Chapter 240: Letters
"Hello, Miss Laplace and Lord Lucien." I emerge from within the shadows directly in front of the two, who are on a mission on the battlefield. They both stare at me with extreme suspicion as they watch me rise from the ground.
"You’re... a Shadow." Lucien recognizes my position almost immediately, despite his apparent distrust. Though I suppose it makes sense to be suspicious, considering the Demon King died recently, so we wouldn’t normally be active.
"Exactly. I am one of the Shadows in the service of the Demon King. I am currently on a delivery mission, authorized by the current acting authority, Lady Esther." I explain my mission, though only partially.
Currently, Lady Esther can issue some of the more basic orders, like in the present case, where she can use the Shadows to deliver messages of extreme importance—ones the royal messengers wouldn’t be fast enough to safely deliver.
"..." Lucien glares at Laplace and the broad, open area around them, irritated. It seems those two were about to get into something intense if I hadn’t appeared here and now, interrupting them.
"Alright, what do you have for me?" When he asks, I take out the letter and hand it over. He begins to read, and I also hand one to Miss Laplace, who reads hers. As soon as they both finish, their reactions are mixed.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? WHICH IDIOT STARTED THIS BULLSHIT?!!" Lucien screams with pure hatred upon seeing the letter’s contents, squeezing it so hard the paper tears. It’s a formal notice for him to return to the castle because someone initiated a free-for-all combat between all candidates, thus accelerating the succession for the throne.
There are several other things in the letters, but they are matters I have no knowledge of and shouldn’t know for privacy reasons, according to the rules of the throne succession.
"Oh..." Laplace stares at the letter, and I see a faint smile appear on her face as she carefully tucks her letter away into her clothes. With this, Laplace might have gained a minimal chance of obtaining the throne, something she had practically lost before.
"Who was it!? Who made this shitty choice?" Lucien grabs me in anger, squeezing my body in a threatening way. But his intimidation doesn’t affect me; if it did, I wouldn’t be a Shadow of the Demon King. I disengage from his grip easily.
"I regret to say I cannot disclose that. I am merely the one delivering the letters. Now that you have read them, you must return to the castle within one week, or you will receive a severe penalty. Someone is already being sent to temporarily replace your leadership in the war."
"There is no need for worry, as Lady Esther is already organizing everything so that each matter proceeds in the most orderly way possible."
"Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have two more letters to deliver." I bow to them as I begin to sink into the shadows. This is truly something that must be unpleasant for Lord Lucien, as it renders all his efforts over the years meaningless.
Moving through the shadows, I go after Lord Augustus, emerging in a snowy region near the continent’s coastline, in some mountains—a strategic observation point.
"Who are you?" A dagger is pressed against my throat the moment I emerge. While it would have been easy to avoid, I saw no need, as it would only further alert Lord Augustus.
"I am merely a humble Shadow in the service of the Demon King, and I have come to deliver a letter addressed to you. I apologize for the informal intrusion, but emergency deliveries tend to take precedence over general etiquette." I take out the letter and hand it over. Lord Augustus, being paranoid, takes the letter and stares at it as if it were a trap.
He examines the side seal and even the letter’s sealing magic to verify if it truly is a letter from the castle. Even seeing it’s an original letter bearing the castle’s seal, he still stares at me with suspicion, pressing the dagger harder.
"..." He opens it with one hand and begins to read briefly without removing the dagger from my throat. Soon, his eyes widen in shock at the content, though he is far less emotional than Lord Lucien and Miss Laplace regarding the content, maintaining a colder expression.
"Is this serious?"
"I cannot discuss the content of the letter, and I am not permitted to know what is in the letter, so I do not know what you are referring to when you ask if the content is serious. However, I can guarantee that all content in the letter is legitimate and true. And you have one week to reach the castle." I bow to him and begin to sink into the shadows after he removes the dagger from my neck.
