Chapter 23 : Thickhead, Thickhead, They Said
Chapter 23: Thickhead, Thickhead, They Said
“Nothing special.”
Roger rolled across the floor. Hillan kicked him and spat.
“A so-called hero picking up a hammer for the Demon King? That magic cannon that screwed us over—was that all your doing?”
“Yeah! My only regret is that I couldn’t put more effort in and cut your lifeline in one stroke! And you call yourself a hero while smashing someone else’s work like that?”
“What a son of a bitch. The very dimension should be weeping for making you a hero.”
Fueled by surging killing intent, he kicked Roger again. With a choked scream, the dwarf went limp.
“I’m busy as hell, and some worthless trash shows up.”
He wanted nothing more than to interrogate the dwarf and vent this frustration, but the Demon King was chasing from behind.
He couldn’t waste even a single second, and yet this fellow hero was picking a fight—he was ready to explode.
“Entertaining. Go on. It’s not often a Demon King gets to watch heroes fight each other.”
Too late.
“Hah.”
At some point, the Demon King had seated himself in front of the tower’s door. He had even brought a chair, a level of leisure that could only be read as mockery.
Escape? Impossible.
From beginning to end, he had danced on the Demon King’s strings.
“What the hell are you.”
“A Demon King. Berje Deias, if you prefer.”
“Who doesn’t know that!”
“Asking while knowing is a bad habit.”
The Demon King found the whole scene deeply amusing.
All the more so in contrast to his previous life.
Demon King and hero. Hero and Demon King.
In his memory, the Demon King had been the one toyed with. Used, and ultimately killed.
But now? Everything was reversed.
He was the one mocking, jeering, and toying with a hero. It restored the pride that had crumbled right before his regression.
“You know, I tried—really tried—to understand why there were no monsters or demons around?”
A lord was free to leave a castle unguarded if he wished. That thought made it easier. But no sane man would use ogres as gatekeepers.
“How the hell did you get the Princess and this vermin on your side. Mind-type magic?”
“Unfortunately, I have no talent in that field.”
Fwoosh—
Berje produced black flames.
“My specialty is flame manipulation. Not that you didn’t already know.”
Right, he’d heard that.
Hillan ground his teeth.
He had heard through the mouth of some noble that the Demon King specialized in fire magic. So he had spent a fortune outfitting every member of the expedition with fire-resistant gear.
But what happened? He hadn’t even seen a spark on the way here. The money was wasted, and he’d gained nothing.
“Don’t tell me that story was your doing too...?”
“Sadly, no.”
“Whatever, that doesn’t matter. I asked how you controlled the Princess.”
“To give you the answer up front—there was no control. It was persuasion. The Princess chose of her own will to lend me her strength.”
“Bullshit! There’s no way the Princess would follow a Demon King like you!”
“If even a piece of shit like you follows her, why can’t she follow a Demon King?”
The answer came from somewhere else. Hillan’s pupils widened.
The Demon King was here. So he’d assumed the elf must be dead.
“Sir... Granada...?”
“‘Sir’? Screw that. We’ve seen all there is to see between us—no need for manners.”
“Ah, I forgot the introduction. This guy is the one who swore to serve me for a hundred years. Name’s Granada.”
“...Even an elf?”
What madness was this.
What the hell.
“What are you! Are you really even a Demon King?!”
“I built a tower, didn’t I?!”
Smack—
The elf’s shin slammed into Hillan’s jaw.
“You’re the bastard who tried to offer me up as a sacrifice.”
A barrage of heavy blows followed, and his vision went black.
* * *
“What should we do with the ones knocked out outside?”
“Gather every last one and throw them into the underground prison.”
He hadn’t expected the number of prisoners to outnumber the tower’s members.
He let out a short snort. He just couldn’t help but laugh.
“Are you insane?”
“In my opinion, you’re the insane one. Your mental discipline is far from complete.”
“Then I will hurry out and gather them!”
Granada darted away. Gordon, who had been quietly listening, lowered his head.
“...The Demon King was right.”
The heart of a demon who revered The Demon King’s Standard always cried out in opposition, but in truth, he had faintly suspected it.
If things truly unfolded this way, even the greatest hero would be forced to take a hit.
Berje’s methods were bizarre yet unmistakably effective.
But suspicion and certainty were two different things.
Having witnessed everything with his own eyes, Gordon thought to himself.
If they had followed the Standard—
If they had flauntingly raised a tower.
If they had sent monsters to hinder the hero.
If they had deployed weak monsters on the first floor—
Would they have been able to stop the hero?
No. Although he brimmed with pride in the Demon Realm and the Standard, Gordon was not foolish.
Had they insisted on the Standard—
‘We’d all be dead. Without a doubt.’
They would’ve been found easily, the hero’s group wouldn’t have divided, and there would have been no casualties when opening the door.
If not for the Princess, they never could have captured Hillan Cargill so easily.
Gordon had been wrong, and the Demon King had been right.
‘Come to think of it, his abilities had always been well-known...’
Until he insulted the Standard, he had even been called the greatest top graduate of all time. The Demon King Military Academy had been around for thousands of years, and for all those generations to agree on that title meant he truly deserved it.
“From now on, I will support you more faithfully, my lord. I will strive to stand by your side.”
“At least you won’t be nitpicking everything I say anymore. That’s a relief.”
“...”
