mindset of learning from others.¡± ¡°That is the correct mindset to have.¡± Lapis must¡¯ve been satisfied by that response as she gave a short nod. ¡°Head Maid Daisy.¡± ¡°Yes, Chancellor.¡± ¡°I will leave Miss Ivar¡¯s education to you. Deliver a report every three days at 1:15. Not only will this be your first time teaching someone, but this will also be an opportunity for the both of you to evaluate each other.¡± Daisy raised the ends of her skirt perfectly as she bowed. ¡°As youmand.¡± Thus, another member was added to our familia. That was how I perceived this event. * * * Ivar had noints about starting from the bottom again. If anything, she was used to it. There was a time when Ivar Lodbrok had to dive into the bloody merchant battle within demon society after having lost her family and nsmen. Her ability was by no means normal as she had managed to build a massive merchant firm from that pit of hell. ¡®It only took a thousand years to dominate the demon world with money.¡¯ Ivar smiled slyly in her mind. It was a smile that befitted her nickname as the coiled-up fox of Niflheim. ¡®His Highness Dantalian may be domineering, but his growth happened drastically within a short period of time. His Highness is probably the only one who¡¯s impressive.¡¯ Ivar changed into the maid uniform that was made specifically for Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Castle. The ck and white outfit¡¯s skirt was strangely short. ¡®In other words, this is an animal with the head of a tiger and the body of a dog. Impressive on the outside, but fragile on the inside. Five years. I swear on my name as Ivar Lodbrok that I will have conquered this ce within five years.¡¯ She wasn¡¯t satisfied with the executives she saw earlier either. Was her name Laura? The girl who was supposed to be the Military Affairs Minister had been yawning openly in the meeting room. She didn¡¯t disy even a speck of formality or etiquette. She might be a genius on the battlefield, but this was a political scene. She wasn¡¯t going to stand a chance against Ivar. Civil Militia Captain Jeremi would constantly throw dirty jokes at His Highness. I guess you could say that she lightened the mood. People like her were indispensable in any organization, but her demeanor and way of speech were so casual that she didn¡¯t have any dignity. ¡®Furthermore, the girl in charge of my education is barely 14 years old.¡¯ Ivar was certain. ¡®This is going to be easy.¡¯ The child couldn¡¯t possiblypare to the amount of life experience Ivar has. Ivar thought of about thirty-six ways to put Daisy under her thumb as she left the dressing room. ¡°Have you finished getting dressed, Miss Ivar?¡± Daisy had been waiting outside the dressing room with her hands held over her stomach. She looked elegant like a bouquet of red spider lilies. ¡°Yes, Teacher.¡± Ivar thought to herself as she responded. She had to admit that Daisy was indeed beautiful. It was understandable why His Highness Dantalian would take this girl under his wing. She was probably also a concubine and not only a maid¡­¡­. But she was still a young child. There was no way Ivar could lose. ¡°Very well, then. Today is your first day, so I intend to see what you are capable of first. Do you perhaps have any questions?¡± ¡°Ah, I do. Why are the skirts on all the servant outfits so short? It feels somewhat strange to me.¡± Daisy raised the corners of her lips. ¡°Do you want a hypocritical but gentle answer? Or do you want a truthful but cruel answer?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me?¡± It was such an unexpected question that Ivar waste to respond. Daisy spoke with a smile still on her lips. ¡°I never permitted you to ask questions. Miss Ivar, answering a question with a question is prohibited. Please keep this in mind. I will not overlook your second mistake.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes. I understand.¡± Ivar was dealt a blow. It seems the girl in front of her wasn¡¯t a normal 14-year-old. It was clear that she was trying to crush the new recruit¡¯s vigor from the get-go. By deliberately showing a demeanor that could fluster the other party, the child intended to use that as a foothold to pressure Ivar¡­¡­. ¡®I see. There¡¯s a good reason why His Highness took her in as his adopted daughter.¡¯ Ivar had lowered her guard way too much. This was a mistake that she fully acknowledged. However, Ivar was confident that she wasn¡¯t someone who would make the same mistake twice. That was herst slip up. ¡°Then, Teacher, I would like to choose the truthful but cruel answer.¡± ¡°May I ask why you made that choice, Miss Ivar?¡± ¡°Yes. I yearn to serve His Highness Dantalian to the fullest. If it is rted to His Highness, I wish to only know the truth.¡± Ivar maintained eye contact as she answered firmly. Daisy¡¯s smile became wider for some reason. ¡°Only the truth about Father, is it? I would be grateful if you could find something like that. To answer your question, it is because of me. I am the reason why the skirts are short here.¡± ¡°Because of you?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Daisy gave a small nod. She then opened her mouth. ¡°A transparent slime was inserted in my lower abdomen under my Father¡¯s order. If I lower my guard and my skirt gets pulled up, the slime will be clear for all to see. Father deliberately made the maid uniform¡¯s skirt short because he takes joy in watching my anxiety. Does this exnation answer your question?¡± ¡­¡­. There was a very long pause. The thirty-six methods that Ivar had thought of earlier to put the other party under her thumb had vanishedpletely from her now nk mind. Despite her utterly empty head, she barely managed to utter one thing. ¡°¡­¡­What?¡± It was at that moment. p! A clear sound resonated throughout the halls of the Demon Lord Castle. Daisy had pped Ivar¡¯s right cheek. ¡°Two back-to-back mistakes.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I clearly warned you not to answer a question with a question.¡± Daisy¡¯s expression hadn¡¯t changed at all as she still had the same smile on her lips. It was almost like she didn¡¯t p someone just now. ¡°Of course, I respect Miss Ivar¡¯s free will. Giving you a warning does not mean that I am also suppressing Miss Ivar¡¯s free will. Looking at this from another perspective, no matter how firm your free will is, Miss Ivar cannot block my punishment.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Miss Ivar. I exined to you why the official skirts on our maid uniforms are short. Do you perhaps have any more questions before we begin work?¡± Ivar answered instinctively. ¡°N-No. I do not.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Let us begin today¡¯s tasks.¡± Daisy briskly turned around and walked down the hall. As Ivar Lodbrok watched her back, she came to an intuitive conclusion. ¡ªShe¡¯s a crazy bitch. She wasn¡¯t simply crazy. That girl was smiling from start to finish. Even when she was telling that degenerate lie about a slime or whatever, or when she performed a p without any hesitation, the smile on her face never disappeared! Ivar knew from her long life experience that people who smile constantly could be split into two categories: people who are innately gentle and people who are innately crazy. She knew that they were always one or the other, and that girl was thetter, no questions asked. ¡®Damn it. Who could have expected that the girl assigned to be my teacher would be crazy.¡¯ Ivarmented at her misfortune. She might have to change her five-year n to six years. After walking down the hall for a while, Daisy came to a stop. ¡°Our first task is to clean all ten basement floors. I will be evaluating Miss Ivar¡¯s housework skills first.¡± ¡°Yes, Teacher.¡± Fortunately, Ivar was skilled at various forms of housework. Brooming, mopping,undry, carpet washing, etc, Ivar carried out her orders earnestly. Of course, there was also the fact that she worked harder than usual because of the concern that the crazy girl might try to p her again. Flick. Daisy slid her finger over a corner of the hallway. After confirming that there was no dust, Daisy nodded. ¡°Excellent. I believe I can deliver a good report to Her Excellency the Chancellor.¡± ¡°Thank you very much.¡± Ivar held back her swears. This crazy brat¡¯s interpretation of cleaning was cleaning every nook and cranny of a hallway until there wasn¡¯t even a single speck of dust left. ¡°Then let us have a meal before proceeding to the second task.¡± ¡°What is the second task?¡± Daisy answered nonchntly. ¡°Torture.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar almost let out another ¡®What?¡¯, but she desperately held back the word that was about to crawl out of her mouth. She seriously didn¡¯t want to get hit by a young child. ¡°One of our important duties as maids is to torture the adventurers who invade the Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°On a side note, this is Father¡¯s way of trying to make me find pleasure in torture. You have discovered another truth about Father. Congrattions. I do hope that this pleases you.¡± It was around this point that Ivar Lodbrok started toe to a realization. Maybe she should have never set foot in this ce. *** Author¡¯s Afterword you_can_enter_freely_but_leaving_is_a_whole_different_matter.avi TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, yeah, Covid sucks. I had most of this chapter done before I got sick, so I decided to get it out. I unno how I feel right now. It¡¯s been about a week since I started showing Covid symptoms. My cough disappeared after 3 days, but after another day, it came back. I still have the coughs. I want to just get better and go back to work. I¡¯ve barely worked for a month now and I feel like I¡¯m leaving a bad impression. A coworker already got fired the other day, so now I¡¯m feeling anxious. Ugh. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter and hopefully when I¡¯m better. Chapter 312: Girl’s Time of Ordeal (2) Chapter 312: Girl¡¯s Time of Ordeal (2) Lunch went by without any issues. The maids headed to the underground prison. There were ten prisoners locked up in this prison. They were all looking down with haggard expressions, but they all screamed simultaneously as soon as Daisy entered the prison. ¡°Uaaaagh! It¡¯s the crazy servant! The crazy servant is back!¡± ¡°Oh, Goddess! Please let me survive another day¡­¡­.¡± The prisoners ran back to the furthest corners of their cells as they trembled in fear. It seems this 14-year-old girl looked like the Grim Reaper to them. Despite the sudden chaos, Daisy gave a calm exnation. ¡°Father is normally tolerant of adventurers. However, he is cruel towards soldiers pretending to be adventurers. They are all a part of a unit from the Habsburg Republic.¡± ¡°Haa. I see.¡± Ivar raised the basket of food that was in her arms. ¡°But, Teacher, this is only enough for three people.¡± ¡°That is fine. We brought the right amount.¡± Daisy smiled like an angel. ¡°We n to decrease their number to three soon anyway.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Miss Ivar, you can learn by watching me work from behind today.¡± Ivar had already picked a skewer off of a shelf. There was congealed blood attached to the tip of the skewer. Ivar was certain that this person, who was supposed to be her teacher, had deliberately brought her here after eating lunch. ¡®She¡¯s trying to make me vomit by showing me a brutal sight.¡¯ Ivar scoffed at how obvious and childish this ploy was. There was no race as used to blood and torture as vampires. This 14-year-old child was incredibly clever and sly for her age, but the wall between races was probably uncrossable for her. ¡°I will begin now.¡± Daisy chose one of the cells and opened the door. And then. ¡°Guaaaaagh!¡± ¡°S-Spare me! I¡¯ll do anything you want!¡± ¡°I am telling the truth¡­¡­ I do not know what orders were given from above¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Mommy¡­¡­ hggh, mommy¡­¡­.¡± Two hourster. The dark floor of the prison was drenched in blood and guts. Daisy stopped torturing the very instant seven prisoners were killed. Ivar was frozen in ce like a statue after having watched everything from start to finish. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper. ¡°It is rather interesting. If you hammer a nail in a human¡¯s head, then they will start convulsing like a fish.¡± Daisy wiped the blood off of her cheek. She didn¡¯t look particrly tired after having tortured people for two hours straight. ¡°They continue to move even after death. You also learn that internal organs all have their own unique colors if you observe them carefully. These are the wonders of the body.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That really is interesting.¡± ¡°Yes. Miss Ivar, please give the remaining three prisoners their meals now.¡± Daisy smiled brightly while holding the blood-soaked torture devices in her hands. ¡°See? We brought the exact amount.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar didn¡¯t have dinnerter that day. However, that first day was on the good side. This devilish child left the torture to Ivar on the second day. She handed the instruments of torture to Ivar saying that she must¡¯ve learned enough from watching the other day. Ivar answered saying that she wasn¡¯t particrly confident, but Daisy reassured her. ¡°It is fine if you do not do well. No, it is better if you do not.¡± ¡°May I ask why, Teacher?¡± ¡°Because this is torture. Try taking this casually as a way to practice.¡± That response came out without any hesitation whatsoever. Ivar made a sour face. ¡°Practice, is it?¡± ¡°Yes. Practice. It does not matter if you end up killing them.¡± The prisoner struggled desperately as he overheard the conversation between the two maids in front of him. ¡°Mmf!? Mm! Mmmfb! Mm!¡± Ivar pitied the sinless human. Well, they probably weren¡¯t entirely sinless. Nheless, how bad could his crimes have been to get caught by a child like this? Unfortunately, Ivar couldn¡¯t back down now. Her pride as a vampire would cry if she let herself get overwhelmed by a human child. Ivar did her best to cut open the prisoner¡¯s stomach and slice their guts. ¡°Make argeceration in the lungs. It is fine. We have more than enough potions. Mm. That was good, but it was notrge enough. Let me show you.¡± ¡°Mmb, mmmmmbf!?¡± ¡°On the other hand, use the smallest possible knife when dealing with the heart.¡± The second day went by like that¡­¡­. As time passed, the fact that the first day was on the good side became engraved deeper into Ivar¡¯s mind. The girl¡¯s bizarre side didn¡¯t end at only one or two things. She was like an onion with manyyers. Her first entricity. The girl would asionally stop abruptly in the middle of the hallway. Every time she did, her shoulders would shake slightly and her face would go red. ¡°Teacher, is something the matter? Are you perhaps hurt somewhere?¡± Ivar asked in a somewhat concerned tone while hiding her true thoughts that hoped the girl actually was hurt. Daisy¡¯s cheeks were red, but that was it. Her expression didn¡¯t change at all as she answered. ¡°It is nothing. My brother is currently masturbating.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Excuse me?¡± ¡°I told you before that there is a slime inside of me. It is because of that. This slime shares its senses with another slime, and that slime happens to be in my blood-rted brother¡¯s possession.¡± Furthermore, my brother is a pubescent boy who masturbates with that slime day in and day out, Daisy added at the end. ¡°Do not worry. My brother¡¯s masturbationsts on average 4 minutes and 30 seconds. We only have to wait for another 3 minutes. Please wait momentarily.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy started to walk again exactly 3 minutester. ¡°It seems it onlysted 4 minutes and 11 seconds today. I do hope he continues to be a premature ejactor like this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Now then, Miss Ivar. Let us clean the hallway.¡± This bizarre sight happened at least once and at most three times a day. There was a time that Ivar let out aint because she thought that it happened too often. Once she did, Daisy gave a simple answer, ¡®My brother recently broke up with his lover, so it cannot be helped¡¯. Ivar had to adjust her opinion. The girl wasn¡¯t just crazy. She was a perverted lunatic, a megalomaniac, and a mental patient. Ivar thought she would go mad whenever she had to watch Daisy suddenly stand still and close her eyes for four minutes while in the middle of cleaning or torturing. Her second entricity. Daisy would sexually harass Ivar a fair bit. She would bring her body close and furtively bump into Ivar. At first, Ivar thought she just had to be more mindful of the other person. However, once Daisy went beyond merely bumping bodies and went as far as to brush the back of her hand against Ivar¡¯s butt and thighs, Ivar realized the severity of the situation. This little girl wasn¡¯t satisfied with only torturing Ivar mentally and was resorting to sexually assaulting her physically! ¡°Teacher.¡± Ivar gave a warning in a quiet but firm tone. ¡°When ites to tasks rted to my work, I am ready to ept and learn all of them. Even if the tasks are irrational, I do not care as long as I am helping His Highness Dantalian. However, if you intend to harass me regardless of my duty, then I will inform the others.¡± ¡°I apologize.¡± Did Ivar¡¯s warning work? The girl who looked like shecked blood, tears, and brain cells finally apologized. Ivar felt relieved. Thankfully, it seems there was still a sliver of rationality left inside of the child. This was what Ivar thought. However, the words that followed made Ivar¡¯s head go empty again. ¡°My hand went out unconsciously because of how charming Miss Ivar is.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me?¡± There was a moment of silence. Ivar gulped. She couldn¡¯t control her trembling voice. ¡°T-Teacher, I am a girl¡­¡­though?¡± ¡°I know. I also have eyes.¡± Daisy responded. ¡°Referentially, I am a lesbian.¡± After that day, the number of times Ivar and Daisy conversed decreased drastically. In other words, the girl known as Daisy was crazy about getting soaked in blood and torturing people, has a slime inside her at all times, believes that the slime squirms when her blood-rted brother masturbates, and she also happens to be a lesbian. Ivar has never met or heard about someone this insane during the past 3,000 years of her life. Finally, a month passed since she became a maid. ¡°Chancellor, I apologize, but I can no longer take this!¡± Ivar went to the Chancellor¡¯s office. You could say that Ivar had superhuman patience when you consider that she managed to endure this for a whole month. Most heroes would¡¯ve probably surrendered by the second day. ¡°The Head Maid is a lunatic! Please do not think of this as someone simplyining about their superior. I can recount forty-seven perverted things the Head Maid has done off the top of my head!¡± ¡°Miss Ivar.¡± Lapis stared at Ivar impassively. ¡°I apologize but the order of this organization depends on this. The Head Maid¡¯s authority would be flimsy if I were to suddenly assign you a new position.¡± ¡°But Chancellor¡­¡­!¡± Ivar shouted desperately, almost on the brink of tears. ¡°The Head Maid already touched my thighs five times today! This kind of treatment is iprehensible!¡± ¡°Only five times?¡± Lapis tilted her head. ¡°His Highness Dantalian has a habit of taking Military Affairs Minister Laura, while she is on a walk, and having intercourse with her for five hours. Compared to that, the Head Maid¡¯s actions are incredibly sound.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± What in God¡¯s name is up with this Demon Lord Castle? Ivar¡¯s head felt like it was ringing. ¡°B-But His Highness Dantalian is the ruler of this castle. That is an exception. The Head Maid cannot be put on the same ground.¡± ¡°The Head Maid is also His Highness¡¯ personally adopted daughter. Moreover, she also made two sizable contributions during the previous war. She is undeniably worthy enough to be allowed some special privileges.¡± ¡°Uugh¡­¡­.¡± This inflexible half-subus! Ivar became enraged. From a systematic viewpoint, Lapis was right. However, Ivar was someone who leads an organization, not a footsoldier who gets sacrificed for one. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Ivar decided to pull out her trump card. ¡°Rank 1 Office Worker Lapis Lazuli. It is me. I am your employer, Ivar Lodbrok.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Lapis gave Ivar a confused gaze. ¡°I did not receive a report telling me that Miss Ivar has mythomania.¡± ¡°It is not surprising that you do not believe me, but it is the truth. The Ivar Lodbrok you have seen until now was a doll that I have been controlling.¡± Lapis naturally didn¡¯t give her the time of day. After desperately trying to convince Lapis for a while, Ivar finally got a chance to prove herself. She used a teleportation scroll to teleport to Keuncuska with Lapis and took her to a secret room. It was there that she showed Lapis her doll maniption ability. Lapis raised her brows in surprise. ¡°So Miss Ivar really is Lodbrok.¡± ¡°Do you believe me now, Lapis Lazuli?¡± ¡°Yes, Chief.¡± Ivar was moved. Finally, she was going to be free from that crazy and perverted human. ¡°Now please hear me out. I swear to the Goddess that that human child is not your normal lunatic. I want to get away from under her as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Please wait.¡± Lapis dug through her coat pocket and took out a piece of parchment. She respectfully handed the piece of paper to Ivar. Ivar¡¯s brow twitched. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°My letter of resignation.¡± What? ¡°I had resolved myself to fully go under His Highness Dantalian as his vassal a long time ago. However, I was unable to get the opportunity to give you my letter of resignation. What a coincidence. Thank you for all this time.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar was so shocked that he responded like a girl in the body of an old man. ¡°T-Then what about my workce?¡± ¡°It will stay unchanged as the Head Maid¡¯s assistant.¡± It felt like Lapis had be the king of the underworld and she was sentencing someone to hell. She bowed deeply. ¡°I hope we get along well, ¡®Miss¡¯ Ivar Lodbrok.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar cursed the world. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Poor Ivar. She has a long path ahead of her. I sort of wish this segment was longer, but oh well. On a note about my health, I¡¯ve mostly recovered from Covid, but the post-covid symptoms are hitting me now. I¡¯m still coughing and I just constantly feel lightheaded. It¡¯s sort of hard to exin my symptoms fully because theye and go. I¡¯ll just do my best to recover during this uing holiday. It¡¯s a relief that the contagious part of Covid is mostly gone now since I have to visit rtives this weekend. Although I probably won¡¯t be visiting them long since I don¡¯t want to risk it too much. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 313: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (1) Chapter 313: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (1) I was in the middle of enjoying the underground hot spring. ¡°Hey, did you get in a fight with Paimon?¡± Barbatos suddenly asked. She was visiting my Demon Lord Castle. She barged her way in while I was in the middle of taking a bath, stripped naked, and sat down next to me. The way she let out a satisfied groan as she submerged herself in the water was the spitting image of a middle-aged man. How did someone like this end up as my lover? My skepticism toward the world was renewed as I took a puff from my pipe. ¡°Why? Are there rumors?¡± ¡°Rumor my ass. I¡¯m just taking a wild guess because that bitch Paimon looked needlessly depressedtely.¡± Barbatos washed her face with the hot spring water. ¡°Her nerves are as thick as an orc¡¯s penis, so she doesn¡¯t get upset by most things.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡­ we did have a small argument.¡± I shrugged. Barbatos smiled mischievously once she heard my response. ¡°Want me to guess what the argument was about? I bet it was because we barbecued those humans, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Sheesh. You should stop being a regent and be a fortune teller.¡± ¡°I knew it.¡± Barbatos cackled. She looked pleased. This tiny Demon Lord is a sadist who gets joy from the gloom of others. How can this be the Demon Lord who¡¯s been doing the besttely? The world is truly cruel. ¡°I told you. I was concerned since the moment you started getting along with Paimon. Paimon¡¯s personality ispletely different from ¡®ours¡¯. I think it was back during the 4th Crescent Alliance. We had a huge argument back then as well when we were trying to figure out how to deal with the human prisoners.¡± Barbatos never liked that I started a rtionship with Paimon. Fundamentally, Barbatos supports free love. She adheres to the principle of not doing anything even if her partner ys with other people. However, she still considers Paimon a rival. There¡¯s a reason why Barbatos went hysterical about this in the past. The long-term rival mentality between Barbatos and Paimon was the culprit behind why she went on about something nonsensical like being the legal wife and whatnot. She wanted me to guarantee her that ¡®she was above Paimon¡¯. Well, that ended with me gifting her a finger ne. Even now, Barbatos had my finger ne around her neck while the rest of her was naked. This is why a woman¡¯s jealousy is annoying. ¡°Barbatos, there is something I¡¯ve always wanted to ask you. What is your opinion on humans?¡± ¡°Of course, I think of them as pieces of trash that have to be removed from the surface as soon as possible.¡¯ So you¡¯re asserting them as trash. How scary-. I smiled bitterly. ¡°Why? Humans are also rational beings, aren¡¯t they? You could turn them into ves instead of killing them all.¡± ¡°You blockhead. It¡¯s because they¡¯re a bunch of people with rationality attached to their skulls that we have to wipe them out more.¡± Barbatos submerged her body deeper into the hot spring. She stared impassively at the steam rising up from the hot water. ¡°Is rationality something special? It¡¯s useless. Be it demons or humans, they be sly wolves and turn the world into shambles if you leave them alone. Try asking anyone who has that supposedly impressive rationality. Why do they eat animals and nts when they¡¯re also living beings?¡± Barbatos let out a snort. ¡°I guarantee you that they will respond like this: I¡¯m a rational being and things like animals and nts are all stupid, so it¡¯s fine to eat them. What kind of skeleton-shitting excuse is that? Do you get it now? This is a simple problem. They eat them because they¡¯re stronger than animals and nts.¡± Barbatos raised her right foot. A pale foot emerged from the water like a submarine. ¡°Whenever I hear words like rationality, I want to rip my ears out and shove them in that person¡¯s mouth. This is what clearly separates me from Paimon. She treats diarrhea like gold and I treat diarrhea like diarrhea.¡± I expected as much. I asked a question as I felt my muscles loosen in the water. ¡°Then you should clean up both the demons and the humans. Why do you only want to wipe out the humans?¡± ¡°Mm. Fortunately, I can control demons.¡± ¡°Dantalian, I think of this as a type of blessing. Demons have Demon Lords. Demon Lords can read the minds of others indiscriminately and judge them equally. No matter what problem arises, they will always be fair.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Are they trash that can be controlled? Or are they trash without a cor? That¡¯s the difference. If Demon Lords didn¡¯t exist, then I probably would¡¯ve tried to wipe out everyone¡­¡­.¡± I nodded along impassively. ¡°Mhm. Excluding ourrades, I¡¯ll clean up all the pointless Demon Lords.¡± It was rather coincidental. Paimon and Barbatos are both Demon Lords. Despite this, one of them considers it a curse while the other considers it a blessing. Paimon believes that Demon Lords are the true foreign beings in the world. If society wants to function properly, then Demon Lords have to be dealt with first. That¡¯s the conclusion she had reached. In order to arrive at a fair society that goes beyond the discrimination between humans and demons¡­¡­. On the other hand, Barbatos saw humans as the foreign beings. Humans have to be wiped out in order for us to build an absolutely fair society. And yet, they both arrived at the same answer. ¡®We must get rid of most of the Demon Lords¡¯. It was a rather funny joke¡­¡­. I spoke in a serious tone. ¡°Barbatos, I¡¯ve never been close to things like justice and principle. I do not have the right to determine whether you or Paimon are right.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡°But I at least want to say this. It¡¯s not time yet.¡± Humanity isn¡¯t as weak as the Demon Lords think they are. Recently, the only reason the Demon Lord Army was able to be on top of the human army was entirely due to the fact that we had causes. It wasn¡¯t because of some innate superiority demons had over humans. ¡°We have always taken advantage of the enemy¡¯s division. The nobles andmoners were divided on Bruno ins. Frankia and Brittany were divided during the Puppet War. That was how we snatched up our victories.¡± Unite your allies and divide the enemy. This was the only religious precept I knew and I treated it as a sacred principle. All of my actions until now were for the sake of carrying out this one principle. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you step on the Mountain Faction. Creating a kingdom for demonkind is also okay. However, now isn¡¯t the time to be fighting your allies. This is my advice to you, a legionmander, as the Demon Lord Army¡¯s advisor. Wait.¡± Barbatos stuck her lips out in a pout. ¡°Habsburg, Frankia, and Brittany are all in ruins. What more is there to wait for?¡± ¡°Well, Bernicia, Kalmar, Batavia, Teuton, Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth, Moscow, Castile, Sardinia, and Anatolia. There are still a total of nine countries alive and well.¡± Only three out of twelve nations have fallen. In other words, three-quarters of humanity still remained. This wasn¡¯t nearly enough to say that humanity was facing an unprecedented crisis. ¡°If anything, the Demon Lord Army became weaker these past few years. Not only have some of us died during the wars, but Baal and Agares are also dead. Despite this, there¡¯s only one reason we still look strong.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Because we¡¯re grouped up and they¡¯re separated. Is that it?¡± I nodded. Barbatos got upset. ¡°Then how long are we going to wait!?¡± ¡°Stop whining like a cat in heat. Fine. Wait until at least the Consul of Habsburg and the Queen of Brittany are dead.¡± All the important human characters from the game should be dead from old age by that point. Especially the Habsburg Republic. As a whole, that nation is being maintained by Elizabeth¡¯s charisma. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll fall apart immediately once Elizabeth is dead. I stroked Barbatos¡¯ side teasingly. ¡°Well, it¡¯ll be a sixty-year wait at most. That isn¡¯t much to us when we live eternally. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± ¡°Damn it¡­¡­ You seriously suck!¡± Barbatos smacked my hand away. ¡°Hey! Whose side are you going to take if the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction fight!?¡± ¡°Dear me. Such a juvenile question that even children wouldn¡¯t ask¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fuck, stop beating around the bush and answer me!¡± Barbatos growled like a cat. ¡°What are you saying? I am not on the Mountain Faction¡¯s side or the ins Faction¡¯s side.¡± I touched her cheek with one hand. ¡°I¡¯m on your side.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Eh?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care if humans are trash or not. I don¡¯t care if your ideal is lofty or not either. Barbatos, I will only be on your side.¡± I slowly approached Barbatos¡¯ lips. Right when our lips were about to meet, woosh, Barbatos avoided my kiss. I thought it was weird, so I tilted my head. Barbatos¡¯s expression quickly turned sour. ¡°¡­¡­Wow, you¡¯re terrible at this.¡± Huh? This wasn¡¯t the reaction I was expecting. How should I say it? I sort of wanted her to blush and act shy. Laura and Ivar would fall head over heels for me if I said something like this to them, but Barbatos¡¯ gaze became cold like she was staring at a pile of trash. ¡°Were you trying to woo me with that line? You retard. Who would even fall for such disgusting words? That was so cringy. The foie gras I had yesterday almost came back up.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar and Laura were suddenly being treated as retards by Barbatos. Barbatos had suddenly lowered Ivar and Laura to that of retards. A corner of my mouth trembled. ¡°M-More like youck any purity!¡± ¡°Purity? That sounds like some nonsense an ogre with a crush would say. I¡¯m not some virgin who¡¯s never had a lover before.¡± Barbatos let out a snort. ¡°Let me give you some advice as an adult. Never say something like that ever again. Especially in front of others. Do you know how much you made my skin crawl? The tiny bit of affection I have left for you in my heart almost ran away because of that.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Honestly, you should be grateful I didn¡¯t sock you. You probably would¡¯ve lost your tongue by now if I weren¡¯t your lover. Keke.¡± Barbatos let out a heartyugh. It had been so long since I wasst mocked that my entire body shook. How dare someone who gets dragged around by the nose by Laura look down on my romantic moves? I can overlook most things, but not this! I opened my mouth. ¡°Big talking from someone who loses to a human child¡ª.¡± It was at that moment. Barbatos¡¯s face suddenly got closer, and, as if this was a predetermined sequence of events, she stole my lips in the smoothest way possible. It was a surprise attack in a moment of haste. I opened my eyes wide. Barbatos¡¯ soft tongue entered my mouth. It wasn¡¯t a rough kiss. Her tongue twirled around mine so gently that it felt like she was stroking it. I missed my timing to close my mouth as I was swept up in Barbatos¡¯ pace. Shortly after, the kiss ended and Barbatos slowly backed away. She had a smirk on her face as if she had just pulled a great prank. ¡°Brat, this is how you woo someone.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That mouth of yours won¡¯t get anything done if you¡¯re nothing but talk. Understand?¡± Barbatos hummed as she stood up. I hastily shouted at Barbatos who was leaving the underground spring. ¡°Y-You¡¯re running away after getting me all worked up!?¡± Damn it. I unintentionally stuttered. My lower body was now demanding a stronger stimtion. It wouldn¡¯t make sense to stop here. Despite this, that lecherous Barbatos feigned ignorance despite knowing full well what she had done. ¡°That¡¯s not my problem. Go masturbate or something.¡± ¡°You¡¯re treating your husband pretty terribly ever since you started going out with Laura, huh!?¡± ¡°Husband my ass. If you don¡¯t like it, then ask Paimon for a house call.¡± She cackled loudly. As expected of a sadist. Barbatos seemed strangely pleased for some reason. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if this is where that kiss from the LN is from. Dantalian got his mouth vited. So sad. He¡¯ll never recover from this. On another note, it was a busy holiday. I went to meet rtives and I found out that my dad adopted a dog. He doesn¡¯t live with us and I only see him during these big holidays, so, sadly, I¡¯ll rarely ever get to see the dog. That was the most noteworthy thing that happened to me, although my brother¡¯s wife did announce she was pregnant, I already knew that. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Back to work tomorrow. Chapter 314: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (2) Chapter 314: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (2) * * * Problems urred elsewhere. Barbatos listened to my advice, but it wasn¡¯t like every Demon Lord was under my control. Especially a certain Demon Lord whom I had a rocky rtionship with at the moment due to a previous argument. ¡°A republican representative meeting?¡± Early winter. I was surprised after receiving a particr official document. The contents of the document were simple. It was an invitation to every politician, schr, and artist who represented the continent¡¯s republicanism. They were being invited to a meeting that would be held in the capital of Batavia. Naturally, this kind of meeting was unprecedented. I muttered begrudgingly. ¡°What kind of nonsense¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The same invitation was also sent to the people representatives of Niflheim.¡± Ivar added from my side. Currently, Ivar, Daisy, and I were the only three people in the office. Ivar brought this notice to me while the other executives were out. ¡°I also looked into this personally and discovered that all of the archdukes were sent invitations as well.¡± ¡°Even the archdukes¡­¡­.¡± Then it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if this invitation was also sent to every free city. It was most likely sent out regardless of race. The scale of this meeting was absurd. The 13 Committee Members of Batavia were written as the invitation senders. They were known as the big shots that ruled the republic nation, but if you peel ayer away, you¡¯ll discover that they¡¯re Paimon¡¯s puppets. I was certain. This was Paimon¡¯s doing. I crumpled the invitation in one hand. ¡°Damn it¡­¡­this is way too soon!¡± Paimon¡¯s intentions were as clear as day. A wave of republicanism was currently sweeping through the continent. The Habsburg Republic was born and the Frankia Empire was being reorganized under the rule of a republican party. Free cities that were close to being republican since their inception were also popping up here and there. Furthermore, Brittany, the representative of royalists, had been defeated¡­¡­. Putting it simply, republicanism probably looked like a rising star to the general public. Let¡¯s use this momentum to keep going forward. This was probably Paimon¡¯s mindset. ¡°No. This isn¡¯t the right time to reveal a transnational alliance¡­¡­.¡± Once I muttered this, Ivar tilted her head. ¡°Your Highness, is this not simply a meeting being held? Is there a reason for this much concern?¡± ¡°This is not simply a meeting. Demons and humans are going to be seen together. This is the main point.¡± Until now, humans have very rarely ever gotten in contact with figures from the demon world. From the perspective of humans, they immediately think of Demon Lords when they are told to picture the rulers of demons. They¡¯re not entirely wrong, but demon society is also ruled by archdukes and civilian representatives as well. They¡¯re the de facto ruling ss. I let out an annoyed sigh. ¡°This will debut the ruling ss of the demon world to the political world of the continent. Adding to this, this meeting is being referred to as a republican representative meeting¡­¡­. How do you think the human rulers will perceive this event?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.I see. There is a chance they might misunderstand and assume that the entire demon world follows republicanism.¡± Ivar¡¯s purple eyes glowed. When ites to politics and diplomacy, Ivar is the most capable out of all my vassals. Lapis and Jeremi are decent, but they arecking in some ces. Ivar assisted me sufficiently when it came to these topics. ¡°The rulers are probably gleeful about Brittany¡¯s defeat, but they are also watching with unease. Apetitor falling out of the race is definitely a good thing, but it must be concerning that royalists had lost.¡± ¡°Indeed. Now imagine what would happen if a republican representative meeting were to be held during a time like this¡­¡­.. They¡¯ll get worked up for no reason.¡± Ivar nodded. ¡°The rulers will assume that the Demon Lord Army is actually trying to spread republicanism throughout the continent.¡± The issue was the fact that this wasn¡¯t an unfounded assumption. It was none other than me, Demon Lord Dantalian, who gave the speech about republicanism on Bruno ins. There is a coalition of elves and dwarves in the center of the continent. Tribalism was close to republicanism as well. Moreover, the Demon Lord Army had also sided with the Republic of Batavia during thest war¡­¡­. No matter how you looked at it, the Demon Lord Army had taken actions that clearly favored republicanism. One suspicion leads to another. I was getting a headache. ¡°The royalists will react to this by also gathering on arge scale¡­¡­. Damn it. Ivar, Daisy, get ready to head out. We will be going to Paimon¡¯s Demon Lord Castle.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± We have to at least stop humanity from uniting. Paimon. I understand your desire to spread republicanism throughout the continent as soon as possible. But this isn¡¯t the right time. I sincerely hope you¡¯ll understand this¡­¡­. * * * Demon Lord Castle . It was quite literally a Demon Lord Castle that went against gravity and floated in the sky. It received its name as Sky Garden due to its beautiful scenery. The floating Demon Lord Castle in itself was a natural fortress. In the game, the hero and his group had to use griffins in order to invade this impregnable fortress. Paimon would have her heart pieced by the hero and fall¡­¡­ along with her Demon Lord Castle and her lofty ideals. I originally hated Paimon. After finding out the truth, I now have a newfound respect for her. It was fine to call her a hypocrite. If hypocrisy didn¡¯t exist, then what else could possibly make life so radiant? I admired Paimon and didn¡¯t want her to meet the same tragic fate as the one in the game. We were guided by spirits wearing servant outfits. We arrived at ake after a somewhat long walk. Paimon was sitting near theke drinking tea. ¡°Ivar, Daisy. Wait here.¡± I made the two people who came with me wait on standby as I walked to Paimon with brisk steps. ¡°Paimon.¡± Paimon continued to silently stare at theke even though I had approached her. There was a tranquil atmosphere wrapped around her. If I were a little more refined, then even I might have gotten swept up by it. I got down on one knee and lightly kissed the back of Paimon¡¯s hand. As usual, her skin was soft and fair. I didn¡¯t get back up. I spoke while staying down on my knee. ¡°You must know why I am here today. I will get straight to the point, Paimon. The time is not yet ripe.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°A republican representative meeting? And you are also inviting individuals from both the human and demon sides? This is far too risky. The more we group together, the more our enemies will be warry and group together as well. Humanity¡¯s current potential is still a threat.¡± I remained on my knee as I insisted. Paimon wasn¡¯t the type of person to maintain her brazen silence if I came forward like this. Her light pink lips moved while her eyes remained fixated on theke. ¡°Then how long am I supposed to wait?¡± Her voice was rather lifeless, but she gave a surprisingly favorable response. Good. This meant that Paimon was willing to talk with me. I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I answered her. ¡°Sixty, no, fifty years will be enough. The people are gradually bing agitated due to the ongoing gue and frequent wars. For the next fifty years, the human rulers will have to pour their resources into suppressing the uprising of the masses.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Frankia¡¯s new government will have also stabilized a fair degree by then. We would be getting our hands on a formidable ally in the form of Frankia. Paimon, fifty years is nothing to us. Please wait a while longer.¡± There was a long pause for several minutes. As we were basking in the radiant, early winter sun, a hawk glided over theke. The sound of water sshing could be heard. I wonder if it was because of the overflowing manamon to Demon Lord Castles. The foliage here was green despite it being early winter. Paimon turned her head and met my gaze. Her eyes were dark, but also clear. A sense of unease spread throughout my body. Those weren¡¯t the eyes of someone who wanted to talk. ¡°Dantalian, allow me to ask one question. ¡­¡­What will Barbatos¡¯ ins Faction do after those fifty years?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That¡¯s.¡± I couldn¡¯t answer. Barbatos was naturally going to go on a conquest. She was going to lead the Demon Lord Army to turn the human and demon world into one absolute nation. This wasn¡¯t only the ins Faction¡¯s goal. The future proposed by Barbatos is currently the most supported goal in demon society. ¡°We are not the only ones who will be gathering our strength during those fifty years. The ins Faction will most likely do the same. Dantalian, just as you said, the human world will definitely be weak in fifty years. Will demonkind be able to resist with such weak and appetizing prey in front of them?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± That was impossible. A bnce between humans and demons must be created in order to establish a republican government. If demons have too much power, then humans would be treated as second-ss citizens. There would be open discrimination. Paimon despises that kind of discrimination. ¡°This is our chance now that Baal and Agares are gone. The Demon Lord Army and the humans have both been dealt a blow. We must put peace forward as a cause to unite the continent.¡± ¡°¡­¡­The risks are far toorge. I cannot possibly agree to this as the Demon Lord Army¡¯s advisor.¡± I was getting impatient. Paimon currently saw the ins Faction as a rival group. This was dangerous. The humans are our enemy and the Demon Lord Army is our ally. If this fact gets mixed up, then a divide will immediately appear within our ranks. ¡°Paimon, we must unite. Please calm down and think about it! We have always experienced defeat whenever we were divided. Victory always followed whenever we united.¡± ¡°I do not agree.¡± Paimon shook her head. Her movement was firm. ¡°Dantalian, who do you think lost the Puppet War?¡± ¡°Of course, the Queen of Brittany and the royalists of the continent.¡± ¡°Incorrect.¡± Paimon¡¯s gaze became sharp. ¡°It was the masses who were dragged into the war of lunatics and killed off without reason. Dantalian, they were the true losers.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We must not mistake this. The reason we look like we won is due to the fact that we are on the side that won. Wait fifty years? Wait until the rulers lose their strength trying to suppress the people for fifty years?¡± Paimon smiled. ¡°Feign ignorance when people are being killed off irrationally? I cannot allow that.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantalian. I do not me you. You have your own way of doing things. Thisdy can vaguely tell that there are morals behind your actions.¡± However, Paimon continued with a gentle voice. ¡°I am sorry, but I am a woman who can only live this way.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Paimon.¡± This was horrible. What kind of face was I making right now? Previously, when Paimon reprimanded me for being evil, I refuted her by saying that it was something I had to do to thoroughly remain on the side of evil. The same logic was being applied here, but the other way around. Paimon had decided to remain on the side of good until the very end. Therefore, she couldn¡¯t overlook the pointless deaths of the people. If I advised Paimon here to ¡®leave these sacrifices be for the sake of victory¡¯, I would be telling her to be a hypocrite. I couldn¡¯t do something like that¡­¡­. There was a faint smile on Paimons lips as she spoke. ¡°Dantalian, when the day I have to face Barbatos finally arrives, would you be able to pick my side?¡± I couldn¡¯t answer her. With that, our conversation came to an end. Paimon didn¡¯t say anything more after that, and I didn¡¯t as well. I turned around and distanced myself from theke. I felt terrible. ¡°Your Highness, are you all right?¡± Ivar asked worriedly as soon as she saw my face. I shook my head. ¡°It is nothing. We are going to Barbatos¡¯ Demon Lord Castle immediately. There is much to be done.¡± Barbatos and Paimon will sh at this rate. The human rulers will most likely apud in joy as they watch that unfold. I won¡¯t let something like that happen. Barbatos and Paimon. I will save them both. That¡¯s my decision. But was it actually possible? Was it possible for everyone to have a happy ending? I wasn¡¯t confident¡­¡­. I looked up at the pale, early winter sky. A sigh flowed out of my mouth. ¡°We will be very busy. This is going to be a long winter¡­¡­.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I should¡¯ve uploaded this chapter as soon as I got home from work, but it slipped my mind. I sorta wanted to rx after work. I don¡¯t got much to say this time around since I already did my work rant on thest chapter. My throat still feeling gloopy cause of post-covid symptoms, but I¡¯m mostly fine now. Uuh, my weekdays have sort of felt emptytely cause of work. I want to do something, but I feel tired after work and end up doing nothing. Sort of feels like I¡¯m wasting my free time. Meh. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 315: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (3) Chapter 315: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (3) * * * Armies don¡¯t move during the winter. Humans don¡¯t need to hibernate during the winter, but that wasn¡¯t the same for armies. Most armies enter a winter slumber around November. They would thene out to stretch in March or April. However, monster soldiers are able to sprint on the battlefield starting from February. Monsters are more robust against the cold than humans. With simple calctions, the Demon Lord Army could start moving about 2 months ¡®earlier¡¯ than the human armies. The time when the Demon Lord Army will move was determined. February, near the end of winter. April is when humans are busy harvesting the crops they had been protecting throughout the winter. Moreover, Fall is when they are busy reaping the crops they had worked hard to raise throughout the summer. The Demon Lord Army moves during periods of time when humans are either terribly busy or do not want to move. This has happened constantly for the past 3,000 years. It was only natural that humans would start to despise demons because of this. Paimon had made up her mind to ovee that hatred and create a single society. To others, she probably seems like a lunatic. If you give a lunatic actual strength, then they go beyond being a lunatic and be a monster. History¡¯s monster¡­¡­. I first went out of my way to quickly host a ¡®victory celebration¡¯. I held a party under the pretext of celebrating our victory over Brittany. I invited the ambassadors of each nation to this party. My goal was simple. I was going to hold a gathering with the royalists before demonkind could be mistaken for a republican race. The invitations had Rudolf von Habsburg¡¯s signature. They were official invitations from an emperor. Of course, no one was stupid to not understand that this was actually a ¡®friendly diplomatic gesture¡¯ from the Demon Lord Army. The human kings immediately dispatched their delegates as if they had been waiting for this. The party was held rather extravagantly. ¡°I offer my felicitations, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°The prestige of Habsburg has shaken the heavens. There is no one who is not in awe of Your Excellency¡¯s impressive victory.¡± Ambassadors from every nation gathered in front of Emperor Rudolf to butter him in praises. Funnily enough, the Habsburg Republic¡¯s ambassador was also among them. This man would smile wryly from time to time. He must¡¯ve thought that the ¡®prestige of Habsburg¡¯ was ironic. Barbatos and I were standing next to the Emperor. ¡°Huaaaaaaah.¡± Barbatos covered her mouth with her hand as she let out a long yawn. She was someone who found empty formalities and vanity the most wearisome. The party was opened under my proposal, but she probably didn¡¯t want to be here. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± All Barbatos did was yawn, but the impact of it was immense. The ambassadors froze up and the mood became cold. A mere vassal had dared to yawn openly while the Emperor was in the middle of weing guests. Even if Barbatos is the justice of the Supreme Court, a regent, and the actual usurper of the empire, this still greatly went against etiquette. I frowned. ¡°Chief Justice, how could you do something so discourteous before His Excellency the Emperor?¡± ¡°Ah, yeah. My apologies, Your Excellency.¡± Barbatos meekly acknowledged her mistake. ¡°I ended up being discourteous due to the hardship of fulfilling my duties to the Empire. Please forgive me.¡± ¡°You are forgiven. I know better than anyone else that the Chief Justice has been working hard day and night for the sake of the Empire.¡± Emperor Rudolf happily epted the apology. The ambassadors¡¯ expressions changed conspicuously. This was probably quite an impressive sight to them. The Emperor whom they had thought was only a puppet just had his authority acknowledged. Demon Lords were proud beings who could confidently dere that no one could stand before them. And yet, they had respectfully referred to a human as ¡®Your Excellency¡¯. I was almost certain that the ambassadors were ordered to ¡®figure out whether the Demon Lords genuinely intended to create diplomatic bonds with humans or not¡¯. For that sake, we made a public disy of acknowledging a human ruler¡¯s authority. It¡¯s obvious, but diplomacy starts by acknowledging the other party¡¯s authority. This reception had a good start. The delegates talked more energetically than before. The ttery went on longer and their choice of words became more varied. It was finally the ambassador of the Habsburg Republic¡¯s turn. ¡°Your Excellency, I am here in Her Excellency the Consul of the Habsburg Republic¡¯s stead to praise the Empire¡¯s honorable achievement. The victory achieved by Your Excellency is a happy asion not only for the Empire, but it was a great victory that established a nation¡¯s true ruler as well. Our Consul is always in awe of Your Excellency, the genuine ruler of the Empire.¡± The delegates from other nations hadplex looks on their faces. It really was aplexpliment. For starters, while the other ambassadors used the word ¡®Habsburg¡¯, this person was the only one who said ¡®Empire¡¯. There was an undertone that implied that they were the true heirs of Habsburg. The term, ¡®a nation¡¯s true ruler¡¯, was also concerning. As most people are aware, Barbatos is currently the regent of the Empire and is using the Emperor¡¯s authority however she wants. Despite this situation, they uttered the term ¡®true ruler¡¯ in front of the Emperor? If you misinterpreted his words, then you might think he was mocking Barbatos and the Emperor¡¯s power that had fallen to rock bottom. That was probably his intention, too. How impudent. However, their scheme looked superficial to me. ¡°Oh! Has my sister congratted me?!¡± Emperor Rudolf rejoiced as he looked genuinely happy. His tone was clearly different nowpared to when he was talking with the other delegates. ¡°A delegate has arrived from our brother nation, so a brother¡¯s joyous asion bes the joyous asion of siblings. Is my sister living a peaceful and healthy life with the time bestowed upon her by the Gods?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± The ambassador from the Republic answered. He couldn¡¯t hide the surprise on his face. ¡°It is thanks to Your Excellency¡¯s dear concern.¡± ¡°Haha. What could I have possibly done to help my sister? Since she was little, Elize has always been good at everything she did.¡± Rudolf talked normally as he partially removed his Emperor¡¯s mask. The atmosphere in the room became warmer once the Emperor, the main character of this event, started to talk in a gentler tone. ¡°Looking back at it now, I feel as if the time when Elize and I ran around the pce together is one of my greatest memories. The Gods particrly blessed our childhoods with gentle and smooth music. To us siblings, each passing day was like an idyll.¡± There was a distant look in Rudolf¡¯s eyes as he looked up into the air and reminisced about the past. ¡°Of course, that beauty is actually fake. It is, in truth, a degree of ignorance that naturally attaches to one¡¯s childhood. A degree of foolishness sprinkled on top of that ignorance to finish the false image of beauty. But I must confess to you all. I now yearn for even that ignorance and foolishness¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Republic delegate didn¡¯t know how to respond, so he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. I held back my desire to burst intoughter. That was all bullshit. Rudolf and Elizabeth never had something like a beautiful childhood together. There was no way that¡¯d be possible. Rudolf, the man who was currently a corpse and being controlled by Barbatos in real time, was a son of a bitch who had nned on raping his sisters and had tried to take the throne when he was alive. However, the other ambassadors didn¡¯t know this. ¡°Despite having reached such a worldly position, Your Excellency has not forgotten those who used to be close to you! The Empire¡¯s future is bright!¡± ¡°Hypocrites are those who forget their childhoods. Schrs of the past once said that those who remember will be followed by wisdom and benevolence. Your Excellency¡¯s sorrow is unavoidable as a ruler, but is it not a blessing for the Empire as a whole?¡± The ambassadors spoke up to praise Rudolf¡¯s humane side. It was as if they had been waiting for this opportunity. As expected of the ambassadors sent by each nation. They were all glib talkers. ¡°That is right. Do not be so concerned, Your Excellency.¡± Only the Republic¡¯s ambassador profound response. There was a clear undertone in his voicepared to the others. It was probably because he knew how dastardly Rudolf actually was. Sorry, but our turn isn¡¯t over yet. ¡°I am grateful to be consoled by you all.¡± Emperor Rudolf smiled bitterly. ¡°However, simr to our childhoods, there are things that you cannot turn back. Be it Elize or myself, we always tried to do things on our own. We did not yield anything to each other. We were much too young¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It would have been fine if one of us had backed down, but neither of us could. As a result, our glorious Habsburg was split into branches. The struggle between two young siblings split an entire nation. How could I not regret such a thing?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The eyes of the Republic¡¯s delegate went wide. This was an borate diplomatic scheme. Emperor Habsburg had defined the reason behind Habsburg¡¯s division as simply ¡®a fight between siblings¡¯. The Habsburg Republic was established under the cause of being for the sake of the people and the belief that they were the true nation of Habsburg. A sibling rivalry wasn¡¯t included in this at all. Emperor Rudolf had kicked away these circumstances. He dered that the Republic wasn¡¯t established due to some great cause, but because of a trivial power struggle between siblings. It wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if the Republic¡¯s delegate shouted, ¡®What kind of nonsense is this!?¡¯ The cement of words was also clever. At first, it might sound like he was confessing that this all happened because of them both, but it was actually different. ¡®Since she was little, Elize has always been good at everything she did,¡¯ he first uttered this line that sounded meaningless. Afterward, he added that, ¡®We did not yield anything to each other.¡¯ With this, it sounds like Elizabeth had created this issue because of her self-righteous personality. Sure enough. ¡°Oh, Your Excellency. There is no need for concern. Blood is thicker than water.¡± ¡°Habsburg will one day gather under a single glorious g again.¡± The other delegates started to pour kind words on Rudolf. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Republic ambassador¡¯s face was bing pale. The situation was bad. At this rate, the Republic of Habsburg¡¯s ¡®independence¡¯ will be treated as a mere ¡®branch¡¯ on the official diplomatic stage. He had to stop that from happening even if he had to be discourteous to the Emperor. ¡°Your Excellency, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency.¡± I intervened right when the delegate opened his mouth. Everyone¡¯s focus naturally came to me once the Emperor turned to look at me. ¡°A weing ceremony has been prepared. Is today not a joyous day where we are being sent praise by the other rulers? How about we allow everyone to forget their concerns in a way that matches the asion?¡± ¡°Oh, you are right, Count Ptine Dantalian.¡± Count Ptine was the new title that I was given recently. This position was right under duke and margrave. Since Barbatos is the duke of Austerlitz and Rosenberg was a margrave, count ptine was quite the perfect position for me as the ins Faction¡¯s highest advisor. ¡°It seems I have brought up a rather depressing topic during such a good day. It would only be right to provide the ambassadors with a pleasant banquet to make up for this discourtesy. Now then, Count Ptine. Guide the ambassadors to the banquet hall.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± I nced at the Republic¡¯s ambassador as I bowed. His face was as pale as a corpse. Although Rudolf, who was the actual corpse, was smiling brightly, the person who was alive looked like he was about to cry. What a funny joke. Well, that¡¯s the price for fearlessly using petty tricks while knowing that I was supporting the Emperor. I¡¯ve been giving Barbatos manuscripts to memorize. Our level of preparation was on another level. This should¡¯ve been a good lesson for Elizabeth¡¯s pet for barking arrogantly. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This chapter arc feels like it¡¯s going to be a lot of politics again. My favorite. (I miss the banter already). In any case, my cough keepsing back and it makes me angry. Just let me be healthy again. PLEASE. I¡¯ve been getting on ffxiv again just so I can do housing stuff again. I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m so addicted to it. The Minecraft server is still up, but I haven¡¯t been able to get on as often cause I¡¯ve been getting swept up to do other stufftely. I¡¯ll y more regrly again soon. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 316: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (4) Chapter 316: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (4) The attack from the Republic¡¯s ambassador was nothing more than a yful opening act. I intended to get a step ahead of Paimon and bring the Habsburg Empire up on the national stage. This would bring the Empire up to international politics. This meant that we would be colliding with the Habsburg Republic which had been iming that they were the ¡®true heirs of Habsburg¡¯. Therefore, the diplomatic war that was going to adorn this year¡¯s winter unfolded intensely. * * * First, the Frankia Empire. ¡°Her Excellency the Empress Dowager has offered her unlimited cooperation.¡± Frankia undoubtedly supported us more than any other nation. I had officially announced that the ughter that urred in the southern region of Frankia was done by a group of traitors; however, I sent a personal message to Baron Bercy and informed him that it was actually a hoax created by the Habsburg Republic. Frankia¡¯s court wanted to deal a blow to the Habsburg Republic for this ¡®offense¡¯. Next, it was a bit surprising, but it was the Kingdom of Brittany. ¡°Our Highness the Queen has already acknowledged His Excellency the Emperor as the true ruler of Habsburg.¡± The previously established Le Havre Treaty was behind this cooperation. If Brittany doesn¡¯t acknowledge our sovereignty, then the treaty would naturally break apart. This would immediately lead to another war. The Kingdom of Brittany no longer had the manpower to handle another war. Even if Queen Henrietta was personally cooperating with Consul Elizabeth, the fate of her nation was on the line here, so it couldn¡¯t be helped. With this, the Empire of Frankia and the Kingdom of Brittany were our allies. Of course, there were also groups that supported the Habsburg Republic. ¡°To be honest, I find it hard to believe that Your Excellency has no intention to go to war with our nation.¡± ¡°Even now, the Demon Lord Army is currently illegally upying a portion of ournd. Please prioritize handling this matter! We cannot offer our unconditional goodwill like this.¡± It was the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Sardinia is located right below the Republic. From their perspective, the Habsburg Republic was a formidable shield that was blocking the Demon Lord Army from invading. It was understandable that they would cooperate with the Republic. On the other hand, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in the middle of a conflict with the Neutral Faction. The Neutral Faction under Demon Lord Marbas¡¯ rule had already been invading the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on their own since the Crescent Alliance War. They had made a great achievement by upying a portion of theirnd. Thanks to this, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth harbored a great amount of hostility toward us. The other nations were all neutral. Bernicia, Teuton, Kalmar, Anatolia, Castile, Moscow, and even Batavia. These seven nations were spectating from the sideline and contemting about who they should support. It must be quite the exciting thing to mull over. Us or the Republic. These seven nations could change who they decide to support simply ording to which of us offers the more tempting deal. Current score ¨C 2:2. A sibling rivalry between the Habsburg Empire and the Habsburg Republic. But the reality was a little different. This was a diplomatic battle between me, Dantalian, and Consul Elizabeth. If this were an actual battle, then I would¡¯ve retreated without any hesitation. Elizabeth is a genius when ites to military affairs. I couldn¡¯t beat her even if I tried. However, this wasn¡¯t a war between metal and metal. This was a war of tongues and not swords¡­¡­. Furthermore, Elizabeth has a fatal weakness. It¡¯s the fact that she¡¯s in a situation where she can¡¯t jump into diplomatic warfare herself. Being the ruler of a nation puts that many restrictions on your actions. On the other hand, I can move however I please. I can leave my territory management to Lapis and Parci while I focus purely on diplomacy. This difference was enough to decide the victor. * * * ¡°Purchase everything with money.¡± I started things off with bribes. Bribery is a ssic tactic. Its effectiveness bes obvious when you consider how long it¡¯s been around. Now with Ivar Lodbrok under my wing, I basically have the most financial resources in both the demon world and the continentbined. Ivar¡¯s wealth reaches nearly fifty million libra. Was this not an exorbitant sum? To put this money into perspective, the annual budget of the Habsburg Empire¡¯s pce is around 1.5 million libra. Ivar could run the pce for 33 years! All by herself! This was also under the assumption that she didn¡¯t work at all during those 33 years. ¡°How much do you need?¡± asked the richest blonde girl in the world. ¡°We will be bribing every single nation¡¯s ambassador. About 150,000 should be enough.¡± This is an era where the market hasn¡¯t developed that much yet. 150,000 gold is an immense sum. The Immortal Pure Blood Vampire let out a small snort. ¡°Pocket change.¡± She loaned me 300,000 unsecured and interest-free libra in an instant. Entirely in cash. In other words, she had loaned me that sum in hard cash and jewels. Thanks to this, my wealth had doubled from the original 150,000 I had. A ginormous offensive of bribes was carried out. Ivar and I were professionals when it came to these sorts of problems. Gifting only money would only lose its appeal after a while. Humans are like machines, so they always need some greasing. ¡°I will invite the highest quality prostitutes from the demon world. Send a request to the Brothel Guild.¡± ¡°People say that lying with subi and elves is the lifelong dream of humans. We can satisfy their fantasies.¡± The cream of the crop in terms of prostitutes was brought over from the demon world. The amount one would need to spend a single night with even one of them could make the average person¡¯s jaw drop. ¡°Let¡¯s hire a band, performers, and an alchemist as well.¡± ¡°We can hire them at the same time while we aremissioning the Brothel Guild.¡± Demons are far more advanced than humans when ites to sexual activities. Demons live for hundreds of years, so they invented bizarre types of pleasures to bring enjoyment to their long lives. For example, while performers put on a promiscuous show on a stage, a band ys a pleasant tune, and an alchemist brews drugs with aphrodisiacs in them¡ªthe people enjoying some heated intercourse in the middle of all that. You could definitely call this aposite art of sex. The ambassadors were shocked by the ecstasy they were facing for the first time in their lives. ¡°T-This is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I heard that subi are beautiful, but I never thought it would be to this extent!¡± The delegates were in awe of the demon world¡¯s superior culture. ¡°I have never tasted alcohol this sweet!¡± ¡°Count Ptine, who is the master brewer behind this masterpiece?¡± The alcohol was all brought from the demon world as well. This was effective in giving the atmosphere an exotic vibe. Trying exotic alcohol for the first time made for an excellent icebreaker. One week. I cooked the ambassadors for an entire week. They were basically fermented in a tub of pleasure. We also made sure to fill their pockets with gold as they enjoyed the sexual pleasantries and the alcohol. Naturally, my goal couldn¡¯t be aplished by bribes alone. As I said before, bribery is like greasing a machine. Ambassadors make diplomatic decisions after receiving orders from their lords. However, their lords aren¡¯t here. Rulers make their decisions after receiving their ambassadors¡¯ reports. In other words, ambassadors are like the eyes of rulers. They give periodic reports to their lords through magic orbs. Now then, how will these ambassadors give their reports? ¨C The Habsburg Empire does not seem like they intend to start another war anytime soon. ¨C The Demon Lords clearly respect the Emperor¡¯s authority. The Regent is somewhat audacious, but the Count Ptine seems to have more control in the pce. He seems to be holding the Regent back fairly decently. We should reconsider our opinion on their imperial pce. ¨C The Count Ptine has a clear understanding of the Empire and human traditions. He did not seem to carry any prejudice toward the Empire¡¯s imperial family or our nation¡¯s royal family. From what this humble one can tell, the Count Ptine genuinely desires a normal bond between our nations. Give and take. The ambassadors thought it was only natural to return the banquet and hospitality they received with ¡®a little goodwill¡¯. The endless amount of persuasion I did during this also had an influence. The delegate from the Habsburg Republic was shocked by the scale of our bribes. The Republic urgently tried to put up a diplomatic line, but, unfortunately, they were no match for us in terms of funding. The New Habsburg Republic was by no means a nation overflowing with money. If anything, they were on the poor side. The Republic also offered bribes, but they paled inparison to ours. There was no way that they could satisfy the ambassadors who now had at least one of the finest subi as their servants. ¨C The Habsburg Republic¡¯s delegate partially disregarded the Emperor¡¯s authority during hismemoration and spoke in a belittling tone. This all happened during a formal asion and I can only describe them as being discourteous. ¨C The demeanor disyed by the Imperial Pce is truly praiseworthy. The Emperor never became personally enraged whenever he heard backhanded statements, but instead responded appropriately by turning everyone¡¯s attention elsewhere. ¨C The Emperor personally harbors goodwill toward the Republic¡¯s Consul and has professed as such. On the other hand, the Republic¡¯s ambassador was rude andcked dignity when speaking to us. In the end, the first match ended in ourplete victory. It was clear that the reports from the ambassadors had moved the hearts of the rulers. The ambassadors started to negotiate with us more actively after a week had passed since the banquet began. Up to this point, their words had been filled with empty praises and ttery, but it was different now. It was time for the true trade to start. The first batter up was the Kingdom of Teuton. ¡°Count Ptine, I believe that our rtionship has gotten close enough.¡± ¡°Of course, Ambassador.¡± ¡°Allow me to be entirely honest. Our nation is positioned the closest to the Empire. We require something that will guarantee that the Empire will not invade ournd one day.¡± The Kingdom of Teuton has the Demon Lord territory to their east, the Republic of Batavia to their west, and the Habsburg Empire to their south. You could say they¡¯re surrounded by potential enemies on all sides. This is why they¡¯re more sensitive about security. I smiled. ¡°Ambassador, I am both a Count Ptine and the King of Demons. Thanks to this, I possess a small portion ofnd. Fortunately, this territory happens to be located at the eastern end of your kingdom.¡± ¡°Yes. I heard that yournd consists of seven hills.¡± The ambassador nodded. I was moved to know that the other nations weren¡¯t cking when it came to gathering intel. ¡°Mynd is in a rather peculiar spot. ording to the situation, you can say that it is connected to Habsburg or that it is connected to Teuton. It was originally a sh-and-burn vige, so it does not have any official affiliation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Count Ptine, don¡¯t tell me.¡± The Teuton Kingdom¡¯s ambassador opened his eyes wide. I nodded. ¡°Ambassador, send a petition to your lord to allow mynd to be a ptinate of Teuton. If we do that, then I will be a count ptine of Habsburg and a count of Teuton at the same time.¡± ¡°Truly!?¡± The ambassador shot up. He reached out to grab my hands in glee. ¡°Your cooperation would beparable to receiving the power of thousands!¡± ¡°Haha, you are overpraising me. Would it be fine for me to put my trust in our friendship?¡± ¡°Do not worry, Count Ptine. I swear on my name to have this bond made.¡± The immediate day after, the Kingdom of Teuton¡¯s response would be given to me unofficially. The documents stated that as long as my territory belonged to the Kingdom of Teuton, they would acknowledge the Habsburg Empire as sovereign and Barbatos as thewful regent. ¡ª Score 3:2 *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. As per usual, more politics. I wonder what all this setup is going to lead to¡­ I ask, having already tranted 3 chapters ahead of this one because of the early releases¡­ On another note, I¡¯ve been suffering at work again due to a recent project I was assigned. It¡¯s weird cause it¡¯s originally a Chinese game, so I¡¯ve been having to look at the Chinese source a lot and trying to decipher words. My task is to try and shorten lines and make them sound better, but it¡¯s so hard. What the hell is ¡®Golden Rod Spider Ice Shaving¡¯ supposed to mean? I came here to trante Korean>English not Chinese>English. My head hurts. Rant aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 317: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (5) Chapter 317: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (5) The Union State of Kalmar was up next after Teuton. The Union State of Kalmar was located on the northern edge of the continent. Therefore, they were known as the Lions of the North. They were a nation of warriors that roared as they embraced the harsh cold and winters. In the past, they used to go around on boats like Vikings and pige various corners of the continent. Now, these brutal warriors seeded in wrapping theirbative spirits in ayer of refined leather. Their swords disappeared, but they instead became skilled at trade andmerce. They were warriors and merchants at the same time. These two sides strangely coexisted within Kalmarians. Well, be it with swords or trading, they were still piging one way or another. It wasn¡¯t that strange. Kalmar¡¯s ambassador spoke up. ¡°Count Ptine, the Republic has offered to lower their tariffs.¡± It seems the Republic had already tossed out some bait. ¡°Lower their tariffs, huh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The conditions are fairly good. The reason why I am telling you this is because I wish to pay you back for all you have done for us, Count Ptine.¡± And to also get us to offer a better proposal, I assume. Honest and bold. This was the impression I was getting from the Union State of Kalmar. I swayed my ss of brandy with one hand. ¡°From what you have told me, it seems Kalmar is considering quite the detailed proposal.¡± ¡°Yes, all we desire is an ample market.¡± The ambassador took a sip from his ss. ¡°The tariffs proposed by the Republic are rather appealing. However, the Republic does not have a veryrge market. To us, the Habsburg Empire has a more desirable market¡­¡­. If a few conditions are met, that is.¡± Lowering tariffs was obviously one of those conditions. Out of all the nations on the continent, the Union State of Kalmar, the Republic of Batavia, and the Kingdom of Sardinia are the most well-known nations when ites to merchant business. Kalmar was trying to get a certain lead by getting tariff benefits. ¡°I am guessing that one of the conditions is to not give tariff benefits to Batavia or Sardinia.¡± ¡°As expected, the Count Ptine is quick on the uptake.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I smiled. ¡°It is not particrly bad.¡± ¡°Not bad¡­¡­? Pardon my rudeness, but could you rify what you mean by that?¡± Kalmar furrowed his brows. Did my response sound too vague to him? ¡°I am saying that it is not bad as a proposal; however, I cannot say that this is the best n.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I struggle to understand what you are trying to say, Count Ptine.¡± The ambassador clearly looked ufortable. A politician from another nation had suddenly pointed out that their proposal wasn¡¯t particrly good. This most likely rubbed him the wrong way. Be patient. You¡¯ll also understand soon enough. ¡°The motives behind your nation¡¯s proposal are too obvious. You are openly defining Sardinia and Batavia as rival nations. Although we will be getting your nation as an ally, we would also be taunting two other nations at the same time. This would not be a bnced trade.¡± ¡°Are you saying that our nation iscking to be a coborator of the Empire?¡± The ambassador asked back in an angered tone. I chuckled and shook my head. ¡°Of course not. As I mentioned earlier, the issue is that your motives are too in for everyone to see. Hm. In terms of political moves, I guess you could say that itcks grace.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In the first ce, Sardinia and Batavia will not stay still if a proposal like this is made. They will go on an offensive against our nation¡¯s merchants. I am certain that a war of tariffs will take ce. I believe that that would not be a good situation for your nation either. Am I correct?¡± The ambassador mmed his ss down on the table. ¡°We warriors are not afraid of confrontations! Be it duels ormerce, tens of thousands of braindead Sardinians and wimpy Batavians are not enough to scare us.¡± His confidence was good, but confidence must have its roots in reason. A nation instantly bes a group of failures when they allow confidence based on emotions to get involved in their national politics. This is because, if a policy fails, they don¡¯t ept the failure rationally, but they instead try to analyze it from an emotional perspective. Why did they lose to a rival nation? Because their bravery as warriors wascking. Because their loyalty to their nation wascking. Or because the other nation resorted to underhanded means¡­¡­. This wouldn¡¯t solve anything. They would end up only emphasizing pointless things like bravery and loyalty. Emotions must only be used when trying to incite the masses. You must maintain a rational mindset when dealing with policies. ¡°Ambassador, would a method that allows you to win without shedding any blood not be the best n?¡± ¡°I did not know you were a tactician, Count Ptine. Do you perhaps have an ingenious solution?¡± I grinned. ¡°I heard that monsters are the biggest inconvenience when sailing the sea.¡± ¡°Hm? Yes, that is indeed the case, but¡­¡­.¡± The ambassador gave a vague response. There are numerous monsters in the water. They¡¯re a big threat to merchants. However, he couldn¡¯t honestly say something like, ¡®Yes, monsters are an annoying obstacle when doing trade on the sea and I wish they were all eradicated¡¯ while in front of a Demon Lord. ¡°As you know, we are able to control monsters to a fair degree. If you think about it¡­¡­it would be possible to make them not attack ¡®specific merchant ships¡¯.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The ambassador froze. A curtain of silence fell over us for a moment. The ambassador seemed to shake himself out of his stupor from the pressure of the silence. ¡°C-Count Ptine, what do you mean by that?¡± ¡°We wish to trade with all nations. In order to prove our intent, we are nning to put a number of thewless monsters of the sea under ourmand. Of course, it would be difficult to control all of them from the beginning.¡± I slowly filled the ambassador¡¯s now empty ss with brandy. ¡°The Empire¡¯s n is as follows: we will sell a marking that monsters can easily recognize. Like a fragrant substance you can apply to the sides of your ships. Well, there are several methods we can use.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As a means to test this idea, we n on selling this marking to a specific nation first.¡± The ambassador raised his ss and drank its contents in a single gulp. He couldn¡¯t hide the excitement on his face. ¡°In other words, you will prioritize giving those marks¡­¡­to the merchant vessels registered under our union?¡± ¡°Correct. However, that is not the correct way to put it. This is not out of the Empire¡¯s consideration. This is your nation participating in our dangerous experiment.¡± I smiled broadly. ¡°Ambassador, let us say that this experiment is sessful. There are numerous free cities throughout the continent. Commerce and the shipping industry make up most of the industries. What if they were to realize that ¡®you do not have to worry about being attacked on the sea if you register under the Union State of Kalmar¡¯? ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The ambassador¡¯s mouth fell open in utter shock. That¡¯s right. This won¡¯t stop with the protection of Kalmar ships. This would give people a huge incentive to partner with Kalmar over Batavia and Sardinia. Kalmar would gain a benefit that other nations couldn¡¯t possibly imitate. ¡°Batavia and Sardinia will also be unable to condemn you publicly. Your nation simply went along with our Empire¡¯s experimental policy. The most they can do is stare at your nation with envious eyes.¡± The ambassador gulped. ¡°How much will you sell that mark for?¡± ¡°It will be better the more expensive they are. This is for your nation¡¯s sake, Ambassador.¡± The ambassador furrowed his brow. ¡°¡­¡­My apologies, but I do not understand. Why would it be good for us if they are expensive?¡± ¡°If they are cheap, then we will fall under the suspicion of colluding in secret. On the other hand, if they are just expensive enough to be considered a bit exorbitant, then people will assume your nation foolishly invested arge sum in marks that have not been verified. In other words, you took a huge risk¡­¡­.¡± Kalmar would be taking a huge risk for this venture. This would make it even harder for Sardinia and Batavia from condemning them. There would be no formal condemnation or dispute. They would only be profiting. All Kalmar had to do was reap the profits while not having to lift a finger. ¡°Ambassador, no matter how expensive they are, it would be a cheap pricepared to what you will earn from the free cities. Furthermore, you can also resell the marks you purchased from us. For an appropriate price, that is.¡± ¡°Y-You will let us resell them?¡± The ambassador ultimately lost hisposure. His tone and expression had fallen apart. ¡°There are many things in the world that are prohibited officially but are still done unofficially.¡± ¡°T-This is not something that I can decide on my own. I must send a report to my country immediately.¡± ¡°Of course. But do not take too much time, Ambassador.¡± I spoke casually. ¡°We could give the same offer to Batavia or Sardinia.¡± That was the decisive blow. The Union State of Kalmar sent us their response the very next morning. The Union State promised the Habsburg Empire their full support as long as they were given the right to monopolize a certain marking. Kalmar was given the right to monopolize the purchase for 11 years. I thus obtained another supporter at the price of selling a product for a rather expensive price. Ivar was in awe once she heard about how this negotiation concluded. ¡°This is spectacr. They are not simply buying something from us, but they are begging to purchase something at a price that is advantageous for us. I did not know Your Highness was good at business as well.¡± ¡°I have a good teacher.¡± Like a certain subus with pink hair. We silently clinked our wine sses together. ¡ª Score 4:2. * * * The Kingdom of Teuton and the Union State of Kalmar supported the Empire. Although the details weren¡¯t revealed, the fact that their support was announced was enough to change the mood. The Empire had acquired the support of two nations in less than 15 days. The Empire¡¯s diplomatic power was clearly out of the ordinary. The other delegates were surprised and also curious. ¨C What kind of conditions were those nations offered to make them give their support so quickly? They started to look forward to seeing what the Empire would offer them. As a result, the diplomatic battle that had been proceeding at a disadvantage for the Republic had arrived at its climax. All of the delegates put a pause on the secret negotiations they were doing with the Republic. They were making it clear that they didn¡¯t want to negotiate until they heard the Empire¡¯s offer first. Because of this, the Republic¡¯s ambassador ran around and offered all sorts of conditions in order to meet the ambassadors of other nations, but they were all adamant. The nations that were famous for theirmerce were especially interested in the Empire¡¯s actions. ¡°Better conditions than the ones offered to Kalmar!¡± ¡°Allow us to step on Anatolia more firmly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We have to do whatever we can to get a good proposal from the Empire.¡± An out-of-season diplomatic battle was in full drive. The culprit who stoked the fires of this deless war was naturally the Empire¡¯s Count Ptine, Dantalian. As the diplomatic battle continued to progress, people started to refer to this ¡®Demon Lord¡¯ with another nickname Winter King (Rex Hyemis) Dantalian. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing much to say this chapter. More politics. I¡¯m still tranting a Chinese game and suffering. Life goes on. My birthday is this Saturday, so I might be going out to hang out with friends. I¡¯m not really sure yet. If the next chapteres out a bitte, then it¡¯s because of that. Uuuh, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 318: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (6) Chapter 318: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (6) * * * 15 days since the start of the diplomatic battle. Elizabeth finally made a move. ¡°The saintesses are condemning us?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. Their statement was announced just yesterday.¡± Ivar answered politely. ¡°The saintesses from the Temple of Poseidon and Ares have formally condemned the Habsburg Empire. They referred to the Empire as harlots who have forgotten their duty as humans and sold their bodies to demons.¡± ¡°I see. So they are using religion.¡± I was in awe. There was a reason why the ambassador that Elizabeth had dispatched felt so flimsy. Elizabeth never intended to win the diplomatic battle. She pulled out an entirely new card called religion to flip the ying field. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Once I came back to my senses, I saw that Ivar was giving me a weird look. ¡°Hm? Oh, yeah. Good work. You did great getting this information in only a day. You did well, Ivar.¡± ¡°That is not¡­¡­ Well, no, that was partially the reason, but.¡± I gently patted Ivar¡¯s head. Ivar squirmed under my touch as she blushed. How cute. I showed a fatherly smile as I pulled Ivar by her wrist. ¡®Ah¡¯, Ivar let out a small cry as she fell onto me. I held Ivar in my arms as I slid my fingers through Ivar¡¯s golden hair. ¡°Y-Your Highness, it is still the middle of the day¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Rest is needed every now and then. Is there something you want to ask me?¡± Ivar¡¯s face became redder once I whispered into her ear. Aah, Laura used to be innocent like this as well. Will Ivar also be blunt like Laura one day? ¡°Well¡­¡­ it is because Your Highness did not get as upset as this humble one expected¡­¡­. If anything, it is surprising because it feels as if you are happy because of this.¡± ¡°I see.¡± She was right. I was actually pleased when Ivar told me the news. It was like a wave of relief after watching your opponent make a move in a game of Go. ¡°It is because I knew that Consul Elizabeth would not leave things like this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness seems to hold the Republic¡¯s Consul in high regard.¡± ¡°She is a genius.¡± If history flowed by as it should have, then would she have been solidifying her position as Habsburg¡¯s next empress around this point? However, the Empire had copsed and Elizabeth was ced in an awkward role as a republic nation¡¯s consul. Life is a mystery. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar gave me a weird look again. The emotions in her purple eyes¡­¡­unease? Anxiousness and hesitation were mixed together. Once I tilted my head, Ivar mumbled in a tiny voice. ¡°¡­¡­T-To me, Your Highness is more impressive.¡± Ivar then turned away. It was like she was trying to run away because of how embarrassing her words were. Thump, my heart skipped a beat. Adorable! What is this adorable creature? Is she an assassination tool that Elizabeth made in secret to kill Demon Lords? I was bewildered by a real heroine¡¯s destructive power. A cuteness that was almost criminal was here before me. ¡®Kuh.¡¯ I wanted to embrace Ivar right this moment, but I held myself back. If she ends up like Laura because I slept with her too much, then I would only be filled with despair. I was too indifferent when I was going out with Laura. I didn¡¯t consider what a girl¡¯s dream could be. I should¡¯ve approached her in a softer and fluffier way like a lover. And yet, all we did was have sex. Sex in the morning, sex after lunch, and sex before bed. Because of this, Laura denounced me saying, ¡®Men are all animals, and Your Lordship is the biggest animal in heat out of all of them.¡¯ There are no dreams or hope. Thus, I decided to lightly kiss Ivar¡¯s forehead here. ¡°To me, you are also the most beautiful.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Ivar¡¯s face became red like a boiling pot. How cute. I want to eat her up, but I can¡¯t. Like leaving the meat forst when eating a bowl of curry, I left Ivar Lodbrok alone today as well. ¡°How have the other countries responded?¡± ¡°T-They seemed surprised by the sudden announcement. The delegates seem like they are not nning to move until they receive orders from their home nations. There are still a lot of delegates who are not aware of the announcement as well.¡± ¡°We should tell them ourselves.¡± Giving them information would put them further in debt to us. It¡¯s important to gradually build up this debt. ¡°This is negative information for us. Would it not be better to tell them aste as possible?¡± ¡°It is because it is negative that we must be the ones to tell them. If we honestly tell them about something that puts us in a negative light, then that would contrarily make them trust us more.¡± Everyone will find out by tomorrow anyway. In that case, it would be better to tell them and build some trust. This was the clear difference in viewpoint between Ivar, a merchant, and me, a politician. ¡°Now then, shall I meet the ambassadors? They must have not expected the saintesses would get involved either. They must be anxious to speak with us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Huh. Ivar was making a weird face again, but this time, I really didn¡¯t understand why she was making that face. I could easily check her current thoughts through her status window, but I¡¯ve been trying to rely less on the status windowstely. The status window was too convenient. There was a risk that I might growzy when observing others because of it. I wanted to figure out what was on people¡¯s minds through my eyes and instincts if possible as long as it wasn¡¯t something incredibly important. This was also my way to prevent my political side from growing rusty. Ivar let out a sigh. ¡°As I thought, she was lying.¡± ¡°She?¡± I didn¡¯t expect those words at all. ¡°I am talking about Head Maid Daisy. Normally, it would be impertinent to talk badly about one¡¯s superior, but please allow this one instance of discourtesy. She had audaciously stated that Your Highness had inserted a slime inside of her!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± That sly Daisy. ¡°Furthermore, she even imed that that slime is connected to a masturbation device that her brother uses. In other words, she ndered Your Highness by saying that you were forcing her to incestuous intercourse with her brother through a proxy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What baseless nder.¡± ¡°Truly. What kind of pervert would pursue such a goal? I am sure all of that was a fantasy that the Head Maid made up herself.¡± Ivar let out a mocking snort. ¡°Your Highness, I have been wanting to ask you this, but why did you take such a human in as your adopted child? She is a child who is vulgar and perverted by birth.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I pitied Daisy because her vige was caught up in the mes of war. Of course.¡± Referentially, I was the one who burned that vige. ¡°Your Highness has a somewhat soft tendency to her. You cannot overlook her outrageous behavior all the time simply because she is your adopted daughter. I advise that, as much as she is still young, she should first be properly educated about the concept of sex.¡± ¡°You are right. Sex education is important.¡± I¡¯m the one who forced that education on her. This is really stabbing at my conscience¡­¡­. I was constantly being moved by Ivar¡¯s maiden-like demeanor, but now it was so blinding that I couldn¡¯t bear to open my eyes before it. ¡°In that regard, Ivar. Go and call Daisy here. I will start teaching her immediately.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± ¡°Oh, could you also go see the ambassadors in my stead? They know that you are my maid, so you should be more than enough to take the role of my messenger.¡± Ivar told me to leave it to her as she left the room. That day, Daisy¡¯s pained moans echoed through my room endlessly. * * * The situation got worse. Once the next day arrived, Hestia¡¯s saintess made the same announcement as well. They dered that the Habsburg Empire was subordinate to the Demon Lord Army and imed that going along with this nation¡¯s antics would be like handing the continent over to the demons. There was currently a total of three saintesses who were backing this deration. The saintesses of Poseidon, Ares, and Hestia. Poseidon is the state religion of Sardinia, Ares the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Hestia the Kingdom of Moscow. The Kingdom of Sardinia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth supported Elizabeth from the very beginning. Therefore, with the inclusion of Moscow¡¯s Hestia, Elizabeth gained another ally. Therefore, the score is now 4:3. I smiled bitterly. ¡°I am doing a diplomatic battle while Elizabeth is doing a religious battle.¡± There were no des, but this was still a fierce battlefield. The separation of church and state is done rather thoroughly throughout the continent, but saintesses are the people¡¯s icons. If saintesses step forward and condemn something, then the people will follow suit. Bureaucrats with strong senses of devotion will also do the same. Their influence will quickly exceed that of politics. The ce I went to in face of this situation was probably a little unexpected. ¡°You wish to meet our nation¡¯s saintess?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± The Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s delegate. It was the ambassador of the nation who was probably having the least fun during this diplomatic battle. Queen Henrietta most likely wants to take the Republic¡¯s side, but she couldn¡¯t in order to maintain her nation¡¯s safety. I¡¯m sure that she must be feeling happy because of the saintesses rising up. ¡°This is not something that I can decide on my own. I will have to ask Her Highness the Queen.¡± ¡°This is an urgent matter. I ask of you to hurry.¡± The delegate seemed doubtful as he connected me to their queen. I entered a private room and used Brittany¡¯s magic orb. A foggy curtain filled the orb before Henrietta¡¯s appearance was shown. She must¡¯ve been in the middle of doing office work as there were mountains of documents on her desk. I smiled. ¡°Have you been doing well, Your Highness?¡± ¡°I have been cursing you every day.¡± A corner of Henrietta¡¯s mouth twitched. Surprisingly, there were bags under her eyes. ¡°Oh? It seems that you are tired.¡± ¡°It is because a certain Demon Lord caused a division throughout my lovely kingdom. Our nobles have been stirring some trouble. Thanks to that, I have been having a great time.¡± ¡°What a terrible fellow.¡± Iughed. Queen Henrietta turned her body to me and crossed her legs. This was my first time seeing Henrietta in casual clothes and not a military uniform. Her purple dress focused on simplicity andfort, so it looked refreshing. It suited Henrietta really well. ¡°I heard that you were promoted to count ptine. Congrattions. Well, I wonder if something like that has any meaning to you.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. It is all thanks to Your Highness.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It makes me angry because that actually sounds true. I genuinely hope that you will fall to hell.¡± I was promoted for defeating Henrietta. Henrietta said that after figuring out the meaning behind my words. Iughed again. Was she not an interesting queen? ¡°What business do you have with me? Do not tell me you threatened our nation¡¯s delegate simply to make fun of me.¡± ¡°The Consul of Habsburg is pushing the saintesses forward.¡± I changed to a serious tone. ¡°I would more than dly ept a fight between political schemes, but I cannot do much when religion gets involved. Unfortunately, I have little connections with the religious world.¡± ¡°That is a statement that would astound Priest Jean Bole.¡± Henrietta scoffed. ¡°So?¡± ¡°I would like to speak with your nation¡¯s Saintess Longwy.¡± Saintess Jacqueline Longwy. She¡¯s a priest of the Goddess Athena and the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s guardian. During the previous war, she was captured by our army after trying to defend Parisiorum until the very end and was returned to Brittany as a condition for the ceasefire agreement. Henrietta furrowed her brows. ¡°¡­¡­What are you nning, Dantalian?¡± ¡°Do not worry. I simply wish to be a little considerate.¡± I smiled broadly. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, my birthday passed. Uh, it was pretty uneventful. I was supposed to meet with friends, but one of our friends suddenly stopped responding to messages and answering calls since Tuesday. so we¡¯re trying to figure out what happened. Hopefully, nothing happened and he¡¯s just dealing with personal matters. Uh, nothing else to really mention, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 319: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (7) Chapter 319: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (7) * * * ¡®How calm.¡¯ Elizabeth muttered to herself in her mind as she closed her eyes. There was a darkndscape in her mind. Within this space of endless darkness, only Elizabeth was seated in a chair. In front of her was an imaginary chessboard. In her mind, the chessboard represented the continent. Each piece represented something. asionally, they represented money, the saintesses, and the rulers of all countries. The ck side¡¯s king represented Elizabeth herself. On the other hand, the white side¡¯s king¡­¡­naturally represented Dantalian. Elizabeth would sometimes immerse herself in these sorts of mental images in order to organize her thoughts. A faint smile appeared on her lips. ¡®It has been a while since my mind felt this much at peace.¡¯ It almost felt like she had returned to her childhood. During that time, she was confident that she could turn the continent into a chessboard whenever she wanted. She was confident. Every day was radiant like they were being lit up by the summer sun. Even if there was a sweltering and harsh mist wrapped around her life, that was something one would be fated to shoulder if one wanted to grow up while embracing the sun. ¡®It truly has been a while.¡¯ The difference now was the fact that her vigorous excitement was gone and reced by a calm silence. ¡®No nightmares either.¡¯ Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes. She faced her imaginary scenery. In front of her was a curtain of pure darkness. There was a chair on the other side as well, however, the person sitting on that chair was colored in a ck that was darker than their surroundings, so only their outline could barely be perceived. ¡°¡ª¡ª.¡± It had begun. A clear right arm came forward from the side of darkness. The boney hand grabbed a piece and, ¡®thud¡¯, advanced it on the chessboard. ¡®Bribing delegates with money, is it?¡¯ Elizabeth stared at the table with emotionless eyes. ¡®¡­¡­A difficult move to respond to.¡¯ Her Republic was not wealthy. Nor did they have enough bribes that they could use in a diplomatic battle. Elizabeth moved her piece in response, but she could already tell that the ck army was being pushed back by the white army. ¡®He has always been like this. Dantalian makes sure to thoroughly attack his opponent¡¯s weak point.¡¯ Elizabeth had reviewed and analyzed her opponent¡¯s past actions tens of hundreds of times. The battle in the ck Mountains, the Holy War, Frankia¡¯s civil war, and the Lily War. It was thanks to this that Elizabeth was able to make out Dantalian¡¯s faint outline. ¡®Looking at this from another angle, it means he will not attack if his opponent¡¯s weakness seems vague¡­¡­.¡¯ An arm came out from the darkness again. It moved a piece and captured one of her soldiers. Elizabeth felt a cold sweat forming on her forehead. ¡®¡­¡­He¡¯s fast.¡¯ Teuton and Kalmar fell within less than half a month since the diplomatic battle had started. This was way too fast. ¡®Three days to capture the mountain fortress on the ck Mountains, seven days to conquer Brandenburg, and it only took ten days for them to make Parisiorum fall.¡¯ Everything sped up abnormally whenever Dantalian took the lead. This fact bes more certain whenpared to the female general, Laura de Farnese, who is assumed to be Dantalian¡¯s subordinate. Heidelberg took eleven months to fall. This was way too long for someone like Dantalian who strongly preferred blitz tactics. Elizabeth knew long before the fortress fell that that wasn¡¯t Dantalian¡¯s n. ¡®His behavior is almost obsessive. You are always moving as if you are being chased by time.¡¯ Elizabeth¡¯s eyes glimmered darkly. ¡®¡­¡­Why?¡¯ Those who are chased by time are the weak and not the strong. During wars, the strong focus on safety and slowly pressure their enemies. There is no need for them to move urgently when they have an advantage. In this current situation, Dantalian was undoubtedly a part of the strong. Despite this, he carried out this diplomatic battle urgently. ¡®This is something he has to resolve quickly. There must be atent threat looming over the Empire or the Demon Lord Army. Thattent threat is probably something that will burst if he is unable to resolve this within this winter.¡¯ Elizabeth picked up a piece. ¡®Am I wrong¡ªO Demon Lord?¡¯ Thud, she ced down her heavy chess piece. She utilized the saintesses. That was what her move just now represented. If Dantalian is going to use his opponents¡¯ weaknesses, then there¡¯s no reason why she couldn¡¯t do the same. The Demon Lord Army doesn¡¯t have any religious figurehead they could use to go against saintesses. You could call this a great move. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Was he paralyzed by the unexpected surprise attack? The shadow covered in darkness stared at the chessboard wordlessly. There was no response for a while. The shadow¡¯s arm slowly moved. Elizabeth furrowed her brows at her opponent¡¯s next move. ¡®Saintess Longwy of Brittany.¡¯ Her opponent returned her surprise attack with an unexpected counterattack. Longwy criticized the other saintesses. She dered that the Gods do not discriminate between humans and demons and have always desired peace, and that, regardless of one¡¯s status, gender, and race, we are all equal servants to the Gods. ¡®Excellent.¡¯ Fighting saintesses with a saintess. It was a simple but effective move. The very fact that the saintesses have differing opinions should be enough to make the people restless. Which saintess is right? People will be made to think about the problem ande to their own conclusions. Now they will be unable to criticize the Empire one-sidedly. ¡®I am impressed that he somehow managed to persuade Henrietta.¡¯ Henrietta has gradually been losing support from the nobles. He must have taken advantage of that. ¡®Make Saintess Longwy gain the same amount of support from the masses as the amount lost by Henrietta. By doing so, if Saintess Longwy were to then support Henrietta again, that would ultimately restore the public sentiment she had lost by a considerable amount¡­¡­.¡¯ Elizabeth quickly scanned the chessboard. Where is it? With what method will you make the saintess popr? How did you persuade Henrietta? ¡®Frankia¡¯s central government and the southern cities.¡¯ Elizabeth¡¯s gaze fixated on a single spot. ¡®The mes of war are looming over these two factions. A negotiator to mediate between these two groups is required. Normally, the Habsburg Empire should have stepped in, but¡­¡­ he gave that opportunity to Saintess Longwy. Indeed. That is a splendid move.¡¯ Elizabeth smiled faintly. ¡®Compared to the northern region, the southern region of Frankia has a strong royalist undertone. They are not entirely hostile to Brittany. They would refuse if Henrietta offered to mediate, but it¡¯d be a different story if a saintess steps forward.¡¯ Saintesses are above any sort of national hatred and act as symbols of peace. Elizabeth reached a conclusion. ¡®Saintess Longwy has stepped forward in order to highlight this feature.¡¯ If things continue to proceed like this, then Saintess Longwy will gain a considerable amount of fame. First, Saintess Longwy dered for peace that goes beyond any sort of racial discrimination. Second, Saintess Longwy transcended the border between Brittany and Frankia and led them to peace. Third, Saintess Longwy had once been captured as a prisoner to the Demon Lord Army and she was also Brittany¡¯s saintess. Despite these things, she still sided with a peace policy that was advantageous for the Demon Lord Army and Frankia. With all of these things under her belt, anyone would believe that Saintess Longwy has a genuine love for peace. ¡®The birth of a true saintess, is it?¡¯ The Saintess will then assist Henrietta who was about to hit rock bottom. This was the scenario that Dantalian used to persuade Queen Henrietta and Saintess Longwy. ¡®A saintess created by a Demon Lord. To make matters worse, she was going to also be praised as the true saintess! Dantalian, is this your n? For how long do you intend to toy with humanity?¡¯ Elizabeth red at the dark shadow across from her. From her perspective, Dantalian was truly a person who was born to insult humans. He denied humanity¡¯s sacred bond as they came together to fight the Crescent Alliance, he slighted their great royal authority, and now this despicable Demon Lord was trying to sully their faith. Elizabeth tightened her grip on her chess piece. ¡®Things will not proceed as you desire this time.¡¯ Elizabeth had to honestly admit that pushing Saintess Longwy forward was an undeniably splendid move. However, she thought to herself. ¡®You have revealed your weakness, Demon Lord¡­¡­!¡¯ The Batavia Republic¡¯s Temple of Artemis was the ce that arranged Dantalian¡¯s fake name and priesthood as Jean Bole. This Demon Lord had a strangely close rtionship with Batavia. ¡®Batavia worked with them during thest war as well. Therefore, he does not have a normal close bond with Batavia. It should have been easier to make Batavia move rather than Brittany.¡¯ However, he didn¡¯t do that. Dantalian went out of his way to make Brittany his diplomatic partner. Why? The answer was simple. ¡®Dantalian, you had a falling out with Batavia!¡¯ With this, Elizabeth understood why Dantalian was in such a hurry during the diplomatic battle. Thetent threat that was looming over the Empire or the Demon Lord Army was none other than the Republic of Batavia. ¡®Normally, Batavia should have been the first ones to support you during this diplomatic battle. However, Batavia has maintained their neutrality.¡¯ Elizabeth went one step beyond this. The Batavia Republic had sent them a formal letter a while ago. It was a letter asking the Habsburg Republic to participate in a meeting to discuss republicanism that they were going to hold. At first, Elizabeth thought this was another one of the Demon Lord Army¡¯s heinous schemes. She suspected that they were trying to create a rift between the human republicans and royalists under the cause of republicanism. However, Dantalian¡¯s response led her to an entirely different conclusion. ¡®The republican meeting is going to cause the Demon Lord Army to be divided and not the humans. I do not know why, but, at the very least, this is what Dantalian had concluded.¡¯ Therefore. ¡®This means that the republican and the anti-republican groups within the Demon Lord Army have begun to quarrel.¡¯ A content smile appeared on Elizabeth¡¯s lips. She looked straight ahead. ¡®You do not possess the power to control the republicans of the Demon Lord Army. There is at least one faction within the Demon Lord Army that is against you. So, O Winter King, is this your weakness?¡¯ A silence that wasparable to death went by. The shadowy figure that had been covered in pitch darkness was gradually lit up. From the tips of his fingers to his wrists, his forearms, and eventually, his entire body, it all gradually became visible. The shadow receded and revealed the person seated on the other side. Demon Lord Dantalian. Elizabeth¡¯s sharp intuition told her that she had arrived at the right conclusion. She had finally seeded in overtaking Dantalian! ¡®I got you¡­¡­!¡¯ As long as she knew what her opponent is afraid of, there was no reason for Elizabeth to hesitate. The conclusion of the diplomatic battle didn¡¯t matter anymore. She¡¯ll just respond appropriately. And then, she¡¯ll pour everything she has into the republican representative meeting that¡¯s going to be held at the end of winter! It¡¯s there that she¡¯ll find a clue to defeat Dantalian. However, Elizabeth noticed something right as she was about to feel happy. ¡°¡­¡­?¡± There was one part of the other party¡¯s body that still had a dark shadow over it. It was his face. His face was pitch ck, so she couldn¡¯t discern what kind of expression he was making or what part of the chessboard he was staring at. ¡®¡­¡­Wait.¡¯ Elizabeth came to a realization. ¡®If he only wishes to give a friendly hand to the royalists, then there is no reason for him to go out of his way to get an overwhelming victory in this diplomatic battle.¡¯ Inviting the ambassadors and giving them a huge reception would have been enough. There was no reason for Dantalian to pursue a perfect victory like this. ¡®Is this situation not the only thing pressuring him¡­¡­?¡¯ Why are you in such a hurry? You definitely have an advantage right now. ¡®¡­¡­!¡¯ Elizabeth suddenly felt a current run through her spine. At that moment, her imagined scenario vanishedpletely. The chessboard disappeared and the shadow dispersed. Elizabeth urgently opened her eyes. The dark space was gone and was reced by her familiar office. Her quiet office. Elizabeth muttered to herself nkly. ¡°¡­¡­He thinks of himself as a part of the weak?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s been a while since we had a full-on Elizabeth POV. I wonder if this is the scene the Go scene in the LN took as a reference. Sorry about the dayte update. My editor/proofreader got injured the other day, so the chapter was finished a bitte. The next chapter shoulde out a day sooner, though. On another note, my friend turned out to be fine. I was right in thinking that he was just going through some personal troubles. I think he¡¯s fine now? Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 320: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (8) Chapter 320: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (8) * * * ¡°Thank you for your work yesterday, Saintess Longwy.¡± ¡°Please do not speak to me like we are friends.¡± The saintess with curly, scarlet hair, Jacqueline Longwy may have responded coldly, but she was feeling anxious on the inside. She was dispatched to this imperial capital from Brittany the other day. She gave speeches in the za and talked nobly about the continent¡¯s peace. The people¡¯s response was rather good, but Longwy¡¯s unease came from Dantalian who was seated across from her. Dantalian spoke. ¡°Did you not receive quite the enthusiastic response? That shows you how much the people want peace and how horrendous the current situation in the continent is. You should be proud since you are giving speeches in the people¡¯s stead.¡± ¡°You talk well for being the culprit who caused this horrendous situation to begin with¡­¡­.¡± Longwy stopped herself from thoughtlessly saying criticism. Dantalian was beaming brightly in front of her. The more she criticized someone, the more her self-worth diminished as she cooperated with that very person. In other words, she was spitting on her own face. This was probably why Dantalian was smiling, too. Longwy felt like a spider was crawling up her arm. ¡°Haa. I will take my leave.¡± She got up. She had visited Dantalian¡¯s estate under the pretext of discussing the future of demonkind and humankind. However, she didn¡¯t want to be here for even a second longer. ¡°Wait a moment, Saintess Longwy. It would be troubling if you were to leave already.¡± ¡°Do I not have the right to even leave this ce?¡± ¡°That is not what I am saying.¡± Dantalian smiled wryly as if he were troubled. ¡°You are here to have a discussion with me. At the very least, this is what the public has been told. In this situation, what do you think would happen if people saw that you left after only ten minutes? What kind of rumors do you think would start to spread?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The discussion went badly. It was an unpleasant meeting. These sorts of rumors would start to circte. It may be ufortable, but I ask that you endure for at least 2 hours.¡± Was he speaking the truth? Saintess Longwy carefully examined Dantalian¡¯s expression. It didn¡¯t look like he was lying. Saintess Longwy was displeased, but she sat back down anyway. She then turned away from Dantalian. ¡°Would you like some tea? I also have some wine.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is troubling.¡± Dantalian let out a small sigh. ¡°It does not matter if you hate me. If anything, I am d that you are being honest. However, regardless of our personal emotions, we will be working together from now on. Any form of cooperation will be impossible if you are not willing to converse with me.¡± Dantalian took out his pipe as he spoke. His tone made it sound like he was speaking down to a child. Saintess Longwy flew into anger as she snapped back. ¡°I am asking you to not speak to me as if we were friends. There is no reason for me to be friendly to you when discussing business.¡± ¡°But that is extremely inefficient.¡± Hoo, Dantalian took a deep puff from his pipe. ¡°I wonder how well business talks will go when even a simple greeting cannot be performed between the two parties. I would actually be surprised if there were no problems. Is this perhaps Brittany¡¯s way of forming bonds?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Saintess Jacqueline Longwy, I am currently seated here as the Count Ptine representing the Habsburg Empire. You are also in a simr position. Please shove your personal emotions in a dog¡¯s food bowl.¡± Saintess Longwy red daggers at Dantalian. ¡°You executed every single one of the soldiers I was leading. You showed no mercy to even the soldiers who had surrendered!¡± ¡°Are you saying that I am the one responsible for the deaths of your soldiers? How interesting.¡± Dantalian chuckled. ¡°Very well, then. Saintess Longwy, it is true that I let your soldiers die. However, you are an aplice.¡± Saintess Longwy¡¯s gaze became sharper, but Danatlian paid her no mind. ¡°The soldiers who stayed behind to defend Parisiorum consisted entirely of old soldiers and untrained soldiers. They would not havested long even if we had carried out a siege. Why did the Brittan army leave such flimsy soldiers to defend Parisiorum?¡± ¡°That¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Anyone could tell that you were throwing them away.¡± Dantalian continued firmly before Saintess Longwy could answer. ¡°A meat shield to stall for time while your queen ran away. They were nothing more and nothing less than this. Do not try to feign ignorance, Jacqueline Longwy. Those soldiers fell to their demise because your queen ordered it. Furthermore, you went along with this order¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You and the Queen cosigned an order that took the lives of four thousand soldiers. Am I wrong?¡± Longwy couldn¡¯t answer. A mockingugh hung low as it filled the reception room. ¡°Putting the me on someone else even though you were the ones who sacrificed your men. You have quite the nerve. I am jealous. How did a human like you be a saintess? Was there perhaps a mix-up?¡± ¡°W-What would a Demon Lord like you¡­¡­!¡± The Saintess¡¯ shoulders shook in anger. The ends of Dantalian¡¯s mouth raised up. ¡°You would have never be a saintess if you were in our empire. Rather than a temple, you are far more suited to work in a brothel.¡± p, a sharp sound resonated throughout the air. The Saintess couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and had pped Dantalian¡¯s right cheek. Her eyes were teary and her face was contorted with anger. ¡°I know, I know better than anyone else that I am no better than trash! However, at the very least, you of all people do not have the right to mock me!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No one, there is not a single soul out there who is wicked enough to be mocked by you!¡± Dantalian stared at the Saintess silently. He then prudently nodded his head after a while. ¡°Yes. You are right about that.¡± Dantalian admitted it so tly and without any hesitation that the Saintess was the one who ended up perplexed. Toward the Saintess who furrowed her brows because she didn¡¯t know what sort of expression to make, Dantalian spoke calmly in an emotionless tone. ¡°Allow me to ask you something out of pure curiosity, then. Does that not also mean that you do not have the right to disregard and belittle me?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Well, humans areplicated beings. Emotions are such a confusing and profound concept that there are bound to be moments where you are unable to control them rationally.¡± Dantalian shrugged. ¡°Let us return to the topic of business. A month from now, an event will be held in Batavia. There is something you and I must do there.¡± ¡°Does¡­¡­ it not bother you?¡± Saintess Longwy just had to ask. ¡°How could you be so carefree despite knowing the wrongness of all your actions¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Saintess Jacqueline Longwy.¡± Dantalian smiled. ¡°Please refrain from personal questions. That is also a domain which you should not be putting your foot in.¡± * * * The winter diplomatic battle came to an end with the Empire¡¯splete victory. While the saintesses were divided and busy arguing with each other, I hastily went around and became allies with various nations. In the end, out of the twelve nations of the continent, eight of them supported the Habsburg Empire while four supported the Habsburg Republic. It should be fine to call this andslide victory. Once the short but intense diplomatic battle ended after about a month¡¯s time, the republican representative meeting was held in Batavia almost immediately after. I headed to the capital city of Batavia, Amstel, with a more rxed mindset. The Republic Government House. There was a garden here hidden from humans. Once I made my way there, sure enough, I found Paimon seated in a white chair. She most likely felt my approach. Regardless, Paimon didn¡¯t turn to look at me. ¡°Paimon. It is still not toote. This is your final chance.¡± Paimon didn¡¯t answer. ¡°The Habsburg Empire has formed an alliance with multiple nations. Even if you talk about republicanism now, these nations will not be hostile to our Empire and will instead cooperate with us. The ins Faction¡¯s Empire will not be isted even if you start an uprising now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± No response again. Is that so? Have you fully resolved yourself now¡­¡­? I closed my eyes tightly for a moment before opening them again. ¡°I will be participating in this conference as the Empire¡¯s representative. I do not intend to stand by idly as the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction fight. I will warn you now, Paimon. Do not expect things to proceed as you want them to.¡± This was probably the end. Right as I was about to leave the garden after turning around, Paimon spoke out to me. ¡°Dantalian, the Habsburg Republic will also be participating.¡± ¡°¡­¡­So what? Do you think the amateur delegates from the Republic can do something to me?¡± ¡°It might be possible if it is the person you have always referred to as being a genius.¡± I stopped in my tracks. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Elizabeth von Habsburg, she notified us that she will be attending as the Republic¡¯s representative. Although it will only be for two days.¡± My body had frozen solid. ¡°That is ridiculous. Why would a nation¡¯s ruler¡­¡­. Paimon, did you tell the Consul the reason behind this conference!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I did not tell anyone. Except for you.¡± I immediately opened Paimon¡¯s status window and checked her mental state. It was true. She wasn¡¯t lying. Did Elizabeth figure out what was going on behind the scenes of the conference on her own? That¡¯s ridiculous! Something like that is impossible. Even the ins Faction isn¡¯t taking this meeting seriously. Hold a meeting if you want, that was the general consensus among them. No one could¡¯ve leaked the information to Elizabeth¡­¡­. Did she notice that a divide was forming on our side? No way. Something like that hasn¡¯t been disyed publicly yet. Nor has anything urred. We are getting along well under the banner of the Habsburg Empire¡­¡­. ¡­¡­I see. The Habsburg Empire wasn¡¯t the problem, it was the Batavia Republic. The Batavia Republic ultimately supported the Habsburg Empire, but it was done a littlete. Before that point, I had used Brittany¡¯s saintess and not Batavia¡¯s. Did she notice that this was a sign of our divide¡­¡­? A chill went through my entire body. It was only a single misstep. A trivial misstep that no one in the world should¡¯ve noticed. That one gap was enough for Elizabeth to see through us. No, she saw through us because she¡¯s Elizabeth¡­¡­. Nheless, there was no time to be wavering. If anything, this was a good thing. She may be a terrifying individual, but it wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t have any countermeasures. ¡°Very well, then. I wish you good health.¡± I said my farewell to Paimon before leaving the building. This city was probably being protected intensively right now. The security will most likely be stricter than any other time since another nation¡¯s ruler was going to be participating. Although I want to use this opportunity of Elizabething here of her own volition to assassinate her, Batavia is, unfortunately, being uncooperative at the moment. I guess assassination is off the table for now. In that case, I have to find a different method¡­¡­. Elizabeth von Habsburg. I am sure that we will face each other. This was going to be different from the speeches on Bruno ins. I was aware of Elizabeth at that time, but she wasn¡¯t aware of me. Now we are aware of each other. This won¡¯t be easy¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Another Dantalian and Elizabeth confrontation soon? Well, I guess it was sort of expected with how Elizabeth¡¯s chapter ended. In any case, I¡¯m back to suffering at work. I still have more Chinese stuff to do, but now there are no more holidays until next year. This is going to be a great 3 months¡­ End my suffering. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 321: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (9) Chapter 321: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (9) * * * Individuals whom you could say were the cream of the crop of their respective countries arrived in the city in droves. For the past four years, there has been arge-scale uprising of republicanism with the wealthy cities at the center. Nearly twenty free cities had popped up as a result. Free cities that recently had their autonomy guaranteed, cities that had been secretly supporting republicanism, and areas where the lords had a personal interest in republicanism¡ªambassadors were dispatched from a total of seventy ces. There was no instance of an ambassador arriving alone. Every faction made sure to make a fancy-looking ambassador group in order to overstate their power. There was probably only a small minority of people who could smile bitterly at this. ¡°Ivar, look at them.¡± I was seated on a terrace attached to an estate that we were borrowing temporarily. The estate was located in the center of the city, so we had a clear view of the road. Currently, the ambassadors from the were marching down the street while loudly ying music. ¡°Those are the individuals who have risen up to secure the rights of the people. It seems ¡®the people¡¯ they are talking about only consist of wealthy individuals.¡± ¡°My apologies, Your Highness, but those without military power cannot obtain autonomy.¡± Ivar was standing next to me in a maid outfit. ¡°A city¡¯s military power is determined by whether they are able to hire and maintain mercenaries. It would be illogical to say that a city without money could be autonomous. It is only natural that the wealthy would take key positions in cities.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­¡­.¡± I fiddled with my pipe. ¡°In the end, only the rich cities were able to rise up. But, Ivar, do you not think that it is actually the poor who truly need freedom?¡± ¡°This humble one thinks differently.¡± The vampire girl who had pledged her loyalty to me but still voiced her opinion without hesitation continued. ¡°The poor do not have an eternal or static interest in their nation. It would be unreasonable to give these individuals the right to vote on how a nation is ruled.¡± ¡°An outlook that truly suits you.¡± I chuckled. Ivar¡¯s statement was probably the mostmon opinion among republicans right now. People should be given the right to vote who they want into their nation¡¯s parliament. However, giving everyone the right to vote would be illogical. This is because the amount that individuals contribute to their city is different from person to person. Wealthy people pay much more taxes inparison to the poor. Mercenaries are hired with that tax money. Cities are able to protect their people thanks to their armies. It was only natural for the rich to have a stronger right to vote since they contributed more to the protection of their cities. That was their reasoning. The right to vote shouldn¡¯t be given to some poor farmers. Furthermore, ves who didn¡¯t pay even a coin of tax to the city were further out of the question. ¡°Ivar, there is a rotten smelling from somewhere. It is the smell of contradiction. Am I the only one who can smell this rancid smelling from that parade?¡± I jeered. ¡°The people who need a meal the most are none other than the hungry. People who are full do not require more food. Simrly, the people who desperately need freedom more than anyone else are none other than the ves. But what is this? The so-called people crying out for the freedom of the people are saying that ves should not be given freedom and should actually be forbidden from receiving any.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Ivar lowered her head for a moment as she thought to herself. ¡°But, Your Highness, would it not be unfair to equally give freedom to those who do not contribute or make very little contributions to society?¡± ¡°Many people seem to make this misunderstanding. The im that they are not making contributions is incorrect. They have nothing to contribute would be the more urate statement.¡± Let¡¯s say that a wealthy person has 1000 wealth while a poor person has only 10 wealth. If a city is threatened, then the wealthy person would dly pay an additional 10 in taxes. However, even if the world were ending, the poor person wouldn¡¯t be able to offer 10. They would only be able to offer 1. ¡°¡­¡­But the rich worked hard to increase their wealth to the thousands.¡± Ivar refuted after hearing myparison. ¡°On the other hand, the poor remainedzy and wasted their time even if they could have worked hard. Of course, there are people who are born with missing limbs and people who are unable to work hard even if they wanted to. Naturally, those people should be helped at a medical relief station.¡± She lost her entire family when she was little and built the greatest merchant firm in the demon world with her own two hands. It was because of this that Ivar Lodbrok could say these words with the utmost certainty. ¡°Excluding those cases, the poverty of the poor almost entirelyes fromziness.¡± I see. This is it. This is the decisive part that makes Ivar different from Laura. Thus it can¡¯t be helped that the reason why Laura loves me is different from why Ivar loves me. A forlorn feeling came over me as I unconsciously lowered my voice. ¡°Ivar, if your life was fated to end after only fifty years, then you would not have been able to create Keuncuska. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°You were able to seed like this because you were born a vampire. But let me ask you this. Were you born a vampire because you wanted to be?¡± Ivar shook her head. ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°Let me ask something else. Were the rich born rich because they wanted to be? And were the poor born poor because they wanted to be?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is also not the case.¡± I let out a puff of smoke from my pipe. The smoke drifted faintly through the winter sky that was as white as cellophane. ¡°Ivar, does that not mean that everything is the same? Do you think I was born as Dantalian because I wanted to be? Do you think people becamezy because they wanted to and people had earnest personalities because they wanted it?¡± I fell into this world and became a Demon Lord against my will. It¡¯s because of this that I can say these words with the utmost certainty. ¡°We were tossed out since the moment we were born. We are all the same in the fact that whether you are born with no limbs or as azy person, all of this is determined from the moment you are born.¡± ¡°¡­¡­This humble one has to disagree. Everyone has free will.¡± I simply smiled. Ivar, the reason you fell in love with me was not because of your free will. I manipted you. I tricked you. There is nothing about your feelings toward me that is ¡®free¡¯. You simply think it is. I didn¡¯t intend on revealing this, and I probably never will. ¡°Well, we are politicians, not philosophers. Let us discuss a more practical issue. You said that it would be unfair to give the poor and ves the right to vote, but there is actually a way to fairly give everyone the right to vote.¡± Ivar tilted her head. ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°It is simple: war.¡± I shrugged my shoulders jokingly. ¡°The lower-ss people can act as a militia when wars break out. They would then risk their lives to protect their cities. The value of a person¡¯s life easily goes beyond a thousand gold. Therefore, the people will be more equal as more and more wars ur.¡± ¡°As more and more wars ur¡­¡­.¡± Ivar must have been stunned. ¡°A great war will most likely be necessary for republicanism to truly take hold in the continent. The Crescent Alliance war is far toocking. A war where people only die in the thousands is not enough. A war where tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands die off with ease is required.¡± ¡°That¡­¡­would be a cmity. No one wants a cmity like that.¡± I nodded. I could never tell Paimon this. Fundamentally, Paimon became a republican because she hated the Crescent Alliance wars. Start a massive war for the sake of an equal society? She would probably get upset and call it hypocritical. Ivar looked at me with shock. ¡°Do not tell me, Your highness. Then was that the reason you started the Crescent Alliance and Puppet War¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Haha.¡± Iughed. ¡°I was simply tossing that idea out. If someone cries out for equality, then that is because they love everyone equally. There is no way that someone who loves people would start a war. That would be contradicting yourself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No one would do something like that.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything more as I lowered my gaze to the za. The weather wasn¡¯t that cold today despite the winter season, so a lot of civilians hade out to watch the ambassador groups. ¡°But they are still foolish. Putting on such a show will only give the opposite of their desired effect. They may be able to show off their power, but they will be unable to genuinely impress the masses. If, among the people participating in the meeting, there is someone who is genuinely impressive, then they will contrarily disy a neat and tidy procession.¡± With that, our conversation came to an end. The representatives of each faction arrived at the city one at a time for 15 days. A day before the meeting, there was a group that disyed a procession that appeared vastly poorer than all the processions before it. Normally, the groups had at least 50 and at most 200 members. However, this group only had about 10 people. There was nothing luxurious about their appearances either. They were at the level of a somewhat well-off farmer who dressed well. The g they were carrying was red with a white eagle in the center. It was the g of the Habsburg Republic. A silver-haired woman wearing a military uniform was walking in the lead. At first, the people gathered in the za mocked them for having such a poor appearance. There were even some people who ridiculed them in loud voices. However, once they found out that the person at the lead was the Consul of the Habsburg Republic, a bizarre silence fell over the street. ¡°Glory to the Republic!¡± Someone shouted. That opened the floodgates. The civilians weed the Habsburg Republic¡¯s ambassador group with cheers. The apuse didn¡¯t end until Elizabeth entered the Government House. Even after she was gone, groups of people gathered together to talk about the procession they had just witnessed. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I watched them from the terrace while drinking wine. ¡®Glory to the Republic¡¯, was quite the appropriate phrase. Not only did it refer to the Habsburg Republic, but it also referred to the Batavia Republic. This probably made it easier for the people here to join in. Thus, there was a very high chance that Elizabeth had nted someone in the crowd. ¡°Truly, what an absurd woman.¡± I could only smile wryly. * * * The first day of the representative meeting went by calmly. I guess you could say it was a day of introductions. The big shots of the continent were gathered in the banquet hall and chatting happily. I attended the meeting with Saintess Longwy as my partner. Saintess Longwy wasn¡¯t very happy about this arrangement. ¡°To think I would go to a banquet with you¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡°This is also for Brittany¡¯s sake. Please endure it.¡± ¡°I am aware!¡± Longwy gnashed her teeth. ¡°You do not have to remind me every single time. Aah, O Pas Athena. Please do not forgive this lowly servant of yours¡­¡­.¡± She prayed to her goddess in a despair-filled tone throughout the entire carriage ride. I discovered this after being in the same estate as her for a few days, but this human isn¡¯t exactly right in the head either. We received a ratherrge reaction the moment we arrived. A Demon Lord and Saintess had shown up as partners. It was only natural that they would start doubting their eyes after seeing a pair that should¡¯ve been impossible. When people approached us and asked in a roundabout way why we were together, Saintess Longwy disyed her usual perfect smile and answered them. ¡°I heard that this function will not discriminate between humans and demons. For the sake of peace between races, I asked Count Ptine Dantalian toe with me. The Count Ptine dly epted my request, so that is how we are here today.¡± Naturally, people showered praises on the Saintess¡¯ blessed piety. I modestly looked around as I responded to the people gathered around us. I was obviously looking for Elizabeth. It was when I had turned my gaze to the other side of the banquet hall. I felt a gaze that was practically pulling me in. There was a silver-haired girl standing there with a ss cup in one hand. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Oh, Dantalian and Elizabeth are about to meet in person. This is getting exciting. I¡¯ve been pretty dead this week. I¡¯m still working on that Chinese game and it¡¯s killing me with how repetitive it is. Just let me be done with this already. PLEASE. Well, at least the weekend is here and I can take a break. Time to enjoy my precious weekend. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 322: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (10) Chapter 322: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (10) ¡°Pardon me for a moment.¡± I excused myself from the Saintess and walked away. It might have been a misunderstanding, but it felt like the young, silver-haired noblewoman had turned her body to me the instant I raised my foot. I immediately realized it wasn¡¯t a misunderstanding after I took my first step. The other party wasing this way. People¡¯s gazes focused on us. Normally, your steps would grow heavier when this happens, but I strangely felt lighthearted. I was like a skilled actor stepping out on stage with urate steps while perceiving the audience¡¯s gaze and immersing myself in my role. That¡¯s right. At this moment, I felt more certainty than I had ever felt before swelling up in my chest. I wasn¡¯t exaggerating. My steps have never had such a clear direction before. All of the steps you take on a road may look clear, but they are actually vague and filled with nothing but a chaotic sense of direction¡ªthis kind of ambiguousness didn¡¯t exist in me at all. Now then, let¡¯s ask myself a question. What other direction could I possibly go right now except toward her? It was a weird feeling. I always considereding to this world a curse. However, if I were told that I was thrown into this world for the sake of making each and every one of my steps right now, then I would believe it. Like when Alexander the Great pointed his sword at the walls of India, like when Julius Caesar pointed at the other side of the Rubicon river, my feet headed directly toward her. My steps were all inevitable. I could tell I was being pulled by a certain feeling of inevitability. I was no longer a foreigner. She was giving me the right to be a permanent resident in this world. When I saw her blue eyes, I could tell she was also thinking the same thing. We stood in front of each other. I most likely had the most incredible smile I could possibly make on my face right now. ¡°My name is Dantalian.¡± ¡°I am Elizabeth.¡± We didn¡¯t need any more introductions beyond this. There was already an implicit agreement between us. Demon Lord, Count Ptine, Consul, the Last Imperial. It was a mutual agreement that acknowledged the fact that none of these titles fitted us at this moment. You are Elizabeth and I am Dantalian. I guarantee that you are Elizabeth and you guarantee that I am Dantalian. However, the two of us were too shrewd to believe our guarantees with only one confirmation. We tossed questions at each other as if we were both blind and carefully feeling out each other¡¯s face. ¡°We did exchange letters a while ago, but I am unsure as to whether my feelings had properly gotten across or not.¡± ¡°You cannot obtain what is undesired. The more you obtain, the less you desire.¡± Elizabeth was smiling. ¡°That is most likely what a beautiful woman has inmon with the world, Dantalian.¡± ¡°Truer words have not been spoken.¡± Iughed. As I expected, Elizabeth had seen through the letter that I had sent with ¡®the world¡¯ written on it. Even if you flipped the world upside down, Elizabeth was probably the only one who could¡¯ve seen through its meaning. ¡°Despite this, you and I have stepped foot in the world and are standing here.¡± It was Elizabeth¡¯s turn now. ¡°What makes you continue to stand on thisnd?¡± ¡°Haha.¡± It was a little funny. When Saintess Longwy was able to get a slight nce at my true face, she asked, ¡®Does it not bother you?¡¯. On the other hand, look at this. Elizabeth asked me, ¡®What makes you continue your life?¡¯. It was a simr question, but the nuance was entirely different. ¡°I wonder about that. I do not think that this is an appropriate ce to have a deep conversation.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Elizabeth nced around. People were peeking at us and listening in on our conversation. Elizabeth and I were famous for having an ill-fated rtionship since the event on Bruno ins. We also had a fierce diplomatic battle a few weeks ago. We were conversing despite this rtionship between us. Anyone would want to eavesdrop. ¡°How about it? Shall we get some fresh air in the garden?¡± Elizabeth nodded and we headed to the garden that was built outside the ballroom. High society might be noisy for a while. The garden near the ballroom is often used for vulgar purposes. For example, having intercourse with your partner. Of course, there aren¡¯t a lot of lovers who¡¯re that brave and most people would simply share a light kiss while walking through the beautiful garden. Elizabeth and I getting caught up in a scandal? Regardless of how I could use this politically, I found this situation rather amusing. Were we not the least matching duo in the entire world? ¡°I want to hear your answer now.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± I stopped and turned to face Elizabeth. I was casting an anti-magic spell around me that was prepared beforehand on my ne. There was no way anyone could eavesdrop now. ¡°For the sake of a distinct world, Elizabeth.¡± ¡°A distinct world?¡± I nodded. ¡°I must not make any excuses for the road I have walked up to this point. That is the least I can do for the tens of thousands of lives that have fallen throughout the continent. ¡°¡­¡­Are you a specter looking for a ce to die?¡± Elizabethmented. ¡°I cannot think in that way. The fact that you and I are ughterers is undeniable. However, is it not because we are ughters that we must realize an ideal of equivalent value to the lives that have fallen by our hands?¡± I let out a small chuckle. ¡°Our starting points are most likely different.¡± ¡°Our starting points?¡± ¡°You carried a clear cause on your back when you killed your little brother. For the sake of Habsburg, for the sake of your people¡­¡­.¡± Therefore, your cause takes precedence before the murder. ¡°You be further unable to abandon your cause as you continue to kill your enemies. That would make the lives you have killed meaningless. Thus, you absolutely cannot abandon it¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But not for me. There is no rity whatsoever. I have simply killed and killed again for my life and stability. Dering some cause would only be hypocritical.¡± Hence why I said a definite world. Let¡¯s say a person whomitted murder were to suddenly desire world peace and were actually able to aplish it. What could the family and friends of those who died possibly do at that point? The murderer turned out to actually be a nice person, this would be the story that gets established. Even if they got revenge on the murderer, it wouldn¡¯t leave a pleasant taste in their mouths. This gives the murderer an excuse¡­¡­. ¡°Many people are being murdered by others. They may be holding swords, but they are only for swinging. I wish to give those swords a clear sense of direction.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Then the day you stop your evil deeds will nevere.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I smiled. ¡°It is simr to how you are unable to ever give up on your ideal, Elizabeth. This is not a matter of will. The issue is the roles that have been given to us.¡± I¡¯m not taking action because I¡¯m able to do so. I do so because I must. Elizabeth gazed up at the night sky. ¡°The will of fate. What happens first and what happens after. The only difference is the order of things, and yet, they are all decided by fate¡­¡­.¡± She lowered her head and looked straight at me. ¡°I now understand clearly. There is no room forpromise between us.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°I will take your life. After doing so¡ªI will shoulder the tens of thousands of lives on your back along with your own.¡± There wasn¡¯t even a speck of hesitation in Elizabeth¡¯s blue eyes. How splendid. Her eyes were simple and clear. I was confident that I wouldn¡¯t have any regrets if I were to die at her hands. I raised the corners of my mouth and silently rejoiced. Elizabeth raised a finger and pointed it at my chest. ¡°First, I will make this representative meeting a sess. You are afraid of republicanism being established indiscriminately between humans and demons. The republicans of the Demon Lord Army must undoubtedly be acting on their own.¡± ¡°A splendid deduction.¡± I almost apuded her. ¡°If this side unites, then the Demon Lord Army will be divided. Dantalian, for someone like you who believes you are a part of the weak, a divide is most likely a worst-case scenario.¡± ¡°Once again, you are correct.¡± I actually did apud her this time. ¡°The word splendid is not enough to express how impressive you are.¡± ¡°The ck Death may have been a golden opportunity for you, but it has contrarily be a golden opportunity for us now that the gue has settled down. The number of farmers has drastically decreased, which resulted in the expansion of every surviving farmer¡¯snd proportional to the number that has fallen.¡± Indeed. The fields that used to take ten people to cultivate now had to be cultivated by six people. ¡°The value of farmers has exceeded unprecedented heights. The value of mercenaries and engineers has also been increasing gradually. This means that farmers are starting to reach positions high enough to threaten the existing ruling ss.¡± In other words, now was the perfect era for republicanism to bloom. ¡°Empires and kingdoms will mostly take the side of nobles. Arge-scale sh will ur. The formation of free cities is nothing more than the prelude to the sh. Dantalian, republicanism is a historical flow.¡± ¡°That is if the people seed in rising up.¡± I smiled. ¡°I will dy that explosion for as long as possible. Let¡¯s see. I would say until you are no longer around. So about fifty years.¡± ¡°I will make that explosion happen in two years.¡± Fifty years or two years. We could onlyugh about how drastically different our numbers were. It wasn¡¯t a pleasantugh. There was only honest hostility between us. ¡°But, Elizabeth. It is already toote.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Elizabeth furrowed her brows. It was at that moment. ¨C Boooooom! An explosion came from the ballroom. The explosion was so intense that it made all of the nts in the garden sway at the same time. Elizabeth turned to the ballroom on reflex before turning back to face me. Elizabeth¡¯s face was contorted. ¡°Dantalian!¡± ¡°This assassination was carried out by the extremists who believe that humans and demons should not unite.¡± I shrugged off her intimidating gaze as I continued calmly. ¡°This event will most likely not be remembered as a republican representative meeting now. It will be recorded in the history books as a tragedy that unfolded due to racial supremacists who wished to destroy peace. As a result, people will react by putting more of an emphasis on the peace between humans and demons¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Did you not invite me to this garden to have a sincere interaction with me!?¡± Elizabeth shouted. ¡°I was certain that I had gotten across to you for a moment¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Of course, I also came here because I wished to have a sincere exchange with you.¡± A smile made its way to my lips. ¡°But, Elizabeth¡ªis there a rule that forbids us from taking advantage of sincerity? Whether it be mine or yours.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Elizabeth¡¯s gaze became even stronger. For some reason, I felt more pleased. ¡°Earlier, you called me a specter looking for a ce to die, did you not? That is half wrong and half correct. I am nothing like a specter, Elizabeth. Right now, here in this moment, I am a single Demon Lord standing before you.¡± The sound of screaming and crying could be hearding from the ballroom. I wonder how many people died. The best-case scenario would be if no one died, but I could handle at least 6 deaths. Shall I trust in Paimon¡¯s ability¡­¡­? ¡°Please bear this in mind, I do not particrly n to let myself die to you.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, this was an enjoyable chapter to work on. Dantalian and Elizabeth had a pleasant little chat. The next chapter mighte out a littlete because of my work. A lot of work suddenly got piled up, so I have to focus on finishing that or I might end up having to work overtime or worse, on a Saturday. So yeah, I¡¯ll probably spend the next couple of days focusing on getting all that done quickly. It¡¯s honestly so boring right now cause of how repetitive the work is. Ugh, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 323: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (11) Chapter 323: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (11) ¡°Kuh!¡± Elizabeth ran past me. She was probably going to help the injured. The fact that she could stayposed during a terrorist attack and immediately take action was genuinely praiseworthy. I casually watched as her silver hair went off into the distance. Go to the garden if you can still move, I could hear her shout these words even from here. She most likely used her aura to amplify her voice. I genuinely cheered her on. * * * Elizabeth hastily ran into the ballroom. A portion of the building had copsed due to the explosion. There was so much dust that her vision was blurry. ¡°Go to the garden if you can still move!¡± Elizabeth shouted without a moment of hesitation. The most dangerous part of a disaster was the second wave. The building could copse further and block the entrance or there could be a second attack. The biggest issue was the fact that people couldn¡¯t see clearly. Humans are animals that rely entirely on their sense of sight. People are more prone to fall into a state of group panic when they are robbed of even their vision during an unexpected situation like this one. She had to prevent this. ¡°If there is someone injured next to you, then call for a guard! Guards, respond to these requests and move to assist them! Make sure to always move around in pairs.¡± The guards had yet to shake off their stupor as they stared nkly at Elizabeth. Elizabeth deliberately put on an enraged looked on her face as she shouted. ¡°You pathetic fools! You have the gall to call yourselves soldiers!? Give me an answer right this instant!¡± ¡°Y-Yes!¡± Elizabeth kicked the rear of the guard who happened to be the closest to her. Despite her young age, Elizabeth was someone who had reached Rank 2 as a swordsman. The kick was more than enough to make the shabby guard fall over. ¡°You imbeciles, why are you only answering in response!? Move! Transport all of the injured who ask for help to the garden!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± There were people copsed under the clouds of dust. Most of them let out groans as they managed to get up. Despite the scale of the explosion, there didn¡¯t seem to be that many injured. It was extremely fortunate. If there were arge number of casualties, then this representative meeting would have probably gone up in smoke¡­¡­. ¡°People who are uninjured should help the guards!¡± Elizabeth let out a mental sigh of relief as she proceeded with the rescue operation. After the confusion had settled down, a temporary system with Elizabeth at the top was established. The fact that she was fluent in everynguage on the continent added to her leadership. She switched between using Batavian, Frankian, and the ancient imperialnguage in order to instantly takemand over everyone. People¡¯s visions may have been blurry, but they could still hear with their ears. And they understood thenguage. These were the things that mattered. ¡°Any casualties?¡± ¡°Currently, we have confirmed three severely injured and eleven with only slight injuries.¡± The knight in charge of the ballroom¡¯s security reported. The knight¡¯s face was clearly pale. This incident happened during an important day like this while he was in charge of security. He was either going to plummet in rank or his life was going to be in danger after this. ¡°There are no casualties.¡± ¡°Some good news in the midst of the bad.¡± They might have not discovered any casualties yet because they were crushed under the rubble. Nheless, the fact that they couldn¡¯t see any corpses was enough to give her hope. At best, there might be only one or two deaths¡­¡­. ¡°Captain, have you figured out why this attack happened? Who is the culprit?¡± ¡°My apologies, but we do not know whomitted this act. However¡­¡­.¡± The knight furrowed his brows. It looked like he was trying his best to remember what happened. ¡°I heard someone say, ¡®Glory to Frankia¡¯ before the explosion happened.¡± ¡°Glory to Frankia, is it¡­¡­?¡± What reason could a citizen of Frankia have to attack this ce? Elizabeth immediately came to a conclusion once she remembered that this was a self-fabricated scenario devised by Dantalian. She urgently questioned the guard. ¡°Saintess Longwy. Where is Brittany¡¯s Saintess?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± The knight couldn¡¯t give an answer. Elizabeth felt frustrated. ¡°Who would a person who imed to be acting for the sake of Frankia¡¯s glory hate the most!? Obviously, it would be the symbol of Brittany, the Queen¡¯s loyal advisor. This attack was aimed at the Saintess.¡± The knight finally understood. ¡°I will go search for her immediately.¡± ¡°Go to the garden and ask if anyone has seen the Saintess¡¯ whereabouts. We are pressed for time.¡± The knight rushed off. Elizabeth bit her lips. She had suffered a blow. Dantalian had been nning to sacrifice the Saintess. The Saintess participated in this meeting to assert the peaceful coexistence between humans and demons, but she ended up facing an assassination attempt. Of all ces, it had to be in a meeting referred to as the republican representative meeting¡­¡­. The merging between races will most likely go up in smoke. It was obvious that people were going to argue intensely about who was responsible for the Saintess¡¯ death. The fact that the culprit was Frankian made the situation especially foul. How will the treaty that had an overwhelming advantage for the Empire of Frankia change now? ¡°Your Excellency.¡± The knight returned panting heavily. Was it fate for bad feelings to always end up true? The knight had a dark expression on his face. ¡°My apologies, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Were you unable to find the Saintess?¡± ¡°Yes. There were many witnesses. They said that a man approached the Saintess before releasing arge magic st from his body¡­¡­. The man¡¯s identity was Baron Pierre de Raviere. He was indeed a Frankian.¡± Elizabeth quickly went through her memories. Raviere Barony. That was undoubtedly a small piece ofnd in the center of Frankia. He was a rather renowned court mage, but after Queen Henrietta took over, all sorts of criminal charges were ced upon him before he was forced out of his territory. This was all she knew, but it was more than enough to give her a foreboding feeling. Baron Raviere had more than enough motives to get revenge against the Saintess and the Kingdom of Brittany. Elizabeth could almost clearly imagine how Dantalian managed to convince him¡­¡­. ¡°Captain, we must now find the Saintess at all costs.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°There should be a representative sent from the Frankia government. Order your men to find him and lead him to us.¡± At the very least, the representative of Frankia should know more about Baron Raviere than she does. That should help find the culprit¡¯s true motives. With that hope in mind, Elizabeth walked off with fast steps. There were mages deployed with the guards. Elizabeth ordered the mages to create a gust strong enough to blow away the dust, followed by creating orbs of light to broaden their field of vision. ¡°Were you all nning to not cast any spells until someone ordered you to!?¡± ¡°A-Apologies!¡± ¡°Healers should prioritize the severely injured! Use potions on those who are only slightly injured!¡± Elizabeth searched for the Saintess until she finally found an injured individual who remembered thest sighting of the Saintess. The Saintess was apparently right below the ceiling that had copsed. Elizabeth unconsciously ced her palm against her forehead. This was the worst-case scenario. ¡°Assist me!¡± She wrapped her hands in aura and moved the rubble away herself. The guards ran up to help her. The mages carefully moved therge rubble aside while the soldiers did their best to move the smaller pieces of rubble without making the entire thing copse further. Corpses were uncovered every now and then. Their heads had been crushed or their abdomens had been smashed. The hands and arms of all the corpses were burnt to a crisp. It meant that they all had instinctively raised their arms to block the sudden explosion of magic. It was also proof that this was the center of the explosion. ¡°The Saintess is here!¡± A guard shouted. ¡°The Saintess is alive!¡± ¡°Is that true!?¡± Elizabeth finally saw a light of hope in a swamp of despair. She immediately ran over and confirmed the guard¡¯s words. She could see an orange-haired girl between some marble boulders. ¡°¡­¡­Ugh¡­¡­Hggh¡­¡­.¡± She looked like she was unconscious, but her expression kept twitching in pain. She was undoubtedly still alive despite her severe injuries. Elizabeth worked together with the soldiers to hastily rescue the Saintess from the rubble. She was in a horrible state. Her entire body was covered in dust and her saintess clothes had been burned due to the explosion. Blood kept pouring out from her thigh and abdominal regions. It was a miracle that her head was uninjured. ¡°Mages!¡± Three of the healers quickly looked over the Saintess. ¡°How about Siberrum?¡± ¡°Sorry. I used it all earlier.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. We will make do with Germaseneia.¡± The mages used words that only they understood as they urgently carried out the treatment. Elizabeth may know about offensive spells fairly well, but she was fairly unknowledgeable when it came to healing spells. All she could do was watch nervously. An undetermined amount of time went by. It felt like an hour had gone by, but it also felt like it was only a minute. The mage who had been in the leading position during the treatment raised their head to look at Elizabeth. ¡°It is all right now. She is now in a stable condition.¡± ¡°O Goddesses!¡± Elizabeth hated religion, but, at this moment in time, she was the most devout believer on the continent. ¡°Her wounds themselves were not that serious. It seems her saintess clothes blocked most of the damage. The fact that she came here in saintess clothes despite this being a ball managed to save her life. She most likely was not hurt at all by the magic explosion.¡± The mage¡¯s face turned into a frown. ¡°But there arerge stab wounds on her abdomen and thigh.¡± ¡°Stab wounds?¡± ¡°The culprit most likely stabbed her with a dagger first. The dagger was most likely enchanted for assassination purposes. They stabbed her once in the abdomen and thigh before letting their magic burst. They were diabolically skillful.¡± The mage must have found the culprit¡¯s vicious scheme to be contemptuous as they clicked their tongue. ¡°They most likely never intended to kill her by only stabbing her. From the very beginning, they were aiming to make her bleed to death. They copsed the building, so she couldn¡¯t escape¡­¡­. This is just spection, but I believe the dagger was most likely poisoned as well. It is still too soon to be rxing.¡± ¡°If the Saintess recovers, then I will personally give you a hundred gold coins.¡± The mage¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°With my honor and magic power on the line, I will do my best.¡± The Saintess was ced on a stretcher and moved to the garden. This was because there was a chance that the ceiling might copse again. Elizabeth remained in the ballroom with the guards until they found everyst wounded person. During this process, she was almost severely injured as a part of the ceiling fell. The guard captain suggested that she should escape first, but Elizabeth shook her head firmly. ¡°It is the duty of a ruler to help the people. You cannot call someone a ruler if they turn away after a cmity unfolds before them.¡± The Batavian soldiers were so moved by the Consul that they carried out the rescue operation with more enthusiasm. The rescue operation ended after they recovered one final corpse. Out of the initial sixty-ish participants, twenty-seven of them had light injuries, fourteen had severe injuries, and four had died. The severely injured managed to survive thanks to the hasty measures that were taken. The Saintess was among those that survived. Once Elizabeth exited the ballroomst, the surviving people gave a round of apuse to the amazing ruler. Despite having faced an unexpected terrorist act, Elizabeth managed to make her way out of the situation with a favorable conclusion. This deeply impressed the representatives of all nations and she managed to partially foil Dantalian¡¯s n by saving the Saintess. ¡°Report to me the names of the severely injured and the deceased.¡± ¡°Yes. I will first give a report about the severely injured. Baron Heisenberg from the Teuton Kingdom, Viscount Hodel from the Castile Kingdom¡­¡­.¡± A knight seemed to have written everything beforehand as he read off of a list. After naming thirteen of the wounded individuals, one final name was mentioned. ¡°¡­¡­Count Ptine Dantalian from the Habsburg Empire.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°That was all fourteen of the severely injured.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. In contrast to the chaos of this chapter, I sort of let myself rx over the weekend. I didn¡¯t get much tranting done because I wanted to unwind. These past few weeks have been so mundane and repetitive at work. I should probably be done with this boring project by the end of October. Hopefully. This chapter came outte cause I¡¯ve just been busy with work and I wanted to destress properly over the weekend. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 324: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (12) Chapter 324: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (12) Dantalian had been severely injured. Elizabeth immediately looked around as soon as she heard these words. The temple priests who arrivedte were going around and treating the wounded, so the people who either had light wounds or no wounds at all were standing and still apuding her. In an out-of-the-way area, a man was seated and leaning against a tree. Just from a nce, you could tell that his condition was bad. His abdominal area was drenched in blood. The treatment from regr priests actually has a negative effect on Demon Lords, so the priests could not do anything and the minor treatment was left to a healer. The man was squinting, but his eyes met Elizabeth¡¯s. The man, Dantalian, had been ncing at her since the beginning. ¡ªEverything started to flow slowly. Even the sound of apuse sounded slow. Elizabeth felt like all the nerves in her body had paused. ¡®¡­¡­Was this all nned from the beginning?¡¯ ¡®It is as you said.¡¯ She felt like she could hear Dantalian¡¯s response clearly. It wasn¡¯t an assumption either. Dantalian¡¯s face was twisted in pain, but his ck eyes were still glowing sharply. Those eyes gave a clearer answer than any words could. ¡®There is a considerable number of people who witnessed us leave the ballroom together.¡¯ ¡®Out of the two of us, only I returned to the ballroom while you were suddenly found severely injured.¡¯ ¡®This creates a script that would make anyone suspicious.¡¯ People continued to apud. p, p, the sound of pping resonated like the sound of bells. Excluding Dantalian and herself, everything else was slow. ¡®You most likely thought along these lines: an incident urred while you were absent. If you returned, then you might get suspected as the culprit.¡¯ ¡®Indeed. I had to return to the scene as soon as possible and put on a good disy. Even if this caused people to doubt me, it would be hard for them to criticize me if I actively take the leading role in the rescue effort.¡¯ ¡®And you truly must have carried out quite the excellent rescue operation.¡¯ It was for this purpose that Elizabeth had hastily returned to the scene of the disaster before Dantalian. It was only natural for suspicion to fall upon the person who arriveste during a situation like this. One person rushed back as soon as the incident urred and helped people, but what was the other person doing to arrive sote? Were they perhaps nning something? Dantalian¡¯s n was ruined by the Saintess¡¯ survival. Elizabeth even gained a good image by having participated in the rescue more actively than Dantalian. It should have ended here. ¡®I was certain that you would seed.¡¯ If Dantalian hadn¡¯t been discovered in an injured state, that is. ¡®A terrorist attack urred with the Saintess as the target. Adding to this, even I was assaulted. This is not at a scale that an assassin could have nned out on their own. This means that there was someone supporting the terrorist¡­¡­. This is what people will think.¡¯ ¡®And that suspicion will fall onto me.¡¯ Leaving the ballroom with Dantalian already put her on the list of suspects. Furthermore, Elizabeth carried out the rescue operation a little bit too skillfully. Even though everyone was perplexed by the sudden attack, Elizabeth alone remained surprisingly calm. People will probably ask themselves if that level of calmness was actually possible. Wasn¡¯t there a chance she could¡¯ve known that this would happen beforehand? ¡®You have more than enough incentives to do something like this. Not only did you experience a personal loss to me on Bruno ins, but you also lost to the Saintess and I during the recent diplomatic battle.¡¯ ¡®Are you saying that I tried to assassinate the both of you as revenge for the diplomatic battle?¡¯ Elizabeth gnashed her teeth. ¡®A ploy like that is too obvious. That logic is far too flimsy to point to me as the culprit.¡¯ ¡®But that does not mean all suspicion will be gone, does it not?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ This attack was far too sloppy for most people to believe that it was done by Elizabeth, however, that doesn¡¯t remove all possibilities. As long as there was still a possibility, people will still harbor their doubts¡­¡­. ¡®Your reputation was not particrly good on the diplomatic stage. No, it would be more correct to say that the Habsburg Imperial Family itself is a somewhat untrustworthy bloodline. They are bound to various malicious rumors. To make matters worse, you killed your second brother with your own two hands.¡¯ Putting her personal ability aside, her character wasn¡¯t exactly trustworthy. That was the diplomatic reputation that Consul Elizabeth had. ¡®There is no guarantee that someone who killed their own brother would not attack a formal event. These lingering suspicions will persist and pressure you.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­.¡¯ A crowd gathered around Elizabeth. Some of them smiled and apuded, while others tried to shake her hand. She could no longer see Dantalian because of the crowd. How were things going to change tomorrow? After everything has settled down and people are able to think about things rationally, they will inevitably start to suspect Elizabeth. At that point, Elizabeth will stop being showered in praise and will instead be given doubt and scorn. ¡®But.¡¯ Elizabeth thought to herself as she shook people¡¯s hands. ¡®To think he would stab himself enough to make his guts spill out.¡¯ After Elizabeth had left and Dantalian remained alone in the garden, Dantalian pulled out a dagger and stabbed himself. That wasn¡¯t a wound that could be made by being stabbed once. He had stabbed himself five, no, more than ten times. In a deste ce where no one was watching. He held back his pain and groans as he stabbed himself over and over again. Elizabeth felt a chill run down her spine as she imagined this scene. What kind of expression did he have on his face as he mutted himself? What kind of life did he live to be capable of performing such an act? ¡®Aah, is it the other way around?¡¯ Elizabeth came to the same realization again. ¡®It is because he is capable of doing something like this that he considers himself weak.¡¯ The day wasing to an end. The republican representative meeting was suspended indefinitely. * * * Elizabeth¡¯s eyes turned to look at me. The excessive pain made everything blurry to me. Despite this, Elizabeth alone looked rtively clearpared to everything else. How interesting. You were so close, Elizabeth. You were about to see through my personality and n, but you were one step toote. I¡¯m not foolish enough to face you in a full frontal battle. I¡¯m someone who can¡¯t even face Henrietta straight on. You are three times scarier than Henrietta. Running away is obviously the wisest course of action. That¡¯s why I chose to flip the board. The Saintess had almost died, this meeting ended up being fruitless, and another gathering like this, where humans and demons gather under the g of republicanism, will most likely not happen again anytime soon. Or, at the very least, it will be dyed¡­¡­. Elizabeth, you probably saw through this much. However, you most likely never expected me to injure myself. Do you understand now? The weak aren¡¯t people who always run away. If they still have somewhere left to run to, then they¡¯re someone who has never experienced hell yet. The weak are those who believe that they are currently standing at the edge of a cliff. The people who have nothing else left except for the cliff edge. This is what it means to be weak¡­¡­. There¡¯s no way anyone could face a monster like you without making sacrifices. You have to learn how to sacrifice a limb or two. If anything, being able to benefit by only stabbing yourself in the stomach was godsent. Does this make it the second time I¡¯ve injured myself? I had used an anesthetic herb when I threatened Gamigin. I couldn¡¯t do that this time. There were mages who specialized in healing all around the venue. There was a high chance that they would have noticed if I had used an anesthetic. They would question why someone who had been attacked was anesthetized beforehand. I had to stab my stomach without anything to numb the pain¡­¡­. At first, I thought about using Ivar¡¯s doll. I was going to send it back to the ballroom to get swept up in the explosion while I¡¯m dealing with Elizabeth. This would¡¯ve made it appear as if Elizabeth was the only one absent from the ballroom, which, in turn, would¡¯ve put even more suspicion on her. The problem was the fact that the security around the ballroom was stricter than I expected. It was clear that Paimon had put her heart and soul into this meeting. I couldn¡¯t sneak a doll in because there were guards and mages on standby at every corner. In the end, I had no other choice but to inflict self-harm. It was a hellish act. If I didn¡¯t have the innate regenerative ability of Demon Lords, then I probably would¡¯ve died a long time ago. Honestly, I wanted to pass out even now. But not yet. I needed a bigger audience¡­¡­. Damn it, my eyes are getting heavy. I could no longer see Elizabeth. The pain was so intense that, contrarily, I couldn¡¯t feel the pain. ¡°Your Excellency Count Ptine! Are you okay!?¡± Finally. I could faintly feel the presence of people approaching. I was one of the prominent figures within the Habsburg Empire. It was only natural for people to gather around me and make a scene. ¡°Mage, how is His Excellency¡¯s condition!?¡± ¡°I am doing the best that I can¡­¡­ but there is poison around the wound. His Highness¡¯ regenerative ability is high, but the poison is interfering.¡± The mage spoke in a grave tone. I heard people let out gasps. ¡°Poison?¡±, ¡°What a vile method.¡± Not only was the building attacked, but there was also an assassination attempt. It was like getting hit by a one-twobo. ¡°The poison is thoroughly blocking his regenerative ability. It would basically have no effect on humans. I am sure that the assassin was aiming for His Excellency from the beginning.¡± ¡°This is bad. I heard that the Saintess is also in critical condition. At this rate¡­¡­.¡± They¡¯re overreacting. Don¡¯t worry. The poison was adjusted to only put me in critical condition and not beyond that. Although Jeremi was the one who did that, so I didn¡¯t do anything¡­¡­. I probably won¡¯t die. ¡°These two are like the makeshift bridge between humanity and demonkind. This might cause both sides to rampage, mage!¡± ¡°I am doing my best.¡± This mage was also pitiful. He ended up in charge of my treatment. The treatment methods between demons and humans are drastically different. This mage is probably suffering because he has to treat a Demon Lord, something which he has never done before. He would probably get executed if I died, poor old man. I think enough people have gathered. It was time for my final act. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­gh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency! Are you awake, Your Excellency!?¡± Don¡¯t shout! My head feels like it¡¯s going to crack open! Have you never been told to not be loud around a patient? There are too many idiots in the world. The problem is the fact that I have to take advantage of this idiot right now. I opened my mouth. ¡°¡­¡­tess.¡± The pain may have gotten to the point that it felt distant, but my condition appeared to be worse than I imagined. My voice wouldn¡¯te out properly. I focused entirely on my mouth and tongue. It felt like my body had gone from auto mode to manual. ¡°The Saintess¡­¡­. What happened to the Saintess¡­¡­?¡± ¡°¡­¡­! The Saintess is safe! She was injured, but there is no problem!¡± I wasn¡¯t sure who it was, but someone hastily answered my question. It was a rather simple-minded statement. There¡¯s no problem? The fact that the Saintess was injured was already a problem in itself. They probably exaggerated in order to reassure me. It was so stupid that I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Is that so¡­¡­ that is a relief.¡± This was enough. I let go of the little bit of consciousness that I was doing my utmost to hold on to. My consciousness faded away at a rapid pace. I tried to bluff by enduring the pain, but even that was too difficult now. The people around me seemed to misinterpret that as they all let out a shout. ¡°Y-Your Excellency! No, you must stay with us!¡± ¡°Who is the culprit!? Please tell us who did this to you!¡± ¡°Your Excellency!¡± Idiots. Didn¡¯t I tell you that I won¡¯t die? All you guys have to do is testify that I was worried about the Saintess¡¯ well-being while on the border between life and death. Prove my innocence. Don¡¯t forget it¡­¡­. My consciousness then went dark. Truly, being a Demon Lord is a difficult job. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Dantalian really likes hurting himself, huh? Does this make it the third or second time he¡¯s done something like this? Politicians are scary. In any case, I thought things would settle down since this Chinese game project is at itsst stage, but I¡¯m like facing the most annoying hurdle at the end. We¡¯re on the ¡®repetition¡¯ phase where we basically fill the lines that are the same as other lines but with different number variables. This part is supposed to be quick and easy because the program we use is supposed to see those numbers and just finish the lines for us, but the issue is that this game made us attach symbols to a lot of the numbers. Since the numbers are attached to a Chinese symbol, the program doesn¡¯t treat those as numbers. In other words, I¡¯m having to manually copy and paste the lines and then change the numbers myself afterward. The work is SO tedious. It¡¯s actually insane. It took me 2 hours to do 5% of the file. Ugh, I¡¯ll stop ranting for now. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter if I¡¯m alive. Chapter 325: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (13) Chapter 325: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (13) * * * I was helplessly put into a period of time where I would wake up and fall back asleep over and over again. My consciousness was like a wine cork drifting on the ocean surface. It would sink powerlessly whenever a wave crashed over it, but it would eventually pop back up all of a sudden. Between the waves, when my mind would be a little at peace, I would asionally hear the sound of talking. They sounded like seagulls squawking. ¡°His Lordship¡¯s condition¡­¡­.¡± ¡°ording to the mages and priests¡­¡­need¡­¡­.¡± The voices belonged to Laura and Ivar. She most likely used magic toe all the way here to Amstel. I had told Laura about the n beforehand. She came all the way out here even though there was no need for concern in order to make the situation appear critical to those around us. His vassal urgently came all the way here to take care of him. That was how bad the situation was. There was a need for people to think this. Laura instantly became legendary during the previous war, so she was naturally a target of interest right now. She was the perfect person to showcase the urgency. Laura followed my orders well. ¡°Miss Jeremi gave her guarantee, but are there truly no problems?¡± Laura asked nervously. She sounded worked up. Her tone sounded a bit vivid even though she knew that I was going to be fine. ¡°Look at how dark His Lordship¡¯splexion is. Is he truly fine?¡± ¡°We are past the most dangerous part. Military Affairs Minister, please calm¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not make meugh! Do you think I can calm down when His Lordship looks like this!?¡± My ears rang. I thought that my expression had contorted, but it actually hadn¡¯t budged an inch. It almost felt like my face didn¡¯t belong to me. How troubling. I won¡¯t have anything left if you take my face from me. I¡¯m worried that thedies of the continent and the demon world will fall into despair because of this. Truly, I am a sinful man. ¡­¡­I must not be in a bad state since I¡¯m thinking of stupid jokes. Well, it was probably a side-effect of being pumped with anesthetics. My consciousness felt sharp and murky at the same time. ¡°I have been against this ridiculous n since the beginning! Ivar, you were also confident that there would not be any problems!¡± ¡°That is correct. Minister, the ingredients that I provided Miss Jeremi with were undoubtedly safe¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hah. His Lordship has been unconscious for an entire week now. It seems that even a situation like this is not considered a ¡®problem¡¯ for a mere maid.¡± Laura growled like a wolf. ¡°I vow that if even the slightest bit of misfortune falls upon His Lordship¡ªI will personally throw you, the Civil Militia Leader, and the Head Maid to the death knights. I will show you hell where you cannot die even if you want to!¡± Despite the nk state of my mind, I was a little surprised. It was actually rather difficult to hear this kind of tone from Laura. I remember hearing it a long time ago¡­¡­a really long time ago¡­¡­.but I don¡¯t remember when. No. I can¡¯t remember. It felt like the thought wasn¡¯t in my brain but inside my skull. More importantly, Laura, I know Ivar is lower than you in terms of rank, but you¡¯re treating her too harshly. Ivar is rather fragile despite her appearance, so be more considerate. I was worried since, other than Lapis, Laura didn¡¯t exactly have anyone else she was close to in our army. People seemed to be a bit cautious around her since she was also Barbatos¡¯ lover¡­¡­. ¡°Please keep it at that, Laura.¡± ¡°But, Big Sister Lapis¡­¡­!¡± ¡°We cannot put the me on Ivar.¡± I heard Lapis¡¯ stern voice. I could hear them speak, but the meaning of their words didn¡¯te to me immediately. There seemed to be a slight dy between my perception and awareness. ¡°Laura, you and I had agreed to this. Most importantly, His Highness was the one who personally pushed this idea forward. Laura, you are aware of this as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Or are you perhaps doubting Miss Jeremi¡¯s ability and loyalty?¡± This was strange. Lapis¡¯s situation was different from Laura¡¯s. Laura was honestly no different from a NEET whenever there was no ongoing war. There was nothing for her to do during these times, after all. Thus, it was fine for her to leave the Demon Lord Castle ande to visit me. But Lapis is constantly swamped with work every day. She isn¡¯t exactly renownedpared to Laura, so hering here wouldn¡¯t have that much of an impact. Why did she go out of her way¡­¡­. ¡°I am not. I do not doubt Miss Jeremi¡­¡­ but, Miss Jeremi did not deliver the poison herself. The Head Maid acted as an intermediate. As we all know, the Head Maid tries to poison His Lordship at every opportunity!¡± ¡°Laura, Head Maid Daisy cannot do anything because of her ve seal¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Who knows what kind of trick she could have pulled!¡± Laura shouted angrily. I appreciate the concern, but I wish they would keep in mind that there is a patient here. ¡°His Lordship would alwaysugh it off, but it has always bothered me¡­¡­. I knew an incident like this would ur. That child must have delivered the herbs wrong. I will kill the Head Maid¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Laura de Farnese.¡± It was rare for Lapis to raise her tone. Her voice rang clearly throughout the room like the cold winter air. However, Laura didn¡¯t back down. ¡°Do not deny it! You must have thought the same thing as well. If that were not the case, then why did you make the Head Maid act as the Saintess¡¯ attendant while you made the new maid take care of His Lordship?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Head Maid is a child who cannot be fully trusted. It is because you thought this that you reversed their roles! Tell me if I am wrong!¡± A chilling curtain of silence fell over everyone. Only the sound of Laura¡¯s panting filled the room. Everyone looked uneasy. I wanted to open my mouth and tell her off. Laura, you fool, how do you expect to set an example if you¡¯re talking back to Lapis, a person who is higher than you, despite being just a military affairs minister? Get on your knees and apologize. No, get on your knees and kiss Lapis¡¯ toes. ¡°Call the Head Maid here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Laura. Seriously.¡± ¡°Chancellor Lapis Lazuli.¡± Laura¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°I am not acting as one of His Lordship¡¯s lovers right now, but as the third highest ranking member of Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Captain Jeremi promised that it would onlyst three days, but currently, His Lordship¡¯s condition has not changed for a week now. Of course, His Lordship might wake up fine tomorrow. However, the fact that we have gone beyond the expected date is a problem in itself and someone must be reprimanded for it.¡± Lapis let out a sigh. ¡°If His Highness were to see you now, then he would be very disappointed.¡± ¡°It does not matter. Big Sister Lapis, you are more than enough to be His Lordship¡¯sprehender.¡± Laura remarked. There was a dark tone underlying her voice. ¡°This young girl is His Lordship¡¯s sword. If there is something that is potentially dangerous to His Lordship, then I will cut it down without any hesitation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­There is no value in a soldier who acts arbitrarily.¡± ¡°His Lordship ordered me to be a soldier who can think for herself. I am simply acting as His Lordship instructed.¡± Lapis let out a deeper sigh. ¡°Laura, your fanaticism toward His Highness is almost dangerous. To think that the person who always acts calm andposed in front of His Highness is actually the most fanatical. I bet His Highness is not even aware of this himself.¡± ¡°I am simply standing at His Lordship¡¯s side.¡± Laura immediately retorted. ¡°If anything, you are the true fanatic, Big Sister. I know why you are not forming a closer bond with His Lordship.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I heard that subi have a tendency to be overly obsessive over their first loves. They say that their excessive desire to monopolize their first love actually pushes their first love to ruin.¡± Laura scoffed. ¡°You are afraid. You are worried that you might be unable to control your emotions.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You are jumping to conclusions.¡± ¡°His Lordship loves people who can stand firmly on their own. If you are unable to control your emotions, then you will most likely be scorned by His Lordship. That is what you are afraid of. Coward! How could you not know that running away from your emotions like that is something His Lordship hates!¡± p, a clear sound resonated throughout the room. A denser silence than before settled over everyone. Lapis¡¯ calm voice rested on top of that silence. ¡°You are misunderstanding something. First, if you genuinely believe in His Highness, then you would not be making a fuss like this. Do you think His Highness left the delivery of the drug to the Head Maid by mistake? Sir Dantalian is not that sort of person.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You are the one getting swept up by your emotions, Laura. You are being uneasy and anxious about a worst-case scenario and allowing your emotions to run free. How pathetic.¡± Ah, this is it. This is Lapis. I couldn¡¯t see her before me, but I was certain she had her usual cold and impassive look on her face. ¡°A person¡¯s true value is revealed in a time of crisis. During His Highness¡¯ absence, Laura, you are going on a rampage after having be a bulbous monster who was eaten by your emotions. What lunacy. I am starting to doubt His Highness¡¯ sanity when he appointed you as the minister of military affairs.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And second.¡± Lapis didn¡¯t give Laura the chance to retort. ¡°Denying one¡¯s emotions is not the same as running away from them.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I make my decisions after facing my emotions straight on, deliberating over them, looking back at the life I have lived thus far, and the life I will live in the future. Even if that decision causes me to stop my emotions, that is not escapism. That is who I am.¡± Lapis carried on emotionlessly. ¡°Whether something is right or wrong, natural or unnatural, the order of things is incorrect. This is the right that I decided and the naturality that I epted. ¡­¡­There is only one problem and that is whether I can meet someone who can forgive what I think is right and natural. That is all.¡± Laura shut her mouth. Sorry, but Lapis is the only person on the continent whom I can¡¯t beat in an argument, so it would be impossible for Laura. ¡°Laura, you are tired. You have not slept for five days already.¡± ¡°Sister¡­¡­ this youngdy¡­¡­ I am.¡± ¡°It is great that you want to nurse His Highness, but you need to also get some rest. I will take care of nursing him tonight.¡± I heard the sound of a p. ¡°Bring the Minister to a guest room.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Understood.¡± ¡°Ivar. The same goes for you as well. Get some sleep until tomorrow morning.¡± Laura and Ivar tried to argue, but Lapis didn¡¯t budge. ¡°You are talking and creating a ruckus in the patient room where His Highness is resting. It would be illogical to take care of a patient when you are acting like this. This is an order. I will resort to militaryw if you continue to behave indecently.¡± In the end, I heard the sound of the door opening shortly after. The two individuals must have left the room. The room finally became quiet. My consciousness was finally able to rx and return back to sleep. I was already starting to forget what everyone had been arguing about, but who cares? If something truly important was mentioned, then I¡¯ll most likely remember itter. I trust my memory. I heard a faint voice right as my consciousness was about to fade away. ¡°¡­¡­Please do not make us worry so much.¡± The tone of the voice was too soft to say that they were nagging at me. It was a voice that I would¡¯ve responded to automatically if I weren¡¯t sedated. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s pretty nice being able to take a peak at how Laura and the others genuinely act when Dantalian isn¡¯t ¡°around¡±. Laura getting rather emotional and Lapis showing a slight glimpse at her inner feelings. In any case, this chapter came out a dayte cause I was just so annoyingly busy. I even had to get some work done during the weekend. It¡¯s mostly over now, but there was obviously more work waiting for me as I finished the Chinese project. Now I¡¯m working on like 20 pages of info about some virus scanner. It¡¯s not terribly hard, but I¡¯m obviously not very knowledgeable about IT lingo, so it takes me a bit to piece things together. Just gotta keep suffering until things settle down. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 326: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (14) Chapter 326: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (14) Ten days after I got injured. My condition had visibly improved. I could move my lips and look around. It was only a matter of time before I could speak again. The twenty hours I would usually spend being unconscious had decreased drastically as well. I was now conscious for about six hours a day. The first person I saw the moment I opened my eyes was Lapis. Lapis nced at me and gave a curt nod before calling the healing priest as if she somehow knew that I would be waking up now. ¡°Amazing. This is almost like a miracle.¡± An incredibly old priest let out a voice of awe. ¡°If you were human, then you definitely would not have awoken. I did hear rumors about the bodily functions of Demon Lords¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Does that mean His Highness has made aplete recovery?¡± Lapis cut the priest off before he could go on a long monologue. The priest smacked his lips as if he were unsatisfied that he couldn¡¯t beautifully express what he felt. ¡°Yes. However, he has been unconscious for far too long. He will need a considerable amount of time to recover his stamina. In other words, the only thing he has left to do is restore his strength.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you very much.¡± Lapis brought her hands together and bowed courteously. Both the priest and I were surprised. Lapis was no longer a mere demon merchant. She was now the close aide of a ruler who held a prominent position in the Demon Lord Army. Someone of this stature had bowed her head. ¡°P-Please raise your head. I am amoner by birth.¡± ¡°One¡¯s status does not matter under the umbre known as life. Status means nothing to someone who saves and heals the lives of others.¡± Lapis responded with her head down. ¡°If you are ever in need of assistance, I, Lapis Lazuli, promise as His Highness Dantalian¡¯s Chancellor, to do my utmost to assist you in any way that I can.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± The priestughed partially awkwardly, but also happily. ¡°I am nothing more than a doctor who was hired momentarily by the government. Rather than me, it would be more appropriate to show your gratitude to Batavia¡¯s government. However, since it was the government¡¯s fault for the gathering¡¯s poor security, in the end, you do not have to thank anyone. Please raise your head.¡± ¡°My intention remains the same.¡± The priest surrendered before Lapis¡¯ persistence. The old man spoke despondently as he left the room. ¡°They say that you can see a ruler through their vassals. After meeting you, Miss Lazuli, I understand how the Count Ptine was able to arrive together with the Saintess of Brittany despite being a Demon Lord. May Artemis¡¯ smile never stop falling upon you.¡± On a side note, this entire conversation was carried out in the ancient imperialnguage. The mage knew it because it was his basguage, but how was Lapis able to use it so fluently when she was born as a peasant and lived her entire life as a merchant? Lapis is way too gifted. Once we were the only ones left in the room, Lapis sat down on the chair next to the bed. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis nced at my face. It felt awkward doing nothing, so I pointed at the area around Lapis¡¯ eyes. There were distinct bags underneath her eyes. I had tomunicate with my hand gestures, so I kept it simple. ¡®Right now, under your eyes, no joke.