Chapter 35 : The Queen on the Chessboard
Chapter 35: The Queen on the Chessboard
A place beyond the reach of the Zespine Empire’s territory.
A land where snow fell all year round, and tundra monsters ran rampant.
A place where scattered barbarians waged constant battles for survival.
People originally called it the Land of Barbarians. But after a Demon King built a tower there and made it her nest, they began to call it the Land of Frost.
“I heard you borrowed money from Jason.”
Berje walked, following Reina, who guided him personally.
The eleven-story Tower of Frost was entirely made of ice. The chill radiating from the tower froze the skin and burrowed deep into the bones.
‘If it feels like this even to me, the weak ones would simply freeze to death on the way.’
The path here itself was never easy. It was freezing, and barbarians and monsters roamed freely.
Of course, it couldn’t even be compared to Berje’s tower, where harsh cold and high-altitude terrain swarmed with high-level monsters.
‘Ice Skeletons on the first floor. Peul Orcs on the second, Frost Knights and Snowflake Wolves on the third.’
Weak on the first floor, rising in level the higher one climbed. A thoroughly standard formation.
“...So you're not answering?”
“...Hm?”
He snapped out of his thoughts at the sharp gaze. Reina was staring at him intently.
Behind her, her close aides were sending fiery looks their way.
“What did you say?”
“You were not listening to my words.”
“I was admiring the tower. It looked impressive.”
“...I see. I suppose that is understandable. I put some effort into it.”
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
“But what did you say?”
“I said I heard you borrowed money from Jason.”
“Jason said that?”
“He said it wasn't particularly a secret.”
It wasn’t exactly a secret, but it strongly felt like something Jason intentionally let slip—to make sure he couldn’t run away from the debt.
“I did borrow it. A hundred thousand gold.”
“...I care little for human money, but even I know that is no small amount. Are you saying Jason had that much?”
“He claims he scraped it all together himself, but who knows?”
“And the price?”
“Demonic Points.”
“Heavens.”
Reina’s pupils widened.
“How much?”
“The price of one balrog.”
“Five million. That won’t be light for your situation.”
“So I decided to pay it back over time.”
Before his regression, Berje had summoned more than ten balrogs, but five million was by no means a small number.
Right after abducting the princess, his points increased day by day, but human emotions were not infinite.
Still, considering what a hundred thousand gold could accomplish in the human world, it was cheap.
“Let’s leave this topic here.”
“Yes, let us. Then onto the main subject. I will ask. How did you know the hero’s march was scheduled and would head this way?”
“Is that important?”
“It is. Both you and Draxon delivered the same story to me at nearly the same moment.”
Berje stopped walking. Naturally, Reina and her attendants halted as well.
“Draxon said the same thing?”
“Yes. He said the hero’s march would soon happen. And that its destination would be here, so I should prepare. His words were the same as yours.”
Hillan Cargill had said the Hero Guild was debating between Draxon and Reina.
But Draxon had spoken as if the decision was already made. Hillan leaned slightly more toward Reina, but suspicion and certainty were not the same.
‘So that bastard, huh?’
It seemed Draxon Doldov was involved with humans far more deeply than Berje had assumed.
And yet he had tried to hunt Berje down for “disgracing the standard”?
‘That revolting bastard.’
Whether he was directly linked to the Hero Guild, dabbling indirectly, or had planted a spy—Berje couldn’t be certain.
But Hillan Cargill had mentioned that some Demon Kings had “lines” reaching the Hero Guild. If it were merely spies, there would be no reason to phrase it like that.
“Draxon has been building his foundations for a long time, so that is understandable. But you are not the same.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I can tell you that.”
A Demon King turning a hero into his subordinate and sending him in as an infiltrator—how could he ever say that openly?
Reina stared at Berje. Their gazes remained locked for a moment.
“...Very well. It would be strange for you to speak so easily. I made a mistake.”
“If you already knew, then this becomes faster. What will you do?”
“What is there to do? Nothing changes. I will receive them as usual.”
The higher one climbed, the stronger the monsters and traps placed there, and at the top of the tower she would wait for the heroes to arrive.
“If there is a difference between this tower and those of other Demon Kings, it is that the abducted princes are tossed onto a suitable floor and displayed like ornaments.”
At some point, they had reached the top of the tower. Reina’s office was exceedingly ordinary.
Seated on a plush chair, she gestured to him.
“But your highness.”
“Demon King Berje is not someone we can trust....”
“It is discourteous for you to intrude on a conversation between Demon Kings. Do not make me say it twice.”
