Chapter 92 : The Relationship Between the Demon King and the Princess
Chapter 92: The Relationship Between the Demon King and the Princess
“How did you convince them?”
“Pardon?”
“I thought you’d need more time. I was planning to lock the elves in a prison.”
Even with the precedent of Granada, the elves’ hostility toward the demon race was no small matter.
So he had assumed it would be difficult and require far more time.
He never imagined they would swear loyalty the moment they met.
“I just happened to know one of the elves. So the conversation went smoothly.”
It surely wasn’t only that. The elves said they would never have accepted this if not for Granada.
‘This guy is hiding something too…’
Well, it wasn’t particularly important.
As long as the World Tree remained intact, he could not betray him anyway. And for now, he continued to show unwavering loyalty.
Berje led them up Ergest. The elves, who had endured the brutal cold to arrive, were shocked by the sight of the tower.
“…A tower is in a place like this?”
“Mana cannon? Where are the monsters?”
“A dwarven hero?”
“Four princesses?”
Both the Demon King of Dark Flame and his tower were strange in every way.
Kidnapping four princesses but being known as having three.
Replacing monsters and demons with rows of mana cannons.
A hero and princess voluntarily serving under the demon race.
Everything was a mystery, and the greatest of them was the high-grade water spirit.
— Welcome to the Demon King’s Tower! Elves!
A high-grade spirit welcoming elves *at the Demon King’s Tower*.
A horrifying chimera if there ever was one.
‘…But maybe this isn’t so bad.’
Relatively speaking. The Demon King’s Tower that Charlotte and the other 32 elves had imagined was utterly typical.
Overflowing with monsters, demons yelling threats, and a Demon King who worked them like slaves.
But this place was nothing like that. Whatever reason the hero and princess had for helping the Demon King, they were clearly alive. Not a trace of coercion could be felt—if anything, they even looked amused.
‘Well, even for freedom, Lord Granada wouldn’t throw us at just any Demon King.’
Their trust in Granada made this eccentric Demon King seem a little more acceptable.
“So what would you have us do?”
Their tour of the tower ended. Within the ecological system of the four floors of the Demon King’s Tower, the elves awaited his orders.
“Do you have any mages?”
Charlotte quietly raised her hand.
Elves were naturally highly attuned to mana. And that sensitivity leaned more toward spirits than pure magic.
Unsurprisingly, most elves were spirit-users, and true mages were very few.
“What magic do you use?”
“Elemental magic, mainly wind.”
“Not bad. Step aside. The rest?”
“There are pure spirit-users, and warriors who use swords and bows. But all of them can summon spirits.”
“Perfect.”
The Demon King’s lips curved upward.
“Ten of you will become members of the tower. The rest will return to the continent and live among humans. Naturally, for my sake. I’ll leave the decision entirely to you. Ah, and as for you.”
The Demon King pointed at Charlotte.
“You’re the first option no matter what.”
“May I know the reason?”
“There’s an invalid groaning on the third floor of the tower.”
“You mean Princess Ellena Hilde?”
“From today, she’s your disciple. Teach her magic.”
“…?”
Charlotte tried to grasp the meaning of the words. But no matter how much she pondered, she could not find any hidden nuance.
She stammered and questioned again.
“So you mean… that I, who became the Demon King’s subordinate, must teach magic to the princess he abducted?”
“Yes.”
Charlotte instinctively sought Granada. Their eyes met.
‘Is this correct?’
‘Probably.’
Granada looked away.
---
“It finally feels like demons live here.”
Most of them weren’t demons, but the once-empty tower was beginning to feel alive.
That thought came to him.
Once the golem was complete and the elves fully settled… Once the second floor housed a resident balrog and the third floor was filled with something…
‘Then perhaps I could reveal the tower to humans…’
Wouldn’t that be fine?
Demonic Points could be gathered not only from negative emotions like anger, sorrow, or despair.
No one could deny that blood, life, and direct death produced far superior quality and quantity than mere emotions.
