Chapter 98 : Reina Sordein’s Resolve
Chapter 98: Reina Sordein’s Resolve
The Sordein Family was one of the most prestigious houses in the Demon Realm.
In a world where strength was everything, the fact that they had secured a seat of power across generations and maintained the family name meant their might and influence were immense.
Reina Sordein was of such a family’s direct bloodline.
No one knew why she had come to this damned dimension called Arein, but it was only natural that countless demons of her house followed after her.
Strictly speaking, Jason had adapted the best and survived the longest in Arein, but in terms of the proportion and quality of high-ranking demons, none could rival those who had followed Reina.
In other words, among all Demon Kings of Arein, the one who truly possessed the most powerful army was, in fact, Reina Sordein.
Of course, depending on what happened later, that might change—but for now, this was the truth.
However, humans did not know that fact.
Reina Sordein had remained quiet for a long time, giving people plenty of room to mistakenly assume it was because she was weak.
She had merely followed convention.
“Then start from the beginning and speak properly.”
“···Yes. We encountered Gillian Aint here.”
---
A little earlier—on the day Hillan Cargill and Gillian Aint faced each other.
“Good to see you.”
“Thank you for answering my call for help!”
Gillian Aint was a quintessential barbarian. With his massive build, he wrapped Hillan Cargill in a crushing embrace.
“Ah, was that rude of me?”
“It’s fine. Please feel free to treat me comfortably.”
“Then I will!”
His bare skin peeking out from the fur clothing was all muscle. And as proof of the life he had lived, countless scars covered him.
“I was really disappointed when Princess Jesica declined my request. But when she said she would introduce you instead, Hillan—do you know how happy I was?”
Gillian Aint’s speech was rough, but he was without pretense. His gray eyes sparkled like those of a child.
“I want to know exactly what you’re planning.”
“Of course! As allies, I should tell you everything.”
“Captain, I don’t think this is the place for such talk.”
“Ah, look at me. I’ve been rude again.”
At the vice-captain’s scolding, Gillian let out an awkward “uheheh” laugh. He led the Red Hawk to an inn where an entire annex building had been rented.
“You must have had a rough trip. Take a moment to shake off the fatigue.”
After assigning rooms to his warriors, he sat down separately with Hillan Cargill and Granada.
“I am—we are going to turn the Frost Tower into a hunting ground.”
At first glance, his grand plan sounded utterly absurd.
*‘He wants to control a Demon King?’*
A Demon King was overwhelmingly powerful.
No matter how many heroes existed.
No matter how much dominance humans held.
That fact did not change.
*‘Of course, it’s not like they’ve left the Demon Kings alone until now because the Demon Kings are absolute, but still···’*
Calling it “leaving them alone” was a stretch—but not entirely wrong.
To Hillan Cargill, Demon Kings were a necessary evil.
*‘The Hero Guild does not want Demon Kings to disappear.’*
Because Demon Kings existed, humanity needed heroes, and heroes could hold the power they currently enjoyed.
To nations, Demon Kings were irritating yet untouchable obstacles.
Hillan Cargill believed that if powerful nations like Zespine, Arkan, and Hilderan truly poured everything they had into it, they could erase one or two Demon King Towers.
But then what? Those nations, having exhausted everything, would likely meet the same fate as the Demon King Towers they destroyed.
That, he thought, was the biggest reason Demon King Towers—and the lives of heroes—continued to persist.
Of course, that was only his personal view, and there were undoubtedly many other complex reasons. Even so, turning a Demon King Tower into a mere hunting ground and controlling it sounded nothing short of madness.
“Do you believe that’s possible?”
“That is why we’ll try.”
“The opponent is a Demon King.”
“We’re heroes. If it were only me and the White Eagle, it’d be impossible. But the ten tribes have united, and now you and the Red Hawk are with us.”
“But if the Demon King and high-ranking demons step in···”
“The Demon King does not move from the top floor of the tower. You know that, don’t you?”
“······.”
Hillan Cargill could not answer.
Because the common sense he knew also said the same—*if it had been before meeting Berje.*
“What’s wrong?”
“···Nothing.”
*‘Berje is the unusual one. Except for when they kidnap royals, the other Demon Kings have never left the top floor.’*
Therefore, there was nothing to worry about.
“And once a Demon King Tower is cleared once, it weakens. It takes time to return to its original state.”
He didn’t know the exact reason. But any hero knew this was the tower’s ecology.
“Turning it into a hunting ground isn’t something grand. We just keep climbing only up to the floors we can handle.”
That way, they would slowly gnaw away at the Demon King. And eventually, even if the Demon King wanted to do something, they wouldn’t be able to.
“Of course, the Demon King won’t just sit there doing nothing.”
A tower was organic. If the Demon King belatedly realized Gillian Aint’s intentions, they would surely attempt something.
“That’s why I need you. If I were to do this alone, I’d be stuck at the lower floors. But together, we can reach much higher.”