¡¯ Once I did, Lapis let out a sigh. What? I said that as a way of being considerate to a woman. I felt a little hurt, but I then came to the realization that that was the first thing Imunicated to someone after being practically unconscious for ten days. Hm. I¡¯m quite the character as well. * * * ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up with your Chancellor?¡± Barbatos abruptlyined after she came to visit me. ¡°What? Is there a problem with Lapis?¡± Half a month had passed since I initially became bedridden. I had recovered considerably since then and was now capable of having normal conversations as long as I didn¡¯t have to raise my voice. ¡°You probably don¡¯t know about this, but she¡¯s been holding everyone by the balls.¡± Barbatos plopped herself down on the chair. She folded her legs and seemed rather displeased as she furrowed her brows. ¡°Do you think I wouldn¡¯t have rushed over the moment I heard that you got injured? I came all the way here and saw that bitch Paimon walking around. She asked if she could go in, but your Chancellor got in the way and refused to move.¡± I was impressed. Subi are treated as parasites among demons, and Lapis is scorned even further for being a half-subus. Despite this, she was able to block Paimon, the Rank 9 Demon Lord. ¡°I will admit that our Lapis is rather bold.¡± ¡°I also chimed in and asked to be let in, but she still refused. I got annoyed and was going to use my control power, but what she said next was really something.¡± I am in charge of His Highness¡¯ Demon Lord Army during his absence. Ignoring my words isparable to stepping on the collective will of His Highness¡¯ army. If you still do not care, then you may go on ahead. ¡°I was so baffled.¡± Barbatos grumbled. ¡°So? Did you ignore her?¡± ¡°Hmph. That¡¯s the way she wanted to y it, so I removed my rank and fought her on even ground.¡± Barbatos let out a snort. She brought her hand to her own cor and pulled out a ne. It was the ne that had two of my left fingers. ¡°I showed her this and said this to her: You pink-haired brat, I didn¡¯te here as a Demon Lord but as the woman who had sex with the man behind that door hundreds of thousands of times. It doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re a chancellor or whatever, you don¡¯t have the right to stop sex camaraderie.¡± ¡°Pfft.¡± How should I say it? It was really a Barbatos-like answer. ¡°Fuck, she let me in after I said that. Do I, of all people, really have to get permission from a low-ranking demon now? Sheesh. I should¡¯ve died a long time ago, but I kept on crawling just to see a glimpse of hope.¡± I chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t hate Lapis too much. She¡¯s someone I like.¡± ¡°That depends on you.¡± The glint in Barbatos¡¯ eyes changed. ¡°All right. Let¡¯s get straight to the point. Who¡¯s the culprit?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I let a couple of my kids go around to investigate and people seem to be talking about how the Consul is suspicious.¡± I smiled faintly. Barbatos didn¡¯t know what happened behind the curtains. Her perspective was purely that of an outsider. Therefore, it should be fine to conclude that Barbatos¡¯ thoughts were the general opinion among third parties. Currently, both the political world and high society were moring over this attack. I had be popr due to the winter diplomatic battle. An assassination attempt was made on my life when my value was reaching its peak. Whether I was going to die or not, who the culprit was, and how much this event will influence other things¡­¡­. There were a lot of topics that were being discussed. The representative groups of each nation strongly criticized the Batavia Republic. A bombing and an assassination attempt had urred at a gathering of influential people. To make matters worse, the culprit behind the assassination attempt was still unknown. I doubt people trusted Batavia¡¯s ability now. There was also a considerable number of representative groups that returned to their nations. With this, there was a drastically low probability that a republican representative meeting would be held¡­¡­. Or, at the very least, one hosted by Batavia. Paimon had failed. If Batavia couldn¡¯t hold one, then the only ce left was the Habsburg Republic; however, this was more impossible for them. There were suspicions on Consul Elizabeth for being the one who attempted the assassination. Furthermore, there were some republicans who saw Elizabeth as a dictator¡­¡­. Everything was going ording to n. There was only one final puzzle piece left. ¡°Barbatos.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s close this incident right now.¡± Barbatos¡¯s expression twisted in confusion. ¡°¡­¡­Let me ask you this first. Why?¡± ¡°We discussedst time that it was still fifty years too early for our Demon Lord Army to conquer the continent. If we perpetuate the situation, then this will turn into a war. So¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So it really was that bitch.¡± Barbatos growled. ¡°If the culprit was a normal person, then this wouldn¡¯t turn into a war. The culprit is someone whom you can¡¯t get revenge on unless you go to war, right? Tell me I¡¯m right.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡± ¡°Then who¡¯s the bastard that stabbed you!?¡± For an instant, the room trembled along with the entire building. Barbatos¡¯ golden eyes were filled with bloodlust. A magic aura that could even suffocate me, a Demon Lord, poured out from her body. The air inside the room trembled in fear of Barbatos. Aah, this is why I didn¡¯t tell Barbatos¡­¡­. Look. Let¡¯s say I were to tell her that I stabbed myself willingly. Barbatos will undoubtedly ask why I would do such a thing. At that point, I would have no other choice but to honestly admit that it was to stop Paimon. I would be telling this to Barbatos, the person who hates Paimon the most in the world. How would someone like that react? Barbatos went berserk back when I only lost a single finger, so this would definitely lead to a civil war. Despite this, I don¡¯t like lying to Barbatos, so skirting around the answer was the best I could do. ¡°Barbatos, calm down and listen to me. There is something I want to ask of you.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah, a request. I¡¯m going to need you to do a little acting from now on.¡± My n was like this: After leaving my room, Barbatos will angrily return to the Habsburg Republic. Once she returns, she¡¯ll start rallying her army and make it seem like she was going to invade another country soon. On my end, I will dere my intent to publicly reveal the culprit¡¯s identity. I will also make the deration with a nuance that sounds like a war was going to break out soon. This will most likely confirm people¡¯s suspicions about Consul Elizabeth being the culprit. They will tremble in fear at the thought of another war unfolding. The entire continent will be on edge. At that moment, the Saintess will visit me. The Saintess and I will have a private conversation. What the conversation was about will not be recorded, but the fact that we had met will. The private conversation will have tost for more than half a day. I will immediately make another announcement afterward. ¡ªI was so moved by the Saintess¡¯ genuine aspiration for the peace of the continent that I will not reveal the identity of the culprit behind the assassination attempt. War would approach quickly before fading away abruptly. The people of the continent will most likely praise the Saintess of Brittany. I can ride the bandwagon and pretend as if I genuinely support something as silly as ¡®continental peace¡¯ as well. Saintess Longwy who supported peace until the very end even though she was attacked. A Demon Lord who stopped a war from starting even though he was attacked because he was moved by the Saintess. This will clear our images perfectly. ¡°Barbatos, we discussed this before. We concluded that we must not start another war for the next fifty years. This should be enough tost us fifty years.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You will pretend to be pro-war, while I¡¯ll pretend to be anti-war. Whenever an incident urs on the continent, you and I will put on a show to the humans by taking opposite sides. And, in the end, we will show a performance where you get suppressed.¡± People are cunning. If someone suddenly advocates peace for no reason, then they aren¡¯t trusted immediately. Especially if the person is a Demon Lord, a kind that has started wars for the past thousands of years. A performance is necessary to get rid of those kinds of doubts. By putting forward a Saintess as a cast member and creating a non-existent assassin, the image of a ¡®Demon Lord who advocates peace¡¯ can be made. If I point my finger at Elizabeth, then this will turn into a battle of evidence. Naturally, we don¡¯t have anything like that. If a truth spell gets involved, then we would absolutely lose. However, conversely, if I don¡¯t say that Elizabeth is the culprit¡ªthen she would contrarily be suspected more. The culprit is Elizabeth, but the Saintess and Demon Lord who loves peace overlooked the incident due to their mercy. This is how the scenario will progress. Barbatos quietly listened to my exnation. She then suddenly asked me a question. ¡°Dantalian, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re intentionally not announcing the culprit for my and the ins Faction¡¯s sake?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± My silence is for my sake. This seemed to convince Barbatos as she let out a sigh. ¡°All right. I¡¯ll go along with your act this time¡­¡­ but you better exin everything clearly to meter.¡± I smiled brightly. I¡¯ll tell you when your rtionship with Paimon gets better. Although that day will probably nevere. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wish I could say that I wasn¡¯t that busy with work anymore, but I really can¡¯t. There¡¯s still some residue work left for that Chinese game and more work is getting piled on top of that because of how long I was on that project. The virus scanner work actually got more annoying because thest file I received is a 60-page PowerPoint presentation. This entire thing screams, ¡°I was told to make it long, so I decided to fill it with 90% redundancies where I just repeat the points I made during the first 10 pages, but for another 50 pages.¡± Would be a lot easier if I could copy and paste, but the person somehow figured out how to alter the words enough that I can¡¯t copy and paste previous stuff. God, it¡¯s just so annoying. Somehow, the Chinese game is 3 times better than this. I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be possible. Rant aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter if I¡¯m still alive. Chapter 327: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (15) Chapter 327: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (15) Barbatos left surprisingly easily. ¡°A regent shouldn¡¯t be ying around, right?¡±, was what the person in question stated. It sounded like a reasonable excuse, but it wasn¡¯t the whole truth. She left early in consideration of me since I was a patient. However, Barbatos wasn¡¯t someone to say that out loud; that was what I loved about her. If I ever get married, wouldn¡¯t it be good to marry someone like Barbatos? I tried drawing a married life in my mind. It came to form rather easily. Even if we had a kid, Barbatos definitely wouldn¡¯t raise them herself. She¡¯d hand off the job to someone else since she would find it to be bothersome. It was obvious. I would have no other choice but to raise the child myself, but the people around me would try to stop me. ¡°I don¡¯t know about other people, but we cannot leave the child¡¯s education to you!¡±, is what they would say unanimously. I would shout at them asking what was so bad about me raising my own child, but no one would listen to me¡­¡­. Then who would raise the child? I¡¯m not sure, but it would probably end up in a system where several people raise the child together. Laura, who has the least to do and often acts jobless, would y with the child. Lapis, Daisy, and Ivar would sometimese around after they finish their work. After the kid¡¯s head had grown a bit, they would start following Jeremi around. They¡¯ll develop into a ridiculously mischievous child and flip our Demon Lord territory over on its head. Ivar would shout, ¡®Young master, young master!¡¯, but it would have no effect whatsoever. Rather than try to stop her child, Barbatos would cackle and praise the child instead. I would be next to her letting out sighs. What a beautiful dream. Demon Lords can¡¯t have children, so this was nothing but a fantasy. Even so, I still felt a smile creep up on my face¡­¡­ I wonder why? People figure out what¡¯s impossible for them as they grow up. I can¡¯t be a hero, a revolutionist, or an artist. My path bes clearer as time goes by. For example, I may not be able to be a leading ruler, but I can be someone who incites, cajoles, and affronts the people. Dantalian is someone who incites, cajoles, and affronts. Whether I wanted it to be or not, that was my identity. There was no reason for me to be sad about it either. In the first ce, it¡¯s not like I was born because I wanted to be. My life solidifying in an unwanted direction is also natural¡­¡­. However, there is a small minority of people who fall into a weird train of thought. They don¡¯t try to find their ¡®identity¡¯ within themselves. They look somewhere else. As if they believe that their identity exists somewhere far on the vast horizon. People attach all sorts of names to that unseeable horizon. For example, humanity. The nation. The world. I can cajole and affront other people. I can do these things as much as I want. However, would it be fine for humanity itself to do something like that? Was that something a good world would do? Deceiving, murdering, and raping others¡ªwas that truly the right image for the world? Should it be left alone? This minority of people quietly voice their disapproval. It¡¯s fine if I¡¯m a humble person or even a selfish person. However, humanity should not be that way. Regardless of how selfish and vile my current self may be, the future must approach and humanity¡¯s image must be the opposite of those things. These people stare straight at their humbleness and say ¡®no¡¯ at the same time. Whenever this group of mental patients find themselves in a problematic situation, they ask themselves, ¡®What should humanity do?¡¯ instead of asking, ¡®What should I do?¡¯. When a ughter unfolds before them, they respond by saying ¡®I have to run away,¡¯ and ¡®Humanity will not forgive this,¡¯ at the same time. They then make thetter statement into their actual response. They were psychopaths. They preach about something nonexistent like humanity and the world as a whole and act as if they¡¯re real. They even go as far as to act as if that¡¯s their identity. What else could this possibly be except the delusions of the insane? There is a morbid beauty to this. Out of every sickness that exists, people have had this disease since the dawn of time¡­¡­. ¡°Dantalian.¡± I opened my eyes to see a pure white space spread out endlessly before me. Did I fall asleep? I knew that I was in a dream since I had been invited here once before as well. ¡°¡­¡­Paimon.¡± There was a faint smile on the scarlet-haired woman. ¡°I apologize if I brought you here despite your exhaustion.¡± ¡°It is fine. I felt like I slept enough for a lifetime during these past ten days.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I will get the remainder of my sleepter on when I am in my grave.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Huh? I threw thatment out as a joke, but Paimon¡¯s expression became dark. She looked sad but also resentful at something. ¡°The Republic of Batavia¡¯s trust has plummeted, the Habsburg Republic has been pushed into a corner, and Frankia¡¯s new government does not have enough power to unite the continent. There is no longer any faction left that is capable of leading republicans. ¡­¡­Just as you desired, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Why did you do it?¡± The edges of Paimon¡¯s eyes became wet. ¡°I simply wanted peace. I simply wanted to see that cliched worde to fruition¡­¡­. You should know this better than anyone else, but why¡­¡­?¡± Her voice and face were both a mess. Thus she was more forthright than any other tone or expression she could make, and I had no choice but to receive her arrowhead-like emotions entirely. ¡°Did you really have to go as far as to hurt yourself¡­¡­? I, I did not wish for you to get hurt¡­¡­!¡± ¡°The same goes for me, Paimon.¡± I quietly walked to her. ¡°I do not wish to see you get hurt. I do not wish to see you and Barbatos kill each other. That is why¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not approach me!¡± I stopped in my tracks. ¡°You are shameless and selfish! You act as if you do not know anything even though you know everything¡­¡­. Why will you not disregard the death of a woman like myself when you had already forced the deaths of tens of thousands? It should be fine for you to let thisdy die however she pleases¡­¡­to foolishly fall into ruin¡­¡­!¡± Only the sound of crying could be heard for a moment. I couldn¡¯t approach or say something to her. I wonder how Paimon must have felt when she heard that I had injured myself. Paimon is a lofty person with a delicate heart. She was most likely in anguish. The fact that I had harmed myself probably made her suffer more than knowing that her n had fallen apart. Even though I knew that Paimon would suffer, no, I stabbed myself because I knew that Paimon would suffer. In order to make her feel guilty and make her voluntarily abandon her n of dividing the Demon Lord Army. I am this kind of person. Someone who mocks and ridicules the trust of others. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I silently pulled out a dagger from my side. I realized this thest time I was here, but I appear in these dreams in the clothes I¡¯m most familiar with. I always have a dagger on me at all times. ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian?¡± Did my action appear weird to her? Paimon looked at me with a tear-filled face. I turned the pointed end of the dagger toward myself. To be more exact, I pointed it at my neck. Paimon¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock as she raised her hand toward me. ¡°No!¡± I stabbed the dagger into the center of my neck before Paimon¡¯s fingers could reach me. I surprisingly felt barely any pain. It felt like my tongue got pushed up and my eyes had vanished. I then woke up from the dream. The pure white space was gone. I was back in the room where my real body was resting. I stroked my hand over my neck as I struggled to push myself out of bed. I had been bedridden for more than ten days straight. It was a given that my body wouldn¡¯t move exactly as I wanted it to. I practically had to throw myself on the ground in order to get out of bed. You shouldn¡¯t be moving around yet, my body shouted these words at me. My body refused to stand up since I couldn¡¯t get any strength in my knees. Fortunately, there was a decent object I could use as a cane nearby: the silver rod that was used to open and shut the curtains. ¡°Kuh¡­¡­.¡± I used the rod as a walking stick to push my body up partially. My limbs trembled, but this much was bearable. There was a time when my condition was worse than this. I could easily endure something of this degree. I stumbled my way to the door. Subi can only show dreams to people nearby. Her appearing in my dream meant that she was somewhere in this estate. I tripped five times just trying to get from my bed to the door. It might¡¯ve been easier to just crawl, but I felt like I would actually pass out if Iid down on the floor right now. I continued forward while holding on to my consciousness as desperately as possible. And then, when I opened the door¡ª. I discovered Paimon sitting outside. She looked like she didn¡¯t know what to do. She was looking up at me nkly with her face that had be a mess due to her tears. Her pretty face was so contorted that I couldn¡¯t help butugh. Although, in reality, I only had the strength to raise the ends of my mouth ever so slightly. I barely managed to squeeze out my words as I leaned on the makeshift cane. ¡°You¡­¡­are a coward, Paimon.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You were most likely afraid to meet me in person. How should I apologize? What kind of face should I have when I meet him¡­¡­? It was because you couldn¡¯t figure this out that you came to me in my dream. Seriously, you are such a ridiculous coward¡­¡­.¡± I knew that she wasn¡¯t an idealist by nature. If she were truly an idealist, then she would¡¯ve forced her beliefs on others constantly. Back at Bruno ins, she even went as far as to lose her magic power in order to save me. Why? Why would she do such absurd things? ¡°You do not want to sacrifice anyone¡­¡­. Be it demons or even me¡­¡­. That is why you decided to get rid of yourself. Another Demon Lord for the world to be rid of.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°War happens because the selfish existences known as Demon Lords exist¡­¡­. That is why you decided to sacrifice yourself. Because you did not want anyone to get hurt¡­¡­ you had no other choice but to hurt yourself.¡± There was no way of knowing whether her obsession came from being born a subus, or if it was a disposition that Paimon had innately. ¡°You have to stir up trouble before the ins Faction can be stronger in fifty years¡­¡­? That is all fair and good, but you most likely did not believe that you could win. It is obvious that every Demon Lord except for you would unite. Could you win against them all?¡± ¡°I-I¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You probably figured it would be fine to lose. If you lose, then you could fall by yourself. This was your rationale.¡± It was the same back during the Crescent Alliance War. If I were in Paimon¡¯s shoes, then I absolutely would not have given Barbatos any breathing space. I would¡¯ve pincered her after allying with Elizabeth. Making up a cause was more than easy. Despite this, she gave Barbatos several days to consider surrendering. In the past, I thought that this was because Paimon was overconfident and certain of her victory. However, I now know that that wasn¡¯t the reason. She simply did not have the guts to push her ideals onto others¡­¡­. Even though she knew that a ughter was necessary, she couldn¡¯tmit one. The reason was simple. It was because she wasn¡¯t absolutely certain whether she was right or not. It was probably the same back in the original game scenario as well. Even though she had the chance to kill the hero, she missed it. Why? Because she found out that the hero was a virtuous person. Even though she knew that she had to kill the hero for the sake of demonkind, in the end, she chose to end her own life. Paimon, you are too considerate to dye the continent in blood. ¡°If I am wrong, then kill me where I stand.¡± I stared straight into her eyes. ¡°I can guarantee you that I will continue to obstruct your path. I am your biggest obstacle¡­¡­. Prove to me whether you have the confidence to realize your ideal even if it means you have to kill me!¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My suffering is almost over. The Chinese project is officially over (sort of) after today. The only remaining work to be done is when the client messages us to ask questions about trantions and asks for fixes. Other than that, the virus scanning work also got wrapped up, so now I¡¯m back to tranting a dialogue script for a game. This is so much better since it¡¯s very close to what I¡¯ve been doing here. In any case, I¡¯m very burnt out, but I gotta keep on going. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 328: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (16) Chapter 328: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (16) This wasn¡¯t just a threat. If you¡¯re going to kill me, then do it. This was what I genuinely thought. Killing me wouldn¡¯t end with the death of a single person. It would also cut the makeshift bridge between the ins, Mountain, and Neutral Factions. It would also be the death of the mediator between demons and humans. You would also be destroying the only way to suppress the unaffiliated Demon Lords by killing Gamigin¡¯s lover. Furthermore, there were also the lives that were lost in order to get this far. The fifty thousand lives that had fallen at Austerlitz and Bruno respectively, the two thousand resolved death throes on the ck Mountains, and the lives of both Agares and Baal alsoy on top of all this. Naturally, the weight of tens of thousands of innocent lives was on my shoulders. Imitted all of my ughters with explicit intentions. I fully acknowledged that this was my responsibility. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. We were on a mountaintop with no room for excuses. This was a barrennd that you couldn¡¯t even nt excuses in as seeds to harvestter. A graveyard of specters with their heads held high. A barrennd of ice where nothing could be born. A person who wishes to deny this requires a great excuse. You could be like Elizabeth and dere the betterment of humanity and one¡¯s nation. It doesn¡¯t matter what the excuse is. The important part is if you have the resolve and whether there is any hypocrisy in your words. Paimon understood this fact very well. ¡°There is no way¡­¡­I could kill you¡­¡­.¡± Paimon squeezed out her words like an injured animal. ¡°The person who understood¡­¡­ epted, and forgave me.¡± Her shell was shattering. The pebble that was buried deep in her chest was appearing on her face. Her face wasn¡¯t the surface of her emotions, it was the bottom. That¡¯s right. Different from me, she has a bottom. ¡°The first person I liked¡­¡­!¡± Paimon cried out. ¡°There is no way I could kill someone like that!¡± You said it, Paimon. You admitted that you couldn¡¯t kill me. All right. At this moment, like a petal falling from a lily, a beautiful ideal that only a precious few humans in the world could possess dropped to the ground in silence. Paimon is a woman who silently sacrificed hundreds of years for the sake of her ideal. All the gold in the continent would still be insignificantpared to her efforts. Despite all this, she didn¡¯t want to kill me, no, she couldn¡¯t. Her ideal was rejected by this extremely realistic and powerful emotion. In that case, let¡¯s make a contract. I wiped away Paimon¡¯s tears with my hand. ¡°Leave your conviction with me.¡± An eternally unbreakable contract. A contract of blood. ¡°Paimon, in the end, you are unable to kill me, a single person. If you are told to sacrifice ten thousand healthy lives for the sake of republicanism, you would choose nothing. That is your limit. But I am different.¡± ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­?¡± Was it because she had cried too much? Paimon¡¯s eyes were hazy. Paimon called out my name nkly with a somewhat anxious tone. I knelt down in order to be at her eye level. ¡°The fact that the lives of ten thousand cannot be killed for republicanism is something that you are aware of. Belief does not have the authority to ughter that many lives. Nheless, you also know that a belief with that much of a right does not exist.¡± You cannotmit ughters as long as you are a ¡®good¡¯ individual. A majority of idealists do not know this. Even if they did, they feign ignorance. The fact that Paimon couldn¡¯t feign ignorance made it clear that she possessed an ideal in the most beautiful form. I was now going to put that beauty on a white sheet of paper and put it on disy in the museum within my mind forever. ¡°However, it is possible for an evil person to ughter ten thousand.¡± Paimon¡¯s expression turned to that of shock. ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­ what are you saying¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Did I not say it before? I will act as a proxy for your desire.¡± I smiled. I made sure to do so as gently as possible. To make her unconsciously want to rely on me. ¡°I will kill the things that you cannot kill. I will impose the sacrifices that you cannot forgive. You can put down the burden that has been on your shoulders. In the first ce, that burden was not something a person like you should have been shouldering.¡± ¡°That is ridiculous!¡± Paimon shouted. ¡°I-I do not want that¡­¡­ I never have¡­¡­!¡± ¡°That is a lie. You have wanted it at least once, no, you have longed for it hundreds of thousands of times.¡± I looked into Paimon¡¯s gem-like red eyes with certainty. ¡°To one day wake up in a different world where demons and humans are not discriminated between¡­¡­. How great would it be if that happened? I am sure that you most likely yearned for this to the point of wailing. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡­.¡± Her mouth opened and closed over and over again. Iprehensible sobs seeped out from between her lips. ¡°This is a contract. From now on, you will abandon all of your ideals. You do not have the right to utter such ideals when you cannot kill even me¡­¡­. Paimon, please lower yourself to that of a simpledy.¡± You could devote your life to something because you think it is right. However, if you kill people for the sake of that something, then that thing would no longer be right. This is a paradox that many idealists face. But what if a person who is bad from the beginning causes the massacres? What if ughters ur, causing the deaths of numerous people, but the culprit who caused the ughters doesn¡¯t try to make any excuses? Before you know it, republicanism would have ¡®ultimately¡¯ spread throughout the continent. With this, there would be a clear person responsible for the ughters, and republicanism would also be achieved. If the culprit doesn¡¯t say that theymitted the ughters for republicanism, then republicanism would be unconnected to the crimes and remain in its purest form. There would be no heroes or sacrifices in that world. Only an evil individual would exist prominently. People would be able to stare at beauty without any doubt or suspicions. ¡°But, what¡­¡­ what would happen to you, then!?¡± ¡°Please do not underestimate me. I have already killed ten thousand people. Adding you on top of that would make no difference.¡± Iughed pleasantly. My limbs were screaming since I wasn¡¯t fully healed yet; however, I had tough if I wanted to endure the pain. Good people are ipetent and bad people arepetent. For some reason, the world was like this. If you have a sense of humor, then it would only be natural tough here. ¡°I appreciate your consideration, but please understand the topic. If you are harboring thoughts about trying to save me, then please throw them in the trash. I do not want something like that.¡± ¡°I also do not wish to leave all of the burdens on you instead!¡± I smiled brightly. ¡°Sorry, but things like that are no longer important.¡± Do you still not understand? I don¡¯t ask other parties for their consent. Asking for consent would turn them into aplices. True big shots don¡¯t need something like aplices. This was all over the moment you admitted that you couldn¡¯t kill me. All that was needed now was a single lie. Adding this one thing would be enough to steal the soul of the maiden who was crying relentlessly in front of me. I will show it to you now. ¡°I love you, Paimon.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡± I took half a step forward and stole her lips before she could react. Paimon¡¯s eyes went wide. There was a slight bit of resistance. She struggled in order to push me away. I utilized my injuries against her. I would furrow my brows as if my body was in pain whenever Paimon tried to move. Paimon immediately stopped to struggle as soon as she noticed this. She was probably reminded of the fact that I was still severely injured. I took advantage of that opportunity. Paimon relented so I forced a more intense kiss upon her. She carefully touched my body as if she were trying to push me away, but that kind of feeble resistance only made our bodiese closer together. Her attempts gradually waned down. In the end, the only thing that remained was the two of us in an embrace. ¡°¡­¡­, ¡­, ¡­¡­.¡± Paimon slowly closed her eyes. The tears that had welled up around her eyes drew a smooth line down her cheek. At the same time, a sound effect that almost sounded gloomy to me now rang out. ¡¸Deep affection! The other party genuinely relies on you. A new title has been given to the other party because of this bond.¡¹ 50 affection points. The first affection point lock was broken. The first step of capturing Paimon was none other than making her abandon her ideals. It was quite literally a malicious joke. However, at this point, I fully understood why it was like this. 50 affection points is probably by no means an arbitrary value. This value has a specific meaning behind it. It¡¯s the value where the person is able to maintain their identities and love their partners at the same time. An impressive bnce. If their affection is lower than 50, then they would probably pick their belief over their partner if they had to make a choice. If it¡¯s higher, then they would prioritize their partner. Exactly 50 means that they aren¡¯t able to pick one side or the other¡­¡­. In that regard, capturing her didn¡¯t mean anything good. Before meeting me, Paimon wasplete as a person. She didn¡¯t need anyone else. However, after meeting me, she gained something with an equivalent value to her beliefs. One¡¯s belief refers to their identity as a whole. Therefore, capturing someone meant that you were destroying someone¡¯s identity from their roots. Laura abandoned her outlook on the world and chose to stay at my side. Gamigin became a woman obsessed with love. Ivar lost the identity she had built up for thousands of years and was reduced to being my maid. Yes, reduced. No matter what other people may think, I think of this as falling. ¡°Ah, mm¡­¡­ hah.¡± I kissed Paimon more tenderly. She wasn¡¯t showing even a fragment of resistance now. She was epting me as a whole. Paimon had fallen. The only unfortunate thing at the moment was the fact that my body really hurt right now. If my body was in better condition, then I would¡¯ve dragged Paimon to my bed and turned her into a mess. I sort of felt like a kiss wasn¡¯t enough. Well, if you have no teeth, then you have to make do with your gums. I was having these kinds of thoughts while kissing the girl I had confessed my love to. I really am quite a ridiculous person. Well, this isn¡¯t exactly anything new¡­¡­. Paimon will most likely listen to my orders from now on. Some remnants of her ideal might make her act arbitrarily, but I should be able to prevent it if I ask strong enough. That¡¯s the typical end for a heroine who has been conquered. The entire Demon Lord army was now under my control. Barbatos listens to my advice, Paimon and Gamigin have been captured by me, and Marbas doesn¡¯t show any signs of wanting to make any significant moves. A marvelous conclusion. I¡¯d probably get scolded by Lapis if I told her this, though. At the very least, I knew that thinking of another woman while kissing someone wasn¡¯t polite. If you think about it, I¡¯m a man of manners. You could say that I¡¯m the physical embodiment of manners. Therefore, I focused on the sensation of Paimon¡¯s lips. As I felt the now silent night. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing too much to say this time around. Pitiful Paimon, but she did this to herself. I¡¯ve been busy ying catch-up at work because the dang Chinese game is STILL giving us more work. I don¡¯t know if I mentioned it, but the client hired a project manager who is apparently good at English and Indonesian. Normally this would be a good thing for us, but the asshole ispletely disregarding all previous guidelines we had set up and decisions that were made to just change the game to how he wants it. We were told early on that the two projects don¡¯t have to use the same exact terms, but now he¡¯s trying to fuse everything, disregarding that doing so will require us to change thousands of lines. So yeah, ssic client-side ipetency ?? Rant aside, if the next chapter iste, then it¡¯s because I¡¯m still busy trying to catch-up on work. I¡¯ve been doing extra work after I get home, so that¡¯s fun. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 329: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (17) Chapter 329: Winter King (Rex Hyemis) (17) * * * I became bedridden again, but I also had a fever this time. I ended up pushing myself even though I hadn¡¯t recoveredpletely. The priest who was taking care of me panicked because he thought that I was suddenly havingplications. I couldn¡¯t tell him that I got a fever because I forced myself to make out with a woman, so I kept my mouth shut. ¡­¡­ Even medicine isn¡¯t enough to fix an idiot. I think that¡¯s how the saying goes. That saying described me perfectly. Nheless, getting a fever was the only price I had to pay for capturing Paimon. I can confidently say that I got a bargain. ¡°I fully understand what kind of Demon Lord you are.¡± Saintess Longwy seemed fed up. That was the first thing she said the moment she visited me. ¡°One mistake and we both could have died. You are absurd.¡± ¡°Did we not survive in the end?¡± I smiled with my palms open. This seemed to annoy the Saintess as she raised her voice. ¡°A person¡¯s body exploded before my very eyes. Do you know how shocked I was?¡± ¡°I am pleased since it seems like I was able to let you have a rare and precious experience.¡± ¡°O Goddess, please curse this devil¡­¡­!¡± Saintess Longwy gnashed her teeth. I didn¡¯t tell her beforehand who the terrorist was. I didn¡¯t know how good Longwy¡¯s acting ability was, after all. It was only natural that her reaction would be more genuine if she were attacked out of the blue instead of being attacked with prior notice. That was why I kept it a secret. ¡°The original n was to wake up within five days. And yet, today marks the fifteenth day since the incident. Do you understand? It has been half a month.¡± ¡°Mm. My stamina was worse than I expected.¡± ¡°That is not what I am talking about!¡± Saintess Longwy shouted in anger. I have no idea what she¡¯s getting at. If you want to say something to someone, then phrase it in a way that¡¯sprehensible. Even a goblin would tilt their head in confusion if you go around screaming like a gori. How did she graduate at the top of her ss at the theology academy? I¡¯m starting to think that she might have forged her academic ability. Or go raise your Affection to 20. I¡¯ll read your mental state for you if you do. Makes things easier for both me and the gori. A happy ending. ¡°¡­¡­You are thinking of something strange right now, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡± I feigned ignorance. I am the most brazen-faced person on the continent. There was nothing to worry about. The Saintess let out a strong sigh. ¡°What I am trying to say is that I was truly at death¡¯s door. Demon Lord Dantalian, the Kingdom of Brittany and I have decided to cooperate with you, but¡­¡­. If all of your ns hold abile factor like this one did, then we will have to reconsider our cooperation.¡± ¡°I see. Labile factors, is it?¡± That was definitely something worth considering. The Queen of Brittany and Saintess Longwy are risking their lives to cooperate with us. We would both fall into ruin if it gets revealed that a terrorist attack happened because of our self-fabricated scenario. It wasn¡¯t surprising that they would feel anxious since even their political partner was struggling to stay alive. This is saddening. ¡°Saintess Longwy, do you know who you are talking to right now?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I am Dantalian.¡± I smiled broadly. ¡°The person who wiped out your army and gifted your queen with despair. I do not wish to brag, but the formidable knights of Brittany all turned into corpses under my boots. Were the knights of Brittany so weak that they could have been defeated by anyone?¡± ¡°No, they were not¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Brittany had a powerful army. Please ce the same amount of trust you had in that army onto me.¡± The Saintess went quiet. It probably wasn¡¯t enough to convince her, but she shouldn¡¯t be able to refute me. I cleared my throat since I figured I should change the topic now. ¡°I will not be revealing the culprit behind the attack due to being persuaded by you. Or, at the very least, this is what it must look like to onlookers. The problem, however, is the other saintesses.¡± ¡°¡­¡­How would the other saintesses be a problem?¡± ¡°If we follow our script, then you will be an extremely ¡®kind saintess¡¯.¡± To the masses who are exhausted due to the wars and the gue, Saintess Jacqueline Longwy would be a great individual who had blocked the terrible war between races. The voices praising her would increase in size exponentially. ¡°This will not sit particrly well with the other saintesses.¡± ¡°Are you saying that they will be jealous of me?¡±: Saintess Longwy let out a snort. ¡°A wicked individual such as yourself might be unaware, but saintesses are chosen after strict screenings. Only those with exceptional character and faith can maintain their positions as saintesses. Jealousy? That is a needless concern.¡± ¡°O Saintess, needless concerns are rare in the world.¡± I spoke jokingly. ¡°O Saintess Jacqueline Longwy, who became Athena¡¯s saintess after getting through that rigorous screening, you must have quite the great character since you are sitting here scheming with a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­This is for the sake of Brittany!¡± ¡°It is the same. The other saintesses will also seek out excuses. Simr to how we pick out our clothes every morning, people change into different excuses every morning. I coughed. It was a real one this time. ¡°The saintesses have no reason to go out of their way to change their clothes with their own hands. Saintess Longwy, if you gain continental fame, then the Temple of Athena will also gain fame. Will the priests from other temples stay still?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Even if the saintesses wish to stay silent, the people around them will not do the same. They will do whatever they can to obstruct you.¡± Several saintesses were also cooperating with Elizabeth. This was the problem. Elizabeth is currently being suspected as the culprit who carried out the terrorist attack. They wouldn¡¯t cooperate with her openly, but there was a high chance that they would go on the offensive in secret. I was sure of it. I¡¯m sure that Elizabeth will threaten them saying that they¡¯re ¡®already on the same boat¡¯. The Saintess let out a sigh. ¡°Is there a good countermeasure?¡± ¡°It is simple. You raise them all as your aides.¡± I coughed lightly before continuing. ¡°As you are aware, the Habsburg Empire has no state religion. The saintess was executed during the Crescent Alliance war. We can take advantage of this fact. We will respectfully treat every temple as our state religion.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± The Saintess blinked in surprise. It was a rather cute reaction, so I couldn¡¯t help but show a fatherly smile. ¡°The symbol that represents the harmony between humans and demons, this is what the Habsburg Empire must be. It would be weird to have religious discrimination in a nation where there is no racial discrimination.¡± Saintess Longwy furrowed her brows. ¡°But the temples have no reason to ept the Empire¡¯s suggestion.¡± ¡°If there is no reason, then we just have to make one. We will grant every temple with a barony, free of charge. Do you think they would still refuse?¡± The Saintess¡¯ expression became serious. ¡°¡­¡­I think it could be possible.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Please persuade the temples of each nation with this proposal.¡± Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have any sort of connection with the religious world. Saintess Longwy will have to handle this side of the business. ¡°Start with the temples that are friendly to us and make sure to approach the Temple of Hestia and the Temple of Hephaestusst. They will most likely be hesitant about cooperating with us, so we have to pressure them into thinking that they would be the only ones to be isted¡­¡­.¡± It was at that moment that I broke out into a coughing fit. The coughs were dry. Damn it, this was unpleasant because it made me feel like a patient. Although I actually am a patient right now. Saintess Longwy made a face. ¡°Are you truly okay?¡± ¡°My body has mostly recovered. This is most likely a psychological issue.¡± For some reason, the body of Demon Lords easily started to hurt ording to psychological factors. For example, when an arrow pierced my thigh shortly after I fell into this world, the wound itself healed quickly, but my right leg had a limp for about two months. ¡°In any case, this is not a bad deal for Brittany either. Our Empire will grant you an honorary title as a duke.¡± ¡°Haa. It does not make me happy to receive a peerage from a Demon Lord.¡± Saintess Longwy immediately refused. It was only an honorary title, but it was still that of a duke. ¡°Do not be so quick to refuse. I told you that this is not a bad deal for Brittany either.¡± The Saintess looked confused. I spoke like a teacher who was considerately exining something to a flunkee. ¡°Saintess Longwy, if you receive this imperial peerage, you will no longer be only the Saintess of Brittany. You will also be a noble of the Empire.¡± ¡°So what?¡± ¡°The Kingdom of Brittany cannot move their army due to the treaty that was signed between us. However, depending on the situation, an army can be mobilized by Jacqueline Longwy, a Duchess of the Empire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The Saintess¡¯ eyes went wide. ¡°A-Are you saying that you will allow military action!?¡± ¡°Depending on the situation.¡± I smiled. ¡°For example, let¡¯s see. If it does not go against the benefit of both the Habsburg Empire and Brittany, then we will acknowledge those cases as exceptions.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Saintess Longwy bit the nail of her thumb. The Kingdom of Brittany is currently unable to set foot in Frankia for the next 14 years. However, if you exclude Frankia, Brittany has no othernd route they could use to enter the continent. Brittany¡¯s navy was also wiped out in thest war. Therefore, it was basically impossible for Brittany to make any military action for the next 14 years. If she epts my proposal here, then Brittany would gain a new way to move their army. If necessary, it would be possible for them to use military force to meddle in continental affairs. This probably sounded like a devilishly sweet proposal to her. Nheless. ¡°In order for us to move our army¡­¡­ we would need permission from the Habsburg Empire first.¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± ¡°And the Empire¡¯s diplomacy rests on your shoulders.¡± Saintess Longwy¡¯s gaze was gloomy but piercing. ¡°We would end up bing subordinated to you. We would have to tell you whenever we move our army and put in an effort to get your approval¡­¡­. In the end, this is how it will turn out.¡± I maintained my smile as I quietly asked her back. ¡°So will you refuse?¡± Saintess Longwy shut her mouth tight. A tense silence fell over the room for a while. The Saintess held back her desire to cry as she finally spoke. ¡°You are always like this. You throw out a proposal that seems advantageous for the other party, but you actually make it so that they are so ensnared to you that they cannot escape.¡± ¡°I am a coward, after all. It is difficult for me to trust in others.¡± I shrugged. ¡°The harder it bes to betray one another, the more ensnared you are. Does that not naturally increase your trust?¡± ¡°¡­¡­You stopped being a person the moment you referred to something like that as trust.¡± I didn¡¯t deny it. I didn¡¯t feel the need to, after all. The Saintess left after saying that she would give me an answer after discussing it with Queen Henrietta. It shouldn¡¯t be a surprise, but their responseter came as a ¡®yes¡¯. Henrietta has a huge obsession with setting foot on the continent. To the point that she didn¡¯t care if she had to be managed by us in order to do so. With this, I obtained a military card that I could use in the future. Just as we nned beforehand, we carried out our performance. Concern about another war breaking out swept over the continent as Barbatos started a military draft. In regard to this, the Saintess visited me personally in order to persuade me. I was then so moved by the Saintess¡¯ words that I dered I would keep the culprit¡¯s identity a secret for all eternity. Saintess Longwy and the other saintesses praised me for making a ¡®great decision¡¯. Adding to this, the Habsburg Empire dered ¡®the equal treatment of all temples¡¯. To the masses, this genuinely looked like the perfect peaceful conclusion. One month after the terrorist attack. I returned to my Demon Lord Castle with the title, . Of all people, Dantalian had be an icon of peace. ¡ªWinter wasing to an end. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This chapter arc has finallye to an end. This was probably the longest segment that I¡¯ve tranted so far. On another note, I apologize for the long wait between chapters. I¡¯ve basically been working overtime the entire week and just wanted to rx. The new Pokemon game came out, so I¡¯ve been chilling with that and trying to get my mind off work. It¡¯s been rather stressful. I hope you guys don¡¯t mind too much. I¡¯ll try to get back to pace soon, but I¡¯m still uncertain how work will be this week. In any case, I hope you guys enjoyed this long chapter arc and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 330: ending no.03 Chapter 330: ending no.03 Author¡¯s note: This chapter is a ¡®what if¡¯ supplementary story. Those of you who dislike Bad Endings can skip this chapter. *** Ending conditions 1. Demon Lord Paimon¡¯s affection is below 50. 2. Among Lapis Lazuli¡¯s jobs rted to magic, none are above A rank. 3. Dantalian¡¯s infamy is above 100,000. *** . . . *** There are times when people have to do something even when they don¡¯t want to. Lapis Lazuli was currently keenly aware of this fact. She was standing at Habsburg Pce and had urgent news that she had to deliver to the regent of Habsburg. Shortly after, Barbatos finished her work and entered the reception room. ¡°Oh? If it isn¡¯t Dantalian¡¯s Chancellor. What brings you here?¡± Lapis must have seemed like a very unlikely visitor to Barbatos. Barbatos gazed at Lapis with interest. ¡°Your Highness.¡± Lapis normally had a strong heart that prevented emotions from getting involved in her work, but no words came out even after she opened her mouth. Her lips moved slightly. How should she tell her? It almost felt like she had forgotten how to speak. Barbatos tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that Dantalian sent you. What, did he get in trouble again? He should keep still if he¡¯s bedridden. Tsk tsk.¡± ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t be nervous and just speak.¡± Barbatos chuckled. Lapis could tell that she was being considerate. It was Barbatos¡¯ decorum to be considerate of others without using any sort of considerate words. Lapis had witnessed this from the side several times and it was because she knew this that she felt more miserable. She muttered the words in her mouth several times before Lapis finally spoke them verbally. ¡°His Highness Dantalian has¡­¡­ passed away.¡± It almost felt like time had stopped. Barbatos¡¯ expression froze with her smile still on her face. The only thing that showed the passage of time was the muscles on her face slowly shifting. ¡°¡­¡­What?¡± Lapis felt more miserable due to the obvious question. That was an instinctive rejection. She wasn¡¯t asking that because she truly didn¡¯t hear properly, but in order to reject the words she had heard. ¡°This morning, at around 4 am, His Highness Dantalian suddenly passed away.¡± Lapis felt a corner of her mind rot away as she tried to talk formally. This was the best Lapis could do. ¡°The reason of death is still uncertain. However, I personally believe that there is a high chance that he was assassinated.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression slowly crumbled. ¡°Hey, what kind of joke is that? You¡¯re lying, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way Dantalian could die. He¡¯s like a cockroach that refuses to die even if you try to kill him¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos raised the corners of her mouth as if she were trying to stop that copse. Was she trying to smile? Her desperate recovery attempt was utterly pointless. Her lips were already trembling as they had escaped her control. Ah, Barbatos let out a sound as she opened her eyes wide as if she realized something. ¡°I see. This is another one of Dantalian¡¯s tricks. He¡¯s trying to get a response out of me by having someone tell me this, right? Sheesh, what a pathetic guy. There are jokes you can make and jokes you can¡¯t make¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness Barbatos.¡± Lapis couldn¡¯t listen to this any longer as she raised her voice. It was a discourtesy that a low-tier demon shouldn¡¯t do to a Demon Lord, but she couldn¡¯t bear looking at Barbatos¡¯ face any longer. ¡°I believed that I had to inform Your Highness of this first. To him¡­¡­ to Sir Dantalian, you were someone whom he genuinely loved, after all.¡± Barbatos shut her mouth. A moment of silence went by. ¡°Ah¡­¡­.¡± Tears fell silently. It was that expression. Lapismented in a deep corner of her mind. Everyone made that same face when she informed them of her Lord¡¯s demise. Be it Laura or Ivar, they all reacted the same. They were currently copsed next to Dantalian¡¯s bed and crying relentlessly. The level at which they were wailing was almost frantic. Lapis was the only oneposed enough to tell others of the news, hence why she was the one to go to Barbatos. ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡­ ah¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos covered her face with her hands. Her small hands couldn¡¯t possibly stop the flow of her tears. An uncontroble amount of tears kept flowing out from between her fingers. In truth, Barbatos probably already knew. Demon Lords can feel the emotions of demons. An unsettling feeling must have wrapped around her the moment she met Lapis in the reception room. That was why she acted cheerful instead. Yeah. She knew. What must¡¯ve happened to make Dantalian¡¯s chancellor visit her urgently in the middle of the night. Why Lapis felt despair the moment she saw her. She knew everything. ¡ªThe first man she fell in love with had died. ¡°Uu, aah¡­¡­.¡± Gradually, her wailing came out. She had witnessed countless deaths. She had also harvested countless deaths. Despite this, Barbatos still wasn¡¯t used to death. It was because she despised and feared death the most that she was contrarily able to be a necromancer. She thought that he would never die. He was a Demon Lord, so she believed that he would always be at her side. She had reassured herself that he was far from death. ¡°Is¡­¡­is there a will?¡± ¡°He passed away without being able to say anyst words.¡± Lapis took something out of her pocket. It was a scroll. She respectfully presented the scroll to Barbatos. ¡°However, Sir Dantalian always carried a will around with him.¡± ¡°I never heard about that¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He had ordered this humble one¡­¡­to deliver it to Your Highness if something were to happen.¡± Barbatos shut her mouth. Dantalian had chosen her as the person to receive his death. Barbatos¡¯ hands felt numb under the weight of the scroll. In other words, something her man had left for his absolute final moment. Barbatos wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Although it was pointless since they continued to flow out endlessly, she still did her best to wipe them away. She didn¡¯t want to see Dantalian¡¯s final words with eyes that were blurred by tears. Unrolling the scroll revealed some slightly messy handwriting. ¡¸The fact that this will was revealed means that I have met an unexpected demise. I cannot make any excuses for my life. However, life ismentably not a one-man performance as there were guests who were invited to my humble stage, be it coincidentally or deliberately. My only concern is whether I will be able to say my goodbyes to them before my departure. Thus, I will use this opportunity to say my farewells.¡¹ Names followed afterward. Lapis Lazuli, Laura de Farnese, Daisy, Jeremi, Gamigin, Paimon, Sitri¡­¡­. Her name was mentionedst. ¡¸Barbatos is my most faithful friend. I dedicate all the affection and friendship I am allowed to have in my life to her. Barbatos, I am worried since you have a soft side to you. I am sure that if I die, you will try to look calm on the surface while shouting all sorts of sick things on the inside. The following list will address your sickness, so I ask you to follow my prescriptions fully. First, do not fret over whether you provided enough for me or not. I guarantee you that you showed me more affection and understanding than necessary. Second, do not ponder about whether you could have stopped my death. Just like how your life is solely your own, my death is solely my own as well. Respect my possession. I believe you will understand what I mean by this. Third, this is entirely for caution¡¯s sake, but do not suddenly dere abstinence and stop your debauchery. That would be cing an unjust burden on my already dead shoulders. I wish to stop you from doing this at all costs. Respect the dead.¡¹ It ended there. There wasn¡¯t a single line of him expressing his love for her or telling her to do her best. If anything, his will badmouthed her. Barbatos fully understood why Dantalian left his will like this. ¡°Asshole¡­¡­that bastard¡­¡­.¡± Wiping her tears away earlier became pointless as she began to cry again. She held the parchment tightly in her hands as she raised her head. ¡°I have the right to be sad too, you know?¡± It was raining. * * * Lapis had to endure terrible day after day. Barbatos conducted the funeral, but most of the formal work was left to Lapis. This was something that Lapis herself wanted greatly. She didn¡¯t have even the slightest desire to let someone else take care of her Lord¡¯s death. The funeral¡­¡­was something she didn¡¯t want to really think about. Lapis only had fragmented memories of the event. Numerous people had shown up to the funeral that was held in the Habsburg Imperial Pce with the respect of the Emperor. It almost felt like that disgustinglyrge number of people would interfere with her memory. The worst moment was when Demon Lord Gamigintched on to the coffin. ¡°Aaaah! Aah, aaah! Huaaaah¡ª!¡± Gamigin cried out sorrowfully as she held Dantalian¡¯s coffin. Her magic-amplified voice went beyond the pce and echoed throughout the entire city as well. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you! I¡¯ll kill you all! I won¡¯t forgive you! Never¡­¡­!¡± What was she not going to forgive? There was no one who could stop a Demon Lord. Gamigin cried for longer than an hour before she tired herself out. It was a hellish scream¡­¡­. Everything fell apart from that day on. Laura immediately executed Daisy on the night of the funeral. She imed that Daisy must take responsibility for Her Lordship¡¯s death. Lapis didn¡¯t even have the time to stop her. Laura¡¯s sword slit Daisy¡¯s throat. ¡°There is no meaning in a ce without His Lordship.¡± ¡°Then where are you trying to go, Laura?¡± ¡°Is it not obvious?¡± Laura showed a terrifying smile as she wiped the blood from her sword. ¡°To where His Lordship is. However, he would be sad if I came empty-handed.¡± Laura took all of the monsters that were left in the Demon Lord Castle and departed. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis didn¡¯t have the strength or will to stop her. Immediately after, Laura dedicated herself to Gamigin. There was no way of knowing what kind of conversation they could¡¯ve had beforehand. Nheless, it wouldn¡¯t be weird if the two people who wanted to avenge Dantalian the most in the world recognized each other¡­¡­. Gamigin promptly dered war against the ¡®Batavia Republic that aided in three assassinations¡¯. Marbas of the Neutral Faction was fiercely against it, but it didn¡¯t matter. Gamigin raised an army on her own. Ivar Lodbrok backed them from behind. Ivar supported Gamigin like she was going to use all of her firm¡¯s money. The best mercenaries were gathered regardless of their race which quickly raised their numbers above fifty thousand. Lapis remained alone in Dantalian¡¯s territory and took care of business. Someone had to continue her Lord¡¯s desire¡­¡­. It was by no means an easy task. Once Dantalian died, the Demon Lord Castle lost its magic power which led to the Mage Towers leaving without hesitation. The merchant firms all withdrew once the Mage Towers were gone. The territory¡¯s fall was inevitable. Despite this, Lapis didn¡¯t give up. She had memories here with her Lord. This was quite literally her Lord¡¯s final keepsake. She couldn¡¯t abandon it¡­¡­. ¡°Chancellor!¡± The office door shot open as Parsi entered. His forehead was drenched in sweat. It was clear that he had run here frantically. On a side note, Parsi still referred to her as Chancellor even though Dantalian¡¯s Demon Lord Army had turned into dust. He was a loyal human despite his bear-like rugged appearance, Lapis thought to herself. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°W-Well¡­¡­they say that the army led by Miss Farnese was defeated.¡± Lapis¡¯ quill pen stopped in its ce. ¡°I am uncertain of the details¡­¡­but they were ambushed by an army under that one Consul¡¯smand¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Is the Minister safe?¡± ¡°¡­¡­There is no news.¡± There was no news about Laura who was themander. In other words, it was almost certain that she was dead. ¡°¡­¡­I understand. I will look into this further.¡± An instinctive feeling washed over Lapis as she stood up. The day she goes to Sir Dantalian¡¯s side wasn¡¯t far. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, that was a pretty depressing ending. We got to watch as everything just sort of fell apart with Lapis being the only one trying to remain cool. I remember sort of taking my time with this chapter because it just made me sad. In any case, work is still a pain. I¡¯m still on the verge of working overtime and not having to work overtime. The wage ve life is truly difficult. The next chapter might get dyed because I honestly do want to get some rest during the weekend, which means I won¡¯t get that much done. I¡¯ll just have to see what kind of mood I¡¯m in. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 331: Anemone Aroma (1) Chapter 331: Anemone Aroma (1) Demon Lord Dantalian and Count Ptine of the Habsburg Empire. These were the titles that I had officially received up to this point. I was given another peerage on top of all this and that was Duke of Teuton. This was what Teuton gave in return when we offered themnd during the previous diplomatic battle. A royal letter arrived as soon as I returned to my Demon Lord Castle. A man with a splendid brown mustache read the letter sonorously. ¡°As Dantalian has been bestirring himself for the peace and stability of the continent, I, Georg Wilheim Alber Alexander, the sovereign of the Kingdom of Teuton, ennoble hisnd as a duchy and bestow it the name of Custos which means .¡± I was surprised that it was going to be a duchy. A ptinate would have been enough for me. However, it seems the royal family of Teuton thought differently. Even if I were to be ennobled as a count, it was still far below my position as Count Ptine of the Empire. It would only be natural to put forward my peerage as a count of an Empire than a count of a Kingdom. Nheless, the position of duke was different. It may only be an honorary title, but this was a world where that honor was enough to put food on the table. Barbatos didn¡¯t take the title of Duke of Austerlitz for no reason. Since I already promised in secret that I would not get involved in their politics, Teuton must¡¯ve decided to go big with my peerage since it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Count Dantalian of Custos will be granted 3 privileges. First, you will not have to state your name when you wish to seek an audience with me. Second, you do not have to salute our Kingdom¡¯s g when entering the parliament. Third, you will not have to disarm yourself when entering the royal pce.¡± Jeremi whistled. That was incredibly discourteous in a diplomatic ceremony like this, but no one pointed it out. Even the envoy was cid. Everyone gathered here knew full well that this was simply empty formalities and vanity. I smiled bitterly as I came down from the seat of honor. I courteously knelt before the envoy. ¡°Dantalian Custos. Reverently receive this name and do not be remiss as you carry out your duty given to you by the Gods. Serve the Goddess above you and care for the people below you. However, know that this honores from our Lordship. May the Goddess¡¯ blessing and the praise of the people be eternal!¡± The envoy handed me the royal letter. Spectators should normally start cheering and apuding at this point. However, all that was present was the insincere apuse from my executives like Lapis. This was because I didn¡¯t invite the denizens of mynd. Think about it. It was alreadyte in the winter now. No one would want to move because of the cold. There was nothing more bothersome than to make a bunch of people gather because the Lord of thend was going to have an event. Let couples cuddle in their warm homes. If they do want to congratte me, then they can do so in their hearts. I¡¯m quite generous to my people. ¡°My ass. Then why did you call for me?¡± ¡­¡­the bear-like Parsi grumbled as I was praising myself. We held a festival at therge town hall once the service ceremony was over. Vigers, orphans, and poor adventurers started to gather as they smelled the pork and chicken we were grilling and boiling. ¡°Are you a normal citizen? You¡¯re my henchman.¡± ¡°Dear me, what crimes did Imit in my previous life for the Goddess to treat me so roughly?¡± ¡°You should be happy that you went from being a hunter to a proxy lord. What more could you ask for?¡± On a side note, Parsi¡¯s face was starting to look more dignified. He was only twenty years old, but he was already managingnd. This wasn¡¯t something that could be done by anyone. Parsi¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. It almost looked like a ck bear had discovered some honey. ¡°Speaking of that, Your Lordship!¡± ¡°Speak after you wipe the chicken broth off your mustache.¡± You¡¯re seriously way too boorish. ¡°You did give me this admirable position and everything, but why has a matchmaker never been sent my way!?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­are you still not engaged?¡± ¡°Not only am I not engaged, but a maiden has never cast me an amorous nce before!¡± The wild ck bear roared. ¡°Despite my appearance, I¡¯m rather strong, you know? Not only am I a hunter who can always catch a deer or hare when I go to the forest, but I¡¯m the chief of a vige and also a proxy lord now. Does it make any sense that no woman has approached me yet!?¡± It was a little surprising. He might look a little rough, but he was a rather capable man. Although he looks like he¡¯s in his forties or fifties despite being twenty. Although the hair on his body makes him look like some mountain orc. Although his supposed etiquette is him letting chicken soup get all over his mustache. ¡­¡­Huh? I can only think of reasons why he can¡¯t get married. ¡°No, even then. Someone of your stature should still make for a decent husband, Parsi.¡± ¡°This is all because of that kid, Luke.¡± Luke? Why is he bringing him up right now? ¡°The boy goes around banging all the women who are past their marriageable age! All the single women in the vige have either slept with him or are nning to sleep with him! Why haven¡¯t the Goddesses burned him alive?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I had heard rumors about Luke being a womanizer. Despite being about fourteen to fifteen years old, he went around hunting women like the incarnation of lust. I turned slightly to see Luke on the other side of the town hall surrounded by women and smiling. Luke was originally the protagonist of the game. Naturally, he was so handsome that you wouldn¡¯t believe that he was from a sh-and-burn vige. He was so handsome that it was like a Greek sculpture was walking around on its own. Soft, curly hair, a smooth forehead, a sharp nose, and the eyes of a revolutionist that looked cheerful but could be serious at a moment¡¯s notice. His mouth gave off a special atmosphere that made it feel like he was going to promise you a good time, and his voice had a pleasant baritone pitch to it after he went through puberty. He was also skilled at night activities because he received ¡®personal training¡¯ from Jeremi for a few years. Adding to this, he also received my favor and became the vice-captain of my territory¡¯s civil militia. Despite only being 15 years old. Hm, he quite literally had a pampered life. The girls in ournd had to grow up with Luke as their standard. Naturally, normal-looking men wouldn¡¯t be enough for them now. I turned my head back. On the other hand, Parsi who was supposedly Vice-Captain Luke¡¯s rival¡­¡­. ¡°What? Why are you looking at me like that?¡± An overbearing bear with hair all over his body. ¡­¡­As a Demon Lord, it¡¯s hard for me to cry about things, but this is making me cry. ¡°Lord, at this rate, I¡¯ll die single.¡± Parsi pleaded to me desperately. ¡°Even if I were to die, I want to do so while holding my adorable daughter in my arms! Please find a partner for me from somewhere far away!¡± ¡°Parsi, let me say this to you not as your Lord, but as a fellow man.¡± I put my hand on Parsi¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s easier to give up. Aren¡¯t there a bunch of brothels at Viminal Hill? You can try getting one or two lovers over there¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Uaaaaaaaah!¡± In the end, Parsi let out a frantic cry. It was the anger of a virgin. That¡¯s right. He¡¯s a virgin. Despite his rugged appearance, Parsi had a clear sense of virtue, so he was very stubborn about only having his first time with the person who was going to be his wife¡­¡­. What a pitiful man. He¡¯s pushing hardship on himself. At that moment, I heard a mocking tonee from the side. ¡°A lord who openly rmends the red-light district to one of his citizens. Your morals have surely hit rock bottom.¡± It was Saintess Jacqueline Longwy. She was wearing a pure white priest outfit. It felt like I was being interrupted while having a conversation with a friend, so I gave a bitter response. ¡°¡­¡­Have you been enjoying the banquet?¡± ¡°Yes. I was surprised to learn that, contrary to their Lord¡¯s personality, a citizen of yours has a rather pleasant personality and a deep sense of faith.¡± Why was thisdy acting like this in front of Parsi? To the public, the Saintess and I are known to have a very firm bond. Parsi may be my vassal, but it was still risky to show our bad rtionship to him. I red at her strongly. Saintess Longwy feigned indifference as she smiled gently at Parsi. ¡°Parsi, correct? I am Jacqueline Longwy, a humble servant who serves Goddess Athena. I heard that, despite your young age, you arbitrate for all sorts of matters throughout this fief. I have often heard about your prestige and always admired you.¡± ¡°A-A-Admired?¡± Parsi was bewildered. His cheeks were bright red. ¡­¡­What a virgin. He turns into a simpleton the moment a pretty woman throws him apliment. ¡°Heaven forbid! I am nothing more than His Lordship¡¯s subordinate! Please do not speak so highly of me.¡± ¡°Fufu. I just happened to overhear your conversation with His Highness.¡± The Saintess covered her mouth with one hand and giggled. Parsi stared at her nkly. Sheesh, talk about being head over heels. ¡°I also believe that one should naturally maintain their purity until marriage. Not only do you splendidly carry out the duty of nobles, but you are also faithful to the duty given to us by the Gods. I could not help but be moved by this.¡± ¡°Uh, well, I¡­¡­.¡± The redness in Parsi¡¯s cheeks didn¡¯t stop there as his entire face turned into an apple. His eyes darted around for a while before he finally let out an, ¡®Ah¡¯. ¡°T-There is something that I must inform the other vige chiefs! Please excuse me!¡± Parsi ran off. My God. Was that really your best excuse, Parsi? Was your brain unable to think of a better excuse? I am ashamed as your lord¡­¡­. I let out a sigh. ¡°Do you enjoy teasing an innocent man?¡± ¡°It is a lot more enjoyable than dealing with a Demon Lord like you.¡± ¡°Tsk. Do not mess around with Parsi.¡± Saintess Longwy stared at me. Choosing to feign ignorance, huh? ¡°I am saying that you shouldn¡¯t try to turn Parsi into an informant for Brittany. Parsi may look gentle, but he is someone whom I, Dantalian, chose as my proxy. Do you understand what this means?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That he shouldn¡¯t be underestimated.¡± I raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°Do you think Parsi was really acting that way because he could not find a marriage partner? He knows his position. If Parsi gets married to an influential family in one of the viges, then there is a risk of his vige gaining too much power. That is why he has been maintaining his purity.¡± ¡°But he wasining to you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He was asking me to find him a partner from outside the region.¡± He wanted a wife from somewhere that had no connections here. Parsi didin jokingly, but that¡¯s just his personality. He didn¡¯t want to get married to an influential family; however, all the normal vigers who could potentially be his wife were all taken by Luke. This was unfair. What was so bad about him? ¡­¡­This was the context of our dialogue. ¡°¡®From somewhere far away¡¯, is where he said he wanted his partner to be from. Those words did note out by ident or anything.¡± The Saintess closed her mouth. Saintess Longwy had followed me back to my territory, but there was a political reason for this. If she was going to get swung around by me anyway, she wanted to keep an eye on me at the same time. Queen Henrietta probably ordered her to do this. Publicly, she was here to be in charge of the Temple of Athena once it was built on mynd. I obviously weed her with open arms since it meant that a huge religious-political figure was voluntarily walking into mynd. She probably tossed Parsi that amorous nce earlier because she was trying to figure out a weakness in my territory. I¡¯d be d if she didn¡¯t underestimate me. I don¡¯t make just anyone my vassal. ¡°Well, we dly wee you. I suggest forgetting about scheming for today and just enjoy the banquet. Please also bless my people. That is your duty.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Very well, then.¡± I held out a ss. The Saintess carefully clinked her ss against mine. ¡°For the bright future of the Goddess.¡± ¡°For the safety of the people.¡± I drank my wine as I nced around the hall. I suddenly realized that I couldn¡¯t see one of my executives. I only remembered because I saw Luke. Thinking about it now, I haven¡¯t seen Daisy since earlier. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I sort of wonder if Parsi is actually as smart as Dantalian makes him out to be. All of that could¡¯ve been coincidental. I guess it¡¯s impressive either way. On one hand, Parsi knows how to think for himself, and, on the other hand, Dantalian is quick-witted enough to make up some logical-sounding lie on the spot. In any case, I¡¯m still drained from work. The entire EN team has basically been working overtime every day for the past two weeks. I¡¯m being given more review work than tranting work now because we¡¯re so short-handed. Thepany has frence trantors, but they¡¯re¡­so bad. They prioritize speed over quality because they get paid by the letter. It¡¯s¡­just really exhausting right now. I can¡¯t wait for this year to end. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Pray for me. Chapter 332: Anemone Aroma (2) Chapter 332: Anemone Aroma (2) Daisy was taking care of the Saintess while she was sick. Or at least that was what I heard. She should¡¯ve returned to her original duties since the Saintess had recovered, but I haven¡¯t seen her at all. Come to think of it, that annoying brat never came to visit me while I was bedridden. I felt a little displeased as I spoke to the Saintess. ¡°It is rather ridiculous that a Saintess does not have even one servant apanying them.¡± It wasn¡¯t like I particrly wanted Daisy to visit me while I was bedridden. A month has passed since I initially became sick. This was the first time I hadn¡¯t seen her for such a long period of time, so I felt a little uneasy. That girl has some rather pitch-ck insides, so who knows what she could be plotting. ¡°Please do not misunderstand. I sent them away so that I could speak with you.¡± ¡°You can keep the maid I sent with you at all times, though. It is fine for that girl to overhear our private conversations.¡± The Saintess gave a confused look. ¡°Maid? Who may you be referring to?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Was a ck-haired girl not sent to take care of you while you were sick previously? She is my adopted daughter.¡± The Saintess furrowed her brow. ¡°A ck-haired girl¡­¡­. Oh, are you talking about that child? She cared for me for a few days before another servant switched ces with her. I was still very out of it during that time, so I was never able to talk to her properly.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I was not informed of this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you were on the border between life and death. Have you considered asking the head maid?¡± ¡®She is the head maid¡¯, I held back these words. The Saintess was a reliable coborator, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that she was also atent spy for Brittany. I shouldn¡¯t just give her information. I eventually approached Luke after parting ways with the Saintess. Once they noticed my approach, the vige girls around Luke promptly got on their knees. Luke was a part of the militia, so he simply raised his right fist to his chest and saluted me. I did my best to appear like a thoughtful godfather as I smiled at them. ¡°It seems our Luke is rather popr. Thedies around you are as pretty as flowers.¡± The girls quietly giggled with their heads still remained down. I was someone who was referred to by all sorts of intimidating nicknames like the nderer and Rex Hyemis throughout the continent, but to my people, I was simply a farmer lord who worked in the fields with his people. Luke had also matured a fair bit as he responded politely. ¡°I could not possiblypare to Your Highness who is surrounded by flowers at every time of the year.¡± ¡°There is no lord or vassal during a festival. You canfortably refer to me as your godfather and not your lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­! Yes, Father!¡± The boy smiled brightly. Fifteen years old. Luke was at the prime age where his heart burned with justice. His rationality was destructive, but there was still a vague fog looming over him. He could tell what was right, wrong, and hypocrisy, but he didn¡¯t have the ability to see through the person in front of him. Someone who looks into the future despite not being able to see ahead of them. These peopleck focus. They believe they are rational because they think they are looking at something, but they cannot be made a leader since they cannot handle anything in front of them. However, they are perfect as assault captains for fanatic groups. So much worse than his sister. I felt a sneer try toe up, but I wasn¡¯t trying to be cold. My chest felt warm. It was like I was looking down at an adorable soldier action figure. ¡°Luke, do you know where Daisy is?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­.¡± Luke looked troubled. ¡°My apologies, Father, but I have no idea¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No, it is fine. I was wondering if she had gone to see your parents since I have not seen her aroundtely.¡± I guess I could just ask Lapis. I was going to end the conversation there, but I noticed Luke¡¯s body movement. He was fidgeting quite a bit. Pointing this out would only make him back down further. ¡°I apologize my beautiful Fr?uleins, but would it be all right if I borrow your Adonis for a moment?¡± The girls giggled as they backed away. An unapproachable space naturally formed around me and Luke. I waited patiently as I gave off an aura that made it seem like I would dly listen to anything he said. Well, Luke uttered as he carefully opened his mouth. ¡°Actually, it has been a while since Daisy stoppeding home.¡± ¡°A while? How long exactly?¡± ¡°Two¡­¡­ No, it has almost been three years now.¡± I was surprised. Three years ago was around the time they were first brought here. ¡°That is strange. Daisy has never turned down a vacation day. Was she not staying with you during those times?¡± ¡°She did at first. Um, Daisy told me to not tell anyone.¡± Luke scratched his head. ¡°It has been about two years since Daisy suddenly announced her disownment before our family. She said that she wasn¡¯t our parents¡¯ daughter or my little sister anymore¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I see.¡± This piqued my interest. Daisy¡¯s thought process was as clear as day to me. There may have been no physical contact, but she indirectlymitted incest with her older brother. She probably didn¡¯t know how to face her family. That was why she announced her disownment. So she was hiding something as interesting as this from me? Daisy really doesn¡¯t have even a sliver of respect for her adopted father. I spoke in a modestly concerned tone. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure either. Of course, our parents naturally red up and scolded her¡­¡­but you know her. No one can get her to open up after she¡¯s shut her mouth.¡± Luke let out a sigh. ¡°Our mother pleaded for her to exin her reason, but she didn¡¯t budge at all. In the end, our father decided to kick her out first saying that they didn¡¯t need that kind of daughter. Jeez, I don¡¯t know what she was thinking.¡± It was because of you, Luke. I snickered in my mind. It seems that the task of mentally cornering Daisy had been slowly proceeding outside my field of vision as well. Daisy was a girl who could be surprisingly wicked in order to protect something. She stood in front of me at the age of 10 in order to protect her family and the other vigers. She kept her pride and tried to assassinate me in order to get revenge. These kinds of people usually can¡¯t be controlled. Lowering their self-respect straight to hell was the only viable method. I am human trash, I have no right to protect something, and no right to be protected by something¡­¡­. They need to have this sense of shame. All to make their minds rot. I made her indirectly have incestuous sex with her brother and torture prisoners. Out of all the heinous acts that could be done, I made her do only the worst ones. It took a matter of moments to submerge the girl, who was going to be the hero in the future, in darkness. I didn¡¯t feel even slightly bad for her. If I want to feel bad for someone, then I have to either be stronger than them, or we have to be on equal grounds. Daisy is someone who I acknowledged as being vastly superior to me. Especially if you consider how much of a clumsy child I was at 10 years old. I¡¯m a Demon Lord and Daisy is someone who¡¯s supposed to be the hero in the future. Only I would be at a disadvantage if either of our guards were lowered. ¡°I understand. It might be toote, but I will try talking to her.¡± ¡°Thank you very much, Father.¡± Luke spoke dolefully. ¡°Daisy is a precious member of our family. She is an irreceable daughter to our parents.¡± ¡°Daisy is also my one and only adopted daughter. Rest assured and leave this matter to me.¡± I gently patted Luke¡¯s head. Luke chuckled. It was adorable since it felt like I was watching a hamster that was being raised in a transparent cage. ¡°Lapis,e here.¡± I sent Luke off and called for Lapis. She appeared to be having an important discussion with the vige chiefs, but she promptly bowed her head to them and came my way as soon as I called for her. Lapis knows the schedule of all of our executives, so she should easily be able to answer my question. How should I y with Daisy this time? I¡¯d like to start making use of two slime onaholes if possible. Double her feelings of immorality and shame. That would make it four times stronger. I¡¯m such a genius. Lapis bowed her head. ¡°Did you call for me, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Indeed. Did I interrupt something important?¡± ¡°It was nothing but dull chatter. I am actually grateful that you called me.¡± Lapis casually talked ill of the vige chiefs. This was normal for her. I spoke in a somewhat yful tone. ¡°It is nothing major, but I have not seen Daisy aroundtely. I thought she was attending to the Saintess, but that did not seem to be the case and it turned out that she has not been returning to her parents either. Where is this child goofing off?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis suddenly went silent. Her face was still expressionless, but I could see through it since I have been observing her for several years now. Lapis was currently emotionlessly feeling perplexed. As a Lapis expert, I was certain of this. ¡°Lapis?¡± ¡°¡­¡­As the length of time Your Highnessy bedriddensted longer than expected, unrest and panic urred among your vassals.¡± Lapis whispered quietly. An ominous feeling fell over me. Instead of answering my question directly, she chose to answer in a roundabout way. As someone who always sought out immediate responses and answers, Lapis was straying far from her principles. I immediately activated the magic that was on my right-hand ring. It was a spell that surrounded a 3-meter area with a barrier that distorted sound when it traveled through it. With this, we didn¡¯t have to worry about eavesdroppers. I looked at Lapis seriously. ¡°Continue. Do not leave anything out.¡± ¡°A fair number of vassals believed that Your Highness would be fine, but there were also a number of them who were considering the worst-case scenario.¡± ¡°Cowards.¡± I sneered. ¡°Not trusting in me and worrying obsessivelyes from their worry about their own well-being. They are afraid of what will happen to them if they were to lose me. They should be embarrassed as my vassals if they cannot even control their emotions.¡± ¡°¡­¡­The Military Affairs Minister reacted especially bad.¡± I paused. What was that? I furrowed my brows as I struggled to believe what I had just heard. ¡°Laura boasts great mental strength even among us. She is above me. Are you certain about this?¡± ¡°Sir Dantalian.¡± Lapis stared straight at me as if she had resolved herself. ¡°There is something that I have been wanting to report to you for a while now. I understand if you do not forgive me for reporting this to you now. ¡­¡­The demeanors that your vassals show Your Highness are not their true demeanors.¡± ¡°What do you mean¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I did not want to make Your Highness worry needlessly. I believed that I could manage internal affairs and that it would only be appropriate for me to do so. I apologize. It seems that I had miscalcted.¡± I opened my mouth. Lapis was feeling despair, sadness, and guilt. Despite being intertwined like a ball of twine, I could feel these emotions clearly. I was filled with both shock and anger. What was making Lapis feel despair? ¡°¡­¡­What about Daisy?¡± I quietly asked with a shaking voice. ¡°You still did not answer my question. What happened to Daisy?¡± Instead of giving an answer, Lapis lowered her head. As if she did not have the right to face me. Lapis had never shown this kind of behavior to me. My insides were quickly filled with a surge of rage. What has been happening in my army!? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Woopsie, I was supposed to have uploaded this chapter yesterday, but I was also working on the weekend because of tight deadlines. I don¡¯t even know where my weekend went. It just like vanished. Just another week or two and things should MAYBE calm down¡­ maybe¡­ Please, all these games trying to pump out their games early next year¡­ I wonder if I made the wrong choice with a game trantionpany¡­ Oh well, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 333: Anemone Aroma (3) Chapter 333: Anemone Aroma (3) I wasn¡¯t confident in my ability to maintain my expression. My anger wasn¡¯t showing on my face yet, but I didn¡¯t know how much longer I could hold it back. My people will most likely notice my anger and start to feel uneasy, which that dog-like Saintess will most definitely smell out. Getting away from here was my highest priority. ¡°Take me to where Daisy is.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lapis couldn¡¯t raise her head. It wasn¡¯t until I shoved my anger down and tapped Lapis on the shoulder that she finally looked up. We left the hall and headed to my Demon Lord Castle. A few of my executives noticed us and tried to follow, but I raised my hand and stopped them. It was fine until we reached the castle. The issue followed afterward. We were going to the 9th floor and not the 10th floor which was where the executive dorms were located. I furrowed my brows. ¡°Daisy does not have a room here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I see. So she was also isted from her own room? I wasn¡¯t given even a single report about how Daisy was subjected to this. We were approaching the climax. The peak was reached when Lapis stopped. ¡°We are here, Your Highness.¡± I looked forward silently. Lapis had stopped in front of an iron bar door. It was obvious that this ce was made half-heartedly by the construction workers as the walls looked crude. It was no different from a cavern. The underground prison. ¡°How¡­¡­How¡­¡­!¡± I unknowingly gnashed my teeth. My veins protruded on my neck. I kicked open the door as soon as Lapis unlocked it. I hastily made my way into the prison. Water was flowing endlessly down the walls and the prison air felt unbearably stifling. Daisy was being held here. A vomit-inducing stench of blood emanated from her body. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I was so angry that I couldn¡¯t utter any words. Daisy¡¯s limbs were bound to the wall as if she were hanging from a cross. She seemed unconscious as her head hung down. There wasn¡¯t a single piece of cloth on her to cover her body. There were gruesome wounds all over her white skin. There weren¡¯t only one or two wounds. There were clear traces that showed she had been whipped hundreds of times. Some wounds had be bleeding scabs while others were still openly bleeding. She looked more like rags than she did human. ¡°¡­¡­Exin, Lapis.¡± Lapis kneeled in front of me. ¡°A portion of the executives suggested that the Head Maid could have been scheming to assassinate Your Highness.¡± ¡°Say their names!¡± My voice struck the walls of the prison. It was empowered by the magic power of a Demon Lord, so it easily caused the walls to tremble. Lapis lowered her head further. ¡°It was Military Affairs Minister Laura de Farnese and Servant Ivar Lodbrok. The Military Affairs Minister especially made a point that the Head Maid must have tampered with the poison during the transfer. Thus, she announced she would personally punish the Head Maid while Your Highness was unconscious¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How dare she!¡± I let out a roar. ¡°How dare the head of the military personally punish a member of the inner court!¡± ¡°She secretly called for Daisy who was taking care of the Saintess and confined her somewhere in Amstel.¡± Lapis started to talk faster. It seemed like she was trying to tell me as much as she could before I flew into a fit of rage. ¡°Afterward, Laura transferred her to the Demon Lord Castle and imprisoned her there. She then tortured her in various ways like whipping and branding. Laura asked the other executives to keep it a secret, saying that she would takeplete responsibility. Please kill me.¡± ¡°¡ªLaura!¡± I bellowed in anger. The child who was my adopted daughter and also the Head Maid was half-dead and hanging from the wall like a rag. The vassal whom I cherish the most in this world was on her knees and begging me to kill her. And finally, the general whom I trusted the most, the loyal retainer who had never betrayed my trust, had deceived me. I was about to lose my mind. ¡°Bring all my vassals here!¡± I felt like my eyes were going to pop out. ¡°Excluding Luke! Bring everyst person here even if they aren¡¯t involved in this!¡± Lapis left the prison. I was going to take a potion out and heal Daisy¡¯s wounds, but I realized that I shouldn¡¯t let the others see her after she¡¯s been healed. I had to show them this miserable state in its entirety. Was it because I had approached her? Daisy wriggled ever so slightly. ¡°¡­¡­Fa¡­ther¡­¡­?¡± That was closer to a gasp than it was an actual word. I clenched my jaw. ¡°You idiot. Just how much did you get on the other executives¡¯ nerves that none of them were willing to support you? You would be dead if even the Chancellor chose to stay silent!¡± ¡°¡­¡­This is¡­not much.¡± Are you trying to act tough when you¡¯re covered in bruises? How ridiculous. Daisy raised her head to look at me. It seemed like even that tiny movement was hard for her as her head and neck trembled. She was horribly haggard. Her ck irises were hazy and blood was flowing from her lips. ¡°Damn it. Damn it¡­¡­!¡± Swears came out on their own. I didn¡¯t want to turn Daisy into a noble victim. All of the malice that went to Daisy should have been from me alone. This girl was supposed to be my work of art. She was supposed to be a flower of malice that¡¯s born from my hands! The malice that Daisy holds in the world should only be her malice to me! I am the only one allowed in her world¡­¡­. That¡¯s how it should¡¯ve been! This child is mine! After making her look at only me, hate only me, and learn what revenge is from me alone, can I then be entirely acknowledged or rejected by her! This child is my living witness, my onlywyer, my only judge, and finally, my substitute! How dare someone¡ª do whatever they want to my noble arbiter! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy struggled to stare at me as I silently boiled. She let out a smallugh. Once I red at her and asked her what was so funny, she slowly moved her lips like a fish that was thrown out of water. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡­so obvious¡­what you¡¯re thinking¡­Father¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s funny¡­¡­because I can understand¡­all that¡­¡­without any words¡­¡­.¡± I quietly covered Daisy¡¯s mouth with my hand. ¡°Taking revenge is my job, so I will be the one to carry it out.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡­.¡± Daisy let out a breath of air that sounded like both a normalugh and a mockingugh before her head drooped back down. I checked her pulse just in case. It was fine. She had just passed out. Daisy went through a surgery that was far more painful than this. There was still time left. Shortly after. My executives entered the prison one by one. Among them, there were executives who let out gasps after they saw Daisy and those who only furrowed their brows as if they had already known. I¡¯m not sure if I should say it was fortunate or unfortunate, but only one person had done thetter. ¡°Everyone.¡± I spoke once everyone had arrived. ¡°Kneel.¡± Everyone prostrated themselves the moment I gave them the order. Lapis, Laura, Parsi, Jeremi, and Ivar, a total of five people. Blingy and the fairies were watching us nervously from a distance. ¡°Lapis.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Raise your head.¡± Lapis slowly raised her head. I then pped her without any hesitation. A clear sound echoed as Lapis fell powerlessly to the ground. Lapis herself didn¡¯t let out a cry, but the people who were watching held their breaths in shock. It is well known that Lapis receives almost all of my affection; however, I had struck that very person. The other vassals couldn¡¯t utter a sound as they lowered their heads further. ¡°Stand.¡± Lapis pushed herself up. I immediately pped her. Lapis stumbled. I continued to order her with a cold tone. ¡°Stand.¡± And repeat. Lapis didn¡¯t let out a single sound and I didn¡¯t say anything beyond my coldmands. Only the sound of brutality echoed throughout the prison. I withdrew my hand after I had struck her exactly thirty times. I didn¡¯t go easy on her. I had put my all into striking Lapis¡¯ cheek. This was clear by how her shoulders would silently tremble after each strike. ¡°Even though, as the Chancellor, you were supposed to have thoroughly supervised every department and made sure that no one overstepped their authority, you neglected your duty. The crime of not stopping the Military Affairs Minister¡¯s dogmatic action is heavy. I am deducting your stipends by two years.¡± ¡°Thank you¡­¡­very much¡­for the merciful punishment.¡± Lapis bowed with her trembling body. Her two legs could no longer support her body as she copsed. Silence and fear loomed over the prison. I said a person¡¯s name in the coldest way I had ever done before. ¡°Laura de Farnese.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Lordship.¡± ¡°I will allow you to give a final defense.¡± Laura pressed her forehead against the ground. ¡°Thisdy of humble birth hasmitted a great crime.¡± ¡°Very well, then.¡± I nodded. This meant that she had no excuse. ¡°Jeremi, tie the criminal to the chains on the ceiling.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Greatness.¡± Jeremi¡¯s tone was different from usual as it didn¡¯t have even a tiny bit of yfulness to it. She was an assassin whose expression, tone, gestures, and emotions were like that of a seasoned assassin. Jeremi immediately stood up and bound Laura¡¯s hands with chains. Laura was then hung from the ceiling like some b of meat from a butcher shop. ¡°The Military Affairs Minister decided to take matters into her own hands and punished the Head Maid for a crime that I did not even me her for. Laws have been vited as this was also not done through a fair trial, she went against her duties as vassal and lord by deciding upon something on her own, and the foundation of the state has been distorted as she had punished the head of another department.¡± I grabbed the whip that was ced at one side of the prison. ¡°Therefore, Laura de Farnese will be removed from her position as Military Affairs Minister and serve in war as amoner. Additionally, she will receive thirty strikes from a whip. ¡°Y-Your Highness!¡± Parsi shouted in panic. He was the only person here who was unrted enough to this incident that he didn¡¯t have to ask for permission to speak. This was because he was in a separate position from the other executives as he had to manage the territory. Parsi, who would usually always talk to me like a friend, was acting like a different man as he followed etiquette. ¡°It would be difficult for a young girl to withstand thirty strikes from a whip! Instead, please equally punish the rest of us! ¡°The rest of you will have your wages cut by half a year. However, the criminal¡¯s sentencing cannot be reduced.¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± Parsi raised his head. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Parsi froze the moment our gazes met. His grizzly face filled with shock as if he saw something he shouldn¡¯t have. Parsi nkly stared at my eyes for a moment before he helplessly lowered his head. I tightened my grip on the whip. ¡°Reveal the criminal¡¯s back to me.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Jeremi took off Laura¡¯s top, revealing her pale nape and back. The body of the girl whom I had made love to countless of times was there before me. The whip cracked through the air as the sound of flesh being torn into resonated. Laura screamed. I didn¡¯t give her a moment to rest as I kept swinging the whip. Her skin was alreadypletely torn by the second strike. Blood scattered in the air with each swing of the whip. I received that blood on my face as I swung my arm. Laura passed out around the ninth hit. I nced at Jeremi. ¡°Wake her.¡± Jeremi poured cold water over Laura. The water seeped into her wounds. Laura was forced back to consciousness due to the sharp pain. I swung the whip again. Again. And again. Laura passed out a total of seven times. The muscles on her back had be ragged. Blood washed blood as it flowed to the ground. I breathed heavily. My stamina had been exhausted after punishing Lapis and Laura in session. That was how much I refused to show mercy. I spoke while panting. ¡°The responsibility of a vassal¡¯s crime lies in their lord. I, Dantalian, had appointed the wrong person as my chancellor, I did not realize that one of my ministers hadmitted a crime, and I did not realize that the head maid had been tortured.¡± I handed the whip to Jeremi. ¡°I must decide upon my own punishment. Civil Militia Captain, from this moment on, you will give me sixtyshings.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This is getting pretty serious. Clearly, measures have to be taken to handle a serious situation like this. Dant can¡¯t just give a p on the wrist and forgive everyone. In any case, things are sort of settling down at work? I feel like I¡¯m in the calm before the storm, but at least I didn¡¯t have to work overtime for two days straight. What an achievement. Welp, see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 334: Anemone Aroma Chapter 334: AnemoneAroma Warning: Please be advised that there are violent depictions in this chapter. You most likely know what¡¯s going to happen if you read thest chapter, so I advise caution to those of you who dislike these sorts of things. A suffocating silence fell over the underground prison. A crack had formed in even Jeremi¡¯s expression. Jeremi froze like a statue after receiving the whip from me. I could faintly feel an emotion from her. I don¡¯t want to¡­I want to refuse¡­¡­. To an assassin that would evenmit suicide if ordered to by the person they serve, this showed how reluctant she was to do this. I red at Jeremi sharply. ¡°Carry out your order immediately, Captain.¡± ¡°I cannot possibly harm Your¡­¡­¡± ¡°Do not be a fool. Do I have to go out of my way to give a direct order to a demon?!¡± Jeremi flinched the moment I shouted at her. Half of Jeremi¡¯s face was burnt, but her emotions were being put on full disy right now. ¡°Less than half a month has passed since you recovered from your illness. I request this of Your Highness not as a captain, but as the court physician. Sixtyshings is much too severe. I am not advising this as your loyal vassal but as your pharmacist and doctor. Please, reconsider¡­¡­.¡± I became colder. ¡°If you talk back one more time, then I will use my demons.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If I lose consciousness, then you will wake me with cold water. No mercy must be shown as you carry out the task swiftly. Do to me the exact same that was done to the criminal. This is an order!¡± I shouted at all of my vassals and not just Jeremi. ¡°Every time the punishment is stopped or intervened, I will receive ten additionalshings. No one is allowed to obstruct me and Jeremi.¡± Jeremi slowly lowered her head. ¡°As youmand.¡± I undid my mantle and let it fall to the ground. I was wearing a needlessly formal outfit because I had to meet an envoy from Teuton. I took off the red scarf that Gamigin had personally gifted me. It was like I was exposing my faultyyers. Finally, my upper body was revealed to the air. I quietly sat upright on the floor. I could feel Jeremi approach me from behind. ¡°Should I now proceed?¡± ¡°Yes. Do not forget your duty for even a second.¡± I bit down on a piece of rubber. Saliva flowed down my throat. My skin tingled as if it were predicting the pain that I was going to feel. I closed my eyes. Normally speaking, it would only be right to execute Laura since she had broken thew. In other words, this punishment was substituting an execution. Jeremi asked for mercy, but that was absurd. This was already merciful enough since I was substituting an execution with a punishment. First, Lapis was punished as the representative of the vassals, Laura¡¯s punishment followed after, and now was punishment for myself. Laura was sharing her punishment with her lord and the chancellor, individuals whose positions were both higher than hers. This was just barely enough to avoid a death sentence. Of course, it was a question as to whether my body could endure this punishment or not. I¡¯ve always been out of shape and I quite literally came back from the dead just recently. Regardless, these things didn¡¯t matter. Considering that this punishment is supposed to be on par with a death sentence, this much is only natural. This natural duty is simply being carried out. That¡¯s all there is to this. And then, ¡ªPain struck my spine. ¡°Kuuuuuh¡­¡­!¡± My eyes shot open. An immense pain traveled up my spine. The crack of the whip and the sensation of my flesh being torn harmonized together. I clenched my jaw. If I weren¡¯t biting down on rubber, then my teeth would¡¯ve probably cracked by the fifth hit. Second hit. ¡°Hggggh! Guh¡­¡­!¡± It was insanely painful. Getting whipped for only a second time was already far more painful than the time an arrow pierced my thigh and when I cut off my own fingers. I felt something bubbling on my back. It was probably my blood. Third hit. Fourth hit. Fifth hit¡ª. I felt like my eyes were going to pop out. My throat tightened as it felt like something was flowing upward. I struggled to breathe. I desperately tried to breathe between eachshing. My teeth must have bit my tongue as the inside of my mouth also tasted like blood. It tasted foul. ¡°¡­¡­Lo¡­¡­rd?¡± Did she wake up because of the sound of the whip? Laura, who was chained to the ceiling by her arms, struggled to open her eyelids. She gazed at me vacantly from her side of the room. I didn¡¯t meet her gaze since my vision had already bepletely hazy. Including Laura, everything appeared like a blur to me. Laura seemed like she had yet toe to her senses. Her face looked as if she couldn¡¯t understand what was happening before her. It wasn¡¯t a surprise since my punishment started after she passed out. It took less than 10 seconds for her face to fill with shock. Craaack! My body pushed forward. I was doing my best to maintain my seated position, but my arms were already quivering like crazy. I didn¡¯t even let out a scream this time. A dry heave surged up my throat. ¡°Ah. huh¡­¡­? Hm¡­¡­?¡± Laura¡¯s expression crumbled. The seventhshing mercilessly struck me regardless of Laura¡¯s state. My insides screamed. It wasn¡¯t a simple feeling like my flesh being in pain. My muscles and bones were also exploding with pain. A price without sacrifice cannot exist. If a half-hearted punishment is allowed, then the government administration will rust away without a sound. If no sacrifices are made, then the foundation of the state itself will be sacrificed instead. This is how politics is. My vassals will most likely realize this as well once they cool their heads offter. ¡°Ah, ahhhhhh, ahhhhhh!¡± Laura¡¯s green eyes widened. Did she now understand what was happening? She opened her mouth, however, she could only squeeze her lungs out like an animal due to the sudden shock. And then, the eighth hit. ¡°Ahhhh! What are you doing¡ªWhat are you doing to His Lordship!?¡± Laura shook her body. The chains attached to the ceiling juddered about loudly. Laura opened her eyes wide and struggled so desperately that you wouldn¡¯t think she had received thirtyshings a moment ago. ¡°Stop! Cease your actions right this instant! Miss Jeremi! Stop, please stop¡­¡­!¡± Ninth hit. ¡°Ahhh! How dare you! What are you doing to my lord!? I¡¯ll kill you! If you do not stop right this instant, I will kill you, Captain! It is not toote! If you stop now, ah, ah, ahhhh!¡± Tenth hit. Eleventh hit. Twelveth hit. I passed out for a moment due to the pain. It was like my consciousness had been forcefully terminated. Is this what you call a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye? My consciousness was forced back out due to the immense pain that came from my back. It was apletely different kind of pain from what I had been experiencing until now. Cold water was flowing through my open wounds. I dropped my head. It felt like I passed out while keeping myself seated upright. There were droplets falling to the floor. Something was flowing out of my mouth, so I thought it was my saliva, but I could faintly see that the liquid was red. Jeremi counted theshing out loud before every hit. It was thanks to this that I knew we were on the thirteenth hit. If we¡¯re at thirteen now, then how far were we from sixty? I couldn¡¯t do the math. All I could conclude was that we were still insanely far from finishing. Blood flowed down my chin and dropped to the cavern floor. For some reason, I couldn¡¯t feel my teeth. I could only feel pain. ¡°Please, Lord¡­¡­I will do better¡­¡­so please stop this¡­¡­.¡± Laura was crying. Once the fourteenth hit urred, the crying immediately changed to screaming. She screamed something terrible, but I couldn¡¯t make out her words. My head felt dizzy. The smell of vomit and blood mixed together and assaulted my brain. It was hard to breathe. ¡°Uu, huaaa¡­¡­ahhh¡­¡­.¡± I had done something bad to Laura. I know why she tortured Daisy. I understand her reasoning. She was most likely insanely worried to the point that she couldn¡¯t control herself. Unable to control her rampaging emotions, her affection was distorted by rage and she had to unleash it on someone. ¡°No, Your Lordship, I don¡¯t want this¡­¡­ Stop¡­¡­ I will not do this again, so please¡­¡­.¡± This was my responsibility. Laura was originally not someone who got swept by her emotions. Even during her final moment before jumping off a rampart, she raised her chin and stared down at the hero. This was the kind of person she was supposed to be. Because she got swept up by a person like me. That beautiful child. I ruined Laura. ¡°Ah, huaa, ahh¡­¡­ Stop¡­¡­ No¡­¡­no¡­¡­Lord¡­¡­Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡­¡­. The counting continued afterward. It was around the thirtieth hit that there was suddenly an exceedingly long silence. I found myself copsed on the ground. I raised only my upper body and turned to look at Jeremi. Jeremi¡¯s pale face entered my vision. The inside of my mouth was full of blood. I wanted to spit it out, but I didn¡¯t have the strength to do that. The best I could do was open my mouth slightly and let it spill out naturally. I made enough space to move my tongue. ¡°¡­¡­How many?¡± ¡°We are at thirty¡­¡­two, Your Highness.¡± I silently red at Jeremi. Why aren¡¯t you doing the rest? This was what my eyes were saying. Jeremi hesitated. ¡°Your Highness cannot endure any more than this¡­¡­.¡± I didn¡¯t feel the need to give her a verbal response as I continued to re at her silently. Jeremi clenched her teeth together as she slowly raised the whip. Good, that¡¯s what you should be doing. You¡¯re fulfilling your role more than enough with this. I gave her an approving nod before returning my upper body to the ground. I wanted to sit upright, but I didn¡¯t have the strength to do that anymore. I cried out as I received the thirty-third hit. It seems the rubber in my mouth had fallen out while I was passed out. This meant that I didn¡¯t have the power to put strength in even my teeth. It wouldn¡¯t matter if I tried to bite down on it again. ¡°¡­¡­, ¡­¡­.¡± Laura seemed to have exhausted herself while crying as her mouth could only open and close now. It was a natural result since her body was already a mess due to the punishment she had also received. However, tears continued to flow from her eyes. I ended up passing out every thirdshing, so the punishmentsted much longer than expected. Ivar couldn¡¯t watch any longer and caused a disturbance. Parsi stopped her, but it was pointless. Ten additionalshings were added to my punishment. Once that happened, Ivar had a look of despair as she backed down. Jeremi vehemently refused to add the ten additionalshings, but I stood firmly with the order I gave. In the end, ten was added to sixty and I wound up enduring all seventyshings. ¡°¡­¡­Seventy.¡± Jeremi spoke as if she were giving herst breath. From start to finish, she didn¡¯t let go of the whip. This alone was enough to deserve praise. I would¡¯ve praised her for a job well done if it was possible for me to speak. Everything was over. With this, the discipline within my Demon Lord army was established. This will probably never happen again. It was painful enough that I thought I was going to die, but I didn¡¯t. This was enough. I squeezed out my remaining strength to speak. ¡°Enforce¡­ment¡­pl¡­¡­.¡± I let go of my consciousness before I could even finish speaking. It was around the fortieth hit that I couldn¡¯t distinguish between consciousness and unconsciousness, so it would be more precise to say that I closed my eyes since there was no need to remain conscious. It was fine to keep closing my eyes. I never thought that this would be such a huge blessing. The sound of several people shouting ¡°Your Highness!¡± echoed around me. The sound wasing from right next to me, but they sounded so distant. I was enveloped by darkness¡­¡­and I allowed myself to descend to the absolute bottom of the void. All while thinking that it would be fine if I remained submerged in this darkness forever. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, this was a heavy chapter to trante. I¡¯m not really sure what else to say. It was definitely something trying to trante this chapter while also being swamped with work. The past few chapters really went from 1 to 100 really fast. In any case, I was hoping my schedule would open up, but it appears that I¡¯m going to keep being swamped until mid-January. Woo. Chapter 335: Anemone Aroma (5) Chapter 335: Anemone Aroma (5) * * * ¡°Please do not make me do something like that again! I am serious!¡± This was the first nagging I heard the moment I regained consciousness. I asked how many days I was unconscious and was told three. I jokingly said that that wasn¡¯t muchpared to before, but Jeremi red daggers at me. ¡°Do you know how difficult it has been for me? I thought my eyes would pop out trying to treat that disciple of mine, the minister, and Your Highness.¡± Jeremi ced her hand against her forehead as she recalled her dreaded experience. ¡°The three of you were also half-dead¡­¡­which did not make things easier.¡± ¡°Yes, yes. You did well. Are the other two okay?¡± ¡°Your Highness was in the worst condition. No one could possiblypare to your near-death state. Your teeth were all chipped and your muscles were a mess. You only managed to survive because you are a Demon Lord.¡± ording to Jeremi, she had to use all of the precious and rare herbs, which she had been treasuring, to treat the three of us. Treating the wounds wasn¡¯t a problem. The issue was trying to treat our bodies in a way that left behind no scars. Getting rid of scars on bodies riddled with wounds was no different from carrying out surgery. Candles were lit to prevent tetanus, while surgical tools and various potions were utilized to restore the skin. The surgery would getplicated if the wounds closed, so she had to hastily restructure our flesh while also carrying out our treatment. Jeremi had to work for three days straight. She performed surgeries by herself for forty hours. Her stress was understandable. What else could I do? I behaved like a patient and quietly listened to Jeremi¡¯sints. ¡°Scars are like medals for men, right? That is why I treated Your Highnessst.¡± ¡°Wait, but I¡¯m still a Demon Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re a lord, then please act like one.¡± Jeremished out at me with a face filled with exhaustion. ¡°Hence that is why I intentionally left two scars.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± Jeremi was probably asking me to reflect on myself. ¡°I thought that I responded to the situation rather well. Did I not?¡± ¡°Well, as a ruler, that was the best response, but as a person, that was the worst.¡± Jeremi took out a pipe and started to smoke some unknown herb. ¡°Oh, give me one too.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even dream about smoking until your wounds are healed.¡± What a wicked woman. ¡°Are you aware that the Chancellor of State Affairs is currently abstaining from food and water? She hasn¡¯t eaten anything for the past three days. But that¡¯s on the better end. The Military Affairs Minister has been staring nkly at the air like some lunatic. That disciple of mine¡­¡­seemed perfectly fine, but she¡¯s always been an abnormal case.¡± In other words, my Demon Lord Castle was like a wake. I bluntly responded with an, ¡°Is that so?¡±. Jeremi gave me a nk look. ¡°You have done well. You can go back and get some rest now.¡± ¡°Do you not fear death, Your Highness?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I never expected to be asked that by an assassin.¡± I stared at the ceiling. ¡°I do fear it. However, I was certain that I wouldn¡¯t die.¡± ¡°You are seriously uncontroble.¡± Jeremi shook her head. She then proceeded to pack her surgery tools and candles before leaving the room. I didn¡¯t forget to tell her to bring Lapis to me. Shortlyter, Lapis entered my room. Before I could give her any form of greeting, Lapis immediately groveled. ¡°Lapis,e here.¡± Lapis kept her head down as she stood back up. She approached a few steps before promptly groveling again. Her stubbornness was palpable as she refused to look me in the face. I smiled bitterly. ¡°Closer.¡± A childish battle of nerves unfolded. Lapis would approach whenever I told her to get closer, but she would grovel again after only a few steps. This repeated over and over again until Lapis finally arrived in front of me. ¡°Closer.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis ended up standing right next to my bed. I couldn¡¯t see her expression because she was lowering her head, but it didn¡¯t matter. I could easily tell what she was thinking. She clearly thought that all of this was her responsibility. Why didn¡¯t she stop Laura beforehand? Why didn¡¯t she save Daisy? If she had taken care of matters a little sooner, then her lord wouldn¡¯t have had to get injured. However, she couldn¡¯t apologize. She couldn¡¯t say that she was sorry. All because she understood what resolve I made to shoulder that punishment. Do not inquire further into this incident. This is my responsibility. I allocated the punishment with this intent in mind. If Lapis apologizes to me here, then she would be taking that responsibility from me. She would be denying my resolve and wounds. That¡¯s why Lapis knew that she shouldn¡¯t. Even if she felt tormented by guilt, she couldn¡¯t utter an apology in order to respect my will. Hence why I silently held her hand. I could feel the bony back of her hand. She had been abstaining from food and water for the past few days, right? ¡°Sorry, Lapis.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± I don¡¯t apologize to people. That¡¯s because apologiese from two-way rtionships. It¡¯s my fault. I¡¯m sorry. Forgive me. Give me another chance. I won¡¯t do it again. In other words, these words hold the expectation of ¡®continuing¡¯ to stay together¡­¡­. The apology and forgiveness dynamics cannot be established if the other party is dead. This is obviously because you cannot spend your future together with someone who¡¯s already dead. You cannot apologize or be forgiven. Apologizing in this situation would only be a verbal expression. No one can live my life in my stead. Simrly, no one can die in another person¡¯s stead and apologize. This was extremely obvious¡­¡­. The sole exception to this rule is Lapis. She gave me the chance to seed, helped me, plotted with me a way to make the continent fall into despair, and continued to stay with me afterward. A long silence flowed by. Lapis raised her head. She looked more haggard than usual, but it was still Lapis in front of me. Her blue eyes that always stared at people clearly, although expressionlessly. They were eyes that I truly liked. ¡°¡­¡­I will make sure that something like this never happens again.¡± ¡°Yeah. I also won¡¯t resort to this kind of method again.¡± ¡°That is a promise, Your Highness.¡± I dly epted that promise. * * * I recovered from my injuriesparatively faster than usual and got out of bed. The Saintess will get suspicious if I don¡¯t show myself for too long. Not only her. I have the attention of the continent on me. They may have not been found yet, but there are numerous spies nted throughout my territory. Weird rumors would formte if I stay confined at home for too long. It was especially bad since I left during the festival. In other words, everyone was watching as I left. There was a risk that groundless rumors might be created. I couldn¡¯t stay bedridden even if I was hurt. This was the fate of humans. Jeremitched on to me rather persistently. ¡°Are you truly okay? Truly?¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m all better now. Would I lie to you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± An immediate response. A lord who was barely trusted by his vassals was standing right here. ¡°I¡¯ll immediately tell you if something weird happens, so let me go for now. Okay?¡± I eventually managed to persuade Jeremi. ¡­¡­To be honest, I still couldn¡¯t feel my back yet. It felt like all of the nerves on my back had died as it was the only ce I could barely feel. I experimented by stabbing a sharp needle in my back, but it only felt like a blunt fingernail. My body itself had recovered, so this was probably a psychological problem. Mental disabilities are quite an issue. I¡¯m not sure if this is an aftereffect, but I sometimes wake up feeling the same intense pain I felt while getting whipped. That pain would sometimes fuse together with my nightmares. Those moments were terrible. The usual three hours of sleep I¡¯d get had shrunken further as I now got about four to five hours of sleep every two days. But that was still enough. I may have never thanked myself before, but I¡¯ve been thanking my body dozens of times every day. After going to the vige town hall to show off to my people that I was still alive and well, I went to visit Daisy. Naturally, Daisy was resting in her room and not that ursed underground prison. Daisy turned to nce at me once I opened the door and entered her room. She then went back to reading her book. She didn¡¯t get up even though her Lord had visited her. A cheeky ve as usual. ¡°Are you still resting? What azy child.¡± ¡°Unlike you, Father, I am but a normal human.¡± Daisy responded without looking away from her book. ¡°My entire body is still sore, so I cannot muster the strength to wee you properly. I hope for your understanding.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way a normal child would read a book like this.¡± I smirked as I took the book from Daisy¡¯s hands. was written on the cover in the Ancient Imperiumnguage. Daisy narrowed her eyes and red at me after her book was suddenly taken away from her. ¡°Please return the book. I was at an interesting part.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. I did not shoulder the punishment for your sake.¡± My words werepletely spontaneous, but it was still enough to make Daisy shut her mouth. ¡°If I forgive the Military Affairs Minister¡¯s actions, then you would simply be a pitiful victim. Victims are those in the right. I simply did not wish to let you take the position of the right.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I know.¡± Daisy let out a light sigh. ¡°How could I not know your intentions, Father?¡± ¡°Then why were you reading? Do not try to trick my eyes. Reading when by yourself is simply reading, but reading when someone has visited you is escapism.¡± I smirked. ¡°You are finding it difficult to face me properly. That is why you tried to avoid me. You must feel indebted to me. Tell me if I am wrong.¡± ¡°Humans do not only have heads. They have hearts as well.¡± Daisy scowled. ¡°Even if I know what you are thinking, Father, how could I possibly erase my human heart as well?¡± ¡°Your logic is so trifling that it isughable. In other words, you are stillcking. I am not telling you to remove your human heart. I am telling you to not reveal it to others!¡± I threw the book to the ground and shouted. ¡°There are two reasons why people reveal their hearts to others. One is to show off your strength and the other is to ask for sympathy. People who show off their strength thoughtlessly will create needless enemies, and people who ask for sympathy end up pitying themselves. Either way, both options are only done by clowns! Is that what you intend to be?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy clenched her teeth. She didn¡¯t refute my words, so I was probably right. I raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°I heard that you cut ties with your family. I do feel a little sorry for you. I will at least praise the fact that you were able to hide this from me for two years.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This was the second praise I had ever given her, but she didn¡¯t seem pleased by it at all. As usual, what an uncute child. I teasingly tapped Daisy¡¯s forehead before turning around. ¡°The Military Affairs Minister wille to apologize to you. Do not forgive her.¡± I could feel Daisy¡¯s confusion from behind me. ¡°Why is that? Is she not one of your precious concubines?¡± ¡°I do not have a concubine. Laura did temporarily be weaker because of me; however, that does not change the fact that she is still a great individual who does not have to apologize to others to be allowed to live. Laura is strong.¡± I started to walk away after saying these words. ¡°And she has to be stronger.¡± Thud, I closed the door behind me. My next destination was Laura¡¯s bedroom. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Jeremi and Daisy really are endearing in their own way. The dynamic between Daisy and Dant is always interesting to see cause you really can¡¯t tell whether Daisy despises Dant or not. Uh, not much else to say. I enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter is worrying since we now have to see how Dant handles Laura after all this¡­ Welp, in any case, I got another big trantion project at work for my New Year¡¯s Eve present ?? I get to work hard into 2023! Woo! End me. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 336: Anemone Aroma (6) Chapter 336: Anemone Aroma (6) I knocked on Laura¡¯s door, but there was no response. Announcing my name here might cause Laura to spasm. Shame and guilt are the two biggest emotions that eat away at people¡¯s hearts. Currently, Laura was holding on to both of these emotions at the same time. The name ¡®Dantalian¡¯ was the very amalgamation of those emotions clumped together¡­¡­. I wordlessly opened the door and was promptly enveloped by shock. ¡°¡­¡­, ¡­¡­.¡± Laura failed to realize that the door had opened. Her dark, unfocused eyes stared at nothing as she kept muttering to herself endlessly. She was whispering so quietly that I couldn¡¯t make any of her words out. This was a clear sign of a severe mental condition, but that wasn¡¯t the problem right now. ¡°Laura!¡± I ran up to Laura and grabbed her by the wrist. Blood was flowing down her wrist. Laura had been tearing at the spot where her vein is with her nails. I quickly pulled out a potion and poured it on her wrist. ¡°Lord¡­¡­?¡± Focus returned to Laura¡¯s eyes. However, they were still far off from being clear in any way. Her eyes lookedpletely dull. The wrist that I had grabbed was also weak like a twig. I thought she was returning to normal, but I was wrong. Laura suddenlytched on to my waist and started to cry. She pressed her face strongly against my clothes. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­ I¡¯m sorry, Lord¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± It was at this point that I came to a realization. The indiscernible words that Laura was muttering since the moment I entered her room. She was apologizing to me nonstop. I felt my hair stand on end as I grabbed her strongly by the shoulders. ¡°Laura! Laura de Farnese!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± My words didn¡¯t get through to her. I felt a chill go down my spine. She was having a mental episode and also harming herself. I became keenly aware of how serious the situation was. I optimistically believed that Laura would at least be in a state where I could talk to her. Laura is stronger and shines brighter than anyone else¡­¡­. That¡¯s why I was optimistic. I gnashed my teeth. I hardened my heart as I struck Laura¡¯s cheek with a moderate amount of strength. It was only after two to three hits that Laura¡¯s gaze finally went from nothing to me. ¡°What is with this disgraceful state? Where did the girl who confidently advised me to walk the path of a Demon Lord, the path to hell, back on the ck Mountains vanish to!? Where did the child who immediately tried to bite off her tongue when asked why she had notmitted suicide yet disappear to!?¡± Laura¡¯s shoulders trembled as she shrunk back. This reaction made me both sad and angry. Before reaching the realm of love, would it not be more appropriate to call our rtionship close to that of friendship? Not something rotten like love where both sides are shackled to one another, are we not twoplete individuals who are able to look toward the same direction together? ¡°Answer me, Laura. Was all that nothing more than a moment of your childhood? Have our backs folded to the point that you can no longer bear the weight of your pledge!?¡± ¡°Ah, ahh¡­¡­.¡± Laura weakly shook her tear-soaked face in denial. She was like a feeble baby bird that couldn¡¯t fly with its own wings and was cowering to hide its body. I realized something once I saw this. At a certain point, Laura started to look at me alone. I saved her from a life as a sex ve. I bestowed upon this girl, who had only resided within a small bubble as an aristocrat, the life of a general. She was sixteen years old back then. I gave her an identity during the time she was most sensitive and unstable. ¡­¡­I see. In the original game, Laura had walked the path of a general by herself. She was the one who secured that identity. The difference between an adult and a child is whether their identity was forced upon them or if they secured their identity on their own. Laura was the same. She shook off her identity as a sex ve and a noble. This was why Laura de Farnese held on to her title as Military Affairs Minister so insistently. However, in this world, I was the one who gave everything to her. To Laura, I was probably quite literally her owner. I didn¡¯t think too deeply about this because I believed that she was destined to be a general anyway. I believed that I had only made her fate happen a little sooner. What a fool I was¡­¡­. I didn¡¯t save Laura from the fate of bing a sex ve. I had engraved a different kind of ve seal on her. The original Laura¡¯s body may have been that of a ve, but her mind was still hers. I had taken hold of her mind¡­¡­. The decisive trigger was probably when I broke her 99 affection point cap. Laura had given up on her pride as a noble, but I had returned it to her by gifting her the Farnese family¡¯s g. I had relieved the resentment she had due to the oppression she experienced as an illegitimate child. Thus, every role she once had and will have in the future came from me. I am everything to Laura. There was no meaning to a world without me and a world where I¡¯m injured must be destroyed. I should¡¯ve noticed sooner. When Gamigin became obsessed with me and when Ivar gave uppletely on her identity¡­¡­I should¡¯ve realized that the affection point system wasn¡¯t always a good thing. I ruined her. The one responsible is clear. In that case¡ªit¡¯s also clear what I must do. ¡°Laura.¡± I quietly pulled Laura into my arms. Her small body entered my embrace. I erased all the urgency in my voice as I whispered in a gentle tone, making it seem like I would forgive her for everything. ¡°Lord¡­¡­?¡± Could she instinctually tell that the atmosphere around me had changed? Laura gazed up at me with anxiously trembling eyes. She looked like a delicate animal staring up at its mother. It¡¯s okay. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. I gave her a reassuring smile. ¡°You have done nothing wrong, Laura.¡± ¡°You were whipped¡­¡­because of me¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No.¡± I held Laura closer to me. ¡°I did that despite knowing how much anguish you would feel. But Laura, you are someone whom I cherish the most. I would never hurt you.¡± Like how I did with Ivar. And also with Paimon. I whispered to Laura gently. ¡°Then, why¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Because there are others watching. Laura, you should understand that I unfortunately do not only have a personal side but a public side as well. I had no choice but to punish you because you had vited thew so publicly.¡± Like I was chanting a spell. Like I was chanting a curse. I uttered sweet, devilish words. ¡°The problem was how excessively you carried out your torture. Your execution would have been the only way to cover that crime. But I told you, didn¡¯t I? You are someone whom I cherish the most. There is no way I would let you be executed¡­¡­.¡± ¡°A-As I thought, you were whipped because of me!¡± ¡°No. It wasn¡¯t because of you, Laura.¡± I nted my words in her heart. The words that she desperately wanted to hear the most. ¡°It was ¡®for¡¯ you, Laura.¡± In order to make her pour her heart into raising just these words. The seed will eat her emotions and eventually bloom, allowing a ck flower to blossom over the sacrifice of her original feelings and belief. ¡°Like how you devote your life to me, it is only natural that I devote my life to you as well. We are of one body and soul, after all. There isn¡¯t anything weird about this¡­¡­right?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­.¡± Capturing a weakened girl¡¯s heart is incredibly simple. My words turned into a rope as Lauratched on to it desperately. She hugged my waist tightly as she cried. Incredibly tightly. ¡°Everything this youngdy does is for your sake¡­¡­ I do not care about anything as long as you are safe!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, Laura. The bond holding us together is on a different levelpared to the masses throughout the world. Your life is mine and my life is yours.¡± ¡°Yes, Lord¡­¡­Yes¡­¡­!¡± I stroked my fingers through Laura¡¯s hair as if I werebing it. Laura. If the reason you were consumed by your emotions was because of your love for me, if the culprit who had given you that love is none other than me, then I would dly shoulder all that you have. Be it your belief and will, Laura de Farnese, I will shoulder everything that you consist of from start to finish. You don¡¯t have to apologize for anything you do in the future. You don¡¯t have to me yourself or even take responsibility. You have left everything to me, after all. Your crimes, regrets, and mistakes, I will take them all in your stead. ¡°Then let us make a contract, Laura. Vow that you will entrust your belief with me.¡± I pressed my lips against Laura¡¯s pale forehead. There were tears welling up around her eyes. ¡°A contract¡­¡­?¡± ¡°From now on, you must find all meaning from me. You are my sword. You must follow my orders. ughter and y my enemies if I order you to do so. For my sake.¡± I wiped her tears away with my finger. Even her crying face was beautiful. She most likely hasn¡¯t been able to wash for several days, but even that wasn¡¯t able to ruin Laura¡¯s natural beauty. ¡°In return, I will give you love.¡± ¡°Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Eternal love. A love that no doubt can possibly approach.¡± Laura gazed at me with hazy eyes. She opened her mouth without a moment of hesitation. ¡°Yes, Lord¡­¡­I swear! I swear that I will only use my life for your sake! If you do not want something, then this youngdy will not want it as well. If you do not give me an order, then this youngdy will not order herself either!¡± ¡°I am delighted to hear that.¡± I smiled brightly. That¡¯s right. People have to takeplete responsibility for the things they do. Wordys like pretense and lies have little weight to them. An action is done and thus responsibility must follow. Before this absolute obligation, everything else bes light. If you don¡¯t have the resolve to take responsibility until the very end, then you shouldn¡¯t have started to begin with. I have to stick firmly with the things I¡¯ve started. ¡°As I thought, I only have Laura. If it were not for you, then I would already be dead. I do not fear Elizabeth or Henrietta. I only need you, Laura.¡± Laura¡¯s face lit up brightly. I jokingly flicked Laura¡¯s forehead. ¡°But Laura, you are onlypetent in military affairs. You earnestly require the help of others. For example, Lapis has skills that you do not. You understand this, right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡­The people you need are the people I need as well.¡± ¡°Indeed. For the sake of our eternal love.¡± Laura¡¯s breathing became noticeably stable. It felt like all the tears she shed had soaked into my clothes. Now, for the final nail. ¡°So please do not punish others thoughtlessly. You must not get jealous either. This will only make me sad¡­¡­. You should be able to endure as long as you remember that you are my number one.¡± ¡°Okay, Lord. I swear.¡± Laura smiled. Her smile was as beautiful as a blooming cherry blossom. Ahh. I love you, Laura. *** ¡ªI truly did love you. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, this was certainly a chapter. I can¡¯t help but feel bad for Laura, but at the same time, I guess this conclusion was sort of inevitable. Doesn¡¯t change that I still feel bad for her. In any case, work is getting more packed and stress levels are rising. We have too manyrge projects lined up at the same time because I guess gamepanies are trying to rush things for 2023. Please, just hire one more EN trantor. That¡¯s all we need to keep people from working overtime almost every day. Welp, see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 337: Anemone Aroma (7) Chapter 337: Anemone Aroma (7) Iy in bed together with Laura. The bed supported our weightfortably. I sang Laura a luby as I stroked her hair. I¡¯m terrible at singing, but I could at least hum the luby that I had grown up hearing. It was a song that my mother sang for me when I was very little. ¡°This luby¡­¡­sung by the sea.¡± Laura rubbed her face against my chest. Like a bird that had already broken out of its egg and was trying to push its head against the shell further. I couldn¡¯t help but smile because it felt like I had a daughter who was acting like a spoiled child. I didn¡¯t push her away as I epted her entirely. Laura muttered with a voice that was still raspy due to having just awoken. ¡°Lord, I heard you can live forever if you be a vampire.¡± ¡°Indeed, I heard that as well.¡± ¡°I must ask a vampire to turn this youngdy into one as well. If I can be one, I would be able to remain by your side. Forever in my prime¡­¡­.¡± A single memory went through my mind. There was a girl who dered that death alone was hers and hers alone. That child had now cast aside something that was hers. It was a warm memory. It was a pleasant surprise, which are things that people rarely get to experience in their lives. I wanted to give this memory a respectful funeral. I gently ced the memory into a ss case within my mind and smiled. ¡°Very well, then. I will try asking next time when the opportunity presents itself.¡± ¡°Yes, Lord. Forever together¡­¡­.¡± Laura trailed off as she drifted off to sleep. Her hand gripping tightly to my clothes. I silently got up from the bed after about thirty minutes. Fortunately, Laura didn¡¯t notice as she continued to sleep. She probably had several days¡¯ worth of exhaustion and stress weighing down her shoulders. What she needs now is sleep. I gave Laura¡¯s forehead a kiss. I then walked around aimlessly. I didn¡¯t care where I went as long as I could reach it on foot. To a ce outside people¡¯s watchful eyes. My Demon Lord Castle has too many people. There are too many people in my territory as well. I went down the secret escape tunnel that had been made and arrived at a field. The field was attached to a river surrounded by reeds. The escape tunnel¡¯s exit was located in an area where the ground was moist so that horses would struggle to pursue people here. I slowly walked along the riverside. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The sound of the flowing river sshed lightly against my chest. Afortable gloom drenched my body. I decided to think of something else as I felt a river flow through my mind. In truth, I was actually surprised that I even had the strength to think of something else. The ck Death has almost been entirely suppressed throughout the continent. It varied from region to region, but, at worse, some areas lost about half of their poption to the gue. However, there was only about a 20-30% decrease in the total poption. If you consider the fact that the ck Death was supposed to take the lives of more than half of humanity, the humans did considerably well this time. The rights of farmers will most likely increase drastically from now on. Farms will remain the same size, but there won¡¯t be enough people to cultivate all thatnd. Crop yield will undoubtedly plummet drastically, sondowners will spend an exorbitant amount of money in order to hire manpower. Competitions will ur betweenndowners. Farmers will sell their services tondowners who offer the most money¡­¡­. Farmers weren¡¯t the only ones who had died because of the disease. The gue presented death equally to all social sses. Whether it be cksmiths, grain dealers, or even shoemakers, more people have to be hired regardless of their ce of birth or status in order to make up for the depleted manpower. Armies will now get an unprecedentedly low number of recruits. People can make a living without having to resort to mercenary work. Only battle fanatics would want to join the army when there are other means to put food on the table. Mercenary groups most likely won¡¯t disappear, but their value will increase drastically. As a result, the scale of wars will be smaller. Even if kings and lords want to start a war, the funding required to do so will be immense. If possible, they would try to solve matters indirectly through diplomatic means instead of resorting to war. There will still be arge group of people who insist on waging wars. Those people are idiots. They will squeeze out tax money in order to fund their wars. However,moners are no longer powerless victims of exploitation. They possess high wages supported by their practical abilities and the unionizing power unique to farmingmunities is the cherry on top. Peasants will no longer pay taxes for a war that doesn¡¯t benefit them in any way. They will daringly oppose regional lords. Nobles who have yet to understand their situation will take this as an affront to their authority. The suppression of rulers and the resistance of peasants¡­¡­ Large-scale rebellions will be inevitable¡­¡­. The continent will get swept up in chaos again. How will I utilize this chaos? It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the fate of the Demon Lord Army lies in this. ording to the situation, we could raise republicanism. We could also strengthen our bonds with royalist nations. Or we can do both¡­¡­. ¡°Count Ptine Dantalian?¡± A familiar voice entered my ears. I raised my head to see Saintess Longwy standing a short distance away from me. She must have washed her body in the river as her hair was still wet. ¡°What brings you here? No, more importantly, you¡­¡­?¡± Saintess Longwy¡¯s eyes opened wide once she looked at my face. There was a moment of silence. The Saintess was frozen in shock as if she had witnessed a being that shouldn¡¯t exist. She opened and closed her mouth several times before eventually furrowing her brows and letting out a small sigh. ¡°¡­¡­If there is a regret you wish to confess before the Goddess, then I could hear you out in her stead. I am still a Saintess, after all.¡± I didn¡¯t know what she was saying. She was probably making fun of me since she thinks I¡¯m someone whose life is filled with regret. I shrugged. ¡°I appreciate the offer, but I have to refuse. Though I may reflect on my past actions, I will never regret them. This is my maxim. I personally think this is a rather wise saying.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What nonsense are you saying when you have such a look on your face¡­¡­?¡± The Saintess muttered so quietly that I could barely hear her. It was probably nothing important. I¡¯ve already finished verifying this Saintess¡¯ political sense. She¡¯s worse than Parsi. I didn¡¯t feel a particr need to converse with her. ¡°Saintess that has just finished bathing, although this is a rather rare and precious sight, I fear that I may be smote by the Goddess if I dared to stare at you any longer. I will take my leave here.¡± ¡°One moment.¡± I tried to walk past the Saintess, but I was stopped. This was a bit annoying. I was in a mood to be alone. I silently turned to re right at the Saintess. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡­ Hahh. Why am I being so meddlesome?¡± Saintess Longwy scratched her scarlet hair. She hesitated for a while before she eventually seemed to build up enough courage as she strengthened her gaze. ¡°Count Ptine, I happen to have several rather valuable bottles of alcohol. I wish to partake in them, but, unfortunately, there is no one in this shabbynd that I can share a ss with. I would appreciate it if you apanied me.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I was so taken aback that I unconsciously let out a weird voice. ¡°Could you not pick anyone off the street to join you?¡± ¡°People tend to look down on the idea of a saintess drinking alcohol. It is impossible to drink with someone if they are not already fairly close to me. Adding to this, I am still fairly new to your territory, so I have not made many connections yet.¡± ¡°Well, that is true.¡± I gave her a look that was asking if she was sane. ¡°But with me of all people?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am truly reluctant, but what can I do when you are the only one I can rely on?¡± The Saintess was making a terrible face. I didn¡¯t understand what she was thinking. Couldn¡¯t she just drink on her own, then? Surely, she must have some sort of ulterior motive. ¡°Did that queen of yours tip you off or something?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± She gave a rather vague answer, but I didn¡¯t particrly have an excuse to avoid a drink. I gave a half-hearted shrug to signify that I epted her proposal, although unweingly. Once I did, the Saintess abruptly ced down arge wool towel and sat down. ¡°Saintess Longwy, do you intend to drink here? If my eyes are not tricking me, not only is there no alcohol here, but there are no cups here either¡­¡­.¡± ¡°ustrum.¡± A pure white aura appeared around the Saintess¡¯ wrist after she uttered a short incantation. The Saintess shoved her arm inside the light as if it were some sort of pocket and moved her arm around as if she were searching for something. Shortly after, seven bottles of alcohol and two ss cups were taken out from the light. ¡°Now then, this should be more than enough.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Would it be fine to ask where these came from?¡± ¡°Our temple¡¯s warehouse. I can take whatever I want from our temple¡¯s warehouse whenever I feel like it.¡± In other words, Saintess Longwy had arbitrarily snatched away several bottles of alcohol that were offered to the Temple of Athena. I scowled as I sat down on the wool towel. ¡°To think that a saintess would steal temple property for their own personal reason. It would not be strange if the Goddess punished you right this instant.¡± ¡°The Goddess cannot drink this alcohol anyway. If anything, the Goddess would praise me for drinking this alcohol in her stead.¡± Saintess Longwy remarked nonchntly. I see. Not only is she a saintess with a sharp temper, but she also has a w in her personality. Well, there¡¯s no way anyone could endure a position as ridiculous as being the saintess without going mad. We exchanged cups of wine next to a flowing river. I waited for her to bring up an important topic, but the Saintess strangely only asked trivial questions. For example, how I ended up ruling thisnd, and what I was doing before I became the advisor of the Demon Lord Army¡­¡­. She was a strange woman. I couldn¡¯t tell what her intent was, so I gave her generic answers. ¡°Ahh!¡± It happened right as the sun was about to set. A wolf had approached our little drinking party. I gave the Saintess a reassuring nod before gesturing to the wolf toe closer. The wolf approached calmly and pressed its head into my arms. The wolf let out a satisfied sound as I stroked its fur with my hand. The Saintess appeared dumbstruck as she watched us. ¡°C-Count Ptine, is that not a wolf¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It was drawn in because of my mana. If I had as much mana as the other Demon Lords, then it would have run away in fear. However, it seems I have just the right amount to make animals like me.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡­.¡± Saintess Longwy stared at the wolf nkly. She was no different from a child staring at a toy they wanted from behind a ss disy. I chuckled. ¡°Would you like to pet them?¡± ¡°Huh? Is it safe?¡± ¡°It¡¯s safe as long as you do not try to kill me.¡± The Saintess gulped before slowly approaching us. She carefully reached out and touched the wolf¡¯s fur with the tips of her fingers which prompted the wolf to look at her. The Saintess froze in ce, but her anxiety was quickly put to ease as the wolf let out a happy bark. The Saintess¡¯ face lit up as she started to pet the wolf without restraint. The wolf went as far as to reveal its stomach to the Saintess to enjoy her petting to its fullest. ¡°Hmm. The mana that Demon Lords possess is rather interesting.¡± ¡°Schrs in the demon world suspect that our mana might be a clue between the rtionship between animals and demons. Well, I¡¯m no expert.¡± Our drinking partysted long into the night. Even as the sun set beyond the horizon and the night sky glimmered above us, the Saintess continued to pull out more alcohol. About a dozen or so deers, rabbits, and foxes had gathered because of my mana. They made a circle around us as they sat down docilely. The Saintess seemed greatly pleased by this as she showed a genuine smile, something which she rarely ever disyed in front of me. In the end, the ¡®important discussion¡¯ that the Saintess implied never came up. The Saintess had passed out drunk before she could. ¡°Mmm, I can¡¯t drink any more¡­¡­.¡± She was snoring and sleep talking in front of me. The situation felt so ridiculous that I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. What was she trying to do? I guess these sorts of days happen. I lifted the Saintess up. I put her on the wolf¡¯s back and brought her to my Demon Lord Castle. I tossed her on one of the guest beds and returned to my room. It might have been thanks to the alcohol, but the gloom weighing over my heart was gone. I lied down on my bed feeling at peace. I had a feeling I wasn¡¯t going to have any nightmares tonight¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This entire arc has been pretty heavy, but I¡¯m d the Saintess came in clutch to lighten the mood. Right before the new year too. I¡¯m okay with the Saintess sort of being this emotional support. In any case, soon I won¡¯t have to constantly worry about working overtime¡­ But I will have to tomorrow in order to avoid working on New Years day. This is going to be a st! I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter and I hope you guys have a good New Years! Chapter 338: Brave New World (1) Chapter 338: Brave New World (1) A much-awaited gathering between Demon Lords was held on the continent. There was a rather special meaning to this event. Whether it be for political meetings or simple banquets, the Demon Lords would always meet in the neutral city of the demon world. It was always the leader of the Neutral Faction who would host these gatherings. A meeting between high-ranking and low-ranking Demon Lords as equal rulers on neutralnd¡­¡­. This was the powerful meaning behind these meetings. Even Baal had never broken this implicit promise. However, after the death of that very Great Demon Lord, this old custom was disregarded. The inside of a shaking carriage. ¡°For how long do you intend to overlook ¡®that individual¡¯s¡¯ vile actions?¡± A bald man with dark skin asked with a sharp tone. It was Rank 6, no, ex-Rank 6 Demon Lord Valefor. He was displeased since the carriage was shaking more than he expected it would. This wasn¡¯t the only reason he was displeased. ¡°I do not care about the deaths of Baal or Agares, but what about our authority? Where have the traditions behind our meetings vanished?¡± ¡°Hm. The meaning behind our past authority disappeared the moment Baal and Agares died.¡± Gamigin answered with a charming voice. ¡°Fish are bound to run rampant in the ocean the moment the disappears. A natural form of authority will inevitably take the ce of where artificial authority once stood.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I didn¡¯t know you were interested in political philosophy, Gamigin. What does that mean?¡± ¡°The winner takes all. Is that not the natural right of us demons?¡± Valefor¡¯s dark face turned into a scowl. ¡°You¡¯re calling that scarecrow the winner!? I will acknowledge his eloquence, but he is nothing more than a louse that is going wild while borrowing Barbatos¡¯ power.¡± ¡°Yup, yup. He really is annoying~.¡± Gamigin went along with Valefor. She found the man in front of her bothical and pitiful. Even now, to this very day, a majority of the Demon Lords weren¡¯t aware of Dantalian¡¯s true ability. Or they did know, but were desperately trying to ignore it. To the public, Dantalian was most known as Barbatos¡¯ splendid partner. That was leagues better than his previous reputation as a second-rate underling in the ins Faction. Nheless, that still wasn¡¯t enough¡­¡­. People considered Dantalian as the spokesperson for the ins Faction, Mountain Faction, and Neutral Faction. Like a type of publicity manager. ¡°I do not get it. Putting Barbatos aside, Paimon, well, she does have a debt to pay, but why is someone like Marbas also supporting Dantalian?¡± ¡°Do you think I would know their personal circumstances?¡± ¡°Damn it.¡± The premise was wrong. Dantalian wasn¡¯t simply the face of the newly established Demon Lord Army. The new Demon Lord Army itself was an instrument that moved ording to Dantalian¡¯s will. However, if you asked if Dantalian was the leader of the Demon Lord Army, Gamigin could only tilt her head. If Dantalian was the leader, then he should¡¯ve been the one to benefit the most from the previous war. Yet, Dantalian gained nothing whatsoever. He didn¡¯t obtain morend or any loot from the plundering. Only his political fame had gone up. The Demon Lords of the various factions were the ones who actually benefited. It¡¯s not like Dantalian is some sort of greedless saint. ¡®¡­¡­That is impossible.¡¯ Gamigin felt silly even thinking that. In any case, the situation was weird. It was because of situations like these that made many people belittle Dantalian. They believed that he was nothing more than the figurehead and that the high-ranking Demon Lords were the ones actually moving the army¡­¡­. This was made apparent from the current conversation. ¡°So what are we discussing in this meeting? I was not told anything.¡± ¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t know anything as well.¡± ¡°Hah. He did not even tell you? What an indicent man!¡± Gamigin snickered in her mind. ¡®I¡¯m not even on your side.¡¯ She skillfully managed her facial expression as she stared outside the carriage window. The carriage was traveling quickly through a vige as if it were simply a coincidence that a vige happened to be here. The carriage was being escorted by cavalrymen and the vige kids were escaping to the sides of the road in order to avoid the carriage. The kids watched persistently as the cavalrymen marched through the vige even though they were also afraid of the hooves getting close to them. One of the kids even saluted a g. A mounted soldier gave a salute back, but, to an extent, that was still a salute to the g. The g fluttered in the wind as if it knew with certainty where it was going, or as if it was promising to take everyone to its destination. Either way, the g quickly passed through the vige and disappeared in the distance. A small cloud of dust was the only thing left behind. The kids ran around as if they were swimming through the dust. ¡®But in the end.¡¯ Gamigin watched the shadow y that was unfolding in the dust cloud with emotionless eyes. ¡®Dantalian is not on anyone¡¯s side.¡¯ * * * ¡°Her Highness Gamigin and His Highness Valefor have arrived!¡± A beastman attendant shouted loudly. The edge of Valefor¡¯s mouth twitched. The two Demon Lords set foot inside the imperial pce of the Habsburg Empire. This was actually a humiliating act for independent Demon Lords like themselves. The Mountain Faction, Neutral Faction, and ins Faction were the actual ones in charge of the Empire. Most of the independent Demon Lords have no connections here. The imperial pce was leagues away from being considered neutral ground. Despite this, Dantalian decided to hold the gathering here on his own initiative. There was a clear intent hiding behind this rude decision. ¨C You can decide whether you will defy or obey the new Demon Lord Army. The decision was being forced upon them in a provocative way. Of course, every Demon Lord had already bowed their heads to this new Demon Lord Army. However, Dantalian was ordering them to make their subservience clear and official. Demon Lords were only allowed to have at most fifteen bodyguards. They were invited to the imperial capital of the Empire while practically naked. Although it was incredibly unlikely, there was no guarantee that they wouldn¡¯t get assassinated in the imperial capital. The Demon Lords with no affiliation gnashed their teeth. ¡°Do we have to be treated this way simply because we are bowing to them for the moment?¡± ¡°They¡¯re just ying make-believe with their factions¡­¡­!¡± ¡°We must work together as well.¡± They were originally individuals who refused to join factions because of their hatred for politics. However, they had no choice but to cooperate even if they didn¡¯t like it because of the threat that was approaching in front of them. The Demon Lord who naturally became the center of this gathering was Gamigin. ¡°Oh, Miss Gamigin. You¡¯re here?¡± ¡°Your beauty is in full bloom as usual.¡± Several of the Demon Lords who had arrived earlier pretended to be friendly as they approached Gamigin. Gamigin maintained her bright smile as she greeted them. Dantalian had deliberately made it so that the Demon Lords would misunderstand. For example, when he openly praised Barbatos instead of Gamigin during a ball, and how he left the detached troops under Gamigin¡¯s independent operational authority during the Puppet War. On the surface, it appeared like Dantalian and Gamigin had a deep rtionship, but that rtionship was actually constantly on the verge of copsing. Why was Dantalian acting as if there were discord between him and Gamigin? ¡®This is probably his way of telling me to manage the independent Demon Lords.¡¯ Gamigin thought to herself as sheughed. At first, she was deeply enraged because she thought Dantalian was simply treating Barbatos better than her. However, she came to a realization as the unaffiliated Demon Lords gradually gathered around her. ¡ªThis was his goal. There were a fair number of independent Demon Lords who were upset at Dantalian like Valefor. Those individuals naturally aggregated around Gamigin. There were only about six to seven of them, but it wasn¡¯t a group that could be ignored. ¡®What Dantalian fears the most isn¡¯t entire groups but the unexpected actions of individual Demon Lords.¡¯ The very fact that you are a part of a group is enough to restrict your actions. A promise between individuals can easily be broken; however, a treaty between groups cannot be broken that easily. Dantalian wanted the independent Demon Lords to form a group with Gamigin as their representative. Gamigin smiled. ¡®He really isn¡¯t sane.¡¯ Intentionally making the people hostile to him group together wasn¡¯t something that a sane person would do. Only someone with the utmost confidence would do something as crazy as this. The confidence to manage the people hostile to him no matter how much they grouped together. Only an extremely small minority of the independent Demon Lords had noticed this. One of them was ex-Rank 3 Demon Lord Vassago. Despite being the strongest independent Demon Lord, he has constantly refused to join their group. He smirked at the other Demon Lords as if he were looking down at foolish bugs. ¡°I have no desire to voluntarily be a doll.¡± This was the one and only piece of advice that Vassago had offered. The other individual was the ex-Rank 7 Demon Lord Amon. She thoroughly maintained her stance as a bystander as she distanced herself from herrades. The independent Demon Lords criticized these two for being selfish and irresponsible, but to those who understood the situation, they had made the best decisions. Even now, Vassago was standing by himself at the other side of the hall. Vassago and Gamigin met eyes for a moment, which prompted Vassago to raise the corners of his mouth. Gamigin felt disgusted, but she didn¡¯t let that show. ¡°The supreme ruler of the Habsburg Empire, His Excellency the Emperor has arrived!¡± Once all of the Demon Lords had arrived, an attendant dered the Emperor¡¯s arrival as if they had been waiting to do so this entire time. Emperor Rudolf arrived wearing an borate golden outfit and proceeded to sit on the throne. Barbatos and Dantalian naturally stood at his sides. A few of the Demon Lords grumbled. ¡°What¡¯s with all the formality for a mere puppet emperor¡­¡­?¡± ¡°More importantly, I do not understand why a human emperor is taking part in our gathering.¡± ¡°Has he gone mad!?¡± The positional structure of this gathering was unpleasant. The throne was obviously in a slightly elevated area, so Barbatos and Dantalian were looking down at everyone. This went against the tradition that put an emphasis on equality between Demon Lords. Dantalian calmly spoke whether he could hear the other Demon Lords talking or not. ¡°The reason everyone has gathered here today is for the thorough distribution of honors.¡± ¡°Distribution of honors?¡± Vassago furrowed his brows. ¡°Was that matter not handled back in Niflheim?¡± ¡°That was the distribution of honors in the demon world as Demon Lords. The share that you must naturally receive as members of the Empire still remains.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I do not recall bing a member of the Empire.¡± Vassago had a somewhat doubtful expression on his face. Dantalian shook his head. ¡°From this point on, the Demon Lord Army and the Habsburg Empire must work together. Therefore, we intend to thoroughly organize the merits and demerits to establish a rank among everyone here within the Empire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Vassago became speechless. Re-establish the ranks. To the independent Demon Lords who made no contributionspared to any of the factions, this was like a bolt from the blue. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, we¡¯re in 2023 now. God pray that my workload lessens this week, but I don¡¯t have my hopes up. Do people still make New Year¡¯s resolutions? If so, I have none. Actually, maybe I¡¯ll try to upgrade my PC this year. Well, I¡¯m just rambling cause I don¡¯t have anything else to say. I hope this year is good for you guys! I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 339: Brave New World Chapter 339: Brave NewWorld * * * Several of the Demon Lords were visibly panicked. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with us! Aren¡¯t you the one who got rid of the ranks to begin with!?¡± one of the Demon Lords shouted as they pointed their finger. The hall quickly fell into disorder. However, the person that drew my attention wasn¡¯t one of the noisy tin cans. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Vassago. This clever, but constantlyining man, was strangely keeping his mouth shut. Even though he was the one who asked a question first. I couldn¡¯t help but show an amused smile. As expected, he¡¯s quick-witted. This pce with fancy marble pirs didn¡¯t be as noisy as one might expect due to the sudden bombshell. No, most of the Demon Lords actually stayed quiet. Only six or seven of the unaffiliated Demon Lords were loudly voicing theirints while all of the Demon Lords who were in a faction remained silent. I saw Vassago immediately look around the hall as soon as I made my announcement. He probably noticed that Barbatos, Paimon, and Marbas were all calm and expressionless. Vassago realized that all of this had been thoroughly nned beforehand. Pointing your finger at me now would be turning all of the factions within the Demon Lord Army into your enemy¡­¡­. Vassago immediately took a step back. His ability to hit and run was almost an art form. His quick wit could probably p a cockroach on its face. ¡°Dantalian, you clearly stated that there will be no ranks within the new Demon Lord Army. Yet, you are dering here that you will be reinstating them. Have you gone mad?¡± Not all Demon Lords were as quick-witted as Vassago. Ex-Rank 6 Demon Lord Valefor¡¯s cheeks twitched as he remarked. Demon Lords, beings with the ability to have absolute control over all demons, are highly unlikely to have any sort of worldly wisdom. Demons obey them when ordered, so Demon Lords have no reason to ustom themselves to politics. The independent Demon Lords especially scorned politics as they chose to live in seclusion. Compared to the ins Faction and Mountain Faction, which had an intense rivalry for over a thousand years, they were no different from children. This was why they were so helpless before me, but it appears that they still didn¡¯t understand their standing yet. ¡°I ampletely sane. All Demon Lords will be a part of the Demon Lord Army as equals.¡± ¡°Do you understand what you are saying?¡± Valefor smirked as he nced at the other Demon Lords. A few of them joined in as they smirked maliciously. ¡°You are trying to revive the very system you announced the abolishment of. Do I have to exin to you what ¡®contradiction¡¯ means?¡± ¡°There is no contradiction here.¡± I smiled. ¡°I am both a Demon Lord and also the Count Ptine of the Empire. If I were to make aparison, as a Demon Lord, I am equal to Barbatos; however, as a member of the Empire, I am underneath Barbatos since she is a duke and regent. This is not a difficult matter to understand.¡± Valefor¡¯s expression contorted. It appears that he didn¡¯t understand. It can¡¯t be helped. I¡¯ll kindly spell things out for him out of the kindness of my heart. I actually enjoy teaching people. I¡¯m a gentle person, after all. ¡°I am saying that matters within the demon world and the continent are separate.¡± ¡°What are you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°From this point forth, acting with reckless bravado throughout the continent will not be allowed. All Demon Lords must be incorporated within the Habsburg Empire. Whether the Demon Lord Army meddles in continental affairs will be determined through the Empire¡¯s council.¡± Valefor¡¯s expression turned into a great scowl. ¡°Council¡­¡­? Incorporate¡­¡­? Dantalian, are you insane?¡± ¡°Do you intend to sell our pride as Demon Lords to an empire created by humans!?¡± Valefor cried out along with several other Demon Lords. Betrayal, treason, traitor¡­¡­ They listed all sorts of unpleasant words. A storm ofints came pouring out. The storm naturally subsided. It took a moment before the Demon Lords, who were going red in the face as they shouted, realized that there were actually only a small number of people making a fuss. Valefor looked around in disbelief, but no one agreed with him¡­¡­. A strange silence fell over the room. I was still smiling brightly in the middle of all this. ¡°I care little about the pride of Demon Lords. You asked if I was selling our pride to the Empire. A good question. This pride is absolutely useless anyway. If anything, simply being able to sell this pride would be incredibly profitable.¡± ¡°What a ridiculous statement! Have you lost your mind!?¡± Valefor roared. However, there was now a tinge of unease on his face. Did he finally read the room? Sorry, but it¡¯s toote. The wheel is already turning and the era has changed. I hope you be keenly aware of how useless your previous title as the Rank 6 Demon Lord is. ¡°Baal also spoke of the pride of Demon Lords. Agares also died while crying out about this pride. What exactly is this pride supposed to be? Is pushing the Crescent Alliance into the jaws of death and starting needless internal disputes what you mean when referring to pride?¡± Iughed. Valefor¡¯s face was red like an apple. ¡°You speak about pride when you had shamelessly killed your own kin. What impressive pride. My apologies, but I would like to humbly refuse this kind of pride even if it is free.¡± ¡°You¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not misunderstand. There is only one pride that a Demon Lord is allowed to have. The pride of creating an earthly paradise for demonkind.¡± I red directly into Valefor¡¯s blue eyes. ¡°The era where the bravery of Hercules once ruled the world is long over. The age where rampaging without any regard for your kin or allies and referring to that as pride has ended. What we require now is the ability to make level-headed decisions and a sturdy form of unity.¡± I took a few steps down from the tform I was on. ¡°During the 2nd Crescent Alliance, we obtained a third of the continent, and yet, we failed. Why did we fail? Was it because we were weak? Was it because demons are inferior to humans?¡± I gradually raised my voice as I slowly walked to the center. This was no longer an argument against Valefor alone. This was a speech to persuade everyone. ¡°Absolutely not. The people who obstructed our victory were on the inside. However, you have the audacity to refer to this betrayal as the pride of Demon Lords¡­¡­. What an unfunny joke.¡± ¡°Hah, then is bing a part of an empire rted to our pride as Demon Lords!?¡± Valefor shouted. He was worked up like an enraged bull. ¡°Then go ahead and take down the Habsburg Empire¡¯s g.¡± I stared at Valefor coldly. ¡°Dere to the world that you will fight against all of humanity. The humans will most likely unite and invade this ce immediately. Do you believe we can win against the humans when our Demon Lord Army has be weak due to continuous internal disputes?¡± ¡°Talking about defeat while standing before war is the literal definition of a coward! The Demon Lord Army will always be victorious.¡± I shook my head and chuckled. ¡°Do you understand the situation we are in? If we formally announce that we are the enemy of humankind, then the Crescent Alliance will return to tradition. There will be no proper victory or defeat. Demons and humans will have to face off until the day one side has beenpletely wiped out.¡± The reason why the humans are acknowledging the Demon Lord Army¡¯s presence on the continent is, on the surface, because of the mask we are wearing as the Habsburg Empire. There were still people who weren¡¯t aware of this. ¡°Guaranteeing victory when we are in an extremely precarious situation. And calling someone a coward for considering the chance of defeat¡­¡­.¡± I smirked. ¡°It is understandable why the Crescent Alliance has failed until now. With Demon Lords like you asmanders, losing winnable battles is not surprising.¡± ¡°W-What did you say¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I stated that fools that cannot face reality are unnecessary in the new Demon Lord Army.¡± Valefor became speechless because of my overly aggressive taunt. I paid him no mind as I turned my attention to the crowd. ¡°What is an earthly paradise for demonkind? Everyone has differing opinions when ites to this. There are those who, like the ins Faction, believe that a nation for and of demonkind is the answer.¡± I nced over at the ins Faction before slowly turning away. ¡°There is also a fair number of you who believe that fully subduing the humans is impossible. Therefore, you believe thatpromising with the humans and securingnd for demonkind is the most realistic answer.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Or perhaps, there might even be those who believe that simply preserving thend we possess is the best we can do.¡± I was referring to the ins Faction, the Mountain Faction, and the Neutral Faction in that order. ¡°I do not believe that any of these beliefs are more correct than the others. Only someone with an intellect that far surpasses my own could answer this. However, no matter which side you decide to support, it bes clear that doing so while wearing the mask of the Habsburg Empire is essential.¡± That¡¯s right. All of the factions have to use the Empire¡¯s name. ¡°The ins Faction requires a just cause to conquer the humans. If they do so with only the name of the Demon Lord Army, then the humans would unite too strongly. However, if the Empire¡¯s name is put forward, then it bes possible to force a division between the humans. From a strategic standpoint, the Habsburg Empire¡¯s name is essential.¡± With this, the Demon Lords of the ins Faction understood. ¡°The Mountain Faction requires a cause topromise with the humans. Negotiating with the humans will be drastically easier if done through the Empire and not as the Demon Lord Army. The Habsburg Empire¡¯s name is necessary from a political standpoint.¡± With this, the Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction understood. ¡°Thus, by having both factions be a part of the same Empire, not only will we no longer oppose one another, but we can institutionally create a rtionship where both sides asionally work together. In this regard, the Habsburg Empire bes an incredibly useful tool for the Neutral Faction.¡± With this, the Demon Lords of the Neutral Faction understood. I am standing here now after having convinced each of these groups beforehand. ¡°Even if the aspirations in our hearts differ, we can still work together. There is no space for the empty pride of Demon Lords here. Only the most level-headed and definite mindsets are allowed. Do you understand, Valefor?¡± I returned my gaze to Valefor. ¡°We are all working desperately to create a society for demonkind. This is the pride of rulers. This is our duty as rulers. Abstract ideas can be thrown to the dogs.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The only group that is now interfering with this dream of the ideal demon society is the independent Demon Lords. I smiled coldly. ¡°If, despite all this, you still wish to pursue this pride of yours, then very well. You may do so as much as you desire. However, know that by doing so, you will be turning every faction against you. The Demon Lord Army no longer has any space left for dreamers.¡± Valefor clenched his jaw, but he didn¡¯t respond. This wasn¡¯t surprising if you consider how Baal and Agares met their ends. I nodded and turned to face Emperor Rudolf. ¡°Please announce the ranks.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I almost forgot to upload this chapter today. Thankfully, I remembered before going to bed. I¡¯m like in limbo at work now. Not too much work, so no more overtime, but now I¡¯m worried I¡¯ll get a huge pile of work all at once this week. I¡¯ll just hope for the best. Uh, nothing to really say about this chapter, so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next one. Chapter 340: Brave New World (3) Chapter 340: Brave New World (3) The Emperor gave a nod from his golden throne. ¡°I am well aware of how much dire loyalty you have all disyed for the sake of rebuilding and preserving the Empire. There are those of you who have contributed considerablypared to others. Thus, I intend on bestowing these individuals with the appropriate titles.¡± His body movement was natural like that of a human, but if you looked carefully, you would notice the simplicity of his facial expression. However, this could be overlooked as him simply being disciplined in managing his facial expressions as the Emperor. Rudolf von Habsburg was a sad human being. Alchemists have been applying all sorts of regents on his body every day in order to prevent his guts and flesh from rotting. A strongyer of perfume was also applied to subdue the scent from the regents. Peoplein about how they never feel alive, but I wonder how Rudolfpared to them. He wasn¡¯t dead even though he was dead. Having an undignified death was far worse than having an undignified life. I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle under my breath. Was this notedic? He went as far as to kill his kin and rape his sisters for the sake of taking the throne, and he finally has. ¡°Barbatos.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°I present you the Crown of Bohemia.¡± Several of the Demon Lords gasped. There were four ruling positions within the Habsburg Empire. However, two of them were attached to the Emperor like essories, so the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Pannonia were the only two kingdoms subjected to the Empire. This meant that the ruler of Bohemia was the second highest position within the Empire. The Emperor continued once Barbatos got down on one knee. ¡°In addition, I appoint you as the archduke of Austerlitz and as the permanent deputy general of the Empire. Not only does the ruler of Bohemia have the task of handling state affairs in my stead, but you also have the honor of being able to use the honorable title of Caesar. The people will refer to you as Caesar Barbatos.¡± ¡°I am honored.¡± Barbatos gave a curt response. She received a crown and a sword from the Emperor. Barbatos then got up and turned around to face the crowd. A smile that almost resembled a smirk pulled up the corners of her mouth. It was at this moment that the dazed, independent Demon Lords came to a realization. They realized that bing a part of the Empire was nothing more than a justification. The person they had to obey wasn¡¯t the puppet emperor¡ªbut the girl who, for the first time ever in history, had be the unprecedented ruler of both demons and humans. Barbatos returned to her position at the Emperor¡¯s side. The Emperor announced the next individual. ¡°Marbas.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± Marbas, who had white patches of hair, bowed courteously. Although there wasn¡¯t even a speck of respect in his voice, his body gesture was so graceful that it almost looked like Marbas genuinely obeyed the Emperor. ¡°I bestow upon your noble self the Crown of Pannonia.¡± ¡°I will do my utmost to not bring shame to your decision.¡± The atmosphere within the room became more chaotic the moment another ruling position was given. Marbas appeared unfazed by this atmosphere as he bowed his head further. ¡°I will always treat the Ruler of Pannonia as my sworn father. In private, I will refer to you as my stepfather, and in public, you will be treated as an elder of the imperial family. You have the right to use the title of Sebastokrator.¡± Any of the Demon Lords who were well-versed in the official positions of the human world were most likely inplete shock now. Barbatos obtained power as the Emperor¡¯s general while Marbas was given the most honorable title by being epted as the Emperor¡¯s father. In the Empire, the position of Caesar was one level lower than Sebastokrator. The ins Faction and the Neutral Faction had pleasantly taken their share of rights. ¡°The people of the Empire will now praise you as Sebastokrator Marbas.¡± ¡°I am honored.¡± Marbas courteously stood back up. Barbatos stood at the Emperor¡¯s right while Marbas stood at his left. Everyone knew who was going to be called next. ¡°Paimon.¡± ¡°Paimon answers the Emperor¡¯s call.¡± Paimon walked forward to the center of the hall where she courteously lifted the ends of her elegant red skirt. Compared to thest two Demon Lords, there were no ws in Paimon¡¯s tone or demeanor. However, it strangely felt like she was epting an invitation to a masquerade instead of answering the Emperor¡¯s call. ¡°I bestow upon you the Duchy of Luxembourg and I shall elevate Luxembourg to that of a grand duchy. Additionally, the Electoral Ptinate will be incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.¡± ¡°I am honored. I shall support Your Excellency above while protecting the people below.¡± ¡°Mm. Grand Duke Paimon, you will be given the task of managing the imperial pce. You have the honorable right to use the title of Parakoimomenos.¡± Roles were given one by one. Ruler of Bohemia, Emperor¡¯s Deputy General, Barbatos of the ins Faction. Ruler of Pannonia, Emperor¡¯s Stepfather, Marbas of the Neutral Faction. Grand Duke of Luxembourg, High Chambein of the Empire, Paimon of the Mountain Faction. Duke of Moravia, Naval Commander of the Empire, Independent Gamigin. Elector of Saxony, Zepar of the ins Faction. Elector of Mainz, Sitri of the Mountain Faction. Elector of Cologne, Independent Vassago. A total of seven people. As long as the Emperor remains a puppet, these individuals are the actual ones who have control over the Empire. These individuals were also given the right to elect the next emperor. In other words, their titles as electors. These seven electors had the power to choose the next emperor. If you look at the groupposition, then the ins Faction has 2 votes, the Mountain Faction has 2 votes, the Neutral Faction has 1 vote, and the independent Demon Lords have 2 votes. At a nce, this might seem quite bnced¡­¡­but that wasn¡¯t the case. Vassago is like an old, stingy man that acts like a lone wolf, so he may be a part of the ¡°independent¡± group, but he doesn¡¯t actually represent any of the Demon Lords. He could switch sides whenever he wanted. In other words, the independent Demon Lords who don¡¯t have any actual power wouldn¡¯t be appealing to Vassago. If anything, he¡¯d probably team up with the ins Faction or the Neutral Faction. Contrary to what one might think, Vassago is actually hostile to the independent Demon Lords. Therefore¡­¡­the Demon Lords that have grouped into factions have a total of 6 votes out of 7. It should be fine to emphasize it here once again. The era has changed. The age where the independent Baal and the independent Agares would puppeteer the Demon Lord Army was over. No matter how anyone looked at this, the individuals leading this new era were the faction leaders: Barbatos, Marbas, and Paimon. Despite this, the atmosphere within the hall was surprisingly peaceful. The independent Demon Lords seemed to believe that this much was still fair. The Demon Lords with no affiliations were feeling relieved by the immediate fairness they could see on the surface. Did they think it was okay since Gamigin had 1 vote? How foolish¡­¡­. ¡°Haagenti, I ennoble you as Duke of Knyphausen.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you very much.¡± ¡°Alloces, I ennoble you as Duke of Martinice.¡± ¡°I am honored.¡± One by one, Demon Lords came forward and knelt before the Emperor after being called. These individuals most likely knew that they weren¡¯t actually kneeling before the Emperor but the three faction leaders standing around him. If you watched carefully, you¡¯d notice something interesting. The Demon Lords that belonged to the ins Faction would bow slightly to Barbatos while the Mountain Faction Demon Lords would bow slightly to Paimon. On the other hand, the independent Demon Lords would just bow awkwardly with no clear direction. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A strange silence would fill the hall every time a Demon Lord was called forward. They would all sneak a nce at me with a look of confusion. I ignored their gazes as I casually watched the ceremony. That¡¯s right. My name hadn¡¯t been called yet. Dozens of Demon Lords had turned to look at me the moment Brother Zepar was appointed as an elector. Brother Zepar was definitely Barbatos¡¯ right-hand man, but the person who contributed the most to the ins Faction as ofte¡­¡­was undeniably me. I was also the one who got our Empire acknowledged diplomatically by the other nations of the continent. There was probably no one better to be appointed as an elector. Despite this, my name hadn¡¯t been called yet¡­¡­. As the number of Demon Lords that had been called out increased and the number of remaining Demon Lords diminished, the number of people staring at me increased. No one spoke up to point out this strange situation. Finally. All of the Demon Lords were ennobled and only I remained. The Emperor spoke up from within this curtain of silence. ¡°There is one individual here who not only protected the Empire, but dedicated themself to the peace between humans and demons. I wished to offer them my greatest praise and reward them handsomely, but this individual modestly refused to be rewarded graciously. ¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I straightened my back and stepped forward. I could feel everyone¡¯s gaze focus on me. There were all sorts of emotions behind these gazes. Gleeful, praising, doubtful, hateful, and jealous. All of these emotions wrapped around me like a cape. I will most likely never be able to remove this cape. ¡°I hereby appoint you as the Attorney General of the Empire.¡± ¡°I will devote my body and soul for the sake of all living beings within the Empire.¡± Just like that, it was over. Several of the Demon Lords started to stir because of the shortness of the exchange. I turned around and slowly looked around the hall. Barbatos, Marbas, Paimon, Gamigin, Brother Zepar, Sitri, and Vassago, after meeting the eyes of each of them, I looked down. Barbatos is my ally. If you consider the fact that her affection is at 50, it should thus be fine to say that half of her 1 vote belongs to me. 0.5. Marbas¡¯ affection towards me is also almost at 50. Furthermore, we have a political alliance, so half of his 1 point naturally belongs to me as well. 1. Gamigin¡¯s affection is at 50, and her obsession over me goes beyond her affection points because of her disgusting possessiveness. In any case, half of her vote belongs to me. 1.5. Brother Zepar obeys Barbatos. He is quite literally her subordinate, so, like Barbatos, half of his vote also belongs to me. 2. There¡¯s no reason to even mention Sitri. 3. Paimon¡¯s affection towards me has exceeded 50 and, in truth, she can only do what I say now. This will further be the case as time goes on. Therefore, her entire vote belongs to me. Shees together with Sitri like a package deal. 4. ¡ª4 votes out of the 7. More than half of the voting rights were in my hands. This was the true picture behind today¡¯s ceremony. A new era has begun. An era that¡¯s controlled by three Demon Lords and three factions, but, underneath the surface, an era where everything is controlled by a Demon Lord who was once ranked 71. By me, Dantalian. It was none other than me who had started this era. The Empire will maintain its stance as being an alliance between demons and humans, and, with this badge, the Empire will be able to get involved in matters rted to the continent under the name of demons or humans. I am certain that the Habsburg Empire will have a hold over the future events of this continent. I am the one controlling that Empire. However, not from the front, but from the back. I will move in the shadows. Therefore, as the Duke of Custos and the Count Ptine of the Empire, the position that befits the former Rank 71 Demon Lord is not the front or the middle, but the very end. I have always been thest individual and I will always remain as thest individual. I respectfully bowed toward the Demon Lords. p, I heard someone apud. It was probably Barbatos. The other Demon Lords soon followed suit as they pped as well. I smiled as I listened to the apuse. I am the Empire. *** Author¡¯s Afterword This took longer than usual because I took references from the official posts and titles of Byzantine-Rome and the Holy Roman Empire. In the case of Byzantine-Rome, they use both Latin and Greek, so it swaps around often. I can only apologize for mycking research. (I should have separated feminine nouns, but due to mypleteck of knowledge in Latin, there are cases where I used the male versions.) Titles will be revised in the future. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This also took me a bit to trante because of the titles. Trying to find Byzantine-Rome titles through the Korean source wasn¡¯t as simple as I thought it¡¯d be. I¡¯m not sure if the author had already revised the titles in this chapter, or if they revised them in future chapters. I guess I¡¯ll just have to wait and see. Also, I kept saying the ¡®new Demon Lord Army¡¯, but it turns out it was actually a reference to the Holy Roman Empire, so I¡¯ll be changing it to Holy Demon Lord Army. As an additional note, this entire week has been pretty nice for me and I actually got to spend an entire day just tranting DD chapters while at work, so the next chapter will probablye out much sooner. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 341: In the Depths of the Empire (1) Chapter 341: In the Depths of the Empire (1) ¡°Enemy forces are gathering at Transylvania.¡± ¡°Commander, there have been sightings of the royal guards.¡± ¡°We do not have an urate number, but we believe they have at least 17,000 troops.¡± Military barracks. Four Demon Lords and about fifteen demon officers were standing around a table. The individual with the highest position among them muttered to himself. ¡°Knights on both sides¡­¡­. Is it the disciples of red and white?¡± Demon Lord Marbas¡¯ prudent and old gaze slowly scanned over a map. A Neutral Faction Demon Lord standing next to him shrugged their shoulders. ¡°They are known as one of the strongest knight orders on the continent. Now that Brittany¡¯s Rose has fallen, they can definitely be referred to as the greatest now.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± His light grey eyes didn¡¯t disy any emotions, but they were constantly staring at something. The Neutral Faction Demon Lords would feel as if they entered a tranquil forest whenever they made eye contact with Marbas. Not emotional, but still clear. Tranquility can asionally be more intense than passion. These Demon Lords became aware of this fact many times thanks to Marbas. It was probably because of this that Demon Lords gathered to the Neutral Faction. It wasn¡¯t only because they agreed with the Neutral Faction¡¯s cause. They were also moved by Marbas¡¯ character which had gone through several eras and remained unwavering¡­¡­. Before he knew it, the Demon Lord noticed that Marbas was staring right at him. ¡°Purson, is there something you wish to ask me?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Darn it, the Neutral Faction Demon Lord scolded himself in his mind. He identally stared at Marbas¡¯ face too much. Purson quickly tried to think of an excuse, but soon decided to just answer honestly. ¡°I could not help but feel admiration because of how calm you appeared, Commander.¡± ¡°As you mentioned earlier, have we not already broken the stem of Brittany¡¯s Rose?¡± ¡°That was when the entire Demon Lord Army was moving together. Compared to that, we are currently out on the frontline on our own.¡± The Habsburg Empire was currently having a border dispute with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The reason was the 8th Crescent Alliance. Even after having captured the Habsburg Empire, the Neutral Faction turned their path and invaded the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Their invasion wasn¡¯t incredibly fruitful, but they managed to capture five ptinates. Marbas invaded the Commonwealth for an entirely political reason. For starters, he couldn¡¯t let the ins Faction have all the ¡®outstanding roles¡¯. It wouldn¡¯t be exactly wrong to say that the 8th Crescent Alliance was the ins Faction¡¯s solo stage. To be more precise, it was a stage y directed, cast, and performed by Dantalian. There was a risk that this might cause the ins Faction to gain too much poprity within the demon world. There was a good chance that the people of the demon world would criticize the other groups. What were the other factions doing when the ins Faction was working hard and shedding tears and blood on their own? They may be called the Neutral Faction, but they must actually be a group of opportunists that only care about their own personal gains and safety. Marbas invaded the Commonwealth to avoid these usations. In the end, Marbas made the right choice. The ins Faction was defeated after they forcefully tried to carry out a pursuit and ended up getting ambushed by Consul Elizabeth. On the other hand, the Neutral Faction was able to acquire some small gains from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The demons who got excited over justifications and fighting for a cause praised the ins Faction, but those with a more realistic point of view praised Marbas¡¯ prudence. ¨C The ins Faction¡¯s ideal is right and demons should naturally support them. ¨C However, when discussing the general ideal of the people, we must first have our feet nted firmly on the earth. The Neutral Faction has shown us a model example of what it means to blend reality with ideals. This was the general opinion of the intellectuals in the demon world. There were even those among them who criticized the ins Faction, saying that they could have aplished much more if they had helped the Neutral Faction invade the Commonwealth. Although they ended up having a border dispute with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, this was a satisfying result from the Neutral Faction¡¯s perspective. The members gave their leader the utmost trust and support. Marbas stroked his shortly-trimmed beard. ¡°I personally think that it would be fine for us to lose here if necessary.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± The Demon Lord unintentionally raised his voice in surprise. That wasn¡¯t all. The remaining Neutral Faction Demon Lords who were listening to the conversation also opened their eyes wide. ¡°What are you saying, Commander? Are you saying we should give up on thend we were finally able to obtain after several years?¡± ¡°I fully understand your reluctance. However, have you already forgotten?¡± Marbas nced around at the others. ¡°Acquiring a cause was our only objective in this war. It has by no means ever been this small portion ofnd. We have already achieved our original goal.¡± ¡°But¡­¡­cause also originates from an oue. Would the denizens of the demon world not criticize us if we lose thisnd now?¡± The other Demon Lords nodded in agreement. However, Marbas slowly shook his head. ¡°It is the opposite. The people of the demon world will criticize the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± The Demon Lord felt speechless, but he couldn¡¯t help but ask back again. ¡°Why is that? I wish to hear your farsighted view, Commander.¡± ¡°Did you not point it out earlier? The past and present situations are different.¡± Marbas removed his monocle and wiped it with a handkerchief. He continued speaking matter-of-factly as he cleaned his monocle. ¡°We were an independent legion in the past. Therefore, our achievement of securing thisnd belongs solely to the Neutral Faction and not the Crescent Alliance as a whole. Yet, how is the situation now? We have now be members of the great Habsburg Empire.