Again, I move through the shadows to deliver the letter to Miss Marie, so I try to be as quick as possible, finding her swiftly and emerging from the shadows. What I see is Marie taking a bath.
And the moment I emerge from the shadows, she gets flustered and covers herself with a towel, glaring at me angrily for invading her privacy. Though it is inelegant to intrude on a lady’s bath, there isn’t much to be done in the current emergency situation.
"What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you want to die!! How dare you see my naked body like this!! I’m married, you know? Have you lost all sense of danger?! Idiot!" She yells at me, covering herself with another towel while I close my eyes.
"I apologize for the inopportune moment, Miss Marie. I am one of the Shadows in the service of the Demon King, and I have come to make a delivery of utmost importance to you. I must be as quick as possible because each letter must be delivered urgently." I take out the letter and hand it to her.
"I hope you understand that urgent matters such as these take precedence over standard etiquette and the decorum required when dealing with nobility. Therefore, even if it is an inopportune moment, the delivery could not be delayed." I say what is natural to say in the situation.
"Tsk..." She clicks her tongue, looking at me and then at the letter with the royal seal, seeing that it is an official letter.
"No, you need to read it now." She tries to put the letter down on the counter, but I interrupt her. I cannot leave until I confirm she has read it. If I deliver it without seeing them read it, and they don’t read it, lose it, or are delayed, I will be blamed for not properly ensuring the letter was read. Shadows cannot commit such a foolish error.
"I’ll read it later." She moves her hand arrogantly, as if her bath were above the rules themselves. But she is still merely a candidate for the throne, and her authority matters little amidst the laws established by the Demon Kings.
"You cannot read it later, Miss Marie. It is of extreme importance, and the letter requires you to read it in front of the messenger who delivered it. If you refuse to read it, we will have problems." Both she and I will have problems with the laws, because if she doesn’t read it, the fault is also mine, and they will execute me for failure.
"Listen here, you useless thing. I am busy taking a bath. Get out of here; I told you I’ll read this later. God, you can be so annoying." She refuses again, moving to go to the bathtub.
’I have a very tight schedule...’ I glance at my wrist, where an artifact shows how much time I have left. I only have 10 more minutes to reach the castle with this mission completed. I don’t have time to wait for her to finish her bath.
"..."
"H-HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!!" She screams in alarm when I pick up an unstable relic filled with Hikishin. She can easily perceive how dangerous this relic is.
"Naturally, I am killing myself. This relic has the power to annihilate everything within a 1-kilometer radius. If I am incapable of fulfilling my function, and you do not wish to read the letter..."
"Then all that remains for me is to blow myself up. This is how the Shadows’ orders work; a Shadow who fails in their mission does not deserve to live. It also serves as punishment applied to you."
"Since you refuse to cooperate, then I will cause sufficient damage to you as ’payment’ for your error in refusing to maintain proper cooperation with the law." Only Demon Kings do not need to cooperate with requests from the Shadows.
Because all Shadows obey the wishes of the Demon Kings. Marie, as a candidate for the throne, has almost zero power over us. So she does not have the right to simply refuse to follow what a Shadow asks.
"!!!"
"I’ll read it!! Turn that off, you damn bastard!" She speaks rapidly, grabbing the letter and opening it. As she begins to read, still staring at me, I deactivate the relic and store it within the shadows.
"..." She clearly reads the letter angrily, then becomes confused, followed by an expression full of rage at the letter’s content, as if she can’t believe what she’s reading.
’Looks like I’m done here.’ I glance at the relic, checking the time. I have 7 minutes to return. Enough time.
"Now that we are finished here, I will take my leave." I do not bow to her—she who did not accept the letter when she should have and forced me to adopt slightly destructive measures. I sink into the shadows, leaving and completely ignoring her questions.
I would have answered, but from the point where someone does not cooperate with the Shadows, the Shadows are no longer obligated to obey, respond, or remain near the person in question, unless it is the Demon King. Therefore, I use that right to refuse to answer her.