Chapter 55 : There Was No Tower
Chapter 55: There Was No Tower
The sky was clear.
After nearly a month of staring at the snow-covered mountains, Daphne let out a sigh.
It was cold.
He exhaled a puff of white breath and moved cautiously. Even after he passed, the pure-white snow retained its pristine appearance.
‘Enough already. Ergest was a place I never wanted to come back to.’
From far away came the roar of a Prison Drake.
The mountain quivered from the territory disputes between monsters.
A place where it was cold, monsters appeared, and even the climate was miserable.
He regretted accepting the request so readily just because the money was enormous. He should have known the moment they said Hillan Cargill had failed.
‘Now only this side is left.’
He had scoured the entire mountain range as if combing through it.
Even for Daphne, that had not been an easy task.
Every day, he had to keep his senses sharpened, and resupplying was difficult. Moreover, even in Ergest, there existed monsters that not even a great Hero like him could handle.
‘Especially that demon.’
A monster that had deceived even his own senses.
Just thinking about that moment still made Daphne’s skin crawl.
‘Thankfully, it wasn’t that fast. But I never know when or where it might appear, so I have to stay cautious.’
It had been an unpleasant experience, but thanks to it, he found the clue far quicker than expected. It was certain that a demon’s tower existed somewhere in this area.
‘One week. I’ll find it within a week and get off this mountain.’
And he would never even *pee* in the direction of Ergest again.
* * *
The Demon King’s floor. Berje sat upon the throne. With his manipulation, the tower’s authority manifested.
A hologram displayed the exterior panorama of the tower.
“He has arrived.”
Even without Gordon’s words, a figure could be seen approaching the basin cautiously.
“Daphne Phillian.”
It was indeed the man he had seen back then.
[82459pt]
[82439pt]
[82419pt]
Demonic Points rapidly decreased. Perhaps because the anger and interest that had once been directed at Berje had shifted toward Draxon’s death and the emergence of a new Demon King. The combined Demonic Points were far less than expected.
At this rate, he had barely over an hour.
“I’ve also checked the effect of the authority, but….”
Gordon spoke hesitantly, anxiety in his voice.
“Will it truly be able to evade that man’s senses?”
“I cannot be certain.”
The authority he gained thanks to the Ghost of Mana was low-grade, befitting the tower’s level. It might deceive the lacking, but he doubted it could completely fool Daphne Phillian.
“But he won’t notice as long as he only sees it vaguely from afar…”
“Then Krutu’s role becomes all the more crucial.”
Daphne arrived at the peak overlooking the basin. Though the tower stood down below, it would not appear in his sight.
It would have been nice if he simply passed by, but Daphne stepped into the basin.
At that moment.
Kwooorrr—
Daphne stopped at the roars of the monsters. A massive yeti burst out from beneath the snow.
Kwaang—
Its enormous hand smashed down onto the ground. Dozens of Peul Orcs screeched as they charged in.
That was the beginning.
Yeti, Prison Drake, White Wolf, Twin-Head Ogre—countless monsters attacked the Peul Orc settlement that had been situated inside the basin.
It was a well-orchestrated setup.
Following Berje’s order, Krutu had relocated the tribe into the basin, and he had driven the monsters there to match Daphne’s arrival.
And the ensuing battle would serve as an excellent barrier to keep him from approaching the tower.
“Building the tower inside the basin was truly a move worthy of the Demon King.”
The basin itself was hidden well enough to be hard to discover, but once positioned above it, one could look down and see everything clearly, so there was no need to descend.
However, as expected, Daphne did not turn back so easily. He blankly scanned the scenery, and when a Prison Drake happened to notice him and breathed out a breath attack, it ended up collapsing with its body riddled like a beehive—a small incident, nothing more.
It was then.
Knock, knock—
“Come in.”
“...Are you busy?”
It was Ernan.
“What is it?”
“Lady Kaede has awakened.”
“I see. From now on, you’ll take responsibility and manage her. It’s joint liability.”
“I tried to stop her.”
“You should have prevented her from even thinking about escaping in the first place.”
“That’s unreasonable.”
“A Demon King is someone who can make unreasonable things no longer unreasonable.”
Ernan’s eyes shifted into a sulky expression.
“What is that insolent look? Are you asking me to pluck those eyes out?”
“...No.”
She averted her gaze. Then her eyes landed on the hologram projected at the center.
“Oh, Sir Daphne?”
“You know him?”
He realized how absurd the question was the moment he said it and let out a small laugh. Of course she would—she was the Crown Princess of Hilderan.
“Yes. He once asked me to teach him spirit sorcery.”
“Spirit sorcery?”
“He had no talent for it, so he couldn’t resonate even with a low-grade spirit.”
“That’s fortunate.”
Since spirits were aggregates of pure mana, they were quite adept at detecting Demonic energy, which was close to their natural opposite.
He didn’t even want to imagine what it would be like if a spirit summoned by a Hero—with dimensional power added—came near him.
“Why? Do you want to escape?”
Ernan’s gaze remained fixed on Daphne.
“If you want to escape, you can leave now. Open the door and ask for help. You can open the door, and that Hero would easily be able to take you and run.”
It was the truth. If Daphne decided to escape with Ernan and truly committed to it, there was no method available to immediately stop him.
“...Do you want to send me away?”
“Who knows?”
“But if I go, will you really let me go?”
As if.
Berje didn’t bother answering. Ernan’s violet eyes held a strange glimmer.
“I am the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.”
“You mean my subordinate, yes?”
“More precisely, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.”
Her shamelessness left him so dumbfounded that a small laugh escaped him.
“What is that childish naming supposed to be?”