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡± The Demon Lords promptly figured out what Marbas was trying to say. ¡°I see. So, even if we lose thisnd, it would not be our fault! Rather, it would be the responsibility of the central forces of the Habsburg Empire that sat idly by without sending any reinforcements!¡± ¡°To be precise, it will be the responsibility of the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction.¡± Marbas put his monocle back on. ¡°Not only were they jealous of the Neutral Faction¡¯s difficult aplishment, but they did not send any reinforcement whatsoever. Their factional disputes must have blinded them to their original cause. This is what the public will assume.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡­ Victory in defeat, is it¡­¡­?¡± The Demon Lords didn¡¯t hold back their admiration. After listening to Marbas¡¯ exnation, they started to see the map spread out on the table in front of them differently. Until now, they had been staring at the map and trying to think of a way to stop the Commonwealth from rallying too much. Now their train of thought was different. What could they do to make it appear like they fought well, but ultimately failed due to ack of manpower? Their goal had changedpletely. ¡°¡­¡­Instead of going for an overall siege, we should dispatch small units and harass the Commonwealth¡¯s army insistently.¡± ¡°Hm. We should also evacuate the demons who are currently residing here.¡± ¡°Indeed, indeed¡­¡­. Doing so will leave a strong impression that we did our best to fight for the people.¡± A peculiar mood began to spread through the Demon Lords. Their thought process went from trying to endure a war that they had little chance of winning, to deliberately losing the war to obtain a strategic victory. Moreover,pared to their former goal, they had an almost definite chance of achieving theirtter goal. ¡°Thisnd is not very fertile anyway. It pales inparison to the political gains we can potentially gain.¡± ¡°I am surprised, Commander. Why did you wait until now to tell us this?¡± The Demon Lords turned to look at Marbas with slightly sad eyes. ¡°We would have made all sorts of preparations by now if you told us beforehand.¡± Marbas would asionally keep his thoughts to himself at times. It was in these moments that the Demon Lords who held Marbas in high regard couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed. Marbas smiled for the first time since the meeting had started. ¡°That is because this n will fail.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Eh?¡± Marbas let out a low chuckle. Everyone was perplexed because it sounded like Marbas genuinely found this to be amusing. Dering that a n will fail and thenughing afterward would confuse anyone. ¡°If this n seeds, then our Neutral Faction would gain an opportunity to win over the public opinion of the demon world. This will lower the poprity of the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction. It would be a chance for us to decide the direction of the Empire.¡± ¡°Yes, that would indeed happen¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But that is only if no one on their side is able to see through our n.¡± Marbas gave a light wink. This sort of yful disy surprisingly suited Marbas¡¯ serious face. ¡°Our Empire has an individual who has quite the splendid sense of smell. It would be impossible for this individual to not pick up this ¡®scent¡¯. They will scheme and do whatever they can to make sure we win.¡± ¡°Commander¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lord sounded almost baffled as he spoke back. ¡°Even we were unable to figure out your intent despite being on the frontline with you. Rather, we have not actually done anything yet because you did not reveal anything to us, Commander. Who could possibly see through a n that was never thought out or executed?¡± ¡°There will be people in the world who have an almost instinctual sense of smell, Purson.¡± Marbas still seemed pleased. ¡°They do not look at war from an angle of winning or losing, but they instead look at it from a purely political perspective. Whether it was deliberate or not, there are people who are only capable of seeing from this perspective. Am I not also a prime example of this?¡± ¡°But¡­¡­.¡± It was at that moment that a messenger entered the barracks. The Demon Lords all turned to look at the messenger. The messenger received the gazes which they were still ufortable with as they got down on their knee. ¡°Your Excellency, I have a report.¡± ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°An envoy has been sent from the capital. They are currently waiting to have an audience with Your Excellency.¡± Marbas nodded. ¡°Tell them to enter.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Understood.¡± The messenger hesitated for a moment before responding. Normally, people would inquire about who had sent the envoy and for what purpose they were here. The messenger had practiced answering these questions dozens of times because of this. However, the envoy was allowed in so easily that they could only be surprised. Marbas let out a chuckle once the messenger left. ¡°Speak of the devil.¡± ¡°Did the capital send an envoy because they figured out the Commander¡¯s n?¡± Marbas didn¡¯t answer. It was a silent affirmation. The other Demon Lords were still half in doubt. Regardless of what the people around him thought, Marbas waited casually for his guest to arrive. Shortly after, an individual pushed aside the entrance curtain and entered the barracks. The man with a slightly bent back nced around the room before turning to face Marbas. Grasping the situation before anything else had probably be instinctual for him. Be it now or before, he was always the same. Marbas smiled as he saw the man¡¯s unchanging habit before proceeding to give him a warm wee. ¡°What brings you to this remote frontier, Attorney General?¡± ¡°Frontier? Don¡¯t be absurd.¡± The dark man, Dantalian, smiled brightly as he approached. ¡°I am currently visiting the center of the Empire.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not too much to say. I¡¯m pretty much going through work as usual without too much stress now. I unno how long this willst for, but I¡¯ll enjoy it while I can. I still have another chapter I can release a bit faster than usual, but I¡¯m wondering if I should save it for when I actually do get busy to the point of being unable to work on DD. This weekend is Lunar New Years and I might have to visit rtives, so I guess I might end up just using it then¡­ Eh, I¡¯ll figure it out. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 342: In the Depths of the Empire (2) Chapter 342: In the Depths of the Empire (2) ¡°Center of the Empire, is it?¡± Marbas smiled bitterly. Was that simply rhetoric or was he implying that he knew of their n? If that was what he was implying, then how much did he know¡­¡­? Marbas stared straight into Dantalian¡¯s eyes. ¡°The enemy has rallied arge army. The king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is personallymanding his troops. This will be a difficult fight for us without reinforcements.¡± ¡°No matter how many troops they gather, how could they possibly defeat Your Highness?¡± His eyes which were as dark as wells glimmered happily. It was because of those eyes. Dantalian¡¯s eyes partially resembled that of a weak herbivore. It felt like he would immediately surrender if someone were to charge at him right this moment. This was why people would unknowingly begin to look down on Dantalian while dealing with him. However, if you lower your guard and go for the attack, then you will receive a relentless counterattack. He¡¯ll prevent you from using any weapons and surround you on all sides. By the time youe to your senses, your limbs will have already been bound. He was like a spider. A venomous spider that misleads hunters¡­¡­. Dantalian was one of two options. He either had an innate camouging ability, or he was a prodigal actor that could even control his facial expressions freely. Either way, he was dangerous. ¡°No matter how hard I try, it would be impossible for me to handle an army with tens of thousands of soldiers.¡± ¡°I heard that the wisest course of action is to win without fighting. I believe that the Imperial Father is the best tactician in the Demon Lord Army.¡± So he knows¡­¡­. Marbas adjusted his monocle. Dantalian was more concerned about him than he was the massive army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was basically dering that he had seen through Marbas¡¯ intent. ¡°I apologize, but could the rest of you leave? There is something I wish to discuss with Dantalian.¡± Marbas sent the other Demon Lords and officers outside. Most of the Neutral Faction Demon Lords had a favorable opinion of Dantalian, so they didn¡¯t mind leaving their respectedmander with him. The barracks became quiet. Marbas got straight to the point once the spectators were gone. ¡°When did you notice?¡± ¡°Your Highness did not immediately ask for reinforcements even though the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was personally rallying his troops. I concluded that you had no desire to win this war.¡± Dantalian immediately answered. ¡°If what you want is defeat instead of victory¡­¡­then what could you gain by losing? It was not very hard to piece the puzzle together by working in reverse.¡± ¡°It really does sound simple if you put it like that.¡± Marbas felt like he had be a child. However, the other party thought differently. Dantalian spoke in a serious tone. ¡°Your Highness knew that I would see through your n. Is that not why you did not act upon your n? We can consider this a draw since both sides were able to figure each other out.¡± ¡°A draw, is it¡­¡­?¡± In other words, they were evenly matched. Although people would normally be offended if they were told they were on the same level as someone else, Marbas strangely felt pleased. ¡°I personally enjoy having political battles like this with Your Highness.¡± Dantalian now had a grin on his face. ¡°To be honest, ourrades do not provide me with much stimtion. They are rather boring people.¡± ¡°Hah. Are you treating the management of the Empire as some sort of recreation?¡± ¡°Do you not think that there are too many people in the world who confuse seriousness with tedium?¡± Dantalian spoke in a low tone as if he were whispering a secret. Marbas let out augh. ¡°You are right. A Demon Lord should be able to distinguish the two.¡± ¡°Very much so.¡± ¡°But, Dantalian, I cannot help but have a question. This war must be won in order to stop my n, which means reinforcements are essential. Despite this, you came here by yourself.¡± What are you nning, Marbas¡¯ gaze posed this question to Dantalian. ¡°What are you saying, O lofty Demon Lord? Your reinforcements have already arrived.¡± ¡°Oh? Are you saying that you alone are enough?¡± Even this arrogant statement was entertaining for Marbas. ¡°Please leave it to me. The massive army of thirty thousand soldiers from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth will retreat without being able to capture even a single fortress.¡± Two months had passed since the ranking between Demon Lords was re-established at the pce. The Demon Lord before him had most definitely taken hold of the Empire within that short amount of time. It might be entertaining to watch his skills from the side as well, Marbas thought to himself as he nodded. ¡°Very well, then. What do you need?¡± Dantalian spread his arms out as if he were performing. He then lowered his back as he spoke. ¡°Every single soldier in the Neutral Faction.¡± Two dayster, the Neutral Faction¡¯s army which consisted of 15,000 troops started their march. The king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth promptly led his troops out as if he had been waiting for this moment. The two armies arrived at a vast, open field as if they had promised to do so beforehand. Putting the two armies together, this was going to be a sh of almost 40,000 soldiers. The people of the continent, who were hoping that peace might finallye to the continent, were now trembling with unease again. The people of the continent worried for their own safety as their attention focused on Whist ins. * * * The two armies faced each other on the vast ins. The sight of tens of thousands of soldiers lined up on an expansive field is always a sight to behold. Even more so when it¡¯s right before they sh. Unease, nervousness, excitement, and fear¡­¡­all of these emotions mixed together into a denseyer of fog and settled over the earth. Mostmanders are unable to endure this pressure. It isn¡¯t because they¡¯re cowards. It¡¯s because they know that they can¡¯t control the numerous soldiers before them once the battle starts. Orcs that smell blood will get excited and rampage on their own, the goblins will charge by themselves with the sight of human flesh before them, and Demon Lords will end up getting worked up as well since these emotions are shared with them. Demon Lord armies tend to be a blob of chaos if they don¡¯t have years of experience. An overwhelming sense of excitement that you could get lost in. It was because of this that Demon Lords would often lose their rationality and charge forward. However, the Neutral Faction currently had a firm lineup. Even though a fair amount of time had passed since everyone had gotten in position, not a single Demon Lord suggested to Marbas that they shouldmence their attack. The units at the front were strictly maintaining their formations. A small number of young Demon Lords were twitching with anticipation because of their bloodlust, but that was it. Along with Marbas, the Neutral Faction Demon Lords were all staring at the enemy forces across the ins with calm eyes. They would asionally joke around to lighten the mood. They were like veteran generals leading elite soldiers. They didn¡¯t have prominent generals like the ins Faction, but this side disyed a model example of how an army should be. A normal army couldn¡¯t possiblypare to them. However, other than being far superior to the average army, they didn¡¯t have much else. In the game, Marbas would lead his army against Elizabeth but lose his head to the hero after they are set out in a do-or-die squad¡­¡­. ¡°Everyone is in position. What do you intend to do now, Dantalian?¡± Marbas looked incredibly at ease. It was as if he were saying that no matter what happened from this point forth, it wasn¡¯t his responsibility but mine. ¡°Please prepare the white g.¡± ¡°Are you nning to negotiate before the battle has even begun?¡± ¡°I will negotiate directly with the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.¡± I brought only three cavalry knights with me to the center of the ins. One of the knights was holding a white g that symbolized that we were envoys. Another knight was holding a g with a red eagle which represented the imperial family of the Habsburg Empire. Thest knight was holding a g that represented Demon Lord Dantalian. We arrived at the exact area between the two armies. Shortly after, a group of cavalrymen was sent out from the Commonwealth¡¯s side. They were carrying a red and white g that represented the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. I responded to their approach by directing my horse to them. The two parties met under the watchful eyes of 40,000 soldiers. ¡°Are you here to announce your surrender, Demon Lord?¡± Stephen Bathory. The Giant of the East. The greatest ruler throughout the entire history of the Commonwealth. The man with arge frame stroked his beard. The great king wearing a golden cape was sitting upright in a way that made him appear as if he were fused together with his horse. His solemn voice resonated like small horse hooves in my ears. He must be twice my height, I thought to myself as I smiled. ¡°O Great King, there is no surrender.¡± ¡°There will only be war, then. Any courtesy beyond this is unnecessary on a battlefield.¡± ¡°Should a king not tread the path between two extremes?¡± Great King Bathory let out a low chuckle. ¡°The path between two extremes is nothing more than a term that makes a result with no fruition sound nice. I came here with an elite army of 50,000 strong. Is there a price that corresponds to this?¡± ¡°Pardon me, but I do not believe that you came here expecting to win.¡± The Great King furrowed his brows with an unpleasant look. ¡°I did not hear that a Demon Lord could be eloquent.¡± ¡°You did not get the approval of your national council beforeing out on this military expedition. This deration of war was not done as the king of the Commonwealth, but simply under your own name.¡± Arge amount of funding is required to move an army, and that funding has to be covered by taxes. However, a national council that consists of nobles wouldn¡¯t pay those taxes with no strings attached. The nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had agreed to pay a special war tax for their king. However, they didn¡¯t want him to go to war with their names on his shoulders. They wanted the king to take responsibility if a war were to ur. Despite agreeing to the necessity of war, they refused to listen to their people¡¯s grudges. Well, Demon Lords would think, ¡°Isn¡¯t a deration of war from the king the same thing as having received one from their nation itself?¡±, but it isn¡¯t that simple in the world of politics within the human world. ¡°O Great Bathory, your current situation must not be particrly pleasant.¡± The Great King stared down at me with cold eyes. ¡°Get to the point, Demon Lord.¡± ¡°You most likely never expected our Empire to have its national standing guaranteed back when you cooperated with Consul Elizabeth. That is why you cooperated with the Consul to fight back against the Crescent Alliance.¡± However, the situation was flipped over. Currently, the only nations hostile to the Empire were the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Habsburg Republic. The Great King Bathory must be feeling uneasy as his nation bes gradually isted. ¡°Your goal is to go to war with us a bit before ending it with some negotiations¡­¡­. In other words, in order to reconcile with us.¡± ¡°With what proof are you making these assumptions about my intentions?¡± ¡°You did not request reinforcements from any other nation.¡± If Great King Bathory truly did intend to have a decisive battle with the Demon Lord Army, then he would¡¯ve advertised this war as a war against the evil Demon Lords. However, simr to how Marbas didn¡¯t ask for reinforcements, Great King Bathory didn¡¯t put forward his cause to the other nations around him. He was simply leading his soldiers as the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This meant that he didn¡¯t want to wreak national havoc and that he had no desire to muddy the current diplomatic situation throughout the continent. Great King Bathory was aiming for a treaty and not a decisive victory. There¡¯s a simple reason why he would want to reconcile with us. ¡°You wish to slowly distance yourself from the Republic.¡± To rece his rotting rope with a new one. Great King Bathory let out a low chuckle. ¡°Let us say that you are right and I want an armistice. Would a battle not be even more necessary? It is impossible to establish an armistice without any sort of cause. I also have to preserve my dignity.¡± As expected of the Great King of a nation, he understood quickly. In other words, he was saying that he wanted an armistice. However, establishing one after having lost some of hisnd would make others look down on him as a weak ruler, so an appropriate amount of war was necessary. War is inevitable if he can¡¯t maintain his dignity to a degree. I respectfully bowed my head. ¡°There is a way for us to be friends without shedding even a single drop of blood, O Great King.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry about thete update. I finished this a while ago, but I got busy. I¡¯m suddenly nning for a Japan trip this June, so I got sidetracked doing all that. I¡¯ll upload the next chapter a lot sooner than usual to make up for this dy. But yeah, Lunar New Year¡¯s happened. I hope you guys had a good holiday if you celebrate it. In any case, I¡¯ll see you all in the next chapter soon. Chapter 343: In the Depths of the Empire (3) Chapter 343: In the Depths of the Empire (3) ¡°Without shedding a single drop of blood? That sounds too sweet to be true.¡± ¡°Great King, life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but aedy in long-shot.¡± Charlie Chaplin, who had originally said this quote, and a great dictator didn¡¯t exist in this world. I have the copyright here. Great King Bathory paused for a second as he brought his brows together. It seemed like he was taking a moment to mull over my words. ¡°There is a side of wisdom to these words. Are you saying that everything should be seen from a distance?¡± ¡°You must be able to give up something for the sake of looking from a distance. Do you not agree?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± The corners of Great King Bathory¡¯s mouth lifted up a bit. ¡°Those who give up on the seriousness of life canugh at that seriousness. Those who give up on fighting can refer to fights where the blood of others is shed as nothing more than pointless struggles. Watchdog of the Empire! Those who abandon these things do not be heavier, they be lighter!¡± The giant continued and shouted. ¡°Kings have heavy burdens. This is only natural. The lives of ten million people and 600 years of our country¡¯s history are on my shoulders. Keep this weight in mind.¡± ¡°O Great Bathory, no one is as well-versed in that weight as I.¡± I chuckled. ¡°There are two paths between us. One path is where both sides do not abandon anything. By starting at both ends, our paths will eventually converge. In the end, both sides will refuse to move and be stuck in ce.¡± ¡°Do you think my army will not be victorious?¡± Great King Bathory growled like a brown bear. ¡°I will wipe your side out and reim mynd. Defeat is in your hands.¡± ¡°A full frontal battle, is it? That is also not a bad idea!¡± I stared straight into the other party¡¯s eyes. ¡°The farms and trees throughout the ins of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth will be burned to the ground. The children and horses that you are so proud of will fall one by one from starvation. Necromancers will spread gues, while skeletons and corpses will wander your grasnds!¡± Great King Bathory red at me intensely. This was the important part. I¡¯d gain nothing if I backed down now. I snickered coldly. ¡°Cannibals will cheer every night at abhorrent graveyards. Demons will turn tens of thousands of humans blind and start a festival where people kill one another. Do not expect your human morals from us, Stephen Bathory.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am Dantalian. The harbinger of gues that taunts the living. Please do not underestimate the weight of a Demon Lord¡¯s name, human ruler!¡± An intense silence flowed between us. Words eventually flowed out from the man¡¯s dark beard. ¡°What is the second path?¡± I calmed down my heart which was now beating intensely. All right. I¡¯ve passed the most dangerous hurdle. ¡°Both sides can back down at the same time.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you saying that we would both give up on thisnd?¡± Great King Bathory furrowed his brows. It looked like he was trying to figure out my intentions. ¡°Half of thend will be offered to the Temple of Ares and the other half will be offered to the Temple of Athena. Thisnd will be remembered as proof of our nations forming a treaty peacefully.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Great King¡¯s gaze became more focused. Ares represented the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Athena represented the Kingdom of Brittany. However, the Temple of Athena has been openly taking the side of the Habsburg Empire as ofte. In conclusion, we would be splitting thend equally. It was like a diversion tactic. Simr to how dirty money getsundered, thisnd¡¯s origin will get cleansed by the tool known as religion. ¡°Are you saying that we should gift those greedy priests with freend?¡± ¡°Temples prioritize saving face more than anything else. This would basically make them appear like they are stepping forward for the sake of peace between our nations, no, the entire continent. This will raise their noses with pride. You have the honor of choosing which priest to dispatch.¡± The King clicked his tongue. ¡°That is not a bad n, but there is a hole. Would this not indebt us to two different temples? I do not wish to feel indebted to them.¡± ¡°If anything, it will be the other way around.¡± ¡°The other way around?¡± I smiled. ¡°A short while ago, the Temple of Ares, the Temple of Poseidon, and the Temple of Hestia had condemned the Empire. Only three temples had done this out of the twelve. These temples must currently feel rather isted, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Great King Bathory let out a gasp. ¡°I see. So we would be giving them the opportunity to reconcile¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Moreover, on the surface, we are the ones offering thisnd to them.¡± There were three things that the temples could gain from this. They get to im that they had worked hard for the sake of continental peace, their rtionship with the other temples will naturally recover, and they also get morend, albeit nominally. They have absolutely no reason to refuse. ¡°Would this not be a good opportunity for you to get rid of your sizable debt with the priests?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Great King Bathory went into deep thought. ¡°Hoo.¡± He suddenly looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh. I unconsciously looked up as well. The sky was almost detestably clear. ¡°You are a terrifying individual.¡± The feeling of intense pressure that had been wrapped around Great King Bathory¡¯s entire body had abruptly settled down. Once his kingly charisma was gone, the person before me was no longer the great ruler of a nation. He was simply a middle-aged man on a horse. However, his ck eyes remained profoundly deep. It was a depth that was born from his innate intuition and countless experiences. The hardship of time was melted into his wrinkles. ¡°I was told by the little sister of the Emperor you serve that there is a venomous spider within the depths of the Empire¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Before I know it, I will find myself bound by a thick web and no longer be capable of moving¡­¡­. It appears that she was right.¡± So Elizabeth already formed a connection with Great King Bathory. She secretly coborated with the nations around her while she was trying to rebuild her nation that had been pushed to the brink of ruin. This was only possible because it was Elizabeth. Moreover, there was probably only one reason she was trying to work with the other nations: in order to surround me on all sides¡­¡­. I smiled bitterly. For real this time. ¡°If I am a venomous spider, then she is a dragon. She may have failed to ascend because she missed her opportunity, but that does not change that she is talented enough to unite the entire continent.¡± ¡°I am aware.¡± Bathory nodded without hesitation. This was surprising. A soft smile appeared on Bathory¡¯s lips as he spoke. ¡°I also tried to unite the continent when I was young. Youthful passion, as they say.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°However, Icked fortune and talent. The most I could do was manage the nation given to me. That is why I wanted to see it. The sight of someone conquering the entire continent. A blinding talent like that¡­¡­.¡± Was that the reason? In , the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would support the protagonist afterpleting a single quest. I thought it was simply because they were an allied nation, but it seems Stephen Bathory¡¯s personal desire also had a hand in it. ¡°You can call this a foolish wish. Demon Lord, do you understand? I simply wish for it to be proven. I want to know if the scenery that I dreamed of when I was younger is possible. I want to know that it is not impossible.¡± I don¡¯t understand, but that is probably your way of life. I will dly acknowledge your life. ¡°But is it fine for you to cooperate with me?¡± I asked half-jokingly. ¡°I am the individual who will stand in Consul Elizabeth¡¯s path. If you ept my suggestion, then that would ruin her n. You will be thwarting the person who has inherited your dream.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Great King Bathory scowled as he turned away. ¡°How could a girl who desires to be the ruler of the continent allow herself to be thwarted by someone like me? If this is enough to ruin her ns, then that is her limit. This is a matter she must resolve by herself.¡± I let out augh. ¡°I, Dantalian, am truly moved by your magnanimity. A boldness that fits a man with millions of lives and 600 years of history on his shoulders.¡± ¡°I hear that praise often.¡± Great King Bathory replied without even batting an eye. This was what it meant to be a man of great caliber. I had taken a liking to him. He was often described as a great ruler in the game, but I didn¡¯t think much of it at the time. After meeting him in person, he turned out to be a rather interesting old man. This man¡¯s arrogance and boldness made him unbearably charming. What¡¯s there to hide? I love boldness. Only the bold are able to truly bask in the beauty of life. Being able to see someone bask in the things that I cannot is always delightful. Only these people are worth tricking, betraying, and taunting. These were the type of people who made our lives more entertaining. Very well, then. Allow me to bestow upon you a surprise gift. I spoke in an almost singsong voice. ¡°O Great Bathory, I am aware that you used to have a little sister.¡± ¡°Indeed. Unfortunately, she departed this life when I was a young boy.¡± A sad expression appeared on Great King Bathory¡¯s face. In truth, when this man was younger, he and his little sister used to love one another. Not a physical love, but a mental one. The two of them most likely could only rely on each other for support within their strict pce lives. The beautiful princess passed away at the blossoming age of 15. Or at least, that is what the public believes. ¡°I know that she is alive.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The mood changed. The visage of an outgoing man had disappeared and was reced by a beast trying to protect what was theirs. The slight bit of goodwill that was in his eyes had instantly vanished without a trace. His gaze became so fierce that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he pounced at me and gouged my throat out. ¡°How?¡± ¡°The princess was afflicted with leprosy when she was little. An unfortunate urrence. The very fact that the princess had caught leprosy is enough to harm the image of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth¡¯s royal family. Thus, you faked your beloved sister¡¯s death and hid her away at a remote vi.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This was the single quest that won the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth over to the protagonist¡¯s side. ¡°She is still alive thanks to the handpicked court healers, but that does not change the fact that she has been living a painful and cursed life. This is a favor from me to you. I will send a doctor from the demon world to Your Highness.¡± ¡°Do not tell me¡­¡­.¡± I nodded without hesitation. ¡°Yes, she can be cured.¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± Great King Bathory yelled. ¡°We tried every means possible, but they were all ineffective!¡± ¡°Humans are not well-versed in ck magic, but that is not the case in the demon world.¡± ¡°ck magic?¡± Great King Bathory looked stunned. ¡°Your little sister is not afflicted with only leprosy. A rather shady ck curse has slipped in there as well. Well, please do not me your mages and priests too much. Has it not been a thousand years since ck magic was first used in the human world?¡± ¡°How do you know this¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Did I not tell you earlier?¡± I smiled gently. ¡°I am Dantalian. Do not underestimate the weight of a Demon Lord¡¯s name.¡± The implicit threat to not ask any further than this made the other party stay quiet. I held my right hand out. ¡°Great King, would it be fine to expect an eternal bond between our nations?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I dly waited for as long as I had to. Great King Bathory took my right hand with his. It was only slight, but I felt his hand tremble. It was an incredibly pleasant sensation. Humans should live while being afraid of Demon Lords by exactly this much. This was the moment Elizabeth lost an ally. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, as I promised, I got this chapter out sooner. This was an enjoyable chapter. That¡¯s all I can honestly say. I¡¯m back to work and now I¡¯m wishing 5 months quickly go by so I can go on that Japan trip. Uhhh, I guess see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 344: In the Depths of the Empire (4) Chapter 344: In the Depths of the Empire (4) ¡°We are now friends.¡± I strengthened my right hand¡¯s grip. I guarantee that Bathory¡¯s hand is twice the size of my own hand. However, at this very moment, my palm was coiling around his hand like a snake. Great King Bathory was staring at me with eyes that looked as if they feared the unknown. ¡°Good friends.¡± I yfully tapped the back of his hand with my left hand. The handshake naturally got released. I gave a slight bow to the Great King whose eyes were still trembling. Rather than a bow, it would probably be more appropriate to say that I had nodded at him. ¡°May the Goddess protect you and your little sister.¡± I turned my horse around. The excellent steed that Barbatos had gifted me moved naturally as if it could read my mind. Coincidentally, this horse with a beautiful ck mane was named Amicus. In other words, ¡°Friend¡±. Once I started to make my way back, the three cavalrymen that had been waiting for me returned to my side and followed me back. I gave an order to the one who had the white g. ¡°Raise your g!¡± ¡°Yes, O Great Being.¡± The cavalryman raised their g high. I had informed Marbas beforehand that a raised g meant the negotiation went well and that a bad negotiation would result in the g being tossed to the ground. Our fifteen thousand troops all let out a cheer. Spears were raised to the sky and shields were pounded against the earth. The chances of winning this war weren¡¯t particrly high. Demons may be aggressive, but even they would be reluctant to partake in a losing battle. ¨C Dantalian! ¨C Dantalian! Dantalian! Dantalian! I received their cheering in full as I headed to the center of our army. Marbas put on a rather impressive disy. He blew a horn and made all the troops turn around. The orcs, goblins, centaurs, and beastmen all blew their horns from their respective tribes. ¨C Vuuuu. Forty-nine horns were blown on the ins of the Commonwealth. A bizarre and dull harmony rang out. Throughout the Crescent Alliance¡¯s two thousand years of history, these horns had always rang out in rtion to war, but today, they were to celebrate a victory where not a single drop of blood was shed. The cavalrymen on both sides of the army turned their horses around and headed to the rear. The infantrymen in the center turned around in ce and marched in synced formations. The entire army had begun its march back. Suddenly changing our formation could potentially allow the enemy to charge at us. We would be defeated in an instant. However, there were two reasons why Marbas decided to show our backs to the enemy. The first was his respect for the enemy. He believed that they wouldn¡¯t act cowardly and strike the back of the negotiator. The other reason was his absolute trust in me. There was no chance whatsoever that I could make the wrong decision as the negotiator. We trust in your decision fully. You announced that negotiations had settled peacefully, so we will act ordingly¡­¡­. This was undeniably a grand and elegant gesture. Should I say that this was expected of Marbas? This was probably what it meant to be a gentleman on the battlefield. ¡°It seems that the negotiation went well.¡± I arrived at themand group. Marbas was already going to the rear of the army with the other Demon Lords. A refreshing smile appeared on his face the moment he saw me. ¡°To think that you would settle things with only a single conversation. Was it truly necessary for me to bring my army here?¡± ¡°Stephen Bathory is as cunning and cruel as a bear. He is constantly ready to tear apart anyone he considers weaker than him.¡± I directed Amicus next to Marbas¡¯ light gray horse. ¡°The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a nation where monarchy and republicanism are skilfullybined. The king may rule the nation, but if something sizable happens, then he has to get the approval of his nation¡¯s Council of Nobles first.¡± For example, the throne isn¡¯t hereditary within the Commonwealth. A king is appointed through an election carried out by their Council of Nobles. Since they have the power to choose the next king, they naturally have control over taxes and tariffs. Their approval is also required to even mobilize troops. Usually, the ruler position within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth isparable to that of a puppet. ¡°This is most likely the reason why the Commonwealth has been on friendly terms with the Habsburg Republic.¡± ¡°I see. Does that not mean that Stephen Bathory¡¯s options are limited as well?¡± ¡°That is the concerning part.¡± ¡°Usually¡±, meant that there were exceptions. ¡°Despite being the ruler of that Commonwealth, he is referred to as the Great King. His charisma alone was enough to take hold of those rotten Polish-Lithuanian nobles.¡± In this era, excellent rulers were lined up like the stars in the sky. Even if you excluded Elizabeth, many nations were ruled bypetent rulers at least three times. There¡¯s a reason why the Demon Lord army lost in the game. It made me want to sigh. Was humanity trying to create an all-star team? To me, Emperor Henry of Frankia and Emperor Rudolf of our Empire were my only salvation. I love them both. I¡¯d even kiss them if they asked. They¡¯re both dead, though. ¡°This is a case where a systematic limit was ovee by a person¡¯s own efforts. Nations led by these kinds of rulers tend to asionally disy a surprising amount of power. It would not be wise to antagonize Stephen Bathory.¡± ¡°But that power would also disappear if Stephen Bathory were to die, correct?¡± I smiled. ¡°That is correct.¡± A nation being held together by a king¡¯s personal charisma will fall apart the moment that king dies. His sessor can¡¯t be average or even slightly above average. The nobles who had a taste of that great charisma will constantlypare the sessor to the previous king. They would say things like, ¡°The previous king wasn¡¯t like this,¡± andin. As a result, the authority that had temporarily gathered under the king will quickly return to the nobles. The new king would use forceful means to prevent this from happening, which will prompt the nobles to fight back. Sovereign power and divine power will sh. As the two sides sh, the nation will gradually lose its strength¡­¡­. ¡°Sovereign power, no, national power must ultimately be maintained by a system. A single person¡¯s noteworthy charisma is not enough to maintain an entire nation.¡± So we¡¯ll wait. Until Elizabeth dies of old age. Until Stephen Bathory bes a rotten skeleton. Until all of the humans of great standing, who are supposed to iron this era out, are ten feet under their graves. ¡°Compared to them, we Demon Lords can live forever. We must consider the long run and prolong this war.¡± ¡°Time is on our side, is it?¡± Marbasughed. ¡°Dantalian, you are quite cunning. You shower the other party with praise, but what is the point? In the end, you are saying that we will be the victors. I doubt the other party would be delighted to hear such praise from you.¡± ¡°Oh, Noble Marbas.¡± I shrugged. ¡°The more we praise them, the more our value will increase once we defeat them. Please trust me. Simr to how wine tastes sweeter the longer you age it, I promise you that our victory will also be that much more special.¡± Marbas burst intoughter again. It was at that moment that my upper body bent forward a bit. I paused for a moment because I didn¡¯t remember leaning forward. Marbas gave me a weird look while I was tilting my head in confusion. It was then that I realized why my body had bent forward. Marbas had affectionately patted my back. I haven¡¯t been able to feel my back that well ever since the punishment incident with Laura. I smiled slightly. ¡°My body got slightly injured a short while ago, so I cannot feel my back.¡± Marbas furrowed his brows. ¡°Your back? Is it a serious problem?¡± ¡°Haha. I was told that my body itself ispletely fine. This is most likely a psychological problem.¡± ¡°I have several excellent doctors under me that I could send your way.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Out of everyone in the world, are we Demon Lords not beings that require doctors the least? This is most likely nothing to be concerned about.¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡­.¡± Marbas gave me a sidence. ¡°You can treat this as the concern of an old man, but you need to cherish your body more, Dantalian. More so than you are now.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± This wasn¡¯t just a simple concern. Marbas had a serious look on his face. ¡°You stated that Stephen Bathory had ovee systematic limitations through his own abilities. From my perspective, the same can be applied to you within our Demon Lord Army. Why do you think we were able to obtain continuous sesstely?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It was not because of a system. We have nothing like that.¡± That¡¯s right. If you devalue the Demon Lord Army a bit¡­¡­then we¡¯reparable to a tribal union. The way every Demon Lord governs their Demon Lord Castle and treats demonkind is different. Just like how Barbatos and Paimon are prime examples of this, Demon Lords have differing opinions about what the ideal demon society is. ¡°This is why I created Walpurgis Night. I wished to establish a system, no matter how small, within our ranks. However, as you know as well, Walpurgis Night is nothing more than a gathering.¡± And barely half of the Demon Lords would even attend this gathering. ¡°The reason we have been able to achieve sess in session is solely thanks to our individual abilities. Dantalian, you are undoubtedly included within this. You have the most important position.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I do not deserve such praise.¡± ¡°I am not saying this for you to be modest.¡± Marbas¡¯s monocle glimmered. ¡°Your death would mark the end for the Holy Demon Lord Army and the Habsburg Empire. You said that Demon Lords live forever, but you must not forget Baal¡¯s demise. Fate is a fickle thing. I ask you to always exercise caution.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I smiled wryly. How should I respond? I felt a little embarrassed. Hearing a straightforwardpliment like this doesn¡¯t suit my personality. I prefer hearing twisted, distorted, and ill-spoken praises. I should probably thank him genuinely here. ¡°Thank you very much, Marbas. I will keep this in mind.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Marbas gave a satisfied nod. Marbas has a lot of titles. Most Noble Demon Lord, Sworn Father of the Empire, and Sebastokrator. By referring to him by only his name, I was promising this to solely him as a person. ¡°While we are on this topic, I have a proposal for you.¡± Huh? I guess the conversation wasn¡¯t over yet. I put on a smooth smile. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Ehem¡­¡­.¡± Marbas cleared his throat. Dragging on the conversation wasn¡¯t something that Marbas did, so this was somewhat surprising. Marbas swallowed his words a few more times before he eventually managed to speak. ¡°Dantalian.¡± ¡°Yes, Marbas?¡± ¡°¡­¡­What are your thoughts on bing my son?¡± I unintentionally froze up. Marbas also went quiet as he stared at my face. I couldn¡¯t imagine how my face must look right now. I could only stupidly, very stupidly ask back in a daze. ¡°¡­¡­Excuse me? I didn¡¯t quite catch that.¡± Marbas spoke more resolutely as if he knew that there was no turning back now. ¡°As my adopted son. I wish to take you in as my stepson.¡± My mouth fell open. What is he saying!? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I really need someone to remind me to post chapters. I¡¯m still tranting, but I get tired after work and forget to upload my chapters. Ugh, I¡¯ll try to be stricter with myself. I¡¯ll make sure to upload the next chapter sooner again. Woopssssieeeee. Why can¡¯t it be June already? I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 345: In the Depths of the Empire (5) Chapter 345: In the Depths of the Empire (5) A curtain of awkward silence fell over us. The soldiers walked around us as they marched forward. Marbas and I were rooted in ce like a pair of boulders sticking out of a river. ¡°Hmm. Hm.¡± For some reason, instead of looking right at me, Marbas was giving me more of a sidence. That angle and gaze made it clear he was waiting for my answer. It was like he was carefully waiting to see how the other party will respond after throwing something out all of a sudden. Marbas and my gaze met and averted away from each other several times. Afterward, a new color was added on top of the awkwardness. It was¡­¡­almost soft¡­¡­and ticklish. Wait. Wait one second. What¡¯s happening? What¡¯s with this atmosphere that¡¯s crawling up my spine and turning everything pink!? Marbas, why aren¡¯t you able to look me properly in the eyes? Look at me. No, stop averting your gaze¡­¡­. Your Excellency? Hello? Mr. Sly Geezer? Sebastokrator¡­¡­? The worst-case scenario suddenly popped up in my mind. Marbas¡¯ affection was currently at 50. So¡­¡­because it reached 50¡­¡­instead of only feeling goodwill towards me, something weird was also¡­¡­. There are people in this era who take in their young homosexual lovers as their adopted sons¡­¡­. ¡®No way!¡¯ Something screamed out in my mind. Tragically, I had made it a habit to be able to think rationally no matter the situation. My rational self remained present while the rest of me was sucked into a storm of chaos. The fragments of my ego calmly debated the current situation. ¡®Who would have guessed that bing his stepson would be the event to undo his affection lock?¡¯ ¡®It was a blind spot.¡¯ ¡®If we manage to capture Marbas as well, then, including Barbatos and Paimon, we would be winning a triple crown.¡¯ ¡®A maid witnesses it in the Empire¡¯s pce. 360 days of shocking reports.¡¯ (TL Note: I¡¯m honestly not sure what thest line is supposed to mean. Tranting it directly would go something along the lines of, ¡°shock report 360 days¡±.) The fragments of my rationality were all pieces of trash. It would probably be more beneficial to leave the regency of the Empire to Sitri than discuss the world with these bastards. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The air around us became more peculiar with each passing second. The confusion and endless embarrassment mixed together and created a cocktail. I couldn¡¯t bear this any longer. These kinds of atmospheres are like poison to me! I hate them. You could even say that I despise them. It would only be unsightly to keep lingering around here like this. That¡¯s right. Let¡¯s use my 3cm thick brazenface that could even chew on iron. I collected myself before speaking. ¡°W-What do you mean by stepson, Sir Marbas?¡± ¡ªRather than respond calmly, I stumbled on my words instead. The mood didn¡¯t calm down. If anything, it felt like popcorn was being made on it now. I was wrong. I¡¯m screwed. This was like when I went on a blind date during high school and had trouble talking to the girl. This was an absolute catastrophe. ¡°There is nothing to misunderstand. I am talking about you bing my adopted son.¡± ¡°My apologies, but¡­¡­I-I am far too old to be someone¡¯s son now.¡± ¡°It does not matter to me.¡± Marbas continued in a genuine tone. ¡°Dantalian. You yourself is what is important here.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Confessing to me so passionately would only trouble me more! I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. Not only was my head overheated, but I couldn¡¯t figure out what to say or how to say it. I could only follow along with however my tongue moved. ¡°Uh, should I say that I believe that the bond between parent and child should be considered after the two sides get to know each other better? I feel like this would be too soon between me and Your Highness.¡± ¡°That is disheartening.¡± Marbas clearly sounded disappointed. ¡°I thought that the two of us had genuinely had a heart-to-heart that goes beyond our age and positions. Is there a reason why we cannot make our bond firmer?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­about that¡­¡­. I guess¡­¡­you¡¯re right.¡± Don¡¯t agree, you idiot! I was stammering like some virgin. My Lord. The wordsing out of my own mouth made me want to doubt my ears. I¡¯m the one who yed with the hearts of female Demon Lords and even made Sitri mine¡­¡­but to think I¡¯m faltering before someone of the same gender¡­¡­. Someone much older than me¡­¡­ And not just by a couple decades, but by a couple millenniums! ¡°Dantalian.¡± Marbas brought his face closer to mine. I was so bewildered that I almost huped. ¡°Y-Yes?¡± ¡°I vowed that even if I lie to others, I would never lie to myself. Be it my beliefs or my thoughts and feelings. I, Marbas, vow with my name that I am being serious. Do you understand?¡± I could hear Marbas¡¯ low and mellow voiceing from right in front of my nose. There was nothing but seriousness in his light gray eyes. I-Is this the middle-aged charm that was able to maintain his poprity among the women in the demon world for the past thousands of years? I heard that he¡¯s fervently supported by both young and middle-ageddies, but even as a guy, I think I understand why¡­¡­. I¡¯m sure that he trims his eyebrows and beard every day. They were the perfect length and had sharp angles. His wrinkles lookedpletely natural. Rather than being due to old age, it looked like they were naturally carved by the weight of numerous emotions. That¡¯s right. They had depth. His scent was also pleasantly gentle¡­¡­. ¡®No, snap out of it!¡¯ I desperately pulled myself back to reality. Depth my ass! I like women. 10 times out of 10, I will always choose to be with a woman! Sitri is the furthest exception. I seriously don¡¯t want to embrace another man! ¡°Y-Your Highness.¡± ¡°I believe in you. Rather, regardless of whether I believe in you or not¡ª.¡± Marbas gave me a profound look. If I refuse Marbas here, then his affection might plummet. My influence in the Neutral Faction will also diminish greatly. But I¡¯m fine with that. As a human, no, as a Demon Lord, I must protect what¡¯s precious to me¡­¡­. I gulped. Just say that you¡¯re sorry, Dantalian. Bravely and resolutely. You have to prevent any future troubles from urring. Tell him that you can¡¯t ept his feelings. ¡°M-My apologies, but I¡ª!¡± ¡°¡ªYou are someone destined to be the next Emperor of Habsburg.¡± ¡­¡­. There was a moment of silence. I blinked several times. ¡°¡­¡­Huh? The Emperor?¡± ¡°As you are aware, I became the Sworn Father of the Emperor. I have been recognized publicly as a member of the imperial family. Since the Consul of the Habsburg Republic has thrown away her family name, if you exclude Rudolf, I am actually the sole member of the imperial family now.¡± At first, I had no idea what Marbas was saying. It felt like Marbas¡¯ dignified voice was knocking lightly on my skull. After a brief moment, my brain escaped from the warm mist that had been surrounding it. ¡°Dantalian, if I take you in as my adopted son, then you would be the sole sessor to the throne.¡± ¡°O-Oh, that¡¯s why you asked me¡­¡­.¡± In other words, Marbas had devised a scheme. There was currently no official sessor in the Empire. It was only natural since all members of the imperial family were basically wiped out. If I be Marbas¡¯ adopted son, then I would get the bare minimum rights to the throne. I let out a huge sigh of relief. ¡°Sheesh. I misunderstood on my end.¡± ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡± ¡°It is nothing.¡± I¡¯ll take this misunderstanding with me to the grave. I quickly organized the situation. But this time, while properly managing my facial expression. ¡°Your Highness, that is definitely an interesting n; however, the humans will not sit still and allow a Demon Lord to take the throne of the Empire.¡± ¡°It will not be an issue if you ascend the throne as the co-emperor.¡± Marbas immediately answered. ¡°You simply have to wed the daughter of some appropriately notable human. Crown her as the Empress and you will be her husband. Your wife will remain in name as the empress.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± I see. There was the option of being the Empress¡¯ husband. I could bring a princess with a fair standing from any of the nations. There are many nations that want to form a bond with the Empire right now. After acquiring a princess, Barbatos could use her magic to brainwash the princess and turn her fully into a puppet empress. The cogs in my head turned quickly. After about a minute, I carefully opened my mouth. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡­possible. Yes, it is definitely possible.¡± ¡°You are well-received by all three factions in the Demon Lord Army. Some mayin if you ascend the throne, but there should be no pushback beyond that.¡± Rudolf von Habsburg has to die eventually. We can¡¯t keep controlling his corpse. I did say that we should wait until Elizabeth and Bathory have died of old age, but that also applies to us. If Emperor Rudolf doesn¡¯t die of old age, then the people will definitely be suspicious. The issue was figuring out who we were going to make seed the throne. It¡¯d be an issue if either Barbatos, Paimon, or Marbas ascended. This would obviously cause an internal dispute. Vassago and Gamigin are also out of the question. They have no talent in trying to bnce the Demon Lord Army¡­¡­. ¡°Dantalian, you are the only one who can take the throne.¡± This is why Marbas chose me as the alternative. I was trusted to a fair degree by all three factions and, most importantly, was favored by all three faction leaders. I stood in a position that could safely bnce the Empire. This was interesting. This was a future path that went in theplete opposite direction of the path that I had nned out. I was nning to control the factions while hiding in the shadows of the Empire. On the other hand, Marbas is arguing that I should step forward. These were two pr opposite paths. The ruler behind the shadows or the Emperor of the people? The path of light or the path of darkness¡­¡­. ¡°You mentioned earlier that a group with no system to support it is destined to copse. Dantalian, having a sessor is the most important system in an empire. An empire without a sessor is nothing more than a house of cards.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± He wasn¡¯t wrong. What were we going to do after Emperor Rudolf¡¯s reignes to an end? This was a matter that I hadn¡¯t considered yet¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­Your Highness, I¡ª.¡± ¡°I am aware that this is an abrupt proposal.¡± Marbas nodded. ¡°I intend to give you plenty of time to think this over. It is fine to think about this for a year or even a decade. We have plenty of time on our hands, after all.¡± Marbas tugged on his reins. His horse gave a slight neigh before trodding forward. I slowly followed behind him with my horse. ¡°But bear in mind that the time we have is not eternal, Dantalian. Only those who can n ahead can rule the era, and, at the very least, you are the only one who can n ahead in regard to this matter.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I carefully nodded my head. Be the husband of an empress. We didn¡¯t have to go out of our way to get another nation involved either. We could also use a saintess. By principle, saintesses are not allowed to wed, but that can be bypassed by simply making the saintess give up on her position as a saintess. The entire continent would probably support the union between a saintess and a Demon Lord. An immense amount of political power would also be guaranteed. Would it be more advantageous to rule from the shadows or while in the spotlight? I continued to think as I rode my horse¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Wow, I released a new chapter in a timely manner! I totally didn¡¯t almost forget again. Hm, I wonder if Dantalian will suddenly change his course of action after this conversation. I have a feeling he won¡¯t. In any case, work is boring now cause we¡¯ve mostly been receiving work from that anti-malware softwarepany. I¡¯m learning about all these malware strains and none of my new knowledge is useful! Woo! Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 346: In the Depths of the Empire (6) Chapter 346: In the Depths of the Empire (6) * * * ¡°When is Dantalianing back!?¡± Gamigin stormed into the pce and shouted. The end of her ancient empire-style toga was dragged across the ground. The maids who had been on standby were rmed by the Demon Lord¡¯s sudden visit. Elven guards desperately followed after Gamigin. ¡°Y-Your Highness Duchess! Barging in like this will only trouble the servants!¡± ¡°The Count Ptine is currently absent as they had urgent matters to attend to at the frontier¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin¡¯s head quickly turned. ¡°Refer to me as Your Highness Demon Lord, children.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± A total of ten demons including the guards got down on their knees. They didn¡¯t do so of their own volition. A degree of control that made even their brains shudder was being used on them. The demons trembled as if they were being crushed under the pressure of gravity that was several times stronger than normal. ¡°Dantalian is also a Demon Lord and not a Count Ptine. Have children these days forgotten this simple fact?¡± ¡°M-My apologies, O Great Being.¡± Gamigin brushed her hair back. ¡°I know that Dantalian returned yesterday. Call him here right this instant.¡± The beastman maid¡¯s teeth chattered. As Gamigin stated, the Count Ptine had indeed returned to the pce the previous day. However, a strict order was given to keep this a secret for the time being. From a person with a higher rank than the Count Ptine. If she submits to the Gamigin here, then she would be killed. ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­with all due respect¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Since when,¡± Magic power emanated from Gamigin¡¯s golden eyes. ¡°Has a mere servant been allowed to talk back to a Demon Lord?¡± ¡°Ah, ah, ahhh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Apologize.¡± The head maid grabbed her own neck with her two hands. She let out a cough as she struggled and gasped for air. The head maid did whatever she could to get her own hands away, but they refused to listen to her. Her slender neck was strangled with the strength of a beastman. Shortly after, her breathing stopped and she fell on top of the cold marble floor. ¡°Hoo.¡± A satisfied smile appeared on Gamigin¡¯s lips. Her expression was so soft that you wouldn¡¯t believe that she had pushed someone tomit suicide a second ago. She turned her head to find her next target. It was at that moment that the pressure that was suppressing the demons disappeared in an instant. The demons panted as if they had just resurfaced from a pool of water. ¡°Unbelievable. How could you be so barbaric¡­¡­!?¡± A Demon Lord stepped out into the hall. ¡°Gamigin!¡± It was the red-haired Paimon. Did she happen to be resting in one of the guest rooms? She must have rushed out in a hurry because her clothes were a mess. No, it went beyond being a mess as she only had a thin nket wrapped around her naked body. ¡°Oh? Did I wake you up from your beauty sleep?¡± Gamigin was all smiles. ¡°Do you understand what you have just done!?¡± ¡°Did I do something? I simply showed a rude child her ce.¡± Paimon¡¯s face contorted in anger. ¡°You murdered apletely innocent maid!¡± ¡°The crime of daring to refer to a Demon Lord by a human position and the crime of going against a Demon Lord¡¯s order despite being a demon. That¡¯s already two crimes.¡± ¡°This childish murderer¡­¡­!¡± This is good timing, Gamigin thought to herself. She never liked the bitch in front of her. It was none other than Paimon who first spread the weird ideology that Demon Lords are nothing more than public servants for the people. An innumerable amount of demons supported Paimon because of that lip service. It was expected of a slut from the vulgar subi race. She spread her legs without reserve for the sake of poprity. Gamigin reached the position of Rank 4 solely through her own efforts and schemes, so, to her, Paimon was simply a harlot who got lucky. However, what bothered her the most was the fact that this harlot was also one of Dantalian¡¯s lovers. ¡®Even though you tried to kill him at first.¡¯ She must¡¯ve quickly offered her body once she was at a disadvantage. It was obvious. Gamigin¡¯s heart burned with rage. The man who had taken her affection wasn¡¯t satisfied with her alone and was reaching his hand out to other women. From Gamigin¡¯s perspective, this was something that lowered her value greatly. It probably wouldn¡¯t be bad to teach her a lesson once. Gamigin smiled brightly. ¡°So? Are you going to punish me?¡± ¡°I will follow thews of the Empire and report you!¡± ¡°Wow, I¡¯m so scared. Thews of the Empire? A feeble Demon Lord like myself cannot possibly control herself properly under such terror.¡± Gamigin raised her right arm. A golden magic circle appeared in the air. ¡°But you know what, Miss Righteous Paimon?¡± She snapped her fingers. A guard¡¯s head exploded. It was the man who had referred to Gamigin as a duchess earlier. ¡°Kyahhhh!¡± The maids screamed. Blood scattered everywhere. The headless corpse stumbled for a moment before it soon copsed. Some of the demons fell to the ground in terror. The others promptly tried to run away. It was probably because of their excellent survival instincts, but, in this case, they were unlucky. Their heads also exploded the moment they were about to leave the hall. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. It didn¡¯t take long for that shock to turn into anger. ¡°What have you done¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°Hm? I was simply acting in ordance with thews of the Empire.¡± Gamigin pressed her finger against her cheek. ¡°In order to use someone above the rank of count, then you need three witnesses who are at least semi-nobles. You may be able to fill out one spot, but what about the other two?¡± Paimon¡¯s face became pale. Due to the sudden death of four people, there were now only six people left in the hallway. The maids and guards could be treated as semi-nobles since they work in the pce, but the reason Gamigin was bringing up thisw¡­¡­. ¡°It¡¯d be nice if you can protect all six of them.¡± She was telling Paimon to try and stop her. With a flick of her wrist, one of the maids who was on the ground was decapitated. Gamigin tilted her head cutely. ¡°Or was it five? Hehe.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon gnashed her teeth. She didn¡¯t bring any magic medicine with her because she was in a hurry. That was a mistake. She never thought that the other party would respond so drastically. She stepped forward and stood between the demons and Gamigin. There was nothing else she could do, after all. ¡°You¡¯ve already lost all of your amazing magic circles. With what gall are you trying to teach me a lesson? Hm, Paimon? I¡¯m genuinely curious.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°To think that the only way you can punish me is through legal means. Don¡¯t you feel embarrassed?¡± Gamigin snapped her fingers. A sharp wind de was sent flying to a maid. Right before the maid¡¯s head could be split into eight pieces, Paimon raised her right hand. The wind went straight into her forearm. ¡°Huh?¡± Gamigin unconsciously let out a baffled sound. Blood scattered in the air. The arm that was strengthened by magic wasn¡¯t cut off, but the wound was deep as if it had been cut by a de. Paimon shut her mouth tightly as her body was racked with pain. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­you¡¯re just going to endure it with your body?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon red at Gamigin silently. A level of resolve lingered behind her red eyes. Gamigin couldn¡¯t help herself once she saw this. ¡°Aha, hahaha! Amazing! This is a masterpiece!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The great Paimon! The Demon Lord who once puppeteered the Demon Lord Army! She¡¯s fallen so far that she has to block magic with her own body in order to protect a few maids! Ahahaha!¡± Gamigin held her stomach as sheughed. The anger that had been clenching her heart was washed away. She was filled with a refreshing feeling of satisfaction. Gamigin struggled to remember thest time she felt this satisfied. The stress she had unknowingly built up this entire time had been washed away in an instant. She must¡¯veughed too loudly as Gamigin somehow achieved her original goal. ¡°Dear me, did something entertaining happen?¡± Dantalian had walked over from the other side of the hall after hearing her voice. Dantalian stopped midway as he nced around the hall. There were five headless corpses scattered on the ground and Paimon¡¯s right arm was a mess. Dantalian nodded. ¡°This is not an appropriate ce fordies to scuffle.¡± ¡°Aha, haha¡­¡­ This is all because you came outte, Dantalian.¡± Gamigin raised her back as she gazed at Dantalian. ¡°It would¡¯ve been much better if you hade out sooner.¡± ¡°It seems I cannot be alone for even a moment. After only just returning from the frontline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with our armies, people havee to visit sincest night. Woe is me.¡± Dantalian shrugged. Gamigin¡¯s brow twitched when she heard those words. ¡°¡­¡­Sincest night?¡± ¡°Yes. Barbatos and Paimon arrived one by one. It is so troubling.¡± Gamigin¡¯s heart instantly went cold. She turned her head to stare at Paimon. Paimon was not properly clothed. Gamigin thought that Paimon had simply run here urgently after waking up from her slumber. What if Paimon was together with Dantalianst night? What if that was the reason why she came here only with a nket wrapped around her? ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The anger that had settled was slowly crawling back up. Barbatos, she could understand. Dantalian grew in the ins Faction and was able to seed thanks to them. He¡¯s most likely obligated to be loyal to Barbatos. However, she couldn¡¯t forgive Paimon. She couldn¡¯t possibly¡ªlet that whore get ahead of her. ¡°Even though you never told me you were back.¡± Gamigin muttered. ¡°¡­¡­Mm.¡± Dantalian sensed the seriousness in her voice and furrowed his brows. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me you were back yesterday, and yet, Barbatos and this bitch knew? How? Why?¡± ¡°Gamigin, calm down. There were simply things I had to take care of first.¡± ¡°Sleeping with this whore must¡¯ve been on that list of things to take care of, huh?¡± Gamigin snickered coldly. Dantalian let out a sigh. ¡°Gamigin, look. Let us not be childish. You have a tendency of blowing a fuse too easily. I was simply a little busy. I did not deliberately ignore you.¡± ¡°You did, though!¡± Gamigin pointed at Paimon. ¡°That bitch knew, but I didn¡¯t! I would¡¯ve still been waiting like an idiot if I hadn¡¯t nted eyes in the pce! How can you try to feign ignorance when it¡¯s so tantly¡ª.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Paimon cut into the conversation. She had an unpleasant smile on her face. ¡°I was told beforehand by Dantalian.¡± ¡°Wait, Paimon. What are you saying right now?¡± Dantalian panicked as he tried to stop her. However, Paimon approached Dantalian and leaned her body against his arm. Paimon deliberately raised a corner of her mouth as if she were taunting Gamigin. ¡°We also had a deep conversation all throughout the night. Can you imagine where I woke up in the morning?¡± ¡°You¡­¡­!¡± ¡°I am different from you, Gamigin. I do not have totch on to him.¡± She was miles from having any rational thought now. Gamigin shot out a series of wind des. Toward Paimon¡¯s head. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I did another oopsie again and forgot to upload this chapter sooner. I feel like this is going to be a weird cycle. Welp, I hope this doesn¡¯t bother you guys too much. In any case, half of this chapter was actually re-tranted because thetter half was lost. I¡¯m not sure what happened, but like 800 words were missing when I uploaded it to the early ess. I didn¡¯t notice until someone mentioned it after I released the chapter after it since they obviously didn¡¯t link together well with the missing segment. So yeah, thetter half wasn¡¯t edited/proofread that well, so I apologize if there might be weird parts. At any rate, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 347: In the Depths of the Empire (7) Chapter 347: In the Depths of the Empire (7) Gamigin made a mistake. If she was able to think even a bit rationally, then she wouldn¡¯t have aimed for Paimon. If she kept her cool, then she would¡¯ve attacked the maids. Paimon would have no choice but to cover them and ultimately put her in the path of the attack. However, Paimon had thought things out to that extent. By approaching Dantalian and taunting Gamigin, she would be able to take her attention away from the maids. The problem was probably the fact that her taunt worked a little too well. Paimon thought that the other party wouldn¡¯t be able to attack if she stuck close to Dantalian. She knew that Gamigin loved Dantalian. She had lowered her guard thinking that no woman would resort to reckless violence when there was the risk of harming her lover. ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡± It wasn¡¯t clear who had let out that gasp. Whether it was Gamigin who let out a gasp immediately after casting her spell, Paimon being surprised that Gamigin had actually attacked¡ªor Dantalian who covered Paimon and stuck his arm out. Pitch-ck swords shot out from the shadows as soon as the death knights sensed that their master was in danger. The swords safely blocked most of the attack. However, exactly one strand of the wind de managed to slip through. Blood poured out from Dantalian¡¯s forearm. ¡°Dantalian! Are you okay!?¡± Paimon shouted. Dantalian let out a slight groan before smiling wryly. ¡°I am fine. Rather, should I say that I am used to this now? It appears that even my misfortune is rather tenacious.¡± ¡°What are you saying¡­¡­? You are still bleeding!¡± ¡°This cannot be even considered an injury.¡± Dantalian went through his mantle and pulled out a potion. He then pulled out the cork with his teeth before pouring it sloppily on his left arm. Paimon got annoyed once she saw that. ¡°Hand it over!¡± Paimon snatched the potion away. She tore the nket she was wearing and soaked it with the potion. She was nning to use the nket as a substitute for a bandage. Paimon wrapped the piece of cloth around Dantalian¡¯s left arm. ¡°My word, you are such a handful¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What are you in such a rush for? This injury really is not a big deal.¡± ¡°Please keep your mouth shut!¡± Paimon and Dantalian argued. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin remainedpletely still while this was happening. Her entire body had frozen up the moment she saw blood shoot out from Dantalian¡¯s arm. Once Paimon finished applying the bandage, she turned to re sharply at Gamigin. ¡°Are you mad!?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­¡­mean to¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Not only did you arbitrarily kill servants, but you even harmed Dantalian!¡± ¡°You have to trust me¡­¡­ I really wasn¡¯t trying to¡­¡­.¡± Paimon walked up to Gamigin with brisk steps and gave her a firm p. ¡°Dantalian might have died if it were not for the death knights.¡± ¡°I-It was a chantless spell. It isn¡¯t that strong¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You almost killed him!¡± Gamigin flinched. ¡°That is enough.¡± Dantalian approached from behind and separated the two women. Paimon with his right arm and Gamigin with his left. Gamigin froze up even more once she was moved by the arm that was bandaged. ¡°¡­¡­But Dantalian.¡± ¡°I said that that is enough.¡± Paimon shut her mouth. ¡°I will handle things from here.¡± * * * This mess happened after I had returned from resolving the matter with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The immediate day after, at that. It was so ridiculous that I wanted tough. Paimon gave me a displeased look. Her wriggling brows were a clear indicator that she was upset. She most likely wants to punish Gamigin herself. Sorry, but no is no. ¡°Paimon. Please tend to the maids.¡± ¡°But the charges¡­¡­.¡± I shook my head adamantly. ¡°There will be no charges. This is too undignified.¡± Only a few months have passed since we held the ranking ceremony. What would happen if there was gossip about Gamigin already when she had just be a duke? The entire Empire would be aughing stock. That wasn¡¯t all. Paimon is the leader of the Mountain Faction while Gamigin is the leader of the unaffiliated Demon Lords. If they butt heads in the Empire¡¯s court, then that would no longer be considered a 1 vs 1 at that point. They will run rampant until one side has beenpletely decimated. ¡°Gamigin¡¯s honor no longer belongs to her alone. It is a part of the Empire¡¯s honor.¡± ¡°Honor that is only around for appearance¡¯s sake is better off not existing.¡± Paimon refused to back down as she gazed at me. ¡°Whether you can right a wrong is what disys the power of a nation. Not being able to fix a wrong will instead harm the Empire.¡± ¡°Dear me. Did I not tell you already?¡± I gently patted Paimon¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I said that I will handle this. Do not worry.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Haah.¡± Paimon let out a small sigh. She didn¡¯t give an answer as she turned around. She helped the maids up and left the pce with them. I smiled bitterly. What kind of mess did I get myself into so early in the morning? I wasn¡¯t surprised when the spell came flying at me. I¡¯ve already gotten used to Gamigin¡¯s outbursts. Rather than surprise, the thought, ¡®this again?¡¯ was the first thing that went through my head. It isn¡¯t hard to calm Gamigin down during her outbursts. I just have to get a bit hurt. I had deliberately ordered the death knights to let a part of the wind de through. The incident where I stabbed myself with a knife in the ballroom had most likely be a trauma for her. Her ability to think basically freezes the moment she sees my blood. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Even now, Gamigin was staring nkly at my left arm. Dang it. Paimon was needlessly considerate. It would¡¯ve been better if the injury was on full disy. That would¡¯ve put a bigger mental strain on Gamigin. Her help really was unnecessary. It can¡¯t be helped. If I have no teeth, then I¡¯ll have to use my gums. Let¡¯s try acting a bit. ¡°Uugh¡­¡­.¡± I abruptly gripped my arm to make it seem like my injury was starting to hurt. I also didn¡¯t forget to add the detail of leaning a bit forward. Gamigin quickly came to her senses once I did this. ¡°Dantalian!¡± Gamigin urgently supported my body. How should I say it? The fact that she responded in the exact way that I wanted her to was amusing. She desperatelyid out excuses so that I wouldn¡¯t hate her. ¡°Sorry¡­¡­ It was an ident¡­¡­. But it wasn¡¯t intentional¡­¡­!¡± ¡°I know.¡± I smiled. It was a strained smile filled with pain. ¡°There is no way you would have intentionally attacked me.¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s because of that whore. If she hadn¡¯t dodged¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But I am disappointed.¡± Gamigin paused. ¡°Huh?¡± She almost looked like a doll that had its strings cut. I erased the smile from my lips. ¡°I was standing right next to Paimon. I would have gotten hit if your aim was even slightly off. Gamigin, you cast your spell without any hesitation even though the risk of hitting me was also present.¡± ¡°I aimed precisely at Paimon¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Can you say with absolute certainty that you would not have missed?¡± I red coldly right into Gamigin¡¯s golden eyes. There was one thing I learned after going out with her for so long. Gamigin can barely handle being stared coldly at by me. The inside of her head was probably as pale as a sheet of paper right now. She was most likely incapable of even conjuring up an answer right now. I decided to use her speechlessness against her by turning it into a silent affirmation. ¡°As I thought. You attacked despite knowing that I could have gotten hurt¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin grabbed the lower end of my clothes. She must have lost strength in her knees as she slowly slid to the ground. ¡°No¡­¡­. Dantalian, please trust me¡­¡­. I really wasn¡¯t trying to¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I even harmed myself to apologize to you.¡± Gamigin became pale. ¡°In the end, you cherish venting your anger more than my own well-being. Your emotions take precedence over my safety. Gamigin, please tell me. How many more times must I be injured for your emotions to be satisfied?¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong. Dantalian, I really wasn¡¯t¡­¡­.¡± I muttered somberly. ¡°Is saying ¡®no¡¯ the best excuse you can offer? I wish to know where your previous wisdom has gone.¡± ¡°The thought of you prioritizing Paimon more than me made me angry!¡± Gamigin desperately shouted. She was trying to give whatever excuse she could think of. ¡°The maids ridiculed me before that! And then Paimon intervened¡­¡­ She apparently knew that you had returned even though I didn¡¯t¡­¡­.¡± This was clearly a situation where the other party was the one at fault. It¡¯s easy to corner them further in these kinds of situations. You simply have to pretend to listen to their excuses before pulling up the wrong things they did. However, you can¡¯t point out the same thing over and over again. That would let the other party return to their senses. You have to put forward new things one by one like abo in a fighting game. Doing so will prevent them from thinking rationally and force them to keep making more excuses. For example. ¡°Gamigin, how did you know I had returned?¡± ¡°Eh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Did you nt a spy in the pce? Were you trying to monitor my every move?¡± Gamigin¡¯s expression crumbled. Bingo. ¡°Please answer truthfully. Did you actually nt a spy here to monitor me? Was it because you couldn¡¯t trust me? Did you not think that if I am hiding something from you, then there must be a good reason for it?¡± ¡°N-No. That wasn¡¯t the reason. Dantalian, I was simply taking precautions¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Taking precautions means that you doubted me!¡± I started to shed tears due to my surging emotions. My emotions didn¡¯t have to be real to be able to shed tears. No, to be more exact, all of my emotions were fake. The only difference was whether the motive behind my emotions was real or not. If you reach my level, then you could start crying in less than 5 seconds. ¡°Ah¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin¡¯s entire thought process came to a halt once she saw my tears. A man¡¯s tears is a trump card that should be used in desperate times. I have never cried in front of Gamigin before. In other words, this was Gamigin¡¯s first time seeing my tears. ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How could you doubt me? Gamigin, have I wronged you? I gave you everything that I could possibly give you¡­¡­. Moravia, Silesia¡­¡­the title of duke, and the most honorable position. I had given all of this to you, and yet, you¡­¡­.¡± When listing the things you¡¯ve done for your lover, it¡¯s best to be as descriptive as possible. Instead of just sayingnd, I specifically stated Moravia. Instead of just saying peerage, I specifically stated the title of duke. It hurts less the vaguer you are, and the pain bes more acute the more descriptive you are. This is an irond principle. However, you have to exclude the small gifts and clearly state therge ones. ¡°And yet, you did not even wait a single day for me!¡± ¡°No, Dantalian¡­¡­ Please¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I dedicated my everything to you, and yet, I received doubt and a spy in return. This is your love. A love that refuses to yield even a single day and creates scars¡­¡­.¡± I got on my knees and pressed my face against Gamigin¡¯s. My overflowing tears were transferred to Gamigin¡¯s cheek. ¡°Gamigin, please answer me¡­¡­. Please give me a reason to trust you¡­¡­ I wish to trust you, but it hurts¡­¡­ It hurts so much, Gamigin¡­¡­.¡± And then. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so sorry, Dantalian¡­¡­. It¡¯s my fault. I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin burst into tears. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for doubting you¡­¡­ I was shortsighted¡­¡­.¡± Our tears drenched both of our faces. Gamigin had lost all of her rationality and was now apologizing from a purely emotional standpoint. She was doing so while also believing that this was the right thing to do. Shepletely forgot the pain I made her feel and the fact that I was the one who nted that seed of doubt inside of her in the first ce. Gamigin genuinely believed that it was her fault. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Gamigin has no experience in romance. She didn¡¯t have the strategic insight to use previous wounds or the gifts she had given. She didn¡¯t know that love is war. ¡°Truly? Can I truly trust you once more¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yes, I promise¡­¡­ Please¡­¡­.¡± I should be the one to apologize, Gamigin. It is normal for a person¡¯s first love to be horrible. However, the degree of that changes ording to who you fall for. It¡¯s somewhat bad if you fall for a foolish man, and it¡¯s considerably worse if you fall for an irresponsible man. Every man is either foolish or irresponsible, so it¡¯s practically impossible for one¡¯s first love to not be horrible. ¡°Then¡­¡­could you listen to my small request? If you do, then I think I will be able to trust you¡­¡­.¡± However, the worst case is falling for a man who uses his lover. You should curse the heavens. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if he was always nning to make Gamigin do a favor for him. How far ahead was Dantalian nning? Did he know Gamigin would show up like this? Who knows. The world is a mystery. In any case, work goes on and now I¡¯m at a point at my job where I hate the frencers doing work for ourpany. They¡¯re actually so bad. We give them some trantion work and we do the review, but there are like 2 of them who do it so bad we end up just TR¡¯ing everything ourselves. I pray they get a pay cut considering how much the others in the EN team alsoin about them. It¡¯s almost like they¡¯re getting free money with how half-assed they do it. Welp, rant aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 348: Neutral Nation (1) Chapter 348: Neutral Nation (1) I lit the end of my pipe. My morning started off with having a disgusting amount of sex with Gamigin. She was currently sleeping peacefully on the bed next to me. Shetched on to me like a child the entire time we had sex. It was like she was trying to fill the absence of emotionalmunion with physical pleasure. The glow of the setting sun was already flowing in from the window. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Demon Lords are all highly self-conscious bipr individuals. They have mental disorders. The reason is simple. It¡¯s because they can fully feel the emotions of others. It¡¯s unclear whether the emotion they¡¯re currently feeling belongs to them or someone else. The border between them is hazy. The protective shield that naturally forms around ordinary people does not exist for Demon Lords. From an extreme perspective, Demon Lords are uncertain even when they fall in love. The feeling of love I have for this person might actually belong to them and them alone. I am simply mistaking the affection they feel towards me as my own affection towards them¡­¡­. ¡°What am I?¡±, is a question people often ask. However, Demon Lords approach this from another angle and ask, ¡°What is me?¡± That¡¯s right. From the very beginning, a Demon Lord¡¯s very being is not set in stone. They have no choice but to find it on their own. Or make one. They desperately build something that they can call their own. Barbatos is morbidly obsessed with the goal of conquering the continent, Paimon seriously pursues the ideal world where all races are equal, and Marbas fully believes that mediating the factions is his calling. They secure their identities like this. It doesn¡¯t matter if the humans get wiped out during this process. It doesn¡¯t matter if their fellow kind all die out. It doesn¡¯t matter if hundreds of thousands of people are sacrificed as long as they can maintain their identities. You could say that their sense of bnce was aplete mess. Mental patients. They were no different from megalomaniacs. They were all way too abnormal. However, it was because of this abnormality that they were beautiful. ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± Gamigin said my name in her sleep. Once I softly brushed her hair, she turned over as if she enjoyed the touch. A fanatical obsession over objects where you dere something as yours. This obsession applied to not only objects but one¡¯s lover as well. This is how I understood Gamigin¡¯s love. Some people might call this an obsession and not love, but does it matter? Gamigin is an enjoyable partner to have sex with and she also has an endless number of uses. Whether the bond holding us together was love or obsession didn¡¯t matter. I whispered quietly in her ear. ¡°I love you, Gamigin.¡± I might have been seeing things, but it almost looked like Gamigin twitched a little. I smiled as I stroked her hair for a while. The setting sun lit the window. * * * Rumors about how a huge incident had happened inside the pce spread like wildfire. It was an obvious result since we didn¡¯t make the maids who were present swear to secrecy. Women have an innate skill for spreading rumors and maids are especially gifted in this field. The very next day, the news reached all of the Demon Lords who were in the imperial city. The rumor they heard was as follows: Gamigin went to the pce toin about something to Count Ptine Dantalian but was blocked by Paimon. In the end, she cast a spell at the Count Ptine in a fit of anger¡­¡­. ¡°The inevitable has arrived.¡± That is how the Demon Lords perceived this rumor. Anyone could tell that the independent Demon Lords were currently being mistreated in the Empire. You could even say that we were anti-independence. Demons have been assigned as government officials in all parts of the Empire, but only individuals that had no connection with the independent Demon Lords had been chosen. From pce guards to the Minister of Justice, they all consisted of only ins Faction, Mountain Faction, and Neutral Faction followers. The political hue of this was so obvious that it was dumbfounding. It was so apparent, that even faction members would voice their concerns about requiring a less partisan person, or, at the very least, the judiciary should consist of individuals with no political connections. Dantalian openly refuted these concerns. As if he had prepared for this beforehand, he published a booklet called . This booklet of about twenty pages was distributed to the Demon Lords. ¨C There are two types of neutrality in politics. Passive neutrality and active neutrality. Passive neutrality is the act of cing an individual with no factional connections in an important position. By doing so, you create an obvious gap within politics. ¨C However, this forces us to rely entirely on the integrity and honesty of a single person. This would put the giant system known as a nation within the control of an individual¡¯s virtue. In this situation, how would one react if they incur losses due to this neutrality? They would only be able to suggest and emphasize their virtues. ¨C Ultimately, passive neutrality degrades therge dimensional matter of a system to a personal problem, an internal ethical problem. ¨C In contrast to this, I personally support active neutrality. ¨C Active neutrality is the act of distributing all key positions to every faction. For example, if a nation has three factions, then the key positions will be split 1:1:1. This has the significance of letting systematic problems be resolved as a system. ¨C If there is an upset in neutrality, then more positions can be given to weak factions while positions are taken from factions that are strong. Personal virtue does not matter here. Political bnce is key here¡­¡­. ¨C I do not believe that a demon would be able to go against Demon Lords and maintain neutrality until the very end. ¡°Absolute neutrality¡± is nothing more than a fantasy for us. ¨C The best way to run the Empire will be to expose the power ratio between factions as clearly, tantly, and candidly as possible¡­¡­. The booklet instantly started a heated debate. Some Demon Lords praised it for disying a realistic perspective while others criticized it for being an incitement piece drenched in the logic of factions. Demons were split into two sides as they argued over this. The situation reached its peak when the Neutral Faction took a side. ¡°This booklet concisely and urately depicts the path that the Empire must take.¡± Demon Lord Marbas was the first one to formally support Dantalian. ¡°Active neutrality was the neutrality which our Neutral Faction has been trying to aplish for the past millennium. Not only am I greatly sentimental about Count Ptine Dantalian¡¯s perspective, but I also offer him my entire support.¡± The weight of the Neutral Faction leader¡¯s words was on a different levelpared to that of others. Some pointed out that a secret exchange must have happened between the two parties since Dantalian had helped Marbas in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but this remained as nothing more than a theory since there was no proof. The public sentiment leaned toward Dantalian¡¯s side. The Demon Lords with no affiliations were infuriated. ¡°Does this not mean you will be excluding us from politics!¡± Like dominoes, the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction followed suit and voiced their support after Marbas. This was a fixed match from the beginning. The independent Demon Lords couldn¡¯t hold back their rage as it continued to grow. They criticized Dantalian viciously. ¡°Dantalian is Barbatos¡¯ dog and a puppet of the factions!¡± ¡°The neutrality they speak of is simply the monopolization of power.¡± Regardless, Dantalian didn¡¯t show the independent Demon Lords any consideration to the bitter end. The following is something that happened during the 2 months after the peerage coronation ceremony. The independent Demon Lords continued to get angrier. Thus, no one thought it was weird or was surprised when they heard that Gamigin caused amotion. Gamigin was being treated as the representative of the independent Demon Lords, after all. Late at night. The independent Demon Lords gathered at Gamigin¡¯s estate. They were holding a meeting to discuss Dantalian¡¯s atrocious acts, this being the fifth time the meeting was held. ¡°His intentions are clear. Is he not saying that he will control the Empire while giving usnd the size of wheat grains?!¡± ¡°We should have suspected him the moment he didn¡¯t receive any peerage during the ceremony. It was obvious he was up to something since the moment he was given that weird title of attorney general. That damned fox¡­¡­.¡± Six Demon Lords ranted noisily for hours while drinking wine. It was obvious to even them that their positions were terrible. How did they end up like this when they once ruled over demonkind? Their desire to be blissfully ignorant of politics ended up isting them. Ex-rank 6 Demon Lord Valefor let out a sigh. ¡°Hahh. For how long must we continue to endure like this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­But we have no other way.¡± ¡°Our opponent is the Rank 71. Is anyone here weaker than him?¡± The Demon Lords struggle. Valefor furrowed his brows as he spoke. ¡°In the end, Dantalian is nothing more than the figurehead of the factions. His individual power is pitiful and pathetic. If their side intends to keep disregarding us, then we must also show him his ce.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Valefor, but would it be that easy to assassinate him?¡± The other Demon Lords remarked. They had already discussed assassinating Dantalian dozens of times now. However, the Demon Lords would always conclude that it would be too difficult. Not only was Dantalian being protected by death knights, but he has recently been only staying in the pce. Valefor knew this, so even if he was the one to bring it up, he remained silent. All he could do was look unpleased. It was then that Gamigin opened her mouth. ¡°It might be possible.¡± ¡°Miss Gamigin? Is that true?¡± ¡°Mhm. The possibility isn¡¯t that high, but there is still a chance.¡± Gamigin smiled brightly as she sipped her wine. ¡°Dantalian¡¯s only weakness is women. He¡¯s famous for being a debauchee. To be honest, this is the reason why Dantalian was lenient toward me during the battle with Agares. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She was saying that her life was spared by offering her body. An awkward mood fell over the other Demon Lords. ¡°Because of that, I had to go around acting like Dantalian¡¯s lover for a while.¡± ¡°Then, are you saying that we should send a honey trap to assassinate him? The chances still look considerably low¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I said there¡¯s a way.¡± Gamigin licked the wine drop that was on her lips. ¡°I was able to injure Dantalian in the pce, after all. I have to go apologize for that. However, it¡¯s obvious that Dantalian will make a personal request instead of epting my apology~.¡± Gamigin tapped on her body, which prompted the other Demon Lords to nod. ¡°But Dantalian is a pervert. He doesn¡¯t do it normally.¡± ¡°By not doing it normally, you mean¡­¡­?¡± ¡°He does it like a pervert. He sometimes changes the situation to feel like a rape. Well, I probably don¡¯t have to give you any more details than this, right?¡± The Demon Lords coughed. The demon world is rather liberal when ites to sexual activities, but even the Demon Lords felt reluctant to talk about rape when other Demon Lords are present. ¡°I see. But, Miss Gamigin, how are you saying that we should use this.¡± ¡°Jeez. Despite my appearance, I am a duke of the Empire.¡± Gamigin waved her finger. ¡°What would happen if a mere Count Ptine were to personally threaten a duke and rape her? If this incident can be recorded on a memorial artifact, then would that not end Dantalian¡¯s political career?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The independent Demon Lords stood up from their seats. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m quickly posting this before I go to bed, so this note will be rushed. I feel like you can really expect where this is going to go considering what happened in the previous chapter. Or maybe there¡¯ll be another twist? Who knows. In any case, I¡¯m going to bed and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 349: Neutral Nation (2) Chapter 349: Neutral Nation (2) ¡°I-I think it might work¡­¡­ but wouldn¡¯t that cunning man have measures to prevent memoria spells from being cast?¡± ¡°Tsk tsk. That is why I said it could seed or fail.¡± The other Demon Lords gave her nervous gazes, but Gamigin casually savored the taste of some grapes that were on the table. The strangely sexually appealing gesture made the other Demon Lords gulp. ¡°If I manage to seduce Dantalian before he can cast any anti-magic spell, then it would be my victory. If I am unable to make Dantalian lower his guard, then it would be my loss. ns are not always guaranteed to seed. The result can vary depending on the situation and one¡¯s luck.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lords exchanged nces. Valefor carefully spoke up among them. ¡°But¡­¡­would that not mean you would be sacrificing yourself?¡± ¡°No. There is a n I want to suggest here.¡± Gamigin narrowed her eyes and raised the corners of her mouth. ¡°For starters, I will go to the pce and apologize to Dantalian. Considering Dantalian¡¯s personality, he¡¯ll most likely tell me to strip in order to show my sincerity.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You all will wait outside the pce. If I manage to use the memoria artifact sessfully, then I will send you a signal with magic.¡± Gamigin quenched the inside of her mouth with wine before continuing. ¡°Once I give you the signal, you will enter the pce and get rid of Dantalian.¡± ¡°But what cause will we have to kill him?¡± ¡°You will all be here toin about being excluded from the management of the Empire and coincidentally witness Dantalian rape me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lords looked at each other again. It was clear in their eyes that they were hesitant about this n. ¡°Demon Lords who were already being treated unfairly happen to witness an absurd scene andmitted murder due to the heat of the moment. Well, this will undoubtedly start a debate, but there¡¯ll be no issue as long as we have the memoria recording. What can they do when he raped a duke of the Empire~?¡± Gamigin chuckled. Valefor asked a question while the Demon Lords were mulling over the sess rate of this n. ¡°What will you do if the memoria artifact does not work?¡± ¡°Simple. I won¡¯t send you a signal and you can remain outside the pce.¡± Gamigin immediately answered. ¡°Another day will go by uneventfully. The same yesterday as tomorrow, and the same tomorrow as yesterday.¡± ¡°But that means you will end up being insulted for no reason¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Being insulted is amon urrence already.¡± The yfulness in Gamigin¡¯s expression faded slightly and was reced by a cold gaze. ¡°I want to get revenge against Dantalian, so I proposed a usible n. The chances of sess aren¡¯t that high, but if you look at it from another angle, it means that there is little to lose even if we fail. Being insulted for about five hours is all that I have to endure to attempt this n? That isn¡¯t a bad price.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The other Demon Lords couldn¡¯t help but feel shaken by Gamigin¡¯s ghastly gaze. Valefor fell into deep thought. A trap with a low chance of sess, but even if it fails, he would only be going to the pce entrance and leaving¡­¡­. The risk was basically non-existent. The problem was how much he could trust the other Demon Lords who were currently present. There wasn¡¯t a firm sense of loyalty or bond between the independent Demon Lords. They had simply gathered since they happened to be in simrly miserable situations. It was more than possible for one of them to go and inform Dantalian or Barbatos in order to obtain a better standing for themself. Therefore, the greatest cause for concern was how well this will remain confidential. A magic vow would be essential¡­¡­. ¡°The bigger issue is if this n seeds.¡± Gamigin spoke up while the other Demon Lords were still busy in thought. Valefor came out from his thoughts and asked back. ¡°What do you mean by it being a bigger issue if it seeds?¡± ¡°Think about it. There¡¯s no way Barbatos will stay still if her favorite pet dies. She¡¯ll immediately try to kill us.¡± Gamigin went back to speaking in a yful tone. ¡°If we seed in killing Dantalian, then we will all be aplices. We¡¯ll have to spread the recording on the memoria artifact as soon as possible ande together to oppose Barbatos. This won¡¯t be easy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So I would like it if only those who¡¯ve resolved themselves properly took part in this n. Those who genuinely wish to kill Dantalian and are willing to take on the aftermath.¡± Gamigin gazed at the other Demon Lords with a smirk as if she was questioning whether they actually had that kind of resolve. At this point, Valefor¡¯s doubt in Gamigin had diminished considerably. When scheming, people tend to downy the risk and exaggerate the chances of sess. On the other hand, Gamigin fully detailed the chances of the n failing and the risks that would follow even if it seeded¡­¡­. She was genuinely testing them. Were they going to keep living as pampered pigs that had their political powers stripped from them by Dantalian, or were they going to keep their pride as Demon Lords even with the potential risk¡­¡­? ¡°I will take part in this.¡± There was no need to think this over. Gamigin was sacrificing her physical body. There was no reason for Valefor to not sacrifice his pride as a Demon Lord now. The other Demon Lords turned to him in shock. ¡°Valefor¡­¡­.¡± ¡°However, I will only participate if everyone here also agrees. This n requires absolute discretion. We are all either in this together or none of us at all. These are the only two options before us.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that right?¡± Valefor turned to ask Gamigin with his gaze. Gamigin showed a pleased smile. ¡°Yup. Valefor is right. We have to be unified as one.¡± ¡°Should we not involve His Highness Vassago?¡± A Demon Lord asked. ¡°I heard that he also holds animosity toward Dantalian. If we are able to borrow his power, then that would make handling the aftermath much easier for us.¡± ¡°Mm. That might be a problem.¡± Gamigin shook her head. ¡°Vassago is fundamentally on the side of the strong. I guess you could say that he moves with the times. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll immediately snitch to Dantalian or Barbatos if we reveal our n to him. We¡¯ll all receive a pleasant summon to court.¡± ¡°I am also against that idea.¡± Valefor also shared his opinion. Valefor had originally tried to invite Vassago to these meetings, but he refused, saying that it was pointless. Vassago didn¡¯t sympathize with the state the independent Demon Lords were in, this was the conclusion that Valefor came to. In the end, Vassago was a dog that wagged his tail for the strong. Valefor was greatly disappointed in him. ¡°As I mentioned before, this n requires absolute discretion from start to finish. Adding more people to the n thoughtlessly will only increase our risks.¡± Furthermore, Valefor said as he continued. ¡°Let¡¯s be honest here. Are the seven of us not more than enough to kill Dantalian? Any more than this would be like killing a chicken with a knife meant for cows.¡± ¡°His Highness Valefor is right.¡± The other Demon Lords nodded in agreement. What could they possibly have to be afraid of when they were only trying to deal with a Rank 71 Demon Lord? ¡°Yes, convincing Vassago cane after we¡¯ve killed Dantalian. We should be able to bring Vassago into our cause a lot easier since we should have strong evidence and a cause at that point. Not only him, but we might get the support of other Demon Lords who happen to dislike Dantalian.¡± ¡°I see. We only have to consider these things after we have seeded¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be easy. To put it bluntly, this is a gamble.¡± Gamigin beamed brightly. ¡°Either way, it isn¡¯t so difficult that it¡¯s impossible, don¡¯t you think?¡± Mm, Valefor thought audibly as he nodded. He now had no doubt whatsoever. Gamigin wasn¡¯t concerned about the n itself. She was more concerned about the aftermath once the n seeds. This was the most evident proof that she was facing this n seriously. If Gamigin had spoken in a way that sounded like things would get better after the n seeds, or if a single n would somehow magically improve all of their situations, then Valefor would¡¯ve doubted her. However, she emphasized that the path ahead of them would still be thorny even if they seed. Therefore, the sess of the n itself wasn¡¯t what she genuinely wanted. She wantedrades who would stick with her til the very end. ¡®Even if the n fails miserably.¡¯ Valefor¡¯s eyes glimmered with a serious light. ¡®All seven of us here right now will berades that can rely on each other. It won¡¯t be a lot of people, but their internal stability would be outstanding. Creating this sort of group might be her actual n¡­¡­. Yes, this alone has enough value.¡¯ Amon enemy strengthens bonds. This ancient truth applied directly to the independent Demon Lords who saw Dantalian as theirmon enemy. ¡°I will join.¡± ¡°I will also take part in the n. I would rather take this gamble than let my authority be taken away from me like this.¡± Were they convinced because of the realism behind her words? Gamigin didn¡¯t try to sound pointlessly pompous. She stripped the ambiguous desire of wanting to get revenge on Dantalian andid out a detailed n about how to assassinate Dantalian and what must be done to use the proof and cause effectively. The Demon Lords thus concluded that it was ¡®possible¡¯. One by one, the Demon Lords voiced their desire to take part in Gamigin¡¯s n after they finished deliberating. Of course, the fact that they had the ex-rank 6 and ex-rank 4 with them also helped influence their decisions. Finally, all seven Demon Lords agreed to participate. Gamigin disyed a satisfied smile. ¡°All right. This is enough to make sacrificing myself worth it. I did tell you that there isn¡¯t a high chance of sess, but I n on doing my utmost to make sure it works. Let¡¯s teach Dantalian that Demon Lords are beings that cannot stand being oppressed.¡± The Demon Lords nodded seriously. Gamigin created a magic circle. It was a spell that created a solemn pact. ¡°Do you all swear to not reveal our n to assassinate Dantalian to another individual or object?¡± ¡°I swear.¡± ¡°I swear.¡± Each Demon Lord cast a spell on their heart as they swore to secrecy. Gamigin had reached the peak as an archmage. She was more trustworthy than anyone else when it came to the enforcement of magic. If anyone goes against their pledge, then their heart will explode and they will lose all of their mana. Thus, the scheme began. The Demon Lords stayed up several nights as they nned out the assassination. As something as important as this couldn¡¯t be left in the hands of their subordinates, the Demon Lords had toe up with a n on their own. Gamigin and Valefor did most of the nning. They decided to carry out their n in four days. Time was of the essence. They decided to end everything while the uproar that Gamigin caused in the pce was still a hot topic. They got their hands on the pce¡¯s patrol schedule and bribed some of the guards. Several of the maids were also bribed. If their n seeded, then they were going to take care of the ones they bribed in the back alleys of the city. And then, four dayster. ¡°Gamigin has entered the pce.¡± Valefor gazed at the other Demon Lords with a steadfast expression. The other Demon Lords also returned his gaze with resolved eyes. ¡°Let us go to the pce.¡± The plot to assassinate Dantalian had begun. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. A ssic ¡°whoopsie I forgot to upload this yesterday,¡± moment. There was a national holiday yesterday, so I sort of got distracted doing other stuff. It¡¯s not often that I get holidays¡­ It really isn¡¯t. In any case, excuses aside, I¡¯ll try to upload the next chapter sooner like I usually do when I uploadte. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 350: Neutral Nation (3) Chapter 350: Neutral Nation (3) * * * The morning of the 15th day of the 3rd month of the year 1512 on the Imperial Calendar. The 3rd month was when the coldness of winter started to fade away. During times of war, armies would shut themselves away in their camps and only start moving once the 3rd month arrived. To the people, the 3rd month was when wars started again, so the month was dedicated to the God of War, Ares. Arge meeting was nned to happen on this day. A new year was beginning as spring approached. Thus, Demon Lords, the archdukes from the demon world, and the citizen representatives from the free cities were all invited. There were several vampires among the archdukes and citizen representatives, so the meeting was held at dusk in consideration of them. This was strange for the humans who typically held their events during the afternoon, but this was considered amon courtesy among demons. After careful consideration, the independent Demon Lords decided to carry out their assassination on this day. There were several reasons for this. First, the pce would be incredibly busy preparing for arge number of guests. Second, it wouldn¡¯t seem strange for them to enter the pce during an asion like this. Third, if they show the recording of Gamigin getting raped with the other Demon Lords and archdukes as audience members, then they would be able to rationalize Dantalian¡¯s death more effectively¡­¡­. Even if Barbatos and a few other Demon Lords favor Dantalian, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything if the recording is shown during an asion where even the archdukes are present. This should make covering for Dantalian¡¯s crime more difficult¡­¡­. You could say that the independent Demon Lords had a golden opportunity in their hands. They would be able to get rid of Dantalian and also gain the support of the masses. The 15th day of the 3rd month was quite literally the perfect day for them. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The independent Demon Lords waited anxiously after Gamigin entered the pce. Someone tried to throw out a joke to lighten the mood, but it didn¡¯t work. None of them were in a lighthearted state of mind. They all knew that if their n seeded, then the entire nation would fall into uncontroble turmoil. In the end, their small group would have to take responsibility for the resulting chaos¡­¡­. Valefor smiled wryly. It was ironic. He had distanced himself from politics for hundreds of years because he didn¡¯t want to get involved in the factional disputes. But here he was, readying himself to stand at the forefront of politics. ¡°What a contradiction.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I secluded myself on a serene beach because of my hatred of politics, so I cannot help butugh at myself as I may potentially end up standing in the most political position¡­¡­.¡± An independent Demon Lord voiced their agreement. ¡°I am the same. I only happened to be a Demon Lord, but I had no interest in the continent. I did not care about politics as long as I could spend my time collecting statues.¡± ¡°Oh? Did you have a hobby of collecting statues?¡± ¡°I did until Dantalian forbade the collection of them under the pretext of protecting cultural heritages.¡± The Demon Lord shrugged. Once he did, Valefor and a few of the Demon Lords who were listening in on the conversationughed. ¡°That man pushes his nose into everything.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± The mood became softer. Everyone had honest smiles on their faces. It was at this point that Valefor genuinely felt as if he had berades with the individuals present with him. ¡°He is even making us pay taxes to the Empire. Even a passing dog wouldugh if they knew a Demon Lord was paying taxes to the Empire.¡± Valefor nodded. ¡°However, there is one thing that Dantalian has taught us. It is the fact that power is not something that simply falls onto ourps. We must fight back in order to regain our authority.¡± ¡°Ahh, I guess this is goodbye to my days offort and leisure.¡± The Demon Lords chuckled. ¡°If I am to be entirely honest, a side of me partially wishes for Gamigin to fail. Imagining what kind of future lies in wait of us sends a chill down my spine¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is understandable, Ipos. I would be lying if I said I did not also feel the same.¡± Even Baal was unable to do anything about the current Holy Demon Lord Army. Would they be able to handle something he couldn¡¯t? Were they capable of leading the factions or purging them? None of the Demon Lords here could guarantee this. ¡°Nheless, the Demon Lord Army is walking down the wrong path. Even if it is for our benefit, something is not right if we have to share a bed together with a human empire.¡± The other Demon Lords agreed. ¡°You are right. That is strange no matter how you look at it.¡± ¡°People are only excited because we had recently won the war, but doubts andints will appear as time passes. Even now, there must be a considerable number of demons voicing theirints in secret. We must take advantage of this dormant discontent¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Everyone.¡± A Demon Lord spoke up with a serious tone. He was holding a monster that looked like a mouse in his hand. ¡°Gamigin has just sent word¡­¡­. She seeded.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± A tense air immediately filled the area. Valefor calmed his trembling heart. He looked around to see that the others were all looking at him. Uneasiness, impatience, and excitement. There were dozens of emotions within all of their eyes. Valefor realized once again that these were the gazes that he was going to have to deal with from now on. He probably wouldn¡¯t be forgiven if he tried to avoid this. His political rivals wouldn¡¯t forgive him, history wouldn¡¯t forgive him, and even he wouldn¡¯t forgive himself. ¡°The die has been cast. Let us go.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Demon Lords made their way out of the vi they were in. They made their way to the pce with bold steps. They did so in order to make it clear to onlookers that they had nothing to feel guilty about. Once the Demon Lords approached, the captain of the pce guards hastily made his way out to wee them. The rank 6 Demon Lord had arrived. Even if the ranks had been officially abolished, they were still engraved deeply into the brains of demons. ¡°We wee the ruler of the sea and storms! Your Highness Valefor!¡± ¡°Mm. I am here to participate in today¡¯s meeting with myrades.¡± The guard captain politely looked over to see the individuals behind Valefor. He had spent the past few days painstakingly trying to memorize the appearances of every Demon Lord and duke, so he was able to recognize all five of the Demon Lords. ¡°My apologies. There is still some time left before the meeting will begin. Allow me to guide you to a guest room for the time being.¡± ¡°No. Take us to where Dantalian is.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­ To His Excellency the Count Ptine?¡± The guard captain shouldered a degree of rudeness to ask back. The pce¡¯s guard captain understood full well how much power Dantalian actually had. It was obvious that he¡¯d get kicked out the next morning if he brought people to Dantalian carelessly. Valefor gave a nod. ¡°There is a reason why we came here early. We are here to give the Count Ptine a formalint before the meeting.¡± ¡°I understand. I will call for the head maid immediately.¡± The guard captain knew that nothing good woulde from getting involved the moment he heard Valefor¡¯s reason. He didn¡¯t n on taking part in a fight between whales as a tiny shrimp. Therefore, the guard captain handed over the umon and unpleasant matter to someone else without any hesitation. The Demon Lords entered the pce after a small procedure. There were no problems. A dozen maids came running out around the time they reached the front of the court building. They stood in an exact line before bowing to the Demon Lords. People with lower standings weren¡¯t allowed to speak before those with higher standings, so the servants waited patiently as they bowed courteously. ¡°Mm. You are all doing a fine job.¡± ¡°We do not deserve such praise, O Great Being.¡± The elf head maid remained bowing. ¡°We will do our utmost to fulfill any desire you may have.¡± ¡°Lead us to Count Ptine Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The head maid paused. ¡°My apologies, but the Count Ptine is currently busy preparing for the meeting.¡± ¡°I know. Do you think I would not know that when I am also participating in this meeting? We must meet the Count Ptine for a moment because we have something we wish to discuss before the meeting.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± Valefor¡¯s suspicions were confirmed once he noticed the head maid pause unnaturally. It was clear that Dantalian had ordered the head maid to not let anyone approach him. ¡°What are you hesitating for? Are you perhaps saying that I do not even have the privilege to meet the Count Ptine?¡± ¡°O-Of course not. However, the Count Ptine is currently in a meeting with Her Highness Gamigin¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh? That makes things convenient.¡± Valefor spoke as if he were pleased. ¡°We are here toin to Dantalian about the mistreatment of independent Demon Lords. This is actually a stroke of luck since Gamigin is also in the same position as us. Hurry and bring us to them.¡± ¡°Y-Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± Valefor red at the head maid. ¡°You! Is a Demon Lord¡¯s assertion a joke to you?!¡± The mana-infused roar shook the pce¡¯s courtyard. The maids panicked and promptly groveled on the ground. ¡°Demon Lords do not follow after the pce. The pcees second to Demon Lords! How dare you put something as trivial as your duty between Demon Lords! If you do not guide us to the Count Ptine right this instant, then I will tear off your ears!¡± The head maid couldn¡¯t say anything in return as she obeyed. Even though she was the first daughter of an archduke who had used her as a way to bribe Dantalian, her position as one of the highest members of demon society mattered little before a Demon Lord¡¯s anger. The head maid trembled as she led the Demon Lords. After walking a fair bit into the pce, they eventually arrived at the room where Dantalian was residing. The head maid was about to step forward to open the door, but Valefor abruptly walked ahead of her. ¡°Your Highness! You mustn¡¯t!¡± ¡°We are not here for a rxing cup of tea. Dantalian!¡± Valefor extended his arms and pushed open the door. It was at that moment that the Demon Lords and maids froze in ce. The beautifully blonde Gamigin was tied to a wall. Dantalian was holding a whip and happened to be right in the middle of a swing. His face soon filled with shock once he turned around to see who had suddenly visited. ¡°No, what is¡ª.¡± ¡°Youuuuu!¡± Valefor burst out in anger. His anger was partially an act and also genuine. He knew that Gamigin was going to do her utmost to create the best memoria recording, but he didn¡¯t think it would go this far. Her soft skin which was once white like marble was now stained in blood. Her head was drooping down as if she was on the verge of passing out. ¡°How dare you do something like this in this sacred pce! And to someone of a higher standing than you!¡± However, that didn¡¯t change the fact that this was the perfect opportunity. Valefor didn¡¯t waste even a single second as he rushed forward. He arrived right in front of Dantalian with only a few steps. Dantalian was clearly perplexed as he reached his right arm out. ¡°W-Wait¡ª.¡± ¡°Pay for your disloyalty with your death!¡± Valefor grabbed Dantalian¡¯s extended arm and twisted it. He could clearly feel Dantalian¡¯s bones shatter. Dantalian let out a cry. ¡°Kuahhhhh!¡± That cry was the starting shot. ¡°How dare Dantalian torture Miss Gamigin!¡± ¡°Kill that shameless traitor!¡± The other independent Demon Lords came running forward as well. Each of their arms was glowing with magic power. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing much to say. This really is just set up for the next chapter. Life continues. I¡¯m sometimes skipping lunch at work to take naps and it¡¯s honestly worth it. I can survive with like a gran bar or something. Although I have to sacrifice some of the time I spend tranting these chapters since I tend to get some done during those lunch breaks. Well, I¡¯ll figure out a way to bnce it. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 351: Neutral Nation (4) Chapter 351: Neutral Nation (4) Dantalian struggled as much as he could to get away. His shadow wavered as if the death knights were trying toe out, but they never did. Was it because a single Demon Lord¡¯s power of control couldn¡¯t beat that of six? ¡°Kuh¡­¡­huahh!¡± Dantalian took out his dagger. He swung it down on Valefor who was holding his right arm. His show of vigor was so unexpected that Valefor released Dantalian¡¯s arm in a panic, which allowed Dantalian to run away. Ah, Valefor let out a shout. ¡°Catch him! All of our efforts will be pointless if we do not catch him here!¡± The Demon Lords quickly chased after Dantalian. Several of them cast spells, but the clothes on Dantalian¡¯s body must¡¯ve had a fairly strong anti-magic enchantment on them as their spells would disperse powerlessly. ¡°There¡¯s anti-magic!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s stab him to death!¡± Dantalian was still cornered in an instant despite the size of the room. Right as it seemed like Dantalian had nowhere else left to run, he managed to slip out onto the terrace. They were three floors up. There was no foliage at the bottom to cushion one¡¯snding, but, without any hesitation, Dantalian threw himself off the terrace. ¡°How pointlessly persistent¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± The Demon Lords clicked their tongues as they jumped down from the terrace. ¡ªBroad daylight. A sudden chase scene was unfolding in the pce courtyard. The noise attracted the attention of onlookers. Numerous housekeepers and servants were walking about the pce. All sorts of individuals turned to see what the ruckus was all about. Dantalian was being chased by Demon Lords on a za that was fancily made of marble. It was evident that he didn¡¯tnd safely as he was limping severely. In the end, he was caught by his pursuers before he could take more than a few steps. At first, the onlookers had no idea what was happening. The scene before them felt somewhat surreal. The early spring sun was shining down radiantly on the marble za. Dantalian was grabbed by the back of his neck in the center of this radiantly shining square. Dantalian reached his arm out to shake the hand off, but it was at that moment that the second Demon Lord to arrive swung their dagger. The de just barely scratched Dantalian¡¯s neck. Red blood scattered in the air under the bright light of the sun. It was then that the onlookers realized what they were watching. ¡°Kyahhhh!¡± ¡°Oh my goddesses!¡± The onlookers were shocked. All of the maids and butlers working at the pce were trained warriors who were ready for most situations, but what about a situation where a group of Demon Lords are trying to kill another Demon Lord? ¡ªThis was too much for even them. The hunt then started. ¡°Execute the tyrant!¡± ¡°You traitor to demonkind andpdog of humans!¡± The independent Demon Lords rushed in like a pack of starving wolves. Dantalian screamed as he tried to retaliate, but he wasn¡¯t strong enough. Six Demon Lords surrounded Dantalian and took turns as they attacked him. A de stabbed into Dantalian¡¯s back. Dantalian turned around as he struggled, but the Demon Lord standing on the other side swung their de once he did. The de prated deeply into Dantalian¡¯s waist. ¡°Guahh¡­¡­huagh¡­¡­!¡± Dantalian slowly copsed. He did his best to not let go of the dagger in his left hand, but Valefor skilfully took it away. He then stepped onto the back of Dantalian¡¯s hand. Dantalian was nowpletely copsed on the ground. Six Demon Lords stabbed their des into Dantalian dozens of times like a pack of crazed dogs. The entire area was lit up by the sun except for Dantalian. He alone was enshrouded by a shadow. The shadow cast down by the Demon Lords surrounding him. The marble za which was almost as white as the skin of a maiden was now dyed red with blood. The blood flowed from between the legs of Demon Lords and reached out to the corners of the courtyard. ¡°Ha¡­¡­ha¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The assassins breathed heavily as they looked down at the corpse. Demon Lords may have an impressive regenerative ability, but these were undeniably lethal wounds. The aplices turned to look at each other and nodded. They had seeded. The chances seemed slim, but they managed to take out Count Ptine Dantalian. The situation didn¡¯t feel real. The assassins were closer to a dreamy state than anyone in the pce. It was amon sensation that people would go through after aplishing something that they thought was impossible. The six Demon Lords were struggling toe back to their senses because of the adrenaline pumping through them. ¡°Our next moves from this point forth will be crucial.¡± Valefor was the first one topose himself. ¡°Go and escort Gamigin here. We must turn this za into a court ofw and show everyone the reason why Dantalian rightfully had to die.¡± ¡°I will go.¡± Ex-rank 22 Ipos volunteered. This man with pure white hair despite his young looks was actually the first person to grab Dantalian by the back of his neck. He had participated eagerly when Agares started an internal war, but he had lost thend that was rightfully his due to Agares¡¯ death. Most of the Demon Lords who took part in this killing were in simr situations. Valefor nodded. ¡°If you do not mind.¡± After sending Ipos off, Valefor swung down at the corpse¡¯s neck. The magically enhanced dagger took two swings to separate the head from the body. Valefor grabbed Dantalian¡¯s head by the hair and lifted it into the air. ¡°D-Dear Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What have they done¡­¡­?!¡± Screams erupted from all around. Onlookers gazed at the za in utter shock. There was no one who dared to approach. It was around this point that the pce guards arrived on the scene. The guard captain froze in ce. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. The people he had let pass earlier had killed the actual master of the pce. The guard captain could tell that his days were numbered. Valefor enhanced his voice and shouted from within the turbulent air of shock and terror. ¡°My dear people! I ask that you calm your hearts and listen to what I have to say. This man here, this criminal once known as Dantalian has died today!¡± Valefor slowly turned his body and gazed at each of the buildings around the pce za. ¡°I was once known as the Rank 6 Demon Lord, but I am now a civil servant to demonkind like you all. O wise people, if you respect my character and honor, then do not doubt my words!¡± Valefor let out as much of his Demon Lord authority as he could. Rank 6 was by no means a position that could be obtained through a game of cards. He may have been uninterested in worldly affairs, but he also possessed enough authority to control an entire army like Barbatos and Paimon who were once ranked 8 and 9 respectively. ¡°I am sure that some of you here had once liked Dantalian. However, allow me to ask you this. Can the love for a single person possiblye before the love of demonkind as a whole?¡± Valefor mentally ordered the demons to calm down and it worked to a certain degree as he managed to make the onlookers at least hear him out. ¡°Dantalian vested our honor as demons into an empire made by humans. Even if we fight honorably on the battlefield, that honor will no longer be the honor of demonkind but the honor of an empire. Even if we work together to aplish a great feat, that will go down in the history of the empire and not demonkind. Therefore, our sons and daughters, our descendants will be taught that we are simply the subjects of an empire. They will not learn about how we are honorable and wise warriors of demonkind.¡± Valefor made a fist. Valefor¡¯s bronze skin tone stuck out immensely above the pure white, marble za. This made drawing the attention of onlookers even more effective. ¡°Demonkind will die if Dantalian is alive and Dantalian must die for demonkind to live! My beloved people, please answer me honestly! Do you wish to spare Dantalian and willingly live as pathetic ves to humans? Or do you wish to live freely through Dantalian¡¯s death?¡± No one could answer that question. ¡°If there are those of you who wish to live as pathetic ves, then fine. If that is the case, then I admit it. I, Valefor,mitted a crime.¡± Valefor picked up his momentum and followed up by shouting. ¡°However, if you all yearn for freedom. If you do not wish for your honor to be changed into the honor of humans¡ªthen I dare to dere. What I did to Dantalian is what I did as your representative!¡± Valefor raised Dantalian¡¯s head higher. ¡°O demonkind! Do not love the empire and love our pride as demons! My fellow people! Save yourselves by killing Dantalian!¡± It was at this moment that the ins Faction Demon Lords started to pour in from the entrance. The approximately dozen or more ins Faction Demon Lords instantly encircled the za. The pce etiquette must¡¯ve not mattered now as they were all wielding weapons. The six independent Demon Lords could be wiped out in an instant considering that the only equipment of sorts they had were their daggers. ¡°It seems you did something horrendous to my little brother, Valefor.¡± Demon Lord Beleth stepped forward. He had a smirk on his lips, but even that was unable to hide his rage. ¡°I assume you must have thought out yourst words.¡± ¡°Count Ptine Dantalian hasmitted high treason!¡± ¡°Hm. That is pretty awful to be yourst words.¡± A battle of nerves unfolded between the ins Faction Demon Lords and the independent Demon Lords. ¡°Have you resolved yourself, you losers?!¡± ¡°Hmph, you¡¯re rather spirited for people who were nothing more than Dantalian¡¯s puppets.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s sweep up these mooches once and for all!¡± The six independent Demon Lords pressed their backs together and held up their daggers while the ins Faction Demon Lords red and growled menacingly at them like a bunch of hounds. Valefor spoke with a sharp look in his eyes. ¡°I will announce Dantalian¡¯s crime once all of the Demon Lords and archdukes have arrived.¡± ¡°It seems like you¡¯re misunderstanding something.¡± Beleth spoke threateningly as he spun his axe above his head. ¡°The toothpick you¡¯re holding isn¡¯t the reason why I haven¡¯t split your head in two yet. It¡¯s so that I can let ourmander have that honor. You¡¯re a dead man once Barbatos gets here, you ckie!¡± ¡°Hah. It is ridiculous to see an entire faction be shaken this much because of a single Demon Lord. Barbatos must have also lost her wit. How could she have fallen for a man who raped a woman in the pce in broad daylight?!¡± Beleth furrowed his brows. ¡°Rape?¡± ¡°That is correct. Dantalian threatened Gamigin andmitted an unspeakable act!¡± Beleth growled in a low tone. ¡°Are you trying to y off the current situation with a baseless usation?¡± ¡°We have undeniable proof.¡± Valefor spoke clearly so that everyone could hear him. ¡°Dantalian¡¯s heinous crime has been recorded on a memoria artifact, and one of myrades has gone to retrieve that evidence and bring back a witness. The head maid of this pce is also a witness. There is absolutely no way you can possibly cover for Dantalian¡¯s crime!¡± ¡°Kuh. Spouting nonsense is something that even a child is capable of.¡± The two Demon Lords red at each other. Ipos soon returned while supporting Gamigin. Valefor asked that they wait until more than enough people had gathered. Beleth let out a snort, but, in the end, the two groups stood face to face until the evening. It was then that Barbatos arrived. All of the Demon Lords and archdukes who were going to participate in today¡¯s meeting had gathered at the za. Nearly a hundred people had crowded together. The archdukes couldn¡¯t hide their unease because of the unprecedented situation of a Demon Lord being assassinated. No matter how this situation concluded, they could tell that it was going to end with a bath of blood. ¡°Now then.¡± Barbatos, who had arrivedst, spoke in a chilling tone. ¡°Care to show us that evidence you keep prattling about now?¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I know I kept using the word ¡°assassin¡± in this chapter, but that¡¯s what the author kept using. I¡¯m not sure if you can consider a group of people killing someone in broad daylight to be an assassination, but yeah. Maybe there¡¯s some implicit meaning behind the usage of this word. Welp, in any case, nothing much to say. I hope you guys have a good weekend. I have to meet my grandparents this Sunday, so there¡¯s that. This weekend feels like it¡¯s going to feel very short¡­ Please save me. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 352: Neutral Nation (5) Chapter 352: Neutral Nation (5) ¡°I will dly oblige.¡± Valefor nodded heavily. ¡°However, I will have you promise something beforehand, Barbatos. The memoria we will show can considerably harm Gamigin¡¯s honor. In this regard, I ask that you uphold Gamigin¡¯s honor to the very end¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You are acting rather bombastic.¡± Barbatos snickered. ¡°I won¡¯t make a promise with a shameless son of a bitch.¡± ¡°The shameless one is Dantalian, Barbatos. He threatened the independent Demon Lords and insulted Gamigin today!¡± Valefor shouted pompously. Once he did, a ins Faction Demon Lord pointed their finger. ¡°You dared tomit murder in a pce that has been dered a neutral zone? Are you not the ones who have insulted our strictws!?¡± ¡°Hah. Dantalian was the one who first broke thew of a neutral zone!¡± Valefor understood that he couldn¡¯t let himself falter here. He red daggers not only at Barbatos, but at all of the Demon Lords, archdukes, and soldiers that were present as well. ¡°Remember what happened five years ago. Where and by whom was Andromalius, an individual who was once a Demon Lord like us, killed? In the city of Niflheim which had been established as a neutral zone for centuries and in the center of the za where everyone could see. It was none other than Dantalian who had murdered him. Who is the destroyer ofws? Who is the shameless murderer!!¡± The other independent Demon Lords raised their arms in response. ¡®That¡¯s right, Dantalian is awbreaker,¡¯ they shouted in agreement. ¡°The neutral areas exist for all Demon Lords. It does not exist for only one person. Dantalian used the neutral area however he wanted while not respecting the neutrality in any way himself. He is the most disgusting knave of this era!¡± ¡°That is just an assassin making excuses!¡± ¡°Cut off his tongue!¡± The Demon Lords who belonged to factions scowled as they jeered at the group. The independent Demon Lords naturally got worked up and shouted back. Even though they were overwhelmingly outnumbered, they were undeniably confident in their cause and the evidence they had. It felt like a scuffle could break out at any moment, but Barbatos proceeded to make a sarcastic remark. ¡°Dantalian raped Gamigin, Gamigin just happened to have a memoria artifact to record this, and your group also coincidentally barged in at that moment. This is quite the coincidence if I¡¯ve ever seen one.¡± ¡°There is nothing strange about this. It ispletely natural for someone to carry around an artifact just in case. If anything, is Dantalian not the one at fault?¡± Valefor scoffed. ¡°I am saying that he is an individual that is dangerous to meet without an artifact. And the situation we feared actually happened¡­¡­. Gamigin.¡± Valefor turned to look at Gamigin. She was able to rest for several hours, so her wounds from being whipped had healed. Gamigin nodded and stepped forward. ¡°Yup. I have the proof.¡± ¡°She is unsuitable to be a witness!¡± One of the Neutral Faction Demon Lords shouted. ¡°Gamigin and Dantalian are lovers. Even if something were to happen between them behind closed doors, how could that be considered rape?¡± ¡°Dantalian did not treat Gamigin as his lover. He simply used his victory during the war as an excuse to threaten and pressure her!¡± Valefor responded in Gamigin¡¯s stead. ¡°Has Dantalian ever respected Gamigin as his lover in a formal setting? Did he not alwayspare her to Barbatos and belittle her constantly!? Dantalian did what he did purely to mock andugh at her! She is a victim!¡± Angry voices erupted from the Demon Lords again. The ins Faction Demon Lords fell silent once Barbatos quietly raised her right hand. These individuals, who were warriors by nature, couldn¡¯t hold back their rage as their heavy breathing was filled with anger and hostility due to their refusal to ept theirrade¡¯s unfair death. However, it wasn¡¯t like everyone in the ins Faction liked Dantalian. Those people became silent. ¡°Further discussion is pointless.¡± Barbatos coldly dismissed any further argument. ¡°Gamigin. Show us this proof.¡± ¡°I was going to show it anyway even if you didn¡¯t ask.¡± Gamigin removed the obsidian ne that was around her neck. ¡®I see,¡¯ Valefor thought to himself as he nodded. So she cast the memoria spell on her ne. Dantalian was a foolish man. He allowed her into his room unaware of what kind of future awaited him¡­¡­. Now the world will see how Dantalian threatened her. Considering what they saw back in the room, it was almost certain that some sort of perverted torture had unfolded. He had dared to treat a Demon Lord like some prostitute. Tolerance was impossible. If the ins Faction tries to protect Dantalian even after witnessing what had happened, then that would only ruin their own reputation. The archdukes of the demon world were also present. They have no choice but to go against their emotions and acknowledge Dantalian¡¯s crime. Their n was perfect¡­¡­. An opaque light flowed out from the ne. Gamigin smiled. ¡°Definite proof.¡± A scene filled with color was soon projected. Valefor heard a voice unfamiliar to him from the projection. ¨C For how long must we continue to endure like this? At first, Valefor couldn¡¯t figure out who the voice belonged to, but his mouth fell open as he saw the scene before him. ¨C Our opponent is the Rank 71. Is anyone here weaker than him? ¨C In the end, Dantalian is nothing more than the figurehead of the factions. His individual power is pitiful and pathetic. If their side intends to keep disregarding us, then we must also show him his ce. ¨C Valefor, but would it be that easy to assassinate him? It was his own voice. Valefor and hisrades were being projected on the opaque screen. What was this? What was he currently looking at? Valefor didn¡¯t understand. He felt an indescribable chill on his spine. He rigidly turned to look at Gamigin. Gamigin was smiling with her eyes. ¨C I will take part in this. ¨C Valefor¡­¡­. ¨C However, I will only participate if everyone here also agrees. This n requires absolute discretion. We are all either in this together or none of us at all. These are the only two options before us. It was a maliciously edited video. All of Gamigin¡¯s lines were cut out and only the parts where the independent Demon Lords agreed were included. The independent Demon Lords froze like statues as the recording came to a spontaneous end. The za became quiet. No one opened their mouth. An ominous curtain had settled over the entire pce. A single person abruptly muttered. ¡°Is this¡­¡­not an assassination plot?¡± It was more like they were talking to themself than to someone else. However, if what they said was the same thing that was on the minds of others, then it¡¯s no longer talking to oneself. The curtain that had settled ominously jolted. ¡°Assassination! This was a nned assassination!¡± ¡°They assassinated the Count Ptine!¡± Shouting broke out throughout the za. The independent Demon Lords were frozen in ce. Everything finally burst once Beleth shouted the following words. ¡°Kill the assassins!¡± Beleth threw his axe at the independent Demon Lord closest to him. The Demon Lord who had been frozen in shock because of the memoria artifact raised his arms up instinctively, but the axe sunk into his forehead. The Demon Lord fell back as his skull was sliced open. Dozens of others rushed in at the same time. ¡°Gamigin¡­¡­ Gamigin, you bitch! Kuagh!¡± Ipos swung his dagger in anger, but Sitri¡¯s whip sword flew in like a snake and tore his right arm into pieces. Once Ipos dropped his dagger in pain, five Mountain Faction Demon Lords tore into him like a pack of hyenas. Ipos let out a terrifying scream as he fell. The other independent Demon Lords were in simr situations. A bunch of spears prated one of the Demon Lords who got down on his knees and begged for his life. He died right that moment as he was impaled in the chest, thigh, right forearm, and neck. ¡°Do not kill them! They must be interrogated!¡± Paimon shouted in a panic. Everyone finally came back to their senses once she did. But it was toote. Three independent Demon Lords had already died within a blink of an eye. Including Valefor, there were only three left. They lost their will to resist as they were tied up and tossed in front of Barbatos. Valefor muttered. ¡°A setup¡­¡­ Yes, this is a setup¡­¡­ That recording was forged¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos snickered. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty pathetic excuse. Can¡¯t you think a little harder, Mr. Assassin?¡± ¡°Why¡­¡­?¡± Why did you betray us? Gamigin had definitely made the same vow as they did. If she had betrayed them, then she should¡¯ve be paralyzed and lost all her magic circles¡­¡­. And yet, she looked perfectly fine. Was the pledge magic faulty? No, that was impossible. The spell was perfect. It was inspected several times¡­¡­. At some point, Gamigin had arrived next to Barbatos and was smiling. ¡°You¡¯re asking the wrong question, Valefor. You shouldn¡¯t be asking ¡®why¡¯. You should be asking ¡®how¡¯.¡± ¡°What are you¡­¡­?¡± ¡°As I promised you guys, I activated my artifact. Maybe the artifact was switched while I wasn¡¯t looking?¡± Valefor still appeared confused while Gamigin looked down at him with pitying eyes. ¡°You probably think you¡¯re pretty smart, but, in the end, you¡¯re nothing more than a criminal who idled away for centuries because of your disinterest in war and politics. Not only do you not know how to doubt people properly, but you also don¡¯t know how to kill people properly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What are you trying to say!?¡± It was at that moment that it started to get noisy behind Valefor. He tried to turn around, but couldn¡¯t since Beleth was stepping on his back. Shortly after, a familiar voice rang out from above Valefor¡¯s head. ¡°She is saying that you are an irredeemable idiot, Valefor.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Please remove your foot, Brother Beleth. Assassins and kings are of equal standing by nature. He should have the right to see me.¡± The man chuckled. The weight on Valefor¡¯s back soon disappeared. Valefor raised his face to see Dantalian leaning down to look at him. ¡°Impossible¡­¡­. There¡¯s no way¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, not only is this possible, but this is also reality. Is it not nice being able to see yourrade whom you once thought you would never see again? Feel free to give me a warm reception.¡± Dantalian patted Valefor on the shoulder. He then spoke loudly for everyone to hear. ¡°I knew very well that you people despised me. As you can see, I am but a feeble man, after all. I always have a substitute doll ready in case I am attacked by an assassin. What you all killed was a pitiful doll.¡± ¡°A doll¡­¡­?¡± At that moment, Valefor recalled the fact that the individual he had killed was wearing anti-magic clothes. He figured that the weak mana he felt from the person was because the anti-magic clothes were in effect. In the first ce, Dantalian never had a lot of mana anyway, so he disregarded it. But what if they were never a Demon Lord to begin with? Dantalian straightened his back and spoke. ¡°Imprison the criminals. They did not act alone. We must now interrogate them and uncover their hiding aplices.¡± Aplices? Valefor still didn¡¯t understand what was happening. What aplices was he talking about? There had only been seven, no, six people who had vowed to kill Dantalian. Valefor was dragged away helplessly. Dantalian said something to the onlookers, but Valefor couldn¡¯t hear him. The word ¡°interrogate¡± kept swirling around his head. He had a bad feeling. What was it? What was this man scheming¡­¡­? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Although this conclusion was sort of expected, it seems like Dantalian had more nned for this than simply getting rid of the independent Demon Lords, so that¡¯s interesting. I¡¯m pretty exhausted today, so I¡¯m gonna go rest after I post this. I had reserved military training today in my neighborhood, and they made us walk around for hours while fully geared with a gun, helmet, and all. I¡¯m just tired now. I go die now. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 353: Neutral Nation (6) Chapter 353: Neutral Nation (6) * * * The three Demon Lords who survived had to experience a neverending cycle of torture. We utilized a rather special method as a way to show them our respect. Normally, people would shout at criminals, asking them what their crime was and to acknowledge it; however, I believed that was inefficient. There was no way anyone would casually admit to their crimes if you threatened them. That was nothing more than a waste of time and would only make things hard for both the tortured and the torturer. Let¡¯s get rid of needless actions for the sake of both parties. I firmly believed that doing so would benefit the world. ¡°Kuh¡­¡­. You damn traitor!¡± Valefor red daggers at me the moment I entered the torture chamber. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re nning, but don¡¯t think I¡¯ll obediently follow along!¡± I smiled brightly. It was a relief since he seemed to be overflowing with energy. I liked energetic people. Seeing someone act lively was enough to make my gloomy life feel a bit better. I sat across from Valefor in silence. I then gave an order to the torturers. ¡°Begin.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Two of the best torturers were hired for this interrogation. It was Jeremi and Daisy. For the past three years, these two have tortured and killed more than three hundred people, having been ordered by me to do so. These two were no different from the Beethoven of the torture world. ¡°Huh? What are you¡ªKuahhhh!¡± The lingchi execution was carried out. Jeremi could resist Demon Lords because of the ve seal on her heart and Daisy was immune to the controlling power of Demon Lords because she was human. They were probably the best choices. ¡°Hggh! Guahhhh!¡± This process involved slicing into the criminal¡¯s flesh while they were still alive. This was lingchi, also known as death by a thousand cuts. It might be easier to understand if I said the flesh was slowly peeled from the bone and turned into a pig¡¯s feet dish. Lingchi is a process that gives its recipient an insane amount of pain. Normally, the process would begin after feeding the recipient some anesthetics; however, thanks to the blessing of the goddesses, Demon Lords can heal quickly thanks to their innate regenerative ability even if you slice off their flesh. Thanks to this, you can practically fillet them infinitely! Is this not a miraculous body? It doesn¡¯t need anesthetic or potions. There was no other body capable of receiving neverending torture like this. Referentially, neverending torture is a concept that Jeremi has been advocating, and it¡¯s apparently the perfect slogan that fits the aesthetic of torture. ording to her, torture must, ¡°be as long as possible, as prolonged as possible, and do as little harm to the actual body as possible.¡± I was curious at one point and decided to question her about this. ¡®Why mustn¡¯t you harm the body when you¡¯re torturing them?¡¯ ¡®Geez, what a silly question. Why are you asking something so obvious? What I want to torture is people, not lumps of flesh.¡¯ Jeremi answered with an incredibly matter-of-fact tone. ¡®What fun is there in torturing someone with a ruined face and shattered limbs? I only feel rewarded when I see people scream, people shed tears, and people struggle desperately.¡¯ This woman also has a loose screw in her head. Regrettably, Jeremi¡¯s sense of aesthetics was passed down to her greatest pupil, Daisy. Through the use of various anesthetics and potions, the two of them had managed to kill a human adventurer after stabbing them ¡°forty thousand times.¡± The adventurer was apparently alive during all forty thousand stabs. Dear Lord. ¡°Your Highness, I have a good feeling about today.¡± Jeremi hummed happily. ¡°We might be able to reach a new record today. Sixty thousand, no, we might even reach sixty-five thousand. And we might be able to reach that high without using any potions! Demon Lords are the best!¡± ¡°Sheesh. You nut job.¡± I clicked my tongue in disapproval as I shook my head. There was nothing you could do if someone went insane but within the realm of rationality. From early times, people who became like this were irredeemable. Valefor¡¯s face went pale once he heard Jeremi¡¯s words. The fact that he could go pale despite his dark skin was amusing. ¡°Kugh, how could you skip everything and go straight to torturing!? Should you not start by questioning me first!?¡± I tilted my head. ¡°If I asked you to acknowledge your guilt, then would you do so obediently?¡± ¡°I did notmit any crimes or make any mistakes. There is nothing to acknowledge!¡± ¡°See?¡± My shoulders shrugged on their own. ¡°It¡¯s obvious that you will not answer me properly even if I asked. Why would I waste my time asking pointless questions, then? It¡¯d be better to simply torture you until I am exhausted.¡± ¡°W-What¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am a rather busy person despite my appearance. I do not have time to waste.¡± I gave Jeremi a nce, signaling her to hurry up and get started already. ¡°I will do my utmost so that we can spend a meaningful time together.¡± ¡°W-Wait a se¡ªGuahhhh!¡± Valefor struggled against the chains that were holding him against the wall. However, he was bound so firmly that moving his head up and down was the most he could do. I rotated between torture chambers every two hours to torture the Demon Lords. Like this, the first day went by with nothing but torture. The method changed slightly on the second day. ¡°Valefor, what is your favorite food?¡± I would throw in meaningless questions during the torture. Naturally, the other party would refuse to answer because of the anger they had built up due to the torture. ¡°Stop¡­¡­with your nonsense!¡± ¡°Oh? Very well, then.¡± I could only shrug and continue my torture if the other party refused to answer. An interesting thing happened at this point. Three Demon Lords had survived and they were being tortured on a 2-hour rotation. Therefore, this meant that after being tortured, they could rest for 4 hours. 4 hours of rest, this was the key point. They would use this time to recover from their wounds and gain a type of mentalfort. They¡¯ll be able to recollect themselves after almost submitting to the hard torture. ¡®No matter how bad it is, as long as I can endure for two hours,¡¯ this belief on its own was enough to sustain them. Another important factor was that even if they were using different torture chambers, the three Demon Lords were all enduring the same torture. I¡¯m not the only one suffering. Myrades are also enduring the same pain. This sort of mentality is also applied. Therefore, being assured a certain amount of rest after being tortured and this group mentality were key points. This was why their defiance remained firm despite receiving such horrendous levels of torture. But what if those two things started to fall apart? ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Valefor gave me a weird look once I entered his torture chamber. It was understandable. Four hours haven¡¯t passed since Ist tortured him, after all. I think it has roughly been three hours. ¡°I do not believe it should be my turn yet.¡± ¡°There has been a change in schedule.¡± Daisy came following behind me while holding the torture instruments and went right to Valefor¡¯s side. Daisy only had an assisting role yesterday, but she was the main torturer today. ¡°We will now rmence your torture.¡± ¡°Hah, there is no point in focusing your torture on me. We will not answer you.¡± ¡°I wonder about that.¡± I smiled widely. Did he suddenly feel uneasy? Valefor furrowed his brows. ¡°¡­¡­What are you implying?¡± ¡°Why do you think your torture was pulled forward? It is because someone had happily answered my question.¡± ¡°No¡­¡­that is impossible.¡± Valefor scowled as if he didn¡¯t believe me. ¡°What is so surprising? It is not like a particrly notable question was answered. What your favorite food is and which race did you fall in love with first. These are questions that even children can answer.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°However, I like individuals who can hold a reasonable conversation. That is why I decided to finish that individual¡¯s torture session there and go to the next person.¡± ¡°Then, shall we begin?¡± I said as I ordered Daisy to proceed with the torture. The same torture as yesterday was carried out, but there was now one difference. The Demon Lords had discovered something. ¡°Valefor, what is your favorite type of alcohol?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The fact that their torture sessions would be shortened if they answered my questions. They thus start to contemte. They snapped backst time saying to not ask stupid questions, but now they have no choice but to think about it. A simple question with a simple answer. A single answer could reduce how much they¡¯re tortured¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­Did youe to me to hear a pointless answer? It seems you havee to the wrong ce.¡± ¡°Is that so? I understand.¡± He refused at first. However, there was ack of energy in his refusal. His silence gave birth to hesitation and wavering. Valefor endured for his full two hours. However, when I returned again after barely two hours had passed since his session, Valefor¡¯s eyes filled with shock. I returned his speechless gaze with a splendid grin. ¡°The others are rather nice conversation partners. My work was also reduced thanks to them.¡± ¡°I-Impossible.¡± ¡°Not everyone is as stubborn as you. Now, shall we begin?¡± An hour had passed since we had rmenced Valefor¡¯s torture. I threw out a simple question like usual. No matter how strong Valefor¡¯s will was, he had probably reached his limit. He slowly spoke with trembling lips. ¡°Wine¡­¡­ I enjoy the wine from Sardinia.¡± The premises had fallen. I can rest for four hours if I endure for two and myrades are also enduring the same level of torture¡­¡­ These premises had copsed. I smiled brightly. ¡°Oh, wine is it? I also enjoy wine. But does the wine made in the human world not feelcking? I personally believe that the bottles of wine made in Naraka are of the highest quality.¡± ¡°¡­¡­As expected of a contemptible man who only pursues luxury goods.¡± ¡°Is there perhaps a specific region that you rmend?¡± A trivial conversation. This trifling conversation that would normally have no meaning held a hefty weight to it now. Torture could be momentarily avoided through small talk. A three-minute conversation held more value than a one-minute conversation, and a ten-minute conversation obviously held more value than a three-minute conversation. ¡°Very well. I am in a good mood now thanks to you. I shall gratefully skip your turn and go to the next individual.¡± I would stand up and leave whenever the conversation ended. The same thing naturally happened with the other Demon Lords as well. I¡¯d ask another simple question and we¡¯d share a slight conversation. ¡°What is your favorite color?¡± ¡°A centaur was your first love? That is interesting. Please tell me more.¡± ¡°What is the most bothersome thing about managing a Demon Lord Castle?¡± The Demon Lords would endure the torture for about an hour before they answered my questions. However, that endurance time gradually shrunk from one hour to thirty minutes and then fifteen minutes¡­¡­. Before the day came to an end, some of them answered my question as soon as I arrived. The amount of time it took between Demon Lords drastically shortened as well. Like this, the second day of torture ended. The third day was the same. However, the contents of the questions had changed. ¡°I heard that some archdukes supported the assassination attempt. Is this true?¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± Valefor looked at me as if I said something preposterous. ¡°If the assassination seeds, then the archdukes could cause a ruckus in the demon world. Were you not nning to take advantage of that confusion to seize the political world?¡± ¡°What nonsense. We rose up on our own initiative!¡± ¡°I see. I understand.¡± The three Demon Lords endured for two hours in the morning. However, I deliberately skipped one of the Demon Lords to re-visit Valefor. His eyes shook greatly when he saw me enter the room. ¡°You are lying¡­¡­. There is no way anyone would have agreed to that question!¡± ¡°You are free to think whatever you want, Valefor.¡± I smiled. ¡°Now let us begin.¡± Once Valefor¡¯s four-hour break shrunk down to three, two, and then finally thirty minutes, Valefor could no longer endure. Valefor became ragged as his healing ability couldn¡¯t keep up with the torture. ¡°Let me ask you again.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Did the archdukes support your group?¡± Fourth day. I had obtained ¡®testimonies¡¯ on a memoria artifact that imed eleven archdukes were involved in the assassination. To be perfectly honest, none of the other Demon Lords had obediently answered my question on the second day. Like I did on the fourth day, I deliberately skipped a person and sent Jeremi to torture them instead. Doubt is the biggest enemy of trust. This simple fact was disyed fully during the torture. I received approval from the other factions and gave an order as soon as I left the prison tower. ¡°Bring the archdukes in.¡± Now then. It was time for a purge. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I feel like I¡¯m falling behind on my trantion here because of work and my lunch naps. I should probably take a few days to try and get more done so I¡¯m sort of prepared for my Japan trip. I sort of want to go on the trip not feeling bad about leaving you guys hanging for so long. I know I shouldn¡¯t feel bad at all about it, but I¡¯ve been doing this for so long that it really has just be a part of my daily life. I¡¯ll see if I can sacrifice a day or two to get more done. Wish me luck I guess. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 354: Neutral Nation (7) Chapter 354: Neutral Nation (7) Military soldiers are as fast as lightning once they start moving. A unit of the Demon Lord army positioned nearby departed as soon as the order was given. The imperial capital was instantly swept. It didn¡¯t take even an hour to drag in twenty-six demon archdukes. The soldiers were truly gifted. ¡°What is the meaning of this?!¡± ¡°You cannot do this, Your Highness!¡± The archdukes had been staying in the capital for the past few days. They ended up being held in ce due to the big meeting suddenly being dyed. It was only natural. The meeting was nothing more than an excuse anyway. ¡°We acquired a testimony iming that you archdukes were involved in the recent assassination attempt.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Shock spread through the faces of the archdukes. The group I was aiming for through this incident wasn¡¯t the independent Demon Lords. The archdukes ruling as they pleased in the demon world while the Demon Lords were absent have always been a thorn in my side. I didn¡¯t care what had to be done to bring these people outside. ¡°We received a rather interesting testimony. They imed that a portion of you schemed so that the Crescent Alliance expedition would keep failing. Those individuals will all be executed.¡± ¡°W-We are being framed¡­¡­. There is no way a traitor like that would be among us.¡± ¡°That is not for you to decide right now.¡± The archdukes stared at me with trembling eyes. ¡°T-Then who will decide?¡± ¡°I believe you have misunderstood.¡± I raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°I simply said that that is not something for you to decide at the moment.¡± From that night on, the archdukes were tortured horrendously. The archdukes finally understood why they had been gathered. ¡ªA purge of blood. I knew that the Demon Lord Army had always failed due to internal reasons. Now that I was officially pulling the strings, there was no way that I would let something as ridiculous as that unfold again. Why did we need archdukes? Would it not be better without them? Demon Lords were enough as rulers. It would be leagues better to cleanly wipe out the other remaining militant groups. Of course, there is no evidence that the archdukes were connected to the assassination. Therefore, it had to be made. A Demon Lord¡¯s testimony was highly valuable. The independent Demon Lords were basically bait to capture the archdukes¡­¡­. I used the same method I used with the independent Demon Lords on the archdukes. ¡°You archdukes deliberately interfered with the Crescent Alliance expedition. Am I correct?¡± ¡°It was revealed that during the 2nd Crescent Alliance, you made a secret deal with the traitorous Baal to cut our supply line. ept it.¡± The archdukes failed to endure for even four days before they admitted to the crimes. Out of the twenty-six archdukes, eleven of them were deemed guilty. They were the ones who were especially hostile to Demon Lords. The remaining fifteen were found innocent. Half of them were the archdukes who gave me thousand gold bribes in the past¡­¡­. If you wish to live safely, then cooperate with us. This was what we were telling them. Did she find it weird that I let a fair bit of archdukes go? Barbatos, my aplice, pouted as sheined. ¡°What? Why not use this chance to wipe them all out?¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t supposed to kill everyone in a purge.¡± I answered while drinking my wine. ¡°If we kill all of them, then we will be tyrants and not rulers.¡± ¡°Hmm. What¡¯s the difference? I feel like we¡¯ve already be tyrants.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a veryrge difference. It determines what you must do to survive.¡± Politics and battlefields share various simrities. If I were asked to point out what was the most simr between the two, then I would answer ¡°there are no perfect victories in either¡± without any hesitation. Even if one manages to wipe out their enemy without losing a single soldier, that still wouldn¡¯t be a perfect victory. Someone may be jealous of your aplishment and start to scheme against you. The people of the enemy nation will treat you as a ughterer and despise you for generations and generations. That grudge and hatred could lead to your decisive defeat in the future¡­¡­. ¡°The uncooperative ones were the ones who were deemed guilty. The archdukes who were rtively friendly to us were deemed innocent. We don¡¯t kill just anyone. We made them clearly understand that we will only kill those who are uncooperative.¡± In other words, we gave them a guideline on survival. I swayed my wine ss. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to go out of our way to kill the cooperative archdukes as well. They should be loyal hounds since they have experienced fear once¡­¡­. If we throw them some snacks here and there, they will probably shake their tails for us energetically.¡± ¡°Treating archdukes like a bunch of dogs, huh?¡± Barbatos giggled. Once Iughed along with her, Barbatos suddenly pulled me into a kiss. It wasn¡¯t a light disy of affection. It was a deep kiss. Well, the way Barbatos showed her emotions has always been heavy¡­¡­. ¡°Uu¡­¡­hahh, hnn¡­¡­.¡± On a side note, we were currently in Emperor Rudolf¡¯s bedroom. We were here under the pretext of giving him the first report of the interrogation result. Of course, there was no way Emperor Rudolf would be alive and moving as he was currently shoved into a corner of the room like a doll and watching the two of us make out passionately. Barbatos and my breathing naturally became heavier the longer our kisssted. Once I barely managed to pull away, I smiled at her teasingly. ¡°Your Highness Regent, I am aware that you are in heat all year round, but I do not believe that this is an appropriate ce to have secret coitus. We are before His Excellency the Emperor.¡± ¡°Did you know? Your entire body has been giving off the smell of blood for the past few days.¡± Barbatos grinned as she pressed herself against me. ¡°For some reason, I like it when you¡¯re like a son of a bitch.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re a pervert.¡± ¡°Keke. Who¡¯s calling who a pervert?¡± Barbatos sat on top of my legs. I was seated on a chair, so we naturally ended up leaning into the chair together while looking at one another. We shared another kiss. ¡°Mm¡­¡­mnn¡­¡­.¡± As a regent of a nation, the clothes Barbatos had to wear were incredibly fancy and cumbersome. I slowly removed her clothes oneyer at a time. There was no reason to hurry. At times, my fingers would remove her top and at other times she would slide her underwear off herself. Layers of clothes fell on the ground around the chair like piles of snow. Eventually, Barbatos¡¯ pure white and wless skin was revealed. In the Emperor¡¯s bedroom. The most secret ce in the Empire. ¡°Hoo, haa¡­¡­. Hey, Dantalian.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t like that you¡¯re fooling around with Gamigin.¡± Barbatos has approved of me ying with other women and I¡¯ve also dly approved of her ying with other women as well. To outsiders, we must appear like quite the entric couple. ¡°Then what should we do, our little princess?¡± I chuckled. ¡°Should we kill Gamigin as well?¡± ¡°Hmph. I¡¯m fine with you just ying with her, but she goes around thinking that you belong to her. She¡¯s an unpleasant bitch¡­¡­ Hahh.¡± I lightly flicked my tongue over Barbatos¡¯ breasts. Despite having such small breasts, they were needlessly sensitive. Once I felt like they had risen up enough, I gave them a small nibble. Rather than biting, it was more like I was grazing my teeth over them. ¡°Hauh, wait you son of a bitch. Stop acting like a dog in heat for a second¡­¡­uhh!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? I was getting to the good part.¡± I pulled my face back from her chest and furrowed my brows at her. How could she break the mood after being the one to initiate? There should be a limit to being so all over the ce. Barbatos was smiling slyly. ¡°I just had a good idea. Look.¡± Barbatos lightly waved her right hand. Once she did, Emperor Rudolf¡¯s crown flew into her hand as if it had been pulled by an invisible line. She ced the crown on her head and uttered a ¡°Tadah!¡± as she ced her hands on her hips. ¡°So? Does it look good on me?¡± ¡°¡­¡­It seems there¡¯s another person here who needs to be charged with high treason.¡± I was so taken aback that I couldn¡¯t help but let out a strainedugh. Barbatos¡¯ action was so disrespectful that it bordered on being cute. ¡°I¡¯m wearing the Emperor¡¯s crown right now.¡± ¡°Yes. This is the first time in history that a Demon Lord has put on a golden crown.¡± She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her face close to mine. She was so close that I could feel her breath. ¡°Haven¡¯t you wanted to vite someone in a position as lofty as an Emperor at least once?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A girl wearing absolutely nothing with only a golden crown on her head was undoubtedly an immoral sight. There was no way that I wouldn¡¯t be tempted by this. ¡°But promise me one thing.¡± ¡°I promise.¡± It was obvious what she was going to make me promise even without her telling me. Why would she have brought up Gamigin? She was telling me to not get distracted. ¡°You will always be the best for me, Barbatos.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You catch on needlessly fast.¡± There was probably no need to say more than this. I pressed my lips against hers. On that day, I made a mess out of Barbatos in the Emperor¡¯s bedroom, making her pass out twice. * * * A week went by like a sh after the assassination incident. Eleven archdukes were charged with three hefty crimes. First, the crime of scheming with the traitorous Baal several times and causing the Crescent Alliance expedition to fail several times. Second, the crime of arbitrarily sending a detached force to pige the southern area of Frankia during theter half of the Puppet War. Thus causing great harm to the Demon Lord Army¡¯s faith. Third, the crime of rebelling against the Holy Demon Lord Army and plotting my, the Count Ptine¡¯s assassination. In other words, we framed them for all the unsolved crimes that we had until now. All three of these usations were verified by the testimonies from the independent Demon Lords and several archdukes. The evidence was forged, but there weren¡¯t many people who knew this. The eleven archdukes and three Demon Lords were immediately executed. The execution was held in a public area, allowing many demons and humans to show up after hearing that Demon Lords were going to be executed. This was quite literally a rare sight. ¡°Curse you! Dantalian, you son of a bitch! I curse you!¡± Most of them directed their final words to me before they were executed. Brother Beleth had the honor of being the executioner today, and, as expected of someone like him, he required only single swings to decapitate the heads of Demon Lords and archdukes. His skills were impressive. Valefor was thest one. ¡°Criminal Valefor, do you have any final words?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Valefor turned to look at me before muttering emotionlessly. ¡°When Baal died, I thought that it was simply because of the passage of time. When Agares died as well, I thought that the inevitable had finally happened¡­¡­ I look around now and see that there is no one in this in of existence that is willing to defend me.¡± Valefor let out a sigh. ¡°I overlooked unnatural deaths as being natural, so my death being buried under the passage of time is the natural price I must pay. However, my foolishness is my biggest remorse¡­¡­. Leave me like this.¡± Brother Beleth nodded. Hisrge axe shed through the air and, after an audible ¡°Thuck!¡±, something dropped to the ground. The spectators cheered and apuded at the Demon Lord¡¯s death. Like this, the internal groups that could potentially be hostile to me were wiped out¡­¡­. A few people who believed that a Demon Lord¡¯s blood had miraculous effects sent their kids out to soak pieces of bread in the blood. Children came running out from between the adults. ¡°Should we stop them?¡± The guard captain asked me carefully. I shook my head. ¡°You heard hisst words, did you not? Leave him be.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The children ran off after soaking their bread in crimson blood. Their faces were shining brightly knowing that they had sessfully done what their parents had instructed them to do. This was thest scene left behind by the fourteen people that consisted of Demon Lords and archdukes. *** TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I really apologize for thete chapter. I didn¡¯t mean for this toe out sote. Just a fair bit of things happened over the weekend and at work that uploading this chapter kept slipping my mind. My brother¡¯s wife finally gave birthst weekend, so I guess I¡¯m an uncle now. My rtives from the states are also visiting and we already had dinner with them twice since it¡¯s been like 20 years since they came back to Korea. So yeah, just a whole bunch of things happened. On another note, people kept saying to have a good Japan trip, but that isn¡¯t until the end of May. I mentioned it in thest chapter because I wanted to prepare a leeway in chapters so I wouldn¡¯t leave you guys hanging for too long when I actually go. Welp, in any case, next chapter maybe sooner? Not too sure since I actually wasn¡¯t able to get much tranting done with all the family stuff going on. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 355: Neutral Nation (8) Chapter 355: Neutral Nation (8) * * * The internal cleanup was finished quickly. Demon society stirred greatly. Within only a single week, there was an assassination attempt and a purge. At first, everyone was confused about what was happening, but they quickly got riled up once we gave an official statement. ¨C Cowards that tried to kill their own kin using a method as terrible as assassination. ¨C It¡¯s shameful that we even referred to them as Demon Lords until now. ¨C Not only did they cause the Crescent Alliance to fail, but they almost foiled the recent expedition as well. They¡¯re dogs that don¡¯t know what shame or honor is. The gs that represented the six Demon Lords were set aze within the demon world cities. Among the executed Demon Lords, Ipos was once known as a splendid sculptor, but his sculptures were all destroyed in public. Despite the death of eleven archdukes, there wasn¡¯t much of a reaction in regard to that. This was probably because archdukes were more like ¡®rulers¡¯ than they were ¡®spokespeople¡¯. If anything, the Demon Lords were closer to being spokespeople. The emperor of the Roman Empire apparently dered that he was the spokesperson of the people and this was basically simr to that. Why did the people treat rulers who reach the peak of the caste as spokespeople? I feel like I had a vague idea, but also not. Well, there¡¯s no harm in letting them misunderstand on their own. In any case, this was the general situation. I wonder if it was because they read the mood, but the personal soldiers of the independent Demon Lords surrendered on their own. They courteously asked for forgiveness, so I dly gave it to them. Although about a thousand of them resisted until the very end. ¡°It was a pointless rebellion.¡± Brother Beleth grumbled as the leader of the subjugation unit. Just as he said, their defiance was absolutely pointless. With the death of their Demon Lords, the only thing they could do was crumble apart along with the already copsing Demon Lord Castles. Valefor¡¯s Demon Lord Castle, the mobile fortress , met a gant end. This Demon Lord Castle was usually standing tall in the middle of the ocean, but its outer walls slowly crumbled like there was andslide. It then kicked up a huge ssh and tidal wave as the castle submerged. ¡°It was a fairly impressive spectacle.¡± I listened in awe as Brother Beleth exined what he saw. We had rented out an entire bar in the capital and were drinking beer. ¡°Oh? It¡¯s unfortunate that I couldn¡¯t see that personally.¡± ¡°You brought that on yourself since you¡¯re always sitting in your room.¡± I honestly couldn¡¯t remember when we had started drinking. Brother Beleth grabbed me by the cor while I was working at the pce. By the time I collected myself, I was already holding a ss of beer in my hand. Well, this is fine. These kinds of days can happen. Brother Beleth spoke in a soft tone. ¡°There were about three hundred royal guards who still had the will to fight back. They could have escaped if they wanted to, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They remained until the very end.¡± ¡°Indeed. Their deaths were meaningless, but their will was beautiful.¡± Beautiful, huh? He was probably only able to say that since he was watching from a distance. I poured some beer into my mouth. ¡°So they lived and died like the flow of a waterfall.¡± ¡°Haha, who else in the world could say that their life was like a waterfall? Perhaps the mythical Hercules?¡± Brother Belethughed. ¡°Listen here, Brother! They ran about desperately in order to at least live like the droplets of water that ssh around waterfalls. They poured their all into a single moment just so that they could appear as if they were afloat, even if it was for only a brief moment.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Brother Beleth stopped there. His gaze was somewhat gentle and soft. I also understood what he was trying to say, so I didn¡¯t ask any further. We clinked our sses before naturally changing the topic. ¡°Is it about time for us to swallow the Habsburg Republic? If I remember correctly, the woman you really dislike is there, isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°The woman I really dislike, is it?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let out augh. A rare genius, the savior of Habsburg, and dictator, there were all sorts of titles you could call Elizabeth by, but Brother Beleth was probably the only one who would refer to her like this. ¡°No. I intend to wait patiently.¡± ¡°Why? Helvetica has also submitted to us. Doesn¡¯t this mean we practically have the Republic surrounded on three sides? No matter how clever that woman is, I doubt even she could do something in this situation.¡± Helvetica referred to the nation that was an alliance between dwarves and elves. They were the nation that became disillusioned after witnessing the Crescent Alliance fail over and over again for two thousand years and dered neutrality. They must¡¯ve felt concerned after I carried out myrge-scale purge as they came to us on their own feet and begged us to forgive them for leaving before. Thanks to this, Elizabeth was now surrounded by us on 3 sides: the west, north, and east. The demon world naturally cheered greatly for this voluntary submission. In truth, I had also given the representative of the Helvetica Federation a sizable threat, but that¡¯s a different topic. I looked straight at Brother Beleth. ¡°You are right. If we start a war with them now, then there is a high probability that we will win. The republic nation would fall. However, the worst-case scenario would be awaiting us afterward.¡± ¡°The worst-case scenario? What may that be?¡± Brother Beleth tilted his head. ¡°Elizabeth will abandon her own nation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± I took a sip from my beer before continuing bitterly. ¡°Brother, do you know what happens if the thing a person cherishes the most is crushed?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Of course, they would fall into despair.¡± I nodded. ¡°Most people lose to this despair; however, there are those who are able to disy an iron will even while in this despair. Those individuals then devote the remainder of their lives to revenge.¡± Elizabeth will most likely seek asylum in another nation. The ruler of a fallen nation was something that could be used politically. Especially in the case of Elizabeth since she has the blood of the Habsburg Empire running through her. Whatever nation she goes to could marry her off to some prince and make her a surrogate mother. And Elizabeth knew better than anyone else that she has a lot of value as a surrogate mother¡­¡­. ¡°The reason why Elizabeth is unable to move at the moment is due to her having something to protect. The people, ideology, and cause of her Republic. Those things have be chains and are holding her down. But what would happen if those things were to disappear?¡± ¡°I see. That would give birth to a phantom of revenge.¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°Every nation is aware that Elizabeth has military talent. She will most likely be used as a mercenarymander. Once that happens, Elizabeth will use the power and troops given to her to torment us¡­¡­.¡± She was truly a troublesomedy. We¡¯ll lose if we simply leave her alone, and if we defeat herpletely, then she¡¯lle back as a phantom of revenge. A small fry like Valefor couldn¡¯t possiblypare to how troublesome this woman is. I gave an ultimatum. ¡°We must seize an overwhelmingly dominant position over her and maintain that position. This is the best we can do.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± Brother Beleth groaned in displeasure due to how passive this stance was. But I firmly believe that this was the best solution. Fortunately, Elizabeth wasn¡¯t in possession of a hero at the moment. Daisy was bound to me by a pact and Luke was influenced by all the revolutionary ideas and thinks of Elizabeth as a dictator. Since Elizabeth doesn¡¯t have the hero card, she will probably resort to hiring assassins. The situation will improve if she can somehow kill Demon Lords. No matter how many troops we have, they¡¯re nothing if we don¡¯t have a Demon Lord tomand them. This is probably what she¡¯s thinking. In , Demon Lords only had two options. Either hole up in their Demon Lord Castle and defend it to the very end, ore out with all of their troops and push to the front. Although holing up in one¡¯s Demon Lord Castle could lower the chances of dying, it also means that your range of actions would be narrowed down immensely. You would end up at a strategic disadvantage. There is also nothing worse than allowing Elizabeth to have a strategic advantage over you. The situation doesn¡¯t improve even if youe out of your Demon Lord Castle. Elizabeth is the greatest expert in field warfare throughout all of history. Even Barbatos ended up being defeated and dying in battle against her. In the end, there are only two conclusions. Stay in your base and die of unknown causes or die horribly on a battlefield. These were quite terrible options¡­¡­. However, the current situation waspletely different. Elizabeth doesn¡¯t have an ultimate weapon that could kill Demon Lords on their own. Additionally, it was practically impossible to rely on assassins to kill Demon Lords. Therefore, Elizabeth has no other choice but to make use of a traitor on our side. If I had done nothing, then I am sure that Elizabeth would have conspired with Valefor within a few years. She would¡¯ve thoroughly investigated which Demon Lords were displeased with Dantalian and whether they existed. Maybe, no, I¡¯m certain that she¡¯s already investigating this. If it¡¯s Elizabeth, then she would be able to draw a rough outline of her n within two years. No, she would finish in less than a year. I had to hurry. This was why I snuffed out the group that was displeased with us as soon as I could¡­¡­. ¡°The only remaining method that Elizabeth could have used was shaking us from the inside. If she cannot beat us from the outside, then start from within. This is a natural sequence.¡± ¡°Mm. And you preemptively stopped this from happening.¡± That¡¯s right. You could call me paranoid. Even if the opposition is the genius Elizabeth, I may be overthinking things. But out of everyone in the world, I¡¯m the only one who knows that Elizabeth was destined to kill all of the Demon Lords. How could I not be worried? ¡°This is out of curiosity, Brother, is that the reason why you personally went when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was preparing to invade¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yes. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was allied with Elizabeth, but not anymore.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Brother Beleth drank the rest of his beer in one gulp. He mmed his ss on the table and let out a strange sound. ¡°How interesting. Doesn¡¯t this mean the two of you are treating the continent as a board and are ying a game of Go on it? Because of that woman, the kingdom moved and caused the deaths of Demon Lords and archdukes. I bet that woman would be ecstatic if she knew this! Kuhuhu. It¡¯s like the two of you are treating the continent as a marital asset and are courting each other.¡± I refilled Brother Beleth¡¯s empty ss. He finished that in a single gulp as well. He looked so delighted that I couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Brother, what is putting you in such a good mood?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I was worried that you and Barbatos were actually going out or something. Kuhaha.¡± Brother Beleth bellowed withughter. I flinched a bit. Referentially, Brother Beleth still believed that Barbatos and I were simply SM partners with me being the side that¡¯s one-sidedly abused. ¡°T-There¡¯s no way that would be the case. I am nothing more than a physical ve to Barbatos. A lump of meat that she does whatever she wishes to. Even yesterday I was whipped a whole bunch by her.¡± ¡°I see. So it turns out there is another woman you actually like!¡± Brother Beleth filled my ss with more beer. Uh, Brother? The beer is overflowing. ¡°Come to think of it, if you marry her and inherit the Republic from her, then we will be able to conquer the continent smoothly! Kuhaha! Brother, I will fully support your love!¡± ¡°No. There is almost no chance that will¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Now then, let us raise our sses!¡± I considered exining to him that a republic nation wasn¡¯t something you inherited, but I stopped myself. Brother Beleth is an absolute idiot outside his specific field. Well, it feels like a ridiculous misunderstanding was created, but it¡¯ll probably be better to leave it like this. For both me and the unfortunate Beleth. ¡°Cheers.¡± In the end, I smiled widely as I clinked my ss with Brother Beleth¡¯s. Do your best, Brother. I sincerely hope that you¡¯ll be able to escape your thousand years of virginity. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. You do have to admit, from a third-party perspective, Dantalian and Elizabeth do probably look like their interest in each other borders that of obsession. And Beleth here is interpreting that obsession as a romantic interest. Although I guess readers would want it to work out in that way as well, you know there¡¯s probably no way it¡¯ll end up like that. In any case,te chapter, life ruff as usual and busy. Spent like 300 bucks on a baby shower gift for my brother, so now I feel poor. I¡¯ll probably have to skip lunch for a week or two :^) I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 356: Diplomatic Masterpiece (1) Chapter 356: Diplomatic Masterpiece (1) ¡°Was there no additional purge that urred in the Empire?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency. Defense Command has already withdrawn from the capital.¡± ¡°¡­¡­So the chaossted for only a week?¡± Elizabeth let out a light sigh. Kurtz Schleiermacher smiled wryly as he watched from the side. Consul Elizabeth had been extremely tense for the past week ever since she heard about the assassination attempt on Dantalian. It was to the point that she stayed up for several nights only gathering information on Dantalian. Was this a nned scenario? Or was this actually an unexpected attack¡­¡­? Consul Elizabeth stated that their future actions would change ording to this. It seems that she had finally arrived at a conclusion now. ¡°Kurtz, this was a thoroughly nned scenario. There is no other way to exin it.¡± ¡°I agree. Everything wrapped up too perfectly for this to have been an unexpected crime.¡± ¡°Quite.¡± Elizabeth nodded. Kurtz followed suit as he nodded as well. It was too perfect. This was the problem. If the assassination attempt was truly unexpected by Dantalian, then one week was way too fast to reveal the culprit. ¡°He publicly announced that he was only able to survive thanks to putting up a decoy, but that was probably also a lie. I had thought that we would have been able to make a move if he had shown even a tiny opening, but I guess that was a pointless hope¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Huh? You look surprisingly calm despite things not going as you expected, Your Excellency.¡± Kurtz remarked. He didn¡¯t like it when the atmosphere got heavier than necessary. In the first ce, Elizabeth and Kurtz were 90% certain that this was a nned scenario before they even began looking into it. They were simply considering that 10%. There was no reason to be needlessly disappointed. Elizabeth nodded frankly. ¡°If anything, I should be happy that he was not assassinated.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± Kurtz thought that she would deny it, but what he received was apletely unexpected reaction. Even Kurtz knew that Consul Elizabeth had abnormal feelings for Dantalian. Kurtz gave her a partially teasing look. ¡°Do not tell me, Your Excellency. Is there actually love in that small heart of yours¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is not that, you shameless simpleton.¡± Elizabeth snorted. ¡°Our Republic is at a severe disadvantagepared to the Empire. Despite this, why do you think they have not invaded us yet? It is because Dantalian is holding on to the reins of the other Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Oh? Are you saying that the Demon Lords would run rampant if Dantalian were to die?¡± So that¡¯s what she meant? Kurtz thought to himself, feeling a little disappointed. But Elizabeth became serious. She sped her fingers together and ced her chin over them. ¡°The Demon Lords who were purged this time were probably the ones who could not be muzzled. He got rid of them now before they could stir up problemster. Kurtz, do you understand what this means?¡± ¡°Well, it means that he hasplete control over the Empire now.¡± Within only a single week. The other party hadpletely purged the group that was hostile to him within an extremely short period of time. Kurtz judged that the Empire was now no different from a toy that had fallen into Dantalian¡¯sp. Elizabeth shook her head. ¡°That is correct, but not the right answer. Why he chose to carry out his purge at a time like this is the key point.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Mm. My apologies, but I do not understand.¡± ¡°If I were Dantalian.¡± Elizabeth lowered her voice. Whenever the Consul did this, it would feel like the temperature around her had dropped. Kurtz felt a tickle on his spine as he focused on the Consul¡¯s gaze. ¡°I would have chosen a better time. He most likely knows that I want to shake the Empire from the inside.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± ¡°He could have easily taken advantage of my impatience. Digging a trap and waiting for me is more his style. Taking care of things this cleanly does not fit Dantalian¡¯s temperament.¡± ¡°Uhm, Your Excellency?¡± Kurtz was going to listen quietly, but he felt somewhat strange. He raised his hand like a student in a ssroom. Elizabeth furrowed her brows. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°My apologies, but I have been struggling to follow along since earlier. What does Your Excellency mean by shaking the inside of the Empire and that Dantalian knew? I may be your shadow in name only, but this is the first time I am hearing of this.¡± Kurtz Schleiermacher was second inmand of their secret intelligence. You could say that all pieces of information that go to Elizabeth have to go past Kurtz¡¯s eyes and ears first. However, what Elizabeth had said was something even Kurtz wasn¡¯t aware of. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Elizabeth furrowed her brows further as if she was being asked something utterly obvious. ¡°It is impossible to pressure the Empire through war and we are not capable of pressuring them through diplomacy either. In this case, the only option that I have left is to make an ally within the Empire.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Well, that is true. But are you saying that Dantalian carried out this purge because he was aware of this?¡± Elizabeth gave an immediate response. ¡°Of course. There is no way that Dantalian does not know something that I know.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Huh? Something was strange. A peculiar feeling wrapped around Kurtz. He couldn¡¯t exin it with words, but something was weird about the situation. However, Elizabeth continued before he could figure out the reason behind this feeling, so Kurtz pushed it aside for the time being. ¡°Regardless, Dantalian had to organize the internal structure of his forces as soon as possible. Kurtz, at what moment do you think a person is required to do something like this hastily?¡± ¡°Would that not be when they are nning to go somewhere far away?¡± There is a chance of a coup d¡¯¨¦tat urring during one¡¯s absence, so they would clean things up before leaving. Kurtz responded while recalling this fact. Elizabeth nodded slowly. ¡°The regent, Barbatos, would protect the Empire during Dantalian¡¯s absence. There is no way for the Empire to be destabilized while she is around. Despite this, Dantalian carried out a hasty purge¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Therefore, this means that Barbatos will be absent from the Empire with Dantalian. Adding to this, there has also been only one reason for Barbatos to move with Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Kurtz was rmed. He figured out what Elizabeth was getting at. ¡°Do not tell me. Is it war!?¡± ¡°There is a high likelihood of that. This purge may have been a preemptive measure to pluck out the weeds before going to war. This is what I believe.¡± Kurtz quickly turned the bolts in his head. ¡°It has not been long since the Puppet War ended. I doubt the Empire has a lot of war funds to spare.¡± ¡°Do you understand who were the ones that were purged? Demon Lords and also the archdukes whom we have only heard about and never seen. Either way, they stood at the top of demons, so they must have been fairly wealthy.¡± Kurtz unconsciously gulped. ¡°So Your Excellency is saying that the purge was also for the sake of acquiring war funds¡­¡­.?¡± ¡°The issue is where Dantalian has his eyes set on next.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s gaze was no longer directed at Kurtz. Her darkened eyes were now silently staring out into empty space. ¡°For now, we can be certain that Frankia is not their target. Teuton gave Dantalian a peerage, so they are also excluded. The only other options are the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or our Republic¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, do you think they are aiming for us?¡± ¡°No. There is a higher chance of it being the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are currently disputing overnd. There is more than enough ground for this to escte and be a full-on sh.¡± But, Elizabeth muttered. ¡°Great King Bathory is not an opponent you can underestimate. Even if Dantalian and Barbatos work together, he is not someone they can easily defeat. The war will undoubtedly be prolonged. This will also expose a weak point in the Empire, something which we can promptly stab into.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is why I do not understand. I question whether Dantalian will go out of his way to carry out a war that will expose a weakness to me. Dantalian is not that sort of individual¡­¡­. I cannot seem to arrive at a satisfying answer.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s question was answered surprisingly quickly. Exactly a week after this unsatisfying conversation, an official reconciliation was announced between the Habsburg Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The border area between the two nations was dered a neutral zone and distributed to the temples. The temples immensely praised the two nations¡¯ decision as ¡®a genuine decision made for the sake of peace.