To receive his carefully spoken sincerity like this—
He truly hated the thickheaded Demon King he served.
* * *
“At long last.”
Today, Draxon was in quite a pleasant mood.
Because he had just received reports from the subordinates he had dispatched to Hortonwork.
“The end of the hero’s march approaches. The moment the hero party climbs the mountain and opens the tower’s door—that will be the bastard’s final moment.”
Kheheheh. Imagining that arrogant head rolling filled him with joy.
“What do you think, Berje? That brat’s head will fall, won’t it?”
“In the past, Hillan Cargill’s combat prowess was not highly regarded.”
He had been known more for politics than skill—though of course, that was only in comparison to the very top heroes.
“But that is an old story now.”
By killing the Lust Demon King, public opinion had flipped.
Just as demons grew stronger by hunting heroes, heroes also grew stronger by subjugating demons.
The Demon King devoured the negativity human society directed toward a hero’s fame, while the hero converted the Demon King’s power itself into interference power to absorb—different mechanics, same results.
“The elf hero, Brutein, who had been the center of everyone’s expectations, died—and the one who took his head in the end was Hillan. Unexpected, perhaps, but what matters is that he accomplished it and absorbed that strength. Of course, how much of it he has digested is another matter.”
At the very least, it should have been enough to face Berje for now.
No matter how widely Berje was praised as an unprecedented top graduate, he was still a newcomer who had only just crossed over.
On top of that, he hadn’t used any Demonic Points for himself.
His interference power would be the same as at the beginning, and in that state, the Demon King could never defeat Hillan Cargill—even if he died and revived.
Thus, Draxon had been certain.
Then one day passed, two, three, four.
Time moved on. Just when Draxon’s patience was about to reach its limit, at last, the long-awaited rumor arrived.
『The...』
“Hurry and speak. Hillan Cargill descended proudly with Berje’s head, didn’t he?”
『They say the success or failure is still unknown.』
“What the hell is that nonsense! Didn’t you say the hero party returned?!”
『It was the stragglers—like Watton, who gave up midway after failing to find the tower—who came down. Hillan and some others are still somewhere in the Ergest Mountains.』
“They couldn’t find the tower...?”
There was no way.
A tower should have been standing grandly in the most obvious place.
“It should be on the highest peak, at the summit! Those idiots have been heroes for years—how could they not know that!”
『That’s... not the case.』
『They say they couldn’t find the tower at the summit, searched the surrounding area, but still struggled. Eventually, the exhausted Watton and a few others broke away and came down.』
Good grief.
Draxon slapped his forehead.
Only then did he grasp the full situation.
“That crazy bastard! Thickhead, thickhead, they called him—and he really is a thickhead!”
Not only had the man insulted The Demon King’s Standard, he had truly violated it.
* * *
A half-failure.
The return of the hero party, including Watton Colo, delivered a considerable shock to the world.
“Hillan Cargill failed? This Demon King must be incredibly strong!”
“A tremendous Demon King has descended!”
“Hillan Cargill didn’t return.”
“Don’t tell me... it wasn’t a simple failure—did he die?”
Rumors and speculation spread like wildfire. The negative whispers all quietly turned into points for Berje, but people knew nothing of that.
As the rumors grew wilder, Watton Colo eventually stepped forward to give a public statement.
“It is not yet a failure. Some of us, including myself, simply admitted our shortcomings and withdrew. Hillan Cargill and the great heroes who follow him are still searching for the Demon King’s tower, so there is still hope.”
But that only stirred further controversy.
“Why are they searching for it? Are they saying the Demon King’s tower isn’t on the summit?”
“Isn’t a tower supposed to stand exactly where it’s most expected? There hasn’t been a single Demon King who didn’t follow that!”
Their failure—this new set of questions about the Demon King they brought back—threw everything into confusion.
And the ones shocked most deeply were those whose profession was to subjugate Demon Kings.
“He’s different from all Demon Kings until now?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Summoned to the headquarters of the Hero Guild, Watton bowed his head. Five shadows surrounded him.
Under the heavy atmosphere, he forced himself to remain calm.
“Hero Watton, recount the events precisely.”
“If there is even the slightest lie, you will pay the price.”
“I swear to speak only the truth before the Elders of the Guild.”
From the start of the hero’s march to the moment he gave up, Watton recounted everything and then departed.
“...There has never been a Demon King like this.”
“Hiding his tower and not sending monsters to interfere? I’d sooner believe a dwarf lives in a tree.”
“But Watton would not lie. And the other heroes said the same.”
“That is what makes it stranger. Why would a Demon King suddenly do this? A Demon King violating the Standard he holds sacred? Completely insane, isn’t he?”
A moment of silence fell. But no one present had an answer.
Unless they asked the Demon King directly.
“A decision will be made.”
At the weighty voice, the five Elders bowed their heads.
“This Demon King possesses multiple peculiarities.”
“First, he has not sent monsters or demons to hinder the hero’s march.”
“Second, he constructed his tower in the harsh terrain of the Ergest Mountains.”
“Third, he hid it in a concealed location instead of the summit.”
“We do not yet know whether Hillan Cargill succeeded or failed, but these variables could cause great trouble for future hero’s marches.”
“Therefore.”
“As acting authority in place of the absent Guildmaster, I will verify the anomaly.”
“In accordance with the pact between the Demon King and the Guild, I shall request cooperation regarding this variable.”
The meeting came to an end.