The demons withdrew, discontent clear on their faces.
“Sit.”
“Your people seem to care for you greatly.”
“They are those who have followed me since the Demon Realm. I owe them much.”
Come to think of it, Reina Sordein was practically royalty—born of the greatest bloodline among the Frost Demons. Noble from birth.
“Will you eat this?”
She opened a box and took something out. Candy. Red in color, giving off a faint cherry scent.
“Candy?”
“It is the only human food I find pleasing.”
“I’ll pass.”
“Is that so?”
Tak—
Reina put one back and brought another to her own lips.
“So.”
She rested her chin on her hand. The atmosphere shifted with that single motion. There was none of the warmth she showed when her retainers were present.
“What business was important enough for you to come to me personally?”
“As I told you. The Hero Guild, having failed to kill me and rescue the Crown Princess of Hilderan, has drawn its sword. And the place that sword is most likely to fall is here.”
“I am no fool, Berje Deias.”
Her eyes turned cold.
“If that were the only reason, you would not have come here. You would simply have warned me through communication and left it at that.”
“Like Draxon?”
“Yes, like Draxon. But you did not. Even though you and I are hardly close. So I consider one possibility. Does what I think match what you think?”
“Probably.”
“That is strange.”
“What is strange about it?”
“My family continuously sends information from the Demon Realm. Naturally, information about you was included.”
“What did they say about me?”
“The top graduate of the Demon King Military Academy.”
The finest trainee of all, surpassing every other year.
“A compliment.”
“It wasn’t only praise. They also called you the problem child of the Demon King Military Academy.”
“That is merely an embarrassing past.”
“You may take more pride in it. Insulting the Standard at the graduation ceremony is not something just anyone can do. For better or worse.”
Despite her words, her eyes were far from friendly.
“So here is my question. Up until the graduation ceremony, you were the very model of a demon.”
Worshipping the Standard.
Arrogant.
Dismissive of others.
The very embodiment of individualism.
“To be honest, I liked you very much back then.”
“Not anymore?”
“Insulting the Standard is a heavy mark against you. If not for Arein, I might have fought you myself.”
“Then I should be grateful for Arein.”
Not that there would have been any reason to, if not for her. The Standard still worked well in most dimensions except for Arein’s.
“And yet someone like you came to offer me help. I did not expect that.”
“Every demon changes. I simply changed as well.”
“I have heard that you became a completely different demon after the ceremony. Was there some catalyst?”
“Not particularly.”
There was. Losing his life—the most undeniable proof that the Standard was wrong.
“Perhaps a demon doesn’t need a grand catalyst to change. But I saw glimpses of your old self.”
“My old self?”
“At Harmony of the Towers, you set yourself against Draxon. You disapproved of Ugar and remained wary of Jason. You were every bit the arrogant Demon King.”
The reason, of course, was because Draxon had picked a fight with Berje from the moment he descended. Ugar had been an irritating fool even in his previous life, and Jason was still an inscrutable, unfathomable enigma.
“But you did not bare your fangs at me.”
“Is that strange?”
“Very. Extremely. And on top of that, you ran here yourself just to deliver this information. Ordinary demons would never exert effort for someone unrelated to them.”
“....”
She wasn’t wrong. But Berje was not an ordinary demon.
“From the moment you said you were coming, I pondered. And though this may be a baseless assumption, I reached one conclusion.”
“What conclusion?”
“This is only a possibility. Truly, only if.”
Reina’s snow-white face took on the slightest blush.
“Could it be that you have fallen for me?”
“...?”
“If so, then I must say I have no intentions of reciprocating until I have completely conquered Arein....”
Has she gone mad? What nonsense is she spewing right now?
* * *
“I understand, truly. My clan has always said I am the most beautiful of all, so it is only natural that you would fall for me.”
It took considerably more time than expected to correct Reina’s hopelessly mistaken, princess-syndrome-ridden assumption.
“So the reason you chose me over the other four Demon Kings was because you fell in love with me, wasn’t it?”
“I told you that’s not it.”
“If we speak of efficiency, the clear choice is Jason. He has been in Arein the longest among Demon Kings, and his tower is the highest. Yet you chose me.”
“I said NO!”
For fuck’s sake.
Berje barely held back the curse rising to his tongue. Why in the world did he have to raise his voice over something this absurd?
“I don’t get along with Draxon, and Ugar is an idiot.”
“I agree that Ugar is an idiot.”
“And Jason is unreadable, impossible to trust easily. You said that yourself, didn’t you? Remove them all—who does that leave?”
“...I understand.”