Thus all Demon Kings welcomed wars between humans. And if such death and life occurred within a tower that acted as a core absorbing Demonic Points, he—and the tower—would grow rapidly.
Berje’s tower, filled with traps the heroes could not predict, would become a demon’s den that endlessly devoured heroes and humans.
But would that be enough?
‘No. It’s not.’
The more the tower brought death, the greater the tide of humans would swell and charge.
Once things truly began, that tide wouldn’t end until Berje died or humanity was destroyed.
And as that cycle repeated—
“That bastard will come.”
The hero with the red sword.
The damned man who pierced his heart and mocked him.
Could this much kill him?
Not even close.
Mana cannons ultimately had limits. They excelled at hunting the weak in numbers, but could not defeat a single strong opponent.
The same was true for the golem.
And that bastard had sliced through a balrog like it was nothing.
To face him again, Berje needed a far stronger, overwhelmingly superior power.
‘I must hide the tower until the very end.’
That was the correct choice.
And similarly, even if the tower were discovered, he needed power within human society to hinder their hero’s march as much as possible.
And conveniently, Berje had gained new chess pieces.
For now mere pawns, but if they reached the end, who knew if they would become a rook, a knight, a bishop, or a queen.
The elves.
He summoned Granada through the crystal orb.
Soon Granada entered.
“You called?”
“Have the elves decided where they’ll go?”
“Yes. I selected twenty-two who will return to the Golden Moon Merchant Company.”
“Not all of them will go back there.”
“Have you something in mind?”
“If they stay limited to a single merchant company, there’s no point using elves.”
“Then?”
“Send half to Arkan.”
“…?”
“Arkan is a nation that respects mages. Those with magical talent can rise in status even if they’re slaves.”
Though there were limits, compared to other countries it was a merit-based society.
“And elves…”
“Compared to humans, they’re naturally superior in mana affinity.”
“That, and all elves are exceptional spirit-users. Spirit arts are a branch of magic.”
Indeed, within the human schools of magic, spirit arts existed.
It required more innate talent than ordinary magic, but magic was magic.
“On top of that, you have now formed ties with a prince of Arkan. That will allow the elves to blend into the kingdom more easily.”
They might be startled by the sudden appearance of elves, but they would not reject talent.
Especially since Hillan Cargill was involved, they would not treat them harshly, considering his reputation and connections.
Of course, they might receive some restraint.
“...Surely you don’t intend to swallow Arkan whole, do you?”
“Surely not.”
There was no way something like that could be achieved by sending in a few elves.
“It’s enough if even one elf becomes a fairly authoritative noble in Arkan.”
And if they used that authority to build connections with nobles of other nations, and that in turn strengthened Hillan, or created synergy with the connections Hillan had created—
“Just thinking about it is delightful, isn’t it?”
They would become Berje’s agents who would search for and obstruct the Hero of the Red Sword.
“You are an extremely frightening person, my lord.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“May I offer a piece of advice?”
“I will gladly hear it.”
“If that is your intention, Charlotte is the most suitable.”
“Charlotte?”
“She may not handle spirits, but she is a mage who has engraved six sigils. In Arkan, she is the kind of talent they would welcome more than anyone.”
“That much?”
“The reason Charlotte does not handle spirits is because she devoted herself to elemental magic over spirit arts. Her magical talent was the highest in the Maple Leaf Tribe.”
“And a woman like that ended up being captured by humans and made a slave?”
“…For elves who lived only in Elven territory, human society must have been nothing short of a trap in every direction.”
“You don’t need to make excuses.”
Berje sank into thought.
It was correct to send a superior talent to Arkan. Arkan always welcomed brilliant mages.
The problem was—
“That elf must teach Ellena.”
Therefore she was an even more essential talent for the tower. To raise Ellena Hilderan into a greater mage, the guidance of an outstanding magician was needed.
“If that is the case, then it can’t be helped.”
Honestly, he could not tell how exceptional Ellena truly was. Because after spending considerable time in the tower, the mana that had been eating away at her had greatly diminished.