¡¯ Kurtz urgently ran to the Consul¡¯s office the moment he received news about the reconciliation. Dantalian wasn¡¯t aiming for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kurtz was in a hurry to report this. Now that the Commonwealth has been excluded, their Republic was the only hostile nation that shared borders with them now! Kurtz threw open the office door. As the captain of the royal guards, he had the right to visit the Consul¡¯s office whenever he desired. Elizabeth must have also been waiting for his arrival as she turned to look at him. ¡°Your Excellency!¡± ¡°It¡¯s Sardinia, Kurtz. The Kingdom of Sardinia!¡± She shouted without warning. Kurtz paused because of the unexpected statement. ¡°The Kingdom of Sardinia?¡± ¡°Did the Helvetica Federation not submit themselves to the Empire? They have a new path. Dantalian intends to cross the Alps and attack Sardinia!¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Kurtz let out a sound as he came to a realization. ¡°We will be surrounded on all four sides if Sardinia falls as well!¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Elizabeth gazed at Kurtz coldly. ¡°Sardinia is also one of our only allied nations. Our nation¡¯s economy will copse if the support from Sardinia is cut off. Dantalian intends to slowly wring us dry after threatening Sardinia and making them submit¡­¡­.¡± The Habsburg Empire was to the north, the Frankia Empire to the west, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the east, meaning these three paths were sealed. Their only remaining path was the Kingdom of Sardinia which was south of them. If Dantalian¡¯s reach manages to spread to even them, then the Republic will quite literally be surrounded on all four sides. A chill crawled up Kurtz¡¯s spine as he imagined that future. However, he also felt excited. If Dantalian is truly aiming for Sardinia, then they were probably the first people in the world to see through Dantalian¡¯s scheme! They saw through Dantalian¡¯s intent before he could even rally his troops. ¡°You are truly amazing, Your Excellency. Who else could have possibly seen through that man¡¯s n? We would have been on the receiving end of the stick again.¡± Kurtz got excited since it felt like they had predicted the future. He truly was impressed. As he thought, the woman before him was a masterpiece. Devoting his life to this person wasn¡¯t the wrong choice¡­¡­. Elizabeth nodded. ¡°Get in contact with the Kingdom of Sardinia immediately. Sardinia has been negligent in protecting its borders recently. They have been handling their national defense through their support of us. Their military power is most likely flimsy right now¡­¡­. They must prepare countermeasures as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Understood. I will call for the minister of foreign affairs.¡± Kurtz ran out of the office. He then realized where that odd feeling he felt a few days ago hade from. Until now, Elizabeth had always dealt with the continent before handling Dantalian. The continent always came first while Dantalian was second. In other words, he was nothing more than an obstacle. However, the priority between the two had switched. No, it would be better to say that her perspective had changed. She wasn¡¯t looking at the continent while handling Dantalian. She was looking at Dantalian while handling the continent. This was where the weird feeling Kurtz had felt came from¡­¡­. But did this matter? ¡®It probably isn¡¯t important.¡¯ Kurtz shook his head. This made it clear how much of a threat Dantalian was to their Republic. Dantalian must be dealt with before they can talk about the continent. That was all this meant. What Kurtz had to be worried about now was how they were going to persuade Sardinia. It won¡¯t be easy to persuade a kingdom filled with proud nobles. Kurtz thought about what he was going to tell the foreign affairs minister as he ran out of the Consul¡¯s official residence¡­¡­. *** Author¡¯s Afterword Dantalian: Hey, please stop using cheats. Elizabeth: ¡­¡­¡­¡­. A map showing the current situation around the Habsburg Empire will be uploaded to the story settings page. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I know the author mentioned a map, but I don¡¯t think I have it anymore. It¡¯s been so long that I feel like it got lost in time. It was probably in the previous Discord server before it got deleted¡­ I¡¯m not sure if anyone else is able to find it, but if you can, feel free to throw it up in thements here or in the Discord. Much appreciated. In any case, not much else to say. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 357: Diplomatic Masterpiece Chapter 357: DiplomaticMasterpiece * * * My mouth fell open. ¡°It¡¯s sorge and beautiful¡­¡­.¡± Before me was quite literally a mountain of gold and gems. The wealth that six Demon Lords and eleven archdukes had umted for the past few centuries was piled up in one spot. Even after filling seven different storages in the pce, there was still more money confiscated from the traitors left. ¡°Uhahaha! Dantalian, look at this! Gold feels like trash!¡± Barbatos was enjoying herself so much that she was giggling while buried within the gold coins. Something must have snapped inside Barbatos¡¯ head the moment she saw the pile of gold as she promptly stripped and dived into it. I panicked and tried to stop her, but she stubbornly refused, saying that this was something that she always wanted to try at least once. No, I understand how you feel¡­¡­ but Miss Regent. Could you at least try to save face? Well, that¡¯s probably a hard ask for Barbatos. It¡¯d probably be easier to ask a dog to be refined. Ivar calmly read from a document while standing next to me. ¡°There is about ny million gold in terms of hard currency and gems that can be used immediately.¡± ¡°N-Ny million gold¡­¡­.¡± I felt dizzy. If you convert the rest of my funds to Libra, then I had about 3 million gold left. Referentially, true to her name as Ivar Lodbrok, the richest person in the demon world who was currently wearing a monocle for some reason as she read the document, all of this girl¡¯s assetsbined reached about fifty million gold. ¡°Most of it was from the archdukes. The independent Demon Lords were surprisingly poor.¡± ¡°Uh, how much is considered poor¡­¡­?¡± I asked with a shaky voice. I found myself speaking formally for some reason. This was probably because the time I spent as a human was still engraved into my soul. Ivar adjusted her monocle. ¡°At most, the six individualsbined only had up to ten million gold. Hm, were they living poor but honest lives? People say that an individual¡¯s character and skills are separate, but I guess this is a prime example of that.¡± ¡°P-Poor¡­¡­ Ten million gold is poor¡­¡­.¡± This was the money sense of an individual who reigned as the top bourgeois of all bourgeoises. Did I look like some poor schr isted in the countryside in Ivar¡¯s eyes? Ivar Lodbrok, what a terrifying girl¡­¡­. While I, who was born a proletarian, was trembling beside her, Ivar smirked. ¡°Rather, the archdukes had umted exceptionally more money than the Demon Lords. In the end, even if Demon Lords didn¡¯t exist, a majority of demons would have still been suppressed by a ruler. The only difference between them is whether they¡¯re a Demon Lord or not. The two might not be so different.¡± She was right about that. However, it felt weird since Ivar was the one saying this. Ny million gold was already a lot to obtain after getting rid of eleven archdukes, but, if you look at this from a different perspective, that wasn¡¯t even twice the size of Ivar¡¯s entire wealth. This created the form where six demon lords and eleven archdukes = 2 Ivar. In other words, this was like a tycoon making fun of upstarts. I realized once again how frightening Ivar was. It¡¯s a relief that she¡¯s my woman. I leaned down and touched the gold coins. ¡°Separate five million from this. I intend to gift that to the remaining archdukes.¡± ¡°The archdukes, is it¡­¡­? I see. Do you intend to use that aspensation?¡± ¡°They must have been greatly shocked after being used as traitors.¡± I chuckled. The archdukes must be incredibly nervous because of the recent purge. They will probably hold a secret gathering as soon as they return to the demon world to discuss future countermeasures. I was going to give them a gentle nudge so that their discussion didn¡¯t go in a foolish direction. ¡°I am a thoughtful Demon Lord, after all. I¡¯ll show them some consideration so that they are able to take better care of themselves.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Also make it so that thirty million gold can be used from this pile at any time.¡± Ivar tilted her head. ¡°May this humble one ask where you intend to use such arge amount of gold?¡± ¡°What else could possibly require thirty million gold? I straightened my back. The gold coins that I was holding in my hand slid out from between my fingers. The coins rolled on the ground after the clear sound of metal colliding against metal rang out. ¡°War funds, Ivar. I will be starting a war for the girl I love.¡± * * * I sent an envoy under the name of the Habsburg Empire. The destination was the Kingdom of Sardinia. They were still going against the general trend and were supporting the Habsburg Republic extensively. We must stop their support to prevent Elizabeth from having enough strength to start a war. The issue was justification. With what cause could we threaten Sardinia? I decided to pull out an incredibly humane subject as a card. Chaos ensued as soon as my envoy delivered my message. The hand-picked envoy from Sardinia immediately came to the Habsburg pce using teleportation. The envoy protested strongly. ¡°Count Ptine, this does not make sense. This is a clear interference of domestic affairs.¡± ¡°I do not understand what you mean by that. Our nation is simply making a reasonable demand to your nation. This is a universally rightful request that goes beyond borders.¡± ¡°How can we reinstate a household that had fallen after being branded as traitors long ago¡­¡­!?¡± The envoy¡¯s splendidly grown mustache twitched in anger. I casually took a sip from my tea before down my cup. ¡°House Farnese was by no means a group of traitors. Farnese must regain the honor they have once lost. This is the collective opinion of our Empire, Marquis.¡± That¡¯s right. The House of Farnese that Laura belonged to had fallen due to a civil war called the Chrysanthemum War. Rather than a war where half of the kingdom was split and engaging in battle, it was more like the nobles had split into sides and were fighting to protect their authority. In moreplex terms, whether the next ruler would be from a direct line or a coteral line was the argument that happened in the background of that war. Regardless, there was no need to bring up their past power struggle. What¡¯s important was the fact that House Farnese had copsed because they supported the direct line. Considering how the other noble group didn¡¯t stop with simply making the House of Farnese copse, but they even turned the family¡¯s second in line, Laura, into a ve, you can tell how deeply seeded the grudge the two sides had toward each other was. It¡¯s genuinely rare to see a noble turn another noble into a ve. ¡°Count Ptine, allow us to be honest.¡± Marquis Rody who was dispatched here as an envoy lowered his voice. Although a marquis in the Empire would be a higher position than a Count Ptine like myself, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, any baron with a little bit of power could call themselves a marquis. This tendency increased even further after half of the nobles were basically killed off during the Chrysanthemum War. We naturally didn¡¯t maintain much formality. ¡°My ears are always open to wise men, Marquis.¡± ¡°House Farnese had imed that our nation¡¯s king did not have the right to seed the throne. Reinstating that family could threaten His Highness the King¡¯s legitimacy. No, it will threaten it¡­¡­!¡± I made my gaze cold. ¡°I understand your nation¡¯s circumstances, but we cannot back down either. Marquis, Laura de Farnese is His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s acting general. She hasplete control over the Habsburg Empire¡¯s generalmand.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Are you trying to denounce our nation¡¯s general by calling her the descendent of a traitor?¡± The marquis wiped his forehead with a silk handkerchief. This man who had already lost half of his hair looked like someone with a lot of body heat. ¡°Of course not, Count Ptine! I understand that this is a matter with His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s honor on the line, but please understand that this matter goes beyond solely our king, but the entire royal family as well.¡± ¡°Marquis.¡± I leaned down so that our faces were close together. ¡°This is a very simple and clear problem. Will it be our nation¡¯s honor or yours? If neither side will concede, then we have no other choice but to force it. ¡­¡­Don¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Marquis¡¯ expression contorted. He shut his eyes tightly. There was a moment of silence. Once the Marquis opened his eyes, there was a dim but also a clear look of resolve in them. ¡°This humble one is foolish and is thus incapable of speaking alchemical words that can catch the ears of others. So please tell me, Count Ptine. What degree of consideration is necessary to avoid this ¡®final warning¡¯.?¡± ¡°Only a slight bit of consideration is required.¡± I smiled. ¡°Marquis, if a formalpromise cannot be reached, then we simply have to reach an informal one. I will appreciate it if you put this into consideration.¡± ¡°Even the goddesses will be incapable of hearing our conversation. I swear this upon my family¡¯s name.¡± I nodded. I always appreciated people who understood quickly. ¡°Cease your aid of the Habsburg Republic.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Republic refuses to acknowledge His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s right to the throne. They im that we are in the wrong and that their newly established nation will inherit the name of Habsburg¡­¡­. Since the founding of our nations, we have refused to acknowledge one another.¡± The resolved Marquis¡¯ gaze didn¡¯t waver. However, he was probably calcting how difficult it will be to aplish this informal proposal as hisplexion was growing darker by the minute. ¡°If the legitimacy of Sardinia¡¯s royal family is the problem, then it is also a problem for our nation¡¯s royal family. I trust that you understand why this may be the case.¡± The Marquis had no way of talking back. The logic behind being unable to restore the House of Farnese was due to their desire to maintain their royal family¡¯s legitimacy. However, if they respond by saying that they won¡¯t stop aiding the Republic, then they would basically be saying that they only cared about their legitimacy and not the legitimacy of our nation¡¯s royal family. Either restore the House of Farnese or stop aiding the Republic. The Marquis realized that both options were extreme. His voice sounded hoarse. ¡°¡­¡­The reason we are supporting the Republic is not due to being hostile to your nation.¡± ¡°I am aware. Even if you exclude the matter of national defense, there are still the domestic issues that remain.¡± I slowly raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°In order to fill out the empty positions that were created after half of your nation¡¯s noble families were wiped out during the Chrysanthemum War, you most likely had to appoint wealthymoners to those positions. They naturally have a more favorable opinion of republicanism. Of course, your nation has always been close to republicanism.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your newly formed faction of government officials must be strongly supporting the aid of the Republic. Rather than being worried about how you are going to persuade the royal family, Marquis, you are most likely more worried about persuading these government officials.¡± The Marquis let out a sigh. ¡°You have a better understanding of our nation¡¯s domestic affairs than me. You are right. Our support of the Republic is not only due to diplomatic reasons. There has always been a fair number of youngsters who greatly admire Consul Elizabeth.¡± ¡°I understand. The Consul has written all sorts of books, after all.¡± ¡°Thank you for understanding.¡± The Kingdom of Sardinia was ced in quite a perilous position. If they ept our request to stop aiding the Republic, then their bourgeois government officials would revolt. They¡¯re capable individuals and are incredibly crucial to managing their kingdom. However, if they refuse our request, that would put an end to both a formalpromise and an informal one. In other words. ¡°However, being able to understand each other¡¯s situation does not always lead to consideration. asionally, understanding is powerless and instead gives birth to disappointment about what could have been.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Truly wise words, Count Ptine.¡± The time forpromise was now over. The only option left is war. ¡°Marquis, would it be fine for me to conclude that I will be disappointed in life again today?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Sweat started to bead on the Marquis¡¯ forehead. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. A storm¡¯s brewing as another war is drawing near. Nothing too much to say this chapter. I might end up painfully busy by the end of this month. 3 games that I¡¯ve partially tranted for areing out this month, so I expect them to send us additional batches for like patch notes and events soon. I just got to survive another month and a half and I can finally go on that Japan trip¡­ Oh God, please give me the strength to not die before then due to work overload. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 358: Diplomatic Masterpiece (3) Chapter 358: Diplomatic Masterpiece (3) ¡°¡­¡­I will meet General de Farnese in person.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Was he going to try to persuade her in person? The Marquis¡¯ efforts to try and stop the war weremendable. No, describing it as pitiable in this situation would probably be more appropriate. ¡°I will tell you this beforehand, but persuading the General in person will be impossible.¡± ¡°This is unreasonable. We cannot allow our nations to be ravaged by war because of a single family that copsed years ago. If the General is even remotely concerned about the hardship that the people will have to experience, then I am sure that she will change her mind.¡± I chuckled. ¡°General Laura is my lover, Marquis.¡± ¡°Are you saying that there is no more room for discussion¡­¡­?¡± The Marquis groaned. Despite this, he stubbornly insisted on meeting Laura at least once. He was going out of his way to use an expensive teleportation scroll to go all the way to my territory, so I had no reason to stop him. Of course, nothing came from his trip. The Marquis returned to his nation with gloomy steps. I formally ran diplomatic channels. Regaining the honor of His Excellency the Emperor¡¯s acting general is an incredibly natural course of action and we requested the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s cooperation in this matter. I also didn¡¯t forget to mention that we wouldpensate them appropriately if they reinstate the House of Farnese. None of the ambassadors from the other nations thought much of this matter after they heard my request. We weren¡¯t even asking them to hand over thend that the House of Farnese had once ruled before. We were simply asking them to remove their brand as traitors. A hundred thousand gold was also offered aspensation. This probably looked like a simple matter to them. ¦¯ ¨C We cannot acknowledge the reinstatement of traitors! ¦¯ However, the atmosphere became strange the moment the Kingdom of Sardinia announced their refusal. They most likely utilized their informants as much as possible. Each nation figured out that this matter involved the pride of Habsburg¡¯s imperial family and Sardinia¡¯s royal family. Well. the Chrysanthemum War was a rather famous civil war, so it wouldn¡¯t be hard to piece things together. I put on a big performance at this point. ¦¯ ¨C His Excellency the Emperor cherishes his acting general greatly. ¨C We will immediately offer apensation fee of 150,000 gold if you reinstate the Farnese Duchery. ¦¯ I made it appear as if the Empire genuinely did not want a war. The Kingdom of Sardinia tly refused, saying that we shouldn¡¯t get involved in their internal matters and that they didn¡¯t needpensation. We hastily raised thepensation fee from 150,000 to 170,00 and then 200,000. It most likely appeared like we were doing our utmost to avoid conflict. Nevertheless, the Kingdom of Sardinia adamantly refused. Once the situation got to this point, the diplomats from the other nations started to voice theirints. Isn¡¯t the other party refusing too tly when the Empire¡¯s Emperor is going out of his way to make this personal request? However, they didn¡¯tin publicly. They were simply concerned that this trivial matter would lead to a diplomatic conflict. This was the perfect moment. ¦¯ ¨C Our nation promises to cease our strife with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and we are resolved to cooperate with the Commonwealth eternally. ¨C The border between our nations will permanently be a neutralnd and we shall offer thisnd to the Gods in order to set our decision in stone. ¦¯ We abruptly announced our reconciliation with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Every nation on the continent weed this decision. They had been worried that another war might ur since Great King Bathory had issued a call to arms. The temples received freend without having to do anything, so they apuded us fervently. The Empire wishes for peace. We made this image clear. Adding on to this, Great King Bathory also took part in the ¡®performance¡¯. ¦¯ ¨C Anyone is capable of speaking about ¡°peace¡±, but the true form of peace is being able to concede half a step to others. Wars continue to unfold because people refuse to take this half-step¡­¡­. However, the Empire is different. ¨C I cannot help but be moved by their genuine desire for peace. I simply wished for a peaceful solution, but the Empire took the extra step and proposed eternal peace. ¨C The empire has shown me and the nations of the continent what it truly means to consider peace. We must learn from them. ¦¯ It was around this point that the curse on Great King Bathory¡¯s little sister was bing weaker thanks to the necromancer we had dispatched. This was the Great King¡¯s way of paying us back for treating his sister. Well, this probably wasn¡¯t enough to say that he had paid us backpletely. From a broader perspective, this meant that Great King Bathory was paying us back for saving his little sister¡¯s life by saying a few words. He¡¯s pretty sly despite looking like a bear. The Kingdom of Sardinia must be bewildered. Yesterday¡¯s ally had be today¡¯s foe. While under this atmosphere of love and peace that was spreading throughout the continent, I gantly proposed apromise again. ¨C We will pay apensation fee of 230,000 Libra if you reinstate the Farnese Duchery. Which was followed by another firm refusal. The ambassadors raised their voices once things had gotten this far. They added all sorts of diplomatic modifiers, but if you removed all the needless bits, then it became simple. ¨C Stop ruining the good mood! ¨C ¡­¡­. The Kingdom of Sardinia most likely felt that this was unfair. Why should the warm atmosphere over the continent matter to them? They had to go through a bloody civil war in order to determine their rightful ruler. If they reinstate a traitorous household now, then what would that make of all the blood they had shed? This was quite literally irrational meddling in their domestic affairs. The royal family of Sardinia and their nobles got together to respond to theints from themunity of nations. House Farnese was their enemy. Let¡¯s not beat around the bush. The Kingdom of Sardinia was no match for me. I saved a trump card I could use this entire time waiting for this moment. Now that we had an advantage in this game, there was no need to hold back anymore. I made the deration that I had been hiding. ¨C Laura de Farnese is the symbol and proof that man and demonkind have united! Themander-in-chief of the Empire is a human and it is under hermand that all races are able to move in perfect order. How can you brand such a symbolic individual as a traitor!? ¨C Sardinia is severely threatening the banner that represents the peace between races. How can one not bemoan their near-sightedness? ¨C I understand that Sardinia has its own circumstances; however, nothing cane before the evesting peace between humans and demonkind. I performed quite literally a diplomatic carpet bombing. Iid out a fierce torrent of criticism as if the docile desire I had shown forpromise until now had been a lie. This matter about reinstating a single family had gotten blown out of proportion to the point of no return. With the reconciliation with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the foundation, this matter expanded and became about whether this mood of reconciliation was going to be maintained or broken. Adding to this, this also became a matter of whether they were going to acknowledge the symbol that represents the union between humans and demons! This was actually the most fundamental form of rhetoric. Over-interpret the other party¡¯s statement as much as possible while minimizing your own. In other words, your nation refusing to reinstate a family doesn¡¯t end with only that but you are also, ¡°raining on the peace that was spreading throughout the nations,¡± and that, ¡°you are ruining the unity between demons and humans which was finally being established¡±. Compared to that, all we want is the reinstatement of a single family. This over-interpretation tactic is effective not only in arguments between people but in diplomatic disputes between nations as well. This was the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯splete and utter defeat in this game. I sat on the terrace of the imperial pce as I watched the setting evening sun. The amber ray of the sun shimmered through the wine ss that I was holding in my right hand. ¡°This is the key factor of rhetoric, Daisy.¡± My chest was filled with a deep feeling of satisfaction. I used the continent as a chessboard and isted a single nation. There was nothing more satisfying than this. ¡°Do you know what is most important in rhetoric?¡± ¡°Cornering the other party.¡± Daisy answered as she refilled my ss with wine. I chuckled. ¡°As I thought, you are thick-headed. You always know only one thing but never two.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Remember this. Victory is always secondary when ites to rhetoric.¡± I quenched my throat with wine before continuing. ¡°There is one mistake that anyone who thinks they are good at arguing always makes. It is the fact that they treat arguments as duels between them and the other party.¡± ¡°Are you saying that they are not?¡± ¡°Naturally. When I was facing the Kingdom of Sardinia, I was not only fighting them. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Frankia, Teuton, and Batavia, these other nations were also watching.¡± Rhetoric goes beyond the ability to embellish your argument. You aren¡¯t just defeating the opponent, you have to persuade the masses and spectators as well. That is rhetoric. ¡°Even if I managed to win an argument, what point would there be if my voice was noisy, my actions were not disciplined, and there was no cause in my statement? I would lose the interest of the spectators! In the end, I would be winning the battle but losing the war.¡± Therefore, rhetoric is like a duel between diators, not knights. For diators, they have to go beyond simply defeating their opponent as they have to do so ¡®impressively¡¯. They have to garner the interest of the spectators and gain poprity. Only when the spectators begin to chant, ¡°Kill! Kill! Kill!¡± at the fallen opponent is when you can im to have truly won. ¡°From start to finish, you must camouge your side as being righteous. You must convince everyone that you are the righteous ones. War can be discussed after all this has been said and done.¡± ¡°¡­¡­But Father, the cause is stillcking to enter into a war.¡± I nodded. ¡°Indeed. We are certainlycking the final mes.¡± I gazed at the setting sun through my wine ss. The amber rays curved smoothly over the ss. ¡°At a time like this, we simply have to gift them that ember.¡± Four dayster, around the time the criticism from international society was bing more intense. An individual named Earl Pavia from the Kingdom of Sardinia dropped a bombshell. ¨C Laura de Farnese was a lowlife who was sold as a sex ve at one point. ¨C The girl escaped from a ve auction and fled to Habsburg. She survived by selling herself to the demons. Not only is it utterly unreasonable to reinstate a traitorous family, but how could we appoint a sex ve as a duchess!? Referentially, Pavia was the city where Laura¡¯s ve auction was held. This bombshell shook the diplomatic stage intensely. This was something that anyone who looked into the matter already knew, but no one had revealed it publicly. It was natural. Belittling the acting general of Habsburg¡¯s Emperor would undeniably be treated as explicit nder. Earl Pavia most likely thought this was a chance to turn their disadvantageous situation around. He circted the proof about Laura¡¯s past as a sex ve however he wanted. Most of the material he was using was the stuff that we had sent secretly. Well, the Earl himself probably believed that he had found this evidence himself. The bombshell was clearly effective. The nobles who clearly supported ss hierarchy carefully supported Sardinia. If the diplomatic battle continued like this, then we might have ended up at a disadvantage. However, there was something the Earl didn¡¯t consider. That being, the fact that we never intended to end this situation with a diplomatic battle. ¡°Rally the troops.¡± ¡ªWe had more than enough cause now. Let us bring down the iron mace on those who dare to insult the Empire¡¯s supreme general. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t have much to say this time. I¡¯m just counting the days that go by. Just another month¡­ I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 359: Diplomatic Masterpiece (4) Chapter 359: Diplomatic Masterpiece (4) This era was thoroughly a hierarchicalsociety. Being branded as not a ve but a sex ve was a dishonor that could not be washed off. Nobles and evenmoners didn¡¯t treat sex ves as people. There have always been suspicions about Laura being an illegitimate child since the past. This basically made it so that the Empire was requesting a young girl who was once an illegitimate child and a sex ve to be appointed as a duchess. People would most likely treat this as a ridiculous request. This was a splendid response from the Kingdom of Sardinia. You won the argument. But you are fools. You forgot that victory and defeat are only secondary issues in arguments. Our Empire had done our utmost. We utilized all sorts of methods for the continent¡¯s peace and to preserve the reconciliation between races. Despite all this, your nation made a shameful personal attack and disregarded all of the consideration we had shown you¡­¡­. People will most likely understand where Sardinia ising from with their statement. They couldn¡¯t possibly give a sex ve the peerage of a duchess. They¡¯re right about that. However, the people could not help but scowl. Is it truly right to disregard the potential unity between nations and races? She is only a single ve. Could they not overlook this matter just this once for the sake of a greater cause? Setting aside whether this was right or not, Sardinia looked incredibly petty. They were narrow-minded and short-sighted. They couldn¡¯t erase this negative impression¡­¡­. This was quite literally taking a step back to take two steps forward. The Empire lost the argument, but they gained the favor of the people. Now the only thing left to do was to wrap this up. I borrowed the Emperor¡¯s mouth to perform for the public. Emperor Rudolf wrote a long deration and sent it to the embassies of the other nations. Government officials read the derations out loud in the city zas. ¨C I announce this to all people. Lawbreakers who have been sneaking around our continent like ghosts, heed my solemn vow. ¨C Let it be known that, henceforth, the great Empire of Habsburg proims theplete emancipation of all individuals who have been enved through uwful means. Any and all documents of ownership that have been uwfully stamped without following the proper protocols shall be rendered null and void. ¨C Listen carefully, Kingdom of Sardinia. Your treatment of the families who were vanquished in your recent civil strife was beyond reprehensible. Even if one were to ept the execution of elders and infants for three generations, what sort of barbaric behavior would lead you to traffic a daughter of a noble duke as a sex ve!? ¨C The honor of nobility may ultimately reside with the King, but it has been a long-standing tradition to uphold the dignity of nobles, even if they havemitted treason. They should be afforded the respect to live and die with their nobility intact. ¨C However, it is with great regret that I must ask for the forgiveness of the Goddess Mnemosyne, for some have forgotten the very basics of respecting nobles, let alone their fellow humans. During the Chrysanthemum War, the House of Farnese fell, and its youngest member, Laura de Farnese, was only a mere fourteen years of age. ¨C Despite her having no involvement in their quarrel, you ruthless individuals seized her and turned her into a sex ve, driven by your own petty grudges. ¨C To this day, you still refuse to make amends and instead respond with anger and hostility, leaving me at a loss for words at your shamelessness. ¨C I am not one to shy away from anger, and I shall make it known that I am proud of my indignation in the face of such depravity. May the Goddesses themselves bear witness to my vow to bring justice for the innocent victim, Laura de Farnese. ¨C Listen well, you savages whomitted a heinous act of violence against an innocent child under the guise of authority. As the sovereign of the Empire, I issue this stern warning to you. ¨C It is imperative that the Kingdom of Sardinia issues an official apology to Lady Laura de Farnese and bestows upon her the prestigious title of duchess without dy. Additionally, I demand the swift return of the region of Parma to its rightful ruler, the House of Farnese. Lastly, let it be known that Earl Pavia must make a personal apology to me for his reprehensible nder of the Empire¡¯s esteemed acting general. ¨C This is my ultimatum to you, and it shall not waver. ¨C Take heed of the fates of those who disregarded the warnings of our Empire. If you cannot learn from the lessons of history, then let history bear witness to your own downfall! The deration had an immense impact. There were several weighty subjects covered in the deration. The fact that the Empire was going to thoroughly regte illegal ve auctions, the fact that the Emperor of the Empire had publicly condemned the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s royal family, and that the two nations were now in a highly vtile situation¡­¡­. As expected, the true essence resided in gaining the favor of the people. The idea of elevating a former sex ve to the rank of duchess may seem ludicrous, but it is equally absurd that a duke¡¯s esteemed daughter was subjected to sexual very in the first ce! People were now split into sides. One side still insisted that a former sex ve should not be made a duchess while the other side condemned Sardinia, saying that they were the ones at fault for turning her into a sex ve in the first ce. Their thorough sense of ss distinction was what ended up dividing them. ¡ªHowever, neither side held a favorable opinion of Sardinia. Shall we organize the situation? First, Sardinia was right in the fact that they couldn¡¯t elevate a former sex ve to the rank of a duchess. Second, it was, however, also Sardinia¡¯s responsibility for having turned the esteemed daughter of a duke into a sex ve in the first ce. Third, despite the rity of who held the most responsibility, Sardinia disregarded the peace of the continent and the unity of races as they continued to not acknowledge their mistake. The nobles of every nation quickly came to a conclusion. Most of their anger came from the second matter. Even if a noble turned out to be a traitor, selling a duke¡¯s daughter off as a ve was going too far. The Empire had lost the argument at first. However, by gaining the favor of the people and the sentimental support of nobles, the Habsburg Empire managed to take an advantageous standing. Now then. This was checkmate. The Kingdom of Sardinia was now only capable of choosing between epting or refusing the Empire¡¯s ultimatum. I deliberately phrased the Emperor¡¯s deration in a rude tone. The reason was simple. Even if they wanted to ept the proposal, it would probably be impossible topromise because of how arrogant and impudent his tone was. Doing so would make the royal family of Sardinia appear like cowering dogs that scurried away after being scolded by the Emperor. The royal family¡¯s honor would hit rock bottom. It was quite literally an ultimatum. A proposal that absolutely could not be epted. In the end, the sequence of events was predetermined. Whether he wanted to or not, the King of Sardinia had toe out strong. He imed that the Empire has lost their wit due to being old and diseased and that they are going around like senile old men spreading their distaste for everything around them. ¨C The Empire must apologize for their disrespect to us before we apologize to Laura de Farnese. ¨C We will reinstate the House of Farnese as an earldom, two ranks lower than that of a duchy. ¨C Earl Pavia had simply stated the truth, and, although it is possible for him to give a personal apology, an apology from the Kingdom is not possible. In short, they were telling us to fuck off. I let out a snort as I read the document sent by Sardinia. ¡°No matter how I read it, this appears like a deration of war, Marquis.¡± The person who came to personally deliver this diplomatic document was the same envoy as before, Marquis Rody. He kept wiping the sweat off of his forehead as he observed my reaction. Some sincerity could at least be seen in the fact that they were willing to reinstate Farnese as an earl family. This was probably their attempt to find a way to maintain their royal family¡¯s dignity while also satisfying our request. The issue was that it was far toocking. The royal family of Sardinia still believed that they had a way to save face. I will teach them that their belief is baseless andes from megalomania. ¡°Count Ptine, His Excellency the Emperor of Habsburg had disregarded the honor of our nation far too much¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Honor? Did you just say ¡®honor¡¯ to me, Marquis?¡± I smiled coldly. ¡°I will tell you what honor is. Honor is refusing to overlook injustice. Honor is sincerely apologizing for an injustice that has already passed. The only honor your nation¡¯s royal family possesses is one that has been picked up off the street like a dog and is filled with disrespect.¡± ¡°You are going too far!¡± I took out a scroll from my coat and tossed it to the Marquis. The Marquis was taken aback as he caught the scroll thatnded on his chest with both arms. ¡°Count Ptine, what may this be?¡± ¡°There is no such thing as going too far between us now. Marquis, that is a deration of war.¡± The Marquis closed his eyes and despaired. ¡°O Goddess¡­¡­.¡± ¡°His Excellency the Emperor predicted that your nation would refuse to give a sincere apology. How can a country that cannot care for a single girl¡¯s honor possibly care for another nation¡¯s honor? That is what His Excellency stated.¡± I reached for the small bell on a desk and rang it, the clear sound of which brought Daisy into the reception room. ¡°Did you call for me, Father?¡± ¡°The Marquis is about to return to his nation. Please kindly escort him to the pce entrance!¡± This was a clear dismissal. The Marquis aged about twenty years in an instant. He almost looked like he had be a hunchback with the way his strength was drained from his body. He left the reception room with aimless steps. I went to the window and watched as the Marquis left the pce. The Marquis stopped once to look back at the pce. He soon covered his face with his right hand and stayed like that for a while before continuing on his way with lifeless steps. ¡°Saintess Longwy.¡± I activated themunication orb that was on the desk after I confirmed the Marquis¡¯ departure. A blue fog soon started to flow out from the orb. Within the fog was the appearance of Saintess Jacqueline Longwy. ¡°The deration of war was just given. Please make preparations.¡± ¨C So a war is really happening in the end. Are you happy that things are going your way? Saintess Longwy let out a forcedugh. She was a master at raising the ends of her mouth to taunt other people. Although her smile had enough destructive power to make a grown man grab at his hair and roll around in anger, I never felt particrly angry with her ever since we drank together that one time. I instead returned her taunt with a pleased smile. ¡°Yes, I am quite happy. I will be able to give you a gift thanks to this. I do hope that it is able to satisfy you.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­Tsk. Saintess Longwy visibly clicked her tongue. Is it really okay for this woman to be a saintess? I¡¯m starting to suspect that the Temple of Athena is filled with nothing but masochists. ¨C All right. I will get in contact with the Queen. ¡°That isn¡¯t all. The Habsburg Empire has formerly denounced the illegal trading of ves, and the selling of ves is something the temples have always disapproved of.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­Are you telling me to make our temple publicly announce its support of the Empire? ¡°There is no reason for it to be a formal announcement from the temple. It will most likely be difficult for a temple to openly denounce the trading of ves. However, it should not matter if a saintess were to offer her ¡®personal¡¯ support.¡± Saintess Longwy furrowed her brows. A beautiful woman furrowing her brows was still beautiful. ¨C A saintess¡¯ statement itself is already an extension of their temple. A saintess cannot possess a statement that belongs purely to them and them alone. Are you not aware of something as simple as this? ¡°It is fine. Even if it is not formal, we simply have to make it be formal.¡± ¨C An informal formal statement? I smiled. ¡°Did we not give the temples freend during the negotiation with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? It may have only been in name, but that still increased the amount of territory under the control of the temples. Would they not have to repay us for this?¡± ¨C ¡­¡­I see. If they can pay back their debt through a saintess¡¯ personal supporting statement instead of making a formal one themselves, then that would benefit them as well¡­¡­. ¡°Exactly.¡± Saintess Longwy let out a sigh. ¨C You truly are awful. I am praying to the Goddess in the hopes that you will one day fall dead in the middle of a road soon. ¡°The Goddesses love me, so I doubt that they will grant that prayer.¡± Saintess Longwy let out a snort before ending themunication there. The next day, the Habsburg Empire officially announced its deration of war on the Kingdom of Sardinia. Saintess Longwy also announced her support of the Empire¡¯s stance on ve trading. The other saintesses also announced their support as if they didn¡¯t want to lose to the Saintess of Athena. This support inevitably made it appear as if they supported the Empire¡¯s deration of war. I¡¯ll give Sardinia my condolences beforehand. Give up now. Your opponent just happened to be a bit malicious. Think of this as stepping on some dog shit in the middle of the road. Of course, you¡¯re also slipping on that shit and cracking your skull¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. A portion of Dantalian¡¯s message to Sardinia was brought to you by ChatGPT. I sort of wanted to give it a try to help me write lines that sound more like they came from the appropriate setting without being ye¡¯ olde English. ChatGPT is still very bad when ites to tranting stories and dialogue, but it at least knows how to rephrase already-written lines. I did have to adjust a fair bit of it to be more appropriate with DD cause some of the lines it suggested were definitely way too over the top. In any case, I almost forgot to upload this chapter today¡­ so yeah. Almost woops. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 360: Chrysanthemum War II (1) Chapter 360: Chrysanthemum War II (1) The Empire organized an army of 30,000 as an expeditionary force. Rather than say that they were organized, it would probably be more urate to say that they were hired. I wasn¡¯t going to send even a single member of the Demon Lord Army out in this war. I intended to go to war while using nothing but mercenaries. Mercenaries strangely give off the impression that they are lower quality than national soldiers, but the truth is the exact opposite. A majority of the people in this era are farmers. As the saying goes that only ¡®those with experience know¡¯, mercenaries that live off of fighting are naturally better than farmers that farm all year. However¡­¡­mercenaries are expensive. Extremely expensive. It¡¯s different by country, but a normal mercenary soldier receives a sry of 500 gold a year. Not 50 gold. 500. This is important, so I said it twice. Let¡¯s assume you were to hire a mercenary unit of a thousand strong consisting solely of regr foot soldiers¡­¡­that would mean a whopping 500,000 gold coins per year! 10,000 soldiers would result in five million gold being drained out. At this point, you¡¯d be waging war with money and not soldiers. Adding to this, cavalrymen are much more expensive than foot soldiers. To put it simply, they are usually twice the price. Now then, let¡¯s do the math. I want to hire 20,000 foot soldiers and 7,000 cavalrymen to conduct this war. 500 gold per foot soldier and 1,000 gold per cavalryman. That¡¯s 20,000¡Á500 and 7,000¡Á1,000. In conclusion, I would have to pay 17 million gold in mercenary fees every year. ¡°That is too expensive.¡± Lapis gave a short answer. I consulted with Lapis about how we were going to process this huge sum of money. I could have relied on the expert economist Ivar, but she was currently busy trying to organize all the money we had collected from the archdukes. I felt bad about it, so I called Lapis instead. ¡°We have ny million for taking care of those archdukes, so this much should be fine¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That is the money you will be using to manage the Empire. It would be best to save as much as possible.¡± Lapis coldly moved the beads on an abacus. ¡°From my calction, we can lower the cost of foot soldiers down to 300 gold.¡± ¡°Huh? How?¡± ¡°Hire most of our mercenaries from Helvetica.¡± I tilted my head. ¡°Aren¡¯t the Helvetica mercenaries the most expensive?¡± Helvetica is a federation of other races. The elves and dwarves, fearing persecution from humans, took refuge in the mountains and established their base there. Over time, they honed their skills and began creating highly trained mercenary forces, which became the main source of their livelihood. As a result, the entire nation essentially transformed into a massive mercenarypany. Dwarves are physically capable fighters while elves are hunters by nature. The mercenaries of Helvetica are known as the best mercenaries thanks to their superiorbat power, high morale, and, most importantly, their loyalty to their employer. Lapis narrowed her eyes as she turned my way. ¡°You truly are ignorant when ites to money, Sir Dantalian. Is the structure of your brain different from that of normal people? You are surprisingly excellent when ites to certain areas, but I struggle to understand why you are so below average when ites to economics.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Lapis is probably the only person in the world who would call me an idiot¡­¡­. I pouted. ¡°Yea, I¡¯m an idiot. In any case, what sort of magic trick must be pulled off to lower it to 300 gold?¡± ¡°Did the Helvetica Federation not voluntarily submit themselves to us after we set an example by purging those archdukes? They are currently afraid that you may try to purge them as well.¡± I let out an ¡°Ah¡±. I hadn¡¯t thought about that. ¡°They submitted themselves to us, so I can tell them to prove their loyalty!¡± ¡°Of course, if you do not offer any pay, then there will be bacsh. However, there should be no problem with hiring them for a reasonably low fee.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why you said 300 gold¡­¡­.¡± Lapis nodded. ¡°I looked into this matter. In Habsburg and Teuton, foot soldiers can be hired for approximately 500 gold. In the Kingdom of Castile, it ranges from 450 to 475 gold. In Batavia, 300 gold is themon price.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Batavia was surprisingly cheap. Once I gave Lapis a curious look, she immediately gave me an answer. ¡°It is because the payment method is different. Batavia requires their pay to be given in cash every 10 days. On the other hand, the other nations often receive their pay through credit after 3 to 6 months.¡± ¡°I see. So it is a matter of trust¡­¡­.¡± I understood now. Batavia is a wealthy country, so they give their pay at the proper times. ¡®Work and you will be rewarded,¡¯ this was their form of trust. Compared to them, the other nations carried the risk of not being paid even after risking your life. Naturally, mercenaries would want to be hired in Batavia. That was why you could hire them for such a low price. ¡°Therefore, 300 gold is the lowest acknowledgeable amount.¡± Lapis¡¯ blue eyes glimmered. ¡°Although there is not much trust built between you and the Republic of Batavia, you still have the right to make them prove their loyalty. I am sure Helvetica will understand as well.¡± ¡°All right!¡± I gave a satisfied nod. ¡°Lapis, go have a match with the leaders of the Helvetica Federation! I will give you the Emperor¡¯s seal, so use it however you see fit.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± The very next day, Lapis was appointed as the Emperor of Habsburg¡¯s universal agent. She was dispatched to the Helvetica Federation and managed to settle all of the contracts within a week. I don¡¯t know the details, but Lapis actually managed to hire foot soldiers for 300 gold per soldier, and cavalrymen for 600 gold per soldier. This was already enough to receive a bravo, but this wasn¡¯t all that she had managed to do. I have no idea how she threatened them, but the leaders of Helvetica must¡¯ve been quite terrified as they went as far as to promise to cover the wages of 2,000 cavalrymen themselves! Now I only had to pay 5,000 cavalrymen out of the 7,000 we hired. Thus, the expenditure that could have potentially been 17 million gold was sessfully brought down to 9 million by Lapis. She had basically cut down the cost by half! That¡¯s right. I have to be modest and acknowledge it here. Compared to Lapis, I am but a firefly underneath the moon. A mere child reciting a poem before Charles Pierre Baudire. A novice performing necromancy before Barbatos. I must look like an idiot who was about to waste 8 million gold in Lapis¡¯ eyes. Praise the great Lapis Lazuli, the azure subus! ¡°Lapis! You are the best!¡± I ran out barefooted the moment Lapis returned from Helvetica and pulled her into a hug. The barefooted part wasn¡¯t some sort of idiom. I was quite literally barefooted. I wasn¡¯t wearing shoes because I had just been having sex with Gamigin. ¡°Truly, I appointed the best person as my prime minister! No one else can possiblypare. Lapis is the best!¡± Lapis gave a curt response while being held in my arms. ¡°¡­¡­Sir Dantalian, this is the imperial pce where proper etiquette is highly valued.¡± ¡°The Empire is an extension of me, so it is fine to ignore that kind of etiquette!¡± ¡°The maids are watching. This is embarrassing.¡± Her tone was blunt with not even a hint of embarrassment. I was willing to go as far as to put her on my back and do ap around the pce, but I held myself back because Lapis looked at me as if I were a piece of food waste. That gaze made me realize why the leaders of Helvetica must have been terrified. Lapis is a terrifying girl¡­¡­. ¡°It must have been tiring going to and from Helvetica, right? Do you want some refreshing wine?¡± ¡°My trip was carried out through teleportation magic. I have no fatigue whatsoever.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­that¡¯s right! Then how about a back massage? Despite my appearance, I am someone whose massaging skills were praised as even Barbatos suggested that I should stop being a Demon Lord and be a masseuse instead.¡± ¡°I am fine. Also, Her Excellency was not praising you, she was being sarcastic, Sir Dantalian.¡± I was so proud of Lapis for saving us 8 million gold that I wanted to do something for her. I suddenly felt a gaze. I turned around to see Daisy sidencing me with a bleary look. It was almost like she had witnessed something she shouldn¡¯t have. I erased the expression on my face as I faced her. ¡°What are you looking at? Is there something you want to say?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Nothing.¡± Daisy spoke with an expression that appeared as if she were holding back a sigh. ¡°Should I bring some wine from the storage, Father?¡± ¡°It is a relief to know that you have at least some tact left in your brain. If you did not suggest that, then I would have started to suspect whether your head contained a skull or a bucket. Stop dawdling and go fetch the wine.¡± I then turned back to speak affectionately to Lapis. ¡°Come to think of it, I haven¡¯t given you a vacation yet. How about taking one now? You¡¯ve been working non-stop for over five years, so it¡¯s high time you took a break. I actually had a mansion built in Niflheim, and I¡¯d be more than happy to lend it to you as a vacation home.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Haa.¡± I heard Daisy let out a sigh behind me. That girl is a gloomy child anyway. She probably felt the irrationality of life again. It didn¡¯t matter to me whether she despaired over that irrationality or not, so I ignored her. Thanks to Lapis¡¯ outstanding performance, I was able to greatly reduce our spending. Feeling invigorated, I ordered our troops to advance. With a total military strength of 27,000, and Laura de Farnese as themander-in-chief. It was the best mercenaries being led by the bestmander. * * * ¡°Your Excellency Consul, the imperial army has set off for war.¡± Kurtz Schleiermacher promptly gave his report after entering the office. Elizabeth took a sip from her beverage that had vinegar in it before posing a question. ¡°This ister than anticipated. Their numbers?¡± ¡°We estimate that it is between twenty to forty thousand.¡± Elizabeth furrowed he brows. ¡°That range is too wide. Twenty and forty thousand areparable to heaven and earth, General Schleiermacher.¡± ¡°I am ashamed. We released as many spies as possible, so we should be able to get a more precise number¡­¡­. Furthermore, there is a reason why it has been difficult to estimate their numbers.¡± ¡°A reason?¡± Kurtz nodded his head. ¡°The Crescent Alliance has not been rallied. Be it Barbatos or the troops under hermand, neither of them has moved. Your Excellency, it appears that the Empire intends to go to war with only mercenaries.¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We still do not know why they have decided to do this. No matter how easy mercenaries are to use, they cannotpare to an army of demons.¡± Elizabeth fell into a long silence after Kurtz finished speaking. She continued to think with her ss against her lips even after finishing her ss of vinegar water. ¡°¡­¡­I see. He is trying to obtain the goodwill of other nations, Kurtz. Dantalian is paying mind to his diplomatic reputation.¡± ¡°His diplomatic reputation?¡± Elizabeth brushed her silver hair behind her ear. ¡°They are not rallying their own citizens to go to war. They are using only mercenaries. This is not an all-out war between the Habsburg Empire and Sardinia. This is simply a duel between nobles where only their honor and money are on the line¡­¡­ He is trying to give off this impression.¡± Kurtz thought audibly as he stroked his chin. ¡°Then that means Dantalian is using a huge sum to hire mercenaries all for the sake of improving his image. Would this really have that much of an effect?¡± ¡°Think about it. What is the justification for this war? It is for the sake of preserving Laura de Farnese¡¯s honor as a noble. If the Emperor goes to war after personally hiring only mercenaries, then this would make it so that he is keeping her honor while not forcing his people to sacrifice themselves. In all respects, this will appear as an honorable duel¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth let out a sigh. ¡°Their justification is not remaining as such and is substantially supporting their actions. Habsburg¡¯s justification will undoubtedly grow stronger. Adding to this, this also has the effect of preemptively preventing them from being criticized by international diplomacy.¡± ¡°Criticism from international diplomacy, is it?¡± Herplexion became dark. ¡°If they had mobilized the Demon Lord Army, then we could have embellished this as another demon invasion. This would have also given the Kingdom of Sardinia a justification. Dantalian prevented this from ever happening¡­¡­. A meticulous man through and through.¡± ¡°But we are also well prepared, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Elizabeth stood from her chair. ¡°It is our turn to move, Kurtz. Have our troops be on standby at the border. We most likely will not have to wait long.¡± ¡°Yes, as youmand, Your Excellency.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. You know, the moments when Daisy appear really make me wonder how she would¡¯ve been depicted in the LN. Considering the amount of changes that happened to a lot of the characters, I want to know how the author would¡¯ve altered Daisy to fit into the revised story. We can only make spections, I guess. Oh well. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Time to rot away in the new Mihoyo game. Chapter 361: Chrysanthemum War II (2) Chapter 361: Chrysanthemum War II (2) * * * Continental calendar: Year 1512, Month 5, Day 15. The imperial army started to cross the most rugged mountain range in the world. All thirty thousand of our troops had yet to gather. The mercenary captains suggested that we should start our march after waiting a month. However, Laura, who was appointed as the suprememander, shook her head. ¡°Where is your birthce?¡± ¡°Of course, that would be Helvetica, General.¡± ¡°Yes, and we are currently making our way to Helvetica. Do you require a guide to return to your birthce?¡± Laura picked up and put on her helmet. She was wearing old and shabby armor like a normal soldier. The punishment she received to serve in war as amoner for arbitrarily torturing Daisy was still in effect. ¡°Tell this to the soldiers that have yet to gather! We will meet you in Lugano.¡± The city of Lugano was located at the end of the Alps mountain range. It was also the gateway to Sardinia from Helvetica. Laura smirked at the mercenary captains who appeared flustered and speechless. ¡°I am from the Kingdom of Sardinia which you lot make fun of for being weak. It will most likely be embarrassing to im yourselves as Helvetica citizens if you get through the mountainster than myself.¡± After uttering those words, Laura left the tent. It looked like she genuinely intended to start their advance. The mercenary captains were so dumbfounded that they turned to face each other. The dwarves and elves who were normally at each other¡¯s throats now had the same troubled look on their faces. ¡°We aren¡¯t going on some pic, are we?¡± ¡°I am not sure if it is fine to mobilize our troops like this¡­¡­.¡± The captains carefully turned to look at me. Referentially, I was participating in this expedition as the Habsburg Empire¡¯s ambassadorplenipotentiary. Laura would lead the troops and wipe out the enemy while I picked up after her. That was how our roles were divided. Of course, Laura was higher than me in terms of court rank, but the mercenary captains consisted of dwarves and elves, so they were unwittingly more obedient to me, a Demon Lord, than they were to Laura, a human. Laura was the suprememander, but it was like I was ruling from behind. The captains were pleading to me with their eyes to stop Laura. ¡°Is this okay, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Duchess Laura de Farnese is the suprememander of this army. I am but a count ptine that has been dispatched by the Empire. I am nothing but an outsider. Simply do as you are told.¡± I chuckled. I didn¡¯t forget to add anotherment at the end. ¡°Or are you perhaps afraid that you will arriveter than the Duchess? I did not know that the people of Helvetica would have so little confidence in their hiking ability.¡± The captains frowned. Making fun of someone¡¯s regionalism may be an immature thing to do, but it was always effective. In truth, it was as effective as it was immature. The mercenary captains put displeased looks on their faces before me as they shouted unanimously. ¡°The Supreme Commander will arrive a weekter than us!¡± The content of this meeting was shared with all of the other mercenary groups. The mercenary captains quickly got hot under their cors because of the taunt. The mercenary groups that were spread throughout the continent hastened their pace, not wanting to arriveter than the Supreme Commander. From the perspective of the mercenaries of Helvetica who boasted about the strength they developed atop tall mountains, being slower than a mere ¡®country bumpkin from Sardinia¡¯ would be a huge affront to them. Day 30 of the 5th month. A total of 26,910 out of the 27,542 Helvetian mercenaries managed to gather in Lugano. Exactly half a month had passed since Laura set foot on the Alps. Within just one week, the Helvetian mercenaries had sessfully assembled on the rugged terrain of the mountain range. This was an unprecedented speed. A certain mercenary group seeded in getting all the way here from the Republic of Batavia. They apparently used teleportation magic to transport their heavy equipment first before borrowing some donkeys from a vige and rushing here. It probably cost them a few thousand gold coins to purchase the magic scrolls and donkeys, but this was a clear disy of their indomitable will. Laura praised the mercenaries. ¡°As expected, the Helvetian mercenaries are in another league. Quartermaster, take this.¡± Laura handed a piece of paper to the supply officer. The officer received the piece of paper that had the imperialnguage written on it and tilted his head in confusion. ¡°What is this, Commander?¡± ¡°That is written permission to use our army¡¯s supplies as much as you want. Quartermaster, take your regiment and go throughout Lugano purchasing the best quality beer and wine you can find.¡± Laura smiled broadly. It was a smile that could enamor anyone. ¡°Inform the soldiers that I, yourmander, have fallen for the valor of Helvetians. This is a gift from my heart, so I allow you to get drunk to your hearts¡¯ content.¡± ¡°As youmand!¡± The mercenary captains responded energetically. Food and alcohol were delivered in wagons to the soldiers that had arrived here after an exhausting march. The soldiers were confused at first, but once they were told the reason, they all broke out in cheers. ¡°Cheers to Duchess Farnese!¡± this shout echoed throughout the ins. Mercenaries may receiverge wages, but more than half of their pay went straight to food expenses. They had to also purchase and manage their equipment with their own money, so they actually weren¡¯t receiving much considering that the work they were doing put their lives on the line. The alcohol they would normally drink was on the level of wine that tasted like vinegar water and beer that could bepared to horse piss. This was also normally only possible after they won a battle and their employer decided to praise them the following day. However, a proper barrel of alcohol was being passed around before the battle had even begun. It was a given that they would start cheering. Naturally, the soldiers¡¯ drinking conversation revolved around their beautiful suprememander. Laura had crossed the Alps while leading thousands of soldiers. While doing so, she wore the same clothes as the soldiers, ate the same food as the soldiers, and slept in the same ce as the soldiers. The soldiers who had been traveling with Laura for the past few weeks got excited as they recounted their journey. Thousands of soldiers were talking about their trip at the same time. News about Laura¡¯s actions spread throughout the entire army in an instant. The mercenaries were already warming up to Laura thanks to the alcohol, but once they heard of her aplishments, they showered her with unhesitant praise. After just a single night, Laura had won over the hearts of the stubborn and rebellious mercenaries. The true masterpiece, however, urred the following day when the 500 drafted mercenaries, who had failed to arrive on the promised date, finally made their way to Lugano. The other mercenaries jeered and heckled them. If we were to sternly follow militaryw, then we could sentence them to death for not arriving on time. With the remaining thirty thousand soldiers watching on, Laura summoned the person in charge. A dwarf general, sporting an eyepatch over his right eye, stepped forward. ¡°Militaryws are strict. Do you understand what you have done wrong?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± The dwarf bowed respectfully. He looked as if he had already resolved himself. ¡°I will ept any punishment.¡± ¡°I will give you one chance to defend yourself and your regiment. Why were youte?¡± ¡°We were dyed because we had injured individuals who required support.¡± Laura nodded her head. ¡°Remove your shoes.¡± It was an abrupt order, but the dwarf didn¡¯t question it whatsoever. He removed theyers of his leather shoes, revealing his unsightly dwarven feet. The number of blisters on his feet was ghastly. At that moment, the mercenaries panicked once they saw what Laura did next. ¡°No!¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± Laura didn¡¯t hesitate to kneel down and kiss the top of the dwarf¡¯s feet. This was Laura we were talking about, someone you could confidently refer to as the most beautiful person on the continent. Not only was it a dwarf, a race known for their less-than-ster appearance, but the ce she kissed was the foot, considered by many as the dirtiest part of the body. The captains and soldiers who were watching from the side were obviously surprised, but that couldn¡¯tpare to the bewilderment felt by the person in question who received the kiss on his foot. His entire body was frozen, unable to stop her. Laura got up and looked around at the other soldiers. ¡°Despite having missed the conscription date, this man came here instead of bing a deserter. He was loyal to mymand despite knowing that he would be punished by militaryw. Soldiers that only fight while expecting a reward areparable to a mob, while soldiers that willingly ept punishment are elites.¡± Laura pointed at the dwarf regiment general and shouted. ¡°This man could have avoided punishment by treating his injured as deserters and rushing here without them. However, not only did he not abandon his subordinates andrades, but he did not run away from militaryw either. Soldiers of Helvetica! I have never seen warriors with this level of loyalty and devotion torades and militaryw such as you all!¡± Someone let out a cheer. That cheer spread like a gue as there were soon thirty thousand soldiers cheering in unison. The dwarf regiment general was so moved that he got on his knees and bowed to Laura. At this moment, Laura became one with her soldiers in the truest sense. Normally, a downside to mercenaries is the fact that each regiment has a different style. They could be simr foot soldiers, but one group could prefer using spears while another group prefers using abination of swords and shields. They are individually powerful, but it is difficult to utilize them harmoniously because of how much their personalities differ. Laura resolved this issue through trust. She earned the hearts of the captains and soldiers. From the most basic desire for alcohol to having their pride understood and acknowledged, she obtained their hearts through these methods. Now, they would willingly throw themselves into unfamiliar battlefields if Laura ordered them to. They will remain loyal to a superior who understands their camaraderie and pride as mercenaries. As long as Laura doesn¡¯t betray them, that is. Two dayster, Laura gave an order after everyone got more than enough rest. ¡°Show the skills of mountaineers to those ins people!¡± Although Laura herself was one of those ins people, none of the captains questioned her. The expeditionary force advanced quickly. Once we arrived at a river, we saw some cavalrymen from Sardinia setting camp on the other side as if they had predicted our advance. ¡°There are not many of them, Your Highness. They are scouts.¡± ¡°Attack them immediately.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± The captains were surprised by Laura¡¯s sudden order to attack. Laura¡¯s expression remained calm. ¡°If they knew that we would advance through here, then they would have set up their main base across the river, not a small camp for scouts. The fact that their main camp is not here means that they only have a rough guess as to where we will arrive from!¡± Laura unsheathed her curved sword she exined to the mercenary captains. ¡°The enemies still do not know that we have arrived here. We will wipe out their scouts and advance far into enemy territory! Charge!¡± Laura charged forward on her horse by herself before the captains could give themand to all of the regiments. The mercenary captains werepletely caught off guard and desperately chased after her. ¡°B-Blow the horns! Charge!¡± ¡°Follow the Duchess! Damn it, do not let Her Highness be by herself!¡± ¡°Charge! All troops, advance!¡± The buglers blew their horns in a hurry. ¡°Whoa! Her Highness is going first!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fall behind, you runts!¡± The soldiers cried out as they crossed the river. The river was narrow, but the deep areas reached up to the waists of the dwarves. The 2,000 vanguards charged resolutely across that river. There was no formation. Laura and the mercenary captains were in the lead as the army charged forward in the shape of a reverse triangle. Their charge was absurdly reckless. This set the first page of the second Chrysanthemum War. *** Author¡¯s Note And Chrysanthemum War II transcended and became a legend. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m really sorry about how long this chapter took toe out. The start of May has been really rough¡­ Last Tuesday, ourndlord suddenly told us that he sold our ce, so we have to move out by June. I¡¯ve been going out during my lunch breaks at work to go to the bank and try to figure out what kind of loans I can get and if any of them will be on time. It¡¯s just been really stressful. I¡¯m not sure when I¡¯m uploading this, but my cousin¡¯s wedding is/was on May 5th and now I have to take my time to go. There¡¯s just too much happening and I want to BREATHE. God. In any case, if next chapter iste again, then it¡¯s because I¡¯m trying to sort this shit out and also trying to find a new ce. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter, maybe I¡¯ll have good news by then. Chapter 362: Chrysanthemum War II (3) Chapter 362: Chrysanthemum War II (3) The sound of bugles rang out noisily throughout the enemy encampment. They probably didn¡¯t expect us to cross the river without making any preparations whatsoever. They most likely intended to wait and observe our course of action. However, Laura, along with twelve mercenary captains, instantly came rushing forward with three hundred cavalrymen following right behind them. I smiled wryly. ¡°There¡¯s no stopping that girl. Let¡¯s see, shall I follow after them?¡± I pulled on the reins of my horse. My warhorse let out a snort as it moved forward. This was the excellent steed with a ck mane that Barbatos had gifted me. There was honestly nothing impressive about my horsemanship, but my steed could cross a thin river like this as if it were a road of dirt. Hundreds of cavalrymen crossed the river at the same time. It was quite the sight. The sprays of water sparkled in every direction, creating a symphony of sshes that echoed around us. Above, the golden rays of the evening sun cascaded down from the Alps, casting a radiant curtain of light over the scene. The glistening water droplets danced in the sunlight, shimmering like curtains of their own and adding to the breathtaking beauty of the moment. ¡°Your Highness Duchess, it is dangerous! Please retreat!¡± A dwarven mercenary captain caught up to Laura. ¡°I have no intention to hide cowardly behind our soldiers and givemands!¡± ¡°The valor of a single soldier is nothingpared to the recklessness of a general! Your Highness, please reconsider!¡± ¡°In that case, you all can go ahead of me.¡± Laura let out augh. I was following right behind them, but I could barely hear them because of the sound of water. Regardless, I had a gist of what they were talking about. ¡°If I am ahead of you, then you simply have to get ahead of me. A simple solution for a simple problem!¡± The mercenary captains were at a loss for words. Laura dealt one final blow on top of that. ¡°This is a new royalmand. Those who arriveter than me in the enemy¡¯s encampment shall be punished ording to militaryw! Those who arete will be deemed as not being Helvetian men!¡± Laura¡¯s blonde hair fluttered in the wind as she picked up her speed. The mercenary captains were bbergasted, but what could they do? They couldn¡¯t let their suprememander act as the vanguard. ¡°Damn it! As youmand!¡± ¡°I never thought I would end up serving a person like this as my actingmander!¡± The captains charged past Laura. They had probably given up on reason. Once the captains took the lead, the soldiers redoubled their courage as they followed suit. Hundreds of cavalrymen crossed the river in an instant. The enemy troops had yet to get into formation. They were simply shooting their arrows sporadically. Shooting a couple of arrows couldn¡¯t do much to our hundreds of cavalrymen that were constantly moving. Our cavalrymen easily jumped over the fences that had no one defending them. The enemy soldiers were like headless chickens as they bumbled about and allowed our cavalrymen through their line of defense. They gathered as best as they could to create defensive positions. There was even a defense position that managed to gather around twenty people. However, defensive positions made in this manner were incredibly passive. ¡°Do not attack the defensive positions!¡± Laura shouted. She had arrived a momentter than the mercenary captains. ¡°Prevent the enemies from gathering! This is a hunt!¡± The experienced mercenaries immediately understood what Laura was ordering them to do. Our troops avoided the enemies in defensive positions and dealt with the enemy foot soldiers that had yet to group up. The enemy soldiers fell like stalks of straw as the speed of our horses was added to the swinging of our des. The result was obvious as they had allowed our cavalrymen to get through before they could properly put up their defenses. ¡°Uaaaghhh!¡± ¡°R-Retreat! Retreat!¡± The battle reached a conclusion in an instant. The approximately 200 enemy soldiers were defeated before they could even lift a finger. Excluding the few that ran away the moment we started crossing the river¡ªthey were wise men who knew how to survive in this world¡ªeveryone was wiped out. The enemy troops that managed to create defensive positions were dealt with by casually firing arrows and throwing spears at them. They must have been filled with dread since they had just watched theirrades get ughtered all around them. They quickly surrendered the moment six of them got struck by arrows. We took in about fifty enemy soldiers as prisoners. They were surrounded by intimidating dwarves and elves that unexpectedly looked rather menacing. Laura questioned the utterly terrified prisoners. ¡°Who is yourmander?¡± The human who met Laura¡¯s gaze was hesitant. He most likely felt reluctant about selling out his own side¡¯s info. Laura promptly swung her sword the moment she saw his hesitation. The tip of her de sliced through the center of the prisoner¡¯s neck. ¡°K-Kugh¡­¡­.¡± It sounded like he was gargling water. The prisoner let out a pathetic sound for his final breath as he copsed on the grass powerlessly. ¡°Hm.¡± Laura lightly swung her long sword down to remove the blood. She then turned to face the next prisoner. The prisoner shrieked in fear. ¡°Who is yourmander?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Duke Sforza, Your Highness!¡± The prisoner groveled. Ludovico de Sforza. That was the name of the lord who ruled therge city of Mno. He had opposed the House of Farnese during the Chrysanthemum War and was now supporting the royal family. Mno was the leading power that managed the frontlines in the northern region of Sardinia, making Sforza the perfect individual to appoint as the suprememander. ¡°Sforza¡­¡­ The Duke of Mno, is it? An adequate choice.¡± Laura nodded her head. ¡°Is Earl Pavia under Duke Sforza?¡± ¡°I-I apologize. I do not know that much¡­¡­.¡± It would be difficult for a mere soldier to know the situation around his superiors. Thankfully, not all soldiers were unknowledgeable. Laura found out that Earl Pavia was a part of the enemy troops. She also learned that the enemy¡¯s headquarters was located in the city of Novara. The rest of our army leisurely crossed the river while Laura interrogated the prisoners and looked at the map. It wasn¡¯t a big battle, but the fact that we had won our first battle seemed to rx their faces further. ¡°What do you intend to do, Duchess?¡± I asked Laura. Referentially, I entered the battle around the same time as Laura, but I didn¡¯t personally fight. I simply shot the crossbow I had on my back a couple times. I¡¯m a pacifist, after all. It¡¯s my creed to leave the scary fights to the scarydy. ¡°Mm. The enemy chose to use a city as their base of operation instead of creating a main base on the frontline.¡± Laura pointed at the map. The mercenary captains also gathered to listen. ¡°There is only one reason why they have not left their city yet. Their forces have not fully gathered yet.¡± The Empire intended to go to war from the very beginning, but Sardinia was trying to end it after only a diplomatic dispute. Thus, it was only natural that Sardinia would be half a step behind in preparing for war. There¡¯s also a reason why that half-step was increased to a full step. It¡¯s because we seized a monopoly over the Helvetian mercenaries. Even from Sardinia¡¯s perspective, Helvetica was the easiest and quickest mercenary market they could reach, but we took them first¡­¡­. No matter how desperately Sardinia rallied its troops, it was inevitable that it would be slow. We were a full step ahead of the enemy. ¡°Sardinia must be in the middle of drafting mercenaries in the center of their country. They¡¯re nning to use the city as their base and defend it until the rest of their forces finally arrive.¡± ¡°Your Highness, does that not mean that they do not have many soldiers defending the city right now?¡± An elven mercenary captain asked. ¡°The enemy has yet to learn of our arrival. If we rush them now, then we should be able to besiege Mno in an instant.¡± ¡°That would not be wise.¡± Laura shook her head. ¡°They may not have mercenaries, but that does not mean that they do not have civilian soldiers as well. Civilians will fight tooth and nail to defend their homes. Adding to this, Mno is a massive city. It will not be easy to conquer such a ce.¡± Sardinia had put the local patriotism of the people into consideration when setting up their defenses. Civilians are weaker than mercenaries; however, they sometimes disy great power strictly when they are defending their homes. If their city falls, then their family, parents, and children will be piged. They have no choice but to struggle desperately against their invaders. ¡°Furthermore, take a look at where their main base of Novara is located.¡± Laura pointed at the map. ¡°It is right next to Mno.¡± ¡°Indeed. They are in a position where they could easily send reinforcements if we were to attack Mno. Thus, there is a high chance that they positioned their civilian soldiers in Mno while they ced the little number of mercenaries they do have here in Novara.¡± ¡°Certainly¡­¡­.¡± The captains nodded their heads seriously. Laura was filled with confidence as she assured the captains. ¡°Listen carefully. The foundation of the enemy¡¯s strategy revolves around civilian soldiers and sending mercenaries as reinforcement. They n to defend Mno with the civilian soldiers and hinder us by sending out what little mercenaries they have as gueri units. Their goal is to stall until they have gathered enough troops in the rear.¡± The captains nodded in understanding. Some of them even looked moved. Of course, I was included in that. I¡¯m an amateur when ites to military tactics, but even I can tell how impressive Laura is. Being able to read the other party¡¯s intent at all times is Laura¡¯s strength. She can gather the pieces of information that have been fragmented and see through the enemy¡¯s n. That may sound easy, but in this case, Laura had only obtained two pieces of information from the prisoners. The fact that the enemy¡¯s suprememander is the Duke of Mno and that their main base is in Novara. With only these two pieces of information, she managed to put together the enemy¡¯s entire n. That was a feat that amon person like myself could never achieve. This should¡¯ve made the mercenary captains also realize how capable their suprememander is. Although a majority of them still seemed half in doubt. Laura spoke. ¡°If we attack Mno here, then we would be ying into the enemy¡¯s hand. I forbid the attacking of Mno.¡± ¡°Your Highness, how about we pige the area around Mno?¡± A dwarven mercenary captain suggested. He was the captain whom Laura had kissed the foot of. ¡°If we pige the area around the city, then even Duke Mno would be incapable of staying still.¡± ¡°At the price of raising the imperial army¡¯s infamy.¡± Laura shook her head again. ¡°That would be harming innocent people in a battle of honor between nobles. I forbid it.¡± ¡°Piging is not immoral during a war, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Because war itself is immoral. There is no reason for us to voluntarily make an enemy out of the people.¡± The captains tilted their heads. They all seemed confused now. ¡°If we are not going to carry out a siege or pige the area, then I do not know what else we can do.¡± ¡°It seems you have misunderstood me. I simply said that we will not attack Mno.¡± Laura pointed at a specific point on the map. ¡°A location that is not Mno. As long as it is a ce that our Empire can rightfully attack, then it is fine.¡± Pavia. The spot Laura was pointing at had that name written in cursive. ¡°We will not attack Mno or Novara. We will quickly slip between these two cities and head to Pavia. This is the area that sold me as a ve. Adding to this, Earl Pavia dared to nder His Excellency the Emperor.¡± She smiled. ¡°They cannotin if they were to be piged by us. Men, let us turn Pavia into a hellscape.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m like actually mentally fatigued right now. I¡¯m applying for a loan, but the evaluation period for it is so weird that it¡¯s putting a lot of pressure on me cause the bank is refusing to tell me if I¡¯m fully eligible and that I¡¯ll have to wait like several weeks to know. I¡¯ve been going to the bank during my lunch breaks this entire week and I¡¯m going again tomorrow. This is soooo fun. I have a feeling that the next chapter will definitely be dyed. You know why if it does. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. I¡¯m dead. Chapter 363: Chrysanthemum War II (4) Chapter 363: Chrysanthemum War II (4) Laura promptly began to give orders, making it clear that no further exnations were going to be given. She was faster than anyone else when making military decisions, and an even greater characteristic of hers was that she never hesitated to put her decisions into action. ¡°Baroness De nc! You will being with me along with 6,000 cavalrymen to Pavia. We will advance for 2 days straight without rest. I hope you are prepared.¡± ¡°As youmand!¡± An elven mercenary captain saluted. The mercenary captain looked like she was only 16 years old, but she was an elf. She was a veteran among veterans who was past her 90s now. Her name was Juliana De nc and was born to a baron family in Helvetica. Laura gave her nextmand. ¡°Captain Dunant! I give you the authority tomand all of the foot soldiers. Lead the remaining thousand cavalrymen and twenty thousand foot soldiers and march to Mno.¡± ¡°To Mno, Your Highness?¡± A dwarven mercenary captain tilted his head as he inquired. Laura was the one who forbade them from ever attacking Mno. They were most likely confused because she was sending them to Mno after having said that. Laura didn¡¯t resolve this confusion and instead gave the same order but with more details. ¡°Yes. However, no matter what happens, do not pige the people. There is no need to attack Mno either. Nor do you have to besiege it. Simply march to Mno and keep watch over it.¡± ¡°A simple task.¡± The dwarven mercenary captain didn¡¯t go out of his way to get rification from his superior. All he wanted to know was what he had to do and how. ¡°How do you wish for me to respond if the enemy were to engage with us?¡± ¡°I trust your judgment.¡± Laura answered immediately. ¡°You have all fought on this continent for at least several decades and, at most, for centuries. On the other hand, those Sardinian bumpkins have only experienced a civil war. Your blood and sweat-stained battle experience far surpass what the people of Sardinia have.¡± ¡°Y-You are overpraising us.¡± If someone of lower-standing tters you, then you could easilyugh it off. However, people cannot help but get shy if they¡¯re praised so matter-of-factly by their superior. Especially if that superior is a beauty who you might only see once in your lifetime. ¡°E-Ehem.¡± ¡°But we should not lower our guards. Ehem.¡± The mercenary captains looked at either the ground or the sky. They were simply trying to hide their embarrassment. These individuals, who should be known for their menacing appearances, were assaulting my eyes by acting like shy maidens from the countryside. Laura smiled brightly at them. Her smile was as beautiful as nts that have just bloomed after a summer rain. ¡°In any case, a battle will not ur at Mno. You may begin building a supply base. I will be bringing plenty of provisions to be stored there, so you can wait for me.¡± The mercenary captains gazed at Laura with their mouths half-agape. They were likely smitten the moment they fell prey to Laoura¡¯s captivating smile. I understand the feeling well, as even I sometimes found myself unable to resist her smile, giving in to desire regardless of our surroundings ¨C be it my dungeon or a vige. ¡°Hm? Is there something on my face?¡± Laura tilted her head. That gesture was also fatally charming. This girl was truly bad for the heart. ¡°I-It is nothing, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Your Highness is as beautiful as ever!¡± The captains urgently tried to y it off. However, contrary to their words, they were quite obviously blushing. Seriously, men are pitiful creatures. ¡­¡­No, looking at it now, even Captain nc was blushing. Does she roll that way? Is Laura a marksman who can hit both genders¡­¡­? It¡¯s okay. I understand how the captains must feel. I have a type of immunity since I¡¯ve shared a bed with Laura for so long. What theyck is immunity. Things will get easier once you get used to it. ¡°¡­¡­Why do you have a peculiar expression on your face, Count Ptine?¡± Laura gave me a bleary-eyed look. ¡®What kind of weird thing is he thinking about this time?¡¯ was what her gaze was asking. I shrugged. ¡°I do not know what you are talking about. I am simply worrying about the people who will be devasted by this war.¡± ¡°Haa.¡± Laura let out a sigh. That sigh signaled the end of the meeting. The imperial army was immediately split into a main force of 21,000 and a detached force of 6,000. Normally, the suprememander would be in charge of the main force, but Laura was insteadmanding the detached force. The main force of the imperial army marched straight to Mno. However, instead of actively attacking Mno, their goal was to slowly apply pressure. On the other hand. ¡°Attention all troops! We will be advancing as quickly as possible.¡± The 6,000 cavalrymen being led by Laura traveled at max speed from the very beginning. We rushed straight between Mno and Novara. It was onlyter that the enemy learned of the existence of our detached force. It happened when we coincidentally came upon an enemy scout as we were advancing. The scout was bewildered by our appearance and hastily ran away. ¡°Should we pursue and eliminate them, Your Highness?¡± Baroness Juliana De nc asked. She sounded as if she was ready to turn the direction of her horse at any moment. As expected of a miss who had lived her entire life as a mercenary, it seems her tone gets rougher whenever she sees the enemy. Laura shook her head. ¡°No, leave them be.¡± Our detached force ignored all of the scouts we encountered as we continued our advance. The enemy army was probably perplexed. The major city of Mno and the military base of Novara were standing tall next to each other, but we chose to ignore both of these major locations. Our troops were literally like a bolt of lightning as we went past Mno and Novara in exactly a day. This maneuver that went beyondmon sense also perplexed our own troops. ¡°Your Highness! Won¡¯t the enemy attack us from behind!?¡± Baroness Juliana De nc asked as we continued to advance on our horses. ¡°Our forces have not besieged Mno. If Mno and Novara were to send reinforcements, then we will end up surrounded!¡± ¡°It is the exact opposite, Baroness De nc.¡± Laura answered while chuckling. ¡°We are not the ones who have been caught, Mno is.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°I already exined this during the meeting yesterday. Sardinia¡¯s main objective is to defend its bases. They never intended to defeat us through a short battle, nor do they have the manpower to do so.¡± Laura tilted her head slightly to look at Baroness De nc. The oing wind blew against Laura¡¯s blonde hair, allowing it to flutter smoothly. ¡°Not only is their objective holding them back, but the soldiers they possess are also a problem.¡± ¡°Their soldiers¡­¡­?¡± Baroness De nc looked confused. ¡°Civilian soldiers will undoubtedly fight tooth and nail to defend their homes. However, if you look at that from another perspective, then it means that they are highly unlikely to put in much effort aside from defending against a siege. Coming out to attack us from behind may sound easy¡­¡­but that is most likely not a tempting idea for their civilian soldiers.¡± Considering the enemy¡¯s objective, leaving Mno, their strongpoint, was not something they would want to do. Furthermore, since a majority of their army consisted of civilian soldiers, leaving the walls of their city to intercept us was something they would actively want to avoid. These were the passive reasons that were immobilizing the enemy. ¡°Adding to this, our main force is marching straight to Mno. Baroness, how would the Duke of Mno respond in this situation where they have to defend their city with civilian soldiers?¡± ¡°I believe¡­¡­he would order his men to keep defending the city.¡± Finally, the main reason that was forcing the enemy to stay put was the approach of 21,000 soldiers that Laura had sent to Mno. ¡°The Duke of Mno will consider the likelihood of our main force attacking the moment they try to send reinforcements. Therefore,¡± They will prioritize defending even if Pavia gets piged. Laura grinned. ¡°Do you know where the hole in my logic is, Baroness?¡± ¡°Pardon me? Oh. M-My apologies. I was unable to see one.¡± Baroness De nc hesitated. Seeing that response, Laura turned to face me instead. ¡°Count Ptine, do you know where the hole is, then?¡± ¡°You did not take Earl Pavia into consideration.¡± I immediately answered. Laura normally referred to me as ¡°Lord¡±, but I decided to speak respectfully to her while in the presence of others since she had been appointed as the Emperor¡¯s acting general. The mercenary captains would probably find it weird if Laura were to elevate me as her lord here. This will unquestionably cause some mercenary captains to respect me more than Laura. People tend to follow the one with more power the moment they realize who has the most authority¡­¡­. A person with a lower standing having more right to speak than their superior would be inappropriate. This expeditionary force must unite as one under Laura¡¯smand. ¡°You did refer to them as the civilian soldiers defending Mno, but not all of them are civilians. They most likely brought in whatever manpower they could get from the surrounding viges as well. ¡­¡­Pavia¡¯s militia must be included in that.¡± ¡°That is correct. Let me ask a question, then.¡± Laura grinned. It wasn¡¯t the beautiful smile of ady, but the smile of a tactician who maniptes wars. ¡°I am the one whom Earl Pavia is most afraid of. He is the person who sold me as a ve, after all. He must be afraid that I maye for revenge.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°That is the kind of earl he is.¡± Laura paused for a moment before her smile thickened. ¡°Once he receives a report saying that imperial soldiers are charging straight to hisnd¡ªwhat thought do you think will go through the Earl¡¯s head?¡± The corners of my mouth went up. ¡°He will most likely assume that our imperial army is nning to make an example of Pavia and devastate it.¡± ¡°The Earl would lose hisnd and people in an instant and fall into ruin.¡± ¡°Naturally, he will plead to his suprememander, the Duke of Mno, to send reinforcements.¡± Laura and I, the master-servant pair, grinned as we looked at each other. If a third party was watching us, they¡¯d probably be terrified. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± In truth, Baroness De nc was currently watching us wide-eyed and mouth agape. I understood how she must feel. She was probably not ustomed to this kind of conversation. Get used to it. Things will get easier once you do. ¡°Will the Duke of Mno grant that request?¡± ¡°Simr to how Pavia is precious to the Earl, Mno is precious to the Duke. The Duke will not give ear to the Earl.¡± ¡°If that happens, the Earl will most likely criticize the Duke and call him a coward who only cares for his ownnd.¡± ¡°That will enrage the Duke, causing him to angrily tell the Earl to take care of his ownnd¡¯s problems.¡± The Earl will denounce the Duke as a dastardly coward and the Duke will criticize the Earl as being a narrowminded person who disregards military tactics and only cares for himself. Conflict will ur among their highest-ranking members. This can only lead to a single oue. ¡°Earl Pavia will sortie on his own.¡± ¡°¡®Cowards can stay holed up in a city. I will go condemn the sex ve myself,¡¯ is probably how he will behave. Although his actual goal would be to let his people escape.¡± We both let out a lowugh. Ah, this was so fun. Nothing could possiblypare to the pleasure of ying with something precious to another and causing internal conflict on the opposite side. And the people who enjoyed these sorts of things were undeniably the most rotten people in the world. However, both Laura and I have already hit rock bottom. I didn¡¯t hold back myughter as I asked a question. ¡°An Earl will be voluntarily leaving the safety of a city. By himself, at that. How do you intend to cook this Earl, General Laura?¡± ¡°Is it not obvious?¡± Laura raised her hand and pointed ahead. ¡°We will give our guest a magnificent wee.¡± Our 6,000 cavalrymen kicked up dirt as we charged forward. Our goal was Pavia. No, to be exact. The forest between Pavia and Mno. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I don¡¯t even remember what this chapter was about. The past two weeks have been way too stressful. Got the house contract settled, but now it¡¯s time to wait several weeks for the bank to respond and tell me if they can give me a loan or not. It¡¯d be REALLY cool if they decided to say no after making us all wait. We basically won¡¯t know anything until I return from my Japan trip, which is also at the end of this month¡­ What is with all this bad timing? I nned this trip 5 months beforehand figuring that was enough time to guarantee a rxed trip, but now I¡¯m stressing out 2 weeks before my trip¡­ Oh god¡­ it¡¯s 2 weeks away¡­. Pray for my soul. Chapter 364: Chrysanthemum War II (5) Chapter 364: Chrysanthemum War II (5) ¡°Baroness De nc!¡± ¡°Y-Yes!¡± Was she rmed because Laura had suddenly called out to her? Mercenary Captain Juliana De nc was startled as she had been nkly watching the two of us converse. For some reason, there was a new type of expression on her face when speaking to Laura now. It wasn¡¯t something wholesome like respect. It was a little more subversive. You could call it a type of fear. ¡°I will leave 250 troops under yourmand.¡± ¡°Will¡­¡­I be dealing with the scouts?¡± ¡°No. Take the troops and go toward Pavia. There should be a forest near the city. I ask that you start a grand fire there.¡± A bitter smile appeared on my lips as I listened to their conversation. The forest near Pavia was a location I was acquainted with. It was none other than the ce where the ve Merchant Jack ndmitted suicide by mming his head against a boulder¡­¡­. ¡°A fire, is it¡­¡­?¡± Baroness De nc seemed confused. ¡°This will cause smoke to rise from the direction of where Pavia is located. This should put some more urgency in the Earl¡¯s feet.¡± Baroness De nc let out an ¡®Ah¡¯ of realization once Laura exined her reasoning. ¡°The Earl will consider two possibilities. First, the possibility that we have already entered his territory and are piging wildly. Second, we are in the middle of sieging his city. Either way, he will believe that he has a chance ofing out victorious if he attacks us from behind. This will make him pick up his pace more.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡­.¡± The Baroness responded weakly. Laura took heed of this as she proceeded to give stern orders. ¡°Baroness! The number of troops you are leading in this battle may be little, but the responsibility on your shoulders is great. If you fail, then our ambush on the Earl will fail as well. This will lead to the downfall of our expedition!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Understood, Your Highness!¡± The Baroness responded firmly as she came to terms with the weight on her shoulders. Laura gave her a firm nod in response. ¡°I will put eleven mages under your wing. Cast an antimunication spell across Pavia and use them to also set fire to the forest.¡± ¡°As youmand!¡± The Baroness shouted valiantly in response. Our troops split down the middle like a forking river. The Baroness led two cavalry squadrons down a byway. With this, Laura now had no magic users under hermand. Our troops sped up. It was around the point the sun had nearly set and the darkness of the night was starting to reach out. Laura finally ordered our troops to hold their position. We were in a forest a fair distance away from a road that must be crossed when trying to travel quickly from Mno to Pavia. ¡°We will lie in ambush here.¡± Laura then secretly positioned scouts ahead of us. Our cavalrymen plopped themselves on the ground. We had been moving for half a day straight. They were in desperate need of rest. Our soldiers either rested against trees or took out snacks to eat in preparation for the uing battle. Our warhorses used the cold night air to cool their bodies that had heated up while running under the summer sun. I looked up to see the moonlight leak between the branches. However, there was also a sound I was hearing from the trees. ¨C Look, there are elves¡­¡­. ¨C There are also a bunch of dwarves. Why are they here? ¨C Why are they here? They¡¯re scary-looking. They must be here for a scary reason¡­¡­. The forest spirits were whispering to one another while hiding behind the branches. They were probably frightened by the sudden intruders. The spirits muttered nervously between the gusts of wind as the leaves rustled loudly. I gave them a wave. ¡°My apologies. We will be borrowing your home for a moment.¡± The small spirits started to poke their heads over the branches. ¨C No way! A great master is here! ¨C Isn¡¯t his wind too small to be a great master¡­¡­? ¨C Idiot, dummy! Since when have you been unable to distinguish between a storm and a breeze? Soon after, specs of light started to fill the dark forest. The hundreds of specs of light were all spirits. They shone dimly and hazily as if they were receiving the moonlight from the sky. The light was closer to being sky blue than white. ¡°Dear Lord¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oh, Artemis.¡± The soldiers¡¯ mouths fell open as they looked up. As sub-races, spirits were a familiar existence to them. However, spirits are fundamentally shy beings. The mercenaries were overwhelmed by the sight of so many spirits gathering together to light up the dark forest. I spoke with a smile. ¡°I appreciate the warm wee, but could you turn down the light? We are actually in the middle of ying hide-and-seek. It would be bad if we were to get caught by the seeker. I would appreciate it if you contained yourselves.¡± My tone naturally became soft as I thought about my spirits who were probably ying back at my dungeon. The spirits turned to each other and started whispering. ¨C They¡¯re ying hide-and-seek! Everyone be quiet! We¡¯ll get scolded by the master if we interfere. ¨C Idiot, you¡¯re being the loudest right now. ¨C Shush! ¨C Shhhh! The light slowly dimmed. Their light didn¡¯t go outpletely, but it was now on the level of fireflies. Hmm, this was good enough. This shouldn¡¯t be enough to attract the enemy¡¯s attention. The spirits wriggled their way around me. Were they trying to be quiet in their own way? They whispered to me questions. ¨C Master, Master. Who are you ying hide-and-seek with? ¨C Is it with an ugly orc? A centaur in heat? Or is it a terrifying basilisk? ¨C Everyone died a long time ago. A long, long time ago. We¡¯re the only ones left here¡­¡­. ¨C Humans killed them all. They also burned down a lot of forests¡­¡­. The spirits lowered their heads sullenly. Dear me, they are so cute. I lifted up the child nearest to me. The spirit tilted their head. I unveiled the secret move that I had left sealed for some time now. I tickled their armpits. ¨C Kyaha. Right as the spirit was about to let out augh, they hastily covered their mouth with their hands. It seems they had just remembered that they had promised to be quiet. They iled around with the urge tough, but they never removed their hands from their mouth. How praiseworthy! I gave the spirit a fatherly smile as I spoke. ¡°We are ying hide-and-seek with humans.¡± ¨C Kyaha, humans? ¨C Humans aren¡¯t trustworthy enough to y with. ¨C They¡¯re always burning down forests. Master, you can¡¯t trust humans. Trustworthy, is it? They¡¯re using some difficult words, huh? I let out a small chuckle. Ever since I reached my current level as a Demon Lord, the kyaas and koos that I used to hear from the spirits now sounded like eligible words. ¡°I see. Those humans really are terrible.¡± ¨C Yeah, those humans are bad! ¨C It wouldn¡¯t be satisfying even if you hung their guts on a branch! The spiritsid out theirints. It was only natural that fairies that were born and raised in forests would consider humans as enemies since they would burn down forests to reim thend. ¡°In that case, allow me to ask for a favor. Humans will be crossing that road ahead of us in a bit. If it appears like humans are approaching, I want you to secretly tell me. We will teach those bad humans a lesson.¡± The spirits epted my request unanimously as they told me to leave it to them. Shortly after, Laura returned from positioning our scouts. ¡°You cannot imagine my surprise when I saw the forest start glowing.¡± Laura was furrowing her brows. ¡°Lord¡­¡­ No, Count Ptine. What did you do?¡± I smiled at the girl who was about to refer to me as lord but quickly caught herself. ¡°I just hired the stealthiest scouts in the world.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Laura lookedpletely clueless. Well, she¡¯ll figure it out in time. ¡°Look over there.¡± Laura pointed at the horizon after about an hour since we arrived in the forest. ¡°It seems the Baroness managed to start the fire.¡± She was right. The area she was pointing at was the only ce that was glowing brightly. Laura gave a satisfied nod. ¡°She started the fire at the perfect time. The enemy will take about half a day to decide on how to respond after learning of our destination, and it will take another half a day to rally reinforcements ande this far. So in total, this should take them at least an entire day.¡± ¡°Are we not running it close on time?¡± ¡°Very much so. That is why this youngdy sent the main army to Mno¡­¡­.¡± Youngdy? That wasn¡¯t really an appropriate term for the suprememander of an army to refer to herself as. I considered cautioning her about it, but there were no soldiers within earshot. I decided to shrug my shoulders and leave it be. ¡°The victory and failure of this operation depend on how much time it takes for the enemy to send their reinforcements. They do not have to dy it that long. It would be more than enough if the Earl of Pavia and the Duke of Mno argued for about an hour or two. That would suffice¡­¡­.¡± Laura closed her mouth. At that moment, a spirit stuck its head out from the foliage. ¨C Master, a bunch of humans are approaching! I leaned down and patted the spirit¡¯s head. The spirit squealed in joy. A dy of about one to two hours, huh¡­¡­? That was exactly how long it took for the enemy to approach after we arrived here. It was just as she predicted. ¡°Laura.¡± ¡°So those are the scouts you were talking about.¡± Laura appeared to already know what I was going to say. She smiled as she turned around. ¡°Milord, watch me from a distance. I can remain strong if I know that you are watching.¡± ¡°If that is what you wish, Duke Farnese.¡± Laura covertly gavemands to the squadron leaders. The soldiers that were resting freely quietly got back on their horses. The sound of horse snorting would asionally resonate throughout the forest. We could hear the sound of hooves approaching from a distance. The enemy was drawing near. I was able to get a grasp of the enemy¡¯s size and formation thanks to the information from the spirits. Despite advancing at full speed, they made sure to have an advance party at the front. It wasn¡¯t clear how skilled Earl Pavia was at military tactics, but it appears that he knew how to be cautious. ¡°The enemy has about five thousand troops.¡± ¡°Oh? So he scraped together every cavalryman he could get.¡± Laura smiled faintly. ¡°Either Earl Pavia¡¯s authority is higher than expected, or the Duke of Mno did not want to be used of abandoning his people. This is good for us either way.¡± Normally, you would be afraid or nervous if you found out that your enemy has arge number of troops, but Laura was the exact opposite. She was like a warrior who would thank the gods for a bountiful harvest if she encountered a bear in the mountains during the winter. Therger her prey, the happier that made Laura. Laura raised her right arm. Once she did, our troops advanced. At first, the horses moved at a trot. The warhorses moved forward like they were going on a light jog. The horses promptly picked up their pace once the first and second lines of our formation hadpletely left the forest. Once the first line started their charge, the second line would follow, followed by the third, and so on. No one shouted at the others to speed up or give battle cries. The world¡¯s quietest cavalry charge was being carried out here. The cavalrymen of Sardinia were marching in a long line ahead of us, exposing their nk to uspletely. However, even if we were being as silent as possible, it was impossible to silence the sound of horse hooves. Thus, it didn¡¯t take long for them to notice us. ¡°A-Ambush!¡± ¡°Turn the horses!¡± The enemy troops became panicked. They cried out about an ambush and a surprise attack. The enemy soldiers had been advancing as fast as possible to save their territory. However, this made it extremely difficult for them to change their formation. Our troops were already charging them at max speed while they were busily trying to pull themselves together. There was probably no need to stay quiet now. I activated the amplification spell that was on my ne and gave a loud shout. ¡°Soldiers of Helvetica! Charge!¡± That shout released the floodgate. The mercenaries that had been staying silent up to this point all let out their war cries. ¡°Kill those Sardinian country bumpkins!¡± ¡°Go! Get them!¡± ¡°Wipe ¡¯em all out!¡± Our warhorses charged intensely. The enemy must¡¯ve been fairlypetent as well, as they managed to pull together a formation and respond to our attack in kind. The problem, however, was the distance. They didn¡¯t have nearly enough distance to increase the speed of their horses. Compared to our forces that had more than 400 meters to increase the pace of our horses, the enemy had less than a hundred meters avable to them. The result was clear. Our first line and the enemy¡¯s first line collided noisily as metal and metal mmed together. There were even enemy horses that were flung away aftering into contact with our warhorses. The enemy¡¯s first line copsed without being able to even let out a scream. They had quite literally evaporated. The royal army¡¯s first line couldn¡¯t stall for any time whatsoever. They were just now starting to create their second line, but this iplete formation ended up being exposed to us. With this, this was no longer a battle. My amplified order rang out throughout the ins that had suddenly be a warzone. ¡°All troops, ughter the enemy!¡± A one-sided ughter had begun. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It¡¯s always nice when we get to see the fairies, even if these aren¡¯t specifically the ones from Dant¡¯s dungeon. All in all, this was an enjoyable chapter. If only that enjoyment was able to soothe my current stress. Only one week until I have to go to the bank to submit all the documents and apply for my house loan. I can only pray that they ept. The immediate day after I go on my Japan trip¡­ Why are all these things stacked right next to each other? Hopefully, I¡¯m able to just rx and enjoy myself while I¡¯m in Japan¡­ and not constantly worry about whether the bank will ept my loan request or not¡­ This is suffering. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. The next one might be thest one until I¡¯m back from my trip, not too certain yet. Chapter 365: Chrysanthemum War II (6) Chapter 365: Chrysanthemum War II (6) Our troops broke the enemy¡¯s spirit without mercy. Only blood, dust, and screams were left behind in the areas stomped on by our warhorses. ¡°Kuagh!¡± ¡°D-Do not back down! It will be the end of us if we back down now!¡± Despite having been wholly ambushed, the royal army of Sardinia kept pushing themselves. However, this was still only the beginning of the hellscape. Once our first line seeded in their charge, the second, third, and fourth lines followed suit with great intensity. ¨C Voooooooo. The sound of bugles rang out all around. The rear cavalrymen re-entered the ce that the first line had passed. The enemy had started to flee at a certain point, but it wasn¡¯t certain when exactly. They might have been able to endure the second charge. However, the enemy couldn¡¯t even retaliate against the third charge. By the time our fourth charge happened, the enemy troops were already fleeing for their lives. The victor had been decided. ¡°Don¡¯t run away, you cowards!¡± A voice rang out from behind the enemy troops at that moment. ¡°Who will protect our families and neighbors if you run away now!? Protect Pavia! Protect the people! And prove to the world that you are not cowards who abandon theirrades!¡± The voice sounded like it belonged to a middle-aged man. He was shouting angrily. Only themanders would use amplification magic during battle. Although the expensive price tags on magic artifacts also weighed in on this, it would only be confusing if multiple people were to amplify their voices and shout at the same time. Therefore, the owner of that voice was either Earl Pavia or one of his direct subordinates. ¡°How brave.¡± ¡°But it is pointless.¡± Laura smirked after she heard my praise. ¡°They allowed themselves to be ambushed in the dead of night. Even Big Sister Barbatos wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything in a situation like this. Not only is bravery pointless in a time like this¡ªbut they even revealed where theirmander is located.¡± Laura nced at me. I responded with a nod and proceeded to give another order. ¡°Fifth line, charge at the enemymander!¡± The fifth line which had been on standby this entire time started their advance. If you exclude our light cavalrymen, they were actually ourst remaining soldiers. Laura had positioned elites in the first and fifth lines for this situation specifically. Earl Pavia probably heard themand I gave. ¡°Fight back! Rather than live a coward, die honorably in battle!¡± His cry was like that of a rabid beast. ¡°Goddess Artemis will remember this night! Blood for the Goddess!¡± ¡°Blood for the Goddess!¡± There was still a fair number of enemy troops around Earl Pavia. They were probably the knight order from Pavia or Mno. The less than forty knights gave out a cry. Themander ordered and the knights responded. ¡°Glory to our countrymen! Death to our enemies!¡± ¡°Hurrah!¡± ¡°All hail His Highness the King!¡± The knights hailed their king as they charged at us. Their charge was truly heroic. However, they had a severe disadvantage in terms of numbers. Our fifth line consisted of a thousand men. They weren¡¯t poorly equipped like the light cavalrymen. They were the most veteran cavalrymen that had been on the battlefield for decades. A thousand heavy cavalry shed with forty knights. ¡°All hail His Highness the King!¡± ¡°For the ins of Sardinia!¡± As expected, the knights were strong. Even though their charging distance was much shorter than ours, they were able to ughter about a hundred to two hundred troops in an instant. Before long, there were only about a dozen knights left near the Earl. Their banner had long fallen to the ground. ¡°Impressive. Truly remarkable¡­¡­!¡± I expressed my deep satisfaction. I had an acquired sickness. It was my phobia of knights. Ever since my loss to Henrietta on Saint-Denis ins, I would experience an orgasmic feeling of pleasure whenever I watched knights die pitifully. I wasn¡¯t lying. This feeling was actually better than climaxing during sex. It¡¯d be wonderful if all the knights in the world died off. I¡¯m serious. ¡°Huhaha. It was worth paying so much to hire these men. Kill them more! Shatter their helmets that look needlessly expensive. Crush their armor and feed them to the dogs.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that all you feel after watching their charge?¡± Laura looked appalled. It was like she was staring at food waste. ¡°Oh, their charge was indeed noble and brave, but that does not matter! That makes them deserve to be sullied even more! It would only be polite to dye a white sheet of paper in ck paint. ughter them, warriors of Helvetica! Prove that knights are third-ss soldiers that are only glossy on the outside!¡± ¡°How did I fall in love with such a man¡­¡­?¡± Laura let out a sigh. The enemy¡¯s knight order got wiped out while Laura and I, the two highestmanding officers on our side, were fooling around. The warhorses of the knights who struggled till the very end were felled by a barrage of spears, and the knights who still refused to give up were gifted a shower of arrows. ¡°Your Highness, the enemymander has been captured alive! This is a great victory!¡± Our squadron leaders gathered one by one. All of their faces were glowing. We may have had a numerical advantage, but we still managed to annihte an enemy army of five thousand cavalrymen which also included knights. On the other hand, our losses were minimal. This was quite literally ourplete and utter victory. ¡°I offer my congrattions on the victory, Your Highness!¡± ¡°Your Highness¡¯ strategy and bravery areparable to the goddess Athena!¡± Laura gave a dignified nod. ¡°You have fought hard. Who was the soldier that captured the enemymander?¡± ¡°It was Sergeant Gise of my squadron.¡± A dwarf walked forward. He had a confident presence, but his actions seemed cautious since he was in the presence of the suprememander. Or maybe he was intimidated by all the squadron leaders around him. ¡°Sergeant Gise!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± ¡°You have disyed the bravery of a Helvetian warrior. Tonight¡¯s battle shall be named after the river that flows through thisnd. From this point forth, tonight¡¯s battle will be known as the Battle of Ticinus and, you, Sergeant Gise, shall be known as the hero of this battle! Your name shall go down in history!¡± The dwarf couldn¡¯t possibly hide how moved he felt. ¡°I bestow upon you a small reward of 5,000 libra.¡± ¡°I-I am honored!¡± The sergeant responded as strongly as he could. It was almost like he had squeezed those words out because he couldn¡¯t think of anything else to say. The sound of gasps came up from those around us as well. 5,000 gold! That was an amount that a normal mercenary could only earn after rolling through battlefields consistently for ten years. However, half of their pay would go into food while a quarter would go into maintaining their equipment. A mercenary would have to live a frugal life for about thirty years to be able to earn 5,000 gold. But what kind of mercenary would be frugal with their money when they could die at any moment? It wasmon for them to splurge on decent-quality beer and to embrace fair-looking prostitutes. 5,000 gold was an amount that they could never touch. The sergeant and squadron leaders were naturally speechless before Her Highness the Duchess¡¯ insanely huge reward. ¡°Are you the one in charge of the squadron that Sergeant Gise is a part of?¡± ¡°Y-Yes, Your Highness. I go by Captain Palmin.¡± The dwarven squadron leader stammered as he answered. He was the one who introduced the sergeant earlier. ¡°I see. I bestow 5,000 gold to Captain Palmin as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The captain huped. The silent shock of the other squadron leaders around him was apparent. Laura paid their shock no mind as she raised her voice for those around us to hear. ¡°Heed me! Even though Captain Palmin could have taken his subordinate¡¯s contribution for himself, he ultimately did not do so. Captain Palmin has shown us what it means to have the honor of a warrior and the virtue of a superior. A splendid man of character!¡± Laura patted the shoulder of Captain Palmin who was now as rigid as a statue. ¡°The world denounces you all as specters of money. They call you evil spirits and murderers who kill others for money¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In truth, we do kill people. We do so willingly. However, even we have our pride. We do not steal the credit of our subordinates. We do not sell out ourrades. We do not flee when faced withbat¡­¡­. This is our pride. This is why you are Helvetians!¡± The soldiers raised their arms and cheered. Helvetica is a country that was established by sub-races. They have always been scorned and disdained by the people of other nations. They may have survived thanks to the need for mercenaries, but how could they possibly forget the scorn they received during their lives? Laura was facing this head-on and shattering it. ¡°For this reason, tonight¡¯s battle is not my victory! It is not the victory of the Empire either! It is your victory, the victory of Helvetica! Tonight, the Goddesses have given us their vow. They have sworn that the continent will remember Helvetica! The continent shall fear Helvetica for all eternity!¡± The sound of cheering resonated loudly throughout the sky. ¡°Glory to the Duchess!¡±, ¡°Glory to Helvetica!¡±, the soldiers cheered out endlessly. However, I was moved for a different reason. This was clean. She skillfully poked at the victim mentality of Helvetians and the pride that mercenaries have for their jobs. At a certain point, Laura started to say ¡°we¡±, putting herself into the group of mercenaries. The mentality of most people consists of victim mentality, pride, and a sense ofmunity spirit. These were the most important things thatposed a person¡¯s identity. Laura had tapped into that core mentality. Speeches are a technique that can manipte and instigate the mentality of others. In this regard, Laura received a passing grade. I don¡¯t know who she took after, but her skill was remarkably clean. I¡¯m sure she had the greatest and wisest teacher in the world¡­¡­. Laura walked forward as the soldiers continued to cheer. Earl Pavia was before her bound in rope. There was an arrow stuck in his forearm and thigh. He had clearly fought back intensely. ¡°How dare a mere whoremit such a lowly trick¡­¡­!¡± Earl Pavia¡¯s expression was burning with anger. He was a middle-aged man. Being a man of strict traditions, his wrinkles only entuated his stern expression. He seemed determined to show that, despite his captivity, he still possessed his spirit. Earl Pavia bellowed out boldly. ¡°As expected of a whore who seduced an emperor to your bed chamber! Yes, what can an adultress who already spread her legs to a demon be incapable of? You dirty traitorous bitch, may you receive judgment for dirtying your human hands with human blood! Even in his grave, your father is¡ª.¡± However, the Earl could not say anything more than that. Laura unsheathed her sword and slit the Earl¡¯s throat in a single move. The tip of the de urately sliced the area underneath the chin. The Earl grabbed his throat with his hands as he fell over. He coughed out blood and spluttered out sounds that only animals would make. Laura raised the corners of her mouth as she looked down at the Earl. ¡°You can hate humans because you are human.¡± A nearby squadron leader who had been on standby took out an axe and swung it down on the Earl¡¯s neck. It took about 2 to 3 swings before the Earl¡¯s head was separated from his body. Laura picked up the Earl¡¯s head and raised it up high. ¡°Let us turn Sardinia into a sea of fire!¡± The soldiers replied with the loudest cheer of the night. Continental calendar: Year 1512, Month 6, Day 5. In the first battle of Chrysanthemum War II, the Battle of Ticinus, Laura de Farnese annihted 5,000 cavalrymen from Sardinia with 6,000 cavalrymen of her own, and she acquired the head of the enemymander, Earl Pavia. This battle ended in the imperial army¡¯splete victory. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Rest in peace Earl, you won¡¯t be remembered. In any case, this may or may not be thest chapter I post before my trip to Japan. It mostly depends on how I feel before my trip. The day before I get on my ne I have to do all my bank stuff and submit a bunch of documents to apply for a loan. I¡¯m going to seriously pray that I get that done without a hitch and they don¡¯t try to contact me while I¡¯m in Japan to ask for additional papers. I swear¡­ This month has been stressful enough. I just want to get to Japan and rx. PLEASE LET THINGS GO MY WAY. Ugh, I¡¯ll maybe see you guys before my trip. If not, then the next chapter will be dyed a week. Sorry for the inconvenience. Chapter 366: Chrysanthemum War II (7) Chapter 366: Chrysanthemum War II (7) * * * The imperial army advanced without hesitation. Laura immediately led her troops to Pavia after their sessful ambush. Pavia was surrounded by a decently-built rampart; however, the issue was the fact that they only had a small number of troops to defend it. It was probably around 400. On the other hand, we had 6,000 troops, eleven of which were mages. Let me be direct. The enemy had no chance of victory. Furthermore, ourmander, Laura, was openly recognized for her expertise in siege warfare. Heidelberg, which had been purely built as a fortress city, and Parisiorum, the greatest city of Frankia, were all crushed under Laura¡¯s feet. Pavia was basically like an afternoon snack to her. Laura gave hermand. ¡°Put the Earl¡¯s head on disy for them.¡± The mercenaries attached the heads of the enemy they had defeated earlier on the ends of their spears. Once dawn broke, the soldiers defending the walls were made to witness a gruesome sight. Thousands of heads were impaled at the ends of spears. The head of Earl Pavia was also among them. The morale of the enemy troops plummeted drastically once they learned of their lord¡¯s gruesome demise. Laura didn¡¯t miss that opening. Our eleven mages poured their spells on the gate at the same time. The gate was destroyed in a matter of moments and our cavalrymen charged in with great fervor as our bugles were blown. Their morale had already dropped, but adding the destruction of their gate on top of that made the defending soldierspletely lose their will to fight. They gave up trying to defend the city in any systematic way and escaped down their own paths. Thanks to this, our 6,000 cavalrymen ran through the city freely as if they were running on open ins. Laura gave them a brutal order. ¡°Do noty your hands on the children or elderly.¡± In other words, they could do whatever they liked to the men and women. To top it all off, Laura allowed our troops to pige however they wanted. She promised that themanding officers would not interfere no matter what they piged. Pavia was turned into hell. The mercenaries indulged in the rights naturally given to the winners. They broke down the front doors of wealthy houses and noble mansions, striking the heads of any of the servants or men that got in their way as they barged in with their axes. ¡°Kyaahhhh!¡± ¡°S-Spare me! Please spare me!¡± The men and women were murdered and raped indiscriminately. There were even groups that killed humans and set private homes on fire to entertain themselves. The wealth that had been built up throughout the lives of the citizens of Pavia, no, throughout several generations, were all stolen. Having only their wealth stolen was actually on the light side. ¡°The surviving citizens will all be treated as ves.¡± Laura smirked coldly. ¡°There is no need to show generosity to those that had treated me as a ve. Sardinia and Pavia must take responsibility for their actions.¡± That singlement decided the fates of Pavia¡¯s 15,000 citizens. The imperial army made Pavia into its military base and resided there. The private homes were forcefullymandeered and used as quarters for our soldiers while the citizens were turned into ves and made to serve the mercenaries. We weren¡¯tcking in wealth or provisions, so we were able to rest peacefully. Pavia had fallen. This news shook the Kingdom of Sardinia. The royal army was shocked to learn that Earl Pavia had fallen in battle and that 5,000 cavalrymen were annihted in a single battle. The Duke of Mnopletely gave up on taking the battle outside his city walls after losing arge portion of his cavalry and chose to shut himself within his walls even further. Laura muttered to herself after she received this report. ¡°Hm, it will be troubling if he chooses to shut himself inpletely. It appears that Duke Mno is clearly wiser than Earl Pavia when ites to military strategy.¡± ¡°There is no way for him toe out after losing that many cavalrymen.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡­.¡± Laura twirled her side bang with her finger. ¡°Lord, do you have an idea?¡± ¡°It is difficult to drag someone that is reluctant out from their hiding holes. However, there is a way to gradually make the Duke¡¯s strategy problematic.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± I smiled brightly. ¡°Make a deration to the Duke. If he wishes for the ves of Pavia to be returned to him, then he must pay the appropriate price.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see. And we prevent the Duke from purchasing them by putting an exorbitant price on their heads.¡± Laura nodded to herself in understanding. ¡°The Duke would be ignoring the people even though he could free them. He would naturally receive criticism.¡± ¡°No, we will be doing the exact opposite. We will sell them fairly cheaply.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Laura tilted her head. Although she was practically my best pupil, she was always a step behind when it came to certain things. I guess you could say that her level of scheming was a bit too obvious. That was the feeling she gave off. ¡°Sell them for 30 libra per person. Regardless of whether they are amoner or a noble. They will all be 30 libra.¡± ¡°Hah? What are you saying?¡± Laura furrowed her brows. ¡°Is that not too cheap? That would allow Mno to purchase them with eas¡ª¡± ¡°However, we will do so with a small condition attached. We will only acknowledge a nket purchase. Shrewdly purchasing only the nobles will not be allowed.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡­?¡± ¡°If he wishes to purchase them, then he must purchase all 15,000 citizens at once. We will ept only then.¡± Laura still looked confused. Iughed. ¡°Think about it. Selling even nobles for only 30 libra is mad. Despite this, we are still choosing to do so¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Duke Mno will undoubtedly start to question this. He will focus on the fact that we are requesting a nket purchase. He will then think, ¡®Oh, their expeditionary force must have an immediate need for money¡¯.¡± Laura brought her fist down on the table in realization. ¡°I see! We will be making him think that we do not have much funding!¡± ¡°Duke Mno is unaware of our financial situation. He wille to the conclusion that we went to pige Pavia as soon as possible because of our financial trouble.¡± This will make Duko Mno think the following: We will be at an advantage if we prolong this war for as long as possible. The enemy forces might naturally dissolve due to being unable to pay their mercenaries¡­¡­. Furthermore, didn¡¯t the Habsburg Empire recently go through the Puppet War? They must have used up a huge amount of war expenses. The Empire currently does not have enough financial leeway to carry out tworge wars consecutively. No, they must have none. That is why they are trying to get immediate funding by selling the prisoners¡­¡­! I smiled. ¡°This is a bad habit that humans have. Once theye to a conclusion, they interpret things however they want to match fit their conclusion. Duke Mno may doubt this thought once; however, we simply have to lower the price to 4/5th and make another proposal.¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± Laura grabbed her own forearms as sheughed. ¡°As I thought, you are the greatest, Lord! You are the most rotten and heinous man in the world!¡± Laura then got up from her chair and hugged me. She then kissed me before I could voice myint. This was truly a mystery. Why is it that all of the women I¡¯m going out with like the fact that I¡¯m heinous? Is this what people mean about bad boys having a certain charm to them¡­¡­? I seriously don¡¯t understand and I probably never will. We immediatelymenced this scheme on Duke Mno. ¡°If you wish to have the ves of Pavia returned to you, then pay the appropriate price.¡± The price was 30 gold per person. It was incredibly cheap for the price of a normal person¡¯s freedom, and basically free for noblemen. You could call this a bargain sale. However, we added the condition that they had to purchase everyone all at once. There were a total of 15,000 civilians captured as ves, so they would have to pay 450,000 gold. That was a fairlyrge sum, but that could be considered chump change to purchase 15,000borers and have them indebted to the nation. Duke Mno sent an envoy and cautiously refused our deal. We dispatched a negotiator again and offered to lower the price to 350,000 libra. We were selling them for pennies! Once we made this offer, Duke Mno refused us even more firmly, making it clear that he would never ept our offer. He most likely fully believed that we were having money problems now. Not only did he refuse, but he also condemned our piging to arge degree. He went on and on about how enving free people was unpardonable and whatever¡­¡­. There was no reason for me to remember what he had said exactly. You could probably find his exact words in any book about ethics. The two of us read the letter filled with ¡®well-mannered swears¡¯ side by side. We then chuckled. ¡°Lord, is this enough now?¡± ¡°Yes, this is enough.¡± Our imperial army left 3,000 soldiers in Pavia and headed north. At the same time, we called over the 20,000 soldiers we had sent to Mno and joined up with them. With a total of about 25,000 troops, we attacked the military base of Novara. As a more well-organized military base, Novara was not an easy location to capture. The 5,000 mercenaries that the Kingdom of Sardinia had hastily hired were protecting the city. However, although they were formidable, there was no way that they could defend against an army five times their size for long. If we were to examine our army¡¯s position, then it was probably like the following: Novara ¨C our army ¨C Mno. Like this, we were between two enemy bases. If Mno were toe out from behind their walls and attack us from behind, then we might have been in danger. Or, at the very least, it would have slowed down our capture of Novara immensely. Furthermore, the army being drafted in the southern region of Sardinia would have made their way up by then. However, Duke Mno took no action. Despite the constant request for reinforcement being sent from Novara via magicmunication, and the copse of a wall, the Duke didn¡¯t take a single step from Mno as if he were choosing to abandon the mercenaries. The mercenaries of Novara probably fell in despair. They weren¡¯t asking for much either. They were simply asking Mno to keep the imperial army¡¯s rear in check. That was it. However, Duke Mno ignored even this simple request. Thanks to this, we were able to ignore our rear and focus entirely on attacking Novara. ¡°Duke Mno is mistaking our action as an attempt to lure him out.¡± I spoke as I watched Novara from a distance. The enemy mercenaries were struggling desperately. Even though two walls had fallen, they were preventing our attempt to get inside by focusing their troops however they could in those areas. ¡°He believes that we are trying to end this quickly, luring him out for a short battle since we are low on funding. Well, that is a rational conclusion in its own way.¡± ¡°But he is wrong.¡± Laura smiled. ¡°Duke Mno has sessfully protected his city, or at least, that is what he will think. However, his only aplishment is losing 5,000 cavalrymen and 5,000 mercenaries. Now Mno only has a civilian militia.¡± That¡¯s right. We used the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s grand n against them. If they want to protect their big city, then they can do so as much as they want. However, while they were busy doing that, we chose to annihte all of their elite soldiers, and by piging Pavia, we were also able to sufficiently resupply our funds and provisions. Duke Mno lost everything except for his city. His cavalrymen, elite soldiers, military base, and even his reputation and honor, they were all gone¡­¡­. He ignored the citizens of Pavia even though he could have freed them, and even allowed his military base to be destroyed before his very eyes. Arge amount of criticism will most likely fall upon Duke Mno and Sardinia¡¯s n. The military base of Novara fell by our hands in nine days. The enemy mercenaries fought valiantly until their gate was breached, but they lost their will to fight once they realized that the possibility of reinforcement became clearly unlikely. They promptly surrendered to us. Laura mercifully epted their surrender and even went as far as to praise their struggle and offered to reemploy them. After executing the regimentmander that refused our offer to reemploy them, our forces gained an additional 2,000 soldiers. In the end, the Kingdom of Sardinia betrayed the trust of the mercenaries. At this point, the kingdom had already lost about 10,000 elite soldiers. Despite this, Duke Mno is probably reassuring himself that they at least obtained a strategic victory. Very well, then. Comfort yourself however much you want. There isn¡¯t much time left before you realize that what you obtained wasn¡¯t victory anyway¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. A lot of maniption happening in this arc, huh? People just ying into Laura¡¯s hands. Welp, that¡¯s what makes these chapters enjoyable. In any case, the time has finallye. After 5 months since the initial decision, my trip to Japan has finally arrived. I¡¯ll be leaving for my flight tomorrow evening. I finished applying for my loan today as well, so I won¡¯t have to worry about that¡­ hopefully. The bank clerk did say that they¡¯ll most likely call me during the evaluation period for more information or documents, but I told them about my trip and that I¡¯ll be back next week. I can only pray that this doesn¡¯t cause any issues. In any case, I¡¯m looking forward to my trip and I hope you guys don¡¯t mind waiting a bit for the next chapter. I¡¯ll see you guys when I¡¯m back! Chapter 367: Chrysanthemum War II (8) Chapter 367: Chrysanthemum War II (8) * * * ¡°Why are you refusing to move our soldiers, Duke!?¡± A young man shouted as he mmed his hand on a table. ¡°The enemy has been piging Pavia for half a month without being stopped in any way! They are treating ournd like their frontwns and taunting us. This is ridiculous¡­¡­!¡± The young man¡¯s ck and curly hair was trimmed neatly and his white forehead glistened beautifully. However, the young man¡¯s beauty didn¡¯te from his forehead. His forehead, the area between his brows, and even the edge of hisshes were full of life. However, his eyes¡ªhis deep eyes suppressed all this vigor. That was where the young man¡¯s beautyy. The vigor that could burst and overflow at any moment was being held back by his surprising self-restraint. The young man was like a jockey controlling a violent horse. Simr to how a jockey bes more impressive ording to how violent the horse they tame is, the young man proved his will by being able to suppress his innate vigor. ¡°Do not worry, Grand Duke. The imperial armycks supplies.¡± ¡°The people are dying! You are neglecting your duty as a noble!¡± The young man had just be 26 years old. His name was Cosimo de Medici. He was the head of the Medici family, which was right underneath the king of Sardinia, and he was also the grand duke that ruled over the great city of Florence. ¡°The imperial army is powerful, while our defending soldiers are weak. What can this old man possibly do?¡± ¡°Figuring that out is the mission given to you by His Highness the King!¡± ¡°His Highness ordered me to defend Mno.¡± Duke Mno shook his head. He was being projected inside a magic orb. Duke Mno who was in his sixties and the 26-year-old Grand Duke of Florence were currently in the middle of a strategy meeting. ¡°The tragedy of Pavia is unfortunate, but we must avoid incurring great losses pursuing a small profit.¡± ¡°Great losses? Did you just say great losses?¡± The mouth of Florence¡¯s Grand Duke twitched. ¡°I will tell you what great losses are.¡± ¡°This old man will listen.¡± ¡°The fact that you are not sending reinforcements even though your neighboring city is being destroyed.¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s ck eyes zed with anger. ¡°The fact that you did not free your people from imprisonment because of your frugality even though you more than could have done so. The fact that, despite having lost your military base, you are not taking action in any way because you are afraid that it may foil your original n. These are great losses!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence mmed his hand against the table. ¡°Know what shame is, Duke! Are you aware of how you are being ndered back at the capital? They are saying that the Duke of Mno is looser than that Farnese harlot!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Duke of Mno let out a sigh. ¡°Listen to this old man¡¯s words carefully. The imperial army iscking in supplies. They are in a situation where they do not have enough to pay their mercenaries.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Go on.¡± The young man suppressed his anger and listened for the time being. His position was higher than that of the old man before him, but their authority was practically equal. He was only higher in name but the same in terms of power. The young man wasn¡¯t so foolish that he would behave arrogantly in front of someone like that. The Kingdom of Sardinia went through a civil war only a few years ago where they lost almost half of their nobles. The nobles that survived that hell were allpetent. There may be a huge gap in age between the old Duke of Mno and the young Grand Duke of Florence, but they both made significant contributions to destroying the Farnese Dukedom during the civil war. They were both skilled. ¡ªIt was because of this that they acknowledged and were wary of one another. ¡°If we continue to defend our walls like this, then the imperial army will fall from exhaustion on their own. There is no easier enemy to face than unpaid mercenaries.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They will soon revolt or leave. Simr to how dirty fertilizer is required to grow wheat, a certain degree of nder is always required for glory to sprout. We must endure!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence tapped his finger on the table. ¡°What are you basing your im on that the enemy iscking in supplies?¡± ¡°They are trying to rush negotiations.¡± The Duke of Mno answered confidently. ¡°They are desperately trying to sell the people of Pavia for a dismal sum. This means they are in urgent need of emergency funds.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is not enough proof, Duke.¡± The Grand Duke furrowed his brows. ¡°They may be trying to hand their prisoners over to you because they do not wish to feed them. Mno will definitely experience a food shortage if you were to take in 20,000 prisoners.¡± ¡°My city has enough food tost three years.¡± ¡°¡­¡­How would the enemy know that? We should not make hasty assumptions about their intent.¡± The Grand Duke of Florence responded calmly, but he let out a sneer in his mind. He has enough provisions to feed his people for three years? This made it clear that the Duke of Mno had been preparing for war since long ago. His ramparts were probably being maintained regrly. ¡®Tsk, is this why he¡¯s been so passive?¡¯ No matter how strong the enemy is, he¡¯s confident in his ability to protect his city. On the other hand, he¡¯s not confident in fighting in the open. That¡¯s why he chose to do nothing even as his neighboring city was being piged and destroyed¡­¡­. ¡®How despicable.¡¯ The young Grand Duke¡¯s heart was dyed with anger. ¡®How can someone who cannot protect his people be considered a noble? Apetent evil is more detestable than an ipetent evil. If you have an ambition, then achieve it while also protecting the people! Is that not how a proper noble should behave!?¡¯ The Grand Duke of Florence slowly resolved himself. He understood the Duke¡¯s n, but his proof was far toocking. You cannot operate an army while relying on a flimsy assumption. They have to chase that whore¡¯s invading army out of Sardinia as soon as possible. The Grand Duke spoke firmly. ¡°I do not agree with your strategy, Duke.¡± ¡°Grand Duke de Medici!¡± ¡°This is Sardinia, we are the people of Sardinia, and they are invaders. Sitting on our hands while watching our people lose their possessions is not just. Duke, join me in intercepting the enemy.¡± The wrinkles on the Duke of Mno¡¯s face became more pronounced. ¡°Facing the imperial army on the field is unwise! Have you already forgotten what happened to the knight order of Brittany?¡± ¡°It was the Demon Lord Army that defeated those knights, not that whore.¡± ¡°That is what they want you to think. They are trying to make us underestimate them so that we face them in the open!¡± The Grand Duke stared the old Duke straight in the eyes. ¡°Then how about this? If the enemy forces surround Mno andy siege to it, the men under mymand will not budge an inch. You will have to handle the imperial army on your own!¡± ¡°What¡­¡­.¡± The old noble¡¯s face became red. Once it did, the Grand Duke of Florence continued with more rage. ¡°It is unjust if forced upon you, but it is fine if forced upon others? How does that make sense!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Earl Pavia sacrificed himself for us. Who was it that said that we must make an example of the Farnese and decided to turn their second daughter into a ve? It was us. This was something we all agreed upon. Earl Pavia acted as the one responsible for that!¡± The Grand Duke struck a ss cup off the table with the back of his hand. The ss shattered noisily on the ground. ¡°You returned his goodwill by forcing him to his demise! You are lounging here like a coward while your people are being ughtered cruelly!¡± ¡°You are being far too harsh with your words, Grand Duke!¡± ¡°Know honor!¡± The two nobles stood up at almost the same time. ¡°As the acting general for His Highness the King, I hereby order you to rally under me.¡± ¡°You do not have the authority to order my civilian militia however you please, Grand Duke! The suprememander of Sardinia¡¯s troops in the northern region is I, Ludovico de Sforza!¡± The two red at each other intensely. ¡°Even if the king himself were here, even he would not be able to move my people!¡± ¡°You old, arrogant man! May Pavia curse you for eternity!¡± At that moment, the Grand Duke grabbed his magic orb and threw it on the ground. The orb shattered into pieces. It was an expensive artifact, but the Grand Duke wanted to get rid of that shameless old man¡¯s face as soon as possible. He had no regret. The Grand Duke of Florence stomped on the shards with his military boot. ¡°The enemy we are fighting is the whore, and yet, are we not the ones who should feel more ashamed!?¡± Protect the people. Help your brethren. Defeat the invaders. These were such obvious duties that they had to fulfill, but the problem was the weight of them all. The weight was far too much for normal human beings that spent their daysboring away. Nobles exist to bear this weight in their stead. Nobles are those who naturally bear the burden of others. Nothing more, nothing less. If they weren¡¯t going to bear this burden, then why should they be allowed to take taxes? What kind of noble would that be!? They would be nothing! And nobles must prove that they are not nothing¡­¡­. The Grand Duke put in every effort he could make. For starters, he didn¡¯t disregard the information he received from the Duke of Mno. If the Duke of Mno¡¯s assumption is correct, then, although it angers him, defending the city was the best option. Therefore, the Grand Duke of Florence devised a single n. The Grand Duke sent an envoy to the imperial army. He offered to purchase the prisoners of Pavia in the Duke¡¯s stead. ¡®If the imperial army requires urgent funding, then they will ept my proposal.¡¯ The Grand Duke came to this conclusion. ¡®If this was for the purpose of draining Mno¡¯s supplies, then they will refuse.¡¯ The imperial army then proceeded to refuse the Grand Duke¡¯s proposal. The envoy returned after failing to make the deal, but the Grand Duke didn¡¯t me the envoy. If anything, he decided to reward them as this now proved his belief. ¡®The imperial army does notck supplies!¡¯ They want a prolonged battle, not a short one. They are forcing a siege on Mno. ¡°Summon the other generals!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence summoned all of the colonel generals under hismand. The generals had already been charmed by the young and beautiful Grand Duke¡¯s charisma. His mercenary captains consisted of individuals of various descents such as Frankia, Habsburg, Sardinia, Polish-Lithuania, and so forth. The Grand Duke of Florence captured their hearts by fluently using 7 differentnguages. ¡°Blow your horns. We are embarking to punish that imperial army!¡± 35,000 Sardinian royal soldiers under themand of Cosimo de Medici, the Grand Duke of Florence. Moving northward. * * * ¡°They have taken the bait.¡± I smiled after sending the envoy away. Laura responded with a smile of her own. ¡°There is no reason whatsoever for the Grand Duke of Florence to purchase the prisoners in the stead of Duke Mno. It was the Duke who let Pavia fall, not the Grand Duke. And yet, the Grand Duke sent an envoy, which means¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He is trying to figure out why we are trying to hand over the prisoners for a cheap price.¡± I chuckled. ¡°It appears that the enemy¡¯s highmand has split rather splendidly, Lord. Anyone who misses an opportunity like this would be an utter fool.¡± ¡°Very true. Let us disy a grand performance¡­¡­.¡± Apetentmander¡¯s enemy isn¡¯t an ipetent ally, it¡¯s their ownpetency. I learned this from Queen Henrietta. How about we kindly teach this lesson to others? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, I¡¯m back from my trip to Japan. It was fun and I might¡¯ve bought way too much merch. Although a day of my trip was ruined because Japan got hit by a huge typhoon, so we had to cancel almost all of our ns for that day. We only managed to go to one ce for lunch and then return to our Airbnb. The wind and rain got so bad by the time we returned that we had to just run through the storm without umbres because the umbres would just break if you tried to hold them out. I could probably go on and on about my trip, but that would just turn this TL note into like a diary, and I probably shouldn¡¯t do that. In any case, I¡¯m back and my legs are dead still. I¡¯ll try to get back on schedule, but I might rx a bit over this weekend so I can just sleep off the umted exhaustion. We¡¯ll have to see how I feel. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 368: Chrysanthemum War II (9) Chapter 368: Chrysanthemum War II (9) ¡°We will win against the Duke of Mno but lose against the Grand Duke of Florence.¡± This was the n that Laura devised. We were dealing with the Duke of Mno and the Grand Duke of Florence in opposite ways. The two high nobles were going through an internal dispute. However, they probably weren¡¯t so foolish that they wouldpletely divide with an enemy in front of them. We have to scheme more meticulously to deepen their divide. First, the Duke of Mno. This old aristocrat has been trickling out detached units every now and then. He was probably trying to keep us in check after hearing that the Grand Duke of Florence was advancing northward. We crushed these detached units. Every time a detached unit of a hundred fifty or three hundred came running out, we crushed them underneath our feet without any hesitation. We struck their detached units like a cat catching mice. Once this unfortunate event happened about five times, the Duke of Mno threw his hands up. He t-out locked his gates and refused toe out. He most likely felt that the cavalrymen that barely made it out alive from the Battle of Ticinus would simply end up dying here instead if he continued to send them out. How unfortunate, Duke. Losing your cavalrymen from the beginning was too great of a loss. You shouldn¡¯t have offered your cavalrymen as reinforcement for the Earl of Pavia. It would have been better if you squeezed out about five thousand civilian soldiers. Of course, those civilians would¡¯ve been wiped out, but that¡¯s okay. Using them as disposable cards would¡¯ve been fine. You¡¯d be losing five thousand civilian soldiers, but still have all of your elite troops. That would¡¯ve been more than enough to protect your city. Your situation would¡¯ve been much better than what you¡¯re in now. If you had used five thousand cavalrymen with some knights mixed in as your detached unit, then they wouldn¡¯t have been squashed by us like bugs. They could¡¯ve harassed us by performing gueri tactics like hit and runs¡­¡­. Not only that. It would¡¯ve made it so that the Duke of Mno offered civilian soldiers to save a neighboring city. This would have definitely weakened theints directed at him. If anything, the me would have fallen more on the Earl of Pavia for forcing the Duke to make such a hasty decision. He would¡¯ve gained both a military and political advantage. It would¡¯ve helped his situation immensely¡­¡­. In the end, that would have put our imperial army in a difficult position. However, the Duke sent his elite cavalrymen instead of civilian soldiers. This was an undeniable mistake. He most likely never imagined that a cavalry unit of about 5,000 troops would get wiped out by a single ambush. In other words, he underestimated Laura as amander. Did he believe that Laura defeated Brittany by pure luck? Did he think of her as nothing more than a girl in her early twenties¡­¡­? What a fool. Throughout history, there haven¡¯t been that many humans in their teenage years that have maderge contributions to wars, but that doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t exist. Laura was more than worthy to be treated as an exception and be remembered throughout history. From now on, the continent will be split into those who figure this out and those who don¡¯t. Unfortunately, you belong to thetter group, Duke. The name Ludovico de Sforza will be remembered by future generations as an example of those who do not heed these warning signs. The Duke no longer has a way to hold us in check now. He¡¯s no match for us in terms of mobility. At this point, the northern region of Novara, Mno, and Pavia was now under the control of the imperial army, not Sardinia. In this era, having an absolute advantage in terms of mobility meant that you also had a clear advantage in information warfare. We sent out scouts in all directions like we were deploying a spider web. The scouts gathered information without receiving any interference whatsoever. Thanks to this, we were able to learn exactly where the Grand Duke of Florence¡¯s army wasing from, when they would arrive, and where they were headed. The Grand Duke of Florence was speeding northward. He wasn¡¯t only fast. The Grand Duke made sure to acquire harbors as supply bases before he advanced further. He drafted civilian soldiers and used them as a navy. He put them in charge of the supply ships. He leftbat to the mercenaries and his supplies to the civilian soldiers who were used to seafaring. Laura was impressed by his speedy and organized actions. ¡°He¡¯s fast, but not rushing things. His decisions are also rational. I heard that the Grand Duke of Florence belonged to a subsidiary line in the Medici family, but I see there is a reason why he was able to defeat hispetitors and be the head of the family¡­¡­.¡± There was no unnecessity in his actions. This summarized the Grand Duke of Florence perfectly. Furthermore, the Grand Duke didn¡¯t only focus on his supplies and speed. Simr to how we sent out our scouts, the Grand Duke also dispatched scouts of his own. Thanks to this, there was a war of nerves between the scouts. ¡°This has be an annoyance. People with this personality are simple and honest, but they are also careful. I thought the Grand Duke would be a little more impatient since I heard he was 26 years old, but it seems apletely opposite individual has shown himself.¡± ¡°Dear me. It seems that Sardinia has a fair number ofpetent nobles.¡± I nced at Laura. Laura was also from Sardinia, so I was tossing out a joke. Lauraughed bitterly once she understood my joke. ¡°Despite everything, they were in a civil war for almost 30 years, after all. Only thepetent individuals were likely able to survive¡­¡­.¡± Indeed. When the ck Death swept through the continent, Sardinia was the only nation that incurred little losses. Even though Sardinia was also where the ck Death first urred. Thepetency of their ruling ss was proven in that regard. Looking at this the other way around, this meant that the House of Farnese was more ipetent than them. Not only did they not realize the potential of their daughter, but theypletely fell to ruin due to the civil war as well. There was a moment of silence. Laura was looking down at the map impassively. Was she thinking about her parents¡­¡­? I pretended to not notice the mood as I spoke in a lively tone. ¡°What should we do? There is no need to waste our cavalrymen needlessly when this is a battle of nerves. I personally rmend calling our scouts back.¡± ¡°I am saying that we cannot do that, Lord.¡± The impassive look on Laura¡¯s face had disappeared as she let out a chuckle. Happy to see this, I contorted my expression. Of course, this was a performance. However, it stops being a simple performance once the other party knows that it¡¯s a performance. ¡°I believe my idea is rather rational.¡± ¡°Haha, do not sulk, Lord. I might end up mistaking you for someone who is cute.¡± ¡°I am cute, though.¡± I then approached Laura and bit her earlobe. Laura let out a squeal before speaking with a pleasantly annoyed tone. People are capable of being pleasantly annoyed. ¡°We are in a military base! You are truly like a dog that is constantly in heat!¡± ¡°I believe that I will stop being in heat if you acknowledge that I am the cutest man in the world.¡± ¡°What kind of nonsense is that!? A vampire would rub garlic on their eyes if they heard you¡­¡­! Ahh!? Fine, fine, I get it! You are the sweetest and cutest man in the world! Now please stop using your tongue!¡± ¡°Please also add that I am the most handsome man in the world.¡± ¡°Do you not have even the slightest bit of shame¡­¡­!?¡± The two of us yed around like this for a while. We resumed our strategy meeting after that pleasant exchange. Oh right, I forgot to mention that we were in the middle of a strategy meeting. Although our antics earlier would happen for thirty minutes on an hourly basis, it was still a strategy meeting. I spoke haughtily as I sat on my chair and crossed my legs. ¡°Now then, Laura. I present to you, Laura, the opportunity to exin your reasoning to the greatest man in the world. Try exining yourself with that small wisdom of yours.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am getting a strong desire to just give up and lose this war, but I will endure since I am more mature than you, Lord.¡± ¡°Haha, you tter me.¡± ¡°That was not apliment, foolish Lord!¡± It almost looked like a vein was going to pop on Laura¡¯s forehead. ¡°Sheesh. In any case, we must not call our cavalrymen back.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°This will give the impression that we cherish our cavalrymen. They will interpret our action as trying to preserve our troops as much as possible before the deciding battle. If that happens, then the Grand Duke of Florence will do whatever he can to join forces with the Duke of Mno.¡± So we cannot make it appear as if we cherish our troops. Is that what she¡¯s saying? I thought having a grand and decisive battle was something that we wanted. They already have an advantage over us in terms of numbers. Each and every single one of our soldiers is precious. It would simply make things difficult for us if we were to let our scouts perish needlessly when we already have a grasp of the enemy¡¯s military power and location. ¡°Do not misunderstand, Lord.¡± Laura spoke tly as if she could see exactly what was going through my head. ¡°Even if we were to lose five hundred or even a thousand of our cavalrymen, it would still be worth it if it means we can keep the Grand Duke of Florence and the Duke of Mno thoroughly apart. Conversely, five hundred cavalrymen would mean nothing if they were to join forces.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see. Five hundred troops would not be the issue at that point.¡± I agreed. ¡°Then what should we do?¡± ¡°We will continue to dispatch scouts. Even more so than before.¡± Laura spoke as if she were giving an obvious answer. ¡°However, scouting will not be their objective. Their aim will be to harass the Grand Duke of Florence persistently as he advances. No, I guess it would be better to say that their goal will be to make it appear as if they are harassing him persistently.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I ced my hand against my chin. ¡°We will need a unit with at least a thousand troops if we want to hinder their advance.¡± ¡°I already said that we do not have to actually hinder them. It will be enough if we make it seem like we are.¡± Laura grinned. ¡°We will continuously send a hundred scouts.¡± ¡°If we do that, then they will easily be defeated by the enemy¡¯s outpost troo¡ªOh. So that is what you are trying to do?¡± I came to a realization mid-sentence. I figured out Laura¡¯s intention. However, I pointed out a potential w out of concern. ¡°I understand the premise of making the Grand Duke of Florence conceited by presenting him with victories, but would he truly be conceited after defeating some scouts? As you said earlier, the Grand Duke is simple and honest.¡± ¡°It is fine.¡± Laura answered confidently. ¡°I have a n.¡± There was no need to say anything more if she was that confident. Laura¡¯s n was immediately put into motion. While the Duke of Mno shut himself further inside his city, the Grand Duke of Florence kept experiencing victory after victory. ¡°Our scouts were routed at Parma!¡± ¡°The squadron that was keeping an eye on Cremona has retreated!¡± ¡°Your Highness, the enemy has captured Piacenza!¡± The scouts we had spread all over for their superior mobility were defeated one after another. Continental calendar: Year 1512, Month 6, Day 25. The Grand Duke of Florence finally arrived right in front of our noses. They approximately had over thirty thousand soldiers. I thought they would be wasting time trying to draft soldiers, but he managed to lead a rather sizable army here. The army of thirty thousand from the kingdom set up their camp on a hill called Piacenza. It was a name that, apart from leaving an impression of how humans name everything in the world, didn¡¯t evoke any particr inspiration or excitement. I have no reason to waste the precious storage space in my head to memorize an insignificant name like this. In any case, it was called Piacenza. This ce was also a superior location. To the west, they could aim for Pavia which had be a stronghold for our forces, and to the north, they could cooperate with Mno. They could keep us in check while also coordinating with an ally. Attacking Mno would reveal our backs to the Grand Duke of Florence and attacking the Grand Duke would open us up to Mno. I guess you couldpare this to two guys aiming for one girl. As expected of Sardinians. I unexpectedly ended up being in awe of their perversion. The issue, however, is the fact that one of the two guys is an old man with a limp dick. The Duke of Mno. This old man was misunderstanding something as he believed that the girl woulde crawling to him herself. When a rich old man falls into delusions, there¡¯s no end to them. What a pitiful soul. Time is not on your side. I¡¯m personally looking forward to seeing the moment youe to this realization. Laura gave a new order at this point. ¡°Burn Pavia to the ground!¡± The cityscape of Pavia which had been left alone until now was destroyed mercilessly. The civilians came out crying for forgiveness. It was the city that their parents and grandparents had built, but Laura remained firm with her order. Once they realized this, a portion of the civilians escaped from the city. They risked their lives to slip out from the irond security. In truth, about two hundred civilians had died. However, roughly ten managed to escape. The escapees made their way east, in the direction of Piacenza. This wasn¡¯t a coincidence. The western, southern, and northern gates were sealed shut beforehand. We deliberately positioned fewer guards at the east gate. Making sure that the escapees would only seed in going east was nned. ¡°Let us send the cavalry to pursue them. Do you have anything else tomand,mander?¡± Lauraughed. The following three-wordedmand she gave was a quote that will remain in the history books. ¡°Do it half-assed.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. So uh, I¡¯ve been pretty busy ever since I got back from Japan. It¡¯s sort of like they stockpiled a bunch of work just for June specifically. I also had to do a lot of wrap-up for my bank loan, so I¡¯ve been going during my breaks, which has been preventing me from getting DD tranted. Not much I could do about it. The next chapter might get dyed because I still have a lot of work left to do. I may possibly have to work a bit on the weekend or do overtime next week. Not exactly looking forward to it¡­ Can I go back to Japan?¡­ Please?¡­ ¡­I guess I¡¯m stuck here. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 369: Chrysanthemum War II (10) Chapter 369: Chrysanthemum War II (10) The cavalrymen carried out the order they were given faithfully as they pursued the escapees half-assedly. Of course, it was half-assed from our perspective, but the prisoners had to run barefoot. To them, even cavalrymen that were approaching slowly were like the embodiment of fear itself. ording to the report from the cavalry captain, the prisoners ran like hell. ¡°Your Highness, we have confirmed the prisoners entering Piacenza.¡± The report was given by Baroness Juliana de nc. Herplexion looked haggard since she had just returned from pursuing the prisoners throughout the night. ¡°We shot arrows at them to make it seem as if we were truly chasing them. The unlucky ones got hit and copsed. The guards of Piacenza witnessed that clearly as well, so it is unlikely that they will be suspected as spies. ¡°Good work, Baroness. You may get some rest.¡± The Baroness gave her gratitude before leaving the office. I asked a question once the Baroness had left. ¡°Laura, why did you intentionally give the prisoners to the Grand Duke? The prisoners know the real state of our army. This is no different than giving him free information.¡± ¡°This is to lure the Grand Duke of Florence in.¡± Lure him in? Laura nodded. ¡°The Grand Duke has most likely been holding his suspicions about our strategy until now.¡± * * * ¡°¡­¡­I cannot make heads or tails of this.¡± The Grand Duke of Florence furrowed his pale forehead. His furrowed face was somehow elegant as well. The regimentmanders that were gathered around silently stared at their suprememander. ¡°Why do they insist on sending their scouts? At most, they only send groups of a hundred. At this point, this is like they are throwing us an endless supply of appetizers.¡± The regimentmanders turned and gave each other troubled looks. Currently, their army had back-to-back victories. However, the reason they couldn¡¯t be happy about their victories was due to the fact that the enemy kept sending a small number of troops. The number of troops ranged from fifty at the lowest and two hundred at the highest. Adding to this, after only exchanging a few strikes of the de, they would quickly run away. These shes felt more like encounters than actual battles. This was why it would be embarrassing to say that they won. ¡°I believe they may be trying to make us lower our guard by letting us obtain continuous victories, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But this is too obvious to be considered a strategy¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± The regimentmanders also looked troubled. Continuously granting the opposition small victories results in theming to the belief that their opponent is actually weak. This causes them to becent, and they are attacked at that moment. This was a basic and typical tactic. The only way for this tactic to work is for the ¡®small victories¡¯ to be of at least a certain size. None of them were idiots who would lower their guards after defeating a hundred scouts. At the very least, Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici wasn¡¯t that foolish. One of the regimentmanders spoke up. ¡°The enemy is afraid that we will join forces with Mno. The enemy is not powerful enough for us to go out of our way to join forces, I believe this is the impression they are trying to make us have.¡± ¡°Men, then that means that they are treating us as fools.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This was what bothered them. The Grand Duke of Florence didn¡¯t have a high opinion of Laura de Farnese. Nheless, the same didn¡¯t go for those under her. She had the renowned mercenaries of Helvetica lined up next to her. One of those regiments had a history of over 200 years. There is no way that the captains of this legendary group wouldn¡¯t have given Laura de Farnese some advice. They would have told her that a trick of this degree would not be effective. ¡°Could it be that the suprememander of the imperial army is even more foolish than we had anticipated? Is she truly someone who disregards the counsel of her subordinates¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Haha.¡± The regimentmanders chuckled. If she were that irrevocably foolish, then she would not have been able to defeat Brittany. Therefore, the enemy most likely has another motive. The Grand Duke shrugged his shoulders. What he had said earlier was a joke. ¡°It seems that the imperial army wishes for us to act rashly. However, we need not fall into their trap. Let us fortify our defense in Piacenza by erecting wooden fences.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± Two days went by. The soldiers were given plenty of rest. The Grand Duke of Florence was thinking about attacking Pavia soon. At that moment, the Grand Duke¡¯s attendant entered his office. ¡°Loyalty unto eternal glory. I have a report.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± The Grand Duke sat at his table and nodded. A person of a lower position speaking to a person of a higher position first and the fact that they entered without knocking went against etiquette; however, the Grand Duke had forbidden all the cumbersome decorum in his army. ¡°We have received a report that a revolt has started in Pavia, Your Highness.¡± ¡°A revolt?¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s quill pen stopped. He was in the middle of writing a report to send to the royal family, but he could instinctively tell that the news he had just received was far more important than his regr reports. ¡°Give a detailed report.¡± ¡°The civilians that were captured as prisoners in Pavia had carried out arge-scale escape. Five minutes ago, seven civilians arrived at our camp.¡± ¡°I will hear the rest of the report as we move. Take me to them.¡± The Grand Duke of Florence sprung up. He put his mantle on himself as he moved with rushed steps. His mantle was red which was the color that represented the Medici Family. ¡°Are you certain they are civilians? There is a high chance that they are spies.¡± ¡°The imperial guards chased them all the way here.¡± ¡°Hm. What are the chances that the pursuit itself was staged?¡± ¡°They shot arrows. There were originally nine civilians trying to escape, but two of them were shot down. We quickly sent soldiers from our side to chase the pursuing imperial soldiers away.¡± The Grand Duke nodded his head. The soldiers and attendants that had been walking the halls courteously stepped aside the moment they saw the Grand Duke approaching. A path was opened as the individuals who stepped to the side bowed their heads politely. The Grand Duke¡¯s red mantle fluttered as it swept over the floor. He had worn this mantle for so long that the edge of it was dirty and frayed. ¡°Call for Sir Durres. Have him use a lie-detecting spell to verify their identities.¡± ¡°Sir Durres has already been informed and is on his way.¡± ¡°Very good.¡± The two individuals walked out into the front garden. There were civilians gathered here who looked utterly terrible. They were seated on the chairs the servants had brought and were sobbing. The soldiers around them hadplicated looks on their faces. They all stood up the moment they saw the Grand Duke. Among them, a mage wearing a navy blue robe walked forward with short and quick steps. ¡°Loyalty unto eternal glory.¡± ¡°It appears that you have been working hard since early dawn. Have you finished checking them?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness. They are, without a doubt, citizens of Pavia.¡± The old mage leaned in to whisper. ¡°They say that approximately three hundred civilians attempted to escape.¡± ¡°There are only seven before me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Which means they were pursued that intensely. Your Highness, I ask that youfort these poor souls. Pavia has be hell and the mercenaries are as cruel as fiends. They have all lost their wives and daughters.¡± The Grand Duke ced his hand on his forehead. ¡°¡­¡­We will interrogate themter tonight. For now, give my guests warm meals andfortable ces to rest.¡± ¡°O benevolent Medici.¡± The mage shook his head. ¡°Although they are not very potent, I have provided them with potions that should help recover their vitality. I dare to say. As long as they are aware of the enemy¡¯s current military power and equipment, I suggest that we immediately get this information from them and prepare measures.¡± The Grand Duke muttered back with an impassive tone. ¡°Are you saying that we should immediately interrogate the individuals who had escaped from Pavia?¡± ¡°If the information they provide means that we can defeat our enemy, Your Highness. That will not onlyfort them greatly, but they will also be avenged.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke slowly nodded his head. It was almost as if he was nodding to convince himself. The interrogation was carried out carefully while in the presence of the young Grand Duke. This was not an interrogation of prisoners, but a questioning of fellow countrymen after receiving their consent. The civilians would answer with tears after the attendant respectfully asked them a question. ¡°There were three soldiers in my home. They vited my daughter since the first night¡­¡­ My son and I tried to stop them, but it was of no use¡­¡­. They even went to invite the soldiers residing next door¡­¡­ with even the neighbor¡¯s daughter¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Bastards!¡± Themanding officers that gathered over time could not hold back their anger as they shouted. The Grand Duke and the Sardinian soldiers gradually became more at a loss for words as they listened to what the imperial soldiers had been doing for ¡®fun¡¯. Pavia was quite literally hell. Murder, rape, and arson were carried out on whims. ¡°Those madmen started to destroy the cityst night! They didn¡¯t care if it was a home or the city rampart, they¡ª.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± The Grand Duke of Florence raised his right hand. ¡°The enemy destroyed the ramparts?¡± ¡°Y-Yes. They burned and destroyed everything in their sight.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke furrowed his brows as if something were bothering him. He mumbled to himself shortly after. ¡°¡­¡­I see. So that exins it.¡± ¡°Your Highness?¡± ¡°Politely take these men to the guest rooms.¡± The Grand Duke then assembled the regimentmanders. Once they all arrived, the Grand Duke promptly gave them amand. ¡°Men, we will march to Pavia immediately!¡± The regimentmanders were startled by the suddenmand. ¡°Your Highness, did you not tell us to reinforce our defenses a short while ago? We wish to know the reason for your sudden change of heart.¡± ¡°I figured out why the enemy has been sending small scouting parties.¡± The Grand Duke was filled with certainty as he spoke. A dark smile grew on his face. ¡°The enemy is trying to run away from being encircled!¡± * * * ¡°Why are we destroying the city we had worked so hard to capture? The Grand Duke will most likely question this the most.¡± Laura raised the corners of her lips. ¡°Pavia is surrounded by fairly sturdy walls. If we defend against a siege from behind them, then we could easily fight off arge army of thirty or even fifty thousand soldiers, making them wonder why we would choose to destroy these very walls¡­¡­.¡± Laura tapped the side of her head. ¡°At that moment, the Grand Duke will recall something. He will remember that we had sent scouts at him continuously. Why did we send small groups of scouts at his army when they obviously cannot do any harm? And why are we destroying the walls now? The answer to these questions is¡­¡­.¡± * * * ¡°Your Highness, what do you mean by being encircled?¡± ¡°We have been misunderstanding the situation. We have only been thinking about matters from our own perspective and never the perspective of our enemies.¡± The Grand Duke pointed at the map. ¡°Currently, our army has not joined forces with Mno. This is because the Duke of Mno and I are in the middle of a dispute. However, there is no way that the enemy could possibly know about our turbulent situation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°From their perspective, it must appear like they are receiving pressure from two sides. From both Mno and Piacenza. We are not two separate forces to them. Therefore, they must believe we are working together to encircle them! Adding to this, our manpower is also superior. How do you think the enemy would respond to this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­! They would try to withdraw their forces, Your Highness!¡± The Grand Duke nodded. His eyes were filled with certainty and rage. ¡°We were wrong. The imperial soldiers were not trying to stop us from joining forces with Mno. From their perspectives, we have already joined forces. Therefore, the best that they could do was to dy us for as long as possible.¡± ¡°I see. So that is why they sent small units to get in our way.¡± The regimentmanders looked like they finally understood. ¡°Since they have already decided to withdraw, it would be a waste to let us take Pavia in all of its glory. They will try to destroy and burn it as much as possible so that we cannot use it.¡± ¡°Your Highness, then does that mean that the enemy are¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Quite. They are getting prepared to carry out a strategic retreat.¡± The Grand Duke clenched his fist. ¡°The enemy has two choices left! They can either take the fifteen thousand prisoners with them as they retreat, or they can ughter them all first.¡± ¡°Would they go that far¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It is more than possible for such vile men to think of those prisoners as being cumbersome.¡± The regimentmanders remained in deep thought for a moment. ¡°Your Highness, if that is true, then we must go to Pavia posthaste.¡± ¡°Indeed. If they are retreating with the prisoners, then we must tear out their backs. If they are ughtering the prisoners¡­¡­ then killing fifteen thousand humans will be no easy task. It will take at least a few days. Faced with death, the civilians will struggle as much as possible.¡± The Grand Duke mmed his fist on the table. ¡°Either way, the enemy troops will be in a state of disorder. This is our greatest opportunity! Pass down the order to your men! We will be marching to Pavia!¡± * * * ¡°We will abandon Pavia and retreat. That is the conclusion the Grand Duke will reach. The Grand Duke will then consider three courses of action.¡± Laura continued her exnation in a whimsical tone. ¡°If we retreat with the prisoners, then they will use that opportunity to attack us while we are distracted trying to manage the prisoners. If we try to execute all the prisoners before retreating, then they will try to stop us beforehand. If we leave without the prisoners, then the Grand Duke will be a hero who liberated fifteen thousand innocent civilians. None of these cases are bad for the Grand Duke¡­¡­.¡± Laura pointed at a specific point on the map. ¡°We will put our all into intercepting the Grand Duke as he attempts to pursue us! There will be no second battle! The army led by the Grand Duke of Florence will be annihted by tomorrow!¡± I looked at Laura and smiled. Laura had dered that she would turn Pavia into a hellscape, but Pavia wasn¡¯t the only ce that was going to be affected. The entire Kingdom of Sardinia was going to experience hell. I predicted that the people of Sardinia wille to despise the name Laura de Farnese more than they do any of the Demon Lords¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m dying. A game ourpany is tranting for is preparing a bunch of uing events and characters and I basically have to review almost everything myself. Our EN trantors are currently spread too thin across all the other tranting stuff we do, so I ended up in charge of the story content for this game. There¡¯s just so much¡­ I had to work a bitst weekend, but I actually have to fully work this weekend. This shitty anti-viruspany decided to give us like 150k characters worth of text to trante within the span of a month. I was luckily only assigned to the game tranting thing until now, but they decided to give me 9k char to do this weekend¡­ Next chapter will definitely be dyed¡­ Aaaah, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. I hope I survive. Chapter 370: Chrysanthemum War II (11) Chapter 370: Chrysanthemum War II (11) * * * The morning of the 6th month and the 28th day of the year 1512 on the continental calendar had dawned. On this day, the soon-to-be-clear sky will be forced once again to witness the events that will unfold on the surface. The blood that will cover the earth that had be humid due to the summer rain. The metallic sound of studded shields colliding against one another. People refer to this as a ughter, war, and tragedy. However, no single word would be able to describe the scene that will be witnessed today. Thirty thousand men were going to die today. Individuals utterly oblivious of the situation will be murdered and will alsomit murder. No responsibility will be taken here. People are more than capable of slitting the throats of others with no remorse. How will historians describe this? What will they write in the history books utilizing their fancynguage and writing? At most, this was the ugly instinct of people. They will gloomily sing about tragedy if the war doesn¡¯t end, and they will record things as if the bravery, wit, and fortune of some are the only things that are special. There is no blood there. That is absent of the shing of metal and the cries of murderers before the faces of other murderers. Therefore, remembering this is my duty. As a Demon Lord that lives eternally, I will remember every drop of blood that will be shed on these ins. I will not allow the halfhearted ming of human nature. The responsibility is here. And it will remain here forever. ¡°General.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Laura slowly tied her hair into a ponytail. Our army was currently marching to Piacenza. Our goal wasn¡¯t to capture it. We were inferior in numbers anyway, so a siege was out of the question. Our goal was the river flowing between us and the Sardinian troops. There are two paths that can be taken when going from Pavia to Piacenza. The southern path that goes along the river, or the northern path that detours around Mno. ¡°The north path would put us between Mno and Piacenza. If we take this path, then the Grand Duke will start to be suspicious. We should not be aware of the internal discourse between him and the Duke of Mno, so he would question why we would intentionally put ourselves into a difficult position¡­¡­.¡± This has the risk of making the Grand Duke doubt our intentions, so we chose to take the southern path. ¡°Duchess, my only concern is whether Baroness de nc has hidden herself well.¡± ¡°The Baroness led the detached force during our previous operation and carried out her task splendidly. She is well-qualified.¡± Baroness de nc spent the entire night pursuing the prisoners. She was only able to get three hours of sleep before she departed somewhere with a teleportation scroll. What was there to hide? Last night, Laura had ordered our men to pursue the prisoners half-heartedly. That was because there was a far more important goal than chasing some prisoners. The cavalry unit led by Baroness de nc was currently lying in ambush near the river. A cavalry unit mobilized under the pretext of capturing prisoners in the middle of the night. If a spy that has infiltrated our army (there is always a spy somewhere) witnessed the cavalrymen leave, then they will most likely report it as ¡°a cavalry unit was sent out to pursue prisoners¡±. This was the perfect opportunity to prevent anyone from suspecting an ambush. Adding to this, 1,000 cavalrymen and 1,200 infantrymen were sent to pursue the prisoners at night. 200 infantrymen returned to our camp as a deception tactic, while the remaining 2,000 were probably now hiding with Baroness de nc. There was one thing that I learned after going to war a bunch after falling into this world. It was the fact that we have to always make our numbers seem inted. If we have ten thousand soldiers, then make it appear like twenty thousand. If we have twenty thousand, then inte that to fifty thousand. This wasn¡¯t just for show. By doing this, we can prevent the enemy from noticing if we send out a detached unit of 1,200 soldiers. Both sides know that fifty thousand is an embellished number. The only thing that¡¯s necessary is to make it difficult for the enemy to grasp how many troops we have. In a situation where we have to either make our numbers seem small or inte them greatly¡­¡­ it would probably be better to inte them. Even when asking for support from one¡¯s home nation or allied nation, you¡¯d gain more if you report that fifty thousand troops are starving instead of thirty thousand. In any case, the enemy does not have an urate grasp of our numbers. The absence of two thousand soldiers was still within eptable bounds. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I turned to look at Laura and saw a cold and imposing face. This girl has always been about getting two birds with one stone. By deliberately releasing our prisoners, she lured the enemy into hastily taking the field. At the same time, she managed to hide our soldiers without arousing any suspicion¡­¡­. There was probably an extremely high chance that the ambush will seed. Her skills were awe-inspiring. nning an ambush was something that anyone could do. The issue was whether it was actually sessful or not¡­¡­. This is where third-rate and second-rate are divided. If you¡¯re able to kill two birds with one stone while also carrying out a sessful ambush, then that would undoubtedly make you first-rate. ¡°We have received intel from our scouts, Your Highness.¡± An adjutant quickly approached while on horseback. ¡°The enemy troops in Piacenza have begun to move frantically. They are most likely preparing to set out.¡± ¡°Have they already begun to move? It seems that the Grand Duke of Florence makes quick decisions.¡± Laura smiled. ¡°Imand the Blue Mountain Goat Cavalry Regiment.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± ¡°Immediately, as the vanguard, ride forth and rain down a barrage of arrows upon the enemy camp in Piacenza. This is not a full-blown battle. Just showing those Sardinian scoundrels a taste of our arrows on their backsides will be sufficient.¡± The dwarven regiment captain saluted. ¡°As youmand. We will return soon.¡± A thousand mounted archers split away from our formation and ran ahead. Ten mages also followed in case a magic battle were to ur. While our mounted archers were busy harassing the enemy, we arrived at our destination, the river. Laura ordered for an encampment to be made with this river in front of us. The name of this river was Trebbia. In reality, it was more like a slightly wider stream than a river. The width of the river was significant, but its depth was shallow. In Sardinia, rainfall was scarce in the summer and frequent in the winter. The rain wasn¡¯t so scarce that you would call it a dry season, so the river was able to maintain its form. However, this turned some areas around the river into mires. If arge army were to try and cross Trebbia, they would initially find reassurance in the sluggish current and shallow depths. However, the small andrge marshy areas scattered around the river made it difficult to tread with ease. In other words, it was ideal for a small number of troops to cross, but it wasn¡¯t good for an entire army of considerable size to cross at the same time. Laura had dispatched scouts in all directions for over two weeks, thoroughly surveying the nearby terrain. She had anticipated that the battle would ur near Piacenza, so she ordered the scouts to survey this area meticulously. She then chose Trebbia River as the ce of battle. ¡°It may not look impressive on the surface, but this small and ungainly river meets all the conditions to be used as an ambush point.¡± Shortly thereafter, our mounted archers made a swift return from the opposite side of the river, pursued relentlessly by enemy cavalrymen. Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, our unit plunged into the river and advanced towards our encampment, causing the enemy soldiers to momentarily pause. Perhaps they were wary of venturing too far on their own. Satisfied with driving our men this far, they turned their steeds around. As the enemy cavalry had their backs turned, our mounted archers halted their river crossing to unleash a barrage of arrows upon them. Their determination to harass the enemy soldiers was evident. Responding in kind, the Sardinian cavalry troops drew their bows and retaliated. It was a rare and remarkable sight, witnessing mounted archers on both sides darting along the riverbank, exchanging volleys of arrows. Referentially, a fight between mounted archers was typically something that incurred the least losses. It was already hard to hit targets from afar, but that bes even harder when both sides are moving around on horseback. Honestly, it was a waste of arrows. Once it became afternoon, the main army of Sardinia began to move. The enemy troops were already inplete formation. Their mounted archers stood at the front with spearmen supporting their rear. The enemy even mobilized their regr cavalrymen to prevent our archers from approaching. Laura watched over the skirmish that was happening a distance away. ¡°The enemy does not have many cavalry units. At a nce, they appear to have about 3,000.¡± ¡°It is far less than that, Your Highness. They have about 2,400 to 2,600.¡± An elf captain trotted forward on their horse. Elves have better eyesight than humans. ¡°However, Florence¡¯s ck Eagle Order is rather particr. It is a knight order that consists of 600 men and is known as the strongest knight order in Sardinia.¡± ¡°The strongest in Sardinia, is it?¡± Laura chuckled. ¡°iming to be the strongest must be a trendtely. So, are they terrifying?¡± ¡°Of course not. We wouldn¡¯t be able to work as mercenaries if we were afraid of a Sardinian knight order, Your Highness.¡± The mercenary captainsughed. Our morale was high. ¡°Change of ns.¡± Laura tapped her palm with her baton. ¡°I was originally nning on attacking the enemy as they crossed the river, but it seems that that will not be necessary. We will wait until the enemy crosses the river.¡± ¡°Is that fine, Your Highness? This battle could end a lot easier.¡± ¡°Yes. There is no need for us to be cautious when the enemy has at most 2,500 cavalrymen.¡± The mercenary captains did not argue as they nodded. By this point, their trust in their youngmander was rather firm. Our mounted archers fully crossed the river while being pursued by the enemy cavalrymen. The enemy seemed to be determined this time as they chased after our mounted archers across the Trebbia River. Laura swung her baton as soon as the enemy crossed the river fully. ¡°All cavalry! Charge!¡± The cavalrymen that were already standing in formation blew their horns. Excluding the group with Baroness de nc hiding in a nearby forest, all of our cavalrymen ran forward. Including our light cavalrymen, we had about 4,500 men total. This was twice the amount the enemy had. An intense cavalry battle unfolded on both nks. While this was happening, the enemy infantrymen came across as well. The enemy soldiers made no dy as they approached our encampment. They had a massive army of about 30,000 infantrymen. The sight of them walking in formation was enough to intimidate even the veteran mercenaries. ¡°Archers forward!¡± ¡°Archers forward!¡± I repeated Laura¡¯smand using amplification magic. 5,000 archers stepped in front of the spearmen. Soon after, the samemand could be heard from the other side. ¡°Fire!¡± ¡°Shoot!¡± The archers released their arrows in perfect unison, following themands of their captains. Some arrows found their mark, piercing thighs or arms, but neither side suffered significant injuries. The exchange of arrow volleys continued repeatedly, and with each exchange, the two armies inched closer to one another. It wasn¡¯t fast, but the distance was undeniably getting smaller one step at a time. Eventually, they reached a proximity where any human with keen eyesight could discern the expressions on the faces of the opposing forces. ¡°Pull the archers to the side.¡± Laura ordered. The period where we courteously exchanged only arrows was now over. Our archers slipped out to the side while the enemy¡¯s archers also hid behind their spearmen. Although only for a moment, the number of arrows in the sky had decreased. Now be it them or us, neither of us could back away now. Turning around now would only lead to running away in defeat. ¡°For His Highness the Emperor!¡± ¡°For the glory of the king!¡± With these battle cries ringing in the air, the frontlines of both armies collided. The Battle of Trebbia had begun. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This week has been pretty rough. Last weekend I ended up working for a total of 12 hours, so that was a good part of my weekend gone. The following week was pretty swamped at work and apany dinner I had to attend. Just a lot happened. I¡¯m also finally moving tomorrow. Today was spent finalizing all the paperwork. Jeez, the weather today sucked. It wasn¡¯t ¡°hot¡± but it was super sticky and humid, so just walking outside for 5 minutes was enough to get my body sticky with sweat. I¡¯m drained, but I gotta endure till tomorrow. In any case, the next chapter will obviously be a bit dyed as well since I won¡¯t immediately have inte after moving and I¡¯ll probably spend most of my weekend just settling in the new ce, so yeah. I¡¯ll see you guys after I survive all this¡­ This has been a stressful two months¡­ It¡¯ll finally be over soon. Chapter 371: Chrysanthemum War II (12) Chapter 371: Chrysanthemum War II (12) * * * ¡°Push them back! Muster up the strength you had back when you were still being bottle-fed, you runts!¡± ¡°Endure! Do not cover your eyes with your shields!¡± A close-pitched battle where blood scattered between infantrymen unfolded. Spears impaled through chests and des swung down on cor bones and tore into the areas between the shoulder and neck. The loud banging of metal rang out as shields pushed away other shields. Petty officers would asionally stick their necks out to shout obscenities at the soldiers who would foolishly break formation. However, after fifteen to thirty minutes, there was one side that was clearly getting pushed back. It was the imperial army. The Sardinian infantrymen were slowly pushing the imperial army back. ¡°Your Highness, our side has the upper hand!¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence clenched his fist. ¡°The enemy has far fewer foot soldiers than we do. Push them back! Keep up this momentum!¡± The suprememander¡¯s excitement affected the other adjutants. Initially, the Sardinianmanders were hesitant about crossing the river. They were suspicious of why the imperial army had deliberately left Pavia and hade out this far. Were they going to attack while they tried to cross the river? Or were they going to break open a dam somewhere upstream¡­¡­? However, Supreme Commander Cosimo de Medici thought differently. ¡°We will immediately prepare to cross the river.¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± Themanders refuted with surprised looks on their faces. ¡°While the water may be shallow, we cannot afford to let our guard down. I fear they may take advantage of our momentary vulnerability while we are fording the water.¡± ¡°From what I have heard, the imperial army has about 30,000 soldiers.¡± The Grand Duke spoke. His tone was cold. ¡°Looking at them now, they have only a little more than 20,000. Where do you think the rest of their soldiers are?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There are more than 10,000 civilians they are holding as prisoners in Pavia. They must leave behind a few thousand soldiers to deal with all of them.¡± ¡°¡­¡­! Your Highness, then does that mean?!¡± The Grand Duke nodded. ¡°That is right. In the end, that whore has decided to dispose of the civilians. The reason they came out this far is to buy themselves enough time to deal with them. If we dy our advance any longer than this because of our fear of crossing the river, then a devastating tragedy will unfold in Pavia.¡± Themanders let out a long groan. ¡°O Goddess¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Those damn imperial bastards! Do they know no honor!?¡± There were those who became enraged by the enemy¡¯s cruel antics and those who scowled as they imagined the tragedy that was unfolding in Pavia right now. The Grand Duke of Florence felt like he could burst into rage at any moment, but he barely managed to endure. ¡°Do you get it now? They are not here to win. They are trying to stall until they are able to take care of everything in their backline so that they can retreat with more ease¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke red sharply ahead. The imperial army¡¯s mounted archers were harassing their side by shooting arrows every so often. It appeared that they still wanted to annoy them. Anyone could tell that the enemy was trying to bait them. Were they actually trying to bait them? If so, then their intent was way too obvious. The Grand Duke narrowed his eyes. ¡®There is always a trick hiding behind a ploy that¡¯s excessively obvious. Shall we confirm this?¡¯ The Grand Duke first sent out mounted archers of his own. There were about a thousand of them. He deliberately deployed a simr amount as the enemy. The Grand Duke¡¯s calction was simple. If the enemy was really trying to lure them in, then they will mobilize more mounted archers to attack them. If the enemy employs more soldiers, then they would have to do the same. ¡®On the other hand, if they are simply pretending in order to lure them in.¡¯ The Grand Duke thought to himself. ¡®The imperial army will continue to harass their side with their thousand mounted archers. If that happens, then the enemy¡¯s goal is to nt doubt in their minds. The enemy is preventing them from crossing the river rashly because of some plot¡­¡­.¡¯ The Grand Duke looked at the battlefield with cold eyes. The imperial army¡¯s mounted archers crossed the river as they fled from the kingdom¡¯s mounted archers. Once the kingdom¡¯s mounted archers turned back, thinking that they had chased the enemy far enough, the imperial army would turn right around to attack them again. The corners of the Grand Duke¡¯s mouth drew upward once he saw this. ¡°As I thought, this is a bluff.¡± After observing the way the enemy mounted archers moved, the Grand Duke came to three conclusions. First, the enemy¡¯s goal isn¡¯t to actually lure them in. Their real goal is to stall for time. By pretending to lure us in, they are trying to make us cautious about potential traps. Second, they don¡¯t want an all-out battle. The enemy was probably panicking since we knew that the inside of Pavia was destroyed. They wanted to escape in secret, but it was obvious that we would chase after them once the information was leaked. And third. Right now was the moment that they wanted to fight the least. ¡°Order the rest of our men to advance!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence no longer had any more hesitation. It was undoubtedly risky to cross a river in order to attack. However, the Trebbia River is shallow. In fact, the imperial mounted archers have been crossing back and forth across the river as if it were their own backyard. The Grand Duke spoke to themanding officers who still seemed hesitant about crossing the river. ¡°Fear not. The imperial army may not have intended it, but they have instilled confidence in us. They have assured us that advancing our forces across that river poses no problem whatsoever. They have basically tripped over their own scheme.¡± A chuckle flowed out from the Grand Duke¡¯s mouth. Themanding officers nodded their heads, clearly convinced. The mounted archers of the enemy were providing undeniable evidence that the Trebbia River was safe for crossing. The water would probably only reach up to the hips of their infantrymen. ¡°Yes, Your Highness! We will pass yourmand down to each regiment.¡± The sound of horns echoed throughout the ins. With the knights at the front, the kingdom¡¯s army of 30,000 troops advanced. Soon after, the cavalrymen on both wings crossed the river first. Once they did, the enemy responded in kind with their own cavalrymen. While the cavalrymen were engaged inbat, the infantrymen mustered all their strength to cross the river which reached up to their waists. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Themand group was filled with unease. This was the most dangerous hurdle that they had to cross. They sent their knights and cavalrymen first to allow the rest of their army to cross safely. The knights and cavalrymen had to desperately do their best to prevent the enemy from interfering¡­¡­. The imperial army had more cavalry than expected. At a nce, it was evident that they outnumbered the Grand Duke¡¯s own forces by twice the amount. They weren¡¯t light cavalry, but fully equipped heavy cavalry that were no different from knights. The question was how long their own cavalrymen would be able tost¡­¡­. ¡®O Gods, please do not grant mercy to these ughterers!¡¯ The Grand Duke prayed. He had calmly mounted his horse and was crossing the river with hismand group, but on the inside, he was more anxious than anyone else. ¡®Do not forgive that harlot who had sold her body to demons and grant me the strength to avenge the innocent civilians who have fallen!¡¯ The infantrymen crossed the river quickly. Once his horse exited the water and stepped onnd, the Grand Duke of Florence became certain of their victory. No issues had urred. Their cavalrymen managed to splendidly fend off the enemy cavalrymen even though they had twice their number! ¡°Men! Behold!¡± The Grand Duke was filled with glee as he shouted. However, he didn¡¯t disy his happiness on his face. The Grand Duke made sure to always maintain his dignified face and tone. The Grand Duke knew very well that even the slightest change in the suprememander¡¯s expression could have a negative impact on the army as a whole. ¡°They never expected that we would charge at them so suddenly. We sessfully crossed the river without receiving any sort of interference. We have taken the enemy off guard!¡± ¡°Your insight was correct, Your Highness!¡± The adjutants responded loudly and the Grand Duke nodded in return. ¡°It is now your turn to exert yourselves. Do not waste our overwhelming infantry power and wipe out the enemy!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness! All men, charge!¡± After crossing the river safely, the kingdom¡¯s army advanced confidently. The Grand Duke looked back with pride. Most of their regiments had sessfully crossed the river. However, there were scattered marshes along the riverbank. Unfortunate soldiers who ended up in those areas had no choice but to be mired in thick mud up to their thighs. ¡®This could have been bad.¡¯ The Grand Duke furrowed his brows. ¡®The heavens must have blessed us. This could have turned into a cmity if we were attacked while crossing.¡¯ If the imperial army had been adequately prepared for a full-scale battle, or if they had had a thorough understanding of the terrain, then they would have surely driven the kingdom¡¯s forces into those marshy areas. We would have found ourselves in a terrible situation¡­¡­. ¡°Hm.¡± Realizing that they had unknowingly ovee a crisis, the Grand Duke felt relieved. Furthermore, the Grand Duke became even more convinced that the imperial army was truly unprepared for a counterattack. It was also clear that they were unfamiliar with the geography of this area. The Grand Duke was certain of his decision now. Launching an attack on the imperial army at this moment was the right decision to make. Sure enough. As soon as the infantry shed, it didn¡¯t take even an hour for the oue to be apparent. ¡°Your Highness, our side is winning!¡± An adjutant reported while filled with excitement. Ten meters. Since the battle had started, the kingdom¡¯s forces managed to push the imperial army¡¯s ranks back by ten meters. They were pushed back ten meters in only thirty minutes. The imperial army was clearly losing. The Grand Duke of Florence unconsciously clenched his fists. ¡°Good! The enemy has far less infantry than we do! Push them back! Continue to push them back!¡± There wasn¡¯t only good news. As if exchanging luck for misfortune, another adjutant arrived to report bad news. ¡°Our cavalrymen on the right nk are losing!¡± ¡°What¡­¡­? What is Baron Veritamor doing!?¡± The regimentmanders around the Grand Duke spoke up before he could respond. ¡°The man who is receiving the highest possible pay is running away in fear first! Your Highness! We must punish the baron under militaryw.¡± ¡°Mm. I will do so after the battle during the dispensationofjusticebothtoservicesandcrimes.¡± The Grand Duke nodded. He internally didn¡¯t me the cavalrymen on the right nk. They did their job splendidly considering that they had to face a group two times their size. However, if he magnanimously forgives the retreat of his troops, then that could increase the chances of the other soldiers running away. ¡°On the other hand, Knight Captain Luano remains steadfast. He has not been pushed back even slightly.¡± ¡°While our right nk may have sumbed, our left nk remains robust. I see no cause for excessive concern.¡± At present, the kingdom¡¯s army held the advantage on the battlefield. Notably, there was a significant disparity in the number of infantrymen positioned at the center. The imperial army fielded around 15,000 soldiers, whereas the kingdom¡¯s forces boasted a formidable infantry contingent of approximately 30,000. The imperial army had an advantage on the mounted front, but that wasn¡¯t enough to turn the tides around. The right cavalry nk of the kingdom¡¯s army may have retreated in defeat, but the knight order of Florence was still fighting valiantly against the enemy on the left side. You could say the kingdom¡¯s army was overwhelming the imperial army by only a slight amount. Nheless, as long as they had the upper hand, the imperial army¡¯s forces will undoubtedly wither away over time. ¡®This will be a prolonged battle,¡¯ the Grand Duke thought to himself. At the longest, six hours. At the shortest, two hours¡­¡­. This was how long the battle will most likelyst. Since the mercenaries of Helvetica are known to be formidable, they should resolve themselves to fight for five hours. However, the conclusion was already determined. It was their victory. ¡®The problem is that we do not have any cavalrymen to pursue the enemy.¡¯ The Grand Duke felt a bitter taste in his mouth. ¡®Though victory may be within our grasp in this battle, the enemy will likely manage to retain at least seventy percent of their forces. It will be a partial triumph, not a resounding one. Is it truly impossible to bring an end to this war swiftly through a single battle? ¡­¡­No, for now, I must find sce in the fact that we were able to safeguard Pavia. I have achieved what the Duke of Mno could not! This aplishment should suffice¡­¡­.¡¯ It happened right when the Grand Duke was about to order their right nk to preserve their manpower. ¡°Y-Your Highness. A report has arrived from Knight Captain Luano!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence was snapped out of his thoughts as he turned his head. The face of the mage holding up a magic ball was haggard. ¡°What is it? On with it.¡± ¡°Surprise attack, on our left side! Vice-Captain Getanne has fallen in battle!¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The faces of all of themanding officers including the Grand Duke froze. ¡°An ambush! Troops from the imperial army haveunched a surprise attack on the knight order!¡± ¡°What are you saying? Where could they have possibly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Our left nk cavalrymen are being routed. The knight order has lost thirty¡­¡­ no, forty percent of its troops! The knight captain is requesting yourmand, Your Highness!¡± Cosimo de Medici¡¯s expression contorted. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. How long has it been since thest chapter? I think it was the day before my big move. Man, life has been just so busy since then. Last weekend was just entirely spent moving and unpacking. Then the following work week was actually just jammed pack with work. Ended up doing overtime 3 times. I¡¯m so exhausted and mentally drained¡­ It¡¯s going to take me a bit to get back into the groove of tranting, but I should be able to get back into it soon. I¡¯ll see you guys when I¡¯m not dead. Chapter 372: Chrysanthemum War II (13) Chapter 372: Chrysanthemum War II (13) ¡°Y-Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± The adjutants nervously turned to look at the Grand Duke. Those gazes brought the Grand Duke back to his senses. The worst would happen if he were to panic now. ¡°Sir Durres! Take our mages and immediately go to our left nk!¡± ¡°But Your Highness, I fear that the enemy mages that have been silent up to this point will attack this location if I were to leave this position.¡± The old mage voiced his concerns. The Grand Duke could tell that the mage¡¯s concern was rational, but he couldn¡¯t allow himself to change his words now. The Supreme Commander¡¯s order had to be heavier than metal. ¡°Our foot soldiers will not make it in time if we were to send them now. If our left nk falls, then we will be next! Your mission is to assist the knight captain and chase the enemy cavalrymen away by any means necessary. Do you understand?¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± Fifteen mages cast a teleportation spell to instantly move to the left nk. There were now only three mages left in the center. The mage who receives the reports thate from each front and the mages who were in charge of protecting the Grand Duke. This wasn¡¯t enough to safely block an assault by enemy mages if it were to happen. ¡°The rest of you must fight valiantly!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence shouted. After witnessing the Grand Duke give orders to the court mages, the othermanding officers managed topose themselves. Something was happening. It was crucial to at least give off this impression. The panic in everyone¡¯s eyes had diminished somewhat. ¡°Take 5,000 troops from our center and reposition them to our left nk. We will use our reserved force.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± ¡°Also, send 2,000 troops to our right nk. We do not know how long the knight captain will be able to endure, so we must prepare for the worst!¡± Their troops in reserve shrunk down by 7,000 in an instant. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke clicked his tongue in his mind. His adjutants were rushing to pass his orders down, but his anxiety still remained. They were now ced on a threshold where the central armies on both sides were almost equal. The imperial army had about 15,000 foot soldiers while the kingdom had 18,000. The Grand Duke didn¡¯t know the exact number of enemy troops, but he could tell that his side outnumbered the enemy by at least a thousand and at most five thousand. ¡®A difference of about four thousand¡­¡­. This is not enough.¡¯ Their opponents were the renowned mercenaries of Helvetica. It would probably be fine to say that a difference of four thousand meant nothing. Moreover, the magical might of the kingdom¡¯s army paled inparison to the imperial forces. Excluding the apprentices, the Grand Duke¡¯s armyprised a mere seventeen mages. In stark contrast, it was almost certain that the enemy boasted a magic unit consisting of over twenty skilled mages. Thus far, their strategy had revolved around defending against the enemy¡¯s magical assaults. Though their mage count was lower, they managed to hold their ground by focusing solely on defensive spells. After all, in the realm of magic battles, defense proved easier than offense. A fireball could be repelled with a well-timed water spell, enabling the mages brought by the Grand Duke of Florence to hold their own against the imperial army, despite their numerical disadvantage. However, there was no guarantee that this would continue. Shortly thereafter. ¡°¡­¡­As I suspected, they have taken notice.¡± The enemy unleashed an unrelenting barrage of spells. Lumps of fire descended from the sky endlessly. The kingdom¡¯s mages exerted their utmost effort to counter the onught, but it quickly became evident that this was too much for them. The two mages serving under the Grand Duke sweated profusely as they fought with unwavering determination, even willing to deplete their mana reserves entirely. Meanwhile, the imperial army had positioned a mere ten mages at the center¡­¡­. The enemy has about twenty mages. Since there were only ten positioned at the center, this meant that the rest had been sent somewhere else. The Grand Duke immediately knew where they must¡¯ve been sent. ¡°Your Highness, a report has arrived from Sir Durres.¡± ¡°Did the imperial army also respond in kind with their mages?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Yes. The report says that the imperial army has deployed a unit of eleven mages at our left nk.¡± The Grand Duke slowly nodded his head. ¡°Move 2,000 foot soldiers from our front to our left nk.¡± He unknowingly found himself speaking in an emotionless tone. ¡°But Your Highness¡­¡­ If we do that, then we will no longer have any troops in reserve.¡± ¡°It does not matter. Now is the moment to use those reserve troops.¡± The Grand Duke had a gut feeling as he gave his orders. Their left wing was most likely going to fall soon. The ambush was so sudden that the vice-knight captain was killed instantly. The knight captain had fortunately survived and was still ordering the troops, but that was only a stopgap. The Grand Duke¡¯s attempt to save his troops by sending mages was blocked as the enemy had responded in kind. The imperial army wasn¡¯t getting ready to retreat. They were making thorough preparations to encircle and wipe out the kingdom¡¯s army¡­¡­. ¡®When did they conceal their ambush¡­¡­? Wait, was it when they were pursuing the escapees from Pavia?¡¯ A cold shiver coursed through the Grand Duke¡¯s chest. ¡®So, they razed Pavia to entice us into their trap? Allowing the civilians to escape and advancing toward Piacenza¡­ Was every step of this part of their borate scheme!?¡¯ The Grand Duke looked ahead. Beyond the veil of darkness, a g adorned with a blue mountain hydrangea fluttered in the wind. The once-ruined lineage, believed to have perished eight years ago, was now proudly disying their emblem once again. It was as if they were trying to recreate the events of eight years ago, but this time with opposite results. The Grand Duke bit his lips. A groan slipped out from his lips along with a trickle of blood. ¡°Laura de Farnese¡­¡­!¡± * * * ¡°The enemy forces have begun their retreat from the right nk.¡± ¡°Florence¡¯s ck Eagle Order has been defeated. Baroness de nc has struck their knight captain down!¡± ¡°Our allied cavalry on the left nk is initiating a charge!¡± An endless number of reports came from each of the units. Most of them were about them winning. The expressions of those in our highmand were bright. The sound ofughter could even be heard from time to time. It was only natural that everyone would be in a good mood. Our imperial army was currently executing a textbook example of an encirclement. The ambush was a huge sess. The enemy knight order received our charge on theirpletely exposed side. Those knights were already fighting against a unit twice their size, but they ended up getting ambushed while also trying to deal with that disadvantage. ording to the report, nearly half of the knight order had either been killed or dismounted within five minutes. Even Elizabeth¡¯s grandfather wouldn¡¯t be able to ovee this crisis. Although they say that Elizabeth¡¯s grandfather wasn¡¯t a particrlypetent emperor¡­¡­. ¡°Baroness de nc has been showing some impressive results. Seeing that she has acquired the head of the knight captain, she has imed the spot for greatest contribution.¡± ¡°Hm. Excellent.¡± Laura nodded in response to my words. Her gaze was fixated on the battle before her. She never once turned away from the battlefield ever since the battlemenced. ¡°Deliver the following order to Baroness de nc. Once the right nk is secured, immediatelyunch an assault on the enemy¡¯s rear. However, leave an opening unguarded to lure their troops into the marsnd.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± An adjutant saluted briskly. Everyone was gazing at Laura with eyes filled with respect. It seemed like she had forgotten the existence of the word ¡°defeat¡±. She hadplete control over the battlefield as if she could see through the minds of the enemy like they were ss. Themanding officers looked at her half in surprise and half in fear as they whispered to each other. ¡®The Supreme Commander must be the reincarnation of Goddess Athena.¡¯ Their words were close to being sphemous. However, there were those who genuinely believed this. Considering that Laura¡¯s beauty rivaled that of goddesses, I understood why people would want to worship her. The mercenary captains became so well-mannered that they would probably dly oblige if Laura ordered them to make beer out of grapes. I smiled faintly as I spoke. ¡°How about ordering our mages to go all out now, Duchess? The enemy is no longer capable of enduring.¡± ¡°Very well, then. Inform the mages that they do not have to conserve their mana anymore.¡± The order was promptly given to the mages. Soon after, a countless number of explosions erupted on the battlefield. Our army has 27 battle mages. They weren¡¯t hired from Helvetica. They were individuals I had personally contracted. Mynd is filled with mage towers, so I can hire mages with ease as long as I offered decent conditions. Although a line that says they¡¯re allowed to do all sorts of inhumane experimentation on prisoners is one of those decent conditions¡­¡­. Well, we gifted a hundred of the civilians that revolted in Paviast night to the mages. The only fate that awaited those rebels was being tied to a table and being allowed to see the color of their innards. The fates of the rest of the civilians were also decided. The Helvetica Federation had voiced their interest in purchasing them as ves. The rough mountains of Helvetica are abundant with mines, so the ves will live the rest of their lives in these dangerous mines. ¡°Your Highness, the right nk has been cleared out. Baroness de nc has reported that she will carry out the next stage of the operation.¡± The two thousand troops led by the Baroness were taken straight to the enemy¡¯s backside. This was the moment our encirclement waspleted on all four sides. There was no need to block the enemy¡¯s rearpletely. Simply applying pressure on them from behind was enough. This forces the enemy to worry about both their front and rear. They will inevitably be spread thin. The mages unleashed a relentless barrage of fireballs upon the enemy¡¯s thinly spread formation. Each explosion reverberated through the ground, causing tremors of destruction. The Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s army found themselves encircled and mercilessly bombarded by magical assaults, plunging them into a living hell. Thirty minutester, the corners of the enemy¡¯s central army copsed. ¡°A portion of the enemy troops is fleeing!¡± ¡°The kingdom¡¯s battle lines are copsing one line at a time, Your Highness! They are copsing!¡± Joyful cheers erupted within ourmand group. It was over now. Once a battle line starts to copse, a domino effect takes hold. You need troops in reserve to prevent this. Lines that are about to fall must be supplemented with reserved troops as soon as possible. The Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s army was out of reserves. Therefore, this was it for them. Florence¡¯s lineage of Medici will fall today¡­¡­. ¡°The Blue Goat regiment is requesting to be allowed to pursue the enemy!¡± ¡°Baroness de nc is also asking for permission to pursue!¡± I smiled wryly. How impatient. Each regiment arrived one by one to ask for permission to pursue the enemy. It¡¯s naturally easier to hunt enemy soldiers that are running away than the ones that are still fighting back, making it easier for them to pocket more military gains. However, this was a little too soon. The Grand Duke of Florence was still fighting back. They had to corner the Grand Duke more right now. It wouldn¡¯t be toote to pursue them afterward. ¡°I permit it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Duchess?¡± An unexpected answer came out of Laura¡¯s mouth. I didn¡¯t hide my confusion as I spoke. ¡°A portion of the kingdom¡¯s army is still fighting back intensely.¡± ¡°I am aware.¡± ¡°Would it not be better to leave them be? If you allow our men to pursue them now, then you will make the enemy believe that they will be hunted down if they try to run. This will ultimately make them fight back more desperately.¡± Laura smiled slightly. ¡°I am well aware of that as well.¡± ¡°Then why¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Count Ptine.¡± Laura turned her head for the first time since the battle had started. Her sapphire-like eyes stared straight at my face. ¡°There is something my teacher once told me in the past: a perfect victory is as harmful as a perfect defeat.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Those were the words I said to Laura. ¡°But this is the best opportunity to capture the Grand Duke of Florence.¡± ¡°This is not the time to strike down the Grand Duke. Count Ptine, I ask that you trust me.¡± I didn¡¯t understand, but I immediately lowered my head. I have to respect the Supreme Commander¡¯smand. Our cavalrymen began to pursue the enemy. The fate that befell the soldiers that turned their backs to the cavalrymen was tragic. They were killed by the weapons of our mounted soldiers before they could even reach the river. After witnessing that, the remainder of the enemy¡¯s soldiers gathered together. It was as I had predicted. The enemy troops struggled desperately in order to get through the center of our army. Once it got to the point where we were starting to incur great losses, Laura gave another strange order. ¡°Allow the enemy troops to get through our center.¡± She was telling them to deliberately step aside and avoidbat. Even though most of the othermanding officers were as confused as I was, no one voiced theirints toward the suprememander since she had already shown them a wless victory. The Grand Duke of Florence sessfully got through the center of our formation. Immediately after, the Grand Duke fled without turning back. It wasn¡¯t a reckless escape, but a well-thought-out one. He could still turn the tables around if we tried to pursue him recklessly. In the end, about ten thousand of the kingdom¡¯s troops managed to escape the battlefield with the Grand Duke. ¡°Congrattions on the victory, Your Highness!¡± ¡°Your Highness, you truly possess the qualifications to stand in ce of the goddess Athena herself!¡± The regimentmanders quickly approached to kneel down on one knee. Out of the thirty thousand enemy troops, we had managed to defeat nearly twenty thousand of them. Excluding the ten thousand infantrymen, the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s army had quite literally melted. This was how the sun set on the 28th day, 6th month, and 1512th year of the continental calendar. Another great victory. The people of Sardinia now came to the realization. They realized that Laura de Farnese will be a cmity. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, there¡¯s been so many dys ever since I got back from my Japan trip that I forgot how long ago I tranted this chapter. I end up feeling pretty bad about it. I¡¯m hoping that my work schedule lightens a bit. It wasn¡¯t that bad today and I ended up having a good 30 min of no work at the end of the day. Truly a reprieve. We¡¯re getting another EN trantor next week (finally), but it¡¯ll be a while before they can take proper work since they¡¯re new. Pray for my mental well-being as I try to make it through another day. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 373: Encounter of Two Heroes (1) Chapter 373: Encounter of Two Heroes (1) An envoy was urgently sent from the royal family of Sardinia. They had most likely realized the severity of their situation now. They were utterly defeated even though the Duke of Mno and the Grand Duke of Florence had joined forces. It was obvious that their rears were on fire, but the fire was on the level of hellfire. This wasn¡¯t hyperbole. 3,000 in the Battle of Ticinus, 5,000 in the Siege of Novara, and 20,000 in the Battle of the Trebia had either run away or were killed. That reached a total of about 30,000. Adding to this, they were all elite soldiers¡­¡­. We crossed the Alps on the 30th day of the 5th month and ended the Battle of Ticinus on the 28th day of the 6th month. It took exactly one month. A single month. The main forces of Sardinia¡¯s north and central armies were wiped out in a month. ording to rumors, the King of Sardinia passed out when he received the battle report. ¡°30,000! Give me back my 30,000 men!¡± Something along that line was apparently shouted. This was probably like a nightmare for their king. The king wasn¡¯t the only one who was dumbfounded. The citizens residing in the royal capital of Tiber were also trembling in fear at the thought of the approaching imperial army. The Evil Spirit of Farnese, the witch who sold her soul to a Demon Lord for revenge¡­¡­. Dozens of new nicknames were attached to Laura within a span of only a few days. The nightmare didn¡¯t end there. Two regions immediately surrendered the day after the Battle of Ticinus. It was Piacenza and Parma. Strangely, the people of these regions actually cheered in joy when they heard that the imperial army had won. The reason was simple. These two regions used to be ruled by the Farnese family. As one would expect from regions that had been marked as traitors, the people of Piacenza and Parma had been extremely discriminated against since the civil war. Their duchy had been split into two baronies and the people born here could never be appointed to the royal castle. I found this to be idiotic. If I were a Sardinian politician, then I wouldn¡¯t have oppressed Piacenza and Parma like that. I would have lowered Piacenza to a county and Parma to a barony. After that, I would only apply oppressing policies to Parma. By doing this, the people of Parma would foolishly direct their anger at the people of Piacenza. A divide would form due to this unfair treatment, creating an emotional rift between these territories. Splitting a group into two is key when ites to oppression. If you don¡¯t do this, then you would simply be fanning the mes oftent rebels. Well, I doubt their king would listen to me at this point. It can¡¯t be helped. He just has to be careful next time. Haha. In any case, their royal family dispatched their ambassador plenipotentiary in this period of time when fear and signs of rebellion were at their peak. The envoy was Marquis Rody again. ¡°It has been a while, Count Ptine.¡± ¡°Have you been well, Marquis?¡± This bald, middle-aged man with a bushy mustache could surprisingly tell from the beginning that they had no chance of winning the recent battles. In other words, he was one of the few nobles in the world whose head wasn¡¯t just for show. I like people who know their ce like this marquis. Looking at him always gives me a refreshing feeling. His bald head wasn¡¯t the source of that refreshing feeling. I¡¯m serious. ¡°His Majesty the King is prepared to give a sincere apology to His Excellency the Emperor and the esteemed daughter of the Farnese family.¡± After a short back and forth, we got straight to the main topic at hand. ¡°If your nation epts His Majesty¡¯s apology, then we could end this war by tomorrow.¡± ¡°Marquis. I wish to voice how unfortunate it is that Duchess Farnese is still being referred to as just the esteemed daughter of Farnese.¡± I spoke leisurely since I wasn¡¯t on the side that was feeling pressured. ¡°Esteemed daughter? Laura de Farnese is the sole and rightful master of the duchy that rules over Parma and Piacenza. It appears that there is still a sizeable gap in recognition between us.¡± My tone was meek, but the contents of my words were partially a threat. ¡°¡­¡­Let us say we were to acknowledge the esteemed daughter of Farnese as Duchess Farnese.¡± Marquis Rody spoke carefully. ¡°Farnese¡¯s territory will be surrounded on all sides by our country. In the end, it will be an isted ind onnd. Merchants will turn away and it will be cut off from resources. What sort of value could that kind ofnd possibly have?¡± ¡°Hm. That would definitely be a problem.¡± I tapped on my ss cup with the tip of my finger. Did it look like I had fallen into deep thought? Marquis Rody¡¯splexion lit up slightly. ¡°I appreciate your understanding. Now we can try reaching a more realisticpromise¡­¡­.¡± ¡°In that case, you can also hand the Mno Duchy over to us as well.¡± The Marquis¡¯ face stiffened. ¡°Mno¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Think about it. If Mno is also added to Farnese¡¯s territory, then it will be connected to the Helvetica Federation. Our empire can be essed through the federation, so the territory of Farnese will no longer be an ¡®ind onnd¡¯.¡± I let out a ¡°Tadah¡± as if I had disyed an impressive magic trick and smiled brightly. ¡°What a perfect solution. Do you not think so as well?¡± ¡°Are you mocking me right now!?¡± The Marquis mmed his hand down on the table. ¡°Mno is the second vastest duchy in our nation! It is not a piece ofnd that another nation can simply be given!¡± ¡°The Parma Duchy is just asrge, and yet it was separated without any issue. It is not strange for something that happened once to happen again. Do you not agree?¡± ¡°What nonsense¡­¡­!¡± Marquis Rody¡¯s face became red. The topic was brought up so that they wouldn¡¯t have to hand over Parma, but he was probably perplexed since I was now asking fornd that was twice, no, three times the size. ¡°Our request is simple and clear, so it is unyielding, Marquis.¡± But did you know? We¡¯re the ones currently winning the war. You guys aren¡¯t in a position to make demands. ¡°We request that your noble king apologizes to His Excellency the Emperor and Duchess Farnese. Adding to this, aspensation for the previous civil war and the recent battle, we ask that you hand over the Mno Duchy and thend that was previously known as the Parma Duchy to the House of Farnese.¡± ¡°Would such an impertinent demand be¡ª.¡± ¡°I am not done. You must also immediately stop offering your support to the Habsburg Republic.¡± My tone was unwavering. ¡°Apromise will not be reached if the aforementioned conditions are not met.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Marquis Rody¡¯s shoulders trembled. ¡°So¡­¡­war has been your goal since the very beginning¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dear me. Such nder is troubling, Marquis.¡± Iughed. ¡°I offered a peaceful resolution two months ago and another one month ago. Your king was the one who had tantly kicked those aside. If I remember correctly, Laura de Farnese was referred to as a whore who sold herself to demons, and the Empire was used of being a group of idiots being led around by a witch¡­¡­. Those were quite splendid provocations.¡± Marquis Rody¡¯s neck became red, but he couldn¡¯t refute my words. This was why getting proper justification was important before starting a war. It wasn¡¯t because of the attention of the public eye. It was because it allows us to have our way and make as many requests as we want once we had an advantageous position during the war like we have now. This was the power of justification. ¡°Why do you think the Earl of Pavia died? It was because that foolish man fanned the mes of war. He certainly had the audacity tobel a distinguished general of the Empire as a whore.¡± I rang a small bell. An adjutant brought three boxes. The boxes were packaged in luxurious pieces of cloth. ¡°These are our gifts to your king. Would you like to see what¡¯s inside?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± He probably knew what was inside. The Marquis opened a box with trembling hands. Opening the lid revealed the head of the Earl of Pavia. ¡°¡­¡­O¡¯ Goddess Persephone.¡± Marquis Rody shut his eyes tightly. The Earl of Pavia¡¯s face was contorted with rage, having been frozen at the exact moment of his death. This was because we had preserved it using magic. I smiled. ¡°I added a strawberry scent since I figured the appearance might be appalling. I contemted about what scent your king would prefer between strawberries and grapes and ultimately decided on strawberries. If you open the mouth like this¡­¡­.¡± I put my hand in the box and opened the Earl¡¯s mouth. A fresh strawberry was positioned on top of a bluish tongue. I picked the strawberry up. ¡°What do you think? Is this not fancy? I experimented to see how many strawberries could fit inside a person¡¯s head. I swear to you, Marquis, that the answer is exactly forty-nine! Just one strawberry short from a round number.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The other two boxes contain the heads of the ck Eagle Order¡¯s captain and vice-captain. I hope these are satisfying gifts.¡± I took a bite out of the strawberry. Marquis Rody shut his eyes again once he witnessed that. ¡°This is an insult to the death¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And the Earl insulted the living. Please deliver my exact words to your king.¡± Could he tell that there was no room forpromise? Marquis Rody left the room looking defeated. The Marquis himself probably wished to end the conflict even if it meant handing the Mno duchy over. However, his personal opinion didn¡¯t matter since his king and the Duke of Mno would decline. The war will not end. I gave a gesture to an adjutant. ¡°Call the regimentmanders. Be gathered within thirty minutes.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± The regimentmanders gathered quickly as if they had been expecting a summon. ¡°Commanders, from this point on, the Kingdom of Sardinia will try to tempt you with bribes.¡± ¡°Bribes?¡± ¡°They want to avoid war, but they are not confident in their ability to defeat us. The only move cowardly swine like them can make is bribery.¡± The regimentmanders chuckled. ¡°Do not worry, Your Excellency. We swear on the honor of Helvetica that we will not be swayed by bribes. You can trust us.¡± ¡°That is not why I brought this up.¡± I smiled. ¡°Take as many bribes as you want.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°They will be offering you gifts. There is no reason to refuse something that is free.¡± Themanders turned to give each other troubled looks. They were probably worried that I was testing their loyalty. But there¡¯s nothing to worry about. I won¡¯t lie when it¡¯s about money. There¡¯s this absolutely terrifyingdy at my side who scolds me if I lie about money. ¡°Even if they give you gifts, there is no reason for you to actually do what they ask of you. It is as simple as that.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency, are you implying that we should¡ª¡± ¡°Indeed. ept the gifts and look away.¡± Themanders became dumbfounded by the bluntness of my response. ¡°I-Is that truly all right? We still have our sense of duty.¡± ¡°Why would you have a sense of duty toward the enemy while on a battlefield? Fill your wallets as much as you desire. Your wealth will also bestow your men with another te of steak. You can also think of this as being for the sake of your subordinates.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± This was probably also their first time being told by a superior to ept bribes. The regimentmanders didn¡¯t know how to react. ¡°This is also an order from the Supreme Commander.¡± ¡°Her Highness had¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Duchess also added that the total amount of bribes you all ept individually will be used to calcte your total contributions.¡± I mmed my hand down on the table, startling the regimentmanders. ¡°This is not a game! This is a part of war! The less money the Kingdom of Sardinia has, the fewer soldiers we will have to face in battle! Do not lower your guard and do your utmost to take as many bribes as possible. Do you understand?¡± ¡°A-As youmand!¡± Themanders saluted. ¡°If you understand, then why are you still standing here? If you are unable to receive even a penny as a bribe, then I will personally condemn you with my hands!¡± ¡°Y-Yes!¡± The regimentmanders rushed out of the tent. A pleased smile appeared on my lips. I can¡¯t help but feel bad for Marquis Rody. Since he failed to persuade me, he will most likely try to convince the regimentmanders below me. Although his efforts aremendable, there are things in the world that cannot be aplished through effort alone. Give up. It¡¯ll be better for you if you give up now. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Poor Marquis Rody¡­ He¡¯s just doing his best¡­ The life of an ambassador that has to deal with Dant is probably a fate worse than death. On a side note, woops, this chapter was supposed toe out yesterday! Ipletely forgot cause I was ying that new gacha game that came out, Snowbreak. For all it¡¯s worth, the game is surprisingly decent with good gamey (as long as you y on PC). God forbid they make a decent shooter on the mobile that doesn¡¯t control like ass. It¡¯s actually impossible to aim on the phone. In any case, I¡¯ve been able to rx today and yesterday. Monday and Tuesday were hell for me. Worked overtime till 1 am and 11pm respectively. Actual brain slop. Since I forgot to upload this chapter yesterday, the next one will be out earlier ?? I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Take care or whatever people say at the end of letters. Chapter 374: Encounter of Two Heroes (2) Chapter 374: Encounter of Two Heroes (2) Sure enough, the Marquis went on an offensive with bribes. Three thousand to five thousand gold wasn¡¯t considered much now. At the end of the day, the regimentmanders woulde to me saying, ¡°Uhm, Count Ptine. This is the amount I earned today.¡± On each of those days, I would praise themander who earned the most and howl in rage at the one who earned the least. ¡°How foolish! You cannot justtch on to everything that is offered to you! You must maintain a level of push and pull!¡± ¡°How can someone who has had many lovers fail to entice an old Marquis? What an imbecile! If you are unable to earn more than this tomorrow, then you will be given a taste of hell!¡± ¡°Are you joking with me right now!? What do you n to do with only a thousand gold!? A child probably receives more than that as their allowance!¡± After four days, the regimentmanders were gnashing their teeth. Despite the peculiar nature of the situation they found themselves in, where they had been granted permission to ept bribes, themanders hurried towards the Marquis like devoted yakshas. They approached me with solemn expressions and bloodshot eyes to report that they had received sums varying from five thousand to three thousand gold. ¡°Hm.¡± I was quite satisfied. ¡°Good. I believe I can inform you all of my secret n now.¡± ¡°Secret¡­¡­n?¡± ¡°Who do you think I am? I am Dantalian. I am the Demon Lord who had acquired sess despite my position of Rank 71. Use the river water from Trebia to clean your ears and heed my words.¡± Dantalian¡¯s special course was then held in secret. ¡°You will leak fake information while you will leak real information. If everyone acts cooperatively, then the Marquis will be suspicious. What¡¯s important is to make the Marquis misunderstand and think ¡®Although I could not persuade that person, I was able to win this other person over¡¯.¡± We can gain the other party¡¯s trust by leaking fake information. ¡°Half of the information must always be true. If you tell him that supplies will go through here at this time, then the supplies must not go through that point at that precise time. The time you tell him must be either an hour earlier or an hour after the actual time.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡­Your Excellency?¡± Baroness Juliana de nc carefully raised her hand. She was writing down my words with a notebook and a quill. ¡°Would that not make the Marquis doubt us?¡± ¡°The opposite, actually. As long as the Marquis is not an idiot, he will constantly remain doubtful. In times like this, it is better to deliberately make mistakes. The other party will think that if you are trying to trick him, then you will try to deceive himpletely. However, by being a little sloppy, that will contrarily reassure him into believing that there is no deception.¡± Deliberately mixing in mistakes will contrarily reassure the other party. ¡°Creating an illusion of superiority in the other party is crucial. By strategically making calcted mistakes, we can fuel the Marquis¡¯s sense of elevation. As we offer him less than he expects despite the generouspensation, he will grow increasingly assertive. It is essential to imnt in him the false belief that he holds the upper hand¡­¡­.¡± By making the other party believe that they have the higher ground, their suspicions are dispelled. ¡°Do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± My special lecture ended after three hours. The mercenary captains were now looking at me with a great amount of respect. However, that still didn¡¯t hold a candle to the respect they showed Laura. If their gaze toward Laura was like ¡®Our Supreme Commander is truly amazing!¡¯, then the gaze toward me was like ¡®¡­¡­His Highness Dantalian is, how should I put it? Yeah, he¡¯s a truly impressive person¡­¡­.¡¯. It didn¡¯t matter, though. Respect is respect either way. I felt very pleased. ¡°From this point on, you are my disciples. I do not take just anyone as my disciple.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°My standards are strict. I do not allow any exceptions. You must consume the marrow of Sardinia¡¯s royal family and take their kidneys.¡± The mercenary captains gulped. ¡°I wish you good luck, men!¡± ¡°We will heed yourmand, Your Excellency!¡± They wrapped themselves in sheer determination, like a bunch of persistent students giving the SAT another shot. While the regimentmanders were performing the fraud of the century with the Marquis, the rest of our imperial army started building a logistics base. Themunication line went from Novara, Pavia, Piacenza, and then to Parma. These four bases were all connected to a river, using it as a lifeline. With this, the imperial army established a firm and smooth logistics line. We had squeezed all of the nearby viges dry into a single city, so we didn¡¯t have to worry about provisions until the end of the year. If we¡¯re evercking in certain supplies, we could just purchase them from the locals. Of course, the locals wouldn¡¯t want to do business with an invading army, but if they had to choose between doing business with us or getting piged, then they would obviously choose the former. In truth, our imperial army was very gentlemanly since we were purchasing supplies with money. On the other hand, the maind of the empire was continuing its diplomatic war. ¨C Despite our nation¡¯s decisive victory over Sardinia, we intend to demonstrate mercy andpassion, as is customary for the victors. ¨C Sardinia must return thend that should have originally belonged to Duchess Laura de Farnese, in other words, the Piacenza-Parma Duchy. Furthermore, the Mno Duchy must be included in thisnd aspensation for this war. ¨C If the above conditions are met, we vow not to harm the people or the royal family of Sardinia. Aside from the region of Pavia, which initiated this war, we have not piged any other region. This is our nation¡¯s sincerity. Gamigin, Lapis, and Ivar were leading the diplomatic war. Lapis and Ivar faithfully conveyed my will, and Gamigin spearheaded our diplomatic corps based on that. Thedies executed the script and screeny I had prepared perfectly. Their teamwork was fantastic. The Sardinian nobles hesitated once things got this far. After looking over their situation again, there was no reason for them to go out of their way to go to war. The Duke of Mno was already being condemned greatly. He pushed the Earl of Pavia to his demise, stood idly as the strategic stronghold of Novara was captured, and showed no reaction as the Grand Duke of Florence suffered defeat right in front of him. He probably looked like absolute scum to nobles who didn¡¯t know the details. Despite this, the only thing the Habsburg Empire wanted was the Mno Duchy. They also revealed that they didn¡¯t n on invading or piging morend. Something they were also proving with their actions. It was only natural for the nobles to contemte abandoning the Mno Duchy in light of these circumstances. The Duke of Mno is the one responsible for the death of the Earl of Pavia, the loss of Novara, and the defeat of the Grand Duke of Florence. Shouldn¡¯t he take responsibility in some way? This opinion gradually grew louder. The Duke of Mno would naturally throw a huge fit. The House of Sforza that rules over Mno has a long history, so they weren¡¯t like some lizard¡¯s tail that you could cut off. However, as the Duke of Mno got more and more agitated, the gazes directed at him became colder. If he wasn¡¯t willing to shoulder the responsibility, the least he could do was lead by example and take up arms. Yet, whenever someone would confront him with this suggestion, he would likely dismiss it, iming, ¡°The mercenaries will disband on their own if we hold out a little longer!¡± That¡¯s right. This is the point I¡¯m aiming for. This is where the Kingdom of Sardinia will divide. ¡°Count Ptine Dantalian¡­¡­!¡± It was about a month after we had fortified our logistics base. Marquis Rody entered my quarters while snorting out of his nose. His neck and clearly visible forehead were red like apples. There was no question that he was enraged. ¡°Wee, Marquis.¡± ¡°You tricked me! You ridiculed me with your mercenaries!¡± I smiled slightly. It appears that it took the bald Marquis about a month to finally realize he had been dancing splendidly as a puppet on a stage. ¡°I do not know what you are talking about. My mercenaries? Don¡¯t tell me. Marquis, did you perhapse in direct contact with my mercenary captains?¡± ¡°Do not y dumb!¡± I wasn¡¯t ying dumb. What would happen if I were to meekly acknowledge what I had done? I have no desire to willingly give away a testimony that would put me at a disadvantage. ¡°Now I fully understand what sort of person you are, Count Ptine!¡± Marquis Rody walked up and brought his face close to mine. I could count each and every one of the Marquis¡¯ wrinkles which represented the years he had lived. ¡°You are a liar down to the very bone. You have no interest in anything except cajoling and ridiculing others! Despite this, you go on about the peace of the continent and the friendly bond between our nations¡­¡­. I despise you, Count Ptine!¡± I folded my legs and ced my hands on top of them. ¡°Cajoler, traitor, and ridiculer, is it? These words do not even faze me now. You may continue until your anger is sated.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You are the ambassadorplenipotentiary of Sardinia. The lives of ten million Sardinians rest on your shoulders. Simrly, I am also the representative of our Empire. It does not matter to me if I am scorned or despised as long as our Empire remains safe.¡± I looked straight into Marquis Rody¡¯s eyes. I am someone who has never lost to anyone in terms of spirit. Be it Barbatos, Agares, or even Baal, none of them managed to overwhelm me. I do not believe you will be able to aplish something they have not, Marquis. ¡°I have no interest in whatever ploy you tried to y with my mercenaries. There is only one thing that is important right now, Marquis. And that is the fact that war will continue if negotiations fall through.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Let me be clear. You have lost.¡± I smiled. In the end, the Marquis left after having achieved nothing again. Maybe it was because he had wasted arge sum of gold, but his steps looked especially weak this time. The next day, I publicly disclosed that the royal family of Sardinia had tried to bribe our mercenaries. Although our imperial army maintained a ¡®gentlemanly¡¯ approach in the war by refraining from piging, it is disheartening to witness the royal army resorting to such ¡®unchivalrous¡¯ tactics like bribery. A bomb immediately erupted between the aristocrats of Sardinia. The reason why the Duke of Mno persisted in staying in ce so far was due to the belief that the imperial army¡¯s mercenariescked funding. However, the royal family of Sardinia had ordered Marquis Rody to distribute the very coins that the mercenaries should have beencking. The Duke of Mno strongly condemned the royal family for ruining his n. The great strategy he had devised had evaporated in an instant. The Duke of Mno who had been doing nothing until now became all the more angry. This probably annoyed the royal family as well. They had officially med the Duke of Mno for doing nothing as the Earl of Pavia died and the Grand Duke of Florence was defeated. They had even threatened him to go to battle right this instant to regain his sullied honor. The nobles were split into three different groups. Those on the Duke of Mno¡¯s side who pointed the me at the royal family. Those on the royal family¡¯s side who wanted the Duke of Mno to take responsibility. And the side that insisted on not wasting time and wanted to prepare for war. The Grand Duke of Florence was on this side. In the end, our imperial army finished establishing a logistics base, continued our diplomatic warfare, and managed to split the enemy up, all within a month. Our mercenary captains earning huge sums of gold was also a side benefit. ¡°Now then.¡± I drank some wine as I gazed down at the ins. The Sardinian rivers were still flowing. I muttered to myself as I quenched my throat with red wine. ¡°I am starting to get tired of waiting. Please hurry up and show yourself, Elizabeth.¡± I called out to the one person who stood a chance against our Empire. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I should¡¯ve uploaded this chapter yesterday, I think. I lost track of time. I came to work on Monday to find out that I was given another load of work even though my schedule was already full ?? Basically had another 3 days of overtime. Also, the 25th was my 1 year anniversary of working at thispany, which I spent doing overtime. Truly a good anniversary. In any case, I¡¯m gonna go rest my brain¡­ I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 375: Encounter of Two Heroes (3) Chapter 375: Encounter of Two Heroes (3) Sure enough, the goddess granted the wish of her humble servant. The next day, the Habsburg Republic made a diplomatic statement. The diplomatic statement was filled with dull words. It was quite literally your typical and boring diplomatic statement. If you scraped away the needless grease and managed to pick out the single voice and intent within, you could summarize it as ¡°The Habsburg Empire is the biggest son of a bitch in the world¡±. All worldly things can be surprisingly concise. Why do people utilize all sorts of words and decorations to twist and turn their main point? They probably do this deliberately to prevent others from understanding. People have such horrible personalities. Although I feel great remorse due to the preferential treatment of people wearing makeup over natural beauties, it appears that only I am the one who is saddened by this. The Habsburg Republic¡¯s statement was epted by other nations without any particr criticism. Laura witnessed how the situation was unfolding and voiced her confusion. ¡°This is surprising. I thought that the Republic had been isted from the nations around it.¡± ¡°It is because we had won too overwhelmingly. The other nations most likely do not wish for us to have such a one-sided victory.¡± My head was currently ced on Laura¡¯sp. We were both currently in bed while in the nude. The two of us have been sleeping together on almost a daily basis. The rumors about Laura and I being lovers had circted long ago, so there was no reason to act reserved. ¡°We will not stop your war from urring, but it would be troubling for us if one side were to win so one-sidedly. It¡¯s obvious that this is what they¡¯re thinking.¡± ¡°I see. So they are shifting the me onto themselves.¡± Laura stroked my hair as if she werebing it. I felt my mind being soothed. ¡°From a positive perspective, they are reading the mood. From a negative perspective, they are voluntarily taking the role of a clown. The Republic is acting as the proxy and saying the words that the other nations do not have the confidence to say. By remaining silent about this, the other nations are implicitly agreeing to their statement¡­¡­ Mm.¡± Laura put a strawberry in my mouth. It was one of the strawberries that were harvested to put inside the heads of the Earl of Pavia, the knight captain, and the vice-captain. We had harvested too much, so we still had a considerable amount remaining. ¡°Well, that¡¯s the gist of it.¡± ¡°In the end, does this not mean that an implicit diplomatic agreement was established about the desire to stop the Empire? Are you fine with this, Lord?¡± ¡°It does not matter.¡± I chuckled. ¡°There is nothing the Republic can gain by stopping the war now. We are going to request that the Kingdom of Sardinia immediately cease its support of the Republic, and Sardinia is not in a position where they can refuse¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I see. So the Republic will end up acting as a supporting character before being tossed aside.¡± I rubbed Laura¡¯s rib as a way to affirm her words. Laura giggled. Referentially, Laura is extremely weak to tickling. Apparently, one¡¯s erogenous zone has a certain connection to being ticklish, but I¡¯m not sure if this is true. ¡°Can you guess how the Republic will proceed, Laura?¡± ¡°Hmm. They will most likely do their utmost to put themselves in an advantageous position before negotiating.¡± ¡°And how would they achieve that in a negotiation that happens during a war?¡± Laura lowered her chin as she thought about it for a moment. ¡°By obtaining victory¡­¡­. The Republic would want to achieve victory in battle at least once.¡± I nodded. ¡°I nted a spy in the Republic. ording to them, Consul Elizabeth has been secretly drafting mercenaries while being supported by Venice. This started three months ago.¡± ¡°Three months ago¡­¡­? Our army had yet to move by that point!¡± Laura sounded surprised. ¡°That is also before our diplomatic warfare had even begun. How could the Republic have predicted our actions?¡± ¡°The Helvetica Federation had requested to be subjected under us at this point. We have a ceasefire agreement with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, negotiated with Teuton, defeated Frankia, and Batavia does not need to be mentioned. The only region remaining is Sardinia. The logic is rather simple.¡± It was so amusing that a smile naturally formed on my lips. ¡°Consul Elizabeth has the intellect to see through simple logic. Hah, she truly does not betray my expectations. She is always able to entertain me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura gazed at my face with a somewhat hazy look. ¡°Uhm¡­¡­ Your Lordship?¡± ¡°Hm? What is it?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡­.¡± Laura trailed off. It looked like she was contemting her next words. ¡°¡­¡­Mm. Nevermind. More importantly, it should be difficult for the Republic to involve themselves in this war. If Consul Elizabeth gets involved, then our nation¡¯s Demon Lord Army could immediately invade theirnd. They would end up fighting on two fronts.¡± ¡°We cannot do that.¡± I¡¯m emphasizing this again, but we absolutely cannot use the Demon Lord Army. Utilizing demons is exactly what Consul Elizabeth wants. It would turn this war into a conflict between humans and demons. The neighboring nations, who have been observing thus far, would swiftly join the fray. ¡°The second Chrysanthemum War must remain as a political battle between human nobles. This is what Consul Elizabeth is saying to us: Invade us if you dare. We may fall, but you will also end up in hot water¡­¡­.¡± I chuckled lightly. ¡°Truly a woman with nerves of steel so hard that her entire body can deflect arrows. The Republic is a nation that the Consul created entirely out of her own blood and sweat. She is utilizing this precious nation of hers like some rook piece on a chessboard. How splendid.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura gave me a hazy look again. For some reason, it looked like she was worrying about me. No, was it not worry? Concern? A mix of both? ¡­¡­Regardless of what it was, a person¡¯s emotion wasn¡¯t something that you could describe concisely with a single word. Instead of telling her to not worry, I buried my nose into Laura¡¯s skin. I¡¯m confident. I¡¯ve made the preparations. The Habsburg Republic will fall either within this year, or sometime next year at thetest¡­¡­. * * * The Habsburg Republic took part in the war about half a monthter. They didn¡¯t exactly take part in the war per se. Several cities along with the city of Venice requested for the Republic to protect them. The Republic simply epted their request and marched their way to Venice. The number amounted to 15,000, consisting of mercenaries hailing from Anatolia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was excessive by all ounts for the task of defending a few cities. Theparison of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut was probably made for a moment like this. It was intriguing to know that mercenaries from the Anatolian Empire were participating inrge numbers. After the fall of the Frankia Empire, there were only two nations left on the continent that referred to themselves as empires. Our Habsburg Empire and the Anatolia Empire across the ocean¡­¡­. Did they decide that they couldn¡¯t let our Empire get any stronger? Or did Elizabeth incite them from behind? It was probably thetter. As I expected, Elizabeth is an entertaining person. She always arrives with one or two unexpected cards. ¡°How dare a foreign nation take part in this war! What is the meaning of this, Marquis!?¡± Of course, even if I had personally predicted the Republic to participate, I put on a performance as I feigned anger. I immediately summoned Marquis Rody and went on an enraged tangent. ¡°They are not taking part in this war. The parliament of Venice was worried, so they made a request just in case¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They are not, you say? Hah. Then if the parliament of Piacenza and Parma asks our Empire to be stationed at their cities, we will not be taking part in the war either?¡± ¡°Th-That¡¯s¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Why have youe here with an excuse that even a five-year-old child wouldugh at!?¡± Marquis Rody started to sweat profusely. It was for this very moment that I never raised my voice while speaking to Marquis Rody up to this point. I remained calm when we were ndered and stayed levelheaded even when the situation seemed uneasy. This was a card that I kept reserved specifically for the day the Republic joined the fray. ¡°Your nation had asked us to wait! To give you time to negotiate! Marquis, that is what you told us. Is this what your nation has been plotting? Is this how you repay our respect?¡± ¡°¡­¡­We have no excuse, Count Ptine.¡± Marquis Rody didn¡¯t know how to respond to my anger which he was witnessing for the first time. It was like he was struggling to figure out how he should respond to my shouting. This old man is also in quite a pitiful situation. The royal family of Sardinia has been grilling him to reach apromise, the Duke of Mno has been condemning him for ruining his n, and the Grand Duke of Florence is insisting that they should give up on diplomatic affairs and prepare for battle instead¡­¡­. Now he¡¯s here being reproached by me. How pitiful. Not only must Marquis Rody feel depressed by this unfair treatment, but I bet he wants to bite his tongue and kill himself. There is nothing more stressful than being the ambassador for diplomacy. The problems are being caused by other people, but he¡¯s the one who has to take responsibility. As a side note, I have a hobby of making life worse for people who¡¯re already suffering. ¡°This is a battle between the House of Farnese and your nation. Do you understand? I am saying that this is not some brawl that any third party can participate in.¡± ¡°You are right, Count Ptine¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you have lost the battle, then you should ept it. Yet, your people decided to get another nation involved because you couldn¡¯t ept it? This is unbelievable¡­¡­. Your nation is shameless and has forgotten even the most fundamental form of respect between nations!¡± I kicked the table in front of me. The table fell over, causing the wine bottle that was on top of it to shatter. The Marquis flinched. That wine was incredibly expensive, but it didn¡¯t matter. It was deliberately ced there so that it could be broken. ¡°Marquis, look here. Open your eyes and watch carefully!¡± Once I raised my right hand, a cloud of ck smoke started to flow out from my shadow. The smoke soon took shape as six death knights promptly appeared around the two of us. ¡°C-Count Ptine, these are¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Indeed. They are death knights. Each one of them rivals the skill of the Empire¡¯s rank 2batants. I could summon two hundred of them right this instant if required.¡± The Marquis¡¯plexion became pale. In truth, I could only summon about a hundred. ¡°They are no different from an order with two hundred highly skilled knights. I could sneak into an enemy¡¯s camp and take the head of theirmander without anyone knowing. Do you understand how impressive this is?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I did not use this manpower at all while fighting your nation!¡± I kicked the chair this time, making it scrape past the Marquis. ¡°Do you think it is because I am a fool who does not know how to utilize the troops that I can pull out at any time? Do you think I do not know how useful they can be on a battlefield? No!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is because they are demons and I believed that I should only engage in a gentlemanly duel against your nation! Because I respect your nation! Marquis, it is because I trusted you as a person! That is why I have not utilized demons despite being a Demon Lord!¡± The Marquis gradually dropped his head further and further. At this rate, his nose would probably touch the ground if I kept grilling him. ¡°You and your nation have mercilessly stomped all over my trust¡­¡­!¡± ¡°I sincerely do not know what to say¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not give me your empty apology!¡± I red right at the Marquis as I approached him. If the members of the Academy were watching me, then I would¡¯ve probably been given the best male actor award. ¡°If this Republic army takes even a single step from Venice!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Our imperial army will no longer act like gentlemen! You have my word! You will learn the extent of how much suffering your people can endure!¡± The Marquis¡¯ expression became dyed with dread. ¡°Count Ptine, please¡­¡­. I beg of you. At least spare the people¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you do not wish to bare witness to it, then put a leash on the Republic¡¯s army!¡± I roughly shoved the Marquis¡¯ body with my hand. I was dismissing him. ¡°Get out of my sight!¡± Today was another day that the Marquis had to leave lookingpletely drained. He looked like a father who was persecuted by hispany. After confirming the Marquis¡¯ departure, I took out a new wine bottle from a drawer. This is a secret, but the bottle that fell from the table and shattered was filled with cheap wine. I switched its content beforehand. You shouldn¡¯t mess with someone¡¯s drink. Despite my appearance, I am a man with a fundamental knowledge of manners. ¡°Mm.¡± I poured the wine into a ss cup and a beautiful fragrance filled my nose. Elizabeth will now be faced with a fair bit of pushback. She left the Republic behind and came all the way here to Sardinia, so she naturally has to pay the price. Leaving home is never easy. Isn¡¯t that so, Eliza? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The Marquis is really living a tough life. He just can¡¯t get a break, huh? Welp, I don¡¯t have too much to say this chapter. I sort of wish the project managers at mypany knew how to properly schedule work and actuallymunicated with me before giving me more work. It¡¯s fun when I finally get things done in time only to find out I received more work 3 hours ago on a separate schedule sheet ?? Maybe this is just what corporate ve life is like¡­ Welp, in any case, I hope you guys are surviving the summer better than I am, cause things are getting really humid now. I took tomorrow off from work, so I can finally take a breather! Woo! I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 376: Encounter of Two Heroes (4) Chapter 376: Encounter of Two Heroes (4) * * * ¡°Your Excellency, Marquis Rody is requesting an audience.¡± ¡°Hm. Send him in.¡± Consul Elizabeth put the documents on her table aside. All sorts of things were upying her desk, such as a military map, reports, and current policies. Kurtz Schleiermacher who followed along as a secretary let out a chuckle. ¡°I can have him wait until you finish cleaning up.¡± ¡°I am not cleaning. This is a matter of security.¡± Elizabeth furrowed her brows. ¡°There are also a lot of confidential papers here.¡± ¡°If you say so, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you doubting me?¡± ¡°I simply trust in my own experience, Your Excellency.¡± Kurtz had never met anyone as perfect as Elizabeth before, but there were two distinct areas where herpetence seemed to evade herpletely: cleaning and cooking. Even after spending just a day in a location, the aftermath would resemble that of a hurricane. And in the kitchen, she would work culinary miracles of a different kind, expertly transforming sweet delicacies into unexpectedly salty treats and turning spicy dishes into startlingly sour creations. ¡°¡­¡­Never mind. Hurry up and send the Marquis in.¡± Elizabeth spoke sullenly. She seemed to give up on cleaning as she dusted her hands. In all honesty, Kurtz Schleiermacher wasn¡¯t worried at all. It would be impossible for even the most well-trained spies to decipher any meaning from the Consul¡¯s desk. It was quite literally chaos itself. Shortly after, Marquis Rody entered the office and slowly lowered his head. ¡°May justice and honor be with Habsburg.¡± ¡°May the goddess grant Sardinia her eternal blessing. Greetings, Marquis.¡± Elizabeth stood up and approached the Marquis to exchange a brief handshake. ¡°Your Excellency, I give you my sincere gratitude for epting my sudden request.¡± ¡°Even if it were the darkest hour of the night, I would dly avail myself for an audience with you, Marquis. I understand the weight of responsibility you bear, with numerous lives depending on your decisions. Individuals like you are a rare find.¡± Elizabeth smiled softly. Elizabeth cast a nce at the Marquis¡¯ forehead, noting the receding hairline that seemed to progress noticeably with each passing day. The rming pace at which his hair was vanishing became more apparent with every encounter. It had reached a point where Elizabeth, thanks to this visible change, could keenly sense the passage of time. ¡°I havee to you today because of those very lives. ¡­¡­Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Marquis Rody carefully nced at Kurz who was standing at attention next to the door like a guard. Elizabeth nodded. ¡°General Schleiermacher, I wish to speak with the Marquis in private for a moment.¡± ¡°Please call for me if you need me.¡± ¡°You may go enjoy some beer.¡± Kurtz grinned broadly. ¡°As youmand.¡± Kurtz exited the office and shut the door behind him. ¡°Do not worry, Marquis. This room does not have a memoria spell enchanted on it.¡± Elizabeth gazed at the Marquis. ¡°You can convert to my faith without reserve.¡± ¡°I did not know that Your Excellency served a specific god.¡± ¡°I serve the one and only absolute god. I am a devout servant of my nation. It is powerful, perceivable, and above all, it can grant most wishes that a human can have.¡± Elizabeth sat down in her chair and linked her fingers atop her desk. ¡°It is also the type of god that your country desperately needs right now.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Your Excellency. I beg of you. Please do not move your forces any more than this.¡± Elizabeth calmly stared into the Marquis¡¯ eyes. ¡°Is that the royal family of Sardinia¡¯s official stance?¡± ¡°No. Not at all¡­¡­. Your Excellency, this is nothing more than my own personal request.¡± Marquis Rody¡¯s countenance contorted pitifully. He looked as if he was on the verge of bursting into tears. He was acutely aware of how unseemly his behavior appeared and how absurd his request sounded. How unusual. Elizabeth¡¯s interest had been piqued. The Marquis was a logical and rational human. He did have a dull side to him, but that made him better. In other words, he was the perfect individual to use as a partner when it came to diplomacy. This kind of person had made a personal request¡­¡­. There was definitely a reason behind this. ¡°How interesting. I thought that of all values, a ¡®personal¡¯ one was not important to you.¡± ¡°Of course, the people will always be the most important to me.¡± ¡°One wrong move and you can be used of treason, Marquis.¡± Elizabethughed. The Marquis said that this wasn¡¯t an official request from his kingdom, but a personal one. Having said that, he was now stating that his personal request was for the sake of the people. Therefore, this could be interpreted as the kingdom¡¯s current official stance not being for the people¡¯s sake. ¡°¡­¡­I misspoke. I will always be of humble service to the king.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡®Too easy,¡¯ Elizabeth thought to herself. She had set up only a single trap, but the Marquis fell into it immediately. It has always been like this. If she desired it, she could use and coquet anyone¡­¡­. ¡°It is because of the Empire¡¯s Count Ptine Dantalian.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s eyes nted ever so slightly upward as soon as she heard that name. ¡°The Count Ptine gave me a warning. He stated that if Your Excellency takes even a single step from Venice, then he will pige and ughter the people mercilessly¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dear Lord, is that true?¡± ¡®We better start moving, then,¡¯ Elizabeth thought to herself. ¡°Your Excellency, the Count Ptine is not right of mind. No, he is right of mind, but he has gone mad. He is devoid of something as a person¡­¡­. We cannot let the innocent people of this nation be ughtered by that man!¡± ¡°Mm. It seems that things have beplicated.¡± He was wrong. The Count Ptine wasn¡¯t someone of the right mind who had gone mad. He was someone who was mad and of the right mind. These are two incredibly different things. Elizabeth put on a serious expression as this thought went through her head. ¡°This humble one begs of you. Please think of the people, Your Excellency¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Marquis, you do not have to justify yourself.¡± Elizabeth raised her right hand to stop him. ¡°The people are the nation. I already agree with you in that regard, Marquis.¡± ¡°Th-Then¡­¡­?¡± ¡°The problem is always politics.¡± Elizabeth ced her chin atop her linked fingers. ¡°As you are aware, our Republic came here under your nation¡¯s request. If we do not move aftering this far, then we would ultimately be breaking our promise. Your nation is our one and only ally. Marquis, I do not wish to break a promise between friends.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I will persuade His Highness the King.¡± The Marquis spoke firmly. His gaze looked like he was resolved for death. ¡°In the first ce, His Highness the King does not wish for war. I am sure he will understand if I sincerely try to persuade him. He will know what is the right path for our nation and the people¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Due to the Empire¡¯s detestable stratagem, our nation has currently been split into three groups. If we are divided, how can we possibly win against an army that we are already struggling to fight? Right now is the time to take a step back and make room for peace. I am certain of this.¡± Elizabeth slowly examined the Marquis¡¯ face. He was being genuine. ¡°But if you back down now, you will have to give up the Mno Duchy. Will the Duke agree to this?¡± ¡°¡­¡­If cutting off a tail can guarantee our survival, then sacrifices must be made.¡± Elizabeth was somewhat impressed. The Marquis had an urate grasp of their situation. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was thanks to his intuition or instincts, but he understood the cold reality that there was nothing that they could possibly gain by continuing their battle with the Empire. Compared to the Grand Duke of Florence and the Duke of Mno, his judgment far surpassed theirs. Furthermore, he even dered that someone as prestigious as the Duke of Mno was nothing more than a tail. He had a lot of guts. Elizabeth nodded. ¡°It will not be easy to purge the Duke of Mno.¡± ¡°The Duke is already being criticized heavily. From a political standpoint, it isn¡¯t entirely impossible.¡± ¡°I pray for your sess.¡± Elizabeth held out her right hand. The Marquis looked deeply moved as hisplexion brightened. ¡°Your Excellency¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Do not misunderstand. We do not have that much time. At most, three days. You must persuade your lord within that time. If I do not receive news from you after three days, then I will move my army without any hesitation.¡± ¡°That is enough. Please ce your trust in me.¡± The two exchanged a firm handshake. It looked like a weight had been lifted from the Marquis¡¯ shoulders as he turned to leave the room, his steps now filled with resolve. Elizabeth called out to him right as he was about to leave through the door. ¡°Marquis, report to them that the Republic is using far more provisions and war funds than expected.¡± ¡°Your Excellency¡­¡­?¡± ¡°There is no ruler who enjoys spending arge sum to maintain a foreign army. I pray that this helps persuade your lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Thank you very much. I will repay Your Excellency for this favor even if I have to do it with my death.¡± The Marquis gave Elizabeth a deep bow. Shortly after the Marquis left, Kurtz Schleiermacher returned as if they were rotating shifts. Kurtz entered the room chuckling. ¡°Did you enjoy your private conversation, Your Excellency? I didn¡¯t know you had a thing for bald men.¡± ¡°Send the memoria to Sardinia¡¯s royal family.¡± The edges of Kurtz¡¯s mouth twisted into a grin. ¡°Are you sure? The Marquis will undoubtedly be executed.¡± ¡°And Sardinia will unite together as one again.¡± When Elizabeth dismissed Kurtz, she told him ¡®You may go enjoy some beer.¡¯ Between the two of them, the word ¡®beer¡¯ was a secret code for the memoria spell. The conversation shared between the Consul and the Marquis was recorded in its entirety by the memoria artifact that was secretly installed in the room. Elizabeth tapped her hand on her desk. ¡°Dogmatically carried out talks with a foreign nation without permission from the royal family, criticized one¡¯s own nation in secret, and suggested the purge of the Duke of Mno. It won¡¯t be a simple execution. He will receive the full-on death penalty.¡± ¡°Is this your gift to Sardinia?¡± ¡°No.¡± Elizabeth shook her head. ¡°What Sardinia needs now is a sacrificialmb. Someone they can me for their defeats and point as the reason for their failures.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re saying Marquis Rody will be thatmb.¡± ¡°Indeed. The Marquis had deliberately bribed the imperial army¡¯s mercenaries to foil the Duke of Mno¡¯s n. Adding to this, he betrayed the royal family, supported the imperial army, and tried to even make our army sit still and do nothing. The perfect sacrificialmb.¡± Elizabeth got up and stood by her window. Her gaze lookedpletely calm. ¡°The Marquis will fall and be branded as both a traitor and a turncoat. This will allow the royal family to reconcile with the Duke of Mno, and the Duke of Mno will also be able to save face. This will also strengthen the Grand Duke of Florence¡¯s dignity. He didn¡¯t lose because the kingdom¡¯s army was weak, it was because Marquis Rody was a traitor¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth watched from her window as the Marquis walked out of the building. His steps were obviously hurried as if he wanted to meet the king as soon as possible to persuade him. ¡°Furthermore, the Marquis is about to approach the king to only speak ill of our army. About how we will take up too much war funds and dry up their provisions.¡± ¡°And the king will have already seen the memoria we will be sending him by that point.¡± ¡°Correct. To the king, the Marquis will simply appear like a traitor who is trying to nder the republic army.¡± Kurtz burst out intoughter. ¡°It¡¯s perfect, Your Excellency. I will send the memoria immediately.¡± ¡°As you should.¡± Elizabeth continued to stand quietly next to the window even after Kurtz had left. She clenched her hands into a fist as she red out the window. ¡°I will not be defeated so easily, Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± The next day. Marquis Rody who had entered the royal pce to meet the king was arrested by the royal guards. He was abruptly tied up in the middle of a hallway. The Marquis opened his eyes wide as he looked around before, ¡°¡­¡­I see. Is that your decision?¡± He uttered those words in resignation and closed his eyes. Despite being a high-ranking noble, he was used of treason against the nation. For the first time in history, he was executed on that very day without going through any formal trial. When asked if he had anyst words, the Marquis simply remained silent. Continental Calendar, 8th Month, Year 1512. Under the leadership of Elizabeth, the republican army, with a force of 13,000 soldiers¡ªadvanced. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Now you really gotta feel bad for the Marquis. He was trying so hard¡­ May he not meet another Dantalian and Elizabeth in his next life. Nothing interesting happened at work, so I don¡¯t got much else to say. Oh, I guess the new guy sort of lessened our workload, but at the same time, he¡¯s¡­not that great. Like simple lines, he can do. But any type of story dialogue is¡­ beyond him. It¡¯s just pretty bad. Like he¡¯s never read a book in English before. I think I ended up changing almost 95% of the lines he did because it was so poor. I¡¯m not too confident about whether he can improve at this point. Welp, tangent aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 377: Encounter of Two Heroes (5) Chapter 377: Encounter of Two Heroes (5) * * * The news of the Marquis¡¯ death was urgently delivered to me. High treason, coveting the royal throne, sphemy against the divine¡­¡­. Among all of the crimes that one human could use another of, only the most heinous ones were applied here. Is this the fate of loyalty? What a terrible joke. Furthermore, the royal family of Sardinia must¡¯ve not been content with a conventional execution, as they opted for capital punishment instead. You could probably tell by looking at Jeremi and Daisy, but this world¡¯s capital punishment and torture systems were developed to a sickening degree. The Marquis was skinned and his veins and muscles were all mutted. His bones were shattered into small pieces and given to dogs as fodder. ording to their statement, the Marquis had beenmunicating with our imperial army in secret. The Marquis was the one who leaked the Duke of Mno and the Grand Duke of Florence¡¯s ns to us, and he was also the culprit who tricked the royal family into giving us money. It was a well-built story, and also a well-built sacrificialmb. I know who the culprit is. The Marquis had urgently sent me a letter before he walked into his demise. The following was written in the letter: ¡®Esteemed Count Ptine, I extend my sincerest regards to you. It brings me great joy to know that I will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. As you are well aware, our journey entails traversing two formidable mountains. Remarkably, I sessfully crossed the initial range in Venice with rtive ease. Now, I am poised to conquer the second mountain.¡¯ ¡®I am sending this letter in hopes that you will acknowledge my effort. I am aware that you are a man who is strict about keeping promises. However, there are times when the border between strictness and cruelty bes blurred. Crossing that line determines whether others will be sacrificed¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡®I will attach my ring to this letter. This ring represents my family and position.¡¯ ¡®This heirloom was personally bestowed upon me by His Highness the King, embodying the pride and heritage of my lineage. Of course, I am sure you are not interested in abstract notions like this, so I will include that this ring serves as the sole key to unlock the vault within my home. In truth, it constitutes my entire fortune. Now, would you ce your trust in me? I jest, of course.¡¯ ¡®Count Ptine, I beseech you to exercise patience for a mere three days. Just three days. It is imperative that we do not allow others or innocent souls to be sacrificed on ount of our pledge. Once I have sessfully traversed this second mountain, I shall personallye to reim my ring¡­ Ascanio Junio de Rudy.¡¯ There was unmistakenly a gold ring attached to the letter. It was a dull and old ring. The color was so worn out that I couldn¡¯t tell if it was gold or rust. There probably wasn¡¯t even a single expensive item in the Marquis¡¯ vault. I smiled as I felt the ring in my hand. ¡°You were wrong, Marquis. I actually adore abstract things very much¡­¡­.¡± I¡¯m saying it again, but I know who the culprit is. It¡¯s me. Elizabeth didn¡¯t want to stay enclosed in Venice. However, the republican army was nothing more than foreign mercenaries. If they wanted to move, then they needed a decent cause. The Marquis was ideal for this. I knew that the Marquis would go to Elizabeth and that Elizabeth would recognize the Marquis¡¯ value¡­¡­. In other words, Elizabeth wasn¡¯t the one who pushed the Marquis to his demise, I was. ¡°Lord, we received news that the republican army has moved from Venice.¡± Laura entered my quarters. She must have been lightly practicing her swordsmanship as her body was covered in sweat. ¡°They have approximately twelve thousand to fifteen thousand soldiers. With the recent recruitment of additional mercenaries by the Grand Duke of Florence, which has bolstered his army to fifteen thousand, theirbined strength would amount to roughly thirty thousand troops. It is imperative that we take swift action before they can unite their forces¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How much leeway do we have?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Laura tossed aside her mantle and breastte. The maids quickly rushed to Laura. The three maids used the towels they had soaked in warm water beforehand to wipe Laura¡¯s entire body. These maids were all deaf and mute, so there was nothing to worry about. ¡°It would be best to move quickly. But if wepact things together, then we¡¯ll have a leeway of about four days.¡± ¡°Would it be fine to wait two days?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura looked at my face. ¡°Since you are not using amanding tone, this must be a personal reason.¡± ¡°Indeed. A very, very personal matter.¡± ¡°Very well, then. We will depart in two days.¡± Laura nodded her head readily. She didn¡¯t even ask why. While we waited those two days, the Habsburg Empire criticized the Republic¡¯s involvement. The surrounding nations also couldn¡¯t keep their mouths shut anymore since things hade this far. They had intentionally been staying quiet until now; however, the Republic chose to get involved in another nation¡¯s war. To make matters worse, it was also an incredibly personal war that involved the ¡®restoration of a duke family¡¯. The Republic¡¯s overstepping of its boundaries was evident to anyone. Surrounding nations, such as Frankia, Teuton, Polish-Lithuania, and Kalmar, voiced their criticism one by one. They demanded the Republic immediately ceased its involvement in a foreign nation¡¯s affairs. Emperor Rudolf gave the final warning. ¨C This is our final warning to the Kingdom of Sardinia and the traitorous group calling themselves the Republic. We have extended numerous opportunities for peaceful resolution, urging you to embrace diplomacy instead of resorting to violence. Henceforth, I will no longer entertain anypromise or concessions. I shall now express my position without wavering. ¨C The Mno Duchy and the Piacenza-Parma Duchy shall be included in House Farnese¡¯s territory. Adding to this, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the traitorous group must cease all exchange of human and material resources. If these conditions are not met, then you will learn that humans cannot act arrogantly before death. The two days went by quickly as these diplomatic battles took ce. Since the promised time had passed, Laura moved our army. Leaving the bare minimum troops behind to defend Piacenza-Parma, our imperial army marched south to the center of Sardinia. Our destination was the Grand Duke of Florence¡¯s city. ¡°We definitely waited three days.¡± Our army of twenty five thousand stood in a wide formation as they marched. I watched them from atop a hill. The ring left behind by the Marquis was adorned on my left hand. ¡°I kept my promise.¡± There was no truce. The war that had gone silent for almost a month was now rmencing. * * * Sardinia¡¯s army had a total of three suprememanders. The Grand Duke of Florence, the Duke of Mno, and Consul Elizabeth. On paper, it was expected that the Grand Duke of Florence, serving as the King¡¯s acting general, would assume military authority. However, the Duke of Mno wasn¡¯t someone who would follow the Grand Duke¡¯s orders and Consul Elizabeth was the ruler of another nation entirely. Neither of them proved to be individuals who would meekly obey orders. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke pressed his forehead with his right hand. Due to the recent amount of excessive stress, he had been suffering from gastritis almost on a daily basis. Three generals of the rank of suprememanders for a single army? It would beughable if it were a joke, but in reality, he couldn¡¯t even force a smile. The three individuals were currently in a meeting through magic spheres, engaging in what could hardly be called a meeting. ¡°Greetings,¡± ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± and ¡°Your reputation precedes you,¡± only three lines had been uttered since the meeting started. The Grand Duke¡¯s insides boiled with frustration. At that moment, an adjutant entered the room. ¡°Your Highness, the Empire has moved.¡± ¡°Finally¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke unconsciouslymented. This seemed to attract the attention of both the Duke and Consul as they turned to look at the adjutant. ¡°Where are they heading?¡± ¡°They are going south along the Tarus River.¡± ¡°Tarus, is it¡­¡­. I see. So they areing to Genova.¡± The Grand Duke furrowed his brows. If they wanted to reach Genova from Parma, then they would have to march along the Tarus River. Furthermore, Genova was where the Grand Duke was currently residing. The imperial army¡¯s next target was the Grand Duke himself¡­¡­. ¡°There is a possibility that they could be going to La Spezia.¡± The Duke of Mno who had been unresponsive all this time slowly moved his mouth. His white mustache would bounce every time his lips moved. ¡°If they follow the Tarus River and go west, then their destination would be Genova. However, if they turn east, then they would be heading to La Spezia. There is no guarantee that their goal is Genova.¡± ¡°La Spezia? What could the Empire gain by going there?¡± The Grand Duke felt displeased by the Duke¡¯s rebuttal, but he didn¡¯t let it show. In truth, he was grateful that the Duke even opened his mouth. Thanks to this, the Grand Duke naturally be the chairperson of this meeting. ¡°Marquis Rody¡­¡­. Pardon me. Was La Spezia not the territory of the traitor Ascanio?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see. Ascanio was renowned for being an exemry ruler. I am sure he was loved by his people.¡± The Grand Duke slowly nodded his head. ¡°It is highly likely that the people of La Spezia are currently filled with anger after learning that Ascanio was executed for treason.¡± ¡°Indeed. There is a possibility that the imperial army could form an alliance with them and incite a rebellion. In fact, it is possible that the Empire and La Spezia are already engaged in secret negotiations.¡± ¡°A bloodless victory, is it¡­¡­?¡± It was the Duke of Mno¡¯s turn to nod this time. Although the two parties were wary of and disliked one another, they acknowledged each other¡¯s wit. That was the mood they gave off. ¡°Then would it be wise to defend the direction toward La Spezia?¡± ¡°That is what I believe. However, if you vacate Genova, then the imperial army could change its mind at any time to advance upon your city. I will not deny that this is a gamble.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Will it be Genova or La Spezia? There was also the option of fighting them out in the open before they can choose either direction. The issue was the fact that the Grand Duke only had an army of thirteen thousand strong. On the other hand, the imperial army had approximately thirty thousand. He had lost in the Battle of the Trebia against the Empire even though he had more troops. Not only did he have fewer troops now, but it was only half of what the enemy had. He wasn¡¯t confident that he could win by engaging them in an open battle¡­¡­. The Duke of Mno let out a sigh. ¡°¡­¡­We should not have killed Ascanio so hastily.¡± ¡°Duke!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence shouted in surprise. The Marquis had officially be a criminal of high treason. The same charge of treason was applied to anyone who took the Marquis¡¯ side. It was dangerous to utter such words. ¡°Grand Duke, do not try to muffle me. Wise old men tend to be bold when before death.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I sought a politicalpromise, not for the Marquis to take all responsibility and be sacrificed. The Marquis was loyal to this nation and the throne. You should be well aware of this as well, Grand Duke.¡± The Grand Duke held back his words. Both the Grand Duke and the Duke were aware that Marquis Rody was not a man inclined to plot treason. The three of them engaged in constant political warfare, osciting between hostility and reconciliation. However, despite their conflicts, they all remained loyal to Sardinia in their own unique ways. The Duke let out another sigh. ¡°Ascanio contacted me before he was executed.¡± ¡°He contacted you?¡± ¡°It was a plea to relinquish the Mno Duchy. He offered his ownnd in exchange for me surrendering my duchy, all in the name of securing peace for Sardinia.¡± This was the first time the Grand Duke had heard about this. The Grand Duke carefully opened his mouth. ¡°Did you ept?¡± ¡°I naturally declined. Mno does not belong to me alone. It contains my family¡¯s history. I thought of it as an utterly insolent request and quickly shouted at him to get lost. The very next day, Ascanio was captured for treason¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I do not know where things went wrong¡­¡­.¡± Where things had gone wrong. That was something the Grand Duke didn¡¯t know the answer to either. Was it since the moment discord started between him and the Duke of Mno? Was it since the moment they were tricked by the Empire and marched to Trebia River? Or, perhaps, was it since the moment they fell the Farnese House and sold a girl to very¡­¡­? It felt like a ghost of the past was haunting them. His body felt heavy and each step felt like he was in a mire. A heavy silence fell over the room¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m genuinely sorry for releasing this chapter sote. I got so caught up in work and just my general daily life that I kept forgetting to upload this chapter. It¡¯s not like I even stopped tranting. I just forgot to upload it. The next chapter will be out tomorrow at the earliest. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 378: Encounter of Two Heroes (6) Chapter 378: Encounter of Two Heroes (6) ¡°I understand your need for a moment of sympathy. Therefore, I will take the role of the bad guy.¡± Elizabeth broke the silence. ¡°The Marquis is already dead. We must deal with the enemy that is still alive in that dead individual¡¯s stead. Be it Genova or La Spezia, we must know precisely where the imperial army is headed.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Sympathy was sympathy, but this was the time for a meeting. They couldn¡¯t let themselves be taken by grief. Furthermore, by referring to the man by his position of ¡®Marquis¡¯ before his death, Elizabeth had expressed her sympathy indirectly¡­¡­. ¡°The Consul is right. However, I am of a different opinion. The Empire can choose to go to Genova or La Spezia whenever they desire. Therefore, it would be pointless to establish a n ording to the imperial army¡¯s route.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°First and foremost, we should establish a strategy around the point we have to protect the most.¡± It was an extremely logical and correct statement. The Duke of Mno also nodded in agreement. On the other hand, Elizabeth smiled. It was a smirk. It looked like she was more smirking at herself instead of at them. The Grand Duke had no idea what about their conversation just now warranted her to smirk at herself. The jeersted for only a moment. Elizabeth naturally continued the conversation. ¡°That is a good point. Which location do you think is more important, Grand Duke?¡± ¡°Genova is a strategic point that must be protected at all costs. It is arge city, our nation¡¯s naval base, and, above all else, it is affluent. La Spezia cannotpare to it.¡± The Grand Duke continued with a voice filled with confidence. ¡°The general situation will not change even if La Spezia were to fall. However, the same does not apply to Genova. It is one of the leading cities in our nation. If Genova gets handed over to them with Parma, then the people will tremble in fear.¡± ¡°This old man thinks differently.¡± The Duke of Mno objected. ¡°Genova possesses splendid and sturdy ramparts. The city would easily be able to endure for a year if the enemy were to attack. But the same does not go for La Spezia. I believe that there is a strong possibility of the people revolting. If we do not assign enough men here, then we would be presenting the entire city to the Empire on a silver tter.¡± ¡°Duke, the ¡®enough men¡¯ part is the problem here.¡± The Grand Duke let out a small sigh. ¡°With the number of troops under mymand, it would be difficult for me to protect two cities at the same time.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± The two nobles looked troubled. Were they going to protect one city with certainty, or were they going to take the risk to protect two cities at once¡­¡­? The positions of the two high nobles hadpletely swapped since thest battle. Now the Grand Duke was proposing a safe path while the Duke was pointing to a risky path. This was because of the utter defeat that the Grand Duke had experienced at the hands of the Empire. He came to fully realize how formidable their opponent was. He wanted to avoid taking even the slightest risk if possible. That was the Grand Duke¡¯s honest opinion. ¡°Is this not a simple problem?¡± ¡°Have you thought of a good solution, Consul?¡± Elizabeth nodded. ¡°We simply have to raze La Spezia to the ground ourselves before the Empire can reach it.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± Raze to the ground? What did this woman say just now? Elizabeth repeated herself more firmly right as the Grand Duke of Florence was starting to doubt his ears. ¡°Quickly dispatch troops to La Spezia and raze down both its wall and its people. Set an example by purging the ones who retaliate. It would be better to get rid of the city than hand it over to the Empire.¡± ¡°Are¡­¡­ Are you mad!?¡± The Grand Duke stared at Elizabeth in shock, but Elizabeth¡¯s gaze remained unwavering. Anger boiled in the Grand Duke¡¯s chest almost instantly. ¡°We do not have the right to destroy La Spezia!¡± ¡°The lord of that territory, Marquis Rody, was branded a traitor. Is the erasure of such territories, not an entirely natural procedure?¡± ¡°You are only able to suggest such an idea as someone who is not a citizen of Sardinia, Consul.¡± The Duke of Mno also didn¡¯t try to hide his displeasure. ¡°In this critical time when we must unite to fight against the Empire, you are proposing that we sacrifice even more lives. I find it hard to believe that you are suggesting such a thing with a rational mindset.¡± ¡°It is simply a necessary strategic measure.¡± Elizabeth responded calmly. ¡°Both Genova and La Spezia cannot be defended at the same time. Handing La Spezia over to the imperial army would only empower them needlessly. In that case, our choice is clear. We must destroy La Spezia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s mouth trembled. He did his best to hold back his anger as he spoke slowly and clearly. ¡°The Habsburg Republic must be blessed to have a consul like yourself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°How does it feel to be sitting in this small room, wielding the power to freely judge the necessity of tens of thousands of lives? Does this authority taste sweet, Your Excellency?¡± The Grand Duke mmed his right hand down on the table. In the end, he couldn¡¯t hold back all of his anger. ¡°I, as the General of the Kingdom of Sardinia, hereby order! No longer shall any act of deliberate harm or abandonment of our fellow countrymen be justified under any pretext!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Consul, you should especially be mindful of this. Should there arise a situation where you perceive the lives of our people as inconsequential merely because they are not your own¡ªI give you this warning with my family and honor on the line: This is ournd.¡± A curtain of heated tension fell over the room. While within this mood that felt like it could erupt at any moment, Elizabeth mumbled. ¡°I see. How beautiful.¡± It was a reaction that didn¡¯t match the situation. The Grand Duke furrowed his brows. ¡°What do you mean by that, Consul?¡± ¡°It is as I said. I did not know that witnessing someone unwaveringly adhere to their principles was such a beautiful sight. I see, so this is how it feels¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± The Grand Duke remained perplexed by the response, as it didn¡¯t address his question directly. When he nced at the Duke for some rity, the Duke simply shrugged in return. Strangely, there was no hint of haughtiness from the other party, adding to the growing sense of confusion. Elizabeth smiled faintly. ¡°My assumption is as follows: The imperial army will head to La Spezia. The imperial army left Parma two dayste. During those two days, they must have already made contact with the citizens of La Spezia and prepared for a rebellion.¡± ¡°Two days?¡± ¡°I moved from Venice two days ago. Despite this, the imperial army did not move immediately. Thus, it can be concluded that their departure was dyed because they are plotting something.¡± The Grand Duke of Florence furrowed his brows. ¡°Could it not be possible that they were simply dyed due to them making preparations to leave?¡± ¡°That is extremely unlikely. The imperial army knew beforehand that we would move. They most likely made preparations to leave long ago.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke turned to look at the Duke again. The two high nobles were both confused. What evidence or proof did Consul Elizabeth possess to exude such confidence? The Consul appeared like a considerably impatient person to the two nobles. ¡°The issue is what will happen after La Spezia is captured. The imperial army will not travel to Genova.¡± ¡°Then where will they go?¡± ¡°Florence. The city under your rule, Grand Duke.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± The Grand Duke opened his eyes wide. ¡°There is no way that they would. If they head south to Florence, then they will be showing their backs to me. Why would they take such a risk¡ª¡± ¡°Florence is your main base. No matter the situation, you will have to leave Genova and pursue the imperial army.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You will be venturing out of the safety of your castle walls and into a perilous and open field. That is the imperial army¡¯s goal.¡± Elizabeth chuckled. The Grand Duke and the Duke were involuntarily captivated by her presence. The Consul, who had been rumored as the most beautiful woman on the continent since her childhood, had an enchanting aura. Both high nobles were momentarily stunned, like soldiers ambushed during a march. ¡°Is this not amusing, Grand Duke? The Empire is forcing you to choose one or the other.¡± ¡°Between what options?¡± ¡°Will you protect the people of La Spezia, or will you protect your people in Florence? You will undoubtedly have to choose between the two. It will most likely be at this point that you will reveal what sort of person you are¡­¡­. Fufu. He has quite the wicked hobby.¡± Elizabeth smiled. Her smile was wlessly radiant, yet the Grand Duke sensed an inexplicable unease. Neither the smirk from earlier nor the smile she was disying now were directed at the people sitting in this conference room. ¡°¡­¡­What an amusing spection. For such a scenario to unfold, the imperial army must urately follow the path Your Highness described. Exactly what basis do you have for you to be so confident in the enemy¡¯s movement?¡± ¡°Grand Duke, I know the Empire very well.¡± Elizabeth continued with her smile still on her lips. ¡°This is a typical tactic employed by the Empire. They utilize their opponent¡¯s principles as bait to lure them into a scenario where there are only two choices.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is too abstract. We cannot possibly ept that as proof. It would be outrageous to operate an army while relying on such information.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. So this is abstract.¡± Elizabeth ced a hand on her chin. She was clearly enjoying herself. ¡°As you have rightfully stated, Grand Duke, I am but a mere mercenary from a foreignnd. Even the mercenaries I have hired receive their pay directly from Sardinia¡¯s royal coffers. Should you, as the appointed general, issue yourmand, I would have no choice but to dutifully follow.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth continued to smile as she stared right at the Grand Duke. ¡°How about we make a bet?¡± ¡°A bet?¡± ¡°As you have deemed, you can continue to reside in Genova. However, as a precautionary measure, I will proceed south to Florence. In the event that the Empire does indeedunch an attack on Genova, I will swiftly alter my course ordingly. Once that urs, I shall wholeheartedly support your ns without any further objections.¡± The Grand Duke didn¡¯t shy away from Elizabeth¡¯s gaze. ¡°And if the Empire does proceed south like you suggested?¡± ¡°It will be my victory. You will then have to take my opinions into serious consideration when nning future operations.¡± ¡°Is there nothing else you want?¡± ¡°That is all.¡± The Grand Duke and the Consul stared at each other for a while. ¡°¡­¡­Very well, then. I will take that bet.¡± ¡°Grand Duke!¡± The Duke reprimanded the Grand Duke in a low tone. ¡°We must not involve haphazard wagers in determining the fate of the nation!¡± ¡°It is fine, Duke. This wager will benefit the kingdom, regardless of who emerges victorious.¡± The Grand Duke of Florence still had his gaze fixated on Elizabeth¡¯s face. ¡°If I win, then the Consul¡¯s army can advance from the south, allowing us to surround the imperial army on both sides. Simrly, the same strategy can still be applied if I were to lose this bet. Isn¡¯t that right, Consul?¡± Elizabeth simply smiled in return instead of giving an answer. The Duke of Mno remained cautious as he issued a warning. ¡°There is still a risk of being divided and conquered if you make the wrong move.¡± ¡°I will take all necessary precautions. If needed, I will mobilize my fleet to leverage the seaways.¡± ¡°I understand. If you are so resolute in your decision, then I will not stop you¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth lightly tapped her table with her knuckles. ¡°We have arrived at a decision, then. I shall be taking my leave now since I must depart south as soon as possible.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Farewell.¡± The image of Elizabeth that was being projected in the magic orb faded away until it was gonepletely. The Duke of Mno¡¯s image soon disappeared as well. Now left alone in the meeting room, the Grand Duke of Florence clenched his fists tightly. Being forced to choose only between two options was a rationale typical of politicians. It was nothing more than rhetoric to rationalize their decisions. In his heart, the Grand Duke of Florence was certain. Having only two options was just a delusion, and he was determined to prove this to be the case¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I actually didn¡¯t have enough of the next chapter tranted to be able to release it immediately a day after I posted thest chapter. Tehee. Well, here it is now. On a work-rted note, that new guy who joined the EN team quit on Tuesday. Very cool of him. I don¡¯t really know the exact reason. I think it was because of some family business. I¡¯d say I¡¯m disappointed, but the guy wasn¡¯t that great¡­ He was absolutely terrible at tranting story dialogue. His sentences made almost no sense and had to always be changed. I don¡¯t know how that¡¯s even possible. Welp, I¡¯ll just pray we get another person soon¡­ I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 379: Encounter of Two Heroes (7) Chapter 379: Encounter of Two Heroes (7) It took the imperial army six days before they arrived in the region nearby. Until now, the imperial army had always marched swiftly, but this time, their pace was notably slow. ording to the reconnaissance unit, the enemy was deploying a considerable number of scouts, which significantly hindered the speed of their advance. ¡°They are moving quite cautiously.¡± ¡°Is it not because they are afraid of being ambushed? The path here consists of narrow valleys surrounded by steep mountains.¡± ¡°Hm. Is that it?¡± After hearing the mercenary captain¡¯s guess, the Grand Duke believed it was a reasonable answer. ¡°Furthermore, it appears they have been piging every single vige theye across on their way here. They are confiscating all the stored grain and butchering the cows required for farming.¡± ¡°Tsk tsk.¡± The captains clicked their tongues in disapproval. The imperial army had turned ruthless in their piging, precisely after the negotiations copsed, or more urately, since the Habsburg Republic decided to join the war. ¡°Your Highness, it is still not toote. We should deploy a sizable ambush force on a mountain range to intercept the imperial army. Think of the devastation they would inflict on innocent lives if we simply let them through.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I will not permit it.¡± The Grand Duke furrowed his brows as if there were a bad taste in his mouth. ¡°Did you not hear the report just now? The enemy is approaching while taking all possible precautions. We have ten thousand troops while they have twice that. There is no way for us to possibly win in a frontal battle. We will be utterly defeated¡­¡­. We cannot engage them yet.¡± ¡°But Your Highness, the people¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I told you to wait!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence suppressed most of his anger as he issued his order. Amongst everyone present, the Grand Duke himself was the most eager to venture out. The mercenary captains did not argue any further. In truth, apart from those native to Sardinia, most captains preferred the safety of the city walls. Just in case, around two hundred men were positioned at the most advantageous ambush point they could find. However, these two hundred mercenaries proved how foolish it was to try and ambush Helvetian mercenaries who were born and raised in the Alps. They ended up being ambushed instead and werepletely wiped out. ¡°Do you understand now? Trying to face the imperial army recklessly is hereby forbidden. Be patient. An opportunity will arise if we are patient.¡± The thirteen thousand troops under themand of the Grand Duke hunkered down. Apart from increasing their number of scouts, they performed little to no military activities. They focused on maintaining the ramparts, inspecting the siege equipment, and persuading Genovan merchants to supply more provisions¡­¡­. The Grand Duke of Florence took on administrative tasks as he cautiously monitored the movements of the imperial army. Were theying to Genova? Or were they going to La Spezia, Marquis Rody¡¯s former territory? Eventually, the information that the Grand Duke had been waiting for was brought by a messenger. ¡°Your Highness, we have received a report from the scouts. The imperial army has altered their course in Berceto.¡± ¡°¡­¡­! Are they going west or east!?¡± ¡°East, Your Highness. The imperial army is going southeast.¡± So it was east! The Grand Duke of Florence brought his hand to his forehead. The imperial army was heading for La Spezia, not Genova. This meant, as he had been warned earlier, there was a high probability that the people of La Spezia had been secretlymunicating with the Empire¡­¡­. ¡°Your Highness.¡± The mercenary captains cast uneasy nces at the Grand Duke. Though no words were spoken, their unspoken intent weighed heavily in the air of the room. The Grand Duke gulped. ¡®Do we have to raze La Spezia to the ground?¡¯ The Grand Duke could feel the faint throbbing of the veins in his forehead against the palm of his hand. ¡®Are you telling me that I have to burn them with my own two hands before the Empire can get their hands on them?¡¯ La Spezia was an affluent region thanks to the Marquis¡¯ good governing. During the ck Death that ravaged the entire continent, La Spezia stood as one of the exemry cases with its lord¡¯s swift response that managed to minimize the damage. If the imperial army were to upy this ce without shedding a drop of blood¡­¡­. It would be dreadful. The imperial army will undoubtedly be well-supplied, enabling them to sustain their war with abundant provisions and weaponry. The consequences of this will extend far beyond the vicinity of La Spezia. Like an unstoppable epidemic, it will engulf not only Genova, Florence, and Teberina, but also spread across the entire kingdom. ¡°Your Highness.¡± One of the mercenary captains called out to the Grand Duke carefully but to no avail. At that moment, the words that Consul Elizabeth had said a few days ago in an amused tone were going through his head. ¡®Will you protect the people of La Spezia, or will you protect your people in Florence? You will undoubtedly have to choose between the two. It will most likely be at this point that you will reveal what sort of person you are¡­¡­.¡¯ The Grand Duke¡¯s silence grew longer, the unease of the mercenary captains growing with it. Prolonged silence indicated that the fortingmand would have been contemted thoroughly and could not be easily reversed. ¡°¡­¡­La Spezia will¡­¡­be left alone¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence maintained an expressionless face, but his voice seemed unable to entirely conceal the anguish he felt. ¡°The entire nation will fall into severe turmoil if we allow the enemy to have La Spezia! Your Highness, we must do something!¡± ¡°Your Highness can stay here and watch. Just give us permission to act freely! We will handle this ourselves!¡± The mercenary captains urged for a decision with a unified voice. They were resolved to not let theirmander stain his hands in blood. The Grand Duke raised his voice as if he were trying to shake the captains off. ¡°I am repeating my order. We will not touch La Spezia! This decision is final.¡± ¡°But, Your Highness, please allow us to at least requisite the armory in La Spezia. We can cite the threat of a rebellion to justify our actions.¡± ¡°Is there any evidence that La Spezia has betrayed the kingdom?¡± The captains shut their mouths. There was no proof. This was simply a strong intuitive feeling they had because of the situation. ¡°There is no evidence of betrayal, nor any indication that they will betray us. On what grounds do we im the right to requisition their armory when they have done no wrong yet? If we demand their weapons forcefully, it may only fuel resentment. I am repeating my order once more. We will not touch La Spezia¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s face contorted in pain. He believed, without a shred of doubt, that Marquis Rody was not a traitor. Turning the Marquis into a sacrificialmb was already an irreparable mistake that they could never wash off. How could he now use the Marquis¡¯ people of treachery as well? He couldn¡¯t bring himself to do that. That wasn¡¯t something he could do as a human¡­¡­. The Grand Duke¡¯s army remained in Genova. A few dayster, news arrived that the imperial army, numbering up to thirty thousand, hadunched a relentless assault on La Spezia. The information came with reports of the city¡¯s feeble garrison of barely a thousand soldiers engaging in a futile siege battle. ¨C The damage is severe! We cannot withstand the enemy¡¯s mage unit! ¨C Part of the eastern wall has copsed. When will reinforcements arrive? Every hour, La Spezia would urgently plead for reinforcements. The voices flowing through the crystal sphere were drenched in despair. Normal civilians were forced to also participate in the defense, but the situation still remained dire. A day passed. Followed by a second. And then a third. Themanders gathered in the meeting room. The Grand Duke¡¯s face had be noticeably pallid. ¡°Is La Spezia still holding on?¡± ¡°Yes. As per the report we received before dawn, the imperial army initiated a surprise attack in the middle of the night and sessfully breached their defenses. However, the people of La Spezia were able to repel them thanks to the reserve troops they had positioned beforehand.¡± The Grand Duke and the mercenary captains looked frustrated. ¡°Did La Spezia truly collude with the Empire?¡± ¡°We must not make any rash decisions. This could be a ploy to lure us out.¡± ¡°We cannot afford to hesitate now. Their outer defenses are about to fall. We need to send reinforcements immediately.¡± Themanders were sharply divided into two opposing opinions. One side argued that La Spezia did not collude with the enemy, while the other believed the situation to be a mere decoy tactic. Both sides presented strong arguments, leaving the debate to continue with no clear resolution in sight. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± As expected, the Grand Duke couldn¡¯t figure it out. If the imperial army was genuinely carrying out a siege on La Spezia, then why didn¡¯t they block themunication magic? Thanks to this, urgent requests for reinforcements kept pouring in without end. Could it be that they were trying to lure them out of the safety of Genova? However, the Grand Duke was well aware of how cunning the Empire¡¯s forces could be. They could have intentionally left themunication channels open because they knew how the kingdom would react. Just how many steps was the imperial army ahead of them¡­¡­? The Grand Duke felt like he was miring over a question that couldn¡¯t be answered. A Sardinian mercenary captain got angry and shouted. ¡°I do not understand! Allowing La Spezia to fall into enemy hands¡­¡­. How would we be any different from the Duke of Mno when he abandoned Pavia!? What¡¯s the purpose of an army that doesn¡¯t protect its allies!?¡± The Grand Duke of Florence quickly came back to his senses. ¡®What have I been contemting all this time?¡¯ That mercenary captain was right. What would happen if they abandoned La Spezia here? How would he be any different from the Duke of Mno who did nothing as Pavia was destroyed and ravaged? He would bemitting the same mistake. The Grand Duke felt a wave of shame wash over him. He had been the most outraged by the Duke of Mno¡¯s decision, yet now, he found himself sitting there, seemingly about to repeat the very actions he had condemned¡­¡­. The Grand Duke questioned himself again. What was he thinking? ¡°Your Highness! We have received an urgent report!¡± It was at that moment, a messenger urgently entered the room. The messenger promptly saluted. ¡°The outer wall of La Spezia has copsed! Their knights have been wiped out!¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Currently, the acting lord has retreated to the inner castle and is making ast stand. They are asking if reinforcements areing and, if so, how far they have advanced!¡± The captains turned to look at the Grand Duke. In the next four to one days, La Spezia¡¯s fate will be decided. This choice rested on the Grand Duke¡¯s shoulders. The Grand Duke of Florence and the head of the Medici family, Cosimo de Medici, opened his mouth. ¡°We will save La Spezia.¡± A mixture of joy and sorrow came from themanders once the Grand Duke finally made his decision. ¡°Your Highness!¡± ¡°However, we will be approaching La Spezia by water, notnd. The Empire does not have a navy in any form. They will not be able to stop our advance.¡± The Grand Duke ordered in a firm tone, making it clear that he wasn¡¯t going to ept any objections. ¡°Inform the mayor of Genova of my order. We will bemandeering all of Genova¡¯s vessels. This n is being carried out under the name of His Highness the King. All those who disy even the slightest hesitation to help will be immediately punished for mutiny!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s adjutant gave a salute before quickly leaving the room. ¡°We will dispatch the mage unit to La Spezia first.¡± ¡°Your Highness, my apologies, but¡­¡­the enemy has set up an anti-magic barrier against teleportation magic.¡± ¡°So they are only letting themunicationwork through?¡± The Grand Duke clenched his fist. He wasn¡¯t certain, but he could tell that the imperial army was probably genuinely attacking La Spezia. The proof was the fact that they jammed teleportation magic. However, he had no way of gauging how far ahead the enemy was nning¡­¡­. ¡°It will be difficult for them to endure long since their knights have been wiped out. Prepare to depart immediately. We will be going to La Spezia as soon as possible.¡± ¡°As youmand, Your Highness!¡± The die was cast. However, the Grand Duke had no way of knowing where the die would roll. He could only hope that he would not be an embarrassment to himself¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My brain is on autopilot. Next chapter will be up sooner. We have another new EN trantor at my workce, but he¡¯s apparently just ¡°testing the water¡± to see if he wants to go full-time and not be a frencer. I sort of feel like it¡¯s a waste of time cause now we don¡¯t know whether to fully integrate him into our workflow or just treat him as some person on the side. I¡¯d rather just get a new person who¡¯s fully determined to stick with the job. Welp, I¡¯m not a part of human resources, so this is just my own rant. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. I promise the story is going to pick up in excitement in the next few chapters :^) Chapter 380: Encounter of Two Heroes (8) Chapter 380: Encounter of Two Heroes (8) * * * A fleet immediately set sail from Genova as soon as it was formed. ¡®It would be perfect if we could lure the imperial army to the ocean¡­¡­.¡¯ The Grand Duke stood on the deck and mocked himself for having such a pointless thought. The Kingdom of Sardinia may have suffered continuous losses onnd, but they remained undisputed masters of the ocean. On the other hand, the Empire had no formidable navy to speak of. How would they lure the imperial army to the ocean if they didn¡¯t even have a way to fight on the ocean? Genova and La Spezia were only like a hair¡¯s breadth apart. The kingdom¡¯s army sailed without any worries. However, midway through their journey, amotion erupted from a galley that had been leading the way. The Grand Duke called for an officer and inquired about the situation. ¡°What is happening?¡± ¡°Monsters are attacking, Your Highness.¡± ¡°I see. Cooperate with the other ships to repel them.¡± It wasn¡¯t umon for monsters to attack while at sea. You could basically call it a routine event. Each of the 5-tier galleys, which were the Sardinian Kingdom¡¯s gships, carried over a hundredbatants onboard. Unless facing an unusuallyrge monster, there was no cause for concern. Themotion that was expected to die down gradually spread to the other ships. The ship captain looked perplexed as he shouted. ¡°Your Highness! It¡¯s Poseidon¡¯s Wrath!¡± ¡°What¡­¡­!? This is still the 8th month!¡± Poseidon¡¯s Wrath was what the people of Sardinia called a phenomenon where arge number of monsters attacked the sea surface. Monsters were known to migrate in significant numbers around winter, which made seafaring at this time incredibly dangerous. However, it was currently the 8th month. Winter was still far off. ¨C Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! The sound of bells rang loudly from all around. These bells emitted a specific sound that repelled monsters. The sailors desperately rang the bells, but the monsters showed no signs of backing off. Instead, numerous merfolk and lizardfolk climbed onto the deck. ¡°Push them back! Push them back into the ocean!¡± ¡°Fold the sails!¡± ¡°Damn it, why is this happening now!?¡± The soldiers cursed out loud as they picked up their spears. They went to the side railings of the ship to stab at the monsters that were trying to climb up. The ship had instantly fallen into chaos. ¡°We were caught off guard¡­¡­!¡± Thisrge-scale attack was undoubtedly nned by the Empire. The timing was too perfect to call it a coincidence. The Grand Duke immediately figured out the other party¡¯s n. Even if they get criticized for mobilizing the Demon Lord Army, the Empire wouldn¡¯t even bat an eye to that usation. The monsters that were currently attacking the ships had no equipment whatsoever¡­¡­. Therefore, they were obviously wild monsters. ¡®The Empire has no ties with these creatures, and the sh with the kingdom¡¯s forces was merely an encounter with wild monsters.¡¯ This was obviously how the imperial army was going to respond. The Grand Duke groaned. ¡°La Spezia was bait.¡± ¡°Bait, Your Highness?¡± ¡°It was a deliberate bait to draw us out. The Empire didn¡¯t fully capture La Spezia but instead pushed it to the brink of copse. They also anticipated our approach by sea, so they strategically ced these monsters here in advance¡­¡­.¡± borate tactics cannot be employed in naval battles. While they mighte into y to some extent when two warships are locked inbat, facing a relentless onught of monsters left each ship with no option but to fend for itself. A galley at the front was powerless against the attack. With its crew and helmsman incapacitated, the ship helplessly drifted into a collision with a neighboring vessel sailing beside it. Although the impact did not cause the other ship to sink, their oars could be damaged if they were unlucky, significantly reducing their maneuverability. The Grand Duke¡¯s adjutant spoke in a worried tone. ¡°There are many mercenaries who are not ustomed to fighting at sea¡­¡­. Your Highness, please allow me to utilize our mages. The damage is getting severe.¡± ¡°Not yet. If this was nned by the imperial army, I am sure there is still one more¡ª¡± ¡°Kraken!¡± Screams of terror filled the sky. A massive octopus leg covered with suction cups surged out from the water. The sharp teeth on each suction cup and the leg size beingparable to an old tree were what made it different from normal octopi. ¡°Abandon ship! Abandon ship!¡± ¡°Uaaahh!¡± The kraken wrapped its legs around a galley and snapped it like a twig. The 5-tier galley was powerless before the creature¡¯s strength as it snapped in half. The surviving sailors dove into the ocean, but it was obvious what fate awaited them considering the swarm of monsters in the ocean. ¡°Your Highness!¡± ¡°Now! Order the mages to use all their power to defeat therge creature!¡± Twenty mages bombarded the kraken with their spells at the same time. Some of them missed, but most of the spells struck the kraken¡¯s leg. Its flesh erupted as the monster¡¯s leg was severed. As the kingdom¡¯s soldiers witnessed the leg of the kraken fall, they erupted in cheers. Krakens were feared as sea tyrants by sailors, so seeing one being defeated easily naturally boosted their morale. However, their tion was short-lived, as more legs surged up at the rear of the fleet. It wasn¡¯t only one that appeared. Several krakens appeared on all sides as if they intended to encircle the fleet. Five galleys were sunk in the blink of an eye. ¡°Five, no, is it six of them!?¡± ¡°Th-This is impossible¡­¡­. How could six krakens appear at the same time¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Do not panic! The mages can defeat the krakens one at a time¡ª.¡± At that moment, a thunderous roar shook the entire fleet. The Grand Duke of Florence felt a primal fear run down his spine and spread throughout his entire body. Despite being engrossed in fiercebat, the Grand Duke and the rest of the kingdom¡¯s forces couldn¡¯t help but turn their heads toward the source of the sound. They couldn¡¯t see much. Covered in iridescent scales, something resembling a colossal serpent glided through the gaps between waves, swiftly disappearing beneath the sea¡¯s surface. All that remained in its wake were shattered and fragmented ships. ¡°¡­¡­Did you see that?¡± ¡°O, Poseidon¡­¡­.¡± A faint sound echoed from somewhere in the depths of the sea¡ªa haunting tone akin to the high-pitched melody of a violin¡ªringing unpleasantly in the ears of everyone that could hear it. The soldiers were facing the looming creatures before them, but their arms trembled uncontrobly due to the spine-chilling terror that gripped them. ¡°Dear Lord. Thest reported sighting of this was more than half a century ago¡­¡­.¡± Waves surged upward again. The Grand Duke saw it clearly this time. It was a monstrous creature with the body of a serpent, its maw filled with teeth sorge that ogres would appear insignificant inparison. The creature lightly brushed against the galleys as if testing them before swiftly vanishing beneath the sea once more. The mere action of submerging underwater was enough to effortlessly overturn a galley. The heavily-armored soldiers struggled to swim as they were dragged into the whirlpool, while the sailors were mercilessly torn apart by the rushing monsters. In the blink of an eye, a galley that once carried about a hundred warriors sank beneath the waves. ¡°Leviathan!¡± ¡°Dear God¡ªIt¡¯s the Leviathan!¡± In a moment¡¯s time, the entire fleet was consumed by shock. The sight of a kraken appearing was a rarity that was hardly reported more than a few times a year, so six appearing at the same time was already terrifying. But to also witness a monster that was said to appear only once every hundred years was beyondprehension. No, it couldn¡¯t even be considered a monster. The Leviathan was a creature that was once worshiped as a god! ¡°S-Spread out! That is the only way to survive!¡± A few ship captains quickly gave orders to their helmsmen. This was their first time encountering the Leviathan, but they knew that nothing good woulde from keeping a bunch of boats close together. Several galleys started to break formation. This promptly broke the Grand Duke out of his daze. ¡°You fools! Do not break formation! We will die if we split apart!¡± If their goal was only survival, retreating from this situation would have been the right choice. However, the Kingdom¡¯s objective was not merely survival; they had to rescue La Spezia. Once one ship fled, the rest of the fleet would be engulfed in fear, and the entire formation would quickly fall apart. The adjutant held the crystal ball and shouted into it, but a scowl soon appeared on his face as he turned to give the Grand Duke a report. ¡°Several of the ship captains are refusing to listen to orders.¡± ¡°Damn it¡­¡­. Divide the mages into two groups! One group will attack the krakens while the rest will aim for when the Leviathan appears! Do not lose yourposure! The sea does not belong to the monsters! It belongs to Sardinia!¡± The Grand Duke of Florence managed to keep the rest of the fleet together with his charisma. This may have been partially because the monsters prioritized chasing down and sinking the vessels that fled. Although this horrified the soldiers, it also solidified the Grand Duke¡¯s statement that they would die if they split up. A desperate struggle unfolded on the open sea. As the battle raged on, the mages fought until they exhausted their mana, leaving some of them stranded on sinking ships as they couldn¡¯t teleport to safety. The mercenaries, unustomed to closebat at sea, fought with all their might, while even the civilian oarsmen bravely picked up spears to join the fight. Three hourster. Against all odds, the kingdom¡¯s army miraculously seeded in repelling the onught of monsters. From the captain to the lowliest deckhand, everyone on board was panting and on the ground. Four out of the six krakens were killed, and although they didn¡¯t confirm if the Leviathan was dead or not, they were sure they had at least dealt a huge blow to it. ¡°W-We did it! We won!¡± ¡°Glory to Sardinia!¡± As thest kraken fled, the soldiers of the kingdom mustered thest of their strength to let out a triumphant cheer. The once imposing fleet of 130 vessels that had set sail from Genova had been reduced to a mere 60. More than half of their fleet had been swallowed by the sea. It probably wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to say that they had been wiped out¡­¡­. ¡°Hahh.¡± The Grand Duke sat on the ground, utterly drained of energy. Even in and battle, fighting for three hours straight would be exhausting, but enduring such a grueling battle at sea was even more taxing. He feltpletely spent, every fiber of his being drained. They were victorious, but it was a victory filled with only wounds¡­¡­. ¡°Your Highness, congrattions on your victory.¡± Contrary to the Grand Duke¡¯s gloomyplexion, his adjutant was moved. ¡°A fleet that managed toe out victorious against the Leviathan¡ªNo, a fleet that managed to survive against the Leviathan is unheard of. Your Highness achieved a miracle.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Adjutant, inform La Spezia that there will be no reinforcements.¡± The Grand Duke muttered with a heavy heart. ¡°If a trap like this was prepared, then the Empire¡¯s decision not to capture La Spezia immediately was just another ploy. Heading towards La Spezia now would be like walking straight into their hands. We are returning to Genova immediately¡­¡­.¡± ¡°As youmand, Your Highness.¡± With the adjutant rying the order to each vessel, the sailors mustered their remaining strength to unfurl the sails. The intense battle had left many ships with damaged oars, leaving them with no option but to rely on the winds to carry them back to Genova. ¡°¡­¡­?¡± As each vessel was busily trying to set their sails in motion, a sailor gazed at the distant sea and squinted. Sensing something, they nudged their colleague with their elbow. ¡°What? Don¡¯t bother me. I already feel dead tired.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re dead tired, then I¡¯m already in a grave 10 feet under. Hey, do you see that over there?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The other sailor carefully looked in the direction that was being pointed at. ¡°¡­¡­It doesn¡¯t look like a monster.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because a white monster doesn¡¯t exist. Isn¡¯t that a boat?¡± As conversations like this echoed across several other ships, the information rapidly spread from sailor to officer, and then to the ship captains, before finally reaching the Grand Duke himself. The Grand Duke retrieved his telescope and peered through it towards the distant horizon. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s body froze up, which made his adjutant curious. ¡°Is something wrong, Your Highness?¡± ¡°¡­¡­They have the kingdom¡¯s g. It is a fleet from La Spezia.¡± The sudden good news made the adjutant rejoice. ¡°This is good. Their navy must have escaped since La Spezia looked hopeless. We should be able to return to Genova with more ease if we receive their help.¡± ¡°Men, prepare for battle.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± The Grand Duke lowered his telescope. ¡°¡­¡­We received news about La Spezia¡¯s outer walls falling quite a while ago now. There is no way that the ships at the port would be perfectly fine when their outer walls have fallen. Therefore, this means that they have either been hiding somewhere, or their outer walls have not fallen. Either way, this means they tricked us.¡± The Grand Duke¡¯s lips trembled in anger. The edge of the Grand Duke¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Immediately inform the other ships, adjutant. From this moment on, La Spezia is our enemy¡­¡­.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Dantalian really pulling out the sea monster card. I wonder if this is something the Demon Lord Army can only resort to in the ocean. Could they rely on a simr monster onnd? Well, I guess they wouldn¡¯t be able to do it in this war since it¡¯s supposed to be a fight between ¡°human nations¡±. The sea monsters can be yed off as a coincidence since they left no witnesses. Welp, maybe we¡¯ll find outter on when the Demon Lord Army starts to take action again. In any case, Ipletely forgot about my reserved troop military trainingst Thursday, so I got no work done that day. I still have one more training left on Sep 11, so I¡¯m going to be dead on that day as well. I think this might be thest training I¡¯ll ever have to go to? As long as North Korea doesn¡¯t decide to do something that is ?? I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 381: Encounter of Two Heroes (9) Chapter 381: Encounter of Two Heroes (9) * * * A naval battle unfolded in the waters near La Spezia. The opponent was Sardinia¡¯s royal army, which was in tatters after fighting monsters. Our side consisted of a united fleet between La Spezia and the Empireparable to a freshly caught herring. La Spezia notified us of their desire to betray Sardinia the day after Marquis Rody¡¯s death. All but one of the Marquis¡¯ vassals chose to betray Sardinia. The knight captain was the only one to maintain their loyalty to the royal family, but unfortunately, hisrades killed him. The Marquis was undoubtedly a good lord. After his death, his vassals, the citizens¡¯ assembly, and the farmers all became enraged. A tiny push on the back was all they needed to make them cooperate. ¡°Ueeegh, uuegh!¡± And currently, I was experiencing the highest degree of seasickness. ¡°¡­¡­It looks like the Count Ptine¡¯s dignity is spilling all over the deck. Is it that difficult for you?¡± ¡°Ugh. Now that I think about it, this is my first time ever going out to sea¡­¡­ Urk!¡± ¡°Not only are the waves calm, but this is a 5-tier galley. There are not that many people whose sea legs are as weak as yours.¡± Laura clicked her tongue as if she were looking at someone pathetic. It was something I was also learning for the first time today. This was my first time riding on an ocean boat since I came to this world. In other words, my body hasn¡¯t had any prior experience with the sea. My insides felt like they were jumbled up. ¡°If necessary, you could ask a mage to cast a spell that can help¡ª.¡± ¡°No. We cannot waste their mana on something so needless!¡± Currently, the mages were basically the entirety of our military power. The seasoned mercenaries of Helvetica are unmatched onnd, but they are rtively inexperienced when ites to naval battles. While not everyone was as afflicted as I was, it was evident that several of them were also grappling with the difort of seasickness. The sheer number of our ships was also inferior to that of the enemy. Despite having already engaged in one battle, they still retained around sixty vessels. On the other hand, we only had thirty-five ships from the very beginning. This discrepancy was due to the fact that,pared to La Spezia, Genova served as a muchrger maritime stronghold. Adding to this, our fleet mostly consisted of only 2 to 3-tier galleys. ¡­¡­It¡¯s obviously worrying since the enemy fleet mostly has 5-tier galleys. In a typical scenario, entering into a battle like this would be akin to taking a risky gamble. There were two variables. First, the enemy forces were exhausted. The kingdom¡¯s army had just fought desperately for the past three hours. They must be utterly fatigued, with barely any strength left to swing a sword. Second, the enemy¡¯s mana reserves must bepletely depleted by now. This was why I utilized krakens and the Leviathan. I baited them into expending their mana on these creatures. We confirmed that the enemy didn¡¯t have the strength to cast any more spells. The remnants of Valefor¡¯s underlings did an excellent job. With this, those who used to be subordinates of the traitor will be recognized as innocent under my guarantee. ¡°Rather than use some trivial spell like that, they should focus on attacking the enem¡ª Ueegh!¡± ¡°Just seeing your tenacity for victory is tiring, Lord.¡± Laura shook her head. While we were engaged in this trivial discussion, the distance between the two forces gradually decreased. The Kingdom¡¯s navy was exposing their nks to us. This was due to most of their ships having lost their oars. Excluding their sails, they didn¡¯t have any other means to control their direction and speed. ¡°This is amand to our mages.¡± Laura casually raised her right hand. ¡°Sink them.¡± Thirty-six mages began to chant their spells at the same time. Balls of fire soared through the salty air. The scene strangely felt as if it were flowing slowly. Blue walls appeared to stop the fireballs, but at most, only ten were made. The remaining twenty-five fireballs struck the ships without any issues. The result was obvious. A captain mindlessly ordered his men to abandon ship. The ship was split perfectly in half, so even the sailors who refused to abandon ship had no choice but to do so. There were soldiers who unluckily got hit by a fireball in their entirety and were set aze. The seas of La Spezia became a hellscape. ¡°It¡¯s one-sided.¡± Laura muttered in a t tone. Just as she pointed out, the battle was progressing one-sidedly. During the first volley, about ten barriers were cast, but their numbers rapidly dwindled to just two after the third volley. Even these two barriers vanished by the sixth volley. The soldiers of the Sardinian Kingdom were left defenseless against our magic. ¡°We surrender! We surrender!¡± Were they unable to endure the bombardment? A white piece of cloth was raised from the vessels. Laura turned to nce at me. ¡°What shall we do, Lord?¡± ¡°The monsters worked quite hard this time. I believe it would only be polite to offer them a meal.¡± It would be troubling if the Kingdom were to find out that we utilized monsters. Preventing the information from leaking might not be possible, but I wanted to at least kill everyst witness. Laura nodded. ¡°No mercy.¡± After hearing Laura¡¯smand, the mages resumed their volleys. Regardless of whether they surrendered or not, fireballs rained down on the Sardinian vessels mercilessly. The sound of horrendous screaming echoed over the ocean. ¡°B-But we surrendered! Why are you still attacking!?¡± ¡°Uahh! You sons of bitches! We surrender!¡± Our troops didn¡¯t react much to the situation. Our mercenaries who were known for being second in terms of cruelty, were already used to their suprememander¡¯s mercilessness. As for the civilian oarsmen from La Spezia, they appeared to be in good spirits as theyughed at the enemy. The royal family of Sardinia made a mistake. They killed the Marquis way too brutally. They stripped all of his flesh, separated his veins from his muscles, and fed his bones to the dogs. That punishment was far too brutal for someone who was the lord of a region and the ambassadorplenipotentiary. It¡¯s obvious that the people of La Spezia would be enraged. Once it became apparent that they couldn¡¯t surrender, the Kingdom¡¯s navy made a desperate attempt at a final assault. However, their side could only utilize their sails, while we had civilian oarsmen we could rely on. This made their assault more futile. Whether they charged into a suicide attack, sumbed to despair and sat still, or attempted to escape, the fate of the 60 Sardinian galleys was inevitably sealed. They would sink. ¡°Mm. The sound of screaming is calming my insides.¡± ¡°What kind of stomach do you have, Count Ptine?¡± Laura gave me a sour look. What? I can¡¯t help it if it¡¯s true. After an hour, there was only a single vessel left afloat from the Sardinian navy. It was the ship beingmanded by the Grand Duke of Florence. It was the only 5-tier galley that was decorated borately. A g with a ck eagle on it that represented the Medici family was fluttering in the wind. ¡°Count Ptine, how should we deal with that?¡± ¡°Capturing them as prisoners would actually be troublesome, so let us sink them equally¡­¡­is what I would like to say.¡± I stroked my chin. ¡°The Medici family¡¯s banner is quite an appealing treasure. It holds more historical value than any mary worth. It would be a waste to offer such a treasure to Poseidon.¡± ¡°Mm. I agree, but it would not be wise to engage them in closebat. I am sure that vessel carries at least a hundred warriors.¡± I tilted my head. ¡°But that has more value than a thousand lives. Duchess Farnese, you are aware that the current Empress of Frankiaes from the Medici family, right?¡± ¡°Of course, but I heard that she is from a coteral line.¡± ¡°I wonder about that. If the direct line dies, would that not make the coteral line the direct one?¡± Laura¡¯s eyes widened. A faint smile soon crawled on her lips. ¡°I see. Are you nning to turn the Florence Duchy into a puppet regime of Frankia?¡± ¡°If our Empire seizes control of even the Duchy of Florence, that would not sit well with the surrounding countries. However, it would also be a waste to ignore a perfectly good cuisine that has been ced in front of us. I am sure we will be able to negotiate something good out of this.¡± ¡°You really are the devil, Count Ptine.¡± Laura chuckled. ¡°It seems we must capture that g no matter what.¡± ¡°Capturing it if possible is my honest desire.¡± ¡°My duty is to faithfully fulfill the desires of the Count Ptine. However, there is no need to engage in closebat. Troops, advance until the enemy is just in range of our arrows.¡± Oh my. She called me the devil, but the actual devil is right here. Our fleet of thirty-five vessels advanced slowly. Once we reached a certain distance, we fired arrows at the enemy ship. A thousand arrows rained down upon them. ¡°Guahh! Ahhh!¡± ¡°S-Spare us! Please spare our lives!¡± The enemy soldiers couldn¡¯t resist as they fell one by one. This wasn¡¯t a battle, it was a ughter. Some of the enemy troops must¡¯ve realized that they had no chance of winning as they chose to jump into the ocean instead. There might be a slim possibility that around fifteen of them will fortunately survive and make it to the shore. ¡ªIf there were no monsters waiting underwater, that is. As I mentioned before, it would be a problem for us if any of the enemy troops were to survive this battle. It was crucial to eliminate every single one of them. Including the Grand Duke of Florence himself, all fifteen thousand of the kingdom¡¯s troops will sink here today. Shortly after, there was no sign of movement on the ship. We casually brought our vessel next to theirs and boarded their ship while surrounded by guards. I pointed at the banner and ordered. ¡°That is the most important treasure. Treat it with care.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± Our soldiers quickly approached the banner and brought it down. I also ordered the vessel to be searched in case there was anything else of value. I wanted to at least earn enough to make up for the arrows that were spent. ¡°Your Excellency, the corpse of Grand Duke Medici has been found.¡± An officer arrived with good news. ¡°Splendid. Let us go and have a look at his face!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you sure you were experiencing seasickness earlier?¡± What a silly thing to say. My favorite thing to do in the world is to observe the expression of someone just before they die, and my second favorite thing to do is to observe the expression of someone after they die. There¡¯s so much contained in those moments. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The Grand Duke was copsed leaning against the mast. There were arrows in his neck, chest, hip, and thigh. His eyes remained open even in hisst moment. He still had hismand baton gripped tightly in his right hand. The face he was making¡­¡­was it regret? It looked like a mix between realization and regret. ¡°Not a particrly interesting face.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Take his head and store it somewhere. I am sure we will be able to use it somewhere.¡± ¡°As youmand.¡± The officer took out his axe and approached the Grand Duke¡¯s corpse. He let out a grunt as he swung his axe. Two swings were enough to make the Grand Duke¡¯s head fall. * * * ¡°Your Highness, please escape!¡± ¡°Damn bastards¡­¡­are they not even willing to ept our surrender!?¡± It was pandemonium. The royal guards did whatever they could to protect the Grand Duke from the arrows. However, there was a limit to the human body. There was no one capable of deflecting thousands of arrows raining down per minute. One by one, people copsed on the deck in rapid session. ¡®How about we make a bet?¡¯ At that moment, the Grand Duke recalled the words that were spoken to him by a certain woman. ¡®As you have deemed, you can continue to reside in Genova. However, as a precautionary measure, I will proceed south to Florence. In the event that the Empire does indeedunch an attack on Genova, I will swiftly alter my course ordingly. Once that urs, I shall wholeheartedly support your ns without any further objections.¡¯ An arrow slipped through the royal guards and pierced the Grand Duke¡¯s shoulder. The Grand Duke furrowed his brows but didn¡¯t let out a pained cry. ¡®And if the Empire does proceed south like you suggested?¡¯ ¡®It will be my victory.¡¯ ¡®Is there nothing else you want?¡¯ ¡®That is all.¡¯ I see. The Grand Dukemented deeply in his mind. How did he not notice? ¡®It is fine, Duke. This wager will benefit the kingdom, regardless of who emerges victorious.¡¯ ¡®If I win, then the Consul¡¯s army can advance from the south, allowing us to surround the imperial army on both sides. Simrly, the same strategy can still be applied if I were to lose this bet. Isn¡¯t that right, Consul?¡¯ The Grand Duke realized why Consul Elizabeth didn¡¯t go out of her way to respond. There was only one reason why she didn¡¯t ask for anything else. It was because she knew the Grand Duke would die. ¡ªIf the Grand Duke dies, all control over the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s army would fall under the Consul. ¡®This isn¡¯t a war between the Kingdom and the Empire. This was a battle between the Empire and Consul Elizabeth.¡¯ An arrow soon impaled itself into the Grand Duke¡¯s thigh. The Grand Duke¡¯s vision grew increasingly hazy. He couldn¡¯t even hear the voices of his subordinates now. Everything felt empty, and everything was swiftly fading into oblivion. ¡®I am sorry, Marquis. Please ept my death as an apolog¡ª¡¯ With a dull noise, an arrow prated the Grand Duke¡¯s neck. The sound of something immense copsing echoed. The mes in the Grand Duke¡¯s heart, which had been glowing brightly, now zed more intensely than ever before. At that moment, it revealed everything the Grand Duke had been questioning, the things he hated and liked, and the things he himself hadn¡¯t realized yet. However, it was only for a brief moment. The mes grew in an instant, only to vanish just as quickly, leaving the Grand Duke once again alone. Once the me disappeared, darkness enveloped him. The Grand Duke felt the twilight gradually envelop his flesh¡ªbefore he knew it, his entire body was covered in shadows. And then, everything went quiet. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This was meant toe out yesterday, but yeah. My reserved forces military training was yesterday and I was absolutely dead by the end of it. It was just full on sun the entire day with no clouds, so I received a lot of heat stress. My head still hurts because of it. They built that new training ground recently to make things better for us, but theyout of that ce sucks. It¡¯s just in one straight line with the entrance at one end of the line and the cafeteria+assembly hall being at the opposite end. It took us 15 minutes to reach the cafeteria. It felt like such a waste of time having to walk up and down that uphill road under the heat. Ugh, in any case. Yadda yadda, I¡¯m dying. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 382: Encounter of Two Heroes (10) Chapter 382: Encounter of Two Heroes (10) * * * Our forces, the La Spezia-Habsburg alliance soon made our way to Genova. No one knew that La Spezia had betrayed the kingdom yet. When a fleet arrived with the gs of Sardinia and the Medici family, the people of Genova didn¡¯t even consider the fleet as a threat. We quickly entered the port with a countless stream of questions bombarding us through themunication orb. ¨C What is the matter? Why have you already returned? Did something happen with our allies? ¡°Hurry and open the floodgates. This is an order from His Highness the Grand Duke. Our forces got caught up in Poseidon¡¯s Wrath. Inform the mayor of Genova that the n to assist La Spezia has failed!¡± ¨C Impossible¡­¡­ No, I understand. But I need a direct order from His Highness the Grand Duke to open the floodgates. I apologize, but¡­¡­. ¡°Did you call for me?¡± I stepped forward. We utilized the mages beforehand to cast an illusion spell on me. Since mimicking his voice was also needed, we sliced open the Grand Duke¡¯s throat to check his vocal cords. This much was fine. There would probably be no difference if we tampered with his throat after having already decapitated him. ¡°It is as the officer reported, gatekeeper. Hurry and open the gates so that I can allow my exhausted men to rest.¡± ¨C Understood, Your Highness. Thank you for following the procedure. For the eternal glory of Medici! Eternal glory. That was the Medici family¡¯s motto that had been passed down for generations. I raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°Indeed. For the eternal glory of Medici.¡± The floodgates that protected the harbor of Genova were opened. In this era, harbors were managed strictly as they were surrounded by walls and fences. In the case of Genova, there was a total of five entrances and exits each. Our army was easily able to use the oars to create five lines. The fleet of thirty vessels entered through the floodgates without any issue. ¨C We sincerely wee you back to Genova, Your Highness! The people of Genova promise to serve you at all times! The mayor is currently on their way to greet Your Highness. ¡°It seems like it would be better if I took my time to get off the ship.¡± ¨C We are truly grateful. The mayor will not forget Your Highness¡¯ kindness and consideration. The gatekeeper spoke with a face full of awe. He was a fairly well-trained dog. This probably indicated that the mayor of Genova was also quite capable.In contrast to the inept nobles of the Empire, Sardinia¡¯s personnel seemed quite impressive. ¡°The nobles of Sardinia appear to bepetent.¡± Laura whispered next to me. She was right. Their nobles arepetent,moners are gradually entering the ranks of bureaucrats, and overall, it¡¯s a nation favorable to republicanism¡­¡­. A smile formed on its own on my lips. Do they not quite literally have an ideal country? Sardinia. If you¡¯ve made one crucial mistake, it was sacrificing a certain girl. You offered as amb the kind of human who should have never been sacrificed. You probably want to justify it by saying you didn¡¯t know and that it was a mere oversight. In that case, you must ept what that mistake has be. ¨C Apologies for the wait, Your Highness. The mayor has reached the dock. ¡°I see that. Out of curiosity, where are you managing the ships from?¡± ¨C I am at the top of the tower to the right of Your Highness¡¯ vessel. Did he think that the Grand Duke was showing interest in him? His voice was overflowing with joy. Iughed gently. ¡°Thank you for your hard work. I was deeply moved by your kindness. I will bestow upon you a small gift.¡± ¨C Ohh, eternal glory! Your Highness, your excellence knows no bounds! ¡°I pray that it is to your liking.¡± I raised my right hand. At that moment, an officer shouted in a loud voice. ¡°Fire!¡± Our mages simultaneously unleashed their spells. Some aimed towards the dock where the mayor hade out with his vassals, while others targeted the ships docked side by side at the port. Another portion of the spells soared swiftly towards the tower where the gatekeeper resided. They didn¡¯t even get the chance to scream. The mayor and his vassals were entirely engulfed in mes. The harbor quickly became a hellscape as the mes enveloped the ships. With the copse of the tower, thest centralmand to control this situation vanished. Laura gave an additionalmand. ¡°Eradicate them.¡± The fate of the seventy thousand civilians that resided in Genova was decided by that single line. Our mercenaries were seasoned in ughter and piging. They didn¡¯t rush into attacking the residential area recklessly. They strategically seized Genova¡¯s castle towers and weapon vaults first. They made sure to ughter what little guards they had left. When faced with terror, humans are left with two choices. One is to be engulfed by despair and pray to the gods, while the other is to be filled with desperate determination and resist to the very end. As such, the things that instill remarkable determination in humans include well-organized defense formations, ramparts and towers that can temporarily be protected, and the weapons held firmly in their hands.(TL Note: This paragraph is really awkward in the source as well, so I¡¯m sorry if it¡¯s phrased weirdly or doesn¡¯t makeplete sense.) If mercenaries get distracted trying to raid the houses that belong to the rich, the rebelling forces will be inmed by one of the three mentioned elements to fight back. This is in no way good news for the mercenaries. Truly well-trained mercenaries know to postpone the ¡®feast¡¯ for a little while. The Helvetica mercenaries under Laura¡¯smand clearly knew how to do thetter. 40 minutester. Every tower and weapon vault in the city of Genova was seized. The mayor and his vassals dying at the start was what dealt thergest blow to the city. Most of the guard captains surrendered once they lost their leader. ¡°Close and lock the gates!¡± With this, the citizens had no way to escape. We currently had roughly 3,200 soldiers. This wasn¡¯t enough to handle all the people of Genova. Therefore, Laura and I decided to use our strong card. We ordered the mages to bombard the city indiscriminately. Magic is something that normal people both fear and marvel at. It¡¯s a method of violence that they cannot possibly do anything about. Buildings copsed as the residential areas were set on fire. The civilians screamed as they tried to flee somewhere the mes couldn¡¯t reach. It was like we were drive hunting them. Our army gradually pushed the civilians from the east to the west. While there were many citizens armed with personal swords and bucklers, it was impossible for them to push back our mercenaries who were armed with long spears. Our mercenaries suffered virtually no casualties. There was one soldier who sustained a burn on his right arm due to a slight misfire of magic, but that was the extent of the damage we received. Eventually, the citizens were forced to gather at Genova¡¯s western gate. ¡°M-Move! Get out of the way!¡± ¡°Fuck, open the gate! Why isn¡¯t the gate being opened!?¡± A staggering 70,000 people had gathered in one ce. Those on the outside pushed the people in front of them to get closer to the city gates, and the citizens who got pushed to the ground were trampled to death by hundreds of feet. A scene of pandemonium was being re-enacted. Did some of them notice that something wasn¡¯t right? Some of the citizens tried to turn around and flee, but a row of spears was pointed at them from behind like a wall of hedgehogs. The civilians had nowhere they could possibly go. ¡°How about it, Duchess? Should we urge them to surrender now?¡± ¡°You can easily tell that their numbers exceed fifty thousand. That is too much.¡± Laura shook her head. ¡°It would be far too difficult for our troops to handle that number right now.¡± ¡°Hmm. It will be a diplomatic problem if we ughter unarmed civilians. We will be criticized for going too far. Pavia was an exception.¡± We had our horses side by side as we exchanged a casual conversation. If you looked at us from the side, you probably wouldn¡¯t think that we were currently discussing the fate of seventy thousand lives. ¡°How about this? We¡¯ll only capture the citizens who swearplete allegiance to us.¡± ¡°Even if they swear allegiance with their tongues, how can we know they won¡¯t be harboring daggers in their hearts?¡± ¡°Even if their hearts are full of venom, if their bodies are unarmed, they won¡¯t be able to do anything.¡± Laura smiled. ¡°Make all of the citizens strip down to their undergarments.¡± The order was immediately carried out. Those who wished to surrender were ordered to strip. At first, the civiliansined vehemently. Of course, it was a pointless struggle. They shut up on their own once we gifted them with a couple of fireballs. One individual hesitantly stripped off their clothes. Once they did, others soon followed suit. ¡°Do not strip the nobles.¡± ¡°Is there a need for us to show such consideration?¡± ¡°We are not being considerate. When cornering a single group, you must always divide them into two sides. It would be best to rile them up by making them think that only the nobles are being treated specially.¡± Thus, everyone was stripped excluding the small number of nobles and priests. The sight of tens of thousands of men and women walking in single file in their undergarments was truly spectacr. It was something that had to be witnessed with alcohol. Laura and I marveled at this historic masterpiece as we exchanged sses of wine. ¡°How do you intend on handling Genova now, Count Ptine?¡± ¡°Well, I think it is about time.¡± ¡°Oh? Is the timing not a bit premature?¡± I licked my wine-soaked lips. ¡°The Habsburg Republic has joined the fray. They are the ones who broke international etiquette first, so we have no obligation to maintain etiquette. I am looking forward to seeing what sort of expression Elizabeth will make. Ah, just imagining it is quite enjoyable.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura didn¡¯t respond. I turned to her out of curiosity and saw her staring back at me nkly. ¡°Duchess?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, I see. I am also looking forward to it.¡± Laura quickly came back to her senses and smiled. ¡°By the way, Count Ptine¡­¡­. I feel as if¡­¡­you have not been that activetely¡­¡­.¡± I tilted my head. After seeing her hesitate and look around, I pieced together what she was trying to say. She was bringing up how there has been a decrease in how much we had sex. ¡°Did we not do it the other day?¡± ¡°Yes, but what I am saying is¡­¡­we did not do it yesterday.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± My gaze probably looked as if I were staring at a pervert. ¡°Previously, youined about how I would always act like a dog in heat, but now you areining about not being able to do it for a day? My word. I did hear that the carnal desire of women increases as they grow older, but I did not know that you had already reached that age, Duchess.¡± ¡°Uuug, that is not¡­¡­. Whatever! Never mind, then!¡± Laura sulkily turned her head away. I smiled mischievously. And, with a feigned gesture, I ¡®identally¡¯ spilled wine on Laura¡¯s military attire. ¡°W-What are you doing?!¡± ¡°Oh dear me. My apologies, Your Highness Duchess. It appears that I have identally done something rude to your uniform. I am truly sorry.¡± I spoke in a loud voice so that the mercenary captains around us could hear me. ¡°How could we let the suprememander of our forces remain like this? Come now, let us go get you changed. I will personally escort you since this was my mistake. No, no, please do not refuse. If you decline, I will be unable to sleep tonight due to my guilt. Baroness de nc.¡± ¡°Ah, yes! Your Excellency!¡± Baroness de nc, who had been casually listening to our conversation, suddenly tensed up and saluted. As a side note, Baroness de nc had be Laura¡¯s and my most loyal retainer. ¡°I will be leaving with the Supreme Commander for a moment. Make sure to keep a strict eye on the prisoners. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Understood!¡± ¡°Good.¡± I gave a satisfied nod. Laura seemed bewildered, but I dragged her away semi-forcefully. The city itself felt like a ghost town because of how quiet it was since we had forced the civilians away. I ordered our imperial guards to be on standby as I went to the za with Laura. There was no one present in this wide and open city za. The only thing moving in this deste za was the fountain that continued to spew water. ¡°Lord? Why are we here¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Did you know, Laura? This is something I have wanted to do for quite a while.¡± I casually brought Laura to the fountain. ¡°I have wanted to vite you in the middle of a city.¡± ¡°W-W-What are you saying¡­¡­?¡± ¡°And it seems we have been presented with the perfect time and ce.¡± Laura seemed to realize the severity of the situation as she started to struggle. However, I held Laura¡¯s shoulders tightly and didn¡¯t let her go. I then whispered into her ear. ¡°Duchess, the soldiers might see us if we are not quick.¡± ¡°You really are a pervert, Lord! How could you think of doing something like this on the same day you killed tens of thousands of people!? And at the center of the city you captured, at that¡­¡­!¡± In the past, she disliked it because we did it too much, earlier she disliked it because we didn¡¯t do it enough, and now that I am offering to do it, she doesn¡¯t want to again. I may be a kind and generous man, but even I can get a little annoyed. ¡°¡­¡­!¡± I was annoyed, so I didn¡¯t ept any questions and stole her lips. It was simple after that. The two of us annihted the Sardinia Kingdom¡¯s army of 13,000 soldiers, massacred civilians, and razed a city. Then, after all that, we sat in an empty za and made a mess of each other. Even I must admit that we are a ridiculously well-matched couple. Don¡¯t you agree? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I, uh, don¡¯t know what to say. This isn¡¯t the usual thing where I don¡¯t know what to say here, but rather, something so unfortunate happened in my life that I just feel¡­at a loss for words. This sort of warrants a post on its own, so I¡¯ll most likely make an update post tomorrow after work to exin what happened. Just know that I¡¯m sort of struggling mentally to deal with this. I wanted to at least get this chapter out, so yeah. I¡¯ll see you guys in the update post or the next chapter. Unfortunate Update (Real life-related) Unfortunate Update (Real life-rted) Well, it¡¯s been a while since Ist made an update post. I had to put ¡°Real life-rted¡± in the title because I don¡¯t want people to think this is rted to DD or any of my trantion work. Actually, I guess it¡¯s rted to thetter since it¡¯ll affect the future of it for a period. I¡¯ll get straight to the point. I was informedst week that my dad was diagnosed withte-stage pancreatic cancer. The diagnosis came from a small hospital and he went to get tested at arge hospital on Sunday just to be sure. The results for that won¡¯te out until Oct 5th, so yeah. It¡¯s difficult to really exin how I feel right now. I was definitely devastated the night I heard the news, but now that I¡¯ve had time to think about it more, it just feels like this heavy nket of sadness over me instead of intense grief. My parents are divorced, so I would only see him like twice a year for family reunions and he wasn¡¯t exactly the most supportive parent either. I think the only time he actually tried to support me was when I was in the military. Maybe that¡¯s why I don¡¯t feel that much grief. It¡¯s sad, but it¡¯s not sad to the point where I¡¯m unable to function properly. It might sound shitty to say, but I¡¯m honestly not that surprised this happened. He has always been a very heavy drinker. He even got diagnosed with diabetes several years ago, yet he kept drinking. Everyone insisted he should stop, but you now know how that ended up. In the end, I don¡¯t think anyone could say that they¡¯re genuinely surprised by this oue. But, despite all this, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that it¡¯s still sad. No one deserves cancer, and he¡¯s still my dad. I¡¯ve been constantly feeling this weight on my chest like I¡¯m underwater. It¡¯s either the sadness or the humidity, either way, it¡¯s not exactly helping my current state. I think the biggest thing that pains me is imagining how my dad¡¯s siblings must feel. I can¡¯t mention my grandparents yet since he hasn¡¯t even told them, but I¡¯m honestly not looking forward to the day he does. This situation¡­for theck of a better word¡­sucks. I think what makes this worse is the fact that this might end up being the first death in the family that I¡¯m going to experience¡­ My grandparents on both my dad¡¯s and mom¡¯s sides are alive and well, so yeah¡­ Fuck. Things could potentially turn out for the better. Maybe the small hospital made a faulty diagnosis and the big hospital will give us good news on the 5th¡­ I know I should be optimistic, but it¡¯s probably unlikely. I¡¯m not a doctor, but I feel like even the most ipetent doctor should at least be able to recognizete-stage cancer. Of course, there¡¯s a chance that they misdiagnosed him on purpose to scam money out of my dad, but that¡¯s just a dumb spection at this point. All in all, I¡¯m probably going to be in a depressed mood for a while. It¡¯ll definitely get worse next Friday when we have our next family reunion¡­ All I can do is ask for your guys¡¯ understanding if my releases get a bit slow. I actually don¡¯t n on ceasing my trantion. If anything, tranting will probably help distract me. Whatever helps me cope, I guess? So yeah, that mostly wraps up my headspace and what happened recently. I might give an update about the situationter after the family reunion or the 5th when the diagnosis fullyes out. Depending on what happens, I¡¯ll either be the same as I am now, or be more depressed. All I can do now is try to stay out of my head and just focus on what¡¯s in front of me. Chapter 383: Encounter of Two Heroes (11) Chapter 383: Encounter of Two Heroes (11) * * * It was only a few dayster that the Anatolia Empire decided to dispatch arge-scale army. To be exact, it wasn¡¯t a dispatch of their army. Arge number of mercenaries had been hired under the name of Elizabeth. The issue was the scale. 15,000 mercenaries were currently being shipped to Sardinia from the Anatolia Empire. There were rumors that this was also only the first batch. ording to Anatolia¡¯s minister of foreign affairs, they were more than capable of sending a second and third batch of troops. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I tapped my finger on my office desk. Something was strange. Until now, I believed that Elizabeth was joining the fray to help Sardinia. However, she was now relying on an outside power in this situation? In this scenario, even if the Kingdom of Sardinia were to emerge victorious, they would find themselves deeply indebted to the Anatolia Empire, both directly and indirectly. This would ce them in a politically constrained position, possibly even requiring them to cede a city or something of simr value. At present, trust in the Kingdom of Sardinia has beenpletely lost in terms of international diplomacy. The participation of the Habsburg Republic could somewhat be justified as the action of an allied nation; however, the undeniable involvement of a third party like Anatolia meant that the internationalmunity¡¯s opinion would turn its back on Sardinia. ¡­¡­It was Elizabeth. I¡¯m sure Elizabeth persuaded them. The royal family of Sardinia must¡¯ve been greatly shocked by the Grand Duke of Florence¡¯s death. In the midst of their despair, thinking that they would be defeated without a fighting chance, Elizabeth must have tempted the royal family. She convinced them that they could turn the tide if they involved the Anatolia Empire¡­¡­. The deal between Sardinia and Anatolia has already been finalized. Anatolia provided them troops while Sardinia must¡¯ve offered something with less value than the regions of Piacenza, Parma, and Mno¡­¡­. In other words, something they deemed to be better than losing to us. What was that something? If we can¡¯t figure this out, Elizabeth¡¯s intentions and Anatolia¡¯s objectives will remain unclear. I greatly despise going to war in such uncertain conditions. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It was none other than Elizabeth who mediated their deal. In other words, this deal was something that benefited Elizabeth greatly. If it didn¡¯t, she wouldn¡¯t have gone out of her way to persuade Sardinia into getting the Anatolia Empire involved. What could benefit Elizabeth? This was the key point. After a considerable amount of time, I muttered to myself. ¡°¡­¡­I see. They are going to cede Venice.¡± Sardinia will either lend or cede Venice to Anatolia. This was their contract condition. I was sure of it. Firstly, from Sardinia¡¯s perspective, handing over Venice might seem like a cheaper deal than losing Mno-Piacenza-Parma altogether. They might see it as the price of victory in the war. Secondly, from Anatolia¡¯s perspective, gaining a major city and a trading hub would definitely be advantageous. Thirdly, Elizabeth¡­¡­. If Venice bes a part of Anatolia, the Republic would break out of istion. They would be able to freely engage with others through Venice. It would mean having a friendly port within their reach. There was another issue here. Why was it fifteen thousand mercenaries? If they truly wanted to win the war decisively, deploying around fifty thousand troops would have been the right move. Being able to obtain Venice by lending fifty thousand soldiers was not an unfavorable deal. Fifteen thousand is too vague of a number. It¡¯s not enough to overwhelm us by any means. Could it be that Elizabeth believes she can easily defeat us if shebines her fifteen thousand with Anatolia¡¯s fifteen thousand to make a total of thirty thousand troops? No way. Elizabeth was known as the legendary mercenary leader. She must have recognized Laura¡¯s prowess by now. Overpowering Laura in a war is by no means an easy task. In that case, there was only one conclusion. ¡°You have no intention of winning, Elizabeth.¡± The corners of my lips went up. I knew what she was thinking. I didn¡¯t think she woulde at us like this. Should I say this was beyond my expectations? Or should I say this was unexpected? Alright, Elizabeth. I¡¯ll go along with your intention once. Let¡¯s see how far you can follow along. I activated the magic orb on my desk. Shortly after, a white mist flowed out along with an individual¡¯s image. It was Saintess Longwy. ¡°It has been a while. Have you been sessful in recruiting troops? I hope my adopted daughter was of assistance.¡± ¨C Indeed, it has been a while. Miss Daisy is quite capable. We were able to recruit the mercenaries with ease thanks to her. She is so kind-hearted that I cannot believe she is your daughter. I unintentionally let out augh. Kind-hearted? Who was? Daisy? She must be joking. I have never met a human as wicked as Daisy in all my life. ¨C If there are no pressing matters, I do not particrly wish to speak to you. ¡°Is that so? I actually enjoy speaking with you quite a bit even if there are no pressing matters. Have you had dinner? The sky here in Sardinia is clear, so it is rather pleasant.¡± ¨C I am hanging up. It sounded like she was actually going to hang up, so I raised my hand to stop her. ¡°I understand. I will get straight to the point. Saintess Longwy, it is time to move.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­Are you sure? Is this not a month sooner than nned? The orange-haired saintess¡¯ expression became serious. ¡°The n has changed. Who would have expected the Anatolia Empire to get so actively involved? Thanks to that, our schedule has been pulled forward. At this point, no country can criticize us even if we make our move. ¨C But I have not contacted Her Highness the Queen yet¡­¡­. ¡°Oh, I can assure you that Her Highness, the Queen of Brittany, will be greatly pleased to go into action, even if it is just by a day. Rumor has it that there is unrest among the nobles in her country. She must be troubled since it seems they might try to start an uprising.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­. ¡°The ambitious campaign to capture Frankia ended in a failure, and now their path to continental expansion has beenpletely blocked due to the humiliating treaty they had to sign. I am sure the dissatisfaction among the nobles will not stop here. Haa, it is regrettable.¡± ¨C What are you trying to say? ¡°I am suggesting that she should be trying to gather the favor of the nobles right now, should she not? They must be enticed with gifts. Saintess Longwy, your beloved queen is now in a state of urgency. Please contact her at once.¡± The Saintess went silent. You aren¡¯t going to refuse after all this time, right? The Saintess has to resolve herself as well. This was like andslide. Once it starts to crumble, you have to push it through to the end. After about a minute, the Saintess looked at me with renewed determination. ¨C No, there is no need to get permission from Her Highness the Queen. I will make the report. ¡°Oh? Are you saying that you will bear all the responsibility?¡± ¨C Yes. It would be cowardly to hand all the responsibility to someone else. I will be the one to start this. The Saintess spoke clearly and loudly. ¨C From today onwards, our Kingdom of Brittany will participate in your nation¡¯s war. * * * ¡°Your Excellency! I have a significant matter to report!¡± Kurtz Schleiermacher burst into the office that was set up in Florence. Contrary to his urgency, Elizabeth¡¯s expression was somber. She had both feet up on her table and her eyes were glued to some documents. ¡°You are making a fuss. Is there anything in the world that is not significant to you?¡± ¡°No, this is no time for jokes. The Empire has handed Genova over to another nation!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Elizabeth lowered her legs and sat up straight. ¡°That is definitely ¡®significant¡¯. Continue.¡± ¡°It was Brittany! Damn it. Your Excellency, it was given to Brittany. This isn¡¯t even funny!¡± Kurtz had rushed as fast as he could to deliver this report, so he was catching his breath while also grinding his teeth. Elizabeth was somewhat surprised. It was rare to see Kurtz this upset. ¡°Brittany shouldck the cause to get directly involved in the war. What happened?¡± ¡°¡­¡­To be precise, it wasn¡¯t Brittany. It was Saintess Jacqueline Longwy. The official first saintess of the Temple of Athena. The Empire ceded Genova to the saintess in a humanitarian capacity.¡± Kurtz managed to calm his breathing as he continued to give his report. ¡°As you know, the Empire has no need for prisoners. They were apparently going to sell the people of Genova off as ves like the time with Pavia. The southern cities of Frankia had voiced their desire to purchase them¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But the Saintess intervened.¡± Elizabeth could immediately envision how the situation unfolded. Citizens were being sold off as ves en masse and the Frankish cities stepped forward to purchase them. In a desperate moment, just when all seemed lost, the pacifist and conciliatory figure, Saintess Jacqueline Longwy, stepped in and said ¡®No!¡¯¡­¡­ What a brilliant scenario. ¡°Don¡¯t you think so as well, Kurtz?¡± ¡°Quite. The southern cities of Frankia are indebted to the Saintess, so they quietly backed down. The Empire thenined about how a saintess was intervening in a war between nations¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And the Temple of Athena must¡¯ve paid for the ves.¡± Elizabeth smiled. Kurtz let out a sigh. ¡°¡­¡­Did you already know?¡± ¡°No. I consider this an excellently orchestrated drama. A story worthy of Dantalian¡¯s crafty pen. I did wonder which side he was going to bring in, but it was Brittany, huh? So, what happened to Genova?¡± ¡°Do you even have to ask?¡± Kurtz didn¡¯t even try to hide his displeasure as he spoke. ¡°We were saved by the Saintess. Without her, we would have been sold as ves. After all this waterworks¡­¡­the Empire suggested that if the Temple of Athena was going to go that far, then they should just purchase the entire city instead. The Temple epted the offer.¡± As a result, only the ownership of Genova was swapped from the kingdom to the church. All the rights and properties of the citizens remained intact. Kurtz Schleiermacher added that the reputation of Saintess Longwy had skyrocketed to unimaginable heights thanks to this achievement. Recently, the actions of Saintess Longwy have been relentless. Shouting for continental peace and racial harmony, the Saintess had actually concluded several negotiations. She even narrowly escaped a suicide bombing during the previous republican representative meeting. A saintess dedicated to peace and willing to sacrifice herself for it¡­¡­that¡¯s the impression people hold of her. Her true identity was the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s informant. It was a distorted image that had been manipted from beginning to end by Dantalian who sought to exploit religion. The Saintess willingly allowed herself to be used by Dantalian in exchange for certain benefits for the Kingdom of Brittany. ¡°The issue is the fact that the Temple and Saintess both do not have any military strength. Your Excellency, do you know who Saintess Longwy requested reinforcements from?¡± Elizabeth was easily able to answer Kurtz¡¯s question. ¡°Henrietta.¡± The Queen of Brittany, Henrietta de Brittany. A ruler known for having designated Goddess Athena as their state religion and also for her deep personal friendship with the Saintess. The one person to whom Saintess Longwy had sincerely pledged her loyalty. ¡°So this was Dantalian¡¯s aim.¡± A chuckle slipped out from between Elizabeth¡¯s lips. ¡°Simr to how I knew that he was going to start a war, he too knew that I would participate. Since he knew our Republic would get involved, he knew that the Empire would gain a justifiable reason to pull in another third party.¡± ¡°I hate to admit it, but it seems your prediction was correct, Your Excellency.¡± Kurtz ced a stack of paper on the desk with an audible thud. ¡°Here is a list of the troops that Saintess Longwy had personally gathered. Negotiations only concluded yesterday, but somehow, she has already recruited over four thousand mercenaries. All of them being cavalrymen to boot.¡± ¡°What incredible timing.¡± ¡°ording to their official statement, they were originally going to be sent to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the sake of maintaining public order. That is obviously a lie. Your Excellency, the Empire intended to involve Brittany from the very beginning!¡± With this, military forces from across the continent converged in Sardinia. The armies of the Habsburg Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Anatolia Empire, and the Kingdom of Brittany¡­¡­. Elizabeth quietly closed her eyes. ¡®All right, Dantalian. I will chase you to the end.¡¯ ¡ªElizabeth and Henrietta ended up standing in opposite camps. A smile grew on Elizabeth¡¯s face as she could only feel deeply impressed by the man who managed to craft such a grand screeny. And thus, the second Chrysanthemum War took a swift turn into an unexpected route, catching every nation off guard. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, I¡¯m not sure what to say. There hasn¡¯t been much of an update since my update post. My dad¡¯s diagnosis doesn¡¯te out till Oct 5th, so it¡¯s basically the waiting game until then. The situation still doesn¡¯t feel ¡°real¡± to me right now, but I guess that¡¯ll change once I go to our family reunion this Thursday. Yay¡­ Well, I¡¯m doing my best to distract myself from that. Or at least trying to. Hope you guys don¡¯t mind the wait between chapters. I obviously haven¡¯t been too motivated. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 384: Encounter of Two Heroes (12) Chapter 384: Encounter of Two Heroes (12) * * * ¡°The key to the city of Genova has been given to the Saintess.¡± ¡°I have certainly received the key to the city.¡± Year 1512 and the 9th month of the continental calendar. Saintess Jacqueline Longwy visited Genova to participate in the transfer of ownership ceremony. Genova was officially handed from the Habsburg Empire to the Temple of Athena. As the citizens of Genova witnessed this spectacle, they erupted in enthusiastic cheers of celebration. ¡°Hoorah! Praise the Saintess!¡± ¡°Glory to Goddess Athena!¡± They had narrowly escaped their fate of bing ves thanks to the Saintess. At this point, if the Saintess were to dere that she was going to make melon juice by grinding a table, these people would probably cheer her on and say that she could. The Saintess smiled radiantly as she waved at the crowd which made the cheers be even more fervent. It seems they understand politics. Once the city handover ceremony ended, we relocated to an office. Only the Saintess, Daisy, and I entered the room. ¡°What was with that unamusing ceremony? You should have informed me beforehand if you prepared something like that.¡± Once we entered the office, the Saintess¡¯ expression did a whole 180 as the smile she had on her face vanished without a trace. Rather than melon juice, it was more like she had chewed on a cockroach. They say that when a woman changes, it¡¯s not her fault, but wouldn¡¯t it be fine to consider this an exception and give the Saintess a guilty verdict? Honorable judge, this woman is a witch. ¡°Did you expect us to just seal a contract in some private ce where no one could see? The whole point of this is to make a public disy. Well, you did well for someone who did no preparations beforehand.¡± ¡°I thought I would finally get to rest after running all the way here for half a month, but then I was suddenly given a script! Count Ptine, you are terrible at handling people!¡± I don¡¯t understand why she¡¯s upset. Didn¡¯t I personally write the speech for her? Thanks to that moving speech, the hearts of the people of Geneva ended up in the Saintess¡¯ hands. If anything, I should be hearing words of gratitude. ¡°Yes, yes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t just respond with a dry ¡®yes¡¯ when talking to someone! Don¡¯t shrug your shoulders! Don¡¯t sneer! Do you realize how much your bodynguage can irritate someone!?¡± ¡°I do act appropriately in front of others. I only act like this in front of you. It¡¯s like a form of special treatment, so you can be pleased about it.¡± ¡°If only you¡¯d drop dead right this instant¡­¡­!¡± The 28-year-old Saintess Jacqueline Longwy, who was currently ring at me while gnashing her teeth, stood as the self-proimed advocate tirelessly striving for the peace of the continent and its races. I turned my gaze to Daisy. Daisy was, as usual, dressed neatly in her maid attire. ¡°Daisy.¡± ¡°Yes, Father.¡± ¡°I heard from the Saintess that you were of great help when recruiting mercenaries. It seems you have grown enough to at least handle a single person¡¯s task.¡± I ced my hand on Daisy¡¯s head and gave it a light tap. ¡°Good work.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°For now, continue to attend to the Saintess. I am currently operating with the Military Affairs Minister. It would not be beneficial for you to be seen right now.¡± ¡°Yes. I understand¡­¡­Father.¡± Laura and Daisy have aplex rtionship. Surprisingly, Daisy, who was the victim in all this, seemed rather unaffected by Laura. However, Laura is unable to hide her unease whenever she sees Daisy. I didn¡¯t want to leave the two of them in the same location if possible. I turned away. ¡°Now then. Shall we discuss our future ns?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Huh? Oh. Sure.¡± For some reason, the Saintess was looking at me somewhat nkly. I furrowed my brows. I was questioning her idiotic expression. In response, the Saintess narrowed her eyes and spoke. ¡°You¡¯re surprisingly¡­¡­kind to your daughter, huh?¡± ¡°Pfft!¡± The unexpected statement made augh burst out from my lips. ¡°Kind? I am to Daisy? You must be joking, Saintess Longwy.¡± ¡°Just now, no matter how you look at it, you were like a stern father being strict with his daughter. You do not need to be embarrassed by this.¡± It seemed the Saintess was misunderstanding something as she smiled and let out a giggle. Her expression was almost reminiscent of a kitten. It was like she was saying ¡°I know what kind of person you are,¡± with her face. Just like all baby animals, Saintess Longwy¡¯s intellect was also considerablycking. ¡°I was wondering why Miss Daisy worked so hard despite being so young, but it seems there¡¯s a reason for everything. Miss Daisy, is the Count Ptine a kind father?¡± The Saintess smiled as she lowered herself to be on eye level with Daisy. She waspletely treating her like a child. As most people already know, the second thing Daisy hates most in the world is being treated as a child. ¡°Yes, Father is always incredibly kind.¡± ¡°Oh dear. Oh my. It¡¯s quite unexpected to see the Count Ptine, who¡¯sparable to the living embodiment of devilishness, spreading gues and curses across the world, being so gentle towards his family¡­¡­.¡± ¡°He does torture me all night if I do something wrong, but he is sufficiently kind.¡± Saintess Longwy paused midugh. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°It has already been four months since thest time I was tortured. I ended up disregarding the rights and interests of a single vige while trying to halt the conflict between the viges within Custos. I made a mistake with the paperwork. That day, from early evening to morning, I had to sit on a triangr horse and wash my entire body with wax water.¡± Ah, even I can¡¯t stop Daisy when she¡¯s like this. Honestly, I didn¡¯t want to stop her either. Whether she intended to or not, the Saintess had insulted Daisy, so she naturally has to pay the price. ¡°Huh¡­¡­? Pardon¡­¡­?¡± The Saintess turned to look at me. Is this true? This is a joke, right? The Saintess looked clearly perplexed as her eyes asked me these questions. I responded with a shrug. ¡°Due to Daisy mistakenly jotting down three things wrong, 750 vige residents were almost affected adversely. Mistakes are not tolerated for those who end up responsible for countless lives. It¡¯s not just a fitting punishment, it¡¯s a rtively lenient one.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy continued her exnation while the Saintess looked bewildered. ¡°Half a year ago, on the 16th day of the 3rd month, I made a mistake while interrogating a suspect. I was supposed to cut out his liver, but I ended up cutting out his lung instead. The suspect could only wheeze until his lung regenerated, which almost disrupted the interrogation process.¡± ¡°T-Torture?¡± ¡°Yes. On that day, Father administered a drug that amplified my senses a hundredfold. He then hung me against a rampart that was sparsely popted and known for its strong winds. Every time the wind touched my skin, I would feel a pain akin to death.¡± I furrowed my brows. There was a severe error in what Daisy had just said. I felt the need to fix this error. ¡°You fool, that was the 17th day of the 3rd month.¡± ¡°No, I am certain it was the 16th.¡± We red at one another. ¡°Are you not referring to the day Valefor was tortured? It is the 17th then.¡± ¡°The 15th was the day you were attacked, Father. Since the torture started on that day, it happened the day after. No information was revealed on the 15th, while everything was revealed on the 17th. You are able to remember at least this much, can you not?¡± I stroked my chin. ¡°¡­¡­Hmm. I guess it was the 16th.¡± ¡°See? Your memory is incredibly poor, Father.¡± Daisy let out a small, mocking snort. ¡°I sometimes suspect you are suffering from senile dementia. Are you sure I should not be attending to you even in the bathroom?¡± ¡°Shut it. It¡¯s just that your memory is excessively good. My memory is not at a level that I would feel embarrassed about it.¡± While the two of us were biting at each other¡¯s throat, Saintess Longwy was watching us with an expression that looked as if her soul had left her body. The Saintess carefully opened her mouth. ¡°Uhm. You two¡­¡­are a pair of adoptive father and adopted daughter, right? ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That is the case, Saintess Longwy.¡± The Saintess pressed her hand against her forehead. ¡°Do you two cherish each other¡­¡­or do you hate each other¡­¡­?