“I saw it. It said that the Demon King always has special attendants at his side.”
Was there really such a childish Demon King?
“Was it in a history book?”
“...I’m not sure?”
“A novel, then.”
“...It was a play.”
“They made such nonsense into a play?”
“A famous traveling troupe that toured the continent was invited to the royal palace.”
“The royal family of Hilderan has peculiar tastes.”
“I was ten at the time.”
“But you liked it so much you still remember it?”
“Rather than liking it… I was just envious. They were free. Unlike me.”
Especially the ‘Giant of Hell,’ who had laughed heartily while calling himself one of the Four Heavenly Kings…
Ernan—a faint blush appearing on her face—deliberately turned her gaze away.
“So you’re seeing this as a scene from that play now? And you’re the actress?”
“That’s not it.”
“Well, I don’t care. I don’t know what you’re thinking as you cooperate with me, but you had better not let that change.”
There were still plenty of suspicious points about her, but he didn’t press further. In any case, thanks to Ernan, he had captured Hillan Cargill with ease. Her contributions were worth acknowledging.
“...That’s not why.”
“I can’t exactly say I believe you. You and I are not in a position to trust each other.”
Ernan gave a small nod, then changed the subject.
“...It’s probably Father.”
“You mean the one who sent that man?”
“Sir Daphne has deep ties with Father. I know he accepted many requests from him.”
“So it really is Hilderan.”
After Hillan’s failure in the hero’s march, they had apparently tried to drag Hillan back by force. But once the justification for that was blocked, they had gone quiet, so he had stopped paying attention—only for them to persist after all.
Well, it would be stranger for them to give up when their promising Crown Princess had been abducted.
“...More and more things keep piling up.”
The plan to use the elves to dominate the continent, the investigation into Ralph Schmitz, and now the meddling hands of Hilderan.
He had caused most of these problems himself, so there was no one else to blame.
His thoughts deepened. Meanwhile, Daphne, who had continued surveying the basin a little longer, finally turned around.
And exactly seven minutes later, the tower revealed itself once more.
It was dangerously close timing.
* * *
“Failure? You’re saying you failed?”
“I searched everywhere within the limits of my abilities. But I could not find the tower anywhere.”
“Does that mean the Demon King’s Tower is not in Ergest but somewhere else?”
“I did find a demon.”
“So it *is* there. Then is it simply lack of ability?”
“Ergest is a forbidden zone overflowing with monsters beyond human capability. Even I cannot explore every corner.”
“Are you even listening to yourself…!”
“If you want my advice, if I failed, then no one will find it. It may sound like self-praise, but there is no one in this world more skilled in search than I am.”
“Haa…”
The man let out a sigh. Daphne calmly looked at him.
“His Majesty had been relying solely on you.”
“I know. I value my connection with His Majesty as well, which is why I abandoned all other requests to rush here. But I cannot accomplish what lies beyond my capability.”
“...Damn it, how am I supposed to report this to His Majesty? He hounds me every single day without fail.”
“Would it not be better to request assistance from the Hero Guild? Even if they failed once, since the Crown Princess has been abducted, they must at least show some response.”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know since you've been shut in the mountains. It was revealed that the Demon Kings had been using succubi to manipulate the nobles of Dormunt, and the Guild was thrown into chaos.”
“There are still Demon Kings who pull such outdated tricks?”
“The Beast Demon King died not long ago. The newly descended Demon King after him—she’s a Succubus Queen, apparently.”
“Don’t tell me she hid her tower as well?”
“The tower was found on one of the islands of the Seratin Archipelago. Like the other Demon Kings, it’s dangerous, but not in a location impossible to find or raid.”
“That’s at least fortunate.”
“I wonder if it truly is fortunate. The Demon Kings’ movements are changing. It means the delicate balance that had barely been maintained is breaking apart.”
Since the descent of the False Demon King, conflicts between Demon Kings and humans had gradually decreased.
After the arrival of the Beast, Frost, and Gold-Steel Demon Kings, they had nearly vanished entirely, and only one “bomb” remained.
“Now it’s become two again. And for one of them, we still don’t even have proper information.”
“But the advantage is on our side.”
In the early days, it might have been different, but now Arein clearly stood above the Demon Kings in power.
“The hero’s march has failed twice. You know very well that while an assault unit may falter, the hero’s march must never collapse.”
“But the last one succeeded, did it not?”
“It did, but it wasn’t under the Hero Guild’s supervision. That alone is causing noise. And I’m not sure whether you’ve heard this as well.”
The man hesitated briefly before continuing.
“His Majesty sent the Azure Sea Knight Order to capture Hillan Cargill.”
“...I did not know.”
“You were in the Empire at the time, and we buried the matter deep so it wouldn’t leak.”
“Because of that, relations between the Guild and the Kingdom are at their worst.”
“A complete mess.”
Daphne scratched his beard.
“Where are Watton Colo and Hillan Cargill now?”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I have ties with Hilderan. I cannot just leave this request half-finished.”
“They couldn’t find the tower either.”
“But who knows—there may be some small clue in their movements.”
“That’s true. Then I ask this favour of you. Thanks to you, I now have a justification to calm His Majesty.”
“Yes.”
“Watton Colo is in Hessen, and Hillan Cargill is in the Trafarta Union. They have been brought to trial by the Guild along with Rozel Charnte.”
“Understood. I will take my leave.”
Daphne vanished. Silence fell as if no one had been there in the first place.
The man left alone tilted his glass.
“A tower that even Daphne Phillian couldn’t find.”
He chuckled.
“Your Majesty, it seems the heavens have chosen me, not you.”
The wine tasted sweet.