“······.”
Hillan struggled.
And little by little, he began to be tempted by the possibility he saw.
*‘If this can truly be achieved?’*
It wasn’t entirely impossible. It required the assumption that the Demon King stayed put—but until now, only Berje had broken that rule.
Berje was the outlier. That was not how Demon Kings normally behaved.
*‘And even if something unexpected happens···’*
There was Gillian Aint—and there was himself.
There were the White Eagle, the Red Hawk, and more than a thousand barbarians.
*‘If this succeeds···’*
Even a Demon King could be placed beneath their feet. The heroes who achieved this would see their names—and his own reputation—rise even higher.
And moreover…
*‘If we can even kill the Frost Demon King···?’*
A slayer of three Demon Kings.
Hillan Cargill could become an unprecedented, unmatched figure.
The bait was enticing.
But there was one thing he had to confirm.
“I heard one of the tribes was annihilated by monsters running rampant. Couldn’t that be the work of the Demon King?”
“I believe it likely was.”
“Then isn’t the assumption that ‘the Demon King does nothing’ wrong from the start?”
“That’s why I need you. No matter what the Demon King attempts, there is a limit. With you, we can push her to that limit. We can eliminate every variable.”
“···Hmm.”
Hillan let out a troubled groan. But inside his head, the gears were spinning rapidly.
*‘I am the great hero who has killed two Demon Kings.’*
Yes, he had received help from a Demon King. Yes, it was a joint effort with other heroes. But those details did not matter much.
Two Demon Kings’ powers resided within him, and day by day, he was learning to use them as his own.
Berje’s ambiguous warning still lingered a little, but he believed he could handle such minor dangers with his strength.
“···Is it truly possible?”
“Of course. I’m a hero born of the snowfields. I’ve lived here all my life, and even as a hero, I’ve continued fighting here. Among heroes, no one knows the snowfield—or the Frost Demon King—better than I.”
“···Very well.”
Hillan Cargill nodded.
“Good decision.”
The two heroes clasped each other's hands.
---
“Up to that point, everything seemed to be going well.”
“Well, anything sounds perfect when it’s just the plan.”
“Yes, that’s true. Anyway, the northern tribes were brimming with fighting spirit. Because they believed the Frost Demon King had killed their kin. So one thousand five hundred barbarians gathered, along with the White Eagle, the Red Hawk, and heroes drawn by the reputations of Gillian Aint and Hillan Cargill.”
“At that scale, we could practically call it a hero army.”
“It was a bit lacking for that, but honestly, I agree.”
The hero force heading for the Beast’s Tower had been far larger, but compared to the hero force Hillan Cargill assembled for the Flame Tower, this one held its own.
*‘The problem is···’*
Reina Sordein surpassed Berje in every aspect. Power, influence—and even personal combat strength.
That was the result of the decades she had spent in Arein.
“So what happened next?”
He already knew the outcome. He merely wanted the details.
“We prepared thoroughly and headed for the Frost Tower.”
“That day, the monsters of the snowfield were strangely scarce. We should have suspected something then, but instead we simply praised ourselves, thinking even the monsters were frightened by our approach.”
It was natural to be swept up in the moment. Especially when two great heroes and an overwhelming force marched together; confidence was inevitable.
“We traveled for two weeks and finally reached the Frost Tower. The tower was visible in the distance, and the blizzard that day was vicious.”
Movement itself was difficult. The White Eagle and the barbarians, used to the snowfields, were fine—but the Red Hawk, unfamiliar with the terrain, suffered greatly.
“We approached the tower, and when we were close enough, we stopped to reorganize our formation. Then Gillian Aint gave a short speech.”
This day would be the turning point of history. The moment the barbarians would become great.
He raised morale with every kind of flowery rhetoric. The barbarians roared.
And in that moment—
“As if responding to our cry, the tower’s gate opened.”
Granada shivered slightly, as if the memory crept back to him.
“Those who stood in the front were elderly demons. The kind who proved the saying that old peppers are the spiciest.”
“Isn’t it small peppers?”
“Shh.”
“They were high-ranking demons.”
He could roughly guess who. Those elderly figures who had once stood behind Reina.
“And behind them were many demons.”
“And behind *them* were even more monsters.”
*‘Did she deploy the tower’s entire combat force?’*
That, too, was a flaw of the “conventional approach.” Outside a tower, there was no need for a Demon King to start with weak forces. They could simply deploy overwhelming strength from the beginning.
“We panicked.”
Every element of Gillian Aint’s plan relied on a single assumption:
That the lower floors of the tower held weak monsters and the difficulty increased only as one climbed.
No one had expected the demons and monsters to burst out of the tower first.
And worse—clashing head-on with that overwhelming force, even without the Demon King present, made victory uncertain.
“Realizing something was wrong, Gillian Aint ordered a retreat. But···”
“But?”