¡± ¡°We despise each other.¡± ¡°We despise one another.¡± ¡°¡­¡­? ¡­¡­?¡± The Saintess had a perplexed expression on her face, much like an 18th-century mathematician facing Fermat¡¯s Last Theorem. ¡°So, you¡¯re saying you don¡¯t cherish each other or anything like that?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit different.¡± If anyone dares to touch Daisy recklessly, I will rip out their jaw and shove it up their ass. I would then rip them into four pieces and put them on disy for everyone to see. I¡¯m not joking. It only ended withshingsst time since it was Laura who did it. ¡°Saintess Longwy, do you perhaps believe that a person must like another in order to cherish them?¡± ¡°Is that not a given¡­¡­?¡± What an utterly hopeless answer. I shook my head in disappointment. I could hear Daisy let out a snort ofughter next to me. ¡°This is why youngdies who are ignorant of the world and raised in a temple all their lives won¡¯t do. Do you realize how abruptly the rtionships and psychology of people can shift? There is a saying, ¡®Open enmity is better than false friendship,¡¯ but I doubt Saintess Longwy would ever be able toprehend the meaning behind these words. I struggle to understand why you go out of your way to burden yourself with the weight of your head on your neck.¡± ¡°Indeed. She may have a pretty face, but I question what she spent thirty years of her life learning to have ended up like this.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It seemed like Saintess Longwy had given up on thinking once Daisy and I hit her with consecutive jabs. The Saintess¡¯ expression returned after a while. I felt an incredibly firm resolve from her. ¡°My apologies, Count Ptine.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Could you change my exclusive maid?¡± That night, I was incredibly busy trying to create a schedule that prevented Laura and Daisy¡¯s paths from ever ovepping. * * * After the brutal death of the Grand Duke of Florence, the Kingdom of Sardinia behaved extremely passively. The kingdom¡¯s army never attempted a direct confrontation with us. Instead, they meticulously focused on targeting our supply lines whenever we showed an opening. It was a typical war of attrition. ording to rumors, this war of attrition was strongly advocated by Consul Elizabeth. She apparently argued that a direct confrontation with our imperial army would be suicidal. Along with the Duke of Mno, who had always been advocating for this kind of trench warfare, the forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia gathered together like hedgehogs. Thanks to this, we were able to pige the kingdom as much as we wanted. ¡°Burn it all down.¡± Regardless of whether the civil militia holed themselves up in a fortress and defended it, they couldn¡¯t drag their homes and possessions into the fortress. Whenever we found something of value that could generate ie, we seized it without hesitation. Anything too massive to take away was simply set aze. Areas that weren¡¯t fortified, had little strategic importance, and were undeveloped, were utterly devastated. An inevitable storm of blood and fire swept through those ces. The ¡®Elizabeth Strategy¡¯ demanded sacrifices from all regions except cities like Altoran. Although Elizabeth¡¯s strategy was efficient, it wasing at a terrifying cost. Finding themselves at the end that was being sacrificed, the peasants and their representatives vehemently criticized the royal army. In the end, Elizabeth had no choice but to lead her troops into battle. An issue urred here. With an army of about twenty thousand soldiers, Elizabeth kept us in check. She only kept us in check and didn¡¯t attack us. Her troops would fire arrows at us every now and then to prevent us from piging however we wanted. During this, one of our detached forces unluckily fell into Elizabeth¡¯s encirclement. This was probably a perfect opportunity for Elizabeth. However. ¡°No casualties, Your Highness!¡± For some reason, Elizabeth let our detached force escape. Elizabeth imed that she let them go by ¡®mistake¡¯. The people of Sardinia became enraged by this pitiful conduct. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯ve almost forgotten what this chapter is about at this point. My 6 day holiday is ending and the family reunion was¡­weird. I¡¯m not exactly sure how I¡¯m supposed to feel because my dad sounded like he¡¯s already epted his situation. His only goal now is to at least outlive my grandparents. In a way, that just makes it sadder? I don¡¯t know how else to describe it. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter I guess? Chapter 385: Encounter of Two Heroes (13) Chapter 385: Encounter of Two Heroes (13) ¡°Are you unable to surround one measly group!?¡± ¡°How long will we leave the security of the kingdom in the hands of foreign mercenaries!?¡± Strong criticism arose, centered mostly around themoners who suffered due to Elizabeth¡¯s strategy. That wasn¡¯t the end of it. The fortified cities also made an official demand for a solution. The cities were inundated by the influx of refugees who had been driven away by the piging and burning. The public order and environment of these cities rapidly deteriorated trying to shelter these people. Why should our city¡¯s resources be drained to support non-citizens of the city? With rural migrants turning into beggars and thieves in the alleyways of our city, how long does the central kingdom intend to stubbornly pursue this war of attrition? The fact remains that the current state of affairs, where a foreign power holds authority, is far from normal¡­¡­. Elizabeth¡¯s position was attacked as all sorts ofints came pouring out. The Sardinia royal family found themselves in a difficult position. It wasn¡¯t as if they were eager to engage in a war of attrition either. With the fall of Pavia, the surrender of Piacenza and Parma, the surrender of La Spezia, and the capture of Genova, a series of misfortunes had urred. The royal familycked the capacity to carry out another pitched battle. They had to stall for time until the foreign reinforcements arrived. A war of attrition was the best option they had to avoid the worst possible scenario. However, how was this any different from simply announcing that ¡°We will be temporarily abandoning parts of our territory except for key points.¡±? Regardless of who proposed the war of attrition, they had to face overwhelming criticism. This was probably where Elizabeth stepped in. ¡®I am a foreigner anyway, so there is no political standing I can lose even if I were to bear the burden of criticism. I will take on the people¡¯sints on behalf of our alliance¡­¡­.¡¯ However, the level of discontent was way too extreme. On the 17th day of the 9th month in the year 1512 of the continental calendar, amidst the heated debate within Sardinia over whether to remove Elizabeth from her position as suprememander, a provisional force docked at Genova. ¡°I sincerely wee you to Sardinia, Your Highness.¡± ¡°There is nothing more nerve-racking than being weed by the likes of you.¡± The forces led by Queen Henrietta de Brittany of the Kingdom of Brittany had dropped anchor. Their number reached five thousand. Although it might seem insufficient to call this the strength of an entire nation, I sincerely weed them with open arms. It was because all five thousand of them were cavalrymen. It was none other than the cavalry of the Kingdom of Brittany. I¡¯ve experienced firsthand how terrifying they are. Not only is a cavalry from Brittany capable of wiping out enemy forces without infantry support, but they are even referred to as ¡®gangsters¡¯. ¡°Your Highness¡¯ presence makes it feel as if the war has already ended. There is a saying that yesterday¡¯srades are today¡¯s enemies, but who knew it would feel so reassuring when that is applied the other way around as yesterday¡¯s enemies have be today¡¯srades.¡± ¡°Your cheekiness has not changed a bit. In a different sense, it isforting.¡± Queen Henrietta let out a vain chuckle. She must have gone through a lot since ourst encounter as her beautiful red hair appeared a little duller. Unlike the two of us who were surprisingly getting along, the generals standing behind the queen were ring at me as if I were the devil himself. They were allmanders of the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army. To them, I was the mastermind behind their nation¡¯s decline and probably the number one person they wanted to kill the most. ¡°Haha. Why does everyone look so serious? We will be going through numerous hardships together asrades from now on, so let us get along and smile. Now then, smile everyone.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I smiled brightly as I shook all of their hands one by one. Their shoulders were trembling. Did they desperately need to use the bathroom since they were out at sea for so long? How pitiful. Referentially, I enjoy looking down at defeated dogs quite a lot. You could say I love it. Is this not one of the joys of authority? Saintess Longwy let out a sigh from behind me. ¡°Everyone, the Count Ptine is right. The only one who will benefit from us bing divided is the enemy. I believe that even if it is for only a moment, it would be beneficial for our kingdom if we let go of past grievances.¡± ¡°If you insist¡­¡­.¡± As expected of the devoted believers of the Goddess Athena. The Saintess only had to say one thing to make them nod obediently. Well, I only have tomunicate with the Queen or the Saintess anyway, so this wasn¡¯t a problem. After taking a day to recover from their traveling fatigue, Queen Henrietta had a private meeting with me. ¡°I have received a report about the current situation. It appears that Elize is in quite a troubling situation.¡± ¡°A sly and wicked strategy.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Henrietta furrowed her brows as she held her cup of wine. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Consul Elizabeth is deliberately weakening her political standing. That is what I am saying.¡± ¡°She is deliberately weakening her political standing¡­¡­?¡± The Queen narrowed her eyes. ¡°Dantalian, it sounds like you know something.¡± ¡°Do you not find it strange? If Elizabeth genuinely wants to save Sardinia, she should not have brought the Anatolia Empire into this. Even if Sardinia somehow manages to win the war, they would end up living in Anatolia¡¯s shadow.¡± The only nation allied to her would end up as a puppet nation. Why would Elizabeth y such a bad card? ¡°Elizabeth has switched her diplomatic partner, Your Highness.¡± ¡°From Sardinia to Anatolia¡­¡­. I see, that makes sense.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± I nodded. ¡°There is no way that Anatolia will help Elizabeth empty-handed. The minimum condition is likely Venice bing a vassal state, and the maximum condition is¡­¡­probably the fragmentation and downfall of Sardinia, making the entire kingdom be a puppet of the Anatolia Empire.¡± Henrietta let out a small groan. ¡°What a wicked ploy. Instead of helping an ally nation, she is leading them to their demise.¡± ¡°But this will cause the Habsburg Republic to gain a much stronger ally. Is the great nation of Anatolia not a splendid card to have under your sleeve?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta¡¯splexion grew darker and darker. It seemed she was realizing just how dirty a war she had stepped into. Indeed, there was no loyalty to allies, no courtesy to other nations, or consideration for the people on thisnd. Deception and falsehood ran rampant. Elizabeth and I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to use any means to achieve our goals. ¡°You are no different, Queen. You are here for the sake of Brittany, are you not? You intend on using the corpse of Sardinia as nutrients to nourish Brittany.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No, to be precise, you are not here for Brittany. You are here for your royal authority. By seeding in this campaign, you will be demonstrating that your military capabilities are still intact and pacify any discontent within Brittany.¡± Iughed. ¡°A splendid goal. You truly embody a ruler who sacrifices anything for the sake of authority. Oh, I am not mocking you. I simply wanted to say that birds of a feather flock together.¡± ¡°¡­¡­You are correct.¡± Henrietta drank the rest of her wine in one gulp before continuing. ¡°The only thing important to me is my nation. However, I do not require a nation that is not mine. Brittany is mine, thus Brittany¡¯s glory is my glory.¡± ¡°It is good that you are being honest.¡± ¡°But what is your purpose?¡± Henrietta red at me. ¡°Habsburg has been divided into an empire and a republic. The Frankia Empire has fragmented into central and regional powers. Now, you are trying to break Sardinia into pieces. Dantalian, everywhere you tread, you sow division¡­¡­ How far do your ambitions reach?¡± I smiled quietly. Of course, my goal is the division of humanity. Frankia hates Brittany, Brittany hates Batavia, and Sardinia hates Brittany. By making these respective circumstances intertwine and collide, their fierce hatred toward one another will reach an uncontroble level. At that moment. Our Demon Lord Army will conquer the continent. This is no longer like the Demon Lord Army of the past. Under the guise of the Habsburg Empire, it is a Demon Lord Army that I am controlling from behind. And¡­¡­. ¡°The reason I started this war.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°My original goal was to cut off the support the Habsburg Republic was receiving from the Kingdom of Sardinia. I wanted to wring Elizabeth dry, so the support from Sardinia was like a thorn in my side.¡± I moved my ss of wine in a small circr motion. ¡°Elizabeth was aware of this. Consider how she swiftly involved Anatolia in the conflict. Do you believe such a diplomatic agreement could have been reached in just a matter of days? It¡¯s highly likely that preparations were underway several months before the war even began.¡± Augh flowed out on its own. ¡°Elizabeth immediately figured out that she was the reason I started this war. Therefore, she knew that she was the only one who could negotiate with me. Elizabeth is currently trying to entice me.¡± ¡°Entice you?¡± ¡°Indeed. ¡®Even if you trample over Sardinia, I have Anatolia. Instead of needlessly fighting each other, how about we peacefully divide Sardinia between us?¡¯ This is what she is saying.¡± Inparison, this was like a grand proposal at a ball. Sardinia was the stage, and Elizabeth and I were dancing upon it. Our skills were measured by how much foreign support we could attract. I lobbied the Helvetica Federation and the Kingdom of Brittany, while Elizabeth brought in the Anatolia Empire. The more spectators, the better. The Kingdom of Sardinia will be divided into quarters to satisfy the neighboring countries. It was like we were gathered around a table with a juicy piece of bloody steak and savoring it together. Marquis Rody was abandoned and the Grand Duke of Florence was killed. Loyalists and able men were disappearing. After they vanish, the only thing that will remain is a foreign fox. Sardinia¡¯s fate has already been determined¡­¡­. ¡°That is why I am thinking of just letting this one slide. After all, is she not offering an entire kingdom for the sake of appeasing me? Well, it is a bitcking, but I am willing to overlook it due to her sincerity. I am a generous person, you see.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If Elizabeth fails this time, the next individual to be the suprememander will be forced to go to the front lines even if they are reluctant to do so. If thatst suprememander ends up dying as well, the Sardinia royal family will most likely have no choice but to reinstate Elizabeth. I am looking forward to that moment¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta gave me a weird gaze as Iughed. It was around that point that our meeting ended. Our n was to avoid the troops led by Elizabeth and only fight the troops led by other generals. It should be obvious, but the royal family of Sardinia couldn¡¯t ept the fact that their major city of Genova was handed over to the Temple of Athena. They criticized the temple and the Kingdom of Brittany, using them of meddling in another country¡¯s war. Of course, none of the neighboring countries took their nonsense seriously. ¨C Was it not Sardinia that got the Republic involved first? ¨C You even involved the Anatolia Empire. Do not try to bury your head in the sand. The neighboring countries actually responded coldly, isting Sardinia further. All my efforts to establish a strong moral high ground were finally beginning to bear fruit. The royal family of Sardinia was no longer able to endure the internal and external pressure. In the end, they had to persuade Consul Elizabeth to step down from the position of suprememander. Contrary to everyone¡¯s expectations, Elizabeth made a clean withdrawal. She surprised everyone by even handing over the mercenary army she had hired with the royal family¡¯s funds. However, she retainedmand over the mercenaries of Anatolia, which no one could possiblyin about. The individual to take militarymand after Elizabeth withdrew was Ludovico de Sforza. Commonly known as the Duke of Mno. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, the diagnosis from the bigger hospital came out. They confirmed it. My dad has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He¡¯s apparently too far in to get surgery. I¡¯m not sure what to say. I guess I was already ready to hear this news, but it¡¯s still heavy. I¡¯m just going to try to keep my mind off things for a bit. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 386: Nation of a Dead Noble (1) Chapter 386: Nation of a Dead Noble (1) The Duke of Mno probably didn¡¯t want to be the suprememander at this point. It was basically like it was forced upon him against his will. With the death of the Grand Duke of Florence and the resignation of Consul Elizabeth, there was only one noble family left that all the cities in Sardinia would willingly obey: the House of Sforza in Mno. A family that is capable but of low status or a family of high status but isn¡¯t capable. Problems could arise from either side. It was only natural. Being given the position of suprememander was like being ordered to throw your body onto the battlefield. Battlefields are always filled with death. Let¡¯s say that you¡¯re a soldier or a general and you¡¯re forced to face a dog¡¯s death because of some ipetent suprememander. Could you really ept your death? Could youe to terms with it? No, it would be impossible. The same goes for a suprememander of low status. Would you want to put your life on the line for a suprememander from a lesser-known and less prestigious family, an individual whose family has a shorter history than yours? This issue is more critical than matters of skill or lineage. It¡¯s about your own life being at stake. No one wants to die, and if they must, they would want it to be in a way that they can ¡®ept¡¯¡­¡­. Hence, it was the Sforza family and the Duke of Mno. Maintaining one¡¯s reputation for 50 years, let alone 20, is by no means a simple task. People are prone to making mistakes, yielding to temptations, and falling victim to the schemes of others. The Sforza managed to endure this for 300 years. Honor. Only a very small number of families could inscribe this word on their family banners, and the Sforza family of Mno belonged to that small minority with the Medici family of Florence. Nobles willingly obeyed their authority. Ifmanded to die on the battlefield, they would take it into serious ¡®consideration¡¯. Even though the Duke of Mno didn¡¯t want a short and decisive battle. He was also an individual who wouldn¡¯t turn his responsibility away for such a ¡®personal¡¯ reason. ¨C I am hereby issuing a general mobilization order throughout the kingdom! ¨C All city councils are to immediately transfermand of their citizen militias to me. ¨C People of Sardinia, rally! This emergency order resonated throughout the kingdom. The Duke of Mno concluded that gathering mercenaries in a short time would be nearly impossible now, so he began to gather the citizen militias in each city. Although the militiascked morale and skillspared to mercenaries, their quantity couldpensate for quality. Sardinia quickly reorganized itself around the Duke of Mno as if the time they wereining about Consul Elizabeth¡¯s tactic was already a distant memory. The citizen militias were more proactive than expected. This was because our imperial army had started to loot ruthlessly, creating a widespread realization that if they remained passive, they would stay as victims. The Duke of Mno most likely orchestrated this from behind the scenes. Ridiculous rumors about how the Empire enjoyed the organs of newborns and things like that had started to spread. But it was effective. Due to the esction of our looting, the anger among the poption had grown. Nobles andmoners alike were eager to end the war as soon as possible. The Duke of Mno took advantage of this with a simple yet effective strategy. The general mobilization order managed to gather about 40,000 troops. By adding the 10,000 elite troopsposed of multinational mercenaries, the Duke of Mno had managed to assemble an army of 50,000 at an unprecedented speed. It wasn¡¯t a hastily assembled mishmash of troops with an inted number. It was a well-organized army with proper leadership in each region. Nobles from across Sardinia led the military effort. It was like they were determined to end it now. And while that was happening, our imperial army was¡ª ¡°Duchess, how should we deal with San Marino?¡± ¡°What is there to think about? Burn it down.¡± piging earnestly. Yes, we plundered steadily and persistently. Just like hunting, piging also fostered cooperation between units. Our imperial army was joined by the forces of the Kingdom of Brittany now. Before engaging in a major battle, we had to coordinate and synchronize with the forces of Brittany. It wasn¡¯t only the forces of Brittany. After Laura received news that the enemy was drafting civilian militias at a terrifying pace, she muttered to herself, ¡°We will need some insurance.¡± A militia was immediately drafted from the Piacenza-Parma-La Spezia regions. Many of them were those who defected to our side because they were afraid of being plundered and murdered. We assembled roughly 3,900 militia troops in this way. It was my responsibility to motivate the militia using words such as, ¡°If the Empire loses, there is no way the Kingdom would leave traitors like you alone¡±, ¡°Look at what happened to Marquis Rody. That is the fate that awaits traitors¡±, ¡°You can wait patiently and die or fight to survive, the choice is yours¡±, and so on. Despite my appearance, I¡¯m an expert when ites tomanding militias. The only unit that didn¡¯t suffer defeat in the Lily War of Frankia was none other than the peasant militia that fought under mymand. Thanks to my persuasion and leadership, the militia was quickly trained. Our army went around setting the Kingdom of Sardinia aze. The Duke of Mno responded wisely. He ordered his troops to not engage inbat no matter how aggressively we piged. However, he would quickly dispatch mages to the cities we targeted. He must have realized that it would be extremely difficult for us to carry out sieges since wecked siege equipment and couldn¡¯t overwhelm them in terms of magic. Thanks to the Duke of Mno¡¯s clever response, although our army was able to devastate the surrounding areas of the cities, we couldn¡¯t actually capture the cities themselves. 3 weeks went by. The Duke of Mno finally took action. The Duke utilized the navy to sessfully gather his 50,000-strong army. Anyone who has had the opportunity to witness the sight of over 50,000 soldiers gathering on an open field would understand this feeling. It made even the most cowardly person feel like a valiant warrior. The Kingdom¡¯s army advanced with the utmost courage. Laura chuckled in response to this. ¡°A pitched battle is exactly what we want. We will show them hell.¡± Our army of 30,000 advanced in unison under Laura¡¯smand. Laura, who had achieved overwhelming victories multiple times before, was worshipped like a goddess by the mercenaries of Helvetica. Queen Henrietta and the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s army also obediently followed her orders. These warriors had a natural inclination towards battle, and they held the utmost respect for those who defeated them. 10th day and 10th month of the continental calendar. The two armies faced each other on the ins of Sage-Maledictus. The Po River flowed through the ins. I had no intention of stressing my brain by trying to remember the names of every location, so I personally named it the ¡®Big River¡¯. ¡®Big River¡¯ was a good name in many ways. For starters, it was easy to remember. Moreover, the ces where our army fought battles ¨C the Ticinus River where Earl Pavia perished in a surprise attack, and the Trebia River where the Duke of Florence disbanded his forces ¨C both belonged to the tributaries of this ¡®Big River¡¯. For the thousands of years toe, the ¡®Big River¡¯ will never be referred to as something like Po River. I am certain of this. The ursed river, the bloodstained river, the river of despair andmentation, it shall be remembered by such names. The fall of the Kingdom of Sardinia shall go hand in hand with this river. I was confident of this even in the face of an enemy army nearly twice our size. Laura held a final meeting as the two armies faced each other. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The mercenary captains of Helvetica and themanders from Brittany¡¯s side gathered together. There was a strange silence hanging over the room. Once Henrietta, the queen of an entire nation arrived, everyone seemed to be more mindful of their words. Surprisingly, Laura had yet to arrive. She was making Henrietta wait. Even if it was customary for the suprememander to arrivest, those on Brittany¡¯s side seemed annoyed. ¡®How dare you make Her Highness wait¡­¡­,¡¯ it was apparent that this was what they were thinking. Well, though Henrietta herself didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°Duchess Farnese has arrived!¡± A guard shouted loudly. Everyone stood at attention. Laura walked in with her usual calm andposed strides. Some of themanders looked baffled. A 22-year-old duchess. An age where her youthfulness had yet to entirely fade. Despite this, she had already achieved military fame across the continent. I wonder how she appeared to themanders who were in their forties and fifties¡­¡­. ¡°Everyone may be seated. Our forces will be creating the following formation.¡± Laura immediately delved into the main topic after giving a salute. The mercenary captains settled into their chairs as if they were ustomed to this routine. Brittany¡¯smanders appeared slightly taken aback, but they took their seats without a word. It was most likely thanks to the consistentposure of their leader, Queen Henrietta. ¡°Although it is standard procedure to form a line with foot soldiers.¡± Laura moved the markers that were atop the map on the table. A brief momentter, the markers representing our allied infantry were evenly spread out. They weren¡¯t in a straight line. It was more like they were curved outward in a sort of crescent shape. Or should I say a more triangr ? shape? ¡°For this battle, we will be creating a somewhat unconventional formation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Themanders hadplicated looks on their faces. It was like they were trying to grasp the Supreme Commander¡¯s intent. Queen Henrietta opened her mouth. ¡°Is your goal to stall for time?¡± ¡°Indeed. The enemy outnumbers us in infantry by two to one. In a short-term engagement, they hold the advantage.¡± ¡°This is quite the gamble¡­¡­.¡± Henrietta slowly stroked her chin. It seemed like she was drawing out the battle in her head. ¡°If we make our formation like this, our very first line of soldiers will have to endure the brunt of the enemy¡¯s attack for a brief period. If our first line falters, our center could copse in an instant. We will need a considerable number of elite troops in that position.¡± ¡°No.¡± Laura shook her head. ¡°The civilian soldiers will be in charge of the first line.¡± ¡°Haa? The conscripted soldiers?¡± Queen Henrietta furrowed her brows. ¡°They will lose in an instant. Do you have some sort of n?¡± ¡°It is simple. The enemy¡¯s main force is alsoprised of civilian soldiers. If they find themselves fighting fellow Sardinians, they will undoubtedly hesitate. Even if they attack, it will not be done aggressively.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see. We will be causing a fratricidal strife.¡± The Queen nodded. ¡°But the enemy possesses foreign mercenaries along with their Sardinian militia. This strategy will not work if those mercenaries are sent out first.¡± ¡°The Duke of Mno will not put those mercenaries at the front.¡± ¡°¡­¡­How can you be sure?¡± At that moment, the ends of Laura¡¯s mouth lifted up. That was it. Whenever Laura had a rather heinous idea on the battlefield, that kind of smile would always surface. This was probably a habit she picked up from watching me, so I felt slightly responsible. I can¡¯t help but think I educated Laura incorrectly. ¡°It is because the Duke of Mno is a ¡®smart¡¯ individual, Your Highness.¡± ¡°¡­¡­?¡± Henrietta looked confused along with the othermanders. ¡°Wise people learn from their past mistakes. The Duke of Mno must have thoroughly analyzed why the Kingdom¡¯s army has continued to lose. The fact that he had chosen Sage-Maledictus ins as the battlefield is proof of this.¡± Laura drew a circle on the map with her finger. ¡°Look. There are no nearby hills, cliffs, or even moderatelyrge forests here. It is an open in with a wide field of vision. In the previous battles at Ticinus and Trebia, they lost because we managed to ambush them.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The Duke of Mno must have arrived at this conclusion. ¡®Ambushes must be the specialty of the Empire, or rather, Duchess Farnese.¡¯ So, this time, he will not give us the chance to set up an ambush¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Henrietta nodded her head. She agreed with the assumption that the Duke of Mno had deliberately selected the ins of Sage-Maledictus as the battlefield for the given reason. ¡°Sealing your opponent¡¯s specialty is definitely a fundamental tactic in warfare, but¡­¡­.¡± Laura smiled once more. ¡°The issue is that it is still a basic tactic. The Duke of Mno has walked into the jaws of death of his own ord.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry ¡¯bout theter-than-usual chapter. It¡¯s probably obvious why I¡¯mte, so yeah. I¡¯ve mostly settled my emotions, but it doese back to hit me once or twice a day. Hopefully, I¡¯ll be able to resume my regr pace, but that¡¯ll be after my workload lessens a bit at work. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 387: Nation of a Dead Noble (2) Chapter 387: Nation of a Dead Noble (2) ¡°He walked into the jaws of death?¡± ¡°He cannot see the forest for the trees. Wide and open ins without any obstacles is the perfect ce to utilize cavalry.¡± In terms of infantry alone, the Sardinian army outnumbered us by twice the amount. However, when it came to cavalry, our army had nearly twice as many cavalrymen as the kingdom¡¯s army. The Duke of Mno chose an open area as the battlefield topensate for his weakness, but in reality, it only exacerbated his weakness. ¡°The Duke of Mno must be aware that his cavalry is weak. Therefore, the main focus of his strategy will be to withstand our cavalry as much as possible. And he will station elite infantry in the rear in case our cavalry were to charge at them¡­¡­.¡± On the other hand, our goal will be to endure the enemy¡¯s infantry as much as possible. Will the Kingdom¡¯s army copse under the assault of the Empire¡¯s cavalry first? Or will the Empire be overwhelmed by the Kingdom¡¯s infantry first? The fate of this battle hinged on this oue. ¡°In that case.¡± Queen Henrietta smiled slightly. ¡°So the oue of this battle rests upon my cavalry.¡± ¡°That is correct. Queen.¡± ¡°I know that it is odd for me to ask this, but are you sure you want to leave the fate of this battle to me? In the end, I am nothing more than a foreign party. You would be powerless if I were to betray you.¡± The Queen¡¯s words caused the surroundingmanders to panic. Some even raised their voices to stop her. Laura, however, did not bat an eye. A voice filled with the utmost confidence flowed from Laura¡¯s lips. ¡°You will not betray us.¡± ¡°Oh? Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Because Count Ptine Dantalian did not inform me that you would betray us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hah?¡± Henrietta¡¯s anticipation to hear Laura¡¯s answer quickly turned into confusion. Nevertheless, Laura continued with what she had to say. ¡°I might not be well-versed in politics, but the Count Ptine is different. He would have undoubtedly detected any inkling of betrayal on your part. Given that he has not mentioned anything like that to me, I haveplete trust in you.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°As long as it is clear that there is no room for betrayal, the cavalry of Brittany is merely a highly reliable force for me. Entrusting the fate of the battle to the most formidable force is only natural.¡± Laura looked around. It was like she was asking if anyone had any more questions. Everyone in the room had be speechless because of the Supreme Commander¡¯s statement. Laura exined a few more things before adjourning the meeting and leaving with brisk steps. ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± Henrietta called out to me quietly. As a side note, Henrietta did not like calling me Count Ptine. It was because she lost to a Demon Lord and not some Count Ptine of an Empire. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You are¡­¡­ How should I put it? You are quite the deeply sinful man.¡± I tilted my head. ¡°Is that apliment, Your Highness?¡± ¡°I am telling you to go to hell.¡± Laura. This is bad. That statement just now has increased the Queen¡¯s chance of betraying us by 1%. * * * The next morning, the sound of horns resonated throughout the kingdom¡¯s encampment all morning. Normally, the more confident you were about your victory, the sooner you would start the battle. It wasn¡¯t about rushing to finish the fight in order to go home quickly; it was simply to make it easier to pursue the enemy after the victory. If the battle drags on into thete evening, the pursuit would also continue into the night. Nighttime wasn¡¯t the best time for pursuit, and the enemy would also have the advantage of escaping under the cover of darkness. The Duke of Mno sounded his horns before us. He was dering his confidence in victory. At eight in the morning, with the cool autumn air settling in, both armies lined up their troops. I was riding my horse at the most dangerous ce in this war, right at the forefront of the Imperial army¡¯s first line. Since our goal was to stop the enemy infantry, this section where those infantry will be encountered first will undoubtedly be the main battleground. ¡°This burden is too heavy for me, Laura.¡± I smiled wryly as I peered through my telescope to the other side of the in. Humans, humans, and more humans. No matter where I looked, it was teeming with humans everywhere. It was my first time facing this many enemy troops since the Crescent Alliance War. Even then, my heart was uneasy just like it is now. I¡¯d always feel anxious before a battle. War is different from politics. It has too many variables. Well, Laura might say the exact opposite¡­¡­. ¨C Sardinia! Rise up against the foreign tyranny! It was probably because of the scale of the battle, but there was an exchange of pre-battle speeches. A dignified old gentleman who seemed like he had aged gracefully was being projected. Conducting a pre-battle speech with both projection and trantion magic was a luxury that required a certain level of mage support. The Duke of Mno had a deep, resonant voice with a solid foundation. He gave the impression of a skilled politician. In other words, even if he told a lie, he had the kind of presence that would make people nod and think, ¡®Oh, he must have had a good reason for lying.¡¯ The Duke knew how to flourish his words to craft a splendid speech. He had the right cadence, an appropriate resonance, and was able to artfully stir up patriotism and love for one¡¯s homnd. ¡°Ohhh.¡± It¡¯s been a while since Ist heard a decent speech. It was so splendid that I gave a round of apuse once it was over. The soldiers around me looked at me with eyes that appeared as if they were saying, ¡®Your Excellency¡­¡­? Seriously¡­¡­? Are you genuinely apuding right now?¡¯ It was clear that none of them wanted to call theirmander an idiot. Referentially, there are no allies or enemies when ites to art. ¨C Soldiers. Our speaker from our side wasn¡¯t me, but Queen Henrietta. The reason was simple. Since Laura had taken the position of Supreme Commander, we had to at least offer something to the Queen so that she could save face. It would only be right for Henrietta to also have something she can boast about once she returns to Brittany. Henrietta¡¯s voice is also quite refined. It might be a little coarsepared to Elizabeth, but I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be able to deliver an impressive speech. I patiently awaited Queen Henrietta¡¯s speech. ¨C Currently, there is no one more foul than the syphilitic patient over there, born to a prostitute in a dimly lit back alley; every single one of his bones has withered away, resembling wilted spinach leaves. ¡°Pffft!¡± I spat out splendidly as soon as I heard her first words. I was so dumbstruck that I inadvertently turned around. Henrietta, who was being projectedrgely above, had a solemn and serious expression on her face. Did I mishear? ¨C That old, dementia-ridden man has no idea where he is and is happily defecating everywhere. I didn¡¯t mishear her! She¡¯s actually talking about defecating with that serious look on her face! ¨C We will most likely have to kindly inform him that this ce is not a restroom built for the elderly, but a battlefield. Unfortunately, once we do, he will likely still tremble in fear and relieve themself on the spot out of sheer terror. Therefore, this old man is destined to turn this Maledictus in into their private restroom. Oh, goddesses! The stench of excrement is already wafting up to my nostrils! The soldiers cackled. Theughter from Brittany¡¯s army was the loudest. It seems they were ustomed to this way of speaking from their queen. Theughter soon spread to the other soldiers. Most of them lived crude lives, so the Queen¡¯s speech actually fit their personalities more. They let out an energetic cheer. ¨C The enemy has sent an old man who is undoubtedly incapable of even getting morning wood as their representative. In other words, this means that they are a gathering of retards with erectile dysfunction. Men, I have seen numerous males in my life, but I must confess that I have never met dogs like them with such shriveled balls. Theughter of the soldiers grew even louder. Some soldiers were openly whistling, while others joined in with the queen to hurl all kinds of insults and profanities toward the enemy. In short, it was a spectacle. ¨C I am certain that they fled all the way here in order to avoid being beaten by their wives due to their poor skills in bed. Men! At the very least, we are not so weak that we would lose to retards who get beaten by their wives! ¡®Yeah!¡¯ the soldiers shouted as they raised their spears. ¨C They certainly surpass us in numbers! But what is even more certain is that each one of them is worth less than a single testicle of our soldiers! Henrietta drew her sword from her hip and pointed it forward. ¨C In contrast, our men are true warriors, each of them carrying not one, but two splendid testicles! Go and show them what real men are like! All troops, charge! The cheering reached its peak. The horns that were given to each unit as tradition were blown chaotically. The drumbeats sounded with an irregr rhythm, and the soldiers without instruments used their feet to create a makeshift ensemble. ¡°¡­¡­And she¡¯s supposed to be the queen of a nation?¡± I let out a half-amused chuckle. The atmosphere that the Duke of Mno had carefully created with elegance and romance hadpletely evaporated. Although it was in a whole different categorypared to the speech Elizabeth gave on Bruno ins, there was no denying the effectiveness of Henrietta¡¯s speech. A red-haired queen whose personality is as uncontroble as embers, is it? I felt like I understood why she was so popr with the soldiers. But she wasn¡¯t my type¡­¡­. With the initial confrontation won by our side, the two armies gradually closed in on each other. First, our cavalry shed with theirs on the left nk. I recalled the exnation Laura gave yesterday. ¡®It is likely that the enemy will ce their elite cavalry on the left nk.¡¯ ¡®The left nk is adjacent to a river, so the battlefield there will be limited and the soil will be soft.¡¯ ¡®The Duke of Mno¡¯s goal is not to win the cavalry battle. It is to avoid defeat. He most likely believes that it will be all right if either of his nks can hold out long enough.¡¯ This is why the kingdom¡¯s army will ce their elite soldiers on the terrain where cavalrymen will be disadvantaged. This was Laura¡¯s prediction. ¡®Therefore, we will also ce our most elite cavalrymen on the left nk.¡¯ ¡®There is no reason to hesitate. ¡ªWipe them out with a single push.¡¯ A bright light enveloped our cavalry on the left nk. Saintess Longwy had blessed them. That¡¯s right. The cavalry in charge of our left nk were none other than the soldiers of Brittany, the 5,000 cavalrymen led personally by Queen Henrietta. Judging by their equipment, the troops that came out to intercept Brittany appeared to consist of a small number of knights and mostly foreign mercenaries. For the kingdom¡¯s army whose main force was their civilian militia, these were undoubtedly their most formidable troops. Brittany¡¯s army and the kingdom¡¯s army shed at the riverside. I nced at the unfolding cavalry battle with my telescope. Spears mixed together as they impaled into the chests of soldiers. Soldiers who were sliced by curved des fell powerlessly from their horses. ¡°Hmm.¡± I lowered my telescope. There was no need to keep watching. ¡°They aren¡¯t even a match.¡± Brittany was winning one-sidedly. The kingdom¡¯s army was being ripped apart relentlessly after only a single sh. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I honestly don¡¯t have that much to say. I think I¡¯m mostly okay now, but that¡¯s obviously just going to be temporary depending on whatever happens in the near future. Work has been a bit annoying because I suddenly got arge pile of it this week. I wonder if lunch tastes good. I wouldn¡¯t know since I skip it constantly ?? Welp, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 388: Nation of a Dead Noble (3) Chapter 388: Nation of a Dead Noble (3) While Brittany was in the midst of dominating the first round. The cavalry unit led by Baroness Juliana de nc shed with the enemy¡¯s cavalry on the right nk. The edges of the ins resounded with the thundering hooves of horses. Tens of thousands of infantrymen advanced steadily, one step at a time, as they listened to the thundering hooves. The battle smoothly transitioned into the next stage. ¡°Begin singing.¡± The officers repeated my order. Once they did, our civilian militia of 4,000 raised their voices simultaneously. The songs that flowed from the mouths of the militia born and raised in Sardinia were, naturally, Sardinian songs. The enemy became more bewildered as they approached us. They had left their homes and stepped onto this perilous battlefield to fight against foreign invaders, not to harm their own people. The hesitation in the enemy¡¯s formation was visible. ¡°We are not your enemies! The Duke of Mno is the traitor!¡± ¡°Brothers, there is no reason for us to kill our fellow countrymen!¡± ¡°La Spezia was abandoned!¡± Centering around our petty officers, people began to shout from our militia. This was something that dampened the will to fight on both sides at the same time. Our side genuinely didn¡¯t want to fight their brethren either. As morale plummeted on both sides, our vanguard, which was under mymand, shed with the kingdom¡¯s vanguard. ¡°Nonsense! You guys are all traitors!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s punish these bastards who betrayed their own countrymen!¡± The kingdom¡¯s generals roared back. The shing of spears and swords echoed loudly. Once our forces withdrew slowly and made it clear that we didn¡¯t want to fight, the vigorous ims from the enemy generals shouting, ¡®That¡¯s a lie!¡¯ lost their persuasiveness. The soldiers who actively engaged in killing the enemy were in the minority. The soldiers¡¯ grips on their spears were clearlycking in strength. Be it our imperial army or the kingdom¡¯s army, this situation only made the sh between frontlines slow down considerably. This will undoubtedly dy either side from facing a decisive defeat. And this kind of prolonged battle was precisely what Laura had ordered me to do. ¡°Do not retreat too hastily! Slowly. Match your pace with yourrades and sync your retreat with themands from the petty officers!¡± I personally moved among our troops to boost their morale. If our soldiers were to lose heart while attempting to withdraw gradually and prolong the battle, the retreat could swiftly devolve into a panicked rout. It was essential to emphasize that, ¡®Yourmander is here with you.¡¯ asionally, I would aim my crossbow at an enemy¡¯s head and let loose a bolt. This was to demonstrate that I wasn¡¯t just giving orders but was actively engaged in the fight alongside them. Every time one of my bolts found its mark, our nearby soldiers would erupt in cheers. ¡°Fire!¡± They probably noticed me. The kingdom army¡¯s archers focused their volleys at my location. My royal guards raised their shields to protect me. ¡°Your Excellency, it is dangerous out here! Please retreat to the back for a moment!¡± ¡°At best, they are only firing toothpicks at us. Leave it be.¡± I disregarded the enemy archers, choosing to stay close to our soldiers. This wasn¡¯t due to exceptional bravery on my part, but rather because I had invested a substantial amount in a set of specially crafted helmet and armor for this war. These enchanted pieces were impervious to arrows. But, damn it. As expected, I have absolutely no luck in battlefields. Of all ces, an arrow managed to pierce into an opening in the thigh area that wasn¡¯t protected by my armor. The arrow managed to escape the forest of spears, past the shields of my royal guards, through an opening in my armor, and right into my thigh! ¡°Kuaahh!¡± I let out a scream as I bent down. My royal guards panicked. ¡°Your Excellency! Damn it, escort His Excellency to somewhere safe!¡± ¡°It is fine!¡± I responded instinctively. Despite the excruciating pain I was experiencing, only one thought went through my head as soon as this damned arrow pierced my thigh, ¡®Pretend like it¡¯s nothing.¡¯ If I were to falter here as themander, the citizen-soldiers in our first row would crumble uncontrobly. ¡°Khh, ugh!¡± I twisted the arrow and yanked it out in a single, agonizing motion. It was as if I were ripping apart my own muscles. I believe I came perilously close to losing an eye. Honestly, this was far from something a regr person should attempt. If I weren¡¯t someone who had gouged himself a couple of times before, and if I weren¡¯t a Demon Lord, I¡¯d likely be dead twice over by now. Damn arrows! The thing I hate the most in the world is arrows! ¡°Guaaahh!¡± After ripping out the arrow in the most ignorant way possible, I raised it up. I then unsheathed the sword at my hip and cried out. Our soldiers cheered out energetically once they saw that. ¡°Yeah! Glory to the general!¡± ¡°Glory to Sardinia! Glory to Sardinia!¡± I have no desire to be called your general, and cheering for Sardinia has nothing to do with me! Civilian militias really do cheer out to whatever they want. Our morale, which was on the brink of copse, made an incredible turnaround and soared. I turned off my voice amplification spell for a moment and spat out a bunch of curses to my guards. ¡°You stupid retards, do you n to stand around there and do nothing until I be a corpse!?¡± ¡°O-Our apologies, Your Highness!¡± ¡°It really fucking hurts. Damn it!¡± I took out a potion from my pocket and poured it on my thigh. I had deliberately twisted the arrow in a half rotation while it was still deep inside to prevent the arrowhead from getting stuck, so the opening was wide enough to let the potion flow in. ¡°Ghh. Fhhh¡­¡­kuhh!¡± As the potion flowed into my wound, causing a second wave of pain, I also remembered that this wasn¡¯t the first time I¡¯d been hit by an arrow in the thigh. It was the third time. The first time was from Riff¡¯s adventurer party, and the second was from Margrave Rosenberg¡¯s mounted archers. This was the third time now! I was hit by an arrow a total of three times throughout my entire life and all three of them made contact with my thigh. I¡¯m sure that in a previous life, there must have been some sort of unimaginable romance between my thigh and arrows. Thanks to that, I had to bear the brunt of this pain. They should just die. I red menacingly at my elven guards. ¡°You guys¡­¡­ never mind. I will put this on hold until this battle is over.¡± ¡°M-My apologies, Your Highness!¡± My guards were so perplexed that they forgot they were supposed to refer to me as Your Excellency and not Your Highness. Or were they trying to make me subconsciously give them a lighter punishment by referring to me with a higher position? Even I know that my guards have done nothing wrong. That arrow had pierced through all sorts ofyers of luck to reach my thigh. It was only natural to want to shout at someone after going through intense pain. ¡°Hoo.¡± I let out a light breath as I raised my telescope. I looked around to see that nearly all of the other infantry units were also engaged in battle. Unlike my group, the other units didn¡¯t consist of civilians, so they fought fiercely, unburdened by the hesitation driven by kinship ties. I checked our left and right nks next. The left nk, which Queen Henriettamanded, was already devastated. Despite the simr numbers of cavalry on both sides, the Breton cavalry crushed the enemy in a single swoop. I knew this because all I could see on the left nk were corpses. The enemy had already begun to flee into the distance, with the Breton cavalry in hot pursuit. They were likely trying to eliminate the fleeing troops so that they couldn¡¯t regroupter. ¡°Tsk, I guess being hit by an arrow was worth it.¡± I muttered to myself irritably as I turned my telescope to the opposite side. The right nk, which Baroness Juliana de nc was overseeing, was still in the middle of their cavalry battle. However, it was obvious that our side outnumbered the enemy by twice the amount. It looked like it wouldn¡¯t be long before things wrapped up on that side as well. Unless something unexpected happens, it should be fine to consider the cavalry battle on our right nk as a resounding victory for us as well. ¡°Y-Your Highness!¡± ¡°Your Highness Duchess!¡± Right when I was about to resume givingmands after getting a grasp of the situation, there was a suddenmotion behind me. I turned around and was startled. Laura, who should have been with the central army as the Supreme Commander, was rushing towards me with her subordinates. ¡°Laura!¡± I frowned. ¡°What is the meaning of this? Why is the Supreme Commander here!?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura dismounted her horse and abruptly hugged me. Laura buried her face in my chest and murmured. ¡°L-Lord¡­¡­ Lord¡­¡­.¡± My expression froze. I¡¯ve heard this tone before. This was the same whimpering as that night when Laura vowed to leave everything to me. I turned my head and signaled to the guards with my eyes. I immediately used my Demon Lord power tomand them to shield us from the views of others. The guards, perhaps sensing the urgency, quickly unfolded their cloaks and formed a protective circle around Laura and me, blocking the view from the outside. ¡°Lord¡­¡­hgh, I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re safe¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Laura, calm down. I ampletely fine.¡± I patted Laura¡¯s back as I slowly lowered myself. The two of us were soon kneeling on the ground and embracing each other. Laura was shedding tears on my breastte. ¡°When I heard that you were hit by an arrow, my mind went nk¡­¡­ That is why¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all right. Here, look at me. Am I not a Demon Lord?¡± I calmly whispered to her. In truth, my thigh still hurt like crazy, but I didn¡¯t let it show. It was as if Laura¡¯s sobbing triggered a kind of mental awakening. My thoughts and the pain in my thigh had separated, allowing me to speak withposure. ¡°Most wounds do not even leave a mark. Laura, your lord is a resilient man. If something of this level were able to kill me, then I would have already died three times.¡± ¡°Good¡­¡­ I am so relieved that you are a Demon Lord¡­¡­.¡± I wiped Laura¡¯s tears with my hand. There was a soft smile on my lips. Laura¡¯s tears showed no sign of stopping, but as I continued to stroke her face and kiss her forehead, she began to calm down. ¡°The battle is still far from over, correct?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Mhm.¡± ¡°I appreciate your concern for me, but if you really wish to do something for my sake, we must win this battle. Please return to where you should be. I am sure your subordinates are considerably worried.¡± Laura nodded. The two of us locked lips. Right beside us, there was the sound of metal scraping against metal, shields pushing against shields, and screams drowned in blood. After a brief moment, we parted our lips. I smiled. ¡°I trust in you, Laura.¡± Only then did Laura¡¯s blue eyes be refocused. She smiled brightly. ¡°Yes, Lord.¡± Laura rushed back to the central army. I remained silent as I watched her fade into the distance. The thing that angered me the most at this moment was how close the cries of war sounded. I didn¡¯t know the reason, but that genuinely angered me. Everything sounded noisy. The nging of spears, shields, the pounding of hooves, the soldiers, all contributed to the cacophony. All of it was loud¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± For some reason, my guards were staring at me with worried looks on their faces. I let out a snort. ¡°Know that your discretion will save your lives.¡± I was threatening them that if word about this incident were to spread anywhere, I would chase them down to the ends of hell. It seemed they at least had the brain capacity to understand the underlying meaning behind my words as they responded with a resounding ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± I returned my gaze to the battlefield. The battle wasn¡¯t over yet¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Laura¡¯s mental state has be pretty concerning, huh? Feels rather foreboding¡­ Well, work is busy, life is messy, and I¡¯m just crawling along. I¡¯ve been doing a good job of distracting myself, so that¡¯s good. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 389: Nation of a Dead Noble (4) Chapter 389: Nation of a Dead Noble (4) Did they start feeling the urgency of the situation once their cavalry retreated? The army of Sardinia started to fight more desperately. The Duke of Mno personally entered the battle to encourage his troops. I swear I could hear him shout, ¡°Kill them all, even if they are our kin!¡± The roar in the old man¡¯s voice could probably rival that of a newborn man. ¡°Push them!¡± ¡°Uahhh!¡± The Kingdom¡¯s army now looked poised for defeat if they couldn¡¯t break through our infantry. At the moment, our cavalry had set off on a little excursion to finish off the Kingdom¡¯s cavalry, but it was obvious that they woulde back looking for even tastier prey afterward. They probably wanted to end the battle before their rears could get assaulted. The Kingdom¡¯s army focused all of their efforts on pushing forward. My unit was pushed back the more they did, which naturally pulled the enemy troops further in. An intense blood-filled struggle took ce. My unit which consisted of civilian soldiers was slowly reaching its limit. If we continue to hold our ground like this without a clear strategy, we will crumble like a sand castle under the enemy¡¯s relentless assault. ¡°Allow the enemy to break through the center and split our unit to the sides.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency!¡± The officer conveyed mymand to our troops. Thismand was nned before the battle had begun. There are 4 unscathed regiments waiting behind our unit. We just have to hand them the baton. ¡°¡­¡­?¡± As my unit, to put it mildly, tactically dispersed or, to put it bluntly, copsed structurally, a strange feeling of deja vu hit me as they fled. I soon realized where this feeling of deja vu wasing from. This was the same thing we did when we wiped out the Grand Duke of Florence¡¯s troops. At that time as well, our army encircled Sardinia¡¯s army. Right when we were about topletely encircle them, Laura abruptly gave an order that was hard to understand. ¡®Allow the enemy troops to get through our center.¡¯ Thanks to this, the cornered Grand Duke of Florence was able to survive as he pushed past our forces and fled. I felt disappointed at the time since we missed an opportunity to get rid of the Grand Duke. What did Laura say to me back then? ¡®A perfect victory is as harmful as a perfect defeat.¡¯ And Laura had said the following during yesterday¡¯s military meeting. ¡®The Duke of Mno is a smart individual.¡¯ ¡®Wise people learn from their past mistakes.¡¯ ¡®The Duke of Mno must have thoroughly analyzed why the Kingdom¡¯s army has continued to lose.¡¯ A revtion that felt like a bolt of lightning struck my brain. If, as Laura suggested, the Duke of Mno is a wise individual and has learned from past failures, then in the previous battle where we allowed the Grand Duke of Florence to break through, could he have failed to realize that Laura had deliberately allowed that to happen and simply interpreted the oue as ¡®the imperial army¡¯s infantry in the center is weak¡¯? Everything became clear in an instant. ¡®He cannot see the forest for the trees.¡¯ ¡®The Duke of Mno has walked into the jaws of death of his own ord.¡¯ Laura had intentionally let the Grand Duke of Florence go. The reason was simple. It was for the sake of making the enemy mistakingly believe that our central infantry was weak. Laura had stopped treating the Grand Duke of Florence as an enemy by that point. He was nothing more than preliminary work for the next battle, for therger battle that would one day ur. But how? How did Laura know that the enemy would learn something from their past mistakes? It wasn¡¯t set in stone who would be the next suprememander after the Grand Duke of Florence was removed from the picture. A fool who doesn¡¯t know how to learn from past mistakes could have be the next suprememander. ¡°Aha¡­¡­.¡± I then figured it out. Oh right, I told Laura! I undoubtedly told her that we would end up facing Consul Elizabeth in this war! Laura knows just how highly I regard Elizabeth. Laura has absolute trust in my assessments at any ce and time. In other words, Laura¡­¡­doesn¡¯t believe that the person whom her lord holds in high regard would be foolish enough to not look back at past mistakes. Letting the Grand Duke of Florence go in the Battle of the Trebia was a trap, disguise, and lie prepared for the sake of the future battle against Elizabeth. Who could possibly think this far? In order to secure the future suprememander who hadn¡¯t even been determined yet by that point, she let the suprememander, whom she hadpletely surrounded, slip away! No one would believe something like that. I¡¯m sure that even Queen Henrietta, who is known as a military genius, would also doubt that level of foresight. The Helvetica mercenary captains and themanders of Brittany would also criticize that strategy as being excessively ridiculous. ¡ªTherefore, the enemy would never be able to think this far either. Both the Duke of Mno and all the nobles and generals that had been gathered from all throughout the Kingdom of Sardinia wouldn¡¯t be able to realize this. As long as the opponent isn¡¯t foolish, they¡¯ll fall deeper and deeper into Laura¡¯s web the wiser they are. ¡®It seems the nobles of Sardinia arepetent.¡¯ Those were the words that Laura had muttered at some point. There is a chance that what she wanted to say was, ¡®There are no easier opponents to manipte thanpetent ones¡¯. I informed her before this battle that we wouldn¡¯t be fighting Consul Elizabeth. Thus, the strategy that Laura de Farnese had devised was being used on Ludovica de Sforza instead of Elizabeth von Habsburg¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A hard-to-describe emotion filled my chest. The feeling of joy and regret mixed together. This was my lover, the girl I had corrupted and pledged to be with for eternity. Is her talent not blindingly radiant? How irresponsibly and hastily have I ruined such a brilliant human being¡­¡­and yet this was my lover. ¡°Lieutenant, I will leave the rest of themand to you.¡± ¡°Your Excellency?¡± ¡°Our unit has basically copsed now anyway. Whether you or I lead, it will not make much of a difference. Good luck.¡± The lieutenant shouted something from behind, but I couldn¡¯t hear him. This was because I had rushed to the backline with my mantle fluttering behind me. My left thigh hurt like crazy, but I paid it no mind. For Demon Lords, pain was only momentary anyway. The g that I had gifted Laura with a bluendscape on it was fluttering in the distance. I staggered forward clumsily as I ran. Even though I was still a fair distance away, Laura somehow noticed that I was approaching. She started running toward me as well, her subordinates following after her in a hurry. ¡°Lord, what is the matter!? Were you injured again!?¡± I let out an involuntary chuckle. She was still addressing me as ¡®lord¡¯. I couldn¡¯t fathom how she nned to navigate life with such a reckless tongue, especially when everyone around could hear her. It seemed I would have to clean up after her messes quite frequently. What a troublesomedy. ¡°Lord, are you okay?¡± Amidst mybored breaths, I addressed Laura, who wore an expression of devastation as if she were showcasing to the world what it meant to worry about someone. ¡°You are a genius, Laura!¡± I embraced Laura by her shoulders. ¡°L-Lord?¡± ¡°No one has noticed and no one will! You are a genius!¡± I had spat those words out without any sort of exnation, but further boration wasn¡¯t necessary between us. The worried look on Laura¡¯s face instantly turned into joy. It appeared that she promptly understood what I was talking about. ¡°Yes, I knew that you would piece it together, Lord!¡± ¡°What a ridiculous thought. No one would be able to realize something like this.¡± The officers, who had stopped some distance away, looked at us with bewildered eyes. Themander of the first line had suddenly approached and shared an iprehensible conversation with the suprememander before the two of them burst intoughter. It was only natural that they would be perplexed. It didn¡¯t matter. What the ¡®truth¡¯ was behind this battle will most likely only be known by the two of us for all eternity. This was no different from Laura killing Elizabeth! The person to fall in this battle should have been none other than Elizabeth! At this very moment, Laura had be the greatest strategist and tactician on this continent. That was the true meaning behind this battle. I felt both anger and pride in the fact that only I was able to figure this out. ¡°Laura, right now you are the greatest. You killed Consul Elizabeth¡­¡­. I will not forget this fact.¡± (TL Note: I¡¯m not sure if this is confusing, but he isn¡¯t saying that she actually killed Elizabeth. Just that, this strategy would¡¯ve worked on anyone, even Elizabeth) ¡°R-Really? Am I¡­¡­the greatest to you, Lord?¡± ¡°Of course. Do you even have to ask? You have always been the greatest to me, Laura.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Laura buried her face in my chest. For some reason, she was crying. Laura mumbled incoherently between her sobs. ¡°Mhm, I¡¯ll work hard to always be the greatest for you¡­¡­. You always recognize my efforts. This is more than enough for me¡­¡­.¡± We treated the shouting and screaming from the battlefield as a luby as we embraced each other softly. My Laura, my sin¡­¡­my proof that shows how I have lived. She was my proof that engraved the fact that I cannot die thoughtlessly. The Supreme Commander suddenly left themand post, but the oue of the war had already been determined. Our forces hadpletely surrounded the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s army on three sides. The enemy was desperately trying to break through the center, but the newly deployed reserves held them off firmly. As time continued to flow by like that, our cavalry finally returned. The Duke of Mno wasn¡¯t an idiot. He knew that the situation could flow in this negative direction. This was why he ced the elite mercenary soldiers in the rear. The mercenaries skillfully created an anti-cavalry formation with spears. The Duke of Mno was a little careless. Brittany¡¯s cavalry, the cavalry led by Queen Henrietta, wasn¡¯t just a ¡®negative¡¯ situation. They were nightmarish. Back in the in of Saint-Denis, Frankia¡¯s army was three timesrger than that of Brittany. Wooden fences were also built to solidify their defenses. Despite this, they were still defeated and annihted by Brittany¡¯s charging assault. Did they think that they could fend off Henrietta with a unit of only 5,000 mercenaries? If it were me, I would¡¯ve told them that this wasn¡¯t a wise decision. Henrietta¡¯s cavalry didn¡¯t even try to cooperate with allies. Once they returned after wiping out the enemy¡¯s cavalry, they immediatelymenced another charge. They were probably still feeling lively thanks to Saintess Longwy¡¯s blessing. It was a single sharp attack, and the oue of the battle was decided. The mercenaries, who were being treated as the most elite soldiers in the Kingdom¡¯s army, were unable to block Henrietta¡¯s assault even once. Their spear formation crumbled miserably as the rest of their troops tried to flee as they were scared out of their minds. However, another kingdom was blocking their escape route. The enemy soldiers couldn¡¯t fight back or escape. Our imperial army surrounded them on three sides, while thest side was being assaulted continuously by the Kingdom of Brittany¡¯s forces. They were being assaulted by a volley followed by a charge over and over again. A tactic that I was well ustomed to. Sardinia¡¯s army was gradually pushed further and further into a corner. And then the ughter began. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Genuinely nothing to say this chapter. I hope everyone had a good Halloween? I¡¯m probably going out to have lunch with my dad and brother next weekend. Though, for some reason, they want to meet at a restaurant that¡¯s like 2 hours from me. I¡¯m still going, but man I have the right toin about the distance. Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 390: Nation of a Dead Noble (5) Chapter 390: Nation of a Dead Noble (5) ¡°Do not retreat! Press forward!¡± The petty officers within the Kingdom¡¯s army raised their halberds and shouted loudly. However, although soldiers tend to fight back if their lives are in immediate danger, they are prone to flee if they see that theirrades on both their left and right sides are also in immediate danger. The mercenary unit was defeated by Brittany¡¯s cavalry, making them flee toward their allies. The Kingdom¡¯s army was already surrounded on four sides, so the inclusion of fleeing soldiers in their ranks made their formation fall apart. Forty thousand soldiers were being pushed together in one spot. As the Kingdom¡¯s forces retreated step by step, trying to avoid our spears and swords, it wasn¡¯t long before all forty thousand of them found themselves cornered to the point that they could no longer move. The space they had was too cramped. The enemy soldiers couldn¡¯t even properly extend their arms to thrust their spears. In contrast, our imperial troops had all the space in the world to swing their weapons. ¡°This is not a battle; it is a massacre. Laura, what shall we do?¡± ¡°No mercy.¡± Laura had stopped crying and was now speaking with her usual firm expression. There were still faint tear marks on her face, but no one pointed it out. ¡°Grant death upon them regardless of their peerage or status. I promise to give the mercenaries the right to loot the corpses once the battle is over.¡± Our army did not stop the massacre. The enemy¡¯s line ofmand had already crumbled apart. The sound of people shouting ¡°I surrender!¡± and ¡°Please spare me!¡± could be heard from all around. The sight of dozens of people getting down on their knees to beg at the same time urred frequently. The Helvetica mercenaries showed no mercy as they sliced their necks ruthlessly. Blood sttered, intestines and guts were scattered about the dirt floor, and brain matter was sent flying into the air as spearheads were washed in blood. Only the sound of screaming filled the skies above Maledictus in. The enemy troops carried out their final struggle. Their mages gathered together to start casting fireballs. However, since we had a simr number of mages, their attack was futile. We easily blocked their spells until they eventually copsed due to exhaustion. As a side note, we also didn¡¯t forget to cast an anti-teleportation spell. The guardian family of Sardinia will die here today. There were a dozen or so soldiers who got incredibly lucky and managed to escape the encirclement. Those lucky individuals got to experience being hunted like turkeys by Juliana de nc¡¯s cavalry. I am sure that must have been quite a fresh experience. If you resist, you die. If you surrender, you die. If you flee, you die. There were a lot of soldiers who gave uppletely and simply plopped themselves on the ground. Of course, the only response we could give was ¡®Thanks for making it easier to kill you.¡¯ We sessfully annihted the enemy forces after about an hour. We annihted all forty thousand of Sardinia¡¯s troops, sparing no one. From what I could tell by observing through my telescope, our troops did not allow even a single enemy soldier to escape. Even the Duke of Mno, who was the suprememander, had his neck pierced by the spear of a random soldier. From dukes, marquises, and earls, a total of eleven high-ranking nobles were decapitated. Thirty mages were killed and the heads of ny barons were put on disy. If we had sold them all as prisoners of war, we could have probably earned enough to fill the national budget three times over. However, Laura made it clear that there would be no mercy, so I did not intervene. It was so that we could clearly demonstrate what fate awaits those who dare to forget diplomatic courtesies and go against the Empire. The battle, named after the Padus River, concluded as follows: Imperial Army: 19,400 infantry and 9,800 cavalry participated. Casualties were 4,900 infantry and 600 cavalry. Among them, 3,000 casualties were from the civilian militia under mymand. Kingdom¡¯s Army: Approximately 41,000 infantry and around 7,000 cavalry participated. Casualties were around 40,000 infantry and approximately 3,500 cavalry. Out of the 48,000 troops that participated in the battle from the kingdom¡¯s side, only about 4,500 managed to escape alive. The name Laura de Farnese became a source of fear and dread throughout the Kingdom of Sardinia. * * * The general trend clearly tilted to one side now. In less than half a year, the Kingdom of Sardinia lost about a hundred thousand soldiers, with more than thirty thousand soldiers being killed in each pitched battle. The royal family had reached a point where they could no longer hope to engage in a decisive battle. ¡°Lord Duke of Parma, we congratte you on this great victory.¡± ¡°Your fame has already resounded across the continent.¡± A few dayster, envoys arrived from various countries to offer their congrattions. Other nations had promptly dispatched their envoys, anticipating our overwhelming victory in this war. Messengers came from nearly every nation, except for the Anatolia Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Habsburg Republic. There was a small incident as well. The envoys had prepared small gifts. They must have thought that gifting gold wouldn¡¯t leave much of an impression as they prepared special items instead. All nine nations prepared the exact same type of gift: a formal-dress sword. It was a rather unfortunate situation born out of a simplistic mindset: ¡®Duke = General = Soldier = Sword.¡¯ In the end, the envoys who had presented the same gift nine times over were left rather flustered and speechless. Laura hesitated as she was unsure how to respond. It was then that I pped my hands. ¡°Nomander has ever received a sword from the rulers of every nation. Your Highness, I propose naming the sword given by His Majesty the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the ¡®Sword of Polish-Lithuania¡¯ and the sword given by Her Majesty the Empress of Frankia as the ¡®Sword of Frankia¡¯. By doing so, we would transform these nine swords into a single precious symbol.¡± My clever suggestion was met with enthusiastic approval from the envoys. ¡°What a brilliant idea!¡± ¡°Your Highness, I would like to also support the Count Ptine¡¯s suggestion.¡± Laura agreed to my suggestion with a smile. The incident that almost became an embarrassing diplomatic mishap had transformed into something elegant. It became known as . Once this rumor spread, Consul Elizabeth and the Emperor of Anatolia also sent their own formal-dress swords. With this, Laura had be the firstmander in history to receive a dress sword from all twelve nations. Well, this is probably what you¡¯d call propaganda. Our imperial army advanced to Mno. Mno had lost a significant portion of their civilian militia during the Battle of Padus. This was because the Duke of Mno, in an attempt to set an example, had led arge portion of the city¡¯s militia into battle. Thanks to that, the troops in Mno weren¡¯t even nearly enough to defend against a siege. The sight of even old men being hastily recruited and sent to the city walls was rather pitiful. Laura rode her horse right up to the city walls and took a quick look around. Then, with a light chuckle, she nodded once. ¡°We should return their precious family to them.¡± The five catapults we had looted from Genova came forward. Our troops firmly packed the catapults with something heavy. Once Laura gave the order, five projectiles were flung at the city. Shortly after, the sound of screaming could be heard from the ramparts of Mno. We hadn¡¯t flung stones at them. Instead, what we had thrown were dozens of severed heads from the Kingdom of Sardinia¡¯s army. I am sure that the heads of those who were once citizens of Mno were included in there. What we had done was so gruesome that you wouldn¡¯t believe it was done by another human. Mno¡¯s improvised soldiers trembled in fear. ¡°What are you doing? Why are you not returning more of their families to them?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± Our army showered the city with severed heads for about 2 hours. The soldiers inside the city hadpletely lost their will to fight. There were even some among them who were cowering on the ground with their arms wrapped around their heads. After those two hours, Laura used amplification magic to give a brief notice. ¡°If you do not wish to be wiped out, open the gates within the next five minutes, fools.¡± She delivered an ultimatum without even a shred of courtesy, but it was because of this that the ultimatum was effective. There was a bit of amotion, but the gates soon opened in less than three minutes. Our troops casually entered Mno as if we were on a pic. Queen Henrietta muttered some words as she rode her horse next to mine. ¡°This isn¡¯t exactly a pleasant feeling. This doesn¡¯t feel like someone else¡¯s business.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Oh right. Come to think of it, Queen Henrietta also received a downpour of corpses when she was besieged in Le Havre Fortress. It was a ploy to spread a gue, and it was also a n that I had devised. Queen Henrietta¡¯s face looked strangely enraged. It felt like she would probably smack me if I confessed to her now that I was the one who suggested that. ¡°Do you know how it feels to have a corpse fall from above while you are eating?¡± ¡°I-I am not sure. I have not experienced it before.¡± ¡°Dantalian, I hope that you will be able to experience it once. It is a really shitty feeling. I don¡¯t know which Demon Lord proposed that idea, but they¡¯re dead if they get caught by me.¡± ¡°Haha, hahaha.¡± I quietly shut my mouth¡­¡­. The mighty city of Mno, which boasted the strongest fortifications in northern Sardinia and had the wealthiestmercial hub across the continent, fell with little effort. The fall of Mno signified the loss of Sardinia¡¯s control over the northern regions. The royal family of Sardinia hurriedly reinstated Elizabeth as their suprememander. However, their situation was already steadily going downhill. I secretly sent a request to the imperial family of Frankia and made the Empress Dowager ask for session rights to the Medici family. Although an actual session would be impossible since the Grand Duke of Florence had a son, it was more than possible for the Empress Dowager to act as his ¡®guardian¡¯ since he was still far too young. It may be in name only, but she would actually be no different from the regent. Furthermore, the Empress Dowager had already done all sorts of things in the Frankia Empire as the regent. The royal family of Sardinia and the head house of Medici firmly refused the request. The Frankia Empire took part in the war as soon as our request was refused. The southern nobles of Frankia had unified to invade Sardinia. Their cause was pretty nonsensical. ¡°In these turbulent times, Sardinians continue to invade ournd. In order to root out these bandits, refugees, and stragglers, we will temporarily take charge of maintaining public order here.¡± This wasplete and utter bullshit. Referentially, I was the one who wrote them that cause. Haha. In exchange for generously allowing the Frank troops to advance, I was promised a substantial supply of provisions from the nobles of Frankia. Our imperial army received arge influx of food and weapons. The Frankish nobles naturally plundered thend of Sardinia ruthlessly in order to secure this immense supply. Next were the Batavia Republic, the Kingdom of Castile, and the Kalmar Union. I offered an ¡°apology¡± for the disruption of continental trade due to our war and, as pensation¡±, offered the tax-free usage of the port upied by our imperial army. These nations had no reason to refuse an offer like this. Batavia, Castile, and Kalmar each dispatched multiple fleets to protect their own merchant ships, and from time to time, they would lend their warships to our imperial army when necessary. The three nations dered that they were only taking measures to protect their own merchants and had no intention of getting involved in the war, however, this was also a very sophisticated bullshit. Even more so if you consider the fact that we were selling the prisoners we had captured to them as ves. Every nation turned into a pack of wolves as they started to tear apart the delicious prey known as Sardinia. Sardinia was in dire straits. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. RIP Sardinia. They basically got abandoned on all sides. I got my work schedule packed till the end of the year now. Just a LOT of anti-malware blog trantions. I joined a game trantionpany, right¡­? I hope they give the EN team a raise soon. Or at least a bonus. We¡¯ve had to deal with way too much shit this year. Ugh, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 391: Nation of a Dead Noble (6) Chapter 391: Nation of a Dead Noble (6) Once the chess pieces were all in ce, Elizabeth and I began a game ofnd picking. This was an incredibly simple game. Elizabeth would flee whenever the imperial army appeared. This escaping behavior was referred to as ¡®fleeing tactic¡¯ or ¡®war of attrition¡¯. If anyone in the Kingdom of Sardinia dared toin, Elizabeth would quickly silence them by asking if they wanted to start another pitched battle and lose pitifully. Conversely, if the army from the Frankish nobles or any other army that had gathered like a pack of wolves appeared, Elizabeth would immediately switch gears and go on the assault. She tore into them with ruthless and deadly precision like a shark attacking a wounded fish. Our imperial army was the same. Whenever Elizabeth approached, we would skillfully alter our course to evade her. On the other hand, whenever the nobles of Sardinia rallied an army to attack us, we would charge right at them with no hesitation. It was as if we were seated on opposite sides of a well-prepared banquet table and were slowly reaching out toward the dishesid out in front of us. There was no reason for us to eat each other since the table was overflowing with food. The cities of Sardinia fell, the farnds were razed, and the storehouses were plundered. A remarkable fact is that Elizabeth and I didn¡¯t exchange a single word during this. No letters were exchanged or any other intermediaries formunication. Outwardly, we were staunchly feuding enemies. However, we were like a pair of dancers perfectly synchronizing our steps, even though it was our first time meeting on the dance floor. When the opposing side made a military move, I responded with a corresponding movement, subtly guiding them to shift their position. Ultimately, we never stumbled over each other¡¯s feet. The day the royal family of Sardinia had to make a choice quickly approached. Although Elizabeth was fighting pretty well against everyone else, she still couldn¡¯t deal with the imperial army. Elizabeth herself even went around saying ¡°Trying to fight the Empire head-on is the same asmitting suicide luxuriously.¡± Even if Elizabeth had the will to fight, the soldiers did not. By this point, enemy soldiers would tremble in fear whenever they heard the name Laura de Farnese. While they would still go out to battle when ordered, they had an air of defeatism, as if they were ready to run away at the first sign of trouble, fearing that they would be ughtered if they didn¡¯t. A ceasefire agreement. These two words were their only options now. Furthermore, for Sardinia, a ceasefire was essentially an borate way of admitting defeat. ¡°C-Count Ptine¡­¡­ These conditions are far too harsh¡­¡­.¡± Sardinia¡¯s minister of foreign affairs spoke with trembling hands. In the minister¡¯s hand was the ceasefire proposal from our side. ¡°The northern region is where major port cities and industrial areas are concentrated in our Kingdom of Sardinia¡­¡­. If we give up on this region, then a future for our kingdom would be¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your kingdom¡¯s future, is it?¡± I muttered as if I were amused. The minister shut his mouth. ¡°Duke, do people not say that those who do not know the past, do not have a future?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Do you remember the very first proposal offered by our Emperor?¡± The foreign minister went quiet. It was clear that his silence was not because he didn¡¯t know what the proposal was. ¡°Restore the honor of the Farnese family. ¡®That¡¯ was it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It was not an empty request either. A substantial and abundant amount of tribute was also offered. However, how did your country respond? Not only did they im that it would be unjust to grant amnesty to traitors, but they even put the Earl of Pavia at the helm to openly insult Duchess de Farnese.¡± The foreign minister opened his mouth to argue, but I raised my right hand and stopped him. ¡°How did our country¡¯s Emperor respond after this nder? He only asked for a sincere apology. Duke, I am asking this because I am truly curious, but is it truly that hard to offer a single apology?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Does he have no excuse to offer? Sorry, but we still have more things we can use against you. ¡°Do you recall what happened during the second negotiation? We simply asked for the Parma-Piacenza Duchy to be handed over to Duchess de Farnese, as they rightfully belong to her as a birthright. As well as our demand for the Mno Duchy as part of the war indemnity. But in response, your people got the Habsburg Republic involved¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We have no excuse.¡± I smiled faintly. ¡°Of course you do not, Duke. Your nation is rude, bold, shameless, andcks even the slightest bit of respect.¡± ¡°C-Count Ptine¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not expect even the slightest bit of mercy from us. Your country has only two options now. ept the proposal or refuse it.¡± I raised my body and brought my face close to the foreign minister. ¡°However, if the dayes when a fourth round of negotiations must be sought out, oh, I can guarantee you this. We will not negotiate with only the northern region of Sardinia. I can even swear on it. To be honest, I am already looking forward to that day.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Go and tell your foolish, utterly useless king who only knows how to let his own people be plundered and entrusts the defense of his country to foreign lords. Tell him to look forward to the consequences that will befall those who disregard the Empire¡¯s advice.¡± If you do not remember history, then history will remember you. The words delivered by the Habsburg Emperor before the war must have left quite an impression. They were basically considered as sayings of the Habsburg imperial family. Faced with my stern message, the foreign minister didn¡¯t dare to say another word and withdrew. During the 11th month of that year, the royal family of Sardinia epted the overall ceasefire agreement. Diplomatic representatives from the thirteen nations across the continent gathered in Florence. I, on behalf of the Habsburg Empire, signed the treaty. The ceasefire agreement, named the Florence ord, had the following provisions:
  1. Duchess Farnese will be given the right to inscribe the blue fleurs-de-lis, once the symbol of the House of Farnese, into her coat of arms. Henceforth, this shall no longer serve as a cause for war.
  2. Duchess Farnese will be given sovereignty over Mno, Bergamo, Piacenza, and La Spezia. Duchess Farnese does not owe any obligations to the King of Sardinia.
  3. The Ruler of Brittany will be given sovereignty over Genova and Nicaea.
  4. The Emperor of Anatolia will be given sovereignty over Venice and Padua.
  5. Until thewful age of maturity by the Grand Duke of Florence, Florence will be governed by Catherine de Medici as regent. However, Catherine de Medici will permanently renounce her im to session in favor of the Grand Duke of Florence.
  6. Authority over the region of Piedmont is to be divided among eight noble families of Frankia, and their authority is recognized. They do not owe any obligations to the King of Sardinia.
  7. All other territories captured by the Habsburg Empire during the war shall be returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia.
  8. The merchants of the Batavian Republic, Kingdom of Castile, Kalmar Union, and Habsburg Republic are permitted to engage in duty-free trade in the Piedmont region and Venice.
After stamping my signature on the treaty, I looked at the Sardinian foreign minister. His hand was shaking. I chuckled. ¡°What are you doing, Duke? Is that stamp perhaps too heavy for your arm?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± It isn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t understand how utterly dismal the foreign minister must feel right now. This treaty was basically going to force Sardinia to bleed immensely. If someone was told to pick out the five wealthiest cities in Sardinia, then Venice, Mno, and Genova would definitely be included in that. These three cities were going to be handed over to foreign nations all at once. It wasn¡¯t like a contract where they would be lending the cities for a decade or two. They would be losing control over them forever. Their other major city Florence was going to be temporarily handed over to the foreign Empress Dowager of Frankia as well. Their northwestern region was also going to be segmented by the southern nobles of Frankia. On the other hand, there was only one thing our Empire was rewarding Sardinia with¡ªstopping the war. By signing this humiliating ¡®surrender document¡¯, it meant that the noble would have to bear thissting disgrace for generations toe. This was the reason behind the foreign minister¡¯s hesitation. I whispered into his ear as if I were trying to offer him some support. ¡°We can continue this war for as long as we desire, Duke.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The old foreign minister shuddered as he turned to re at me. Was it anger in his eyes or fear? Regardless of whatever it was, the foreign minister promptly averted his gaze. This noble¡¯s courage and character were far below that of Marquis Rody. In the end, the foreign minister pressed down on his stamp. I then grabbed his right hand and shook it enthusiastically. ¡°Has a day ever been as blissful as this? The war that brought only sorrow and suffering to both sides has atst concluded. As the envoy of His Excellency the Emperor, I, Count Ptine Dantalian, wish to express my profound gratitude to the envoys of the various nations gathered here today!¡± The other envoys around us apuded together. None of them showed the Kingdom of Sardinia any consideration or respect. Oh, the representative from the Habsburg Republic also remained still, but they¡¯re the most malicious anyway, so they don¡¯t count. That night, a grand ball celebrating the end of the war was held. Laura had to remain at the base to finish up the misceneous work, so I partook in the ball with Saintess Longwy as my partner. Of course, Saintess Longwy threw a fit at first. ¡°Why is it me again!? How are you incapable of courting even a single woman to take with you to a ball!?¡± ¡°Where would I find ady suitable to take to an event like this? Saintess, please. Have I not kept my promise to give the Kingdom of Brittany a chance at redemption? Can you not attend this ball with me as a gift for my faithfulness?¡± ¡°This is this and that is that!¡± I have no idea what she¡¯s saying. However, it was soon revealed that a suitable partner didn¡¯t exist for Saintess Longwy either. Queen Henrietta had already refused to attend, stating, ¡°I despise balls,¡± so it would be a diplomatic problem if Saintess Longwy were to refuse as well. Hence, she had no choice but to attend the ball with me. ¡°This is thest time.¡±, ¡°Do you know how horrible it is to dance with someone like you?¡±, ¡°Henrietta is always like this!¡±, etc., an endless torrent ofints flowed out from her mouth until we arrived at the venue. I think I know why this woman doesn¡¯t have a lover despite her good looks. Nothing happened during the ball. It was a normal and extravagant ball. However, Elizabeth was also in attendance. It appeared that she didn¡¯t bring a partner at all as she was leaning against a pir by herself. After sharing my first dance with Saintess Longwy, I went over to Elizabeth and extended my hand. ¡°Would you care for a dance, mademoiselle?¡± ¡°Is there a need for us to dance ¡®again¡¯?¡± ¡°None.¡± I smiled. ¡°But there is also no reason not to, correct?¡± Elizabeth chuckled and ced her hand over my right hand. Like that, the curtains fell over the second Chrysanthemum War. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This was a pretty nice way to wrap up this arc. An actual physical interaction between Dantalian and Elizabeth. Wait, is this actually the first time in the WN? The LN does have the Go scene, but this is clearly different. Well, either way, it¡¯s still a nice way to wrap it up. In any case, I¡¯m still suffering at work with this huge pile-up. They need to distribute some of the work I have to the other TRs because I have way too much right now. I might end up working the weekend next week. Ugh. Well, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 392: The Dripping Night (1) Chapter 392: The Dripping Night (1) Demon Lord Marbas. The former rank 5th Demon Lord now carried the position of Pannonia¡¯s Ruler and was granted the title of Sebastokrator by the Habsburg Empire. Besides the Emperor, he was the only other recognized member of the imperial family. This virtuoso was also the leader of the Neutral Faction within the Demon Lord Army. This Demon Lord, who seemed like he would have no opposition¡ªwas surprisingly, letting out a deep sigh at the moment. The source of his grief was the endless noise happening around him. Three female Demon Lords were engaged in a ferocious conversation next to Marbas. ¡°All right, you bitches with room for rent in your skulls. I made reservations first, so stop salivating. Fuck off while I¡¯m being nice.¡± ¡°Oh my. It¡¯s the order that matters, not who asked first. I guess it is not surprising that someone who only ys with brainless corpses wouldn¡¯t know the difference.¡± ¡°The only thing you two do is eat and get fat. Hehe. Isn¡¯t it obvious that the person who works the most should be rewarded the most~?¡± In order, Barbatos, Paimon, and Gamigin voiced their opinions. All three of their faces were smiling brightly. However, if you examined them carefully, or maybe you don¡¯t have to examine them that carefully, only their eyes were smiling. The ends of their mouths were twitching. As the edges of these female Demon Lords¡¯ mouths twitched, the atmosphere in front of the pce quivered ominously as if the vibration was somehow able to reach that far. It was here that a historically splendid feat was aplished. For the past several millennia, the ins, Mountain, and Neutral Faction repeated an endless cycle of enmity and conflict. However, at this moment, an enormous treaty was implicitly agreed upon by all factions. ¡ªIt was the treaty to stay at least 20 meters away from these female Demon Lords. Hence, excluding Demon Lords ofparable stature to Marbas, the remaining Demon Lords kept their distance. There was no division between factions here. These Demon Lords transcended their ideological disparities to unite under a single sentiment: ¡®I really, really don¡¯t want to get involved in that¡­¡­.¡¯ ¡°Brainless corpse? You must be talking about yourself. All you have is a flowerbed in your head. Have you done anything for Dantalian aside from causing him to get sick? You look quite lofty with that tail wagging between your legs just because you were given a little authority.¡± Barbatos let out a mocking snort as she looked up at Paimon at exactly a 32-degree angle. It was a gesture that Dantalian once warned as ¡°having enough explosive force to make a saintess kick their way out of their coffin to swear up a storm.¡± ¡°Oh right, you¡¯re a subus, not a fox! Spreading your legs to people in power is the work ethic of whores, so I misspoke. Sorry, whore. I forgot you were a whore and made fun of you for doing whorish things, whore. I ask that you generously forgive me for calling you a whore, whore.¡± A vein popped in Paimon¡¯s forehead. Marbas was certain that he heard an audible ¡®snap¡¯. It was undoubtedly the sound of a vein popping. At the same time, Marbas felt like his insides were twisting up. He had a stomach ache. ¡°Oh dear, it is truly unexpected that I would be called a whore by the woman who invited a bunch of dancers to the pce the other day to engage in group coitus. I heard that it was an impressive ball. I have no idea if you will have any holes remaining considering how often you have been trashing your body. Despite having such a small body, are you sure that your holes are not the only things that are ragged and old?¡± Paimon shook her head with an exaggerated motion. ¡°Haah, I feel bad for Dantalian. It must already be quite troubling to sleep with a brat whose chest is as t as the Valfer Channel, but now her hole has gotten to the point that even if anything is shoved into it, you will wonder if you are having intercourse with air. Always going on about being first simply because you dated for a brief moment a long time ago¡­¡­ There is nothing more unsightly than a clingy woman.¡± The sound of a vein popping could be heard again. Barbatos and Paimon were close enough to each other that their noses were almost touching. ¡°Who¡¯s this ragged towel calling loose?¡± ¡°If I am a towel that has just been cleaned in water, you are a towel that was used to clean the floor, tables, and bathroom tiles before being thrown in some random corner and left to ferment for 3 months.¡± ¡°Oh? In other words, you¡¯re asking me to cut your head off and leave it to ferment for 3 months?¡± ¡°Are you trying to resolve this by fighting since you are unable to refute my words? You truly are simple enough to be referred to as vulgar and savage. Are you perhapscking some wrinkles in your brain? If you wish, I could personally carve some wrinkles for you.¡± Marbas¡¯ stomach ache gradually got worse. The magical power enveloping the pce¡¯s front garden had be so thick that it resembled a demonic field. It was probably easier to breathe back when forty Demon Lords gathered to defeat Great Demon Lord Baalpared to this moment. This was the truth. ¡®Even I am struggling this much, but what is with this child?¡¯ Marbas nced at his side. Standing there was a half-human half-demon subus standing with her back straight. She was Dantalian¡¯s personal assistant who would also assist in state affairs whenever Dantalian was absent. Lapis Lazuli. Her expression remained impassive as she looked ahead. It was as if she waspletely oblivious to the fact that a war was raging next to her. ¡°So, Lazuli. Who¡¯s first~?¡± While Barbatos and Paimon were distracted by their war of nerves, Gamigin furtively made her way to Lapis¡¯ side. Her behavior was incredibly humble if you considered that it was a Demon Lord speaking to a mere demon. Especially if you also consider the fact that Lapis is treated as an outcast in demon society because of her human-demon hybrid status. The reason for such demeanor was simple. ¡°If we continue the calctions from six months ago, Lady Barbatos has had 4 times, Lady Paimon has had 2 times, and Lady Gamigin has had 3 times. In terms of equality, it would only be right for Lady Paimon to be next.¡± It was because this half-blood subus was in charge of managing Dantalian¡¯s bedside partner. Lovers like Laura and Jeremi with rtively lower positions, as well as the Demon Lords, had their sleeping arrangements managed by Lapis Lazuli. After the big fight between Gamigin and Paimonst time over the sleeping arrangements, Dantalian gotpletely fed up and dered, ¡°I will leave this all to Lapis!¡± As a result. ¡°Did you hear that? Thisdy really is first!¡± ¡°Hey, hey, hey, Miss Prime Minister. Let¡¯s not be so inflexible, okay? If we also ount for our positions in the Empire, then I¡¯m at the top. That bitch Paimon is two ranks lower than me. I should obviously be first if we follow the pecking order.¡± ¡°Haha. To think you want to settle a matter between Demon Lords using one¡¯s rank in the Empire. Even a slime wouldugh at that logic. That¡¯s fine by me. It¡¯s unfortunate that I¡¯m not first, but I can handle being second.¡± The three Demon Lords who ruled the demon world would frequently enact the joys and sorrows of a tragedy, or rather, aedy at the single utterance from a subus half-blood. Normally, this wouldn¡¯t be a problem. Dantalian was like a dog whose mating season epassed the entire year, so the female Demon Lords could keep up appearances as his lovers without much trouble. The problem was that it had been more than six months since Dantalian left the pce. In this situation where the time has ¡®reset¡¯, the question was who could seize Dantalian¡¯s time first. In other words, there was a corrtion between who got to dominate Dantalian¡¯s time the most and the pride of the female Demon Lords. If they were to fall behind someone here¡­¡­ For example, if Barbatos got to spend time with Dantalian a day after Paimon, that would turn her into ¡®a woman who can be metter than Paimon¡¯. That was a situation that none of the female Demon Lords could allow to happen. Dating other lovers was fine. It didn¡¯t matter to them. Paimon has rtions with Sitri, and Barbatos has countless lovers. They were all free spirits when it came to love. ¡ªHowever, they couldn¡¯t ever allow themselves to fall behind another female Demon Lord! ¡°Miss Prime Minister, how about we do it like this? I¡¯ll only do it two times this month. Just two times, okay? In return, how about letting me go sooner? It should be fine to have that much flexibility in this strict world, right?¡± ¡°Stop with your nonsense!¡± ¡°Pfft. In that case, I¡¯m fine with going only once. What nonsense is this corpse girl spewing?¡± ¡°Then, fuck, are you telling me to sleep with him after you bitches have had your turn!? I won¡¯t sit around and let that happen even if it means shoving dirt in my eyes, you fuckers!¡± ¡°That is perfect, then. I will personally shove the dirt in your eyes!¡± ¡°What¡¯d you say!?¡± ¡°Huh!?¡± Marbas coughed. Marbas looked at his palm and saw blood. The excessive stress had caused blood to mix into his coughing. Marbas prayed in the depth of his heart, ¡®Dantalian, please return quickly. An irreversible catastrophe might unfold if we wait any longer¡­¡­¡¯ At that moment, Sitri, who had been watching the battle of nerves from a slight distance, tilted her head. ¡°Hm? Can¡¯t the three of you all sleep together, then?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you do, that¡¯ll make you all equally first. Hehe. I think Dantalian would also prefer to resolve this peacefully rather than worry about it this much.¡± Silence. Barbatos, Paimon, and Gamigin thrust their fingers at each other as if they had practiced this beforehand. ¡°You¡¯re telling me¡ª.¡± ¡°To sleep together with.¡± ¡°These vulgar women?¡± Sitri nodded with a big grin. Her smile was so bright it was like a sunflower. ¡°This is the perfect solution. Even I have to admit how smart it is! Oh, it¡¯d be nice if I could join in as well while we¡¯re at it. Hehe.¡± ¡°I see. You have a point.¡± Lapis ced her hand on her chin as she nodded. ¡°Doing so would also make managing the schedule easier. What is everyone¡¯s opinion on the matter? If Your Highnesses agree, I will personally inform Sir Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± The three female Demon Lords shouted in one unified voice. Lapis let out a sigh. ¡°It cannot be helped, then. In that case, Lady Sitri will be first.¡± ¡°Pardon? Why is it Sitri first? Was it not me?¡± ¡°My apologies, Your Highness Paimon, but technically speaking, you are not first either.¡± Lapis bowed. ¡°I was simply saying that you would be first among the three of you. However, if we put everyone into consideration, Her Highness Sitri would be first.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± While everyone was at an absolute loss for words, a magic circle for teleportation formed at the pce entrance at the most perfect timing. Dantalian walked out from the ck energy that was flowing out like smoke. Sitri leaped over to Dantalian for a hug as if she had been waiting for this moment. She was like a pet weing her owner who had been absent for a while. ¡°Wee back, Dantalian¡ª!¡± ¡°S-Sitri. Haha. This is quite the heavy wee.¡± Despite his surprise, Dantalian managed to receive Sitri¡¯s embrace. With Sitri in his arms, Dantalian turned to look at the Demon Lords who were gathered in front of the pce. ¡°Why has everyone gathered to wee little ol¡¯ me? It is a bit embarrassing.¡± ¡°Are you not returning after having aplished a victory?¡± Marbas answered. The truth was a little different. Barbatos, Paimon, and Gamigin had dragged their groups here saying that they had to wee Dantalian. However, Marbas knew from experience that there are truths in the world that should be left unspoken. ¡°As we have only been waiting here in the imperial capital, this is the only reward we can offer you. I ask that you ept our appreciation, Count Ptine.¡± ¡°I am sincerely grateful.¡± Dantalian then went around shaking the hands of each of the roughly thirty Demon Lords that hade to wee him. Even the individuals who didn¡¯t particrly like Dantalian couldn¡¯t help but smile when they saw how earnestly he bowed to them. Referentially, Sitri wastched on to Dantalian¡¯s hip like a crab the entire time he was shaking everyone¡¯s hands. ¡°C¡¯mon, Dantalian. Put the boring formalities aside and let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°¡­¡­My apologies, my fellow kin. I must apologize deeply on behalf of Sitri.¡± ¡°Hurry!¡± Dantalian let out a sigh and entered the pce. Once the weing ceremony was rushed to an end, the Demon Lords who mostly disliked empty formalities and vanity appeared pleased as they also departed. The very first to leave among them was obviously Marbas. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Only the three female Demon Lords were left. The three of them nced at each other before letting out sighs. They then went their own separate ways with heavy steps. It was truly quite the forlorn scene. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I know a fair amount of people seemed to be looking forward to more interaction between Elizabeth and Dantalian after thest chapter, but that was the arc close-up scene. At least we got some Demon Lord banter again. In any case, life goes on. I forgot to update the ToC for a long time, so I did that again. Work is rather stressful as usual. Too much anti-malware that my brain sort of feels like it¡¯s giving up. The project managers were discussing with each other that the EN team is severelycking resources right now so I think they¡¯ll actually try to actively recruit another person soon. God, please don¡¯t be like thatst guy who wanted to ¡®try it out¡¯. He wasn¡¯t even good to begin with. In any case, personal matters aside, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 393: The Dripping Night (2) Chapter 393: The Dripping Night (2) ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ The next day, a ball to celebrate our victory was held at the pce. When interpreting this war, the humans focused on Laura de Farnese as the central figure. The war was initiated so that the Emperor¡¯s deputy general could regain her honor. That was the general perspective. On the other hand, the demons had apletely different stance. Their focus was surprisingly more aimed towards the Helvetica Union. Until now, the Demon Lord Army had suffered failure after failure. Two hundred years ago, when it became clear that the Demon Lord Armycked the determination and capability to conquer the continent, other races like elves and dwarves resolutely withdrew their support from the Demon Lord Army. They did so by dering permanent neutrality, iming that they would no longer participate in any more Crescent Alliance expeditions¡­¡­. The Helvetica Union was a gathering of those other races. Therefore, the Helvetica Union was nothing more than a group of vulgar cowards to most demons. The Helvetica Union then vowed to serve the Demon Lord Army again. In order to prove their loyalty, they ¡®fought in the stead of the Demon Lord Army¡¯ during this war. Now the Helvetica Union¡¯s loyalty has been proven. The demons that were once separated into many marginal groups had once again rallied under a single banner. ¡ªThis was how the demons viewed this war. What did this interpretation mean? Last year spring. Rank 1 Demon Lord Baal was killed. Last year autumn. Rank 2 Demon Lord Agares was executed. This year spring. Three Demon Lords and eleven archdukes were purged. This year autumn. The Helvetica Union vowed to serve the reformed Demon Lord Army. Massive urrences happened in session within the span of only two years. There was undoubtedly a certain torrent sweeping through. It was the torrent of the times, a meticulously nned and executed performance, and one that, unless you avoided or hid from it, could never be avoided. The New Demon Lord Army was clearly uniting as one. Most demons didn¡¯t know who was behind all this. As usual, they simply showered praises on Barbatos and her immortal army, the noble and beautiful Paimon, and the just Marbas¡­¡­. However, there was an extreme minority of demons who knew the truth. Fortunately or unfortunately, the archdukes of the demon world were a part of that tiny minority. ¡°M-My apologies, Your Highness, but this humble one is struggling to understand.¡± ¡°It is fine. I understand your position fully.¡± ¡°In that case, could you repeat what you said, Your Highness?¡± The Archduke in charge of the Utp Hell in the demon world carefully gulped. Currently, Demon Lord Dantalian was seated before the Archduke. Dantalian took a casual sip from his wine cup as he gazed at the Archduke. ¡°I¡¯ve instructed you to abolish very within your duchy as soon as you are able.¡± ¡°Y-Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± The Utp Archduke wiped the sweat off his brows without pause. Due to his rather plump physique, this archduke unfortunately had a lot of sweat in him. However, this was actually his first time sweating this profusely. ¡°If this humble one has ever been disloyal to Your Highness, please tell me. I will rectify it immediately¡­¡­. I am always prepared to do Your Highness¡¯ bidding.¡± ¡°There is only one thing I want from you. The abolishment of your ve system.¡± Abolish the ve system? What was he saying all of a sudden? The Archduke couldn¡¯t figure out the intent behind it. The Archduke believed that Demon Lord Dantalian was scheming something to purge him. However, Dantalian¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°I have no intention of deceiving you. My purpose is to restore the bnce of authority within the demon world, which has be excessively skewed. Archdukes like yourself control vast territories and thousands of enved beings. Meanwhile, there exist countless demons with nothing but their own bodies.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I will be direct, Archduke. I will not forgive any power ss excluding Demon Lords. Everyone must be equal underneath Demon Lords.¡± The Archduke was at a loss for words due to Dantalian¡¯s honesty. Dantalian had just bluntly told him that ¡®I want to weaken your side¡¯. He was like a person threatening to beat another person up and actually doing it. Was it possible to give a reasonable response to this person? ¡°The ve system is an honored tradition that has been around since the era of our ancestors. I was deeply moved when Your Highness abolished the rank system; however, I am of the belief that not all remnants of the past are inherently negative.¡± ¡°Relics of the past, is it?¡± Dantalian chuckled. ¡°I will personally tell you what things of the past are good and bad. The loyalty exhibited by the 15 Archdukes who obediently followed and refrained from rebelling against the new Demon Lord Army is a positive facet. Conversely, the 11 Archdukes who engaged in rebellion, plotted an uprising, and even conspired for an assassination are bad relics of the past.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You do not decide what is good and evil, Archduke of Utp.¡± Dantalian leaned his upper body forward. He then continued from this closer angle. ¡°That is decided by us Demon Lords. Fortunately, the standard for good is incredibly clear. Servitude is good, while resistance is evil. I advise you to choose your side wisely.¡± ¡°T-this will cause a rebellion¡­¡­!¡± The Utp Archduke yelled out. ¡°The archdukes are not the sole possessors of ves within the demon realm! Numerous nobles have also amassed a multitude of ves. If you were tomand them to relinquish the wealth they¡¯ve amassed over centuries in a single night, they would undoubtedly burst into a rebellion! Dantalian grinned. ¡°Let them burst.¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± ¡°You are surprisingly innocent. Is the very system something that can be abolished without starting one or two rebellions? Do I look like a fool who believes in that kind of miracle in your eyes? Archduke of Utp, rebellions will obviously ur. Not once, but dozens. It may evenst for over a hundred years.¡± ¡°I-In that case, why?¡± Dantalian shook his head. ¡°Did I not tell you that you should choose your side wisely?¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± ¡°We will not be asking for your permissions. We will not be asking for favors either. This is simply an order. Of course, since you and the others are not ves, you are free to retaliate. However, if you choose to do so, you must do so with the resolve to be buried in a grave with that freedom in your chest.¡± A curtain of silence fell over the room. The faint sound ofughter could be heard from the ball. They were currently in a distant room from the ballroom. This was a room created to have private talks. Although the Archduke had resolved himself to remain firm no matter what was asked of him the moment Dantalian invited him to this room, it was a pointless resolve¡­¡­. The Archduke painstakingly opened his mouth. ¡°Your Highness, it is not like all demons are absolutely loyal to Demon Lords. Some of the archdukes will resist by any means necessary.¡± ¡°Hah, by any means necessary, you say? Are you saying that you will use assassins with ve seals on their hearts?¡± Dantalian chortled. ¡°Go ahead. How many assassins like that will you be able to gather? Two hundred? Two thousand? Ohh, an army of assassins that fulfills their duties while not submitting to the will of Demon Lords! I am so terrified that I might piss myself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°There was a time the Archduke of Atata hired assassins to ambush me. Are you aware of this?¡± The Utp Archduke nodded carefully. It was a well-known event between the archdukes. The Archduke of Atata had foolishly attempted to assassinate Datalian and paid the price by being ughtered by death knights¡­¡­. The Archduke of Atata¡¯s pce was brought toplete ruin, and the two hundred nobles who resided in the same pce were decapitated and impaled on stakes. Demon Lord Dantalian carved a single line on each and every one of the heads with a knife. Know thyself. ¡°I advise you to know thyself, Archduke. We have an army that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. You do not. I can step on you whenever I desire. You cannot.¡± ¡°If the ve system is abolished¡­¡­.¡± The Archduke spoke cautiously. ¡°What will we receive in return?¡± ¡°Your lives.¡± Dantalian grinned. ¡°Furthermore, by gifting us your devoted loyalty, we will no longer carry out policies in this oppressive way again.¡± ¡°I-Is that all? All we get in return for losing thousands of ves is our safety?¡± ¡°Archduke.¡± Dantalian stared the Archduke of Utp in the eyes. The Archduke felt a chill run down his spine. It was almost like the temperature in the room had dropped by a couple dozen degrees. ¡°The thing about life is that it is incredibly precious.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°People in power easily forget how heavy lives are. Furthermore, I struggle to respect those who are oblivious to this weight.¡± That night. The 15 archdukes who came to congratte the victory were all given the same notice by Dantalian. It waste in the night by the time the entire reception was over. Dantalian sat in a chair and quietly got some rest. At that moment, the door to his room opened and Paimon entered. Dantalian didn¡¯t even bother to look at her as he muttered. ¡°I have notified all of the archdukes. We should get a response within the next few weeks.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± ¡°Barbatos and Marbas both agreed. A Walpurgis Night will be held in a week and this matter will be brought up as a formal agenda.¡± Dantalian fiddled with a wine ss in his right hand. The cup waspletely empty. ¡°Barbatos is always going on about wiping out the humans, while you are constantly making amotion about spreading republicanism. I crushed the Kingdom of Sardinia in order to please Barbatos. And now, here I am threatening archdukes immediately after my return in order to please you¡­¡­. Do you not think you two are being too hard on me?¡± Dantalian chuckled weakly. Paimon felt a heart-wrenching pain seeing Dantalian in this state. ¡°Dantalian, thisdy just¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I know. I just wanted toin a little. It is like the two of you are trying to prove that you used to be lovers with how simrly impatient you two are.¡± Dantalian turned his head to look at Paimon. His face looked a little lifeless, but there was a nasty smirk on his lips. ¡°Truly, the only one among my lovers who does not expect anything out of me is Sitri. Barbatos always wants to kill the humans, you always want to save the humans, and Gamigin¡­¡­. Well, for her, it sort of feels like she won¡¯t be satisfied until she can take all my limbs and store them in some exclusive storage.¡± ¡°Fufu.¡± Paimon giggled. She was relieved. The same Dantalian was before her. The sarcastic and smirking Dantalian who shrugs his shoulders, saying ¡®It can¡¯t be helped¡¯. This was the man that Paimon liked. ¡°Everyone is greedy. Do you not think that maybe you are the one who has the most greed considering that you are trying to monopolize these greedy individuals?¡± ¡°Oh dear, so is it all my fault in the end? I wonder what sort of sin I must havemitted in my past life to end up like this. I pray that I am able to only date women like Sitri in my next life.¡± Paimon removed her clothes, letting her ball dress slip to the floor. She then approached Dantalian and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. ¡°Do you intend to have several lovers in your next life too?¡± ¡°Just like you said, I am greedy after all.¡± Dantalian kissed Paimon. For a period, only the heated sound of breathing could be heard from the room. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m keeping this short. I got sick with the flu this week, so I¡¯m not feeling too great. I¡¯m mostly okay now, but I still have a runny nose and now I¡¯m starting to cough. I¡¯ll just try to rest this weekend. Chapter 394: The Dripping Night (3) Chapter 394: The Dripping Night (3) ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ The Habsburg Imperial Pce. It had now be a ce for Demon Lords to exclusively hold meetings. His Excellency the Emperor was given the seat of honor. Our dear Emperor Rudolf was seated seriously and quietly. In the first seats directly to his left and right were Barbatos and Marbas. From there, people were seated ording to their rank in the Empire. Referentially, I was standing directly to the left of the Emperor as the Attorney General. My role was to conduct the meeting in the Emperor¡¯s stead. Though there are some Demon Lords who are displeased by this since it makes me stick out, it can¡¯t be helped. Authority bes apparent on asions like this depending on where you stand. What am I supposed to do when I have the most authority? ¡°Abolishing the ve system is ridiculous!¡± Demon Lord Amii got worked up as they shouted. It should be obvious, but the louder someone is during a meeting, the more likely they¡¯re just some small-fry attention seeker. Amii was the Demon Lord who was active with me back when we were making our way through the ck Mountains. While I was busy bing an authority figure in the Empire, he was busy spending his time in vain. ¡°Is the ve system not the most important system we have in ce!? The biggest and most essential domain requires ves.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± I asked in the stead of the other Demon Lords. Amii flinched as soon as our eyes met. I¡¯m not sure why, but Amii seemed to fear me. He probably thinks I¡¯m going to purge him one day. Tsk tsk, his paranoia is going to get the better of him. ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s because people¡¯s most desperate desires are always the lowest. I apologize for bringing up such a vulgar topic in this sacred ce, fellowrades. However, please consider this: Excluding noble demons like ourselves, everyone must relieve themselves every day. And ¡®someone¡¯ has to clean up that waste!¡± Amii looked around the room as he spoke passionately. ¡°In our civilized society, waste is always abundant. very is essentialbor for this crucial, indispensable work! An attack on very is nothing less than a denial of civilization itself.¡± ¡°Heh. What are you talking about? You should clean up after your own mess.¡± Gamiginughed. ¡°There are only two types of people who ask others to wipe their ass. An unfortunate handicapped person or an insanely rich andzy person. I¡¯m not sure whose civilization you¡¯re talking about there~.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Amii shut his mouth. As someone of a much lower rank, he probably didn¡¯t have the guts to speak back to Gamigin. This is why you¡¯ll always remain as a small-fry no matter how much time passes. Amii is a part of the ins Faction and all members of the ins Faction are backed by Barbatos. What was there to be afraid of? ¡°Alright, stop bullying one of my kids. Let¡¯s be honest here.¡± Barbatos stepped in with an annoyed tone. See? Even if she doesn¡¯t particrly like you, Barbatos will still cover for her members. ¡°Let¡¯s free the fellows who were unjustly enved. This is good enough, isn¡¯t it? But shouldn¡¯t we make an exception for those who be ves because they lost a duel or were defeated in war? What are you trying to do by freeing all of them? We aren¡¯t a bunch of phnthropists.¡± ¡°All rational beings are equal.¡± Following Barbatos, it was Paimon¡¯s turn to speak up. The two red at each other. ¡°All people are born with the same rights. This means that everyone should be free to protect their own lives by any means necessary. But ves¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fucking damn it. My lifelong wish is for the day your mouth stops reeking of ink.¡± Barbatos snarled. ¡°People¡¯s lives are precious? So they shouldn¡¯t be controlled by others? This isn¡¯t some kind of morale lecture hall, is it? You, along with the rest of us here, have taken hundreds of thousands of those lives you im to be precious on the battlefield.¡± ¡°War and very are two different¡­¡­.¡± ¡°They¡¯re the same.¡± Barbatos let out a snort. ¡°Why do we kill the enemy on the battlefield? There¡¯s only one reason. It¡¯s because they¡¯ll kill us if we don¡¯t kill them first. That¡¯s all there is to it. Do you get it? I¡¯m saying that anyone can take the lives of others for the sake of ¡®our¡¯ benefit.¡± Barbatos stood up and slowly looked around the room as she raised her voice. ¡°Bloody battlefields aren¡¯t the only ce where war takes ce! Life itself is war, along with each and every passing day. No matter the time and ce, we will willingly take the lives of others for the sake of themon good. So naturally, we¡¯ll ept very if it benefits us.¡± ¡°What an impressive philosophy, Barbatos.¡± Vassago retorted quietly. His tone was drenched in sarcasm. ¡°But unfortunately, I have never taken an interest in philosophy before. Barbatos, the issue is that the archdukes in the demon world are umting incredible wealth thanks to very. They¡¯re ordering around thousands of ves and acting as if they¡¯ve be Demon Lords or something. I agree with abolishing very as a means to apply pressure on the archdukes.¡± ¡°The Neutral Faction also agrees.¡± Marbas followed up. ¡°The authority of Demon Lords must be absolute. For us Demon Lords, demonkind has always been no different from ves. Currently, in the demon world, an incredibly bizarre scenario is unfolding where ves have ves. Why must they acknowledge individuals who are not Demon Lords, the ¡®Masters of Demons¡¯, as their masters?¡± The other Demon Lords started murmuring. A majority of the Demon Lords were nodding in agreement. When Paimon argued for the abolition of very based on people¡¯s rights, most of the people present just scoffed; however, when Vassago and Marbas began to discuss the practicalities, the atmosphere gradually shifted to agreement. Paimon bit her lips as if she were frustrated. I let out an inward sigh. Although I understood how Paimon felt, this was an obvious conclusion. ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s say you guys are right.¡± Barbatos grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s say that we abolish very between demons for themon good. Fine. What about humans, then? Are you saying that we can¡¯t enve humans either?¡± The Demon Lords stirred again. ¡°The humans are a separate matter¡±, ¡°There aren¡¯t a lot of human ves in the demon world anyway, so shouldn¡¯t it be fine to make them an exception?¡±, etc., a majority of them agreed with Barbatos. Most Demon Lords are hostile toward humans, so this was also an obvious reaction. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to go out of our way to give those lowly humans freedom as well.¡± ¡°The Neutral Faction is of the same opinion. I believe this must be approached from a different angle.¡± Marbas receded a step and made his reservation about the matter clear. He most likely believes that the diplomatic state of the continent has to be observed first. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± During all this, Paimon was clenching her knees tightly. Barbatos started to pace around Paimon with a smirk. ¡°Naturally, I am of the same opinion as my fellow kin. The human race is the exception. However, it almost feels like there¡¯s a spy hiding among us. A certain girl went out of her way to say something like ¡®rational beings¡¯ instead of specifically saying demons.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Oi, Paimon. Let me ask you a question. Do you think very should abolished for the humans as well?¡± Everyone¡¯s gazes focused on Paimon. Paimon red at Barbatos with an absolutely frigid gaze. ¡°Yes. Thisdy believes that humans should also be free.¡± ¡°Traitor!¡± Among the ins Faction Demon Lords, Eligos stood up and pointed his finger at Paimon. Once this happened, the rest of the ins Faction Demon Lords also stood up. ¡°She¡¯s a whore who has forgotten the ideals of the Crescent Alliance!¡± ¡°So the rumors about her going around spreading her legs to the humans were true!¡± At this point, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords stood up in retaliation. The imperial pce was instantly filled with angry shouting. ¡°This fucking dog, what did you say to Big Sis Paimon just now!? Let¡¯s find out if you can still wave that tongue around after you¡¯ve been decapitated!¡± ¡°What nonsense are you bbering when your ins Faction has spread its legs to that retarded Emperor over there! Isn¡¯t Barbatos the one getting fucked by the Emperor every night?¡± ¡°These bastards must not care about their lives with how they are pping their lips.¡± Haa. I let out a sigh. How is it that our meetings always end up like this whenever they¡¯re held? I turned to give Marbas a wearisome gaze and saw that he was also letting out a tired sigh. We exchanged nces. ¡®Sir Marbas, please stop those dogs in heat.¡¯ ¡®I am not their nanny. Why must I waste my time trying to stop them every time this happens?¡¯ ¡®If not you, who else could possibly control these idiots?¡¯ ¡®You do it. To be honest, I am already at my wit¡¯s end because of your lovers.¡¯ ¡­¡­This was roughly the conversation that was implicitly exchanged between us. I let out another sigh. Marbas was the one who managed the state of affairs while I was absent from the Empire. It¡¯d be silly to say that this indebted me to him, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that my responsibilities were forced onto him. I have no choice but to step forward here¡­¡­. I opened my mouth. ¡°Please quiet down, everyone.¡± Sitri was the first one to close her mouth. Soon after, Vassago, Gamigin, Paimon, and Barbatos also went quiet. This was followed by Brother Zepar and Brother Beleth sitting back down. The high-ranking Demon Lords and the excessively hotheaded Demon Lords had all gone silent at practically the same time. Once they did, the remaining lesser Demon Lords slowly followed suit. Several Demon Lords looked around in confusion once they realized the room had suddenly gotten quieter. They soon caught on to the situation and awkwardly took their seats. It took only 30 seconds for the pce to be quiet. ¡°I trust you are all cognizant of the fact that the demon world¡¯s archdukes had conspired with Great Demon Lord Baal to deliberately engineer the failure of our Crescent Alliance. Their deception began long before we became divided into the ins Faction, Mountain Faction, and Neutral Faction.¡± I met the gazes of each and every Demon Lord. ¡°The archdukes are our enemy.¡± Regardless of their factions, Demon Lords are all extremely prideful. ¡°I am hoping that an existence simr to the archdukes never appears again. There is only one sure way of doing so. We must fundamentally close off the power and wealth of other demons except for us Demon Lords.¡± In order to persuade every one of them, I can¡¯t rely on beliefs or profits, I have to use their pride. ¡°Let us show the archdukes their ce for trying to go against us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Of course, there are still dogs who do not know their ce. It is highly unlikely that they willply, even if we were tomand them to liberate their ves. I am certain that some will even plead to make exceptions for humans. If we were to dere goblins as exceptions, the archdukes would promptly seek to acquire as many goblins as possible, and the same would hold true if we were to grant humans an exception.¡± I grinned. ¡°We must not allow our enemies to have even a single exception.¡± Thorough obedience. Desperate retribution. ¡°Only we Demon Lords have the right to rule the world.¡± Immediately after, a vote was held for the abolishment of very. All matters are settled with votes during Walpurgis Nights. However, not everyone has the right to vote. Only the seven individuals appointed as electors can vote. Therefore, as the Count Ptine, I can¡¯t participate in the vote. Moreover, a unanimous agreement is required for a policy to get passed. I acted in the Emperor¡¯s stead as I received the votes from the seven Demon Lords appointed as electors. This wasn¡¯t an anonymous vote. Each voter¡¯s name was revealed with their votes. ¡°I will announce the result of the vote. ¡­¡­Marbas, one vote for abolishment.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Marbas nodded. There was a deep meaning behind Marbas¡¯ gaze. ¡°Gamigin, one vote for abolishment. Sitri, one vote for abolishment.¡± The Demon Lords quietly stirred. They were talking about how this was going to end up as a unanimous decision again. The subject matters brought up during Walpurgis Nights were usually discussed before the official meetings, so they believed it would be the same this time. It was in this atmosphere that my expression went stiff. ¡°¡­¡­Vassago, one vote against abolishment.¡± The sound of murmuring grew much louder. This was the first time Vassago had ever voted against something. I furrowed my brows as I continued to read the results. ¡°Zepar, one vote against abolishment. Paimon, one vote for abolishment.¡± I turned to look at Barbatosst. The ends of Barbatos¡¯ lips were raised. ¡°¡­¡­Barbatos, one vote against abolishment.¡± The pce became even nosier. Barbatos and Brother Zepar had voted against the matter that I was in favor of. The three of us always had the same opinion. The same went for Vassago. ¡°¡­¡­4 votes for and 3 votes against. With this, the total abolishment of very has been rejected.¡± For the first time ever. A subject matter came to an end with a divided opinion. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Yeah, I just decided to rest over the weekend so this chapter came outte. I¡¯m not sick anymore, but I do have a runny nose still. We¡¯re drawing near chapter 400 now, which means that we¡¯re almost a hundred chapters from reaching the end of the WN. As someone who managed to avoid all the spoilers, I¡¯m looking forward to seeing how this goes. In any case, nothing much else to say so I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 395: The Dripping Night (4) Chapter 395: The Dripping Night (4) ¡°Let us proceed to the next agenda.¡± I impassively continued to the next topic. I absolutely couldn¡¯t show a bitter or displeased look on my face in this situation. I have to quickly get past it as if it isn¡¯t a big deal. The more I appear flustered, the more the Demon Lords will think that the leadership on our side is divided. And keep this in mind ¨C there is no leadership that looks more ipetent than leadership that appears divided. Leaders must always wear a mask so that their true intentions are inscrutable. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Unfortunately, it seems Paimon didn¡¯t get the memo. Paimon¡¯s eyes looked like they were spewing outva. She was ring at Barbatos so intensely, that it felt like she wanted to whip Barbatos to death right this instant. On the other hand, Barbatos was smirking at Paimon with an expression that looked like it was asking ¡®What? Are you frustrated?¡¯ ¡°¡­¡­Tonight¡¯s Walpurgis Night shall be adjourned here. I would like to thank everyone who participated today.¡± In the end, the atmosphere remained tense until the meeting concluded. The Demon Lords started to leave in groups of threes and twos. I couldn¡¯t hear exactly what they were saying, but it was obvious what they were whispering about. Damn it. I gestured at Vassago with a nce before stepping out of the room. As I was slowly calming down my frustration in the hallway, Vassago soon approached me. I didn¡¯t even turn to face Vassago as I muttered. ¡°What is your true motive?¡± ¡°Barbatos came to mest night and told me to vote against it.¡± Vassago leaned against the wall and pulled out his pipe. He was a man who originally didn¡¯t smoke, but at some point, he had picked up a habit of smoking like me. Vassago exhaled a puff of smoke. ¡°I thought you were indirectly conveying your message to me through Barbatos, but seeing as to how you¡¯ve invited me here like this, I see you werepletely unaware. How does it feel, oh great Dantalian? How does it feel to be betrayed by a trusted lover?¡± Vassago let out a mockingugh. I sighed. ¡°Is that why you deliberately gave a contrasting opinion at first?¡± At the start of the meeting, Vassago voiced a contrary opinion from Barbatos. Thanks to this, they seeded in giving the impression of not being on the same side. The reason why Vassago had voted against abolishment was because he was against the plete¡¯ abolishment of very. In other words, he was against abolishing very for both demons and humans together¡­¡­. This is probably how most people will interpret his decision. Vassago nodded. ¡°Barbatos gave me a script and told me to voice an opposing opinion at first.¡± ¡°So that you can give her an opening to bring up the topic of human very next?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± We quietly exchanged words with our backs against the wall. Instead of looking at each other, our gazes were both fixed on the empty space in front of us. We both knew very well that there was no need for us to go out of our way to make gestures and looks to intimidate the other party. ¡°Vassago, you have made a mistake.¡± ¡°Considering the situation, it seems I have.¡± ¡°I have always expressed my intentions directly to you. Openly. Face to face. Barbatos may be my lover, but there is no way I would ¡®use¡¯ her to convey messages to you, is there?¡± I gnashed my teeth. ¡°Barbatos is not my messenger, and you are not my subordinate. Did you take me for someone who would convey messages through his lover due toziness? Did you think I would respect you that little?¡± ¡°I admit my mistake.¡± Vassago lowered his tone as he spoke. There was a slight hint of anger in his voice. ¡°As you know, you are an incredibly arrogant and conceited kid. A person like you making Barbatos act as your messenger did not strike me as strange at the time.¡± ¡°In that case, if you informed me as soon as you noticed something off¡ª.¡± ¡°But you are also at fault, Dantalian.¡± I turned to see Vassago ring at me more seriously than ever. ¡°I honestly never thought the day you would be incapable of controlling Barbatos would ever arrive. You¡¯ve been going around unting your rtionship with Barbatos publicly.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do not even think about denying this. The two of you strutted around as if the whole world were your living room. Hmph, this is why fools who stake their lives on things like love always end up with a broken nose sooner orter.¡± I quietly turned away and looked at the ground. I was implicitly agreeing that he was right. ¡°¡­¡­I never expected this to happen either.¡± ¡°What exactly did you not expect?¡± ¡°That Barbatos would do something like this without telling me.¡± Silence. I took my pipe out of my pocket. Once I did, Vassago snapped his fingers, causing my pipe to light on its own. I didn¡¯t utter a word as I put my pipe in my mouth. ¡°The day that I console you will nevere. You¡¯re a son of a bitch whom I refuse to associate with, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I am aware.¡± ¡°However, it will be troubling for me if you be weaker. I bet my entire political life on you, you damned bastard. I even lost three spirit kings during our subjugation of Agares. Three spirit kings whom I worked thousands of years to get.¡± Vassago spat on the floor. ¡°Do not appear weak before me, kid. It¡¯s so sickening that I want to vomit. Even iffort is required in the world, you will never be a beneficiary of thatfort. What an unpleasant feeling¡­¡­.¡± There was nothing I could say. Vassago would probably get more upset if I apologized to him here. Silence was all that I could offer. Hence, I decided to change the topic. ¡°But it is strange. Why did Barbatos drag you into this?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°She must have known that I would see through her immediately. Yet, she chose to involve you. I am sure there is a hidden motive behind this.¡± I gazed into the air. ¡°If Barbatos refused on her own, it would have seemed like only the ins Faction were in opposition. But if your vote gets mixed in as well¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It would seem like each person voted based on their personal beliefs. I see. Is that what she was aiming for?¡± Vassago let out a snort. I stroked my chin. ¡°Yes. Barbatos wanted to throw an opposing vote against me, but she did not want to make it seem like she was antagonizing me. The reason she got you involved most likely lies there.¡± ¡°It appears that I was suddenly used in a domestic dispute. What a wretched pair.¡± Now there was only one question left. Why did Barbatos throw an opposing vote against me? Vassago offered his opinion in this regard. ¡°Perhaps this was her way of airing her grievances with you. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she was upset since you have been using the Empire however you pleased up to this point.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It is not like Barbatos is a child. There is no way she would air her grievances in such a manner. She could have voiced herints directly to me.¡± ¡°Hmph, she is a child.¡± Vassago pushed himself off the wall. ¡°Be it her appearance and her mind. She¡¯s someone who abandoned her sword and became a necromancer in order to save her subordinates. What else could she be but a child? Go ahead and have your domestic dispute between a kid and a child. It is so childish that I cannot go along with it.¡± Vassago then walked off after leaving those words. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I lingered in the hallway and smoked my pipe for a while before I eventually made my way somewhere else. To Barbatos¡¯ bedroom. * * * There wasn¡¯t a single guard in the hallway where Barbatos¡¯ bedroom was located. It was because this area was fully protected by transparent death knights. Once I started to approach from the other side of the hallway, the death knights red at me coldly. Their lolitaplex is irreparable. It didn¡¯t matter to me if the ck knights red at me or not. I didn¡¯t even knock as I pulled open the door to Barbatos¡¯ room. None of the death knights could stop me. The room was dark and didn¡¯t have even a single thread of light. In the shadow of this darkness, Barbatos was sat at the window sill staring at the night sky. Barbatos didn¡¯t even turn to look at me as she mused. ¡°You¡¯re surprisinglyte.¡± ¡°The shock was rather immense. I required some time to collect myself.¡± I sat down in one of the chairs in the room. ¡°Barbatos. You betrayed me.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Betrayal. That is a word that I never imagined ever being uttered between the two of us. I never would have dreamed of it. What is it that you want to say to me?¡± Barbatos spoke with a hint of amusement. ¡°What do I want to say? Do you really not know, Dantalian? I¡¯ve always known you¡¯re an idiot, but I didn¡¯t know your brain was this retarded.¡± ¡°I want to hear it from you directly.¡± I answered her curtly. Even I could tell that my tone was overflowing with anger. ¡°I can¡¯t figure out when we started hiding our thoughts from each other. Didn¡¯t we promise to share everything? Don¡¯t be cowardly, Barbatos. If you have something to say, don¡¯t beat around the bush and say the damn thing you want to say yourself! Take responsibility!¡± ¡°The coward here is you.¡± Barbatos snapped her head to me. Even in the darkness, Barbatos¡¯ golden eyes were glowing with rage. ¡°You put thisw forward for that bitch Paimon, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Did you think I wouldn¡¯t know? That I wouldn¡¯t notice and let it slide? Did you think I¡¯d be oblivious to the fact that the archdukes are just an excuse and that this is all for that bitch Paimon? Did you really believe I wouldn¡¯t find out?¡± Barbatos gnashed her teeth as she asked. ¡°Demon Lords have to be absolute¡­¡­. The archdukes must be shown punishment¡­¡­. These are all excuses. If you genuinely believed I would be tricked by these lies and agree with your stance, Dantalian, then you must think me a fool.¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± I spoke in a pained mutter. ¡°It¡¯s true that the archdukes must be punished. I was not lying.¡± ¡°Hah. Then why did you im that the humans can¡¯t be ves as well? Is that also an absolutely necessary measure?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos got up from the window sill. She walked up to me and grabbed me by the cor. ¡°I realized the truth as soon as I heard about this agenda. The fact that you were acting for that bitch Paimon¡¯s sake. If you had honestly told me the truth from the get-go, then yeah, I might¡¯ve turned a blind eye. Instead, you hid the truth from me and tried to y it off with nonsense¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression contorted. ¡°Who betrayed who first? Huh? Who hid their thoughts first? Even though you told me dozens of times that I¡¯m your number one and that you would never cherish Paimon more than me!¡± Son of a bitch, Barbatos spat as she brought her face closer to mine. ¡°Listen carefully. I can no longer watch you frolic around with Paimon. In the first ce, you¡¯re at fault here for trying to hold both me and Paimon at the same time! So make your choice. Is it going to be me or that bitch Paimon? Tell me right now¡­¡­!¡± Tears were welling in the corners of Barbatos¡¯ eyes. I was unable to open my mouth for a while. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Although Vassago sort of feels like a pushover, he¡¯s still respectable in his own rights, huh? He fully understands his position and the lengths he can go with his words. The situation with Barbatos does feel inevitable and I wonder how Dant will resolve it. Welp, this chapter was somewhatte cause of work overload. We finally got another EN trantor! It only took half a year since thatst guy! So cool! Thepany stopped actively looking for a new person since thatst guy because we didn¡¯t know if he was going to take the job or not. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t since he was that bad. I haven¡¯t reviewed the new guy¡¯s work yet, so I¡¯m not sure where he stands. We¡¯ll see this uing week, I guess. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 396: The Dripping Night (5) Chapter 396: The Dripping Night (5) ¡°¡­¡­Barbatos. I have always chosen you and I will continue to do so.¡± ¡°Kill that bitch Paimon. With your own two hands.¡± Barbatos growled like a wolf. I stared intently into Barbatos¡¯ eyes. It wouldn¡¯t be wise to refute the other party when in this kind of situation. Barbatos was currently extremely worked up and forcing me to make a choice. I have to disy a docile gesture here. ¡°I will kill Paimon whenever you desire.¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s no problem. That¡¯s the one thing I want most in the world, after all.¡± ¡°However, why she has to be killed now, is something you have to persuade me on.¡± Barbatos furrowed her brows. ¡°Persuade? Did you just tell me to persuade you?¡± ¡°Paimon is the head of the Mountain Faction. Although she has lost some support, she is still incredibly popr. A person in that kind of position cannot be killed thoughtlessly, Barbatos. If you do not wish for the Demon Lord Army to fall apart, that is.¡± It was my turn to bring my face closer to Barbatos¡¯. I got so close to her that if either of us budged our heads even slightly, our lips would touch. Once my eyes got ustomed to the darkness, I could see Barbatos¡¯ face better. Barbatos¡¯ cheeks were red. It was evident that she had been drinking before I arrived. The scent of herbs and alcohol brushed past my nose. ¡°All I hear is you telling me that you can¡¯t kill her.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve made it clear: you must provide apelling reason why she has to be killed right this instant. It has barely been a year since the Demon Lord Army consolidated under amon banner. We have strategically posed as the Habsburg Empire to leverage this guise until we amass enough strength. And yet, you¡¯re telling me to throw all that into the dirt?¡± I raised the corners of my mouth. ¡°Is that your wish? You have quite the sophisticated preference.¡± ¡°Watch your tongue.¡± ¡°I¡ªI devoted all my sweat and blood in order to create this Empire!¡± I gripped Barbatos¡¯ hand that was holding my cor with my right hand. Barbatos, don¡¯t think for even a second that you¡¯re the only person in the world who can threaten someone. We¡¯ve been equals for quite some time now. ¡°Who was it that brought sess to the Crescent Alliance Expedition which had been throwing out the lives of troops for two thousand years? Me! Who took the lead to subjugate Baal who had deceived the Demon Lord Army for three thousand years? It was me! Who established an empire to ensure our victory does not fade into a fleeting miracle but etches itself forever in history? Me! It was me, Barbatos! Amidst the scattered blood on the ground, there is no blood that did note from my hands, and amid the screams that fill the sky, there is no scream that did not originate from my de!¡± I removed Barbatos¡¯ hand from my cor. ¡°There is only one reason why the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction are able to coexist like this despite the trivial factional disputes between you two. ¡ªIt is because I am dating both of you, damn it!¡± A loud audible p rang out as Barbatos struck my cheek. My head was turned away, but I immediately brought it back. If you¡¯re going to hit me, then hit me as much as you like. Even if you take out a sword and pierce my heart, you cannot stop my mouth. ¡°That¡¯s right. The Empire is able to maintain itself because I am sleeping with the two of you. This is the truth. Or what? Have you be afraid of facing the truth, Barbatos? It seems you have be quite a coward during our time apart for half a year.¡± ¡°You son of a bitch¡­¡­!¡± ¡°And you¡¯re the person who fell for that son of a bitch for being a son of a bitch.¡± Barbatos pped me again, but nothing changed. The only thing that was different was the taste of blood spreading in my mouth. Something must have gotten torn somewhere inside my mouth. This was actually good timing. The smell of blood from my mouth should help calm Barbatos down. ¡°Do you think I became brothers with Beleth for no reason? Do you think I became lovers with Sitri because I had nothing better to do? Do you believe that I became close with the nastiest man in the ins Faction and the most short-tempered woman in the Mountain Faction out of pure ¡®coincidence¡¯?¡± Barbatos raised her hand again, but I predicted it this time. People say three times the charm, but I have never lived my life as an idiot who¡¯d let the same thing happen three times. I had no desire to let myself get struck for the third time. I grabbed Barbatos¡¯ wrist with my left hand. Both of Barbatos¡¯ hands had been caught by me now. We lost bnce once Barbatos tried to struggle. I used my advantage over her to push her to the ground. ¡°I am mediating the factions while throwing away my feelings and body!¡± I pinned Barbatos below me as I shouted. ¡°I poured out my friendship, dedication, and affection! Every possible thing that could be seen as my sincerity! Yes, thanks to this, I¡¯ve be the most wretched man in the world! What a wonderful feeling! But what does it matter? My trivial emotions are so insignificant that they can be sated by a ss of wine!¡± Be it Paimon or you, Barbatos, everyone is too consumed by their emotions. I know. Emotions can be strong at times. It is thanks to that intensity that emotions are sometimes mistaken for one¡¯s sincerity. However, sincerity and the truth are different! Saying something sincerely doesn¡¯t make it the truth! No matter how much you shout about getting rid of Paimon, that doesn¡¯t automatically make it so that it¡¯d be okay to get rid of her! Why do you all disregard this simple truth? What¡¯s so important about a person¡¯s emotions? Jealousy? Resentment? Is it fine to destroy the Empire for those emotions? Rip apart the Demon Lord Army that had finally united as one? Are you saying that with a sane mind, Barbatos!? ¡°And yet, here you are, telling me to destroy the Empire with my own two hands. Fine, Barbatos. I made a promise to prioritize you always. If this is something you genuinely desire, then I will dlyply. But¡­¡­.¡± I clenched my jaw. ¡°Don¡¯t you think you should at least try to convince me?¡± The sound leaking out from my mouth was closer to groaning. I was chewing on my words over and over again before spitting them out. ¡°You want to step on the Empire I created? Sure. You want to make it so that the sweat and blood I had shed were all for naught? Fine. However, don¡¯t you think you should at least try to convince me, Barbatos¡­¡­?¡± At that moment, a single strand of something flowed down from Barbatos¡¯ eyes. ¡°It hurts, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I know that, despite going through an assassination attempt in Batavia, you still tried to make that republican meeting or whatever sessful for Paimon¡¯s sake. In the end, you almost died because of Paimon.¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression was contorted. It was the first time since the day she learned of Paimon¡¯s betrayal during the Crescent Alliance and angrily stormed out into the endless rain of arrows that her face had be this much of a mess. ¡°It was also Paimon who threatened your life the first day we met. She¡¯s also the culprit who dragged you to the bottom during the Crescent Alliance. The same thing happenedst winter as well¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine with dying to Paimon. That¡¯s something I can ept. But Dantalian¡­¡­if you¡­¡­ If you end up dying because of Paimon¡­¡­I will truly resent everything.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t let that happen, you bastard¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos¡¯ golden eyes were hazy as they were drenched in tears. I couldn¡¯t say anything as no words came to mind. ¡°If you end up dying, then it will undoubtedly be because of Paimon. I don¡¯t even want to see that bitch¡¯s face anymore¡­¡­. Please kill Paimon.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t die.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie!¡± Barbatos shouted. ¡°One wrong step is enough to kill you! Don¡¯t try to reassure me with lies!¡± There was no way out of this. Barbatos doesn¡¯t know that the assassination attempt was fake. I kept it a secret, after all. Even if I revealed to her now that it was fake, that probably wouldn¡¯t be enough to convince her. She¡¯d ask why I had put on such a performance and I would have no choice but to answer that it was for Paimon¡¯s sake. Although the situation could probably be resolved with little effort if I lied to her¡­¡­. That was something I couldn¡¯t do. I genuinely do not wish to be a fake person to Barbatos¡­¡­. I¡¯m fine with performing before Paimon and tricking Ivar with lies. But when ites to Barbatos and Lapis. To them, I can¡¯t possibly do that¡­¡­. What could I have aplished without them? It¡¯s impossible for me to trick them. in and simple, it cannot be done¡­¡­. ¡°Paimon will ruin you, Dantalian! I know she will¡­¡­. If you won¡¯t kill her, then I¡¯ll kill the bitch myself!¡± ¡°No, Barbatos. Think about the Empire¡­¡­our new Demon Lord Army.¡± I barely managed to hold back the feeling that was surging up my throat. However, I couldn¡¯t stop the excess from leaking out. ¡°For our future¡­¡­both Baal and Agares have died. Conquering the continent is impossible without the Mountain Faction¡¯s help. Be rational¡­¡­and keep your head on your shoulders.¡± ¡°What point does that future have if you aren¡¯t around?¡± Barbatos spoke. For some reason, I couldn¡¯t see her expression properly because it was hazy. ¡°You¡¯re as important to me as the entire continent, Dantalian. It¡¯s fucking shitty, but that¡¯s how it¡¯s be. I can¡¯t control it. Conquering the continent¡­¡­may be important to me, but you¡¯re just as important¡­¡­. I can¡¯t choose only one side¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine if we can¡¯t conquer the continent in a hundred years. It¡¯s fine if it bes a dream that can¡¯t be aplished in two hundred years, a thousand years, two thousand years, or even three thousand years¡­¡­. It doesn¡¯t matter how long it takes, so please stay at my side¡­¡­. Don¡¯t leave me by myself anymore¡­¡­.¡± And then, Barbatos raised her head and pressed her lips against mine. Somethingnded below Barbatos¡¯ eyes. It had overflowed from the edges of my eyes and spilled down. It flowed down Barbatos¡¯ pale cheek as it descended. ¡ªWhere did things go wrong? If this is the wrong question, it would probably be more appropriate to ask, ¡°Since when did I try to hide the fact that something had gone wrong?¡± It was uncertain who withdrew their lips first. It could have either been me or Barbatos. However, the one thing that was certain was the fact that I stood up afterward. Our faces were both a mess. I could tell that my expression had escaped my control. The Count Ptine and Regent of the Empire were not in this room. It was simply two individuals drenched in moisture. I gazed at Barbatos. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos, shook her head. I couldn¡¯t endure any longer and rushed out of the room. It was alreadyte in the night, so the pce hallways were empty. The only thing present was the sound of my footsteps and my shadow following after those steps. Daisy was quietly standing in front of my room. She must¡¯ve heard my approach as she bowed. ¡°Wee back, Fath¡­¡­?¡± Once she raised her head and saw my face, she paused mid-sentence. No, it would be more appropriate to say that her words were cut off. Nevertheless, I couldn¡¯t see Daisy¡¯s face that well. In truth, there was no reason for me to look at it carefully. I ignored her as I threw the door to my room open and shut myself inside. I grabbed a nearby bottle. It didn¡¯t matter what I grabbed, as I simply wanted to grab whatever I could. I then tossed it. The sound of ceramics shattering echoed. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Been a bit busy pre-winter holiday trying to get as much work done as possible. Will also be a bit busy this holiday since I n to spend some time with my dad. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas. I¡¯ll try to get the next chapter out before New Year¡¯s. Chapter 397: The Dripping Night (6) Chapter 397: The Dripping Night (6) ¦¯ ¦¯ ¦¯ I rampaged in whatever way I could. I picked up a nearby chair and swung it against the ground several times. I didn¡¯t have any sort of goal. I was just carrying out the repetitive motion of swinging something. The chair was sturdy since it was made of high-quality wood. It seemed like it could withstand hundreds of hits without breaking. But contrary to my expectations, the chair couldn¡¯t endure even twenty strikes before it snapped. All things can be broken with ease. I reached my hand out to the ornamental sword on the wall. It didn¡¯t take long for me to unsheathe it and begin swinging it around wildly. Things with life can die easily and things without life can break easily. Feathers scattered into the air as I sliced into my bed. Feathers, so many feathers descended from above. Something fell with a ng. Before I knew it, the handle of the sword had slipped out from my right hand. At the same moment, the strength from my legs gave out as I fell to my knees like a puppet that had its strings cut. Feathers brushed past my chest, cheeks, and palms. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I could make out the faint outline of an individual beyond the cascade of feathers that was blinding my vision. Standing in the distance was Daisy with her ck attire, ck hair, and eyes as dark as a pair of wells. ¡°Do not utter even a single word.¡± Daisy slowly approached me. I grabbed the sword that had fallen to the floor. I nned on stabbing Daisy in the heart if she dared to say something ridiculous. It was an irrational thought, but I was currently in an irrational state of mind. Daisy was basicallyparable to a hero now, but she couldn¡¯t retaliate against me. Go ahead. Try to say something snide. I¡¯ll stab you in an¡ª. Pop, a clear sound rang out. Daisy had pulled the cork out of a wine bottle she was holding in her arms. She held the bottle upside down above my head, and, naturally, the wine poured down on my head. The wine flowed down my hair and jawline. The red liquid soaked my face, clothes, the ground, and the feathers that were scattered around me. During all this, Daisy continued to look at me indifferently. It didn¡¯t take long for the bottle to be empty. Once it was, Daisy went to grab another bottle from the wine storage in the room. Pop, the sound of a cork being pulled out echoed again, followed by the content of the bottle pouring down on my head again. One, two, three, four times. It wasn¡¯t until the tenth bottle that Daisy stopped. The floor was soaked in red. ¡°Have you cooled down, Father?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is approximately the amount of blood I lost while receiving the heart-engravement surgery.¡± I scoffed. Or perhaps, it was more like I was letting air out from my lungs. ¡°It was only a third of this.¡± ¡°Since you have a habit of exaggerating one thing as ten, it would not exactly be a lie if I were to inte something by only three times the amount.¡± I took out a handkerchief from my pocket, but it waspletely soaked in wine as well. Seeing this, Daisy handed me a white handkerchief. I muttered in a passing tone as I used the handkerchief to wipe my face. ¡°More have to be killed. I¡¯ll have to kill a lot more than this.¡± I became coolheaded. I could clearly see what had to be done and how it had to be done. It was so clear that it felt like it was drawn before me. Normally, I would consult with Lapis to see if a n has any holes, but it was so clear this time that I didn¡¯t need any consultation. This will entirely be my judgment. ¡°Daisy, call Paimon here.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Daisy didn¡¯t appear even remotely confused as she followed my order. I sat on my ruined bed as I awaited Paimon. Paimon entered my room after about twenty minutes. She must have been sleeping as she was in her sleepwear. ¡°My word. Dantalian?¡± Paimon was taken aback as soon as she entered the room. Every piece of furniture was destroyed and the floor was covered in shards, feathers, and wine. It wasn¡¯t surprising that she¡¯d be shocked. ¡°What is all this? What happened here¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Barbatos betrayed me.¡± I smiled faintly. ¡°Barbatos, betrayed me.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± How did my expression look in Paimon¡¯s eyes, I wonder. Paimon closed her mouth and approached me. She took a seat at the edge of the bed and carefully pulled me into her arms. ¡°It is okay, Dantalian. Barbatos simply has a different belief. Of all things, it just had to be a belief that ispletely opposite to ours¡­¡­. A belief that child can never abandon. Yes, Barbatos is that kind of Demon Lord.¡± ¡°Paimon¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Fufu, we may have to take a step back here.¡± Paimon said in a bright tone. She was most likely doing her best to sound bright. It was none other than Paimon who should have been feeling the worst about the abolishment of very not going through. Honestly, I didn¡¯t care much whether the ve system was abolished or not. I was proceeding ordingly because I had decided to silently bear Paimon¡¯s beliefs on her behalf. ¡°It is fine if we push the freedom of human ves back a little. If we alter the conditions slightly to only free the demon ves, I am sure the notion will pass without any issue during the next Walpurgis Night.¡± ¡°But, Paimon, are you really okay with that?¡± I muttered with my head leaning against Paimon¡¯s chest. ¡°If that happens, the archdukes will start to purchase human ves en masse. Demons will be freed, but the humans will suffer proportionally to that freedom. Are you fine with that?¡± ¡°No. There is no way that thisdy would be fine with that.¡± Paimon responded in a tone that sounded as if she were suppressing something. ¡°But this is much better than very remaining intact in its entirety.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Thisdy knows that the world will not change all at once. Even if it appears as such, you will find countless reformations and sacrifices behind the curtains.¡± Paimon softly kissed my forehead. Our eyes interlocked. Paimon was crying, but there was still a smile on her lips. It was a sad smile. ¡°Dantalian, we are not schrs who get to casually watch over history. We are the ones who have to shoulder history. Even if it is only a single step, it is a step we have no choice but to take. Since everyone else refuses to move¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We can still persuade the archdukes.¡± I looked straight into Paimon¡¯s eyes. ¡°Human ves may be allowed officially, but we can ban it unofficially.¡± ¡°How would we do that?¡± ¡°Paimon, I intend to settle things with the archdukes. If we ban demon ves, the archdukes¡¯ forces will inevitably shrink in an instant. In that case, we simply have topensate them for this.¡± Paimon tilted her head. ¡°What kind ofpensation?¡± ¡°We can distribute the territories of the six Demon Lords we previously purged to the archdukes.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Paimon¡¯s eyes widened. During the previous purge, we had removed six Demon Lords and eleven archdukes. The six Demon Lords naturally possessednd on the continent. At the moment, theirnd has been returned to the Habsburg Empire. ¡°B-But, Dantalian, the archdukes would suffer fewer losses if we give them that. In the first ce, we brought up the abolishment of very to weaken the archdukes. This would be like putting the cart before the horse.¡± ¡°It was nothing but justification anyway.¡± I answered firmly. ¡°Our true goal is to abolish very. Weakening the archdukes was just a justification we used to convince the Neutral and ins Factions.¡± ¡°Yes, that is why I am saying that the other Demon Lords will oppose us greatly if we try to distributend to the archdukes.¡± ¡°We will keep it a secret.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Paimon closed her mouth. ¡°There is no need to tell the other Demon Lords. This is by all ounts an unofficial exchange. If the archdukes ept our proposal and give up on having human ves, we will leave the management of these territories to them. We do not have to appoint them as lords. We simply have to assign them as proxy lords.¡± ¡°In other words¡­¡­you are saying that we should deceive the other Demon Lords.¡± Paimon¡¯s eyes narrowed. There was an air of seriousness behind them. ¡°That is a dangerous trade, Dantalian. If the other Demon Lords find out about it, they will criticize us greatly.¡± ¡°I know a way. Please trust in me.¡± The two of us silently stared at one another. Shortly after, Paimon nodded. ¡°I understand. What does thisdy have to do?¡± ¡°I will have to borrow your ¡®trust¡¯ for a moment, Paimon.¡± We exchanged whispers as the long night began. * * * News about the ve abolishment proposal falling through spread in an instant. The archdukes were perplexed. They had already been firmly threatened by me, so they believed that the matter would naturally go through. They most likely want to know how events are unfolding. During this moment, rumors that Barbatos and I were opposing each other intensely started to circte. ¡®Recently, Demon Lord Dantalian has practically monopolized authority over the Demon Lord Army. Barbatos, displeased by this, voiced herint to Dantalian and the two ended up at each other¡¯s neck¡­¡­.¡¯ This was the gist of the rumor. The rumor was mostly wrong, but it got the core point right. There was a cold war ensuing between Barbatos and I. I haven¡¯t seen her properly since we fought that night. We¡¯ve talked throughmunication orbs, but that was it. Even if we encountered one another in the pce, we would act like we didn¡¯t as we passed each other by. Thus, the rumor seemed rather credible. It was true that Barbatos openly gave an opposing vote against me during the Walpurgis Night, and it was also true that we were acting more coldly to one anotherpared to before. However, it was probably difficult for the archdukes to simply trust the rumors immediately. The archdukes are extremely wary of me, Dantalian. It¡¯d be too risky for them to trust a rumor they happened to hear. It has only been half a year since more than ten archdukes were purged. ¡°Send a letter of reconciliation to the archdukes.¡± I invited the archdukes to the imperial pce. The reason was simple. This was to apologize to the archdukes for personally threatening themst time. The 15 archdukes that were still alive sent their responses. If you remove all the modifiers and only look at the content of their responses, ites out as follows: ¡®I ept your apology, but I am not willing to go to the imperial pce.¡¯ The archdukes were doubtful as they suspected that I was scheming something again. They likely thought that I was plotting to eliminate them all at once, akin to thest New Year¡¯s party. It was probably a prevalent sentiment among the archdukes ¨C that they could ce trust in the other Demon Lords, but not in Dantalian. At that moment, the archduke of Serpent Hell gave a suggestion. ¡®If the gathering is held at my pce instead of the Habsburg imperial pce, I will dlyply.¡¯ The other archdukes agreed to this proposal. In other words, they were telling me toe to their ying field instead of making theme to the continent. There was an implication here saying, ¡®If you want to sincerely apologize to us, then show your sincerity¡¯. Some of the archdukes most likely expected that I would refuse. However, I dly sent a response agreeing to their proposal. I did so saying that as the person apologizing, I must naturally put in the effort to show my sincerity, and as a Demon Lord, there is no reason for me to be reluctant about going down to the demon world. Except I attached a condition. I informed them that I would be visiting with Paimon. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I actually don¡¯t remember if thest chapter came out before or after Christmas and I feel toozy to check while writing this. In any case, I¡¯m releasing this on New Year¡¯s Eve, so uh, happy New Year¡¯s everyone. Man, Daisy is so cool¡­ My one dream would be for Volume 6 of the LN toe out and for Daisy to be introduced. Dant and Daisy have such a level of mutual understanding, that it¡¯s great. In any case, couldn¡¯t really get much work done this past week. Went to visit my dad on Christmas and he was actually really happy to see me. The nurses even mentioned that he seemed more energetic. I really hope my brother will be able to make the time to visit him as well. In any case, 2024 is upon us. I¡¯ll see you guys next year. Chapter 398: The Dripping Night (7) Chapter 398: The Dripping Night (7) The archdukes were actually delighted to hear that Paimon would be joining me. No matter how sincerely I apologized, the archdukes probably wouldn¡¯t be able to feel that sincerity from me. But it was a different story if Paimon was also involved. If someone as popr as Paimon were to bow her head, the archdukes could save face. This was just another form of politics. I made all the preparations necessary. Ivar was going to attend to Paimon while I was going to be attended by Daisy. Ivar and Daisy looked like innocent young girls on the surface, but theirbat powers were actually immense. On one hand, there was a puppeteer who could control fiftybat dolls at the same time. On the other hand, there was a hero who was equipped with Baal¡¯s greatsword. You could call them the greatest weapons. There was no one more reliable than these two to protect my well-being. ¡°Sir Dantalian, I am still worried.¡± However, it wasn¡¯t enough to appease the concerns of my diligent Minister of State Affairs. ¡°As ofte, the demon world does not have a favorable opinion of you.¡± ¡°What? Are you worried the archdukes might try to assassinate me?¡± ¡°You have already experienced an assassination attempt once.¡± Lapis said as she adjusted my mantle. ¡°It is true that Miss Ivar and Miss Daisy are capable, but just in case¡ª.¡± ¡°There will be no ¡®in case¡¯.¡± I gently held Lapis¡¯ hand. It was only natural that she would be worried. It was none other than Lapis who got wounded in my stead when that assassination attempt for my head yed out in the demon world. It was thanks to her covering for me that I came out unharmed. However, I was going to the demon world without Lapis this time¡­¡­. ¡°Excluding that one asion, every other assassination attempt that happened was nned out by me. Lapis, death maye for me one day, but now is not that time. The archdukes are notplete idiots, after all. They are decently smart and decently stupid.¡± ¡°Recently¡­¡­.¡± Lapis opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself. It¡¯s extremely rare for Lapis, who¡¯s always precise and tidy, to cut herself off mid-sentence. I generously waited for Lapis to continue. Lapis closed her eyes. She then appeared to resolve herself as she looked straight at me and spoke. ¡°My mother was a subus who sold her body.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I am the half-blood offspring of a subus prostitute and some unknown human. After only half a month since being born, my mother abandoned me and ran off somewhere. I grew up hopping from stable to stable within a vige.¡± Lapis had never told me about her past before. I also never brought up my past. It was because we implicitly agreed that we didn¡¯t need to do something like that. This was¡­¡­the first time ever Lapis was bringing up her past. ¡°The other demons treated me as a curse and an embarrassment. Subi are already scorned as whores, but adding the lowly blood of humans on top of that made it worse. The term ¡®untouchable¡¯ was probably created for people like me. There was not a single day that I did not have food waste for my meals, and there was not a single day that I did not cover my body with tattered rags.¡± I had a feeling this was the case. I didn¡¯t know her mother was a prostitute, but I knew Lapis most likely did not have a good childhood since the moment she told me she had human blood in her. That was why I deliberately did not ask her about her past. I decided that I would allow her to speak if she were to ever bring it up herself, but I would never be the one to ask first. We have a certain rtionship between the two of us and something like my curiosity is entirely trivial within it. ¡°One day, I was struck in the head by a stone that was tossed by one of the vigers and passed out. When I opened my eyes, I could not tell how many days had passed. All I could tell was that my throat was extremely parched.¡± Lapis undid her hair ties. Her hair, once neatly tied into pigtails, now hung loose. Lapis turned her head slightly and revealed an area on the back of her head that had always been concealed with her hand. There was a distinct scar mark. ¡°My eyelids felt heavy and I felt something sticky clinging to the entire back of my neck. I barely managed to crawl to a nearby stream to drink some water. It was then that I saw my reflection in the water. My entire upper body waspletely covered in blood.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That was the first day I yearned for authority.¡± Lapis stared at me with her usual impassive look. ¡°The Keuncuska Firm was the only group in the demon world that evaluated individuals solely based on their abilities, regardless of social status. Of course, unspoken biases exist even in the firm, but I did not care. My goal was to first attain a certain position with Keuncuska.¡± Sir Dantalian, Lapis said my name. ¡°Sir Dantalian, it was not a coincidence that I was ced in charge of you. You were basically treated like a beggar in the Keuncuska Firm. Traders higher in rank than me refused, refused, and refused until the position finally came down to me at the bottom of the hierarchy.¡± I smiled bitterly. If you think about it, the very act of assigning a girl with mixed blood between a subus and a human as a Demon Lord¡¯s handler could be considered extreme nder. Normally, beastmen, who are considered of noble lineage in the demon world, are assigned to Demon Lords. On one hand, there was the Rank 71 Demon Lord who wasparable to a beggar. On the other hand, there was an untouchable of the demon world, a mixed blood between a subus prostitute and a human. You could say it was a match made in heaven. ¡°I immediately epted the position. The reason was simple. If you were one day able to acquire authority, I would be able to ride on your coattails. It was a calcted approach and a choice I made to satisfy my desire for sess.¡± Simr to how Lapis was my only helper. I was also Lapis¡¯ only road to sess. We used each other and were fully aware of the fact. In other words, we weren¡¯t a lord and vassal, but partners. This was the reason why I would only concede to Lapis. ¡°When you devised Operation Minerva and dered that you would force both the human and demon armies into ruin, I agreed. Since it meant that if you are able to use the opening created by that chaos to obtain authority, I, too, would take another step to authority.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Indeed.¡± ¡°When you decided to crush the human viges and cities, steeled yourself for one massacre after another, and even inflicted harm upon yourself, I always nodded in response. I understood that these were the shortcuts to authority.¡± ¡ªTherefore. ¡°I am your aplice.¡± We are aplices for the deeds we have carried out. ¡°I have never once stood idly by for you while someone died, and I will not do so in the future. I, Lapis Lazuli, who was born to a faceless mother and a nameless father, will face my life with my own face and name.¡± Lapis spoke with absolute sincerity. The tiniest bit of emotion I could feel from her conveyed to me that her words were pure and genuine. ¡°I know that you have been drinking until dawn ever since the day you whipped Miss Laura. It does not matter if you hide the bottles under your bed. I also know that you had a section of the floor removed on the southwestern side of your room and got a small alcohol storage built there. I demolished itst night.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± I let out a refreshingugh. ¡°It is splendid that you quit doing drugs. Now it is time for you to quit alcohol as well.¡± ¡°All right.¡± I nodded. ¡°Do not try to take responsibility for everything on your own.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I will also do my utmost to endure, so¡ª.¡± ¡°I absolutely won¡¯t die.¡± Lapis neatly brought her hands together and bowed. ¡°Please have a safe trip, Sir Dantalian.¡± * * * An elderly man opened his arms in wee. ¡°It is a profound honor to have Your Highness grace my humble abode.¡± Among the archdukes ruling over the demon world, this man was the ruler of Serpent Hell. He was also the archduke with a reasonably good rtionship with me. I held my right hand out to the archduke who was bowing deeply. ¡°It has been a while, Archduke. How many years has it been since Ist visited?¡± ¡°Haha. Time is like flowing water. Five years have gone by in a sh.¡± The Serpent Archduke gratefully epted my hand in both of his and shook it respectfully. Previously, I had secretly filmed an SM video with Barbatos and used it to threaten the archdukes. There was a total of seven archdukes who had witnessed that memoria recording. All seven of these individuals were excluded from the previous purge. The demon world which originally had 26 archdukes lost 11 of them due to the purge. Now there were only 15 left. Among these survivors, seven of them shared a secret with me that they had to carry with them to their graves. The Serpent Archduke was naturally a part of those seven people. ¡°Ohh, Your Highness Paimon!¡± The Serpent Archduke raised his upper body and greeted the person next to me in a much more exaggerated manner. He bowed so deeply to Paimon, whose arm was linked with mine, that it felt like he would kiss the floor. ¡°This humble one greets the glory of demonkind, the mouthpiece of the weak, and the master of all honor and promises.¡± The Serpent Archduke gave an adept wink. ¡°Of course, if Your Highness allows me to add another title, I would also include that it is an honor to meet the ¡®most beautiful individual among all the Demon Lords¡¯.¡± ¡°Fufu, thisdy appreciates your sincere wee, Archduke.¡± Paimon giggled. The way that Paimon would smile with her eyes in moments like this was truly beautiful. ¡°In the end, the continent is a foreignnd. Even if it falls into ruin, the demon world will always be our homnd. While we Demon Lords are absent and advancing, the archdukes have always remained behind and protected our home so that we have a ce to return to. I am personally grateful for the loyalty disyed by the archdukes.¡± ¡°I am honored to receive such praise.¡± Paimon held out her hand. Once she did, the Archduke got down on one knee and kissed the back of Paimon¡¯s hand. There are several political gestures you could infer from this exchange. First, the Serpent Archduke greeted me before Paimon. This showed that he publicly prioritized me more than Paimon. Second, despite this, contrary to the short exchange with me, he spoke to Paimon much longer. By greeting me first and giving Paimon a bigger wee, he was trying to establish a sort of bnce. Third, Paimon returned the Archduke¡¯s big wee with a simrly big response. Furthermore, she put her hand forward to make the Archduke kiss it. I may have been greeted first, but Paimon was the one to be shown the utmost courtesy. In the end, any spectator who watched our exchange would believe that the Serpent Archduke had weed us equally. ¡°Your Highness Dantalian. Your Highness Paimon.¡± In gatherings such as this, there were always far more exchanges, whispers, confirmations of opinions, and acknowledgment of skills happening behind the scenes than what was outwardly apparent. Unlike the majority of Demon Lords who were inexperienced with politics, the archdukes were fundamentally seasoned in politics. ¡°Wee to this one¡¯s pce. I will guide you to where the other archdukes are gathered.¡± This was the demon world. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. A very nice moment between Dant and L. We don¡¯t have enough of those. I wonder if this is what the LN focused on the most for L¡¯s character. I hope everyone is having a good start to their 2024. Ourpany is apparently hiring another EN trantor? I thought they would¡¯ve stopped after thest guy in December, but it turns out we¡¯re getting one more person next week. I hope there¡¯s no foreboding reason behind this. It could be them trying to get rid of frencers by recing them with full-time workers. I guess we¡¯ll see. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 399: The Dripping Night (8) Chapter 399: The Dripping Night (8) We were led to the banquet hall of the pce by the Archduke. Excluding the Serpent Archduke, 14 archdukes were already seated. Half were vampires and elves, while the other half consisted of beastmen, centaurs, orcs, and goblins. This gave a clear view of what the top and bottom were like among the demon world races. All of the archdukes stood up and bowed respectfully. Paimon and I shook their hands one by one. ¡°You are beautiful as usual, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Your Highnesses are so radiant that your presence is enough to blind us.¡± After exchanging formalities, we sat at the seats of honor. Daisy and Ivar stood at our sides as our guards. ¡°You may all be seated.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± ¡°I will get straight to the point.¡± ¡°I would like to formally apologize foring at you all in such an imposing manner during thest ball. What I did was basically akin to disregarding the achievements and status you have all umted throughout a long period.¡± ¡°Your words are immeasurable, Your Highness.¡± The Serpent Archduke spoke as the representative of the others. ¡°How could one of the masters of demonkind lower their heads before humble servants such as ourselves? The acknowledgment of our efforts is more than enough of an honor.¡± ¡°I would like to thank your kind-heartedness once more. For demonkind.¡± I raised a ss of wine. Once I did, the archdukes responded in kind as they held up their cups. For demonkind, they repeated before drinking their wine. The servants went around to refill the cups that had be empty. Now then, it was time for the main course. ¡°The abolishment of very will be brought up once again at the next Walpurgis Night.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The reason it did not go through during thest meeting was due to a difference of opinion between the ins and Mountain Factions. The dispute was regarding whether humans should also be included among the ves to be freed. Furthermore.¡± I turned to nce at Paimon, who responded with a nod. ¡°Our Mountain Faction decided to concede a step to the ins Faction.¡± ¡°In that case, Your Highness, during the next Walpurgis Night¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes, all ves, excluding the humans, will be freed.¡± An ufortable mood settled over the archdukes. ¡°Mm¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Ehem.¡± The archdukes had gained their immense authority and wealth by using other demons as ves. There¡¯s no way they¡¯d be happy to hear that their vested rights were going to be taken from them. After a moment of pause, the Serpent Archduke spoke. ¡°Your Highness, please do not doubt our loyalty. No one emphasizes the cause of all demonkind being equal under Demon Lords more than us.¡± ¡°We fully understand this.¡± ¡°All we wish for is generous mercy. Unfortunately, the world requires a necessary evil.¡± The Serpent Archduke brought his hands together like a merchant and shook them slightly. ¡°Bypelling a small number of ves into arduousbor, we can ultimately relieve the free citizens from the burden of livelihood, enabling them to actively participate in politics. Whenever there was a Crescent Alliance Expedition, we would provide substantial volunteer forces from the demon world. However, if it were not for the ves supporting the industries in the rear, it would have been impossible to form such volunteer forces.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Highness, arge portion of our devotiones from ves. I ask that you put this under consideration.¡± If the ves are freed, their authority and wealth will decrease. If this happens, the amount of funding and troops they can offer will also decrease. Therefore, the archdukes were warning us that, ¡®if very is abolished, we will no longer support the Demon Lord Army actively¡¯. ¡°Of course, we have no desire to bleed you one-sidedly.¡± ¡°Oh, what does that entail?¡± ¡°Land on the continent will be distributed to you.¡± The archdukes stirred. ¡°My apologies, Your Highness, but how muchnd do you intend to give us, and how will it be given?¡± ¡°Map.¡± Ivar took out arge scroll and unfurled it. Thend that was going to be distributed to the archdukes was already highlighted in ck on the map of the Habsburg Empire. ¡°Thisnd originally belonged to Valefor and the six other Demon Lords. As you can see, it is a rather sizable portion ofnd.¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is indeed the case, Your Highness.¡± ¡°We intend to distribute thisnd to you as fairly as possible. If you wish, you can also decide among yourselves how thend will be distributed. We guarantee your absolute freedom in this regard.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± The archdukes exchanged whispers with one another. They were most likely seated in a way where those on friendly terms were seated next to each other. The servants went around busily to inform other parties what their masters were thinking. It took a moment for them to organize their opinions. The Serpent Archduke listened to what his servant had to say before nodding. ¡°On behalf of everyone, I extend our gratitude for this generous proposal. However, Your Highness, do you think the agenda of dividing the continent among us will pass at the next Walpurgis Night? Especially considering that Her Highness Barbatos may strongly oppose our expansion into the continent.¡± ¡°This will be an unofficial agreement.¡± The archdukes furrowed their brows. Only the Serpent Archduke managed to maintain hisposure as he spoke. ¡°My humblest apologies, but the term ¡®unofficial¡¯ does not sound favorable in this one¡¯s ears.¡± ¡°We cannot officially appoint you as counts and barons since that would put you on equal footing as us Demon Lords.¡± ¡°Then?¡± ¡°You will all be appointed as bureaucrats of the Habsburg Empire.¡± This was a simple form of trickery. First, the territories seized from the six traitors will remain tied to the Emperor¡¯snd. However, the archdukes will be dispatched as ¡®administrators¡¯ representing the Emperor to manage these regions. In practice, the archdukes will be the de facto rulers of thend. ¡°The Emperor has the right to personally appoint administrators. There is no need to seek approval during the Walpurgis Night. Even if some Demon Lords oppose, there is nothing they can do about it.¡± The archdukes whispered among themselves again. In the midst of the hushed murmurs, one of the archdukes rose from his seat. He had a portly figure and a bald head. It was the Archduke of Utp. Referentially, he was one of the archdukes who was especially displeased when I threatened him during thest ball. True to form, while his tone was polite, the content of his words was rather aggressive. ¡°My apologies, Your Highness, but it seems a guarantee will be needed for the proposal you have kindly presented to us.¡± ¡°A guarantee? Continue.¡± ¡°If the Emperor can dogmatically appoint the management ofnd to individuals, this means that he can dogmatically dismiss these individuals whenever he desires.¡± The other archdukes nodded in agreement. ¡°Although Your Highness¡¯ promise is charming, it is not eternal.¡± ¡°To transform this promise to being asting contract rather than a temporary sce, you must provide us with some assurance, Your Highness.¡± I raised the corners of my lips. ¡°What is it that you desire?¡± The Utp Archduke lowered his head partially. ¡°A matrimonial alliance.¡± Matrimony. The others started to stir due to the sudden usage of this word. The Utp Archduke disregarded the troubled atmosphere as he continued. ¡°From what I understand, Your Highness has yet to officially take in a wife or concubine. Your Highness, we just so happen to have daughters of our own. We ask that you take our daughters in as concubines.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­!?¡± Paimon was on the verge of standing up in anger. Her affection had now reached 80, so it was only natural for her to be upset if someone suddenly asked me to take in concubines. I quickly grabbed Paimon by the hand to stop her. She turned to look at me. ¡°This is a ridiculous proposal,¡± was what her eyes were saying to me. I shook my head. After a moment, Paimon managed to suppress her anger as she sat back down. On the other hand, the other archdukes were starting to agree with the Utp Archduke¡¯s suggestion. ¡°By establishing an alliance with a bond thicker than blood, please make it so that an eternal and firm trust can be established between our parties.¡± ¡°Your Highness, I believe the Utp Archduke¡¯s proposal is logical.¡± ¡°Please grant us your royal permission, Your Highness!¡± Soon after, the archdukes all started to shout in unison. ¡­¡­They were acting ording to a pre-determined script. The archdukes were acting like this was their first time considering a matrimonial alliance, but there was no way they would ept this kind of huge proposal so easily without any sort of discussion. They had discussed this secretly beforehand and were bringing it up now. I nced at the Serpent Archduke. He nodded politely in return. ¡°This humble one also believes this to be an appropriate measure. Please grant us your royal permission, Your Highness.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± If I were to take in concubines, the archdukes would be able to nt spies at the heart of the Empire. Even if I¡¯m the ultimate authority, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do whatever I want with the actual daughters of the archdukes. I would have to treat them as respected concubines. They would then be able to weave various plots and schemes while leveraging their positions as the ¡®Count Ptine¡¯s concubines¡¯. A bug in a lion¡¯s heart. This was probably what the archdukes who were speaking the loudest had on their minds. On the other hand, I was thinking about the word ¡®sacrifice¡¯. Sacrifice. A necessary sacrifice. I opened my mouth. ¡°Very well, then.¡± ¡°But why¡­¡­?¡± Paimon gave me a bergasted look. I gave a look to Paimon that said ¡®Let¡¯s talkter¡¯. However, she still looked stupefied. ¡°However, it would be too much for me to ept all of your daughters. I will take in seven, not fifteen. Moreover, this is not a negotiation but a final condition.¡± The archdukes all stood up at once and bowed. ¡°We are honored by your grace!¡± Subsequently, as if they had nned this beforehand, servants began to pour into the ballroom holding delicacies. The table was quickly filled with dishes. The archdukes raised their sses with smiles all around. As I proposed a toast, saying, ¡°For the glory of demonkind,¡± the archdukes shouted, ¡°Hail Lord Dantalian! Hail Lady Paimon!¡± and tilted their sses. The banquet hall was instantly filled with a festive mood. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The only one who seemed isted from this atmosphere was Paimon. Despite the cheers being exchanged, Paimon was silently holding her ss in her right hand. Her gaze was dark. The archdukes were chatting andughing while Paimon remained still, holding her ss in silence. ¡°¡­¡­Pardon me.¡± Paimon put down her ss and got up. She grabbed the ends of her dress and quickly made her way out of the ballroom. If I¡¯m not mistaken, a teardrop flowed down as Paimon stood up. Once the star of the ball left, the atmosphere in the ballroom became heavy for a moment. However, the archdukes skillfully changed the topic to reignite the mood. I stood up from my chair. ¡°I will also excuse myself for a moment.¡± ¡°Take your time, Your Highness.¡± The Serpent Archduke gave me a bow. I followed Paimon out of the ballroom. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I really want to get these chapters out faster, but my lunchtimes have been spent napping recently. A lot of my current work is incredibly boring, so I¡¯ve been dozing off too much. Maybe I should get more sleep at night¡­but that¡¯s my free time where I can rx at home¡­ Such a dilemma. In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 400: The Dripping Night (9) Chapter 400: The Dripping Night (9) Where did she go off to? I stopped in the hallway and looked around. A maid who had been preemptively waiting in the hall bowed her head and courteously raised her right arm. Her right hand was pointing in a specific direction. ¡°My thanks.¡± I thanked her before following the directed path. There was a different maid standing a fair distance away. Simrly to thest, she also bowed and raised her arm in a certain direction. Like that, I encountered about fifteen maids who were waiting in the hall. It felt like I was jumping stepping stones as I ran down the hall, following the wordless guidance of the maids. After turning left, right, and then back to the left, I eventually reached a dead-end. It was a dark area with no lighting fixtures around. The faint moonlight seeped through the window. ¡°¡­¡­¡± In this secluded ce, Paimon was crouched against the wall. Her face was buried in her knees and her shoulders were trembling slightly. She was crying. ¡°Paimon.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Liar¡­¡­.¡± Paimon muttered in a whimpering tone. ¡°You asked me to trust you¡­¡­but is this what I receive in return for my trust? You take in the daughters of the archdukes as concubines while thisdy falls lower than those concubines as a lover¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Paimon, I will never love them.¡± I spoke calmly as I approached Paimon. ¡°This is nothing more than a political marriage alliance.¡± ¡°If I had known that this would happen, I would not havee here with you¡­¡­!¡± Paimon raised her head and red at me. Her eyes were filled with anger, sadness, and a type of pleading. ¡°The reason thisdy has never brought up marriage was solely for your sake, Dantalian! It is because thisdy knows that it would be politically difficult for you if you were tied down by me. It would be troubling for you if you were to be distant with Barabtos, Sitri, and Gamigin! And yet, how could you y with thisdy¡¯s emotions like this¡­¡­!?¡± I was aware of this. Barbatos also goes around saying she¡¯s the main wife, but she has never brought up marriage. The same went for Laura, Sitri, and Gamigin. They knew well that I couldn¡¯t get married. ¡°No, Dantalian. You cannot do this. I¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is for the sake ofpletely abolishing very. A necessary sacrifice, if you will.