After a long pause, Reina lowered her head, her face red as a tomato. The candy she had in her mouth slipped from her lips and fell onto the desk.
“...I made a shameful assumption. My apologies.”
“It’s fine as long as you understand now. I came because I want to maintain a good relationship between Demon King and Demon King. I wanted to help.”
“I do not think cooperation with you is a bad thing either. I will accept it.”
Good.
Though the process had been mildly unpleasant, building a friendly relationship with Reina Sordein would definitely be helpful someday.
And he didn’t even have to look that far ahead.
“With that said, I have a favour.”
“A favour?”
“You’re planning to release a few of the princes this time, right?”
“That depends on how well they perform. I intend to place the prince statue on the fifth floor. If they cannot even reach the fifth floor, they will pay dearly for underestimating me.”
“Anyway, can you make the released prince the Crown Prince of the Principality of Asoin?”
“The Crown Prince of Asoin.... That is not a difficult request.”
“Thank you.”
Berje grinned wickedly.
* * *
“I am anxious beyond words.”
Outside Reina’s office, her attendants paced nervously.
“To leave her alone with that barbaric man… Who knows what such a shameless creature would do to our Demon King?”
“My thoughts exactly. That man publicly insulted the Standard—how could such a notorious troublemaker be trusted to uphold the prohibition against conflicts between Demon Kings?”
“Her Majesty is not someone who would fall so easily.”
“That may be true, but if that delicate, gentle lady were to be sullied by that filthy brute....”
“Just imagining it is horrifying.”
They were the ones who received information about Berje Deias and delivered it to Reina.
They knew very well what Berje Deias had done, and what kind of demon he was.
“What if he falls for our Demon King and tries to flirt...?”
“She is the most beautiful being in the world! It’s entirely possible!”
“If that happened, we would never stand by and watch!”
Many of them had been with Reina since she was young. Their attachment to her was far deeper than outsiders could ever imagine.
“Please calm down a bit. The Demon King is a proper Demon King now, and it has been quite some time since she descended. She’s not someone who would lose in her own territory to a newly descended Demon King.”
At the adjutant Nina’s words, the retainers let out reluctant groans.
At that moment, the office door opened. All eyes immediately turned.
“Then I’ll consider it settled.”
“Your visit was sudden, and I could not host you properly. If you return another time, I will give you a proper welcome.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Berje stepped into the dimensional portal and disappeared. Once the guest vanished, a brief silence followed.
“Demon King, how was it?”
“That shameless man didn’t try anything improper, did he?”
The retainers finally poured out all the anxiety they had been holding in. But Reina’s gaze was far from friendly.
“...Demon King?”
Before they could even understand that something was wrong—
“...You all lied to me. You said anyone who reached out to me without reason must have been bewitched by my beauty. Do you know how embarrassed I was?”
All of you, out. I don’t want to see your faces.
With an abrupt decree of banishment, they were thrown out of the tower.
* * *
“The Crown Prince of the Principality of Asoin will be waiting on the fifth floor. Saving him depends solely on your own ability now.”
『Of course. It has yet to be officially announced, but I have already been designated as the one in charge.』
Hillan Cargill had persuaded the Elders with the logic that he should clean up the mess he created. He did not bother hiding that enormous lobbying had taken place in the process.
This hero’s march was expected to succeed, which made the competition even fiercer.
『This is all thanks to your support, Demon King.』
“I prefer results over empty flattery.”
『As I explained, the Principality of Asoin was originally a central member of the Trafarta Union. But after the Frost Demon King abducted the Crown Prince, civil war broke out among the princes and princesses vying for the throne, greatly weakening their influence.』
『Thus, there are many who wish for the Crown Prince’s return. Before he was kidnapped, Asoin boasted a powerful faction behind him. They simply wish to reclaim their former glory.』
“I understand your goal—to rescue the Crown Prince yourself and forge a solid connection with Asoin. What I’m asking is about the likelihood. Can you guarantee it?”
『Yes. I am Hillan Cargill.』
“I wish you success. But if you fail, I will begin to doubt your capabilities.”
『If I can’t even clear the fifth floor, then I could not possibly defeat the Lust Demon King.』
Berje ended the call.
He closed his eyes and envisioned the larger picture.
The Hero Guild’s new hero’s march was a massive current. Berje’s strength alone could not bend it.
So instead, he chose to ride the current—together with Hillan Cargill.
He would use the hero’s march to make Hillan Cargill even greater.
Hillan Cargill—
“—will become my Queen.”
The finest chess piece to move across the grand chessboard of dimensional conquest.