But he knew well that the Demon King never spoke nonsense.
“Ah, you know you must go to the northern snowfields, correct?”
“Yes, I heard. The Demon King’s Tower again.”
Ugh, Granada let out a displeased groan.
“Reina is not someone to take lightly. Though you and the Red Hawk are cockroaches who survive anything.”
“…Please don’t include me in those cockroaches.”
“It’s a compliment. This time, you must make good use of that cockroach-like trait.”
“That serious?”
“Reina is waiting for you.”
“Then there is a chance we might fail, isn’t there?”
“There is.”
“And even so, you granted permission?”
“Hillan Cargill desires it.”
“…So this is…”
Granada’s face twisted into a strange expression.
“You’re sending us knowing we’ll likely fail? Because you *want* us to?”
“I told Hillan it was better not to go. Even so, he insisted, and he must bear responsibility for the failure. That is all.”
“So the shrimp’s back breaks in a whale fight, huh.”
Damn it. Granada cursed.
“Hillan isn’t a whale.”
Maybe a slightly large pufferfish.
---
“I contacted Prince Cain, and fortunately, things went well.”
Granada departed.
The twenty-two elves went with him.
Berje escorted them himself to the outskirts of Ergest. Granada would stop by Arkan to drop off the elves and then return directly to the Hero Guild.
And then he would go to the northern snowfields, roll around in the snow, and fight Reina.
What they left behind were Charlotte and ten other elves.
Charlotte met Ellena for the first time as her magic instructor.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness. I am Charlotte of the Maple Leaf Tribe.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Ernan had not lied.
She had said Ellena possessed excellent magical talent. If not for her frail body, she would easily have surpassed even herself. Charlotte realized that talent within only a few hours.
“Why have you never learned magic until now! The eyes of Hilderan must have gone rotten! How could they let someone like Your Highness go without learning magic!”
“My body is weak. Mana overload.”
“Oh—my apologies.”
“It’s all right.”
Unlike humans, elves did not build walls. They shared knowledge freely and regarded the opportunity to teach a gifted person as an honor.
Charlotte was no different. Even though that gifted person was a human rather than an elf, she found herself captivated by the talent greater than anyone she had ever seen.
She wanted to polish the raw gem named Ellena with her own hands. She wanted to carve her into a beautiful jewel and shout to the world that she had contributed even a little to this jewel’s brilliance.
“I may be but an inadequate elf, yet I shall teach Your Highness everything I have!”
While the elf and princess devoted themselves to magic on the third floor, on the fourth floor another princess and other elves were meeting.
“Nice to meet you. I am the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness in charge of the fourth floor.”
“…Pardon? Darkness?”
“And you all will be guarding the fourth floor with me.”
“Here…”
The elves looked relatively relieved.
When they heard it was the Demon King’s Tower, they imagined a hell filled with monsters and demons. Yet there was not a single monster, and the only demons were the Demon King and the dark elf.
Not only that—on the first floor there was a dwarven hero, on the second floor a princess who was both a knight and a hero, on the third an ill-looking princess, and here on the fourth floor spirits filled the area.
Could this even be called the Demon King’s Tower?
After expecting the worst of the worst, being told to serve a human princess who could summon high-grade spirits was, rather, good news.
“We will serve you with all our effort.”
“You don’t have to serve me. You and I are both subordinates of the Demon King, working together to protect the tower.”
“Yes.”
“Sorry, but may I ask one question?”
One elf raised a hand.
“Yes, ask anything.”
“…Are you really a princess?”
“I am. Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Hilderan, Ernan Hilderan.”
“Kidnapped?”
“I didn’t walk in here of my own will.”
“…I may not have the right to say this as someone who has chosen to serve the Demon King, but… why do you serve him?”
“I don’t really serve him.”
“…Then?”
“If I had to define it…”
Hmm. Ernan stroked her chin.
“A bilateral contractual relationship?”
The Demon King had abducted her out of necessity.
And she also complied out of necessity.
That was probably accurate.