¡± I spoke with aspiration. My genuine aspiration. ¡°Paimon, do you not wish for the abolishment of very more than anyone else?¡± ¡°You are the most important to me!¡± Paimon cried out as her tears flowed out endlessly. ¡°I¡¯ve fallen in love with you. I¡¯vee to cherish you more than I do myself!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No, Dantalian. This is too painful¡­¡­. It hurts¡­¡­.¡± I got down on my knees. I then removed my gloves and ced them on the floor before reaching out to hug Paimon tightly. Paimon buried her face in my chest and shed tears endlessly. My clothes quickly soaked with her tears. Only the sound of weeping echoed faintly in the endlessly dark corridor. I spoke quietly. ¡°Barbatos informed me that she will kill you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°She said that, in the end, you will be a threat to my life and that she will kill you for my sake.¡± I carefully stroked Paimon¡¯s back. Ever so gently, like I was handling a fragile ss bottle. ¡°Barbatos didn¡¯t throw out an opposing vote because of the humans. It was because of you. Barbatos has probably firmly resolved herself to get rid of you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But how could I abandon you, Paimon? I am the man who made the resolve to shoulder you entirely. I swore to kill those who you cannot kill and to make the sacrifices that you cannot tolerate.¡± I moved my right hand and stroked Paimon¡¯s hair this time. Her beautiful red hair weed my hand. It was truly a warm sensation. It made me want to keep stroking her hair like this. ¡°I am the proxy of your belief.¡± ¡°Dantalian¡­¡­.¡± Paimon looked at my face. Her ck eyes that had a red hue to them glowed sadly. I opened my mouth. ¡°Paimon, please marry me.¡± Silence. It was like time had stopped. Paimon didn¡¯t seem to understand at first as her expression gradually fell apart. ¡°Eh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°I apologize for asking in such a situation, but I am being sincere. Although I will be epting seven concubines, I wish for my genuine partner to be you.¡± ¡°Ah, ahh¡­¡­ahhh¡­¡­.¡± Tears overflowed from Paimon¡¯s eyes. ¡°D-Dantalian. Dantalian¡­¡­Dantalian.¡± ¡°I will not hide that I also love Barbatos. However, Barbatos has sworn to kill you and I have ended up in a position where I can no longer like the two of you at the same time.¡± Therefore, I said as I continued. ¡°We require the archdukes¡¯ cooperation even more. Barbatos will undoubtedly be enraged by our marriage. However, if we include the full support of the archdukes along with your Mountain Faction and the Neutral Faction that is on my side¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes, Dantalian¡­¡­ Yes¡­¡­.¡± Paimon held my hands tightly. Despite her flowing tears, there was a faint smile on Paimon¡¯s lips. Even that smile was trembling weakly, but Paimon was clearly happy. ¡°Thisdy will devote everything, even if she has to sacrifice everything. Dantalian, I will live solely for your sake. I will love you and you alone forever¡­¡­.¡± And then. ¡¸Paimon¡¯s affection has risen by 16.¡¹ ¡¸Paimon¡¯s affection has reached 100.¡¹ ¡¸Noble and pure love! The other party considers youpletely as their lover. A new title has been bestowed upon them for this outstanding love.¡¹ We shared a long kiss. Paimon continued to cry for a while longer after that. She sat on the floor, crying like a child. It seemed like all the strength in her body had left her. It was only after about 20 minutes that she managed to regain herposure. ¡°Now then.¡± I spoke as I put my gloves back on. ¡°Too much time has passed. The archdukes will worry if we do not return soon. We must now go and bring them firmly to our side. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes, Dantalian.¡± Paimon smiled brightly as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. It was dark due to theck of light, but that made her smile even more beautiful. ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ When we returned to the banquet hall together, the archdukes exchanged a knowing smile. A man chasing after a woman who had run off, and now returning together happily¡ªthey understood the implications of this situation. ¡°You two look wonderful together.¡± The Serpent Archduke was quick topliment us. Paimon gave a shy smile. ¡°My apologies for excusing myself in the middle of the banquet, Archduke.¡± ¡°No need for apologies. Now, please grant us the honor of pouring a ss for the both of you.¡± The archdukes took turns bringing wine bottles and poured us drinks. We sat at the seats of honor and exchanged sses with the archdukes. Referentially, Paimon and I were wearing artifact rings on our right index fingers that automatically checked for poison, so there was no risk of us being poisoned. ¡°Your Highness.¡± The Utp Archduke spoke as he poured ourst cups. ¡°I have prepared a humble gift for the both of you. If it is not inconvenient, may I unveil the gift here?¡± ¡°Fufu, what a charming n.¡± Paimon covered her mouth with her hand andughed. The other archdukes were also watching our conversation with expectant eyes. The atmosphere was warm and cheerful. ¡°Very well. We will dly receive your gift.¡± ¡°You have my humble gratitude.¡± The Utp Archduke turned around and pped. At the entrance of the banquet hall, two servants brought in arge carriage. It wasn¡¯t an ordinary carriage; it was made of pure golden material. Moreover, the carriage was adorned with an overwhelming number of bouquets. ¡°On a joyous day like today, would poets notment the absence of flowers?¡± The Utp Archduke smiled as he gestured to the carriage with his arm. ¡°As a token tomemorate this asion, I present this carriage and flowers to both of you.¡± A hush fell over the assembly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The smile on Paimon¡¯s lips faded and the other archdukes mirrored the change. The carriage was filled to the brim with crimson-red flowers. Enlightenment flowers. Flowers that are meant for the deceased. Also known as the Hell Flowers, and more explicitly referred to as ¡°Dead Man¡¯s Flowers¡±. This was due to the blood-red petals evoking the thought of blood. In stark contrast to roses, they were considered an ominous omen. They weren¡¯t flowers you would give to someone else, even in jest. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Paimon asked coldly. The Utp Archduke continued to smile. ¡°Her Highness Barbatos ordered me to deliver these in her stead.¡± ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Before Paimon could get out of her chair, soldiers holding swords entered through the entrance. In an instant, around fifty soldiers had surrounded me and Paimon in a semi-circle. It wasn¡¯t only soldiers. The maids that were serving us also pulled out daggers. Daisy and Ivar took a step forward to protect us. On the other hand, the archdukes slowly walked behind the soldiers. All fifteen archdukes. The Serpent Archduke was included in this. ¡°Such foolishness!¡± Paimon trembled with anger. She pointed at the soldiers and gave an order. ¡°Dispose of those traitors immediately!¡± ¡°Apologies, but they are all assassins with the mark of very on their hearts. They will unfortunately not heed Your Highness¡¯mands.¡± The Utp Archduke spoke nonchntly. ¡°Of course, we archdukes do not have this mark, so we will obey yourmands to a degree, but if Your Highness gives us any sort of forcefulmand, these assassins will immediately attack you. They had been given this order beforehand.¡± Daisy unsheathed her sword behind me. It was Baal¡¯s greatsword. She emitted an almost palpable amount of killing intent as she red at the assassins. ¡°Father.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± I rose from my seat. Everyone¡¯s gaze naturally focused on me. Naturally, everyone¡¯s attention focused on me. The archdukes looked at me with fearful nces, guarded nces, angry nces, and expressionless gazes, each carrying a spectrum of emotions. I directed my gaze at one of them. ¡°Archduke Utp.¡± The stout man flinched. He tried his best to maintain an air of nonchnce, but he couldn¡¯tpletely conceal his fear of me. ¡°Did Barbatos truly convey this secret order to you?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That is correct. Our mission is to apprehend Your Highness Dantalian and Your Highness Paimon. A couple of hours from now, Her Highness Barbatos will urgently convene a Walpurgis Night. And there, she will dere the ve system as an irrevocable system.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Even if Barbatos casts a vote for that, the other Demon Lords will cast dissenting votes.¡± ¡°No, that will not be the case. If unanimity is not achieved, we n to cut off Your Highness Dantalian¡¯s finger and deliver it to the Habsburg Pce.¡± ¡°In that case, you will only incur Barbatos¡¯ wrath. Do you not know that Barbatos is my lover?¡± ¡°It was that very lover who made this n.¡± Paimon gnashed her teeth next to me. She had probably pieced the situation together. The Utp Archduke gulped before he continued. ¡°The two of you have been taken hostage. The vote must pass if the hostages are to be released. This is how Her Highness Barabtos will persuade the other Demon Lords.¡± ¡°How idiotic.¡± I chuckled. ¡°In reality, you will be raising a g of rebellion against the entire Demon Lord Army. Do you think Marbas and Gamigin will leave you be?¡± ¡°That is true if we release our hostage. This humble one will immediately be executed. Therefore, even if we release Her Highness Paimon, we intend to keep Your Highness Dantalian as a hostage until the very end.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Daisy¡¯s murderous intent became more intense. If I hadn¡¯t ordered her to wait beforehand, she probably would¡¯ve gone out to ughter the assassins. I slowly examined the banquet hall. The soldiers and maids were holding their weapons expressionlessly. The archdukes were hiding behind them and watching the situation unfold. Due to the table being flipped, the food was now scattered messily on the ground. Cups were broken and the wine had been spilled. It was aplete mess. ¡°Utp Archduke, in a choice between Barbatos and me, it seems you have chosen Barbatos.¡± ¡°That is correct, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Are you sure that was a wise decision?¡± The Utp Archdukeughed. ¡°Absolutely. Your Highness, your authority originally came from Her Highness Barbatos¡¯ goodwill. If the ins Faction no longer supports you, you will be no different from a bird that¡¯s lost its wings. Is there anyone we could have chosen aside from Her Highness Barbatos?¡± The other archdukesughed along with him. The Utp Archduke looked around and exchanged nces with the other archdukes. Those who met eyes with himughed louder. The sound ofughter filled the hall. I raised my right hand. At that moment, the soldiers swung their swords. ¡°¡ªAaagh!¡± ¡°Uah! Guaaahhh!¡± Theughter vanished and was reced with screams. Soldiers killed soldiers and maids killed maids. des were slit across throats. Blood shot out from the throats of twenty people at the same time. The assassins who hadpletely lowered their guards to theirrades weren¡¯t able to resist as they were killed. A red swamp spread across the floor of the hall. ¡°W-What is¡­¡­the meaning of this¡­¡­?¡± Several of the archdukes couldn¡¯t believe what they had witnessed as they stood like broken robots. However, fortunately, or unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have to endure this shock for long. Seven archdukes pulled out daggers and stabbed their des into the necks of the other archdukes who were still oblivious. ¡°Guh!¡± ¡°Khuaagh!¡± They each took one person. Among the fifteen archdukes, seven of them now had holes in their necks that were spewing out blood. They gasped for breath as they tried to hold on to the respective person who had stabbed them. It was like they were begging for their lives. However, the seven archdukes swung their daggers again. This time, it was to finish the job. They stabbed their weapons into wherever they respectively desired, be it the neck, chest, stomach, or eye socket. The stabbed archdukes couldn¡¯t even let out a proper sound before they died. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Excluding the dagger-wielding archdukes, the Utp Archduke was thest archduke remaining. He appeared to be at a loss for words as he stood there trembling. His knees, shoulders, and jaws shook with immense fear. I picked up a cup from the table. ¡°Utp Archduke, allow me to ask you this one more time.¡± ¡°Uhh, uha, uaaahhh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you truly believe it was wise of you to choose Barbatos over me?¡± The Utp Archduke threw himself to the ground. ¡°S-Spare me, Your Highness! This, this humble one was a fool! Please spare my life! This humble one will present everything he owns to you! Money, ves, anything! So please¡­¡­bestow upon me your magnanimity!¡± I nced at the Serpent Archduke. The Serpent Archduke nodded, before putting strength into his hand to stab down into the Utp Archduke¡¯s back. A wretched scream rang out. The other archdukes approached like a pack of wolves to stab at the Utp Archduke¡¯s body. The Utp Archduke let out a terrible scream every time a dagger stabbed into his flesh. However, the screams rapidly grew weaker before they eventually disappearedpletely after about 30 seconds. Silence. Paimon stared at me nkly. Daisy let out a small sigh as if she found something to be pathetic. The archdukes looked at me while covered in blood. And I raised my ss up in the air. ¡°For all of demonkind.¡± The assassins disguised as maids handed the archdukes sses of their own. The seven archdukes followed suit as they raised their cups. ¡°For Dantalian.¡± *** Author¡¯s Afterword Referentially, these seven archdukes share something inmon that was mentioned before >_<);; TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Yes, the author used that emoticon. I¡¯m not putting emotes in their mouth. Ugh, this should¡¯ve been out like a day or two ago, but I was unfortunately busy. My dad ended up in the emergency room on Friday due to a fever, which is very dangerous in his current state. It was after a chemotherapy session and his doctor warned that he HAS toe to the hospital if he gets a fever. Usually, my uncle or aunt would be there as his guardian, but they¡¯ve been doing it constantly so they wanted to rest a day or two. In the end, I had to go and take care of him. I think he¡¯s okay now, but I can¡¯t say for sure. In any case, I¡¯m exhausted. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter [NaN] Chapter [NaN] Well, to get straight to the point, my grandfather passed away Sunday morning. I was at the funeral home all day and got home around 11:30 PM. I¡¯m not sure how it is for other people, but I guess it¡¯s tradition here to hold the funeral for 3 days, in other words, I have to go there tomorrow and the day after. The other grandchildren and I are just there to greet all the guests. To exin why I might sound rather blunt in my writing here is because it wasn¡¯t exactly unexpected. Ever since my grandpa had his health scare back in December 2022, he hasn¡¯t exactly been in tip-top shape anymore. A lot of my other rtives seemed to feel the same, so they weren¡¯t exactly devastated and bawling like mad. Most of us knew it was within the realm of expectation. In a way, I guess it¡¯s the same with my dad. If anything, what caught me off guard was the fact that I¡¯ve been mostly preparing for what will most likely happen to my dad, but my grandpa went ahead first. In a way, it almost feels like he wanted to go sooner because no parent should have to witness their child depart first. I unno if it¡¯s exhaustion, but I feel sociopathic because of how not sad I am right now¡­ All I feel is gloom and an annoying headache. In any case, I¡¯m writing this immediately aftering home from the first day. I still have another 2 days of standing around and greeting guests to go, so I¡¯ll end this here. I only made this post to exin that the next chapter of DD will be dyed during this period since I literally do not have the time to trante. It¡¯s not exactly fun standing around for 12 hours. Chapter 401: The Dripping Night (10) Chapter 401: The Dripping Night (10) Once the wine had vanished from our cups, we flung the now empty vessels to the ground. It was a time-honored tradition of the Crescent Alliance symbolizing an irreversible choice. Once shattered, the ss couldnt be pieced back togethera metaphorical crossing of the Rubicon River, ensuring there was no turning back. Thats right. I was now standing at a point of no return. My steps were resolute, unwavering. Whether moving forward or backward, nothing would impede my progress. Archdukes, heed mymand. We will do as you ask, Your Highness. Stepping onto the shards strewn across the ground, I could sense the friction between the broken pieces through the soles of my shoes. There are traitors still lurking in the pce. Track them all down and execute them. The banquet held today exclusively gathered Demon Lords and archdukes. However, our initial n was to meet with the families and nobles serving the archdukes tomorrow. They were all currently residing in the pce. None of them know what happened just now. Show no mercy. Kill them all indiscriminately, regardless of their race, gender, or age. Starting from the elderly who look like they will die from old age soon to the infants who have yet to even see the light of day, ughter all those who are even of kin to these traitors. This was a war under the guise of a purge. Although there are several reasons why these archdukes chose to follow me, if I were to pick one out, it would probably be because of how much they would profit. From today on, thend that has now be owned by the dead will be distributed entirely to the seven archdukes. The demon world will no longer be ruled by 26 archdukes. It will now be ruled by only 7 archdukes. As youmand. The archdukes ced their right fists on their chests in a salute before taking their assassins and leaving the banquet hall. They must have prepared beforehand as the sound of blood-curdling screams could soon be heard in the distance. Ivar, carry out the mission written here. Yes, Master. I pulled a note out from my sleeve and handed it to Ivar. Her eyes went wide once she saw the contents of the note. She turned to look at me with eyes that looked like they were asking Really?. There is currently arge anti-magic spell being cast over the entire pce. You will have to fly considerably high up to aplish your mission. As youmand. Ivar bowed her head before breaking one of the tall banquet windows and flying into the night sky. The only people remaining in the room were me, Paimon, and Daisy. If you exclude the dozens of corpses, that is. The banquet hall had be silent. Paimon gently ced her hand on top of mine. I am still at a loss for words, Dantalian. What has just happened? Things happened, and here we are. I smiled wryly and nced at Daisy. I was gesturing for her to leave since I wanted to speak alone with Paimon. However, Daisy yed dumb. I am your bodyguard, Father. Now that Miss Ivar is gone, I cannot vacate my position as well. In that case, you can keep watch at the door. This is unexpected. Did you not say that your side is where I constantly belong? You are the one who made me your witness, so allow me to stay. This was what she was implicitly saying. . Fine. I hesitated for a moment, but I eventually nodded. Daisy has the right to observe. It mightve been selfish of me to want to spend time alone with Paimon. I knew that Barbatos would approach the archdukes. How? I tantly let the fact that I was going to meet the archdukes and that you were going with me spread. From Barbatos perspective, she would have seen this as a betrayal. It was inevitable that Barbatos woulde in contact with the archdukes. Paimon listened to me seriously. So you took action first. Indeed. I possess seven archdukes who are particrly trustworthy. I contacted them first before Barbatos could possibly act. Barbatos will present the archdukes with a scheme soon. This scheme is a trick. Our true goal is to root out the untrustworthy eight archdukes from the fifteen. Afterward, control over the remaining areas of the demon world will be given to the seven. I smiled. Sure enough, Barbatos tried toe in contact with the archdukes only two days after I contacted them first. The seven archdukes had to trust me at that point. Including the Serpent Archduke, the seven archdukes who were chosen by me. In the past, they had witnessed me having intercourse with Barbatos. They knew better than anyone else that my rtionship with Barbatos was out of the ordinary. Therefore, to the seven archdukes, instead of Barbatos is scheming something on her own without Demon Lord Dantalian, they believed Barbatos and Dantalian are plotting something together again. Even now, the archdukes firmly believe that tonights event is a purge that Barbatos and I have plotted together. Thats impressiveDantalian. Paimon smiled radiantly. She pushed herself deeply into my arms, embracing me with her warm body. We ended up in a position where our chins were on each others shoulder. It wasfy. Until now, Ive been embraced by many women. Barbatos, Laura, Sitri, Ivar, etc. However, Paimons embrace felt the warmest. Paimon was like a ray of sunlight. I enjoyed her touch. But the archdukes will realize the truth eventually. That is my only concern. Paimon whispered directly into my ear. Her voice felt like a tranquil melody. Like an unapanied cello going along with a specific rhythm. Thisdy is not confident that the archdukes will choose you over Barbatos at that time. Oh, I am not saying that I do not trust you, Dantalian. I am sure that you will handle everything well, fufu. There is no need for concern, Paimon. I pulled out a dagger from my waist. It is all the truth, after all. Pardon? Paimon tilted her head, and. I gripped the handle and stabbed into Paimons neck. Red blood sprayed out into the air. For a moment, Paimon let out a scream. At the same time, the strength in Paimons hands that were holding me got stronger. I could clearly feel each of her fingers pressing down on my back. With an uncontrobly trembling voice, Paimon groaned weakly. D-Dantalian? I swung my dagger and stabbed it into Paimons back. The de dug deep into her body. Paimon let out another pained gasp. The blood flowing out from her body covered my gloves. It wasnt a normal dagger as it was coated in a deadly poison. I stabbed the dagger into the back of Paimons neck again. Once I did, the strength holding Paimon up finally gave out as she fell over powerlessly. I supported her copsing body with my left arm. Paimon fell to the ground ever so slowly, looking up at me with stunned eyes as she was held in my left arm. Hauhggh, phh. Paimons lips moved as if she was trying to say something. However, her words couldnt take shape, drowned by the ceaseless flow of blood from her throat. All she could manage was to continuously cough up blood. The ve system will bepletely abolished. Whether for demons or humans, no exceptions will be made. Your life was the only request Barbatos had for agreeing to the abolition of very. Hgh, hfffkgh. From the moment you prioritized me alone over the freedom of all, Paimon, you were already dead. I looked down at Paimon. You shouldnt have said those words earlier. That was yourst chance, Paimon. Your final opportunity. We cannot go back now. Dan, talianhghhDan, talian So I will carry on in your stead. Just as I promised you on that night. Forever. Paimon slowly raised her right arm. cing her palm against my cheek, her blood-soaked hand felt much hotter than usual. Her hand was shaking without end. I, love you. . I love youso do not cryDantalian. And then, Paimons hand fell. While drawing a long red arch down my cheek, it fell powerlessly. Everything had ceased. The weight, beat, and sensation that I felt in my arms, everything changed. What remained was no longer Paimon but a vibration that resembled an aftershock. I tried muttering Status, but there was no reaction. . I kissed Paimon. The smell of blood assaulted my nose, but I paid it no mind as I continued. It was red and warm. After an uncertain amount of time. Your Highness. I heard Ivars voice. I turned to see that Ivar had already returned through the window and was now approaching me. Ivar flinched the moment our gaze met, and she stopped in ce. I spoke tly. Report. Ive notified Demon Lord Barbatos. The case has been settled. She replied saying that she will immediately rally her army and ravage the territories of the traitorous archdukes. The note I gave Ivar instructed her to contact Barbatos. This was why Ivar was surprised when she received it. She didnt know what was happening behind the scenes and that I was scheming with Barbatos. Nor did she know that Barbatos had given the archdukes a fakemand to capture Dantalian and Paimon. And that I had given a secretmand to seven of the archdukes. This was all a part of the n Barbatos and I had devised. Good work. Daisy. Yes, Father. Go out and capture one of the assassins. After leaving the banquet hall, it took less than three minutes for Daisy to return with an assassin dressed as a maid. I made a quick gesture with my chin which Daisy responded to by slicing the assassin in two with no hesitation. The assassin was unable to even let out a sound as they died. I put the dagger I was holding in the assassins hand. I then removed the gloves I had been wearing and set them on fire. Daisy, you had left my side because I ordered you to check the vicinity to see if there were any more assassins. During your absence, an assassin managed to slip in and attack me. Paimon tried to protect me at that moment and ended up meeting a misfortunate end. Do you understand? Yes. The one to kill Paimon was an assassin, and the assassin was ultimately hired by the remaining archdukes. This was the information that was going to be revealed to the public. The Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction were certain to be furious. The betrayal by the archdukes would undoubtedly incite their anger. Some Demon Lords might even suspect me of orchestrating this, but the critical issue was who would sway the opinions of the Mountain Faction. With Paimon gone, the sole person capable of leading the Mountain Faction was Sitri. She trusted me more than anyone else, meaning she wouldnt harbor even the slightest suspicion. Even if a trace of doubt arose, I only needed to deceive her. Since the traitorous archdukes will all be killed along with everyone close to them tonight, every third party that knows the truth will be buried in the dirt. My authority will be maintained. With Barbatos, Sitri, and Marbas support, everything will continue as it were. If you exclude Paimons death, the bnce between factions will be preserved. Nothing will change. Lets go. I lifted Paimon in my arms. To the imperial pce. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, this is a pretty big turn of events. Id probably have more to say about it if it werent for the 3-day funeral I had to go through and all the mental strain that put me under. My dad is definitely not in a good state anymore. In a sort of dark irony, its like I held a funeral for Paimon as well. I wonder how many people this will devastate. In all honesty, there was probably a lot of foreshadowing to this. This afterword feels like a mess. Ill wrap this up here and get some rest. This week has been rough. Chapter 402: The Dripping Night (11) Chapter 402: The Dripping Night (11) * * * I arrived at the Habsburg imperial pce through teleportation magic. The Demon Lords gathered at the pce square with a tumultuous atmosphere looming over them. The moonlight was exceptionally bright on this night, with clouds asionally scattering a gentle violet haze. Among them was a Demon Lord who was still in their undergarments. They had rushed out urgently without any care for their attire after they heard the news that Paimon and I were attacked. Thats right, it was Sitri. Even from a distance, it was apparent that she was maintaining a foreboding silence. This unease hung over the entire square like a thick fog. Regardless of factionMountain, ins, or Neutrll eyes were silently fixed on us. . I walked forward. It felt like a heavyyer of fog hadtched itself to my ankles. With each step I took, rather than pulling myself out of the fog, it felt like I was sinking further into it as it reached up to my calves. I passed through the main gate, adorned with a golden rim, and walked straight toward the square. It was a peculiar sight. asionally, the rhythm of my steps seemed to synchronize with the alternation of lights in the night sky. Moonlight intermittently spilled at my feet, only to be obscured again by passing clouds. Ah. Someone let out a sound. Or maybe it was a scream. As I drew closer, the Demon Lords realized that I wasnt walking alone and that I was carrying someone in my arms. A maiden whose hair was redder than roses. The Demon Lords gasped. Impossible. My Gods. Some covered their mouths in absolute shock while others stared right at me. The night clouds rolled away, allowing the moonlight to fall upon the square. Thanks to this, the other Demon Lords were able to observe us more clearly. Paimon was a bloody mess. Her pale face was dirtied by the blood that had flowed out from her mouth. My lips and left cheek were also covered in her blood. I carefully ced Paimon down at the center of the square before standing up to look around with my back straight. Nothis cant be. This is a lie. Sitri crumbled to the floor. The other Demon Lords from the Mountain Faction did what they could to support Sitris body. With both her arms being supported by them, Sitri muttered This is a lie over and over again like a broken music box. Thats right, Sitri. It was me. I killed this woman. I made this woman misunderstand, exploited her beliefs, manipted and distorted the truth, and promised her the greatest happiness, only to snatch that happiness away with my own hands. My dearrades. This womans name was Paimon. Just thirty minutes ago, our most beloved and honorable maiden breathed herst. She became a lifeless corpse right here within my embrace. I could clearly remember the words she said to me. While my words were directed towards the Demon Lords, my mind was preupied with Paimon. I believe that we must call Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian to ount before we begin the meeting and the ball. Dantalian struck Andromalius to death without any hesitation. Thisdy cannot help but express her doubts. Is he truly a Demon Lord like us? How could another Demon Lord kill another Demon Lord with such ease? There is another thing thisdy wishes to question Dantalian about! Our first meeting was practically the worst. We knew nothing about each other. The traitorswere eight of the archdukes. The mastermind was the Utp Archduke. These traitors were nning to imprison Paimon and me to force a Walpurgis Night. They intended to use us as hostages in order to establish very as an irreversible system. That was the motive behind the Utp Archdukes scheme. Those damn sons of bitches! I bit into my lips as I shouted in rage, blood now pouring down from my torn skin. I could pull off this level of acting with my eyes closed now. I didnt have to rely on my skill anymore. Do you have a handkerchief? Please carry around a handkerchief from now on. That is the refined duty of a gentleman. That is how much time had passed. In every trial Ive faced, you were inevitably involved. It was because of you that I almost ended up in prison during that fateful Walpurgis Night and nearly fell to my demise during the Crescent Alliance expedition. Seven of the archdukes sided with us, and ultimately, there was a fierce struggle among the archdukes. Initially, we had the upper hand. We seeded in driving out the traitors. However, their remnants were resilient, so our allies pursued them to eliminate them for good. Andin the absence of most our allies. I choked on my words and I pursed my lips several times. My words melded together into a messy clump due to the sorrow in my tone. This was all deliberate. I knew I was giving a wless performance. My expression vividly disyed anger, sorrow, and shock. While I was busy acting solely for my own sake, Paimon, you were different. How foolish have we Demon Lords been? We thought we were acting for the sake of demonkind, that we were fighting for them. And yet, Demon Lords were not the ones who were actually dying. Such hypocrisy and deceit. This hypocrisy and deceit will not end even if the continent is conquered. Rather, they will burn even stronger and singe the human world, the demon world, and eventually, the entire world to the ground. You werent a hypocrite who abandoned your kin to love only humans, nor were you a dogmatist who turned away from what truly was right due to the limitations of being a Demon Lord. You werent a coward who failed to trante your thoughts into actions. Did you know? This was when Barbatos and thisdy were still friends. During those times, we would often joke around. In the rare chance, although it soundspletely ridiculous, in the rare chance that we fall for a man, what sort of person would that man be? Please close your eyes. To me, you were the embodiment of virtue. Therefore, as the person who killed you, I must be an inexcusable viin. Paimon Paimon died trying to protect me! I cried out. The assassin ran straight to me. I could not do anything as I stood in ce foolishly. At that moment, Paimon embraced me, and the assassinstabbed her backover and over again. I contorted my face. There was only one reason why I was recalling my memories with Paimon. It was to drag out genuine emotions from my heart. I wasnt trying to cherish my memory of her. I was trying to leverage those memories. Over and over again! I could feel the sensation of the de piercing into her! Each time the assassin swung their arm, Paimons body would sink further and further! I could feel it I felt it in its entiretybut I couldnt do anything! To formte the perfect lie. Paimon didnt release me from her embrace. She held on to me with both arms until the end Shielding meeven as she coughed up blood, and that blood covered my face. Yet, Paimon continued tountil the very end. I wailed like a wounded animal. No more words were necessary. I let out my emotion in its entirety. The night air reverberated. I covered my face with my hands and wed at my skin with my nails while releasing a bloodcurdling cry. The other Demon Lords were pressured by my anger. A single truth was being created here. For vengeance! Between my cries and wails, I spat out my words. For, merciless, vengeance! Everst one of them! I was now the only person in the world who knew of Paimons true nature. If I dye her in lies, then they would remain the truth since there is no one around who can amend or correct those lies. Therefore, I have unlimited responsibility over the woman named Paimon. Destroy and crush! In order to make any excuse impossible. To ce no fault on Paimon so that she has no responsibilities to bear. Ive looted and vited everything she has and I now own her ending. Therefore. Without even a single point of blurriness. Without even the slightest hesitation. Without wavering, regret, doubt, or repentance. Please avenge her! I killed Paimon. Bestow death upon the traitors with the most treacherous and foul means! I am the one who killed Paimon. An irreparable truth could be driven into the world as a nail. I got down on my knees. I then brought my head down to the ground with an audible thud. PleaseI ask of youmyrades. I am aware that I am of great fault as well. However, for vengeanceI will offer my all for vengeanceI beg of you. Thud, thud, I mmed my forehead on the ground several times. Only the dull sound of my head hitting the ground echoed throughout the darkened world. Blood flowed as my skin tore. I was mming my skull against the ground like I was trying to make a death mask with the ground. It felt like I was bringing down a hammer. At that moment, I felt someones embrace. Warm and soft hands wrapped around my ears. Its okay. I raised my heavy head. I could no longer open my right eye because of the blood that had flowed down my forehead, making me look forward with my hazy left eye. Sitri was standing there with a smile. Although it was trembling as if it could copse at any moment, it was undeniably a smile. Its okay, Dantalian. Its not your fault. . Yeah, its not your faultso everything will be okay. Everything. Sitri pressed her cheek against my forehead. Something that wasnt blood flowed down my face. It was Sitris tears. The tears flowing from Sitri trailed down my face, washed away the blood, and slowly trickled down my jawline. A liquid that consisted of my blood, Paimons blood, and Sitris tears, quietly dripped to the ground. Itll be okay Mhm, itll be alright. The person who shouldve been grieving more than anyone else here wasforting me while desperately holding back her sorrow. Sitri probably hasnt realized this yet, but now that Paimon is gone, her actions could be considered as representing the entire Mountain Faction. Therefore. My acting ended up being sessful again. It is my fault If I were not there If I did not exist, Paimon would be. No. Its okay. Paimon would be. I let out tears while in Sitris embrace. Until now, I have never disyed this level of intense emotions before the other Demon Lords. I would always put on a cold, calm, and asionally mocking demeanor. But now I was crying like a child. This unexpectedness will most likely make my performance appear more genuine. Im not sure how long I cried. At a certain point, I had passed out. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a bedroom. Daisy was seated next to the bed nursing me. It was bright outside the window, meaning that at least the night had passed. I turned to look at Daisy emotionlessly. Daisy also responded in kind with an emotionless face as she opened her mouth. It has been two days since you lost consciousness, Father. Yesterday, a Crescent Alliance was rallied and they have departed for the demon world. The suprememander is Demon Lord Sitri. . I closed my eyes and nodded. It was this easy to deceive the world. This easy. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, I feel bad for Sitri the most in this situation. She doesnt deserve this despair. Side note, Ive been pretty exhaustedtely. I feel like I probably have a good idea why. Work has just been grueling, and Ive been taking naps through my lunches so I havent had much time to trante. I seriously need to take a breather or something and recharge. BUT, I dont want to do it now considering whats happening in the story. Ill give it a few more chapters before maybe taking like a week break to regain my footing. In any case, happy Lunar New Year. I gotta go meet my rtivester today. Woohoo. See you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 403: The Dripping Night (12) Chapter 403: The Dripping Night (12) Many people came to see you. Gamigin, Vassago, Zepar. Do you think Id be able to remember each and every one of those names? How foolish. Write the names down on a piece of parchment. The Minister of State Affairs and the Minister of Government Affairs are resting in the next room. I opened my eyes. A breeze entered through the crack of the window. It briefly lingered on my cheek before flowing away, making me unconsciously touch my cheek. When I examined my palm, there was no trace of blood. And Paimons corpse? It is being strictly guarded with an eternal preservation spell. The funeral procedures are still under discussion. However, it seems they have agreed to finalize them after Demon Lord Sitri returns from her expedition. I see. There were also those who suggested that the decision should be made after you woke up, Father. Most Demon Lords dont have families or close friends. Normally, when a Demon Lord passes away, the person closest to them would be appointed as the chief mourner. In this case, Sitri and I were most likely prime candidates for this position since we were Paimons lovers. However, Sitri had gone on an expedition to avenge Paimon and I was out cold. The Demon Lords mustve been rather troubled. Daisy. Yes, Father? Sing for me. Daisy blinked in surprise. Daisy was famous for her beautiful singing voice. During our pilgrimage in Frankia, she was praised by the mercenaries for having the voice of an angel. There were even times when shed sing quietly on her own in my Demon Lord Castle. Perhaps it was one of her few hobbies alongside reading. Ive never asked her to sing for me before. This was probably why she was surprised. Let me cry. After a short moment, Daisys small mouth opened. I closed my eyes again as I listened to her sing. * * * Many people went in and out of my room incessantly. I guess it shouldnt be a surprise, but the first people to visit were Laura and Lapis. Laura burst into tears the moment she saw me andtched herself to my bed. She mostly shouted childish insults like Youre an idiot! and Stupid! incoherently. I smiled bitterly as I stroked Lauras hair. . Lapis, however, was a lot harder to handlepared to Laura. All she did was stare right at me. It was like a type of silent protest. She was basically asking why I didnt tell her beforehand and why I executed all of this on my own. I felt bad for Lapis, but this was a matter that I wanted to take on my own. Almost every Demon Lord came to visit me. Thanks to this, I had to stay in bed for several days even though I wasnt in much pain. As a side note, the most amusing visitor was Vassago. Tsk. As soon as Vassago entered my room and saw my face, he turned around and left. It really was in an instant. So the only thing Vassago did was click his tongue and leave. I have no idea why he even visited me. Brother Beleth informed me of some shocking news from the demon world. Every demon residing in Utp Hell, regardless of their race or ss, is being ughtered. Sitri ismitting ughter? Sitri of all people was ughtering civilians. The territories that belonged to the traitors have already surrendered. How could they possibly retaliate when their leaders are already dead? Are you saying that she is killing them even though they have surrendered? Indeed. I couldnt stop her. Brother Beleth shrugged his shoulders. Brother Beleth was not particrly inclined towards pacifism. On the contrary, he belonged to the faction that preferred massacre. The fact that even he had to intervene indicated how indiscriminate and ruthless the actions were. She was using the darndest method. First, shed have a trench dug out in a straight line. Then, shed line up the demons in front of the trench and make them wait. Was it a live burial? Burials are burials, but this had a twist. Brother Beleth chuckled. The people in the back row would be given weapons and ordered to stab the person in front of them. Pardon me? So after the first line of demons fell into the pit as corpses, the row behind them would be next in line. The weapons are passed back to the people behind them and the same order is given. Theyre ordered to stab the people in front of them. In other words, civilians were being forced to stab other civilians. Countless people cried saying that they couldnt do it, but Sitri would personally tear out the limbs of those people. So they were basically given a choice to obediently die or die by having their limbs torn out. Sheesh. . Later on, the demons would cry and apologize to the people in front of them, and ask that they forgive them since they will be killed as well anyway. The people in the front row would even reassure the people behind them. In any case, it was horrifying. The number of civilians who were executed reached a staggering one hundred thousand. The city where the Utp Archduke resided was turned into a literal wastnd as massive amounts of salt were spread on the ground to ensure that no life would grow again. Throughout all this. As tens of thousands of demons were killed simply for the reason of living there. She was expressionless. Sitri didnt make even a single expression. Like a person whocked any facial muscles. Like a person who forgot the very concept of expressions. Sitri carried out ughter after ughter to the point that even the Demon Lords, who mostly had mental illnesses of their own, thought she was being fanatical. In the end, everyone got sick of Sitris behavior. Most of them couldnt evenst 2 days before they returned here. Well, in truth, the war was over the day it started. Brother Beleth picked up an apple from the mountain of fruits next to my bed and bit into it. What Sitri is currently carrying out in the demon world isnt war but a ughter. Brother, you know me, dont you? I may be a crazed warmonger, but I am not a cold murderer. There was no reason for me to partake in a ughter that has no beauty or meaning, so I left. Sitri will probably go down in history as the Demon Lord who ughtered the most demons, Brother Belethmented as he chewed his apple. Whats funny is the fact that Sitri said shell stop after killing exactly a hundred thousand. What was it that she said? When I left yesterday, she said that she had only killed ny-five thousand and still had a little more left. Brother Beleth let out a snort. Crazy people often be fixated on small things like numbers the more they lose their sanity. They try to attach reasons to every insane thing they do. Do you know what this is, Brother? Its an obsession. Tsk tsk, that woman is done now. Shes gone too far. . Sitri finished her expedition and returned two days after this exchange. For the first time in history, the Crescent Alliance directed its spearhead not toward the continent, but the demon world. This war concluded in less than 10 days. It became starkly clear what fate awaited demons who rebelled against the Demon Lords. In just a few days, Sitri became known as the cruelest and most ruthless Demon Lord. The first person Sitri came to see after returning was me. Im back, Dantalian. Sitri smiled brightly. The expressionless ughter that Brother Beleth had described was nowhere to be seen. The usual innocent and naive girl was in front of me. I killed a lot. I killed a whole bunch. Mhm, Im sure Big Sister Paimon wouldnt have liked it Shes so stupidly kind that she wouldnt have liked it, but I just couldnt forgive them. . Dantalian, did I do the right thing? I quietly hugged Sitri. Sitri had done an excellent job. The Mountain Faction faced the risk of splintering since Paimon, the person who had been leading them all this time, was now gone. An assertive and nearly excessive group activity has to be done to bring them together again. When we get angry, this is how terrifying we can be. Do not underestimate us. Bow to our strength. It was a move that reimed the groups pride and identity in the face of potential division. Sitri, as the sessor following Paimon, yed her role remarkably well. The fact that she ughtered exactly a hundred thousand people was also excellent. It allowed this incident to be wrapped up cleanly by executing a hundred thousand traitors for the death of a single Demon Lord. It was an immense ughter, but it also gave the impression of a calcted retaliation. Sitri, you will have to lead the Mountain Faction from now on. Dont worry. I will help you. I am sure the two of us will do a good job. Yeah. Illdo my best. Sitri cried into my shoulder. This was something I found outter. Sitri didnt actually regain her expression. It was just that she could only smile and chat as she used to when alone with me. She became emotionless, like an entirely different person, whenever in thepany of anyone else. No, perhaps she really did change. To Sitri, Paimon meant that much. However, Sitri believed I was in the same emotional state as her. She thought it wasnt just her who lost Paimon, but also Dantalian. It was a sense of camaraderie. Thats why she could only disy her usual smile in front of me. * * * The Walpurgis Night will now be held. The very next day. A meeting was held as all of the Demon Lords gathered. As part of the overall post-war procedure, this meeting was addressing three crucial matters. The first of them was the ve system, the root cause of everything. Typically, several Demon Lords would engage in noisy debates over such matters, but this meeting proceeded unusually swiftly. On the matter of abolishing very for all races, cast your votes. 6 votes in favor. 1 abstained. With this, very will be abolished. For the first time in recorded history, very was now gone. Although much time and effort will be required before it truly disappearspletely, it was fine. I was confident in my ability to do so. It wasnt only going to be in the Habsburg Empire and the demon world. very will be abolished across the entire continent. As I have already sworn to carry this out, there isnt a single group out there that could get in the way of my vow. I simply have to erase those who resist. The number of lives that had perished directly or indirectly by my hands had now reached four hundred thousand. Even if that number were to increase to four million, it would not shake me. Next, for the loyal retainers who stepped forward to eliminate the traitors. The issue of allocating the territories of the traitors to the Serpent Archduke and the six other archdukes. Cast your votes. 6 votes in favor. 1 abstained. With this, I announce that the number of individuals entitled to the title of archduke is now permanently restricted to seven. I now have a firm allegiance with all of the archdukes who ruled the demon world, meaning that I am able to heavily influence both the demon world and the Empire. Now, the final agenda. Regarding the proposal to appoint the Elector of Mainz, Sitri, as the acting Grand Duke of Luxembourg, which has be vacant. Cast your votes. 6 votes in favor. 1 abstained. With this, the Elector of Mainz, Sitri, shall be appointed as the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the High Chambein of the Empire. Henceforth, Sitri shall have the right to 2 votes in all future votes. The High Chambein position that Paimon had was transferred to Sitri. Not only did this give the Mountain Faction a special exception, but it also prevented the authority of the Mountain Faction from going to someone other than Sitri. I looked to Sitri. Sitri nodded as she got up from her seat. She approached a chair that was vacant and sat down. It was Paimons chair. Sitris previous chair was quickly carried away by the servants. With this, tonights Walpurgis Night has been adjourned. Thank you for your time,rades. . . After the meeting was over, I found myself sitting in the pces back garden. I had slept without any purpose for the past few days, so I figured I could skip a night of sleep. In the backyard of the pce, there was an artificial pond in the shape of a rectangle. I ced a chair in front of the pond and sat down in order to quietly drink my alcohol. Seven empty ss bottles rolled around under my feet. The body of a Demon Lord was convenient. No matter how much I drank, it wasnt easy for me to get drunk. Lapis suggested that I should stop drinking, but Id receive divine punishment if I didnt enjoy my authority with this body. ck. Someone ced a chair down next to me. It was Barbatos. Barbatos sat down and silently held out her cup to me. I responded in kind as I silently poured her a ss of wine. . . We spent hours drinking, looking at the moonlight reflected on the water. Not a single word was exchanged. What more could we have to say to each other at this point? Among the Demon Lords I have a friendly rtionship with, Barbatos was the only one who hadnte to visit me. Naturally, Barbatos was well aware that she had no right to enter my bedroom to visit me while I was bedridden. About three hours passed in this not-so-grand drinking session. It was then that Barbatos opened her mouth for the first time. Dantalian, do you still like me? An utterly awkward question. I removed my ss from my lips. I do love you. Slowly, I drank my entire ss of wine. I could feel the scarlet liquid trickle down my insides. My cup soon became empty. As much as I love myself. *** Authors Afterword Chapter END. TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, I want to get back into the groove to trante more, but work is also stockpiling. A game were tranting is about to get a global release soon, so theyre suddenly giving us a bunch ofst-minute work, which is annoying. They couldve easily given all this to us weeks ago. In any case, this arc ended pretty heavily. Seemed like a lot of people were upset about how this arc basically transpired and its understandable. I had a feeling things would probably turn out this way with all the problems that have been arising around Dant. I recall someoneining that Dant didnt have to struggle or face any resistance in anything he did, but I feel like thats been proven wrong a long time ago. The biggest instance was probably theshing scene. Thats why Im not too devastated by the loss. It was apromise of sorts that I expected due to all the grievances from other characters. You genuinely cant please everyone. Welp, at any rate, Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 404: The Spider and Viper (1) Chapter 404: The Spider and Viper (1) The cliffs stood like folding screens along the coastline. A temple that was worn away by sea winds, had already crumbled over the cliffs long ago. The sea buried the colossal rubble beneath its waves. The Demon Lord Castle, . The ind that once floated across the sky had lost its owner. After losing its magic power, the Sky Garden gradually descended. The fact that Paimons funeral was held on the same day the Sky Ind created a huge wave in the nearby ocean as it sunk was aplete coincidence. Now, the once-beautiful garden, which bloomed with flowers throughout all seasons, was no more. The lush thickets that disregarded the changing seasons were gone. Everything was submerged in seawater, slowly sinking into some unknown abyss. It seemed unlikely that they would resurface ever again. My dearrades. I turned around. The leader of our Liberation Alliance, Demon Lord Paimon, has passed away. In front of me were a dozen people in ck robes. I couldnt see their faces because of their hoods. Nheless, we already knew each other to a certain degree. They were the executives of the Liberation Alliance which Paimon had spent centuries to create. She did so in my very arms. What were her final words? A woman asked. I recognized her voice. General Manager Anna de Bis. She handled the Batavia Republic side of the Liberation Alliance. Not only was she basically treated as second-inmand directly under Paimon in the alliance, but she was also a prominent authority figure in Batavia. Adding to this, she had also moved her army with me back during the Lily War. I spoke with no emotion on my face. Herst words reflected the honor and nobility that defined her. Even in her final moments, Paimon yearned for peace and the equality of all beings. She drew herst breath, entrusting me with the task of ensuring the continuation of her ideals. . Is that what you think I would say? The executives froze in ce. Anna de Bis carefully spoke up as if trying to figure out my intention. What do you mean by that? It wasnt a noble or honorable death. Paimon met her end in the most gruesome mannerthrough assassination. I continued as I red at the robed executives. She was not even given the time to properly give herst words. Paimon spent most of her final moments protecting me. Despite the assassin repeatedly stabbing her neck, tearing into her back, and savagely attacking her like a wolf, Paimon didnt emit a single groan or scream as she endeavored to protect me. . Once she finally fell, Paimon whispered one thing to me. Do not cry, she said. I guess you could call those herst words. The executives went silent. Curse me all you want, Paimon. If necessary, I will even use yourst words politically. There was no hesitation here. Up until herst breath, Paimon was only concerned about the person before her. That was the kind of person Paimon was, and that was my lover and your leader. . Why are we crying out for republicanism? Is it because an incredibly lofty ideal exists there? Or is it because, as exceptionally noble intellectuals, we must be held ountable before history? I could feel the night air flow around me. The air wasnt stagnant. Whenever I spoke with precision and skill, I would feel as if I were melting into my surroundings. It was like that even now. No. We always start with the trivial. We simply cannot stand idly by when tragedies and suffering unfold right before our eyes. When a beggar on the street struggles to breathe, we, too, feel suffocated. When a ve is whipped in the market, we, too, feel anger. It is at that point that we begin. . I witnessed the most nobledy die in the most miserable manner before my eyes. At that moment, I felt an unbearable sadness and anger. And I will never forget it. I pulled out a piece of cloth from my pocket. It was a handkerchief made from a piece of clothing with Paimons blood on it. A preservation spell was cast on it, so the blood wouldnt be discolored any time soon. I didnt exin anything to them, but the executives of the Liberation Alliance could tell what it was due to the atmosphere. Comrades, I, Dantalian, pledge to you. I will mourn andmemorate Paimons death until my final breath. The form of my mourning will be in revolution. I will restore justice to what is right, bestow universal sympathy on the sorrowful, and wield thesh where anger is due. I spoke solemnly. Will you join me in this even unto death? The executives silently stared at me from beneath their hoods. A moment of silence went by like this. After a while, an individual with a small frame removed their robe. It was a dwarf. Jack Bonhomme, the executive whom Ifortably referred to as Jacquerie, was the mercenary captain who supported me during the Lily War. I agree to appointing His Highness Dantalian as our new leader. The other executives stirred. Jacquerie was the most active member of the Liberation Alliance, essentially serving as the vanguard. He ardently worshipped Paimon and embraced republicanism like a religion. A ripple effect urred as such an enthusiastic figure dered their support for me. I believe that among everyone present, I have spent the most time with His Highness Dantalian. If you trust my judgment, I ask you to extend that trust to my words as well. His Highness Dantalian is someone who will spread republicanism across the continent. The time he has spent with us is too short. Anna de Bis retorted. Im not questioning His Highness sincerity, but I am concerned about hisck of experience to lead our alliance. Yet, in that brief time, he has achieved so much. Jacquerie looked around. Who toppled the Frankia Empire and seated republicans in the government? His Highness Dantalian. Who thwarted the royal family of Sardinia and liberated the free cities? His Highness Dantalian. And not long ago, he dered the abolition of all ve systems, irrespective of race. Jacquerie gestured at me with his right arm. His Highness has achieved feats that would be challenging for thousands or even millions to aplish, all by himself, and that too in less than five years. I will not acknowledge the argument that hecks experience. I dare say with confidence that no one else can lead our cause and realize our principles better than His Highness Dantalian! The other executives looked troubled, but they would sometimes nod in agreement. They generally valued achievements more than authority. In that regard, few individuals could match my aplishments. In fact, the sole fact that I sessfully pushed for theplete abolition of very during the Walpurgis Night put me in a unique position. We at the Teuton Branch are in favor of this decision. The Moscow Branch is also in favor. The Sardinia Branch also endorses this decision. Branch managers began expressing their support for me to be the leader of the Liberation Alliance. Excluding me, among the twelve branch leaders, there were 9 votes in favor and 2 abstentions. Although those in favor were already well beyond the majority, the crucial point was whether everyone agreed or not. If even one dissenting vote appeared, the alliance could face a potential risk of division. . It was now time for General Manager Anna de Bis to give the final vote. When she was still alive, Her Highness Paimon would always speak happily about His Highness Dantalian. Whether it was about what His Highness liked to eat or the remarkable things he did. Regardless of my boredom, she would continue on and on as if she were a girl talking about her first love. Anna de Bis removed her hood. The blonde elf bore a stab wound on her cheek, a scar from the Lily War where she faced near-death defeat at the hands of Henrietta during the Battle of Saint-Denis. Be it my own or Jacquerie, I do not trust either of our discerning eyes. However, I put my absolute trust in Her Highness Paimons ability to evaluate people. Since Her Highness trusted His Highness Dantalian, I will also ce my trust in him. The final vote in favor. No one had outright rejected the proposal. Although there were two abstaining votes, it was more like they intentionally abstained because they were concerned that too much authority would be given to me if everyone agreed. In truth, this was no different from everyone being in favor. I gave a respectful nod to the executives. We are many, but also one. For revolution. The executives quietly recited the Liberation Alliances motto. There was no borate ceremony where sses of wine were exchanged. The session of a new leader following Paimon was an event that, for the executives, was neither a cause for joy nor celebration. The influence that Paimon had led was now all inherited by me. Sitri, the leader of the Mountain Faction, was, while not militarily, entirely dependent on me politically. My opinions had a decisive impact on the actions of the Mountain Faction. And now, I was leading the Liberation Alliance as well. I thought to myself as I put the ruined temple behind me. I wielded almost absolute influence over both the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction, had the entire demon world as a trustworthy ally, used the wealth of the wealthiest merchant firm like my own private vault, and had a secret organization spread like a spiders web across the continent under my control. Ive truly be the archetypal Demon Lord. Ivar would asionally mutter Angol Mois when looking at me. It was a legend passed down among demons. Someday, Angol Mois, a great Demon Lord, will appear and open up all continents to demons. It was a legend you could pretty much find anywhere, but like a cow catching a rat while stepping back, it felt like Ivar had hit the mark. What a preposterous situation Ive found myself in. * * * I secretly met with the officials of the Frankish government. Naturally, the individual leading Frankias government affairs is Earl Bercy. Since Im the Attorney General of the Habsburg Empire and Earl Bercy is the Attorney General of the Frank Empire, our positions are coincidentally the same. Were also simr in the fact that were responsible for our nations since, despite being empires, our emperors are only that in name. It has been a while, Count Ptine. Have you been doing well? Earl Bercy was evidently tired. There were even rumors that hed sacrifice sleep just to keep his mess of a homnd together. It seems you have lost a ridiculous amount of weight. I never realized running a country could be this difficult. In that regard, you do not seem particrly at ease either. I am also managing a country like you are, after all. Earl Bercy smiled bitterly. While I initially met Earl Bercy while pretending to be Priest Jean Bolle about a year ago, I revealed my identity as Demon Lord Dantalian to him through Ivar while also informing him that I would lend a substantial amount of money to the Frank Empire. The Earl was considerably surprised, but he didnt show any signs of hesitation. Earl Bercy was a republican. Since he knew what kind of speech I delivered on Bruno ins, he seemed to see me more as a definite ideological ally than anything else. But what is the reason for meeting so secretly? I hope that this is not rted to a matter that may increase my wrinkles. I apologize, but I believe it will. I smiled. It is about time you started to repay your debt, Earl. . This is about the loan I gave you with a 7 percent interest. I would appreciate it if you at least pay back the interest. Earl Bercys face froze like someone who had just encountered a devil. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing much to say this time. This month has been incredibly busy, so Ive been barely able to get much tranting done. Way too many things at work trying to put their deadlines near each other. This definitely feels like either poor nning from our project managers or our clients. I feel like its a mix of both. Im just going to hope things be less busy in March. In any case, Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 405: The Spider and Viper (2) Chapter 405: The Spider and Viper (2) Count Ptine, I am sure you are aware of this as well, but our government currently does not have the spare funds to pay back the interest. It is only a seven percent interest annually. I took a sip from my fruit beverage. It was insanely sweet for alcohol. It was so sweet that I was sure even children would spit it out in disgust. Lately, Ive found myself deliberately sipping on this unnaturally sweet fruit alcohol. The reason? Lapis managed to clear out everyst bottle from my wine reserves in my Demon Lord Castle, including those hidden away in my office and bedroom. Its absurd; all 13 of my secret stashes,rge and small, obliterated. How did she know that I had secretly dug out a storage underneath theke in my castle? Is my private life perhaps a concept that doesnt exist to Lapis? In the end, my only permitted beverage is this alcoholic concoction, indistinguishable from sugar water. Lapis handed it to me with a casual, If this works for you, be my guest. Its almost like the cigarettes people use to quit smoking. I, the wealthiest Demon Lord, cant even relish a proper drink. Life is indeed unjust. Originally, among the Demon Lords, Paimon was the wealthiest. Her wealth had now entirely gone into the imperial treasury. Thanks to that, the Empire secured a budget for the next 20 years. Habsburg was my empire, so in a way, it was my pockets that were being filled. Paimons estate became entirely mine, not a single thing was left behind. I smiled. Normally, I should have lent that money to you at an interest rate of over 10 percent. However, after seeing your face, Earl Bercy, I decided to lower it to 7 percent. This is no different from simply giving you the money. Yet, are you telling me it is difficult to even repay this interest? It is already extremely difficult to find a city where taxes can be properly collected. Earl Bercys face contorted with humiliation and sorrow. The prime minister of a nation was trying to exin his situation like a creditor. Theres probably nothing more humiliating than this. The southern cities are not paying their taxes at all. Some nobles are taking advantage of the fact that we do not have an emperor to avoid thew. In that case, should you not mobilize an army and administer some punishment? Are you teasing me on purpose!? You know that we have entrusted the public order and defense of the capital to the Batavian troops. We do not have the capacity to punish the southern nobles! The imperial capital of Frankia, Parisiorum, was currently being protected free of charge by the Batavia army. The issue was the fact that this volunteer work would onlyst a year, and that promised year had passed. They were now in a state where the Batavian army could leave at any moment. Earl Bercy must be extremely worried because of this. As a side note, Anna de Bis is the one in charge of Batavias army. The general manager of the Liberation Alliance. Essentially, the finance and national defense of the Frank Empire were under my control. In that case, you should abandon the south. The southern nobles have been practically demanding independence at this point. epting their request would solve all your problems. ! Earl Bercy stood up and grabbed me by the cor. While I didnt recall the exact details, Earl Bercy was a fairly skilled swordsman at one point. The reason he had not sumbed to exhaustion yet from his workload was likely due to the stamina built up during that time. Demonstrating this, he pulled my cor with formidable strength. Say that againJean Bole. . You said that you cut me a good deal since it was me. I appreciate that. However, there are also many things I have overlooked since you are the one I am dealing with. Earl Bercy threatened me with an expression that looked like he could bite off my face at any moment. All you have done is sow war and massacre in Frankia. Each time you did, you hypocritically imed that it was a patriotic decision for the sake of Frankia. You even put forth a nonexistent farce of an actor, Jean Bole, as a front! Yet, the reason I have not erupted in anger is because you cowardly proposed an immense loan at a considerably low price! Frankia desperately needed funds, andmitting mistakes driven by personal emotions when dealing with matters important to the state were most likely intolerable to Earl Bercy. I am aware as well. That is why I presented this loan to you at a favorable rate. What? Yes, I yed on your sense of dignity and pride. I dangled a proposal you could not possibly refuse as bait when you were in no position to get angry. What of it? A slow smile crept across my face. In the end, Frankia was rescued from its financial crisis. By sacrificing something as inconsequential as personal emotions, you managed to save your nation. If anything, you should be grateful. ! Earl Bercy clenched his right fist, preparing to strike my face. Just as his fist was about to connect with my cheek, Earl Bercys arm froze. What? Earl Bercy tried his best to move his body, but all he could do was let out a strained groan. His entire body was suddenly incapable of moving as if he had be a statue. If you make any further moves, I will interpret it as an assassination attempt and end your life. Daisy, who was acting as my bodyguard, was holding the Earl from behind. She was perfectly holding back Earl Bercy whose body was twice her size. All she did was seal the movement of his armpit, neck, and hip, but that was enough to limit the Earl to only breathing. I let out a sigh. I never ordered you to move. This man assaulted you once before, Father. Daisy muttered bluntly. One must not grant mercy to the same person twice. This is what you taught me. Are you telling me that you taught your adopted daughter a belief that even you do not believe, Father? You fool. The person the Earl struck back then was Jean Bole, the priest. I am currently Demon Lord Dantalian. Is it not obvious that we are separate entities to the Earl? . Daisy became speechless for a moment. It seems she was contemting whether my words were logical or not. Shortly after, Daisy released Earl Bercys body from her grip. That makes sense. This man has the right to beat you up. Your issue lies in your inability to consider multiple sides. I clicked my tongue. When will you fix this problem of yours? I guess I should not be surprised that this is your fate since even your birth was foolish. My fate may be questionable, but could it be dirtier than yours, Father? This is why people who only have sharp tongues are incorrigible. I let out a snort before turning to face Earl Bercy. It appears my adopted daughter has been quite disrespectful, Attorney General. You may strike me twice as a form of apology. No one has ever struck me twice before, so I consider this a rather valuable privilege. Was he still struggling to believe that a young girl had held him back? Earl Bercy turned back and forth between me and Daisy with a nk expression before eventually plopping himself back down on his chair. I feel like a fool. Getting tricked and getting angry however I please. How am I any different from a clown? The Earl covered his forehead with his palm. It looked like he had a headache. I promise to prepare the interest within this month. However, the independence of the southern region is out of the question. I am working for the sake of the country, not for the sake of dividing the country. I will not sit idly by and let you meddle in our internal affairs. Are you doing this for the sake of your nation or for the sake of your people? Earl Bercy raised his head. Hisplexion had turned haggard within only a few minutes. What do you mean by that? It is as I said. A nation and its people do not have an indivisible rtionship. There are countless cases of authority figures in a nation applying pressure to the people and squeezing them dry. And yet, it almost feels like you are putting your nation and your people on the same pedestal. Earl Bercy furrowed his brows. Let me ask that again. What do you mean by that? During the oppression of Brittany, the northern region of Frankia bravely and boldly resisted. They regrly raised rebellions. On the other hand, many cities in the south remained silent. Which side do you think was happier, the people in the north or the south? . Bercy stared at me piercingly. Though discontent brimmed in his eyes, he chose to express it in silence. It seemed he was willing to hear me out for now. The taxes paid by the cities ultimatelye from the blood and sweat of themon people. The burden on themon people lightens the longer the cities refrain from paying taxes to the government. From my perspective, I do not believe the southern cities are making a bad decision. If the state is not strong, eventually the people will suffer. Is the Frank Empire functioning properly as a nation right now? Even now when you have entrusted the defense of the capital to foreign troops? I chuckled. Earl Bercy couldnt say anything in response. Earl, I am sure you are aware of this yourself. The southern nobles are most likely not opposing you out of malice. In fact, they probably firmly believe that they are working for the welfare of themon people. What are you trying to say? I ask that you acknowledge autonomy in the south. Not just the south, but in all cities. However, the ones guaranteed autonomy should be the city councils, not the regional nobles. Earl Bercy furrowed his brows. What is your aim? Then and now, my aim has always been the same. To act for the sake of all people. Thats a lie. Behind Earl Bercy, Daisy was smirking with only her mouth muscles. I maintained mypletely serious expression. Currently, Earl, you are managing the state affairsboriously with Her Majesty the Empress. But what if a mishap were to befall the two of you? Who would represent the government? Chaos will inevitably ensue. And in times of chaos, what the people always desire is a strong and wise dictator. . My wish is for the people to be able to navigate their way out of that chaos on their own. Preparations must be made, Earl. Establish a small but powerful government. Frankia must move towards bing a nation with true authority. True authority? I am referring to a nation where cities and themon people can participate voluntarily. By doing so, Frankia will be a type of federation that is finely divided. One powerful empire in the continent is enough, and thats already the Habsburg Empire which I directly govern. Although it is fine for Frank to remain a staunch ally of the Habsburg Empire, I cant allow it to be a potential threat. It must only hold just enough power. In our nation, or rather, in our government, not enough achievements have been made to reim its authority. Did you not take quite a bit of Sardinias territory during the previous war? The Chrysanthemum War was your war. We merely dipped our toes in to support you at the end. That is not enough to showcase our governments authority. I nodded. How about this, then? We will liberate all the ves from Frankia who are currently being held captive in the Habsburg Empire and the demon world. What? Announce that your government has sessfully negotiated the liberation of ves. This will undoubtedly strengthen the bond between Habsburg and Frankia. The diplomatic sess of a government rescuing its own citizens will undoubtedly receive praise from the masses. I smiled. First, publicly dere that you acknowledge the independence of the southern cities. The southern nobles will be overjoyed. After this, announce that you have rescued the citizens of Frankia who were captured in the demon world. Since the southern cities will already be independent by this point, they will not be a part of Frankia. This naturally means their people will not be included among the ves that are released. . If they want their people to be liberated as well, you simply have to tell the southern cities that they must ept being affiliated under Frankia. Earl Bercy countered in a subdued voice. But, there is no way they would abandon independence so easily. Of course not. Nevertheless, themon people of the southern cities will voice theirints. Themon people will still consider themselves as Franks. They will not view the nobles favorably if they insist on independence for selfish reasons, especially when there is an opportunity for ve liberation. And, I continued with a low tone. The southern nobles upied the northwest region of Sardinia. Are you aware of this? Naturally. There is no way I would not be. Which means their newly acquirednd would also bend that is not under Frankia, would it not? ! Earl Bercy opened his eyes wide. Do not tell me. We captured a rather sizable number of ves during the recent war. It might even be fine to say that we basically captured everyone in front of us. Most of the ves were sold to the Helvetica Union and the demon world. This naturally meant that they could be freed as well. However, only if they are branded as a citizen of Frankia. The people of northern Sardinia are already furious about being upied by foreigners. But what do you think would happen if they also discover that their families, rtives, and neighbors are being deprived of the opportunity to be liberated from very because of some petty greed by the Frank nobles? A widespread rebellion! I grinned. Yes, a rebellion. They did not get their hands on newnd for free. A hefty price will have to be paid for this item. . Earl Bercy looked at me with a trembling gaze. How. No, since when did you? Since the very beginning, did you give the southern nobles the chance to upy Sardinia with this intent in mind? I didnt answer his question and instead continued. Let them suffer a bit from the rebellion. You can instigate the southern cities after they have used up all of their strength. Offer to subdue all their issues as long as they lower their heads to the central government of Frankia. Themon people will not stand still. . Earl, allow the people to voluntarily form a nation. Of course, itll only be voluntary on the surface. But who cares? Earl Bercy, you most likely believe you were able to reach your position through your own efforts, but in truth, Im the one who secretly nned it all out. It will be the same for the people of Frankia. We just have to let them think that theyre doing it voluntarily. Theres no reason to reveal the truth. Lets cheer them on as they try to create a country theyd be proud of. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Honestly, I have less to say this time than thest chapter. Were back to politics. I hope everyones had an okay February and wish them luck for March. Im not sure how, but I spent so much money in February Too many things that required money happened in the same month My poor wallet. In any case, Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Side note, I dunno if anyone is actually interested, but I rented a modded Minecraft server to help distract myself when Im bored. Feel free to check out the details on how to join in the Discord. Chapter 406: The Spider and Viper (3) Chapter 406: The Spider and Viper (3) * * * You have been spending less time in bed as ofte. After sending Earl Bercy off, I sat in my chair sipping the disgustingly sweet fruit alcohol. I had fallen into thought. Ive recently been getting a lot of opportunities to sit around and think. It is because there is no reason for me to sleep for a long time. That is not what I mean by less time in bed, Father. You have never done it ever since that woman died. I am curious to know when you became so knowledgeable about my lower bodys affairs. I scoffed. Has your interest shifted to such matters now that your brain has matured a bit? Know your ce. No one would associate with a milk-drinking brat like you. There is no use deflecting. It has been a month already. The fact that a man of your insatiable desires has abstained for an entire month is unheard of. It has only been a month. There are times when I wish to rest as well. I know you very well, Father. I narrowed my eyes and red at Daisy. The corners of her mouth were twisted. Im not sure who she resembles, but it was an incredibly annoying expression. Do you genuinely believe that you are married to that woman? . Your methods are always the same, Father. Unbeknownst to anyone else, you remember the dead in your own way. If I may voice my opinion, it is incredibly unsightly. There is a limit to the truth. I let out a snort as I drank my fruit alcohol. Laura and Ivar must have whined to you. Surprisingly, even Demon Lord Gamigin came to request information from me. To be honest, it is bothersome. I ask that you go up to someone appropriate and bed her. All things considered, the only parts of your body that are considered valuable are your mouth and lower body. Do you intend to drop your value by half? It was obvious what happened. Since I suddenly stopped bedding women, they came to ask my dedicated maid, Daisy, about my situation. What unreasonable women. There are things you should and shouldnt ask a 15-year-old girl. Tsk tsk. Do not meddle needlessly. Nothing good wille from getting involved in another persons rtionship issues. In that regard, how has yours been going? I have never dated anyone in my entire life. Do you not have that distinguished brother of yours? It was my turn tough mockingly this time. Sure enough, Daisys expression turned rotten. I am not dating Luke. Why? Is it because you prefer the same gender? Hah, what a good excuse. Watching you desperately pretend as if you have no feelings for your brother is quite the sight to behold. Did touching Ivars butt make you feel better? . I smirked. I see you have suddenly lost your words. Try saying it again, I know you very well, Father. Dear me, do you still have nothing to say? I guess even two mouths would not be enough for you since you even disowned yourself from your parents just in case. This father has be awestruck by how magnificent his daughters crush is. I will kill you. That is the scariest threat in the world. I shrugged. I turned to look at Daisy so that I could deal her a final uppercut, but I suddenly came to realize how much the child whom I had brought with me at 10 years old had grown. I said it as a joke, but Daisy really is almost all grown up now. Hmm. I stroked Daisys hair with my hand. Her beautiful ck hair slipped between my fingers. Her skin, which was as fair as white porcin ceramics, was also eye-catching. Her breasts werent that pronounced, but this is a good thing for assassins. I see. Has it already been five years? Daisy didnt react whatsoever even though I was touching her hair however I wanted. Her expression, which is normally emotionless, contained a level of intellect that had been deliberately engraved into her since a young age. In terms ofnguage alone, this child is already fluent in 10 of them. Do you want to get married? . Daisy blinked. Shortly after, Daisy made an expression like a pedestrian who had just witnessed vomit on the ground. Are you insane? If you wish to live an ordinary married life, there is no reason for me to not put it into consideration. You are also fifteen years old, meaning you are old enough to decide your own life. Be honest. Do you want to get married? She mustve noticed I was being somewhat serious. Daisy gazed at me with an even colder look. Rene, Albert, Brnois, Jean, Toby, Abel, Bruno, Tebo, Lucien. Do you know who all nine of these people are? No. They are the residents of our vige whom Father killed. Daisys eyes glimmered with spite. Mr. Rene used to wake up earlier than anyone else to check on the vige fences every morning. Mr. Albert always helped families in need, even when his own family did not have enough food and was facing starvation during the winter. Old Man Brnois, the vige elder, always led us wisely. Each one of these individuals was killed by you, Father. You did so as if you were simply killing mere insects. . Do not pretend to be righteous now. You are a viin to the core with no redemption in sight, Father. The only reason I sometimesfort you is purely because it would be inconvenient if you were to deteriorate before I can kill you with my own two hands. Daisy let out a sly chuckle. The fact that you have be this devastated after killing a single woman is so ridiculous that I cannot evenugh. You have already murdered hundreds of thousands of people, Father. They were all either someones father, someones child, or someones lover. Hah. Have you finally gained the strength to grieve the dead? Why does it matter when it was just some harlot? I sshed my fruit alcohol on Daisys face. The scarlet liquid dripped from her hair. Despite this, Daisy didnt even flinch. Paimonwas not an average person. People can be remarkably hypocritical. While the value of life remains the same, they often react more passionately to the lives of those close to them. Even Demon Lord Sitri, with her innocent face, ughtered a hundred thousand innocent citizens just because the lover she worshipped died. The math there is astonishing. Daisy took out a handkerchief and wiped her face. I can assure you, not once have I entertained the notion of marriage, not even in my wildest dreams. So fret not. The purpose of my existence was etched in stone the day you razed and piged my vige. Father, I will end you. . However, your demise alone will not suffice. I intend to unveil and prosecute every one of your transgressions, ensuring you meet a fitting end. A faint smile appeared on Daisys face once she finished wiping it. Coincidentally, it seems that what you desire for your final moments aligns perfectly with my own wishes, does it not? Personally, I consider myself quite the filial daughter. What you yearn for most deeply, I too sincerely and fervently desire in the depths of my heart. How filial of her. It made me feel like erecting a statue in her honor. Sleep in my bed tonight, Father. What? I scowled while Daisy maintained her tranquil expression. I am not asking you to sleep with me. I might be mad, but I have not gone insane enough to offer my virginity to you. Just hide under my bed and sleep there. I was just bing more confused. For starters, I should fix her tone. I am your master. Yet, you speak as if you are the master. Is this request not lighter than asking for marriage? Considering the only thing you have ever bestowed upon me is torture, it is only fair to ept a request of this degree. The audacious way she made requests mirrored me. I must have taught her wrong. I sighed. Asking me to sleep under your bed. What is your aim? You will understand tonight. Daisy left it at that, providing no further exnation. That night, I found myself sleeping in Daisys room within my Demon Lord Castle. The floor was cold and unforgiving, but it didnt bother me. Ever since I enduredshings while punishing Laura in the past, Id lost almost all sensation in my back. Thanks to this, I could now sleep peacefully on any surface. What an unexpected benefit. And what was I doing lying underneath the bed? Where did this girl run off to? I was doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. Daisys bedroom boasted a bleak view, but the furnishings themselves were of the highest quality. The bed, in particr, was quite enormous despite Daisys petite frame, covering my entire body and then some. However, Daisy, in her audacity, didnt hesitate to tuck me, the lord of the Demon Lord Castle and the shadowy figure of the empire, underneath her bed. Ill be back in a moment, she dered before vanishing to some unknown location. I was baffled, and when I voiced my confusion, she responded with a threat, Tonight, do not move from that spot under any circumstances. In the end, I found myself lying beneath the pitch-dark bed, gazing at nothing but the darkness beneath. Even a smoke or a drink at this time would have been a relief, but in this cursed ce, there was nothing I could do. Haa. What kind of foolish thing was she trying to pull by pushing me into a ce like this? Honestly, Im still clueless about whats going on. It could very well be her way of messing with me. No, knowing Daisy, thats more than likely the case. Had an hour passed? Creak. The bedroom door opened, interrupting my thoughts. Just as I was starting to feel relieved about her return, I heard a rather familiar voice. Oh, so this is your room, Daisy? This is my first time seeing it! Luke? Instinctively, I mped my mouth shut. It was a voice I hadnt expected at all. As I thought, youre really favored by our godfather, huh? Im jealous. I was never given my own room in the castle. Are you jealous since Im being favored by Father? It was Daisys voice this time. This was my first time hearing her speak informally, so it was like a breath of fresh air. However, only her words were changed to be informal while her tone remained blunt and somewhat cold. Obviously! Our godfather is the greatest person in the world. I heard he recently passed a bill to free all ves around the world. Its not the entire world. Its only in the Habsburg Empire and the demon world. Its bound to spread everywhere eventually! Same difference. Luke was visibly excited. Come to think of it, Daisy hadnt had a proper conversation with Luke for about three or four years. After cutting ties with her birth parents, she seemed to have intentionally distanced herself from Luke. So, from Lukes perspective, it was the first time in three years that he was having a conversation with his little sister. His happiness was understandable. But whyd you invite me thiste at night? Im not saying that I dislike that you invited me! I was just wondering if something was up. Father mentioned to me today that Ive been neglecting you too much. Our godfather said that? Luke sounded slightly moved. Oh, I see. Im sorry, Daisy. It mustve been because I talked to him about you a while ago. Its okay. Its true Ive been neglecting you too because of how busy Ive been. I decided to call you now since I have a mountain of things to do tomorrow, so Ill be busy all day. This seemed to convince Luke as he uttered, I see. I understand. From my perspective, I could only see Lukes ankles, but I could vividly picture him nodding his head energetically. Luke, letsmemorate this reunion. The siblings sat on the edge of the bed. I couldnt tell what kind it was, but the two started drinking alcohol. The two chatted away about the vige, training, work, and family. I felt an inexplicable sense of unease. Surely, Daisy didnt call Luke just to chat and catch up. What was she scheming? *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This must be the Daisy arc. Im sort of on auto-pilot right now. Work is draining me too much. These are just one-sentence thoughts. I think I need more sleep. Should I take a nap after posting this? Maybe. I pray to survive another week. Weekends are too short. I will see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 407: The Spider and Viper (4) Chapter 407: The Spider and Viper (4) Ive heard a lot of rumors about you. Mostly rted to women. Huh? H-Haha, did that turn into a rumor? They say youve been jumping from woman to woman every other month. Im impressed. Daisy remarked sarcastically. However, it seems Luke took that as friendly teasing as heughed like an idiot. Heroes are said to be promiscuous, and Luke was indeed experiencing a brilliant adolescence where maidens seemed to be in short supply in the city. It could be partly due to the fact that he was the adopted son of someone who was both a Demon Lord and the region lord. Its not that impressive. Im just putting into practice what I learned from Godfather. What did Father say? He said that the concept of family is about passing down ones assets to future generations, ultimately inheriting wealth. Luke spoke with conviction, like a clergyman proiming divine truth. He said that for true equality to be achieved, the concept of marriage and family itself needs to change. So, if you feelfortable or affectionate with someone, just enjoy your time together with them without overthinking it! Huh? Did I say that? Oh, wait! I remember now. There was a time when Luke came to me secretly, feeling guilty about having intercourse with Jeremi. Luke thought Jeremi was my concubine. He considered it sinful to secretly make love to someone who was his adopted fathers lover. That was when I offered him those words. Whether its Jeremi or anyone else, love is a personal freedom. If the two of you are happy together, thats enough At the time, I just uttered whatever words came to my mouth. I didnt have the luxury to give a child a serious consultation when I was busy mulling over how to deal with Henrietta in Frankia. Th-Then, is it okay if I, um, do that with Big Sister Jeremi? Of course, why not? While pondering what I had to do to mess with Henrietta enough that it might spread as great gossip, I gave an irresponsible response to the boy who had just entered adolescence. The more you do it, the better. R-Really? Just think about it, Luke. If you openly share your free love with your partner, would that not spread that liberal mindset? Throughout your entire life, the number of women you can love will not exceed ten thousand. Even so, ten thousand is still quite a number. You will be doing something good for ten thousand women. This is also the task that the goddess Aphrodite bestowed upon us since ancient times. I-I see! The innocent hero candidate clenched his fist. I understand! I will spread the message of free love to the world ording to your teachings, Mr. Priest! That is a noble resolve, Luke. Stay true to it. Now I fully remember! To be honest, Luke is a lot dumberpared to Daisy, so I would always give him half-hearted responses. Jeremi enticing Luke was my order to begin with, so I didnt really care. But the words I thoughtlessly spoke in jest ended up turning into Lukes philosophy on love! In other words, the hundreds of vige residents and city dwellers who lost their virginity to Luke until now. If you think about it carefully, it was all because of me. What an unimaginable oue. Its not that the hero isscivious, I was the one who created the greatestscivious viin, a monstrous Casanova. How deep are my sins? Hmm. Daisy let out a chilly snort. Without a doubt, the temperature in the room dropped by about 2 degrees just now. Daisy stomped the empty floor with a thud. Of course, this was clearly visible to me since I was hiding under the bed. Whats wrong? Nothing. I just stepped on an ant. I was being treated like an ant by my adopted daughter. Daisy let out a small sigh. Luke, we are siblings and no one can change that. Huh? Of course. I believe we shouldnt keep any secrets from each other unless absolutely necessary. Luke nodded several times in response. It seemed like having a long conversation with his beloved little sister after three years was bringing him a small but genuine joy. Unlike the visibly excited Luke, Daisy had an inexplicable coldness about her. Luke, I understand that youre dedicated to your love life. I dont have any thoughts about that, really. Id even say I support you sincerely. Haha. Thanks, Daisy. I hope you find a good guy soon too. But I have a question. Luke, you almost always spend quality time with your lovers. Daisy continued. But why do you indulge in masturbation every day like a dog in heat? . A silence fell over the room. Though I couldnt see Lukes face, the air hinted at his considerable shock. I only now began to grasp Daisys intention, and I, too, was surprised. W-What are you saying? It is as I asked. Daisys voice gradually took on a threatening tone. Theres no point in feigning ignorance. Im sure you have the item that Teacher Jeremi gave you. Oh, Big Sister Jeremi mustve told you. Haha. And here I got worried over nothing. Seriously, she loves teasing people too much. I guess you inherited Big Sister Jeremis sense of humor. Luke tried hard to divert the topic with a joke. It showed just how embarrassing and awkward the subject was for him. However, Daisy firmly cut off his attempt. If you dont answer my question from now on, you and I will forever be estranged. Daisy? I understand its embarrassing. I know you might not want to talk about it. But I have my reasons for dragging you into an empty room on a night like this after avoiding you for over three and a half years. So answer me. Daisy got a step closer to Luke. Despite having so many lovers, why do you keep using that slime? . Shortly after, Luke opened his mouth. Will you tell me why youre asking me this? If you give me an honest answer. This is a really important question, right? I promise you it is. Luke let out a sigh. Ugh, okay. Well, it might not be that embarrassing if I think about it. Its natural for someone my age to be doing something like this. Answer my question. For starters, Big Sister Jeremi gave it to me as a gift. I think its been about five years since I got it. You know this as well, but Big Sister Jeremi is pretty mischievous. She mightve given that to me as a way to mess with me when I was younger. Luke exined while dragging the ends of his words. His voice was filled with embarrassment. He must be flustered since his little sister had exposed his private matter. What happened is Do I have to tell you the specifics as well? No. Just answer the part that matters. Phew, thats a relief. In any case, Big Sister Jeremi messed with me frequently with it. How should I exin it? Its a little embarrassing, but I got used to it. Lukes voice became as small as a fly. I may be young now, but I was younger then. Theres nothing I can do when someone older like Big Sister Jeremi decides to y with me. No, Im not saying shes in the bad. Thats just how it was. But you made a lot of lovers afterward. Was there still a need for you to keep using it? No. Its not that I needed it. How do I exin it. Daisy coldly questioned him further. Did it feel good? Uh, yeah. Well, I guess. Was sleeping with women not enough to satisfy you? Im the weird one probably. It might be like a strange aftereffect since it was my first time. Haha, Im sure you dont know about this yet, Daisybut theres like a type of synergy between people who love each other. Luke was still embarrassed, but he was now speaking morefortably than earlier. It seems like he had epted the current situation to a degree in his heart. An older brother teaching his innocent little sibling about sex, this was most likely how he had epted the situation. Uhm, dontugh at what Im about to say. I wontugh. This isnt something tough about. I think my synergy matches with that toy the most. Ugh, there were girls whom I really liked, but every time I made love to them, I would end upparing them to that toy. Hah. This makes me feel bad for all the girls I dated. Daisy let out a smallugh. How did Luke perceive thisugh? Luke shouted. You promised not tough! Yeah, Im sorry. I couldnt help it. Whatever. Im not going to tell you anything now. Luke was evidently sulking. Its only natural for a toy to feel different from the actual thing. In the first ce, Father has been way too soft with you, Daisy. I cant believe he hasnt even educated you about this! Theres a difference between knowing and being indifferent and being indifferent because you dont know. Ill have to tell him about this tomorrow so that. Its me, Brother. Daisy cut him off. With a tone void of emotion. Thats mine. What are you saying all of a sudden? The good-natured Luke was gradually starting to lose his temper. Instead of answering him, Daisy stood up and approached a drawer. I could hear the sound of her rummaging around before pulling out something. I couldnt see what Daisy had pulled out from my angle, but I had a good feeling I knew what it was. Its the same as this, isnt it? The slime you have. . You probably dont know this, but you only have one half of that transparent slime. It shares its senses with its other half. For example, if your slime bends, then this slime will also bend simrly. I seriously dont understand what youre trying to sa It was five years ago in the forest of Frankia. Luke shut his mouth. Daisy continued softly. The forest was so dense that even sunlight struggled to get through the leaves. It was midday, but there was a chill in the air. A few days prior, Teacher Jeremi had inserted a transparent slime into my body, but I didnt know the reason why. That day, I saw her take you somewhere into the forest, so I secretly followed. Huh? I hid in the foliage and peaked at you two. You were sitting on a boulder and Teacher Jeremi was caressing you. It was shocking, but that was nothingpared to what followed next. By mixing small lies with the overwhelming truth, Daisys words became arrows that stabbed into Lukes flesh. Teacher Jeremi took something out. I couldnt make it out clearly because of the distance, but I could at least tell it looked the same as the thing that was forcefully gifted to me a few days ago. I couldnt help but resent my good eyesight at that moment. Youre lying. Daisy, what are you saying? Lukes voice trembled. Your jokes are going too far. W-Was it Big Sister Jeremi? Did she put you up to this? This wont do. Wheres Jeremis room? Is it on this floor? I need to go and Dont run away. As Luke hesitated to get up from the bed, a chilling voice flowed from Daisys lips. I couldnt see what was happening from my position. However, I could tell Daisy was leaning closer to Luke due to the shift in the position of their ankles. Look me in the eyes and listen till the very end. Uh, ugh. It enveloped you. And, at the same time, the thing inside me vibrated in the same way. Over and over again. I had to desperately suppress the moans escaping my lips. I copsed to the ground, wishing for that hellish time to end quickly. Lies. Youre lying. Twice yesterday. Lukes sobbing stopped. Once was around noon. The other, in the early morning. Did you sleep at all yesterday, Luke? Thanks to you, I was up since the crack of dawn yesterday. That hindered my work a lot. The day before that, you thankfully only did it once. Do you know what Ive been constantly wishing for over the past five years? A-Ah. Just once today. Please, just once today. Every time you yed with that slime that apparently has good synergy with you, I could do nothing but stand in ce and endure it. Lukes legs shook. He was trembling all over. At first, I thought it would end someday. Just a little longer. If I endure a little longer, it will eventually end. I thought it would pass quietly as if nothing ever happened. Ah, uh, ahahh. When I heard about your rtionships, I silently shed tears. I thought it was finally over. But for some reason, even after a year passed, even after two years Time kept flowing, but the hellish moments never ended. Daisy murmured faintly. In the end, I couldnt bring myself to look at you anymore. It was the same with our parents. Thats why I became estranged. Theres no way our parents could ept the fact that their son and daughter were practically having intercourse every day. So, even though three years have passed since then, you havent changed a bit. You didnt seem to even remotely know why I started to avoid you and I had to suffer all by my lonesome. . Thats why I decided to tell you the truth today, Luke, my brother. Daisy pressed her body against Luke. And she quietly whispered. Youre a son of a bitch who indifferently raped your blood-rted little sister for the past five years. At that moment. I could feel thest strand that was holding Lukes mind together snap. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. The truth is finally revealed to Luke. I wonder how hes going to react. Unfortunately, the next chapter might get a little dyed depending on how this week goes. Id normally keep tranting this weekend, but I just got back from the cemetery yesterday for my grandpas burial. It took us 4 hours to drive down and then 3 hours to drive up, so I am exhausted. I genuinely just want to rest this weekend. If Im able to get my work done early this uing week, the next chapter might not get dyed. I have a good feeling Ill be able to finish early, but Im just warning you guys in case I fail and the next chapter ends uping outter In any case, Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 408: The Spider and Viper (5) Chapter 408: The Spider and Viper (5) It might have started as a simple prank from Teacher Jeremi. Daisy spoke. If it had ended there, if nothing had happened afterward, I probably could have covered it up and pretended as if it had never happened. But everything that happened from that point onward, was your doing. I reallydidnt know. Thats a relief. Daisy continued to tighten the noose, making sure there was no escape. Its good that you were blissfully ignorant. Im d that only I knew, that only I had to suffer, and that only I had to get scarred. Itd be great if you could live like that forever,pletely oblivious. If you do, you could avoid responsibility by iming ignorance. Silence hung in the air. It took some time for the mental structure Luke had built to copse. The beliefs he held and the pride he felt crumbled slowly to the depths of his heart. Time flowed by fleetingly. What. Luke murmured, his voice in ruins. What, can I do? Theres nothing more for you to do. It wont get better, nor will it get worse. Itll just linger as a sin that will never fade away. Daisy spoke in a casual tone. Like a snake confident in sinking its lethal fangs into its preys throat, Daisy applied pressure on Luke as if she were deliberating on where to tear apart next. I wont forgive you until the day I die. . I hope that you repent eternally, Luke. Immediately after, the distance between Daisy and Luke closed before quickly falling apart. I was convinced Daisy had kissed Luke. I had no evidence, but if I were in Daisys shoes, thats what I wouldve doneseal tonights conversation into Lukes memory forever. Leave. Daisy dismissed Luke. Luke, like a ghost, left the room without a word. . I couldnt bring myself to crawl out from under the bed even after Luke had left. What could I possibly do in this situation? Daisy remained silent too. The two of us maintained a prolonged silence. Daisy was the first to speak. You cannot run away anymore, Father. What do you mean? Do you remember the wager you made with me in the beginning, Father? I naturally remembered. To make Luke swear his sincere loyalty to me voluntarily. If that happens, I swore to not kill Luke, Daisy, their parents, and their fellow vige people no matter what. On the other hand, if Luke doesnt swear his loyalty to me, I could kill them anywhere and at any time. In other words, they would be living on a time limit. This was the wager I had made with Daisy at the sh-and-burn vige in Frankia. I always wondered why you never took Luke to the battlefield. Luke is as valuable as I am. No, hes been trained as a warrior from the start, unlike me who was raised as an assassin. Luke would have been more effective in a full-scale battle. Yet, you just left him to his own devices on yournd. . You deliberately didnt use Luke. You hardly ever met with him either. I could only conclude that you had almost no intention of having Luke swear loyalty to you. Thats right. I left Luke alone almost to the point of neglect. My confusion only deepened. It did not fit your character to let a valuable piece like Luke go to waste. Fortunately, over time, my question naturally unraveled itself. I crawled out from under the bed. This conversation has to be held face-to-face. This was the feeling I had. I stood up and stretched my body which had stiffened after three hours of staying still. Daisy was seated at the edge of the bed and smoking. I could tell from the fragrance alone that it was rather strong. Since her teacher, Jeremi, and her master, me, were both smokers down to the bone, it was only natural that shed dabble in it as well. However, Daisy would never smoke in front of me. It was probably because she didnt want to show her weak side to me. Even now, once I crawled out from under the bed, Daisy immediately tried to drop her cigar and snuff it out, but I shook my head to stop her. It is fine. I will allow it. I brought a chair from the corner of the room and ced it directly across from Daisy before sitting down. Daisy stared at me with her eyes that were as ck as wells. There were three clues that led me to the answer. Earl Bercy, Demon Lord Paimon, and Consul Elizabeth. Oh? First, Earl Bercy. During the Puppet War, you carried out extensive massacres. At the time, Earl Bercy confronted you about these massacres. I found that encounter to be very strange. I took out a tobo leaf from my pocket and rolled it slowly. It had been quite a while since I stopped smoking, but it wasnt like I had quit. It was simply a temporary pause. It was the fact that you immediately admitted your wrongdoing. As I mechanically handled the tobo leaf, Daisy continued indifferently. Why? For what reason? I did not understand. You had no reason to confess your crime. It would have been much more beneficial to you if you had med it on another Demon Lord and imed that you could not stop it. Despite this, you confessed to your crime without any hesitation. Daisy quietly exhaled smoke into the air. I realized. You were testing Earl Bercy. . I did not know for what purpose, but it was clear that you were measuring something about Earl Bercy. You deliberately told him the truth and waited to see how the earl would react. A faint smile yed at the corner of Daisys lips. The second clue was Demon Lord Paimon. It wasst winter. When Demon Lord Paimon called for the Republican Representative Meeting, you desperately tried to thwart it. To protect the Empire. To maintain the bnce of power between the factions. You justified it like that, but. The tip of Daisys cigarette glowed bright red. I have a slightly different view. You were not bustling around to protect the Empire. It was to protect Demon Lord Paimon. You cherished Demon Lord Paimon so dearly, to the point she was irreceable to you. . But why would you kill such a precious lover? Out of fear that the Empire would copse? Because of the escting factional disputes? No, those are all superficial reasons. There is a deeper motive. Daisy looked me straight in the eyes. Father, it was because Paimon could no longer kill you. . The reason you exerted so much effort to protect that womanst winter was this: To you, Paimon was a prominent candidate who could potentially kill you. Daisys smirk grew more pronounced around her lips. If you had left the Republican Representative Meeting alone at that time, chances are Paimon would have been trampled by the ins Faction and the Neutral Faction. You could not bear the thought of such a prominent candidate, who could potentially kill you, disappearing so easily. So, you protected Demon Lord Paimon, even at the risk of self-harm. My hand, which had been rolling a cigarette, stopped. We stared at each other intently. Our gazes almost felt palpable. Daisys eyes held mind, and mine held hers, stretching and pulling. It was then that I understood why you told Earl Bercy the truth. Unbeknownst to the world, Earl Bercy was also one of the candidates whom you had selected. You were testing to see if the earl could kill you or not. . I am certain that you also gifted Demon Lord Paimon an opportunity to kill you. However, Paimon had discarded that chance. Instead of killing you, she chose to be subservient to you. In other words, Demon Lord Paimon was eliminated as a candidate from your list. Daisy stated her words with conviction. Thest clue is Consul Elizabeth of the Habsburg Republic. Daisys tone was not spective but assertive, speaking as if stating a confirmed truth. Despite seeing through Consul Elizabeths intentions, you strangely aligned with her intent to wage war. You could have easily deceived and manipted her. However, you instead synchronized your actions with her as if you had formed an alliance. Instead of outright ending the Consuls life, you chose to spare it. Contrarily allowing that tenacious life to live on. . With this in mind, I became certain. Consul Elizabeth also falls under your list of candidates. I do not know how many names are on that list, but you show the same amount of leniency to all of them. Did Daisys smirk spread to me? The ends of my mouth unconsciously twisted upward. Then my initial question of why you have not been utilizing my brother is automatically answered. My brother must also be on your list of candidates, isnt he, Father? You are correct. The reason you have not involved Luke in wars or other matters is clear. You are hoping for Luke to grow up as a genuinely pure, just, and righteous individual. In other words, you wish for him to be purely righteous enough to execute a viin such as yourself. An evildoer killing another evildoer is simply murder. On the other hand, when a righteous person eliminates an evildoer, its an entirely proper execution and punishment. I finished rolling up my cigar and put it in my mouth. I then leaned my face forward. Daisy brought the tip of her cigar close to the end of mine. After a moment, the spark transferred to my cigar. I took in a deep breath of the smoke. I believe you probably nned for my brother to uncover the truth when the time was right. You would have guided him to be a skilled warrior, ensuring he would eventually kill you, all without him realizing. . This was a rather clumsy move on your part, Father. Daisy continued. I may be a naive child, but showing me threeplete clues was excessive. I would have noticed even if I did not want to. Earl Bercy, Consul Elizabeth, and Luke. Do you genuinely think that they have the authority to end your life, Father? Daisy smiled. There is no way I would cede my right to the likes of the Earl, the Consul, or my brother. What do they truly know about you, Father? In the first ce, do you think that they could kill you in the truest sense? I will say this now, but that is a grave misunderstanding. Perhaps it was the effect of the cigar, but my emotions settled into an almost infinite calm. My brother now considers himself a sinner and viin. He is no longer someone who can unhesitatingly eliminate a viin. Please remove my brothers name from your list of candidates. . I dare say that Earl Bercy is not a suitable candidate either. Since you have taken the life of Demon Lord Paimon yourself, now only Demon Lord Barbatos and Consul Elizabeth remain usible options. However, they can never kill you, Father. Never. In the center of this room billowing with white smoke. I vow to protect you from them. Daisy stared right at me as she made her promation. I am the only person in the world who can kill you. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. There was a surprising amount of people who thought this would suddenly turn into incest. I guess I shouldnt be surprised considering what happened in thest chapter. On a more important note, I already mentioned it on my server, but it seems DD got a manhwa/webtoon? Im really not sure what people call a Korean webtoon-style work thats done by a Japanese publisher. Im personally of the opinion that the Korean publisher for DD, Novelengine, mightve sold the rights to DD to a Japanesepany because of the dumb controversy that happened several years ago. That controversy most likely tainted the series too much in Korea. I probably wont have any hand in scating it since its JP source, but I think Asura is doing a decent job. It seems like someone who read my trantion is working on it since Im noticing some of my styles in the prologue dialogue. I also heard that the webtoon/manhwa changes a fair bit from the original LN, so Im not sure what kind of direction theyre going to follow after they catch up. Im also hoping this illustrator is able to encapste the same amount of impact that certain scenes had in the novel. I simply pray it goes well, though Im not hearing exactly raving reviews of it so far. Welp, in any case, Ill see you guys in the next chapter if Im alive, cause Im doing overtime this uing week! Woohoo! Chapter 409: The Spider and Viper (6) Chapter 409: The Spider and Viper (6) Daisy pressed her now half-burnt cigar against my chest. Daisy touched the tip of her cigar on my upper chest, precisely over where my heart resides. From left to right, she twisted it over and over again for a total of five times. I could feel a warm sensation on my chest as the ember was extinguished. I will impale my de right here. Daisy stated. I wish to choose the most painful method of murder, but, unfortunately, you are a Demon Lord. You would simply recover with your innate healing if I were to stab at you halfheartedly. It cannot be helped. I will end it in one strike. It is true that if a pathetically weak Demon Lord like myself were to lose my heart, I would have no way of recovering. Healing magic and potions are anything but omnipotent. Recovering from a single strike capable of destroying the heart would be challenging. Well, it would be a different story if I were a monster like Barbatos. She fully healed after her heart was destroyed by Baal. Thats not a skill a small fry like me could replicate. But no matter how you look at it, you are overly confident, my daughter. You are nothing more than an assassin branded with the mark of a ve. Are you holding yourself in such high esteem because you killed Baal and captured Agares? I smiled. Barbatos holds the most powerful influence in the Demon Lord Army. Elizabeth is the ruler of a nation. The difference between trash like you and them is as vast as the sky and the earth. Yet, by what logic could you surpass them and threaten my life? It is already absurd that a Rank 71 Demon Lord managed to eliminate Baal. That is something you have already aplished and there is no reason I cannot do something you have already done. How presumptuous. Laughter escaped my lips. Daisy gazed at me with a confident expression. I wanted to distort that arrogant look, to crush her beneath me and ruin herpletely. However, I wasnt foolish enough to be swept away by desire and hastily uncork the sweetest wine in the world. Now that you haveid out your ns, it is my turn to share mine. Do not be coy; my daughter has proudly dered her ambitions to me. As a father, it fills me with immeasurable pride. Elizabeth and Daisy were both misunderstanding something. I certainly desired the finest death. However, the sequence was incorrect. It wasnt that I wanted the best death because I desired death. It was the opposite. Since I couldnt die easily, if I had to die, I would only ept and embrace the best death. Its a simple matter. If someone tells you to die for no reason, no one would readily ept it. However, if sacrificing yourself could save a hundred thousand people or your own family, many would willingly choose to die. Thats because it would be a good death. The question is, what form of death could I ept and embrace? Naturally, I have no intention of quietly dying unless the finest death is offered to me. For me, the best death is quite magnificent. The moment you fail to kill me, I will crush and vite you myself. Then, I will make sure you witness Luke and your parents burning to death before your eyes. . No, directlymitting the act myself is not such a great idea. How about this? After killing Luke, I will ask Barbatos to turn him into a corpse doll. And then, I willmand the corpse doll to vite you. I caressed Daisys face. I moved my hand gently as I blended affection into my touch. How pitiful of Luke. It is tragic enough that his lifelong love turned out to be his sister, buting together even after death is quite something. Hmm, I wonder if a corpse doll can produce sperm. I guess I will have to ask Barbatos. An offspring of two heroes. No doubt theyll disy the finest qualities. Im already looking forward to it. Hah. Just imagining my grandchildren from my adopted son and adopted daughter fills me with great excitement. A trashy future that can only be imagined by someone like you, Father. Oh dear. Ill be sad if this is enough for you to denounce me. This was still only the opener. The real fun starts now. Next, I will go under Marbas as his adopted son. Marbas is technically a part of the imperial family, so I will naturally be included in that lineage. Therefore, when I inherit the imperial throne, Daisy, you will also be the imperial princess of the Habsburg Empire! . No other father can possiblypare to me. Bestowing the noblest status upon a daughter born into the lowest ss, a ss lower than evenmoners, is there a better example for fathers everywhere to follow? My hand trailed down Daisys jawline and lingered on her neck. Her skin, as white as freshly fallen snow, felt pleasantly cool to the touch. Habsburgs first imperial princess, Daisy von Custos. May you be the beautiful glory of the eternal and immortal Empire. I chuckled. If the Emperor dies now, the throne will return to me. However, I have no intention of epting the throne. It is only natural. If a demon tries to ascend the throne, the other countries will vigorously oppose it. So, regrettably, I must relinquish the throne to another. Would you care to specte on whom I will yield it to? I grabbed Daisys chin and lifted it slightly. Its you, Daisy. I stood from my chair and looked down into her eyes. I shall turn you into a vampire, granting you a semi-permanent existence. You shall ascend as the empress of this nation your father has forged, ruling it alone for the centuries toe. Undoubtedly, you harbor more desire to destroy the Empire than anyone else, rendering this fate the most excruciating punishment for you. I slowly bowed my head. I felt a faint sensation on my lips. . . A light kiss that was as light as a quiet knock on the door. Daisys lips were dry but incredibly soft. She didnt even blink as I kissed her. Her eyes simply red at me intently. As I pulled away, I whispered, So, my beloved daughter, be careful not to fail. Your father is not a man who shows mercy to those who fail, for he is cruel and merciless. I gripped Daisys right wrist and brought it to my chest, cing her palm over my heart. When you are at your most certain, under the right circumstances, and with a sure strike, you will have to pierce through here without a shred of doubt guing your mind. UnderstoodFather. Daisys gaze revealed no trace of hesitation. Excellent. With a loudugh, I shoved Daisy backward, causing her to lose her bnce and tumble onto her bed. Leaving Daisy in that state, I departed from the bedroom. The mncholy feeling I had earlier vanishedpletely. Elizabeth and Daisy seemed determined to entertain metely. My steps turned into a dance as I gracefully walked through the empty corridors of my Demon Lord Castle. A tune naturally escaped my lips. Before I knew it, my Demon Lord Castle had beenpleted up to the 7th underground floor. The 8th floor was also nearingpletion. The 10th floor had already been designated as a residence for me and my top officials, so with only the 9th floor left to finish, the grandeur of the Demon Lord Castle was within reach. A massive Demon Lord Castle with ten underground floors. Even armies would find my castle difficult to conquer. In fact, to upy my castle, one would first have to sweep through the territories outside. However, since my city is lined with Mage Towers, its virtually impossible to capture. Someday, after entrusting the Empire to Daisy, it wouldnt be such a bad idea to hole up here and live forever. Remembering endlessly those Ive killed. Id be fine with that. In truth, isnt even death a luxury for someone like me? * * * Godfather, could you perhapsspare me some of your time? The next day, Luke came to my office. I was in the middle of handling my backlog of paperwork with Lapis. Due to all of the Empires affairs that had been demanding my attention, the management of my own territory had been sidelined all this time. Fortunately, Parsi had efficiently handled things in my absence, but there were still matters only the true lord could attend to. I grinned. Sure, go ahead. I was expecting Luke to show up, so I was quite rxed. It was only natural. Right now, for the first time ever in his 16-year-old life, Luke was facing a crisis that was beyond his ability to handle. Children tend to rely on someone in times like this. But who could Luke turn to for advice? His biological parents? At the moment, Lukes biological parents were most likely thest people he wanted to confide in. Therefore, I was the only option. The person he respected the most and his godfather. Butum. Luke hesitated, casting a cautious nce at Lapis. Hisplexion was notably dark. Sensing Lukes unease, Lapis spoke to him. Would you like me to clear the room for a moment? Ah, yes Thank you very much, Minister. Not at all. Lapis stood from her chair. She turned to give me a polite bow before leaving the room. Now then,e over here and have a seat. While maintaining a gentle smile on my face, I gestured for Luke to take a seat. He hesitated for a moment but eventually approached and sat down. Our Luke has nevere to me for advice before, so it pleases me greatly to see you rely on me a bit. Godfather. Lukes face showed gratitude, but it was also filled with an unmistakable sadness and pain. However, I chose to remain oblivious until Luke revealed his emotions himself. It was for the sake of dramatic effect. Luke pursed his lips several times. He was giving off the air that this was something too heavy for him to speak. I exercised my patience as I waited. After about five minutes, Luke finally spoke. IIvemitted a grave sin. It seems this is a genuinely serious matter. I swiftly erased any traces of a smile from my face as I gave Luke my utmost serious expression. I took a posture that conveyed, Your tone and voice have instilled a deep sense of gravity in me. This was the reason why I had maintained a soft smile until a moment ago. You do not have to disclose the specifics. It is fine to keep it abstract. I ask that you at least speak the truth. As long as you are honest, I may be able to provide the answer you need, Luke. Yes, Godfather Thank you. Luke spoke with a weepy voice. The sin Imitted is too grave. To the point that it cannot be erased no matter what I do. The other party told me that they would never forgive me. They wouldnt even let me take my own life. Lukes eyes were already swollen, and his pupils were streaked with red veins. He mustve cried all night. I could only imagine how much agony this pure-hearted boy mustve gone throughst night. I-I dont know what to do. What can I do if I cannot be forgiven or atone for my sins with my death? Godfather, what can someone do when ced in such a situation? . I carefully looked into Lukes face. I couldnt provide an immediate answer here. I had to pretend as if I were pondering deeply about this matter. So, I held Lukes hands and remained silent for about five minutes. In such situations, there is only one way. One way? Last night, Daisy demanded that I remove Luke from my list of candidates. This was the reason. At such times, you have to give up your life, your rights, your beliefseverythingand offer it to the other party. Luke was about to be my ve from now on. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I apologize for how long it took to get this chapter out. If you arent in the Discord server and missed my message, I basically caught Covid over the weekend and basically suffered for the past 4 days. I just couldnt get into the mindset of tranting cause I kept feeling like shit. Im starting to get better now, hence why Im taking my time to release this chapter. I apparently caught Covid when I went to visit my dad at the hospital the week prior. There was apparently an outbreak in his room on the day I arrived. Of course, no one knew at the time until symptoms started to show.It really sucks cause I couldnt go to my nieces first birthdayst Sunday. That was the day I took the test and found out I had Covid. Welp, I can only hope that I keep getting better from here. Ill see you guys in the next chapter and maybe Ill be better by then. Chapter 410: The Spider and Viper (7) Chapter 410: The Spider and Viper (7) The boy mumbled to himself. Offer my life? Thats right, Luke. That is the ultimate sacrifice a person can offer another. If Daisy had coiled around her brother and bit into his throat, then I was slowly enveloping Luke in web. To an extent, it was Luke himself who flew into the web. I wasnt going to step forward to hurt him myself. You should have learned about it from Jeremi, but there is something called a ve seal. Luke flinched the moment he heard Jeremis name. For an instant, bewilderment, anger, and regret brushed across his face. It was really for only a moment. Luke couldnt control his emotions well, but he wasnt so immature as to leave those emotions unchecked. He was repeating a pendulum movement right at the midpoint between maturity and immaturity. The curve Luke was drawing could be considered one of the most beautiful things in the world. In other words, Luke was a boy. When a ve seal is engraved, the recipient bes almost perfectly dependent on the other party. Even suicide bes impossible unless ordered to do so by their master. A boy who could make decisions in life but was unaware of the full extent of the repercussions of those decisions. Not only that. If their master orders someone to be killed, the ve has no choice but to carry it out. Even if the ve does not want to take another persons life, even if they value life above all, they must push aside their emotions and beliefs in order to carry out themand. A boy who may be familiar with betraying others, but ispletely inexperienced with being betrayed by others. Picture it, Luke. Do you think a human can endure such a state? No. That is correct. Normally, they cannot endure it. They may be able to persevere for a year, perhaps even five. However, consider having to endure such circumstances for 10, 20 years, or even an entire lifetime. I spread my hands, presenting my palms. At some point, they would burn out and vanish. The appreciation for ones own life would diminish. This is inevitable. Life is inherently fragile. What was once firmly believed and thought bes distorted, altered, and rationalized in various ways until one ultimately transforms into an entirely different person. . They would die in the truest sense. An act equal to killing yourself. Sacrificing not just your life, but everything that constitutes your being. I whispered, like a spider slowly wrapping its prey in silk. Luke, I do not know what sin you havemitted. But, can you truly live for the sake of that person? Are you willing to sacrifice everything for that person? . Luke bowed his head in silence. After a moment, Luke lifted his face. There, a resolute determination was chillingly present. I had already anticipated how this boy would respond since the moment he remained silent. If its the only way. . Then Im willing to do so, Godfather. Got him. Theres no going back now, Luke. Let me ask you one more time. You are only sixteen. The life ahead of you is much longer than the life you have lived so far. Yet, are you willing to sacrifice your entire remaining life for the sin you havemitted? Yes. There was no hesitation in Lukes blue eyes. Very well, then. I shall respect your decision. Daisy was already my ve, so if Luke bes Daisys ve, it would be no different from him bing my ve as well. In the end, both siblings, who were supposed to be heroes, ended up in my grasp. The procedure of engraving a ve seal on the heart is extremely painful. There are two individuals in this domain who are skilled enough to perform this procedure. You are free to decide who you wish to receive it from. Who may the two be? Jeremi and Daisy. Fortunately, they are both individuals whom you trust. Lukesplexion instantly went dark. I was doing my best to hold back myughter. Why did it have to be Jeremi and Daisy? This was most likely what Luke was thinking to himself. He had to choose between receiving the procedure from the culprit partially responsible for his sin or the victim of his sin. Such irony. Uhm, Godfather. Is there perhaps anyone else? Hm? Not within this domain. This is a rather difficult procedure, after all. If you were to leave this to someone with less skill, you could potentially lose your life. I gave a detailed exnation of how dangerous and gruesome the ve seal procedure is. Luke seemed slightly disturbed when he heard that flesh would be cut open to engrave the seal directly on the heart. Once I exined that this was customary since engraving the seal anywhere else could allow it to be destroyed, Luke nodded awkwardly. I see. Do not worry. Both Jeremi and Daisy possess great skills. If it is them, they will undoubtedly seed. To be honest, you most likely cannot find anyone as good as them anywhere else. Now then, Luke. Which side will you choose? The assant Jeremi or the victim Daisy? Your disposition will be as clear as day ording to your choice. This is a pivotal moment in your life. You must decide who will be responsible for exposing your heart. If your anger towards Jeremy is more overwhelming, youll choose Jeremy. If the guilt towards Daisy weighs heavier, youll choose Daisy. Will you etch your thirst for revenge against Jeremi onto your heart, or will you inscribe your guilty conscience towards Daisy? Either choice would provide me with amusement, and I shall eagerly oversee your proceedings. Ahbut opting for Daisy would be more intriguing. Personally, I lean towards choosing Daisy. In the grand scheme of things, Jeremi is still merely an outsider. But Daisy and Luke, the two of them are kinsiblings, a family. Turning your older brother into your eternal servant, a little sister weaving such a paradoxical fate. I find this option more appealing. Also if you consider Daisys position. Daisy had already undergone the envement surgery by me once. At that time, she swore vengeance as she ultimately ended up harboring resentment towards me. But now, she would be performing the same procedure she received on her own brother. What kind of expression would she wear? How would she look at me after the surgery? Upon replicating the actions of the very person she detests, effectively aligning herself with me, I wonder what kind of reaction she will show me. This is bad. I can barely hold myself back. I might end up kissing Daisy again. Luke, its Daisy. Daisy is the right choice. Do not let something like your thirst for vengeance mix together with your guilt. Even if Jeremi was the one to provide the source of the problem, in the end, it was you who continued tomit the sin. You wouldnt dare to make Jeremi take responsibility, right? Be strong! Be firm! Ignorance is not an excuse. Make your hell more pure. A humans strength is determined by how much responsibility they can take. Do not allow yourself to weasel yourself out under an excuse when youre a man who couldve potentially be the hero. Do not disappoint me. I. Luke opened his mouth. I want to leave it to Daisy. Very well. I will inform Daisy. Good job, Luke! I knew you had it in you! I silently cheered in my mind. Even if youre only my godson, you have the right to proudly im to be my son. From now on, I will acknowledge you as my kin. Is incest even a sizable sin? Adding to that, incest that wasnt actuallymitted in the end. No, its basically nothing. Objectively speaking, what you did wasnt sinful or wrong. Yet, Luke, youve ced the heaviest weight on the scale. What just happened? What exactly was the weight that was ced on the scale? It was Lukes weight. Luke decided on his own toy his life down for something trivial. At this moment, Luke became both the judge and executioner. I will not ask whose ve you are trying to be. Thank you, Godfather. Think nothing of it. I gently patted Lukes head. As you know, I have killed quite a lot of people. In terms of wickedness, your and my sins are iparable. Butthose were sacrifices you made for the greater good. Itspletely different from someone like me. No one has the right to sacrifice others. I smiled. I am d to see that you are confronting your problems head-on and not shying away from your responsibilities. Tough times lie ahead, along with moments of suffering. You will not have the luxury to rest like other humans anymore. But that is not because you are a lowly ve. I embraced Luke gently with my arms. Your path forward is crystal clear. While others set distant goals, your goal is the path itself, the steps you take. While others rest to progress further, if you rest, you give up on your goal in that moment. I pressed Lukes head against my chest. There is no reason to rest because you must keep walking forward. You do not have to rush. Someday, you will understand what I mean. Yes, Godfather. Luke buried his face in my chest and cried. I gently ran my fingers through the back of Lukes hair and chuckled softly. * * * The surgery was promptly carried out two dayster. The 9th-floor basement of my Demon Lord Castle was where the prison cells and interrogation rooms were located. It was there that Luke was going to be branded as a ve. Jeremi offered to help at first, but when I exined the situation to her, she quickly gave up. Oh dear. I was anxious about when Luke would find out, but it seems the day has finally arrived. Be careful on the streets at night from now on. You never know when Luke might seek revenge on you. This one is not so weak that I would let myself get ambushed by a brat at night. Jeremi chuckled. Ahh, but it is a shame. I would love to see the expressions on their faces as Daisy operates on Luke. I feel the same way. The two of us were currently waiting at the entrance to the operating room. We sat huddled together, leaning against the corridor wall. Our postures were less than dignified. If anyone saw us now, they would probably mistake us for pitiful homeless people. The reason we couldnt enter the operating room was because of Daisy. That stubborn little brat adamantly refused to let us in. She dered that if we intruded, she would abandon Lukes surgery altogether, leaving us no choice but to remain outside. She truly is an ungrateful brat. After all Ive taught her, she wont even let me witness one surgery. Sheesh. This is why there is no point in raising a disciple. Hehe. I disyed a content smile. I then pulled out a square object from my pocket. Jeremis eyes widened. Your Highness, could that be? Who do you think I am? I am Dantalian, the most wicked and merciless Demon Lord in history. I let out a chuckle. I knew this would happen, so I installed a memoria spell in the operating room yesterday. Kyaah! Youre amazing, Your Highness! I love you! Jeremi showered me with praises as she nted kisses on my cheek. I did not add only one. To be exact, I installed thirty-six of them so that we could watch from every direction imaginable! The amount of gold I spent just to prepare this easily reaches the thousands! As expected of Your Highness Dantalian. You know exactly where to spend your money! Fufufu. I cannot wait to see what kind of expression Daisy has on her face now. Yes, I am sure she will show us an expression that is both charming and extraordinary! We made amotion as we giggled with excitement. The phrase cut from the same cloth came to mind, but I ignored it. Such was the ordinary daily life in my Demon Lord Castle. After all, the surgical tools Daisy was currently using were funded from my own pockets. Daisy had the obligation to pay a fee for using my belongings. Nothing amiss with that. I earnestly hoped that Daisy would stage a magnificent performance. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Probably dont have to exin why this chapter came out a bitte. Covid h h h. Was dying h h h. It didnt help that its no longer mandatory for people with covid to stay home, so I had to go back to work after taking only 1 day off. I dont really have much to say, so Im just gonna truck through this. Side note, I still havent read the DD weic. Still unsure if I should give it a shot Oh well, maybe Ill cave eventually. Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 411: The Spider and Viper (8) Chapter 411: The Spider and Viper (8) . It felt like about forty minutes had passed. Daisy opened the iron door and came out. Daisys face contorted when she saw the two of us. It was only natural. An adult man and woman were sitting on the floor and looking at her with expectant eyes. Moreover, the fact that the two people were her father and teacher was probably enough to make her question life itself. What are you two doing? Daisy was covered in blood. The scent of blood was mixed together with the fragrance of rosemary, meaning that she most likely used a considerable number of potions. However, that didnt matter to me. The problem was her face. Haaa. Jeremi and I let out a sigh at the same time. Daisy had her usual emotionless look resting on her countenance. An unwavering impassiveness. The two of us shook our heads. How could someone not be sad or enraged after cutting up her own brothers heart. This teacher of yours is extremely disappointed. How could a child be so uncute? How are we supposed to gain the strength to endure the rest of the day if you do not show us even a slight bit of despair? I cannot believe that raising a child turned out to be this fruitless. This is all your fault, Your Highness. The child built up a tolerance because you put her through so much. You really have no talent in childrearing. As our conversation progressed, Daisys gaze grew colder. It was a stare reminiscent of looking at food waste, or rather, it was a gaze that looked down upon maggots entangled in food waste. Unfortunately for you, Daisy, Jeremi and I are dirtier than maggots. They cannot possiblypare to us. Your gaze alone isnt enough to inflict mental damage on us. Moreover, arent you also a fellow maggot now? Lets not fight and get along peacefully. What could I have possibly expected from a fool like you? I stood up and grabbed Daisys wrist before entering the operation room. Unexpectedly, Daisy followed behind me rather meekly. She was so light that it was almost like I was pulling a bundle of straw. She had most likely consumed a lot of energy focusing on the surgery. Hmm? Luke was lying passed out in the middle of the room. Only his lower body was covered by a towel, but the rest of his body was so clean that you could barely tell that he had just undergone surgery. I chuckled. Despite leaving yourself covered in blood, you cared for your brother quite a lot. . Well, never mind. Repeat after me. First, Luke cannot harm Dantalian. Second, Luke cannot harm those dear to Dantalian, and he must never turn away when Dantalian and those dear to him are in danger. Third, Luke must obey Dantalians orders. Fourth, Luke will prioritize Dantalians life over his own. These were the samemands I had long ago imposed on Daisy. I made sure to also add Between Daisysmand and mymand, Luke must prioritize mymand first. Daisy repeated my words in a t tone. Now Luke and Daisy were both my ves. Status. I murmured in my head as I gazed at Luke. The usual wretched sound effect rang out as a blue status screen appeared. Name: Luke Race: Human Master: Daisy Attribute: Good(55) Level: 21Fame: 1,788 Job: Adventurer(C), Swordsman(A+) Leadership: 43/100Might: 107/140 Intelligence: 27/125 Politics: 29/95Charm: 84/100Technique: 19/81 Affection: 50 *Titles: 1. Legendary Adventurer 2. Legendary Mercenary 3. Dungeon Breaker ( ) *Abilities: Tactics(C), Swordsmanship(A), Operation Arts(C), Persuasion(E), Horsemanship(A), Elemental Magic ( ) *Skills: Volunteer Soldier, rity( ), Lethal Move Nullify ( ) Current thought: [Unconscious] I smiled bitterly. As usual, his stats were amazing. Even though his level was only in the 20s, his Might stat was ridiculously high. This was thanks to the effects of his titles. With both the titles and active simultaneously, his Might increased by a whopping 12 points every time he leveled up. Since the title was activated rtivelyte, this was actually on the lower side. If he had activated it earlier, he couldve reached his limit of 140 by now. This was how it manifested in realityoverwhelming talent. After witnessing a disy of swordsmanship just once, Luke could not only replicate it effortlessly but also master itpletely within a fortnights time. By the end of a month, he could seamlessly integrate the technique into his own style, adapting and employing it as though it had been ingrained in him since childhood. There was no other way to describe him but as a genius. The time he took to learn something was unbelievably short. Everyone who had taught Luke and Daisy praised them as unprecedented talents. For instance, while Luke had high Might stats, his Intelligence stat wascking. On the other hand, Daisys intelligence stat was outstanding. Despite being only fifteen years old, she had already mastered elevennguages and voraciously consumed books on geometry and philosophy written in the ancient imperialnguage. How lucky of them. There was a lot I wanted to say to them, but it was fine. However, it wasnt like I took Daisy in as my adopted daughter and Luke as my godson for no reason. They themselves will probably never know the reason. Daisy, I order you as well. You cannot order Luke to perform an action that may harm me or those dear to me. Exceptions can only be made when given my direct approval. Understood. Daisy nced at me. Its done now. Hm? What are you saying is done? The first promise made between us. It has been fulfilled. I furrowed my brows, failing to understand what she meant. Shortly after, the answer struck me like a bolt of lightning. You. Father, you promised that you would not kill Luke under any circumstances should Luke swear his true allegiance to you. Luke is now bound to you, Father. The wager is over. Ah. Ahh? My facial expression contorted greatly. The conditions I set for Daisy were as follows: If Luke enters into a magical ve contract, pledging both his body and soul, then I would acknowledge it as Daisys victory. And as Daisy said, Luke had just entered into such a contract. It was Daisys victory. Up to this point, it was fine. I lose nothing even if Daisy wins this bet. Naturally, I already took this into ount when casting the ve contract. The issue was Daisys goal. You. Dont tell me you did all this just to protect Luke? Until now, I thought that Daisy wanted to make Luke a ve to erase his name from my list of candidates. However, she was going out of her way to emphasize here that she had won the bet. In other words, it was a lie. Threatening me to remove Luke from my list of candidates and going on about how she was the only person allowed to kill me were all farces. Her only goal was to protect her precious brother from my grasp. Daisy spoke. I was shaken when I realized that you considered Luke as one of your candidates. No matter how you think about it, Luke is in no way capable of facing you. If things went ording to your n and you managed to raise Luke, he would undoubtedly perish at your hands, Father. . Thus, I had to nip the danger in the bud. My rage gradually built up. I growled out my words, making it sound as if I would tear her apart at any moment. Were you lying when you swore to kill me? No, that was not a lie. I was being genuine. However. The corners of Daisys lips curled upward. There is no reason for me to make that kind of vow for you, Father, am I wrong? I instinctively pped Daisys cheek. Daisy slumped weakly to the ground. However, she didnt scream. Lying on the cold stone floor, Daisy looked up at me. A smirk yed across her lips. Are you upset, Father, because I prioritized Luke before you? How amusing. Father, you are someone who monopolized the affection of all. It is unsightly to see you this upset simply because you were unable to monopolize my. I didnt even wait for her to finish her sentence as I kicked her in the abdomen. She finally let out a slight groan this time. I had yet to vent out all my anger so I stepped on her a couple more times. It took me a while to calm my breathing. My anger-fueled breaths were flowing up my lungs and out of my mouth. Daisy simply stared at me with narrowed eyes. She did let out a few painful groans, but it didnt seem like she was in much distress. If anything, she looked triumphant. There was a pride of victory in Daisys eyes. I could see it. Daisy let out a cough before smiling. Father, do you wish to monopolize me entirely? . If you wish for me to look at you and you alone, then you must also look at me and me alone. If I put my eyes solely on you only to see that your eyes are wandering here and there That is not exactly fair, now is it? Daisyughed. She mustve suffered an internal injury as she coughed out some blood. Everyone refuses to tell you the truth, Father, so I will be the one to do so. You did not love Demon Lord Paimon. Not one bit. How dare you! I drove the tip of my foot into Daisys abdomen again. Despite my effort, the smile on her lips refused to disappear, enraging me further. Demon Lord Paimon had be a doll who prioritized you and you alone. But what does that matter? If you had also prioritized only Demon Lord Paimon, it would have been fine. In the end, youUgh! I had fully pressed my shoe against Daisys chest this time. This seemed to be effective as Daisy couldnt continue her words. However, after about thirty seconds, she seemed to have gotten ustomed to the pain as she murmured. In the end, youdid not love her fully. . And yet, Father, you wish for me to look at you and you alone, to devote everything I have to killing you. There is a limit to being unfair and irrational. Did I seem like such a kind child to you? A faint smile danced on Daisys lips. If you wish to im me entirely, you must first look at only me. This is the least you can do. The fact that you are trying to monopolize my gaze when you are already looking at Consul Elizabeth and Demon Lord Barbatos That is outrageous. Youre just a brat who cannot do anything on your own. I gnashed my teeth. What an incorrigible child. From the moment we first met until now, she has not changed one bit. Shes just been sharpening her fangs. In other words, this was what she was saying to me, Sacrifice your life to me. Only then can I offer mine to you. If this is how you want to y it, then go ahead. But remember this. I am not someone who would sacrifice everything for someone as trivial as you! No matter how much value you have, you cannotpare to the forty thousand lives on my shoulders! Then you will not be able to monopolize me either, Father. After delivering one final kick to Daisy, I left the operating room with long strides. The faint sound of Daisysughter from behind continued to irk me all the way out. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Does this mean Daisy got one over Dant? I wonder. In any case, not much else to say. Ive been pretty swamped with worktely and trying to destress whenever Im home, so I havent been able to trante that much recently. Im going to hope after the uing week, my schedule will loosen a bit again. One can only pray. Sorry for thesete uploads and Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 412: Continent Manipulator (1) Chapter 412: Continent Maniptor (1) The New Year of 1513 dawned. It has been eight years since I fell into this world. It felt like an incredibly long time, but it also felt surprisingly short. Was it because of how busy my days have been? Godfather, heres your ck tea. Ah, thank you, Luke. Luke ced the ck tea on the table. He was a bit awkwardpared to Daisy, but he was still ratherposed. Luke resigned from his position as vice-captain of the civil militia. With Jeremi at the helm of the civil militia, it was only natural for Luke to step down. Luke was instead given the new role of steward. Have you be somewhat ustomed to the duties of a steward? Im still inexperienced, but Im somehow managing thanks to the head maid. Luke grinned confidently. Dressed in a ck steward uniform, Luke gave off an entirely different vibe now. Once a lively and innocent youth, now his eyes harbored deep sorrow and regret. His bodynguage exuded a perpetual sense of gloom. The maidens in my territory cheered for the transformed Luke. They appreciated the lively Luke, but like aged wine exuding a rich aroma, they also admired the matured Luke. Despite the enthusiastic response from those around him, Luke abruptly ended his chaotic and tumultuous love life. I nodded. Typically, the head steward holds a higher position than the head maid. However, since Daisy has been acting as both steward and maid for a while now, she is your senior and superior in many respects. Do your best to learn from her. I have high expectations for both of you. Yes, Godfather. Luke replied with a somewhat mncholic smile. Ahh, what a great feeling. I purposely talked a lot about Daisy in front of Luke. Luke appeared sad every time I did, but he was doing his utmost to not wear his emotions on his sleeve. This made him seem even more pathetic, entertaining me greatly. I guess speak of the devil and he shall appear. Father. Daisy entered my office and bowed courteously. She gave Luke a sidelong nce before smoothly shifting her gaze as if she hadnt seen anything. Luke flinched at her indifferent gaze. Ah, what a splendid sight. Recently, my will to carry on has been bolstered by these siblings. Daisy, exhibiting a chilliness towards Luke that bordered on excess, and Luke, visibly tormented by his sibling yet unable to voice his anguish. Indeed, what apelling sight to witness. If only they harbored a forbidden love between them. Such a forbidden union would render this spectacle even more captivating. What is the matter, my dear daughter? I shed a genuinely refreshing smile at Daisy. Her expression soured momentarily, but she quicklyposed herself and handed me a letter with an indifferent face. A missive from the southern regions of Frank. Hmm. From Duke Marseille, perhaps. I broke the seal and read the letter. The missive was written in neat handwriting and conveyed with a highly courteous tone. It began with the phrase, The illustrious pir of the great Empire, the most powerful count ptine of the Empire, the singr and steadfast bridge between humankind and demonkind, Marquis Custos, I hope that you are well. It was so excessively ttering that it felt like my rectum would fall out if they overdid it any further. It seems they are having trouble suppressing the rebellion. I smiled. Frankia was plunging into chaos as nned. Earl Bercy, the Attorney General, demanded voluntary state formation from all the cities in the country. It was a policy based on a kind of social contract, allowing cities to decide for themselves whether they wanted to belong to the nation of Frankia. The underlying meaning behind this was quite significant. Hmm. I folded the letter and looked at the siblings. Shall I test the skills of these two? Of course, Daisy would likely be overwhelmingly superior, but it was just a bit of entertainment for me. Luke, are you aware that Bercy, the Attorney General in Frankia, has demanded voluntary allegiance from the cities? Yes, Godfather. Luke was evidently tense. Why do you think Attorney General Bercy suddenly demanded allegiance now? Wellin Frankia, there are currently many cities that arent paying taxes. I think this demand is a formal way to rebuke those cities. Luke answered cautiously as he chose his words carefully. I smiled gently. Lukes response was almost at the level of a child. While it might be forgivable for the vice-captain of the civil militia, my steward needs to have political insight. If they cant pass this level of test, theyre unfit for the role of steward. Daisy. What are your thoughts? It is a procedure to implicitly acknowledge the birth of a republic. Daisy replied promptly. Did he not even consider this answer? Luke widened his eyes as he stared at Daisy. He then quickly turned away, clearly flustered. Interesting. Can you borate on why? First, the nobles or cities did not swear allegiance to the Frankish government. They swore allegiance to the Emperor. Therefore, when they provided taxes or military support, it was not to the government but to the Emperor of Frankia. Daisy continued fluently without hesitation. Now, by swearing allegiance to the government in the Emperors absenceit is tacitly acknowledging that Frankia no longer needs an Emperor. In other words, it is the birth of a republic. I nodded. Well pointed out, Daisy. As you said, this is the formation of a new type of government. Luke lowered his head when I praised Daisy. Ever since assuming the role of steward, Luke hade to recognize the extraordinary capabilities of his younger sister. Daisy not only managed the myriad responsibilities within the Demon Lord Castle, but also asionally engaged in the governance of the territory. Luke couldnt shake the feeling of inadequacy inparison, given that his past endeavors had been confined to honing his swordsmanship during his time with the civil militia. Most cities dly weed Earl Bercys policies. Frankia had already undergone three consecutive ipetent emperors. They are sick of emperors. It was also a problem that there were no nobles capable of realistically performing the duties of the emperor. Queen Henrietta had exterminated the imperial family so thoroughly that there wasnt even a single legitimate heir left. Not even from a coteral line. Even the noble families with blood ties to the imperial family werepletely wiped out. This ultimately led to there being no remaining families to im the throne. Of course, if you traced the lineage far enough, you could find several families, but they have far too little power. It was obvious. The reason they survived was because Henrietta ignored them, thinking, There is no need to trample on even these people. For example, the great-granddaughter of the fourth son of a concubine of an emperor seven generations ago. No one would count the legitimacy of someone like that. In such circumstances, the most influential figure is the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager was the sole surviving member of the imperial family and maintained her dignity and pride throughout the civil war. When the emperor ordered the massacre, she rushed to the pce in her nightclothes, crying and pleading to spare the people. Such actions endeared her to themoners. And the Empress Dowager fervently supports the policies of Earl Bercy. The Attorney General has taken a gamble that he is highly likely to win. Well, in the end, the southern cities did not participate. Now, onto the second test. Hopefully, they wont disappoint me. Especially you, Daisy. You dered so confidently that you would kill me, but it will be impossible to do so if you fail a simple test like this. Youll have to disy political insight far superior to at least Elizabeth. If someone like you is even capable of that, that is. As you are both aware, the nobles residing in the southern regions of Frankia have risen in rebellion against Earl Bercy, staunchly refusing allegiance to the new government. This defiance has granted them a degree of autonomy tantamount to independence. The problem is that, in return for their autonomy, they forfeit the opportunity to witness the liberation of their enved popce. The Habsburg Empire and the demon world saw a mass emancipation of their captives, who were repatriated to their homnds unconditionally. However, the southern regions of Frankia were denied this privilege as they were not formally under the jurisdiction of the Frankian government. As a result, unrest erupted in the region within Sardinia that was upied by the southern Frankian nobles during the previous war. The Sardinians had seen their families and neighbors taken away as ves during the war. Naturally, they rejoiced at the prospect of their loved ones and neighbors returning. It was in this atmosphere that the southern nobles threw a spanner in the works. Return our families and friends, the Sardinians shouted as they protested against the nobles, calling for the return of their loved ones. However, during the protests, three representatives of the Sardinians were assassinated. Although the culprits were not identified, the Sardinians were enraged, believing without a doubt that it was the deeds of the Frankian nobles. Since they were already discontent with the foreign rule, the Sardinians were quick to rise up in rebellion. Its quite coincidental, isnt it? Why were three representatives of Sardinia assassinated at such a time? The fact that Jeremi and the assassins under mymand just happened to be missing at the same timewas something that will never be revealed. And this missive. I held the letter up. The southern nobles are feeling the limits of their ability to suppress the rebellion on their own. They rebelled against the Frank government not too long ago, so it would be shameless to request assistance from them. In the end, they came to me, the de facto ruler of the Duchy of Farnese, and asked for military aid. I turned to look at Luke first. Luke, what do you think would be the best course of action for us? Should we ept their request and suppress the rebellion? Or should we sit back and watch? We should naturally take the side of Sardinia. Luke gave an immediate response this time. The Sardinians are currently being unreasonably ruled by a foreign power. I believe this rebellion is just. It would only be right to provide them with all the support we can give to help them achieve independence. Mm. I nodded my head. As I thought, Luke is an idiot. Daisy, what about you? We should stand by and watch the rebellion. Daisy! Luke turned to look at Daisy in surprise. However, Daisy did not meet Lukes gaze. If Father moves his army now, that would put people excessively on alert. Father has already earned an overwhelming amount of military merits during thest war. A year has not even passed since the war ended. Therefore, if you were to rally your troops once more, the other high nobles would start to question your motives. So it would be better to sit by and watch? The fates of the Sardinians do not matter to us anyway. Lukes reaction to Daisysposed response was one of evident shock. He muttered, Theres no way. I smiled and ordered Luke to leave the room. I wish to speak alone with Daisy for a moment. Luke, could you take a step outside? Yes, Godfather. Luke bowed his head and left the office. As soon as I confirmed the door was closed, I wiped the smile off my face. I spoke coldly. Take off your top and turn around. . Daisy silently undressed and presented her back to me. I retrieved a leather whip that was in a drawer. Without hesitation, Ished Daisys back. Ugh! Daisy stifled a groan and arched her torso in pain. You fool. What will you do if the Sardinians actually seed in their rebellion while we are standing idly by? That would make all the bloodshed we caused during the war go to waste. Is that the best solution your feeble mind can conjure? With a harsh crack, the whip reddened Daisys skin. If we cannot mobilize our troops, then we can mobilize Brittanys army! They no longer have any reputation left to lose. Were you unable to think of something as simple as this? Butif their national enemies, the Brittany army, cause chaos, the people of southern Frankia would be discontent. Which is why we should utilize the Brittany army even more! Without mercy, I struck her for the third time. Daisy couldnt suppress her groans this time. The Sardinians will have their grievances, and the Franks will have theirs! In the end, the southern nobles will lose their authority. Meanwhile, the authority of Attorney General Bercy will only strengthen. After delivering the final strike, I tossed the whip to the floor. Daisys body was trembling from the sudden shock. You may speak with grandiose words, but your practical judgment falls short. How am I supposed to expect anything from you? Pathetic. Now, begone. Yes, Father. Daisy put on her clothes with shaking hands, bowed to me, and then left the office. Phew. I took out my pipe, lit the end, and took a deep puff. How does she expect to kill anyone when shes like this? Daisy still has a long way to go. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Im still in a bit of a slump because of that whole ordeal, and I ended up getting a fever today, so thats cool. I wanted to at least get this chapter out before the gap between chapters gets too big. I hope you guys dont mind this little down period Im in right now. Its Parents Day next Wednesday and Ill be visiting my dad. I can only pray his condition doesnt worsen Ugh, I get depressed just thinking about it, so Ill end this TL note here. Ill see you guys in the next chapter when Im hopefully feeling better. Chapter 413: Continent Manipulator (2) Chapter 413: Continent Maniptor (2) * * * Peace is truly a wonderful thing. Recently, Elizabeth had been spending her days peacefully. To an ordinary person, peace, enforced by seventeen hours of work and a mere four hours of sleep daily, would feel far from peaceful and rather cruelly oppressive. But for Elizabeth, it mattered little. Is that so? Kurtz Schleiermacher rolled his eyes as he entered the Consuls office while on duty. The Consuls desk was piled high with documents. It was evident that anyone who spoke of peace while staring at that monstrous mountain was undoubtedly a pervert. Indeed. Dantalian is not moving. This alone is enough to make the world beautiful. Elizabeth remarked with a deeply moved gaze. She looks like an old man who just let his muscles rx while entering a hot spring, was what Kurtz muttered to himself in his mind. Perhaps Dantalians existence is not that bad in itself. Pardon me? I dont think I heard you properly. Think about it, Schleiermacher. Every misfortune on the continent is caused by Dantalian. In other words, if we are cautious of Dantalian alone, the continent will be peaceful and unharmed. Elizabeth seemed to marvel at her own idea as she spoke. A rebellion in any part of the continent? Look to Dantalian. A war breaks out anywhere? Again, look to Dantalian. Everything in the world bes so simple. Whether it is Dantalian or not, all problems boil down to that. Haa, I see. Life bes much more elegant when viewed through one window. Dantalian might just be that very window. Shes lost it. Kurtz Schleiermacher deeply sympathized with his consul. He had repeatedly advised her to reduce her workload and take a break, hundreds or even thousands of times. Yet, she imed that working was resting and proceeded to take on a gruesome amount of work. To make matters worse, it seems she finally lost her mind as well. I am quite generous in my current life. No matter how capable Dantalian is, toppling the Anatolian Empire overnight is impossible. Things will remain rtively peaceful for the next few decades. Fufu. I have gained an advantage. Kurtz shook his head. As the Second Chrysanthemum War drew to a close, the consul graced a peace memorial ball. To the surprise of many, she shared a dance with Count Ptine Dantalian. Since that day, Consul Elizabeth began to speak favorably of him, remarking on his skill as a dancer and asionally breaking into a chuckle. Moreover, she seized every chance to mention Dantalian in conversations, making his presence a recurring topic in her discussions. Dantalian must have also been aware of this, but he lost to a romantic ideal. He yielded to the charming romanticism of scheming with me. Is that so? In other words, it means that Dantalian is quite obsessed with me. She didnt just lose her mind. Her brain hadpletely decayed. How could this happen? Kurtz pondered to himself seriously. It was winter, not summer. Even though it wasnt the most suitable season for brains to decay, Consul Elizabeth was deteriorating in real time. What could be the problem? Is it really because shes overworked? The reason Dantalian is obsessed with me is simple. Its because Im the only one on the continent who can match him. Kurtz fixed his gaze on the consul with eyes akin to rotten fish. Why not simply wed the Count Ptine, then? Hah? Consul Elizabeth furrowed her brow. Her gaze looked as if it were saying, What nonsense did this idiotic human say just now? Why would I marry Dantalian? Have you lost your mind, Schleiermacher? It is still winter, yet your mind seems to have decayed as if it were midsummer. I mean, all you do is talk about Dantalian all the time, so it should not be surprising that I would suggest that. One side is the leader of the Habsburg Republic and the other side is a person of power in the Habsburg Empire. You might as well use this opportunity to unite Habsburg as one again. Consul Elizabeth let out a scoff. What nonsense. Our nation advocates republicanism. Though it may be different if they abandon monarchy on their side, an empire and a republic are inherently too different. Rudolf doesnt have an heir. If Rudolf were to die, wouldnt there be a possibility for a republic to form? Elizabeth shook her head. She gave Kurtz Schleiermacher a warm gaze, akin to a teacher looking at an underachieving student whom she couldnt bear to hate. The real power in the Habsburg Empire lies not with the humans, but with the demons. Yet, the reason why the Empire is recognized in international diplomacy on the continent is because, at least superficially, the emperor, being human, appears to have the demons obedient to him. I see. Do you know why Dantalian appointed Laura de Farnese as the Empires imperator? It is because Duchess Farnese is a human. He intentionally made the faces of the Empire, both the emperor and the imperator, be humans. Therefore, the Empire abandoning monarchy for republicanism is diplomatically impossible. Elizabeth stated. Moreover, fundamentally, Dantalian is not particrly fond of republicanism. Just look at how he sabotaged thest republican assembly. Adding to this, was Demon Lord Paimon not purged a short while ago? We may not know the details, but there is no way Dantalian was not involved in such an event. In other words, theres no way that Dantalian would advocate republicanism. Elizabeth nodded. Dantalian is simply exploiting the instigation started by republicans in his favor. There is no deeper meaning beyond this. To Dantalian, ideals are most likely useless. Well, Elizabeth paused for a moment before continuing. It might be possible to establish something if we abandon republicanism. Pardon? Instead of our republic surrendering to the empire, I could ascend as co-emperor alongside Dantalian. Such a possibility exists. Kurtz Schleiermachers eyes widened as he looked at the Consul. The Consul, unperturbed, continued speaking. However, the people will not understand if we simply surrender in haste. Several conditions are necessary. The empire must possess overwhelming powerpared to our nation and it must be clear that we have no chance of victory in a full-scale war. Only then can we ask for mercy and surrender. Haah. Of course, this is akin to a midsummer nights dream. She must have found her own words funny as Elizabeth smirked. For starters, no matter how influential Dantalian is in the Empire, his authority does not exceed that of the imperial throne. This is not a problem of skill, but authority. Moreover, I am also not so selfish that I would present our nation to someone who has no interest in republicanism. However, if things were to unfold that way, the loss of human lives would certainly decrease. Consul Elizabeth fell into deep thought for a moment. But it would be the union of a Demon Lord and a human. It creates a pretext for the reconciliation between races. We could even adopt a form of coboration between monarchists and republicans. A constitutional monarchy would be appropriate. And we could let Laura de Farnese lead the council. Laura de Farnese is a fair ruler. Her skills have been acknowledged as well. Theres no one better to lead the council. The biggest advantage would be the fact that shes Dantalians vassal. So even under a constitutional monarchy, Dantalian could still exercise undisputed power. A rough draft could be drawn. Well, this is still impossible. There is no way Demon Lord Barbatos would understand that kind of design. Seeing as to how Demon Lord Paimon was purged, Dantalian was most likely more on Barbatos side. Barbatos is someone who wishes for conquest for the sake of Demon Lords. To her, a constitutional monarchy would be considered a path of evil. In the end, this is nothing more than a delusion, Schleiermacher. Elizabeth gave Kurtz a bleary-eyed look. If you have the leisure to waste my time like this, you should help me deal with these documents. I-I only came here to report about the revolt that is happening in the area of Sardinia captured by Frankia! I already know. The foolish Frank nobles requested Brittany for reinforcements. They will end up losing their authority ande under Attorney General Bercys reign anyway. This will bring another country closer to republicanism, so there is nothing bad for us. Now then, Elizabeth uttered as she stood up and handed a stack of documents to Kurtz. At a nce, there were roughly three hundred pages in the stack. Kurtz looked as if he were about to cry. Your Excellency, you know I am terrible at paperwork. If you ck off, a hundred people will suffer. If you flee, a thousand people will endure hardship. Laziness is not permitted for leaders responsible for the people. In the end, after bringing up the topic of marriage as a joke, Kurtz Schleiermacher ended up spending the rest of his day held captive by the Consul. At this point, besides the parties involved, no one else realized that the series of events unfolding in Frankia were orchestrated by Dantalian. * * * The world will not change all at once. Be it revolutions or reforms, although they may seem to erupt out of the blue on the surface, in reality, they are prepared for a long time beforehand. At the moment, I was currently forcing one to start and end quickly. Time always demands sacrifice for it to be condensed. The more blood flows, the faster history elerates. I have done as you instructed. The rebellion is gradually growing. The projection of Saintess Longwy spoke from the crystal ball. The southern nobles of Frankia requested my assistance in quelling their rebellion problem. Instead of directly aiding them, I facilitated a connection with Brittany. You have to make do with what you can get. The nobles poured hefty sums into hiring mercenaries from Brittany to bolster their forces. However, I slipped in a little scheme here. In ordance with the request of the nobles, suppress the Sardinian rebellion, but refrain from doing so actively. This was the situation: Queen Henrietta vigorously sought to crush the rebellion. However, on the other hand, Saintess Longwy constantly criticized the queen, stating that harming the people of other countries should be avoided. As a result, the Brittany army faced difficulties in its actions due to the sh of opinions between Queen Henrietta and Saintess Longwy. Revolts, when left unchecked from their outset, often spiral beyond control. Despite the Brittany armys efforts to quash the rebellion, the slightest hint of hesitation within their ranks became a catalyst for Sardinians to assert their defiance against foreign rule. But, Count Ptine. What do we gain by doing this? You will be gathering the sentiments of the Sardinians to you. Saintess Longwy, you previously saved the citizens of Genova and now you will be saving the people of other regions. I stated firmly. Trust me. Once the Sardinians seed in their rebellion, they will willingly offer their territory to you. This is all for Brittany, Saintess Longwy. I asked what do we gain by doing this. I understand what I stand to gain, but I am struggling to discern your potential gains. You are not one to involve yourself unless there is something in it for you. I smiled. It is better for me the weaker Frankia bes. The Saintess observation was correct. I dont take action unless theres something to gain. This is an opportunity to tidy up three rabbits at once: the Frankish Empire, the Kingdom of Brittany, and even the Kingdom of Sardinia. Therefore, theres no reason for me to be truthful here. Brittany needs to fatten up a little more. Theyllter discover that they had overindulged, but thats something for me to enjoy when it arrives. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This week has been way too busy. It was Parents Day on Wednesday, so I went to visit my dad and we ended up having dinner with him and my grandma. Wasa very stressful and awkward dinner. And then I ended up having multiple family dinners with my rtives on my moms side because my aunt came from the states to take care of my grandma for a month. After that, my brother and his wife came up on Saturday to have lunch and that day ended up being 80% in traffic. God, I feel so drained. My weekend is already gone and I dont feel like Im rested at all. Send help. Ill see you guys in the next chapter if Im still functional. Chapter 414: Continent Manipulator (3) Chapter 414: Continent Maniptor (3) ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ The tasks concerning Frankia unfolded smoothly ording to Dantalian¡¯s n, encountering no obstacles along the way. Despite having epted the request of the southern nobles of Frankia, the Brittany army half-heartedly suppressed the rebellion in the territories they were entrusted with, leaving the nobles overwhelmed with stress. Above all, these nobles were also receiving criticism from all sides. ¨C How can they call themselves Franks while seeking assistance from their archenemy Brittany to quell a rebellion? ¨C It is despicable that they are leaving the embrace of Frankia after all this time to pursue autonomy and independence. ¨C Despite them receiving a golden opportunity to liberate the unfairly envedmoners, some of these nobles are selfishly prioritizing their own ambitions and abandoning their noble obligations. This was the average criticism voiced by the majority of Frankish nobles andmoners alike. However, the southern nobles held firm. They were most likely confident in themselves. The southern regions of Frankia weren¡¯t ravaged by civil war and they even gained new territories during the Chrysanthemum War. In essence, their stance was ¡®No matter how much the weaklings mor, we¡¯ll forge our own path.¡¯ At that moment, an incident urred.A group of roughly two hundred rebelling Sardinians, who had been conducting guerri warfare, abruptly surrendered to the Brittany army. The public was not informed exactly why they had surrendered. However, this was also prenned as the leader of the two hundred rebels was a member of Dantalian¡¯s Liberation Alliance. These Sardinian captives were officially the subjects of the southern Frankia nobles. Naturally, the Brittany army had an obligation to deliver the captives to the nobles. However¡­¡­. ¡°We will not hand over even a single Sardinian captive!¡± At that moment, Saintess Longwy stepped forward. Having shed her girlishness entirely, this beautiful woman with orange curls was now a maturedy.Jacqueline Longwy, who was currently the most esteemed and praised saintess on the continent, had abruptly refused the exchange of prisoners. ¡°No. What nonsense is this? Why are you refusing to hand over the prisoners?¡± ¡°You people are handling themoners too barbarically. Did you not subject all the prisoners we handed overst time to hanging? I cannot condone any further atrocities. On behalf of Goddess Athena, I cannot forgive your actions.¡± From the perspective of the nobles, this was utterly absurd. ¡°When quelling a rebellion, somewhat harsh punishments are only natural. It appears that the saintess is blinded by mercy and is trying to twist the dialogue.¡± The rebels were not innocent civilians; they were nothing but a disease that had to be suppressed and eradicated. Yet, Saintess Longwy wasing forward recklessly. ¡°In the first ce, you people are not the rightful rulers. You are oppressors meddling from abroad. It is not surprising that the Sardinian people would rise against you.¡± ¡°W-What nonsense¡­¡­!¡± ¡°This maiden is only an individual and is incapable of overturning Her Majesty the Queen¡¯s decisions.¡± Saintess Longwy continued firmly. ¡°We may assist you in quelling this rebellion, but we will not turn a blind eye to wanton loss of life. The Brittany army adheres to thews of Brittany.¡± It was an absurd argument. The nobles were already frustrated because the Brittany army they had hired at a great expense was not putting any effort into quelling the rebellion, but Saintess Longwy¡¯s remarks were like pouring oil on a fire. If Saintess Longwy hadn¡¯t constantly interfered with the suppression, the rebellion would have been quelled long ago. In short, Saintess Longwy was nothing but a nuisance, endlessly spouting pointless words. There was probably no one more irritating than her right now. The nobles immediately publicly protested against Saintess Longwy¡¯s ¡°childlike ignorance and noticeablycking rational consideration¡±. ¨C Did Brittany bring mercenaries or phnthropists? ¨C Either return the fees we paid immediately and withdraw your troops or impose an appropriate punishment on the saintess for interfering in national affairs indiscriminately. Tensions rose sharply on both sides. Saintess Longwy¡¯s reputation was not something to be taken lightly. She was synonymous with Brittany¡¯s symbol. However, surprisingly, Queen Henrietta sided with the nobles rather than the saintess. ¡°Humanity knows no boundaries. No one person can possess another¡¯s humanity. However, in addition to the inherent humanity each individual is born with, humans enter into a second humanity, that is, sociality, under their own implicit or explicit consent.¡± Queen Henrietta spoke in the makeshift courtroom. Saint Longwy was kneeling politely on the cold ground. It was a chilly winter day and the ground was unforgivingly cold. ¡°In the realm of this social humanity lies the rtionship between rulers and the ruled. The Sardinians of Piedmont are, without a doubt, socially dependent on the eight grand nobles, including the Duke of Marseille. Jacqueline Longwy, despite being mortal, has failed to honor this contract that rightfully deserves to be respected. Therefore, I sentence her to imprisonment.¡± The jail sentence startled the masses. The people were convinced that, though Queen Henrietta and Saintess Longwy shed fiercely during this uprising, their friendship was not so shallow that it would be damaged by such minor friction. Thus, they expected things to end with an apology, but a prison sentence was instead given. ¡°However, if you admit your mistake, I may grant clemency.¡± Thest words added by Queen Henrietta brought relief to the people. As they thought, it was just a gesture of intimidation. By announcing a sentence of imprisonment, she preserved the dignity of the nobles while avoiding actual punishment by urging for an apology. It was a skillful trial. However, the saintess stood tall, her chin held high. ¡°I have done nothing wrong.¡± The unexpected statement caused everyone to stir. Queen Henrietta and Saintess Longwy red at each other intently. ¡°Are you refusing to admit your wrongdoing in the end?¡± ¡°The Sardinians of Piedmont did not voluntarily ept the eight nobles as their rulers. The Franks, or rather the nobles who had long been enemies of the Franks, upied this region by forceful means.¡± Upon hearing this, noble spectators in the courtroom rose to their feet, expressing their outrage. ¡°The validity of our sovereignty was recognized in the Treaty of Florence!¡± ¡°How dare you disregard the rights established by several nations!¡± The atmosphere grew increasingly tense. The nobles, who had initially nned to simply receive a formal apology and step back, changed their minds. They vehemently argued for punishment to be imposed on Saintess Jacqueline. Queen Henrietta¡¯s expression twisted in anguish. ¡°¡­¡­Do you truly have no intention of apologizing?¡± ¡°My resolve remains firm.¡± The saintess stood her ground. ¡°If anything, it is they who should be offering apologies, not thisdy. Walking around shamelessly despite unjustly oppressing the Sardinians, they will surely incur the wrath of the goddesses.¡± ¡°S-Such an outrageous statement!¡± The nobles shouted loudly. Following this, the queen continued to urge the saintess to apologize multiple times over the course of thirty minutes. However, the saintess showed no sign ofpromise. Eventually, Queen Henrietta spoke in a tone noticeably different from when the trial started. To be precise, in a gloomy tone. ¡°I have reached a verdict. Saintess Jacqueline Longwy shall continue her military duties.¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± The nobles¡¯ faces reddened. Jacqueline Longwy holds the position of deputymander in Brittany¡¯s army. Although Queen Henrietta holds ultimate authority, meaning the saintess¡¯ position was essentially a figurehead, a deputymander was still a deputymander. Allowing her to remain in this role effectively meant she would be receiving no punishment. As the nobles began to voice their displeasure, Queen Henrietta interjected. ¡°However, there must be some form of punishment. Jacqueline Longwy, you have taken two hundred prisoners without authorization. By setting it to ten people persh, you are sentenced to twentyshes.¡± The expressions of the people stiffened. Saintesses are considered semi-sacred. It would be unprecedented to subject such a figure toshings. The generals of Brittany¡¯s army stepped forward before the nobles could collect themselves. The generals rushed in front of Saintess Longwy and prostrated themselves, touching their foreheads to the ground. ¡°Your Highness! Her Holiness has rendered countless contributions to our nation!¡± ¡°Indeed, Your Highness. Lashing Her Holiness is entirely unnecessary!¡± ¡°We beg your kindness!¡± Queen Henrietta was visibly distressed, her teeth clenched as if she were enduring strong and bitter liquor. ¡°Allowing her to keep her position as deputymander and resorting to onlyshing is already a lenient punishment. Let the matter rest here without further discontent.¡± ¡°Your Highness! The saintess stayed behind in Parisiorum during the Puppet War on your behalf!¡± ¡°All those breathing here owe their lives to the saintess. Your Highness, enforcing thew sternly is appropriate, but how can we generals turn a blind eye to this situation?¡± ¡°Enough!¡± The trial had shifted in a strange direction. The trial clearly began with Queen Henrietta and Saintess Longwy in opposition. However, before they knew it, Queen Henrietta was casting herself in the role of the one ¡°enduring suffering for the sake of justice¡±. The nobles had suddenly turned into spectators as they watched the trial in a daze¡­¡­. ¡°I order for the generals lodgingints to be given fiveshes each as well!¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± ¡°Furthermore!¡± Queen Henrietta bit her lip. ¡°This incident is entirely responsible as I have failed to properly manage my subordinate. Therefore, I too shall receive twentyshes, the same as Saintess Jacqueline Longwy!¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± Huh? The southern nobles were starting to feel that something was amiss. What exactly was happening here? Why were the generals suddenly taking Saintess Longwy¡¯s side? Why were they sentenced to receive fiveshes each as well? No, up to this point, it may still make some sense, but¡ªwhy would Queen Henrietta de Brittany herself step forward to also receive twentyshes? At this rate¡­¡­. ¡°A trial where Your Highness brings harm upon your own royal personage is unheard of!¡± ¡°Please reconsider, Your Highness! We beg of you!¡± ¡°Damn it! Silence, you fools! The fault of one¡¯s vassals is by proxy the fault of their lord!¡± If things continue like this¡­¡­. ¡°Do you wish for me to be an ipetent lord who shifts their own faults onto their subordinates!? From now on, for every insolent one who dares to defy my verdict, I shall add five moreshes to my punishment!¡± Doesn¡¯t this make it seem like the nobles are entirely the viins here? ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­ please, Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± ¡°To have to undergo such shame because of our ipetence¡­¡­.¡± The generals in their 30s, 40s, and 50s shed tears. Saintess Longwy herself was also quietly crying while Queen Henrietta had tears welling up in her eyes. Watching this, the officers and soldiers of Brittany got on their knees and shouted ¡°Your Highness!¡± The nobles had no idea what was going on. However, their experiences as nobles up to this point gave them the necessary instincts to know that if the queen were to be punished here, something terrible would happen to them. From an outside perspective, this would make it seem like their demand for punishment resulted in the queen of a nation being punished as well! The nobles collectively cried out in their hearts. ¡®Th-This must be stopped!¡¯ *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Man, 2024 is just straight-up a cursed year or something. I won¡¯t go too much into the details, but my mum ended up breaking two of her front teeth a couple of days ago and now she¡¯s depressed. I don¡¯t wish this experience on anyone¡­ It¡¯s just been really rough. I have no idea why life decided to hit me with this all in a single year and I¡¯m not looking forward to the rest of 2024. I think I¡¯m in the phase where I¡¯m just trying to distract myself. Ugh, in any case, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 415: Continent Manipulator (4) Chapter 415: Continent Maniptor (4) The nobles carefully approached the queen. Your Highness, there is no need for you to enact punishment upon your own royal personage. We were impressed by your resolve to demonstrate justice, but the saintess has already dedicated her body to a goddess. We worry that punishing such a figure withshings might displease the gods. . The nobles were met with cold gazes. The queen, generals, and soldiers had already formed their own perfect triumvirate. The nobles were merely outsiders. Queen Henrietta sternly proceeded with her trial. A rulers trial must be firm and unwavering. Y-Your Highness, please consider our positions here. The sentencing will now be carried out! Bring forth the whip!Queen Henrietta stood up abruptly and walked towards the saintess. The sight was quite a spectacle. With each step the queen took, high-ranking officials like the regimentmander, the cavalrymander, the knight captain, the court mage, and various other dignitaries rushed forward to hold her back. They all cried out in unison. Eventually, Queen Henrietta reached the saintess. Jacqueline Longwy, disrobe your top! Surely you will not dare ask for forgiveness now! Yes, my queen. The saintess removed her white top, presenting her back to the queen. Her skin was smooth without a blemish. Queen Henrietta received the whip from her attendant and brandished it. The surrounding people screamed in horror. You mustnt, Your Highness! Despite their efforts to intervene, the whip cruelly struck the saintess back. Jacqueline Longwy wobbled forward. She had almost fallen over, but she managed to endure the pain without even groaning with her iron will alone. I-It wasnt an act! This is actually happening! How could she whip a saintess? Has the female dog of Brittany finally gone mad!? The nobles were in utter shock. They werent the only ones taken aback. Some of the soldiers had optimistically believed that their queen wouldnt actually whip the saintess severely. However, when the sound of the whip reverberated throughout the hall, the soldiers panicked. Onesh! The queen swung the whip mercilessly. There was no time for anyone to catch their breath. The secondsh cut diagonally across the saintess back, leaving a long streak of blood. The saintess leaned further towards the ground. And then came the thirdsh. Ahhh! Up until now, the saintess had suppressed her groans, but she could no longer hold them back. She let out a sky-rending scream as tears streamed down her face. The generals and soldiers all prostrated themselves, echoing her cries with loud wails. In the end, Queen Henrietta finished delivering twentyshes. . The saintess had copsed to the floor. Her posture had already fallen apart by the tenth strike, leaving her weak and powerless. She could only flinch with each strike and convulse in agony, her back now a horrible mix of dark red and purple. Take Deputy Commander Jacqueline Longwy to her quarters and tend to her wounds. Queen Henrietta ordered, her face now covered in tears. I am next. When the queen received her punishment, an even louder wail erupted than before. From the regimentmanders to the rank-and-file soldiers, Brittanys soldiers wept regardless of their background or rank. To them, Henrietta de Brittany was not just a simple monarch but akin to a goddess. Hgh! The red-haired queen endured the twentyshes as she had promised. Surprisingly, Henrietta didnt scream throughout the whipping. She bore theshes stoically in the same seated position. This was only possible since she was akin to a swordmaster. The queen staggered to her feet. Nextits the turn of my generals. The roughly ten generals shed tears as they removed their tunics. They werent crying out of fear of the punishment, but rather out of sorrow for their beloved queen who had to endure this tragic ordeal. Henrietta proceeded to whip each of the eleven generals in turn. They all endured the punishment without flinching, their resolve unshaken. Their queen had endured twentyshes without a cry, while they had to endure just five. How could they dare to let out even a whimper. No, the whip actually didnt hurt at all. The Queens whipping was miserably weak. It was only natural. How could someone who had just been subjected to a flogging wield a whip with any strength? Nheless, Queen Henrietta executed the punishment, saying, Onesh twoshes. It didnt hurt. This fact made it even more painful for the generals. The queen could have punished herself after punishing her subordinates. Yet, she intentionally ced herself second. Why? The generals understood the queens intention well. It was deliberate. After receiving twentyshes, even Henrietta de Brittany would be drained of energy. In that state, executing punishment properly would be impossible. In truth, the queen and saintess were the only ones to suffer The generals were merely punished formally. The queen deliberately excluded the generals from todays trial, stating that she couldntsh out at her innocent generals. Your Highness. Your Highness. As time passed, Henriettas grip on the whip weakened. As the ones beingshed by the whip, the generals were keenly aware of the weakeningshes. Rather than diminishing, their tears only increased. Eventually, after punishing thest general, Henrietta copsed. She had fainted. The queen was carried away on a stretcher to her quarters. There was not a dry eye among her attendants. The entire Brittany army became like a mourning family, their cries echoing through the air. In one corner of the makeshift court, another group of protagonists in this trialthe two hundred Sardinian rebelswere bound with ropes. They were ovee with emotions of gratitude, remorse, and guilt towards the saintess who suffered for their sake, and towards the queen who neglected her own well-being to protect that saintess. Truly, all humans present were swept up in intense emotions. Except for the southern nobility of Frankia. . The soldiers were ring daggers at the nobles. If gazes could kill, then the nobles would have probably died a hundred times over by now. The nobles were already being seen as the arrogant sons of bitches who forced their holy saintess and queen to suffer by the Brittany army. I-It does not appear that a favorable light is being cast upon us. Let us quickly leave. The nobles hastily retreated to their base, with the soldiers chilling res haunting them like shadows. News of the trial quickly spread like wildfire throughout the rebellious regions of Sardinia. The saintess, considered the most noble of humans, sacrificed herself for the sake of two hundred humble peasants, who had risen in rebellion and were indisputably guilty. This story left a profound impression not only on the Sardinians but also on the Franks. In contrast, the reputation of the eight southern nobles plummeted drastically. Firstly, these nobles profited in a cowardly manner during the previous Chrysanthemum War. Despite only dipping in their toes near the end of the war, they were able to obtainnd. Their actions didnt have even the slightest hint of chivalry. Secondly, the nobles turned their backs on their mothend, Frankia, dering autonomy and independence. Due to this, the ves that originated from theirnd were not liberated. They showed no adherence to Noblesse Oblige. Thirdly, they stood idly by while the queen of a nation and a saintess were subjected to punishment, all for the sake of retrieving a mere two hundred prisoners. There was no tolerance for the prisoners, nor any respect shown towards figures of higher authority. It was a disy of immaturity on a human level. Cowardice that ignored the principles of war. Selfishness that abandoned loyalty and tradition to ones mothend. And above all else, the tant inhumanity revealed during the trial. For these three reasons, the southern Frankish noblespletely lost their poprity. The Sardinians rebelled even more fervently. Even the upper sses and nobles, who had been carefully observing the situation, raised their voices in protest. The nobles spared no effort to suppress the rebellion. They shamelessly ordered the Brittany army to suppress the rebels. Since the rebels were severelycking in weapons and supplies, it was basically impossible for them to defeat the Brittany army in a head-on confrontation. However, a bizarre situation urred. The rebel forces began to surrender to the Brittany army one by one. As soon as Saintess Longwy appeared on the battlefield riding her white horse, the rebel forces immediately changed their stance and raised their white gs high. Even though the Sardinian people were willing to point their swords at the cruel Frankish tyrants, they dly bowed to the kind and noble saintess. Of course, this surrender was not without calctedpromise. With no hope of support from the maind of Sardinia, the rebel forces had no choice but to seek a new sponsor. The Brittany army was a suitable option. For starters, Brittanys maind was far from them. Brittanycked the capacity to directly govern the Piedmont region. There was a high probability of considerable autonomy being guaranteed. Moreover, Brittany was a military powerhouse, so they would also be safe from foreign pressure. In terms of both emotions and calcted judgment, Brittany passed with flying colors. When a wave surges once, it cannot be stopped. The rebel forces quickly surrendered to Brittany, and in some cases, cities and towns they had previously captured also surrendered to Brittany voluntarily. This is outrageous! Brittany is nothing but a mercenary in our employ! Instead of safeguarding their employer, they have turned their spears against us How can such treachery be allowed?! The nobles were enraged as they voiced their protest to Brittanys queen. Queen Henrietta epted the letter of protest and replied sinctly with just one line. How can we refuse when a thousand voices demand that Brittany care for Piedmont? It was then that the nobles realized that they had summoned not a mercenary but a wolf. Queen Henrietta had every intention of swallowing up the Piedmont region in one gulp! The nobles urgently requested reinforcements from their homnd of Frankia. Facing Brittany alone would be far too reckless. However, the response they received was much shorter than Queen Henriettas letter. Impossible. Earl Bercy wasnt foolish enough to mobilize troops for the nobles who did not participate in forming their new government. If anything, he was able to watch the Piedmont rebellion with a sense of relief since it was turning out well. The nobles were quite literally surrounded on all sides. However, their troubles did not end there. Like adding fuel to the fire, as soon as Brittany seized control of Piedmont, they turned their reins and invaded Frankia. The nobles original territories were now in danger. This goes against the Le Havre Treaty! The nobles sent envoys to voice theirints. After Brittanys defeat to Frankia during the Puppet War, a vow was made so that the Kingdom of Brittany and the Frankia Empire will not invade one another for the next 14 years. The envoys cried out that by invading theirnd, the queen had clearly broken this national treaty. However. You are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Frankish Empire. Therefore, there is no vition of the treaty, is there? Whatnonsense. I have already consulted with the Frankish Empire. I sought confirmation whether this action constitutes a vition of the treaty. With a flick, Queen Henrietta tossed a scroll to an envoy. The envoy, with trembling hands, unfolded the scroll. It contained the words of Earl Bercy, stating that the territories of the eight major nobles were formally recognized as independent states withplete autonomy, thus Frankia would not get involved. Queen Henrietta smiled smugly. It seems your lords must choose whether to surrender to us or return to allegiance with the Franks. Oh, right. Tell them that if they surrender to us, I will treat them well. After all, were we not once bound together as employer and employee? The envoys wanted to faint right then and there. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Its been a while, but I dont have much to say. So much has happened this past few months that Im just sort of taking it easy right now. I hope people dont get too upset at this current pace cause Im currently just trying to collect myself. Work has been annoying and life outside of work has been pretty gloomy after everything thats happened. Nothing finding a good game to get addicted to cant fix. Side note, I tried the new Wuthering Waves game, and Ill be honest, its pretty much Genshin but with a very thickyer of Chinese paint. Obviously, itsbat and movement systems are much better, but that should be a given considering it came out almost 4 years after Genshin did. Other than that, its story tries so hard to sound profound or smart but introduces a new Chinese word like every other sentence that it makes everything annoying to read. This is all just my opinion, so take it as you will. I definitely dont see myself ying more of it. I guess Ill wait for ZZZ in July and Project Mugen waaay in the future. I said I didnt have much to say but then I ranted, heh. Ill see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 416: Continent Manipulator (5) Chapter 416: Continent Maniptor (5) ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ ¡°Marvelous. The two of you did quite a wonderful job. Even I am in awe.¡± I offered my praise to a crystal ball. I was currently on my stomach receiving a massage. ¨C ¡­¡­. The individual reflected in the crystal ball was Saintess Longwy. Though my posture might have seemed disrespectful for speaking to a holy figure, this was not an official meeting. Moreover, both sides were in the same rxed pose. The Saintess was also lying down, receiving a back massage. ¡°Oh dear, you seem rather displeased. Is Brittany¡¯s territory expansion not reason enough to be happy?¡± ¨C I nearly died because of you! The Saintess suddenly screeched. Her voice was so high-pitched that I thought my ears would burst. More importantly, she almost died because of me? I have no idea what she¡¯s talking about. As I tilted my head in confusion, Saintess Longwy continued on like a rampaging monkey. ¨C That expression! That face that looks as if you genuinely don¡¯t understand is annoying!¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about. Your fame has risen once more and the people have voluntarily offered you theirnd. Brittany has achieved a bloodless victory over Piedmont. Your side has lost absolutely nothing. To be honest, I believe you should be thanking me.¡± ¨C I receivedshings! Do you know how painful that is!? I see. That¡¯s what she¡¯s throwing a tantrum about. Once I showed a look of realization, Saintess Longwyined to me more vigorously. ¨C I was unconscious the entire time I was being whipped! Dear Lord. How could you order a woman such as myself to receiveshings¡­¡­. I cannot believe you! How noisy. Why was sheining about a mere twentyshes? I was whipped a whole seventy times, you know? Yet, with just a fewshes, they managed to expand their territory. And I wager they spared no expense on healing potions, so I doubt that there¡¯s even a scar on their backs. If you consider all this, what¡¯s there toin about? I spoke in a nonchnt tone. ¡°Yes, yes. I deeply apologize for harming the noble and sacred skin of the esteemed Owl Saintess. I, Dantalian, express my deepest regret.¡± ¨C I will definitely kill you one day! ¡°Wow. How terrifying. I do not think I will be able to sleep well at night because of your looming threat.¡± ¨C Grrrrrr! Lately, it feels like there¡¯s been a sudden increase in individuals wanting to kill me. Is it just my imagination or are they all women as well? Well, I¡¯d rather die at the hands of a beauty if possible. I wouldn¡¯t want to be killed by some cunning, scheming man. I just get the feeling that if I were to die at the hands of a pretty woman, that would double my chances of going to heaven. But enough joking around. I changed my tone. ¡°It is about time for the momentum of the southern nobles to crack. Civil war has not swept through the southern region of Frankia. Thanks to this, the citizens have wealthy lives. However, this rebound is not immune to war. In other words, it is a double-edged sword.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­As long as they stay sane in mind, they won¡¯t stand against Brittany. Is this what you are trying to say? I nodded. Though circumstances might shift should they manage to enlist a sizable force of mercenaries from elsewhere, that ship has sailed. The Brittany Army would gleefully plunder theirnds while they scrambled to muster mercenaries. It¡¯d be impossible for weak civilian militias to stand against Brittany¡¯s assault. The southern nobles were firmly backed into a corner. ¡°The southern nobles will undoubtedly yield to Frankia¡¯s new government. They will be able to bring an end to this war if they give up on autonomy and lower their heads to Frankia, after all.¡± Under the treaty, Brittany is prohibited from invading Frankia. Hence, if the southern nobles align themselves with Frankia once more, the Brittany army would be obligated to withdraw promptly. ¡°If that happens, the southern nobles will be indebted to Frankia. This is the important part. Ugh.¡± I raised my upper body, prompting Daisy to stop massaging me and back away. Once I held out my right hand, Daisy silently took out my pipe and handed it to me. Yup, the first puff after receiving a massage is always exquisite. ¨C Ah. ¡°Do you grasp the implication here? Their roles are about to reverse. If the southern nobles had submitted to the central government from the outset, Earl Bercy would have owed them a debt, acknowledging their willingness to ept the new government despite having the option to pursue autonomy. However, the situation has now shifted entirely.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­Hey, uhm. ¡°Attorney General Bercy¡¯s authority is likely to strengthen further. The nobles will diminish in influence while the central bureaucracy gains greater prominence. Frankia is poised to be a considerably more stable nation.¡± ¨C W-Wait one moment, Count Ptine. For some reason, the projection disyed in the crystal ball showed Saintess Longwy with a red face. She was averting her gaze while peaking nces my way. ¨C Put some clothes on. How could you be so shameless in front of another woman? I was naturally top and bottomless since I had been receiving a massage. I only had a flimsy piece of cloth wrapped around my waist. It seems that the sight of a man¡¯s bare skin was embarrassing for the saintess, who had been raised with strict propriety. ¡°What? You aren¡¯t some girl in her puberty. What is there to be shy about between two people who have already rotted?¡± ¨C You may have rotted, but I haven¡¯t. Saintess Longwy avoided my gaze. The usual sharpness in her voice was also gone. I was instinctively able to tell what this response meant. It was like a bolt of lightning had struck my head. I opened my mouth. ¡°Do not tell me¡­¡­.¡± Did she get a foreboding feeling because of my tone? Saintess Longwy stammered. ¨C W-What is it? ¡°Do not tell me, Saintess. Are you still a virgin despite your age? ¨C That is not something you should ask ady! Saintess Longwy let out another shriek. I was now convinced. Her unfocused gaze, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and the tone of her voice that was unable to conceal her humiliation¡ªall these circumstantial clues were ample evidence to confirm the saintess¡¯ virginity. I was in disbelief. ¡°Dear me. Have you truly never dated a single man throughout your thirty years of life? Are you serious? Do you perhaps have some sort of severe personality w? I cannot even fathom what you could have been doing with your life despite having such looks¡­¡­.¡± ¨C Even if, by some absolutely rare chance, I were to protect my chastity for the rest of my life, that would not damage my character! Saintess Longwy roared like a female lion. ¨C I may not understand impudent rogues like you who follow the whims of your lower body, but maintaining one¡¯s chastity is a noble virtue! Do not look at me as if I am less virtuous than you! You¡¯re the unclean one! ¡°How pitiful¡­¡­. Are you telling me that you have lived thirty whole years not knowing the joys of life because of that anachronic prejudice¡­¡­? All that is left for you is to grow old, yet you have already wasted your most savory years¡­¡­.¡± ¨C I told you to stop giving me such a pitying gaze! O Athena! Why must I receive such a gaze from a piece of trash like you!?¡± I¡¯m sorry, but my sympathy is genuine. Is this not a pure natural monument? Come to think of it, this is my first time meeting a maiden. Daisy is also one, but she¡¯s only 15 years old, so you can¡¯tpare her to the saintess. I strangely felt bad. ¡°If you insist that is the case, then I do not know what else to say. I apologize for bringing up such an ufortable topic for you¡­¡­.¡± ¨C Don¡¯t apologize! It feels like I¡¯m the one in the wrong if you apologize! ¡°I see. I apologize. No, I apologize for apologizing. It appears that I was thoughtless. But I must admit, I¡¯m genuinely surprised. A true maiden¡­ I hadpletely forgotten they still existed in the world.¡± ¨C I swear, I¡¯m going to kill you! Saintess Longwy cried out, but it only sounded like a pained wail to me. Later, while consulting with Queen Henrietta about the rebellion, I subtly hinted, ¡°Could you introduce the Saintess to a decent man?¡± Henrietta narrowed her eyes with a troubled expression. ¨C Even if you say that, I have already set her up on dozens of dates. But she has turned every one of them down. ¡°Goodness. How high are her standards?¡± ¨C Since she was twelve, she imed that she would not settle for anyone less than a prince on a white horse. A pure and kind man who only has eyes for her. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¨C ¡­¡­. ¡°Let¡¯s settle this by handing a third of Piedmont over to the Frankish central government. Attorney General Bercy will most likelye to negotiate in person, so I ask for your cooperation.¡± ¡°Understood. I ept those terms.¡± We silently agreed not to discuss this topic further. However, the empathy in our eyes never disappeared. From then on, whenever Saintess Longwy got unnecessarily upset, I was a lot more considerate. The hysteria of an old maiden is an incurable illness, so it would only be right to be forgiving. ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ In thetter half of the first month of 1513, the southern nobles bowed their heads to the Frankish central government. Although the nobles were allowed a considerable amount of autonomy by Attorney General Bercy, they were now further from their original aspiration for full independence. They were no longer allowed to mobilize military forces or engage in diplomatic treaties with other countries without the central government¡¯s permission. At the same time, the Brittany army withdrew, adhering to the Le Havre Treaty, which stipted that ¡®Frankia and Brittany will not invade each other¡¯. Furthermore, part of the Piedmont region, which surrendered to Brittany, was transferred to the Frankish central government. Despite the resistance from the Sardinians, who were reluctant since they had put considerable effort into making their rebellion sessful, our Habsburg Empire yed a significant role here. As a concession to the Sardinians for taking a step back from Frankia, we liberated all the ves from Piedmont. Thus, everyone involved in the rebellion found a happy ending. The Sardinians demonstrated that they were not submissive. Brittany acquired a considerable amount of territory almost for free. Attorney General Bercy subdued the southern nobles with little effort. While it was true that the nobles suffered setbacks, small sacrifices were always necessary. I just hope that they don¡¯t feel like this was too unjust. After all, it was their excessive greed that caused this. As a result of this rebellion, Frankia officially came to be known as the ¡°Frankish Regency Empire¡±. Receiving power from the imperial family, the regent reced the Emperor in governing the state. This regent was elected by a vote from all city councils and noble families in Frankia. In other words, it was a noble republic ensuring the participation of the urban popce. Regardless of their titles¡ªwhether they be dukes, earls, barons, or any other rank¡ªeach noble had an equal vote. They were promised equality. Although themon people couldn¡¯t exercise their rights, at least the city councils were allowed to participate in the voting. Though somewhat limited, it was still a republic. Regent is a lifelong position. A new regent is only elected after the current one has died. Attorney General Bercy will most likely live a long life ruling over Frankia. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I decided to visit the Habsburg imperial pce for the first time in a while. In the depths of the imperial pcey Paimon, enshrined within a coffin made of transparent crystals. Silent and still, she slept, her body preserved from decay through a magical process. I spent half a day there before quietly taking my leave¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Welp, contrary to thest chapter where I said I didn¡¯t have much to say but actually ended up ranting, I genuinely don¡¯t have much to say. Just sort of tranting at a chilled pace as I cool my head off. I know people don¡¯t like seeing me apologize every chapter, so yeah. I¡¯ll try to pick up the pace once work has also be less hectic. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 417: Fall of Gold (1) Chapter 417: Fall of Gold (1) Lately, I¡¯ve been spending a lot of time in the imperial pce¡¯s enshrinement chamber. This ce, solely built for Paimon, was always quiet. Aside from the pce maidsing to change the flowers every morning, there was hardly anyone else around. It was the perfect ce toe alone and get lost deep in thought. Well, there was a mentally taxing aspect to it¡­¡­but that could be ignored. Of course, I didn¡¯te to the enshrinement chamber specifically to mourn Paimon. It was a political gesture. Paimon was one of the most supported Demon Lords in the demon world, and even now, there were those in the Mountain Faction who missed Paimon. Not able to forget Paimon¡¯s death, I, Dantalian, would spend most of my time at the enshrinement chamber whenever I came to the pce. Wouldn¡¯t they see this as a rather noble gesture? ¡°I knew you¡¯d be here.¡± Someone approached from the entrance of the room. Sensing their presence, I raised my head to see Sitri smiling shyly. ¡°I saw that you weren¡¯t at your office, so I figured you¡¯d be here. Hehe.¡± ¡°I feel at peace when I am here.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s the same for me too.¡±Sitri held a basket in her right hand. When I took it and peeked inside, there were cute snacks resembling sandwiches neatly arranged. There were even two adorable little baked potatoes. ¡°This is quite the feast!¡± ¡°I-I tried making a packed lunch since I know you probably haven¡¯t eaten yet.¡± ¡°I did not know you had culinary skills.¡± I exaggerated my admiration somewhat. My heart would feel endlessly mncholic whenever I saw Sitri, so I would chat cheerfully to hide it. Sitri seemed to gain confidence from my reaction as she chuckled brightly. ¡°I¡¯ve been taking bride lessonstely!¡± ¡°Bride lessons?¡± ¡°I felt like I¡¯ve been too much of a tomboy all this time. So I¡¯m being taught by the maids and teachers. Hehe.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I see.¡± I forced a smile. Sitri referred to it as ¡°bride lessons¡±, but in reality, she was being trained to be a ruler. With Paimon gone, Sitri had to lead the Mountain Faction whether she liked it or not. There was no one in the Mountain Faction more popr than her, after all. She probably didn¡¯t intend to, but Sitri was the one who saved the Mountain Faction from falling apart after Paimon¡¯s death. She protected the Mountain Faction¡¯s pride by thoroughly carrying out a revenge y in the demon world. ¡°What do you find the most challenging in your bride lessons?¡± ¡°Hmm. Probably table manners. I¡¯ve always eaten however I wanted, but the teacher says I can¡¯t do that. Apparently, there are like dozens of types of knives.¡± Sitri grumbled like an elementary school student who didn¡¯t want to go to school. As anyone could readily discern, Sitri was sorelycking in refinement, a quality she had never truly needed while Paimon was around. Her role had always been that of the steadfast sword of the Mountain Faction. However, everything had now shifted drastically¡­¡­. As the leader of the Mountain Faction, she found herself obligated to attend meetings, host important dignitaries from the demon world, and navigate political skirmishes with the ins Faction or Neutral Faction. These were burdens Sitri now bore, burdens that weighed heavily on someone who had spent her entire life relying solely on her sword skills on the battlefield. However, Sitri epted this royal education without anyints. No, she requested it herself. ¡°You are doing well, Sitri. You are truly remarkable.¡± I gently stroked Sitri¡¯s head. Sitri leaned into my touch like a pet dog and nestled even further into my embrace. ¡°It¡¯s amazing. I feel like I can keep going every time I get praised by you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­If it gets too hard, you can always give up.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯re holding up just fine.¡± Sitri didn¡¯t shy away from Paimon¡¯s death. Instead, she faced it head-on and epted it. She was keenly aware that without her intervention, the Mountain Faction would have copsed. And she was determined not to lose any of the legacies Paimon left behind¡­¡­. ¡°I¡¯m fine since I have you around.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Now then, open wide.¡± Sitri picked up a sandwich and handed it to me. ¡°Mm.¡± Bacon, tomato, and lettuce were sandwiched between the slices of bread. The crisp lettuceplemented the vor of the bacon perfectly. The inclusion of tomatoes suggested that these sandwiches were not crafted by human hands. Curiously, humans abstained from consuming tomatoes, dubbing them ¡°blood fruits¡±. In an era steeped in myth, rumors abounded that tomatoes acquired their crimson hue from leeching the blood of corpses buried beneath the earth. ¡°Is it tasty?¡± ¡°Yes, it tastes amazing.¡± ¡°Th-Then how about this one?¡± Sitri picked up a second sandwich. Unlike the others in the basket, this one looked rather clumsy. The tomato was protruding awkwardly, and it seemed like there was an excessive amount of bacon. What¡¯s this? Despite my ws, I¡¯m someone who managed to survive for the past 8 years thanks to my quick wit alone. I immediately caught on to the truth. A woman suddenly appeared with a packed lunch, one sandwich looked like a mess, and Sitri was looking at me with an oddly anxious expression¡­¡­. So that¡¯s how it is? Come to think of it, although it¡¯s a given that they¡¯d teach her table manners in her training to be a ruler, there¡¯s no way they¡¯d teach her how to cook. I ate the second sandwich leisurely, as if I were someone who had realized the truth of the world. ¡°Hmm.¡± I deliberately chewed slowly, as if savoring the taste. With each passing moment, Sitri¡¯s expression grew increasingly restless. I was certain now. ¡°Well, how is it¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It is delicious. No, it tastes far better than the first one.¡± ¡°Really!?¡± Sitri¡¯s face lit up with joy. ¡°I cannot quite express it, but how should I put it? I feel like I can taste the sincerity¡­¡­. Yes, it is as if there is something hidden within this sandwich that surpasses taste.¡± The flow of events was obvious. This was probably Sitri¡¯s first time cooking, meaning this was her first time making something simr to a sandwich. It was only natural that it wouldn¡¯t be made well. Feeling despair about her own cooking skills, Sitri most likely sought help from the pce chef. However, unable to give up her desire to let me taste her handmade dish, she secretly hid the sandwich she made in the packed lunch. That was the true identity of the visibly misshapen sandwich. ¡°The previous one felt a little too by the books and overly professional, but though this one looks a little sloppy, it brings me more ease.¡± ¡°H-Hehe¡­¡­. Really? That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Sitri blushed shyly as she smiled. Fufu, my perception can easily see this level of truth. We ate the food amidst a greatly cheerful atmosphere. Sitri blowing on a steaming potato to cool it down before splitting it in half to share with me was a sight so beautiful it could have been a masterpiece. After finishing our meal quickly, I received ap pillow from Sitri. Sitri hummed a tune whilebing through my hair. ¡°Lady Sitri!¡± At that moment, a tiger person in a butler outfit came running in from the entrance of the chamber. When the butler approached, the warm and cozy atmosphere changed in an instant. Sitri¡¯s gentle smile vanished without a trace, reced by a cold and rigid expression. Sitri red daggers at the butler. ¡°This is where the deceased rest. Keep your voice down.¡± ¡°M-My apologies¡­¡­ There is something urgent I have to report¡­¡­.¡± The butler stopped in their tracks. They seemed to realize their mistake the moment they saw the two of us. With a deeply bowed head, the butler spoke. ¡°As youmanded, Demon Lord Belial has been captured. He is currently on his knees in your office.¡± ¡°All right. What about the rest of the Mountain Faction?¡± ¡°They have all gathered.¡± Sitri¡¯s voice as she spoke to the butler waspletely different from before. Her tone was that of a ruthless and merciless leader. Sitri whispered quietly into my ear so that the butler couldn¡¯t hear. ¡°Dantalian.¡± ¡°I understand the situation.¡± I raised my body. Sitri had reorganized the Mountain Faction, but it wasn¡¯t perfect. There were Demon Lords who, losing hope in the Mountain Faction, tried to escape to another faction. Among them was the former Rank 68 Demon Lord, Belial. Belial became indebted to Barbatos early on during the 8th Crescent Alliance. Barbatos had saved Belial¡¯s Demon Lord Castle from falling into the hands of the humans. That was probably the reason. Since the Mountain Faction felt a little unstable, he quickly tried to change his allegiance. However, he was naive. Sitri, following my advice, meticulously ced monitors on each of the Demon Lords in the Mountain Faction. Maids, gardeners, stable boys, and even the children of servants were bought off to create a surveincework like a spider¡¯s web. Demon Lord Belial¡¯s private meeting with Brother Zepar was immediately discovered. Brother Zepar is basically the second-inmand of the ins Faction. Meeting someone of such standing from an opposing faction at a time like this when any thoughtless action could brand you as a traitor¡­¡­. The result was obvious. ¡°I will apany you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Are you sure that¡¯s okay?¡± ¡°No one will question my presence since I am your ally.¡± Sitri nodded. We left the enshrinement chamber and headed towards Sitri¡¯s office. Originally, Sitri didn¡¯t have a separate office, but she was now using the one formerly upied by Paimon. The room was quite spacious, and all the Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction were gathered inside. The atmosphere in the room was tense. Judging by their somber expressions, all of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords present must know that something unpleasant was about to happen. The Demon Lords politely bowed their heads as Sitri entered the room. ¡°We greet Your Highness Sitri.¡± ¡°Thank you all for gathering despite your busy schedules.¡± Sitri raised her right hand to skip formalities. Though some of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords raised their eyebrows at my presence, none objected to it. Given my tears when Paimon died and my regr visits to the enshrinement chamber afterward, they were rtively friendly towards me now. ¡°L-Lady Sitri.¡± Demon Lord Belial was kneeling in the center of the office, his arms tightly bound behind his back. Upon seeing Sitri, Belial began to plead desperately. ¡°I do not know why this has urred, but there must have been a misunderstanding. I am truly innocent. Your Highness should be aware of how hard I have worked for the Mountain Faction!¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Sitri nced at Belial out of the corner of her eye but did not respond to him. Instead, she turned her attention to the other Mountain Faction Demon Lords before speaking. ¡°We are facing an unprecedented crisis. Big Sis Paimon is dead, and the ins Faction remains healthy. It¡¯s natural for us to be bewildered in the face of such a situation since we have always entrusted everything to Big Sis Paimon until now. Honestly, I don¡¯t know what to do either.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But one thing is certain. There¡¯s another group who would be pleased to see us falter and divide.¡± Sitri didn¡¯t explicitly point fingers, but every Demon Lord in the Mountain Faction knew she was referring to the ins Faction. ¡°Think back to Big Sis Paimon¡¯s funeral. Not a single one of them shed a tear. They merely nodded their heads before her coffin, as if that was all the respect required of them, before turning their backs and walking away. All except for one person.¡± Sitri nced at me for a moment. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords nodded in response. ¡°I have no desire to appease those scoundrels. I wish to ask you all for your opinions regarding this.¡± ¡°Your Highness¡¯ words are justified.¡± ¡°We cannot afford to indulge those who cannot even show respect in the face of death.¡± The Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction fervently voiced their agreement. Belial¡¯splexion drained with each echoing assent. ¡°Then, it¡¯s unanimous.¡± ¡°Your Highness, please! Please listen to me! Th-This is a conspiracy! I have never¡ª.¡± Before Belial couldplete his plea, Sitri swiftly drew her sword. Crimson blood sprayed, staining the opulent golden carpet as Belial¡¯s head fell with a thud. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords watched in silence. Sitri flicked her sword once more to rid it of blood. ¡°Traitors will never be forgiven.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°We¡ªall of us here¡ªmust safeguard Big Sis Paimon¡¯s legacy.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Whoopsie, I forgot to upload this chapter. It sort of slipped my mind cause I just had a lot of things nned with my friends over the weekend. I need to really organize my schedule and actually get things done. Maybe if I tranted during my lunch breaks at work¡­ but I¡¯ve been sort of using my lunch breaks for naps¡­ I gotta sacrifice something to be more efficient. I might have to start sleeping at a normal time to fix that. The horror. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 418: Fall of Gold (2) Chapter 418: Fall of Gold (2) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The room fell silent. Paimon always led her faction with a tolerant mindset. Despite the rxed atmosphere characteristic of the Mountain Faction, a broad coalition was formed. However, the politics Sitri was currently executing stood in stark contrast to this ethos. One might interpret it as politics driven by fear or even coercion¡­¡­. For politics driven by fear to continue to exert its influence, two conditions must be met. First, the assurance that one is safe from punishment. Even as others perish, I remain safe. Such confidence must be shared among one¡¯s subordinates. In other words, they must be guided to behave well by clearly informing them of ¡®how to avoid punishment¡¯. Second, a consensus that politics driven by fear is absolutely necessary at the present. People are not fools; they understand that ruling through fear is merely a temporary fix¡­¡­ no, ast resort. But for it to be effective, they need to believe that the circumstances are dire. They need to be convinced that only harsh rule will protect them from harm. Hence why Sitri decided to punish a traitor.Regardless of the era, executing traitors provides a very clear standard. Betray, and you die, but if you don¡¯t betray, you will be fine. There¡¯s no cleaner criterion than this. Moreover, now that a real traitor has emerged, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords will undoubtedly take the current situation very seriously. ¡®This is perfect timing for them.¡¯ Demon Lord Belial had quite literally betrayed the Mountain Faction at the most opportune moment. This satisfied both the first and second conditions simultaneously. Whether the betrayal was real or not mattered little as long as it served a political purpose. This was all that mattered. This makes it so that Sitri¡¯s leadership will be acknowledged as necessary for the time being¡­¡­. ¡°Everyone, as someone who has set foot in the ins Faction, I feel a sense of responsibility.¡± I took a step forward. The essence of terror politics lies in portraying the current situation as nearly the worst possible scenario. It must always hover on the brink of the worst-case scenario. However, it would be concerning if people actually perceived it as the worst-case scenario, as this could lead to a loss of self-control and madness. ¡®The ins Faction might use this opportunity to eliminate us¡¯, this was just the right amount of concern. However, if it turns into the perception that ¡®the ins Faction is actively trying to exterminate us!¡¯ it would be problematic. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords would likely go berserk andsh out before their supposed demise. Someone needs to maintain the precarious bnce on this border. ¡°Belial met Demon Lord Zepar of our ins Faction in secret. There is a possibility, however slim, that some Demon Lords within the ins Faction may harbor thoughts of dividing the Mountain Faction.¡± ¡°Dantalian, unfortunately, you are not exempt from suspicion either.¡± An older gentleman with a thick, white beard spoke. It was Morax, the ex-Rank 21 Demon Lord of Horse Hoofs. If Marbas maintained his innate charm while aging gracefully, then Morax aged with patches of gray fungus dotting his face. ¡°You are also a member of the ins Faction. Not only are you a part of their faction, but you are also the only man whom Barbatos has epted into her heart. If the ins Faction truly is scheming to divide the Mountain Faction, there is no chance that you would not be aware of it as one of the absolute highest executives.¡± The other Mountain Faction Demon Lords nodded in agreement with the old man¡¯s statement. Rather than being usatory, it was more like he was simply asking me to exin myself. He was being rather respectful. ¡°I am grateful that you think so highly of me, however, my influence within the ins Faction is rather limited.¡± ¡°You underestimate yourself. I am not so foolish as to be unaware of your significance within the ins Faction.¡± ¡°You seem to know me quite well.¡± ¡°Her Highness Paimon spoke about you quite a bit.¡± I smiled bitterly. I deliberately maintained silence for a moment. It was to convey a sense of difort just by hearing Paimon¡¯s name. I didn¡¯t need to remain silent for long. Five to six seconds was enough to convey this message to them. After measuring the time in my head, I spoke. ¡°Sir Morax, do you know where my power stems from?¡± ¡°As far as this old man knows, it stems from Barbatos¡¯ favor.¡± ¡°More precisely, it stems from the favor of three individuals. Barbatos, Marbas¡­¡­and Paimon.¡± I lowered my gaze slightly. This was a subconscious gesture that people feeling guilty tend to make. People believed that I harbored serious guilt toward Paimon, and I wanted to perpetuate that misconception. ¡°My power fundamentally originates not from me but from elsewhere. Ites from the bnce between factions. Whether it is the Mountain Faction, the Neutral Faction, or the ins Faction, there are moments when they must cooperate with one another. It is precisely at those times that my role shines. In other words, when the bnce among the factions is disrupted, someone like me bes unnecessary¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Are you not being too modest?¡± ¡°I am simply stating the truth as it is.¡± The old man did not speak further. He couldn¡¯t refute my words since it was the truth. ¡°I believe that the current era has achieved a golden bnce. The copse of this bnce would be no different from the worst-case scenario for me. If there are groups within the ins Faction plotting to disrupt this bnce, they are my enemies.¡± The old man narrowed his eyes slightly and looked in my direction. His forehead was deeply furrowed. ¡°Do you have a solution?¡± ¡°I am sworn brothers with Brother Zepar. I will directly inquire about Belial from him.¡± ¡°Is that method not too straightforward?¡± ¡°I am confident in this approach.¡± I nced around slowly. ¡°I will be frank. I am trying to gain your trust. However, keep in mind that there is no need to grant me eternal trust. Trust me conditionally only when our interests align.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And now is that time.¡± Everyone turned their gazes to Sitri. This was them stating that they would follow their leader¡¯s decision. However, Sitri didn¡¯t waver for even a second. ¡°I¡¯ll use this opportunity to make this clear. I love Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But my personal rtionship and the affairs of our faction have nothing to do with each other.¡± The expressions of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords changed. They looked surprised. The atmosphere in the office stirred slightly, but Sitri continued with her cold tone. ¡°I won¡¯t decide the fate of our faction based on personal rtionships. That¡¯s obvious. The Mountain Faction doesn¡¯t belong to me. It¡¯s the ce Big Sis Paimon worked hard to build, with her blood, sweat, and tears. I just want to protect this ce, where her memories and traces remain.¡± ¡°Your Highness¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So let¡¯s decide together. Even though Big Sis Paimon isn¡¯t here right now¡­¡­ Let¡¯s think about what she would have done.¡± There was nothing as easily moving as single-minded devotion. Even the children of the demon world knew how much Sitri loved Paimon. While it was basic in politics to doubt others, Sitri¡¯s sincerity was unquestionable. Her purity must¡¯ve moved the hearts of the Demon Lords. ¡°I choose to trust him.¡± ¡°I also agree. Dantalian is certainly suitable for negotiation. We have nothing to lose.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± The Mountain Faction Demon Lords expressed their consent one after another. Lastly, even Morax nodded his head. Even if he wanted to oppose, it would be disgraceful to rebel against Sitri here. It would be better to rally around her rather than cause unnecessary turmoil. He made the right decision. ¡°Thank you, everyone.¡± I ced my right hand over my heart and politely bowed, like a butler. ¡°I would like to reaffirm the role I have been entrusted with. I will do my utmost to determine if there is indeed a group within the ins Faction seeking to divide the Mountain Faction and ensure that this golden bnce remains intact. Is this correct?¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± The Demon Lords agreed. Without once meeting Sitri¡¯s gaze from the moment I entered the room until I left, I proceeded straight to the office assigned to Brother Zepar. ¦¯* * *¦¯ The imperial pce was divided into the East Hall and the West Hall. Among them, the East Hall was assigned to the ins Faction, and the West Hall to the Mountain Faction. The central area was upied by the Neutral Faction and independent Demon Lords. It was an easily recognizable arrangement. Initially, the Imperial Pce of the Habsburg Empire was not particrly impressive. The former emperor, the father of Elizabeth and Rudolf, was historically the most miserly ruler. He often attempted to remodel the pce but faced significant opposition from the nobility, resulting in most of his ns being abandoned. Moreover, during the Crescent Alliance War, when Elizabeth set fire to the capital and ascended to power, a considerable portion of the pce was dismantled¡ªthat¡¯s right, every decoration and statue that seemed valuable was taken! Consul Elizabeth is also quite the scrooge¡ªso it was left looking shabby. The scale of the pce waspletely different now. Using the basic framework as a foundation, the goblin and dwarven craftsmen brought in from the demon world carried out an extensive renovation. The pce¡¯s size was increased by several times, bing so enormous that it could practically be considered a small city. As a result, it took me a good several dozen minutes to walk from the West Hall, where the Mountain Faction was located, to the East Hall, where the ins Faction was situated. ¡°Wee.¡± Brother Zepar weed me warmly. Although his expression was solemn as usual, his tone was clearly gentle. Brother Zepar lowered the document in his hand and smiled at me. ¡°I have been seeing you often these days. It is rather nice.¡± ¡°You seem to be having a hard time managing the territory.¡± ¡°Honestly, it is only slightly easier than dealing with the knights of Brittany.¡± We shared a lightugh. After a bit of small talk, Brother Zepar dismissed the servants from his office. I adjusted my expression to a serious one and spoke. ¡°Brother. What I am about to tell you must be kept strictly confidential for the time being.¡± Brother Zepar¡¯s face immediately turned serious. He was a man who could be serious whenever necessary. ¡°I assume something severe has urred.¡± ¡°Yes. Demon Lord Belial was purged just a moment ago.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Brother Zepar¡¯s eyes widened. He maintained that expression for a moment before slowly closing his eyes. He then pressed his index finger against the bridge of his nose. ¡°¡­¡­What do you mean by ¡®he was purged¡¯?¡± ¡°Sitri most likely beheaded Belial herself. All of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords were gathered in her office a moment ago. They may still be there now.¡± Brother Zepar kept his eyes shut as he let out a sigh. ¡°Things have gotten out of hand.¡± ¡°No, it might not be as severe as we think. Sitri requested for me to negotiate.¡± ¡°Negotiate?¡± ¡°The Mountain Faction believes Demon Lord Belial betrayed them. They believe that in order to do so, he had a secret meeting with you¡­¡­.¡± Brother Zepar furrowed his brows. ¡°What utter nonsense. In this situation, at this time, what good would it do to ept a brat like Belial? It would only cause unnecessary conflict.¡± ¡°The Mountain Faction Demon Lords are notpletely foolish. Their opinion coincides with yours, but¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But, there is a possibility. Is that what they are worried about?¡± I nodded. ¡°Brother, this is my fault. Please let me take responsibility.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Did you not originally hesitate to meet with Belial? It was I who advised you to meet with him. This whole situation is entirely my fault.¡± I lowered my head. That¡¯s right. Demon Lord Belial betrayed at ¡®quite the appropriate time¡¯. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Still not able to trante as actively as I want to. Work is weird. It gets busy at times, but when it¡¯s not busy, we¡¯ve been asked to y test some games to see if they¡¯d be good for ourpany to work with. I technically don¡¯t have to, but I feel obligated? I unno. In any case, I¡¯ve been getting distracted with gamestely. ying a lot of Elden Ring with friends and now I¡¯m probably going to get back into FFXIV because I finally got arge house¡­ After 2 years of trying¡­ Time to get into decorating again. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 419: Fall of Gold (3) Chapter 419: Fall of Gold (3) ¡°No. You merely offered advice, nothing more.¡± I raised my gaze to look at Brother Zepar. He was shaking his head. ¡°Do you think I would shift the me onto an advisor? The one who made the decision is me.¡± Of course, I utilized Brother Zepar knowing that he wasn¡¯t that type of individual. If it had been Brother Beleth, he would have happily said, ¡®Well, the one who gave the advice should naturally bear the responsibility¡¯, and fled. If anything, he would probablyugh at my failure. This would be troubling for me, hence why I didn¡¯t choose him. In this instance, I required Brother Zepar and his somewhat old-fashioned and noble nature. ¡°Of course not. However, It is my duty to take responsibility¡ª.¡± ¡°Now, before you talk about responsibility, you should focus on finding a solution. Coming up with a good n to resolve this matter is the true way to take responsibility.¡± Brother Zepar cut me off. It was like even his gray beard held a level of stoess. Instead of responding, I bowed my head even deeper to show respect. I heard Brother Zepar¡¯s voicee from above my head. ¡°The Dantalian I know would note seeking forgiveness without having one or two solutions at the ready. Have I misjudged you?¡±¡°¡­¡­There is one thing that has been proven due to this situation.¡± I paused for a moment before raising my head. Once I opened my mouth, I made sure to speak in a clear, confident voice. ¡°Currently, the Mountain Faction is extremely sensitive. They have neither evidence nor witnesses that confirm Demon Lord Belial¡¯s betrayal. They executed him solely for having contact with you. This shows just how seriously the Mountain Faction is taking the situation.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Brother Zepar¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Is the entire Mountain Faction on edge, or is Sitri leading the atmosphere?¡± ¡°It is not clear yet. However, it is certain that the remaining Mountain Faction Demon Lords have rallied closely around Sitri. The joint handling of Belial was likely meant to¡­¡­.¡± ¡°To instill a sense of urgency across the entire faction¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yes, that is most likely their hidden intention.¡± Brother Zepar let out a low groan. ¡°I underestimated her. I did not expect Sitri to have this level of political acumen.¡± ¡°This is probably closer to instinct than political acumen. She is baring her teeth excessively to intimidate those around her because she feels threatened. At her core, she is like a wounded beast. However, timely enough, a leader like Sitri is exactly what the Mountain Faction needs.¡± ¡°A wounded beast, is it¡­¡­? How troublesome.¡± Brother Zepar stroked his beard, lost in deep thought. Sitri¡¯s execution of Belial was done due to my advice, but there was no reason to reveal this truth to Brother Zepar. ¡°If she were acting on political acumen, then there would be ample room forpromise. However, if it is purely instinctual, then it bes problematic. Her focus will only lie on the immediate threats¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It is fortunate that Sitri trusts me. Normally, after killing Belial, she would have issued an ultimatum to our ins Faction. At the very least, I am able to serve as a bridge.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Brother Zepar nodded. ¡°Dantalian, what exactly does the Mountain Faction want?¡± ¡°¡­¡­They mistakenly believe that certain individuals in the ins Faction are conspiring to incite discord within their ranks. Their demand is to have these individuals identify themselves and apologize.¡± Brother Zepar quietly sighed. ¡°Is one of those certain individuals referring to me?¡± ¡°They are specifically suspecting Her Highness Barbatos.¡± ¡°What?¡± I put on a sorrowful expression. ¡°The whole world knows that Brother Zepar is a close aide to Her Highness Barbatos. If Brother Zepas takes action, Her Highness Barbatos must surely be behind it. That is what they seem to think.¡± ¡°What a preposterous misunderstanding!¡± Finally, some fervor appeared in Brother Zepar¡¯s voice. The usually calm andposed Brother Zepar had one particr quirk: he would get worked up whenever Barbatos was involved. His loyalty was as clear as crystal. Brother Zepar had risen to be the co-leader of the ins Faction thanks to this loyalty of his. However, strengths often turn into weaknesses when viewed from a different angle. ¡°In that case, Dantalian, why are they specifying a group?¡± ¡°Yes. They most likely determined that securing a direct apology from Her Highness Barbatos would be challenging. Her Highness Barbatos is a spiritual pir for our ins Faction. Requesting someone of her stature to bow her head is no easy feat. Therefore, they included the condition of ¡®certain individuals¡¯.¡± I spoke in a serious tone. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t dare demand an apology from Barbatos herself, so they are essentially saying, ¡®Find a suitable scapegoat¡¯. In their minds, they believe they are taking a step back out of respect for our pride.¡± ¡°What foolishness¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Brother, the Mountain Faction is looking for someone to me.¡± The atmosphere grew tense. Brother Zepar now had no choice but to take the situation very seriously. The only people who could apologize on behalf of Barbatos were either Brother Beleth or Brother Zepar. Since Brother Beleth had no involvement in this incident, it meant that Brother Zepar would have to bow his head. Or a third option¡­¡­. ¡°This is why I offered to take responsibility.¡± Dantalian, the chief advisor of the ins Faction and Barbatos¡¯ lover. ¡°Brother, you bear no responsibility for this incident, nor any fault. It was I who advised you. I am the cause. Therefore, I will officially apologize to the Mountain Faction.¡± ¡°Wait. What about your political standing?¡± Brother Zepar frowned. I shook my head lightly a couple of times. ¡°That is a secondary issue.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Brother, I apologize, but I have already made up my mind. I will go to Barbatos and inform her. I came here first because I felt it was my duty to exin the situation to you.¡± I stood up. ¡°Then if you would excuse me.¡± I turned around without any hesitation. I then made my way toward the door. I hadplete faith in my acting. I counted my steps as I walked over the soft red carpet. One. Two. Three¡ª. ¡°Stop.¡± I froze in ce. Once I turned around, I saw Brother Zepar standing with his hands on his desk. He was staring right at me with a slightly arched back, a heavy aura looming over him. It was almost like gravity around him was distinctly stronger than anywhere else. ¡°I asked you for a solution, not to take responsibility. I will not tolerate acting on your own.¡± ¡°This is the best course of action.¡± ¡°You are the only bridge connecting our ins Faction and the Mountain Faction. No, you are the conduit that brings the entire demon army together. If you lose the trust of those around you by admitting your fault, who will take over as the conduit?¡± I answered without hesitation. ¡°That can be adequately handled by Marbas.¡± ¡°Marbas is an excellent mediator. However, he is already the leader of his own faction. He shines in the open, but he is not suitable for secretly coordinating the opinions of each faction in the shadows. Go ahead and try to deny it if you can.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantalian.¡± Brother Zepar looked at me with a cold, piercing gaze. ¡°The Demon Lord Army needs you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Despite Sitri¡¯s irrational state, she relied on you. That alone shows how valuable you are. And it is not just Sitri. In dire situations, Barbatos, Gamigin, and Marbas would also trust you to handle negotiations. That is a talent I do not have.¡± Zepar seemed certain of his own words as he nodded to himself. ¡°I will take on the role of officially apologizing to the Mountain Faction.¡± ¡°No, Brother!¡± ¡°Do not underestimate me. This is not a decision made out of personal feelings. Objectively, having me step forward minimizes the damage.¡± Brother Zepar raised the corners of his mouth. ¡°I am nothing more than a soldier who has spent his entire life on the battlefield. Honestly, ruling thend assigned to me is already a significant burden. Losing any political standing now would do me no harm.¡± ¡°Hah! Your political standing is not the issue!¡± I quickly walked up to Brother Zepar. I am certain that my face was contorted with anger. ¡°The issue is who made the mistake and who will take responsibility! Brother, you asked me earlier if you seemed like someone who would shift the me onto the advisor. Now let me ask you in return: do I seem like someone who would shift my responsibility to you?¡± ¡°I know why you are acting like this.¡± Even though I had walked right up to Brother Zepar to shout at him, he did not even flinch. ¡°You always keep a cool head and make political calctions, but you are unforgiving when ites to your own mistakes. You me yourself for Paimon¡¯s death, do you not?¡± ¡°What¡­¡­? Paimon has nothing to do with our current conversation!¡± ¡°No, you feel responsible for Paimon¡¯s death, so you are also ming yourself for the Mountain Faction¡¯s overreaction. You are trying to atone for Paimon by punishing yourself.¡± For a moment I held my breath. During that pause, Brother Zepar raised his right hand and patted my shoulder. ¡°Dantalian, you do not need to atone for anything.¡± ¡°Do not assume¡­¡­. That is a baseless spection. It is simply about taking responsibility for one¡¯s mistakes. There is no ce for grand notions of atonement.¡± ¡°Indeed, that may possibly be the case. In that case, it simply means my judgment was wed.¡± ¡°Your Excellency!¡± Brother Zepar gave a small smile. ¡°It has been a while since youst called me that.¡± At that moment, Brother Zepar raised his right hand and struck my neck. It was clearly a blow infused with aura. I let out an undignified gasp and crumpled to my knees. My vision went white like static had filled my brain. ¡°Don¡¯t, be foolish¡­¡­.¡± However, I could barely utter a few words as I had to focus on trying to stay conscious. I could hear the sound of Brother Zepar muttering in the distance. ¡°Asking me to offer Her Excellency Barbatos¡¯ only male lover as a sacrifice? You must be out of your mind. Are you trying to turn me into a dead man walking? You need to be more aware of your position, Brother.¡± Brother Zepar¡¯s voice had a hint ofughter in it. Soon after, my vision wentpletely dark. Footsteps receded, and I heard the sound of a door closing. That was thest thing I heard before losing consciousness. Reassured by the fact that I had sessfully executed my n, I allowed myself to pass out¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m going to keep this short. I was really hoping nothing would happen any time soon, but my dad ended up in the intensive care unit over the weekend. He¡¯s been moved a stage down, so he¡¯s stabilized a bit, but I¡¯ll probably be visiting him a couple of times this week. Meaning, I won¡¯t be able to trante during those times. I¡¯ll do what I can when I¡¯m home. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Hopefully, I¡¯ll have good news by then. Chapter 420: Fall of Gold (4) Chapter 420: Fall of Gold (4) By the time I opened my eyes, the sun had already set. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I was lying on the floor of Brother Zepar¡¯s room. I could hear an owl hooting from the slight opening in the window. I stayed there motionless for a while as I listened to the sound of birds crying out to the night sky. It almost felt like my entire sense of hearing was being upied by their cries. ¡°Ugh.¡± My sense of sight and touch gradually pushed my hearing away. For starters, there was a prickly sensation pressing against my cheek. It was probably because I passed out with my face shoved into the carpet as there were acutely visible marks left on my face. I rubbed my cheek with my right hand as I pulled myself up. Aftering this far, the first thought to go through my head was simple. ¡®¡­¡­Everything is going ording to n up to this point.¡¯ That¡¯s right. This was all a part of my n. As soon as that thought went through my head, my thoughts chained one after another like catching multiple fish with one hook. Mountain Faction, Sitri. ins Faction, Barbatos. Internal conflict and instigation¡­¡­. A sacrifice.My n to use Brother Zepar as a sacrifice. I had to quickly check whether this n was sessful or not. I took out a hand mirror from my pocket and checked my face. My eyes looked exhausted and my hair was a mess. I probably couldn¡¯t even attract a country girl in my current state. But this was the perfect amount of messiness. There was a need for everything to be a mess right now. The script I had nned out was simple and effective. First, eliminate the traitor Belial to ensure the unity of the Mountain Faction. This was to prevent the Mountain Faction from weakening due to Paimon¡¯s death. Next, sacrifice Zepar, one of the wings of the ins Faction. His downfall would signify the weakening of the political power within the ins Faction itself. Strengthen the Mountain Faction¡¯s power while narrowing the influence of the ins Faction. This would establish a new bnce within the Demon Lord Army¡­¡­. However, relying solely on Zepar would be insufficient. Think about it, the Mountain Faction lost Paimon. They didn¡¯t lose a limb or a tail, but their entire head. Stripping Brother Zepar of his political life alone wouldn¡¯t bnce the scales. ¡°All right.¡± I put my hand mirror away. If the Mountain Faction has lost its head, then the ins Faction must also lose theirs. What is there to hide? ¡°Let the game begin¡­¡­Barbatos.¡± Barbatos will have to pay the price for crossing the line herself. ¦¯* * *¦¯ Barbatos wasn¡¯t in her chambers; instead, she was in the back gardens of the pce. She was idly sipping on her wine, her gaze unfocused as she peered out at the garden pond. As I made my presence known with the sound of my footsteps, Barbatos nced in my direction for a moment before turning her gaze away again. ¡°It seems a man who has been rather elusivetely has graced me with his presence.¡± Barbatos muttered with a hint of boredom in her voice. ¡°What kind of change of heart does a gentleman who¡¯s been constantly enjoying dates with another woman at an enshrinement chamber have to go through to seek out an old me of his? Did he finally realize he can¡¯t have sex with a corpse?¡± ¡°I came here to see Barbatos, not you.¡± Barbatos chuckled and lightly swirled her ss. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s strange. I¡¯ve lived my entire life thinking my name was Barbatos. For more than two thousand years now. If I¡¯ve been mistaken, I hope you¡¯ll correct it.¡± ¡°I am here to see the leader of the ins Faction and regent of the Empire.¡± Barabtos red at me. Her golden eyes were clearly tinged with fatigue. Yet, they were as sharp as ever. ¡°Is that all? You show up after a whole month and that¡¯s all you have to say?¡± ¡°Barbatos, I was not avoiding you on purpose. I have not met with Gamigin either.¡± ¡°Hah. Don¡¯t you darepare me to that insane pair of tits.¡± Barbatos snapped with a threatening tone. ¡°Do you even have any affection toward Gamigin in the first ce? You only banged her so that you could use her, you son of a bitch. Are you seriously trying to put that bitch on the same level as me?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± We red at each other. Since Paimon¡¯s death, our encounters invariably devolved into fights. What started as trivial arguments would inevitably escte into shouting matches, each of us fiercely defending our pride. Our familiarity with each other had grown to the point where a mere nce was enough to almost discern the other¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Do you want me to prove to you again that I hold you above all else?¡± I continued. ¡°Was Paimon not enough? Will you only be satisfied if Gamigin dies as well? Might as well kill Sitri while we¡¯re at it so that I can be a man who only looks at you, right? Is this really what you want?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me like that.¡± ¡°Oh, of course. I should be respectful when speaking to you, Your Excellency Barbatos. If it were not for Your Excellency, the absolute head of the ins Faction, I would be crawling in the gutters.¡± I smirked. ¡°Do you want me to speak formally like I did when we first met? Would that make Your Excellency feel better? My apologies. I never would have imagined that Your Excellency¡¯s ears were so delicate.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos clenched her teeth. This was still mild. There were often days when we would hit each other and shout at the top of our lungs. Our rtionship was gradually losing any semnce of dignity. ¡°I don¡¯t want to argue with you. So let¡¯s only talk politics, Barbatos.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Fine. What do you have to say, Count Ptine?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t make Commander Zepar apologize.¡± Barbatos furrowed her brows. Brother Zepar had likely exined the situation to her. He probably admitted that he inadvertently angered the Mountain Faction due to his own careless mistake and that he intended to take responsibility and apologize. However, he must have left out that I was the one who advised him to meet with Belial. He omitted that my advice was the decisive factor in his decision and that I was involved in this at all, as he wanted to handle it on his own. So from Barbatos¡¯ perspective, it was only natural for her to be suspicious of how I knew the full details of this incident. Just a few hours ago, Brother Zepar must¡¯ve reported, ¡®This was all an ident caused by my unteral actions done in secret¡±, and now, here I was, discussing the incident as if I knew all about it. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who pushed Commander Zepar to meet Belial.¡± ¡°What?¡± I spoke bluntly. ¡°Think about it rationally, Barbatos. Has Commander Zepar ever made any significant decision for the faction without consulting with you first? He has always acted under yourmand. However, the exception to this is¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you give him advice, you son of a bitch.¡± Barbatos growled. ¡°I knew something about this was strange. What are you scheming?¡± ¡°I was trying to put the Mountain Faction on alert.¡± ¡°Why the hell would you want them to be on alert?¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°Recall the massacre Sitri orchestrated in the demon realm. Sitri is clearly in an abnormally agitated state. If the Mountain Faction copses rapidly under these circumstances, Sitri might react impulsively again. In the worst case, it could lead to a civil war.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°A kind of shock therapy was necessary. If we let things go on like this, there would be more traitors switching sides. This was what I wanted to nt into their heads. Belial was the weakest among the Mountain Faction, making him the perfect example to instill just the right amount of caution¡­¡­. This was my thought process.¡± I lowered my voice here. ¡°Though things didn¡¯t go as predicted.¡± ¡°What was the problem?¡± ¡°Sitri. She was the problem. Sitri¡¯s unease went beyond my expectations. If Sitri were sane, she would have responded after Belial met with Brother Zepar two or three more times. She, however, killed Belial for having met Brother Zepar only once. That is by no means a normal response¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos spoke with a displeased look. ¡°Hmph, the Mountain Faction only exists because of Paimon anyway, so it¡¯s no surprise those small fries are making a fuss. So what?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why Commander Zepar must not apologize.¡± I looked directly into Barbatos¡¯ eyes. ¡°No one will believe Commander Zepar acted alone. It¡¯s too obvious since everyone knows he¡¯s one of your closest confidants. Everyone will think you were behind it. Even those of us in the ins Faction.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If that happens, Barbatos, you¡¯ll be seen as someone who shifts me onto your subordinates. The Mountain Faction will mock you, the Neutral Faction will scorn you, and even our ins Faction will be disappointed. We must avoid such a situation.¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression shifted as I exined the reason. ¡°¡­¡­In other words, you¡¯re saying that he shouldn¡¯t since that¡¯d be like putting a stain on my face?¡± ¡°In short, yes.¡± Barbatos scowled. ¡°Then who¡¯s going to apologize? Belial was the only bad one and our ins Faction had no hand in this. Should I just throw that out? I don¡¯t think that crazy bitch Sitri would be that understanding.¡± ¡°Commander Zepar mustn¡¯t apologize, you mustn¡¯t apologize, and you can¡¯t not apologize.¡± I lowered my voice. ¡°I will apologize to the Mountain Faction.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not like Commander Zepar. Almost every Demon Lord knows that I can act on my own without being ordered by you. There¡¯s a low chance that any suspicion will reach you if I apologize.¡± Barbatos opened her mouth to say something, but I continued before she could. ¡°Furthermore, I¡¯m widely regarded as the second-inmand of the ins Faction. If I bow my head, the Mountain Faction will have no choice but to ept it. It will result in a satisfactory oue for everyone.¡± ¡°Hey, hold on a second. Shit, just wait.¡± Barbatos pressed her fingertips against her temples. ¡°If I¡¯m not a fucking blockhead¡­¡­it sounds like you¡¯re saying you¡¯d rather take the fall than let me stain my face.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get it wrong, Barbatos. I¡¯m not saying that I¡¯m sacrificing myself for you.¡± I remarked coldly. ¡°I¡¯m the one who gave Commander Zepar bad advice, which led to this incident. It¡¯s only natural that the one who caused the problem takes responsibility. Commander Zepar might think sacrificing himself is enough, but that¡¯s a gross misjudgement.¡± ¡°No¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If I bow my head, the only one who suffers is me. But if you bow your head, the entire ins Faction suffers. It¡¯s obvious who should take the responsibility between the two of us.¡± Barbatos stared at me, her lips slightly parted as if she¡¯d lost her words. ¡°No, wait a second¡­¡­you idiot. Sure, some might think you schemed alone, but most will see it as an issue tied to our faction and assume you consulted with me first, wouldn¡¯t they?¡± Barbatos furrowed her brows deeply. ¡°So, fuck, instead of taking responsibility myself¡­¡­you¡¯re telling me to be a total asshole who shifts all the me onto my lover? What¡¯s the difference between dumping it on Zepar and dumping it on you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll handle it.¡± A t, emotionless voice escaped my lips. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll make sure everyone knows you weren¡¯t involved. You had nothing to do with this, so just stay out of it.¡± ¡°Stay out of it¡­¡­?¡± Barbatos red at me in disbelief. I didn¡¯t meet her gaze. Instead, I turned my back and began to walk away from the garden. At that moment, I felt a small hand grip my wrist tightly. ¡°Stop messing around, Dantalian. Wait.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I did say this chapter would probably get dyed. My dad¡¯s condition is better nowpared to before, but that¡¯s not really saying much. I wanted to get this chapter out sooner, but uh, yeah. I want to me this on work being busy, which it generally has been, but it was mostly due to the release of the new FFXIV expansion. I¡¯m basically getting back into the game again with a renewed passion since I managed to get myrge house. And then Zenless Zone Zero came out about a weekter¡­ I actually really love ZZZ. The theme, the characters, the animations, thebat, everything is just so nice. Wuthering Waves really can¡¯tpare. Altho people can argue WW has betterbat, I feel like that alone isn¡¯t enough to make it a better game. ZZZ is just so fleshed out and solid to y. I could probably go on and on about how much I enjoy ZZZ, but I¡¯ll stop here. Apologies for the dy and I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter! Chapter 421: Fall of Gold (5) Chapter 421: Fall of Gold (5) Barbatos¡¯ hand was as cold as ice. ¡°Dantalian, you¡¯re ying dumb on purpose, aren¡¯t you?¡± I turned only my upper body to look at Barbatos. It seems she had no intention of letting me go as she continued to re at me while holding on to my wrist. Due to our height difference, she had to look up at me. ¡°ying dumb? What for?¡± ¡°We can just absorb the Mountain Faction while we¡¯re at it. That¡¯d be the simplest and most certain solution. This way, you and Zepar won¡¯t have to bow your heads. All our issues will be solved if we use this chance to erase everything that bitch Paimon left behind.¡± Her lion-like golden eyes gleamed with murderous intent. ¡°You said they¡¯re all gathered in the pce, right? Perfect. This is our chance. We can wipe them out all at once.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.Are you out of your mind, Barbatos?¡± I was so taken aback that I let out a hollowugh.¡°All they want is a simple apology. You don¡¯t even have to apologize yourself. If I bow my head, everything ends happily and safely. But no, you can¡¯t bring yourself to bow your head, so you¡¯d rather start a war?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t done anything wrong. Zepar did nothing wrong, you did nothing wrong, and I certainly did nothing fucking wrong either. Dantalian, I fail to see why we should apologize to that filthy dog.¡± It seemed Barbatos waspletely serious. ¡°That¡¯s what politics is.¡± ¡°Politics is a means established among at least seemingly equal individuals. I¡¯m the most powerful Demon Lord, you know?¡± Barbatos¡¯ grip on my wrist tightened. ¡°We no longer need politics.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°There was only one reason why I hadn¡¯t been able to crush the Mountain Faction until now. It was because that bitch Paimon was popr among the demons. People are naturally drawn to women who giggle like some whore. But now, Paimon is dead.¡± Barbatos¡¯ lips twisted into a smile. ¡°And Sitri proved just how foolish she is. She ughtered nearly a hundred thousand demons, innocent people. She forgot that her faction¡¯s lifeline is the demons and instead killed them herself. What an idiot¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Thanks to her, the Mountain Faction has united as one.¡± ¡°A bunch of weaklings banding together isn¡¯t enough to scare even a passing dog.¡± Barbatos was hitting the nail on the head. Thanks to Sitri¡¯s reign of terror, the Mountain Faction hade together as one even in such dire times. But the problem was public opinion. Currently, the demons were mourning Paimon¡¯s death. The atmosphere was one where even tearing apart the archdukes, who assassinated Paimon, limb by limb wouldn¡¯t be enough to satisfy the masses. However, in regard to Sitri¡¯s massacre, which indiscriminately wiped out civilians unrted to the archdukes, the sentiment was¡­¡­naturally, very negative. Bloody Sitri, this was Sitri¡¯s new nickname. However, no one could raise their voice toin. Even if they wanted to, they couldn¡¯t. The most powerful figures in the demon world were killed off so easily. One hundred thousand citizens were buried in just over ten days. In such a situation, there was no demon bold enough to curse Sitri. All of them had already been buried, after all. So, in other words: ¡°Sitri is digging her own grave.¡± If it were a Demon Lord and not just a demon, since fellow Demon Lords are the only ones who can oppose one another, it would be possible to criticize Sitri even in this situation. ¡°She¡¯s already crossed the allowable limit by killing a hundred thousand innocent demons. And now she¡¯s even purged Belial, a fellow faction member. Dantalian, you can¡¯t be this stupid, right? We can¡¯t bow our heads at a time like this. This is an opportunity. A golden opportunity that doesn¡¯te twice¡­¡­!¡± Barbatos was right. If we wanted to eliminate the Mountain Faction, now was the heaven-sent opportunity. Their leader, Paimon, had been assassinated, and their newly risen leader, Sitri, had lost popr support. Meanwhile, the ins Faction was boasting their firm foothold. The ins Faction had both the justification and the capability to bring down the Mountain Faction. Even so, the reason I didn¡¯t point that out was¡­¡­. ¡°Don¡¯t feel guilty about Paimon, Dantalian.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Even if you try to sacrifice yourself for the Mountain Faction now, it would just look ridiculous. What? Did you start feeling bad for Sitri because she went mad? Do you suddenly feel guilty because it feels like it¡¯s all your fault?¡± Barbatosughed mockingly. ¡°Don¡¯t make meugh. Pity and guilt are fodder fit for swine. All they do is fatten the soul with useless weight. If you were going to be this soft, you shouldn¡¯t have killed Paimon in the first ce¡ª.¡± Barbatos yanked my hand, cing it firmly against her chest. ¡°You should have killed me. You should have chosen that bitch Paimon over me. But you didn¡¯t, Dantalian, you idiot. You chose me. And now you have to bear the weight of that choice forever!¡± Barbatos pped my cheek. It wasn¡¯t a hard p. It was just enough to turn my head slightly. It felt more like a blow to the mind than to the body. ¡°Don¡¯t go soft on me. Stay ruthless. This is exactly as you said: it¡¯s just politics. And the essence of politics is the weak being devoured by the strong! Without Paimon, the Mountain Faction has no cause, no purpose! Why should we keep around such a useless, spineless lot!?¡± Barbatos finally let go of my wrist. But her gaze remained fixed on me, binding me more tightly than her grip ever had. It refused to let me go. ¡°I¡¯ve made up my mind. I was still unsure when Zepar came to report what happened to me, but your pathetic disy has solidified my decision. Yeah, it¡¯s time to crush the maggots that are gnawing at the Demon Lord Army.¡± ¡°That¡¯s reckless. Even if the Mountain Factioncks fighters, Sitri is still there.¡± ¡°Ha, your mouth may be twisted, but don¡¯t twist your words. They have no one except that bitch Sitri. Do you really think she can handle Beleth, Zepar, and me all at once? It¡¯d be a miracle if she couldst even ten minutes.¡± I fell silent. It was true. After a brief pause, I spoke again. ¡°¡­¡­The other Demon Lords won¡¯t just stand by while the ins Faction goes unchecked. Look at Marbas. The most sensible and cultured among us is silent about the recent massacre because he believes the Mountain Faction shouldn¡¯t fall right now.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pass on the information that Sitri killed Belial.¡± Barbatos responded immediately. It didn¡¯t feel like she was speaking off the cuff. She must have already thought long and hard about this while staring at this garden pond before I arrived. Barbatos had been nning this all this time. ¡°What that geezer Marbas fears isn¡¯t the copse of our factions. He¡¯s afraid of situations that can¡¯t be controlled. If he bes certain that Sitri has gone mad to the point of being uncontroble, he¡¯ll resolve himself to get rid of her even if there¡¯s a little bloodshed.¡± That was also true. If he finds out that Sitri didn¡¯t stop at massacring civilians and was actively reigning through terror by killing a fellow Demon Lord in her own faction without hesitation, Marbas would seriously consider dissolving the Mountain Faction. ¡°We don¡¯t have to kill all the Mountain Faction Demon Lords. They¡¯re already pathetic weaklings who can¡¯t do anything without a leader to guide them. They¡¯ll all fall in line if we just eliminate Sitri. It doesn¡¯t matter even if they then decide to all join the Neutral Faction.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And, Dantalian, one hundred thousand innocent demons died.¡± Barbatos spoke in a grave tone. ¡°Demon Lords are responsible for demonkind. Sitri, who has forgotten this duty and rampaged out of personal vengeance, no longer deserves to call herself a Demon Lord. For the sake of demonkind, I have to eliminate Sitri.¡± This was probably the decisive reason for Barbatos. She had been waiting quietly because she wasn¡¯t able to seize a golden opportunity. From her perspective, Sitri purging Belial was exactly what she had desperately been hoping for. Eliminating the Mountain Faction and having the ins Faction represent the will of demons had been her long-standing ambition. This was the opportunity to achieve that goal¡­¡­. ¡°Dantalian, I told you in Bruno. You can¡¯t be a brat now. You must be a Demon Lord who carries the consensus of all demons on your back. If there is ever a moment when we must be kings¡ªthis is probably that exact moment.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Eliminate the lunatic who massacred one hundred thousand of her own people. There is no room for personal feelings like guilt here.¡± Barbatos lightly tapped my chest with her fist. ¡°I¡¯ll persuade that geezer Marbas. You go persuade Vassago and Gamigin. It shouldn¡¯t be hard since they¡¯d both dance naked in the middle of a desert if you asked them to. The only hurdle is convincing that old man.¡± Barbatos then began to walk past me. The white-haired Demon Lord slowly trod the stone path in the back garden, which had darkened as clouds obscured the moon. ¡°If you absolutely can¡¯t kill Sitri¡­e and tell me directly. I¡¯ll respect your decision if you tell me that you can¡¯t partake in this. Though I¡¯ll be very disappointed in you. Very much so.¡± The sound of her footsteps grew fainter until it eventually disappeared into the air. I was left alone in the garden. Barbatos had a tendency to force me to choose between two options, and this time was no different. Paimon or me. Sitri or me. She made the vague and unclear situation be distant. However, the responsibility for the choice was mine to bear. I didn¡¯t resent that. I didn¡¯t want to me Barbatos. From the beginning, it was my fault for trying to have everything. I thought I could control and manage the ins Faction, the Mountain Faction, the Neutral Faction, and even the unaffiliated Demon Lords. You could call this immature confidence. Naturally, the factions and individuals who had been at odds for thousands of years weren¡¯t going to shed their long-standing grievances just because of me. Even if it hadn¡¯t taken this form, I would have had to cut off either Barbatos or Paimon eventually. I figured it would happen at least ten yearster. But Paimon and Barbatos judged it to be an immediate issue. That was why Paimon made the bold move with the republican representative meeting, and Barbatos utilized the archdukes in the demon world to assassinate Paimon. Both believed that if it was inevitable, they should strike first. They thought that if they didn¡¯t act first, they would be the ones to suffer. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± In the end, was it me who was clumsy? Did I make a mistake somewhere? Barbatos, whether intentionally or unintentionally, pointed it out very urately. I had to forever bear the responsibility. This was something I felt thoroughly when Paimon¡¯s warm blood soaked my palms¡­¡­ I turned and walked in the direction of Gamigin¡¯s bedroom. I was now going to persuade Gamigin followed by Vassago. It was impossible to stop now. Neither Barbatos, nor I, nor Sitri could stop¡­¡­. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Things really feel like they¡¯re falling apart for Dantalian. I wonder if he¡¯ll actually be able to salvage things somehow. Tho, considering everyone¡¯s personality, that might be difficult. In any case, I was a bit busy with family stuff over the weekend. Went to see my dad again cause he wanted to see me and my mum this time. His voice sounded okay, but he¡¯s struggling a lot more to walk. He¡¯s at least making sure to eat his meals properly, so I guess that¡¯s a good sign. In any case, life stuff happens, FFXIV stuff happens, distractions distractions. I wonder if I¡¯m feeling less motivated cause of how things are progressing right now in DD¡­ Maybe¡­ Welp, I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 422: Fall of Gold (6) Chapter 422: Fall of Gold (6) ¦¯* * *¦¯ On that day, every Demon Lord convened. Though the term ¡°every Demon Lord¡± may sound grandiose, in truth, our numbers were few. Thirty-one. Just thirty-one remained. Once boasting a legion of seventy-two, the Demon Lord Army had all but vanished, leaving less than half standing. Comparatively speaking, it would be an understatement to suggest that they had merely declined. It wasn¡¯t solely a matter of quantity. Even Baal, once revered as the most formidable and strongest among Demon Lords, alongside Agares, had met their end. The quality of the Demon Lord Army itself had dramatically declined¡­¡­. Yet despite these losses, the Demon Lord Army had reached an unprecedented peak since its inception three thousand years ago. The support from the demons for the new Demon Lord Army was at its peak. Implicitly, the humans of the continent had submitted to the majesty of the Demon Lord Army. Once confined to the ck Mountains, the Demon Lord Army¡¯s influence now extended not only across the entire central continent but also westward to the Kingdom of Brittany, southward to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and eastward to the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. In a paradoxical twist, despite its unprecedented weakening, the Demon Lord Army had ushered in an unparalleled golden age. ¡°¡­¡­Is Lord Marbas not here yet¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Her Highness Gamigin said he¡¯ll be here soon¡­¡­.¡±The Demon Lords murmured amongst themselves. Whispers echoed faintly under the dome-shaped roof. At the apex of the roof, a round hole allowed a fragment of moonlight to filter in along with the night air. Besides the cool blue moonlight, there was no artificial illumination to disrupt the serene darkness. ¡°Exactly what is happening today¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Unfortunately, I haven¡¯t really heard anything¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lords were mostly submerged in darkness, with only half of their bodies being visible. Yet, there was no oneining aloud. By nature, Demon Lords had sharp night vision and preferred to converse in the dark rather than the light. In the center of the moonlit building, there was a ss enclosure. A woman with red hairy there as if she were asleep. This was Paimon¡¯s enshrinement chamber, a ce newly constructed in the pce solely for her. Here, the Demon Lords murmured and chatted, ncing at each other under the dimly lit atmosphere. In the murky air, their features were indistinct, with only their moving lips faintly illuminated. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± At that moment, something gripped my right hand. When I turned my head, Barbatos was holding my hand firmly. She murmured quietly. ¡°¡­¡­Don¡¯t turn your head, you dolt. Others might notice.¡± ¡°My mistake.¡± I muttered back quietly, before deliberately turning my gaze away as if nothing had happened. Across from us, eleven Mountain Faction Demon Lords, including Sitri, were gathered. They were whispering among themselves, nodding asionally or casting sidelong nces our way. ¡°You won¡¯t regret choosing me, Dantalian. I¡¯ll make sure of that.¡± ¡°How reassuring.¡± I smiled faintly. Vassago and Gamigin were persuaded by me for different reasons. Vassago deliberated carefully before making his decision. On the other hand, Gamigin jumped for joy as she shouted, ¡®Of course I¡¯ll do it!¡¯. Currently, the two were in different corners of the room, leaning quietly against the walls. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Suddenly, Vassago and I locked eyes. Once he noticed that I was holding hands with Barbatos, his face contorted into a scowl as if he had witnessed something he shouldn¡¯t have. He quickly turned his head away. ¡°Heh.¡± I let out a soft chuckle as Vassago¡¯s thoughts practically felt palpable to me. It was verified once more that I was perfect at this. Whether it was because I had innate talent or because being abandoned alone in an absurd world awakened something within me, I¡¯m not exactly sure. What I do know is that my political acumen grew increasingly sharp. Rather than dulling with time, my mind became as keen and vivid as a knife stained with fresh blood. The expressions and nces of other people spoke directly to me. I could confidently say that I knew what they feared and how to manipte those fears to steer the atmosphere in the direction I desired. However, there was a downside to this. The myriad nces and gestures I had stored in my mind sometimes reyed themselves before my eyes involuntarily. This was a secret I had told no one. Even Laura didn¡¯t know. Lapis, whom I share all my secrets with, was unaware. Daisy, who prided herself on understanding everything about me, obviously knew nothing of this either. ¨C You bastard. A voice muttered in the voice. It was an auditory hallucination. Dark ces like this chamber were particrly dangerous. In brighter locations, hallucinations and illusions rarely urred. However, they often appeared when my field of vision extended into the distance. In other words, when I could see a far distance away from me. ¨C Are you feeling all right? ¨C You¡¯re thest one. ¨C Lie¡­¡­why would you¡­¡­? This is why I dislike ces like this. Voices would whisper directly into my ear without any context, repeating roughly every twenty to thirty seconds. As always when I heard these hallucinations, I pulled out a cigarette from my pocket and ced it in my mouth. ¡°Hoo.¡± Through the faintly rising smoke, a scene even more indistinct than the hallucinations came into view. It didn¡¯t feel like I was ¡°seeing¡± anything. It felt more like it was ¡°being shown¡± to me. As if my brain had short-circuited and was now showing me its own little y. It was a rather humorous scene. People gathered in dark corners a short distance from the ss case speaking softly,ughing, and chatting. Theirughter blended together with the sparkling dust in the air. The space was half-filled with the moonlight seeping through the roof, and the other half was immersed in shadows. It was fine up to this point. But it was different when their faces had been swapped with the likes of Riff, Hawk, Jack, and others. Here we go with the madness again. It was really nothing. One time, I pretended to be crazy and tried talking to ¡®them¡¯. Of course, there was no response. Even when I strained my ears to listen, as I mentioned earlier, there was no context to their chatter. Sometimes, a shadow with Jack¡¯s face would speak in Elizabeth¡¯s voice. It was pure nonsense. In other words, they didn¡¯t exist. They weren¡¯t real or tangible. They were like the deep footprints I had left on the path I walked¡ªI had to take each step one at a time, but simr to how I could see all the footprints I left all at once by turning around, these shadows were also visible. Sometimes, it seemed as if they were alive, as if life was their exclusive privilege. Quite literally a delusion. I was alive. ¡°¡­¡­Dantalian?¡± See? Even now, I could feel the soft touch of Barbatos¡¯ skin against my right hand. I smiled faintly. ¡°I¡¯m just feeling anxious.¡± ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s rare to hear you admit something like that.¡± ¡°Even I want to pretend to be a bit vulnerable on days like this.¡± Barbatos gripped my hand more firmly. ¡°Try pretending to be vulnerable more often. Then maybe your repulsive face might seem somewhat cute. Who knows? I might even be more amodating in bed.¡± ¡°Ehem, ehem¡­¡­.¡± From behind, Brother Zepar cleared his throat. It was his way of telling us to maintain some decorum. Barbatos pouted in displeasure, and I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle quietly. It was around that time that a group of Neutral Faction Demon Lords entered the chamber. Leading the way was Marbas, nked by five Neutral Faction Demon Lords. Marbas first locked eyes with Barbatos, then with me, before settling at the entrance of the chamber. Eleven from the Mountain Faction. Nine from the ins Faction. Six from the Neutral Faction. Five unaffiliated. Thus, all thirty-one Demon Lords had gathered. ¡°This is quite an inappropriate venue for hosting Walpurgis Night.¡± Marbas spoke up. ¡°I will not stand by if chaos erupts in front of the deceased. Although anti-magic has already been cast upon the pce, I have personally taken special care to ce additional restrictions here. I sincerely urge myrades gathered here today to be even more mindful of their words and actions than usual.¡± The Demon Lords present didn¡¯t respond vocally, but the atmosphere was generally one of agreement. Marbas nodded once. ¡°Then, as the chair, I hereby dere this Walpurgis Night officially convened. Normally, it is custom for Count Ptine Dantalian to preside¡­¡­.¡± Marbas looked at me. ¡°However, given the sensitive nature of tonight¡¯s agenda, I will act as the chair for this evening. This decision has been unanimously approved by the six voting Demon Lords beforehand. Therefore, I am granted the rights to conduct the meeting, to allow and halt discussions, to put issues to a vote, and to adjourn or dissolve the meeting. Do the five electors consent to entrusting all such authority to me?¡± ¡°I agree.¡± ¡°I consent.¡± Barbatos, Sitri, Gamigin, Zepar, and Vassago answered in sequence. Marbas nodded slightly. ¡°Very well. Then, let us begin with Sitri, who proposed this Walpurgis Night.¡± ¡°My demand.¡± Sitri stepped forward. ¡°No, the demand of our Mountain Faction is simple. As some of you may already know, the day before yesterday, we executed Demon Lord Belial.¡± ¡°It is strictly forbidden for a Demon Lord to punish another Demon Lord privately.¡± Marbas reprimanded sternly. ¡°If any Demon Lord is in the wrong, it must be brought as an agenda item to Walpurgis Night, where it can be discussed in detail whether to punish that Demon Lord and, if so, how. Sitri, why did you skip the proper process and execute Belial?¡± ¡°Yup, I admit what I did was wrong.¡± Sitri spoke with an expressionless face. ¡°But¡ªwhat if I say I don¡¯t trust Walpurgis Night itself?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying there was someone who intentionally instigated Belial to betray our faction.¡± The Demon Lords murmured among themselves. Marbas raised an eyebrow and looked around, silencing them. He then returned his gaze to Sitri. ¡°Who is it, Sitri? Let me preface this by saying that you cannot use someone based on mere suspicion. I trust you are not intending to shift the me for Belial¡¯s death onto another without evidence.¡± ¡°Of course, we have more than just suspicions; we have proper evidence and witnesses.¡± Sitri replied calmly. ¡°But we aren¡¯t looking to find the culprit and punish them excessively.¡± ¡°Then?¡± ¡°We only want a ¡®sincere¡¯ apology.¡± Sitri red in our direction¡ªwhere the ins Faction Demon Lords were standing. ¡°We want the other party to step forward and bow their head before we point fingers. To us, and to Big Sis Paimon, who lies here.¡± That¡¯s why they suggested holding the meeting in Paimon¡¯s resting ce. ¡°The one who made Belial betray our faction and secretly handed over our information should take the initiative and apologize. Promise that this will never happen again. That¡¯s all we want. I think this is a very mild request.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± A silence fell over the chamber. No one dared to make a sound. Marbas, too, seemed content to wait in silence. This silence persisted for about a minute. ¡°Ah, I get it, Sitri.¡± Footsteps echoed. ¡°I¡¯ll give that apology.¡± The Demon Lord with white hair. The ruler of the ins Faction¡ªBarbatos took a step towards the ss casket. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯m sincerely sorry for the dy. Work is actually being a bitch right now. One of our main EN trantors was sent to China to attend some conference and I¡¯m the only one who can handle her work. It doesn¡¯t help that I was given 3 new game projects this month and I¡¯ve been desperately trying to deal with them as well. It¡¯s actually been really stressful at work and I couldn¡¯t make the time to trante regrly. You guys get the point. For the most part, it looks like things will start loosening up in August, but I can only pray. I¡¯ll stop my rant here¡­ see you guys in hopefully better conditions¡­ Chapter 423: Fall of Gold (7) Chapter 423: Fall of Gold (7) ¡°¡­¡­Barbatos, you¡¯re going to apologize?¡± Sitri¡¯s tone was one of surprise. Her original intention was to settle the matter with Zepar. She never expected the rival faction¡¯s leader to step forward. ¡°I represent the ins Faction. I have no intention of shifting the me to someone else or cowardly hiding. If an apology is to be made, it should rightlye from my lips.¡± ¡°Do you admit to the usation Sitri has raised?¡± Marbas furrowed his brows. ¡°Are you acknowledging that you incited internal strife within the Mountain Faction and persuaded Belial?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­.?¡± Barbatos¡¯ resolute statement caused an uproar among the gathering. The faces of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords, including Sitri, twisted in displeasure. Some had an air of ¡®as expected¡¯. This time, Marbas did not seem intent on quelling the disturbance, and he took the momentum to question further.¡°You im you will apologize, yet you deny the usation. What is the meaning of this, Barbatos?¡± ¡°Here¡¯s what it is. I¡¯ll admit to having wronged the Mountain Faction. I¡¯ll acknowledge that as much as you want. But I did notmit the misdeed that Sitri is using me of.¡± Barbatos shrugged. It was a yful gesture that only served to provoke the Mountain Faction Demon Lords. Sitri muttered under her breath. ¡°I asked for an apology, not to hear your bullshit.¡± ¡°Calm down, Sitri. Your beloved big sister is watching over us. Raising your voice in a ce like this is not respectful to the deceased¡­¡­. Now is it?¡± Barbatos stroked the surface of Paimon¡¯s ss casket with her left hand. It was a clear provocation. The Demon Lords from both the Mountain and ins Faction drew their weapons almost simultaneously. Even though they had surrendered their weapons upon entering the chamber, Demon Lords were capable of summoning their armaments without even drawing a magic circle. In the blink of an eye, Sitri held her whip sword in her hand, while Brother Beleth gripped his axe. ¡°Remove your filthy hand this instant.¡± A palpable killing intent emanated from Sitri. In response, Barbatos, while maintaining her yful demeanor, held up her palm in a calming gesture. ¡°When someone speaks, it¡¯s only proper to listen to the end. Why are you so hasty to draw your des? Are you saying I don¡¯t even have the right to touch the casket? If you truly want to see blood here, just say so.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Do you see this, Marbas? The new leader of the Mountain Faction seems rather hot-headed. Even Paimon wouldn¡¯t have drawn her weapon over such a provocation.¡± The atmosphere in the chamber grew increasingly tense. It was as if the air itself was daring someone to speak one more word. The Demon Lords of each faction were now poised against one another, ready to strike. Only the five unaffiliated Demon Lords¡ªVassago, Gamigin, Aamon, and the others¡ªremained on the sideline as they watched the impending chaos with keen interest. ¡°¡­¡­I am going to fall ill due to each of you showing your worst.¡± Marbas sighed. It was a faint sigh, barely audible, but to my ears, it was almost as if the sky was copsing. Perhaps it was time for the alchemists of the demon world to invent a stomach remedy specifically for Marbas. ¡°I am fed up with you all making a mess of things. Fight to your heart¡¯s content. However, be prepared. The faction that decides to attack first will face the full might of the Neutral Faction.¡± As soon as Marbas made his deration, the Neutral Faction Demon Lords summoned their weapons. If the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction shed, the ins Faction would almost certainly emerge victorious. However, if the Neutral Faction joined forces with the Mountain Faction, the oue would be uncertain. This created a delicate bnce where neither side could act rashly. Marbas must feel like cursing the world. After all, whenever an explosive threat was removed, the Demon Lords were always ready to overpower the opposing faction with brute force. One could ept this as the way of the world, but for Marbas, who prioritized politicalpromise above all else, it was no wonder he had stomach problems¡­¡­. ¡°Well, we never had any intention of inciting a bloodbath anyway.¡± Barbatos shook her head. ¡°Here¡¯s the deal. Neither I nor anyone in the ins Faction ever devised or executed a n to deliberately cause strife within the Mountain Faction. However, we also had no intention of stopping anyone who came to us willingly.¡± ¡°¡­¡­So you¡¯re saying that Belial acted entirely on his own?¡± ¡°Yup, that¡¯s the truth.¡± Barbatos smirked, lifting the corners of her mouth. ¡°We had no intention of meddling in your affairs. Belial simply volunteered to switch sides. ¡®Normally¡¯, there¡¯s no reason we should apologize to you all¡­¡­but well.¡± Barbatos tilted her head slightly, ncing back at the ins Faction Demon Lords behind her. It was as if she were seeking their agreement with a casual ¡®right?¡¯ Of course, there wasn¡¯t an ounce of sincerity in her behavior. The ins Faction Demon Lords chuckled quietly as if they¡¯d heard a joke. ¡°I might have been a bit careless. I mean, it was just one lower-ranked Demon Lord deciding to leave. I didn¡¯t expect you to react like rabid monkeys over it. I didn¡¯t realize the Mountain Faction¡¯s atmosphere was that bad. Sorry, my bad.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I admit, I was a bit inconsiderate. I should¡¯ve been more mindful of what kind of situation a weaker faction would be going through and acted ordingly, but I wasn¡¯t. Truly, I apologize for that. You said I should bow to Paimon, right? It¡¯s an unmoving corpse anyway, so sure, I¡¯ll bow all you want.¡± Barbatos spread her arms wide like a lead actor on a theatrical stage and bowed towards the ss casket. However, no matter how one looked at it, it wasn¡¯t a sincere apology. As the atmosphere in the cell grew increasingly cold, Barbatos lifted her head and grinned. ¡°But, Sitri. I¡¯m genuinely curious and asking out of sheer curiosity.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better for a worthless organization that can¡¯t even properly manage a small fry to just perish? I feel like that¡¯d be best for the sake of the world and in respect for the deceased.¡± Sitri swung her whip sword. The moment the whip sword, with its curving de, was about to strike Barbatos¡¯ neck, Brother Beleth had already positioned himself to intercept the attack. He brought the center of the whip sword down with a chopping motion as if splitting firewood. The floor of the chamber shook with a thud. The attack was both executed and blocked in an instant. ¡°¡ª.¡± Brother Beleth sneered at Sitri. Perhaps he was already ready to battle as Brother Beleth¡¯s tan muscles rippled as if they were alive. In contrast, Sitri stared at him with an indifferent and cold expression. ¡°You¡¯ve done it now.¡± Barbatos spoke, partially obscured by Brother Beleth. ¡°You attacked me first.¡± Barbatos raised her right hand. ck mana swirled and emanated from her hand. Soon after, Barbatos¡¯ symbolic scythe which could be considered her other half was summoned. The scythe that severs not only bodies but also souls. ¡°What will you do now, old man? They attacked me first.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If you bring up a weak argument about politicalpromise or anything like that, you might just disappoint me a little.¡± Marbas covered his forehead with his palm. It was apparent that he had a headache. With his expression hidden, Marbas muttered in a low voice. ¡°¡­¡­Everyone, cooperate with the ins Faction.¡± The Neutral Faction Demon Lords turned their des all at once. Thus, 9 ins Faction members and 6 Neutral Faction members, totaling 15 Demon Lords,pletely surrounded the Mountain Faction. The Mountain Faction had 11 members, so they weren¡¯t significantly outnumbered, but the issuey in quality rather than quantity. The ins Faction had Barbatos, Beleth, and Zepar. The Demon Lords of the Neutral Faction were seasoned veterans of war. This situation was too much for the generally moderate Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You insolent bastards¡­¡­!¡± The Mountain Faction Demon Lords retreated a step. They tried to narrow the space to make it so that their enemy would have to fight a lot of them at once if they tried to attack. However, they were already losing momentum. Some of them instinctively nced toward the entrance of the chamber. They probably wanted to secure an escape route if things went south. ¡°Wow, everyone seems eager to fight.¡± Unfortunately, the entrance was blocked by three Demon Lords: Vassago, Gamigin, and Aamon. Although they weren¡¯t holding weapons, no one here was foolish enough to misunderstand the significance of them blocking the exit in this situation. As if to prove it, Gamigin watched the center of the chamber with eyes full of keen interest. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The ins Faction Demon Lords took a step forward. In response, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords took a step back. The silence was palpable. The ins Faction Demon Lords did not rush. Like a pride of lionesses slowly encircling their prey, they tightened the noose around their opponents. At most, they took one step per minute. In the confined space of the chamber, however, even a single step was crucial. After five minutes, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords werepletely surrounded by the ins Faction Demon Lords. Behind them stood the Neutral Faction Demon Lords, and further back, the unaffiliated Demon Lords held their ground. This situation epitomized the term ¡°no room to escape¡±. ¡°I won¡¯t be cliche and tell you to surrender.¡± Barbatos smiled as she spoke. ¡°But, Sitri, this goes especially to you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You were sad because Paimon died? Were you afraid that if the Mountain Faction fell apart, all traces of Paimon left in this world would also disappear? Is that why you massacred a hundred thousand innocent denizens of the demon world? Did you think Paimon¡¯s restless spirit would be soothed and find peace that way?¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression instantly turned cold. The yful smile she had worn vanishedpletely. ¡°Don¡¯t make meugh, you bitch.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Let me tell you the truth. If I had to name the one Demon Lord who would have despaired the most over your massacre, it would be Paimon, whom you loved and loved again. You not only abandoned your duty as a Demon Lord, but you also betrayed the heart of the woman you imed to have devoted your entire being to.¡± Barbatos shouted. ¡°Marbas! I¡¯m submitting a new agenda right here and now! The crime of massacring a hundred thousand innocent citizens! The crime of uwfully killing Demon Lord Belial, who hadmitted no wrongdoing! For these two crimes, I demand that the criminal Sitri be punished in the name of the Demon Lord Army!¡± ¡°¡­¡­The agenda is epted. Demon Lord Sitri, who has been used, and Barbatos, who has made the usation, as well as myself as the chair, will temporarily be stripped of our elector status. The remaining three electors will cast their votes.¡± Marbas looked around. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for me to refuse, so I agree~.¡± ¡°Of course, I agree.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Hmph. I also agree.¡± Gamigin, Brother Zepar, and Vassago approved. Marbas sighed. ¡°Since all three with voting rights agreed, the punishment of Demon Lord Sitri is unanimously approved.¡± ¡°That is absurd!¡± ¡°Are you out of your minds!?¡± As soon as Marbas finished speaking, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords shouted in anger. However, with their swords already poised against the ins Faction right in front of them, they couldn¡¯t afford to look away. Barbatos sneered. ¡°This is yourst chance, folks. You can still switch sides with honor.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯m generous. If anyone wants to join in the punishment of that ughterer Sitri, speak up now. I¡¯ll give you exactly thirty seconds.¡± The swords held by the Mountain Faction Demon Lords wavered unsteadily. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not really much to say, since the situation is the same as before. Just need to survive the next few days and my schedule should lighten up for a bit! Pray for me. Although I admit that I haven¡¯t been as motivated to trante this past month. I wonder if it¡¯s the summer heat¡­ Or maybe it¡¯s the fact that I¡¯ve basically been doing this non-stop for the past 6-7 years now? Oh wow, it¡¯s been so long¡­ In any case, I¡¯ll see you guys on the other side when I can actually breathe. Chapter 424: Fall of Gold (8) Chapter 424: Fall of Gold (8) Thirty seconds. It was too short a time for Demon Lords who had dedicated most of their lives to the Mountain Faction to decide whether to betray their faction. But Barbatos knew that giving them less time was more effective in such situations. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords were visibly shaken. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± About ten seconds passed. An elderly man lowered his weapon and trudged over to the ins Faction. The Mountain Faction Demon Lords shouted in shock. ¡°Morax!¡± ¡°Are you nning to betray our faction!?¡± It was the former Rank 21 Demon Lord, Morax. With a face wrinkled with age, he turned to look at hisrades, or rather, those who were once hisrades. ¡°I have not betrayed the faction. It is Lady Sitri who has betrayed the Mountain Faction. Her Highness Paimon cared about the well-being of the demon world¡¯s citizens more than anyone and thought of the future of demonkind above all. Lady Sitri has betrayed those ideals of Her Highness Paimon. I am tired of this.¡± Morax let out a sigh. The old gentleman¡¯s beard trembled slightly.¡°Our great ideals have disappeared, and all that remains is a political fight based on faction logic¡­¡­ So, even if we rebuild the Mountain Faction under Lady Sitri¡¯s leadership, what would be left? An ideal for demonkind? What right do we have to call ourselves Demon Lords after massacring a hundred thousand demons?¡± Morax looked intently at Sitri. The old man¡¯s eyes, hidden within deep wrinkles, glowed with hostility. ¡°It was none other than myself who first advised Belial to change factions.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­!?¡± ¡°I wished to see how Lady Sitri would handle a defector.¡± Morax and Sitri continued to quietly re at each other as the Mountain Faction Demon Lords buzzed in shock. Morax then opened his heavy lips to speak. ¡°You can say that I carried out a test of sorts. Although, at that point, it would have been eptable to defect from the faction since Lady Sitri had alreadymitted the crime of massacring countless citizens, I still wished to test once more whether she could truly follow in Her Highness Paimon¡¯s footsteps¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Everyone here already knows the result. Lady Sitri did not even give Belial a chance to publicly dissent. The immediate execution was not only uwful but also barbaric. I havee to realize that Demon Lord Sitri is someone who only knows how to resolve issues through blood¡­¡­!¡± Morax spoke solemnly as if he were squeezing out every word from his lungs. Sitri did not respond. Her violet eyes remained unwaveringly clear ever since she stepped foot into the chamber. She gazed at the other party with utterly clear eyes. I sensed a hint of mncholy in that gaze. Ahh. Here, I alone¡­¡­. I alone understood what Sitri was saying, even though she didn¡¯t speak a word. ¨C If Big Sis Paimon meant so much to you, why didn¡¯t you try to save her before? Sitri remained silent, but I could read a thousand words and a hundred sentences from her gaze. No, to be precise, it wasn¡¯t that. Sitri was speaking through her gaze. It¡¯s just that no one else could understand except me. ¨C When Big Sis Paimon almost died in the Crescent Alliance War, when her mana was depleted and she was on the brink of death and the right to decide her fate was passed to Dantalian¡ªwhy didn¡¯t anyone run to Dantalian and plead desperately to spare her? ¨C Why? ¨C Why was it only me, from our faction known for having the most members among all factions, who went to Dantalian¡¯s quarters and begged him to spare Big Sis? ¨C Hypocrites. The tip of Sitri¡¯s sword trembled ever so slightly. While she remained silent, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords slowly began to move. The burden must¡¯ve seemed lighter since Morax had already stepped forward. One by one, they gradually left the formation. Even then, Sitri stood tall, holding her sword aloft with unwavering steadiness. ¨C You¡¯re all hypocrites. ¨C You obey the faction when it benefits you. You praise Big Sis Paimon¡¯s stance, adorning your words with lofty ideals and principles. But the moment the situation turns against you, you pretend nothing happened. ¨C You deliberately did nothing when Big Sis Paimon was about to be punished. You feared that being seen as her close ally would make you the next target. ¨C Big Sis¡­¡­ ¨C My Big Sis was worth so much more¡­¡­so much more than any of you. ¨C It would have been better if all of you had died and Big Sis had lived. ¨C The world would have been such a better ce¡­¡­! Over five minutes had passed. Although the promised thirty seconds had long since psed, Barbatos pretended to not notice and extended the grace period. As time went by, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords gradually left Sitri¡¯s side. Sitri neither spoke to them nor gave them a simple nce. As a result, The Demon Lords who remained by Sitri¡¯s side were¡ªtwo. Only two. Out of ten, a staggering eight had left. Eighty percent. An overwhelming majority. With such an overwhelming ratio, the Mountain Faction Demon Lords betrayed their faction, to which they had been indebted for anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years. ¡°Kyahaha.¡± Barbatos burst out intoughter. It sounded like she was so pleased that she couldn¡¯t hold back herughter. ¡°Do you see this,rades? This is the essence. The essence of the ideals and beliefs that that bitch Paimon so proudly proimed. The true face of the faction where everyone participates equally and harmoniously is this pathetic!¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression twisted into a smile, distorted with malevolence. ¡°The excuse that the Mountain Faction no longer holds the same ideals as before! The excuse that you can betray without guilt, no, you can im that betraying is not even a betrayal now¡­¡­! And the fear of an imminent threat! The fear that if you don¡¯t betray your faction now, you might die, leaving you no choice but to betray!¡± Barbatos let out a genuineugh as she showed her teeth. ¡°Just bybining these two things, these swine became willing to break a thousand-year oath! This is the Mountain Faction! The faction that that bitch Paimon heralded as the future of the demon world is nothing but a vile, wretched pigsty!¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± The atmosphere changed dramatically. The eight Demon Lords who had switched allegiance hastily looked around, shocked by Barbatos¡¯ outburst. Before they could protest, Barbatosughed heartily and shouted. ¡°Men¡ªcut off the heads of these ignorant, squealing pigs!¡± And then, blood sttered everywhere. Brother Beleth, Brother Zepar, and all the Demon Lords of the ins Faction simultaneously swung their weapons. The eight traitors, who had sensed something ominous and were already on guard, along with Sitri and thest two remaining Mountain Faction Demon Lords, also brandished their weapons. In an instant, the chamber fell into chaos. ¡°Aargh! My leg! My leg!¡± ¡°Th-This is not what we agreed on! Barbatos, Your Highness! Did you not promise to guarantee our positions if we defected!?¡± Morax screamed. I see. I had wondered why the cautious old man had taken such a bold move to be the first to betray. So Barbatos had schemed this beforehand¡­¡­. She really is as thorough as ever. Since I had no talent for fighting, I had already taken a step back and was being protected by the Neutral Faction Demon Lords. They, along with the unaffiliated Demon Lords, were prepared to intervene if necessary, but they didn¡¯t actually join the fight. It was only natural. This was a duel between the Mountain Faction and the ins Faction¡­¡­. ¡°Hm? I don¡¯t know what kind of nonsense you¡¯re babbling about.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡­!¡± Morax, having been taken by surprise early on, was now on his knees. As far as I knew, Morax was a mage. In this ce, where a strong anti-magic spell had been cast, it would be extremely difficult for him to disy his full power. On the other hand, while Barbatos may be a necromancer, she used to be a warrior. He was no match for her. Clutching his bleeding arm, Morax shouted. ¡°H-How could you feign ignorance now!? Your Highness, this goes against the promise you made us!¡± ¡°I told you, I don¡¯t know what nonsense you¡¯re babbling about.¡± Barbatos grinned slyly and swung her scythe. ¡°To someone like you, I¡¯m not ¡®Your Highness¡¯. You damn retard.¡± Her scythe precisely cut through the center of Morax¡¯s neck. Morax tried to resist by extending his right arm, but even that raised arm was severed. It was a terrifyingly swift decapitation. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Morax¡¯s head remained attached to his body for a brief moment. However, as one or two seconds passed, his head tilted and then rolled off onto the floor. The old man¡¯s face was contorted with humiliation and pain. ¡°How brutal.¡± Marbas murmured beside me. ¡°This is horrendously brutal.¡± ¡°That is a surprise, Sebastokrator. Haven¡¯t you witnessed far more horrifying scenes than this?¡± ¡°In terms of outward horror, perhaps. But what I see unfolding before me now is not just one killing another. It is our¡­¡­the downfall of our Demon Lord Army.¡± Is that what this looks like to him? I silently watched the bloody spectacle. It was understandable that Marbas couldn¡¯t help but see it that way. The battle ended in twenty minutes. Naturally, the winners were the ins Faction. The fight itself had already been in the ins Faction¡¯s favor. Adding to that, the Mountain Faction had also split into defectors and loyalists. Perhaps they deserve praise forsting twenty minutes under the circumstances. It was mainly thanks to Sitri¡¯s fierce resistance. Despite cooperation from Brother Beleth and Brother Zepar, Sitri inflicted significant injuries on both. She dominated the battlefield with the ferocity of a berserker. However, it was regrettable. While the two had Sitri pinned down, Barbatos led the rest of the ins Faction to efficiently clean up the remnants. The ins Faction Demon Lords sustained minor injuries themselves, but that was all. After clearing out the remnants, Barbatos joined the two and easily subdued Sitri. Barbatos tactically achieved an overwhelming victory¡­¡­. ¡°You cause quite a hassle, you stubborn bitch.¡± Barbatos spat. Her red salivanded on Sitri¡¯s face as shey copsed on the ground. Sitri was barely breathing, missing one arm and a leg, her entire body was covered in blood. ¡°Zepar, how could you be so pathetic? How could you end up like that trying to deal with a single woman?¡± ¡°I apologize, Your Excellency.¡± Brother Zepar was rtively okay, having lost only one arm. This meant that he could at least stand on both legs, which, from Barbatos¡¯ perspective, meant he wasn¡¯t in critical condition, so she casually dismissed Zepar¡¯s situation. ¡°Damage report. Go.¡± ¡°We killed eight enemies and captured three. One of ours died, and three are seriously injured.¡± ¡°Whaat? Three seriously injured? Zepar, surely you didn¡¯t ssify yourself as seriously injured, right? If you had lost a leg like Beleth, that would be another story. Why are you trying to act all weak after losing only a single arm?¡± ¡°¡­¡­My apologies. There are two seriously injured.¡± Barbatos let out a snort. Brother Zepar¡¯s report had a paradoxical part to it. Eight enemies were killed and three were captured. The eight here referred to the Demon Lords that betrayed the Mountain Faction. Despite not being tipped off by Barbatos beforehand, the ins Faction Demon Lords ruthlessly struck down the traitors but captured the ones who remained loyal to their faction. This was actually the reason the ins Faction suffered more losses than expected. It was already difficult enough to kill a rampaging Sitri, but capturing her alive instead? That was insane. Only the warriors who thought losing limbs was no big deal¡ªlike the ins Faction Demon Lords¡ªwould engage in such an act. ¡°Now then, new head of the illustrious and noble Mountain Faction.¡± Barbatos grabbed Sitri by the hair. Sitri was dragged over helplessly, unable to even wriggle. The presiding chair tonight was Marbas, hence Barbatos threw Sitri at Marbas¡¯ feet. Sitriy helplessly on the floor, motionless like a corpse. No, she was essentially a breathing corpse. ¡°Hoo.¡± The calm after the storm set in. Barbatos stretched leisurely, feeling a sense of aplishment. The ins Faction Demon Lords leaned on their weapons as they sat on the ground. Everyone, without exception, was panting heavily as they cooled their heated bodies. At that moment, a faint murmur spread across the floor of the chamber. ¡°¡­¡­gize¡­¡­.¡± The Demon Lords turned their gazes. Therey Sitri. Barbatos contorted her expression as she frowned. ¡°Haah? What did you say?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Ap¡­¡­ologize¡­¡­.¡± Something flowed onto the floor. It wasn¡¯t blood. It was more transparent, more translucent than that. ¡ªFor the first time today, Sitri broke her cold expression and shed tears. She was unable to even lift her head because of her missing limbs. This could potentially be her final words and her voice sounded like it was being drowned in blood. Despite this, Sitri gasped for breath as she struggled to pronounce each word clearly, slowly letting out the words that had been piled up inside of her. She desperately regurgitated something redder than blood. ¡°To Big Sis Paimon¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Apologize¡­¡­to¡­¡­Big Sis¡­¡­.¡± Sitri was wailing in such a way. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I should probably apologize profusely because of how dyed this chapter was. Work¡­ has just not improved. Everything feels so packed and I¡¯m always exhausted by the end of work that I haven¡¯t been motivated to trante. Like, I sincerely want to, but the drive has beencking because of how stressed I¡¯ve been cause of work. I sincerely apologize to everyone who¡¯s been waiting for these chapters. I¡¯ll try to whip myself back into shape¡­but first, somehow fix my work schedule¡­ Chapter 425: Fall of Gold (9) Chapter 425: Fall of Gold (9) ¡°Hah? Is bullshit stilling out of this idiot¡¯s mouth?¡± Barbatos lifted her right foot and kicked Sitri in the abdomen. Sitri groaned, expelling not just a sound but also a clot of coagted blood. Barbatos paid no mind and kicked her again. ¡°Apologize? To Paimon? Why should I do that?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Apologize¡­¡­to her¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I¡¯m speechless. Are you saying that the tens of thousands of innocent people you ughtered don¡¯t count as lives, but that bitch Paimon does? You must think you¡¯re some kind of tragic heroine. You damn mutt.¡± Barbatos looked down at Sitri coldly. ¡°Being born a ruler, treated as a ruler, and living as a ruler are already unparalleled luxuries and extravagances. The fuckers who have never gone hungry for even a day, or dug holes for even an hour often talk about fictional tragedies.¡± Barbatos seemed to grow tired of striking Sitri¡¯s abdomen as she redirected her attention. She pressed her foot firmly onto the stump where Sitri¡¯s right arm had been severed. Barbatos¡¯ toes were dyed red as blood spurted out. ¡°Aaargh! Aaaaargh¡­¡­!¡±Sitri writhed in agony. Barbatos moved almost mechanically as she impassively tortured Sitri. ¡°Did you know? Whenever I see people like you who curse the world, it feels like worms are crawling under my skin. You should know your ce. After living as a ruler for over a thousand years, what have you done for the people of the demon world? Huh? All you did was happily swing your dick around. Have you done anything useful?¡± ¡°Sis¡­¡­ Sis¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Useless trash.¡± Barbatos lifted her right foot. The torture was over. Sitri, like a broken record, kept asking for an apology. Tears streamed down her face continuously. ¡°Sheesh, now my mood is ruined. If you hadn¡¯t been born a Demon Lord, you¡¯d probably be a whore somewhere in Utp. It¡¯s because of kids like you that the good demons have to suffer.¡± Barbatos slung her scythe over her shoulder and took a deep sigh. She looked around at the ins Faction Demon Lords resting around her and shouted sharply. ¡°Was killing a few beggars enough to make you all fall on your asses? Get up, you brats!¡± Brother Beleth quietly raised his hand. ¡°What about me, Your Excellency? My legs got messed up.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Spend the rest of your life paddling or something.¡± The ins Faction Demon Lords chuckled softly. Shortly after, they began to get up one by one while letting out strained groans. Brother Beleth, with both his legs gone, had to rely on hisrades for support. Due to hisrge build, he required the assistance of two people to keep him up. ¡°Go support them.¡± Marbas ordered. Once he did, the Neutral Faction Demon Lords responded with an ¡°Understood¡± as they dispersed. Barbatos frowned. She was the type of person to be reluctant to ept kindness from others. ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to go out of your way to help. These guys should take care of their own bodies.¡± ¡°Only three may be severely injured, but do you not have many who have suffered minor injuries? There is nothing wrong with epting our goodwill.¡± ¡°Well, if you insist on going through the trouble¡­¡­. I won¡¯t consider this a debt. All right, cast preservation spells on the deceased and lock up those who survived.¡± Barbatos snorted. At that moment,ughter echoed from somewhere. Marbas, Barbatos, and I turned our heads to see where the sound wasing from. On the opposite side of the room, Gamigin was gripping her stomach with both hands andughing. ¡°Is that retard¡¯s chronic condition acting up again?¡± Barbatos clicked her tongue. She didn¡¯t show it, but she wasn¡¯t in a good mood since one of the ins Faction Demon Lords had died. Torturing Sitri had also been a way for her to vent her frustration. In such a situation, Gamigin¡¯sughter naturally made her frown, and the same went for Marbas and me. ¡°Why are youughing now, Gamigin?¡± ¡°My bad¡ªsorry, Marbas. Ahahaha, sorry. But it¡¯s just too funny.¡± Gamigin brushed her blonde hair back with the back of her hand and pointed at the center of the room. ¡°Not long ago, we were all gathered at the pce gates, bickering over who would sleep with Dantalian first. Now, one of us is lying over there.¡± Gamigin then pointed at Sitri, who was sprawled in a pool of blood. ¡°And another is over there, swimming around after losing an arm and a leg.¡± Gamigin then looked at Barbatos and smiled broadly. ¡°Ahaha. No, it¡¯s just¡­¡­isn¡¯t this such a joke that you can¡¯t help butugh?¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡­? Hey, you wire-brained idiot. If you want to pick a fight with me, at least speak in a way people can understand. I can feel my intelligence leaking out every time you open your mouth.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry. Sorry, Barbatos. I just saw too many amusing scenes today.¡± ¡°Gamigin.¡± At that moment, Vassago, who had been silent all this time, muttered. ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°Ah, sorry. I¡¯m really sorry. I guess it¡¯s inappropriate to be happy at a time like this, huh? Fufu. It¡¯s just that Paimon¡¯s chamber bing a mass grave is fascinating.¡± ¡°I said shut up.¡± Finally, Gamigin stopped talking. However, the wide grin on her face remained. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos suddenly turned her head to look at me. Since I was looking at Vassago¡¯s face at that moment, I was a secondte to return her gaze. Her golden eyes stared piercingly at me. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Around us, the ins Faction Demon Lords were slowly, very slowly, moving with the help of the Neutral Faction Demon Lords. Or maybe it felt slow because we were facing each other. ¡°Thanks for the help. I¡¯ll treat youter.¡± ¡°Geez, I ended up struggling because that old guy was stronger than expected.¡± The grumbling of the wounded echoed around. The sound bounced off the walls of the chamber, creating a somewhat dull echo. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos slowly turned her head. This time, she looked at Marbas. Marbas was already prepared to meet her gaze, so their eyes met instantly. Unlike with me, Barbatos didn¡¯t exchange a long look with Marbas. However, she did part her lips slightly. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos looked at me again. Her golden eyes were pleading for something. For a moment, it felt like the entire world had stopped, and only the two of us were silently conversing, detached from everything else. I nodded once. Barbatos¡¯ mouth opened wide. ¡°¡ªWatch out!¡± Just a moment ahead of her shout. Or perhaps simultaneously. The Neutral Faction Demon Lords drew their weapons and ruthlessly stabbed the ins Faction Demon Lords¡¯ bodies. des plunged into abdomens, waists, necks, and thighs without hesitation. The ins Faction Demon Lords, who had entrusted themselves to their allies, screamed in agony. ¡°Uaaaagh!¡± Blood and screams sprayed through the air from all directions. The Neutral Faction Demon Lords did not stop at a single strike but repeatedly stabbed the bodies of the ins Faction Demon Lords, twisting their des each time. Trying to endure the relentless onught, the ins Faction Demon Lords stood for a moment but soon fell as their knees buckled. ¡°You¡ª!¡± As soon as Barbatos witnessed this, she bit her lip and raised her scythe. But Barbatos was forced to stop. A sharp de was aimed just below her chin. It was the sword of Demon Lord Marbas. ¡°I will not use trite words to suggest you surrender, Barbatos. However, I will state that, as of now, none of your subordinates have died at our hands. A wise person like you should understand the implication.¡± It was a threat indicating that if Barbatos moved, they would immediately kill the remaining ins Faction Demon Lords. Barbatos¡¯ hands trembled slightly as they gripped her scythe. The enshrinement chamber was filled with the scent of ughter. ¡°Ugh¡­¡­ Khh¡­¡­.¡± In an instant, the overwhelming majority of the ins Faction Demon Lords had fallen. Even Brother Zepar and Beleth couldn¡¯t escape the massacre and were butchered. Already injured, and then caught off guard, it was impossible for them toe out unscathed. Once again, the ins Faction Demon Lords copsed. Atop the corpses of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords. ¡°You scoundrels, how dare you¡­¡­!¡± The three Demon Lords from the ins Faction, who were able to avoid the ambush as they didn¡¯t require help from the Mountain Faction to stand up, stopped dead in their tracks as soon as a sword was pressed against Barbatos¡¯ neck. It was a wise decision. If they had shown even the slightest resistance, the independent Demon Lords would¡¯ve stepped in this time. A terrifying silence enveloped the chamber. ¡°Miss¡­¡­ Barba¡­¡­tos¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Your Excellency¡­¡­.¡± Even as the ins Faction Demon Lords were bleeding profusely, they reached out their hands toward Barbatos. They no longer had the strength to do anything more. Even if they had the strength, resistance would probably still be difficult¡­¡­. The Neutral Faction Demon Lords, in their wisdom, had severed all the fingers of the ins Faction Demon Lords to prevent them from wielding weapons. The asional groans of the ins Faction Demon Lords were the only sounds vibrating through the air. Apart from that, everything was silent. The Neutral Faction Demon Lords, the independent Demon Lords, Paimon enshrined in her ss coffin, and even Sitri who was still weeping. Everything was silent. Including me. ¡°¡­¡­Why.¡± Barbatos¡¯ lips quivered. Her entire body was trembling with rage. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but in the end, the only word that escaped was ¡®why¡¯. Marbas looked at her with eyes full of sorrow. ¡°You should not have permitted Paimon¡¯s death, Barbatos. Nor should you have plotted Sitri¡¯s death. Your actions were wrong from beginning to end.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°If both Paimon and Sitri are gone, it is clear that the Mountain Faction will not be able to stand on its own. When that happens, the bnce between factions will copse, allowing you to monopolize power. Even if I attempt to keep you in check, it will be in vain.¡± Marbas spoke wistfully. ¡°I was always anxious and apprehensive about the hatred between you and Paimon. The two of you are the wings of our demon army. I feared that in your mutual hatred, you might forget the simplest truth: no matter how great a bird may be, it can never soar with only one wing.¡± Barbatos moved her body. At that moment, Marbas pressed the de even closer to Barbatos¡¯ neck, cutting her skin. A trickle of bright red blood flowed. Barbatos had no choice but to stop. ¡°Unfortunately, my fears became reality. The affairs of the world never go as one wishes¡­¡­. I always knew that, but it never fails to bring about regret.¡± Barbatos red at Marbas with zing eyes. ¡°How dare you¡­¡­!¡± ¡°I will state the charges. Barbatos, evidence has been secured that you instigated Paimon¡¯s death.¡± The focus in Barbatos¡¯ eyes wavered. ¡°That¡¯s a lie¡­¡­.¡± ¡°All of the archdukes have acknowledged that you, Barbatos, threatened or advised them. These are statements I personally acquired from them. Hence, I am convinced that you indirectly assassinated Paimon.¡± Another silence fell over the room. Barbatos¡¯ gaze turned to me. She was questioning me without any audible words. And then. ¡°That¡¯s right, Barbatos.¡± I spoke. ¡°I told Marbas the truth.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Aaaaah, such a dyed chapter. I know a lot of you are fine with waiting a bit, but I can¡¯t help but feel bad. It feels like I¡¯m in a bit of a dry spell. I wonder if it¡¯s because I sort of never took an official break since I started tranting the WN? When I was tranting LNs I¡¯d take like a few weeks off after I finished a volume, but it¡¯s been sort of non-stop. I guess I only have myself to me. I¡¯m still determined to see this through to the end, so I¡¯ll p myself back into shape. Chapter 426: Fall of Gold (10) Chapter 426: Fall of Gold (10) ¡°If you had, by some chance, sincerely apologized¡­¡­.¡± Marbas continued, his voice clearly weary. ¡°Although it is an infinitely unlikely possibility, Barbatos, if you had knelt before Paimon¡¯s resting ce and apologized, our Neutral Faction would not have intervened. Had you not provoked the situation in the first ce, there would not have been any conflict between the ins Faction and the Mountain Faction today.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Have you not realized? Or were you unable to even attempt to understand¡­¡­?¡± Marbas let out a grief-filled sigh. ¡°We summoned the archdukes to verify the truth ourselves. The archdukes testified that you were deeply involved in the assassination, and it did not take much time to confirm that their statements were true. Do you understand, Barbatos?¡± Marbas muttered softly. ¡°Before today¡¯s assembly, Sitri already knew everything.¡±¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Yet, instead of using you, Sitri merely asked for an apology. She gave you onest chance. Despite her desire to drive a knife into your heart, she suppressed her anguish and allowed you and the ins Faction a single opportunity.¡± Marbas spoke with a voice full of anguish, but the words were not reaching Barbatos. Barbatos was looking only at me, pleading with trembling eyes. It¡¯s not toote. Anything will do. Anything at all¡ª. Please, just deny that you betrayed me. Barbatos seemed to be saying that. I spoke without averting my gaze from Barbatos. ¡°Your Highness Marbas, I am grateful for your temporary role as Chair. Though it may be burdensome, I wish to resume my duties. Please restore to me the right to preside over tonight¡¯s proceedings.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Very well, then. You shall have the right to conduct the meeting, to allow and halt discussions, to put issues to a vote, and to adjourn or dissolve the meeting. All authority is justly restored to you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± And from this point on, everything hinges on my next words. Barbatos was a wise woman. She most likely already realized the full scope of the situation. Yet, because of that very wisdom, she was giving me the chance to exin myself. She was giving me the chance to deny this current situation. At this moment, the things we had piled up were neatly stacked on top of each other like bricks. ¡®You rude bastard. If you¡¯re going to visit ady¡¯s house, then you should at the very least prepare a smoke pipe beforehand.¡¯ ¡®A young man shouldn¡¯t be weak like a sardine. Back when I was your age, I held numerous sex parties that wouldst for three days straight.¡¯ Our friendship. ¡®You rude bastard, did you smear your courtesy over some barley bread and eat it? If you¡¯re going to visit ady¡¯s house, then you should at the very least prepare a smoke pipe beforehand.¡¯ ¡®Our weasel Demon Lord with a bag of tricks, Dantalian. What sort of malicious scheme have you thought up of to be able to raise your hand so confidently?¡¯ Our trust. ¡®Ah,rades. As you saw, I¡¯ve called dibs on him, okay? I put my saliva on him first. If anyone tries to take him from me, then I¡¯ll kindly and courteously beat the shit out of them, so only those who are confident in their ability to fight me should go up to the mound.¡¯ ¡®¡­¡­¡­¡­Am I really the best?¡¯ ¡®So please stay at my side¡­¡­. Don¡¯t leave me by myself anymore¡­¡­.¡¯ Our bond. A weight that even time itself could not endure pressed down on the space between us. Everything was riding on this very moment. I took on that weight with my whole being and opened my lips. And the instant my tongue moved, as if a string were being torn by a rough hand¡ªsomething that had connected us was severed in silence. ¡°Barbatos, for the crime of conspiring to and executing the assassination of the noble Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the High Chambein, Demon Lord Paimon, I depose you from the throne of Bohemia.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This has already been unanimously agreed upon by the four electors. There is no room for objection. Considering that the criminal is the head of a faction, we will imprison not only the criminal but all Demon Lords affiliated with the faction. ordingly, I dere that all their positions are hereby nullified as of this hour.¡± A single tear. A single tear fell from the corner of Barbatos¡¯ eye. ¡°I trusted you¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You said¡­¡­I was the best¡­¡­.¡± I slowly raised my right hand and brought it close to Barbatos¡¯ neck. My hand was so near that it seemed it might strangle her white neck at any moment, yet Barbatos did not even flinch. It probably wasn¡¯t simply because Marbas¡¯ de was threatening her. ¨C Snap! I swiftly tore the ornament from her neck. It was the ne Barbatos always wore. It was none other than the ne I had given her, the one with my fingers woven on it. The thread of the ne, to which I had sworn eternal love, snapped with ease. With the thread that had supported them now gone, the two fingers fell to the ground. I gave the order. ¡°Everyone. Cut off the horns of the prisoners.¡± The Demon Lords of the Neutral Faction immediately sprang into action. To Demon Lords, their horns were the source of their life and magical power, alongside their hearts. Therefore, the smaller the horns, the more contemptible the Demon Lord was considered. The reason I was once referred to as only half of a Demon Lord was partly because I had a single horn, which was deemed unworthy of a true Demon Lord. ¡°Grr¡­¡­you wretches¡­¡­!¡± ¡°Do you think you will be safe after this, Dantalian?! I curse you! I swear upon my blood that I will curse you forever!¡± The Demon Lords of the ins Faction struggled and writhed in agony. Horns were a Demon Lord¡¯s pride. Losing them was a humiliation worse than death. They, who had just moments ago considered me a reliable ally, were now suffering the most brutal punishment at my hands. The Demon Lords of the ins Faction resisted until the end, but they were already in a state of near-death from their injuries. Their heads were mmed into the cold, hard stone floor. The Neutral Faction Demon Lords subdued them easily and began to carve off their horns. The sound of huge horns dropping echoed repeatedly. ¡°Why¡­¡­? Dantalian, why did you betray us¡­¡­!¡± Brother Zepar, face down on the floor and restrained, could only twist his head slightly to re at me. His face was contorted with shock and humiliation. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it you who loved the ins Faction more than anyone else!¡± Despite his body being mangled and his right arm lost, Brother Zepar¡¯s defiant roar shook with fierce intensity. ¡°Did you not love the Legion Commander, Her Excellency Barbatos? Answer me, Dantalian! Answer me¡­¡­!¡± ¡°No, Commander Zepar. Not at all.¡± I ced my hand on Barbatos¡¯ shoulder and, while gazing coldly at Brother Zepar, said, ¡°I have never loved the ins Faction. Nor have I ever loved Barbatos. Commander, you seem to be a romantic, contrary to your appearance. Love? Is it not well past the age for such things?¡± Augh escaped my lips. It was an unintendedugh, yet it was fitting. The acting skills I had built up with blood and sweat had reached a level where they instinctively chose the most appropriate path, regardless of my intentions. ¡°I honestly found it annoying. Barbatos, Barbatos, Barbatos¡­¡­every time you open your mouths. Do you allck the ability to think and act for yourselves? I simply cannot understand your way of thinking.¡± ¡°What¡­¡­?¡± ¡°All you seem to think about is how to start a war. When you equated the future of the Demon Lord Army with Barbatos¡¯ future, I became thoroughly tired of you all.¡± I gently stroked Barbatos¡¯ cheek with my right hand. The faint trace of the tear that had flowed left a subtle mark on my palm. ¡°Look here. This is the Barbatos you all revered so deeply. You spoke endlessly about warrior¡¯s honor and pride, but in the end, the method she used to kill her rival, Paimon, was nothing but a cowardly assassination¡­¡­. She could not even uphold the beliefs she herself proimed.¡± Suddenly, I felt something wetting the back of my hand. Without turning my head, I knew it was more tears from Barbatos. ¡ªIt was fine. I could endure anything, achieve anything, until the end. ¡°And yet, you still speak of honor? How impressive. Even I cannot help but be amazed if I witness a murderer dress up their crimes as an aesthetic.¡± ¡°Remove that sphemous hand! There is no way Her Excellency wouldmit something like an assassination!¡± ¡°Oh dear, do you think this is a false usation?¡± I shook my head slowly. ¡°This is troubling. Though I understand it would be morefortable for you in many ways if you believe this to be a false usation.¡± ¡°How long will you mock us¡­¡­?!¡± ¡°Very well. Please continue to believe it is a false usation. Convince yourself that I insulted Barbatos with lies and that everyone in the Neutral Faction, including Marbas here, has agreed to share in this falsehood.¡± Brother Zepar¡¯s expression froze. Yes, while it was only natural for them to distrust me, the betrayer, Brother Zepar also understood that Marbas was not someone to stage a grand affair based on false usations¡­¡­. Marbas, the most fair and noble of all Demon Lords, the one who presides over the absolute court, had never, in the past two thousand years, supported any false nder. The mere fact that Marbas supported my usation gave my words overwhelming credibility¡­¡­. Brother Zepar gritted his teeth and shouted. ¡°This is nonsense¡­¡­. This can¡¯t be true!¡± The air buzzed with agitation. The poison of doubt was spreading. The belief that Barbatos could never havemitted such an assassination shed with the truth that Marbas had demonstrated and proven over countless years. The two were in direct conflict. ¡°I also thought it was impossible, Commander Zepar. I trusted Barbatos to the end. Even in the moment when Paimon was bleeding and dying in my arms, I did not doubt Barbatos¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°After learning the truth, I told Barbatos to apologize to Sitri. To make a formal apology if possible, or at the very least, to apologize through indirect means.¡± It was an obvious lie. However, if it¡¯s impossible to prove the lie, then it bes politically true. ¡°Indirect means¡­¡­. Could it be¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Indeed. This assembly today was precisely for the purpose of an indirect apology. Although you, Commander Zepar, said you would apologize yourself, that would have been meaningless. It was a matter that required Barbatos to apologize directly.¡± Another wave of shock settled on Commander Zepar¡¯s face. In his mind, the events and conversations of the past few days were most likely being reassembled in an entirely different way. ¡°Commander, you managed to intrude with such cluelessness. It was quite troublesome.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Of course, just because you stepped in did not mean Barbatos lost the opportunity to apologize. But as you saw, Barbatos, instead of offering an apology here today, tried to annihte the Mountain Faction.¡± Iughed dryly. The sound of myughter echoed eerily through the domed chamber. The lightning had long since struck. Now only the thunder remained. ¡°This is not a sin that can be forgiven. It is a sin that should not be forgiven. ¡­¡­Barbatos and all of you will be executed in the square, under the watchful eyes of the citizens of the demon world.¡± The faces of the ins Faction Demon Lords twisted in utter despair. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Ipletely forgot Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) was this week and that I¡¯d be out for a couple days. The holiday season definitely helped me calm my brain a little, but I don¡¯t feel like it helped too much. Seeing my dad again since thest time is still a bit hard on me. He¡¯s just physically incapable of standing up if he¡¯s seated on the ground. He¡¯s okay if he¡¯s on a chair or something. In any case, I¡¯ll end it here since I¡¯m going to bed after posting this. I hope you guys have a good rest of your day. Chapter 427: Fall of Gold (11) Chapter 427: Fall of Gold (11) The execution was performed publicly. There could be no more humiliating death for the ins Faction Demon Lords than this. They had lived their entire lives on the battlefield. To die by the sword of an acknowledged rival was the ideal end they had always aspired to. However, they were being executed in a public square. They could never ept this kind of demise. I spoke to the ins Faction Demon Lords who were trembling in shame. ¡°Of course,pared to Barbatos, the other members of the ins Faction do not carry such grave sins. Executing all of you might indeed be excessive punishment. So, I will offer a condition.¡± ¡°A condition¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yes. You may call it a judicial deal if you like. Despite everything, I also served Barbatos like the rest of you. I would like to spare you, even if it means using unjust means. I suppose I have a bit too much goodwill in me. It¡¯s a w of the heart.¡± The mention of a ¡°judicial deal¡± stirred the air with unease. Yet Brother Zepar remained unchangingly enraged as he shouted. ¡°Such tant trickery¡­¡­. Don¡¯t make meugh! Are you not merely trying to make us testify against Her Excellency!?¡±¡°How disheartening. Do I appear like such a devilish bastard to you?¡± There was no way the ins Faction Demon Lords would betray Barbatos or offer false testimonies. Their loyalty to Barbatos was genuine. My intention was much simpler. ¡°The condition is simple. Publicly acknowledge that you have no involvement with the criminal Barbatos in this incident.¡± I smiled. ¡°In front of all the citizens of the demon world, boldly dere that you knew nothing about the assassination of Paimon and that you were not involved in any way, not even for a moment. How does that sound? It¡¯s truly a simple request.¡± Confusion spread across the faces of the ins Faction Demon Lords. It was understandable. The condition I proposed was not only simple but also true. From their perspective, admitting it would bring no harm. Yet, this only led to more blooming doubts. ¡°Furthermore, Marbas and all the electors gathered here will vouch for this deal. If you acknowledge that you have no connection to the crimesmitted by Barbatos, we will cause you no harm.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The question on their minds was most likely why I was making such a simple demand. To them, the notion that Barbatos assassinated Paimon was an absurd lie. It was merely a false usation. They likely believed that the true purpose of this usation was to annihte the ins Faction. Yet, the condition I had just presented directly contradicted the scenario they believed in. If the assassination was merely a false usation, the logical approach would be to somehow entangle the entire ins Faction in the plot. However, I was doing the exact opposite¡ªI was asserting that the ins Faction had no involvement at all. But. Why? ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Commander Zepar? Why have you suddenly fallen silent?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°This is a very simple request. Think about it. If, as you believe, Barbatos did not orchestrate the assassination, then you are merely confessing that you were not involved in an ¡®event that never happened¡¯. There is no issue at all.¡± I smiled broadly. It was a smile that a good person might give. However, in such a situation, a benevolent smile seemed eerie and twisted. By now, the ins Faction Demon Lords surely saw me as an utterly abhorrent traitor. ¡°If Barbatos trulymitted the crime, even then, you would only be confessing that you had no involvement with the assassination. Think about it. You would be simply telling the truth in every scenario.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Commander Zepar, will you still condemn me as irreverent? I have arranged the easiest legal deal in the world for you. Simply stating the facts as they are will result in aplete acquittal. Such an opportunity is rare¡­¡­.¡± Let it blossom. Bloom magnificently. Think hard. This level of deduction should be well within your capabilities. Even if you are just a group of warriors, you should be able to figure out the answer if given this much of a hint. Question your own thoughts. Examine your beliefs from a different perspective. It¡¯s not a big deal. In fact, it¡¯s a normal and correct way of thinking. Just as it is easy to doubt others, it¡¯s not that difficult to doubt yourself¡­¡­. Warriors of the ins Faction. Your w is how outstanding you are. Demon Lords did not need any particr governing skills. Simply sitting on the throne was enough for demons to naturally offer their loyalty and obedience. That is what a Demon Lord is. No matter how poorly you rule or neglect your people, the power of a Demon Lord is absolute¡­¡­. Power is eternal, so political skills never emerged. What remains on a throne where governance has vanished? Only war. Nothing but war remains. The hierarchical system itself proves this. The criteria for ranking from 1st to 72nd was solely based on ¡®how well one performs in war¡¯. In the world of Demon Lords, everything was decided solely by one¡¯s ability in war. Isn¡¯t it absurd? They were kings. Yet, instead of skill in governing others, their rank and honor were determined by their skill in overthrowing others¡­¡­. It was only natural that the Demon Lords spent thousands of years in relentless divisions, each iming to be superior and others inferior. In such a world of Demon Lords, there was the ins Faction. Those who were born with a natural talent for fighting and war. They found pleasure in shedding blood on the battlefield and sought meaning in leading cavalrymen to ravage their enemies. To them, being born as a Demon Lord was seen as a divine mandate. It was only natural. They must believe without a shred of doubt that they were the epitome of what it meant to be a Demon Lord. And they had no hesitation in venerating Barbatos, who was a superior warriorpared to themselves¡­¡­. The very notion that they might be wrong was alien to the ins Faction Demon Lords. They lived their lives and followed Barbatos¡¯ path with unwavering conviction, without any doubt about their righteousness. The image of noble warriors was undoubtedly beautiful, but¡­¡­. Their beauty was their blindness. Now is the time to awaken from that beautiful dream. I don¡¯t think living a dream is inherently bad. In fact, I think it¡¯s rather splendid. This issue is that I needed them to harbor doubts now. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t shatter your beliefspletely. Think of it as you being in the bud stage. With just a bit of doubt, the flower will begin to bloom. You can trust me. I¡¯m an expert in this field¡­¡­. ¡°¡­¡­So.¡± Finally, Brother Zepar spoke up. ¡°So, what is it that you gain? What profit are you trying to seek?¡± ¡°My apologies, but I don¡¯t understand your question. What do you mean by profit?¡± I feigned ignorance and asked for rification. Being overtly evasive would be awkward, so I simply requested a polite exnation of his question. I acted as naturally as an assassin might when they subtly poison a drink. ¡°Don¡¯t y dumb. What good would it do you if we make such a statement!?¡± No, Zepar. That¡¯s not it. You should know the answer to that. The only time any of us would gain nothing is if Barbatos were truly framed. If Barbatos indeedmitted the assassination, then¡ªnaturally¡ªyour deration would have meaning. Because Marbas and the Neutral Faction¡¯s goal is solely to bring Barbatos to justice. This isn¡¯t a political frame-up. We¡¯re not manipting testimonies to destroy the ins Faction. Marbas and the Neutral Faction simply seek to punish Barbatos for her deviation from the righteous path and for the assassination of Paimon. That¡¯s all. There is no reason to punish the ins Faction aside from Barbatos. In fact, we¡¯re offering them a chance to dere theirck of involvement to rify their innocence. ¡°Please repeat your question.¡± Do you understand? You have built your premise on a faulty foundation. We are not here to nder Barbatos. ¡°As I do not understand the meaning behind it, Commander Zepar.¡± Your proud lord, the honorable legionmander, truly assassinated Paimon. It is only under this premise that your confession will hold any significance. We are asking you to confess precisely because this premise is correct. This is the answer. Do not turn your head away from the answer, ins Faction. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Even though I asked him to repeat his question, Commander Zepar¡¯s face remained rigid. Sometimes, questioning a question can serve as an excellent answer. This was one such instance. My response only solidified a hypothesis in Commander Zepar¡¯s mind, strengthening it. The ¡®malicious gain¡¯ that Commander Zepar might have expected or anticipated was nowhere to be found. At least, not for Marbas and the Neutral Faction. The Neutral Faction¡¯s sole purpose was to curb Barbatos¡¯ rampage and unchecked power. Commander Zepar clenched his teeth tightly. ¡°If¡­¡­ If you people seed in falsely using Her Excellency Barbatos¡­¡­ and we dere that we had no part in that ridiculous nder, what happens then?¡± I inwardly smiled with satisfaction. He took the bait. Although Brother Zepar used words like ¡®false usation¡¯ and ¡®ridiculous nder¡¯, no amount of such smokescreen could change the essence of his question. When stripped down to its true form, the question Commander Zepar had just uttered was as follows: ¨DWhat if Barbatos really did order the assassination? A clear suspicion. Doubt and uncertainty. The mere possibility that Her Excellency Barbatos might have orchestrated Paimon¡¯s assassination¨Da possibility that had been previously obscured by blind loyalty and unwavering belief¨Dwas finally beginning to surface. It was like a morning glory slowly unfurling in the early morning twilight. ¡°First, let me address one thing.¡± There was no turning back now. Once a flower begins to bloom, it can no longer revert to a bud. Now then. This was my domain. ¡°The assassination is by no means a false usation. The day wille when even you will see the evidence. In fact, I n to show it to you as early as tomorrow. Your faith will onlyst for about fifteen more hours.¡± I dare dere: from this moment on, the ins Faction and Barbatos will turn on each other. Just as Marbas governs over dominion, and Barbatos presides over the souls of warriors, each Demon Lord rules their own domain. ¡°And to answer your question, naturally, Barbatos will be executed, and you will be acquitted. All the titles we temporarily stripped from you will be returned.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Why do you ask the obvious, Commander Zepar?¡± I, Demon Lord Dantalian of Many Faces, govern over intrigue, vengeance, and the art of deception. If there is one word to encapste it all, it is trickery. It is the art of sculpting a statue of betrayal from the bronze of doubt, and the alchemy that turns the lead of falsehood into the gold of truth. Neither Marbas, Gamigin, Vassago, nor any of the Demon Lords who cooperated tonight will be anything more than clueless bystanders from this point forward. O Demon Lords who rule over demonkind andmand legions of tens of thousands, bow your heads and lower your gaze. Bend your furrowed brows and submit to my words. From here on, this is my domain¨DDantalian¡¯s territory. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Once again, sorry for the dy. Just a lotta work. That¡¯s really all there is to it. Though my cousin is also visiting from the states and I haven¡¯t seen her in like 20 years, so my family has been spending time with her and boyfriend while they¡¯re here. As you can tell, I haven¡¯t been able to return to my original schedule just yet. Probably a motivation issue, though I think I already mentioned that before. I¡¯ll keep pushing on. I¡¯ll see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 428: Fall of Gold (12) Chapter 428: Fall of Gold (12) ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ The ins Faction Demon Lords were imprisoned in the underground dungeon that night. Even as they were dragged away, battered and broken, they shouted defiantly. It felt more like they were fanatics. ¡°We swore to die with Her Highness Barbatos! Whether it¡¯s on the battlefield or in the square, it doesn¡¯t matter! No matter what wicked schemes you have, you can¡¯t break our oath!¡± Their cries were filled with intense passion. Perhaps they were moved by the camaraderie of their peers, or maybe they were trying to erase any fleeting doubts they had about Barbatos. Either way, the ins Faction Demon Lords took turns hurling curses at me. ¡°That¡¯s right! Don¡¯t pull any tricks, you vile traitor!¡± ¡°You won¡¯t get anything from us but our lives!¡± They yelled as if dying was easy and living was the real challenge. They were escorted by me and the Neutral Faction Demon Lords. I addressed them calmly.¡°Everyone, please do not act on impulse. I believe that none of you are involved in Paimon¡¯s death. Only those who havemitted a crime should be punished. We need your cooperation to ensure that happens.¡± ¡°Her Highness Barbatos would never stoop to something as low as assassination!¡± One of the Demon Lords shouted at the top of their lungs. ¡°Are you trying to deny the fact that you are innocent?¡± However, most of the ins Faction Demon Lords seemed deaf to my words and chose only to rage and resist. Eight of the Demon Lords were ced in separate solitary cells, where they continued to vow loudly that they would die alongside Barbatos. Only two, Brother Zepar and Brother Beleth, maintained their silence with different expressions. Brother Zepar remained silent, as if unsure of what to say, while Brother Beleth had a smile on his face as if he were about to burst intoughter. As for Barbatos¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t know what expression she was wearing. Since I didn¡¯t look at her. Immediately after all the ins Faction Demon Lords were imprisoned, I, apanied by Daisy for protection, went to visit Brother Zepar in his solitary cell first. All the cells were thoroughly covered with anti-magic wards, and the prisoners were bound tightly against the walls. Brother Zepar, too, waspletely bound. Brother Zepar stared at me intently as soon as I opened the iron door and entered his cell. His gaze questioned why I hade. ¡°I¡¯ll get straight to the point, Brother.¡± ¡°Brother¡­¡­?¡± Brother Zepar let out a dryugh, augh so arid it seemed to evoke the air of a desert. ¡°Do you still believe there is any reason for you to address me like that?¡± ¡°Whatever you say is irrelevant. Just know this: by tomorrow, Barbatos will undoubtedly be dead.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Barbatos truly did assassinate Paimon.¡± A loud thud echoed as Brother Zepar twisted his body. Even though he had lost an arm, was stabbed repeatedly with poisoned des, and was nowpletely bound by iron chains imbued with anti-magic, the solitary cell still trembled momentarily. ¡°This is a hypothetical, but what if Barbatos truly did assassinate Paimon, and there was firm evidence to prove it? Not only that, but Marbas intentionally waited for our ins Faction to attack the Mountain Faction.¡± ¡°Intentionally¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Did you not find that odd?¡± I took out my pipe from my pocket and put it in my mouth. With a fluid motion, Daisy naturally provided a me. ¡°Marbas said he had no choice but to execute Barbatos to maintain the bnce of factions. However, if his only goal was to punish Barbatos, there was no reason for him to stand idly by while the Mountain Faction was annihted.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°It would have been more appropriate for him to ally with the Mountain Faction and attack the ins Faction together.¡± I exhaled smoke into the air. ¡°However, Marbas allowed the near-total destruction of the Mountain Faction. Then, he moved to purge the ins Faction. Do you understand what this means, brother?¡± Zepar remained silent, but it didn¡¯t seem like it was because he didn¡¯t know the answer. He was most likely remaining silent because he despised the act of simply responding to me. ¡°There is only one correct answer. Marbas is aiming for a dictatorship led by the Neutral Faction.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°No, perhaps ¡®dictatorship¡¯ sounds too harsh. It is more like he hase to the conclusion that neither the genocidal Mountain Faction nor the assassin-wielding ins Faction can be trusted anymore. Marbas believes that only the Neutral Faction is qualified to rule over the demons.¡± This was the truth. Originally, there was an agreement between Marbas and Sitri to jointly attack the ins Faction. However, Marbas dyed his attack on the ins Faction to minimize the Neutral Faction¡¯s losses. Since it was already decided topletely purge the ins Faction, he must have thought that the Mountain Faction¡¯s numbers needed to be reduced as well. In the end, Sitri was used by all sides. By me, by Marbas, and by the traitors of the Mountain Faction. ¡­¡­This was not a bright ce where a pure Demon Lord could live without trouble. Pandemonium. A ce where all demons gather, as the name suggests. By now, Sitri must be receiving treatment from mages while continuously shedding tears¡­¡­. And as I imagined the sight of Sitri crying, I thought to myself¡ª¡¯Good¡¯. I truly did. The more Sitri harbored hostility towards the Neutral Faction, the more it ultimately benefited me. The fewer ces Sitri had to lean on, the more she would rely solely on me. It was in my favor for her to feel disillusionment and betrayal toward Marbas. So, this is what I meant. I¡¯m this kind of person. ¡°Brother, imagine if the members of the ins Faction neither confess their innocence nor acknowledge their guilt. What kind of narrative do you think would unfold? No, allow me to exin it to you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°The entire ins Faction will be executed. Not just Barbatos, but the suspicion that every member of the ins Faction was involved in Paimon¡¯s assassination will be solidified. The Mountain Faction will copse, and the ins Faction will be annihted. It will be Marbas¡¯ victory.¡± Brother Zepar closed his eyes. Even at a nce, I could tell he looked pained. ¡°Marbas does not want the members of the ins Faction to confess their innocence.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What are you trying to say to me¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Please, confess your innocence.¡± I pleaded earnestly. ¡°That is the only way for the ins Faction to survive.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand anything.¡± Brother Zepar muttered quietly. ¡°Even if we confess our innocence, Her Excellency Barbatos will not escape death. Once she is gone, what will remain for us? Do you really think the ins Faction will still exist after that?¡± Brother Zepar let out a small scoff. ¡°¡­¡­Brother, this is a political matter.¡± ¡°Truly, you know nothing, Dantalian. You are fundamentally ignorant of the heart. This is the least political matter of all. The death of Her Excellency is the death of the ins Faction. If you cannot understand that, then you will never truly understand anything¡­¡­.¡± Brother Zepar opened his eyes. Beyond his wrinkled eyelids, his gray pupils were revealed. His eyes were clearly worn with pain, but there was still a fierce light lurking within them. ¡°In the end, the question of life is not determined by how one lives, but by how one dies. The way you ept life does not determine the manner of your death. However, the way you ept death does determine the course of your life. We decided to die alongside Her Excellency Barbatos. To die together no matter what.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Perhaps, in a way, we have forced you into a difficult position.¡± Brother Zepar slowly looked at me. ¡°You were the lover of Her Excellency Barbatos, but you were also the lover of Paimon. Indeed, that was the case. Thanks to your efforts in mediating between the two factions, there was a brief period of peace. It is a twisted tale, is it not? In the end, the fate of peace and war for the entire Demon Army was basically left to you alone¡­¡­.¡± Brother Zepar let out a forlorn sigh. ¡°Watching Her Excellency Barbatos and Paimon argue over you, it made me think that perhaps a peaceful coexistence might be possible. But, as I expected, that was just a fleeting dream. Ultimately, you were unable to choose either side. For you, these past few months will remain an eternal mistake and nightmare¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Her Excellency Barbatos probably did assassinate Paimon.¡± I opened my mouth to speak. ¡°If that is the case, then please acknowledge your innocence!¡± ¡°No, Dantalian, it is the exact opposite. You still know nothing.¡± Brother Zepar lifted the corners of his mouth slightly. Both his beard and the area around his lips were stained a dark red with blood. ¡°Even if facing imminent death, Her Excellency Barbatos would never resort to something like assassination. Even if her opponent were Paimon, it would be the same. No, because it is Paimon, her archenemy, she would never choose assassination. That is a matter of a Demon Lord¡¯s pride.¡± ¡°¡­¡­I don¡¯t understand what you are saying.¡± I furrowed my brow. Half of my reaction was an act, but the other half was sincere. Just as I intended, Brother Zepar was falling for my ploy. I could clearly see what he was thinking and what he had resolved to do like I was reading the back of my hand. Yet, the words he was uttering were not part of my n. It felt like arge stream that was flowing along had suddenly veered off course somewhere in the middle. This was how it felt. ¡°If Her Excellency Barbatosmitted an assassination, it was not as a Demon Lord.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Dantalian. Her Excellency did it as a young girl in love with you.¡± Right now, my face was most likely frozen. ¡°She is someone whose pride and conviction would never break no matter the hardship. Until the day of her death, she would uphold her beliefs for her own sake. Hah, is she not someone who truly loves herself?¡± Therefore. Precisely because of that, Zepar said as he continued. ¡°If she were to abandon her pride, it wouldn¡¯t be for herself, but solely for the sake of another.¡± Don¡¯t say any more. ¡°For your sake.¡± I already knew something like that. ¡°Just as Her Excellency Barbatos loves herself, she loves you just as much.¡± From the very moment Paimon was killed, no, long before that¡ªI had already known. I had realized, from the beginning, that everything stemmed from me. Don¡¯t force me to face that truth right in front of my eyes. ¡°Her Excellency Barbatos, whom we of the ins Faction revere, is not truly finished. Something as immense as her conviction has simplye into being. If that is love, Dantalian, I will dly acknowledge Her Excellency Barbatos¡¯ self-contradiction.¡± The reason why Barbatos shed tears after realizing my betrayal. The reason why she could not offer any defense or excuse, and simply cried endlessly. It was not because she was betrayed by me, her political partner¡ªbut simply because, as a woman who loves, she was betrayed by the man she loved, and thus wept silently. ¡°I cannot leave Her Excellency Barbatos to depart alone. I, Zepar, have served Her Excellency from the moment I understood my purpose. I will stand by Her Excellency¡¯s side until the very end. ¡­¡­Dantalian, I unfortunately cannot ept your proposal.¡± Zepar then closed his eyes again. He was dismissing me. I left the solitary confinement cell in silence. I had no choice but to leave. As I walked down the damp and musty corridor, I staggered and bumped into the wall. My heart was pounding abnormally. I became short of breath. As I was about to slide down the wall and copse, Daisy carefully supported me. ¡°Haa, huff¡­¡­ haa¡­¡­.¡± This was because of the herb. Yes, my heart was racing suddenly because of my smoking addiction. There was no other reason. Such seizures asionally happened. Daisy looked down at me with her dark eyes, expressionless. I managed a crooked smile. I could feel the corners of my mouth twitching, but somehow, I managed to create a smile. Maintaining a facade of calm was the most important vice. ¡°Do I look pathetic to you? Everything is going ording to n.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Raise me up, you fool.¡± Daisy quietly helped me to my feet. After a moment, the dizziness faded. My heart settled back to its normal rhythm. I was myself again. The same as always. Good. The seed of doubt nted in Zepar¡¯s mind had bloomed into a full flower. The script was hurtling towards perfection. Now, only Barbatos remained. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I¡¯M REALLY SORRY FOR THE DELAY. Yeah, I know everyone keeps saying it¡¯s okay, but this actually slipped my mind for a bit. Then, when I was going to finish tranting, I ended up getting a feverst weekend. It was very cool. I feel like there are too many things I want to dotely, but barely any time to do them. Like work has been working me to the bone so I can barely make the spare time to trante this, and then I just want to do something else when I get home cause I¡¯m mentally drained. The weekends this month have been so draining. The first two weekends were spent with my rtives who were visiting from the states, and thenst week I ended up getting a fever and bedridden for 3 days. October has been ROUGH. Ugh, I need to get these chapters out, I CAN SEE THE END. Chapter 429: Pride of Existence (1) Chapter 429: Pride of Existence (1) ¨DThe sky above was perpetually dyed in ashen gray. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The girl blinked her eyes. The acrid smell of smoke lingered at the tip of her nose. She could faintly detect the scent of blood, too. It seemed she had fallen asleep on the battlefield again, she reasoned with herself. Something sticky clung to her cheek,pelling her to reach up and touch it. Her fingers brushed against a dark, crimson scab, the dried blood rough beneath her palm. ¡°Hey.¡± A deep, heavy voice called out. As she turned her head toward the direction of the sound, a damp cloth struck her face. She grabbed the cloth and stared nkly at the person before her. ¡°You were sleeping like the dead. I cannot tell if you are brave or just empty-headed. What are you going to do if you got your throat slit by a stray soldier?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not dead, now am I?¡± The girl wiped her face with the damp cloth. How much blood had sttered across her face? The gray cloth quickly turned red. It was hard for her to guess how much of that blood hade from her own body.¡°Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± ¡°It was too close forfort; I could not just stand by and watch.¡± ¡°You¡¯re meddling too much. That¡¯s not very fitting for a Demon Lord.¡± The girl smiled dryly. She looked around. Now that she had wiped her face with the cloth, she could see a little better. She was on an endlessly vast in. A barrennd stretched to the horizon without a single de of grass in sight. The girl suddenly recalled what the mages once told her. Such wastnds are formed when magic is rapidly depleted. But it wasn¡¯t just thend covered in red sand that caught her eye. Corpses. Countless corpses were strewn across the ground, the soldiers who had died inst night¡¯s battle. ¡°I haven¡¯t been a Demon Lord for very long, you see.¡± ¡°How old are you?¡± ¡°Well, I lost count somewhere along the way¡­¡­. I guess I¡¯m over ny.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re still just a brat.¡± The girl chuckled. She didn¡¯t really intend to insult herpanion. It was just that the other person looked incredibly old. Grey hair. A face deeply lined with wrinkles. If it was just based on appearances, he seemed like he would be considered the oldest among all the Demon Lords. Yet, in reality, he was one of the youngest. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Sorry. Don¡¯t re at me like that. I can¡¯t help but find it funny that I¡¯m two hundred years older than you. Anyway, what was your name again?¡± The girl scratched the back of her head awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯m terrible at remembering names.¡± ¡°You said the same thing yesterday and the day before that. It has already been a week, has it not? Consider how I feel having to introduce myself dozens of times.¡± ¡°I said I¡¯m sorry.¡± With a grunt, the girl stood up. Her whole body felt stiff, like old hinges creaking at every joint. She twisted her waist back and forth, stretching her body. ¡°But it¡¯s not my fault. Even if I try to remember names, they all end up dead. Especially with new Demon Lords like you, their heads get sliced off so easily. How many Demon Lords died yesterday?¡± ¡°From what I know, three of them fell in battle.¡± ¡°See? Over twenty Demon Lords have dropped just this week alone. How am I supposed to remember all of them?¡± Demon Lords and the Dragonkin. The battle between rulers who could never coexist was reaching its final stage. The Demon Lords proimed themselves the true rulers of demonkind. Meanwhile, the dragons, who could fiercely challenge the Demon Lords¡¯ dominance, resisted. It didn¡¯t take long for these two forces to plunge into a great war where blood washed blood. This wasn¡¯t an ordinary war. Both the Demon Lords and the Dragonkin imed to be the noblest beings in this world. It was a war of annihtion, where neither side could retreat until one waspletely destroyed. In this unyielding conflict, those who couldn¡¯t afford to back down took up arms. The girl raised her fingers and began counting them one by one. ¡°Let¡¯s see. Old man Mammon got torn limb from limb, olddy Beelzebub got roasted to a crisp, Belphegor got all his skin peeled off, and Baal is nearly dead and preparing to die in the back. Look, even the so-called greatest of them all got wiped out. Even if I did remember your name, do you think I¡¯ll have to for more than half a month?¡± ¡°I will not die.¡± The old Demon Lord remarked in an irritated tone. ¡°At least I will dieter than someone like you who¡¯s desperately trying to die. I swear, even if I do die, I will not die before you.¡± ¡°What a funny guy.¡± The girl scowled. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll really remember it this time. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Zepar.¡± The man red right at the girl. ¡°It is Zepar. Never forget it, brat.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s calling who ¡®brat¡¯? You¡¯re a runt who hasn¡¯t even lived a hundred years.¡± The girl stuffed the towel into her pocket, intending to wash it and return itter. The man hadn¡¯t said anything, but the girl knew well enough. When she had copsed in exhaustion, he had stayed nearby, keeping watch to ensure nothing happened to her. He had even prepared a damp towel just to hand it to her. He¡¯ll most likely die, the girl thought to herself. This wasn¡¯t a war where a clueless young Demon Lord could survive. They had seeded in killing most of the dragonkin, but the Demon Lord¡¯s Army had suffered terribly. Now, they had to march on to defeat their final adversary, the strongest Dragon Lord. In all likelihood¡ªno, without a doubt¡ªthe man would die there. That was why she had deliberately chosen not to remember names. She hadn¡¯t even given her own. In a battlefield where death was inevitable, acknowledging each other would only make things more painfulter on. But after being helped so much, refusing to even exchange names was difficult¡­¡­. The girl smiled bitterly and spoke. ¡°Barbatos. Let¡¯s try not to die today, either.¡± ¡°Barbatos.¡± The man slowly repeated the name, as if trying tomit it to memory. ¡°I want to ask you one thing.¡± ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± ¡°Hundreds of thousands of demons are dying in this war. Considering the damage across the entire demon world, it¡¯s truly staggering. Is it really necessary to wage a war that inflicts such losses?¡± The girl furrowed her brow. ¡°What¡¯s this? I thought you were just the quiet type, but it turns out you¡¯re a philosopher tormented by pointless worries.¡± ¡°I am asking seriously. Surely, you did not choose to be a Demon Lord. One day, you just woke up and found yourself born into it. So, where do we get the right to drive hundreds of thousands to their deaths?¡± The man stared intently into the girl¡¯s eyes. The girl was one of the rtively younger Demon Lords. However, in war, she disyed an overwhelming talent. When she swung her two-handed sword and charged forward, the soldiers were emboldened and rushed fearlessly toward the massive dragonkin. They were unafraid of death. In short, there was something about the girl thatpelled others to follow her, even at the cost of their lives. The man thought to himself. Perhaps the girl could answer his question. If she was the one soldiers willingly sacrificed themselves for, she might be able to exin what meaningy behind those deaths¡­¡­. ¡°It¡¯s a simple matter.¡± The girl shrugged her shoulders. ¡°A world ruled by Demon Lords or a world ruled by dragonkin. If you think about which one would make the demons happier, the answeres naturally, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Happiness¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah. We Demon Lords can read the minds of demons to some extent. At least enough to know whether they¡¯re lying or not. If we were the judges, there would be no one punished for crimes they didn¡¯tmit, nor would anyone go unpunished for crimes they didmit.¡± The girl smiled softly. ¡°Do you understand? A world where there are no wronged people.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t much, yet even that isn¡¯t being achieved in this world right now.¡± The girl stretched her hand toward the sky and clenched her fist tightly as if trying to grasp something. ¡°Until there isn¡¯t a single life that dies unfairly or unhappily in this world, I will keep fighting. I want a world where everything is clear, where those whomit crimes are punished, and those who are innocent do not suffer.¡± That ideal is something only we can achieve, the girl stated. ¡°Of course, many people will die before we reach that point. I have no way to take responsibility for those lives. So¡ªat the very least, I¡¯ve sworn to lead from the front.¡± That¡¯s why, on the battlefield, the girl always charged ahead before anyone else. She never hid behind anyone, even as a Demon Lord. She didn¡¯t force sacrifices upon her soldiers. She always stood at the front lines, leading her troops. The demons were captivated by the sight of her, inspired by her genuine actions, and followed her. And in the final battle, the girl remained true to her convictions. When the entire Demon Lord Army froze in fear at the sight of the colossal dragon with wings that could cover the sky, when the dragon¡¯s roar shook the earth, and a hundred thousand soldiers trembled in terror¡ªat that very moment, without hesitation, without even a trace of doubt, someone stepped forward. The girl, with her white hair flowing, swung a two-handed sword twice her size toward the dragon that was a thousand timesrger than her. The strike undoubtedly tore through the dragon¡¯s scales which were harder than steel. With every step forward, the girl bled. But by the time she took another step, tens of thousands of voices surged behind her, roaring in pursuit. The battle raged on for three days and nights. Even when everyone else copsed in exhaustion, the girl alone did not bend her knees. When despair took hold and the soldiers stared nkly ahead, convinced of their inevitable defeat, it was there that the girl relentlesslyunched her strikes, keeping the colossal dragon¡¯s gaze fixed on her. At some point, the girl most likely fought the dragon alone. Whether others were around or not, she continued to take step after step forward. If legends were to ever manifest in reality, that moment surely was one where myth came to life. A small girl, relying solely on her sword, was single-handedly ying a dragon. It seemed as if she would be engulfed by the dragon¡¯s mes at any moment and vanish, but she narrowly evaded the fire each time. It seemed as though the dragon¡¯s foot would crush her, but she dodged with just enough space. And, even though her strikes seemed as if they would cease at any moment, they never faltered. Someone muttered. Immortal ¡ªThe Immortal Barbatos. In the end, the one who delivered the final blow to thest Dragon Lord was also the girl. Out of an army of one hundred thousand, eighty thousand soldiers had perished, and forty Demon Lords had fallen in battle. The war, which had started with the girl¡¯s steps, ended with her sword. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± As soon as she delivered the fatal strike to the dragon, the girl copsed like a puppet with its strings cut. The man rushed over to catch her, genuinely believing the girl had finally died. For the past three days, she had fought a battle where death could have taken her at any moment. Yet, in the man¡¯s arms, the girl let out a small, faintugh. ¡°We¡¯re both a mess.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Indeed. We truly are.¡± The manughed in disbelief. ¡°I really thought I was going to die this time. How was it? Wasn¡¯t I a little cool?¡± ¡°It is sad that I cannot deny it.¡± At that moment, the man found the answer to his question. He realized that protecting this girl and safeguarding the path she would continue to walk was the very reason he had been born as a Demon Lord. ¡°You were so cool that I have fallen for you. Marry me.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this old man saying?¡¯ The girl closed her eyes and faintly whispered. ¡°Grow a cool beard first. Then maybe I¡¯ll consider it.¡± And so, the great battle came to an end. An old memory. *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I think my busy schedule has finally rxed. I was actually able to spend like an hour at work just tranting DD. It feels nice to be able to breathe again. But who knows what else I have in store for meter this month since we usually get huge projects at the end of the year¡­ Enjoy this reprieve I guess. Oh I also finally upgraded my PCst week. It was long overdue and ying the Monster Hunter Wilds beta really made me realize I needed an upgrade. I may be distracted trying out games with my upgraded specs¡­ I¡¯ll try to control myself to at least trante when I can :^) In any case, see you guys in the next chapter. Chapter 430: Pride of Existence (2) Chapter 430: Pride of Existence (2) ¦¯ * * * ¦¯ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Barbatos slowly opened her eyes, allowing our eyes to naturally meet. Barbatos half-closed her eyes as if she were still slightly sleepy. It would be impossible for someone to fully relieve their fatigue if they had to sleep while hanging from the ceiling. She must be exhausted and tired in more ways than one. Her voice sounded somewhat faint and distant. ¡°I dreamt of something nostalgic.¡± ¡°A dream, is it?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. So it was around that time Zepar started growing out his beard¡­¡­ He was always so foolishly serious.¡± Barbatos chuckled quietly as if something amused her. I simply puffed on my pipe. I wasn¡¯t sure how much of a difference there was between herughter and the smoke I was exhaling. We were in a solitary cell, enclosed on all sides by ashen walls. It was perpetually cool and gloomy, like a shadowed ce always damp from rain. I never imagined a day woulde when the two of us would be having a conversation in a ce like this. Barbatos likely felt the same. She yfully rattled the chains around her wrists.¡°Ah, ah¡ª. In the end, I got dumped. This is why loving men is pointless. I¡¯m such an idiot, aren¡¯t I? It¡¯s like I had rose-colored sses on, and not just oneyer but three.¡± Despite having her horns severed and her limbs bound, she was endlessly nonchnt. But then again, this was Barbatos¡ªproud and fearless like a lioness. ¡°Do you regret loving me?¡± ¡°Of course I regret it. I regret it a lot. You know, I enjoy breaking up with lovers, but I really hate being dumped by them. If I could go back in time, I¡¯d go straight for smashing your balls first.¡± Iughed. I silently stared at Barbatos for a moment. It was as if time had stretched only around my heart, like when music suddenlyes to a stop. That moment of silence lingered, and then, like a snapped bowstring, it broke with a sudden twang. ¡°I killed Paimon, Barbatos.¡± ¡°Huh? I know.¡± ¡°No.¡± I shook my head. ¡°With these hands. I personally drove the de into Paimon¡¯s body.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°I caught every drop of Paimon¡¯s blood. Once in the neck. Once in the back. Once in the nape. A total of three times, I thrust the finely sharpened dagger into her.¡± I lightly tapped my neck and back with my fist, mimicking the act. A smile still lingered on my lips. ¡°With each stab, there was a little tremble. A shudder ran through her body. She tried to hold on, but in the end, she slumped against me. I hit every vital point so precisely that it didn¡¯t take long for her to die.¡± Barbatos stared at me nkly. She had believed that the archdukes killed Paimon. It was the first time she had heard that I personally killed her. For some reason, I felt slightly pleased. In fact, it would always lift my mood whenever Barbatos had that vacant expression. ¡°The important part here is that I deliberately stabbed her neck twice. Making sure the blood reversed through her throat so that she couldn¡¯t speak properly was crucial.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because of herst words. When someone¡¯s about to die, they leave final words, do they not, Barbatos?¡± I smiled softly. ¡°Before I killed Paimon, I gave her a wedding ring. Happiness means letting your guard down, after all. The moment she was happiest was when she was the most defenseless. So, after giving her the ring¡­¡­.¡± I pulled the ring out of my pocket. The very one I had once slipped onto Paimon¡¯s ring finger myself. Holding it between my fingers, I spoke yfully. ¡°I stabbed her. Without a moment of hesitation. What do you think about that? Was that not a bit excessively cruel? I think so too.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Paimon probably thought the same. That it was too cruel. So, if she had left herst words, no doubt, she would have cursed me with all the venom she could muster. A curse so dark, so deep, so terrifying, I can¡¯t even begin to imagine it.¡± I couldn¡¯t bear to listen to that. The curse Paimon would have left behind would surely lodge itself deep in my mind, never to be erased. Her curse would haunt me as visions and echoes, constantly ming me. I didn¡¯t overestimate my own mental strength. I was already teetering on the edge. Hearing things was manageable, but seeing things¡ªvisions¡ªthat was a real problem. Add Paimon¡¯s curse on top of that, and my mind might truly copse. Swiftly. Not allowing her even a chance to leave her final words. That was how it had to be done. ¡°But even after losing all her power, A Demon Lord is still a Demon Lord. She had just enough strength to utter onest line. Just one, final line. Of course, she couldn¡¯t say anything long. She couldn¡¯t useplex words either. Blood kept flowing up from her throat, so it had to be short and simple¡­¡­.¡± A single line was far too brief to encapste one¡¯s entire life. But for Paimon, such an absurdly brief moment was all that remained. She didn¡¯t have time to think. The man holding her, the one who was both her fiance and her killer, was before her, and she had to hurry to leave herst words. Drawing on her remaining strength, Paimon opened her mouth. ¡°¡®I love you¡¯, she said.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°That woman. She said those words as she ced her hand on my cheek and died. Do you understand what that means, Barbatos? It wasn¡¯t a simple confession. Of course not.¡± I took the pipe from my mouth and smirked. ¡°In that desperate, final moment, Paimon¡ªof all things she could¡¯ve said¡ªthought of the most effective, cruelest curse possible. Isn¡¯t that utterly genius?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Paimon knew. She didn¡¯t need to unleash a torrent of curses to destroy me. She knew that a single, carefully chosen line would do the job. What a thoroughly ruthless woman, don¡¯t you think? It¡¯s an instinctual kind of cunning.¡± Barbatos¡¯ expression twisted in a strange way. It wasn¡¯t sadness or concern, but a mixture of emotions that couldn¡¯t be easily described. For a while, we just stared at each other. ¡°Dantalian. When¡­¡­ did you start being tormented by hallucinations?¡± The question came out of nowhere. I didn¡¯t hesitate or waver. ¡°Hallucinations? I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t y dumb. I¡¯ve seen thousands upon thousands of soldiers swallowed by war.¡± Barbatos¡¯ tone grew sharper. ¡°You killed someone quickly out of fear that the person you¡¯re murdering might leave a final word? That¡¯s typical behavior of a killer trapped in hallucinations. Don¡¯t even think about making excuses. When ites to matters rted to war, no one knows more than I do.¡± Barbatos stared directly into my eyes. ¡°At first, it started with nightmares, right? Then came the voices. Thest stage is hallucinations. Once it gets that bad, there¡¯s no fixing it. When did it start? Answer me.¡± I met Barbatos¡¯ gaze in silence. A heavy stillness settled between us. Barbatos slowly began to part her lips. ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­¡­. No, wait, just how long have you been like this¡­¡­?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. I¡¯m perfectly fine.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you¡¯ve been drowning yourself in drugs and alcohol¡­¡­. Wait, that started back during the Crescent Alliance¡­¡­. No, Dantalian. Look at me. Look me in the eyes, you son of a bitch!¡± What in the world is Barbatos rambling about? I¡¯ve been staring at her this whole time. ¡°Ah¡­¡­! Ahh!¡± The swirling emotions on Barbatos¡¯ face finally settled. Or perhaps it would be more urate to say they twisted even further. She stared at me, her expression now purely dyed in shock. ¡°How¡­¡­ did I not notice something so simple?!¡± ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, we aren¡¯t on the same page right now. I don¡¯t understand a word you¡¯re saying, Barbatos.¡± ¡°Dantalian, you¡­¡­ when you talk to people, you only ever stare at their faces and eyes!¡± The conversation was escting. I tilted my head slightly. ¡°Of course, when you talk to someone, you focus on the face. Is that not basic courtesy?¡± ¡°I should¡¯ve realized sooner¡­¡­. Why didn¡¯t I see it¡­¡­? You haven¡¯t been looking at people. You had no choice but to fix your gaze on people¡¯s faces because that¡¯s all you could focus on¡­¡­.¡± ¡°It seems like you¡¯re the one who¡¯s lost their mind, not me.¡± I shrugged. Barbatos bit her lips. ¡°How many? How many are there!?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been saying since the beginning that I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± ¡°How many dead faces are you seeing in this room!?¡± That¡¯s the thing. There¡¯s no one else here besides Barbatos and me. Why does Barbatos keep insisting on such strange things? ¡°It¡¯s a plea deal. Zepar said he would take the fall for you. If you don¡¯t testify in public that you nned Paimon¡¯s assassination all by yourself, the entire ins Faction will be executed.¡± ¡°Turn your head!¡± ¡°You must care for your subordinates. If you don¡¯t want the ins Faction to be annihted, it¡¯s in your best interest to confess your cr¡ª.¡± ¡°Turn your head the other way! You fucking son of a bitch! Listen to me and turn your gaze somewhere else!¡± Barbatos yelled. It seemed like she had no intention of continuing negotiations unless her demand was met. With a sigh, I turned my head to the other side. It was just a corner of the solitary cell. There was nothing there. ¡°All right, satisfied? I turned my head as you wanted. Now, if you¡¯re done, can we have a more constructive conversati¡ª.¡± ¡°What do you see there?¡± Barbatos persisted. Truly, she was more relentless than a leech. ¡°Answer me. What do you see in that corner?¡± ¡°Nothing. There¡¯s nothing there. Just a damp, wet stone wall.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Come on, let¡¯s not waste time with useless delusions. We¡¯ve got more important things to deal with, do we not?¡± I held back a sigh as I returned my gaze to Barbatos. I couldn¡¯t help but freeze. Barbatos¡¯ face¡ªmore devastated than any expression I had ever seen before¡ªwas twisted in utter sorrow. She was crying. ¡°Why¡­¡­ why didn¡¯t you say anything to me before it got this bad¡­¡­? I was always by your side¡­¡­. If you had just said one word, if you had leaned on me just a little, things might have been different¡­¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°You idiot, Dantalian¡­¡­. There are torture devices in that corner¡­¡­.¡± More tears fell, tracing lines down her face. ¡°What in the world is ¡®blocking¡¯ your sight¡­¡­?¡± *** In that spot. ¡ªWere crouching corpses drenched in blood. In this very room, dozens of bodies were surrounding Barbatos and me. Some were impaled on spears, some were beheaded, reduced to nothing but heads. Blood-soaked corpses encircled the two of us, sitting or sprawling in grotesque positions. They all shared one thing inmon. They were all staring at me, their gazes fixed on my face. Sometimes, they whispered to one another, though it was so faint that I couldn¡¯t make out the words. Of course, a severed head shouldn¡¯t be able to speak at all. They were nothing more than phantoms, illusions that didn¡¯t exist. ¡°So Paimon is also there.¡± Barbatos gazed at me with tear-filled eyes. ¡°You can see Paimon too, right, Dantalian? Tell me honestly¡­¡­ where is Paimon showing up for you right now?¡± I smiled gently. ¡°As I¡¯ve said before, there¡¯s no one here, Barbatos.¡± *** TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This chapter is really a bombshell, huh. We finally have an idea of how much Dantalian has broken down. Also, I can¡¯t believe I finally got some leeway from work only to immediately catch Covid again that following weekend. The weekend after that I was forced to go on a family trip to Wonju. It¡¯s almostical how much the weekends I¡¯ve been trying to use to trante get stolen from metely. It suuuucks. Side note, the first snow of Korea hit today and it¡¯s been blizzarding outside for the past 6 hours. Pray I don¡¯t die on my way home from work. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!