“Thousands of monsters that had been hidden beneath the snow appeared, forming a siege and cutting off our escape routes.”
“Thousands of monsters···?”
Demons and monsters were different. And monsters and *magical beasts* were also different.
Unlike magical beasts—creatures native to the Demon Realm—monsters were organisms of this world. Descendants of magical beasts long ago sown by the Demon Realm, but now fully adapted and degenerated into part of this world.
Though faint traces of magical beast blood remained deep inside them, enough to inspire instinctive reverence toward demons, they could not be controlled as easily as magical beasts.
While magical beasts, once summoned, instantly understood their role and obeyed, monsters had to be subdued directly and made into one’s vassals.
*‘Reina Sordein···’*
To control thousands of monsters was not something achieved overnight. And the territory they lived in would not be small.
He had thought she was simply hiding in the snowfields doing nothing—but she had been turning the entire snowfield into her domain.
It was an utterly conventional, textbook approach.
Berje wondered whether he should be impressed that she had built such vast power, or despair at how easily she had been cornered by the White Eagle’s schemes in his previous life.
He shook his head.
*‘Right now, she truly is impressive.’*
She had simply been waiting for the right moment.
“And then?”
“I escaped the encirclement together with Hillan Cargill. But with monsters pouring in endlessly, we eventually became separated.”
“Did he die?”
“I don’t think so.”
Berje agreed with Granada’s view.
*‘Hillan Cargill wouldn’t die that easily.’*
A man who devoured two Demon Kings wouldn’t be so fragile. If he could die that easily, he would never have become a Star to begin with.
*‘What matters is the current situation in the snowfield.’*
Charging in recklessly would get him crushed by monsters—and possibly by imperial forces as well.
*‘Should I try contacting Reina?’*
Demon King–to–Demon King communication was impossible except via a tower’s communication system. But Reina had given him a personal communication orb.
*‘Nothing is more reliable than hearing directly from her···’*
And she held favorable feelings toward him now. Thanks to him, she had easily thwarted the White Eagle’s scheme.
At that moment—
Wuuuuung—
Berje flinched.
It was the communication orb.
The one from Reina Sordein—just as he had been about to use it.
“Go outside and summon a spirit.”
“Yes.”
Ernan and Granada stepped outside. Ernan summoned spirits and sent them drifting around the building.
“Won’t that attract more attention? Ernan must keep her identity hidden, mustn’t she?”
It was natural that heroes had gathered in response to the snowfield disturbance. The northern fortress city was filled with heroes heading toward the snowfield.
For Berje to communicate with Reina, he needed to appear as a Demon King. With so many heroes gathered, someone might detect demonic energy even through his concealment.
The spirits were meant to help mask that energy.
“That’s why Granada is here.”
“I *do* look like an elf. If someone approaches, cover your face immediately.”
“Yes.”
Left alone in the room, Berje infused demonic energy into the communication orb.
“What’s going on?”
Reina’s face appeared.
『You were right.』
“You’re not making sense.”
『Thanks to you, I realized the White Eagle’s ploy in advance and prepared for it.』
『I wished to thank you.』
“Ah, that. I heard the Red Hawk joined the White Eagle as well. So you won?”
『Because of you. I will repay this debt someday.』
“I merely warned you.”
『That warning changed my actions. The process changed, and the outcome changed.』
“Did they all die?”
『No. Those humans they call Stars—high-ranking demons cannot guarantee victory against them so easily.』
『They were injured, but they broke through the encirclement and fled.』
“I see. And what will you do next?”
『I intend to set an example.』
“An example?”
『I kept quiet to avoid provoking the Empire. But if they strike first, the situation changes.』
『Humans must be shown a lesson so they never try such tricks again.』
『That I am not silent out of fear.』
“The Empire will not sit still.”
『You seem different from when you first descended. Back then, you would have told me to simply crush the humans.』
“I’ve never said that.”
『I simply assumed someone who scorned convention as you did would say so.』
Reina gave a faint smile.
『And do not worry. It may look like many humans died, but that is not the case.』
Though anger simmered beneath, she was calmly planning her next steps.
『Around now, the survivors should be returning to the Empire one by one. Their punishment ends there.』
“You lifted the encirclement?”
『Yes. For now, I must endure. I do not yet have the power to fight Zespine to the end.』
But then—
Reina’s eyes turned icy.
『But one is an exception.』
“One?”
『An example should be made of someone worthy of representing humanity.』
『Someone strong.』
『Someone with reputation.』
『Someone humans see as a beacon of hope.』
『In other words—a Star.』
“Gillian Aint or Hillan Cargill. Which one?”
Berje swallowed.
He prayed she would choose the former.
But—
『Hillan Cargill.』
The great First Demon Emperor abandoned him once again.
『An arrogant human who has slain two Demon Kings must not exist in this world.』
『And this is a perfect chance.』
Dammit.
Beneath the table, his hand curled into a fist.
His nails dug into his palm, drawing blood.